You could honestly spend your entire time in Japan riding the trains from one end of the country to the other. Trains in themselves are quite an experience. The fastest, and by far nicest, are the Shinkansen, or bullet trains. These trains travel very fast, and are usually used to get to the major cities and surrounding areas. There are several cars, and they’re divided up into smoking and non-smoking, as well as reserved and non-reserved. The seats are very large and the aisles wide, so you can recline without bothering the person behind you. The seats are in rows of two, and you can actually pivot a row so that you’re facing the seats behind you, in case you’re in a group of 3-4 and want to talk on the train. There are bathrooms between cars, as well as a pay phone, and places for you to buy bento, which is a Japanese box lunch. Additionally, an attendant will come down the aisles serving magazines and bento.
There are also express trains, which run on the local level. They travel faster than a local train, and don’t stop at all the stops. They are nice, but not quite as nice as the Shinkansen. You can still pivot the seats, but you can’t really recline as the aisles are smaller. The cars are a bit smaller as well, and you won’t find the bathrooms, pay phones, or bento stands.
And then there are the local trains. If you’re living in Japan for a significant amount of time, you’ll probably utilize the local trains a lot. The trains themselves vary greatly; sometimes there will be different cars on the same line. The majority of the local trains I rode were like smaller versions of the express trains. The seats were still in rows of two, but they were smaller. And there weren’t that many seats. During peak times, or even if there were enough people on the train, you would find yourself standing in the aisles, or the open space near the door. During rush hour, these trains can get extremely crowded. People will be standing elbow to elbow in every open space imaginable. I’ve even seen trains with people pressed up against windows. In other trains, seats take the form of plush benches along the outer walls, and people stand in the middle areas.
The train system is incredibly efficient and well organized. There are many different lines, which cover specific areas and cities. You can usually catch 3-4 different lines from a city, and some cities serve specifically as transfer points. For example, to get from Seta, the town I stayed in, to Sanjo, a district of Kyoto, you board the Kusatsu line in Seta, and ride until Yamashina…you then transfer lines, which will take you to Sanjo. It all seems very complicated at first, but even I was eventually able to catch on, so there is some sort of hidden simplicity to it.
Inside the train station at Nagoya, the fifth largest city in Japan |
Almost every city has some sort of station. At least all the rural cities do, but I can’t speak for the smaller country cities. The station serves as the transportation headquarters; it’s where you can catch a train, a bus, or a taxi. Inside the train station, there will be a map of all the lines you can catch, as well as the cities they run to. At each city, the fare required to get there will be listed. Underneath the map will be ticket machines. You put your yen into the machine, and buy the ticket at the price that corresponds to the city you want to go to. You then go through a gate that takes your ticket, punches a hole through it, and lets you pass while giving you back your ticket. From there, there will be a hall-like area, with steps that lead to the platforms where you catch the trains. Depending on the layout of the station, you can either go up or down to the platform. On the platform, there may be a bench or a few seats here and there, at least a vending machine or two, and maybe a few vendors that sell magazines, drinks, film, and other small items of that nature. There is a clock on every platform, as well as an electronic sign letting you know what trains are coming and when. Marked on the pavement is where the doors will be located when the trains stop, so you can line up before the train is even visible on the tracks (during rush hour, you WILL NEED TO line up early). Oh, and trains, like everything else in Japan, are always on time. Down to the second. Running behind schedule is simply unheard of. You really have to keep that in mind if you are traveling in Japan. If your train leaves the station at 11:48, and the current time is 11:40:30, you may think “Oh, I have ten minutes.” No, you have seven minutes thirty seconds and not a minute more. Seriously. You can set your watch to it...
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Our
Japanese Tutors
During our time in Japan, we lived in a three-story apartment building. As a part of the program, we lived with a number of Japanese students, called tutors (why they were called tutors, I’ll never know...). They were college students at the same university we attended for our class, Ryukoku. Their ages ranged from 18-20. There approximately 40 Japanese students who participated – 10 guys and approximately 30 girls (it’s hard to know exactly how many). Two guys were assigned to a guy’s room, and three girls to a girls’ room.
Okay, bear with me on this one...left to right, starting with the top row, you have Makoto, Take (orange shirt), Yuko (purple shirt), Wakana, Asoko (obsecured), Michiko, and someone whose name I've already forgotten. -_-;; Bottom row you have Toshi, Aya (brown hair), Jessica (white shirt), Chucky, and Keho (white shirt, foreground). This is Jessica's surprise birthday party. |
They lived with us for about one week. Every Saturday, they moved out, and a new set of tutors moved in. There were exceptions; our three head tutors, Michiko, Keiko, and Ryohei stayed all four weeks. Our head tutors took care of a lot of the behind-the-scenes preparations and plans necessary for our stay, and although I know they did A LOT for us, I’m afraid I may never know the true extent of their efforts on our behalf. Haruka and Keho also stayed for four week; Haruka changed rooms only once. And there were a few girls who stayed for two weeks. It was disappointing to have to say goodbye to our Japanese roommates after only having a week to get to know them, but it was nice to have the opportunity to meet all kinds of new people. Luckily, tutors from past weeks always dropped by to hang out. I’m told that they had to rotate tutors in order to accommodate all the people who wanted to participate in this program. Asako, a fourth week tutor, told me that a lot of people wanted to do this, and even with the rotating system many people had to be turned down.
They were all college students, and fairly carefree. College in Japan is often referred to as “The Four Year Vacation.” Students have to work extremely hard to pass the entrance exams for college. Therefore, middle and high school tend to be very difficult. Many students also attend cram schools in addition to their regular classes, which are exclusively for the purpose of passing the entrance exams (in the Love Hina manga/anime, a major part of the plot is Keitaro, Naru, and Mutsumi’s drive to pass the entrance exams for Tokyo University, one of, if not the hardest exam in Japan). Entrance exams are very difficult, and oftentimes many students don’t pass them on the first try. These students are referred to as ronin, and usually spend the year studying and holding jobs until they can take the test again. After college, most students enter into the Japanese workforce, which is well known as one of the hardest workforces in the world. Therefore, college by comparison is a bit easier than the high school and post-graduation years; hence the Four Year Vacation. That’s not to say it isn’t hard; I saw many of our tutors with their noses always stuck in a book, or with major projects/papers they had to work on.
Miki, Keiko, and Saori |
Some things are just universal. Our tutors were a lot like us – they liked to have fun and hang out just as much as we did. We met a lot of interesting and different people during our time. I cannot hope to cover all of them, as I fear this feature is already long enough, but I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t cover some of them...
Michiko – Always calm, very laid back. Definitely has a sense of professionalism to her. Maybe too laid back at times, but she always seemed to be on top of things.
Keiko – My pretty daughter! Okay, that needs some explaining...one night I was eating dinner in their room, and I offered to wash the dishes as payment for the food. As I was washing, Keiko said that I reminded her of her father. So from that day on, I was “Papa” and she was “ore no kirei musume” (my pretty daughter). ^_^ Keiko is very nice, and is always helpful, and she did so much for us that I fear we could never truly pay her back. Not for the lack of trying though. ^_^
Ryohei – Another head tutor, this poor guy was always studying, and oftentimes came back late from study sessions, or just working on homework in the University library. If I had half the dedication that he does, I’d probably be a straight-A student.
Keho – Keho has a huge heart, and he shames me as a human being. After he graduates, he wants to go to the third world countries and help out the disadvantaged, and he’s also studying family affairs so that he can help out in that area as well. Basically, he wants to make life better for everyone on Earth. And if there’s someone who can pull that off, it’s Keho. On top of that, he’s a really fun guy and cool to hang out with. His English was pretty advanced as well.
Makoto and Toshi – The original dynamic duo! These guys were the first week tutors in my room, and we had a lot of fun. On the surface, they’re pretty quiet and reserved, but they can turn it up a few notches almost without warning. ^_~ We taught them, as Makoto calls it, “dangerous English”; basically Southern California slang. And they taught us a few choice phrases in Japanese as well. ^_^ And it’s impossible not to laugh whenever Toshi broke out with his “sexy dance”.
Makoto and Toshi: Dangerous Guys ^_^ |
Me and Wakana, just before the Gion Festival |
Wakana – Wakana is unbearably cute, and I wished I could have packed her up and brought her back to the states with me. ^_^ She was always so eager to talk to us in English. She asked a variety of questions about us and America and various things, always making sure to pronounce things slowly and correctly (Do you…like…baseball?) And then she’d listen intently, with her big eyes and a smile that causes cavities with its sweetness.
Haruka – I would have smuggled Haruka back to the states as well if I had the space in my carry-on. ^_^ Haruka is incredibly sweet, and indescribably unintentionally funny. She’d say something to make us laugh, and then she’d look around with this confused look on her face and ask “Why you laughing?” Which of course only made it worse. ^_^ She always went out wearing a sweater – that was a direct result of the first time, when she tried to go out wearing only a tank top, and the girls teased her saying “sexy!” Embarrassed, she ran back inside a grabbed a sweater, which she wore EVERY TIME. This is significant, because this just happened to be the hottest summer in Japan since the 1890’s. So we made the “atsui game”; if we could make her admit to being hot five times, she’d take the sweater off. We never got close.
Sachiyo – One of the quietest tutors in the program, once you talk to her you find a person who is incredibly nice and interesting. She has a lot of dreams and aspirations, which I know she can fulfill. And she has this way of doing what, on the surface, seems like a small thing, but really leaves a lasting impression on you. When I left the apartments on my way to the airport the last day, she accompanied me all the way to the train station; something I won’t soon forget.
Haruka and her indispensable sweater. ^_^ |
Sachiyo on her cell phone at the farewell party |
Miki – Miki is very worldly and knowledgeable. She’s done some traveling (although not yet to America), and by just talking to her it felt like I’d been there too. If I had to pick one word to describe her, it would be “cool.” Plus, she taught me how to give amazing hand massages. ^_^
Tomoko – Tomoko redefines the word “shy”. Anytime someone pulled out a camera, she literally ran away. Once at a temple, she ran away, and after 15 minutes of wandering where she was, we found her hiding behind a statue. It’s a real shame too, because she’s a really funny person and fun to be around. Just don’t pull out a camera. ^_^
Shotarou – Shotarou wants to go to America so bad, it hurts. I suggested one day that he look into any international programs his school may have – the next day I found him studying an education abroad booklet from his school. He can read and write English very well, but his speaking could use some polishing. I helped out as much as I could, teaching him some new words and structures, and he did the same for me with Japanese. Really cool guy.
Nori – The ultimate ladies man Nori. ^_^ He was always talking about girls, and otherwise hanging around them and talking to them. I should have taken a few tips from his book. He forced me to pick the two cutest Japanese tutors, and then vowed to “help me out” by giving me opportunities to talk to them and talked me up. He’s a really nice guy who oftentimes puts the needs and desires of others before himself.
Yuko – The first time I met, Yuko, I forgot her name. -_-;; She never let me forget that – so I made a concerted effort to learn it, and every time I saw her, she asked if I remembered her. Yuko is really cool and curious about a lot of things.
Chiaki (Chucky) – Chucky is the life of any party. The first time we met her, she was stealing the show at our welcome party. ^_^ She really knows how to have fun, and is really dependable.
Like I said, I’m leaving soooo many people out. Sorry guys! You’re all really cool!
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Money
and Shopping in Japan
Naturally, you’re going to want to buy some trinkets to take back with you. God knows there are more than enough souvenir stands. -_-;; But if you’re going to be in Japan for any amount of time, you should know how the monetary system works.
The currency in Japan is the yen. While I was over there, the exchange rate was 124 yen to a dollar. It usually hovers around the 120 mark. Think of a yen as a single US cent. However, here in America, we have the dollar, which marks 100 cents. Japan doesn’t have that. Its sort of like saying a Big Mac Value Meal is 399 cents instead of $3.99. So it may take a while to get used to the prices…lunch is 500 yen, movie tickets are 1300 yen, et al. If you’re stuck in dollars mode, the easiest way to think about it is to knock off the last two digits from a yen price; this is roughly the equivalent of the US price in dollars, give or take.
All currency under 1000 yen is in coin form. You have the 1 yen, 5 yen, 10 yen, 50 yen, 100 yen, and 500 yen pieces. 1’s and 5’s are pretty worthless. You can’t use them in machines, especially train ticket or vending machines. And you’ll probably accumulate quite a few too. You should keep them around though, as they are nice to use when dealing with transactions. Think of the US penny. 10’s are pretty handy; you’ll probably need them to buy a 120 yen drink out of a vending machine. Past that, you’ll need the 50, 100, and 500 pieces as the situation calls for it. You will probably deal with coins far more than paper money in Japan. Therefore, it’s a good idea to have clothes with pockets, or at least a good change purse.
As for paper money, there’s the 1000 yen note, the 5000 yen note, and the 10,000 yen note. If there’s anything higher than that, I never saw it. =P
It should go without saying that American money is more or less useless in Japan. Therefore, dollar bills and coins should be changed over – you’ll find currency exchange places in the international terminal of your airport. However, it might be a good idea to keep a few dollars and cents – they make for good impromptu gifts to your new Japanese friends. ^_^
Transactions in Japan are done with cash. Credit cards are very rare, and personal checks will get you absolutely nowhere. Same for traveler’s checks. In the larger, chain department stores, you may be able to use a credit card, but not for the privately owned shop down the street, which is where your best shopping can be done IMHO. Probably the best way to do it is to carry 30-40,000 yen on you at a time, and keep the rest in your bank. You can withdraw money from your bank in Japan if you have your ATM card – so long as it has the Plus/Interlink/Star logo on it. Check cards are ideal. Your best bet is the post office, which actually does banking in Japan. You can find post office ATM’s in supermarkets, train stations, school campuses, etc. They even have English language interfaces. Be warned though that while you can withdraw money, it will not tell you your balance, so be sure you know how much is in your account to the dollar, and be sure to take into account transaction fees your bank and the post office will take.
Japan can be very expensive. Train and bus fares tend to add up quickly. Food sometimes varies. You can get charged 800 yen for a simple plate of curried rice, or you can only pay 300 yen for an absolutely huge bowl of chicken and noodles. A lot of it depends on where you are and where you decide to eat. If you can find a local convenience store (I would recommend 7-11 or Lawson), you can buy a bento box for around 500 yen, or a sandwich for around 150-250 yen. Drinks are usually no less than 100 yen, usually about 120, 130, or even 150 yen. Clothes can either be very cheap (some of my friends bought dresses for about 2000 yen) or laughably expensive (I saw a Hawaiian shirt on sale for 13,000 yen. Yikes). Jeans are always very expensive so don’t plan on buying any. It’s a good idea to hesitate a little bit before pulling out your yen – sometimes you can find better deals in the same area.
The Sanjo area. The brown building in the background is a book/music store. |
In front of OPA, one of Japan's chain department stores. This store had 8 levels with different items on each level. |
There are a lot of stores in Japan (souvenir stands!!). It’s fairly easy to find the “main street” of the larger cities that have all the large department store chains, such as OPA. However, the shopping in these stores is fairly…universal. You’ll find apparel, jewelry, shoes, accessories, electronics, et al. If you’re looking for your souvenir/trinket kind of gift, you may need to get a little adventurous. I found that the privately owned stores have the best items; dolls, figurines, keychains, fans, pottery, yukata, kimono and other clothes, handbags, and a wide variety of other things. These stores are usually situated on one street. In Sanjo, if you took a left turn at the “main street” instead of going down it, you would find all the privately owned stores you could wish for. And in Nara, this street is immediately next to the train station. Down this street you’ll find not just a lot of private stores, but some professional ones as well, such as electronics, music and video stores, and clothing. And there will usually be a lot of restaurants too, so you can get a quick fix of food while you shop.
If you plan on doing any clothes shopping in Japan, be warned that Japan works on the metric system. So before you go, you might want to convert all important information in feet and inches into meters and centimeters. For example, since I’m fairly tall, many Japanese people asked me my height. I’m 6’3, but no one in Japan understood 6 feet and 3 inches. So I had to give them my height in centimeters, which is about 193. Also, when we went bowling, our shoe sizes were measured in centimeters as well.
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On
Being Foreign
America is a very diverse country. There are all kinds of different people living here. So when you’re out in public, you really don’t think much about all the different kinds of people you see. However, Japan by contrast is fairly homogenous. The majority of the people there are Japanese. Therefore, if you aren’t Japanese, you tend to stick out. Personally, I’m not a person who is very race conscious. Jack is Jack, Suzie is Suzie, Phil is Phil and Anna is Anna, and I really don’t care what race they are. But in Japan, even for me, it was hard not to acknowledge that I, as well as my other American classmates, were different. Being African-American and 6’3, I really stuck out.
Because we were foreign, we sometimes drew stares; mostly from children and older adults. It wasn’t anything bad; just curiosity about something different, something they probably don’t see on a daily basis. There are a lot of little intricacies and details about Japan that even a well-read foreigner won’t understand. It’s okay though, because the Japanese will give a lot of courtesy to foreigners. Sometimes, they won’t even tell you if you’re doing anything wrong.
However, the situation can be a little difficult for Asian-Americans, Japanese-Americans specifically. If they don’t look “American” enough, they can be mistaken for a Japanese person, and if they don’t understand all the cultural nuances and what not, they can be judged harshly. Especially if they don’t know the Japanese language. It becomes sort of like “Why don’t you know Japanese?” and can make the person sort of feel awkward. Usually though, it’s not a huge problem. The Japanese are not a very confrontational people, and really wouldn’t string anyone up because of cultural differences. As I said before, a lot of leeway is given to foreigners...just don’t abuse it.
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Life
in Japan
My trip was a bit different from an average, vacation-type trip to Japan in that I actually lived there for a whole month. While we did do a lot of tourist things, there were also down-times when we just needed to stay inside to rest. And we did things that you usually wouldn’t do on a vacation, such as laundry, grocery shopping, etc. For me, this is an invaluable part of my experience that I am extremely grateful for.
I lived in an apartment building in Seta, Japan. The apartments were pretty nice; three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, with a decent sized kitchen. As far as I can tell, there is no vent system in Japanese housing. And I’ve heard that air conditioners are very expensive. If you buy an air conditioner, it is basically just a machine that blows out cool air. An advanced fan of sorts. Since one unit alone can be pricey, typically there are rooms that will not have an AC. In our apartment, there were two units in the living room, and one in the master bedroom. During the winter, a kotatsu is used – a kotatsu is a table with a heating machine underneath it. You sit at the table with your legs underneath it, and there is a blanket under the table that you can wrap around yourself.
Six people lived in an apartment, but there were only 1-2 beds per apartment. Therefore we were given futon’s, and slept on the floor. The futon is a small pad that folds. You can lay it out on the floor and sleep on it. There were thick blankets the size of the futon that you put on top – you sleep directly on this thick blanket. There were also sheets that could have been used on top of the blanket, but for the most part we never used them. There was a small comforter in a very light casing, and a pillow that felt very much like a bean bag, which completed the set. Despite sleeping on the floor, it was comfortable and I never had any problems sleeping. In fact, I overslept a few mornings. -_-;; I don’t know how many people in Japan sleep on a futon opposed to a bed, but I do know that the futon is used.
Laundry was quite interesting. The washing machine could measure the amount of laundry, and tell you exactly how much detergent to use. We found that it was a generally bad idea to wash colors and whites together, as the whites usually came out with a smear or two. Our whites didn’t usually come out too clean either, but we weren’t using bleach. There was no drying machine. In fact, our Japanese tutors thought it strange that we use a machine to dry our clothes. In Japan, clothes are air-dried. You can look out the window during a train ride, and see clothes hanging from balconies of apartment complexes, and strung throughout neighborhoods. We had a small, plastic stand, with rings and prongs with which to hang clothes. Although we were supposed to hang them outside, we found that hanging them under the air conditioner worked best, especially on days that it rained. Since we weren’t using a dryer, our clothes would always get wrinkled terribly. Luckily (or not so luckily) Japan summers are incredibly humid, so the wrinkles would usually fall out of our clothes on the 20-minute walk to the train station. It would seem that Japan as a whole does not use drying machines. If anyone does, perhaps the rich elite.
Public transportation is widely used and very easy. Trains seem to be the main form. You can get almost anywhere in Japan by train – from city to city, to the next town over, to the large cities, or even within a city. And where you can’t go by train, you can usually go by bus. Taxicabs are also available. Owning a car would be very convenient, but as far as I can tell, not entirely necessary. I did see a lot of young people, and surprisingly some old as well, using motor scooters, which seem to be somewhat popular. They’re small, fairly inexpensive, and highly convenient. Especially on some roads that are very small and may have high pedestrian traffic.
One thing I noticed was the abundance of vending machines. They are everywhere. You can find them in seemingly random places; on the sides of streets, in front of any type of store, out in the middle of the country, no matter where you are, you’re not too far from a vending machine. All sorts of things are sold in the vending machines, but the staple would seem to be beverages. Japan has a wide variety of delicious drinks, all of which you can find in a vending machine. From the interesting Royal Milk Tea, to the infamous Calpis, and even the tasty Qoo. For those of you who lack a sense of adventure, there’s also Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Sprite. Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Root Beer, however, are unheard of in Japan. There is also iced coffee that seems to be quite popular. Aside from drinks, you can also buy alcoholic beverages. Yes, that’s right, alcohol in a vending machine. Asahi and Kirin beer, as well as a number of alcoholic fruit drinks, which are sort of like wine coolers. In a vending machine. There are also cigarette vending machines, which are numerous and can be easily found. There’s no sort of identification or security measures on the machines; you put your money in, you make a choice, you get your beer/ciggys. Anyone who is underage (the drinking/smoking age in Japan is 20) could easily buy from a vending machine…but I don’t think they do. In addition to all that, you could also find vending machines that sell ice-cream; these are highly popular in the summer as you might imagine. ^_^ Despite the abundance of these vending machines, they almost never seem to be out of stock of anything – only during the last week of my stay did I find a vending machine that was actually out of one or two of its selections.
A busy Japanese city street. |
Japan is a country that is fairly litter free. Sure, there’s your occasional soda can here, a cigarette carton there, but there is so little of it that individual pieces of litter really stick out. For the most part, you just won’t find that much trash on the streets. This is sort of unusual considering that public trash cans are few and far between. You may find a trash can at train stations and in front of restaurants, but that’s about it. You can literally go for miles without ever seeing a trash can. Kind of complicates things, when you consider how many vending machines there are. I can’t tell you how many times I walked for miles carrying a Pocari Sweat can because a trash can was nowhere to be found. It’s my understanding that the Japanese carry their trash around until they get to a receptacle, rather than throwing it on the ground. It would definitely seem so, given Japan’s lack of litter. It’s really amazing if you think about it. Trash in Japan is collected a few times a week, and you have to sort it into combustible and non-combustible.
Japan seems to work on the honor system. In many stores, merchandise will be positioned outside of the store, and there won’t be any security cameras or devices to monitor the goods. Even then, the storekeeper will be at the back of the store, not in a position to watch customers. At a tourist location, you might find a box that sells information pamphlets for 100 yen – but the box will have no locks on it, and there won’t be anyone around to make sure you pay 100 yen before taking a pamphlet. It seems to work too; I never, ever saw anyone take something without paying for it. There are a lot of other little things that seem to work on the uncertain guarantee that people will be honest and not exploit it, and it seems to work just fine.
Everybody in Japan has a cell phone. EVERYBODY. I swear, I think they’re given out at birth. You get your baby shoes and your cell phone at the same time I think. ^_~ Ironically enough, among our Japanese tutors, their primary function seemed to be email. They were always sending and receiving email through their cell phones. They also served a variety of other functions as well. These cell phones are so advanced, they put American cell phones to absolute and complete shame. I mean, I saw a phone here in America with a flip-top, and an text screen for internet and email. This phone was on sale for $200. In Japan, you can buy that same phone for about $5. I kid you not. Except, their phones had full color video screens. You could play games on them. Cell phones were cheap because there were so many of them. You could buy a $5 cell phone (that’s more advanced than any American phone) and service for just $30 a month. Of course, really nice and expensive cell phones did exist. My friend Keho had one such phone; it cost him $200, but he could take full color, digital pictures with the thing. Yes, full color, digital pictures. I can’t make this stuff up. Oh, and when he wasn’t taking pictures, he could put the video screen on the phone in “screensaver” mode with Ulala from Space Channel 5 dancing across his video screen. And it was a very small phone, with a flip-top. Unbelievable.
Television in Japan is very…interesting, to say the least. Something that seemed to be very popular were video shows; contestants would submit videos of random events (from an old guy swearing about having to dig an underground mine, to an old woman poking at people with a wooden penis. I swear I can’t make this stuff up), and they would be judged by a panel of guests. Also, the game show seemed to be pretty huge. I saw one where they’d have this monkey do a variety of stunts, and then they’d have a little kid attempt to do the same stunt. Contestants bet on whether the kid, the monkey, both, or neither would be able to pull it off.
Either way, the Japanese love getting and seeing reactions. On almost all shows, you’d have a little picture-in-picture box of someone’s reaction as they watched what was going on. In the Japanese version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, not only did they have cameras on the relative/friend of the person playing, but they chose the most entertaining person in the fastest-finger ring, and often went to him for commentary. And there seemed to be two completely random people they occasionally went to as well. Oh, but the host was the best. He’d ask “Is that your final answer?”, in Japanese of course, and then when the contestant said yes, he’d just stare them down for a good minute or two…and then the show would cut to a commercial break. ^_^ Additionally, anytime someone said something funny, the corresponding text would be written on screen. With some exceptions, like afternoon dramas, it seemed to be that way for every show, including the news.
And of course, there’s anime. I was a bit surprised to find that anime is not a big deal over there. Yes, it does come on TV, but it comes on like any ordinary show. You won’t find anime blocks or anything like that. There was a lot of Miyazaki stuff on, in light of Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. We once caught an episode of Inu Yasha one evening…and late at night, I was stunned to hear the first few notes of “Tank!” start playing, and as I look up, sure enough, Cowboy Bebop was coming on. I also saw some strange series about these four policewomen, but as it would turn out, one of them was actually a male. -_-;; There was another one about these talking animals led by a hamster, I think it was called Hamutaro. And there was another one about these five little girls, who were witches and also cooked. Once again, I can’t make this stuff up.
As I said, anime seems to be rather commonplace. Sure, people like it, but its not like there are fans of the anime genre. I honestly think that Americans are more into anime than the Japanese. Even though we may not watch it all, we’re at least basically familiar with all of the so-called mainstream anime titles, like Evangelion, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, etc. However, it seems to be different for the Japanese. To be into anime as a genre would be like an American saying they’re into “comedies” and are familiar with all the comedies that come on network and cable TV. Of all the people I talked to, most seemed to be at least familiar with the staple series – Sailor Moon, Dragonball, the ones that really blew up and were inescapable. But most of them had no idea what Evangelion, Tenchi, Cowboy Bebop, or even Ranma were, unless they had seen them.
And of course, for all you fanboys/girls out there like me, you could walk into any video store and find an anime aisle with every series you’ve ever dreamed of, readily available in VHS or DVD format. And you could find soundtracks in any CD store, from Bebop’s Vitaminless, to Evangelion’s Bunkamura Hall. The stuff you have to import, right before your very eyes. I’m amazed I’m not in debt. ^_^
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Men
and Women in Society, and The Legend of the Japanese Businessman
Although the times are changing, Japan is for the most part a male-dominated society. Think about America in the 1950-60’s. But it’s not quite like that; women have equal rights and opportunities, but as a whole, men are expected to work the 9-5 jobs and women are expected to get married, have children, and stay at home and be a housewife. I was surprised to hear a lot of my female Japanese friends, who were in college, say that they wanted to become flight attendants, secretaries, receptionists, labor of the servant nature. After graduating from college, women may enter the workforce, but they are usually expected to quit their jobs after they get married, or become pregnant. Therefore they usually hold the secretary-type jobs, with little chance of advancement. And Japan is well known for using pretty young women for the jobs of this nature. Many stores have women who are paid to stand at the entrance and greet you as you enter. In Japan, it’s important that a business properly greets its customers – you can’t enter a store without someone saying “Irrashaimase!” (welcome!) to you.
Although men dominate the work world, women own the house. Since the men are always usually working, the women are the ones responsible for keeping the house in order and running smoothly. Women will usually get involved in neighborhood activities, such as the PTA and town council. They’ll also look over their children’s affairs in school, and in work, and will oftentimes have to take care of their parents as well. In Japan, it’s rare for the elderly to live by themselves, or even in some sort of home. Usually, the elderly will live with one of their children if possible.
Of course, as I said, the times are changing, and you will find more women in the workforce, holding more meaningful positions with the possibility of advancement. And you may find some stay at home fathers as well. But for the most part, this is how it was a few years ago, and in some ways it still is.
Another thing Japan is famous for is drunken businessmen. Career men work very hard at their jobs, and go through a lot of pressure. They are very dedicated, often sacrificing a lot in their personal life for the benefit of their company. As a result, they often feel the need to “unwind” after a hard week. After work on the weekends, most businessmen will head to a bar and get falling down drunk. Usually with other colleagues, maybe even their boss. It’s a way for them to relieve on the job pressure. The Japanese are very forgiving of their drunks. A drunken businessman can swear out his boss one night with no repercussions; the incident will be forgotten in the morning, written off as the ramblings of a person who didn’t have their wits about them. Walking down the streets of Nagoya late at night, we saw almost as many businessmen as young people; maybe even more. As the night went on, their ability to walk continually diminished.
Another thing we saw quite a bit of was the hostess bar. On every street, at several points on the street, we saw businessmen being lead out of buildings by attractive young women wearing either kimono, or very nice dresses. After leading the men out, the women would stick around on the street, trying to lure more customers in. Let me explain the hostess bar, for those of you who don’t know. A hostess bar is like a very nice lounge. There will be large, comfortable places to sit, with tables, music, and usually a lot of atmosphere. But the real attraction of this bar is the women. At a hostess bar, women are paid to dress up nice and entertain the men. A man will come in and pay for the services…he’ll then get to sit with a hostess, who will drink with him, and listen attentively to whatever he has to say (usually complaints about work), engage him in conversation, laugh at his jokes, compliment his attire, basically make the guy feel good. All the while continually pumping him full of alcohol, which he has to pay for at the end of his time (the hostess usually gets quite a dosage herself). Usually, a businessman will frequent a particular bar, and will usually build a rapport with one of the hostesses in particular; he’ll ask for her by name every time he comes in. Sometimes, the relationship between the man and the hostess may evolve into something…more…and there are some hostess bars that do offer “extra” service. This however is not the norm, and is more of an under the table kind of thing.
Whether they’re at a normal bar, or a hostess bar, these men will stay out very late, if they come home that night at all. Trains only run for so long, and a taxi can be very expensive. Although the wives do worry about their husbands, they tend to sometimes dismiss the problem, realizing that their husband is off in some bar somewhere getting liquored up. And while many do realize that their husbands may be frequenting a hostess bar, they sort of ignore the issue by avoidance. This kind of behavior seems to be within the limit of mistakes you can make before royally screwing up.
As different as it sounds, Japanese family life does work. Japan enjoys a very low divorce rate (although it has been climbing in recent years) and families are typically happy together.
If the intricacies of a Japanese family and household sound intriguing to you, then may I suggest “The Secrets of Mariko”, by Elisabeth Bunmiller. Bunmiller shadows and interviews a Japanese housewife, Mariko, for a year; the book is an account of her life during that time. Mariko deals with almost all of the issues that Japanese housewives face; a husband who often stays out late and comes home drunk, a son trying to get into college, a daughter going through her teenage years, having to take care of parents at home, community issues and what not. It really is an excellent look into the average Japanese household, and if the subject is of any interest to you, I recommend this book. If anything, the author tends to over-criticize the Japanese way of life, continually believing that the American way is better, with it’s western ideals of career and businesswomen. Rather than agree with her point of view, I would suggest to read the book with an open mind (if you do read it) and realize that this is the Japanese way. The Japanese girls I talked to about their futures did not seem to mind at all about the prospect of holding a temporary servant job until marriage, and then becoming a housewife. If anything, they felt lucky that they got to avoid the pressures of the business world, and the constant concern about having to take care of your family financially, while not getting to spend a whole lot of time with them.
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Japanese
Hospitality
The Japanese, as a whole, are a very friendly people always willing to help out. When I first arrived in the country, I had to go from Narita Airport to Haneda Airport, both in the Tokyo area; from there I had to catch a plane to Kansai Airport, a bullet train to Kyoto Station, and a local train to Seta, my final destination. So, as you might imagine, I had a lot of questions. Anytime I asked someone, they were always more than willing to tell me everything I needed to know. If they personally didn’t know, they found someone who did. And even though I asked the questions in Japanese, they responded in English so that it would be easier for me to understand. If they didn’t speak English, they found someone who did.
As I mentioned in the Being Foreign section, there’s a lot of cultural things that you won’t be aware of, but the Japanese will give you a lot of leeway on it. Sometimes, they won’t say anything at all and let it completely slide; sometimes they will nicely tell you about it later, when any opportunity for embarrassment has long passed. So it’s important not to take advantage of any leeway given to you, and to learn about the do’s and don’t of life in Japan – returning some of the hospitality that is extended to you.
Our live-in tutors were always very helpful. Anytime we asked for something, they readily responded. Sometimes, they’d respond to an indirect request – we may say something off-hand about how we’d like this, or how that would be nice, and before we knew it, they had responded to it. One week, we were joking around with our tutors about how they had to cook dinner for us. The next day, they made a trip to the local supermarket and bought groceries to cook. As much as we insisted that we weren’t serious about the request, they fulfilled it anyway. And it was quite a delicious dinner! I made sure to pay them back by cooking a large dinner for everyone, which was widely enjoyed. ^_^ I spent several hours in the kitchen cooking and preparing – it was quite an effort. It prompted head tutor Michiko to remark that I’d make for a good wife; it’s unusual for men to do that kind of large scale cooking, outside of a restaurant setting. A good wife, eh Michiko? -_-;;
In the journal, I mentioned how one of my roommates and I received a ride from a businessman while we were running late and caught in the pouring rain. That’s a huge example of the Japanese hospitality, of course, but there’s another that comes readily to mind. About a five minute walk away from our apartments was a supermarket named Lawson, part of a chain in Japan. Before we learned the benefits of cooking for ourselves, we had to make a daily trip to Lawson to buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus whatever snacks we may have craved. A nice gentleman and his wife managed this particular Lawson. I had bought a bento from the lady (whose name I never caught), and noticing that I was obviously foreign, she asked me how I had come to Japan. I explained that I was here for a month studying Japanese literature, and that I was hoping to be able to better learn and understand the Japanese language. From that point on, whenever I went to Lawson and she was there, she always made it a point to engage me in conversation, speaking slowly and not using overly complicated grammar. It was an incredible gesture, one that took me by surprise.
In Japan you’ll definitely find a lot of people who are willing to help you out, even in the smallest way. It can really make you feel at home, even though you’re a good 5000+ miles away. If you ever go to Japan, make sure to bring lots of items that you can give away as gifts; they will definitely be needed.
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American
Culture in Japan
There certainly is a lot of American culture in Japan. There definitely seems to be some sort of infatuation with all things American, especially among the young people. Not just music, movies, and the like; Japan seems to be closely following the US in many different factors. One of my friends who spent some time in Tokyo said that in some parts, if you didn’t know better you’d swear you were in America.
One thing that surprised me is that there is a lot of English in Japan. Almost everybody knows at the very least some basic English, and there are quite a few people who can speak it very well, or at least key words and phrases to get by with. Our tutors, who spoke on what I’d call an advanced level, had been studying English for an average of 7 years, ever since middle school (from what I understand, it can be taught in elementary school as well). English is definitely the secondary language of choice, and in many ways, learning it in Japan is like taking any other subject; it’s pretty much standard.
English is used often. In any city, you’ll find restaurant, hotel and store signs written in English for no apparent reason. In the larger cities and the surrounding areas, announcements on the trains are done in both Japanese and English. At any tourist location, you’ll be able to find information pamphlets written in English, and information signs usually have an English counterpart as well. English is also very prominent in music, especially J-Pop. Songs will have random parts, or even entire verses done in English. I bought the newest release of Kuraki Mai, a well-known J-Pop singer whose new album was being highly advertised while I was there, and out of the 13 songs on the CD, 11 of them have English titles. Each song is done in both Japanese and English.
The desire to learn English seems to be pretty great. For our own program, as I understand it, there was a huge turnout of people who wanted to participate and have an opportunity to meet and interact with American students. Which was kind of ironic, some of us were coming to work on our Japanese, and they all wanted to work on their English. ^_^ Our tutors engaged us in English conversations whenever possible, and sometimes we noticed them speaking English to themselves even when no Americans were involved in the conversation. Most of them expressed a desire to visit America one day, if they hadn’t already been. Personally, I was randomly stopped by a few people on the university who noticed that I was American and wanted to speak in English to me. One night, after a late-night snack run to Lawson, a group of young people in an SUV called out to us; two guys and two girls. The driver asked us if we could teach him English. He said he was too stupid to go to college (aw!) but he really wanted to learn it, and he already knew things like “See you later!” and “How’re you doing?”
A trend among young people is to wear shirts with English writing on them. Sometimes, these shirts will look somewhat professional, but often times, they’ll look like someone bought sticky letters out of a store and slapped them on a blank t-shirts. These shirts are highly popular and can be found almost anywhere. Around campus, we always saw them. The funny thing however, is that whoever is putting the writing on these shirts, obviously doesn’t speak English, and maybe not even Japanese. You get some of the funkiest, weirdest things written on shirts. We made a hobby of collecting our favorite messed-up English sayings off of shirts. One of our tutors, Rieko, wore a shirt that said in big gold letters “ROSEBUD CLOTHES THAT LOOK BREEZY IN THE WINTER” from top to bottom. I saw a girl in the campus cafeteria wearing a shirt that said “Seagull screaming kiss her kiss her”. I thought this was odd on its own, but I came to find out that this is the name of a music group in Japan…their song lyrics far surpass the weirdness of their group’s title. o_O Yet another shirt displayed the words “Romantic super pressure ultra jump”. ...Yeah.
Not only does Japanese music feature a lot of spoken English, almost all of the high-profile American musicians can be found in Japan as well. In almost any CD store, you can easily find a wide variety of American music to choose from. Additionally, Japanese youth are familiar with all of the American music stars…from Destiny’s Child to Britney Spears, Sugar Ray, Usher, and even Limp Bizkit or Staind. Going into book and music stores, it wouldn’t be unusual to find cardboard cutouts of Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson.
Additionally, Japan gets our movies as well. From what I understand, not that many Japanese movies are made per year. There are a few live action movies, and anime films as well, but a huge chunk of the film market is American film. Japan gets the higher-profile movies, and usually about a month or two after their original release in America. They are in English, with Japanese subtitles. During July, A.I. and Pearl Harbor were fairly big deals, with Planet of the Apes getting a lot of attention as well. When I went to see Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi in theaters, there were two previews for Japanese movies, I think two or three anime movie previews, and the rest were for American films; Planet of the Apes, Evolution, and Dr. Doolittle if I recall correctly.
Subsequently, American actors are well known in Japan, and many of them do sometimes-comical product endorsements. Currently, Bruce Willis is the poster-boy for Eneos Gas, and there’s a laughable commercial of him busting into a football locker room and using his gas pump to reenergize the burnt-out players. Brad Pitt currently endorses a brand of iced coffee, and you can see his face on many a vending machine. I was also told that Pierce Brosnan and Leonardio DiCaprio also had endorsements and commercials, but I never managed to catch them.
And of course, many of you probably already know that some of the American fast-food chains are present in Japan. No trip to Japan is complete with a stop at a Japanese McDonalds, or Makkudonaru. Value meals are called “Sets” (or, in Japanese, “setto”) and come with the compliment of fries and a drink, except in smaller sizes than in America. You can find the Big Mac, of course, and a few new items, like the Teriyaki McBurger. For those of you who are wondering...the food tasted the same as it does in America. During my time there, I also saw a Wendy’s, and a KFC. KFC was having a promotion where they were giving out Colonel straw-caddies, and the Colonel came in a variety of different outfits...baseball, rafting, sumo, tennis, et al. For whatever reason, I got the Colonel wearing a thong-back and wielding an axe. I swear I can’t make this stuff up. -_-;;
There is definitely an infatuation with the American culture in Japan. However, that infatuation is pretty much one-sided. How many Americans can speak at least basic Japanese, aside from the cliché “Mitsubishi”, “sushi”, “sayonara”, and the like. How many Americans possess a desire to learn Japanese? Has anyone here ever heard of Kuraki Mai or Utada Hikaru, two of Japan’s biggest J-Pop singers? Is anyone familiar with the movies of Japan? Toshiro Mifune is an acting God...how many of his movies can the average American name? Granted, there are a lot of fanboys/girls like myself who may be very familiar with Japanese culture, but for the most part, America does not reciprocate the cultural infatuation. America being as diverse and as large as it is, it would be unreasonable to expect America to be totally in tune with Japanese culture, or any other culture for that matter. However, I do think that America is somewhat closed off-culturally. I can’t speak for schools across America, but in my own educational experience, foreign languages were not offered until high school, and there was very little, if any, cultural education. While I was in Japan, I felt sort of guilty that America wasn’t even half as into Japanese culture as they are into ours.
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