I REMEMBER YOU!

QUESTIONS: Where are you living? Whatcha doin? Where were you living before, for the cultural reference point? I've always been fascinated with Japanese culture...seeing it on things like Bourdain, or reading about it, I'm always shocked by how insular and compartmentalized the Japanese day to day culture is. Small offices, to small bars, to small apartments, with a fierce loyalty to the company of employment...and basically things that are totally alien to the American cultural landscape. Basically, what's your impression of what you've seen as someone from elsewhere?

Edit: Oh ya, and...is fetishism really as...not open exactly, but I guess what I want to ask is are the Japanese as fetishistic as they appear from where I'm standing? I understand they have less actual sex than like any other country, but then every time I run into Japanese sexuality, it's rather kinky indeed. It seems to me like a fascinating cultural variation but I hesitate to indulge my curiosity for risk of being incredibly bias on the basis of only their kinky shit getting to me.

YAY, GIO!

I has answers!

Where I am: I'm currently living in Nagoya city, Aichi prefecture. This region is called the "Chubu" region, as it's right smack in the middle of Japan. Nagoya is roughly halfway between the two larger cities, Tokyo and Osaka. It takes several hours to get to either by train. Everything about Nagoya is "medium" or "middle" in some way. It has a distinct charm that's hard to explain. Also, my little apartment kicks ass!

This is my second time in Japan. The first time, I was in Nara for 2 years on the JET Program. That was 8 years ago. It was a sleepy little town with nothing much to do, rice paddies filled with chirping frogs all over the place, but I still loved it. Also, it was a very short train ride to Kyoto and Osaka.

Where I'm from: I was born in Boston, but I lived in Hawaii for the past 10 years before coming here. I was working at a "multicultural" TV station there, and we just happened to show Revolutionary Girl Utena among some other anime series. My job required that I watch it all, and I was like, "Holy crap, this show is deep! I need answers!" And that's what brought me to Empty Movement in the first place.

What I'm doing: Basically, I teach English! High schools, middle schools, adult conversation classes, private lessons; whatever I'm assigned. It's not easy, but I find it incredibly rewarding. I'm still keeping an eye out for sword-wielding tomboys.

As far as Japanese culture goes in general, well, it's such a broad subject that I'm not sure where to begin. I think I've been desensitized to a lot of stuff, like the strange physical humor on Japanese TV shows, the elaborate concentric circles of politeness levels within interpersonal relationships, and so on.

But, here are some things that are still totally bizarre and alien to me:
-Food in general. Sea cucumber, sea urchin, things with tentacles, whale, tiny little dead fish that are still looking at you, etc. In Japan, if it's from the sea, it MUST be eaten!
-Prices. $3 for an apple? $10 for a melon? Are you kidding me?
-Drink sizes. Take McDonalds and scale everything down a notch. Their "large" is our "medium." Also, NO free refills, ever.
-Fashion: I've seen so many girls here wearing a skirt, shorts, and tights all at the same time. It's just... odd.
-Onsen: Bathing with strangers? Unless they're female and in my age range, uh, no thanks.
-Trucks with loudspeakers that travel slowly around town. Some of them are advertising goods are services, some are promoting politicians, but all of them are annoying.
-In winter, everyone uses kerosene heaters. These release deadly carbon monoxide and kill a statistically significant number of people in their sleep each year. The only way to reduce your risk of dying is to open a window… thus defeating the purpose of the heater.

Here are some things that I think are awesome:
-Public transportation. It's lightyears ahead of anything in the US. You can easily get by without a car. Similarly, because Japan doesn't have the obsessive car culture of America, you're not automatically considered an un-datable loser if you're a guy without a set of wheels.
-Convenience store bento boxes. Decent price, fairly nutritious, lots of variety.
-Air conditioners here can also work as heaters. Somehow. I don't know how to make mine do this, but I know it supposedly can. Despite this ability, people still use the aforementioned kerosene heaters.
-There are shops dedicated to buying and selling used video games, books, CDs, and DVDs all over the place.
-In Japan, just about every modern cellphone can send email. Not text messages; that's typically a free service within the same provider. I mean honest to goodness email. I have a laptop and see no point in this myself, but apparently everyone else loves it.

I'm sure I missed a lot of things.

Oh, before I forget, that whole fierce corporate loyalty thing has been changing. People don't have the same kind of faith in companies that previous generations did, especially considering the things that have happened to the world economy in recent years. Personally, I feel a sense of loyalty to the company I'm working for, but that's because they're cool people and treat us employees well.

With regards to fetishism, I wish I had more data with which to answer that question. (In other words, I need to get laid more…) I can tell you this much: In daily life, most Japanese people I've encountered are still quite inhibited. I mean, I've been seeing a lot more PDA in Japan compared to 8 years ago -hand-holding, arm-around-waist, and even a few kisses- but still not that much. There are still train gropers, and I still see signs warning people to beware of peverts. And while my sample size is too small to make any generalized statement, I've met women in Japan who act so chaste and demure that you'd think they'd never even heard of sex, but once enough alcohol is in their system it's like a complete reversal. Also, I've been to porn shops in Japan, and from my brief perusal I can say that the ratio of vanilla stuff to fetish stuff is about what you'd expect to see on the shelves, although there are a staggering amount of hentai video/computer games as well. I think perhaps Westerners get exposed to more of the fetish content simply because of the memetic shock factor. "OMG guys you gotta see this." Rest assured I do intend to look into it more… deeply.


Also, Hi Ragnarok! Sorry for not showing up for the caption contest during the past year. Considering it used to be my niche I feel like even more of a jerk for leaving without saying anything.

OnionPrince wrote:

-Air conditioners here can also work as heaters. Somehow. I don't know how to make mine do this, but I know it supposedly can. Despite this ability, people still use the aforementioned kerosene heaters.

I assume it's what we refer to as a "heat pump," though I don't think you guys use them in America; we use them a fair bit in New Zealand, though when I think about it they're all Japanese brand names. Can't blame you for not knowing how to work it, mind you; I messed around with my friend's quite a bit and never worked the stupid thing out. Admittedly my kanji and my Japanese in general was terrible, but...yeah. This is the sight that greeted me when I was cold:



...I tended to just cling to the little pink iPod mini and hope for the best. XD And here's a question for you -- have you seen this guy?



If you have, tell him he owes me more tissues.

Hey, OnionPrince. Any chance you know roughly what number of people in Japan speak English? Just doing an assignment and the only source I can find is Wiki......
Cheers man.

Welcome back, OnionPrince!

....I demand hilarious kancho stories!

I've been wondering where you've wandered off to.  I've missed ya buddy, and glad to see you back (and safe!)

My question:  Is Pachinko as fun as it sounds?

Long post is loooooong.

dlaire wrote:

How about the language? Do you speak Japanese, if so, how long it takes to be able to talk fluently?

Hi dlaire! To answer your question, yes, I speak Japanese. It was my major in college, and I had several years of practice and work as a translator in addition to that. I'm rather fluent, and I've been mistaken for a native speaker over the telephone a few times. But, I wouldn't be able to talk to someone about a topic with a lot of jargon (like politics or economics) without sounding like a simpleton. ...Well, except for sci-fi and fantasy. I'm a nerd in any language.

Japanese is a very challenging language, especially the writing system. I really can't stand kanji, to be honest, and I've forgotten quite a lot of it from lack of use. I think several years of formal study plus several more years of immersion are necessary to be able to speak fairly fluently. I thought I saw a "tips for language learners" thread somewhere around here; maybe I'll post there as well.

Clarice wrote:

This is the sight that greeted me when I was cold:

Yes, that's it exactly! I'd never actually seen an air conditioner with a remote control until I came to Japan. You know, I could probably figure out how to use the heat pump function, but I have this fear that it would be stuck on hot and I wouldn't be able to get it to blow cold again when summer comes around.

Clarice wrote:

have you seen this guy?

Ha! That's cute. But, no, unfortunately I've never seen him. I see plenty of people handing out advertissues (tish-vertisement?), but none in such elaborate costumes. A large fraction of them are gals in skimpy clothing trying to sell a "massage."

Bluesky wrote:

Any chance you know roughly what number of people in Japan speak English?

That's a complicated question. In theory, just about every Japanese person born in the last 30 years or so should be able to speak at least some rudimentary English. English is a required subject in all three years of middle school. I've also heard that starting next year English will become compulsory in elementary schools as well. Students are supposed to know at least 1000 words and all basic grammatical structures by the time they graduate. In practice, though, very few really absorb or retain enough English to carry on a conversation. As a teacher, it's my job to change that. But, no matter how hard I try to make the lessons fun and exciting, and no matter how effective and engaging a lesson plan is, there will always be kids who just aren't interested in learning. Plus, even the ones who do learn often lack the confidence to actually use their English.

Yasha wrote:

I demand hilarious kancho stories!

I've only been kancho'ed once, at an elementary school during my first stay in Japan. I immediately whipped around with a look of disapproval, but there were like ten kids behind me and I didn't know who it was. I offered free stickers to whoever could positively identify the culprit (the kids love stickers), and they all quickly pointed to one boy. He ran away screaming as I stomped after him in an angry Godzilla-esque fashion. It was fun.

At the high school I was working at last year, there were no kancho incidents, but several of the senior boys expressed keen interest in the size of my reproductive organs, even to the point of making attempts to grab my junk. Would you believe that this is not entirely uncommon in Japan?

satyreyes wrote:

I'm also interested in how you keep yourself entertained!  What do you do with your nights off?  Where are your friends from?  And how did you wind up in Nagoya?  Is it flashy and noisy, like the non-shrine parts of Kyoto, or more subdued?

Hey satyr! Actually, I'm still in the process of figuring that out the whole entertainment thing. I've been to plenty of castles, shrines, temples, parks, gardens; I've been to art exhibits at museums, including one that's inexplicably linked with my place of birth; I've been to the Toyota automobile museum; I've visited the science museum here (and yes, they have a planetarium); I've gone to festivals and watched 2-hour long fireworks displays. In fact, over the past year, I think I've seen every culturally/historically important site in the prefecture, so I'm kinda running out of ideas!

Nagoya is definitely a nice area, though. I chose to come here since it's the one big city in Japan that I hadn't visited, and the central location is nice. There's a very smooth gradation in this city from the flashy, noisy center to quiet residential areas like where I live. This area has long been the industrial capital of Japan, so the city has a very utilitarian feel to it overall.

Anyway, what else do I do here… I was part of a little tennis club in the area, but unfortunately I won't be able to make it anymore now that my vacation's over. (Unsurprisingly, I was the only member who was not a bored housewife aged 40-60.) I've been watching a lot of movies here, since there's a big mall with a theater within walking distance. Tickets are 1800 yen normally (roughly $18 US), but I signed up for a members card and I get decent discounts. Other than that, I've been working on a lot of personal projects, creative writing, and stuff like that. I end up spending a lot of time alone, so I have lot of opportunities for random inspiration to hit me.

To be honest, I haven't made a lot of friends here. Despite all my exploring, I still have no idea where to go or what to do to accomplish that. The Japanese teachers I work with are nice, but they lead busy lives, so I've only had an opportunity to hang out with them a few times. I still keep in touch with my friends in Hawaii and others who have moved elsewhere around the world, but the time zone differences make that tough sometimes.

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

I've been wondering where you've wandered off to.  I've missed ya buddy, and glad to see you back (and safe!)

My question:  Is Pachinko as fun as it sounds?

Hey OITL! I missed ya too!

Actually pachinko isn't too much fun IMHO. I mean, at first glance it looks like pinball, but the only real input you have in the game is how much force to use when you shoot the first ball. And even that is automated on some machines! After that, it's pure dumb luck, rigged to work in the pachinko parlor's favor. Granted, there are some pretty creative and elaborate machines; all the modern ones have color video displays, many of them are rather interactive, and somehow they always manage to work in an image of Rei Ayanami in a bikini, but in the end it's all there to distract you from how much money you're losing.

...Oh crap, Gio asked me about food and Osaka, two topics which will make me ramble forever, and it's getting late here already. I promise I'll get to that in another post first thing tomorrow!

lex wrote:

I want to know whats it really like in Shibuya? Did you see Hachi?

Hi lex! Unfortunately, the only experience I have related to Shibuya was getting lost at the train station during a brief stay in Tokyo. I didn't see Hachi, and I didn't know the story about it back then, but I'm familiar with it now.

(If any of you are Futurama fans, the episode "Jurassic Bark" was inspired by the story of the dog Hachiko.)


Tokyo vs. Osaka: It's probably not fair for me to compare them. I've only been to Tokyo once; I stayed there for a few days for an international teachers conference. I've barely experienced a tiny fraction of it, and so I can only give you my first impressions of it. For one thing, Tokyo is huge. I mean, it's just shockingly massive. I took an elevator ride up the tallest building I could find, and looked out at the city. There was no end to it, just an endless sea of grey concrete all the way to the horizon in every direction. The people there seem a bit cold. They rush around everywhere and don't acknowledge anyone's existence unless they're getting paid for it. On the other hand, many more people speak English than anywhere else in Japan, and it's a very international city. My guess is, if you like New York, you'd like Tokyo too.

Osaka is my favorite city. I used to go there almost every weekend during my first stay in Japan. It's big, but not that intimidating (at least once you've been there a while). It's got a lot of history and curious little nooks and crannies, but all the conveniences of a modern metropolis. The food is excellent, and you can find everything from cheap local eats to five-star gourmet cuisine. I really loved all the distinct shopping districts, like America-mura where youngsters throw fashion ideas at a wall and see what sticks, and Nipponbashi, the second biggest nerd mecca in Japan after Akihabara. Also, the people tend to be friendly and funny.


Food: For me, the food issue is probably the most frustrating aspect of living in Japan.

My favorite food in Japan is called gyudon. A lot of traditional Japanese dishes are quite pretentious, all style and no substance, but gyudon is the exact opposite. It's a bowl of rice covered in beef, onions, and tasty sauce. It's so simple, but so delicious! I eat that stuff whenever I can. The concept of a bowl of rice with meat on top has many other successful applications from katsu to unagi, and I greatly approve of it.

I eat a lot of curry rice, too. It's cheap and easy. I have a rice cooker (which I ordered online from the US because there were none here under 10,000 yen…), and low end beef curry can be found in single serving heat-and-eat packets at less than 100 yen each. If you're dining out, you can get curry almost anywhere. Hell, even Denny's sells curry rice here.

I eat pasta from time to time as well. Every place I've been to in Japan purporting to be an "Italian restaurant" has been a cruel, cruel joke, so I just cook spaghetti at home instead. I was able to make my own marinara and meat sauce back in the US, but here the ingredients are just way too expensive. Single-serving prepackaged sauce is good enough for me. I really miss pizza, though. Japanese attempts at pizza could be qualified as a crime against humanity.

Now, for lunch, I'm used to being able to bring sandwiches to work every day, so I thought I'd do the same thing here. But it just wasn't possible. In Japan bread is viewed as everything but a staple. This country has an inexplicable variety of strange bread products like "melon bread" (sweet bread shaped like half a melon), curry bread, strawberry-flavored bread, and so on. My favorites are chocolate mini-croissants and chocolate chip melon bread.

Despite this culinary creativity, the Japanese seem to have no concept of how sandwiches are supposed to work. See, you can't get an honest-to-goodness loaf of bread here. Picture a white cube of bread; now cut it into either 5 or 6 slices. That's all you can get. For some unknown reason, 5 is the standard number of slices. What the hell can you even do with that? They're far, far too thick for sandwiches. Giant french toast? Loaves of 8 slices can be found, rarely, but only one brand makes them and it's the cheapest least-nutritious bread. And just recently I've heard that the biggest baking company in Japan is going to start making even smaller loaves of bread consisting of just THREE slices. The mind boggles.

As for stuff to put in a sandwich, lettuce is the only easy part. Tomatoes and other veggies are too expensive. And the lunchmeat? No such thing. I've never been to a supermarket in Japan that has a deli, nor even any deli-type products. There is overpriced sliced ham, but it's far too small in diameter for the sandwich bread. I have no idea what you could even use that kind of ham for.

My only recourse was canned tuna. It exists in Japan, fortunately, but it's half the volume and twice the price. Well, I don't like tuna without nice pickles to go with it, but I could not find a jar of pickles anywhere. It's another item that doesn't exist in Japan, apparently. I had to get a "bag" of pickles. They don't go very well with sandwiches.


Random interesting tidbits on sex: I found this chart showing the results of an international survey on average number of boinks per year in 2005. Japan is way down there at the bottom.

A more recent survey by the same company again puts Japan at the bottom of the barrel. Only 34% of respondents here have sex at least once a week (while the next lowest is the US with 53%), and only 15% report being satisfied. (And here I thought I was the only one having a hard time...)

So, yeah, here's a distinct lack of humping going on in Japan. How is this related to the expansive sex industry and seeming ubiquity of really kinky stuff? I'm not exactly sure, but it's something to think about.

I just found out that a nearby prefecture has “the world’s greatest rose garden.” They breed a huge variety of roses in every color you can think of.
http://www.hanafes.jp/hanafes/english.htm

I’m tempted to go check it out, but I think I’d just end up getting depressed if I went to a place like that alone. Besides, what if I go there and suddenly the gate slams shut and I'm trapped with some katana-wielding psycho? It could happen.


Did I mention that I went to the World Cosplay Summit in August last year? It was awesome! This summit has been a yearly event in Nagoya since 2005. There’s a parade then, exhibitions and demonstrations, and a contest in which judges from the anime/manga/gaming world vote on the best cosplayers in the world.





Note 1: No, I didn’t dress up myself. I only found out about it a few days in advance and couldn't think of anything to go as, much less prepare for it in that time. (If anyone has any ideas for a tall, lanky white guy with curly brown hair, let me know. I've got a few months before the next one.)

Note 2: Yes, the pictures are crappy. I don’t have a proper camera here, just my phone. If you can put up with that, feel free to peruse the rest on my meager flickr.

HI OnionPrince I'm still a newbie but I've seen your avatar here and there, welcome back.

OnionPrince wrote:
Trucks with loudspeakers that travel slowly around town. Some of them are advertising goods are services, some are promoting politicians, but all of them are annoying.

Well, I'm from Ecuador(Sud-America) and that's really common here, our kitchens work whit this little gas tanks so there are trucks that come and go at different times of the day offering them, there are vegetable's trucks too.

Anyway do young people wear anime-like clothes for everyday life?
How many hours a day do they work?
Do they really take those bento boxes wrapped whit handkerchiefs?

'anything' question: Should a reasonably attractive a 22-year-old woman from California expect to fall in love at all during a four or five week stay as a volunteer in rural Japan?

Even if we are talking about the least sexually active nation on earth..

Syora wrote:

What about Takumi Mayama from Honey and Clover for cosplaying? It's a great anime and the costume is simple!

*Looks at pic of character*
*Looks at mirror*
...That. Just. Might. Work! Thanks, I'll give it a shot!

teyhy wrote:

Anyway do young people wear anime-like clothes for everyday life?
How many hours a day do they work?
Do they really take those bento boxes wrapped whit handkerchiefs?

There is some pretty strange fashion over here, but most people don't really go out dressed like that. On the other hand, quite a lot of younger guys around here have hairstyles that I thought only existed in anime. Also, I still see girls in gothic-lolita outfits sometimes.

Most Japanese people work 8-hour days, in theory; in big companies employees work a lot of overtime. Many teachers stay long after school to help students with their club activities. And, for cultural reasons, most people are ashamed of being the first one to go home. Even if they've finished all their tasks, people will stay in the office and try to look busy, waiting for someone else to crack and leave before they do.

And, yes, they really do take the bento boxes wrapped with handkerchiefs. It's so strange to me. When I bring lunch, I put it in a ziplock bag or tupperware container. You know, it seems to keep my food fresher than a loose wooden box wrapped up in cloth...

Hermine wrote:

Hi OnionPrince!
So, it seems like I'm always hearing about how rigorous the Japanese education system is and how it produces really smart young people. From what you've seen is this true? How?

Well, the Japanese education system does a lot of things right, and it certainly does produce a lot of bright kids, but it's not perfect. For one thing, in order to get into a high school or university, a student needs to pass an entrance exam. These are basically non-standardized tests unique to each school. The student's actual performance in their current school doesn't mean jack squat; they just need to pass the required test. So, they have to go to cram school and just memorize shit, sometimes for hours after school every day, at a cost that rivals university tuition. It's awful.

Between that, club activities, and other obligations, some kids just pass out in class during their regular school. It used to piss me off when I started teaching, but I really feel for them now.

The major advantage I see to education in Japan is primarily cultural. Unsurprisingly, diligence and excellence are highly valued. Japan certainly has its fair share of lazy kids, goof-offs, and troublemakers. But, unlike where I grew up, I've never heard of a student in a Japanese school getting picked on for being "too smart." There's bullying, sure, but it's never like, "Outta the way, nerd! We football-playing alpha males are coming through."

Sometimes I wonder how I would have turned out if I had grown up and went to school here.

76089172 wrote:

'anything' question: Should a reasonably attractive a 22-year-old woman from California expect to fall in love at all during a four or five week stay as a volunteer in rural Japan?

Fall in love? Well, that all depends on your taste. Will someone fall in love with you? I'd put good money on it. Assuming the area you're visiting is not populated entirely by creepy old men, chances are there'll be some nice guys around who will find you fascinating. Especially if you're working as a volunteer; that's like a free ticket to respect and adoration right there.

The first time I was in Japan, I was in a fairly rural town and the only foreigner for miles. Practically no one my age either. Somehow I ended up falling in love with a Korean girl who was studying abroad in the area. We had absolutely nothing in common aside from joking to each other about how fucking weird Japan is (in Japanese, no less), but oddly it was still my longest and most successful relationship. You never know where you might find someone like that.