Newspaper Articles

A couple of you might remember from my earlier posts a message about my mug-shot and all my information appearing in the local newspaper. Since then I've been writing an article each month for this newspaper about little snippet of my month and what it's like as a foreigner in Japan. Sometimes it's fun to write and sometimes it a chore, but I always try and end up with some kind of moral, mostly that you should study English and don't give up (The irony of my recents annoyances has been noted). It is a sugar coated reality but if any of you are interested, we've now found out they put the newspaper online for the whole World to view. If you want to have a look please ask me for the link or check my Facebook group 'Our Man In Japan' (I don't want to link from my blog, sorry) and click of the cover page to get a PDF. I'm usually nearer the back and it's in English and Japanese.

Hiroshima Food

Yes mum, I am eating well! In Hiroshima we ate some good food, including a local style おこのみやき (Okonomiyaki, Japanese pancake with lots of ingredients mixed in) with soba noodles in it. I'll be honest, not a big fan of the noodles with it, but it did taste really good.

Also got to try 穴子 (Anago, a smaller eel, similar to unagi). Very nice and much cheaper than my much loved unagi, with its sweet sauce. Hmmmm, eel.

 

Elevators, Escalators and Automatic Doors!

It's an odd topic I know, but its something rather 'strange' about Japan for me and something I always notice.

Automatic doors are too slow. WAY TO SLOW. Every time I want to walk through one I end up stopping with my face a inch from the glass waiting for them to spring into action. The amount of times I've nearly face-planted myself on them is silly. It's not like I'm taking a run up either, it's just a normal pace, not even the fast London pace, more like a chilled stroll.

Where as elevators/lifts shut hard and fast without warning. And unlike back home, if you give them a gentle nudge and they open again, these don't. I saw a frail old lady crushed by an elevator door and had to dive for the button to save her. She looked stunned like deer in the headlights.

Escalators also have their own rules. Unlike at home, most escalators have signs indicating you cannot walk on them. Those that you can seem to have a rule that you stand on the left side, not the right side as in London. I had some angry looking people in Osaka because I was stood on the right.

In Japan, nothing is what you expect. And just when you think you've got it, an elevator door swings you a right-hook.  

Crazy Lady

While we were in Okinawa we went to Bise, a old area with a tree lined road that arches to form a leaf covered walk way. This Okinawan women walked up to us and very friendly started chatting. Her hair was ginger and frizzy almost like an afro and she looked so happy. I understood she was then pointing to the sky and saying there was an American plane and can we hear it. I was a little confused, I couldn't see or hear anything. She was saying “Wakarimasu, ahh, anata wa wakarimasu, ne” (You understand don't you!). I explained I understood, but I couldn't see any plane, but she kept saying it. Maki looked a little odd and then told her she understood to calm her down. She took our photo for us under the trees and left. It wasn't until after she left I really understood how crazy she was as Maki explained the blanks in my Japanese understanding. She wasn't just imagining American planes, she was saying the sun was an American plane! She was saying “You see that fiery ball in the sky, it's an American plane! You know what I mean don't you, don't you!?” こわいよ！ But in Okinawa, even the crazy people are friendly.

John VS Gundam

My parents once brought me some Gundam figures for Christmas. I loved them because they involved building them and then fighting them, what more could a little boy ask for on Christmas day. So when I heard there was a large one the other side of Tsuyama, a special trip was in order. This metal monster took a diehard fan 7 years to build and the details are incredible. At 7 metres tall, it's an imposing thing.

10,000 Eisa

While in Okinawa we managed to catch a festival of 10,000 Eisa Dancers. Eisa is the traditional Okinawa dance and this was preformed on the main street in Naha with over 10,000 dancers marching, singing and some playing instruments. It was good to see so many different styles and I learnt a lot from the ちょんだら (Eisa drunken, oldman, clown type character) for the next time I preform ;D

Annoyances – Part 3 – The Heat

I'm sorry, last one. I know I've mentioned about the heat already, but up until recently, I think I've been dealing with it well. It's more the constant and relentless heat. Everyday is so uncomfortably hot. Maki thinks I had a kind of heat stroke that you get over a period of days while we were in Okinawa. And it's actually hotter in Okayama as the mountains keep the heat in and the wind out. Here are my top 5 things for you to know when it's really hot:

• You only need the cold tap for a shower.
• You sweat sat in the shade.
• You make that noise like when you take that first sip of tea, “oooow”, when you go into somewhere with air-con.
• You get excited about a cloudy day.
• You get sunburn with a factor 50+ suntan lotion.  

Annoyances – Part 2 – Bureaucracy and Conforming

Thanks to all the friends who's been in touch after 'Part 1'. I'm definitely luckly to have such good friends. A little more to vent out my system and hopefully back to happy-to-be-in-Japan John.

Japanese people generally follow the rules and that's a good thing. They conform and those who don't still conform in their own ways. This makes a better society as everyone works for the 'greater good', which historically comes from when communities had to work together to grow enough rice to survive. The darker side of this comes from the Japanese phrase "the nail that sticks out, gets hammered down," i.e. conform or get hammered. I like the sense of community, but what gets me is there is no 'bending' of the rules for the greater good. Rules are rules, even if they are stupid rules, and Japan has a lot of stupid rules and no one wants to question the rules as they don't want to be the 'nail that sticks out'.

In the same vein I feel no one wants to be the one making the judgment call or the hard decision as everyone is so scared of being wrong and then having the community judge them. A perfect example of this in my view is the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. They spent so long before it blew trying to make the decision of what to do because no one wanted to be the one to make it in case it was the wrong one. Granted, no one wants to be wrong, especially over something so serious, but when making no decision is the deadliest option, surely any decision would be better.

I like to debate, I think it's sensible to question people sometimes and sometimes the Dutch view on rules does make more sense (it's a not crime unless its affecting or hurting someone else). I have been dealing with conforming and just accepting Japanese culture, after all, I'm the foreigner. But while sometimes the way the culture works does make sense, sometimes I just want to scream “THIS IS CRAZY!!!”.

Annoyances – Part 1 - The Language and Communication

While I am having fun and making the most of being in Japan (As I hope you've seen), living somewhere so culturally different does have it's drawbacks. Life abroad, for me, is more 'extreme'. The highs are high and the lows are low; and Japan just got to me with a three fold attack of communication, the heat and the bureaucracy. I feel I need to vent a little to get this out my system and move forward and hoping my friends and family can give me some words of encouragement. Although I am still actually on holiday and I feel wrong being so annoyed on such a long vacation, but there is no holiday from Japan at the moment.

The language and communication was always going to be a problem. Japanese is ubber difficult, I while I really want to learn, with the grammar completely mixed up, 3 alphabets and tons of subtext, I would never be easy. People either assume I can speak no Japanese at all or I am fluent, never the grey area that I am actually in. Most people here in the countryside, once I stubble on a word they give up and don't try to repeat or explain in a different way. They assume I cant understand by any means. I know they are just not used to foreigners but it makes Japanese learning more challenging.

At school I'm asked to speak English and it's my job so I don't really get to practice there. While I'm out with Maki people always speak to her directly and avoid me at all costs, even the other day when I asked a waiter a question, he turned to Maki and answered to her and when they speak to Maki it's always too fast to grab the words. Japanese friends I make want to learn / practice their English and while I want to make more Japanese friends, I feel my Japanese isn't good enough on it's own. If I knew a little bit more it would be easier and if I knew a little less I would be learning more. Sometimes I feel like my Japanese is getting worse and every time I learn something new, there is always an exception to the rule and the more I learn the more complex it seems to become.

Not being able to read is a b****. Reading menu's is the worst. It either takes me half a day or I have to rely on picture or help from someone.

But put simply I don't understand, a lot. And 5 months of being clueless has taken it's toll. What at first was funny misunderstands has turn to frustration and I miss the freedom of general conversation, the getting of a joke and the interaction of strangers. I'm now studying harder than before encouraging Maki to speak to me more, hoping I can step up a level, but frustration at the language and not understand is at boiling point. I know it'll pass, but I must be strong.

Random English of the Month - Car Dreams

Anyone any idea what a 'dress up car' is and how it will help me achieve my dreams, please let me, and everyone else, know.

Okinawa - Sun, Storms and Food

Arrived in Okinawa to bad weather as we got the tail end of a typhoon. We'd planned to take some time to spend by the beach, but as it was raining, did some shopping in Naha city.  However, another typhoon has approached meaning we have a morning of glorious sun before it rains again for about a week. Have a look at the before and after shots.

On the plus side, the food is amazing.  I've been craving for Rafute (Okinawan pork belly, slow cooked in Awamori and covered in Miso paste) and Umibudo (Sea-grapes.  A type of seaweed that tastes of the sea) for ages.  Also Maki's parents mango are amazing.  So sweet and juicy. 

Evening in Kurashiki

How to Eat a Small Snack Pineapple - スナックパイン

I was really surprise how they eat small 'snack pineapples' in Japan. It's so easy and you can just pull off small bite-size chunks.

Festival of the Gods (Sho-o Cho Matsuri) – 天神祭

My little town had a big festival last week. We'd just returned from our travels around Kobe, Nagoya and Osaka and found our small paved street decorated with lanterns and stalls being set up along its length. I was asked to help with part of the Shinto festival by assisting in the carrying of the 神輿 (Mikoshi or portable shrine). I didn't really know what I was doing and before I know it I was getting changed in the local 神社 (Jinja or shrine) into a traditional costume and being plastered with beer! We then carried the shrine into the main street, chanting and marching as we went. It seemed all the town's folk were out, from the youngest to the oldest, to see the event and feast on the food stalls selling squid, fried chicken, yakitori, pineapple and various other Japanese tip-bits. I understood we would be taking the Mikoshi to the station (About a 15 minute walk) and returning to the Jinja; however, it was much more involved than that. We would 'battle' with other people carrying other Mikoshi. The shrines were slotted together and we would push as hard as we could like a reverse version of tug-of-war. After, not really knowing if there was a winner or not, we would fling the shrine around like it was a twig and chant some more. More beer was consumed and we would march back and forth looking for another fight. This ensued for about 3 hours and although my arms and shoulders ached it was actually great fun. I felt proud to be asked to do this in the first place and be so welcomed as part of the community. I got a lot of encouragement from my fellow Mikoshi carriers and they let me to lead their chants which they were very impressed with. I think a lot of people were also surprised to see me chanting and partaking so much.  

The festival continued for a the next night and although I enjoyed the shrine carrying, I wanted to spend more time to enjoy the festivities. Makiko and I dressed up in traditional 浴衣 (Yukata, a light summer version of a Kimono), as did a lot of other people. I had a lot of very shocked looks from my students as they saw me all dressed up. It was quite funny to see people expressions and looks of surprise. On this last night a tunnel of lanterns was also carried through the streets and they Mikoshi were paraded underneath. We also spent some time with a friend and his niece and nephew. They were very young, but it was interesting to see the festival from a childrens point-of -view and they looked so cute dressed up in their own little Yukata's. It was great to see all the people come together and enjoy this event.