Culture

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12
Nov 10

Japanese Young Adults

Due to a floundering job market and a struggling economy, more and more young adults in America are living with parents even after school, struggling to find a job with which they can support themselves. Still, the idea of “adult children” living at home still conjures quite a bit of negativity  in America, as the “living in your mother’s basement” stereotype is often the butt of jokes and can make a man or woman seem unattractive to potential mates.

Japanese young adults face somewhat different expectations. There are some negative stereotypes with some of the anti-social “basement dweller” types of young adults (see below), and of course not every Japanese family adheres to society’s standards, but in general it’s not only acceptable for young adults to live at home after high school or college, it’s expected. Japanese young adults are still expected to get jobs after school–in fact, there may be more pressure in Japanese society for young adults to land impressive jobs than there is in America–but they don’t have to move out of the house right away. In fact, they’re free to save their money for their future independent lives and aren’t expected (usually) to pay rent to their parents or to pay for any household expenses. In fact, many Japanese manufacturers aim products specifically at this 20-something age group, which has more expendable income than other age groups, as they have full-time jobs and few expenses.

The general consensus is that young adults can live at home without paying expenses until they get married. Generally, marriage tends to occur in a Japanese person’s early to late 20s. Of course, especially in modern society, Japanese people may choose not to get married or they may get married in life. Societal and family pressure to get married aside, Japanese young adults can move out on their own whenever they’re ready, but they’re not looked down upon for staying at home a few years after school.

However, sometimes living at home can lead to sad behavior. Sometimes Japanese young adults get their own apartments, but their jobs (or lack thereof) aren’t enough to cover living expenses, so they may receive monthly allowances from home to cover rent, utilities, food, and the like. Of course, this differs from family to family, but it happens often enough to spark a growing social issue in Japan.

Because of a struggling job market and a disillusioned generation, a number of young adults in Japan are going through life while underemployed or unemployed, coasting by on their parents’ money or just living in their parents’ home. Sometimes it’s a defeatist attitude following a string of job interview disappointments, sometimes it’s sheer laziness, sometimes it’s a fear of growing up or other social anxieties… The causes vary from person to person, but the theories are endless. Japanese young adults who are underemployed or unemployed may make efforts to secure a full-time job, but if they don’t, they may retreat into their rooms, playing games, watching TV, surfing the Internet, and wasting money on frivolous things. They may need psychological help to get out of their rut, but since Japanese society tends to look down on those who need therapy, many Japanese parents would rather support their young adult children and hush up the problem, hoping one day it’ll go away.

The underemployed, typically those with one or more part-time jobs, freelance jobs, or seasonal jobs are typically called paato (from the English word “part-time”; the part-time jobs themselves are called arubaito, from the German word “arbeit“). These young adults struggle because they’re making minimal money and usually don’t have benefits such as health insurance (although there is a national program) and retirement planning. However, they’re at least regarded less negatively than another type of young adult.

Japanese young adults who have no jobs at all and stay home goofing off are called hikikomori, which means “to pull away,” or “social withdrawal,” or NEETs, which actually stands for an English phrase: “Not in Education, Employment, or Training.” NEET refers to society’s expectations that the person is not excused for not having a job while not in school or at least not apprenticing or interning with an employer.

Would you like to be able to live at home guilt-free for a few years following school? Do you see the danger for becoming a shut-in if you have the option to rely on your parents’ support?

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5
Nov 10

Visting Nara for Culture and History

The city of Nara in Nara Prefecture is a quiet, gorgeous place that lovers of history must visit when in Japan. A city of about 368,000, Nara offers plenty to do without overwhelming you with the huge, metropolitan flavor of larger cities. Nara was actually the first official capital of Japan during the years 710 to 784, before the capital moved to Kyoto. (The capital is Tokyo today.) Many of the city’s monuments have been preserved for 1300 years or more, which is remarkable in a country that has historically been victim to wars and earthquakes.

There are a number of important shrines and temples in Nara, including Toudai-ji, Kasuga Shrine, Saidai-ji, Toushoudai-ji, Gangou-ji, Yakushi-ji, and Koufuku-ji. A trip to Nara isn’t complete without stopping by a few of these shrines, if only to see the beautiful architecture. Be sure to learn what makes each temple or shrine unique. Toudai-ji, for example, is the world’s oldest wooden building that’s still standing.

Nara is quite famous for its mostly tame deer that bring visitors to locations such as Nara Park. The deer are protected and allowed to roam because of a Shinto legend that spoke of white deer that carried the god Takemikazuchi into Nara. You can even purchase shika senbei (“deer biscuits”) from vendors in the park to feed the deer. The deer will walk right up to you to eat these biscuits out of your hand. Don’t be surprised if the deer bow to you–they’ve learned to mimic the common Japanese gesture of bowing! Still, although the animals are mainly tame, they can be aggressive when it comes to eating. Try to avoid the ones with large antlers for your own safety.

Nara is about a four-hour train ride from Tokyo to the southwest. It’s only about an hour south of Kyoto by train, so you could feasibly visit both cities over the course of a few days. However, don’t be tempted to squeeze a visit to both cities in only one day; after all, there’s so much to see in Nara alone!

Have you been to Nara? What was your favorite tourist site? Did you feed any deer?

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29
Oct 10

Learning Japanese Hand Gestures

When you’re learning to speak and read Japanese, enough of your energy is spent on reading books and online tutorials about conjugations and kanji that you may completely ignore how communication works when you’re face to face with a Japanese-speaking person. However, communication is, by definition, the expression of ideas between two or more people. That’s why it’s important for you to think outside of the box from time to time and learn what communicating with a Japanese speaker entails beyond just words.

Knowledge of Japanese hand gestures is essential for proper communication, unless you want to suffer from a few misunderstandings. Some Japanese hand gestures are similar to those in the West, but many are not. A few of the most common Japanese hand gestures that don’t have the same meaning in the West include:

  • The “come here” gesture: Commonly confused for the Western “good-bye” gesture, the Japanese “come here” gesture is done with one hand, palm toward the person with whom you want to communicate, and quick repeated bending and straightening of the the four primary fingers.  You may also hear “oide” or “chotto kite,” both of which mean “come here.” A Japanese teacher of mine said that she didn’t know this didn’t have the same meaning in the West and waved to a co-worker with whom she wanted to speak. The co-worker smiled, waved back, and went on his way.
  • The “no thank you” gesture: When you want to turn down an offer, such as an offering of food, you can quickly shake your hand back and forth in front of your face. Keep your hand stiff as you do. This gesture looks somewhat like a gesture in the West when you smell something unpleasant and you’re trying to move the air in front of your nose. Don’t be insulted if a Japanese person performs this gesture when you offer something you’ve cooked yourself! At the time you do the gesture, you can say, “kekkou desu,” which translates to “no thank you.”
  • The “me” gesture: While not a completely important example of communication, you may be confused if you see a Japanese person point to his or her nose while you’re speaking. This is just a hand gesture to mean “me.” So if a Japanese person wants to emphasize that the discussion concerns him or herself, you may see this hand gesture in action.
  • The “let’s get a drink” gesture: If you’re out with friends or co-workers, you may see a Japanese person make a fist with his or her index finger and thumb extended in a round shape. He or she is mimicking the small sake cup and is asking if you want to get a drink.
  • The “boyfriend/girlfriend” gestures: Holding your pinky extended with the rest of your hand in a fist can refer to a “girlfriend” or “kanojo.” Giving what appears to be the “thumbs up” sign, with your hand in a fist and your thumb extended upwards can refer to a “boyfriend” or “kare.” When a Japanese person wants to ask if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend or if the person you’re with is your boyfriend or girlfriend, you may see him or her making these gestures.
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22
Oct 10

Japanese Table Manners

If you enjoy Japanese food, you owe it to yourself to learn about Japanese table manners. Not only does the knowledge of this aspect of Japanese culture broaden your mind, but if you ever find yourself eating in Japan or with Japanese people, you’ll demonstrate cultural sensitivity as well as manners that your hosts or guests are sure to appreciate.

First, you should be aware that while many Japanese homes and most Japanese restaurants have Western-style tables and chairs for dining, many more have only Japanese style tables, which are positioned very close to the floor. The participants in the meal are expected to sit on the ground, typically in the seiza position, which is a kneeling position in which you rest your shins on the floor and your rear on your feet. When you’re in a more casual setting, it’s socially acceptable for men to sit cross-legged and for women to sit with their legs crossed to one side. Depending on the setting, you may be sitting directly on the floor–on a tatami mat–or on a cushion. You may even have a chair with back support that goes directly on the ground.

Using chopsticks is considered the more polite way to dine in Japan, although you may use knives and forks in Western restaurants. You may still be able to request knives and forks even in Japanese restaurants and households, but your Japanese guests or hosts will be impressed if you use chopsticks correctly.  Chopsticks help you take smaller portions so you won’t be shoveling your food in all at once. When ingesting soup, you can use the chopsticks to remove the large ingredients in the soup and can then sip the soup broth directly from the bowl. Sipping sounds are considered polite, not rude, in Japan when not done in excess.

Many Japanese meals are shared meals, with the food served in the middle of the table. Use your chopsticks to grab a small portion of food to place on your plate and then eat from the plate. Don’t take more food than you can eat, as it’s good manners not to leave any food on your plate.

Like in the West, it’s impolite to burp or discuss gross or distressing topics at dinner. You should also refrain from blowing your nose and excuse yourself to the restroom if blowing your nose becomes necessary. When you’ve finished, try to put your dishes back to the position they started in, with your chopsticks in their holder and dishes and lids stacked as they were served to you.

If you’re enjoying alcohol, be aware that it’s proper table manners to serve others and not yourself. When you notice that a friend’s cup is empty, you can ask if he or she’d like more and pour it for him or her. Do not pour the alcohol for yourself or ask someone else to do so; your friends should notice that you need a refill.

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8
Oct 10

The Gakuensai: Annual Japanese School Festivals

In a few weeks, schools across Japan are going to hold their annual gakuensai (“school festival”), also often known as the bunkasai (“cultural festival”). The aim of this festival is to show parents and members of the community what the students can do to express their creativity and demonstrate their talents. It also allows the community and students from other schools to explore the campus grounds. Extracurricular groups, which are more important to school life than in American schools, can also earn money for activity funding.

Most schools throughout Japan hold such a festival sometime in late October to early November, which, if you remember, is about two-thirds into the Japanese school year. The festival tends to last for somewhere between one and three days over a weekend, but the preparation lasts a week or more. Students in elementary through high school are typically required to participate, since the preparation extends into school time, but college students do not have to participate and will usually only participate if they’re members of an extracurricular group.

Each individual homeroom class (and there are usually several classes per grade) must decide on an activity or event to produce for the cultural festival. Common activities include producing a play (even if it’s not a drama class), turning their classroom into a haunted house, turning their classroom into a themed cafe, selling items, or putting on an educational display. Extracurricular groups also tend to participate, usually by showing off something to do with their activity, such as selling crafts for an arts and crafts club or holding a music performance for a music club, or for something purely to earn money for their club, such as selling food for a sports group. Most students–since most students participate in an extracurricular club–participate in shifts in their homeroom class activity, their extracurricular group activity and just some time off enjoying what other groups and classes have to offer at the festival.

After each class decides on their activity, the tend to be given an entire week off from classes in order to prepare. They must still go to school, for that’s where they’re expected to prepare. But the students practice leadership and can do what’s necessary for a week to get their activity ready, whether it’s rehearsing a performance, making costumes, building sets, making items to sell, building a stand at which to sell food, or turning their entire classrooms into themed areas. Many students, especially those in middle school and older, are even allowed to spend the nights at school (with teacher chaperones) during this week in order to have extra time to prepare.

Have you ever participated in a gakuensai? What were your favorite parts of the festivals? Do you wish that Western schools held similar festivals?

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24
Sep 10

Playing Pachinko: How Illegal Gambling Is Legal in Japan

In Japan, gambling for money is illegal nationwide. Nevertheless, somewhere between 40 to 50 million people gamble on occasion–and 30 million of those people are regular gamblers. They gamble in large groups in licensed parlors that together employ roughly 300,000 people across the country. The gamblers win money–or perhaps more often, they lose money–just as anyone does at any casino. And Japanese lawmakers are perfectly aware of these parlors.

Welcome to the world of pachinko. There are about 13,000 pachinko parlors in Japan, where you’ll find dozens of pachinko machines crammed closely together. Pachinko is somewhat similar to a vertical pinball game in that the aim is for the player to try and control where a small steel ball goes using a series of levers. (Some machines can process up to 100 balls per minute!) Balls that fall all the way down are lost; balls that can be maneuvered into special holes can win the player bonus steel balls. Older machines were typically mechanical and most newer ones are digital. The game ends either when the player has lost all of his or her steel balls or the player decides to “cash out” and return trays of steel balls to the prize counter.

Players start with a number of balls that cost about ¥4 (roughly US 4¢) each; they typically buy them in amounts of no less than ¥1000 (~US$10) at a go, so they can start with around 250 balls. Payout is usually the same (¥4 per ball) or slightly less and if you’ve managed to increase the number of steel balls in your possession, you can make more money back than your initial investment. However, here’s where the pachinko parlors skirt the law so that they’re actually legal establishments.

Within the pachinko parlor, you can exchange your trays of steel balls for non-cash prizes, such as cigarette lighters, stationery items or even more expensive items (if you’ve won a lot of balls), such as computers and other electronics and even electric scooters and bikes. “Gambling” for non-cash prizes is legal in Japan. However, most regular customers will instead opt for nondescript tokens as their prizes. That’s because they know that if they take these tokens outside of the parlor to a small window usually around the corner or a small distance away, they can exchange those tokens for cash. These windows are of course usually operated by the owners of the parlor (who else would be interested in buying parlor tokens?) but because the gamblers win tokens, not cash, within the parlor and step outside to exchange the tokens for money, pachinko parlors are not breaking the law.

Children aren’t technically allowed in pachinko parlors because many parlors serve alcohol and allow smoking, although you may find some children who have snuck in with their parents or grandparents. Don’t let the sometimes cute designs on the pachinko machines (such as anime and Hello Kitty designs) fool you! These designs are aimed at adults because animation and “cute” is more acceptable for adults to enjoy in Japan.

Have you ever been to a pachinko parlor? Did you find the game fun? What do you think of this brazen sidestepping of the law?

*Photo by Michael Maggs, Wikimedia Commons*

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17
Sep 10

Utashinai: Japan’s Least Populated City

So far we’ve covered a number of Japan’s most populated cities in this blog. For example, Tokyo, Japan’s most populated city, is home to about 13.01 million residents in only about 845 square miles of space. (That’s about 15,144 people per square mile.) Conversely, Japan’s least populated city is Utashinai in the Hokkaido region. Utashinai is home to about 4845 residents in about 22 square miles of space. It may have much less space then Tokyo, but it’s far more spacious for the residents, as the density translates to about 224 people per square mile.

Utashinai is about a 7-hour train ride from Tokyo in the central part of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture. Like the rest of Hokkaido, Utashinai is known for cold, snowy winters as well as beautiful, spacious landscapes. For tourists, there are two reasons to head to Utashinai, besides perhaps the peace and quiet that such a small town affords. The first is the ski season, which can last anywhere between November and May, particularly December through March. Travel to Utashinai to tackle the Kamoidake ski hill (about a medium-sized hill). The ski chalets and hotels in the area offer Swiss-style ski-centric decor and often host ski groups and meets during the primary skiing season.

The other reason tourists visit Utashinai is the outdoor onsen. Kamoidake has a popular onsen resort and there’s another onsen called Tyrol no Yu. (In the spring and summer months, local sports teams may practice at the Tyrol arena.) You can stay at the onsen or spend only about US$5 per adult and US$3 per child to take a dip in the Tyrol onsen.

The appeal of visiting such a small town as Utashinai is that you’ll witness a completely different type of Japanese culture than you would in the larger cities. It can also prove extremely relaxing after some time in one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas (Tokyo) to retreat to a much quieter, more scenic area.

For residents of Utashinai, partaking in the skiing and onsen are a part of their daily lives, but there isn’t a lot else to do. In 2007, the local high school closed and high schoolers have to trek to neighboring cities for school. The town once thrived on a number of coal mines established in the 1890s and was home to a record of nearly 46,000 people in the 1940s; however, since the three coal mines closed in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the town has struggled to find an economic identity.

Would the idea of visiting Japan’s least populated city appeal to you? Why or why not? Do you enjoy winter sports and visiting onsen?

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10
Sep 10

Perusing the Japanese Menu with Fake Food

Today we’re not going to discuss Japanese food–at least not the type of food you can eat. Instead, we’re going to examine the fake Japanese food you’ll find adorning many restaurant windows in Japan. If you live near a Japantown or a Japanese marketplace with a food court or even some Japanese restaurants in the West, you may still see some examples of these fake food displays outside of the Japan.

Japanese restaurants often (but not always) make room for display windows featuring plastic incarnations of most of their dishes. These display cases can take up as much as half of the restaurant’s facade in a food court or even line the entire length of a larger restaurant in a mall. (For example, take a look at this video.) The actual-size replicas of the restaurant’s main dishes include replicas of all of the sides served with the food and even similar (or the same) bowls and plates. Along with the food item is usually a placard indicating the name of the dish, the price and the dish number so that you can order by number instead of item. (Although can still name the item if you wish.)

The fake food is usually so lifelike that you can see glaze where there’s supposed to be glaze or swear you’re staring at broth in a noodle dish. The food doesn’t lie lifelessly on the dish; rather, it’s arranged as if it were the food you’d be ordering, complete with noodles crossing every which way and overlapping main courses. Of course, much of the fake food is displayed vertically so that you can get a good look; this means that you won’t be confusing the food for real food, despite how real it looks!

Most fake food displays are custom-made for the individual restaurant. In fact, there are prominent companies in Japan that specialize in producing these individualized creations, such as Iwasaki Be-I, Japan’s largest fake food manufacturer. Much of the manufacturing process is kept secret, although it’s widely known that plastic is the most often-used material in the creations. Japanese restaurants can spend the equivalent of hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have these fake foods made for their menus.

Have you ever seen the fake food in Japanese restaurant windows? Do you think that the fake food can help you make a better choice when deciding what to order?

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3
Sep 10

When You Gotta Go: Japanese Bathrooms

Japanese bathrooms may seem like a strange topic for this blog, but it’s essential that Westerners who hope to visit or live in Japan familiarize themselves with what to expect in Japanese bathrooms. The news about overly-mechanized Japanese toilets usually spreads to the West as a sort of “funny story,” but there’s far more to Japanese bathrooms than gimmicky singing toilets or the like.

In public, you may find it difficult to find a Western-style sitting toilet in many stores, restaurants, schools and places of work. If you look hard enough, you should find at least one stall with a Western-style toilet in each bathroom in most modern buildings, but the majority of toilets in public stalls are actually Eastern-style squat toilets, which look like oblong, porcelain-lined holes in the ground.

As part of a society that values cleanliness, the Japanese continue to use this ancient style of squat toilets because they require no contact with a person at all, so there’s no chance of germs or messes accumulating on a seat and spreading from person to person. Men can easily use a squat toilet when urinating as they can stand. As far as women urinating or either gender going #2, the user must face the toilet and place one foot on either side of the squat toilet, bend the knees entirely, and balance their rear end a few inches above the toilet, without making any contact. When finished, the user can use toilet paper and then hit a flush lever.

After years of practice or perhaps just because of genetic disposition, Asian people can usually bend this way and stay balanced because their feet remain flat on the ground. However, when most foreigners try to bend this way, they naturally tend to remain on the balls of their feet, making it more difficult to balance. Obviously, many older people or people with mobility issues will find these toilets impossible to use. That’s why it may be best for foreigners to search out the Western-style toilet stall, if possible.

You may also notice a pair of slippers in a stall or outside a bathroom, particularly in older buildings with only squat toilets. The idea is to keep bathroom germs in the bathroom and keep other germs out of the bathroom. It’s implied that you should put on the bathroom slippers (and take off your own shoes–assuming you haven’t already, which you most likely have in an old-fashioned Japanese building) only when using the toilet and leave the slippers where you found them when you’re finished for the next person.

In public bathrooms, you may hear strange sounds coming from other stalls, particularly if you’re a lady. Or you may notice an odd panel on the wall. The noise may sound like mechanical trickling water or white noise or any other strange sound. This is because many Japanese people are embarrassed to be heard going to the bathroom (the tinkle or plop) and so would rather drown it out. Some women carry their own portable soundmakers expressly for this purpose, but you may find what’s called an otohime panel in your stall that will make noises for you.

Another important note when using a public bathroom is that you should bring your own hand towel! To save energy and cut back on waste, most public bathrooms do not have hand dryers or paper towels available. People are expected to purchase their own small reusable hand towel and carry it in a baggie in their purse or pocket to use after washing their hands. Some bathrooms (usually in more older buildings) also do not have soap; you can carry a small bar of soap in a hard case along with you for this purpose. However, many bathrooms in the more modern buildings will have soap and hand dryers available.

Japanese homes (unless it’s an old-fashioned home, in which case you’re likely only to find squat toilets) are where you’ll find those mechanical Western-style toilets with many interesting features. Most toilets in Japanese homes at least have a bidet function (with which you can spray water on your behind to clean it off) and an air-drying function so that you won’t even have to use toilet paper (although you may, if you like). Any other function (such as seat heating, automatically opening and closing lid, automatic flushing, and a thermostat for the room temperature, among others) is pure extra entertainment.

Oh, one more thing: you’ll notice that in Japanese homes, the toilet is never in the same room as the bathtub and/or shower. It’s often in a very small closet-like room across the way or next to the shower/bathtub room. This is again a testament to the Japanese culture’s love of cleanliness, so that no toilet-related bacteria or filthiness can spread into the place where people clean themselves.

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20
Aug 10

The Obon Festival: A Tribe to Ancestors

This week was the festival of Obon throughout Japan. Obon, a Buddhist holiday, is a time for bonding with one’s ancestors and deceased family members. The Japanese pray for the ancestors’ happy lives as spirits and acknowledge that they themselves could not have existed without them. Although most Japanese are not highly religious, this Buddhist holiday is a culturally important one. People tend to meet up with their family and return to their hometowns so that the family can pray together and also enjoy one another’s company and celebrate their lives.

Obon occurs on a lunar calendar and is different each year–and is even different in the same year among different regions–but occurs sometime between July and August. This year, most of Japan had Obon festivities from August 7th through the 17th.

Mukae-bon takes place on the first day of the Obon festival. After thoroughly cleaning their home, Japanese families light special Obon chochin lanterns inside the home and the family members walk the lanterns to the family gravesite area (if possible–they may just hang the lanterns outside the door and call them home as well). They call their ancestors’ spirits home and it is thought that these spirits reside within the homes’ Buddhist altars for the duration of the festival. The family keeps the lanterns lit beside the altar and also decorates the altars with flower arrangements and incense. They offer food to the spirits throughout their one-week “stay” in the home. On the last day of Obon, Okuri-bon, the family will walk the lit lanterns back to the gravesite in order to guide them back to the afterlife.

Because Obon takes place in the summer, the thought of ghosts wandering among the living permeates into Japanese culture as a whole. Like Halloween in the West, the Obon festival becomes a time for spooky tales, horror movies, ghost sightings, and the Japanese equivalent of a haunted house, which is sometimes called kimodameshi, a “test of courage.” At night, people will dress up like ghosts in the grounds of a Buddhist or Shinto temple and groups of people will split into groups of no more than two in order to face the dark, spooky path to the top of the temple. (These trials are usually undertaken by teenagers and young adults.)

Have you ever celebrated Obon in Japan? Have you ever gone on a kimodameshi? Would you like to?

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