Posts Tagged: japanese customs

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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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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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25
Jun 10

The Japanese Fairy Tale, Part 2

Last week we took a closer look at Momotaro and Kintaro, two classic Japanese fairy tales that permeate Japanese culture. This week we’ll take a look at another important tale, although there are quite a few more we won’t cover in this blog at this time. If the interest strikes you, do some more research and read translations of the stories themselves! This site is a good place to start.

Taketori Monogatari (“The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”), which is sometimes called Kaguya-hime (“Princess Kaguya”), is perhaps the oldest classic Japanese fairy tale. The story centers around a beautiful woman named Kaguya whose hair shines like the moon. She is found as a finger-sized baby inside of a shining bamboo tree by an old, childless bamboo cutter. The bamboo cutter and his wife decide to raise the child. The tiny baby grows into a beautiful woman (of normal size) and as the old couple raises her, they become rich because inside every bamboo tree Kaguya’s father cuts is a nugget of gold.

Kaguya’s parents try to keep Kaguya a secret, but news of her beauty spreads throughout the kingdom. Five princes convince Kaguya’s father to allow them to compete for her hand in marriage and Kaguya, who is not anxious to marry any of them, presents each bachelor with an impossible task, telling them that the first to complete the task would become her husband. All five failed—some even died. After this, the emperor of Japan asks Kaguya to marry him, but again she rejects even this suitor. Although the emperor continues to love Kaguya and ask for her hand in marriage, she continues to refuse him and instead becomes increasingly despondent. Her parents notice that when she stares at the moon, she cries. Eventually, Kaguya reveals that she’s from the moon and she misses her home.

The Emperor tries to keep her from leaving by placing royal guards around her home, but when celestial beings come for her return, the guards cannot stop them. Kaguya leaves behind a robe as a gift for her adoptive parents and leaves a note of farewell to them and the emperor. Along with her note to the emperor, she leaves a bottle of an immortality elixir, from which she takes a sip. Placing a new feathered robe around her shoulders, she forgets all about her earthly life and departs. Her parents receive her robe but are heartbroken and become sick. The emperor refuses to become immortal and instead writes a reply to Kaguya and asks that his servants take the letter and the elixir to the tallest point in the country and burn them there, hoping that Kaguya will receive the message. This point is the top of Mt. Fuji, and it is said that the mountain gets its name from this act, as the kanji for Fuji can mean “immortality.” It is also said that Fuji’s smoke (which isn’t often visible in modern times as the mountain rarely erupts) is the letter and elixir continuously burning.

Does the tale of Princess Kaguya remind you of any Western fairy tales? Which ones? What messages do you get from this tale?

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7
May 10

Common Japanese Phrases and When You’ll Hear Them

A few weeks ago, when studying introductions, you learned two basic phrases of introduction: hajimemashite (roughly, “nice to meet you”) and yoroshiku onegaishimasu (“please take care of me”). Today we’ll look at a few more common Japanese phrases as well as the situations in which you’ll hear—and/or be expected to use—them.

Tadaima: “I’m home!”

A cliché from old American sitcoms is when a dad comes home from work and exclaims, “Honey, I’m home!” even if his wife is a few feet in front of him and can see that he walked through the door. Well, in Japan, it’s proper manners to exclaim, “tadaima!” or “I’m home” (literally “I’m back”) every time you come home, even if everyone can see that you’re home. If you spend time living with a Japanese family or roommate, it’s proper manners for you to exclaim “tadaima!” once you walk through the door. This behavior is so ingrained that even Japanese people living on their own tend to say, “tadaima!” to no one once they return home.

Okaeri or okaeri nasai: “Welcome home!”

When someone comes back home, it’s polite to say, “okaeri!” (casual) or “okaeri nasai!” (polite) to the person who’s returning. The literal translation means something like, “You’ve returned!” but the sentiment is “Welcome home!” If you live with a Japanese host family or roommate, it would be polite for you to say this to them upon their return home. It doesn’t matter who speaks first—the person returning home saying, “tadaima!” or the person already at home saying, “okaeri!”—but the person returning home tends to speak first more often than not, particularly if the rest of the family is not immediately present.

Ittekimasu: “I’m leaving!”

When you leave the house, it’s polite manners to shout, “ittekimasu!” as you go out the door. The phrase literally means, “I’ll come back, having gone!”

Itterasshai: “Have a good day!”

“Itterasshai,” which literally means “go and return,” has more of the sentiment of “Be careful!” or “Have a good day!” You say it to anyone who’s leaving the house (when you’re still at home) after or before the person who’s leaving says, “ittekimasu.”

Irasshaimase: “Welcome [to our store]!”

Unless you get a job at a store, restaurant or other customer service-heavy business while in Japan, you probably won’t find the need to say this yourself, but every time you enter such a shop, you’ll hear the people who work there welcome you with the phrase, “irasshaimase!” While many customer service employees will greet you with a smile, don’t be surprised if you don’t always hear the phrase with a lot of enthusiasm. Just like with customer service employees here, if their bosses tell them to greet customers with a certain phrase, they generally will. But a bad day, a general dislike for the job, or a shy personality may make the greeting come out as rather bland and unenthused. Some foreigners, not knowing the phrase is meant to welcome them as patrons of the shop, have even reported that they didn’t know what the employees were saying—and wondered if they were telling them to get out of the store! (But now you’ll know better.)

Maido or maido arigatou: “Thank you, come again!”

When you’re leaving a store, the same employees should shout another phrase at you, which generally means, “Thank you, come again!” but could also be thought of as “Please come back soon!” if you didn’t bought something. “Maido” is a shortened form of the phrase.

Have you ever heard these phrases before? (If you shop in Japanese stores even in the US, you might have heard employees shout the latter phrases, for example.)

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5
May 10

Japan’s Golden Week, Part 2

Golden Week continues in Japan and we continue our coverage of the holidays. April 29th was the first day to feature a specific holiday. The next is May 3rd, which is Constitutional Amendment Day (kenpou kinenbi).

Constitutional Amendment Day was established in 1947 to honor the first day the country came under the laws of the Constitution of Japan, which was developed alongside the Allied Forces. The Constitution turned Japan into a liberal democracy. (It was previously a militaristic, imperialistic system.) It greatly lessened the role of the imperial family, making them more figureheads than policy makers, and also declared that the country would never again declare war. Instead, Japan would only defend itself if necessary, which is why the Japanese military is now called the “Japanese Self-Defense Forces.” The meaning behind the day is for Japanese citizens to reflect on democracy and government. It’s also the one day per year in which the National Diet Building (where the government—the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives—convenes) is open for public tours.

As discussed previously, the next holiday, Greenery Day, takes place on May 4th. Golden Week’s last national holiday is on May 5th —today! Children’s Day (kodomo no hi) is meant to celebrate children and their fun-loving, innocent personalities as well as to honor parents (particularly mothers) for raising them. It was originally known as Boys’ Day and was meant only to celebrate sons (as there is another holiday in March to celebrate daughters), but it was changed in 1948 to Children’s Day to celebrate all children.

An iconic symbol of Children’s Day is the koi (carp)-shaped koinobori flags. Households traditionally hang these flags from their rooftops, one for each of the parents and each of the children who live inside. Another tradition is to display a Kintarou (a fabled adventurous boy) doll and a kabuto (samurai helmet) inside the house, as these are symbols of healthy and strong boys. Today in Japan, many families are eating kashiwa-mochi (red bean rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves) and chimaki (sweetened rice paste in a bamboo or iris leaf) to celebrate.

Have you ever heard of Children’s Day or Constitutional Amendment Day? Do you think it’s fair that Boys’ Day was changed to Children’s Day when there’s still a Girls’ Day?

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3
May 10

Japan’s Golden Week, Part 1

This week, Japanese students and many Japanese businesspeople are sitting back, relaxing and enjoying their week off. The first week in May (actually April 29th to May 5th) is called “Golden Week” (ougon shuukan) in Japan because the close proximity of national and cultural holidays means that schools and many businesses close for 7 to 10 days. Of course, many shops remain open, public transportation continues to run, hospitals are still open, etc., so not every worker in Japan has the time off, but after the time around New Year’s, Golden Week is the second most important nation-wide vacation from school and work and the most popular time for travel.

What holidays make up this Golden Week? April 29th is Showa Day (Showa no hi). The day was the Showa Emperor (better known as Emperor Hirohito in the West)’s birthday and the birthday of the emperor is always a national holiday in Japan. (The current emperor’s birthday is in December.) This should no longer have been a holiday following the Showa Emperor’s death in 1988, but it was first changed to Greenery Day (midori no hi) immediately after his death to continue honoring him (read on for more information on Greenery Day). In 2007, Greenery Day was moved and replaced with Showa Day.

Showa Day, unlike Greenery Day, is not intended to honor the deceased emperor himself. Also, unlike Greenery Day, it publicly acknowledges that the Showa Emperor held his position during “turbulent times” in Japanese history. (The Showa Emperor was emperor during World War II in his youth and encouraged the country’s imperialistic war.) The day encourages Japanese citizens to reflect on that period in history and the way the country drastically changed before, during, and after the war. The Showa Emperor held his position until his death, meaning that during the Showa Era, he ruled during war time, depression, economic recovery and the transformation of Japan into a global industrial and economical leader.

Greenery Day, now May 4th, was originally intended to honor the Showa Emperor indirectly by honoring his love for nature and gardens. The day asks the Japanese citizens to honor nature and recognize all that nature provides, even in a technology-heavy world.

Come back Wednesday as Golden Week continues to learn more about the other holidays during this week.

Do you know any Japanese people who have off for Golden Week? Do you like the idea of Greenery Day or Showa Day better to recognize the late emperor’s birthday? Why?

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16
Apr 10

Japanese Schooling, Part 3: School Life

Uniforms are required at most Japanese middle and high schools (and some elementary schools), public and private alike, but each school makes the uniforms slightly different. Boys’ uniforms can either be similar to a business suit (pants, blazer, tie, dress shirt) or military-style with a high-collared buttoned-up jacket and perhaps a military-style hat that they wear for special occasions.

Girls’ uniforms always consist of skirts but can follow one of two styles: business-style (skirt, blazer or sweater, dress shirt and tie or bowtie) or seeraa-fuku (“sailor uniform”), which consists of a skirt and a shirt with an old-fashioned sailor collar and bowtie or ribbon around the neck. There are usually two types of uniforms for each gender at each school, one for the colder months and one for the warmer uniforms, but girls always have to leave their legs exposed, even during the cold months!

Although it varies from school to school, most Japanese school days last from 8:30 or 8:45 a.m. to 3:50 p.m., although attendance at after-school activities is virtually required, so students usually stay until 5 to 6 p.m. Students get a lunch break for 30 to 45 minutes halfway through the day, during which they can either eat cafeteria food—if the school has a cafeteria—food sold at a snack cart, or food they’ve brought from home. If the school doesn’t have a cafeteria, students eat in the classroom and lunch workers bring wrapped trays of food for those who haven’t brought their own lunches. Older students can usually eat where they want in the public areas of the school (like outside if it’s nice out), but elementary students are usually supervised during lunch.

Instead of teachers generally staying put in one classroom and students moving from classroom to classroom throughout the day as they do in American middle and high schools, Japanese schools even through high school are closer to American elementary schools in that the same group of students stays put in one classroom all day long (expect when headed for gym or perhaps some arts class). Instead, the teachers move from classroom to classroom throughout the day. This means that students are typically stuck with the same group of classmates—for better or worse—for at least the entire school year, if not for the full three years. Each classroom has a homeroom teacher who takes attendance and discusses morning announcements before classes begin.

Do you like the idea of wearing uniforms in middle and high school? Do you think it’s fair that the girls’ uniform requires a skirt? What do you think of the idea of staying put in a single classroom for the entire day?

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14
Apr 10

Japanese Schooling, Part 2: School After School

Japanese students are easily overworked because they do more than just attend 50 to 60 more days of school each year than their American counterparts. Participation in after-school activities is virtually required—it’s an unwritten rule in a society that stresses cooperation and working together over individual achievements—and students who refuse to participate in at least one club are considered to be unsocial and are jokingly referred to as the “Go-Home Club.” Luckily, many of these clubs can be fun, such as sports and hobby clubs, but there are a number of clubs for those who particularly like certain school subjects. Japanese students are therefore not usually done with school until 5 or 6 p.m.

However, the commitment to education doesn’t end there. Besides after-school activities, most Japanese students attend what’s called gakushuu juku or “cram schools” for several hours each evening or their parents pay private tutors (usually college students at the more prestigious schools) to work with their children one-on-one. Cram schools, optional schools for which parents must pay a small tuition, are nonetheless so common in Japan that most students attend at some point or another. Private tutoring and cram schools focus on one thing: getting students to pass exams to get into middle schools, high schools, and college—particularly high schools.

In the US, students headed for college may be used to taking a national standardized test such as the ACT or the SAT. If the college is particularly selective, there may be another test from the institution. However, taking tests to get into middle or high school is virtually unheard of, unless it’s a private school, and even then, not all private schools have such a requirement.

However, Japanese students must take tests to see if they can get into the school of their choice, even public schools. Each school offers its own tests and some schools are famous for being particularly hard to get into, but those schools are attractive to high-achieving students and parents alike, as acceptance into the best middle and high schools increases a student’s chances of getting accepted into the best colleges. The entire school year before taking a test, most Japanese students will concentrate on studying what may be on the exams during the school day and during cram school at night. Then they’ll study for a few more hours each day during their free time. Many Japanese parents even prefer that their children stay up late studying than go to bed early to get enough sleep. It’s easy to see how Japanese students on the whole become more overwhelmed and overworked than most of their American counterparts!

To add to the pressure, there are generally no make-up days for the exams. If you’re sick or otherwise late or miss the exam for a school you want to apply to, you’re out of luck. With college, you can wait a year and apply the next year, becoming what’s called a rounin and studying non-stop (perhaps while working a part-time job) for yet another year for the exam. However, with high school, you’ll just have to apply to other schools and miss out on your top choices. This kind of pressure actually makes some kids sick on the day of the exams, but they go anyway.

As a whole, high school entrance exams generally have the reputation of being the turning point of a student’s career, although college exams are nearly as important. (Although most students do go to college, fewer move onto college than to high school, and the exams can be easier for students if they already know what kind of career or field of study they’d like to go into.) However, even if they’re much easier and less stressful, there are even exams for many middle schools and some elementary schools—even some kindergartens! A number of overachieving Japanese parents want their children to start at a very young age on a path to the best high schools, colleges, and careers in the country, which can lead to a lot of pressure on their kids.

Can you imagine having to study for a year for important exams to get into even public schools? Do you think that one-time exams are a good indication of a student’s skills? Do you think it’s fair to look down upon students who choose not to join an after-school club?

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12
Apr 10

Japanese Schooling, Part 1: A Brief Overview

This week we’re taking a look at the Japanese school life. Look for Parts 2 and 3 later this week!

So you’ve finished all your back-to-school shopping and just entered a new grade at school. The flowers are blooming and it’s finally spring. Think I’m mixing up with spring with fall? Not in Japan.

The Japanese school year begins in early April, after students have had only one week of vacation from school. The school year is year-long, ending in late March. Japanese students do have a number of holidays off from school each year, including a few week-long vacations, particularly around Golden Week in May (more on that later in the month) and New Year’s. Their summer vacation is the longest of all of their vacation periods—but they usually only have about a month off from late July to late August, not the 3 months we’re used to in the West. Plus, their summer vacation occurs in the midst of the school year, so they have plenty of homework to do during their time off and return to school to continue in the same grade they were in before they left.

American students attend an average of 180 to 190 days of school per year, but Japanese students spend about 240 days each year at school. It was only in 2002 that the Japanese government introduced the yutori kyouiku (“relaxed education”) policy that no longer required students at public schools to attend school for half days on Saturday. The required Saturday school days were progressively relaxed since the 1970s (schools closed one to two Saturdays a month) in response to overly stressed students, overworked teachers and higher costs. However, some Japanese people believe the total cancellation of Saturday classes has led to a decline in academic performance. Nevertheless, it may reduce some of the risk of overworked students bullying other students or committing suicide, both of which have long been concerns of the Japanese public. (Later this week, we’ll talk more about what makes Japanese students so stressed.)

Japanese schooling is divided into the following:

  • Pre-school/Kindergarten: These are private schools, as attendance is actually not required by the Japanese government. Parents can choose to educate their children at home at this age if they wish.
  • Elementary school: Grades 1 through 6. This is the start of the compulsory education.
  • Middle school: Grades 7 through 9. Middle school is a part of compulsory education.
  • High school: Grades 10 through 12. High school is actually optional, although most students do choose to go on to high school. However, they can choose to move onto careers or technical schools instead if they wish. This mostly happens in more rural areas, where students join parents’ businesses or becomes farmers or fishers.

Do you think education in other countries should be compulsory only through 9th grade? (It’s compulsory until the student turns age 18 in the US.) Why or why not? Would you like a 5 ½ day school week? Do you think it’s a good idea for students to have shorter summer breaks?

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24
Mar 10

Japanese Royalty

Japan is currently the only nation in the world in which a monarch is addressed with the title of “Emperor.” The Japanese Imperial Family is also the oldest remaining monarchy with a single continuing bloodline. The Yamato Dynasty, the name for this family’s reign, is believed to have begun in 660 BCE with the ascension of Emperor Jimmu. Today, the 125th emperor in the line, Emperor Akihito, is the monarch of the country.

Emperors in Japan have enjoyed varying levels of involvement in the government and political actions of the country over the course of the Yamato Dynasty, perhaps most famously losing direct control over the country during the many on- and off-decades of military rule (called Shogunates) beginning in the 12th century and ending in the 18th century.

In much more recent memory, the current emperor’s father, Emperor Hirohito, ruled during World War II and helped rally the country’s support for its then imperialistic crusades. Emperor Hirohito quite famously got off without any punishment from the world community for his involvement in World War II, as this was one of the sole terms of surrender upon which the Japanese government insisted at their defeat. However, upon American insistence post-World War II, the Imperial Family has been uninvolved with political matters since.

Why was Emperor Hirohito’s position so sacred that he escaped punishment for any of his actions? The debate over his level of knowledge and direct involvement in the military proceedings aside, the Japanese government believed that keeping the Imperial Family intact was essential to the nation’s morale. The Imperial Family is said to be direct descendants of the Japanese goddess Amaterasu, who, according to the Shinto religion, created and founded the nation of Japan.

The Emperor is a symbol of Japanese unity and of the country as a whole. He also serves as the head of the Shinto religion due to his deity blood. Effectively, he is a ceremonial figurehead as the nation of Japan is a democracy and he does not interfere with political matters.

However, the Emperor impacts many aspects of Japanese culture, such as the calendar system. While Japan does use the Christian Gregorian method of counting years (in other words, that this year is 2010 AD/CE), this was adopted only after the opening of the country to the West in the 19th century. The earlier system, which is used interchangeably with the Gregorian calendar today, was based on the ruling years of each emperor. Emperor Akihito began his rule in 1989 after the death of his father, so according to this system, 2010 is called Heisei 22, “Heisei” being the name of his rule. The current emperor’s birthday also becomes a national holiday. During Emperor Akihito’s reign, it’s December 23rd.

However, while the Imperial Family is more of a cultural tradition than a series of rulers, there is one aspect of the Imperial Family that draws some controversy in Japan. The line of succession is purely patriarchal and there has never been an exception. The line is passed from father to oldest son, and if there are no sons, the line passes to the oldest brother, nephew or male cousin. The current Crown Prince of Japan, Emperor Akihito’s oldest son Crown Prince Naruhito, only has a daughter and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, has allegedly become stressed and disillusioned with the family after the pressure to continue trying for a son.

Do you think it’s important for the Japanese to preserve this ancient tradition, even if the Imperial Family has no political power? Do you believe that it’s time for the Imperial Family to recognize an empress if the eldest child is a daughter?

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