What I think now

I've been in Japan for almost nine months now. I came here with high hopes. I spent the entire bus ride from the airport to the university's dorm smiling. And now, while not disenfranchised per se, I would say that I have a more realistic view of Japan. Japan is just another place like any other. There are feats of titanic engineering brilliance such as the Tokyo Tower;
And places of natural beauty such as the famous さくら (sakura) or cherry blossoms for those of you who do not know any Japanese.And there is everything in between. But, for as special as Japan and Japanese enthusiast I don't think it is. At least, no special then anyother country of the world. That is one thing that this blog has really helped me realize. Japan has many unique qualities but so does every country. I have really enjoyed my time here, both in Japan and working on this blog, I am happy to leave and explore other parts of the world.

Free Govenrment Money

This should come as a surprise to no one, but there is a global economic crisis, as it is being billed by most major news networks. So the Japanese government is seeking to remedy this by offering an economic stimulus to residents. A relatively small amount of money, about 120 U.S. dollars, is being given to everyone in the country in the hopes that people will spend it and stimulate the ailing economy. This includes foreigners living in Japan (as long as they registered as a resident before the first of February). I'm sure that there was (and is) heavy debate as to whether or not this was (and is) a good idea. My opinion is that it was a good move, especially giving money to the foreign exchange students. Because the amount is fairly small, most students won't think to squirrel it away and will instead go out and spend it. Granted, that might only serve to stimulate the alcohol industry in Japan, but it is better then nothing. Below are the letters that went out to all the foreign residents eligible for the stimulus.

Clubs

To tie into the theme for this week, sports, I am going to talk about clubs, specifically sports clubs. This afternoon I attended a meeting of the Kansai Gaidai Archery club. Sadly I left my phone in my room charging, so I was unable to get any photos of the event. I'll try to get more and post them later, but for now you must deal with drive-by photos of the baseball club/team. One thing that I was repeatedly told by people who had already studied abroad was how seriously the Japanese take their clubs. I kind of dismissed it until we watched the movie High School Baseball in class. In the movie baseball is shown to be THE most important thing in the students lives. And at the archery club at the end of practice the members got together and stretched, then talked about the practice going so far as to detail the degrees that they were off when shooting. It was a little overwhelming for a newcomer.

An observation about sex

When it comes to sexuality Japan is somewhat odd. Japanese society, culture, and people seem very conservative about sex. People get very awkward when it comes to sex, or even simply members of the opposite sex. More then once I've had a few Japanese girls come to sit down with me, ask if I have a girlfriend, and then crack up giggling and flushing immensely. Similarly, a few of my male Japanese friends have gotten awkward around some of our female peers, Japanese and foreigner alike.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, there are things like love hotels that dot the landscape and pornographic magazines that sit out in connivance stores, or even something like this;

A CD case that would not be allowed for sale in a retail store anywhere in the U.S. sitting in the middle of a Tower Records where anyone can get their hands on it. And then there are the stores that sell just pornographic material. If you travel to Den Den Town, the electronics district in Osaka, after eight o'clock at night porn stores are the only things still open. And they have things in them that are... unique to say the least.

Religion in Japan (seriously, right in the middle of it)

Many westerners do not think of Japan as a very religious country. I believe that this was demonstrated in this very class, when one of my western peers kept talking about how Japan didn't take their religion seriously because they referred to the Shinto stories as mythology (ignoring the fact that it was a translation and might not be what the original intent was or that you could just as easily talk about Jewish, Christian, or Islamic mythology). They may think, however, that Japan is very spiritual. Now perhaps this is merely splitting hairs, but I do think that there is a difference. I think that most people see religion as very strict uniform thing. Alternatively, spirituality is more of everyday things. As such, I can see how people would see Japan as spiritual. The main way I think this is represented is the small shrines that dot the Japanese landscape. Not just on the rural dirt roads, but all over the place. I pass at least two on my way to school each day. Photographed below is the larger of the two, one that is what most people think of when they think of a shrine. There are others, however, that are small wooden boxes with various statues in them. I've never seen anyone take care of them, but they are always in very good condition so someone must.

The Japanese Vending Machine

In honor of the movie The Japanese Version, this weeks topic is, well, the Japanese version. I chose the Japanese version of vending machines. In the States vending machines have almost exclusively snacks or soda, although I have seen vending machines with electronics such as iPods in them at airports. Regardless, people have no doubt heard of the famed panty vending machines of Japan. I have not seen any used panty sold in vending machines (although I have seen them for sale in certain stores in Osaka's Den Den Town, but that is a topic for another time) but I have seen other items in vending machines that might catch an American off guard. The first picture is of an Coca-Cola brand vending machine. It has some standard and less standard things. Some soda that isn't as common in the U.S. and Japanese brands that aren't know, or at least well known, in the States. That is to be expected. A selection of canned coffee is a little stranger, especially for a Coke machine, but it is within the realm of possibility. It isn't until the second picture that we see anything really strange. It is a beer vending machine. The picture I have is not very good, but it has a variety of beer and even canned whiskey and jarred sake. And anyone may use the machine. There is nothing to verify age or anything else. As long as you have 200 en, you can buy yourself a can of beer or even a jar of sake. And it is less then a minute's walk from the dorm. In the U.S. that would just lead to underaged alcoholics.

This week: Photos from someone who knows what they are doing (and aren't using a cell phone)

The assignment for this week was slightly different from the ones in the past and future. This week we were to choose a Japanese photographer and present some of their work and reflect upon it. I chose Nobuyoshi Araki, whose website can be found here; http://www.arakinobuyoshi.com/main.html. I got the pictures from the site Studio International whose site can be found here; http://www.studio-international.co.uk/default.asp.
I chose the first picture mostly to contrast with the second, to show that this photographer had range. With only 200 words there is only so much that can be said. In the interest of actually saying something about it, I like how it shows that the Japanese are not the emotionally stunted people they are commonly assumed to be.This is another photo from Araki, and represents what he is more well known for. Something that I took away from this picture, and this is likely not what Araki had in mind, was that it shows a Japanese woman in an obviously submissive position. So often I hear people here talking about how victimized the Japanese are, while this picture demonstrates a Japanese willingly entering a situation of submission to another Japanese person. If this had been taking by a white photographer I'm sure it would catch flack for being racist. As it is, it'll probably only catch flack for being sexist. Baby steps, I suppose.

For those of you that don't have a syllabus telling you what this week's topic is Japanese popular culture. As with all of the topics that we have been given, this needs to be narrowed down quiet a bit. So this week I'm going to talk about something that was a big part of my life growing up in the United States but are now becoming relics of the past, like the drive-in movies of a few generations ago; arcades. There are at least two fairly large arcades that I know of around Hirakatashi, a place called Dino Land in the Hirakatashi station and a bowling alley near Makino station. They are both fairly good sized arcades with people in them pretty much all day. There have been articles written on why American arcades have been failing across the country, this http://www.michigandaily.com/content/charles-paradis-death-american-arcade being the best I could find (there were several others that I came across, but they were much more casual and less informative). I agree more or less with what was said, but I believe that he understated the impact that home gaming has had on arcades. As he said, it used to be that the only place to play games with non-standard controls were the arcades. Now it is relatively easy to go and pick up specialty controllers of all kinds. Another factor that I think effects why Japanese arcades are more prevalent is the internet. Online gaming is huge in U.S. and finding someone to play against in a fighting game is as simple as going to an online lobby. However online gaming has never taken of in Japan like it did in the U.S. Therefore to play against strangers in their favorite fighting game the arcade is one of the only options for a Japanese gaming enthusiast. Also the following link provides more (and higher quality) pictures. http://www.japanator.com/elephant/post.phtml?pk=6631

外大生 (Gaidai students)

This post is supposed to be about the Japanese people. Now the only reason I used such a clumsy opening sentence is because it is a very vague question. Also somewhat dangerous. I mean, making broad generalizations of an entire group of people is always treading on uncomfortable ground. So I'm going to try to narrow it down to just the Japanese students I have met at Gaidai. Granted that isn't much better, Gaidai is a pretty large school of about 10,000 Japanese students. Still, it is better than trying to talk about the people in a nation of over 127,000,000. I took two pictures for this week, one of a few of my male Gaidai friends and one of a few of my female Gaidai friends. One thing that I have noticed about Kansai Gaidai is that it appears to attract very similar students. When I have asked what movies, music, books, etc. the answers are all very similar. It struck me as a little strange that there would be so many people with such similar tastes. Then I began to think; almost all of the Gaidai students are English language majors. It would make sense that they would have similar interests. I think one of the reasons that it stuck me as odd was that I am from a liberal arts school where there are many majors that one can choose. I know that many of the film majors at my school have similar tastes, there are just far less of us so it seems more feasible.

Neighborhood Makino

This post might be easier for me then it will be for some of my peers. I've got the benefit of nearly half a year in Japan. One of the places that I frequent the most is a restaurant located about fifteen minuets away by foot. It is called グリルサンドル (guriru sandooru), as evident by the below picture.I'm pretty sure it is supposed to be Grill Sand Dollar or Sand Dollar Grill. It is very well known among the students living at the Seminar Houses. You can get a lot of food for very cheap. The most popular dish by far, at least among the exchange students, is the yakiniku donburi. For 650 en the meal consists of a very large bowl of rice topped with grilled beef with miso soup, a fried chicken cutlet, some noodles, and tea on the side. This is far from the only meal served at Sandoru, or mom and pop's as it is sometimes colloquially called by some of the exchange students. Below is the display of plastic food that stands outside of Sandoru.
These pictures, while fine, do not include the picture that I wanted. It is not uncommon to go to Sandoru on a sunday and see the place packed with exchange students eating there. I've seen the restaurant completely full of Seminar House residents. Alas, when I went to Sandoru today, it was empty.

Early impressions of Japan (specifically doughnuts)

I guess that this whole 'early impressions' thing might be a little late in my case. Not only have I been in Japan for the last semester, I've actually been here twice before in high school. But one thing that I do remember from my earliest visit to Japan is Mister Doughnuts. Back in the States the big name in doughnuts is Krispy Kream, a name which my built in spellchecker is telling me should not be. And, as is often the case, I find myself agreeing with my spellchecker. Mister Doughnuts has hands down the best doughnuts I have ever had. Below are two of my favorites. Well, actually I left out my favorite, it just wasn't as photogenic. An intersting note about doughnuts; often I find myself talking with some Japanese students and my fondess of Mister Doughnuts comes up. Many of the Japanese students are surprised because Japanese doughnuts (and snacks in general) are less sweet then their American counter parts. Maybe Mister Doughnuts sereves doughnuts that are less sweet, but is it really that big of a shock that an American would perfer less sweet doughnuts? Anyway, the doughnuts:

The above is a chocolate doughnut with a strawberry cream center. 

And this one has some frosting and angel cream filling, Mister Doughnuts special cream filling.