The Japanese Tradition

When I say the word "Japan" to you, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Fast trains? Mt. Fuji? Or what about sushi?

Sushi, now I would hazard a guess that that is certainly going to be a common reply. Outside of Japan, sushi is regarded as something special. Yes, I know that of late with the popularity of places such as "Yo! Sushi", it is far more available to the masses and is therefore losing that magical spark, but it still retains the notion of being something different. (I would like to take this opportunity to point out that the vegetables rolled in rice and seaweed that they sell in your local Tesco, are not "sushi", but rather some western invention made to give the impression of eating something "foreign")

My dad recently directed my attention towards an article in the guardian magazine some time ago. It talks about sushi, and the idea of "tourist anxiety about eating in Japan", as the article puts it. It suddenly occurred to me that I too have suffered from this while being here. I found out last year that leaving rice grains in your bowl/dish is considered rude - during the shogunate it was something only the rich could afford, and the concept of it being a privilege to eat has continued to this day (highlighted by the use of the honorific "go" in front of the actual word for rice - "gohan").

The article also directs readers to this video (at least, the online version does):

I remember watching this before going to Japan, and not knowing how much was actually "for real". While they make jokes about the etiquette of the people here, there is some truth in what they say. This obviously adds to this whole sense of anxiety, not only when eating, but generally while living in Japan. All Japanese people seem to be aware of a certain code of how to act in public - something which as a foreigner, I have no idea about (other than what I have learnt from my parents). The irony is, that as soon as Japanese people get drunk, this "code of behavior" is permitted to be thrown out the window, and all manners of behaviour are permitted (to an extent obviously).

Therefore, it appears that a good remedy for this anxiety would be to be drunk all the time - thereby excusing your actions. Of course, this is not a feasible idea, especially when factoring in the ludicrous price of beer in Japan. Luckily, there is another option which requires very little effort - being foreign. As a foreigner in Japan, you are somewhat immune to social expectations on how to behave. Obviously extremes of behaviour will not generally be tolerated, nor will any illegal activity, but on the whole you can get a way with a hell of a lot simply by shrugging your shoulders and saying "hey, I'm foreign".

There is a third way - actually learning what to do in each situation. This however, is extremely difficult, as half the time Japanese people don't even know what to do, they simply do it by instinct.

So how am I getting by? Mostly by using the second option with occasional attempts at the other two, and eating a lot of sushi as I do it. Before coming to Japan I was never that enthralled by sushi, and I would still take yakiniku or a few other types of Japanese cuisine over it, but I have certainly acquired a taste for it. A nice bit of Toro (tuna sushi) is simply delicious (yes I know I am contributing to the problem, but it's just so damn good).

Anyway, so what have I been up to (besides eating sushi and shrugging my shoulders)? I hear you ask. Well, New Years Eve was certainly eventful. We decided to head to Meiji jingu for midnight - supposedly a "Japanese Tradition". But it turned out to be filled with foreigners and not really amount to much other then chucking some coins over a large crowd of people. After that we didn't really know what to do, so we walked around for a while, sat in McDonalds, and ended up in a darts bar at 4am drinking champagne (thanks Dries!). So yeah, not the best - but New Year's eve is always a big let down.

Around the 8th of January, I went with a few friends from the dorm to a mountainous region west of Tokyo called Hakone. We only went for one night, but were able to take in the countryside, visit the hot springs, and eat eggs cooked in the natural sulphurous springs of the mountains. It was a pretty nice place, and it even snowed on the second day, providing me with my first snow of the season (big ones for sure)! After getting back, we all had two weeks of exams/papers, but they proved to be pretty easy, and having completed them we are now on holiday until early April (hells)!

Regarding my moving out of dorms, I am unsure at what point I was at the last time I mentioned it, but thanks to a friend we have been able to obtain an apartment in a posh area of Tokyo called hiroo. What's best about the place is the rent - half of what I am paying now, equating to about £200/month. I'm moving with a Belgian friend I have made here in the dorm, and we are able to move in any time from now, so I have been taking occasional trips over there with a few of my belongings. The place isn't big, and it's pretty old by Japanese standards (from the 60's), but for that price in that neighbourhood, it is an amazing deal. It will allow a lot more freedom in how we live, and will ensure no worries about missing curfew, or the last train home - so we are bloody happy.

I think I'm going to call it a day for now as I've been writing this for well over an hour, and I want to cook my dinner. But I will hopefully get another post up telling you all about the rad South American food I've been eating, the all-night karaoke sessions I've been put through, and the dodgy robberies that have gone on (not to me thank God, but still... pretty dodgy).

So I leave you with a handy "how to" video showing you a speedy way to fold your T-shirts (a lot of you will have already seen it, but pfff, can't hurt to watch it again eh?):



take care guys.

Merry Big Ones

Well, a tad late, but I figured I'd treat you all to a nice Christmas gift in the form of another lovely blog entry. I hope you all had an awesome Crimbo, filled with many Big Ones, and that you'll be getting ready to see in the "one-ders" in style come December 31st.

As you no doubt have gathered based on my last post, this Christmas was most definitely not to be like any other. There was no turkey (goose, duck, or any for of poultry) planned, no gifts under the tree (no tree for that matter), and no family with which to take it easy and be merry. In fact, the only indications that I have in my room that it was/is the Christmas season, are the two Christmas cards on my shelf, and the Christmas hat I got from my secret Santa. Nonetheless, it was a wholesome Christmas which I spent with my girlfriend (and her family), and one that I shall not forget. Italian and Japanese Christmas dinner was more than satisfying, and I was very grateful to have such considerate people to spend Christmas with.

Anyway, I'm sure you're all anxious to know what the crack was with Shanghai.



Shanghai is a pretty rad place. It was however, not what I expected. I'm not really sure what it was that I had expected, but suffice to say, I was wrong.

The first thing I noticed upon my arrival was the haze which covered the city. It was as if there was a permanent fog in the distance. I had heard about the effects of pollution on the cities in China, but this was the first time I had seen it for real.

We arrived at Pudong International Airport about 9pm local time, but it was then an hour coach ride to our hotel and by the time we arrived, we were to shattered to do much and so went practically straight to sleep. The following day we had a city tour, and were therefore woken at 7am. The hotel breakfast consisted of toast, jam, noodles, fried rice, sweet an sour sauce, Chinese dumplings and various other foods that I would not have classed as "breakfast cuisine".

The tour was a mixture of cultural sites and advertising. By which I mean we toured zen gardens, and latex mattress show rooms. Nonetheless, it was an exciting experience. One of the areas we visited had somewhat of a local market street where thy sold all manner of foods, including small roasted birds on sticks. Lunch and dinner was much the same as breakfast, minus the toast and jam, but it filled a hole, and was interesting to try the various dishes which were laid out on our table. I would like to point out here that, contrary to what I had been told by certain friends, Chinese food in China IS similar to the stuff we get at home. The flavour is more "authentic", but it still seems to be the shiny, greasy food you can buy at the local Chinese place in England.



The second day was our "free day", and we got up early to go to a clothes market Naoko had read about on the internet. It was basically 5 massive multi-floor buildings, each housing a variety of stalls and "shops" (much like suppa-shoppa in Kings Heath, but a lot less organized and a lot noisier) which sold a multitude of knock-off goods, and tack. Some of the "finer" establishments sported shop names such as "Armarini", and "Dainholl", and sold things that appeared to be of passable quality.

We then got a taxi to the other side of town, which was almost the exact opposite of the clothes market. The shops were all designer (Gucci, Rolex, Omega, Maserati), and it was a much cleaner and well kept area of the city. I hadn't expected to see such a place in Shnaghai. The architecture was European, and the road and city layout only added to this. We even stumbled upon a Marks and Spencer, complete with food floor and all.

Just before dusk, having walked from the expensive posh area to the "normal" Shanghai, we got lost and ended up wondering down another market street. This time it was a food market held in front of people's houses, and it was fascinating to see the different kinds of fish and meat on sale (including dog). They also hug a lot of the fish on washing lines, right next to the clothes that were drying.



The last major thing we did on our free day was to go and see the view from the highest observation platform in the world. Visitors are allowed to travel up to the 100th floor (474 metres), and the view is pretty incredible, despite the high level of pollution/haze.

Our flight was a 10am the following morning (Chrsitmas day), and so we didn't really get a chance to do much else, but all in all, it was pretty cool. One of the things I noticed though, is that China is by no means as cheap as I thought it would have been. Most of the stuff you buy (apart from food), whether made in China or not, is of a similar price to that in Japan/UK, and for that reason, I wasn't able to go on a mad shopping spree as I had hoped.

Something else i noticed as I walked down the street, is that I often heard people hucking up lots of phlegm, before planting a fat glob right in the middle of the pavement. Nothing wrong with getting rid of the phlegm, but a little decorum if you please.

All in all though, Big Ones, as you can no doubt tell.



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year guys and gals.

Winter Woes

Well, it has certainly been a long time coming, but I shall finally allow for another glimpse into my life out here in Japan. The past month and a half of not blogging has been filled with various events, some good, some bad, and some... well, pretty ordinary.

First things first, I have decided and confirmed (by handing in an official notice), that I am definitely moving our of this dorm come the end of February. The decision came about based on a number of factors, and it is a choice I am yet to regret (although saying that, I am still currently in the dorm).

- A lot of the friends I have made in this dorm are leaving/moving out come the end of February. This is either because they too, have grown sick of being treated like a child, or it is because their year abroad time has finally come to an end.
- The "Ryoucho" (Dorm boss) and the rules he imposes are beyond a joke. I appreciate that they are not HIS rules (they are the rules laid out by the company that owns the dorm), but his strict enforcement of the rules just ruins the whole "living" experience. Not being allowed to go to the rooms of the opposite sex, and not being allowed to stay in the common area after half 11, forces us to either go out, or to just go back to our own rooms. We went to another dorm for Rikkyo students yesterday for a party (something we could NEVER do here). The Ryocho there actually came up to the room, bringing some alcohol and snacks and joined in with the party!
- Naoko has practically given up coming here any more, due to the fact that it's becoming increasingly hard to sneak her in. My friend here managed to sneak his girlfriend in, and was called down to the Ryosho's office at midnight to be told that she had to leave, despite the last trains having already gone, meaning she wouldn't be able to get home. He ended up arguing, and finally convinced him to let her stay until the next morning. (If you're wondering how Ryocho knew she was here, there are camera's all over this place).

Rant over, I'll be moving to an apartment with a Belgian guy, and hopefully there we will be able to have whoever we want over, whenever we want. It also gives us the opportunity to provide temporary accommodation to any friends who happen to be visiting...

With Christmas only 6 days away, I am afraid to have to disappoint you all as I will not be honouring you with my presence. I chose not to split my year abroad in two by going home for Christmas. That said, I am somewhat regretting the decision, as it doesn't feel very Christmassy here. The streets are all decorated, and the shopkeepers wear Christmas hats, but there is a lack of that Christmas rush that you always feel around mid-December. Japan, being a non-Christian nation, treats Christmas very differently to England. New Years Day is more like the Christmas day I am used to, as Japanese people get together with their families to see in the new year. The 25th on the other hand is supposed to be a "couples" day, much like Valentines day, which they also celebrate here. The exchange students at the dorm have organised a mini Christmas dinner for this Sunday, but with the lack of an actual oven, there's no chance for turkey or any of the normal roasted delights. (Japanese cooking doesn't tend to require an oven, and so most houses don't have one!). Even so, it's an interesting experience, and while I long for mince pies, roast turkey and all the trimmings, I find the differences fascinating.


(It's small, but I've never heard of turkey and paella for Christmas dinner...)

With the lack of any concrete Christmas spirit here, I feel less guilty about going away just before the 25th. SO, leaving on Tuesday, Naoko and I are going to Shanghai for 4 days getting back on Christmas day itself. I've been told mixed things about Shanghai, but am looking forward to in nonetheless. It's supposed to be a lot cheaper than Japan, and will provide a good opportunity to buy some cheap goods, and experience a different Asian nation.

In other news, I had a bash at the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (level 2) a couple of weeks ago. It's an internationally held exam that certifies your Japanese ability. There are (currently) 4 levels, 1 being the hardest. Suffice to say, I'm pretty sure I failed, as it was bloody solid. It doesn't matter though, as I planned to use that as a practice, and take it again in June next year (when it's held again).

Well, I hope that's enough of an update to keep people happy for a while, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I'll leave you with a photo of the effects of an all night clubbing session:



Oh, and one last thing. RAGE for NUMBER 1! I bought my copy.

Time is of the Essence

A new entry is on the way, I promise. Things have just been pretty hectic around here at the moment, and I haven't really had time to sit down and write a nice long tale of all my goings on. (Well, I have had time, but have filled it with other mindless activities which seem to whittle away the time.)

Well, talk to you soon.

Camp, football and Happy Halloween

Howdy folks.

I figure I should round of the end of the month with a new blog entry, just to keep you all informed of my goings on.

Well, I ended the last blog entry saying that I was about to take part in the sports day football team. You'll be happy to hear that I did indeed take part, and thanks to my superior goal keeping skills, were able to win our first match (a feat we didn't think possible). It was a close game, and we took the lead early on, only to concede a goal in the dying seconds (there's a video of this somewhere on facebook). Luckily though we won the penalty shoot out and progressed to the second round where we were soundly beaten 3-0. Oh well, we got a lot further than we had expected.

That following weekend was the international societies "autumn camp", so we headed out on Saturday for a countryside-ish region of Tokyo, where we had a barbecue, drank lots of alcohol, and slept in log cabins. It was quite a nice area right next to a river, so we were able to have the barbecue on a "beach", and then head inside for some drinking games. I was able to teach some people "ride the bus", and I was introduced to the real way to play beer pong (although, it didn't last too long as most of use were pretty knackered by then).

It was a good night with lots of drunken debauchery, and by about 3am most people were asleep, despite being woken up around that time by an uninvited guest.
Since then it's been pretty much standard living. I've gotten used to having to wake up at 7am to make it in for 9, and I've also got used to eating some form of rice every single day of the week (You can't escape the stuff here).

Two nights ago was the international society "Halloween Party", and while it only ran from 6pm to 8.30, it was OK. Afterwards we ended up going to Karaoke, and not getting back to the dorm until 3am. Luckily, we have a week off for autumn holidays at the moment, so I'm able to take it easy.

University starts again on Thursday with mid-term exams, so I should really get started on some revision.

Anyway, feel free to drop me an email/message on facebook to let me know how things are going back in the big UK (or anywhere else you may be).

Inabit.

Typhoon Trouble and All That Jazz

It has certainly been an entertaining couple of weeks since my last blog entry.

Firstly, something important that I failed to mention last time is that there has been an interesting change with the status of my "scholarship". Originally I had applied for 2 scholarships before coming to Japan. The first was a government offered scholarship of a little under £600/month with "no strings attached" so to speak (aside from having to write a report at the end of the year abroad outlining what benefits the year abroad had). Failing to get that, Rikkyo University offered their own "scholarship" to foreign students. I was notified that I had received the Rikkyo Scholarship sometime around May, meaning that I had not been accepted on the government scholarship (JASSO). I was perfectly happy with that, until I found out that it wasn't really a scholarship, but instead was a rent cover for staying at my current dormitory. The problem is that, you only receive it if you stay here, and due to the rules and regulations of the place, I was strongly considering moving out and finding my own place.

By some stroke of luck however, the Japanese government decided to invest more money in foreign scholarships, and when I arrived, I found out during orientation that I had actually received the JASSO, and so was getting more money, and more freedom. Hells. (I have no idea why the Japanese government offers such scholarships - there must be 70 recipients in my university alone, but why question it eh?)

The increase in money couldn't have come as a better time, as the pound (and euro, and dollar, and practically every other currency) seems to be getting a poorer exchange rate with the yen every single day.

In other news, classes were cancelled last Tuesday due to some massive typhoon. I would love to have been able to give you a detailed account of how loudly the wind howled and how heavily the rain poured, but truth be told, I was asleep. We got news of cancelled classes the night before when it was still dry and warm, so we all headed out to an all you can drink karaoke. When we left at 2am it was really heavily raining, but that's about all I remember. I woke up the following day at 1pm to clear blue skies. The wind was still pretty strong, and I could hear it blowing every now and again through my closed window, but that was about it.

Aside from that it's been the usual study/socialising mix that I've been doing more or less since I got here. Classes are generally relaxed and not too taxing, but I can certainly feel my grasp of the language is improving. My spanish classes are also going pretty well, apart from the fact that they are at 4.30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which doesn't really fit with the Japanese classes which are everyday at 9am - but it does mean I hang around to university and get some work done.

Today was also a national holiday, meaning no university classes. On top of that, Thursday is Rikkyo University's sports day, so there won't be classes then either (although for some reason I have signed up to play for the international student's football team, and so will probably be playing then - what the hell am I doing??)

Anyway, hope all is well wherever you are, and I'll leave you with an important message.

Turning Japanese

Hello folks, what's the crack eh? Well, I'll let you know what's been going on here, but first I'd like to apologise once again for my lack of recent blogging. Excuses aside, It's pretty bloody hard to write one of these things every week, so you'll have to accept a less frequently posted addition every so often when I have the time.

So where do I start? Last time I blogged, I mentioned my arrival at the dormitory and all the stupid rules of the place. Well, having met a few people and got a feel for just how far the rules can be bent, it's not as bad as I first thought. When they say you're not allowed people of the opposite sex in your room/ people in your room after 11, what they mean is "if we see this happening, we'll say no". Also, the curfew only really means "the door will be locked at 12, so get your pal to let you in if you come back after that". No real biggie. On top of that, I have my own little secret way in, which I shan't divulge here - just to maintain the secrecy of it, but to suffice to say, "s'all good in the hood". I've managed to have a few late night "parties" in here, and no-one has complained, so it seems like the rules are more relaxed than they appear.

There's a photo of my room as best as I could take right now. Like I said before, I have a massaging toilet seat, a electronic stove thing, shower, bed, fridge, desk and plenty of storage space.

I started classes last Monday, having sat a placement test during orientation to decide my level of Japanese. I'm not sure how exact the test, which took 4 hours and included an interview, was as there are people better than me in lower classes, and worse than me in better classes. As usual, I wound up slap bang in the middle class, and while I find some of the material a little easy, they say it is because some of my skills (such as listening and speaking) are pretty shitty, and so need the lower level to be brought up. I get another placement test before the start of the second semester, and I hopefully hould perform a lot better then. The biggest problem of the classes however, is that they are all at 9am. Had I been a lower or higher level I would have had a bit more of a lie in.

I was also permitted to sit in on some Spanish classes, and am now signed up for "Advanced Spanish Speaking", and "Japanese to Spanish Advanced Translation". The latter of which is causing me some concern as I don't think my level of Japanese is suffice to produce a satisfying Japanese translation, but I suppose it is some incentive to study harder.

Aside from the mundane educational aspects of this year abroad, I have also been partaking in much social revelry with some good friends that I have made at the dorm, university, and those that I knew before my arrival in Japan. I have so far had the chance to attend the time honoured traditional social activity of カラオケ three times in the last week, each time messier than the last. I also ended up going to a club last Friday night, which proved to be a rather unwise decision. Not only did it involve staying out until 6am (not due to curfew, but to having to catch the first train back), but the night itself was something I would rather forget. Nonetheless, an experience in itself.

As well as night time activities, I have been able to take advantage of some of my 9am starts to make the most of the days, and have been travelling around Tokyo, visiting the sites and what not. Also, I have just returned today from (not very proud to say this) Tokyo Game Show. A few years ago, I would have given up my kidney for the opportunity to go to such a place, but having matured a bit, and not really played video games for the past 3 years, I wasn't overly keen to fork out the £25 it cost to get there and back. But, Naoko insisted she wanted to go, and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed. Yes, it was a complete nerd-fest, and there were a lot of creepy things going on there, but on the whole, I had a good time, and was able to rekindle the video-game-playing kid in me that I thought I had lost forever.

I know it's not a terribly long entry, especially since the long time between my last blog, but its almost 1am and I have to be up at 7, so I think I'm going to call it a night. Hopefully I can get something else written soon, but having learnt from experience, I won't make any promises about when I'll write the next one.

As they say in Spanish (as I am yet to learn the Japanese expression for it) "hasta la proxima", and I leave you with some sound advice from JR train's "JT group"

Speak to you soon(ish)