Surprising Things for Japan 1st-Timers

I recently came back from a mini-Asia tour with some college friends.  Two years ago, I went with some of those same friends to Japan (before I officially moved here), one of whom was a first-timer.  Earlier this year, I hosted a few other college friends, none of whom had been to Japan before.

 

In my opinion, Japan has done a great job selling itself to the world: its technology, its culture, its image.  When kids see Pokémon (and many of my adult friends who still play the video games), they know it came from Japan.  With other things, such as sushi and karaoke, people know to associate with Japan.  I think, once upon a time, the media called this part of "Cool Japan".

 

Now that I lived here for a bit, I realized the "Cool Japan" image is pretty narrow.  Like many things that we don't have personal experience with, some things people hear about Japan are half-truths, some are exaggerations, and some are just myths.

 

Here are my top 5 myths:

 

 

#1:  Things are expensive in Japan.

 

This is somewhat true, but "expensive" and "cheap" are relative to your home country.  When I recently visited my grandmother in Hong Kong, she commented how everything is expensive in Japan.  To her, who only knows how much things cost in Hong Kong, things in Japan would be astronomically expensive.  While gas here is expensive (about $7 a gallon), it's still cheaper than gas in some European nations.  Being up here in farming country, I find foods to be comparable in prices to respectable grocery chains in the U.S.  When I went back for a visit over Christmas, many things have become noticeably more expensive since I left.

 

So, I will reword the myth:  Things are relatively expensive in Japan, while the rest of the world catches up to the real prices of stuff.

$1.35 for 3 servings of soba noodles really isn't that expensive.

 

 

#2:  Homes are tiny in Japan.

 

If you ask people to name one city in Japan, the first one will likely be Tokyo.  After all, it is Japan's capital, flights from around the world connect there, and everything and anything about Japan come out of there.  *With over 13 million people (that's 10% of Japan's population) packed into 845 square miles, people's homes have to be small.

 

* Population and city size only count metropolis area.

 

However, Tokyo is not the only existence in Japan.  Even if you only count the livable land in Japan, Tokyo is only 2.2% of that land area.  In other words, you still have 97.8% of Japan left to visit, once you leave Tokyo city limits.  Apartments and houses in Japan are quite normal sized and comparable to western standards.  Some people's houses are unnecessarily huge; they actually convert part of their houses in businesses, mainly mom-and-pop restaurants.

 

So, I urge y'all to leave the big cities to check out the whole Japan, to see for yourselves.

1st floor of this house was converted into a restaurant, which is popular with the

local women in my town.  This restaurant, originally located elsewhere in town,

was destroyed by the 2011 tsunami and later rebuilt.  Friendly owner and awesome

baked pasta dishes.

 

 

#3:  Everything here is high tech.

I recall my first visit to Japan as a grown-up, and was utterly amazed by a Sharp Aquos rotatable mini-TV screen on a flip phone.  Most people think of Japan as a high-tech wonderland.  However, this is far from the truth.

Sorry, no flying cars, secret gadgets (ひみつ道具), or robots named Doraemon in
Japan yet.  Still about 100 years away...

Referring to the Cracked article "5 Things Nobody Tells You About Living in Japan", Japan can be surprisingly low-tech by western standards.  For example, banking...  While most U.S. banks offer online banking, it's uncommon in Japan.  Office workers aren't carrying multi-touch tablets or ultra-thin flexible displays yet.  Paperwork is plentiful, about the same if not more than a typical U.S. office setting.  My schools retain wall shelves full of thick binders of old paperwork, which probably could've been converted and categorized digitally.  Banks still use passbooks, where your transactions are printed on paper in something the size of a checkbook.  Plenty of businesses are still cash only, even in Tokyo.  Fax machines remain popular, as opposed to scan-and-email.  In short, older technology is still prevalent here.

The houses here can be low-tech.  Most houses don't have central AC or heating.  In the freezing winters where I currently live, the only salvation is a kerosene or electrical heater (or some kind of portable heater), which is designed for single-room use.  Water heating can also be pretty backwards.  My friend/co-worker has a gas heater that needs to be cranked when he wants a warm shower.  And finally, plumbing.  Some houses and apartments still use cesspools, which periodically requires you to pay (yes, you have to pay) someone to suck the poo into a truck, a.k.a. "the honey wagon".

Contrary to popular belief, Japan is not an all-around high-tech wonderland.

Which heater will you choose to survive winter?  (Courtesy of Japan Times)

 

#4:  Everyone here is skinny.

I guarantee you that fat Japanese people exist in Japan.  By fat, I'm talking about beer gut and the likes.  If you only stay in Tokyo or other big cities, where people are constantly on the move and use only public transportation, it is much less likely that you'll see a fat Japanese person.  Plus, I believe people in the cities are more self-conscious, thus they try harder to stay in shape.

Once you get out to the rest of Japan, where people need to drive, it normalizes to something like the U.S.  You won't even see a fraction of the number of obese people here, but you don't need to look hard to find overweight Japanese people.

The key point is that not everyone here is skinny.

Matsuko Deluxe chomping on a donut from Mister Donut

#5:  Everyone here is nice and honest.

What many foreigners hear about Japanese people's honesty is mostly true - for example, if you lose your wallet somewhere, chances are that you can go to the nearest police box and count on someone turning in it with everything still inside.   Japanese people are taught from very young to "do the right thing", and the idea is reinforced through close family ties, social collectivism, and moral education curriculum (it's an actual subject) in their mandatory schooling years (grades 1 to 9).  Also, if you're a stereotypical foreigner (noticeably not Asian), then the Japanese will bend over backwards to accommodate you; it's part of their hospitality.

However, the Japanese are humans, and are just as capable of deceit and malice as any other people on Earth.  For example, one of my former coworkers left his flash drive at a convenience store after printing some worksheets.  When he went back, it was gone, and miraculously no one has seen it.

Another story, my college friends and I went to people-watch the famous Shibuya crossing from Starbucks.  When one of my friends, who is a bit overweight, grabbed her coffee, one of the staff had written the 3-letter word of a farm animal on her cup which insinuates about her weight.

The truth is: most Japanese people are friendly, but don't expect it to be universal.  Exercise the same caution as you would going anywhere else.





 

Little did we know, that Starbucks had at least one mean person working there.



 

If you dare to venture out of the cities, I'm sure that you will prove or disprove many more myths and half-truths about Japan.  However, I believe you'll find the experience rewarding.  Every prefecture and town has unique traditions, foods, etc. to be explored.  So, don't make up your mind about Japan until you see everything about her.

Happy trails!

 



Frequent Flyer Faces

Summer's coming to an end.  By that, I mean the vacation part.  On the last day of #epicasia2014, as I'm standing in line for lunch at the Ghibli Museum (probably for another hour), I have some time to reflect on my travels in the past years.

Flying was a huge part of my travels.  A lot of time, money, and sanity was devoted to it.  Through flying, I've met various people and had various encounters.

Time for the strenuous trip down memory lane...

Take my most recent flight back to Japan from Beijing (connecting flight from HK).  I sat next to a middle-aged Chinese man who asked me when the last bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto was that day.  Flights in and out of Japan had been delayed all day due to a typhoon, so we're going to arrive late.  Luckily, since he was reading some scientific papers on his laptop (I peeked), he knew English. Unfortunately, in mid-flight with no internet, I was of no help.  Hope he made it.

Then, there was the flight before, from HK to Beijing.  I sat next to another middle-aged Chinese man, who spoke even less Mandarin than I (as a reference, at least I know numbers, a few foods, and greetings).  This dude kept propping his socked feet on the magazine rack on the wall (exit row), and blocking the path to the toilet.

Few years back... I think it was my college graduation trip.  I was flying to Thailand from HK to visit my friend.  Also my first time on an exit row without paying extra for it.  I sat next to a fairly good-looking Asian woman.  I forgot how we started talking, but I remembered how she was really surprised about my age (thought I was 10+ years younger) and work (didn't think I was an engineer). Probably because I've always looked young, and that I was cursing at a game on my iPhone like a child.

Summer break after my sophomore year, on my way to Okinawa from Taipei, I was upgraded to first class on a double decker plane.  In mid-flight, my neighbor, a fat Taiwanese guy kept telling me not to use my laptop (in Mandarin). Then, he called a flight attendant over to join his fight.  She ended up setting him straight about laptop use during flight.  FYI, it's only during takeoff and landing when you can't use laptops and other electronic devices.

Fast rewind... mid-tour leave during 3rd year of the Iraq war, on my way home to surprise everyone for Thanksgiving.  I wore my field uniform for the first time on a civilian flight.  I think it's because I didn't have time to change.  I've heard about people getting free upgrades and drinks because of the uniform, so I normally changed to avoid the attention.  No upgrades or drinks, but I got a first row economy seat with lots of legroom.  The best part was the middle-aged woman next to me said thank you for my service to the country.  I felt pretty good afterwards.

Winter leave the year before, on my way home.  My neighbor was a decent looking girl around my age, who worked at a bank near my hometown.  After some chit-chat, I managed to get her name and number.  I never called.  Who knew if they were real or not?

Earlier in the year, coming back from 1st year of the Iraq war.  After volunteering to stay behind for a few weeks, I flew home on a civilian flight with a connection through Charles de Gaulle Airport (a few months before a roof section collapsed).  There was a huge fuss on the plane, because some famous music artists and their entourage were on it.  People were scrambling for autographs.  After 13 months of sleeping in vehicles, tents, and dusty buildings, I could care less.  I was more annoyed that these people are robbing me of my first real sleep in a year.

Finally, a year before, my first overseas trip in 9 or 10 years, except I was going to Kuwait for work. Back then, planes had phones behind some seats that people can swipe credit cards to call and charged $10 a minute.  I was probably too cheap to use it, but a few coworkers didn't hesitate.  I wouldn't be able to call home for another 2 or 3 months, about 5 weeks after the start of the Iraq war.

Flying IS a pain in the butt, but can lead to interesting encounters and experiences.  Hopefully, more to follow.

Dangerous People in Japan

Driving is an important and unavoidable part of my life in Japan.  I live and work in an semi-rural area, where public transportation is inadequate and many of my schools are unreachable without a car (even before the tsunami).  On a good day, my drive to work ranges from 30 minutes to a little over an hour.  These good days are exceptions rather than the rule.

 

Between Miyako and Morioka, there's one artery linking the two cities: Route 106, a two-lane curvy mountainous road with a posted speed limit of 50 kph (although the police officer who stopped me last year said the speed limit is 60), or about 30 mph.  On many parts of this route, you cannot legally overtake by crossing into opposite lane of traffic. However, with so many curves and tunnels, it is very dangerous to overtake in areas where you can legally do so.  Designated passing zones exist, but they are far and few in between, and many local drivers don't use them properly.

Old people are abundant in Miyako.  As drivers, they generally fall into two categories: those who drive super-slow (below or right at posted speed limit) and those who drive rather recklessly.  If you see a little white pickup truck with a yellow license plate, chances are that it's driven by an old male in the first category.  In many cases, they refused to move aside to let anyone pass, due to pride, lack of awareness, etc.  These drivers tend to create long queues behind them, which are nearly impossible to get around if you're a few cars behind such queues.

*Note: Not all old people are bad drivers; there are plenty of bad drivers in all age groups.  Because of local demographics, I have a higher chance of encountering bad drivers who are also old.
 

Besides old people, other dangers to getting somewhere on time include cargo haulers/freight trucks, loggers (big lumber industry in the area), middle-aged "aunties" (fitting the stereotype of Asian women drivers), and the Iwate Kenpoku buses.  The last one is notorious for being pace cars, never going above speed limit.  If you are stuck behind one and thought you were on time before, you're going to be late.

It was an early July Monday.  I was going to one of my farther schools, which takes about an hour with moderate traffic.  I actually woke up on time and left my place at a decent time.  But before I knew it, the perfect storm happened.  Every possible slow-moving vehicle appeared, and I was stuck behind a hotchpotch convoy.

The climax of this mini-drama came about 5 km before my destination.  After turning off the 106, I must go through a series of bridges and tunnels before reaching the school.  One of the tunnels was under construction for some reason, so one lane was closed and traffic from either direction shared the same lane.  Since it was still early (before 8 am), a timed traffic signal regulated traffic instead of a person.

  

I came up to this traffic signal and saw a bright blue arrow, which means go.  However, as I approached the tunnel, headlights were closing fast on the same lane.  With some quick thinking, I pulled into a spot right before the lanes merged.  As the headlights got closer, I recognized the vehicle: the dreaded white mini-pickup.  3 of them, driven by a bunch of grandpas.

  

Later, I figured out what happened.  These traffic signals operate in pairs, one on each end of a construction zone.  Usually, the lights are timed so that when one side turns red, the other side still has 10 seconds before the traffic is supposed to proceed.  This gives vehicles still inside the zone a chance to clear.  However, the locals often ignore that last part, and go within the 10-second window.  My signal must have turned red just as I passed it.  Immediately after, the first truck on the other side went and the others followed.  Luckily, I hadn't entered the tunnel yet, or I would've been dead.

On my way home, I had to pass through those signals from the opposite direction.  I learned my lesson and watched the blue arrow as I passed.  Sure enough, it turned red at the moment when I passed.  Immediately, I did a high-speed reverse that would impress an action movie director.

On the bright side, despite of such a dangerous commute, I made it to my school with 30 seconds to spare.

 

Moments that Count

So I finally have free time to catch up on some writing.  It's summer break, and I think it's a good time to reflect on 1st school term.
 

2nd year in Japan, I got the same schools as last year.  Besides those who graduated, I saw and taught the same students again.

 

Here's one of my most memorable stories: 

 

At one of my elementary schools, one of the 5th graders disappeared from school after summer break last year. Because I taught mainly small schools and classes, it's hard to miss absent kids.  And when it's a combined 5th & 6th grade class with total students in the low single digits, even one absent kid becomes noticeable.

 

At first, I thought she was just sick; kids get sick all the time.  Then, on my next visit a few weeks later, she was absent again.  And next time, absent again.  By then, I began to speculate.  Did she move?  Did she have some kind of long-term illness?  Did she have an accident, or something worse?  No one at the school bothered to tell me anything (they weren't really supposed to), nor did I bother to ask.

In the back of my mind, I thought that I might be the cause of her absence.  It was my first year teaching.  I was far from being a master of children's emotions (i.e. a few kids cried in my classes), nor was I good at explaining things across that ever-present language barrier.  However, I just kept on teaching the other kids on my visits, and prepared materials to include her, in case she comes back.

Then another surprise: her little brother disappeared in the middle of 2nd term.  He was in a lower grade, but I taught every grade in that school (and I still do).  Maybe their family temporarily moved because of her parents' work?  Family issues?  But the more I thought about it, the only thing that made sense was that it was me.  It bothered me, but thankfully not enough to affect my overall work performance.

By the end, no one told me what happened to those two kids, and I didn't ask.  As a contractor, if I was supposed to know something, "they" will tell me.  I just have to work off of whatever information I was given.


Fast-forward to this year.  New school year.  New teachers.  New 1st graders.  First time to visit that particular school. Besides the new youngsters, the siblings came back, now one grade higher than last year.  After my classes, the vice principal told me that I was a hit with all the kids.  He also revealed why the siblings were absent last year: they thought my Japanese counterpart last year was angry and scary, and refused to go to school until he's gone.  By chance, he was transferred to another school, as part of a rotation that all Japanese teachers periodically experience throughout their careers. Hence, they returned.

I was relieved and encouraged.  This incident reminded me why I decided to give up my engineering career to teach English abroad.  It's a good way to start the year.

 

Circles, Circles... Life Has Circles

Recently, my friend and I were discussing various things on one of our outings; we were the few left in town with everyone else travelling on spring break.  He then used an analogy that I thought was "probably the most intelligent thing I've ever heard".  OK, it was more like the most intelligent thing in a while.  It particularly appealed to me because it used geometry (circles!).  I thought it's worth sharing.

 

It was about why some people are really petty, which can be socially toxic in hangouts with a large group of people of varying backgrounds and life experiences.



For the math or physics whiz, I drew a 4-panel explanation just for you!

The Analogy

 

The mind thinks in a circle.  Over time, the mind returns to the same point on that circle.  People can expand that circle by leveling up on life experiences, such as going out and meeting new people, getting exposed to different subjects and cultures, travelling and seeing new places, taking risks, etc.  By that logic, people who "go out and see the world" or "live life" would think in big circles.  Those who don't would think in small circles.

 

Let's establish several premises before we continue:

1. Everyone's minds start off thinking in circles of same size (diameter);
2. Each life experience is a singular event, with the same spacing between any two events;
3. Everyone thinks at the same rate;
4. Everyone's thinking never stops (in constant motion);
5. Everyone has bad experiences to which the mind eventfully returns.

For the sake of this analogy, each person has exactly one bad experience for the mind to return to.  Someone who thinks in big circles would take more time to come back to that bad experience.  Someone who thinks in small circles would come back to that bad experience faster.  This, in turn, makes him/her more easily frustrated and really petty, since he/she is thinking about the same bad thing more often.  In the long term, it may become the only thing on his/her mind...

  

I think this analogy holds an important life lesson.  Ultimately, I believe it's our willingness to expand our "mind circles" that drove us to give up our lives in the home countries and work overseas as ALTs.  You can argue that it's because you can't find a job at home after college or you have a bad home life.  But, you most likely meant you can't find a job that fits and pays appropriately for what you studied in school.  And if you're trying to escape, you can move somewhere closer that still speaks your native language, not hundreds or thousands of miles in a land of foreign speak.

 

With a little over a year now working in Japan, my honeymoon period here has long passed.  This analogy serves as a great reminder to continue the drive to explore life, thus never becoming a super petty person.

 

Thanks, Tim Villain, for the analogy.  Please check out his latest blog on working overseas.
 

Big Trouble in Little... Post Office

  

"I've created problems in this peaceful town.  My work is done here."
~ excerpt from a LINE chat between EpicGaijinSmash and Tim Villain

 

April 2, 2014 

It's another day during spring break.  Tim Villain and I decided to visit our friend in a small town north of Miyako, and have some Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki (it's like a pancake with veggies, noodles, egg, meat stacked and cooked on a flat grill).  We took a half hour ride on the quaint little train, like the one in Ama-chan (a popular 2013 drama which took place here in Iwate Prefecture).  After a satisfactory meal, I decided to go to the post office for some personal business.  And, that's when things got real.

  
 

I needed to add more pages to my passport.  To pay for it, I had to send in a 国際郵便為替 [kok-sai-yu-bin-ka-wa-se], or an international postal money order.  I asked for one at the counter, and my request was returned with a bunch of fast official-sounding Japanese that I couldn't understand.  Luckily, my friend was there to help.  However, that quickly spiraled out of control.  After the post office clerks researched their manuals and discussed amongst themselves for a long time, they called their HQ.  Within minutes, half a dozen black SUVs pulled up, and mysterious men wrestled me and my friend away to an abandoned warehouse. They relentlessly interrogated us on why we were getting a money order and what we were planning with it.  After what seemed like hours, they had us chained to the wall and our pants down to our ankles.

 

Suddenly, sirens blared from all directions.  Our mysterious captors scrambled into overdrive, as the floor under us opened up and the walls shifted.  Once again, my friend and I were wrestled away, this time to an elevator which led somewhere deep underground.  For a second, I saw a gigantic humanoid figure over the skyline, which later our captors called an Angel.  At the end of a long elevator ride, we were met by more mysterious men and a young boy named Shinji.  Immediately, they told the boy that he needed to "get back into the Eva and save the city".  He insisted that he couldn't, and what looked like paternal abandonment issues threw him into a fit of uncontrollable rage.  Then, a white girl with orange-brown hair and a red jumpsuit appeared, and slapped the boy hard across the face.  That was the last time my friend and I saw the boy and girl.

 

During our endless shuffling around the sprawling underground complex, the crisis was averted.  I believe the boy from earlier overcame his inner demons and saved the city.  Later, the mysterious men kindly took my friend and me back to the little post office.  The same clerk from the start of this encounter handed me a form, which I had to redo a few times due to various mistakes on my part.  Within minutes, I was given a money order to include with my passport and documents.  The clerk was nice enough to drop it off with the day's outgoing mail, and even thanked me by giving me 2 Kumamon (the mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture) face towels!

 

All the while, Tim Villain was waiting in our friend's car outside the little post office.

 

Afterwards, we went to a free foot bath and had dessert.  Mine was a mango mousse cake.

 

 

Moral of the story:

     Don't ask for silly weird things, like an international money order, at a small town post office.

 

One Year in...

 

Time flew.  I landed in Japan a year ago today, to begin this new epic adventure of living & working abroad.  I still remember the first few days like it was yesterday: the initial excitement, the basic training style orientation, our South African Indian instructor and the fear of being called by him to demonstrate on stage.

In hindsight, it was more of an escape: from an unsatisfying job, from various life failures, from the mind-numbing daily grind.  Like many before and after me, I expected everything to be totally awesome once I get to another country.  For the most part, I was right, but I'll get the specifics later.

And yes, coming to Japan long-term had been a life-changing experience.  I didn't rediscover myself or meet the woman of my dreams (not yet anyway), or anything else cliché that comes with moving to a foreign land.  I met lots of interesting people around Japan, found new lasting friends (other ALTs in Miyako, various Japanese people, etc.), had new adventures, learned some new skills, revitalized old ones, and above all, stepped up to every challenges.

Coincidentally, a few days ago also marked the anniversary of how all this got started, my superhero origin story.  Many years ago, I participated in one of America's wars in the 21st century.  There, I also made some lasting friends, people that I would still depend on to watch my back, no matter how I may have lost touch with them.  Going to war changes people.  For me, that event empowered me to lead my life as it is now.

Since my six-month special, I absorbed much more about my school, my teachers, and the Japanese education system, especially its regard to foreign language education.  The last point often led to long heated discussions with other Miyako ALTs.  And I have made progress talking to the students and teachers, even at my junior high school.

However, I also left behind many things -- a life as an engineer, friends, and family -- all of which took a good chuck of lifetime to foster.  The money as a working professional was hard to give up, but the passion wasn't there.  I'm grateful for the advice from my close friends and co-workers, and the support from my family.  The decision to leave was much easier and clearer because of them.  Otherwise, I may still be contemplating on leaving, or even given up on it.

To celebrate my one year, I'm off to explore new places and meet new friends, in the far reaches of Ise in Mie Prefecture.  Then, off to meet some old college friends, completing that circle of life.  The year is looking promising.