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.