One of the things Japanese people say to me when they're about to tell me about some cultural concept which they are aware is dissimilar in Western culture is "you can't/won't understand, but we Japanese (do whatever)." I know that this is offered up without any sort of negative connotations, but it is an immensely condescending thing to say. This is their way of saying, "as an outsider, you
mercredi 31 août 2011
Won't Miss #359 - "you can't/won't understand..."
Posted on 08:15 by Unknown
One of the things Japanese people say to me when they're about to tell me about some cultural concept which they are aware is dissimilar in Western culture is "you can't/won't understand, but we Japanese (do whatever)." I know that this is offered up without any sort of negative connotations, but it is an immensely condescending thing to say. This is their way of saying, "as an outsider, you
Will Miss #359 - Adores
Posted on 08:15 by Unknown
There are a lot of big gaming centers in Japan. Some of the more common ones are Taito, Sega, and Namco. The one that my husband and I frequently seek out is Adores. One of the reasons for this is that they are the only one that frequently stocks debu neko prizes, but another is that they simply are one of the most helpful and willing to set you up for a win or to get a particular prize. If
mardi 30 août 2011
Will Miss #358 - "mata haris"
Posted on 08:15 by Unknown
I associate the name "Mata Hari" with spies, who generally don't want to be recognized for who they are. For that reason, I call women in Japan who are so fearful of sun exposure that they cover nearly every inch of exposed flesh by this name. The first time I saw such a woman, I thought that the desire for "creamy white skin" in Japan gives celebrities an ideal manner in which to disguise
lundi 29 août 2011
Won't Miss #358 - handwritten Japanese
Posted on 08:15 by Unknown
Mostly, it's the stuff on the left near the bottom that trips me up.
When I teach, I use a white board to write notes or words for students and I always print. I have quite good handwriting, but if some letters are not nearly perfectly formed (especially "r", which without a prominent hook will be seen as an oddly squashed "v" for some reason), my students frown and look confused at what has
dimanche 28 août 2011
Will Miss #357 - yuzu koshou
Posted on 08:15 by Unknown
There are a lot of flavors in Japan which I think have the potential to be gangbusters back home if someone would just introduce them in the right fashion. One of those is kinako (toasted soy flour) when used as a flavoring on rice crackers, baked goods, or candy. Another is yuzu koshou, a type of citrus and vinegar blend which uses a Japanese fruit (yuzu) that looks like a lemon but tastes
vendredi 26 août 2011
Won't Miss #357 - living in material limbo
Posted on 00:00 by Unknown
Blue Shoe writes about his experiences with a Korg keyboard and having problems shipping it back home. Though he eventually found a way, the cost was almost the same as that of the keyboard itself. I've lived in Japan for a long time, but I have never sought permanent residence because I have always known this is not a "forever" gig. I know one day I will pack it all up and go home. That means
jeudi 25 août 2011
Won't Miss #356 - a lack of charitable spirit
Posted on 04:00 by Unknown
Tags near the cash register at Seiyu supermarket that you can toss in your basket and 100 yen ($1.24) and the money will be given to victims of the tsunami following the Great Tohoku Earthquake. These have been around for months and I have never seen one person toss one in their basket.
This is a tricky topic because people often confuse "charity" with "foreign aid". Note that Japan gives a
Will Miss #356 - the empty room
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
Yes, I was creepy and took a shot of someone's empty room through a window. To be fair to me and my quasi-peeping tom tendencies, this was an unoccupied room rather than one someone was actually living in. The things I do to get shots for my blogs...
There is a long-standing cultural habit in Japan of keeping one Japanese-style (tatami mat, low furniture, minimalist styling) room in their
mercredi 24 août 2011
Will Miss #355 - Japanese "soft cream"
Posted on 04:00 by Unknown
A lot of people talk out their asses about Japan. When I say that, I mean they assert something and offer a reason (often that elevates the Japanese people or cultural aspects above Western ones) which they have no real insight, understanding or evidence of. One of the things which consistently irks me is that people will say something about Japan is "better" when they have no evidence that
mardi 23 août 2011
Won't Miss #355 - TP paranoia
Posted on 04:00 by Unknown
Going through the earthquake on March 11, 2011 and its aftermath is something I wouldn't have chosen to do, but it taught me some new things about Japan and the way the Japanese people operate. Some of those things were good and some not so good. Among the things I learned was that, when crisis hits, the Japanese go for the toilet paper. This wasn't the first time in Japan's recent history
lundi 22 août 2011
Will Miss #354 - no April Fool's pranking
Posted on 03:00 by Unknown
This isn't a joke, but I wish it was because it's just sad otherwise.
I have a sense of humor. Really, I do. However, I dislike April Fool's Day with the passion of a million burning suns. It's not that I can't take a joke, but that puerile pranks aren't funny and I don't like spending an entire day having to second guess whether or not people are telling the truth. Frankly, I just think the
vendredi 19 août 2011
Random Thoughts: Relativity Theory
Posted on 03:00 by Unknown
Sometimes I have thoughts about living in another culture which I'd like to incorporate into blog posts here, but due to the format I have chosen, I can't really flesh them out effectively in any brief individual post. Rather than simply keep them to myself, or worse, forget about them entirely, I've decided to occasionally make a "random thoughts" post. This will be the 1000 Things equivalent to
jeudi 18 août 2011
Won't Miss #354 - (almost always) being at a disadvantage
Posted on 04:00 by Unknown
My brother-in-law, who is also American and lives in Japan, recently bought a house in Japan. He had an experience which illustrated the point I'm about to make all too well and that is that foreigners always operate at a disadvantage when conducting business in Japan. Even if you speak Japanese well and have a native along with you to clarify and digest information, there is always wiggle
mercredi 17 août 2011
Will Miss #353 - self-restraint (en masse)
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
A poster asking people to conserve energy in the summer of 2011 due to the shortfall of energy resulting from the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis.
During the cherry blossom viewing season in Tokyo after the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11, 2011, the Japanese government asked people who were accustomed to drinking and partying hard (and noisily) to use restraint. They weren't going to
During the cherry blossom viewing season in Tokyo after the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11, 2011, the Japanese government asked people who were accustomed to drinking and partying hard (and noisily) to use restraint. They weren't going to
mardi 16 août 2011
Won't Miss #353 - being a leaning post
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
My former boss used to complain on a regular basis about something which happened to him every time when the train was crowded to sardine levels. That would mean this happened to him everyday during rush hour. Fortunately for me, it happens less often than that, but it still happens. When the train was extremely crowded, the people around him would simply stand without holding a strap and lean
lundi 15 août 2011
Will Miss #352 - the "bottle keep" system
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
In Japan (and possibly other Asian countries), bars offer something called "bottle keep" in which a customer buys a bottle of booze, drink some of it, and then store the rest at the bar. This is done to allow people to drink from the same bottle repeatedly without having to finish it off at once. In bars where this is done, you see shelves or racks of bottles with tags attached to them to keep
vendredi 12 août 2011
Won't Miss #352 - "it's Japanese", when it's not
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
Debu neko may be Japanese, but calicos are not.
In the original Star Trek, the character of Chekov sometimes asserted that something was invented in Russia when it was not. As far as Chekov was concerned, all good things originated in Russia. The Japanese have something in common with that fictional character. They think that a lot of things are Japanese when they are not. My first introduction
In the original Star Trek, the character of Chekov sometimes asserted that something was invented in Russia when it was not. As far as Chekov was concerned, all good things originated in Russia. The Japanese have something in common with that fictional character. They think that a lot of things are Japanese when they are not. My first introduction
jeudi 11 août 2011
Will Miss #351 - WYSIWYG at restaurants
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
Click this small image for a bigger view of a lunch menu.
In America, there are two kinds of menus for the most part. There are those that display extremely unrealistic styled shots of food and those that have no pictures at all. The former is to make food look more appealing than it really is and the latter to avoid customer complaints (or even lawsuits) when people don't get what is shown in
In America, there are two kinds of menus for the most part. There are those that display extremely unrealistic styled shots of food and those that have no pictures at all. The former is to make food look more appealing than it really is and the latter to avoid customer complaints (or even lawsuits) when people don't get what is shown in
mercredi 10 août 2011
Won't Miss #351 - paltry (or no) raises
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
The economic situation in Japan has been going downhill for quite some time. That doesn't mean companies don't make money, but rather that Japan hasn't been growing economically on the whole. However, even before the downturn became so dire, raises were very pathetic at most companies. It's not unusual for people to get raises of as little as a few thousand yen (about $24) or no raise at all,
mardi 9 août 2011
Will MIss #350 - natural food dyes
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
Lunch meat in Japan is its own brand of "scary".
Many foods in Japan have common preservatives and chemicals added to them just like back home, but one thing the Japanese are careful about is food dyes. Unless a food is imported, it's quite rare to find a food that has had its color altered with chemical dyes. Most of the time, natural coloring extracted from carrots, potatoes, annatto, turmeric,
Many foods in Japan have common preservatives and chemicals added to them just like back home, but one thing the Japanese are careful about is food dyes. Unless a food is imported, it's quite rare to find a food that has had its color altered with chemical dyes. Most of the time, natural coloring extracted from carrots, potatoes, annatto, turmeric,
lundi 8 août 2011
Won't Miss #350 - puny mark-downs
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
One thing which consistently amazes me is how small sales and markdowns are on items in Tokyo. I've seen prices marked as little as 2%, even on food items which clearly are nearing their expiration. Convenience stores often have the most absurdly low price reductions, such as 10 yen off of something which costs 200 yen or more. Mind you, I do occasionally see bigger markdowns (especially on
vendredi 5 août 2011
Will Miss #349 - taiyaki/imagawayaki
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
If you walk around nearly any city in Japan for a little while, you're bound to come across someone with fish-shaped molds pouring what looks like pancake batter into them. After a short while, a generous dollop of red bean jam or custard will be added to the center and two molds will be combined to sandwich the filling between the two fishy halves. The outer portion of this treat is like a
jeudi 4 août 2011
Won't Miss #349 - jishin yoi (earthquake sickness)
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
Though I grew up in western Pennsylvania, where there are no earthquakes, I did experience the earth shuddering on a regular basis. My family lived near coal and strip mining operations. The use of explosives a safe, but palpable, distance away commonly shook our house. Also, we lived a very short distance from a dirt road that huge trucks roared down, causing objects in the living room to
mercredi 3 août 2011
Will Miss #348 - being told I'm beautiful
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
I look absolutely nothing like this woman, but I think she's supposed to be actually beautiful.
I've read on some blogs and forums that a lot of the women who marry foreign men are actually considered relatively mundane or unattractive in Japanese culture. I've also been spontaneously told by Japanese men and women (even at the ripe old age of 46) that I am "beautiful". My sense about both of
I've read on some blogs and forums that a lot of the women who marry foreign men are actually considered relatively mundane or unattractive in Japanese culture. I've also been spontaneously told by Japanese men and women (even at the ripe old age of 46) that I am "beautiful". My sense about both of
mardi 2 août 2011
Won't Miss #348 - Japanese keyboards
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
Click to see details of a touch typists bad dream.
If you don't know what is wrong with Japanese keyboards, then you are obviously not a touch typist and I bid you good day, sir. People who have to look at the keyboard to hunt and peck their way through a lengthy diatribe won't understand how frustrating it is to have extra keys on the right side of the board and on the bottom row messing up
If you don't know what is wrong with Japanese keyboards, then you are obviously not a touch typist and I bid you good day, sir. People who have to look at the keyboard to hunt and peck their way through a lengthy diatribe won't understand how frustrating it is to have extra keys on the right side of the board and on the bottom row messing up
lundi 1 août 2011
Will Miss #347 - UFO Catchers
Posted on 00:15 by Unknown
A UFO Catcher prize bag from a Sega game shop.
I can't believe I'm writing this post. Not a year ago, UFO Catchers (claw crane games) were something I wanted nothing to do with because I thought they were scams and you had to put a ton of money into them with little chance of getting a price. Some time around the end of 2010, my husband gave one a shot to win me a debu neko (fatty cat) and he
I can't believe I'm writing this post. Not a year ago, UFO Catchers (claw crane games) were something I wanted nothing to do with because I thought they were scams and you had to put a ton of money into them with little chance of getting a price. Some time around the end of 2010, my husband gave one a shot to win me a debu neko (fatty cat) and he
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