Some time ago—in December I think—the Japanese government shot down the possibility of offering free flight tickets to tourists. Being a young blue-collar worker, this hurt my plans and made me consider backing out.
After months of serious consideration, I have come to this conclusion: everyone has a dream of some sort, but not everyone realizes that you can't just wait for it to come and slap you in the face, like I thought was happening to me. No one is going to make you dream come true for you, if you won't help yourself.
Naturally, my progress has been severely hindered by my hesitation, and I will have to recalculate my required expenses now that I have no hope of getting a free flight. It's possible that I won't make my November deadline, but I will move ahead all the same.
So, that's that! I won't be adding money to my fund for a couple of weeks, since I had ceased to be as frugal as I had been when I was actively contributing to it, and I now need to play catch-up with my income. I don't expect to be able to contribute $200 weekly again for some time, if ever.
So, Christmas has come and gone. Whatever happened to that cake I promised to make? How did all of my hopes and dreams of becoming a master sponge-cake chef resolve? The drama? The intrigue? The whipped cream and strawberries?!
Find out about all this and more after the jump! Well, maybe not all that stuff about drama and intrigue...
(Note to RSS readers: You may or may not have to visit the blog to see the rest of the article.)
You can probably guess, even if just by looking at the picture to the right, that Christmas is a little different in Japan than we know it here.
The broad strokes are still there - families and friends sometimes exchange gifts, and houses are decorated with Christmas lights.
But the types of gifts, when there are any, tend to be "cute" (or, as the Japanese would say, かわいい; kawaii), typically being things like teddy bears or scarves — things that we Westerners might give on Valentine's Day. Inexpensive gifts are also given around this time of year, more due to the upcoming new year than to Christmas, to less intimate friends. Here's an interesting excerpt on that subject:
More obligatory year-end presents are given during this season as well to people who have done you a favor during the year, however, in contrast to Christmas presents, they are given between companies, to bosses, to teachers, and family friends. These presents are known as 'Oseibo' and are generally things which are perishable or which wear out quickly for which the price can readily be checked because of the system of 'on' and 'giri' (loosely translated obligation and reciprocity). These presents are usually purchased at department stores so that the recipient can check the price and return something which relates to the scale of reciprocity.
More significant than the difference in gifts are the differences in actual tradition. The Japanese often celebrate Christmas with two signature foods. The first is a Christmas cake, a sponge cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries (click the picture for a recipe). By the way, I plan to make one of these myself for Christmas - I'll post the results, wish me luck!
The second, bizarrely, is Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC managed to hijack Christmas with a very successful ad campaign some decades ago, and now takes reservations for "Christmas Chicken" as early as October. Many Japanese believe that this is how Westerners celebrate the holiday as well.
Hmmm... this post is getting a bit too long for me to talk about New Year's in Japan, like I originally planned. I'll leave that to my next entry, and I'll close this one up with a Christmas song straight out of Japan. If you want to read more about Christmas in Japan, check out the links below the video.
The archway in the picture, and others like it, are a sort of symbol of Japan to us foreigners. So elegant, and yet so simple, torii (literally meaning "bird perch") are usually found in or around shrines and temples.
I'll readily admit that I had no idea what these things were until a few hours ago, even though one is prominently displayed in this page's background. But, thanks to the power of Google, I was able to learn that they "symbolically [mark] the transition from the profane to the sacred" (Wikipedia). Aside from doing that, they make good postcard material.
Moving quickly onward, I have decided on one thing in Tokyo that I absolutely must see: the Rainbow Bridge.
During the day, it's a rather drab, white-ish bridge. After sunset, though, it becomes the stunning work of art that you see in the picture. It would be sin for me to be in Tokyo and not see this in person!
So, I'll squeeze that into the itinerary box on the right side of the page. Also, now is a good time to mention that I added another $50 to my travel fund, bringing me to 19%. It's not much, but every penny counts!
Now, let's bring this entry to a close with the song below, called 負けないで (makenaide, "don't give up"), by Izumi Sakai.
After some deliberation, I have decided that want to take the bull by the horns and start my vacation in Tokyo!
For some time, I had considered that it may be better to save my stay in Tokyo for the end of the vacation — sort of "saving the best for last", if you will. Today, though, I have decided that I want my vacation to start with a bang. After coming out of my culture-shock induced coma, I should be thoroughly converted to Japan-mode, and I think that I will actually better appreciate the rest of my trip after partaking of the vital essence of the capital.
While I'm there, I plan to rendezvous with my friend Suzuki-san and see if I can't coax him into showing me some of the city. This might well be the highlight of my trip!
That's all that I know. I haven't decided how long I will be staying in Tokyo, where I will go next, or whether I will return before flying home. Once I have put together a comprehensive plan for my time in the capital, I'll try to make these decisions. Suggestions are more than welcome!
Now, before I end this entry, time for a status update. I have added $200 to my travel fund, bringing me up to 12% at $400. I have also decided to wait until spring before exchanging my dollars for yen, since I might get better rates then.
I included the definition of the word "sushi" above because of the common misconception that it means "raw fish". No, it doesn't, and raw fish (called sashimi in Japanese) is not a necessary ingredient of sushi. However, let's be honest: all of the best and most popular varieties of sushi do have raw fish.
Rather than write a needless article about what sushi is and what kinds there are (that's already been done by countless others before me), I will write a needless article about my experience with sushi. It's my blog, right?
When I first tried sushi a few years back, I approached it with a skeptical mind. The sushi was served, and I, fork in hand (as I had yet to master the art of eating with chopsticks), tried my first roll.
I was not impressed.
You see, we (meaning myself and some of my family) ordered two rolls that I remember. One was called the Rainbow Roll, which my dad had tried and enjoyed before. The other, which I never intend to eat again, was the Philadelphia Roll. All that is important to know about these two is that the first has a lotta fish and the second has a lotta cream cheese.
I tried the Philadelphia Roll first. I nearly gagged —I didn't know about the cream cheese, which I can't stand in the gratuitous amounts present in my sushi. I moved from that to the Rainbow Roll, which looked quite intimidating with slabs of raw fish piled on top. It tasted alright, but I couldn't help but think "rawfishrawfishrawfish" as I ate it.
As such, my first experience was not great. But, something strange happened. After a few days, I began to crave that peculiar flavor of sushi. I couldn't explain it; I didn't enjoy myself the first time, but for some reason my body was telling me to get more.
So, I eventually went back again with my dad and my brother. This time, as I bit into a tuna roll, I found that I actually liked it. I can't explain it.
So, to make a long story short (as the hour grows late and my bed beckons), I am sold on sushi now. I highly recommend that you give it a chance yourself if you haven't already. But, a word of warning: don't try that horrid, vomit-inducing stuff that you see at your local Chinese buffet. Go to a Japanese restaurant and order something fresh.
Trick-or-treating, when you think about it, is a rather elaborate custom. It somehow became mutually understood that anyone with their porch lights on during the evening of October 31st should have candy on hand to give to droves of children wearing all manner of disguises.
While Halloween is gaining popularity in Japan, trick-or-treating isn't terribly common yet. Although this post from Japan-Guide is rather old (it's from 2004), I found it interesting:
"I think the U.S. is about the only country that is so big in Trick or Treating, if that's what you're asking.
But the existance of this custom is now quite well-known in Japan, except that as mentioned, not many people actually do it.
Halloween in Japan has more young adults enjoying costume parties than kids knocking on doors. Rarely, some expat districts have Trick or Treating events though, and in recent years, the orange color pumkins have become more available at a lot of markets.
Since I moved out of our apartment building and in to our house last year, I've been putting Jack-o-Lanterns outside our door with a notice saying that people are welcome to come for candy on the evening of Oct. 31.
Last year, the girl accross the street brought a bunch of 10 year olds. They all were in their normal clothes, but one of them said, "Hey, I might wear a costume next year." This year so far, I had a Cinderella, two Scary Movie boys, and the girl accross the street acompanied by her big brother. No one has yet yelled "Trick or Treat" though.
Right now it's 5:30pm on the 31st here in Japan. Let's see how many more I'll get. Oh, I just had a pumpkin mask and an animal ring my door!"
— by Uco
I think that post leaves little for me to say about Halloween in Japan, except to repeat that it is certainly becoming more popular year-by-year. So, with that out of the way, let's look at something somewhat related to the topic at hand: Japanese candy.
From green tea Kit-Kat bars to lemon-milk flavored sticks, Japan definitely has a unique (but not altogether bad) taste when it comes to confectioneries. But, rather than ramble on and pretend to be an expert on the subject (read: because I don't know what I'm talking about, and I wish I were in bed right now), how about I just show you. To see more, visit KidCrave, which is where I got these images:
First image retrieved from AsianOffbeat. All subsequent images retrieved from KidCrave.
No, I'm not going to tell you about a sad, doomed romance between myself and an oriental island country. Rather, cool as that would be, I am going to talk about the Japanese words for "Japan" and "I".
The Japanese call their country 日本 (Nihon/Nippon). The first kanji, 日, means "sun", and the second, 本, means "origin". So, put together, they mean sun-origin. This name comes from the fact that, from the perspective of China, the sun seems to rise up from Japan.
There are two ways to pronounce the name. Nihon is usually used to refer to the island, whereas Nippon is usually used to refer to the state. However, there don't seem to be very many set-in-stone rules in deciding which one to use.
Incidentally, the English word "Japan" comes from the way that the Chinese pronounced 日本 around the fourteenth century — I'm really not sure of the exact time frame.
And now, let's talk about me. Not "me" the writer, but "me" the word, which is the same in Japanese as "I".
In English, a complete sentence must always include a subject. We say "I spent the whole day fighting off aliens with a dead herring" and "she cleaned the angry rhinoceros's snout with a rabid sea sponge". Why, we're even so subject-happy that we include a subject when there is really no subject at all, as in "it rained" and "it snowed".
In Japanese, however, there is no such rule. You can easily get away with just saying "walked" for "I/you/he/she/it/we/they walked". You can, and should. The Japanese don't like to use pronouns except when they are absolutely necessary, in order to prevent confusion.
But, if you do want to say that it was you yourself who did something, then you will need to say one of the words for "I". Yes, I said one of the words— there are actually several to choose from. What's more, some of them are only used by men, and some only by women.
Depending on the situation, a man could choose between 私 (watashi/watakushi),僕 (boku), 俺 (ore) and a number of others. Women have also have 私 (watashi/watakushi), as well as あたくし (atakushi), あたし (atashi), and so on. I would write a complete list, but I simply don't have a complete list.
I personally have opted for僕 (boku) — it's not too formal, not too casual, and it doesn't have the feminine feel that 私 (watashi) has in informal speech.
Well, there's enough rambling for now. You can see on the progress bar that I have added $200 to my travel fund - I hope to do this weekly, but we'll see. Now, let's flip out like ninjas!
Thanks to Alex from LearnJapanesePod.com for including the above song in his podcast. First image retrieved from PlanetWare. Second image retrieved from Anime.com.
