Summertime Sadness

As the school year comes to a close nostalgic feelings build.

It's been two years since I visited the island.

After I applied for a free trip and was accepted.

A group of students from Kennedy High School, Washington High School, and Jefferson High School.

We talked to a lot of tsunami survivors, which was especially influential for me as just three years earlier the Flood of 2008 took my home as hostage.

Traveling Japan will be an experience that I will never forget.

Akihabura 

Asakusa

The Golden Temple

Golden Poo

The Home Stay

Shinkansen

Riding the train

My Host Family

The friends I made 

#YOJO2012 (You Only Japan Once 2012)

The AMAZING museums

The smells 

The food

Collecting cool little things that the Japanese put in their magazines as little prizes

Shopping

I look back at my journey every day and I don’t regret a thing

I even learned some new vocabulary that I took back to the states with me.

I credit everything that has happened to me in relation to Japan to my Japanese teacher. Without him, I would have never been to Japan because he was the one who accepted me and recommended that I apply.

It may be a little muggy in the summer in Japan, but don’t let that scare you away. The amazing sites and adventures are worth a little sweat.

In just two short weeks I experienced a whole new culture and an extreme change in the way that I view other people and their beliefs.

I miss our unique hotels and the culture that they brought. We stayed in huts in a hotel in Fukushima Prefecture. There we were accommodated with cultural ceremonies and a truly amazing atmosphere. An early morning walk in the woods is an isolation from Japan. It transports you for a little bit back home. Nothing in the woods except the living is Japanese. There aren't any signs or Japanese characters. It's a relaxing walk that provokes many thoughts. Taking in everything around you is a hard task and I miss those mornings of solitude in the forest.

I guess my only critique of the trip was that I didn’t take more pictures…

Visiting Japan in the summer is a rewarding opportunity.

If any of you get a chance you should go and visit.

Hopefully this blog has made you want to explore more about Japanese culture and activities.

Kimono

The kimono is a Japanese traditional garment. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" (ki "wear" and mono "thing"), has come to denote these full-length robes. The standard plural of the word kimono in English is kimonos, but the unmarked Japanese plural kimono is also sometimes used.

Kimono are T-shaped, straight-lined robes worn so that the hem falls to the ankle, with attached collars and long, wide sleeves. Kimono are wrapped around the body, always with the left side over the right (except when dressing the dead for burial) and secured by a sash called an obi, which is tied at the back. Kimono are generally worn with traditional footwear and split-toe socks.

Today, kimono are most often worn by women, and on special occasions. Traditionally, unmarried women wore a style of kimono called furisode, with almost floor-length sleeves, on special occasions. A few older women and even fewer men still wear the kimono on a daily basis. Men wear the kimono most often at weddings, tea ceremonies, and other very special or very formal occasions. Professional sumo wrestlers are often seen in the kimono because they are required to wear traditional Japanese dress whenever appearing in public.

Kimonos for men should fall approximately to the ankle without tucking. A woman's kimono has additional length to allow for the ohashori, the tuck that can be seen under the obi, which is used to adjust the kimono to the wearer. An ideally tailored kimono has sleeves that fall to the wrist when the arms are lowered.

 Traditionally, kimonos are sewn by hand; even machine-made kimonos require substantial hand-stitching. Kimono fabrics are frequently hand-made and -decorated. Techniques such as yuzen dye resist are used for applying decoration and patterns to the base cloth. Repeating patterns that cover a large area of a kimono are traditionally done with the yuzen resist technique and a stencil. Over time there have been many variations in color, fabric and style, as well as accessories such as the obi.

Basic Parts of a Kimono

·         Dōura: upper lining on a woman's kimono.

·         Eri: collar.

·         Fuki: hem guard.

·         Sode: sleeve below the armhole.

·         Obi: a belt used to tuck excess cloth away from the seeing public.

·         Maemigoro: front main panel, excluding sleeves. The covering portion of the other side of the back, maemigoro is divided into "right maemigoro" and "left maemigoro".

·         Miyatsukuchi: opening under the sleeve.

·         Sode: sleeve.

Pachinko

Pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan and is used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a Japanese gambling niche comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gaming. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but has no flippers and uses a large number of small balls. The player fires balls into the machine, which then cascade down through a dense forest of pins. If the balls go into certain locations, they may be captured and sequences of events may be triggered that result in more balls being released. The object of the game is to capture as many balls as possible. These balls can then be exchanged for prizes. Pachinko machines were originally strictly mechanical, but modern ones have incorporated extensive electronics, becoming similar to video slot machines.

Pachinko parlors are widespread in Japan, and they usually also feature a number of slot machines (called pashislo or pachislots); hence, these venues operate and look similar to casinos.

Modern pachinko machines are highly customizable, keeping enthusiasts continuously entertained.

Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan. Balls won cannot be exchanged directly for money in the parlor. The balls are exchanged for tokens or prizes, which are then taken outside and exchanged for cash at a place nominally separate from the parlor.

The payout mode lasts for a number of rounds. During each round, amidst more animations and movies playing on the center screen, a large payout gate opens up at the bottom of the machine layout and the player must try to shoot balls into it. Each ball that successfully enters into this gate results in a large number of balls being dropped into a separate tray at the bottom of the machine, which can then be placed into a ball bucket.

Pachinko machines vary in several aspects, including decoration, music, modes and gates. The majority of modern machines have an LCD screen centered over the main start pocket. The game is played with keeping the stream of balls to the left of the screen, but many models will have their optimized ball stream to be in the center of the play field or to switch from left side to right side depending on the game mode. Vintage machines vary in pocket location and strategy with the majority having a specific center piece that usually contains win pockets.

Crime: A Tale of Two Guns (Literally)

American gun control policies are the least developed in the world. In a country of school shootings and movie theater brutality, it is easy to assume every other country has the same crippling issues deterring their development. However, not every country is like America. Because of Japanese cultural influences and laws, Japan is one of the most crime-free countries in the world. Japanese culture suggests that everyone should love their neighbor (something that is taught in America, but not enforced). 

Japan’s crime rate is extremely low. According to japantimes.co.jp, “Recently released figures from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development showed that only 1.4 percent of people in Japan had been victims of assault compared with the OECD average of 4.0 percent for annual assault and mugging rates.” Japan has also recently been ranked the safest country in the WORLD, with the second lowest homicide rate after Iceland and the second lowest assault rate after Canada.

A lot of young children travel alone on the subway daily unaccompanied by a parent or guardian, but nobody is tempted… Astonishingly, Japanese culture has beliefs that individuals should do things that directly affect the good of the whole and not that individual.

WHY IS THE CRIME RATE SO LOW?

Well, partly because of Japan’s gun control policies. Besides the police and the military, the only group that is allowed to have guns is hunters. This makes for an easily check able system for police to monitor the sale and re-sale of guns and other weapons. These rules ensure that virtually no one in Japan possesses a gun! It is virtually a gun free society.

For those who are wondering why America can’t implement some of Japan’s policies towards gun control, it isn't as easy as it sounds. Americans have much more guns than the Japanese ever did and (unlike the Japanese) Americans seem determined to keep their weapons.

BUT WHAT ABOUT ILLEGAL IMPORTS?

It doesn't take a genius to see that Japan is in fact an island. So, it is easy for the Japanese to seal their borders against illegal gun imports.

It’s so amazing to think that in a country with so many people and so many busy cities and sites that the crime rate is so low because people are thinking. Imagine what the United States would be like if starting today everyone did something for the country, rather than just themselves.

Doritos, KitKats, and Ice Cream OH MY!

Back when I was in Japan, I couldn't help but notice some peculiar items on the racks of stores and shops that I went to. Various things from bizarre t-shirts to crazy sculptures of golden poo, but the most crazy thing that I noticed while shopping in Japan (especially in convenience stores), was the different amounts of bizarre flavors that the Japanese have for candies and other foods. I have already blogged about my wonderful discovery, Melon Bread, which changed my views about simple breads that I knew and opened me up to a world of new culture with Japanese tasty treats. 

Doritos. Doritos were first placed in Japanese stores in the 1980s (in America in the 1960s) and were typically sold in the original nacho cheese flavor, but as the chip manufacturer grew it began to test some of it's more creative ideas out on Japan. Most of the bizarre flavors are for "limited time only" but that doesn't mean that they didn't leave an impact of Japan. A lot of the flavors given the green light in Japan are often then produced and sold in America. 

Some bizarre Doritos flavors I witnessed were:
garlic and anchovy

mayonnaise 

smoked bacon

wasabi

chicken

and even green tea!!

Similar to Doritos, KitKats have also been given some weird or different flavors. The Japanese have turned my knowledge of snack time into a crazy mixed up world with fruity, drink, and spicy flavors.... OF KITKATS!!! Every chocolate lover should indulge in some of these interesting flavors. 

Some bizarre KitKat flavors I witnessed were:

Strawberry

Edamame

Cinnamon Cookie

Apple

Green Tea

and WASABI! (Chocolate and wasabi...? Hmmm. When I tried it, it smelled like horseradish, which is not a smell I would enjoy from a chocolate treat. It's wasabi plus sweetness, which combined into a well-engineered taste in my mouth (THANK YOU NESTLE). Eating wasabi commonly is conveyed as a very spicy event. With the KitKat I didn’t feel the heat, but really, I tasted the heat.)

If I mentioned vanilla ice cream (soft cream) to a Japanese person they would probably assume (accurately) that a) I am American, and b) I am inexperienced... Japan has also skewed my previous interpretation of desserts in America. A handful of American ice cream parlors have attracted attention in recent years for interesting ingredients that range from bourbon and cornflakes to habanero peppers, but these don’t even come close to the internationally known flavors found in Japan.

TODAY IS THE DAY FOR CHILDREN

Children's Day (Kodomo no hi) is a national Japanese holiday which happens every year on May 5 and is part of the Golden Week.  It was designated a national holiday by the Japanese government in 1948 as a day honored to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness.

Until recently, Tango no Sekku was known as Boys' Day (otherwise known as the Feast of Banners) while Girls' Day (Hinamatsuri) was celebrated on March 3. In 1948, the government said that this day was to become a national holiday to "celebrate the happiness of all children and to express gratitude toward mothers." It is now called Kodomo no Hi.

The day was originally called Tango no Sekku and was celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th MOON in the lunar calendar (instead of the fifth month) or Chinese calendar. The reason for the date change was Japan's switch to the Gregorian calendar. The festival is still celebrated in China as well as Japan. It was originally just for boys but has since been changed to include both boys and girls as modernism has crept into the world.

Although it is not known precisely when this day started to be celebrated, it was probably during the reign of the Empress Suiko. In Japan, Tango no Sekku was assigned to the fifth day of the fifth month after the Nara period.


Usually during the Golden Week*, when this holiday takes place, families raise carp-shaped flags (koinobori) because of the Chinese legend that when a carp swims upstream it becomes a dragon (and the wind blowing the flags makes them appear to be swimming). Typically, one flag is hung for each child (traditionally only boys were represented) as well as a Kintarō doll usually riding on a large carp, and the traditional Japanese military helmet, kabuto, these two items are symbols of strong, energetic, and healthy boys in the family.

Mochi rice cakes (kind of a dense rice past) wrapped in oak leaves (kashiwa-mochi) is traditionally served on this day.

*Golden Week:
Today, this week is celebrated by a lot of Japanese taking paid time off of work during this week. Some business are even closed down completely! Well deserved, Golden Week is the longest vacation period of the year for a lot of Japanese people. This holiday week is also a common time for a lot of Japanese families to travel around the world (typically to surrounding islands or the United States).

Lunch

Bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Bento boxes are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops, railway stations, and department stores. However, Japanese homemakers often spend time and energy on a carefully prepared lunch box for their spouse, child, or themselves.

Bento can be elaborately arranged in a style called "kyaraben" ("character bento"). Kyaraben are typically decorated to look like popular characters from Japanese cartoons (anime), comic books (manga), or video games. Another popular bento style is "oekakiben" or "picture bento". This is decorated to look like people, animals, buildings and monuments, or items such as flowers and plants. Contests are often held where bento arrangers compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements.

In Japan, school lunch means a regular meal, not one that harms your health. The food is grown locally and almost never frozen. There’s no mystery in front of the meat. From time to time, parents even call up with an unusual question: Can they get the recipes?

Japan takes seriously both its food and its health and, as a result, its school lunches are a point of national pride — not a source of dismay. As other countries, including the United States, struggle to design school meals that are healthy, tasty and affordable, Japan has all but solved the puzzle, using a system that officials here describe as utterly common sense.

In the United States, where obesity rates have tripled over the past three decades, new legislation championed by Michelle Obama has pushed schools to debut menus with controversial calorie restrictions. But even the healthiest choices are generally provided by large agri-food companies, cooked off site, frozen and then reheated, and forced to compete in cafeterias with all things fried, salty and sweet.

Schools in Japan, by contrast, give children the sort of food they’d get at home, not at a stadium. The meals are often made from scratch. They’re balanced but hearty, heavy on rice and vegetables, fish and soups. The meals haven’t changed much in four decades.

Mealtime is a scene of communal duty: In both elementary and middle schools, students don white coats and caps and serve their classmates. Children eat in their classrooms. They get identical meals, and if they leave food untouched, they are out of luck: Their schools have no vending machines. Barring dietary restrictions, children in most districts can’t bring food to school, either, until they reach high school.