Cultural insight #1

Japan is a cash based society. Credit cards are accepted only at very large department stores and very large hotels. Everything else is cash. I actually have not used my credit card since I got here (as opposed to the US where I can go two weeks without a single dollar in my wallet). When I showed up, they handed me my entire stipend for the summer in cash (the equivalent of $3000 in $100 bills). 

This has surprised me greatly. Us Westerners have this impression of Japan as being highly technologically advanced, yet they have not caught on to the idea of electronic money very much. 

Some of the implications: the smallest bill is 1000 Yen (approx $10), so you always have to carry change around with you. In the US I carry no change with me, and if I get any, I just throw it on my desk at the end of the day... where it piles up until Angela needs some quarters to do laundry. Now, I have to make a point to put some change in my pocket every morning. I make exact change at restaurants and stores very frequently now.

Now, it seems to be a very safe society. I think violent crime is fairly low, so nobody seems to mind carrying $500 in cash around downtown. 

meet the lab

Today I moved to Kyoto to meet my host researcher where I will stay for the next nine weeks. They seem to be fairly impressed by my Japanese skills, not necessarily by how much many words I know, but by my pronounciation.  I think all those hours of listening to Japanese CDs while commuting have paid off.

And yes, it does appear to be true that drinking is a big part of Japanese culture.  My host professor and all of his lab took me out to dinner, and then drinks at an Irish pub afterwards.

culture shock

So the Japanese cultural experience just got real. I stayed with a local family for the weekend. Dinner the first night was a huge affair. The husband and wife, the wife's co-worker (American), two kids, the neighbor, the neighbor's aunt and uncle, somebody's grandmother, and somebody's relative visiting from the South Dakota. So there's maybe 11 of us, 3 Americans. After dinner, the 12 year old girl Midori pulls out the violin and plays the Star Bangled Banner. I'm looking around like maybe I should stand up and salute at this point.

After dinner, the guy asks me if I want to take a shower. So he says they put some towels in my room. I go grab one and commence bathing. As I'm drying off, I start thinking this towel is really big. Like it's probably bigger than any towel I've ever used in my life. Now this confuses me a little, because I was expecting things to be smaller than in the U.S., not bigger, but whatever. So then after the shower the guy is like let me show you how to setup the futon bed. He's unfolding the mattresses and he's like, “hey, where's the blanket?”. Ah... um... about that. It appears I've used a blanket as a towel. The next day I made sure to ask if I really had a towel.

Now the first morning, I'm up at some godforsaken hour in the morning (the sun comes up at like 4:30 am and apparently they are not as strong believers in curtains as I am). Anywho, it's just me and the 10 year old boy awake at this point. Now, the parents speak pretty good English, but the 10 year old boy speaks maybe 100 words in English, and I speak maybe 100 words in Japanese. They are not the same 100 words. We try to carry on a conversation but its pretty rough. Eventually he starts to show me his toys (little spinning tops, godzilla dolls, etc.) Finally, he pulls out the Go set (traditional Chinese/Korean/Japanese game, little black and white stones. It's like the oriental equivalent of chess). Now I can actually play Go, although I don't think I'm all that good. So we start to play and I wipe the board with him. I'm feeling kind of bad about beating a 10 year old boy. The next game we play I give him a 2 stone handicap, still beat him. Then a 4 stone handicap and I still beat him. Later his sister comes down and starts talking to him as we're playing. I don't really understand a word they're saying, but I imagine it was probably “What the hell, this crazy white bastard plays Go?”, “Yeah and he's beating the pants off me!” “Holy crap”.

Now, for food, I was going with the “When in Rome” strategy. I was prepared to eat anything. I ended up eating pancakes with chopsticks. And by pancakes I mean squid, shrimp, cabbage and bacon pancakes. With soy sauce on top. They also offered me some mayoannise to go with it, but I drew the line there... Walking around, we did see McDonald's, which I expected. And then KFC, which I wasn't expecting but I could believe. And then, in downtown Tokyo, a Denny's. Seriously? Denny's?

We did some sight seeing in Tokyo. The “Japlish” was amusing. I saw a store called “Nudy Boy”. On a lamp post nearby there was a large sign stating “No Smorking”, which I could understand, but also “No tout”, which I have no idea what that means. Also a sign on a display “dose no touch, please”. 

Finally, we saw a few temples (Buddhism) and shrines (Shinto). The one we went to was called Daibutsu. I'm pretty sure that this translates as “Huge-Ass Buddha”. Not quite statue of liberty size, but still pretty damn big for a Buddha.

First look around

So here are my first two interesting photos.  First, we found some interesting chocolate bars called "Crunky".  I had to buy one just to take a picture of it.  Next, the Hotel Chapel Christmas, which was right across the street from our hotel.  My associates went over there to see if they had a bar.  Turns out, it was a "love hotel" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_hotel .  Rooms were $20/hour.  I think you can figure out what they were for!

Free cardboard

  I am in Japan now.  Too tired to think of much to write, but here's something amusing from last week:

How to get a free cardboard tube from FedEx.

Step 1: get a poster of some kind, and take it to the FedEx store.

Step 2: explain that you are going to Japan, and that you think it will be a big hassle to carry this poster on the plane, so you were hoping to ship it, and also you need some kind of a tube to ship it in.

Step 3: The FedEx guy will give you a tube. Put the poster in it. This is important: make sure the poster is in the tube BEFORE you ask for the price.

Step 4: Ask how much it will cost. FedEx guy will say $117 to have it there in a week.

Step 5: Tell him that that is ridiculous. Suggest that you just buy the tube from him and carry on the plane instead. It may be a hassle, but not a $117 hassle.

Step 6: He'll tell you that there is no charge for the tube. It's free.

Step 7: Say thank you very much and walk out of the store with your new free cardboard tube.

F1rst p0st!

ok, ok, ok, due to popular demand, I will start a blog about my trip to Japan.  This is my first entry.  It isn't very exciting, because I'm not in Japan yet.  Actually, I'm very hungry right now and anticipating getting some world famous French toast at Vitors http://www.vitorsbistro.net/  I leave for Japan tomorrow, so expect to see exciting stuff by Tuesday or whenever the jet lag wears off.