During late spring in Japan, the weather is in the sweet spot for bringing a bounty of blossoms out for viewing. It’s hard not to have a little extra joy in your heart. A couple weeks ago, we visited Chichibu for the phlox blossoms and last weekend we headed back for the “heavenly poppies” at Sainokuni Friendship Farm.
Enjoy the photos (click any of them to view at a larger size) and watch the video at full size for a couple of special treats.
Every culture has its idiosyncrasies. Even after living in Japan for a year, I still learn something new nearly every day. Sometimes it’s an “a-ha” moment. Other times it’s something that I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to. Here’s five things that I’ve never experienced before living in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Cleaning up after your dog isn’t unique to Japan. The production of poop pickup products is a multi-million dollar international industry. However, dog owners in Japan take it a step further. After the dog has done its business and the output is properly bagged, out comes the tissue. The dog instinctively props up its tail while the owner proceeds to wipe the offending area. There’s no question who’s boss in this situation.
Japan has one of the lowest rates of death related to traffic accidents in the world. Maybe part of this is due to the usage of untensha hyōshiki or driver’s signs.
New drivers are required to display the Shoshinsha mark for at least one year after getting their license. Drivers who are uncomfortable with their driving skills may also choose to display the sticker. The idea is to let other drivers know there’s an inexperienced driver in their midst.
On the other end of the spectrum, drivers over the age of 70 are encouraged to display the Kōreisha mark while drivers older than 75 are required to display the sticker. The design of the mark was changed from a teardrop shape to a four-leaf design in 2011 after many drivers refused to use the sticker because it resembled a dying autumn leaf.
For all of America’s exhibitionism, we’re actually quite prudish compared to the rest of the world. So, for this prudish American, I always have to do a double-take when I walk into a public restroom and there’s a female attendant cleaning up the facilities. But, this is nothing compared to a recent onsen experience.
Onsens are public baths—specifically natural hot springs—and are popular with both Japanese people and foreign visitors. They’re usually separated by sex with a changing room leading into the main bathing area where there are no bathing suits allowed. In fact, the phrase “hadaka no tsukiai” means “naked relations” and is considered an important part of the culture—interacting with literally no barriers.
After a long day in the Chichibu region recently, we visited an onsen in Yokoze. I walked into the men’s changing room where the fellas were disrobing for the onsen. A cleaning woman meandered through the crowd, wiping down benches and countertops. The men didn’t appear to be modest or even notice that she was there. In turn, she didn’t seem particularly interested in the sausagefest surrounding her.
In a culture obsessed by cute knick-knacks and one that tends to get around on bicycle or foot, dropped items are a common sight on the sidewalk. But there’s also a great cultural element of trying to help the item find its owner. Lost items aren’t left on the street to be destroyed, but instead picked up and placed in a conspicuous place to hopefully be discovered later. Who actually grabs these items is a mystery, but I’ve seen things sit on a curb or bush for more than a couple days.
Even lost money usually finds its owner. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Lost and Found Center, 72 percent of lost money brought to the center in 2002 was returned to its owner. That’s a total of nearly $23 million. Simply amazing!
There’s a deep-rooted fear of fire in Japanese culture. It’s certainly not unwarranted. It seems nearly every important historical building has been destroyed by fire at least once in its history, including Kawagoe’s own Toki no Kane (Bell of Time). Fire prevention most definitely takes precedence over fire fighting.
During times of particularly fire-friendly weather, especially during the cold, dry winters, volunteers from the local fire brigade will walk up and down the street. They bang two wooden sticks together twice and shout “hi no yōjin” or “watch out for fire.”
What do you think? Would you be offended by the driving stickers or shocked by the opposite sex attendant in the locker room? Leave your comments below.
No matter where you are in the world, the topic of weather is a popular one. Everyone has an opinion on the weather, so it’s a perfect conversation topic amongst strangers. We all plan our activities and clothing choices around the weather. One of the first things our various Japanese language lessons teach is how to say “It’s good weather today, isn’t it?” (今日は良い天気ですね).
Meteorologists are regular targets of death threats and harassment when their forecasts go awry. The forecast is so important in South Africa that independent forecasters can be fined or imprisoned for incorrectly predicting the weather.
In Japan, a country whose citizens spend a significant amount of time navigating the day on foot or bicycle, the weather report is a big part of the morning newscast. From your run-of-the-mill temperature forecast to predicting the path of wild weather from Pacific typhoons, the forecast covers it all.
The wind and tides forecast is part of our daily weather story. In addition to damaging storms, the daily breeze can help determine whether it’s a good day to wash blankets (and hang them outside to dry), air out the house (high winds bring in a lot of dust and dirt) or bring a light jacket despite warm weather. Fire danger is a big concern in Japan and the prevailing winds can alleviate or amplify those worries. The forecast is important to coastal fishermen as well.
Then it gets fun. There’s a daily laundry forecast. Most Japanese homes don’t have clothes dryers (we don’t). Laundry is hung out on poles mounted over patios or outside apartment building windows using a variety of strategic drying gadgets. The scale goes from blue (hard to dry) to orange (dry well) depending on the day’s weather conditions. Today is a good day to do laundry.
The ultraviolet rays forecast shows the strength of UV rays throughout the day. Many women wear large, floppy hats, arm-length gloves and carry a parasol to protect themselves from the harmful rays of the sun. I wish I’d seen yesterday’s forecast before my run. My shoulders were Barney the Dinosaur purple!
Finally, the heat stroke index. At first, I thought maybe this was the child tolerance index—how long your child will last before having a meltdown due to the heat. This one ranges from safe (ほぼ安心) up to danger (危険). Today in Saitama (さいたま), we’re in the caution (注意) to vigilance (警戒) range. All jokes aside, it gets hot and humid in Japan during the summertime. In 2013, nearly 40,000 people were hospitalized from June to August due to heat stroke and 78 people died from complications.
Best of all, the weather forecast leads into the morning 15-minute soap opera miniseries. The current iteration—NHK’s 92nd asadora or morning drama series—is about a young woman who moves to Yokohama to become a baker, but finds that the cake just doesn’t taste right and sets out to create the perfect pastries. The previous miniseries featured Charlotte Kate Fox, NHK’s first American actress in a leading role, about the creation of the Nikka Whisky Distilling company.
After two weeks of adventuring through India and Nepal, we were ready for a little rest and relaxation. We spent the next two weeks meandering about Thailand, including a week of hanging out on the amazing beaches on the island of Koh Samui. The story of our travels through Thailand are best told through photos, so please enjoy a snapshot of the beautiful Kingdom of Thailand.
I’m self-diagnosing a case of selective attention deficit disorder. It’s brought on my projects that aren’t particularly interesting to me. Treatments include watching baseball, going for a run or doing just about anything else.
I have a couple of those projects on my plate this week, so I decided to remove the distractions. I loaded up my computer and headed to Starbucks to work for a bit. There’s plenty of good workspaces around town, but the coffee giant is the only one that offers free WiFi.
The closest Starbucks in Kawagoe Station is usually crowded with commuters and since the station is our transportation hub, I wanted some new scenery. I pulled up Google Maps and plotted out some of the other shops in the area. That landed me in nearby Fujimino City.
Fujimino is the first stop on the express line toward Tokyo from Kawagoe Station, but we’ve never had reason to go there, so this was a good chance to explore the area a bit. I arrived around lunchtime and had plotted out a couple potential lunch spots.
I chose Arcturus Cafe, which I’m told by Wikipedia may be named for the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere. Macrobiotic cafes like this are one of the few safe bets for a vegetarian meal in Japan.
I chose one of the two tables in the solarium at the back of the restaurant. Outside, rose bushes and other greenery pushed against the glass. I ordered the curry set. Japanese curry is available nearly everywhere, but it’s made with chicken, so it’s usually on the no-fly list. Potatoes and mushrooms took the place of the chicken. It was fantastic!
Arcturus also bakes its own bread using a naturally fermented yeast. The soup and salad set is served with fresh bread and coffee. I can’t wait to go back to try it.
After lunch, I headed to Starbucks to actually get some work done. The Starbucks is about 10 minutes from the station, so the crowd was pretty thin in the early afternoon with most of the customers coming through the drive-through.
After I finished my work, I popped into the Aeon department store down the street. I remembered from a trip to the Aeon near Costco that they have a large liquor section with a decent selection of craft beers. Sure enough, they had three different choices from Oregon’s Rogue Ales & Spirits. I took one of each: Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Dead Guy and Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout.
I tried to make a joke with the cashier that both the beer and I were from the same place. She laughed and said a whole bunch of other stuff that I didn’t really catch. Can’t win ’em all…
My projects will keep me busy for a few more weeks and I plan to use my new method of navigating the area by Starbucks locations to find a few more new gems.
The great thing about a city like Tokyo is that you never run out of things to see. After a brief Tokyo rut, we’ve recommitted ourselves to crossing things off the “to-see” list.
First item off the list was the historic Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo’s Chūō Ward. Tsukiji is a popular tourist spot, but it’s also a working wholesale fish market. Visitors rub elbows with local chefs picking through the freshest (in many cases, still alive) seafood in Tokyo.
Inside, hundreds of vendors crowd into a warehouse. The smell of the sea greets you from a block away. The aisles are narrow with just enough room for one-and-a-half people to pass through. Tourists alternate between snapping photos, sidestepping fish-water puddles and dodging the turret trucks that zip down the aisles. Old-school wooden carts roll through more slowly, loaded with some of the larger ocean fish and offering a hint at the origins of the market.
Fish markets in Tokyo date back to the 1600s, but the current incarnation was built in 1935 after its Nihonbashi district predecessor was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. In November 2016, the market will be moved to nearby Toyosu to free up the current location for development prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The butchers worked with surgical precision, carving the large fish into perfectly-weighted fillets and making paper-thin slices for sashimi (raw fish). Many used “knives” that more closely resemble a samurai sword than anything you or I have in our kitchens. The four-foot long blades made short work of the even the largest tuna.
After awhile, the aromas inherent in such a place started to take their toll on our stomachs. Occasionally I’ll come across Japanese food that makes me second-guess my vegetarian choices, but the fish market was not one of those places.
We headed outside for some fresh air and a short walk over the Kachidoki Bridge to our very favorite farmers market in Japan. Market of the Sun is Japan’s largest regular farmers market and has the most unique selection of local produce, goods and snacks in Tokyo. We left with a couple varieties of honest-to-goodness rye bread and a hearty beet, both nearly impossible to find in our local area.
A couple blocks away from the market, we checked off another of our Tokyo to-dos with a visit to Monja Street. We’d first tried monjayaki during my birthday weekend in Asakusa. This two-block stretch of restaurants in the Tsukishima district features almost exclusively monjayaki and okonomiyaki shops.
Although it was proper lunchtime, most of the shops were still closed when we arrived. We found one with several people inside and ordered a monjayaki and an okonomiyaki—best described as savory Japanese-style pancakes. The waiter started our monja on the table-top grill, but we took care of the okonomiyaki ourselves. Check out the video below to see us in action!
There’s only one thing anybody wants to know right now…
Did you do anything for Golden Week?
I’ll concede there’s a small chance this topic is only relevant among people living in Japan and, if it’s coming up in English, it’s only a hot topic among 0.01 percent of the population. But hey, that’s my demographic!
We started our Golden Week with a weekend trip into Tokyo to visit one of our favorite farmers markets and hit up the Cinco de Mayo Festival at Yoyogi Park.
Chichibu is our favorite place for outdoor adventures in Japan. It’s about an hour away by train and is usually pretty quiet. However, during Golden Week, thousands of people descend on the otherwise sleepy town to see the shibazakura or mountain phlox at Hitsujiyama Park.
We milked every last second out of Golden Week, heading out on the last day of the holidays to nearby Hanno for some hiking. We found a very non-touristy spot called Koburi Pass. We befriended a couple of older Japanese ladies at the train station, one of whom nearly missed the train when she went upstairs to get us some local sightseeing pamphlets.
How did you spend Golden Week? Leave a comment below!
Japan celebrates Shōwa Day today, kicking off a series of holidays known as Golden Week. This year’s holiday comes with a healthy dose of controversy.
Shōwa Day marks the birthday of Shōwa-era emperor Hirohito, but less as a celebration and more as a time of reflection. It was during Hirohito’s reign that Japan invaded China, used toxic gas against its enemies and entered into a treaty with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany leading up to World War II.
2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Japan’s current Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is in the United States, preparing to speak in front of a joint session of Congress—the first Japanese leader to address Congress since the end of WWII.
Abe is under fire from Chinese and Korean leaders for his “revisionist” views of Japan’s role in the war, in particular the sexual enslavement of women in Japanese military brothels. Previous Japanese prime ministers have offered up apologies, but Abe’s stance has hardened relations with Japan’s neighbors.
Abe’s U.S. visit also comes with positives. In addition to new trade and defense agreements, Abe toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and used the opportunity to tell the story of Chiune Sugihara.
In 1939 and 1940, while Japan was aligning itself with Germany, Sugihara served as Japan’s Imperial Consul in Lithuania. During these years, he issued visas allowing more than 6,000 Jews fleeing the Nazi pogroms to travel to Japan.
He died in 1986, largely unknown in his own country, but a hero to many outside Japan. Prior to his death, he was honored with Israel’s Righteous Among the Nations honor, given to non-Jews who helped save refugees during the Holocaust. He has streets named for him in both Lithuania and Israel and asteroid 25893 Sugihara was named in his honor.
When I started to outline the post about Nepal in my head, it felt like it’d be a quick rundown with some nice pictures. I really enjoyed Nepal as a country, but it came at the end of our exhausting tour of northern India. The travel sniffles had set in and we were ready for a couple days of relaxing.
On our first morning in Delhi, we took a walk through the neighborhood near our hotel. I remember seeing the residential buildings in varying states of decay and remarking that it was easy to see why earthquakes in the region cause so many deaths.
On April 25, 2015, a massive and devastating earthquake struck about 50 km outside of the capital city of Kathmandu. The 7.8 magnitude quake was followed the next day by a 6.7 aftershock. At the time of this post, the official death toll is over 2,500 and another 6,000-plus have been injured in Nepal, India and Tibet.
The fault line responsible for the quake is the same one that created the Himalaya mountain range, enough upheaval over millions of years to create nine of the world’s ten tallest peaks. The quake also occurred at a shallow depth; shallow quakes cause the most surface damage.
It’s a bit eerie now, looking through photos from our trip and reading the news coverage of the heartbreaking damage throughout the country. The stupa at Boudhanath, built shortly after the death of Lord Buddha, is the largest of its kind in the world. Buddha’s eyes can be seen from several vantage points all over Kathmandu. Today, the internet features images of large cracks in the 1,200-year-old stupa’s golden tower.
Swayambhunath, a 1,500 year old religious complex, sits atop a hilltop to in western Kathmandu. 365 stairs lead to the top and is a popular trek for religious pilgrims visiting the complex. Known as the Monkey Temple for the holy monkeys that inhabit the grounds, it’s a sacred site for both Buddhists and Hindus.
Several old brick buildings encompass the stupa, housing souvenir shops and residences for the monks living on the grounds. Amazingly, only one death has been reported in the Swayambhunath area. The brick buildings surrounding the stupa have been destroyed.
Karma’s sick and twisted sense of humor seems to have saved Pashupatinath Temple. Nepal’s answer to Varanasi, the sacred temple is open only to Hindus and Buddhists of Indian or Tibetan descent. Cremations take place all day inside the temple along the banks of the Bagmati River. Somehow, Kathmandu’s holy final resting place escaped Nepal’s deadliest earthquake in 80 years.
The spirit of the Nepalese people will get them through this difficult time, but Nepal is very much a developing country and will need a lot of help to get back on its feet. Rescue workers from all over the region arrived within hours of the quake and the international community is already hard at work on getting food and aid supplies into the country.
Please consider a donation to Mercy Corps or Public Radio International has a list of other charities who have been pre-vetted and are contributing to the relief effort on the ground.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a good Japanese mystery to investigate. A couple weeks ago, workers began installing long white boards all over town with squares numbered 1-50. A large date—April 26—appeared at one end with a whole lot of indecipherable Japanese surrounding it.
A few days later, nearly all of the boxes were plastered with election posters from all of Japan’s major political parties. It’s time to elect our local mayors (kuchō/区長) and assembly representatives (kugikai/区議会)! I say “our,” but as foreign citizens, we don’t get a vote. At least we have plausible deniability if it all goes south… “Not my kuchō!”
In addition to the posters, candidates ride around in vans with loudspeakers, sharing their message with the people. They wear white gloves as they wave out the window, apparently a symbol of honesty.
The posters themselves were pretty standard fare, although I did notice a couple of trends. First off, several candidates seemed to be taking the theme of “fighting for you” literally. I counted six posters with candidates raising clinched fists, ready to punch the opposition right in the face. Some of my favorites…
The next candidate had comic-style posters of him fighting for the people of Kawagoe on his website during the election. Kinda cool.
The other prominent theme is the use of cartoonish representations of the candidates. It says “Look, I’m fun!” Some of the best…
