Changing Impressions of Japan

Educational Outside, Entertaining Inside - going to symbolic events in Japan

 As a summary of my journey in Japan, I discovered that I really often went to symbolic events held in Osaka, such as the Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009, Kobe Luminarie and many other events with their unique long historical backgrounds. I did learn a brief background of each event but what left behind in my mind was that I really had fun in going to these educational but also entertaining activities.

One can easily access to the updated news about what events would be held soon as early as 2 months before, by reading the monthly issues from Keihan, weekly magazines like Kansai Walker and even from the mouths of the housewives sitting next to you in the bus. All sorts of  information about the upcoming events, no matter how useful to you, would eventually come to your ears. As heard from my friends in Kansai Gaidai, both the exchange and local students, their weekends sometimes weekdays would probably be spending some times going to the same destinations, same events. Again, different people may have their own needs in going these activities and that can surely be fulfilled by the unique characteristics of event organisers in Japan. Educational, entertaining, unforgettable, unique…..can all be used to describe the events. 

It was an artwork/a display made from many pieces of Kitty-chan's toys and was found in a outdoor event called "Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009" in Nakanoshima, Osaka.

In the Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009, I was surprised that there were so many artwork booths. People could freely join the handcraft teaching sessions, play with the toys, handmade dolls available there. The atmosphere was so laid-back and peaceful that could make you stay there for a whole afternoon while enjoying the stunning waterfront along the venue. Participants could gain a lot of joy in this human-oriented event, recalling the old good days while treasuring the present moment.

It was taken in the famous illumination event in Kobe Luminarie 2009. One of its fame is being an excellent and romantic dating spot for couples.

Kobe Luminarie of course, it is an undoubtedly well-known symbolic event for memorizing the deaths in the big earthquake in Kobe 1995. Cameras were hanging over people’s heads and flashes were seen anywhere. With the miserable music as the background and also the overcrowded groups of visitors there, again, I doubt that it was one of the best dating spots in Japan. Donations were put into the box and I recognized the sad memories bought by the earthquake. I wished the warmth of the illuminations could bring hopes to the people involved in that incident.

These are what I achieved in this 4-month observation and participation in Japan. My passion towards Japan and Japanese cultures would never fade out but be kept strengthened as I explore more deeply. By the way, 光のルネサンス, hikari no renaissance in Osaka is waiting for me in this romantic but freezing season. Shall we go?

Politics and Conflicts

Japan – Paradise for Women

Boarding For Women Only! So, is there any "Boarding for Men Only"?

It was a menu found in a normal Buffet restaurant. Look at the bottom most prices for drinking unlimited alcoholic beverages. It costs more for male than female.

Japan is such a country full of conflicts and contradictions. In the political, financial and academic world, women are seen not to deserve the highest positions while the housewives are the internal financial secretary in the Japanese family. Females are raising their importance in the society in a significant pace. The term,“Special For Female Only” (女性專用), is becoming more common in the consumer’s market.

At first, “Special For Female Only”is invented by JR and other train companies in Japan in order to avoid any sexual harassments by men(痴漢) especially in the rush hour. Then, the gimmick of using“Special For Female Only”as the selling point of the new products and services is surging the market, such as night bus“Special For Female Only”, corners in department stores “Special For Female Only”, clinical services “Special For Female Only”, female-oriented travel tours.

The most argumentative part is that how one looks at the boom of female-oriented products and services. Some would say all these acts are just whitewashing and indeed make no contribution in raising female’s identity and importance in the society. On the other hand, it is just worsening the equality between the sexes. Some men may view that it is a kind of anti-discrimination to them. From my point of view, I am pleased there is such a considering service provided as after staying for a period of time in Japan, it is hard to tolerate the unpleasant and smoky smells from the middle-aged men especially for those who went to izakaya just now. I have experienced how harsh being so close with them and I dare I could be staying in a compartment “Specially For Female Only”.

Recently, I saw a man wrongly and unconsciously entered a train compartment special for female in the rush hour. He was then the only man standing inside the compartment. He looked so calm because he did not notice a woman standing next to me kept staring at him for more than 10 minutes. I was standing between them so I was so unconformable with the expression in her eyes. Obviously, the man had no intention to harm others but the woman still found his presence problematic and annoying. I could do nothing but just wished him getting off the train as soon as possible. How many Japanese men would be so heedless of the surrounding atmosphere at that situation? Who is right and who is wrong?

Japanese Holiday

A laidback holiday for red autumnal leaves

It was such a stunning view from the top with the moumichi as the background.

Very often, Japanese people love to bring their own lunchboxes (obento) and eat outdoor wherever they go.

Thanks to the Labour Thanksgiving Holiday on Monday, I was able to take a break from the busy school life and to have a taste of the nature. Going with some Japanese friends, we brought the 1-Day ticket to Kurama, the Northern part of Kyoto, to see the moumichi (red autumnal leaves).

In Japan, people usually go travelling in seasonal vacations and that would be their leisure patterns. In other words, many people tend to take short weekend trips rather than long vacations. Most travel would be taken place during the major holidays (New Year　お正月 in January, Golden Week in May, bon festival お盆 in August), creating traffic jams and commuter problems. The same case happened on that day. Although the train was already filled with many people, new-coming passengers would be forced to get on the train by station staff. It was a harsh job when someone in the middle of the crowd wanted to take off the train in the intermediate stations, as the terminal station would be the destination of most of us.

We visited some jinja there, walked a lot uphill and downhill, quite equivalent to going hiking, which was more than I expected before. But it was really a new experience for me as I really got relaxed. One can really get out of their tiny world and try to care for the people the things surrounding them. Maybe that is the meaning behind why Japanese people can live for so long years.

When we try to date back the history of Japan, the local governments of each prefecture helped develop the local tourism especially in the rural areas  since 1980s.  Local towns and villages developed local “traditions,” foods, festivals, and tourist sites to attract potential tourists. This has been called the “furusato boom” (ふるさとブーム) One of the evidence is that since I came to Japan in September, I have collected  more than 5 1-Day tickets published by the Keihan Train Line.

Rather than thinking of whether it is true to say that people are forced to follow the businessmen’s decision in travelling, it is more important to point out that our choices of destinations in spending our treasurous holidays are widen by the overflooding amount of travelling advertisements. I would say we can express our individualism and at the same time nurture our interests in different asepcts of the society, environment and culture. Going out and experience everthing in person as most Japanese do is certainly a better way of learning rather than just seeing the world through the LCD monitors.

Religion And Tradition

Practice of Religion in Japan

The jinja where the 753Matsuri was held was called 成田山不動尊大阪別院.

Standing in front of her home's entrance, S-chan, wearing the kimono and with an western-style umbralla held in hand gave a great contrast of modern and tradition.

In Japan, when boys are in their 3 and 5 years old while girls are in their 3 and 7 years old, there is a Shinto ritual called shichigosan matsuri being held in neighbouring jinja. The original aim is to wish the children good health and be able to live longer. In the past, with the backward development in medical cares and malnutrition problems, the death rate of children was high. But now, simply for the sake of getting worship of good health, most Japanese families would bring their children wearing the kimono(振り袖に肩揚げ) either bought or rented from the shops to nearest jinja to carry out the ceremony in 15^th November every year.

My home-stay family’s child, 6-year-old S-chan, also attended the ceremony on 14^th November 2009 with parents, grandparents and I. She is an exceptional case. She is relatively taller than girls of the same age so mama was afraid that the size and length of the kimono could not fit S-chan. Mama decided rather than allowing her to go to the matsuri in 5 and 7 years old, she chose to do so in her 4 and 6 years old. Wearing the black colour kimono, I really saw S-chan really has grown up and became a bit mature.

The ceremony started at sharp 11:30am in the jinja in Neyagawashi. All people were required to take off their shoes and wrap them with a plastic bag before entering the venue of the ceremony. The venue was filled with lanterns, lights, candles, bonten, drums and lots of shinning golden decorations hanging above the stage. All well- and formally-dressed people sat around a small stage where there was a monk, who was the one to hold the ceremony, sitting at the center of the stage. With the mysterious background sound of people murmuring words of old-style Japanese, the atmosphere became tense. The monk started by murmuring a long speech which meant telling the god that they were having the ceremony for the children and asking for their help. After that, the monk said the children’s names one by one and then put the wooden board, with the child’s name written on it, on the flame for a few seconds for purifying reasons. Finally, the monk faced to the audience and swiped the bonten above our heads again for cleaning and purification. We all held our hands together with our eyes closed for about 3-4 minutes. Finally, it ended and S-chan could get her own wooden board(記念メダル), a pack of sweets (千歳飴) and omamori (錦身代御守), back home.

I am sure that even if children do not attend the ceremony they could still be healthy. But what the contemporary meaning of this kind of traditional rituals is to allow their children to practise and experience religion. From the Japanese’s point of view, religion is practical (its practices, ways of worship, prayer, medication, pilgrimage). It does no meaning if one does not act it out.

Reference:
Reader, Ian. Religion in Contemporary Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1991.
Reader, Ian, Esben Andreasen and Finn Stefansson. Japanese Religions: Past and Present. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1993

Gender in Japan

All Japanese housewives are Superwomen.

The four ladies wearing white T-shirt and facing back to the camera were the great helpers in the Sports Day. See the fathers were playing with their children so happily.

It was one of the events played by Papasan and S-chan. Sure this kind of game could only be played by fathers. It is the show time of masculinity!

There are so many advantages of being able to live in home-stay family as you would have more chances to go out with the family to experience more local lives in the community. On 25^th October, 2009, Kindergarten’s Sports Day of my home-stay family’s daughter, S-chan, was held in that early morning. It was such a cold and windy morning but the weather did no influence on the passion and the energy of all participants in the Sports Day, including the children, their parents, teachers and the Principal.

As a video man and cameraman for S-chan, Papasan, the home-stay family’s Dad and I drove to the school at about 7:30pm. Mama, being one of the helpers of the Sports Day, had already started off earlier to prepare for the setting and equipments of the events. Beforehand, mama prepared some onigiri for me as the breakfast, despite the preparation for S-chan’s uniform, lunchbox and other necessary but minor stuff to be brought there.

After arriving there, only the helpers, consisting of all mothers of the children and a few fathers as the official cameramen, were seen. All the “mama helpers” changed their clothes to the official T-shirts. Papasan and I had nothing to do but to wait for the start of the events. After playing with the children there for some time, I observed that the group of mama helpers all gathered into a circle with pieces of complicated, detailed and well-planned floor plan-like sheets in hand and began their hard work throughout the morning. The events always required quite a lot of tools and settings so in between each event, the mama helpers would rush to place the required settings such as slides, big nets, barriers, baskets and balls… and take back all the settings being used in the previous event. The stuff they carried was often quite bulky and heavy.

Both Papasan and mama participated in the event with S-chan but obviously the role played by Papasan was much easier and required less preparation than that of mama. I am not saying that the fathers devoted less than the mothers did but as explained by mama, she told me after the Sports Day that, it was hard to ask the fathers to come to every rehearsal after the lessons in weekdays as all fathers are still busy on their work. Rather, it was a perfect or better way to recruit the full-time housewives to be the helpers of the Sports Day, who were expected to have more free time and heart to catch up with the every procedure in the whole day. I could really feel the supreme of Japanese housewives that they could manage their time and energy so well and they could still be so careful in every aspect of their lives, ranging from the housework, children’s school, husband’s lunchbox to their own personal stuff. How could they share their time to think of what to eat for each meal, put up the washed clothes under sunshine while be alert to the weather condition but at the same time, they could squeeze some times to practise sewing, watch drama, read supermarket’s leaflets and go shopping with neighbouring housewives? I can rarely see the tiredness on mama’s face though.

It is always a mystery for me that how mama’s daily routine works in pace with her brain. I really become a little bit afraid but also excited of marrying a Japanese guy!

Reference:
Iwao, S. The Japanese Woman: Traditional Image and Changing Reality. 1994.
Lebra, T.S. Japanese Women: Constraint and Fulfillment. 1984.

Globalization And Japanese Version

Cantonese food in Kobe’s Chinatown – Nankin-machi

It was a Chinese version of a vending machine of Coca Cola at the entrance of the Nankin-machi. We could really hardly tell that this photo was taken in Japan.

More than 20 choices of Chinese food being sold in every single food stall along the street. They all looked "Chinese" but do they really tasted "Chinese"?

Being an exchange student from China, Hong Kong, it was really exciting to know the image of Chinese cultures from the eyes of Japanese. On 24^th October, 2009, I followed the tour to Kobe’s Chinatown together with the Globalization’s class’s classmates. There were about 20 people in total. Wherever we went, whatever we said and do, the local Japanese would always look surprised, probably because of our Gaijin appearance.

Frankly speaking, Nankin-machi was merely treated as a tourist spot but not a real China Town with the clustering of Chinese residents in that region.

There was a big main street and some alleys where there were a lot of small stores. Chinatown in Kobe was a relatively small one, but it was full of souvenir shops selling traditional Chinese-style clothes and daily utilities and Chinese restaurants, mainly for having Dim Sum, which was a collection of various famous Cantonese steamed dumplings, and served with Chinese tea. Hong Kong people especially, would have Dim Sum as the breakfast or Brunch in the weekends where groups of elderly or family would sit around the table for 2-3 hours, tick their choices of Dim Sum on the order sheet and pass it to the staff. In the Chinatown, some shops sell the Dim Sum as a kind of street food which lost the underlying reason for having Dim Sum and drinking tea – gathering of family, relatives and friends and the focus on the time you spent with them.

Although the choices of Chinese food were plenty in the Chinatown, the taste of food there was not the same as that in Hong Kong. The food was slightly modified such that the taste suits the Japanese. I could tell you that most of the staff working in the street stalls were Chinese as judging from their fluent Chinese and on the other hand, their spoken Japanese with Chinese ascent. Everything there was so commercial that what you can get are the Chinese food and products and a little understanding of Chinese culture. Most of the staff was not living there, and they were just working there. Something was missing in this Chinatown. The main elements for the formation of a complete society or community, that are neighborhood, the sense of strong family ties, long history of shops, were missing there.

As the whole, I did enjoy the trip as a gourmet tour. As a Chinese, I could hardly get the sense of belonging and the sense of being at home country when staying there.

Sport and Recreation

2009 大阪メチャハピー祭

Can you tell from this photo, the average age of the performers was 65? They all looked very energetic and young. Dance was not only exclusive for the young!

On 12th October, 2009, thanks to my host family’s 6-year-old kindergartener Suzuka, I would be able to join the event called “Osaka Mechahappi Matsuri”. It aimed at promoting a all-round physical personal development of teenagers through dance performance in Osaka. In total, there were more than 2000 children and teenagers participating in it this year. My host family’s father and I went to Hirakata-shi eki, Osaka-Jyo Park and Osaka-Jyo Hall (being the main venue) within 3 hours in order to trace the route of Suzuka’s dance performance with her fellow classmates,  parents and teachers of her kindergarten. What a fruitful day!

Along a narrow street which was the stage for performance, audience could feel the great power from the high school stduents who were dancing Japanese traditonal dance. They all devoted their best.

Performers from different walks of life ranging from kindergarten, primary school, high school, university to the elderly tried their best to make their traditional Japanese dance or Funky Dance performance full of energy, excitement and charm. Most of them were wearing Happi, a special clothing for Japanese Matsuri or other attractive costumes, applying colourful makeup, and of course hanging big smiles on their faces with the powerful background music. These gave the audience great impact and all enjoyed watching their show as the performers also did get deeply involved in it. In fact, it was hard to occupy a nice seat there as all supporters were surrounding the stage, taking the best photo shot or recording the best moment of their children and friends.

As told by my host family’s mother, Suzuka’s classmates, fellow classmates’ parents and teachers started practising for this event since June this year. Everyday after school, all would stay at school till very late to get themselves well prepared for the dance performance. You know, it is a harsh task for the parents and teachers to give instructions and rehearse with the little kids who are usually impatient and emotional. That may explain why they have to start practising so early. Being a follower only, Suzuka’s mother woke up early in that morning, getting the lunchbox and costumes well-prepared and got start off. Every time when they finished the performance at one place, she had to quickly follow them, giving Suzuka enough water, cooling and little food to restore energy during the short transition. She had to do so for 3 times. I really appreciate the hard work done by all parties concerning this meaningful and successful event! As an anthropologist, what I devoted to this event was taking photos and videos and of course, I loved watching people’s smiles on their faces on the stage with sunlight shedded on them.

Popular Culture and Entertainment

2009 – Year of Arashi

This year is the 10^thAnniversary of Arashi, one of the most famous groups in Johnny’s and also in Japan. Personally, I have been a big fan of them, especially Sakurai Sho, for more than 8 years. It is such a golden chance for me to watch their concert as I am staying in Japan for exchange for 1 year and luckily this year is the Year of Arashi. Various events and celebration activities are/were held all over Japan. One TV broadcasting channel in Japan even launched a Arashi Week Campaign for celebration. I am now waiting for result of drawing for the ticket of a special live show they will have in Tokyo Disneyland in November.

Outside the event hall, all space was packed fully by fans. Interesting to see they are all females, right?

These were the concert goods bought that day. They were posters, towels, eco bags, clear files, lights, uchiwa and official photos. How clever Johnny-san is!

Regarding the first Arashi concert I saw on 27^th September 2009, without much hesitation, I bought a 100,000 yen ticket online with the seat pretty close to the stage. It was in 14^throw (from the stage) in Arena A4, slightly cling to the left. I spent about 20000 yen buying the concert goods (see 2^ndphoto). Three main points about the concert would be presented now. First, I was surprised that there were so many (female) fans with different walks of life coming to the concert. There were young mothers bringing the little children, junior or high school students and most of them were in their 40s. I was amazed by the degree of influence Arashi exerts on Japan! Second, I was pleased to see the excellent ways of presenting their hard work and success in the past 10 years in the concert show. There were sessions showing pictures of them in young age (never been published before), history and timeline summarizing their work, release and shows in each year from 1999-2009. Many memories about Arashi came to my mind and I cried for 3 times in the 3 hours show. Such a successful anniversary concert! Third, I finally learnt the rules going to concert in Japan. During the show, without much consideration, I wrongly put up my uchiwa and hand-held light too high and I was warned by 2 fans around me as I blocked their views. I was really sorry about that since it was first time going to Arashi concert as I was slightly out of control. I found most of the fans were all self-disciplined. They would not yell so loudly as me, jumped so high as me and following the lyrics to sing the songs so loudly as me. I was unable to limit my own emotion and love to them. I will promise that will calm down myself next time.

In the concert, I talked to a Arashi fan who was from Hong Kong. She had gone to Arashi’s Anniversary concert this year for more than 4 times in different prefectures. She would continue her journey till next January. Her sisters is now living in Japan and joined the fan club, so she has the chance to watch concert every year. Going to concert is seen as her biggest interest, as told by her. I did have fun talking to her during the dinner after the show. She told me a lot of sources assessing to Arashi’s news, videos, and fans’ blogs in Japan, which are very useful for me as a newcomer in Japan. How small the world is! Knowing an in formant of a particular culture really helps the outsider to get involved to that culture. Welcome to the Year of Arashi.

Useful blog:

http://www.cuhkacs.org/~benng/Bo-Blog/read.php?476 
It is a link to the post titled “The Rise of J-Pop in Asia and Its Impact” by a Professor called Ng Wai-ming, Benjamin from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. If you don not know much about J-Pop, please learn more by reading it.

Useful reading:

Kelly, William. (ed.) Fanning the Flames: Fans and Consumer Culture in Contemporary Japan.

Neighborhood

Omiyage bought by me in Hong Kong, Kyoto and Nara to my homestay family.

A shisa, a guardian god in okinawa, received from the neighbors

How well can gift-giving work in Japan?

Before I came to Japan for exchange, I prepared some small packs of Hong Kong traditional sweets and snacks for my homestay family. The reason why I do so is simply because gift giving is so prevalent in Japan and I would like to see how well my gifts can work. Luckily, they love the tastes of sweets and snacks much although they are quite new to them. Often, as told by the mother, when neighbors and friends come to their home, they will treat the guests with my omiyage and within the first two weeks, all omiyage are eaten up. I am so happy with that because they really can help establish harmonious relationship between neighbors and the most important thing is that, this can implicitly tell others that a new comer from Hong Kong was in their home now, don’t be surprised. Afterwards, I was so pleased that in the next time, the neighbors in return, gave me a nice shisa decoration originated in Okinawa(her home prefecture) . Well, that is how reciprocity works in Japan!

It comes a great chance to learn more about gift giving in neighborhood in Japan.

First of all, gifts may reflect and support the ideals of the society. In Japan, household is a basic social unit. The value of giri and on, and the principle of social reciprocity are imbedded in the traditional social structure. As written by Befu in the book titled “Gift-Giving in a Modernizing Japan”, giri is a moral imperative to perform one’s duties towards other members of one’s group. With the reciprocity, a complete cycle of gift giving process is carried out. And in this way, a hierarchical and interconnected relationship is built up within the community.

Besides, gifts may be used to achieve goals and establish obligations. The custom of giving gifts to those left behind upon returning from a trip appears to have begun in the Edo Period. Religious pilgrims brought gifts back from their travels upon using their village’s money for the trip. Today omiyage are given to co-workers and family (and close friends) upon returning from a trip. “Moving in” gifts in Japan such as towels or soap may be given to neighbors when one moves in to express goodwill and desire for a good relationship.

Does gift giving always work positively? Giving may fail if rules are not followed regarding timing, presentation, amount, quality of gift. Giving may fail if the cultural rules or nature of relationship are misunderstood by either party. So, try to learn more and practice gift giving in Japan in order to experience the miracle power of it!

Further reading:
Hendry, Joy. (ed.) 1993. Wrapping Culture: Politeness, Presentation and Power in Japan and Other Societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Early Impressions of Japan

In a trip to Kyoto on 2nd September 2009, surprisingly, I met this two Japanese women wearing kimono, trying the taste of living in the past time of Japan. The attractiveness of traditional Japanese cultures does not just spreads across the world, but also arouse a great curiosity from the people who were born there – Japan. It is pleased to see that the local people of that culture show great respect and appreciation in their own culture. Nonetheless, with the wisdom of Japanese, traditional cultures are kept, preserved and re-presented in a vivid way that are so welcome to foreigners to explore more about them.

With few alterations in the external appearance of the historical buildings along this narrow path, local Japanese lead their lives by turning the old houses into small-scale restaurants and souvenir shops which indeed, paved the way for outsiders to the mysterious religious temple at the end of the road.

These things inspired me to think of the most suitable way for me to study Japan. Always start from the origin. Consider differences between social ideals and people’s actual experiences, who shapes social ideals and why. Consider that there are multiple perspectives among different groups and within groups. Consider the strengths and the weaknesses of how social systems operate. Maybe in this way, I could get a wider scope of picture of what Japanese cultures are, in spite of the double-coding and ambiguous natures of them! What you see may not be what you get.

I want to find out the maximum happiness within the minimum time in Japan. It is a luxury for me that I have been to a place where unexpected variations in people and places are seen everyday!