Top Ten of Japanese Quirks and Culture

10.) Sexy Cartoon Images

Anime is everywhere in Japan: comic books, TV, billboards, and toys. This was something that I expected, however I did not expect to see toys like the one below on the left. I saw it in a touristy gift shop in the observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (the building we used to see Tokyo from above). It seems like Japan uses scantily clad cartoon women in advertising the way we in the US use actual scantily clad women in advertising. There were also naughty magazines (some cartoon, some not) on most magazine stands, though we never encountered the infamous panty vending machines.















9.) Blond Asians


This is my excuse to comment on the differences between Korea and Japan. On the very first day in Tokyo, I couldn't help but notice that there were a lot of Japanese people who had died their hair blond or red. This was particularly true in the youth-centered areas around Shibuya and Harajuku. These neighborhoods are where trendy teens and twenty somethings go to be seen. The people above were nice enough to let us take photos with them.

Both the Koreans and the Japanese are extremely well-dressed. In Korean society appearance is very important, particularly for women. They often won't go out in public without wearing what I would consider to be nice clothes. There are nice Western designer stores in Korea that I had never heard of back home. The Japanese, while still style conscious, are a little bit edgier. They take more risks with fashion and dress less conservatively. I'm sure the clothes they are wearing are designer brand and in line with the latest fashions of the day, but unlike most Korean outfits, they look ridiculous. In either Korea or Japan I'm a little bit out of place wearing a plain T-shirt in public.

The differences in style could be a metaphor for the differences in society. Korea is very Westernized in terms of its economy, but still much more conservative than the US on the whole due to the strong influence of Confucianism. Japan tends to be more liberal, whether its fashion, hair style, or sex (see #10).



8.) Green Tea


Japan is also famous for tea, so trying a cup of traditional tea was a goal of mine on the trip. As mentioned in the earlier post, the highs throughout the course of our trip were consistently between 90 and 95 degrees (I still can't think in metric), which never really put me in the mood for hot tea. Luckily, on our last day of the trip, Alexa and I stumbled across a tea house surrounded by a lake in the Detached Palace Garden that offered iced green tea. Green tea isn't Alexa's favorite (she describes it as "earthy" which is her family's version of the word "interesting" when it comes to describing the taste of something you don't like), but we were in Japan, so we headed inside for a cup. It came with a small traditional pastry and instructions on how to drink the tea. Green tea isn't my favorite either, but the iced tea hit the spot on that occasion, and allows me to say I've had traditional Japanese tea.


7.) Trains

Trains are the way to get around Japan. The public transportation system there is like nothing I've ever seen. Of course it puts the US to shame, but it also surpasses Europe in convenience, speed, and punctuality. Before leaving Korea, we bought a rail pass through a travel agent which gave us access to all of the lines and all except one of the trains in Japan for one week. It wasn't cheap (about 390,000 won or $330), but it is much more cost effective and convenient than buying individual tickets to each city. All we had to do at each rail station was flash our pass and walk by. The trains arrive when they say they are going to arrive and leave when they say they are going to leave. I'm used to Amtrak, where you can plan on being at least 15 minutes late to your destination. Bullet trains connect most of the major cities. These trains can complete the 420+ mile journey from Hiroshima to Tokyo in about four hours. Do the math. The average speed is 105 MPH, including stops.

In addition to having access to all of the bullet trains, we had access to each city's regional network of rails, but not the subways. For the most part though, the regional railways served as a subway, linking different neighborhoods and suburbs. We only had to use the subway on the back end of the trip in Tokyo when our seven day pass had expired.


6.) Hustle and Bustle















One of the most fun parts of Japan is the urban hustle and bustle that is the yin to Kyoto's yang. We experienced this most our first night in Tokyo, when we visited Shibuya at night. Granted I still have never been to New York City, but Chicago and LA have nothing like this, two story TV screens on every corner, neon lights, people heading in all directions. The video below is of the famous "Scramble Crossing" outside Shibuya Station, one of the busiest train stations in the world. More people cross the street at a given crossing than any other intersection in the world.




I would have liked to have had more time to enjoy the nightlife of the modern Tokyo, but time just didn't allow it. The first night we called it quits early because we were exhausted from getting up at 6 AM for our flight. When we got back to Tokyo, we had to get up early again the next morning for the fish market, and the nightlife around our hostel didn't compare to Shibuya or Shinjuku (where we stayed the first time in Tokyo). That said, I'm glad I at least got a small taste of the modern Japan.


5.) Tame Deer

Two of the locations we visited on our trip featured tame deer that you can feed, Nara and Miyajima. Our tour guide in Nara explained to us that according to Shinto beliefs a god appeared riding on the back of a deer in the virgin forests of Nara. After this point, deer were considered sacred and killing one became a major crime. In fact, for a period it was considered worse to kill a deer than to kill a human. Over time, the deer became tame because they didn't have anything to worry about. Apparently the deer are pretty aggressive in terms of going after what they want. Our guide told us to turn our palms out and show the deer that we didn't have anymore food once we were done feeding them. Even after doing that, I had deer trying to nibble at the paper wrapper their food came in that I had placed in my pocket. Below is a humorous sign warning tourists of the potential dangers that the deer pose.

Here is a shot of me feeding the a deer.

I tried to capture this deer nibbling at the souvenirs being displayed at this shop. By the time I got my camera out I captured him being shooed away by the owner instead.

4.) Toilets (to my grandparents out there reading, you may want to skip this one)

Open any travel guide on Japan and the first few sentences will read something like this: "Japan is a country of contrasts. The modern and the ancient, the fast-paced and the serene, the old and the new, the traditional and the high tech, etc." The toilets are a microcosm of these contrasts inherent in modern Japanese society. Traditional, or Japanese style, toilets are like the ones pictured below:

I had no problem with these when doing a number 1; it was just like a urinal that was on the floor instead of the wall. The only problem is that these toilets replace actual toilets, not urinals, and do so in both men's and women's restrooms. If you are a female or doing a number 2, you are supposed to squat over the toilet and let it fly. Shockingly, Alexa was not fond of these toilets.


Next up, the space-age toilets of the future:















These toilets come with built-in bidets, deodorizers, spray, and play a loud flushing noise. This toilet was at our hostel in Kyoto. After a couple times handling your business as usual, you start to get curious with all of the buttons sitting next to you. The most easy button to experiment with was the "flushing sound". It simply makes a loud flushing noise without actually flushing the toilet. Kind of pointless if you ask me. I was a little bit nervous to try the "spray" button, but curiosity finally overtook me, and the next thing I knew, my butt was being sprayed. For some reason this surprised me even though I had just pressed the button with a picture of a butt being sprayed with water. I immediately pressed the "stop" button. But, ever the more curious, I wanted to find out how this mysterious butt spray worked. I pressed it one more time and this time sat up slightly so I could look at what was happening below me. A thin, white water canon emerged from the back of the toilet under the rim and begin spraying once more. I don't think this will catch on in the US anytime soon.

A highly informative sign above the toilet on the train instructing male travelers how to use a toilet seat.

3.) Sumurai

Starting in about the 9th Century, a land owning, farmer-warrior class began to emerge and gradually began to challenge the emperor's hegemony. These warriors became known as the samurai, and they ruled Japan during its feudal period, which lasted from roughly the 1100s until the 1860s. The leader/dictator was known as the shogun, and the samurai were the Eastern equivalent of a lord/knight combination. The emperor was largely a figurehead during this time period. The various samurai clans went through periods of infighting and cooperation, on and off, for the entirety of their rule, with shogunate hereditary dynasties switching a few times. The samurai practiced Zen Buddhism and emphasized austerity, fidelity, and a warrior culture. They built the majority of Japanese castles, including Himeji. Outside Himeji we found a shop where you could try on armor and wield swords. Antonio besmirched my honor, so I had to defend it.

Antonio ended up buying a sword as a souvenir on the trip. He tried to convince me to buy one (they were only about $75-100 for a real sword), but I was convinced it would be too much of a hassle. Upon arriving back in Seoul at the baggage claim, the box containing his sword was wrapped in yellow tape informing customs to check it out. They asked him why he was bringing a sword into their country. Antonio was tempted to say, "Oh, you know, for stabbing," but decided against it and said it was a souvenir. They confiscated his sword until he gets a permit from the Korean police department.



2.) Shintoism and Buddhism

The two major religions of Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism, and the most interesting thing about Japanese religion is that these two are not mutually exclusive. Most Japanese practice both. In fact, Shinto spiritual figures tend to preside over weddings, whereas Buddhist spiritual leaders tend to preside over funerals (due to their belief in reincarnation). There has been little conflict between the religions, a remarkable contrast to the history of Europe and the Middle East. Throughout history the Japanese still found reasons to kill each other, as well as their enemies, they just never cloaked it in religious dogma. Most of you are probably familiar with Buddhism, a faith that originated in India and then spread to China, Korea, and eventually Japan. Buddhism emphasizes detachment from your desires through meditation. The most common Buddhist symbols of Japan were statues of Buddha and pagodas, which differ dramatically in each society in which Buddhism took root.

Shintoism is Japan's native religion, and was explained to us by our Nara tour guide as an animist belief system that worships the various aspects of nature. The most common Shinto symbol is the torii gates. She informed us that these gates originated as a resting place for crows, who are seen by the followers of Shinto as messengers from the gods.

1.) Food

No surprise here for those that know me. Food finishes number one. I'll briefly describe dish by dish some of the foods I liked most, then talk about other interesting food-related experiences.

Noodles

Japanese noodles are very tasty and consist of two types: soba and udon. Soba noodles are dark noodles made from buckwheat. Udon noodles are thicker and made from flour. One common soba noodle dish I liked features cold noodles dipped in a soy-based sauce with wasabi. You dip the noodles in the sauce, then eat them. There is an example of this dish below that is nearly gone. Next to that is a udon noodle curry.


Shabu Shabu

Shabu shabu is an onomatopoetic phrase that in English would be "swish swish". Is is a pot of boiling both that you throw veggies into. Then, holding your meat with chopsticks, you dip it in until it cooks. We found an all-you-can-eat shabu shabu place. Antonio each polished off 6 trays of meat (3 beef, 3 pork). Alexa ate four, which isn't too shabby either. After the meat is cooked there are delicious sauces to dip it in.
















Okonomiyaki (o-kon-o-mee-yak-i)

This was hands down my favorite non-Kobe beef dish of the trip. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake made from batter, cabbage, pork, and delicious sauce, and sometimes noodles, sprouts, egg, and ginger. There are two types, Osaka style and Hiroshima style, both named after the city in which they originated. Osaka style is prepared by mixing all the ingredients with the batter, then frying it. Hiroshima style is prepared by cooking each ingredient separately, then layering it. We had the Osaka style (below left) in Kyoto at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant we stumbled into. We liked it so much that we ate there the next day too. We had Hiroshima style (below right) in Hiroshima at this massive food court dedicated entirely to okonomiyaki. It was cooked in front of us by a very charismatic chef. I preferred Osaka style because I liked the cabbage more when it was covered in pancake batter.
















Another fun food experience was ordering rice bowls via vending machine. The bowls all come with veggies, rice, and meat. Not knowing what anything said, I basically put my money in and punched the button next to the picture that looked best. A few minutes later, a waiter brought it out to us. I liked Antonio and Alexa's dish better than my own, but it was still fun.

The final culinary discovery (or in this case rediscovery) of the trip was that of a long-lost childhood favorite: Koala Yummies. During our trip we saved money by often eating small breakfasts and snacks that we purchased at marts to get us through the day until dinner. At nearly every mart was that beautiful, green, hexagonal box of chocolaty koala deliciousness. Back sometime in the mid-nineties, Kola Yummies (thin cookie wafers in the shape of koala bears stuffed with fudge) took the US by storm. They were advertised on TV and all over the grocery stores. My mom refused to buy them on the obviously erroneous premise that they had absolutely no redeeming nutritional value. That only made my brothers and me covet them even more. It was always a treat whenever we could get our hands on them. Then, after only about a year or two on the market, Koala Yummies disappeared forever. The nostalgic treat of my childhood was lost....or so I thought. In Japan they were everywhere, and I probably ate six or seven packs of them on the trip. I will definitely be on the lookout for them here now, as they are made by Lotte, a Korean company.


That's all for my posts on Japan. If you are still hungry for more check out Alexa's blog or check out all of my photo albums on Facebook:

Hiroshima/Miyajima
Kobe/Himeji
Nara
Kyoto 1
Kyoto 2
Tokyo