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Archive for the ‘Japanese Culture’ CategoryHow much should teachers really care about teaching in Japan? Should foreigners really feel the need to help Japan understand their language in order to be able to compete in a world market economy? Are we as English teachers from competing nations simply handing over the tools to help them compete more? Is teaching English (one of many languages being taught in Japan) just a way for us to leave our country and have a good time? Is this all just a joke? I come across these sentiments on a daily basis. And over the years I have learned to tune them out and focus on what it is I feel I need to do in order to complete my life’s task. I know it may sound corny but I do like to teach, or coach as I think of it here. Japan may not be able to express gratitude or remorse as we would expect but that shouldn’t stop us from understanding their needs. Does the world believe Japan is full of kamikaze and samurai waiting to attack? I certainly hope not. Most of the country that even remembers the war era is passing away. The younger generation (and I mean 40 and below) hasn’t a clue what war is like, much less what aggravation is, unless you call being killed on level 4 more than three times aggravating. So why do I see so many foreigners with bad attitudes constantly complaining about this and that in Japan? Maybe you big headed fish came to the small pond expecting lighthearted resistance occasionally. Maybe they don’t realize the world thinks differently and that their part of the world doesn’t necessarily have the secret to happiness; unless they believe Super Size after a night of drinking is happiness.
We here keep hearing the word otaku to mean a boy or man interested in video games too much. It also means a boy or man who is interested too much in collecting things such as hentai magazines and DVDs, or figurines, manga (comic books) and such. They stay home a lot with What do you think the reason is for the differences of this stereotype between Japan and America. I’d also like to hear what one would call a “nerd” in different countries. Is a nerd the same in England? When my wife and I were comparing the differences between Japan and America in regards to nerds, I thought it was pretty interesting that nerds don’t tend to think about sex as much (although I’m sure that is not the case). I myself think about sex everyday.
My wife told me to immediately delete this photo when I showed her. Not sure why. Either is she, of course. Thus my reason for posting it. The bits of light are called Orbs. Orbs are supposedly the manifestation of spirits in the form of spheres. I think they’re just reflections from dust or in this case possibly ash from the fire or the many bugs. In any case, they’re interesting to some and an annoyance too most as it means a bad shot. Damn dust. Shoulda cleaned the lens before I took the shot. Funny thing is, the other ten photos taken in the same place within’ 10 minutes don’t have dust. Obon is a strange time indeed. PS: The photo was taken at our little one day trip yesterday to Tanba. I think we must have burned most of the forest that night. We set off the fire alarm. The fire department wasn’t too happy. Now what was the name of that shochu again?
Of the three train lines I can take, Hankyu is the classiest. JR is the fastest and Hanshin (owned by Hankyu or vice versa is…um…south). But it’s getting better. Rajio taiso or radio exercise (ラジオ体操) or calesthenics was begun in the November 1928 when NHK started broadcasting the show in conjunction with an insurance company. Some say it comes from America, others the Japan Post. You can read more by translating the rajio-taiso.jp site. Rajio Taiso is still quite popular. I see it being done every morning on the construction sites around Kobe and even at some of the companies I teach. During the Summer at around 7:00AM in just about any residential park you can and see young and old stretching to the radio taiso routine song. I’m not sure, but I think most of these localized activities are organized by the jijikai (senior citizens group). Ours is led by the local Boy Scouts possibly, but I’m not exactly sure. You can see just how popular rajio taiso still is buy clicking any of the neighborhoods listed on rajio-taiso.jp page (Japanese). The kanji for people is 人。 Here is some more info from Japan Post (Japanese). This video was shot in the park right in front of our building. The pre-music wakes us up and gives us five minutes to run down with the other 100 or so people. You’ll notice there is one boy standing on the raised platform (maybe he’s an Eagle Scout) with the other scouts on the sides and the jijikai leaders on the far right next to the table. They stamp the cards you see around everyone’s neck. Fill the card with stamps and you get free snacks at the end of the Summer. My son is seen at the end. The song is available for download below. Living in Japan the past seven years being married to a Japanese and having sex when there is a full moon gives me a little different perspective on this issue. This long post is in response to the news today on Japanese sex slaves and the US House of Representatives vote. Why did the government feel the soldiers needed women?
from www.religioustolerance.org ===== Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. “What we should not forget about relationship between our nation and your nation is a fact that there was a certain period in the thousands of years of our company when we were the victimizer and you were the victim. I would like to once again express a heartful remorse and apology for the unbearable suffering and sorrow that you experienced during this period because of our nation’s act.” Recently the issue of the so-called ‘wartime comfort women’ is being brought up. I think that incidents like this are seriously heartbreaking, and I am truly sorry” (Policy speech at the occasion of the visit to the Republic of Korea. 宮澤喜一内閣総理大臣の大韓民国訪問における政策演説（アジアのなか、世界のなかの日韓関係）. 外交青書36号，383-388. qtd in The World and Japan Database Project website, Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, Retrieved from here.) |
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When we think of a nerd we might think of the guy with glasses, a pen holder, button down oxford, pants high, studies a lot, shy and maybe even wearing one of those twirly hats. We can see in the picture from Wikipedia a good example from the movie Nerds. But do you have any idea what a nerd looks like in Japan?
their…hobby. Basically, males who don’t know how to communicate, especially with women.
I was getting of the train and thought it would be good to finally record the stamp for the Kobe JR station. You might see this stamp elsewhere in the site but I don’t really like JR. Sorry JR, I’m a Hankyu fan. Cleaner, quieter and better looking (JR looks like the monorail at Disneyland). Hankyu is just a little more, well sometimes a lot, more expensive than JR. 
it was still good 
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