Country Handbook

I have an American friend who lived in Japan for several years because her husband is in the Navy.  I am not certain how much of this is common knowledge but US Navy and Marine Corps reside in different parts of Japan--when I mentioned this to a coworker she said, "that's creepy." I had to clarify that US is not occupying. It is protecting Japan from places like North Korea (among other things which are not the point of this post). 


Anyway,  this friend once sent me a card she got from the Navy to carry around that said:

I AM LOST

PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY WAY

TO IKEGO HILLS-ZUSHI

It is conveniently on two sides-one in English and the other in Japanese. I am not certain how they are going to understand any directions given by the native who can only read the Japanese side nor do I understand why they list a phone number on there as if to say people who get lost don't know how to use a telephone and need to ask a native to dial. This card is now posted on our bulletin board next to some comic strips.

Needless to say, I was delighted when the same friend now moving for the second time in US since returning from Japan sent me Country Handbook: A Field-Ready Reference Publication. People, this is a good read. If you want to know Japan in a nut shell, this is the way to go. I have only thumbed through it and have learned a lot about my own country. It has everything from history, culture, geography, religion, government and politics, you name it. But the one I laughed out loud was "Gestures." It says:

The Japanese indicate "come here" by waving the open hand with the palm facing downward, much like Americans wave goodbye. Failing to realize this causes frequent confusion among Americans. It is impolite to make this motion toward a superior. 

This is true. My husband noticed this watching my brother call his daughters. I did not realize this until he pointed out. Then it says:

The American sign for "OK" forming a circle with thumb and forefinger, means "money" in Japan. The Japanese sign for "no" is to wave the open hand in front of the face, as Westerners do to clear an odor from in front of their faces.

Well the "OK" thing is half true. We know it stands for that but it is also true that we use it to indicate money. The waving thing is dead on.

When referring to themselves, Japanese will often point to their noses, much like Americans point to their hearts.

I still do this. Can't change it. Again, this is something I didn't realize I did until my husband pointed it out.

Pointing is considered offensive. Spitting, sniffing or blowing your nose are also considered impolite. Laughter is frequently construed as evidence of embarrassment or nervousness rather than amusement. The shrug, used in the United States to imply indifference, means nothing to Japanese. Neither does winking.

Allow me to point out that while it says spitting is impolite, Japanese men spit freely on subway platforms far more than I've seen Americans do. I would add to this list by saying burping is considered impolite and Americans burp far more openly than Japanese.  I can't tell you the number of times Americans said to me "don't you guys consider burping a compliment to your cooking?" "No, that's you" I want to say. And the shrug and the winking thing--it's not that we don't know what those are. We've seen it in movies. We do it in OUR movies. People just don't do it. If you do (and you are Japanese) you would be chastised for "trying to appear cool" and are therefore a dork. 


Another thing that made me laugh was the section on Prime Minister.  It has a picture of Shinzo Abe, who was indeed the Prime Minister in 2007 when this book was published. However, if you know Japan at all, you would know NEVER to commit to doing such a thing because we are notorious for Prime Ministers who quit. Since Mr. Abe, we've had five Prime Ministers.  Five. In five years. "We have proven that we don't actually need a Prime Minister to run the country" My brother uttered once.


Might I add, nowhere in this book do they say "under any circumstance, DO NOT PUT CHOPSTICKS IN YOUR HAIR." I clearly need to write for them.

Shellie May

This is Shellie May:

Do you know her? I didn't either. How about if I said, she is the girlfriend of Duffy:

Yeah, I know. I had that blank stare too. 


I took my family to Japan just few weeks ago to do our annual visit which included checking in on my father and running around hither and yon with my brother to gather various paper work for the inheritance procedure, which stressed me out so much that I broke out in hives.  But that is another post altogether. 


We had told our 5 year old daughter that we would take her to Tokyo Disney Sea this time, since last year we took her to Tokyo Disney Land. I know, the kid is totally spoiled. I also find it amusing that she has only gone to Disney parks in Japan. 


I have never been to Disney Sea. It's been open for 11 years and yet I've not gone. I've been to Disney Land plenty. We love Disney Land. We once went there on my husband's birthday and he forced me out of bed at 7am by jumping up and down and we proceeded to spend 12 hours there. Last year when we took our daughter we got to see her tiny mind blow up when she saw Cinderella's castle. It was like a commercial. So we were excited to go. Before we went, we spoke to my three nieces ages 19, 17, and 12 to get the low down. They coached us on which rides are good for a 5 year old, which rides are likely to have a long wait but are fun, what food to get, etc (by the way, the Gyoza Dog by 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ride is not to be believed). Then they said, "are you gonna buy her Shellie May or Duffy?" and I just stared at them.  


"Who are they?"  


"You don't know who they are?"


"No."


"Aren't they Disney characters?"


"I have no idea.  Are they?"


Then my sister-in-law, who was listening laughed and said,


"Is it possible they just made them up for Disney Sea and are not actually based on any stories?"


Then my youngest niece Ayana told me the whole deal. Shelly Mae and Duffy are apparently the toy bears Minnie made for Mickey. Nope. Doesn't ring a bell. I'm not saying it didn't happen, I just don't know about that story. Then she went on to say that they are THE things to buy at Disney Sea (but not at Land), and if you own them, you bring them there to show off to people that you have them. I said "I see...well, that sounds pretty silly."


She was right.


It is the most brilliant and frightening marketing tactic I've seen. I know we're talking about Disney so I shouldn't be surprised, but the amount of those bears carried by people at the park was incredible. It was also like a sociology experiment in how to make people feel left out. And we went on a weekday after a holiday in Japan so the park was pretty empty.  The people who were there were young couples playing hook and college kids playing hooky, and some families with young children. But the majority of people there were adults.  Carrying bears. Before you judge, let me explain (though I was judging throughout the park).


Japanese people like cute things. If you know of any Japanese stationery goods, it's stuff with cute cartoon animal characters on them. We like things that are compact and cute. Even grown men like cute things. Look at Anime. Cute things are not just enjoyed by kids, but by all ages. I have no idea why this is. Maybe because we take work and life so seriously that we find some odd comfort in looking at cute things. Similarly, Japanese people like to drink even though we process alcohol very poorly (hence, I don't drink). It is a sight to see when you get on a subway in Tokyo at 11:00 p.m. and it is PACKED with drunk people and people who just got off work. Good times. Japanese people also obey trends. If enough people wore underpants on their heads, the whole country would follow suit.


Anyway, this obsession with cuteness is particularly spread amongst young women in their late teens to early twenties. There are girls who actually believe that Micky Mouse lives at Disney Land and they come with a back pack with 25 Mickey key chains dangling from it and wear Mickey ears and carry serious Nikon cameras and take photos of him (not WITH him) like he is an actual celebrity. Creepy. I felt weird being the only one around who actually had a child who wanted to take a picture with him. And along with that are people with Shellie May and Duffy obsessions. I saw so many couples who wore matching mouse ears and carrying those bears I wanted to punch them. I kind of get young women doing that but I wanted to go up to the men and shake them and shout, "JUST LOOK AT YOURSELF!"  I'm sure that is very sexist, but come on!

 Donald surrounded.  If you look closely, the girl just left of Donald is wearing Mickey ears AND carrying a Shellie May purse.

There are various spots at the park where you are supposed to perch your bear and take a photo of the scenery.

On it, it says "For their safely, do not seat children here."

Anyway, after about 6 hours of being there, our 5 year old said she wanted Shellie May. Great. We had told her that we couldn't buy a bunch of stuff for her because going there was expensive on its own, but that we will buy her one thing. So we couldn't really argue with her. We went to a store and she immediately grabbed one that was dressed in the most hideous pink dress. I looked at the price tag and it was nearly $40 so we started showing her smaller, slightly more tasteful ones but her lower lip was begin to quiver so just from pure exhaustion, we compromised and got her a bigger one but without the dress. As we spent the next two hours at the park with Shellie May before heading home (because our daughter wanted to make sure Shellie May got to ride all the rides, too), we realized that her face and paw prints are shaped like Mickey's head. Creeeeepy. Also, she is tinted pink.


So we now have one. I am not going to bring this bloody bear back to Tokyo Disney Sea, but then maybe I should so that I won't get roped into buying another.

Sakura

There are several customs in Japan about admiring the changing of seasons. One of the biggest celebrations around this motif is cherry blossoms. As it is the flower that symbolizes Japan, my people are very serious about viewing and appreciating the beautiful trees that tell us the beginning of things.

Spring (April to be specific) is the beginning of school year. Most businesses also run their fiscal year from April to March and welcome in new recruits in April. With the budding of flowers, we celebrate new beginnings. March, on the other hand is the end of a cycle. Graduations happen then and as some cherry trees start to bloom, we associate the falling pink petals with the bittersweet feeling of saying good byes to our friends. Super poetic and melancholy. I can't tell you how many songs have been written with this theme (see below video as one example).

Then there is the HANAMI tradition. The word HANAMI translates to "flower viewing" and it is thought to be a very peaceful custom of having a nice picnic and and enjoy the blossoms.　Lovely. You'd think that. Until you see the complete mayhem that is, actually, the friggin' "flower drinking." I will preface by saying that this may just be in Tokyo--for that is a city which will change your concept of "crowded." Japanese people by nature are raised to follow the trend and be like everyone else. This flower viewing thing is something you just do no matter what the cost. Please take a moment to picture in your head the hundreds and thousands of people who shove each other without any mercy on subways fighting to get the best spot under trees in parks. If companies decide to do an outing around this event, the newest employees are sent out HOURS ahead with a tarp to secure a good spot. Then they are chastised if they fail. If that's not bad enough, people bring so much booze it turns into a complete nightmare. It does not matter whether there are children around. Business men and women with their suits disheveled are stumbling around the park in broad day light. Attractive.

So.Very. Crowded.

I, fortunately, did not experience much of this as I grew up because I had parents who did not feed into this kind of shenanigans. I spoke to my father just yesterday and he said he might ask a friend out to go to this restaurant that has a garden with cherry trees and they apparently serve special meals around this time of year. They even light up the tress in the evening and you can have a nice quiet dinner looking at the blossoms. Now THAT, I approve. He went on to say how much cherry blossoms there are in Tokyo and you don't realize it until they bloom. He spoke with a lot of excitement in his voice about how beautiful it is right now. In the same conversation, he also mentioned that this year commemorates the centennial celebration of Japan's 3,000 cherry trees that were given to the US in Washington DC. "What a perfect gift we gave," he said proudly. My heart warmed to hear that spring had arrived to my father, who lost his companion last year, and that he was noticing and enjoying it.

Mayhem aside, I have to say I do appreciate that my culture puts a great deal of importance on nature's beauty. Just today, there were five posts on Facebook from my childhood friends in Japan as they photographed their nearby cherry blossoms, and I imagine more will trickle in. Those photos have reminded me that it's something to take notice for my people. Our neighbor has three cherry trees in front of her house and every year I look out the window and think of my graduations past and get a little nostalgic.

I leave you with a song that was made popular almost 10 years ago called, Sakura (cherry blossom) by a singer song writer, Naotaro Moriyama. The song (as you will see in the subtitle) expresses the feelings of graduation as I mentioned above. He is backed by a high school choir from Miyagi, where the earthquake hit hast year. Their collaboration makes the song even more meaningful, and the images shown here are when it's not crazy--as it's intended.

I wish you happy Spring.