NOT ONLY SUSHI Chapter I (Pietro)

Japan is expensive. Lately, in particular, the change has become so awful –with the yen becoming so strong against both the euro and the dollar- that every time you put your hand on your wallet you feel like crying. Eating out in Japan, though, is one of the few things that are relatively cheaper in than in Europe. So let us find some comfort by going out to eat and let us discover the many specialities that the Japanese cuisine offers and the many restaurants of all kinds that are the main sight in so many Japanese streets. Eating out in Japan is quite more common than in Europe: people who want to have a quick meal before taking the train back home, families, friends, students looking for cheap places, couples, restaurants specialised in one kind of meal only, fast-food restaurants, traditional restaurants where you’ll sit on the wooden floor, Italian, Indian, Swedish restaurants: let’s make some sense in this myriad of options that we have if you find ourselves hungry in Japan.

Those who are used to eating Japanese cuisine abroad and then come to Japan might be surprised: they are very likely to find rather different food. On the one hand, just like many Italian restaurants in Japan try to make their dishes closer to Japanese taste –maybe garnishing a carbonara with some dried seaweeds- Japanese restaurants abroad tend to avoid flavours that might be too far from the country’s taste and that occasional customers might not appreciate or understand. On the other hand, the importance of some dishes is emphasized, while other dishes –although extremely popular in Japan- are scrapped from the menu all together.

One example is sushi: every foreigner will associate Japanese cuisine with sushi. Yet, the first time I went to Japan and spent two months with a Japanese family I never found sushi in my plate. Instead, I was greeted with a plate full of funny looking pseudo-spaghetti and my breakfast for the whole first week was a soup made of potatoes, seaweeds, onions and other mysterious ingredients. Every meal was accompanied by a bowl of way-too-cooked rice which, to my Italian taste, was lacking salt and had no taste whatsoever. This does not mean that Japanese cuisine is not good: although my first encounter with it was so difficult, I discovered that Japanese cuisine can be extremely tasty. What I want to say is that you will need time to discover, get used to and –in the end- appreciate flavours that are so far from those many Westerners know.

In the majority of restaurants in Japan you will not find any sushi. If you feel like sushi you will have to go to restaurants that specialise in sushi as this is no daily food for almost every Japanese.

In these pages I would like to concentrate on those Japanese dishes that international Japanese cuisine tends to forget, on the Western cuisine as you can find it in Japan, on the different kinds of restaurants the streets of Japan offer and, finally, -as you might want to grab some sushi while you’re in Japan!- we will have a look at the funny and strange world of thekaitenzushi.  

CANNED COFFEE COOL (Kyle)

To say that Japanese pop culture has global appeal is old news. Since the 1990s, the otaku culture of Japan, in particular anime and video games, has come to captivate the world over. These and other slices of “Japan Pop” are becoming just as much a part of the cultures of distant places as they are in the Japanese homeland; Pikachu as central to childhoods in the U.S. as he is in Japan, if not more so.

Following the burst of the Japanese economic bubble in 1990 and coinciding onset of this Japan wave, foreigners who visit Japan tend to do so not out of economic interest, but out of passion for all things otaku. Tourism posters for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs feature the phrase “Cool Japan” with an image of a female anime character clad in yukata, and among those courses offered at the Waseda Japanese Language Education Center, those that incorporate anime into their curriculum are always the first to fill up.

However, having been asked to write an essay on what I find “cool” about Japan, I am inclined to highlight other, subtler, areas of Japan’s appeal. I am not interested in Japan for its worlds of digital fantasy, but for its little treasures of the every day: things most Japanese people take for granted, but are rich with cultural meaning.

Things like canned coffee. Japan was the first country to produce and retail coffee products in a can, a trend that has never caught on in my home country of the United States. I love canned coffee for its convenience; when I’m tired and need a quick kick, I can grab a Wonda After Shot, and I’m good to go. I also appreciate that canned coffee comes heated in winter, making for an excellent hand warmer.

But my own tastes aside, what I find truly exceptional about Japanese canned coffee is the place it occupies in Japanese cultures of work. In Tokyo one would be hard-pressed to find a place where within 200 meters one could not buy canned coffee. The drink is sold mostly in convenience stores and vending machines, outlets that are as ubiquitous as they are transitory. These are not kissaten, or coffee houses; they are not places to linger in. Rather, sale in convenience stories and vending machines positions canned coffee as an instant delight. It is purchased on the spot with the goal of immediate consumption.

I have a theory that when you buy canned coffee, what you are really buying is time. Caught up in the midst of work, running from one place to another, what you are looking for is a quick burst of energy to take you from where you are now to where you need to be. Canned coffee advertisements emphasize themes of masculinity, work, and escape, selling the idea that canned coffee offers a reprieve, however brief, from the male work routine. However, that this reprieve is organized around the purpose of providing energy, itself something necessary for work, and that purchasing and drinking canned coffee is a short experience, in itself reinforces the capacity of the worker to work. This brief coffee break helps you perform; by purchasing a small amount of time, you gain even more time through greater productivity.

Canned coffee is just one of many examples of commonplace things of surprisingly deep meaning. There is plenty that is cool about Japan besides the mainstream of otaku culture. By examining the everyday, we can also understand more about Japanese culture as a whole. And what could be cooler than that?

Purikura in Japan (Yo Yo)

I don’t want to use the word “Sticker Photos” to introduce Purikura even Purikura can be considered as Sticker Photos. Purikura is way more interesting and greater than those sticker photos in U.S or China. Anyone who has done Purikura in Japan would agree that Purikura is not as simple as normal Sticker Photos. Purikura is a transferred Japanese word from English. The original meaning of Purikura is Print Club.

The meaning of Purikura is same as Sticker Photo, which is that people take photo by facing a machine with some sort of decoration. However, the greater function makes Purikura different from normal sticker photos. It is also the reason of calling it “Club.” In China, sticker photo machines are placed in sticker photo shops, and there are always people in charge of them. In compare, Purikura machine is one the most common game machines in any Japanese game center. Same as all other coin-operated games, Purikura machine is part of those game centers. Moreover, Different with regular sticker photo machines, Purikura machines are much bigger. It is way you can see up to 10 more people appear in a Purikura photo. The cheap cost of Purikura is also one of reasons that Purikura is so popular in Japan. For example, it costs about 5 Chinese Yuan for a regular meal in University cafeteria, but it costs 10 to 20 yuan to take sticker photos. In Japan, it costs 500 hundred Yen for a regular University meal, and Purikura is only 400 yen. In addition, the Purikura price in Japan is unified cross the country because it’s coin-operated. As Purikura machine is auto-operated, all you have to do before posing is to choose background color and styles.  To take Purikura: Putting four 100 yen coin into the machine, choosing styles, and then posing before its auto-shutter. Due to the auto-shutter you don't have to worry about push the shutter button with you posing hand. However, there are only 5 seconds waiting time before the auto- shutter.  You may not be ready by the time and the photo will be so funny. But isn’t unready moment also good experience and memory.

The most important reason that I’d love to share Purikura is that you can do graffiti after pictures are taken. People can decorate their sticker photos with Purikura machine and its tools. Therefore, the background of photo is not only what you choose before, but also what you want to draw in you pictures. This function makes everyone’s Purikura unique from others. It is more meaningful when it’s a once work. Drawing whatever you like and out friends’ names, dates and other words is really a fun thing. Other than graffiti, you can also do make up yourself in the picture with Purikura. All those functions sound like photo shop, but Purikura is simpler and more fun.

Every game center always owns many Purikura machines. This is not only due to big demand; different machines are designed for different photo styles. It is normal to see people is lining up in front of this machine, when the other ones are free. Some Purikura machines will make people look whiter, some are for cute style, and some are for glamour style. It is important to choose the appropriate Purikura machine when there are boys. Some machines are not designed for boys, and boys will look either terrible or girlish in those photos. In case the wrong choose, some machines have sign with “OK for boys.”

Taking photos, drawing, then printing, after all these steps, you can send picture files to your cell-phone or e-mail by the Purikura machine. Now you can use those photos as your phone and computer’s background. Is not this nice? Because Purikura is common and cheap in Japan, people, especially students usually take photos with Purikura after a special event. it is way to remember good and significant days. Come to Japan, and get your wallet and cell-phone decorated by Purikura.

Transportation in Japan Chapter 2 (Yo Yo)

Wise Ticketing

As you already know how convenient that Japanese train system is, and you will ride trains a lot while you are in Japan. It is important to understand how train tickets work and buy your ticket wisely all the time. Wise ticketing not only save your money, but also manage your time efficiently.

There two major train and subway market makers in Tokyo. One is public owned which is called toei, the other one is private owned which is known as JR. Even though there are different companies and they different train passes, they are transfer-friendly. One the most know train of Japan called Shinkansen (bullet train) is running by JR. The company operates trains in different cities include Tokyo. However, toei is still the most important train system over the country.

Due to a big amount of people ride trains and subways, the cost of trains and subways are expensive in Japan. A single ride really cost 100 to 300 Japanese Yen which is about 1 to 3 dollar. Unlike in U.S, students do not have a big discount or free rides. If you live faraway, taking transfers to get school every day, the cost of whole day transportation fee can be more than 10 dollars. However, you can definitely purchase month pass or season pass which is much cheaper than buying ticket individually. You can purchase a card ticket called teikiken which allows you ride certain line from certain stations to your home station in a period of time. This teikiken can be issued at your home station with your student ID. Not only student can purchase teikiken, everyone who is regularly rides certain line is good for teikiken. This teikiken is not like a regular bus pass in U.S that you can ride any bus any time during the period. The teikiken only works for your daily route (between assigned stations). This card ticket can also work in another way. You can put money in this teikiken and use it for your extra rides that are not between assigned stations. After the period, you can re-charge the cared by same amount of money for a new riding period.

If you want to buy individual ticket for any single ride, it is good to look at the exact price before you purchase ticket. Every station has a map that helps people to figure out how much of the ticket one should buy for commuting from this station to other ones. All tickets are sold by ticket machines, and they are very easy to use. But do not worry about if you purchase wrong price ticket for your ride, you can do fare adjustment before you get out of the destination station. Fare adjustment machines will either ask you to pay the lack of money or return you what is over-paid. Fare adjustment can be also done by a station employee if you think the fare adjustment machine is too complicated.

There are always a lot of different ways to get to your destination. Some of them are fewer transfers, some of them are faster, and some of them are cheaper. To search on Google Map or other train website in Japan before you head to somewhere is always a good idea. Those search engines always tell you the total price, how long it takes and the train schedules. Now, you can start your amazing train journey in Tokyo.

Transportation in Japan Chapter 1 (Yo Yo)

Riding trains in Tokyo

As one of the busiest cities in the world, Tokyo should be proud of its remarkable performance in city communications, especially its train system. If you come to Japan, you will be amazed by its excellent train system in many ways.

Japanese people, especially in Tokyo, usually like to ask each where each other live. Unlike in U.S, people tend to say street or block names, Japanese tell each other which train or subway station they use to get home. It shows that almost every Japanese uses train or subway every day in their daily life. As Japan is not a giant country, train is also major transportation of domestic travel, but not only city communications. You can get to most place in Japan by train with a reasonable amount of time.

Inside Tokyo, it is common to individuals spend 2 or 4 hours within train every day. Due to the high cost of rentals people are intend to leave farer from city centers. Wherever you go in Tokyo you take train or subway first, and then walk a little or take a bus. Bus routes are often short, since buses are normally running for certain areas. In addition, train stations are also regular meeting points for Japanese since it is simple to inform. Therefore, it will be nice to be familiar with some major stations of Tokyo city.

However, train and subway systems are convenient but complicated at the same time. There are too many lines of trains and subways in Tokyo city, and each line has different run modes, too. There are local, express limited express and other modes. Local is which the trains stop every station on the designed route. Express trains skip some non-busy stations and limited express trains only stop at most important major stations. It is important to not take the wrong train if your home station is a not a major stop. Otherwise you might need to take a lot extra time to get back. In contrast, if your home station is a major station, you do not want to take local trains because it cost a lot more time then take express trains. Different modes are really distinguished by colors; it won’t be extreme hard if you read signs carefully. Also, there are some simple lines which only supply local route, it is much easier to manipulate. I personally consider that taking trains in Tokyo is a subject of science due to its complication. You also have to care about directions because all platforms are close and similar to each other. It will be easy to make mistake, especially if you do not read Kanjis.

Some top major stations in Tokyo, such like Shinjuku or Shibuya, supply more than 10 lines. Those stations are huge and easy to get lost. It is totally possible to ride the wrong line if one doesn't read signs wisely. One of the greatest things about trains in Japan is that the waiting time are usually less than 15 minutes for all lines. Therefore, you won’t be too late for any appointment even if you miss one train, except if there is train accident. Yes, train accidents are common in Japan. It is another major cause of late trains beside rush hour and weather. Due to some reasons, jumping in to railways is one of the high rate suicide ways in Japan. Don't be too surprised when you hear the announcement called “jinshinjiko.”  And also don't be afraid of late for class, work or appointment, you will get a white paper with train stations’ seal to prove that those uncontrollable situations. How wise and humanized the system is.

Riding trains in Japan will be one of your interesting experiences.

Falling love with “Fall leaves” in Kyoto (Yo Yo)

After arrived Japan on September, I realized that I can find kyoto’s travel brochures everywhere. All information about Kyoto are displayed on the shelves by Waseda Co-oP, and no doubt, all those brochures are about “Kouyou”—fall leaves or Red leaves in English. People who have studied Japanese must know the word “Kouyou.” Since it is called “Fall Leaves,” which means you can only see those nature creatures in fall. I was lucky to get to Japan before Kouyou season, which is November. I have been told by all different kinds of people that I should go to Kouyou trip. In addition, I have learned it in text book when I was studying in U.S. I felt more excited about Kouyou. It is normal that leaves become red or yellow in the fall, but what makes Japanese fall leaves special is the most attraction to me. What makes Japanese proud of their fall leaves is what I was looking forward. When the weather gets colder and colder in November, you can see leaves turning yellow and red while riding trains or walking on the street. Before starting planning Kouyou trip of Kyoto, I got a chance to go Takao Mountain in Tokyo for an early Kouyou trip. However it was not as amazing as I expected due to an early visit, even Takao Mountain is the best Kouyou place in Tokyo.

With my wandering I had my Kyoto trip, where I officially felled in love with Kouyou. The first stop in Kyoto was Kyomizu Temple. Even though it was so crowd and I can hardly walk.  I have to admit that if you want to be amazed by Kouyou in Japan, you have to come to Kyoto. Kyoto is the place where you could appreciate this nature creature the most. The whole mountain is decorated by red, but not all red. Every piece of leave seems like has been taken care, through sunshine they look even more bright and pretty. There are a lot Kouyou place in Kyoto, but except Arashi Mountain most places are temples or shrines. However, in Kyoto you can also appreciate Kouyou by not going to any tourists’ places. In the fall, the city of Kyoto is all covered by Kouyou. The reason that temples or shrines are recommended is their culture matters. If you get to know story or history whenever you go to a Kouyou place, the meaning of Kouyou will be different, too. Kouyou in Kyoto has accompanied this old this for hundreds of years. They tell stories. Even different Kouyou places in Kyoto show different feelings. In Arashi Mountain, they look more spacious, you just want to hug this amazing nature. Different from kouyou in Arashi Mountain,  kouyou in Kyomizu temple look stately. Even the temple is so crowd during the travel seasong, it does not reduce the beauty of kouyou a little.  In Nijo Castle, where important Japanese historical event happened, kouyou are like solders who protected this place for hundreds years.

A lot of place in Kyoto light up during Kouyou season. People can appreciate kouyou even in the night time. Kyomizu temple is one the light up places. I went there at night as my 2^nd time because a taxi driver said it was totally different from daytime. The view was amazing at night. It is hard to say which one is better, night or daytime, but you do not want to miss night view of Kouyou. With lights, kouyou looks even more red and bright. You just feel like walking in an unreal world. Somehow it is like those scenes in science fiction movie. The only thing you want to do is keeping pressing camera shutter. Last tip: photos are much better to take at daytime, unless you have really professional camera.

In a word, Fall leaves (Kouyou) in Japan are artworks. If it is possible, do not ever miss the chance to appreciate Kouyou in Kyoto.

This is cool about Japan (Yo Yo)

Airplane landed at Narita airport on Sep.15^th.  I finally got here after more than 10 hours flying. From handing study abroad application until I step on the land for real, it has been almost a year. Riding the express from Narita to Tokyo station and then transferring to Takadanobaba station. Finally we got to meet Japanese students who were volunteering for pick up. Stayed in hotel, had orientation, meet host-family, took short trip to Kamakura and other places. More than two months have passed; Japan has brought surprise, fresh, excitement and confusion every day, every possible moment.

Japanese Fashion, girls are wearing leggings everyday while they are surprised that Americans wear shorts and wandering if they feel cold. I went to Shibuya with my friend. While we arrived the station, my friend said:”welcome to Japan, welcome to Shibuya, any style of dressing is not a surprise here”. To be honest, American is the most tolerant country in my view. However, fashion is nothing about tolerance. You can see guys with handbags and skinny pants everywhere. With same clothing, Japanese are showing unique J-fashion by their special way of matching clothes.

City styles’ areas are formed around every train station, where you can find every elements that is belong to the term of “city.” Every station is like a city center, around the station, there are all you want. There are department, supermarket, museum, restaurant, city hall…around the train station I am using. In the Japanese word of “Machi,” the meaning perfectly fits the term of “City” in English.  

You suppose to make noises while having noodles to appreciate the taste. Even though I have not got used to that sounds and too afraid to try, this is still a little symbolic of Japan. Even 60 years old person can walk faster than me. Especially in Tokyo, in such a busy city, every one lives in speed live. Catching trains, buses, commuting between different works, reading books in the train, those are too much for a girl such like me, who grew up in a tiny town. I have to also jogging a little while I am walking with my host-mom who is turning 70 years old. Can this be the reason why everyone is so skinny in Japan? My favorite thing is Japan except food is Purikura, those J-style quick photo taking machines. 400 yen, 10 minutes, whatever how many people, you get this hand-size paper with all cute decoration and your photos on it. This is such a nice way to keep great moment in your life. 

Japan is more than awesome. Although, it does include some parts that I don't like or agree. However, as soon as I will knock into a cool surprise once a while, why not?