The Best Things In Life Are Free (or, cost 100 yen)

The 100-yen shop in Japan is one of the most glorious stores I have visited in any country. It puts the American Dollar store to shame. (100 yen is *roughly* 1 US dollar).
Like its American counterpart, you can find many types of goods there. But unlike the shops in America, the quality of the 100 yen goods is pretty remarkable. Most of my kitchen supplies come from there.
More than one American who has lived in Japan for a while and who has returned home during my stay here has commented to me that one of the top things they will miss is this wonderful store.
A sampling of things I have picked up from the 100-yen store:
oven mitts, sunglasses, a bathroom mirror, kitchen knives, chopsticks, notebooks, glasses, container jars, rice bowls, custard bowls, sushi plates, screwdrivers, ceramic tea cups, flower pots, an incense stick base, picture frames, an umbrella (which sucked, the only really poor quality item on this list), slippers, and a frying pan.

I had hoped to post some pictures of these goods to accompany this post, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Just take my word for it - the 100-yen shop rocks.

Why? Because It's Japan

One of the core reasons I love traveling - and have loved living abroad for the past two years - is to better understand foreign cultures. To get the answer to the question of "How do they do it over there?" but more importantly to answer the "Why do they do it that way?" question.
So I found myself quite frustrated for the first couple months of my Japanese experience. I continued to hound my Japanese coworkers, friends, and other strangers (bartenders, waiters, random people I met outside Kyoto station) with Why? questions. But instead of getting any sort of substantive answer, the most frequent response was, "I don't know. We just do it that way."
My frustrations boiled over and I lashed out at a couple coworkers, "Aren't you Japanese? How can you not know why do you things this way? Haven't you ever asked?" And with these questions I began to realize something I have already posted on, the Japanese mentality of conformity and not asking questions of authority. Don't stand out. Don't think outside the box. Or, rather, you can think outside the box, just as long as you don't tell anyone your crazy, straying-from-the-pack ideas. This means, don't ask why. Just do it.

I have begun training my replacement at my company. He is not new to living abroad - he's been out of the USA since 2001, living in Bangladesh, England, Thailand and Indonesia. But to Japan, he's a newbie. And he insists on asking the "Why" question to everything. I answer as best I can. But he has quickly become familiar to my "You're preaching to the choir" and "Damned if I know. Why are you asking?" shrugs.

Now, certainly there are parts of American culture for which I can't answer the "Why?" question. I don't know why it's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors. Or why we carve pumpkins on Halloween. Or why we sing Auld Lang Syne only once a year, the stroke after midnight on New Year's. But I know why we eat turkey on Thanksgiving, why we light fireworks on July 4th, and why we say "God bless you" or "Gesundheit" after someone sneezes.

Most Japanese people I have asked don't know why we take off shoes when entering someone's house, why you say "Yorushiku onegaishimasu" (literally, "Please be nice to me") when meeting someone or asking someone to help you, or why the Japanese flag is the way it is.

So today, my girl and I went to a small cafe we stumbled upon several weeks ago. The owners of this cafe are some of the happiest people I have ever met. They are both retired and opened this small cafe on the shores of Japan's biggest lake, Lake Biwa, to pass the time and spread positive energy. When we last visited this cafe, we spent a couple hours talking with them about everything under the sun. The old man (his wife calls him "Grandpa") pulled out a small whistle-like instrument and proceeded to play "Amazing Grace" and "Greensleeves" for us - both of which he learned simply by listening and mimicking a CD. Such a great couple, still so very much in love, we decided to visit them again.
Again, we had a wonderful time, and again, "Grandpa" broke out his flute and played a new song for us. When came time for us to leave, they both came out of the cafe (in POURING rain) to watch and wave as we drove by (even though we had shared about a dozen "thank you"s and "take care"s in the cafe before we left). When I asked my girl why they came out, she answered, "Because it's Japan."

And so that's become the de facto answer to my unanswered "why" questions. So why do we eat soup with chopsticks? Because it's Japan. And why are there so many popular cartoon characters who are pieces of food (Anpan-man, who's head is bread, Onigiri-man, who's head is a rice ball, and their merry friends)? Because it's Japan. And why is there nothing said after someone sneezes? Because it's Japan.

And that's the only way it can be.

"Are you Japanese?"

Is a question I have received frequently from my students. I've both told them the truth and lied, but no matter what, they're confused. If I'm Japanese, why do I speak English and have curly hair? If I'm not Japanese, how is it that I'm living in Japan and can speak some Japanese?

So, am I Japanese?

Yes:
I eat just about everything with chopsticks.
I apologize unnecessarily.
I eat fish, rice and miso soup for breakfast.
I recognize the supreme authority given to Rock, Paper, Scissors for resolving interpersonal conflicts.
I can be sitting with 4 friends at dinner, and be (just as everyone around me) pounding away on my cell phone sending emails.
I take my shoes off when I come home, and require that of all my guests. My take-off-shoes reflex is so strong, that when entering hotel rooms, I feel odd leaving my shoes on.
I look forward to nights out ending with a trip to the local karaoke place.
I eat Japanese-size portions.
During conversations, I make "I'm listening" grunts and short "OK" comments, even to Americans, which throws off some Americans who are used to silence on the other end when they are speaking. Similarly, if I'm speaking to someone and I don't receive that same feedback, I wonder if the person I'm speaking to is still there.
I stare at any and all foreigners.

No:
I'm tall.
I have curly hair.
I cross the street on red.
I can't stand natto. (a popular bean curd dish - it's the Japanese Vegemite)
I think for myself, openly question authority.
I can't read kanji.
I don't consider 9:31 to be late, when the schedule says 9:30.
I can't sit in the seiza position.
I hate sitting on the ground.
Lastly, I was born in America.

Take Me Out...

So after many months of discussion, I finally made it to a Japanese professional baseball match. I saw the local team, the Hanshin Tigers, play the Orix Bluewave.

I've been to dozens of baseball matches in the States, and this was, as most other things I have experienced this past year, quite a different experience.

First off, I couldn't fit in the seats.


The cheering was also quite different from games at Shea. Sure, there are organized cheers of "Let's go Mets!" and the "CHARGE!" horn, but nothing quite like what they do here. The cheering was non-stop from the first pitch to the last. The only breaks in cheering were between innings. The entire stadium cheered in unison (very Japanese, of course) for the entire game. They suddenly switched cheers and rhythms, and no one missed a beat.


But the most foreign part of the game was their version of the 7th inning stretch. Of course they don't sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." They don't sing anything. Instead, practically everyone in the 55,000-seat stadium has these balloons (a package of 4 costs 200 yen, about 1.85). They all get blown up by the middle of the 7th inning, and then, in unison (also very Japanese), the scoreboard flashes the words "Lucky 7s" and everyone lets go of their balloons. I've never experienced anything like that before.


Then the balloons, naturally, rain down on everyone and have to be picked up off the field by the stadium crew.


There was Japanese food, naturally - overpriced yakitori, udon and ramen. But no hot dogs or pretzels. No Cracker Jacks. But there was popcorn. And beer, so I did just fine.

The Tigers lost, 4-1, but it was a great experience.

Driving

Some tips for you, if you find yourself driving in Japan.

1. Drive on the left. So the steering wheel is on the right. And the lever for the windshield wipers is switched with the one for the turn signal (wipers on the right, turn signal on the left. This one can be startlingly confusing...)

2. Traffic lights are the same colors as in the States, but here they consider them red, yellow, and blue.

3. Yellow lights mean you had better slow down and prepare to stop (do not push a yellow).

4. Honk to say thank you.

5. Blink your hazard lights for a couple of seconds in the rare occasion you cut someone off (well, perhaps it's not rare to you New Yorkers) to say "I'm sorry," or if someone lets you cut in front of them, to say "Thank you."

6. Turn your headlights off when you come to a red light; if you don't, you may accidentally shine the light into someone's eyes. Be sure to remember to turn them back on once the light turns blue.

7. If you are second in line waiting for a traffic light to turn blue, and after it does the car in front of you does not move, simply wait quietly.

8. If you see someone (particularly a crazy-looking curly-haired foreigner) crossing the road, but stopping halfway, be sure to slam on your brakes in panic and let him cross the rest of the way, even if it appears he is waiting patiently (and inexplicably!) in the middle of the road.

9. No turn on red. If we were to allow that, that would leave people to think for themselves, and we don't approve of that.

10. Seatbelts are only required if you're sitting in the front seats.

11. There is not an open container law, so passengers are free to drink as much as they'd like of whatever they'd like.

12. When parking, always back into the spot.

13. Try not to be too distracted by the television programs showing on the built-in TVs on the dashboard.

14. Learn what to do in these situations:

Talkin 'Bout Convenient

The Japanese convenience stores are as aptly named as the bullet trains. And they put their American counterparts to shame.
Sure, both offer small snacks and drinks. Both offer the occasional drug-store product and or small tool. Both have ATMs.
But at Japanese konbinis, I pay my bills. No need to transfer money or send checks to the utility companies. Simply walk in and present my bill to the clerk, and she rings it up. Somewhere along the line the payment makes its way to the company.

As do their American counterparts, Japanese convenience stores have prepared foods for sale. And as in America, the quality of such food is below the quality you'd find at a supermarket or restaurant. But unlike America, the food is still quite good (see earlier post on how good Japanese food is). While I don't make a habit out of eating konbini-prepared meals, it is no problem when I do. A recent sampling included sushi, spaghetti carbonara and fresh salads.

Konbinis also have these wonderful all-purpose ticket machines. These machines allow one to buy tickets for sporting events (I've gotten tickets at the konbini near my house both for sumo wrestling in Tokyo and baseball in Osaka), concerts, movies, or just about anything else going on in the country.

How... convenient.

Food, Glorious Food

For many months now, I have wanted to write about Japanese food. As it has been many months since I first thought of what I wanted to say in such a post, I have gathered plenty of buroggu fodder.

The short of it: Japanese food is healthy, delicious, and centered around fish and rice.

The long of it:
Japanese food, for the most part, is very light and healthy. Take the typical Japanese breakfast: a bowl of rice, a small cut of fish and a bowl of miso soup. I've started eating this breakfast regularly, and it is a great way to start the day. Instead of the heaviness brought on by the typical American breakfast, I generally feel pretty light and yet still pleasantly satiated as I leave the house. Sure, I still enjoy my scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes and home fries for breakfast every now and again (usually on weekends), but I am a huge fan of the Japanese breakfast.

The most well-known Japanese food is, of course, sushi. Quite naturally, it is quite popular and readily available here. Equally as obvious, the quality of the sushi is incredible. The fish is very fresh. The wasabi, too, is fresher than anything I've ever had in the States. One interesting thing about the sushi here is how it is served. Almost all sushi is nigiri. Rarely do you see rolls stuffed with 8 different kinds of fish and vegetables. I have seen that here on occasion; here it is called "American sushi."
Sushi is also quite cheap here from the American point of view. I can stuff myself silly on US$10. Many sushi restaurants have conveyor belts which cart the freshly cut fish moving right past your eyes. Pick up what you like right off the belt and dig in. Each plate will have, as I mentioned, nigiri, 2 pieces of fish draped over balls of rice. And each plate will cost anywhere from 100-140 yen (roughly $1). If you don't see what you want on the conveyor belt, at each of these places you can ask the chef (who stands just a few feet from you) to make something specifically for you. That is always done very promptly.

Sushi is really wonderful, and I eat it several times a week. Usually from the supermarket (I don't go to sushi restaurants all that frequently), but the quality of supermarkets' prepared foods is very good.

But of course, limiting a report on Japanese food to just sushi would not do justice to this fantastic cuisine.

Yakitori (literally, grilled chicken) is another fantastic meal. Basically, it's grilled skewered meat and vegetables. Ordered by the skewer, it works both as a full meal or as a quick snack (there is a yakitori stand right outside my local supermarket).


Yakiniku (literally, grilled meat) is quite a meal. At a yakiniku restaurant, there is a small grill in the center of every table. Raw meat is ordered (All sorts - chicken, pork, beef, fish. Vegetables are available too, if you like that sort of thing) and you grill it yourself. The meat can come pre-spiced or pre-sauced, and there are always sauces on the table for your dipping pleasure.

In addition to all this, there's also donburi, tempura, okonomiyaki, udon, ramen, and soba. Not much of this has made its way across the Pacific, but I'm a fan of it all. Ramen is something most college students have feasted on for 99 cents, but certainly the quality you get in a Cup O Noodles is vastly different from what you get at a ramen restaurant.

Speaking of ramen (udon too), the how when it comes to eating food is quite different from what we do in the West.
Naturally, chopsticks are prevalent. But everything is eaten with chopsticks. Imagine my surprise when I ordered my first bowl of miso soup in Japan and it was served only with a pair of chopsticks. Uhh... "Marge, where's that metal doobie you use to...dig.....food..?" "You mean a spoon?" "Yeah yeah yeah..."

Glancing around the restaurant, I quickly learned how to consume soup in Japan. One uses the chopsticks to pick up any meat, veggies and random giblets in the broth, and lifts the bowl to one's lips to drink the broth. Even when you get a large bowl of ramen or udon, which will come with a spoon, the spoon is not used for eating what's in the bowl; it's for supporting the noodles before you shlurp them into your mouth. One doesn't eat these noodles as you would spaghetti. Instead, you must shlurp up the noodles. The louder the better. Frankly, shlurping makes it taste better.

In any case, after these many months, I am quite used to chopsticks. So much so that I eat (and have eaten) just about everything under the sun with them. Soups. Rice. Scrambled eggs. Cuts of fish. Salad. Mashed potatoes. French fries.
So I've come to realize something interesting about eating with chopsticks instead of the fork. With each bite, clearly you can shovel more food into your mouth with a fork than you can with chopsticks. It is also known that once the body is full, it takes some time for that "I'm full" message to reach the brain, so people frequently eat more than what their bodies need.
Eating with chopsticks, hence less with each bite, ends up being a much healthier way to consume food. Much less overeating, which, combined with the quality of the food itself, leads to a slim and slender body type for most people in this country. Compare that with the States; watch people shovel food into their mouths with little regard for what their bodies are telling them. Add to that the layers of fat rolled into each and every crevice of a meal, and voila! the American body type. (of course lack of exercise has a fair bit to do with it too...)

Receiving a bowl of soup and having to figure out how to eat it with only chopsticks was odd, but the oddest how-the-hell-do-I-eat-this situation came many months ago, before I could read some basic Japanese. I was on a date and we ordered a pizza, as it was one of the few things my date could read on the menu and it had the added benefit of having a picture for us illiterate types. Sure, our eyebrows were raised a few inches when the pizza arrived with a scrambled egg pancake draped over the entire pizza. But when we were given just a spoon to serve it, and chopsticks to eat it, we broke out in wtf?! laughter.

I do most of my own cooking. That in itself has been quite an experience too, as I have attempted to make my old favorites with Japanese ingredients. For instance, breadcrumbs here are used mainly for tempura, so they have a distinctly Japanese flavor. Try to imagine a chicken parmesan with a Japanese air to it.
Loaves of bread are sliced ridiculously thick, and cucumbers and carrots are also of a mutant variety compared to what I've ever seen before:

Unlike Prague, I can easily find Kraft grated parmesan cheese. Hershey's syrup too. But cocktail sauce took a special order from the States. As did regular-size chocolate chips. There are Doritos, but no Tostitos. They have (literally) 6 or 7 kinds of mushrooms readily available, but no portabellos. The milk here, though, is incredibly thick. Most of the time the lowest fat percentage I can find in milk is about 3.5%.

For pre-packaged food, opening it takes a mountain of patience. The number of wrappers once has to go through to get to a cookie, for instance, is pretty remarkable.


And if you're walking around town, and can't find a bar, Japan has you covered with their beer vending machines.


I've come to really like Japanese sweets. When I first arrived, I was a little disappointed with the lack of sweetness found in each cake, or chocolate bar (outside of the American exports). But now I am very used to things being a lot less sweet than what is available in the States.
So much so that a few months ago a private student of mine visited Los Angeles and brought back a box of American chocolates as a gift for me. I almost couldn't eat the balls of sugar she brought back. (I persevered, though.) But it got me thinking as to how unnecessarily sweet American foods are. Add that to the long list of reasons why Americans are so rotund.

So that's the long and short of Japanese food. It's been a wonderful culinary experience. Something I hope to take some of back to the States with me (T minus one month and counting...)

Lastly, in case you were wondering (and I'm sure you were), Tommy Lee Jones is the Boss (Apologies to my fellow New Jersian Bruce Springstein).