Japanese JHS Student Pop Culture

Aaaaaaand, we're back. Sorry about the lack of updates lately. Tessa and I are done with the summer vacation and back in the rigors of the school year, and we've been too tired/lazy to update. We really, really appreciate you reading though!

So anyway, Japanese Junior High School students, like American JHS students, have their own niche in the realm of pop culture. They are taken in by the various fads of fashion, music, memorabilia, and entertainment that are rife in any capitalist society. I would like to share with you some of the current ones I have witnessed.

First, memorabilia. Almost everything the students bring with them to class has some type of slogan or character imprinted on it. The most popular character (by far) is the character of Stitch from the Disney movie Lilo and Stitch. Disney has a HUGE draw in Japan. I'd say they control almost all of the non-anime cartoon/comics in Japan. Which is not too surprising, given what we know about the Disney company. Tokyo Disney Land is a very popular destination for Japanese vacation goers. The surprising thing is how Japanese culture has latched onto the character of "Stitch", especially given the fact that it was released 6 years ago (in Japan). Though Lilo and Stitch was made by Disney, it was certainly not one of their high budget/high grossing movies. I always thought it was an underrated Disney movie that never got the play it deserved, but in Japan it is EVERYWHERE. Stitch's likeness is by far the most popular cartoon likeness I see on an everyday basis, and I see him on everything from folders to pen cases to random sketches the students draw. I think the allure might have something to do with the Japanese's fascination with Hawai'i, another popular vacation destination. Of course the Pixar movies are well represented, as well as the Japanese anime/manga industry.

Second, music. Ah, to be 13 again. remember the crap music you used to listen to? Well, Japan has the same stuff, just (mostly) sung in Japanese. The J-Pop the kids listen to is mostly terrible, and I sometimes have to listen to it during lunch at the schools. The current faves are: Glay, Greeeen, Hey! Say! JUMP (the "JUMP" stands for Johnny's Ultra Music Power), and many others. They sing pop music in Japanese and sometimes English (hilarity ensues!) but usually the English is confined to a few lines like "Because I love you", etc.

My students also love Japanese comedians. I don't know much about them, but they always want me to say "Toose!" like the Japanese comedian in this youtube video (see it at about 20 seconds in). Whenever I do it, they crack up, but I don't really know why.

That's it for now ja, ne!

P.S. "ja ne" is sorta like Japanese for "see you!"

Undo Kai - Sports Festival!

Since the first day of the 2nd Term (Sept 1st), schools across Japan have been practicing hard for their sports festival. Chris and I have had few lessons to teach (in C's case, none last week) as the students are all extremely busy working on the individual events of the festival, as well as all the transitions between activities, order of events, etc. Families attend the festivals, and if they are involved in the PTA, they may even participate in certain events. Typical of the Japanese culture, order and perfection in the presentation of the school's festivals are almost more important than how the competitions turn out.

Last Saturday, we went to the festival of one of Chris' schools, Sakuragawa Junior High. It took place on the track field, and families basically camped out all around it, sitting on tarps and putting up huge umbrellas. No one wears sunglasses here (too reminiscent of the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza, or so I've heard...) so umbrellas and sun visors are everywhere. Anyway, we got to sit under the teachers' tent with a great view of the action. After what seemed like endless speeches from the Principal, team captains, and random old men (we think they were PTA....?) and a solemn salute to the Japanese flag, things got underway.

The festival lasted all day, and featured such events as sprinting, tug of war with huge rope and bamboo poles, relay races with inflated waist-high colored balls, beanbag toss into baskets on high poles, and the Samurai game. This was one of the most-anticipated events, involving one boy (the "Samurai") sitting on another boy's shoulders with his legs held up by two others. These boys represented the Samurai's horse. Then all the units ran into the middle of the track and the Samurai tried to knock each other off their "horses". No punching or kicking was allowed, but it was still pretty barbaric!! Seeing puny 7th grade boys being wrestled down by huge 9th graders was hard to watch - still, American football's no better. The day also involved the 3 teams (named Galaxy, A Fixed Star, and Comet) doing a cheer routine before each event they competed in.

The elementary school festivals are happening in the next few weeks, and they have some different events. Instead of waist high ball relays, two teams form semi-circle lanes around the track, and try to get huge, 5 foot tall inflated balls pushed down their lane, around a cone, and back up the lane again. There are also dance routines (some humorous, some more traditional), marching bands, and special obstacle relay races where the runners have to grab a card along the way, which tells them which obstacle they have to face: running under a long net, jumping several times through a hula hoop, or running around a standing baseball bat 5 times with their forehead on the handle.

These festivals are all oriented towards building school spirit and team efforts. It's been really fun getting to see these public school traditions!

End of the Summer

Tomorrow is our first day back to school after 6 weeks off. Truth be told, it got boring at times (there ain't much to do where we are if you don't want to spend much money), but we had a lot of fun and relaxed a lot. A few days ago we went to the Ueno Zoo near Tokyo. It was really great, had a variety of animals, though unfortunately no Giant Panda (their famous one Ling Ling died a little over a year ago). Working the last two summers at the Woodland Park Zoo, I couldn't help but compare the two, and while you probably have a little better view of some of the animals, their living areas often seemed a little too small and sparse. WPZ in Seattle has some really amazing natural-looking enclosures. Pictures of the zoo trip at the bottom.

We also had a really fun BBQ on Saturday in Kashima on the beach with some other English-speaking ALT friends. Good people + good food = good times. We had wagyu beef burgers (!!) and fresh scallops cooked over the grill on their own shells (!!) along with chicken, veggies, chip and salsa, etc. A nice Western-style BBQ this time. Afterwards we went lakeside and viewed perhaps the best fireworks show we've ever seen.

I'm going to let this go now, with woah there's a typhoon going on outside (see Tessa's post below about it) and today I've had my worst allergy attack in months. Yecchh! Anyways, bye for now!

America= Hurricane. Japan=Typhoon....

Hi All,

Reporting live from Namegata, where we've been in the middle of Typhoon Krovanh all day today and most of last night. It's our first one, and while we haven't seen any trees uprooted we've definitely been impressed.

Apparently, a typhoon is the same thing as a hurricane, or tropical cyclone. The name just refers to geographic locations: typhoons for west of the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, and hurricanes for east (typhoons in Asia, hurricanes in America).

Anyway, we've had heavy gales and blowing rain for the last 18 hours or so. In Japan, many homes and apartments have big metal sliding panels that cover your windows, which you would definitely close in case of a typhoon. But each of our two windows has a stuck slider, making the wind blow through them, causing it to feel almost like an earthquake. It's not very serious where we are, but I know that in Kashima (45 min away on the Eastern coast, and very windy most days) they cancelled classes at the English school where our friends work.

As some of you might have heard, yesterday Japan held Parliamentary elections and there was a huge power shift. It was expected by many, but the Democratic Party won by a 3 to 1 ratio over the Liberal Democrats who have been in power since WWII. As evidence of Chris' comedic influence on me, I say that this typhoon is merely the winds of change......

get it? Winds of change? Yeah, I know. . .

Well, tomorrow we go back to school for the start of Term 2. I actually had to iron today for the first time in 6 weeks. We've been here 5 months now, and look forward to getting through this next term quickly.

Enjoy the beginning of Fall everyone!

Japanese Style Barbecue or "Yakiniku"

Yesterday we went to a BBQ hosted by our coordinator from the company we work for and some of her friends and family. A couple of the other ALTs in the area were also invited, so the 4 of us piled into one tiny Suzuki Alto (the backseat of which I assure you is as or more uncomfortable than that of an old VW Beetle) and we carpooled to the beach city of Oarai about 1.25 hours away. While riding on the way, I noticed a small green tree frog had attatched itself to the outside of the car, very near the window of the front of the car. The windows were down because it was hot and the air conditioning didn't work, and eventually the little frog hopped inside the car, across the dash, to the driver's side. After a few tense minutes in which we were worried the little frog would then jump onto the driver, he hopped out the other window and began to cling for dear life on the side mirror. Ken (the driver) rolled his window up so it couldn't hop back in, and the frog stayed attached for a good 20 minutes until he (Justin decided its name was Gary) got uncomfortable and tried to move but lost his grip and went flying off the car. Godspeed Gary, wherever you are...

When we finally found the BBQ site we were greeted by our smiling coordinator Naomi, a very nice Japanese woman our age who is our contact to the company we work for. Her sister, nieces, and friends were already there, and we helped get things set up. The site was not quite on the beach, but very close to it. Justin and I helped start the fire and get the coals burning (without lighter fluid) and we munched on veggie snacks while we waited for the coals to heat up. They tossed in potatoes wrapped in foil to bake, and we set up a wire mesh-like pan over the coals and tossed on veggies like onions, eggplant, bean sprouts, and others. They then laid on some fatty strips of pork (bite size, but not actually bacon). The way the Japanese do BBQ is after things are done grilling, they grab the bits with chopsticks and dip them into this amazing thin sauce called "ebara" and eat. Very, very tasty. After the pork, they added thin strips of beef, and just kept piling it on. Then came the fresh prawns. Later, they even put on this big flat pan and fried up some yakisoba (grilled noodles), which apparently is common at Japanese barbecues. Everything was delicious, and there was as much beer as I could drink to wash it down with. We also played a lot with Naomi's niece and nephews (age between 2 and 3) who were completely adorable. They were very shy at first, but in the end they were challenging me and Tessa to races and repeating things we would say to them in English. A good time all around.

One of the interesting things about Japanese BBQs is that instead of a kind of potluck where everyone brings something, often times they will have one person bring everything, and charge a fee to those attending. It cost us about $24 each, but it was worth it for the food, beer, and chance to interact with some great Japanese folks around our age and a little older.

The next day (today) we found out the true price of that BBQ, in the form of mosquito bites. Tessa has over 20 on her legs, and I have about 10 on my legs and 3 on my arm. They itch just as much as they do in America. Luckily, Tessa had the foresight to bring hydrocortisone creme with her from America. Only 1 more week left of summer break! :( We go back to work on September 1st. Thanks for reading, we miss you all!

Sharks!!!!

Hi All,

Once again, I've neglected this blog. . .but I'm making up for it today with some very cool pictures. For months, Chris has been dying to visit the Aqua World in Oarai, a really neat beach town/city about 75 minutes north of us on Japan's easter coast. This place is nationally famous, so we finally set the alarm a little early (it's summer break, we're allowed to sleep in!) and made a day of it.

It was a Monday, so we expected a lighter crowd - no luck! We literally had to park on the sidewalk, with the full blessings of the lot attendant. The Japanese will park their cars anywhere without a second thought, this much I have learned.

Anyway, the Aqua World is pretty huge, and we walked through many different halls and rooms of gigantic tanks containing all sizes and varieties of sharks, tropical fish, sea turtles (yay!), mondo-crabs, eels, manta rays, octupi and more. We were almost equally entertained by the hundreds of awestruck Japanese toddlers, pointing and shouting "kore, kore!" ("that, that!").

We had heard about a great dolphin show (although a little subdued after recently reading an article on Japanese amusement parks' notorious mistreatment of dolphins) and waited with a mob of families to get into the arena. We made it down to the 2nd row, nearly empty because that's where you get splashed the most, but we thought, why not? The staff were handily selling plastic tarps for 300 Yen, but we wanted to brave it. The show was pretty great, if fairly short at 23ish minutes. Still, these animals perform several times a day, maybe they should shorten it even more!

The dolphins were really neat. A cheesy host spoke in Japanese while instrumental Disney power ballads played in the background, but we were just focusing on these creatures that were kicking balls with their tails, leaping many many feet in the air, and launching their human trainers across the pool with great splashes and pizazz. Later another trainer brought out a seal to do sort of a comedy routine where he would cover his eyes with his flippers, clap, balance beach balls ("beach-ey baru") on his nose, and generally impress everyone. Let's hope these animals aren't worked too hard and actually get more space than just the arena pool to live in.

Later we got some lunch (we were glad to see that the food court didn't sell fish, that would have just been insulting) and watched the Humboldt penguins outside - they're the same species as the ones at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

Hope you like these pictures - what a great day!

PS: Although the food court inside the aqarium didn't sell fish, on the other side of the gift shop by the entry, you could find any seafood item your heart desired, hopefully not from the nearby exhibits. . .

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Since we've been in Japan, we've felt quite a few quakes and tremors. I'd say about 2 or so per month. At first, we were a little surprised, like "whoa, I think we just had an earthquake!" when we felt our first tremor or two. Then, it got to the point where we would feel it, yawn, and wait for it to pass. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised, I mean we ARE on the Ring of Fire here, but growing up in the Pacific Northwest USA, I've been through less than 5 earthquakes that I can remember. Anyways, tonight we felt a bigger and longer quake. It started like all the others, but kept going, and shaking harder. Then our apartment started to sway a little. Tessa and I just kind of looked at each other like "uh, ok, is it going to stop soon?" It felt like we were in a subway car. It eventually subsided, but if it had gotten any worse, I would've dove under the crappy little table we have. Everything is fine though, at least here, no harm done. Early reports having the quake being between 6.9 to 7.1 in magnatude, off the East coast of Japan, sorta by Tokyo. Hope everything is OK there too.