"Japan"

Last week we talked about words that came from Japanese, but have you ever thought it was strange that we call Japan "Japan"?  After all, "Japan" is not a Japanese word and it is not a word that, at least until recently, the Japanese people ever used to refer to their country.  In its early history, the word for Japan was "Wa."  Later the word "Yamato" came into usage, until about the 7th century when "Nippon" began to appear in texts.  Nowadays, Nihon or Nippon are the most common ways in which Japanese people refer to their nation.  

So where does the word "Japan" come from?  

One theory is that "Japan" comes from Portuguese missionaries who, at the end of the 16th century, brought knowledge of Japan back to Europe.  The 1603–1604 dictionary Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam contains two entries for Japan: nifon and iippon.  At the time the common Portuguese term for Japan was "Iapam."  The Portuguese also learned Chinese and the Chinese word for Japan was transliterated as "Cipan" or "Cipangu" (Land of the sun's origin).  In fact, the accounts of Marco Polo refer to Japan as "Cipangu."  

Another theory is that  when the Dutch colonized the Indonesian Islands, they heard the locals refer to "Japang," which was how they pronounced "Cipang."  However, the Malay word for Japan is also borrowed from Chinese and is pronounced "Jepang," so it is also possible that Portuguese traders who visited Malaysia brought the word back to Europe.  

The first recorded instance of the word "Giapan" appears in English in 1577.  After that, the word eventually made it back to Japan in its present form.

Borrowed Words

English is a language that is drawn from so many different languages that it can be challenging to learn for foreigners.  Our idioms can be especially challenging when they are drawn from foreign sources.  Many Americans are not even aware when they use words and phrases of Japanese origin, like “head honcho.”

One of those phrases is the phrase “hunkey dory.”  (For Example:  “I was having trouble with my car, but I brought it to the mechanic and now everything is hunkey dory.”).  Did you know this phrase comes from Japan?  The most common origin story for this phrase is that it came back to the United States through United States Navy servicemen who had been based at Yokosuka, Japan.  The road right outside the main gate to the US Naval Base is called Honcho Dori (“book district street” and often the main street in a city).  The sailors called the street Hunky Dory and it came to mean if you came from Hunky Dory then everything had to be good or “hunky dory.” 

However, others contend that the phrase was coined by a performer who called himself “Japanese Tommy” in the 1860s.   “Japanese Tommy” was the stage name of the variety performer Thomas Dilward, who popular in the USA in the 1860s – but who was African-American and not Japanese.  He is said to have based it on the same street name in Tokyo, although the street in Yokohama is the more likely source based on the timing.  Commodore Matthew Perry had opened up trade with the country through Yokohama in the 1850s and there were frequent voyages between the US and Japan by to the 1860s.

Coincidentally, at the time, the adjective hunk in English meant "safe" or "in a good position."  The word “hunky” derived from a Dutch word meaning the goal or "home" in a game.  In the West Frisian language honck means "house" or "safe place"; in East Frisian hunk means "nook" or "retreat" or "home" in a game.  

The phrase “hunky-dory” was first noted in print in George Christy's Essence of Old Kentucky, 1862.  (“I am always to be found, A singing in my glory; With your smiling faces round, 'Tis then I'm hunkey dorey.”)  By 1877, Bartlett’s 4th edition of Dictionary of Americanisms includes a definition of “Hunkidori:” “Superlatively good. Said to be a word introduced by Japanese Tommy and to be (or to be derived from) the name of a street, or bazaar, in Yeddo [a.k.a. Tokyo].”

Aim to Fail

Babe Ruth Was A Big, Fat German Failure

If you read enough personal development books, you will eventually come across mention of one of the most profoundly meaningful statistics in the history of sports. That statistic being that for many years, Babe Ruth simultaneously held both the career home-run [714?] and strikeout [1330?] records.

Crazy, huh? It’s almost as if he were trying to become a living object lesson. Remember, he didn’t have “a lot of strikeouts“: he held The Strikeout Record; he failed More Than Anyone Else at hitting, not just for a couple of months but over his entire career — we are talking about a professional, by the way, a person whose job it was to play baseball. Notice how he had a 3-digit homerun count and a 4-digit strikeout count; he struck out almost twice as many times as he hit a touchdown…wait…He was the best because he was the suckiest. He succeeded the most because he failed the most.

What does this mean? It means, to paraphrase Anthony, son of Robbins, that: massive failure is the key to success. Michael of Jordan said it himself:

The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Glóin, by any craft that we here possess. I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Even some random guy from some random organization called International Business Machines said it:

If you want to succeed, double your failure rate. The ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade.

Now, I’ve heard all these quotes so many times that they don’t really grab me any more when I read them, but let me illustrate using my favorite person — me — as an (yes, I am that narcissistic) example.

I Am A Failure

At this writing, my KhatzuMemo stats indicate that since New Year’s Day 2007, I have done about 58000 flashcard reps with a retention rate of about 91%, where retention = a rep score of 3 or above. Sounds respectable enough. But, you realize that what this means is that I have failed to correctly read and/or comprehend a Japanese sentence item at least 5200 times over the course of two years and change — can you imagine tagging those end to end to end to end in a video (that would make a pretty cool “lowlight reel”)?!

More than five thousand failures. I’ve been wrong more times than there are stars in the sky visible to the naked eye [someone please check this]. I’m just saying: that’s a lot of fails. And if we (royal “we”) were to start counting from 2004, it would be about 100,000 reps with a similar 90-95% retention rate — that means something on the order of ten thousandfailures. That’s ten thousand times I couldn’t correctly read or understand a sentence or phrase in Japanese: I am a failure.

And yet, I am very comfortable with both written and spoken Japanese. I can read, write, understand or say whatever I want or need to. I just got done doing all my taxes without a hitch. Clearly, this scale of failure helped. You’ll forgive the focus on SRSing, it’s just that it’s something that’s easy to measure and therefore compare quantitatively.

Errybody Awesome Is a Failure

Robbins goes on to discuss the number of times Walter Elias Disney was rejected by banks when he wanted funding for some goofy idea about a studio making full-length cartoons, and the number of times Sylvester Stallone was rejected when peddling the script for some kind of adult-oriented movie involving interracial pairings of sweaty, half-naked men touching each other with leather gloves in front of excited crowds of people. Most people would have given up.

Of course, it goes beyond Hollywood…I have friends who won’t go ice-skating with me because they’re afraid of falling. They have fallen 0 times. 0 failures. They have never failed at skating. But they also can’t skate…at all. In fact, I imagine the best skaters have also fallen the most times.

Arguably, a lot of our fear of failure most likely stems from how schools punish it. Schools promote avoidance of failure. This is a recipe for mediocrity. No meaningful success seems to come without hearty doses of failure. Failure needs to be celebrated. It needs to be sought actively. Failure is what needs to be for dinner.

I love blaming everything on school. But then, most of us did spent the greater part of our waking lives from toddlerhood to early adulthood either in school or in preparation to go to school or travelling to and from school or doing homework for school; schools have plenty to answer for; they can’t bait with compulsory attendance and then switch to learner-parent responsibility forever; they can’t keep waiting until someone gets killed and then feign shock at the “discovery” that they’re a breeding ground for violence. I mean, am I the only one who thinks that school shootings are actually surprisingly rare? Off topic. Anyway…

So how can you start failing? I think the thing is simply to find something you can crank at. Find or build a mechanism that allows you to fail a lot. Perhaps three figures minimum, possibly and preferably 4, 5, 6, maybe even 7+. Chances are, this mechanism will also allow you to succeed — in fact, it’s more or less guaranteed to bring you success…eventually.

Read the rest of the essay here:

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/aim-to-fail

Economic Boom

Recently, in foreign exchange markets, the United States dollar has risen to above 100 yen per dollar.  In fact, last week it briefly rose to 102 – a number not seen in five years. Since April 4, the yen has lost 10% of its value.  This rapid shift has been a real change since last summer, when the dollar was trading close to 75 yen.  Some traders even believe that the dollar may rise to 105 in the next week!

The credit for this change goes to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has pushed the Bank of Japan to stimulate the nation's economy. In recent years, Japan’s currency became one of the most valued and trusted currencies in the world, but that trust became a curse when Japanese products became too expensive overseas.  The highly sought-after yen made exports difficult and hurt manufacturers like Toyota and Sony. 

When Prime Minister Abe was elected in December of 2012, he announced an aggressive effort to turn around the economy.  He fired the head of the Bank of Japan and appointed a new leader who immediately began to buy bonds and attempt to cause inflation.  While Americans typically think of inflation as a bad thing, in Japan the yen’s deflation has been the source of great difficulty.  Even in Japan, many still remember how inflation nearly ruined Japan just after the end of World War II.  Legally, the Bank of Japan is not supposed to directly intervene in the economy, but Abe promised that it would do so without holding back. 

This news is the first piece of truly good news for Japans economy in almost 15 years.  The Nikkei (the Japanese stock exchange) has rallied and companies like Bridgestone, who manufactures tires, are up 67% this year.  Sony has posted a profit for the first time since 2008, when the yen hit its record high. 

The question now is whether Japan will be able to keep the up the momentum.  Prime Minister Abe has already announced several efforts to make big changes in the Japanese economy, such as splitting electrical utilities’ generation and transmission businesses and opening the residential electricity market to competition.  He has even begun a push to bring more women into the workplace and keep them there.  Only 15 percent of companies in Japan have any female executives, and those women only make up 1.6 percent of executive roles.  Abe has pledged to expand day care and push for more opportunities for women in the workforce.

 

Mt. Fuji

This week the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO announced this week that it will designate Mount Fuji as a "World Heritage site" in June.  This honor is certainly well-deserved, but you might find it strange that it comes long after the ancient forests of Yakushima (inspiration for Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke) and Hokkaido’s Shiretoko National Parks, as well as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and 13 other Japanese sites, have been registered for protection under the Convention.  What took so long? 

Long the most recognizable symbol of Japan, Mt. Fuji has been revered as a sacred mountain since ancient times. In the early Heian Period (794-1185), a Sengen Shinto shrine that enshrines Konohana-sakuya-hime, the goddess associated with volcanoes, was built at the base of the mountain’s north side.  In spiritual terms, Fuji is divided into three zones. The bottom, or Kusa-yama, is said to represent the everyday world. The forest line, or Ki-yama, represents the transient area between the world of humans and the world of gods, and the “burned” area, or Yake-yama, at the top is said to represent the realm of the gods, Buddha and death.  Thus, to climb Mount Fuji is to descend from the living world to the realm of the dead and then back, by which pilgrims can wash away their sins.

Efforts to get Mount Fuji, which drew more than 318,000 hikers last summer, listed with the World Heritage Committee date back to the mid-1990s, first as a U.N. Natural Heritage site.  However, when representatives from UNESCO visited Fuji in 1995, they were greeted with a sea of garbage and the smell of human excrement due to the lack of public facilities, and told Japan not to apply until the mountain was cleaned up.  After years of effort, there were toilets for about 15,000 climbers a day as of 2012. In the end, however, the government decided to try to get the mountain listed as a cultural, rather than natural, heritage site.

Consequently, UNESCO agreed to designate Mt. Fuji as a cultural site, rather than a natural site.  It is also worth remembering that Mt. Fuji is also still an active volcano that last erupted in 1707. 

Robotic Elder Care

One of the only predictions that I have stood by for years is that Japan will be the place where robots finally become household fixtures.  With one in five Japanese citizens now aged 65 or older, various robotics technologies are being developed to prolong independent living and improve quality of life at home.  By the middle of the century, almost half of Japan's population will be over the age of 65, but even now Japan lacks sufficient nursing care workers to care for the elderly.  Japan needed an estimated 2 million nursing care workers in 2010, but the actual number of workers was 1.33 million in 2010.  Japan will need 4 million such workers in 2025.   Instead, already a range of specialized robots have been developed, from machines that help people to walk, to others that assist with mobility. 

Japan's high-tech maker Hitachi announced the development of a mobility-support robot "ROPITS" (Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System) in Tsukuba in Ibaraki prefecture on March 12, 2013.  In order to raise the level of autonomous travel technology to a practical level, Hitachi has been participating in the Mobility Robot Experiment Special District ("Tsukuba Special District") in the City of Tsukuba, in Ibaraki prefecture since 2011.

Paro, a robot manufactured in Japan and modeled after a baby harp seal (with soft fur covering the electronics inside, of course), was introduced in clinical settings to help patients with dementia. When it the robot pet was found to be helpful in that setting, researchers began to experiment with other applications.  Paro has been in use across Japan and Europe since 2003 and has been approved as a medical device for the United States mainly for pediatric hospitals, elderly patients, and schools for autistic children in therapeutic gatherings.

There are already some prototypes and companies who have developed humanoid nursing care robots that can lift and hold patients, but they remain extremely expensive, costing as much as 20 million yen (approx. 200,000 dollars) each, hence they are not widely used.  The government plans to extend financial assistance to help firms develop low-cost nursing care robots with a price tag of about 100,000 yen each.  Such robots with limited functions are designed to assist elderly people in daily activities and reduce the burden of nursing care workers.

The government hopes to revise nursing care insurance coverage to include the use of such robots, which could make rental charges as low as several hundred yen per month, the sources added.

Four kinds of nursing care robots are included in the envisaged plan:

- A motorized robot suit that can assist in lifting or moving elderly and otherwise impaired patients so that caretakers do not need to exert as much physical strength.

- An ambulatory robot that can help the elderly and others walk by themselves, even on inclines.

- A portable, self-cleaning robot toilet that can be placed in living rooms or bedrooms to make using the toilet easier for the elderly and others.

- A monitoring robot that can track the movements and whereabouts of dementia patients.

Japan and Boston, MA

The eyes of many Americans were fixed upon Boston this week.  Boston holds a special place in the history of our country, but also is a special place in the relationship between Japan and the United States.  Japan's direct relationship with America began with two people: a young Japanese fisherman who was swept out to sea in 1841, and the American sea captain who rescued him.  More than 10 years before Commodore Perry arrived at Yokohama, Captain William Whitfield invited Nakahama "John" Manjiro home to Massachusetts, and encouraged his education in America.  During the 19th century, Bostonians became enamored of Japanese art and collected many artworks that are still held at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  The Boston MFA spearheaded an effort to preserve the artwork of "Old Japan" through a partnership between American scholars and Japanese intellectuals such as the author of "The Book of Tea," Kakuzo Okakura.  

The relationship of Boston and Japan was strengthened further when Kyoto became Boston's first Sister city in 1959.  Seiji Ozawa served as the Boston Symphony Orchestra's conductor beginning in 1973 and served for almost 30 years.  Of course, the Boston Red Sox were never more popular in Japan than when Daisuke Matsuzaka was their pitcher from 2007-2012.  

Japan even has close ties to the Boston Marathon.  Runners from Japan have had 15 total victories in the Boston Marathon. The only countries that have more total victories than Japan are the U.S. (95), Kenya (29), and Canada (21).  Shigeki Tanaka was the first Japanese person to ever win the Boston Marathon; he won the men’s open at the age of 19 in 1951, finishing with a 2:27:45 time. Tanaka’s personal history as a survivor of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima garnered much media attention. His win was also memorable because instead of typical running shoes, he wore tabi (足袋), which are traditional style split toe Japanese footwear. Today, advocates of barefoot running often look to him as an example.

Other memorable Japanese winners of the Boston marathon include Wakako Tsuchida, who has won the women’s wheelchair division 5 times (most recently in 2011) and Toshihiko Seko who won twice during the 1980’s.  

North Korea and the Yakuza

Last week we discussed the presence of many North Korean sympathizers who are ethnic koreans living in Japan.  Treated as outsiders both due to their politics and their ethnicity, one way in which they connected into the Japanese economy that we discussed was by owning Pachinko parlors.  If you thought that those establishments were often controlled by the Yakuza, you are correct.  In fact, the ties between the Yakuza and North Korea are only now starting to be understood.

The Yakuza have long depended upon Burakumin and ethnic Korean members in Japan.  Some believe that the membership is approximately 30% Japanese-born Korean.  The largest organization, the Yamaguchi-Gumi  (六代目山口組) has about 55,000 members and accounts for about 1/2 of all Yakuza in Japan today, with about a 10% Korean membership.  Its former acting chief's family lived in North Korea.  North Korea has, for many years, supplied the Yamaguchi-gumi with methamphetamine, guns, and other illicit goods.  North Korea also exports methamphetamine to China, and today most of the methamphetamine that reaches Japan first travels through China.  The third-largest organization, the Inagawa-kei, at one time had 18 of its 19 leadership positions held by Koreans.

In 2001, a Japanese patrol boat exchanged fire with and sank a North Korean espionage vessel off the coast of Kyushu.  Investigators located a cellphone on board that had called an ethnic korean Yakuza boss 120 times.    Most investigators believe this connection was part of the narcotics trade between North Korea and the Japanese Yakuza.  The Yakuza has an extensive smuggling network in place to feed the over 1 million addicts and regular users in Japan today.  Long adept at manipulating those people whom society has rejected, the Yakuza may now have taken up with a rogue nation whom the world has rejected.  

North Korea

The increasing threats from North Korea have us watching that nation very carefully.  In Japan, Koreans are the second largest ethnic group residing in the country. However, did you know that there is a sizable community of Koreans who are pro-North Korean living in Japan?  This community (Chongryon) of approximately 150,000 people live in Japan, having decided not to return to North Korea in the 1950's and 1960's, when the North opened its doors and requested that its former residents return.  

Today, the Chongryun operates between 60 and 140 ethnic Korean schools across Japan that were started with money from North Korea, although many are closing or about to close.  These schools run from kindergarten through University and carry pictures of the North Korean leader in each classroom.  The North sends these schools textbooks and curriculum to teach.  In addition, until recently, North Korea operated a ferry between Japan and North Korea to carry people and supplies donated to North Korea.  Some believe that many of the parts used by North Korea to build its missiles were carried to North Korea on this vessel. 

The Chongryon have, perhaps unsurprisingly, been the target of criticism in Japan.  Some hold them partially responsible for North Korea's numerous abductions of Japanese citizens from Japan during the 1970's and early 1980's.   While they account for about 1/4 of the Korean people living in Japan, it is not clear how many of them would choose loyalty to North Korea if not for their fear of reprisal against family still residing in the North.  However, this community still plays an important role in Japanese society, by some estimates operating between 30-80% of the pachinko parlors in Japan.  In 2005, the Chongryon community sent over $120 million back to North Korea.  

The future is unsure for this diminishing community.  The North no longer provides financial support and the ferry has stopped.  Instead, younger members defy the rule against naturalization and about 10,000 people a year have sought Japanese naturalization.  The Chongryun banks suffered greatly in the recent financial crisis and some had to seek help from the Japanese government to survive.  

Ramen

In honor of the return of Ramen to Now and Zen, one of Charlottesville's local Japanese restaurants, for two days only (April 7th and 8th) I thought I would share a few words about Ramen in Japan.

If you are interested in having some delicious ramen here in Charlottesville, this special event might be your only chance!

https://www.facebook.com/events/497998056924346/

Ramen is a noodle soup that some believe was originally imported to Japan from China in the Meiji Period. In more recent decades, it has become a very popular dish in Japan, adapted to the Japanese taste. Ramen's popularity quickly spread from Yokohama, Hakodate and Japan's other port cities to every corner of Japan during the Taisho and Showa eras (most of the 20th century).  At first, ramen restaurants enthusiastically reproduced the recipes from the big port cities. Eventually however, they learned to refine their ramen recipes to their local tastes and identities. Today, every locality in Japan boasts its own unique style of ramen.

Ramen can be classified according to its soup base. The most popular ones are:

• Shoyu Ramen: Brown, transparent, soya sauce based soup

• Miso Ramen: Brown, non-transparent, miso based soup.

• Shio Ramen: Transparent, salt based soup.

• Tonkotsu Ramen: White, milky, pork based soup.

The etymology of ramen is a topic of debate. One theory is that ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese lamian (拉麺), meaning "hand-pulled noodles." A second theory proposes 老麺 (laomian, "old noodles") as the original form, while another states that ramen was initially 鹵麺 (lǔmiàn), noodles cooked in a thick, starchy sauce. A fourth theory is that the word derives from 撈麵 (lāomiàn, "lo mein"), which in Cantonese 撈 means to "stir", and the name refers to the method of preparation by stirring the noodles with a sauce.  In Korea, ramen is called ramyeon (라면).

In 1958, instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese founder and chairman of Nissin Foods, now run by his son Koki Ando. Named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll, instant ramen allowed anyone to make this dish simply by adding boiling water.

Several regions have their own special varieties of Ramen:

Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, is especially famous for its ramen. Most people in Japan associate Sapporo with its rich miso ramen, which was invented there and which is ideal for Hokkaido's harsh, snowy winters. Sapporo miso ramen is typically topped with sweetcorn, butter, bean sprouts, finely chopped pork, and garlic, and sometimes local seafood such asscallop, squid, and crab. Hakodate, another city of Hokkaidō, is famous for its salt flavored ramen, while Asahikawa, in the north of the island, offers soy sauce flavored ones.

Kitakata in northern Honshu is known for its rather thick, flat, curly noodles served in a pork-and-niboshi broth. The area within its former city boundaries has the highest per-capita number of ramen establishments. Ramen has such prominence in the region that locally, the word soba usually refers to ramen, and not to actual soba which is referred to as nihon soba("Japanese soba").

Tokyo style ramen consists of slightly thin, curly noodles served in a soy-flavoured chicken broth. The Tokyo style broth typically has a touch of dashi, as old ramen establishments in Tokyo often originate from soba eateries. Standard toppings on top are chopped scallion, menma, sliced pork, kamaboko, egg, nori, and spinach. Ikebukuro, Ogikubo and Ebisu are three areas in Tokyo known for their ramen.

Yokohama ramen specialty is called Ie-kei (家系). It consists of thick, straight-ish noodles served in a soy flavored pork broth similar to tonkotsu. The standard toppings are roasted pork (char siu), boiled spinach, sheets of nori, often with shredded Welsh onion (negi) and a soft or hard boiled egg. It is traditional for customers to call the softness of the noodles, the richness of the broth and the amount of oil they want.

Hakata ramen originates from Hakata district of Fukuoka city in Kyushu. It has a rich, milky, pork-bone tonkotsu broth and rather thin, non-curly and resilient noodles. Often, distinctive toppings such as crushed garlic, beni shoga (pickled ginger), sesame seeds, and spicy pickled mustard greens (karashi takana) are left on tables for customers to serve themselves. Ramen stalls in Hakata and Tenjin are well-known within Japan. Recent trends have made Hakata ramen one of the most popular types in Japan, and several chain restaurants specializing in Hakata ramen can be found all over the country.

Disappearing Sushi

Japan is often considered the home of sushi and it is almost impossible to imagine Japan without it.  However, Japan is facing a crisis that could imperil its national cuisine.  Many popular species of fish made disappear due to overfishing and could disappear from Japan's menus in a few decades.

Japan consumes about 80% of the worlds Bluefin Tuna, but the population of this staple fish has dwindled to just 3.6 percent of its original population.  Spawning stocks have plummeted by about 3/4 in the past 15 years.  Roughly 90% of the tuna that were caught this year were too young to reproduce, meaning that they were the final generation.  The eel is also in great danger.  Japan consumes about 70% of the eel produced worldwide.  In February the Environment Ministry added the Japanese eel to the "endangered" category of fish, indicating that the species faces a high risk of extinction in the near future.  Annual catches of Japanese eel have dropped to just 5 percent of their levels in the 1960s.  Overfishing and environmental threats are a serious challenge for the 21st century.    

Yoda in Japan

The Disney company announced recently that they are going to start making new "Star Wars" movies, and this week we learned that Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford are going to reprise their roles.

Yoda's character, of course, was voiced by Frank Oz, and had a distinct syntax where he would speak in subject-verb word order.  

Have you ever wondered, then, what Yoda sounds like when he is dubbed in Japanese? 

It turns out that in Japan, Yoda's voice and speech resemble the speech of an old man, but otherwise follow common rules of grammar and sentence structure.  

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KevZ8G2l2Mk

(Apologies for having to use a clip from "Episode 3" but it was all I could find.  申し訳ありませんでした

Battleship Island

For those of you who enjoyed the oscar-winning James Bond movie "Skyfall" (Ok, only the song won, but still…) you might have been fascinated by the villain's island, from where Javier Bardem's character secretly ran his operations.  You might not know, however, that the island is real!  And it is in Japan!  And the story of the island is truly fascinating.

Hashima (Edge) Island (端島) is also known as Gunkanjima (軍艦島; meaning Battleship Island), is about 9 miles from Nagasaki.  It was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility. The island was owned by the Mitsubishi corporation and had a residential district so dense that the density was almost 140,000 people per square kilometer, making it one of the most densely populated places on earth.  However, once the mine closed in 1974 there was no reason to continue supporting the island, and it was completely abandoned almost immediately.   The corporation offered the inhabitants jobs on the mainland, first-come, first-served.  People abandoned the island so quickly that they left coffee cups on tables, bicycles leaning against walls, and writing still on the blackboards in schools.  The island has remained totally deserted since then.

If you are interested in visiting the island, it is currently off-limits.  However, Nagasaki has begun to explore limited tourism to the island and it is pending designation as a UNESCO world heritage site.  Don't try to sneak in, though!  The punishment for being caught visiting is 30 days in jail followed by immediate deportation.  

Shopping in Japan: Business Hours

Despite the saying that Japanese cities never sleep, retail hours are often very limited. Opening hours of most shops are typically 10AM-8PM, though most shops are open on weekends and public holidays except New Year, and close on one day a week.  Often that day is Monday, but can also be Tuesday or Wednesday.  Restaurants typically stay open until late at night, though smoking would usually be allowed after 8PM.   

However, you will always find a store open if you need one; Japan has an astounding number of 24/7 convenience stores (コンビニ konbini), such as 7-Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, Circle K, and Sunkus. They often offer a much wider range of products than convenience stores in the US or Europe, sometimes have a small ATM and are often open all day all week! They sell delicious food, a wide array of beverages, books, magazines, music, and even basic clothing.  

Many convenience stores also offer services such as fax, takkyubin luggage delivery, a limited range of postal services, payment services for bills (including topping up international phone cards such as Brastel) and some online retailers (e.g. Amazon.jp), and ticket sales for events, concerts and cinemas. Of course, establishments related to night life such as karaoke lounges and bars stay open well into the night: even in small towns it is easy to find an izakaya open until 5 am. Pachinko parlours are obliged to close at 11 pm.

Shopping in Japan: Taxes

Some stores permit foreign customers the buy clothes tax free.  The stores which provide tax exemptions are major department stores and stores that have the words TAX FREE written on the storefront. Many small shops do not allow tax free sales, so it is a good idea to ask if products are tax free. Also, you should be aware that even at major department stores, food products are not eligible for tax exemption. The eligible price is a total purchase of 10,001 yen and up. If you buy one item worth 5001 yen and one worth 5000 yen, the total is at least 10,001 yen, so it is eligible for tax exemption. The tax exemption amount is the consumption tax amount, which is 5%. There are 2 tax exemption methods: (1) deducting 5% at the time of purchase (for each one product equaling 10,001 or higher) and (2) after purchasing, take all the receipts to the tax exemption counter, complete the exemption procedure, receive the taxed portion in cash, and use the receipt as the tax exempt amount. Most department stores use method (2). Whichever method you use, a passport is required, so make sure to have it with you.

The 5% consumption tax imposed is not refundable for purchases of consumable items such as food and beverages. At many department stores like Isetan, Seibu and Matsuzakaya, you typically pay the full cost at the cashier and go to a tax refund (税金還付 zeikin kanpu or 税金戻し zeikin modoshi) counter, usually located at one of the higher floors, and present your receipt and passport to the counter to get reimbursed. In some other stores advertising "duty free" (免税 menzei), you just present your passport to the cashier when making payment and the tax is deducted on the spot. When making tax free purchases or tax refund claims, counter staff would staple a piece of paper in your passport, which you should keep with you until you leave Japan. This piece of paper is to be surrendered to the customs counter at your point of departure just before you pass through immigration and checks may be done to ensure that you are bringing the items out of Japan.

Shopping in Japan: ATMs and Credit Cards

Japan is still fundamentally a cash society. Although most stores and hotels serving foreign customers take credit cards, many businesses such as cafés, bars, grocery stores, and even smaller hotels and inns do not. Even businesses that do take cards often have a minimum charge as well as a surcharge, although this practice is disappearing. 

One tip: the most popular credit card in Japan is JCB, and you can use Discover cards anywhere with a JCB logo. Most merchants are not familiar with this, but it will work if you can convince them to try! The Japanese usually carry around large quantities of cash — it is quite safe to do so and is almost a necessity, especially in smaller towns and more isolated areas. In many cities, the Japanese can also use mobile phones to pay for their purchases where mobile phones function like credit cards and the cost is billed to them with their mobile phone bill. 

 Japanese ATMs, known locally as cash corners (キャッシュコーナー kyasshu kōnā), generally do not accept foreign cards and the availability of credit card advances, known as cashing (キャッシング kyasshingu), is spotty. The major exceptions are:

• Over 12,000 Japanese 7-Eleven stores with ATMs accept foreign cards for cash withdrawals. Accepted cards include Mastercard, Maestro, Visa, American Express, JCB and UnionPay, and ATM cards with the Cirrus and Plus logos. These are the most useful as they are everywhere and are accessible 24/7.

• JP Bank (ゆうちょ Yū-cho), formerly the Postal Savings Bank and hence found in almost every post office, which in turn has a branch in almost every village. Most postal ATMs provide instructions in English as well as Japanese. Plus, Cirrus, Visa Electron, Maestro, and UnionPay are accepted, and you can do credit card advances on Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Diners Club. Your PIN must be 6 digits or less.

• Citibank, which has a limited network (see for a list) but does have ATMs at the major airports.

• HSBC (香港上海銀行) ATMs are few and far between, but these are capable of taking Visa and MasterCard.

• Shinsei Bank (新生銀行) ATMs, which accept Plus and Cirrus, are located at major Tokyo Metro and Keikyu stations, as well as in downtown areas of major cities.

• SMBC (三井住友銀行) and Mitsubishi UFJ(三菱東京UFJ銀行) ATMS will take UnionPay cards.

One thing to beware: many Japanese ATMs are closed at night and during the weekends, so it's best to get your banking done during office hours! An exception is 7-Eleven, which is open 24 hours. Also, a note for those with UnionPay cards: 7-Bank and Yucho both take an additional ATM fee in addition to the fee charged by the issuer. The SMBC/MUFG will not, so it's best to withdraw cash while their ATMs are active. On top of these, there are cash dispensers (abbreviated to CDs in Japan), intended for credit card cash advances. Some will work with foreign-issued ATM/debit/credit cards.

• SMBC, UC Card, and Mitsubishi UFJ Card machines will take Visa and MasterCard.

• Orico machines will take MasterCard only.

• AEON machines take Visa, MasterCard, and UnionPay.

• JCB machines will take Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, and UnionPay.

Shopping in Japan

Clothes shopping in Japan can be great fun.  When trying on clothes in Japan, at most stores and boutiques it is customary to remove your shoes before you enter the changing room.  H&M and Zara do not follow this custom, but even large retailers like Uniqlo still do follow the custom.  It is best to check first.  Also, for women there is often a mask or piece of paper available that you should place over your head to prevent transfer of make-up, etc., from you to the clothing.  While that may seem unusual, it is considered polite to use it.   Here’s a great phrase you can use when you want to try on clothes:

VERB + て　みて　も　いいです

To try something in order to find out

Put on clothes from the waist down: VERB = はく

Put on clothes from the waist up: VERB = きる

Put on your head: VERB = かぶる

If you are in a shop and want to try something on:

すみません、そのくつをはいてみてもいいですか？

すみません、そのジャケトをきてもいいですか？

すみません、あのぼうしをばぶってみてもいいですか？

The Bullet Train

Shinkansen literally means new trunk line.  The top speed of the shinkansen is 300km/h (186 mph). When it is traveling at this speed, the required stopping distance is 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Trains on some routes run approximately every 5 minutes.

During the Shinkansen's 44-year, nearly 7 billion-passenger history, there have been no passenger fatalities due to derailments or collisions, despite frequent earthquakes and typhoons.  The Shinkansen's average arrival time was within six seconds of the scheduled time. 

School Terms

In Japan, almost all schools run a three-term school year (trimester system), and most universities and colleges have a semester system. Most schools with a trimester system have a first term from April 1 to late July. The exact date of the beginning of the summer break and its duration vary across regions, but commonly the break lasts for about 6 weeks. The break originated to avoid the heat in summer, so elementary, middle, and high schools in Hokkaidō and Nagano Prefecture tend to have a shorter summer break than the rest of schools in Japan.

A second term lasts from early September to late December with a 2-week long break for Christmas and New Year's at the end of the year. The term is followed by a third term from early January to late March and a brief week-long spring break. The graduation ceremony occurs in March, and the enrollment ceremony in early April.

Some universities and colleges accept students in September or October in order to let those students from other semester systems enroll. In recent years a few colleges have begun experimenting with having two semesters instead of the traditional three with the break between two semesters in summer.

New Years

Prior to the Meiji period, the date of the Japanese New Year was based on the Chinese lunar calendar. However, in 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar and the first day of January became the official and cultural New Year's Day.  Some Japanese people eat a special selection of dishes during the New Year celebration called osechi-ryōri (御節料理 or お節料理). This consists of boiledseaweed (昆布 konbu), fish cakes (蒲鉾 kamaboko), mashed sweet potato with chestnut (栗きんとん kurikinton), simmered burdock root (金平牛蒡 kinpira gobō), and sweetened black soybeans (黒豆 kuromame). To let the overworked stomach rest, seven-herb rice soup (七草粥 nanakusa-gayu) is prepared on the seventh day of January, a day known as jinjitsu (人日).  Another custom is creating rice cakes (餅 mochi). Boiled sticky rice (餅米 mochigome) is put into a wooden shallow bucket-like container and patted with water by one person while another person hits it with a large wooden mallet. 

Because of mochi's extremely sticky texture, there is usually a small number of choking deaths around New Year in Japan, particularly amongst the elderly. The death toll is reported in newspapers in the days after New Year.

Many people gather with their families on New Year's Eve to watch the Red and White Song Festival ( 紅白歌合戦, Kohaku uta gassen, ) broadcast by the national television station, NHK. The Song Festival features singers whose songs enjoyed the most popularity during the past year and is almost a New Year's institution. At midnight, the Buddhist temples toll out the requisite 108 peals (除夜の鐘 joyanokane) on their bells to symbolize the 108 human sins and summoning in the New Year. T.V. stations broadcast the centers of activity at the various major shrines around the country and show the ringing of the massive temple bells at famous temples.