BiKing

This week I am traveling back from Seoul, so unfortunately I only have time to tell you this:  

This week is your last chance to head for Japan and take advantage of Burger King's special all-you-can-eat Whoppers, fries, onion rings, and soda, the BiKing (バイキング, viking, being the Japanese word for “buffet”) 

To get all-you-can-eat Burger King, you’ll just have to order an LL set and eat it all, then take your burger wrapper to the counter and get a second helping, then a third, then a fourth, and keep eating until you can eat no more.  

Cool Japan Cville

This week Kawasaki-sensei shared with us a fantastic new site highlighting some great Japanese-related things about Charlottesville.

Please check out this great new website!  

http://cooljapaneseincharlottesville.com is a website for Japanese Americans, Japanese Nationals, their families, and anyone else interested in the language, arts, culture of Japan!

"http://cooljapaneseincharlottesville.com/をジャパニーズテーブルの皆さんに紹介していただけませんか。

日本語読めない人には意味ないのですが、

日本語の勉強にはなるかもしれません。

投稿してくれる人もいるかもしれません。

よろしくお願いします。ありがとうございます。

川崎　康子"

Ambassador Kennedy

Last week, Caroline Kennedy took her post as the United States Ambassador to Japan.  As the first woman to serve in this post, both Japan and the U.S. hope that she will lead both countries to closer ties in the future.  Although she has very little political experience, she has close ties to President Barack Obama.  Her ties to Japan are less well-founded; she visited Japan once in 1978 with her late uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy and in 1986 with her husband.  When she visited along with her uncle, Senator Kennedy, they laid a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Museum, site of one of the two US atomic bomb attacks on Japan during World War II.

Her father, the late President John F. Kennedy, had hoped to be the first U.S. President to make a state visit to Japan. President Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy and was deployed to the Pacific, fighting the Japanese during the Second World War.  At the time of his presidency, Japanese-U.S. relations were quite acrimonious.  The Japanese were angry over U.S. occupation of Okinawa and Americans retained bitterness about the 2nd World War.  Japanese citizens took to the streets to protest the actions of the United States.  To advance the historic visit, the president sent his brother and a delegation to Tokyo in 1962. Sadly, the visit was never to occur.  An advance team, including then-Secretary of State Dean Rusk, was in the air en route to Tokyo for talks when Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, 50 years ago next week. The plane turned around in mid-Pacific and headed back.  Kennedy's assassination meant that a U.S. president would not visit Japan until Gerald Ford's trip in 1974. When President Kennedy was assassinated in Texas, Caroline was only five days short of turning six years old.

Caroline Kennedy is considered a good choice and the Japanese people are pleased to have a member of such a respected family serve as the ambassador to their nation.  She also will serve as an example to the nation, which is hoping to boost the participation of women in government and the economy.  For now, she is being treated like royalty by the Japanese media, who are enamored of her style and her family background.  

Taking up residence in Tokyo, Kennedy will likely be pleasantly surprised at Japan’s famously clean and efficient subway system.  While living in New York City, she was famous for riding the subway regularly.  

Cursed Chicken

A couple of weeks ago, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) did it again, adapting to the Japanese market with its own line of "karage"  (から揚げ) fried chicken at its Meguro store.  The Japanese KFC karage menu offers soy sauce with garlic-flavored chicken karage, sesame and Japanese peppers with soy sauce, chili pepper, and the Colonel's original recipe chicken karage.  KFC plans to open six more karage-style chicken restaurants in Japan over the next few months.  Of course, KFC already has a fancy KFC bar in Shimokitazawa, where you can get your order of fried chicken with one of forty different alcoholic drinks at this location, which is aimed at late-night customers.  You can even order whisky, pizza, pasta, and burgers as well, and finish it all off with cream puffs or tiramisu.  

Of course, if you are just hoping to get some old-fashioned deep-fried soup, then look no further than any of Japan's 1,200 KFC locations.  There, you can order deep-fried corn potage fritters, which are basically just deep-fried corn soup.  Don't ask for your chicken "extra-crispy" though - everything there is just "original recipe."  And don't be surprised when you can only get dark meat; white meat chicken is not very common or popular.  

Japan is KFC's third largest market, after the U.S. and China.  KFC began by partnering with Mitsubishi to introduce their restaurants to Japan, first opening at the Osaka World Expo in 1970.  Opening a standalone store first in Nagoya, then Osaka, KFC first lost large amounts of money until opening a store in Kobe that finally took off.  By 1973 KFC had 100 stores.  

KFC really tapped into Japan's psyche though, when they convinced the Japanese that nothing says Christmas dinner more than a big bucket of KFC fried chicken.  Today, orders for KFC-takeout at Christmas are made two months in advance and the lines can stretch out for hours.  Forty years ago, Christmas was not celebrated widely in Japan, but in 1974 KFC launched its first Christmas meal - chicken and wine for $10, a pricey meal back then.  Today, the KFC Christmas package includes fried chicken, a salad, and chocolate cake.  Each year, the company sells 240,000 of its "Christmas barrels" alone for about $40 a piece.  

KFC's story is not without a dark side, however.  Every KFC has a statue of "The Colonel" outside and before Christmas, he even dresses up as Santa Claus.  Although most Japanese look upon "The Colonel" as a happy, friendly character, for the Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team, it is a different story.  After the team's 1985 Japan Championship win, fans celebrating the win threw one of the storefront statues into the Dotonbori River in Osaka.  This unfortunate event gave birth to "The Curse of the Colonel," which is blamed for the 18-year long losing streak that followed the Tigers since this event.  Tossing the statue into the river was not meant to be malicious, of course - fans, celebrating the victory, had been standing on a bridge calling out the names of each player.  When a name was called, a fan resembling the player dove into the water.  However, when an American player's name was called, no one resembled him except for "The Colonel," and so off he went into the river.  Since then the Tigers have suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the curse.  

Fans have regretted the event ever since.  In fact, after the Tigers' 2003 Central League championship, 5,300 fans dove into the river as an alternative celebration.  Unfortunately, a fan died in the incident and Osaka built a new bridge to make it harder for fans to dive into the water.  Although divers recovered most of the statue in 2009, fans believe that the curse will not be lifted until someone finds the Colonel's missing glasses and left hand.  The rest of the statue stands in front of the Koshien Stadium KFC restaurant.  

False Friends

Our trip to Now and Zen's "2nd Street Noodle Bar" was a big success and so many people came I don't think we all even saw each other!  The wait was almost an hour long for some people but it was worth it.  Of course, paying compliments in Japanese can be difficult, especially if you want to try to use a "loan word" in Katakana.  Japanese is full of what the French call "faux amis," or false friends, words that don't mean what you think they mean.  If you told your teacher that you weren't hungry because you just went for a "snack," she might be a little surprised.  A スナック is a social bar, with a classy atmosphere- basically a place where office workers, normally male, go to relax, buy expensive drinks, and chitchat with young ladies.  If you do go to Japan, someone might meet you and immediately decide you look "smart."  That has nothing to do with your intellect, mind you, it's just that スマート means "slim" or "elegant" and can be applied to both men and women.  Don't worry, though, if you are called "naive."   ナイーブ means sensitive, delicate, gentle, simple, or honest.  However, if you are offered an overnight stay at someone's "mansion" don't get too excited.  マンション just refers to a small apartment.  

Of course, you should always be careful, even with native Japanese words.  Don't call your new friend "sweet," for example.  Amai (甘い) means someone is being shortsighted or naive (the way we mean naive!).  Better that you call him "bitter."  Shibui (渋い) describes a person who is cool, handsome, and mature - a real Ken Watanabe type.  

Ramen Burger!?

The last time that the 2nd Street Noodle Bar opened at Now and Zen, we talked about the history of Ramen in Japan.  Now Ramen is making a splash in America in an all-new way:  Ramen Burgers.  While ramen burgers, hamburgers sandwiched between two patties made of ramen, are well-known to Japanese customers of restaurants like Mos Burger and Lotteria, they have never made it to America - until now.  Suddenly, restaurants all over the United States are trying out this style of burger in San Diego, LA, Atlanta, New York, and other big cities.  

Ramen enthusiast Keizo Shimamoto decided to bring the ramen burger to Brooklyn earlier this year, made from his own special recipe.  People lined up outside by the hundreds for a chance to try the delicious creations, which quickly sold out every day.  Selling at $8 a piece, it was not unusual for 300 people to line up at Smorgasburg, a Williamsburg, Brooklyn flea market for a chance to get one of only 150 burgers.  Shimamoto came up with the idea while filming his movie "Ramen Dreams," an award-winning documentary about his quest for delicious ramen all over Japan that premiered last year.  Shimamoto worked as a computer programmer but in 2009 quit his job to devote his life to his blog, goramen.com.  He has now moved temporarily into Dassara Restaurant, but hopes to open his own restaurant soon.  

Already, imitators have sprung up in New York, Atlanta, San Diego, and even the Phillipines.  Packaged ramen brand Annie Chun's now offers instructions on how to make your own ramen "buns" with its noodles.  

The ramen burger was born in Japan, of course, but not at fast food chains as many people believe.  Instead, credit is given to the people of Fukushima, where it is widely believed that the restaurant Furusato-tei in Kitakata City popularized the dish.  Although they hold the trademark for the ramen burger, the future promises many ramen burgers all over the US, and maybe the world.  

2020 Olympics!

Congratulations to the city of Tokyo, where the IOC has decided to host the 2020 Olympics!  After losing a bid for the 2016 Olympics, Tokyo narrowly defeated strong proposals from Turkey and Brazil on Saturday after hours of voting and months of deliberations at the IOC.  The victory is another boost for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has already led Japan to the front of the G7 countries in economic growth

Tokyo last hosted the Olympics in 1964, demonstrating its re-entry onto the world stage after the devastation of World War II.  Tokyo had been intended as the site of the 1940 Olympics, but lost the event to Helsinki after Japan invaded China, before the event was finally completely cancelled due to World War II.  The first Tokyo Olympics in 1964 were the first ever in Asia.  Japan performed admirably, taking 16 gold medals that year and coming in fourth overall in the World, behind the Soviet Union, the United States, and Germany.  The event was important to Japan's future, as well.  Just before the Olympics began Japan completed the first trans-Pacific communications cable, allowing modern communications for the first time, rather than short-wave signals.  9 days before the Olympics began, Japan also launched its first "bullet train," the Tokaido Shinkansen.  Japan modernized its highways, train stations, subways, and airports for the event.  

Tokyo already planned to spend $1 billion to upgrade the National Olympic Stadium for the 2019 World Cup.  The fact that Tokyo already has significant and modern facilities in place played a significant role in the IOC's decision.  However, Japan had to overcome several difficulties, however, including concerns about the ongoing crisis at Fukushima's nuclear plant and unfortunate comments by Toyko's controversial governor Naoki Inose about Istanbul's candidacy.  

The March to Recovery

This week the news in Japan focused again on the struggles at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where we have recently learned that radiation surrounding the plant has increased 18-fold.  Radioactive water has leaked into the ground around the plant and the radiation level is now so high that it would likely kill an exposed person in four hours.  This disaster is a consequence of the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (東日本大震災 Higashi ninon daishinsai), which was a 9.0 magnitude undersea quake that triggered a powerful tsunami, devastating large portions of the Tohoku region of Japan.  It was the 5th most powerful earthquake in recorded history and moved the island of Honshu, the Japanese mainland, 8 feet east.  

Although attention is fixed on the nuclear plant, throughout Tohoku the people are still suffering.  150,000 people still find themselves displaced due to the disaster.  The fishing industry remains imperiled, in part due to the lingering radiation effects.  Only last month was power restored to all of the devastated areas; until this August parts of Ishinomaki were still without power.  Just last week I was speaking to a local Japanese resident who visited home over the summer.  His home town was completely destroyed in the Tsunami and today large portions are still completely obliterated.  

Last year at the NHK annual Red and White Battle (Kohaku no Uta Gassen) the band Arashi performed a touching tribute to the brave and resilient residents of the Tohoku region, performing the song "Furusato" on a school piano rescued and rebuilt from the wreckage of the region.  It was a touching tribute and you may watch it below.  (Just press play on the video image after the site loads).

http://www.downvids.net/arashi-furusato-146977.html

Backpacks

Last week we discussed the Japanese School year and I mentioned that Tokyo University was planning to change their academic calendar to match the Western calendar.  Turns out I spoke to soon - last month the University, known colloquially as "Todai", abandoned the plan.  Instead, they have adopted a four semester plan similar to the plan adopted by Waseda University, which allows foreign students to enter on a schedule similar to but not identical to the Western system. 

While we are on the topic of starting school, another rite of passage for any young girl or boy starting school for the first time is receiving their first ランドセル, which is the name of the backpack Japanese schoolchildren carry to school.  The name comes from the Dutch word "Ransei" meaning "Backpack."  Randoseru were first adopted by commissioned officers in the Imperial army during the Meiji period.  Today, every new student is required to buy one, but that doesn't make them cheap - some of them cost as much as $1100.  Fortunately, they are expected to last all through elementary school, and many adults still have their randoseru from childhood.  Often, a student's grandparents will buy the randoseru as a gift for beginning school.  

Traditionally, boys carry black and girls carry red.  However, times have changed and colors are now more varied and vibrant; some schools even issue their own with their own emblem.  However, today there are some who are complaining that the randoseru is ergonomically painful and difficult to carry in comparison to modern backpacks.  Some schools have begun to consider adopting a different style or material.  However, despite being willing to change colors, most Japanese families are unwilling to part with the tradition.  

Although this backpack is a unique tradition in Japan, these backpacks have also begun to appear on the other side of the world, in Afghanistan.  Since 2004, Japanese schoolchildren have been donating their randoseru to schoolchildren in Afghanistan.  The project was begun by the chemical manufacturer Kuraray Co. and the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning.  As of this year, they have already donated over 100,000 randoseru, along with pencils and notebooks.  In this way, Japan is able to lend some of its strength to children who need it now more than ever.  

Start of School

Welcome back to our college student members, back for the beginning of the fall semester!  The end of summer and the beginning of a new school year is often a bittersweet time in America. In Japan, they feel the same way about the return to school and the start of a new year - but their new school year begins in April, not September.  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 six weeks.  The summer break was instituted mostly to avoid the crushing heat of the summer, rather than to allow students to return to their farms and assist with harvesting, as in the United States.  

In Japan, the fact that school begins in April seems quite natural.  Most people think spring - when life begins anew - is the perfect time to start new things. Many schools have cherry trees growing on their grounds, and parents like taking pictures of their kids entering school for the first time under the light-pink blossoms.  Students still enjoy three long vacations, first in the summer from late July to late August, then in winter, from late December to early January, and then in spring, from late February to early April.  Still, the school year is 60 days longer than the school year in the United States, spanning 240 days total.  

However, recently a movement has started to shift the beginning of the school year to the fall, to match the Western school calendar.  Proponents argue that this schedule will make it easier for students to study abroad.  In fact, the most prestigious university in Japan, the University of Toyko ("Todai") is changing its academic year to match the Western calendar.  

Peace Constitution

This week Japan raised some eyebrows when it unveiled a new warship, the Izumo.  Although classified as a mere helicopter-carrying destroyer (which is a small patrol craft), to all appearances the ship appears to be a large aircraft carrier.  820 feet long and designed to carry 14 helicopters, Japan insists that the warship is designed for search and rescue and for patrol operations only.  However, experts note that the ship appears to be able to be equipped to launch offensive fighter/bombers as well.  While Japan has a very well-trained navy, the Japanese Navy has not fielded an aircraft carrier since World War II.  As China launched its first aircraft carrier last year and Prime Minster Abe has led the first increase in the military budget in over a decade, experts speculate that a new arms race may be coming to the seas around Japan.  

However, there is more than a lack of money standing in the way of Japan building a new navy with offensive capabilities.  Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, dubbed the "Peace Constitution" after Japan enacted it in 1947, outlaws war as a manner of resolving disputes and renounces offensive weaponry.  The full section reads: "ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."

Japan is not without its own defenses, of course.  The Japanese Self Defense Forces (JSDF) are a well-equipped and highly-trained military that has engaged in many global peacekeeping operations around the world.  It is not cheap either; in 1990 Japan ranked third in the world in total military spending.  However, Prime Minister Abe and his party, the LDP, have recently advocated for amendments or removal of Article 9 entirely. They have not been able to gather enough support to do so.  They believe that Japan should expand its military and give up its self-imposed ban on offensive weapons.  Although Japan has relied on the United States and the Mutual Assistance Treaty ratified in 1952 that calls on the US to defend Japan, Japanese citizens are increasingly resistant to the US military's constant presence.  

Japanese language books on Amazon

I thought I would take a detour this week and recommend a new Japanese-language resource that has recently started to add materials - and best of all, many of them are 無料.

Last fall, Amazon launched the Japanese-language edition of its popular Kindle ebook reader and began selling Kindle books from Amazon.jp.  The kindle reader is useful because it allows anyone with an iOS or Android device to read an ebook as long as they have the free Kindle app installed on their mobile device.  Sadly, you must have a Japanese address associated with your Amazon account to take advantage of Amazon.jp's Japanese-language selection.  Publishers in Japan and publishers in America still cannot agree on how to divide the market and of course, consumers suffer.  

However, the US Amazon website (amazon.com) has recently and slowly been adding Japanese-language books for US customers to download.  These books download to your Kindle and/or your Kindle reader on your iPhone, iPad, on Android device and look just like a real Japanese book.  The dictionary feature even works like it does in Japan, which is both good and bad, since if you look up a word you will get the definition only in Japanese.  Beware, you will not be able to cut-and-paste into Denshi-jisho or other such applications because the Kindle software prevents that.  

Right now the US Amazon store features about 11,000 Japanese-language Kindle ebooks for download and many of them are either free or just a few dollars.  

WARNING:  DO NOT CLICK ON THE BELOW LINK WITHOUT READING THE FOLLOWING:  This link is, unfortunately, NOT SAFE FOR WORK.  While there is no obvious way to filter the results of your search on Amazon to screen them out, there are a huge number of pornographic or semi-pornographic books for sale on the US Japanese language Kindle store.  If you would like to avoid viewing those types of books, I've included direct links to the SciFi and Literature and Fiction sections.  I also included a work-safe link to Children's books in Japanese because, if you are like me, you might find a little more luck reading books designed for readers with a limited vocabulary.  

All Japanese Language Kindle Books in the U.S. Amazon store (LINK NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st?bbn=283155&qid=1375652797&rh=n:283155,p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin:3291443011,p_n_feature_browse-bin:618073011&sort=price

Japanese Language Sci-Fi Books (Kindle Edition)(Work-Friendly)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_25?rh=n:283155,p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin:3291443011,p_n_feature_browse-bin:618073011,n:!1000,n:25&bbn=1000&ie=UTF8&qid=1375652797&rnid=1000

Japanese Language Literature and Fiction (Kindle Edition)(Work-Friendly)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_16?rh=n:283155,p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin:3291443011,p_n_feature_browse-bin:618073011,n:!1000,n:17&bbn=1000&ie=UTF8&qid=1375652797&rnid=1000 

Japanese Langauge Childrens Books (Kindle Edition)(Work-Friendly)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_4?rh=n:283155,p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin:3291443011,p_n_feature_browse-bin:618073011,n:!1000,n:4&bbn=1000&ie=UTF8&qid=1375652797&rnid=1000 

The Emperor

The eyes of the world this week were fixed upon Buckingham Palace and the British Royal Family's new birth.  On the other side of the planet, just like the islands of Great Britain, the islands of Japan have a monarch as well, one who also serves as a symbolic head of state in a parliamentary democracy.  Japan's monarchy is the oldest in the world, stretching back 125 Emperors to 660 B.C..  The Japanese term for Emperor is tennō (天皇, heavenly sovereign).  Japan marks time according to the term of an emperor: Emperor Akihito succeeded his father, Emperor Hirohito, in 1989, marking the end of the "Showa" era, and Hirohito's reign ended the "Meiji" era.  Just like Great Britain, Japan is also very familiar with nervous baby-watching.  

The future of Japan's monarchy is in peril, due to strict Japanese law.  Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako has no male child.  The family has but one male heir, a boy born to Princess Kiko whose name is Hisato.  Under the Imperial House Act, female members of the royal household cannot accede to the throne and may only retain their Imperial status if they marry other Imperials. Unfortunately, in the current family there are no young males in the family for a woman to marry, even cousins. Adoption is also forbidden. Thus, in order for the princesses to have families of their own, they must marry “commoners” and abandon their royal status.  The law was not always this way; Empresses have ruled Japan before.  

Today, however, the Emperor is still the symbolic head of state and the leader of the nation's Shinto faithful.  Changing the rules would face fierce resistance from conservative political and religious leaders.  The Emperor himself is forbidden from any involvement in government, so he must remain silent.  Still, the difficulties are showing.  Princess Masako apparently suffers from stress and depression that is so severe that it has become a public issue and kept her in isolation for over a decade, despite the fact that she had a distinguished career that includes degrees from both Cambrige and Harvard and proficiency in six languages.  Just as in Great Britain, Japanese tabloids have targeted the royal family and publicize every small detail of their life, making scandals of school-age bullying of Princess Masako's daughter and other minor events.  

Still, there are signs of change in the Imperial household.  Hisato is the first child to go to a primary school other than the traditional Gakushuin, an institution built for the royals, while his oldest sister, Princess Mako, is a student at a liberal Christian university that is known for its diverse culture.  The middle child, 18 year-old Kako, is even a member of a five-piece dance troupe at high school and sent the conservatives tabloids into a tailspin after photographers caught her dancing to a current K-Pop hit song.  

The Emperor

The eyes of the world this week were fixed upon Buckingham Palace and the British Royal Family's new birth.  On the other side of the planet, just like the islands of Great Britain, the islands of Japan have a monarch as well, one who also serves as a symbolic head of state in a parliamentary democracy.  Japan's monarchy is the oldest in the world, stretching back 125 Emperors to 660 B.C..  The Japanese term for Emperor is tennō (天皇, heavenly sovereign).  Japan marks time according to the term of an emperor: Emperor Akihito succeeded his father, Emperor Hirohito, in 1989, marking the end of the "Showa" era, and Hirohito's reign ended the "Meiji" era.  Just like Great Britain, Japan is also very familiar with nervous baby-watching.  

The future of Japan's monarchy is in peril, due to strict Japanese law.  Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako has no male child.  The family has but one male heir, a boy born to Princess Kiko whose name is Hisato.  Under the Imperial House Act, female members of the royal household cannot accede to the throne and may only retain their Imperial status if they marry other Imperials. Unfortunately, in the current family there are no young males in the family for a woman to marry, even cousins. Adoption is also forbidden. Thus, in order for the princesses to have families of their own, they must marry “commoners” and abandon their royal status.  The law was not always this way; Empresses have ruled Japan before.  

Today, however, the Emperor is still the symbolic head of state and the leader of the nation's Shinto faithful.  Changing the rules would face fierce resistance from conservative political and religious leaders.  The Emperor himself is forbidden from any involvement in government, so he must remain silent.  Still, the difficulties are showing.  Princess Masako apparently suffers from stress and depression that is so severe that it has become a public issue and kept her in isolation for over a decade, despite the fact that she had a distinguished career that includes degrees from both Cambrige and Harvard and proficiency in six languages.  Just as in Great Britain, Japanese tabloids have targeted the royal family and publicize every small detail of their life, making scandals of school-age bullying of Princess Masako's daughter and other minor events.  

Still, there are signs of change in the Imperial household.  Hisato is the first child to go to a primary school other than the traditional Gakushuin, an institution built for the royals, while his oldest sister, Princess Mako, is a student at a liberal Christian university that is known for its diverse culture.  The middle child, 18 year-old Kako, is even a member of a five-piece dance troupe at high school and sent the conservatives tabloids into a tailspin after photographers caught her dancing to a current K-Pop hit song.  

Japan's ComicCon

This week in San Diego, California, the world of American comics, television and movies is centered on ComicCon 2013, a gathering of over 130,000 fans that includes some of the biggest stars from around the world.  But despite the enormity of this event, it still pales in size to the Japanese equivalent, Comiket.  Originally known as Comic Market, it is the largest comic fair in the world and is held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan, at Toyko Big Site on Odaiba.  In fact, it is the largest private indoor gathering in all of Japan.  

Comiket began in 1975, roughly at the same time as ComicCon.  Comiket features not only popular Manga, but also dojinshi, which are self-published Japanese works.  Dojinshi are essentially amateur-published comics, but many dojinshi-ka (writers and artists) are also professional writers who are publishing on the side.  The term dōjinshi is derived from dōjin (同人?, literally "same person", used to refer to a person or persons with whom one shares a common goal or interest) and shi (誌?, a suffix generally meaning "periodical publication"). Like ComicCon, Comiket features Anime (cartoons), Manga (comics), games, visual novels, and an army of Cosplayers (costumed fans).  But while the average American spends roughly $2 per year on comics, the average Japanese person spends $35, making Comiket extremely profitable for many publishers.  

Comiket is an enormous event that has grown to well over 500,000 attendees.  During the summer convention last year, 160,000 people attended the first day alone.  There are over 16,000 Cosplayers each year.  To find what you are looking for, you will need a directory, and the Comiket directory is a $25 phone-book sized tome that contains not just information about vendors, but also safety tips and convention advice.  Experienced attendees will often carry maps and itineraries to makes the best use of their time.  To help cope with the number of people traveling to Odaiba Island, nearby mass transit lines change their operating schedules to accommodate the crowds.  

The market for comics in Japan is very different than the market in America.  For one thing, most participants at Comiket are female, often constituting between 60-70% of attendees.  One in eight attendees is over 35.  While it is difficult to attend as a foreigner, it is getting easier every year.  Today, the directory is published and available in English and thousands of foreign visitors attend Comiket every year.  

One surprising aspect of Comiket is the way in which Japanese publishers openly permit amateur dojin-ka to "rip-off" their copyrighted characters and properties.  Despite being in direct conflict with the Japanese copyright law as many dōjinshi are derivative works and dōjinshi artists rarely secure the permission of the original creator.  Instead, many believe that the publishers allow the open pirating of their intellectual property so that they can use Comiket as a farm for new talent and a place to locate the best new talent.  

Cool Biz

With seemingly never-ending rain soaking Virginia, Japan is suffering completely different weather trouble - a crippling heat wave.  The rainy season has been marked throughout Japan by temperatures of up to 100 degrees, very unusual for many cities.  In Yamanashi Prefecture, temperatures reached 103 degrees this week.  Sadly, 12 people have died and about 2,500 people have been hospitalized.

While coping with the heat, the Japanese Government is still trying to cope with a chronic shortage of energy and promote energy efficiency with its "Super Cool Biz" campaign.  The campaign encourages business employees to dress lightly and casually and set their air conditioning thermostats at 82 degrees.  The season runs from June to September and the campaign has entered its third year.  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe even wore a Hawaiian-style shirt (actually a colorful Okinawan "Kariyushi" shirt) to a Cabinet meeting a few weeks ago.  The campaign includes recommended fashion, makeup and odor-fighting laundry detergents for use during the summer.  

The campaign began simply as "Cool Biz" in 2005 but after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the government ramped-up the program into the "Super Cool Biz" campaign.  Even in its first year, however, the campaign produced significant savings, sparing 1.14 million tons of CO2 emissions.  Since it began, the "Cool Biz" campaign has been recognized as a simple, effective tool to promote energy efficiency and has been adopted by South Korea and others.  It has even sparked interest at the United Nations, who are considering promoting the campaign world-wide.  

For men, the typical "Cool Biz" business dress is a short-sleeed shirt without a jacket or tie.  At first, the trend started slowly, but then-Prime Minister Koizumi appeared frequently in interviews without a tie or jacket, helping to expand the trend.  Department Stores have even gotten into the trend, marketing Cool Biz items to women such as satin shirts, capri pants and machine-washable jackets.  "Super Cool Biz" added polo shirts and trainers as well as jeans and sandals to the list of acceptable clothing.  Not everyone is a fan, however - Japanese necktie retailers have reported a 36% drop in sales since 2005 and are publicly calling for an end to the campaign. 

More on Katakana

Last week we discussed the rise of Katakana in Japan and the opposing forces both resisting and embracing foreign words.  1000 Japanese Table-Points to regular Japanese Table member Will Morgan, who correctly guessed the meaning and origin of "ピエロ," a Japanese word meaning "Clown" that is derived from the French literary and film character Pierrot.  

Another mysterious word that baffles Westerners is バイキング (baikingu = viking).  The word is used throughout Japan to refer to buffet-style restaurants, such as Shakey's Pizza.  But the word appears to have no connection at all to its original, Western meaning.  

In fact, the word バイキング has NOTHING to do with buffets at all.  The story begins in 1957, when Mr. Tetsuzo Inumaru, manager at the Imperial Hotel back then, encountered a smorgasbord restaurant on a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark.  When he returned, he instructed his chef to design a "smorgasbord"-style restaurant for the Tokyo Imperial Hotel, a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed landmark hotel next to the Imperial Palace in Toyko.  However, he immediately ran into a problem:  no one, including his own staff, could say the word "smorgasbord."  Therefore, Mr. Inumaru asked his team to suggest names better suited for this novelty restaurant. They needed a better word to promote the buffet idea. At the time, "The Vikings" (a 1958 film staring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis) was in the theaters and playing at the nearby Hibiya Movie Theater in Ginza. The movie featured epic scenes of gluttony and the staff decided that "Viking" was a perfect word for buffet-style dining.  

In the beginning, the typical menu of "Viking" eateries consisted of fourteen different dishes, such as smoked salmon, liver paste, roast beef, etc. Setting you back 1,200 yen for lunch and 1,500 yen for dinner, prices were considered to be quite extravagant, as they accounted for up to ten percent of the starting salary of a company employee fresh out of university.  Today, however, you can find many inexpensive バイキング restaurants throughout Japan.  The Imperial Hotel still maintains the original Viking style, and now serves about forty different kinds of dishes for 5,250 yen for lunch, and 7,875 yen for dinner.  The  word "Viking" has now spread to other countries, including South Korea and the Philippines, to refer to buffet-style restaurants.    

Katakana

Japan is a culture that is constantly absorbing foreign ideas, customs, and language and making them its own.  The language has changed noticeably since the 1868 Meiji Restoration. During the Meiji Period foreign loan word like 珈琲 ko-hi (coffee) were introduced, archaic enough to have kanji assigned to them; then came the Allied Occupation, when words like ドンマイ don'mai and オーライ oh-rai, Japanese approximations of "don't mind" (nevermind) and "all right," entered the lexicon.  Although post-war Japan successfully resisted General MacArthur's campaign to eradicate Kanji from the lexicon, Katakana continued to expand its role.  

But some people think Japan has gone too far, and this week a Gifu Prefecture man sued NHK for mental distress allegedly caused by the broadcaster’s excessive use of foreign words.  Hoji Takahashi, 71, filed the complaint Tuesday with the Nagoya District Court and is seeking ¥1.41 million in damages.  Takahashi, an NHK subscriber, said the broadcaster has recently been loading its TV programs, whether news or entertainment, with loan words, such as “risuku” (risk), “toraburu” (trouble), and “shisutemu” (system). He also noted their use in NHK’s program titles, such as “BS Konsheruju” (“BS Concierge”).  

You might be thinking, why not just watch another station?  In Japan, though, every person who is able to receive the national public station, NHK, is required to pay a fee to NHK for the privilege.  NHK is paid for by license fees (known in Japanese as reception fee (受信料 Jushinryō?)). Current subscription fees are 1,345 yen per month. The Broadcast Law which governs NHK’s funding stipulates that any television equipped to receive NHK is required to pay, so Mr. Takahashi argues that he has the right to sue for a better product.  

Others, however, have adopted Katakana as a way to express their "cool" and modern attitude.  Recently Japanese have seen the “trendy” use of katakana when celebrities and entertainers write their name in katakana.  Some people will appear with their full name written in kanji, but many others will change their name, slightly or completely, to give it more pizzazz as a “professional” name.  When doing so, many choose to write their new names in katakana, like Tamori, a popular TV show host who simply goes by his last name (which is actually “Morita” scrambled), and writes it in katakana.  Countless manzai (Japanese comedy) duos come up with team names written in katakana, such as “Cream Stew”.  There are both instances of celebs writing their Japanese names in katakana, as well as those who completely do away with their Japanese name and give themselves a western name which is also, of course, written in katakana (although some get really clever and adopt a western name and write it in hiragana or kanji.)

Sometimes, however, even Japanese people are not sure whether to use Katakana or Hiragana, such as when you see signs on public trash cans and such written ゴミ箱.  "Gomi" is a native Japanese word, but since Katakana can either draw attention to or soften the impact of a word, the Katakana spelling is sometimes used.  None of this information will alleviate the frustration that a foreign speaker of Japanese feels, however, attempting to decipher a Katakana word.  Know what a ピエロ is?  Hope you speak French and are an art  or film aficionado…Good luck.  

Japan's "High-Tech" world

When Microsoft announced this week that it would end support for the Windows XP operating system, first released in 2001, most Americans barely noticed.  But in Japan this news has created a stir in the business community.  In Japan, 40% of the 25 million computers in Japan still use that antiquated operating system.  Only 2% use Windows 8, the newest operating system from Microsoft.  

For most people, the image of Japan is of a high-tech leader, always embracing the newest, most cutting edge technology. Among the citizenry, that image is often accurate.  However, in the business community, Japan is surprisingly archaic.  For example, although most American businesses have adopted email, scanners and cloud-based document sharing, Japanese businesses still rely on the fax machine as the primary form of communication and will not accept email communications as official communication.  Government filings, product orders, and bank communications are still handled by fax machine.  Government officials prefer faxes because they generate paperwork onto which bureaucrats can affix their stamps of approval, called hanko. Many companies say they still rely on faxes to create a paper trail of orders and shipments not left by e-mail. Banks rely on faxes because, they say, customers are worried about the safety of their personal information on the Internet.

At 114 Bank, a mid-sized Japanese bank, most small-business customers still prefer to do their banking by fax.  To ease their concerns about theft of personal information, the bank introduced a high-security system that occupies an entire table in the center of its busy office. The setup includes a two-foot pole with a red light on top to warn of a transmission error. Every time a fax is sent to a new number, two employees must be on hand, one to type the number, the other to ensure that the number was correctly dialed.  Even households rely on the fax machine, with roughly half of all families owning a fax machine.  

One government poll shows that although 44% of Japanese use the internet at least once or twice a month, the rest responded that they use it "hardly at all" or "not at all".

Everyday Hero

A couple of weeks ago, an almost completely unknown man named Bob Fletcher died at the age of 101.  Mr. Fletcher was a Sacremento farmer who lived a quiet life in California that would have gone un-noticed except for the period between 1942 and 1945.  

In 1942, Fletcher was a California state agricultural inspector when America went to war with Japan.  In Florin County, California, and throughout the United States, all persons of Japanese descent were ordered to barbed-wire internment camps where they would remain interred until 1945.  Fletcher, seeing the farms of his Japanese neighbors abandoned and almost certainly doomed to failure, bankruptcy and seizure by the state, quit his job and took over the farms, paying all the taxes and bills and holding 1/2 the profits for the families in trust until the rightful owners returned.  He worked 18 hour days and refused to stay in the families' homes, instead living in rudimentary huts built for migrant workers with his wife.  The families told him to live in their homes and take all the profits, but he stubbornly refused, insisting that the land and the homes belonged to them.  

Members of the Florin community were deeply anti-Japanese and vocally scorned and insulted Fletcher.  One person even shot at the barn he worked in.  When the Japanese families returned in 1945, they found their farms safe and fully operational, while many others throughout California and the United States had lost their farms and their homes during internment.  Even after the war, Fletcher helped to purchase supplies for the farmers when local merchants refused to sell to them.  

Just before his death, the people of his community celebrated his 100th birthday and praised his sacrifice for his fellow citizens.  One of the descendants of the farmers whose land he saved wrote a book called "We the People" in which she recounts his story, and that of her own family.  “I don’t know about courage,” he said in 2010 as Florin was preparing to honor him in a ceremony. “It took a devil of a lot of work.”