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Getting Around

You got a license for that scooter? No? Get one.

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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If you're in Japan for less than a year, you can use an international driver's license to drive a car. BUT you might not be able to use it to drive a scooter (if you're license doesn't specify that you are allowed to drive two-wheeled vehicles, it's no good for scooters/mopeds). Luckily, there's scooter school. At about 7,000 yen for a one-day class, it's a good deal, and if you ask around you can often find foreigners who are leaving the country and eager to sell their scooter for a low-price. BONUS: You can walk around town with a helmet and pretend you've got yourself a real motorcycle.

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Festivals & Events

Christmas is for lovers

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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Christmas in Japan is viewed as a romantic holiday, and in a near-perfect flip of Western tradition, Japanese people often spend Christmas with a significant other and reserve New Years for family celebration. Don't have a date for the romantic night? No worries, just invite a few friends over for a Western-style Christmas party. Pack as many as you can into your tiny apartment, and bonus points if you fill the guest list with singles. Just like single folks anywhere, they'll be happy to have a chance to meet people on a night when much of the town is coupling up.

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Culture Shock

Which way to face on a "squatter" toilet

Michael Lynch

27 May 2009

Japan

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Many places in Japan still have the old-style toilets commonly called "squatters" in English. It can be confusing trying to remember which way to face when you use one. The easy way to remember is this: you don't want to fall, so face the elevated end...you'll have something to grab hold of!

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Must Do

Radio Exercise

Michael Lynch

20 May 2009

Japan

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In parks, apartment courtyards and on beaches, you might see people stretching and exercising at 6:30 every morning. They're doing what's known as "Rajio Taiso" or radio exercises. Directions for the exercises are broadcast on a public radio station and only last about 5 minutes, and they're a great way to start your day and meet your neighbors. During summer vacation, grade school children attend and have a card stamped each day. At the end of summer they have an awards ceremony and get a certificate for perfect attendance.

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Etiquette

Don't pass food with chopsticks

Michael Lynch

19 May 2009

Japan

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In Japan, you're never supposed to pass food to someone with chopsticks. I had learned this in college, and had seen many Japanese parents teach this rule to their children, but I had forgotten the reasons behind it. Then, last summer, my wife's mother passed away and I was reminded of the origin of the taboo. After her body was cremated, everyone in the family, including her great-grandchildren, picked up her remaining bones with chopsticks and passed them to a priestess, who used chopsticks to place the bones into an urn. It's part of a traditional Japanese Buddhist funeral service, and it explains why you don't similarly pass food with chopsticks.

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Food

To save cash, embrace noodles

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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Japanese food has a reputation for being expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Any major street will have a noodle shop of some kind, and a bowl of udon can fill your belly for as little as a few U.S. dollars. And if hot soup sounds like a winter food to you, worry not, for in most udon shops you can order your noodles cold in summer. And if you go out late in the evening, listen for the sound of warbly music from passing ramen trucks. They're the Japanese equivalent of a 3 a.m. post-bar fast food run.

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Packing

Leave the Sudafed at home

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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On entering Japan, there's a chance you'll get picked up for a customs search. These can range from a quick question or two to being placed in a white room and questioned by three white-gloved men for the better part of an hour (which might happen to say, oh, I dunno, a Glimpse contributor who had a Muslim name, Saudian Arabian stamps on his passport, and a three-week vacation from shaving, but that's for another post... ). Most of the questions are a touch comical for the average American -- you'll get asked straight up, "Do you have cocaine? Heroin?" -- but the one that sometimes catches people is the restriction on Sudafed. It's illegal here (since it can be broken down to make other drugs), so choose pseudoephedrine-free cold medicine.

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Music

Learn a bit of enka to impress (and amuse) your friends

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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Karaoke is a regular part of Japanese nightlife, so you might as well use it as a chance to work on your Japanese. Enka is a kind of Japanese music that was popular for years in Japan, but hasn't yet been embraced by the younger generation. Older Japanese men will sing mainly enka on a karaoke night, and Japanese people of all ages will be amused/impressed if you take the time to learn some. Check out American-born enka star Jero (Japan's first Black enka singer), or just search out some enka on YouTube. Plenty of songs there, and some fantastic vintage outfits as well.

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Sports

Get a pair of gym shoes and keep them shiny white

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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In most gyms where I grew up (the United States), members can just walk in in their casual sneakers, pick up a basketball and start playing. In Japan, the gym is considered an "inside" space, so you can't just bring in dirt off the streets. Even for a meeting in a school gym, people will either switch to indoor shoes or, in a pinch, pad around in socks. So, get a pair of sneakers just for indoor use. I forgot mine once and played a pickup game barefoot. Fun at the time, but painful the next day.

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TV

Can't understand the comedians? That's Kansai-ben.

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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A disproportionate number of Japanese comedians come from Osaka, or at least pretend to. The city has a reputation as the funniest, most lively area of Japan, and the local dialect, "Kansai-ben," is often used by comedians, regardless of their actual place of origin. So, learn just a bit and Japanese evening television will start making a lot more sense. The "Kansai dialect" wikipedia page is a bit dry, but has a good vocabulary list to get you started.

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Dating

Ladies, don't expect any chocolate come Valentine's Day

Saleem Reshamwala

15 Dec 2009

Japan

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On Valentine's Day in Japan, girls buy boys chocolate. Boys buy girls ... nothing. Sorry, that's just the way it is. BUT, fellas, don't think the Japanese chocolate industry is going to let you off that easy. Exactly one month later (March 14th) is White Day, when boys buy girls white chocolate. I once heard that the rule of thumb is that men should spend twice as much on White Day as the women spend on Valentine's Day. If you're budget's tight, it might be a good time to plead cultural ignorance. Though the barrage of White Day advertisements might make that a bit hard to believe...

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Slang

Yoka!

Joshua Beatty

18 Mar 2009

Japan

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Yoka is slang or dialect used in northern Kyushu in the southwest of Japan. Depending on the intonation, context, non-verbal expression, tone, and number of times you use it, it can mean: Yes, OK, good, tastes good, thanks, no thanks, awesome, do you understand?, I understand.

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