This post has been a long time in the making. As in, I have been putting off finishing it for about 2 months because I was too lazy to finish my research. That means that all of this is information is dated, but that doesn't matter so much. Anyways, I am not sure if I have brought this topic up before or not, but it's a good story.
You know how in America it is pretty rude to comment on someone's acne or to point it out especially in an over-animated way? Well one day I woke up with an unfortunately large, red, unpoppable (TMI?) pimple in the middle of my forehead. I did my best to cover it up, but there is only so much a rushed concealer job can accomplish. So I walked in to work and it didn't take long for my more outspoken Japanese coworker to look at my face, get super wide-eyed, point at my forehead, point at her own, and then cover her mouth and start whisper-talking in Japanese. I did my usual "I'm going to be playfully annoying until you speak English" act, and she said Vanessa, you are in love with someone! This had happened a few months back, but I had forgotten about the rules. What followed were questions about who it was, if we would have a joined wedding with my other coworker who is getting married next month... you know, the usual. I deflected the questions pretty well and managed to change the subject to figure out what a pimple means on other parts of the face. Here is the response I got:
Pimple on the forehead: you have a crush on or are in love with someone.
Pimple on the chin: someone has a crush on you or is in love with you.
Pimple on the right cheek: your partner will end the relationship
Pimple on the left cheek: you will end the relationship
Makes you think twice about using that face cream.
I tried to look this up online. I only tried for about 45 seconds, but I didn't really find anything. Maybe it's regional.
Then that made me curious to talk more about the idea of personality type based on blood type. I have been told over and over that my blood type must be A because I am organized and can understand feelings well. I don't know my blood type, but when I do learn it, you know the first thing I will do is to check out what the Japanese say my personality is like based on that. If you are curious about what your blood type says about you, this article tells a lot of cool information.
I was talking with my Japanese coworkers about things I have heard about superstitions of the body in western culture. What I can think of right now is if your ears are burning, someone is thinking about you. Can anyone else think of more? It would be cool if someone actually responded so that's not a rhetorical question. No pressure though.
On another note, something I have to compliment Japan on is its cleanliness. While sitting here at the front desk of my work, I just watched a man walk by with what looked like plastic kitchen tongs, which I say because they weren't very long which made him bend over, picking up all kinds of trash. There really aren't many cigarette butts here. When I see a big piece of trash outside, I am pretty surprised. Which brings me to my next cultural compliment to Japanese culture. All jobs, from presidents of major companies to the guys who stand next to a cross walk all day waiting for someone who has the need to cross to the grocery store clerks are respected as integral parts of society. Everyone has their job and everyone contributes to the running of the country. Not everyone can have that high-paying managerial career, but you can bet most people take pride in the work they do. If that person in the lower-paying, mindless job did not do that job, who would? Of course this is a generalization, I'm sure there are some Japanese people who feel very differently. It is just much moreso a practiced belief than in the states.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Stopping by Kansai
Due to the way that the days fall in October, we were all allowed an extra day off. I chose mine to make a 3 day weekend and decided to spend it in Kansai. For those who don't know, the Kansai region includes such cities as Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and Nara. I went first to Kobe, then Kyoto, then Osaka.
Day 1: Kobe
Starting bright and early at 7:00am (usually I am able to wake up around 9 or 9:30, so this was a little rough), I got ready and made my way to the bus station. The bus to Kobe took somewhere close to 4 hours and was pretty uneventful. No one was seated behind me, which cooled my conscience and allowed me to fully recline my chair. It would have been perfect if I had some sunglasses or an eye shade, but alas my sunglasses broke last week. Sometimes life is just so difficult.
It was raining when I first arrived, so I decided to adventure around the shopping mall at the station. Bought some CDs like it was 1999. After the rain subsided, I headed out in search of Chinatown. Kobe's Chinatown has a pretty good reputation, and I think it was cool. Not great, but cool. There were a lot of food stands with food that didn't seem too different than convenience store food, and decorations that were Chinese-themed. I did get to read about it though and apparently before the war it was great but got burned to the ground. At home it was always one thing to hear about the things that happened during WWII, but to see the places it happened makes it less like a story and more a real event. Not that I'm some enlightened, better-than-thou wealth of information, it was just strange to stand somewhere knowing that was where it went down (then walking away in favor of some chicken on a stick). After I had gotten my Chinatown fix, I decided to wander to the water and see what I could find. I first happened upon the memorial park for the 1995 earthquake that hit the region. It was a nice park and right on the water. They had some pictures of all of the damage which was interesting and a bit eye-opening. Made me think... what is stopping that from happening again, right now? Luckily, there were no problems.
I wandered through the park and on the other side, I found a row of tents. This sort of tent set-up only happens when there is some sort of festival. Curious, I checked it out. The first tent inside was run by an Iranian man who spoke English. He told me that it was the 50th anniversary of the construction of Kobe Tower. Most of the tents had traditional Japanese foods or little games for kids, but others were more interesting. I got some nice tea from one man and had a chat with a guy from Sweden promoting his business of Swedish goods. There was a big area with lots of wood crafts and another area with a stage. I wasn't sure who the people were; I only know that most were not good at their basketball shooting competition.
After that, I walked around a shopping area, of course stopped in at the H&M (deals on deals), and then walked back through a big shopping area. Just after thinking my feet were so tired, I saw a spa that was gloriously open until 10. It was almost 8, so I stopped in and got myself a 30 minute foot reflexology massage. Oh man, oh man. It even came with a free pair of socks! After that, I happened upon a restaurant selling Kobe beef. As that was one of my goals of this trip, I stopped in. The least expensive piece of beef was, I believe, 80 grams of lean beef. So I paid my 1500 yen (near $15) for the best 80 grams of beef I have ever had. Probably. Anyway, it was worth it. After, I took the train to Kyoto that night to stay with a host from Couch Surfing.
Day 2: Kyoto
Kyoto is such a cool city. I started off at a World Heritage Site, Kiyomizu Temple. It was really really beautiful, as expected. Many people comment on how touristy it is, but of course it is touristy- it's a tourist attraction. I suppose it wasn't so crowded for me because I went on a Monday. On the road leading up to the temple, there were a bunch of souvenier shops, which I couldn't say no to. After that, I wandered around Gion, which is the district known for its previous reputation of housing and employing geisha. I didn't see any geisha this time, but still saw some people dressed in yukata (which are traditionally worn in the summer). I was last in Kyoto in August, which was miserably hot and humid, and this time I was only a little uncomfortable in jeans and a T-shirt which was a vast improvement. After passing through Gion, I found a famous cat cafe! There are about 10 cats, maybe more, who live there and hang out all day. They nap and get pet and get fed. Shoot, that would be the life! One of them came over and sat on top of me, and when I was leaving, the woman gave me his business card. His name was Sumomo which I believe is a Japanese peach. Not going to google it. There were ebbs and flows of the action as the cats fell asleep and woke up again. It happened a surprising number of times which makes me a tiny bit curious about the sleeping patterns of cats. Only a tiny bit though. Also not going to google that.
After the cats, I wandered around a bit more. Found a covered shopping street and nearly bought a beautiful antique kimono, but with the obi and all of the ties it would have run about 10,000 yen, or just over $100. For something that I probably will wear almost never, I don't think that's worth it. It was beautiful though. Near that store, there was a restaurant that served burgers. Bacon cheeseburgers. This was a trip where I treated myself a bit- if you hadn't caught on yet. That night, I went out to some izakayas (Japanese bars) with my Couchsurfing host.
Day 3: Osaka
I woke up the next morning and headed over to Osaka on the train. There was a nice flower exhibit in the station that I poked around at. There are also two shopping buildings that have rooftop gardens. I visited one of them and it had a really great view of a building being demolished. It was actually a pretty cool thing to watch. After spending a little time shopping, I hopped on a bus and headed back home.
It was a great weekend and was so nice to be able to get out of Matsue for a bit.
Day 1: Kobe
Starting bright and early at 7:00am (usually I am able to wake up around 9 or 9:30, so this was a little rough), I got ready and made my way to the bus station. The bus to Kobe took somewhere close to 4 hours and was pretty uneventful. No one was seated behind me, which cooled my conscience and allowed me to fully recline my chair. It would have been perfect if I had some sunglasses or an eye shade, but alas my sunglasses broke last week. Sometimes life is just so difficult.
It was raining when I first arrived, so I decided to adventure around the shopping mall at the station. Bought some CDs like it was 1999. After the rain subsided, I headed out in search of Chinatown. Kobe's Chinatown has a pretty good reputation, and I think it was cool. Not great, but cool. There were a lot of food stands with food that didn't seem too different than convenience store food, and decorations that were Chinese-themed. I did get to read about it though and apparently before the war it was great but got burned to the ground. At home it was always one thing to hear about the things that happened during WWII, but to see the places it happened makes it less like a story and more a real event. Not that I'm some enlightened, better-than-thou wealth of information, it was just strange to stand somewhere knowing that was where it went down (then walking away in favor of some chicken on a stick). After I had gotten my Chinatown fix, I decided to wander to the water and see what I could find. I first happened upon the memorial park for the 1995 earthquake that hit the region. It was a nice park and right on the water. They had some pictures of all of the damage which was interesting and a bit eye-opening. Made me think... what is stopping that from happening again, right now? Luckily, there were no problems.
I wandered through the park and on the other side, I found a row of tents. This sort of tent set-up only happens when there is some sort of festival. Curious, I checked it out. The first tent inside was run by an Iranian man who spoke English. He told me that it was the 50th anniversary of the construction of Kobe Tower. Most of the tents had traditional Japanese foods or little games for kids, but others were more interesting. I got some nice tea from one man and had a chat with a guy from Sweden promoting his business of Swedish goods. There was a big area with lots of wood crafts and another area with a stage. I wasn't sure who the people were; I only know that most were not good at their basketball shooting competition.
After that, I walked around a shopping area, of course stopped in at the H&M (deals on deals), and then walked back through a big shopping area. Just after thinking my feet were so tired, I saw a spa that was gloriously open until 10. It was almost 8, so I stopped in and got myself a 30 minute foot reflexology massage. Oh man, oh man. It even came with a free pair of socks! After that, I happened upon a restaurant selling Kobe beef. As that was one of my goals of this trip, I stopped in. The least expensive piece of beef was, I believe, 80 grams of lean beef. So I paid my 1500 yen (near $15) for the best 80 grams of beef I have ever had. Probably. Anyway, it was worth it. After, I took the train to Kyoto that night to stay with a host from Couch Surfing.
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| Hello, Chinatown! |
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| Duck BBQ wrap |
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| Panda-flavored ice cream? |
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| Street treats in Chinatown |
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| Kobe Tower- Happy 50th! |
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| Halloween performances |
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| Stopped in for some Kobe beef. Lives up to its rep! |
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| The restaurant in Kobe was the first to give me a Thank You banana upon exit. |
Day 2: Kyoto
Kyoto is such a cool city. I started off at a World Heritage Site, Kiyomizu Temple. It was really really beautiful, as expected. Many people comment on how touristy it is, but of course it is touristy- it's a tourist attraction. I suppose it wasn't so crowded for me because I went on a Monday. On the road leading up to the temple, there were a bunch of souvenier shops, which I couldn't say no to. After that, I wandered around Gion, which is the district known for its previous reputation of housing and employing geisha. I didn't see any geisha this time, but still saw some people dressed in yukata (which are traditionally worn in the summer). I was last in Kyoto in August, which was miserably hot and humid, and this time I was only a little uncomfortable in jeans and a T-shirt which was a vast improvement. After passing through Gion, I found a famous cat cafe! There are about 10 cats, maybe more, who live there and hang out all day. They nap and get pet and get fed. Shoot, that would be the life! One of them came over and sat on top of me, and when I was leaving, the woman gave me his business card. His name was Sumomo which I believe is a Japanese peach. Not going to google it. There were ebbs and flows of the action as the cats fell asleep and woke up again. It happened a surprising number of times which makes me a tiny bit curious about the sleeping patterns of cats. Only a tiny bit though. Also not going to google that.
After the cats, I wandered around a bit more. Found a covered shopping street and nearly bought a beautiful antique kimono, but with the obi and all of the ties it would have run about 10,000 yen, or just over $100. For something that I probably will wear almost never, I don't think that's worth it. It was beautiful though. Near that store, there was a restaurant that served burgers. Bacon cheeseburgers. This was a trip where I treated myself a bit- if you hadn't caught on yet. That night, I went out to some izakayas (Japanese bars) with my Couchsurfing host.
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Kiyomizu Temple and view of Kyoto |
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Famous in Kyoto: couples sitting by the river |
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| Hand-painted pottery |
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| Hand-painted pottery |
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| That is one happy cat. Not. |
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| "Oh hey, I'm just going to warm your shins for a bit" |
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| Cats gotta rest too. |
Day 3: Osaka
I woke up the next morning and headed over to Osaka on the train. There was a nice flower exhibit in the station that I poked around at. There are also two shopping buildings that have rooftop gardens. I visited one of them and it had a really great view of a building being demolished. It was actually a pretty cool thing to watch. After spending a little time shopping, I hopped on a bus and headed back home.
It was a great weekend and was so nice to be able to get out of Matsue for a bit.
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