Thursday, September 22, 2005

Today's Adventure- and a little Q and A

Tonight, went out with the ALT crew to get some Indian food at a little restaurant about a fifteen-minute walk away from a half-hour train ride; "Very Close", in Japanese. It turns out that Indian food- prepared and served by real Indian folks, one of whom actually speaks English- is delicious worldwide. Today was a short and easy day at school. After classes, there were practices for the choral competition- and there's a fledgling rock band at my school. They're not what you'd call technically skilled, but they've got a lot of energy. So, being the cultural ambassador that I am, I taught them the most important piece of rock culture one can teach using only pidgin English: The rock band now knows how to "throw the horns" and "rock out". They loved it- in Japan, whenever someone takes your picture, you flash the peace sign. Why? I'm not sure. They think it's cool. Now, the "True Rock Powaa" sign has replaced the peace sign as their hand-gesture of choice. I caught them throwing the horns at a teacher as I was walking out today- my work here is done. Not much else to report, school-wise, as tomorrow's the Equinox Holiday, in which one is supposed to go visit the ancestral gravesite and do a bit of autumn cleaning. I have no ancestral gravesite. So tomorrow I'm going to go visit Dockett, in Tokyo- provided I can figure out which train to take.

Speaking of trains- I experienced my first and only hitch in the otherwise stellar Japanese train system today. Caught the last train home from station near the Indian restaurant, only to find that our train couldn't leave because of a late-running train arriving from Kyoto. I say "arriving", but I really mean "slowly on it's way." It didn't get there until an hour later- one in the morning, here- and I was amazed to see that the only people who showed any sign of anxiousness or distress at being kept an extra hour were my fellow foreigners. Everyone else just went to sleep.

Literally. The whole train car zonked out, and woke up when the train started moving again. Amazing.

Now, there have been a few questions in the comments lately that seem necessary to address- but first, a short Cultural Note!

Cultural Note Number Five Hundred and Twenty-Sixish: Japanese middle schools do not operate on a pass/fail system. You will pass whether or not you come to school. You will pass whether or not you study, no matter how many fights you get into, no matter what you say or do or act like. It is impossible to fail, because the concept simply doesn't exist. After three years, you "graduate", and then you take your high school entrance exams. All of middle school is essentially a prep course for these exams, and your performance determines whether or not you go to a good high school, a mediocre one, a trade school, or if you are catapulted into the workplace at the age of about fifteen. My students were surprised to hear that one can fail subjects in America, be held back, and repeat grades- but they were more surprised to hear that in America, we don't have a test. This is an unthinkable thing, and one that took a team effort lasting no less than twenty minutes between me and the teacher I was working with to express.

That cultural note out of the way, a short Q and A is in order. Thanks, Jozi and Diablo, for giving me some questions to work with.

1. Other Japanese Snackyfoods will be covered in future blog entries- there's a short description of ChocoBananaPan (Chocolate Banana Bread) at the end of this entry. Pocky is an ubiquitous snackyfood- the stuff is everywhere- that's kind of like a stick-shaped cookie dipped in chocolate- though it comes in eight million flavors. Think of it as the Japanese E.L. Fudge, as it tastes much the same when you get down to it.

2. Japanese Students... eh... in general, they're MUCH QUIETER. They just don't talk- ever. Most of them can go through an entire day without uttering a word. The problem kids are about like the average American middle-schooler. They just seem like a problem when compared to the "Good Kids." Thankfully, you can spot a "problem kid" by the abuses he or she puts through the student uniform- skirts are rolled, coats unbuttoned, shirts untucked, big belts and flashy accesssories. An interesting fashion phenomenon- men wear a LOT of pink here. Some of the "wannabe gangstas" wear Minnie Mouse hats. I think it's hilarious.

3. Kancho has been addressed much more eloquently by wiser folks than I who don't have to worry about the wide variety of their audience. Should curiosity overwhelm you, Google it or punch it into the Urban Dictionary... but for propriety's sake, we'll just say it's a game Japanese kids play that's about equivalent to giving wedgies.

4. The Aggressiveness Quotient: On a scale of one to five, zero. In social interactions, "agressive" equates to "actively listening." Societally, they're a very private and respectful people out here- your business is your business. As such, interactions happen more between representatives of groups than between individuals. Example: When two Americans meet, the first two bits of information exchanged are "Name" and "What you Do". When two Japanese folks meet, the first two pieces of information are "Group Association" and "Name", in that order. As such, there isn't a whole lot of active talking on the street- and as far as male-female interaction goes, it really doesn't occur outside of these groups. There isn't really a bar scene. The bar I mentioned going to before is a whole lot more like Moe's (from the Simpsons) than anything else- a long bar, where everyone (older males only) sits and orders drinks from the "Mama-san"- the only female around for a good majority of the night. Women did come in- with their husbands- and sit and order meals. The bar is mostly a place for salarymen to unwind and interact without the layers and layers of formality that color most Japanese interactions. But that's just the story out here in Shiga. Your mileage may vary.

5. Interesting slang is mostly in the form of "Kansai-Ben", or Kansai Dialect. It's an informal, faster Japanese that they use out here in the country. I like "Bochi-bochi", which means either "So-so", "slowly", or "eventually". It's used like: "Bochi-bochi wakaranaa?" "Do you understand a little bit?" It can also be a reply: "Are you going to eat that?" "Bochi-bochi."

It's just fun to say.

6. There are no Yakuza in Shiga. The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.

7. I feel perfectly safe walking down the winding, narrow, wandering streets that shoot off at confusing angles and never have names. But I did get lost a fair amount until I figured out the somewhat arcane logic of the place. I still can't describe how to get somewhere, but I don't get lost anymore.

8. I live in the sticks. There aren't any ghettos. We have rice farms instead. You leave the city center, go over a hill and BOOM! Rice. For miles. No suburbs here- just dense population surrounded by big gulfs of nothing.

9. The police are EVERYWHERE in Kyoto, but out here in Ritto they're limited to guards at the Cultural Center and crossing guards here and there to keep people out from under the wheels of oncoming cars. Their only weapon (aside from some SERIOUS dedication to their work; you don't mess with the crossing guards) is a large, orange light-up wand that they use to direct traffic.

10. America was in the doghouse awhile back, as my friend Jake tells me, due to the whole War on Terror thing. Japan's citizenry, from what I've gathered, wasn't too thrilled with the whole "sending the SDF to Iraq" deal. But that's just what I've gleaned from poll numbers and the like- what little politics I've talked has been with other teachers, and they tend (like everyone else) to keep personal opinions on the backburner. I do know that Jake and the other American ALTS and college students were pretending to be Canadian for awhile there- there was a pretty strong anti-US sentiment last year. I haven't experienced any of it. Nobody's said anything to me- in fact, most seem pretty happy to meet an American.

That done, it's time for the Snack Food Review (and then its time for me to go to bed)!

Tonight's snack: ChocoBananaPan. Label reads (in Japanese): Melon Bread with Chocolate Top. You will see Banana Cream Inside.

What is it? It's a loaf of slightly sweet bread, with cocoa mixed into the dough of the upper crust and banana cream in the center. It's about the size of my forearm. It cost 105 yen- a pretty good deal, for this much snacky. I mean, the thing's relatively huge. I have a big forearm. It tastes a good deal better than the description makes it sound- the banana filling is kind of like the cream in a banana cream pie, and the bread with the cocoa in it is chocolatey without being ridiculously sweet. This snacky has the ubiquitous fruity aftertaste that I have named the Taste of Japan, but it's subtle. You don't notice it unless you bite into bread that neither has choco nor banana masking the flavor.

Grade: A-. It's a heck of a snacky.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Andy, you have my eternal respect for bringing the hallowed traditions of ROCK AND ROLL to the Land of the Rising Sun. Rock on, Moll-san. Rock. _ON_.

Heh heh. With gas prices the way they are, me and Seven are rueing, RUING America's suburban sprawl. It makes cars a necessity in a world that will not have gasoline much longer.

Oh yeah. Have you ever heard of a card game called "Once Upon A Time"? The deck is full of plot points (Princes, turning invisible, talking animals, etc.) and one must tell a story using the plot points in your hand. There is also a system by which you can interrupt your opponents and take over _their_ story. I think you would enjoy it immensely (not to mention be VERY good at it).

-- (Evil) Andrew

Anonymous said...

Hey Andy, question: have you caught much Japanese TV yet? If so, how is it?

Also, candy and sweets aside, have you seen any sort of salty snacks that you've deemed worth trying?

Hope your visit to Tokyo goes well. ^^

Thad said...

so now the weird circle is whole again...this world is incredibly small, isn't it?