Population Equation

Warning: this entry is highly irreverant and even [gasp!] slightly risque- you have been warned!

So Japan is facing a huge drop in population. Japan has one of the lowest [the lowest?] birth rates in the world. This is a huge source of worry, and prompts various panels, government studies, etc. After all, Japan is so incredibly unique and pure- and if their population isn't pure as well, why, Japan would cease to be Japan! The most oft-heard panel recommendations include money for each child, hopefully inducing parents into popping out a few more rugrats. A few of the more conservative talking heads blame women for being so selfish, taking men's jobs instead of staying at home, rearing the next generation of Nihonjin.

Why aren't more people having kids? Read on: This wonderful woman I met has five kids. She does all the housework, makes dinner and breakfast for everyone, makes the bentos, runs the kids all over town, and does her best to stay awake at her weekly English lesson [not surpringly, she usually nods off]. Her husband works a bit less than the 7-10 norm, but he doesn't do a damn thing to help out. A lot of women are choosing not to marry, rather than be a slave in the house to a husband she'll rarely see. Although, to be fair, many women would like to have more kids, they just can't afford to. Japan is a ridiculously expensive country to raise a family in.

So, being a woman, the population issue has been hard for me to sympathize with, as I tend to equate it with women doing too much cleaning up after a husband or kids. And coming from a melting pot tends to make me laugh at the necessity for a "pure population." Also, being a history buff, I can tell you that Japan's population levelled off at about 70 million for most of the last few centuries. But in their rush to be a world power, they equated a large population with a powerful country. And now, Japan has to import nearly everything, which is partly why everything is ridiculously expensive.

But I have recently come across a better reason for the dropping population! For the [lack of] naughtiness, read on!

TOKYO — Japanese have the least active sex life in the world, performing an average 45 times a year, while Greeks are the most energetic with 138 romps a year, according to an annual survey by major condom maker Durex.

The global average was 103 times, said Durex which conducts the survey each year in 41 countries and territories. The survey was conducted on the Internet, drawing responses from 310,000 men and women.

Croatia came a close second to Greece with 134 sessions per year. Last year's first place, France, fell to sixth place with an average of 120. Britons were more fired up than the Americans, having sex 118 times a year compared with 113 for the United States. The Netherlands' 115 love-making sessions a year tied with Poland, while Australians had sex an average 108 times.

Asia fared badly in the survey. Not only did Japan come in last for the second consecutive year, but nine Asian countries and territories made up the bottom 10. Japan, at 45, was way behind second-to-last Singapore on 73. The Swedes were the only non-Asians in the bottom 10, with 92 love-making sessions a year. [end of report]

Now, this just has to be based on couples, um.. coupling. Japan has a crazy big sex industry- there is porn on regular tv on Saturday nights! Love hotels and love vans thrive! "Soap houses" employee nubile young women for... various purposes. Honestly, I'm not sure if prostitution is legal, but plenty of peripheral industries that abound might fit the bill. But since these industries are serving individuals, I don't think they were factored into the study.

To read the uber-entertaining responses of young Japanese persons, click here:

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=popvox&id=615

My fave is Kawachan- he's right! It's really the screwed-up [teehee!] gaijin that are the issue.

Pure Nakedness

So we did it. We got totally naked with a room full of strangers and one or two friends. Last night, Aaron and I finally took the plunge and went to an onsen. For those unfamiliar with this- an onsen is a public hot spring resort. Some use natural hot springs, others heat the water on the premises. You bring your own towels- a large one for drying, and a small one to kinda cover you. You wash up and rinse off before getting into pools of super hot water.The men and women have seperate areas, although there are a few mixed onsens, where you have to wear suits. Traditionally the onsens were mixed sex, but when the Westerners came through, they imposed their Victorian sensitivities on the practice, resulting in the segregated bathing I enjoyed.

Wadayama just opened an onsen about a month ago. We hadn't gone because:
1. Being totally naked with other people kinda freaks me out
2. Being the only naked gaijin just begs people to stare at you
3. I really, really don't want to see any of my students naked or vice versa
I knew that I would be a convert, that I would get over the naked thing pretty fast, but I just hadn't gotten the courage to do it. We were waiting for a trip up to Kinosaki, a town famous for their onsens. Another plus- I'd be less likely to run into any of my students there.

But yesterday Aaron played some ultimate frisbee w' some folks, and for afters they wanted to hit the Wadayama onsen. So I sucked it up, and got naked.

And it was fantastic! Luckily, Jasmine was w' me [which helped when I had questions, but also made me a bit more nervous- being naked w' a pal being a new experience]. We washed up, used the small towels to conveniently conceal a few parts, and went to the outside pool. I didn't see any of my students, but we did run into Helen, a local ALT, her cousin[?], and her JTE. Aaah, hot water, nakedness, and socializing.

Not surprisingly, I have been totally converted, and now have to include a public-nakedness-soak into our weekly budget. Everyone in the world should experience the bliss that is an onsen!
Some onsens even have cool gimmicks, like waterfalls or spicy herbs. My pal Jason went to an onsen for his farewell enkai where there was something spicy in the water. After some pleasant tingling, everyone had to get out as various sensitive bits began to sting!

Natto and other dining experiences

So quite awhile ago, I experienced the nastiness that is natto. Natto is the uber-traditional Japanese dish of fermented soybeans. Not surprisingly, it's really stinky. I had promised myself that I would try it while I was here. I mean, I really like anko [sweet red bean paste] that lotsa foreigners hate, so maybe I would like natto. Then I could impress my students and teachers with something beyond my poor chopstick ability. Traditionally, natto is eaten for breakfast- mixed into rice with soy sauce, and sometimes a raw egg. Ok, honestly there was no way I could handle that first thing in the morning. So we headed off for the kaiten-zushi [conveyor belt sushi]. I snagged the natto sushi and shoved it straight into my mouth. Woof! Even though I barely got a whiff, it sure stank! And the taste... well, the Japanese say natto is good for the digestion- and since it smelled and tasted just like BILE, I am willing to accept that it would increase your stomach's break-down ability. I somehow kept it down, but only ate one of the two sushis. And I will not be trying it again, ever. Yuck.

In tastier food news, we had two Thanksgivings this week. Last Saturday we made our way to Kaibara, met up with Todd & Alicen and James & Sally. A local bar was putting on a turkey dinner for the foreigners. Everyone was to bring a dish and 1,000 yen. Since the drinks at the bar are kinda steep, we split a few bottles of wine before heading down to meet the taxis. Well, Sally had called two taxis to pick us up at her place. After 10 minutes, it was clear they weren't coming, so we started walking to the station. After a few minutes we saw a taxi making its way toward us. So we did the natural thing- we lined up across the street and waved him down. The poor driver kept pointing ahead, but we were all "No, no! We're your fare!" Right as we're reaching for the door, we notice the two elderly, freaked-out Japanese in the back seats- we were trying to hijack an occupied taxi! Laughing, we backed off and found our own taxis.

We made it to the bar where we met up with Diana and John. There was loads of delicious food- Kiso, the bartender, made a wonderful turkey with stuffing. After stuffing ourselves we did the Japanese thing and headed off for Karaoke. For all you stateside, Japanese Karaoke is much more fun than in the states. Your group gets their own room, so you only make an ass of yourself in front of friends, not an entire bar. Often you get comp mixers, and you can order food and booze. Very cool.

On Monday we received a box of goodies from my folks- Hooray for sweaters and sweets!

Our next turkey day was on Wednesday, which was National Labour and Thanksgiving Day here in Japan. Aaron and Julius had picked up a turkey in Kobe on Monday, along with other essentials. Nic, Jenny, Julius, Alicia, Chris, Jasmine, Aaron, and I chipped in and had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Pictures later.

Ah, so Harmonious

Another view of Wadayama. This is really close to our apartment. In case you hadn't guessed, our apartment is the eyesore of our neighborhood.


Here's the random cows that are hidden away in our downtown. We hear him mooing fairly often. Random interest note- Japanese cows say "Moe." Also, we've heard that Kobe beef is actually raised out here in the inaka- making it Tajima beef. We looked, but couldn't see any beer cans, so the fate of these two is a minor mystery.

Gutter Trash!

This here is a fairly innocuous looking gaijin trap. It's only about 2 feet deep, and is lined with plants. But remember! These suckers are on each side of the narrow roads- anytime a car comes near you, you walk the gaijin-line! As previously mentioned, all sorts of creatures live in these. I refuse to photo any of the nasty looking spiders, but you can check out some of the fauna below.
This guy lives near us. We tried to pick him up, but he's really fiesty for being so tiny. I've seen loads of these guys deep-fried at the supers-> mmm, gutter crabs.
Ok, so this is the same guy as above, but I've already redone this entry three times, so you'll just have to look at him again. Oh, and just to remind everyone- we live in the mountains! Why are there bitty crabs in the gutters here? The world may never know.


This is one of a family of three frogs living in the trap near us. He's so cute! Sadly, we haven't seen any of these guys since the cold weather hit.

Pictures!

This is looking south. There are usually a lot of waterfowl in the river- none of the giant white cranes, but I keep hoping!

GRRRRR!

So technology is still foiling me- I can't get the images to attach onto the posts. Man, I even perused my photos and had snappy posts all written up. Guess it'll have to be later on the picks. In the meantime, you can be entertained by our disastrous attempt to obtain our "multiple reentry visas." It's long, so that's good. But it was an exhausting and frustrating experience, so that's bad:

Thursday November 10th was the anniversary of the school’s founding and what better way to celebrate the opening of an educational institution than … a day off school. Yep, the kids have a free day. Ah, the irony is beautiful! So I took a day of nenkyu [paid leave] and Aaron and I headed to Himeji. We arrived at 1:30 to discover we had just missed our bus. So we did lunch at Subway [ah, lunchmeat. It’s been a long time], then went back and caught the 2:30 bus. Well, it became apparent that the bus was not headed the right way. By the time I finally asked the driver, it was too late and we just had to sit tight til we returned to the station. The bus driver [who was really nice and informative] told us that there are two bus companies- one with orange buses and one with white buses. We needed the white bus, but what a surprise- we took the wrong one. Granted I should have asked as soon as we got on the bus, but my Hyogo living guide didn’t say a thing about multiple bus companies. Now it was 3:30. True to Japanese form, the immigration office closes at 4:00, so we were panicking. We snagged a taxi driver and asked how long to the immigration office. He tells us 5 minutes, so we hop in. After driving a bit he amends that time to 20 minutes. Far from happy, I try to explain that the office closes at 4. “No problem, we’ll be there by 4.” My Japanese is not stellar enough to explain that arriving by 4 is not enough- we have business there that will take time. “No problem, we’ll be there by 4.” Frustrated, I tell him to return to the station. “What? Return to the station? You sure?” Yes, we’re sure. “What? Return to the station? You sure?” Yes, we’re sure. This went on for a few minutes, with both the driver and me becoming extremely annoyed. The driver, probably because he’s convinced we’re crazy gaijin. Me because we keep going forward and paying the man a ridiculous amount with no purpose.

We finally get back to the station where I discover my coin purse is gone. I didn’t leave it in the taxi, so we trudge to the lost and found for the bus company. No dice. Extremely frustrated, pissed off, and depressed over losing my cute little purse [with about $15], we go to Mr. Donuts. Some caffeine and sugar cheered us up a bit. We were meeting with a Japanese teacher I met in Yashiro at 6, so we did some shopping to kill the time. Then once more to the L&F.

Right here everything started to look up. Someone had turned in my coin purse! Hurrah! And I’d communicated w’ the attendant w’ no problems [always a major plus!]. They must’ve counted the change, ‘cos some of the coins had been rolled and sealed in plastic.
Buoyed, we meet up with Tamaki. Tamaki is super sweet! She speaks fantastic English, is easy to talk with, and is just very friendly. We eat at a cozy izukaya [a lot like a tapas bar], drink some good sake. Then we have some coffee [Starbucks- very well made, better than the stuff I’ve had in the states for the last year].

Then we catch the train and go home. Thanks to Tamaki and the recovered purse we left on a pretty good note, now I just have to convince my Kyoto-sensei to give me a free day of nenkyu so I don’t have to lose any more vacation time. Wish me luck!

Harmonious Field Mountain

That's what Wa [harmony] Da [field] Yama [mountain] translates to. Not sure if it's "Harmonious Mountain-Field," which makes more sense to me, or "Harmonious Fieldy-Mountain." This direct translation game is fun for practicing your kanji, as well as remembering names: Yes, Ms. Willow-Plain, that is the correct answer. For your viewing pleasure, here are a few views of our town. I framed the pics to look more picturesque- Wadayama has its fair share of dirty roads and neon signs, but who wants to see that?

The Failings of Technology

I know, we’ve been really bad about updating. In our defense, our internet has been down all weekend, and I won’t do blogwork at school [not yet, anyway]. Lots of stories to entertain you with, but we’ll break them down to make them more manageable [and to make it appear that we have been really prolific!].

me am in movie. by aaron

Last friday I recieved an email from my friend Todd in a small town just south-east of us (he's in the same boat as me, having his wife in the program while he sits at home). He heard about this opportuninty to be an extra in a Japanese movie, and wondered if I would be interested in doing it with him and James another friend of ours. I immediately asked if it was going to be one of those movies where you have to take your clothes off. He said no. While I breathed a sigh of relief he said it was a WWI prison camp movie. Apparently these German soldiers were captured by the Japanese and placed in one of their P.O.W. camps. The Germans played some classical music for the Japanese and it seems that this is the whole of the movie. Not very exciting. I was hoping for some kind of techno samurai squid monster movie, but I'd guess they don't need many white guy extras for those kind of films.

The filming was going to be on Monday and we needed to be at the studios in Kyoto by seven in the morning. James offered to drive and he only lives two hours away from Kyoto so we decided it would be best to crash at his place on Sunday night and leave at about four on Monday morning. Well, James and I stayed up till about midnight talking politics and only got about three hours of sleep. Todd had nodded off by about seven so he was fresh as a daisy. We wanted to leave early so we could find the studio in time because...well...Japan is confusing. Luckily we found it easily and started our adventure.

We were told to go to the costume department first. The costume department just happened to be a bunch of clothes racks in the middle of the parking lot. The call was for about two hundred white guys and we were all told to change into our army costumes there on the asphalt. Woe to all who didn't wear underwear that day. So here you have ten score white dudes getting undressed in the cold end of October weather. And of course when you get that many people together one of them just has to be a complete bastard. I belive this guy was on some kind of drugs and he kept hooting and making comments about how certain people looked.
When your pants are down the last thing you want to hear is some amateur Don Rickels. I felt a guilty joy when later on in the day he was sitting with his head in his hands and had two of the films assistants trying to make him feel better. Those drugs must have left him feeling a little low.

We were then told to get on a bus because the shooting was going to be at a location about two hours away. Before getting on their bus some of the guys started taking pictures of each other in their WWI German uniforms. One of the casting assistants came over and told everyone that the costumes were top secret and we couldn't take pictures of them. It seems to me that early ninteen hundreds German army and navy uniforms are a matter of historical record, and most people could get an accurate picture of them from visiting a library, but the Japanese are strange. And who gives a flying rip about the costumes in a Japanese movie about classical music is beyond me. Maybe if it was one of those techno samurai squid monster type movies.

So James, and Todd, and I get on a bus with about twenty other guys and one of the assistant ladies comes in and counts us. Then she says we have an hour before we leave so we can get off and wait outside if we want, and to remember which bus we are on. The Japanese are strange. After the hour passes we all get back on the bus and the lady counts us again and says we have about another half hour before we leave. After fifteen minutes pass she comes in and counts us again. After fifteen more minutes she counts us again and once more before we leave. All twenty three of us on the bus had to start stifling laughs because the counting addiction she seemd to have was just so absurd. Why not count how many people where there early on and then once before the departure to verify everone was present. I don't know, the Japanese are strange.

After two hours on the road we arrive at the location and get some lunch. Then Todd and I are told by one of the assistants to get a soldier back pack from one of the costume department assistants. We start to get one of the packs and a different assistant yells at us to go back and wait on our bus, we start arguing that we were told to come get the packs by a different assistant and then that same assistant who told us to get the packs approached and ask us what we were doing. Anyway we got back on the bus, without the packs, and after five minutes a different assistant came and told everybody to pick out a back pack. The Japanese are strange.

Then we get some dirt makeup put on us and all go stand in a courtyard and they start to film us. They film us for about five seconds and then we stand around. For...a...very...long...time. I guess I'm a professional at standing around because after doing it for about four hours somebody paid me 9,000 yen.

Then we got back on the bus and sped back to Kyoto with a minimum of beauracracy. We gave back the uniforms and that was the end. Oh, and while we were standing around I took a picture of some of the extras.

Boring but informative

This entry is geared for friends and family states-side. My mom recently asked what ESID and ...(teeth-sucking noise) meant. So I thought I'd do an entry about the boring bureacratic side of JET. Here goes:

ESID stands for Every Situation Is Different. This handy catch phrase is used to explain why some JETs have itty-bitty apartments, some have veritable palaces, some pay no rent, some pay high rent, some have loads of vacation, etc. The primary reasons for the differences can be summed up by location and contracting company. In Hyogo prefecture, all Senior High School JETs are hired by the prefectural Board of Education. Junior HS and Elementary School JETs report to their local "city" BOE. From what I've seen, the local BOEs have more money, so JHS and Elementary JETs seem more likely to have houses or larger apartments. Location seems to be the major factor for your housing- rents are higher and living spaces are smaller in the big cities. Essentially, ESID really means "Suck it up and stop whining." Ahem. At least, that's my impression from what was drilled into me at Tokyo and Yashiro. So while some JETs are barely allowed to open their mouths in their English classes, others [like me] are totally responsible for all of their classes, from lesson planning to tests. ESID, indeed.

My Experience: Aaron and I live in Wadayama town, Asago city, Hyogo prefecture. We're in the northern part of Hyogo which is called the Tajima area. Our town has 17,000 people. We're lucky enough to have a Jusco, which is a lot like a Fred Meyers. Without the Jusco there wouldn't be much here. Wadayama is a transportation hub, with 2 train lines, so travelling to bigger cities is pretty easy. Smaller towns are a problem, as we don't have a car. We live in a teacher's housing apartment. Our apartment has two 4 tatami mat rooms upstairs, a small shower room, a toilet room [just big enough for the toilet], a 3 tatami mat sitting room, and a decent sized kitchen. I really like having the toilet in a seperate room, and our toilet rocks! We are super lucky and have a robo-toilet. The seat is heated [fantastic in cold weather!], there are strong or weak flushes, a bidet function, and a bidet-for-lady's-anatomy function. Some robo-toilets have motion detectors and will lift/close their lids for you. Ours isn't that high tech. We are super lucky to have the robo toilet because the alternative is a squatty potty. Yep, a hole in the floor you squat over. Much stinkier and harder on the knees, although I've heard that position is better for your colon.
My school is about a mile or two away. I can bike there in about 10-15 minutes, depending on traffic signals. I have 16 classes per week and am completely responsible for 13 of those classes. I'm pretty lucky in that my English teachers all speak very good English. I am less lucky in that I do most of the work with little advice or feedback from most of those teachers. My school is a low academic school, so they're very lax about using the textbook- in fact, I was told that my classes don't have a textbook. So I try to enjoy the academic freedom; I teach the kids handy slang [crash, cool, kosher, hang out].


...(teeth-sucking noise): Japanese men [I haven't encountered this from any women yet] forcibly suck air in through their teeth to mean "I disagree with that" or "That is not convenient for me" or "mmm, found some mochi between the canine and incisor." I hear this noise all the freakin' time! I thought I would get used to it, but like the slurping of hot liquids, this noise really creeps me out. Maybe in another 3 months I will be immune.

No school today- it's National Culture Day. Sadly, I have finally caught a cold [I managed to avoid the Yashiro bug, and other JET community illnesses], so my culture day entails of napping, reading, coughing, and drinking tea. Aaron is currently searching for noodles at the grocery store- chicken noodle soup tonight! I am super thankful that I got sick on a free day, as taking sick days require a note from the doctor. That's right- if I miss a day due to a cold and want to use my sick pay, I have to go to the doctor and convince him that I was sick a few days ago. I really don't want to deal with more bureacracy than I already do, so let's hope I heal fast. More good news: Friday is a light day for me with only 2 classes.