Eating, Japan!

I have finally decided to deal with this little beast of a subject. Before I totally forget how completely different eating in Japan is (foods, food habits, how the habits relate to the culture etc) compared to that in the UK/ west in general.
I have already become completed accustomed to much of it now, so I have had to train my mind to bring English food and habits into the forefront of my brain for this post.

Seeing as I`m at school I`ll start with the school lunch. The big difference number 1, comparing a typical Japanese workplace, with a typical English one, is that many more workers will bring in a homemade packed lunch (bento) from home. There also is the option to buy the school lunch bento box which you can order in the morning and is then delivered to the teachers room (or office) at lunchtime (12 o`clock in Japan. Some schools lunchtimes even run from 11.30 to 12.30. I was curious about this earlier standard lunchtime compared to England. My supervisor said it`s because in Japan, it is not standard to have a mid-morning coffee/ snack break at 11 ish as in the UK).

An endearing feature of the Japanese workers and their homemade bentos is the fact they bring them into work wrapped up in a teatowel (always wrapped on the diagonal with a neat little knot at the top – unless the bento box they bought came with it`s own little cloth bag to be carried in – in which case the teatowel is unnecessary). It is very sweet. I think I am going to start doing it. I clattered around with my noisy plastic bags to prevent leaking. It`s just not so neat. But these days I just mainly buy rice balls for lunch in any case.

The bento box itself is an interesting thing. It is typically divided into two separate boxes. One box to put your rice, and the other to put your morsels of vegetables/ meat/ fish/ pickles. This is necessary because the Japanese don`t like to have their perfect rice being touched by any other food. The non-rice box is also likely to contain dividers so that you can put each different type of small vegetable/ meat/ fish/ pickle in a different section, so that these foods don`t have to touch each other either. This definitely reflects the slightly anal, small, little, controlled culture of Japan. (or perhaps it just reflects the fact they are all just in love with Japanese rice SO MUCH). Rice comprises half of the lunch. Most Japanese will eat rice as their carbohydrate for each meal of the day. They have a big lunch, I suppose, compared to the typical English lunch of a sandwich, yoghurt, fruit, chocolate. In Japan, they just have a lot of rice. After this kind of lunch Japanese (and me) aren`t hungry for fruit etc. (Japanese don`t eat very much fruit really). This rice heavy lunch also accounts for why they don`t snack much in the afternoon either like westerners will do much more.

The compartmentalized bento lunch (shop bought and made at home) is reflected in the experience of going out for a Japanese meal. So it is clearly traditionally how the Japanese like to eat. You will sit down, not to one plate, but typically to about 6 small plates. You might have one slightly more major dish, but still each person will have a several other mini-plates with morsels of this or that. (To take a recent example of the last meal I had in a Japanese restaurant. I had a big bowl of tempura (deep fried vegetables and seafood) on top of rice (actually, unusual in this case that the rice wasn`t separate – curious – normally ALWAYS is), then also there was a small plate of sushi, a plate of pickles, a plate of seaweed, a bean cake, a miso soup. And this was a cheap 5 quid meal! As was evident, the Japanese do eat big meals. This is something I have noticed in Japan. Japanese people do eat big portions (particularly of rice). I often always finish my food in Japanese restaurants too. In fact it is the chubby westerners who often complain they can`t finish. Slightly ironic – because the Japanese are so tiny in comparison. (But the difference must be in the snacking, Japanese people don`t have big snacks – see later on).

This style of a tray of plates/ succession of new dishes being presented to you as you eat is very common in Japanese restaurants as well as the more down-grade “family restaurant” – (which is great food also, certainly not to be likened to their UK equivalent which would be the chain restaurant).

Another common way of eating out Japanese style is the ordering of lots of little dishes and everybody has their own plate in which they pick and choose from the central selection. This is the way you eat when you go to an Izakaya. This is a type of Japanese pub. In these places you will go with a group of people and order dishes to share. This style is also mirrored in a nabe or sukiyaki or shabu-shabu meal in which the cooking is done on the table in an electric pot. The host (or others) add raw vegetables and meat periodically and pick them out to their own little individual bowl when they`re done after a few minutes cooking in the broth. Delicious – that winter style food.

Bitty eating is how the Japanese like to eat. I ate like that at home too – so suits me fine!

It is a very different way of eating, when you compare it to a western meal of just one plate of food. The components all touching. The active method of cooking the food on the table doesn`t exist in England. But it is so common in Japan. Not only is there the winter warming foods like nabe, sukiyaki, and shabu-shabu (so named because the meat makes a sound like shabu-shabu when it is bubbling in the boiling broth), but also there is the Japanese BBQ where you melt some lard and fry your meat and veggies on your table, gengis kahn (a similar idea), okonomiyake (where you mix vegetables, seafood, meat, mochi – whatever!) in a bowl with pancake batter and an egg, then turn the whole mixture out on the frying plate in the centre of your table and let it cook into some kind of filled pancake.

All of this is traditional Japanese – at first I was surprised that it was – because it so unlike the delicate sushi and sashimi, the stereotype. But, thinking about it, this is very Japanese. Everybody sharing the same, together the same, it relates back to the communal, community culture of everybody wanting to be the same.

This way of eating many different types of food altogether though, means that Japanese restaurants and people do provide interesting experiences of western food. I went to a party in which western food was served like Japanese. All the dishes were presented on the table. There, set out on the low table was a shepherd’s pie, a quiche, a cheese fondue, a plate of vegetable and meats to dip in it (is all I can remember now). Everyone had their plate, and they picked a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. It was totally bizarre! But kind of fun!

Western restaurants are another interesting experience. Because the Japanese like to order several dishes to share, portions are rather smaller – to account for this. I didn`t realize this initially. So once, in an Italian restaurant with some other foreigners, I ordered a seafood pizza. The others who had been living in Japan longer than me ordered about 3 dishes each. I thought they were just being really greedy westerners, but when the food came my pizza was quite diminished in size! I ended up having a spag Bolognese as well! So now I know to order several things in this particular chain! Not all Italian places are like this one, though. In most, ordering a starter and a pasta will be sufficiant.
But I prefer this portion size. When I finish a spaghetti meal in English restaurants I often feel so full because the portion sizes are vast. But, pastas in Japan, being slightly smaller, are much better sized.

Bar rice, portion sizes in Japan are smaller. This then accounts for the smaller sized population. The Japanese abroad exclaim just as much about the giagantic bottles of milk you can buy, as we gaijin exclaim about the bite-sized packets of cheese you can get here. Packets of snacks and sweet treats are smaller. I suppose that one of the things that should shock me, but does not anymore, is the total lack of chocolate bars. What you buy is packets of tiny individually wrapped chocolates about the size of after eights.

Teachers may snack on a couple of these mid-afternoon, or a little bean cake, or a tiny sweet (Japanese people love sweets), or a rice cake, or an individually wrapped little biscuit that arrived on their desk because some teacher went away.

They will of course do this covertly. It`s not really the done thing, to be seen eating in Japan (I guess it looks like you`re not working). That will also be why Japanese people eat their lunch so damn fast! In about 5 minutes! So they can be back working. I find it extreme again (like much of Japanese society) to think about the speed at which they eat at work. And then the long and drawn-out eating process of going out for a Japanese meal. People will eat very slowly. Picking the food from the central dish. Or waiting as more food is brought out – you never know how much is coming!) Funny Japanese.

Japanese tastes, as well as Japanese eating habits are also very different to the west. While they traditionally use very little oil or butter in their cooking, their food will often be very salty or sugary (which goes really well with the big portion of rice). The Japanese love pickles with their food (the bright yellow pickled giant radish – the daikon, the pickled plums – umeboshi). There is a big pickle section in the supermarket, aswell as a lot of tofu, (which I now like!), natto (not yet…!). The taste in meat is different too. Japanese love very fatty meat. Thinly sliced very fatty meat will often be much more expensive than an ordinary beef steak. As you would expect the fish is so fresh in Japanese supermarkets – it make me want to eat it raw it looks so good.

So, this has overviewed Japanese food. It`s a lot to cover. I LOVE Japanese food. To the extent that I now go out for meals much mre frequently than I ever did in England, and buy ready meals (sushi and Japanese sweet omlette) that I`ve kind of forgotton how to cook! I`m going to miss it so much when I`m in England.

Old People

I have a had a problem with some rather dominating and overkeen old women in Japan, but that`s another story (and I have it under control now in any case).

There are a lot of old people in Japan. Objectively. This is not just a statement resulting from feeling overcome by the enthusiasms of my old women friends earlier this year. It is widely know to most people that Japan, like all modern, developing economies, has an ageing population. This is obviously true from living daily life here.

England, being a developed economy aswell, also has an ageing population, however I feel this far less obviously than I do in the case of Japan. Why? Because I would say old people really are more invisible in Biritsh society. In Japan it is different. They are out there, on the streets, in restaurants, being active, meeting up with friends for lunch, going to the gym, going on trips, keeping up hobbies and interests (eg Ikebana, learning English, volunteering teaching English).

In Japan the elderly are much more out there in society, doing stuff, together on the trains going places. I don`t remember ever having this feeling about the elderly in England. They are just cooped up more at home I think.

Maybe the health of these 2 elderly populations is the reason for the difference in participation in wider society. The Japanese are undoubtedly a very healthy population with their traditional fish and rice based, low fat diet, and active sports instilled in them from day 1 at school.
This healthy lifestyle is most true for the elderly. It is only the younger Japanese who are being tempted by the fast food and burgers (and nikuman!) that is now widely available in the combinis. The elderly though, stick to their traditional very healthy ways. And so live long. The Okinawans are the longest living community in the world.

Obviously if you are a healthy old person then you are still going to be out there, doing stuff. Perhaps it is just the case that more old people are sick in the UK. But there is also another aspect to this. It seems, (perhaps due to the numbers of elderly) that there is more for them in Japanese society. To me there seems to be a huge range of clubs and activities for older people to do here. I`m not particularly familiar with the situation in this respect in the UK, but my impression is that it is old people`s homes, and bingo clubs. Nothing much which uses any brain or skill that you might have. I do feel, that in comparison to the situation in Japan, provisions and opportunities and older people in general are overlooked. Obviously there are adult education classes – but it is not quite the same. Short courses, perhaps lasting a term or 2. It is not quite the same as the wide spread of community centres with wide ranges of activities in literally every insignificant (and significant) settlement of Japan. The community centre activities I guess are dominated by older people. To be a majority in an organization in your town is also a positive boost for old people. It must therefore be easy for other older people to easily fit in and come out of their home. In England I think we have just got into a cycle of old people retreating into their homes because of a lack of a social life, and lack of activities they want to do outside of their home.

The difference is, old people are out in Japan. They are obvious. The rest of the population don`t overlook them. They are more respected. Another reason for the difference must be something I always mention and am always aware of in Japan. The community spirit of people.

These old people have lived in a society with this strong spirit of community for decades and decades. Ultimately, the result is people with very strong bonds with their friends outside of your family, that have been formed and strengthened throughout all of this time, working together, working on something together, having breaks together, talking together. This community spirit, together with being physically healthy and active means that the many old people of Japan still have a wide and active, not superficial or patronized social life. A big difference from the UK I think.

It has to also be mentioned though – a key difference to explain the out-there-ness of the old people in Japan, is the safety of Japan. The streets are safe everywhere. The streets at night are safe. Crime is so low in Japan (apart from theft of umbrellas! I think is most common). I feel so much safer in my daily life in Hitachi, out in the streets, on public transport, compared to the UK. And it must play a big part in the life of old people. It is safe for frail, old people to be out on their own. They are free to go anywhere, even at night (though they go to bed so early this isn`t common!). In England you frequently hear about old people being mugged or accosted by some chav. This makes them and others afraid to go out (either correctly or incorrectly). In Japan this doesn`t happen, so old people do not feel restricted to go out out of fear, and are therefore more present for everyone to see in the wider society.

Having interests, and friends gives meaning to your life, which helps you live long. But also, respect by the wider society exists in Japan to the elderly, from the rest of the Japanese. I don`t think this character of respect is particularly the same. I think there is more of a feeling in England that old people don`t really have much to offer society anymore. But in Japan, longevity is respected and admired. I think there is a respect of the wisdom of old people. People are more linked to the older members of the family.

In addition to New Year, the other big festival in Japan is O-bon in mid August. This is a 3 day festival of the dead ancestors. People will travel to their home town – perhaps where the grandparents still live, and will make visits to the graves of dead ancestors. (side point – graveyards are on tiny plots of land and crammed crammed full of Buddhist gravestones compared to a typical English church graveyard!) There is a stronger awareness and link to the old generations of families here I think - also because older people live so damn long.

I think in Japan the elderly play a big part in the workings of society so they are respected and appreciated, and the old people themselves benefit from this wider respect. Many Japanese companies/ organizations would not work without the grandparent generation to look after the kids while the parents spend most of their waking hours at work.

I think the elderly have a better time of it in Japan compared to England. And I`ve learnt something because of this. To not overlook people, or patronize them, because they are interesting, and can still be good lunch dates etc (in moderation!!!!)
I`ve already been engaging with the older people I know in in my life more (in letters and emails) and my dominant motivation for this has changed. From a slight sense of duty (which is how it is often made out to me to be from Dad) to a sense that I genuinely want to have a meaningful communication with them because they are interesting people.

When (if?!) I have children I am going to emphasise that communicating with healthy older people shouldn`t be a duty – you should change your attitude so it is something you genuinely want – because you should want to talk to people that have led long lives, and therefore have interesting things to say and good advice. Sometimes I think though, the problem with old people is that they get in to a mode of losing interests so they think they have nothing to say (but perhaps this is society`s fault for the general view of no worth of older people).

I read in an article that to have a strong reason to live is also a strong factor in the longevity of the Okinawans. The Okinawans reason for their longevity is longevity itself! They find a lot of value in living a long time so they can pass on their wisdom and experiences of living well to the future generations. I want English old people to be healthy and socially active and present in society, and have a strong reason to keep living like those people.

Being Gay in Japan

Japan is an extremely advanced society in several ways: it leads the world in robotics technology (I think), they have a very modern (mostly) and efficient public transport system, their toilets are space age … (mostly). So in many ways they are developing on a level ahead of other modern societies.

However, there is a significant number of aspects to Japanese society that is way behind, say, the UK. Homosexuality is a huge issue which demonstrates well, the backwardness of Japan.

I was in my usual 4 o`clock Wednesday English conversation class with the home economics teacher (Yumi – 40) and her very young looking assistant (… - 31). Both are very typical Japanese women, fitting the kawaii stereotype of Japanese women that I have described before. Their home economics room is full of pink, girly things, perfumed air. Little lace mats cover the table. Pretty blankets and soft pink things are around the place. They are typical Japanese women. The only aspect which is unusual about them is that they are not married. I wonder if they worry about this. Because certainly, the level of worry from their their parents generation about lack of husbands is always present I have gathered (from my numerous dealings with old women!).

Yumi wants to improve her spoken English, and she did initiate this weekly conversation class that we have. It is a bit of an effort for me – I`m not being paid. But I suppose I am happy to do it. They give me a perfect Christmas present. And give me nice biscuits and cakes and things, and we`ve become friends I suppose. So that is my payment. After a busy Wednesday, sometimes it`s tiring, but I see it as a sort of replacement for a club activity – which I do not do.

Anyway, last week, we got on to the subject of my holiday to Okinawa. I had just booked it 2 days before. They enquired who I was going with, and I said my friend Andrew – a boy who was a friend, not a boyfriend. To provide extra clarification because I wasn`t sure that they had grasped that subtle difference, I said he was gay.

I was not at all prepared for the huge exclamations of shock and amazement that preceded to follow in the next hour.

“Gay!!!????” Yumi said, in a VERY incredulous, quite loud voice. They were both SO shocked, and SO surprised. I can hardly describe how shocked they were. They were giggling like little girls, embarrassed almost. I was so amazed by their reaction that I was keen to talk about it more, and find out more about their opinions. They were keen to talk about it too, because homosexuality, according to them, is something that is never talked about, or occurs in any Japanese circles, outside of Kabuki-cho (the gay district of Tokyo).

So I immediately decided to tell them about my circle of 6 closest friends at home, in which there was 2 homosexual relationships – 1 lesbian couple, and 1 gay couple.

Yumi and … just didn`t believe it! They thought I was having a big joke with them. It was so way out of the norm for the, and I had to reiterate and emphasise many, many times before they believed I was telling the truth. Obviously, I think my situation does deviate from the norm. But most people, I would say, have 1 gay friend. In Japan though, this is DEFINITELY not the case.

They were expressing so much shock, that I was incredulous at them, to an equal level. Then Yumi said, “oh, I wish I had a gay friend. It would be so much fun. They are so beautiful, and it would be so much fun”.
I was a bit confused by this and asked her further. I mean, I know a lot of people who are gay, and they certainly aren`t more beautiful, or more fun than the rest of the population.

It turned out, that both Yumi and …`s view was that a gay person, was what I would call, a transvestite. They thought that all gay men dressed up as women, they thought that all gay men wore makeup. (I didn`t actually ask them what was their expectation of a lesbian – perhaps they hadn`t ever considered this question before).

I quickly went on to explain no, no, no this wasn`t the case at ALL. I explained about my gay friend who works as a teacher in a senior school in England. (“He works as a teacher??!!! Shockshockshock!), about my gay friends who work for charities. Yumi and … could hardly believe that that there were gay people working in normal, regular jobs. Until I kept re-emphasising that the men wore normal clothes like other men, and they didn`t wear makeup.

After all of this explanation of homosexuality, I was keen to find out about the Japanese view of homosexuality. Was their view typical? Yes, it was. Most Japanese would think like this they said. I was amazed. Because up until that afternoon I had just assumed the situation of homosexuality was the same as in the UK (but without the problem of over-zealous Christians – so perhaps even more open than the UK). In my Japanese ALT community the situation is the same as I find it back at home – there is a couple of gay men in the group (and a transvestite actually). All the 20 something, 30 something Japanese that we hang out with know that Andrew is gay. It`s totally normal, just like in England. Andrew has a semi-relationship with a Japanese guy, and I think Daryle has in the past too. So I had just assumed it was the same.

But, I think that this experience of my Hitachi and ALT community is different from mainstream Japanese society. Perhaps because they hang out with foreigners, so therefore are not typical.

Yumi was obviously familiar with the word gay. Which was obviously used in Japanese. But she also told me about the Japanese word for gay, which literally translates as “sistermans”. (Mans is an incoreect form of men).

Sistermen. So that goes some way to account for why they think that all gay men look like women.
How did they know about homosexuality in Japan I asked. Seeing as it was clear from these women that represented that vast majority of Japanese society at least their age and above, that they hadn`t encountered any homosexual people in their day-to-day life.

Homosexuality doesn`t exist in Hitachi, it wouldn`t exist anywhere in local places like this, they said. Their only knowledge of homosexual culture comes from the TV. Homosexuality in Japan only really exists in Tokyo. In the gay district of Tokyo, Kabuki-cho. They know that gay bars exist – but only really there.
Once you are outside of Tokyo gay people cease to exist in Japan. I raised the word hidden, to account for the situation outside of Tokyo. But they were skeptical that there could be more than a really tiny number of gay people that lived outside of Tokyo, in these “local” places.

(I often find that Japanese people use the word local to describe non-city, country areas – it must be an incorrect translation to English of the Japanese use of the word local to also describe rural areas).
I`m sure it`s the same the world over. Cities are more cosmopolitan than country villages, cities are more ahead in terms of the development of new trends, views, fashions, what`s acceptable, and the countryside is more conservative and traditionalist. So, this is clearly the situation here.
Gay people aren`t openly gay (if they exist at all – according to Yumi and …) in local places like Hitachi. But the significant point is though, that Hitachi City, isn`t exactly a local place! It really is a big town/ sprawling settlement. But Yumi and … were quite adamant. There would be no openly gay people here. No teacher at Taga could ever be gay (heeheehee!! – Y and …).

It`s interesting to think about this. I`m sure it will change in the future. Japanese society is interesting because it is in many ways extremely liberal. No fundamental religions, an acceptance of porn that is present in the mainstream, but yet ignored by the most of the mainstream. So, in a way, I am surprised that being openly gay hasn`t made it beyond kabuki-cho in Tokyo. However, all 3 of us did think that this change would surely come in the next 10 years or so.

Japan – is it advanced, or behind us? Maybe the answer is that it depends on the area. It is Tokyo that is advanced in it`s open-mindedness. Gay culture is evident there. It is beyond Tokyo where you get all the conservativism – the little old women staring at you if you dare eat on the train, the men in their 1980s style glasses. Maybe the answer is also generational. Yumi and … are 40 and 31 respectively. My ALT friends and their gay Japanese friends (who happen to live near Tokyo fyi) – that would also account for the differing experience of gay culture in Japan. The difference between the metropolis of Tokyo and the rest of Japan, is huge. There is so much more individualism in Tokyo. The fast pace of the city. It is a world away from Ibaraki. And universes away from actual isolated country-bumpkin places in Japan.

But other big cities won`t be too far behind Tokyo I shouldn`t think. In Sapporo we went to a transvestite show. I found it interesting to look at the other audience members there. Regular office men and women I think. People Yumi`s age, I suppose. I wonder if these transvestites were their only experience and knowledge of the gay community in Japan too.

I wonder what it`s like to be unsure if you are gay or not if you live in the local places of Japan. What must you think of yourself if you find yourself fancying people of the same sex as you, but having no inclination to want to dress up as a girl. There is no presence in open society of anyone really like you. So you stay hidden I guess. Just like the olden days…
I felt I understood something more about Japan then. And Yumi did too! She said she was reallt culture shocked by my stories, to find out about the open gay culture in England (…well it`s all relative to Japan!)

Snow Flurries and Slow Ferries

I`m just back from a 5 day holiday to Hokkaido and am feeling really pretty happy. :-D
It is nice to look back on it and remember the fun things that happened, and to look at the great photos that people have. I remember being frustrated at aspects of the trip at the time, but now I`m enjoying my good memories!

To take the overnight ferry from Oarai port, in my home prefecture of Ibaraki to Tomakomai was brilliant. Far and away better than travelling by plane. It was fun to arrive at the port at sunset after work on Friday evening. To see the ocean, see our ship, climb on board with far less fuss than taking a plane. Cheap travel is still the mentality of my age group – and it was a lot of fun to be sleeping in the big room and laying out your futon with everyone else. After the extensive evening buffet we all played cards together, ate ice cream, laughed a lot, and just all in all I had a lot of fun just being with all the ALT gang again. The ocean itself did behave to its name and was very pacific??! (peaceful!, maybe). Beautiful, beautiful scenes from the deck of ferry the following morning under a clear blue sky. The clear skies are something I haven`t stopped appreciating during the autumn and winter in Japan. We even saw some dolphins in the distance from the ship.

Sapporo is a lot colder than Ibaraki. And though snow makes a beautiful scene, I am damn glad Ibaraki isn`t like that. I found that I could be outside wrapped up and enjoying the outside, for about 1 hour. After that time the cold must break a way through to my skin and my bones after persevering it`s way through all my layers, because after that time I suddenly get cold. At that point we usually duck into a restaurant or café to reheat ourselves with supergood Japanese hot chocolate or ramen if we`re hungry.

After arrival we headed out to view the ice sculptures which were beautiful tinged with blue. At the time of the sunset they were most beautiful. Lights lit them from behind and it was just pretty. Of course, I knew to expect, at an occasion like this, cameras would be out in force. I can accept it by getting into that mode too. Obviously photo-taking is fine, but why to so much excess?
Excessive photographs, excessive omiyagae purchases/ purchasing time, standardized tourist itineraries are the features of the Japanese holiday experience I knew to expect on this IAJET trip to Hokkaido. I don`t like them, but I put up with it, because I can`t physically do holidays I want, by myself, independently. Other typical features which drive me crazy is the commercialism of all sites of (tourist) interest. Even many ice sculptures contained adverts within them. Sometimes I feel Japan corrupts too many things with it`s commercialization of history and nature. With the consumerism surrounding historic and natural sites. I hate holidays in which these things dominate. I`m sure that off-beaten track places exist in this country, but such places are so beyond my reach and capability that I have to stick to these situations.

These negative aspects, plus the next famous place, next must-see site mentality does frustrate me, but my feelings of enjoyment now are evidence that I did have a good time despite these frustrations.

One of the things I enjoy most about going on holiday is the eating out! I`m not a very good/ interesting cook – and going on holiday means I have to eat out all the time - :-D Every local area in Japan has a particular food speciality and Hokkaido is famous – so rightly – for ramen. Ramen is the most delicious yellow noodles, in the most delicious broth with crab, perhaps some stir-fried bean sprouts, and spring onions, and maybe some minced meat. IT…IS…SO…GOOD! There is a famous alley way in Sapporo called ramen alley. A tiny alleyway with little ramen shops one after the other. We seeked out ramen alley on our very first afternoon in Sapporo and the reputation did not disappoint. It is not only the food but the whole experience that is so wonderful. To step inside this hot little space after being out in flurries of big snow flakes with my glasses steaming up immediately! Watching the cooks cook my ramen so rapidly – because they have probably owned their little shop for years. Being in such close proximity at the bar with the other customers, and just across the bar from the steaming woks and giant pots of broth. A cooking area just behind the bar with the cooks work rapidly to feed the consistent fast flow of customers coming in and out (ramen shops are quick turnover places). Customers crammed on to stools the other side of the bar slurping ramen. It is a brilliant experience and I frequented ramen alley four times during my three days in Sapporo!

Aside from ramen and nama-caramel (fresh caramel – omigodomigodomigod!!!), and mitokoibito (langue de chat biscuits and white chocolate), ghengis kahn is famous in Hokkaido. I guess because Ghengis Kahn liked this kind of meal. It is Japanese style barbeque where you melt some lamb lard on your cone shaped griddle pan and fry up lamb, cabbage and bean sprouts. After a serious adventure trying to find the restaurant in a serious blizzard, this kind of fatty lamb meal (unusual for Japan) was just what I needed!

There are many things that are distinctive about Hokkaido, and not only the food. The food in any area of Japan you are in is always made out to be distinctive. Food is localized here, definitely more so than England, but sometimes I get the feeling it is definitely exaggerated for commercial reasons – (omiyage etc).
But Hokkaido is legitimately very distinctive from Hitachi life. What struck me most as our little train made its way from the city of the ice and impressive snow sculptures, to the town of Otaru (next stop on the snow festival tourist trail – to see the lighted canal – for 1 hour! – very beautiful though), was the difference of the landscape. Not only the different shaped mountains. The mountains were bigger, more majestic and snow covered. But, also the difference in the human environment. At certain points the coloured buildings looked Scandinavian, other times the swirling snow which covered lower looking houses made the environment seem Russian. The town of Otaru itself had brick buildings! – something I had never seen before in my life in central Japan. Those brick buildings almost had a European feel to them – very surprising to me!

To experience difference – in cultures and in landscapes is the reason why I love to travel. And the fact I experienced it in Hokkaido was what made the trip very enjoyable. I spent one very nice hour in a café halfway up the TV tower with Lauren. We were lucky to be given the best seats with a perfect view of the main drag with the snow sculptures at the bottom. We could see huge mountains in the distance which wasn`t possible to see from the ground. Although we never made it to those mountains, in terms of walking in them, I was very happy I was able to enjoy that view of them. They looked so vast – stretching out – like a huge giants blanket on a bed I thought was how best to describe them. Different from the shape of the mountains in Hitachi which I also love. But the Hitachi mountains have a different feel. You can see them, neat range after range in an orientation running to length of Honshu main island from the Pacfic Ocean to the Sea of Japan if you climb up. These Hokkaido ones were just vast – speading in all the directions beyond. Hokkaido is a huge huge, mountainous island, and I could really understand that from that view!
That`s why I loved my trip. The slightly faked up experiences which tend to feature in Japanese tourist areas, the “meat fest” in the bar with the foreigners in it, the waiting about for everybody because you`re in a group and people aren`t punctual I gloss over!

Education - Creator of 2 Wildly Different Societies

I`ve mentioned this before – that Japanese students are considerably more immature than their western counterparts of similar age. The difference really does strike me strongly on occasions. It occurred to me again yesterday when I was planning a lesson concerning the differences between school in Japan, and school in the UK. As I made the list it was so apparent that the reason for their immaturity lies totally in the differences in the system of education.

People in Japan like it when everybody is the same. When everybody has the same. When everybody does the same. And this is reflected in the system of education. By age 16-17 in England students have already done some major subject selection – down to the 4 AS Level subjects they will be studying. They have made some big limiting choices and as a result students across the year could be studying very different things.

In Japan this selection just does not happen (there is some minor selection – but nothing too significant so as to differ your education from your peers). At age 18 in Japan, all students will take their end-of-school exams in 9 subjects. (This in itself, is I think better to the English system which becomes far too narrowed too early in my view).
But that isn`t the point I want to make. The result of this, is that all students are in having all the same lessons up until age 18! This is really surprising for me in comparing this to England. By age 18, I was in small classes, of about 15 students. We were having in depth discussions in the subject. We had relatively grown up relationships with the teachers because of the small classes. When I think about the development level of the third graders here (age 17-18), I am a little embarrassed really. They are still in these big classes (with a kind of dynamic that I left behind in year 8 – 9 (age 14). They are still learning - every single lesson of the day - with everyone in there homeroom class (in their homeroom classroom for that matter). All together - everyone the same - so everyone happy. This situation - of every student being the same, every student studying the same is, I think a one of the reasons for the immaturity. Students aren`t given the opportunity to separate, to develop their interests to a more in depth level. The fact everyone is still kept lumped together - at age 18 - regardless of strong interest of lack thereof in the subject, is a reason for an immature way of learning, and therefore immaturity itself.

I wonder how it is that everyone across the world manages to end up at the same educational level when they come to university/ do university exchanges etc. Or maybe they don`t. From my view here, I initially can`t understand how the students are able to study their 9 subjects in the detail we study our 3. They can`t. So there is be a fundamental difference in the education system – how all these subjects are taught. These fundamental differences will be the reasons for the huge differences between Japanese and UK society.

Perhaps in England we are given more individual project work to do. Perhaps we go slower with the textbook. I don`t know how subjects like Biology and Geography are taught here. But it must be in a significantly different way from this – just so that they manage to cover the same material!

I know that languages (English) is definitely taught in a different (read totally crap/ ineffective) way here. They are effectively learning paragraphs on some obscure subject in the textbook (the strange blood-sweat like secretion from Hippo`s skin, the history of light, to take two typical examples), writing translations based on a word list at the bottom of the page, to help them, or the teacher writing the translation on the board. Then answering questions using the formation of the question to identify the correct sentence in the passage to copy out, without having a clue what they are writing about, but, often producing the correct sentence none the less. Most of the words in the passage are forgotten as soon as they finish the lesson (because they are often so obscure that they will not often meet these words again).
This is how Japanese students are able to study English all their school life, and say very little. It is a phenomenally bad method of teaching, but is widespread.

Students are able to pass the school exams because the exams are so closely related to the textbook. Students are told which part of which lesson will be covered in the exam. This means that they can then memorise these strange textbook lesson words/ structures long enough to enable them to pass the exam.

The system of examination is another aspect of the education system which is key to note, in trying to understand the Japanese system. In England, to get into university, students must pass the national exams to achieve the required grades. Although in Japan, at age 18, there are national exams – these are only for the High Level students. Most of the students in most of my schools are not even put in to take these exams. As a result, all the exams that my students study for, are school based. The teachers (presumably) set the exam, they can teach exactly what will be on the exam, they can emphasise their teaching to what will be on the exam, to do their best to ensure that the students will mostly pass.

Perhaps these are reason why students in Japan are able to study 9 subjects and pass their age 18 exams. The lessons must have to be more intensive too, surely. Much less time for open discussions in lessons etc.

There are other Japanese education system features that are also important to appreciate in considering how the Japanese system can be how it is, and how this leads to immature students and the end of their time (and more generally – a different society!): The very heavy role of the teachers in getting the students through the education system. In England, by age 18 the onus to get through the exams, is definitely primarily on the student. If they can`t be bothered, then that really is their problem. They are afterall, age 18. However, in Japan, teachers are far more implicated in this problem. And to solving it. As I have mentioned in a previous blog, teachers will counsel students individually who have problems with their work. It is standard to have period 7. During this period (which is by the way, outside of the contracted work hours of teachers) teachers will run extra classes, for those students who didn`t do so well in their exams. Giving them that extra push, extra help, extra motivating force to get them to pass. This is for students up to age 18! They all have the teachers behind them like this! This doesn`t happen in England. If the student isn`t working, they are told to work, or get out. But in Japan students will always have the teachers coaxing them on, all the way. Alright for younger students maybe, but this is a major reasons why Japanese kids are more immature in their attitudes to work than western kids. Cram schools are the extreme end of this extra pushing. The cram school – an evening school for students who have difficulties with subjects, are very common. Many students will attend these schools – several evenings a week (after their regular school, after their club activities etc) for the extra pushing from the teachers to help. All of this is, in my view, so removed from the British method. Where students are left significantly more alone in their study. Of course most British teachers will give extra help. But frequently it would be that the student would identify that they wanted the extra help, and therefore the student would ask for it (in sixth form at least). In Japan it is the opposite way around. The teachers will take the first action. And this I think is a fundamental problem with the Japanese system. It helps to account for how British students are more mature, and the Japanese students are far less so.

The fact that students in Japan study 9 subjects seriously, and British students would take 3, obviously leads to some rather significant differences in the timetable. One most obvious difference is the free periods. Yao positively laughed out loud when I mentioned the words free period. The word is totally alien in the Japanese education system. They have nothing like it. They could have nothing like it! Independent study periods – for students aged 16-18??!! It would never work. School is somewhere where students are always shepherded to work. To be suddenly left with an hour to study independently, would be a totally bizarre situation to put Japanese students in. It would not work. But it does work in England. People in my school did get on and work in the free periods (generally). It`s because we were used to being independent more. Compared to the Japanese, we had a much more mature attitude to study.

It does feel a little strange going on about the virtues of the British education system. Because before I came to Japan I would never have thought of it as an example of a good system particularly. Certainly when I read about the education systems of more freer learning, and play in Scandinavia, British schools stressing excessively over health and safety concerns there are many ways in which I think the British system can be improved. However, I think this system, although definitely not perfect, does produce an important characteristic – independence, and self-motivation in students, which the Japanese system as it currently stands, does not.

There are of course several positive aspects to the Japanese system that should not be overlooked, (and are presumably the reason why the Japanese system came about, and why it continues). As a result of the 9 subjects all students study, as a result of the compulsory P.E. lessons, as a result of the compulsory all-life-consuming club activities (2-3 hours everyday after school + both weekend days) Japanese students` time is filled all the time by structured, productive activity producing healthy individuals who co-operate and work well with others.
English kids will most likely get home from school and watch TV. There is some virtue in the fact that presumably Japanese students are having a much healthier lifestyle. Both physically – as club activities are mostly sport. And in terms of developing good relationships by working with, communicating with, playing with real people (rather than developing a one-sided relationship with a screen). The strong community bonds that are developed during all this time that is spent at school (with your school family) must also be a good thing.

There are many aspects to Japanese society that is hugely better than the west. And I do think the reason fundamentally comes back to the education system where the values of community, the group, the team are so reinforced. Groups are predominant in the school life (your group is your homeroom class (with who you will have all of your lessons (ie – all your time from 8.30 – 4.30) – up until age 18!), and after lessons your group is your club activity 4 – 6/7pm and weekend days). The predominance of groups in the education system, and the application of group accountability (all members of a group are held at least partially accountable for the indiscretion of one of that groups` members) are some of the reasons why Japan is such a safe society, why the elderly aren`t a overlooked part of society (they are in general extremely present, active and healthy in Japan, taking an active role in groups and Japanese society – a big difference to the UK, I think),why Japanese people are courteous, polite and public spirited.

However, I can`t help thinking, that in spite of these positive effects the values in the education system have created, there are also negative effects that a Japanese person without an outside view would recognize. All these activities may create healthy young people, but surely people should have unstructured free time, without a leader telling you what to do. The lack of enough freedom to construct your own activities (or, equally importantly, relax!) is also problematic I think. The problem with the Japanese system, I believe, is that there is not enough freedom. Not enough freedom from structure, not enough freedom from leaders.

I think, it is the heavily structured, and heavily teacher-led days of young Japanese people have been a primary reason for the creation of a society that is so different from the individualist west, but is also the primary reason for their immaturity.