I thought I would make this post now because it's rather related to this recent xkcd comic (which is neat and you should check out anyway). One of the issues I've noticed moving from the Eastern timezone to Japan is that I'm offset by about half a day from most of the people I know.
This means that when I log into gmail, nobody is online or if they are I'm aware that it's late (or early) where they are and I'm reluctant to bother them. It also means that when I check facebook, the things I reply to are typically at least 8 hours old. Or that when it was my birthday, most of the well-wishes arrived the day after my birthday here because that's when it was my birthday there (on a similar note, I might be sending birthday wishes half a day early to people back home).
On one hand, it's awesome that I can keep tabs on friends back home and I know that some of them are reading my blog and keeping up with me in a sense (a lot of my visitors are from Canada and I'm going to assume it's not just random people). It's also not something that would have been possible for most of human history (e.g. even 20 years ago, it would have barely been possible) so I appreciate that I'm fortunate that I don't have to make a series of long distance phone calls (or wait weeks for letters back and forth) to even see what's happening with everyone.
It's still not the same as going to the pub to get a drink and catching up or even the same as instant messaging.
I am having fun here and enjoy getting to hang out with new people too, I just also miss you guys back home too.
Thursday 27 February 2014
Monday 24 February 2014
Train safety poster
Around train stations, I'll sometimes see these posters which I find inexplicably funny.
I suppose it's the way the salaryman is depicted as being drunk that's so funny. It's effectively conveyed without the usual sort of cues of drunkenness. He's not holding a bottle or half-passed out; instead, he's merrily (if haphazardly) walking along the edge of the platform without a care in the world and only his loosened tie, rosy cheeks and obvious poor decision making tell you that he's probably not sober.
It might also be funny to me because it's a businessman who is drunk instead of a student or someone who is more typically associated with drunken behaviour in Canada (like people wearing hockey jerseys after a playoff game). While I assume that business people go out and get drunk after work with their colleagues sometimes in Canada, it's not something I think of as happening as much (perhaps in part because the transit isn't generally as good so many people have to drive to work).
These posters advertise the existence of these emergency stop buttons (shown on the centre left and bottom right of the poster), which can stop an incoming train if someone has fallen onto the tracks. It's also possible that it's supposed to give some lesson about how safety on the platform. In the bottom right of the main image, there's some statement about alcohol (presumably about alcohol-related accidents around the train platform, though I mostly understand "platform", "alcohol" and "63.5%") and one might note that the drunken salaryman isn't the only person being unsafe (there's someone strolling along the wrong side of the yellow line reading a book as well).
One thing that I quite like about Japan is that even though I can't read these kinds of posters especially well (yet), the message is relatively clear and the posters themselves often pretty cute. I'm not sure I can say the same about posters I'd see on mass transit in Canada (where images of poorly-rendered cartoon characters standing around are sometimes supposed to tell you to be polite on the bus).
I suppose it's the way the salaryman is depicted as being drunk that's so funny. It's effectively conveyed without the usual sort of cues of drunkenness. He's not holding a bottle or half-passed out; instead, he's merrily (if haphazardly) walking along the edge of the platform without a care in the world and only his loosened tie, rosy cheeks and obvious poor decision making tell you that he's probably not sober.
It might also be funny to me because it's a businessman who is drunk instead of a student or someone who is more typically associated with drunken behaviour in Canada (like people wearing hockey jerseys after a playoff game). While I assume that business people go out and get drunk after work with their colleagues sometimes in Canada, it's not something I think of as happening as much (perhaps in part because the transit isn't generally as good so many people have to drive to work).
These posters advertise the existence of these emergency stop buttons (shown on the centre left and bottom right of the poster), which can stop an incoming train if someone has fallen onto the tracks. It's also possible that it's supposed to give some lesson about how safety on the platform. In the bottom right of the main image, there's some statement about alcohol (presumably about alcohol-related accidents around the train platform, though I mostly understand "platform", "alcohol" and "63.5%") and one might note that the drunken salaryman isn't the only person being unsafe (there's someone strolling along the wrong side of the yellow line reading a book as well).
One thing that I quite like about Japan is that even though I can't read these kinds of posters especially well (yet), the message is relatively clear and the posters themselves often pretty cute. I'm not sure I can say the same about posters I'd see on mass transit in Canada (where images of poorly-rendered cartoon characters standing around are sometimes supposed to tell you to be polite on the bus).
Thursday 20 February 2014
If you're a dude...
...and you were ever confused about how to use the washroom, this sign helpfully illustrates correct usage.
Personally, I think that the best parts are that he has an ass and is leaning back ever so slightly. Whoever came up with this sign was clearly going for realistic motion.
Personally, I think that the best parts are that he has an ass and is leaning back ever so slightly. Whoever came up with this sign was clearly going for realistic motion.
Tuesday 18 February 2014
More stuff for the apartment.
For a while, we only had a microwave and rice cooker for cooking things at home because apartments in Japan do not come with stove tops or ovens or anything like this. This lead to discoveries like how to make hot cakes in rice cookers and how to hydrate chick peas in these devices (yeah, it actually works), but it was somewhat limited for day-to-day cooking.
In late December, we got an induction burner, which was a good start, but it meant that we could only cook one thing at a time so last week, we finally got around to getting a new burner (we went with gas for the second one) and now we have a proper kitchen set up.
We also finally got some more bowls and plates as well as a few forks (so we don't have to eat spaghetti out of bowls using chopsticks), some glasses (so we don't have to drink beer out of ceramic mugs) and some assorted things for the house.
Many of these recent acquisitions were spurred by our discovery of a 100 yen store in town which is apparently part of a giant chain of 100 yen stores in Japan. The 100 yen store here seems to be better than dollar stores back in Canada because it has much more variety (e.g. they had curtains) and the quality seems to be better.
While we were definitely getting by with what we had before and it's good to know that we don't really need much around the house to make it feel like a home, having a few more things has been quite nice.
In late December, we got an induction burner, which was a good start, but it meant that we could only cook one thing at a time so last week, we finally got around to getting a new burner (we went with gas for the second one) and now we have a proper kitchen set up.
 |
| You never fully realize the joys of having two burners until you try to make spaghetti. |
We also finally got some more bowls and plates as well as a few forks (so we don't have to eat spaghetti out of bowls using chopsticks), some glasses (so we don't have to drink beer out of ceramic mugs) and some assorted things for the house.
Many of these recent acquisitions were spurred by our discovery of a 100 yen store in town which is apparently part of a giant chain of 100 yen stores in Japan. The 100 yen store here seems to be better than dollar stores back in Canada because it has much more variety (e.g. they had curtains) and the quality seems to be better.
While we were definitely getting by with what we had before and it's good to know that we don't really need much around the house to make it feel like a home, having a few more things has been quite nice.
Friday 14 February 2014
Friday is the new Thursday
...at least for this week.
For a place that isn't supposed to have much snow, this year has been pretty exceptional. It snowed last weekend and it started to snow again today. This time, we weren't at home when it started because we were out last night and we had to take the train back this morning. This meant that we had the unusual experience of seeing trains run really late.
We didn't exactly plan our departure and just took trains as they arrived so we didn't really know when all of them were supposed to show up (also, some of the signs weren't displaying the times which is unusual). daid noticed that something was off at some of the platforms (like a the absence of times on the signs) and I noticed that it seemed to be a lot louder than usual because of the live overhead announcements (the typical announcements are pre-recorded and quieter).
At one of our transfers, I noticed that the train was seven minutes late because the time was actually displayed (this is unusual for Tokyo) and then just before our station, we had to sit on the tracks for 10 minutes.
The good thing about sitting on the train for 10 minutes while it's stopped is that you can see the other train tracks and you can marvel at how the train had to stop when there is absolutely no snow on any of them.
Anyway, I did learn one good use for carrying an umbrella when it's snowing: If you want to shake the snow off a tree (which you might since some of the trees around here are not the kind accustomed to losing their leaves in the fall) then having an umbrella in hand means that you're not going to dump snow on yourself when you do so.
In closing, here is a photo of someone trying to shove his bicycle through the snow.
For a place that isn't supposed to have much snow, this year has been pretty exceptional. It snowed last weekend and it started to snow again today. This time, we weren't at home when it started because we were out last night and we had to take the train back this morning. This meant that we had the unusual experience of seeing trains run really late.
We didn't exactly plan our departure and just took trains as they arrived so we didn't really know when all of them were supposed to show up (also, some of the signs weren't displaying the times which is unusual). daid noticed that something was off at some of the platforms (like a the absence of times on the signs) and I noticed that it seemed to be a lot louder than usual because of the live overhead announcements (the typical announcements are pre-recorded and quieter).
At one of our transfers, I noticed that the train was seven minutes late because the time was actually displayed (this is unusual for Tokyo) and then just before our station, we had to sit on the tracks for 10 minutes.
The good thing about sitting on the train for 10 minutes while it's stopped is that you can see the other train tracks and you can marvel at how the train had to stop when there is absolutely no snow on any of them.
Anyway, I did learn one good use for carrying an umbrella when it's snowing: If you want to shake the snow off a tree (which you might since some of the trees around here are not the kind accustomed to losing their leaves in the fall) then having an umbrella in hand means that you're not going to dump snow on yourself when you do so.
In closing, here is a photo of someone trying to shove his bicycle through the snow.
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| It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. |
Monday 10 February 2014
Snow!
When I got here, I was told that it really didn't snow too much around Tokyo. So far this year, I've seen it snow at least three times. The first time, nothing stayed on the ground and it all melted immediately. The second time was last week and the snow stayed on the grass, but melted on the pavement. Then Friday evening and continuing into Saturday, this happened: the most snow Tokyo has seen in 13 years.
Now, I've spent my entire life living in a place that has some idea of what to do with snow. Where snowplows are numerous and on-call (though their efficiency varies from city to city); where people own snow shovels and/or snow blowers; where you can find bags of salt at the grocery store from about November until March or so. I've never been to a place that rarely experiences a proper snowfall when such a snowfall happened. So naturally, I wanted to see how people who rarely see so much snow react to the existence of this much snow.
Apparently the answer is "with umbrellas".
I'm not sure if this is only a Tokyo thing, but umbrellas appear to be the answer to every weather problem (as helpfully illustrated by daid here). I'm also not sure if it's clear from the photo, but the woman on the right is also wearing a poncho.
Now, the snow was a little wet, but it was easy to dust off and the umbrellas were definitely overkill. It's a bit unusual though and something I've maybe seen happen in Canada once ever.
There were a few people wearing rain boots, but that's a bit more understandable (if you don't own winter boots, wearing the only boots you have makes sense). There was at least one guy who was wearing plastic bags over his shoes, which is just a little odd. I kinda get where he's going with it, but I'm a little impressed that he didn't fall down constantly.
Perhaps stranger than people using umbrellas to combat the snow were the people who had put chains on the tires of their cars. The roads were never especially bad since people had been driving on them as the snow was coming down so the snow didn't accumulate much. At most there were about five centimetres of snow in the middle of the roads where nobody was driving.
Granted, chains on tires at least serves a practical purpose, unlike lifting the windshield wipers on a car while it's parked. I have no idea what people thought this would accomplish, but people did it like it was a perfectly normal and sensible thing to do.
Maybe it's because people don't necessarily own things to scrape the snow and ice off their cars or they're worried that the ice will stick the windshield wiper to the windshield. All I know is that this is the only place I've seen anyone do this and I have no idea what it's supposed to accomplish.
Now, there were definitely some people who were totally dealing with the snow in a way that made sense. The people who presumably owned a store around the corner had cleared the walkway leading to the door and made a pile of snow for their kid to sled down. At the park, there were more kids tobogganing and some parents were making snow ramps for their kids (which is a total necessity for sledding). There were teenagers who had eschewed their umbrellas having snowball fights (though they were doing this across a street which was probably not the best place for it) and people who seemed to be lending each other shovels to clear out walkways.
Granted, the snow had started to melt by Saturday evening and by Sunday evening, the lack of salt on the sidewalks made everywhere a bit of a death trap. Now the roads and sidewalks are mostly clear again and everything seems to be back to normal. It was definitely fun while it lasted.
Update: It seems that putting windshield wipers up before it snows isn't just a Japanese thing. In fact, googling it turned up a lot of people from the US discussing or complaining about this phenomenon. There's even a facebook group dedicated to complaining about this phenomenon. The theory is that putting your windshield wipers up before a snowfall will keep them from sticking to your windshield and make it easier to clean.
I definitely disagree with this because it's just going to mean that snow and ice will get to coat your windshield wipers on all sides and if they're lifted off the car, they can't be heated by the car when you turn it on. If the blades are stuck to the car when you come out in the morning, the easy solution is to just turn on the car and let it warm up (with the defroster on) while you clean the snow off your car. Then the windshield wipers will become un-stuck as the car heats up and the ice melts.
Now, I've spent my entire life living in a place that has some idea of what to do with snow. Where snowplows are numerous and on-call (though their efficiency varies from city to city); where people own snow shovels and/or snow blowers; where you can find bags of salt at the grocery store from about November until March or so. I've never been to a place that rarely experiences a proper snowfall when such a snowfall happened. So naturally, I wanted to see how people who rarely see so much snow react to the existence of this much snow.
 |
| Umbrellas in the snow... |
I'm not sure if this is only a Tokyo thing, but umbrellas appear to be the answer to every weather problem (as helpfully illustrated by daid here). I'm also not sure if it's clear from the photo, but the woman on the right is also wearing a poncho.
Now, the snow was a little wet, but it was easy to dust off and the umbrellas were definitely overkill. It's a bit unusual though and something I've maybe seen happen in Canada once ever.
 |
| Umbrella and plastic bags as shoes... |
There were a few people wearing rain boots, but that's a bit more understandable (if you don't own winter boots, wearing the only boots you have makes sense). There was at least one guy who was wearing plastic bags over his shoes, which is just a little odd. I kinda get where he's going with it, but I'm a little impressed that he didn't fall down constantly.
Perhaps stranger than people using umbrellas to combat the snow were the people who had put chains on the tires of their cars. The roads were never especially bad since people had been driving on them as the snow was coming down so the snow didn't accumulate much. At most there were about five centimetres of snow in the middle of the roads where nobody was driving.
 |
| Why? |
Maybe it's because people don't necessarily own things to scrape the snow and ice off their cars or they're worried that the ice will stick the windshield wiper to the windshield. All I know is that this is the only place I've seen anyone do this and I have no idea what it's supposed to accomplish.
Now, there were definitely some people who were totally dealing with the snow in a way that made sense. The people who presumably owned a store around the corner had cleared the walkway leading to the door and made a pile of snow for their kid to sled down. At the park, there were more kids tobogganing and some parents were making snow ramps for their kids (which is a total necessity for sledding). There were teenagers who had eschewed their umbrellas having snowball fights (though they were doing this across a street which was probably not the best place for it) and people who seemed to be lending each other shovels to clear out walkways.
Granted, the snow had started to melt by Saturday evening and by Sunday evening, the lack of salt on the sidewalks made everywhere a bit of a death trap. Now the roads and sidewalks are mostly clear again and everything seems to be back to normal. It was definitely fun while it lasted.
Update: It seems that putting windshield wipers up before it snows isn't just a Japanese thing. In fact, googling it turned up a lot of people from the US discussing or complaining about this phenomenon. There's even a facebook group dedicated to complaining about this phenomenon. The theory is that putting your windshield wipers up before a snowfall will keep them from sticking to your windshield and make it easier to clean.
I definitely disagree with this because it's just going to mean that snow and ice will get to coat your windshield wipers on all sides and if they're lifted off the car, they can't be heated by the car when you turn it on. If the blades are stuck to the car when you come out in the morning, the easy solution is to just turn on the car and let it warm up (with the defroster on) while you clean the snow off your car. Then the windshield wipers will become un-stuck as the car heats up and the ice melts.
Thursday 6 February 2014
Smoking in public
Not too long after I started going to bars in Ontario, smoking started to be prohibited. First, it was allowed in a place with a separate ventilation system for the smokers. This resulted in these interesting fishbowls full of smoke in places large enough to have them and an outright ban in smaller places that didn't have room for that. Then, those were prohibited, but smoking was allowed on patios. Eventually, some cities started banning smoking on patios as well (and some cities have banned smoking from public parks, sidewalks etc).
While the laws regarding smoking in bars were passed for the safety of the workers, it was awesome for me too. As someone who doesn't smoke and really doesn't like the smell of cigarettes, this was awesome. I could come home from going out with friends and smell like me instead of stale tobacco.
Japan, however, has no such restrictions on smoking in bars. Or rather, around here, there are no such restrictions. This means that when I go out somewhere that's reasonably busy and a lot of people are smoking, I come home smelling like an ashtray, which sucks. And yes, I'll admit that I've probably been spoiled by living in Ontario for so long where restrictions on smoking in public have been increasingly common. If not for those restrictions, I wouldn't know any other way of going out for a drink.
It is interesting to think about why Japan has not put in place restrictions on smoking in public as these are becoming increasingly common in many places. One could speculate that the lack of restrictions on smoking in public places in Japan are possibly related to the fact that the Japanese government has a large stake in Japan Tobacco Inc. and the courts are not convinced that tobacco use leads to cancer (I'm sure the former is also totally unrelated to the latter).
Another thing that I've found interesting is how different stores end up looking because of the near-lack of restrictions on tobacco displays. While Ontario prohibits large displays of cigarettes behind the counter (instead, the cigarettes are behind opaque doors), here there are sometimes large displays of cigarettes on the customer's side of the counter in addition to colourful displays behind the counter.
There are even vending machines that sell cigarettes, which is pretty wild. There's some sort of age-verifying card to make sure that people under the age of 20 don't buy them, but nobody is there to verify that the person using the card is the person to whom the card was issued so I'm not sure how effective it actually is. It's certainly something that wouldn't exist in Ontario though (if only because there aren't nearly as many vending machines per person).
Anyway, I'm not generally out to act like Canada is better than Japan. I think that all places have their advantages and disadvantages. Some things here are neat or fun or really interesting and I think it would be great if these were exported (especially kotatsu and this style of karaoke and the part where people are extra helpful sometimes). However, I think that this is one thing that is much better in Canada.
While the laws regarding smoking in bars were passed for the safety of the workers, it was awesome for me too. As someone who doesn't smoke and really doesn't like the smell of cigarettes, this was awesome. I could come home from going out with friends and smell like me instead of stale tobacco.
Japan, however, has no such restrictions on smoking in bars. Or rather, around here, there are no such restrictions. This means that when I go out somewhere that's reasonably busy and a lot of people are smoking, I come home smelling like an ashtray, which sucks. And yes, I'll admit that I've probably been spoiled by living in Ontario for so long where restrictions on smoking in public have been increasingly common. If not for those restrictions, I wouldn't know any other way of going out for a drink.
It is interesting to think about why Japan has not put in place restrictions on smoking in public as these are becoming increasingly common in many places. One could speculate that the lack of restrictions on smoking in public places in Japan are possibly related to the fact that the Japanese government has a large stake in Japan Tobacco Inc. and the courts are not convinced that tobacco use leads to cancer (I'm sure the former is also totally unrelated to the latter).
Another thing that I've found interesting is how different stores end up looking because of the near-lack of restrictions on tobacco displays. While Ontario prohibits large displays of cigarettes behind the counter (instead, the cigarettes are behind opaque doors), here there are sometimes large displays of cigarettes on the customer's side of the counter in addition to colourful displays behind the counter.
There are even vending machines that sell cigarettes, which is pretty wild. There's some sort of age-verifying card to make sure that people under the age of 20 don't buy them, but nobody is there to verify that the person using the card is the person to whom the card was issued so I'm not sure how effective it actually is. It's certainly something that wouldn't exist in Ontario though (if only because there aren't nearly as many vending machines per person).
Anyway, I'm not generally out to act like Canada is better than Japan. I think that all places have their advantages and disadvantages. Some things here are neat or fun or really interesting and I think it would be great if these were exported (especially kotatsu and this style of karaoke and the part where people are extra helpful sometimes). However, I think that this is one thing that is much better in Canada.
Monday 3 February 2014
Nomihodai and karaoke: a perfect combination
Last week I had a pair of firsts in Japan: my first experience with nomihodai and my first visit to a karaoke place here.
We went out as part of a going away party for one of daid's friends at work. First, we went to a restaurant where the food was pre-ordered (which meant that I got to eat a lot of salad and French fries), but the drinks were nomihodai. So "nomi" (or more correctly: 飲み) is Japanese for "drink" and "hodai" (I don't know how this one is expressed by kanji) means "all you can for a fixed period of time" or something close enough to this. In Canada, there are places that will do something like tabehodai (all you can eat), but I'm not sure if it's strictly legal to do all you can drink, especially if there's a time limit.
At the restaurant, we had a two hour time limit on drinks and we'd arrived slightly late, but our arrival coincided with the first round of beer coming to the table, so this was fortunate for us. We looked at the drink menu and I decided that since all the drinks were the same price, I'd order a cocktail. However, I was too lazy to read all the kana so I found some kanji I recognized in one item 梅酒モ匕ト (umeshu mojito) and ordered it. I discovered that this drink was possibly the best thing to come out of a very connected world and ordered several more.
When our two hour time limit was up, someone got put in charge of deciding the location of the after party and we went off to a nearby karaoke bar. Now, karaoke in Japan is not the same as the most popular form of karaoke in North America. Instead of being in one large room and getting to hear strangers sing poorly to songs you don't know, you are in a smaller room with only your friends. There, surrounded by friends, you feel comfortable enough to sing ridiculous songs and generally make an ass of yourself.
I've been to one place like this in Canada, but it was not very good. It was at Pacific Mall in Markham and I seem to recall that there were very few English songs available, often with incorrect lyrics.
This place was much, much better. For starters, the venue supplied tambourines, maracas and blankets to those who wanted them. This means that when one does not have the microphone, one can still participate (or take a nap if you're only in the karaoke bar because you missed your last train). It also had a fairly impressive number of songs in English as well as some in German and French. There were possibly songs in other languages as well, but we didn't look for them.
There was also the little matter of the karaoke bar having nomihodai and the other matter that the price to stay from about 9 pm until midnight or so was the same price to stay there until 5 in the morning.
Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and many beverages were consumed.
Some people had to leave early citing reasons like "work" or having to call family for the lunar new year, but a few of us stayed until the bitter end. All of us were pretty tired, but none the worse for wear.
10/10, would totally do it again.
Gentle readers,
I apologize for missing an update on Thursday. I'll try to avoid missing them in the future. To make up for it, if you have any questions feel free to pose them (in comments, on facebook, even twitter) and I'll answer them next Thursday. Unless nobody asks me anything, then I'll just carry on as though nothing happened.
We went out as part of a going away party for one of daid's friends at work. First, we went to a restaurant where the food was pre-ordered (which meant that I got to eat a lot of salad and French fries), but the drinks were nomihodai. So "nomi" (or more correctly: 飲み) is Japanese for "drink" and "hodai" (I don't know how this one is expressed by kanji) means "all you can for a fixed period of time" or something close enough to this. In Canada, there are places that will do something like tabehodai (all you can eat), but I'm not sure if it's strictly legal to do all you can drink, especially if there's a time limit.
At the restaurant, we had a two hour time limit on drinks and we'd arrived slightly late, but our arrival coincided with the first round of beer coming to the table, so this was fortunate for us. We looked at the drink menu and I decided that since all the drinks were the same price, I'd order a cocktail. However, I was too lazy to read all the kana so I found some kanji I recognized in one item 梅酒モ匕ト (umeshu mojito) and ordered it. I discovered that this drink was possibly the best thing to come out of a very connected world and ordered several more.
I've been to one place like this in Canada, but it was not very good. It was at Pacific Mall in Markham and I seem to recall that there were very few English songs available, often with incorrect lyrics.
This place was much, much better. For starters, the venue supplied tambourines, maracas and blankets to those who wanted them. This means that when one does not have the microphone, one can still participate (or take a nap if you're only in the karaoke bar because you missed your last train). It also had a fairly impressive number of songs in English as well as some in German and French. There were possibly songs in other languages as well, but we didn't look for them.
 |
| Unfortunately, the waitress cleared some glasses at some point. |
Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and many beverages were consumed.
Some people had to leave early citing reasons like "work" or having to call family for the lunar new year, but a few of us stayed until the bitter end. All of us were pretty tired, but none the worse for wear.
10/10, would totally do it again.
Gentle readers,
I apologize for missing an update on Thursday. I'll try to avoid missing them in the future. To make up for it, if you have any questions feel free to pose them (in comments, on facebook, even twitter) and I'll answer them next Thursday. Unless nobody asks me anything, then I'll just carry on as though nothing happened.
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