Japan and its interesting top-down society, a trip to the park, and all about Japan and conveyor-belt sushi
One of the more interesting aspects of Japan is the top-down nature of its society, how it's ostensibly structured in a way that channels more respect to senior individuals in a school or organization, and society in general. When a younger student or junior employee in a company (kohai) sees an older student or senior employee (senpai), it's expected that he will greet his senior using a formal salutation like Ohayo gozaimasu, while the senior will reply with the more informal Ohayo. In English, I might talk about my brother or my sister without necessarily concerning myself with wether the sibling in question were older or younger than me, but in Japanese these concepts are always split into "oniisan / ototo" and "oneesan / imoto" for older and younger brother and sister, respectively. What about twins, you ask? The one to pop out first is the older one, even if it's only by a few minutes. Lang- uage always reflects the society that generates it, and there are invisible linguistic lines drawn to preserve the separate-ness of individuals from different groups. For example, the word for "friend" is tomodachi, but this usually only applies to someone of the same age as you, or who entered an organization at the same time as you; for other acquaintances, you'd usually use a different word like junior/senior, colleague, etc. My wife loves watching CSI, turning on the Japanese dubbed track because it'd be a chore for her to understand all the medical terminology, and sometimes I like to listen in. In order to remain faithful to the original English dialogue, the CSI team speak incredibly informally to each other, even to their superiors, something that could not be conceived of in Japan. The weather was nice over the weekend, so my daughter and I went for a bicycle ride to the park, and as is often the case, I found myself surrounded by kids who were curious about this large gaijin with golden hair on his arms. Whenever I interact with children in Japan, I make sure to take off my sunglasses to avoid scaring them, since kids in Japan don't have that much opportunity to get used to interacting with foreigners. I also make liberal use of the phrases that kids expect English-speakers to say all the time, like "How are you?" and "Oh my god!" and "Unbelievable!" which got many giggles. As I watched my daughter play and made small talk with the Japanese parents around me, I wondered why I was the only gaijin parent around on a sunny Saturday. With 3% of my city's population made up of foreigners, mostly from Brazil and Peru, you'd think there'd be more mothers with their kids there, mixing in with the other parents, but there were none to be seen.
Mecha ii Sep 2006 -- Ai Himeno. A fabulous photomag featuring Ai Hiimeno, | |
Sexual Esthetic Full Course -- Tsugumi Nagasawa. SOD actress Tsugumi Nagasawa has never looked better! | |
Ecstasy Bicycle. Another bold idea from Soft on Demand, girls who ride bicycles in public places with no underwear on! | |
PREM -- Kaori Shimamura. Kaori Shimamura is a beautiful example of Japanese grace. This is her "sayonara" photobook. | |
awake -- Nana Kasai. And another nice item for photobook fans that I recommend a lot. | |
Kateigaho International Edition 2006 Autumn issue vol. 13. Fabulous English language book of Japanese culture, a really rare treat from japan. This issue is especially interesting. Usually only available as a revolving magazine subscription, but we've gotten in some issues for you today. | |
Illustrated Japanese Language Dictionary ~ Isso Nippon Tango cho. A great way to learn Japanese by memorizing picture images! | |
Queen Bonjourno Anthology Comic. Amazing manga anthology based on a popular game. | |
3D Oppai Mouse Pad -- Girl Illustrated by Noantica. It's a mouse pad with built-in soft ergonomics that are shaped like, well, use your imagination. | |
Kera Apr. 2007 vol. 105. New issue of Kera, for those who want to keep an eye on the current state of the Tokyo street fashion scene. | |
Chii Maid Costume Figure - Chobits *Preorder*. Fantastic figure of Chii from Chobits, one of my favorite CLAMP anime series. | |
Japanese T-Shirt - I Like Mixed Bathing. Our newest wacky T-shirt tells all Japanese females taht you'd like to bathe with them! | |
WA ~ Fragrance Oil *TSUKI / Moon*. We've gotten in some amazing fragrance oils for you today. This is the scent of the moon. | |
Suzumiya Haruhi Soundrop -- Full Set (Set of 8). Haruhi fans, don't let this great set of Soundrop toys pass you by! | |
Chirimen Hello Kitty Zabuton ~ Lucky Cat. Lucky Cat meets Hello Kitty meets kimono fabric. Very nice. | |
Pururun Gummy -- Apple Mango & Yellow Mango. Delicious gummy snack made with real mango! | |
Hemp Moon Tapestry *Blue*. These are just amazing -- beautiful wall hangings made from hemp and cotton, super for hanging in your home. | |
Illuminate Cube Speaker. A Rubik's Cube shaped speaker for your iPod that lights up. What won't they think of next? | |
Re-ment Fresh Kaiten Sushi Speaking of sushi, we've got some great Re-Ment miniature sushi that come complete with little plates, just amazing! You get everything but the wasabi. |

Another odd toy from Japan. This is a cute bishojo female Self-Defense Force moe character.

This one is deep. A "bootlet T-shirts" (sic) that takes the Back to the Future characters and Peanuts-ifies them.

Matches with strange symbols on them.

Slap-a my hand, black soul man! (That's a reference to a classic SNL skit.) That reminds me to do a post on the Japanese and their strange fascination with black culture.

Ah, Indian food in Tokyo. How do I love thee.
Labels: Cultural observations, food, kids






















5 Comments:
I have to stop writing about food. Now I'm hungry.
11:49 PM
Some gaijin in Osaka made a clip of kaiten sushi from the sushi's perspective... Quite interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMUpXGlTyAc
I like the guy who says "that's 100 yen?!?"
1:37 AM
I've heard of these conveyor belt restaurants - *adds to list of must-do things when I finally visit Japan*
2:00 AM
"Ecstacy Bicycle" looks great! I love it when SOD do wacky titles with amateur girls, especially when they are really inventive like this one...
2:51 AM
Peterd, that's cool, although I'm embarrassed as a forgeigner. You could see some of the Japanese were not happy to have a camera coming along the conveyor.
Randol, yes, SOD has done some good stuff. Now if they'd keep it in print longer than half a year maybe I could sell some ^_^;; (*wishes we'd bought a few thousand of the Zenra Taiko Drums series*)
9:20 AM
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