火災

Since I'm in a Life Safety class this week, I felt like I should share my boredom with you. Japan actually takes fire safety pretty seriously since they get so many earthquakes and resulting fires. My classrooms in Japan actually had these cool vertical escape chute dealies.
Fire fighting in Japan is also a completely different story than in America. If you've ever seen a road in Japan you would understand - there is no way an American fire truck would get through those streets. Japanese fire trucks are pretty tiny and you'll often find jugs of water tied up to utility poles in the back roads to use for fire fighting (by civilians I'm assuming). I've been told that fire fighters don't typically go in to buildings to rescue people either - but Japanese buildings aren't really designed to last and after an earthquake you don't really want to be running in to a building anyways.

To reward you for reading the above, check this out. Japan past a law for persons over 40 to keep their wasteline in check. 85 centimeters or 33.5 inches for men and 90 centimeters or 35.4 inches for women. Is this a great country or what?? When is the last time you saw ANYONE in a Wal-Mart that would actually meet this criteria?? I'm just so proud of Japan right now. This obviously isn't the best way to fight an obesity problem, but its a hell of a good start! Considering Burger King introduced a 7 patty burger to help advertise Windows 7 just recently, this law couldn't have come at a better time.

ニュース

If you are even remotely interested in what happens in Japan, I recommend this website. It has a lot of news about Japan (in English). The info comes from a bunch of newspapers, but you can look at specific newspapers if you want. But word on the street is that Newspapers in Japan want to start charging people to look at their news online. I don't know if that will apply to this website or others sites that have Japanese news in English though.

I particularly like this website cause it provides Japanese news in a non Japanese way. In Japan, if something terrible happens, the news covers the story for weeks and discusses every minor detail of the horrible incident. For example, over the summer in Japan I heard about a man who ran over several people in Tokyo with a van for about 6 hours a day for a 2 weeks. The news even used googlemaps to show the exact route he took! (in case any copycats out there were interested in that little fact)

For those of you too lazy to go to the website, here are some Japan highlights,
*The 5'10" 120lb model Filippa Hamilton's Ralph Lauren photo had to be retouched (slimmed down) for the ad in a Japanese magazine - and she was later fired for being too fat. Boo Yah
*Japanese and British scientists discovered that cancer can be passed on in the womb.
*you know what, just check the website.


Note: I took this picture at Ginkakuji - not quite as cool of a place as kinkakuji.

Things that are 無い in the 日本

For the past several months I have made it pretty clear what Japan does have, but maybe I should take some time to talk about what it doesn't have.
1st-plus size lingerie (because no country should ever sell this, especially the Top 27)
2nd-drive thru (because the employees are worth walking in and taking a peek at)
3rd-Hibachi grill and Dragon Rolls (...cause these aren't Japanesey)

Side note: This picture was taken during Hanami, but the streets are about that crowded all the time

A YO

I am officially a working man....and I'm also officially planning a trip back to Japan (likely over Christmas) since I will have money - which is a new experience. If any country deserves my hard earned money, its the country with Chu-hais, sweet haircuts, and women that wont speak to you unless you pay....
I guess a short trip is fine since I know what I want to see/do but if you've never been, you need to set aside at least a month to really appreciate it.
I guess I should at least post some info on Japan before I complain any more ...
*In Japan, a mailman doesn't pick up mail from your house, he only delivers it (at least from what I've seen).
*People don't bow as much as they do in the movies!
*You can choose to give different amounts of blood when you donate (because a 5'4" woman in Japan ,which is about the average woman height in America, averages around 105 pounds, whereas the average woman's weight in America is 132 pounds for 20-29 year olds, and it increases with age!!)
*Ninja warrior is not on TV!

Thats all for now folks....

We all scream for.... ラーメン!

I almost can't believe I forgot to mention one of the most pleasantly surprising nights I had outside of my seminar house (that sounds a little specific and lame but believe you-me, some interesting things happened outside of that seminar house)

As I was enjoying a cold beverage from a nearby vending machine, I got the munchies but of course everything was closed. The vending machine was about to close too if I recall correctly. Just when hunger struck, a semi-creepy van came into view with a red lamp illuminating the inside. When the sketch-ball van pulled up my instincts told me that all 12 year old kids in the area better start running, but wouldn't you know it, the van smelled delicious. The van stopped, the door opened, and a Japanese man was waiting with a smile, a sweaty headband, and a bowl of ramen - Jackpot! Screw the ice cream man, the Ramen Man is a boss.

Ramen plays an important role in Japanese food culture. Much like ice-cream and being fat and disgusting is important in American food culture. So, it should not have surprised me that Japan perfected ramen convenience with the Ramen Man. There is aparently a mochi man as well, and I've seen Takoyaki vans cooking and selling in parking lots.

This website explains a little more about *Ramen* but I watched The Ramen Girl the other day and this movie seemed to cover Japan and the importance of ramen quite nicely. So if you can forgive Brittany Murphy for being in a movie with Eminem, I recommend this movie. I also recommmend eating Ramen. And if your only experience with Ramen is Top Ramen, I am really sorry - go eat some real Ramen. It is, however, usually not veggie friendly.

I'm Forgetting Everything!

For the love of god, don't ever leave Japan if you want to keep your Japanese skill, be happy, or get excessive amounts of gir......alcohol poisoning...good save.

Since returning from Japan, life has been a blur (mostly because I've been drinking about 8 days a week). I also find myself just going through the motions of life during the day instead of REALLY enjoying waking up and doing what I want....DAMN YOU JAPAN

I tried taking Japanese at UMD but I'm sure you all can guess how that went. It didn't help that the textbook was from 1988 and entirely in Romaji - which is total crap. All of you language lovers out there should drop your college language courses and pick up Rosetta Stone and a grammer book and get to studying. And grab a plane ticket while you are at it because hearing native speakers is crucial.

I'm lucky enough to have a native speaker living with me now but I honestly don't think she could teach a 30 year old Tic Tac Toe...so I'm not learning much. She's lucky she's cute...

Anywho, the moral is you should find a place you are happy and never leave. Even if the entire government in that place is out to get you (which is a story for another time).

Speaking of life being a blur, I am a fan of this picture: this is life in Japan through the eyes of a college kid in Osaka at 1230 trying to catch a train after a fantastic night at a bunny bar.

Nihon ni Kaeritai!!

Yo, I just graduated and now I've got jobs lined up - what the heck? Its starting to feel like forever since I was in the land of milk and honey. And by milk I mean chu-hai. And by honey I mean women that stay attractive through their 50's, do whatever it takes to make you happy and even when they bitch at least I don't understand it.....I'm not bitter

Anyways, I'm already afraid of getting sucked in to a job and not being able to return home. Here are some suggestions for you kids out there. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Japan - DONT LEAVE. Everyone says you can do whatever you want once you graduate, but that's bull crap. If you study abroad in Japan, finish your school there and find a way to get a job. Its WAY easier to get a job in Japan once you're already there. The pay and hours may be crap, but you're still there and not in America forgetting your Japanese and hating your life.

Unfortunately, because Japan relies so heavily on exports, it was hit pretty hard by this recession, so now is not the best time to be job hunting there. But I'm sure I could find a job picking up high school girls. Somebody has to keep these girls from making a mistake and sleeping with the old salarymen for Louis Vuitton bags (which is actually no joke and a pretty big issue in Japan)....I think I could handle that job

Well, this time last year I was probably lifting some huge ass shrine or stumbling to the last train in Nanba. Hopefully this time 2 years from now I'll be home and rich enough to support a spoiled joshikousei.