Mainichi Mind Blown

You know the weird feeling you get when you hear a song for the first time, and then you hear it 20 more times within the same day?  Or you just read about a new car and then start seeing them everywhere.  That kind of crap happens to me every single day because I'm learning Kanji.  It can happen to you too!

While it kinda sucks having to relearn to read as an adult, it has also been incredibly rewarding lately. I study a few new words and BAM, I'm seeing them in books, in games, online, at work, freakin everywhere!...except TV because screw Japanese TV.  I study it once and life takes over and helps me review it all day/every day.

All the Japanese I don't know is just lumped into that big category of 'crap I don't know', so when I do see a known kanji it just pops right out against the blur.  Its like my Japanese is piecing itself together and coming into focus.  And speaking of Kanji, the JLPT sign-up starts tomorrow.  Everyone else should be getting on their kanji studying as well.

You know what also starts tomorrow?  The end of the world according to Japanese news.  Starting April first the sales tax is going up from 5% to 8%, and holy crap the idiots making a scene.  It is like Y2K all over again, but dumber for some reason.  I can almost get past all the crazy claims like "it's going to put (insert store or restaurant name here) out of business."  The little things are what have really been eating at me .

Flocking to department stores to stock up on toilet paper for example.  Seriously, holy shit people! It is, quite literally, not even worth my time to think about the sales tax increase for more than 2 seconds, and citizens are taking a separate driving trip to the store, paying about $6/gallon for gas, to save a few yen on toilet paper...What is wrong with this picture??  Everything, that is what.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is study your kanji for a rewarding experience in Japan, and don't freak the hell out over (literal) pennies.

Real Japan

I went up to 'real' Japan for 2 weeks of work and I was shocked, once again, at how different life in Okinawa is.  I noticed all the little details when I first arrived in Oki, like the need for cars, diet differences, etc.  Now I'm starting to realize how different I am in Okinawa vs real Japan...and apparently I'm starving for Japanese conversation.  It's also apparent that I'm a glutton for punishment because I visited 4 major cities (Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Fukuoka) over those 2 weeks...I need a nap

Anyway, to remedy my need for Japanese, my coworkers were kind enough to take me to some very chill whiskey and snack bars.  I've mentioned snack bars before but without too much elaboration, snack bars are bars with female staff, usually with an older woman in charge, and the staff hang out with you and mooch off of your booze all night.  So after a few drinks of liquid courage and a shot of fluency juice, my (limited) Japanese was pouring out of me and I truly felt better about being in Japan.  All was right with the world...the booze and the karaoke certainly helped too.

Real Japan, particularly the big cities I visited, also has a certain 'feel' to it.  The hustle, the energy, the faint smell of soy sauce and urine...It just feels right.    

Plus...THE WOMEN.  They are seriously on a completely different level.  Okinawa is playing pee wee football while real Japan is playing no holds barred MMA with flamethrowers, in SPACE.  I appreciate Oki's weather and laid back lifestyle, but that translates to laziness when it comes to fashion.  Sometimes you want to see insanely thin women rocking 8" boots and 4" skirts in a snow storm and looking fine as hell doing it.  

What was I talking about?  Ah, the mainland is awesome.  Okinawa is just too full of us foreigners to make it feel 'special'.  Plus, Okinawans see gaijin every day so they  treat you like real people instead of racist stereotypes or ask if you can use chopsticks.  Whats up with that??

Business Hotel Room...cause I thought it would be classier than showing a picture of the above mentioned hotty in 8" boots.

外人住宅

It sounds a bit pretentious but sometimes you just feel better (than everyone else) when you eat at a local restaurant versus a chain.  Exceptions include Yoshinoya, Sukiya and Coco Curry because they're freaking delicious, stumbling distance from my new apartment, and open 24 hours.  That combo is, without any hyperbole, more amazing than the birth of your first child.  

Well I just had lunch in an old western style house that was converted into a restaurant, Sans Souchi. Pretty cool idea, no? They are scattered all over Okinawa and called Gaijin Juutaku (Foreigner Housing).  In this restaurant, the living room was a lounge area, where you pay, and where the food is cooked. Most people are seated in one of the bedrooms, which is where we ate.  

This particular restaurant specialized in Udon and Oyako, but had some good looking dessert too.  I got the udon with plum (ume).

Iphone 5S camera is pretty good, no?

Navigating the residential roads to find this place was a challenge, but kind of cool and rewarding.  I'll definitely be going back.  

Nuts to Driving Here

I've been driving for about a month in Okinawa and let me tell you, screw this noise.  For one, it takes longer to get places than it really should.  Stateside, you can usually estimate about a mile per minute, because you'll be going about 70mph on the highway.  Here in Okinawa you have to estimate 2-3 minutes per kilometer due to traffic and lights and other nonsense.  There is an expressway but it is roughly $10 to drive to cities 40 miles apart.  I may need to just stop being cheap and drive it but the exits/entrances still get backed up during rush hour.

Luckily some of the roads here in Okinawa are a bit bigger than mainland Japan, but it just means more space for scooters/motorcycles to pass you while you sit in traffic.  I've heard that Okinawa just isn't conducive to have a subway, but I'm thinking it is largely the American influence of 'not giving a crap about the environment or convenience, or railroads'.  Would a monorail running throughout Okinawa be so hard?  They have one in downtown Naha so I know it can be done.  Sure the typhoons and constant wind would shut down the rail, but isn't being able to get trashed and not drive worth it?  The answer is DUH, of course it is worth it.

Seriously though, if mainland Japan took away trains it would take 3 days to get to work.  Why does Okinawa think it can go without a good rail system??  Whatever gets people off the road will improve things.

On a positive note, I love how old drivers and young drivers have a sticker they put on their car to let others know to just stay away (yellow and orange tear drop for old peeps, yellow and green chevron for the young kids).  That is a great idea!  Anyone with only 1 year of experience or 1 year left on this earth is just a vehicular manslaughter case waiting to happen, so keep your distance when you see these folks.  They should make those stickers bigger and glow in the dark too, and mandatory across the globe.  

Much like the prison face tattoo, the tear drop means death.

Waste

Holy crap America is wasteful. It is just another one of those things you can't quite comprehend until you take a step back (or in my case take 8200 miles worth of steps away) and see from an outsiders perspective.

I walk into a bathroom, even in an office building or restaurant, and usually see the lights off. That's what you're supposed to do when you leave a room, turn off the lights. I actually feel kind of bad when I see the lights on now. My office has a "1 hour no power" program on top of that" where for 1 hour every day, usually lunch time, all the lights are turned off. It's a great excuse to go out and eat, chill outside, or work by just sunlight.

I've stayed in apartments and houses that require you to turn on/off the water heater before and after using the shower. Japanese tubs have a sweet control panel that lets you turn on/off the water heater and control your bath water temperature. It actually maintains the temperature too instead of going from scalding hot to arctic ocean like american style tubs.

Man are there 50-125cc bikes and scooters everywhere. 76% of the time you american folks drive alone to work - so you rarely need a car and nobody needs a truck. Quit being homophobic, sell your ridiculous truck and custom truck nuts and get a manly ass scooter...or don't and just stay out of the way while I lane split yo ass on my bike while you sit in traffic. I only spent 3 days driving (read "idling car while being pissed off'") downtown before pulling the trigger on buying a bike. Traffic is bad here due to the lack of any real public transportation. A bike will save you hours of time per week.

250ccs of raw power baby! 250s don't have to do the vehicle inspections, 車検, either

Speaking of vehicles, Japan gives specific license plates and charges more tax for larger cars. I initially wanted to get a Kei Car (the smallest class with 660cc engine or less - think Smart car) but they have no room for Scuba gear or really anything except 2-4 people. So I ended up getting a Honda fit which is a mid-size here and gets 57mpg suckas. What classifies as a large car? A Prius. A Civic. Or anything else you might buy in the states and think you're saving the world...

Curry

Dude, I love me some curry.  Japanese curry on these cold 60 degree winter nights just hits the spot.  What better place to get it than Curry House Coco Ichibanya...

Well the thing about that is I've grown cheaper in my years and discovered that Coco Curry is expensive when compared to other quick Japanese restaurants like Yoshinoya/Sukiya.  Some good spicy curry at Coco Ichibanya will run you about 800 yen (add another couple hundred yen if you want some nan bread with that).  Well worth it, but I'll let you in on some insider secrets.

Roam the grocery stores, like San-A, at off hours like 3 or 8 pm and you can find all kinds of cheap crap.  The deli section usually has a hodgepodge of Japanese food like curry, sushi, onigiri, donburi, etc.  All that fresh food won't last more than a few hours, so after the lunch/dinner rush stuff get's marked down 10-50%.  Any money saved on food is more money put towards fake beer, and I like that kind of math.

Is Coco Curry better?  Yeah, probably.  Is 800 yen for curry, a tall beer, and some KFC a better deal? You better believe it!

ノンアルコールビール

I am not sure how it started but walls of of non-alcoholic drinks are taking up valuable beer space in the markets and conbinis in Japan.  WHY???  This stuff is everywhere (even though I never see anyone buy it).

 

0% chance of fun times

There is REAL beer in every conbini, vending machine, grocery store and restaurant.  There is also the fake beer options of Happoshu and '3rd Beer' which provide twice the hangover for half the price.  So why all the trouble for non-alcohol?  I'm seriously asking, cause I'm not sure what the deal is.

My best guess is that Japan does not play games when it comes to drunk driving.  .03% is the legal limit.  Anything over and you get fed to Godzilla (citation needed).  Japan also has a HUGE drinking culture that dates back to when America was just a twinkle in Britain's eye, so there might be some pressure for designated drivers to drink something beer like during the festivities.

All joking aside, non-alcohol beer isn't too bad with vodka.