Jun
02

Blowfish and the Samurai

I am a big fan of Japanese fugu (ふぐ – blowfish).

And while this wonderful fish goes by many names including fugu, blowfish, pufferfish, or even inflate-a-fish, chances are you will never hear anyone call it a safe snack~

Fugu, or blowfish as many call it in English, has always had my attention. Speaking more accurately, the fugu chefs have always had my attention!

Fugu has been enjoyed in Japan for over 20oo years, but contains a poison so dangerous that consumption of the fish was banned from the beginning of the 1600′s to the middle of the 1800′s. Even after the original ban was lifted, many areas of Japan still banned eating blowfish until the early 1900′s.
In 1958, a law was put into place which permitted only specially licensed chefs to prepare the potentially deadly swimmer for consumption and to this day, fugu is the only food that the emperor of Japan is not permitted to eat.

And getting a license to prepare fugu is not an easy task. The would-be fugu chefs must go through a very heavy 2-3 year apprenticeship and training, during the first part of which, they are not even permitted to touch the fish. Their lives revolve around anything and everything fugu. They are submitted to countless hours of study, followed by an inflexible and in-depth testing system which includes everything from a series of written tests to a practical fugu-preparation test where finally, they have to prepare and even eat the fugu. This test is so hard, that the pass-rate sits at a mere 35%.

Sound like a lot of work just to be able to cut and serve a fish? It is. And with good reason.

Let’s take a moment to imagine would it would be like if you were to ingest some of the blowfish’s poison…

Well, chances are that it would all start within 10 to 15 seconds. It would come on in a gradual build with something as simple as your tongue and mouth going numb. But this could quickly spread to your arms, legs, or worse. As the poison starts to spread, breathing becomes increasingly difficult as the toxin shuts down the muscles in your body. As you sit there grasping for any air that you can get, you realize that you are completely aware of everything that is happening to you. The poison hasn’t clouded your mind or made you delirious… and it won’t. This particular poison will leave your mind in a clear state from start to finish.
Your head is pounding, you can’t breathe, and you are additionally being tortured by the feeling that you want to throw up, but as most of the muscles in your body have been shut down at this point, you cannot.
You are rushed to the hospital. But there is no antidote for the fugu’s poison known as tetrodotoxin.
At this point, barely alive and just as barely conscious (if at all), your stomach is pumped and then quickly filled with activated charcoal in hopes of binding the poison. Finally you are put on life support, and your loved ones sit by and hope for the best…

Needless to say, this is not a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

While some people will tell you that fugu-related issues are very uncommon and that it is not something that you should be overly worried about, stories of people getting sick or even dying from eating fugu are far from uncommon here in Japan (although, thankfully have been on the decline).
In fact, I remember a story on the news back in 2007 or 2008 about a sushi chef who thought he might prepare some blowfish for his friends out of his home (without a license). This story did not end well…

And if you were to search the internet or news sites, stories about people being rushed to the hospital or dying after eating poison blowfish are surprisingly easy to find.

Here is an example:
11 people rushed to the hospital with blowfish poisoning

Simply put, blowfish can be a dangerous meal, especially if not prepared properly. And it is for exactly this reason that I have so much respect for these hard working chefs who have invested so much of their lives to the perfection of preparing this fish.

Knowing all this, would you trust an unlicensed chef to serve you blowfish?
The Japanese government would!

It would seem that the Japanese government does not share my overwhelming respect and admiration for these well-trained, and devoted fugu chefs. Rather, the government looks at prefectures and cities outside of Tokyo which have much more relaxed laws regarding blowfish, seeing less incidents, and cheaper prices, and decides, “Let’s try that in Tokyo!”. (Because I’m sure this has nothing to do with areas and cities outside of Tokyo having considerably lower populations, and less of a ‘fine dining’ culture…)

So, the Japanese government has decided that from October of 2012, a license will no longer be required in Tokyo to cut and serve the poisonous fugu. And for what? Hopes of blowfish becoming a cheap and popular izakaya-style snack that anyone can enjoy…

Now, let’s assume for a second that the Japanese government knows what they are doing here…
(because if history and recent events have taught us anything, it’s that the Japanese government is sure to make the right decisions for the good of the people! Right?…)
Even in the best-case scenario, imagining the government succeeds in lowering the prices, decreasing the number of incidents in Tokyo, and making blowfish a more easily enjoyable food for everyone, this is still a big ol’  middle finger to the many chefs who devoted their lives to the art of poetically navigating the gauntlet of the poisonous organs that make up the blowfish in order to present their trusting customers with a delicacy that they can eat in comfort.

And while I am confident that a great deal of fugu enthusiasts will remain faithful to their well-trained and highly respected chefs, how many new chefs are likely to go through the expensive, time (and life) consuming training and testing process to get a license that they don’t need? Would you go through the process of getting a car license if you didn’t need to?

And so Japan is killing yet another one of it’s beautiful arts by taking a food that was once seen as a special delicacy prepared only by highly-trained masters, and turning it into a cheap evening beer snack at the local snack bar or izakaya.

And people wonder why Japanese culture no longer has the appeal and pull on the world that it once did?

Just like the samurai, it would seem that these licensed fugu chefs who gave so much of themselves, are destined to become little more than legends. Stories of men that once were.

 

Through changing this one simple law, Japan loses yet another point of fascination for Japanese and non-Japanese alike.

Good job Japan.

–

For more about this change, please check out Reuters or FT

For an interesting 2 part story on fugu, please check outDeep End Dining

 

Apr
15

Pushy Japanese Oba-sans

We have all seen it at one point or another. You are getting on (or off) of a train, and a woman ranging from anywhere between her mid forty’s to her sixties, shoves by every single person just to get on the train and sit down.

These older women (or Oba-sans) can seem sweet and harmless, but it is there that the danger lies. Japanese people are known for being passive. They typically don’t show emotion, and they are more likely to walk away from any form of confrontation than to get into an argument, spat, or power struggle (especially in public).
These women have lived in this culture their entire lives and know this. And exploit it.
They are more than well aware that nobody is going to fight them. After all… it’s Japan… and … they’re women.

In fact, shortly after first arriving in Japan I was at a supermarket shopping for my dinner. I was young, working freelance, and pinching every penny that I could, so I always waited until around 7pm when the local supermarket discounted the meat! As I arrived in the meat section, I noticed that there was only one package of meat left and that it had been discounted by 50%!! I picked it up and went to put it in my shopping basket as I looked forward to the dinner that would follow, but magically, it never made it to the basket…

I got my first real taste of culture shock on this day as a Japanese woman well into her 40′s pulled the pack of meat right out from my hand and put it in her cart. Without so much as a look, she simply walked away. It was as if nothing happened…
Still in shock, I purchased the contents of my shopping basket and went home to eat a meat-less dinner.

But what happens when someone protests? What happens when someone finally stands up and says “Hey lady! I’m not gonna take that S#@&!” ? What happens when somebody shoves back??

Well… that’s where this post truly begins.
It all started with a seemingly quiet trip to Ikebukuro, a large and somewhat crowded shopping area in Tokyo, on a Saturday morning. I boarded the Yamanote line and managed to get myself a seat near the door. All was well and good until us Ikebukuro-b0und commuters went to get off the train….

As the doors opened, people waited to either side to allow for those exiting the train to do so with at least some ease. With the exception of just one woman. She was in her 50′s and had that crazy look in her eyes!

As people poured out of the train, she did everything she could to fight her way in. Looking like a salmon pushing its way upstream, she shoved past a man who was clearly having a bad day, and that’s when the unimaginable happened.
He shoved back.
It was a gentle shove, barely carrying the scent of frustration and even more barely noticeable to those not looking directly at the two, but what followed was something that will remain in my memory for years to come.

It started with a noise. A noise which at first resembled a grunt but quickly turned into a full and terrifying scream. Followed by what can only be described as nearly-profane language and a quick swing of her purse to the side of his head…

Everyone around stopped. Stunned. None of us could believe what just transpired. But more amazing was the fact that in the brief moment that it took us to recover, this woman had managed to get herself a seat. And not just any seat… my seat, right by the door. A cold shiver went down my spine and the train was gone. The moment had passed and would be remembered by all.

Now… It’s not every day that we get to see such incredible events in the gentle land of Japan, but its for exactly that reason that when they happen, they stand out.

The most dangerous part of it, is that you never know when its coming. Something as small as a sneeze could end up having you harassed by one of these Japanese middle-aged women, or even end up having you dragged to the police box (which if you read the post about what happened when I turned in a wallet, you will realize that as a foreigner, you don’t want to go to a police box for any reason other than perhaps asking directions)

After a quick search on youtube, I was able to find this video of middle-aged Japanese woman who was quite upset at an elderly woman simply for sneezing on her jacket:

I think one of the most common points that comes up when talking to Japanese friends about Japanese culture, is this point about pushy middle-aged Japanese women.
As I write this section, I am sitting in a JAL lounge in Narita Airport and right in front of me there is a Japanese woman in her early 60′s who just pushed her way to the front of the snack counter, and is currently filling her purse with “complimentary” snacks.

Now… I could spend another 500+ words talking about how this pattern could possibly relate to a Japanese female “mid-life crisis”, or how it could be a release or overcompensation for a lifetime of ‘gamman‘ (the Japanese practice of holding back or self control), or even how it could potentially be a back-lash from decades of taking crap…

I could get more into this… But I won’t!

Instead, I am going to open up the floor to all of you~
If you have a story or two, share them in the comments section below!!

Apr
02

The Japan Rants – Official Launch

Ok…

I would like to introduce The Japan Rants. I’m going to start by saying that I am a Japan lover. Always have been and always will be. My posts, are meant to be a source of entertainment, and perhaps give a person or two something to relate to. Japan is a country just like any other, and along with this there is good and bad. We can only enjoy our lives by accepting both of these in the place we choose to live. And the day that you find that you are unable to balance the good with the bad in Japan, is the day you should probably leave the country.

Some of my posts will be just for laughs, and some will be a little deeper.
As the site is just getting started, I welcome and encourage comments and feedback of any kind~

So without further adieu, I would like to introduce you to my first 5 posts:

1. Japanese Gold Diggers
The title might lead you to think its about women… but its not!

2. Japanese People and Spatial Awareness
This post gets into the hidden danger of Walking around Tokyo and the complete and utter lack/disregard Japanese people in this city tend to have for the people and objects around them.

3. The Little Pervert
I had to stop this post part-way through… A story of a 14 year old boy who tried to sexually harass a girl on the train right in front of my very eyes. The real kicker: The train wasn’t even crowded…

4. N0 ID? No Problem! Its Japan!
Have you ever been ID’d in Japan? If you have, chances are they were just messing with ya~

5. Why I No Longer Help People In Tokyo
 A little story about one of the events that lead me to believe its better just to stay out of things while in Tokyo.
I have spent weeks thinking over when and how to release the site. My biggest concern has been that I constantly have new examples, anecdotes, and  media that I would love to add.
So, I will protect myself right from the start by saying: There Will Be Updates!

Each of the original 5 posts are starting points. And I can only hope that you stick around and grow with us~

I encourage anyone and everyone to subscribe, and if you’re not already, check out my Twitter @TheJapanRants

 

Apr
02

No ID? No Problem! It’s Japan!

For those of you living in Japan, allow me to ask you a question…

When was the last time you were ID’d for something?
And when I ask this, I mean being ID’d for alcohol or tobacco, not being ID’d for just being foreign (^_-) 

In a land where alcohol and cigarettes are served up in vending machine format (mind you the cigarette machines have been ID’ing people lately…), it’s not entirely rare to see a group of 17-19 year-olds sitting in an Izakaya (Japanese-style… bar/restaurant), yelling out ‘Kanpai!” (Cheers!) as they raise their beer glasses in the air. [Just a note... The Japanese legal age of drinking is 20]

And while this isn’t something that particularly bugs me, I couldn’t help but be taken back last night when I went to the local, Konbini (Convenience Store) to grab some alcoholic beverages and was asked by the store clerk (who was about 15) to touch the ‘Yes’ button on a digital screen confirming that I am old enough to drink.
And that was it.
The screen asked me “Are you old enough to drink?”,  I push the button for “Yes”, and I’m on my way.
And while there is slim chance that I look younger than 20 years old, I still cant help but feel that the whole setup nothing more than an exercise in futility…

Now, if I were to think of this from the perspective of an 18-year-old university student living on my own in a city that prompts people to write “ranting” blogs, I would think this to be a wonderful feature of the city and culture that I live in. But sadly, not everyone is going to see it that way..

Now… I have additional anecdotes, and photos that I WILL be adding within the next week or so… But, were off to a start at least!
And so once again I open up the floor to you. What are your thoughts?

Apr
02

The Little Pervert

It was that hour of the day where the sun is painting everything in the city a beautiful shade of orange as I boarded the train. All of the seats were taken, but the train wasn’t what I would call crowded.  I stood in the middle of the area where the doors were, and put in my headphones. I had just finished an interview with a fairly famous musician about an hour before, and was looking forward to getting home.
Standing 2 or 3 steps away from me to my right was a girl of about 23 in a short skirt and tall boots. Deadly combo. She had a sweet face, but I guessed she probably worked as a hostess somewhere. I shifted my focus off of her and onto the recording of my interview.

At the next station, a young boy of about 14 years old wearing a school uniform boarded the train.
And this… is where things started.

As the kid boarded the train, he stood behind her at a distance that couldn’t have been more than a few centimeters. This stood out. The train wasn’t all that crowded and he was in plain view of everyone. And everyone noticed. But this is Japan, which means that just as quickly as they noticed, they switched to pretending that they saw nothing.
You know what they say… Ignorance is bliss.
But the girl noticed and she took about 2 steps closer to the door. It would seem that she couldn’t maintain the same blissful state as the other passengers. And if this had been any normal day, or any normal 14 year old Japanese kid, the story might have stopped there.
But instead, the young guy waited about 10 seconds and reached up to grab the handle near the do0r. As he did this he ever-so-slyly moved himself back into position, almost pressed up against this girl.
Much to my surprise, she did nothing. For almost a full minute she remained exactly where she was with this little Japanese boy pressed up against her. But as we arrived at the next station, she took this as an opportunity to maneuver herself into the corner space created by the intersection of the doors and the seats.
As soon as the door closed, he moved in again. Just as sly as last time. But this time, pressed right up against her.

Now… From the moment this started, everyone on the train noticed. And yet nobody reacted. Nobody said a thing, and nobody did a thing.  In fact, I started to wonder if I was going crazy or completely misreading the situation. In fact the little f***er even had the balls to not only make, but hold eye contact with me several times in the reflection of the glass.  His face and eyes carrying an expression that would imply that nothing out of the ordinary was going on.
I was confused.
Was I really seeing this?! Should I say something?! Do something?!

And that’s when the situation changed a little. He started to bend his knees and actually rub up against her, and this was when I caught a glimpse of her face. It was no longer sweet, but instead she looked furious, and was pouring sweat.

Now, I have a standing promise with myself to not get involved in other peoples issues here in Japan. In Japan (especially in Tokyo) making an attempt to help someone out, can often turn around on you and make for a very long and stressful day. (See “Why I No Longer Help People in Tokyo“). But this was a little more than I was willing to take.

I lightly grabbed him by his back pack and only meant to pull him backwards, but when I noticed, I had partially lifted him off the ground to the point where his toes were barely touching. I thought to myself that I should stop, but for some reason I just didn’t care in that moment. There I stood in front of everybody holding this boy who now looked like a cat being held by the scruff of its neck, and I just couldn’t care less that they were all staring. I remember myself thinking “A girl is getting felt up on the train, and you all do nothing, but NOW you stare?!?“.

With him still in the air, I leaned forward and whispered in his ear. I gave him 2 options, neither one particularly attractive, but the later of the 2 at least allowed him to escape without any real damage being done.
He froze and said nothing. People were still staring and I was becoming increasingly more aware of my situation and the number of people watching me.
And then, he finally gave in (and I let go). He went with the second option (which was a very public-style apology). Right there in front of everyone in the train, he dropped down on his hands and knees and apologized to the girl (which in retrospect was not as good of an idea as I had originally hoped considering this only served to embarrass her further >_<). After his apology, he remained in his bow for what felt like an eternity (but in reality was probably less than 15 seconds)

As the doors opened at the next station, the young boy got off and disappeared at a speed that I can only describe as impressive considering his size.
He was gone, but I was still stuck on the train with this girl and all the witnesses. I really should have gotten off with him. Hindsight is always 20/20…

As the train finally arrived at its last stop the girl turned to me over her shoulder and took a moment to thank me. We are friends to this day, and it turns out that I was right about her job (^_-). (I still think her choice of outfit that day was… well… problematic to say the least. But that’s for another post).

At the end of this I was left feeling shocked, flabbergasted, and having a lot less faith in humans than I did when I left home that day (which is pretty bad considering that those numbers are already running pretty low…).
I found myself truly concerned with this country and what it’s coming to.
Honestly, what does it say when a kid of that age is already taking part in these type of activities?!

This incident was actually one of the main moments that inspired this website.
I wonder what that little 14 year old is doing now… On second thought, probably better not to think about it.

Apr
02

Japanese People and Spatial Awareness

I’ll start by admitting that the name for this post technically should read “Japanese People and Their Complete and Absolute Lack of Spatial Awareness”.
And if Japan (especially Tokyo) were a place filled with wide open spaces and plenty of room to frolic, I probably wouldn’t be writing this post. Yet alas, it is not.
And by this point, you probably already have a fairly good idea of what this post is about, so I’ll jump right into it…

Two Words: Excuse Me (or sumimasen in Japanese … technically.. one word in this case).
The words you will very rarely hear and soon give up on saying when walking the streets, train stations, hallways, or even bathrooms of Japan’s ever-so-crowded Tokyo.

I challenge you. Each and every one of you here in the city of Tokyo to go out for a day and take a count at the number of people who bump into you, or would bump into you if you didn’t make a point of getting out of their way.
Heck, if you want a real spatial awareness in Japan challenge, try running around the imperial palace in Tokyo!
Or at the very least, take some time to sit down almost anywhere in the core of the city and watch the number of people who bump into each other.

And while on one hand, Japanese people’s complete and utter lack of spatial awareness seems to fade into the background and become something that you may not even take not of, on the other hand it can really get on your nerves after a while. When I first came to Japan, I thought for sure that this was something that I was either imagining or something that I would get used to with time. Most Japanese people don’t even seem to notice.

I have seen cameras and cellphones broken, elderly people knocked down, and children hit in the face on more occasions that I can count. It’s downright dangerous.
In fact the other day I was talking to one of my Japanese friends, and while talking to me he backed right into some poor old woman and nearly knocked her over.

The problem is so tied into the Japanese lifestyle (at least in Tokyo), that major train lines such as Tokyo Metro, even put up posters reminding people to be a little more careful.

Tokyo Metro Poster - Japanese Spacial Awareness

Tokyo Metro Poster - Japanese Spatial Awareness

This particular poster (above), comes from a fairly common issue of people with rolling bags. If you have ever been to Tokyo station, you will be able to relate to this pretty easily.

One of my personal favorite examples of this lack of spatial awareness has always been the people who stand beside the seats on the train. Whether it be their arm, their jacket, their back, or simply their a$$, they are usually hitting the person sitting on the corner seat, in the head with something…

On account of all of this, trains can be a pretty unsafe place if you really think about it.

More often than not I stop to think about how difficult, not to mention outright dangerous it must be for pregnant women to simply go out or even get on a train…

I originally believed that living in a place surrounded with people at all times would heighten one’s spatial awareness and strengthen the use of their peripheral vision and the senses that they use to monitor their surroundings… But Nope.

Now, I’m not going to go into this big long post about cultural and psychological elements that factor into this (although I do possess both the necessary knowledge and linguistic capabilities to do so…), but rather open up the floor to you, the readers to give me your thoughts, opinions and experiences on this.

Or… I’ll go ahead and do an..

————-
UPDATE!:
————-

Ok, so I decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and actually looked online for peoples thoughts on this. And of course, with absolute minimal searching I manage to find several forums with people posting and ranting about just this issue~
You can find a few of them here:
http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6782
http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?64631-Utter-lack-of-spatial-awareness-in-Japanese-people

In addition to this, I was able to find a video that got me laughing pretty good.
It’s worth watching clear through till the end (the last 2 are probably the best)

But the video really got me thinking…

A video like this shows a perfect and quite interesting point: There IS a lighter side to everything that bothers us. (^-^)

In this case, the lighter side is that people can be used to conduct a modern-day pavlov’s dog experiment with surprisingly definitive results!

But this video also brings up a point that I have thought to be true for quite some time. It’s not so much that Japanese people have a lack of spatial awareness as it is that Japanese people (primarily in Tokyo) just don’t care anymore.

Have you ever tried to apologize every time you bump into someone, step on someones foot, lightly knock someones bag, etc…? When I first came to Japan, I did! For about a week…
And by the end of that week, I started to think of how incredibly senseless it was to apologize for everything.
In anticipation of updating this post, I searched through my things this morning and pulled out my old journal…
In the last 3 days of my apologetic week, I had roughly kept track of how many times I apologized per day… and it was… well, a lot.
And this got me to thinking,
Let’s say on average, each person in Tokyo, bumps into people or makes accidental physical contact a minimum of 5-10 times a day.
And now, let’s imagine that each and every one of these people apologizes for this each and every time…
Can you imagine how noisy this would get?! Or how tired you would get of hearing and making apologies?!?

And so… we give up. We stop apologizing.
In fact, most of us gaijin gave up on this in the first month (if not the first week).
But I think that the difference lies in one point: Most of us… still care.
Most foreigners I know, will go out of their way to make sure that they don’t bump into people, or take up too much space on a train seat.
But you get people who have lived in Tokyo since birth, and bumping into people becomes a part of daily life. They become desensitized, and bumping becomes much more than just bumping…
In fact, a few of the other gaijin I have spoken to, say that they make a very clear effort not to bump into anyone, simply so they don’t end up in a koban with a Japanese person claiming the foreigner hurt them..

I could honestly sit here and keep writing about this for pages and pages, but more than anything, I would love to get your thoughts on this. So please take the time to drop in a comment below!

 

Feb
20

Hello from Japan

Hello to all of you in and outside of the land of Japan.

Allow me to start by making one thing clear. I Love Japan. I always have and I always will.
But like anyone who has spent any amount of time in Japan will tell you, there are things that bug, bother, annoy, shock, disturb, and enrage those who hold this country dear to their hearts (this includes Japanese and non-Japanese alike).

Like many, I have been in love with this land of mystery and beauty for pretty much as long as I can remember, and not for a single day has that changed.

But…
From time to time… stuff… well.. bugs me.

And so I introduce you to The Japan Rants.

I cant promise they will always be pretty, and I cant promise you will like or agree with every post.
But I can promise they will be honest, often controversial, and full of heart!

Chances are, as time goes by, posts will be edited, updated, changed, and injected with additional anecdotes, photos, and videos.

So sit back, grab a snack and join the fun.

Subscribe to The Japan Rants and be the first to know about new posts as soon as they come out.

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