Japanese Culture

Today I received an email from a friend I met at Ninomyia house who returned back to France. She made me realize how we take some things for granted and might only realize it when things are "back to normal".

One of these things is that there is no crime here in Tsukuba area. Yes, of course I’ve been told (by my Japanese colleagues) that it’s very dangerous and I shouldn’t travel alone late at night with my bike… and on the news you’ll see horrifying stories that somewhere some school kids were smoking cigarettes with a number of camera scenes showing the evidence (2 cigarette buts on the ground next to a school) from different angles. (I really saw this on TV! Unfortunately, I don’t know what the speaker was saying, but as far as I could tell they were very serious about it).

I've been considering to take pictures of the standard bike "locks" they use here. Using such "locks" in Vienna would practically be begging for someone to steal your bike. Actually, I think the only purpose of the "locks" is to prevent someone to accidentally use the wrong bike (as I already mentioned, many bikes look very similar here). And you can leave things in the car without worrying that someone might smash the window just to find out if it is worth anything.

Oh, and unlike Vienna, dog owners always clean up after their dogs (although there is so much green space for dogs that even if everyone had a dog you still wouldn’t need to watch your steps all the time). And recently I saw what a bicyclist did who lost some small plastic wrapping trash the wind blew out of the basket. In Vienna the typical reaction would be not to react. However, this cyclist actually stopped, turned around and ran after the trash that the wind had taken. That somehow explains why everything is so clean here.

Just in case my Japanese collegues read this and disagree about the non existent crime, I found some statistics here. Although I admit they are a bit old (1998):

Murders per 100,000.
1. Russia Federation 18.07
2. United States 6.32
3. Malaysia 2.73
Taiwan 1.17
Spain 1.08
Japan 0.58

Rape per 100,000.
1. United States 34.20
2. England and Wales 14.69
3. France 13.38
Taiwan 8.82
South Korea 4.38
Spain 3.23
Japan 1.48

Serious Assault per 100,000.
1. Australia 713.68
2. England & Wales 405.20
3. United States 357.94
Taiwan 37.30
Spain 23.94
Japan 15.40

Robbery/Violent Theft per 100,000.
1. Spain 169.85
2. United States 169.02
3. France 144.10
Taiwan 14.35
South Korea 11.74
Japan 2.71

Cooking Class

At Ninomiya house they organize various events for us. One of them is a cooking class. Tonight they showed us how to cook some South Korean dishes. I can't tell the differences between Korean and Japanese food but I was told that there are lots of them. Anyway, some (or almost all?) of the ingredients they used can easily be found in supermarkets here... and some of them I had previously already considered to buy but decided not to because I had no idea which parts of them are digestible. Now I know :-)

And another interesting part of the evening was ending up sitting on the table with only women who are here because their husbands are researchers. Some of them are English teachers... all of them are very busy with various classes (Japanese language, culture, ...) some of them are pregnant (or already have some kids) and all of them really like it here and all of them are very friendly. But I couldn't help feeling really odd sitting at that table :-)

(Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but I think they might put some on the Ninomiya house web page...)

International Exchange Fair

Last weekend the annual international festival took place in Tsukuba. Foreigners living in Tsukuba presented their cultures mainly through art performances and local dishes. The capoeira club I've joined gave a 30 minute performance on Sunday. It was the first capoeira performance I ever participated in and it was lots of fun :-)
BTW, I got my first capoeira belt on Saturday! I guess now I'm a real capoerista? ;-)

Here is a picture of the stage:



Most of the capoeiristas on the pictures are from ABADA Ibaraki. Some are from ABADA in Tokyo. Unfortunately, the red carpet was a bit wet and slippery from the rain on Saturday... which made it a extra challenging :-)
Actually we were very lucky with the weather. It was raining a lot last week and only stopped Saturday night. Too bad I don't have any pictures from Neguinho (our trainer) flying around. It was amazing!!

Here is a picture of the audience (taken after the performance):



And a picture of the group after the performance:



And a picture after the all-you-can-eat dinner. I don't think they made a good deal with us. Some of us hadn't had breakfast nor lunch that day! :-)

Rosanzerusu

Yesterday we started learning Katakana in the Japanese class. Katakana is used to write foreign (imported) words in Japanese. Rondon is how the Japanese write London (I think the R-L issue is well known...). Rosanzerusu (ro-sa-n-ze-ru-su are the syllables, the last "u" is silent) is Los Angeles. And can you guess what Makudonarudo is? :-)
(Although, normally a short version of that is used.)

Here is a picture I took in class yesterday.



The teacher is the one with the tie. The people on the picture are from Japan (teacher), Brazil, Armenia, Poland, Sweden, Thailand, China, and Bangladesh.

Here is a picture taken inside the elevator at Ninomiya house.



It speaks English and Japanese, but only during day times (so it doesn't bother anyone at night). And it has an undo function! Assume you pressed 8 (where I live) and in addition 7 by mistake. Then you can press 7 again, the button will start blinking, and then if you press it again the 7 will be deselected. And I was told that the elevators have a special earthquake program. In case of a stronger earthquake they will automatically move to the next closest floor (up or down) open their doors, and refuse any further operation (because of the danger that they might crash).

I wonder if tourist guides in Vienna should put the Pater Noster (at the NIG building of the University of Vienna) on their list of things you must see for Japanese tourists. They will probably find it hard to believe that there is an elevator which has no doors, and which you need to jump in and out of (because it never stops...) And can you imagine a group of 20 Japanese tourists trying to jump into the Pater Noster and taking pictures doing so? :-)

Here is a picture of my most recent food experiment.



Once I find things I like (through random sampling) in a supermarket I usually explore similar items. As I have no clue what is really similar I use the physical distance (in centimeters) as similarity function. The crackers on the left were fine (some kind of see food), they were located close to the nuts I like. The drink on the right is something I probably wont try again. It was located right next to the orange juice which I like very much... can you guess what it is? :-)

And here are some pictures from last weeks capoeira training. There are more pictures on the ABADA Ibaraki website.

More Robots

A follow up of yesterday's post... here is a picture of the robot members of the group I'm in are working on. It can walk, stand on one leg, lay down, stand up, talk, and steal beer from the fridge ;-)



For more information on the HRP-2 Promet robot see this link.

Robots

Recently I saw a robot on TV which was walking and carrying a person. I think the idea was basically to replace a wheelchair (allowing people to move up and down stairs more easily etc).

Here is a picture of another project Goto just showed me. One of the researchers who made major contributions to this project recently joined AIST and has his desk only only a few meters away from mine :-)



The robot can pick up and transport people. It's intended use is in hospitals etc. Check out the project website (RI-MAN) at the RIKEN research center. In particular this video is great!

No Postcards in Akihabara

The weekend was great. Capoeira on Saturday was lots of fun. We made a big roda and practiced playing the instruments. My little finger is still sore from playing the berimbau. BTW, Lucien told me some of his experiences driving in Japan. Seems like Japanese drivers are not as polite as I thought they were. And I also learned that Japanese use the same word for different and for wrong. I also heard that there is no word for privacy in Japanese… talking about cultural differences... it seems that a customer can’t just put the money in the money tray (the clerk will ignore it – even if it’s the exact amount) what is required is to point at it (I had another similar experience to the one mentioned in my previous post). Well I guess I’ll be able to report more on Japanese culture after a few more months here.

On Sunday I went to Tokyo to buy a second hand guitar in Ochanomizu. It is an amazing place. There is one music store right next to the other. Each of them is so full you can hardly walk through the aisles. Anyway, I got a more or less cheap (Yamaha steal string acoustic) guitar now, and my fingertips are sore :-)
Here is a picture of my new roommate.



And here are two pictures of Tokyo. The first one I took in Ginza. I guess that is where the snobs go shopping. (And where there is a huge Yamaha instrument shop.)



And this picture I took in Akihabara. That’s where the final stop of the Tsukuba Express is, and that is where I couldn’t find any postcards (but an umbrella). Akihabara is amazing too. You’ll find high-end laptops (and digital cameras, and network equipment) in small stores on the streets right next to umbrellas for 500 Yen. There is high-tech everywhere, and so many people that I had a hard time moving around with my new guitar.

Japanese Politeness

Today I experienced a form of Japanese politeness I think I'd never experience in Austria. I was at Kasumi supermarket paying for the items I bought (BTW, the pumpkin is very oishi!) After the total was on display I put 2000 yen on the counter (they have a special tray for the money) and quickly checked if I'd have any change. I realized that it would take me forever to find it and that I was going to get back exactly 700 anyway. So I stopped my search... and I realized that the clerk had started to do something which I am not sure what it was. Anyway, she gave me the impression that she was really busy, looking at her fingernails, or perhaps cleaning her fingers. If I could speak Japanese I would have liked to say something like, "I'm sorry, I don't have the exact amount". So all I did instead was wait, look at her, and wonder. And she continued. She continued for almost half a minute... doing nothing other than giving me lots of time to look again if I wanted. I was too amazed to react. It took me a while to realize what was going on... and then I finally tried to give her a sign with my hand pointing at the money I had put on the counter... (which of course she already knew that it was there) and that worked. I was very impressed by her patience, especially considering how fast and efficiently they do everything else. (And of course the person in line behind me pretended that they didn't even notice what was going on.)

That's so different from Austria! First of all, the cues are much longer. And the people behind you will occasionally even bump their shopping carts into you! Or if you don't immediatly move on they might even consider passing you. (There are always some very impatient people who can't cope with waiting.) And then once you get to pay, you better do it fast. Because the person behind you might already be stepping on your feet. Sometimes you'll see an old lady trying to get rid of her change and then you'll always find people who seem to be just about to yell at her for waisting time. Even the clerks sometimes get annoyed if you take too long...

Oh, and something else I had noticed (but I'm not sure if this is just something that happens generally in smaller cities)... I was at a traffic light waiting to cross the road. Some cars had wanted to cross and had already moved beyond the pedestrian crossing. Their light turned red.
In Vienna what would happen is that the cars would just stay there (or try to cross over the red light). What happend here is that as soon as the light turned red they backed up. And so did the cars right behind them! They had the pedestrian crossing cleared within a second. Although pedestrians could have easily walked around the cars...
And another thing which amazed me: stop lines. Cars don't stop ontop of them. They stop far away from them (if they are giving way to someone). And if a car is trying to get into a parking space the car behind it will leave so much room that you wonder if the car actually has the intention to pass the car. In Vienna they'll almost bump into you - sometimes making it impossible for you to actually park your car (and sometimes they might take that parking space once you have given up!).

Golden Week

Today I learned not to put my debit card into just any ATM (Bankomat). Especially not into machines which do not speak English and do not have any symbols or other type of help that might suggests what to press if you want to get your card back again.

Here is a picture of my Japanese writing skills :-)
It says (freely translated): Hello. I'm Elias. I do research. It's a pleasure to meet you.



Here is a picture of where I work. It says Informatics and Electronics Research Center (within AIST). The bike in the background is not mine, but it seems that almost everywhere in Tsukuba you'll find bikes that look just like mine. (In fact I often have problems finding my bike.)



Here is a picture of where I live: Ninomiya house. The picture shows one of the fields which has been flooded with water. I think it's rice? For sure it is the home of millions of frogs who party all night :-)



And here is a picture which I took some time ago. It shows what happens after the cherry blossom time is over. It's like a carpet of flowers. I wish I would have been able to take a nice picture of the flowers floating on the rain puddles...



Japan is celebrating Golden Week right now. And I am very amazed because no one is in the office. Usually you'll always find people working... if not the whole day they might at least stop by for an hour or two. But now the office is completely empty. (Except for a few students who came by yesterday...)
BTW, did you know that Japan has a law that a day between two public holidays is a public holiday? :-)
Maybe they could extend this law so that any number of days between two public holidays... Anyway... so this is one of the rare times a year the Japanese work at home I guess. My time will come in July when I go back home for a week :-)

An did you know that Japan has the second or third highest military budget in the world, but according to its government does not have an army? :-)

Talking about Japan... there is some more information I wanted to share ever since I arrived. This is quoted from the book "Foreign Researchers' Guide to Japan" published by the Japan Science and Technology Corporation (Fifth Edition, March 2002). The book is part of the general information material that I found in my room at Ninomiya. The quotes are from the "Japanese Customs" chapter.

(page 120)
Bowing is such a common practice in Japan that people even bow when talking to superiors on the telephone. [...] As a guideline, a 5 degree bow is sufficient for greeting colleagues in the morning, and a 20 degree bow the first time you are introduced to the head of your company or institute. If your boss thinks he has grounds for firing you but decides to be merciful, bow 45 degrees and hold the position for 5 seconds.

I think this is pretty much what us aliens expect when we come to Japan :-)
But so far I haven't really noticed much of this. At least where I work it seems that people tend to smile instead of bow. (Or is it a forgiving smile they share with me because I don't know yet that I should be bowing??) Anyway, I haven't noticed much bowing at AIST and I'm pretty sure that shaking hands is not common, too.

(page 121)
When eating, and in particular when eating hot noodles or drinking tea, it is quite normal for Japanese men to slurp. This is not considered bad manners, but women should try not to slurp if possible.

I wish I would know how to slurp! I was always told that it's bad manners, but how else would you eat the hot noodles without burning your mouth? Well, I guess I'll learn sometime soon. I just wonder what women are expected to do... not eat hot noodles? burn their mouths? wait until they cool down?

(page 123)
Japanese society draws clear lines between the roles of men and women. Though this in itself is not necessarily bad, it sometimes manifests itself as blatant sexism. Foreign women can therefor expect to have comments made about their physical appearance, or to be propositioned, in ways that they find unacceptable. If you intend to stay in Japan for long, it therefore pays if you can develop a thick skin. The up side of this situation is that men almost always pay when they go out with women.

I wonder if all Japanese women have thick skin? But maybe this is as outdated as the part about the bowing. At least at AIST (as far as I am able to judge) all women are treated respectfully... no signs of what that paragraph mentions.