Japan E-mails August 12, 2001

(Retrospection)

The first few months I was in Japan I was very prolific with the e-mails. Here are bits and pieces cut and pasted from various e-mails I sent to various people on August 12, 2001

Yesterday I went hiking around through some mountain trails. It was good fun, and turns out the peak is only about an hour walk from my apartment. I met some young Japanese people on the trail. They were about my age (I think all three of them were 22) and they were very surprised to see this American tromping around through the trails out in the middle of nowhere. They were very nice. They showed me the way down the mountain, pointed out a few interesting sites, and even gave me a lift home. I’m finding out that I get a lot of special treatment around here just for being me.

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It turns out there is only one other JET in my town, Ryan, a New Zealand guy. I met him briefly at the orientation. But aside from that many other towns are within driving distance. Last night another JET drove over from the neighboring town to hang out with me and Ryan. It was nice to be able to speak normal English. Usually I have to speak English very slowly and use a lot of gestures. The other guy, Aaron, is from Wales, and has been here 3 years already. He was saying that sometimes it is hard for Americans to make friends because many of the other JETs have resentment against Americans, but I haven’t encounter this yet. {ED. Note: Nor would I}.

Things are going good over here. They don’t have too much for me to do around the office just yet, so I can write e-mails and study Japanese. After my work-aholic life style in the United States, it is hard for me to just sit around and not do much of anything, but I’m getting used to it.

No car just yet. There seems to be some confusion about it, so I’m trying to get that straightened out. The school board has been generous enough to loan me a bike, which is a very nice gesture, although the bike is a little small for me. My knees are almost hitting my chin when I ride it. And, for some weird reason, there is apparently no bathroom at the Board of Education office. So no place to change clothes. I have to wear my nice clothes while I bike around the town. {Ed. Note: In fact there was a bathroom on the first floor. This turned out to be a misunderstanding. I tried to use my Japanese-English dictionary to ask where the bathroom was, and ended up asking where the bathing room was. They told me I had to attend to that at my own apartment, and I thought this meant no one used the toilet at the office}.
Anyway, I’m sure I look pretty silly, picture me riding around town this Japanese town on a small bike in my nice slacks.

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I see a lot of things around here that remind me of you Bear. Mostly Anime actually, but people over here really take their Anime seriously. In particular I’ve been hearing a lot about “Princess Mononoke, which I believe was one of the Anime’s you used to talk about. It must have been a big hit over here, because everyone knows about it. I’ll have to check it out someday. Actually I’ll probably wait till I’m back in the States so I can see it with English subtitles.)


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Dear Mom, I don’t have a phone number yet. That still needs to be set up, and I was told it would take a few days. (Which seems reasonable. I’m sure it would take a few days to set up a new phone line in the States as well.) Maybe I can use the phone card to call from a public phone, although the time change would be a bit of a pain in the neck. I don’t know my address yet, but I’ll let you know of it when I find out. I’m already thinking of a few things it might be nice to ship over, but nothing urgent.

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I’m having a good time over here, although a lot of the differences are interesting. Japan is not, shall we say, on the forefront of the feminist movement. Maybe it would be different in a big city, I don’t know. I haven’t seen any major injustices, but I’ve picked up on a lot of little things. The way the woman always serve tea to the men at the office, and then clean up after them. And the way boys are always called on first in school and stuff.

I’ve modified my no-drinking policy over here to a two drink policy. I figured it was the only way to have a social life, since so much of Japanese culture revolves around drinking. And I figure two drinks never hurt anyone. The only thing is I still haven’t acquired a taste for Alcohol, so the beer tastes bitter going down, and I have to hide my reaction from my hosts. Oh well.

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Dear Brett,
How are things going? I’ve been doing alright. My supervisor here in Japan took me around to see the sites this weekend. It was very nice. They have a lot of hot springs here in Kyushu, and the supervisor asked if I wanted to go to one, and I said yes. I went with his family (his wife, and 17 year old son). I was a little nervous about changing into my suit in the locker room, because I thought it might be awkward to see my supervisor naked, and because he was older and I thought he might be like those old guys in the YMCA locker rooms who strut around naked and have a conversation with you while you’re naked, and don’t really seem to care.

Anyway, I changed into my suit as quick as I could, and then they told me to take off my suit, and I was a bit confused, but I took off my suit and followed them. It turns out everyone goes to these Hot Springs completely naked. (That’s not as nice as it sounds though. They have separate hot springs for men and women, so all I saw was naked Japanese men). They have a hot naked pool you can go in, and a cold naked pool, and then an outdoor naked hot pool, and a naked pool that has flowers in it. I felt really awkward at first. I didn’t know whether I felt more comfortable hanging out with my supervisor, the old naked man, or his son, the little naked boy. I ended up spending some quality naked time with both. We went into a naked sauna, and it was really hot, so we went into a cool naked pool afterwards. Then there were these showers, where everyone sits naked on a stool, and there is a mirror, and soap, and a hand held shower head, and everyone soaps up and cleans. It was a good time. I saw many Japanese butts.

Anyway, I think we should start up our own hot spring back in the U.S. Maybe next to our “Communist Pizza” shop. I think it would be a lot of fun for people. We could call it, “the back to nature bath.” Think about it.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
The multiple sections of "Happiness is a Warm Gun" would inspire Radiohead's three part epic Paranoid Android on OK Computer.

Link of the Day
I'm often asked about Japanese TV. These days, thanks to the magic of You Tube, it's a lot easier to show than it is to tell.
You can check out this: "Say the tongue twister correctly or you get hit in the balls" clip. (Thanks to Sharda for this one)

Or there is the: "Be quiet in the library well doing stupid pranks" clip.

And my personal favorite: "Porto Potty Prank" clip.

(Also don't forget the links at the bottom of this post).