Mt. Gozaisho
Yesterday I visited Mt. Gozaisho. Check out the video log below and the pics in the November album.
Video Log 11-27-2011: Mt. Gozaisho
Japanese Diet
I’ve lost some weight since coming here. When Japanese people notice, they say, “It must be the Japanese diet. Very healthy.” And I have no doubt that people back home will think the same thing. So let me clear some things up.
It is not the Japanese diet. As a matter of fact, the concept of the elusive “Japanese diet” is confusing to me. Do you mean a traditional meal, with onigiri (rice balls), a bit of raw fish and some uncooked vegetables? (Let’s just flash back about four hundred years.) Then yes, the diet is healthy.
Or do you mean a standard school lunch, which includes pasta covered in mayonnaise, some fried chicken or beef, and two fistfulls of white, enriched, carb-loaded rice?
Japanese food can be extremely unhealthy. Whole grains are difficult to find here; in general, your best bet is to buy fresh white bread and eat less of it. Sure, it’s enriched and all that, but at least it doesn’t have preservatives or high-fructose corn syrup. Japan has the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. And tempura is lovely too. There’s mayonnaise on lots of things. Contrary to popular belief, and what I thought I would find when I got here, there isn’t just miso soup and slices of raw vegetables as far as the eye can see. There are traditional Japanese dishes (okonomiyaki, anyone?) that aren’t nearly as healthy as sashimi. And there’s real ramen. Yummy, yes- you can’t imagine. But still sodium and fat-loaded.
That being said, there are some trade-offs that make my diet healthier now than it was before. For one, because Japan does not give its farmers subsidies for corn (unlike the US), corn is used less in the food. This means that things with sugar (white bread, soda) actually use sugar. They don’t use high-fructose corn syrup like their American counterparts. This makes it easier for your body to digest, since sugar occurs naturally. (I’m no foodologist, but that’s the gist of it.) This also means that the animals are grass fed instead of corn-fed, which means that when you’re eating that delicious grilled beef, at least it was grass-fed beef. (Feeding cows corn is unnatural, and some studies indicate that it creates a heart disease-inducing fat misbalance of omega 3 and 6.) Food is more expensive here, and the portion sizes are slightly smaller. I’m simply eating less food. Cereal is expensive, so for breakfast I’m more likely to have egg whites or fruit.
And I don’t care what you’ve read about continually eating small snacks throughout the day- that has never, ever helped me. I eat three times a day, feel satisfied, and weigh less. Unlike workplaces in the US, snacking isn’t really tolerated in Japanese workplaces. It took a few weeks to adjust, but now I feel fine.
Also, my favorite foods are missing (probably for the better). Pizza is much harder to find and more expensive. Mexican food, outside of giant cities, is virtually nonexistant (and there are zero Chipotles here). Japanese beer is pretty bad. Doritos have strange or interesting flavors, but my favorite (Cool Ranch) is not here. Peanut butter is more expensive and you generally can’t find the natural kind. Kettle Cooked potato chips don’t come in giant bags (but at least they have small bags, otherwise I’m pretty sure I would go insane).
There are other lifestyle factors that explain why I’ve lost weight as well. The biggest is that I don’t have a car anymore. If I want to go anywhere, I have to walk or take my bike. Currently, I love that. But the weather is getting cooler, and I’m guessing I’ll be pretty miserable come January. Also, I don’t spend my entire day (usually) at a desk- I am up and moving around. I love that about my job.
So, in conclusion, remember that the Japanese Diet is as diversified as (and incorporating parts from) the American Diet. It’s not only the food itself that makes the difference.
Thanksgiving
It’s Thursday here in Japan. But it’s not Thanksgiving. That day was yesterday, a holiday that my planner translates as “Labour Thanksgiving Day.” It appeared to have none of the traditions of its American counterpart. (Why should it?)
Being that Wednesday was a holiday, some other English teachers and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Tuesday night so we could sleep off our festivities. After my Japanese class, I rushed home to make some stir-fry vegetables with a homemade sauce (my contribution) then head over to the party.
Guests came and went, but in general Americans were in the minority. For several people, it was their first Thanksgiving. It was very interesting being able to share something that is simply a way of life for Americans. (Turns out that Thanksgiving day is the most trafficked day in the US; not everyone celebrates Christmas, but everyone celebrates Thanksgiving.) The meal began with grace led by our host, then proceeded to the actual food.
The items were a hodgepodge of delightful dishes from around the world. To be honest, I didn’t miss my “American” Thanksgiving staples. There wasn’t even a turkey. (No one could find one here.) There was a whole roasted chicken, chicken and lentil curry, stir-fry vegetables, fruit, dinner roles, potato chips (some even had seaweed flavoring), pockey (a type of candy), cookies, vegetable stew, and stuffing (my favorite dish). During the course of the meal, I and the other Americans explained additional Thanksgiving traditions. I explained the after-dinner nap, and how often the “dinner” is served in the early afternoon. I also explained the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Jon explained the football games and stuffing, being that he made it. We also explained that cooking was usually an all-day event, and that some people (who choose to not let the turkey cook overnight) rise early in the morning to begin the turkey roast.
The dinner concluded with us going around the table and stating what we were thankful for. Overall, it was a lovely evening. I enjoyed having the opportunity to share a little bit of American culture with my English-speaking friends as well as some Japanese friends.
I suppose this is the point where I give the obligatory “I’m thankful for” statement. There’s a lot I could say here, some of a personal nature, and some of it rather sad. I won’t go into it. I will say, though, that life is short. And I’m thankful for feeling alive again.
Playing Taiko
On Sunday (Nov 13), I played taiko. One of my schools had a taiko concert. Unlike the last taiko concert I went to, this was a group- not a duet. Hearing taiko in person for the first time is like the first time you hear a gunshot. It simply doesn’t compare to what you see on TV or the internet. The sounds travels through you, like the first time you attend a rock concert. You feel your organs shake inside with the noise.
And it’s beautiful.
Again, like the last concert, time seemed to speed up incredibly and slow down to a crawl simultaneously. It simply did not exist in seconds or minutes- it existed only in the space between each beat. It was awesome.
Here's the drum I played.
But the coolest part was when the group asked for volunteers to come forward. Some students came forward, and the faculty ushered me to the front of the room as well. Then they brought me to the biggest drum on stage and gave me two massive sticks. They gave us instructions on a simple song and within a few minutes, I struck the drum for the first time.
In the beginning, I was scared of tearing the drum’s leather. But after a few tentative beats, I saw that the drum could take anything I threw at it. I hit it harder. And harder. Finally I was throwing all my might into it, reaching above my head to strike a drum larger than me. Sometimes I would look up. The skin of the drum had a strange effect. I saw it recoil and spring forward, reacting to my strikes. But it was in a choppy, picture-by-picture motion; I could not see the drum move in a fluid motion.
Unfortunately, because of child protection laws, I cannot upload the video of me playing because the video also includes students. I will see if it is possible to crop out the other players so that only I am visible. Or perhaps I can upload the audio of the song only. I will look into this and see what is possible.
Feet
Alright everyone- let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Feet. They’re weird. Some are fat or thin. Some have huge arches and some are practically flat. Some people have a “pointer toe” longer than the big toe, and for others the big toe is the big toe for a reason. Some people have soft, smooth feet and some people have feet with curling toenails and skin as tough as sun-dried leather. Sometimes they smell bad. But despite the diversity of feet, one thing’s for sure-
-they’re everywhere in Japan.
Lots of places, including schools, restaurants, and public halls have a special entranceway where you remove your shoes and put on indoor “slippers.” It’s almost like the “don’t step in the lava” game you’d play as a kid in a parking lot. You take your shoes off, then have to awkwardly shuffle around as you put them in a locker and put on your slippers. You get used to it after awhile though.
They’re called slippers, but really that’s just an umbrella term for “shoes that you only wear indoors.” As a matter of fact, if you wore actual slippers, people would find it funny. They can be virtually any kind of shoe (I got a cheap pair of slip-ons from Payless for $12). Crocs are quite common here. Many people also just wear sandals. Unlike business dress rules, such as matching your brown belt with brown shoes, or deeming athletic shoes not good enough to wear with a suit (unsuitable, perhaps?), virtually anything goes with the “indoor shoe.” I’ve seen principals walk around in their suits, socks and sandals all day. It simply doesn’t matter.
Additionally, there are some places indoors that you can’t walk on with shoes, even if they’re your indoor shoes. For example, you can’t walk around the gym in your indoor shoes (you have to have indoor athletic shoes, which also don’t scuff the floor). Most bathrooms have slippers as well, so you remove your indoor shoes, put on bathroom slippers, and switch back when you’re done. Finally, you can never, ever wear shoes on tatami matts, no matter if they’re indoor shoes or not.
Seen in this light, the Asian socks-and-sandals phenomenon actually makes sense.
There’s also no distinction between a person with shoes on and a person walking around in socks. No one cares. In the US, there’s a strange mentality where socks are somehow… indecent. Unprofessional. For close friends only. It’s like they’re underwear or something, and you can’t show them in public. Even on TV shows, it’s as if characters with shoes on are shown in full view; characters wearing socks are either conveniently cropped, or the camera swiftly pans away. In Japan, socks aren’t socks in the US sense. They’re more like… mini-shoes. Another layer of shoe. I’m not sure how to explain it. There’s just a mental difference between socks in the US and socks in Japan.
There are also very interesting sock fashions in Japan. There’s a kind where the big toe is separate from the other toes. Toeless socks. Baggy/loose socks. Socks that make a picture when you put your feet together. Knee and over-the-knee socks are also incredibly popular, worn by women of all ages, and carry none of the connotation they have in the US.
This ultimately begs the question: if Japanese people do all of this stuff to keep the insides of their buildings clean, does it work? Answer: I don’t know. Somedays I think so. Some days I think it’s a waste of time. I think the idea works. But in practice there are just too many loopholes. For example, some areas of the school, such as covered walks outside and porches outside of classrooms, are still considered “indoors” and you don’t have to switch shoes to walk on them. But they’re outdoors! So of course you track in dirt from the outside. That being said, I think there’s certainly less dirt inside of their buildings because of the shoe fascination.
