Post office

Two things happened today.

1. My student who was planning on going to new York cancelled because of the London bombings. She said "Dangerous!" I said "Different country!" But I can kind of see her point. I guess the fear is that terrorists everywhere are stepping things up. Of course, she feels fine going to Tokyo where her son lives, even though the week before she said Tokyo is next to be attacked. (See blog about "Madrid, London, therefore Tokyo.")

2. In a different class, my student said that she heard that if you mail a letter in the US it might not arrive. Now I can't say that the USPS couldn't be improved but in my whole life I think I've had zero, maybe one letter not arrive. Not counting of course, ones where it was my fault.

It's not so much that people might believe that such a thing is possibe but like I've said in previous posts (eg hospitals) it's both the readiness with which Japanese ASSUME nothing in America could possibly work and also how mishaps in japan are flat out erased from memory. To put things in perspective for you researchers in 2066, for the past few months there have been (more than the usual) number of scandals involving tires falling off Japanese airplanes, trains derailing and crashing into apartment blocks killing dozens, doctors lying on paperwork, Mitsubishi selling vehicles knowing they have life-threatening faults, NHK embezzling money and so on. I'm not exaggerating. Check the papers. Something new every day.

This is not to say that japan is a bad place or that the US is better, simply to say that I'm always bewildered at how the Japanese manage to maintain this image of Japan being a paradise where everything works and the US (a place that builds microchips, hard disks, jets. wins lots of nobel prizes, and so on) and being just barely a notch above third world as far as institutions go.

It's as if your friend Joe every single day had a car accident in front of your house as he picked you up for the work carpool and you were like "Hell no, no way I'm getting in the car with Mrs. Jones down the road. I heard she's nuts. Not like good ol' Joe here. You're fine with Joe at the wheel. Hey didja hear about that car accident the other day? I don't know a single detail but it must have been Mrs. Jones because we all know what a maniac she is. Yup. I guess she did it. "

At the same time Europe, because they make cool handbags, is also like Japan. Ie, everthing works wonderfully. If someone told my student that "Oh, in this country in Europe, if you mail a letter it might not get delivered." chances are she'd have a hard time believeing it. Not to knock Europe, but I doubt the postal services of France, Spain, greece, et al are any more a model of efficiency than thier American counterpart.

I won't even go into problems I've had personally with the Japanese post office. it really doesn't matter anyway.

Oh, I almost forgot. She said that she also heard that many Americans have these special "security boxes" for thier mail because it's simply to dangerous to leave one's mail in a mailbox. Boy I can't tell you how many times I've had people come up and just take my mail right out of my american mailbox. You have to keep an eye on that thing. As soon as the mailman comes I go running outside with a shotgun and a german shepherd and grab it before someone else does.

Anyway I explained to her the concept of PO Boxes. But the sad thing is, there are PO Boxes in Japan. They're exactly like US PO boxes. A small locker inside the Post office and you rent and get a key for. But that's the beauty of people's sterotypes. If you have a PO box in Japan, it's because it's convenient. If you rent a PO box in America it's because it's dangerous.

here's how these conversations usually go:

"yeah we have those things in America. They're called post office boxes. But people usually get them because they're convenient or for thier business or something like that."

"No, dangerous!"

"yeah but you have them in Japan."

"Ah, so. That's right. Mm, very convenient."

"Yeah, well, that's why people get them in America."

"No. Very dangerous. America danger. Japan safety. We can't understand -- why do American people steal mail?"

This is when people tune me out and start addressing each other in Japanese to back themselves up. Even though I understand japanese. They back each other up and go "Right? It's dangerous, right? You saw that TV program too, right? TV said it's dangerous." This is related to what I call the "Respect for Guys on TV" or "Respect for Guys in White Lab Coats" phenomena. If someone fitting that description says something, it enters the collective psyche as a solid fact and takes decades to wear away.

Japan and Terror

About 2 weeks ago the bombs went off in the London trains.

All the Japanese I know are convinced Japan is next. Of course they said that after September 11th too.

Why?

Good question.

When I ask why, they look at me as if I asked "Why is 6 after 5?"

I say "Why is Japan next?" and they say "New York, Madrid, London... Tokyo" while counting off on thier fingers. Maybe there's a nursery rhyme I don't know about.

I point out that a bomb is certainly possible here, but it's also possible (actually more likely) in Italy, the Netherlands or Poland because they have been involved in Iraq and have disgruntled Muslim populations. (The usual caveats: I'm not saying all Muslims are terrorists.) Even Paris is more likely. Maybe it was against the war but there, as in many other cities in Europe have foiled numerous terrorist attempts. Of course, successful bombings are easier to remember. Even an attack on Japanese citizens abroad, say like the Bali bombings targeted at Australians would be easier to pull off than one in Tokyo. I'm not a military analyst. I have a day job, side work, hobbies and an active social life but somehow find time to hear, think about and remember these things.

So how about Japan? No immigrant community (of any religion), tight borders not shared with anyone, no foiled attempts so far. Why exactly is Tokyo next?

Because "A Guy On TV Said So." End of story.

Bad Haircut

I got my haircut on Sunday.

I went into the local place where I usually go. Crewcut and a shave for 1000 yen (about USD10.) That's cheap. A nice place would charge 3 times that and women might pay 5 to 10 times that.

The old guys that work there know me and I basically get the same thing every time. So they usually grin at me and say "The usual?" And we chuckle and I get The Usual. They're nice and it's out little joke.

Sunday was different. I don't usually go on Sunday - I usually go between work appointments (hey it only takes a few minutes to shave a head.) But I had a wedding reception to attend and wanted my bristles to be thier best.

They sat me down and a young guy prepped me with the apron. They he kind of ran away, in slow motion like on The Simpsons. A woman working there was explaining to him "Ok, Kenji, this guy is gonna get a 3mm crewcut... Kenji? Uh, Kenji?" while he slinked away.

Everyone in the place, customers included, looked around with a collective "Huh?" Everyone except my girlfriend, that is. She thinks I imagine these things. True, it was kind of rude of the guy to refuse to cut my hair, but it was just so silly no one was bothered.

A few minutes later, one of the regular old guys finishd with his customer and asked me "The usual?" and everything was cool.

Movie Stars are Worth It

Movies came up again today. Someone saw "Troy" and was amazed at how Brad Pitt, who's about 42? now, managed to change his physique so much for the role. Someone else said the same for the actress in Million Dollar Baby. The conclusion was that sure, Hollywood actors are paid huge sums of money but they are worth it because they put so much into the roles. This was a group of women aged between 30 and 45.

Little Rascals

On Japanese TV it must be mandatory to have a panel of famous people sit around to discus the stuff you're watching. Maybe there's a law I don't know about. For example, you can see "America's Funniest Home Videos" here. Almost literally. They are the same videos, it's just that before, during and after watching the videos there are a half dozen minor celebrities (Think David Hasselhof, people that got kicked off the island in 'Survivor' et al.) commenting. So after a little kid in a video throws his pea soup at daddy, the celebreties say "Wow, good shot." (see later blogs about Japanese culture being a 'silent culture' that unlike English is comfortable with long pauses.)

Anyway, that's the situation. Most of the time I think it's annoying but I have to admit that on occaision it's a good idea. In this case it was because it was illuminating about people's opinions.

On that program, there was a brief intro that scientists in Canada had discovered a really healthy food. It turns out that this food is in pancakes, cookies, even desserts in Canada. There are a lot of TV programs about food in Japan, in particular about the magical healing qualities of the Japanese diet.

What is this new magical ingredient? I immediately thought "Buckwheat" when I heard pancakes. To help out the discussion panel, a half-Canadian woman was there to give some hints. She said it has been grown in Manitoba for over 100 years and it's 20% of the annual harvest. (Don't quote me on that, I forget.) Then the panel was given 3 choices. A kind of wild grain rice, brown unpolished rice (genmai) or buckwheat (soba.)

What surprised me was that every single panelist confidently declared that there was NO WAY it could be buckwheat. Now, I ate buckwheat pancakes sometimes as a kid so I kinda knew. But let's say you're not so familiar with Canadian dietary habits. Ok, bacon wasn't a choice. Hmmmm. Can rice be grown in Manitoba? To me that alone would exlude the first two options. I was surprised because Japanese often assume that rice is the sole domain of Japan, and ok, maybe China and Vietnam, but it's not so delicious over there. People ask me "Can you eat rice?" Note the nuance. They don't say "Do you like rice?" or "Do American people sometimes eat rice?" but "CAN you actually put rice in your mouth and swallow it?" When I say yes, people think "Wow, he's really adjusted to life here." like it's a big accomplishment.

But as I saw the TV show unfold, I figured it out. Rice may be dear to the Japanese heart but there's something about soba (buckwheat) that makes it distinctly Japanese. People were thinking 'Ok, maybe lately other countries started to eat rice, but there's no way they could have something so special as buckwheat. It's just too special" I was watching the program with a Japanese family at the time and all 3 of them had the same reaction as the panelists and were shocked when I said "Oh, yeah, it's definitely buckwheat."

Anyway to wind up a long story, the answer was buckwheat but you can imagne the stunned reaction. Which brings me to another common theme that I'm sure you'll see more of here:

"Only in Japan."

I understand when people think that maybe karaoke, judo, mechanized parking garages, sahimi, heated toilets and so on are "only in Japan" but there's a large number of things that surprise me that people think exist only in Japan.

I think different countries are stupid in different ways. Americans often have a "USA #1" attitude or express surprise that other places also have representative democracies. In Japan's case, it's common to search really hard for ways that Japan and the Japanese people are unique. For some reason it's a matter of pride. The Japanese seem really disappointed to learn that cedar trees for example exist someplace else. And when they do, they seek solace in the fact that those trees aren't JAPANESE cedar trees.

So in summation for you social researchers in the year 2066: Japanese people in 2005 are shocked to learn that buckwheat is grown and consumed in another country.

Strange People = Strange Movies

Last night in my class we were chatting about movies.

One young guy said how he doesn't like SF movies and hasn't ever seen an interesting one. But he likes "human dramas" like Green Mile and, er, Meet Joe Black.

A middle aged woman said she loves Bruce Willis and Steven Segal action flicks. Then a third student, a man in his late 30's said he likes just about anything.

One student, a little older and a university professor was clearly not interested in the conversation and was growing agitated by the waste of time. But I figured I'd at least give him a shot. "So, how about you, Professor K? What sort of movies do you like?"

His response "I think America has many strange people. So think American movies are maybe strange. So I don't watch them."

Along with me, the other 3 students just blinked a few times and went "Ohhhkay, moving right along"

Hospitals

Ok, somthing came up in class the other day about doctors making mistakes in hospitals. My students said "Oh, I bet that happens all the time in the US, huh? Seems like there'd be a lot of mistakes in American hospitals." The other young woman in the class laughed and nodded emphatically.

So I tried to explain how, yes, mistakes are made, but overall US hospitals have a good standing around the world. People come to the US to study medicine. US medical products are sold all over the world. Etc.

In these situations I try not to make a fight out of it. I don't point out that many Japanese doctors study at US hospitalsbut that the opposite isn't true. It's inflammatory.

The rason this became blog-worthy is because japanese newspapers are filled a couple times a week with headlines of major mistakes at hospitals. There is also a famous case of a many people catching AIDS from tainted blood because of such a mistake. But there are certain "facts" that people see here that no number of contradictory examples can shake, and one of those facts is "Japan is a well ordered, safe society and America is a wild, anything goes place with little attention to detail." In other words, because Toyotas are better than Plymouths, the same must be true for all facets of society"

I really grit my teeth when people (in either country) extrapolte these grand theories out of a headline or household product.

So I asked my (hospital mistake) students: why do you think American hospitals are so bad. They said "Well, America allows guns." And that was explanation enough. What they mean is that a place that lets people roam around with guns, certainly can't have the capability to regulate medicine etc.

This is a blog so it doesn't have to be well written. Sorry. But let me just reiterate ideas going on here because they are very typical of the way Japanese see themselves and America:

1. Despite what people see in the news or all around them everyday, they are still convinved that japan is safer than anywhere else, that everythng works and that people like doctors and experts on TV are infallable. (You've really got to see this firsthand. It's kinda like North Koreans saying with a straight face "We had a good grain harvest this year! Praise the leader!"

2. In America anything goes.

I'm not trying to say that my country doesn't have bad hospitals or that there aren't huge problems in health care etc. Just noting the strange images people formulate.

2012 Olympics

The other day, much to many people's surprise, London won out over Paris to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. By now we all know that there were terrorist bombings shortly thereafter.

I was talking to my students and no one had heard the news yet of the bombings.

Many people were astonished to hear that not only was I not upset that NYC didn't "win" the bid but that I actually thought Paris or London (or maybe a different American city) would be better. They thought I was BS-ing because I grew up near New York. When I got them semi-convinced that I was being honest, they all immediatedly said "Oh yeah, New York is dangerous. Terror. Terror."

This is a common pattern with them. Yeah, New York was hit on 9/11 a few years before, but let's take a look at the other candidate cities:

London - years of IRA terror, multiple Al Quaeda style attempots thwarted recently.
Paris - home to lotsa wanna-be terrorists, frequent arrests of said people.
Madrid - years of ETA bombs not to mention the very recent train bombings.
Moscow - Chechnya anyone?

Not to knock these places, just to point out how even educated, "internationally minded", well- traveled people get certain ideas in their head(s) that make thier memory VERY selective. It's true, the organizers have to worry about terrorism at a NYC Olympics but COME ON, the Olympics could be on the moon and they'd have to worry about it. It was a big worry at Athens just last year. Duh.

Not to mention one hour later 4 bombs went off in trains and buses in London.

Once we got over that hurdle, (NYC = terror) people set thier sights on the surprise part of London's victory. Ok, it had been gaining ground for weeks, helped by a big push by Tony Blair and rude comments by Jack Chirac. But why did this roomfull of well-intended, educated, travelled, bi-lingual people think that London had won? Could it be because the London team had done a better sales job? Could it be because the London site might have been technically superior? (I'm not saying that it is, just the possibility...) Could it be because France had pissed off a lot of people by rejecting the EU constitution that they wrote? Etc Etc...

Nope.

Now prepare yourself for a theme I just know you're gonna see a lot in the blogs to come.

London won because: America made the judges vote for it.

That's right. Somehow America magically convinced judges from around the world at the last minute to forget anything they had thought about for the two years or so, and, by America's sheer military might and current popularity (cough), force them to overlook Paris and by the slimmest margin choose another fascinating world city in an economically robust, multicultural country. Well, I can see thier point. It's certainly more logical that the reasons I've given.

I expressed my scepticism at that and asked people present to explain. I was willing to listen if someone could just try to back it up a little.

The reason? (Here comes another soon to be common theme:) "I don't know but the expert on TV said so." Followed by emphatic and unanimous nods around the room.

I'm not trying to say my country is perfect but jeez, is it at the heart of EVERYTHING that goes wrong? And can't anyone take what they hear on TV with a grain of salt?

First Post

This is the first post.
When Blogs first started becoming news I thought "There's already enough garbage on the web; Blogs may be fine for other people but I'm not going to contribute to the problem."

Anyway, here I am. I'm an American living in Japan and in my job I talk to Japanese people all day. The other day at work I thought it might be good to keep a record from an outside perspective of what they think, say and do.

I don't think this Blog will change anyone's opinion of who to vote for and so on. I just hope that someday it serves as a record of ordinary life, a little in the way that diaries during wartime have.