More American Images

Last night (Dec 24) I taught a lesson til 9pm. (Not that I cared, but just to make a note, during that time all over the city young couples were out and about, and I was working on Christmas Eve.)

Japanese tend to think that if a non-Japanese has a holiday, they rush back to the place they were born, even if they just went there 3 months before. Lots of people kept asking me if I was having a party on Christmas Eve (I was working, no problem, but that's just a fact.) and everyone was surprised I wasnt going back to America during my 1 week vacation (I dont know when you7re reading this but it takes 24 hours to get to NYC from where I live and costs a big chunk of money, gas prices are high and the economy is awful. When I say I'm not going "back my country" people think they misheard me and ask again, maybe triple check. If I ask anyone who asks me about going back to the states, if I ask them if they are going anywhere, everyone waves their hand (body language for "nooooo way!") and say "No money! No time" It's bothersome to go somewhere" etc.

So the main topic at my lesson was: American people eat a lot of food at Christmas, why do American people eat so much food, American people are fat, American food is big, American food is steak and coca cola. I pointed out that US supermarkets are in fact very big, but chances are such big places stock more than just steak and coke on the shelves. Not to mention a few feet from where our lesson was held, were several vending machine selling sweet soft drinks, and a convenience store filled with all sorts of potato chips, instant noodles and microwavable food. (But of course there is an explanation for this: it's not the true Japan and is a result of foreign influence, not the change to an industrial society.)

Then I went to a bar, was served some fried chicken wings and a well traveled loudmouth guy who visited the states told me and everyone else that it is impossible to go out, anywhere, in the states at night because you might get killed. A young man added that he had visited Las Vegas in a rental car, was pulled over by a cop and was terrified because the cop had a gun. Japanese cops carry guns.

I had dinner earlier with 4 people who couldn't believe that we have okra in the states. It is only in Japan. I'm not sure, but my guess is that okra was introduced in Japan by the US. People likewise think its downright strange that Americans sometimes eat enoki, shiitake mushrooms, tofu maybe even soy sauce but take it for granted that food like tomatoes, eggplant and broccoli are common in Japan. I bet very few samurai ever saw and eggplant or drank beer.

Okra has a sticky texture inside. Somehow the rumor got started that foreigners can't eat those kinds of foods, perhaps because most foreigners, at least those that just got here, don't like natto. Half of Japan also doesnt like natto, but that's besides the point. So it's been decided but the mythmakers that foreigners dont like sticky food. and the conversation goes like this:
Kirk, do you like natto?
No, not really.
Because it's sticky?
No, it just tastes bad. Like it's spoiled. It's mouldy.
Ah, so it's the sticky fibers?
No, it smells bad and tastes awful.
Ah, just as I thought, foreigners don't like sticky foods.

Okra, therefore couldn't possibly exist elsewhere because who would eat it?

Then I worked today, it's Christmas, no problem, I celebrate Christmas in my heart and with loved ones on another day, but I finished a lesson and had lunch. The restaurant staff asked if Christmas is a holiday in the US.
Yes, It's a national holiday, I said.
Ah, you poor thing. You work like a Japanese.
It's no problem. I'm used to work. I worked a lot in America.
Ah but it must have been a shock to come to Japan.
How come?
It's totally different than America. You have to work a lot here.
No, I worked a lot in America.
Get out, no way. Americans have like a month off in the summer.
I never did.
Yeah but Americans get Christmas off. We Japanese dont.
(Over her shoulder was a calendar. Most numbers were listed in black. Dec 23, two days before was in red ink. Why? Because it was a national holiday.)

Mind you this occured across the street from the national university which shuts down for 2 months in the summer and 2 months in the spring, and the teachers have no lessons, but I continue to teach at other places. So while the Japanese teachers have no lessons, I am in front of a blackboard in a class somewhere, so I am like a Japanese.)

So all in the space of about 12 hours I got:
Americans eat steak and cola.
You get killed if you go out at night.
Cops in the US carry guns, unlike other places.
Americans can't eat vegetables (I didnt write about it but it came up during the okra conversation. People often ask me if I can eat vegetables, then compliment me on having adjusted so when when I answer yes.)
Okra is Japanese-only-food
It's a snap to fly halfway across the planet for the weekend.
Americans get long holidays, and if you don't you are like a Japanese.