Culture Shock! Right Of Way And Other Car Stuff

So in America, pedestrians have the right of way, even when they don't. There are clearly marked areas for pedestrians and cars. If the crosswalk says a person can pass, cars have to wait for that person to finish crossing. People in cars will wave for you to cross the street before them. Oregon has particularly polite drivers, but in general in America cars stay where cars go and do their best to avoid pedestrians and cyclists. In Japan, that is not the case.

When you cross the street in Japan, make sure to look around because most likely cars aren't going to stop to let you pass unless they are literally going to hit you if they don't. Even then they will get close to you. There are no sidewalks in some places so bikes and pedestrians are on the side of the road and cars go past you. Mind you roads in Japan are narrow. However, the gutter things usually provide a sidewalk like thing for you to walk on so you won't get hit by a car. Also, if there even is a sidewalk, it's extremely common for cars to be parked on it. There isn't really that much street parking so sometimes cars either park partially in the street or up on the sidewalk. I have to walk around a lot of cars trying to walk down the sidewalk in the village I am staying in.

Another time I was walking back from the convenience store and saw a car drive out through the crosswalk. That was pretty confusing but it's a space with no curb I guess. Cars are very small here. Like I'm as tall as most of the trucks (which are the tiniest) and a Prius feels like a big car. Most cars only have two seats across in the back. We have had to fit five people in those cars before (until we found out it was illegal and you can get deported), which was a very tight squeeze.

The roads here are quite narrow and this weekend we were going up a mountain road where it was one lane with no turn outs. Lots of plants so you couldn't see much but there were mirrors set up. We were in a Prius which isn't a particularly big car but still probably the biggest car you could fit on that road. At one point the driver was trying to text while driving down the roads until the lady in the passenger seat told him she didn't want to die so he stopped. Should have gotten a picture.

I also spend a lot of time wondering "how the hell did you park there?!?" because in Japan people fit their cars into the craziest places. Like between a big plant and a garbage container, under a tiny awning where there are literally bumpers up against the wall so they can pull up as close as possible, backing into tiny spaces and missing other cars by inches, on the sidewalk, and the one that is the craziest, in my opinion, is this one:

So near my guesthouse there is this little parking lot area with three or four spots and two normal sized cars park there (and one time a small truck but that's a story for another day). They back in, like most Japanese do, but here's the catch: the parking lot is on a hill so it's a drop off and these people back up their cars until the tires are INCHES from the edge. Like the back of their car hangs over the edge. Trying to park there would give me a heart attack.

Also, people don't wear seat belts that much.

I Can Finally Understand Some Japanese

So when I first got here I had no idea what was being said to me aside from hello, goodbye, thank you, and maybe a couple other words. It's not like I didn't know more, I just never spoke or heard it. However, even if I could speak and understand all I knew, that wouldn't have gotten me very far. It was very frustrating and confusing for the first couple weeks.

A couple weeks into the program they started bringing over high school students in the afternoon to talk to us in Japanese. The first day I was the only one there, and I don't speak much Japanese. The two girls tried to talk to me but I couldn't really understand them. They tried to figure out something to do with me and ended up playing word games, but at one point they were talking to each other and one said "I like food" and I gave her a thumbs up. They both looked at me completely shocked I understood and were happy. One of the words I knew for the word game was the word for jet lag so one of the girls asked me if I had jet lag and I said yes, which also entertained them.

A couple weeks later and a lot of staring at people quite confused until they gave up or one of my friends who speaks better Japanese helped me, some of the kids in my program went to a barbecue at one of the staff member's houses. Right when I get there a guy walks up to me and asks in casual Japanese "do you understand Japanese?" I wasn't really sure how to respond so he asked my friend and my friend said no (gee thanks dude). He then swore and went on to talk to other people. Mind you I understood all of what he said 😆. Later on he handed me something and I thanked him in Japanese and he looked at me like "wait, she does understand Japanese!" In general I didn't know what he was saying but I knew what he was saying sometimes.

Last weekend I was wandering around outside in the rain and got completely soaked because I didn't want to use my umbrella. Just walking my usual path near the guesthouse and I noticed there were some (very small) fire trucks going past. From what I can tell there were two, but anyway they passed me about five times. The last time I got passed the guy pulled over and asked me if I was okay (in Japanese. The word is ”だいじょぶ” (not super sure about spelling) and it means most short expressions using the word "okay"). I said I was okay and went home. It was one of the first times someone had spoken to me in Japanese and I didn't get confused or had to think about it.

So this morning I was walking because what else are you going to do and it's beautiful here and while I was walking past one of the houses a guy came out of one and drove his tiny truck up a little ways then stopped. When he got out of his tiny truck, he said something I assume to be along the lines of "hey, there's a foreigner over there" because suddenly a whole family was looking at me. I waved at them and said good morning which entertained them. The daughter (adult) asked me if I lived in Higashiyama and how many people lived there (all in Japanese). Not a super complicated conversation but I was happy to be able to talk to people and not be completely confused.

Small Thing Number Twenty Three: Learn Katakana

In my Japanese class, many kids forgot katakana as soon as we passed the katakana test. All they knew how to write is their own names. The reasoning behind this is that katakana is for non Japanese words so we won't exactly be using it that much. It is true that you don't see katakana too much in the textbook, but a textbook and real life are very different.

Look at all the katakana on this sign! すごい！

And this menu! So much katakana when it comes to food.

When I got to Japan, I found that there is katakana absolutely everywhere. Especially in food establishments. Grocery stores and restaurants use a lot of katakana which means if you can read it you can figure out what it says even with a limited Japanese vocabulary. Luckily for me, I actually remembered some katakana and have gotten quite good at reading it since being in Japan because there is so much of it the second I walk out my front door I can practice (quite literally. There is a sign across the street that says ヤマハ). Most of my practice comes from reading the back of ingredient labels on food or on restaurant menus when I feel adventurous. My Japanese tutor brought in some clothing and food ads yesterday to test my katakana skills and I was able to read them all.

For just taking lessons, you don't necessarily need katakana, but it is beyond useful if you actually want to come here. So if you don't know katakana, get out your textbook, a whiteboard, and start writing lots of katakana. Then find some pictures of Japanese food menus (like for a fast food restaurant or something with a lot of English words) and test your skills!

Culture Shock! Door Handles And The Like

It's time for a new series! This time it's culture shock. I did a lot of research before I came here, so I was prepared for a lot of stuff but some things just came out of left field and took some getting used to.

Most doorways here are pretty short, and many of the boys in my program are about as tall as or taller than doorways. That is expected and people will tell you about that. However, the doors that aren't sliding doors (and many are) have lever type knobs verses the American round knob. This isn't the shocking part, though. I shall explain the shocking part through a little anecdote.

So I have just arrived at the place I will be staying and decide to visit the toilet room (I did my research and was aware of the separate room, sink toilet combos, and bathroom slippers). However, I hadn't found anywhere that the flush mechanism points down, not sideways. Perplexed, I decide to try pulling it towards me. It works. I go to leave the toilet room and after unlocking it push down on the lever handle to open the door. The door doesn't open. I try again. It doesn't open. I make sure the door is unlocked, and it is. Not wanting to embarrass myself by getting locked in the toilet room my very first day in Japan, I think a little bit and decide to try lifting the handle like I did with the toilet. It works.

So essentially all handles lift up here. Door handles, toilet flush things, locks, any lever type thing. In America it is the exact opposite. You push down on door handles, push the flush mechanism down, and twist locks down to lock them. After a couple days I was completely adjusted but it was definitely something I did not expect to be different. To my American brain it is more intuitive to push something down than to pull it up, but it must be the opposite. Doors also open the opposite way than expected most of the time. For example, in my house the front door opens into the entryway, the bathroom door opens into the bathroom, and my bedroom door opens into my bedroom. In Japan, the front doors open onto the porch, the toilet room doors open into the hallway, and my bedroom door also opens into the hallway. 

Also, light switches are sideways and often on the outside of the room they like. Means you can mess with your roommates by turning off the lights when they are in a room. It's great.

Things That Feel Weird To Me

 Japan is different than America in a lot of ways, and I understand that, but my American brain is hardwired for America and some things feel off even though they actually aren't. The past couple days I have been trying to adjust myself but it still feels weird. Anyway, those things are walking at night and face masks.

Ojiya is a small town that is a little old in sections and has a lot of random alleyways. In America, this would mean major sketchyville and you shouldn't be out there, especially at night. However, Ojiya is totally safe and while you do see some gangster looking guys they are about as dangerous as your average American high school boy. In America, you don't go walking alone at night, especially if you are a girl. Even in my own safe area in the country we have had people drive past suspiciously slow and had someone drive by shooting at street signs. Here you see girls walking by themselves down dark streets and it's completely safe. I understand this and night is a great time to go walking because the temperature is actually reasonable but I still find myself getting uneasy in dark areas with lots of unlit streets and alleyways.

The other thing that makes me uncomfortable is face masks. I caught a cold from one of my housemates and standard protocol in Japan is to wear a face mask over your nose and mouth as to decrease the potential of infecting others (my housemate should have done this...). So I see others wearing face masks all the time and it doesn't bother me at all but when I wear one myself I feel really uncomfortable. In America I tried to wear them a few times to help prevent others from getting sick but people will stare at and avoid you so I would always end up taking them off as soon as I was around people. Kinda ironic that people avoid you more when you are trying to keep them from getting sick. So I needed to go to the grocery store today and when I got to the doors I put on my face mask as to not breath on the groceries. It made me feel very uncomfortable even though I know it's expected in Japan. Felt a lot better when I saw a lady shopping for vegetables also wearing one. Some employees were wearing them too. They actually look kinda cute in my opinion. Still make me uncomfortable to wear and I think people might have stared at me a little more today. Maybe not, though. I recently discovered that those in cars will stare at you the most because it's not as obvious that they are staring at you.

Anyway, those are two things that are perfectly normal in Japan that make me uncomfortable because they aren't normal in America. Probably going to go walking tonight with my face mask on, though 😁.

People Taking Pictures

So I'm in a fairly small town in Japan. You could walk across the town in less than an hour and everyone knows the head of my study abroad program (like seriously I've run into people everywhere from the grocery store to the street in front of the main house to some random rural road that ask me if I know him). There is something like 11 foreigners in this whole town, nine of them students from my program. It isn't uncommon to get stared at or get pictures taken of us.

It happens a lot with our students from the English lessons. After lessons they will take pictures with either everyone or their favorite instructor. Three of the boys have fanclubs so lots of girls like to take pictures with them. When we ran into some of the kids outside of class they wanted to take pictures then too. At the Nagaoka Edamame Festival some random lady wanted a picture with some of the kids from the foreign teams. When we went to go visit a high school a class of kids who wasn't going to work with us came in just so they could take pictures with us. We ran into some of them at the festival too and took pictures with them then as well.

Then there is cameramen. During our visits to the city office and to an elementary school we had a cameraman following us around. We have been in the newspaper once or twice already. At the edamame eating contest the cameramen were all over us. Last night at the festival a cameraman saw me and Lion boy standing there watching the dancing then had us pose for a picture.

It's definitely odd to have this much attention. I'm just a normal American college student. The only day a newspaper person ever came to a place I was I had a fever and couldn't attend. I met the mayor of the city of Ojiya and I've never even met the mayor of my own tiny town. It's rare to even take pictures with my friends.

My guess is that foreigners are just so rare that people want to take pictures with us and show that we are enjoying "real Japan." Most foreigners are in very touristy areas but we're here walking around small town festivals. The younger generations in Japan are very picture and selfie oriented so taking pictures with fun crazy foreigners that cheer loudly, yell good morning at all times of the day, and do whatever weird stuff we do is fun for them. Older generations are happy we are enjoying Japanese culture and not just wandering around the crowded streets and bright lights of Tokyo.

It Rained. A Lot.

I know it's the middle of July but here in Japan it is monsoon season so in the middle of hot humid weeks you get a day where it absolutely pours. This has happened many times since I got here but today was probably the most extreme example. It actually started raining last night while we were at a festival. Nobody had brought an umbrella because it was such a nice night so we had to duck into a grocery store and buy some. I'm a bad Oregonian getting an umbrella but I didn't have an umbrella and this is worse than anything we get in Oregon. Anyway, after running home and having my shoes fill with water from all the rain, we went home to sleep to the sound of rain...and woke up to thunder and lightening.

So my housemates were going to an elementary school today but I was free (it's a long story) so I was thinking of walking part of the way down the mountain to Ojiya after I took a shower. Before Lion boy left and took the internet with him, I sent a text to the guy who drives us if he could pick me up if he got the chance and that I may walk part way like I did the day before. He arrived right after I took a shower which is a good thing because when I finally got back to the main guest house I got a text that he had sent a while ago saying it was too dangerous to walk because the rain made landslides likely. The other thing in that text is that there was a "don't go outside" warning. Apparently every five years they get massive storms and this is one of them. I knew it was a storm but I live in Oregon we get rain and storms how bad can some rain be?

It wasn't raining too hard when we got to town so I grabbed my umbrella and headed to the grocery store less than a ten minute's walk away. While there, I run into the head of the program's daughter and talk to her for a bit and run into another lady that I believe is an English teacher and also lives across the street from the main house. She spoke to me in a combination of English and Japanese so that was kinda cool. Anyway, eventually I got my stuff and started walking home. When I was getting close to the convenience store where I switch main streets it starts pouring. Like more rain at once than I have ever seen in America. There is a lot of water on the roads and it is flowing into the really deep ditch gutter things they have along the sides of all the roads here. Despite my umbrella and the ditches, my shoes still start to fill with water.

When I pass the convenience store, I notice a small ditch has overflowed. As I stop to take a picture, I notice water shooting out of the grates down the street. I take some pictures of that and continue walking.

The road starts to fill with water and I'm fascinated by it. A guy is standing in his garage so I comment on the rain and continue walking down the street. However, by the time I get to the side street the main house is on, the main street and the side street are partially underwater. I stood there for a while seeing if it would go down then try to go down the street where it isn't flooded but water is shooting out of the grates there too and the road is flooding fast. My shoes are already filled with water so I just pick a place where the water isn't too deep and wade across the road and hop onto a raised curb. The water is close to 12in/30cm deep. I have to wade back to the house and then send a message to everyone telling them the roads are flooded and Corgimama comes running downstairs because she realized I was outside when there was a "don't be outside" warning. I took off my completely soaked shoes and socks and got scolded by Corgimama before going inside for a bit then wandering out onto the porch to take more pictures.

Both streets were completely underwater for a while, a voluntary evacuation was issued in some places, and water flooded the lower floors of some houses. The roads are completely dry now but that was a really interesting experience.