Changing Impressions of Japan

So I've had four months in Japan and in less than two weeks I'll be heading back home to America. In that time I've gone from utter bewilderment, amazement, and a whole hoard of conflicting thoughts to get to this point: where Japan became everyday life.

Going to Kinkakuji? Just a day trip to Kyoto. I got there by biking, riding trains and walking - all without getting lost. I saw it, made my way through the tourists (both Japanese and foreign alike) to get the obligatory photo. It was a strange place to be though, somewhere between tourist and someone who actually lives in Japan. I didn't need a guide or a map and I could make my way around with my language skills, so I wasn't like the big group of tourists. And without even going into the litany of reasons, I'm definitely nothing like someone who has lived here for a long time.

But everyday life came to be the best part of being here. When trying to find pictures for this post, specifically something that was quintessentially 'everyday life,' I couldn't find anything, probably because those aren't the times anyone takes photos. What we choose to take photos of, more likely than not, are those times when something special is happening, but really, after being here for a semester, instead of being in the awe stage of studying abroad, I've reached the part where Japan was just another part of life, just as much as my time back home.

Politics in Japan

The above picture was taken in Nipponbashi (or DenDen Town) in Osaka. It wasn't the first political vehicle I had ever seen, but I got a picture of this one.

This particular van was for the Democratic Party of Japan (certainly NOT to be confused with the Liberal Democractic Party of Japan, which it broke away from, along with other groups in 1998).

Taken from the DPJ's website:

We will take the idea of "coexistence" as our philosophy for building a new nation, and transform Japan into a "fair nation" that is logical in every way. In order to achieve this, we will aim for each Japanese person to become self-reliant and moreover to become self-reliant as a nation.
[...]
In terms of diplomacy, Japan, having expressed remorse for the last war, will take the lead in promoting as our national policy the achievement of "coexistence" between human beings and between nation states, in other words ensuring peace for Japan and for the world, and "coexistence" between human beings and the natural world, in other words preserving the global environment.

This picture was from a day of hanami in Kyoto. It demonstrates many things about the DPJ's policies. First, the signs are in two languages. As a matter of fact, the people running the stand were a Iraqi man, an Indonesian woman and their children; the children had all grown up in Japan - a very international family to say the least. Despite differing viewpoints from various political parties, foreigners can and do come to live in Japan permanently. Like in the photo, they may retain their culture while also adapting to or even adopting Japanese culture.

The other aspect that reflects the DPJ's policies is the bottom sign. Not pictured was another sign about ending the war in Iraq. As coexistence and peace is essential to the DPJ's platform, it is a good visual example of that idea. Not only are there the words and the ideas, but also they are written in different languages (which, interestingly, on this sign there is no Japanese, but on the bigger sign there was).

Okinawa

As the title indicates, today's blog is about Okinawa. I was fortunate enough to be able to go their over my spring break. Besides enjoying the sunshine, I also got a sense of how unique Okinawa is when compared to much of mainland Japan.

(The above picture is of a Shisa, protectors of the island of Okinawa.)

In the past, Okinawa was a sovereign kingdom, the Ryukyu Kingdom. The above photo was taken at Shurijo in Naha. It is a picture of the throne for the Ryukyu king while he was staying in Shurijo. Although almost all of Shurijo was destroyed in World War II, it has been restored with painstaking detail. It's restoration aimed to restore the symbol of the Ryukyu's.

The people that feel tied to Okinawa have much to be proud about. In the past, the Ryukyu kingdom thrived because of its trade relations with China and other nations. Its location did wonders for the wealth of the island nation.

In 1609, however, that would change because it was then that Japan began its control of the Ryukyu islands. Some sovereignty of the Ryukyu royal families would remain until 1868 when the Meiji Restoration began and "Japanese leaders felt the need to legitimize Japan's nation-state status, [...] which signaled the end of Ryukyuan sovereignty, with the push for the full integration of the Ryukyu Kingdom into Japan as Okinawa Prefecture. "

Okinawans are Japanese, officially, but to some mainland Japanese, and to some native Okinawans, they are still different. Many Okinawans I spoke to were proud of their ties to the Ryukyu kingdom. And surely, all over the gift shops were shirts and other merchandise marked with "The Ryukyus" rather than "Okinawa."

Some Okinawans don't feel they are just like mainland Japanese people. Like other minority cultures around the world, the Ryukyus in Japan, after becoming a prefecture, were forced to accept an "occupation and assimilation policy" where Japanese officials "forcibly suppressed independent indigenous culture, language, and political and economic systems."

Many assert that the discrimination continues today. Take, for example, the US military presence in Okinawa. One of the biggest problems many people have is that "Okinawa prefecture hosts over half of the US forces in Japan and that about 75 percent of the land US forces occupy in Japan is on Okinawa," not to mention news stories that keep surfacing about rapes and other crimes committed by American soldiers in Okinawa. Many Okinawans feels that they are disproportionately shouldering the affects of American military bases.

Other issues exist as well. When the Japanese government was looking to change things in some textbooks, one of the things proposed to be changed was about the mass suicides that occurred on Okinawa, spurred on by advice from the Japanese Imperial Army. Survivors of that time insist that "distorting history is not good. You run the risk of committing the same mistakes."

So while Okinawa is both legally and culturally Japanese in many aspects, it also retains a culture of its own, hardened, perhaps, by the struggle it has endured to stay alive.

For some more visual anth, check out my two videos of traditional Ryukyu dances as seen at Shurijo: here and here. I didn't have the best seat, and it was rather windy, but enjoy nevertheless! Also, they are rather short...

Sports in Japan

I really like baseball, and lucky for me, so does Japan!

According to What Japan Thinks, when asked "what is your favorite sport" the results were as follows:

Baseball	20.7%
Football (soccer)	11.8%
Formula One, rallying, motorbike racing, other motor sports	4.9%
Volleyball	4.6%
Swimming	4.5%

And now, welcome to Kyocera Dome Osaka!
Back in March I got to see the Hanshin Tigers play the Yokohama Bay Stars.

Baseball came to Japan in 1872, and the first formal team was formed in 1878. Like many foreign things brought to Japan, it has flourished. There are few major differences between American Baseball and Japanese baseball. There are some interesting things, however, such as:

• Many teams are named after their corporate sponsors, not the city they are from. For instance, the Hanshin Tigers are named for the Hanshin Railway that owns them. One of the most obvious examples of this would be the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
  
• Like Sumo, there is a cap on how many foreign players are allowed on any one team. Right now, the maximum number is four.
• And the songs... oh the songs. There are songs to sing for most any event in a game. Everyone seems to know them, too! I felt so lost. Luckily, the man next to us taught us a few of them.
  

And then there are the fans. Like I mentioned in an earlier post (and eluded to with mentioning the songs), Japanese fans are every bit as enthusiastic about their teams as we can be in the US. The above picture is everyone preparing to release a ton of balloons as the Hashin Tigers closed in the game (and won!). They did it, too, at the seventh inning stretch.

For me, it seemed as though the cheering was much more organized compared to US games. Each team has a specific cheering section (unfortunately, my photos of the Tiger's section came out really blurry). Also, I was surprised by how much noise people made when their team was up to bat. At least with my experience in the US, you try to be the most jarring to mess up the other team! For example, being the freshly-made Hanshin fans we were, my friends and I quickly boo'd the other team's pitcher (he was pitching fairly horribly, I'm just saying), and the man next to us (who had taught us the songs) told us that you only cheer for your side to do better, never for the other side to do worse. Not that Japanese baseball is without little jabs at the other side. When the other team was about to strike out, the Hanshin band played a little of "Auld Lang Syne."

And just in case you're interested, here's my (horribly shaky!) video of the big screen playing part of the Hanshin Tiger's theme song: enjoy!

Japanese Religion

Japanese Religion: Jizou

Everyday I pass this on my way home from school. Once, I asked my homestay mom what it was and she explained (through a mixture of her little English and my little Japanese) that it was a Child's Kami, but specifically for when children die. I also asked my younger homestay sister. She explained, rather interestingly, that it was a shrine for "children who are born, but not really." Needless to say, I was a little confused, but I looked it up, asked some friends, and came to know that it was a place for Jizou, the guardian of unborn, aborted, miscarried, and stillborn babies, as well as the patron saint of expectant mothers, children, firemen, travelers, pilgrims, and the protector of all beings caught in the process of reincarnation.

According to legend attributed to the Jodo Sect around the 14th or 15th century, children who die prematurely are sent to the underworld as punishment for causing great sorrow to their parents. They are sent to Sai no Kawara, the river of souls in purgatory, where they pray for Buddha's compassion by building small stone towers, piling stone upon stone. But underworld demons [...] soon arrive and scatter their stones [...] But, no need to worry, for Jizo comes to the rescue.

In Mainland Asia's version of Buddhism; however, his role is related to the latter of the latter of those, not the guardian of unborn, aborted, miscarried, and stillborn babies. That interpretation of Jizou is unique to Japan.

In the pictures above, you can see both piles of stones and red bibs on the statues. This is because:

Many believe that a stone offered in faith will shorten the time their child suffers in the underworld. [Also] sorrowing parents bring the little garments of their lost ones and dress the Jizo statue in hopes Jizo will specially protect their child. A little hat or bib or toy is often seen as well, the gift of a rejoicing parent whose child has been cured of dangerous sickness thanks to Jizo's intervention, or a gift to help the deceased child in the afterlife.

Japanese Art and Entertainment

Today's post is about Japanese Entertainment, specifically, Japanese fandom as it is related to the entertainment industry. To do this, I'm focusing on Kat-tun, and the women in my host family's obsession with them, as well as opinions on Japanese fandom in general.

In planning for this post, I tried to find pages that broke down simply their record sales, tours, etc, but all I could find was hoards of amateur fan sites. Then I realized, that says enough right there.

This picture is from our living room. Notice the Kat-tun fan and the Kat-tun DVD collections. Across the room from this, on another wall, is a Kat-tun calendar and another fan (I, however, couldn't get a decent glare-less picture of it).
It's in the living room and not just in a bedroom or other non-family room because enjoying Kat-tun has become a family activity, at least for my home stay mom and my two sisters. They go to as many concerts as possible together, buy all the DVDs, of course all the CDs and whatever else they can find.

(This is one of my home stay sister's walls -she graciously let me share her collection with the world. Note that only a few are posters - most are just ads that the members of the band happened to be in.)

Now, fandom isn't unique to Japan. All over the world people of all ages obsess over singers, actors, sports teams, etc.
But Colors Magazine puts an interesting spin that takes it from the realm of ordinary fandom and places it in the realm of cultural understanding:

The Japan we imagine from afar is placid, tidy, and seamlessly efficient, correct to the last place. Trains arrive on the dot, and crowds pour out of them, in streamlined rows of look-alike Chanel and gray suits, not a bead of sweat visible, even in the heat of summer rush hour. [...] There’s truth, without question, to all of this. But what it ignores are the immutable Newtonian rules of engagement: the more rigorously a group mentality is enforced, the wilder the explosions of individual eccentricity.

(And the crowning glory, her wall of posters. There's no size reference, I just realized, but it goes from ceiling to floor.)

Colors Magazine continues:

In a certain sense, part of the point of fandom, as revealed by Japan, is that it hardly matters what the object of your devotion is; it’s the devotion itself, the release of renegade energies, the creation of a private sanctuary, that counts.

So perhaps while entertainment fandom isn't a unique occurrence, maybe the drives behind it are, as the article suggests. I've spoken to several friends who have been to Japanese concerts and been amazed at how the whole crowd moves as one because every one there knows all the dance moves of the band on stage. Myself, I've seen the fan groups for individual Takarazuka players line up and organize long before the show starts, arranging themselves according to the ranking that star has in overall popularity. I've also been to a Hanshin Tigers game and see how almost everyone in the crowd knows all the words to all the songs (but alas, we'll save more of that for the Sports post). Perhaps in a culture of uniformity, where most people share the same ethnic background, speak the same language, wear uniforms to schools, the individual expression that can be found in choosing a fandom and finding others that share it carries something more than just fandom as a hobby on the side.

Traditional Japanese Culture

I took this picture at Kiyomizudera (Pure Water Temple) on a day trip to Kyoto. In this photo is the famous Otowa-no-taki ("Sound of Feathers") waterfall.

I think this photo represents traditional Japanese culture in many ways. First of all, it is a Buddhist temple which, while perhaps not as organically Japanese as Shinto, is certainly a large part of traditional Japan. Secondly, one of the women in the photo is wearing a kimono, another aspect of traditional Japanese culture. In fact, several people I saw visiting the temple were wearing kimono that day. Lastly, in both Shinto and Buddhist culture, water is a symbol of purity. Before entering sacred places, one purifies oneself with water, and at the case of Kiyomizudear (where purity is even in the name), the above waterfall was said to help ease/protect from illness, help in matters of love and help with one's studies, all through the purity of water (the one for love seemed to be the most popular!).

This photo is of a rice field. One doesn't have to be in Japan long to see how integrated into Japanese food culture the crop is, which is why I also think this photo is representative of Japanese culture. According to Japan-Guide.com, rice has been grown in Japan for over 2000 years. Rice is a part of every day life, both literally (with how common rice is a part of a meal), or more figuratively (like how the word for rice, gohan, appears in the words for the 3 daily meals: asagohan, hirugohan and bangohan). It is also a part of special traditions. For instance, mochi (a pounded rice cake of sorts) is a part of New Year's celebrations.