the presence of raw eggs in Japanese cuisine. Actually, the
omnipresence of eggs in dishes, in general. (I am not complaining. For the record, one of my favourite foods in Japan
is oyakodon 親子丼 –
meaning ‘parent and child’ – a delicious mixture of chicken, egg, and sliced
scallions served on rice.)
mochi* pretending to be cheese. (Again, not complaining. Anything that mimicks the deliciously gooey texture, if not the flavour, of melted cheese, is a-okay by me, as the Real McCoy – expensive and unpopular -- is a rarity in ruralJapan
mayonnaise pretending to be cheese. (This one, I’m less okay with. Whether it be on pizza, slathered thickly on sandwiches, or as a main ingredient in various meat and “cheese” breads, mayo is not, and never will be, cheese.)
individually-wrapped everything (think: Halloween-candy portions all year ‘round), including the equivalent of maybe three Pringles’ worth of small, spicy shrimp rice crackers
the use of umbrellas for sun and rain
the bone-chillingly cold water in the washrooms, or the arbitrary availability of soap
the terrifyingly “mind over matter” art of sitting seiza (on your heels, with numb feet folded under you)
when rags that were, minutes earlier, racing lint, crumbs, and hairballs along the floor, are next used to dust off counters, desktops, and windowsills
student-enforced discipline including shouts of “shizuka” (“Be quiet!”) during especially rowdy elementary school lunch-hours, and junior high girls walloping their male counterparts (hard!) when they drift off in class
the cutting of fingernails in the morning staffroom**
And some things you do…
elementary school kids cruising (and, on occasion, wobbling) around the playground (typically, a versatile gravel lot) on unicycles with slightly deflated wheels
students sprinting through unheated winter hallways from toasty classroom to toasty classroom wailing “samui, samui” (“It’s cold, it’s cold!”), only to throw open the windows of said rooms after returning from P.E. moaning “atsui, atsui” (“I’m hot, I’m hot!”)
spelling “colour” and “favour” without the “u” and referring to theUnited States as “America
high school students wearing school uniforms, regardless of the day of the week
elementary school girls wearing shorts and knee-high socks that never quite meet, even in the darkest days of winter
the style, for females in general, to wear clothing that leaves the knee to mid-thigh exposed
cold rice and raw fish
sitting through all manner of meetings, ceremonies of all sorts, sermons, speeches, and street talk where, when it comes to deciphering what’s going on, anyone’s guess is better than mine
not eating or drinking on the street (when I do, it just feels weird)
watching boys in their baseball uniforms and girls in their volleyball attire (i.e. gym shorts and wind-breaker jackets) scurry/trudge through the snow to/from the gym
the brotherly closeness of boys at school, the manner in which they link elbows, hug, hold hands, and drape arms over shoulders (when they aren’t punching, pulling, or dragging each other across the floor, of course)
the graceful, elegant, expressive movements of even the most manly hands
commuters in suits on bikes with umbrellas (even though the use of umbrellas while cycling was outlawed back in October 2011)
my microwave/convection oven, which, on a miraculous day (like Holy Saturday) will bake a delectable chocolate cake, but which usually resigns itself to partially heating leftovers or
making radioactive toast
the people and perspectives of ruralJapan
the challenges of reading at a (near) Grade 1 level
the graciousness and generosity of others (I need to be so careful not to take them for
granted)
the daily post-lunch souji*** sessions, where students change (or partly change) out of their
uniforms and into the P.E. clothes, get down on their hands and knees, and clean dirt off the floor with a once-white rag (or, at least, push it around until the fifteen minutes is up)
the fact that what appears to be brown bread is far more likely to be chocolate-flavored
songs and musical cues to signal 6 am, 6 pm, the arrival and departures of trains, the entering and exiting of a conbini (convenience store), and just about anything else you weren't aware needed a soundtrack
the remarkable lack of litter on public transport, in the street, in Japan, in general
not understanding everything all of the time and being perfectly okay with it
*Mochi is glutinous rice pounded into a gooey, gluey goo. See July 20th post for pictures.
mochi* pretending to be cheese. (Again, not complaining. Anything that mimicks the deliciously gooey texture, if not the flavour, of melted cheese, is a-okay by me, as the Real McCoy – expensive and unpopular -- is a rarity in rural
mayonnaise pretending to be cheese. (This one, I’m less okay with. Whether it be on pizza, slathered thickly on sandwiches, or as a main ingredient in various meat and “cheese” breads, mayo is not, and never will be, cheese.)
individually-wrapped everything (think: Halloween-candy portions all year ‘round), including the equivalent of maybe three Pringles’ worth of small, spicy shrimp rice crackers
the use of umbrellas for sun and rain
the bone-chillingly cold water in the washrooms, or the arbitrary availability of soap
the terrifyingly “mind over matter” art of sitting seiza (on your heels, with numb feet folded under you)
when rags that were, minutes earlier, racing lint, crumbs, and hairballs along the floor, are next used to dust off counters, desktops, and windowsills
student-enforced discipline including shouts of “shizuka” (“Be quiet!”) during especially rowdy elementary school lunch-hours, and junior high girls walloping their male counterparts (hard!) when they drift off in class
the cutting of fingernails in the morning staffroom**
And some things you do…
elementary school kids cruising (and, on occasion, wobbling) around the playground (typically, a versatile gravel lot) on unicycles with slightly deflated wheels
students sprinting through unheated winter hallways from toasty classroom to toasty classroom wailing “samui, samui” (“It’s cold, it’s cold!”), only to throw open the windows of said rooms after returning from P.E. moaning “atsui, atsui” (“I’m hot, I’m hot!”)
spelling “colour” and “favour” without the “u” and referring to the
high school students wearing school uniforms, regardless of the day of the week
elementary school girls wearing shorts and knee-high socks that never quite meet, even in the darkest days of winter
the style, for females in general, to wear clothing that leaves the knee to mid-thigh exposed
cold rice and raw fish
sitting through all manner of meetings, ceremonies of all sorts, sermons, speeches, and street talk where, when it comes to deciphering what’s going on, anyone’s guess is better than mine
not eating or drinking on the street (when I do, it just feels weird)
watching boys in their baseball uniforms and girls in their volleyball attire (i.e. gym shorts and wind-breaker jackets) scurry/trudge through the snow to/from the gym
the brotherly closeness of boys at school, the manner in which they link elbows, hug, hold hands, and drape arms over shoulders (when they aren’t punching, pulling, or dragging each other across the floor, of course)
the graceful, elegant, expressive movements of even the most manly hands
commuters in suits on bikes with umbrellas (even though the use of umbrellas while cycling was outlawed back in October 2011)
my microwave/convection oven, which, on a miraculous day (like Holy Saturday) will bake a delectable chocolate cake, but which usually resigns itself to partially heating leftovers or
making radioactive toast
the people and perspectives of rural
the challenges of reading at a (near) Grade 1 level
the graciousness and generosity of others (I need to be so careful not to take them for
granted)
the daily post-lunch souji*** sessions, where students change (or partly change) out of their
uniforms and into the P.E. clothes, get down on their hands and knees, and clean dirt off the floor with a once-white rag (or, at least, push it around until the fifteen minutes is up)
the fact that what appears to be brown bread is far more likely to be chocolate-flavored
songs and musical cues to signal 6 am, 6 pm, the arrival and departures of trains, the entering and exiting of a conbini (convenience store), and just about anything else you weren't aware needed a soundtrack
the remarkable lack of litter on public transport, in the street, in Japan, in general
not understanding everything all of the time and being perfectly okay with it
*Mochi is glutinous rice pounded into a gooey, gluey goo. See July 20th post for pictures.
**Apparently, there is a Japanese superstition that if you cut your
fingernails at night, your parents may die before you see them again. I don’t
follow the connection, but I don’t follow a lot of things. As far as the
significance of clipping nails at school is concerned, I think it’s merely
something that didn’t get done at home. I’ve also seen some of my teachers
brush their teeth upon arriving at the office.
***Because schools in Japan don’t generally employ a custodian, it is
the job of the staff and students to keep their classrooms, corridors, toilets,
library, and gymnasium clean. This involves collecting the trash, sweeping, wiping
the floors, scrubbing the toilets, shaking out carpets and banging chalkboard
brushes, shoveling snow and filling kerosene jugs in the winter, and weeding and watering plants in the spring and summer. Souji was strange to me when
I first arrived in Japan, but when everyone participates, a concerted
effort is made not to make a mess in the first place.
