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Please join us in the journey from the past to the future!
I went to Brazil, a country directly on the back side of the earth from Japan, in August this year. It was a long journey. It took a total of about 25 hours including the time for changing planes—about 13 hours of flight from Narita to New York and about 9 hours from New York to Sao Paulo. Brazil is indeed a nation of multi-races. The country quickly reminds me of names of some famous football players, like Zico, Ramos, and Ronaldinho. Needless to say, Brazilians of Japanese descent are also part of this multi-racial nation. It has just been 100 years since the immigration from Japan to Brazil started. In this report, I’d like to talk about these Japanese-Brazilians whom I met during my trip there.
These people of Japanese descent now have fourth and fifth generations who cannot speak Japanese at all. Mr. Kikuchi, a boy who worked at a restaurant in a Japanese town in Liberdade, could barely read the menu written in Japanese.
Marcia, a sansei, who accompanied me for my shopping, was fluent in Japanese. She explained that she spent her junior high school and high school years in Japan because of her father’s business and she learned the language during those years. During her early school days, she was the target of bullying as she couldn’t speak Japanese although she looked exactly like anyone else. “It was pretty hard,” said Marcia with a smile. “I was able to bear the bullying because I was with my family,” she said resolutely. Once she became fluent in Japanese, she enjoyed life, especially the time at high school. “I really hated to come back to Brazil,” she said. “As a tool for mutual understanding, the importance of language was truly brought home to me,” she said with a serious expression on her face.
Carlos, also a sansei, studied at a Japanese university. Fluent in Japanese, English, and Portuguese, he is one of the selected few among Brazilians of Japanese descent. He currently works at a Japanese firm in Brazil, playing a vital role as a bridge between Japanese staff and local workers. Like many other Brazilians, he is crazy about football, fervently rooting for Palmeiras, a local football team based in Sao Paulo.
As I have written, I am strongly impressed that those young people of Japanese descent have assimilated themselves into the Brazilian society with natural ease. I also felt at the same time that their parents and grandparents still harbor strong feelings toward Japan.
Mr. Yoshimura is a tourist guide in Rio de Janeiro. I was very impressed by his fluent and beautiful Japanese. He said that he had immigrated to Brazil in his 20s more than 50 years ago. As Rio de Janeiro had fewer Brazilians of Japanese descent than in Sao Paulo, he had difficulty in getting used to Brazilian ways and learning the language. He used to watch movies to learn Portuguese, he said. He married a Japanese-Brazilian who had lived in Sao Paulo after courting her over a long distance. “I was very reluctant to leave Rio de Janeiro for its yearlong warm climate, so I brought her here half by force,” he said laughing. He was over 70 years old, but I felt that his dignified posture with his back very straight reflected the positive way of life he had led.
Mr. Ishino who runs a jewelry shop in Sao Paulo has constantly maintained strong ties with Japan even since he immigrated to Brazil, making tangible contributions to the Japanese-Brazilian society. “Take this with you for a good luck. Its value is also appreciated by a professional baseball player,” he said handing me a crystal ball when we were parting. I saw in Mr. Ishino, always courteous and compassionate, an epitome of true Japanese with international sophistication.
On weekends, Japanese town Liberdade bustles with huge crowds just like a way Japan’s Takeshita Street in Harajuku overflows with shoppers. There is no doubt that their merriment can be heard today because of years of toil and efforts made by their earlier generations. In recent years, ordinary Brazilians have become more noticeable among people who visit the town to buy “made-in-Japan” goods than Japanese-Brazilians and Japanese company workers. When I was there, I often saw Brazilians at Japanese restaurants, deftly using chopsticks to eat ramen noodles, takoyaki dumplings and other characteristic Japanese foods.
While I was there, I had a strong impression that “Japan inside Brazil” was taking root in the country and that the roots were getting deeper and spreading wider.
The number of Japanese-Brazilian migrant workers to Japan has jumped since 1990 when restrictions on accepting such workers were entirely lifted. Today, as many as 300,000 Japanese-Brazilians are said to live in Japan. This figure is about the same as the total number of Japanese who emigrated to Brazil. Japanese people often say that you keep digging a hole in the ground and you come out in Brazil. Brazil is one of the most physically distant places from Japan, but it is also one of the nearest with such active human exchanges. Indeed, Brazil is a country far away and yet so near.
By Rie Kurosaki
“Man is Noodle” This is a catchphrase used in an advertisement for an instant noodle. As this phrase indicates, the world is awash with all kinds of tasty noodles including pasta, rice vermicelli, ramen, and pho. I suppose that many of you are noodle enthusiasts. In Japan, there are various kinds of noodles such as “soba” buckwheat noodles and “kishimen” flat noodles. Among these Japanese noodles, udon, particularly Sanuki udon, is attracting growing attention these days. In this report, I’d like to talk about this Sanuki udon. I’m sure that all you sampled udon at least once while you were in Japan, but Sanuki udon is not like other ordinary udon.
Of udon varieties, those produced in Kagawa Prefecture are called Sanuki udon as Sanuki is the old name of the prefecture. Sanuki udon is resilient and pleasantly tough when it is chewed in the mouth. From the old days, wheat, salt, dried small sardines, and soy sauce—all important ingredients of udon—were distinct local produce, contributing to the growth of the udon culture in the area. Today, Kagawa leads the nation in both udon production and consumption. Many of the udon producers now use Australian wheat modified for the Japanese udon.
Udon can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. One can eat it with only soy sauce, in a bowl of soup topped with deep-fried tofu, raw eggs or tempura, or by dipping the noodle in a cup half-filled with thick broth.
The standard way of eating udon is to just slurp it up. Further, you are supposed to slurp it up all the way without cutting the noodle halfway. You hardly chew it before sending it down your throat—this is Sanuki style. You may not be familiar with noodle slurping; it is rather difficult to slurp up the noodle all the way without cutting it halfway through. But don’t be too much concerned about the “proper” way of eating the noodles at the expense of enjoyment. The point is to just enjoy udon without paying too much attention to the decorum of eating udon.
Establishments where Sanuki udon can be sampled vary in size and style. Particularly popular are self-serving restaurants where customers warm the noodles by themselves and choose whatever toppings they like, or noodle manufacturers where fresh noodles just out of the production line can be enjoyed. At these places, a bowl of udon is often priced at as low as 100-200 yen. In this sense, Sanuki udon is healthy for both you and your budget.
Sunuki udon used to be a local specialty throughout Kagawa, but it has now become a household name nationwide after the publication of guidebooks that introduced various udon restaurants throughout the prefecture. These guidebooks were compiled by local udon fans who had gathered data by visiting one noodle restaurant after another in the prefecture. Another factor contributing to the nationwide popularity of Sanuki udon is a movie that featured udon in Kagawa. Nowadays, people come to Kagawa from all over the country to eat Sanuki udon. As udon digests easily in the stomach, some stalwart fans visit 6-7 udon restaurants a day.
The fact is that there are as many as 800 udon restaurants in Kagawa. For first-time visitors, it will be very difficult to choose udon eateries from among them. It is where “the udon taxi” comes in handy. Serving also as a guide, these taxi drivers not only take you to your destinations, but also introduce you to popular and tasty udon shops. If your budget is limited, you can use a renta-cycle. The taste of udon will be special after bicycling through rustic country scenes. For those who are not satisfied with just eating udon, there is a one-day udon-making tour in which participants learn the art of udon making from kneading the dough to boiling the chopped noodles.
The popularity of Sanuki udon is now starting to extend to foreign countries including South Korea, Taiwan, the U.K., the U.S., and France. If you see Sanuki udon in your countries, try it and see for yourself how good it is. If you have an occasion to visit Kagawa, be sure to try Sanuki udon. Just slurp it up in the Sanuki style.
To tell you the truth, I was born and raised in Takamatsu, the prefectural capital of “Sanuki”. My lunch today? Sanuki udon, of course.
By Satomi SHIMAZU
References and images supplied by KAGAWA Prefecture international Tourists Theme council,
Sanuki udon 100ten manten (In Japanese Only) ,
How to make udon (The Shikoku Shimbun) (In Japanese Only)
Weather, an essential part of our daily topics, influences our activities to varying degrees. If the weather forecast says that the probability of rain is 80%, you will take an umbrella with you when you go out. If it says that the day’s high will be over 30 degrees C., you want to wear a half-sleeved shirt. Heavy rains, snow, and a typhoon will seriously affect our lifelines including transportation. Accurate weather forecasting is therefore essential for the safety of our living.
Infrastructure in the modern society is not confined to the ground. Since world’s first manmade satellite Sputnik was launched into orbit in 1957, as many as 5,400 satellites have been sent into space, extending the range of activities into space for the mankind.
You may be familiar with weather satellites and broadcasting satellites. Man’s activities in space will further expand through the space station and satellites high above over our lives on the ground.
It is not possible for human beings to live in interplanetary space in the same manner as on the ground. The space environment is harsh even for these satellites. There is of course no rain or snow in space, but a storm of different kind rages there from time to time. You think that there is no air in space, but there is an extremely small amount of gas there (less than one billionth of one billionth of the amount of air on earth). Called plasma, this gas travels through the space at several hundred kilometers per second carrying plus and minus electricity. Considering that a typhoon packs the wind power of several dozen meters a second, you can imagine how great the amount of energy the plasma carries.
When a solar explosion shoots out a phenomenon called the flare, the force of energy sends plasmas hurtling toward the earth at a speed of over 1,000 km per second, causing a storm as a result.
We are protected from these storms by the geomagnetic field and atmosphere. In the space environment, however, they seriously affect satellite circuits, causing several dozen billions of yen of damage per satellite, while exposing the astronauts to dangerous radiation. The drawing shows likely problems caused by these storms based on information provided by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). To prevent these problems in space activity, research on forecasting the generation of these storms is taking place at many institutes across the world. In particular, International Space Environment Service (ISES) draws researchers from its member countries including Japan, the U.S., Australia, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Czech and India. These nations have formed networks through which observation data and other information are exchanged.
In Japan, the Space Weather Information Center set up within the NICT (http://www.nict.go.jp/) handles day-to-day operations. It mainly monitors solar activities and the space environment around the earth by analyzing data from satellites 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A system it has developed immediately sends a warning whenever it detects solar explosions. This warning helps aircraft and ship operators make safety precautions against possible disturbance to communication with GPS satellites. It also allows astronauts to quickly take refuge in a shelter inside the space station. Such information on the space environment is daily renewed on the Web site (http://swc.nict.go.jp/). Solar activity strengthens and weakens at 11-year intervals. It is now in a quiet phase with hardly any explosions, but solar activity is expected to pick up over the next several years, making accurate space weather forecasting all the more important.
These space storms are known to generate auroras in high-latitude regions such as Northern Europe and Alaska. A conversation like the following one may be taking place at a college cafeteria in the year 20xx wh
en space travels become commonplace.
“Shall we go to the moon for our next vacation?”
“But a storm will be raging for a while according to the space weather forecast.”
“Well, it may be better to take an aurora-observation tour instead.”
(Text: Ken Tsubouchi, researcher, the Space Environment Observation Group, NICT)
Ecology at home
When you do the shopping, do you take a bag with you? In Japan, it was a normal custom to carry a basket when you go daily grocery shopping until the 1960s. But these shopping baskets disappeared as the place of shopping changed from small retail stores to supermarkets where plastic bags are given out for free at the cash register.
Today, campaigns are spreading to do away with those plastic bags for the sake of our environment, with the use of “my bags” and “eco-bags” growing around us. The efforts are given a boost when some supermarkets have started charging shoppers for the cost of the plastic bags. These eco-bags are therefore kind to both household budgets and our environment. About 16~18ml of crude oil is used to make one cash register bag. Further, 30g of CO2 is discharged during the process of bag production and 31g of CO2 in the burning process, meaning you can cut about 61g of CO2 emission if you do not use one of these plastic bags. In Japan, about 30 billion plastic bags, or some 600,000 kiloliters in cru
de oil, are used each year. Our precious resources are limited, with our lives being threatened by soaring oil prices and global warming. Let us take a first step toward the protection of our environment.
Some of you may think that those eco-bags are a little bulky to carry around when you do the shopping. Do not worry, for Japan has a good alternative. Yes, it’s furoshiki, a simple sheet of cloth without a handle. It takes little space when folded. Its patterns vary from traditional Japanese designs to modern styles. With growing pubic interest in ecology, it may be interesting to take a fresh look at how it can be used.
Furoshiki – a bath mat?
How long has furoshiki, or a wrapping cloth, been around? Furoshiki is just a sheet of cloth. Supposing that people began to use it as a wrapping material at the same time as the invention of cloth, the history of “wrapping cloth” in Japan dates back to the late Jomon period (approx. 1000 B.C.). The wrapping cloth was called in various ways from one age to another. It was during the Muromachi period (1336-1573 A.D.) that association between “furo,” or a bath, and the wrapping cloth began to appear. There are records that feudal lords invited to a steam bath by the shogun wrapped their clothing in a sheet of cloth bearing their family crests to distinguish it from other lords’ and that they changed on the cloth using it as a mat. In the Edo period (1603-1867 A.D.), town people began to go to public bathhouses carrying their bathing items wrapped in a sheet of cloth. People then began to refer to this “wrapping cloth which was something like a furo mat, or shikimono,” as furoshiki zutsumi. This “zutsumi” part was then dropped during the late Edo period as users began to call this wrapping cloth furoshiki for general purposes other than wrapping bathing items as well. In its early days, furoshiki was mostly plain or dyed with family crests and store names. As the dyeing techniques have advanced, various patterns are now being used to give variations to furoshiki designs.
“Mottainai”
Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan activist, received the Nobel Peace Prize for peace for her devotion in environmental protection. When she came to Japan in 2005, she was very impressed with the phrase “Mottainai,” meaning “Wasteful” in Japanese. As she found no alternatives that expressed respect and love for nature and things, she decided to spread the message of Mottainai throughout the world.
(Reference URL http://mottainai.info/english/ )
When she came to Japan for the second time in 2006, the traditional Japanese furoshiki was introduced as a paragon of the Mottainai spirit. The furoshiki is indeed an ideal item to promote reduction, reuse, and recycling.
Any form of wrapping???
Besides its environmental soundness, the furoshiki is also outstanding as it can wrap almost any shapes by changing the way it is folded and its knots are tied. Its wrapping variations are not difficult to make once you have learned the basic folding patterns. In addition to wrapping, the furoshiki can be used in many unconventional ways, such as a silky shawl draped over one’s shoulders or knees in a strongly air-conditioned room in summer. It can also be used as a tapestry and a table cloth. It may be interesting to try to find these new applications.
References and images supplied by Furoshiki Archives, Miyai Co.
(In Japanese Only)
By Misuzu KANDA
“Atsuhime,” a popular historical drama being broadcast by Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), depicts the turbulent life of a princess married to the Tokugawa dynasty. An era in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate and the beginning of Meiji, through which Atsuhime lived, signifies an end to the 250 years of national isolation enforced by the Tokugawa clan, opening Japan to the world outside and ushering in a new phase of cultural development. It was the arrival of U.S. ships led by Perry in Japan in 1858 that triggered all these events. Japan then ended its national isolation policy and opened several ports following this historical event. One of those ports was Yokohama.
In those days Yokohama was just a small fishing village. After its opening to the outside world in 1859, the port began to grow significantly, drawing many technologies, cultures and people as a window between Japan and the rest of the world. The result is metropolitan Yokohama that you see today.
Today, Yokohama is an international and fashion-conscious city that attracts many people with its parks, the Motomachi shopping district, and the Minato Mirai urban project. People who hail from the city proudly call themselves “Hamakko.”
When the port was opened to the world, many foreigners came to Yokohama, bringing cultures, fashions and a variety of other things with them. Many of them have since taken root in the city.
Ice cream, beer, cleaning services, milk, bars of soap, and dressmakers are among the main things that were brought into Yokohama after its opening. Today’s popular sports such as baseball, tennis, ice skating, and horse racing took place first in Yokohama.
A brass band was also among the city’s firsts, though this fact is not well known to the public.
The head of the Satsuma clan (current Kagoshima Prefecture, where Atsuhime was born) was so impressed by the performance of a British naval band that he sent , in 1869, 32 young men from the clan to the British band for training. Those young men came back to form a military band. The next year after their return, they made Japan’s first band performance at the Yamate Park Music Hall. A memorial of this event still remains at Myokoji temple. Yokohama people who heard the band performance may have felt the breeze of a new era.
In 2009, Yokohama will be celebrating its 150th year anniversary of opening to the world. Yokohama’s 150-year history, during which many firsts have taken place there, is also a history of merger between Japanese cultures and foreign cultures. We look forward to more “firsts” from Yokohama of the 21st century.
By Rie KUROSAKI
Web site:
Yokohama visitors' guide
Yokohama city central library
Photo Courtesy: Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau, Yokohama City Central Library,
Japanese Band Directors Association
Fukuoka, gateway Kyushu
Fukuoka was ranked 17th on the list of “cities in the world the most comfortable to live in” and 1st in the shopping section in London’s monthly magazine Monocle. It is a city with the good balance of urban conveniences and old Japanese cultures. By air, it takes only 45 minutes from Fukuoka to Shanghai, 55 minutes to Hong Kong and Pusan, and less than 80 minutes to Seoul and Taipei.
Fukuoka and Hakata
Administratively, the area is Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and the airport is called Fukuoka Airport. But the JR station is Hakata Station and the port is Hakata Port. Many local artifacts also bear Hakata as part of their names, such as Hakata dolls and Hakata fabrics. The local dialect is also called Hakata-ben. Why is this coexistence of two different names in the same area? Historically, the west side of the river was a castle town called Fukuoka where local loads and samurai used to live, while the east side, called Hakata, was a place for merchants. For its proximity to foreign countries, Hakata long prospered as a town of trade with its streets bustling with human traffic.
History of Hakata Gion Yamakasa
A plague broke out in Hakata in the mid-13th century. It became ineffective when a monk prayed while sprinkling consecrated water through the town as he sat on a platform carried by local people. This was said to be the beginning of the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. The float on which people are carried is generally called “Mikoshi” or “Dashi,” but, decorated with dolls, it is called “Yamakasa” in Hakata. To carry Yamakasa is called “Yamakasa-wo-kaku” in a local phrase. It is carried by men clad in happi coats and loincloths.
“Nagare,” Yamakasa-supporting groups
There are seven Yamakasa floats, each bearing a name of the local festival-supporting group called “Nagare.” Men in Nagare make arrangements for marriages and funerals in the area in addition to managing the festival and related events. Women, through a women’s society they have formed, play important daily roles including cooking for social events. Children in the area learn about the festival by carrying a children’s float and taking part in the festival. As this shows, Yamakasa is maintained and handed down through generations by peopled in Nagare. In the festival, as many as 1,000 people get involved in carrying a single float.
Yamakasa for carrying and Yamakasa for decoration
During the festival, “Kazari-yamakasa” is put at 14 spots in Fukuoka. Unlike “Kaki-yama” this Yamakasa is not for carrying. Each Kazari-yamakasa, which stands 10-meter tall, is a gigantic three-dimensional picture that Hakata doll makers create based on the Japanese history, literary works, and popular TV characters.
Yamakasa climax
A series of major events take place starting on July 1, climaxing during the last day on the 15th. Precisely at 4:59 in the morning, before the sunrise, with the drum signaling the start, the first Yamakasa float makes its way from Kushida Shrine. With men shouting the words of encouragement, the float is carried fast through large and small streets. Water is sprinkled on the streets and men carrying the float to cool down the heat. After carrying the float to the goal, the men seem to be engulfed in a quiet excitement though their eyes are bloodshot and the breathing rough. These men clap their hands once in unison to signal the end of the festival. Summer of a strong sun and heat then begins in full force.
By Akane YOSHIMURA
Photo Courtesy: YokaNavi, Daikoku Nagare, Shogetudo
In Japan, from February to April each year, TV weather forecasting informs the public on one particular thing in addition to usual temperatures and rain probability. Do you know what it is?
It is the probability on the amount of cedar pollen scattering. This is because many people suffer allergic symptoms - runny nose, stuffy nose, itchy eyes, sneezing - caused by the cedar pollen at that time of the year.
This report focuses on this hay fever.
Across Japan, some plants are constantly scattering allergy-causing pollen almost throughout the year. In particular, spring is the time when many people suffer hay fever triggered by the cedar pollen. One in five people is said to have 
this ailment. In Japan, the term hay fever is strongly associated with the cedar pollen; it’s a typical hay fever. You may have often seen people wearing masks (or even goggles) around spring in Japan.
Needless to say, hay fever occurs not only in Japan, but in other countries as well.
In Japan, the cedar pollen is the main culprit causing allergic symptoms, but it is the rice-related plants in the U.K., ragweed in the U.S., and white birch in Northern Europe.
Hay fever triggered by cedar pollen is prevalent in Japan for a number of reasons.
The biggest factor is said to be the large-scale afforestation of mountains with cedar carried out during the post-war era. This drastically increased the amount of cedar pollen scattered in the air. Other factors include genes, stress, and air pollution caused by car exhaust gases. Another probable reason is that the pollen that has landed on the paved roads gets blown off the surfaces to become airborne again. Some experts think that today’s hygiene-conscious people have fewer opportunities to come in contact with bacteria and microorganisms, developing allergic reactions to the pollen, not a pathogen, as a result. In any case, the number of people suffering hay fever is on the increase today.
It is believed today that hay fever, once you contract it, can never be completely cured. What you can do is to suppress the symptoms by taking drugs and eye lotion. A variety of anti-hay fever goods are now available in Japan, a major hay fever nation, including masks, goggles, gum, tea, and clothes sprays to keep out the pollen.
Further, the government is developing pollen-free cedar strains and planting them as a way of reducing the amount of cedar pollen itself.
But by taking a look at the situation from a different angle, one can say that both humans and cedar have inhabited the earth for a long time. The living environment for humans has continued to evolve and get better, but this has aggravated allergic reactions to the pollen of cedar, our next-door creature on this planet. The situation is truly ironic, isn’t it?
As there are many who suffer hay fever, it is of course important to develop drugs and other products to alleviate the symptoms. It seems equally important, however, that we reflect on this unnatural situation, our bodies’ allergic reactions to cedar and other plants that exist in nature.
This report focused on hay fever triggered by cedar pollen in Japan. What is the situation in your countries? Do you also suffer hay fever? What is the percentage of people with allergy problems? Haven’t new lifestyle and environmental changes caused new allergic reactions?
You have absorbed the knowledge of the Japanese cultures, language and customs while you stayed in Japan. I sincerely hope not that you have acquired hay fever as well in the process.
By Satomi SHIMAZU
When you start living overseas, what concerns you? You may be concerned about the language, food, customs, or education. I’m sure that the medical situation is one of them.
Generally, Japan is regarded as a country of high medical techniques. Some of you may have been to Japan to study medicine there. The Japanese medicine is said to be saddled with various problems such as those involving the national health insurance scheme, medical care for the aged, and organ transplants. In this paper, I focused on the declining number of obstetrics and gynecology departments and the acceptance of foreign doctors.
Have you ever heard of the phrase “birth refugees”? It refers to pregnant woman who cannot give birth to babies as there are no hospitals with obstetrics departments in the area where they live, or as available beds at hospitals are fully occupied or reserved. The growing number of these “refugees” has become a social problem in Japan.
Up until recently, women would give birth to babies at home with midwives helping. But it was not rare that both mothers and babies died in difficult childbirths. The number of hospital births began to increase as Japan recovered economically and medical standards improved in the post-war era. The birth death ratio, i.e. the number of deaths per 1,000 births, fell to the world’s lowest level. But the safe childbirth owed much to the hard labor and efforts of obstetricians and gynecologists.
Natural child deliveries are common in Japan, which increases the work load of these doctors, but the number of students who wish to become obstetricians and gynecologists has dwindled for a number of reasons. Many pregnant women loathe to be examined by male doctors, and work conditions are harsh for female doctors regarding their marriage and childbirths. The result is the chronic shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists in Japan. As of the end of 2006, these birth-related doctors and also surgeons continued to decrease in number despite the fact that the number of doctors as a whole was on the increase.
According to the Asahi Shimbun Company, hospitals that stopped child delivery services numbered 105 nationwide in one year from April 2006. Some municipalities are providing support to female gynecologists who quit for childbirths for their return to their former jobs. If no significant improvement should be made soon, those pregnant women would not be able to give births to their babies with safety.
As the birth refugees symbolize, doctor shortages are getting serious in Japan, especially in remote areas. Amid this growing problem, the government is finally making a move. One positive move is a proposal to open the door wider to foreign doctors who have studied in medical departments in Japan, obtained a doctor’s degree in medicine, or worked at Japanese hospitals.
In the Japanese medicine, the export excess of human resources continued for a long time. From now on, the waves of globalization will sweep in the medical field.
I sincerely hope the ideal, “there are no national boundaries in medicine,” will come true soon.
By Rie KUROSAKI
Sayings, a kind of proverb you hear from your parents and grandparents, has become a part of life. Different sayings exist from country to country where you grow up. In this report, I’d like to introduce to you some of the popular Japanese sayings.
- Those who step on the threshold do not rise in the world.
I t is considered a bad manner to step on the threshold or a tatami edge. Violators of this manner will unlikely to succeed in life, they say in some local areas. Your parents may tell you that it is simply a bad manner, but others see a more practical reason, saying that the threshold and tatami edge will simply get worn faster.
There are people who view the threshold as an undefined, dangerous boundary, or there are others who regard it as a sacred place or a human head. To step on it, therefore, will bring about a bad luck for the offender. This belief seems not genuine Japanese, as a similar saying exists in Thailand, Mongolia, and South Korea.
- Sneeze—a gossip detector
U nder what circumstances do you sneeze? When it is cold or dusty? In Japan, we say that you sneeze because someone is talking about you. Further, the number of times you sneeze is said to be an indicator of the type of gossip. You sneeze once and it was a good gossip, you sneeze twice consecutively and it is a bad gossip, and you sneeze three times and the content of the gossip worsens. Sneezing four times and you get a cold. Though the frequency of sneezing and the content of gossip differ from region to region, “sneezing four times and you get a cold” seems generally accepted. The authenticity of sayings up to three times of sneezing is rather murky, but there seems no doubt as to the reason of sneezing four consecutive times.
- Throw the upper baby tooth down, lower baby tooth upward
Parents’ desire for the healthy growth of their children is universal. There is a saying about their teeth, in which parents tell their children to throw away their baby tooth after it came off under the veranda if the tooth came from the upper jaw and upward to the roof if it came from the lower jaw.
This practice has come from a desire that the children’s teeth on both jaws will grow straight. Some people chant “Replace it with a mouse’s tooth” or “Let it grow faster than a mouse’s tooth” as the child’s tooth is thrown, showing the parental wish that their children’s teeth grow as fast as the mouse’s.
In the U.S. and other Western countries, some children hide their baby teeth under the pillow, believing that a fairy will turn them into coins, or some others keep them in pretty little boxes. In Japan, they normally do not pick up the thrown teeth to keep them. Is this mean that some baby teeth are still in the corner of the garden or on the roof, unnoticed for years?
- Do not cut nails at night
Do not cut your nails at night, or you will be unable to be there when your parent dies, so goes this rather ominous saying. People in the olden days believed that night is a time ghosts and spirits lurk in the house. To them, it was a taboo to cut off parts of your body, even your nails, or let a knife come contact with you. On a more practical side, the lighting was darker in those days and you might injure the tip of your finger if you cut the nails at night.
But this saying is rapidly losing its appeal now that people leave for schools or offices early in the morning and return home in the evening. Combined with this lifestyle, the lighting is much brighter now than it was in the olden days.
- Do not whistle at night
Other than cutting your nails that you are not supposed to do at night, there is whistling. Quite a few Japanese children might have been scared by their parents who told them not to whistle at night as it would draw a snake (or Tengu long-nose goblin, child snatcher, or robber, depending on areas).
In the olden days, people feared that the ghosts and spirits lurking at night might be drawn to the whistling. Today, it is a matter of manner, consideration to neighbors, not to whistle at night as the sound carries over a long distance during a quiet night.
- Tell one’s fortune from New Year dreams
Everyone hopes to have a good dream, and this desire is particularly strong when it comes to the first dream you have in the New Year.
In Japan, there is a phrase, “first Mt. Fuji, second the hawk, and third the eggplant” in the order of importance. It is said to be lucky if your dream on Jan. 2 contains one of these things. A theory goes that these three items were all associated with Ieyasu Tokugawa, the founder of the Edo Tokugawa dynasty. The phrase reflects the people’s desire to share the good luck of the shogun, the military leader, in the Edo period.
What dreams did you have on Jan.2 this year?
The sayings I introduced on this paper are just a few examples. There are many others to tell. You may find some of them agreeable and some others incomprehensible. I wonder what sayings there are in your home countries. It might be interesting to compare them with Japanese proverbs.
By Ms. Satomi SHIMAZU
Have you heard a word “OTAKU”? The word was initially an honorary expression used to refer to people, their homes, and their husbands, but the term is now exclusively used to refer to people who show undue interest in particular things or activities such as computers and anime games. Those people who are very clumsy at maintaining communication with others have started to call each other “OTAKU.” The term is now recognized by the general public who use it when referring to them (mostly men).
This article focuses on Akihabara, a town that is attracting attention as a sacred land for those “OTAKU.”
Foreigners’ impression about Japan used to be “geisha” and “Fujiyama,” but the popularity of Akihabara, aka Akiba, is soaring recently among foreigners visiting Japan. Akiba’s sudden popularity owes much to “Densha Otoko” (Man on Train), a love story of an “OTAKU” with Akiba in the background that has been made into a novel, a movie, and a TV drama. The “OTAKU boom” quickly engulfed Japan.
At about the same time, the world’s interest in Japanese anime was rising as evinced by the Golden Bear prize won at the Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin by Director Hayao Miyazaki for his work “Sen-to Chihiro-no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away). The culture of anime and OTAKU begins to flourish in Akiba, attracting great attention from the outside. Some of you may have been drawn to Japan initially through anime.
Akiba is also a hub of train lines, namely JR Yamate line, Keihin Tohoku line, Sobu line, and Tokyo Metro Hibiya line. An express line linking Akiba and Tsukuba Station in Ibaraki Prefecture opened in 2005, prompting the efforts to tidy up the appearance of the town.
<History of Akiba>
In the Edo period, Akiba was home to many low-ranked samurai. As fire often broke out in the area, the locals installed and worshipped Akiba Daigongen, a god of fire prevention, during the Meiji era. The name of the god gradually caught on in the area as people began to refer to the place as Akibahara or Akibappara. The term Akiba as the short form of Akihabara is probably derived from it.
Akiba was burned to cinder during the Second World War. It began to transform itself into a town of electric/electronic parts as Japan recovered from the ruins of the war. Akiba became known as “the town of electricity” riding on the booming popularity of home electric appliances during 1965-1975.
However, things took a turn for the worse. As Japan entered a period of inactivity after the bursting of the economic bubble, the growing momentum of Akiba weakened. It was during that time that shops began to appear to sell amine, figures, and comic books, leading to the current explosive popularity of Akiba.
<Akiba now>
- Maid coffee shop
More than anything else, maid coffee shops represent Akiba. “Welcome home, my master.” A phrase like this used by a cute maid has made these places so popular that foreign “masters” now frequent them.
Another tourist attraction is a sight of OTAKU crowding these coffee shops to take pictures of maids and girls wearing various costumes.
- Tokyo Anime Center
The center, which opened in 2006, is a landmark of animation. It holds various events, exhibitions, and animated films. Limited official goods are also sold there. With these activities the center has become a mecca of anime fans worldwide.
- Akiba as a 
city of electricity
The OTAKU culture has now taken the center stage, but Akiba as a city of electricity is still alive and well. Some large home electronics stores in front of the train station have counters exclusively for foreign shoppers where kind and detailed advice is given.
Also robust are specialty stores such as Akihabara Radio Store where you can buy any electric/electronic parts. These stores enjoy the unflinching trust and support of electric OTAKU.
Akiba is a place that epitomizes the detailed and ambitious Japanese technology and ideas. We can say that Akiba is a spot closest to Japan now and future.
By Ms. Rie KUROSAKI
“Junin Toiro” (So many men, so many minds) is a proverb meaning that thoughts, tastes, and characteristic differ from one person to another, according to the Daijirin Japanese dictionary.
Among the good points of Japanese, traits such as studiousness, courteousness, toughness, and kindness are ranked high, according to the result of a survey on Japanese people conducted by the Institute of Statistical Mathematics. On the other hand, originality, outgoingness, and respect for freedom are ranked low.
What kind of Japanese were they whom you met while studying in Japan? Some Japanese cultures and customs may have surprised you. But, let me ask this question. Were they standard Japanese cultures and customs?
When you are abroad, it is not surprising to find different cultures and customs. But even within this small island nation, languages, foods, and customs vary from region to region, and some of them are quite surprising to ordinary Japanese people. In this paper, I’d like to report some stories that take many Japanese by surprise.
- People in Nagano Prefecture like Banzai cheers.
In Japan, people give Banzai cheers under auspicious occasions. But nowadays we do not see Banzai very often, except for at a political candidate’s office celebrating an election victory. In Nagano, however, people give Banzai in many occasions such as wedding receptions, local festivals, PTA gatherings, and simple gatherings of neighbors. In Yamanashi Prefecture, they also give Banzai at wedding receptions in some regions, say some residents there.
- Slopes give bicycle riders a hard time.
Hilly cities include San Francisco, Lisbon, and Napoli in the world and Otaru (Hokkaido), Tokyo, Kobe (Hyogo), Onomichi (Hiroshima), and Nagasaki in Japan.
I wonder how students whose universities were in those hilly areas commuted to their schools. Did you commute on foot or by bicycle?
In Nagasaki, people tend to avoid riding bicycles for the city’s many hills. You can even buy a one-way uphill commuter pass.
Nagasaki remained the only window for foreign trade while the nation was closed to the rest of the world. The town was therefore awash with things foreign. As the Dutch were the only Westerners who lived there before the country’s closed-door policy was lifted, all the foreigners other than Asians used to be called “Oranda-san” (Dutch). The stone-paved slope on which these foreigners used to tread is called “Oranda Zaka” (Dutch Slope) today.
- “San” for foods?
In Japan, you may go on a first-name basis in close relationship, but we usually put “san” at the end of others’ names as a sign of respect and politeness.
But people in Osaka may use this word for foods, with some even putting further polite “o” in front of the food names. Not all foods are given this extra polite linguistic treatment, but they call “imo” (potato) “o-imo-san,” and “mame” (beans) “o-mame-san.” Such usage somehow conveys the warmness of Osaka people who take a good care of foods. But I hear that these “o” and “san” are limited to cooked foods—imo and mame go without them before they are cooked. How strange!
- 
Beef or pork for sukiyaki?
Did you try sukiyaki while you were in Japan? Beef is used in sukiyaki, right? But I am surprised to hear that pork, not beef, is used as a sukiyaki ingredient in Gunma Prefecture. Pork is also popular at yakiniku barbeque restaurants there. In fact, Gunma is the nation’s second largest pork consumer next to Okinawa.
Countries with high per capita pork consumption are Hong Kong, Austria, Denmark, Czech, Spain and Germany. Compared with Denmark with the world’s largest pork consumption of 65.9kg, Japan pales with mere 16.9kg.
- What comes out of the tap?
When you were very young, did you not wish orange juice from the tap? In Kyoto’s Uji City, an area nationally known for good tea production, there are two kinds of taps at 26 of 28 elementary schools—one for water and the other for tea. Not to be left behind, some elementary schools in Shizuoka Prefecture, another major tea production area, are being equipped with similar taps. Tea or water, let us not waste valuable resources.
- Curry lovers in Tottori.
Curry and rice, which came from India via the U.K. in the early Meiji Era (around 1870), has become everybody’s favorite in Japan. Curry in Japan differs from that in India or Thailand. You may have tried it a lot while studying in Japan.
In addition to the standard curry and rice, curry is used with other stuff such as udon and soba noodles, buns, and spaghetti. In Tottori, Japan’s largest curry consumer per household, there are even curry-flavored ice cream and parfait. Alongside Kagoshima and Fukui, the prefecture is also known for its production of shallots that go well with curry.
Regarding ice cream, there are many interesting versions throughout Japan, such as soy sauce ice cream, udon ice cream, and spinach ice cream. I may be tempted to try one of these.
Many things in Japan are unknown to Japanese people. Let us set out to find them now!
The mecca of movies is Hollywood. Some of you may have visited Universal Studios there. The cinema industry has developed there due to a number of factors, including scant rainfalls throughout the year which makes shooting on location easier. Universal Studios Japan opened in Osaka in 2001. Some of you might have visited there while you were in Japan.
Uzumasa in Kyoto is often referred to as Japan’s Hollywood. Since the 1920s, the place has been home to many major Japanese movie studios such as Nikkatsu, Daiei, Toho, and Toei. Some worldly known movies such as “Rashomon” and “Seven Samurai” were produced here. Kyoto, a town that still retains remnants of good old Japan, is an ideal place for shooting historical dramas. At Toei Movie Land in Uzumasa, which opened next to the studios in 1975, visitors can see many sets used in movies and TV programs.
*Edo Town
Around 1800, Edo already had move than 1 million people, surpassing London, Paris, and Beijing.
Magistrate’s office (current administrative, judicial office)
It was popularly called “oshirasu” (white sand) as the yard was covered with white sand.
Fire watchtower, Town firemen and their house (fire brigade)
Fire and fighting are everyday events. As this phrase indicates, fire was frequent in Edo. On average, there was a major fire every three years, and a minor one once in seven days. The photo on the left is a watchtower. It had a gong called “hansho” at the top and it was pounded to warn people of a fire.
In addition to fire brigades formed especially to protect feudal lords’ properties, there were 64 fire brigades to battle fire for town people. For young people in those days, to be a member of one of these brigades was a manly and honorable thing.
Edo was a commercial center, where merchants traded all kinds of goods including cotton, hemp, paper, lumber, oil, and rice gathered from all over the country. Shops and wholesalers bustled with brisk business.
Ordinary people’s houses.
There is a well on the left.
Noodle shop
Barber’s
Edo men paid attention to hairstyle.
A playhouse where Kabuki and other shows were played.
Today, you can see historical dramas and ninja shows.
*Why don’t you turn yourselves into Edo men and women in the time slip?
Professional makeup artists will turn you into princesses and town girls.
*There is a lecture on swordsmanship called “tate.”
Visit a museum to learn Edo lifestyle, movie culture and history.
“Seeing is believing.”
:It is better to see things than hear them.(from Kojien)
If you are interested in Japanese movies and histories, this is the place to visit.
Let’s get on this time machine in a journey to Edo.
*Visitors to Toei Movie Land also enjoy Rider shows and other attractions.
Photo courtesy: Toei Movie Land, Nagasaki Univessity Library
