Iris – Page 121 – goinggaijin.com

Heritage

Japanese cuisine as a whole has just been assigned as a UNESCO “Intangible Cultural Heritage“. The definition of such is as follows (see the wikipedia article):

Intangible Cultural Heritage means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.

Japan was the first country in the 1950s to protect cultural heritages like this by law, and it is among the countries that has the most intangible cultural heritage items on the UNESCO list, for example Noh theatre and gagaku court music, of which I have written before. Theatre, music, and handicraft are common cultural heritage, but Japanese cuisine is only the fifth one to be included, the others are French, Mediterranean, Turkish, and Mexican cuisine.

It surprises me a little that the whole of Japanese cuisine is designated as intangible cultural heritage, from Kyoto’s palace-derived haute cuisine kaiseki (see the breakfast above for an idea) to Portuguese-introduced or invented (?) tempura; from the quickly prepared ramen and udon noodles to the painstakingly slow process of making the various types of yuba; from raw sushi and sashimi to deliciously cooked unagi; and I am sure it even includes natto, the harmless English translation “fermented soybeans” not quite capturing the atrocity of its taste…

Over time I will have lots of occasion to eat and try much of Japan’s culinary art, maybe even learn how to prepare one or two of those dishes. I shall report accordingly, promised!

(T)issues

When I was studying last week in the library, I got reminded of one of the things I find most annoying about Japan (Asia in general to be fair). Libraries are quite popular in Japan, many people go there not only to borrow books and leave again, but also to read, study, or work there. It could be the attraction of warmth in winter and air condition in summer of course, but let’s not be cynical. Anyway, during my stay in the library there were a number of other students, some guy who seemed to do animation on his laptop, a couple of people reading. And there was this elderly man with a pile of very thick books in front of him doing what I would describe as “research”. And annoying the hell out of me…

While I was attempting to solve grammar puzzles in one of my timed tryout tests, he started sniffling, which is the most annoying sound imaginable, even if you’re not sitting only 3 metres away in what otherwise is total silence, trying to focus on something difficult. Clearly, the problem is not really a problem had the person been an (adult) Westerner: You simply blow your nose.

Unfortunately this is exactly the issue in Japan: Blowing your nose in public is on the same level as picking it in public in the Western world: completely rude and unacceptable. Thinking about it, I cannot help wondering why this is the case (for the blowing, I mean…) It’s not as if tissues were not readily available – they are often being offered for free as advertisement for shops or events. In winter, Kleenex are sold in large 6-packs, and readily snatched up by shoppers. I have admit that sometimes I have felt the sudden urge to yell “Don’t just buy them, use them too!” Also, especially the Japanese are very considerate and neat people where everything needs to be “just so” and offending others is a no-go. But this could be part of it: That everything coming out of the body, so to speak, is considered unclean and you cannot offend others with it, while making an effort (and annoying noise) not to blow your noise is considered less offensive.

Anyway, the solution could be so simple: Just go to the toilet, do your business and return – hopefully without sniffling for a while. Unfortunately again, the old Japanese man did not even dream of doing that, and probably even a Japanese would have difficulties finding a polite way of suggesting exactly that.

So, there I sat, trying to focus on my test rather than counting the seconds between the noise. I managed somehow not to explode (I am so proud) and after a while the sniffles were replaced with the rhythmic, almost inaudible sound of soft snoring – he had fallen asleep…

Afterthoughts

So, the big JLPT N4 test was yesterday, starting at 12:30 and ending at about 16:30. It took place a bit south of Kyoto in the Kyoto University of Education’s Fujinomori campus, but it was quite easy to reach. Two rooms were reserved for my level and there were 52 people in my room – a ratio of 50% Westerners 50% Asians by the way – so I guess there were 100 people on my level overall.

The test was conducted in a very strict, I’d almost say Japanese, manner. The room’s door was closed exactly on time, no way of being late even a single minute. First, general instructions were read: What was allowed on the table, phones off, etc. Then the answer sheets were handed out and afterwards the booklet with the questions for the first part. More instructions were given: “Check whether name and number on your answer sheet are correct. Now pick up your pencil and write your name and number on the question booklet.” Of course, all of those instructions were given in Japanese, which was, certainly on our level, of disputable usefulness. One hapless guy started to fill in his name the moment he received the question booklet and was promptly and loudly and in Japanese yelled at: “Put that pencil down. Put it down! NOW!” I could not help wondering if these people realized that we were all adults in there… After everything was explained, handed out and filled in, we had to wait for the exact minute the test was supposed to start, and after the allotted time was over, we were supposed to drop the pencil in that very second. We were only allowed to leave the room once all paper was collected, counted once and then again, just to be sure nothing went missing. And that three times with about 25 minutes break in between, until the final listening section was over and were free to leave. Results will be sent out in February next year.

How did I do? Well, I ran out of time in the first section and had to leave some questions unanswered – I didn’t even have time to fill in random answers. I may have done reasonably well on the reading section, but I was very tired and my mind started wandering during the listening part. Overall, I don’t think I made it.

There is this one question I remember that I’d like to share with you. It was in the vocabulary section where a sentence is given, and then there are four more sentences paraphrasing one of the words and you have to pick the answer sentence with the correct meaning. In this one the answers were:
I want a new bag and wallet.
I want a new desk and bed.
I want a new pen and notebook.
I want a new camera and video camera.
The question sentence was:
I want new *** – containing the only word in that whole part I didn’t know… And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how it is possible to know 90% of the stuff and still fail the exam.

Anyway, I will take today off – it will be a very nice and sunny day. I have chosen a direction and will take my camera for a walk. I’m curious as to what I’ll find this time…

Yatsuhashi

In my attempt to explore Japanese food – especially sweets – I have come across one of the most famous sweets of Kyoto: Yatsuhashi. Yatsuhashi fall into the category “mochi”, but only barely so. They consist of very thin (maybe two millimetres) mochi dough at the outside, have about a teaspoonful of filling inside, and come in characteristic triangular shape.

I like them very much because they come in so many different flavours. The standard “green tea outside, anko read beans inside” is available everywhere and at all times, but Japanese also like the seasonal flavours like ringo (apple), momo (peach), ichigo (strawberry), or, right now kuri (chestnut). Black sesame is also a year round favourite, as is imo (sweet potato); and yatsuhashi are often bought as souvenir. The mochi dough outside, flavoured with a tiny bit of sugar and cinnamon – which you can buy fresh without filling or even dried – is not overly sweet, but the filling (not really marmalade, but some type of smooth paste) always hits you with the extra amount of sugar…

Renewal

Three months have passed since my last visit to the hospital and today was my new appointment to get a refill of my pills. Actually I went to the hospital on Monday already to have the bloodwork done on time, but the experience was pretty much the same.

As I got registered in the hospital’s database and received a nice plastic card with all my data on it last time already, all I needed to do this time was to go straight to one of the machines looking like ATM’s in the foyer and enter my card there. The display said something in Japanese, I answered in full trust “Yes”, and was issued one of those mobile-phone style beepers I talked about in depth last time. Going up to my department’s reception, I said hello and was pointed toward my doctor’s office, outside of which I took a seat. I had brought something to study, and as I was almost 30 minutes early, I was ready for a longer wait and took out my stuff. I hadn’t even finished getting everything out when the beeper went off telling me that my doctor was ready for me!

Inside, my doctor and I agreed that I was doing just fine and should keep the same amount of medication. Besides that, he suggested I should eat more sushi. Seriously! Part of my bloodwork shows variations from the norm that might indicate an insufficient protein intake. Yes, I have been eating very little meat and I do agree that there’s probably not that much milk in chocolate as I might like. I promised to be more careful in that matter and left him – next appointment in March.

From there, everything went as last time: Go downstairs, present printout to the accountant, wait for beeper to indicate price, pay, and leave. From my arrival in the hospital until I left it and went to the pharmacy the whole procedure took 25 minutes, and I’m happy to state that the longest thing in all this was the actual consultation. I guess it was just a slow day with not too many people, because I had to wait much longer when I had the bloodwork done on Monday. Today, however, the longest wait was at the pharmacy until I received my pills…

Tryouts

My studies having progressed as far as they could until now, I went to the library today and did a practice JLPT test in preparation for Sunday. I’m glad it was not the real test – I would have failed miserably…

The part with the Kanji turned out quite well, surprisingly. The daily practice I’ve been doing for months now obviously paid off. The reading part was less successful, but it was clearly a question of time. My reading comprehension is not yet automated, I still have to do a lot of translating, which takes extra time that you don’t have.

The biggest problem still: vocabulary. I know a sufficient amount of words – but obviously the wrong ones… A very mean part of the test is the one where a sentence is given, but part of it – four words to be precise – is scrambled, and you have to put the words in the right order; and the question asks only for the word on a certain spot. This is very difficult to begin with, as word order can depend on the speaker’s emphasis (just like in English), so you really have to know the grammar inside out. If you know the vocabulary, you may be able to educatedly guess your way around that, but if you don’t…

I did not do a listening comprehension this afternoon as the one spot where you could do that was taken. Oh well, tomorrow again…

Rain

Today I was ready to write about how cold it is in this old house and how I try to keep warm even without a heater and then… it turned out to be a very nice and warm day, with highs of 18 degrees! The warm weather however, came with a big drawback: It was raining quite heavily all afternoon. I’m glad I had gone out for shopping in the morning, and the afternoon, as grey as it was, was perfect to further my studies. So, all in all, I had a nice and productive day.

I’m sure there will be another opportunity to complain about the cold though 😉

Koyo

Few things draw the Japanese masses as easily as nature viewing. I have written about this phenomenon in my article on moon viewing in September, and it is well known even outside of Japan that the Japanese are crazy about cherry blossoms in spring.

Now is another time of nature viewing – the time of koyo, viewing the autumn colours – not just any colours, but those of the maple. The momiji or Japanese maple has small, almost dainty leaves of about 4 cm length, which are induced – by a drop in temperature below a certain threshold – to turn from green to yellow to orange and finally to a blazing red. This change can occur quickly and it is a rather short lived beauty. Right now the red momiji are on their peak, and Kyoto is packed with (mainly Japanese) tourists who go around exclaiming kireii – pretty at every step and seem to take pictures of each individual leaf.

Well, when in Japan… here are a couple of my own pictures

Growing

More space for the Japanese! Since yesterday, Japan is the proud owner of an additional tiny little island, newly made by an underwater volcano. It belongs to the Ogasawara (or Bonin) islands and lies about 1000 km south of Tokyo. It is not going to do much to alleviate Japan’s population density though, as it has (so far) only a diameter of about 20 metres. Besides, it is not clear yet if it is stable, it is possible that it will be eroded away again quickly, as has happened to the last island that was created there in 1973.

The JapanTimes has an article about it, including a cool picture; and even more cool is the footage by the Japanese Coast Guard, that can be watched on yahoo.co.jp here.

Happy Birthday Atarashii Jima!

(which simply means new island, and is not its official name…)

Studying

10 more days until the big test – and I’m getting slightly nervous… So, I have added yet more study time and try to keep my head down. Mostly at least.

Sometimes I have to go shopping – feeding the body is essential to be able to feed the mind. And at the moment it’s beautiful weather in the afternoon, nice and sunny, picture perfect time for the autumn colours that are famous in Kyoto, so I’m running around feeding my camera too.

Anyway, in case you find my posts lacking the next two weeks – you know the reason why. I’ll be back soon in my old shape, promised!