experiences – Page 41 – goinggaijin.com

Renovations

Last week I received a large, thick booklet informing me about the pending renovations in our block of apartments that will be carried out this spring. As far as I understand, this concerns only the buildings’ outside: the balconies will be renovated (how exactly, I am not sure), and the whole building will receive a new coat of paint. The booklet describes other types of work, but I am not sure whether they really will replace any of the wires and pipes. I would not mind getting new water pipes though – the old ones are very rusty and would really need to be replaced.

Anyway, since the work is scheduled from February to June, and from 8:00 until 18:00 on weekdays, I hope it will not be too noisy for too long. Work on my building will start only in Mid March, when the scaffolding will be erected, and I’ll have to remove all personal belongings from the balconies by then.

The whole renovation appears to be planned down to the smallest detail. The document I received has 28 pages in total, and besides a detailed schedule for each of the four buildings in the block, it is also stated for example who is in charge of the work (photo included), what types of clothes and badges the workers will wear, which parking lots cannot be used in that time, and which type of further information will be sent in leaflets of which colour. Since the building will be painted, there will also be days when we are not allowed to hang out laundry to dry, and these days will be announced one day in advance, at 3 pm.

And if there are still questions unaddressed, there is a meeting this Saturday to clarify all the details. Since the meeting will be in Japanese, it is probably a bit pointless for me to show up, but still, I am deeply impressed about the care that is being taken here! We’ll see how impressed I will remain once the work has started. I am sure you will hear about this more often in the future.

Don’t Panic!

Together with my last electricity bill I received, in the beginning of December, an extra leaflet that warned that the next bill in January would most likely be much higher than usual. The leaflet was reassuring and explained the three reasons for this:

the increasingly cold weather requiring more (electrical) heating
the New Year holidays during which more people would stay home
and, also due to the holidays, an increased billing cycle

It was nice to tell me, but since the leaflet was in Japanese, probably every household had received it, which I find interesting. Shouldn’t the Japanese know these things? Anyway, there was no reason to panic, and I felt well prepared.

Until today, that is, when the latest bill arrived. It was more than twice as high as the last one! I was quite shocked, because although I am wearing several layers of warm clothing at home, I am still feeling cold, especially in the evenings. Of course, I am only heating a single room – the office, where I spend most of my time – but I have to admit that I do not heed the electricity company’s advice of 20 degrees is enough. Perhaps it is for the Japanese who seem to be more tolerant to cold in general, and maybe it is for those who cannot sit still for more than 5 minutes. But for this particular European leading, nay, celebrating, a sedentary lifestyle…

Anyway, since it is my own choice between a small bill or warm feet, I know which way to go. Besides, I figure that it’ll even out again in summer, where I will forgo aircondition…

Kagami Biraki

As promised a week ago, I actually did eat the kagami mochi yesterday, on the day of kagami biraki, the breaking of the mirror. When I opened the package, the mochi appeared clean with a shiny surface and a consistency a bit like that of a wax candle. It also had a similar taste, so that did not bode well for my cooking experiment.

Friends suggested that I cut off the hard outer shell of the mochi, but since I had left it in the package, it was clean and comparatively soft, so I did not do this. I did cut the two layers apart though, although I have read somewhere that cutting the mochi at all should be avoided for some reasons clouded in superstition. As I have a gas range, I could at least cook the mochi the recommended way – by simply frying it over open fire. In the beginning it was too hard to put a chopstick through, so I just stuck it onto a knife and held it over the flames.

For a while nothing happened, but then I could hear some crackling sound and the outer shell started to crack and crumble. Small pieces could be torn off and they were nice and crisp – and hot – and the inner part of the mochi was soft and sticky. Soon this part dried out and became crispy as well, so it was a little like eating chips.

While the consistency did improve, the taste did not, unfortunately. I had anticipated this and had prepared a nice salad to go with it, so it was fine. In hindsight, I should have probably put some soy sauce onto the mochi pieces before eating them, but obviously only a real Japanese would think of that. No photo of the finished meal this time, since I was busy frying and eating and I have not yet grown a third arm to hold a camera at the same time. Maybe next time…

Japanese New Year Traditions

There must be a million and one New Year’s traditions in Japan, and I have resolved to try at least one new one each year. I did not ring any bells this (or rather: last) year, but I did go out to Shimogamo Shrine for hatsumode, and I bought a new general luck and happiness charm there for this year. On top of that, I have bought a kagami mochi this year:

It generally consists of two layers of flattened mochi rice cakes, a Japanese bitter orange called daidai on top, and is decorated at least with a two-coloured bow that is considered lucky. The two mochi pieces are supposed to symbolise the old and new year, the moon and the sun, or yin and yang; whereas the daidai symbolises the continuation of a family from one generation to the next. My friends simply said that the two layers of mochi are meant to double the luck that comes into the household.

Kagami mochi are sold at the end of the year and are usually displayed in the household’s shinto altar until January 11th, when they are ritually broken apart in a ceremony called kagami biraki and are eaten. This is meant to ask the gods for good fortune during the coming year. Yes, the mochi are edible and according to my friends you just cut off the hard (and probably dusty) outer part and then fry them and that they are quite tasty – as far as mochi go, I guess.

Kagami mochi can have different sizes, the largest ones are usually those placed at the altars of shrines. Mine is a rather small affair, and the daidai on top is made from plastic. As you can see, the whole thing is wrapped in plastic as well, which is a good thing because I placed it near my entrance (I don’t have a shinto altar in my home) and I do indeed intend to try and eat it!

With the new year comes a new format for the blog. Since I have started working and am rather busy, I have much less time to go out and have fun with the Japanese and their culture. And I think that writing about my daily routines is quite dull (one reason I never kept a diary), and so is reading about it. So, I will reduce my personal posts to two per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, I will restart my weekend posts about all things Japanese that are hopefully of more general interest. I hope you’ll keep enjoying the blog!

Bonenkai

Yesterday, I went to two bonenkai, year-end parties. Such a party usually takes place some time in December, and is an opportunity for friends or colleagues to go out and, well, get drunk. It is one of those times when even the Japanese let their hair down.

My first bonenkai was with my English students, we simply met in the afternoon in one of my favourite cafes and had some ice cream. Only one of them had known about the place before, and I have the impression that the rest enjoyed the food – mission accomplished! I even received a little present: a package of red rice – rice with adzuki beans – something that is eaten on special occasions only.

Afterwards, I went straight to another meeting with a friend of mine, and we had a real bonenkai dinner, although a slightly unconventional one: I took my friend down to Osaka, where until December 25 there is a German Christmas Market. Apparently, the Umeda Sky Building near Osaka Station houses the German Consulate of Osaka, and thus, on the plaza outside (or rather, underneath) there has been a German style Christmas Market for years already.

We had a blast – and an enormous amount of food! There were a number of stalls with food imported from Germany: Würstel! Laugenbrezen! Spätzle! Bratkartoffeln! Leberkässemmerln! And of course, lots and lots of Glühwein… The only food I found a bit overpriced were the cookies – 600 YEN for 8 Spekulatius is too much, even if you can only buy them there. The market had quite a good size, there was a large Christmas tree in the middle where people were performing Christmas songs (English ones, unfortunately), there was an Advent wreath and a small train and a carousel for children. There were also stalls selling Christmas items, but I did not find anything I wanted to have; I was looking at a nice traditional nutcracker though, but not for 11.000 YEN, sorry.

My friend, being from Eastern Europe, had never seen a Christmas Market like this before, and he followed my every step with respect to food and drinks. Once we were not hungry any more and had enough Glühwein for the night, we left and made our way down to the river, where until January 17 there is one of the main displays of the Osaka Festival of the Lights. We strolled along the river and underneath the lights near Osaka City Hall, the night was relatively warm (or was that the Glühwein?) and it was a very nice ending to a very nice evening.

Fruit

I am not sure whether this has something to do with the Oseibo tradition I was talking about the other day, or with the end of the year or Christmas in general, but these days I keep receiving lots and lots of fruits. I have been given apples (from Aomori) and tangerines (from Kyushu) and even some small yuzu, Japanese type lemons. I also received yuzu marmalade, so those at least will keep for a while.

It’s interesting that fruits are considered a good gift, but maybe that’s because tangerines and apples are expensive, even now. Of course all of the fruits I received are immaculate and obviously store-bought, so I am wondering whether people would be happy about getting tiny apples like the ones that were growing in our garden when I was a child…

friendship

For quite a while now, I have been regularly meeting a Japanese woman. She is great fun and we do a lot of things together: cooking, going out, visiting temples and shrines,… Most of the time however, we meet in her house and then we sit and chat – in both English and Japanese. We have recently started keeping a short diary (mine is in Japanese, hers in English), and when we meet, we exchange it and correct the other’s mistakes.

I greatly enjoy meeting her, and we teach each other aspects of our culture. For example, she has helped me choosing the right Oseibo presents, and she has shown me how to cook some Japanese dishes. In return, I have recently explained why it is rude to have Christmas cards arrive after the holidays, even if they include new year wishes.

What I also enjoy is that – although she has never lived abroad – she is very open when it comes to answering more private questions about the Japanese. For example, she has explained that Japanese prefer group travel because of a need for security; and that they don’t bother much with elections because Tokyo (and thus the government) is “far away”.

She has also made a personal confession or two: She hopes that in her next life – she’s a practising Buddhist – she will get to marry a foreigner. Her biggest crush is Sean Connery (in his time as James Bond), which is something I don’t understand at all – I certainly draw the line at chest hair! She was greatly disappointed when I told her that all my European lovers were not very endowed in that respect, but then again, maybe Scottish men are different?

All in all, I hope that we can continue to build this friendship, and that it will last for a long time to come…

Sunday Work

Yesterday, at 9:45 in the morning – I was barely out of bed – the doorbell rang and three men in work overalls carrying equipment and enthusiastic smiles were standing in front of my door. Their enthusiasm immediately gripped me as well when they explained they were here to clean my bathroom – hey guys, any time! – but it was a bit dampened when it turned out they only meant the bathroom drain pipes, and not the bathroom itself. When they had also finished with the kitchen pipes and I had signed some paperwork (of course), they had left, after maybe 10 minutes at most.

And in the early afternoon, just when I was finished with lunch, there was another ring at the bell; this time it was a postman carrying the official letter with information pertaining to “MyNumber”, a new kind of identity card for all residents in Japan, including foreigners. As far as I can make out, they need me to send in a photo for the real card; and that card will only be issued starting next year, so I have some time before I do anything with this (and write about it, too).

In any case, those two occurrences show that the Japanese do take their work seriously. Many small companies not involved in selling goods to tourists are closed in the weekends, and although mail is delivered on Saturdays (something completely unthinkable in Europe by now), even the postmen have Sundays off. I can only assume that in these two cases it was easier to come at a time when it can be hoped that most people are at home, so as to make things less complicated for everyone involved.

Still, I would wish that the Japanese would not consider Sunday morning as a good time to do anything…

Endings

It seems that this whole week can be summarised under the motto “endings”.

My soroban teacher has more or less uninvited me from his classes which I have visited now twice a week for about 1.5 years. He has now much more students at the time I was usually going, and the new kids need more attention (and maybe also a bit more space) than at the time when I started. It is coming at a bad time now (psychologically) because on Sunday, there is the next test, but there’s not much I can do about it.

I am still very grateful that he organised the visa for me last year and to let me study soroban with him. It was very nice as long as I could go to school there, but from now on I will have to do my own studying. I still want to try one or two more levels of tests, but I am not sure I can manage without the motivation of exercises in class. At the very least, it will take much longer…

Before you ask: No, it is very unlikely that I will pass the test this weekend – I am still too slow. However, I think I mentioned that I mainly want to take it to see how the test is conducted on a larger scale. This I will certainly manage. I am curious…

The final ending of this week and of this post is a positive one: My ear and hearing are much better now! Although I still have some tinnitus in the right ear, the annoying pressure is gone completely. Sometimes, it will reemerge when I put on my headset or use the phone, but this is just temporary and subsides quickly. It’s something…

Finale

It seems that today autumn has finally ended and winter has begun. The time of the koyo autumn leaves has passed, and it is bound to get cold now – and today already, we had heavy rain in the afternoon, which prompted me to turn on my heater for the first time.

This year, the koyo were not quite as they should have been because the weather was not stable enough. To have good koyo, the weather should be warm and sunny until mid November, and then there should be a sharp drop in temperature. The latter is what induces the maple leaves to turn red or orange or yellow. This year, however, the weather was different, with many cold (but not too cold) days in between somewhere, so the leaves did not change that nicely, but instead just shrivelled on the trees.

Even so, the usual haunts for koyo-looking were all full to the brim with Japanese tourists, who, although slightly disappointed, still seemed to take photos of individual leaves. So did I, but as I missed the one sunny day to go out because of an appointment, I only have very few photos to share this year. I am sure there will be many better years to come though.