Engrish

In Japan, people think it's cool to have English lettering on things. They often can't read it, but think of it as a fashionable decoration, just as Americans like to have Chinese characters on things, but many of us don't know what the lettering on our karate uniform says, for example.

High school style letterman's jackets are in style here, and they are always decorated with lots of English writing. Yesterday I saw one that had a picture of Texas, and said "The Love Star State." Personally, I would like to start thinking of Texas as the Love Star State. It could help its reputation after the Bush years.

In a store I saw a woman's shirt that said "I am a dog."

I never seem to have my camera handy when I see a funny T-shirt, but fortunately lots of other people do and you can see their pictures at http://engrish.com/

Lest you think Americans don't make the same mistakes, a Japanese friend told me that while in the U.S. he saw a man with the Chinese character for "kitchen" tattooed on his arm. The man had no idea what it meant, but it sure looked cool!

Hanami

It's cherry blossom season in Tokyo, and that means that everyone is engaging in hanami, or flower viewing. People line up to enter parks with cherry trees! Below, people line up to enter Rikugien Garden, a quiet and non-party hanami atmosphere.


Other parks are full of hanami picnickers: families, groups of friends and co-workers picnicking and drinking on plastic tarps beneath the blossoms. Below is Hikarigaoka Park, within walking distance of where Itsumi and I live.

The crowds of people in parks remind Itsumi of Fourth of July fireworks viewing crowds in the U.S. In the evening, lights shine on the cherry trees and the party continues.

These guys seem to be co-workers. The man in the front is wearing a head cloth that is traditional for construction workers.


Most people bring bento (boxed lunch) boxes and sake, wine or beer, but a few people bring McDonalds or KFC fast food.

Kids enjoy climbing trees, playing badminton and doing all the things kids do in parks.

Itsumi and I had a hanami picnic with friends at Yoyogi Park in conjunction with a peace festival.

Later in the evening we went to an Izakaya, or traditional Japanese bar. Japanese people don't like to drink without eating, so an Izakaya is really more like a restaurant.

Cherry blossoms are beautiful, some very pink and some more whitish, and they are everywhere. We can see some from the balcony of our apartment. It's too bad that hanami season only lasts for a couple of weeks, as I would enjoy going to a party like this every weekend!

Mother's Bicycle

I bought a bicycle! Getting around Tokyo by bicycle is so much more fun than using the train! I bought what is known here as a "mother's bicycle." It comes with a basket in front, and I bought a second basket for the back so that I can carry groceries like all of the mothers that use this type of bicycle.

In Tokyo it's impractical to have a car due to the crowding, traffic, and the high cost of parking, so many people don't drive. Mothers do their errands by bicycle with kids in tow. This bicycle, photographed in the parking lot in front of my apartment building, can carry two kids, with a seat in the back and a smaller one behind the handle bars, and groceries in the front basket.

I think it's inspirational to see so many Japanese people, including mothers, using bicycles for transportation. Using a bicycle rather than a car is one of the most effective, fun and healthy ways we can reduce our consumption. Bicycles should be for transportation, not just recreation!

The standard mother's bicycle comes equipped with a headlight that is powered by the bicycle rider. The bicycle wheel turns a small wheel on the headlight apparatus which powers the headlight. This means that my pedaling not only moves the bicycle but also powers the headlight, so I don't need to buy batteries which are harmful to the environment and also a pain if you forget to turn your headlight off. During the day, I shift the light apparatus so that it is not next to the wheel and I don't have to power it.

This is my bicycle lock. It uses a key, and doesn't lock the bicycle to anything. It just prevents the rear wheel from turning.

Compared to the U.S., Japan has very few car parking lots, but lots of bicycle parking! Bicycles line the front and side of the grocery store where Itsumi and I shop. An attendant constantly reorganizes the bicycles to make room for more. Side streets are crowded with bicycles but have few cars. Just think how much oil is being saved by every person who is not driving a car. This is how it should be!

I bought a helmet (special ordered it, because it's unfortunately not common for adults to wear bicycle helmets in Japan), I'm looking for a bicycle map of Tokyo in English, and I'm enjoying finding my way around Tokyo by bicycle!

Plastic

Related to my last post, I just read an article in the Japan Times. The article, available at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090322x1.html, says that there is a floating dump of plastic debris called the Eastern Garbage Patch in the ocean, just west of California, and this dump is now larger than the area of the United States. Plastic garbage from the coasts of Asia and the United States accumulates here, harming the ocean, the fish and marine life, and anyone who eats the fish. This is the largest and most well-known floating dump, but there are many others in oceans around the world.

The article stresses that we need to use less plastic. In 2004, Japan discarded ten million tons of plastic. I don't have a corresponding figure for the United States, but according to http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2007/03/20/how-much-trash-gets-thrown-away-each/, Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic beverage bottles EVERY HOUR.

Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags, equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil.
Only 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled worldwide -- about 2 percent in the U.S. -- and the rest, when discarded, can persist for centuries. Source: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/

There is no excuse for the amount of plastic that we use and throw away. Recycling is of course good, but it can never be enough. We need to drastically reduce our use of plastic. That means I shouldn't eat so much bento. I should instead choose food that is not so heavily packaged. As consumers, we have the power to change the industry. Let's do it now.

Bento, yum!

Japanese food to go is really good! From any convenience store, such as 7-11, you can buy a lunch box, or bento, for $5 or $6. The bento are usually really delicious and contain rice, pickled vegetables, breaded shrimp, pickled plums, vegetables, egg, and lot of other delicious morsels of food. I say morsels because everything comes in bite-sized pieces, and there are many kinds of food so the meal never gets boring!

The only thing I don't like is that bento, like Japanese food in general, is heavily packaged. I think that Japan is as bad as or worse than the U.S. when it comes to packaging food, unnecessarily using lots of plastic, cardboard and styrofoam. Much of this packaging can be recycled, but still it would be better not to use it in the first place. The disposable chopsticks, used in cheap and mid-level restaurants, waste a lot of wood, but are probably not as bad as the plastic knives, forks and spoons used in the U.S. Both Japan and the United States could learn from poorer countries like Bolivia where the food is not heavily packaged.

Shower toilets

Lest you think I got tired of writing about the amazing Japanese toilets...

I finally figured out how to use shower toilets. The orange button on the left means stop. The next one is a "shower" for after going number 2. The next is a bidet for after going number 1. And the last one is a dryer. The round buttons below adjust the force of the water, and can move the spray forward or backward. And the seat is always heated for your comfort.

Izu Oshima

I took a short trip to Izu Oshima, an island off the coast of Tokyo. It took about two hours to get there by hydrofoil, and I enjoyed a beautiful evening walk on the beach.

Izu Oshima is technically part of Tokyo, but it feels so different. Its towns are quiet, working class and a bit run down, which makes me feel comfortable there.

There was only one restaurant in the town I stayed in, and since I chose not to have meals at my hotel I either ate at the restaurant or bought food at the grocery store for every meal. This is a sashimi (raw fish) rice bowl. This fish is marinated in sake and soy sauce.

Oshima is famous for its active volcano, which most recently erupted in 1986. This is the volcano from a distance.

There is a hiking trail to the top of the volcano, going through the hardened lava flows.

Periodically along the trail there are shelters, in case of eruption. I was glad that I didn't have to use one!

Along the way there were places where smoke came out of the ground.

This is the crater. I didn't stay long because it was really cold and windy, and snowing!

Me with lava rock - trying to smile but it was so cold up there!!

Izu Oshima is also famous for its flowers, especially camellias. These are Oshimia cherry blossoms at the entrance to the camellia park.

Camellias come in many colors.

Every evening during the camellia festival, the island people put on a show for tourists. I really like that men in Japan can dance around with fans. People here don't have the same image of masculinity as we have in the U.S. For example, men like to attach tiny stuffed animals and decorations to their cell phones, and recently I saw a 40-year-old man with a small teddy bear attached to his tote bag.

The performance was part of the island's camellia festival. There was dancing, and a pachinko (Japanese gambling) game. I was the only gaijin (foreigner) in the audience. I think most of the Japanese tourists were in tourist groups rather than traveling independently, and I was the only one by myself. A group of three local men was sitting near me, and they were enjoying a few beers and cheering boisterously while watching the performance. Seeing that I was the lone foreigner, they befriended me and brought me gifts of tea and the island's famous milk.

They showed me how to play the pachinko game, and at the end of the performance when the dancers invited the audience to dance, the local men insisted that I dance. They borrowed my camera and took lots of funny pictures of me dancing.

Also in Oshima I soaked in a hot spring pool on a cliff above the ocean. It was amazing to soak in the water while watching the ocean and the activity in the harbor. Even though it was raining, it felt great to soak in the hot water.

Unlike most hot springs in Japan, bathers wear swimming suits at this one because women and men bathe together. Photo borrowed from the internet.

Not too many people spoke English on Izu Oshima, and I had to struggle more to communicate in the little bit of Japanese I've learned, but many people on the island reached out to help me, the lone foreigner, get my transportation, lodging, eating and entertainment needs met. I want to visit this island again in the summer time.