Noises

This is something that must differ a lot by the luck of your personal experience, but in my own experience, Japan is quiet privately and noisy publicly.

I have lived in three different buildings in three different cities, and lived in apartment blocks with thin walls, surrounded by other tenants. I've always been astonished by how little noise I hear from anyone. Nobody plays loud music, or loud TV, nobody holds loud parties, nobody has fights. I think in 18 months of living in one building, the only time I ever heard my neighbours was when one of them had a cold and was coughing a bit.

With all these people living so close together, an equivalent situation in Australia is almost unthinkable.

Now, the lack of parties/loud conversations is probably related to the small size of the apartments; people don't tend to entertain in them very much. And I'm sure there are plenty of noisy or inconsiderate Japanese neighbours out there. But my impression is still that at home, my neighbours are quieter than Australians would be.

Outside of home, however, is another story. Loud, constant train announcements, frequently set at too high a volume. Muzak in public spaces. Stores with annoying jingles. Ads playing. People shouting out the day's specials. Garbage trucks trawling the neighbourhood playing their theme song. Constant, loud announcements over department store speakers. Politicians blasting announcements from megaphones on cars. Shopkeepers bellowing out 'irasshaimase!!' (welcome) as you walk past.

I remember going to a tropical beach in Okinawa, and a ski slope in Niigata, and even these natural places had speakers playing bland pop music interspersed with occasional announcements!

I think Japanese people must have a higher tolerance for noise than I do, because I find that even a simple trip to the supermarket can really jangle my nerves. I suppose if you hear it from a young age, you get used to it.

I plan to do a 'pet peeve' post about shopping, so I'll save more of my griping for then. ^_^

Random Pictures (3)

I don't know just what is happening in this picture. But that elevator is clearly taking malicious pleasure in that property damage. 

His perhaps slightly less well-known residence. 

Anybody want a bucket-sized parfait?

With, like, an entire pudding, brownie, fruit salad and three scoops of icecream on top?

You know, just to tide you over until you get home or something?

Japanese English

Anyone who has taught English in Japan will soon become familiar with the idea of 'Japanese English'. Japanese has many, many 'loan words' from English and some from other European languages.

In some cases, though the word has been rendered in the Japanese syllabary, the resemblance to its original is obvious, and it's possible to quickly recognise the meaning. Examples include 'ke-ki' (cake), 'ko-hi' (coffee), 'ba-ga-' (burger) and 'sarada' (salad).

In other cases, the loan word has taken on a form or use that makes it unintelligible, unnatural, or incorrect, to English ears.

Some examples I often hear:

'wear' instead of 'clothes'. 'I bought some new wear'.

'chou cream' (sounds like 'shoe cream'), instead of 'cream puff'.

'soft cream' instead of 'soft serve' (icecream).

'range' instead of 'stove'. In Japanese, 'stove' is a heater or fireplace. In Japanese, 'denshi range' means 'microwave' ('denshi' means 'electronic').

'high tension', which I think means 'excited'.

'one piece' instead of 'tunic top' or 'dress' (in English we don't really have a good equivalent word for a long top, so kudos to the Japanese for creating one)

'challenge' as a verb, as in - 'I will challenge this test'

'present' as a verb instead of 'give a present', as in - 'He presents me this cake'

noun + 'up' used as a verb, meaning 'improve my ___' eg, 'I want to level up' or 'I want to career up'.

'room' instead of 'apartment' (as in 'I cleaned my room', meaning 'I cleaned my apartment')

'mansion' instead of 'apartment'... an amusing change, an apartment is called a mansion in Japanese

'sand' instead of 'sandwich'. Japanese often shorten words, so it's not that unusual, but it sounds funny to me to eat a 'cookie sand'.

'goods' as an all-purpose word for products or merchandise, like 'I bought some Disney goods'

'hamburg' to mean 'hamburger patty'. In Japan, hamburger patties are often served as meat dishes in their own right, rather than in a hamburger bun.

'pierce' instead of 'earring'.

'claim' instead of 'complain' or 'complaint'.

'hormone' (actually horumon), which really means offal or entrails.

Wigs

Another post about accessories. ^_^ I had vaguely noticed that some accessory shops sold a variety of wigs, most of them with varying shades of brown or black hair. I was curious about the market for these, so I asked my students.

One girl thought they were for junior high school students. She said that the students probably had to have normal black hair for school, but some might have brown, dyed hair. In that case, they could wear the wigs to school and escape censure. (Obviously my student did not express this in these words. ^^;)

Another thought they would be useful for job hunting. Again, job hunting requires a fairly strict adherence to a certain look - in which dyed hair has no part - so students could wear a black wig to hide their dyed hair while going job hunting.

I'm sure some of the wigs I've seen in shops haven't been black though.

Tails

Recently I have been seeing, in shops and on people, fur tail accessories. They have probably been around for ages and I've just never noticed. What they are is, well, thick, soft tails. I've seen them for 5000 yen (about $60) per tail. Often made of real fur, for example fox fur, they are clipped to your bag, or possibly your waist.

Why not just go the whole hog and tie it to your backside? It might have a kind of 'sexy cosplay' effect, especially combined with the popular fur-topped boots.

I'm thinking of getting two and seeing if they will help me to fly.

Job hunting

As I've mentioned, I currently work at a university. Some of my female third-year students are in the process of 'job hunting'. This seems like a full-time job in itself. The following information is what my students told me, so bear in mind it may not be true for all universities.

The third-year students (in a four-year degree), have fewer classes because of the time demands created by their job hunting. Basically, job hunting involves attending constant 'job explanations' by different companies, and also various job expos and job fairs. Many students have travelled the country to attend particular 'explanations', some going as far as Fukuoka, and many to Osaka or Tokyo.

All this requires a lot of filling out forms, getting pictures taken, and even getting a video of yourself presenting yourself. One student said she has applied for about 40 different companies this year.

It's not quite like 'okay, I studied economics, so I will apply for this bank and this financial planning institution, because they are looking for people with my particular knowledge set'. It seems like any student can apply for these companies, because the job is not necessarily a specialised role for a particular major, just a 'company employee'. In general, some universities' students might get a slightly higher consideration than others, based on the prestige of the university.

Because the economic situation is still not good, competition for people entering the job market is strong, and it's difficult to get just what you want.

Job hunters also have to attend practice interviews and 'group discussion' sessions, where they practise answering the kind of questions interviewers ask, especially those designed to test creative thinking, problem solving, and your general composure under pressure.

Even for these practice interviews, students must wear suits. The uniform of the job hunter is a suit - invariably, a black suit, with white shirt - and conventional, black hair (no colour). My job-hunting students appear in suits more days than not; it's astonishing how many 'job hunting'-related duties they have to fulfill.

It all looks rather stressful and when I see a hallway full of nervously waiting, black-suited students, I always feel glad that my early job-hunting days are behind me.

Zannen sale

This is a little out of date now, but I just remembered. This year, Nagoya's baseball team, the Chunichi Dragons, won the Central League. (At this point, Dragons merchandise abounded, and the theme song was  played not a little.) They then played the Lotte Marines in the Japan Series, and lost.

The part that I enjoyed: stores in Nagoya, en masse, held a 'zannen sale' to commemorate the LOSS of their city's team!

'Zannen' is a Japanese word, generally meaning 'too bad', or 'that's a shame'. According to Denshi Jisho, it also means 'bad luck, regret'. I love that they hold a 'regret sale'. Apparently it's a routine thing. I think this should catch on all over the world.

My friend tells me that the stores were bound to hold a sale, win or lose; if the Dragons had won, the 'omedetou sale' (congratulations sale) would have been more extravagant, with better specials.