Herbivorous versus Carnivorous

There seems to be a unique trend in Japan of men becoming more feminine, or perhaps less masculine. The era leading up to the bust economy provided the stereotypical "carnivorous" male with economic competition for better wages, more money to lavish on girlfriends and a more male versus male society. Since then, the Japanese economy and men's outlook on their futures has changed considerably, and Tomoko Otake at the Japan Times delves into some of the reasons and results.


These images, polls taken by Fuji TV and images from Japan Probe, first track the number of respondents that say they sit while peeing over eight years. Second, women were asked if they think their husbands sit while peeing in the first bar and in the next bar is the response of their spouses of whether or not the pee sitting. Because women in Japan tend to take care of the household chores, they would rather not clean up the unnecessary splash back that occurs from standing urination.

Fashion remains a massive dimension of the gender role break off.


A Reuters article and an article linked to Okane's touches on the suject of bras for men. These are not for overweight men, but for guys that want to feel a bit more secure. It doesn't seem like they want people to know they have a bra, but want to psychological reinforcement of an underwire.

Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, Kyoto

I traveled north to Kyoto a while back and went to the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, 伏見稲荷大社, just the east of the city. Fushimi is the ward of Kyoto the shrine is found in, and Inari is the god of harvests, fertility and foxes. Inari is also the god of business, and many of the massive red "torii" gates are donated by business seeking success. There are thousands of the red torii that line the pathway leading about three kilometers up the mountain. Many tourists come to this site, and it is especially busy on Japanese New Years. In 2006, the police estimated that 2.69 million visitors came to this shrine over three days.

As you make the grueling trek to the top, you will pass many old "tsuka, 塚” mounds for worship.

The worship of Inari itself dates to the year 711, when this shrine was first built. But since then, more that 30,000 shrines dedicated to Inari have been built across Japan. Inari is a kami of agriculture but has been thanked by some ancient generals after victory in battle was achieved.

The Shinto god Inari, when in a physical form, can be either three separate kami, or five. Inari also has a messager spirit of the "kitsune, 狐”　a fox with a red bib and sometimes holding a scroll in its mouth.

Stackin' Heaps on the Slopes, Globalization and Sport

Please excuse the quality of this post's photo, I only had my cell phone during my trip to Nagano...

Globalization has too many aspects to look at all of them. From this, one shouldn't have to rely on the tired old example of McDonald's. Sports are great for explaining a shrinking planet. For my spring break I went to Happo One, in Nagano. In 1998, it was the site of the Winter Olympics. The entire length of the "Happo Run", which took the Olympic competitors a few minutes to ski down, took me about 75 minutes to get down...

Because I didn't want break a bone from falling so much, I spent a lot of time in the restaruants and shokudos on the mountain. I met aussies, French, Scots, Canadians, and a lot of Japanese. I might have seen another American on the hills, but I met none!

I had a rough time learning how to snow board. So did a lot of other people. Nazumi and Mami are two Japanese I met, and we were at the same skill level. Their skills in English amazed me! Mami lived in the states until she was seven, but she speaks English with a California accent. Namuzi live in America for four years, and she also spoke perfect English.

I met a ski instructor named Charlie that was part of the English speaking ski school on Happo One. During the peak of the season, he saw people from all over the planet and showed them how to ski. His school is separate from the Japanese speaking school, but they use the same slopes. Charlie is a rather globalized individual himself. He started ski instructing seven years ago, and has simply followed the seasons around the world since then. He was set to return to his home in Chamany, France after his time in Happo.

Along with sports, food is rich source of globalization material. On the gondola ride, the local vendors had promotional flyers posted. This one is for "The strongest crape in Hakuba", and it was the first photo I took during the trip. Momo-chan's "crape"s were very tasty, but were definitely not the French version. There was also an obligatory McDonald's at top of the gondola. While still on the slopes, others noticed my obvious novice status and offered advice. It was given in either French or Japanese, though. It was easy to forget that I was in Japan.

人形！ ブライスドール！ Doll collections

To develop a post on doll collection throughout Japan would sheer insanity. Japan has too many cute, expensive, cheap, plastic, vinyl and wooden "ningyou" to ever hope to see them all. But, my girlfriend has found one type of doll that she is now an "otaku" of them: Blythe dolls! http://www.flickr.com/photos/30350986@N02/ That is her flickr. It's populated mostly by these strange little Blythes'. They are one small aspect of pop culture one can find in Japan.

But these dolls are sold almost exclusively in Japan. Now that I am here, I have to gather a few for her. I made a trip to Osaka on Sunday and went to two stores, Girlest Girl in Fukushima「福島」 and the Kiddy Land in Hankyuu Sanbankan「阪急三番館」. At Girlest Girl, I met Tomi, a Japanese girl that works at the store.

I forgot to ask her if she had any dolls, though! It is a really cute shop though. One room stuffed to roof with Blythe dolls.

They have the works here. Clothes, boots, accessories and what not. The dolls are originally from the 70's, but didn't sell very successfully. Later, in the early 90's, a woman named Junie Moon collected a bunch and made a photo book about them. That officially reignited the craze, and now there are new models being released. Certain ones are very limited, with only one thousand of some editions being made for sale.

I really liked this store. It is very small and comfortable. The Kiddy Land I didn't bother taking pictures at because of its large "chain-y" nature. I worked at locally owned deli back in the states, so I am big sucker for indepent vendor of any sort.

踊った人を見つけた。People dancing, in public!

This last week, I met some girls on Kansai campus while they were practicing hip-hop moves for their dance class. The crazy thing was that they were practicing outside! Where everyone can see them.

They are in a dance team, though because of my poor Nihon-go abilities I wasn't able to figure out which. The girl in grey sweat pants is Mai, and the girl in black sweat pants is Akane. I tried to dance with them for a bit, I asked if they could teach me some moves... but I suck. I am too accustomed to dancing to house and jungle to pick up hip-hop moves very quickly. These girls were really good.

Akane had a really awesome speaker on her Ipod! It looks like a lego piece. I bought one this last weekend.

My attempt at learning one simple dance move was quite funny. I am accustomed to dancing in poorly lit clubs, and being a little drunk. Throughout Hirakata I have found people dancing all over the place. There are using glass as a mirror, and the weather is cool, so you won't sweat that much.

Early impressions of Japan

Compared to the states, the walls surrounding tracts of property in Japan are impressive. This is just within the Kansai campus and it looks like a wall to protect against a horde of barbarians.


But every little home is fitted in much the same way. There are concrete barriers six feet high, then another foot or so of wiring to make it almost eight feet of defense. Some families even have a roll down steel door to cover large windows. It's something one might expect in a dangerous place...


But it conforms with the rest of what I have run up against. The Japanese love of rules and dogma. The seminar house has rules slapped on every wall about what can and cannot be done to/with said wall and who can/cannot pass by such a wall. I find it a bit condescending. Do I have to think? I guess only if the rules permit me!








The high prices are quite astonishing. I was definitely expecting it, as Japan must import everything it consumes. It's painful to look at these prices for beer, which is my comfort "food". With the exchange rate, that six pack cost $15.

However, fun can be found when you brush by the silly preponderance of rules. As one of the jolly fools in the photo, we got rather sauced on a thursday night and jammed out to Queen, Vanilla Ice, Milly Vanilly, Diana Ross and various other long dead artists. It was more fun than I have had in months. Moving from the seminar house to homestay was really sad because now I am clear across town. Between me and my homies stand many massive hills that have no sidewalks to ride my bike on. But I will survive, hey hey.