When one answers the phone they say "Moshi Moshi," and then they start talking ridiculously fast. I mean, really fast, I can't catch any words what-so-ever. If they aren't talking, but just listening, they'll say "Hai, Hai," "Ah, ah" and "un, un," a lot with vigorous nodding of the head or bowing. And if there is reason, due to the conversation, for thanks, they say "arigatou gozaimasu~" with a long "u" sound at the end. Even men seem to say the "u" which is considered very feminine. And they'll say it over and over again. Sometimes when I'm listening to peoples conversations on the phone I feel like someone turned on a tape recorder and it's on repeat. When such conversations go on for about ten minutes, you start to go a little crazy.
Phone calls are usually short, to the point, and include bowing even though the other person obviously can't see them.
I'm thinking that the super speed talk is due to the fact that phone calls are expensive. Minute plans aren't available like in the states. Softbank is free for in-network calls between 6:00am and 9:00pm. During off hours they charge you per minute. Land lines and outside networks also cost a lot of money, charging every 30 seconds. In fact, it costs more to call a landline than a cell phone. One number I called for a post office (English Version) Charged 80 yen per twenty seconds. (I hung up rather quickly.)
Who likes talking on the phone anyways?
October 21, 2009
October 19, 2009
Religious.
There's a saying I heard that I have found to be quite true about the Japanese.
This is because of their lifestyle. I sorta knew about this before, but on my trip to Kamakura with Yamase-San, (One of my friends from church) I learned a lot more. Here's some info on religion in Japan.
There are two major religions in Japan: Shinto and Buddhist. They are often mixed together and mistaken from one another. Shinto is the belief in many spirits or gods within nature. Buddhist is the belief in Nirvana. (I mean, it's more complicated than that, but there's some differences for ya.)
A shrine is Shinto. A shrine is distinguished by its bright red paint. One does not actually enter a shrine. Praying is done outside while looking in at the statue of the god you are praying to or in front of a gong which you ring afterwards. This picture is of a small shrine in Inokashira Park by Kichijoji.
A temple is Buddhist. Temples are built with wood and not painted. You can enter a temple, and they usually house a Buddha. This picture if of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, which is the largest wooden structure in the world.
They believe that when the artist makes a statue, they put a spirit into it. The people then pray to that statue- thus tat spirit for the well-being of whatever that spirit is over. Whether it be money, safe pregnancy, love, wisdom, livestock, sake, etc.
When a child is born, they are taken to a shrine to be blessed for a good and prosperous life.
Many Japanese people are married the Christian way, in their white dresses in chapels. I'm not sure why this is - I guess I'll have to look it up sometimes. They are also married at shrines. I think they might actually do both the traditional and Christian wedding.
When a person dies, they are buried the Buddhist way.
On New Years Eve, everyone is Buddhist. On that night, people gather at shrines and temples to hear the 108 gongs, representing the 108 Buddhist sins from the previous years being forgotten. Everyone then eats New Years food like soba, mochi, and yokan.
Another note on Shinto beliefs, I was surprised to learn that sake is considered a purifier along with salt. Sake can be used as a cleanser, but they believe that drinking it purifies the spirit. Many shrines have buildings that are for storing barrels of donated sake.
I think it's sorta strange how most people in Japan aren't one religion, but two. Wouldn't that mean that they aren't dedicated to one, thus not very religious? I'm not sure. When I asked this question to Yamase, she did say their are some very strict and dedicated Buddhist and Shinto-ists, but for the most part, not really. It's more like an important and endearing part of their traditional culture rather than a matter of believing.
But then, maybe I'm wrong. I've still got a lot to learn about this country!
"They are born Shinto, married Christian, and die Buddhist."
This is because of their lifestyle. I sorta knew about this before, but on my trip to Kamakura with Yamase-San, (One of my friends from church) I learned a lot more. Here's some info on religion in Japan.
There are two major religions in Japan: Shinto and Buddhist. They are often mixed together and mistaken from one another. Shinto is the belief in many spirits or gods within nature. Buddhist is the belief in Nirvana. (I mean, it's more complicated than that, but there's some differences for ya.)
A shrine is Shinto. A shrine is distinguished by its bright red paint. One does not actually enter a shrine. Praying is done outside while looking in at the statue of the god you are praying to or in front of a gong which you ring afterwards. This picture is of a small shrine in Inokashira Park by Kichijoji.
A temple is Buddhist. Temples are built with wood and not painted. You can enter a temple, and they usually house a Buddha. This picture if of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, which is the largest wooden structure in the world.They believe that when the artist makes a statue, they put a spirit into it. The people then pray to that statue- thus tat spirit for the well-being of whatever that spirit is over. Whether it be money, safe pregnancy, love, wisdom, livestock, sake, etc.
When a child is born, they are taken to a shrine to be blessed for a good and prosperous life.
Many Japanese people are married the Christian way, in their white dresses in chapels. I'm not sure why this is - I guess I'll have to look it up sometimes. They are also married at shrines. I think they might actually do both the traditional and Christian wedding.
When a person dies, they are buried the Buddhist way.
On New Years Eve, everyone is Buddhist. On that night, people gather at shrines and temples to hear the 108 gongs, representing the 108 Buddhist sins from the previous years being forgotten. Everyone then eats New Years food like soba, mochi, and yokan.
Another note on Shinto beliefs, I was surprised to learn that sake is considered a purifier along with salt. Sake can be used as a cleanser, but they believe that drinking it purifies the spirit. Many shrines have buildings that are for storing barrels of donated sake.I think it's sorta strange how most people in Japan aren't one religion, but two. Wouldn't that mean that they aren't dedicated to one, thus not very religious? I'm not sure. When I asked this question to Yamase, she did say their are some very strict and dedicated Buddhist and Shinto-ists, but for the most part, not really. It's more like an important and endearing part of their traditional culture rather than a matter of believing.
But then, maybe I'm wrong. I've still got a lot to learn about this country!
Trains 電車
There are a lot of train lines in Tokyo, the most popular being the Yamanote Line, which circles central Tokyo. The main companies are, Seibu, JR (Japan Rail), and KEIO. According to Wikipedia, there are 528 station in Tokyo alone, not counting Chiba and Yokohama (which are conglomerates of Tokyo.) If you include these cities/conglomerates, I'd say there are close to 1,000 stations. Wow. Tokyo is only about 800 km. (500 miles.) Pretty small.
Most lines are color coordinated. Chuo is bright orange while the local Sobu is yellow. The Yamanote is green. A lot of lines have jingles their own jingles that play when the train stops at a station. The JR does this, but I'm not sure if KEIO or other companies do. I think I've got the Chuo jingle engrained into my brain for time and all eternity now. It's the line I take everyday to work and whenever I go into central Tokyo.
There are usually a lot of express trains that skip the smaller stations. These are usually very crowded. The more popular lines like Chuo actually have TVs in them that display advertisements, and ones that display the train route, train info, weather, etc. Train interiors are splattered with hundreds of posters on the walls and hanging from the ceilings.
The train stops are displayed in the japanese writing styles: kanji, hiragana, katakana, along with English. The announcer, which is a recording, says the stops in Japanese and then in English. It's interesting that sometimes the English version pronounces the names of places significantly different than the Japanese version.
The driver will make announcements too. I find it amusing that most of the time they sound like they're speaking through their noses. They are almost always men. I've only heard on driver here that was a woman so far.
Recently, a new anime/manga (I'm not sure which) came out that is called ミラクル トレインMiracle Train. The manga's main characters are based of stations on the Yamanote Line. This includes Roppongi, Shinjuku, Shiodome, and others. (But not Harajuku or Ikebukuro. What a shame.)
I have no idea what it's about, but judging by the fact that all the characters look like hot anime guys (more like anime guys trying to look hot and failing miserably), I'm going to guess it's lame and shallow - and just trying to get girls money.
The idea of personifying places or things has been done before. One manga called Hetalia Access Powers is the countries of the world during WWII as people. It's super popular, and I heard it's pretty interesting. (I've yet to read it though.) I guess because Hetalia was such a hit that Miracle Train is trying to buy into that sorta genre. >_0
Most lines are color coordinated. Chuo is bright orange while the local Sobu is yellow. The Yamanote is green. A lot of lines have jingles their own jingles that play when the train stops at a station. The JR does this, but I'm not sure if KEIO or other companies do. I think I've got the Chuo jingle engrained into my brain for time and all eternity now. It's the line I take everyday to work and whenever I go into central Tokyo.
There are usually a lot of express trains that skip the smaller stations. These are usually very crowded. The more popular lines like Chuo actually have TVs in them that display advertisements, and ones that display the train route, train info, weather, etc. Train interiors are splattered with hundreds of posters on the walls and hanging from the ceilings.
The train stops are displayed in the japanese writing styles: kanji, hiragana, katakana, along with English. The announcer, which is a recording, says the stops in Japanese and then in English. It's interesting that sometimes the English version pronounces the names of places significantly different than the Japanese version.
The driver will make announcements too. I find it amusing that most of the time they sound like they're speaking through their noses. They are almost always men. I've only heard on driver here that was a woman so far.
Recently, a new anime/manga (I'm not sure which) came out that is called ミラクル トレインMiracle Train. The manga's main characters are based of stations on the Yamanote Line. This includes Roppongi, Shinjuku, Shiodome, and others. (But not Harajuku or Ikebukuro. What a shame.)
I have no idea what it's about, but judging by the fact that all the characters look like hot anime guys (more like anime guys trying to look hot and failing miserably), I'm going to guess it's lame and shallow - and just trying to get girls money.
The idea of personifying places or things has been done before. One manga called Hetalia Access Powers is the countries of the world during WWII as people. It's super popular, and I heard it's pretty interesting. (I've yet to read it though.) I guess because Hetalia was such a hit that Miracle Train is trying to buy into that sorta genre. >_0
October 14, 2009
Typhoon!
So a while ago, Typhoon Melor passed by Tokyo. Many people were worried that it would be the worst one in ten years, which was pretty frightening to me I still had to go to school. I was a bit annoyed because many ALTs didn't have to go because their school go canceled.
I got up and left about 20 minutes early in case things went wrong. It was pouring rain by the bucket loads, but luckily, no wind. Trains were a bit late, full of glum people that had to go to work despite the weather. There were at least 25 listed lines that had stopped or been delayed due to the typhoon. (This was about 7:00 in the morning.)
By the time I reached Rokakoen, my last station, the rain had petered out and a torrent of wind awoke! It was amazing and full of intense energy. It blew the clouds to the side and the sun began to shine through the clearest blue sky I have ever seen in Japan. The clouds were moving ridiculously fast. Layers and layers of them, large and small.
The wind lasted a long time, pounding against the windows, making in hard to hear the students talking sometimes. But the sun kept on shining, warming up the cold rainy air. After a while, the sun started heating up like an oven, and wearing four shirts and two jackets suddenly wasn't a very good idea (Though very necessary on the way to school.) After a week of glum, rainy, cold weather, I was ready for the sun again!
After school ended, I went to club and when I left the wind had stopped for the most part and the glorious sun bathed everything it touched in gold. The sky was so clear and the world was sparkling. The wind had blown away all the pollution that had been in Tokyo for so long. It somehow made me feel so much cleaner.
Thanks Hurrican Melor!
I got up and left about 20 minutes early in case things went wrong. It was pouring rain by the bucket loads, but luckily, no wind. Trains were a bit late, full of glum people that had to go to work despite the weather. There were at least 25 listed lines that had stopped or been delayed due to the typhoon. (This was about 7:00 in the morning.)
By the time I reached Rokakoen, my last station, the rain had petered out and a torrent of wind awoke! It was amazing and full of intense energy. It blew the clouds to the side and the sun began to shine through the clearest blue sky I have ever seen in Japan. The clouds were moving ridiculously fast. Layers and layers of them, large and small.
The wind lasted a long time, pounding against the windows, making in hard to hear the students talking sometimes. But the sun kept on shining, warming up the cold rainy air. After a while, the sun started heating up like an oven, and wearing four shirts and two jackets suddenly wasn't a very good idea (Though very necessary on the way to school.) After a week of glum, rainy, cold weather, I was ready for the sun again!
After school ended, I went to club and when I left the wind had stopped for the most part and the glorious sun bathed everything it touched in gold. The sky was so clear and the world was sparkling. The wind had blown away all the pollution that had been in Tokyo for so long. It somehow made me feel so much cleaner.
Thanks Hurrican Melor!
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