That's Japan! (Issue 2)

Welcome back to America's favorite sporadically released issue of That's Japan! This week we will explore a now defunct trend, a red train, music blaring out everywhere, gift buying and Fashion accidents in everyone's favorite wacky destination!1. Morning Bell

This may only be strange for me, but in Japan there is a very large scale public address system that is transmitted over loudspeakers. These things are placed Everywhere! I think the thing that makes it sound creepy to me is that I can't understand what the heck they are saying when they are making an announcement. It makes me feel like I am in wartime and they are informing us of the latest bombings- it could be because the only time I have heard loudspeakers in Canada is when they are testing out the Air-raid sirens. The truth of the matter is that the bulletins are usually for good purposes like if someone's grandmother has gone wandering or if there is an accident locally ( don't laugh families traditionally live with their grandparents, so when they get old and more senile they can easily wander off). Everyday at 7:30 am, noon, and 5:00 pm they always play a different song. Ritsy wasn't sure what the name of the morning song is, the afternoon song used to be different but it has been changed to chimes like Big Ben might make and the evening song is a contemporary Children's song- which I think is called Yuyake Koyake (though Ritsy thought it was Toki Yamani hiwa ochi de- web search shows no results). This website has a midi sample, thought I don't think it sounds as cool....

2. Me-do Kissa (maid coffee shop)

In Japan there is a large 'otaku' or 'geek' culture as we would probably call it. As manga, or Japanese comic books, are largely successful, the often oddly dressed and enigmatic characters are popular to emulate. So a trend of coffee houses having waitresses geared in showy maid uniforms was quite big for a number of years. Unfortunately, this strange and somewhat fetishy trend has fizzled in recent years.

3. Aka-Den

As I wanted to focus on at least one thing uniquely Hamamatsu- I will talk about the only form of mass transportation worth talking about to us in North Hamamatsu- the red train (or aka den). Of course, Aka- den is the nickname for the train- the train company is actually called Enshu Tetsudo or Entetsu for short. It basically runs on a 90 degree angle from the JR line heading north running about 16 kilometers. That's it. If you don't have a vehicle- you are stuck taking the bus, which for no logical reason is much more expensive than the train. It does run pretty often- every 12 minutes, but the last train runs at about 11:40- so if I get stuck in city center after that, it's a 4000 yen cab ride to where I live. I have done it a few times! Another seeming oversight is that, while Hamamatsu has the world HQ's for some large companies; like Yamaha Music, Honda Motorcycles and Roland, the train only services one of the companies. Oh I said this was the only train worth mentioning, there is one more that runs north of Hamanako called the TenHama line. The train is more geared as a sight-seeing train and only runs once an hour. I had to take the train for a couple of my classes last year, believe me you don't want to be late for your train when taking that one! I don't know if this will work but last year, I had put up some pictures of me waiting for the TenHama in Morimachi- if it works you should be able to click here.

4. Omiyage

Going on a trip to Kyoto? Better not come home empty handed. Well, it's not actually a prerequisite, but one of the fun traditions of Japan is bringing back some sort of edible souvenirs from your destinations for your students or colleagues. As you will learn from this fantastic blog, pretty much everywhere in Japan has some sort of famous food, so people will usually bring back a little snack (usually bought at the train station) for everyone to enjoy. A good example that I mentioned before is Unagi pie- which I brought to my friends in the Nagoya Office for Time/Life the company that I work for- as unagi is the big gift from Hamamatsu.
5. Yamaba

I actually thought they were called 'garu' but this website really clarifies things, there are many categories of this (IMHO) horrible fashion. The basic idea is that some young girls love to paint their faces with large amounts of make-up (to the point they look like a clown) and suntan almost daily and bleach their hair blond to disfigure their appearance and look, well just strange. Hey, to each his/her own- don't get me wrong-- it's just something you will only see in Japan.I haven't seen too much of this trend in Hamamatsu but it will be a common sight in the larger cities.

That's this entry of That's Japan! Tune in next time as we dig deeper into the culture and uniqueness of this beautiful country!