Chapter 4: Assumptions

Interlude: Japanese commercialism

Although I have a lot to talk about today, I wanted to write a bit about the observations of the Japanese commercial culture. They are, first and foremost, INSANELY driven by the "here and now", often leaving behind what they were just lusting after only a short time before in pursuit of the next big thing. On every street corner, there are people "harrassing" passerby, handing out fliers or free samples of items. If there isn't anyone present, there most likely is a TV playing commercials telling you to buy stuff. Now, although this isn't all that different from America, the culture of how to pay on an entirely different level. Credit cards are not very common, although accepted at some places, and it's not unusual to see people carrying around 10,000 yen ($100) bills and using them to pay for relatively small items. (In America, using a $100 at a gas station to buy a drink would probably cause the cashier to give you a strange look). The gift-giving nature of the culture (where all business meetings and social gatherings more or less require a gift exchange of some sort) fuels this impulse-based commerce and produces even MORE opportunities to buy frivolous stuff. It's fascinating and curious at the same time.

Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled blog...

Yesterday's trip to Akihabara was nice, and pretty much business as usual. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this except to say that there were games to be bought, and food to be eaten. It's still my favorite district of Tokyo, but even I'll admit that it gets to be a bit tiring. There were a few "duty free" tourist trap shops, but in exchange for losing the 5% consumption tax, the price of goods (such as rice makers and kimonos) skyrockets 15-20%, making it pretty much pointless to shop there. A shame, but we could probably get better and cheaper "touristy" stuff at the Japanese Spencer's in Lumine mall, by our hotel. One great find at retro game shop Super Potato was a boxed copy of Ogre Battle 64, unopened, for 500 yen. OGRE BATTLE 64. IN THE BARGAIN BIN. >.<

Then again, Square-Enix stuff like Valkyrie Profile PS1 and even Persona 2 and Suikoden 2 from other publishers on the PS1 was sub-$20. Games, with very few exceptions, do not hold their value here the way they do in the States. Boxed copies of the Super Nintendo Final Fantasies are about as common as boxed copies of Madden 200x on PS2. I wish I was kidding.



After shopping and playing a few games of BlazBlue (which was better the second time around - before I got Nihonjin Smashed off of the machine by a local player), we ventured to Kabukicho for shabu-shabu with Satoshi and his girlfriend. Now, granted, it's difficult for me to tell the age of a Japanese woman...but when we first met his girlfriend, I'd say....well, she looked much, MUCH younger - I'd say about half his age - and something just seemed "off" about the whole thing. But she was nice to us, and she actually could hold a conversation about Final Fantasy, which was shocking. And besides, I can't judge, since I don't know the situation, and...well...things are different here. Relationship rules are different here (more on that in a bit). I'm proud of him. "Naisu Katchi!" (nice catch!)

Anyways, Kabukicho...the Japanese Las Vegas. Hostess bars, pachinko parlors, overpriced food, and Yakuza...fortunately didn't have any run-ins with the latter. Satoshi told me that Kabukicho is harmless until after midnight. Anyway, amidst the craziness sat the little shabu-shabu place, very nondescript. On the inside, it turned out to be quite a bit larger than expected, and we got a table and had a good meal. Shabu-shabu, for those unaware, is vegetables and premium beef boiled in water piece-by-piece and eaten immediately afterwards. Though most of the vegetables given to us were easily recognizable, there was one odd thing on the plate: MOCHI. Not the delicious ice cream dessert mochi you're thinking of. No, this was the most evil, insidious food I've ever had the displeasure of consuming. It consisted of solid rice dough, in little rectangles. Satoshi and his girlfriend suggested Lisa and I try this "mochi", so we prepared it in the shabu-shabu pot. Now, I should have known something was wrong the second I removed it from the boiling water. It had the texture and color of Elmer's Glue, but was thicker. It stuck to the chopsticks but oozed back onto the plate after each pickup attempt. I was hesitant; I knew how this was going to end. But being polite, I ate it...or at least, I tried to. It tasted like mashed, heated, paper. The rice paste had no flavor at all, and was extremely difficult to swallow. I couldn't get it down, I had to spit it out. I felt bad about this, as it could be seen as a sign of disrespect, but they thought it was funny - and I really didn't have a choice...the stuff was disgusting. Thus, a word to the wise: if you're ever offered mochi at a time other than dessert, back away slowly and then RUN!

After dinner, they kindly walked us back to Shinjuku station so we didn't get lost. After reaching the hotel, we headed back upstairs and crashed.

Today we visited a small amusement park in Ikebukuro called NamjaTown. NamjaTown is famous for two things, fortunately both food-related: The World Gyoza Stadium and Ice Cream City. Now, like the titles would suggest, these little "regions" within the theme park consist of different vendors selling all types of specialty gyoza and ice cream. We ended up trying a variety of gyoza: 3 meat, mayonnaise, habanero, pan-seared, inari-coated, and deep fried. NOM NOM NOMMITY NOM NOM NOM. All were delicious, except maybe the mayonnaise ones. Lisa liked those the best, ironically. At Ice Cream City we got berry sundaes with crepes and "Magic Snow" (shaved milk with a fruit topping). The "Magic Snow" was actually pretty bizarre, it had the texture of cotton candy but not the flavor, it melted in your mouth, and tasted great. I've never had anything like it before. The crepe sundaes were pretty straightforward, but the crepes were far more delicious than normal ice-cream cones.




We also located the octopus and beef tongue ice cream that Andrew Zimmern tried on Bizarre Foods on the Tokyo episode...but dude...if Andrew couldn't eat it without barfing it up on TV, I wasn't even going to try. It just wasn't in the cards. Nope. Sorry. I usually try to be pretty flexible about trying bizarre foods, but I have two rules: (1.) I cannot be able to tell what animal it is from the food I'm served, and (2.) Andrew Zimmern did not puke it up.



The thing about NamjaTown, other than the food, was the decor. Each of the themed areas was different, there was a fairy-tale style "dessert garden", a haunted village, and a military barracks (which contained some of the worst US Military propaganda ripoffs in history. My mouth dropped at some of this stuff:




Honestly, who thinks of this stuff? Our symbol for freedom, given a tie and bastardized as the ghostbusting NamderBirds Secret Agency. Wow. Just wow. I don't even know where to go with that.

After that, we had delicious yakitori with someone from IBM Japan that I worked with previously. He's Canadian - another gaijin - who has lived here for around 7 years. We talked a lot about the stereotypes of Japan, and he had some interesting things to say about the reality of living and working in Japan:

1.) They do not change. Their theory is: if something worked in the past, it will always work. No changing, no innovation. They protect and refine what they already know how to do. Requesting change will be shot down with maximum stonewalling or ignorance.

2.) Job security is definite in this country. Which means while it's next to impossible to get fired, it is also next to impossible to leave if you don't like your job and get another one (especially as a foreigner).

3.) It is illegal to BE a prostitute, but not to VISIT one...

4.) Businessmen do cheat on their wives. Often. There are entire establishments devoted to such things. Marriages are more often business relationships than that of love.

5.) Working long hours is the norm. 8AM to 8PM days are common.

6.) To those who believe Japan is the best country in the world and the best awesome country in the world, yet haven't been here yet: "Living in Japan is wonderful. Working in Japan is hell."