Things about Japan you probably didn't know: Edition 1

I may have mentioned before that my favorite class is Scott Clark-sensei's Culture class. We spend a few hours simply asking him random questions, and him responding with stories or valuable information you wouldn't have a clue on unless you'd lived in Japan for a good while. Clark-sensei has been living on and off in Japan since sometime in the 1960s, so he knows quite a bit. I want to share some of the stories and random information he told us--some of it is just priceless...

-Red is a power color in Japan. You don't see people wearing it often, and if they are it's because it's for a sporting event or something like that. He says they wear a lot of red underwear, though. ;)

-People in Japan may avoid you, not because they don't want to talk to you, but because they can't anticipate your needs as a Westerner. One time (probably many) Clark-sensei would call and ask if they had rooms in Japanese (he's pretty fluent, after all). After they've already said yes, they ask for his name--and when he gave it to them, there was an audible pause. They asked him, you know we only use chopsticks right? And we don't have western style accomodations! Etc. It's almost funny--they want to serve you, but Japanese are expected to know what the other party wants without asking. You can imagine how hard that is. This idea may also apply if someone is afraid you will start talking to them in English--if they're not good, they may try to avoid you!

-Eating while walking around was likened to mooning people in public--however, you still see it occasionally. This is why you see people buy drinks at vending machines and down them right there!

-In business deals, switching to casual form by accident (from polite form--and that's not even the most polite) may be interpreted as an insult and can cause a deal to fall through. Out of context, it can feel like swearing.

-Sales tax started in the 90s. Right now, it's at 5%.

-Many times you will hear the following: the customer is greater than the seller. Service is number 1 in Japan.

-Why is Japanese currency pronounced 'yen' by westerners when there is no 'ye' sound in Japanese? On the contrary, 'ye' in hiragana actually DID exist at one point. Interestingly enough, 'ye' was falling out of use when the currency was named 'yen', but it still stuck. In Japan, it is simply pronounced 'en'.

-Japanese do not live longer because of what they eat--it's because their healthcare system is far superior to the US. Did you know that of all industrialized countries, the US has the highest infant mortality rate. Many times already I've heard our healthcare system described as broken or an 'un-healthcare system' by Clark-sensei. It's been pretty interesting to hear. When one of the exchange students got sick, he paid around 350 dollars for care that would have cost thousands in the US--and that was because he wasn't insured! It would have been cheaper otherwise! Clark-sensei says the healthcare system here is quite good--and the only way to fix the US healthcare system is probably to start over. I believe it was Taiwan that recently restructured their entire system from scratch--it IS possible. Here's an article to give some more veracity to this--http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89651916

-What is masculine here differs from the US. Here, it's actually normal for older 20-somethings to get drunk and start bawling--it doesn't garner the same reaction as it would in the US. Styling their hair and wearing certain types of clothes here isn't considered 'gay'--though it doesn't stray too too far--it's not like guys wear dresses or anything.

-Be careful when you use the word westernization with regards to Japan's history in the last 200 years--it has a different meaning to them. More like 'modernization' than westernization, really. And also, they modernized in 1868, not after WWII like some people say.

-Japan actually tried to surrender during WWII, however the US stubbornly wanted unconditional surrender. The Japanese only asked that the Emperor not be killed. He never even was, however, the US refused. Soon after, the atomic bombs were dropped. Coincidence? A bit doubtful...

-Many Japanese do not know their military history fully, just as is probably true in the United States. They feel victims of their government with regards to the war--and it's kind of understandable.

-Japan was actually further ahead (approximately 6-8 months) in designing an atomic bomb than the US. However, they need uranium which could not be gotten in Japan. An American sub sank a shipment sent by the Germans to Japan that secretly carried the necessary uranium, thus crippling Japan's plans. We know this because the plans have been studied by those who know the field, and they said there was no technical reason otherwise that might have prevented them from completing it first. This knowledge isn't to say that the outcome might have been the better one--you never can be sure what might have happened. It's just an interesting tidbit.