Selfie Sticks

Recently selfie sticks have been incredibly popular in Japan, especially among teenagers. If you don't know, selfie sticks allow you to take pictures of yourself or a large group of people. The name selfie stick is fairly self-explanatory, it's a stick for taking selfies, or pictures you take of yourself. You attach your phone or a camera to the end of the selfie stick, connect the camera or phone to the selfie stick via bluetooth, and press the button at the bottom to take your picture.

Selfie sticks gained popularity quickly because the pictures taken with selfie sticks seem like they've been taken by an additional person who's not there. This allows people to take "candid" photos that are no longer obviously selfies. In Japan, however, its most popular use is with large groups of friends. Selfie sticks work perfectly for this because often people's arm are short, therefore cutting people out of the frame. The selfie stick lengthens the distance between the taker of the photo and the camera, so many more people can fit inside the frame.

Japan also has a lot of sightseeing places, such as large temples and mountains. These places are often very high up, and with a selfie stick much of the landscape can be included in your photo.


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Uchiwa

Japanese summers are often very hot. In Japan, there is a special type of fan used to fan yourself when it's hot. This is called an Uchiwa, or "flat fan" and it is usually made of paper and plastic or wood. Uchiwa have a long handle with a flat rounded end on top. The handle spreads out into many different rods to support the paper part. They don't fold, but they work very well.

Often Uchiwa are mass produced and bought by companies. These companies, such as restaurants or stores, print advertisements on them and have people hand them to people passing by. That way, on a hot day people are much more likely to take the advertisement as it serves a purpose, instead of just handing out pieces of paper.


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Religions in Japan

The major religions in Japan are Shinto (Japan’s first religion), Buddhism, and Confucianism. Christianity is not as popular in Japan as it is in many other areas.

Shinto, meaning “way of the deities or spirits,” appeared in Japan before the sixth century C.E. When it was first introduced, Shinto was practiced in an organized clan that didn’t have a written language. Shinto gods, called “kami,” were recognized all throughout the natural world. For example, twisted or very tall trees, mountains, rivers, and rocks could be considered Shinto gods. Even human beings could be seen as kami. Early mythology tells of the Yamato clan (the leading clan of the sixth and seventh centuries). The Yamato clan later became the Imperial Family. The myths describe the emperor as a descendant of their protector Shinto god, Amaterasu. Great warriors and poets could also be thought of as Shinto gods because of their prowess or special abilities.The goal of Shinto rituals was to keep the harmony between nature, humans, and Shinto gods. Communal festivals were held during planting or harvesting times or important times in the history of the community.

Buddhism arose in India in sixth century B.C.E. It traveled through China and Korea, and got to Japan around the sixth century C.E. The type of Buddhism that gained popularity in Japan was Mahayana Buddhism.

Buddhism is an eightfold path of values that helps an individual gain release from suffering. The Buddha taught that, no matter how happy one is in life, all living things eventually grow old and die. Buddha also accepted the Indian idea of rebirth and karma, so he believed one would suffer forever if they didn't take steps to stop it. The Buddha taught that the only way to get released from all the suffering was to gain a new understanding of reality. He wanted people to believe that all things are linked together, and depend on each other to survive. The Buddha discouraged people from thinking of themselves as individuals. 

A small elite was learning Chinese (Japan’s first written language) at the time Buddhism entered Japan, and some began to study and translate Chinese Buddhist texts. Some members of the clergy in Japan translate and recite traditional Chinese Buddhist texts today. Most Japanese people who started to follow Buddhism, however, enjoyed the Buddhist art or the seemingly magical qualities Buddhism held. Some were even attracted by the prospect of becoming closer to China through Buddhism, because China at that time was a very powerful and advanced society, and Buddhism originally came to Japan from China.

Confucianism entered Japan from Korea and China. Confucianism originated in China. It was created by Confucius, who lived from 551-479 B.C.E. Confucius' teachings were complied in a text called the Sayings of Confucius. Confucius emphasized the importance of filial piety, which means respect for your elders within your family. He also emphasized proper conduct, duty, loyalty, learning, and benevolence. Confucius believed stable families could be the basis for stable governments, which is why he emphasized filial piety so much.

During the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) Japan had just finished another period of political unrest. The new warrior family that took over, Tokugawa, saw the value of these religions. They used Confucianism, Buddhism and Shinto to try to create peace. The Tokugawa government even set up a Confucian school (the Shoheiko, which means “School of Prosperous Peace.” Each head of the feudal regions of Tokugawa (similar to lords owning pieces of an empire’s land) created schools similar to this in their own regions.

Several teachers during the Tokugawa era created their own teachings. They specifically created it for warriors. It is called bushido, or the way of the warrior. This brought together Buddhism's emphasis on self-restriction and discipline, Confucian values of filial piety and Shinto's nationalism. This new compact religion was spread throughout Japan by popular teachers at the time. One of them was named Baigan Ishida. His teachings, along with others, helped modernize Japan.

The last main religion in Japan is Christianity. Christianity was introduced to Japan in the 16th century. It didn't gain very many followers at all, and the Tokugawa family discouraged its spread through Japan. When Tokugawa fell, Japan opened up to the world and Protestant missionaries reintroduced Christianity. They built schools and hospitals and helped women and workers. Even with all of this, only one percent of the population in Japan practiced Christianity. Christianity wanted people to be allied to them exclusively, and not practice any other religions. Also, missionaries sometimes were disrespectful to Japanese people and culture, and that deterred Japanese people from practicing Christianity.


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Drink Machines

In Japan, there are lots of drink vending machines. In America, there are drink machines too, of course, but the ones in Japan are different. They don't display the drinks themselves like in America. In America there are generally two types of drink machines. Ones that don't show the product at all (usually have a plastic cover with a large picture of a cold Coke/Pepsi product, and ones that have a glass panel that show all the drinks.

The Japanese drink machines are very interesting. They don't display the drinks themselves, like I said earlier. They display the empty bottles of the drink itself. Sometimes plastic fills the bottle to the fill line, so it looks like a full drink. Others have advertisements to make the drink more appealing flowing around the can. It's nice to see the bottles and cans, however. It shows exactly what you're going to get. And since Japanese vending machines have varied sizes to their drinks, it's nice to see how big or small the drink itself actually is.

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Odd Drinks in Japan

There are many odd drinks you can get in Japan. One is called Pocari Sweat. It’s an electrolyte drink similar to Gatorade, but it's clear. My host family said they thought Americans don’t like it because of the name, and the fact that it’s a clear drink with an almost salty fruit flavor. So foreigners might think it’s actual sweat. Delicious. The drink is actually delicious though. I tried it, and it has a very faint flavor. It tastes kind of like tomato juice, but it's different. There are many different flavors and types of juice in Pocari Sweat, but the actual amount is small so the drink can remain clear.

Another interesting drink is a ginger drink. It’s darker than Coke or Pepsi, and it had extra ginger in it. I decided to try it with my friend on the trip with me, and it had so much ginger it was actually spicy. We dared people to take drinks of it because it was so spicy. The ginger was so strong you could smell it as soon as the drink was uncapped, and drinking more than tiny sips of the drink actually burned your tongue and throat.

There was a grape drink that was delicious that I bought in a vending machine on the trek to Kiyomizu-dera. It was a small can, and I thought it was just grape juice. However, once I took a drink I was amazed. It had actual cubes of grape in it. At first I was surprised, expecting the drink to be smooth. Generally when you want to drink something, chewing is the last thing on your mind but the grape pieces added so much flavor and good texture to the drink.

I saw a drink (but didn't try it) that was full of seeds. It was called Basil Seed and it had basil seeds in it. The basil seeds had a membrane around them, similar to pomegranate seeds but clear. It was a very interesting drink. If I had more time in Japan I'd like to try it.


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Chinese Food vs. Japanese Food

Chinese food is very different than Japanese food, but it seems like many people confuse the two. Often Japanese food and Chinese food are thought of as things like Fried rice, lo mein noodles, Kung Pao Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, and crab rangoons, among other things. These foods, however, are only Chinese food. And, if we're talking real here, many of these dishes are highly Americanized to be sweeter and more fried than their traditional Chinese counter parts. Sweet and Sour sauce, for example, is basically a sweet red sauce. I'm pretty sure it's in no way traditional Chinese food. I know that in Japan, for instance, people tend to like savory flavors better. In America, it's a one-way road to Salt-Fat-Sugarville with thousands of calories. Americans tend to like sweet things a lot more than Japanese people. For example, it's fairly common to find Japanese people (especially guys, although women can do this too) who don't like sweets at all. In America literally everyone I've talked to likes sweet things. I'm sure there are definitely people in America who don't like sweet things, and I do know a few people who don't like specifically chocolate (but still enjoy sweets). The fact that everyone I know in America enjoys sweets must mean that there's a fairly high percentage of people who like sweets in America. However, I digress.

American Chinese food is basically the foods I described above. Delicious fried things or vegetables in a soy sauce-based sauce. Japanese foods are things like sushi, yakitori, okonomiyaki, and onigiri. I did a blog entry about onigiri earlier that you may want to check out. If not, onigiri is basically a rice ball with something tasty inside. Yakitori is basically marinated chicken grilled on a stick (it's my Japanese teacher's favorite food). Okonomiyaki is my absolute favorite Japanese food. It's basically a savory pancake with many things mixed into the batter, and a piece of meat cooked in the center of it. My host family made it for me, and it was absolutely delicious.

Japanese foods and Chinese foods are very different. Some foods from China are also made in Japan, since Japan took a lot of cultural elements from China (such as certain kanji and traditions). Japanese food tends to be more savory, but it has a lot more flavor than Chinese food in my opinion. Part of the appeal of Chinese food is the Salt-fat-sugar combo that triggers the same response in your brain as if you had just taken drugs. Japanese food is the same way, but generally does it more subtly. In Japan quality of the food seems to be much more important than the quantity. Once, I ate Chinese food that burned my mouth because of how salty it was. That certainly made me salty. After I eat Chinese food I always feel bloated because of the high salt content. This could be because of where I am and the quality of food I was eating, versus the quality of food I was exposed to in Japan. However a Konbini onigiri tasted a lot better than a restaurant Chinese dish.

Many people probably confuse the two because of certain restaurants that serve both. Where I live there's a sushi restaurant that serves Japanese food, but also offers a wide variety of Chinese food as well. However, it advertises itself as a Japanese food restaurant. Now, I could be biased because I'm comparing totally different things. I'm not comparing traditional Chinese food to traditional Japanese food, I'm comparing traditional Japanese food you'd find in Japan to Chinese food you'd find in America.

So let's change it up a bit. In America, both Japanese food and Chinese food is prepared similarly, catering to an American audience. Even sushi in America is rolls that have many sweet sauces and

toppings that are only found in America, for example the ever-popular California roll with cucumber, fake crab, and avocado. In conclusion, Americans like sweet things, traditional Japanese and traditional Chinese foods are very different, but in America they are prepared similarly.

Yakiniku

Japanese yakiniku is a type of food that originated from Korean barbecue. Korean barbecue is very popular in Korea. Korean barbecue is basically a type of restaurant where you cook your own food. There is a built-in gas or charcoal grill at the middle of each table. Some Korean restaurants do not have built-in grills so they provide portable stoves to use at their tables. There are many different types of meat grilled. A lot of the meat is already marinated, customers cook it the way they want the meat to be cooked.

In Japan yakiniku is very similar to Korean barbecue. You get various cuts of meat and cook them yourself on a grill. The more delicious or rare the cut of meat, the more expensive it is. In some yakiniku, you pay by the plate or orders of meat. Some have set fees where you pay one fee at the front and it’s all you can eat. These places usually have lots of cheaper meat, but it’s still very delicious. At the all you can eat places, you can order different meats from a menu and pay for them separately. 

I went to a yakiniku place on my Japan trip. We paid a set fee, and it was all you can eat in 90 minutes. The grills were charcoal grills with small grates on top of them. They were very hot, and the meat we were given was thin so it cooked very quickly. There was unlimited drinks, all you had to do was go out of your little room and go up to the drink machines. 

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Idols

In both Korea and Japan, there are many different types of famous people. In both Japan and Korea, there are celebrities. However, there’s a different phenomenon that exists in Japan that’s not very popular in America. It’s a type of famous people. These famous people are called idols. Idols in Japan and Korea have a similar appeal. In Japan, idols have a specific characteristic or personality trait that makes the popular. What makes these idols famous is their personality trait. Japanese idols create their persona in order to gain more popularity and become famous. Some idols in Japan are known for their certain cute style, or how funny they are. Others are known for how cool they are. Sometimes Japanese idols' traits can conflict with their real personalities. For example, an idol whose persona is very kind and good natured may be a person who is very short tempered in real life.

Idols are very often associated with music. These idols often perform in groups. Some idol groups make sure each idol has a different personality trait or fashion statement so they blend well together. Having differences also allows each idol to be easily differentiated from fans.


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Other jpop groups use fashion and appearance to try to be very similar. These groups are pretty cool. The biggest one I've seen in Japan is AKB48. AKB48 is a girl's group with a huge number of girls. They match their fashion styles in photoshoots and music videos to try to blend. The huge number of girls also allows for many interesting dance styles and choreography.

Here is a picture of AKB48:

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Speaking of choreography, dancing is a HUGE part of idols and the music industry in Japan and Korea. There are even schools for dance, and a famous "idol school" in Korea where students are trained to dance, uphold an appearance on camera, deal with fans, and perform on stage as well as under pressure. The success rate of students who go to this school is huge. It's very hard to make it into the school, but almost all of the students who get in make it in the music industry as idols. It's crazy. Often there are lots of people who cheer them on, and that helps the succeed as well.

In both Korea and Japan, pop music is popular. In Japan, they have their own form of pop music called Japanese pop, or Jpop for short. Jpop features upbeat music and dancing. The dancing in music videos for Jpop is very tight and in sync, that's part of the aesthetic. Korean pop music is called kpop. Kpop is very popular in Japan, but jpop is not popular in Korea. Many dancers in kpop and jpop videos are much better than American dancers. Here is a video of Kpop dance practice:

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Korean, American, and Japanese Sushi

Kimbap (or Gimbap) is a type of Korean food. The concept of this dish is in a way similar to American style sushi. This food is usually eaten at picnics with Kimchi, which is a type of Korean pickled cabbage. There are not very many restaurants that serve only Kimbap, as it’s seen more of as a sandwich or snack (similar to onigiri). Protein ingredients that are very often used with Gimbap are fish cakes, imitation crab meat, eggs and/or seasoned beef rib-eye. This is similar to American California rolls in that the imitation crab meat is often used. Vegetables in Kimbap often include cucumbers, spinach, carrots and pickled radish. The picture below shows an example of Kimbap. It looks very similar to sushi you can find in America, but the flavors are different because of the ingredients used.


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Japanese sushi is very different than Korean “sushi.” Japanese sushi is generally fish with a rice ball underneath. Most Japanese sushi shows off the fish more, and focuses on the cuts of meat. Rolls in Japan can be seen, but they are often used to combine flavors or textures of fish. The goal of Japanese sushi is not of the roll or what’s inside the roll. Japanese foods focus a lot on aesthetic (appearance, or outward beauty) and texture. If a food is bland or has a bad texture, many Japanese people won’t eat it. Even if the food is very flavorful, some Japanese people will not eat it if it has a bad texture. Americans eat more for flavor, and texture can vary. For example, many people eat at McDonald’s in America, and some of their menu items have the same texture or consistency. McDonald’s in Japan have varied menu items specific to Japan, such as the Tsukimi, or moon viewing burger, which has an egg on top to resemble the moon.


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In America, sushi is more similar to Kimbap in that it’s generally a roll. The rice in American sushi is on the outside. If an American goes to a sushi restaurant in America, most of the menu items are rolls. You can get traditional Japanese sushi by ordering each cut of fish separately. This is called “nigiri” (fish on rice) in America, but in Japan it’s just referred to as sushi. I showed my host family in Japan pictures of American sushi and they said they didn’t know what that was, but it wasn’t sushi. In America, sushi also has varied sauces on top of it. Many of the sauces or ingredients inside rolls can be sweet. This is interesting to me because both Japanese and Korean sushi are very savory. Japanese sushi is traditionally dipped in soy sauce before eating, it doesn’t generally come with a sauce already on it.


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