A Trip to Japan with an American Guy

I’m going to travel to Japan on business at the end of January. The purpose of this trip is to get technical training at our headquarters in Tokyo. In order to efficiently support our U.S. customers, our engineers in San Jose sometimes travel to Japan for training sessions. This time, I am taking a young American engineer with me for the software training.

For this engineer, it will be his first time to go abroad. He is excited about going to Japan. I’m also excited because I will be able to show him authentic Japanese cuisine. He was born and raised in Hawaii. Since there are a lot of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii, he is familiar with Japanese culture and food. However, authentic Japanese cuisine is pretty different from what he thinks. He likes “Teriyaki Chicken,” “Sushi Rolls,” and “Saimin,” but we don’t really eat these in Japan.

We will stay in the center of Tokyo for a week. I’m thinking of taking him to authentic Japanese restaurants the first 3 days. The rest of the week, I’ll take him to American restaurants and Hawaiian restaurants. In Tokyo, we have TGI Fridays, Hooters, Outback Steakhouse and L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. I’m sure he will find these funny, especially because of the ambience.

I recently watched a YouTube video from when Hooters opened its first store in Tokyo in 2010.

In the U.S, people often talk to waiters or waitresses at restaurants. People especially talk to waitresses at Hooters and often join in singing or dancing with the waitresses. As you can see in the YouTube footage, the Japanese people just take pictures and stay seated during the dance show at Hooters. What’s more, some people aren’t even watching their dancing! The atmosphere is kind of like a funeral. I would say it will probably be interesting for my American colleague to watch the Japanese customers at Hooters Tokyo. Japanese people don’t talk to waiters or waitresses unless they have an order or complaint.

Moreover, my colleague will notice that the customers at Hooters Tokyo are different from those at Hooters in the U.S. Of course in the U.S, Hooters is thought as a place for men. However, Hooters Tokyo is one of the most famous restaurants for dating. According a news article, Hooters Tokyo was Hooters top selling restaurant in 2011. I guess that they were able to appropriately evoke a part of American culture that Japanese people like. Some my friends went there on dates. All of them said that they enjoyed the American atmosphere of the restaurant.

In my case, I’m a typical Japanese guy. Dancing and singing are not my things. So my colleague will probably laugh at me, too!

Smiling in ID Photos

Do you smile when you have your ID photos taken? I have a straight face in all of my ID photos expect one. 

When I went to renew my Costco membership, a Costco employee took my picture for my membership card. I was straight-faced when I stood in front of the camera, but then I laughed aloud because the staff said a funny word. He counted aloud, “One, two, three and Zatoichi!” Zatoichi is a famous Japanese movie character. I never imagined hearing the word “Zatoichi” at Costco. Eventually, I got my Costco membership ID photo with my laughing face. – not just a smile, but a full laugh.

I think American people always smile in photos. Meanwhile Japanese people don’t do this, especially in ID photos. My English teacher told me that she was required to not slime when she had her ID photo taken in Japan. I have never seen official Japanese ID photos, such as passports and driver’s licenses, with smile faces. I don’t know if smiling in official documents is forbidden by Japanese law, but we don’t smile and are not good at smiling.

When Japanese people take a picture, they often say “Cheese” like American people. However, “Say cheese” is not for smiling. It just tells us when the shutter will click. Of course, this custom was imported from American culture, but it has changed. I Googled the phrase “Say Cheese” and found that this was first used in a TV commercial in 1963. It seems that while the phrase was adopted in Japanese culture, smiling never was.

I think there has probably been a lot of research about the cultural aspects of ID photos. I won’t dig deeply into this, but I want to figure out whether American people can keep a straight face in a photo if they are asked.

The staff at Costco successfully made me smile. What would I do if I were a cameraman in Japan? I have no idea if I could ask American people to keep a straight face.

Is Your Name Pronounced Correctly?

I read an article about applications that help people pronounce names. These are http://www.audioname.com/ and http://hearnames.com/. The former is an application which creates an audio file to email or send by text. Users can record their pronunciation of a name in a little audio file. The latter is a website that teaches you how which helps to say names from all over the world.

I am always asked again when I give my name to workers at restaurants and stores in the U.S. Many people advise me to use a nickname in the U.S. I don’t want to use a nickname because my name, like most Japanese names, has a specific meaning. A nickname doesn’t represent the meaning in my name from my parents.

My name is Masao. It is made of two words. Masa and O. These two words each have meaning. The nickname “Masa” is easy to pronounce, but it doesn’t represent the correct meaning of my name. “Masa” means a director and “O” means a center. My parents named me “Masao” wishing me to be person who would become a decent director. I don’t know if I embody my parents’ wishes, but that is another story.

Because of my experience living away from my home country, I often think about what name would be best for my child. I have no idea, but I do know a lot of Japanese names which are funny to English speakers. For example;

Yusaku: Sounds like “You suck!”

Yudai: Sounds like “You die!”

Ryohey: Sounds like “Yo, Hey!”

These three are common names for men, but their pronunciation gives them totally different meanings in English. In Japanese, “Yusaku” means “a brave and kind man.” “Yudai” means “a brave and open-minded man.” “Ryohei” is “a man who has conscience”. The following two names are common for women;

Saiko: Sounds like “Psycho”

Mami: Sounds like “Mommy”

How does Yusaku feel ?

The 5 names above are quite good names in Japanese. I like them, but English speakers might feel that the pronunciation is funny. The reverse is also true. I know some names in the world are funny when Japanese speakers hear them. For example;

Barker: Sounds like “Idiot” in Japanese

Naming children is a big deal. I’ll start considering for the future.

How to Identify Japanese People

I had a business trip to Japan at the end of October for a week. It was my first trip back to my home country after a year and three month absence. I visited my hometown and saw my family and friends. It was a great trip; I especially enjoyed eating my favorite Japanese dishes.

During my trip, I figured out my own way for identifying Japanese people at airports. I have summarized it in this blog post.

In old movies, Japanese people were typically depicted as people with cameras dangling off their necks. No one is like that nowadays, but I have found some features that represent today’s Japanese people. I’m not sure if it really works, but let us look at three examples.

1.    Men who wear high-cut, slim-fitting pants.

2.    People who put bandannas on their suitcases to identify them.

3.    People who walk with their heads down.

I would say that number one really works, in particular for business suits. In Japan, most suit stores sell only slim fitting pants because it helps to have a good figure. I never see Western people wearing slim-fitting pants as part of a business suits. Japanese people basically don’t have long legs. Tight and slim-fitting pants are really popular. They are popular not only for business suits but also for casual clothes. As for casual clothes, hipster pants and low-rise pants are commonly preferred by Japanese people. Since low-rise pants look best on slender people who are short or petite. Japanese people with short torsos will be able to get benefits from low-rise pants. Of course, I have some, but I don’t wear slim-fitting pants in the U.S.

I often see suitcases with bandannas at airports. I would say this really works for identifying Japanese people as well. Japanese people are really nervous about their luggage, so they often put a mark on their suitcases. A bandanna is commonly used as a mark because various designs of bandannas are sold at around $2 everywhere in Japan.

Number three is a typical way of walking for Japanese. This style of walking with one’s head down was formed from the lifestyle habit. Japanese people used to wear Japanese-style sandals until a few decades ago. Japanese people used to shuffle their feet along. They didn’t walk starting on their heel like Western people. From this habit, Japanese people came to walk with their heads down. Also, Japanese people are likely to use mobile gadgets, such as cellphones and potable gaming machines while they are walking.

As for me, only number three was true for me. I wonder how I looked to foreigners at Narita Airport and San Francisco Airport because I wore a San Jose Sharks hoddie with loose fitting pants and had soft-sided luggage with a Sharks tag…

Salty and Sweet

I had a Salted Caramel Mocha at Starbucks recently. I felt that it tasted kind of like uni (sea urchin). Uni is the one of the most popular and expensive ingredients in Sushi. The drink didn’t taste like raw Uni. It was like the uni flavor that is commonly used for snacks.

Do you have a similar kind of experience? The idea of combining different flavors to make a new flavor is popular in Japan, in particular among younger people.

When I was a high school student, I enjoyed discovering new flavors by combining two or more different foods. The following combinations are typical examples:

Japanese style custard pudding + soy sauce = uni (sea urchin)

Mandarin orange + seaweed + soy sauce = salmon caviar

Japanese people like sushi, but we can’t afford it so often because of the price. So, younger people often try to find flavors that are similar to the taste of sushi ingredients by combining low price ingredients. I’m curious if there are food experiments for finding new flavors in the U.S.

I would say that mixing up sweet with other flavors sometimes results in something I like. In the U.S, I have experienced many fabulous flavors which I was not used to eating. 

A typical example is pancakes. In Japan, pancakes are thought of as a kind of snack and aren’t eaten as a meal. I couldn’t even imagine the combination of pancakes and bacon when I was in Japan. Now pancakes and bacon with maple syrup have become my favorite. Rice pudding is another example of a food that I couldn’t imagine before because the combination of rice and milk is very unusual in Japan. I felt disgusted when I saw it for the first time, but its taste was great. Sweet seasonings are often used in American dishes, especially in meat dishes. I don’t know a lot about meat dishes that have a sweet taste.

Sweet-tasting meat dishes might be a clue to making new flavors from the combination of unusual ingredients. I should try unfamiliar flavors more often. Maybe I will find an unusual combination between American ingredients and flavors that make a unique taste similar to the flavor of sushi ingredients.

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Have you ever seen a ghost? Do you believe in ghosts?

I believed ghosts existed until my early 20’s. I don’t anymore. They might exist or they might not. I really have no idea.

As I mentioned, I used to believe in them. I was frightened by ghost stories when I was a kid. My experience living in New Jersey changed my mind. Living in a different culture from my own altered my point of view.  

How do you feel when you see a cemetery or a grave? To me, the atmosphere of a Japanese cemetery inspires fear in my mind because in Japanese culture it is said that the souls of dead people gather at graves.

In the U.S, I have the exact opposite feeling when I see a cemetery. There was a cemetery near my apartment when I lived in New Jersey. I drove by the cemetery on the way to work. When I saw it the first time, I felt it was pretty beautiful, with green grass and white gravestones. I liked that place and often took a walk to the cemetery on the weekends. I didn’t feel any fear from the cemetery. While I was walking, I used to think about how I would feel if I met a ghost. My English skills then were worse than now. I was wondering whether a ghost showed up, I would be able to understand what he/she wanted to say. I thought that I might not be able to communicate with non-Japanese speaking ghosts and would not be frightened by them. I also thought about what kind of language they would speak because they would not be human.

While I was taking a stroll at the cemetery, I also thought that zombies might not speak Japanese. Since I don’t believe that a dead person can come back to life, zombies don’t make sense to me. I feel weird when I watch zombie movies, in particular when zombies bite humans, and they become zombies. The reason is simple. Cremation is the common way of burial in Japan and burying in the ground is basically prohibited. We don’t have a tradition of burying dead bodies in the ground. Therefore, I would say only a few Japanese speaking zombies exist in the world. Each culture has a different understanding of death.

After I went back to Japan, I went to my family’s cemetery. I didn’t feel any fear anymore. I thought that if I took my American friends there, they would feel it was a cool place.

I figured out that my fear of ghosts was from my Japanese cultural background. When I go to a place which is said to be haunted, I always wonder how those who have a different cultural background feel about the place.

This is one example of how living in a different culture totally changed my perceptions.

Hummingbird and Sparrow

Recently hummingbirds have been coming to my backyard every day. I hung a hummingbird feeder on my terrace two months ago. One month after I hung it, hummingbirds became guests of my backyard. They are kind of like pet hummingbirds. If the artificial nectar runs out, they fly and chirp above my head. I make nectar for them once a week. They are so cute. I love them.

Hummingbirds live in South America and North America including Alaska. I had never seen a hummingbird before I came to the U.S. However, I knew the name “Hummingbird” from my early years. I learned the term in English class at my junior high school. On the other hand, I didn’t know the English term “sparrow” until recently.

Sparrows are commonly seen everywhere in Japan. Even though it’s a popular bird in Japan, I didn’t know its English name because I had not had an opportunity to talk about sparrows in English until recently. I never learned the word “sparrow” during my school days.

I have many experiences like this. I know a lot of English words for things I have never seen. Here are animals I can name in English, but have never seen:

Anteater, hippopotamus, platypus and so on…

Here are animals I saw often in Japan, but couldn’t name in English before I moved to the U.S:

Wild boar, raccoon dog, flying Squirrel, mole, and so on….

When I explain Japan or Japanese culture, I sometimes stumble over English words. “Sparrow” is one of typical example. I think that most Japanese people who are acquiring English skills are probably like me. During my school days, I studied English more than 8 years. I focused on reading articles because reading skills were the most important for passing the university examination. These days, I really think that I should have interacted with native English speakers wherever possible in Japan and tried to explain something by myself. To me, English was just a subject needed for getting a good score on entrance examinations and regular examinations. If I had kids, I would give them an English education as a communication tool.