The Lucky Taxi

Taxis in Japan are pretty outrageous. I went 4 kilometers (with luggage) from the station to near my house in a taxi, and it was more than 2000 yen (more than 20usd). Where as in Korea, I think I went something like 30 something kilometers, and it cost 42000 won (less than 40 dollars). That was incredible.
Taxis in Korea will start around 2000 yen for about 2 kilos and will then start ticking up. Pretty much there is no reason not to take one when you are in need. (lowest end was 1800 and highest was 3200 that I have ever seen). In Japan the range is about 500 yen to about 700 or 800 yen for starters. And sure you will just say, 'Then just catch the cheap ones'. It is not as easy as you think, because you have to find one first.
In Kyoto there is a certain branch of taxis called Yasaka, which if you have traveled Kyoto, you would know that is also the name of their famous shrine at the end of the Gion district, the one that Gion Matsuri seems to revolve around. Well this branch of taxi is symbolized by their 3 leaf clove over head of their cars. Japanese peopel seem to really have a thing for clovers. This happens to be one of the largest taxi copanies in Kyoto, I would say there are three big ones (and probably about 15 total) in Kyoto, and I would say that MK, Yasaka, and one more I have yet to learn the name of, seem to be the largest. So you can imagine, there are thousands of taxis. Remember, Japanese people largely rely on public transportation and not everyone owns a car. So taxis can come in handy, especially if you are traveling with large luggage or are traveling after the hours of public transportation (or live like in the inaka!).
Back to the topic, the Yasaka taxi service. So there are thousands of taxis in this one chain all with 3 leave clover little headings, but what the average traveler does not see, is the 4 leave clover taxi. The lucky taxi. There are exactly 3 taxis in this company that have the 4 leaf clover embelem ebmlazoned on their cars. These cars are said to be driven by exceptional drivers. I have no idea what the requirements are to be known as the taxi driver of their car, but I am sure an unblemished record is one of the things. And the cool thing is, is that it cost nothing more to ride in this one as opposed to a 3 leaf taxi. In addition, they will give you a little sticker that you can only get from riding in this car. Cute right?
So what is more awesome than driving in the lucky taxi? There is exactly one taxi that is completely in the S-class (a Japanese thing that means like super or special or something. basically AWESOME) all of its own. It has a pink four leaf clover sigil on its car and heading. I have only seen this car exactly one time, and until then had no idea of its existance.

Sticker discrimination

Remember when you first started driving and you got your drivers permit and the card told you that you had certain restrictions to driving like no more than 2 people in the car, no driving after 9pm etc...But also remember how you broke those rules all the time. Those rules were meant to be broken. There was totally no way to enforce them because there was no way to know if you were under a permit or a regular license unless you were pulled over.
In Japan they have a small step up from that. Here they have stickers, or these metal car decor that identify just what kind of driver you are. Though I have no idea just what those restrictions are. For me, I see it as a way to identify those that can easily be hassled on the road. Oh don't pretend you don't know what I am talking about. Everyone says that they want to fool around with those driving the drivers ed car. It is also a way to identify those you most likely want to pass on the road.
There are two kinds of stickers, both can easily be bought and/or replaced at the local dollar store.
One sticker is that of a yellow and teal colored arrow which is to signify the driver is a new one and is under a 6 month permit. This one is commonly called wakaba maaku. Which pretty much means young driver (though a bit more eloquent than that). I think it is interesting in Japan they like to use nice, nature sounding names for lots of things, like special education classes to make them sound more pleasant and interesting or perhaps as a way to hedge calling them exactly what they are and sound kind of cute about it. I suppose that is really the same thing. It is kind of like when trying to talk about a fat person and calling them big boned or saying there is just more to love. Yeah like that.
The other sticker is a yellow and orange tear drop that is to signify that someone is elderly, over 75. Seeing as the common man certainly does not retire around 60, the senior citizens age is a nice decade and a half higher. Recently though, there has been a lot of fuss over that sticker. You see the name of the sticker was called momiji maaku, referring to the fall color of leaves. Even the color is a tribute to those spectacular Japanese maple leaves. But you know what fall leaves do? They fall. That is right those very leaves are pretty much in their end stage and the elderly think that that factor and perhaps the the tear drop shape is a little bit grim. Seeing as they certainly do not want a constant reminder of just how close they are to their next lives, they would rather have a happier looking decal. So in place of the tear drop, earlier this year they began issuing a four-leaf clover pattern of greens, orange and yellow. Four leaf clovers and luck and happiness right? Problem solved.

Eyepatch like a Pirate

I have a secret theory that people with eye patches are really just concealing their hidden powers. That is what Japan has taught me.

But no really, watch anime, read manga, see x-men/ the avengers. People with eye patches are pretty much bad asses. Also pirates. For whatever reason, you will almost always know that anyone wearing an eye patch has some super not so secret power they are about to unleash.
Moving on, this affects today's' culture in that it is completely acceptable to wear eye patches around Japan. I think it is all the imagery in their entertainment that has influenced it so, or possibly they just know something we don't about the awesomeness of eye patches, or they have super human powers. You can pick which one you want to believe, but when they unleash an ungodly amount of power when you become the super evil villain, I promise to tell you I told you so. But really, when I was a kid, I only really ever saw anyone wearing an eye patch a handful of times. And one of them was because this one girl had a 'lazy eye', also her eye patch was kinda lame.

Here I could not really tell you for what reasons they wear them. Sure some are purely for vanity and are decorated with rhinestones and lace, but others are your plain gauzy-white, breathable band-aid looking kind, that are more likely related to eye injuries. Regarding those eye injuries, I have exactly no clue what injuries would permit addressing oneself as a pirate, but it does make me wonder if they are either really serious injuries, or if we, in western culture, have been doing medicine wrong for years (or if it is useless and they serve no purpose). I have probably seen more than ten times the amount of eye patches living in Asia, than I have ever seen living in America. So yes the stereotype that they wear them is true, Japanese and Korean people for that matter seem to really like dressing up their faces between these eye patches and face masks. But I don't want you going around thinking everyone in Japan and Korea wears an eye patch and is secretly a Somalian pirate. They are not so common as that. I don't even think I could give you an accurate ratio, but I would certainly say it was less than one in a hundred, probably even one in a thousand. I just happen to live in a large city and see an incredible amount of people in my everyday life. After all, I never did live in New York or L.A....there could be more pirate-people there?

Mini Me

Tired of that old purikura? Those eye-widening pictures that make you look like you are perpetually 12 with cute little designs all over it or those stickers and giving yourself cat faces and ears just not cutting it?

Well thank god Japan is ahead of its game in technology.
Recently, I watched a television show about how they could make remarkably accurate replicas of their fake food. In the show, they used a 3D imager to take a massive print of a cantaloupe melon. They then used the same software to somehow make an exact replica of it in plastics. The show was actually a pretty remarkable one where two people were competing to make the most accurate melons as possible in order to fool a professional judge when compared against 8 other melons that were real. The judge was able to narrow it down to the last 3 and then gave up. In any case, it is this kind of technology, the 3D imaging and replicating of the artifact, that lead to this very innovation to the purikura market.
Now, you can have your very own you...as an action figure!!! Sweet right!? OK well it is more of a figurine, but it is still pretty sweet. You see, you go in for a nice 3D picture and then they will shrink the image into a size of your choice for your very own you-figurine. Only, you can't make a model in a day. The whole process takes about a month, so you have to stay in that position for an incredibly long time and they have to hook feeding tubes up and stuff.

....Right, so it is not that long. It is a long enough time (15 minutes) that they are concerned about your ability to hold a pose still enough for the imaging software to be able to accurately capture it. As for the mini model, now that will take some time. That process should be somewhere around a month give or take some change. And then of course they will mail you the final model.

Still the whole thing is pretty awesome. A total advance to the world of self-righteous egoists and others, who just want their picture taken. Imagine in a few years being able to go to a booth and get this whole process done in half an hour and out comes in the little drop box, a mini you. Or imagine with their buy in bulk option, a politician handing out mini action figures of himself for his campaign. Or a movie campaign for Marvel or something like Kickass, handing out their super heroes in Happy Meals and such....ok so they have those, but not in this detail (eye wrinkles! they can capture your eye wrinkles!....who wants to see oneself portrayed with eye wrinkles...?)...and not with YOU in the costume. Now that would make it much cooler.

source:
http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/15/3-d-photo-booth-makes-a-miniature-you/?hpt=hp_c3

A pack of Packrats

Packrats are not as uncommon in Japan as you might think.

People really don't like to throw things away, making their already more narrow homes, even more crowded. And whats more, is that families will live together, a daughter and her husband might live with her parents and if they have kids as well...Well the picture gets very crowded already. But then you have to account for all of their belongings, and if you know how many toys I had as a kid, you would think they lived in their very own house.
So of course you have the normal packrats, who just can't throw their own stuff away with things like 'Oh, I loved that! I have such fond memories of it! I am sure I will use it again....someday...'. And then you have people with their parents old things and heirlooms of their family 'Oh this is my grandmothers kimono she had it since before World War 2 and its such a beautiful and classic antique nevermind that it smells like it is made out of musk'. I mean how could you possibly throw that away or resell it for an incredible price. And then you have the families with families, which pretty much just combines the two. And honestly some of the things I have seen in these peoples homes. It is just better that they find a nice spot of lawn and bury a little time capsule to be forgotten about immediately. There are some really grotesque antiques in there. Some of the worst is the 70's and 80's pottery, those shiny little pastel figurines that are made grossly out of portion? Yes, those. There was a whole trophy case full of them.
And then if you think all of that seems perfectly normal and not that weird, I come to the main point of all of this: the mega-you-shall-not-walk-a-step-of-doom packrats. These people literally do not have enough space in their own home, that they have started flooding the sidewalk with their possessions because it cannot fit inside. And since I live in a city, people just do not have lawns, not unless you buy a house and a half. So it is the sidewalks they fill up. At first if you come across one of these, you will think that someone just moved out and they have yet to pick up their trash, but that would be an incorrect assumption. You see, all those stacks of decades worth of newspapers, all the umbrellas, and rusted bicycles embedded in the newspapers? Yes those all belong to a person. A person who has the serious misconception that one day they will have use of all these items. And if this is the outside, I must admit my morbid sense of curiosity really wonders what the inside looks like. Are there tunnels? Secret passages? Does the person keep things in certain hidden locations only know to him/her? And what kind of things clutter the inside? I also wonder about the person and what time of physios they must have and how they act in public, but seeing as they(at least this person(s)) do live in a city, they probably have a fair chance of interacting with a fair amount of people. Makes me wonder a good many things...
I am sure that there are certainly people like this in America, and I can certainly attest that there are not many of this kind of person in Japan, but in discovering it, it shocked me enough to find this kind of living situation, let alone in the midst of a city, that I thought it was worth a mention. Though I am sure in America, with our larger houses, and acres of land, our sheds, and storage units, it is much easier to conceal this pack-rattyness behavior than it is in Japan. Also I had to do SOMEthing with this photo ;)

I must admit. At least he/she is very neat about it.

John-Hanko

Interestingly enough, John Handcocks (signatures) are not a common thing here. People just don't sign for things. Need a package signed? New renter and signing off on a lease? At a bank and making a transaction? Pretty much any formal or important transaction? They all use this little thing called a hanko. 

Hankos are pretty much their signatures in stamp format. I suppose calligraphy is really just too much of a hassle for most signatures and perhaps there are not too many handwriting styles for writing the characters for ones name, making forgery easy. Or perhaps the nuances and legibility of the characters are just too tiresome to accurately inscribe for everyday life. Whatever the scenario, Japanese people have made a little short cut for this mundane task in a little form of cylindrical wood or stone stamp. This stamp does not have the traditional rubber plating for the actual stamp, but rather it  has no plating. You name is engraved right into the bottom of the stamp. Cool, you might be thinking...until you realize how difficult it is to stamp with it. Perhaps they like it this way so that it is impossible to cut off and steal the little rubber stamp (if it had one) enabling them to kind of steal your identity. Or perhaps it is because with they way it is carve and the difficulty of stamping it, it leaves its own unique imprint; unique because of the way it was carved and the material it was carved upon leaving certain areas of impression stronger and weaker. Or perhaps I am over thinking this. 

Something I never even once considered until I got one of these, is how to tell which way to stamp it (so your name isn't upside down and you don't look like a fool). There is a little sticker or indent on the hanko that you line up to the top when you impress it so that your name reads right. If you really wanna mess with people, you should just take that sticker and move it like 90 degrees so that people look all sloppy when they stamp (they normally take good car not to appear to sloppy). 

Hankos are dipped in a type of red ink that is extremely similar to just a red stamp pad. Only they sell those items separately so the two different purposes. But if you ask me, they are the same and it is just a money making tactic. China, Taiwan, and Korea, all of which also practice hankos, will use a red paste type material, which will leave a stronger more solid looking impression. I have no idea why Japan has not adopted that. Perhaps because it can be decently messy.  

Salt: A Gateway Mineral

Which is exactly as it seems. A doorway offering. 

I have constantly asked what this was time and again over my nearly year and a half here and have gotten various answers.
"It is a salt lick for horses back when we used them and people still keep it out in remembrance"
"It is actually their table salt. You have to come out here to use it"
"When you work out, you use both your and the airs' electrolytes and we put this out here to replenish the airs' electrolytes. We don't want the air to taste bad for other people."
"It is for you, so you can replenish your electrolytes after running. We are very nice people"

Perhaps I should just know better than to continuously asking the same person. The same person who told me that  the decorative sample meals or fruits and vegetables outside of restaurants are actually free and that they were for the homeless or for us to take home. Because you see, their restaurant had such superior quality produce, they wanted us to try it and see how amazing it was and come back and eat at their restaurant because of their exemplar quality of foods.
So, don't believe that one either.

Salt has an important significance in Japan, it is an offering of sorts to gods and people and has a meaning of purification and cleanliness, as well as to keep away ill luck. You know things like witches and zombies and stuff. Place yourself in a doorway guarded by salt and the oni cannot enter. Ok, but seriously, these salt piles are called morishio, 盛り塩, meaning pile of salt in a very literal sense. Back in the day, salt was an important commodity; it was a well cherished import noted for its importance in keeping fish and meats from rotting and also valued in a spiritual manner as well. It was so pure and white and pretty, it began to be used for religious purposes as well. Probably the most notable today is the use of it at funerals where you will sprinkle it on you before the funeral and throw it at the door as you leave in order to purify yourself from death. A bit resembling the way one would throw beans at the oni during Setsubon.
But even more commonly, you will find it outside of doorways and in gardens and other unusual places. When placed outside of doorways, it is typically in two little dishes on either side of the door, in what are often described as little cone shaped mounds. But the reality of that statement is that there is just salt in a dish, typically in a semblance of a mound. The cones are reserved for the more influential of restaurants and are smashed once a customer has entered the establishment to signify to others that the business is prosperous at that time. In most cases though, these mounds are hand formed by the shop owners and are placed on the outside for a symbol of purification and that their shop is clean. It is an old business model that is still used almost as a token of good luck in attracting customers. It also symbolizes that the restaurant is traditional and is in keeping with some of the more customary Japanese practices. In fact, before placing salt outside of their doorway, most companies and businesses will wash the road and sidewalk in their vicinity with water and salt, or at least water. I actually see this practice every morning, a little old woman with a bent back is up at the crack of dawn watering her street corner as I ride my bike to the station. My Japanese friends have told me that is what they do when they first get to work to open their business as well. They say that it is to 'clean up', so I am mot really sure if the welcoming good business aspect of it applies to that or not, but I assume if you are 'cleaning up' to look respectable for potential customers, that clause is also grandfathered in.
In other practices, for anyone who might ever see a sumo match, the wrestlers will throw salt in the ring to purify the ring and keep evil out. I am not really sure why that is. I am not sure if sumo is a holy sport or if they feel vulnerable without their salt, but it is now a tradition and no match it complete without it.

Boxcar

This is just something I have happened to notice about Japan.

Cars are a lot more boxy over here. I remember when the Cube just came out in America and everyone made fun of it a bit. I think there was even a commercial with people driving refrigerator boxes when another car would be well and clearly on display amidst all the cardboard.  And then people noticed how these boxes kinda, just kinda, looked like the Cube.

Well anyways, here, boxy things like the Cube are the norm and people love their little box cars. Many of them happen to be Kei cars, which are a type of compact car that is narrower than many of the compact American cars. In America compact might mean like a lower roof kind of car, like driving a Corolla versus a Suburban. So it was odd coming to Japan and seeing these tall but extremely narrow types of car. Though that interestingly does not mean it is any less comfortable in the car; though in the back, you might be sitting two instead of three, though again some cars still have that three-seater option. But then again the Japanese three-seater would not have to be as large as an American three seater as they are a definitely thinner population here. OK that is not the case really, they are not thinner per say, but more averagely proportioned with well balanced diets. Take from that what you will...no OK, I am calling Americans fat. Yes, I am, it's true.

These Kei cars are extremely popular to drive since they cost a lot less, your insurance is a lot less, and most people don't have that big of family to pack into a car. Also, they really rely on their public transportation a lot more than most other countries, and therefore find less reasons to drive. Gas is extremely expensive and cars are just too small to entertain kids for extended periods of times. And trains are just so cheap and convenient in comparison, so why not visit grandma via the JR lines? Precisely the Japanese mindset.  But the few that do have cars seems to vastly prefer these Kei cars. And for those who have a little more money, they will get a larger version of these Kei cars, which are at that point no longer considered 'kei', or gasp something like a Prius. An interesting fact between the two car-types, is that you can differentiate them by their license plates; kei cars will have yellowy-orange plates, where are a normal vehicle will have white plates.Toyota does seems to be one of the more popular choices of normal car here in Japan, well at least as far as normal sized Japanese cars are concerned (Suzuki Wagon R seems to be the most popular kei car that I can seem to determine). At least they hold their Toyota's in high regard, with things like the Nagoya Toyota car museum and their well esteemed eco-friendsly cars.  But again, you would have to pay more money for the car and the insurance and probably the plates as well. I almost wonder if you have to pay more just to use the toll roads when you are driving a normal sized vehicle. They really seem to like to punish you for driving one. haha.
And for people who really have money to throw around, they will get the foreign imports, but not just ANY foreign import, they would get the ones with the driver still one the right side of the car. And when going through toll roads, they have special booths set up to specifically accommodate these people.

Yellow plate. 

Also...crazy decor 

Check out the boxyness.

That silver one is a Suzuki Wagon R

Halloween Special

I feel like Halloween is even a bigger deal this year than last. I feel like Japanese netizens are finally finding the spirit of it. I feel like bakers make a better attempt than most with all their Halloween decorations and fall and pumpkin themed treats and breads. Of course it would kind of make sense for them to try new promotional items with the changing of seasons and holidays are just the thing to welcome that. Otherwise, stores also advertised with more decor, the costumes and holiday accessories were front and center and in larger supply. And perhaps most impressively, was that a few stores even ran Halloween commercials, though limited. 

With every intention of going to USJ again this year for Halloween, that alas did not happen. This year, the Universal Studios Japan Halloween Event has actually been extended into November (I think by two weekends even), though by and large, the majority surely appeared the 27th. What is so special, is that this year, Capcom is sponsoring the Halloween event probably in large part due to their release of a new addition to the resident evil series. So everything is again Zombified, but now more money is being thrown at it to make it better. Such a shame I missed it (ok, technically I haven't, but for me Halloween ends Nov. 1st).

Instead, this year I went to the Kitayama Halloween event in Kyoto. They held it both on Saturday and Sunday. Early in the day, they had pumpkin and small gourd carving. For the most part, they are not pumpkins as the great orange squash we all know and love, they are the pebbled green tinted and occasionally orange coloration leaks in squashes that are oddly shaped. Well it mattered not to the patrons. They still had a grand time carving them well into the night. Some were carving little gourds that could be no bigger than an apple! Among the carved, my favorites were a Tottoro and a Mario and a pumpkin within  pumpkin. The pumpkins there that they were selling were incredibly expensive at 300 yen a kilogram and a good sized pumpkin would be about 18 kilograms. I bought my pumpkins for 500 and 600 yen at Costco and a flea market. The Flying Pig is a pretty grand place to find decently priced things from Costco without having the membership. At my school in my handcrafts club, we ordered a few of the smaller ones and carved them up. It was all their first time and I think they did a wonderful job. Pumpkin pies and roasted and spicy seeds to come later!

Throughout the day, there were handcraft stalls and Halloween themed treat stalls at a few places around the venue. Things like artfully designed spooky plants or apple and pumpkin flavored cookies. Metal workers and live glass blowing. Jewelry makers and wood workers. All in all, I probably make it sound like there were more than there actually was; there probably was somewhere around 10 total. And on the lowest level of the outdoor venue was a night time party, complete with hired DJ for the event. That was where the costume even took place. Only the deal was, you had to pay 1000yen to enter. Then you were given a set of stickers and would give your sticker to whomever you thought was best dressed for the evening. And the one with the largest number of the night would win. Last year they announced that their winner wore a Lady Gaga themed costume. I really wonder which one....Anyways, downstairs at the party, is where most of the action happens and it is also where all the food is, albeit not free. 

At the end all, there would be an announced winner to both the carving and costume contests who would then receive prizes, though I would not be able to tell you what exactly they were.

Also I have to hand it to the party goers, there were so many many people who were dressed up and coming to the event and just walking around. It  was almost like a little piece of home. I think the funnier thing about this all, was all the ladies coming wearing kimonos. You know in America, that would be an actual costume, but here in Japan it is more like formal wear. I suspect they were wearing them to be in the spirit of dressing up, though an added bonus is that it would give them an excuse to wear something elaborate, that, let's face it, sees very little time outside the wardrobe. 

Also as Halloween was in fact yesterday, and I was in Osaka, I did not see any loop line goers, though plenty enough of folks dressed up. So possibly the train station staff and police did a better job of shutting down the event this year?