Exploring the Wonders of Northern Japan
I was in Sapporo this year for an unrelated reason(a friend’s wedding.) However, I happened to have a free evening on my hands so took in the sights of the Sapporo Snow Festival. This festival is the biggest of its kind in the world, and I didn’t have much time to capture it all. Here is what I got while I was there. Enjoy!
I’m compiling a quick list of resources for people living in Japan should they desire to donate to the relief effort in Haiti. I only have a couple at the moment, but I’ll be adding more as I find them. These allow you to make a bank transfer if you don’t have any other way to donate. If you don’t live in Japan, check out this article on The Huffington Post to find a place to donate:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/haiti-earthquake-relief-h_n_421014.html
1. Japanese Red Cross
If you want to send money to the Red Cross in Japan, please visit this page to get the bank transfer info you will need to send money:
http://www.jrc.or.jp/foreignrescue/l3/Vcms3_00001448.html
If you need assistance with instructions in how to do the transfer please leave a comment and I will give you a quick overview of how to do a Japanese bank trasfer.
2. Doctors without borders Japan branch:
https://www.msf.or.jp/donate_bin/onetime.php
This one time donation allows you to donate with a japanese credit card.
Japan is famously known as the land of the rising sun. In fact, the Japanese word for Japan, “nihon, or nippon” is written with the Chinese characters ‘origin’ and ’sun’. For a country so bathed is sun symbolism you’d think a northern Canadian such as myself could find a some sunlight on this little Island. Sadly, if you come from a northern latitude and are used to those nine o’clock sunsets, you are in for a little shock. Read on to find out what I mean.
First, I need to be fair to Japan. As a person who used to live in Edmonton, Alberta, where the 55 degree latitude gave me amazingly long 17 hour days in the summer, there is going to be a stark difference between Japan and Canada . Earth’s tilt dictacts that countries in more extreme latitudes will experience long summer days and short winter days. Japan is situated closer to the equator than Canada and therefore, the days in the summer and winter are not so extreme. Of course, we pay for those long days in Edmonton with long, cold winter nights. However, let’s leave that aside for the moment and explore why Japan seems to have a shockingly short day, even in the summer.
One thing I quickly noticed upon my arrive to Japan some seven years ago was that in the summer, you don’t really need an alarm clock if you are getting up at 6:30am. The sun is up at around 4:45 and by the time you need to get up for work, the light is pouring in. That is crazy early for sunrise. And since Japan doesn’t have any daylight savings scheme, the sun never comes up any later that 7am in the winter. This means plenty of early morning light all year long. This was probably set up early on so that farmers could enjoy as much early sunlight as possible.
Of course, on the other end of this, the sun goes down quite early. In the winter, the earliest sunset occurs between 4:10 and 4:40 depending on what part of the country you are in, and this in itself is not too shocking, but in the summer, the sunsets between 7:10 and 7:40. Sure, it is about 15 hours of daylight, but it doesn’t feel like it to me. I don’t wake up at 3:50am, so I can’t really enjoy that early summer sun. This meant I got a case of summer SAD(Seasonal Affective Disorder) during my first summer here . Crazy, huh? Having grown up in a northern country I took those late summer sunsets for granted.
You’ll probably notice however, that I am still in Japan. There were many other factors that kept me here, and I wasn’t driven off by the short summer days. But while, I’ve adjust to a certain point, I still long for those long Canadian summers. I often wonder if Japan is in the wrong time zone, but then it doesn’t really affect people here. In fact, when I brought it, a salaryman told me he’d prefer it if things stayed exactly as they were. If there was more sunlight, his company would have him work more overtime. Point taken.
Do summer sunsets here seem early to you as well? Or normal? Let me know in the comments.
In the world of professional baseball, this has been the year of the rising sun. Japan has started to shift into the position of major leaguer in terms of world status. A position that previously might have been questionable.
The winning came early as Team Japan clenched their second World Baseball Championship title, showing the world they weren’t just a one hit wonder(pun fully intended). Championships aside, records also started falling when Ichiro broke the record for 200 hits over nine consecutive years. A record that stood for more than one hundred years.
Then came the spring and summer Koshien tournaments that introduced the world to the stunning arm of Yusei Kikuchi. The young Iwate Prefecture native with the 154km/h fastball took his team, Hanamaki Higashi High School, to within one game of the spring title and two games of the summer Koshien title. He was courted around by the likes of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox before deciding to start his pro career in Japan and being drafted by the Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. He was requested by 6 pro team. Half of the teams in Japan.
Kikuchi wasn’t the only person causing a stir in the northern Tohoku region. The Rakuten golden Eagles, based out of Sendai, made their way into second place in their league and got themselves into the second round of the Climax series. With ace pitchers Hisashi Iwakuma and Masahiro Tanaka on the mound, and lead by the experienced Katsuya Nomura(a man famous for turning faltering teams into champions), they also had strong batting and solid fielding to carry them through the season.
Of course last, but certainly not least came the dream run of the New York Yankees, lead by their series MVP, Hideki Matsui and his amazing 6 RBIs during the final game, and three home runs over the series. Matsui helped the Yankees win the world series and became the first Japanese born player to earn the MVP.
I’m sure there are smaller stories from this year that I am missing, but I wanted to emphasize the biggest of all of these amazing feats. Japan is now a major force in the highest levels of baseball, and anyone who took Japan less then seriously before in terms of talent had better open their eyes. Their wave of winning and exciting play has stirred up a lot of passion in baseball fans all over Japan and the world. I played ball for eight years when I was younger and now, thank to Japanese baseball, I am starting to rekindle my love of the sport. Kudos to you Japan on giving us all another reason to love baseball.
Kenj If you visit Google today in Japan you’ll see they are honouring Kenji Miyazawa. He was a famous Japanese author. He wrote amazing stories for children and poetry. He was also born and raised in Iwate. The very place I live in Japan. Happy birthday Kenji.
There are many signs that spring has arrived in Japan. At first, the daffodils come out, followed by crocuses and tulips. Green grasses start to slowly cover brown fields. Finally, in a burst of white and pink, cherry blossoms awaken across the country from the end of March until the end of April.
You can see many signs that spring has come in people here as well. First comes the graduation ceremonies followed by the farewell parties(sobetestukai.) Then, new job assignments and High School placements are announced. After this, comes the first day and the welcome parties(kangeikai) and finally, to experience the explosion of cherry blossoms all over the country, there is a mass of flower viewing parties(called Hanami) all over the country. People in Japan take their cues from nature. It’s so timely, you could set your watch by it. This is spring in Japan.
Photo: Cherry Blossoms at Takamatsu pond in Morioka City, Iwate Japan. HDR with three exposures around sunset. Canon 350D 50mm f/1.8 ISO 100.
Spring has finally come to Japan. It was a long winter with a lot of snow, but it’s now just starting to pay off. The flowers started coming out today and that means the cherry blossoms aren’t far behind.
I went out after work to find some nice flowers that would work well with the setting sun. There was a lot of haze in the air, so I took this set of daffodils and flowers that haven’t even bloomed yet. The haze gave a nice diffusion. It’s difficult to shoot daffodils. They are a bright yellow that doesn’t expose well. What I did hear was turn down the brightness in Aperture and increase the black point until I had the contrast I was looking for. I never actually use the contrast lever in Aperture. It’s just too hard. Happy spring everyone.
It’s funny that I forgot to write about this on my blog. Considering how long I’ve had this site, you’d think I’d remember to do something as simple as letting you all know that I’ve asked the love of my life, Akira, to Marry me. Yes, we’re officially engaged.
You see, last year, I went to this really expensive work party at a local ryokan called “Saito.” A ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel. Saito was famous for it’s multi course meals and using Maesawa Beef , one of the most expensive and delicious meats in Japan. After I came back from the party, I told Akira about the food, and she instantly wanted to go and try it. I promised her that I would take her at some point, but I wasn’t committal about it. That is, until about three weeks ago.
I asked her if she had and free time during the weekend and I made the plans. She got really exciting about going. What she didn’t know is that I was going to pop the question to her. On Saturday night, after we checked in, we went the baths to freshen up. When she came back to the room, that is what I asked her if she would marry me. I became the luckiest guy in the world when she answered, “Yes.” I think that made the Maesawa steaks just a little more delicious.
So there you have it. Marriage plans are forthcoming. Stay tuned for details, and thanks for reading this blog, depsite the lack of update. I promise you that more is on the way.
Akira at Saito
I’ve noticed an interesting trend in the last few years. It appears more and more people are coming to Japan and using an email address that has, “I think I’m lost” or “lost in Japan” embedded inside. for example: ithinkimlost2530, or lostinjapan23. I am puzzled why they are using this expression and how it came about in the first place.
My first suspicion was that it might be related to a popular Internet forum for English teachers in Japan called(amazingly enough), “I think I am lost.” I was thinking people would visit the site, then take on the title in their email as an homage to their favorite forum. However, I’m pretty sure I had seen it used even before the forum had been created. So I’m left to wonder if this might have originated in a book or something. Either way, I find the entire thing rather cliche.
I’m really not a huge fan of the expression, but I can’t say why it irritates me so when I hear it. The people that use this phrase might actually be scared and alone when they first get here, which would be the most rational explanation, but that doesn’t cover the people create the email months before they even leave their country. I like to imagine that the kind of people that are satirized on “Stuff White People like” are exactly those who would enjoy using this expression. It’s trendy and pertains to a way of thinking that I cannot grasp. As if being in Japan is a Zen experience and they are soul searching while they are here, so they declare themselves fragile or ‘lost’ to show the world how truly spiritual they are.
Japan has never really been like that for me. I enjoy the culture, the people and the everyday conveniences, but I’ve never really thought about being here in a ’spiritual’ sense; as if it were something trendy I’m supposed to do before I return to the “real world.” For me Japan is the real world, and I treat it as such everyday I’m here in the way I interact with the people around me. Sure I’ve been scared, alone and actually lost in Japan, but I’ve never felt the need to declare myself lost.
Perhaps that is why I can say with certainty that I am “not lost” in Japan. It could also be that it’s Monday and Monday’s tend to sour my disposition.
[Update] If you use the “lost in Japan” expression in your email, perhaps you can explain why in the comments. I am truly curious.
The Japanese news has been buzzing with the news that the famous Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo has started to ban tourists from their morning tuna auctions. Apparently, tourists had been ignoring signs warning them not to use flash photography or to disrupt the auction process, so the people who run the auction decided it was best to keep tourists out of the auction area. Flashes can interfere with the bidding process and hundreds of thousands of yen are at stake.
My first reaction to this was that the people at Tsukiji were going too far. How bad could it be? Well, then I saw the videos roll in. People firing away with full flash. People going up to and touching the tuna. One guy even licked a tuna. The men guarding the fish tried their best to warn the tourists, but it was no good. Earlier this week, the signs went up, and it was announced that a month long ban was to go into effect. Many of the tourist who showed up displayed shock with many declaring that Tsukiji was on their list of major venues to visit in Tokyo.
After seeing a video of a guard trying to get two french tourists to stop joy riding one of the trucks near the auction site, I lost it. I have never felt so ashamed to be a foreigner. Many of these tourists were warned over and over again, and refused to behave. When confronted about it, some of them pretended they didn’t speak Japanese and played innocent, despite the fact most of the signs were written in easy to understand English.
I have a strong message for all foreign tourists coming to visit Japan in the near future. Please respect the rules in the tourist areas, and please be on your best behavior. You are guests here and you are being judged. I live in Japan and I work hard everyday to break down the myth of the rude foreigner. Even after five years of living here, local people are still sometimes uncomfortable around me and other foreigners. Sadly, I’m not sure what else we’ll be able to do to reassure them. So please, either act your age when you come here, or don’t come at all. Your actions have ramifications that go was beyond your cushy little vacations. These are people’s jobs that are at stake. Imagine if someone who didn’t speak your language came into your office, took pictures of you and ignored you when you set out some ground rules about what they could do in your office. You would be quite upset, I’m sure. Well, now you how the people at Tsukiji feel.
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