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!
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.
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.
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.
If you are going to visit Japan as a tourist, or even consider living here, there are two really important Japanese characters you need to learn. In Japan, unless you collect all your urine and feces for your own personal composting projects, you will need a use a washroom as some point. Many washrooms have flushes that are not your typical flush, but rather a button on the wall. To complicate this further, many washrooms have a seperate button on the voice designed to page an attendant to help you, should you be old and unable to help yourself. Some washrooms have one, some have both.
Here is the important difference between those two buttons. The first is （流）。 It means “to flush.” The other is (呼）。 It means “to call.” God help you, should you accidentally call out the attendant.
For the first part of this year, I am to sporting a beard. I have always been curious to know what I’d look like with a full grown piece of fur on my face. The reaction from most people has been quite favorable, with many saying it makes me look more mature and intellectual. I was curious, however, to know what my students thought about it.
Last week, I got my chance. I was at one of my elementary schools, and a couple of sixth graders approached me in the hall. They immediately pointed at the beard and told me how cool they thought it was. Then one kid said, ” you are Santa Claus.” I paused for a moment, then pointed out that Santa has a white beard. He looked at me, almost puzzled, then suddenly his face brightened, then he said, “black santa.”
Indeed. God bless you Japan.
As you might recalled from my last post, I twisted my ankle while playing a volleyball game at school. I begged and pleaded with the staff to let me walk it off, but given the size of the swelling, they insisted I make a trip to the doctor, and prevented me from walking on it. This is the continuation of that post. Please enjoy.
The Sushi Economy, Globalization and the making of a modern delicacy.
Sasha Issenberg (2007)
Reviewed by Marc C. Bosse
Cross-posted from tiltyhouse.
The year is 1970 in Prince Edward Island. After struggling for many hours you have hauled in a prize fish; a 140kg Atlantic blue-fin tuna. After posing for the ritual trophy photograph on the wharf you bid the charter captain good day and more often than not never see the fish again.
If it was convenient the large blue-fin will be brought to a cannery where it would be purchased for cents on the kilogram. If it was not convenient a local earth moving contractor will likely bury it in the landfill. In all likelihood little, if any, of the tuna would ever be eaten.
In 1972 an aeroplane freighted PEI bluefin tuna sold for 40 dollars per kilogram at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. This rapid change in value was a result in the globalization of trade and changes in Japanese taste since the end of World War II.
If I were asked by someone what my worst experience in Japan was, I would have to say that this week would come very close to being the winner. I spent the last week hobbling around in a leg cast, and it left me unable to leave my house. But it’s not quite as bad as you think. What happened to my leg? Here is my sad little story.
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