Tokyo-Yokohama Information Source

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For those who like Indian arts, crafts and clothes, there is a lovely exhibition (Textiles: The Soul of India) going on till December 20th at the Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Mingeikan) http://www.mingeikan.or.jp This is a private collection from a Japanese lady. The beautiful clothes are displayed beautifully in a wonderful old Japanese building. It is well worth a visit. 

My regulars may be wondering what happened to me and why I haven't written for a while. Well, unproductive work (see later), guests, travel, house, kids, socialising, .... has kept me busy for the past few weeks. I was in Kyushu recently which was very nice (including Nagasaki) but the trip to Okinawa which followed was not so exciting.. The poor weather didn't help much. I was expecting Okinawa to be a beautiful tropical island but was disappointed by all the concrete.
Well my computer problems haven't ended despite the new investment. The 1GB I have wasn't enough to run Vista and it has meant re-booting and re-starting all over again; can't tell you how much work this has been. I guess the more powerful packages get the more space they require to work.
I am surprised to see that pre-Christmas activities are in full swing in Japan with Christmas carols on BigFM already a week ago.
As I cannot manage to keep up with my blog, it is on the market for sale. Those interested should contact me.

I have seen quite a bit of the world but no where else have I seen train staff undertaking as much action as I have seen here in Japan. I understand they do all these "silly" things for safety reasons - to make sure they are alert and haven't fallen asleep. But it is still very amusing to see all the things they do such as wave, bow, salute, speak to themselves, etc. I understand being a train driver is a difficult job in Japan and making mistakes involves punishment such as having to do garden work for days or cleaning. Considering the responsibility they have of transporting millions of people across Japan everyday I am glad they endure the "silly" things they have to, although I don't see many other drivers around the world doing so. I suppose it is the Japanese pride.

After a long day of travelling around Tokyo showing relatives the beautiful sights of Tokyo, my husband decided to sit down on a vacant seat next to a middle-aged woman on the subway. To his horror, the woman stood up and went and sat down on the opposite side. Why did this woman take that action?
My husband couldn't have been smelling as he washes himself everyday (and he doesn't smell of the horrible green tea which so many Japanese smell of). He wasn't wearing anything "reveling" which could have made the woman uncomfortable. No he isn't "big" either and didn't require the extra seat space. Was this racism or was the woman trying to "make the journey of the foreigner more comfortable" by making more space for him (this reason was given in a Newspaper article recently)? This has never openly happened to us so far (in the past 2 years we have been here) and it was quite a shock. Answers are welcome.

It comes as a surprise to read an article where foreigners are not openly blamed for the rise in crime in Japan. The latter is done very often and therefore I was surprised to read an artcile, about a Chinese woman who had killed 2 kids in Japan, where her nationality was not blamed for the rise in number of murders here. Usually this is done so and though at times sad there is no colloration between an increase of foreigners in this country and the rise in crime. One often reads about Japanese doing some horrible acts as well but their race is not much of an issue in the media. Sure I enjoy the security in Japan but foreigners - me being one - are not always to blame for the ills in society.

The horrible E-word is earthquakes. To many of us Japan offers a quality of life, especially security, which cannot be matched elsewhere. But the one thing which gives many of us jitters and which would make us leave this country is the thought of a major earthquake. Sure there are dangers and risks elsewhere in the world as well but the thought of the "pending" earthquake can make many paranoid. I recently read that Japan is the first country in the world to install early warning systems for earthquakes which will give people a few seconds (Shizuoka 10 seconds, Nagoya 25 seconds and we in the Tokyo area 40 seconds - don't know why there is such a time difference though) to put out the fire and get under cover.
What I heard is that the early warning will be given via radio or television. But what if you don't have either of these sources of media on at that time? Would warnings be given via the public announcement systems installed on some streets? Is there "warning" announcement which Gaijins like me - who don't understand much Japanese - should learn? Considering how much noise pollution there is in this country, especially from the police cars, ambulances, the garbage collectors, the sweet-potato sellers, the unwanted applicance collectors, the local council announcers, etc., how does one make sure the announcements being made are serious? I know an old man a block away from me who once told me if there is an emergency he will come looking for me to warn me. But the 10 minutes he needs to get to my place may be too long in the case of E-word.

Why do the Japanese people have such big egos? Why don't they just learn how to show their wesknesses? That they cannot achieve whatever they were meant to do because they don't know how to do it? Why don't they admit some performance weaknesses at least? Not everyone is capable of everything, workwise, but why not seek help when you don't manage? Why drop the bombshall a few minutes before the deadline to say you haven't done anything because you didn't know how to do it, but had too big an ego to ask for help? One really wonders how this country made it.

After angry reaction from the people of Okinawa, text refering to mass suicides during the war can be restored in textbooks. The Japanese government had stopped pubishers from making any reference to this episode in history books. It is said that the army pressured people to kill themselves at the end of the war, rather than give themselves in to the Americans and their allies. The few survivors say this happened and should be written in the books whereas the govenments have denied any wrong doing. Could this sudden change in attitude mean that these crimes did take place?

Did you know that in Japan the Japanese employees introduce themselves according to their company or department rather than what they specifically do? They usually give the name of the company first and then their department and job title. This is often because their skills are not taken into consideration. People are employed because of their general abilities rather than their work skills. As expected, the company comes first and people are often employed for positions for which they have no skills; one wonders often how Japan developed then. 
The use of personal names is avoided out of politeness. It is considered rude to address someone that is older or of higher rank by their name. So you call them either Mr. President or Mr. Manager. What do you call the cleaner?