I’m in the yellow area in the center of the map, near Korea. So, we’re OK.
I know someone who showed up to work 3 minutes late to his job in Japan. He lost an hour of vacation pay and then sat at a desk with nothing to do for the next 7 hours.
This can tell you a lot about Japan’s work ethic.
Coffee in Japan is more of a vague allusion to coffee.
Just like Japanese conversations. You don’t really say anything too straightforward. You hedge a lot. You tease out the meanings.
Perhaps it’s coffee. It’s probably coffee.
Maybe a Sakura Latte is not weird.
It’s getting hard to tell. After months of figuring out Japanese culture, my go-to instinct is still bewilderment. Starbucks had primed me for the Sakura Latte since Feb. 10 with a small sign that said: “Coming Soon. SAKURA!” When the cherry-flavored latte finally arrived, it was delicious. Case closed: Japan is not that weird.
Come March, we’ll be in Cherry Blossom (Sakura) season. It will sweep the nation into a picnicking frenzy laced with Japan’s twist on existential ennui: Mono No Aware, recognizing the passing of the ephemeral.
A non-Tuesday post to share some Sunday-morning-in-America love with some other blogs in Japan.
Cutetune
This is a blog covering Japanese children’s music – usually with videos. Full disclosure: The blogger is my girlfriend, but seriously, it’s an awesome blog. Check it out.
Cute and Delicious
The Japanese Snack Review site is a great idea I wish I’d thought of. And they get to eat as an excuse to blog. Brilliant! Also brilliant and awash in a sea of pink is Drop Dead Kawaii, chronicling Japan cuteness (with recipes!).
Photographers in Fukuoka
Andrew Marston is another Mainer living in Fukuoka. He’s also a brilliant photographer. Check him out. Chris Harber is not from Maine, but from England. I’ll link to him anyway: More great pictures using toy and cellphone cameras (as well as digital).
Japan does not believe in warmth without risk.
You might find a heater in various offices or installed for single-room use in apartments. But more often, you won’t. Instead, you will find various life-threatening electronic devices designed to warm the 3 cubic feet of space that surround it.
Allegedly, Japan resists centralized heating because of earthquakes. Houses are just being rebuilt so often, the theory goes, that it’s too expensive to build chimneys, insulation, or heating ducts in those brief moments when the ground stands still.
I don’t buy this, because it implies that the Japanese are only reluctantly building houses and have decided to collectively half-ass it. Even if the earth were a rolling, tumultuous jelly like substance, the Japanese way would be to build elaborate, efficient houses and then rebuild them every 10 days.
Surviving Winter the Japanese Way
There are a few ways to deal with winter in Japan, with various degrees of safety. I will outline them here and check their potential threat to human life.
This Japanese Life. 