I'm typing this in Tokyo on Sunday evening--ask me anything!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

:-)

[Bronco69]

1. What do the Japanese think of bush*?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. I haven't talked politics with that many Japanese people,

just my old friends, whom I visited over the Autumn Equinox (a legal holiday here). They really don't like his foreign policies. Otherwise, news reports over here seem pretty matter-of-fact.

All but one of the expatriates I've talked to (I was here for a translators' meeting, followed by a food and drink bash) is staunchly for Kerry, although not all of them are completely informed about the details of the campaign.

However, Democrats Abroad Japan is really active, registering people and making sure that they get their absentee ballots in.

I was even approached in train station by an eager young activist who was accosting possible American citizens and urging them to vote.

[ClassWarrior]

2. Are you lost in translation?

23.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I am a translator, and I sometimes get lost while visiting my clients

Does that help?

But no, I'm not lost now. I just had dinner with a friend in my old neighborhood and followed the easy route back to my hotel.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. No more questions?

:shrug:

[Leilani]

6. What sort of city is Tokyo?

I have heard that tourists should go elsewhere for interesting places in Japan.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Well, Tokyo is plenty interesting, and it certainly does not

look like anything in the U.S. or Europe, but it's not Ye Olde Japan, if that's what you mean.

Read this article for a fuller explanation of my opinion:

http://www.newcolonist.com/underappreciated.html


If it's Ye Olde Japan ye want, head for the countryside. Surprisingly, the city of Narita, the closest city to the airport, has a lovely temple complex, a wonderfully landscaped and forested park, and a pleasant, small-town atmosphere.

[Leilani]

12. Thanks for the link.

How difficult is it traveling in Japan with NO language skills?

People I know have been on escorted tours, or traveled for business, but I don t know anyone who has on his own.

On the other hand, I hear Hong Kong is very easy for English speaking tourists.

Being in Hawaii, I want to take a trip through Asia, however I am undecided as to approach.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. I'd already studied Japanese when I first came to Tokyo, so I don't know,

but all the signs in the subways and trains are bilingual (English and Japanese) and there are plenty of English-language maps and guidebooks.

Also, all Japanese under the age of sixty have had at least three years of English in school. This does NOT mean that they speak it, but in a pinch, most of them can understand simple written messages. Your chances of being understood are better with a younger person.

Also, there are lots of foreigners living in Tokyo and Japan in general these days. I got stopped and asked for directions by some tourists on Saturday. Fortunately, I had been to the place they were trying to go to and was able to help them.

[Leilani]

16. Thanks....

In Hawaii, we are overrun with Japanese tourists, & many of them have no English skills whatsoever.

In fact, many jobs in Hawaii, especially tourism, require Japanese.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. When I took a seminar for Japanese teachers at UH-Manoa

several years ago, a bunch of us went down to Waikiki, and while sitting in Baskin-Robbins, we had two occasions to interpret, one for a tourist who didn't know how to answer the question, "What flavor?" and another for a tourist who came rushing in all excited because he was afraid he'd left his heart medicine in the store. (He had.)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. do you feel sorry that i had to come in to work at 6.00 am

on my day off?

:nopity:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. No, not really, because that's only 8PM Tokyo time!

:-)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. is sushi in japan different from sushi in USA?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Well, it's fresher and there are more varieties

The Japanese use only fish that was caught the night before, not frozen fish, and I've rarely seen such American inventions as California roll. However, there are varieties, such as makizushi (with the seaweed wrapped to form a cone) and chirashizushi (kind of a sushi salad), that are uncommon in the States.

My favorite place to go for sushi is in the basement of the Tokyu Department Store in Tokyo's Shibuya neighborhood. Their maguro (raw tuna) is to die for.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. can you get spicy tuna rolls or spucy some other fish rolls

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. I've never seen them, but then again,

I've never looked for them.

[chenGOD]

58. Yes. You can find spicy tuna/other fish rolls in Japan.

And in regards to Lydia Leftcoast's comment re: California style rolls (2 posts above I think), one time when I was in Fukuoka visiting my Japanese friends, they took my wife and I to a sushi restaurant that was a copy of a California roll restaurant in Denver. Ahhh the meta-irony of it all. I was sitting in a place that was serving an imitation of an imitation, and it was in the country that was originally being imitated. It was also ridiculously over-priced (even for Japan).

I've only been to Tokyo once (hope to go back this winter), but I've been to Fukuoka about 15 or 16 times, and Osaka and Kyoto a couple of times as well...Japan is a great place to visit.

[oneighty]

18. Forty nine years

and three months ago I left Japan. When I left aboard a Navy airplane (four engine propeller) I did not see Fuji-yama which means I will never go back. I was seventeen when I arrived there almost twenty-one when I left.

So tell me how much Japan has changed since then?

Yotsu chichi.

180

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. How much has America changed in 49 years?

Then triple or quadruple that.

By the way, I haven't seen Fuji for years--it's usually clouded over except in the winter--and I've been back nine times!

[oneighty]

21. Yipeeeee

I was told an untruth re-Fuji-yama.. Perhaps I may return. Someday.

180

[oneighty]

22. Fuji in the distance

was ever present from Yokosuka. Many of my shipmates made the climb. Now I wish I had.

One could still get a people powered three wheel taxi, but that quickly passed.

Food shelter and rail travel was cheap. Western style meals in the Yokosuka area was not available. Sailors were forbidden by the Navy to eat in Japanese Inns (We did any way) We were forbidden the public bath (We did anyway) A great adventure Lydia.

180

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. still not bad cost-wise

The so-called "business hotels" give you a small but adequate room with bath for about $70-80 a night, and they're always safe and clean.

The food is still delicious, and you can get by for about $10-15 for a good meal, less if you go to the chains for a mediocre meal.

All the horror stories about expense come from the "gaijin ghetto" or from the luxury class of hotels and restaurants that cater to wealthy Japanese.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. It's now almost midnight in Tokyo, so

answers to any further questions (if any) will have to wait till tomorrow.

O-yasumi nasai! (Good night!)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. Any more questions, now that it's early Monday morning in the States?

It's raining like hell here in Tokyo, and I had to be out in it, going around to visit clients.

The good news: They treated me to meals and/or coffee with snacks. They were both really nice groups of people.

The bad news: My shoes were soaked, and my cold is worse.

More of the same tomorrow, both the rain and the clients.

I was supposed to meet Art_from_Ark for dinner, but he's not feeling good either.

[July]

33. Any recommendations of study abroad options?

My son is hoping to do his junior year in Japan (he's a sophomore now) and is just starting to look for a good program.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. Depends on what his purpose is

The different study abroad programs have different emphases: business, culture, language. If he wants to concentrate on language, he should go on a program that has a mixture of nationalities participating, not just Americans. Otherwise, the students will just hang around together speaking English all the time. Barring that, he should go on a program that allows him to live with a family.

I didn't go on a formal program, just a private arrangement based on my advisor calling up a friend of his who was foreign students' advisor in a university in Tokyo. I was the only American in the entire school, and one of three Caucasians. The rest of the foreign students were from Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia, so Japanese was our only common language.

Actually, I've been out of the academic world since 1993, so I'm not the most up-to-date person when it comes to advice about studying in Japan. There's a program in Kyoto that used to be strong in language, and another outside of Nagoya that really pushed language study, as well as the old Tokyo standbys, Waseda University's International Division and International Christian University, and the old Osaka standby, Kansai University of Foreign Studies. For a more rural setting, there's an international university of some sort in Niigata.

Your son's school would have the most complete selection of literature about programs that accept students for a year.

Alternatively, if he's REALLY into Japanese studies, he could apply for a Mombusho Fellowship for graduate study in Japan or to work in the JET Program (for assistant English teachers in Japanese public schools) after graduation.

[July]

37. Thanks for the information.

He's in his fourth year of studying Japanese and hopes to live with a family. His school isn't strong on the foreign studies programs, so he'll probably have to arrange it through another university. I appreciate your advice.

[Forkboy]

25. Can you bring me home a bootleg of Godzilla's last movie?

pretty please?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. I've been looking for classic Japanese films and my favorite TV shows

on DVD, and I'm finding mostly shops that sell porno.

In any case, you need an international DVD player to play Japanese video tapes.

[Forkboy]

27. Ok then bring me home some porno!

:evilgrin:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. Uh, yeah, right, like I, as a middle-aged gaijin woman am

going to go buy porno aimed at Japanese male college students.

Ask someone else. :-)

[JSJ]

29. how much of tokyo was left ...

...after the 'monster that ate tokyo' was done eating?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. I don't know, but there's an awful lot of it left

It's about the size of Los Angeles but more densely populated than San Francisco.

[UrbScotty]

30. Have you ever seen Uranus? (nt)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. Talk about being lost in translation

I think you're on the wrong thread.

[spinbaby]

35. Has it cooled down any?

In early August Tokyo was a steambath.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. As of yesterday, yes

That's the good news.

The bad news is that it's been raining like hell.

But it was hot and steamy until then. Walking around town was twice as hard as it should be, due to the unseasonable heat.

[spinbaby]

38. You learn to love your umbrella in Tokyo

When I got there I wondered about those umbrella parking stands at the front of the hotel. I quickly learned that an umbrella is a vital piece of equipment because you're always either being rained on or baked and you need it in either event.

I'm hoping to go back next fall to see the stuff I want to see. This summer I got sucked into the temple/shrine/big Buddha/Fuji tour that's apparently mandatory for all first-time visitors.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. It's easy to love umbrellas here

especially when I was able to buy one at the convenience store for only 504 yen (a little less than $5).

I noticed two new developments on the umbrella front on this trip.

One is that some stores and restaurants give you snake-like plastic bags to put your dripping umbrella in when you come in out of the rain.

Meanwhile, other buildings have electric umbrella shaker/dryers, similarly to the swimsuit shaker/dryers that one sees in swimming pool locker rooms.

[spinbaby]

40. I saw the plastic bags

but not the dryers. But Tokyo Disneyland has really cool hand dryers that actually work--you stick your hands down in this sort of slot and it blasts the water off your hands with a shot of hot air. Takes about two seconds. They're the only hand dryers I've ever seen anywhere that don't leave you drying your hands on your pants when you're done.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

41. They're not just in Disneyland

They're all over.

There's been a bathroom revolution in Japan. Old-style squat toilets are being replaced by Western-style (with added bidet settings and heated seats), those high-power hand dryers are everywhere, and it's easier to find soap dispensers. Oh, and the old-style squat toilets now have handrails for people who have trouble standing up after assuming the required posture.

[spinbaby]

45. I just saw them in Disneyland

Everywhere else we went there were ineffective hand dryers or just no way to dry your hands at all. It's a bit like hitchhiking the galaxy--never go without your towel. Or pocket hanky.

The toilet thing was a bit of a shock to me because you just never knew what you were going to encounter. The ryokan had a toilet with a control panel that rivaled the space shuttle, it provided mood lighting, it made encouraging tinkling noises, it decided when to flush. I nicknamed it Hal.

[Phillycat]

42. Is the city beautiful?

How big is it--what city does it compare to in the US, population-wise? Are things expensive? Do you feel tall?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

48. No, the city is not beautiful

but seen close up, it has some very interesting neighborhoods and lively street life, especially outside the commercial areas.

The population is about 12 million. It's as big as the Los Angeles metro area in size and more densely populated than San Francisco.

As in any large city, you can pay a lot or a little for what you need. The horror stories you've heard about Tokyo prices (except for land prices) are written by people who have done things the most expensive way possible.

Just as an example, yesterday, I bought an umbrella for 504 yen ($4.54) and had a dinner of chicken with potatoes and eggplants, tomato soup, and rolls for 1280 yen ($11.16). But you could go into some restaurants and pay close to $100 a meal. I bought a yukata (cotton kimono) for $35, but for a real fancy custom-made silk kimono with gold and silver embroidery, you could pay $35,000.

The hotel where I'm currently staying has a simple but perfectly acceptable room for $90 a night.

I sometimes feel tall in the States! (I'm 5'10"). The younger people are taller than the older people, but I can still see over the heads of the crowd in most cases.

[ChickMagic]

43. Have you seen...

a tape called Japanarama? It's kind of a classic.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. No

:shrug:

[Surf Cowboy]

44. Please tell Bill Murray and Scarlet Johannsen that I said "hello."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

50. I don't stay at those kinds of hotels

:-)

Besides, I think they already left for the States.

[Bluebear]

46. Lip my stockings!

nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

51. Did you see that on some Japanese teenager's T shirt?

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

I saw one that said, "Would you like to oil exchange?"

[paulk]

47. have you ever eaten natto?

if so, why?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

52. Twice

1) The first time because I saw it coming by at a conveyor belt sushi place and thought it was baked beans. (Don't blame me. It was my first time in Japan, and I had been in the country for less than a week. Nobody warned me.)

2) Later that same year, some company employees I was tutoring in English invited me to a dinner party at the home of one of them. As the man who was hosting the party walked me to his house from the train station, he mentioned that his wife was a wonderful cook and that her specialty was...natto.

So the first course of the meal was what looked to me like a bottomless bowl of natto. I somehow gagged it down and have not touched the stuff since.

(For those of you who have not had the pleasure, natto is described euphemistically as "fermented" soybeans.

No folks. Miso is fermented soybeans--natto is rotten soybeans, and it tastes like a garbage can full of rotting organic matter smells.)

[paulk]

54. I managed to choke a mouthful down once

at a Japanese friend's house. It was, without question, the most foul thing I've ever eaten.

:puke:


I'd love to spend some time in Japan. I'm jealous. I've been in the Tokyo airport a few times, does that count? Not really. Someday...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

59. Actually, if you have a good number of hours at the airport

you should take an excursion into the city of Narita. It has a lovely temple complex surrounded by a park landscaped in traditional style, as well as some attractive streets.

[ronnykmarshall]

53. Has the city re-built since Godzilla attacked?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

56. Things are being rebuilt all the time

Everything I've seen looks pretty built up.

Of course, it's a huge city, so I could have missed the parts that Godzilla smashed. I'll have to go up to the top of a tall building or something to see if I can still see any smashed neighborhoods.

[drumwolf]

55. What's more popular, Western or Japanese pop music? Or is it 50-50?

I know that Japan has a huge homegrown pop music industry.

There are a whole crapload of Japanese bands that have gotten cult followings (if not widespread mainstream exposure) in the West, like Guitar Wolf, the Boredoms, Ghost, Pizzicato Five, Cornelius, and Teengenerate.

What's more, they are even more plagued than we are with cheesy teen idol bands (in fact, they've even adopted the English word "idol" -- they call it "aidoru"). I've even heard songs by some of them, like Hikaru Genji or SMAP, who are basically their counterparts to our Britney or New Kids on the Block.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

57. Hikaru Genji? That is SO 1980's!

:-)

It's hard for me to say, since I'm not really in touch with teenage culture here. However, back when I knew some teenagers (early 1990s), they said that only early teens listened to the aidoru kashu and that anyone with any taste listened to American and European bands.

I've been hearing a lot of Brazilian music in coffee shops for some reason--maybe because Brazil is associated with coffee, or maybe because it's popular.