Uni and more

DESIGN ETHNOGRAPHY

     Design ethnography as an elective for a business master? This sounds strange, but in the end it isn't. It is and will be a great class expanding the scope of thinking and seeing the world. 

     The first class was full of exercises and was a workshop-style. We have done an exercise with a sound ball, with music and sounds. Then we were split up in small group and had to do an exploration exercise (one of us had to be a human and had to explain, what banana or shoe lace was. The others were aliens, they had to listen and ask question, as they were not familiar with those objects). The discoveries were quite impressive and takeaways were also important. 

TRUCK FOR TRASH

     At a certain time on a certain date  people take out their separated trash (usually in white transparent plastic bags) and put it in a special place for a recycling truck to collect. The great thing about this track: it is so tiny (as many streets in our area are tiny) and it plays music (apparently this is a function of all trash trucks). The music is not intended for the driver, but for those who are outside. This is a very Japanese music that reminds me of some ring tones on old phones.

DAY 5: First Sunday in Japan

     In Japanese sunday means a day of sun (like in English). This day of sun was actually the first day in Tokyo so far without sun is´itself. But the e´weather was still very warm and nice. 

     Today the first time I slept in and woke up at 7 and not at five, probably bacause lack of sleep last night. After taking a bowl of rice and a coffee, I woke Ondrej up and we decided to go for a run in an hour or so.

SUNDAY IN JAPAN

     This was our first day of sun in Japan. But there is a big difference with Vienna, where nothing is open on Sunday. A convenience store around the corner is 24-7, so the morning coffee for 150 yen ( 1,2 Euro) I bought there. 

      Kotani San and his family were up quite early and greeted us with sadomasochism's (good morning). Additionally, the people were still moving in to the dorm, even on Sunday. As I have noticed, parents were helping most of the students to move in. Few of them had some tables and chairs with them, so I guess the rooms of Japanese students will be even more equipped than mine. 

     Today we took another running route. To be more precise, I rook a running route and Ondrej a roller-blading route, as he is roller-blading while I am running. We went in the direction of Motosumiyoshi metro station. The area is very nice, people are nice and friendly. Some stare at us as if we were Gaijins (foreigners). LOL

     We found a great small stream with beautiful sakura on the  sides. It took us to a large sports ground with a couple football fields and baseball diamond. There very many Japanese there, many were practicing sports, while elderly people were looking at youngsters competing. THat is a great way to spend Sunday morning. Now I started thinking, that Japanese sports culture is stronger, than I thought. 

SHIMODA STUDENTS DORMITORY

     Before we went there, Ondrej and I decided to visit another dorm (Shimoda). It is an international students dorm mostly, thus the rules there are not as strict as in our dorm. We entered easily by accompanying a random guy that we met in front of the entrance. Than without knowing, in which rooms our friends were, we easily managed to find it, as each room had a name of the student in front of it. There are 4 floors in the building, each floor has a shared kitchen. We arrived at the place around 7 in the evening, but there was no one eating, quite a quiet place. 

      Borislav had a little bottle of rice wine and was kind enough to share it with us. Larry, our colleague from Taiwan, has mentioned that in rice wine you have to look at percentage on the label. This percentage indicates how much rice was washed of at the preparation process. The wines with percentage under 50 are of superior quality' have a different name and cost starting from 10000 JPY. We had a little bottle with 70%, quite a new taste for me. 

RUNNING SUSHI

     This evening we decided to attend a traditional Japanese running sushi restaurant. The place was quite small with a relatively strong fish smell. We all took a seat around a sushi bar. It was a time to do all preparations before the meal. First we had to take a box with powdered green tea and put two scoops in a cup, than added hot water to it. I should call the taste very specific. At the next step we added soya sauce mixed with wasabi to  special plate and opened hashi (chopsticks). Now we were finally set and ready. 

     The sushi were passing by. You would only have to grab a plate of sushi that you liked. Each plate had 2 sushi on it, however the golden plate had one piece of sushi (those were tuna sushi for example). After you are done the staff simply counts your plates and you pay 105 JPY per plate (a little less than 1 Euro). Great experience! I'll come again after I learn all the names of the fish and other ingredients they put on sushi :)

BIKING CULTURE

     Japanese have a very strong biking culture. Many people have bikes, however to see a nice mountain bike or professional bike is rare. Japanese people usually do not lock their bikes. Bikes for Japanese are used as a means of transportation from home to closest metro station or to a groceries store. The distances in Tokyo are really long, thus traveling by bike is not really possible. By the way, buying a car is only permitted if you have a confirmed spot on a parking lot. 

     So everyone has one of those classical bikes looking like this. (Photo). The interesting thing about this, as bicycles are really cheap here, many people leave them unattended, because utilizing them is expensive. So there are many bikes on the streets of Tokyo that belong to no one. Police goes around bikes' parking lots and marks the bikes that have to be removed by their owners (if they are left unattended for long time). If the bike that was marked remains there for a long time and will be removed. As I understand, the bikes can be resold or demolished after. There are few places when it is possible to buy a removed bike. From what I heard, it is possible to get a bike in a great condition for up to 6000 Yen, which is really cheap in Austrian standards, however very expensive by Holland's standards (at least that is what Borislav said). 

DAY 4

TRANSPORTATION

     On Saturday morning our CEMS group agreed to meet in Hiyoshi station in order to go to the Tokyo central park to watch cherry blossoms (sakura). By the way this year is exceptional. Cherry blossoms started earlier than ever before. 

    To find our way from Huyoshi station (in Yokohama) to the center was not that easy in the beginning. The metro and rail systems are connected and are operated by 5 different transport companies. Additionally, there are different types of trains: metro, local trains, express trains and rapid express. The difference is that some of the trains don't stop on some stations, while others make all the stops. Different types of trains are marked with different colors. Additionally, in metro there are special women's wagons, where only women are permitted from 7:30-9:00 in the morning. 

    Some of the intersection stations are very complex with up to 5 levels. It is not so easy to find your way around, especially during the rush hour.

     Upon entering metro, you are supposed to purchase a ticket in a machine. YOu look at the map, pick your route and then pay an amount that covers that rout. If you traveled more or less, that you have paid, while exiting the metro you can adjust the price by paying additional fee or receiving part of your money back. Quite a convenient system.  But takes quite a while to understand though.

     The announcement are in Japanese and English as well as all the signs (and stations names) are in Japanese and English. 

     We were traveling at 10 in the morning of Saturday, the metro was not packed, but there were some people. Even though the weather outside was not that hot, the air in the wagon was really stuffed and heavy. Let's see what will happen in summer... 

SAKURA and CENTRAL PARK

     Japanese people love and enjoy watching sakura. THis Saturday morning half of the Tokyo has gathered in the central park to watch and take pictures of cherry blossoms. There were crowds of people wondering around. Ondrej, my residence mate and a CEMS colleague from Czech Republic has mentioned, that there was  the whole population of Prague here. Many people were sitting on the grass in big and small groups, chatting, playing cards, drinking beer and wine, some were even playing the guitar. The view was really spectacular and we were really lucky to have such a nice day. 

     We have expected to wonder around the park for a few hours and then to return back, however spent the whole day watching sakura and other sights in central Tokyo. We were quite a large group of people, bug had great fund together and managed to get around in those crowds quite well.

Photos by Borislav Slavov

TECH PRODUCTS

    From my previous experience, I knew that Japan is a tech country. But the wing with wifi has brought some doubts. HOwever a trip to a media supermarket has revealed those doubt away forever. The supermarket was 6 floors high. YOu can find anything you want there and the prices are very attractive. I have purchases great Phillips headphones for only 770 yen (less that 7 Euro) and they are of very high quality! Japan, that is why I am starting to love you! 

RESIDENCE ASSISTANCE FAMILY

     I have already mentioned the main guy in our residence who lives here and takes care of all the staff. His name is Kotani San. He speaks Japanese-English and is a extremely nice person. Very friendly and hospitable. Whenever he sees us, he invites us for a cup of tea in his special room. Last night he has invited us for the special tea ceremony: tea with sake. He, as a true Japanese, had a cup of sake without tea, but to be really hospitable, he has given us tea first and advice to put some sake there. He said we should put as much as we wanted, so we did. The tea has killed the sake taste completely, however I assume the effect was there.

     The funny thing about Kotani San, he always gives us tea, but never Japanese tea. The first day he was given some German tea in teabags, today Indian in teabags. I am looking forward to receiving some real Japanese tea from him. 

     This evening after a long day in the center me and Ondrej were quite tired, but decided to go down for some tea with Kotani San. Downstairs we mat his lovely family, his wife and daughter. They all speak English and are extremely nice. Kotani San's wife used to be a Japanese language teacher in elementary school, so we had great time drinking tea and practicing some Japanese there. All of them now live at the 2nd floor of the residence all the time and help Kotani San to take care of the residence. Yesterday 50 Japanese student moved in. We have 11 floors and around 30 rooms for floor, so quite a lot of people will eventually live here. 

DAY 3: the journey continues

     Due to time differences and lack of sleep during flights, I went to bed really early the first day (around 10) and was already up at 6 a.m. Watching a sunrise in the land where the sun rises is amazing.

After taking a nice breakfast, I decided to go for a run. I put on a shirt and a t-shirt as the weather was really sunny and warm and went outside. The path I took was went along a small channel. On both sides of it there are blooming cherries (also known as sakura) and in the channel there are huge beautiful carps and other fishes. I was the only one running along that place.

Strangely, before I assumed that Japanese people do many sports. Maybe it was not the right time or not the correct place...

UNFRIENDLY JAPANESE

     I didn't even believe those exist in this lovely country. But here is my story. The day before I have purchased a converter to be able to charge my devices. The funny thing is that I knew the voltage difference, but I didn't exactly know the plug type. So of course the one that I had purchases was wrong. My Japanese friends suggested me to return it an buy a new one. This is what I did. I picked up a correct plug at the store and headed to a cashier desk, expecting a usual Japanese hospitality and friendliness. After a few minutes trying to explain to the guy what I wanted to do, an old lady came to me and ask if I needed help in English. SHe helped me to explain that I wanted to return the thing back. The salesman stared at me and then asked in Japanese-English: Why? Did you open it? I said that I had bought a wrong one. He starred at me again and told to follow him. We went to another "return" desk. I gave him the receipt, a converter that I wanted to return and the one I wanted to buy. He could not understand why I wanted to return two converters and had a receipt just for one... Finally he figured it out, and with an angry stare printed out a receipt. Than he filled it in with some complex Kanji (old Chinese characters also used in Japanese), then he made me sigh it and put a funny small red stamp on it which looked like lipstick to me and it was finally set. However the  impression that those lovely and always friendly Japanese people could be also unfriendly was left. 

RICE

     On the way out I was looking at some other devices for sale and saw a desk with rice cookers. For those who don't know it is a very convenient Japanese device where you simply put rice and it cooks it to a perfect condition. A day ago I have purchased a big bag of Japanese white rice and was excited to try it. By the way, rice here is of very high quality but very expensive. My Taiwanese colleague (much more expert in rice than I am) has said, that Japanese rice is really tasty and much better than the one they have. So back to the rice cooker. Back in the days when I was still living in the East of Russia on Sailing island with my parents we used to have a rice cooker from Japan, so I knew how to get around with it and that it was really convenient thing. So I decided to buy one. I picked the cheapest model for 5000 yen (40 Euro) and got it. The saleswoman was extremely nice and friendly, so the

GRADUATION DAYS

    I figured that out only after, but today was the graduation ceremony in many Tokyo universities. I was wondering before, because saw many young Japanese males in suites and thought, that if I would wear a suit,        I would look completely alike. 

      Our metro station located in Yokohoma and not Tokyo. For those, who don't know, the boarder of Tokyo and Yokohama is now very vague and two cities together create a humongous megalopolis with population up to 40 million people. Near our metro station there is a university campus and the graduation ceremony today was held there. Some girls were wearing traditional kimono and some flowers in their hair. All guys were wearing suits and ties. 

     Another thing that really wondered me, on the road crossing on two sides of the road there were 4 people wearing suits and small red flowers on a suit. They were "traffic regulators". Whenever the traffic light would turn yellow, they would stand in front of the crowd not letting them cross. Apparently, if they wouldn't be there, everyone would be just running across the street on red (which I would never expect from Japanese to be honest). 

OPENING OF A STORE

     Most Japanese stores open at 10. But when I say at 10 I mean it. Exactly at 9:59 the doors open and happy salesmen and saleswomen are standing along the sides, greeting you and bowing. This is something people need to see. It gives such a great feeling of order and that they care about the customers. Will go to the stores again in the morning. 

JAPANESE BARS

    This evening we finally met with a group of CEMS students and headed to an Irish pub. The choice of beer is not really big (only 4 types) and the prices are really high (I paid 850 yen for a pint, which is a little less than 7 Euro). 

     To make an order, everyone goes to a bar and has to pay right away (however it is different when we pay all together and not separately). You are not expected to leave a tip plus the prices are high anyway. 

Seems, that drinking strong spirits in Japan is much cheaper that drinking beer. 

Before coming to Japan, I read in a book that Friday (golden day in Japanese) is a really relaxing evening for Japanese workers. Finally they can relax after a long working week, loosen their ties and drink down their stress. I have also heard that Japanese people don't need a lot of alcohol to get drunk, thus a few beers will do. 

    Our CEMS colleagues who live in a dorm a station away have told me, that when they were traveling home that Friday evening by metro, it was fool of drunk people in suites and looked like Wall Street. Policemen have to take care of many of them, as some were blocking the doors of the underground. 

About this blog

I will write about things related to Japan and Tokyo in particular: stories from exchange semester in Tokyo at Keio university (CEMS program), about learning Japanese language and integrating with the culture and locals.