Japan is, by and large, quite a homogeneous place. I’ve travelled from Sapporo to Hiroshima and have seen much of the country, but except for regional differences in food, dialect and weather-dictated architecture, it’s surprising how uniform modern Japan can appear, at least to my lowly gaijin’s eyes. An elementary school in Tokyo is very likely to look similar to one in Niigata and in Okinawa, and things like roads are apt to be pretty much the same no matter where you go, too. It’s not like in the U.S., where culture on the two coasts can be as different as night and day, with large, easy-to-heat school buildings in Maryland and sprawling, open schools in California, and funny things called “turnpikes” in Pennsylvania (never figured out what those were). In some ways, the monoculture that you see in Japan extends to the people, too. This is a country where 98% of the population seems to believe, without ever having a conscious thought on the subject, that they are of identical stock, with black hair, “black” (brown) eyes, and universal samurai ancestry. In reality, there is quite a lot of variation in the features of Japanese people: lighter colored hair, differently shaped faces, more or less body hair, eyes that or more narrow (hitoe, with one crease in the eyelid) or less narrow than average, and darker or lighter skin. While people here would be insulted if you suggested that “all Japanese look alike” to foreigners (although I’ve been mistaken for other gaijin more times than I can count), the tendency for people here to think of all Japanese as coming from the same stock is a useful social engine sometimes called the Myth of Japanese Uniformity, sort of the exact opposite of Canada’s Cultural Mosaic. While the concept might be alien to alien to your or me, the overall effect is a positive one, I think. The idea is, since the Japanese don’t “see” differences in their own people, they can get along on a more even plane without a lot of discrimination, which is good for a country that values harmony like this one.
I like living in Japan — it’s a great country where the people are honest and friendly and things are never boring. You can’t pick your neighbors though, and living within spitting distance of North Korea is really not at the top of my list of favorite things. There’s been a lot of buzz about NK being about to do a test launch of a Taepodong-2 long-range missile soon, which is causing nervousness around here. In 1998, they shot a missile launched a satellite over Japan, just to show they could do it. Considering that North Korea’s missiles employ Sony Playstation 2 chips that were smuggled into the country (or so I’ve heard), we’re less than thrilled about living right in the flight path between Pyongyang and Tokyo. If a missile falls short of its goal it will land right on our heads — that’s just not fun.
Do you sleep in a bed or on a futon? Both are popular in Japan, although the trend is definitely towards beds among young people, as houses become more Westernized and Japanese get older. The traditional way of sleeping in Japan is on a futon, essentially a large sleeping pad that can fit one adult. They fold up into three sections for easy storage — essential in a country with such a low space-to-people ratio — and are useful to keep around when guests drop by unexpectedly. Futons must be hung out to dry every few days or they’ll accumulate unhealthy moisture inside, and the image of a hanging futons in the sun and beating the dust out is a classical image of married life in Japan. When I was in college, a lot of students owned Western-style “futons” (foo-TAWN, said with a Texas drawl, rather than f’-TONE as it would be pronounced in Japanese) that were usually comprised of a large stuffed sleeping pad and a wooden frame, but like California Rolls, Midori Sours and fortune cookies, this is a completely made-in-the-the-West concept.
At J-List, we strive to bring you something fresh and new from Japan with every update. We carry a wide range of really cool authentic Japanese geta shoes and other types of sandals, with sizes and styles for men and women. Today we’ve added some really cool large wooden “geta” made out of blocks of wood for an unmistakable look that’s great for cosplay or just wearing around town. The unique sound of the wood on the pavement will make you think you’re in Kyoto. We’ve got basic wooden geta sandals great for any use, with white or black straps, then we have a deluxe “super” geta that’s extremely tall, great for either wearing or displaying.
