日本の生活 - Life in Japan

Well, it's been a crazy couple of months since I last updated my blog.

Since I've arrived here, I've discovered a lot about myself and a lot about Japan.

Firstly: I love this country.

I mean, before I came to Japan I was interested in Japan and its language and history and all that jazz. But I never thought that I would come to love it. When you're studying about a country and always hearing about the negative aspects - death from overwork, pollution, discrimination - the picture you build up in your head is always going to be skewed. It's not until you live in a country that you can really begin to get a feel for it.

But Japan pretty much suits me in every way. It's convenient, it's inexpensive, the people are polite and considerate, the food is great. Yeah, it's busy, it's crowded, to an extent it's polluted, but it's always possible to get away from all of that before it starts grinding you down. The countryside is never far away - 70% of Japan is still forest after all.

Japan's not for everyone, it's not a perfect country and I do foresee myself getting tired of it eventually, but right now life is comfortable, I'm happy, I've got myself some good friends and an even better lady friend.

It's summer, the semester's almost over and I have 3 months of exploring and free time ahead of me.

I'm pretty god damn happy.

Si is finally in Gaidai

It's been a long week or so since my last update.

We found ourselves in Osaka on the 24th after a day of traveling from Nagano. We got a great deal on a hotel right near Umeda station so it was pretty convenient.

Friday we headed over to Nara to check out the Daibutsu (huge buddha statue), deer and temples. We met up a foreign couple who'd been learning English in Australia on the way there, so we hung out with them that day and evening. I'll write more about Nara in an accessibility update soon.

Saturday we finally headed over to Hirakata city. After finding a cheap hotel room we went straight over to the university to check it out and say hi to the staff at the Center for International Education. The campus itself is pretty nice but winter is not the best time to be there, the gardens are pretty dead.

We met a group of people at the University who showed us the way to the dormitories (Seminar Houses). One of them was Cory, who I've since become friends with and hang out with quite a bit.

Craig and I spent the night in the hotel room drinking. We went out to try and find a bar to celebrate Australia day in, but Hirakata is pretty much dead when it comes to bars and clubs. We ended up grabbing some Mos Burger (a so-so Japanese hamburger joint) and buying some booze at a convenience store near the dorms.

Sunday morning I took all my crap over to the dorms and officially signed in. I also experienced my first taste of the rules - no guests. Craig had to sit downstairs while Fumiya (one of the resident assistants and an overall great guy) helped me up with my luggage. After that Craig and I headed back into Hirakata by bus to get supplies and stuff. We ran into another foreign Gaidai student on the way there - Greg - who I've also become friends with. We spent the day trying to find coat hangers (we got them for free from a couple of kind sales assistants at a department store), eating KFC (as terrible in Japan as it is at home) and generally poking around.

That evening the 3 of us went out drinking and accidentally stayed out past the 11 PM closure time (during orientation week) of the dormitories. Greg and I spent an uncomfortable night sleeping on the door of Craig's single hotel room, but it was overall a fun night.

Craig left on the Monday, I headed into Hirakata, we grabbed some lunch at McDonalds and we chatted for a bit. He didn't seem to be too happy about going home and I wasn't too happy about having to say goodbye to my best mate for a year. He's a great bloke and I'm lucky to have a friend willing to go on two separate trips with me like that. This trip was definitely more fun than the last, we did a ton of crazy shit and saw a ton of different stuff. Before he first came to Japan Craig didn't really have an interest in it, but now I can see the definite signs of a love of this country creeping into him. Japan has that affect on people.

Since then I've been flat out socialising, finding my way around the university and Hirakata and getting all the shit done that I need to, to start university. I found out on Wednesday that because I have a single room in Seminar House 3, I have to pay an extra 80, 000円, which I am not impressed about. We were not informed about this before I came to Gaidai. I haven't complained yet because to be honest the staff member I will have to deal with is a bit of a sour bitch and I didn't want to deal with it this week.

I got a good number for the registration lottery - 42. The way it works over here is you draw a number and it determines how soon you can register for classes. I got both of the ones I want - one on Japanese body language and the other on the judicial systems of East Asia.

Today after the registration, I headed into Hirakata with Cory to grab lunch, do my foreigner registration and hopefully get a mobile phone. We succeeded in the first two but failed in the last because the phone I wanted is 7000円 cheaper if I buy it tomorrow. I'll head into Hirakata first thing, grab some breakfast and get the phone. In the afternoon we have a tour to Kyoto so I plan to go check that out.

And that, is what I've been doing for the past week!

I'm always travelIing, I love being free

And so I keep leaving the sun and the sea,
but my heart lies waiting over the foam,
I still call Australia home.

In Hirakata now... happy Australia day guys!

Accessibility Report: Kagashima Spa Land/Onsen

We left Tokyo on Sunday to head over to Nagoya, home of Kagashima Spa Land and the longest roller coaster in the world.

Nagoya itself wasn’t all that interesting, the city seemed ok and everything, but we were only really there to go to the theme park and check out the rollercoaster. We booked into a cheap hotel near the station, planning to stay there two nights and head to Kagashima on Monday.

It was easy enough to get there, just an 1800 Yen, 45 minute bus trip from Nagoya Meitetsu station. The bus station was fairly accessible, with elevators etc, but the bus itself was an older model. Wheelchair users would find getting on and off quite difficult and the seats themselves were cramped.

A recommendation: Go to the spa land during off-season in the middle of the week. We did not have to wait in a single queue and for most of the day there were only one or two other people on the rides with us. The downside to this was that a few of the rides (ferris wheel and wooden rollercoaster) were not running, but they weren’t the major attractions.

The park was completely flat and getting from place to place should be no problem for wheelchair or crutch users, but unfortunately the rides themselves were not accessible at all. Out of the 12 or 13 rides we went on, only one had a ramp leading up to it and that was too small for an average sized wheelchair to go up. I found many of the rides difficult to get into, but with a bit of maneuvering it wasn’t an issue. On the plus side staff members were generally helpful and friendly, passing me my crutches at the end of the ride and lending an arm to get out or down from the ride. This made life a bit easier.

Bathrooms were another issue. The two that I went into only had squat-style toilets, which are never fun to deal with. Anyone unable to stand would find this difficult. I did not notice any disabled toilets but stupidly I didn’t think to hunt for them either.

Overall unless you are able to walk for short distances up and down stairs, the majority of the park will be inaccessible to you and I cannot recommend it. The park wasn’t really that special though and it seemed like the rides lacked a certain amount of “oomph”.

As its name suggests, Kagashima Spa Land also incorporates a spa/hot springs. This part of the park seems to have been designed with the disabled and elderly in mind and is generally pretty accessible with elevators between the floors and helpful staff. The majority of the spa area is covered in tatami mats, so you are required to remove your shoes. I assume that they allow wheelchairs on the tatami mats though.

When bathing at a hot spring you must always wash yourself thoroughly before you enter. This normally involves sitting on a low wooden stool, which is a bit of a pain in the ass. Luckily Kagashima spa has some taller shower stools available if you require them.

The hot springs themselves were a mixed bag when it came to accessibility. There were 4 or 5 separate bathing areas all with different temperatures and features. The first bathing area had a handrail to get in which was helpful. This first bath had an electric massage area where an electric current is passed through the water into your body. Probably not great for those with heart problems but it felt great and my muscles felt really relaxed afterwards. It was also outside which was really nice

The second bathing area was a typical indoor bath with 3 different areas varying in temperature, and a sauna. This area also had a handrail to assist in getting in and out of the water.

The other 3 baths were outdoor baths and were more difficult to get in and out of. Some had rocks and stuff that you could grab onto for balance while getting in, but they weren’t all that accessible overall. A number of times I had to grab onto my friend’s arm which is not really a comfortable situation when you are both naked and surrounded by other naked men!

None of the baths had chair lifts or slopes, so again, unless you can walk short distances getting in and out is not going to be easy. If you plan to get friends to help you, keep in mind that you will all be naked and having to grab onto them for support may not be a comfortable situation. Falling over would not be fun in an environment like that, especially with the number of rocks and rough concrete around.

Overall, if you can walk short distances both the theme park and the onsen are worth checking out. I recommend you purchase the “passport” ticket. $40 for a whole day of unlimited rides and access to the hot spring is a great deal!

Trains, Yakuza and Hot Springs

I’ve wanted to update for a few days now, but a lack of time since I arrived in Japan has meant I’ve put it off until now. We’ve been out every day and every night, normally drinking until after 11 and getting up around 8 or 9. Needless to say, when I haven’t been out doing stuff I’ve been too tired to do shit. Actually I'm too tired to do shit today too, but at least I'm not out doing stuff.

I’m on a train at the moment, we’re going between Sapporo and Hakodate on our way back to Tokyo for a couple of nights before we head to Osaka. Hokkaido has probably been my favourite place in Japan so far. After spending 4 days in busy, cramped, noisy Shinjuku, our relief upon reaching Sapporo was almost palpable.

Sapporo and Hokkaido in general feel a lot more like Australia than Japan. The main difference is the space - builders and city planners aren’t as limited by land prices as they are in Tokyo, and it really shows. The houses and buildings are much larger and the streets are wider and more logically laid out. The people in general also seem less rushed and more friendly.

Of course, there’s a downside: it’s fucking FREEZING. The temperature was generally -3 – -6 on average during our stay, but the wind chill made it feel a lot colder than that. In addition, the snow on the pavements quickly turns into ice, making everything slippery as hell. Amazingly though, during our 4 night stay I only fell over once – although when I did fall it was in the middle of the street with cars waiting to get past, not fun.

We got to Hokkaido on Monday, we took a flight from Haneda to New Chitose which was relatively drama free. However, the trip to the airport was not. Since our arrival in Tokyo on the 10th, we’d been staying with Craig’s friend Eric in his apartment in Shinjuku. Eric (a goon) turned out to be a really great guy and he showed us a lot of cool stuff that we probably would have missed if we hadn’t been with him. He decided to come with us to the airport to show us the way and help us with our luggage. We were running pretty late as it was, so it was a good thing he did.

We had to transfer between 3 or 4 trains to get to the airport, so there was a lot of running to catch connecting trains. The last leg of the journey was via monorail and we were rushing to get to it. Craig and Eric jumped on the escalator with me following closely behind. The platform was at the top and as soon as they got to the top they rushed onboard, assuming I was behind them and forgetting that I had to sort out my crutches at the top of the escalator. As they forced themselves onboard, the warning bell rang to warn that the monorail was about to leave. I wasn’t far behind them but before I could jump on board the doors of the monorail and a secondary gate snapped closed.

So there I was, the middle of Tokyo, my luggage and friends on a train that had just left without me. Luckily the next monorail came soon afterwards and it was an express, only stopping at the two airport terminals. After giving Eric a quick ring to see what terminal I was supposed to go to, I jumped on and managed to make it to Haneda. Fortunately when the train arrived there was a sign outside the door showing which area to go to if you were taking flights to Hokkaido. I met Eric and Craig shortly afterwards.

In the end our rushing was for nothing, the plane had been delayed for an hour anyway and the rest of the journey was without incident. I later found out that in a panic Eric had hit the emergency stop button on the monorail (one of those “Break glass in case of emergency” ones), but luckily/unluckily it didn’t work. I don’t know what kind of shit he would have been in if it had. Needless to say we found it hilarious.

We managed to get a great deal on a hotel in Sapporo. The recently built Washington Hotel right outside Sapporo station was excellent, luxurious and clean. For only 5000 Yen a night (including breakfast), it was a great deal. In addition the location meant a lot less walking for me.

We went to a fair few places in Sapporo. On the day after we arrived – Tuesday – we went to the Sapporo beer museum. It wasn’t very interesting and most of the information was in incomprehensibly complex Japanese, but entry was free and samples were only 100 Yen each. In addition, next door to the museum is a giant hall specializing in Genghis Khan – a local dish with vegetables and mutton that you fry yourself on a skillet in the middle of the table. The air is so heavy with the scent of cooking meat that they give you plastic bags to put your coats and bags in so they don’t absorb the smell. You will come away smelling of fried meat though.

Wednesday (16th) was my birthday so we decided to head out to Noboribetsu. Noboribetsu is a famous hot springs resort that has been known for its baths since the samurai era. We decided to head up to Kuma Bokujou (Bear Farm) before we went to the baths, but it turned out to be a gigantic waste of time and money. Entry was 2500 Yen, including a cable car trip to the top. The view from the cable car was spectacular but the bear farm itself was crap.

The farm was basically 3 concrete pens full of bears native to Hokkaido sitting on their asses begging for tourists to throw them pellets of food. The structure was entirely made of grey concrete and was reminiscent of a Soviet-Era nuclear bunker. As Craig so succinctly put it: Do not go here if you are not a Japanese girl aged between 5 and 35. We watched group after group of women walk up to the cages shouting “Waa~ Kawaii~”, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the bears they were calling cute were either shitting, pissing all over the place or doing a combination of the two the whole time.

We had no idea what hot springs were good so we asked a bus driver what he recommended. He was kind enough to take us to one and drop us off right outside. I forget the name of the place now, he called it famous and it seemed ok to us, but nothing to write home about. We’d never been in public baths before so we weren’t exactly sure of what we were supposed to do, but the sour-faced woman behind the counter half-heartedly explained to us and it turned out ok in the end.

Except… we forgot towels…

“Well, that’s ok” we thought “We can buy towels from this vending machine here”

The towels were approximately the size of postage stamps and had about the same thickness and ability to absorb water.

We decided to go ahead with it anyway and just get in. We walked down to the baths and rounded the corner into the changing rooms… to be greeted by a guy bending over at a sink, completely naked, washing his face, his red ass pointing in the air like some sort of overweight baboon.

I almost turned around and walked out then and there.

Stifling laughter and biting our tongues, we got undressed, washed ourselves off and got into the hot spring without incident. It was pretty nice, but being surrounded by old, naked, Japanese men is not my idea of fun. The smell of sulfur was also pretty overpowering.

We did have one interesting encounter in the baths though – with a member of the Yakuza (Japanese mafia). The Yakuza are easy to spot because they are the only Japanese people to sport tattoos, and these tattoos were definitely Yakuza tattoos. They started from the bottom of his ass and entirely covered his back, shoulders and arms up to the wrists.

We ended up talking to him, nice enough guy really, pretty confident and outgoing, but I would not have wanted to piss him off.

Getting out and drying off with our shitty towels was a challenge in itself. We ended up waiting for the changing rooms to empty a bit and using the hair dryer over and over again to dry ourselves. Not a recommended method, but it worked.

There’s a ton of other stuff to write about, and I’ll get some accessibility stuff up soon, but this will have to do for now. Running out of battery!

Previous Crippled Experiences in Japan

Snow + Crutches do not mix

I've been to Japan twice now. Once for around 3 nights in July of 2005, the second time for just over two weeks in January 2007. During those two trips I spent quite a bit of time in Tokyo, but also spent time in Osaka, Kyoto, Himeji, Nagano and Hakone. My next trip will also see me heading up to Sapporo which should be pretty interesting and also over to Nagoya.

To put it bluntly, Japan is not disability friendly. I speak from a relatively privileged position though I guess. Australia has laws that guarantee easy access for the disabled in most public areas where practical. 95% of the time there's an alternative to stairs, disabled toilets are common, store aisles are wide enough to navigate with ease and both busses and trains have seats reserved for the disabled/elderly.

The one advantage to not having all these things in Japan is that I'm forced to adapt and through my visits to Japan I've found I can do things I didn't even realise I was capable of. Obviously however not all physically disabled people have the advantage that I have of being relatively mobile, so the areas that I found difficult would be almost impossible for them.

So, what were the main stumbling points for me?

• Public Toilets:

As any foreigner that's been to Japan knows, toilets in Japan can be either futuristic or filthy holes in the ground. Without getting too explicit, it is definitely (and obviously) the latter that I have trouble with. The problem is these also seem to be the most common type of public toilet, especially around train stations. Obviously the style of the toilet is the hardest part, but the fact that most of them are squalid, reeking and encrusted in filth makes it even harder. One unfortunate side effect of my disability is an inability to balance well. Generally in public toilets over here I can find something to balance on/against without having to worry too much about coming away with a previously unknown form of hepatitis. In Japan just walking into a public toilet makes me want to burn my exposed flesh to cleanse myself.

• Stairs

Or, as my mate Lloyd calls them: "Anti-cripple defenses". Stairs aren't impossible for me but having an alternative certainly makes life easier. A lot of the stairs - especially at train and subway stations - would be impossible for the more severely physically disabled to deal with. Some stations have elevators or chair lifts, others do not, there's no way to know until you get there. It doesn't help that the subway stairs are usually long and steep and often covered with whatever body fluids drunken salarymen decided to deposit there the night before. Osaka was significantly better than Tokyo when it came to disabled access at train stations

• Trains

In the past I basically had to organise any traveling by train so that it was as far away from rush hour as possible. Even during semi-busy periods it is hard for me to force my way through the crowds to get off, the short stops at stations do not help. There's not really much I can do about this unfortunately.

• The People

I need to preface this by saying that I honestly like Japanese people and have nothing against them. To be honest this whole section could be boiled down to one core factor/problem: the "shiranaikao/知らない顔".

To those unfamiliar with the term, shiranaikao literally means "Unknowing face" and refers to the very Japanese attitude of acting as if nothing out of the ordinary is going on around you. To give an extreme example, a lecturer of mine was on a train in Japan as a young man, when an older gentleman stumbled onboard who had been stabbed in the stomach. The response from others in the carriage was to bury their noses deeper in their newspapers or pretend to fall asleep.

Obviously nothing as extreme as this has ever happened to me and I realise that it is a cultural difference that I need to accept and adapt to, but shiranaikao does affect me. Shiranaikao is the reason that it is so hard for me to get off of packed trains, or the reason that I have to stand up on trains while holding a hand rail even though a bunch of apparently able-bodied salarymen are sat in the priority seating.

Probably the most extreme example of shiranaikao that I have personally experienced was at the Meiji shrine in Tokyo. While walking over one of the many stone bridges on a Sunday morning, my crutches slipped from underneath me due to a piece of wet moss and I ended up on my stomach examining the gravel from an inch away. As I started to drag myself up onto my feet, I realised that although probably 20 or 30 people had walked past me, not a single one had stopped to help. This was a Sunday morning, in the Meiji shrine, I doubt that any of those people were in a huge hurry to get anywhere. I was pretty jaded by that experience.

Ironically a week later when I was back in Perth, almost the exact same thing happened to me in the middle of the city. Before I had even started to get up I had two people either side of me trying to help me.

Of course there is a flip-side to all this, many times when I have been on crowded trains in Japan, people have stood up and offered me their seat. When Craig and I first arrived in Japan we had 2 or 3 people help us find our hotel, they even helped me with my luggage. My Japanese friends are some of the kindest people I know and are always willing to help me out. Unfortunately though I'd have to say the probability of getting help from a random stranger in Perth would be much greater than in Japan.

Despite all this, I cope remarkably well in Japan and not having supports in place really does help me to realise what I am capable of. Before I travelled in Japan I never even knew I was capable of standing on a moving train while using a hand rail to balance.

I'm looking forward to getting back and really finding out what I'm truly capable of.

JapanSoc - Social Bookmarking for Japanese News

Ken at the WhatJapanThinks blog posted a story about a relatively new social bookmarking site called JapanSoc. JapanSoc seems sort of similar to Digg in that you vote for stories submitted to the site and they get published depending on their rating. It looks pretty cool, check it out and submit some of my posts if you think they're worthy! All you need to do is click the JapanSoc link at the bottom of each post.