09.02.2006 - Orientation

Today I'll be talking a little about what I found as far as the people in Japan, and keep you entertained with some pictures while I do it.

I started the day with Orientation, which you see in the bottom left. Other pictures here are from the train ride into Hikone a couple nights ago.

We were told all about the rules and regulations of the school, as well as some information about the area and a few interesting stories to boot. We also signed up for our elective class. I chose Japanese Religions because it's a new topic that I have not covered yet, and because it doesn't start until October 4th, which will give me extra time to settle into good studying habits.

After that we had a break, and went for lunch at Coco's, a restaurant attached to the school. There I had the most delicious Beef Curry Rice ever, and I would gladly eat it every day if it didn't cost nearly $10. Interestingly, the drinks bar is only 68Y (Yen) or $0.50 for all you can drink. Might be a good idea to check the place out for dessert after home-cooked meals.
Eating at a Japanese resturaunt where all the staff speaks only Japanese was my first challenge. I could not explain to the server that we would like our bills split, and it was a while before we discovered that we must page somebody by pressing a button on the table when we were ready to give our orders. Still, it went okay. Did you know that in Japan you don't tip the waitresses? I think it's true, or there's one angry waitress over at Coco's...

They all had cool tiny electronic wireless devices onto which they put our orders by poking them. Very neat. Our Resident Director says that Japan is at least 2 years ahead of America in technology, and when it comes to businesses and the tools they use, I agree.

So later that afternoon we picked up our bikes. My suitcases hadn't yet arrived, so it's a good thing that I took my bike lock and helmet out of them before shipping them.

To the left is the area near the bikes between the two buildings. I have free time tomorrow, so I'll make sure to get a bunch of pictures of JCMU itself.
The right shows lake Biwa. It's kinda big and weedy-looking, just like a michigan lake. It was funny looking along one of the inlet canals at all of the sunken and abandoned boats half-covered in algae. At least it didn't smell. Tomorrow Don wants to go swimming.

The town is nice. There are lots of small streets and lots of alleyways. Houses are squished into whatever space is avaliable, some are barely a couple of rooms perched atop a garage.
Speaking of garages, the cars in Japan are interesting too. Though somebody saw a hatchback cadillac, most cars are of the Subaru/Daihatsu/Honda compact breed. They're narrow, short, and boxy. Not as small as a Smart Car, but definitely little. However, despite their size they're no less timid than the big SUVs dominating american streets. These little cars zip down the alleys and small roads energetically, and traffic on the big streets is moderate.

I was almost overtaken by the realization that I can hardly expect to know what I'm looking at most of the time. Is it a bar? A small store? A restauraunt or a bait and tackle shop? Even with the infrequent english in signs it's nearly impossible to tell what exactly a store is unless I can puzzle out something like 'Rajio' (Radio) or something else in the name or surrounding words. I didn't have time to go up and inspect during the bicycle tour, which would have greatly simplified the analysis.

Finally, there was the Cainz mall. Cainz Home Center is like a Home Depot in every way, just Japanese. And the grocery store is just like a Meijer, but again, Japanese. Japanese realization number 2: I can't find ANYTHING in this store. I made my way through the aisles, looking at packages of mystery food (Really!) and with the help of my roommate we selected a couple baskets full of stuff we figured we would need. Towels, Soap, and food.

A couple observations: The japanese are not big on snack foods like americans are. Instead they have dozens and dozens of "Snack Foods." America has some big categories: Candy, Nuts, Chips, Crackers, Cookies and Pretzels. Everything else in america is some combination of the above. In Japan everything is different. Some kinds of wafers, some sort of dried mystery fruit (Muscat?) Another sort of box that's colorful, but doesn't show a picture of what's inside and that's a red flag for the inarticulate Gaijin (Foreigner).
That's the basis of shopping in a foreign language. Pictures. Sure, lots of packages have words on them, but they most often do not describe the contents. For example, "Pocari Sweat." It's a liquid, sure, but sweat? In actuality, it is a flavored water drink like Gatorade, fortified with some sodium and potassium and other nutrients.

As a matter of fact, it's a good place here to talk about beverages. In America, we have the Soda, Juice, Coffee, and Water families of drinks. Now in Europe, nearly everything is carbonated (based on my impression... they carbonate WATER for pete's sake!) And if you could carbonate a sausage or a crumpet, they'd do that too. In Japan, however, almost nothing is carbonated. In japan the dominant forms of drink are Coffee and Water-based drinks. But you can't get many kinds of just water. Instead, almost everything that looks like water (Even Super H20) is actually a flavored water. Next up are energy drinks and juices. Juices are straightforward, but always come in tiny quantities. Energy drinks are even tinier, and unlike american energy drinks, they most often do not taste good. In fact, they taste downright bad in many cases. The point isn't the taste, it's the kick of energy, which is like a quadruple espresso.
Last and least is the carbonated drinks, the soda. It's easy to get soda in a restauraunt. Getting it from a vending machine, however, is difficult or impossible. Most vending machines have only one soda in them among the coffees and juices and waters. Something like Pepsi Neo, or diet 7UP. There is no large soda section (that I have seen) in the market. You can find 2-litre bottles, though, and I was quick to buy a bottle of coca cola. It tastes much the same as at home, which is comforting.

The long day came to an end with the ride home. I bought too much and my bike has a basket that is too small. Don helped carry and I rode one-handed all the way (5-10 minute ride) from Cainz mall.

It was a pretty good day, and tomorrow I have the whole day to myself. I plan on taking pictures of a lot of the scenery and talking about it.