laurainlimbo: (Hard Off)
posted by [personal profile] laurainlimbo at 11:55am on 23/01/2006

I just have one complaint today and then I'm going to spend today's entry making some observations about things that came to me as I lay in bed this morning at 5 a.m. unable to sleep...

here's my complaint:  I hate living in this house  - and I don't understand M's mother at all.  they have so much money, yet they refuse to use the gas needed to run the clothes dryers.  I mean, they are a dry cleaning business after all, and they have these really big nice dryers that would dry our clothes in about 20 minutes.  Instead, we have to hang our clothes outside on the veranda anytime its not raining - which its not today, but today the wind is so strong that I fear that my underwear is going to end up across the street in the tea fields!  If it does, I'm in big trouble - mostly because I can't buy underwear here in this country that will fit me (for some reason, most Japanese women don't have hips or butts at all, so even an extra large size is like a small in the states)...

Okay that's my negative thought for the day.  and now we turn to the weirdness of this country, in particular its incongruities:

Japan is such a land of incongruity.   You can see the most breaktakingly beautiful scenery (gorgeous snow-capped mountains, lush tea fields, flowers, temples) next to the ugliest factories, the dullest apartment buildings that could use new paint, and the electronic towers and wires that always threaten to obscure the nicest view (like the view of Mt. Fuji from my bedroom window!).

and then there's technology.  For a country that can produce the tiniest and most technologically advanced cell phones, digital cameras and musical recorders (all that can now fit in the palm of your hand or in your jeans pocket), when it comes to their houses, the Japanese are seemingly still in the dark ages. Unless you live in Hokkaido, not a home can be found with any form of centralized heat or AC.  In addition, many homes are built with high ceilings too, and not much insulation; so given the fact that heat rises, and people tend to sleep on the floor, it makes for some cold nights in the wintertime!  While you can buy very expensive, computerized heaters (which also work as nice air conditioning in the summertime), they don't really heat up much but a small space. And since they strangely install them near the ceiling (and again there's that principle that heat rises), they don't produce enough heat on the floor to make sleeping comfortable.  So, most people in Japan stay warm using the kotatsu (which is a heated table with a blanket that you put your legs under) - this does keep you warm as long as you are sitting still and watching TV or reading - your legs and feet generally get very toasty - but of course whenever you have to get up, you get cold again because the rest of the house is not heated!  And you usually have to get up occasionally to use the bathroom, to cook and eat dinner, to take a shower, etc....  I don't get it, personally, but then again I'm not Japanese.  And the other alternative to the kotatsu is the fan heater, a very big, clunky, and somewhat dangerous heater that uses actual oil called "toyu" that you have to constantly replace, and which smells a bit like gasoline (and is as toxic!).  These heaters actually produce a live flame like on a gas stove, and with the open grille are kind of dangerous in a small room and can't be left unattended - though they do really make a room very warm very fast.  But the thing about Japanese homes is that you can only heat rooms individually, so whenever you have to leave the warm room (and these days we use two heaters to make our room upstairs very comfortable), you inevitably get cold very fast.  So people are always getting sick in the winter time - go figure!!  I got sick two weeks ago - and I think it was not just because of the cold but because of the terrible air I have to breathe with these heaters!  (Oh, sorry I promised myself I wouldn't complain anymore, but I just can't help it when I talk about living in this house!!)

And talk about incongruity - there's the people! (and realize that talking about Japanese people will merit more than just one entry in my journal - I could, and should write a book about my observations!). After living in Japan for quite a while now (plus I've got two years experience here before), I've come to realize that everything I learned about Japanese people and Japanese culture from my Intercultural communications classes in college, and from stereotypes that are still alive and well in the U.S., was wrong.  Japanese people are not all quiet, hard-working and serious.  And the ones that are the most hard-working are not always honest or respectable.  Take, for example, some of the  recent current events in Japan that I've been following, and that I've been meaning to write about for a long time.  I seem to be living in Japan during a very interesting time - what with Koizumi's postal reforms (which I guess are in progress now), and his touchy relationship with China due to the controversy over his visiting of the Yasukuni shrine (where a lot of Japanese war "heroes" are buried - "heroes" who slaughtered and tortured a lot of Chinese people during WWII), Koizumi has shown himself to be a very unconventional Japanese politician.  He says no when most Japanese wouldn't dare, and he's very strong-willed.  And now he's saying no again to American beef imports, which seems to be a very new concept.  In the past, Japan would never say no to America for any reason, but they feel that they've been deceived with this beef issue (some part of the cow prone  to Mad Cow disease that Americans agreed to remove was not removed before import, supposedly), so its no more "gyudon" at Yoshinoya anymore!

And then there's the recent scandals that are plaguing Japan, first and foremost the one dealing with the new IT company LiveDoor (it has something to do with illegal investments, dishonesty and hiding information from investors about profits - but don't ask me to explain it - read the stories):  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060117TDY01004.htm ;  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060120TDY02009.htm ;   http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060123TDY02001.htm (there's many more stories on this site too...

 It made some headlines in America because of its effect on the stock market, but really its a case of someone, in this case the company's president Mr. Horie (who Masahiko calls Horiemon because he resembles Doraemon, the animated robot cat) who was built up by media, and as well by Prime Minister Koizumi (who hand-picked him during the summer to run in a special election in order to ensure the passing of the postal reform law), as a kind of "new face" of Japanese business.  Horiemon, who's only about 32,  never wore suits and ties, was young and fresh and thought to be a smart businessman - people respected and admired him.  But now, sadly, he's going to jail - because he thought he could get away with so much!  And he never did win that election last summer!  Poor Koizumi was wrong about this guy!

But to me, the scandal that is even more atrocious is the one involving the condos which were knowingly designed not to withstand earthquakes.  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060118TDY01002.htm

Buildings in Japan must be able to withstand a certain level of earthquake, and this  developer was caught redhanded after it came out that his buildings had been designed with false data.  that is, he said that the buildings were safe, so many people invested their money in these condos, taking out loans, moving in, etc... and then it comes out that the buildings are not safe, and the people must move out - and lose so much money in the process!  And this poor company president, Mr. Ojima, I believe has been used as a scapegoat - because it now comes out that many prominent politicians were involved in the sale of these condos, and Mr. Ojima is being asked to cover up everything.  And the people who bought the condos blame Mr. Ojima, and want him to apologize and to make everything right.  Its really a terrible scandal.  and its getting pushed to the bottom of the news broadcasts to protect the politicians - the scandal with Live Door was revealed just on time so that it would cover up the condo scandal.   

so it just goes to show you - people are the same all over the world.  If they feel they can benefit financially from any kind of wrongdoing, and get away from it, they will willingly sacrifice others along the way.  And I thought that it was just an American way of doing business, but Japanese business has inherited a lot, I think, from the western ways.

Mood:: 'okay' okay

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