German Christmas Market

To my great surprise, I discovered that there is a German Christmas market in Osaka. Apparently, it is famous and very well-liked among the Japanese living here.

So, of course, I went there (twice, actually) to check it out. I found that parts of it really are a lot like the Christmas markets in Germany. There are many small, decorated stalls (they even have a gingerbread house). They sell Glühwein (yes, the real stuff, imported all the way from Germany :-)) and Bratwurst and Christmas decorations.

The Glühwein here is ridiculously expensive: 900 Yen a glass (but you do get to keep the glass)

 

And then, there are parts that are added to adapt it to the Japanese audience. For example, there are photo spots where you can have your picture taken with Santa Claus, or wearing various Christmas-related hats. The first time I went, there were people queuing up for these souvenir photos!

The Christmas tree is also clearly Japanese. It is huge (not a real tree, I guess), and the illuminations constantly blink and change color, as you can see on the two pictures below.

Cologne Triathlon Weekend

If you want to know what makes me tick these days in less than three minutes, just have a look at the trailer for the Cologne Triathlon Weekend (from their YouTube channel):

I love this sport!

(and, yes, I know this is not strictly related to my life in Japan ;-))

How do shrines work?

There are many, many shrines and temples all over Japan. The distinction between shrine and temple is important although they might look similar to the untrained eye: temples are Buddhist places of worship, while shrines belong to the Shinto religion.

Most shrines are somewhat similar to each other with regard to the available facilities and their usage. However, the process of worship is very different from Christian ceremonies - as far as I can tell, anyway. The picture below shows a typical set-up.

Right in front, there is a bowl with burning incense sticks. Behind that, you can see a wooden donation box. The colorful string right in front of the donation box is pulled to make some kind of noise, in most cases strike a bell. And finally, at the back, there is the inner part of the shrine, which often features some statues and flowers.

So what do people do when they come to pray at a shrine? Everybody follows the same procedure, so it seems to be fairly fixed. First, they will wave some of the incense towards them, so it probably has some kind of meaning (but I don't know which). Then, they put some money into the donation box - apparently you are expected to donate each time you pray at a shrine. Then they make some noise to attract the attention of the enshrined deity - most people ring the bell, but some also clap their hands. And finally, they stand in silence and pray.

People often line up to ring the bell and pray, and the first couple of times I joined the queue because I didn't know what they were queuing up for - usually there is something worthwhile at the end of queues in sightseeing spots. But by now, I have learned that I can safely skip the shrine queues ;-)

Another cafeteria lunch

I took another picture of my cafeteria lunch today. This time, I ate pork (I think), tofu with onions, pumpkin, and spinach topped with fish shavings. I love the sauce they serve the tofu in :-)

 
As you can see, I didn't get rice today - I decided to ditch it because it has too many carbs and a high glycemic load. I'm eating pumpkin and tofu instead, which are both healthier and a lot tastier than rice ;-)

Western names in Japan

Today, I'd like to write about how western names are treated in Japan. The roman alphabet is known in Japan, and used quite frequently, for example in brand names or as an emphasis in advertising. So you would think that they should be able to handle western names better than, say, westerners would be able to handle Japanese names.

But somehow, this is not the case. At almost every occasion someone asks for your name, they expect your name written in katakana. This comprises all the places where you sign up for something: the computer account in the lab, the gym, the bank account, and so on.

In most places, it is possible to additionally give the name in roman letters. But in this case, it has to be written exactly as shown in the passport, including all middle names you might have. This leads to problems when the space on their form runs out, which it often does for the 23 characters in my name.

Even then, you are saved under your katakana name in their computer systems. So if someone needs to look up your record, they have to search for the name in katakana. And that inevitably leads to problems if you can't remember how they originally wrote the name.

So how do they write your name in the first place, if you are an unsuspecting foreigner with no knowledge of the Japanese language (like myself)? They simply ask you to say the name out loud to get the pronounciation right, and then assemble similar-sounding syllables from the fifty-something syllables in the katakana syllabary. So, depending on the person writing your name, it might end up being written differently each time.

For example, on my bank card, my name is written as イザベル ディートリッヒ, which is roughly pronounced as Izaberu Dītorihhi (according to Google translate ;-)). On the gym card, however the last name is written as ディトリッチ, which is pronounced Ditoritchi. As you can see, they have a few problems getting my name right. First, they can't really deal with the "l" sound (there is no such thing in Japanese). And second, Japanese words don't end with consonants, so they cannot represent these words using Katakana. In most cases they will therefore append a "u" (or an "i" in some cases), to the end of the foreign word. Biru, anyone?

Alien Registration and Bank Account

Finally, the bureaucratic stuff related to my stay in Japan is all dealt with (for now, anyway). Having to deal with bureaucracy somehow never fails to make me tired - especially when I don't speak the language.

Luckily, a fellow lab member agreed to accompany me to the city hall and the post office to translate for me. I would have had a hard time otherwise, especially opening the bank account would have been next to impossible.

Our first stop was the city hall where I had to fill out two forms: one for the alien registration itself, and another to obtain a preliminary alien registration certificate (which is required by all banks in order to open an account). The forms had English labels, so it wasn't too bad. I'm supposed to return to the city hall to pick up my alien registration card at the end of December.
At the end of the procedure, I received a map of Toyonaka (which is the suburb of Osaka that I'm living in) - entirely in Japanese, so pretty much useless for me - and an English leaflet giving advice for living in Toyonaka.

The second stop was the post office which, like in Germany, also offers banking services. The application form was entirely in Japanese and held a few surprises. For example, the year of birth has to be entered using the Japanese era names (which are based on the period of an emperor's rule). So in Japanese terms, I was born in Shōwa 54, and 2010 corresponds to Heisei 22. They also required my name to be written in Japanese.
After the form was completed, I was asked to choose a PIN and enter it on a small terminal. Then I received the bank book for my account, and was told that the ATM card would be mailed to me in a couple of days. I also deposited most of the cash I had received earlier into the new account.
I have to admit, I'm a little confused about the bank book. The last time I encountered a bank book was for my savings account - about 15 to 20 years ago. But apparently, they are still in use in Japan, even for regular bank accounts. They told me I could even use an ATM with the bank book.

The final stop was the lab where I had to fill out another form for my scholarship to notify them of my brand-new bank account. As some of the instructions on the form as well as the labeling of the account details in the bank book were in Japanese, I ended up watching the lab's secretary fill out the form for me ;-)

Kobe

On Saturday, I visited the last of the big cities in close proximity to Osaka: Kobe. Most of you will remember the name from the terrible earthquake that happened here in 1995, but Kobe has more to offer than just earthquake memorials.

The hard facts:

• paid 880 Yen transportation
• paid 160 Yen admission fees
• walked less than 10km (the track includes a subway ride and some GPS craziness at the beginning, so I walked definitely less than the track says)
• visited no shrines or temples for a change
  

1 - City Hall

The city hall is not a sight in itself, but it does have a free observation platform on the 24th floor which offers a good view over Kobe. The two pictures below are shot from two exactly opposite windows. As you can see, Kobe is really wedged in a small stretch of flat country between the sea and the mountains.

2 - Earthquake Memorial Monument

A short walk from the city hall I saw this monument commemorating the 1995 earthquake. The clock that the lady holds shows the time the earthquake struck: 5:46 am.

3 - Kobe City Museum

This museum mainly concentrates on showing how Kobe evolved in history. Besides exhibits dating from the middle ages and before, this also includes detailed explanations how the opening of Kobe port to foreign ships in 1868 affected the city.

One of the exhibits in this context is a reproduction of three rooms from a German house that originally stood in the Kobe's Kitano area. The rooms are furnished with German 19th century furniture and were really pleasant to look at. But the truly remarkable thing was the feeling I got while looking at it: I became really calm and relaxed, feeling peaceful and somehow at rest. I think it felt a little like coming home after a long journey. Funny what four weeks living in a completely different culture can do to you, right?

Another thing that I found interesting was an exhibit (I don't even remember what it was exactly) where the description said that horseback riding was introduced to Japan only in the 5th century AD. It seems that isolated cultures really do develop slower than those that are in constant interaction with others. And when I think about it, I've experienced this while playing Civilization: sometimes I'd be the only civilization on an island, happy to be able to play without disturbance from enemies (ahem... I meant other cultures). But then at some point in time, another civilization would make contact, and I would find out that they are really technologically advanced, leaving no hope for me to win the game. So I guess that's a point where Civilization really captures how the real world works.

4 - Meriken Park

After the museum, I continued to Meriken Park (apparently, this is short for "American park"...). The park is at the waterside and contains another memorial to the 1995 earthquake. As you can see in the picture, they conserved parts of the damaged sidewalk and a few streetlamps in exactly the same position that they were in right after the earthquake. Impressive what nature can do, isn't it?

5 - Nankinmachi (China Town)

From the relaxing atmospheres of the museum and the waterfront back to inner-city madness. Chinatown was really packed with people, and, of course, there were people queuing up to have their picture taken in front of the Chinese dragons you can see below.

6 - Kitano

I also walked briefly through the 19th century foreigner's quarter and visited another German house, the Rhine house. The picture shows the view to Ben's house across the street and the rest of Kobe behind it.

7 - Luminarie

Finally, I visited the Luminarie festival. This is held for two weeks every December to commemorate the recovery from the 1995 earthquake (again...). They put up huge archways that are illuminated in the dark, along with many small stalls where you can buy food and souvenirs.

They are quite well-prepared for the masses of people attending the festival: there are fences around all the greenery, stairs are converted into ramps, and lots of police officers are there to direct the people flow, especially at traffic lights (so the people moving in opposite directions don't collide in the middle of the street).

In the picture below, you can see a bell mounted below the archway. The intention behind this is that people make a small donation first, and then ring the bell. As the Japanese are really used to the whole donate-first-then-make-noise thing (I'll explain why another time), the bell was constantly ringing, creating a rather solemn atmosphere in that area.

Nara

Last weekend, I made trip to Nara. Nara is quite close to Osaka (about the same distance as Kyoto), and - as former capital of Japan - hosts several World Heritage Sites. In contrast to Kyoto, however, Nara was almost blissfully empty. Don't get me wrong: there were still many people, but (almost) no big queues.

The hard facts:

• paid 1980 ¥ transportation
• paid 1950 ¥ admission fees
• paid 150 ¥ for deer biscuits
• visited 2 temples, 2 shrines, and 1 garden, of which 3 are World Heritage Sites
• walked 11.8km (see the track)
  

1 - Isui-en gardens

These gardens feature two parts which are from two different time periods (Meiji and Edo periods, if I remember correctly). The gardens were both very nice and tranquil, and not crowded at all. In comparison, I liked the second part much better than the first (just have a look at the lower of the two pictures below - isn't it the perfect image of beauty and tranquility?)

2 - Todai-ji

My second stop was this huge temple which is both a World Heritage Site and allegedly the largest wooden building in the world. The present temple is a reconstruction - at only about two thirds the size of the original one!

Taking pictures inside the temple was allowed which I found to be very rare. But, considering that the temples and shrines are all active places of worship, it is understandable that they don't want hordes of tourists posing next to the Buddha statues all the time. The statues in this temple are HUGE, and apparently at least the one in the first picture has repeatedly lost its head during fires or earthquakes.

3 - Nigatsu-do

Next, I went to Nigatsu-do, which is actually a sub-temple of Todai-ji. It offers a very nice view over Nara from the veranda.

4 - Kasuga Taisha

This shrine is another World Heritage Site. It features many, many lanterns both at the shrine and on all paths leading to it. On the day I visited, there were several small kids (both boys and girls, though the picture below shows only a girl) dressed in traditional clothing walking around with their parents.

5 - Wakamiya-jinja

Another shrine a few minutes walk from Kasuga Taisha. There was a beautiful gong exhibited in one of the buildings, and a rack featuring many wooden hearts. Racks with wooden tablets are very common - I think that people write their wishes on it or something - but usually they are just rectangular and unpainted.

6 - Kofuku-ji

The final sight I visited was another Word Heritage Site temple. The main hall is currently hidden behind a scaffold, but the remaining halls and pagodas were well worth viewing.

One building on the temple grounds - the National Treasure Hall - is actually a museum. The exhibits were very impressive, especially the main exhibit, the Senjyu Kannon Bosatsu (goddess of mercy). Unfortunately, taking pictures was not allowed inside.

Crazy deer

All the places I visited that day are located in the center of Nara, the so-called Nara park. A distinguishing feature of Nara park are the wild deer living there. They are considered as a national treasure by the Japanese, and are regularly fed by visitors. Many small stalls throughout the park sell special crackers for the deer, and of course I had to get some, too. The deer know exactly when you are in the possession of crackers and when you aren't. In case you are, you are sure to be pursued and pestered by at least a handful of them. There are signs warning you of the things deer will do to get to the crackers throughout the park. From first-hand experience, I can tell you they will push and shove, tug at your trousers, and even nibble at your leg. They disperse as soon as you hand them the last cracker... intelligent beasts!

On my way back to the train station, I bought some lunch at a French bakery: savory pastries with spinach and cheese and sweet ones with lots of sugar on top - what a delight!

Shopping, part 3

As I mentioned earlier, I bought that guidebook for Japanese supermarkets. The address I gave seemed to be correct, and I've ordered several other items from Amazon since that first order. The delivery services in Japan are a lot more customer-friendly than in Germany. If you are not at home for the first delivery attempt, they leave a notification in your mailbox (pretty standard so far). The notification provides you with the parcel's tracking number, the delivery person's cell phone number, and the customer service's phone number. So you can call either the delivery person or the customer service and request a redelivery. The redelivery can even be at the same day, or you can specify any other day, and the time of day you want your parcel delivered. The time of day is divided into six time slots, and the two most interesting time slots are the two latest ones: 6-8 pm and 8-9 pm. If you don't call to schedule the redelivery, they will automatically try to deliver it again on the next day (and maybe even the day after that... but I haven't tried that yet). So, no more annoying trips to the post office, and no more waiting around for half a day because the delivery is scheduled for "the afternoon"!

The only problem is, of course, that it would be advantageous to understand Japanese for making the phone calls. The calls are 100% automated, though, and there is a blog describing the procedure for one of the delivery companies. So it should be doable even without speaking Japanese. But somehow, Skype won't let me call the customer service's number, and I don't have a Japanese phone yet. Luckily, the staff at the International House office are very helpful and offer to either hold parcels for you, or make the rescheduling call.

But I got sidetracked. What I really wanted to write about was the guidebook. It really surpassed all my expectations. It has descriptions of everything you find in a Japanese supermarket, detailed explanations of the labels found on foods, many pictures of product packaging, and cooking instructions. And, of course, it lists the Japanese writing for all the products, including the most common variations for many products (like the different types of oil available).

Now I can finally make informed decisions about what I buy!

For example, I'm now able to find the soy sauce in the entire shelf full of brown-ish sauces. Some of them are regular soy sauce, but there are also low-salt variants. And many of the sauces are derived from soy sauce, but contain some other ingredients, too (they are mostly intended for special purposes, for example as noodle or meat sauces). And, of course, vinegar can have a very dark color, too.

I also know what all the fruits and vegetables are, how they should be cooked (or not), and how they are commonly used in meals.

Oh, and my initial guess was correct: the white stuff I wrote about is indeed tofu! With the cooking instructions and recipe ideas contained in the book, I feel up to trying some of the variants... I'll tell you how it went.

However, there's one area that isn't covered in great detail in the book: sweets! So I'm conducting large-scale experiments in that area... I'll document the progress I'm making in a separate blog post ;-)

Cafeteria Lunch

Last week, I took a picture of my lunch in one of the cafeterias on campus. This is a pretty typical lunch, with prawns (I think) as the main dish, and rice, lotus root, and spinach as side dishes. There are several different main and side dishes available, as well as rice bowls of different sizes.

The prices are somewhat higher than those at Erlangen's university cafeteria (the cost of living is higher in Japan, there's no doubt about that). The meal above, for example, costs 520 Yen.

But on the positive side I have to say that it tastes good (definitely better than Mensa food in Erlangen), and there is free green tea available. I'll share a few more lunch pictures as soon as I remember to take my camera with me again ;-)