Bottom 5 chotto chigau things in Japan
This is my submission for the July 2010 Japan Blog Matsuri hosted by my buddy Moku-chan over at Daigakudeki.
Thanks for hosting and good luck!
The theme this month was things in Japan that I find to be (chotto chigau) a little different.
Hmmm…
Everybody always makes Top 10 list but my list will be chotto chigau (get it? Chotto chigau…)
Number 1 is hanging clothes on a line/rack to dry.
http://www.nikon-d200.net/2008/07/13/mansion-texture/
I never hung my clothes out to dry back in NY and it seemed the only people who did were people too poor to own a dryer or too lazy to go to the laundromat. Here, in japan, it seems dryers have been outlawed and everyone hangs their clothes out to dry. Walk through the Projects or through an area with a lot of Mansions (apartment buildings) and even through an area with a lot of well-to do private homes, and you’re sure to see clothes just swinging in the breeze.
Number 2: Coffee in a can from a vending machine
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/asia/20japan.html?_r=2&em&ex=1193025600&en=35c022026819f87a&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
I love coffee. Back home, basically you can get a cheap cup of coffee at any bodega anytime of day or night. The same in Japan only you don’t need a store. Machines that sell delicious coffee (for not-so-cheap prices) are everywhere.
Number 3 is women-only cars on the trains.
http://www.life.com/image/52795472
A chikan (perv) on the Subway in New York would probably have much less fun than on the trains here in Japan. Women have several solutions to deal with pervs and between getting kicked in the shin and hosed down with pepper spray and what not, he’d probably retire. Japan has a different, simpler solution…and maybe a little more than chotto chigau: they separate the sexes. What’s next: Japanese only cars? Hmm…
Number 4: I like J-porn. (There, I’ve said it lol) But it all has this Mosaic crap all over the juicy parts.
Looks a little something like this. And, considering the amount of decadence that can be seen just about anywhere you go in Japan, I can’t understand why they keep this nonsense up. But, Japan Probe can: Check out this post . It explains it all, and then some!
And, finally, the number 5 thing that’s chotto chigau is the ubiquitous use of Parasols on sunny days
http://pinstripebindi.wordpress.com/category/needlecrafts/page/2/
To me, a parasol was one of those things white antebellum southern belles used to keep their skin white and fair in the hot sun on some cotton plantation in Georgia. Well, the Japanese also do the parasol thing though I have no idea why. maybe the same reason. Maybe to block the aging effect of ultraviolet rays…Maybe it’s a throwback to geisha or something…who knows? Anyway, they’re everywhere all summer.
Well that’s about it for my bottom list. Hope you enjoyed them. Thanks again, Moku-chan, for hosting the July Japan Blog Matsuri.
Loco
What's up in picture # 2, the vending machine on the right is not real. There is someone inside of the costume. You can see their feet.
I'm pretty sure it's a reference (or at least just taken from) this famous NYTimes article that often serves to back up the “JAPAN IS SO FREAKING WEIRD” hypothesis when in reality this is super ridiculous.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/asia/20...
Nice list, loco!! I think you've summarized some of the classic “chotto chigau” aspects of Japan that I forget people who haven't been there might not be expecting…
1. I always sorta liked the line-drying clothes (probably because I wasn't the mama who has to actually hang them up… in that case I'd probably prefer throwing it in a dryer). It's definitely one of those things where you see a photo of an apartment building with the clothes drying and you immediately think “Japan” as opposed to generic apartment somewhere.
2. I gotta say coffee from vending machines is one of my fave things about Japan. I wouldn't have made it through winter without the matcha au lait from a vending machine in my high school…
3. The women-only cars are pretty recent, no? Me and my friends never rode in them, because they were actually among the most CROWDED (at least where I lived). Better to be standing a couple feet from potential chikan than unable to move in the girl-only car. Then again maybe I just say that cuz I've never been chikan-ed.
4. It's super interesting that J-porn HAS to be censored like that — especially since there's not really a religious backing to the “injurious to public morals” theory of porn presented in the Japan Probe article… seems odd that the mosaic-ing has stuck around so long.
5. Yeah the kasa are definitely a vanity thing. Everyone I have ever talked to there agreed that being pale is the thing to do (with roughly the same enthusiasm and sentiment that American girls want to be tan). If this is the reason Japan is full of wildly cute umbrellas though, I'm definitely down. All of my best umbrellas come from nihon.
Thanks for participating loco!!
Using umbrellas as parasols against the sun is becoming a more and more common sight in Australia as well, at least in the cities. I think more people are becoming aware of the dangers of UV-rays as skincancer is a big problem now after the crazy years of intense suntanning being fashionable.
Thanks Loco, for interesting topics and links!
looks like Loco is putting more effort into YOUR theme than you are? You asked me to clarify somethings for your writting but you have already done another post and not completed your Matsuri post. All that writting in your latest post and in this comment coulda gone into introducing all the people who took the time to submit things to your Matsuri.
Loco's was my first experience so did he blow the doors of the thing (which I won mo' fukaz) or are you just really slow or was that it?? The Matsuri IS your comments section?
awesome list. I guess I would find all these strings except line drying clothes. Here in the tropics you'd be only wasting energy of you use a dryer.
i do the parasol thing in florida all the time, only because extended sun exposure gives me nasty acne. however, the handful of other people i've seen use it are exceptionally pale people, probably avoiding a mild burn?
Hey Melissa, thanks. Yeah, you're probably right
About censored J-porn, my J-wife says “It's ok, you're not missing much”.
Hey Cedric! She just said that for your benefit. I've of course, figured out how to see them un-censured and some of them are miss-able lol! Thanks for the shout (-:
This thread is a classic example of the topic I am trying to gather info on. Comparing expat views in Korea and Japan. Would apprecaite it if you took a look at my last blog post at japonymous.com and leave your 2 cents. Thanks.