I am sitting in my room on the seventh floor of the National Youth Olympic Center, looking out at sparkling, blinking lights of Shinjuku. It's a hazy, rainy Sunday afternoon, and my room is quiet and peaceful, but I know that less than a mile a way, the neighborhood of Shinjuku is alive and deafening. The contrast of the city has been incredible. Quiet residential areas are two blocks away from massive tourist centers with 60 story tall buildings plastered in signs. They can feel like two completely different worlds, even though they are just footsteps apart.
My room and Shinjuku, taken just 15 minutes apart
This week, I have found myself becoming much better oriented with the city of Tokyo. I feel much more organized, and can navigate the train system relatively well. I know where to buy groceries, where to do laundry, and where to send mail. I am much less exhausted, and still so excited by everything around me. I have been eating, shopping, and studying my way around Japan, and have learned so much this week that has deepened my understanding of the differences and parallels between American and Japanese culture.
The attitude towards dining is very different than what I am used to. Restaurants in America are usually quite big, with large serving sizes, big chairs, and open spaces encouraging groups to sit and socialize for hours. I have noticed that in Japan, eating is often viewed less as a social activity and more so as a task to be completed, like any other chore. This is evident in the bar style seating in many of the restaurants I have visited, which seem to be designed for dining alone. At home, someone eating by themselves can be viewed as a little odd, but here it is not out of place whatsoever. I feel very imposing if our group is more than three people. The restaurants are often very quiet inside, and people eat quickly and then move on. It is very different from the culture of European cities that I am familiar with, where eating is the longest and most social activity of the day, and there are huge plazas set up in city squares for that purpose exactly. The serving sizes are no bigger than I need to be. I often find myself expecting more food, and worrying I won’t be satisfied, but that has never been the case. I think that because I am so used to the massive portions in the United States, and overeating when I dine out, that my brain does not visually understand what the right amount of food for my body is.
In regards to the actual food I have been eating, everyday it gets better and better. I told myself before leaving that I would try everything I could, and my diet has been enriched by all sorts of dishes that I can’t even pronounce. When I want to spend less money, I will get snacks from 7-11, often consisting of rice balls and pork buns. Seeing locals shopping for similar meals at 7-11 and other convenience stores is so interesting to me, because 7-11 is the last place I would consider going to for a meal in my hometown. In the United States, it sells purely junk food and cigarettes. Convenience stores here sell entire, nutritious meals. My only qualm with buying this food is that although it is cheap and delicious, the packaging it uses is ridiculous. Single eggs and single apples will be wrapped completely in non biodegradable plastic. Recently, 7-11 has proposed to wrap their rice balls in a newly formed bioplastic, but this movement is only just beginning. Japan’s plastic problem is evident inside convenience stores. Another new phenomenon to me in the dining sphere is ticket machines! You put money into a brightly labeled machine, press a button for which meal you want, and a ticket comes out, which you then hand to the chef. I have been feasting on ramen, udon, and tempura like this. I am not sure if I can return to the one Japanese restaurant in Barrington, Rhode Island and ever appreciate it as a once did. My favorite Japanese staple food is the soft boiled egg. It is always cooked so perfectly, something that I have never been able to achieve myself, and is included in many meals. Other favorites include strawberry mochi with red bean paste, matcha milk pastries, and lemon KitKats.
A cultural parallel I have noticed is the pervasiveness of western brands, including Starbucks, McDonalds, and 7-11, although 7-11 Japan is its own separate entity. In this, I see reflections of some Meiji restoration slogans, specifically “western technology, Japanese spirit.” The brands are western, but what they are selling is very Japanese. Starbucks has the widest variety of tea I have ever seen in the chain, and McDonalds sells egg burgers and Teriyaki chicken. While traveling, I try to avoid consuming products from these western brands, but I think it is fun to see how they vary in different parts of the world.
The debate we have been focusing on this week is whether or not Japan is the good guy or the bad guy. I think it’s a really hard question to answer and varies from context to context and individual to individual. We have looked at mixed media this week that has expressed many contrasting viewpoints. I have been doing a lot of contemplating on the framing of history, and how the same events can be written about so that they are perceived completely differently. Japan and the United States have both had a complicated relationship and history. It was very intriguing to visit the Japanese war museum at the Yasukuni shrine and view how historical perspectives of World War II differed. I also noticed that on Japan’s involvement in WWI, every other blurb had the phrase “at the allies request.” Every action that Japan contributed to WWI was because the allies wanted them to, according to the museum. Also, leading up to WWII the museum focussed on countless attempts at diplomatic peace that were ignored by the US, and the financial chokehold they were in. It was interesting to see the bias present in the museum, and how different countries view the same war. In regards to acknowledging mistakes of the past, I think both Japan and the US could improve. An example to look at would be Germany, a country so appreciated by Japan. Teaching of the holocaust in Germany is extensive. They want their citizens to fully understand what happened, so that it will not happen again. This is a stance that Japan could benefit from in their past history with Korea and China, instead of denying and reframing their complicated past. The United States teaches slavery and the Civil War very well in some regions, but in the South there are pervasive themes that deny the racism of the war. Biased denial is something that causes scars of the past to linger heavily in society. To move forward, it is important to acknowledge and empathize with what has happened and who it has affected. Overall, week 2 has been filled with good food and good discussion, with much more to come as we travel to Kyoto and Hiroshima next week.
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