Howdy there everybody. How goes it?
SO let's just say on off in out yeah we've had our fun. I've given you a little bit a this and a little bit of a cross-sectional idea of the calm and underlying oddity of everyday life in Japan. And there's well more where that came from. But ya know what? It's time to rope this thing right back in and take you from the beginning - it's time to get back to the basics.
For the foreseeable next blog or two, we're gonna shift gears away from the truly random, and start heading on back down the interesting road. Of course they go hand in hand, and with inseparable love, but now it's Earth time Japan. You are actually have some purely interesting aspects, Japan, as much as you wanna pair those aspects with the jackhammer of randomness. And as my poor blog post is now boasting two introductory paragraphs, it looks like the jackhammer of randomness has gotten to me too: let's do this.
My apartment
Houses in Japan, or apartments, or what some would probably deem as apartments with walls and some air separating them, are freaking different than they are in the US and Europe. Apartment life is SO different in so many ways that are very concrete. This is certainly not with reference to access to amenities, Japan observing the third larges economy in the world, best education system, and extremely high standard of health. Yet, it is still totally different. I'll use my apartment as an example, though it certainly does not demonstrate the high variation in apartment life, it does have a lot of the characteristic differences. Let's just get right to those differences shall we?
Tatami rooms. In a large large proportion of Japanese apartments and houses, there are tatami rooms. These are rooms where the floor is made of strongly woven straw mats. These mats are usually wrapped about panels which are strong and stiff, but give a little bit, unlike normal flooring. These floors are made for sitting. And that's just what they'll do. No they won't. That's right, you sit on the floor. For me it was a not a surprise because it's quite well understood that people sit on the floor in the East, but still a surprise because I wasn't myself knowing if that was a thing of the past or not. Regardless, I personally have a hard time adjusting completely to this backsupportless way of life. Luckily tatami seats, basically fold up seats with no legs, are quite common - so i went that way with it.
Now tatami rooms in Japan don't take up the whole house, and in the rest of the place, for instance the kitchen or dining room, people sit in chairs I would consider quite normal. In my experience, usually the tatami rooms constitute the living room and the bedroom, which brings me to my next point.
Futons. People don't just sit on the floor in Japan, they sleep on the floor, and on these floor mats called futons. NOPE. While yes, you do feel a bit like you're crashing at your buddy's place all the time, these are not the fold out "futons" we're used to in the West....or maybe really just American dorms. No sir, futons are not a crude make-shift poor excuse for a couch that folds out into a make-shift poor excuse for a bed. Rather, I've heard these floor mats called "poor excuses for down comforters" by agitated expats hahaha. They're not actually usually that bad, although sometimes they are. It all depends on how you like it, I think some Japanese folks prefer to sleep on a sheet covering their tatami, and others like to sleep on what feels like a bed but just with a lot of support (because the floor is underneath). I started on the former but eventually bought one which is a bit more like the latter. Regardless, the futon always goes over tatami, which gives more than normal flooring, but is still absolutely not as forgiving as carpet.
Wall Panels. Most tatami rooms have a certain wall paneling design that really reminds you that you're in Japan and completes your feeling of "not in Kansas anymore" even while you exist in your own apartment - an effect I freaking love. There's not much to say about them so here's a picture:
One thing about the panels is that some of them sliding panels which are actually doors. They're quite interesting, and you can remove them as you like to give you more room. That usually goes hand in hand with moving your futon to free up floor space as well , which most Japanese people do everyday anyway and hang it up to be sure and air it out.
I'm gonna go on a complete tangent.
When I first got here, I was taken to an Italian restaurant, which was great btw, they really can do Italian food here, which surprised me. When I was there I remember getting up to go to the bathroom, then going up to the bathroom door. I grabbed the handle and pushed. NOPE. Okay, then I grabbed the handle and pulled. NOPE. Well fair enough this bathroom door is just locked, must be an individual bathroom or something. So I sat there a minute, then just out of pure monkey curiosity did it one more time. Same result duh, only this time I noticed two people behind me laughing their asses off. I was really confused at first what they were laughing at then.....
Sliding doors in Japan. Don't really know why, but sliding doors are ubiquitous. Now, they are still not as common as push - pull doors, but they are extremely common nevertheless. I guess they take up less room or something in a very spatially-limited country. Either way, they were enough to confuse me when I got here. Some of the sliding doors have handles just like push-pull doors, and some of them little depressions for your hand to gently slide. The ones with handles are particularly confusing. Cause, if you're in the West, what is the natural thought process? Won't push, won't pull, okay. It's locked. Well when in Japan, just remember not to forget giving it a go in one last direction before giving up completely. It'll be a good diplomatic tool not to make people here think folks from the West are just dumb. End tangent.
Shoes. Ahh yes. Another priceless gem of complete randomness. But I told you that this time, we're not talking random so this thing explanation goes in a different place. All I'll tell you for now is that in apartments and houses in Japan, you take your shoes off at the door and walk around inside in your socks.
Toilets. Oh don't even get me started on toilets. That's another one who gets it's own explanation down the road.
Tea set furniture. I am Mrs. Nesbitt in my apartment. One of the first things I noticed is that I'm huge in my apartment. While in the US I'm maybe a slightly tall guy - here it's always a surprise to meet a Japanese person taller than me. I've really only met a handful if that. I can't even think of one I know right off hand that's taller than me. That is except one of my students who is like 6'5", and he just is taller than most people in the world anyways. Regardless, folks are a bit smaller here, so stuff is well...a bit smaller. My stove comes up to my thigh, my kitchen table like, I don't know, not even halfway up my thigh. Then the small doorways are funny at first. Ha ha look at me I can hit my head on all the doorways haha yaaaayyy.....Yeah that's funny for less than a day. Then you're carelessly turning up some peach juice while walking 30 min later and BAM. If you're an expat who can still say your own name by the time you leave Japan you're doing pretty good.
Kotatsus. Our final fun Japanese apartment treasure is the kotatsu. These are traditional more-than-meets-the-eye tables. They're fantastic little devices which work in the summer as a table, okay so not cool yet, and in the winter as a heater. There it is. So without going into a long explanation, a Kotatsu is a table with short legs in a tatami room(cause you sit on the floor). In the winter you can remove the top panel and put a blanket, then put the top panel back on. Damn it this is hard to explain. I'm just gonna put pictures.
SO let's just say on off in out yeah we've had our fun. I've given you a little bit a this and a little bit of a cross-sectional idea of the calm and underlying oddity of everyday life in Japan. And there's well more where that came from. But ya know what? It's time to rope this thing right back in and take you from the beginning - it's time to get back to the basics.
For the foreseeable next blog or two, we're gonna shift gears away from the truly random, and start heading on back down the interesting road. Of course they go hand in hand, and with inseparable love, but now it's Earth time Japan. You are actually have some purely interesting aspects, Japan, as much as you wanna pair those aspects with the jackhammer of randomness. And as my poor blog post is now boasting two introductory paragraphs, it looks like the jackhammer of randomness has gotten to me too: let's do this.
My apartment
Houses in Japan, or apartments, or what some would probably deem as apartments with walls and some air separating them, are freaking different than they are in the US and Europe. Apartment life is SO different in so many ways that are very concrete. This is certainly not with reference to access to amenities, Japan observing the third larges economy in the world, best education system, and extremely high standard of health. Yet, it is still totally different. I'll use my apartment as an example, though it certainly does not demonstrate the high variation in apartment life, it does have a lot of the characteristic differences. Let's just get right to those differences shall we?
Tatami rooms. In a large large proportion of Japanese apartments and houses, there are tatami rooms. These are rooms where the floor is made of strongly woven straw mats. These mats are usually wrapped about panels which are strong and stiff, but give a little bit, unlike normal flooring. These floors are made for sitting. And that's just what they'll do. No they won't. That's right, you sit on the floor. For me it was a not a surprise because it's quite well understood that people sit on the floor in the East, but still a surprise because I wasn't myself knowing if that was a thing of the past or not. Regardless, I personally have a hard time adjusting completely to this backsupportless way of life. Luckily tatami seats, basically fold up seats with no legs, are quite common - so i went that way with it.
My tatami living room. Check out them floor panels.
Now tatami rooms in Japan don't take up the whole house, and in the rest of the place, for instance the kitchen or dining room, people sit in chairs I would consider quite normal. In my experience, usually the tatami rooms constitute the living room and the bedroom, which brings me to my next point.
Futons. People don't just sit on the floor in Japan, they sleep on the floor, and on these floor mats called futons. NOPE. While yes, you do feel a bit like you're crashing at your buddy's place all the time, these are not the fold out "futons" we're used to in the West....or maybe really just American dorms. No sir, futons are not a crude make-shift poor excuse for a couch that folds out into a make-shift poor excuse for a bed. Rather, I've heard these floor mats called "poor excuses for down comforters" by agitated expats hahaha. They're not actually usually that bad, although sometimes they are. It all depends on how you like it, I think some Japanese folks prefer to sleep on a sheet covering their tatami, and others like to sleep on what feels like a bed but just with a lot of support (because the floor is underneath). I started on the former but eventually bought one which is a bit more like the latter. Regardless, the futon always goes over tatami, which gives more than normal flooring, but is still absolutely not as forgiving as carpet.
That's what I sleep on son. Welcome to the constant feeling like your crashing at your friend's place. But just on his mat instead. And as for the couch, yeah, I inherited that. Obviously some expat got really frustrated down the line, in the hundreds of years English teachers have lived in this apartment, and bought some couches for cultural relief purposes. Or a ghost put it there.
Wall Panels. Most tatami rooms have a certain wall paneling design that really reminds you that you're in Japan and completes your feeling of "not in Kansas anymore" even while you exist in your own apartment - an effect I freaking love. There's not much to say about them so here's a picture:
One thing about the panels is that some of them sliding panels which are actually doors. They're quite interesting, and you can remove them as you like to give you more room. That usually goes hand in hand with moving your futon to free up floor space as well , which most Japanese people do everyday anyway and hang it up to be sure and air it out.
I'm gonna go on a complete tangent.
When I first got here, I was taken to an Italian restaurant, which was great btw, they really can do Italian food here, which surprised me. When I was there I remember getting up to go to the bathroom, then going up to the bathroom door. I grabbed the handle and pushed. NOPE. Okay, then I grabbed the handle and pulled. NOPE. Well fair enough this bathroom door is just locked, must be an individual bathroom or something. So I sat there a minute, then just out of pure monkey curiosity did it one more time. Same result duh, only this time I noticed two people behind me laughing their asses off. I was really confused at first what they were laughing at then.....
Sliding doors in Japan. Don't really know why, but sliding doors are ubiquitous. Now, they are still not as common as push - pull doors, but they are extremely common nevertheless. I guess they take up less room or something in a very spatially-limited country. Either way, they were enough to confuse me when I got here. Some of the sliding doors have handles just like push-pull doors, and some of them little depressions for your hand to gently slide. The ones with handles are particularly confusing. Cause, if you're in the West, what is the natural thought process? Won't push, won't pull, okay. It's locked. Well when in Japan, just remember not to forget giving it a go in one last direction before giving up completely. It'll be a good diplomatic tool not to make people here think folks from the West are just dumb. End tangent.
Shoes. Ahh yes. Another priceless gem of complete randomness. But I told you that this time, we're not talking random so this thing explanation goes in a different place. All I'll tell you for now is that in apartments and houses in Japan, you take your shoes off at the door and walk around inside in your socks.
Toilets. Oh don't even get me started on toilets. That's another one who gets it's own explanation down the road.
Tea set furniture. I am Mrs. Nesbitt in my apartment. One of the first things I noticed is that I'm huge in my apartment. While in the US I'm maybe a slightly tall guy - here it's always a surprise to meet a Japanese person taller than me. I've really only met a handful if that. I can't even think of one I know right off hand that's taller than me. That is except one of my students who is like 6'5", and he just is taller than most people in the world anyways. Regardless, folks are a bit smaller here, so stuff is well...a bit smaller. My stove comes up to my thigh, my kitchen table like, I don't know, not even halfway up my thigh. Then the small doorways are funny at first. Ha ha look at me I can hit my head on all the doorways haha yaaaayyy.....Yeah that's funny for less than a day. Then you're carelessly turning up some peach juice while walking 30 min later and BAM. If you're an expat who can still say your own name by the time you leave Japan you're doing pretty good.
Do nevermind the mess in this picture. It's usually just like this. Kidding not really. Anyways, that refrigerator in the lower right hand corner of the picture comes up to about between my belly button and chest.
Little demo for ya. That's the size of all my doorways in my apartment. Perfect for a surprise TKO during the morning rush to leave for work.
Picture of those doorways for scale.
Dishes. Now, this isn't exactly a huge thing, but a thing nevertheless. In Japan, sets of dishes are apparently a bit uncommon. People have many different shapes and sizes of dishes in their homes and don't generally have too many of the same type. I read that in a book. However, it's also extremely true of the dishes I inherited in this apartment. For me it's really strange, there's no equality at dinner parties. Some people get big cups, some small, some big plate. It's luck of the draw. Then of course I can't move onto the next section without mentioning chopsticks, at least as a side note. Everybody knows what they are so I won't say anything except for well, people eat with em. Pretty much every day, and in nearly every situation. That is all.
Kotatsus. Our final fun Japanese apartment treasure is the kotatsu. These are traditional more-than-meets-the-eye tables. They're fantastic little devices which work in the summer as a table, okay so not cool yet, and in the winter as a heater. There it is. So without going into a long explanation, a Kotatsu is a table with short legs in a tatami room(cause you sit on the floor). In the winter you can remove the top panel and put a blanket, then put the top panel back on. Damn it this is hard to explain. I'm just gonna put pictures.
Kotatsu baby. Starts as a normal table just with really short legs. Don't be fooled though.
When you check under the hood, this thing's got an engine baby. This is my kotatsu when I lift up the top panel. Underneath is revealed a power cord and a small heater.
This is the view of the heater from the bottom. And ain't she a beaut? She's probably like 100 years old but anyways a beaut.
Now, when you're ready to use the kotatsu in the winter, you just slip a perfectly square kotatsu blanket between the top panel and the heater. Once that's done, just turn the thing on and slip your legs underneath. Then do whatever you'd like to at the table. Watch TV, drink coffee, write this blog, etc. It's really a very very comfortable home accessory I must say. There it is, the finished product. This is a kotatsu folks, or better characterized by people from the West as, "A f***ing snuggie table."
There you have it folks! Your very own tour of a Japanese apartment. We had fun didn't we? These are a few of the things that make living at home super different than that of Western nations. I don't think I quiite covered all the differences, specially those with shoes and toilets, but these are a few of the characteristic differences you'll see as a theme around Japan. So until next time freaks and geeks! This has been a more reserved, less random blog entry to rope you back in from space. Have fun while it lasts cause we gonna blast off again and you ain't seen nothin yet!
