Then there's this guy, in his own league.
He travels around Japan singing his song, "Mountain Song" and wearing rainbow chaps and a cowboy hat.
The best part is that the song is a kid's song against bullying.
The other best part is the part when he says, "Egao time ga ippai aru kara"
But probably the part around 2:32 where he starts to rap about how our hearts are mountains just for you.
Last week, I went to Okunoshima (大久野島), a small island near Hiroshima that I have wanted to go to for a long time. Most Japanese people who know about this island call it Rabbit Island (ウサギ島) because there are hundreds of rabbits living on the island.
During World War Two, Okunoshima was chosen as the island that would be used to manufacture and test poisonous nerve gas. Because of the island’s remote location (it takes two hours by local train or bus from Hiroshima) and small size (You can ride around the entire island by bicycle in around three hours) it was an ideal location for making and testing the poisonous gas. They used to test the gas on rabbits. After the war ended, the workers on the island all left the island and before they left, they let all the rabbits out of their cages. That means that now, sixty years later, the island is absolutely covered in rabbits.
This spring vacation, I wanted to go somewhere relaxing and fun in Japan but also somewhere with an interesting history and hardly any crowds. When my friend suggested we go to Okunoshima, I thought it was a great idea.
On Okunoshima, there is a hotel, a hot springs resort, many tennis courts right next to the ocean, pools, bicycle rental and fields for playing sports. There are also hiking trails and fantastic old abandoned factories you can find. This abandoned building used to be a lightbulb factory. We also found old bomb shelters. Nobody else was there. It was great.
There was a great museum about the history of the island as a poisonous gas manufacturing area. Many of the signs were in English, but some of the most interesting ones were not translated, so pay attention to the Japanese signs / get your friend to read them for you. 
Okunoshima has a great message of peace, a chilling history, adorable rabbits, incredible abandoned buildings to take pictures of, and a lot of nature with no crowds. For those reason, I’d recommend going there.
When you first get to Japan and everything is new, you’ll meet a lot of people who will speak English to you. Some of them will be well traveled and really good English speakers. For others, you may be the first non-Japanese person they’ve ever spoken to. They don’t realize what questions are good to ask you and what questions are annoying.
Every foreign person in Japan gets questions about whether or not they can eat natto, raw fish, and, “Can you use chopsticks?” or even worse (depending on if it's actually true or not) “You’re really good at using chopsticks!” [おはし上手ですね!]. Maybe the worst English phrase ever taught to Japanese people is, “Do you know ________?” because it just sounds 100% patronizing and will alienate people. Asking someone, “Do you know Hiroshima?” or “Do you know Japanese sushi?” in English comes across as, “I think you’re an idiot who has never heard of the Second World War” or, “I think you’re probably a culturally uneducated hick who lives off McDonalds hamburgers” even though it is an innocent nuance mistake. Instead of saying, “Do you know____” they can say, “Have you ever tried / been to _____.” It’s an innocent nuance mistake.
Another thing to stay away from is asking where someone is from and then blurting out the most common stereotype from that country when you get the answer. I wish I got money every time people just shout, “Avril Lavigne! Maple Syrup! Vancouver Olympics! Celine Dion! Snow!” at me when they hear where I’m from. (Sweden: IKEA! France: ZIDANE! Etc etc etc) But if you actually do know a lot about that country and you have an idea of what that person’s interests are, a Japanese person can make a foreign person into a good friend by blurting out the right word. For instance, one of the people I met in Matsue just read a book about Terry Fox and knew more about the guy than I do. He went on to tell the whole group the story of Terry Fox and I actually felt really happy about that. Other great things to shout at me when I tell you where I’m from are Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Pierre Trudeau or anything about lakes/nature.
Everyone knows the questions not to ask foreign people in Japan, but what are some good questions to ask foreign people in Japan? I’m trying to think of some good ones. These are the ones I’ve come up with.
"Where is your favorite place in Japan?" (It’s a super common question, but open-ended, constantly changing and never tiring.)
"Are you more interested in the traditional the aspects of Japan (temples, shrines, Ikebana）or the modern aspects (manga, architecture, fashion, ECT)?"
When you hear what sort of Japan they are into, you can tailor the conversation to their interests. For example, starting a conversation about manga or Jpop with me will get you nowhere, but I could happily hear recommendations about good hot springs, Japanese literature/ art/ (good) music or camping places for ages.
"What is your favorite Japanese food?”
“Is there any kind of Japanese food that you hate?"
“You’ve tried _______, right?”
Instead of saying, “Do you know Japanese Okonomiyaki?” try asking it as though you assume they already know it. Then, if they don’t know it, you can be like, “Oh, you have to try it! It’s so good. Okonomiyaki is like this savory pancake popular in Kansai and all over Japan. I know a really great restaurant and I’ll take you there sometime if you want. It’s one of Japan’s main comfort foods”
“Can you sing Japanese songs at Karaoke? What song do you sing?”
This would probably work on anyone but me. I feel like I’m the only person who doesn’t like Karaoke in Japan.
"Do you like any Japanese music? If you tell me what genres you like, maybe I could recommend a good band/artist for you."
Only do this if you both actually do like music. Only do this if you are not going to recommend something like Mr. Children, Ayumi Hamasaki or Kinki Kids.
“Do you have Onsen in your country?”
Some countries have hot springs and others don’t. The ones they have are often a lot different than Japanese ones, too. For example, you have to wear a bathing suit in commercial hot springs in Canada, but if you like hiking and know the right people (with 4 wheel drive vehicles and great direction sense) you can find natural hot springs in Canada that are like gorgeous, snowy meadows of paradise and your group will be the only people there.
“Did you start learning Japanese before you came to Japan?”
“Are there many Japanese people in your country?”
Shock foreign people with an interesting statement they may never have heard before, like, “Do you know that most Japanese people have eaten raw horse meat served in thin slices like Sashimi?” (That’s true. It’s called Sakura, Sakuraniku, Basashi, Baniku, Bagushi. If you have a sentimental spot for Black Beauty, you might want to write those names down before you go to Japan.)
Foreign people in Japan usually like studio Ghibli movies. I have almost zero interest in anime, but even I can talk about Ghibli if I’m asked. Ask what their favorite one is, and why. Remember to look up the English names because nobody knows what Sen to Chihiro is in English but everyone knows Spirited Away.
Foreign people in Japan usually like Haruki Murakami. You can talk about his books if you like them. The ones who like him are jealous that you get to read 1Q84 before they do.
What are some good questions you've been asked?
What are some annoying questions you've been asked?
I’ve been learning a lot of Japanese slang lately.
DQN is Japanese internet / text slang and it’s pronounced "dokyun". You know how you read about idiot parents giving their children stupid names like numbers or curse words? Celebrities can get away with stupid names, but they’re basically the only ones who get a free pass. Little Moon Unit Zappa or Zuma Nesta Rock (Gwen Stefani) or Kal-el Coppola (Nic Cage named his kid after superman on the planet Krypton…nice) will ride the coattails of their outrageously rich and famous parents. They don’t need to worry about their resume being laughed at because their parents are so rich that any job they’ll ever do will be purely out of curiosity. They don’t have to work, is what I mean. Gwynth Paltrow’s children will never be homeless, so she can give them whatever stupid name comes into her beautiful, beautiful head.
If you’re an ordinary person and you give your child an insane name, you’re limiting their future career options and basically ensuring that they’ll end up an artist or a musician. Which is fine, of course. There’s nothing wrong with being an artist, but why not stick to a somewhat mainstream name and allow your child to do whatever he feels like in the future? He can still become an artist with an average name like Derek or Anna. At least save the crazy for the middle name. David Bowie went to Ziggy Stardust and back again, but that was his own choice, do you know what I mean?
Anyway, DQN started because there used to be a Japanese TV program called "Mokugeki Dokyun", about crazy people. Soon, Dokyun started to mean “insanity” when it used to be an onomatopoeic word to signify the sound of guns being shot. DQN is used to mean an insane name. Since the 1980s, insane DQN names have been in the Japanese news a lot. For example, there is a kid in Japan named 光宙 (pronounced Pikachû.) It comes from "Pocket Monster". Another example is 宇宙 which originally means "space" and is pronounced Tera. That is some poor boy’s name right now. You know how badly that child is probably going to be teased when he gets into Junior high school, don’t you? Do an internet search on suicide due to bullying among Japanese teenagers.
In Japan, DQN names are a problem for the unfortunate kids who get them. Most Japanese people who have strange names are from families with low-income / low-education level and that translates onto resumes. In Japan, standing out in a negative way is still a really negative thing. DQN names usually mean that the person has ignorant parents who don’t care that they are limiting their child’s future options regarding careers, friends and future goals.
The smartest Japanese parents these days are giving their children names that will translate well if their child decides to be more international in the future. Japanese names like Anna, Erica, Lisa, Ken, Lena or Emma make an easy transition into English so that if the child someday grows up to do international trade or someday decides to live abroad, her name will be neutral and easily pronounced on a resume almost anywhere in the world.
If you’re such a fabulously artistic free spirit that you have to use your kid’s name as a canvas for your own awesomeness, maybe you don’t need to have children just now. When I was in high school, I thought I would name my future child “Tuesday Delicatessen Flute” or “Satchell Clover Lazer” but then I grew up and realized that it was a retarded idea and one more reason why people should try their best not to have babies when they are teenagers full of dumb ideas. If I do have a child who grows up to be an artist, changes his name from Dan to Sybiann Lykyr and moves to a farm where he raises pet ostriches with his polyamorous family and plays the zither in an all-family band called Zithertown, it will be his choice. But I’m not going to force that life on my kid who really just wants to be “Mr. Pleasant, the Boring Banker from the suburbs” by giving him a DQN name.
end.
Lately, I have been practicing Japanese immersion. Hardly any of my friends speak English, so that part isn’t hard. But to me, immersion means staying away from non-Japanese sites on the internet and listening to mostly only Japanese music. It also means no foreign films and no reading books, which is killing me but it’s only for a short time and I think it’s healthy for me. My cousin Andrew will move to Japan next week and he doesn’t speak Japanese yet (obviously) so I know that I have to use this time to study as hard as I can because I am going to be speaking a lot of English soon.
