I went to Hong Kong. This is sweet soup from a midnight snack sweet shop in a back street of Central. The black soup is black sesame soup. The white is tapioca and the balls are coconut covered mochi. It was all completely delicious, as basically everything in Hong Kong is.Hong Kong is a delicious place.Check out my Dior shirt. I think that knockoff designer clothes are funnier and better than real designer clothes with labels on them. If a person is going to wear a Dior shirt with Dior written all over it, it's funnier when it's fake. Really, really obviously fake.If you're going to wear real Dior, you shouldn't have to have the label on the outside. People who care about that sort of thing will know what you're wearing and people who don't care can't tell real from fake anyway. I bought Versace and Louis Vuitton underwear for all my friends for about 8 Hong Kong dollars (100 yen / one CND dollar) each.
I went to Hong Kong to visit my friends on my break! Hong Kong could be my favorite place in the world. It reminds me of Osaka and Istanbul mixed. I was surprised to find that I could read the kanji for Hong Kong: 香港. They use those kanji in Japanese, too. The 香 is from my friend Kaori's name. It is a pleasant meaning for "scent" or "smell" The 港 means "harbour" or "bay". So together, Hong Kong means something like, "pleasantly scented harbour" which is sort of ironic and funny. Go down to the harbour in Hong Kong and tell me if it's pleasant. They should rename Hong Kong 美味 饎 国. (I don't write in Chinese)Hong Kong food is the best in the world. I know I say that about every place I visit, but that's because I really can't /don't eat a whole lot in mainland Japan and so when I travel, I get to excited about delicious food. Congee breakfasts are amazing. The huge selection of vegetable s and fruit is amazing. The variety available in a single restaurant is amazing. You could eat every day for two months in Hong Kong and not only never eat at the same restaurant, but also never eat the same dish twice. And I'm vegetarian. Imagine how much more variety and selection would be available if I ate meat. There's a great vegetarian restaurant in Jordan, by the way.Salted quail eggs from the night market in Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon. I was trying so hard not to have a sad or disgusted look on my face that I actually made a face that looked excited and stoked. Keep in mind that I wasn't. But this is a cow's tail. Durian is maybe my favorite fruit. I hardly ever get to eat it because it's a tropical fruit and only stays in season for a while. It's spiky and as big as three people's heads. That's why I hardly ever get to try it. I am one of the only people I know who loves it, and I can't eat an entire durian alone. It smells and tastes like French cheese to me. It has a texture of Brie or Camembert and a lot of people think fruit shouldn't taste and feel like that. My friends say it smells like cat pee but I love it. My friend tries to shove an entire red bean cake into his mouth at once. This greedy picture made us laugh for ages.
I love markets! Kira, I already know what you're going to say about these dolls. Ha. Best neon sign. Central Hong Kong at night becomes a street party filled with wealthy-looking foreign people. If any of you guys have lived in both Hong Kong and Tokyo, I'd be really interested to hear what you think about the foreign community. For me, it was a total culture shock walking through the rich, downtown party street in Central and seeing almost all foreign people but having it feel the exact opposite of Roppongi. Almost everyone in HK speaks a lot of English, too. I want to know what other people think about it, but I think that the impact of colonialism is what the difference is.
My favorite place in HK is Tsim Sha Tsui. I stayed at the Chungking Mansions, the place where Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express was filmed. It was a little bit scary but surprisingly clean and obviously cheap. It felt like the whole world was living inside that place and everyone wanted something from you. I talked to some ladies from India and Ghana. There were British people and Afghani people and mainland Chinese people. It looked and smelled like Tanzania and it made me nostalgic. Hong Kong's multiculturalism made me feel like Japan is really missing something. What do you think?
I read an article called "Please speak in Japanese" and it was written by a French guy who is fluent in Japanese and lives in Japan. It was about how sometimes when people look at you as a non-Japanese person and immediately start speaking English. I wrote a response to it. Please leave me comments in Japanese. If I make any mistakes, please help me notice them. Thanks!
While they answer is obviously "YES YOU CAN" it is true that most Japanese companies ask for photos to be submitted with the resume. In my country, asking for a photo along with the resume is something you could get sued for discrimination over. Asking age, race and marital status are often also not in good form. In Japan, though, all of those things are regularly required disclosures.
(They even ask about what blood type you are, leading to a kind of discrimination that people call Buri-Hara. In case you didn't know, blood types are to Japan as horoscopes are to the West. Type As are sensitive perfectionists but overanxious; Type Bs are cheerful but eccentric and selfish; Os are curious, generous but stubborn; and ABs are arty but mysterious and unpredictable. Hmm.)
I'm going to change the topic slightly now to how different countries feel shame over different things. This is obvious, but it's interesting.
I know some Japanese girls who went to study abroad in America for four months. When they came back and talked to me, they told me that one thing they were very ashamed of was that they hardly knew anything about history or politics; even Japanese history was a blank for them. American people asked their opinions about things and not only did they not have an opinion, but they'd never even heard of basic historical/political events. When they got back to Japan, they were motivated to study and learn about their own country so that they wouldn't feel shame when they travel.
That made me think about how different countries feel shame over different things. This, to me, is very interesting.
In some countries (USA, Australia, England, Canada, NZ) many people are hugely obese and feel no shame whatever about it. (In the JET forum I posted above, one girls wrote, "I'd rather be a size 10 eating cake than a size 2 eating carrots") In Western countries, there is no shame in being fat and you hardly ever see really skinny people at all. In Japan, there is a huge social stigma to being fat and though I see lots of chubby people in Japan, there is a huge, huge pressure to lose the weight in Japan. Men and women are regularly shamed by their friends and family. In the West, telling someone they got fat is just not done at all.
The opposite is also true. Japanese people usually feel no shame at all about not knowing what the Berlin Wall was or who Vietnam fought against in the Vietnam war. There is also no shame in not voting in an election or not knowing all the words to your own national anthem. (I have personally witnessed all of these examples by more than one person) But there is a huge shame associated with being fat.
If you live in a Western country, saying "I don't know who the vice president of my country is" or "I have never heard of Communism" or "When was World War One?" will bring looks of astonished disgust. In Western countries, it's very shameful not be ignorant of basic things concerning history / politics / philosophy. You don't have to have read Aristotle, but if you have no idea what an "Aristotle" even is and have never even read the name, people will think you're retarded. In fact, being clueless about basic things / having no opinion at all about things that happen in your own country is so shameful that many people find it hard to say, "I don't know" and end up looking like a fool.
I will say that I think a little bit of shame sometimes is a good thing. Half the time people do good things, shame is the motivating factor. (Though I know that shame motivates a lot of negative behavior, too. Botox, etc) If you think about it, you'll see that it's true.
-Some people buy hybrid cars less out of concern for the environment than of concern over looking like an ignorant, selfish person in front of their neighbors. -Some people stop eating fattening fast food or cake less out of concern for their health than of concern over looking like a person with no self-control. -Some people take a shower / wear deodorant not because they love being clean but because they don't want their neighbors to think that they are filthy slobs.-Some people mow the lawn not because they love it but because they don't want people to think that they are lazy or thoughtless. -Nobody likes recycling. Nobody likes getting a blood test. Nobody likes safe sex. Nobody likes studying hard for an exam they're not interested in. Some people do these things because they're good or healthy things to do. Others do it because of societal pressure (SHAME) and without shame, there would be far less order in our societies.
Shame is a huge motivational factor and it is interesting to see that people are shamed for different things depending on their country.
Please read this post carefully. I don't want any offended people commenting about things I didn't write.
Today I spent the whole day taking dance lessons and going to a show with some people I know through my Okinawa friends. These must be the cutest girls in the world. They're in a band called LIPSTICK HEARTS. Here's me with the Rollers / Lady Teddy kids at their end of year party. They have been so thoughtful and kind to me.
I suddenly got a free work-at-home week, so I want to go somewhere else and work there. I want to go somewhere I've never been before. I like Onsen. I don't want to go anywhere snowy or colder than Kansai. Where should I go?
Places I have been in Japan: Tokyo (and Chiba, Omiya, Saitama), Okinawa, Hiroshima, Nagano, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara, Yamanashi. I think that's it.
Who is the prettiest / most handsome Japanese famous person?
About two months ago, Tokyo Metropolis magazine did an article about the Japanese Miss Universe, Riyo Mori. Obviously, she's Miss Universe so she's not bad looking. But she's pretty in that Hooter's-waitress way that I think most beauty pageant winners are. I like a more natural look. My friend asked me who I think the prettiest famous girl in Japan is, and I thought for a while and came up with Aoi Yuu. I think Aoi Yuu is the prettiest famous girl in Japan. She has perfect skin and a sweet smile and interesting clothing. Her movies sometimes have English subtitles. I like her the best. Who is the most handsome famous man in Japan? Who is the most beautiful famous woman in Japan?
The other day I was watching TV at my friend's house and saw someone I recognized. He's a famous face in Japan and does a lot of modeling in various advertisements. I asked my friend who he was and got a look of shock from her. She told me that it was Ichiro Suzuki. He's possibly one of the most famous Japanese people in the world. Certainly, I knew his name but I had no idea what he looked like since my interest in baseball is hardly anything at all.
So in case you have no interest in / knowledge of baseball, this famous model is Ichiro Suzuki.
Today was a holiday, so I went to Kobe and had lunch with some friends. We went to a cafe called Freundlieb near Motomachi. Freundlieb is a cafe specializing in roast beef sandwiches and salad. The best part about Freundlieb is that it's a cafe set up inside a really old chapel. They haven't changed anything at all, so it feels like you're eating sandwiches in church. It's a really neat idea. They give you little sugar cookies before your meal and there's good coffee there. The roast beef sandwiches looked awesome, but my veggie one was completely slathered in mayonnaise so I pretended I wasn't hungry and gave it to Hansan. It was a fun place, though. If you're in Kobe, you should go.
I was wondering why there were all these long, uncut sushis for sale in the convenience store this morning. I thought it must be a new thing. Then I came home and my roommate told me that today is Setsubun. (It's that holiday where kids throw soybeans at the devil. Look it up. It's like the opposite of Christmas. Dad dresses up like the devil instead of Santa. You can buy devil masks at the grocery store.)Then Emi told me some things I'd never heard about. Did you know that on Setsubun, Japanese people eat a long, uncut sushi roll called Ehouzushi for dinner? That's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that they have to eat the entire thing in silence. No TV or music or talking. And they have to eat it facing a certain direction that changes every year. This year, the direction you had to face was "touhokutou" and it was written on the package you buy the long sushi in. That means "Closer to east than North, but basically Northeast" and Emi drew an awesome little map for me. I love my roommate. I learn so many interesting things.
Hong Kong is a delicious place.
Check out my Dior shirt. I think that knockoff designer clothes are funnier and better than real designer clothes with labels on them. If a person is going to wear a Dior shirt with Dior written all over it, it's funnier when it's fake. Really, really obviously fake.
If you're going to wear real Dior, you shouldn't have to have the label on the outside. People who care about that sort of thing will know what you're wearing and people who don't care can't tell real from fake anyway. I bought Versace and Louis Vuitton underwear for all my friends for about 8 Hong Kong dollars (100 yen / one CND dollar) each.
