CULTURE/SPECIAL INTEREST: Troop Cafe

 As I talked about in the post about Jam Jam Cafe, I spent last Friday night at the Troop Cafe, a night club that mainly holds events for electronic dance music (techno, electro, house, trance, drum and bass, and all that other stuff I can't tell the difference between, most of the time...). It is the most constantly recommended night club from my experiences in Kobe, and it certainly matched the expectations. Aside from the 500 yen water ($5, or more I guess given the weak status of the dollar) and the no-reentry rule, the venue was near-perfect. The main dance floor was big enough for the crowd that came out, with plenty of room in the smoking/sitting section in the back. The bar was also well placed for easy access to over-priced drinks. Security was also very beefy, a sharp contrast to the next-to-nye security at the club I went to in Nagoya. 

 The club-goers in attendance were also somewhat livelier than at the Nagoya venue. One interesting thing that I noticed was that the closer people were to the front, the more they were dancing by themselves. As far as I could gauge, the people with a deeper interest in the music that was being played were in the front going all out. People dancing with each other or mingling between sexes were toward the back. In the middle, the mood balanced out. Several girls approached me and did nothing but shout "yaaaaayyy!!!", a universal phrase they figured would fit the mood. Japanese guys too offered high-fives and elaborate hand shakes as they walked by. I was the only foreigner until a tall blonde girl showed up with an entourage of Japanese girlfriends. Clearly, the foreign presence attracts a lot of excitement at night clubs in Japan. I was glad I was at a spot that Japanese go to rather than some of the foreign-catered venues around town, serving as jump-off points for foreigners and the Japanese girls who are so eager to seek them out.

 All in all it was a good night, and I left the club with my friend from school around 3:30am. The atmosphere in Japanese night clubs, at least ones that cater to a Japanese audience that are interested in electronic dance music, is one directed toward fun instead of hyperbolized ego and machismo that can be found in venues in the United States. It's refreshing and offers a good look into how young Japanese people relieve their stress and cut loose. I'll keep posting on anything else I find interesting at Troop Cafe or other clubs. Stay tuned!

LANGUAGE UPDATE: New Kanji and what I am learning

 I won't lie: I've broken the promise on the ten-new-kanji per day deal. It shouldn't be so hard and I should have gotten it done, but well, I'm just so lazy. Just as keeping a daily blog, which I fortunately didn't promise, I am terrible at doing anything on a fixed schedule. But I have been trying, at least. Here is eighty more characters I've been practicing:

4/26/2010

経

済

発

展

期

非

長

兎

表

画

4/27/2010

果

東

奄

垂

奉

毒

事

飛

衷

甚

4/29/2010

巻

専

奏

重

乗

套

既

殊

残

射

4/30/2010

耗

耕

疎

野

爽

粛

彗

鼠

業

爾

5/8/2010

就

職

辞

離

舞

人

仔

仇

仏

化

5/11/2010

仁

介

今

仙

仕

代

他

付

令

伏

---

休

件

伐

伊

仲

伍

任

仰

伎

伝

5/16/2010

仮

全

企

合

会

肉

位

伸

伴

体

　Also, to give you an idea of what my learning process of these kanji looks like:

  Sorry that the image isn't flipped right-side up... but you get the picture (no pun intended). I write all the readings, and then as many words that use the kanji character as I can fit into the allotted spaces for each character. I still need to come up with a review system that I can stick to for these characters I have already learned.

Count so far: 200 kanji

 ---

 Aside from the kanji studies, I have been receiving Japanese instruction in regular classes at school. These classes cater to economics students, as well they should, and I receive occasional assignments from professors that are more on my level. The knowledge of vocabulary that the other exchange students have, all of whom are Chinese, is extraordinary compared to mine (I still have them beat on regular conversation, though). This makes it intimidating when the other students read essays and articles that contain no phonetic-readings for the kanji characters with relative ease. It's natural because they recognize the characters from their own language and likely have the pronunciations based on character-radicals down well. It's during times like this that inspire me to step up my own learning process for Japanese.

 The best practice for Japanese, however, comes from writing essays. I've written a couple so far and there are a lot more down the road. As I finish these essays I will post pictures of them to give an idea on what I'm writing, the length, etc. Below is a part of a piece that I typed out, as a rough-draft, for class. The Japanese grammar is pretty poor as far as I can tell, and it certainly wasn't my best piece of writing regardless of the language. The subject was on how multi-cultural societies can build harmony in spite of cultural differences. My opinion was that multicultural harmony can only be improved through time, along with appropriate actions by the ethnic and cultural groups that are being neglected or oppressed, and that in time people become accustomed to people of different cultures and either accept them or tolerate their presences (not all of this is included in the partial draft below; when I get the essay I turned in back I'll post a picture of it). What I wrote in Japanese, of course, could not fully encompass such a complex topic, and I made sure to acknowledge this in the course of my essay. In the end, however, as I do enjoy writing in English (when I get around to it), I truly enjoyed writing in Japanese. Once I get my motivation and drive up, I'll be sure to improve my writing skills and overall language abilities in Japanese. I'll be sure to show you whatever I do in order to meet this goal.

多文化共生として、どのように調和すればいいのかかなり複雑である。私の意見は主に、時間が過ごすと多文化共生が調和になる。確かに未来は不確定だけど、多文化共生の社会の差別は異なる文化に無知している人々から生まれると思う。例えば、無知の中から差別、先入観、異なる文化の憎しみなどが生まれて、誰かが権威を溜めるために同じ文化、ethnicityなどである無知を搾り取って、多文化共生の問題が広がる。しかし、異なる文化に理解がある社会にはそういう問題が減って、多文化共生がよくなると思う。他の文化の無知が無くなると、「コスモポリタニズム」も増えてくると思う。「コスモポリタニズム」というのは自分の国、文化よりのIDENTITYは「世界人」ということである。「コスモポリタニズム」があっても、別に文化が無くなることではなく、異なる文化が人々の個人的な趣味、興味などの違いのレベルになると思う。しかし、どのように人々の無知が消えるのだろうか。外国に行ったりとか、自分の国で異なる文化の人に知ることが出来たりとか、そのように無知が無くなるが、主にマスメディアでは人々が他の文化を知る。

CULTURE/SPECIAL INTEREST: Jam Jam Jazz Cafe in Sannomiya-Motomachi

 Through a friend from school, I was given a small but all-out rewarding taste of bohemian swagger in Kobe. A place inhabited mainly by older suits who look so hungry to return to their younger days, which given their connective taste in music, must have been beating with heart of the underground Japanese culture. It's not nearly as dramatic as this, but it's hipper than any hipster knows. It's the kind of place that would give a lot of the little Starbucks-generation wanna-be beatniks a waking wet-dream. The lighting, the arrangement of the tables and seats, the posters on the wall, the hundreds upon hundreds of jazz records stacked in a mountain behind the bar... this isn't a place where you go to pretend to like Jazz, a genre of music I cannot claim to have any knowledge or passion for, it's a place that does the work for you: anyone with any rhythm or beat in their soul cannot help but move to the records being played. The Jazz music is top-notch and it's all available for no cover charge at the "Jam Jam Cafe" in the  Sannomiya-Motomachi area.

 I had originally heard about the place from my seminar professor, the same French-loving, sweet spot for the girls professor that hosted the seminar "konpa" at his place, which if you've been paying attention (and with the minimalist manner of my posting, it'd be hard to miss) was mentioned in a previous post. He mentioned it in class, directing it toward the prettier girls in the seminar, if they knew of "Jam Jam" in Kobe. He explained that half the cafe is divided into a regular area and a listening-only area, meaning making no noise save for the tapping of your feet. I had been interested in it, but had no idea where it was located in the still-sometimes perplexing area of Sannomiya-Motomachi in Kobe.

 Last Friday, however, I was determined to go to a club for the first time in Kobe, and was aware of the "Troop Cafe" which caters to electronic dance music. I spoke to the aforementioned friend from school, a former-Folk Song member who I think I talked about in a past post, about any events going on Friday night. I asked if the event at Troop was worth the 3000 yen cover charge, and he looked up the headlining DJ online and said "definitely". So we decided to go, but before that I asked him to show me some other favorite spots in Sannomiya. We agreed that one good cup of coffee was a necessity for the long night ahead, so he took me to Jam Jam. Apparently, he's a regular there, judging from how the master and presumable owner of the place greeted him, as well as the greeting from the cute young waitress. We ordered the cheapest blend of coffee and sat and listened. A record by Pat Martino came on and I was blown away, and the reactions of my friend to the shifts and changes in the band playing helped bring out the individual instruments in my untrained ears. Listening to Jazz in Jam Jam is a truly transcendent experience. As I had said before, not really any young people, just the baby-boom generation and some older ones, sitting and enjoying the grooves. As I said, the atmosphere of the place really adds another level; even the bathroom feels loaded with ambiance.

 I went again today and will go tomorrow. Really, it's a relaxing place, but a place that can also be enjoyed with more excitement. There are even occasional DJ events and live band performances (mostly non-jazz related). The menu even contains an explanation of the cafe and demands customers to not think of the Jazz as background music but to "feel it with your body!" Hopefully I can see some younger Japanese in there too, because even from being at school I know a lot of young Japanese are into Jazz. As I said before, though, individualistic places aren't always popular in a trend-driven society like Japan. The individuals that to frequent these places, however, are often so individualistic that they find it hard to connect with regular Japanese- the case with the friend who showed me Jam Jam in the first place. His passion with music, especially Jazz, is likely off-putting to a lot of the pop-manufactured minds of Japan. Just like the regular customers of spots like Jam Jam, the spots themselves are isolated from the majority- making them either safe havens or like lonely ghost-towns. Jam Jam clearly fits the former, luckily, as it provides an enjoyable and unforgettable experience in the coolness of Japanese underground culture.

CULTURE: Cafes and "Kissaten" (喫茶店) Japanese traditional cafes, other small restaurants

 Up the street from my apartment is a chain restaurant, "Coco's Curry House," serving curry in a variety of dishes. A restaurant based on Japanese-style curry should be unmatched in competition... but it's not. While Coco's gives you options in your spice levels (and it does get pretty spicy in the level 5-10 range, a 7 making me sweat and strangely giving me violent and terrifying nightmares the night after), it for sure does not boast the best-tasting curry. I guess it's all a matter of personal preference, but you can go to any Coco's in the country and it'll essentially taste the same. You can go to McDonald's and get a cup of coffee and it'll still taste like shit anywhere you go. The same with the donut chain "Mister Donut", although it'll taste less shitty than the McDonald's. Starbucks? You really want to support the Seattle empire that brings the pomp and arrogance of the Northwest all over the world? That's my job. Tully's has made its presence as well, and I will say it's the coffee chain I enjoy the most anywhere, but I can't be bothered to go there in Japan. This is because, all over Japan, there are "Kissaten", which are traditional Japanese coffee shops that give off an immediate post-war Japan vibe (the largely senior customer-base adds more to the sentiment) as well as other cafes that usually offer distinct and flavorful coffee and food, particularly curry rice, which ties into what I said about Coco's. It's of course a bit pricier, but if you factor in a curry meal at Coco's which end up around ten US dollars, you can get a set meal at a Kissaten for around the same which includes curry or whatever dish you order, salad and coffee. Coco's doesn't look so cheap after factoring what you get, and I never had gruesome nightmares after a Kissaten trip. Every place offers a variety of flavors, that sadly, a lot of Japanese miss out on.

 It's the same deal in the States, I suppose. Big businesses swallow small, individualized ones even more than here in Japan; the amount of small Kissaten, cafes, and restaurants is surprising. This is partly due to loyal customers of these places- as I said, especially in Kissatens, it's a regular old folks' home. In these cases it isn't always exactly stylish to go to these places. If you find Japanese "hipsters", they will know the local spots- a friend at school who left the Folk Song Club to pursue experimental and psychedelic music took me and another student to a Kissaten by the train station. Most Japanese, however, will flock to the McDonald's or Mister Donuts, or at worst, live a convenience store diet. It's certainly cheaper, and there are occasions where I opt for the chains or the convenience stores over the smaller places. But when I have the time and the feeling I will go to smaller places. You can meet people with a lot of character and find various flavors in what they have to serve that you can't find anywhere else. One cafe I went to served incredible coffee, with a flavor and aroma that was unmatched to anything I'd had in Japan before. There's a small Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake-like food, very famous in the Kobe and Osaka area) restaurant near my apartment, too, run by an old woman with a powerful personality, and the cooking is delicious. While offering different flavors, personalities and atmospheres, sadly, there's hardly any customers in most of these places. Everyone's off at Coco's, McDonald's, Starbucks or Mister Donut.

 This brings me to some conclusion about Westernization in Japan. By becoming more Westernized in terms of chain stores, it actually damages the individualistic aspects of Japanese society. While Western culture supposedly focuses more on the individual, Western models of capitalism turns everyone into the same type of consumer for financial gain. Just like how small businesses comprised a level of American society in the past, larger corporations (particularly in cases like Starbucks and Walmart) move in an offer cheaper goods that eventually wiped those small businesses out, or at least damaged them. Japan has taken steps against this in the past, as I have read in Andrew Gordon's Modern History of Japan, in which the government sectioned off where larger, nation-wide corporations could move into in order to protect smaller, local economies. Japan still retains a good amount of small businesses, to a greater degree than I see in my hometown of Tacoma. These smaller establishments actually emphasize individualism more than what the dominance of large corporations has to offer. It can be argued that Japan's Westernization has long since reached its pique and has settled in its mixture of East and West (meaning that the old fears of the Japanese language becoming more and more diluted into some pidgin-English mixture could be a thing of the past), and that the course of American society is on its own downward spiral. Even through things as simple and as frivolous as visiting different Kissaten, cafes and restaurants, I can form thoughts about the Westernization of Japanese society. Whether the process is continuing or not is something that will be left in the hands of time. Until then I'll be enjoying the different brews of coffee and blends of curry spices.

SCHOOL LIFE/SPECIAL INTERESTS: Folk Song Club initiation, part 2 (was there a part 1?)

 To answer the question in the header, the part one was the initial wooing of potential members into the Folk Song Club. This included the shows and the first, free drinking/eating party. In this step of the initiation of new members, however, the mood all changed. Everyone introduced themselves, their instrument, and any other things they wished to put out there. I was no exception; I introduced myself in my gutteral Japanese, contrasting to the humbleness of the other freshman members. I appealed for the formation of an original band, which God only knows if I'll deliver on. 

 Aside from myself, the introductions went well to uproarious applause and shouting that drowned out the voices of the waiters and waitresses of the restaurant trying to make sense of what everyone was ordering. Their shy vulnerability certainly appealed to their upperclassmen; this too is a strong aspect of Japanese group culture... it permeates even into a group like the Folk Song Club, who are comparable to some kind of "counter-culture" in Japanese society. The new members follow every code of courtesy in addressing their "senpai" (先輩 meaning upperclassmen, or senior, compared to underclassmen "kouhai" [後輩]), showing total formality in an utmost informal situation. The order of hierarchy is, after all, an integral part of Japanese culture (italicized for emphasis). The senpai fawn over their kouhai and remark how cute they are, and the excitement and promise of the new generation of Folk Song Club members is entirely palpable.

 Everyone drank in merriment, some maybe a little too merry. The common age group of the new members is 18-19 while the older members aren't any more than 22 years old or so. People sat at tables based on what year they were in school, but as the night grew on people mingled with each other regardless of their senpai or kouhai status.

 As I had mentioned in my previous post about the Folk Song Club, during the initiation type events the aura and the atmosphere prelude some enormous journey that the bright-eyed new members are about to embark on. For college students like this, the club circle is far more important than any academics before graduation. That's truly what comes to mind when I go to these club activities. And then I hear that most graduates fail to find work after graduation, or even quit after miraculously finding some position in Japan's ever-increasing cutthroat economy. It makes me wonder about the connection of students who spend all their time in club activities over studying and the ones who don't find work after graduation. Because it's so hard for graduates to find work either way, you truly need some kind of qualitative edge to find a good company position. The students who spent all their times in clubs rather than studying probably won't make the mark. But for now they have their fun... maybe some of them will be accomplished musicians some day. I say all the power to them. Even if they become nothing but part of the growing statistic of "Freeter"s (Japanese term shortened from 'free-timer', a person who doesn't hold permanent employment but works part-time while pursuing other activities, considered a troublesome trend in Japan), it's not going to change whatever systemic problems lie in the Japanese economy and in Japanese society. As the modernity of twentieth century continues to crumble, as seen in American society, Japanese culture will have to evolve again to survive. While this is a heavy topic for such a discussion, it fits well into fact that the Japanese college students in the Folk Song Club would rather spend time playing music than studying to graduate and then enter a company position that they would probably hold till death. There are alternative forms of success that involve Japanese with stronger individual wills. While some may simply graduate and fail to find work and then spend their time doing things of little value, others may very find success and happiness even if they don't pursue the stereotypical path of graduation and full employment. These are, however, merely my thoughts, and I will continue to observe the nature of Japanese college life in areas like the Folk Song Club and see if I can reach some personal conclusions about what it all means. Until then, stay tuned!

CULTURE/SPECIAL INTEREST: Trip to Nagoya

 During the bulk of Golden Week I traveled to the city of Nagoya in Aichi prefecture. The city lies not too far away from Kobe; by normal train, it's about 3 hours, which is a steal in terms of price compared to paying double for a bullet train ride.

 I went to Nagoya to visit an old friend. As I was under the care of this friend I didn't have the time to strike out on my own to see the city. It's really hard to describe my experience there as I didn't stay long enough to get a feel for the city, and my experiences there weren't really cultural. But I will do my best to make sense out of what I experie

nced there in terms of the city.

 There were three good events that gave a cultural experience, two in terms of modern Japanese life and one in terms of Japanese history.

 The first location that I speak of was a large park in Nagoya, the name of which escapes me (I'll tell you if I find it), which held a large festival featuring live music and DJs. In spite of how it's described, there wasn't a whole lot going on... two stages and the amount of concession stands outnumbered the musical acts and the people in attendance. Again, I don't exactly know what this festival was for, but there were Japanese people of all ages there. It was slightly reminiscent of something that would be at Evergreen: large, open, green space and lots of hippies. Japanese hippies. The DJ played some fast-paced dance music that was almost self-parodical, and the people dancing to it certainly weren't holding back. Aside from the DJ there were various other acts that came to the more dance-oriented stage.

 There was another stage that featured more rock and psychedelia. I mainly experienced the latter genre at this stage. It was truly bizarre and amazing to see a 60s-style Japanese acid rock band play with Japanese girls on each side of the stage in hippie attire, grooving along to the music as if on an LSD trip (although too well choreographed to be anything authentic).

 And so, that was pretty much all of that. It was interesting to see Japanese people gather around for something like that. I had a similar cultural experience in China at the Strawberry Music Festival. Everyone enjoyed themselves with a free spirit, and it was definitely an event where people could relax and be themselves.

The second place of significance was also music-related. I went to a Japanese night club for the first time. It was a decent-sized venue on the basement level of a building complex. The event at the club was hip-hop/funk oriented, and there were some incredible mixes. The DJs that spun sets were mostly foreign, though. Regardless of this, the reaction from the nearly entirely Japanese crowd was a trip. Every time a recognizable 80s hip-hop song came on in a mix (Slick Rick, for example) there would be a huge crowd reaction. One DJ, a large, dread-locked African-American who sang along with the set he was spinning (featuring the F-word numerous times, a true Japanese crowd-pleaser), made a particularly big impact. He could clearly feel the love from the listeners as he left, giving fist-bumps to the excited Japanese shouting random American slang. Truly the reverence for American culture, particularly African-American culture, runs strong in the Japanese. It speaks entirely to the impact of American pop culture on modern Japan. As the people at the club were almost entirely Japanese and the event itself was well-done, it was both enthralling and educational to modern Japanese culture. Clubs are a good space to observe how people behave in order to relax or be social with others. I will make sure to visit more during my stay in Japan.

 The last place of significance was Nagoya Castle. This castle, destroyed in World War II and reconstructed afterward, was originally home to a branch of the Tokugawa family before the Meiji restoration period. Seemingly, it's the main attraction of Nagoya. I've been to smaller places, so I can't complain.

There was a great performer at the end in the castle area. A lot of his humor didn't seem to hit the mark with the crowd, however. He through things up in the air and caught them.

And then I left Nagoya, and that was how I spent Golden Week. The club was good. Overall it was a nice little city. The end.

CULTURE: Golden Week

 "Golden Week" is a time in Japan that spans a little over a week, where several consecutive national holidays and a crafty use of vacation days (or slagging off classes) can possibly pull up to twelve days off from work or school. The name, according to Wikipedia, was coined by a Japanese film company manager in 1951 when a film released under his company scored its highest box-office ratings during the period of holidays. The manager therefore called the period of holidays "Golden Week," referring to a radio term "Golden Time" which referred to the time when the amount of station listeners was at its highest.

 The festivities kick off on the 29th of May, the "Day of Showa." This holiday was recently established in 2007 as a day for Japanese to reflect on the Showa period of Japan under Emperor Hirohito, the 29th being his birthday. The holiday "Greenery Day" was originally established on this date, but several legislative attempts to rename the holiday starting around the year 2000 would move Greenery Day to May 4th in 2007. Golden Week continues through the weekend into Monday the 3rd, "Constitution Day," a day that commemorates the establishment of the post-war American-drafted Japanese constitution. The day after that, "Greenery Day", moved to May 4th in 2007 from its original location on the Showa Emperor's birthday.  Greenery Day celebrates the harmony of man and nature. May 5th is "Children's Day," a day that was established in 1948 to encourage and celebrate the future of children and plan for their happiness. There are "carp flags" flown on houses in honor of this day. And that's the make-up of Golden Week.

 Many Japanese still have work for part-time jobs during these holidays; such was the case with many students at my school. Some people complain about how extremely busy it is, especially in terms of traveling. If you do not book a bullet train ticket well in advance of Golden Week, you are likely to be out of luck when the time comes. Travel abroad is also popular during Golden Week.

 Considering how busy most Japanese are, Golden Week is a huge deal in Japan. The way I spent my time was by traveling to the city of Nagoya, which I will discuss in detail in the next post.