If you are hungry and in Hokkaido....

If you are hungry and in Hokkaido it looks like it might be possible to just pick asparagus from the road! This asparagus sure wanted to see the sun! I can't believe that no one else noticed it before it got this big!!

In other news, it has been getting quite warm which of course means summer (or hell, as I like to call it) is coming. People are already complaining about the temperature which today is supposed to hit 30 degrees Celsius. But I keep telling people to enjoy it as this is nothing compared to what is coming!! And of course before the sweltering temperatures come, "tsuyu" or rainy season has to start which should happen next month. This is the season that can cause a lot of problems like mold growing on leather etc. I best stop blogging about it before I get too depressed!

A very sad story.

My student told me about this the other day and I was shocked. Before I explain what happened I should explain about the health care system a bit. In Japan, everyone has health insurance either through your company or you pay yourself (if you are self employed or have a part time job etc). Even if it is through a company, it comes out of your pay. The amount you pay is tied to how much money you make. If you are sick and go to a doctor you pay only 30% of the doctor's fee out of pocket-the rest is covered by your health insurance. Okay...now to the story.

A man tried to kill himself (don't know how) but was rescued. He was taken to a hospital and they hooked him up to machines and then stated that he was brain dead. In Japan, there is no "pulling the plug" even if every doctor agrees that the person is brain dead and will never wake up. Also, if you try to kill yourself but fail and need medical attention you have no health insurance. Even though you paid it your whole life you lose it at that point. So, this man is brain dead and hooked up to machines that cost at least $1,000 per day (I swear my student told me $10,000 a day but I have to check with her again but it almost makes little difference as both are beyond the ability of most people to pay). He has a wife and 2 small kids. They have no way to pay this for even 1 month never mind till he dies a "natural" death. At some point the man's mother decides she can't watch her son's family go through this and goes to the hospital and kills him with a kitchen knife. She, of course, is arrested. She told the judge that she knew this is what her son would have wanted-he never would have wanted his family to suffer like this. She will go to jail for 3 years. I'm sure the sentence is light given the circumstances but still.....I can't even imagine being in that situation. I was shocked to learn that there is no way to "pull the plug" and let the person die naturally. I was told that "the heart is still beating" so you can't "pull the plug" (of course the heart is beating because the machine is doing it!). Apparently the government might take a look at this and make some changes. I was told that there are many many brain dead people in Japan and many families with no option of letting them go.

And since I am writing about this I thought I would share another probably little known fact about Japan (unless I already wrote about this) and suicide. If your husband (or wife or under age child) kills themselves by jumping in front of a train, you have to pay for the clean up and pay the train company compensation for lost time etc. Sadly, jumping in front of trains is pretty common here. I can't imagine having to deal with losing my husband and then getting a bill!

I really hope they make a change in the law so that other families don't go through what the family went through.

We have opened a new store!

As you can see in the upper right corner of this blog, we have a new picture that will take you to our newest store. This, as the store name suggests, is all about Japanese craft supplies. This year we made some new business goals and one of them was to start this store. We are just starting to list products now but we have lots of plans for this store so stay tuned and check back often!

It's a trap to make you pay more! Unbelievable!

This must fall under the "only in Japan" category!!

So....I was watching baseball on TV the other day (ok....I was eating dinner while my honey was watching baseball on TV) on a local channel. I asked if it was going to be over soon. He said no. Just as he said that the channel that was showing the baseball game changed the program. I was confused and said that it must be over because ...well....it wasn't on the channel any more. My honey laughed at me and then took the remote control and turned on our "sky perfect" TV (we have a dish) and after a few seconds found the station that was showing the game. I was very confused and asked what was going on. He said that the game is only shown for 3 hours on local TV so he had to switch. So I checked the channel on "sky perfect" and sure enough....it only started to air the game after the local TV stopped airing it. So....basically you can't watch a full game on any 1 station!!! And, if you don't pay for "sky perfect" or some other satellite TV company, you can never watch the end of a game! I can't even imagine that happening in North America! I mean....can you imagine during a football game...just as a touchdown is happening the TV station stops airing it and you have to fiddle around and change stations?!

6:00 curfew?!

I have been living in Japan for almost 12 years and I still learn things that surprise me. It isn't that I think I know everything about Japan but rather what I learn just seems so surprising!

The other day my high school student (she is 16) was telling me that she had gone to Canal City (beautiful shopping mall with movie theaters) to see the movie "Alice" and all the shows from the morning until about 3:30 pm were sold out so she couldn't watch it. I asked her what about the 4 pm movie and she said she couldn't because she had to go home. I thought perhaps she had something important to do at home but no...she has to be home at 6pm! Turns out this isn't exactly strange. I asked the other students in the class (all girls). One other student said 6 was also her curfew. The other girl said on Friday or Saturday nights she had to be home around 10-the other 2 looked jealous. I asked my boss about his daughter and he said when she was in high school she had to be home at 8. What kind of cracks me up about this is that most cram schools are open until 10 or 11 and before tests I have had students tell me they stayed at cram school until 1 am!!! So....studying and going staying at school for various reasons is fine until 10 or later but don't stay out "late" if you are having fun!! I should point out that high school kids don't have jobs in most cases as it can be against school rules, there are no school dances or proms and dating styles seem to be different (mind you, I live in the "countryside" so things are probably very different here than in Tokyo) so that perhaps changes things a bit but...seriously?! 6pm?! (Please note that I am NOT saying that all Japanese kids have such an early curfew...but it also doesn't seem as rare as you might think-I've been asking around.)

Another thing I learned this week was that elementary school teachers have to do a home visit. The school year starts in April and in April is also the home visit. So, for one week the students go to school in the morning only and then in the afternoon, the teacher goes to 5-8 students' homes and talks to the mother (most of the time). Now, since school has just started, this is not really to talk about how the child is doing but more to see the home life but as my friend puts it, you don't really see or learn that much. She has been a teacher for 16 years and says it is the most stressful part of her job as the home visits are very formal. And, unpleasant things do happen like being yelled at. Now, I'm pretty sure that my teachers never came to my house but I am curious.....in other countries do teachers do home visits?

A great video to show you Fukuoka!

This is a great video that shows many spots in Fukuoka city (the big city about 30 minutes from me and where I used to live). It is about 10 minutes long and starts in the morning and goes into the night so you can see how things change.

As you are watching you will sometimes here a kind of music or a mechanical kind of bird sound-those are the cross walk signals for the blind (which are only there because people donate money to keep it going). Also, you will notice along "Naka river" people are setting up little stalls with doors or plastic-those are "yatai" or night time food stands which Fukuoka is famous for. Every time my friend comes from Tokyo she goes to one. You will see "Canal city" which is a famous shopping mall. There is also "ohori park" which is a big beautiful park in the city and the "Nakasu" area which is famous for night time entertainment.

Enjoy!!

April in Japan is not just about spring...or ...More things I don't understand about Japan

When you think of April (and live in the northern hemisphere) you probably think of spring.... "April showers bring May flowers" and so on. But here, April is the beginning of the fiscal year, the new school year, the new working year and the bizarre (in my opinion) tradition of just transferring people willy-nilly.

I guess I have to explain a little bit about the work culture first . When you apply for a job in Japan, you aren't really applying for a job per se but rather you are applying to a company who will tell you what job you will do. So, they will also decide to change your job from say a scientist to a manger (this actually happened to a friend of mine who worked for the prefectural government). This explains why when you ask someone "what do you do?" they often tell you what company they work for rather than a job title. Ok...back to transfers....let's say you work at a post office and you are happy but you have worked there for 3 years so chances are you will be transferred to another post office. Why are you transferred? Because. Because it is the Japanese way. Because they don't want you to get too comfortable. Apparently, transferring salesmen will prevent corruption and stealing from the company! In some cases, people are transferred to another local branch or store but it also happens that people can be transferred to another prefecture altogether! I remember when my hubby and I discussed what we would do if his company (an electronics store) wanted to move him to another prefecture-our idea was for him to quit since we didn't want to live apart and I have a great job here (thankfully we never have to worry about that again!). Even teachers are transferred about every 5 years.....perhaps so they can learn how other people teach at another school?

Talking about teachers...I have a friend who is a teacher. She has taught 6th grade for about 15 years. Last year, out of the blue, she was told that she was (starting within a month or so) going to be teaching English to her class. She couldn't speak English never mind teach it. So, she started learning English so she could teach her kids. She studied hard and learned enough to teach her kids. Her confidence grew and she enjoyed it so much she decided to really study English and she was looking forward to teaching her new class this year. The school year ended in mid March and she was preparing for her new 6th grade class (which would have started this week) when she was informed on March 26th, that she is now a 2nd grade teacher so she doesn't need to teach English. Not only is her new skill wasted, there is now a new 6th grade teacher that is going to have to teach English that can't even speak English at this point. I just don't get this way of thinking!! How does this help anyone?

April is also the season of "Shin nyu shain" or "enter the new employees". In Japan, 3rd year university students start looking for jobs that would start the April after graduating from university (most do a 4 year program) . Hundreds at a time sit for company tests (this country loves tests!!!), and if they pass that test, they then might get a first interview, then a 2nd interview and hopefully, they will have a job lined up long before they actually graduate. See "freshmen" meaning just graduated students, are most sought after by employers. If you graduate without a job lined up, your chances for a "real" job (IE working for a big company) are slim as the next job hunting season will be filled with these "freshmen" and they will be chosen first in most cases. You will then be left working at an "albaito" or part time job (even if you work 40 or more hours a week, if you are not salaried then it is considered part time work). I know one woman who, after not being able to line up a job, has decided to stay at university for one more year so she can be a part of the next job hunting season while technically still a student. This will cost her parents at least $8000 and that is just for tuition.

So...as it is the season of people being transferred it was no surprise to me that when I walked into the local 100yen shop ($1 shop) there was huge area filled with packing tape, bubble wrap, boxes etc. So while moving companies are making a killing this time of year, I can't help but wonder if they are the only ones that benefit from this.