Random Weird/Awesome Things I’ve Encountered in Japan: Breast Balls, Scented Toilet Paper, Bowing Mannequins, and More

Besides samurais, ninjas, sushi, and Pikachu, Japan is widely known for its seeming penchant for all things strange, bizarre, and downright odd. At least that’s what frequently pops up in articles on the internet. All in all, Japan is a rather conservative country where you’re not going to run into any cross-dressing celebrities, robot girls, or anime cosplayers on your way to work in the morning, but it does have its fair share of oddities that you can’t help but smile at.

Without further ado, here’s some of the wackiest things I’ve come across in Japan within the last year. I’ve also included a scale of “awesome versus weird”. Do you agree?

Looking for something to do in Tokyo? Check out the excitement of Ikebukuro! J-World, Namja Town, Pokemon Center, Okinawan ice cream!

So, back in Tokyo again, huh? You’ve taken a hundred selfies with the Hachi statue in Shibuya, trekked through all the museums, rode up both Tokyo Tower and Skytree, walked through Ueno zoo, eaten your weight in crepes all the way down Takeshita dori in Harajuku, shopped till you dropped, been to the Maid Café in Akihabara, and even braved Tsukiji fish market. What’s left to do?

Well look no further! Ikebukuro has you covered!

Cultural Observations Through Japanese Textbooks Part 2: The Art of Lying, Cash, and Personal Hygiene

Time for another edition of interesting things I found while looking through Japanese English textbooks! Yet again, the presentation of English in Japan continues to amuse and offer interesting cultural insights. Starting with this beauty.

Are you ANGRY?!

Back to School! Second Semester Kicks off with Sports Day!

Back to School! Second Semester Kicks off with Sports Day!

A typical sports day event in Japan.

Here in Japan, September means returning to school after five weeks of a homework and club activity filled summer vacation. Unlike the states, this is the start of the second semester of the year. What with all the homework and club activities making the kids come to school every single day of the summer anyway, it was hardly a break was it? Still, at junior high the school starts the second semester with an opening ceremony and all periods devoted to practicing for the sports meet (called 体育祭 taiiku sai in junior high, 運動会 undoukai in elementary school) on the Saturday at the end of the week (it varies between schools, but at least within the few weeks). 

Unlike the U.S., sports day is a big event, perhaps the biggest of the year, and the reason it’s held on Saturday is so the whole family can come to cheer on their kids. Or maybe just to make everyone come to school on Saturday. Anyway, families set up chairs and tents and bring a big spread for lunch.

Summertime in Japan

Summertime is in full swing in Japan right now! For students, this means five whole weeks of summer vacation! The kids weep when finding out that summer vacation spans nearly three entire months in America, and that there is absolutely no homework! The last week of school at junior high I  watched my students' dreams of beaches and lazy hours catching up on sleep literally melt before their eyes as the English teacher announced their laundry list of homework. Poor kids; they still have to come every day for club activities, so they really never get a break. In America, images of summer include camping, root beer floats, 4th of July, state fairs, and barbecues. Here in Japan, summer conjures up thoughts of unbearable humidity, cicadas, fireworks, festivals, confessions of love, and scary yokai, or spirits, stories. How does this compare with your country?

Questionnaire Time! Decoding my School's Bulletin

So I finally got my picture in the school bulletin! At least the staff bulletin...They took the pictures at the very beginning of the year, handed out a questionnaire sheet a month or two later, and now finally it's all been assembled! As soon as I found one on my desk I began reading everyone's answers to the questionnaire. As expected, I was highly entertained. Answers range from interesting, to hilarious, to downright sad. Either way, there's always some sort of cultural observation to discern.

Here's the list of questions each teacher was asked. (The Japanese love questionnaires!)

1. What was your dream when you were a junior high student?
2. What subjects are you good at? What are you bad at?
3. What's your current obsession?
4. What are your strong and weak points?
5. When was the last time you cried?
6. If the world were to end tomorrow, what would you do today?

Keeping confidentiality in mind, I'll go over some interesting answers to each question.

Observations of English Textbooks in Japan: Cultural Differences, and Downright Hilarity

Observations of English Textbooks in Japan: Cultural Differences, and Downright Hilarity

So at my junior high, I sit at a desk with TONS of English textbooks. Only the Sunshine textbooks are used for actual class, but as I've found myself with some extra time on my hands after writing, studying Japanese, and planning elementary school lessons, I've often turned to them for amusement. And what I've found: there's some pretty hilarious stuff in there! It's actually turned into a bit of culture study in some places as an interesting look into how the Japanese view and portray English.

The current textbooks in use in junior high schools are called Sunshine, aimed mostly at recitation of short dialogue. There are actually some really sad stories in there though! For instance the second year book has a whole 3 party story about starving elephants to death in zoos during the war, another talks about the plight of pets during the bombings, and the previous textbook New Horizon has a story about two children dying in the Hiroshima bombings. Sheesh. Speech contest here I come, right? Shudder...

Anyway, steering clear of that for now, let's get to the good stuff!

Sometimes it happens....There's a hair in my ramen. I once had a kid spot a tiny hair in his bowl of ramen during lunch and he complained to the teacher about it. She took one look, discarded the perfectly good bowl of soup, and got him a brand new one. It was probably his own hair anyway.

Tokyo Disneyland: Proving There's Room for More Than One Happiest Place on Earth

Entrance to Tokyo Disneyland

I absolutely love Disneyland. Ever since I was little. I’ve been one to two times every year for 23 years – that makes between 20 and 40 times! I’ve always loved Disney movies, the Disney store, and anything else Disney related (I have yet to embark on a Disney cruise yet, sadly). So with Tokyo Disneyland (actually in neighboring Chiba, but Tokyo sounds cool right) only two and a half hours south, I was bound to go while living in Japan. Last year I had the chance to visit Tokyo Disneysea, the adjacent park focused around water, while the Christmas decorations were up. (Inside fact, there’s mistletoe in the Cape Cod harbor! Though it’s mostly lost on Japanese people who have no idea what mistletoe is, nor its tradition.) So now I finally made it to Tokyo Disneyland with a few pals! It was a long day – waking up around 5 am and finally hitting the hay past 1 in the morning – but totally worth it for the day packed with food, fun, and more food. So let’s get on to my review plus insider tips!

Golden Week: Taco Bell returns to Tokyo, Yunessan Spa Resort in Hakone, and fun in Odaiba!

Shibuya: Taco Bell, frozen yogurt at Partyland, and the cutest Disney store you haven’t been to

So Taco Bell opened up in Shibuya a few weeks ago to much fanfare and publicity, or rather reopened, having been in Japan before but closed due to Japanese people’s lack of appetite for Mexican food. Apparently they changed their minds, or else the number of foreigners increased. Anyway, it’s back! Mexican food in Japan is scarce, and when you do find it, it can be a hit-or-miss on the authenticity (not to mention the portion sizes), as many Western foods in Japan become Japanized to suit Japanese tastes. The day it opened people waited up to two hours for their greasy tacos; thankfully it was only about twenty or thirty minutes for me. (Some interesting tidbits: on the way you can pass a “whale meat restaurant”, and right across from Taco Bell is a sex toy shop. Interesting…)

Katei Houmon and Things That Annoyed Me This Week: Politicians, Cockroaches, and Motorcycles

Katei Houmon and Things That Annoyed Me This Week: Politicians, Cockroaches, and Motorcycles

Here's the Meritto shampoo I was talking about! It's been keeping my hair clean and fresh for half a year now! There was a day at junior high when I compared my name to the shampoo as a joke and the kids started calling me Meritto after that haha.

So back to the blog, the second week of school has begun for me, and this means it’s time for katei houmon, when all the teachers pay visits to the homes of each of the students in their homeroom class. (Also on a more exciting note, Taco Bell reopened in Tokyo, with people braving lines up to two hours to get some Mexican goodness. Mexican food is an extreme rarity in Japan, unfortunately). Apparently it's a very stressful time despite the visit lasting for only about ten minutes each. I'm sure it must be just as stressful for all the moms having to clean house and prepare tea and snacks for just a ten minute visit. My teachers said they weren't so much nervous as tired from making all those trips and visits. And they have to be all dressed up in full suits as opposed to their regular track suits and casual wear. Sounds like a lot of work for everyone, but then again that's what Japanese people do best.

Returning to Japan: First Week Back to School

About Myself

A creative writer by nature, this is my first foray into the world of blogging. I’ve been keeping a journal since I first arrived in japan, and figured now would be a good time to start since I wont have to spend so much time preparing lessons this time around. I’m from Los Angeles and Minnesota, and a graduate of University of Minnesota Twin Cities with an English major and Asian studies minor,, and I’ve been studying Japanese about nine years now (wow! Has it really been so long?). It seems like yesterday I traveled to Japan for the first time, when in reality it was six years ago! It was only a ten day trip, but I such an amazing time I knew I had to come back. During my time there my host family in Kobe showed me warm hospitality and introduced me to okonomiyaki and purikura, now two of my most favorite things. I saw Kyoto and Hiroshima as well, but it wasn’t enough – only enough to whet my appetite for more! And thus here I am, starting my second year living in Ibaraki prefecture.

Merissa no Meritto

I’ve titled my blog “Melissa no Meritto” (meritto meaning merit in Japanese). There’s a shampoo in Japan called メリット, only one character different from my nameメリッサ, which I thought was funny enough I had to buy, and I’ve been using it ever since. So basically it means the merits of being Melissa – or Melissa’s Merit shampoo. Whichever.