The Culture Pocket: Daily Life in Japan

We all know how important it is to have a daily schedule in order to feel as if we are in control of our life. This is even more true when one lives in a foreign country for the first time. And it is vital when transplanted to a culture that is so different from one's own.

Japan, on the outside, looks a lot like the west. This is mainly because western goods and services abound. Everywhere you look you can see things from the US. To the "new" foreigner, at first it seems as if Japan is not so different. Everyone lives in a house, apartment, condo, drives a car, goes to work, owns a pet, eats food. It is easy to misinterpret the situation and try to live following the same cultural rules that are familiar back home. This, however will lead to several complications after a short while.

As mentioned earlier, it looks similar on the outside, but looks can be deceiving. Deep down the roots are totally different, fundamentally different. Basic survival can be achieved by practically anyone on their own: after a few months foreigners will be able to move on their own, eat, shop, use the public transportation and other basic services. But some of the people will not have acquired the rules of the Japanese domain correctly.

If, however, the foreigner is guided during the initial stages, adapting to the culture of Japan and the Japanese daily life routine may be near perfect. This will prevent foreigners from the: "why does everyone treat me like a foreigner?" syndrome. To do this it is important to watch the people around you, ask for correction, discuss behavior with Japanese friends and try to immerse yourself in the culture as much as you can. Many acquaintances of mine have lived here in Japan for two to three years in a totally "English environment". They go about their day in a North American way, listen to English music, rent English videos, eat at western restaurants, answer their phone in English, hang out with other native English speakers all the time. And they wonder why Japan always seems so strange and foreign to them. It is simply because they are refusing to try.

Because daily life is more complicated here than many other places it is especially important to make the effort to adapt to the cultural aspects of life. Work hours are longer, there are less holidays, people travel longer distances to work, eat out more, spend more money (save less). I would like to make a few brief comments on various aspects of daily life in Japan, aspects which, if taken into account, should help the newcomer adapt more quickly to his or her new daily life.

Bathing time is important to consider. Most households bathe at night, after the work day is completed. There are showers available in most places but these tend to be mainly for rinsing off before getting into the bath. In the summer months when the heat and humidity is high families tend to take showers but during the cold winter months the bath is important.

People here believe that you will catch a cold if you have a shower and not a bath in the winter because you will not be able to heat your body entirely. Breakfast meals tend to be western-style these days but in some families you will still find the very filling Japanese-style breakfast of rice, miso soup, fish, natto, and a few vegetables. Breakfast is usually not a problem for the foreigner.

If someone is leaving the house before you, walk them to the genkan (entrance) and see them off. As it is a time-honored custom here, to not do so will seem very strange and possibly the foreigner will be thought of as inconsiderate.

When going to and from work or school, many people use public transportation because the roads are always congested (except in the middle of the night - a great time to travel) and parking is at a premium. Public transportation tends to be very crowded during rush hour so don't be surprised to find that there is almost no room to maneuver around. The public transport system here is extremely efficient and runs to most locations with little or no problem at all. Taxis are abundant if not expensive.

Usually people who finish their daily work at a bar with coworkers will take a taxi home late at night when the trains are no longer running. Taxis are reliable and drivers taking roundabout routes to make extra money are extremely rare. The rear left door will open automatically for you while the driver sits in his seat and waits for you to enter. Drivers here tend to be quiet and not converse with passengers unless the passenger begins a conversation.

There are three types of lunches in Japan: single dish, set meal, and elaborate course dinner (does not belong to the normal daily domain). Western food, Chinese and Japanese food tend to be the norm for lunch. Many people will have a bowl of noodles (Chinese ramen or Japanese udon/soba) for lunch or perhaps a bowl of rice with egg or pork on top. Set menus usually consist of a meat, vegetable, salad and a soup of some kind. It is not uncommon to see people dropping into the local McDonalds for a lunch or a quick coffee these days. In fact, young people tend to like the western food more than traditional fare. In restaurants there is a consumption tax (5% in 1998) but nobody tips; which makes for poor service at some places because the part time staff have no incentive to work hard at pleasing the customer.

When asking for directions, choose who you ask with care. It is best to avoid large stores because people working there may not live in the area and only know their route to work. Also, people in the street may not know either as they may be travelers as well. It is best to ask for directions at police boxes (small one or two-man stations found on many corners around town) or gasoline stations. Automobile dealers seem to have a good grip on directions as well. Stay away from convenience stores; they are notorious for "trying to please" by giving directions, any directions to you.

In the big cities, most people do their shopping on the way home from work. But as this may be late and the stores closed, Sundays tend to be very popular shopping times. All retail businesses are open on Sundays for the customers' convenience. Convenience stores (Circle K, Lawson, Family Mart, etc.) are open in the evening if you need to do some emergency staple shopping but the prices are a little higher than supermarkets and the selection is less. Except for electronic stores where you might be able to haggle a better deal, all prices are fixed. There is no bartering here like in many other Asian countries. You pay the price on the tag. People are very honest here and do not usually overcharge so you can be sure that you are not paying overinflated prices. Most shops will be similar in price, but it is always good to shop around.

The main meal is dinner at home for families. They usually try to eat together as much as possible. This may even mean that dinner is not until 10pm because Dad gets home late every night. On average, though, dinner is later here than in North America because the work hours are longer. It is not unusual to begin eating at 9pm. Adults often drink beer or sake with the meal. I drink milk and get funny looks.

All homes and apartments have a bath (unless you are living in a very old rural community, in a very old house in which case there will be a public bath nearby that the locals visit every evening). It is very important to observe bathing rituals so that others can enjoy the bath as well. The water in the bath is heated to a high temperature (often too hot for many foreigners) and is used for soaking and relaxing, not for bathing. Bathing occurs outside the bath and care must be taken not to get any soap into the water. The order is usually rinse, soak, wash and rinse, then get back in and soak again. In most homes the bathing order is hierarchical with the father having the first bath and the mother bathing last.

Many young people sleep on beds these days but it is not uncommon to find futons still. Most older people prefer the futon on the tatami floor to a bed. The quilts that are used are fairly thick and heavy. Western-style sheets are not used so most people sleep with pajamas or a t-shirt on to avoid the draft that tends to seep in around the shoulders. Most pillows in homes (the exception is in hotels where they seem to have gone to the extreme and looked for the softest, most uncomfortable ones in existence) tend to be small and hard. This dates back to when people wore elaborately coiffured hairdos and didn't want to ruin it just by sleeping. Most bedrooms do not have light switches and the light are operated by pulling a cord that attaches to the light itself.

These are just a few common things in daily life that may help the foreigner adjust a little more easily.

- Sensei

Next Lesson 14: Having and Being.

Lesson 13: Renshuu: Practice Makes Perfect - Adjectives

Now it is time to put it all together and practice what you have learned on adjectives.
Put the following conversation into Japanese:

1. Where is the beauty salon (biyoushitsu)?
2. It's that way.
3. Is it far?
4. No, it's not very far. It's near the station (eki).
5. Is it a clean beauty salon?
6. Yes, it's very clean.

You are in a foul mood. Complain about everything:(the "answers" are examples only. Your answers could vary)

1. the bus you are waiting for
2. the handsome Italian you had a date with
3. the public toilet that you had to use
4. the sound (oto) at the movie theater (eigakan)
5. the "new" computer (pasokon) that is full of used parts

Unscramble the following words and make correct sentences:

1. kissaten, kono, de, wa, arimasen, amari, shizuka, wa
2. desu, wa, Tanaka-san, Nihonjin, hen na
3. suupu (soup), wa, atatakai, kore, desu
4. ka, desu, dochira-sama
5. ooki na, kasa (umbrella), wa, sono, taihen, desu, kasa

Whew, we're done with the adjectives. I hope you enjoyed / survived this lesson.

Let's take a little break with a Culture Pocket on Daily Life in Japan.

- Sensei

Lesson 12: Adjectives continued - Pointing things out

Words to Indicate People, Places, Things, Locations.

Little by little we learn how to be more specific. Do you remember in way back in primary school when you forgot to bring your pen to class and you had to ask someone to lend you one? If they were having a bad day, the conversation might have gone something like this:

You: Can I borrow a pen?
Him: Which color?
You: Um, blue I guess.
Him: Sorry, I ain't got blue.
You: Can I borrow a black one then?
Him: Sure.
You: .... Well can I have it?
Him: Which one do you want?
You: The black one. I just said so.
Him: I have four black ones.
You: I don't care. Gimme any one.
Him: You choose.
You: (suck in breath) OK. That one.
Him: Which one?
You: That one.
Him: This one? (evil grin creeps on face)
You: No! That one there! (muscles in face tense)
Him: Oh, you mean this one?
You: NO! I said that one right there! The one withh the green cap!
Him: Ohhhh, you want this one right here, right?
You: AAAARRRRGGGGHHH! (pencils and pens fly across the room, nose blood is spilled)Teacher: You two over there! Down to the Principals office, pronto!

Well, if you get your indicators specific the first time, you could avoid this test of your patience.

We talked in a previous lesson about kore (this), sore (that), are (that over there) which relate to things. There are parallel words when you want to relate to places:

koko - (here, this place) - is for places closer to the speaker than the listener
soko - (there, that place) - indicates locations near the listener than the speaker. It also indicates a relational proximity to the listener, not always a physical proximity.
asoko - (over there, that place over there) - is used for places that are at a distance from both the speaker and listener.
doko - (where) - fits into this class as well and is used to ask questions.

1. Toire wa koko de wa arimasen. (The toilet is not here.)
2. Hachi wa soko desu yo! (The wasp is right there, by you!)
3. Keisatsu-kan wa asoko desu ka? (Is the police station over there?
4. Toire wa doko desu ka? (Where is the toilet?)

You can make your Japanese a little more formal by replacing koko, soko, asoko and doko with kochira, sochira, achira and dochira. And you can make your Japanese even more informal by replacing koko, soko, asoko, doko with kocchi, socchi, acchi, docchi.

If you were in the Honolulu Hilton, you might hear:
O-tearai wa kochira desu. (The restroom is this way.)

But if you were in the Hanoi Hilton (if they spoke Japanese at all), it would probably be more like:
Benjo wa kocchi. Omae no neru tokoro. (The pit is here; where you sleep.)

When you pick up the phone, usually you would ask:
Dochira sama desu ka? (Who is calling, please?)
(we put -sama at the end of people's names to give them respect.)

Kore, sore, are can stand alone as a pronoun but the words kono, sono, ano which have a similar meaning must be in front of the nouns they modify:

1. Kono jamu wa mazui desu. (This jam is terrible.)
2. Sono hyaku doru shihei wa boku no desu. (That hundred dollar bill by you is mine.)
3. Ano hito wa baka desu. (That person over there is stupid.)

There are a few words which indicate position. These actually act as nouns and are used differently from English. In English we might say next to X, but in Japanese we would say X no tonari. Here is a list of a few other position words.

chikaku - nearby
mae - in front
naka - inside
ushiro - back, behind (people, buildings, etc. opposite of mae)
ura - reverse/other side, behind (rear side, buildings, etc. but not people)
ue - on top, above
shita - underneath

Time for a few examples. I hope this lesson isn't putting you to sleep yet...

1. Toire wa asoko no ginko no chikaku desu. (The toilet is near that bank.)
2. Same wa saafaa no ushiro desu. (The shark is behind the surfer.)
3. Honya-san wa soko no kissaten no ura desu. (The bookstore is behind that coffee shop.)
4. Kaijuu wa ano beddo no shita desu. (The monster is under that bed.)

Next Lesson: Lesson 13: Renshu makes perfect - adjectives

Lesson 11: Questions & Adjectives

Where would we get in life without questions and answers? Ever since you were a little grasshopper you had an insatiable curiosity, yes? And as you got older your quest for knowledge grew and grew. No, you say? Well, then why are you here? If you have no desire to learn, you should be off drinking beer and belching while watching reruns of the latest Lakers game (no offense to you Lakers fans out there). Some of the questions in your life that you asked you probably wished you hadn't, and there are probably a whole lot more questions that you wish you had asked but never had the courage to do so.

Fear not for your chance to renew your desire to quest for the unknown is closer than you think. Work with us through this lesson and you will be able to broaden your horizons beyond your wildest dreams. Who would have thought that you would be asking detailed questions in Japanese? Do you know what makes this lesson so great? Since you are conversing in a foreign tongue, the inibitions and barriers of culture and of your youth will be torn down and a clean road will be paved just for you. There is a saying in Japanese, Tabi no haji wa kaki sute which means, "The shame you create while away from the home is easily sloughed off and forgotten". Japanese people do this all the time and now you too, with your newfound love of Japanese, can do things the Japanese way! So in this lesson, let's start to ask slightly more detailed questions, ones that may have a little more relevance to your life (as opposed to, "Is this a pen?")

The Question

To review, the basic sentence structure in Japanese is, A wa B desu. This pattern is essential to remember as we progress through the various patterns. Just as in English when we first formally learn the verb, to be, we should keep in mind this pattern as well.We then learned how to form a simple question by adding ka to the end of the sentence to make it a question. A wa B desu ka. Gramatically speaking there is no question mark at the end of Japanese questions, but as everything in Japan that has taken on a western taste to it, many people add the question mark to the end. You wouldn't be penalized for it in a letter to a loved one, I don't think. You are probably a pro by now with this simple question pattern so I don't really want to dwell on it. Enough said, let's move on.

Making Your Speech more "Colorful": The Adjective

Adjectives, like in English, can be placed usually before or after the noun they are modifying. Remember that if you add the ka to the end of the statements they become questions. Here are a few examples of how you would place the adjective before the noun:

1. Kore wa oishii chiizu desu. (This is delicious cheese.)
2. Sore wa hen na hito desu ka. (Is that a strange person?)
3. Ano akai kuruma wa watashi no desu. (That red car is mine.)
4. Chiisai hito wa kirai desu ka? (Do you dislike small people?)
5. Takai hoteru wa ii hoteru desu. (Expensive hotels are good hotels.)

There are basically two kinds of adjectives, one that ends in -i when placed before nouns and another that ends in na before nouns. The na adjectives are usually words of chinese origin (just a tidbit of culture to store away in your ever-questing mind).

Here is a list of adjectives that you can use to spice up your daily conversations. Remember, a pen is just a pen, but a red pen is so much more!

Common -i Adjectives
atsui - hot
samui - cold
atatakai - warm
tsumetai - cool
ookii * - big
chiisai * - small
chikai - near
tooi - far
wakai - young (people etc.)
atarashii - new (things)
furui - old (things)
hayai - quick, early, fast
osoi - slow, late
oishii - tasty, delicious
mazui - awful, yucky

Common na Adjectives
benri na - convenient, useful
fuben na - inconvenient
shizuka na - quiet, peaceful
shinsetsu na - kind
yuumei na - famous
kirei na - pretty, clean, neat
taisetsu na - important
hontoo na - true
taihen na - serious, awful
hansamu na - handsome
ereganto na - elegant
shikku na - chic
rippa na - splendid
hen na - strange
shizuka na - quiet, silent

*The adjectives ookii and chiisai also have alternate na forms which are ooki na and chiisa na so you could say ookii hito or ooki na hito (big person).

Now let's take a look at adjectives when they come after the noun they modify:

We can use the same adjectives as noted above whether before or after the noun but there are a few subtle differences to remember. While the -i adjective stays the same, the na adjective drops the na altogether. Look at the example:

1. Watashi no kokoro wa wakai desu. (My mind is young.)
2. Watashi no shujin wa hansamu desu. (My husband is handsome.)

The Negative Adjective

It turns out that when you want to change your sentence from positive to negative, and the adjective is at the end, the form actually changes a little bit, but not that much that you can't remember. Japanese is not like English; the rules are rules and do not change. Remember it once and you will remember it forever.

To make an -i adjective negative you replace the final -i with -ku and then add arimasen (polite) or nai desu (informal). To make a -na adjective negative you put the verb desu into the negative: de wa arimasen (polite) or ja arimasen (informal). Ja is a contraction of de wa just like isn't is a contraction of is not. When we speak quickly our words tend to slur and as humans are lazy animals, it is easier not to move the lips much if we don't need to (especially if you hail from the Great White North where the winters are too cold to move the lips anyway). To add to this, you can make your speech even a little less formal by using nai in place of arimasen. Here are a few examples:

1a. Nihon no biiru wa oishii desu. (Japanese beer is delicious.)
1b. Kanada no biiru wa oishiku arimasen. (Canadian beer is not delicious.)

2a. Aki no happa wa akai desu. (Autumn leaves are red.)
2b. Watashi no hada wa akaku nai desu. (My skin is not red.)

3a. Indo karee wa karai desu. (Indian curry is hot.)
3b. Nihon no karee wa karaku nai. (Japanese curry is not hot.)

4a. Brad Pitt wa hansamu desu. (Brad Pitt is handsome.)
4b. Mick Jagger wa hansamu de wa arimasen. (Mick Jagger in not handsome.)

5a. Boku no heya wa kirei desu. (My room is clean.)
5b. Otooto no heya wa kirei ja arimasen. (My brother's room is not clean.)

6a. Keitai denwa wa benri desu. (Cellular phones are handy.)
6b. Botton benjo wa benri ja nai. (Outhouses are not handy.)

Stressing the Adjectives: Very and Not Very

It is quite simple to add a little more stress to describing an adjective. All you have to do is add totemo or taihen before the adjective you wish to modify.

1. Kono hito wa totemo ookii desu. (This person is very big.)
2. Furansu no wain wa taihen oishii desu. (French wine is very delicious.)

If you want to say it in the negative, just add amari before the adjective you wish to modify.

1. Jooji Baanzu wa amari wakaku arimasen. (George Burns is not very young.)
2. Kore wa amari benri ja nai. (This isn't very useful.)

- Sensei

Next Lesson: More on Adjectives - Pointing things out.