Herbivorous men, Small faces, Ear of Bread

Quote of the week: “Makiko sensei is queen, John sensei is God”- Elementary 4th Grader
Strange food tried this week: Seaweed Jelly (grosser than Natto)

Sooo last week after watching Michael Cera (the boy from Juno) meet the cast of Jersey Shore with a bunch of friends, I endeavored to explain Jersey Shore (and Guidos more broadly) to my two Japanese friends our age. After struggling through a description of spray on tans, hair gel, and excessive muscle building, I decided that this is one cultural point that I should just let slide primarily for two reasons: 1.) even I don’t really understand Guido culture, and 2.) it was much more fun explaining “WTF”, “LOL”, “BRB”, and “ROFL”- concepts that I have an appreciably tighter grasp on.

Here’s a problem we’ll never have in America- a declining birthrate exacerbated by a new culture of “soushouku danshi” (or “Herbivorous men”). These are Japanese men that reject the traditional macho, hard-drinking, woman-chasing, salary-man stereotype of Japanese masculinity and have opted instead for a persona more along the lines of Japanese women- they are soft-spoken, they like to travel or go shopping (ok, maybe I like this too), don’t drink much alcohol, and wear hipster-esque-clothes (think skinny and highly fashionable). They also are less likely to make the first move around women. I’d meant to tell you about these guys months ago when I first heard about them, but my friend Adam reminded me of them when he had a discussion with a group of 30 year old Japanese women at a friend’s house about bad dates they’ve had- one of the women’s complaints was that the man was literally one of these: she said he didn’t eat enough and he was almost too soft spoken to hear. Though there are definitely meek boys in America, it strikes me as pretty funny that this is an emerging trend here in Japan, still a hugely patriarchal society (and one which is threatened by its declining birth rate). (http://capriboi13.livejournal.com/30140.html - a list of traits)

Recently, my friend Rich-- who is from Melbourne, Australia and I met during his semester abroad at Georgetown my sophomore Spring—decided to visit me in Japan during part of a 3-week Asia tour during his vacation from working at the Age, one of Australia’s largest print/online newspapers. We had two great days hanging out with my American & Japanese friends (including one I met on the plane to Seoul), seeing the sights, and eating famous Osaka food (yum). At one point four of us foreigners (Rich and I, Alex from Kobe and Chi Chi from N. Hyogo) were standing on the street trying to figure out what to eat for a few minutes when one of us looked up to notice a sign reading “Osaka Food Information Office” directly in front of us. Our observational skills were obviously in need of a bit of work. Instead of spending a full 5 days in Tokyo, Rich then decided to come to Tokushima for a couple of days in order to see the Japan in which I live- that is to say, outside of the two major metropolises. I greatly enjoyed showing him around a bit- taking him to the local favorite Ramen shop, to dinner in the city with other JETs, hiking up a frigid mountain (until the rain turned us back), and touring around my middle school. We walked around my school during the sports club practices, observing a few (Judo, Kendo, volleyball, basketball), and completely disrupting/joining others (table tennis). One comment that Rich got from a student was that he had a small face, which I thought was a really strange thing to say. I later asked my adult English conversation class, and found out that this is traditionally a sign of beauty. Who knew? The same goes for having a white face. I’ve started going to sports practices at my school a couple of times a week, and yesterday at tennis practice one of the girls remarked that I had a white face. While I’d always taken this as a matter of fact (though I was hoping she hadn’t meant “pasty”), apparently this was a good thing as well.

Speaking of physical appearance, the top 3 things that the Japanese will notice (and remark) about you as a foreigner:
1.) Your height
2.) The color of your eyes
3.) The color/length of your eyelashes (no kidding)

It was great to have Rich around for a few days, and a lot of fun. He’s working on a piece about his trip to Osaka (and possibly about Tokushima as well)- I’ll link them on this page when I receive them.

Most interesting Japanese word this week: パンの耳 (pan no mimi)- "Ear of bread" (literal translation)...can you guess? Right, exactly like you thought: bread crust.