Import Shop

If you can't see the video, please go here: http://youtu.be/BqPjVhszfNo 

When you've been in Japan for a while, or if you spend a lot of time cooking, you may find yourself craving some of the ingredients from back home, some of those things that Japan just doesn't have. You'll be very surprised at a Japanese person's reaction to beans on toast, for example. Don't despair at the differences though. There is an answer, and no, it's not smuggling canned goods back into the country or having your mum post you suspicious looking packages of baking flour. Go to the import shop!

The import shop is not a building that has been carried over from another country 'Up' stylee. No, it is in fact, a shop that is full of imports, much like a paper factory isn't made of paper either. Crazy, I know.

Inside, you can find allsorts of things. A lot of them will be from your home country, but most of them will be from other countries because, as much as it may shock Americans especially to hear this, there are other countries out there. Did you think you had just wandered into Chinatown or something? Take a look at our video above to see exactly what one import shop in Sendai has for sale, but rest assured that if you want something, you can probably find it there.

It's actually a very good place for cross cultural communication. For example, when I was growing up I loved Pez. However, they stopped selling them in the UK long ago and so I wasn't able to get any for quite a while (though I did have some willing American friends who sent me a few). Now, in Japan, I can go to the import shop and get plenty of Pez, though they are usually Disney, Hello Kitty or Thomas the Tank Engine for some reason. I'm still searching for that monkey pez. Hint, super strong hint. So it allows us to get items from other countries. Great for lovers of real Indian curry, mexican food and gravy!

There are two main import chain stores in Japan. The first is Jupiter, shown in the video. They have a lot of snacks, sweets and cooking ingredients. The other chain is Kaldei Coffee, which, wouldn't you know it, have a large selection of coffee. They also do gift wrapped selections for special holidays and events, and you can have a free cup of coffee to drink as you wander around the store. I often wander around just to get the free coffee, and I don't even like coffee!

So, don't worry too much. If you are craving something in Japan, you can get it from the right place, but it might be a little more expensive. Don't buy regular Japanese stuff here!  I also still recommend that you bring as much toothpaste and deodorant from home as you can. Those are terribly weak in Japan.

Cherry Blossom Viewing Party (Hanami 花見)

If you can't see the video, go here: http://youtu.be/xZzSoYvbz38 

Sakura, or cherry blossom, is one of the most iconic images of Japan. It's such a big part of their culture that they have parties about it like we westerners celebrate New Years. Why is it such a big deal?

• Its beautiful: Just look at it. Petals of soft, creamy pink are just so lovely and rarely seen in nature. So why not celebrate it? It's beauty is emphasized even more by the fact that its appearance is fleeting. The Sakura blooms for a week or two in spring and then its gone....Just dust in the wind, dude. Dust. Wind. Dude.

• It's mysterious: Old folklore tells of how the Japanese version of Romeo and Juliet died and were buried under a white blossom tree, but the tree took up their blood and became a pink color. Is this strange vampire plant really the origin of the beloved blossom or is it just the romantic tale that pulls at people's hearts? Because a lot of people would have had to die with seeds to make all these cherry blossoms.

• It's Japanese: If there is one thing that is guaranteed to make a Japanese person like something, then its it being Japanese. Seriously. Japan is one of the few countries where imported food is cheaper because Japanese will pay more for their own products. The Japanese have certainly made the Sakura their national symbol. No where else will you find so many cherry blossoms and they will tell you that at any given opportunity.

The Party

When the Sakura comes out people flock to every park, river and locale to have their Hanami. 'Hana' means "flower" and 'mi' is "look" so it is a flower viewing party. Essentially it is a picnic. And a great excuse to get drunk. Friends and families, students and teachers, workmates and companies, they will all arrange a Hanami and enjoy eating and drinking under the pink blossom. A common sight there is the blue plastic mat. People reserve their spot hours, perhaps days in advance by putting down their blue sheet for their party. Often junior members of companies, or whatever group, are chosen to do this because no one likes waiting around for so long and they are at their bosses' mercy. When it finally comes though, its a lot of fun and not quiet at all. In fact, you have to wonder if people are looking at the flowers because so much attention is paid to the food preparation, so much drink is had and often there is live music or music playing through a tannoy. It's a full on party. I mean, party on, dudes.

Of course, such activity is dependent on the weather, and it is notoriously unpredictable this time of year, especially lately. So many people have eyes on the weather reports, which also offer a forecast of expected dates for the cherry blossoms to bloom in different regions of Japan. It begins in the west of Japan (Fukuoka, Hiroshima) around the end of March, early April, and then the wave of pink moves across the country, hitting the far north of Hokkaido in May. Here in Sendai we get the cherry blossoms in the middle of April and so the Sakura Panda Tea Time crew headed out to our local park to join in the festivities.

It's a great tradition, one that people fight to take part in around work or school commitments. It's also a great bonding experience for friends, as who doesn't love a party or a picnic or nature... Or pink?! Or bananas? I can't guarantee bananas, but sometimes..... 

New Year's Day in Japan

If you can't see the video, go here: http://youtu.be/v8XPQo4xESA

How are you doing there? I'm glad to see you survived Christmas. If it isn't the trials of present shopping or the overstuffed belly of turkey, turkey and more turkey, there's always some dangers around the holidays, but those who survive get to celebrate the coming of New Year's day. It's a hallowed time when cheers are cheered, beer is beered and boopily mcscooby doo. Yeah, that kinda got away from me there.

2013 then, the year that "no one" thought would happen!

New Year can be split into two parts. The night before and the morning hangover, I mean, morning after. It's a lot like that here but with a little more emphasis on the new year itself rather than the countdown.

The night before, people will go out drinking, if they are old enough. Everyone else likely stays at home and watches the TV. Every year they have a grand music show with all the country's top music acts and some foreign ones too (sometimes) and they play all their best songs. Kōhaku Uta Gassen it's called. Then at midnight, live from famous local and national temples and shrines, there is the ringing of the bells. The bells chime 108 times for the New Year to cancel out the 108 evils of the human soul, and then one more time to usher in the New Year on it's first second. Many people stay up to watch this and it's the equivalent of the ball dropping or the countdown in London. Though it is more traditional, as can be expected of such a country. The practice seems to be on the way out though. Many local residents near the temples have complained that they are trying to sleep at this time and so many places aren't allowed to ring the bells anymore! No respect!

While back out at the bars, people stagger into the streets and cheer in the New Year like any other country. Here in Sendai, they have the christmas illuminations we showed you in the previous video. As the clock counts down, they flash. Then turn off for a full second and then back on again precisely at midnight. This is accompanied by hundreds of car horns and people cheering "Akemashite Omedetou gozaimasu!" which basically means "Happy New Year!" So it's not that different.

The main difference is in the morning. On New Year's day everyone traditionally goes home, and they get together with family. The older members of the family give money to their grandchildren in a special envelope, but it's also traditional for the parents to take it and say "I'll look after that for you". And the parents look after it so well that the children never ever see it again.

Sometime during New Year's everyone eats soba (buckwheat) noodles as they are supposed to symbolise longevity. So it's a wish for good health. It tastes ok, but it's a bit boring for a meal and I'm hungry again right after.

The main activity, though, is that everyone goes to a temple to make a wish for a happy new year. This sounds simple, but when you consider that everyone is doing this you soon discover you have to wait in a very long queue to throw money in a bucket, ring the big bell and clap three times before you make your wish. People queue for hours. So long that there are festival and snacks stalls that open up along the line and they sell their goods and food to people waiting. So, people like to get up early to try and get to the front of the queue. They also pick up a fortune on the way out. You pay a small fee to the temple and they give you a fortune on a piece of paper. It's like the fortune in a Chinese fortune cookie but it is more detailed, covering different aspects of your life. I've had at least three of these but I don't think they have ever come true. Some places will do an English one for you, but these are usually only the popular tourist destinations. Whether the fortune is good or bad, they usually take them to a fence or a tree and they tie them into a knot. This is supposed to bind the future it predicts, and stop it affecting your life, but people seem to do it with not only bad ones, but good ones too. I like to keep mine. There are also different types of fortunes. You can shake a box with sticks in and then pull one out. A mark on the stick corresponds to a fortune the clerk has and they give it to you.

Finally, there is one more thing they might do. At the temple, they can leave a message on a special wooden board and hang it up at the temple so that it may come true. Some people go all out with this, and it is not out of the ordinary to see some awesome manga drawings on these boards. They can also buy lucky charms to help it come true and these are specially made for different needs. They have everything from 'good health' to 'good exam results'.

So that's it for the day itself, but soon come the New Year's sales, which are a little special in Japan. That's for the next blog entry. In the meantime, check out our video and if you have any questions or comments, or there is anything you want us to cover in a future blog, please let us know.