Earthquakes ...

This week I was fortunate enough to experience my first earthquake in Japan!

Quite honestly, it was a rather non-event here ... but for me, I was quite taken aback by it.

It was a very weak earthquake ... it only registered 2.5 or something on the Richter scale, which means that in geological terms, it was basically a non-event. Actually, to my neighbors and co-workers, it was basically a non-event ... earthquakes of this magnitude are fairly common here, even slightly more powerful ones, so in general people don't seem to get too bothered about it. People like to joke about when they have experienced earthquakes with foreigners, because usually the Japanese are very calm, but the same cannot be said about their company ...

However, being on the 12th floor of my 13 story apartment building, I think the effects were amplified in my apartment slightly ... it was enough to shake my table and chair, rattle some things in the cabinets, and dislodge some items which had been poorly positioned. Overall, there was no damage, except to my life expectancy which is now several years shorter due to my inability to explain why the floor was vibrating, and my soccer ball was rolling around the floor at 6:30 AM. All joking aside, it could have been much worse, and I am well aware of that.

One thing that this does, is it gives you a pretty good perspective on just how hard and how fast mother nature could wipe you out, seemingly any time she wants too ... As you may know, Japan is positioned on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" which is why it is littered with all manner of volcanoes and such. It is one of the busiest areas in the world in terms of seismological activities, so being here, you really do get the sense that you have very little control over what will happen in the future.

In my area, there is a kind of prediction about a very large earthquake which will strike this general area at some point in the near future. The most common date, they have predicted is sometime in April ... and furthermore, they have some very specific ideas about where the epicenter will be ...

Let's just say I hope they are wrong ...

"My Baby Takes the Morning Train" ...

I have to apologize for my extended absence from the blog ... things have been pretty busy recently, and I haven't found much time for anything other than work and a little bit of sleeping mixed in.

At any rate, now I am back!

As I may have mentioned before, I have adopted the train as my method of commuting to work here in Japan, and it is fantastic. It's true that my commute is a little on the long side (~1 hour) but it is almost effortless ... I really enjoy it actually, it is very low stress and quite relaxing actually ...

As you can imagine, all sorts of people use the train for their commuting. In Japan it runs absolutely on time, I have never seen a train that arrives either early or late, and it is so convenient, that there is almost no reason to have a car at all ... People use it to go shopping, business men use it to get to work, and school children use it to get to school.

I have been particularly curious about the school children, because ... they are really really young ... for example, kindergarten age ...

This is surprising on a number of levels, first because they are on the train very early in the morning, before 7AM in many cases, which I cannot imagine is very good for anyone ... Secondly, they are completely unaccompanied. For me, that is an incredible situation, coming from America, where in some areas, kids can hardly be trusted to walk from their school to their parents SUV down around the drive.

There is one child who I have a chance to see on a regular basis, because we use the same subway stop, and every morning she is there with her father who see's that she gets on the train safely, but then it is up to her to get off at the correct stop and walk the rest of the way to school. It is incredible! Make no mistake about it, I am in a big city, and these kids are trusted to navigate their way around it successfully, even at 7 or 8 years old.

I could never see that happening in the US, I will grant that Japan is orders of magnitude safer, but even still ... I think it would take a really big change to achieve that level of trust back home ...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... or maybe September ...

After spending the vast majority of the winter months that I have had a chance to participate in exceptionally harsh environments, I have to say that the weather here in Japan is throwing me for a bit of a loop. Obviously, there is a pretty wide range of possible climates in Japan, everything from arctic to tropical ... but for me, it is a bit of a new experience.

Today is December the 24th and the temperature has not been below 45 degrees ... not even once. And 45 is a bit of a rarity ... most days it is pleasant during the day and at night, you can get the crisp air that I have become accustomed to in earlier months like September back home.

Because of this effect, I find it impossible to discern what season it is ... for one thing, time has seemingly gone into warp speed ... as I have now been here for 2 months, but it feels like I only left yesterday. Additionally, with the weather not cooperating I still feel like it is the fall ... not like it is Christmas Eve ... I will be honest that the effect is somewhat un-nerving.

In Japan, I was expecting that there wouldn't be that much of a deal made out of the christmas season, but it seems that the Japanese embrace it almost as we do. All of the streets are adorned with lights and other decorations. They play Christmas music in the stores, and also ... they have all kinds of sales and special Christmas advertisements ... just like home. If anything, the season appears to start earlier here than it does in the US, which I find hard to believe.

Of course, in Japan, Christmas is just like any other day of the year. It isn't a holiday in the sense that you get to stay home from work, but there are parties and Christmas dinners, and obviously you exchange gifts with those whom you are closest. In some ways it does feel like home. But at the same time it does not ...

The main reason for this is probably that I am very far away from my family and friends, and this time of year is one filled with all manner of family get together, which I always thoroughly enjoy. But there is something else too ... I am not quite sure what it is ...

At any rate, I am looking forward to a relaxing break which I think I have earned, so to everyone I want to extend my wishes for a happy and healthy holiday.

Until next time ...

Using the Toilet in Japan

The second most terrifying thing that you will inevitably have to do in Japan is use the toilet.

The Japanese are very 'in-to' their control pads.  There are control pads for the floor, the bath tub, the air conditioning, the motion detecting lights, the drier room and also the toilet.

It is a bit daunting at first, because once you sit down, there is a proximity sensor in the seat, which detects your presence and starts to run the 'deodorizing' system, which as best I can tell is just a vent which sprays some freshening agent every so often ... however being in the delicate situation that you are in, it is a little unnerving to hear noises of things moving around beneath you.

Once you get over this, you realize that the seat is nice and warm, thanks to the heating circuits that are installed in the seat.

After you have finished your business, there are many options for refreshing your backside before you continue on your day.  Some of the picture descriptions look downright terrifying, but I can assure you that they are all rather pleasant.  You simply need to trust that no matter what you hear happening, you will emerge safely from the experience (unless you decide to stand up early, in which case you will spray water everywhere).  True to form, you can adjust the water pressure, and temperature of the backside bath, as well as position the nozzle to where you feel you need it the most, or if you prefer you can engage an oscillating program, which covers all of the bases.

After you have completed your task and stand up, the proximity sensor detects that you are no longer near the commode & flushes it automatically for you.  Also, there is a faucet located on top of the toilet, so you can wash your hands without ever having to touch the water controls.

All in all, it's a pretty slick system, I am seriously considering digging my toilet up and bringing it back with me to the US.  I think that I could install it in a public place & make a lot of money selling people the chance to use it.  What do you guy's think?

Throwing Away Trash in Japan

This is by far the most terrifying thing that I have had to do in Japan.  It doesn't seem like it should be very complicated, however in Japan, people take their rubbish very seriously.

One of the first things that you notice about Japan is that it is incredibly clean.  Even in the city where I live, it is rare to find garbage on the streets, and invariably, every morning on my way to work, I run into the same store keepers meticulously cleaning the side walk and even the street in front of their stores.

The second thing you notice about Japan is that there are no trash cans ... anywhere.  Not on the streets, not in the stores, not even in the restrooms ... so how is it possible that they can keep it so clean, if there is no where to throw out a piece of gum?  Well, the answer is that they hold on to their trash & throw it away at home.  Instead of spitting their gum into a tree, or on the street, the Japanese roll it up into a paper & throw it away when they get home.  That is an incredible concept for anyone who has walked in basically any city in the US and has seen all of the exhausted gum on the streets and sidewalks for your friends and neighbors to step in ...

Once you get home however, the process is nothing but straight forward.  They have (and I am not exaggerating) 13 different types of trash.  Each needs to be separated into unique piles / bags, and disposed of on a different day of the week.  There are paper cartons, paper cartons with aluminum lining, plastic products, plastic containers, PET bottles, metal containers, burnable trash, non burnable trash, pressurized spray bottles ... and so on ... each with it's own set of unique instructions on how to bundle and dispose of it.  It is quite a daunting task.

The next fun part is that if you don't separate your trash well enough, it will be returned to you, free of charge, for you to try again next week.  Fortunately that hasn't happened to me yet, and I hope it never does, but I have heard stories from some other people who it has happened to.

At any rate, it seems to work well & it is nice in some ways that they try to recycle so much stuff ... I just hope that I can maintain my record & not have to re package my refuse for the duration of my stay...

My Life in Japan without a Car

After 2 weeks of commuting in Japan on a daily basis, I have reached the conclusion that I don't need to have a car ... well at least not based on my current situation.  Public transportation in Japan is so convenient, that it is crazy.  Despite the fact that my commute time has increased from basically 20 min to a little more than an hour, I can't really say that I have noticed much.

In the mornings, the trains are very frequent (roughly once every 8 minutes) so you never really wait too long.  Plus, if you miss a train, you can stop and grab a coffee to make up the difference in time.  I get on the train early enough that it's possible for me to find a seat & that means that I can use the time to study my Japanese, which means that usually I have to figure out how to say the thing that I couldn't say yesterday.  It is definitely helping, and even if it is longer, it's much more relaxing to sit on a train & not think about where you are going, than it is to drive & constantly be yelling at the people around you (at least that is usually how it works when I drive ...)

On the way home, you have to be a little flexible, because the trains aren't as frequent, but as long as you can time your exit from work to meet the train schedule, it's basically no problem.  On the way home, usually I have been reading a book for pleasure.  I would like to be able to study some Japanese, however my brain is way too tired for that at the end of the day ...

Admittedly, there are some places where I am planning to go, that are not really accessible by public transportation.  In these circumstances, I can simply rent a car for a weekend in order to accomplish my goals.  It is a little bit of a hassle, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's an unwelcome compromise.

The side benefit to this, is that I am walking a lot more than I used to.  Even after only 2 weeks, I am noticing that I have more energy & I am actually in better condition for the other activities that I do (playing soccer, running ... etc ...).  I guess it makes a big difference, but I figure I'm walking an extra 3 to 4 miles per day than I used to.

At any rate, I haven't driven a car in 2 weeks & I'm loving every minute of it!!!

Taking a Bath in Japan

In the United States (or anywhere else for that matter) I’ve often been in the kitchen preparing breakfast when I suddenly realize that what I really want is a nice bath.  Then, I quickly realize that I am in the kitchen, and the bath tub was in the bath room, so in order for me to achieve my goal, I would have to walk all the way to the tub, turn on the water, wait for it to heat up to an appropriate temperature, then allow the tub to fill … but not too far and return to the kitchen to eat something (because now I realize that I am starving) and then slip into the tub and enjoy my bath.

In Japan, the situation is quite different.  In Japan, you can fill up your bath tub directly from the kitchen.  Not only can you fill it up, but you can also determine precisely what temperature you would like your water to be at, precision to 1°C.  Furthermore, no need to worry about the tub overflowing, because you simply select the volume of water that you’d like to put in the tub, within 1L.  I can see this being very useful.

Obviously I am overreacting just a little bit, but I think that it’s actually a pretty good concept, one that we should consider importing to the US.  The real reason for this key pad is that there is no hot water unless you flip the switch and turn the water heater on.  This is a particularly interesting idea for someone like me, who will only need the hot water for about 30 min per day … Ultimately, it will save me a lot of ¥ on the gas and electricity bills, but more importantly I am not wasting energy keeping a pool of water hot that I might not use for days.

The water heats up pretty quickly, within a minute or two of when you turn it on, but you have a lot of control over the temperature.  This is very helpful once you determine what you want for a bath / shower temp.  Also, if you are just washing some dishes, there is no need to make it as hot.

At any rate, this was an interesting discovery, and one that I plan to make a lot of use out of.