Views of Japan

Views of Japan you won't find in guide books!

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2036 posts tagged Japan

Looking through my wife’s school yearbook, my aunt from Scotland asked, “Why is nobody smiling at all? Everyone looks so angry or upset, some even look constipated! And the teachers look as if they are in the military, with stern looks and rigid postures.”

My wife replied, “Because they are happy.”

The Japanese do not smile often, and when they do it is not for the reasons that people from other cultures smile. Most other people smile when they are happy. Japanese people do not. 

The Japanese are taught not to express their feelings, and so smiling is frowned upon. Japanese culture is a silent culture. No matter how many problems they bear, they bear them silently.

When a Japanese person makes a mistake and is embarrassed or is upset, then they might smile! It’s not a smile of happiness however, but one of shame. It is a facade. A mask. It hides their true feelings. 

The Japanese and the afterlife. Casually called shigo no sekai (the world after death) or more commonly Yomi no kuni (the land of darkness) the Japanese believed from early times that there is a place where the “souls” of the dead dwell. Floating around in a kind of limbo. The traditional Shintõ belief is that “souls” of the dead float about and gradually lose their individuality and then, after the 33rd anniversary of their death, they merge completely with the “souls” of their ancestors in the death realm. These souls are then able to keep watch over living people, and they are believed to be able to visit their descendants on earth over the New Year holiday season and also during the Obon period when a link is opened between this world and world of the dead. Traditional Buddhism taught the idea of reincarnation/rebirth and the Japanese adapted this to fit in with their belief in “souls.” Buddhism introduced the idea that a person may be reborn into one of many possible realms, and this is held by some Buddhist sects. The predominant Japanese Buddhist belief though is that various hell realms exist, not unlike the Christian/Greek notion, and that in contrast a heavenly realm known as the Buddha’s Pure Land also exists.  Most Japanese believe that during the 49 days after a person has died, known as the “Period of Intermediate Existence” (not unlike the Christian idea of purgatory), the “souls” of the dead pass through mountains and then cross a river (Sanza no kawa) before being judged by the Buddhist god Emma (in the photo above) and assigned to a new realm for their next life. 

The Japanese and the afterlife.

Casually called shigo no sekai (the world after death) or more commonly Yomi no kuni (the land of darkness) the Japanese believed from early times that there is a place where the “souls” of the dead dwell. Floating around in a kind of limbo.

The traditional Shintõ belief is that “souls” of the dead float about and gradually lose their individuality and then, after the 33rd anniversary of their death, they merge completely with the “souls” of their ancestors in the death realm.

These souls are then able to keep watch over living people, and they are believed to be able to visit their descendants on earth over the New Year holiday season and also during the Obon period when a link is opened between this world and world of the dead.

Traditional Buddhism taught the idea of reincarnation/rebirth and the Japanese adapted this to fit in with their belief in “souls.” Buddhism introduced the idea that a person may be reborn into one of many possible realms, and this is held by some Buddhist sects.

The predominant Japanese Buddhist belief though is that various hell realms exist, not unlike the Christian/Greek notion, and that in contrast a heavenly realm known as the Buddha’s Pure Land also exists. 

Most Japanese believe that during the 49 days after a person has died, known as the “Period of Intermediate Existence” (not unlike the Christian idea of purgatory), the “souls” of the dead pass through mountains and then cross a river (Sanza no kawa) before being judged by the Buddhist god Emma (in the photo above) and assigned to a new realm for their next life. 

Kashiya yokocho in Kawagoe, Tõkyõ.

The production of lollies and sweets favoured in Edo (Tõkyõ) began around the end of the Edo period (1600-1868) in Kashiya yokocho in Kawagoe. This area of narrow lane ways was influenced by British and European confectionary.

Kashiya yokocho soon came to supply the entire country and in the early Showa period (1926-1989) there were over 700 stores and confectionary manufacturers. 

In the foyer of Hiratsuka City Office, a reminder of why the locals will NEVER welcome foreigners. The entire city will never forget the bombing of WW II. 

The locals go through pains to remind foreigners of the bombings of WW II and the suffering of the people of Hiratsuka. 

Inside the Hiratsuka City Office, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa prefecture. This place is like stepping back in time. The whole place is like being back in the 1960’s! Mountains of paper, old maps that smell, piles of old books with the city ordinances, filing cabinets crammed with application forms, it is certainly not what you would expect of Japan. Rather, it always made me feel I was back in the Philippines.  And just to prove that Hiratsuka can uphold the image of being rather outdated and backward - staff are still using Windows 2000! 

Inside the Hiratsuka City Office, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa prefecture. This place is like stepping back in time. The whole place is like being back in the 1960’s! Mountains of paper, old maps that smell, piles of old books with the city ordinances, filing cabinets crammed with application forms, it is certainly not what you would expect of Japan. Rather, it always made me feel I was back in the Philippines. 

And just to prove that Hiratsuka can uphold the image of being rather outdated and backward - staff are still using Windows 2000! 

Bõsõzoku incident

On our way to the department store tonight we saw that an accident had occurred on a narrow stretch of road at an intersection. There were two police cars, a few police, and a bike was being taped off by the police. A car was embedded in a stone wall, and the rescue squad was trying to get a passenger out. It didn’t look good. There were a few Bõsõzoku (violent running gang) members crowded around a few blocks away as we left the scene, so we immediately thought it may have had something to do with them.

When we returned along that same road after some shopping we expected that the accident would have been cleared and the traffic restored. What greeted us as we rounded the corner looked like a scene straight out of a movie!

The was a line of twenty police cars and a riot squad bus. The riot squad was there in their full gear with shields and batons drawn. As we were waved by a policeman wielding a glowing baton to take a side street, we could see that a huge group of Bõsõzoku had formed and were taunting police with insults. They were waving bokken (wooden swords), baseball bats and knives. They looked very aggravated and threatening with their gang jackets and face masks. The riot squad was forming a line and trying to hem them in, but there were bikes all over the place and it looked to me that the Bõsõzoku far outnumbered the police.

Heading down the side street we saw that the locals had been gathered by the police at a shrine a little way down the street and they didn’t look at all happy at having to leave their houses for these arseholes who all so often wreak havoc in our neighbourhoods.

Tomorrows papers will fill us in on the details, or maybe then again they may not. The police do their best to make sure these types of incidents don’t make the news.