10 year anniversary of living in Japan

Ten years ago I hopped on a plane heading to Tokyo to start my life again on a different continent for the second time. Today 10 years later looking back is simply wonderful, because in no way I regret the decision to choose Tokyo as my home. After living in Los Angeles (California, United States of America) for about 6 years, plus being exposed to how much the US society is changing after the 911 incident, the time felt right to follow my heart and move to the city I was so badly homesick for: Tokyo.
As it was not my first trans-continental move, I felt better prepared on what I might have to face. As my preparation I got a place to live and a job lined up, but after having given notice to my then employer that I will not extend the yearly contract, the company I was supposed to work for in Tokyo decided not to hire me at the last second. Here I was in Los Angeles without a job in Japan or my present location, having sold off or given away as much as possible of my possessions: Should I take the risk and jump into the unknown or try to re-establish myself in a known environment???
As you can guess, I took the risk and jumped into an unknown future. Getting a job and rebuilding my life in Japan was not easy at all, but worthwhile to do. For sure I learned my lesson that although I had adjusted to a different culture in the past, redoing it in Japan does not mean that I am better prepared for or that I can speed up the process. Adjusting to a local culture takes at least a year, no matter what.
Looking back now, let me list the top 3 best and worst experiences of living in Japan:

Best memories/plus points:

1. Found a home with heartful friends and the best hubby on the planet (!), a place where I feel accepted as a foreigner, plus Japan is giving me much freedom to be myself without too many questions asked
2. Although I complain from time to time about the climate, having so much sunshine in Tokyo is just wonderful. I cannot help but feel happy and optimistic.
3. Actually a constant process: Being forced to reconsider my viewpoints or perception on what I perceive as “correct” daily. There is not a day going by when I am not learning from Japan or the Japanese society to keep my mind open and consider a totally different viewpoint as “correct”, even though it might be completely incompatible with my own view of what is “correct”.

Worst memories/minus points:

1. Realizing how naive I have been about personal safety and health, because I expected someone to look out for me in a worst case scenario (March 11, 2011). Lesson learned: There are limits on what a country or society can do to protect its citizens, I have to do my own share as well. Safety and health protection of myself and the loved ones is my job!
2. Being laid off overnight from my dream job, exactly 2 days before moving in with my partner, now hubby, facing the situation of ZERO income for the near future. Lesson learned: Being truly grateful for having had the chance to experience my dream job. Looking back now, although the “plusses” of my dream job were great, considering all the drive needed to make it work, plus the responsibilities took a toll on my personality and health. I had paid my price to fulfill a dream of mine, but learned it is not worth for me. Further being forced to live off your savings solely has changed my approach to financial security.
3. Sometimes it can be hard to remind myself that I am a visitor in a foreign country and that unless I am a citizen of the country, there are topics or viewpoints that can be only discussed as local nationals. What I can say in our own four walls is not always appropriate outside.

Overall I am very happy for the 10 year anniversary in Japan. Tokyo is my home and a lot of Japanese culture got permanently absorbed in my heart. For sure I am open and curious what the future will bring.

Brought to you from a very happy Sibylle Ito (伊藤シビル)

Tokyo saw its share of snow, plus suprises!

For me a huge reason why I enjoy living in Tokyo is that winters are comfortable. The temperatures go during the cold season below a truly comfortable level – personally I prefer the range of 20-30 degrees Celsius – but I never have to deal with the long periods of grey sky and no sun, lots of snow that melts easily letting your feet feel inside the shoes like a ice block. For sure the Swiss winter I will never miss! Rather seldom it snows in Tokyo and yesterday evening looking outside felt like being in mid Advent waiting for the Holiday Season to start.
I truly enjoyed being inside, not being exposed to the weather and then suddenly a long, noisy explosion sound that seemed to much very much like a roar of a dragon! What happened? What kind of explosion could be? Looking outside of the window showed no difference to the usual, apart from lots of snow falling. Strange sound, but because I could not figure it out, I went back to work. “Wham” again, this time shorter and less intensive. I truly had no clue what is going on.
Later on talking to others, plus then on twitter from the wonderful twitter buddy “@kbrmct” I have learned that actually thunder can occur during snow storms. Moreover looking at the data provided by a nice Twitter buddy, I have learned that actually in Niigata (an area famous for lots of snow) more thunders occur in winter than in summer. Have a look at the graph below, which compared Niigata and Maebashi (city in Kanto area).

In blue Niigata shows the highest number of thunder in December and then Maebashi in the hot summer month of August. More details can be found under chapter 4 on this link from Niigata Local Meteorogical Observatory. For sure I had never expected to hear such a majestic dragon thunder in Tokyo in the winter. I guess it was just perfect timing for the Chinese New Year.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (伊藤　シビル)

A darker Chinese New Year for Tokyo?

Since late December I wonder what is going on with the local economy. As a simple example I am surprised that this year at my local supermarket Aeon I cannot find any surprising great deals. A year earlier, I had noticed several offers of clothes or food so amazing, even though I did not really need to buy these goods then, the quality/price offer caused me to buy for stock. This year I have observed some sales promotions, but the price ranges are at least 20% higher compare to a year ago. I wonder when prices will drop again, because customers are not buying and the clothes on the racks are still the same since late November. I am speechless, because I have not seen such a slow moving consumer market in Japan so far.
Based on the information from Nikkei Shimbun sales at supermarkets have dropped 0.6% on the year in December to 1.25 trillion yen (fifth straight monthly fall). Or then even worse, sales for all of 2011 fell 0.8% to 12.7 trillion yen, down for the 15th consecutive year. Are we now at a point in time, when no more further costs can be cut and have reached rock bottom in pricing?
The last few years is forcing many Japanese to rethink their viewpoint on their neighbors. Although historically the relationship of Japanese and Chinese has not been so smooth, recently cash rich Chinese came to Ginza to buy an amazing amount of Japanese goods. As a consequence the local economy could profit quite a bit. So far only few local businesses focused their marketing strategy on the present ongoing Chinese New Year. VenusFort in Odaiba has launched an intensive sales campaign targeting Chinese tourists during the Chinese New Year holidays. Quick actions for Eastern Japan is needed, because according to Yomiuri Shimbun the tour routes for Chinese tourists, which were previously concentrated around the Tokyo area, are moving towards the west. It seems that before the nuclear crisis, 70 percent of tour destinations were in eastern Japan and 30 percent in western Japan. Contrary now since the latter half of 2011, these numbers switched so 30 percent were in eastern Japan and 70 percent were in western Japan.
I can only wonder what the near future will bring, because corporate saving rates are up like never before, while I have never seen such a shopping hesitant Japan. When will movements in the market start again?

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤)

Nostalgie is in!

Recently it seems to me that goods related to good old times, like the picture on the side of the promotional flyer of 150 Japanese folk songs (懐かしき日本の歌・第一集), are the new trend. From personal observations I see more products being promoted recently that help to connect to a feeling in the past, when everything seemed fine, less concerns perceived or every day life was much simpler. For those curious to see more details about this example of a unique deal of 7 CDs for a total of JPY 19,000 (additionally promoted with “convenient” 10 times payment of JPY 1980) or then want to see the actual CM shown on Japanese TV, please check out this link. Interestingly the company behind is known for long distance learning: U-can. With an in place well-functioning distribution system, adding products like the one above is a great marketing strategy I can only admire.
For your info the good old times in Japan most commonly refer to the Showa period (December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989): A period in Japanese history known for the economic boom related to the rebuilding (The Japanese Miracle), close-knit community that let Tokyo even feel like a small town or then a strong “let’s try/we can do it” feeling.
Why this boom now? I see two reasons. In the words of a professional Japanese friend: “Japanese society is getting older on average and at the same time the country is becoming more conservative”. Increasingly products for an older generation definitely makes sense, when the manga related younger population in contrast is decreasing, plus they have less and less spendable income in comparison. Secondly, starting last year with the earthquake/disaster the unexpected became a part of daily life. A large society was exposed to uncertainty and concerns about the future. Over time this resulting stress is best resolved with connecting to times, when life had been easy and simple.
Although I have not known the Showa Period myself in Japan, I have to confess my heart gets warm and tears are flowing, when I am exposed to the Showa mood. Rather seldom Showa goods have this effect on me, but movies like ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日 get to my heart. With the third part of this series, I guess I will not be the only one in the cinema with teary eyes and wishing to be sent back to the warmhearted city of Tokyo.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (伊藤シビル)

P.S. I have seen in the meantime the movie ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日64 (reflecting this time the period during the Olympics in Tokyo). For sure it was a heart warming movie and I shed some tears, but I guess it will be more interesting for men than for women. In the movie the classical Japanese gender roles were shown, plus the viewpoint from a child to a young adult had shifted. Men were presented as tight-lipped during critical discussions, when the women were silently in the background.
I am not into souvenirs, but my addiction for the series took over and I needed the clear file as below.

Why is “Japanese High School students” such a highly researched topic?

Although I have never set any focus on the topic of Japanese High School students in my blog, the review tools of WordPress (the used software tool for this blog) shows me that daily at least 7 people come to visit this blog based on their google research topic related Japanese High School students. To be honest with you I cannot understand why. Furthermore after checking what really pops up when looking this topic up on google, I cannot find any connections to my blog on the first few pages. This cannot be and I continued to check for my blog. Guess what on page 38 (!!!) the first link to my blog is found. Most likely it will be as unbelievable for you as for me, have a look below on the search result found on January 17th:

Can you image or understand why someone would bother to go through more than 37 pages of google research pages related to the topic of Japanese High School students? I am flabbergasted. 7 or more people are daily in search of more information on such a topic? Why bother to go to through so many pages and not give up after a few minutes? Getting to google research page 38 takes time! I can only wonder what kind of information seems to be missing on the previous pages. Contact me, if you are curious or have questions in regard to anything related to Japanese High School students. Otherwise, if you have any idea on why the topic of Japanese High School students is such a highly researched topic, please do comment. I honestly have no clue.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Sibylle Ito (伊藤シビル)

How important is it to obey rules in Japan?

Yes, the picture on the side is shaky and not very clear, partially because it was early morning for me when I took the picture, plus this man riding on the subway is just one example of a more and more common sight in Tokyo. There is no need nor importance to actually recognize the shown salary man.
Officially on the line shown in the picture the seats in the car at the back of the train are reserved solely for women from 07:30 to 09:40 in the morning and then after 22:30 in the evening again. The goal is to have a safer environment on trains, so that women are protected from chikan (痴漢, or チカン), simply because groping is still quite common in Japan in packed trains. Let me point out the man depicted on the train has no connection with the topic of groping, contrary he is just an example of a Japanese, who has become less strict about following given rules.
Another example is the increase of the illegal parking in the streets, although stricter rules have been in place the last few years and police in combination with private companies try to track down all the parking offenders, I have not seen much of a change. Potentially main streets have become less crowded on the side, but the picture below shows a typical back street of Tokyo full of illegally parked cars.

I wonder whether the issue is really about breaking a law, but more about trying to make the best out of their own lives. If the other train compartments are too crowded, why not sneak into a women’s car? If you cannot find a quiet spot to park your car for a while so you can sleep, why not doing it in a back street? Moving one step further to a bigger topic: Olympus and Woodford. Where there actually rules broken or simply managers tried their best to keep a company alive with their perceived most suitable approach? While you might have read a lot of other articles, take your time to review the excellent article by Sophie Knight, when talking to Chris Berthelsen, because unlike other articles the Japanese business culture is taken into consideration.

http://thekishicut.com/2012/01/09/was-woodford-tripped-up-by-cultural-misunderstandings/

The more I know and have learned about Japan, now after 10 years I begin to wonder what is more important: Stability and harmony in life and do whatever it takes for the larger share of the company/society to protect it, or follow what is perceived as the “right” rules, even if it negatively affects some innocent bystanders? Is it correct to save hundreds of jobs to keep the economy going even though the law might not be followed properly? Where do you draw the line in a society that has extensive experience in working grey zones. I must say a part of me appreciates life in Japan without the strict Western black and white – right and wrong – approach, but there are times when I get lost in the grey.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (伊藤シビル)

Here we go again…

Today around lunchtime we were jousted up again with fear like many times last year. Honestly I did not expect to hear the same sound again this year… Mobile phones gave this wailing warning signal that a bigger earthquake is expected to hit in the next few seconds. At the end the ground shook less than expected – most likely barely a 2 in Tokyo, but the panic, alert level has not changed compared to last year.
According to the Mainichi Shinbun the earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 jolted northeastern Japan (based on the Japan Meteorological Agency) took place at 12:20 p.m. with a focus off the coast of Fukushima at a depth of about 20 kilometers. More details then otherwise about the location can be found on the link below:

http://typhoon.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/earthquake/20120112122000.html?c=3

Everything is fine and I have no reason to complain. Sometimes I simply wish all the memories related to March 11 2011 would never pop up again.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (伊藤シビル)