Slow Bullets: A blog site by novelist John Rachel: Japanese customs

Showing posts with label Japanese customs. Show all posts

Thursday, August 8, 2024

LIVE FROM JAPAN! Revisited Redux

I again want to send some love to the wonderful fans of LIVE FROM JAPAN!

My my how time flies! LIVE FROM JAPAN! was published end of January, 2021. I sent the first shot of love here to the fans of the book June 2023. Then, as now, I let everyone know that the saga continues, as I regularly post articles on new happenings and my evolving perspective on life here as an American expat.

While I believe my understanding of and appreciation for the customs and people of Japan is always growing in depth and subtlety, one thing has not changed: I love living here!

There’s no simple explanation for this. All I can suggest is read my book, then read the articles that have subsequently appeared. Judge for yourself..

Here is the entire list of “living in Japan” essays that have appeared on this website, to date:

All of those were written after this splendid book got published. My way of keeping you up to date and hopefully dazzled and delighted.

If you don’t have a copy, you have no idea what you’re missing. Time to remedy that. You can order it from your local book store or visit one of these sites:

An Apple iBOOK is available HERE.

A B&N Nook Book is available HERE.

Other popular ebook formats are available HERE.

A deluxe full-color paperback from the printer HERE.

A deluxe paperback is available from Amazon HERE.

A deluxe full-color paperback is available from B&N HERE.

ENJOY!

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

LIVE FROM JAPAN! Revisited Redux | John Rachel

Friday, June 16, 2023

LIVE FROM JAPAN! Revisited

I want to send some love to the wonderful fans of LIVE FROM JAPAN!

First, I thank all of you for the enormous outpouring of praise for my book. All 5-star reviews at Barnes & Noble. Fifteen 5-star reviews at Amazon. More satisfying than charts and book sales is knowing that people truly enjoyed the book. That’s the main and certainly most important reason for writing it in the first place.

Beyond my heartfelt gratitude, I want to remind everyone who has an interest in learning about the “real Japan”, that my sharing my unique life and experiences did not end with writing LIVE FROM JAPAN!

Since it was published in February 2021, I’ve continued to write articles and post them here at this website. Like the book, it’s a mixed bag of anecdotes about both life in my traditional rural town, and stories of travel and news from other parts of Japan.

I’ll make this very easy. Here is a list of all the articles to date, starting with the most recent:

All of those were written after this splendid book got published. My way of keeping you up to date and hopefully dazzled and delighted.

If you don’t have it and want the experience of holding it in your hands, here are the links:

An Apple iBOOK is available HERE.

A B&N Nook Book is available HERE.

Other popular ebook formats are available HERE.

A deluxe full-color paperback from the printer HERE.

A deluxe paperback is available from Amazon HERE.

A deluxe full-color paperback is available from B&N HERE.

ENJOY!

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

LIVE FROM JAPAN! Revisited | John Rachel

Monday, April 10, 2023

Life In Japan: Nagasaki Streetcars

Japan is among the most technologically advanced countries in the world. It has phenomenal IT, the most efficient transportation system, including 3,384 km (2103 miles) of high-speed rail lines, with beautiful sleek “bullet trains” traveling at up to 320 km/hr (199 mph).

Japan has a robust high-technology manufacturing sector, which includes many world-class electronics firms like Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Sharp, NEC, Canon, Nintendo, Toshiba, Casio. And it’s home to many major automobile manufactures — Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki.

At the same time, it is a “hybrid” society which is protective of age-old customs and traditions, preserving those legacy institutions and practices which are defining characteristics of Japan as a nation and culture.

I had a dramatic reminder of this ability to balance the efficiency and appeal of the modern with the utility and charm of the traditional, in my first-time visit to Nagasaki last weekend.

Streetcars!

There are dozens of streetcars — also called trams — rumbling and squeaking and clanking all throughout downtown Nagasaki. And it’s definitely the best way to get around. They’re fun and very inexpensive. Regardless of distance, it’s 140 yen ($1.05) for adults, 70 yen for children. You get on. You get where you’re going. You get off. And how convenient! No descent into the cavern of a subway. Just stand at one of the many stations spaced every two or three blocks — which are everywhere — climb aboard, check in with a pre-pay electronic card like the one I have (beep!), which incidentally works on every public train, subway, bus or tram everywhere in Japan . . .

Then pay on your way out (beep!), smile at the driver, step down to the station platform. You’re on your way. To Chinatown, Glover Garden, Peace Park, the central train station, wherever.

Mind you, the streetcar system is over a century old. But it still works and apparently city planners regard it as a part of Nagasaki history they see no need to retire.

The message is this: You can leave your heart in San Francisco. No problem.

Just come to Nagasaki! They have streetcars, no homeless and nobody is packing a gun.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Life In Japan: Nagasaki Streetcars | John Rachel

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Life In Japan: Festival of the Portable Shrines 2022

It seems like here in Japan we're always having some holiday or festival. There sure is a lot going on to keep the smiles fresh and the video cameras rolling.

I've written before -- in fact feature it in LIVE FROM JAPAN! -- about the festival we just had this past weekend. This year, it was slightly scaled down from what has been held in the past, presumably because of Covid-19. We don't really have much of a crisis over the dread bioweapon but Japan plays on the side of cautious.

We spent most of our time on what's nicknamed "Merchant Street", a narrow and extremely charming roadway which looks the way it did a century ago, especially since the city last summer buried all of the electrical and communication cabling underground. Wheeled portable shrines (as opposed to ones carried by twenty to thirty inebriated celebrants) paraded up and down the street. In the carriage on top, children played flutes, chimes and various rhythm instruments. Since the vehicles have no steering mechanism -- true to a design that must go back a few centuries -- they have to be elevated and rotated by hand to change direction.

Rather than try to describe this unorthodox procedure, it'll be much easier to just show you.

After rolling up and down Merchant Street, the seven or eight wheeled shrines then headed toward the center of town, where they similarly paraded the greater length of our main street. People were in town from all over, both for the festival and to buy soybeans, an item Tambasasayama is famous across Japan for.

One final aside. Because the main street in town still has electrical wires criss-crossing its entire length, there is a tall crown which must be removed from the portable shrines. They are called 'hoko' and are displayed in storefronts along the way. They look like the one pictured here.

So that's it for now . . . until next year!

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Life In Japan: Festival of the Portable Shrines 2022 | John Rachel

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Life In Japan: Where Aging Is Valued

Yesterday was a national holiday here in Japan.

I didn’t give it much thought. Of course, I was extremely glad that Masumi, my wife, had time off from teaching school, and we could spend the entire day together. Moreover, a major typhoon was heading our way, so we were preoccupied with preparing the house and garden for a combative assault by Mother Nature.

Then the doorbell rang. I answered it and there stood a gentleman from my local village. He handed me the gift package pictured above. Then it hit me . . .

It’s Respect for the Aged Day!

As I’ve explained before, national holidays here in Japan are by Western standards rather unique. Overall they are not nationalistic. They are more cultural. But they’re not like Mother’s Day or Father’s in the West, which are more like National Cat Day or National Talk in An Elevator Day, which aren’t official holidays at all. These national holidays, which celebrate everything from coming of age (turning 20) to mountains and children, are official holidays! The banks, post offices and most businesses are closed.

Now get this! Because yesterday was Respect for the Aged Day, every person in my small city of about 50,000 people who was 75 or over, received a gift package from the city. Let that sink in!

The package consisted of Japanese tea, and various treats. There were a couple cakes that were scrumptious! But I admit that I find some snacks here a little odd. In this package, there were seaweed crackers, pancakes filled with red bean sauce, green tea flavored udon (noodles). What you see on the right is kelp candy. No, that’s not a typo. It’s chewy candy made from kelp, harvested from the sea. It’s like munching on licorice that has no flavor.

As they say, it’s the thought that counts. And the thought here is one of extraordinary generosity and kindness.

By the way, there was a special letter included in the box. It conveyed a charming message of appreciation. Paraphrasing, it said: “You’ve lived many years, faced difficult challenges in your life, struggled against adversity. The people of Tambasasayama want to thank you for your hard work and your dedication and service to others. May you continue in good health and live a long and happy life.”

As ‘racism’ is discrimination based on race, in the West, ‘ageism’ is discrimination based on age. Someone is elderly, thus they are not accorded the same rights and courtesies as someone younger. They are dismissed personally as less able, and socially as less worthy. But here in Japan, ‘ageism’ — if there is such a thing — has the opposite effect. Ageism here accords an elderly person greater respect, preferential treatment, additional courtesies and admiration based on their advanced age.

What a completely different, and for me at 76, awe-inspiring attitude! Getting older may be inevitable. But in Japan, it doesn’t equate to being “disappeared” or forced to live in the margins of someone else’s life. The kids here don’t shuttle mom and dad off to some convalescent home when they get old, then visit them once a month, if they’re not too busy. The kids here make a room for them in their own home and they all live together again as a family.

Let that sink in!

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Life In Japan: Where Aging Is Valued | John Rachel

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Love Connection: Coming in ????

My latest novel, Love Connection: Romance in the Land of the Rising Sun, was originally supposed to come out in February. Then publication was moved to April. Then July. Now we are targeting November.

The holdup has been . . . well, life on this chaotic planet during these turbulent times.

Let me explain.

Before a novel becomes available to the public, it’s released to a select group of readers. They are given advance reader copies — ARCs — to provide a number of things to us. First, any constructive criticism of the book is welcome, i.e. glaring inconsistencies in characters or plot; typos; mistakes and anomalies the editor may have missed; did the book meet whatever expectations the reader might have had? Second, suggestions for improvements are always helpful. Did the story drag in parts? Is the cover unappealing? Should the book be longer? Shorter? Third, in the hope that the reader found the novel delightful, exciting, moving, eye-opening, life-changing, whatever, positive comments, preferably short and catchy, are much appreciated. These will appear on the inside cover as “blurbs” when the book is finally published. I’m sure you’ve seen them before. Here’s an example of one I already received for Love Connection . . .

“One of the most distinctive and enjoyable aspects of Rachel’s novel is his voice, which travels confidently between the serious and humorous. It’s a good balance, and the writing itself is lively from start to finish, which is no easy thing.” – David Joiner

Thanks, David!

But here’s my problem, and what’s been holding up the book.

Over twenty ARCs were sent out in February. Sadly, we’ve only gotten feedback from five folks. We like to have at least 12 to 15, not just for the blurbs, but to get a range of opinion and feedback on the story, writing, presentation. People are simply not available.

I understand. I don’t think it’s the fault of the book. Like I said, it’s life . . . Covid-19, war, inflation, lockdowns, bankruptcies, all of the craziness we’ve been subjected to for over two years now. Who has time to read a novel? Who can concentrate?

Here’s my offer to you, which will hopefully lead to a solution for us. If anyone out there is interested in reading this book, let me know. I can send either a paperback to hold in your hands, or a PDF to read on your computer, tablet, or book reader. I’m shooting for fifteen more folks to dive into my story, take the ride, have fun, and then tell me what they think.

By the way, and this is important . . .

Love Connection, despite the sub-title, IS NOT A ROMANCE. Not in the traditional sense. I don’t want to give too much away, because a major part of the appeal of the story is the suspense. In fact, it’s more of a “true crime” suspense novel than a romance.

Plus there are many changes of scene. Though it mainly takes place in Japan — and you’ll get a healthy dose of what Japanese people are really like and what it’s like to live here — there’s some serious globe trotting: to Germany, France, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya. Trust me, you won’t be bored. And the ending! I think when you discover where this whole convoluted adventure eventually ends up, you’ll be quite shocked. Amazingly, this aspect of the storyline is based on real events which have taken place here in Japan.

Hey! What have you got to lose? A few hours? I know it’s not easy with all the distractions and turmoil to sit down and read a book. But look at it as an opportunity to get away from all the distractions and turmoil.

If you’re interested, let me know. It’s first come, first serve. Limited at most to 20 more people. Folks who agree with Groucho Marx when he said . . .

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”

Email me at john@jdrachel.com or leave a message with an American Embassy near you.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Love Connection: Coming in ???? | John Rachel