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Japan| | It is 3am and, as usual, since I have returned from my three week visit of Japan, I am bright-eyed and full of energy at this unthinkable hour of the day! Infact, the clinic where I seldom work, called to see if I could come in because they were very short-handed tonight, and I gave them an enthusiastic, "Yes!!!" that I could work because I was hoping that by working, I would tire myself out enough to sleep a whole night tonight- wrong! Oh well, it was worth a try...
It has been fourteen years since I lived in Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan. Some places have changed alot. Other places seem to have stood still. While I am bright eyed and busy tailed, I am going to jot down some of the differences I have noticed on my world wind tour of Hokkaido.
SHIMOKAWA
I shall begin with Shimokawa as it was the city that I taught English in and I am most endeared to. The Board of Education and all the teachers have changed, but that is, of course, due to the fact that teachers in Japan have to move every four years. It must be a drag to be a family member of a teacher!
Also, on a less obvious note, the town has dwindled from 5,000 to less than 4,000. There are so few jobs available in Hokkaido that most of the younger generation move to Tokyo. At this rate, I fear the town will become a ghost-town in my life-time.
The super market has closed down. However, I saw there were two new small stores and also a Seico Mart (convenience store). There are Seico Marts everywhere in Hokkaido! Who needs Walmart when there is a Seico Mart??? (Hokkaido also has "7 Eleven" but it is called "7 & Holdings" although the grocery bag says "7 Eleven". I don't feel that 7 Eleven has a chance compared to Seico Mart though, 7 Eleven doesn't seem to carry quite a selection of goods; for example, they don't carry any diet soda, which, in my humble opinion, is a bummer.
When I moved to Shimokawa fourteen years ago, I was told that it was so remote that they had quit train service to Shimokawa. However, the train tracks were still there. Now, I found that they had pulled up the train tracks. I found that rather depressing as I believe Japan's INFRASTRUCTURE was build on trains and bicycles.
One of the few postive things I noticed about Shimokawa was that they now use computers and have high speed internet! Impressive!
Also, they finished the Great Wall of Shimokawa and finished the Ice Candle Museum. When I was there, someone had referred to the Wall as the "Small Wall of Shimokawa". Now, though, it is a full two kilometers long which is as long as the Chinese Government will allow. Oh, I happened to find my name inscribed on the wall fourteen years and ten days before! Can you believe that? It used to be free to inscribe one's name on the Wall, but now it was about 3500 yen (35.00 Dollars) to inscribe one's name. And, in olden times, you could inscribe on the actual rocks that make up the wall, but now you sign a sheet of paper and then it is somehow traced with a machine onto a small pillar on top of the wall somewhere.
For the most part, though, Shimokawa seems to have stood still. Apollo Restaurant is still there, and the owner remembered exactly how I used to like my chicken and he made it with the fried chicken on the side rather than covered in curry. He remembered that my husband always liked the curry and made him a big bowl of it. Oh, and he still serves the scrambled eggs with ketchup and half a banana on the side. Also, the kids enjoyed his classic pizza which I mention only because no other restaurant served pizza in Japan unless, I suppose, it is strictly a "Pizza Restaurant". From an old photo, I did notice that some pictures of fish are now gone from the wall by his coffee cup cabinet. But we saw that the coffee grinder is still located in the same spot... Oh, he said his kids are grown now... moved to Tokyo, I think...
The hospital is the same. Dr. Noda who used to treat me when I was sick, is still there, and coincidentally, treated my 5 year old who caught a viral and also got sick. The nurses still wear white uniforms, but I saw a few nurses wearing white pants rather than dresses. The hospital seems to have been standing, frozen in time, since World War II. The doors, however, are now automatic, and seem vaguely out of place in the tired, old, delapidated hospital.
The small fourplex that I used to live in is still there. The present AET (Assistand English Teacher) graciously showed us the place, and amazingly, the house now has a toilet! It now has plumbing! The toilet used to resemble an out-house. Infact, a truck would come house to house and literally suck up the wastage out of each toilet. (Each house has a big round metal lid near their front door- the truck would attach a hose to it and suck up the wastage)
The house seems to have weathered fourteen years of AET's all right. The remarkably tiny kitchen has not changed at all. It contains the same wall paper, same ugly yellow linoleum, same cabinet. Even the dining room table seems to be the same table although the chairs are different. There had been a lovely garden in front of the fourplex- it is now gone, though.
Some parts of Hokkaido have changed. But Shimokawa, seemed to have stood still except that we have all gotten a little older. It is also worth mentioning that my eldest son, Benjamin, was born in Japan fourteen years ago. He was actually born in Nayoro, the next city, because it had a large hospital; however the blue-eyed baby was quite popular in Shimokawa. That blue-eyed baby is still quite popular in Shimokawa although those blue-eyes have long since turned hazel, and he is now taller than his mom who is sitting here writing this story...
NAYORO
I didn't spend alot of time in Nayoro, but it is worth mentioning that the large, delapidated hospital that Benjamin was born in, has been torn down and rebuilt. It is technically the same hospital, but it is a different building. It is good that they built a new hospital as the old one had literally been there since World War II. The head boards on the old beds were rusty, and don't even think that they had beds that would move up and down! I was a nurse who had taken time off to be an Assistant English Teacher in Japan, and I gave birth while there and needed an emergency C-section...I could handle anything but the only thing I really needed was a bed that would move up and down! (I also missed pain medication, but Japan has socialized medicine, so you can't expect too much). It is also worth mentioning, however, that they did give me and my child wonderful care.
So, we returned to Nayoro to show Benjamin where his roots were.
There is a large department store in Nayoro called, "Seibu". It is still thriving. They used to have Mos Burger inside the store, but it has been replaced by a whole row of various fast food shops including Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Donut Shop. There is also a Farmer's Restaurant that serves Emu meat that I had wanted to eat at because I knew someone who knew someone else who worked there, but it was closed.
We had found Benjamin a small bear pillow at Seibu when he was a baby, and he LOVED that pillow. Infact, I had someone send him another one when it got raggedy. Well, we could not find that pillow at any other department store in Japan, but we found it again at Seibu and gave it to our five year old who is sleeping on it at this moment...
ASAHIKAWA
It used to be that as women became older, their dress color would gradually darken. For example, teenagers would wear bright clothes, middle aged women would soften their colors, and they would be wearing greys and blacks by the time they were old women. Also, the old ladies would still often wear kimonos.
But clothing has changed! The girls wear black and white striped clothes, and it is not unusual at all to see young women wearing pink hair or other various colors. We saw one girl that had hair (fur???) on her sandals! She reminded me of XXXXXXXXXX
Even the old women wear flashy clothes. One old lady had purple hair! And I saw no old lady wearing a kimono.
Probably the biggest change that people complain about in Japan (and I include it in the paragraph about Asahikawa simply because it was the largest city I stayed in and therefore had larger problems than a smaller city) is a decrease in basic morality. Fourteen years ago, everyone left their doors unlocked, now people lock their doors at night. Fourteen years ago, someone could accidentally leave their bag at the bus station, and return later to find the bag untouched, sitting in the same spot. But now, it would be gone in a flash!
We cannot say that Japan has lost her Christian Heritage, for she was certainly never a Christian country. She has lost something, but I don't know what exactly it is that she has lost. Whatever it is, though, I admit that my country has lost for sometime- and much longer than merely than fourteen years...
The best thing I, as a Gaijin (foreigner) noticed, was that Asahikawa has signs in Japanese and also in Romagii- Romagii means "Roman letters" meaning it is spelled in A,B,C's. Fourteen years ago, I could get lost very easily trying to read Japanese signs, but now it is not so easy to get lost.
| | | Posted 6/16/2006 5:52 AM - 1 View - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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