Sledding, Skiing, and Snowboarding

            Father Winter has not come yet where I live. We wait and wait but here it is almost the middle of December and only two snow flurries have happened. It didn’t even stay on the ground till morning! I’ll admit I hate the icy winds and the snow that gets inside your hood as much as the next person but this is just unnatural. Without the snow, we’re missing out on all the fun of winter!

I’m not just talking about the holiday season fever of chestnut on a fire and hot coco. No, I’m talking about the best of winter without all that crazy shopping and eating. Winter is great for skiing as an example. Every winter hundreds upon thousands of people go up to the ski resort with some friends to have fun. They go back to the lodge or cafeteria cabin to drink something hot and rest after some fun on the slopes. Thump, thump, thump, their ski or snowboarding boots thud across the floor as a group of friends surge in to the warm lodge. Clumps of snow fall creating slush. Cherry red noses and smiling faces crowd around the fire or the food bar in the lodge. A person can tell who just walked in or has been there a while by how many layers of clothing they have on and how red their cheeks are. When the fun is over they walk back to their cars or wait for a shuttle. Jokes are passed around one last time and even though everyone is exhausted their eyes sparkle with happiness.

Another joy of winter is sledding. There’s no hard chair lift to get you to the top but it’s no less fun due to the extra work. It’s also less expensive if your wallet’s drained of money from Christmas shopping. Heck, even an old cardboard box and the perfect sledding slope with the right kind of snow and poof; a thrilling afternoon with your friends or kids. Even better than cardboard boxes, are inner tubes. They’ll shoot you down any hill faster than a bullet. If you’ve got the double inner tubes you can take a friend on a ride hollering all the way. Children screech with delight and parents laugh at their antics.

These are the joys of winter without the shopping craze, the tense family get togethers, and the disappointing present reveal. This is winter fun at its best.

(406 words)

Phonophobia and Technophobia

        Phonophobia is the fear of phones and technophobia is the fear of technology. I’m not really afraid of technology but it’s power is certainly alarming. Remember the days of the CD? I don’t. They’ve been annihilated by ipods and iphones. The time of letters and get togethers is almost gone with the creation of texting and Skype. Some don’t even talk to real people! Yeah, I’m talking about Siri, that female voice on some cell phones.
What’s really alarming are the answers when a teacher will ask what are the three things you personally could not live without. A few kid will say their cell phone in a joking way but I really believe they wouldn’t be able to. Humans are social creatures, so I’m pretty sure that if left alone on a n island without their social network devices, some would truly be unable to function.
Not only are some unable to function without technology but interact with other people. When some people meet for the first time, they might talk about the weather and other random things full of awkward pauses and silences. However, on facebook they’ll talk all day long about their pages and share crazy Christmas stories. People are also bolder when meeting for the first time online than in person. They might ask more personal questions thinking that they’ll never meet the other face to face so it doesn’t matter what they say.
Some even risk lives to be connected to technology. GPSs, radio control on steering wheels, phone answering, and all those other crazy gadgets in cars can be seriously distracting to a driver. Especially a driver in hazardous weather conditions. Even regular weather a driver can cause harm. I driving an a perfectly fine day, the light turned green, and I started to go forward, The other driver wasn’t moving due to a certain cell phone and I almost hit them. Of course I was in the wrong for going before they did but I had been on my phone and gone without looking up I would have caused a completely unnecessary accident. Another time I saw a lady obviously texting who completely missed the light. She just sat there as the light turned green, then yellow, and finally red. Cars are supposed to get a person from point A to point B as quickly as possible but while texting or talking on the cell phone it seems to almost defeat the purpose of a car.
Yes, I’m afraid of technology and how it’s changed our lives and culture.

(426 words)

Reading

          Most people my age either don’t like to read, prefer not to, or would rather be threatened with death than read some fiction for a grade. However, I find reading a necessity for my mental health. Everyone knows life can be unfair, cruel, and hard. Within books though, I can forget about reality. It’s as so many people say, books are ‘worlds within worlds’. Maybe I had a boring day at school. Just find some horror and suspense in a Stephan King mystery. Perhaps I’m upset about a bad test grade. I can laugh at the adventures of two farm boys in Harris and Me. If I didn’t read I’d be one sad kid. Over time all I’d hear about are car crash tragedies, missing child reports, and suicides.  It would make anyone depressed. So, I  grab a book, curl up by the fire with some hot chocolate, and forget about the troubles of the day or the world just for a few moments.
I also read books for education not just enjoyment. I know, some of you are in shock but you can learn a lot from a book or two. Last year, I read a book about a man who crash on the country of Japan. The book described the government of an older nation and the diplomatic troubles the man had to go through in this strange new place. It was a good book for me since I take a Japanese language class and it helped me learn about how their government used to be. My sister also reads a great many books and is quite intelligent. She learns certain bits and facts from books and then tells me about them. Sometimes these fact come in handy when doing a class project on something or a homework assignment.
Reading has also helped me meet new people. I saw that a girl in my class was reading one of my favorite books. Why debated about the good and bad points of it and are now good friends. Crippes, reading could even help you find a special someone. For example, reading brought my cousin and his wife together. They meet, happened to have the same favorite book, got to know each other, dated, and are now living happily with their son.
So for those who think reading is a pointless activity, I would strongly disagree. Reading could,  I dare say, change your life.

(404 words)

Beautiful Bento Boxes

I read an article recently about how there has been an increase in people who take the time to make Bento boxes look beautiful based on the food’s color and shape.  For those who don’t know, a Bento box is a Japanese lunch box.  It has gotten so popular that a contest was  created recently for people who like to make kyaraben bentos (a bento with a fictional character theme). The question that was put forthin the article was: What does the care devoted to the visual details in a packed lunch suggest about the culture? Why is such value placed on aesthetics in everyday life in Japan?

            The answers were an interesting mix of opinions from native Japanese to Scottish foreigners. As with some debate topics, none of the answers were wrong but people might agree more with one than the other. Someone stated that because Japan is an island with few resources so they “make less into more” (John Maeda). This means that beautiful bento boxes are made small to conserve resources but beautiful to please the person eating the bento. Another answer was that mothers will spend more time to make a bento beautiful to make their child smile when they open their bento (Denis Dutton).

            I believe the bento shows the Japanese’s value for spreading happiness. When you create something very splendid, you make something people will enjoy. In other words, people usually feel happy when looking at something that they’d call a lovely creation.

            A bento box is a way to show one’s love for another person like Denis Dutton said. It’s a bit of a big deal if a girl makes a guy a bento. To show her love or care or devotion, she will spend more time to make a nice bento rather than making it sloppily.

If a person makes their own bento, I think that they’d do it as something to look forward to in their work day. Perhaps they’re having trouble or they’re having a stressful day. When they look at their beautifully crafted bento they will feel two things. First, pride for their perfect lunch and second a sense of peace. They’ll feel the kind of peace that a person might feel when listening to soothing music or relaxing in a hot tub. That is the meaning behind making a beautiful bento.

(393 words)

Kyaraben (character bento) winner of 2012

Kyaraben winner of 2011

Resources:

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/beauty-and-the-bento-box/

Japanese Schools

        Today I will talk about Japanese schools.
       First, the rules. Very rarely will a Japanese school not have uniforms and if they have uniforms there are usually two styles. One for summer and one for winter. The school will a set day for when the students are supposed to switch the uniforms. If a student forgets, the uniform is in the wash, or the uniform has a rip in it, then they have a couple days to get it fixed. However, if they still continue to wear the winter uniform when it’s summer or vice versa, then they can get in trouble. Piercings, tattoos, or purposefully not following the dress code will immediately get a student expelled. Relationships, like boyfriends and girlfriends, are extremely frowned upon. Their thinking is that school is a place to learn; not a social hang out.  Even if a girl and boy have that kind of relationship you might never know since they won’t hold hand and certainly won’t make out in the halls like at my school. Sometimes a couple won’t hold hands even in public.
        A Japanese student might not have a list of chores like in America. The thinking is that students have a job, which is to learn, so the parents might not make them do chores but instead study. There is great pressure on students to get into a good high school and then a good college. Many will go to what’s called a cram school, which is like school at night. So, basically, those kids go to school and then more school. Cram schools usually are ahead of regular schools in material and it’s usually harder material. Sometimes a cram school student will fall asleep in their regular class and the teacher won’t mind because they know that the student is ahead of everyone else. Other times though the teacher will punish all students who fall asleep.
        Transportation to school is also something very different from American schools. Some students will ride the train for several hours or more just to get to school. Others will take several modes of transportation like the subway then the train, maybe ride a bike or walk half an hour to school. Not many parents will drive their child to school since gas (a valuable resource on a island) is expensive.
Many in America will say that their school lunches aren’t the best. Well, you don’t need to worry about that in Japanese schools since they don’t have cafeterias. A student will make their own lunch or their mother will however they call it a bento.  Students are allowed to eat their bento almost anywhere they want. They’re even allowed to leave the school grounds to go to the nearest convenience store and get a store bought bento.
        In America, the students move from class to class with all sorts of people in their grade but in Japan it’s the teacher who moves. The teacher will have their desk with all their papers in a teacher lounge. Most of the time there are papers everywhere like in the picture below.  The students will have one classroom and a homeroom teacher that they go to with the same people for the whole year. They also have assigned desks that they sit in for the whole trimester. You can imagine that they get pretty excited when it’s time to change desks or classes after seeing the same people day in and day out.
       That’s all for today.

(582 words)

Resources:
http://web-japan.org/trends/09_fashion/fas100729.html

A Japanese Bath

        Today I’m going to talk about Japanese bathrooms. Oh man, really crazy stuff. The setup of a bathroom is in the picture below.
        The first big difference is the showers. I will tell you how to take a Japanese shower (for the picture below any way). First, sit down on a tub. Use fill up a bucket and get yourself wet. To get the water going you'd push a button or turn a nozzle then turn it off. Shampoo your hair, use conditioner, scrub your body or whatever clean yourself (I'm not going to spell out how to take a shower ok). Fill the bucket again and repeat. Once your clean you can then step into the tub and soak in the hot water like it's a hot tub. It's very important to wash yourself outside of the tub before getting into it. Others will use the tub as well so you don’t drain the water and waste it. Since a person already washed themselves outside the tub, Japanese don’t have any qualms about reusing the tub. Most Japanese also take showers or baths at night instead of in the mornings like most Americans. They sometimes have a hierarchy to who gets to use the bath first. Depending on the family, the father or guest will go first and enjoy the warm bath water. The mother will go next, then the eldest child on down.
        Now for toilets. Most Japanese homes have a separate, kind of closet like space for the toilet. It’s separate from the bathroom and only consists of a toilet sometimes a sink. Usually the sinks in the bathroom. Some toilets have all sorts of gadgets on the toilet like a seat warmer. Let us say you get up in winter in the middle of the night and you have to go. Well, no worries about a cold toilet seat. They might also have a device on the wall with options of a bigger or smaller flush depending on ...well you know. Another option is the spray, where the toilet will wash your bottom. Water temperature control for the spray button is another one on the toilet control panel. There are probably others but I think that’s all I can take of freaky things you can do with a Japanese toilet.

(385 words)

Contemporary Japanese Bathroom

Japanese Toilet

There's No Place Like Home

           Alright, this time my post is something new (for once). Japanese homes.
          Well for starters, Japanese house prices depend on location, location, (you guessed it) location. Since Japan is a small country, the land prices are generally higher than American homes. Houses are also generally more compact than American homes.
          I think the strangest difference between American and Japanese homes is that Japanese houses don't generally have dryers. More people are getting one for their house but most still don’t have one. People will just hang their laundry on a line to dry out. On rainy days, people will hang clothes inside or wait until the sun comes out. A house might actually be more attractive to a Japanese buyer if it faces the sun. Why don't they generally not have dryers? Well, it takes energy to dry cloths. Japan is an island so if they don't need to use energy they try not to. Otherwise they'll use up their resources and have to eventually pay other countries for it.
         Many people like cleanliness in their homes but the Japanese take it a little smidgen further. No shoes in the house. Ever. That’s right, nearly all homes have what's called a genkan. The entry way is, usually, built lower than the house so you can take off your shoes and step up into the house. Sometimes it's just a different tiled spot but that's where the shoes stop. The Japanese have genkans to not only keep the dust and dirt out but they also used to believe it would keep bad spirits out as well. So, for example, lets say your moving. Yeah, the movers will take off their shoes and put them on again every time they go in or out. Every time. Genkans aren’t just in homes but nearly all buildings. The company will have little slippers you can wear so you don't walk around in your socks and cubbies to put your shoes in.
         Ok next is Japanese beds. Japanese will use either a traditional Western bed or what’s called a futon. This is different from what you might think as the futon that can be a couch and a bed. Japanese futons usually have a foam pad (matto), a futon (shikibuton), sheets(shiitsu), blankets (mofu), a duvet (kakebuton) and a pillow (makura) (pictures below). It is very important to air out a futon so mold and other thing can’t grow inside of it. The Japanese fold a futon into thirds with only the bottom of the futon touching the floor; again that’s for cleanliness. By folding the futon and putting it in a cupboard a room can be a bedroom and an office.

(446 words)

Japanese Home

Folded Up Futons

Laid Out Futon

Resources:
http://www.wikihow.com/Maintain-a-Japanese-Futon