Category Archive: Japan Context
“Ho-ren-so” stands for Hokoku (report), Renraku (communicate or touch base), and Sodan (consult or discuss). This abbreviation refers to one of Japan’s fundamental business communication techniques and is taught to new hires as soon as they join the Japanese workforce. Foreigners who have business dealings with Japanese also find it ideal to educate themselves with the concept of ho-ren-so.
Japanese business meeting | Robert Sanzalone
The Concept of Ho-Ren-So
Just what is ho-ren-so all about? It is a collaborative process between two people for the duration of a project. For example, this can be practiced by a subordinate and an employer, a client and a supplier, a manager and an employee.
Ho-ren-so generally begins with a request, which is the foundation of the assignment. The requestee, who is designated with completing the task, may start by creating an initial proposal, outline, or a rough draft, and shares it with the requestor. The requestor analyzes the presented information and provides feedback and critique to the requestee, who then takes the input in consideration and further refines the draft or proposal. He then presents it again to the requestor. This collaborative process goes on until the project has been fine-tuned and finally completed.
The Difference with American and Japanese Business Customs
Ho-ren-so is an innate practice within the Japanese workplace and the Japanese find it natural and even necessary for a project to be passed back and forth between requestee and requestor, from its conceptualization all the way to its completion. People from many other countries, such as the Americans, may find this process unnatural and think of it as micromanagement.
In an American business setting, a project request usually provides explicit instructions, and the worker or requestee feels he has enough to go on in completing the project without having to keep consulting the requestor. The requestor may not also feel the need to keep checking on the requestee since he would have given clear and detailed instructions.
This goes to show the big difference in business customs between the Japanese and the Americans. The Japanese rely on teamwork while Americans focus on independence. Of course, neither is “better” than the other since it is all a matter of perspective and how it is implemented in a scenario. But for Americans and other foreigners who are interacting with Japanese in business endeavors, it would be good to understand ho-ren-so, and perhaps even practice it to a certain extent if it can further improve the work relationship and standards of the project.
Tags: ho-ren-so, Japanese business custom, Japanese ho-ren-so
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Onsen refers to hot springs in Japan, although it usually describes the bathing facilities of hot spring resorts. After a rigorous and hectic week (day? hour?), there is no better way to kick back and relax than a soak in a natural hot spring. It is a must-try aspect of Japanese culture if you visit Japan.
Kurokawa Onsen, Kyushu | David McKelvey
Japan consists of almost 7,000 islands. Over 70% of the country is made up of mountains and there are over 200 volcanoes in the Japanese jurisdiction. As a volcanically active nation, Japan has literally thousands of hot spring resorts scattered all over.
An onsen can be either an outdoor onsen (roten-buro or noten-buro) or an indoor bath. These can be a public municipal facility or a private onsen (uchiyu) run as a ryokan, hotel, or a B&B (minshuku). Bathing in an onsen is a unique Japanese bonding experience that breaks down barriers while getting to know people in a relaxed atmosphere. This is known as hadaka no tsukiai, or naked communion. After all, every single human being is naked under those clothes, right?
Kawaguchiko Onsen | Melanie-m
Onsen were traditionally built outdoors, though as of late, more indoor onsen are being built at newer establishments. The naturally, geothermally heated spring water is said to have healing powers because of its mineral content. Most onsen state what type of mineral content the water in their establishment is rich in, such as sulphur onsen (iō-sen) , sodium chloride onsen (natoriumu-sen), hydrogen carbonate onsen (tansan-sen), or iron onsen (tetsu-sen). Many Japanese believe that hot spring waters heal body aches and pains as well as some health disorders including diabetes, menstrual cramps, and constipation.
Private onsen. | charles chan
Another tradition involved men and women bathing together, but since Japan opened its doors to the West during the Meiji era, men and women have had separate baths. There are some onsen (konyoku) that provide designated hours for mixed baths or women-only, and children of either sex can bathe in women-only or men-only onsen.
Tags: Japanese, Japanese culture, Japanese hot springs, Japanese onsen, onsen
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First seen by me in National Geographic–
Legend has it that a fish named Hanako was the world’s longest lived. After swimming for 226 years in Japan, the scarlet koi supposedly died in 1977. It’s said that her scales determine her age, a statement that is scientifically valid today.
Like tree rings, fish scales have microscopic zones that reflect seasonal growth patterns–fisth eat more and grow more in summer; winter scale zones are narrower.
[Catherine Zuckerman]
Wikipedia backs this up in its koi entry, adding Hanako’s vital statistcs (c. 1751 – July 7, 1977) and her last owner, Dr. Komei Koshihara. Average lifespan of a scarlet koi (carp) is 47 years, still pretty respectable for a fish.
Hanako, the scarlet koi. Dr. Komei Koshihara | Wikimedia Commons
And the pondkoi blogger quotes a scientist, Mr. Masayuki Amano, who says, “This ‘Hanako’ is still in perfect condition and swimming about majestically in a quiet ravine descending Mt. Ontake [near Nagoya] in a short distance. She weighs 7.5 kilograms and is 70 centimeters [roughly 30 in.] in length. She and I are dearest friends. When I call her saying “Hanako! Hanako!” from the brink of the pond, she unhesitatingly comes swimming to my feet. If I lightly pat her on the head, she looks quite delighted. Sometimes I go so far as to take her out of the water and embrace her.”
Legend no more? Has Hanako passed into the realm of fact?
Tags: Hanako, Hanako koi, oldest fish, scarlet koi
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Not surprisingly, Japanese people do some things differently from what you may be accustomed to. It helps to keep an open mind and learn from the experience.
Here are some practical differences to expect on your trip to Tokyo:
Credit/debit cards are not accepted everywhere.
Most Tokyo businesses do not accept credit cards and debit cards. International ATMs are the only machines that will dispense cash from American or any other foreign cards. But don’t worry—there are over 20,000 international ATM machines around, usually in post offices. However, it won’t hurt to be prepared with good old cash.
Do not open a taxi door.
It’s customary for cab drivers in Tokyo to open your door for you whenever you get in and out.
A taxi driver and his taxi | twicepix
You are not expected to tip.
The Japanese don’t tip. Tipping is almost always discouraged in restaurants, hair salons, and hotels in Tokyo. Some business establishments add a 10-15% service charge to your bill instead.
Public toilet surprise.
If you have to use the public toilet, keep it spic and span. The only trouble you can encounter at some Tokyo toilets is no toilet paper. You may find a space-age contraption or a squat toilet that’s more like a hole in the ground. To do your deed, you guessed it, you’ll have to squat!
A Japanese squat toilet | AnnieGreenSprings
A bow is equivalent to a handshake.
When you are introduced to someone, it is normal to shake hands. In Japan, it’s always respectful to bow when you are thanking or greeting someone.
Chopsticks, not silverware.
Unless you intend to bring your own spoon and fork every time you eat, it’s better to learn how to use chopsticks. Not all restaurants in Tokyo have spoons and forks available.
Chopsticks | Andrea Balzano
Your socks are showing.
It’s a common Japanese custom to remove your shoes and wear slippers that are provided. When dining out in restaurants or visiting other people’s homes and some museums in Tokyo, you are expected to remove your shoes before entering.
When crossing, look from right to left.
Cars in Japan drive on the left side of the road and pass on the right side. (Drivers sit on the right side of the car.) In other words, cars drive on opposi esides from what you are used to in the States.
Japan road | hitachiota
Other things to avoid doing since they are considered impolite are yelling to get a friends’ attention, blowing your nose in public, pointing, drinking, or eating while walking, and counting your change.
Read more fascinating facts at:
Tokyo Traveler
Japanator
Tags: facts about Japan, Tokyo, Tokyo etiquette, Tokyo travel tips
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Japanese students from Hosei University joined us in curry cooking. US program students and Japanese students worked together in groups to cook rice, curry sauce, and salad.
KCP students prepare the curry ingredients. | KCP at Flickr
KCP students wash the rice before cooking. | KCP at Flickr
Washing the greens for the salad. | KCP at Flickr
For many students, this was the first time they cooked curry rice, but in the end all teams made delicious curry! | KCP at Flickr
KCP students at Summer 2011 cooking class. | KCP Flickr
A LIttle Background on Japanese Cuisine
Japanese cuisine is what it is today mainly due to the influences of social and cultural changes in Japan’s history. When Japan was isolated from Western influences during the Tokugawa era, Japan relied on their own style of cooking. Buddhism discouraged using meat. In the 1970s, the impact of American fast-food on a global scale reached Japan: hamburger, fried chicken, and other types of Western food.
As the taste in food of the Japanese people changed, so did the ingredients. Japan’s national seclusion reached its end in 1868. Japan began embracing other cooking styles and inspirations from other countries, while incorporating them with the traditional Japanese concepts.
Japanese Curry
Japanese curry with rice | jetalone
Curry (カレー) is a popular dish in Japan. It is mainly served in three ways: with rice,with bread, and with noodles (udon). Other variations are katsu curry (breaded and fried pork topped with curry) and curry bun, similar to a Chinese dim sum pork bun, only with curry inside.
The true origins of curry are uncertain, yet it is said to have originated from India and Sri Lanka and is from a Tamil word ‘kari’ that means gravy or sauce over rice. When the British established a colony in East India, curry reached British shores. Later, curry reached Japan when Japan opened its ports during the latter part of the Edo period (1872). In 1910, a Japanese curry recipe was popularized, with carrots, onions, and potatoes. Japanese curry is a sweet and savory stew, while Indian curry contains more spices.
Today, each country has their own version of curry, adding local nad regional ingredients.
You can read more about Japanese curry by following this link.
Tags: Japanese cuisine, Japanese curry, KCP cooking class, KCP students, KCP Summer 2011
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KCP is in majestic Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Although it straddles Tokyo’s western fringes, Shinjuku is in many ways considered the city’s center. The Shinjuku train station is the busiest in the world–more than 3 million entries/exits per day.
The KCP campus is a 5-minute walk from the Shinjuku Gyoenmae subway station on the Marunouchi Line, or a 10-minute walk from Shinjuku San-Chrome subway station on the Toei Shinjuku subway line. (From the Shinjuku Gyoenmae station, take the Ohkido-Mon exit.)
Shinjuku Avenue is lined with tall buildings, shopping complexes, and office structures. The KCP neighborhood, however, is filled with smaller buildings and shops.
Besides the impressive Shinjuku Gyoen (see below). there are a number of small parks close by where you can enjoy a peaceful break. We leave you to find these on your own–a most satisfying discovery.
Shinjuku Gyoen (garden), a 5-minute walk from KCP, is very large and arguably the most beautiful park in Tokyo.
Originally an imperial garden as part of an estate, the garden, now public, contains French formal, English landscape, and Japanese traditional gardens, the latter with a traditional Japanese tea house.
It is a favorite cherry-blossom-viewing site (late March-early April) and also has some spectacular Himalayan cedars.
Also stunning are the neighborhood’s men and women dressed for a night on the town. Nightlife is plentiful, in decidedly Japanese style, especially in the more traditional Kabukicho and Golden Gai areas.
Shinjuku is home to the highest percentage of foreign nationals in Tokyo–a virtual melting pot–and it shows in its patchwork of diverse areas. Shinjuku offers a bit of everything Tokyo has to offer, including places catering to specialized groups. Nishi-Shinjuku is the business district. Shinjuku ni-chome is Asia’s largest and possibly most lively gay district.
Nishi-Ogikubo, at Shinjuku’s north end, is Tokyo’s Korea town, known for authentic, cheap barbecue and greenspace.
What’s in the vicinity?
Shinjuku Station! See more people than you’ve ever seen in one place at rush hour (just after 17:00), standing at the Ginza Sukiyabashi crossing, or crossing the road next to the Hachiko Exit of Shibuya Station. Clusters of neon lights and jam-packed high-rises extending into the horizon–portent of the future?
Yotsuya Library is the closest to the KCP campus–a 5-minute walk.
And while we’re at it, the Shinjuku City website is a great source of info about the district.
Get to KCP from Narita International Airport via the Airport Limousine Bus–convenient and inexpensive if you aren’t familiar with the railway system in Japan.
The 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku has two free observation galleries with views of Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, and Yokohama.
You can get to Waseda Cosmic Sports Center by taking the number 4 bus toward Waseda from the bus station outside Shinjuku Station’s west exit.
The Shinjuku Sports Center is a also nearby.
From a KCP student–”Once you know Shinjuku, I recommend a place called Yoshinoya for lunch. You would not believe how much money I saved there by eating cheap.”
Kinokuniya Bookstore, main branch, is in Shinjuku. Take the east exit at Shinjuku Station. The Kinokuniya branch at Shinjuku Takashimaya Times Square (Shinjuku Station south exit) has one of the largest selections of English books in Tokyo, plus books in European languages.
With all this ambience, would you believe that KCP, in a great part of Tokyo and with one of the most highly rated academic programs available, is also one of the most reasonably-priced? Well, it is. More on this soon.
www.kcpinternational.com
Tags: full immersion, Japanese language, Japanese language school, neighborhoods, Tokyo, Tokyo lifestyle
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The winter quarter (spring semester?) has kicked off and the work is piling up. When you need a break, instead of playing Minesweeper 20 more times or losing yourself in Facebook Chat, try some of these links (from At Home in Japan. You may even learn something that moves you forward in your larger goals.
This web surfing installment is on sites about everyday life.
Japan FAQ
Know before you go, the mechanics of living in Japan, by a teacher at Fukuoka’s Seinan University.
Japan Window
The nitty-gritty of getting yourself set up in Japan (including Something Completely Different), by Andy and Hitomi Grey.
Ed Jacob’s Quirky Japan
Cool places that almost nobody visits, the honest photographer, SAQ/seldom asked questions, odd shops, vending machine heaven, quirky Japan index full of unsettling statistics–the number of schools that teach unicycle riding, etc.
What’s Normal in Japan?
Vote on “do you wash your hands in the stream of water that comes out of the toilet tank?” “At what age does a person become middle-aged?” “What flavor of ramen did you order most recently?”
In Japanese.
Engrish.com
Compilation of English glitches in Japan and everywhere else.
Justin’s Tokyo
Beyond amateur travel diary, a well-designed site with intriguing essays on love hotels, a snow festival, and so on. Great images too.
The Way We Are
My favorite of this set of links: photo essays from many Japanese high school students, 5 photos apiece; read between the lines. Love how kids think. Bilingual.
Survival-Online Guides
The ultimate way to end a web surfing session–a list of links! A comprehensive list of online guides.
Now, mind reeling, you’re ready to go back to the safe tedium of work!
Coming soon–sites about study, daily living, and travel.
Tags: Japan, Japanese etiquette, Japanese immersion, KCP, living in Japan, quirky Japan, resources, Tokyo lifestyle
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It’s hard to imagine how different living with a family from another culture (or even living with a different family within your own culture!) can be. A homestay student and the family s/he stays with can each have radically different views of the experience.
How to prepare for this? Check out
Okay, it’s a resource website that can feel a little, well, simple at first.
But as I went through it, I discovered I wasn’t always getting the right answers to the tests. So I clearly had some assumptions that would be interpreted differently in Japan.
The site includes some tutorials. These tutorials are well-paced, using a variety of methods–prose, animations, diagrams, interactive images. Very small tests come up every so often. There are 3 modules–
(1) The Cultural Child (and we are all cultural children, especially we Americans)
(2) What You Need To Grow, and
(3) Homestay Diaries–Growing Pains . . . and Gains.
Here’s a quick example of differing perceptions–
There’s also a *great* Links page (within the Resources topic)–12 links for everyday life in Japan and 10 links on study/daily living/travel.
At Home In Japan was created by Jane Bachnik and funded by Japan’s National Institute of Multimedia Education (NIME) in Makuhari, as well as by the Japanese Ministry of Education.
Enjoy the tutorial and other resources there–they are a free, easy, no-risk way to prepare yourself for enjoying life in Japan.
Thanks to the staff at Western Washington University, a KCP affiliate university, for this link.
Tags: dorm, homestay, Japan lifestyle, Japanese immersion, KCP
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Someone asked for more info about how an abacus ticks. I’m on it.
The thing about an abacus is that unlike many tools, it’s *always* unplugged!
Wikipedia tells us that an abacus (counting frame) is a calculating tool–in these times, a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires. In times past, beans, stones, or metals were used. The abacus is still widely used by merchants, traders, and clerks. Many abaci are beautifully crafted and wonderful to look at and touch. They are also easily reversible for lefties–just flip it over.
The abacus is not just for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. You can use it for square and cube roots, logarithms, linear equations, vector norms, and more.
These countries used/use abaci–
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Iran, Greece, Rome, China, India, Japan, Korea, Native America, and Russia. In Japan, the abacus is called a soroban (算盤, そろばん, counting tray), and was imported from China around 1600.
Why use an abacus?
The abacus is highly prized in areas of the world that don’t have steady electricity. Many, many people can compute on it faster than you could use a calculator. It’s also a fine tool for the visually impaired. As an arithmetic teaching tool, it has been of immense value. In fact, Forbes.com—20 most important tools ranks the abacus as the second most important tool of all time. (The first is the knife.)
The wikipedia entry has a few tutorial links, and I’m sure the web in general has a lot of them. The one I liked best is from Totton Heffelfinger and Gary Flom—Abacus: Mystery of the Bead.
From their tutorial–
Dividing the upper and lower portion of the soroban is a horizontal bar called a beam or reckoning bar.
On a modern-day soroban, 1 bead sits above the beam and 4 beads sit below. (The Chinese use 2 beads above and 5 below.) The beads above the beam are often called heaven beads and each has a value of 5. The beads below are often called earth beads and each has a value of 1.
The value zero is represented when no beads touch the beam. To represent a number you move beads to touch the beam, either from above or from below. Starting from the units column, or rod, a bead moved to touch the beam from below equals 1. A bead in that same rod moved down from above to touch the beam equals 5. So if, in the “units” rod, one beam from above and three from below touched the beam, the value shown would be 5 +3, or 8.
Setting numbers on a soroban
Use only the thumb and index fingers to manipulate beads on a soroban. The thumb moves the earth beads up toward the beam. The index finger moves everything else (all earth beads down away from the beam and all heaven beads up & down).
moving earth beads up
moving earth beads down
moving heaven bead up
moving heaven bead down
Clearing a soroban
You want to start with an empty or cleared soroban. Lay the soroban flat on a table, then tilt the frame horizontally toward you. Gravity pulls all the beads down. Now the earth beads have been cleared away from the beam.
Lay the soroban back onto the table and steady it in your left hand. Using the nail side of the right index finger, make a sweeping motion from left to right between the top of the beam and the bottom of the heaven beads. clearing the heaven beads.
clearing the heaven beads
This moves the heaven beads up away from the beam. When none of the rods shows any value, this is a cleared frame: zero.
A process of thoughtlessness
In competent hands, a soroban is a very powerful calculating tool. Much of its speed is attributed to the concept of mechanization. The idea is to minimize mental work as much as possible and to perform the task of adding and subtracting beads mechanically, without thought or hesitation—to develop a process of thoughtlessness.
For more on complementary numbers, cultivating thoughtlessness, adding, subtracting, the order of the rod, and finger movements, see Totton Heffelfinger and Gary Flom, Abacus: Mystery of the Bead.
David Bernazzani’s Soroban-Abacus Handbook (PDF)
Where to get an abacus
Learning Resources
Didax
Kid Energy
Where to buy a soroban
Soroban.com
Distractions
It appears Soroban is also a girl-group of some kind. They certainly have impressive makeup/ outfits, but I bet their math skills are not as rich as their personas.
And a parting thought–who but the Asians (and most other non-European cultures) would have valued thoughtlessness in math, via the abacus? This is a cultural trait to, well, cultivate!
Tags: abacus, Japanese lifestyle, Japanese traditions, math, soroban
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Anyone who lives, works, or goes to school in Tokyo knows about the Tokyo commute. It’s world-famous–quirky, long, full of light. Of course, a lot of other big cities–New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Paris–have long commutes as well. A commute of an hour or two each way is common in Tokyo, though KCP strives to place students in dorms or homestays with commutes of 60 minutes or considerably less. Some dorms are quite close to the school.
KCP students have provided wise tips for making the best of it–using the time to memorize kanji, going into the women-only cars and studying more comfortably, “working” their hiragana/katakana flash cards, and so on. Though talking on cell phones is discouraged, texting is ubiquitous. In such a long commute, the crowds are amazingly kind (though pushy when trying to make that train).
And here are some interesting thoughts on the commute itself: the ultimate hive-mind.
Matthew Messmer on VEWD
Messmer‘s striking photo essay on vewd.org (a fascinating online documentary magazine) examines the commuting experience.
Tokyo Subway Dynamics
The writer of this piece on links.net, though unidentified, had creative, interesting things to say about benefits of the Tokyo subway plus fun photos.
Subway Sleepers
Fun snooze shots in this photo-essay from someone who calls himself “Born to be Wild.”
Real-World Views
A collection of great tips from VirtualTourist–how to navigate the subway, tips for switching stations, ease of use. Sorry about all the ads.
Tribute
A fine tribute to the Tokyo Underground on the Harvard Crimson, by Kerry Goodenow.
Inventions
From the “Are You Chindogu” movement (more about that later), here are a couple of inventions to help in the commute:
A hat for holding her head as she sleeps.
The chin rest, for sleeping standing up.
Tokyo Metro
The official Tokyo Metro site comes in English if needed and is a great resource.
Metro Manners
And we leave the final word to the montlhy “Metro Manners” posters. Countless folks have enjoyed making up their own captions to the posters and pitching them into the internet.
Tags: fun, KCP, Tokyo lifestyle
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