Baseball; not as boring as you might think

Before arriving at Koshien stadium last Sunday I was sceptical to say the least about spending four hours watching baseball. Having only ever watched (American) baseball on TV before I, like many before me, had labelled the game tedious and boring. How can you have a game that lasts for so long only to finish 1-0, I thought. With these doubts hanging over me I gave the live version of the game a try during Golden week. As it turned out the game finished 2-1, hardly a high scoring contest, but boring? No chance. Baseball in Japan is a different prospect from the American game it draws  its inspiration from. It could have finished 0-0 for all I cared, for baseball on this side of the globe is as much about the crowd as the game itself, and the crowds in Osaka are quite something.

Irrespective of my preconceptions of baseball I had actually wanted to attend a game in Japan for a while. As much as I can tell it’s the national sport and having bumped into Hanshin Tigers fans at the central Umeda station with great regularity I’ve been able to get an idea of just how passionate Japanese baseball fans are. To add to the draw, the Hanshin Tigers home is Koshien stadium, which is to Japanese baseball what Wembley is to English football. It’s the sort of place that Japanese children dream of one day playing and dates back as long ago as 1924. After a brief hiatus following the Great Hanshin Earthquake, capacity crowds of nearly 50,000 now regularly attend games. Last week’s game was no exception and I formed part of a sell-out crowd to see the grudge match between the Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants from Tokyo.

The atmosphere around the stadium before the game reminded me a lot of the first time I ever watched Arsenal play football at Highbury. Nothing beats the feeling of anticipation that comes from a sell-out crowd enjoying a sunny day before a match, whatever the sport, and at Koshien there is an incredible buzz. The stadium is surrounded by stalls selling all manner of memorabilia and the smell of the food from the various food stands is intoxicating. Entering the stadium is a breeze and the only hold-up comes from having to decant any cans or bottles of beer into cups or plastics, a small price to pay for bringing in your own cheap booze, a fact seized upon by a large proportion of the crowd.

For those who don't really know the rules of baseball it can take a little while to get into the game itself but at Koshien this is not entirely down to a lack of baseball knowledge. The real spectacle for a newbie is the crowd. Virtually every crowd member arrives with mini plastic baseball bats to hand ready to bang together to the tune of the brass instrumentalists who play well-rehearsed chants prepared for each individual player. A merry band of ‘crowd conductors’ then lead the crowd of nearly 50,000 to sing and bang together for virtually the entirety of the four hour game. It's quite something to watch. 

One of the best parts of the day comes at the end of the seventh innings when the opportunity to witness one of the newer traditions of Koshein takes place. Having purchased some balloons at a memorabilia stall before the game, I joined in with 50,000 others and let them deflate into the sky in unison. Such a description hardly does justice to just how brilliant this is to watch (this video should give a better idea). Its only right that a traditional stadium has certain traditions and though this one may not date back quite as far as 1924 it will no doubt continue for a good while yet.

Baseball in Japan really surprised me. It was far from the bore fest I had expected and even the game itself is quite entertaining. Like most things in Japan it's the unique Japaneseness of the event that makes it that little bit more special though. Next stop on the Japan sport trail for me is football. The crowd will have to be something special to beat the fans down at Koshien though.

The Maple Leaf Trail to Minoh Waterfall

As I begin to learn more about Osaka I'm starting to realise that there are plenty of relaxing places to visit surprisingly close to the hectic urban sprawl. Minoh waterfall in the north of the city provides an excellent example of such a place. For just 30 minutes of your time and 280 of your yen you can access Minoh on the Hankyu line from Umeda. Upon arrival a 2.8km walk awaits you that leads to a pretty impressive 40 metre high waterfall set in quite beautiful surroundings

After working in Senri-Chuo in the northern suburbs for the past month I’ve encountered a lot of students from neighbouring Minoh city and all have recommended a trip to the waterfall. Having combined this advice with a little bit of my own internet research I decided to follow up the recommendation last Sunday; the first day of golden week.

Golden week inevitably means that Osaka is even busier than usual with the cities businessmen taking up the opportunity to have a few uncharacteristic days off work to spend time with their families. Judging from the train journey to Minoh it also marks a busy period for Japanese trainspotters. Virtually every station from Umeda to Minoh was packed with middle aged men armed with cameras waiting for a glimpse of their favourite train. This was certainly not a sight I was expecting in Japan!

Deep fried maple leaves

Like many ‘cities’ in Japan, Minoh city isn’t really a city, it’s a small suburban town that thrives around the twin themes of the waterfall and its maple trees. For those in need of a snack for the walk up you can even combine the two by buying a pack of the local delicacy; deep fried maple leaves, to keep you energised. Personally the attraction of paying 700 yen for a bag of battered leaves is minimal so I made do with a packet of crisps.

The walk to the falls may only be 2.8km, but the uphill nature can be a little hard work, especially on a hot day. Thankfully the stunning scenery along the route makes it a little easier and if the walk does become a bit too much there are plenty of opportunities for refreshment on the way up too; together with several stalls selling drinks and snacks there is a butterfly museum and the beautiful Ryuanji Temple Benzaiten to keep you entertained. On Sunday there was even a rather talented woman playing a grand piano loaded on to the back of a truck!

The waterfall itself isn’t bad as waterfalls go, I’m no expert, but I enjoyed it. Equally rewarding was the scene around the waterfall with families picnicking around its foot, and dozens of children playing in the river. Even out here in the country there is no escaping the crowds though and after a taking a few pictures it was nice to get back on the path down and enjoy the relative tranquillity of the rainforest.

In Osaka peace and quiet doesn't really exist, not properly anyway, but Minoh does provide a nice release for those who fancy some fresh country air without having to spend a long time travelling. With a long hot summer ahead such spots will be invaluable.

http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/minoo-minoh-falls-japan.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoh,_Osaka

The brief visit of Sakura

Almost as quickly as it started, sakura season in Japan is over, and all that remain of Osaka’s beautiful cherry blossoms are the discarded petals that litter virtually every street of the city. The past two weeks have been my first sakura experience and having entered into the period slightly sceptical of the excitement with which ordinary Japanese approach it, I have emerged a fully-fledged convert.

Virtually every stretch of water in Osaka, along with myriad city streets are lined with cherry blossom trees, and for just a few short days each year they deliver a spectacular blast of pink to welcome in summer across the city. There can be little doubt that the few days in which the cherry blossoms flower represent a special time in Japan. The visual beauty of the flowering cherry blossoms is, however, just one half of the sakura experience. For the Japanese, sakura season is all about ‘ohanami’, which though loosely translated as ‘flower watching’, has developed today to mean something closer to ‘eating and drinking to excess amongst the cherry blossoms’.

Although there are countless spots across Kansai to enjoy Sakura I limited my excursions to within Osaka. Alas, my life as a professional tourist is over and I have a pesky job now which restricts my opportunities for travel. There are plenty of places to enjoy sakura around the city though, nowhere more so than Sakuranomiya which, as the name suggests, is home to a particularly large stretch of sakura trees. It also plays host to the annual Osaka regatta which, though not exactly Henley, provides a nice distraction for the hordes of people enjoying ohanami on the banks of the river.

In the north of the city Bampaku-koen provides another great ohanami spot in the grounds of the expo 70 commemoration park. The park is surrounded with sakura and is overlooked by ‘The Tower of the Sun’; an enormous statue that formed part of the World Exhibition in 1970. Thanks to the size of the park and its abundant sakura it is the ideal location for ohanami, and the various parties taking place under the cherry blossoms are particularly impressive here. When the Japanese do picnics they do them properly! There are full size BBQs, tables and chairs and incredible food offerings, as well as vast quantities of sake and beer!

For now though sakura season is over for another year, I just hope the tradition of BBQs by the river continues for the rest of the summer!

Escape to the country

For those who have spent any length of time in a big city, a need for escape will be a familiar story. Having spent a little over two months living in one of the biggest cities in the world I found one such escape a couple of weeks ago in the form of a week in Shizouka assisting on an environmental ambassador exchange programme. In the process I got to tick two more things off my bucket list; I saw Mt Fuji AND I went on a Bullet Train!

The first obstacle of the week was to get to Shizouka though which is situated about two hours away from Osaka by Bullet train. Having perfected the art of buying cheap advanced tickets in England it’s come as a bit of a shock to me that train companies in Japan don’t really offer discounts, making train tickets here an expensive luxury. There’s more than one way to skin a cat though and for those who can’t afford the train there is an overnight bus service from Osaka to Shin-Fuji for half the price of the train. On the downside it takes a little over three times as long!

For the outward journey I took the latter option and despite the relative comfort of Japanese buses the nature of an overnight bus trip inevitably means arriving tired and hungry. While the nearby McDonald's (seemingly the only place open in Shin-Fuji at 5.30 in the morning) dealt with the hunger it took something a bit more spectacular to deal with the tiredness; Mt Fuji. This was the first time that I had seen the mountain outside of the pages of books and magazines and the image that greeted me was even more spectacular than I had imagined with the peak densely covered in snow and glowing in the crisp spring sunshine. Mt Fuji doesn't simply dominate the skyline, it owns it. 

Growing wasabi

The source of Japanese hay-fever!

Green Tea plantation

I was lucky enough to see a lot more of Fuji-san (as it's known to locals) over the week with the views visible from my first nights accommodation - the home belonging to a family friend of Eri's who organised much of the environmental ambassador programme - particularly special. The programme  itself catered for ten Japanese, and two girls from Hawaii, taking in the forest and the ocean together with the urban sprawl of Shizouka. Although I was pretty much redundant in my role as 'Cultural Assistant' (primarily due to the fact that 90% of the people on the trip didn't speak English) I did get to have an enjoyable week and I even learnt quite a lot.

Fuji-san

Did you know for example that 75% of Japan is covered in forest, which in an age of Co2 awareness is an astonishing fact. Unfortunately as I was to find out the vast majority of this forest was planted artificially following the extensive rebuilding programmes in Japan after WWII and although the fir trees that were planted do a pretty good job of removing Co2 in their first 60 years of life, beyond that they do little more than contribute to the high pollen levels prevalent in Japan that cause such suffering for those with hay-fever. Thanks to the abundant supply of cheap imported timber the Japanese timber industry is all but dead and alas there appears to be little prospect of the government reviving it, even as a means of Co2 removal.  

 

As you probably guessed from the opening paragraph of this blog my journey home from Shizouka was a considerable improvement on the outward journey and even though it cost an arm and a leg, going home on the bullet train was completely worth it. OK, so I suppose the bullet train is just another train, but that's hardly the point. I remember as a primary school child being utterly amazed by stories of the speeds that bullet trains carried passengers across Japan, indeed the images of Japan that I had as a child were filled with blurred passenger trains speeding past a snow capped Mt Fuji. In the space of just a few days in Shizouka I was finally able to bring these images to life.

[Day 70] Learning Japanese?

Yep that’s right, after 70 days in Japan I’m taking my first meaningful step towards learning Japanese. OK, so buying the book is the easy bit but I am determined, I WILL LEARN SOME HIRAGANA!  

In fairness, I’ve picked up far more Japanese than I expected to but there’s a limit to how far pointing at a menu will get me in the future, sooner or later one of my guesses is bound to result in something horrible turning up on my plate! 

Japanese is an easy language to learn though… right? 

FARPLANE 2012 - Just another night in Osaka...

OK, so this wasn’t just another night in Osaka, this was the annual Farplane get together in Osaka which put simply is one fucking crazy night!

Hosted by the Farplane store in American Village, the annual event attracts an eclectic collection of the most eccentric individuals in Osaka who come together for a night of diverse music, dancing, and stage entertainment. I heard about Farplane through a friend of a friend and after watching a video of last year’s event I was a little sceptical about getting a ticket, the truth is this isn’t the kind of night out I’m used to going to, I’ve lived in rural England most of my life after all. But in the end I parted with 3000 yen and got my hands on an advanced ticket.

In a room full of what most people would describe as being utterly overdressed I was predictably underdressed wearing jeans and a shirt, but then, it’s not often you can share a room with a man covered head to toe in gold paint, wearing nothing but a strap on penis and yet still feel like the odd one out.

The party started at 4 in the afternoon and went through to 11pm with stage entertainment throughout the day and night hosting everything from DJ sets and dance acts to performers being suspended above ground from hooks attached to their backs and necks. The latter was actually a pretty weird thing to witness but most people around the stage seemed to enjoy it and even those being suspended seemed reasonably happy about the whole thing so who am I to criticise. This was just one part of a long night of diverse entertainment though and if there was a performance you didn’t like you could bet there would be something along before long that you did. It was a night like no other and something few outsiders get the chance to experience. If I’m still in Osaka this time next year I’ll make sure I’m at the next Farplane, only next time I’ll make sure I have a decent outfit to wear!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

My home for the past six weeks

Since I arrived in Japan a little over 6 weeks ago I’ve been living at my girlfriend Eri’s house. We live in a part of Osaka called Hanaten, situated in a fairly sleepy corner of the city a short train ride from the central district of Umeda. Although relatively small it has everything I could ask for right on my doorstep; there’s a great little bakery, a convenience store and an off-licence literally across the road from the house. Unlike much of Osaka, Hanaten has managed to starve off the commercial progress that has taken over elsewhere and has maintained a very local feel with an abundance of small family run businesses that have clearly been operating for many decades. The majority of the residents give an impression that they have lived here their whole lives and it’s always quite amusing walking from the station to the house and seeing the looks of surprise on their faces when they see me pass by. The schoolchildren are especially excited, often greeting me with open mouthed shock as their mothers try to stop them staring. Clearly there aren’t too many other white people living in Hanaten.

Although not totally organised before coming to Japan I did have a rough plan of what I hoped to achieve and as enjoyable as my time living in Hanaten has been if I’m to stick to my plan I need to find my own place soon, a task almost entirely dependent on finding a job. After giving myself the first couple of weeks here off I’ve spent the subsequent month trying to do just this, searching for, applying for, and interviewing for teaching jobs throughout the Kansai area. The search has actually been a lot more enjoyable than expected giving me the chance to meet some really interesting people and gain a deeper understanding of the business of English language education in Japan. I genuinely couldn’t have done it without the help of Eri though who has routinely searched for the locations of the schools and got me there on time for the interviews (how anyone can find some of the schools without a Japanese guide is beyond me!) I’ve been lucky enough to have been offered several positions and in the end I have accepted what seems to be a really good role with an education company called Berlitz. For anyone who has read my previous blog post you will have noted that in the current climate the type of contracts being offered are not always that great so it was a relief to be offered a secure and relatively well paid position. There are some pretty decent added advantages too such as paid holidays, medical insurance and even the use of spa resorts throughout Japan!

Hanaten Shopping Street

Aside from my job search I’ve had a good chance to travel around and I’m slowly beginning to comprehend the vast size of Osaka. The transport systems are quite incredible with multiple lines operated by different companies, different stations and complicated ticketing systems, not to mention the fact that all directions and signage are written almost entirely in Japanese (although my Japanese speaking ability has been improving steadily, written Japanese is unfortunately still beyond me!) The transport is an amazing feature of Osaka life though, it’s always on time, runs until the early hours of the morning, and you can get almost anywhere you want, whenever you want. On the downside it’s expensive and I mean REALLY expensive, I’ll never again complain about the cost of a London Underground Travelcard!

Regardless of the high prices, the complicated travel networks have allowed me to travel regularly and explore the nearby cities of Kyoto, Kobe and Nara and although not held in particularly high esteem by many in the tri-city area of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Nara has been my particular favourite destination. Situated about 40 minutes away by train it is surrounded by beautiful parkland (an aspect that is missing almost entirely in Osaka) that is home to a huge heard of semi-wild deer. The city itself has a beautiful old town centre overlooked by the towering Horyuji Gojunoto temple and is also home to the Todai-ji temple which houses the worlds largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana. Thankfully I’m still amazed by each new temple that I come across which is lucky because i've still got plenty more to see as a travel further around Kansai (there are 16,00 in Kyoto prefecture alone!)

The dominating Horyuji Gojunoto Temple in Nara

A street in Nara

As you can see, life in Osaka has been a great experience for me so far and I’m hugely excited about the next few months, Spring is around the corner and with it will come Sakura season (the flowering of the cherry blossoms), it is clearly a special time of year to be in Japan. Shops already have displays of cherry blossoms in their windows and even the beer cans have sakura designs on them in celebration. For me personally it signals the end of the cold winter months and the beginning of the warmer months bringing with them a fresh start in my new country. I can’t wait to start teaching and enjoying summer in Osaka.

Happy White Day!

That’s right, today is White Day, apparently not a day for celebrating the positive influence of White people in Asia, but instead a day for the boys of Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan to give girls chocolates (providing of course said girls gave said boys something decent on Valentine’s day). 

Here is a picture of a monkey with a sign promoting White Day. Something about it says politically incorrect to me.

The Myth of the ¥250,000 Wage.

Japan is an expensive country, everyone knows that, but regardless of this knowledge thousands of foreigners continue to flock here seeking the high wages promised by a job that seemingly requires just one skill; the ability to speak English. After a month spent in Japan as one of these ‘high wage hunters’ I have come to realise that the wages promised are not quite as high as I had previously imagined. As increasing numbers arrive, finding a job that offers anything near to the much discussed ‘average wage’ of 250,000 Yen per month (P.M) is becoming more and more difficult.

Having trodden the familiar path of internet based research before coming to Japan I was left pretty confused over exactly what to expect in terms of a remuneration package should I land a job. The forums I visited for example, were filled with discussions on the difficulties of surviving on a newly employed teachers wage, but what exactly was this wage? Throughout the pages of these forums, along with the websites of the numerous dispatch companies offering work in Japan, a familiar figure kept popping up as the ‘average wage’ for new teachers in Japan; 250,000 Yen P.M.  As a naïve outsider I failed to see how being paid this kind of money could lead to the financial hardships I was reading about, indeed at the current www.xe.com exchange rate 250,000 Yen equates to £1,942.86 or $3,075.04, that’s £23,314.04/$36,900.48 per year, hardly a poverty inducing wage wherever your living.

So where exactly has the 250,000 Yen figure come from? After five weeks of job searching in Osaka I have found plenty of companies that offer much less than this, but just one that offers more to their new teachers (and this was with the catch that all applicants must have a teaching related degree). If life is hard for those being paid 250,000 Yen P.M it must be a whole lot harder for those being paid less – a number which by my estimates accounts for a significant proportion of new teachers.

Thanks to a fairly long, and thankfully productive job search, I have had a good opportunity to gain an understanding of the different types of schools that exist and the type of contracts and remuneration packages currently being offered. From the big corporation eikaiwa’s to the small independent international schools, what has struck me most has been the uncertainty attached to teaching jobs in Japan. The 12 month, secure contracts, with guaranteed hours and wages that I had let myself believe were the norm are in fact near enough non-existent, instead there are a number of companies offering flexible, short term contracts with no guarantees of either hours,  nor wages.

The package offered by Jibun Mirai (part of the new NOVA brand) provides a good example of this type of contract. They offer 6 and 12 month (part time/full time) contracts that range from 12 lessons a week to 40 lessons per week. But there is a catch; while the contract may state you should expect to work, for example, 40 lessons a week, the employer has no obligation to guarantee that number of lessons week by week. One week you might get 40 lessons, the next you could have fourteen. Your subsequent monthly wage is based entirely on lessons worked, not on how many you are contracted to work, if the school only has enough students to teach 80 lessons a month you only get paid for those 80 lessons. Based on the per lesson rates being paid today this can represent a serious problem for teachers.

The pay structure at Jibun Mirai leaves it all but impossible for teachers to take home anything like 250,000 Yen P.M even if you do teach 40 lessons per week. Rather than having a set per lesson wage, teachers are paid a ‘performance related’ wage that starts with a base rate of 800 Yen per hour. With the added ‘assignment allowance’ and ‘regularity allowance’ the figure rises to an almost guaranteed 1,150 Yen per hour, hardly the type of money us ‘high wage hunters’ were expecting. To get up to anything like a decent wage teachers must average between 3 and 5 students per lesson, and there are no guarantees of achieving anything like this figure, especially during the quiet months.

I personally have no experience of working on one of these contracts and I am not in a position to claim that all schools will continually offer fewer lessons than a contract suggests. The thing that worries me is the near complete uncertainty facing those individuals starting a new career in Japan, often thousands of miles away from home. In many cases this uncertainty is compounded by a lack of any sort of employment benefits. Although several schools do still provide national holidays off for their staff (Berlitz and Epion for example), many more insist on staff working them. If you take into consideration that it is rare for foreign staff to earn any holiday in their first six months of service, the reality of the current situation is that prospective teachers are increasingly expected to enter into a contract that has no guarantees of regular lessons or wages, and then work for a minimum of 26 consecutive weeks without holiday.

From what I have seen in my job search the type of contract being offered by Jibun Mirai is thankfully not yet the norm. That being said though, there is evidence of a very real shift towards this type of model. This year for example Epion has stopped offering full time contracts to new staff for the first time with new teachers expected to earn a living wage through extra lessons paid at a per-lesson rate, again with no guarantees. The situation for new teachers is undoubtedly changing, the glory days of teaching English in Japan are over. For those prospective teachers who look hard enough there are, however, still very good first contracts to be earnt. This wont last for long though, beware the contract with no guarantees, it will doubtless be a lot more common this time next year.

Botan Nabe

Although still a relatively new arrival in Japan I’m in the privileged position of living with my Japanese girlfriend, as a result I get to try things that other new arrivals may not get the chance to do. A good example of this was a recent trip into the mountains organised by my girlfriend’s grandmother to experience Botan Nabe.

Botan Nabe, though rare in the more populous regions of Japan, is a well-known dish throughout the mountain regions that surround Osaka and Kyoto. In its simplest terms Botan Nabe can be described as a soup or stew comprising delicious wild boar along with mountain vegetables. The meat itself – dark in colour and rich in flavour – is cut thinly, in much the same way as ham, before being arranged on a plate in the shape of the petals of the peony flower, known in Japan as the Botan flower, hence the name Botan Nabe (Nabe meaning pot).

Though more and more places now offer the dish, particularly within Kansai, like the majority of Japanese cuisine there is a long tradition attached to the dish and the best examples are to be found at the places that have been producing it the longest. One such establishment is Iwaya (link in Japanese) located on the outskirts of Hyogo in an area called Tamba-Sasayama. This family run business has been producing Botan Nabe to great acclaim for more than 40 years, demonstrating that a combination of home grown, award winning rice and vegetables, together with excellent quality boar, can lead to continued success.

The restaurant is a thatched wooden structure that acts as a portal to a bygone era. With room to hold about 50 people, reservations are essential even on a weekday afternoon. The ‘tables’ comprise a small coal fire surrounded with cushions, with a huge steel pot full of hot soup suspended from the ceiling hanging over the fire. Each table is provided with an immaculately presented plate of meat along with a large bowl of mountain potatoes, Chinese cabbage, spring onions, mushrooms, tofu, and home-made konnyaku. Diners are then invited to place the items into the soup thus creating the stew.

On a cold winters day there really is nothing more warming, or filling! The soup is delicious and the rich flavours of the boar are complemented perfectly with the blander flavours of the vegetables and tofu. Each table is also provided with a small bottle of Japanese spices that give an almost citrus flavour to the stew, its perfect.

Just as warming as the stew itself is the sake on offer, which it soon becomes clear plays an equally important role to the boar. Served warm, in a small pottery jug, it completes the dining experience. Slightly less enjoyable, however, is Doburoku, a completely different type of sake that is served cold and lumpy. I’m told it is a local delicacy, though I’m not so sure!

For those left with any room in their stomachs after finishing all the meat and vegetables, a bowl of rice and an egg are brought out. The egg is poached in the remaining soup and served with the rice to complete the feast. And that is exactly what this meal is, a feast.

It is well known that Japan does food well, indeed Osaka is a foodies dream with something to suit quite literally every taste. What the city doesn't have though is the tranquillity of the countryside, indeed regardless of how good a restaurants food is, there are times when what one wishes for most is some peace and quiet. So for those who've had enough of the hustle and bustle of the city, yet still want to experience the finest food available it's comforting to know that somewhere like Iwaya exists. It might be a bit expensive, and it may be difficult to get to, but rest assured, it's completely worth it.

From Osaka, use the Fykuchiyama line (JR) to Sasayamaguchi (1110 JPY). Those with reservations can make use of the restaurant bus service that will take you the short distance up the mountain to the restaurant.

Botan Nabe must be booked in advance for a minimum of two people (5250 JPY each)

Open: October – March

Fake Beer?!

Following in the success of imported beers such as Mexico’s Corona, the Japanese beer Asahi has become increasingly popular in the UK. In the same way you no longer have to go to an Italian restaurant to drink a Peroni, you no longer have to go to Yo! Sushi to get your hands on an Asahi. Having enjoyed this light beer on the few occasions I’ve tried it, I was looking forward to sampling what else the Japanese beer market could offer me now that I live here. One thing I wasn’t expecting was the popularity not of Asahi but of so called ‘fake beers’. “Fake beer”?! I hear you say. Yes, fake beer does exist here in Japan, indeed, it flourishes.

Upon greater research it becomes clear that there are in fact three categories of ‘beer’ in Japan, each owing its existence to specific tax clasifications. Like most things in Japan these laws are beautifully illogical.

Regular beer – the Asahi’s of this world – must contain at least 67% malt and are subsequently taxed at the highest rate

Happoshu (literally meaning ‘Sparkling Spirits’) must contain less than 25% malt. These are taxed at a slightly lower rate

And finally there are the ‘Third Category’ beers, containing no malt at all. Exactly what is used in the brewing process instead of malt is changeable, but common substitutes include corn, peas, and soy. Needless to say these beers attract a far lower tax rate and a greatly reduced price for consumers.

Initially I wasn't put off by the concept of ‘fake beer’, in fact I was curious to try as many of these peculiar concoctions as possible (much to the disgust of my girlfriend’s Japanese father). Unfortunately as expected fake beer tastes a lot like you might expect fake beer to taste; shitty. A bit like beer but not quite the same. It’s a rare thing to find anyone praising cheap English lager, the Fosters, Carlings and Carlsbergs of this world, but you’d struggle to find anyone in Japan who wouldn’t give up a Suntory ‘Rich Malt’ in return for its British equivalent.

Just as British supermarkets continue to sell Fosters by the shipload day after day though, fake beer continues to be hugely popular here in Japan, as is often the case, it is not quality that is dictating consumer choice, but price. Given that the average can of third category beer is up to a third cheaper than a regular can this is hardly surprising. Despite its questionable taste and renowned ability to cause disproportionately vicious hangovers, it’s hard to argue with a saving of more than 30%.

The future looks disappointingly predictable. The big four Japanese breweries expect demand to continue growing, indeed a report in Japan Today stated that all four were expecting double digit sales growth for Third Category Beers. It would appear then that as a new inhabitant of Japan I have little choice regarding my future drinking habits. Either get a decent job or acquire a taste for fake beer.

The Universal Language of Good Manners

On my plane from Heathrow to Osaka I watched Lost in Translation, it scared the shit out of me. Having spent the previous six months telling anyone who’d listen how much I was looking forward to moving to Japan I was faced with the sudden realisation that I was in fact, moving to Japan. I saw Bill Murray’s character, Bob Harris, struggle to come to terms with the unique culture he was faced with upon arrival in Tokyo; the size of the city, the number of people, the weird technological advances and the idiosyncrasies of the cities inhabitants. After a little over a week spent living in Osaka, it is another of the great Japanese clichés that has struck me most. An aspect of Japanese culture that marks the country apart from all other modern countries I can think of – the impeccable manners of the Japanese people.

Of course it is an almost universally accepted fact that the Japanese are in general, helpful and polite, but I hadn’t counted on just how helpful and polite they would be. Perhaps this comes down to having spent the past 26 years of my life living in the UK, a nation that ostensibly prides itself on service without a smile. The contrasts are universal. Take the ‘convenience store experience’ for example.

In general the convenience store workers of Britain give the impression that they would rather be just about anywhere else. The interviews must be a doddle, if you can come across as even slightly enthusiastic about a career selling fags and booze you surely stand an excellent chance of employment. The trouble is, no-one really wants to work in these places. In general, the average British customer doesn’t tend to have a problem with this attitude though; we accept that jobs such as working in a convenience store, or flipping burgers at McDonalds, are menial jobs – beneath those who frequent such establishments. And thus an unwritten contract has emerged between customer and worker that makes it acceptable for workers to be morose and unhelpful, while in return customers can feel no remorse in behaving like spoilt children, everyone’s happy, right?

Much of this decline in customer service follows the disappearance of the independently owned ‘corner shop’ and the emergence of the scaled-down supermarket. Having devastated countless local businesses, unable to keep up in the age of rock-bottom prices and loss-leader policies, Tesco et al have moved into the very high-streets they destroyed, installing mini versions of themselves in one last effort to rob town centres of any remaining diversity they might have. Where once we could rely on a friendly face and a smile when picking up the paper or buying a loaf of bread, we are now faced with a drone army of supermarket workers, destined to disappoint in an era of short-term contracts, low wages, and virtually no employment rights. Indeed, in this era of mini supermarket style convenience store, workers have almost nothing to gain by providing good customer service.

If bad service at convenience stores really is the result of ownership falling into fewer hands, or the demise of independently owned corner shops why then is it that the ‘convenience store experience’ in Japan is so different? Let’s start with the important points about the Japanese convenience store, or ‘conveenie’ as they are more widely known. They are brilliant.

Located on virtually every corner of every street in major Japanese cities they have everything you could ask of such a store... and more. Along with the usual selection of crisps, chocolates and soft drinks, they sell a dizzying assortment of hot and cold snacks ranging from traditional savoury rice balls wrapped in seaweed, to fried chicken and cheese burgers. The hot selection is the real highlight. Korokke – a breaded potato and pork snack – is a particular favourite. It’s not just the food that impresses though, it’s the small additions that set the Japanese ‘conveenie’ apart from the British ‘mini-supermarket’. Virtually every ‘conveenie’ for example has a toilet which means that rather than following in the British tradition of pissing down a back ally, late night revellers can instead relieve themselves in comfort before picking up a beer for the road.

Though unquestionably impressive in their material offerings, the most impressive aspect of the ‘Convenience store experience’ in Japan is without doubt the staff. The positive attitude of those on the payroll of the Seven Elevens, Family Marts, Lawson’s, and similar stores throughout Japan is infectious. Upon entering any one of these stores you will be greeted without fail with a beaming smile and a cry of “irashaimase” – welcome. It should be noted here that my Japanese speaking ability is limited to say the least so the majority of what is said to me in the process of a transaction is meaningless. Perhaps though it is better this way, for all I know they could be ridiculing my dress sense or insulting my family, the fact it is said with a smile makes the content almost meaningless, however.

Maybe I am being a little too generous here though, perhaps the Japanese attitude to customer service is normal and it is the British attitude that is abnormal. I think this does Japan, as a nation, a great disservice, however. While modern countries around the world have lost all sense of community in an ever increasing transition towards universal selfishness, Japan, it seems, has stayed true to its traditions of mutual respect and good manners. I have only been here for a little over a week so my opinions will doubtless change over time, for now though it is not the climate, nor the technology, or any other of the major differences that mark Japan apart from Britain that make me so positive about living in here in the future. It is instead the simple good manners of the lowly convenience store workers of Osaka and beyond.