'Granny' maids

Photo from AFP-Yonhap News

Japan has been known for some quite strange maid cafes with young girls serving tea dressed in aprons and frills. However according to Korea Herald, a new trend in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district is a café which now boasts of a disciplinary housekeeper from anime series Heidi, Girl of the Alps (intro video below). So customers go in and are scolded for not sitting properly or having the right manners. This is part of the Festival Tokyo 2010. This is an interesting change in trend in Japan as it reinforces there is always something ‘new’ to be explored. Maybe even a longing to be scolded?

The ‘maids’ range from real-life grannies to young girls who are dressed as grannies who even wear fake wrinkles and dye their hair.

Facebook and Japan

It’s interesting how Facebook is not as popular in Japan than in western countries. The act of connecting with people on social networks has accelerated in recent years. Whilst Twitter successfully launched into the Japanese market in 2009, Facebook is comparatively still struggling. Even though Japan has the third highest usage of the internet in the world, according to Japan Real Time, Japanese people have the fewest digital friends on social networks with an average of just 29 friends compared to the rest of the world and mostly use Mixi, a popular Japanese social networking site. Facebook headquarters in California launched a cross-platform feature since September that will allow users of Facebook and Mixi to share links hoping to raise popularity.

Another feature of the Mixi site is that all users are able to track those who have been looking at their profile which may be due to privacy concerns. Tailoring Facebook to a specific culture may take time and effort.

Calorie count

Japanese mobile phones recently have an extra application – count calories of food snapshots you take. According to Yahoo News, the software is developed by Japan's NTT Communications evaluates the colour and shapes of food, then compares it with a database and counts the calories. There are about 100,000 different sorts of food stored on the server. However where there are a several plates of food in a meal, an individual snapshot of each one is required.

For Japan being a health-conscious nation especially among girls, this is a big asset and valuable resource to their dieting. I remember my host mother counting how many calories I was allowed to take a day and made sure even the salad dressing for my salad had the lowest calorie possible.

The application also enables friends to share information about their calorie intake so that they might encourage one another or just compare their diets.

Technology and music

It’s really amazing how Japan is leading the way in terms of technology by introducing robots and virtual characters into the music scene. Miku Hatsune is a prime example of an artifically-generated holographic pop star created by Crypton Future Media holding concerts. She has many real life fans and performs live concerts. Below is a video.




There is also HRP-4C who is a humanoid robot who sings and dances. See video below. There is a hint that pop music is changing slightly due to technological advances.

JLPT

It’s been a while since my last entry. Now that uni exams are over, I’m starting to study for the Japanese Proficiency Exam attempting level 1 for the 3rd time which is in early December. This Japanese Language Proficiency Exam is an internationally recognised exam to measure Japanese abilities and the certificate is useful when working in Japan. However unlike previous years, this year, they have renewed the exam and it is aimed more at measuring practical skills. So this means incorporating a lot more everyday Japanese in comprehension, listening and grammar. The passing level every year has been around 70% and every time I just miss the mark, but supposedly this year they have lowered it so hopefully will pass it.

In the past I remember there were a lot of old grammar points I had to learn which were hardly used by Japanese people. When I asked my host family to explain them, they had no clue. Since this exam is completely multiple choice, I wonder exactly how much Japanese proficiency they can measure. Of course this exam can’t measure everything and has its limits, but I find it also very helpful. On the good side, it helps my keep up with my Japanese and reminds me of some structures which I have learnt in the past and have easily forgotten. I think for the past few years, somehow I have always looked forward to this exam at the end of the year which gives me a break from everything else. Once I pass this though, I will have to find another thing to study – maybe another language.

haiku

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry and is a non-rhymed verse genre in the form of five, seven, five sounds (not necessarily syllables). On Wikihow, it explains that haiku contains usually a season and a ‘kireji’ which is a cutting word which gives makes a contrast or comparison within the poem. One of the classic Haiku Zen poets was Matsuo Basho. His poetry focused on the Zen way of thinking and reflected his observation on simple things. Basho said that ‘Haiku is simply what is happening in this place at this time.’

Some examples of his work:
An old pond
A frog jumps in -
Splash!

On a withered branch
A crow has alighted:
Nightfall in autumn.

The rest of the world has also picked up on haiku and there are many haiku in English contests now. The Mainichi Daily News has a haiku section which publishes haiku every day and runs an annual Haiku contest. Last year’s winner of the contest was Scott Mason and his haiku was:

alfresco
the sommelier decants
a red sunset
— Scott Mason (U. S. A.)