Anyway, it actually starts out with the selection process that Japanese astronauts go through, and some of the methods they use are unique to say the least. First, there’s the paper-crane test. During a week-long continuous observation session, candidates have to fold a thousand origami cranes. These cranes are then analyzed by a team of psychologists to see how the person deals with boring, repetitive tasks and time constraints. The psychologists check whether the folds get less precise at the end of the task, and see how they compare with the first ones.

Like a lot of things in Japan, there’s an explanation for why it’s done, but no other countries have anything similar to it, and you’re left wondering if there wouldn’t be a test that’s more closely related to actual space missions.

The book also compares Japan’s test for how astronauts with unexpected situations. The Canadian Space Agency asks candidates to practice escaping from burning space capsules and sinking helicopters, and jump into wave-filled pools from great heights. The author, Mary Roach says, “…I asked Tachibana whether he was panning to pull any surprises on his candidates, to see how they cope under the stress of a sudden emergency. He told me he had given thought to disabling the isolation chamber toilet.” Another test involved delaying lunch by one hour.

Japanese pigs say “buu buu.” I guess someone thinks that English ones say, “Groin, groin.”

Masks were first made in Japan in 1879, and were originally for use in industry. They were not the disposable type that are common today, and they were black or blue so that they did not show the dirt. The masks were built on wire frames and were not very comfortable. During these years, however, they were not common and were worn mostly by factory workers.

There was a worldwide flu pandemic between 1918 and 1920, and it arrived in Japan around 1919. Interestingly, it was the H1N1 Virus, the same bug which made headlines again in 2009, that gave rise to cold masks. The flu epidemic killed between 50 and 100 million people around the world, and 390,000 people in Japan. Masks became common in many countries, including Japan.

The Japanese government put up scary posters like this one. It says, “Beware of cold-causing germs! You’re risking your life if you don’t wear a mask!”

There was so much demand for the masks that makers could not keep up with it, and decreased the quality of their products in order to increase their production. After the epidemic, masks remained popular, and designs were improved. The wire frames were replaced with celluloid and the filters were made more effective.

In 1934, there was another big influenza scare, and masks became even more popular. Every time there was another outbreak, they gained in popularity, and the quality and comfort became better.

After World War II, when Japan began planting huge forests of cedar trees, it caused an epidemic of pollen allergies. Today, almost 30 percent of people suffer from hay fever, making masks even more popular.

One other reason that people wear masks is Japan’s guilt-based morality system. People don’t want to give other people colds, but they feel they have to come to work. They don’t let their co-workers down, so they wear the masks in order not to give other people their germs. However, the WHO warns that there is no evidence that masks stop the spread of disease in community settings, and that using them improperly (which pretty much everyone in Japan does when they take them off repeatedly) can actually be more dangerous than not wearing one.

Links:

History of cold masks with lots of old masks, ads, and illustrations (in Japanese): http://www.tpa-kitatama.jp/museum/museum_06.html

History of cold masks (in Japanese): http://www.mask.co.jp/osato/mamechishiki/rekishi01.htm

WHO information about masks: http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/Adviceusemaskcommunity.pdf

According to the signs outside it, this is an Aleph (formerly Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult that carried out sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway in 1995) dojo (training center). They say things like “Aum, get out of your den fast! Get out! Get out!” or “This is one of Aum’s dens.”

I have to say that apartment hunting in Japan is quite an experience. At another place we looked at we noticed that the furniture in the model room seemed really small. It turns out that a lot of places put smaller furniture in the rooms to make them look bigger.

At another place we went to, they proudly showed off the entrance area with its wide sidewalks and parking area, without telling us that it’s scheduled to be removed when the road gets widened in a few years. Apparently, they tell you this on the day you sign the contract.

Another thing that makes it really fun is that there is a huge preschool shortage, and we’ve had to eliminate a lot of good-looking rooms because the waiting lists at all the area preschools were too long.

Anyway, the search continues.

Getting there:

From Tokyo Station, take the Keiyou (not the Keio) Line to Kasai Rinkai Koen Station. It takes about 15 minutes and costs 210 yen. The park is just a one-minute walk from the station.

Tel. (03) 5696-1331

Website: http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index026.html (In Japanese only)

I think that there are two main things employers are worried about in Japan: 1) Is the person going to get along with his/her Japanese coworkers and not cause friction? and 2) Is the person going to stick around? When they ask you about what you like about Japan, what you think about working at a Japanese company, etc. they want to hear how much you know about Japanese business culture and make sure that you’re not going to head back to your home country in six months. Foreigners who have alienated all their Japanese coworkers, and people disappearing back to their home countries are huge problems, so it’s really important to convince a potential employer that you’re going to be able to get along with people and that you’re going to be around long enough to make it worth their while hiring and training you.
When I was helping do interviews at my old company, I sometimes heard  people saying they came to Japan because they wanted to date Japanese women or that the thing that something to keep in mind when working at a Japanese company is that Japanese people are uncreative. Obviously, this kind of answer isn’t going to make a good impression on a potential employer.

Below are some questions that often get asked at Japanese job interviews, sample answers, and important points to remember when answering. I don’t know if the answers are great or not, but I got a job in quite a competitive situation recently, so I hope  they’re at least worth reading.

Q. What do you think it is important for foreigners to keep in mind when working at a Japanese company?

A: I think that it’s very important to have strong personal relationships with your co-workers, and in order to do this, it’s important to be aware of Japanese customs. For example, instead of saying your opinion directly to someone, sometimes it can be very useful to communicate through an intermediary or to ask someone who is senior to you for advice about how to deal with difficult situations. I am always very careful to avoid confrontations and keep in mind that my coworkers may not say their true feelings about something directly, so I have to read between the lines and put myself in the other person’s shoes.

Important points:
-Show awareness of differences between Japanese and Western culture
-Never sound even the faintest bit negative about Japan

Q. What would you do if you had a problem with a Japanese coworker?

A. I think that in Japan, solving a personal problem always begins with an apology, even if you don’t think you are wrong. In most cases, I would apologize to the person, and not only find a good way to resolve the problem, but after that I would try to reestablish my good relationship with the person.

Important points:
-Show that you’re a cooperative, flexible person who will make a real effort to learn about cultural differences and take them into account when dealing with your co-workers.

Q. What do you like most about Japan?

A. I really admire how Japanese people put other people’s needs before their own. At work, I’m always impressed by how people think a lot about how their actions will affect their coworkers. For example, I think that Japanese people are a lot more considerate about taking vacations and volunteering to help their co-workers than Westerners are.

Important points:
-They don’t want to hear about how much you like anime or Japanese pop music. Try to say something that will make you sound like a loyal, dedicated employee, or at least someone who understands Japan.

Q. Please give us a self-promotional speech.

I do everything with enthusiasm and passion (nesshin ni). Even if I am not interested in a project in the beginning, when I start to work on it, I always get very interested in it and want to do a really good job on it. For example, at my current company, I always find that when I start researching something for a book or article, I find myself thinking a lot about it outside my working hours, and I often talk about it with my friends and co-workers. I think that you can tell whether a person really put their heart into something when you see the finished product, so it’s very important to do so. I think that when people read things that I wrote, they will be able to tell that I made a really effort to research it very carefully, to make sure the grammar and spelling are perfect, and that it’s easy and enjoyable to read.

Important points:
-I guess this is like “Why should we hire you?” but the phrasing of it (Jiko PR o oneigaishimasu) always struck me as really odd for a country that values modesty as highly as Japan does. After hearing Japanese people’s jiko PR speeches, though, they never seem to say things about their abilities directly. It’s more about their efforts and attitudes and how they lead to results.

Q. Why did you come to Japan?

A. I’ve been interested in Japanese culture ever since I was young. I read a lot of books about Japan, I was really interested in Japanese aesthetics, and I had some Japanese friends in college, so I always wanted to visit. After college I came to Japan on a working holiday visa and started working as an English teacher. I was only planning to stay a year, but I really like the people, the food, and the lifestyle, so I decided to stay for a second year, and then another, and another…and now I’ve been here for 17 years and have a wife and child.

Important points:
-Try to show that you are “serious” about Japan. Some companies have an impression that people who came here to study martial arts will always put their martial art first, or people who like anime will be less serious as employees, so it might be better to downplay this kind of thing.

Q. How long do you plan to stay in Japan?

A. Well, my wife is Japanese, and we have a baby now, so we are probably going to stay here forever. Actually, we’re looking to buy a condominium soon, so we’ve decided we are going to be living here permanently.

Important points:
-Of course everyone has a different answer to this, but a key point is to convince your your prospective employer that you are going to be here for a long time because you have some sort of reason to stay in Japan. If you have a fiance, spouse, child, or relative in Japan, emphasize it because you will seem a lot more stable.

Before the Meiji Restoration, all of Ueno Park and a lot of it’s surroundings were one huge temple called Kan’ei-ji, and Jomyo-in was one of its 36 sub-temples. Kan’ei-ji was closely associated with the Tokugawa Shoguns, and Jomyo-in is named for the mother of the fourth Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Ietsuna.

The temple was renamed Jomyo-in in 1723. The front gate is said to date back from this time.

The jizo thing was started by a monk called Myoun, who became the chief priest of the temple in 1876. He was originally from Osaka, and at the age of 25, while living as a hermit at a temple in Nikko, he came have great faith in Jizo. He started out with the idea of making a thousand jizo statues, but when they were finished, he started thinking big and decided to go for 84,000. The temple and some sites that I checked seem to indicate that there really are 84,000 jizo statues there, but there clearly aren’t.

There’s a really cool 360 degree panoramic photo of the temple here: http://www.360cities.net/image/jomyoin#695.86,-9.07,110.0

And a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY_gi-UPjo4&playnext=1&list=PL851D134A302A2D60

The temple is right next to the entrance of the Yanaka Cemetery.

There’s a very good map and detailed access information on this PDF: http://www.yes-tokio.es/pictures/fichas%20zonas/yanaka.pdf

Here is the temple’s official homepage, in really difficult to read Japanese: http://www.tendaitokyo.jp/jiinmei/jinss/ss3jyomyo.asp

1. If you want to go to a private preschool, call the school the day your baby is born because there are incredibly long waiting lists. A lot of parents seem to try to plan their delivery dates so that the child is born early in the year to get ahead on the waiting list. Our son was born in September, and by the time we got around to applying for a preschool in November, we were number 25 on the waiting list.

2. The reason you want to call a private preschool is because if the one my son goes to is typical, public preschools are insane:

a) They take my son’s temperature three times a day. If it’s over 37.5 in the morning (my parenting books says that’s the upper limit of a normal temperature) he is not accepted, and if at any time it goes over 38 we have to pick him up, even if it goes back down a few minutes later (which it often does).

b) Every time he sneezes or gets a pimple on his little toe, they insist we take him to the doctor, even though the doctor rolls his eyes every time he sees us and says, “Wow, your pre-school is really strict.” They have also rejected kids even when the doctor gave permission for them　to go back.

c) They don’t seem to understand the concept of “day care,” because they’re constantly accusing my wife of being a bad mother when she works overtime or applies for extended-hours daycare.

d) One teacher got angry at my wife for speaking English to my son because she claims he doesn’t understand Japanese as well as the other kids (ignoring that fact that he was the second-youngest in the class).

e) They’re constantly telling us how to raise our child.

f) They give us lectures when we’re (literally) five minutes late picking him up.

Other reasons that I wish we’d gotten into the private preschool near my apartment are that their opening hours are much longer, they let you drop off your child any time during the day (making it much easier to take him to the doctor and letting you use a half- rather than a full-day off), they’re just generally a lot more flexible.

But then again, if we’d gotten into the private preschool, my son wouldn’t have gotten to wear this cool disaster hat after the March 11 earthquake, so I guess that’s something.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Sometimes when I’m sitting at my desk, I suddenly feel the ground shaking, but when I look around, everyone else is just sitting there calmly. I always feel really stupid, and I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with me. Last night, however, my wife did the same thing, and then this morning I came across an article about ‘jishin yoi (link is in Japanese only).’ ‘Yoi’ usually means ‘drunk,’  but ‘kuruma yoi’ is ‘car sickness’ and ‘funa yoi’ is ‘sea sickness,’ so ‘jishin yoi’ can be translated as ‘earthquake sickness.’

The article defines it as “feeling dizzy or shaky even though there there is no earthquake happening.” Apparently, it’s becoming quite common in Japan due to the terrible earthquake and all the aftershocks these days.

I wonder if there’s a word for my other neurosis, obsessively checking the radiation levels in Tokyo every five minutes (The link is in Japanese only, but the first column is the maximum, the second is the minimum, and the third is the average. The normal level is 0.028～0.079 micro sieverts.)