Japanese Dance Club

On Friday we went out for “Taw’s last night out in Japan”. To celebrate we went to a club. There were some major differences between this club and club’s in America. One of the key components Japanese culture is that the sexes are pretty segregated. If you walk into a Japanese classroom (any grade level) the students naturally sit with members of their own sex. If you look at a Japanese playground (any grade level) students generally sit and are grouped by their own sex. It was no different in this club. The males dance with the males. The females dance with the females. There was only one male I saw dancing with a female. This was Tim (a fellow teacher at Taw’s school from Los Angeles) and his girlfriend, Yukari. Just so you understand this is now how all clubs work in Japan. There are clubs that are more sexual. But this type of club where heterosexual men dance with one another and heterosexual women dance with one another are not uncommon.

Initially I was thrown off by this. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to dance but not with a bunch of other dudes. But soon a realization crossed my mind “when in rome…”. I then went to dancing. At one point one of the other males turned my way and started doing the dance where they wave their two fingers (in a peace format) across their eyes. He then pointed at me. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do as he was a little bit close for complete comfort. He clearly wasn’t coming on to me. He was simply having a good time. But I didn’t know what to do. Do I get closer? Do I step back? Do I develop my own move? Do I mimic his move? I opted to mimic his move. This apparently was a good decision as he continued to come back my way for some dance action at various times over the next hour.

Another humorous thing happened while in this situation. There were 5 of us at the club: Myself, Taw, Kana, Tim, and Yukari. Tim and Yukari were dancing together. At some point in the night I wanted to dance with a female. It was clear that kana enjoyed dancing as she was dancing. I wanted to dance with her yet I didn’t know if it was okay. She is Japanese. I didn’t know if it would be offensive to her. I sat there dancing (slightly off rhythm) with this game of tug ‘o’ war happening in my head. Do I ask her? Do I just dance with her? Is that offensive? What if she doesn’t feel comfortable saying no? Am I hungry? Do I feel like dancing? In the end, I opted not to dance with her because I didn’t want to offend her. The next day the whole situation made me smile because of the cultural struggle I went through.

Sumo Tournament in Nagoya

Today I went to a sumo tournament with Taw, Tim and Yukari (Yukari is a Tim’s girlfriend). As we walked up the location of the tournament there were a few sumo wrestlers that were walking past us. We took pictures with them. They looked so strong.

When they walk they have this slow gait. They might walk like this because of their weight but I think there is more to it. It just appears like they are in a rush to get nowhere because they know they will get there. They have a calm about them that is relaxing yet a little bit eerie. The tournament itself was fascinating. The actual process before and after the match is extremely ritualistic. The sumo ring itself is considered sacred ground. Therefore the sumo wrestlers throw salt on the ground prior to entering the ring. Also, prior to the beginning of the match they will set up like they are going to begin battling but will go through a series of movements (squatting, slapping their legs and side) and then step back to their corner. This is all part of the ritual. The matches on average probably lasted 8 to 10 seconds. They are as short as 2 seconds and I was told that every once in a while they can last 2 minutes. The longest one I saw was about 30 seconds. In the front rows people sit on “sitting futons”. They don’t have chairs in these areas. The sitting futons are like small mats (maybe 15 by 15 inches). The environment in the stadium is calm yet engaged. The ritualistic behavior is enjoyable and not overdone.



The pacing between matches is excellent. It is a very engaging sport to watch. There were probably 30 or more matches that we saw. There is probably 5 minutes total for each match (ritual time included). I watched it similar to how I watch football. I would engage as soon as the wrestlers began to battle. Between bouts I would talk and observe the stadium.

Seeing the sights in Nagoya

Today I travelled all around Nagoya, I saw three major sights: Nagoya Castle, Osu Kannon, and Atsutu shrine. Nagoya castle was developed in the 1600’s and used to establish Nagoya as a major capital during the time period. Pieces of the castle were destroyed during world war 2 but it has been put back together. Below is a picture of Nagoya castle



Osu Kannon is a Buddhist temple that was built in the 1300’s. It looks cool so I wanted to check it out. Below is a picture.



Atsutu shrine was built at the beginning of the century which makes it about 2000 years old. It is a Shinto shrine. It has about 9 million people visit it annually. Below is a picture.

A run in Nagoya

One of my favorite things to do when I travel is to take a run in the area. It gives me an opportunity to explore a town freely. It also gives me some exercise to help ground me. Travelling can be challenging because my eating patters and sleep patterns vary immensely. Running gives me an opportunity to reset my body. Plus, It is a great way to get to know the area. It is much faster than walking but still allows me to notice the small details of my environment. This morning I took a run through a park in Nagoya. Take a look at the video and some pics.

Sushi Conveyor Belt

Tonight I went to dinner with Taw and Tim. Tim is a fellow teacher at Taw’s school that also taught in Los Angeles. He has been in japan for about a year. Tim has proven to me that it is possible for a foreigner to be conversational in Japanese (though he would say he isn’t) within a year. Tonight the three of us went to dinner. Now this place had conveyor belts that went by our tables. On the conveyor belts were a whole foray of different sushi options. Each plate had 2 pieces of sushi or other stuff on it. Each plate costs 100 yen. 100 yen is a little bit over a dollar. This means that I could get ten plates for about 10 dollars. It was awesome. I am sure there must be something like this in the United States but I have never been. I also feel like it would probably be more pricey in the United States.

A day at a Japanese Highschool

I am in Nagoya and I am staying with my friend Ron Taw. It is always a pleasure being with Taw. He always manages to somehow be incredibly appropriately inappropriate. As I told him today he is the most optimistic negative person I know. I went with Taw to school today. It was extremely interesting seeing the school. First off, students nor staff wear shoes in the school building. They have slippers for visitors. The staff and students bring their own slippers that they wear in the building. The students are really fun. They enjoy speaking English and are really friendly. One of the interesting things about the education system in Japan is that students get accepted to high schools based on their middle school scores. It is kind of like how the College system works in the United States. There are prestigious high schools and “not so prestigious” high schools. At their high schools each students joins a club. The students join one club. No more, no less. They then focus on becoming an expert in this area. There are so many different types of clubs. There is tennis, handball, basketball, dancing, track and field, soccer, baseball, swimming, Jukendo, volleyball, and handball just to name a few. Many of these clubs compete against other schools. We walked around after school and watched the clubs. The most amazing thing to me is that there were no adults that were overseeing these clubs. Now from my understanding the clubs do have coaches that are adults but the majority of the time the students supervise themselves. The students are very structured and organized. They ran drills and pushed themselves. This was unlike anything I have seeing in the United States. I have included a couple videos that show some of the clubs in action. Sidenote: The reason I didn't comment on how the classes are structured is because today was a sports day at the school. The students had all finished their finals so there was not any classes in session. below are some pictures from while I was at the school.