September 2, 2006
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Tonight’s Culture Course
Cultural Blogger
In the previous entry the comment was given- “Where did you get that?” about the Happy Ice Cream thing. Well, my personal FAVOURITE blogger is actually part of a anime-fan base product seller who sells Japanese anime-related products from Japan to people in the states. You can look at his latest blogs here, and even sign up for an email of them. Each email, in addition to featuring new products, also has two or three paragraphs of a journal written by him with the most fascinating information. I always enjoy the read.
Note- If you go there, do NOT stumble your way towards “jlist”- it contains adult content and is best avoided by all. Jbox is their “clean” section for children and those folks like myself who seek to avoid x-rated anime material.
Japanese Language Partner- Jun
I met with my language partner tonight for the first time one-on-one. We’d met just once before at the large group pizza party. Just enough time to say hello, exchange information, find out a few small things and set the next time to meet. Well, tonight was GREAT. I had a wonderful time getting to know Jun and just hang out with him. It was a very different experience than with my first attempt at a partner, Yuki- no awkward pauses and that strong ‘reserved’ feeling was fortunately gone. Of course, it is probably there to some extent with most Japanese people, but it is not a tangible thing with Jun like with Yuki. This is a very intelligent and relaxed guy that I can look forwards to being friends with. Most importantly, he desires to invest time in building a friendship with me- and that’s always a plus. It seems like around CIU I have gotten used to an environment where everyone is so BUSY… that people tend to have to pick and choose who they want to prioritize for time investment and I usually ended up feeling like I had to fight for my ‘people time’ with them or anyone.
Flat Sprite Anyone?
Well, that is what it feels like I am drinking. I brought Jun to the local Asian market to show him a place he might want to drop by in the future if he gets home-sick for Japanese food items that are hard to find here. Well, he pointed out a new drink for me to try besides my present favourite “Ramune” (Rah-moon-ay). It was a curious looking drink- it titles itself a “Non-carbonated Soft Drink” and apparently the name in American was changed from “Calpis” (the real Japanese name) to “Calpico”. Of course, after saying Calpis aloud I realise maybe why that might be- try it and you may understand. Say it five times fast. Heh heh. Anyone figure it out yet? I just love how some words translate over in the most amusing ways.
So, Calpis looks milky white- probably because it actually has skim milk in it. So I drink it expecting (as most Americans would) a milky and perhaps slightly rich flavour. Instead, I am shocked to get a tangy flavour- my mouth expects it to culminate with a bite, but instead, it fades out and tastes like… like…
Flat sprite.
Yes, here I am drinking something that looks like milk and tastes like flat Sprite. Perhaps the American mis-understanding of the name Calpis (still haven’t figured that out yet?) is not quite that far off. Maybe more like Cal-milk-pis.
Jun thought it was pretty good so I am keeping an open mind. I just recoil because I’m used to flat Sprite being a BAD thing… this isn’t bad… it isn’t bad, just new… give it a chance. I’m usually a pretty open minded guy with new things- try it before I decide I don’t like it. I try to give things I do not outright hate a fair chance. Although personally I would prefer it had a milky flavour. We Americans really are conditioned to expect certain colouring in certain flavours, aren’t we? White colouring is milk, or coconut… NOT citrus lemon-lime-ish.
Calpis, calpis, calpis, calpis… I want to like calpis, I can like calpis… I will like calpis… ARGH, I DO NOT LIKE CALPIS.
Ahem.
How often to Americans eat meat?
That was one of the questions Jun asked me. I thought it was interesting as I realised that the Japanese really do not eat a lot of meat- especially not red meat, and not too often non-seafood meat. Part of the reason now is that it is just too darn expensive. I mean REALLY expensive. You’d have to be wealthy to eat an American-sized steak on any kind of regular basis in Japan. He found it interesting to realise that we eat meat with EVERY single meal except perhaps breakfast- and even then, if it is a more formal breakfast then we might eat meat too (bacon, ham, etc) though we normally just have cereal on regular days… if anything at all.
I told him that sometimes we have trouble with eating ONLY meat for a meal- maybe a little white bread too, like with a meat sandwhich (ie- hamburger, chicken sandwhich, fried chicken, etc). In Japan they have to work to get meat in a meal- here, we have to work NOT to get meat in a meal. Going to the restraurants here in SC… it is hilarious how hard it is to find ANYTHING without meat in it that is a main meal. Even the SALADs that are not side-salads have meat in them!!
What do Americans do for entertainment?
We watch movies- though lately we are often going to theatres less and watching movies and TV from our homes and just getting nicer TV’s and sound systems. Next to that, Sports is a big thing- which can combine with the first, since we watch them on TV a lot. I don’t like watching sports personally, but it is very popular and particularly among men. American Football and Basketball are tops, at least here.
Apparently in Japan it is thought that the BIG American sports are Basketball and Baseball. I think baseball has a big following, but American Football far tops it and it seems to be loosing popularity in the adult crowd. The Japanese don’t know much about American Football- rather, they do find rugby very interesting instead.
-Patrick