Don’t Buy Cameras in Japan

Japan has a law that requires cameras to make a beeping noise, shutter noise when a picture is taken. This is to protect people from perverts, or any other unwanted pictures taken. Camera phones, DS’s anything with a camera is required to make some sort of noise to let people know a picture has been taken.

The law was intended to help prevent criminals, unfortunately anyone who is motivated could either buy a foreign camera, or in the case of phones, download an app that disables the feature. The law is very easily bypassed, and only leads to really annoying sounds on the cameras.

There are many great camera companies, Sony, Canon, Olympus, Fuji, Nikon, Panasonic, and Pentax. The finest cameras in the world come from Japanese companies, it might seem logical that buying from Japan would save you money, and ensure the best products, this is not true. The cameras are the same, almost anything they sell they sell in the states, you will however not get your instruction manual in English, and your camera will make annoying noises. Japan tries whenever it can to make the prices the same in Japan and in the U.S. so it will not save you money to buy cameras here. Japanese cameras usually have pretty good warranties, but they will be based on the country of origin.

Otsuki Tunnel

A tunnel just outside of Otsuki collapsed yesterday killing 9 people, and injuring 2 more. Otsuki is the next exit off the highway from us, and is home to one of Ben and my favorite places, Saruhashi. Ben and I have driven through that tunnel nearly a dozen time in the last couple of months, and had planned on going to Otsuki yesterday. The tunnel is 3 miles long, and regularly highly congested, our last trip through the tunnel took 25 minutes to pass through the tunnel.

Our area of Japan is very mountainous, tunnels are very common. It is rare to go much more then 5 miles without passing through a tunnel. 

There is some outrage towards the tunnel inspectors who checked the tunnel about a month ago. It seems likely that they were pressured at the time to work quickly as to not add to the common congestion the highway often sees in that area. 

Further reading

Wales Online - Nine killed in Japanese tunnel collapse

Zen, Fen Shui, and Yin Yangs

You walk into a house, above the door is a Ba-Qua mirror. There is a Zen sand garden in one of the corners, a bamboo plant in another, and a painted yin yang hangs on the wall. Paper lanterns hang down from the ceiling. A fat Buddha, becomes you into the room, and immediately you are whisked away to Japan…SCREEEE!!! WRONG!

The entire description above contains a list of things I have never seen in a Japanese home, but are found frequently labeled as Japanese back home. There is a great misconception of what Japanese living is. Japanese and Chinese décor have become synonymous, and there is a huge misconception as to the everyday influence of Buddhism in Japan.

A normal Japanese home in Japan looks like a constant game of Will-It-Fit. Houses are not usually as big as they are in the United States, and dedicated storage space is not very common. Most homes have a certain eclectic feel to them here. They do not have the option to tuck things away like we do in the US.

Well decorated homes usually feature very empty rooms. Classic Japanese décor usually means tatami mat flooring. Tatami is made from woven rice straw, and is fairly squishy. Furniture will leave dents in tatami mats (like carpet) and so often Tatami rooms have no furniture in them. Tatami grow mold easily, so it is essential for a tatami room to have great ventilation, this usually means that the room has shoji. If the walls are not made from shoji, they will most likely be wall papered, usually with a decorative paper. When you see one of these rooms they always look very beautiful, the problem is that there are no elements to duplicate in your own home.

There is a general misconception that Zen is a prevalent concept in Japan, and it is a highly influential concept in everyday life. In reality, Zen is about as prevalent here as it is back home.

Now I really like those sand gardens, and I really like bamboo, I will probably have them both in my home when I am an adult, I will not however associate them with Japan.