tulipano’s blog

Very often, I felt the Japan I know is not the Japan defined by the non-Japanese.

I wonder if it was better in the 90s in Italy, when people took Japan no different from China. All said, “Are you Chinese?” or said weird words that for them is Chinese. I knew I was from somewhere “around there,” and there’s no difference for them if I come from Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, Macau or Hong Kong.

Come to think of it, I encountered so much racism there.

In Thailand, I hardly encounter such racism. Mainly because I come from a country with super economic power, so relevant everywhere in this country.

I see Japanese characters everywhere, although most of them do not make sense at all. I hear people say “I like Japanese food” “I love sushi” and all that. Do I feel happy? No.

Here’s a good example of why:

A doughnut a la japonaise is here to stay! But this commercial starts wil people greeting “Nado nado,” which only means “and so on” in Japanese. It does not make sense.

So many “Japanese” restaurants all over the place, but I will eat there only when someone pays me. I once went one (I did not pay), and did not like the food. This one belongs to one of the most famous hotels in the downtown Bangkok.

The restaurant now offers “Unagi Nabe,” or hot pot of eel. I had never heard such thing in Japan.

The situation seems all like this everywhere. The Japanese government nearly established the Sushi Police, to give permission only to the accredited ones.

There is only one Japanese restaurant out of Japan that I liked. It is in New York City, and they have a separate menu for the Japanese.

There are two Japans: one that the Japanese know, grown up with; and another that others defined. I feel so weird in between.

just chilling out… (Nagoya, May 2008 )

Friendship and business do not get along, at least for me. Although mixed very often, when the rule of “give and take” is lost, friendship just becomes another “kusare en” (=”rotten relationships,” meaning the ones you cannot be away from because of funny links).

There are people who think to be my friends, but who are not friends for me. There were many like that especially when I was working for a paper… Many came to me just to be my friends, in order to take advantage of me.

Some of my old friends became that kind of friends in the meantime, too. Now that I left the paper, one even asked me, “Don’t you plan to go back?” No way. I guess she did not get why I left there. I explained her why, but I have not felt she got what I meant.

With them I am not myself. I do not feel I am accepted, if not some connections with the paper.

I remember my English teacher at junior high school. She used to give me special classes. She said, “In these classes I am your friend, but not in classroom.” I guess she knew the rule. I wish I could say that clearly to my “friends,” anyway I have my right to be choosy and I will be so.

Trench coat… I really wanted one, simply because of pictures like this:

BUT what if I have SO SHORT winter this year?! My real winter was the two weeks spent in Japan in January. After that, back to almost-always-warm Southeast Asia. Read the rest of this entry »

Long and winding road! (Thailand, Sept 2007)

I got a call from a Korean guy, who used to be one of my co-workers. He wanted to know the contact numbers of some staff, to send English books to establish a library in a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand.

I tried to be polite listening to his story… He already got fund from UN people and NGOs in his country. And I simply wondered if he really knows about aid, human rights and development. Read the rest of this entry »

Impossibly big calzone… (Bangkok, Feb 2008 )

The picture is “calzone” in Basilico resutaurant in Bangkok. The restaurant is known to be one of the best Italian restaurants in the city.

When I saw this, I got shocked. In Italy, you would never see something like this… The real calzone, lookes pretty much the same, BUT a lot smaller. Maybe as big as your palm, not more.

Japan has developed so-called “Sushi Police” (The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, “Recommendation of Japanese Restaurants Outside Japan). Maybe Italy also gotta have one?

(Bangkok, Apr 2008 ) I’d rather see the person’s face…

Facebook. Another friend suggested me to join it last Friday. This is the fourth time someone tells me to.

The second time I was suggested to I visited the website, almost signed in. Then I did not, I guess I was caught up with other stuff and just closed the page. I guess I did the right thing, as now I see that “You can’t delete anything” and “Anyone can glance at your intimate confessions” at Facebook (The Guardian), besides all the issues of privacy (privacy.org). Read the rest of this entry »