A Place by the River

Unlike Bestor’s Neighborhood Tokyo, I do not know where the neighborhood I live in begin or end—or even the name of the area. However, there are a few things I noticed as I bike to school each day. Like many other neighborhoods, this quiet vicinity also has malls and markets, parks and shrines but one thing that never cease to surprise me is how early stores close on weekdays. Sometimes while checking ingredients for tomorrow’s meals and realized I’m missing an ingredient or two, I would head to Sanko but only to find no bicycles or lights to indicate that it is still open. It is quite ironic since by now I got the impression that everything is supposed to be convenient for people in Japan, hence vending machines and 7/11.

But this neighborhood isn’t just about convenience but also safety. There are safety signs almost everywhere—from speed limit to warnings about drowning in the river. They’re all indicators of how a person can contribute to helping the community by following the signs.

While web-surfing, I stumbled upon a unique website about “thE qUirKY jaPan.” The author of this website has an interesting post about “useless people” in Japan—which are people holding unproductive jobs—and I found two of the jobs that fit the description here in Hirakata: the crossing guard and the University gate guard. Coming from the author’s point-of-view I can understand that these jobs aren’t beneficial to the economy and we can go on with our days like every day without someone waving and greeting us, and cars can enter and leave the Komat’su parking lot without any help from guards, but they are not entirely “useless”. Aside from following the job description, every now and then these guards become a 3-seconds photographer.

As an outsider with few words I can only cover the surface of this neighborhood while the heart of Hirakata is left untouched. But even with a million words, the heart is meant to be felt not described.

Konichiwa Japan!

For 17 hours, all I see were airplanes, duty-free shops, and people looking at signs or maps to locate their destination. For 17 hours, I have live in a world where people are either moving or waiting, and I, too, was waiting for the moment I step foot upon an unfamiliar land and began an unknown life.
But it didn’t occur to me that I was on the other side of the Pacific until the bus left Kansai International Airport, where I began to notice shops and houses are closely knit together, bicycles are everywhere, streets were not jammed with cars like in the U.S., and even the air was different. Everything spells out: “Welcome to Japan. Enjoy your stay in this friendly place.”
That was the first thing I catch on after living a week in Hirakata—everyone is ultra friendly and to boost the effect, they would throw in the peace sign when a camera is involved. I came from Portland, Oregon where we are known for kind people and slow drivers, but Japan is on a whole different level because Japanese people are not just kind but also very polite that makes me feel guilty if I did not separate trash correctly.

And since we are on the topic of trash, it is astounding to see how many different categories trash can be separated—pet bottles, cans, plastic, burnable, and sometimes the “other” category. Cleanliness is like a golden rule in Japan. So far, from where I’ve been and what I’ve seen, Japan (Hirakata specifically) is a very peaceful country with cultural values embedded in everyday task such as taking off your shoes before you step on the clean floors. Sadly, the one thing I will never get used to is the process of constantly pushing the button for more water to come out while taking a shower. Oh, and of course the constant fear of being attacked by a bicycle while walking to school…