Country of Insularism III

Country of Insularism III

This week, people in Japan seem to be enthusiastic about Mr. Ryo Ishii.

15 years old Mr. Ryo Ishii won a golf tournament this week. This is the youngest record to win the golf tournament.
He was given a nick name called “Hanikami Oji” (=Bashful prince) and all newspapers were writing articles about him.
Also he invited to prime ministers house the day before yesterday and shook hands with Mr. Abe of the prime minister.

But wait, wait, wait, wait…

Of course, the prize of young athlete becomes news. It should be.
In Spain, sometime I can see Mr. Fernando Alonso (racing driver) or Mr. Rafael Nadal (tennis player) cover the top page of national paper.
But it is only the case they win the match of WORLD GAME, they never put the top of the page about domestic game (except football).

And what Mr. Ishii have got win was domestic tournament, not world one.

If he wants to become world class player, it is just first step for him.
The current situation surrounds him is not good for him. It is too noisy, I guess.
He needs much more practice and he should NOT spend the time for bull shit things like having interview with media.
As he is still 15 years old, someone must protect him from media who just acts for their own curiosity.
I have seen many players had killed by media's curiosity and I do not like to see anymore.

Not only the mass media's attitude but also people in Japan's attitude has a problem.
People tend to be enthuasitic for domestic match because few Japanese players can have capability to win in worldwide game. Or, few Japanese players win in worldwide game so that people find the joy only from domestic game, I am not sure which is the first and which is the last.

Anyway, I feel that the current enthusiastic attitude of Japanese press about Mr. Ryo Ishii is too much.

To learn Chinese in Spain

I have learned Chinese language for seven months. Basically I am using a Japanese book for studying Chinese.

You can find a lot of common points between Japanese and Chinese.

For example, both languages use Chinese characters and you can write both vertical and horizontal way.

However, learning pronunciation of Chinese is quite hard for Japanese because there are a lot of pronunciation which Japanese do not have.

Therefore, I was looking for a person who can teach me that language. To go to language school is not my option because I have to spend a lot of time for business trip.

Then the beginnings of this month, I found a lay who can teach me Chinese language in Spanish.

That is very strange experience for me.

She and I have lived in Barcelona just for two or three years so both of us do not have perfect Spanish language skills.

So sometimes, we have problem in Spanish communication during the class.

Actually it was very difficult to ask complecated grammatical question to her, because sometime she did not understand what I was saying...

Aprender lengua China en España.

He aprendido Chino hace siete meses. Uso unos libros japoneses para aprender Chino.
Hay muchas puntos comunes entre la lengua Japones y la lengua Chino. Por ejemplo, usamos caracteres chino para escribir.

Sin embargo, básicamente estas son cada otra lenguas.

Especialmente, es muy diferente para japoneses para aprender pronunciación China porque Chino tiene muchas pronunciación que japoneses no tienen.

Por eso, he buscado un profesor quien me ensañe esta lengua. Tengo no oportunidad ir a la escuela, porque tengo muchos viajes para trabajo.

Entonces, conocí una chica china en otro día y ahora me ha enseñado lengua china con castellano. Es una experiencia muy buena y extraña por mi.

Pero ambos dos hemos vivido en Barcelona casi solo dos o tres años, por eso a veces, tenemos un problema de comunicar en castellano también...

Country of Insularism II

When you visit to Japan, you must bring some cash, otherwise you will have a trouble.

First, unlike any other developed country, not so many shop can accept the credit card specially restaurant.
So definitely you need cash to travel in that country.

Second, that is important. You must remember that YOU CANNOT WITHDRAW MONEY FROM ATM MACHINE WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD.

Yes, if you travel US or Western Europe, you do not need to bring cash because you can easily withdraw the money from ATM machine located in front of bank with the currency you need. When I travel in UK, France, USA, etc, everywhere I was able to get it.
Of course, they charge you a commission but anyway you can get money on your hand.

If the credit card was made in Japanese bank, you can withdraw the money in the above country without any troubles.
But it is not other way round.
If your card is made in overseas, Japanese ATM machine will not accept cash withdrawal.

I do not know why such unfair thing happens.
But I have seen several times in Narita airport, overseas travelers found the trouble in front of ATM machine located in airport lobby.

I would like to say again, Japan is quite comfortable place for people who live there with Japanese nationality, but it is very tough for others, because of their Insularism.

Country of Insularism

I live in Spain, and I use cellular phone daily both private and working. Cellular phone is now indispensible item for modern day human life. No argue.

I travel to Japan quite a often and each time I arrived at Narita airport, I have get rental of mobile phone because the one I use in Spain cannot work here.

(You may note this point, your cellular phone can work anywhere but JAPAN)

Using rental mobile means you have to tell your mobile to your colleague each time, because you cannot get the same number. That makes me annoying.

So this time, (Now I am writing from Japan) I decided to buy one cellular phone only for use in Japan.

And what I found in mobile phone shop was somehow shocking.

YOU CANNOT BUY CELLULAR PHONE UNLESS YOU HAVE JAPANESE RESIDENCE CERTIFICATE…

You will ask ID for buying some sort of stuff, open accounts and so on. That is normal.
However, the problem is there is no official ID card in Japan. Most of them use drivers license instead of ID card here. (So if you do not have drivers license, your activity is very limited.)

What I was told when I went to the shop were,

- You cannot use foreign drivers license or ID card because it cannot be certified you live in Japan.
- Japanese medical insurance statement cannot be used because there is no photo in there.

So finally, I could not get cellular phone.

How do you feel? Is it absolutely crazy story??
You cannot buy the mobile phone where your cellular cannot work!!

I am getting some feeling that, Japan is quite comfortable place for people who live there with Japanese nationality, but for others, it is very tough, because of their Insularism.

Cellular phone is not the only case, I want to introduce such kind of example in next time.

Sushi Créatif

Vous seriez surpris si je vous disais que les japonais ont des avis très différent à propos du sushi.

Bien, permettez-moi de vous l’expliquer :

Vous savez que le sushi est un repas japonais mondialement connu; il s’agit de fruits de mer avec su riz mariné enroulé dans une algues noire que l'on appelle Nori.

Les California roll (rouleau Californie) est le plus connu des sushis dans le monde.

Il se compose de crabe et d’avocat enroulé dans du riz et recouvert de sésame.

Vous sauriez surpris d’apprendre que ce repas ne se sert pas au Japon. Peut-être vous pourriez le trouver dans les petits bars à sushi mais vous ne le trouverez jamais dans les restaurants de sushi les plus prestigieux de Tokyo.

Les chefs en sushi ne considèrent pas le California roll comme un vrai sushi.

La tradition du sushi empêche le développement de nouveaux menus, je pense que les Chefs japonais ne veulent pas être créatifs et conserve uniquement le vieux style traditionnel.

Aujourd’hui, je vous présente deux menus de sushis que l,on peut trouver à Barcelone. Ils sont très originaux, nouveau et très bons!

Le foie gras roll

Le foie gras est mis dans le riz, et enroulé avec le Nori.

Le foie gras combine très bien avec la sauce soja.

Le Caribe roll

Du saumon, du fromage maigre et de la banana sont mis dans du riz, et enroulé avec le Nori. La banana est une grande banane qui vient des pays tropicaux comme Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée. Normalement la banane crue est trop dure pour manger, c,est pourquoi il faut la cuisiner. Elle a goût très doux.

Je ne sais pas si la banana combine bien avec la sauce soja!!

Sushi Creativo

Te sorprenderías si yo te dijera que los japoneses son gente que tienen un pensamiento muy cercano al sushi.
Bien, te lo explicaré.

Tu sabes, el sushi es una de las comidas japonesas tradicionales, también es muy famoso en el mundo.

Poniendo mariscos u otras cosas dentro de los arroces escabechado con el vinagre de arroz, y casi todos están envueltos con una alga negra que se llama “Nori”.

“California roll” es la comida más popular en el mundo, tiene cangrejo y aguacate en los arroces y envuelto con sésamo. Tu también lo conoces.
Pero, te sorprenderías si te jijera que éste no está disponible en Japón.

Tal vez, le puedas encontrar en un sushi bar, sin embargo, no habría ningun posibilidad de encontrarlo en los sushi restaurantes prestigios de Tokio.

Porque el jefe japonés de sushi, no considera el “California roll”, como un sushi verdadero.
Algunos piensan que es vergonzoso hacer “California roll”. Por eso, ellos jamás quieren poner esta comida en sus cartas, y la gente acepta esta tendencia.

Este tipo de espíritu estrecho pone límite para extender esta variedad de sushi, yo creo.
Ahora el jefe de sushi en japón no quería hacer nuevo sushi, sino solamente seguir con el menú viejo y tradicional.

Hoy, te presentaré unos sushis que se encuentran en Barcelona. Estos son muy originales, y por supuesto muy buenos!! Aunque casi todos los japoneses no entiendan este tipo de comida. Es una lástima.

El foie gras roll


El foie gras es combina con los arroces y se envuelve con “Nori”. El foie gras tiene sabor tan fuerte como el atún.


Caribe roll


El salmón, el requesón y el plátano macho calientes se combinan con los arroces y se envuelven con “Nori”. El plátano macho es un gran plátano que se encuentra en las regiónes trópicales como Papua-nueva-guinea. Es tan duro para comer en crudo, que hay que freirlo. Al freirlo tiene sabor dulce. Esos sabores dulces combinan bien con la salsa de soja!!
Es una maravillosa experiencia!!

Sushi Creative

You may surprise if I am saying Japanese is the people who have very narrow mind about sushi.

All right, let me explain that.
You know, Sushi is the one of traditional Japanese meal that is very famous in worldwide. Putting seafood or some stuff into rice-vinegar marinated rice, and most of them are wrapped by black seaweeds called “Nori”.

“California roll” is the one of the popular sushi menu in worldwide. It has crab meat and avocado in the center of rice and wrapped by sesame sheet.
But you may surprise if you learn it is not well available in Japan.

Maybe you can find it in local popular sushi bar, but there is no chance to find some expensive and prestigious sushi bar in Tokyo.
Because, Japanese sushi masters tend to consider California roll is not real Sushi. Some great sushi masters consider making California roll is the shame. So they never want to that meal into their menu. And consumers look like following that tendency.

That kind of narrow minded tendency makes limitation to widen the variety of sushi, I believe. Sushi master is not willing to make new menu about sushi, just to follow the old traditional menu.

I am introducing some sushi menu found in Barcelona. They are very original and each of them was very good!! However, the most of Japanese do not understand that kind of things. It’s pity.

Foie gras roll

Foie gras are put in the center and wrapped by Nori. The foie gras is very rich in the taste and it is richer than fat tuna(Toro). And

Caribe roll

Sermon, cottage cheese and fried macho banana are put in the center and wrapped by Nori. You are not familiar with macho banana. It is big banana come from tropical zone like Papua New Guinea. It is too hard to eat as it is, so normally you have it fried one.
All sweet tastes are matching with Soy source. It is wonderful experience!!

Oh Mama mia!! It's the spirits of Golf!

Yesterday, I wrote dairy about golf with three different language (English, Spanish and Chinese).

All articles are the same and it was very anti-golf articles.

Now you know, I do not play golf.

And today I found that advertisement in my blog supplied from Google adSence was all related to Golf!

(You know this trick, the server automatically collected the word of "golf" in my article and put golf-related advertisement.)

It looks like I am maledicted by the spirits of golf....orz

不要问我有关高尔夫球！

是的，我了解!我知道高尔夫球.

这是个云运动。

然而,为了在海外工作的日本人,打高尔夫球不僅是运动,还有其他很重要的意義.

當我與新的朋友在巴塞隆納初見面，他一定问我有没有打高尔夫球。
毫無疑問的,每个日本人都问我相同的问题.甚至有人问我同一问题问很多次.

我答复他,我沒打(高尔夫球),現在沒有,将来也不會打.

然后他看我是像残疾人。

打高尔夫球像是在国外工作的日本人,為了参與日本人社交圈的许可证

日本人没有打高尔夫球，是不允許加入日本人的社交圈

Unfriendly Friend in SNS

The other day, I have a things to check and I asked a question to a friend who is in my friend-link list of SNS.

Then what he replied me makes me embarraced.

"Mr. Nightwish, which Nightwish?, I do not remember"

What a rude guy he is!

Hey, it was YOU to have applied friend-link to me, not other way around!!!

Yes, I just remember he applied friend-link to me without any correspondence beforehand.
When I received the application I had very strange feeling to him, like "Why he applied to me?".
However, I accepted his request because that SNS was relatively small and somehow business person oriented.

But this is my fault!

In order to carry on confortable life in SNS, do not accept friend-link from unknowns!