Japan in Motion---Pro-web casting from across Japan.

Home >> Japan Lowdown >> Japan's Good Points

Japan's Good Points

■The Kindness of Strangers

Most people who spend even a brief time in Japan come away with stories about the kindness of the Japanese people . This is especially true if you are obviously new and need help.

In the first segment of the Japan Lowdown section, Patrick tells a classic story of Japanese hospitality. Trying to find the best way to get to a city in Shikoku, a young woman he happens to meet takes him under her wing. Her friend drives Patrick all the way to his destination, gives him a tour, and refuses to accept even gas money in return. Uri talks about her fears of a strict Japanese workplace, only to find a chatty boss who cooks lunch for her.

　Neither are particularly unusual anecdotes, and if you ask around you’ll find some amazing stories of kindness from Japanese. Quite often, people will go very far out of their way to try to help visitors here.

　For the traveler, this can make things a great deal easier. You should never take undue advantage of people’s hospitality, of course, but if you have a problem on your trip you can almost always find someone willing to help you. In fact, you’re so likely to benefit from the native helpfulness that you might want to be ready to offer some small, tangible token of thanks.

　A frequent suggestion for travelers to Japan is to bring gifts . Unlike some other advice (“You gotta try the dried squid!”), this one actually makes good sense. Snacks or small souvenirs from your own country are fine. You’ll find plenty of opportunities to offer them in gratitude for some kindness.

■Smoker’s Paradise

　In the Japan Lowdown segment, Jun talks about how easy it is to be a smoker in Japan. While Korean men smoke at least as much as their Japanese counterparts, it does sometimes seem true that modern Japan was carefully designed with the comfort of smokers foremost in mind.

　You can’t smoke on buses, but you can on certain cars on shinkansen trains . Non-smoking restaurants are almost non-existent. You can find them, but not without real effort. You can’t smoke in theaters, of course, but many newcomers to Japan are surprised to find smoking rooms in hospitals . And though things are changing, there are still many companies where employees are permitted to smoke at their desks.

　More noticeably, smokers who disregard smoking restrictions are often allowed to get away with it. You’ll find smokers lighting up in public toilets, in indoor shopping malls, and even occasionally in places like art museums.

　If, like Jun, you’re a committed smoker then it may indeed seem like paradise. And with cigarette vending machines everywhere you turn, there’s no need to worry about running out. Finally, smokes are cheap, so load up.

　If, on the other hand, you hate the smell of cigarettes, you’re in for a bit of a challenge. Most popular tourist destinations have smoking restrictions, but not all. And finding a place to eat or drink away from smoke can be difficult, though not impossible. More restaurants are starting to enlarge their non-smoking areas , or even create two distinctly separate halves of the dining space. Chain coffee shops often have an entire non-smoking floor, and of course the omnipresent Starbucks is as smoke-free here as it is everywhere.

■Karaoke

　Love it or hate it, karaoke is one of Japan’s great gifts to the world. More specifically, it’s the gift of Inoue Daisuke , a long time Osaka club musician who built and leased the first karaoke machines in 1971. Despite his invention, for which he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Asians of the 20th century, Inoue never got around to filing a patent for the machine and lost out on what has become a trillion yen (over eight billion dollars) a year industry.

　Today, of course, karaoke is everywhere. In Japan, it was most popular at first with salarymen out drinking with their colleagues, giving rise to the karaoke bar . In the classic karaoke bar, the room is built around a tiny stage where anyone with the price of a song, usually about 100 yen, can take up the microphone and abuse their cronies with old enka tunes or jazz standards. More and more, however, this kind of setup has given way to the ubiquitous karaoke box , a small, airtight room with a table, booth seating, and a karaoke machine where groups of friends or families can croon in relative privacy.

　For my money, the better option by far is the bar. Find a real karaoke bar, walk in and order your drinks, and ask for the catalog. The foreign songs are usually in the front, listed both by song and artist. You may find yourself wondering why you’re halfway through a Hootie and the Blowfish tune when you don’t even like Hootie and the Blowfish. You may find yourself locked in a duel with another customer who sings every song you do, trying to outdo you on the machine’s scoring system. You will definitely be complimented on your English, and may even get requests. Don’t let any of it go to your head. Just tell the bartender to crank up the echo and sing, baby, sing.

Shooting Location: HACHIRO'S BAR

Hachiro

>>Access
Takata Bld. 2F,5-15 Nakamachi, Nakaku, Hiroshima
TEL: 082-246-3086

Bus
Hiroshima Station====(Hiroden bus (green bus No. 3, 4, or 6), 20min.)====Fukuromachi===(on foot, 5 min.)===HACHIRO's BAR

Streetcar
Hiroshima Station====(Streetcar No.1, 25 min.)====Fukuromachi===(on foot, 5 min.)===HACHIRO's BAR

>>Open Hours
6:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m.

>>Holidays
Sunday

>>Map
Hiroshima Downtown Map>>>Click here to view

-Matt Mangham