Day 7: Kanazawa

Kobe to Kanazawa

Today Marina, Catherine and I hopped the high speed Shinkansen train to the other side of the island to visit my friend Cory in Kanazawa. Cory has been teaching English to junior high school students there for about 6 months.

Kanazawa rice fields

Kanazawa is a more traditional, smaller town than the ones we have visited so far. There are rice fields everywhere with older buildings. Cory’s apartment is huge by Japanese standards (he has his own separate bedroom and office!).

We got there kind of late, so we went to an Isikaya to eat dinner with Cory and his friend. The food was amazing. We had whale, yellowtail collar bone, and sushi.



Marina and Cory bonded over the difficulties of being a geijin (foreigner) in Japan and the many cultural differences. For example, in Japan, many young people rebel and are experimental, but as soon as you turn 30, everyone cuts their hair, changes their wardrobe and gets married practically overnight. Everyone does what is expected of them because if they do not, they are shamed. As a result, the country is very safe and peaceful, but there is a lot of pressure on the public to conform. Think 1950s US.

Similarly, though women have the same rights in the US-written Japanese Consitution, they are not equal. Women get paid significantly less in Japan. They are also not allowed to use the imparative form, and use a more polite vocabulary than men.
For example, a woman cannot say “No” or “Wait”. She must say a more roundabout, “Maybe another time” or “Please, go a little slower, do you mind?”. That is a really rough translation, but you get the idea.

It can be really hard for foreigners to understand the differences because there are so many. In class, Marina's teacher once tried to shame her for speaking like a boy. I think I would speak like a boy too.