Culture
•  You thought the idea of spam musubi (and chilli over rice!) was blasphemous
•  You go karaoke and the first songs you want to sing are Arashi
•  You have lots of clutter in your house
•  You think it’s a little strange that some people have kimono, Japanese doll displays and Japanese artwork all over their massive westernized houses
•  You start moving your body when you hear the “Radio Taiso†song… and then sometimes start humming it randomly
•  You know New Years is THE holiday… what’s Christmas?
•  You go to Japan and it’s not THAT big of a deal… been there over 10 times already?
•  You used to read “Dragon Ball,†“Tenshi Nanka Janai†or “Slam Dunkâ€
•  you were the only one in school who knew Power Rangers and Sailor Moon were Japanese
•  you knew Pokemon stood for pocket monsters
•  you knew J-Drama was just dorama
•  you’ve seen “Grave of the Fireflies†before college
•  you didn’t jump for joy on Fridays after school… you’ve got a week’s worth of J-School homework waiting at home
•  you understand the importance of sharpened pencils for writing clean kanji
•  you eat everything on your plate… every grain of rice stuck to your bowl
•  you use little dishes for meals instead of putting everything on one big plate
•  you own a lot of manga
•  you had Sanrio lunch bags, picnic mats, bento boxes when everyone else had Barbie/GI Joe
•  you had pencil boxes with pencils that had pencil caps
•  your erasers could erase better than anyone in your class… and then made nerikeshi
•  curry or oyakodon was the first meal you learned to cook
•  you know how to (or you know you should) cleanly eat a whole fish
•  you grew up watching “Okaasan to Issho†and Gachapin and Mukku
•  You don’t really remember believing in Santa THAT much
•  3 o’clock means snack time
•  You know to throw soy beans on Feb 7th
•  American scary movies/haunted house look L-A-M-E compared to Japanese ghost stories
•  you know who lives in the third bathroom stall from the right
•  you make triangle onigiri
•  you have a Japanese name that you use
•  you know how to open konbini onigiri
•  going to Japan meant new shoes and no holes in your socks
•  seiza isn’t that bad
•  you can squat with both feet flat on the floor
•  fermented soy beans aren’t something to freak out about
•  Obon means yukata, kingyo sukui, yoyo sukui, not penny toss, teriyaki chicken and bingo
•  for girls: you had at least one koukan nikki (journal shared with friends) with some friends at J-School
•  you know that Yoshinoya is actually pretty good in Japan
•  you know what Japanese milk is like
•  you freak out when people pass food from utensil to utensil… chopstick to chopstick
•  you cheer for Japan during the Olympics or World Cup
• you grew up watching “Kouhaku Uta Gassenâ€
•  when [kewpie] is your mayonnaise of choice
•  you used color pencils more than crayons
(Part 1 of 2 parts)
This list is courtesy of NihonmachiROOTS. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Nichi Bei Weekly.
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