Toji, or not Toji?

Outside Toji Temple, crowds still gather around 2 in the afternoon on Flea Market day.

Japanese children gravitate towards the stalls selling colorful candy.

Like my senpai of two years previous, my friend Liz and I recently took a trip to visit the flea market that sprawls over Toji Temple in Kyoto every 21^st of the month.  Kobo-san, as it is called, is as much a cultural as a commercial experience – the dynamics of local Japanese economies, of generational differences, of interactions between foreign visitors and native vendors, all are played out in the microcosm of the temple’s crowded interior.

Crowds outside the temple...

Bartering is expected here; two girls of roughly our age advised to tell the kimono vendor “５００円なら… “ – ‘if it were 500￥’ – we would by the kimono priced at 1000￥.  The demographic make-up of consumers varies wildly, from tiny おばあちゃん (grandmothers) – literally, some of them are 4’6” tall, tops – to Japanese families out for the day, to a sizable smattering of Kansai Gaidai international students and other foreign tourists – all crammed into a colorful cross-section of Japan’s commercial sector.

...and inside the temple.

I read in Flea Markets of Japan: A Pocket Guide for Antique Buyers to beware of “vendors with a condescending attitude towards foreigners, based on that all non-Japanese are ignorant of Japanese culture and cannot speak a word of Japanese [and] vendors who try to charge unreasonably high prices”(19).  Maybe Liz and I lucked out, or our ability to communicate in vendors’ native language helped us out, but my exploration of the market gave me the exact opposite kanji, or sense.

Liz forges her way through the diverse community of shoppers at Kobo-san.

 We were both interested in purchasing kimono, a particularly popular日本的 (nihonteki, or ‘Japan-esque’) souvenir for foreigners at Japanese flea markets, given its cost-effectiveness in units of Japanese/￥.  As kimono are no longer ‘daily wear’ in Japan, and there is some lingering stigma surrounding second-hand clothing, used kimono and yukata go for very reasonable prices, generally around 1000￥.

Antique inkan!  Liz, whose last name is Furuya, was tempted...

We bought our kimono and obi 別々 (betsu betsu) – at different stalls – and encountered multiple vendors who were very friendly and eager to help us find correct sleeve lengths and obi colors that went well with our kimono – the vendor from whom we purchased our obi even allowed me to film an impromptu obi-tying demonstration, with Liz as her model.  One kimono vendor, learning that Liz is from New York, imparted the story of his honeymoon visit there over 20 years ago, and we discussed the subway system and Cats in a mixture of English and Japanese.  (Although, whether ‘discuss’ is the best word is debatable – many times, in my experience here, older Japanese who have a little bit of English and have been to America once or twice are eager to inform me of this, but the conversation is usually restricted to a series of dropped names and acknowledgment of our mutual recognition of people, places, or things.  The consistent repetition of this structure of cultural exchange – superficial, yes, but indicative of our interest in one another’s countries – is in itself interesting to notice.)

Handmade ceramics of all sorts are available throughout the market.

Aesthetics and taste are free to sample at this stall!

Even if I hadn’t bought anything, Kobo-san offers a wealth of free souvenirs: as a flea market, it is richly visual, full of interesting people and goods, but appealing to the senses as well.  Samples of delicious dried fruits, the scent of roasting sweet potatoes sprinkled with sugar, the sounds of bartering in Japanese, the silky feel of the used kimono for sale at dozens of stalls the line the crowded aisles – and the opportunity to be plunged into a sea of Japanese humanity, were visual anthropology presenting itself around every corner.

Variations on a Theme (Park), or Sticking to the Status Queue?

Welcome to USJ - where Christmas arrives with November!

 This past weekend, I finally indulged in the requisite visit to Universal Studios Japan that seems to find its way on to most Kansai Gaidai international students’ itineraries at some point in their stay here in Hirakata.  Theme parks on weekends are full of people – in between all the rides and shows and intoxicating smells, a barrage of visual (and aural, and olfactory, and so on…) anthropology assaults the senses.

Mine-chan and I take a classic Japanese photo-op in yet another queue!

Long lines for attractions also mean time to talk with Japanese students; I went with Haru, who I featured a few blog posts back, and her high school friend Mine-chan.  While waiting an advertised 45 minutes for the Hollywood Dream ジェットコースター (‘jet coaster’ – the Japanese use this general term for rides), Haru asked me whether lines were this long in America.  Not being a frequenter of Disneyland and other theme parks in the U.S., I wasn’t really sure, but Haru had earlier informed me that we could potentially have to wait 2 and a half hours for some attractions, which can be standard at Tokyo Disney as well.  I felt pretty certain that Americans would be too impatient to queue for that amount of time; Haru and I together speculated about Japanese and American willingness to wait in lines.  Undoubtedly, in depends on the sub-culture, and what they may be waiting for (teens sleeping outside the Nederlander theatre to get rush tickets to RENT on Broadway?) – but lining up seems to be more acceptable, even popular, among the Japanese.

A few weeks ago in Shinsaibashi, I was momentarily bewildered by a queue outside of Krispy Kreme that extended through the crosswalk and into the neighboring shopping street – this is a sight unseen in America.  But this model is not limited to one shop in Osaka – Krispy Kreme (and other, notably, Western imports like Coldstone Creamery) in Tokyo and beyond experience similar queues.  Check out some interesting analysis of the phenomenon here.  To the Japanese, long lines equate with a quality product – be it a delicious doughnut or, with a jet coaster, the chance to regurgitate said doughnut.  But more than simply rewarded patience, waiting on lines seems to reflect some cultural aspects of Japan, like gaman – the concept of enduring without complaint in order to succeed.

Later in the day at USJ, queuing up for the new attraction Space Fantasy, I noticed that there is, in fact, a single rider line – but no one seemed to be using it.  I asked Haru if she thought this might be because Japanese tend to do things in groups, and she agreed, Although even Americans would likely not go to a theme park alone, this does seem to be a nice example of Japanese 集団主義 ('shuudanshugi') – group collectivism – and particularly its relation to waiting in lines – the idea that if a group of Japanese have given their approval to a ride or donut by their physical presence in line for it, another Japanese, being of the same cultural in-group, should naturally line up too – even without necessarily knowing what they are lining up for:

“In an article published in The Japan Times in summer 2007, a Japanese woman confessed that she enjoyed queuing outside shops and restaurants and that she usually joins the line before asking the person in front of her what kind of product is sold.” (Kohlbacher & Holtschneider)

In our discussion of 集団主義, though, Haru stressed that she personally feels at times constrained by the group mentality; consequently, she tries to take time to do certain things alone, like the occasional solo shopping trip.

The weekend of queue-based speculation is over, but earlier today, in sharing about my weekend visit to USJ, I ended up talking to another Japanese friend about Disneyland.  At one point, she asked if there is a Disneyland in America – the extent to which Western theme parks, doughnuts, and sundry other bits of society have been appropriated into Japanese culture is just as intriguing as the patience with which they will wait to enjoy these borrowed pleasures…

Charlie Brown Christmas meets Universal Studios meets queuing Japanese students...