How Do You Pay Money?

When I visited Canada, money annoyed me. Because in Japan, the size of coins is in order of the value of the coin, however, Canadian $ was different. And about Japanese coins, the number of the coin is very easy to see, however, Canadian coins are not so. It took for a while until I recognize which coin is which quicker.

In Japan, we usually pay money in the way to lose small coins as many as possible because it is troublesome to have a lot of same coins in the wallet. For example, if the things what I want to buy are totally ￥2,623, and if I don't have ￥623 exactly, I will pay ￥3,123 and will get one coin back as the change, so ￥500. We don't like having small coins like ￥1 or ￥5 or ￥10 so much. In Canada, I also tried to pay in such way, but, I couldn't since I haven't got used to their coins. I also thought that maybe I shouldn't pay in that way because we have to pay tips in Canada. When we first got to the hotel, a porter took our baggage, I thought that I should pay him tips, however, I didn't know the value of each coins yet and therefore couldn't do it well. I even couldn't use vending machines enough at that time! I was trying to put big paper money into it, however it didn't accept it. I was in a hurry, and didn't know what to do. While I was flustered in front of the vending machine, the porter came back and helped me! I was very ashamed at that time. I wanted to hand the porter tip for carrying our baggage, however, maybe I was acting weird because of getting strained and being ignorant.

After all, when I went to our room, I noticed that I did something wrong...I was shocked because I thought that I did some rude thing because of the ignorance and impatience. And I was a little bit shy to see his face whole the days at the hotel, lol.

Anyway, I learned that, in foreign countries, it is better to pay with big money and get big coins back as the change for tips :S However, the problem is, I will get small money that I can't use as tips a lot. So, I thought Japan is nice. However, it is just because we don't have to pay tips, and I've just got used to Japanese money :P

Written Oracles

In connection with the last archive, I wrote about Written Oracles. They are called "おみくじ (omikuji)" and it is very popular to consult an oracle (in Japanese, it is called おみくじを引く") especially in the new year season. People go to a Shinto shrine or temple...especially Shinto shrine, and pray for good luck of the year. And they consult an oracle to know their fortune of the year. The best one is "大吉 (daikichi)", and we are glad if we get it, lol. After reading the small piece of paper, we tie it to the trees or some places there.

What is written on an omikuji is complicated because it is written in old style Japanese. However, it is not too difficult to understand. The picture is the omikuji that I got last year, and it is "大吉"!! lol.

On the top, there is a song...that is in "短歌 (tanka)" style. Tanka is a style of old Japanese songs. it consists of 5 parts with 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 sounds. About this omikuji, the tanka is,

渦を巻く 谷の小川の 丸木橋 渡る夕べの こゝちするかな

explanation: 初めは危ない谷の小川の橋を渡るような心配事があるが驚き迷うことはありません。後には何も彼も平和に収まります。凡て小さいことも用心してすればよろしい。

At first, you will have some uneasiness like going on the bridge above a small stream of a dangerous valley , however, you don't have to get surprised and worry. Later, everything will fall into place peacefully. It will be all right if you do things carefully however small they are.

And the main part is from here.

願望 できかねるように危険を覚えるが後調う

待人 さわりあり 来たらず

失物 出がたし 下にあり

旅行 吉日をえらべ

商売 買うのは損控えよ

学問 安心して勉学せよ

相場 売れ 大利益あり

争事 時を待たねば勝てず

恋愛 将来幸福になる

転居 さわがぬ方がよし

出産 産前を用心すれば安産

病気 信心すれば治る

縁談 他人の口舌に惑わされるな

Wishes: It looks that won't granted, however it will be all right later.

The person you wait for: You can feel, but won't come.

The things you lost: They are hard to find. It is in the bottom.

Traveling: Choose a lucky day.

Business: It will be a loss. Keep from buying.

Study: Study without anxiety.

The market price: Sell. It will bring you a big profit.

Arguments: You can't win if you don't wait for an opportunity.

Love: You will be happy in the future.

A move: Better not to be noisy.

A childbirth: You will have an easy delivery if you take care beforehand.

An illness: It will get well if you believe in it.

An offer of marriage: Don't be confused by others talking.

That's on the omikuji I got last year. I'm not sure how many things hit. And of course I don't believe in things like that seriously. However, consulting an oracle is fun for me, and maybe for many people too. It is one of cultural things of Japan. And I know, some temples have omikuji for foreigners...like Sensouji temple in Tokyo. The omikuji is written in English. Maybe it is because many foreigners visit there. Go there and try it if you find omikuji in Japan. It will be a topic for conversation at least :P

What Do You Believe in?

According to the statistics of Japanese government, Shintoists are 160 million, Buddhists are 96 million, Christians are 200 thousand, who believe other religions are 1,100 million in Japan. So, the total is 250 million and this number is much more than Japanese population. Even only the sum of Shintoists and Buddhists is more than 200 million, and this is because Japanese join plural religion's events. We cerebrate festivals or events at Shinto shrines, and hold funerals or Bon festival in Buddhist style. In other countries, they become to the religion's believer when they are baptized, however, in Japan, we are considered as the religion's believer when we pray to the god. So, who pray to a god and Buddha has two religions.

As my feeling, Japanese have no religion. We originally have the recognize that everything has own god and we respect each god (it is values of Shintoism)...like, the sun has sun's god, trees has trees' god...so, even the Buddha or Christ are one of these gods if they come to Japan. Maybe we accept this style and believe all the gods. I think that Japanese don't believe gods so eager too. Maybe especially young people...of course it depends on the person, however old people look much more pious than young people.

We also have Christian events like Christmas or St. Valentine's day. However, about Valentine's day, it is the day that girls give their boyfriend a chocolate in Japan, so, it is different from western countries :P And about events like them, we don't feel religious meaning. I guess, some people may not even know these events are from Christianity. Events like them are known as important events for love here.

Thus, Japanese don't strongly believe only one god. We believe every god that is around them and also don't believe any god. Or, we may just accept what is here. It may sound contradictory, however, it is what Japanese are I think.