First Days in Japan - Daily things : Made in China VS Made in Japan

These few days I've been scouting the nearby supermarkets, shops, etc. Main reason to buy some necessary daily things(washing powder, cleaning detergents, etc.), but also see what my options are as concerns daily necessities, i.e.food mainly.'Nearby' actually is not very correct to say, since the nearest decent supermarket is at least 25 minutes walk from the dorm, and another one is two stops away with the railway, plus the 10 or so minutes walk...Problem is, I HATE carrying bags, but it will be unavoidable, I'm afraid.I will definitely have to rearrange my eating habits a great deal. The variety of cheese I could find in the big supermarkets is much worse than say Carrefour in Beijing.And cheese being my main important food, then this news isn't very good. Amazingly, Camembert cheese is a common cheese here, as opposed to say cheddar.Bread predominately is with sugar, but that's not news, in China it was the same.Surprisingly, there is almost a complete lack of choice of imported things. If there are they are impossibly expensive.This also opposed to Beijing Carrefour chain shop at Zhongguancun which for instance I appreciate it now) was very well stocked in imported goods).I still have yet to find where am I going to buy my coffee!Good thing I brought 3 packs of coffee with me. There is coffee, but doesn't seem to be even remotely good...Again, I sigh about having Lavazza in the nearby to my university in Beijing Carrefour store.I remember clearly seeing Lavazza sold in Japan, but that was in Yokohama and Tokyo. It may turn out Kyoto and Uji might just not have it...

Since Friday, when I arrived, I've been eating salads, sandwiches and bread. Salad is usually my main meal anyway, but I'm not used to eating so much bread(since going to China that is, 8 years ago)...My tonight's dinner was (newly just found) whole grain bread (without sugar!)with really nice (also just discovered)cream cheese and fresh tomatoes. For desert - more of the delicious cream cheese with big California raisins. C'est pas mal du tout! (French for : Not bad at all!)

Although I have the facilities, I haven't yet cooked a meal. Bought the main things already, such as cooking oil, pasta, rice...It appears that if I want a warm meal I have to cook it myself.I must say that I was mentally prepared that vegetarian options are very scarce in Japan from my 2 years ago one and a half months visit to Japan.While scouting the supermarkets it inadvertently caught my attention that things are predominantly either made in China, or they originate from Japan.It almost appears as the former are predominant. But it must be admitted that the quality of some of the Chinese made things is at least not bad. Better than the average in China itself.

Another curiosity is that some things I would expect to be easiest to find (such as washing basin) are in fact hard to find!(In comparison,in China washing basins would be readily available in every supermarket... )Yesterday I finally found one, but it took me some searching. In China I had my own washing machine, but here in the dorm it is shared and I have certain doubts how clean it is.It appears I will have to wash most of my clothes by hand unfortunately.
Another shopping connected problem is that everything is in Japanese (even foreign brand names with few exceptions) are written with a Japanese alphabet.And it appears that nobody speaks any English.A fact that makes one wonder since all Asians study English from childhood.
Today I was trying to find some things. It takes a lot of guessing work to get the right thing.I was starving at one point and I bought something that looked like a doughnut (i.e. presumably sweet and no particular danger for vegetarians). Big mistake. I took a bite and discovered it is actually filled with something that is definitely not vegetarian. Took a look at the ingredients at the back of the package (mislead by the look of the snack I didn't do it while picking it up at first)...Can't read Japanese yet, but could distinguish the two Chinese characters for pig and meat, enough for me to just spit out the bite I took and throw the thing away immediately.That will teach me a lesson AGAIN to remember that APPEARANCES almost always ARE MISLEADING!

Weather wise, Japan weather is definitely different from Beijing weather. 3 out of five days it has been raining! That opposed to 6 months of no drop at all in Beijing last Autumn/Winter this is quite a change of climate!

news feed: Guiding The Public Opinion/Headcleaner

As always China Media Project has an interesting material discussing on media in China. This time what I find most interesting in the recent article Shenzhen’s new media rules: is anyone paying attention? is the observation how Chinese English language propaganda has effectively managed to mislead certain western media. Without knowing, the western media might just be helping the Chinese into 'guiding the public opinion'? It is indeed very alarming! Following the recent tendencies (for instance this year the purposedly huge amount of English language propaganda articles about Tibet) it is not hard to imagine that the recent and planned huge investments in foreign language (English) Chinese propaganda is probably going to pay off. This kind of 'soft power' tactics of the Chinese, unbelievable though it seems might just as well probably going to work like a charm.
We have to just sit and watch. Or do we?!

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Also, see another recent good and interesting analysis on Chinese media by CMP - More hard words on China’s “war for public opinion” .

"Working for Human Rights is an Act of Compassion" - HHDL

news feed: Dalai Lama gets human rights award in Washington

(AP)Oct. 6th
WASHINGTON – Lawmakers honored the Dalai Lama with a human rights award Tuesday even as President Barack Obama faced harsh criticism for delaying a meeting with the exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader.
The Dalai Lama and Obama will not meet until after Obama visits Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing in November. China reviles the Dalai Lama and pressures foreign governments not to meet with him. The Obama administration, which needs Chinese support for crucial foreign policy, economic and environmental goals, wants to establish friendly ties between Hu and Obama during next month's visit.

link to the full text of the article:
Dalai Lama receives rights award at Capitol
a link to a video about it with an excerpt from HHDL's speech (by AP)

Dalai Lama set aside by Obama, honored at U.S Capitol (Reuters)
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented the award to the Dalai Lama and warned: "Unless we speak out for human rights in China and Tibet, we lose moral authority to speak out for human rights anywhere else in the world."
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Republican Senator John McCain, who lost last year's presidential election to Obama, also spoke at the ceremony, saying: "The Dalai Lama has spent his life in the passionate, tireless and non-violent defense of his people's right to self-determination and dignity."
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Obama to meet Dalai Lama after China trip (AFP)

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