Fun facts

Out walking the kids.

While reading the Japan Times yesterday I discovered some interesting things.

There were 12.52 million dogs as pets in Japan last year-more than all the elementary and junior high populations combined.

Lately, there has been a run on bananas in Japan. This is due to a new fad "banana diet." The belief is this: If you eat one banana in the morning and drink warm water, you can eat anything else you want during the day and lose weight. I guess they think eating bananas will increase metabolism and fill you up. Someone famous on TV was pushing the diet and everyone went out and bought bananas.

The word "gaijin" means outsider, and is NOT only used to describe foreigners. It can mean anyone who is on the outside of a community, and was used in the past for people who were Japanese, but from a different community. I read that some rural villages in Japan today are so closed to newcomers, or gaijin, that they are dying off. Outsiders are not made to feel welcome and communities are closed. Young people flee to the cities where everyone is from somewhere else.

The equivalent to the American community "Welcome Wagon" for foreigners is the "Welcome Furoshiki." The program was started by an American in the 50's.