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Speaker 1: I guess what, Mango, what's that? Well, I know we've

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Speaker 1: been competing this week to see who could come up

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Speaker 1: with the best what's big in Japan? Thing? But I

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Speaker 1: actually have saved one for you. And did you know

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Speaker 1: that adult adoption is actually a pretty big thing in Japan.

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Speaker 1: In fact, most adoptions in Japan are adult adoptions. So

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Speaker 1: I don't think I even know what that means exactly. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, sometimes it has to do with inheritance. So

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Speaker 1: say you've got a business owner who wants to keep

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Speaker 1: his business in the family, but I don't know, maybe

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Speaker 1: he thinks his kids are too lazy or not smart

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Speaker 1: enough to take it over. So the owner might select

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Speaker 1: an executive from that company and just adopt them, you know,

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Speaker 1: like to keep the business in the family. That's pretty funny.

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Speaker 1: I mean I have heard of people joking about adopting

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Speaker 1: college grads so that you have someone to take care

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Speaker 1: of you, you know, when you're older. But I mean

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Speaker 1: this is kind of surprising to me. Yeah, it is, well,

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Speaker 1: and and sometimes it's also just like this kick in

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Speaker 1: the pants that the business owners kids need to start

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Speaker 1: working harder, and it gets complicated. I guess with the

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Speaker 1: new sibling rivalry. But you know, Japan is such a

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Speaker 1: fascinating place and we thought we'd just take a deeper

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Speaker 1: dive into some of the customs and culture you might

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Speaker 1: not usually hear about. So let's dig in ya. Hey there,

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Speaker 1: podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson

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Speaker 1: and as always I'm joined by my good friend man

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Speaker 1: Guesh Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof glass,

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Speaker 1: super focused on his latest origami creation. That's our friend

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Speaker 1: and producer Tristan McNeil. So, so what's he working on?

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Speaker 1: Mangoes trying to look? Is that? Is that a bear?

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Speaker 1: I think it's actually a sailboat. Oh okay, well it's

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Speaker 1: a very interesting sailboat. Keep it up, Tristan, it's looking

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Speaker 1: really good. All right. Well, today's show is all about

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Speaker 1: Japanese society and culture. But rather than taking a deep

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Speaker 1: dive into the nation's long history, or maybe focusing on

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Speaker 1: a single aspect of its culture, we're going to share

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Speaker 1: some of the strangest, most surprising things that we recently

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Speaker 1: learned about Japan. So where do you think we should start, Mango, Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean, something I think we should address up front

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Speaker 1: is this incredible balancing act that Japan does between the

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Speaker 1: past and the present. All right, so give me an

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Speaker 1: example of what you're what you're talking about. Well, one

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Speaker 1: simple example is that their smartphones are actually waterproof, and

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Speaker 1: this has existed in Japan for over a decade at

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Speaker 1: this point. Really, I feel like that's such a recent

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Speaker 1: technology here in the US. Like all the commercials last year,

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Speaker 1: we're so focused on that. Yeah, it really is. And

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Speaker 1: I actually saw this guy at the beach last summer

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Speaker 1: and he kept accidentally dropping his phone in the water

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Speaker 1: then like wiping it off and taking a picture, And

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Speaker 1: I guess he was doing it to like impress the

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Speaker 1: women around him were like some of the other people

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Speaker 1: he was with, And at first I was kind of

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Speaker 1: impressed too, But after like the third or fourth time

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Speaker 1: he dropped it, I was just rooting for the ocean

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Speaker 1: to take that phone away from No kidding, I would

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Speaker 1: have done the same. But back to Japan. So, the

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Speaker 1: first waterproof smartphone rolled out way back in two thousand five,

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Speaker 1: and according to a number of electronics companies, the reason

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Speaker 1: waterproofing was introduced so early is that manufacturers quickly learned

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Speaker 1: that Japanese consumers were fond of taking phones into the

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Speaker 1: shower or bathtub with them. Wow. You know, you always

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Speaker 1: hear about screen addiction and how people are finding it

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Speaker 1: increasingly harder to disconnect from their phones, and this kind

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Speaker 1: of feels like the extreme of that exactly, So that

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Speaker 1: that's what I thought it was at first. Two, especially

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Speaker 1: when you hear like these reports of gamers and how

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Speaker 1: addicted they are the video games. But that's not actually

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Speaker 1: what's going on there. So waterproofing is really the industry

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Speaker 1: standard in Japan of all smartphones sold in the country

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Speaker 1: or waterproof and it's because of Japanese tradition. So as

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Speaker 1: you might have heard that time is really important in Japan,

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Speaker 1: like public bathhouses called cento. They've they've been pillars of

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Speaker 1: Japanese society pretty much from the start, and thanks to

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Speaker 1: the country's many volcanoes, they also have like I want

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Speaker 1: to say, it's like twenty thou natural hot springs around

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Speaker 1: the country for people to soak in well, And are

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Speaker 1: their traditions around these or what? Yeah, I mean, partially

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Speaker 1: it's just the health benefits, right, like the warm water

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Speaker 1: improved circulation and it relieves stiff joints. But there's also

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Speaker 1: the social intimacy that comes from sharing a bath, you know,

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Speaker 1: with other members of your community. So today, most Japanese

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Speaker 1: people still take frequent hot baths as a way to unwind,

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Speaker 1: and the waterproofing was basically a compromise to bridge the

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Speaker 1: old traditions with the new ones. Basically, most Japanese citizens

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Speaker 1: were on board with having this new type of technology,

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Speaker 1: you know, something that you carry around with you all

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Speaker 1: the time, as long as they could take them into

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Speaker 1: the tub with them. That's pretty interesting. And you know,

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Speaker 1: that's something I actually came across while doing my research,

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Speaker 1: and that's the idea of big companies having to bend

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Speaker 1: to old Japan, you know, and and find a way

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Speaker 1: to operate within that existing social framework. So how do

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Speaker 1: you mean exactly, Well, one thing is that Japan places

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Speaker 1: a high value on hospitality and that extends the company,

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Speaker 1: is not just individuals. So you know, there's this expectation

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Speaker 1: among Japanese consumers that companies are going to go above

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Speaker 1: and beyond just to accommodate them and any of their needs.

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Speaker 1: And there's a great example of this, and that's the

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Speaker 1: Japanese auto industry. So, according to the country's automobile dealers, Association.

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Speaker 1: Japanese brands account for nearly n of the cars sold

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Speaker 1: there in Japan, and all of that's thanks to the

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Speaker 1: hospitality services. Well, it actually is a big part of it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know that the relationship between car dealers and their

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Speaker 1: customers is very different in Japan than it is here,

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Speaker 1: and as a result of that, Japanese consumers are used

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Speaker 1: to this high level of service that American dealerships have

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Speaker 1: yet to really invest in, either at home or even

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Speaker 1: over there. Now, The Atlantic did an article about this

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Speaker 1: last year, and it included this great description of a

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Speaker 1: typical car buying experience in Tokyo, and it really kind

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Speaker 1: of explains how deep this custom goes. So the author

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Speaker 1: of the story rights, the last time Shujiro Urada wanted

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Speaker 1: to buy a car in Japan, his phone happened to ring.

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Speaker 1: It was the local Toyota dealer on the phone asked

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Speaker 1: him if he was thinking about buying a new car,

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Speaker 1: and we replied in the affirmative, and the dealer and

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Speaker 1: a co worker showed up at Eada's doorstep an hour

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Speaker 1: later with two demo cars, which Urada and his wife

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Speaker 1: test drove around the neighborhood. Theoradas decided to buy a

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Speaker 1: car from this dealer. The dealer also handles their car insurance,

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Speaker 1: coming to their home whenever the insurance contract needs to

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Speaker 1: be renewed. Theorada is bringing their car to the dealer

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Speaker 1: every few weeks for a free car wash, or they

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Speaker 1: hang out and talk to the employees, who kind of

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Speaker 1: become their friends. Japanese customers also expect to receive services

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Speaker 1: like free maintenance from their dealers after they buy their cars.

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Speaker 1: When their cars need to check up, the dealer comes

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Speaker 1: and picks them up, does work on them, and then

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Speaker 1: returns them. I mean, I kind of want that service, right.

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Speaker 1: It's insane, But is that why American car companies haven't

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Speaker 1: taken off their like because of that service element. It's

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Speaker 1: a bigger part of it than you think. And these

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Speaker 1: added services are just too costly and I don't know,

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Speaker 1: maybe complicated for American car companies to even bother with.

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Speaker 1: In fact, Ford pulled out of the Japanese market altogether

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Speaker 1: back in two thousand and sixteen. That's because they've sold

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Speaker 1: like five thousand cars or so on average in any

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Speaker 1: given year then, and General Motors now has fewer than

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Speaker 1: thirty dealerships in all of Japan. All of this despite

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Speaker 1: the fact that Japan is actually the third largest auto

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Speaker 1: market in the world, behind of course, the US and China.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's crazy. I had no idea is that big?

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Speaker 1: So is this just a U S thing? Like, is

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Speaker 1: it a problem for the U S? Or is this

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Speaker 1: a problem for other manufacturers around the world as well? Well?

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Speaker 1: Not exactly. I mean European car dealers and Mercedes and

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Speaker 1: BMW in particular, they've made significant strides in the Japanese

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Speaker 1: market over the past few years, and as you might expect,

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Speaker 1: they pulled this off by embracing this idea of hospitality. Now.

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Speaker 1: BMW spent like seven hundred million dollars updating its dealer

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Speaker 1: network in Japan back in two thousand and sixteen. And

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Speaker 1: this was also that customers are treated to a lot

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Speaker 1: of the same services and perks that they're used to there,

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Speaker 1: and the company's sales are actually on the rise as

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Speaker 1: a result of this. So I've got to say I'm

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Speaker 1: pretty envious. And it's not just the service, Like I

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Speaker 1: kind admire how the culture makes huge companies work for them.

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Speaker 1: I mean, can you imagine getting that kind of service

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Speaker 1: from like your cable bill provider or your cell phone provider. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it's pretty incredible. So the American cars haven't been

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Speaker 1: a hit with the Japanese, but there is at least

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Speaker 1: one American export that they have taken to, and that's baseball.

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Speaker 1: That Japan is not one, but two professional baseball leagues,

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Speaker 1: as well as countless high school and university leagues across

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Speaker 1: the country. So all sumo wrestling might be the sport

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Speaker 1: most closely associated with Japan. Baseball is actually the most

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Speaker 1: popular by far, and it's watched and played by more

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Speaker 1: people in Japan than any other sport, which is insane.

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Speaker 1: So I I knew Japan love baseball, but I didn't

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Speaker 1: think it had gotten that big, and I do want

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Speaker 1: to hear about it, but I can't pass up the

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Speaker 1: chance to share one of my all time favorite Suma facts,

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Speaker 1: which I jogged down in my margins with an asterix

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Speaker 1: of my notes. I think I have a feeling I

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Speaker 1: know which one this one is. Is this the crying

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Speaker 1: babies thing? Manga spoiler alert? But yeah, I've got to

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Speaker 1: share it. So for listeners, there's this four year old

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Speaker 1: ceremony in Japan where once a year, parents bring their

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Speaker 1: infants to shrines so that Suma wrestlers can try to

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Speaker 1: make them cry. It's amazing, But the ceremony is part

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Speaker 1: of the naki Zumo festival and it's believed to bring

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Speaker 1: good health to the babies and help ward off evil spirits.

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Speaker 1: I feel like maybe I block this out because I

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Speaker 1: don't remember. But but how do the wrestlers try to

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Speaker 1: make them cry again? Well, each wrestler takes a baby

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Speaker 1: and ideally gets the kid to ball just by kind

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Speaker 1: of bouncing them up and down in the suma ring.

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Speaker 1: But everyone has their own techniques, so like a wrestler

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Speaker 1: might make funny faces or even growl at the baby

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Speaker 1: a little bit, and then after a few seconds, if

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Speaker 1: nothing's worked, a referee will actually step in wearing a

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Speaker 1: traditional face mask, and that's what does the trick wait

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Speaker 1: a referee. So is this more of a ceremony or

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Speaker 1: a competition? Well, I mean it is an event that

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Speaker 1: happens all over the country, so the exact rules vary

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Speaker 1: from region to region. So at us One shrine in Tokyo,

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Speaker 1: they call it on baby chry Sumo that it's strictly

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Speaker 1: a ceremony. In some places, the babies actually do compete

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Speaker 1: against each other to see who will cry first, and

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Speaker 1: whoever cries first is declared the loser. I still can't

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Speaker 1: believe Japan has this competition where babies are pitted against

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Speaker 1: one another by sumo arrest. I do love that there

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Speaker 1: is such a thing, but it's still pretty nuts. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it does make you wonder why they even

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Speaker 1: bother with baseball. Well, I do want to get back

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Speaker 1: to exactly how and why baseball has becomes so big

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Speaker 1: in Japan, but before we do, let's take a quick break.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about

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Speaker 1: some surprising features of Japanese culture. So well, I know

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Speaker 1: you're itching to explain the origins of Japanese baseball, but

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Speaker 1: first I just have to tell you about a story

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Speaker 1: I found while researching KFC in Japan's Love Affair with It.

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Speaker 1: But don't worry, because it's actually a baseball story too.

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Speaker 1: So you know how in American baseball we have these

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Speaker 1: curses that crop up from time to time. Yeah, of course,

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Speaker 1: you've got the Cubs and their Billy Goat, and the

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Speaker 1: Red Sox and the Curse of the Vambino and all

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Speaker 1: sorts of curses like this. Exactly, and and apparently that

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Speaker 1: baseball tradition carried over to Japan because they have the

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Speaker 1: same kind of thing. And probably my favorite curse of

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Speaker 1: all time involves a team called the Hanshin Tigers and

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Speaker 1: a statue of KFC founder Colonel Sanders. So the story

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Speaker 1: goes back in the Tigers won the Japan Championship Series,

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Speaker 1: which is the Japanese equivalent of the World Series, and

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Speaker 1: to celebrate big wins like that, Tigers fans had this

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Speaker 1: tradition where they would gather on a certain bridge in

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Speaker 1: Osaka read the names of all the winning team members

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Speaker 1: out loud, and then as each name was called, a

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Speaker 1: fan who resembled that player would actually jump off the

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Speaker 1: bridge into the river. I mean, this is already weirder

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Speaker 1: than the Babe Ruth curse. And I'm a little confused here.

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Speaker 1: So is the whole fan base made up of guys

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Speaker 1: who just look like these players or what? Yeah? I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think it was more of a close enough thing.

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Speaker 1: But the problem was in eight five, none of the

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Speaker 1: Japanese fans looked anything like the team's m v P.

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Speaker 1: Who's this American guy named Randy Bass? And so this

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Speaker 1: is where KFC comes in because the fans were desperate

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Speaker 1: to find a Randy Bass look alike, and when they

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Speaker 1: couldn't find when they spied the statue of the KFC mascot,

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Speaker 1: it kind of looked close enough, so they snatched the

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Speaker 1: colonel dressed into Randy Bass jersey and chucked it off

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Speaker 1: the bridge into the river as they spoke his name

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Speaker 1: out loud. Wow. And if you were trying to just

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Speaker 1: make up, like, what is the most American name you

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Speaker 1: could come up with just like Randy Bass just the way. So,

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Speaker 1: so I don't understand who put the curse on the team.

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Speaker 1: Is it the owner of the KFC or Randy Bass?

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Speaker 1: I mean, actually, by the way, I just googled and sadly,

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Speaker 1: Randy bast does not look much like the colonel at all.

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Speaker 1: I mean that makes it better actually, But the curse

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Speaker 1: was from the colonel himself. So the real Colonel Sanders,

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Speaker 1: I want to say, like, passed away five years earlier,

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Speaker 1: and so, according to the legend, his spirit was so

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Speaker 1: pissed about the Tigers fans desecrating his statue that he

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Speaker 1: cursed their beloved team to never win a championship again.

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Speaker 1: And it must have been a potent curse because thirty

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Speaker 1: three years later, the Tigers have yet to win, despite

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Speaker 1: making it to the playoffs multiple times. Wow, So has

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Speaker 1: anybody ever tried just putting the statue back, you know,

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Speaker 1: just to a peace Sanders. Yeah. So, once a few

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Speaker 1: years had gone by and it became clear that, you know,

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Speaker 1: the team had been cursed by the ghost of an

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Speaker 1: American chicken salesman, Barents tried all kinds of ways to

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Speaker 1: affuse them. So they apologize to the KFC manager. They

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Speaker 1: they mounted a few failed dives to the bottom of

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Speaker 1: the river to try to find the statue, and then

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Speaker 1: in two thousand nine, divers actually found and recovered the

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Speaker 1: Colonel statue. I mean, his glasses and left hand were missing,

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Speaker 1: but otherwise he was pretty intact. So so of the

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Speaker 1: Tigers were hopeful once more, and in fact, the manager

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Speaker 1: of the team held a press conference where he told

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Speaker 1: the press, when I heard the statue had been found,

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Speaker 1: I felt that losing history had ended. I do think

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Speaker 1: if the Cubs could win a series, I have to

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Speaker 1: believe the Tigers will get there sooner or later. But

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Speaker 1: all right, Well, if the KFC curse tells us anything,

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Speaker 1: it's that baseball is this unexpected source of overlap between

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Speaker 1: Japanese and American culture, of course, and so I did

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Speaker 1: some digging to find out how the Japanese first fell

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Speaker 1: in love with baseball, and the story actually goes all

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Speaker 1: the way back to the eighteen hundreds. I now, this

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Speaker 1: was during the Meiji era, and this was this period

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Speaker 1: when Japan was moving away from its isolationist roots and

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Speaker 1: trying to adopt these more western customs as a result

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Speaker 1: of this. Now, one person often gets credited for introducing

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Speaker 1: baseball to Japan, and that's Professor Horace Wilson. And he

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Speaker 1: was an American who taught English at the university in Tokyo,

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Speaker 1: and at some point, I think it was in the

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Speaker 1: eighteen seventies, he started introducing his students to baseball because

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Speaker 1: he decided they needed to get more exercise in their lives.

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Speaker 1: But I mean, isn't there plenty of sports opportunity to Japan,

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Speaker 1: like martial arts and winter sports, and you know we

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Speaker 1: talked about sumo. Yeah. I had thought the same thing,

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Speaker 1: but there was one part of this that I had

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Speaker 1: not really thought about. So so here's the thing that

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Speaker 1: sports native to Japan or super popular in Japan or

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Speaker 1: that sumo or karate or several others. You know, they're

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Speaker 1: mostly one on one activities. So despite the fact that

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Speaker 1: Japan is a pretty highly group based culture, for whatever

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Speaker 1: weird reason, the country actually hadn't developed that many team

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Speaker 1: sports of their own. That's crazy. I actually never thought

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Speaker 1: about that. So is that one of the things that

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Speaker 1: helped baseball catch on? Definitely? And like I said, so

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Speaker 1: much of Japanese culture is built around this idea that

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Speaker 1: the group is the central unit of society. So whether

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Speaker 1: it's your family, your neighbors, or your classmates. So a

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Speaker 1: team sport like baseball was naturally appealing to many people

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Speaker 1: once word of it spread, and actually spread pretty quickly.

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Speaker 1: So in eighteen seventy eight, just a few years after

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Speaker 1: Horace Wilson taught his students how to play baseball, the

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Speaker 1: Japanese railway engineer organized the very first Japanese baseball team,

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Speaker 1: the Shinbashi Athletic Club Athletics. That's an amazing name. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: Japan did get better at naming things than today. There

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Speaker 1: are several professional baseball teams there and it's not that

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Speaker 1: different from the American mascot name, so to go along

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Speaker 1: with the Tigers, you've got things like the Buffaloes, the Hawks,

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Speaker 1: the carp as well as you know a few mythical

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Speaker 1: creatures like the dragons and the giants. But there is

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Speaker 1: something interesting about the naming there. And we mentioned earlier

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Speaker 1: that the team was called the Hanschen Tigers. But Hanchen

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Speaker 1: isn't actually a city, so I mean, is it a

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Speaker 1: village or a hamlet or something. No, So that's one

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Speaker 1: difference between American and Japanese baseball. Hanchen's actually a railway company.

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Speaker 1: So while American teams are privately owned and name for

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Speaker 1: cities that support them, Japanese teams are named for the

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Speaker 1: corporations that own them. So while we have the San

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Speaker 1: Francisco Giants, Japan has the Miori Giants, which are named

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Speaker 1: for the Yamori newspaper company there. That's pretty interesting, though

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Speaker 1: I do feel like I'm missing a piece of the

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Speaker 1: history here. So how did Japanese baseball go from being

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Speaker 1: a college sport to a national pastime that has these

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Speaker 1: massive companies bankrolling the teams? Well after eighteen seventy eight

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Speaker 1: you started to see these other teams popping up in Japan,

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Speaker 1: and for the next ten years, baseball continued to gain

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Speaker 1: popularity at these Japanese universities. The game mostly stayed on

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Speaker 1: campuses until well after the turn of the century, but

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Speaker 1: then in the early thirties, and American ballplayer named Lefty

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Speaker 1: o'duel started touring these Japanese universities with a small team

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Speaker 1: of American players. How baseball of a name is that

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Speaker 1: Lefty o Duel. So they were giving lessons to Japanese

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Speaker 1: players and holding these exhibition games every year from nineteen

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Speaker 1: thirty three to nineteen thirty seven. And these exhibitions could

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Speaker 1: be massive, so sometimes they played the crowds of more

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Speaker 1: than sixty thousand people. Wow. And so nineteen thirty four

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Speaker 1: in particular was this very important year for Japanese baseball.

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Speaker 1: And this was the year that left he brought over

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Speaker 1: this all star American team. That this team included players

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Speaker 1: like Luke Garrig, Lefty Gomez, Earl white Hill, Babe Ruth himself,

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Speaker 1: And so Japan organized its own dream team to face them.

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Speaker 1: But Lefty's crew handily defeated them in all eighteen of

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Speaker 1: the games that they played. I mean that sounds awful, right, like,

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Speaker 1: like why would you want to take up a sport

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Speaker 1: after that sort of humiliation. Well, so there was a

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Speaker 1: moment during those eighteen games when something truly special happened.

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Speaker 1: There was a Japanese picture named Agi Sawamora, and he

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Speaker 1: managed to strike out Charlie Garringer, Babe Ruth, Luke Garrick,

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Speaker 1: and Jimmy Fox all in a row. So even though

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Speaker 1: the team ultimately lost, Samamember became this national hero overnight,

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Speaker 1: like the country saw what was possible, and baseball became

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Speaker 1: more popular than ever. In fact, organizers rode that wave

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Speaker 1: of public enthusiasm and just two years later they formed

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Speaker 1: Japan's very first professional baseball team. And as a thank

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Speaker 1: you to Lefty o'duel, the New York Giant who helped

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Speaker 1: spark the base ball fire in Japan, the newly formed

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Speaker 1: team named itself the Giants in his honor. I love that.

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Speaker 1: And there's actually another unexpected big in Japan craze that

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about. But before we do that,

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Speaker 1: let's take a quick break, all right, Mango, So it's

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Speaker 1: my turn for a quick tangent. So we both heard

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Speaker 1: the phrase big in Japan, but I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: take a second to talk about where the phrase actually

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Speaker 1: comes from Yeah, I mean, I think it's like a

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Speaker 1: music industry term, right, Like I remember bands growing up

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Speaker 1: who didn't hit the charts in the US but would

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Speaker 1: always point to their number ones in Asia saying they're

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Speaker 1: big in Japan. Yeah, that's right. But there's actually an

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Speaker 1: origin story here, and so the idea goes back to

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Speaker 1: the fifties and the sixties when Japanese youth started getting

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Speaker 1: hooked on British and American music. So, for example, there

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Speaker 1: was this rock band from the States called the Ventures,

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Speaker 1: and by the early nineteen sixty the band was, you know,

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Speaker 1: less fashionable in the US, so they tried touring Japan,

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Speaker 1: and to their surprise, the country went crazy for them,

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Speaker 1: quickly becoming the group's most devoted fan base. In fact,

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Speaker 1: the Ventures continued to tour Japan every year until two

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Speaker 1: thousand and fifteen, and today their albums have outsold the

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Speaker 1: Beatles two to one. There isn't that crazy. That is crazy. So,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I guess big in Japan started out as

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Speaker 1: kind of a compliment. Well I don't know about a compliment,

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Speaker 1: but it definitely started out the way you and I

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Speaker 1: have been using And it's just to acknowledge the fact,

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Speaker 1: like this band is big in Japan. But you know,

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Speaker 1: by the seventies and eighties, the phrase was just being

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Speaker 1: used more mockingly, and it kind of came to represent

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Speaker 1: the snobbish perception that Japanese consumers were maybe attracted lesser

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Speaker 1: artists or something like that. But there's actually even a

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Speaker 1: joke at the end of this is spinal tap. I

401
00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,480
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember this, but the Washtup band

402
00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:54,240
Speaker 1: reunites for a second chance at fame and goes on

403
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:58,920
Speaker 1: this Japanese tour. You know, I've forgotten that, and I've

404
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:00,880
Speaker 1: always thought of that line as more of a lie,

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Speaker 1: like it's the guy who claims to have a girlfriend

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Speaker 1: at camp in Canada. You know. It's like, I guess

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Speaker 1: I never even considered all this cultural condescension. That's pretty interesting,

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Speaker 1: And maybe that's partially because they're all these great musicians,

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Speaker 1: especially jazz artists, who are a little overlooked in the

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Speaker 1: States but have been super popular in Japan for decades.

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Speaker 1: And I looked into this a little and it's kind

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Speaker 1: of amazing. So unlike rock music, which was this late

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Speaker 1: import to Japan, jazz actually came up in the country

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Speaker 1: around the same time and emerged in the US. Well,

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Speaker 1: I knew Japan had a thing for jazz. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it comes up all the time and Murakami's novels, and

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00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:39,480
Speaker 1: I think was a big inspiration for him to become

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Speaker 1: a writer in the first place. But but I actually

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Speaker 1: figured it's had something to do with like World War

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Speaker 1: two and it catching on after that. Yeah, so that

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Speaker 1: would have been my guest too. But I read this

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Speaker 1: great interview that NPR did with the jazz historian named E.

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Speaker 1: Taylor Atkins, who explained that the music actually made its

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Speaker 1: way to Japan as early as the nineteen tens. Oh wow,

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00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,480
Speaker 1: that early. So so how did it get there? Well,

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00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:03,119
Speaker 1: so you've got to remember this is the decade of

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00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 1: the Titanic, right, and so they're these luxury ocean liners

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Speaker 1: that are already taking wealthy passengers back and forth across

429
00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 1: the Pacific, you know, from West coast ports to places

430
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,080
Speaker 1: like Manila and Shanghai and of course Japan. And it

431
00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 1: was common for these ships to have orchestras on board

432
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,919
Speaker 1: as entertainment. So when a Japanese ocean liners stopped at

433
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,920
Speaker 1: a port in San Francisco or Seattle, the musicians would

434
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,640
Speaker 1: hop out and check out the local music scene. They'd

435
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,399
Speaker 1: buy sheet music or records and even visit clubs to

436
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:32,400
Speaker 1: hear the locals play. And so what you had were

437
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 1: all these Japanese musicians who were learned to play music

438
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:37,960
Speaker 1: that was popular in major US cities. And at the time,

439
00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:41,280
Speaker 1: nothing was more popular than jazz oh wow. And so

440
00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,159
Speaker 1: so how did the music make it off the boats

441
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 1: and into the country. So a lot of these cruise

442
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,879
Speaker 1: musicians also worked in hotel lobbies or restaurants in the

443
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,600
Speaker 1: off season, and that gave them plenty of opportunities to

444
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 1: practice what they'd picked up abroad. So you know, they'd

445
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,480
Speaker 1: play in these locations and and then they were simultaneously

446
00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,920
Speaker 1: introducing the country to this new sound. That's pretty cool,

447
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: all right. So I want to switch gears and go

448
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 1: back to something we touched on at the top of

449
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,600
Speaker 1: the show, and that's this idea of Japanese culture as

450
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 1: this balancing act. So far, we've talked about in terms

451
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 1: of like new technology versus these older traditions, as well

452
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:17,200
Speaker 1: as like the western influence and the country's own culture.

453
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 1: But another place we kind of see this balancing act

454
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: is about the young and the old, and so we

455
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,639
Speaker 1: alluded to this earlier, but Japan potentially has a crisis

456
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 1: on its hands because more than a quarter of the

457
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,280
Speaker 1: countries a hundred and twenty seven million people are sixty

458
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,720
Speaker 1: five or older, and that proportion is actually only expected

459
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: to rise. Some researchers are predicting that forty of Japan's

460
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: population will be over the age of sixty five by

461
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,400
Speaker 1: the year twenty sixty. So, just to put that in perspective,

462
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,920
Speaker 1: a Japanese diaper maker name Unan Charm reports that adult

463
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,959
Speaker 1: diapers now out sell baby diapers. That's crazy, and you've

464
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 1: got to think the impact on the labor market alone

465
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 1: is pretty scary. Yeah, it definitely is. But you know,

466
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,919
Speaker 1: it also provides this rare chance to see how an

467
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,200
Speaker 1: industrialized nation addresses that kind of population shift. So, for example,

468
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,399
Speaker 1: in late two thousand and sixteen, Japan began launching programs

469
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,280
Speaker 1: aimed at coaxing elderly drivers to hand over their driver's license.

470
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,080
Speaker 1: And that's because even though the overall number of traffic

471
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,920
Speaker 1: accidents in the country has actually gone down in recent years,

472
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 1: the number of accidents involving drivers over the age of

473
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:24,200
Speaker 1: seventy five has seen a dramatic increase. I think it

474
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 1: went from about seven percent to over the past decade

475
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,280
Speaker 1: now that's almost double. And of course, Japan being Japan,

476
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 1: they're not about to forcibly strip the elderly of their licenses,

477
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:36,960
Speaker 1: so instead they've had to get a little creative. So

478
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: how did they convince people to stop driving, Well by

479
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: doing something that would probably work on us too, and

480
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: that's to give them discounts on Roman noodles. I mean

481
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 1: that sounds kind of like a joke, right, It sounds

482
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:50,800
Speaker 1: like a joke, but it's not. So this is coming

483
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 1: from a district in central Japan and and basically this

484
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:58,760
Speaker 1: restaurant chain it started to provide these lifelongent discounts at

485
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,199
Speaker 1: all one d seventy six of their locations and this

486
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: of course to anyone over the age of seventy five

487
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,480
Speaker 1: who's turned in their license. But this isn't the only one.

488
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 1: So there's similar incentive campaigns that have launched all over

489
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,440
Speaker 1: the country. Some offer discounts on public baths or haircuts,

490
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 1: or bus or taxifairs. And the plan seems to be working.

491
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,800
Speaker 1: So they've had over a quarter million people in Japan

492
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: that have given up their licenses and two thousand and

493
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,160
Speaker 1: sixteen alone, and this is all thanks to this Ramen

494
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 1: noodle discount, which I'm sure more of these will follow. Well,

495
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 1: I mean, I found another way that chefs are helping

496
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 1: Japan cope with its aging population, and that's what's something

497
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,480
Speaker 1: called choke proof food. So this is something I hadn't

498
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,600
Speaker 1: really thought about before. But swallowing becomes harder and harder

499
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: as you age, and obviously this becomes an even bigger

500
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,920
Speaker 1: problem when such a large portion of your population is elderly.

501
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: In fact, according to a report in The New York Times,

502
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,399
Speaker 1: more Japanese people now die from choking than they do

503
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 1: in all those traffic accidents you mentioned earlier. Oh my gosh,

504
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 1: that's crazy. I mean, I can definitely see you why

505
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,160
Speaker 1: there'd be a market for choke proof food, but how

506
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 1: exactly does it work? And what is it? Yeah, so

507
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 1: it starts out as regular food items, so you're thinking

508
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 1: about things like grilled salmon or dumplings. But once the

509
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 1: food is prepared, it's thrown into a blender. And I

510
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,919
Speaker 1: know what you're thinking. This is way less gross than

511
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,359
Speaker 1: the story I told you about Lizzie's grandmam who was

512
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 1: having like a toothache. So she blended her salad and

513
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:24,960
Speaker 1: pizza into a shake and just kept telling everyone it's

514
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,640
Speaker 1: all going into the same place, so don't worry. She's

515
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: not wrong about that. That to taste gross. But here

516
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 1: the food is kept separate and mixed with a new

517
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: kind of jelling agent, so the gel actually allows the

518
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 1: food to be reshaped so that it resembles the way

519
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 1: it originally looked. So basically, choke proof food is this

520
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,639
Speaker 1: new way of making puade food more appetizing. It isn't

521
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,359
Speaker 1: like flavorless mush. Instead, you've got something that looks and

522
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 1: actually taste normal, with the added bonus of being easy

523
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:55,760
Speaker 1: to swallow. And if it catches on, like the hope

524
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 1: is that Japan's elderly will be able to hold onto

525
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 1: their meal time independence for a little bit longer. Like

526
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 1: they can simply head to a restaurant and order their

527
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 1: good food prepared in this style and it's called young

528
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 1: I guess, which is Japanese for swallowing. That is a

529
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: pretty great idea and I hope that that works for them.

530
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:13,640
Speaker 1: But you know, one of the things I like about

531
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: these campaigns and how Japan looks out for its elderly

532
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,560
Speaker 1: is that it reflects the group base mentality that we

533
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,840
Speaker 1: were talking about earlier. You know, that kind of all

534
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: for one approach to society. That's something that's instilled in

535
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,720
Speaker 1: Japanese citizens from the start. I was actually reading this

536
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 1: interesting article in the Atlantic about the high level of

537
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 1: independence that Japanese kids seem to have, and apparently it's

538
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:35,920
Speaker 1: really common to see kids as young as six or

539
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 1: seven out on their own in Japanese towns and cities. Yeah,

540
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 1: so we talked a little bit about this in our

541
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,680
Speaker 1: education episode, where there's a system to help kids walk

542
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 1: alone to school from I think it's from first grade

543
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: on and they're actually walking a few miles, right, Yeah,

544
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 1: that's right, And you know, sometimes they're heading to or

545
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: from school, but other times they're actually out running errands

546
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 1: for their parents, and it's kind of this right of

547
00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 1: passage in Japan. In fact, you know how the country

548
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,160
Speaker 1: is fame is for his outrageous game shows and all

549
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: these weird reality shows. Well, there's actually a popular show

550
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,240
Speaker 1: that translates as My First Errand, and it's basically this

551
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 1: hidden camera show where kids just as young as like

552
00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:14,919
Speaker 1: two or three are sent out to run an errand

553
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 1: for their family that sounds crazy. So I'm guessing the

554
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,640
Speaker 1: kids have no idea they're being recorded at that age. Oh,

555
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 1: of course not. I have no idea. And I mean

556
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: the cameramen are right out in the open at some points,

557
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: but the kids are so frantic or anxious that they

558
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 1: never noticed the supervision. And so I actually watched an episode,

559
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,800
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's funny, but it can be brutal. But

560
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:37,480
Speaker 1: the one I saw how this little boy and his

561
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 1: younger sister out on an errand to pick up groceries,

562
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:42,600
Speaker 1: and they had to go to a few different shops

563
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: and already you can see how hard this is right

564
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: for these kids, and they can barely remember the names

565
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 1: of the items. I mean, they're tiny. And this little

566
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: boy that was watching, he was so cute, but he

567
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: had this melt down once they were like a block

568
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: away from their house. He actually had to stop and

569
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: compose himself in an alleyway and then keep going. And

570
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,520
Speaker 1: meanwhile there's this laugh track and a panel of not

571
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,960
Speaker 1: judges but commentators, I guess, and it all feels like

572
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 1: some kind of surreal psychological experiment. But my first air,

573
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 1: and it isn't some new reality TV thing. It's been

574
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,520
Speaker 1: on air for almost thirty years now, So I mean

575
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: this sounds equal parts hilarious and bizarre. But how does

576
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: it relate to being group minded? Like, if anything, these

577
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: kids seem independent, right right? Well, that's the thing. I mean.

578
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: According to Dwyane Dixon, who's this cultural anthropologist, it's it's

579
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: not self sufficiency that we're seeing, but group reliance. As

580
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: he puts it, Japanese kids learned early on that ideally

581
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,360
Speaker 1: any member of the community can be called on to

582
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: serve or help others. And as you see on the

583
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 1: show I watched, they are grocers and shopkeepers, even regular

584
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,080
Speaker 1: people on the street, and they're all eager to help

585
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 1: the kids with directions or counting coins. And the idea

586
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: is that whether you're a family member or a stranger,

587
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: young or old, we're kind of we're all in this together,

588
00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: you know. I like that. I can actually see why

589
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 1: it's popular. So I guess we saw that in the

590
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 1: school's episode two, right, like where students take turns serving

591
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: lunch their classmates, or that there aren't any janitors there

592
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 1: because all the kids devote twenty minutes each day to

593
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 1: cleaning up. That's pretty amazing. Yeah, And I love that

594
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 1: there's this personal responsibility for shared spaces, and it's one

595
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 1: of the most pleasantly unusual things about Japanese culture and

596
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 1: and definitely when I wish we'd emulate more in our

597
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 1: own lives here. Yeah, although that that discount on ramen

598
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 1: noodle sounds pretty good too. I would do whatever it

599
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 1: takes to get that, but including trading in my driver's license. Yeah,

600
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 1: but before you head down to see if the restaurant's interested,

601
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 1: why why don't we work up an appetite with a

602
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:51,960
Speaker 1: quick fact off. So one thing that's cool about Japan

603
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,040
Speaker 1: is that they have all sorts of escalators. Right there

604
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: are massive and beautiful spiral escalators. There's the world's highest escalator.

605
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,760
Speaker 1: It's it's a little terrifying. It's between two skyscrapers and Osaka,

606
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 1: I believe. But my favorite of the escalators, and the

607
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: one I traveled to use, is actually the Pucci Culator.

608
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: That's what's called it's the world's shortest escalator and it's

609
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 1: just outside Tokyo. But do to some weird construction flow,

610
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 1: it's only about four or five steps tall, so it's

611
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 1: super short and it's uh, I guess it's like half

612
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 1: a short flight of stairs, But when I looked into

613
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 1: why they even bothered to build it, it was because

614
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: of this concept of service. So like helping people not

615
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 1: have to walk down four stairs, even if it's only

616
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 1: four stairs, is still important to the culture. That is

617
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 1: so weird. I've never heard of this thing before, but yeah,

618
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 1: well here's the thing that feels unimaginable. So do you

619
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 1: know what happens when teachers are sick in Japanese secondary schools.

620
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 1: The school actually doesn't bring in a substitute. Instead, the

621
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,520
Speaker 1: kids are just expected to stay there and quietly spend

622
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: the day study, and it were I mean, the kids

623
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 1: actually do this. Can you imagine that ever happening in

624
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 1: US schools? Absolutely not so so I think you know,

625
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 1: I love the bullet train, and I didn't realize this,

626
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 1: but it's actually been around for fifty years now. And

627
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,600
Speaker 1: part of the reason I love it is that's so efficient.

628
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 1: It's rarely more than I think twenty six seconds late,

629
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 1: like it makes the whole country super accessible for tourists.

630
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,239
Speaker 1: But I especially love how safe it is and it

631
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 1: never seems to crash or have any fatalities like the

632
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 1: trains in the US. And that's partially because of Doctor Yellow.

633
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:34,360
Speaker 1: Have you heard of Dr Yellow? I have not. So

634
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,239
Speaker 1: it's a yellow train that travels at full speed, but

635
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 1: it actually monitors the rail conditions for safety. And because

636
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: it doesn't have a published schedule, people just love seeing it.

637
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: They go wild for it. It's like a lucky charm

638
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: and and sometimes they'll actually cheer for it or just

639
00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 1: smild wide when they see it passing by. That's pretty great.

640
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: All right, Well, here's a quick one I think you

641
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 1: might like. So did you know that scientists in Japan

642
00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 1: have come up with a banana with an edible p

643
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 1: If you love bananas, I know we both like bananas

644
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: but hate all the time it takes to peel them.

645
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: This is perfect for you. Apparently the process involves freezing

646
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 1: and thawing the plant, so you do need to have

647
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:13,960
Speaker 1: a pretty cool climate there, of course, but the benefit

648
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,680
Speaker 1: is that there aren't any natural predators, so you don't

649
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 1: have to spray the banana with a ton of pesticides.

650
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 1: That's pretty amazing. So, speaking of strange fruit, did you

651
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: know that they sell individual strawberries in Japan. It's a

652
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,680
Speaker 1: really popular gift to give someone for Valentine's Day and

653
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,240
Speaker 1: they come beautifully packed in these individual cases, but they'll

654
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:34,760
Speaker 1: set you back ten or eleven dollars for a single fruit,

655
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 1: or like forty or fifty dollars for a cardon. So

656
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,880
Speaker 1: you might be wondering what kind of strawberry is worth

657
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: that much money? And at least one of the varieties

658
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,120
Speaker 1: is a kind of strawberry peach hybrid that kind of

659
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,040
Speaker 1: looks like a giant strawberry, but it has notes of

660
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: peach and the bipe. And there's actually another one that's

661
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 1: completely white but supposedly has kind of a pineapple taste,

662
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 1: Like I kind of want to taste all of these,

663
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,600
Speaker 1: Oh me too? All right, well, I think you're going

664
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: to lie this one. I know both of us love

665
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 1: following what comes out in the Ignoble Awards every year,

666
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 1: But did you know that Japanese scientists want of two

667
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,359
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen Ignoble Prize for realizing that when you get this,

668
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:14,120
Speaker 1: when you bend over and look between your legs, objects

669
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,719
Speaker 1: look further away. And this is some real science, but

670
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 1: apparently your perception changes even though you're at the same distance.

671
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,160
Speaker 1: But what's funny is that Japan has embraced this scientific victory,

672
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:27,759
Speaker 1: and there are some tourism platforms in front of mountains

673
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,840
Speaker 1: and scenic areas where their handrails for you to bend

674
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,799
Speaker 1: over and look at the landscape through your legs. I'm

675
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 1: not kidding about this. I mean, I guess it's so

676
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 1: you can appreciate it from even more of a distance

677
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 1: or something. I don't know, but I've got to go

678
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 1: check these out. That is amazing. And you know I

679
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 1: love anything that embraces real science. So right, I'm gonna

680
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:48,880
Speaker 1: give you this week's trophy. All right, well, thank you

681
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,319
Speaker 1: very much, and listeners, if you think we need to

682
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,319
Speaker 1: know any great science as ridiculous as this, or any

683
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,759
Speaker 1: facts that we forgot to share about Japan today that

684
00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 1: you love, feel free to share those with us part

685
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 1: Time Genius at how stuff works dot com. We always

686
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,479
Speaker 1: love hearing from. You can also call our seven fact

687
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,000
Speaker 1: hotline that's one eight four four pt Genius, or hit

688
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 1: us up on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks so much for listening,

689
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:26,720
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production

690
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:29,200
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691
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,759
Speaker 1: brilliant people who do the important things. We couldn't even

692
00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:35,080
Speaker 1: begin to understand. Tristan McNeil does the editing thing. Noel

693
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,160
Speaker 1: Brown made the theme song and does the MIXI mixy

694
00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:40,719
Speaker 1: sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gave

695
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Speaker 1: Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the Research

696
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 1: Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve.

697
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 1: Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.

698
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe,

699
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 1: And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe

700
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701
00:35:55,440 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 1: forget j Jason who did differ by the b