Brainer!

Live somewhere for long enough and your perspectives change. This is, as I once heard an American say, a "no-brainer". I used to live in London, for three years actually, and almost never went to any of the tourist spots. I wasn't a tourist.

Japan is a bit like that. Except it takes about 1000 times longer before you start to just "live" there.

I have met people planning to travel here who say they're looking forward to eating the food and this excites me because I like food. Except, what they're thinking is Japanese food, and what I'm thinking is Japanese food, are totally different and almost totally unconnected things. While I'm thinking udon, soba, somen, ramen, tukemen, b-fun, harusame and more, they're thinking just "noodles".

To put in perspective, this is the equivalent of going to Italy thinking it will be great to eat "pasta".

And while I'm thinking tonkatsu, yakitori, oyakodon, tsukiyaki, nabe, nimono, yakisakana, nikujyaga, yakiniku, gyudon, mochi, anpan, taiyaki, takoraisu, omuraisu, chaahan, okonomiyaki and monjyayaki. They're thinking "sushi".

Putting this in perspective, it's like moving to America thinking you'll be rich, married to Pamela Anderson, and your son will have a shot at President.

Get to this point and, I'm not saying you've gone native, but you do notice the same things they do, simply because it's something out of the ordinary, not an everyday occurance, a bit strange, and definitely not a "no-brainer", which I think makes it a "brainer".

I saw a "brainer" a not long ago while walking in my local park. It was a hot day, which in Tokyo means an oppressive day. There was a nursery group out for a walk. Not strange in and of itself. But, what was particular about this sight was the nursery carers were all wearing building site helmets, and half the children were wearing padded silver head-things, and the smaller ones extra-thickly-padded orange blanket-things.

I heard someone else (a Japanese person) say "What?" to the person they were with so, I know I was not alone in bewilderment. (click on images for larger image)



I thought, overkill to be a UV countermeasure, they would surely faint, and to date still think, "Eh?".





For reference here is a normal nursery outing in the park. Same day, same park. Similar-coloured caps denote similar aged children. And notice that they are caps, not padded blankets.



Sorry. I'm not sure how this is like the market.