Hi Chie!

Most phones have 2 ways of receiving messages. 1 through the phone number which is usually limited to 70 characters (and the same phone company, unless you have an iphone)

The 2nd way is through your keitai (cellphone) mail address. It looks like a regular email address and is where the term me-ru comes from.
I never got into the phone novels, but on standard if you sign up for something with your keitai email address messages, coupons, advertisements, updates, etc... are sent weekly, bi weekly, monthly etc... directly from the "company" or server to your phone's email.
I assume that is how the cellphone novels work as well.
I will ask around, but I think this may be one area where I don't know much more than the above...

I've been a passive member for some time, and I've recently begun to think I need to contribute in some positive way to the site, so:

I've been living in Japan for 8 years and know quite a bit about Japanese culture, from tea ceremonies & sword training to junior high school gossip styles.
I also have become nearly native like in my conversational Japanese.
Therefore:
I offer my Japan knowledge to any Author who would like to make use of it.
I am sorry it has taken me so long to realize I have something worth offering.
Feel free to message me or ask here.

Yoroshiku.

Zoku

That is most generous of you. I would have asked you to review and give advice before posting my stories if I had known but now the horse is out of the barn.

Again sorry that I was floating in my own little world and didn't offer.
If you decide to write again, please ask me anything!

Hi there! I was wondering if your offer for insight was still available? I find that I need to write some things about Christmas in Japan for "The Omiai" and would appreciate some insight on how the holiday traditions differ there compared to the United States.

Thank you!

Of course! Just let me know what you'd like to know!

Zoku, do you know what kind of fabrics were used for clothing in Japan during the feudal era? The easy way out is to portray the well-to-do dressed head to toe in silk, but is this accurate? What about the peasantry? Apparently, sheep did not live in Japan during this time period, so probably not wool. Flax? Cotton? I don't know if either of these had been introduced to Japan at this time either... I can find out about the design of clothing online, but I haven't found a website that supplies these particular details. I'd sure be happy to fill in this blank in my mental picture of the era we are trying to portray in our fanfictions...

Silk was processed (? Made?) in Japan at the time, as well as cotton. Rough cotton would have been available to lower classes as well as leather & fur goods.
Leather, fur, pelts, etc... would have been tanned and prepared by the burakuman class, (the outside class, not even "worthy" of having a class) So they would have had access to the scraps, and prob. wore a lot more of it than cotton.
The higher classes wore silk, and it is perfectly ok to use that in your descriptions.
Samurai/ warriors would have only used leather for protective outfits in battles, and even then it was limited to the minimal usage, due to its "impurity". Thickly woven cotton was even more common for the upper classes than leather.

Kaoruhana:

About Christmas in Japan:

Christmas day is nothing. It's a work day.
Christmas Eve is mostly for younger couples, the most important date night of the year. If you don't take your other out for a Christmas eve date, expect to be single on Christmas day.
Small gifts are exchanged and "Christmas cake" is eaten. Girls who are trying to impress their guy will totally do their best to make the cutest strawberry sponge cake ever.
It's kind of like American Valentines day.
(They DO celebrate Valentine's day too, its just different)
Restaurants often offer a "Pair Course" for couples on Christmas Eve. (More than likely including fried chicken)

www.google.co.jp/search?q=Japanese+Christmas+Cakes&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-
8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&gws_rd=cr&ei=r6WIUuNwzICTBfLGgbgG

At homes, most families eat KFC or if they failed to get their order in weeks in advance, they will eat any fried chicken they can get their hands on, usually with a pre-ordered "Christmas Cake" (See the above link for images).
Some parents give their children a gift on Christmas morning, but it totally depends on the family, and it may or may not be from Santa.
www.google.co.jp/search?q=Japanese+Christmas+Dinners&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr&ei=LqeIUr_oJYXVkwWWsYGoBQ

Ps. I wish I was kidding about KFC, but I'm serious. And they call it "Kentucky" not KFC.
If I don't plan to have fried chicken on the table for Christmas with my bf, he nearly cries. (Even if I make lasagna, salad, homemade rolls and 2 types of Christmas cakes.) No fried chicken = you don't love me enough to get it.

Fascinating! Fried chicken! I wonder how that got to be a cultural phenomenon... BTW, do you think the robes worn by Miroku are made of cotton? Also, it sounds as though Feudal Japan had more of an intricate "caste" system, rather than the less complex class system I had imagined. I know more about feudal Europe, where family members tended strongly to participate in the same "businesses" as their parents for practical and financial reasons. Some professions such as the dying of cloth were nasty and smelly, making their practitioners band together because others did not want to be around them. Membership in guilds, and apprenticeship programs to get into a profession were definitely attainable to the middle, working classes once money was obtained to "grease the wheels", so mobility from profession to profession was possible, though it would take a lot of effort for a peasant to move up to tradesman status. A young man of the peasant class might become apprenticed to a blacksmith, or go to work at a monastery or in some way get close to someone who could help him learn a trade within that feudal class structure. Do you see Japanese feudal class structure as more like the caste system in India?

KFC just hit Japan at the right time and had a good advertising team I guess! My guy is 25 and his family always had fried chicken, as far as he can remember.
I bet it was around that time that "Christmas" the shopping holiday also became trendy and exotic, thus celebrating it was cool, but limited to couples. Now with the internationalization taught in schools mostly through English teaching Christmas has become mainstream. (The 100 yen shop has had Christmas stuff out since September/October)

Cast system was similar to the Indian system, but still different and more loosely defined, the only thing that could and would never change ( there is still a mild issue today even) is the position of the Burakuman. Until till recently people could be denied marriage certificates if someone from a historically burakuman family line tried to marry someone with a historically much higher family line.
Cleaning dead bodies for funerals, dead animals for processing etc... were all "unclean" and I believe they were thought so because of the Buddhist influence that was introduced to Japan around the late Kofun period (around the year 500). As Buddhism became more integrated into Japanese society the ideas of meat being impure was also adopted, so people who ate red meat were considered impure and lower class. It's really interesting all of the history but I won't get into it too deeply because I only know the basics on that subject.
The cast system that would have been in place in the Sengoku jidai was:

Samurai
Farmer
Peasant
Merchant (because "money" was a nasty thing and only "poor" people worried about it, also wealth was measured more in rice than coinage, and Samurai were mostly awarded and paid by bushels of rice or parcels of rice producing land)
Burakuman (because the only thing worse than worrying about money was touching dead things)

You could quit being a merchant to be normal, or if you were lucky get your hands on some land to become a farmer, and farmers could get lucky and become Samurai but Burakuman almost were never allowed to become anything but what they were.

ps. I'd give Miroku's robes a 50/50, bits were probably silk and other bits cotton.
pss. Check out the 2009 (2008?) movie "Departed" or in Japanese "Okuri Bito" for a modern look at a normal Japanese guy who takes a traditionally unclean role and the effect it has on his life. (Be prepared to cry a lot though)

Awesome info! I can't get info like this out of my sister-in-law, who is Japanese. My husband thinks that trying to suck knowledge out of other people's brains by force is just not polite, and that she doesn't appreciate my detailed grilling of her on all things cultural. A guy I know who went to school to learn furniture making in Japan thinks that the Japanese language makes it difficult to hold a precise conversation, as one thing said verbally can mean a number of things in the concrete world, and if she is translating from Japanese to English mentally, this only complicates things. It is so great to have someone who can answer these questions! Thank you! Thank you!

You are very welcome. Ask away, and I will do my best to answer to the best of my and the people around me's knowledge.

Hiya Zoku.

There is a story seedling that's been burrowing in my brain for years and I just haven't got around to it yet (always some new bright idea comes along to steal the spotlight...)

Anyway, for that story, I need to know more about cell phone novels and meeru. As I understand it, the Japanese use e-mails to substitute for SMS, sort of?
I've tried to do research, but it's kinda hard trying to find information on such a subject, so if you can tell me anything about them, I'd be very grateful. :3

Thank you, Zoku, that really helps to clarify the difference between SMS and Meeru. It's just such a different system from ours.

If you don't know too well, then it's likely most of the readers won't know either, which gives me more of artistic freedom. ;D

Assuming, of course, I ever actually get around to writing that particular story... *grumbles*

Thank you for your help! :3

Glad I could help! (Even just a little) I hope to read that story someday!

I just thought of another thing, getting caught up with silly little details. (The joys of being a detail-oriented control freak <3)
If people order a salad, do they eat it with forks or chopsticks? When should one use which utensils in general?

Chopsticks! Forks are not uncommon but not so common either, but after using chopsticks to eat salad I can't imagine why anyone would use anything else! In general chopsticks are used all the time with spoons being the second runner up. Forks are for babies and foreigners, or for cake and pasta.

Edit Ps. and when I say cake forks, I mean the little tiny cute ones, not a regular fork.

Roger that, and thanks once again. :3

Hi. Happy New Year! I had a question. Is there a custom in Japan to watch the sunrise on the first day of the year? I saw it in an anime once and just now a friend from Japan uploaded photos of the sunrise on their Facebook.
I was wondering if this is a common custom in Japan. If so, what does it imply and what is the significance? Thank you.

Yep! A lot of people (not everyone, but a lot) enjoy going to the temple/shrine after midnight saying their first prayers of the new year then watching the first sunrise. It's called "Hatsu-hi-no-de" Literally "The first time the sun comes out" Just a fun tradition to welcome the new year. I imagine for a lot of people it has a slightly spiritual impact, a fresh new start etc... I personally am not a morning person, so I usually watch the first sunset. ><

I see. Interesting. I already knew about the prayer, the 108 bell tolls and the otoshidama. I'm definitely going to use this in a fic someday. Thanks again.

Hello there,

First, thanks again for all of your help in giving us advice and things. Second: here's my question:
I'm going to include holidays and major events in "The Omiai" and as I did so, I stumbled across a holiday called "National Foundation Day". From what I read, it's a muted down holiday and people kind of use that as an extra sleep in day? Is it really that way? And do you have any other recommendations for holidays?

So, that was two questions: whoops- but really thanks! Just get back to me when you're free.

Hey Kaoru! Sorry for being late, I've been swamped with lessons and stuff to do at my home, so, National Foundation Day, like I'd say 60% of Japanese holidays really are just a day of to lay in and enjoy not having to work or go to school. Most offices and schools are closed on all national holidays (there is nearly one every month! It's great <3 )
But, yes as you noticed it is nothing too special. Some of the holidays are rooted in Shinto, Buddhist, or Japanese tradition and so will be celebrated at various places of worship but mostly... not. My favorite holidays are: 7/16 Umi-no-hi (Ocean Day) Where some groups go out and tidy up the beaches and then they are officially "open" for the summer, and I like the two equinox days, although we also don't do any celebrating there either...
Do you know about Golden Week? Those are most largely celebrated national holidays.
Not a national holiday but do you know about white day? (March 14th when the guys who get chocolate return the favor, if they like the girls who gave them some in February)