InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Oh, what a relief it is!"

kati, the happy little feller :] (rainbowling) wrote,
@ 2008-11-04 03:35:00

Entry tags:

! resources, game: awakenings

TOKYO
for elisaface and the sm game.

Basics
- Tōkyō. The two Os are long. But whatever.
- Has been the capital since 1603
- Was renamed Tokyo from Edo in 1868, which means Eastern Capital
- There's a whole bunch of history I could go into but it's kinda unnecessary. If you're interested just go here.

Region and geography and stuff
- Located on the Kanto Plain, which is the largest plain in Japan. Tokyo and neighboring areas are known as the Kanto region.
- Tokyo isn't actually a city. It's a prefecture, which is kinda like one of our states but much smaller. Japan has 47 prefectures.
- Tokyo's official name is Tokyo-to, which means "Tokyo-Metropolis." Most prefectures end with the suffix "ken" (Hiroshima-ken, Shiga-ken, etc) though there are a few exceptions and Tokyo is one of them. More about prefectures.
- The best way to think of it is like NYC and how it's made up of boroughs. But instead of boroughs, it's made up of 23 special wards, called "ku"s. More about the 23ku.

Trains and subways!
- JR East- JR (Japan Rails) is the biggest train system in Japan. JR East is the part that covers the Tokyo area, though it's rarely called anything but JR. If your character commutes to work/school/etc, it's probably on a JR train (though not always) and they'll have a Suica card, which is a prepaid pass for certain areas in the Greater Tokyo area.
- Yamanote Line - This is probably your character's best friend. It probably deserves a section all to itself. But the Yamanote is the train that runs in a big loop around Tokyo. It goes both ways and most trains come anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes apart, which is the shortest wait-time in Japan. But it's that busy. In certain stations at certain times of day they hire people to push people inside the train so the doors can shut. If you live in Tokyo you've perfected the "step inside and immediately turn around so you can push yourself backwards into the car" routine.
- Even during the slowest times of day these trains are quite full.
- There are 29 stops on the Yamanote and 27 of these connect to other train lines.
- The Yamanote runs from approximately 4:30am to 1am.
- Yamanote loop map
- During high commute times there is normally one car per train that is Women Only since there's a problem with creeps sticking their hands up women's skirts or feeling people up on trains.
- Subways. There are two main subway lines in Tokyo, the Tokyo Metro and the Toei. These can get you to many places the JR lines can't, such as Ginza.
- More about transportation in Greater Tokyo

Stereotypes and stuff
- Tokyo-Japanese is the kind of Japanese that most foreigners learn.
- Tokyo-ben is the Tokyo accent/dialect, Osaka-ben is the accent/dialect from Osaka, etc.
- They tend to make fun of Kansai-ben (Kansai is the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area) a lot, especially Osaka-ben, though they still steal all of the Kansai-ben slang. Kansai people get mad, invent new slang, which is then stolen by Tokyo.
- They shorten everything! Starbucks becomes "Sta-ba-" and McDonalds is "Maku." KFC is not KFC but "Kentucky"

Suicides
- Okay morbid but you need to know this.
- Suicides are so common that there is a different word in Japanese for each kind.
- Jumping in front of trains is the most popular way though the government has been discouraging this lately by fining the families thousands of dollars. This has really deterred people and cut down on suicides in recent years.
- Jumping off buildings is also popular, especially among girls preparing for high school entrance exams, but they started fining the families of the deceased for this too.
- Middled-aged business men and 8th grade girls preparing for high school entrance exams are the two highest demographics of people who kill themselves in Japan.

DISTRICTS IN TOKYO
Shibuya
- that dog statue

Ginza (Geen-zah)
- The "gin" in Ginza means silver.
- This is where the most expensive namebrand shops are, such as Gucci, Prada, Burbury, etc.
- You can only get to Ginza by subway (or car or cab obvs) - the Yamanote does not come here.
- The Ginza subway station is the most popular spot for suicides in Japan I believe.

Harajuku
- the bridge

Roppongi
- lol

Shinagawa

Akihabara
- otaku
- 7 story porn store

Ueno
- There is a zoo here.

Ikebukuro
- Sunshine 60

Kabuki-cho
- DON'T GO HERE.

Shinjuku

Asakusa
- Pronounced "Ah-sock-sah"

(Post a new comment)

anecdote
2008-11-04 05:46 pm UTC (link)

IDK if I should be amused or horrified how suicides have it's own subcategory on the culture list.

Suffixes/Honorifics
- To be added at the end of a name; Usually refer to people by their last names if you are not well acquainted. Can refer to people without suffixes either, but usually impolite/informal.
- san: Kind of like Mr./Mrs./Ms.
- kun: Informal. Usually for males, but can be used for tomboyish girls as well.
- chan: Very informal. Usually for girls or children or cute things. Can be used for guys as teasing or amongst family members.
-- VARIATIONS: -chin, -tan, -chama -- usually kind of like baby talk and mostly reserved for pet names.
- senpai: An upperclassmen. Can be used as a noun (just addressing someone as "Senpai" rather than "So-and-so-senpai").
- kohai: An underclassmen. Can be used as a noun (just addressing someone as "Kohai") though much rarer.
- sensei: Refers to teachers or professionals. Can be used as a noun (just addressing someone as "Sensei").
- sama: Very formal. Mr./Mrs/Ms. Used to recognize someone higher than yourself, ie Elisa-sama.

See more here.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	rainbowling 2008-11-04 08:04 pm UTC (link)
	I think you should determine whether you want to use honorifics or if you don't, because if someone does and someone doesn't, it can cause confusion and, more importantly, leaving one off can be extreeeeeeemly rude. However, I think enough people who know SM know the basics, so it wouldn't be too hard to make sure everyone uses them. (Reply to this) (Parent)