Isohama-cho Oarai-machi Higashi-ibaraki-gun (town.oarai.lg.jp)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	town.oarai.lg.jp
Date:	26/04/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: makes planning a visit simple, handy peek into current culture and lifestyle, handy vocabulary

Disadvantages: cultural bit could be expanded abit more

At first glance this might seem a bit of a strange website to review, but if you bear with me for the few minutes it takes to read this review, you will discover just why I thought this website so worthy of being added to DooYoo. Firstly I would like to explain how I came across this nifty little site. My children and I are learning Japanese, so I have been searching the web for useful and interesting sites relating to Japanese culture, lifestyle, and language. This site has a little bit of everything.

Oarai is a coastal town in Japan blessed with mild weather and excellent transport links. These help make it a tourist haven for those wishing to experience a lovely seaside holiday in Japan. It boasts an aquarium and a science museum and so on. I can't really comment how excellent these are, however, as all of Oarai I have seen is virtual. Imagine if you will, that a small window has been placed within your PC screen, and you are able to experience a moment in time in Oarai. From discovering the current temperature to discovering how and when the residents of Oarai sort their out their rubbish and recyclables, to current news and events, even to how much it costs to ride the local bus and when it runs (and where it goes), this site has it all. And it is even clearly written in excellent English (though a Japanese version is also available), making it easy to read, understand and navigate.

For ourselves as language students, the language and culture section is a handy feature. Unlike most scholarly language resources, someone at Oarai town office took the time to think on what us gaijin (literally, outsider/foreigner) would need to know how to say in various circumstances. basic things such as being able to ask if they speak any English, as well as how to ask how to say something in Japanese. Not to mention being able to beg the speaker to please speak slower, or to let them know you have no bloody idea what they mean! Other areas not usually covered elsewhere, but a relief to be able to commnicate, include what to say when talking to the emergency services, along with the number for their version of 999 (if curious, it is 119 for the fire dept. and 110 for the police). It would be rather a scary thing to get in a pickle and not be able to explain to the emergency services operator that there has been a car accident and that you require the police and an ambulance! Not to mention, being unable to explain what part seems to hurt! Some basic vocabulary is also provided, such as parts of the body, colours, and even the words for taxis, train, station, bus, bus stop, and so on.

The culture part is admittedly a bit bare, but what there is should be memorised and NEVER forgotten unless you want to look like an utterly boorish idiot. This is about chopsticks. You might think chopsticks a simple affair, if you can already eat with them. You would be WRONG. Chopsticks require a knowledge of what is considered VERY VERY BAD manners, lest you commit an offense that might possibly see you barred from eating somewhere again. These faux pas are listed in brief here, sadly though without explanation as just why they are so bad. This you can (and should) look into a bit further (there are entire websites about this topic, with even more don't you dares listed!). I don't know about you, but I would not want to seem to be making light of funerary customs and their venerable ancestors by sticking my chopsticks into my food like a spear! (This resembles how they place incense before the dead). And if you don't know how to eat with them, there is handy guide on how to hold chopsticks and use them for getting food into your gob.

Other handy little tidbits that are in the language section could handily also be linked to the culture section, but are not. For example, most people figure out early on how to say hello. They even quickly figure out how to say good morning and good evening. As English speakers, we say hello, good morning, and so on not only when out, but when we come to visit friends and they open the door to us. WRONG! There are actual formalities relating to entering someone else's home, leaving, and also for leaving your own home and returning. The words for greeting and taking ones leave are here , but as foreigners, linking it to the cultural section with a bit more explanation on how and why it is, as well as the etiquette regarding shoes and slippers (and socks!) would make a definite improvement. That aside, the instances are clearly identified in the language section, so that a casual visitor to Japan, or someone wishing to add to their Japansese phrases, will find this quick and handy.

So whether wishing to actually visit Oarai, and have need of route maps, list of places to go, foreign registration, and a list of places to go, or wishing to take use the site for a peek into the daily life of a modern Japanese town, or even just to pick up a bit more Japanese vocabulary, Oarai Town Office's site provides a useful service.

Summary: Nice little site providing a live peek into a coastal town close to Tokyo