Neon Wonderland

2008-12-13T09:22:00.002+09:00

Also, 2 things I want to write before I forget...
One of my students was making a sentence using "I want to eat ____ for dinner."
He said, "I want to eat kiyukiyubee for dinner." I at first assumed this was some sort of meat on rice Japanese dish I had never heard of, but when my Japanese teacher looked at me with the same amount of confusion, I knew something was amiss. "Kiyukiyubee?" He spelled it out with his finger in the air, "Q-Q-B."
Then it clicked...BBQ.
Also, another teacher told me that she asked the first year students what the U.S.A was. A boy raised his hand eagerly, "I know!" "Yes?" He stated proudly, "The Universal Studios America."

I'd like to make a Best/Worst of 2008 list or something like that...hopefully will get that done within the next couple of days. Also, check out the 2 new links on the right side - Totally Looks Like and Once Upon a Win...

Radiohead, Kota Totori - 15 Step

2008-11-26T07:30:00.001+09:00

I promise I have not become a huge anime freak since moving here.
But Radiohead - 15 Step - by Kota Totori

is cool!

Nichijyo Nihon 3

2008-11-16T19:55:00.005+09:00

Every once in a while, I like to wander around one of the shopping meccas of that are Osakan department stores. Hanshin, Hankyu, Daimaru, Keihan...they are all 10+ floors of everything high class department stores should be.

Anyway, I usually jump into the sea of people that flood the basement level food stores to check out the most expensive grocery stores in town. In addition to normal foodstuffs, they have loads of prepared food vendors, and every kind of specialist you could imagine - tsukemono (Japanese pickles), tofu, Chinese food, sweets, rice crackers, herb tea, green tea, world coffees, countless others.

I'm always drawn to the perfect fruits. These are not the "Let me chop up this leftover banana and put it on a bowl of cereal" fruits. These are not, really, for personal consumption. These perfectly round, brilliant red apples, grapes so plump they look ready to burst, never blemished achievements of science and agriculture are the mannequins of the fruit world. And for this, they are not what one buys for family and for one's own consumption (so I've been told).

No, these special fruits, often sold in layers of packaging fit for diamond jewelry, are for gifts. It is in fact, their exorbitant prices that make them apt for gift-giving. After all, going to buy a $5 cantaloupe for the boss isn't going tack anything on to that end-of-the-year bonus. So, you're hoping for the highest percentage raise in your career yet? Only one thing will guarantee it (maybe...)

The $210 musk melon (sort of like a honeydew-cantaloupe cross).
$210 for one piece of fruit may sound crazy, but I guess if it means an extra thou/month next year, it's worth it after all...

After I quickly snapped a photo of it, a kind older woman came to tell me no pictures. Wouldn't want to disturb the sleeping beauties, I guess. Their glass case wasn't protection enough...
This International Herald Tribune article has some more info on the subject of gift fruit.

Kouyou

2008-11-16T19:42:00.003+09:00

Kouyou is "foliage" or "changing leaves" in Japanese. That time of year has come again and I checked out the beginning of the changing leaves in Kyoto this weekend. They we're quite at their peak yet, but some of the Japanese maples were definitely on their way. I went to Kinkakuji, the golden temple, for the first time...and the red and orange leaves added a beautiful contrast to the green trees and gold temple.

Nichijyo Nihon 2

2008-11-10T19:57:00.006+09:00

I know what you're thinking...classic American soda taste + yogurt = huh?
Before you say "god those Japanese are crazy" think again.
The thing is, this soda tastes nothing like Pepsi or like yogurt. Anyone who has tasted one of many Japanese "sodas" can vouch - these are clear carbonated drinks, akin to cream soda and ginger ale...usually called "ramune."
Anyway, Pepsi white basically tastes like a smooth ramune. Sorry, it's hard to describe.
Check out the Sangaria Company's US site for more Ramune fun.
Also, check out this top ten list of weird Japanese drinks and the follow up list of even more weird Japanese drinks.
My take: Pepsi Blue Hawaii was okay, but I won't be trying Bilk any time soon...

Bunkasai

2008-11-09T19:56:00.010+09:00

First off, thanks to Justin for making the best avatar ever (see left...) Woot for being Warhol-ified!

Perfection - This year's culture festival went well. I made a video with the English club (which is unfortunately too large to post on here...)
I'm sure I've mentioned before how the Japanese seem to pick a thing, their thing, hobby, and once it is chosen, damn if they don't do that one thing to perfection. I've had many people ask me about my interest. What is my thing? I don't know, I have many things that I'm descent at, but no one thing that I focus all of my attention on.
Anyway, I think it is this attitude, tied with the group-focus here, that creates sights such as my school's chorus competition. Now I know that at some not-so-great schools, the chorus competition can be a drag, students goof off, and god forbid they put their heart into their singing. I think of a musical my class had to do in 7th grade, a medley of 50s, 60s, and 70s pop hits, and god knows I tried to hide and open my mouth as minimally as possible to avoid complete humiliation.
These kids, however, feel compelled to give their all, as they are in competition with the other homerooms of the same grade.

Here are some of my student's drawings. She is 14 or 15 years old...

And some pictures from the Fureai Festival, the day after Bunkasai...
Miyamoto-kun making mitarashi dango

Playing shogi (who wants to teach me?!)

And a beatiful plate of sashimi I got at the post-bunkasai party...

2008-10-29T20:57:00.008+09:00

A few weeks ago, I went for a weekend trip to Mie Prefecture, southeast of Osaka.

First stop – Isejingu, what is considered to be the most revered shrine in Japan. I was forewarned that tourists cannot enter the main shrine complex, but instead have to crane their necks over fences, or peek through the slots to get a glimpse of anything on the inside. Nevertheless, the whole city of Ise is alive with the history of the shrine and it was an enjoyable visit in spite of not being able to see much of the buildings themselves. The entire area leading up the shrine is a pseudo-Colonial Williamsburg – buildings are kept in the Edo period style, with dark wood and cobbled walking streets. A myriad of traditional Japanese snacks and goods are sold along the way, keeping up the tradition of merchants who thrive from pilgrim route trade.

The first guy is making ink (mom and dad told me they saw this same thing on a tv show at home about Japan...) and the second place is a fish market where people lined around to get a free sample of freshly grilled fish (me included).

What one can see of the shrine is beautiful in its simplicity. Many shrines are often painted with bright reds and greens, what I think has been passed on from Chinese or Korean tradition. But Isejingu is kept in unfinished wood. The top spires of each building are painted gold, which provide a nice contrast to the earthy woods and surrounding conifers. Even though no one can enter the shrine (save what must have been an incredibly wealthy family holding a wedding there, along with Shinto priests of course), that doesn’t stop many Japanese from visiting the shrine each day.

After visiting Ise, I went to Futami, a seaside town just a few train stops away from Ise. As soon as Justin and I arrived, we headed straight for the oceanfront. Futami, a small, old tourist town, is home to Meoto-iwa, the “wedded rocks.” This shrine area consists of a seaside temple, complete with countless renderings of kaeru, frogs, what must be the shrine’s protective animal. The wedded rocks are two large boulders in the ocean tied together by a thick rope.
We stayed in a hostel that was actually run by the caretaker of a hillside temple. Tucked away on a hillside forest, the hostel, though basic and bare, was quiet and cheap.

Both to and from Mie, we took the longer train route. Though it was more troublesome to worry about making the right connection times, we went through a lot of beautiful countryside. There were a few small train lines that literally clinged to the sides of hills, passing alongside rather than tunneling through mountains. Additionally, taking this route allowed us to go straight through Ueno City, where we stopped on our way home.

Ueno is mainly known for its humble castle and for being home to the Iga Ninja clan, which, along with Shiga prefecture’s Kaga clan, is one of the most famous ninja schools in Japan.

So, of course, we bought into this ninja business (I found myself saying, “hey, am I really ever going to go to a ninja museum ever again?”) and went to the reproduction ninja house and museum. The house was a little kitchy, with our tour guide, donning a pink ninja robes (unfortunately sans face mask), demonstrated the secret features of the house. The museum offered a lot of interesting information (as well as a great photo-op)..for example, did you know that if a ninja had to remember something very important, he may injure himself upon hearing the information to ensure he would remember it? Also, ninjas used dyed rice to make color patterns to leave messages for other ninjas. And, ninjas often used Ueno City’s own ninja train (seen here) to get around the city. Well…

All in all, we had a nice weekend and I’ll be looking forward to the next trip out. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make it somewhere before the weather gets cold again!

Nichijyo Nihon 1

2008-10-29T20:52:00.004+09:00

The beginning of the mundane

I've been realizing lately that a lot of things in Japan have become normalized to me. Things that I was probably curious about or surprised to see when I first arrived no longer catch my attention. For this reason, I'm starting a personal crusade to take photos of normal, everyday Japanese life. I know that when I share these pictures with people at home, they will in fact be interesting, and that when I am home and I think back on my time here, these are some of the quirky things I'll want to remember.

So, the first of these photos is my lunch for today! I can't say I made it, really, because I bought all of the components pre-made and just stuck them in my bento box. We have two onigiri – rice balls – one with egg mixed into it and the other with salmon mixed in. Next to those is a tofu-fish cake with a piece of gobo in the middle (burdock root). In the other container is gobo sesame salad, green salad with a piece of kabocha (pumpkin), and hijiki (seaweed salad). And I'll drink (in Japan, they use the verb "to drink" for soup rather than "to eat") some of the school's miso soup with it. And let me say, damn do they have some good miso soup at lunchtime. Probably my favorite miso soup around. Anyway, stay tuned for more nichijyo nihon (everyday Japan).

2008-10-06T21:21:00.003+09:00

Monkey Park, Arashiyama, Kyoto

A little something...

2008-10-04T07:47:00.002+09:00

It is such a short walk
from my apartment to school every day
That predictably grows less interesting
the more I do it
And yet its clockwork of sensory chimes is satisfying

The first block is bars, with metal grates covering the windows,
Waiting for the end of the workday to give way to the salarymen’s need for a beer or two
In the second block, I pass the elementary school and sometimes its students
trotting in single file lines, donning yellow bucket hats
Smile and say hello
their crossing guard always wishes me a good morning

A young man with noticeably tight black dress pants, very thin, always white ironed shirt, dark tie

Shortly behind him comes the woman who reminds me of one of my coworkers
To myself, I call her by the coworker’s name
But the closer I get to her, the more I realize they don’t look all that much alike

Even in the brief 5-7 minutes, depending on how fast I walk, sometimes something unexpected appears

Today it was a massive shattered tannuki, the statue of a raccoon-bear placed outside of drinking establishments, a sort of good luck charm
It had fallen from a restaurant stoop
Like Cinderella’s broken pumpkin, there was a sadness, something bittersweet, in its joyous cracked face that spoke of the end of drunken revelry from the night before

Months ago it was flowers, a bouquet changed once or twice, then left for dead, leaning against a lightpole at a crosswalk
Someone told me that shortly before the flowers appeared, they had seen police there and blood on the street
From then on I waited patiently for the little green man to tell me when to go instead of relying on my own judgement
And to think there is a hospital just across the street too

But most of the time it’s nothing of much consequence
New drinks in the vending machines, switched from hot to cold and back to hot again
We don sweaters, jackets, coats and gloves
remove our gloves, coats, jackets, and sweaters
I’m sure I’ve become someone else’s addition
to an unconscious list checked off
every morning on our way away from home.

Vietnam II

2008-10-04T07:43:00.003+09:00

We cross borders with preconceived notions. From seemingly inconsequential ones –out of your own yard and into your next door neighbor’s, from one side of the tracks to another, cruising transversely across state lines…to overseas flights, making leaps and bounds through time zones and mountain ranges. Our own side of the story is familiar and is home to us, and whatever is beyond our own territory must be perceived in some other fashion. The Smiths next door have an indoor cat that makes the house smell of kitty litter, the crime rate in that side of town was the highest of all the city…my country was at war with many of the people in that nation.
Travelling to Vietnam from a country that is not my own made the experience even more removed. And when the journey came to a close I would realize how it shifted my perspective of Japan and the life I have made there over the past year. But first, I had to see Ha Long Bay.

Our boat trip was on one of many (hundreds?) of tour companies, all generally the same, depending on whether you would like to spend $30/night or $80/night. We quickly made friends with fellow travelers on the boat – Spaniards, Canadians, and an unforgettable Singaporean version of Japan’s mama-chans (snappy old women). Our tour guide’s enthusiasm quickly waned as the day went on. We were lucky that the drizzling rain slowly crept out of view, revealing stunning scenes of abrupt rocks and islands strewn across the bay in every direction. The tour sites included a world heritage cave and a “floating market” which turned out to be a few houses and fish farms tied together. We docked there and took kayaks out and around a nearby island. I purchased a bottle of wine from a local seller. And ended up having it taken away from me until the following morning because I was unaware of the boat’s $50 bottle opening fee. This lack of alcohol would be just the beginning of our grievances that night on the boat.

Our guide, who had jumped off the boat and onto a jellyfish, was obviously annoyed and in pain upon returning to the boat. We (all of the young travelers who had opted to spend the night on the boat, rather than in a hotel) got a sense of foreboding about the night ahead of us…

No booze to keep up happy (the boat sold beer at a high price) and immediately after dinner the crew all settled in to watch TV shirtless in the dining area. We were quite honestly afraid to bother them. No TV to be watched, we all sat on the top deck, eventually realizing that our boat had no lights on top (or else the crew did not want to turn them on for us). We gazed longingly at other boats (perhaps the $80/night ones) – karaoke inside of one boat, a fully lit top deck on another, the sounds of laughter and fun being had. Maybe their guides hadn’t been stung repeatedly by giant jellyfish. A rat ran across the deck. Our stomachs grumbled, each of us used to much bigger portions that were served at dinner. “Where are the boat ladies now that we need them?” one of our Spanish friends asked. “They are all over the place all day…they even had Oreos on those snack boats.” She began calling out to the dark water, “Boat Laaaady! Come here! I want some Oreos!” But we knew the boat ladies had packed it in for the night.
One of our friends went to his cabin to get something. When he returned, he informed the rest of us that he would be sleeping outside, on top of the deck, as he was not going to share his room with the cockroaches. Justin went to our room to check for bugs and in addition to those, watched a rat scurry out when he opened the cabin door.
Sleeping outside wouldn’t be so bad.

Upon returning to Hanoi, we were scheduled to catch a night bus south to Hue. We were talked into taking the “sleeper bus” rather than a regular bus. There were modified beds in the bus, big enough for me to lay down at a slight angle (though not big enough for a big angry American who was bothered that a Vietnamese child was in the supposedly longer bed that he said he had paid more for).
Steve’s friend Thien, whom we had met in Hue, warned us not to do anything at the rest stops along the way except pee. At the very first stop, in the middle of the dark countryside, I began to understand why she gave us this advice. Coming from the West, and even more so coming from Japan, one grows accustomed to decent highway stops, but this was a strange, lost scene from a David Lynch film, surreal in its utter realism. Leathery old women tended to strange simmering pots, stray dogs leered at the tourists coming and going coming and going. I made my way through a store and a kitchen and a yard to the toilets in the back. My mind flashed to Trainspotting , “the worst toilet in all of Scotland.” This was the worst toilet in all of Vietnam, I was sure of it. My nose and my gag reflex wouldn’t even let me fully enter the stall, so I opted to pee in a open concrete stall nearby. No soap, no sink, god please let me remember not to put my hands anywhere near my face until I can put them in an autoclave. I watched a lanky blonde 20 something year old order a sandwich from one of the women. And I wondered if he knew he was taking his life into his own hands. Maybe he knew and was okay with that.

10 Things I Hate About the Commandments

2008-09-09T21:23:00.001+09:00

This is super.

Part I

2008-09-06T13:29:00.002+09:00

Vietnam Part 1

I never would have imagined that it would feel so good to be back in Japan.
I also never would have imagined feeling such a strong desire to let it all be over with…
The very concept of a vacation is to get away from the everyday, whatever has become mundane. But nowhere is the definition of a “vacation” written beyond temporary movement.
And so with this attempt at a “take it as it comes” attitude, I set off for three weeks in Vietnam.
I’ll skip the details of planning our trip. One of my travel partners had visited the country before; however, he did not plan that trip. Basically we made several tactical errors which sometimes led to annoyance and regret mid-journey and, well, I won’t go into why those errors could have been easily avoided…but I learned much about paying attention to who says what about when and where.
i.e. Fly into Hanoi and out of Saigon or vice-versa…don’t force yourself into backtracking. And, pay attention to your timing. You don’t want to end up stuck in one place for longer than you’d like. Go ahead seasoned backpackers, laugh down your nose at my inexperience. “Isn’t that cute, she felt trapped somewhere for too long.”

After a brief scare en route to the airport, we had a lovely JAL flight and arrived in Hanoi at night where a friend met us at the airport. The “scare” was that the three of us completely missed a train transfer and we didn’t realize it until Justin said “I don’t remember passing this much green countryside on the way to KIX before.” And the greener it got, the quicker we understood that we were headed way south, way past the airport, and it would take quite a while to make our way back. The train we were on felt like it would never reach the next station and we ran to catch one going in the other direction. And in spite of making it back to the transfer point, we didn’t realize that our new, correct train would split, and we were one car away from going in the right direction. Back on the platform we laughed and decided we were getting our bad luck out of the way first, and even I craved a cigarette.
Flash forward through our delightful flight (seriously, JAL is the best airline I’ve ever flown...hot towels, free booze, personal TV with movies and games, full sized blankets, good leg room, and the stepped-up politeness of Japanese customer service) and we are suddenly in Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnam.
Steve’s friend went with us by taxi to our guesthouse. This was the only one at which we had made reservations. Unfortunately for Justin, he sat in the passenger seat and I think had his eyes closed most of the time. I’m not sure if all driving in Southeast Asia is like this, but basically, you go. And the horn is used not as an explicit warning, but as a constant, friendly (or not so) reminder that “(bee-beep) I’m here… (beep beep beep) now I’m here…(beeeeeeeeeee) don’t change lanes now…(be-be-be) move over I’m going faster than you…” Meanwhile in the backseat, we munched on dried jack fruit chips, happy with our inability to see how many times we were literally within an inch of other cars on the road.
The Lotus Guesthouse was supposedly one of the cheapest in town (less than 10USD/night), perhaps because it was about a 15 minute walk from the main Old Town-tourist center. I realized soon enough that it was not only the Lotus, but most places (including personal homes) in which the shower was simply perched in the bathroom. So basically, the toilet and sink and shower are all together and you have to be okay with everything in that room getting wet. Little did we know then that there were many things about the Lotus that would be prevalent in most places – rickety fans, non-working AC, cockroaches, and the smell of fish oil rising from the street outside below. I’m not trying to paint an unpleasant picture, but upon arrival, one doesn’t know if it’s “just this place” or if everywhere else is the same. Should I keep my hopes up or go ahead and change my standards now? Standard change complete.
Basically in Hanoi we did some touristy things – went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, walked around the old quarter, walked by the lake with the pagoda island in the middle (What is that anyway?), ate at tourist restaurants and realized that paying anything more than $3/meal was way overpriced, and began acclimatizing to this ridiculously noisy, dusty, pulsating city. Bars closed at 11:30 and we were doomed to miss a real night out on the town.

And so concludes part 1 of the Vietnam trip...stay tuned for more.

Back from 'Nam

2008-08-20T18:45:00.003+09:00

The day before yesterday I slept for about 5 hours and our flight last night was from 11pm to 5:30am Japan time. A two and a half hour nap this morning did not cut it for me.
I am tired.

After 3 weeks of planes, boats, motorbikes, buses, and hoofing it around the cities, beaches, and countrysides of Vietnam I am truly glad to be back in Japan.

Luckily, I took ample notes to make for some interesting posts over the next week. And I happen to have a lovely week of summer vacation left to recover from our trip, so I should be able to appropriately cover all sorts of topics to give you a nice feel of what our (mis)adventures were like...

Stay tuned!

Fuji + Tenjin

2008-07-26T14:57:00.009+09:00

So it feels strange to say it, but I've climbed Mt. Fuji.
We took a bus from Osaka on Tuesday morning to Fuji and began our climb at the fifth station (about 2300m) at 5:30pm, hiked for 5-6 hours to the 8th station, where we rested for 2 hours in a hut. At 1:00am we woke and after a breakfast of rice and salmon, we began the cold, dark 3 hour trek to the summit.

Just as I had been warned, it was quite crowded towards the top because everyone wants to reach the summit for sunrise. But in a way, the loads of people racing to the top gives you a strange feeling of community with hikers from all over wanting to have the right to say that they tackled Fuji-san. From 3776 meters, the view of the stars at night, the approaching twilight, and the sunrise from well about the clouds really make everything worth it.

This Thursday and Friday saw one of the largest festivals in Japan, right here in Osaka, the Tenjin Matsuri. Basically the shrines open up and the gods are celebrated as they are carried down to the river. Parades, dancing, typical Japanese festival foods stalls, and fireworks take over a huge area of Osaka. I heard that hundreds of thousands of people go every year (perhaps even a million?!)...maybe that's why we lost Justin last night (!). Anyway, there were some fantastic costumes and it reminded me that festivals are definitely one of my favorite aspects of Japanese culture.

Anyway, off to sit around in the apartment because it's just too dang hot to go out and do anything. I'll be passing the days until Tuesday the same way...then it's off to Vietnam!

Econ 101 was not enough...

2008-07-19T18:34:00.002+09:00

Seems like everything on the news lately has been related to the economy and the great changes that are happening. Globalization has linked everything together and sometimes it is difficult to make all of the connections in our heads.

Check out Adbusters
for an alternative to mainstream news outlets.
Also, Japan could take a huge hint from this article. Of course the levels of consumerism at home and in Japan seem pretty comparable at face value. I know so many girls here who have no problem saying that their hobby is shopping. I met a girl the same age as me the other week who visited California last spring. When I asked what she did there, all she could do was manage to tell me about Rodeo Drive and show off her Loius Vuitton bag, which to her delight was cheaper in the US than it would have been in Japan. Cheaper being about $1000.
Right...

Bon-Odori, Summer Vacation....

2008-07-18T17:56:00.006+09:00

hey all...
wow i feel like i have so much to say today!
first off, a few photos from a great matsuri in nozaki last weekend. thanks to joe, who in spite of his americanity and mexican background, is actually japanese, for bringing me along and to cute little old ladies for inviting me to join in their dance.

This guy was awesome, I've never seen such a ham for the camera before.
Basically every area in Japan has their own version of this festival. In Nozaki it dates back to this area being a place where poor, unwanted people were sent. So the words to many of the songs deal with their merchant backgrounds and the history of the area.

Summer vacation started today. But let me assure you, no Alice Cooper "schools out for the summer" version exists here. The teachers will go in to school every day, the students will go in almost every day for club activities. And the days when the kids aren't at club, especially if they are 3rd grade students, they might be at juku, cram school, where apparently, they get their "real" education (i.e. where they prepare for high school entrance exams). Well, lucky for me, I get "study leave," which means I'm going to study Mt. Fuji, Vietnam, the inside of my eyelids, the bottom of a few beer glasses, etc. But hey, I am going to school for a few days during summer holiday for English club, so I don't feel like a completely useless blob.

Things that I've enjoyed lately:
There is a new season of Project Runway on
Kakigori
Being the proud owner of a kitchen table (new to me)
Accepting my loss in the battle over hair frizz...I've been straightening my hair practically every day but finally I've decided going wavy/curly could be okay. Tried out some pin-curls last night (of course everyone at school thought I got a perm)...want to try some other retro looks soon...yay victory rolls!

also, i have unfortunately been reading too much perez hilton lately, which has only increased my love for dita von teese. all i know is if i was famous, i'd want her stylist's number...check out the photo gallery on here.

Anyway, it might be post-Fuji, pre-Vietnam for the next update, we're off to the southeast for a completely different asia.
until then...Chào ông!

Family Matters

2008-06-29T22:30:00.001+09:00

Watched it after school all the time.
Now it's better than ever.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

simple magic

2008-06-13T23:18:00.002+09:00

simple magic is discovering something for yourself.
take kerouac's on the road for example.
i have not read it before now. and i am simply in love with it...
everything about it, the time, the places, the jazz, the abruptness, the uncertainty, everything.
it's so fresh and new to me, it's amazing.it is certainly only feeding my obsession for everything 1940s/1950s vintage...i want to write some more posts that dive deeper into this (well-known?) secret of mine, this fascination...

anyway, kerouac has taken me down a bumpier road than some of the old tv shows and movies have done...i have read tom wolfe and hunter thompson and now i see where they came from. i'm starting a little closer to some beginning to the madness of the later counter-culture documenters who flourished shortly thereafter.

the whole era is exciting to me, because the characters and stories that it left behind are coolly cynical rather than blatantly and sometimes sloppily critical of today's society.

anyway, i'm just plain happy to have that feeling of loving a book so much right now that i want the taste of every thought, every sentence, every word to linger. linger. linger.

REALLY???

2008-06-05T18:26:00.002+09:00

For some reason this annoys me.
Maybe it's that I feel like I have the privilege of turning on my TV and seeing this stuff on a daily basis. Maybe it's because I know that I should be on there instead of whatever 10 contestants they did choose. Maybe it's because I know that it will just confirm many US viewers' beliefs that "god the Japanese are SO crazy!" and maybe there is some truth to that, but it's not ABC's job to inform them of this. I had to figure out the craziness on my own, but noooo, it'll be on a silver platter Tuesdays at 9:00 EST.

When I reread all of my reasons, I know that it's actually just the one that I care about.
I wanna be on a Japanese TV show dammit!

Reunion Tour Pt. 2

2008-05-03T12:16:00.010+09:00

More from our trip down south...
Lucky for me, this week is golden week, which means that I get an extra 2 days off work. Pretty nice for having just gotten back from vacation.

This one if from a toy museum in Kurashiki. They had tons of old toys form all of Japan. My favorite room was the kite room. They also had a Guiness record-holding top. The largest with the longest man-powered spin (a little over an hour I think).
Here's a view of Hiroshima. The city itself was very beautiful. On the left you can see a t-shaped bridge. This was the intended target of the A-bomb drop (it didn't hit the bridge directly though). And on the right is the A-bomb dome. This is the only original structure left as it was. The Peace Museum was a really good museum; very powerful, moving, and educational.

Some koi flags hanging in preparation for kodomo-no-hi, children's day, which is on May 5.

A friendly shika on Miyajima, with the famed "floating torii" in the background. Miyajima is probably one of the prettiest places I have seen here. Blue-green seas, amazing temples and shrines, and friendly deer wandering everywhere.

Another temple on Miyajima.
Roasting fresh (delicious) kaki (oysters). We ate at this awesome restaurant where I had the best fried oysters ever!
Posing with the most awesome video game mascot ever. God I love Sonic. Especially Sonic 2.
Also, the pic above is post-spontaneous haircut. We both decided to walk in and get cuts, which admittedly did not turn out as well as was hoped. But, with a little styling, and a good flat iron, it was nothing I couldnt fix (and get used to...eventually!).

Whirlwind of an Emily

2008-04-29T10:52:00.005+09:00

Hisashiburi all...long time no blog.
Well, the beginning of the new school year was marked with lots of super busy days, and for the last week and a half I have had a friend from home visiting...lots going on.
We have a a great time together, seeing as having her here has forced me to go out and do something pretty much every day. But it's well worth it...the weather has been perfect and we've seen some of the best sights I've seen since coming to Japan.Allow me to make a long story somewhat shorter (something like my hair that was spontaneously chopped off during our trip to Hiroshima)...
when Emily first arrived, we did all of the Kansai sights first - downtown Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, etc.
In Kyoto, we saw the Miyako Odori.
This is the Cherry Blossom dance, founded by the Inoue school of geiko (geisha). The costumes were amazing, with at least 40 or 50 girls on stage in the finale. Unfortunately, we could not take photos there, so you'll have to check out the link and/or the official page for more info.
On Friday, we headed south (or west, on a Japanese map) to Okayama, Kurashiki, and then on to Hiroshima and Miyajima.
In Okayama we visited Okayama castle and its surrounding gardens, regarded as one of the top three gardens in Japan. I'm not sure what garden rating scale that is on, to me, it's all pretty.
Okay so now we're up to Okayama, moving on to Kurashiki. However, it's going to take a little time for me to post a lot more pictures so I'm going to hold off and make another post with more from the rest of our long weekend.
Soon...

Kyushu and Sakura

2008-04-06T08:23:00.001+09:00

Hi all...
So, I enjoyed a lovely long spring vacation for the last couple of weeks.
For almost a week, I headed down to Kyushu, the big southern island in Japan, for some hiking, first-time camping, and onsenning.
The hiking was great, but I won't lie, the camping took a little while for this city girl to get used to. The issue was this - it was much colder than we had expected, and seeing as my feet have been literally numb all winter, it was not nice to have it rain our first night out and for me to not really have the proper cold weather gear. So, after the first night, I was, let's just say a little grumpy (maybe my camping buddies would like to add to that description).
After getting over the cold (and switching sleeping bags to get the one that goes to -15C rather than -2C (go ahead and call me a baby...), I was able to appreciate some really awesome scenery. We climbed Mt. Daisen (around 1500m) and got great views of Mt. Aso.The place where we camped out had a great rustic onsen within walking distance, so we went there for 2 nights to relax after days of hiking. After camping, we headed back into Beppu, our ferry port, where we stayed for one night at a hostel. Beppu is known as the onsen capital of Japan. Riding around town, you can see a seemingly endless number of hot spots where steam rises steadily from the ground at hot springs and onsens. We visited Beppu Onsen Hoyoland where I got to do a sulfur bath (which is not as painful as it sounds) and 2 different types of mud baths.
The overnight ferry between Osaka and Beppu is comfortable and a cheaper alternative to the bullet train.

We planned the timing of our trip well because after returning to Kansai, the cherry blossoms are now in full bloom. So, it's off to some hanami parties and to join the rest of the population who has been hibernating all winter waiting for this week of warm weather and flowery air to come.
These are from Shukugawa, between Osaka and Kobe.

In other news, if anyone has any gardening tips for a first time green-thumb hopeful, send them my way. So far I have - rosemary, basil, spearmint, a mini-eggplant, and a mini-tomato. Over-water? Under-water? I'm clueless.

2008-03-23T20:31:00.002+09:00

I usually associate the Olympics with fond memories...the excitement of seeing the world's best athletes join together, the way in which they bring together cultures, and erode many of the racial, religious, political, and other typically dividing aspects of the world we share. There is so much symbolism sweeping through the games, on so many levels. Unfortunately, this year, that symbolism seems to be taking a turn towards something less than honorable.

Honestly, I was not surprised when I found out that Beijing got the bid for the 2008 games. "China" seems to be on the lips of every policy-maker, every manufacturing competitor, every economic and globalization analyst. And of course the name of the country itself is stamped onto many of the products we all use every day. Let me check out what's on my desk...my laptop, speakers, some scissors, pens...I guarantee something here was made in China.

Anyway, after what has been happening recently in Tibet, Im really starting to think that holding the Olympics in China and beginning the start of the torch's journey in Tibet, is not only unfair, it is a slap in the face of the Tibetan people. They are not letting foreign journalists into Tibet now, at all. So we should just believe whatever the communist party's media puts out there. I mean they won't even call the Dalai Lama's followers by a legitimate term...the people of a nation are a "clique," which seems to translate to a band of thugs.
This gem really did it for me:
"The Dalai is a jackal in Buddhist monk's robes, an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast," Tibet's Communist Party secretary, Zhang Qingli, told a teleconference of regional officials, according to the China Tibet News.
Uh-huh.

Anyway, I just hope every gives it some thought. There are petitions to be signed, money to be donated, and Olympics to be turned off this year. I know if I happen to see any of the games, the usual rush of excitement will be replaced by a bad taste in my mouth.

http://www.freetibet.org/

2008-03-23T20:08:00.004+09:00

So, last Sunday after not aquiring tickets to the Osaka Sumo Tournament (I guess I can wait until next year to see lots of nearly-naked flesh slamming), I was hanging out in Ame-mura checking out the crazy fashion when a couple of white guys who looked a little lost appeared in the middle of the circle, videotaping all that was around them. One of my friends asked them, "You making a documentary?"
So a conversation started until we reached the "So when did you arrive/what are you doing here?" One guy says "My band is playing here tonight..." I asked who.
"Horse the Band."
"Youre f*%$ing kidding me!"
So I proceeded to explain that they were one of Justins (and I'll admit, now my) favorite bands, that Justin would be there momentarily, etc.
So basically, we ended up hanging out with them all day, showing them around some Osaka spots, then Justin and I stuck around for the show. Which, by the way, we got in for free. I felt like a rock star. It didn't hurt that besides the guys in the band and their touring buddies, we were definitely the only gaijin there, so I'm sure everyone just thought we really were with the band. Nice.
Well, anyway, it was a great time. Instead of hanging out with a bunch of crazy fat (sorry, muscular) guys, I hung out with a bunch of crazy skinny (read: a little mentally unstable and thin, not really really thin) guys...
Also, Justin and I decided to make our own abilities charts because well, we're dorks.

Justin: 1. Coca-cola consumption, 2. Ninja speed, 3. Death sleep (does not wake in the face of 23984 alarm clocks), 4. 25th degree blackbelt in Heilongjieng province cooking

Jessica: 1. Ni-faux-go (faking Nihongo (Japanese)...it's all in the nod), 2. trapper keeper, 3. llama whisperer, 4. ice cream garbage disposal

Out.