| (no subject) |
[Jul. 30th, 2004|01:07 pm] |
The flight to Japan was great! We flew on ANA, which I am convinced is the best airline on the planet. Not only was the food and service excellent and the drinks free (a few beers and glasses of wine for me) but each seat had it own flat panel display which played music, and more importantly, SNES games! I played Street Fighter 2 most of the flight and it went quickly.
I think I got the most out of my three days in Tokyo. I skipped most of the useless optional orientation seminars and reception parties in order to see the city. We cruised around Shinjuku the first night, and the second night Nathan and I headed over to Shibuya, which was amazing. Thousands of young people walking around, lots of cool shops and other fun things. The third day David and I went to the famous Asakusa shrine. I took a lot of great pictures, which I will send along later, and overall it was quite wonderful to see. Many beautiful buildings, and the best koi I've ever seen (you'd flip out, dad). That night I went to Akihabara to do some shopping and check out all the famous game and electronics shops. I enjoyed my stay in Tokyo, and I found that the people weren't as unfriendly as I have heard. A very drunk business man stopped me in the street and talked to me for quite a while, not letting me go until he had asked me the same questions ten times. I also saw a great band playing on the sidewalk called Solt which will be big if they get a record deal. The girl singing and playing guitar was amazing; her voice was a lot better than most jpop stars I hear. What really struck me about Tokyo was how clean it was for such a massive city. If we had a train system like they do in Tokyo in LA, it would be completely covered in grafitti and trash, but in Tokyo it's very clean and nice. I don't know why people in America or other countries are so set on destroying their own environment; the people here really have a respect for the area around them, along with each other. The service you get from even the drug store clerk is just amazing.
As for my town, I love it. Taking the car or train here, you'll see many beautiful Japanese-style houses with wonderful gardens, all surrounded by pristinely green rice fields and pine-tree covered mountains. My apartment is about 1 or 2 minutes away by car from my school and is very nice. It's a lot bigger than the pictures made it seem. I've got a very spacious kitchen that connects to the bathroom/laundry room. There I have a western style toilet (thank god), a room with a washing machine and my bathroom sink, along with a wonderful Japanese style bathtub with a shower on the side. My bedroom is a nicely sized tatami room with plenty of closet space that connects to my balcony. My balcony overlooks a small lot below me, some kind of irrigation canal, a patch of bamboo, the rice paddies, and the wonderfully green mountains all around me. It's almost overwhelmingly beautiful around my area, and each night a fall asleep to the sounds of running water (a small drop in the canal adds to this sound), the rustling of bamboo in the wind, and the sounds of crickets and frogs. There is a lot of wildlife out here, and I've seen many beautiful water birds like cranes, along with some extremely cute light-brown squirrel like creatures that I've never seen before. Apparently there are bears and monkeys here too! I guess sometimes you'll see a monkey crossing the road, which will occasionally stop to look at the occupants of the car! I met up with two second-year JETs who really love it here the other night (one Aussie and one New Zealander), and they were telling me about all the great things there are to do out here in the Hyogo countryside. I've very excited about seeing all of these beautiful places and being so close (~3 minutes) from two very cool and friendly people.
As for my job, I'm also loving it. The school is fairly small, and everyone has been extremely friendly and inviting, totally accepting me into their workplace (and in Japan the workplace really is like your second family). Luckily my Japanese is good enough to where I can easily talk to those who can't speak any English and I think that helps a lot. There are a couple teachers who can speak English fairly well though, and one of them is excellent at it, although I speak in Japanese 90% of the time). Another good thing is that most of the teachers and workers here are young, which is a bit unusual for a Japanese high school. And the students I've met so far have been great! My bosses are also very nice. The principal is a real character, and you can tell right away that he is a kind person. He loves Judo (and he's 6th dan, which is an extremely high rank), and is very happy that I am practicing it here. I actually got out of my first Judo lesson about an hour ago, and I really enjoyed it. There are five judo teachers at this school, and of course they all extremely friendly (not to mention hilarious). The judo club is relatively small, and today four students were practicing (two boys and two girls!). I'll be practicing every day which will really get me into shape considering we run before practicing and swim in the pool afterwards.
Yesterday was a really fun day too! The school had an event next to the absolutely gorgeous mountain shrine located near a river 5 minutes from here. We walked up the 250+ stairs surrounded by tall pine trees up to surprisingly large and equipped shrine. The event that took place was a gathering of three groups of people: about 18 kindergarteners and the same amount of high school students and elderly people from an old folk’s home. It was pretty touching to see the three age groups together, and I think it would be pretty rare in America to see high school students playing with and genuinely having fun with little kids (with the help of some Japanese sqirtguns made out of bamboo). The kids were adorable. I helped spear some small fish to roast over a wood fire, and there was some other good food to eat as well. They had set-up a contraption for Nagashi-somen (or `running noodles`) which was a few long pieces of bamboo cut in half lengthwise to create a long canal in which water ran. Then from one end the noodles were sent down and all the kids (and later the rest of us) caught the noodles with their chopsticks and put them in their bowl with the soup. Cold ramen is great on a hot day! The weather has been pretty hot an humid, but it's not as bad as I expected. St. Louis was far more humid. After that we did the traditional watermelon-smashing game where a person is blind-folded (me, in this case, being the new teacher), spun around, and then directed by everyone else as to where to go to hit it with a piece of bamboo. I managed to crack it open on the second swing, and the watermelon was really sweet! |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 28th, 2004|03:44 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  high | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Ian Pooly - Coracao Tambor | ] |
I NEED a pet Hyena.
From here. |
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| Reunited |
[Jan. 8th, 2004|12:59 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | happy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Twinkles - Punk Rock | ] |
Tonight I almost didn't meet my friend Mami at the shabu shabu restaurant she works at. I ended up having an enlighteningly good time! Mami is 30 (although very young in appearance and spirit), and her friend we met there was well into her forties, so we made an odd crowd considering my boyish looks. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, we managed to have a wonderful time, chattering in Japanese and stuffing ourselves to the brim. The woman who ran the place was this short spunky old Japanese lady right out of some Rumiko Takahashi comic. I think she has more character than 10,000 regular people rolled into one. She came to America in 1970 and lived in Kentucky for 13 years, picking up a "hillbilly accent", before she came to California. She kept calling herself a "yopparai mama" (drunk mama), and indeed she was drunk. She was continuously swilling beer and topping mine off, making lewd jokes and generally being hilarious. She was like fiction. I sure hope they don't stop making people like her. We need them!
The time has come to devote myself to my hiker's stick;
I must have been a Buddhist monk in a former life!
Sick, I see returning home a kind of pardon.
A stranger here--being fired is like being promoted.
In my cup, thick wine; I get crazy drunk,
eat my fill, then stagger up the green mountain.
The southern sect, the northern sect, I've tried them all:
this hermit has his own school of Zen philosophy.
-Yuan Hung-tao |
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| ... or not? |
[Jan. 2nd, 2004|05:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  disappointed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Dub War - Dub Over Now | ] |
Well, I seem to have cursed poor Godai by writing that last entry... In the past 20 minutes he's seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. His fins are especially frayed all over, his right eye is coming apart, and even the lowly Mr. Blorb is picking on him. I just watched him struggle to swim while being blown around by the filter water, eventually just sinking and lying lifelessly. Now he's just stuck to the filter. Maybe I should just flush him to end his misery? Except when he's poked he springs back to life... I guess we'll have to wait and see.
To avoid getting wet
I took cover a moment
in the shade of pines--
where the rain made me listen
to the sound of the wind.
-Retired Emperor Fushimi |
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| Recovery |
[Jan. 2nd, 2004|05:06 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Jam - Burning Sky | ] |
Well, in case any of you were worried sick, Godai lasted through the night, and he seems to be recovering! Still acting unhealthy sometimes, but he's seems more lively today. The usually shy and confused googly-eyed Mr. Blorb just roused Godai from his listless floating slumber in a comical and almost touching way. And I'm sure anyone reading this will think I'm completely insane, but I suppose that's okay.
I look out, and snow is falling,
with the moon still in the sky.
A new day begins.
And of my dream of yesterday
not a trace remains.
-Takayama Souzei |
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| In Countless Ways |
[Jan. 2nd, 2004|12:47 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | melancholy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Salmonella Dub - Octopus | ] |
Well, Meredith says I should actually post in this thing. I'm not sure of the point, but I guess I'll write something, as boring as it may be.
New Year's Eve was incredibly uneventful for me this year. I spent the night drinking beers and martinis in solitude, reading Murakami Haruki's Wild Sheep Chase. Now on any other night this sort of activity would be quite enjoyable for me, and indeed I didn't have a terrible night, but I was looking forward to some human contact for some reason. Maybe because it's just expected on days like New Year's.
I'm worried about Godai, my favorite goldfish. A solid black number who swims like a hyper wind-up toy. His tail seems to missing a major fin, so he often is propelled into a corkscrew motion in his spastic rushes towards the surface. He's got quite a bit of character for a fish, and he's kind of the clown of the tank, often crashing into other fish and pulling off amazing but completely pointless maneuvers. However, today he's getting into the habit of floating motionless, face down on top of the rock. He'll suddenly spring back into consciousness and fly into one of his signature corkscrews, but I think he's not long for this world. The small solid black one with one gold eye has been doing the same thing since I got him, and he seems to be doing okay, but Godai seems more afflicted. Maybe it's some kind of swim-bladder problem. I'd really be upset if Godai died, though. I haven't had a fish die since I moved here some months ago, and it would be sad to lose my favorite fish in the tank. His tail seems a bit frayed, so perhaps he had a violent encounter with the mighty Ayane, a crawdad that seems to take herself just a bit too seriously. Anyway, enough ramblings about my aquarium. Let's just all hope Godai makes it... Right now he looks pretty close to death.
In the Godless Month
I wake at night and listen
to what gives voice
to a storm on this hillside--
the sound of falling leaves
-the Monk Nouin |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 31st, 2003|02:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | complacent | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Easy Star All-Stars - Us and Them | ] |
So that's how we live our lives. No matter how deep and fatal the loss, no matter how important the thing that's stolen from us--that's snatched right out of our hands--even if we are left completely changed, with only the outer layer of skin from before, we continue to play out our lives this way, in silence. We draw ever nearer to the end of our allotted span of time, bidding it farewell as it trails off behind. Repeating, often adroitly, the endless deeds of the everyday. Leaving behind a feeling of immeasurable emptiness.
-Murakami Haruki, Sputnik Sweetheart |
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| Epilogue... |
[Dec. 13th, 2003|02:21 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  indescribable | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Maraca - El Fuelle (Son-Cumbia) | ] |
--If there is one per cent homosexuality among men, then naturally there must also be about one per cent of lesbianism among women. Incendiaries account for one per cent; those who tend to be vicious drinkers, for one per cent; mentally retarded, one per cent; sexual maniacs, one per cent; megalomaniacs, one per cent; habitual swindlers, one per cent; frigid women, one per cent; terrorists, one per cent; paranoiacs, one per cent....
--I wish you'd stop talking nonsense.
--Well, listen to me calmly. Acrophobes, heroin addicts, hysterics, homicidal maniacs, syphilitics, morons--suppose there were one per cent of each of these, the total would be twenty per cent. If you could enumerate eighty more abnormalities at this rate--and of course you could--there would be statistical proof that humanity is a hundred per cent abnormal.
--What nonsense! Abnormality would not come into being if there were no standard of normality!
--Come, come. I was just trying to defend you....
--Defend me...?
--Even you will scarcely insist on your own guilt, I imagine
--No, naturally!
--Then I wish you'd behave more obediently. No matter how exceptional your case is, there's absolutely no cause for worry. Just as people have no obligation to save a strange bird like you, they also don't have the right to judge you either.
-Abe Kobo, The Woman in the Dunes |
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