Hello, this is Zander. Yes, yes, I'm here too. Sorry this has taken so long, but we have just been passing through the initial stage of culture shock, wherein we are just charmed as the dickens with every little quirk of the Empire of Japan and, not being able to interact with any aspect of it, just can't wait to TELL SOMEONE. Hence the heavy journalling early on. Well, now that we have been here a little while, there have been some subtle changes in our attitudes. We're still charmed, naturally, though we are no longer in love with the following things:
1. huge disgusting bugs.
2. Grocery stores that open at 10am and close at 9pm. It's not enough, do you hear me?? I'm an American, and I don't want to memorize hours! 24/7/365 or you are dead to me.
3. ATMs for your own bank that charge you ¥105 to use them after 5pm or on the weekends, and are closed entirely after 9pm. Look, man, seriously, electricity isn't that expensive. See above note regarding criteria for not being dead to me.
4. The post office not selling envelopes. Um, what? Has this situation never arisen? Does everyone come into the Post office with everything ready? They did politely point me over to the convenience store across the street, which is fine unless you need to get an envelope bigger than one for a letter, or with bubble wrap in it. I guess you must have to go to the toy store to get bubble wrap or something.
5. Bike parking tickets. Oh, no, wait, I do love those because you think, "If you can actually track down who owns this bike and follow up on this ticket, well then you deserve whatever fine I would have to pay". Otherwise, we just put them in our scrapbook and ride into the night, cackling.
Sigh... This journal may end up being the 'gloom and doom' entry. Presumably writing about it will make me feel better, but I reluctantly admit, I'm at a low ebb, attitude-wise. When I read all those books before we left about the stages of culture shock, I for some reason thought that they didn't really apply to me. By golly, I went to college! I'm a man of the world! I've got a highly tolerant view of the world and all the people in it! I'm freakin' adaptable! These are all true statements, but I'd be a lot happier if I knew what the hell was going on half the time. What did that guy say? What does that sign say? What did that lady just ask me? What are those kids laughing about? Why can't I read these comics? Why is everyone looking at me funny? What is this food? Why would anyone want to FERMENT SOYBEANS? Why do the employees at the gas station yell their heads off while helping people? Why are novelty ear picks sold at tourist areas? What's that lady's problem? Why is there still a Starbucks in downtown Utsunumiya? Why does the beef bowl fast food place serve diluted black tea for free and not water? Today I had to bug bomb our apartment with Japanese bug bombs whose instructions I can't read. After an extensive cross-referencing session with a Kanji dictionary kind of figured out that you activate it and hit the road for three hours so that you are not one of the things it kills. So I headed out into the rain and biked around (using my new bike-while-holding-umbrella skill). I went to get lunch at Sukiya, the beef bowl place, and had the haado chiizu (hard cheese, natch) beef bowl set, because that's the only one that doesn't come with a raw egg that you are supposed to break over your beef and rice bowl. Warmed by this little meal, I cruised by UNIQLO, the Japanese equivalent of Old Navy, where I got some nice plain ol' blue long sleeve t-shirts, then the toy and novelty store, trying to find some Domo-Kun dolls, to no avail, then to the library, which was closed. Grumblety grumble. Then I biked all the way back to home and just sat outside our apartment looking at my watch until it had been three hours. Actually, I didn't even go to UNIQLO, that was a couple days ago, but I thought I'd put it in to make this story tidier. Today sucked.
Okay, enough griping. The truth of the matter is, we have gotten to the point where we have started to live more and write about living less. I went to Julie's school last week to help with a student carnival that was based loosely around environmental concerns, and so had student projects either made from recycled material or rooms filled with pictorial or 3-D cautionary tales about what might happen to the earth in the future. There was also a room that I helped with that was for American games, consisting solely of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". Julie and I made the tactical error of mentioning to the people at her school that I am a cartoonist, so naturally they campaigned pretty hard for me to come to the school and do some drawing. I got there on Friday, when Julie is at her other school, and they gave me paints, posterboard, and a helper, in the form of a little boy with Down's syndrome and a history of behavior problems. Sadly, I don't remember his name because it's some Japanese name I'd never heard before and I'm afraid it just blends right in with everyone else's. He's a charming and helpful lad, or at least he was that day, but I have to say he might have been a little exuberant on the mixing, painting, and washing-out-brushes phases of the day, which were, as it happens, the only phases of the day. Perhaps you have never been in the position of trying to get a twelve year old Japanese boy with Down's syndrome to neatly paint inside the lines when the two of you do not share a language, but I will tell you, it's a real horizon broadener. And drawing a donkey under those conditions is not a job that you can just zip right through in thirty minutes, either. But all went well, and the festival passed without incident, and some room that had been decorated like a wedding chapel with the words "Be happy" spelled out in crepe paper won the overall contest of the day. We are not sure why the giant Cat Bus from My Neighbor Totoro that was made out of aluminum cans didn't win, if just for sheer size, but so it goes.
I was going to put up the pictures, but I have to go to Aikido class, so I'll put them up tomorrow. Aikido is really cool. The instructor holds it in a little space upstairs from his apartment, with about ten other students. He doesn't speak any English, but Ito san, a guy about my age, speaks a little, so he tells me what on earth is going on. They asked me if I'd taken Aikido before, and I said no, just TaeKwonDo for about three years. They looked at me like "What the heck is TaeKwonDo?" and I'm thinking, "C'mon, man, you can practically SEE Korea from here; get with the program."
Okay, sorry so scattershot. More tomorrow. I pinky promise.
.: posted by Zander Cannon 7:17 PM Tokyo Time
Hi Everyone! Sorry for the temporary lapse in our updates! Yes, we're still alive. Yes, we're still in Japan. But really, after last night...only barely. It all started out as a very relaxing night. Teaching for me in Japan has been really hectic and so I purposely left all of my grading and lesson plans at school, so that I couldn't do any work at home. We spent the night reading and having a nice dinner. I'm not sure if this happens to of you, but we both woke up around 1am with our books stuck to our faces. We both stumbled to the bathroom, brushed our teeth and were headed back to bed when I saw a bug the size of my fist. This update will now switch to being an absolute TRIBUTE to my brave and daring husband. He fought that disgusting creature in the middle of the night! I wanted to offer emotional support, but like a pansie, I hid in the other room. Honestly, I'm not sure if I was more scared of the bug or of the crunch I was hoping it would make when Zander squashed it. For those of you questioning your travel plans right now, WE DO NOT LIVE IN A BUG INFESTED APARTMENT! Fall is here, and I'm afraid that some undesirable creatures are looking for shelter. Actually, the weather now is wonderful. It's cool and sunny every day. I just love it. OK, back to the bug situation. I've decided to get a can of raid, so that I can stand ready while Zander does the killing. I hope that none of you are disappointed to find out that we are not a "set the bug free" kind of couple. Ok, I need to get back to work. I hope that none of you feel itchy (like I do) after reading this. Love and miss you all. Julie
.: posted by Julie Cannon 10:36 AM Tokyo Time
Lord, the Ring part two: The Two Tours
The following morning, we set out for the museum in town whose curator Ian knew, and in typical fashion for this weekend, we were treated to a full tour by the curator (translations courtesy of Ian). And luckily for me, all the artwork they were displaying (for one month, as they only display the art for a month, then store it for a year to minimize wear and tear) was pictures of monsters, ghosts, and demons. How cool was that? It was wicked cool. We learned that kitsune (foxes) in folklore are always evil, that ghosts have blue faces in paintings, that the head of an oni (demon) will sometimes fly around on fire after being chopped off, and that there are a lot of old fairy tales to scare Japanese children. There was also a painting of the ghost of a cat that was apparently evil and causing trouble, so we asked if cat ghosts were always evil as well, just like the foxes. The curator said they are, so I asked, "What about Hello Kitty's ghost?" She looked at me like I'd lost my mind, and Ian eventually just stopped translating what I said altogether.
We also went to a bakery in Bato in which they had this window.
The folk tale in Japan is that, rather than there being a man in the moon, there are (depending on who you talk to) one, two, or many white rabbits inside the moon making rice, all of which accounts for the moon's white color. This window was covered with paper to make it look more decorative, but then the people in the bakery realized they couldn't see when someone came in the store, so they decided to cut a design out of it, and the rabbits in the moon fit the bill nicely.
Here is a stone frog that sits on a pillar outside a house on our street. We think the frogs are guardians of some kind. Scary.
Here, as promised, is one of the pictures from the comic convention in Tokyo. Please, if you know what characters these guys are supposed to me, email me. I just knew I had to get a picture of them. Too bad they seem to be ever so shy.
Here is another shot of the costume area at Comiket. Anyone wearing more or less than a t-shirt and shorts is in costume.
Here are the Roses. It's a fun little game to mention one of them, and say "oh, you know, Rose, the Australian from Melbourne, who has short blond hair and was a police officer back home that lives over on the west side of Utsunomiya?" and someone else says, "Which one?" Rose Byrnes (the non-JET) is on the left, and Rose MacDonald (the JET) is on the right.
Here are the monkeys carved into the wood at one of the Temples we went to in Nikko. They are the original "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys" and are meant to signify the proper behavior of children. They are everywhere in Nikko, and are called the "sanzaru" (three monkeys), appropriately enough.
As a closer, we have some information given to us by Michael Barry, a CIR here with the JET program, which means he is fluent in Japanese, who explains the heretofore unexplained lobster bibs on the stone Buddhas.
"Not just in the 'bakijizo garden' but all over Japan you see these Buddhist statues, tucked away in hidden temples, even alongside major highways. Some of them have bibs, others don't. Well, people pray at these statues, usually making wishes and laying a few coins or rocks on their heads and bodies. Wishes like, 'I hope I pass my exam', 'I hope my child is born healthy', 'I hope my [insert sick relative] gets better', et cetera. As we know, the Japanese are very superstitious when it comes to their temples and shrines. Well, when one of these wishes comes true for an individual, it is often customary to show thanks by returning to the same Buddha statue you wished upon and giving it a red bib. Kind of a nice way to say 'thanks for helping me out'. It's also kind of touching to see so many wishes that came true. Anyway, there's your answer!"
Awesome.
.: posted by Zander Cannon 12:30 PM Tokyo Time
Lord, the Ring!
Zander here. We spent last weekend in Bato, a town that lies forty minutes away by train, then another hour by car. Julie and I and the Roses went there on Saturday morning to meet Ian, another JET, who has lived there for the last two years. Now, Utsunomiya is a small city by Japanese standards. People I spoke to in Tokyo had never heard of it. But Bato is one of those one-stoplight kind of towns. Beautiful countryside, to be certain, but also very small. It looked to be the sort of town where, if you lived there, you would know everyone there and would chat people up when you went to get your breakfast at the local diner. That probably wouldn't be the case with just anyone, but Ian was some sort of superhuman friend-maker, and he seemed to know every person in town. Or else he was just a great host. Whichever the case, the weekend was unbelievable. The first thing he did when he picked us up at the train station in Ujiie was drive us to a paper factory/store, where we got some papier-mache stuff, origami things, and stationery what-have-you. What lay a little out of our price range were these pictures that were made of paper cut into small pieces and stuffed with cotton or some other kind of batting and made into what looked essentially like a paper art quilt. Some of the ones that were just of a flower, or a girl, or a leaf, were maybe ¥9000, but the ones that were of a half dozen warriors killing a demon or of a funeral procession through a Edo period town or of an entire fishing village, well, those didn't have prices on them, and we got the impression that if we were to ask, we wouldn't get an answer we liked.
On the subject of money, while we were in this paper store, we needed a little more cash, so I ran down to the 7-11 (yes, even in Bato) and used the ATM. Now, one of the things I had been taking for granted in Utsunomiya and other such urban places was that there was always an English option on automated things like train tickets or ATMs. Not so much here. I'm getting better at reading Japanese now; I can sound things out in katakana (the syllabary for foreign words -- usually English words, so that's easy), and in hiragana (for Japanese words, some of which I know now), but kanji (borrowed Chinese ideograms) mostly still elude me. Sorry to be such a sooky-lala about it, but you do need to know 2000 distinct symbols just to read the newspaper. Luckily, I did recognize the same symbol on one of the buttons on the screen that was by the handle on the door and meant "pull", so I took that to mean "withdrawal". Woo hoo! Jackpot! I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! S-M-R-T!
After the paper factory, Ian took us to meet a friend of his and this friend's girlfriend. We all went to a park where there was a waterfall and a river. Apparently, it is a really nice place to swim when it didn't rain like mad the night before. Still, being brave, I got on my swim trunks and took a dip. You can walk right under the falls, too. It pummels you half unconscious, then you are safely under the falls and you can look out at people... and think about how cool it is that you are under the falls... well, that takes about four seconds, then you want to come back out, so you get half pummeled to death again, and head out in the water. Now, here's where it gets interesting. I was making my way over to the hill where everyone was standing by just walking along the river bottom, which was about two feet deep. Everyone else was standing at the top of some stone steps. So as I was walking along, I thought that this was some slow going and a little hard on my feet, since I couldn't see the rocky bottom, so I laid back in the water and thought I'd let the current bring me back to the bottom of the steps. That worked great, except the river really sped up right as it went by the steps. When I got there, I tried to stand up, but at this point the river bottom was moss-covered rock, and so kind of slippery. I couldn't stay on my feet, and in trying to make my way to the bank, I slipped and dunked myself. I panicked a little and reached out for the cement blocks that lined the hill after the stairs and grabbed on with my right hand. So I was being swept along horizontally by the river and my right hand was holding on to the side. Julie was hiding her eyes at this point. I climbed out of the water and we hung out for a while, and then left, on to our next stop. Now, this might not be the most harrowing of survival tales, but it is important later.
Ian took us to the Fujita Pottery Center in Koisago, where we met Mr. and Mrs. Fujita, who are the sixth Fujita generation to own this center. The Fujitas knew Ian because he had taught their daughter English at the school in Bato, and they took us on a magnificent tour of the center, from the store to the pottery studio, to the place where they extracted the clay from the ground and turned it into something they could work with, to the 150-year old brick kiln they used to fire their pottery. They then brought us into a place where there were several artisans there to help us make our own pottery. And, in the process of getting ready to make our pottery, and you may well see where this is going, Julie asked me where I had put my wedding ring so she could put hers with it. Well, I hadn't put it anywhere, but it sure wasn't on my finger. So my stomach fell through the floor and the first and only thing I thought of was that I don't ever take it off and put it down, so really, the only place it could be is the river. When I was holding on with my right hand, my left was at my side and my fingers were straight, so it would be no surprise if it just slipped right off. Stupid weight loss!
Still, I made a token search of the car and my clothes and my backpack, but to no avail. Julie was very sweet about it and said that she would buy me a hundred wedding rings; she was just happy that I wasn't swept away. And after all, I did make it to our first anniversary. That has to count for something.
After the pottery studio, where Julie made a beautiful pitcher, Rose #1 made a nice flower vase, Rose #2 made a tasteful cat bowl, and I made a Charlie Brown-like misshapen mud bowl, Ian took us to his house, where he had been preparing a meal for most of the morning before we got there. Gosh, maybe he needs some hel-- hey, satellite TV! And so we watched Malcolm in the Middle and Spongebob Squarepants. Ahhhhhh..... English is sure pleasing to the ear when you are in another country.
That night, Ian's partner Tada came in from Tokyo. Tada is a model and a French-language lounge singer in Tokyo. He is also the tallest Japanese man I have ever met, meaning he is about an inch taller than I am. We were also joined by Hiroko, another Bato friend of Ian's, who spoke perfect English, but was so ashamed of it that she would barely speak it at all, at least until we had all had a few drinks. Of course, what better way to top off the evening than to hop in the car (Ian hadn't been drinking, I should point out, since the legal blood alcohol limit for driving in Japan is zero, and the penalties are extraordinarily stiff) and head on over to a Karaoke bar. The meaning of karaoke, in case you want to impress some people, is "empty orchestra". "Kara" means empty, and "Oke" is a contraction of the English word "orchestra".
Unlike some Japanese karaoke bars, this one did not have a private room for big parties, so the seven of us were fit in with all the other people in the bar. This bar was also what is called a "hostess bar" or a "snack bar" because groups of men will often pay for the company of one of the hostesses of the bar. She will sit and have a few drinks with them, sing along on a karaoke song with them, and generally improve the atmosphere at the table. According to Ian, there is no real stigma to going to these places and doing this, though I find that hard to believe. I did notice that the woman who sat our party hung around our table a bit, looking for us to ask her if she would like a drink with us or something, but seeing that we were all either married, gay, women, or all of the above, she soon got the hint and headed off for greener pastures. We made a good number of friends that night by complimenting Japanese men who sang in English, or by dancing along to a traditional Japanese folk dance, or (in my case) by droning out the words to Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing". Sadly, Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" was not in the (actually reasonably extensive) English catalog.
This log will be continued tomorrow.
.: posted by Zander Cannon 9:02 PM Tokyo Time
Glory, glory! We finally have ADSL at our house! So we will now have pictures of things on our weblog! Huzzah!
Let's begin.
1. Here's an interesting fact. In Japan, the gas stations generally don't have regular pumps, due, I guess, to lack of space or something, so they have their hoses hang down from the overhang at the station. Here's a picture of a station in Nikko.
Here's a closeup. See the cool little nozzles hanging down?
2. At the Nikko Edo Village, there were three choices for how much enjoyment you were going to have at the park. 1. The Best Satisfaction. Shogun (king) Tegata (bill, pass, ticket). A full of good memories. 2. Just a little bit satisfaction. Daimyou (Feudal Lord) Tegata. A few memories, and 3. No satisfaction. Hatamoto (direct retainer of the Shogun) Tegata. No good memories. We sprung for Just a little bit satisfaction.
3. Julie and I, as we were leaving the Edo Village, asked to get our picture with one of the ninjas that was lurking amiably around the entrance to the park. Ninjas really just lurk everywhere. The fact that we could see this one probably means there were six hundred more hiding somewhere else. Totally mysterious. This guy betrayed his clan and taught Julie the mysterious "hold your first two fingers lightning stance". Now, whenever I act up, Julie pulls this move out and puts me in a mysterious world of hurt.
4. Here are the aforementioned motorcycles, having turned out for our anniversary. You know, people thought someone planned that motorcycle parade at our wedding, and now seeing a bunch of motorcycles on the other side of the globe exactly one year later, I'm inclined to agree. Seriously, I don't think I've seen five motorcycles in one place or fifteen motorcycles at ALL since our wedding. This sort of thing is how conspiracies get made up.
5. Here's a guy that had it going on. He was probably just under five feet tall, and I don't think he'd been off that bike for a year.
6. Also, in Nikko, they have the Bakejizo stone Buddhas. Bakejizo means "lying statues" because supposedly if you count them walking up the path and then again walking back down, you're supposed to get two different numbers. We didn't know that until we were home again so we didn't try. We also aren't really sure what the red lobster bibs are that people have put on them. No one else really seems to know either. A lot of them are missing heads, arms, knees, whatever. Rose from Melbourne's friend who used to be a Buddhist priest said, "They can take his arms, they can take his legs, they can take his head, but he is still Buddha." I would say that is very Zen, but it really is, so it's not much of a joke.
.: posted by Zander Cannon 12:27 PM Tokyo Time
Hi everyone! It's officially my third day of school here at Mizuhona Jr. High. It is so different than all of my other teaching experiences, but its going pretty good. There are 3 teachers in my school that speak English. They are all really kind to me and many of the teachers give me mini Japanese lessons. The vice-principal adjusted my fingers so that I could be more efficient with the chopsticks. I was so embarassed! ?@And?@unfortunately it didn't really help-I wonder if that's why the teachers all used forks and spoons yesterday?! Just a note...I think I'm pretty good with chopsticks, but they have to be the cheap wooden ones like you get from Leanne Chins. The nice chopsticks are slippery and make for most humiliating moments in the staff room. The students here are friendly, but really shy. There are a few that make up for shyness by saying 'Hello' really loud and then cracking up. I think they're still to afraid to ask any personal questions-they really just say hi and giggle. They are adorable. Back to work for me, hope you're all well and planning your vacations to Japan. Love, Julie
.: posted by Julie Cannon 11:38 AM Tokyo Time
|
have a pop-up window.