Transformer

from outsider and tourist into a Tamachi local

Tonight my head is sunburned and my shoulders really hurt. I took part in a Matsuri - or Japanese Shinto Festival - today. It started at a nearby Shinto shrine and many people carried the mikoshi - or portable shrine - in a parade. I watched, followed along, and took some pictures. After a while, someone gave me their kimono-like jacket and I grabbed one of the black lacquer pole that hel the mikoshi, rested my shoulder undeneath it and started walking. These things are heavy! I found out later that the one we carried was 1000 lbs.

The route took us back to... my apartment! Well, right next door to my apartment, anyway. People were congratulating me and gave me lots of beer, green tea, water, and beer to drink and cool down. I even asked for a picture to be taken (that's me wearing all inappropriate clothing for the weather):

We continued on and eventually went back to the shrine. Being taller than most of the Japanesse, my shoulders feel battered and bruised, but in a good way.

We drank and ate quite a bit after carrying the mikoshi around the town. The food and drinks were provided by the government - my tax dollars at work! Along the way, I met someone who was originally from New Zealand. I was able to understand him more than most anyone else! He introduced me to to everyone who took part in the parade and promised to take me out to dinner one night soon. It was a real treat to be able to take part in this festival and, while my shoulders may really really ache tomorrow, it was well worth it! I felt like a member of the neighbohood.

When I have a chance, I will post all of the pictures on shutterfly or photo bucket or similar website so that you can see them all (and so that I won't lose them all!) In the meantime, here's a short movie early on as a tourist/spectator:

To Catch a flu

is it success or failure

if you do catch it?


I just recently returned to Japan, and I wanted to mention my recent travels....
My flight to Narita airport was uneventful - until we landed. At this point, the plane was not allowed to proceed to the airport gate. Instead, about 10 people boarded the aircraft. I think they were from Japan's WHO, but I thought of these people as real life "Norton Anti-virus" detectors. An announcement was made about the concern for swine flu and we were asked to let the crew know if we had coughs or had a fever. Each of the detectors was dressed as though they were ready to perform surgery. They wore surgical gowns, gloves, special surgical masks, which I had never seen before, rubber boots and goggles. The first detector had a special camera that he would aim at each of us passengers to determine if anyone had a fever. As he went down the line, additional detectors came and had us fill out a health questionnaire. After reviewing the checkboxes, we were given a slip of paper that, I think, says "clean bill of health". I had to hand it in to immigration officials. Now I can upload pictures again, so here's a Dr. WHO:





Also in the Japan Times today, there is an article stating that although the Narita quarantine was "effective" the flu somehow someway made it into Japan, in Kobe - not Tokyo (whew!) Here' a link to that article: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/kobe-teen-with-no-overseas-travel-record-suspected-of-having-new-flu

Read the comments about masks - interesting because I did wear one on my flight and didn't care how I looked, especially when eating!

BTW. Without meaning to, there is a 5/7/5 syllabic structure in the title, including my italicized subheading.

Field of Spears

those bamboo sticks again

Similar to the previous post (below) I read an article in the online Japan Today newspaper (is there any other kind of newspaper?) that I'm linking to over here: http://www.japantoday.com/category/book-reviews/view/field-of-spears-the-last-mission-of-the-jordan-crew . The name of the book is, "Field of Spears."
and I've purchased the book. I am also linking to the author's course description based on the book; he's a professor at Niigata University in Japan. No one else, probably, will find it interesting and I'm not sure why I found this link, or why I think it is compelling. But it is giving me something to think about besides not being home!

Tadashi san

Tour guide and story teller

OK, this one is from last fall when I took a Sunrise Tour bus to Nikko. Its a remarkable ancient place in the mountains and further away from Tokyo than Mt. Fuji. The tour guide on the bus was a 70 year old man with a soft voice: Tadashi san. I could tell right away that he was interesting because the first site he pointed out occurred when we had been driving for about 2 minutes. We were still in Tokyo and crossing a river. Tadashi san pointed out many blue tarpaulin covering... something all along the banks of the river. Turns out these were the homes of the homeless. "Yes, in Japan, we have our troubles too." During the two hour ride, he mentioned some of them too: the government bureaucracy, the average age of farmers in Japan is 65, Japan will not be able to grow enough rice for its people, the "working poor" who could not make a sustainable wage, too much money spent on the military, and on. And on. None of these stories was said with anger or bitterness. And these were interspersed with amusing light hearted stories too. I mostly remembered only the negative stories about Japan.
When he started telling stories about war, I was awe struck. He told of when he was seven years old and living in Tokyo. WWII was nearing an end. He was told that American soldiers would come and eat the children of Japan. In order to prevent that from happening, he must fight the American soldiers. He was given a bamboo pole that was sharpened at one end and he practiced using it. I'm paraphrasing here, but Tadashi san said something like, "Can you imagine a little boy fighting an American soldier? Of course it is an impossible situation for the child and the soldier too. That is because the child and the soldier will both end up being victims. I am lucky that I was not a victim." He then told us about his uncle who was in China during the war. "My uncle was a casualty of war even though he was not killed. My uncle was given a sword and he had to prove his worth by killing a Chinese prisoner with it. He did use the sword as he was told and every day since then, my uncle saw the face of that Chinese prisoner. My uncle would have nightmares after the war about him and every day would say prayers for him and ask him for forgiveness. Oh. At this time, we are approximately 30 minutes from Nikko. Many years later, my uncle was flying to China and the plane crashed. I am sure that he saw the face of that Chinese man just before he died. And I am certain that he met with him after he died too. This is why there should be no war; everyone who fights in war is a victim."
I will have to pull out some pictures from Nikko with Tadashi san. On the trip home, he showed everyone how to make a samurai hat made of origami. I remember his stories on this trip more than I remember the wonderful sites of Nikko.

Good news: I'm writing again!

Bad news: I'm writing again.

Hello again. I'm not sure that I have anything profound or even fun to say. But.I.want.to.try. It will be better than reading the political blogs or stock market news reports :( During my hiatus, I brought my family out to Japan. I think it is safe to say that they fell in love with this country. We had a great time. I hope my family forgives me. I hope I can forgive myself! Anyway, I'll write a post per day about our exploits around town.Well, towns. We went to Tokyo, Kamakura, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Myajima, and Narita ( the airport ).

In the meantime, let me throw some links down to some Japanese music that I like. Some of these songs I discovered doing Karaoke (yes, I promise to write about that too!) and some I found by searching around in some music stores. Also, if someone knows how to embed videos from utube, let me know and I'll update this post.

Here's one I like the best: BOBD - I've been listening to this one quite a bit.

This one I thought was the most creative video I'd seen in a while: Catch On Everywhere.

I can't really get this one out of my head and the video is sooooo bizarre: Chu Lips. By the way, I understand that "chu" means kiss in Japanese. That may or may not be true but I like that there are references to tulips in the video.

I'll add this last one if only to see if you can figure out which song these guys ripped off (listen to the synthesizer lick). Plus its the theme song for a baseball manga called "Major": Hey Hey Alright.

Humping dogs!

...they do sit-ups too!

In the late spring, the Tokyo Toy Show was held in Odaiba. I am only now writing a post about it because the toys that were shown there are now hitting the store shelves. Toys like the Humping Dog ! The show is held every year and CScout Japan has great coverage of all the cool things at the show. Well, not all of the cool things. The CScouts must have been too busy covering all of the plastic food toys and plastic flower pots and plastic robots because they missed the Humping Dogs!

Flashback to the spring: I arrived at the Toy Show on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It seems most of the people in Japan under the age 10 were there too. But they seemed rather sedate:
Turns out that they were watching some live action show. There were several going on in different section of the convention hall. A little later on, I saw a smaller venue live action show with this yellow fellow:

Actually Machu Pichu, or whatever his name is, surprised me. I would have expected that this critter would have drawn the larger crowds at the show. I guess my frame of reference is about ten years too late! After peek-a-boo saved the day, I wandered the floor aimlessly until I came across this set of caninetastic technology. Yup. The Humping Dogs:
Actually if you click on the picture to see the larger size, rotate the picture because they were all plugged in via USB ports and acting like they were all in heat. I think it was the best toy at the show, even better than the kissing robot.

So, when I went back to Tokyu Hands (see the previous post) and heard the now familiar sound of these plastic USB dogs, I ran over and got my hands on one that hadn't yet been watching "Lady and the Tramp" nonstop for days. I also grabbed a package of Crunching Dog too, because what dog doesn't like to have six-pack abs!

BathTime Stories I

well, more like a product review!

Recently, I went browsing around in a store called Tokyu Hands and came across the bathroom section. I know, this is not the first time I've blogged about bathrooms here in Tokyo. I came across a product that basically called out to me, "For a hot time, buy me!" The name? Diablo Hot Pepper Bath. Uh huh.

Well, it doesn't actually say "uh huh" on the package but this product seemed so unique that I just had to buy it and try it! So, I bought it. On the back of the package was some Japanese text that refers to the restorative properties from using the product. There is a website for this product too! I had the text translated and I reproduce it for your amusement:

• 疲労回復(recovery from fatigue)

• 　肩のこり(stiffness of the shoulders)

• 　冷え症(sensitivity to cold)

• 　腰痛(backache)

• 　神経痛(neuralgia)

• 　うちみ(bruise)

• 　しっしん(moist tetter)

• 　リウマチ(rheumatism)

• 　しもやけ(chilblains)

• 　あせも(prickly heat)

• 　荒れ性(?)

• 　くじき(sprain)

• 　ひび(chaps)

• 　あかぎれ(chap)

• 　痔(hemorrhoids)

If the question mark wasn't amusing enough then the word chilblains definitely brings teh funny. Oh, and hemorrhoids, I won't even go there. Actually, I checked and it is supposed to be another word for frostbite. I don't know about you, but if I have frostbite, looking for a hot pepper bath is not on the top of my list! (hmmm. Maybe the one dictionary I consulted had it confused with frostbite You can't say you don't learn things when reading this blog!)

So, what was the "try it" part like? After opening the product, it looked like there was a big orange tea bag in the package. It definitely made the water warmer. There were some subtle hints of orange, which was pleasant enough. Once I got into the bath, it definitely made me feel like I had drunk hot sauce several hours before, and like I had eaten a really spicy Mexican mean about twenty four hours before that. It wasn't a burning sensation, it was more like, well ok, it was a burning sensation, but only for those areas that I alluded too. I splashed my face and my lips felt a slight tingle too. Feeling this tingle, I made sure not to get any water in my eyes. When I came out of the bath, my skin was not red or anything like that, but I did have an overall warm sensation that was more than skin deep.

Yesterday, I went back to Tokyu Hands and bought out the rest of the Diablo Hot Pepper Bath...