May 28, 2003
Today
For those of you who actually care what I do all day, here's what I did today:
8:30 - woke up and did morning computer stuff (emails, chatting with Xian, etc.)
9:15 - left by bike for Shioko's house (one of the many oba-san's I hang with)
9:45 - we were met by about 6 other oba-sans, and we climbed to the top of a mountain
11:00 - we did stretches at the top of the mountain. Lined up in a row, shouting out repetitions of ichi, ni, san, shi... we stretched our arms and legs. I am sure this looked quite funny to anyone who could see us.
11:15 - we came down from the mountain, tired and sticky from the humidity
12:00 - I got lunch with Shioko - the first great salad I have had since coming to Japan! I'll be visiting that restaurant again soon!!!!
1:00 - I return home by bike and clean my house
3:00 - I finish watching Wittgenstein the movie (very strange by the way) while scanning a ton of photos into my computer. Oh yeah - I chat with Xian too.
4:00 - finish up my Japanese homework and prepare for class
4:49 - write this message
5:15 - go to my Japanese juku (this is a future plan, but I'm pretty sure it will happen)
So see, I'm not bored! I actually don't even have enough time to hardly get any research done. Soon I will have to allocate specific times for producing some results from my research.
Military Fiasco, cont.
Then of course, today I read in the NYT that "Trust in the Military Heightens Among Baby Boomers' Children". This would be true, that is if those children whose parents in the military stop getting false promises that their daddies (and mommies!) will return home "soon". I'll bet Stella is wondering where her daddy, Jason, is right about now....
Dogs and Demons
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Alex Kerr, author of Dogs and Demons, one of the hottest books on the market right now concerning Japan's current state of affairs. I read the book last month and was absolutely enthralled in it because nearly everything he discussed in the book was played out in the reality I face every day here. The lecture was interesting in that I was able to hear Mr. Kerr's attitude towards Japan and his responses to several criticisms that have been raised against his book. If you read the book, you will probably immediately realize (and be annoyed) with his constant repetitiveness. I mean, once we hear one fact, do we need 10 others proving the same point? Mr. Kerr's response is, yes - we do need to have facts pounded at us until our thick skulls absorb something and realize that there are some very serious problems in this country right now. He also said that in the Japanese version of the book, he was much less repetitive because the majority of Japanese understand there is a problem, but they just aren't doing anything about it. It is mostly foreign academics who deny that anything is really wrong with Japan and try to live in a false reality that creates Japan as some sort of holier-than-any-other-country, ascetically pleasing Zen garden. WRONG. First thing you may notice when coming to Japan is that all those CLOSE-UP pictures you see of Japan are exactly that. When you see the big picture of things, you notice cement-covered mountains, stubby trees, power lines everywhere and a myriad of other various eye sores. But what exactly is Japan doing in response to these tourism-killing atrocities? Not very much, which was the depressing aspect of Mr. Kerr's speech. For such a compelling book that came out over a year ago, surprising little has been done in reaction to the book. Change is very difficult, if not often impossible, for the people of this country. This issue has been pivotal in my research here during the last year, and will likely be a focal point of my end results. Keep tuned for more....
May 27, 2003
Gokiburi
This is a word everyone should know in the summertime here: GOKIBURI - i.e. cockroach. These huge nasty nasty grotesque bugs somehow manage to infiltrate every house across the country. I think they are trying to take over. In defense, I have set out little hotels for them to stay at ..... forever! ***hear evil laughter in background***
On this note, my foot has recently been under attack. While taking a shower one ran across my foot, causing me to almost slip on some soap and die. The little gokiburi bastards are plotting against me!
In other foot related news, I had a pigeon attack me today. While quietly lying on my stomach and reading a book, this pigeon snuck up behind me and attacked the sole of my foot! What made it worse, is that I had taken off my shoes and socks to enjoy the nice weather, and so I felt every feather! I didn't know what hit me at first, but then I turned around and saw it! Hitchcock was right - those birds are after us!!!!! don't let their cute little feathers fool you.....they are plotting our end soon!!!!
Military Fiasco
The following is an email I received today from my cousin, Jason. I think it is good for everyone to be aware of the shit that the army is giving their "volunteers": >>>>>
I am writing the letter that I've been avoiding writing for quite some time
now.
As a soldier in the US Army, my freedom of speech is curtailed when it comes
to military affairs, but the rights of my friends and family are not
abridged as such.
Today I was informed that our departure from Kuwait has been extended for at
least 2 weeks, maybe a month or more. On top of this I got to listen to my
wife weeping on the phone as I informed her of this delay. My kids have been
strung along by these delays to the point that they don't believe I'm coming
home anymore.
As I have said previously, our National Guard company (Alpha Company 1/19th
Special Forces Group)wields little clout in an arena of division-sized units
over here. Although we have been here vastly longer than the divisions who
are shipping home over the summer, we can't get a flight in edge-wise, so to
speak. All officers want to get their guys home, and the higher ranking ones
will do so first, fairness be damned.
Supposedly my chain of command has exhausted all of their resources in their
futile attempt to get the boys home. I think every news agency in America
should be made aware of the outrage being perpetrated upon us; then maybe a
politician can "pull rank" on some of these generals and get us the hell out
of here. The system is broken, and we are paying the price with our
families' tears.
The Army has a hell of a way of repaying its soldiers: even after some of us
lost jobs outright or tens of thousands of dollars in business losses
because of our patriotism, the Army can't find room on one of the 80 flights
that leaves this base daily for us. The least they could do at this point is
fly us all home on commercial flights, as has been done for some of the
active duty units. On this entire deployment we have been lied to,
mismanaged, misused, forgotten and generally jerked around; to detail
examples would fill a large book.
This is not the military I signed up for, and I would discourage anyone I
know NOT to join this outfit! We live in a great country, and there are far
superior ways of showing patriotism than this, like paying taxes and giving
blood during emergencies. If the miiltary continues down the
self-destructive road of abusing highly-trained and motivated soldiers, we
will end up with an Army of low-quality welfare-recipients posing as
warriors whose task it is to defend our great nation; they WILL be found
lacking when the moment of truth arrives and we will go the way of the
Romans into the twilight.
That's my tirade my now; I feel disgusted and saddened by this whole
nine-month debacle, and I think a version of these words should reach every
news service and major politician on this fine Memorial Day, at least for
the sake of all the little ones at home who miss their daddies.
-Jason
May 23, 2003
Riiiiiiiing!!!!
Craig and I rented The Ring last week. This was actually a remake of the Japanese flick, which is supposedly scarier than the American version, but I refuse to watch it. The Ring was the all-time scariest movie I have ever seen in my life. I actually had to stop the movie midway to get on the internet and see if I was in for any bad surprises before I could continue watching it. (Craig thought I had lost it, but the movie was true scariness). After you get over the simplicity of the plot (which doesn't take long because the movie sucks you in right away), the cinematography, great acting and creepy music will keep you absorbed through the entire film. I do have problems with the film's rating of PG-13 (which I didn't even know when I rented it because they don't publish the ratings in Japan). Not that I normally put much faith in the rating system anyways, but this one was particularly a bad judgment call. The sheer horror factor and intensity alone rates it an R in my opinion. More specifically, there are several shots of people who died in the movie that are extremely disturbing and the entire issue/scene where a mother strangles her 10 year old child with a garbage bag and dumps her in a well is enough to deem the movie R. Now, having said the goriest things in the movie, I would recommend it if you want to be scared senseless. I really enjoyed the way the movie really let your imagination run wild and scare you the way you are frightened by reading a scary book. Very well done - bravo to Mr. Verbinski for the outstanding directing!
May 22, 2003
I'm a really funny looking gun.
I didn't even know guns like this existed. Does it mean that most people don't know that people like me existed? Xian is a really cool gun, though I know NOTHING about guns.
Which firearm are you? Brought to you by Stan Ryker.
How to survive in Japan
Answer: Meet an oba-san. Oba-sans are the most practical and fun way to become fully submerged into traditional Japanese culture. For those of you who don't know, the definition of an oba-san is basically an elderly woman. They KNOW everything about everything Japanese. I hang out with about 3 of them a week. They love being with foreigners because they can practice their English and take us around to show off to all their friends. You (the foreigner) in turn get treated to ridiculously expensive lunches (today's was about $40), see tons of temples and cultural places, do many traditional Japanese activities such as tea ceremony, flower arranging and calligraphy. On top of it all, it is a wonderful chance to practice all that Japanese you have been studying so hard to use, and you get to build strong cross-cultural relationships along the way.
Today was particularly funny for me because I had a new oba-san call me this morning. I had met her a few months ago at a tea ceremony and we later exchange phone numbers. I knew she wanted to call me, but when she finally called me, I had no CLUE who she was. But I realized that this woman definitely knew who I was. So, instead of embarrassing myself by asking who I was talking to on the phone, we just made plans to meet later today at which time I would realize who she was. Once I saw her, I immediately remembered who she was and we had a great time together. She's taking me up to another temple on the east side of Kyoto this Wednesday, and she also wants to teach me ikebana (flower arranging) sometime soon. Maybe this week I will ask my Japanese teacher what the politest, most indirect way to ask someone's identity over the phone (so no more phone mishaps happen).
May 21, 2003
What would we do?
This is from the WSJ's Best of the Web Today. It made me laugh, I hope you laugh too:
What Would We Do Without the FBI?
"Al Qaeda Attacks Likely, FBI Says"--headline, FoxNews.com, May 20
What Would We Do Without Officials?"Al Qaeda Still Plotting in Saudi Arabia, Officials Say"--headline, New York Times, May 20
What Would We Do Without Bush?
I. "Bush Says al Qaeda Plotting to Kill"--headline, Associated Press, May 19
II. "Bush Says Threat of Terrorism Remains"--headline, Boston Globe, May 20
What Would We Do Without Experts?
"Bush Shows New Swagger Experts Say"--headline, Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 20
May 20, 2003
Bloggers vs. NYT
The New York Times now finds itself raging a bloody blogger battle (does this sound Seussian?) in response to an article it published yesterday about blogging mishaps it has discovered. The fight gets juicer as you move on to read the responses of those being attacked. First up is Mr. Rick Bruner who was unfortunately caught making fun of his friend by the very friend being made fun of. This little blogging mishap has brought a lot of attention to his site, as he responds to the NYT's article with his own entry, "Extra, Extra, Read All About What an Ass I Am". If this doesn't move you, then check out Ms. Armstrong's site, which was also pounced on by the NYT for her anti-Mormon comments that started a large family feud. Now, not only does she have to handle repairing family relations, she also has to fend of hordes of hate mail resulting from the bad publicity in the NYT. So let this be a lesson to you: be careful what you blog about, it might come back to haunt you (or at least be rubbed in your face by big bad newspapers).
May 19, 2003
Mifune Matsuri
Yesterday we (Craig, two other Fulbrighters - Sandy and Mike, and I) headed over to the western side of Kyoto for the "Mifune Matsuri". This is literally translated as the "see the boat festival". It was a beautiful day, and we definitely had our fill of seeing boats. The festival consisted of several brightly decorated boats filled with kimono-clad women and business men with funny hats. There was a small orange shrine on one boat which claimed the center of attention. The festival's purpose was to take some sort of "sacred deity" (we never actually saw this deity) and transfer it to the floating shrine. The river banks were crowded with people, so we opted to rent little boats that we could paddle around the river. Craig and I were in one boat while Sandy and Mike were in the other. While Craig and I headed over toward the floating shrine to get some good pictures, we lost track of Mike and Sandy who disappeared from view. I finally started to look for them and when we couldn't find them, I called Mike on his cell to see where he was. "Stuck by the damn dam!" was something of his answer. He and Sandy had managed to allow their boat to be sucked over to the edge of the river dam, and they were near the opposite bank from us just floating helplessly. Craig and I quickly came across the river to their rescue, toting their boat to safety at the humor of the entire 200+ person crowd who laughed and clapped as we rowed away. The rest of the festival wasn't quite as eventful as the rescue, but we did enjoy some dance performances by children dressed as brightly colored birds on the boats. It was nice to get out and get some sun too, though I think Craig is a little sunburned. Nothing that won't heal in a day or two though. Oh yeah, about the boat festival - they do it once a year here - the third Saturday in May at the Oi River in Arashiyama, Kyoto. So, if you are in the area and want something interesting to do, check it out!!
May 18, 2003
Happy B-day!
Happy Birthday Dan!!! Here's to all the good times we shared together and to the many more to come! We miss you tons!!!! ~Kristen & Craig
Ginger Tea
Try something new - ginger tea! Compliments of Keiko - the creative genius behind this simple, yet healthy and delicious tea. First, grate some fresh ginger (about a teaspoon or so of it - more if you are making more than one glass), then steep the ginger just like tea (using a french press or a tea holder). Add honey (I also like a squeeze of lemon) and enjoy a tingling hot drink! yummy!
Umbrellas
One of the most interesting experiences I come across in Japan is when it rains. Well, when it rains and I have to be somewhere, that is. Here, I do not own a car, so my transportation options are limited to my rusty old bike, bus or subway. But most people, including me, choose to ride bikes because it is the least expensive way to get around. On rainy days, bike riding turns into mass chaos (almost mint chaos). First, the tires on the bikes here are BALD - all of them, unless you own a super expensive mountain bike. So the sidewalks become slick and you slip and slide everywhere you want to go. Secondly, there is the battle of umbrellas. This is where all the bike riders try not to get wet by holding an umbrella as they ride along the slippery roads. I am included in this mess, because I too do not like getting wet. But it is definitly a battle - against both people and wind. See, as you ride, your umbrella catches the wind, pulling against you and causing you to swerve. Causing everyone to swerve. So you have to be on your guard against those swerving bicyclists with umbrellas. Then, to make matters worse, you have to watch out for: pedestrians, masses of school students on tour in Kyoto, cars on the sidewalk, ramen noodle "signs" (massive circular lamps that swing to hit you in the wind), ridiculously narrow sidewalks, posts in the middle ridiculously narrow sidewalks, motorcycles and bags of trash. life is so exciting!
May 12, 2003
f.l.a.s.h.
Some very very nifty things that flash can do. Check out t.y.p.e.o.r.g.a.n.i.s.m. and have fun!! My two favorites were ASCII-O-Matic and Visual Composer.
Japan Blogs
Reading through the montly Kansai Time Out I stumbled upon (dramatic drum roll please).....an article on Japan bloggers! They have a couple of very fun ones, especially those in the Kansai region (which is where I am). If you're interested, check out Hunkabutta or Alive in Kyoto. I know, I know...you're probably wondering why I don't write so much cool stuff about Japan. Maybe these pages will be inspiration for me to initiate some change! (also I spent the last 3 days scanning and uploating pics onto the site, so I'm beat!).
May 06, 2003
Nippon Funnies
Get your hair cut in HEAVEN for only 3900 yen.
Also, when you're showering, get clean with the new UREA body wash. Leaves you feelin' so fresh and so clean!
May 05, 2003
Your brain will hurt.
I can't win, but you try! I saw my friend succesfully do it, so maybe you can too!! Object of the game: to not be stuck with the last pearl. The Pearl Game - ganbatte ne!
May 01, 2003
A Tribute to Ginger
This message is a tribute to my cousin, Ginger, who passed away on Sunday. I don’t really know why God allowed her to leave us so early, but we can take comfort in knowing that whatever happens is in His hands. My heart goes out to the rest of my family – all of us who are mourning over Ginger. I pray that at this time the bonds of love in my family are strengthened as we support each other. I just wish I could be with everyone now to show my support, but know that no matter how far away Craig and I are, we are always thinking and praying for you. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. … He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” ~ Ecc.3:1,11
