MY NEIGHBOR STRIKES AGAIN
Last Sunday around 5PM, I heard a knock at my door. I opened it to find my 84 year-old neighbor wheezing on the stairs as though he'd just run a mile. Through the Japanese, I understood "fireworks," "[the name of my town]," and "8PM." I translated this to, "Hey, there are going to be some fireworks at 8PM tonight. You should see them."** I thanked him; he shut the door and left. At 7:30, there was another knock on my door. I opened it, still chewing my dinner. Guess who? Apparently what I missed in the earlier deluge of Japanese was that he planned to pick me up to go see the fireworks. Brilliant. He tells me to put on pants and close-toed shoes (I am sweating comfortably in my running shorts and tshirt ensemble), and off we go. We walk 15 minutes to a baseball diamond behind the train station, which is filled with booths of food, games and questionable items (such as terrariums of beetles that appeared to be for sale). We walk around for a bit, eyeing the merchandise, as my neighbor starts handing things to me. First, kokigori (a giant snow cone), and then, when I linger at a barbecue stall, a whole grilled squid on a stick. Yum. He is clearly enjoying himself. The only thing that mars this lovely picture of a grandfather and his granddaughter going to the town fair is the fact that he keeps telling me to wear the oversized baseball cap he brought with him. Is he ashamed to be seen with me? We will never know.
The fireworks were lovely. If one were to compile a book titled, "Things Japanese People Like," fireworks would be on page 10 after "rice," "curry," "butter cookies," and "sweat towels." I have seen some pretty spectacular displays, with everything from lanterns being sent down a river to full orchestras to laser shows.
**Apparently I would have known this already if I understood Japanese, given that our local PA system made an announcement about the fireworks that morning at 7:30AM. Yes, 7:30AM on Sunday. I definitely heard an announcement, given that one of the PA speakers is right outside my window, but I had no idea what they were saying. I asked my predecessor about it, and she said that the local government frequently makes announcements about anything from local events to public service announcements to "Time to wake up and go to work! Better eat your breakfast!" (no kidding- she told me she heard an announcement like that one morning). Sometimes instrumental music is blasted for several minutes, as though we are in the yard at Shawshank Prison with Tim Robbins on the loose.
JAPANESE KRYPTONITE
If you want to completely freak out and befuddle a group of Japanese, just offer them a package of Twizzlers to eat. The Japanese have a weird love-hate relationship with sweet things. Some say that Japanese people do not like sweets. I don't think that's true. Certain kinds of tea that are sold here make your teeth ache more than McDonald's sweet tea, and a lot of foods served at mealtimes have a fairly sugary bent. What they don't seem to enjoy are sweets that don't fall within the following categories: fruit (natural), green tea or red bean. If you go to the Krispy Kreme in Osaka, most of the flavors are orange, peach, melon jelly, etc. Cookies are infused with citrus, peach or apple flavors. That's pretty much the taste gamut.
DL brought a jumbo pack of strawberry Twizzlers for our ESS club members as an icebreaker. Personally, I am not a huge fan of Twizzlers (they have the taste and consistency of a candle, in my humble opinion), but I've never known an adolescent to turn down processed sugar until last week. First of all, the girls weren't really sure what to do with it. Were they supposed to tie a knot? Were we going to melt them down into something? They held them away from themselves, sticking up from their clenched fists, as they shot panicked looks at one another that said, "What is this, and how soon can I drop it?" So I grabbed a rope and chomped down on it, thinking they would follow in suit. They did. And that was the last bite they took.
A similar scene ensued when DL placed the bag, now 6 pieces of candy lighter, in the faculty room for general consumption. Sensing free food, the teachers quickly huddled around the bag, but stopped dead when they saw what was inside. "It's candy," I said, "American candy. From DL." (All right, I admit, I in no way wanted to be associated with the Twizzlers.) They quickly conferred, and eventually a guinea pig was chosen to try a piece. He took a bite, and in his halting English (which I think was more a result of his trying to think of what to say, as opposed to his actual linguistic ability, which is pretty good), said, "This....is....strange." The Twizzler posse started tittering, and a couple of other people took tentative bites. In the flurry of Japanese, I made out the words "weird" and "candle." Not our best export, guys.
VOGUE VOGUE VOGUE VOGUE
I had heard that Osaka (which is 40 min away by train from me) is an excellent place for people watching, as Osakans take fashion very seriously. I was not disappointed when I visited on Sunday. Really, I could probably dedicate an entire blog to Japanese fashion (and people do!). Long, baggy tie-dyed bell-bottom pants are in (for men and women). Women are into Daisy Duke shorts with platform gladiator sandals, reddish-orange hair, thick, fake eyelashes, and lots of rouge. Men have huge hair (bigger than the women) that's usually dyed orange, and some sort of angular, close-cut dark suit, with a skinny tie loosened casually.
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| From fashion-model.info |
The most spellbinding look is the "Lolita" or "Goth Lolita." It's sort of a mix of Victorian fashion and Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I'm going to defer to Wikipedia to provide more background and history, but it's an interesting form of female empowerment. I'm sorry that I don't have original photos because I was too chicken to ask people to let me take their photos, but I promise to be braver next time. This you gotta see.
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| From chipskgaa.wordpress.com |
WHOSE LINE IS IT, ANYWAY?
What with communicating in different languages and meeting new people, I've heard some pretty great one-liners. Every once in a while I'd like to share these wonderful statements with you.
This week, it was tough to choose just one. I thought I had an outright winner until DL and I were invited to lunch by a teacher at another high school. So, I'll share two, just for kicks:
WINNER: "My wife thinks I'm bisexual. But I'm not." -1.5 hrs into lunch with a Japanese teacher (no, there was no drinking involved).
RUNNER UP: "The monkeys have got to stop making such a mess in my driveway. I can't take it." --Yes, there are wild monkeys in Japan, and apparently they like to wreak havoc on peoples' property in the mountains.
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