Author: Jonathan

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忘れ物を忘れないでください

Last weekend was a terrific weekend. It didn’t start out so good, but I convinced myself to turn my frown upside down, pack up my troubles, sing halleluiah and get happy, and not let it bother me.

My friend David (or Dave) from Los Angeles / San Francisco was visiting Japan with his from David (or Dave) from San Francisco. Apparently, Nagoya isn’t interesting enough to warrant a visit (sigh) so I made the trek up to Tokyo. That’s a huge sacrifice of course, having to go to Tokyo.

Dave (my old friend and not his friend) and I planned to meet for dinner on Friday night at 8:00 pm in Shinjuku. Dave had met my friend Jin during his visits to LA so I invited Jin to join us as well. Of course, I had to work, but was planning on bugging out early to that I could get home, drop the work clothes and computer, grab my bag, and head to Tokyo. Of course, I had a meeting run long, and it really wasn’t a meeting I could leave. The intensity level was ratcheting up, and I needed to be there.

With one eye on my watch and another eye on the mood of my Japanese colleagues, I was able to wrap things up in time to catch a 4:20 pm train back to Nagoya. I got home, did the drop, changed clothes, finished packing my bag, and high-tailed it out of the apartment.

It was a pretty muggy day, so I was feeling sticky before I really even started traveling. I got to my subway, timed it well, and was on the subway BACK to Nagoya station and it looked like I’d have just enough time to check in to my hotel and catch the subway to Shinjuku. I noticed a scary old man in front of me on the train, and the train was crowded too and I felt like I was knocking people with my bags. The scary old man got off the train rather quickly.

I too was moving rather quickly to the Shinkansen but had not yet exited the subway. As I was heading towards the wickets, I noticed a crazy old man (was it the same one) kind of looking at me and waving his hand with a goofy grin, and it seemed like he was tapping his pocket.

[As I write this, I hear fireworks exploding in the background. Has fireworks season started? What matsuri am I missing?]

So the crazy man caused me concern. Did I get pickpocketed and was he brazenly taunting me? I tapped my back pocket and, much to my surprise, I found no wallet. Generally, Japan is very safe and I maintained good judgment. I calmly thought to myself, “Oh, drat” and then broke out in a frustrated soaking sweat. I turned around, got on the subway, and headed back home, hoping that my wallet was sitting somewhere in my apartment.

This little round trip of about 15 minutes meant that my start location and end location of my subway ride were exactly the same place. I never actually LEFT the subway. I knew this would present problems when exiting, so I went directly to the attendant and explained I had forgotten something. He worked his magic and I was allowed to exit.

I got home, went to my bedroom, and there was my wallet sitting on my bed. Teasing me. Oh well. Now, of course, it was getting late. If I caught the 6:00 pm shinkansen I would be able to take the Chuo Line from Tokyo to Shinjuku with my camera bag and surprisingly heavy weekend bag (traveling with an extra pair of shoes and a computer adds weight), maybe find a locker, and JUST get to the meeting place in time to see David and Jin. I treated myself and went Green Car of course, and remained calm. I made it no problem right at 8:00 pm.

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I have NOT left the building

I know I have been remiss in my duties as a blogger and my general commitment to the blogosphere. But as a whole, it is not too bad considering the result of the “average life of a blog” search on Google.  According to Caslon Analytics, 

Several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60% to 80% abandoned within one month, depending on whose figures you choose to believe) and that few are regularly updated. 

The ‘average blog’ thus has the lifespan of a fruitfly. One cruel reader of this page commented that the average blog also has the intelligence of a fly.

The Perseus report noted above indicates that 66.0% of surveyed blogs had not been updated in two months, “representing 2.72 million blogs that have been either permanently or temporarily abandoned”. 



Jeffrey Henning of Perseus sniffed that

“Apparently the blog-hosting services have made it so easy to create a blog that many tire-kickers feel no commitment to continuing the blog they initiate. In fact, 1.09 million blogs were one-day wonders, with no postings on subsequent days.”

Perseus claimed that the average duration of the remaining 1.63 million abandoned blogs was 126 days, with some 132,000 blogs being abandoned after a year or more. The oldest abandoned blog surveyed had been maintained for 923 days.

That said, I should be proud that I have lasted over a year and over 100 entries. The fact remains that now my life is just sort of life. I’m here living, I’m doing fun stuff sometimes, I’m getting frustrated sometimes, but it is not THAT different from life in West Lafayette, or Los Angeles. I go to work, I do dishes, I do laundry, I watch a little TV (very little), I eat, I sleep, and so on. How exciting is it to say, “I went to bed at 12:42 am last night and, as usual, my alarm went off at 6:00 am. Gosh I was tired.”

I could whine about Japan as you often hear the expats who have been here too long complain profusely about Japan, the Japanese, and life in general. When you suggest it is time to leave, they state, “Gosh, I could never live in the US again.” Okaaaaayyyy.

This week I had big plans to write, and get everyone updated. Monday night I had to study for class on Tuesday, and Tuesday I had class. A general lethargy set in, that turned in to a cold. But I will keep this up, and might even double post tonight if I get my notes and pictures from last weekend pulled together.

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My first stimulus check

A few weeks ago at work, I received a note saying that I would be allowed to keep my economic stimulus money and I didn’t have to return it to my company. Say what? I learned for the first time, that perhaps there was some US style rebate to all residents of Japan. I didn’t really think I was a resident but then I again I (or, more correctly, my large, international employer) did pay a ton of income taxes to Japan last year.

Last week I got the official notification that I was to receive a stimulus check from the Japanese government. Yes, believe it or not, it is my first stimulus check from any government. I never qualified in the US – not that it’s such a bad thing.

My own personal economic stimulus

I will receive 12000 yen, or about $120.00. Hey, that’s a shinkansen ticket to Tokyo and a beer, provided of course I don’t ride in first class. I’m not sure how $120 is going to stimulate the economy but I will spend it. If I had children I’d get $200 for the first and $360 for each subsequent child, depending on their age. Don’t quote me, I’m going off of memory. Well, my rebate is much less than .5% of the total taxes I (my company) paid last year. So it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. To me it just seems like a lot of money spent preparing, printing, and processing the stimulus. Isn’t there a better way to spend the money?

It is a very rainy weekend here in Nagoya. I’ve managed to get a haircut, clean my apartment, read a book, catch up on AppleTV, watch a movie or two and it is only Sunday afternoon. Perfect time and weather to update the blog. I guess I need to study Japanese as well. Tomo is coming to Nagoya, I’m taking a day off Monday, and we are going to a concert on Tuesday.

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色々な事 (iroiro na koto)

I haven’t been doing a very good job keeping up with my blog. I feel like I should always have some sort of picture accompanying my entries now. I’m not sure why, but it does seem to make it more interesting. But, alas, I really don’t have any pictures yet. Maybe I’ll post this later and have some pictures.

 

Current Health Update

My phone calls from the Naka-ku health center have finished. I remained asymptomatic for 10 days after my re-entry to Japan so they’ve given up on me. Everyday between 9:59 am and 10:01 am I got a call from the health office. I usually replied before they could really ask me any questions 気分がいいです (I feel well) or まだ元気です (still healthy!). I admire their perseverance. I can imagine now that the Golden Week (ゴールデンウィーク) holiday has just finished they must be extremely busy. Anyway, I’m glad the calls are ending and I’m glad to not be sick.

 

Reintroduced to Two Old Friends

Last Sunday I met two friends I hadn’t seen in a while – my ママチャリ (old school bicycle) and a trumpet. The weather was nice and I felt it was time to dust off the bike get some exercise, and explore the city. I ended up riding for about 2 hours. It isn’t the same exercise as a super-slick titanium road bike but I still had a good time. My beloved bikeI was going to ride to Kanayama and try to go a little past it to the Aeon Mall (I was killing time). I got a little confused by using train tracks as landmarks and ended up getting completely lost. Luckily, there is a very tall building in Kanayama, so I just kept heading for that building once I was turned around. I stumbled across the mall and used that as a landmark to head to Nagoya, but then I started thinking that the direction I was heading put the mall on the wrong side of the train tracks. Say what? So I asked a passerby which direction to Nagoya Station, and sure enough it was the other direction. I thought I was pretty good with sense of direction but I was totally messed up. I checked my detailed maps when I got home and realized that the tracks bifurcate (I love that word) at Kanayama and I was following the wrong tracks for a while that actually ended up going back towards my home. So I think I was almost home before I turned around to head back towards the Kanayama building landmark only to head back home again. What can I say, I actually enjoyed getting lost.

Bach StradivariusHow did I come across a trumpet? On May 1, I went to dinner with a colleague to Nanpu again. While we were going there, my colleague said, “Takeshi is trying to learn to play the trumpet, he has one at the restaurant but he doesn’t know how to play.” I got completely excited by that. Hey, I could teach him! When we got to the restaurant he showed me the trumpet – it wasn’t a Bach Stradivarius but it would do. Out of curiosity I just looked up the list price of a Strad – only $3250. YIKES! I hope my old one at home in LA still plays. I went out Sunday, bought my own mouthpiece and went to the restaurant on Sunday to start the lessons. How do you teach someone to buzz their lips so that they can get the proper resonance out of the mouthpiece when it is second nature? Anyway, I told him to practice with the mouthpiece. I played his trumpet a little bit. My tone, control, and range all sucked but I got a real kick out of it. I wish there was a way to play without blasting everyone away. Trumpets are loud. Sure, there is the cheesy Yamaha practice mute, but I tried that about 15 years ago and didn’t like it because there was too much back pressure and the balance of the horn was off. However, I may consider it again, it was so nice to play the trumpet again. I will have to relearn though because my embouchure is completely changed after braces. I may go again Sunday to try another lesson.

 

Current Fashion Trends

 Guys are more pretty than handsome in JapanJapan is a land of crazy fashions. This is the land of tight T-shirts with fancy, sparkly cursive writing words, dyed hair, hair clips, and extremely manicured eyebrows. And those are just the boys! The girls dress about the same.

Now that it is late Spring, early Summer, I’ve noticed a new fashion trend with some of the younger guys. Apparently leggings underneath shorts are in style. Last weekend I saw at least three instances of that style. The leggings are black and typically go below the knees to mid-calf in a kind of haphazard, scrunched look. I guess it is versatile – just slide them down when it gets too cold. I used to have arm warmers and leg warmers for cycling, but those were a little different. I can’t say it is a bad but I’m not sure I could pull it off. I did quick websearch on “japanese boys leggings shorts photo” took me to this blog. Gosh, I guess Nagoya is a year behind. Not surprising at all.

Who wears short shorts? Apparently Japanese girls wear them – now is also the time for the shorts to come out. And I mean short shorts. There are all sorts of variations on the style but the most common style this time of year is short shorts with stockings pulled up over the knees to mid-thigh and usually heels. Mleh. I think it looks silly. I suspect as the days get progressively warmer the length of the stockings will decrease. The shorts can’t get any shorter though.

I tried today to get some pictures of these styles to augment the description. However, I feel kind of 助平 (sukebe – lecherous, lewd) trying to get the right picture for the example. I don’t want to perpetuate the ugly foreigner stereotype so I gave up pretty quickly. As I go out riding later today or tomorrow I’ll try for some pictures but don’t count on it!

I did run across a nail shop with an example of their wares outside. When I first saw the picture of the bling on the nails I thought it was a fungus. Oh my.

Fungal nails - oh wait, that's the design

 

Music

I’m currently listening to the J-Pop band RADWIMPS pretty regularly. They actually write their own stuff, play instruments, and everything. A real band! I saw them at Sumer Sonic last year and really enjoyed their live performance. They released a new album recently and I can recommend it.

 

Weather

Japan is a land of seasons beyond just the regular four. Right now the weather is fantastic, but I can feel it heading towards rainy season and then the dog days of summer. Instead of sitting inside writing this blog I should be out on my bike, and I will be soon. It is probably going to reach 28 degC (82 degF) today and 29 degC (84 degF) tomorrow. After three days of rain the sun is nice, but the humidity is starting to pop its head up say, “Beware, I’m just around the corner to completely smother you!” Ah, well, that’s OK too.

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A famous guy in Naka-ku

Too cute for diseaseI arrived back to Japan on Tuesday, just as the hub-bub over the swine flu was begin to intensify. As a matter of fact, Sunday night in the US I emailed my boss warning that the frenzy over the flu could impact my travel plans. I think he thought I was crazy. However, I kept checking the interwebs and the JAL home page to see if my travel would be impacted. At that time, the JAL web page just said that they were in contact with the appropriate authorities. I talked to Tomo and he said that planes were going to be delayed at Narita while health officials came onboard and screened the passengers. Now the website more clearly defines what will happen.

I arrived to Narita and, as predicted, we were delayed at the gate for medical officials to board and screen the passengers. It was very movie-like as people in yellow gowns, fancy masks, laboratory goggles, and rubber gloves came on board. We were given paperwork to fill out, and they walked through the plane pointing their thermal imager at people in search of fever. I guess it is fair, the flu has everyone concerned. It did seem over the top though, but totally expected in Japan. Things are not done halfway here.

As I was walking through Narita just after disembarking, I passed a photographer and a news crew. Fortunately no one decided to interview me. I made it the rest of the way home without trouble.

I live in Marunouchi, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi. Aichi-ken, Japan. That’s neighborhood, ward, city, prefecture, country. A very systematic way of classifying locations. If there are any crazy blogger stalkers out there, I guess I’ve increased my chance for detection through my “open kimono” description of my address. (As a side, is “open kimono” used commonly? It seems to be a popular phrase these days for full disclosure.)

Yesterday, at work, I got a phone call from a local number. It was the Naka-ku health office. Yes, I was getting a telephone call from the local health officials. I gave the phone to one of the translators (thus, infecting her too) to get a better idea of the purpose of the call. Initially, the officer starting asking about my health. The translator told me that I was going to get a call every day between 9:30 am and 10:00 am to check on my health. Do I have a fever? Runny nose? Headache? EVERY DAY UNTIL May 8. She was very adamant that I memorize the Japanese for these symptoms (which, in general, I already knew but just needed a reminder).

Run for your life!Interestingly, at work on Thursday, just before the Golden Week holiday, we got the news that anyone coming from the States has to wait two days after arriving in Japan before coming in to work at our site AND is expected to take their temperature on a daily basis for 10 days and refrain from coming to work if their temperature is greater than 38 deg C. I bought a thermometer on Thursday night but didn’t try to use it until this morning. I am happy to report that I am a very respectable 36.8 deg C.

Today during my morning phone call, I asked the official if they were only calling foreigners. I couldn’t quite tell but that seemed to be the case. I guess Japanese are responsible enough not to be called? Or maybe I misunderstood.

How about that?