Author: Jonathan

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Naked man festival

Yes, you read it correctly. Today I went to the naked man festival, known as 裸まつり (hadaka matsuri) in Japanese. Most every blogger living in the greater Nagoya area probably has written about this. So now it is my turn. What is the Hadaka matsuri? Quickly, I would describe it as an opportunity for men to drink a lot of sake, wear only a fundoshi, carry a large bamboo pole in the streets, flirt with old ladies, and try to touch a completely naked shaved man so that all their bad luck will be transferred. That’s the short version.

hadaka matsuri

According to the Aichi Prefectural Government San Francisco Office publication, “What’s Up Aichi”

The Hadaka Matsuri, or Naked Festival, has been around for 1200 years and draws hundreds of thousands of participants and festival goers hoping to dispel the misfortunes of the previous year and summon the spring.

During a solemn ceremony in the days before the festival, a local man is chosen to be the shin otoko, literally “god man,” on whom all of the year’s sins and misfortunes will be cast. The stripped shin otoko, shaven of all his body hair and purified from days of confinement in Konomiya Shrine, makes his way through a horde of nearly ten-thousand men dressed in mere loincloths and headbands all vying to touch (or hit) him in order to drive away the year’s trouble and gain good fortune for the new year. Once the scapegoat reaches the gates of the shrine, he faces assailment from the unclothed mass of freezing men as his outnumbered guards bravely fend of the rambunctious townsmen by dousing them with buckets of ice cold water.

As many of the men succeed in their attempts to lay a hand on the shin otoko and others give in to the winter chill, the god man is finally able to fight with way, bruised and battered, into Konomiya Shrine, where he will pay his respects to Kunitamanokami, the shrine’s divine protector, before being driven from town.

So what’s the motivation for being the Shin Otoko?

I was not the only spectator at the festival. It was packed, and I actually bumped in to one of my colleagues who is also one of my English students in my weekly English conversation class.

hadaka matsuri

The festival is quite a testament to how alcohol and ritual can work people in to a bit of frenzy. We arrived rather early as it turned out and we saw a few groups go by. They were rather subdued with quite a bit of time separating each group. I wonder what determines the marching order? As the day progressed though, the groups seemed to get bigger and of course more and more wasted. After all, they had hours to get ready, which basically means hours to drink sake.

1 liter of sake
cropped - beer is an allowed substitute for sake

I’m not sure why watching the processional was interesting. But it was. The woman in front of us was exceedingly aggressive collecting strips of cloth and touching the participants. I guess that touching them transfers the bad spirits from her to the participants and then hopefully to the shin otoko. She even took cloth from a child! Those around us were surprised.

stealing fabric from babies

My colleagues were in the spirit of the event as well so as a group of foreigners it was interesting. One thing that kept us engaged was that the festival is absolutely something we would never see in the US (Burning Man excluded). I guess it could be compared to the now defunct Nude Olympics that occurred at Purdue. That always drew a crowd.

There are casualties as well, as you can see from the face of the man below. This is mild compared to some of the scrapes we saw. Some were even carted off in stretchers.

hadaka matsuri casualties

 

By the end of the event, things got pretty sloppy. Fundoshi got a little bit loose, and the jangly bits were jangling. I will spare the blog of those photos. There was one particularly sloppy foreigner who really should have been arrested. I had to look away. There was also the guy who was standing on a higher ledge just in front of us of kept bending over and exposing one of the twins to us. Everyone behind him was really laughing.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures. I hope to attend the fertility festival in March. Yeah, that’s right.

 

Early in the day, we wandered up to the temple where all the semi-naked men were going.

around the temple

 

Notice the body decorations. I had a good picture of a “Yes We Can” body graffiti, but there were young boys in the picture as well so I didn’t want some strange website linking to me.

body graffiti

 

Some more action shots during the procession.

hadaka matsuri

 

hadaka matsuri

 

That’s an expensive camera on a pole. I just held my camera in the air a lot. I’m not that crazy.

crazy camera setup

 

Like all festivals, food was prevelant.

matsuri food

matsuri food

 

Is this a warmup for the fertility festival?

These things again

 

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Gaijin cooties

As I got on the train on the main line today, I was surprised to find two empty seats. It isn’t a problem standing, but of course after a long day and with the effects of jet lag, it is kind of nice to be able to sit down. The two empty seats were on either side of a woman, near the poles that support the seat and offer something to grip for those standing. This can be seen in the initial condition diagram below.

Initial Condition

All is well on the train

I was faced with the decision of choosing where to sit. Neither location was perfect, as no matter where I sat, I would squeeze in between two people. I chose the closest seat to where I entered the train. This, apparently, did not please the woman who I sat next to, as you can see in the intermediate condition.

Intermediate Condition

Uh oh! It's the foreigner

All foreigners have gaijin cooties, which makes them undesirable to stand or sit next to on a train. Apparently the big, hairy, sweaty foreigners are dangerous. Many times people choose not to sit next to a foreigner. The woman next to me decided that the danger of catching cooties from the foreigner was just too high risk. Fortunately, there was another seat just to her left. Better to squeeze in next to your own kind, right?

Final Condition
Safe at last

This did not make me happy, but what can you do? I just looked at her. At the next stop, more people got on the train and I swear this guy contemplated the seat and then opted out. At the next next stop, the person next to the woman got off, and she moved down one more seat. Maybe she was trying to position herself for the coveted “next to the hard barrier” seat by the door. Who knows.

Just another day in Japan.

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Food for thought

I was on a business trip back to the States last week. It truly was a business trip because I didn’t go home to LA, and I went to a city that I had never been to before. The trip made me realize that I am glad that I really enjoy Japanese food. I struck out most every night at restaurants, eating on my own. The first night I HAD to get Mexican, because that is what I miss the most. There was a Mexican restaurant near where I was staying, and people had warned me that it was very chain-esque and not that good. Even the chain restaurants in LA are marginally OK, and I figured after almost a year in Japan they would seem 5-star. Nope. I should have listened to their advice. It was pretty bad. I would describe the delicate spices as a lot of pepper.

The second night I met a colleague and we decided to go to a French restaurant that is supposed to be open in the evenings. We assumed the locked door that we faced indicated it was closed. Instead we went to Indian. Here in Nagoya, we have some very good Indian restaurants so I have my opportunities to eat Indian. The food was good, certainly better than the night before.

The third night I was able to visit a family friend and get a home cooked meal. Ah, that was the best of all. We made our own burritos and the food had flavor and we had a good time together. That was a meal.

The fourth night I really wanted to get to a neighborhood that was a little hipper than the exburbia location where I was working and staying. I can’t complain too much because fortunately I was able to find an Apple Store at the exburbia big hair mall and pick up more Apple stuff (Apple TV this time), like I need anything more from Apple. I got in my rental minivan and drove to downtown looking for a good alternative bookstore. As luck would have it, I stumbled across a great bookstore and left with 9 new books. That should keep me busy. I also wanted US style Thai food – you know the really good strip mall variety that is great tasting even if the décor leaves something to be desired. Well, I found a restaurant where the décor certainly left something to be desired. The problem is, the food did too. Wow, I didn’t know you could screw up Thai food, but they did.

Finally, the last night, my colleagues wanted to have a special night meeting, and we ended up a McCormick & Schmick’s esque place and dined on appetizers. This is considered to be a good restaurant, but I found all the food to be over sauced and lacking subtlety. Sigh.

At work, a large group of Japanese colleagues were also around, working in the production area. I noticed that already they were starting to bring in Japanese food that they had made and would share, or they were ordering bento boxes from a faraway Japanese restaurant. In the past I would have been appalled (just as I am here were American’s order McDonald’s en masse), wondering why they couldn’t adapt to the local cuisine and not be stuck in the traditional food ways? But now I get it – both ways. There are Americans here in Japan that simply cannot stand Japanese food. They are the same ones that told me all the good steak houses to go to on my trip. Then there are Japanese that can’t imagine the food so many Americans eat – the heavy sauces, the outlandish portions. It is just easier to stick to what you know.

As for me, I guess I just wanted food that tasted good. It didn’t have to be Japanese, but then again I wasn’t looking for the hamburger and steak everyone was recommending. OK, sure, if I was in LA In-n-Out, Astroburger, or Islands would have been a destination, but that’s comfort food.

Sorry, once again no pictures. A new season (Valentine’s Day) is upon us, so maybe I’ll get some good, goofy engrish pictures.

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On parties, karaoke, drunks, high schoolers, the inauguration, and Facebook

Where have I been? It seems like I haven’t updated anything for a while. Well, not much has been going on. This weekend I stayed home. Friday night we had a 新年会 (shinnenkai), which is a new year party. Basically, it is the opportunity to go get plastered with your Japanese colleagues. I sort of dread them but then I always have a good time and of course always drink too much. In Japan, restaurants are geared for large social gatherings because people rarely go to houses for social events. Lots of times people will eat at an 居酒屋 (izakaya), because the ambience is very social. Lots of little dishes shared by the table, and a real variety of food. We had about 20 people at the dinner.

 

Karaoke

Saturday was a fun day spent working on my Japanese taxes. Lucky me! Or maybe it was Sunday, I don’t know. Saturday night I met some colleagues for dinner at our favorite Okinawan restaurant, Nanpu, It is the kind of place where the chef knows your name (especially when you are a white guy). But the big story was a night out at gothically styled Joy Joy karaoke club. Finally, karaoke in a private karaoke room. It is rare that I can sing Radiohead, Elvis Costello, Cabaret, Hairspray, Les Miserables, and Spandau Ballet (among others) all in the same night. I had a GREAT time. My vocal range was somewhat limited by a cold, but it made Radiohead sound better and I was able to take the songs down a step. The English song selection was a little lacking so maybe the next club will be better.

We saw a very scary drunk though – as a group was leaving this kid basically passed out in the entryway. Stone cold, scary swallow your tongue kind of passed out. His friends got him outside (where it was really cold). Before I knew it, there was a madman on the loose outside, running into to traffic, hitting his friends who tried to stop him, totally out of control. That lasted for a while, then he’d pass out, get energy again, pass out. They tried to get him in a cab, but after a while the cab driver kicked them out. We decided that he needed a hospital, so during one of the quiet moments I told his friends that they should take him to the hospital. How very American of me … but at least I said it in Japanese. I hope I said it in Japanese. Hospital and beauty salon are VERY close in Japanese – byoin (びょういん) versus biyoin (びよういん). Maybe they thought I said he should get his hair styled. Whatever I said, they acknowledged with an affirmation.

 

High Schoolers

Sunday I wanted to eat at my favorite ramen shop, which happens to be in Nagoya Station. As I was going to Nagoya Station, I couldn’t help noticing all the high school students. The ramen shops were filled with them too. How did I know they were students? Most of them were wearing their school uniform. As a matter of fact, students are typically obliged to wear their uniform even when they aren’t in school. I knew something was up. I put two and two together and figured it was college entrance exam day. The test is known as the 入学試験 (nyuugakushiken) which translates to school entrance examination. Clever, huh? This was probably the 入学者選抜大学センター試験 (nyuugakusha senbatsu nyuushi senta- shaken), University Candidate Selection University Admissions Center Test. It is a standard test for most the public universities in Japan and is held over a weekend in mid-January. There is a TON of pressure on this test. Those that don’t do well but want to attend a prestigious public university instead of a costly but easier to enter private university (there are of course, exceptions to private university entry requirements and indeed many are very competitive) typically take a year off to re-take the exam. In this year the students are called 浪人 (ronin), from the term that means “masterless samurai.” I have many friends that did ronin, and a few that did it TWICE!

The links are pretty interesting – check them out.

Here’s a picture I took in Nara years ago that shows Japanese high school students in their 学ラン (gakuran).

Typical high schoolers

 

Inauguration

I felt very removed from the excitement of Obama’s inauguration. As a matter of fact, I watched his speech almost 18 hours after the fact. I still found it very inspirational. I’m very hopeful that we can do a lot of things right in the next 8 years.

 

Facebook

I’m convinced Facebook is a drug. I wonder how many hours I spent tonight popping from person to person? Did I really need to see a picture of me in my junior high school band? I wasn’t even looking for it.

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I want to forecast the weather too!

I used to use www.wunderground.com extensively back in the States. They were pretty reliable. If you take a look at the forecast from wunderground below, you would think I was living in a snow belt! That’s for the Nagoya Airport.

Snow day soon?

 

If you look at Nagoya City, it is a bit different story.

It is only rain ...

 

What’s the difference? The airport is a little bit away from the city but on the coast – so certainly not at higher elevation. Both of these forecasts are “Nagoya.”

Which do I choose?

 

If you go to Yahoo! Japan, it looks like pretty nice weather coming up.

Just a few clouds

 

Finally, if you look at the official Japanese government weather forecast, it looks a lot like the Yahoo! forecast.

Statistically speaking ...

 

I think the Weather Underground forecaster just wants to see some snow, kind of like a little kid wishfully thinking that tomorrow will be a snow day. In the end, I believe all the meteorological information is from the same government source, and the difference is only how the icons are applied. At what percentage chance of participation do you change from a sun to a precipitation icon? What temperature leads you to a cloud dropping snow or dropping rain?

I don’t know why I thought this would be interesting. I guess since the time I’ve been here I’ve been amused by the variety of forecasts that I can find on the internet. In the end, I guess they are all the same.