Category: Cultural Experiences

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Hanging out in Kanagawa-ken

Will I ever actually start writing what I intended to write about two hours ago when I first sat down at my computer to add to my blog? I hope. Things just kept popping in to my head, so they became their own entries.

You need to read June 6 entries from bottom to top.

So indeed, I had a great weekend. Recapping, in case you don’t want to read from bottom to top,

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.

Jin invited a friend of his along as well, and we went to a nice café in Shinjuku Ni-chome and checked out the scene. It isn’t West Hollywood or the Castro, but it had its own vibe. Jin’s friend remains unidentified per his request. Sigh.

Dave, Dave, Dave’s friend Kenji and I met Saturday morning to do a day trip to Kamakura. I had not been to Kamakura in years. Some of my favorite black and white photos from Japan are from Kamakura.

 

 

 

I was curious what it would be like to go back to Kamakura with a digital camera instead of my film camera. Can I say I miss shooting on film?

We had a great time hanging out together, and I enjoyed Dave’s friend Dave and Dave’s friend Dave’s friend Kenji. I think from now on I’ll refer to Dave’s friend Dave as Dave II. I wish Tomo could have joined us, and that was the plan, but unfortunately last minute work plans messed up his schedule.

Kamakura is known for it’s 大仏 (daibutsu) or huge statue of Buddha. When we got off the train I saw the picture below and thought, “What’s the big deal?”

 

Ha ha. We walked to some different areas than I had not seen before and visited lots of temples. We stumbled across a Shinto wedding, complete with the traditional videographer.

 

It was cool to catch just the bride, groom, and the attendants.

 

There were a number of beautiful things to see at the various temples.

Honestly though, we saw so many, I’ve forgotten what we actually saw, so just enjoy the pictures below with no sense of place. Sorry about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At one temple, there was a woman selling cookies. It was clear that it was a fundraiser and she had samples. The cookies were very good. She was trying to communicate what the fundraising was about. I totally misunderstood her, and Dave II will claim that it was my doing. Anyway, I thought she was telling me that the cookies will make you smart because she was pointing to her head. Then she pointed to the picture which clearly indicated that the cookies were hand made by children with Down’s Syndrome. Needless to say, we bought some and referred to them as “the guilt cookies” as we munched them throughout the day. Miscommunication – you’ve got to hate it sometimes.

We had a terrific lunch and Dave II took some amazing food porn pictures. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not so good with food porn, so you’ll just have to believe me.

We wandered back to downtown Kamakura by train and then went to the daibutsu. It was as great as I remember.

Giving a sense of scale

A very large buddha

 

A color version of my previous black and white

The daibutsu in color

 

It gets pretty hot being the daibutsu ..

Back vents

 

Here are Dave II, Dave, and Kenji at the shrine

Fellow travelers

 

We also went to check at the 地蔵 (jizou) at Hasedera. Jizou are the guardian deity of children, or the patron deity of pregnant women. Many times, a statue is placed at this temple for lost children, often times aborted children. In the past when I was there, many of the jizou were highly decorated with toys, beads, and clothes. This time it seems there is an effort to tone things down.

Jizo

 

jizo

 

We walked to the beach at Kamakura as well and decided it was pretty ugly and dirty. For dinner, we thought we’d go to Chinatown in Yokohama. On the way there we saw something I’ve never seen before – a parent falling asleep instead of a child. It must have been a long day.

Tired on the train

 

We walked around Chinatown and finally made it to dinner.

Yokohama Chinatown

 

Yokohama Chinatown

 

Yokohama Chinatown

 

Of course, on our travels, we saw a few things that just didn’t make sense to us.

I’ve never seen a name this long in Japan

I've never seen a name this long

 

Huh?

 

A pork ice cream shop?

 

I have no idea how Amish cooking is related to Kamakura.

Japanese Amish

 

Japanese Amish

 

 

On Sunday, Tomo and I got to hang out together. We saw Star Trek. He had not seen any of the Star Trek movies and enjoyed it. I liked it too, although I think J. J. Abrams needs to stay away from time travel in everything he does. It is too convenient.

There, that’s a major blog entry.

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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?

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Train strategy

April 1 is the beginning of the new fiscal year in Japan. It is also the time that the incoming “class,” or “new faces,” begins at major Japanese companies. The company where I work is no different. On April 1, I noticed a new crop of black-suited manga-character-resembling wakamono (young people). As a result, my usual somewhat manageable train ride was becoming quite crowded. As a matter of fact, it was becoming somewhat frustrating. My frustration started when everyone was queuing up for the little spur train we have to take to get closer to the office. The regulars know the rules – you come up the stairs and then form two single file queues behind the wicket and calmly progress through the wicket, down the stairs, and queue for the next train.

The trouble began when the new faces decided an orderly queue was not appropriate. Instead they lined up in blobs of black suits around the queue and clogged the normal flow through the wicket. How dare they not pay attention to the implied rules of the area. If they are late off the train, then they should go to the back of the line and pay the price for their poor planning. They can’t just CUT.

In the past, the car that I took to the spur train station would be crowded, but not that crowded. I had ample time to get from the train, up the stairs, through the wicket, down the stairs and queued for the next train without worry of getting in the doorway smash zone. We’ve all seen pictures of the people getting smashed into the train. Strangely, this usually happens only around the doors in Nagoya. The aisle between the bench seats, while crowded, is not smashingly cramped. I could almost always be guaranteed to get a seat or a aisle standing position. That is, until the new faces. In the past two weeks I’ve gotten smashed, opted for the next train to avoid the smash, and even walked the 25 minutes to work instead of taking the spur train.

Tuesday I had a meeting that required me to stay on my usual schedule. Knowing the problems of late, I ended up modifying my train ritual. Instead of sitting or standing in the aisle during my first train ride, I positioned myself in the standing area right by the door so that I would be able to quickly leave the car, rush up the stairs, and get in the queue behind the wicket before it got too ling. I HAD to get the next train. It worked, but I resented the fact that I had to “compete” for my spot on the train.

The new faces are getting better – they have begun to understand the unwritten rules associated with the spur train station. Eventually, as they are spread to different locations or have different start times their numbers will dwindle. In the meantime though, I have to be vigilant!

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Fertility Festival – Otherwise known as the festival of the p33n

As promised, today I went to the fertility festival in Komaki. Yet another famous festival very close to where I live. I have never seen so many gaijin (foreigners) concentrated in one place in Japan. It was CRAWLING with foreigners.

Our friends at What’s Up Aichi state,

At the Tagata Shrine Fertility Festival in Komaki, a Shinto priest leads five women who carry offerings to the female god of fertility. Holding all-too-detailed carvings of oversized phalli, the women walk the short distance from shrine to shrine surrounded by townspeople and visitors with hopes of a bountiful harvest and prosperous year in their hearts. The star of the show, an enormous male member carved especially for the festival from a local cypress tree, soon makes its way from Kumano Shrine on the shoulders of the town’s 42-year-old men (the age is considered unlucky for unrelated reasons).

While the festival is generally light-hearted and the sake flows generously into the cups of pilgrims from far and wide, a serious aura also pervades, revealing the venerated place that the ceremony holds in the local lore. Don’t be surprised to come across the local clergy blessing the offering with the utmost gravitas.

Early in the adventure, the pressure was put on me by a colleague. “You speak Japanese, go ask where the [6 foot penis] is.” I was successful in my inquiry, and led our group of about 10 people to the giant member on the mountain.

Some claim the photos are not safe for work (NSFW). To see more, click through. Continue reading “Fertility Festival – Otherwise known as the festival of the p33n”

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Some final Thai thoughts

I had a list of topics that I wanted to cover in my Thai posting.  I got most of them covered in my entry, but there are few I didn’t get covered.

 

Gender fluidity

One thing I noticed in Thailand was gender was very fluid.  I’m not talking about sleazy bar areas where ladyboy shows are the norm.  Just in normal, every day life, sometimes gender was difficult to determine.  Was that beautiful girl and guy?  Was that odd looking man a woman?  There were definitely times where Tomo and I would ask each other, “male or female?”  It was a very interesting to see in everyday life – the group of security guards at the airport, the maid who came to turn down our room in Koh Samui, the server at Ice Monster, and any number of other places.

 

Plastic surgery

Apparently Thailand is also known for plastic surgery.  I didn’t know that.  We saw a lot of Thai women with Angelina Jolie-esque lips that didn’t quite fit.  But the icing on the cake was two women on our flight who looked like they had a little “work” done in Thailand.  I looked at them and thought, “can they really think that is sexy?”  I just don’t get it.  I understand vanity, and I certainly want to look good, but where does their perception of looking good come from?  That’s what I don’t get.  Wear funky clothes if you want, get a cool hairstyle, but don’t inject a bunch of junk in your lips to make them look like … like what?  Puffy lips?  Sigh.  I could also go on and on about bad wigs on men in Japan, but I’ll pass on that for now.