I realized this is actually the first true New Year’s Eve I’ve spent in Nagoya. Two years ago I went to a friend’s house in Tokyo and did mostly nothing while they celebrated New Year’s with their family. I came home on a late train on January 2nd only to learn that I had left my key in Tokyo. Oops. Last year I was arriving back in Japan on New Year’s Ever and had a bit of a transportation mess up and “had†to take the train from Tokyo to Nagoya and got home at 11:59 pm to discover snow.
This year, I woke up to snow again, although it did not stick like last year. Also Tomo suggested that I have a New Year’s Eve party, so that is what I’m doing. Another house party. I’ve stocked up on food and alcohol so all I am waiting for are the people (and a little prep work remaining). I have no idea what this party will bring. I think there will be a lot of TV watching as there are three big shows in Japan on New Year’s Eve, a music festival, a comedy contest, and K-1 (mixed martial arts) fights. I am relinquishing control of my TV. I don’t care what we watch, I won’t understand any of it anyway.
How or when the party will end I have no idea. I can imagine it will go until the first train in the morning or will end pretty much right after midnight as people scramble to catch the last train to their homes. I usually easily make room for 3 people to crash here, 4 people if two don’t mind getting cozy, but my guest room is occupied by a surprise visitor. We’ll see what happens.
Shopping today was a battle. Of course, most the shops are closed on New Year’s Day, so the supermarkets were filled with people. Going to battle with middle-aged women who have no issues bowling you over. But I’ve said that before.
I’ve recalled my younger days living in a colder climate by using the outside as my refrigerator. Yup. Very white trash or redneck. Take your pick. My fridge though is filled with sushi and sashimi, still some beers, and homemade chili. Yum.
I’m not a big cook in the US or in Japan, but with three days of cooking chili and doing dishes, I’ve learned that my countertop is really, really, really low and cooking and cleaning leads to a backache. It’s perfect height for the aforementioned middle aged women and I’m sure they would call me out as “weak†for my complaint.
Time to do the final preparation for the party. It should be fun!
I live across the street, and maybe a block away from the biggest concentration of hostess bars in Nagoya (Nishiki). Lucky me. As a matter of fact, the bar district separates me from the biggest shopping area in Nagoya as well (Sakae). In general, I avoid walking through Nishiki because during the day it is ugly and dirty. At night, it isn’t any cleaner, but at least the lights mask the ugliness. I get tired of being welcomed to any number of bars with soliciting men and women. Most often I walk to a major street that is lined with offices and shops to get to Sakae. It is a little out of the way but more pleasant. Those times that I do walk through Nishiki, I can’t help notice the signage with pictures of the hostesses in various “sensual†poses.
Every year the expat community in Nagoya gets together to support the local orphanages and provide gifts for Christmas.
Santa & Friends Nagoya was officially formed in January, 2009 however this is the 6th year we have been visiting the 5 orphanages to help celebrate Christmas and spread a little cheer. With the assistance of many great volunteers, we have carried out Christmas events over the past 5 years at different orphanages and last year decided to bring all the children together for one fantastic Christmas celebration. It is our goal again this year to share the Christmas spirit with over 250 children who live in 5 different orphanages around Nagoya. Through the effort of many volunteers, generous individuals and companies, we are able to bring smiles to many children on a special day which most children usually spend with their families. We are now working with a number of companies and very generous individuals, and are offering different kind of opportunities and support for the children throughout the year as well. If you could find it in your hearts to help through volunteering or donation to help spread the Christmas spirit to a number of great children, it would mean so much.
If there are any expats in Nagoya reading this blog and want to get involved, there is a website that provide a little more information (only a little). You can contact them through that website.
Yesterday evening I was lamenting to a Japanese friend of mine that I was suffering from the Sunday Night Blues. I’ve had this problem off and on since school days. Sunday night rolls around, and I didn’t have my homework done, or maybe I didn’t have enough fun over the weekend, or maybe I just didn’t want the week to start because I wasn’t ready to deal with what the week had to offer. Usually, the feeling was mostly a general malaise, but punctuated with occasional dread, and even physical manifestations of anxiety like an elevated heart rate, the shakes, and other fun symptoms. Sound familiar? It would have been nice to have outgrown that feeling but it carried on through work as well. And after the ridiculous email I just got and foolishly read on my BlackBerry I understand why I still get this anxiety even as a seasoned worker.
Actually, in 2010, I wasn’t actually lamenting to a friend in person, or even by the telephone. This lament came by iPhone instant messaging. You can lament and respond at your own pace it seems [wait, let me check Twitter to see if anyone responded to my latest 140 characters or less … nope … OK, continuing …] using instant messaging. Two hours after my complaint, I got a response, “It’s Sazaesan syndrome in Japanese.â€
Hmmmm. I tried to look up Sazaesan in my dictionaries. About the best I could get was, “サザエ†which apparently is a “turban shell (any mollusk of the family Turbinidae, esp. the horned turban, Turbo cornutus).†That doesn’t really apply at all. It was late, I was tired, and I didn’t want to bug my friend anymore, but I fell asleep wondering what the heck a mollusk had to do with my anxiety.
In the morning, I asked my colleagues, “Does anyone know what Sazaesan Syndrome is?” “No, but Sazaesan is TV anime show that has been on forever.†Google was my next resource. Finally, from Wikipedia,
Sazae-san (サザエã•ã‚“) is a Japanese comic strip created by Machiko Hasegawa.
Sazae-san was first published in Hasegawa’s local paper, the Fukunichi Shimbun (フクニãƒæ–°èž), on April 22, 1946. When the Asahi Shimbun (æœæ—¥æ–°èž) wished to have Hasegawa draw the comic strip for their paper, she moved to Tokyo in 1949 with the explanation that the main characters had moved from KyÅ«shÅ« to Tokyo as well. The comic dealt with contemporary situations in Tokyo until Hasegawa retired and ended the comic on February 21, 1974. As one of Japan’s longest running and oldest comic strips and animations, the series is known to nearly every Japanese person, young and old.
The comic was very topical. In the beginning, Sazae was more interested in being herself than dressing up in kimono and makeup to attract her future husband. Hasegawa was forward-thinking in that, in her words, the Isono/Fuguta clan would embody the image of the modern Japanese family after World War II.
Sazae was a very “liberated” woman, and many of the early plotlines revolved around Sazae bossing around her husband, to the consternation of her neighbors, who believed that a man should be the head of his household. Later, Sazae became a feminist and was involved in many comical situations regarding her affiliation with her local women’s lib group.
Despite the topical nature of the comic, the core of the stories revolved around the large family dynamic, and were presented in a lighthearted, easy fashion. In fact, the final comic, in 1974, revolved around Sazae’s happiness that an egg she cracked for her husband’s breakfast produced a double yolk, with Katsuo remarking about the happiness the “little things” in life can bring.
Today, the popular Sazae-san anime is frequently taken as nostalgia for traditional Japanese society (since it lacks modern marvels such as video games and otaku culture), even though it was leftist to the point of controversy when it originally ran in Japanese newspapers.
In October 1969, Fuji Television started an animated comedy series, which is still on the air today and currently in production (making it the longest-running animated TV series in history). It has been broadcast every Sunday from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. and contains three vignettes. The animated series has some characters, like Katsuo’s classmates, who don’t appear in Hasegawa’s original works.
Well, I’m not Japanese but now I know too. But what does this have to do with a syndrome? Note that the TV show broadcasts EVERY SUNDAY from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm. For many, it is a reminder that the weekend is quickly ending and the work week is approaching. The gloom they experience (as I described above) around this time on a Sunday night is Sazae-san Syndrome. Pretty cool, huh? Here’s a good article about Hasegawa, the strip, the TV show, and the syndrome.
This is covered in multiple blogs and mine is just another one, but it was new to me and that is what this blog is about. And now instead of saying, “The Sunday Night Blues†I now can label my melancholy as a syndrome.
But that’s not the only syndrome that I know either. There’s another great syndrome, metabolic syndrome. Folks use it a lot in Japan for drinking too much beer and getting older, not exercising, and generally getting squishier.
I thought it was a just a Japanese thing, but then I checked in, yup, Wikipedia and found it is, “a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.†I won’t link because there is a really gross picture.
August is Festival (ã¾ã¤ã‚Š) time in Japan. On any given weekend in August, you can be sure to find a festival somewhere in Japan. This year I missed the Nagoya Castle Festival, but I made it to the Hirokojidori Matsuri (広å°è·¯é“ã¾ã¤ãƒ). Basically, several city blocks in downtown Nagoya are blocked and you have a big street party.
A matsuri in Japan is much like a county fair, or any one of a number of festivals that you can have in any small town in the US. It’s a way to get out, have some fun, eat some unhealthy food, and wonder why you went. In Japan, there are matsuri throughout the year (for instance, the fertility festival which I posted about that some people declared NSFW, or the naked man festival– the two posts that are responsible for the most number of hits to my website), but August is by far the most popular time. I think it is because it coincides with school holidays and Obon, so there are lots of reasons for people to take a little more time. The weather is incredibly hot and humid, so it is probably also a really good excuse to get out of the house because the house will be boiling hot anyway.
Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but I had my iPhone which has a pretty good camera.
The street had many stages set up. There was the Jazz Stage, another stage with the Arc de Triomphe as the background for some inexplicable reason, two taiko areas, a domannaka style dance area, and a street dancing stage. Well, that’s some of the stages. They also had a bon odori area. Very nice, and participants easily ranged from 5 to 75.
One thing I really like about Japan is that young and old alike are not afraid to participate in traditional activities. Although I’m sure some customs are dying, younger generations do seem willing to stay engaged. As a matter of fact, one of my young colleagues was planning to go to Gujo during Obon for their bon odori all night dance. I thought that was really cool. Unfortunately, work intervened and he couldn’t make it. He doesn’t strike me as extremely traditional, I just think he thinks it’s fun.
The entrepreneurs start very young here too. Instead of a lemonade stand, this kid is selling beer.
