8 July 94 36)Things going to do: Port Festival, Outdoor Spectacle, Go, Shogi 37) Date w/ Japanese Guy 38) Did Karaoke 39) The Star Festival last night 40) Doing skits yesterday AND NOW => for the big, long explanations.... (starting from 2 July - a couple pages back) 1) Well Okaasan and me were drinking tea and she pulled out a little container from a velvet bag that had gold leaf in it - and she took some out and put it in our tea. It was real gold! Evidently, it's good luck to put gold in your tea or sake and drink it. You can also grind it down and rub it into your skin (or mix it up in your makeup.) Well, gold has no taste (not surprising, since it has no organics) and so I got my fill of good luck - drinking it _and_ rubbing it into my face. 2) Soon after we finished drinking, I saw some people coming up the walk. Well, okaasan went to talk to them telling them, that's okay... and she came back and told me that these people were taihen Catholics (I think Catholic = Christian) and evidently they went about door to door. She said something about blood and not liking Shinto or Buddhist things -- _I_think_. Anyway I got the impression that these people are as welcome as Jehovah's Witnesses. 3) There was a "science fantasy" show = science show all about watermelons - like scientific ways to tell if a watermelon is good before opening it - they even showed its Fourier spectrum when you thump it and its density. Also I learned that washing seeds improves its chances of sprouting. And they showed the color genetics of suikan (watermelon). In retrospect, I guess it's not interesting to relate this, but I thought it was neat to have on popular science shows like this == for though it's similar to many of the "fluff" shows in tone, it really _is_ scientific. [on the side is written - vail, veil, vaile -- all three words are crossed over] 4) My Lord, you should have seen those pictures. First was her pictures of past hostees - dressed up in kimono and going on trips and all sorts of things. Then she had an album of her grandchildren. And there were at least 2 or 3 full albums of her daughter's wedding. First of all I saw some pictures of some weddings of Mr. Terai's coworkers at which evidently Mr. & Mrs. Terai presided. Mr. Terai must be a very senior member of the car dealership so he takes the place of parents at weddings of younger coworkers. _Then_ the daughter's wedding -- there were several parts evidently. She had the regular Shinto ceremony first in full wedding kimono getup. Then they went to a traditional receiving line/reception. Had a meal in there somewhere and she changed yet again into a modern dress. And they had some kind of modern thing where the couple lit a =lot= of candles, poured champagne into a wine glass pyramid and did some other stuff on a stage. In the back of the stage were huge blocks of dry ice. Then there wre bridal photos of her in 6 different dresses - 3 she actually wore in ceremony, the others just for the pictures I think. 5) Well, I'll take care of that one now. Last night, groups of roving kids, some dressed up in yukata, went around singing a song and then you give them candy. Evidently the song means "This is the day of the Star Festival. Could you give me one candle?" One gets a certain type of branch and put colorful paper decorations on it and attach strips of paper w/ wishes and hopes written on them. And at night people play w/ fireworks (kids and Japanese aduls do that all the time here anyway) I dressed up in a yukata (boy do they do the belt _tight_) and tried to wear _geta_ -- they are just too damn narrow -- and I couldn't get my toes in far enough I think. It was fun anyway -- I got a picture of some kids. And the grandkids came over and we had dinner and I studied and slept (how exciting) 6) Former hostees have sent (since I've been here_ a book on Canada, some letters, and a graduation announcement, and a wedding announcement. Just thought I'd mention that. 7) Well, there's a lot to say about this one. Murayama, guy of the huge eyebrows that I wish he would trim, is a socialist, 70 years old, and has no executive experience. Terrific. He formed a cabinet of some members of the other old party (both parties are known for corruption) and one member is a woman. Over the past 2 days I've seen editorials from the _Washington_Post_ and the _Baltimore_Sun_ absolutely scathing the new PM. Everyoe hopes this guy doesn't last long -- mainly because he's so weak politically. Esp. w/ the economic problems bet. US and Nihon and =particularly= because the G7 meeting is now and the dollar-yen exchange rate is absolutely horrible (Are margins psychologically necessary? Just a thought.) 8) This speaks for itself. Esp. because of the uncertainty of politics here and the G7 meeting going on. Many investors keep selling dollars -- driving rate down. This has caused some people to say the way the exchange rate is determined should be changed so that it is not at risk to investor's whims and changes so often. This is a painful subject to me right now. Really the rate should be better since Japan is in a recession and America is doing better. There's lots of reasons that I understand why this is happening. I'm not going to get into it right now. 9) On July 1 -- otoosan took me over to the family shrine, above the shrine are pictures of parents, grandparents. put little bowls of rice, a cup of tea and a basket of fruits and sweets as an offering and rung a bell and prayed. Usu I only see okaasan before the shrine (and they don't offer the rice and tea usu) everyday. Perhaps the 1st of the month is an important day to pay respects to ancestors. 10) Newspaper - ryuugaku sei shinbun (the sei is the kanji meaning "made by") so it's a kind of pun. What I did - illustrations - uses for the washlet (toilet/bidet) - waterpik, a picture w/ bear feet - for the sign "Please don't go outside with bear feet", and one of those paint-by-numbers puzzles in which I did a bonsai tree. I saw what the paper is going to look like today - looks okay. 11) The Crayon Shin-tyan show was about his ma doing a diet. It was really cute. They have a lot of cartoon shows here. All of the kids shows are rather low cost productions. There's a kind of Power Rangers show which I think is called the 5 Ninjas or something like that. 12) While I was waiting outside BoniMoriya for the bus - a woman who saw my arm and my clothes asked for the time. I was so surprised that someone talked to me that I hesitated, so she looked up and noticed I wasn't Japanese. Then she apologized thinking I didn't understand, but I told her the time and showed her my watch (so that she knew I knew what I was saying.) This really proved that there is little difference between Japanese and Caucasian skin )many here have lighter skin than me) - the only difference is hair color and the face. Many of the Japanese I've seen on TV really have "Caucasian faces" I think - perhaps they have a gaijin for a parent. 13) Well, there's alot of commercials on TV for men & women for dying hair back to black and to prevent balding and thinning. There's also alot of diet ads and diet products - Calorie Mate, etc. =And= there are ads for drinks that come in little bottles which are =loaded= w/ caffeine. This is a nation on NoDoz - I swear. 14) No microwaves. Don't really need an oven either. Just fry/wok everything, cooking w/ really big chopsticks. 15) This one is kind of interesting. Actually, most people in the U.S. are this way too -- the religion here really doesn't seem like religion -- it's like some Jews I know who participate in the culture & rituals but are atheists -- but it's even more than that here -- there are all sorts of shrines everywhere and lots of festivals in which Buddhism or Shinto is involved -- but so much deals w/ people here - not really =any= gods to speak of (Buddhism has no gods really and neither does Shinto) - Does one need gods to have a religion? hmmmm. 16) It seemed that it was about a civic troupe of Kabuki actors which had women & girls involved (doing the female parts, of course. But some of the old woman parts were still played by men.) And they showed the different things they do during the year. All their shows are outside. 17) Already fully explained, more on women later [in the margin: psychic entertainer in grocery store To a Wild Rose Simon & Garfunkel Japanese astronaut Clinton] 18) Lots of really old people around here -- on the busses all the time and walking around and even riding bikes. 19) In my Sesame Street Guide, there are lots of explanations of American cultural history to explain certain puns and parodies - like Sir John Feelgood and Sir John Gielgud - and some things that even American kids wouldn't know about but some adults would (Come back, Shane!) 20) It's amazing how many English words (and a few from other languages) have been sucked into Japanese. But I guess alot of foreign words have been sucked into English, but most of that happened a while ago - we're used to other languages taking our words now (Boy does that piss off the French. The French can't really claim any cultural superiority anymore for even their own people prefer American culture & words to French (cause, except for the accent, French culture is way too snotty.) But Japanese don't care about that and even take English words to replace older Japanese words. But you know it really throws me off to hear an English words in the middle of Japanese and the loan words are a pain in the ass because they =really= don't sound like the English originals -- alot have been changed to sound more Japanese. Also, though lots of people take English since elementary school, they can only say very little -- if Americans were studying =any= language for 10 or so years, we'd expect them to be able to speak pretty well. Even now there are magnet schools in Russia and the U.S. where kids learn Japanese from 1st grade -- and they learn kanji and even hold math classes in Japanese. oh well. 21) Later. Got lots I still need to buy 22) Just heard "To a Wild Rose" recently. It's in a TV commercial. You know, I think if I didn't hear American songs here I'd go a little less crazy. I mean, they must have =no=idea= what's being played. But it's everywhere on TV, in stores, played by the speakers that indicate one can cross the street -- I guess it's like Muzak to them for in the U.S. Muzak has no words and here it's as good as having no words for I don't [think] they understand English when pronounced properly (i.e. not w/ a Japanese pronunciation. we don't need a vowel sound at the end of each syllable dammit. It's thank you -- not sankyuu. Blerghpoo) Anyway they obviously have their own music - at the CD places today I could only see Japanese CDs and the single countdown today was all Japanese songs - so American music might be generically popular or nice background music, but obviously there are specific songs that are more popular. 23) Lots of physically and mentally handicapped people walk around and do things by themselves, which I think is good. In America I am used to seeing such people accompanied by a relative to help them. Actually, I haven't seen anyone in a wheelchair around here, but that should be okay in a lot of places, for every place is such that one can ride a bike and most stores have elevators. Also, I noticed when I visited the elementary school that a couple of handicapped students were mixed in with the regular classes -- which is kind of good. One guy had a brace on (physical handicaps of mobility don't often mean separation in the U.S. either though) and one guy I think might have been retarded - the bad thing is I think these kids were mainly ignored - they couldn't play the Fruit Basket game w/ us so they sat and watched. Also I think the nitchoku didn't play either. 24) Onuma trip - I did lots lots lots there which is why I didn't write write write. We went there from (something in kanji - hakodate something) by a really nice bus - like the standard tour bus it was equipped the multipurpose stewardess. She handled bags, directed the bus when backing up & doing other difficult maneuvers & she tried to entertain us. I think she went through her normal spiel and I think she realized most of us did not understand what she was saying. So she sang to us - tried to sing that little frog song and another song. Most of us just talked amongst ourselves. When we got there we dumped our stuff in the cabins, which were kind of nice - 6 beds on a loft-like 2nd floor, 4 beds in 2 separate rooms downstairs, ubiquitous tea service, yukata, TV, slippers. I then went to the walk-through maze with alot of others. You had a card that you need to stamp at the 4 corners of the maze and =then= you had to find the exit which went immediately to a gift shop. There were stairs and walkways so one could see the way to get to places =but= because you couldn't see them, the parts =under= the walkways were of utmost importance. Some people wouls direct others while they were standing up there. I cheated a couple times when I was really stuck by crawling under the walls. Then I bought some omiyagi - some wine and bath salts and some panties wrapped up in gift packages for Amy and Carey (as gag gifts). We then went to dinner at Genghis Khan All you can eat barbecue -- we had gas grills on which we cooked our food (lamb, green pepper, sprouts, other stuff) and had a vial of soy sauce to season. I had a mug of Asahi beer w/ my meal and it tasted just like American beer. I think there is little difference bet. the two. I talked to people alot alot alot I was sitting w. the Gerna (??) lady, Paul Lester and some other guy - we talked about physics and religion (Paul is a Christian Scientist and we thought that was really interesting since we had never met one before.) Afterwards, I wandered and talked and went to the onsen w/ Birgitta (the German gal) and Yu Yen Chen. Yu Yen is very body conscious so she borrowed a bathing suit to wear in the onsen. So we grabbed yukata and towels and headed off. We washed off and then went to the outside pool which wasn't as hot as the inside one. It was heavenly -- like a perfect 38 degrees C or so. The water was kind of oily - maybe from the flowers that had fallen in the pool. The men's bath was next door - separated by a fence one can see through (and I know the guys did) a little - but it was dark out and I didn't care. Anne Mitchell seemed like she was trying her hardest to be seen (I swear ... but I won't get into that...) I love the onsen here. It's so great! It;s the best thing about Japan. The baths used to be mixed bathing but the Westerners changed all that and the Japanese have somewhat conformed to our sexual morality. Afterwards I went everywhere in my yukata looking for conversation and found it everywhere. Evidently, some Japanese nuclear plant workers invited some of us HIF people over to drink and evidently one of our guys, a Taiwanese guy who I think really doesn't like Japan (but why is he here then) got in a fight w/ one of the Japanese guys cause they were drunk and ruined some of the party mood. I wandered and found April and some others and they gave me more beer, and more beer - they kept filling up my glass and I finally had to give it back for someone else to finish. The others were kind of getting happy so conversation was really short. I went to bed and evidently interesting things occurred after I went to sleep. I was so tired when I got up. And then, when we're all tired of course, we went to Onuma Quasi-National Park which is gorgeous except for all the pedal & other boats and other signs of encroaching modernity and humanity. It's between some mountains - the mountains here are gorgeous and I can never really tell how high they are for they always seem so close. There were lots of bridges from island to island. I took alot alot of pictures bought more stuff, had a hot dog and ice cream and rested contentedly. 25) Heh heh heh - April & Alan - April has a boyfriend @ home, but evidently was going to break up w/ him anyway since he's in Portland Anne & Jim Coleman - Jim is just too much - such a ham, must have hands on anything female. Anne has boyfriend at home she says she intends to go back to so I guess she's just too horny for her own good. (It's just too gross) Sammya (?) & Michael Aguila - always seems conspiratorial together - always talking about other people - like sharing secrets I suppose. Anne & April & Alyeia (?) (hmm all As) Anne really irritates the other two because she always seems so contrary and like a brat. She comes from a rich family, we know it, and she just never seems content. Alycia cute my hair - I like the way she did it. I think I might have her cut it again right before we return. Terry complained about his haircut, but I think it looks good. 26) Guy at bus stop talked to Anne and I at the bus stop in English. It was nice to meet someone who can speak English fairly well. It's not fun not being able to understand things being said around one and trying to figure out everything from context. But it is a good way to improve listening in Japanese. 27) Just conversations - The Japanese - in particular Yoko Ono - created performance art. Thought you'd like to know. 28) While I was shopping in the Boni-Moriya Annex Book Store an older Japanese man came up to me and started talking to me - he especially likes using American slang phrases "slave driver" "come hell or high water" "greasy spoon" I think it's kind of funny. Anyway I ran into him yesterday again w/ him and I made a date w/ him.. he's going to take me to a "greasy spoon" and then to his favorite bar. Evidently he talks to other people in the densya and made friends w/ the HIF people last year too. The first thing he had said to me is if I was w/ the HIF program. Anyway I'm going to see if anyone will go with me. 29) I really like Kabuki. We saw 2 scenes from one play and a scene from another -- Even though I could only understand a few words one can figure out alot from the way people act. It is highly stylistic and likes stunts and cool prop tricks but even though some of the things and actions are really unreal and exaggerated, alot is very true to life. First we saw two scenes from a play about a fox-woman who has married a guy who thought she was his real fiancee. Well, the real one shows up w/ her parents and finds that the guy is already married and has a kid. Evidently his wife is a fox who became a woman and exactly emulated the real fiancee. Well, the husband figures something is going on. Well, the wife, since she's really a fox, figures she can't stay any longer so she turns back into a fox and runs into the forest and husband and child follow her, looking for her. Then we had an intermission and then the actors were dressed up and introduced themselves and then we had =another= 25 min intermission so they could change into their other costumes. Then we saw a scene of 2 lovers traveling and the womans keeps the man from committing suicide and they come across a comic villain and the guy fights w/ villain & his men - =however=, the men are carrying cherry branches instead of swords and the fight scene is basically a big dance. During the intermission I bought a scented fan for 2000 yen and a calendar for Uncle Wirt. Later, I went to a department store and found similar fans for much more expensive prices so I don't feel so stupid now. 30 & 31) I called Brian - unfortunately collect for I didn't have my credit card on me. I think I'll call ma today. It was really nice to hear his voice. I think my first letter got lost. Oh well. Ah, Brian. mmmmmm. Mm. Today I called Ma & told her about all the things I'm going to be doing. I =always= overload myself. Oh well. 32) Huroshiki are cool. I learned how to wrap up beer bottles, boxes, watermelon, baskets - it was really neat. I bought myself 2 furoshikis for just 1000 yen, which I think is pretty good. I think if I learned how to wrap things well they could be pretty convenient to use. We also learned the proper use of hashi and sitting/standing/bowing in tatami mat rooms. 33) Well, writing wishes is part of Tanbata, the star festival (legend - two lovers, who are stars, are only allowed to meet once a year - starday) anyway I wrote things - like I want to be an astronau, I'd like to become good at kanji, I hope Amy and Carey get boyfriends, I hope the dogs have a happy life -- and a few others (I'm glad my host family doesn't know English too well.) 34) Instead of studying & doing homework, I decided to do origami - making cranes, balloons & little dolls complete w/ obi, hat & pants. It was fun. I really like origami. Whoever were the people to figure out how to fold such things, I really thank them. It's the little inessetials like this that really build up a culture, I think. 35) Got 2 letters from Brian and one from ma on the same day. I like getting letts - it's nice. 36) I keep signing up for everything here. Evidently there's some kind of outdoor pageant thing here that citizens do here and I'm going to try to perform in that and there's a festival of the opening of Hakodate as a port to foreign countries, and I'm going to try to perform in that. 37) Already mentioned this 38) It was lots of fun. First we sang the two songs we learned in class and then sang alot of American songs. We stayed for an hour and a half and the room was really cheap because we could get a smaller room for not everybody in our class went. (most who had not didn't come because they thought it would be 1000 yen per person.) I got to sing Where Have All the Flowers Gone and I was pretty good (I was kinda surprised - but I do better on middle range songs) I think we should go again - it's so much fun! 39) Overmentioned this 40) Our host parents (moms, really) came to watch us perform skits we had written. I did kinkami to kuma 3 tou (Goldilocks and the 3 bears) w/ Cathy Chang. It was kinda funny. I pulled my hair up in a high ponytail for kinkami and put my black sweater over my head for mamakuma. Some of the skits were pretty bad, some of the people were real hams, some memorized their skits pretty well and most had not. fun time was had by all.