Week 7 begins with me rising early to take in the festival that began yesterday in Kasugai. From side show wrestling matches to small rides for kids as well as a bevy of food and beer it looks, smells and feels a lot like a fair in the States. After talking a walk around, having a hot dog on a stick as well as a very good, cold Kirin draft beer I decided to hop on my bike and head to Nagoya for the remainder of the sunny, warm day. Before leaving I headed to Kazuhiko’s for an Asahi and a few misokatsu sticks outside the restaurant as he was hosting some friends to celebrate. One interesting thing of note is how in the States most “fair food” consists of junk food most of it eaten from a cone, cup or on a stick (hence my choice). One of the more popular food stalls at the Kasugai festival was ramen soup. It was almost comical as men and woman, many with children in tow carried huge bowls of soup through the crowded fairgrounds looking for a place to eat. Something about boiling soup being carried around at a fair seemed strangely out of place, it just does not seem to be ideal to be eating and carrying scalding hot soup in Styrofoam bowls with kids flying around everywhere. No kid is going to need a skin graft if I bounce a corn dog of his noggin but damn I was actually scared watching some of these people go by. After catching a 3PM train I hit the Nagoya International Center where I leisurely read the past Friday’s USA Today as well as a recent Sports Illustrated crowing about how Manny had made the Dodgers relevant again (Phil’s put an end to that noise). After also checking in on a Japanese school where I may be able to take some lessons weekly on my day off on Mondays I then headed to Dotour Coffee to use the Internet for a few hours before catching a train back home. The only stop I made was one stop from home where a student of mine told me I could find my new favorite place, Mos Burger. The Japanese burger chain is awesome and their smallish burgers (ok I had two) with onions and tomato sauce are pretty splendid indeed. As I said I would I finished the night watching Mission Impossible 2 (my favorite of the series, 1 was a little too Eastern European drab, Phillip Seymour Hoffman made 3 a little cartoonish) on my TV where I happily set my TV to English and fell asleep soon after the movie ended.
Mondy had me realizing how much I am missing football (I cannot even talk about the Phillies right now) when as I ate my toast and had some coffee I flipped by a scrambled channel on my TV and heard a familiar voice. That voice was Al Michaels broadcasting the Live Sunday night NBC NFL matchup pitting the Seahawks against the Tampa Bay Bucs. I felt like I was in one of those traps from the Saw movie series being forced to watch real American football through the scrambled signal. It was then I realized how deep my addiction to American sports was that I was actually frothing at the mouth to watch a Bucs/Seahawks game. Hopefully I have rectified that situation or will on November 17th when they come to install my DSL rate Internet connection as well as Yahoo TV (they hit me at the right time), which will give me several English channels (I cannot wait for CNN International). It may sound crazy but I cannot deny I will think I am in heaven to get ready for work and be able to see some American news. It is so bad my mother had to tell me about Tina Fey’s awesome Sarah Palin sketches.
Japanese Randomness #1
Some products here are just too strange for words. One of the oddest is a new scent being peddled in Japan by AXE body spray; the spray is called Dark Expressions and actually smells of all things, chocolate! The spray sports a commercial with a guy spraying himself and then turning into a “chocolate rabbit” version of himself and having woman wildly chasing after him. The climax has the woman so enamored with the man they start breaking off pieces of his body from his torso and “devouring” him.
One word, nightmares. Let’s leave it at that.
Japanese Randomness #2
Recently two Monday’s ago was another holiday in Japan but due to it falling on Monday it was just my normal day off. When reconvening at school on Tuesday I asked my students what they did for the holiday, many had answers similar to what you might find at home, had dinner with family, visited relatives etc. Only one student spoke of a family tradition which she said was popular in Japan in which the patriarch climbs a ladder and drops rice balls down for the family, mostly children to catch. When I asked why this was done, perhaps believing it had some religious significance she deadpanned “For fun”. I then followed up and asked if it was messy since I assumed the rice balls would break being dropped from such a height, again matter of factly she replied as if a silly question, “Of course not the rice balls are in a bag”. It was at that moment I just stopped asking questions.
Japanese Randomness #3
While stopping at FamilyMart to make a few calls home and grab a cold BOSS coffee coming home from work I walked to the cold drink case and noticed a new product had been “cut in”. I did a double take as I saw new gleaming bottles of Pepsi White with Yogurt. Wow that is two things I was never demanding be put together, it doesn’t strike me like chocolate and peanut butter “slam dunk” match-up.
Japanese Randomness #4
For some reason there seems to exist a Japanese guy who is known for slapping people across the face. On at least three occasions I have seen this mid fiftyish, square jawed Japanese guy slapping people across the face on TV, be it a game show or the like. On the news the other day I saw him walking into a press conference for Japan’s World Cup soccer team and to the delight of the people on hand slapping Japan’s striker across the face. The really odd thing is not that he does this but he wails them so hard it must make there head rattle. Each and every time he slaps them people start laughing like I do when I watch Dave Chappelle do stand up.
Wow I am in Trouble
Since I arrived in Japan I have been fortunate to have dropped a few more pounds most likely do to the fact that you reconsider going for junk food at night when you have to hop on your bike a ride a quarter mile for it. I have noticed that a lot has been under construction since I arrived in Kasugai right next to my apartment. My questions about it were answered tonight as the sign was finally erected, the green and red of 7-11 proudly displayed on the soon to be ready plot. If I get to know the night clerk well enough I could actually drop some yen down to the parking lot from my balcony and have him toss me a container of “spicy chicken” that is popular at convenience stores here in Japan. The odd thing about the chicken, which is delicious, is that it is not the least bit spicy (actually greasy chicken would better sum it up) but I keep forgetting this is Japan. Anyway the point being I better keep myself if check because distance will no longer be an issue.
Well enough of my musings on Japan please check in with me soon as I hope to get more pictures up as well as have more pointless stories and worthless opinions and views on my home here in Japan.
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