Wandering Musings

Here they are at last! If you’ve been holding your breath, you may exhale at last… and maybe consider giving Guinness a call. These are a few photos from Kyoto when my family visited me in March. As usual, there’s commentary under each pic, so I won’t waste your time here. Pictures from Hiroshima, Miyajima and Tokyo are still to come, so now that you’ve exhaled it’s time to start holding again.

As daylight lengthens and the summer solstice nears I find myself back in the region of my birthplace (hence the dropping of “from Japan” from this blog’s title). I don’t know how long I’ll remain in the Pacific Northwest, but I’ll continue posting just as sporadically as I did while in Japan. To start things off, I have pictures from a hike a couple weeks ago. Triple Falls is a gorgeous piece of the Columbia River Gorge and I highly recommend admiring the lovely pictures.

I was recently reminded (thanks Keeter) that my Europe photos are posted. They’ve been up for a couple months now, but just in case you haven’t visited my Shutterfly collection recently, check it out. Cities visited include Tokyo, Beijing, Paris, Amsterdam and London. Enjoy the scenery and my VERY entertaining commentary. You’ll find hilarious titles like “Witty title lost,” “Illuuuuminations, Michael,” and “Rad Razer and other random titles.” Click the chick below for more.

Did you know humbug is an archaic word meaning hoax or jest? When the infamous Scrooge muttered the phrase “Bah! Humbug!” he was merely stating that Christmas is a fraud. (My students always mispronounce fraud… It pops up in lessons every now and then.) This holiday lesson brought to you by Wikipedia.

My love for Christmas music has just died. And when I say just, I mean a few minutes ago. I was listening to a streaming holiday music station online to get into the seasonal spirit, only to find myself feeling more and more miserable with the passing of each song. Take the following lyrics, for example.

There’ll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow.
There’ll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago.

It is NOT the most wonderful time of the year when your list of all the wonderful things is a lie. Although, these lyrics may not be the best example, as I DID host a Christmas party just last night (*sigh* as Santa. Kathy was my wife. And another teacher was our faithful reindeer.) However, there were NO toasted marshmallows. And yes, it may have been snowing at the time, and there could have possibly been some karaoke as well, but the twain did not meet! And it’s true my students do enjoy listening to me talk about my family’s Christmas traditions, especially the parts about bundling up and setting off through the Christmas tree farm in search of the perfect tree(s). Like I said, those lyrics weren’t the best example. But as I listened to that and many other songs, I started feeling a bit Scroogish. I had been perfectly content until those songs made me realize that I couldn’t possibly be! Merry Christmas is an oxymoron! While I sat here dripping with nostalgia (um, not the best visual) another song came on. Here are a few of its lyrics.

Christmas in the Northwest is a gift that we can share.
Christmas in the Northwest is a child’s answered prayer.
Even if you take away the presents you still will have a tree.
For Christmas in the Northwest is a gift God wrapped in green.

Oh come on! Never mind that these lyrics are so sickeningly sweet they make me want to puke, or at the very least book an appointment for the dentist. Talk about rubbing salt in the wounds. But I take back what I said about no longer loving Christmas music. Instrumental is fine (Mannheim Steamroller anyone? I’m listening to Veni Veni Emmanuel now), along with the old classics (that’s a tautology right there, like the expression “free gift”).

And speaking of gifts, here’s one for you! A video! This was originally intended for upload about a year ago but obviously forgotten. It’s from last year’s winter holiday, recorded at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. The aquarium itself has many exhibits, including the ever-popular dolphin, whale and seal shows. But THIS tank absolutely took the cake. I stood in awe before this ‘miniature’ version of Kuroshio Sea. The ENORMOUS fish you see is a whale shark. There were three of them! The photos were up long ago. Pictures are great, but sometimes you just have to see (and hear!) the sights yourself. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

No Europe pictures posted yet, BUT there are plenty of others! Click the lovely lady below to be taken to my Roving Lens page. If you haven’t already, you can join me for a stroll up Mt. Fuji. You can also check out some sights from Seoul. Or come party with me, vicariously, of course.

As you can see, I FINALLY worked up the courage to go to a Japanese hair salon. Okay, well, I’m not really that brave. Kathy’s the one who booked the appointment. I just tagged along. The stylists were more scared of me than I was of them, though. The woman who was supposed to cut my hair (and who speaks English!) passed me on to the man who owns the salon (and speaks NO English). I drew a picture of what I wanted and hoped for the best. There was only one freak-out moment when the man wanted to give me a fringe (bangs! Never again!). I’ve gone short before, but this is a brand new style for me. I have to say I’m quite fond of it so far. It shocked my students. Many of them thought there was a new teacher at the school. I don’t like attention, so it was a wearying week while all the students cycled through, each exclaiming on my new do. Mostly good reviews, although there were a few who were convinced I’d had some traumatic event which triggered the cut. I wish! But my life is pretty dull.

The seasons have officially changed, in my head at least. We’ve had quite a bit of snow, though at the moment it has mostly melted. Snowboarding will start soon (next weekend in fact). I’ve been dying to snowboard since August. It’s about time! Aeon’s Christmas party is this weekend. I’ll be Santa again. Kathy will be Santa’s wife. And we’re forcing a couple other teachers to be our reindeer. They should be thankful it’s reindeer and not elves with pointy shoes. I love living in a non-religious country. You can enjoy Christmas for what it’s really about – rampant commercialism. There’s no political correctness and certainly no “War on Christmas” crap. Christmas isn’t even a holiday (I get paid on the 25th – and the banks are all open). Everyone works. I would’ve had to, but I’m taking Christmas and a couple days off for an extra long winter vacation this year. No big travel plans, although Kathy and I might go to Kyoto for a few days. It’s time to start saving up for my return to the States. And, well, there’s New Zealand to plan for (the south island), and Kathy has given me an open invitation to stay with her in Perth. Oh yeah, and of course there’s the whole looking for a new job thing. Or grad school. *Buries head in the sand… or rather, the snow.* Damn you, real world!

There comes a time in every blog’s life when posts slow to a standstill, attention wanes, and focus wanders…

Now is not that time!

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s coming – the blog update of the century… or, the year at least. I am very happy to inform you all (and by all I mean the two of you reading this, you know who you are) that my PURSE is on its way from London, and tagging along with it, the love of my life, my camera. Some VERY nice Aeon recruiters were able to pick it up earlier this week and ship it. The following was taken from the Royal Mail tracking site two minutes ago.

“Your item, posted on 07/11/07 with reference <REDACTED BY THE CIA> has been passed to the overseas postal service for delivery in JAPAN.”

It’s British, remember, so switch the month and day. With my camera comes pictures, lots of pictures, from Europe. The countdown has begun. Expect some HUGE updates soon. Of course I have other things to share as well, since I didn’t exactly crawl into a hole these past few months while my camera was being held hostage. But now, I feel revitalized. I’ll be able to withdraw money from ATMs! Give the spare key back to the landlord! Listen to my mp3 player! Use a wallet I don’t have to feel embarrassed about because it didn’t cost Y100 ($1)! Pay my water bill on time (also requires ATM card)! Use my favorite chapstick! Not live in Japan illegally (gaijin card)! And of course, take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

Get ready.

O snail,

          Climb Mt. Fuji,

                   But slowly, slowly!

-Issa

Thanks goes to my dad for finding that one. Due to a decision made three days ago, my coworker Masako and I are climbing Mt. Fuji tomorrow. I’ve never climbed a mountain before, but it’s now or never. That’s not just an expression either. The “official” Fuji climbing season ended August 31st (though it’s generally okay until mid-September), and won’t start until next July, when I’ll be… Well. I won’t be here. There’s a saying, “If you never climb Mt. Fuji you are a fool, and if you climb it more than once you are a fool.” We’ll start the climb from the Kawaguchiko 5th Station around 9 PM, climb all night, and watch the sunrise from the top. From there it’ll be a painful slide back down. So wish me luck!

As for Europe photos, don’t hold your breath. My camera (along with my wallet, keys, mp3 player and favorite chapstick) are in London still. A fact of which I’m quite jealous. It’s a long story, so I won’t go into it now. Actually, it’s not a long story at all. I left it at the security gate before boarding the train to Paris. I just didn’t want to expand upon my stupidity. (And the irony is, I had been paranoid about pickpockets the entire trip, always carefully guarding my purse, yet I was the one to leave it behind.) As to when – and if – it’ll be shipped back to me here in Japan is still in negotiation… so, like I said, don’t hold your breath. But I will borrow Kathy’s camera for the climb, so I will have some Fuji photos to post soon.

Well, I leave for Europe tomorrow. I can’t believe it, although I still feel a little guilty about not exploring Japan more fully. But there’s still time before I head Stateside. After this trip I will have set foot on more than half the continents in the world. For anyone interested, here is a brief outline of our whirlwind tour.

8/9 – Leave Tokyo around 2:00. Arrive in China around 4:30. Spend the night in Beijing (city center, near a famous street lined with restaurants). Am very much looking forward to egg noodles, which are non-existent in Japan.

8/10 – Leave Beijing around noon. Arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport around 5:30 Paris time. Stay the night in a hostel near the Eiffel Tower.

8/11 – Board the Thalys high-speed train at the Gare du Nord at 6:52 AM. Arrive in Amsterdam around 11:00. Spend the day in Amsterdam. ALL the hotels/hostels required at least 2 or 3 nights booking, and the ones that didn’t were full. SO… we’ll either be sleeping at an all-night cafe or (probably) at the airport. It’ll be a new kind of travel experience!

8/12 – Leave on a plane for London at 7:00 AM. Arrive in London at 7:10. Just a ten minute flight! (Ha, no, but that’s what I thought at first. Time zone change.) Spend a hopefully gorgeous day in London. Our hostel is directly across from the Museum of Natural History. No time to go in of course (I’ll be back), but it sounds pretty centrally located.

8/13 – Board the Eurostar at Waterloo station around 3:30. Arrive in Paris around 7:00. Our hotel is in the Latin Sector on the left bank. Cool!

8/14 – Have breakfast with my fellow hobbit friend from LA, who just happens to be visiting Paris at the same time. See Notre Dame. MAYBE the Sacre Coeur if we have time. Our plane leaves at 2-something.

8/15 – Arrive in Tokyo.

8/16 – Work. Try to stay awake. Expect pictures, but I’m not making any promises they’ll be up soon.

The Kanto festival is one of the top three festivals in the Tohoku (northeastern) region of Japan. It was held this weekend here in Akita City. I wore a lovely plum-colored yukata (a summer kimono) and got to witness the spectacle. Once the sky darkens, the main street (aptly named Kanto Avenue) closes and hundreds of kantos emerge. A kanto is a large bamboo frame supporting up to 46 lanterns, balanced on the hand, head, hip or shoulder by special performers. It’s supposed to look like a glowing ear of rice. The large ones weigh about 110 lbs. It was certainly a sight to behold. Sometimes the lanterns would catch fire (usually if they toppled over or got caught in a tree), so there was certainly some excitement. And yet, it’s more than just the visual. The crushing crowds, the drums, flutes and traditional chants (that reminded me of Gob’s ‘chicken chant’ from Arrested Development) all add to the kanto experience. Pictures are great, but in this case video is better. So I bring you a couple videos, taken with my camera. They’re not the best quality, but to all of you on the other side of the Pacific, you can share a bit of the experience.

This is what I imagined before coming to Japan: Sitting at my desk writing while in the background wind chimes chime and rain patters outside the open window. Replace the desk with a kotatsu, throw in a couple distant whimsical flutes and that is how you’ll find me at this very moment. Of course, in my head the view outside consisted of verdant rice paddies, not concrete buildings and parking structures, but oh well. The flutes make up for the scenery… or lack thereof. I made salmon pasta today, cleaned the apartment and watched Little Miss Sunshine. Not the most exciting day in this land of the rising sun, but right now I feel full and content. And glad I don’t live in California.

Maybe you’re wondering why I titled this post Mad World. It’s the title of a song by Tears for Fears, redone by Gary Jules for the movie Donnie Darko. The chorus starts out like this: “I find it kind of funny. I find it kind of sad. The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had…” The song is excellent and I recommend listening to the whole thing. I bring this up because a couple nights ago I had a vivid dream I can’t get out of my head. I won’t go into too much detail, but here’s the gist of it.

I was stargazing with my dad, even though the sun was rising and we couldn’t actually see any stars. In the pink sky I watched a distant Earth appear to fall to the horizon, perform a hairpin u-turn and reverse direction. My dad said I’d just witnessed Earth’s vernal equinox. While somehow this didn’t seem right, I turned back to the sky for further gazing. That’s when I saw another object rushing toward the horizon. This time it was the moon. It was close. And when it soon filled the entire sky it didn’t perform a hairpin turn. There was a deafening sonic boom upon impact and then, in that mere fraction of a second before the shock wave, I realized what mortality really meant. Luckily the ensuing shock wave shocked me into wakeful consciousness, but that feeling, the realization that I will die, clung to me much longer than the dream itself.

That feeling has faded now. Now being July 23rd. This post was actually written about four months ago, but forgotten and left to rot in the nothingness of cyberspace. Seeing as how it’s currently the rainy season here in Akita, my initial paragraph holds true. I could ramble on about the dream, which I’m sure is what I had originally intended (though honestly I had forgotten all about that particular one until now), but instead I’ll leave you to ponder your own mortality at your leisure. Why does it take an unreality to make reality seem so much more significant? There’s a quote I like by Henry Havelock Ellis. “Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more of life?”