Ever since I went back “home” for a visit, I feel like I have been noticing more of those little bits of Japan that annoy and bother me. It is almost like two weeks away was enough for me to forget about them, only to come back and see them again with fresh eyes.
One of the things that has been annoying me most is the prevalence of katakana English and how it makes communicating in English, or in Japanese for that matter, difficult.
This favor goes out to all of our United States based readers.
A few months before we came back to America I had a student come up to me to ask a favor. He lived in the U.S. for about 7 years and while he was there he started collecting the quarters with the States on them. He managed to get twenty quarters, as they were released, but once he moved back to Japan he couldn’t get them anymore and his collection stopped.
When he found out that I was going to the U.S., he asked me if I would mind trying to pick up some of the states he was missing. He is a wonderful student, speaks great English, and I decided that it was well worth it to try to help this guy out. I asked my Dad to dig through his jar of change and we managed to find most of the quarters he needed but we are still missing a few.
I would really love to help this guy complete his quarter collection, if at all possible, so I was wondering if you, my fabulous and loyal readers, would mind digging through your own pockets and change jars to see if you have any of the ones he needs.
He needs Missouri, California, Nebraska, North Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii.
And, tell you what, I will make it worth your while. Anyone to find one of the quarters and send it my way will get a little bit of Japan sent back to you. I can’t make any promises about what it might be, but I assure you it will make you smile.
So, dig through your stashes. Check the change that you get at the register and let me know what you find. Just shout out in the comments if you find what I’m looking for and I will give you my address, in case you don’t have it already.
Thanks a bunch my friends!
While back home, we couldn’t help but share a little bit of the Engrish love with our family. Here is a picture of my Aunt (Sandy) and my Mom (Sue) both sporting their new t-shirts. Actually, I think the sentiments on each suit them quite nicely.
We arrived back in Japan last night and it was good. It was good to be in America, visiting family and friends, but it felt so good to be back in the tiny apartment that we have come to call home.
This trip really made me question and rethink what I think of as home. I have been forced, out of necessity, to consider our place in Gifu as home for the past year. It wouldn’t have felt right to live here for such an extended time while continuing to consider America our home. I didn’t want to feel like a visitor, a traveller, for the two years while we lived here. And so, over the past year or so, without even noticing, I have come to call our place in Japan home. Funny, I don’t just call it home because that is where our stuff (well, some of it) is, I have really come to feel that way.
Our apartment here is small, especially after comparing it again to the hugeness that is America, but it is cozy and it suits us well. It is filled, sort of, with things that make it feel like home. Some of those things have been inherited from JETs of the past and some of those things were brought by us, and some have been accumulated as time has past. Nevertheless, it has become our home and I am glad about that.
Last night, after more than two weeks being visitors and guests at various homes around the Midwest, it was good to sleep on the futons that we have come to be so comfortable in. And to bathe in the nice, deep ofuro that we have come to love.
As odd as it is, I must say I am really glad to be back. To be back home.
When we came back to the States we knew that the differences between the U.S. and Japan would be numerous and obvious, but some have been rather funny. For instance, when we were shopping at Kohl’s the other day.
Aaron was just looking for a few pairs of pants and I decided to wander off to find the toilet. I went to customer service, thinking it would be faster just to ask where it was, rather than wandering through the huge big-box store myself trying to find it.
“Excuse me, where is the toilet,” I asked.
“It’s in the bathroom,” said the completely unhelpful customer service person.
“Thanks a lot. And where might the bathroom be,” I inquired, clearly a little frustrated.
“Oh, it’s right around the corner.”
And so I went, off around the corner in search of the bathroom (or toilet). Now I know, people don’t usually walk around asking for toilets around here, but come on! The lady at the counter clearly knew what I wanted and yet she gave me a completely off-base first answer. It, in many ways, feels like I am back in Japan, standing at the counter and asking for a “fried potato” (what they call french fry) only to have the employee stare back at me, dumbfounded. As soon as I repeat myself and say, “furaido potato,” they get this instant look of understanding and I am immediately given what I have asked for.
This being back in America stuff, it’s kinda weird.
One of the places we spent a couple of nights while in Hokkaido was Asahidake-Onsen. A little chain of hotels and lodges all surrounding the hot springs at the base of Asahidake, the highest peak on Daisetsusan, and the highest point in Hokkaido. Daisetsuzan is a huge volcano, and it is active. Daisetsuzan shares its name with a national park that covers almost the entire system of peaks on top of this giant volcano. We enjoyed walking around the top just under peak of Asahidake. There were lovely little lakes and a bunch of fumaroles. Made it easy to understand where all the hot water was coming for our evening baths.
-edit3: Oh boy, do I dare to dream that we are really back? Is it possible? Now that I have found several hours to dedicate to getting us back online here we are. So, add us back to your reading lists. We seem to be back! After many trials and tribulations, we have moved to a new host. (Thanks for the rec Josh.) I am hoping this will take for good. I am glad to be rid of our former host. This one seems to be a bit more responsive (YAY!), although a bit more expensive (doh!). Still, we should be able to get more out of them, we have a couple of new projects on the horizon. Keep an eye out for them.
-edit2: Well, the problems have returned. I will be working to fix them again, however if I cannot resolve them I will be looking to switch hosts. Anyone out there have some recommendations of a host the use and like? email me.
-edit: okay finally we are back for real. I still have no idea what caused this problem, but for the time being it seems I have resolved it.
Sorry everyone about the downtime, we have been experiencing some major problems with how our website is being hosted. But now it should work more or less correctly. We should be able to do some updating, and behind the scenes I will continue working to correct the problem.
Things are still not working correctly, you may notice that the web address you see at the top is not the one you would expect. I am still experiencing serious problems with our installation. I am not sure what is causing these problems at this point. But it may be necessary to so quite a bit more work to get thing running as they should.
I have been surprised since coming here by the shear number of articles in foreign papers that like to focus on how weird and twisted Japan is. Often they take something that seems perfectly reasonable, given appropriate context, and blow it hugely out of proportion. Living here, people often forward to me articles about Japan. Which I really appreciate, actually. I like reading about what the rest of the world sees Japan. However, I am starting to notice a pretty disturbing trend in the way Japan, or in fact most foreign countries are displayed.
So, if you will allow me a brief rant. I will dissect the article Alycia posted in her comment to one of my sumo posts.
Following our trip to the training house we headed for the tournament itself. This is where the insider nature of our guide became apparent. Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures from this part of the day. So you will have to put up with my description.
We drove up to the front gate of the tournament, where a uniformed security guard tried to wave us off to the public parking. Instead we rolled down the window, and with a few words, we were shuttled through to the parking area reserved for wrestlers and officials. We parked in the back of the lot and walked in a back entrance to the stadium, past a handful of sumo-san in yukata smoking outside.
Just a quick sumo related factoid… We learned a bit more about the hairstyles of the Sumo wrestlers, as we were traveling with another japanese man who was a hairdresser and interested in these kinds of things. The top knot is something passed down from the samurai of the edo period, the really high level wrestlers get a different kind of knot that looks like a ginko leaf. Also their hair is held in place by a very thick and very stinky wax. Now, as for the picture. Apparently, a sumo wrestler will wash his hair if he is plagued by losses. This is supposed to wash away the bad luck and help them improve their game. Washing is no easy feat, this guy was scrubbing for almost 10 minutes. Wash, rinse, repeat. On the flip side, if they keep winning they will not wash their hair for the whole 15 days….
