just something interesting I just read

Right now I'm reading Sake and Satori: Asian Journals - Japan by Joseph Campbell. From page 100: "The distinguishing characteristic of one who has attained awakening and lives in it is: gratefulness to the world- to the tea, the teacup, the table, everything - which has made and makes existence and enlightenment possible. The idea of religion as gratefulness permeated Japan".

Two Eyes in Tokyo

So I was walking to a cafe the other day with my Japanese friend and all of a sudden we came upon these two fellows in suits wearing strange, huge masks. We couldn't figure out what they were until we walked around the other side - two giant eyeballs being guided by a Santa's elf girl. A true WTF?! moment, even my Japanese friend had no clue what was going on. Merry Christmas, super early, Tokyo style! This picture doesn't do just to the bizarreness of the situation, and the creepy way they just sort of shuffled along the road. Very ironic to be dressed up as a giant eye and be completely blind.

i made a joke!

So, I'm not sure if I've ever made up a joke in my life. But today, I was just thinking about my friend Ben who's coming to visit me in a couple of weeks here in Japan, he's in the US Army and I believe he's a lieutenant. So that word was just floating around in my head, and this joke just popped right in after it. It's terrible, but I'm going to share it with you anyway. Here goes:

Q: What do you call an army officer who takes up residence in a bathroom?
A: A loo tenant!

The Scottish guy I work with here gave me a chuckle, though I'm not sure if it was out of pity or not. Seriously though, I think this joke is gold. I'm gonna be famous!

Meiji Jingu 50th anniversary

Recently the biggest Shinto shrine in Tokyo, the Meiji Jingu, held its 50th anniversary celebration. The Meiji Shrine was built in the early 1900s to enshrine the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife - it was destroyed in the bombings during World War II, but was rebuilt in 1958, making this the 50th year since its restoration.

As I walked through the park in the dark, candles lit the path toward the shrine.



The torii which mark the entrance to the shrine, lit up in the dark.



A priest (or king?) and a young disciple maybe, talked to each other in a strange sing-songy voice - my friend said it reminded her of Noh theater, something I'm hoping to see in Tokyo soon.



The priest, at times, cried.



We left around the time when a scary-looking white-masked robed figure entered, slowly walked around menacingly, and finally sat next to the priest and a young cherry blossom tree.



Good times!

File Under: Awesome Engrish

Usually, I'll model dialogue for my students, and then have them use substitution from their own lives to build understanding.

My dialogue model for today:
"Yesterday I ate sushi. It was so delicious."

One of my student's substitution:
"Yesterday I made love to my girlfriend. It was so delicious."

A+ !!

Japanese food

Those of you who know me, know that I love Asian food. So coming here to Japan, one of my most important missions has been to make friends with the native food, then devour it. Here are some of the things I've been eating.

I was on my way to hike Mitake mountain and I had to change trains to a local line on the same platform. So, I had 20 minutes to kill and I was hungry, but I didn't want to leave the station ... no problem! The Japanese have thought about this problem, they have ramen shops right in the middle of the train platform. I had soba (buckwheat noodles) with fried vegetables mixed in ... mmm. It's a surprisingly dark taste - hard to describe. Definitely not sweet or even salty.



The rotating sushi bars are the best. You just sit down, get free unlimited tea from a spigot, all the wasabi and pickled ginger you want, and just pull down plates from the conveyor belt to eat. You get to make a sweet tower that tells your dining neighbors exactly how much of a sushi pig you are. :D



Speaking of pigs .......



And finally, a Japanese take on a Korean restaurant. the prices are heartbreaking, but even more disturbing ... I don't recall ever seeing a floating poopie sausage on the menu in Korea?!



The good news, tea report: in the teacher's room of my school, there is a machine which dispenses two things - hot water, and loose leaf green tea, at the touch of a button. Most days, I just don't stop drinking it.

Tokyo Design Festa

This weekend, Ross Ilana and I went to Tokyo Design Festa, a once-a-year independent art festival held in a massive convention center called Tokyo Big Sight. In some cases you could even watch the art as it happened - this woman was body-painting a ... tiger man?



This little boy fell in love with a new robot friend - which clapped symbols and whistled to advertise the booth's art.



There was a ninja dance show!!



Children could learn how to weave at looms.



There was a teepee village.



Some sensual dance body painting ...



... and some people just sat around with animal heads on.



Just simply amazing to be able to see new, original artwork even few feet, turn a corner, and see tons more -- I believe there were between 2,000 to 3,000 artists at the show.

And oh yeah - they crowned me their mushroom king! They just pulled me into this display, I had no idea what was going on ...

o b a m a 2 0 0 8 !!!!

It's been too long since I've last posted here, but a long time between posts usually means I'm having too much fun to sit down and write something, and that's definitely the case lately. Just some bits and pieces of life here in Japan ...

I mentioned the election in all of my classes today (I teach college freshmen, mostly boys), and the reactions were so varied. Usually I started it out like this:

Henry: "Something happened yesterday, in America. It was a special day. What happened?" (yay for simple English!)
((silence, students process it and scratch their heads ... then, one of two things))
Random student: Obama!
OR
Random student: (Incomprehensible Japanese, and laughter)
Henry (both situations): "Yes! And now for today's lesson ..."

In some classes where I thought they might be able to handle it I pushed the "conversation" a little further.

Henry: "Why is Obama special? He's the first ... what?" I was looking for - the first black/African American President. What I got, in one class, was a kid who yelled out the "n" word.

You can guess from this the level of most of the students in my class - sometimes worse English than my 4 weeks of Japanese. ;)

And now a couple of pictures ...



A wolf god dances at an autumn festival in Kawagoe, north of Tokyo.



An old bell-tower, Kawagoe.



A noodle sandwich in the 7-Eleven near my house. Mmm ... carbs!