January 8th was the 2-year anniversary of my move to Japan. Because it’s my third January here, I can now notice the common signs of the new year in Japan: bright and nippy weather, massive New Year’s sales, giggling 20 year-old girls clomping down the streets in vibrant kimonos on Coming of Age Day, bamboo […]
Japan
The Mystery of the Ubiquitous and Radiant Train Station Ad Model
She’s everywhere. Serene and regal, her image stalks me from ad posters plastered all over the walls of almost every commuter train station I pass through. She’s always photographed against iconic Japanese backgrounds: a serene temple surrounded by deer and cherry blossom trees, a ryokan inn heated by the steam of a nearby hot spring. […]
Hot Lunch
The quality of my work day lunch depends on where I’m teaching. On Thursdays, I work near a seemingly endless shopping arcade and the choices are rich. I favor a steaming bowl of ika tempura udon soup, spiked with lots of spicy red pepper and black sesame seeds. For my mid-evening snack, I stroll past […]
- Food Culture
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You Are Jealous of My Lunch, Again
It’s a chicken katsu bento, complete with black sesame-flecked rice, raw cabbage, pickled radish, pickled cucumbers (hidden behind the luscious, plum sauce slathered chicken katsu), a hunk of steamed egg, some spaghetti and a fresh slice of satsuma. Note, the beer is not mine; its empty shell is another leftover “present” from Sean.
Once Bitten
From a student’s homework: My son practice the kendo, that is traditional Japanese sport using a wood sord [sic]. He always come home after practice with crying because he was bitten by his teacher for learning the Japanese samurai’s spirit. “For,” is a tricky beast, with about as many grammatical uses as an octopus has […]
Your 168-Word Mini Japanese Culture Lesson
“The Karate Kid” helped make it cool in America to use the Japanese honorific “san,” but Mr. Miyagi was only telling part of the story. The Japanese will often use honorifics at the end of someone’s name to designate their relation to themselves; “san” is just one such term. “San” is used for someone you […]
Rice Fever, Rice Fever … We Know How to Do It
I’ve got hay fever or cedar fever or rice husk fever, or whatever kind of allergies people in Japan get in the fall, so I’m sneezing often and powerfully. The Friday five year-olds laugh uncontrollably every time I let loose a storm of sneezes, and sassy Miho with the dimpled smirk and side pony is, […]
In Which I Alienate Half of My Readers
It must be done: the once-a-year Well Woman check up. My doctor – advertised as English-speaking – happens to have a sign in both Japanese and English in the ante room behind a heavy curtain. Automatically, my eyes went to the English first: Take off your shorts and assume the position. “Gulp” is right.
- Japan
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Strangers in the Light?
You start to recognize people, and it’s not just because their faces are so relatively similar to yours that they seem oddly familiar. The foreigner community is thriving but small enough that the same handfuls of big-nosed, English-speaking people turn up at your bars and restaurants. Japanese cultural events are also a foreigner trap; of […]
Your 35-Word Mini Japanese Culture Lesson
To mime crying, the Japanese flatten their hands horizontally and raise them to just below their eyes, fingertips pointed towards their nose, as though to catch falling tears. It’s partner manipulation at its stylized best.