Marc’s Japan Adventure

…Hiroshima. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I’ve added some links to my friends’ weblogs. These are old pals from back in Austin. Lots of good stuff at: The Ansible Network by my friend Daniel, A Boy and His Computer by my friend Ryland, and, I think, the most interesting, Exposure by my friend Matt. He’s a writer, and I think his blog reflects that. Anyway, enjoy. Be back in a few days.

I apologize for updating this blog only once a week. Believe it or not, I’m actually doing things here that involve me “going outside”, I think is the correct term. I was berated recently for not providing you, the eager readers, with more cool stuff from Japan. So, without further ado, here are a bunch of random cell phone pictures. My favorites: “Madeline Ave.” and “Hey, you, isn’t it tasty? Don’t you dare say that.”

I DID IT!! It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and altitude sickness almost got me, but I persevered and made it to the top. Mt. Fuji is a difficult hike, and it gets cold at night. The worst part for me was the lack of oxygen near the top. I had to go really slowly, which was easy to do, since there were about a zillion other people on the mountain. We started about 9:30pm or so on Sunday night, and hiked all night. We reached the summit about 4:30, just as the sun was starting to rise. The pictures here don’t really do it justice, but it was breathtaking. The other people on the trip were friends and/or ex-AEON coworkers of Ben’s, or Ben’s former students. Good people all around, and a fun, but exhausting day. Pix:

Heading to Mt. Fuji today to meet my friend Ben. Pix to come in a couple days. Talk to y’all soon.

Holy moly! 4 people visiting at once! Pix:

Last week I went to Gion Festival in Kyoto. This is a festival that started in 869 with a plague. To apease the gods that sent the plague, the Seiwa emperor, resident in Kyoto, sent his officials to Gion Shrine. Also, the Emperor ordered a procession of floats to be paraded about the town to appease various gods. Each float had its own rhythm section, so that each neighborhood represented could be heard by the gods. So now, nearly two thousand years later, it sounds like a cacophonous, beautiful mess.

I met up with my friend Kumi, who is from Kyoto. Her grandfather (!!) made the vase in the first two pictures. It was being displayed in a museum, randomly. She was surprised, so I took a picture. Afterwards, we went to her grandmother’s house, which was a traditional Japanese house. In the back was her grandfather’s, and now her uncle’s kiln for making pottery.

The floats are being pulled by a lot of guys, and the guys in front standing on the float did a little fan dance as the float went by. Video to come later… Enjoy the pictures:

…and didn’t ask.

Corn is literally everywhere, from salads to sushi to pizza. Why? We’ll never know. Rebecca found a single kernel of corn in the women’s restroom. It was next to the sink.

Packaging is excessive. Everything you order is wrapped in at least 2 bags, and at least one of those bags is taped shut, thus making removing the contents of said bag extremely difficult.

Napkins and paper towels are non-existent. Most restaurants just don’t have them, or they’re hidden behind the counter and you have to ask for them, and when you do, you are invariably given 1 or 2, at most. Most Japanese people carry around a handkerchief with them for this purpose. But, to my enthnocentric mind, that’s even MORE disgusting. So I use this handkerchief as a tissue, napkin, and towel??? Ewww! Although I’m sure it’s environmentally better, it grosses me out.

You know Japanese people love seafood. Well, they also love hot dogs with the same fervor. Yes, hot dogs. They turn up everywhere, much like the above-mentioned corn. I’ve seen hot dogs in the middle of buns (like pigs in a blanket), little hot dogs on their own in the grocery store (like cocktail weenies), and hot dogs on a stick, like corn dogs. However, for some reason there are no street vendors selling hot dogs in buns. I have a feeling that a NYC hot dog vendor would make a killing here!

Okay, here are some random pix from my cell phone that I’ve been accumulating for a few weeks. Enjoy the “zi cock” and check out the “nice day card.” In Japanese it says “DICK” in huge letters. Also, “there’s ‘cold’ in them thar hills” made me laugh and it was clever. And the Mets drink…

On Saturday, there was a GIANT sale at the Hankyu Department Store, which is right next to the school where I work. This is one of the premiere department stores in Japan, and it is not exaggerating to say that I have NEVER seen that many people in one store in my entire life. There were policemen directing people, and there was yellow rope everywhere. Consumerism ain’t dead in this country, regarldess of the economic state. It wasn’t pretty. One of my students said, “It looked like beasts.” I coulnd’t help but laugh and agree.

Anyway, Hankyu invites artists to decorate their windows every change of season, much like Macy’s around Christmastime in NYC. I managed to catch the graffiti artists while they were working, chat them up, and snap a few photos. For more info on the artists: Hankyu Graffiti meets Windows (in Japanese!). Head to Babelfish for translation. They were incredible. Pictures:

After I checked out the windows, I met some the other teachers who I work with at a nearby Italian restaurant and we said a smaller goodbye to Izumi, who’s leaving for France on Monday. Aiko and Nozomi talked with some of the band members, who were really cool. Pix and video!!:

Saturday night we had a farewell party for Izumi and a welcome party for Mai, the new teacher. The party was on the 17th floor which gave us a good view of…the parking lot behind our building. Oh well. About 70 students came to the party, and as you can see, everyone got pretty drunk. Then we ditched the students, and went to a club in Shinsaibashi to stay out all night. I caught the first train home at 5:45am and promptly collapsed. Here’s the evidence:

So Marty and Randy have left to go explore the rest of Kansai before heading back to Texas. And I’m left here, trying to get some sleep for a change, but I can’t seem to do it!

Tomorrow I have a party to welcome a new teacher and say farewell to one of our existing teachers. Izumi is leaving to go to France, which is just about the coolest thing ever. She will probably study English, and may do more teaching. Also, she’s going to learn about wine on a vineyard, which is incredible.

Heard this on NPR this morning: Hipster Handbook released in NYC.

By the way, here’s the song: Back To Life

Oh, my friend Kim made this fantastic anti-war poster: