A WEEKEND IN OSAKA

The Osaka HEP Five. A monument to entertainment. The first ferris wheel to be installed atop of a high-rise building.


My mates from Hope Chapel Osaka, The Gaijin Girls. Deb (NZ), Laura (Wales), Chloe (Brisb, Aus.), Sarah (UK). We all teach English of some sort. What else would we be good for?



The inspiration of a thousand sci-fi animes; noir view from Ebisu-bashi bridge. A landscape reminiscent of Blade Runner.



Survival of the flashiest in Dotombori-gawa OSAKA.



Living out the myth of Amerika in America-mura.

Audio: One Call Away by Chingy on Radiostorm.com
Biblio: Paul's letter to the Ephesians.
Cerebrio: Japan is a spiritually dark place.

IT'S SOME SORT OF NORMAL, SOME SORT OF EXCITING

It was a full weekend. It was a fruitful. Yet, in light of all the weekend's I've ever had, nothing so extraordinary in itself.

I started getting into the weekend spirit in my last class of Junior High students cause it was the last class of their school year, last class as Junior High students. I jumped on my bike as soon as class was over and got to the station in quicktime to catch the semi-express train into the city to meet Debs and Godfrey so tha we could meet the rest of Chloe's party at the Osaka Hep-5.

Initially I didn’t think I would make that much out of the night but when it started to get obvious that I was not going to enjoy my time in the city or make the most out of the train ride if I had to catch the last train, I decided to miss my last train and wing it. And what a ball I had when I decided to make the most of the night! I finally am getting that when you live so far out of the city, you want to make the most out of the time you have when you do go into it. And that, living out of the city and having to make the last train was in the early evening of 11:25pm would be a sheer dampener. Why, stay out all night and party anyway! Then, if you have to catch the first train home in the morning. But I didn't have to do that. It felt SO good to be in the city at night and to feel its pulse, see the bright lights. That's the beauty of cities, the phenomenon isn't as thrilling in the day as it is in the night. Part of a reality I hadn’t been in for awhile.

Karaoke place was quite different from the one I went with my colleagues in Shikoku. This was a very upmarket joint with a lot less sleeze. (Thanks to Mitsubishi Corp.!) I put on Take That’s Relight My Fire and Shania Twain’s Man, I Feel like a woman! The latter being a very appropriate Friday/Saturday night song and decided forget inhibitions. That was only to get in my way of making friends. I was going to let my hair down and let people know some part of me. So I grabbed the mike and shook my tushie in time with Shania and Chloe. I think it brought on some laughs for Laura, Sarah and Debbie. But I had fun anyway and didn’t care too much as long as I made the most of it.

I only got home at 10am on saturday, still a little weary though I had caught at least 7 hours of sleep altogether betweeh Chloe hospitably putting me and Debs up and the train ride home. But watched The Pianist over lunch and then napped for two hours (an hour more than I had intended). It was too beautiful a day to waste in bed so I went for a bike ride around my neighbourhood. There was not much to explore... nothing exciting I could find. But I’ve found a near(er) supermarket on the other side of Goido and a hardware/Garden-ware type store which sold cheap shopping bikes and a DVD rental place in the next town...

After fudging for a little bit more and salvaging some dinner from the freezer over CNA’s Malaysian Election broadcast I biked again to get to the station on time so I could catch the train in time for Soul Sistas. To be honest, I didn’t know how it was going to turn out and was a little cynical/detached/wary. But it was a beautiful evening to hear all our voices praising God and that teeny insight into the Japanese girls in church. I did feel sometime a little empathetic toward the single japanese lady...

After fellowship, at Laura’s invitation, I decided to join her and Debs for a stayover and a F.R.I.E.N.D.S. fest after a midnight snack. I didn’t need much persuasion at all. What else was I to do on my own? What would I have lost? The opportunity to work out a friendship had no cost - (actually, 2 cds and 1 DVD rental overdue.. .but thats a different matter). It proved to be a chance to share our thoughts, feeligns and opinions on Japan. Debbie said sometimes she doesn’t like talking about it cause its being negative. But being able to talk about it helped me get it off my chest and out of my head and know that I wasn’t struggling on my own. That support of empathy... Laura was helpful as she was encouraging. She’s quite affectionate too which was so good. Cause that’s so lacking here. Physical contact, hugs, tickles, pats on the head, tugs of the pony tail.... little things like that. It’s almost as if one was emotion-less here. Little touches like that, are signals that you do exist in someone elses’ physical and social world here. I knew I was going to miss affection, but I didn’t realise how much I had missed it. It was so good that these girls were so open to having me join them.

Late, lazy, Sunday breakfast of cereals, French toasts, sunnyside eggs with soldiers, english tea with milk and honey, lasted maybe an hour or two and then we had more FRIENDS to watch and rushed to church. Service was not grand but Laura had explained that with most of the Japanese, they are considered a young christian circle, so, what could I expect. I decided my benchmarks were unwarranted and that so far fellowship was proving encouraging and supportive. Dinner table conversation was far more stimulating but I suspect that was possible only because the gaijin all congregated on one end of the table and the locals on the other so we were comfortable throwing out ideas in english. They started talking about spiritual warfare things and how they were more probably in an idolatrous hotzone like Japan and that gave me the anxieties. Laura was quite caring which was such a nice change to have.

Thank God for a good, fruitful weekend. For the fellowship. Help me to focus on now and not worry myself what will happen to the social and fellowship in the months to come. Help me be an encouragement to them as they were to me. Bless them with a good week.

Audio:Perfect by Simple Plan on Radiostorm.net
Biblio: Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe.
Cerebrio: It's not all fun. But it is different!

BE STILL MY BEATING FROZEN HEART

Its a partly cloudy day with an expected high of 16Cº. Without the inverter on, my apartment is a chilly 16.5Cº. The sun is hiding behind the clouds again. Not exciting.But, its the only day that is expected to be dry this week. Going to take the opportunity to bike to work today.

Spring is upon us. Very soon, the bland winterscape will bloom and blossom, and so will the ume (plums) and sakuras (Cherryblossoms), and there will be colour once again in my life!

CAN YOU READ A BLOG ON THE SLY?

They're published out there to be read, even to an unintended audience and target.

I've been catching up on some of my highschool mates vicarious lives through their blogs. They're all over the place, so blogs really help. But I've remained anonymous on most of them just cause I wouldn't like their contents to be interfered with.

Its nice knowing that these gals are successful in what they put their heart and what they set themselves to do. I list this list to credit them wher they have left their footprints: Scotland, London and various parts of the United Kingdom; Michigan, San Diego, San Fran, L.A.; some African countries; Papua New Ginuea; Australia, Sydney Melbourne. I'm sure there are plenty more where my class of 95 have left their footprints. I'd like to have put Osaka, Japan on the map too.

Niwaz, one of them did this today: a non-stop 4.5km .. with her boyfriend and about 300 sit-ups. It doesn't matter where she is, its still super impressive. I don't think I could ever have done that. And, I most certainly cannot do it now. Not even when I do cycle to work.

OF HAIR-EATING HAIRDRYERS, WALKING INTO POSTS AND THE LOCAL CUISINE

I have now been in Japan for two months, to the day. It's definitely felt longer than that. Well, I'm finally glad to say I have made progress: I am now writing this in the comfort of my apartment. With this super-dooper speed DSL connection, comes the wonders of the internet ex-Japan: cheap-ass internet telephony (it costs even less to phone international than it would for you to speak to your friend in the same city), internet radio (from all around the world. See: Ly-ann's Speak English campaign) and apparently roadband television, if I can figure out how to set it up. Finally, my life bears some similitude to normalcy, if ever it bore one in the first place.

HAIR-EATING HAIRDRYERS
This must be a hairdressers absolute nightmare. I have had my hair eaten up by a Japanese hairdryer. I know, how on earth is that possible? While most things are light years ahead of the rest of the world, the humble hairdryer has been left on the shelf. Take a look at yours. It probably has some sort of casing behind the drying barrel. PAY ATTENTION TO IT. APPRECIATE THAT ITS THERE. Because, if it wasn't, it might just eat your hair up too. So, one unfortunate evening a few weeks ago, after a tedious day at work and one smoky eating establishment, I proceeded to give my head of hair a drying after a wash. Hairdrying is such a tricky business, its like juggling; between one hand holding the hairdryer, the other one with the comb and brush and trying to get an even dry, the hairdryer-without-barrel-casing decided it was time to have its dinner. Air goes in one end and comes out the other... I was only so lucky that my hair didn't come out the other end. But it got entangled in the fan blades and there was nothing I could do to get it out. At that time, I wasn't even settled into my apartment let alone have a pair of scissors on hand. Well, I couldn't anyway. So, there was this hairdryer hanging off my head. With all the cultural stress that I have had to deal with this was the last straw I could take that night. I could only stare in horror at the sight of myself in the mirror with glassy eyes. I figured, I couldn't very well go to work the next day like this, it was either I find someway to remove this implement from my head or take the next flight out of Japan. It almost came to the pull-and-yank (yeowch!) which would have left a bare patch on my scalp, but thankfully, I had a shaving blade with me. I never imagined I would be using that blade to shave my head of all places. But desperate situations call for desperate measures. When I finally removed myself from the machine, I noticed a tag in Japanese (I couldn't have seen it where the hairdryer had attached itself to my person). Well, of course I couldn't have read it anyway to note its warning! I still have that knot of hair somewhere in my cosmetics bag. For posterity. So I'll always remember that when it came to it, I almost would have left Japan because of a hairdryer.

WALKING INTO LAMPPOSTS, POLES AND BARRICADES
It's never really happened to me before, but I've managed to do it a few times here. May I defend myself first by saying that the Japanese are smaller people and even these things come in different sizes. After two months, no similitude of normalcy shows any sign of abating the condition of the perplexed foreigner. In all cases, I was too busy staring at some strange Japanese sight that defied explanation and then suddenly stopped in my tracks. Leaving me to wonder, "What? Whats the problem, why can't I...", thinking paralysis had taken over my legs in the cold, only to look down to see the cause of it just in time to catch myself before tripping. You really can't blame me. I ask so many questions, I must drive my colleague a little batty. Still, I don't get answers. Most Japanese don't know about Japan.

We are bewildered and curious about their culture. But the response to my questions are usually, "I never thought of things/questions like that". Take my favourite topic for example: Food. The Osaka Speciality: Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki. The foodie in me wants to know: why? why the "yaki"? Yaki means grilled/fried. Yakitori is chicken kebabs, yakisoba is "goreng" (fried) soba noodles, takoyaki: grilled balls of batter with an assortment of condiments most importantly octopuss ("tako-") and okonomiyaki: a grilled mixture of flour, egg, cabbage and a variety of meats on a hotplate, topped with bonito (paper thin slices of smoked tuna) and mustard mayo. So, what is with all the "yaki"? Why is Kansai, "yaki" country? What makes it their speciality? How and why did it happen? Did some Meiji emperor wake up one day and decreed, "I like fried and grilled foods, lets make it Kansai's speciality"? I have yet to find my answer.

How about something a little simpler: Japanese pickles. You know the one that always comes on the side of your meal? If one expects any respectable japanese kitchen to having a jar of gari, homemade pickled ginger, I wonder how that happens here since, asking one of my colleagues, a middle-aged mother with two girls, turned up a blank face when for wanting to make it, I queried, "how do you make these pickled ginger? Why is it red?" After being rocketed at she finally said, "Vinegar. Maybe colouring. Thats why red. I don't know." Hah.

Makes you wonder what is being Japanese. One of my friends rightly asked: do they eat sushi and sashimi at home? I asked: do they eat off square/rectangular plates and bamboo? All valid questions. My answer: Sushi and eating off square/rectangular plates is as much an event for them, as it is for us when we go to a Japanese restaurant. Like the average Australian, the average Japanese eats off whatever convenient plate he/she can procure from the cupboard whilst doing the balancing act of a few pots off the stove. As for sushi, its "ten-sushi", which is more like maki (rolls) then sushi. "Ten" means "hand". Again convinience is the key, seaweed serves as base on your palm and everything else goes on top, then make like a (chicken/kebab) roll. Nothing like the sushi _we_ eat. So, next time you go Japanese for dinner, get a maki and don't buy in to the cultural myth.

Love, your Gaijin-in-disguise.

Audio: Usher featuring Lil. on HitzRadio.com. Internet Radio-logy!
Biblio: Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe.
Cerebrio: Life is not so bad. Its getting back to normal.

A LIFE NOT THOUGHT POSSIBLE

I had the swellest weekend in the time I’ve been here: I got to do the things I never thought were possible in Japan: the lifestyle I had enjoyed in Sydney.

Dave put me up in the dorm over the saturday night and through the weekend, we biked up and down from dorms to the city by way of Kyoto’s Kamagawa river. We ambled along the shopping boulevards aimlessly except to take in the sights and smells as they came along, sampling the pungent pickles that Kyoto is famous for lined in barrels along Nishiki-koji market, catching the thrilling sight (rather than the taste) of the deadly fugu (Globefish/blowfish) which would have set me back $120-150 for dinner, the less thrilling but no less shocking sight of THREE medium-large sized strawberries costing $16 (and not even a punnet!), traditional mochi in the making - a dough of rice flour pounded on stone mills with a huge wooden mallet to a fine glutinous texture (and the dawning that “mochi” and “muah-chee” are the same thing), savouring the anko (ang as in “red”) sweets made from adzuki beans in small doses - think red bean paste and the variations of sweets made from it that you may sample in Singapore’s dessert smorgasboard - “ang tao teng”, “ang ku kueh” and “an-pan” (“pan” as in bread) and for caffeine comrades, what Japan lacks in coffee in makes up for in tea, sacks and sacks of green and brown blends, and the roaster emanating its soothing scents.


Pickles. Pickles. And more pickles.


This would be about AUD$130!


Thats AUD$5 for one!


The deadly Globefish.


The stuff of green tea.


Traditional Japanese kitchenware.


Another Kyoto non-native besides me.

And, when we tired walking up and down the grid city, we moved to into the historic geisha sitrict of Gion and had tea in a Japanese teahouse, kneeling on tatami mats in a wooden hut overlooking a serene pond with award winning carps as we sipped a creamy froth of matcha and had yet more variations on the anko-mochi theme of sweets. Alas, the closest I will ever get to the geisha culture of exquisite grace and refinement that the district is famous for, will be sighting of a convoy of them travelling in jinrikisha(rickshaw) carriages, complete with policed escorts as peak hour city traffic stopped for them. So much for sightseeing.


It really does look like this.


The closest I'll ever get.

But the real highlight of the weekend, aside from the easy pace, was the Kamogawa river. Up and down the river we went, cutting through an old forest and finding a Shinto shrine gate, lit up at night, and having that exclusively for ourselves, stopping along the river banks on sunday to people-watch and dog-watch (chihuahua, labradors, corgis and even a whippet!). The latter is virtually impossible anywhere else in Japan. For one, hardly anyone would dedicate time to the care of an animal, let alone the walking of dogs, and secondly, there isn’t much space dedicated to such leisure. So, when we could, we grabbed a “real” expresso (sans scalded milk) from Starbucks and looked for a patch of green and actually got to lay by the water. They say music soothes the savage soul, I say the running waters of the Kamogawa quenches the flames of my frustration. And, as we laid down by the river, so my soul longeth after this: to sate my palate for culture, my soul for nature and the company and opportunity to do it with. How I would move to Kyoto in a heartbeat.


Spring is in the air!

IN A HEARTBEAT

Today, I'm writing this in Kyoto. I like Kyoto city. I've just come back from a night riding session from Kyoto city with a my Sydney rock-climbing buddy who I haven't seen for about a year or two. After spending a day in it looking at very cool cultural things like Kyoto food, eating authentic kaiten sushi and finally a decent cup of coffee at Starbucks (yea, unfortunately thats they best Japan has to offer), we cycled along the river northward away from the city. It was cold, but refreshing to have the chill on our cheeks.

Then we cut across the river into and through a really old forest which houses a historical shinto shrine. A good number of samurai movies have been made there apparently. I've seen a number of shrines since I've been here, but its was particularly beautiful to be there, at night, on our bikes, with no one around us. Just the quiet. I would move here in a heartbeat. Kyoto is nice, its got natural stuff for me to go out and do and cultural stuff that sates my soul....

Foto-moto

Konichiwaaa!


Hello-from-Japan!


The high cost of living: look carefully, this melon costs 3000Yen! (Thats about AUD$45-50!)


Kinkaju-ji KYOTO: ('jin' as in gold) The Golden Pavillion temple coated in sheets of gold.


The famous Five-storied pagoda Kofuko-ji NARA: According to legend, man works in symetry (even number) hence, things of nature and aspirations to peace must be odd numbered. Not sure if this is just urban myth.


Daibutsu-den Toudai-ji NARA: This is the world's largest wooden construction still standing. It used to be a third bigger till the last fire! Guess what it houses? The biggest (bronze) statue of the Great Buddha.


A World Heritage. The historic monuments of Ancient Nara - Toudai-ji ('dai' as in Big). Its current inhabitants were once thought to be messengers of Gods.


In semi-rural Australia, you might see "Beware kangaroos crossing". Here, you see "Beware deer crossing"! In Nara-shi, the city of Parks, the deers roam freely fed by the constant flow of tourists. Literally.


Sunset on Ni-jo-san (pronounces '-sam'). Literally, Two/Twin peaks mountain. And this my dears, is the view from my front door.

CRIMINAL OFFENCE

Dear friends, I have news.

I have been inpossession of illegal drugs. And the rest of the gaijin teachers here too are guilty of drug trafficing. But, hush. We’re not about to get deported - yet. When entering the Japanese customs, no word is mentioned about what you can and cannot bring into the country. You are simply to declare whatever personal effects you have to the duties; plant quarantine and animal quarantine and the tax duty office. You’re not supposed to bring anything plant-like such as wood. That makes sense to those of us from Australia, island continent and all. But no one, absolutely no friend will tell you what you cannot bring in paracetemol. Ignorance is truly bliss. “Anything to declare?” No, not carrying any illegal substance on my person, not to my knowledge. “Nope. Nothing to declare.” You see, they all want you to be their great friends and bring some paracetamol in while you don’t know that you ought to declare them. Yes siree, paracetemol is an illegal drug! Painkillers here are a pain to get and when you get them, they come in a powder form which you pop into your mouth and then send down to your guts with water. You see, the powder is really organic clay, powdered down and then sprayed with whatever drug of issue. A real yuck to consume but a lot faster for the body to absorb, more surface area per unit area kind of thing. Small dosages, five times a day after meals. But, who has time for five meals a day?! There you are, we gaijin are all illegal drug trafficers, providing illegal drugs to our fellow gaijin. So, next time you want to send me your love, I’ll accept them in capsules, caplets and tablets.

Again, on the topic of music: These days, after acquiring somewhat of a routine for the workweek, I have realized, there is no need for me to set my alarm clock. Not only because I start most of my working days at 12pm (to all you green eyed monsters: I still put in my 8 hours in school like every other cog in the wheel), but I say I don't need to set my alarm clock because, even the garbage collection truck plays a tuneful melody promptly at 9am everyday with different ones for the various types of garbage being collected (variety after all is the spice of life after all and in Japan with all the working hours/days they put in, they need all the spice and variety they can get). Dumping rubbish here take logistical accuity: Three general segregations exists, bottles of all materials, metal, glass and plastics, burnable and unburnable or otherwise known as “General household waste” means scrap and compost, “Metals and glass” (see: Canned coffee and tea and also see: Dietary supplements - such as fibre drinks to make up for the low fibre diet - whoever said Japanese ate a lot of greens was lying to me. You know who you are; did you know liars go to hell?), PET plastics (See: again Drinks), paper and the list goes on. This seems plain enough to understand until one attempts the simplests of meals, instant noodles. Chopsticks are either disposable wooden ones (Burnable or General household waste?) or your own (wash and reuse as per normal). What do you do with the plastic wrapping (unburnable PET plastic), the styrofoam bowl (unburnable) or the waxed paper cups (burnable), the lid which although made of paper (burnable) is lined with aluminium (unburnable) on the other side. Your drink, of course, of green tea or sweeten milk soda comes in a plastic bottle (Bottles; PET plastic) canned coffee (bottles; metal), health supplement drinks (bottles; glass) or drinks that attempt to market to the unknowing gaijin are brought to you by the random alphabets “B”, “C” and the words “amino” and “fibre”. Throw in your used napkin, serviette, or tissue (paper: burnable), wet napkin wrapping (Unburnable; PET plastic) into your bento box (unburnable; styrofoam), your plastic fish with soya sauce (unburnable or bottle: PET plastic), the paper wrap that comes with the disposable chopsticks, the rubber band that holds the lid (plastic; unburnable) to the bento box, throw them all into the plastic bag that was used to hold your meal when you bought it, and you have an outright logistical nightmare that you actually paid 600yen for.