Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Inquiring Minds
Being accosted by a covey of giggling schoolgirls is nothing new for me and Christina. They just love gabbin' with gaijin, but today's inquisition took an unexpected turn.
I was looking out the hallway window before fourth period admiring Fuji and the other mountains, which were sublime in the clear cold air. Suddenly, I hear:
Girl #1: AHHHH! Bryan!
Me: (startled) Oh--hello!
Girl #2: Bryan! Bryan! Very... han-sum!
Girl #1: (points index finger in the air) Nun-bah one! Nun-bah one han-sum! (giggles wildly)
Me: Oh... uh, thanks.
Girl #1: Girlfriend? You have?!
Me: No, I don't.
Girls #1 and #2: WAHHHHHHHHH! Uso! ("That's a lie!")
(Girls #3 and 4 appear. Rapid-fire Japanese and further giggling briefly ensues.)
Girl #3: Type-u? Type-u?
Me: Smart. And nice.
(more shriek-giggles)
Girl #1: Nice body?! Nice body?!
Me: Nice... heart.
Girl #2: You? How tall?!
Me: (trying to remember my height in centimeters) 187.
Girls #1, 2, 3, and 4: EEEEEHHHHH?! Hehehehe!
Girl #1: Bryan! Do you like big... eh... big...
(All girls make swooping curved motions in front of their bosoms in unison.)
...
Me: (apparently blushing) Um...
Girls #1, 2, 3, and 4: WAHHHH! Red face! Red face! Hehehehehehehe!
(Bell rings)
Me: Thank you, Jesus. Okay, see you later!
The questions about my height and relationship status are pretty standard. Same for Christina. However, this is the first time such... mammary topics have been introduced. They sure do love to pry. What's next? Walking into the teachers' room with four girls at my desk, waving Trojans in the air? "You wear?! You wear?!"
Yikes. Just let us be, chilluns.
I was looking out the hallway window before fourth period admiring Fuji and the other mountains, which were sublime in the clear cold air. Suddenly, I hear:
Girl #1: AHHHH! Bryan!
Me: (startled) Oh--hello!
Girl #2: Bryan! Bryan! Very... han-sum!
Girl #1: (points index finger in the air) Nun-bah one! Nun-bah one han-sum! (giggles wildly)
Me: Oh... uh, thanks.
Girl #1: Girlfriend? You have?!
Me: No, I don't.
Girls #1 and #2: WAHHHHHHHHH! Uso! ("That's a lie!")
(Girls #3 and 4 appear. Rapid-fire Japanese and further giggling briefly ensues.)
Girl #3: Type-u? Type-u?
Me: Smart. And nice.
(more shriek-giggles)
Girl #1: Nice body?! Nice body?!
Me: Nice... heart.
Girl #2: You? How tall?!
Me: (trying to remember my height in centimeters) 187.
Girls #1, 2, 3, and 4: EEEEEHHHHH?! Hehehehe!
Girl #1: Bryan! Do you like big... eh... big...
(All girls make swooping curved motions in front of their bosoms in unison.)
...
Me: (apparently blushing) Um...
Girls #1, 2, 3, and 4: WAHHHH! Red face! Red face! Hehehehehehehe!
(Bell rings)
Me: Thank you, Jesus. Okay, see you later!
The questions about my height and relationship status are pretty standard. Same for Christina. However, this is the first time such... mammary topics have been introduced. They sure do love to pry. What's next? Walking into the teachers' room with four girls at my desk, waving Trojans in the air? "You wear?! You wear?!"
Yikes. Just let us be, chilluns.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Nostalgiasaurus rex
Ever wonder what happens when you spend three hours on YouTube?!
Join a pre-Wonder Years Fred Savage on his first acting gig ever--a 30-minute walk through history in Dinosaurs! A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time!
My mom bought this on VHS at Building 19 for me when I was probably in pre-school. Y'know those childhood videos you watched so many times, holes were practically burnt through the tape? Or how smoke or an occasional spark would fly from your doddering Magnavox, because you just had to hear "Everybody Wants to be a Cat" for the fortieth time in one day? Well, for me, Dinosaurs! was one such video. Along with this and this.
I don't know which is more amazing: the fact that technology such as YouTube and the Internet exists, or the fact that I still remember half the lyrics to "Mesozoic Mind."
And I have plenty of fellow dino dweebs here in Japan. For example, at the moment, paleontologists are really interested in Asia, since a rare fossil was found in China not too long ago. It was later moved to Japan for display. (Fun fact! The convention center mentioned in the article is the same convention center I was at for this concert a few weeks ago.)
Some dinosaurs that called Nippon home back in the day include the Fukuiraptor and Fukuisaurus.
...What? Whaddya mean you don't care what dinosaurs lived in Japan? C'mon. It's good to know a lot about our planet's former reptilian overlords. Besides, now you know more about dinosaurs than some people...
Join a pre-Wonder Years Fred Savage on his first acting gig ever--a 30-minute walk through history in Dinosaurs! A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time!
My mom bought this on VHS at Building 19 for me when I was probably in pre-school. Y'know those childhood videos you watched so many times, holes were practically burnt through the tape? Or how smoke or an occasional spark would fly from your doddering Magnavox, because you just had to hear "Everybody Wants to be a Cat" for the fortieth time in one day? Well, for me, Dinosaurs! was one such video. Along with this and this.
I don't know which is more amazing: the fact that technology such as YouTube and the Internet exists, or the fact that I still remember half the lyrics to "Mesozoic Mind."
And I have plenty of fellow dino dweebs here in Japan. For example, at the moment, paleontologists are really interested in Asia, since a rare fossil was found in China not too long ago. It was later moved to Japan for display. (Fun fact! The convention center mentioned in the article is the same convention center I was at for this concert a few weeks ago.)
Some dinosaurs that called Nippon home back in the day include the Fukuiraptor and Fukuisaurus.
...What? Whaddya mean you don't care what dinosaurs lived in Japan? C'mon. It's good to know a lot about our planet's former reptilian overlords. Besides, now you know more about dinosaurs than some people...
Monday, November 17, 2008
Counting my blessings...
I had an alarming glimpse of mortality Saturday night.
I was riding the metro in Tokyo this weekend, sitting across from a sad-faced, bald and bespectacled man. I'd guess he was at least 70... it's hard to tell with the Japanese; they're often young-looking and are actually way older than they appear. He was wearing a polo shirt, golfer's khakis and a windbreaker, all in earth tones. Y'know, something your grandpa would probably wear--something harmless and humble. I didn't pay much attention to him at first. I saw him sitting next to two bubbly twenty-somethings, whom I assumed were his granddaughters.
I looked away for a few seconds, and when my gaze wandered back over to his side of the train, I saw the old man slouching forward at a ninety degree angle, his head lodged awkwardly against one of the neighboring girl's knees. His eyes were closed, his arms dangled limp and lifeless, and drool dripped from his mouth and onto the floor.
At first, I was I couldn't really process what was going on--and apparently, neither did the girl, looking shocked as she realized her leg just caught an elderly stranger's head in mid-collapse. A nearby American screamed "Jesus!" and hit the emergency button on the wall, sounding a siren and abruptly stopping the train. The old man didn't really look like he was breathing. The car stared in stunned silence as the American gently shook the man and tapped his cheeks. I then realized the two girls next to him didn't know him. He was by himself--no one who knew the man's health and there was no one to be contacted. By now the hurried conductors were sidestepping from the platform and onto the car, transferring the man's unresponsive body to a hand stretcher. I sat there, knuckles white and heart racing. Am I watching somebody die? About five minutes later, the train's doors closed, sealing off my view of the man who then lay on the platform, head shaking feebly.
It was the freakiest shit I'd seen in a long time. As the train started back up again, the car's passengers were silent and blanched. No sooner had the two twenty-something girls finish dabbing their tears than a stocky fellow bounced onto the train and into the old man's now vacant seat, oblivious to what had just occurred.
I hope to God the guy is okay, but it still made me think about a lot of things... like how such scares can strike anyone, at any time, at any place in the world. Death really is the great neutralizer, and eventually everyone falls victim, regardless of their nationality or the language they speak.
But I learned something else, too. Another universal truth. Bottom line, watching a white tourist on the subway cradle a barely conscious Japanese stranger in his arms, trying to bring him back to life, is something the reaffirms your faith in the human race. People around the world classify helping a stranger, without hesitation, as common decency, and I think that's telling. Yeah, death is pervasive, inevitable, and is found at every turn--but, fortunately for us, so is goodwill.
On a different note, today is International Students' Day! How many international students do you know? I teach the one currently at our school. His name is Piseth, he's from Cambodia, and both his English and attitude are some of the best in the class. He, Christina and myself are pretty much the coolest (and the only...) gaijin at Yoshida High. Here's to a multiculti way of life! I still gotta get travel tips from Piseth--Southeast Asia in one month, suckas!
I was riding the metro in Tokyo this weekend, sitting across from a sad-faced, bald and bespectacled man. I'd guess he was at least 70... it's hard to tell with the Japanese; they're often young-looking and are actually way older than they appear. He was wearing a polo shirt, golfer's khakis and a windbreaker, all in earth tones. Y'know, something your grandpa would probably wear--something harmless and humble. I didn't pay much attention to him at first. I saw him sitting next to two bubbly twenty-somethings, whom I assumed were his granddaughters.
I looked away for a few seconds, and when my gaze wandered back over to his side of the train, I saw the old man slouching forward at a ninety degree angle, his head lodged awkwardly against one of the neighboring girl's knees. His eyes were closed, his arms dangled limp and lifeless, and drool dripped from his mouth and onto the floor.
At first, I was I couldn't really process what was going on--and apparently, neither did the girl, looking shocked as she realized her leg just caught an elderly stranger's head in mid-collapse. A nearby American screamed "Jesus!" and hit the emergency button on the wall, sounding a siren and abruptly stopping the train. The old man didn't really look like he was breathing. The car stared in stunned silence as the American gently shook the man and tapped his cheeks. I then realized the two girls next to him didn't know him. He was by himself--no one who knew the man's health and there was no one to be contacted. By now the hurried conductors were sidestepping from the platform and onto the car, transferring the man's unresponsive body to a hand stretcher. I sat there, knuckles white and heart racing. Am I watching somebody die? About five minutes later, the train's doors closed, sealing off my view of the man who then lay on the platform, head shaking feebly.
It was the freakiest shit I'd seen in a long time. As the train started back up again, the car's passengers were silent and blanched. No sooner had the two twenty-something girls finish dabbing their tears than a stocky fellow bounced onto the train and into the old man's now vacant seat, oblivious to what had just occurred.
I hope to God the guy is okay, but it still made me think about a lot of things... like how such scares can strike anyone, at any time, at any place in the world. Death really is the great neutralizer, and eventually everyone falls victim, regardless of their nationality or the language they speak.
But I learned something else, too. Another universal truth. Bottom line, watching a white tourist on the subway cradle a barely conscious Japanese stranger in his arms, trying to bring him back to life, is something the reaffirms your faith in the human race. People around the world classify helping a stranger, without hesitation, as common decency, and I think that's telling. Yeah, death is pervasive, inevitable, and is found at every turn--but, fortunately for us, so is goodwill.
On a different note, today is International Students' Day! How many international students do you know? I teach the one currently at our school. His name is Piseth, he's from Cambodia, and both his English and attitude are some of the best in the class. He, Christina and myself are pretty much the coolest (and the only...) gaijin at Yoshida High. Here's to a multiculti way of life! I still gotta get travel tips from Piseth--Southeast Asia in one month, suckas!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Hundreds gather for autumn harvest festival
(more!)
October 31, 2008
HAIBARA, Japan -- About 200 people paraded through the streets in what seemed to be an impromptu festival late Friday night.
"There I was, sitting in the dark, playing Text Twist in my underwear," said Bryan Lufkin, an American living in the area, "when suddenly I heard revelrous chanting and loud drums. I ran outside with my camera to investigate, nearly forgetting to put on some pants."
Lufkin reported that none of the locals had mentioned anything about a matsuri (Japanese festival) earlier that day, so the celebration took the 23-year-old English teacher by surprise. "I thought it was Jong-Il and his minions," he said.
The parade--the first of two to be held that night, with three more scheduled for the next day--honors the bounty of autumn's harvest. Local middle and high school students sat in a decorated float, playing bamboo flutes and taking turns banging a large drum.
Police and parade officials used barricades and traffic wands to direct vehicles away from the procession, which snaked its way through Haibara's backstreets until midnight.
"People came out of their houses to see what was going on, and joined in on the parade," Lufkin said. He noted people walking with beer bottles, taking pictures with camera phones and children piggy-backed over their parents' shoulders. "It was a really cool, traditional thing that you don't see in America," he added.
Japan, known for both its tradition and modernity, holds a variety of nationwide festivals all year, in addition to local celebrations. The next national holiday is shichigosan (translated as the "7-5-3 Festival"), in which five-year-old boys and three- and seven-year-old girls are taken to local shrines, where they pray for good luck.
In rural areas, matsuri like the autumn harvest festival are especially valued as community events.
"I felt like the stalking gaijin," Lufkin said.
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