Itinerant

I Hate Football

2007-09-09T10:55:00.000+09:00

Our apartment is very near to the stadium and last weekend during the game my bicycle helmet was stolen. I was upset, but not too much because I hadn't locked it up, so it wasn't so surprising, despite the fact that it was oddly colored and child sized. However, what I realized later as I rode my bike to work is that someone stabbed my tire with a pocketknife! Why would anyone do such a thing? The impulse to steal I can understand, but I cannot understand the anger behind random destruction.

Eating Bull

2007-06-05T19:20:00.001+09:00

A letter from Earnest Hemingway to Ezra Pound was found today in a laundry in Austria.

"Another lot of interest is a letter written by Ernest Hemingway to the American poet and critic Ezra Pound in 1925, explaining why bulls are better than literary critics.

"Bulls don't run reviews. Bulls of 25 don't marry old women of 55 and expect to be invited to dinner. Bulls do not get you cited as co-respondent in Society divorce trials. Bulls don't borrow money. Bulls are edible after they have been killed."

2007-04-26T07:43:00.000+09:00

My mother comes to visit tomorrow, with her boyfriend. I somehow have to be a tourguide for Japan, but my Japanese isn't good enough for that. Wish me luck! I'm going to need a lot of patience.

Rock Star

2007-04-21T21:01:00.001+09:00

Rock Star
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I went shopping today in Nagoya and Michi and I stopped in the goth/gothic lolita stores. There was a 40-something businessman in a suit shopping with a lolita girl. At first we were creeped out at the idea of a ko-gal situation right in front of us. But, then the girl turned around and "she" was male, 30-something, and very very ugly. So, no young girls were being taken advantage of today in the Lolita store.

Marked

2007-04-16T21:34:00.000+09:00

As we pulled into Toyokawa station yesterday we saw a burned out house. I stared at it a lot, but not as a house, as an artifact. The fire must have had really intense heat because it burnt holes in the ceramic roof tiles. In some places the clay tiles looked like they had melted. I thought about kiln temperature settings, the temperatures of different glazes I've worked with,and whether the tiles had broken from exploded air bubbles, something inside that exploded, and other sort of forensic questions. Then the train pulled away, and I didn't give it another thought.

It turns out, that house belongs to one of my students and her aunt died there on Saturday. She didn't even have a uniform to wear to school today, so her casual clothes stand out as a mark of fire and death in the sea of sameness.

Miko Monkey

2007-04-01T01:35:00.001+09:00

Miko Monkey
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

That's right, folks! For just 400 yen you can get your picture taken with a money (baboon?) dressed as a shrine maiden. He will fondle your leg for no additional charge! It's a sakura festival special at the holiest shrine in Japan. Every time I think "holy" I think of shrine maiden monkeys, don't you kids?

Visit Ise! It's near the very tiny famous rocks that look very large in pictures.

The CSI phenomena

2007-03-28T08:20:00.000+09:00

I know the US has changed a lot since I've been gone. All the way back to "Dragnet" crime shows have been popular, (hehe...the LSD episode is cemented in my mind) but when did all of these, 'investigate dead bodies' shows get so popular? It is creating a lot of confusion for me because of one simple word: forensics. In my day in ye olde school house, I was a forensics person. I prepared my little black script for oral interpretation contest. I debated. I acted. I was "a forensics person." No one seems to know that meaning anymore. The word has morphed into the CSI meaning of investigating dead bodies, even in the world of education. I was reading a New York Times article about failing schools. Surely the students' elective class in elementary school would be forensics as I remember it? No, indeed. It's forensic facial anatomy.

There's Time

2007-03-03T01:28:00.001+09:00

There's Time
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I did something spontaneous. I went to Paris. My trip to the snow festival in Sapporo got cancelled, and it was the same price to go to Paris, so, I did it! It was weird to be an art history person who had never been to any of the big museums. Well, it's done. It was cold and rainy, but the food was good and the museums were...interesting. I think I have decided that studing art history is fun but absolutely pointless.

Kokeshi

2007-02-18T18:53:00.001+09:00

Kokeshi
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I went to the Osu Kannon flea market today. I bought the world's smallest kokeshi for 1,500 yen, which I thought was a bit much for one so small, but it was very nicely painted and it was one in the "old" style, which I usually don't like, yet was very nice looking. I now like it even more because when I met Robin for lunch she read the writing on it, and it's got Nagoya castle painted on it. My major find, Nicholas actually spotted tossed on top of a pile of dolls mouldering on a tarp. 500 yen for the mother of all kokeshi. Picture to follow soon. She is now the proud matriarch of my ever expanding kokeshi collection. How will I get them home? I have no idea! They weigh a TON!

Sadness

2007-02-17T18:42:00.000+09:00

Chika from my 3E class just got a job at my local grocery store. (Technically not allowed until she graduates March 1st). She lived in America for a year, her English is beautiful, I have never said a word to her in Japanese before. I walked up to check out and I got Japanese and no indication that she knows me at all except a faint secret smile when the woman training her wasn't looking. I understand, I really do. She would be ostracized for her English, set apart, a weirdo. But it is a sad sad commentary. It is why no one here will ever really speak. It makes you out-group. It makes you weird. It's why they always insist on having a foreign teacher. They always think it is something only outsiders do. Until Japanese people speak English in front of other Japanese people, no one will ever learn.

Maybe

2006-11-27T22:06:00.000+09:00

Maybe
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

Here it is! Better late than never. As we were walking along in Universal studios I noticed a seemingly nondescript doorway that I would've recognized anywhere! It's the Hudson street orphanage from the movie "Annie." The movie came out when I was three years old and I watched the movie over and over on betamax.

Spider

2006-08-27T00:54:00.000+09:00

Spider
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I came home and was greeted by this spider. It didn't make me scream this time, just swear a lot. Nicholas was just going to leave it, but I somehow managed to convince him that I do have a few ridiculously female quialities, and leaving an 8 inch spider in the bathroom while I brush my teeth is unacceptable. He shooed it outside for me once I could pry him away from his video game.

Irony

2006-08-21T22:40:00.000+09:00

Welcome back
Originally uploaded by stomptokyo.

I also laugh when I go to McDonald's and they have a sign up that says, "Braille menus available."

Katamari

2006-08-12T17:30:00.000+09:00

Katamari
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

If you have not played Katamari Damacy, your life is not yet full. This is a cosplayer from AnimeIowa 2006. I don't like the game quite as much as this fellow, but I am a devoted fan.

La la...lalalalalalala...Katamari Damacy!

Horizon Depravation

2006-07-27T13:25:00.000+09:00

Montana may officially hold the title, "Big Sky Country," but today I would've argued a lot for Illinois. Rows of green and gold corn meeting a big blue and white sky make me realize even the mountains in Japan were contributing to my sense of being trapped. Maybe all I missed really was a view of the sky.

Some Sterotypes are True.

2006-07-23T14:27:00.000+09:00

I took this picture in Tokyo because it reminded me so much of a "type" of girl here. The type is so stadardized she even matches the doll version I had bought earlier that day, just in white instead of black:

Voyeur

2006-07-19T21:44:00.000+09:00

Voyeur
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I went to Tokyo over the weekend and took this shot as I wandered by the scene near the train station in...Shinjuku, I think?

What do you think when you look at this picture? My students would all think, "Lucky!" One of my students gave a "How-to" speech this week. The title? "How to Advertise Your Body Well." It was full of clothing and make-up tips so that you look sexy and have a chance to get a guy. Two of them really want to work at a maid cafe when they graduate. They think they are "cute." I sound bitter. The culture of cute is getting on my nerves.

2006-07-07T16:54:00.000+09:00

So...is this a parody? Or is it genuine?

"How to prevent chapped lips in a manly fashion"

The Value of Consequences.

2006-06-20T00:30:00.000+09:00

I wanted to teach in Japan because I was so burnt out in America. I couldn't recognize anything worthwhile in the system. I really wanted a chance to look at it from the outside so I could clearly recognize some strengths that could keep me motivated when I return. I can sum up the strength of the American system in one word:

Consequences.

Sweet Jesus! What I wouldn't give to be back in a system with consequences. My students go on and on about hard work and how they admire people who work hard. Yeah right. They have never met anyone who worked hard in their lives except maybe Ichiro.

For example, did you know that in order to fail a test they have to score less than half of the class average?
For example, say the average on a test is a 70%, that means someone must score less than 35 % to fail the test. And if they fail a few tests they have to have extra tutoring from a teacher until they can get back "above passing." No one learns anything here! They just get passed, and passed, and passed! I have had failing at 11% before.

If you ever hear anyone compare the educational systems of the U.S. and Japan, laugh at them. Sure, graduation rates are fantastic here. That's because it is nearly impossible to fail.

The Oxford Project

2006-06-09T00:27:00.000+09:00

Photography and archives are a recurring theme in my interests and my life. I find the Oxford Project fascinating. A photograpaher named Peter Feldstein went to Oxford Iowa and took a photo of each of the 670 residents to record a moment in time for a small town. Then he came back a few months ago, 20 years later, to do it again. When the photographer returned this year he didn't show them their original photo. So many of them stood exactly the same and were still wearing almost exactly the same clothes! I love that about rural life. No matter how long I am gone from Iowa or North Dakota, the change is barely registered when I return. It's like it's waiting for me.

Or you can read the New York Times article.

Frontline

2006-06-01T21:30:00.000+09:00

It is possible to watch Frontline from PBS for free online. Schools have just banned Merchants of Cool, for being a "violation of the students' mind, spirit, and soul." So that sounds like an endorsement.

Mitsukoshi Mannequins

2006-05-21T23:36:00.000+09:00

Mitsukoshi Mannequins
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I'm don't have much to say, I just don't want to linger too long on complaints like the last post. So here is a fun display of summer looks in the Mitsukoshi department store in Nagoya station.

Isn't firstborn child easier?

2006-05-18T08:25:00.000+09:00

I love my job. However it is crap like this that is going to make me throw a party when I leave. Of course if I throw a party, everyone's ID's will probably taken and we'll have to have background checks before anyone can enter. But after that, we'll celebrate until all hours (with the neighbor's watching us).

"The bar federation has warned that the new law may generate a prejudiced view that all foreign visitors pose a security threat."

Really? How would that be new? They should really say what they are thinking and just require that all Chinese and Brazilian foreigners be tagged with GPS units.

It's not really the government paperwork that is frustrating. It's the fact that Japanese people don't have an ID at all, and yet businesses continually abuse the fact that foreigners do, and demand a copy of our ID, even though it is illegal. If you want to get a video membership, go to a club , get a cell phone, it is impossible without them copying your ID. And that ID has my passport number, home address, etc. Everything about me is on it.

The "us" and "them," "in-group" and "out-group" is so weird. For example, last year the vending machine at my school was broken into. The head teacher was talking to me about it. I said, "It must be students" (the American prejudice), and he said (to me, by the way), "Must be foreigners." For a note here, only 4-5 foreigners live in my town, all in my building, and I happen to be the only one who goes near Mito H.S. But then again, I don't think I was a real foreigner in that sentence since I'm not Chinese or Brazilian.

Jesus in Japan?

2006-05-16T21:31:00.000+09:00

I did a search about my last post. Um...some people really do think Jesus was buried here. Or they did anyway.

Apparently Jesus walked across Siberia and Alaska in order to study in Japan, get married, die at age 106, and be buried with his twin brother's ear (the brother who died in his place). Nevermind that "Jesus's gospel" telling the story wasn't "discovered" until the 1930s and was "destroyed" in WW2. It has to be true! There is a traditional folk song in "Hebrew."

Though my favorite claim from all of the pages is that Jesus invented katakana. Well, he was a foreigner, wasn't he? He couldn't write Hebrew/divine language in hiragana!

Oh...and don't forget to get your Georgia coffee while you visit! Coca-cola supports Jesus!

Tomb of Christ

2006-05-15T15:29:00.000+09:00

Tomb of Christ
Originally uploaded by Liz Bartlett.

This isn't my photo, it's from Aomori prefecture...but...

Damn, I never get over the weirdness here in Japan.

Roly-Poly

2006-05-07T23:03:00.000+09:00

Roly-Poly
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I never know what I will find at the Tatsumi grocery store. I left singing that old camp song, "Fish heads, fish heads, roly-ploy fish heads..."

Nudity 101

2006-05-02T21:28:00.000+09:00

Partially due to the chorus of "No Day But Today" running though my head I decided not to let life's "opportunities" pass me by this weekend. I agreed to take part in what I will dub, "Public Nudity 101." a.k.a. "Robin takes three n00bz to a hot spring." While slightly nervous about an upcoming new experience it is best to contact a native for advice.

Colleen: I'm going to an onsen.
Yasuko: Why?
Colleen: Uh...I shouldn't let life's experiences pass me by? I should experience culture?
Yasuko: Foreigners always think they have to "do Japanese things." They are always busy "doing things." I wish they would realize most Japanese things are stupid and not worth doing.
Colleen: ...Don't you teach Calligraphy?

So, having thoroughly gained confidence I set out at the butt-crack of dawn, so early in fact that I had the privilege of hearing the "Happy Morning Song" the plays over the loudspeaker in my town. The one that I have finally learned to sleep through.

After a train ride and a bus ride, we arrived. We were given wrist bands with bar code identification. (For ease of identifying bodies?). After scanning us in we were given our regulation yukata and socks. We changed into our Yukata and had the pleasure of wearing them for the three minutes it took to walk to the next set of lockers where you remove your Yukata.

Holding our regulation mini-towl in as modest a fashion as possible we proceded to matching showering cubicles that awakened long-dead memories of the movie Mr. Baseball.

You know that scene in My Fair Lady where Eliza arrives at the ball and she is standing at the top of the stairs and everyone is watching and wondering who she is and where she come from? Well, being a foreigner at an onsen is like that, except everyone at the ball is naked.

Mostly people tried to mask their staring. When we moved to the pool that had waterfall massage jets a pair of wrinkly old ladies commented on how young and pale we are and asked us what country we were from. Then they moved along and told us not to mind them they are just jealous old ladies. If we hadn't all been naked it would've been cute.

I actually had a really nice time. The myth holds true; an onsen is quite relaxing. And Nagashima spa-land did have a kind of cleanly style. I don't know if I will return, but it is definately a fascinating new entry into my "Stuff I did in Japan" log.

(P.S. Nicholas is actually the one who had that conversation with Yasuko, but I like to tell stories in the first person)

Hisaya-Odori

2006-04-30T22:18:00.000+09:00

Today I was late and I was hurrying. Hisaya-Odori in Nagoya doesn' t have much vehicle traffic on a Sunday, this particular Sunday especially. In any case, the only vehicle on this particular stretch of road was a large garbage truck parked running and unattended by the curb. As I came nearer one garbage man coming out of the office building with a bag of trash. He climbed onto the truck and paused briefly to throw it into one of the dividers on the other side of the truck. He then called out to the homeless guy sitting against the wall. I don't understand much Japanese, but it was something to the effect of "Hey...you hungry?" The scraggly man nodded and stood up while the garbageman rummaged through the bags nearest to him in the divided truck and handed the homeless man a garbage bag that had a bunch of sandwiches.
All that took less than half a minute as I walked by.

I should have some sort of wise remark or interpretation of this event, but unfortunately I don't. As with most of the occurances that happen near me in Japan I just tilt my head in that direction and think, "Hunh...the garbage man feeds the homeless garbage....hunh." And then I file it away.

The Doll's Festival

2006-04-22T20:21:00.000+09:00

In March we went to a Doll's Festival in Asuke, Toyota. I finally loaded pictures. Above is the creepy advertisement I saw. Imagine walking down a narrow road with small wooden houses on both sides whose windows are filled with traditional dolls. Hundreds of Japanese people crowded around you, and this advertisement in the window. I am not sure why it is that so many of the advertisements in Japan feature foreign women. When it is a foreign product, I can understand. I wish I know how this would speak to Japanese women. "Use our product and you'll turn blonde and not look anything like all the ugly Japanese -looking women around you." It seems like self-loathing.

This is the best one I took. My tendency when taking pictures is always to be a step too far back (perhaps in life as well). However, I think I got this right. It's nice the way it is.

PET me

2006-04-20T13:21:00.000+09:00

This person has won my love. They hacked a gateway into a Commodore shell. I loved my PET.

Khaki forever!

2006-04-17T19:11:00.000+09:00

This was photoshopped on Fark.com. But I had to laugh out loud. It's the new plan to donate monochromatic clothing to the children of America! You can learn math, but only if you wear khaki pants! It will be a world of khaki readers! They will read khaki books! We will all lead khaki lives! Dress casual for all!

Stylish penguins

2006-04-16T16:50:00.000+09:00

Thank goodness the Mormons are saving the world.

Adding photo

2006-04-15T11:30:00.000+09:00

I beg to put before you...

2006-04-15T00:29:00.000+09:00

Mercutio: Hey Will, how many members of a demographic or occupational group does it take to change a lightbulb?
William Shakespeare: Err... how many?
Mercutio: N + 1. 1 to change the bulb and N to act in a stereotypical manner.
William Shakespeare: ...
William Shakespeare: Sometimes your metahumor is just too bizarre, Mercutio.
Mercutio: I never meta humor I didn't like...

Wikipedia...under metahumor. Yes, I spend my time looking up jokes in Encyclopedias.

Here it is folks. Your moment of zen

2006-04-14T22:58:00.000+09:00

Katamari Damacy. If you don't know it, I pity you.

In Flew Enza

2006-04-09T01:35:00.000+09:00

Generally I feel like an uneducated person.
I want to continue learning, even while not in school presently. So, perhaps a blog?

This week my topic of inquiry has been one that always burns at the back of my mind and resurfaces occaisionally, the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. I found a book about it and I have been delving through during work this week. (No classes)

What I find is that the more I read the more I realize I don't know. I don't think I ever got around to studying World War 1 in school. I have to research Wilson, World War 1, Socialists, Eugene Debs, burial customs. There is so much I don't understand.

wikipedia gives me this;
"More people died from the Spanish flu in six months than during the five years of conflict of World War I. The Spanish Flu may have killed 25 million people only in the first 25 weeks beginning in September 1918, while AIDS killed as many in its first 25 years."