05/27 - Farewell and Godspeed

Let's support the team!

Will them to victory like,

Yatagarasu!


Last time the World Cup was on I was in Australia. It is always fun to support a team in the World Cup when you're in that country, but unfortunately, living in Canada that is pretty unlikely. It would be great to support Ireland in Ireland with my family as well, but that hasn't looked too likely in a while, with them not qualifying since 2002, when the World Cup was here in Japan, co-hosted by South Korea. So back in 2010 I decided to get behind the Australian team and get caught up in the excitement around the nation. Unfortunately all that excitement died eight minutes into the tournament for the Australian fans as they conceded the first of four goals to Germany in their opening match. I don't know if it was the case all over the country, but it was noticeable the next day that nobody was as into the tournament anymore.

I'm hoping for a lot more out of supporting Japan in this year's World Cup. There is a lot of buzz around and a lot of products and advertising bearing the Japanese National Football Team Crest. With the tournament getting closer, you see more and more every day. Tonight the team played the first of three warm-up games, which was also their last game on Japanese soil before making their way towards Brazil, via Florida. We went to the pub to watch the game, but it was pretty boring. Japan won 1-0 against Cyprus. The game was followed by a farewell ceremony, including a speech from the team captain. They'll have to play a lot better when the games actually count, but the team does look like it could put in a good showing. There's a lot of optimism and many think it's the best squad Japan has ever had.

Today's poem references supporting the team and Yatagarasu. I asked some students at the University today to teach me the cheer Japanese soccer fans use for the national team, but it was much less elaborate than I expected after hearing the baseball fans. They simply started chanting NIPPON! *Clap, clap clap* NIPPON! *Clap, clap clap. Pretty standard.

Yatagarasu, however, is not standard. Cathal first drew my attention to Yatagarasu when he visited Tokyo a couple weeks ago. I always thought the Japan National Team Crest looked cool. He pointed out how it is a bird, but the bird also has three legs. The birds name is Yatagarasu, and he is a three-legged raven. A lot of Canadian native symbols and mythology involves ravens, and I even play rugby for a club called the Ravens, so I had to do some more research. Turns out in Japanese mythology the character represents some sort of proof of divine intervention in the lives and fates of humans. He is also a God of guidance, responsible for guiding an Emperor in a famous story. Not a bad symbol to carry with you to a big tournament.

05/26 - Dick's Day

Today was Dick's day,

time to catch up on things and

play ukulele


Today was a pretty uneventful day. The aforementioned appearance of a character named Dick went by much more smoothly than the character Hank had the week before. After a busy weekend it was necessary to just come home and take care of some chores, and myself. Today was also the day I decided to get my blog in order after the disaster that was the week before. I had to move my blog from blog.com to this new site on blogger.com, which meant moving all the content and catching up on the days that I missed while the blog.com site was down. It was a big pain in the ass, but over the course of the day I managed to get the blog sorted out and get myself a little closer to present day on here. I also like the new site better in a lot of ways, including the added bonus of a .jp URL. After a lot of time spent on the computer fiddling around and typing I kicked back and played some ukulele. A great way to relax. There's times I've questioned it, but tonight I was very happy to have brought my ukulele all the way from Canada.

05/25 - Sunday is a Rugby Day

Ancient tradition,

plus the best sport in the World,

makes a good day out




Fall back thirty years

where forty-fives flood the walls

music bouncing laughs


I went to a live sporting event for the second day in a row today. In my books, that's a weekend well-spent. To start the day off I met Tim in front of our building and we headed to Shibuya to meet two Japanese friends of his, Yu and Seiya. They were really cool guys, and we all went to Yoyogi Park to check out the Laos Festival. At the Laos Festival there was a stage with a woman singing some songs, who was replaced by a chubby guy not long after we arrived. The chubby guy kicked off his set with that big Bruno Mars hit song, before playing singing some more Laos-specific tunes. We all shuffled through the crow and grabbed a Beerlao Lager from the Beerlao tent to help survive the baking heat. Then we all grabbed some food. The three other fellas all got Laotian food, so I felt pretty bad that I opted for a Turkish Kebab Sandwich, considering it was the Laos Festival. The feeling rapidly faded away when I bit into the delicious kebab though. After we ate we found a spot on the ground a short walk from all the festival tents and just kicked it for a while. Next to us was a large group of people on a big blue tarp. They were all Japanese and covered in tattoos and looked pretty rough. I don't know if they were yakuza or just wanted to look like tough guys, but they were definitely the most menacing looking crew I've seen in Japan.

After sitting in the sun for a bit and applying some sunscreen to the bemusement of many people around the festival, it was time to head through Harajuku to the stadium to meet the rest of the group going to the rugby game. On our way out of the park, I had to double check to confirm, but the same chubby singer was belting out the same Bruno Mars song to close his set that he had sang to open it. Interesting set list.

On the way to the stadium Clayton, who you may remember from my post about coincidences (http://bashoandfukuro.blogspot.jp/search?updated-max=2014-05-24T19:28:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=8&by-date=false), spotted us among a large crowd. Fancy that!

At the stadium we found the rest of our group, including both of the Masas, my old student Misao, her coworker/friend, and fellow teacher Lauren. We headed to Kokurtisu-Kyōgijō, which is the National Stadium. Today's game was a really cool game to go to, because it was the last actual game at the stadium before they knock it down to build a new stadium which will be used for the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Apparently most people think the new stadium looks a bit like a spaceship, but I think it also resembles some sort of futuristic toilet, which is sort of fitting for Japan. Check out a picture here.

Inside the stadium I went to the merchandise tent to buy a shirt. I tried on an M, then there was some confusion before eventually the guy found an L for me to try. It was still a bit small, but the next size was a 3L, which I figured must be like a double XL. Seiya was helping translate for me and told me to try it anyways. It fit well, so I guess even though the shirt was made by Canterbury it was very Japanese sizing. I haven't seen this anywhere else. After paying for the shirt I was already waiting I turned to walk away but the guy who sold it to me grabbed me and started to pull off the tag. He only managed to rip off the cardboard part and not the plastic ring attaching it to the shirt, so this older lady started pulling at my backpack. I couldn't see her very well but she pushed me down so I would be low enough for her to remove the tag. When I finally turned around I realized she didn't even work there, she just felt the need to help.

Another souvenir was on offer inside the stadium, as they were giving out free small towels. Novelty towels are hugely popular here, as people carry them around everywhere. They were really cool. They had a picture of the stadium on them and said "Sayanora". Unfortunately my friends told me they were only for people under 20. We went and got seats and watched them light the Olympic Cauldron in the stadium from the 1964 Summer games. Really cool to see. The anthem singer also drew big cheers and excitement, as apparently she is a very famous singer in Japan.

Many of our group remarked at how many white players there were on both the Japan and Hong Kong teams as they took the field for kickoff. Japan got out to a huge lead and played an awesome first half, but the Hong Kong flyhalf won me over by kicking a nice drop goal.

We switched sides for the second half, knowing all the action would be at the end Japan was attacking. While walking over, I realized a bunch of old men were carrying around the free towels, so we went over and got some. Also on the way, a super drunk Japanese man came and asked me if I liked Japanese rugby, because of my shirt. I told him I did, but that I am from Canada. He yelled "I LOVE CANADA RUGBY!" and continued to give me the longest strangest handshake of my life.

The second half featured little drama as Japan poured on the points. After the game we all headed down the road to find an izakaya. The one we decided on was a prime choice. It was an eighties themed izakaya, with forty-five records covering every inch of the walls. There was even a record (pictured below) called "Letter from Canada". They played loud eighties Japanese music, which is much more similar to western 80s pop than the current J-pop is to current western pop. They even played a Japanese version of the YMCA. At which point Masa Haji asked "Is this song about gay people?" The prices were really reasonable and the food and drink was really good. Definitely want to go back. We even ate bee larva. Super strange! None of the Japanese people had even tried it before.

05/24 - Takeya at the Bat

Summer's game beckons.

Take me out to the ballgame

where balls, things, time fly

I did something I've wanted to do for a long time today. I went to watch a Japanese Pro Baseball game live. Along with my friends Tasuku and Tim, I went to the Seibu Dome in Saitama. The stadium is a dome as the name suggests, but it is also open to the outdoors all around the perimeter, which is a fantastic design. We watched the Saitama Seibu Lions play the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Since getting to Japan I've slowly been becoming a Lions fan, largely because they have a big presence on the trains I take, the stations I frequent, and even the area around where we live. In fact, the train line I take everyday is owned by the same company as the team, Seibu. The company also owns department stores in and next to the station I go through for work and to get home, respectively. So I cheered for the Lions at the game, while Tasuku and Tim both cheered for the Swallows, due to prior allegiances.

Before the game, we went to check out the merchandise available, and I was surprised to see that you could buy gear from both teams playing. The whole atmosphere was actually very inclusive, not favouring the home team. Even inside the stadum, the fans were split about half and half, with the hardcore supporters for the Lions occupying the Left Field bleachers and the Swallows fans the Right Field ones. I bought a Lions T-Shirt, with my favourite Lions player's name on the back. Takeya Nakamura became my favourite after I saw him play on TV and then got his baseball card with a pack of "Pro Baseball Chips". I like him because he's chubby and has a big smiley face. He's plays Third Base and is the clean-up hitter for the Lions. Tasuku bought a cool Swallows mascot hat, and he and Tim both bought Swallows mini umbrellas. Mini umbrellas?! Yeah. More on those to come.

Inside we found our seats and grabbed a beer from a beer girl. The beer girls wear brightly coloured baseball-themed uniforms, while lugging around backpacks full of draft beer that they can dispense from a tap right at your seat. After a routine first half inning, the Lions took to the batter's boxes for the first time. To my absolute delight, Nakamura came up to bat with two runners on and hit a three-run dinger in the first at-bat of his I witnessed live. Favourite player status and shirt purchase justified! The Lions ended up scoring 5 runs in the first off of former MLB Pitcher Chris Narveson, who had a rough day. It took us a while to figure out what his name was, because the scoreboard only shows the players numbers and their name in Katakana or Hiragana. As a result, when Tim and Tasuku pronounced his name it sounded like "Nabusan", which sounds much more Japanese.

The Lions fans cheered, waved flags and sang a song for every run, and also sang specific songs for most players that came up to the plate. That meant a lot of singing and chanting since they scored 12 on the day. The Swallows were behind all afternoon, but did end up putting up quite a few runs themselves. Each time the Swallows scored, their fans, admittedly more fanatical than my fellow Lions supporters, sang and raised mini umbrellas which they thrusted back and forth to the music. It is a pretty hilarious tradition, that all three of us felt should be brought back to North America. Another great tradition here is that all the fans blow up big long balloons that they then release at the same time during the seventh inning stretch. The balloons, which look a bit like coloured blown up condoms, all fly in different directions and also make whistling noses thanks to bits of plastic inserted where the air shoots out.

The game ended with a final score of 12-8. My choice of the Lions as my team in Japan was cemented. I had a couple beers and some takoyaki. AND, I enjoyed a fabulous afternoon with two buddies. What more can you ask from a baseball game?

 





                                 


Today's title references the famous poem "Casey at the Bat". I can't help but think of that poem any time baseball and poetry come into my head simultaneously. Luckily, my boy Takeya had a much better day at the plate than the eponymous character in the poem.

05/23 - Across Languages and Cultures

Today I won't be providing my own haiku, but instead, some haiku written by my students during a free speaking lesson. For our free period today, I decided we could talk about haiku. After the students got over their initial hesitation, they began to figure out ways to explain the rules and structures of haiku. I played dumb and pretended that I didn't know very much about haiku. That they'd have to explain everything. They did a really good job. They even helped clarify a few things I was confused about regarding how haiku works in Japanese. After they were finished, I started to tell them about how haiku works in English. They were quite surprised that it existed and how we managed to incorporate/change the rules for the English structure. In our regular class periods we'd been learning about syllables and how to count them, so it was a perfect chance to practice. I had six students, so they all partnered up and wrote a haiku together. They really stuck to the rule regarding using a season, and they managed to count their syllables well and write some cool poems. Remember they are basic level students, so their finished products are actually very impressive.

At the end of the lesson I told all the students how I was writing at least one haiku for everyday in Japan and showed them my notebook. They thought it was really cool and I got to hear some great surprised Japanese sounds. "Eeeeeehhhhhhhhh?!"


Ayano & Masaki

When spring has gone and

mosquito just begins to fly

we can feel summer


Ai and Natsumi

In so cold winter

we need something warm to wear

for example, socks


Mune and Ryuhei

Too hot yesterday

so I went to beach friends

but it was rainy

05/22 - Yojijukugo

Ten men, ten colours,

two countries, thousands of games,

one man named Hank


It's been great teaching in Japan so far, and one of the best parts is that I'm learning so much myself. It's a bit of a hokey statement people always make that "teachers learn from their students", but it does hold a lot of truth, especially in this sort of arrangement. In a free speaking class today we all taught each other different games, using English explanation skills, and even sometimes translating words used during the games into English. Some of the games the students taught me were absolutely fantastic, including the horensou (spinach) game and a Super Mario rhythm game. On top of some awesome games, the students have helped me when I ask questions about Japanese, and in many instances have taken it upon themselves to teach me Japanese phrases or show me cool aspects of the language. One such cool aspect is yojijukugo. Yojijukugo are four character sayings in Japanese. They function idiomatically. Some of them are really cool, and like the fun games, should be adopted into the English speaking world.

Because I teach the basic class and their skills are limited at the moment, the students ask simple questions a lot, like "what is your favourite ________?" I was thinking about this the other day, and it is actually very difficult to answer in most cases. I can easily name my favourite colour, favourite sports team in each sport, and that's about it. Things like food, music, brand, or even city are much more difficult, and I generally have to give a list. With something like music or food, it all depends on mood and situation, but that is not something that can easily be explained in a new foreign tongue.

I can easily pick a favourite yojijukugo though, at least at the moment. It is 十人十色 , pronounced as junin toiro. Directly translated it means "Ten men and colours", but a better translation would be what I used in today's haiku, "Ten men, ten colours." Anyone can notice in the kanji that the symbol for ten is used twice, preceding both the symbol for men/people and the symbol for colour. The saying has essentially the same meaning as the English idioms "different strokes for different folks" and "to each their own", but I think it sums up the same idea in a nicer way. Each person has their own tastes, likes, ideas and of course favourites. With all the crazy styles you see on the street, the cultural differences that are evident, and the crazy things you sometimes see go down, it is a useful phrase here in Japan. 

The last line of today's haiku references a different part of my teaching day, as in the more structured classes we began using the course textbook. In an ask and answer for information activity one of the characters in the book was named Hank. I thought it was a hilarious choice, and with my students shouting out "hu-unk" and other similar pronunciations it was quite entertaining. They kept asking what it meant, not even recognizing it as a name. I kept thinking of Hank Hill. The name choices by the editors don't get any better though, as there's a character named Dick coming up next week. Junin toiro!

05/21 - Heavens to Murgatroyd!

Three weeks in Japan

the sky opens to befall

the summer that is



There certainly were some moments of adventure today, on the day that marked three weeks for me here in Japan. Firstly, it poured rain on the way to work. Actually, poured might not even be a strong enough word choice. My shirt was soaked, through my rain jacket, by the time I got on the train. Even on the train it was noticeable how heavy the rain was, as you couldn't see out the windows they were getting his so hard with water, and the doors looked like they were struggling to keep out all the surging water shooting at them. I won't complain though, because I am used to Vancouver, and it was a nice break from the usual humid heat in the morning. I must say though, that even in Vancouver it wouldn't rain that hard more than a few times a year.

Even more adventurous than trekking through sopping wet Tokyo was my evening plan. I met Masa to go for some sushi, and then to go get my hair cut. Masa kindly did all the talking at both the sushi restaurant and the hair salon. This meant I got some great sushi, and a very interesting haircut.

In the hair salon, they sat us down and gave me some magazines full of haircuts to look through. There were some hilarious coifs and some even more hilarious names given to them. My favourite was probably the "Fats Berry Fuber", named after a salon here based on some casual research. I'd love to one day walk into a barbershop in Canada and demand they give me a "Fats Berry Fuber". Even more hilarious was the kind of advertising in the magazine. There was an ad that Masa explained was for hormone treatments where people grew taller, as well as an ad to increase penis size where a chubby fella seemed to land his dream girl on account of his newfound length and girth. I picked a picture to show the stylist, and Masa explained what I wanted. Then Masa took off for home, and I sat in the salon for a long time. Four different people attended to me at different times, and the guy who actually cut my hair did so in two separate stages. In between I was given a wash, scalp massage, and strange shoulder massage by a different guy, who kept telling me in broken English that I was "STRONG!" Then he got me a cup of tea and I was relieved the other guy came back to finish the haircut. It looked a bit odd I must say when he finished, but it got a lot worse when he styled it with some wax. He pulled some bits down and stuck other bits up and I looked pretty hilarious. It's definitely quite a Japanese look, but the cut will be much better when I style it myself.

On the way home I ran into a fellow teacher, Lauren, getting off the train at our station, and her bouts of laughter confirmed that my hair did indeed look ridiculous.

Today's poem makes reference to a season and the impact of nature, in this case weather. I thought it was right to formulate a more traditional, punctation-less haiku on an important and interesting day like today.

05/20 - Crossfire!

It's time to get loud

make yourself heard, it's allowed

don't be shy be proud

Today in a class I broke out one of my favourite English lesson activities. CROSSFIRE! Most of my fellow teachers know about the activity and how much I love it. Basically what it entails is writing questions for a partner, then asking them. However, all the students have to stay in their seats and speak at the same time when they ask and answer. On top of that, I play music. It all gets quite loud, which is great as it forces students to speak clearly, focus on pronunciation, concentrate on who they're listening to, and pay attention to non-verbal cues which are huge in successful communication. The thing is I have almost always done this activity with classes of mixed nationality. Today I did it with an entirely Japanese group, and it was great to see them break out of their shells and speak loudly. They are usually quite shy and quiet, but today they embraced the activity and made some noise, and I feel benefitted from it. Another win for Crossfire, and for the first time all month I wasn't the loudest person in the classroom for a bit.

05/19 - Rice?

Pseudo Italian,

I miss home for the Slurpees,

I'll pass on dessert


Today after work I went for supper with two other teachers, Aykut and Rommy, to a cheap Italian chain restaurant called Saizeriya. The place is pretty hilarious. They have shockingly cheap food and wine, but they kind of only half serve you, as you have to get up to get a lot of your own things. We discussed Canada a bunch because Rommy and I are both Canadian, and Aykut has been making fun of me for using the terms Freezies and Slurpees. Yet, he calls freezies, Ice-poles. That is utterly ridiculous compared to freezie. Discussing this topic I realized that I hadn't had a Slurpee for over three weeks, which is not a long time, but knowing I won't have one for more than two more months is rough. I love Slurpees and with the weather here I would probably be indulging in them quite often. Maybe too often, so it might not be the worst thing.

The only real reason we ended up at Saizeriya was because Rommy is vegetarian, and we needed to make sure there was a good meatless option for her. The other topic we talked about at length over dinner was how hilarious some of the dishes end up being here. For example, the "spaghetti" meal I ate at the University cafeteria, which was actually breaded chicken, with salad, a tiny amount of spaghetti and sauce, served with miso soup and a side of rice. Aykut also had us cracking up recounting some weird bread items he had at an Italian joint in Korea. Saizeriya was definitely heavy on rice options for an Italian restaurant, but the funniest part of their menu were there desserts. They actually had ice cream served on the same shells the small pizzas we ate for supper were made on. So strange.

05/18 - Big men, little screen

On a small TV

the fat men vie for titles

while us three drink tea

After not getting to go to sumo on Saturday, Tim, Aykut and I got together at my apartment to watch some sumo both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. We also had some nice cups of tea. They show the big matches from about 4:30 to 6 PM. It was pretty cool to watch. By far the most entertaining part was not the action in the ring though. It was the commentary. Tim told us if you pushed a button on the TV you could get some “stilted English commentary.” Turns out it’s an around 80 year-old super posh-accented British woman that does the colour commentary for sumo wrestling. Hilarious! Aykut couldn’t get over how she kept talking about their “trimmings”. We had to look her up online right away. She’s a former English teacher who got really into sumo and started that gig. Unbelievable. 

As referenced in the haiku and title, our TVs here are tiny compared to what I'm now used to.

05/17 - Here Comes the Night Time

Summer days grow cool

but sometimes walls disappear

and people bring heat

Today started off as a bit of a failure. The plan was to get up early, go get tickets for the big sumo tournament, then meet Masa and get my haircut. Unfortunately, the type of sumo tickets we tried to buy, which are available only on the day of the event, sold out. Tim, Aykut and I found this out via a phone call from someone we knew on the final train leg of our journey to the sumo arena. Aykut headed home but Tim and I decided to carry on and meet the other people we knew there for some breakfast. I was super glad we did for a few reasons. The fist was that I ate a delicious French Toast type piece of bread at the cool café we went to. It was so good I went up and got a second piece. The second was that Rommy, a fellow Canadian teacher working here, told me a shocking but hilarious story about a guy who was masturbating behind a vending machine very close to her apartment that she had seen the night before. The third was that after breakfast we went outside and a bunch of sumo wrestlers were walking around. The guys were huge! I took a couple pictures, but got shot down when I asked if two of them would take a picture with me. At least I talked to some sumo wrestlers in Japanese.

After that failed venture I headed back to Ikebukuro to meet my friend Masa so he could show me to his hairdressers and help me explain how I wanted my hair cut. I was worried I’d be late, and was, but managed to get there just five minutes behind schedule. I waited for Masa in front of the magnificent Don Quixote store for about twenty minutes but saw no sign of him. My only option was to head to the Starbucks down the street for some WiFi to see what happened to him. By the time I messaged him he was only just getting up! We’d have to reschedule. Failed venture number two.

Luckily, the afternoon went a lot better. Tim, Aykut and I met at my apartment to watch some sumo on TV. (More on this in tomorrow’s entry.)

Now the best part. The night. My dear friend Su-jin was in town from Korea for the weekend, and had planned a big meet-up with students I had taught, taken on activities, met, and become friends with in Vancouver. I brought along and invited some other teachers as well, and we all met in Shibuya. It was so great to see all the familiar faces that turned up, AND they had a plan. We all headed to purikura, which is the extremely popular photo booths where you can take pictures and print them off to share with your friends. We all jammed into one photo booth, and took pictures that made us look, men and woman alike, like female alien characters. It was so hot all crammed into that booth, but I guess it was worth it for the memories and the absolutely demented photos we now have.

After that bedlam, we went to an izakaya that you had to enter through a shabby looking elevator, but then was incredibly nice downstairs. We had nomihodai, or all you can drink, for two and a half hours. Everyone shared lots of laughs, stories and fun. Great night!