See the blue and red folks? Tetris blocks. Fantastic costume. Which I'd thought of it.
Yes. It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Fortunately, these guys are not, according to what they told me, afraid of any ghosts.
Perhaps the best in show.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Halloween Photos
See the blue and red folks? Tetris blocks. Fantastic costume. Which I'd thought of it.Yes. It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.Fortunately, these guys are not, according to what they told me, afraid of any ghosts.Perhaps the best in show.
School festival photos
Prep for the school festival. Each home room made one of these poster things and then teachers voted on the best in each grade level.
The preparations are elaborate and the entire school is made over. Homerooms are decorated and special displays and created around the campus.
This is a dark room.
During the opening ceremony. This stuff blasted from some kind of cannon. Didn't see that coming.
During the afternoon on the first day of the festival, food was available at booths outside, though it was pouring down rain. Meanwhile there was a sort of open mic thing in the gym so student musical groups could perform.
This is one of the classroom displays ... some sort of jungle. The third-year kids (seniors) really liked making it so visitors had to crawl through tiny spaces.
During the preparations, some softball club members take a break to practice their swings.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mormonaryianism
The weekend came and went without the issue of Halloween being settled. Because I likely wont' have a chance to get to a store to buy any materials for a more creative costume, I think I'm leaning toward a repeat of the Mormon Missionary idea.
Before you fret, note that this is a Halloween party which will be dominated by JETs from Mie, so I'm guessing they'll get the joke. They have Mormon missionaries in other countries right? All over the world, roughly? Right?
The outfit: Black slacks, a white dress shirt, a black tie, black shoes.
The accessories: A backpack, a bicycle helmet (never taken off), a name tag (Elder Walter Romney), and a "Book of Mormon."
The beverage: Just juice sanctioned by God himself.
Stay tuned for the results.
God bless you.
Before you fret, note that this is a Halloween party which will be dominated by JETs from Mie, so I'm guessing they'll get the joke. They have Mormon missionaries in other countries right? All over the world, roughly? Right?
The outfit: Black slacks, a white dress shirt, a black tie, black shoes.
The accessories: A backpack, a bicycle helmet (never taken off), a name tag (Elder Walter Romney), and a "Book of Mormon."
The beverage: Just juice sanctioned by God himself.
Stay tuned for the results.
God bless you.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Three Elephants and a Pimp
Her name is Rie, and she once dated a member of the Asian Pimps. The relationship has faded, though she talks about it like it was two days ago. "But I lost my boyfriend two years ago," she says, in a tone that suggests she has not yet fully recovered.
Her five-inch-tall stack of photos, held together by a hair scrunchy, features the former boyfriend more prominently than anyone except herself. One photo shows the couple on her birthday. She sighs, as her pair of fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dogs dart around the apartment oblivious to the somber mood. "Two years ago."
We met Rie, a friend of a friend from Ise who had traveled with us to the city, earlier in the day in Nagoya's trendy shopping district. After trudging through the area for an hour or so, I had managed only to buy a CD. Rie had three gigantic shopping bags. We later learned that one of her nicknames is "bag monster." It fit. I wondered how often she goes on such sprees. How can she afford it?
Maybe it's the three jobs. She works at Toyota in a department involving finance. She works at an unnamed location as a designer. She works three nights a week as a hostess, which requires further explanation.
Hostess bars, also known as snack bars, are incredibly popular among the men of Japan. A snack bar features drinks, often karaoke, and most importantly, young attractive women who engage you in conversation and pour your drinks. Of course, you're paying for the company. Normal operations are nothing too shady. It's not part of the sex trade, though the seedier options could probably be found in the same neighborhood. You pay for a nice-looking woman to sit with you and talk with you. The bill runs up, especially if you're like me and require a couple of drinks to actually enjoy the fake, sometimes dull atmosphere.
At any rate, based on how much I paid when I went to a snack bar with some teachers the other week, I imagine Rie makes plenty of spending money from this gig alone. She fits the part. A sometimes model, she's attractive and interesting to talk to. And, she paints.
As we prepared to watch her friend's live show at a tiny bar in another part of Nagoya, Rie told us about the three elephants. She had to paint three elephants, she said, without much more detail except that it was for an art class she takes. At her apartment, we discovered that she had already painted the three elephants, but had to finish up the project and perhaps try it all again. She filled in the white space around the elephants with a border made up of different degrees of gray. The elephants themselves, stacked on top of each other on one sheet of paper, were a variety of colors. The point wasn't to learn how to draw elephants, Rie stressed. The lesson was about color composition.
The mix of colors that made up the elephants seemed to fit for Rie, the hostess, the painter, the model, the former reggae DJ, the dog-owner, the bag-wielder, the designer, the office worker. There was so much going on in her life that it would be hard to image anyone painting her without using just as many colors. It's cliche, yes, but sometimes art mimics life ... even when it's just a lesson about colors.
So instead of going to Matsusaka, Sam and Mami and I went to Nagoya, where we met Rie, who inspired the above sketch. She was quite a character so I took a stab and writing her down. Thanks for the comments on Halloween. Any more ideas out there?
Her five-inch-tall stack of photos, held together by a hair scrunchy, features the former boyfriend more prominently than anyone except herself. One photo shows the couple on her birthday. She sighs, as her pair of fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dogs dart around the apartment oblivious to the somber mood. "Two years ago."
We met Rie, a friend of a friend from Ise who had traveled with us to the city, earlier in the day in Nagoya's trendy shopping district. After trudging through the area for an hour or so, I had managed only to buy a CD. Rie had three gigantic shopping bags. We later learned that one of her nicknames is "bag monster." It fit. I wondered how often she goes on such sprees. How can she afford it?
Maybe it's the three jobs. She works at Toyota in a department involving finance. She works at an unnamed location as a designer. She works three nights a week as a hostess, which requires further explanation.
Hostess bars, also known as snack bars, are incredibly popular among the men of Japan. A snack bar features drinks, often karaoke, and most importantly, young attractive women who engage you in conversation and pour your drinks. Of course, you're paying for the company. Normal operations are nothing too shady. It's not part of the sex trade, though the seedier options could probably be found in the same neighborhood. You pay for a nice-looking woman to sit with you and talk with you. The bill runs up, especially if you're like me and require a couple of drinks to actually enjoy the fake, sometimes dull atmosphere.
At any rate, based on how much I paid when I went to a snack bar with some teachers the other week, I imagine Rie makes plenty of spending money from this gig alone. She fits the part. A sometimes model, she's attractive and interesting to talk to. And, she paints.
As we prepared to watch her friend's live show at a tiny bar in another part of Nagoya, Rie told us about the three elephants. She had to paint three elephants, she said, without much more detail except that it was for an art class she takes. At her apartment, we discovered that she had already painted the three elephants, but had to finish up the project and perhaps try it all again. She filled in the white space around the elephants with a border made up of different degrees of gray. The elephants themselves, stacked on top of each other on one sheet of paper, were a variety of colors. The point wasn't to learn how to draw elephants, Rie stressed. The lesson was about color composition.
The mix of colors that made up the elephants seemed to fit for Rie, the hostess, the painter, the model, the former reggae DJ, the dog-owner, the bag-wielder, the designer, the office worker. There was so much going on in her life that it would be hard to image anyone painting her without using just as many colors. It's cliche, yes, but sometimes art mimics life ... even when it's just a lesson about colors.
---
So instead of going to Matsusaka, Sam and Mami and I went to Nagoya, where we met Rie, who inspired the above sketch. She was quite a character so I took a stab and writing her down. Thanks for the comments on Halloween. Any more ideas out there?
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Halloween!
It's Saturday and I'm just getting over a cold which began on Tuesday. Its lingering effects are still quite annoying and I'm sure my energy level is nowhere near its usual "medium."
Sam and I, and possibly others, are heading to the nearby city of Matsusaka, which is a little bigger than Ise. Just a little bigger, but enough to draw us out of town in search of new entertainment or shopping.
A huge box of warmer clothes and coats arrived two days ago (thanks Dad and Steph) but I am still in the market for some seasonal clothing. I may not find much in Matsusaka ... I might need a trip to the big city soon for that sort of thing.
Halloween is coming, and there's a big JET costume party on the slate. I have no idea what I'll "be" for the party, but I must decide soon or I'll be "that guy" without a costume. The last time I dressed up for Halloween, during college, I was a "Mormon," complete with a white shirt, a black tie, black slacks, and more importantly, a backpack and a bicycle helmet. Credit goes to older brother Phil for the inspiration.
I could go for a repeat of the Mormon thing, but Kentaro (the owner of Nanaimo) suggested a couple other ideas, including:
-Japanese construction worker. They tend to wear a stereotypical outfit including oddly baggy pants and a vest. I cold add a hardhat and some kind of power-tool and I'd be set for the evening.
-Japanese high school student. This would probably require only borrowing the outer jacket from a Yamasho student. A really easy idea.
I've always wanted to use one of those full-body costumes ... like ... as a bear or something. Not just me in some outfit, but me as a bear. Not sure where you can find bear costumes around here. And the clock is ticking.
Any other ideas out there?
Sam and I, and possibly others, are heading to the nearby city of Matsusaka, which is a little bigger than Ise. Just a little bigger, but enough to draw us out of town in search of new entertainment or shopping.
A huge box of warmer clothes and coats arrived two days ago (thanks Dad and Steph) but I am still in the market for some seasonal clothing. I may not find much in Matsusaka ... I might need a trip to the big city soon for that sort of thing.
Halloween is coming, and there's a big JET costume party on the slate. I have no idea what I'll "be" for the party, but I must decide soon or I'll be "that guy" without a costume. The last time I dressed up for Halloween, during college, I was a "Mormon," complete with a white shirt, a black tie, black slacks, and more importantly, a backpack and a bicycle helmet. Credit goes to older brother Phil for the inspiration.
I could go for a repeat of the Mormon thing, but Kentaro (the owner of Nanaimo) suggested a couple other ideas, including:
-Japanese construction worker. They tend to wear a stereotypical outfit including oddly baggy pants and a vest. I cold add a hardhat and some kind of power-tool and I'd be set for the evening.
-Japanese high school student. This would probably require only borrowing the outer jacket from a Yamasho student. A really easy idea.
I've always wanted to use one of those full-body costumes ... like ... as a bear or something. Not just me in some outfit, but me as a bear. Not sure where you can find bear costumes around here. And the clock is ticking.
Any other ideas out there?
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Oh, hello, blog
It's been a while, old blog. The last post was made way back at the end of September, just before Yamasho's two-day school festival was about to begin. I'll try to highlight the ... highlights of first two weeks of October.
First, backtracking a bit, there was Yamasho's Sports Day. Basically it's like an elementary school field day on steroids. All 800 students, in their matching PE uniforms, line up in the athletic field area before the official beginning. The teachers wait under tents along the track, until the brass band kicks in with some marching tune. Then the students march, each homeroom together, with the class leader holding up a flag bearing their class number. The teachers stand along the track as the classes pass. The school song plays on repeat as all 18 homerooms pass. As the classes pass the principal, who is standing on a raised platform as if he's inspecting the troops, the students, in unison, salute him in a way that looks a lot like a certain political party in 1940s Germany.
Once the students get into their places, lined up two-by-two facing the teacher-tents, the opening ceremony continues with the school song and a strange Japanese tradition called radio gymnastics. Then the events begin.
Yamasho being a school known for its strength in sports, Sports Day is taken pretty seriously here. However, the serious events like relays and dashes are counted by a few fun things, like a tug-of-war and a silly relay-obstacle course. I took part in a silly teacher relay in which I had to kick a rugby ball part-way around the track. I didn't do too poorly but our team came in third.
To turn on the "cultural analysis" switch for a second, I think Sports Day is all about the broader theme here of working for the good of the group, stressing community over individual. The jump-rope event is all about an entire home room, which is always together anyway, jumping in unison as many times as they can. Another event, a centipede raise, stresses groups walking in unison. The opening ceremony features students dressed exactly the same marching in unison. Everyone has to participate, even the kids who aren't at all athletic. I can't imagine such an event being held in the U.S.
This post will have to be continued later.
Adios
First, backtracking a bit, there was Yamasho's Sports Day. Basically it's like an elementary school field day on steroids. All 800 students, in their matching PE uniforms, line up in the athletic field area before the official beginning. The teachers wait under tents along the track, until the brass band kicks in with some marching tune. Then the students march, each homeroom together, with the class leader holding up a flag bearing their class number. The teachers stand along the track as the classes pass. The school song plays on repeat as all 18 homerooms pass. As the classes pass the principal, who is standing on a raised platform as if he's inspecting the troops, the students, in unison, salute him in a way that looks a lot like a certain political party in 1940s Germany.
Once the students get into their places, lined up two-by-two facing the teacher-tents, the opening ceremony continues with the school song and a strange Japanese tradition called radio gymnastics. Then the events begin.
Yamasho being a school known for its strength in sports, Sports Day is taken pretty seriously here. However, the serious events like relays and dashes are counted by a few fun things, like a tug-of-war and a silly relay-obstacle course. I took part in a silly teacher relay in which I had to kick a rugby ball part-way around the track. I didn't do too poorly but our team came in third.
To turn on the "cultural analysis" switch for a second, I think Sports Day is all about the broader theme here of working for the good of the group, stressing community over individual. The jump-rope event is all about an entire home room, which is always together anyway, jumping in unison as many times as they can. Another event, a centipede raise, stresses groups walking in unison. The opening ceremony features students dressed exactly the same marching in unison. Everyone has to participate, even the kids who aren't at all athletic. I can't imagine such an event being held in the U.S.
This post will have to be continued later.
Adios
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