Kakure Gaijin

Nighttime peace gathering at Hiroshima

2008-08-03T06:30:00.016-10:00

Small crowd at unofficial nighttime commemoration, 6 Aug 2007

Here I am back in Hiroshima, year 2008. It is hard to believe that three years has passed since I last started this blog. Time does go by when one is busy. I stopped writing this blog because of work and personal commitments. Occasionally, I would receive an email from a stranger asking about when this blog would start again, or else I received some positive feedback from students, and this made me wonder if I should start blogging again.

So, yes, I will blog again and reactivate this after a long hiatus. I don`t think I will blog on a regular basis, as it is just too time consuming to write. I will, however, blog on an rare occasion. This is one of them, in order to fulfil a promise I made.

Me somewhere in Shanghai, 2006. I am aggressively pushing a Chinese tourist away from me to keep him from jumping into my picture. Happened to me a lot until I learned to assert myself.

You see, in 2006, I was just back from a trip to China. I was tired, and recuperating in Hiroshima. It is amazing how after the culture shock of China, being unable to speak in Chinese (although I did meet a lot of cool people, both Chinese and my fellow American travelers), Japan seemed safe and comfy. I was tired saying for the 100th time in Chinese that I did not speak Chinese or understand Chinese (wo bu dong hanyuu) until I realized that by saying this in Chinese I was contradicting myself and sending mixed messages to the Chinese people. Before I say anything else, I want to state for the record that the Chinese were gracious hosts, and I was impressed by their kindness and hospitality. China`s long term strength is its people and their energy and ambition, not just their sheer numbers.

Crowd at the Memorial for A-bomb victims laying wreaths at night (Aug 6, 2007)

Anyway, I so tired from my China trip that I missed the a-bomb commemoration on Aug 6. I also was too slow in getting up for the floating lantern festival, and so when I arrived at Peace park at 9:45 pm, the crowd had dissipated, and the lantern floating stopped.

Now I had heard rumors over the expat grapevine, that there was an unofficial “underground” gathering behind the baseball stadium across the A-bomb dome. Music would be played, and although some older Japanese felt this was inappropriate, this type of gathering spoke to the younger crowd and was a more meaningful memorial commemoration. Skeptical, I decided to walk on by on the way home. As I walked into the park behind the baseball stadium, I thought I heard some music playing.

“No. It can`t be true” I thought to myself. Intrigued, I kept walking into the darkness.

Yes, the rumors are true. There is a nighttime unofficial peace celebration on the night of Aug 6

And there it was – a small gathering of about 30 Japanese youth dancing in front of a DJ`s turntable. A few non-Japanese were in the mix and they were partying together. This was an enjoyable meeting: I met so many people, and we stayed up and chatted. I met Naoki, the head of “Sleepyeye” (3pi), a DJ group. To most Japanese, these would be disrespectful punks, having a party on a somber day like this. But to my American eyes, they were anything but disrespectful. Naoki was very friendly and courteous.

Naoki (L) of Sleepyeye ( 3pi). Very outgoing fellow who spoke fluent English!

Fashionable attendee who was very friendly and showed me her necklace

Another stylish attendee. I was amazed - no fights, and they were very friendly to a foreigner like me!

The other Japanese in attendance were equally courteous. Here are observations I had from talking to them:

1) The official memorial event does not resonate with the younger generation. I have been to many Hiroshima memorials and it is all the same – walk to the main ceremony, stand in the heat, and listen to official pronouncements. Then the tolling of bells, and then the doves are released, the child representatives of the city give a peace speech, and then the official peace song. Then people walk around the park. While there is nothing wrong with such activities, and somberness may even be necessary to show the gravity of the atomic bomb, how are you going to attract youth to future meetings? Why would one want to go to future A-bomb memorials if they are so kurai (dark, gloomy)?

Lots of dancing at this event. And no fights or illegal drugs!

2) Despite the underground nature of the event, there were a fair amount of non-Japanese attendees. Also, drinking in public is not a crime in Japan, so there was a lot of beer flowing around. But I did not see any fights or bad attitudes. They were just people dancing and chilling out and having a good time. This event is a good example of how Japanese youth, despite being criticized by their elders for being lazy or disrespectful, are very polite and mellow by American standards.

3) The police came and were not happy about the event, but I was amazed by their professionalism and knowledge of human nature. The police in the U.S. would have broken up the party and called in backup to do so. The Japanese police realize the need to persuade people and give them a face saving way out. They came to warn the group, and then when they came back again, they spoke firmly, but non-threateningly, then left. Give people a face-saving way out, and they will obey. Or will this only work in Japan.

4) The organizers took pains to make sure they left no trash behind. Yes, after the police came in to shut things down at around 1:00 pm or so, the attendees started picking up trash and making sure that the park was in better condition than before the event. Just amazing to my jaded eyes.

I was so impressed that I promised I`d put these pics on the web. And then I lost all my pictures! Yes, the pics are gone along with almost 1,000 other pictures I took in China. It must have happened during a botched data transfer drive I did visit again in the summer of 2007 and took more pics and promised I would put them up. And my work responsibilities took over (committees, grading, planning for the Japan field trip, etc), and putting up this blog post and pics was relegated to the “must do in the future” pile on my desk.

So no more procrastinating. Here are some of the pics. If you happen to be in the Hiroshima area on Aug 6, why not come to their “Summer of Love” behind the baseball stadium at night. Come well behaved, and socialize with Japanese. I think this is one of the ways to build world peace – for people of different backgrounds to socialize with each other. at night over a cold beer and good music. Why must peace activities be so somber? For an American, this may be very “sobering,” – to realize that young people just like the ones you are talking to at the party are among those who suffer and die whenever there is unnecessary war and conflict.

Hiroshima city, are you listening? There are other ways to reach out to Japan`s young people to help spread the message of peace.

Going to Japan

2007-07-08T15:56:00.000-10:00

Ayumi (L) and Koda Kumi (R). I downloaded the photo from english.chosun.com

Ah, sorry for the delay in posting. It has been one of the most hectic four months in my life. During this timespan, I, with the class I was teaching, helped run America`s second maid cafe at the kawaii-kon anime convention, and then I taught summer school classes at UH Manoa. Then, it`s getting ready for my field trip. Yes, I am taking 16 students to Tokyo, so they too can experience the Japan that I know. You know, the one of kitschy pop culture, like the a replica of the Statue of Liberty in front of the shopping center at Odaiba. Or, the joys of a workingman`s drama called taishu engeki (google it with my name *kakure gaijin* and you`ll see my description. Hopefully, I can get others excited about this Japan and spawn more Japanologists.

Anyway, here`s the pop culture tidbit for today. Wanna be a singer? Often, you can find more fame and fortune overseas than in your own backyard. This is a bit dated information, but please let me tell you about Ayumi Lee, a Korean who moved to Japan as a child. She was a member of the girl group Sugar, and last year, as a solo artist, released a cover of Cutie Honey, the theme to a Japanese anime made popular again by Koda Kumi, who did a cover of this song as well. This song became one of the most downloaded songs of the month.

Now the irony is that Korean society prides itself on being homogenous and there is an intense pride in being Korean. And on the other hand, there is a fascination with Koreans from outside Korea. It's as if these Koreans are quite exotic and yet Korean enough to be familiar. Daniel Henney is an example of this.

Let`s start off with the original anime version of Cutie Honey. This is a strange anime, one of the classics that I have never seen but my wife tells me about. This heroine seems to get naked a lot and this was PRIME TIME FAMILY FARE back in the 1970s!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY9-AltpAkI

A few years ago, Koda Kumi sang a cover of Cutie Honey and it made her famous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dffFT80CSTM

Now Ayumi Lee, who became popular as a member of the group Sugar, has struck out on her own solo career. It seems that she is playing on her Japanese upbringing to add some exoticism to her image. Koreans who I talk to say that she sings with a thick Japanese accent. Indeed, much criticism was levelled at her, as some thought this song sounded too Japanese, and the video seemed to Japanese influenced.

Ayumi singing Cutie Honey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l3wW-IWNmk

She`s a good example of how culture and artists can flow between borders. Technically, she's Korean, as she was born in Korea, and thus should have Korean citizenship. But she was raised in Japan, and I think this adds to her exotic appeal among Korean fans.

Spider-Man Japanese style!

2007-02-27T15:21:00.000-10:00

The Japanese version of Spider-Man (1978)

Someone once told me that the Japanese are good at taking other people's ideas and making them better. Take for instance, cars. We in the U.S. found a way to mass produce them efficiently, making America the car capital of the world for a time. Then the Japanese come along, and learn to make them better and more efficiently. I would beg to differ. Rather, as other scholars have argued, Japanese take other people's ideas, and adapt them to their own culture. What comes out is a new product that bears a resemblance to, but is considerably different from the original. We can see the same thing in Spider-Man.

The American 1967 animated Spider-Man
First, let's look at the American version of Spider-Man I grew up with (I watched lots of reruns in the 1970s of this 1967 cartoon). The best thing about this cartoon was its catchy song. That's about it. Even as a kid, I knew this was trash animation - the producers, in order to save money, constantly reused the same scenes of Spider-Man swinging. And swinging. And swinging. I remember as a grade schooler, timing the swinging scenes in an episode where Spider-Man is being chased by a giant cat. About half the show consisted of him swinging.

BTW, click here for a link to the live action 1970s U.S. version of Spiderman. I love the 1970s theme music!

The Japanese 1978 live-action Spider-Man
Here's my rough translation of the lyrics

In the darkness between the buildings
Spider-Man!
Eyes burning with rage (lit: eyes shining brightly with anger)
Spider-Man!
He sacrifices his (inner) peace. (lit: He throws away his serenity.)
He sacrifices everything. (lit: He throws away everything.)
He pursues evil and soars across the sky.
Change to Leopardon!
Why do you... Why do you?
Keep on fighting and put your life at risk?
You live for just one thing. You live for just one thing.
Invincible man
Spider-Man

Now look at the 1978 Japanese version Spider-man (put up by VideoStar13), produced by Toei, the same folks who brought you other Japanese superhero shows such as Kikaider and Kamen Rider. As you can tell by the lyrics, it's a much more serious version of Spiderman. The producers did obtain the license from Marvel comics to show their version of Spider-Man to the Japanese. However, the producers had to make considerable changes to adapt this cartoon into the Japanese tokusatsu genre. For the uninitiated, tokusatsu (literally meaning "special filming" or "special effects"), is a live-action genre usually with superheros doing martial arts moves on agents of a villainous organization, and always crying out the name of their martial arts technique ("double chops!" "giant swing throw!") as they pummel their opponents. Think of the "Power rangers".

Yamashiro Takuya, Japan's version of Peter Parker

Someone else put up a fake subtitled version, which has nothing to do with the plot (click here if you want to take a peek, but the subs are purposely wrong). I can understand Japanese, but it takes a lot of energy and concentration for me to do a proper translation, so I took the lazy man's method and looked up the story at japanhero.com. The following plot synopsis is a combination of that article and my personal translation. First of all, Spider-Man's alter-ego, Peter Parker, was changed to a Japanese motocross champion, Yamashiro Takuya. This made sense since the other Toei tokusatsu shows usually featured a cool motorcycle-riding hero, and it would be very difficult to explain the presence of a nerdy white guy in Japan taking pictures for the Daily Bugle.

The Tetsujyujidan (Iron Cross), evil organization in this show. Hmmm...doesn't the guy on the right seem familiar?

To fit the tokusatsu genre, the villains had to undergo a change as well. No more individual villains like the Green Goblin or Dr. Octopus. Remember that Japan is a group-oriented society, and so even villains are organized into groups, this time as the "Iron Cross Organization" (Tetsujyujidan). Also this evil organization was headed by the 400-year old Professor Monster (Kaiju kyoju), played by Ando Mitsuo (who also played the flute-wielding Dr. Gill, head of the evil organization "The Dark," in the series Kikaider).

Spider-Man's ship called the "Marveller" (no joke!)

We all remember how Peter Parker got his spider powers right? (Bitten by a radioactive spider). And that he decided to fight crime when his Uncle Ben was killed by a robber. Well, this story got adapted to Japanese genres. The Marveller (named obviously after Marvel comics), a spaceship from another planet, crashed on Earth, being chased by the Iron Cross and Professor Monster. Takuya keeps hearing voices in his head telling him that "we are brothers." This was actually a telepathic signal being sent by Gariya, the last survivor of the Spider planet destroyed by the Iron Cross.

Aren't Japanese shows so violent? The Iron Cross kills Takuya's father

Takuya and his researcher and other family/research members father go out to investigate the crash site. There, the Iron Cross finds his father and kills him. Takuya grieves over his slain father, and then is chased by the Iron Cross bad guys into a cave, where he bumps into Gariya.

Being given spider powers is no pleasant experience

Gariya tellls Takuya his story and how he has been trying to contact him via telepathy. Gariya wants revenge for his planet, and tells Takuya that he must also avenge his own father (Just like in the 47 Ronin, revenge is a powerful factor in tokusatsu). And so he gives Takuya spider powers through a device that he clamps onto him. Note that in Japanese shows, the hero is usually created by someone, or gets their power from someone else. That's how skills are supposed to be transmitted in real life, from a master.

This is how "Spider sense" was depicted, as a radar

Out of the cave, Takuya discovers his powers. I like how they used live action stuntmen to climb up the walls of real buildings. Even his powers undergo some adaptation. The Spider Sense is more of a radar, where you can locate people. So Spider-Man figures out where the bad guys are (at a dam kidnapping a researcher to make evil monsters) and goes out to fight them. These are the bad guys for the first episode:

The Ninder, grey-clad henchmen to be used as target practice

Sexy villians such as Amazoness to turn Asiaphiles into Spider-Man fans!

The battle-scenes were also adapted to tokusatsu standards. Whenever Spider-Man shot his web, in true tokusatsu fashion, he had to announce his attack "Spider String!" And he used lots of martial arts moves and gymnastics to knock his opponents about. Lots of explosions thrown in for good measure. Note how Spider-Man actually moves like a spider, with his arms and legs flailing about. And also you can hear the 1970s enka (Japanese traditional music) horns in the background. Eventually, the villian Amazoness got tired and brought out a robot which morphed into a giant robot.

When the villain is getting his butt kicked, go into giant mode

Now here's where this show really gets hog wild. When the bad guys were on the losing end of the battle with Spider-Man, they would morph into a giant version of themselves. Spider-Man would then call in his giant Transformers-like robot to battle the giant villain. First he would jump into his Spidermachine GP7, then jet into an open bay in Marveller, which then transformed into the giant robot Leopardon.

Spider-Man jumps into his Spider Machine GP7 (How can you tell? It says so in English on the side of the car)

And flies into Marveller, which transforms into the sword-wielding Leopardon

Of course, Leopardon ends up smashing his enemy to pieces to save the planet for another day. This program helped to popularize the idea of giant robots fighting in these tokusatsu shows, and thus explains why shows like Power Ranger have giant robots fighting giant versions of the enemy. Plus, it also makes economic sense - the toy companies can sell giant robots and make more money.

Amazing rooftop stunts, even by today's standards!

Compare Spider-Man to how Saban had to adapt Kyoryuu sentai Jyu-ranger to America as the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: dumbing down the plot (the Power Rangers fight to save the high school dance, not save the world), toning down the violence, and just making this a show that only children could enjoy. No wonder Japanese products are so in demand - take other people's ideas, use quality control, and make them better. Just take a look at the detail in which they filmed the martial arts action scenes. Click here or the pic above to see an amazing clip from another episode to "marvel" at the stuntman's footwork jumping around the roof of a building and doing martial arts moves - wow!

What in Stan Lee's name is this "Thing"?

BTW, click here and here for clips (posted by bobx2x) of Japanese Spider-Man fighting a villain who suspiciously looks like ...well, the "Thing". And yes, the Japanese Spider-Man did have the American creator Stan Lee's seal of approval.

Taekwon V: Korean version of Mazinger Z

2007-02-18T18:56:00.000-10:00

Robot Taekwon V, Korean version of Go Nagai's Mazinger Z. Click on the picture above to see a youtube clip of the opening song posted by dodonga33

Mazinger Z . Click on the picture above to see a youtube clip of the opening song posed by dragonnar.

As I wrote in a previous post, the Japanese giant robot anime Mazinger Z, popular worldwide, was also a smash hit in South Korea. In fact, the main character in in the hit drama My Name is Kim Sam Soon (내 이름은 김삼순) even hums a few lines from the song in an episode. However, Mazinger Z came from the hated former colonial occupier, the Japanese, and so in 1976, Kim Cheong-gi directed South Korea's first home-grown animated robot, Robot Taekwon V. In this animation, we can see a lot of the complex South Korean love/hate attitude towards Japanese popular culture.

I found, on a Korean web site, this size comparison of Taekwon V (far left) with the Japanese anime robots Mazinger Z (2nd from left), Great Mazinger (2nd from right) and Grendizer (far right). C'mon, does size have to matter that much?

On the one hand, one wouldn't fault the Koreans for hating the Japanese, for during the 1930s, the Japanese government embarked upon a forced assimilation policy and attempted to eradicate Korean culture. Now colonists have often done this since the beginning of history: Americans attempted to destroy Native American and Native Hawaiian cultures under the guise of assimilation, and similar policies were seen by the British in Ireland and the Soviets in many of the lands they conquered. But while it puts these policies in perspective, it still doesn't excuse the Japanese colonial authorities.

During the 1920s, in response to mass uprisings in 1919 (known as the March 1st movement and put down by the Japanese authorities at the cost of several thousand Korean lives), the colonial government did give Koreans a few limited opportunities to express their own culture, such as in Korean-language newspapers or even radio broadcasts (as noted by Professor Michael Robinson). However, with Japan's military aggression into Asia in the 1930s, the Japanese decided upon a forced-assimilation policy making Koreans to pray at Shinto shrines, change their names to Japanese names, and during the war, millions labored in Japanese factories as conscripts or forced labor. Many unlucky women ended up as "comfort women," forced prostitutes for Japanese soldiers. Koreans were forbidden from using their native language in schools or in government documents. In fact, I met many elderly Koreans during my trip there who could speak Japanese fluently, no doubt having learned this language in school.

Taekwon V statue in South Korea

After the war ended in 1945, Korea gained its independence, but the scars remained. So strong was anti-Japanese feeling that Japanese-language television and radio broadcasts, publications, and pop music, were all prohibited, with the ban only being gradually lifted in 1998. However, despite this ban, Japanese popular culture did manage to make its way into Korea. Often, Japanese cartoons were dubbed into Korean, stripped of all Japanese references, and then broadcast in Korea, often without telling the audience of the true Japanese origin. Or else, as Jasper Sharp points out in an interesting article, it was common practice among the Korean film industry to use Japanese film scripts. Of course this made economic sense - if Japanese culture is banned and so your audience has no idea you are ripping off a Japanese film, then why not cut corners and use ready-made scripts from Japan?

Note the similarities and differences between Taekwon V (L) and Mazinger Z (R)

Anyway, back to Mazinger Z. This cartoon was broadcast in Korea and became a huge hit. In fact, as the Chosun Ilbo points out, "Mazinger Z was so popular here as to be treated as an honorary Korean." But alas, this was a Japanese cartoon, and what Korea needed was a giant Korean Robot for kids to look up to. So, much as how Hyundai cars first used an engine developed by the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, out came a Korean giant robot that looked suspiciously like it was based on Mazinger Z: Taekwon V! But there are differences, however subtle. The head was replaced with a helmet similar to that worn by Admiral Yi, who fought of Hideyoshi's 16th century invasions, and to make sure viewers understood this was a Korean-made cartoon, Taekwon V fought with Taekwondo! Other than that, Taekwon V looks a bit like a reverse-engineered Mazinger Z. Click here for a video of Taekwon V.

Poster for the 1976 film, "Robot Taekwon V"

The movie version of Taekwon V has just been restored and re-released. Now Japanese nationalists may call this a Korean ripoff of Mazinger, and Korean nationalists may try to deny the Mazinger-inspired origins of Taekwon V, but there may be a better way to interpret this anime: cultures have always borrowed from each other. Historically, the Japanese have historically borrowed kanji, Buddhism, and architecture from their Korean neighbors. And if we look at Korean manhwa comics today, they bear a striking similarity to Japanese manga. So culture travels back and forth in all directions. My hope is that rather than argue who imitated who, young Koreans and young Japanese can learn they share much in common, and that popular culture can help bring those two nations closer together. (BTW, the Japanese First Lady is a huge fan of the Korean drama Winter Sonata). Imagine - both Koreans and Japanese grew up watching giant robots! Maybe we should ask for a Japanese-Korean joint production, such as "Taekwon V and Mazinger Z versus Dr. Hell"

BTW, I found some open source movies of Mazinger Z in dubbed into Arabic. You can figure out what is happening even if you don't understand the language. In this episode, Kabuto Koji, under the guidance of Miss Yumi Sayaka (pilot of Aphrodite A), is clumsily learning how to control Mazinger Z.

UPDATE: Just found this video on youtube. It seems to be a Korean video of someone playing the Mazinger Z theme song on the piano. Wow! And what about this video of an Italian singing show with the theme to "Great Mazinger"?

Catchy songs by offbeat Japanese girl groups

2007-01-31T14:15:00.000-10:00

Ever hear a song that you find so damn irritating, but the more you listen to it, the more it worms its way into your brain? Pretty soon, you catch yourself humming along to the song and wonder what has happened to you.

Well, Chatmonchy's "Shangri-la" (Shan-gu-ri-ra) is one of those songs. I first heard it after renting Countdown TV (a weekly TV show that counts down the top 50 hits in Japan) from the local Japanese video store. Anyway, Chatmonchy (チャットモンチー）is a all-girl trio from Tokushima prefecture Japan, on the island of Shikoku. Their members are Kumiko on the drums, Eriko on the guitar and vocals, and Akiko on their bass. The first time I heard them do a live performance song on Countdown TV, I thought the Eriko's voice sounded like a poor imitation of the quirky Japanese singer YUKI. And we've already seen this genre of off-beat quasi-amateurish girl trios, like the group Shonen Knife. I grumbled, "Oh no, not ANOTHER one of THOSE Japanese girl groups," and I fast forwarded the DVD to skip their performance (click here or the clip above to see their video posted by Tofumon).

And then it happened. I was chopping vegetables in the kitchen and caught myself humming the chorus: "Shan-gu-ri-ra shiawase datte..." I was doing medicine ball push-ups in the gym and found the beat in my head "Shan-gu-ri-ra..." Then I was trying to write a lecture for a class and heard the walls sing to me: "Shan-gu-ri-ra. "The song would not go away, so I popped in the DVD and listened to their live performance again. "Shan-gu-ri-ra..."

Halcali's Strawberry Chips - a surprisingly catchy song!

So I admit defeat. Chatmonchy has gotten into my head and now I await their American debut. Now they've joined other irritatingly catchy tunes by quasi-amateurish girl groups that have wormed their way into my head such as Halcali's Strawberry Chips (subtitled and posted by Novaforever) or Kigurumi's Tarako Tarako Tarako (posted by Prekorata).

Kigurumi (dressed as Tarakos) singing Tarako, Tarako, Tarako

NOTE: Tarako Tarako Tarako is from a commercial for Kewpie brand tarako (salted Alaska Pollock roe) spaghetti sauce. This must one of the oddest commercials I have seen, even by Japanees standards (click here to see a commercial posted by ebisen). Yes, the Japanese like to mix cream and tarako to make pasta topping- believe it or not, it's quite delicious!

The transformations of Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ)

2007-01-24T19:37:00.000-10:00

Mazinger Z, influential Japanese anime

Did you know that 60% of the world's animated series were produced in Japan in 2004? (Source: Time Asia). Indeed, people around the world have probably grown up watching the same made-in-Japan animated shows. Even last year, I remember watching a Chinese dub of Inuyasha in my hotel room in Xian. Now many animation studios are being outsourced to South Korea, where labor is cheaper (did you know that the Simpsons are drawn in a Korean studio?) but still there is no denying the power of Japanese animation.

Let's look at how Mazinger Z (pronounced with the British "zed" not the American "zee") a classic Japanese anime underwent global transformations. This anime, which ran from 1972-4, was the first of its kind: a giant robot piloted by a human. Kabuto Koji would jump into a hovercraft and dock into Mazinger Z's head (click here to see a poorly translated video of the first episode). BTW, his robot comrade is Aphrodite A, who would eventually be modified to shoot missiles out of her breasts. I remember as a kid, watching dubbed versions of Mazinger Z in a movie theater in Hawaii. Frankly, the only scene I remember is when Mazinger fell into the water and Kabuto could not see out the glass since there were no windshield wipers. Click here or on the Mazinger pic above to see the opening song for Mazinger Z. It's a cool sounding song that just sticks in your head.

Look at the size of the Mazinger statue in Spain!

Mazinger Z also became very popular outside of Japan:

Here is an Spanish version of the Mazinger opening. Notice how much more passion is in this version of the song. Did you know there is a statue of Mazinger in Tarragona, Spain?

Check out the Italian version known as "Mazinga Z"- the singer is so much more emotional, it's almost a different song.

As for the French version, well, it sounds like 1980s Eurodisco music, with the singer going "Mazinger! Mazinger!" But hey, haven't the French have been keeping disco alive long after it died out in America?

Also, look the Arabic version, known as مازنجر (Majinger) which starts out sounding like any average cover of the song, and then midway through, changes course and just rocks (video is from Dr. WaSaBe, who also did the translation). I love the ways the singer sounds when he cries, "The time has arrived! Morning has started! GET READY TO START SHOOTING!"

Unfortunately, the U.S. version, released in the 1980s as Tranzor Z, got rid of any semblance of an opening song. Talk about the American characteristic of making cuts in quality to cut down on costs. Makes sense, as this series was heavily edited in order to make it suitable for children? Think of all the 1970s and 1980s cartoons in America - any of them had a catchy theme song like Mazinger Z? Sigh, what we were deprived of during childhood...

And Mazinger was extremely popular in South Korea, where it was known as 마징가 제트 and led to the creation of a Korean anime, but that is the subject of another post...

Super Girl - China's version of American Idol

2007-01-22T01:19:00.000-10:00

Zhang Liang Ying, contestant on Super Girl

Sorry for the long delay in posting. So much work to do, and I have stumbled across so many interesting Asian pop videos. So where do I start?

When I was in China in the summer of 2006, I learned about a show called "Super Girl," (超级女声) officially known as Mengniu Yogurt Super Girl Contest (Megniu is the dairy company that sponsors it). It's the Chinese version of American Idol, which, as I have previously pointed out, is a copy (or franchise) of the British Pop Idol. Anyway, Super Girl caused a sensation because viewers get to vote, via text message, for the winner. Imagine, voting in China! Trust the masses to choose for themselves!

This show was watched by the largest audience in Chinese TV history, by millions (or should I say hundreds of millions?) of viewers. In fact, 400 million watched the finals in 2005, a number, as the Seattle Times (which I read via the China Daily) put it, was more than the combined populations of the United States and Britain!

When I was in Xian last summer, I searched for a pub that broadcast this show, so I could sip beer while watching it. I didn't find any, although I did bump into some cool Chinese college students (one spoke with a PERFECT American accent and knew all the New York punk bands even though he had never left China). In the end, I ended up channel surfing in my hotel room and came across clips of Super Girl on late night TV. I remember, in my drunken haze, a woman doing an horrible rendition of "I believe I can fly" and I was hooked, especially since some of the contestants were quite good-looking.

Hu Ling, 5th place finisher in the Changsha district

So I did some internet research, using wikipedia and youtube when I arrived back in the USA. Now the contestants range from comical (hey, they have their version of William Hung), to the sexy (Hu Ling in another outfit), to the simply amazing. You've got to check out Zhang Liang Ying , 3rd place contestant in 2005. Click on the picture at the top of this webpage or here for a clip of her singing a Chinese folk song...

Ok, so it wasn't a Chinese folk song. But wasn't it amazing how her voice sounded exactly like Mariah Carey's? It's as if all she did was listen to Mariah Carey albums at home. I think she's got the pipes, looks, and charisma to make it in the U.S. (at least among Chinese Americans like me) if given the proper material. Also makes you realize that people around the world often listen to the same songs.

But as in real life, the best do not necessarily win. Just listen to the Super Girl winners. In 2005, Li Yuchun took the top prize. Click here or the picture below for a youtube clip of her singing a stirring rendition of a "Chinese folk song."

Li Yuchun, 2005 winner

In 2006, Shao Wenjie 尚雯婕 took first place. Hmmm...note the resemblance? (Actually, she seems to sing quite well.)

Shao Wenjie, 2006 winner

In case you haven't noticed, both winners look like young boys. Kind of the androgynous look of how Japanese boy singers look like young girls. Click here to see a commercial featuring Japan's hottest boy band, KAT-TUN. (For all you KAT-TUN fans out there, please do not flame me. I'm going be scolded by my wife for mocking them. That should be sufficient punishment). What's with the fascination with androgyny in East Asia?

To me (and the 100+ international students, including Chinese, that I informally surveyed), Zhang (the Mariah soundalike) should have won hands down (sorry if I offended Li fans). Seems like voters don't necessarily look for talent. In fact, Super Girl makes you think about how we elect our politicians in America...

Borat eats kimchee?

2006-11-07T01:46:00.000-10:00

I finally saw my first movie in months: Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan. Here's a scene from the first four minutes of Borat. I felt such a guilty pleasure. On the one hand, I could see Kazaks cringing in shame at their portrayal of their country, much like the scene in Dragon: the Bruce Lee Story. You know, the scene when a young Bruce Lee felt shame while the audience was roaring with laughter at Mickey Rooney's portrayal of an Asian in Breakfast at Tiffany's. On the other hand, I also laughed so hard that I felt like, to paraphrase Borat, stomach was going to drop out of anus. Sasha Baron Cohen, who plays Borat is either offensive, a genius, or an offensive genius.

But I did come in touch with Kazaks during my trip to China when I ate Kazak food in a yurt in Xinjiang province, and especially noticed the sheep head prepared for the guest of honor. So I felt it somewhat a responsibility to find more positive images of the Kazak people.

Did you know that Kazakstan also has Superstar KZ, its version of American Idol (which in turn is a version of Britain's Pop Idol)? Indeed, in this video, the Kazak singing sensation, Contestant NO.320106 Алтынай Сапарғалиева (Altynay Sapargalieva), belts out a Kazakstan rendition of Christina Aguilera's _The Voice Within_. She is also "21st century leader" (A Kazak version of Jeopardy) contestant, and 9th grader.

And when I browsed Wikipedia about Superstar KZ, I noticed that the second place winner was a chap by the name of Роман Ким (Roman Kim). Yes, this is a reminder that there are 100,000 Koreans living in Kazakstan (which has a population of 15,300,000). The existence of these Koryo Saram (Корё сарам - Koreans in the former USSR) is a reminder of a sad chapter in history. While much attention has been made of the internment of Japanese in America, the Koreans in Russia also had it bad. During the late 19th century, the Tsars encouraged Koreans to settle in Siberia to help solve a labor shortage, and a few even ended up in Kazakhstan. But in 1937, Stalin, being a paranoid ruler (what's up with these paranoid Communist rulers such as Mao, Stalin, or Pol Pot?) distrusted the Koreans in the Soviet Union and thought they were Japanese spies. Never mind that the Japanese had forcibly colonized the Koreans and that many Koreans had fled to Manchuria to wage up a guerilla war. But since Stalin distrusted them, all Koreans in Russia were sent to Kazakhstan (a fate suffered by other minorities such as Poles, Chechens, and Jews). But many of these Koreans managed to overcome the hardships of forced relocation, and have now carved out a presence in Kazakhstan.

The thing that struck me was how Asian the people of Kazakhstan looked, as in this video by the Allstars titled, "Qazaqstanym". But no duh..like, isn't Kazakhstan in central Asia?

So I have a strange feeling that Borat may be more familiar with Korean food that we might think. On this note, I'll leave you with a "Suiyu degen osy ma," a R&B/Hip-Hop music video by Bangor, a now-defunct Kazak group.

What is a kiss? Kissing pranks on TV.

2006-11-01T17:52:00.000-10:00

I thought the Japanese were the world's most sadistic pranksters...well, this video proves me wrong... I would be truly disturbed if I were the women in the video...

And now, back to Japan...

Now for a Japanese version, look at the following clip, where a chimpanzee kisses Koike Eiko (swimsuit model, and former announcer for Pride Fighting Championship). For those in the know, the chimpanzee throws in a good imitation of Hard Gay at the end of the video.

Count your blessings you are NOT a Japanese comedian

But the women have it easy. At least they don't have to kiss smelly butts like in this video. This is part of a sadistic TV game show (done by paid professional comedians, don't try this at home) where every time the comedian gives a wrong answer, a human butt comes just a bit closer to his face.

Last, if you just want to see a plain, unadulterated video of a Japanese KISS, well look at this video of a Japanese commercial. Yeah, "I was made for lovin' you baby, you were made for lovin me!"

MC Hotdog: "I love Taiwan chicks"

2006-10-21T23:35:00.000-10:00

Taiwan's MC Hotdog has stumbled upon a surefire method of meeting sexy Asian women: make a catchy song praising the beauty of local women. In this case, with Zhang Zhen Yue singing the main tune, he praises Taiwanese women in "Wo Ai Tai Mei" (我愛台妹), translated as "I love Taiwanese chicks." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that national identity is sexy and sells, especially in a catchy song sprinkled with Taiwanese dialect. (Click on the picture above or click here to go to a clip of the song put up by Malubud)

From what I've learned on the Internet, according to Mei Huang's article "The Ubiquity of Tai ke," in Taiwan, "Tai ke" is the equvalent of the U.S. redneck, something like a deragotory term now used as a marker of local Taiwanese pride. The "Tai ke" is supposed to dress all gaudy and loud (gee, fits in with rap style!) and the "Tai mei" is the female equivalent. So MC Hotdog is rapping an ode to the "Tai mei" in this video. And just for your info, MC Hotdog has the character for "dog" 犬 on his jersey.

Now the People's Republic of China views Taiwan as a breakaway province, and has made national reunification a top priority. But this policy clashes with the emergence of a distinct Taiwanese identity. The Japanese took over Taiwan in 1895 and ruled it for half a century, first using brute force to put down any resistance, then developing the infrastructure and creating a policy of assimilating the Taiwanese. In fact, Japanese became the common language of the schools in the colonial period and so many very elderly Taiwanese can speak fluent Japanese. By the time the Japanese were kicked off the island in 1945, Taiwan was the most developed province in China.

Many Taiwanese (descendants of people in Taiwan before the end of Japanese rule), although they suffered discrimination from the Japanese, suffered even more discrimination at the hands of mainlander Chinese who took over the island in 1945. In 1947 Taiwanese rose up in an uprising known as the February 28 incident in which thousands died in the resulting government crackdown. And in 1949, millions of mainlanders fled to the Taiwan following the Communist takeover of China, beginning a process of mainlander domination of Taiwan politics which really only ended with the rise to power in 1988 of President Lee Teng-hui, a native Taiwanese.

Given this history, today many Taiwanese speak their native dialect with pride. Take a rap (which seems to be based on the Spinner's "I'll be around" posted by shockg) , sprinkle it with Taiwanese dialect, and combine it with the fact that Chinese women overshadow Taiwanese women in the worldwide Chinese media. Now you understand why MC Hotdog is so popular among Taiwanese women, as seen in this video of a live club performance (click on the picture below or here to see the video posted by bj23tube). As you can see, all these Taiwanese women are hugging him and energetically singing along with his song!

So my friend, want to meet Asian women? Become a rapper and throw in a healthy dose of nationalism and identity politics and this is what you get! Now you know why he sings, "Wo ai tai mei! Tai mei ai wo!" (I love Taiwan chicks! Taiwan chicks love me!)

Journey to the West

2006-10-10T18:06:00.000-10:00

Journey to the West must be one of the most famous novels that we don't know about. It's an epic Chinese novel (written in the 1590s) well known in East Asia, and I've seen pictures of the main character the Monkey King in both China and Japan.

Little known to most Americans is that they know of the main character. The Monkey King's name is "Sun Wukong" and the Japanese pronunciation is "Son Goku". Yes, you anime otaku, the character from Dragon Ball! In fact, Dragon Ball is loosely based on Journey to the West.

Click here for a Chinese remake of Journey to the West posted by chunwui5021. Those of you who read the book can figure out this is from the beginning, when the powerful Monkey King takes on Buddha himself. The bet is whether Sun Wukong can jump out of the palm of Buddha's hand.

Here's the karaoke clip of the theme song posted by kd6cute3.

2006-10-04T20:39:00.000-10:00

Sadistic Japanese TV toilet humor

Ah, how I long for the good old days of Japanese TV when producers did not give a whit about torturing their victims...I mean contestants. Now Japanese TV is mostly about in-jokes about local celebrities or game shows with celebrities. Here's a scene from a Japanese TV show - literally toilet humor. Please note how what passes for mainstream TV in Japan gets flagged as adults only in America!

Konishiki and Layzie Bone - "Livin like Kings"

2006-09-29T00:31:00.000-10:00

For the uninitiated, Konishiki, formerly Saleva'a Atisano'e, is a Hawaii-born Samoan sumo wrestler, who became the first foreigner to reach the rank of Ozeki, or champion, the second highest rank in sumo. Surprisingly quick and powerful for his nearly 600 lb body, he could, during his prime, easily force out almost any Japanese sumo wrestler from the ring. As the years passed by, injuries took its toll, and Konishiki had to retire from the world of Sumo. So what's an ex-sumo wrestler to do?

Click on the picture of Layzie Bone above, or the picture of Konishiki's album to see a video of Konishiki, the 500+ lb Sumo wrestler-turned-rapper (posted by MusicVideos808). Layzie Bone of the rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony makes a special guest appearance. I love this video - Konishiki must be literally the biggest rapper on this planet, and the song does grow on you after awhile.

This song, "Livin' like Kings" from the album Konishiki, KMS was released in the year 2000, after his retirement from sumo wrestling, but I don't recall it doing very well in the U.S. As of now, Konishiki now goes about Japan singing Hawaiian songs and making good money through his television appearances. Here's a link to a clip of his song Sumo Gangsta, in which he raps in Japanese!

How did the critics receive this album? Jon Azpiri of the All Music Guide sums it up:

Konishiki, KMS is definitely what you would call niche marketing. The album is targeted at those underrepresented fans of both sumo wrestling and hip-hop. Not exactly a growing demographic, but nobody's going to stop Konishiki from trying. When you're a 6'3", 600-pound champion sumo wrestler, odds are you can make rap albums or do anything else you want to and no one will stop you. No doubt Konishiki's considerable girth, not to mention his fame, earned him a record deal. What's scary is that this relative novice provides some passable West Coast hip-hop....Konishiki really shouldn't be making albums. Of course, nobody wants to be the one to tell him.

Regardless of what the critics say, you gotta love this guy as he is still active after retirement from sumo and now promotes Hawaii - Japan ties. He plows much of his money into helping disadvantaged children in Hawaii go to Japan, through his Konishiki Kids foundation. And he even did the second ending theme for the animation Kirby (based on the video game). Check out this video posted by IvynaJS!

Japanese potty training anime

2006-09-20T20:12:00.001-10:00

"If you can use the toilet, you've become a 'pantsman'!"

The above quote starts off this Japanese potty training video posted by Deebingo. It teaches kids that when they can use a toilet, they can become a "pantsman." Think of it as the equivalent of getting your blue belt in karate class. And I just love the smiling turds near the end of the video!

Here's the first dialogue:

Kid tiger:"My stomach's going muzu muzu (feels itchy)."
Tiger Mom: "And when your stomach goes muzu muzu, what does it mean?"
Kid tiger: "I gotta pee pee! Toilet!"

Song:
"When you shi shi, it goes "shi pa pa"

Second dialogue:

Kid tiger" "My butt's going muzu muzu"
Tiger Dad: "And when it goes muzu muzu, what does it mean?"
Kid tiger: "Doo doo! I gotta toilet!"

Talking toilet: "Okay, let's try making doo doo"

Song:
"When you unchi (Japanese for "doo doo"), it goes "un pa pa""

Tiger dad: "Wipe your butt"
(smiling turds go down toilet)
Kid Tiger: "Bye bye doo doo!"

Kid Tiger: Daddy, I did a doo doo.
Tiger Dad: You did a good job. So from today, you can wear underwear! (Instead of diapers).

Enjoy the live action afterwards!

More Korea --> Japan meme rap!

2006-09-04T02:30:00.000-10:00

DJ Ozma is at it again. Scene from "Junjou," his cover of Koyote's "Sunjon"

I am still dreading the prospect of choosing from the 1,000 pictures or so I took in China (the other thousand were destroyed by a botched CD transfer in China). I spent the past few hours going over the final proofs of my book - it's way past the deadline, and already been advertised online. Right now, I don`t know how to start working on my China blog.

Shin Ji from the Korean group Koyote

So to procrastinate, I`d like to introduce you to a super-catchy song that has wormed its way into my brain this summer. DJ Ozma was at it again, once again doing a cover of a Korean pop song. This time, it`s from the hip-hop and dance group Koyote.

1) Koyote version
First take a look at the original song, "Sunjong" (written as 純情 in Chinese characters, 순정 in the Korean Hangul writing system) which came out in 1998. I was dancing on a tabletop in a restaurant to this song in Beijing of all places! (amazing what Chinese whisky and a little coaxing from sexy belly dancers will do to you):

Click here or on the picture above to see and hear Koyote.

2) DJ Ozma version
Now look at DJ Ozma`s cover of this song, which they use the Japanse reading of "Junjou" (純情 in Chinese characters, スンジョンin Japanese katakana writing). Same Chinese characters as in Korean, but different pronunciation . Note how he plays the disco kistchy aspect in his video. I love how he reinforced the "It`s disco time baby!" by appearing in disco clothing.

Click here or on the picture of DJ Ozma above to see and hear the video..

Now that`s what I consider pan-Asian music. Korean beats with a little bit of Japanese tongue in cheek humor added on.

3) Spread of the meme

Crowd at a baseball stadium chanting the tune from Junjou/Sunjong

And like a virus, the chant "wo-oh-oh...wo-oh-oh" started spreading throughout Japan! For example, check out this clip from a baseball game between the Yomiuri Giants (the Yankees of Japan) and the Chiba Lotte Marines (last year's Japan Series champion). Listen to the crowd chant in the back, and then notice how they start waving their white towels like in the DJ Ozma video. Click here or on the picture of the baseball stadium above to see this video. Of course, all this makes sense since the Lotte company is a Korean-Japanese conglomerate founded by Shin Kyuk-Ho a.k.a. Shigemitsu Takeo, a South Korean national who also lives in Japan half the year.

4) Need your help
What song is Sunjong originally based on? The background sounds quite familiar. Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" perhaps? Arpeggio's 1976 hit, "Love and Desire"? Any ideas?

Bitter Asian men?

2006-09-01T09:22:00.000-10:00

Picture from the Bitter Asian Men website

Well, I stumbled across this website and felt very sorry for the authors, especially when I saw that crying panda in a pool of blood.

Yes, I too, decades ago, when I moved from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, experienced the shock that comes with becoming an Asian man. First, I was put into a nebulous, catch-all category of "Asian," meaning that I now had something in common with Pakistanis, Indonesians, Uighurs, Iranians, and Arudou Debito. (Believe it or not, people of all backgrounds commonly use the word "Oriental" over here in Hawaii).

Next, I realized that I had become a member of a minority group doomed to media stereotyping as the eternal geek. Now I did my fair share of BBS posting on the topic of Asian men and dating, but now that I'm older and married, and back in Hawaii, I have moved onto other concerns. (Yes, Hawaii readers, interracial dating is a controversial topic on the U.S. mainland!)

Still, seeing this site did bring back some memories. So, I'd like to contribue a few words of wisdom to my fellow Asian brothers on the mainland who are experiencing dating difficulties:

1)Move to Hawaii. You can't use the "nobody wants to date Asian guys" excuse anymore, not when the majority of the men on the island look like you. Of course, you'll pay more for everything and have a lower salary than on the mainland, but hey, you can't have it all...

2)Move to Asia. If you still can't meet women, then something else truly must be the problem.

3)For those of you who cannot or refuse to move, in the spirit of my post on anal constriction, I offer you this book, ranked #279,058 at amazon.com:

Zuiikin English : "Take what you want!"

2006-08-30T13:20:00.000-10:00

Sorry for not posting - I have a huge backlog of work that greeted me upon my return home.

Anyway, here's a strange video I found on the Internet, originally posted by Skillful Abbot (it's a shame how other people took credit for his posting of the video). Zuiikin English was broadcast in the 1990s, and was a way to "teach your muscles English". It's being rebroadcast right now. Japanese study English for a minimum of six years (since middle school), and yet many cannot even mutter simple English phrases. Thus zuiikin English is a way to chant English to a beat using your muscles.

This video is a segment for useful English if you are in America. Makes you wonder what image they have of Americans. You're going to have one of two reactions: either going to laugh your belly out, or stare in utter confusion. I laughed so hard that I couldn't sleep, but for some people, this video may hit too close to home.

Here's what the woman is saying in the first few seconds:
"Oh no, it looks like I'm lost!"
"I've come to a place with no people" (I'm not sure if I'm translating this part right)

Anyway, here are more links if you find this interesting:

How to argue with your foreign spouse in English

Zuikin Japanese for foreigners

Enjoy!

Hello from Hiroshima

2006-08-04T21:07:00.000-10:00

I am now writing from an internet cafe in Hiroshima, Japan. For those of you who expected updates on my trip to China, a huge apology. I felt like a lifetime of experiences were crammed into an incredible three weeks in China. It was hard to get internet access, or even the free time to check my email. I took over 2,000 pictures of China, and so there are so many stories I want to share with you. It`s just that it is very time consuming to upload the photos. Anyway, I made all sorts of new friends, and now look at China in a totally different light. Here are a few observations:

1) Japan no longer seems exotic after visiting China. Last year, when I arrived in Osaka, everything in Japan, from the food down to meeting the people seemed so fresh and new that I went crazy taking pictures of anything. Don`t get me wrong, I still enjoy being in Japan. But after three weeks in China, I felt like I was "back home" when I arrived in Hiroshima. I guess I could not understand what the Chinese were saying to me, and so my brain has relaxed a little now that I understand 80% of what others tell me. I`m not experiencing the same level of culture shock in Japan that I experienced in Hiroshima.

2) China was far more developed than I thought. And the Chinese I met had a hunger to move up in life that I find lacking in many American students. We`re going to have to get our young generation hungry to excel in academics and their careers, or else we Americans are in for a rude awakening in a decade or so when we see China develop into an economic giant. China`s strength comes not from its size but rather its people: they are willing to work damn hard to make their country prosperous. Young people I met told me of their future dreams, and they are very goal oriented, such as study abroad for a year to learn English and then open their own trading business company. Now contrast that with the "I dunno...whatever" mentality that I see in some (but definitely NOT all) Hawaii students. Remind me to tell you about the sparking new educational facilities I saw under construction over there. Puts the University of Hawaii to shame.

3) Yes, I did visit a maid cafe while I was in Akihabara. In fact, I visited four of them and dragged my wife along as well. I`ll try to post more pics later, and perhaps even write a short travel article. Just for now, I debated with a maid the merits of maid costumes versus Hooters. She wanted to visit Hooters in America, and I told her that the maid cafe seemed more classy.

More Japanese rap: Twigy's "Righ now"

2006-06-10T11:41:00.000-10:00

I feel quite depressed when I use this blog to teach my college students the power of pop culture because it makes me feel so old!

For example, take this video Righ' Now by TWIGY ft. Miliyah Kato & YOU THE ROCK. This is a Japanese rap video, which although not a big hit in Japan, is, in my opinion, one of the catchiest songs to come out of that country in a while. (Click here for the video)

Notice how the Japanese versioni visually pays homage to Beyonce's "Check on it". (Click here for music video)

I think it's cute how they spelled the seventeen-year-old Miriya's (she's the female vocalist in this video and a rising singer in Japan) name in the African-American style of "Miliyah" (just like "Aaliyah"). Rap music has spread Black standards of beauty to Japan. Now you have young men and young women going to tanning salons and trying to look like Snoop Dog or Beyonce'.

And note how they took the beat from an American song. I think the songwriter grew up listening to a lot of American music. But what song was it from? None of the students in class could identify the original song except a returning student about my age. Can you few lurkers out there (at least according to my sitemeter stats) figure out the song it was from?

So, Vanity Six's Nasty Girl (click here for music video) is now music for middle aged people? Never thought that day would come.

My hats are off to those of you in your sixties and seventies. Now I know how you feel when people tell you that the Beatles or Rolling Stones are "old people's music."

Pop music meme through DJ Doc and DJ Ozma

2006-05-29T18:45:00.000-10:00

I love youtube! It's a great way for me to stay current on the music scene, and I can easily access music videos and compare them side by side. In fact, it's a great tool to keep up with popular culture in Japan.

American and European pop culture has become a sort of worldwide common culture among the young urban educated people in places like South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Young adults in these places listen to Eurobeat or hip-hop music, dress like gangstas, watch American movies, and learn years of English in middle and high school.

You can easily see how a meme (cultural idea transmitted from one mind to another) transforms, as a song is covered by people from different countries.

Check out Boney M's video here
For example, start with Daddy Cool by the Europop group Boney M. This group featured West Indian singers and although relatively unknown in the U.S. (except among disco intelligentsia), I read that this group was quite big in Asia. Here's a video of them singing this 1976 classic and try to remember the strumming bass that runs through the song: "dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah."

Watch DJ Doc's video here.
Now fast forward to the year 2000, to South Korea. The hip-hop group DJ DOC released a very catchy song titled, "Run to You". Look at this video and see how they took Boney M's song and made it into a rap.
(Note: there are Internet claims that DJ DOC released an anti-Japanese single called F_CK ZAPAN. I checked DJ DOC's Japanese website, and they emphatically deny that they were the group responsible for this single. Rather, it's by an unknown indies band called "Paekche" ("Kudara" when read in Japanese). There seeems to be an Internet rumor going on.

Watch Alex To's video here.
Now jump to the year 2004 to Taiwan. Singer Alex To made it more Nelly-like (just like "Hot in Herre") by adding an element of taking off one's clothes in his version of the song, "Take Off" and a bit more English, which is the lingua franca of East Asia. Note the evolution of this meme as seen in dance steps or people stripping their clothes.

Watch DJ Ozma's video here.
And in 2006, the Japanese group DJ OZMA (really a side project of the group Kishidan) released their version, titled, Age Age Every Night. (pronounced "ah-geh"). It's known in Japan that DJ Ozma is doing a cover of DJ Doc's song. He kept Alex To's visual message to take off one's clothes, and added a bit of 1970s disco in a seeming act of homage to the roots of Boney M! You can see their tongue planted firmly in their cheek with their homage to MC Hammer's style of dancing and DJ Ozma's crazy afro. Note how the dancing has changed, especially how people hold their hands out and go from side to side while chanting, "na na na na na." (compare to dance steps in the Korean original by DJ Doc.) And yes, those scantily clad girls and topless men are tame by American music video standards, but are pushing the envelope by Japanese ones. I guess it might have the tacit approval of the Japanese government: after all, something has to be done about the falling birthrates!

It's good to know that despite all the tensions between governments in East Asia, pop music and hip-hop has the potential to unite us all. After all, young people don't have to speak the same language to appreciate a nice beat, fancy dancing, and lots of sweaty bodies.

First William Hung, and now we present...

2006-04-19T17:17:00.000-10:00

I"m going to China this summer to learn about that great nation and get in touch with my Chinese roots, and so I thought it would be good to blog about something Chinese.

Anyway, I stumbled across a clip of a Chinese singing contest. Oh my goodness, someone please tell me that this is a skit from a Chinese comedy show, and that she's supposed to be bad... Or does this reflect the state of Chinese R&B music? I wonder if this is from a show similar to Mengniu Sour Yogurt Super Girl Contest, the Chinese equivalent of American Idol (or Pop Idol, as the show originally was called in the U.K)! Who is this woman, and what in the world is she catwailing? She makes William Hung seem like a musical genius! And why are the people applauding for her? Are they humoring her, or do they seriously think she is good?

By the way, the Chinese must be laughing at how bad American singers are when they try to sing traditional Chinese music.

Hard Gay

2006-04-12T06:03:00.000-10:00

You got to see these videos to believe this. This person is Razor Ramon Hard Gay, or "Hard Gay" for short. Think of a Japanese version of the leather guy in the Village People, and his job is to help the average person on the street, such as helping old ladies cross the street, protecting young ladies from pick-up artists, or teaching kids to eat their vegetables. And his secret weapon is his crotch shake. Can you believe the stuff that goes on in Japanese prime time? Hard Gay is the alter ego of the comedian Sumitani Masaki and has become quite popular in Japan.

Here's some clips of him. In this one, he helps a struggling ramen shop by trying to attract customers. Here, he helps people in the streets. In another one, he accuses Yahoo Japan of taking his trademark cry, "whooo!!!"

And you can see him in his music video doing what else...a Japanese cover of "YMCA"! (actually his cover of Young Man, a 1970s Japanese cover of YMCA)

Dealing with network racism?

2006-03-15T01:31:00.000-10:00

First of all, the book is finished! YEAAAHHHHH!!!!! Now I"ll probably sell only 500 copies at the most, but hey, it's done!

Next a quick note about the World Baseball Classic. A few days ago, my wife and I were watching a broadcast of the Japan versus China game happening at the Tokyo Dome and we noticed the word "JAP" staring at us from the screen. Yes, in a brilliant move of cultural sensitivity, ESPN2 used JAP as shorthand for "Japan" on the scoreboard. My wife was so steamed that she kept screaming at the TV set whileI wondered if ESPN would ever dare to abbreviate a Nigerian team the same way. I understand that so many Internet users commonly and insensitively use the word "Jap" (which is a disgusting trend but not the subject of this post) but ESPN?

So she twisted my arm and made me send an email to ESPN.com complaining about the insensitive designation. Of course, I received the following form letter, which I have edited for you:

Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 15:15:46 -0800
Subject: Thank You
From: "Ask ESPN TV"

Hi.

Thank you for your e-mail. It has been successfully routed to a customer
service representative.

Due to the large volume of e-mail we receive, we are unable to respond
to general comments, but they will be passed on to the appropriate
network executives.
[....]
P.S. Would you like to continue to express your opinions about ESPN and
play a part in the programming decisions that get made? Come join the
ESPN Viewer Panel where you can take surveys and earn prizes. Please go
to http://www.espnviewerzone.com to sign up. You must complete the
registration process to qualify.

Thanks!!

So this is what you get when you complain, a form letter. Frankly, I was too busy catching up with pile of work I had neglected while writing my manuscript so I put aside for the moment visions of an internet letter writing campaign.

And then tonight, I caught the ending of the Japan versus Mexico game and saw the words JPN staring at me. Maybe it was my email, or more likely, the hundreds of emails sent to them, but yes, they had changed the word in question. My wife was happy (and even happier that Japan won the game). I wrote a letter of thank you to ESPN. (Curiously, Sports Illustrated has the game listed as JAP vs CHN. Hmmm...)

But then, maybe the JAP designation was made by someone in Japan. After all, there's a line of clothing store in Kobe, Japan called "Club Japs".

And the largest underground shopping mall in Japan is a place called "Whity Umeda". Can you imagine telling the kids, "Hey, let's shop at Whity!" Ah, ignorance cuts both ways.

The Japanese Secret: Better living through anal constriction

2006-02-18T01:18:00.000-10:00

Here I am driving myself crazy editing my book manuscript and staring at the computer screen. So, during one of my breaks, I did some google searching on Japanese Engrish and lo and behold, came up with this unbelievable book:

How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way? by Hiroyuki Nishigaki.

Yes, this is a real book. Sold on Amazon.com.

"I think constricting anus 100 times and denting navel 100 times in succession everyday is effective to good-bye depression and take back youth. You can do so at a boring meeting or in a subway. I have known 70-year-old man who has practiced it for 20 years. As a result, he has good complexion and has grown 20 years younger. His eyes sparkle. He is full of vigor, happiness and joy. He has neither complained nor born a grudge under any circumstance. Furthermore, he can make love three times in succession without drawing out.

In addition, he also can have burned a strong beautiful fire within his abdomen. It can burn out the dirty stickiness of his body, release his immaterial fiber or third attention which has been confined to his stickiness. Then, he can shoot out his immaterial fiber or third attention to an object, concentrate on it and attain happy lucky feeling through the success of concentration.

If you don't know concentration which gives you peculiar pleasure, your life looks like a hell.

Besides shooting out a big blank from your buttock, you can feel as if your root chakra leaked sweet hot mucus."

Now, I've checked Nishigaki's homepage, and here's what he has to say on a FAQ about his method:

(1)how long do you squeeze each time?

3-5 minutes. 100 times in total a day is OK if you are busy.
3-5 minutes. 100 times in total a day is OK if you are busy.
The purpose is to temper the muscle of anus and of abdomen, so no stool discharge is OK, only half an inch is OK, only 5 minutes is OK. In my case, I release fecal matter 2-4 times a day.
within a few seconds.

(2)how soon will we start seeing results?

In a few months. We will begin to have good complexion. Irony, nervousness, irritation, thick-wit, dreariness of our eyes will begin to decrease. As a result, we will begin to be often asked by other people "You have changed for better. Have something good happened to you recently?"in a few months. Woman will become more charming even without make-up.

He's appeared on over 70 American radio talk shows to promote his method of well-being.

Scary thing is, I think this author is dead serious.

Even scarier, this book was #300,735 on Amazon.com, beating out books like:

Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger.

Border Patrol Exam (Complete Preparation Guide)

Calvin Coolidge: A Biography

Mathematics : A Discrete Introduction

Selected Myths (Oxford World's Classics) by Plato, Catalin Partenie

The Power Of A Positive Teen, by Karol Ladd

What a bummer it is to be an academic writer. Do all that research on our great president Calvin Coolidge and be outsold by an author who claims that anus-clenching can banish depression. And scary to think that we have more people practicing anal constriction than studying for the Border patrol exam.

Here's a link to a video by Rob Pongi, crazy gaijjin who lives in Tokyo. He puts Nishigaki's theories to the test.

But be careful: Nishigaki's method to banish depression may be too powerful for casual use. Here's what one reviewer has to say:

I cant stop shooting buckets of old black excrement! Help!, September 18, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from lakewood, CO United States

I followed the directions, did the recommended 3 weeks fast, and cant stop shooting buckets of old black excrement! The sweet mucus wont stop either! I constricted anus everyday, followed by denting navel 100 times after constricting anus 100 time in the style of the longed lived british, and the flow of sweet hot mucus from my third attention wont stop! I do feel less depressed however, so the book gets 5 stars.

Now go out there and give me 100 constrictions! And that's an order!

Here in Hawaii and Dogs in Japan

2006-01-31T15:07:00.000-10:00

Picture taken Sept 21, 2005 at Haleiwa Beach Park

Here's another retroactive blog (confused by all the switching of dates?). If you are confused, well so am I. Sometimes, I think Hawaii must be the most Japanese place outside of Japan. Look at the picture above, which I took a few months ago. My wife and I were enjoying Haleiwa Beach park, one of Oahu's more underrated beaches. Here we were, in a rural town, when I see Japanese tourists even at this semi-remote outpost on the island! I wonder how they feel: flying to Hawaii to get away from it all and then they bump into their fellow Japanese screaming to each other in Osaka dialect.

On the one hand, they must not like it, this does destroy the atmosphere of being in a foreign country. On the other hand, it is truly scary being in a foreign country, and so it must feel reassuring to see other Japanese. Kinda like Americans overseas - can talk about wanting to be among the locals, but panic sets in when far away from other Americans and the nearest McDonald's.....

Back to my Japan vacation...Here's the entry that should've have read August 09, 2006.

Here's a pic of Choco, my Japanese cousin's dog. She was abandoned in the mountains, and became part of the family through a Japanese rescue group. Doesn't she remind you of a dog-deer? Naturally, she is a bit scared of people, and only today has she finally warmed up to me and came to me while I was watching TV with my aunt in her room. Strange dog - when we take her for a walk, she gets all stressed out by the city and tries to run back indoors. She also shows interest in me, then when I try to touch her, she runs away. But I know she's not dumb - she probably knows more Japanese than most Americans. How many of you readers know the Japanese for "sit" or "wait" or "come"?

Still too busy to post!

2006-01-29T14:48:00.000-10:00

This is my daily winter distraction ...

Can you believe that I still haven't posted the pics from my final days of my Japan trip? I"m currently working on a book on Japanese TV, and after begging the editor, got one final deadline extension of a few weeks. And, like any budding writer, I squander my newfound time to become perfectionist, and constantly revise...

Almost all of my free time has been spent typing on the computer , while I look out the window and see perfect beach weather just beckoning me to come outside. That is the torture of living in Hawaii: it is so hard to do work when you know that a tropical beach is just a 20 minute drive away! Like setting a buffet table right in front of a starving man chained to the wall...

Luckily, Dana from Dana's Tea House is slogging through my 500+ page mess of a manuscript and editing what she can. Poor woman, nothing worse than to read the babblings of an academic who can barely write. Anyway, I plan to upload more pics from Japan and bring a sense of closure to my Japan blog. In the meantime, check out the posts I have put up retroactively, and some of the links I put on my post about my trip to the Battleship Yamato Museum in Kure, Japan. I even found some Starblazers songs to link up with!

Beach in Kahala, taken Sept 2005

Should I start a new blog, one that reflects my new life in Hawaii as a "returned local" and start showing you how a "kakure mainlander" views Hawaii with changed eyes?

Quick Update

2005-09-18T12:22:00.000-10:00

Yes, I am back in Hawaii and I want to finish the blog of my trip to Japan, as I have a few more pics and notes of interest. However, my pics are on my laptop, and my wife took it with her when she had to return to Japan for a family emergency. I will update at a later time, to give my trip a sense of closure, and a few instances of reverse culture shock.

Keep looking for new posts below, as I will add them retroactively. I still have some interesting stories to tell.

Lunch with Michiyasu

2005-08-11T17:16:00.000-10:00

Michiyasu looking at the picture of him on my blog

After some phone tag and missed opportunities, I finally managed to get in touch with Michiyasu and we agreed to meet for lunch. It has been a decade since we last me, and we had a lot of catching up to do.

When I was a student back in the 1990s, we used to go out on the town together a lot. I remembered Mitch as being one of the most outspoken Japanese I had ever met, and he is quite the individualist. I think he should've been born in the U.S., as his outspokeness had the potential to grate on other Japanese and would've fit in much better into American society. Times have changed and he has learned to adapt to Japanese society. He has become a family man, with a wife and kids, and works hard at two jobs to support them. At first, he seemed like he had turned into your stereotypical Japanese man, and we found it hard to talk, but after some time, we began to warm up, and it was like old times again as the conversation flowed freely. He is a hard worker, and is utterly devoted to his family. And yes, he is still a huge fan of American football! There is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan in Hiroshima.

Meeting John and another late-night stroll

2005-08-07T22:12:00.000-10:00

(Written after the fact, from my home office in Honolulu Hawaii)

Met John today. Now this man has lived an interesting life, 20 years in the marines and then retired. For the past several years, he shuttles back and forth between Hiroshima and Hawaii, in Japan during the summer, and Hawaii during the winter. The base at Iwakuni is nearby Hiroshima, and there are many military facilities in Hawaii, so he can get free medical and dental care, and can buy goods at the PX.

Boy is he a popular person! Passers-by on the street occasionally kept waving at him, as if he were a famous celebrity. When I asked John, he said they were friends saying “Hi”. I have never met anyone this popular before! The secret? In America he would be just another old man living on his pension. But at the International Center, Japanese come up to him to practice English, and he has a whole bunch of friends. He told me it is a good feeling to have people say hi to you on the street. Indeed, he is a bigger part of a community in Japan than in America. What gives? Why do Americans treat our seniors this way?

Also, he meets so many Japanese at the Hiroshima International Center because they like to practice their English with him. This is a place established by the government for foreigners to hang out and meet Japanese. There's free newspapers to read, the TV is set to CNN, free classes in Japanese run by volunteers, and (when I was there last year), free Internet accesss! I laugh when uninformed people tell me that Japanese are so xenophobic - yes, Japan does have its share of anti-foreign sentiment, but do we treat our foreigners in America this well? Hawaii needs an International Center. We need to give seniors a way to meet other people and be involved with society. And so many international students need a place to hang out and meet other Internationals and locals. If we had an International Center, we could have senior citizens meet up with exchange students who want to meet Americans and practice their English. And Americans could practice their foreign languages. And we would have far less lonely people around.

Cartoons are everywhere. This bus advertises "Chicken Ramen." Why eat ramen made from the bodies of cute chickens, I don't know...

Once again, I went late night to an Internet cafe. I worked so late and had so much email to read, but look at how nice this place is. You have all these comics on the wall you can read, and all the soft drinks and coffee you can drink. Lots of videogame connetions for serious online gamers.
Being addicted to the Internet, I finished at around 2:00 am, and on the way home, got spooked by the total lack of people around the station area, except for a few angry looking cab drivers. Remember, this is the central train station in a major city in Japan!
So I asked a police officer who was sweeping the street (yes, that is the duty of a police officer), if it was safe to go through the station's underground pass, where you could see homeless people sleeping. He gave me a strange look and said, “of course.” I walked through the sleeping people and through the underpass. Here’s a picture and remember, this is close to 3:00 am at night in a major city, and not a soul in sight! I made it back safely. Of course, I would not recommend that other foreigners go strolling around in the dead of the night, and that I did this only because I blend into the background because I look Japanese, and of course, am physically bigger and stronger than most men here. Still, it made me wonder: are Americans that paranoid, or are Japanese that naive?

Battleship Yamato Museum in Kure

2005-08-06T21:42:00.000-10:00

1/10 scale model of the Yamato

So now that we had our share of peace education, we went to the direct opposite: war education. We went to the Battleship Yamato museum in Kure, Japan. Kure is a port town, famous for its shipyard building capabilities. It was here that the Imperial Japanese navy built a shipyard to churn out its high-quality navy. After the war, this city converted to civilian use, and built many tankers and ships. (I used to play a card game called “Naval War” when I was in high school, and I was happy whenever I received a “Yamato” card, with its 18 in guns that could easily destroy other ships.)

Now you get a very different interpretation of the war than at the Peace Park. For one, you saw tons of models of Japanese navy ships. Then, this exhibit went into great detail about Japan’s wars: Sino-Japanese war, Russo-Japanese war, World War I, the Sino-Japanese War beginning in 1937, and then the Pacific War (what Japanese call the war with America, the British, and the Dutch). In a sense, this was the missing half of the Hiroshima Peace Park museum, which only focused on the suffering of the Japanese. But the interpretation of the war was more right-wing: the war was a quite justifiable affair. It focused on how Japan was continuously encircled by the West, and in order to avoid being colonized, it decided to take establish an empire in China, an action no different from what other Western nations were doing in Asia.

Also this museum does glorify the cult of the suicide warrior. The Yamato was sent out on a final tokko, or “special attack” (Japanese euphemism for “suicide mission”) in April of 1945: go to Okinawa without air cover and attack the invading American forces. With a small armada of escort ships, it went off to Okinawa, but never even made it far from the Japanese archipelago. Wave after wave of American planes picked off the escort ships, and continually rained bombs upon the Yamato, sending it to the bottom of the sea. Several thousands died and only a few hundred survived. This fits in with Japanese samurai movies, where the hero makes a doomed final attack, and is slowly cut down to pieces by masses of the enemy, but valiantly keeps charging forward until he dies. If you’ve watched the Last Samurai, you know what I mean. Anyway, here are some artifacts from the wreck of the Yamato salvaged via a deep sea submsersible like the one that explored the Titanic.

Little known among most people, even historians, is that a Japanese-American served aboard the Yamato. A Japanese author, who survived the Yamato’s final suicide mission, made reference to this point: the Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) was in Japan when the war was started and so he was drafted to listen to American radio intercepts. But because he was born in America, the Japanese sailors mercilessly bullied him and the author could hear the Nisei crying himself to sleep.

After seeing a memorial wall with the names of the Yamato dead, we then went to the other parts of the museum, a children’s museum, and then the fun part: the comics! We came upon a display for the cartoonist Matsumoto Leiji (why he used an “L” instead of an “R” I do not know). In the 19970s, he wrote Uchu Senkan Yamato, a sci-fi series about a spacecraft based on the battleship Yamato, complete with gun turrets and all.
In the conclusion of the series, the Yamato makes a suicide attack against the enemy, ramming itself (after most of the crew has one by one heroically died in combat) into the enemy spaceship, thus saving all of Earth. Hmmm...doesn`t it sound like the final mission for the real-life Yamato? This cartoon was reborn in the U.S. as Starblazers, heavily re-edited to strip away the Japanese military nuances of the film, and with an English version of the Yamato cartoon song (that sounds like some Japanese march): "We`re ooofff to outer space, we're leaving mother earth, to save the human race..."(Yes, click on the link. You'll hear a .mp3 of the theme song). BTW, here's a link to the Japanese version of the song. For some reason, it sounds less militaristic than the American version. A remix perhaps?

Afterwards, we went to a yatai street stall for some gyoza dumplings and ramen. Here is some oden, boiled goodies you can pick and choose. The customers at the stall were so funny. One older man, quite drunk, kept rambling about something. Despite all my Japanese language traiing, I could barely understand what he was saying. Kazuhiro told me not to worry as he could not understand either. Everyone was cracking up at what the man was saying. I asked to take his picture, and so he told me, “Do not show police” in Japanese and then took off his shirt! Then he posed for me with the yatai stall owner. So who made up the myth about Japanese being straight-laced and conformist?
And then, another shock. I asked the woman next to us if I could take a picture of her and her boyfriend’s tattoos. We had made small talk earlier. And then, only after I took her picture and was about to leave, did she spoke to me in very fluent killer English! Now why didn’t she just speak to me in English earlier? Other foreigners complain that the Japanese always talk to them in English. Me, being a kakure gaijin (hidden foreigner), people seem hesitant to talk to me in English, even when they find out I am an American. So sometimes I end up talking to people in Japanese, and only deep into the conversation do they even let on that they are fluent in English. Is this some kind of test of my Japanese ability?I found out from our conversation what she originally hailed from Osaka. When I left, I could hear the other customers compliment her on her English. Now she’s not yakuza, but simply has a very beautiful tattoo, which she kindly let me photograph. She learned the English while in college and from her foreign friends.

Her boyfriend also pulled down his shirt to reveal a tattoo. Again, who says the Japanese are shy conformists? Like I said, you never know who can speak English in this nation! The people you think can speak, like professionals, cannot speak, and the people you least expect to speak, are the most fluent.

Nightime ceremony for the A-bomb victims

2005-08-06T19:27:00.000-10:00

At dinner, we watched TV and saw that there was a huge orchestra concert at the Peace Park, and saw tons of people. We decided to wait a little rather than brave the crowds again. Aunty was finally willing to pose for a picture.
Kazuhiro and I caught the bus and we went back to the Peace Park. Then we went to float lanterns for the dead down the river. Huge crowd of people, but a bit more relaxed than in the morning. A-bomb dome bathed in a ghostly white light. I bought a lantern and wrote messages of peace on it. I floated my lantern at the rivers edge. All the lanterns representing the souls of the victims – a beautiful but bittersweet sight as the lanterns flowed upriver (high tide, so river went up)
On the banks of the river, musicians were performing for peace. One jazz pianist came and performed an agitated version of “My favorite things.” He then played a peaceful and beautiful rendition of “When you wish upon a star.” Again, note the preponderance of Western music. I did see groups of foreigners talking to Japanese youth. We do need more times like this to build grass-roots international exchanges.

I would like to see Hawaii do a similar peace festival. Think about it, we see general public demonstrations like parades with military equipment. But no peace demonstrations sponsored by the government. I would like to see a ceremony for A-bomb victims, with a booth on the side explaining Japan’s war of aggression against Asia, details of why the U.S. government decided to drop the bomb (many generals and advisors against doing so) and the legacy of the bomb. Keep anti-American sentiment to a minimum, and focus on the need for peace – that war is only truly a last resort. Have songs by artists to reinforce the message on the need for peaceful solutions to problems.

Later that night, I took Kazuhiro to the Shack to experience an American-style bar and grill, and to play darts. Along the way, I bumped into John, a retired Marine who I met ten years ago. He shuttles between Hiroshima and Honolulu. We agreed to meet on Monday.And of course, like almost all Japanese, the waitress at the Shack remembered me from last time. Aren`t the people here just memory machines? Or are nikkei so rare over here? Kazuhiro's hands trembled when he took this picture, so I used the computer to sharpen the photo. What a shame since the waitress was quite cute and friendly...

I was shocked as how so many westerners, especially women, were lighting up their cigarettes while they drank. Makes you wonder if all that anti-tobacco education just cannot defeat the glamorous portrayals of cigarettes in the movies. I also realized that people in the West do suffer from an obesity problem – saw so many young western women (including Asian Americans) with protruding guts in this bar. I guess I have been in Japan too long and used to seeing petite people. Middle-aged women, I understand, as gaining weight is part of growing older. But young western women of all races in their twenties being bigger than most Japanese young men? Mission control, we have a problem...

My darts aim has just deteriorated! Anyway, here`s Kazuhiro with a Budweiser:

60 anniversary of the bomb part 1

2005-08-06T12:57:00.000-10:00

I somehow managed to wake up at 7:00 pm. The train station was just packed, I mean packed with school kids and foreign tourists on an excursion to go to the Peace Park. And what a sensory overload upon arriving. Saw zengakuren student activists shouting slogans, Buddhist priests chanting before the A-bomb dome, lots of people and school kids with petitions (for what, I do not know), riot police on standby, and just hoards of people, surprisingly many of them foreigners, walking to the Dome.Here are the student activists:
And here are the riot police standing nearby in case the small group of activists decided to emulate their breatheren in the West...
Just too many people at the ceremony. They had set up a tent to handle the overflow of crowds, but the crowd spilled way past the tents. I could have stood way in the back to strain for a glimpse of the ceremony, but would have been in the unbelievably hot sun, not to mention muggy weather.Here is my view of the scene, if I was 6 and a half feet tall...(I held the camera way over my head). So I stood in the shade of the Peace Memorial Museum, far away from the festivities. Then the moment of silence at 8:15 followed by the release of doves. There were more speeches and such, but rather than broil in the sun, I just chatted with people around the park. For example, I met American Zen disciples from Oregon. The one I met in the morning needed help with translation – was there a locker somewhere? He carried pictures of jizos and spread them around. We talked a little and found out that the temple was in Astoria, and that he used to live on Powell Street in Portland.

(Later in the evening, I met another Zen disciple from Oregon. He told me that one of the purposes of the trips was to meet the people who were the enemy. Then once you humanize the enemy, you can never want to go to war against them again.) He also had pictures of jizo to give away. Those Jizo are guardians of dead children and unborn but aborted fetuses.
But I digress. While waiting for the ceremony to end, I also met a teacher from Okinawa, who was with school kid representatives from all over Okinawa. They were there for a student peace conference, and they met kids from Afghanistan, Korea, and all over Japan. I had him and his students pose for my camera.
I also saw some Boy Scouts. In Japan, Scouts have been gender integrated, and now you see young boys and girls together. So Japan, in my eyes, is more advanced than the U.S. BTW, the Scout leader on the far left told me that he was going in Hawaii this fall.
A volunteer table was handing out glasses of water, and when I drank, I saw a sign reminding me that after the bomb, badly burned victims often died in the merciless heat crying out, “Water, water…” So I felt guilty about water.
I could hear Prime Minister speaking, but not see him. Then the ceremony was over. I waited in the International Exchange Lounge (with free English books to read) for awhile, then remembered a sign telling people to come to ground zero at 10:00 am. I ran there in the sweltering heat, and saw a crowd of people staring at the sky. A helicopter was hovering at the exact spot where the bomb went off and was going to take a picture of us. Some kind of peace project. In the meantime, a boat with some musicians standing on it was just 30 meters from the A-Bomb dome in the river, and the Japanese woman was singing, “What a wonderful world” and “Imagine”.
Are western songs that popular? BTW, these two songs are available on Karaoke in Japan, and I recommend you learn them if you want to sing in English over here.

Saw a demonstration of people gathered. But no bad vibes. They were inviting foreigners to come up, for example, one would say, “I’m from Iran.” Then the emcee asked him to chant in Persian for “Peace in Iran. Peace in Iran.” Then they all did it in English. An American came up, and they stared chanting, “Peace in America. Peace in America”. Then "Peace in Korea. Peace in Korea."
Pacifism has truly spread throughout Japan. Very little anti-American sentiment, and more a forward-looking "lets have peace" sentiment. Much of the crowd was visiting all the memorials to the dead and burning incense and saying prayers.

I saw a kamishibai performance. A woman arrived on a bike, and then showed illustrations on card, which she kept revealing like a slideshow. She changed her voice to play different roles, and was quite dramatic in her tellingthe story of Sadako, the girl who inspired the Children’s memorial in the Park. Some 10 meters or so away from her, another group of performers was telling the story of Sadako, this time one played on a wooden cello, and the woman just read from the Sadako book. No Role Playing whatsoever.
I got soaked with sweat in the unbelievable heat and so headed on back to the station to check my email, and then went off to eat dinner with the family. Then I realized I had no sunscreen, and saw I was sunburned on a little patch of skin. Ouch!

Who is this guy Tamori?

2005-08-05T20:44:00.000-10:00

The alarm clock broke again, and so I woke up too late, almost afternoon. That screwed up my sleep schedule, as I wanted to wake up early tomorrow. But interestingly enough turned on the TV and saw Tamori. He is a comedian whose trademark is wearing dark sunglasses. He is on a TV show every weekday afternoon called “waratte ii tomo,” good clean fun for the entire family. But what freaks me out is that last night, when I came home, while channel surfing through late night Japanese TV (which, although there is still no nudity, tends to be a bit more risqué on subject matter than daytime TV), and saw a TV show on the history of adult entertainment in Japan. And who was the emcee, but no other than Tamori himself! Here is a picture I took of him on that adult themed late night show. Imagine Regis Philbin on late night TV doing a special like that. I took pictures of the TV last night, and then waited for the afternoon show to come on to give you an idea.

As I was about to leave the apartment, I could hear the loud beating of drums. After I threw away the trash outdoors, I saw a procession of people with a cart in tow, and a van that had an inscription in Japanese to protect the pacifist Article 9 of the constitution (which renounces war as an instrument of foreign policy. According to the news later that day, it was the Stone walk or something like that according to the news. Peace activists, one of them a 9-11 victim family, participated. I saw her on TV apologize on behalf of Americans for the atomic bombings. Like I said, tell people in Koreatown or Chinatown that you are apologizing for them.

Anyway, there have been lots of news specials on the A-bomb, and a very good documentary on why the bomb was dropped. It recreated the debates among top policy makers and showed the split in opinions among American policymakers at the time as to whether dropping the bomb was a good policy. They also showed survivors of the A-bomb telling their very poignant and sad stories. One woman remembered hearing her kids screaming for help from beneath the house that collapsed on them, but she could not rescue them, and had to suffer knowing that the fires would burn them alive.

We all got into a rather animated discussion of the war at dinner, and I pointed out that Japan is not seen as the victim of the war in most parts of Asia. It was a wide-ranging discussion, and could be an emotional topic, so I had to choose my words carefully. People weighed in on their views. I asked why there was so little anti-American sentiment in Hiroshima, and Kazuhiro laughed and said, “It’s because we Japanese are such a fine people.” Aunty told me that probably life was so harsh during the war, and got better under the Americans, so the people have no bitterness. Compare with Iraq, where life has turned terrible for many Iraqis, and so they regard the Americans as occupiers. I found out that Aunty felt angry towards the Soviets the most, as they had a neutrality pact with the Japanese and backstabbed them by entering the war. Also, tens of thousands of Japanese died in Soviet captivity AFTER the war, a fact little known throughout the world.

The news special continued after dinner. It showed a chilling reenactment of the dropping of the bomb using computer graphics. Then they tried some confrontational journalism. They brought in a retired college professor, who was a developer of the atomic bomb, and also a crewmember on a B-29 that participated in the atomic bombing. They had him visit the Peace Park Museum, and then later had him meet two bombing survivors. They demanded an apology from him, and he refused, angrily telling them, “Remember Pearl Harbor” and told the survivors that if they want an apology, they should ask it from the Japanese military who led them into the war. Later on, the younger co-host expressed shock that the man would refuse to apologize for such a horrendous bombing, but the older news host said that outside of Japan, many people feel the bombing justified because of what Japan did in China and Korea.

I walked home and started typing this blog while watching more news. I better go to sleep, but I see on TV a Japanese singer singing live in front of the A-bomb. Maybe I should get minimal sleep and go to the Peace Park.

Anyway, Aunty told me to put a picture of my dead relatives on the blog, so here it is. In Japan, people put a picture of the deceased on a wall next to the Buddhist altar at home so that you will always remember them.

Tempting fate: midnight walk in the city

2005-08-04T06:56:00.000-10:00

What`s new these days? Spent most of the day working on my manuscript. I feel like an international student again, with so much of my time in front of my laptop (sans internet connection). Now Choco has finally warmed to me, allowing me to hold her for but a second. She ran away after the picture was taken, and is afraid of cameras pointed at her. I also took a picture to show those of you back home Kurie`s new haircut. I think the hairstylist did a good job.
But I did decide to do something rash: go to the Internet café late night and do some work. Yes, I disregarded Aunty`s warnings and decided to walk to the Internet cafe close to midnight.

I passed by a pachinko parlor(picture at the very top): they seem to be all over Japan. It is a pin-ball like game in which you are theoretically supposed to win gifts, but you can exchange your gifts, or tokens for money at a booth outside the game parlor. Hey, techically, you are not gambling, just swapping your prizes for money, right? I took a picture of this statue of a bikini woman outside the pachinko place.

Walking around a station past midnight – I could never do this in America. I saw very few people walking around, and for a moment, I questioned the wisdom of doing this. Maybe Aunty was right. I calmed down after awhile and realized that many Japanese mistook me for a criminal since I speak flawed Japanese, big by Japanese standards, but do not look foreign. The media likes to talk about Chinese criminals, so perhaps that is why some people seem scared of me when I interact with them. Now I kinda know what it is like to be Black in all-white suburbs.

And then I saw the Japanese homeless. They do exist, but you do not see them during the daytime in Hiroshima. Osaka, you do see them at Shinsekai. Or were they drunken salarymen who missed their last train?
Bought a nori bento for only 450 yen, or less than $4.50! Filling, and way better than a McDonald’s value meal (and more nutritious) and perhaps even some plate lunches. Why can’t we make bento with fluffy rice?

Field of Carps

2005-08-03T06:35:00.000-10:00

Kazuhiro gave me a call today. “You want to go to a baseball game?”
Now I have seen tons more Japanese baseball games than MLB games. Yes, the players might be faster, speedier, and stronger (and more pumped with steroids) in the major leagues. But all baseball fans should visit a Japanese baseball game to experience a true baseball atmosphere. So I went off to see my favorite team, the Hiroshima Carp battle the Yomiuri Giants, a Tokyo-based team akin to the Yankees of Japan.

About the name, "carp". In Japan, the carp is a symbol of perseverance as a fish that is always fighting to go upstream. But when I was a college student in Minnesota, I found out that the carp was a symbol of junk fish, much like how people in Hawaii view tilapia in the dirty Ala Wai canal. So Americans from the mainland must snicker when they hear the team name is the“Carp”.

Now I love Japanese baseball more than MLB baseball in America. Most of the good Japanese players have left for the Major Leagues, and there are complaints that Japanese baseball is too boring. I beg to differ. First of all, you are not held hostage to expensive and bland stadium food like in America. No, you can bring in food from outside the stadium. So we bought some quality bento from a department store, and, of course, our own beer. And then we constantly heard organized cheering. Each team has its own organized cheering section, and it adds atmosphere to the game. Trumpets would blare, and all would clap with their clappers in unison. Fans would wave gigantic flags, and cheer the name of the person at bat. Fans would also stand in unison, this section stands up and chants, and then that section stands up and chants. For every hit or strikeout or similar fine play, they would do a chant to congratulate the player.

I also heard trumpets recycling long-forgotten American music from the 1970s. I kept hearing trumpets and fans chanting in Japanese to the Village People’s “Go West,” and even the opening line of 1970s disco classic Jigsaw’s “Sky High.” You know the one that goes, “Blown…(blown blown blown)…rooound like the wind”. Like I said, the Japanese keep alive traditions long discarded in the U.S. The stadium did play a clip from “My Sharona” and Queen’s “We will Rock You” to add some atmosphere to the games. Kazuhiro told me that the Giants rooting section played and sang along to “Go West” because it was the favorite song of one of the Giants players.

As usual, the Japanese fans love costumed creatures. “Slyly” is the name of the Hiroshima Carp mascot and looks like a mutant variety of the Philadelphia Phillies mascot. If it were up to me, I would create a giant carp costume, and have the mascot be a batting carp. Still, Slyly proved to be very popular. Kids eagerly ran up to Slyly and young office women giggled as they pulled out their cell phone cameras to pose with him/her/it. The Carp have also adopted an American idea – have a dog deliver the balls to the umpire. Mickey, the “baseball dog” wasn’t here today, but a stadium announcement said the dates when the golden retriever would be in the stadium. According to the TV news, he even has his own baseball card. And you see that..ahem...sausage shaped balloon in the picture. Well in the 7th inning (lucky seven) the fans blow up these balloons and release them all at once.

Now it is said that sports is a reflection of society. For example, in Europe and in America, fights break out between opposing fans. In the U.S., you need to have security guards everywhere. Here in Japan, there seemed to be an unwritten rule. Giants fan could root when their team is at bat. I heard no boos from the Carp side. Then the Carp fans would root when their team was at bat. I heard no catcalls or snide comments from the audience (then again, Hiroshima fans could be well behaved but I noted the same behavior in Tokyo).Here is a picture of a whole section of salarymen in the stands with their suits taken off. So why do we Americans wonder when our youth get into fights and such. Hello, but do we adults not encourage booing from the student section at games? In Japan, if you don’t like the other team, you remain SILENT. Booing is just too low class.

And I noticed that the fans behaved themselves perfectly. I saw almost no policemen and the security guards were reed-thin college students. It would probably take four of those guards to hold back a drunken blalah in Hawaii. And yet, no problems when the Giants fans kept chanting and cheering, even after the game was over. European and American fans would consider this to be rubbing it in. And then the fans cleaned up after themselves, and carried their trash out to the main trashcan by the exit. On the way out, we saw the bus with the Giants players stop in front of us. A whole crowd of Carps fans, some wearing Carp shirts, pulled out their cell phone cameras and started taking pictures of the Giants players. Talk about team loyalty.

And yes, it was humidly hot. So humid that I was soaked with sweat when I returned home.

More Peace park

2005-07-31T21:59:00.000-10:00

Kiyoshi was tired and so after a lunch of teishoku, he decided to return home to Kokura, a four-hour ride by slow train. Goodbye Kiyoshi, and good luck on your dissertation. He he he....
I did stop by the soon to be demolished Wakakusa shopping plaza, a ramshackle collection of stalls and shops from the early 1960s. Sad to see it go, as it had the best iced coffee in the area.
I stopped by my cousin Kimiko`s former stall. She used to run shop here for years and now it is empty. Kinda makes me feel the passage of time.
So I did a little more walking around Peace Park today, trying to figure out what was the overall gist of the place. Something about this place I still can`t quite put my finger on... This is one of the times I am glad I am not white and can just blend into the crowd. I saw white tourists look so miserable and guilty looking at all the museum exhibits. It is like how you don’t see that many Japanese tourists at Pearl Harbor, and see lots of Chinese tourists instead.

Now I have a hard time figuring this city out. You would think that this would be the most anti-American of all cities in Japan, since the U.S. pretty much leveled this place to the ground, and all subsequent Japanese history books imply that this was the American’s fault. And like the anti-American exhibit I saw yesterday, there are some raw feelings. And yet, in all my years of studying here, I have never ever encountered anti-American feelings even once. And if you say you are an American, people warm up to you, and even try to practice their English. There is even free Internet access for foreigners just outside the exit of the A-bomb museum. Japan, as a whole, must be one of the most pro-American countries in the world. So why is there so little resentment, while on the other hand, there is so much anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea and China?

Yoko once told me her opinions on this subject. First, her mother said that the American troops were very kind to her when she was a child. Second, Hiroshima was bombed, an impersonal form of destruction. On the other hand, in the Nanking massacre or Rape of Manila, you could see the faces of the assailants and hear them screaming in Japanese, a very personal form of oppression. So it is much easier to hate Japanese. I think there is so little overt anti-American feeling is because the ideology of pacifism has taken root in Japan: all forms of war are bad! Also, the most hated countries in Japan are North Korea (for kidnapping Japanese citizens), China (for encouraging anti-Japanese sentiment), and among some older Japanese, South Korea (for manyJapanese believe Koreans are continually holding a grudge against Japan).

Maybe I take it too seriously, as I saw Japanese just having fun in the park. I mean just 20 yards from the A-bomb dome are boats that offer you a 10 min ride for $5 each. This is the same river that when the bomb went off, so many victims could not stand the heat and so they dove into the water, which was then clogged with dead bodies. Can you imagine signs offering private boat rides next to the Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor? I heard the beat of congo drums and thought that anti-globalization activists and peaceniks had made their way to their park. Instead, just across the river from the A-bomb dome, a group of Japanese teens were practicing a slow African dance. And next to them, just down the river, some kids were strumming their guitars and singing. Since park space in most large Japanese cities are so limited, the Hiroshima Peace Park, being a wide open space, has turned into a music and dance rehearsal room for young Japanese. I don’t know about you, but I would have a hard time practicing in a park that stood where an entire neighborhood was obliterated in a few seconds.

Hiroshima Peace Park

2005-07-30T21:43:00.000-10:00

Today, we finally visited what made Hiroshima world-famous, not its oysters, or okonomiyaki, but its Peace Park and Atomic-bomb dome, the remains of what used to be a handsome green-domed building. The A-bomb dome sits right across the baseball stadium, and you can go very close to this place. I was surprised to see no security guards or policemen in sight! This building lay only a few hundred meters from ground zero, and serves to remind people of the power of the atomic bomb.

Along the way to the official museum, I saw a citizen’s exhibit about the atomic bomb. Talk about an anti-American exhibit. Do not even discuss cause of the bombing or the context: there was a war going on! This exhibit just focused on victimization of the Japanese: the exhibit starts with the city, and then the bombing. Then poems and scenes of suffering. Then onto Okinawa, where they documented American atrocities against the Okinawans. But no mention of shudan jiketsu, or "compulsory group suicide," in which whole families killed each other in order to die an honorable death and avoid capture. When Japanese soldiers told you it was time to kill yourselves, it was very hard to say no, especially if the Japanese soldiers were armed. Many survivors felt anguish after they killed their family members, and then failed to kill themselves. The American soldiers did not kill them, and so they wondered why they had to kill their own family members.

Mention of shudan jiketsu, by the way, is strongly discouraged in Japanese society, and as Norma Field, in her book, In the Realm of a Dying Emperor points out, right wing thugs will intimidate you into silence. Anyway, after this victimization display, the organizers set up a petition to sign to demand an apology from the Americans. Fat chance. You will get Chinese, Koreans, and Filipinos, who suffered immensely under the Japanese, in a fury depicting the Japanese as the true victims of the war. Imagine going to Koreatown or Chinatown and telling the people there that they will have to apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kinda like omitting all mention of the Holocaust and having the Germans demand an apology from the Allied nations for the firebombing of Dresden.

Anyway, no matter whose responsibility you may say it ultimately is, the Americans for dropping the bomb, or the Japanese government for starting the aggressive war against Asians, and for failing to surrender when they knew the war was lost in 1944, you still feel very sorry for the people of Hiroshima who were nuked away that day in August, 1945. It was still a gory and painful way to die by A-bomb. I said a prayer for the souls at the memorial.
The following picture is a bunch of paper cranes. You fold a thousand so that someone who is ill can get well. A young girl, Sadako, died of radiaton poisoning ten years after the bomb, and she kept folding cranes in the hope of getting well. So there are many displays of paper cranes from schoolkids all over the world.

We then walked into the display, which to its credit, did state that Japan was in a war at the time of the bombings, and implied a link between the bombing and Japans attempt to take over Asia. Kiyoshi and I spent time comparing the English and Japanese translations. Lets just say that the English translations make it clear that Japan had invaded Asia, and was mistreating the Chinese and Koreans, while the Japanese translations are a bit more on the vague side. I can see that the museum staff is under pressure from all sides, and they are at least trying to raise the issue of Japanese war responsibility.

We then went to the memorial for Korean victims of the A-bomb, which seemed quite empty of people. 10% of the victims of Hiroshima were Korean, conscripted to work in factories in Japan. This fact, still unknown to most people, really murks up the victimization theory, as it reminds Japanese that their nation invaded, occupied, and brutalized the Koreans next door. Here is a photo of the monument to Korean victims of the A-bomb.

Across the street from the A-bomb dome is a baseball stadium, and today I saw a large baseball signed by the Japanese league players.Anyway, today felt depressing walking around the park, so we decided to lighten up by going to an Irish bar in the middle of town. Guinness beer is delicious no matter where you go. Here`s a picture of the foreign staff.

Night out in Hiroshima town

2005-07-29T21:29:00.000-10:00

I met Michiyasu for lunch. He could not meet on Friday night because his daughter had a ballet recital. Years of hard work and overtime seemed to have worn him down, and he looked positively tired. He would only get 4 hours of sleep a day since he worked two jobs. He did perk up when talked about American football. I have met three Japanese men so far – Masaki (Etsuko’s husband), Inoue (the restaurant owner), and Michiyasu. All work long, grueling hours not because they want to, but because they have to. They all have wives and children, and since they are the only breadwinner, they do not complain, but rather do what they have to do. Unlike the U.S., welfare is just not an option. We chatted about the past, and after awhile, it felt as if we were talking back then in 1994! I showed him my blog, and he let out a laugh of recognition when he saw the photo of Saito-san and his wife.

I then met Kiyoshi, a friend from the University of Oregon, at 6:30 pm in front of the station. We chatted for awhile, and then we decided to celebrate his passing his oral comprehensive exams. So we went to a yakitori restaurant, and ate very delicious sticks of roasted chicken parts. I love the “junk” meats such as liver, tongue, crisp fried skin, etc. the owner of the restaurant, originally from Yokohama, came to talk to us, since he noted that we were gabbing away in English. I learned that I have to say I am from America, and then the reaction from other Japanese becomes more positive. But does that mean that non-American foreigners from other parts of Asia do not get good treatment?

Then it was off to town to visit the gaijin (foreigner) bars from my past ten years ago. I first looked for Mac, a famous watering hole popular with English teachers, marines, and counter-culture Japanese. I remembered their huge CD collection of English songs as well. But when I went to their spot, the building was gone, replaced by a shiny new building. At a loss, I stopped two gaijin women walking down the street and asked if they knew where Mac was. One was an English techer from Washington, and the other used to live in Eugene, Oregon. They told me where Mac was and also the name of other gaijin bars. We then looked for the new location of Mac, and when we got lost, I asked two marines and their Japanese girlfriends the location. See how you can use the gaijin network?

We finally discovered Mac next to some parking garages. Yuri, one of the owners exclaimed (in Japanese), “Hello, it has been a long time!” and then she started talking about mutual friends, mainly from Latin America. Her words brought back so many memories! Like I said, these Japanese are memory machines. This is a mellow place, and I saw a few Marines in here with their Japanese girlfriends, some Japanese businessmen, and some Japanese youth, but no bad vibes. In fact, I ended up talking to a Japanese salaryman named “Saito” and we talked about Japan and America. He has distant relatives in Portland, Oregon.

We then went to a watering hole known as Jacara. The owner recognized me and greeted me for being away so long. The owner is on the lower left of this photo.
I even got a bit extra whisky for being away so long. The bartender (center of the photo) knew a mutual acquaintance of mine, and so we chatted for a long time. He was very friendly, and I enjoyed talking to him while enjoying the rap music. Gaijin do not come anymore like in the past, as the management had too many problems with the marines coming and getting into fights. I still remembered the sign from ten years ago (now gone) – “Marines, please do not molest the Japanese women.” It is sad because I met so many cerebral Marines back then who did not fit the stereotype of over-hormoned young men itching for a fight. But I guess the problem just got too bad. So Jacara has turned into an all-Japanese place, at least for this Saturday night.Here`s a picture of a friendly customer who sat next to me. The bar seemed considerably emptier than before, but still a pleasant atmosphere. But man, EVERYONE was smoking, and it became a gas chamber in a small, enclosed space.

We then entered the Shack, a new American-style bar and grill packed with gaijin. I met a student from the University of Hawaii and we spent some time talking about Japan. Kiyoshi and I also drunkenly debated someting - what it was I have no idea.

I love playing darts while drinking and so we went to the dartboard. Some American men and Japanese women were already busy at work practicing their English and Japanese on each other. This is what we call the beginnings of “international exchanges.” The Japanese girls next to use were joking in English with each other, saying dirty stuff they must have picked up from the movies like,“I must have sex!” Yes, so many Japanese speak English so badly that they cannot even string together a simple sentence to order a hamburger, but they become bilingualwhen it comes to dirty words. I couldn’t keep a straight face and burst out laughing and scolded,“Watch your language!” I wanted to take their picture, but they refused, probably out of shame. Anyway, I got too flustered and kept on laughing and so my darts aim just deteriorated, so Kiyoshi won that round of darts. We then said goodbye to the dirty-talking women (I kept laughing so hard), and then went to Snappers, a stand bar from long time ago. Unfortunately, it was closed, and when I went back to Jacara for more drinks, someone told me that it had shut down awhile ago. Maybe it is closed for the vacation? Or maybe it shut down for good? We then taxied home. Taxi drivers often seem tense when I talk to them. Do they think I am a Chinese criminal?

Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style

2005-07-28T21:19:00.000-10:00

I think I figured out how to expand my pictures. Try clicking on them, and they may expand in your browser.

Spent most of the day studying and writing my manuscript. But I got hungry, and decided to go to Paku Paku, a Hiroshima style okonomiyaki place just down the street. I went here frequently when I was studying in Hiroshima in 1993. Now what amazes me about this place is that I do not know the propreteir`s name, and she does not know my name, but whenever I go to this place, she still recognizes me! Even if I plop in once every year and a half! Today was no exception. I walked in and she said in Japanese, "Ah, it has been a long time! What would you like to eat?"

Much like how Americans have different types of pizza (New York, Chicago, and California), Japan has different types of okonomiyaki (Osaka it is all mixed together, Tokyo looks like glue, and Hiroshima the foods are layered). You must try Hiroshima okonomiyaki, and it is a sneaky way to serve people their vegetables. My okonomiyaki (served on a hot skillet) had soba, cheese, mochi, and corn in it. Yum!

When I asked her about the changes in the area, she and her helper said that crime has gotten worse in Hiroshima. Too many young people committing crimes. After dinner, I went to an Internet café on the south side of the station at 11:00 pm at night. Aunty kept warning me before I left not to go, as it was too dangerous at this time of the night. When I said that it was safe compared to America and that I am stronger than most Japanese men, she kept saying that the road outside the apartment was dangerous, and I could be stabbed. So Japanese now beleive that the whole area is dangerous.The perception that crime has gotten worse has spread throughout this nation. What we consider safe in America is dangerous by Japanese standards.

Despite the fact that I am pushing middle age and working a professional job with responsibility, your elders in Japan will always treat you as a child, as if I have no judgment. So I promised Aunty I would be careful and walked to the station entrance anyway, about 12 minutes from the apartment. I saw groups of drunken salarymen, and even a policeman sweeping up the street. Yes, keep the streets clean as part of your duty to protect the nation.

Sad to say, I could not understand what the internet clerk way saying to me when I tried to close out my computer session. He spoke too rapidly, and used some strange honorifics. Can you believe that? All those years of studying Japanese and I still cannot understand an Internet café clerk! He then told me in English, “You finished Internet?”

The daily grind on my vacation!

2005-07-28T06:10:00.000-10:00

Again, I spent most of the day chugging away at my work. So now I have settled into the daily grind here in Japan. Or I HAVE TO settle into the daily grind, as I have a mountain of work to do. Today’s highlight? While on a short stroll around the station, I met three British backpackers from a village south of London. They looked truly lost trying to find the bus stop. Now despite some English-language signs, Hiroshima station, it is confusing for foreigners who do not understand Japanese. But at least there are passers-by you can ask questions in English. Being in Japan makes me realize how international of a language English is, and what an advantage we Americans have when we travel. Ironically, you get to interact with more foreigners in Japan because you don’t take each other for granted. You find someone who speaks English and you strike up a conversation. You end up talking to people you normally would not talk to if you were back in the United States.

Today is the day of the eel. I forgot to take pictures, but you are supposed to eat eels on this, supposedly the hottest day of the year. So we all gorged on broiled eel, which tasted delicious. It is enjoyable to do traditions like this and see everyone else eat the same food at the same time. Of course, it means huge profits for eel restaurants, and they see their profits soar.

I walked home alone at night, and passed by a small group of young punks. I was going to take a picture, but thought the better of it. Still, I did not feel the fear I normally would back in Hawaii if I were walking alone in the middle of a city at about near midnight. First of all, I am physically bigger than most Japanese young men, and so I feel confident I can hold my own in a brawl. Next, guns are strictly controlled in this country, so I need not fear an armed holdup. Last of all, youth here have been socialized to not use violence to solve disputes. Of course, this country has its share of crime (a murder made NATIONAL news today: a 53 year old man stabbed another man to death) but there is a social compact: everyone will have a piece of the pie and basic human respect so long as you work hard.

Speaking of fighting: I watched news of K-1 fighting and the press conference at the Ala Moana Shopping Center featuring Akebono. I felt homesick seeing the Crabtree and Evelyn in the background, and the shots of the cool blue ocean. The weather here has cooled down, but does not compare to Hawaii.

Hanging out in Hiroshima

2005-07-27T06:04:00.000-10:00

Finally, things have settled down. I spent the whole day locked in my apartment, working on my book and reading my copies of old Japanese magazines.

And I think I figured out how to expand my pictures. Try clicking on them, and they may expand in your browser.

Today, I devoted all to research and work and thus I have very few pictures to post. I watched some afternoon TV and saw some Korean dramas (very popular here), and a news segment featuring a car chase in Los Angeles. I would like to think that the Japanese exaggerate crime in America, but sadly, crime is too high in the States. I wish every American could come here and see what life is like without fear. Then you would hear fewer complaints about taxes to pay for jails, police, or social programs to reduce crime.

While walking to my Aunt’s place for dinner, I spotted Michiyasu, an old friend and lifting partner from ten years ago. He, like most Japanese I have met, recognized me right off the bat. He remembered that I mailed him a t-shirt and letter, and that he had forgotten to write back, and so he apologized profusely. We are talking about an event TEN YEARS ago that frankly I had forgotten about! We agreed to try to meet sometime this Friday, either the afternoon or evening.

I have been here for almost three weeks and I have hardly used or heard English. It is a very strange phenomenon indeed, and unlike the experiences of other non-Asian gaijin (foreigners), Japanese do not attempt to practice their English on me when they find out I am an American.
Anyway, I managed to use my cousin’s computer to download some blog entries. On my walk home in the middle of the night (that is how safe this country is), I noticed that Genkotsu ramen was open. So I went in and ordered a bowl of their ramen. It has soybeans on it, which MUST be a Hiroshima specialty, as I noted in a previous entry. You crush your own garlic on the noodles. Delicious and it costs only about $4.60 to eat this! Refills of noodles are 100 yen, or less than a dollar! Who says you can`t eat cheap in this country?

Visiting more replicas in Fukuyama and Okayama

2005-07-26T05:32:00.000-10:00

Korakuen, a famous Japanese garden in Okayama

Today being the last day of our JR rail pass, we decided to visit not one, but two cities! Yoko said goodbye to my aunt and then we left for Fukuyama, where a castle stands right next to the train station. Unfortunately, I noticed in the fine print that this too, was a reconstruction of the original, which was destroyed during an air raid. Almost all castles in this nation are reconstructions. Still, Fukuyama castle was beautiful, and I enjoyed the view from the top.

Now we rushed so fast to catch the train to Okayama prefecture 40 or so miles away, that we left our bags in the locker at the Fukuyama train station. Since it was running late, we decided to leave the bags there and get them later at night.

Once we arrived in Okayama, we immediately caught the bus to Korakuen, a kind of oriental garden that Americans associate with Japan. Nice rolling mini-hills. Neatly trimmed trees. A nice (reconstruction) castle overlooking the park. Friendly turtles that come to you seeking food.

Even a centuries-old zen teahouse! This open air teahouse is of rare design: a stream ran right through it, which gave the room a quiet and relaxing atmosphere. You have to experience this teahouse to realize how at peace you can be watching water! Nobility would come here in the Tokugawa period to relax and drink tea. The sign in the middle of the floor tells you to take of your shoes (in Japanese, of course. Where do you think we are, in America?)
Unfortunately, whenever I go to relaxing zen places, I always bump into obnoxious foreign tourists. This time, it was the “Ugly Chinese.” While we were enjoying the peace and tranquility, these Chinese tourists arrive, start yelling in their loud voices, and the woman starts snapping pictures right in my face. HELLO?? NI HAO??

Ni kan zhonguoren ma?(Do you see the Chinese?)

Then they start STANDING in the stream to cool off their feet. Folks, this is a place of meditation, not a bathhouse! The Chinese tourists started shouting at each other oblivious to our nearby presence. Is there so much noise in Beijing that you have to yell at each other even if the other person is only two feet away? I fear what happens when China becomes a rich power and more Chinese tourists go abroad. (Yoko, who is quite fluent in Chinese, told me that they were speaking in Mandarin. I wished she had yelled at them, “Don`t you Chinese know what the word QUIET means?”). Now before you accuse me of racism, I encourage you to look at this webpage address. Yes, according to the rules of civil society, my Chinese blood gives me every right to criticize the behavior of some Chinese tourists.

Korakuen closed at 6:00 and the staff politely shooed us out. We went to a stream to relax, and I realized that you couldn’t do this in most Japanese cities. BTW, we passed a common sight in Japanese waters - the swan boat! You sit in these boats and power them by pedalling.

Swan boats. Notice the one with the black trim?

On the way to the station, I bought a Japanese t-shirt at a store for large and tall men. They had imported American-sized goods like Nike XXL shirts and Hanes XXL underwear. Hey, that’s where American goods will always have an advantage over other nations – clothes for extra large people! We should make use of our obesity epidemic and have “Fat tours” for overweight Japanese. Bring them to Hawaii and take them shopping for large clothing. Take them to all you can eat buffets. Have them enjoy sitting in extra-wide bus seats, and not feel out of place at all when they stroll the street. Of course, who am I to speak? I must have gained ten pounds since coming here with all that eating.

Afterwards, we walked around downtown Okayama. The town here seems surprisingly deserted and we decided to eat at a yakitori place. The friendly chef decided to introduce me to a new kind of food: fish guts. Yes, he served me kim chee fish guts, and it was surprisingly good with beer. I also liked their twist on Korean jhun pancakes (which Japanese call chizimi). While the authentic Korean jhun has leeks or seafood in it, this variant had pork, kim-chee, and cheese mixed into their chizimi. Sounds gross, but all three flavors go together very well. Trust me, now I can envision that one could make pork and kim chee tacos!

Mixing pork, kim chee, and cheese together with the pancake batter

We had left our bag in the locker at Fukuyama, so we had to return there. Bullet train travel does shrink distances between places. Imagine leaving your bags in a town 40 miles from where you are visiting, which you can do if it only takes 15 minutes to get there by train. We went to Fukuyama, walked around the deserted downtown, and then went home. Yoko would take about 70 minutes to go 130+ miles to Osaka, and I would take only 20 minutes to get back to Hiroshima about 60 or so miles away. But it seems so close when you travel by bullet train, which goes so fast, you feel like it is going to take off and fly off the rails. I kept thinking of the Eugene to Portland Oregon distance of 100 miles. It took me a little over 90 minutes to get there by car and I always felt wiped out afterwards. I could travel the same distance in under an hour if it was by bullet train and arrive feeling refreshed. When are we Americans going to learn the joys of mass transit?

Visiting Fukuoka

2005-07-24T21:41:00.000-10:00

Poorly stictched panorama of the Fukuoka Tower. The tower is actually straighter, not crooked in real life. Sorry for the botched job.

My cousin Kurie decided to join us today for a trip to Fukuoka, one of Japan’s major regional cities. It is on another island, Kyushu, but while a long trip of a half-day by car, would take us only an hour an a half to get there by bullet train. Consider that the bullet train goes at about 150 miles per hour, and you get a notion of the distance involved. Kurie (the woman who sang at my wedding) has matured into a pretty and intelligent woman capable of holding rather sophisticated conversations either in English or in Japanese. She now works grueling hours at a major Japanese company and so this was one of her rare days off.

We visited lots of temples and shrines in Gion district. There was a massive wooden Buddha over several stories high at Shofukuji temple. No pictures allowed, but this is quite new, only 15 or years old. There was even a simulation of what happens after you die - you enter a dark hallway, and then see scenes from hell. You then walk into a pitch black winding hallway, to simulate being lost, and after getting freaked out, enter a lit room with a Buddha in it, representing salvation. Call it a religious Disney exhibit. I felt sorry for the foreign tourists who were there – the sign pointing to the Buddha upstairs was in Japanese! No wonder I saw a puzzled looking foreign tourist leave the place when I entered. We then went to Japan’s oldest zen temple, and met two British woman. One was living in Fukuoka, and although she couldn’t speak Japanese, she knew the area very well and was showing her friend around. She gave us good advice on where to visit.

We then visited the Hakata Machiya Folk Museum, which explained to us the everyday life of the city residents who lived here seventy years ago. We met a craftswoman who could bend wood to make utensils. She took on the business after her father passed away.That is how much Japan has changed – the way of life of two generations ago now seems so alien that it needs a museum. IN fact, there was a recreation of a living room in the 1930s. Talk about a nation that has changed! You need to explain that people used to listen to records back in the good old days.
Fukuoka Tower
We then caught the bus and arrived at the Fukuoka Tower. It is the largest tower by the sea in Japan, and quite an impressive tower. The pretty elevator girl expertly narrated the tower on our ascent up. She is the last of a dying breed, as the ranks of elevator girls grow thinner with each passing year, so I had to take a photo with her.Fukuoka seemed like a handsome city- and I even saw beaches. They were man-made beaches, to be sure, but beaches never the less in the middle of the city! Of course there was an exhibit of TV shows, and so I had to check it out. I found the trunks worn by the late Andy Hug (with the word "Andy" emblazoned across it), a great kickboxing champ. Next to it was a poster of other K-1 fighters. So I posed for it while Yoko took my picture.

Eating outdoors in Fukuoka
We then went to a unique feature of Fukuoka dining – the street stalls. This city is famous for its street stall dining and so we went there to eat.
Now the stall staff is quite aggressive for Japanese – they will yell at you to sit here, or say stuff like, “Hello! We got some openings for seats for three." We had some street stall tempura, and I chatted with the cook, who was wondering if I was a foreigner or not. She appeared shocked that I wanted to take her picture.I saw so many other foreigners nearby as well, and then I remembered that a U.S. navy base is nearby. I started to become quite drunk from two large bottles of beer, and we were running out of time before the last train left Fukuoka, and so we left to buy presents. Afterward, we decided to visit “Ramen Stadium” which was a collection of top ramen shops, but with a Fukuoka flavor. We had to walk through a red-light district to get there. That is how safe Japan is – women can walk through a red light district at night and not get harassed (although I wouldn’t recommend they make a habit of this). I think white women cannot do this as they will be mistaken for Russian prostitutes.

But I digress. The ramen at Ramen stadium was excellent! Perfect shoyu tonkotsu ramen! Yoko and Kurie were stuffed from the stall food but managed to finish their ramen.

Tonkotsu shoyu ramen: Pork broth with shoyu, and four huge slabs of char siu!

Visiting Lord Kikkawa`s domain at Iwakuni

2005-07-24T18:30:00.000-10:00

Statue of Lord Kikkawa - local ruler of Iwakuni

Iwakuni lies just a single shinkansen stop outside of Hiroshima: about 40 miles away and yet only 15 minutes by bullet train. I have always visited this town as a kid, but never really toured and explored it. My family only visited Iwakuni’s Kintaikyo, one of Japan’s most famous bridges, and then we would leave Iwakuni (which is also the site of a U.S. marine base). So today, I look forward to the trip to this former castle town. It was built by Lord Kikkawa, the ancestor of one of my good friends in Hawaii, and so I have an interest in seeing the Kikkawa family museum and graves.

Kintaikyo Bridge, a famous landmark

One thing you will note is that Iwakuni typifies how Japanese love replicas and recreations. The Kintaikyo Bridge was washed away by a typhoon around 1952, and what we see today is...surprise...a replica. The Iwakuni Castle overlooking the city from the mountains was destroyed in the early sixteenth century by order of the Tokugawa Shogun, who only allowed one castle per domain, and this replica was rebuilt in 1962 or so, some yards from its original location. In fact, almost everywhere you go, like Kintaikyo in Kyoto, or the Statue of Liberty in Tokyo, you will see crowds of tourists taking pictures of replicas built in the 20th century. Now if you are a purist, you can see this as a cheap attraction to kitschy replicas, but if you are Buddhist, you can see this as a lesson on the non-permanence of things. For buildings to disappear and be rebuilt is akin to the cycle of reincarnation. Anyway, now you understand why Japanese can so easily accept the replicas at Disneyland and DisneySea – replicas are famous tourist attractions in Japan!

Anyway, I went to the Kikkawa family museum, which was set in what used to be the Kikkawa family manor (not a replica), and saw the family heirlooms such as scrolls, swords, and paintings. Here is a picture of the main gate to the museum.

Iwakuni is also famous for its white snakes. They must have come from some sort of mutation, and because they were seen as good luck omen, they were left alone, and so their numbers increased over the centuries. Aren’t they cute? Environmental degradation, however, had reduced their number, and so an effort is underway to breed more of these snakes. Here is a cute cartoon from the Iwakuni White Snake Village.

Then we went to the ropeway at the base of the hills to get to Iwakuni castle. It felt so much cooler in the hills, and the five minute walk in the forest to the castle was quite enjoyable. I saw a sign featuring crying trees and sad animals to tell you not to throw cigarettes into the forest. Isn`t pity a much better way to move people than scolding them?

I wonder why Lord Kikkawa chose to destroy this pleasantly cool castle with such a fine view of the city and instead opt to live in the hot and humid lowlands?Anyway, I walked around this splendid replica of a castle, enjoyed photgraphing it under clear blue skies, and then it was time to go.

Afterwards, we went back down the hills, and then visited the Iwakuni City Museum and enjoyed viewing the fine armor collection while enjoying air-conditioned comfort. Yes, go to museums so you can enjoy their air-conditioner. Then we wentto the Kikkawa family graves, and saw lots of graves of the Kikkawa daimyo and their first and second wives. And sons. And daughters. We are talking lots and lots of graves. And no one in sight. I felt reluctant to take a photo fearing a ghost might appear on my print.It did feel quite creepy being surrounded by so many graves and so we beat an exit out of there.

On the way back home, we saw a parade led by children carrying an omikoshi (portable shrine) to each store. Merchants would splash water on them for good luck. I like the way children are involved in traditions over in this country.

I also, on the return trip over the bridge, saw lots of Japanese mothers with their half-white or half-black children, a reminder that this is a military base town as well. This mom was yelling to her kids in Japanese, and they were talking back in Japanese.It also felt good to see my global counterparts – I look Japanese/Chinese (depending on who you ask) but speak English as my mother tongue, while they look white or black, and yet speak Japanese as their native language. That is one way to get rid of racism - have all of us marry each other. These mixed children will be Japan`s bridge to internationalization. How apt that they are on a bridge in this photo.

Off to Hiroshima!

2005-07-23T20:55:00.000-10:00

Saying goodby to Flura before we leave

My aunt and rest of my relatives live in Hiroshima, and so we used our JR rail pass to get there. Two words describe Hiroshima in the summer: HOT and HUMID. Here’s how to simulate today’s temperature. Go to your bathroom and turn on the shower full blast at hot temperature. Let the water run for ten minutes, and then turn it off. Now walk inside your bathroom. That’s replicates a Hiroshima summer day– so humid that my glasses steamed up when I stepped out from an air-conditioned car!

My cousin Kazuhiro and his dog "Chocolate"

We got to meet the latest member of my Aunt’s family – Chocolate. My cousin Kurie found out about this dog from a Dog rescue page on the Internet and had her sent over to Hiroshima from Okinawa. Chocolate is so adorable, but somewhat nervous around strangers due to her growing up initially in abusive conditions in the mountains. She has grown used to my Hiroshima family, and loves attention from family members. But she is not used to me yet.

BTW, let me tell you about the gas stations here. The service station attendants politely yell welcomes to you, and when they clean your car windows, they clean the insides, and the outisides with cloths, not rubber squeegies like in the U.S.! Talk about feeling like being in a master-servant relationship. Of course,you do pay about twice as much for gas, so service doesn`t come for free.

Random hand of gas station attendant wiping rear window.

After chatting with my aunt and handing out the omiyage (presents), we then fell asleep while watching sumo on TV. We just could not tolerate the hot and humid weather. Then the thunder started – claps rang so loud that it seemed as if bombs were exploding in the neighborhood. Then a heavy downpour crashed all over, and as suddenly as it started, the downpour stopped. Since the temperatures had cooled off during the evening, we all went to visit the family graves, a ritual I do everytime I visit Hiroshima. It felt good to say “hello” to my deceased grandpa, grandma, and uncle, but I felt quite sad when I saw the condition of some of my other relatives’ graves, which were neglected and starting to become overrun with weeds. So I pulled out a whole handful of weeds from the graves. That is how fast foilage can grow over here.

We finished the evening by eating do it yourself okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes) at a place called Tokugawa. It is a family restaurant, but this branch was run in a converted old Japanese building. What great ambiance for a family chain!

Why can’t they make a franchise in Hawaii? The portions are big and reasonable, and it is quite tasty to eat. My portions are on the bottom left.

Do it yourself okonomiyaki at Tokugawa restaurant.

The Sound of Hair and Oku-chan

2005-07-22T06:06:00.000-10:00

The hair salon, "kami no oto" (Sound of Hair)

We had appointments with the hairstylist today, so we did not travel around with our rail passes. This hair salon is called, “Kami no oto,” or “the sound of hair.” I think that it could also be a pun for “the sound of God,” but I am not sure if I am overanalyzing the Japanese title. It is a new business, run by Yamamoto-san, Etsuko’s favorite hairdresser at her old salon, who decided to run her own shop. It is a small, but stylish hole-in-the wall hair salon, nicely decorated. Yoko had her hair cut while I did some computer work, and then Etsuko took me to the salon for my haircut. My hair was cut short, and the hairdresser did all sorts of extras you don’t find in the U.S, like having your scalp, shoulders, and neck massaged. Such things are forbidden in the States as an anti-prostitution measure, so that only licensed masseurs can touch people below the neck.

Yamamoto-san seemed quite surprised when she found out that barbers could not massage their clients in America. Anyway, she thinned out my top hair, using techniques I had never seen before, and expertly clipped away at my sides without using clippers, but rather the old-fashioned way, by scissors and comb.

How do you like my new haircut?

We met up with “Oku-chan,”one of Yoko’s friends since middle school. Now I believe that if you meet a friend you haven’t seen for a long time, then you don’t bring your spouse along. Let the two of you catch up with old times first before you introduce a new person. So I went to an Internet café to work on my blog while the two of them went to a coffee house. BTW, despite how technologically advanced this country is, finding an Internet connection is near impossible! I was away from the Internet for just a few days and what a backlog of email! I guess most people do their Internet surfing, emailing, and instant messenger through their cell phones while riding the subway, and so they don’t need desktop Internet connections. BTW, along the way, I saw an interesting clothing shop that specializes in American fashions. Talk about preserving culture from the past - did Beavis and Butthead run off to Japan?

Next, we all stopped at a French restaurant run by Inoue, one of her friend’s husbands. Think of it as a small bar, with the cooking done behind the counter. This restaurant, which he is the chef and owner, is Inoue’s night business. By day, he works at his father’s company, and by night he runs this restaurant. He was so busy that he hardly had time to talk to us, but he did pose for a group picture.

The tobacco from the chatting office lady customers was getting to me, so we decided to leave. We passed by a darts bar, and I suggested that we all enter. Hip-hop and R&B blared in the background. The customers were mostly young Japanese dressed casually in their latest American casual fashions. I would’ve thought I was in America except for the strange promotion going on in which a female staff member wearing a high school uniform was selling I.W. Harper whisky. Japanese men love costumed women and so Hawaii must market Halloween to Japanese tourists more! By coincidence, I was going to drink whisky since my stomach was so bloated with food, so I ordered a drink. When you ordered I.W. Harper you could reach into a box and pull out a lottery. I reached in and won a set of darts! I took a picture with the costumed staff member, who named herself, “Peace”.

Here is a pic of another cute and bubbly staff member, who also taught us how to throw darts properly:

We spent most of the night playing darts. Oku-chan is good, hit many difficult shots, won most of the games, and claimed to be a beginner. Yeah, right...

On the way back, we plopped into a ramen shop at 2:00 at night for a final snack. The woman next to me noticed I was speaking in English to Yoko, and so she started talking to us in English. She had attended high school in the U.S. for two years, one year in Washington (two hours from Seattle in the countryside) and one year in Arizona. She was now in her late twenties, and lamented how she had no chance to practice her English. She seemed very drunk, and did not touch her ramen at all, but was only drinking beer. In fact, she was so drunk that she could not even press my camera button when she took my picture. Still, she was very pleasant to talk to, and seemed to have a good heart. It is amazing how you meet English-speaking people in the least likely of places.

Modern Kyoto

2005-07-21T05:44:00.000-10:00

Beautiful gold temple at Kinkakuji

Back in Osaka, Kyoto is only a 20 minute bullet train ride away. Now for some reason, foreign tourists seemed to outnumber Japanese. Kyoto must be the Waikiki of Japan – people from all over the world come here. Ironically, this city, which is supposed to represent the traditions of old Japan, has probably become its most cosmopolitan, as it is on every foreign tourist’s travel agenda. I guess now is the slow season of Japanese tourism and foreigners come now.

First of all, we sped to Kinkakuji, the famous gold temple of Kyoto (pictured at the top of this page). Foreign tourists were oohing and aahing, and it is a very pretty and serene sight. It is also a replica of the real thing, which was burned down by an insane monk in 1958 or so. So what is the difference between this and Tokyo DisneySea (see my previous post)? Both are replicas. In fact, this temple replica was constructed around the same time as California Disneyland. Still, I enjoyed wandering the temple grounds and felt surprisingly at peace. I will come back again despite what I just wrote as that's how beautiful this place is.

Time was limited so we could only visit a few places. We entered Ryoanji, a temple created in the late 15th century, to see the famous zen garden of fifteen rocks set in a sand garden. This is supposed to be a place of meditation where you look at the rock garden and the more you look at it, the more the meaning shines through. Now the Lonely Planet guide recommended that you go in the morning since the crowds of tourists can be unbearable. When we arrived at 4:45 pm, the only other people were a British family and a Japanese couple.

So that meant that we could enjoy the quiet and tranquility of the rock garden, right? We forgot about the “Ugly Brit,” the European equivalent of the “Ugly American.” This British woman let her kids run around screaming in a place of quiet and meditation. I could hear them yell, “I can’t count fifteen rocks!” The kids then jumped off the viewing platform down into the prohibited area (right next to the garden) despite the English sign warning them not to, and started running around. I glared at a kid and gently scolded in English, “What are you trying to do? Count the rocks?” but the kid just smiled and kept running around. Mum kept yelling, “How many rocks do you see?” (I have blurred their faces for privacy reasons).

I wanted to scream to the mother, “HELLO? HELLO? Get it through your thick English noggin that this is a ZEN TEMPLE!” Then again, they could have been Australian given my inability to distinguish the two accents. In the end, I decided it would be un-Zen like lose control. Rather I decided to meditate upon the cause of my anger – why was I so provoked by this display of cultural insensitivity? Then I looked at the sign in the background telling you to be quiet: it was written only in Japanese. The family probably did not know that Zen Buddhism is about meditation and quiet. So to the kids it was just a bunch of rocks in the middle of sand. Now I understood them, but still, I wished that they learned more about this country before coming here. Can you imagine screaming Japanese kids running around in the middle of British churches? Well, perhaps it has happened countless times so I can`t complain too much about them.

The loud screaming family left, and after the Japanese couple left, we had the entire rock garden to ourselves! Can you imagine being the only people in such a world-famous place? We sat there for a long time meditating since this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Here is a photo composite I shot.Yoko is in the distance meditating.We really liked being able to sit there and meditate in quiet.It was time to leave this oasis of tranquility for the hustle-and-bustle of Osaka. But on the way home, I managed to stumble across BEARD PAPA, the famous cream puff bakery! It is a franchise chain all over Japan, but when they set up temporary shop in Hawaii, the line stretched all over the store. Yes, it is that delicious.
Finally, I had to take a picture of the sleeping men across from me. They appeared to be strangers, but both swayed together in unison. First to their left...
And then sway to their right...

Yokohama Raumen Museum

2005-07-20T05:25:00.000-10:00

Replica of the first ramen made in Japan sometime during the Tokugawa Era

Today was the day we had set for going home. I had done all of the research I needed to do. Now, Tokyo is a huge city, and there were many more things I wanted to do: visit Roppongi Hills, Shibuya, Shinjuku, the National Museum, Omotesando, Harajuku, more of Shiodome and Odaiba. But then, Tokyo was bleeding us dry of money, and I thought that it would be good for Yoko to be back with her family. We could always visit trendy places in Osaka. So we were packing our bags when it dawned upon me that there WAS one place that I really wanted to visit but had not the chance to go.
“I want to go to the Raumen Museum in Yokohama!”

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Raumen Museum, with a "u" in the word "ramen". It was only a ten-minute walk from the Yokohama Shinkansen (Bullet Train) station, and so it would be possible to stop by on our way home. I had heard about it since its’ opening in 2001 or so, and had always wanted to visit. For those of you who know little of modern Japan, ramen is considered a poor man’s gourmet food. Much like how there are wine aficionados, there are ramen otaku, who judge a ramen by its noodles, soup, meats, appearance, smell, and overall balance. The soup is like making wine: basic process is easy to learn, but to produce a harmonious, balanced product takes years, sometimes decades of trial and error. You can buy myriads of ramen guidebooks that rank ramen both regionally and nationally. True ramen otaku will travel far and wide in search of the perfect bowl of ramen because many of the owners refuse to franchise (although franchised branches of famous ramen shops are becoming more common). Some ramen fans will apprentice under hard working conditions in order to learn how to make a perfect bowl of ramen. Just recently a famous ramen chef had the Chinese mafia kidnap and beat up another famous ramen chef because he felt that the chef had stolen his secret recipe.

We caught a bus to the bullet train station, and then walked to the Ramen Museum. Admission is 300 yen, or almost three dollars, and there is a special repeat pass for true ramen fans. I took a photo with the staff at the museum entrance.

A brief note about the Raumen Museum is in order. It was created a few years ago by one of the premier chefs of ramen in order to educate the public about this gourmet food. Now the Raumen Museum has displays for the history of ramen, but their true selling point is that the master chef managed to convince the owners of some of the best and most famous ramen shops in Japan to open up shop in the museum. So the whole shop is a recreation of 1950s Yokohama, complete with public TV sets broadcasting pro wrestling, and even an alley of 1950s style bars. Eight of the famous ramen shops, along with a booth for an up and coming ramen shop were in replicas of 1950s shops. The ramen shops serve mini-ramen for those of us who want to sample as many of the different regional varieties of ramen as possible.

Interior of the Raumen Museum basement

Why can’t someone in America realize that entertainment and shopping and dining go hand in hand? If I had the cash to build a shopping mall, I would make a recreation of 1950s Hawaii, and have real shops inside of the recreations of the 1950s buildings. I would play hapa haole 1950s Hawaiian music and of course, Elvis Presley to set the ambiance. Both tourists and locals would come. I would call this the Plate Lunch Museum.

Anyway, I went nuts eating ramen – visited FOUR different shops. Each ramen was superb and had its own characteristics. One was made from all chicken – the soup was made purely from chicken, and even char siu from chicken. Yoko and Reiko decided to snack and drink potato liquor (shochu) at an old-style street stall, so I continued my ramen adventures on my own. Another shop made ramen with lard as its key ingredient. Yes, lard blended into the noodles, and into the soup. It sounds gross, but the ramen did have a strong individual taste and I devoured it within minutes.

Lard ramen is surprisingly good! Notice the oil all over the bowl?

The third, Shina Soba, was the most famous of the ramen shops as it was the preserve of the master chef who originated the museum. I heard some customers at the previous place say that they were disappointed in the ramen, and that it was so ordinary. When I ate it, I detected nothing special and was disappointed at first. But little did I realize it when I ate the whole bowl of ramen in the blink of an eye. The ramen was so well balanced that the balance itself was its characteristic. There was no salty aftertaste. This is not a ramen that hits you with a right hook. No, this is balanced ramen that can be mistaken for blandness by an inexperienced tongue. Last of all, we all had miso ramen at a restaurant originally from Sapporo.

Upstairs, I visited the recreation of a bar district and saw all sorts of old buildings. I felt like I was back in 1950s Japan, and I wasn`t even born then! It looked like all those magazines and old TV shows I saw.

I even saw a huge display in the museum area that showed the evolution of ramen, and had a huge display of all the instant ramen. Upstairs was a Naruto (a popular anime series) shop, and the customers were all foreigners speaking English. So that is how you get otaku tourist dollars...
We had to go back to Osaka so that was the end of the day. I found out that the shop I did not go to, Aokiya, was the shop involved in the ramen kidnap and Chinese mafia case. Oh well, I will eat it the next time I go to Yokohama.

Anyway, we got our JR rail passes at Yokohama station, which meant we could travel all we want on the bullet train for a week for only $280 each! The staff woman helped us out when we forgot to bring our passports. Yoko called her sister, who opened our passports left at home, and we got our passport numbers. So remember to bring your passports when you turn in your rail passes.

Tokyo DisneySea

2005-07-19T20:49:00.000-10:00

Entrance to Tokyo Disney Sea

Today we went to one of my favorite amusement parks, Tokyo DisneySea. Now it doesn’t have that many rides, but it is full of ambiance. It is aimed mostly at adults and so there are less rides, and lots more shows and entertainment. I went last year, and want to go again.

Along the way, while we were riding the city subway, we saw a young woman collapsed on a train seat, sleeping there her legs wide open peeking out from her skirt. Everyone was staring at her – whether it was because her legs were spread wide open or because she had rudely taken up an entire seat reserved for the elderly, I do not know. I took some pictures from my seat to show you this strange scene:

Now onto the park...

This is a Disney theme park made for especially for the Japanese and caters to their desire to travel abroad. I am only going to show you part of the park, as I don`t want to spoil the surprises when you visit in person.

There is a Mediterranean Harbor recreation of Venice, complete with canals:

turn of the century New York and Boston (yes, now you too can feel like an Italian immigrant). Talk about ambiance: they even had an Irish band at the Cape Cod section (next to the New York section). It’s sad, but the first thing Yoko and I thought of when we heard the band was “Titanic” :

a fantasy Arabia (complete with A mock shopping area for Aladdin fans):

Little Mermaid land:

South American jungle; Jules Verne port; and even a fantasy castle for RPG player types.

We arrived at Maihama station on the outskirts of Tokyo. Tokyo DisneySea, along with Tokyo Disneyland, is built on reclaimed land fronting the sea. I had braced myself for massive crowds, but the park appeared surprisingly deserted. The holiday was yesterday, so it must’ve been packed then. But I found out that Raging Waters, a new ride featuring a 360-degree loop was going to open in two days, and so the true fans must have been saving themselves for that day. There were many media people with media badges who must’ve been invited to a preview of the ride, as they all had shopping bags with the ride, “Raging Waters” printed on it. I also saw squealing female TV announcers being filmed while they gushed about something in the park.

This park is fine for me, but for those with kids, it may not be the best bet. Of course, the kids can visit a Little Mermaid section with fun rides for children. But the park suffers in that there are so little English explanations for the rides. So you go on a ride, and Sinbad the sailor starts to speak to you in Japanese. Yep, just adds to the illusion you are in Arabia. (Of course, ignorant people like me do not notice when Sinbad speaks in English, not Arabic). Or you ride the thrilling Indiana Jones ride and then Indy Jones comes out and shouts at you in Japanese. Even the shows were all in Japanese, with just some English, and I felt sorry for the foreigners who came. So we have Ariel speaking to us in Japanese during the Little Mermaid show (but she sings in English. Hey, wasn`t Hans Christian Andersen Dutch?).

They will need to at least have plot synopses in English (and Korean and Chinese and in other languages for that matter) so that we can at least understand why Mickey mouse is sailing in a boat during the afternoon big show (it’s supposed to be the day that the Prince Mickey and Princess Minnie can be reunited). But it was still a cool spectacle to watch.

Donald Duck`s boat as part of the retinue accompanying Mickey

Donald then goes ashore and the crowd goes wild!

By the way, the service here is beyond polite. I asked a young security guard where was the trashcan for my plastic bottle, and she told me to give her the bottle, and then she proceeded to throw it away for me. Even when I ate at fast food tables, the staff came to bus our table for us. And when we leave they greet us goodbye. Here is a picture of a friendly sweeper at the park:

And the food here is surprisingly good! I had a sausage gyoza bun - extremely delicious! Can you believe that the food here is NOT greasy? I enjoyed the two-cheese salmon pizza and ALCOHOL! It is such a great feeling to go around the park quite buzzed, as it really adds to the illusion that you are in a Mediterranean Harbor... except for the fact that a GIANT fire-breathing dragon pops out of the water as part of the night show.

Dragon after discharging his/her breath weapon in the lagoon.

I loved the gondola ride, which was actually powered by the gondola men, who serenaded us in Italian! Also, the lighting is quite dark here at night, making it a very romantic place. I then realized that they have dark park like this in America because there is too much potential for criminals to ambush you in dark areas, or for lawsuits when people slip in the dark and get injured. Still, it was great to walk in a very dimly lit amusement park with a beer buzz and just soak up the ambience.

The next time I go here, we will stay at the hotel in the park. Yes, the hotel is in the park, and is part of the scenery for the Mediterranean port, which is called “Porto Paradisio”. And the next time, I will go to the attraction I forgot to go to: the chance to meet and get your picture taken with Ariel from the Little Mermaid. I wonder if they used a white woman to play her (like they did at the Little Mermaid theme show) or if they had a Japanese woman dressed as her in a red wig? In the end, I just did not want to wait in line for an hour. Now I will wait in line for something good. Person in mouse costume, yes. Woman in mermaid costume, no.

On the way home, a very sleepy woman kept falling against Reiko’s shoulder in the train. What would you do if a sleeping woman started slobbering on your shoulder?

Shopping mall and harbor at Yokohama

2005-07-17T22:52:00.000-10:00

We visited Minato Mirai (Future Harbor), the Yokohama bayside area, which has been redeveloped into a shopping/hotel/entertainment complex. Look at how small the bus seats are - I am taking up a seat for two people!

At Minato Mirai, we entered Queen’s Gate, a multistoried, multi building shopping center. That`s right, a British-sounding American-style shopping center in the middle of Japan. But it looks way cooler than any shopping center in Oregon. I saw so many customers with Hawaii T-shirts over here, as if it is a status symbol to say, "My uncle went to Hawaii and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." I have seen many t-shirts from Haleiwa supermarket here. Why, I don`t know.

Students from a high school and a local design school also put on a fashion show. Most of their fashions looked like something straight out of anime, so I took lots of pictures. It also gave me the creeps seeing middle-aged men taking close-up shots of the young girls, but then they could have been the fathers or the teachers so I shouldn’t pass judgment. Then again, I realized that I am also in the early stages of middle age as well. I sometimes forget that I am no longer in my twenties. So others must have thought me equally creepy.

I felt like I was back in the U.S. while shopping at this mall. I saw so many stores that specialized in goods from America. One shop, “Labrador Retriever,” use the most interesting display of cans of spam, Vienna sausage, and retro canned goods. They sold shirts from Hawaii and from America. Now, what the buyers here have done is to wade through the mass of shirts you can buy in America and find shirts that truly look good, but we just don’t realize it. BTW, Sponge Bob, although nowhere to be seen on regular Japanese TV, seems popular at a store that specializes in American goods.
I could not believe it when I saw yellow ribbons printed with “Support our Troops” on sale. For one, very few Japanese troops have been sent to Iraq. However, the Japanese explanation on the booth said that the ribbons were to pray for one’s friend’s safe return. True, but it only tells half the story as it omits the whole war context. I also saw many other ribbon stickers on sale, along with colored wristbands. Japanese customers were buying these bands, and I wonder if they truly understood the context of these ribbons. Must be like buying Buddhist prayer beads and selling them as good luck charms in America.

And then I stumbled across a Sam Choy’s in Yokohama! But they specialized in Loco Moco (A sign described a loco moco) and the Japanese“Omu-rice” – fried rice and meats cooked in tomato sauce, then put into an omelet and then covered in sauce.They were also serving bubble tea from Hawaii to a long line of customers. So Hawaii culture still influences Japan. The line was too long so we went to a curry shop that had been running since 1915 and was now a chain. We had an old-fashioned curry called Maze (pronounced "Mah-zey")-curry. It is dry curry (rice fried in curry powder) with a raw egg cracked on top of it. You then mix Worchester sauce on the egg, and then mix the rice and egg. Surprisingly delicious.

And then there is Snoopy Town. Snoopy goods everywhere, and the store was packed with high school girls and even middle aged women. Snoopy must be more popular in Japan than in the U.S. for I even saw Snoopy toilet seat covers.Devoted fans can even be with Snoopy in the bathroom. Yoko told me that in the 1970s, stuffed Snoopy dolls were selling for $100, and that they were all the rage in Japan. She wanted a doll back then when her parents bought one for her older sister. However, the stores had run out of Snoopy dolls and more would not come for a while, so she never got the Snoopy doll. I had to rectify things, so I bought a small Snoopy for her. She seemed quite embarrassed, but hey, psychic wounds like these must be healed.

Afterwards, we strolled around the beautiful harbor area with its splendid futuristic buildings (See top photo for a sample). We finally got to an Internet cafe and after tons of paperwork and then a briefing, then we were allowed to use the internet booth. This cafe even has an optional shower room, and you can rent towels there. So Internet cafes are more like mini-hotels, with private booths, TVs, manga, and DVD movies of all types.

Yukatas (summer kimonos) and street stalls

2005-07-16T22:41:00.000-10:00

We went off to the Broadcast Library once more to watch interesting shows, especially my favorite, “Shichi nin no keiji” (Seven Detectives). This is a 1960s detective thriller filmed documentary-style and was surprisingly sophisticated with camera angles and plot very reminiscent of a Tarantino film – little violence, but when it comes, it is very sudden and shocking. In one scene from the 1967 episode we saw, the character walks down the streets of Ginza, camera focused on his face, and the song, “Futari no Ginza” (The Ginza for the Two of us) plays throughout. You could feel the tension build throughout this TV episode. In fact, I highly recommend this TV series for Tarantino fans, if it ever comes out translated and on DVD.

The library closed, and so we went outside. Now the Yokohama International Fireworks Festival was about to start in one hour, and crowds after crowds of people were walking down the sidewalk to the harbor park to watch. We saw many Japanese women dressed in yukata, light cotton kimonos for summer festivals. I lined up at one of the many food stalls and got some Japanese food! The crowd kept on growing, and so we decided it would be better to go home and have dinner with Reiko. As I went to the station, I saw a young woman with a tattoo manning a stall. Now the people who run these stalls are rumored to have yakuza connections, and Yakuza women often have tattoos. So I guessed that I was most likely looking at a Yakuza woman, although Yoko told me that she probably was just a young woman with a tattoo. I will let you decide.In the end, the tattoo seemed to scare off customers as she went to the next booth to put a t-shirt on over her tank top.

Here is a pic of some young Japanese punks, who looked like they could be straight out of a video-game center in Hawaii. Yes, I got into a too-close-for-comfort encounter with a Japanese punk like this ten years ago, and it imprinted on me the need to learn self-defense. So now you know why I do jiu-jitsu.

We went shopping, and I want to show you how small things are over here. Now you know why I feel like a giant when I come to this country. Look at the size of this shopping cart!

Visiting Saito-san

2005-07-15T22:17:00.000-10:00

Meeting old friends

Saito-san (R) and Lee-san (L)

One of the pleasures of travel is to meet old friends that you haven`t seen in ages. Reiko, Yoko, and I all left for Jiyugaoka, an upscale part of town to meet Saito, his new wife, and Lee. Saito-san (I don”t know why we don’t call him by his personal name), I knew for over 10 years from the time I was studying in Hiroshima in 1993. Lee is a Korean student I knew from my days at Tokyo University. He had buffed out from all that weight training. It was great to see Lee-san after five years. He is in the final months of his Ph.D, and will soon look for a job. So he will have degrees from two of the toughest universities in the world to get into: Seoul National University and Tokyo University. He spoke fluent Japanese and put me to shame.

Saito-san and I comparing wedding rings. Or lack of. I lost my ring a few years ago while practicing jiu-jitsu. Call it a hazard of sports.

We walked to Saito’s apartment and met his wife, Satoko, who works as an Occupational Health and Safety counselor. She is very pretty, a polite conversationalist, and also a great cook. Ah, what a lucky guy Saito is! Anyway, Satoko wisely kept serving tea in between alcohol drinks, so her husband did not pass out after getting red faced from drink. In fact, his face color returned to normal after awhile. Saito also played his favorite music in the background: The Best of Kool and the Gang. We talked almost non-stop for six hours, reminiscing about our days in Tokyo five years ago. Below is a picture of Saito and Satoko-aren`t they a cute couple?

Off to Odaiba

By the early evening, Saito looked tired, so we bade him and his wife goodbye and left for Odaiba, a redeveloped oceanfront area of Tokyo. Now Lee has moved into a dorm for international students in Odaiba and so he knew the area like the back of his hand. Odaiba is built like a “Tomorrowland” and has monorails, and gleaming futuristic buildings, and lots of American-style shopping malls. Talk about putting Las Vegas to shame. Think of a futuristic Las Vegas and you have Odaiba.

We bought beer and walked around. I had forgotten that it is NOT a crime to drink beer in public. So I decided to drink and walk as much as possible and enjoy this experience while I can.
I spottedso many foreigners with their Japanese girlfriends. Japanese dressed casually tonight – even saw young men in tank tops. And this mall was full of so many global brands like the GAP. For a moment, I felt like I was in a Waikiki shopping center. Then I saw the can of beer in my hand and remembered that I was in a foreign country.

We entered Palette town, in which the interior is painted to look like an Italian village. The staff is so friendly, that I even took a picture with the female custodian/staff member dressed in a cute costume. She even thanked me after I took her picture. Ah, why can’t we Americans have such pride in our work? It is as if Japanese have learned from Disney and then improved on their concept of making the customer feel like a king.

On way back, I spotted a gang of Japanese teens in hip-hop gear causing a minor commotion, sliding down the escalator, and spitting on the station floor. Amazing how this would be commonplace teen behavior in the U.S. but they stood out as being so delinquent in Japan. I did not feel fear, as they were so reed-thin, and figured that Scott and I could have easily taken on the four of them if it came down to hand-to-hand combat. Then again, they could’ve been tough streetfighters so best not to find out. I guess just spitting can represent such a rebellious act that there is no need for young people to beat people up as an act of rebellion. Remember, adults should fight the small battles with youth so they don’t have to fight the big ones.

Off to Yokohama

2005-07-15T03:12:00.000-10:00

A Pleasant Discovery
Today, we packed up and left the hotel. The staff served us so politely that I wished they changed the air conditioners. That would rid the tobacco smell, quiet the room, and then I could recommend the hotel. But for now, I cannot recommend it.

Today, we visited the Yokohama Broadcast Library to watch old commercials and old television programs. The research must continue, but first I had to eat. I discovered one of the secrets to eating delicious lunch at cheap prices: eat where the office workers eat. Just below the library was a cafeteria-style joint where you served yourself all-you-can eat rice and miso soup (you can see the rice container on the table next to the man). And the meal cost the equivalent of only $5.00!! It consisted of negi-toro (raw tuna and green onions), pickled vegetables, miso soup, rice, and all you can drink iced tea. A case of raw eggs was on the table. You were to crack an egg, mix it up, pour it over your hot rice, mix it, and eat with your nori (dried seaweed). Here is a picture of the meal (yes, I had seconds of rice and soup). It is cheaper and healthier to eat in Japan than in Hawaii if you know where to look.

All this delicious food for only $5.00.

Excellent service compared to what you would recieve back home!!

Yokohama
I did some good research at the library. The staff was exceedingly polite – even bowed and said to us “thank you for coming” when we left. What other library would do this? Afterwards, we walked a little around the Yokohama stadium area. Unlike Tokyo, one could see lots of greenery in this area. A concert by the group "Yuzu" was about to start, and I saw fans with pleading faces standing outside the station with signs asking for tickets. Or were they scalpers trying to sell tickets like in the U.S? So being a typical obnoxious tourist I took a picture of a pleading fan.

Then we ran off to Yokohama station to buy Reiko and her sister some wine. BTW, you want to know how much good fruit costs here?

Yes, each box of fruit costs around $50! Talk about expensive vitamin C!

Now Yokohama station must rank as one of the most crowded stations I ever saw in my life. I then saw some strange guys with tanned skin and dressed in tank-tops (a rarity in Japan) run up to women. I thought they were pick-up artists, but Yoko said they were “catch sales” people, who make you buy unnecessary things. His intended target is at the lower right hand corner of the photo. He kept talking to her and following her, but she just ignored him.

Reiko, and her sister Yoko met us a few stops from Yokohama station and drove us to their place, an old Japanese house that surprisingly did not feel sweltering like western style apartments. Must be something about the construction of these old wooden houses. We stayed up late chatted and drank.

Shiodome - futuristic shopping center

2005-07-14T03:09:00.000-10:00

One of the spectacular buildings at the Shiodome shopping complex

Ramen discovery near Tokyo University

Man, was I unable to get out of bed this morning! My legs too sore, back too sore – I blame it on yesterday’s training and the thin futon I slept on. Plus, this hotel room must qualify for having the world’s loudest air conditioner – its buzzing noises kept waking me up throughout the night.
Anyway, I spent most of the day frantically gathering materials at Todai. I checked the computer room to see if I could check the Internet. Unfortunately, one needed an account, but I did bump into a former classmate. He looked at me, immediately recognized me, and said in Japanese, “Weren’t you here at this university before?” Like I said, these Japanese are memory machines! He didn’t know I had left for the States years ago, and thought it strange that I had suddenly disappeared. We then ate ramen near campus because Yoko wanted to try the vinegar ramen, which she used to eat a lot of in China. When we went inside, she said the restaurant smell reminded her of China. Yoko did not like her vinegar ramen, because she was used to a different vinegar ramen that she used to eat in China, and felt this version was inauthentic, but I loved my tan-tan men.

Vinegar Ramen - note the extra black vinegar in a shot glass

Regular tan-tan men below, and black miso tan-tan men on the top

Congratulating the ramen chef on a job well done

Visiting the Shidome Complex

I have lived in Tokyo and visited last year, so I already saw most of the trendy shopping places like Shibuya, or Roppongi Hills. This time, I wanted to visit Shiodome, a huge shopping and office complex that looks like buildings straight from Blade Runner. Now when we were there several years ago, the place, under construction, resembled a huge pit. But last year, I saw a Japanese language news special in which the bubbly young announcer with a measuring tape kept babbling about how large this place was, so I had to check it out. Here is a composite panorama shot I made of one of the buildings.

I have seen the future of shopping and it is Shiodome. All throughout, I felt as if I was an extra on a sci-fi movie set. Huge black buildings with shiny white lights towered over me. Third floor walkways to connect the buildings. Futuristic escalators that made me want to take out my gun and start hunting replicants.

Most U.S. shopping malls suffer a lack of imagination and so going there is boring. You go to the same Gap, or Old Navy, or whatever. You see bland, uninspired architecture that fails to stimulate the desire to shop. But go to a place like Shiodome, and it feels so futuristic, so out of this world, as if you have been teleported to the 21st century. Oops, I forgot, we ARE in the 21st century? So why does the architecture in the U.S. fail to remind us of the time we are living in? Anyway, the insides are decorated with non-futuristic yet stylish furniture.

Stylish chairs in the waiting room

We stumbled upon what looked like a wine shop, when I realized that this shop specialized in shochu, potato liquor. The Japanese used to consider this a working man`s cheap liquor, but it has gained popularity recently.

Major companies like Kyodo news wire service, Dentsu advertising agency, and Nippon Television, had set up shop in this office complex, guaranteeing a major flow of affluent customers for the restaurants and stores. Now the stores themselves did not seem remarkable, and yet I wanted to buy. The appropriate scenery and settings can stimulate one’s appetite to buy. Now travelling thousands of miles to be in Japan, I had to eat the local food. Then the glowing sign of Nathan’s hot dogs lured me to their shop like a moth to a flame , and I enjoyed their tasty hot dogs while enjoying the high-tech scenery of the sleek monorail trains running by. Strange, but true: Japan offers students and fans of sci-fi a taste of futuristic architecture. I should run a class field trip devoted to futuristic Japan.

Martial arts training at the Takada Dojo

2005-07-13T02:54:00.000-10:00

The outside of Takada Dojo

Anything interesting today? No, I spent all day at the Tokyo University library while Yoko went shopping. Time goes by so fast when doing research. But there was a highlight of the day - training submission wrestling at Takada Dojo. I did all sorts of internet research, and a former student of mine recommended that I check out Takada Dojo. All the other dojos had closed systems and you could not just freely walk in and train. Takada Nobuhiko was a famous pro wrestler, and he also made his name fighting mixed martial arts (run by PRIDE in Japan, and UFC in America). One of his disciples, Sakuraba is known as the "Gracie Hunter" for submitting four members of the famous fighting clan, the Gracies.

In the evening, we caught a train to a suburb of Tokyo to train at Takada dojo. It is a small, rather unassuming building somewhere in a suburban neighborhood. I had to take passport-sized pictures to get in, but could train for free for today. It is interesting how so many schools, dojos, and such require you to attach a picture of yourself. Yoko had hurt herself, and so could only watch.

It was rather crowded when classes started at 7:15 or so. The instructor, a muscular Japanese man, had us kneel on the floor (seza), clear our minds, and then bow to a Shinto altar. I could see born-again Christian fighters having a problem with this. Then we went through tons of warm-ups, some I have never done before, like jumping over a bent over partner. Then we did lots of takedown drills. We also had to do lots of bridging, which I had never done since my high-school days. My back began to seize up later that night. Then falling (ukemi) practice, and then the instructor taught us a move to use when fighting on the ground. Then more drills. And only then did we learn ONE new move for the evening. Then we had some free sparring. I noticed that you were not to ask the instructor questions, and to obey what he said. So it is much more structured in training than in America. Good and bad points? Good is that it is very regimented training and you do lots of fundamental drills. I think more Hawaii fighters need to practice the fundamentals and work on drilling.

Bad part? Too much drilling and not enough live sparring practice. Yes, I contradict myself. I pulled off some moves that we had specifically trained that evening to defend against because the partner had not practiced the move live. Also, the participants used too much strength, and most were huffing and puffing. The way I trained back in the U.S., the instructor would warn you if you used too much strength and power. That way we learn to conserve energy. When you do a lot of live sparring, you learn to relax, and learn to plot strategy while you fight. It would be good to combine both American and Japanese training systems.

Yoko saw Daijiro Matsui, professional Pride fighter while I was in the shower. He looked surprised that a woman was there, and she bowed to him, and he bowed back. I also met two Americans, who both taught English in Japan. One was quite big and muscular, and quite good at submission fighting. He hailed from Pittsburgh, and had lived in Japan for five years teaching English at the university level. The other graduated from UNC, and wanted to be a translator. I was impressed by their humility and they will give Americans a good name. We chatted, and I found out that Sakuraba (one of Japan’s best fighters) comes down occasionally and teaches people who are regular members.

I met a Japanese member who often visited Hawaii. We may meet up in Hawaii when he goes there. Again, the benefit of being Nikkei: once you speak Japanese, people treat you sort of normally (although you will never be treated exactly as a Japanese). No exoticism, no stares, no simple talk, just regular conversation. I was invited to eat yakiniku with him at Sakuraaba’s yakiniku shop, but just too busy this Friday. AHH!

Went home sore beyond belief. I wanted to sit, but no seats available on the train, so I spent time taking pictures instead. Don`t you love the pic of a baby staring at the tired salarymen? I was beat and fell quickly asleep when I arrived at our hotel.

Neons Signs at the Ginza

2005-07-12T02:33:00.000-10:00

All night the air conditioner kept on spewing smoke-scented air. My polo shirt that I had washed yesterday and hung on a clothes hanger smells like tobacco! When we left the room, the maids and cleaners greeted us cheerily. The owners are really making an effort to jazz up the appearance of this place. They put up cute room numbers on door and tourism posters on the wall. I even saw anti-violence posters on wall warning yakuza in Japanese not to come. But the red carpet has to go!

Outside, it was quite chilly as strange cold front had entered Tokyo. But I will gladly take this weather over any hot temperature. We both went off to Tokyo University and studied in the library. When I was sick and tired of reading Japanese, I went upstairs to visit my mentor Yoshimi sensei. I had sent an email to him earlier, but no response. I knocked on his office door, and when he opened it, he seemed genuinely shocked to see me. Yoshimi-sensei is a truly busy man. His office is huge, and he has two assistants to help him with his work. He had two conferences coming up, one tomorrow and one on Saturday. I wonder where he gets his energy from? We spoke for ten minutes, and then he had to get back to work.

For dinner, we ate at the Tokyo University cafeteria. If you want to save money in Japan, eat at university cafeterias. They are very cheap - actually ridiculously cheap, reasonably delicious, and quite filling. I decided to splurge and ordered a set meal plus a side order of hayashi rice. Price? $8.00 for me, great considering I ate two meals.

Yoko needed to buy some clothes, so we went to the Uniqlo in Ginza. The Ginza at night just lights up with neon. And there are elegantly dressed women everywhere. We are not talking the funky Tokyo fashions, but rather the Gucci, DKNY, and Vutton type of crowd. All women with perfect makeup, hair perfectly in place (not a single stray strand), and impossibly slim. It is so bright out in the Ginza district, with all that neon!

On our return to Asakusa, we went to an Internet café. For a hundred yen ($0.90) every fifteen minutes, you can rent a cubicle, and surf the Net, play video games, or read their extensive library of manga and soft porn. Soft drinks are free. So this is a better bargain than a coffee house but unlike Starbucks, you have to put up with a lot of tobacco smoke! I finally manged to create a blog and began uploading my entries, when I realized that I left most of my stuff in my laptop which I checked in at the front desk.

Visiting Tokyo University

2005-07-11T02:20:00.000-10:00

Yasuda Auditorium is a famous symbol of Tokyo University and the scene of a riot in 1969

We left Osaka in the rain for Tokyo by the Shinkansen (bullet train). I have ridden this so many times that it does not seem unique any more. But it is always enjoyable to ride. We stayed at a cheap hotel in middle of Asakusa. My first impression? Unbearably hot in the lobby. I had the feeling that this was a former place of ill repute for lovers to meet converted to a hotel. We paid 6,000 yen a night for a double room barely big enough for 1.5 Americans.

The room came with tatami floors, small furo, shower, and postage-stamp sized toilet. I could barely fit into the cubicle that passed for a restroom. I have seen American studio apartments that are three times the size of this hotel room. Still, one could hardly complain with a location conveniently in the middle of Asakusa, one of the few old town remaining areas of Tokyo.

I ran off to visit Tokyo University, or "University of Tokyo" as they are now marketing themselves. Yoko went off shopping. The subway station had been modernized with bright lights and escalators (none before). I use the brand new restroom, and a middle-aged female janitor is there to shoo me away from the urinal. Says this urinal is broken so use that one. It was very embarassing to use the restroom with another woman right there, but I just had to go... Other men in the room seem to urinate with no problem with a kneeling cleaning woman only two feet away. So when in Rome…

The gate of Tokyo University is a famous landmark, and dates from the Tokugawa era. The school had modernized somewhat – new restrooms, signs in the area, and the hallway was clean. This trip made me feel as if I was still a research student studying there back a few years ago. All sorts of memories came flooding back to me, which is usual when I revisit old places from my past. Now this visit reconfirmed to me that the Japanese must be the world’s greatest memorizers. When I walked into the library, the staff member greeted me, and said, “Wow, it’s been a long time. She then proceeded to call me by my first name. We are talking a woman who last saw me five years ago and at that time, I only told her my name ONCE.

After the library closed, I met up with Yoko at a nearby subway station, and we took a quick tour of Asakusa. I nearly got hit by a bicyclist along the way. So when you walk in Japan, do not weave left to right but stay in a straight line. Remember the laws of physics – bicycle moves fast and you don’t want to be hit from behind. We saw the famous Senso-ji temple, which you always see pics of when there is a tourism in Tokyo brochure. I have been here many times, but still feel a sense of peace when I visit. It is especially beautiful at night when the tourists have gone home, and you feel like you have the temple to yourself. Notice how the temple has been illuminated, and notice the lack of crowds. So you can be in deserted places of solitude in Tokyo if you know when and where to go.

For dinner, we had cheap but very good tempura at a tempura chain called Ten-ya.

Who says Japan is expensive? For only $7.00, I had perfect tendon – perfectly fried tempura pieces not greasy, perfectly fluffy-crunchy, and it came with a bowl of miso soup and iced tea. You can eat cheaper in Japan than in Hawaii if you know where to look. Unfortunately, the menu was in Japanese, and so you will need to know the language if you want to eat cheaply. But it can be done.

We took a furo bath at a famous bathhouse called Jakotsu-yu. Yoko and I split up, she goes to the women’s section and I went to the men’s section. The female staff member, in her thirties kept on coming into the men’s room to do cleaning, and nobody batted an eyelid. Men here must be used to women walking into the men’s section to do cleaning. You clean yourself outside the bath before entering. Now it has been awhile since I was in a bathhouse, so it felt odd at first to be surrounded by so many naked men. But after awhile, I got used to it, and only felt conscious because I was the biggest guy (No, not in that fashion! we are talking STOMACH!!) in the room. Am I that fat?

The water was boiling hot and I could only stay in for a minute at the most. You could’ve boiled an egg with that temperature. While I waited for my laundry to dry, I watched Japan’s version of Cops on the TV set in the waiting room. This documentary episode featured two female detectives on the stakeout for a serial shoplifter. That’s right, protecting Japan from a serial shoplifter. Now you know why Japanese think America is a dangerous country – it is dangerous! The documentary followed them as they kept watching the suspect woman, who kept on slipping groceries into her bag. They finally caught her and made her confess to the crime. Then the cop told her to stop shoplifting, and she tearfully mumbled that she would stop. BTW, they also caught a college student shoplifting, and had his mother come in. His mother broke down in tears at the shame of her son being caught shoplifting, and he slumped in his chair in shame as well. You can bet that he will never shoplift again. Alas, such tactics would not work back in the U.S.A. Shame? What shame? Even if their son has murdered ten people many parents would stand there and say, “I know he would never do such a thing and I will always support him!”

Our room smelled so much like tobacco that I bought a big bottle of room spray to get rid of the cigarette smoke smell. I sprayed half the bottle, and yet it still smelled like a seedy strip club. At night, I watched DVDs of old Japanese TV shows that I borrowed from the Tokyo University library. We slept with the AC on but it was bad. Choose your poison – sleep in sweltering heat, or with an air conditioner that smells like tobacco.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire

2005-07-10T02:03:00.000-10:00

So we finally managed to get to the Van Gough exhibit at Osaka Museum. Talk about “out of the frying pan and into the fire.” We did not go last time because of the huge crowds. Stupid mistake, all of Osaka must have been here today to see the art exhibit. See what happens when you get greedy? Or when you go to famous art exhibits on a Sunday afternoon in one of the world`s largest cities?

It took an one hour wait in humid and wet conditions to get in. I regret that I did not go in earlier yesterday, when the wait was “only” fifteen minutes. Once inside, it felt like a Tokyo subway – I could barely see the artworks.

BTW, do not take a photo in the museum. The museum woman came up and politely reminded me that one should not take photos in the museum. Anyway, how great it was to see Van Gough works next to the other works that influenced him! Van Gough had even traced a Hiroshige woodblock print that appeared in a Paris newspaper and used it as a basis for his painting. Yoko seemed to wilt under the pressure of all those crowds.

We were famished after battling this crowd, and so we went off to eat ramen. On the tables were comic pamphlets detailing the story of this ramen shop. Fujihira ramen is a ramen chain made by a man who quit his job in search of making the perfect ramen. He even went off to the trash bins of rival ramen makers in order to find out where they bought their noodles from. The ramen tasted perfectly superb - not too strong, not too weak. I loved the bowl of takana, chopped mustard cabbage you could put on the ramen.

Afterwards, I ate with my in-laws and their family at a famous yakiniku restaurant in the city. I will bloat up if I keep on eating at this rate. I found amusing how reputable stores would be located right next to, ahem, houses of ill repute. Just a few doors down from this famous restaurant are stores you wouldn`t want your kids to go to.

I am amazed at how you don`t see mothers up in arms about stores like these right next to legitimate shops. The big red lantern is for a ramen shop. I guess society is so safe that they can focus on other issues. And they think that we Americans are sex crazed.

Fortune tellers come out at night and set up street stalls

Afterwards, we went to the Tsutaya video center. Here, one is able to rent CDs of your favorite singers, and purchase blank CDs of varying sizes “conveniently” located next to the CDs. What you do with these CDs, I leave to your imagination.

Shinsaibashi and Umeda

2005-07-09T01:37:00.000-10:00

We ate misoyaki tonkatsu at a small but delicious restaurant. Perfectly crunchy, but not oily at all! Why can’t America have this kind of attention paid to fried food? I will never be able to enjoy fried foods again when I return home. Now we tried to visit the Van Gough exhibit but will try another day as it was too crowded. We are talking a 20 minute wait outside and who knows how long once you get inside. I love art, but no way will I wait that long. Better to return early morning tomorrow!

Instead of seeing the Van Gough exhibit, we decided to visit Shinsaibashi, a popular hangout to see Sammy (retro restaurant and shopping complex). You pay admission to go inside, but then the interior is a mock 1920s Japan. It is like shopping in a Disneyland complex – old posters on the wall, and old music piped in the background. It felt as if I was in another world.

We also got to see female bunraku.This was formerly a popular entertainment for the masses in the prewar times, but had disappeared after the war. A woman is now trying to revive this art form.

Yoko had stepped on my glasses over the night, and so I got them fixed at a store called“Super Megane”("Megane" means "glasses"). I could not believe the friendly service. I did not buy anything but they offered to fix my glasses for free! They even accompanied us to the door to tell us goodbye when we left to shop somewhere else while they fixed my glasses! If all stores in Hawaii had this kind of service there would be a lot less angry people, as they made you feel like royalty. We left in a good mood and must now spread the kindness to another stranger.

We kept looking around Shinsaibashi, and then saw many underground malls. So many stores, that it makes Hawaii shopping seem so boring and have so little variety. Of course things are cheaper back home, but everyday low prices only go so far. Now the Japanese may be known as "imitators" (which I disagree), but they do keep alive traditions long after they have died out in their place of origin. You know how Tang Dynasty court music has died out in China but still survives in Japan? Well, for those of us old enough to remember...

We ended up shopping at Umeda. I had never in my life seen such crowds of teens and young people, except for going to Shibuya in Tokyo. I visited Uniqlo and bought some quick dry long pants. Now, I had to buy the biggest size in the store. Am I that huge or are Japanese that slim? Again, great service: they will alter your pants for free within one hour! And when I came home I noticed that Uniqlo goods were well constructed, and had an extra button in case you lost one. These were quick dry pants, for the frequent rains during the summer, and had UV protection. All store clerks, as usual, welcomed us and said goodbye when we left. So now you know why Wal-Mart with their concept of “Everyday low prices” does not do well in Japan. The market here likes quality goods; even for cheap clothes they want quality.

We ate at "Pizza Ball House," a do it yourself takoyaki restaurant located next to a store that sold Hawaii goods. There is a huge Hawaii boom in Japan, running concurrently with a Korea boom. If you click on the picture, you can see the sign for the Hawaii goods shop behind the Takoyaki sign. So choose which culture you like, Korea or Hawaii, and then buy goods pertaining to that area. I had no idea what relationship this restaurant had with pizza. The takoyaki was delicious, aided by the fact that Yoko deftly turned the takoyaki dumplings and cooked them perfectly.

First the young waitress comes to pour your batter:

Then you cook your takoyaki at your table.

As we rode the subways, I kept thinking of the London subway explosions. It must have been pandemonium and I kept visualizing how it must have been to have bomb go off on a crowded subway train. I really felt sad as watch the scene unfold via the BBC (which we can get here via cable). Ironically, we later received a phone call from Yoko’s relative who lives in the U.K. She wanted to speak to me, and after I expressed my sympathy, she invited me to visit sometime. I will have to visit as it has always been one of my dreams to visit the U.K. Must have been all of those Benny Hill and Monthy Python shows, as my image of Britain is that of the 1970s and the women all look like men dressed in drag or like Hill’s Angels.

Taishu Engeki (Popular theater)

2005-07-08T01:35:00.000-10:00

Shinsekai was so fun that I had to go back again. My wife, my mother-in-law, and I went to a form of theater known as “taishu engeki, " a form of entertainment very little known outside of Japan. For only $17 a person, you can watch three hours of live entertainment. Now taishu engeki literally means “popular theater.” Think of how kabuki, the former entertainment for the masses has now become an upscale art unaffordable and indecipherable for most working Japanese. So taishu engeki has filled the void that kabuki used to occupy – true entertainment for the true masses. Cheap, easy to understand, and full of kitschy touches like revolving disco balls on the ceiling. We went to Shinsekai`s Asahi Theater, a once glorious theater that had seen better days. At least it was still in business – the theater next to it was reduced to showing porno movies. (BTW, I notice that porn is everywhere in this country, in the most unlikely of places, so the place is not as seedy as it may sound).

Sign outside the Asahi Theater

The women staff who worked there did not want me to take their picture – many people in this area have run away from their homes and are starting all over again and may not want to be seen publicly. But then again, they could’ve just been shy. Anyway, they did not bat an eyelash at all when they found out I was a foreigner, and gave me a good explanation of taishu engeki. I found out that only very infrequently do foreigners visit. Traveling troupes come every month, so you can see new performers. I bought a program guide – unfortunately it was 15 years old. The crowds were almost all senior citizens, which made me wonder if this theater would be around a few decades from now.

Inside the theater

I couldn’t take pictures so I will describe taishu engeki. First the actors appear as a troupe in shiny gaudy kimonos. Someone in the states would consider this avant-garde theater if they did not know that this was entertainment for the masses. Then, actors appear one by one and do solo dances. The heroes of taishu engeki are not the samurai, but yakuza, the criminals. They dress in Tokugawa era yakuza clothing and keep on striking yakuza poses like I saw in yakuza movies. The actors wear heavy make-up and some wore garish brown wigs! The music they performed to ran from enka with lots of guitars and bass, and even some rap touches. A short intermission followed after the dances.

Then followed a very melodramatic play about two brothers. The older hard-working brother takes the blame for stealing the money that the younger brother took to buy medicines for his dying sister. The magistrate lets the older brother escape, as he knows he did not commit the crime. Like any good melodrama, the audience is supposed to applaud and cheer when actor makes a dramatic speech, such as when the older brother wrongly accused of a crime vows to return home. When the actor hammed it up, “And I VOW to you, I SHALL RETURN HOME one day!!!” the audience started cheering and applauding loudly. He does return as a yakuza, keeping with the taishu engeki roots, and proceeds to rescue his brother (who married the older brother’s girlfriend in his absence) from the evil yakuza. The message is that even though his younger brother is a no-good who married his older brother’s girlfriend, the older brother will always rescue the younger due to “brotherly bonds.”

Occasionally, actors break character and start joking about their everyday life. When the play finished, all actors come out in costume and thank the audience, and announce that they will sell advance tickets. They announce that they do different shows every day for their thirty-day stay. The actors then go into the audience and sell tickets.

A short intermission follows, and then a show starts again. One actor will come out and sing. Afterwards, another will come out and dance. Each actor will showcase their talents. The weird part – when the actors appear dressed as women. They are showing that they can play female roles as well, and can dance like women. Yoko's mom kept commenting on how feminine these actors were. Often fans would come up and clip money to the actor’s clothes. One woman kept doling out 10,000 yen bills like water. She must have given out $1,000 worth of yen to one actor!

With the head of the travelling troupe

With a pretty taishu engeki actress

I highly recommend taishu engeki if you like kitsch, and if you speak Japanese. You will see a different world of working-class Japanese entertainment in the true tradition of the Globe Theater and Shakespeare. In fact, a whole new world of cheap eats and cheap entertainment opens up if you can read and speak Japanese.

Sign outside the koban (mini-police station). Yesterday, there were 228 accidents in the city with zero deaths and 276 injuries.

Later, we visited Den Den town – must be otaki heaven. Every anime fan in Osaka must have been at this location. We entered an anime store and joined the ranks of otaku looking at specialty anime magazines, gazing at figurines of their favorite anime characters, or buying folders with anime characters on them. I noticed many goods for an anime called “Galaxy Angel”.

This shop specializes in American pop culture goods.

Gamers store. Need I say more?

I saw lots of strange otaku restaurants. One is a cosplay café, in which young girls dressed in anime costumes will serve you. Yoko put her foot down and refused to enter with me, so I did not go. I even saw an ad for cosplay yakiniku, grilled meat restaurants where the waitresses wear anime costumes. Below are pics of some cosplay cafes.

I had takoyaki and beer with Etsuko and Yoko at a small neighborhood takoyaki place. Akashi yaki is an interesting food – plain takoyaki dumplings served in a light broth. Delicious with beer!

Akashi yaki - plain takoyaki dumplings served in a light broth

Beer and takoyaki - yes, junk food does exist in Japan!

(ps: note added on July 22 - I have a huge backlog of posts and pics, but unfortunately, I have very little Internet access and time to post them. I will try when things settle down a bit.

Local Tanabata Festival

2005-07-07T01:20:00.000-10:00

We visited the Tenmangu shrine, famous for those who want to do well on exams. Today was Tanabata, they day when two lovers in the stars can visit each other once a year. Now in keeping in line with the theme of this summer`s visit, we went to a local temple to see a local festival. As we entered the temle grounds, a charmingly amateur talent show was in progress, as if the locals walked in and decided to perform. We saw jugglers, a very strange female dancer who dressed as a cat and danced to the Pink Lady tune Carmen. Yoko was laughing like crazy.

The Tanabata festival would start in the evening so we decided to take a trip to visit Yoko’s grandparents’ graves at a nearby neighborhood temple. I saw an interesting shrine over there – instead of splashing water for good luck, you coat the statue of the kami (god) with sesame oil. Supposed to be good for business. I always like to go to this statue when I visit the graves.

We then went back to the Tenmangu shrine to see the rest of the festival. The talent show was still going on. A sudden downpour hit us, so we took shelter under a tent. Two other men had the same idea, and then they started smoking. Choose your poison: stand under the tent and remain dry, but kill your lungs, or get out into the rain and get soaked.

Now what makes Tanabata special is the wishes written on paper. You make a wish, write it on paper, and then hang it on the willow branch. I saw many wishes – kids wished to be a good cartoonist, and one kid wanted to “become very rich.”

The atmosphere was very Disney-esque. There was a path that went through some willow displays, and then as you crossed the bridge, you heard Disney Fantasyland music (akin to"When you wish upon a star") and then some soft lights bathe you. Supposed to be romantic. I saw couples coming to this place.

Back at the temple, I saw the miko (shrine girls) doing a dance if you gave a donation to the shrine. Here’s how it works: you go to the office window, and then donate money and get a slip of paper. You write your name on it, and it is supposed to wish you good health. Stand in line, give it to the shrine girl, and then the musicians play music from the past (gagaku?) and the miko dance around.

Things get “cuteified” in Japan. The Tanabata festival had two people dressed in costume suits that looked like anime versions of the two lovers. The people in the costume must’ve been very hot as they kept fanning themselves.

Then these festival princesses came in a procession.

A swarm of middle-aged men with cameras tagged along, and started taking their pictures. I started taking pictures when Yoko pulled me out. She was getting embarrassed because these men were “otaku” who are fixated on young women and take their pictures. I managed to get a picture of a pretty announcer in a kimono. Hey, if she’s paid to be on TV, no reason not to take her picture.

At 6:00 pm, a former sumo wrestler named Daiki came on stage to sing enka songs in his new career as a singer. We decided to leave since Etsuko was waiting with dinner.

Shinsekai, the underbely of Osaka

2005-07-06T01:14:00.000-10:00

Shady underworld-type woman at Shinsekai

We decided to go into town and look around. Here are some pictures near the neighborhood where I am staying at. What in the world is this place Charlie supposed to be?

As usual, there are tons of stairs to climb. Looking back over the day, I think I must have walked for at least two hours. My feet are killing me, and I thought I walked a lot back in Hawaii. You go down a long flight of stairs to the station, only to find another flight, followed by more walking after you buy your train ticket.

We caught the train to Namba station, one of the major shopping areas in Osaka city. Right by the station is a huge underground complex called Nan Nan town. Yoko told me that back in the 1980s, it was packed with people, and while the place has obviously seen better days, and seems a bit run down, you can still see many people walking through this large complex full of small shops, restaurants, and bookstores. We stopped by a takoyaki (deep fried breaded octopus shaped into small balls) – saying “octopus balls” just gives people the wrong idea. It is a very old school takoyaki – the sauce is cooked into the batter, and so there is no need for added sweet sauce. Quite delicious! One touch I like is the wet tissues on the table – why don’t more restaurants in America do this? Don’t they realize that customers want to clean their hands before eating?

Now the good in Japan is delicious, but let’s be honest, just comes in too small portions. So I was still hungry and we went to a kaiten sushi shop – sushi that goes around a revolving belt. This restaurant called Daisukiya had so many varieties of sushi – for example different types of salmon and had two levels of conveyor belts with numerous varieties of fish. Each type of sushi was put in a group and had a sign describing what it was. I had new types of fish I’d never had before. I think Hawaii is ready for this kind of place – upscale, yet affordable sushi. The whole meal only cost us $25 for the two of us.

There are cheap places to buy clothes. Uniqlo is a chain of clothing stores like Wal-Mart (made in China) but much more stylishly designed, and clothes made for Asian appearances. I thought I’d never shop for clothes in Japan given what I thought were ridiculous prices, but with stylish short pants (made of dri-fit material) going for less than $5, I ended up buying four pairs of short pants. Here’s a dressing room in Uniqlo. Notice how you take off your shoes when you go inside. Shops should do this in Hawaii as well. The clerk wouldn’t let me take the picture at first, but when I told her that we don’t have this in America, she took a picture of me in the changing room. So if you go to Japan, shop at Uniqlo for clothes, and eat at kaiten sushi for food.

We then emerged into a new outdoor shopping center – Namba Town. One note – western pop music is everywhere and stores play everything BUT Japanese music in Japan. I head music ranging from Kool and the Gang (Celebration), to Etta James. And Boyz II Men songs still blare over store stereos in Japan. They must have a huge following here. I think western music makes stores seem more hip and classy.

We then caught a cab to the other extreme in terms of social class of Osaka – Shinsekai. This place used to be a happening place in the 1920s with crowds of factory workers coming to the numerous movie theaters, restaurants, and parks over here. At night, the whole place would be lit up, and a gondola ferried passengers. Many Japanese considered this to be the shape of Japan to come. Now, this place is a former shadow of its former self. Everyone here seems blue collar, and many middle-aged men seem to walk around in a drunken stupor. The movie theaters play soft-core porno or dated 1960s yakuza gangster flicks that celebrate Japanese chivalry. Lonely Planet guidebook called this one of the most dangerous places in Japan. So I had to go here.

This is my kind of place. You see tattooed women (probably gangster affiliated), middle aged men who seem down on their luck, and of course, lots of small bars and eateries that cater to this population. We went into a kushikatsu joint. Kushikatsu is food, such as meat, radishes, shrimp, cheese, or even a whole egg put on a stick, dipped in batter and then deep-fried. You dunk the fried food into sauce (double dipping is strictly forbidden), and then eat. Chopped cabbage is on the side for you to eat. Again, I ate tons of food and even had some beer, and it all came out to $24 for the two of us. So if you are in Osaka, eat kushikatsu in Shinsekai.

This eatery, I will visit again. Along the way, I passed by a porno peep room with a cartoon character of the Monkey King as its mascot.

Afterwards, we met up with Yoko’s mother, and then we walked through Den Den town. I’ll come back here later and do more descriptions. For now, it is heaven for connoisseurs of electronic goods and Japanese animation.

Arrival in Osaka

2005-07-05T01:00:00.000-10:00

It feels so familiar upon landing at Osaka. Walking through the airport, it feels as if I ended my previous trip last year to Japan yesterday, and am returning today. One of my former students described this feeling as a good middle ground – Japan feels not too familiar, but also not too exotic. Still, I will notice all kinds of small details about the country that I’ve forgotten such as the constant drone of announcements (usually chirpy female voices) or changes such as the absence of tobacco smoke. I also notice that the haole (white) man on the seat several rows behind me now sticks out like such a sore thumb. So that’s how much I stick out when I’m in Oregon!

We caught a short speedy train into the main lobby. It moved so quick and fast that it made Hawaii’s wiki wiki shuttle, a slow dirty beat up trolley seem like Third World transport. I lined up in immigration with all the other foreigners. So in one swoop I am now lumped together with Russians, Germans, Iranians, and other assorted nationals. There were these Europeans with closely shaved heads in line, and they looked like they could’ve been PRIDE or K-1 mixed martial arts fighters.

My wife Yoko shifts to Osaka mode and becomes antsy and in a rush. She speeds through the Japanese national line at immigration and rushes to get our suitcases, while I have to fill out a forgotten form. It is humid hot inside the airport. Just barely enough air conditioning to let you know that someone is making an effort to cool the room, but is trying to save electricity.

We rush to the bus. Now we are on the Osaka fast track – always on someone else’s schedule. Only $25 one-way for the two of us - a reasonable fare considering it was an hour drive. It’s an overcast day, and quite humid. I don’t want to be outside as it makes me sweat profusely. Once riding the air-conditioned bus, I notice that the color gray dominates the Japanese landscape: gray buildings packed next to each other, grey sky, and grey roads. What a contrast with all the anime showing bright colorful city scenes!

After an hour, we arrived at Osaka, caught a taxi from the bus stop (New Hankyu Hotel) to my sister-in-law Etsuko’s apartment. In the taxi, I realize the payoff for being Nikkei (Japanese American). Yes, I suffered when I first learned Japanese in the beginning – I did not receive special foreigner treatment. No Japanese will gush over how I speak Japanese so well, and praise my every word like they would for people of other backgrounds. But the long-term payoff– I can have a natural conversation with people like cab drivers.

Anyway, we get off at Etsuko’s place. Now I need batteries and it is still early in the day so we decide to just hop on a train and then travel with no destination in mind. Yoko is truly an Osaka woman – she starts walking quickly on autopilot. I am still in Hawaii mode and I have to keep running to catch up with her. I finally get batteries at the airport, and can take pictures on my old camera. So remember, do not throw away or sell your old digital cameras.

Here’s an ad on the train for “Hawaiian Hula Night.” Yes, for just 12,000 yen ($115 dollars) you can attend a dinner show and watch hula dancers. That’s how much some Japanese customers will pay to see hula.

The train goes alongside the freeway. I like the way you can peer into people’s cars while riding. I kept praying that I wouldn’t see drivers picking their noses in the “privacy” of their car.

A quick cultural note I had forgotten – escalators in the station? You kidding me, what escalators? Japan is like one huge Stairmaster. You will walk and walk like you’ve never walked before and put in at least 5 minutes a day walking upstairs. There are elevators, but quite inconveniently spaced and slow. So now you know why Japanese are so skinny since they have to walk so much every day. Now we were lucky, it was not yet rush hour when the sheer force of the crowd makes you walk quickly. You get off the train, and go down this flight of stairs, followed by another flight of stairs, to two different ramps, one for handicapped and one for regular walkers. What’s the difference?

We found a MOS Burger. I remember that they tried to open a branch in Hawaii but it closed. How sad since I love their food, and much rather prefer eating there than at McDonalds. My friend Scott told me that the reason for its failure was the failure to adapt to the local market: you got to serve huge portions to keep Hawaii locals happy. The portions here are definitely smaller than in Hawaii, but the quality is so much better that I don’t know why the company doesn’t try to open another franchise again. We are talking quality fast food, with service that puts many Hawaii RESTAURANTS to shame.

I had an “Ebi katsu burger” made with shrimp and cream, topped with chopped cabbage, and a sauce. They fried the burger and the French fries perfectly! No wonder the Japanese do not need ketchup with their fries – I enjoyed tasting the natural potato taste eating them plain! Why can’t American chains fry their burgers and fries like this? On the bottom is a “nan taco,” a delightful blend of Indian and Mexican food. The ice coffee was brewed very strong.

Yoko had a nan taco. The outside, instead of being a tortilla is Indian nan bread. Inside, one can eat a combination of beef, lettuce, avocado, and salsa, with some sort of chutney in it. It tasted fresh, not greasy. Who would’ve thought that Indian and Mexican food matched so well with each other? I’m waiting for someone in Hawaii to think of this idea.

It was nearing evening, so we decided to head on back before rush hour got into full swing. Huge crowds of workers, businessmen, and school kids getting off the trains and quickly, I mean quickly rushing to their destination. We got off, and saw a mini-massage place. We both got chair massages, which really helped to take the edge of the jet lag. I chatted with the massager in Japanese. It is easier to speak Japanese when the other person knows no English. My tongue gets tied up if the Japanese person speaks English fluently.

We got back and chatted over dinner. I visited an Internet café at the site of the former Blue Note Osaka. Enough for now.

Hello from Japan

2005-07-04T02:31:00.000-10:00

I am in the process of making this blog at a cigarette smoke filled internet cafe somewhere deep in the heart of Tokyo. Beatles music is humming in the background. I finally manged to get this blogger to work (although all the directions are in Japanese) and stupidly left my travel diary in my laptop back in my hotel room. So this blog remains in a primitive, embryonic state, but hopefully with much potential. Please enjoy this blog like I enjoyed the cup of coffee on the plane.

Do remember that this is a public blog when it comes to comments. I`ve given out this address to friends and former students who may not necessarily know each other. But hey, isn`t that the power of the Internet to bridge distances?

BTW, I am enjoying almost every minute of my stay here. So many new types of foods I have never eaten in my life, and I thought I knew Japan like the back of my hand!