Hakuba 47 area, boarding down a gully with Al and Scott.
Category: Life in Japan
I Went To Phuket
This is my second “funny language” post this week. I really don’t want to come across as mocking my students and others who are speaking a second language. It’s not an easy process, and mistakes and difficulties are a part of that process. But sometimes you just have to laugh (politely, behind their backs).
Someone in the educational resources department decided our students needed to learn how to say, “I went to Phuket.” Right, it’s not really pronounced that way, but how’s a beginning student to know that? I spent some time in class tonight correcting one student who just couldn’t manage to get the pronunciation right. And spent a lot of time trying not to laugh.
Bread And Celery
I just got home from having a drink with a friend whose ability to communicate is greater than his English proficiency. He’s the type who isn’t afraid to have a conversation, even if most of it isn’t grammatically correct. Contrast that with others who have a tremendous grasp of English grammar, but who can’t carry a conversation beyond a few hesitant sentences. The latter is the type who is paralyzed by the rules of grammar.
Communication is what it’s all about, so those who are willing to butcher another language are always more interesting than those who are not. And in order to encourage this communication, you learn not to correct every mistake. It’s a bit of an art picking and choosing what’s important to subtly correct and what’s best left alone. This leads to some entertaining and inadvertently humorous conversations.
My friend and I were discussing blood types. In Japan, blood type is a popular determiner of personality, in much the same way zodiac signs are in other parts of the world. First, the subject came up as “bread” types. Then there was the constant use of the phrase which I heard as, “It’s all because of celery.” I was kind of curious as to what he meant by “celery”, but I was more interested in hearing what each blood type signified, so I let it pass.
Christmas Spoiler
Customs declarations can sure spoil the gift-giving season. All overseas packages are required to have the contents listed on a customs form, thus giving away the surprise. I’ve been trying to rip off the customs forms on the packages I’ve been receiving (thanks everyone!) before I see what’s listed.
Making Mochi
A student took me to a mochi-making gathering in her neighborhood this morning. Mochi is a rice treat made by pounding rice until it is sticky and smooth. Flavorings, including sweet red bean paste, are then added.
About five dozen people met on the grounds of a neighborhood shrine to make mochi and to roast sweet potatoes in a bonfire. I’ve posted a few photos.
I’ve also posted photos of a bike trip I took yesterday.
Eyebrows Begone
Please enjoy Tokyo resident Jeremy Hedley’s observations on the recent trend of male eyebrow plucking in Japan. Hilarious.
Besides being a well-designed site, Hedley’s Antipixel is a consistently good read, full of compelling observations and peppered with fabulous photos (be sure to check out the photos illustrating his series on neighborhood houses, in the Architecture category).
Slopes And Soaks
Saturday morning, I woke up early, grabbed my snowboard and jumped on the train to Matsumoto. Met some friends and we drove north to Goryu ski area in Hakuba.
Snow conditions were a bit disappointing, but it felt great to be back on the slopes. At the end of the day, snow started to fall, and it doesn’t seem to have stopped since.
We left Hakuba around 5pm and headed back towards Matsumoto, with a stop at an onsen. There’s nothing quite like soaking in a hot outdoor pool with snow falling.
It’s Snowing
This Is Not Progress
Adam Greenfield of v-2.org offers his observations on the state of Japanese design and aesthetic:
The Japan That Should Say No
Where Japanese culture used to be expert at finding the one element in a situation that bore psychological meaning, at manipulating the tension between what is made explicit and what is left unsaid, it now contents itself with wallowing in the banal.
This is as true of technology (and associated domains like information design) as it is of, say, J-pop. As recently as the 1960s, Japan produced as a matter of course train schedules, tourist maps, and newspaper weather reports so carefully devised that master information designer Edward Tufte chose them as particularly exquisite examples of the use of line and color to carry data.
Similarly, up until the 1980s, Japanese technology led the world in simplification, miniaturization – refinement. More recently, manufacturers seem engaged in a race to bombard the user with the most extraneous features. It’s trumpeted as innovative when the new model keitai comes with interchangeable faceplates.
Like I say: banal.
During my brief time in Japan, I haven’t seen a lot to dispute his observations. Take my mobile phone, for example…
Ebisuko Fireworks
There was a huge fireworks display last night in Nagano. It lasted for two hours. Two hours!
This is something of an anomaly in Japan, where most fireworks displays are held in the summer or autumn. This annual, late-November display has developed into something of a showcase for fireworks artisans, allowing them to preview next season’s displays and new techniques.
Crowds of people huddled in the cold near the large river that runs through Nagano, watching the fireworks and enjoying food and warm sake provided by the scores of vendors.