Hypercheerful colors. Grinning, happy flowers. Smiling rabbits. Adorable panda bears. Razor sharp teeth. Dripping, unidentifiable fluids. On second glance, that rabbit seems to have an extra eye or two. Is the Louis Vuitton pattern staring back at me? And where is that tongue going?
The work of Continue reading
Like most people, I often tend to be swayed by the recommendations of my friends. I particularly value the opinions of the lovely Antares, thanks to whom I’ve discovered lots of tasty treats.
Recently she’s mentioned the new Baked Donuts series at Mister Donuts, which was first available in the Southern half of Japan a few months ago. It was recently introduced in the Kanto region, and I got a chance to Continue reading
We went out with some friends for cheap Conveyor Belt sushi tonight! How cute is Sean in this picture? He didn’t eat all of those himself though–that’s actually both of our plates together. And at ¥105 a plate, it still only set us back about $20!
My favorite dish of the night was the beef sushi. Beef sushi may not sound like the best idea, but this was actually pretty tasty. It was a bit like roast beef with a teriyaki glaze, and it belonged to that small subsect of “cooked” sushi. It’s not all raw! It’s not even all fish! They even had a Hot Dog sushi, but I didn’t get a chance to snag one. Also, the thought is slightly revolting.
What’s the weirdest sushi you’ve ever tried?
File this one under “Objects that I need immediately despite not knowing that they existed until yesterday.”
So, the rainy season is upon us here in Japan, and as the raindrops fall gently outside my window (Is there any more relaxing sound?) my mind wanders to my umbrella. Heaven forbid you should Continue reading
I generally try not to speak Japanese around the students, and prefer they not know how much I may or may not understand. It was tested today though, when I was chatting in the hallway with some students.
One girl pointed at herself and said “神!” and pointed at her friend and said “ゴミ!” The second girl then punched the first. She had it coming though–kami essentially means God, and gomi essentially means garbage. I couldn’t help laughing!
Later though, my supposed lack of Japanese came in pretty handy…
Student: “Alice-sensei, お酒を飲みますか?”
Me: Uh…is this kid asking if I’ve been drinking? I not hungover or anything! No, he’s probably just being a twit…“No Japanese! I don’t speak Japanese!”
Student: “Alcohol! Alcohol…飲みますか?”
Me: “Sorry, I don’t understand!”
Then I taught his friends how to say “Crazy boy!” in English. It was a good day!
Anyone have any fun teacher moments? I love those times when I look at a student and can’t believe what just came out of their mouth!
If you’re my friend on Facebook, then you may have seen a recent post mentioning that my time-off request for [REDACTED] unfortunately conflicted with [TOP SECRET] and it ended up going all the way to the Prefectural Board of Education. [TOP SECRET] is a big deal teacher duty, and apparently quite an honor, but [REDACTED] is pretty darn cool. Luckily my school realized just how cool it is, and went to bat for me, and the wonderful people at the BoE saw fit to agree. So what’s this all about? Continue reading
One thing you notice while living in Japan is that mascots are everywhere. Everywhere and everything has a super adorable (and sometimes slightly creepy) mascot proudly representing the local culture. Most of them are pretty cute, but I happen to particularly enjoy our Prefectural Mascot, Gunma-chan (also known as Yuma-chan.) It may be a little hometown bias, but I Continue reading
Westerners do seem to love the mythos of the Geisha, and I’m no exception. Obviously I’ve read Arthur Golden’s most famous novel, as well as the memoir of Mineko Iwesaki. I love Liza Dalby, who is generally considered to be the “first Western Geisha,” and who wrote some fabulous work on the subject. I’ve even wandered around Kyoto in search of these women and been lucky enough to spot them. In fact, a good friend of ours is doing the very same today, which is part of why this topic caught my eye!
As you may be aware, recently an Australian anthropologist (with a P.h.D. from Oxford no less!) has been working and living as a geisha in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. Fiona Graham, now 50, debuted as “Sayuki” after a year of training at the age of 47. It was announced earlier this week that she is parting ways with the establishment, and will apparently attempt to continue on independently.
It’s hard to get a clear sense of the true story, and it’s likely that we’ll never really know what actually happened. Graham claims that she is being ostracized because she is a foreigner. The Telegraph quotes a number of sources that state she did not follow the rules, take part in ongoing training, and even accuse her of fighting with the establishment.
It is said that she has been asked to leave “after being accused of bringing the movement into disrepute.” The most damning quote of all, which perhaps sums up both sides of the story, comes from a fellow geisha in the same district. “It’s embarrassing, but she just does not understand that.”
What do you think? Is it impossible for a non-Japanese person to truly engage in such a traditional Japanese art form? Did she simply not fit in due to her own personality clashes? Or is she a pioneer and being ostracized, as she claims, based on the color of her skin and the cultural differences she faces?
The picture is below the cut, because it is most definitely Not Safe For Work.
This is a line of a Children’s Makeup. Read that again: Makeup for children. Not only is this makeup aimed at tweens and below, it’s called, as you can see, “Titty’s Room” Oh, Japan. What is that even supposed to mean?
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