NICK: That's _Mr._ Meat, to you.

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  Okazaki, Japan
Monday, March 6, 2006

Still learning little tidbits about this culture that surprise me..

Last Friday was the Doll's Festival, or Ohinamatsuri (Hina = dolls, Matsuri = festival). Parents buy their daughters a set of dolls that are approximately Edo period dolls representing the emperor and empress. The minimum set has just the emperor and empress, and if you've got the money, you can get 2 guards, 5 ladies-in-waiting, 3 male servants, oxen, carriage boxes, castles, etc. I know my mother has a set from when she was a kid that's pretty cool.

During class last Friday, the high school girls decided that they wanted to focus on discussion, so they brought in their hobbies and talked about them. One girl brought in pics of her Hina dolls (I think that means Doll dolls), one girl talked about her traditional dancing class (with fans and stuff, her teacher invited me to come watch - I'll try to take video)

01 I found where the Crazy 88 train!

. Another girl brought in her calligraphy set, and another girl showed pictures from her phone on her cat.

The girl that brought in pics of her dolls showed an amazing set - she had all the bells and whistles and real bits of food sitting next to the dolls. The thing that cracked me up is that most of the girls in the class mentioned that they feel compelled to put the dolls out. They say that if they don't, the dolls seem to call to them. Three of them said that their dolls seemed possessed..

Creepy.

Another funny thing is that in the background of the picture of her dolls, there was a white spot in the picture that she pointed to and said something to the others. I nearly jumped when all the girls started doing that "EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH? that all Japanese seem to do. Apparently she had pointed at the spot and said that it was a soul in the picture, and all the other girls were weirded out.

Dunno, looked like a smudge to me, but who knows, Japanese seem to be somewhat superstitious

02 Mechanical sign waver.

. Heck, if they buy prayers that help you with school exams, driving in traffic, and health, maybe they believe smudges in camera lenses ARE souls.. I don't think the girls really believed that, but it was funny to hear them trying to convince each other one way or the other.

Anyways, I'm not sure i"d be too comfortable with having those little dolls in my bedroom. I'm not really superstitious, but man, I've seen enough horror movies to freak me out with that sort of thing...

Niiiiiiiiiiiiick... you want to set us up...

Wait, it would be in a Japanese accent:

Niiiikuuuuu..

(The Japanese have a hard time saying consonants without a vowel after it. so words like Nick become Nee-coo.)

Only problem is that niku in japanese means "meat"

The younger children, usually the 2nd graders have now taken to calling me niku

03 McDonalds ShrimpFilet sandwich

. I guess it's cool that they're excited to see me, but I think it's partially the enjoyment of calling me "meat."

Ooh, I finally started taking lessons in Japanese. I found some free lessons from the Okazaki International Association (OIA). I went to the lessons for the first time this weekend and was shocked with the amount of ppl that were there - all foreigners learning Japanese as a Second Language.

The classes were broken into groups depending on their level and first language. I ended up having my own tutor since I got there late, but there was a HUGE population of Brazilians there looking for work. (SYD, AMY, HOJO: there might be capoeira!!)

Apparently, Japan has started inviting in guest workers from other countries to fill jobs that Japanese don't want. Cool by me, however, this has created a media/general populace fear of foreigners since the crime rate has gone up. I'm wondering if it is true - letting in foreigners creates problems. Dunno, scares me to think that I could be considered dangerous, just because I don't speak Japanese and was born in the US.

04 Katsu-Curry Burger

Also, according to a couple of websites that I read (dunno how true they are, they were supposedly doing a literal translation of the actual japanese lawbooks) things like interrogation with "physical coercion" read: beatings, are legal in Japanese jails. No such thing as Writ of Habeas Corpus here.

They should study more latin..

Basically, don't get arrested by the Japanese government.

However, this is apparently quite easy - There have been several foreigner checkpoints in Tokyo where all foreigners are either to have their passport with valid tourist/work visa stamp or Alien Registration Card. Without this, you go to jail. Literal Jail.

They're capable of legally holding you for 23 days without legal consultation and contact with your family, that's if they arrest you. They can bring you in to the station and you're free to leave anytime, however, if you get up to leave, they arrest you on the spot for "Obstructing an officer during an investigation."

Apparently the checkpoints are illegal, and there have been people complaining about that, so someone's out there watching this.

Another example of the odd acceptable xenophobia that exists here.

I did think it was really a culture shock when one of the kids asked me what my hobbies are and I mentioned "People watching." His response was "why?"

uh, what?

Oh yeeeaaaaaaaah. Everyone here looks similar. Pale/light brown skin, brown eyes, similar height. They even dress the same! (most of the time on purpose) I'd never thought of the concept of people-watching in other countries. Cali is definitely cool for that - everyone looks/acts/dresses really different. Well, mostly different. Not the barbie dolls or frat boys that are rampant in SB.. Anyways, i'm curious if people watching is really that odd here. I'll have to survey and get back to you.

And go to bed. it's super late. Oyasumi!

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