My Government At Work

I noticed this on the wall about an hour before we departed Guam. It's a good thing that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) put this up. All those passengers going direct from Guam to Haiti need to know about the dangers present in Port-au-Prince.

Seriously, WHY IN THE WORLD is this warning sign posted at Guam International Airport? Isn't it just a waste of a piece of paper? It makes more sense to be posted in Miami or New York, not Guam. 

Bombs Away!

Here I am at ease, waiting for any enemy ships to come our way. Guam might be small, but it's not easy to defend, as you can see. 

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Actually, there wasn't much water over this scenic bridge in southern Guam. 

Nature in Guam

A nice waterfall in southern Guam. I can't remember the name of it... If I do, I'll edit this.

Dinner's in the front yard

Some common residents of Guam.

Japan, USA

A shot of the central tourist area of Tumon, Guam.

In October, I went to Guam with my gf and her mother. After what I saw, I’m making a case to change the name of the island to “Japan, USA.”

We were looking forward to the trip. My gf’s mother had never been out of Japan, and we thought Guam would be a good introduction to the rest of the world. As for me, I was looking forward to the opportunity to be on American soil again, and to eat some American food that I was missing.

Once we landed in Guam, I knew things would be unlike what I expected. Announcements at Guam International were in Japanese first, then English. When we got on the hotel shuttle bus, I was the only non-Japanese out of 50 passengers. At the hotel, signs were in Japanese and English. Then in the hotel room, the bathroom was decked with a Japan-made toilet and a Japanese-style removable shower head.

When we went around the main tourist area of Tumon, you were lucky if you saw anyone other than a Japanese. Signs to some stores were in Japanese only. All of this in a U.S. territory.

On the first full day, my gf and I went to do something called a seawalk. One of the seawalk staff made it a point to make his way through the crowd of tourists over to me, and he said, “Hey man, I wanted to personally shake your hand! You’re the first American tourist we’ve seen all year.” Keep in mind that this was October.

It went like that the entire trip. Tour staffers – almost all of them Guam natives - would automatically speak Japanese to me at first, before they realized that I was a fellow American. The only time I felt like I was not in Japan was the day we rented a car and drove around the southern part of the island. That was the best part of the trip.

My gf felt the same way – not surprising, considering how much she likes to travel. But my gf’s mother felt the same as well. I guess she was looking forward to experiencing something other than Japan, and she didn’t have the chance to in Guam.

That said, Guam is a beautiful place, and if you get away from the tourist areas, it’s peaceful. But for those expats in Japan, you’re better off going to Hawaii.

But the reception is still bad...

The TV Tower, Sapporo, Hokkaido, July 2006.

Leave Me Alone

An agitated polar bear at the nationally-renown Asahiyama Zoo, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, July 2006.

Lone Tree

This picture relaxes me every time I see it.

All Aboard...

Believe it or not, this is a train station. There's not even a station master on the premises.

In Bloom

Flowers in Biei, Hokkaido, July 2006.

Rouru Taido!

I just saw an old Japanese guy wearing a University of Alabama baseball cap near the train station. That's something I thought I'd never see in Japan.

Views of the beautiful hills in Biei, Hokkaido, July 2006.

More flower fields in Nakafurano.

Purple, Purple Everywhere!

Lavender fields in Nakafurano, Hokkaido, July 2006. This may be the most famous tourist attraction in Hokkaido, and it only lasts for about a month. Needless to say, the pathways were packed (although you can't tell from this picture - a testament to my great photo skills).

The view from the hot air balloon.

Hot Air

Me in front of a hot-air balloon in Furano, Hokkaido, July 2006. Now, I went here thinking we were going to fly over the town and do a bit of sightseeing from the sky. But we just went up about 200 feet, stayed up there for 3 minutes and came back down. The balloon was tied to the ground the whole time. And we waited in line for that? 

A nice meal of curry rice, sausage, eggs, and who knows what else, in Furano, Hokkaido, July 2006.

They Stole The Grass!

Even with the patches of brown, this landscape is a sight for sore eyes. 

Soothing

Now this is something you don't see in the Osaka area. 

Watch My Fingers, Now!

Me feeding some goats at a dairy farm near Obihiro, Hokkaido. 

Welcome to Hokkaido

It's about time for me to post the pictures from my second trip to Hokkaido, back in July of this year. I'll start with a picture of our arrival at the (very small) airport in Obihiro. 

Japanese models in Japan? That's so 1950s...

Unlike many ex-pats here, I try to avoid Japan-bashing when I can. After all, Japan is Japan, and the U.S. is the U.S. But I’ve noticed something there that’s really starting to irk me.

If you look at the advertisements in this country – TV, magazines, subway, etc. – you have to be amazed at the sheer amount of foreigners that adorn them. Go into a clothing store, and see pictures of foreigners wearing Japanese-made clothing. Watch TV, and see foreigners drinking alcohol only made in Japan, or driving a made-for-Japan automobile in the streets of Japan. (It should be noted that 99% of the time, these foreigners are Caucasian.)

In addition to that, I guarantee you that if you look at any advertisement or catalog advertising pajamas, underwear or lingerie, 9 times out of 10, the models will be (white) foreigners. (And not the type of mature models we see in the States, either; usually they’re skinny and high-school-student-looking.)

This drives me crazy. After all, this is Japan, where about 95% of the population is ethnically Japanese. Why in the world do a disproportionate number of ads have foreigners? What makes Japanese advertising companies want to whip up ads with white people?

I truly don’t understand this, even though I’ve heard two reasons for this. a) Japanese have an inferiority complex, and b)Japanese think foreigners look more beautiful. I don’t by any of that. First, the Japanese I know always defend their customs and heritage. They tend to not bash themselves (unless they’re talking about yamanba). Second, there are plenty of beautiful Japanese out there. How many girls want to be like Ayumi Hamasaki, and how many girls drool over those stupid Johnnies boy bands?

My family and relatives used to subscribe to prominent African-American magazines like Jet and Ebony. You would see nothing but blacks in the ads, whether its McDonalds or Buick. Could you imagine the outcry if they instead had white models, or Hispanic ones? Back home every now and then, I would watch Univision or Telemundo, just for kicks. The commercials, 9 times out of 10, had Hispanics in them. What if they started to put Asian models in them? Do you think Hispanics would be satisfied?

Maybe it’s just me, but it just makes sense that if you are going to target a group of people, you want your ads to represent that people well. Apparently, many Japanese advertisers have a different philosophy, one I can’t figure out.

Down Time

Hey, sorry about not posting much in recent months. I've hit a wall with my blog; I've lost my motivation for it. I've just been posting about my life, but some of you have said that's boring.

I do have to admit, my life is kind of boring, though.

So, here's what I'm wondering. Since you guys read this blog, what would you like me to post about? More details about my life? Happenings in Japan/Osaka? Anything that I don't do often that you would like me to do more often?

This blog isn't dead (yet) - just suffering some down time while I figure out what to do. Don't give up!

Pharrell "In My Mind" Review

I’ve listened to Pharrell’s new CD In My Mind for a few weeks now, so I thought I’d give my first-ever CD review.

The CD is pretty cool. I like the beats and the production a lot, but I have to say this: Pharrell makes better productions when he works with Chad as the Neptunes than he does by himself. Listening to this CD, you can easily tell how much of an effect Chad has on the great Neptunes productions.

That said, it still is a great CD, and I find my head bobbing to a lot of the tracks. However, this is not near the level of N.E.R.D.’s Fly or Die, my all-time favorite CD. Fly or Die was different than anything else out there, and it was well-produced. Plus, it sounds like the kind of music I would make if I had some musically-inclined friends and production skills. I could relate to that. But on In My Mind, we find Pharrell being mostly materialistic on many of the rap tracks, just like most rappers out there today. That threw me off a bit.

Anyway, there are many cool songs on this CD. I don’t like the first two singles, “Can I Have It Like That” and “Angel,” too much. I love the next one though: “Number One”. Great song. Other good songs: “How Does It Feel”, “Best Friend”, “You Can Do It Too”, “That Girl”, and “Young Girl/I Really Like You.” With so many songs I like, it’s the best CD I’ve bought this year.

Breakin' A Sweat

For me, there's nothing I like better about Japanese culture than the bathing culture. Onsens, sentos... they're all good. That was confirmed once again yesterday, when I went with my GF to a nearby super sento, or lavish public bath facility.

This place was good. They had clean, spic-and-span bathing areas. They had an outside bath with a big screen TV, where all the men had crowded around to watch the national high school baseball championships. I don't like baseball all that much, but I joined in for a few minutes.

Besides just bathing, I also had a very good (but expensive) massage. It lasted only 20 minutes, but I still feel the benefits of it. My GF had some kind of face massage as well.

However, the highlight of our trip (actually, the lowlight for me) was a "sweat sauna". You just go into this hot room, wearing this special bathrobe, lay down and sweat heavily for about 35 minutes. I guess you're supposed to feel good after sweating all kinds of garbage out of your system, but I just felt... well... sweaty. Didn't feel good at all. That was money down the drain for me, but my GF just loved it. I guess that means we're going back, huh?

Dogo Onsen

The entrance to Dogo Onsen, the oldest public hot spring bath in Japan, in Matsuyama. While I was taking this picture, we heard some ladies say that they could hardly move in the bath, it was so crowded. Needless to say, we didn't go in. 

Back in Time

While we were walking through Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture, we must have accidentally slipped through a time portal or something. 

Grub

Here's my half-eaten seaweed tempura meal in Shimanto city, Kochi prefecture. 

Rocks

Rock formations in Kochi prefecture. 

In Two Places At One Time

Me standing with one foot on Ehime prefecture and one on Kochi prefecture. 

Seashore

A tranquil rock beach in Kochi prefecture. 

Picture done yet?

I'm way backlogged on posting pictures here. This one's from my Golden Week holiday trip to Shikoku island. Here's me in front of a temple in front of a delicious udon restaurant in Kagawa prefecture. 

N.E.R.D. is back!!!

Great news, everybody: N.E.R.D. is not dead.

OK, so that’s great news only for me.

Hey, I don’t care. It’s my blog, after all. I’m very very happy that my favorite group has decided to not call it quits. (link: http://musicnews.virgin.net/Virgin/Lifestyle/Music/virginMusicNewsDetail/0,13556,1316969_music,00.html) The leader, Pharrell, said that they’ll try to drop a new single later this year.

This is great news for me. N.E.R.D. has to be the most underrated group out there. Their stuff is better than most pop music on the radio today. It’s fun music – not much of that out there, either. I’m glad they’re coming back. Now, if they’ll only return to Japan for a concert so that I can see them this time...

Update - June 15, 2006

Just a quick update on what's been going on:

- Since April, I've been working at a senmon-gakko (like a community college) on Thursday mornings. The best part about the job is that I teach solo. I have complete control of my classes (if not the lesson content - much of which is provided by my company). I have to admit that it makes things run smoothly.

The worst part is that, unlike the high schools, it is extremely difficult to feel part of the college community. First, I'm only there a few hours a week on Thursday. I teach 2 English classes and go. Second, the full-time teachers there hardly talk to me. At first, I thought it was because my Japanese is poor. But there are many other part-time teachers, all Japanese, that come, teach a couple of classes, and go, and the full-time teachers don't talk to them, either, other than when they have a question. The part-time teachers end up talking to each other in the office.

- The World Cup has started, and I'm keeping track of the games. I'm rooting for the USA (which is very unusual. Even American soccer fans root for other teams). Of course, a 3-0 pounding by the Czechs don't do much for national spirit. At least the Japanese here have their own big loss to worry about and don't rub it in.

- I told all you guys about my basketball adventures at my old high school over the last two years. This year, the basketball team at the new school takes things very seriously, so sadly I can't use the gym for hoops. Not to worry... my time after school has been occupied by... kendo! That's right... the oldest Japanese martial art of them all. The kendo coach - who loves to speak English - encouraged me to take some lessons, and I took her up on the offer. It's not bad. I might continue it as a hobby. We'll see.

Ah-choo!!!

For some reason, I've come down with hay fever or something. This has been going on for about 2 or 3 weeks. I sneeze endlessly on days I go to high school and when I'm at home for hours - the only times that I'm around greenery of any kind. It's the first time I've had allergies like that.

What I don't understand is why I got it in June. Doesn't this usually happen in April? It's beginning to get on my nerves, I tell you that. I had a class today, and I was sneezing about what seemed like 30 times, interrupting my lecture in the process. Something's gotta be done about this.

Barkley for Governor

Just finished reading Who's Afraid of A Large Black Man by Charles Barkley. What a great book, and what a great format. Basically it's Barkley having conversations with many famous people - such as Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods, Samuel L. Jackson - about race. A lot of what Barkley says makes sense. Gambling problems aside, if he does become governor of Alabama, I just might go back.

Back to School

For this new academic year, I wasn't expecting to teach at a public senior high school like I have the past 2 years. My boss wanted me to spend less time teaching and more time in the office attending to HR duties. However, it turned out that the company needed an ALT at a senior high school on short notice, so I'm back in the public school ALT saddle once again.

This school is different from the countryside school I taught at the last few years. This one's located in Osaka city. The students are different as well - very different. The kids say "Hello" or "Good morning" to me with no effort. I was lucky to get "Hello" or "Good morning" in Japanese at my old school.

I had to teach my first classes my second day at the school, which was kind of short notice. So I just used the self-introduction lesson that I had used for the first classes at my old high school. That lesson was too easy for these students. Luckily I had something prepared, but still... It's a new world now. Should be an interesting year.

Update - May 7, 2006

A quick update on what's been happening in the past month:

• A few weeks ago, the GF and I went to see Craig David live in Osaka - the first time I ever saw my favorite singer live. Although I like his music, I heard bad reviews about his live performances. But we were impressed. We'll be there for his next trip to Osaka.
• For Golden Week, we did a massive driving trip all around the island of Shikoku, with some time spent in Hiroshima. It was great; it was nice to be able to breathe clean air and see trees. We covered so much ground and spent so much time in the car during the week that we didn't take a lot of pictures, but I'll post some of the better ones when I get a chance.

It's Too Early for a Bath

This is me in front of an onsen at Kinosaki last month. I think it was about 8 in the morning at that time. As you can tell, I wasn't quite awake yet. 

Update - March 24, 2006

As you can tell, I've been busy lately, and haven't had much time to dedicate to this blog. Sorry about that. I'll give you a quick update on what's been happening.

- The job has been stressful lately. Like I said before, due to my position I can't go into detail. I have this to say, though; if you want to take an HR/personnel job, you best be prepared to get involved in people problems that have nothing to do with you, even some that you probably would not want to get involved in.

- The high school year ended... well... like it did last year. It wasn't bad... but it wasn't good, either. I was relieved to get away from most of those students, but sad to leave the great staff and teachers at that school. Depending on what my company needs me to do, I may not be back there next year.

- I've never experienced more frustration than trying to buy the Nintendo DS Lite recently for my GF's birthday. On March 11, a new shipment was sent out, so we decided to go to Bic Camera in Osaka early in the morning, an hour before the store opened, to get in line to get one of those things. But it was already sold out - AN HOUR BEFORE THE STORE OPENED! They had handed out tickets for the things at what must have been 3 in the morning, and we were too late. We then headed to the electronics mecca of Den Den Town, and nobody had it there either. We searched on the internet all week to no avail. Then, on March 18, we happen to go to a local Toys R Us at 9:45, 15 minutes before the official opening of the store, and we just waltzed in and purchased one with no problems. Go figure.

- This past weekend, the GF and I went up to an almost-seaside hot spring resort town called Kinosaki. The town is centered on a canal, and you just walk up and down and visit all the hot springs. It was nice, beautiful, and kimochi-yokatta. But while I was up there, I fell ill with a cold, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have.

Bobby!!!!

Okay, this is beginning to bother me quite a bit. To students at my high school, I am no longer known as Herman. I'm known as Bobby Ologun. Every time I go to school and teach, I get at least one "Oh - Bobby!!!" from a student, whether its in class or in the hallway. You know what - it's not even limited to my school any more. While I was walking home from the train station the other day, these three high school-age punks on a bicycle yelled "Bobby!!!" in my ear as they were riding by. (I still can't figure out how three high school boys fit on a bicycle - another one of the mysteries of Japan.)

For those of you who don't know, Bobby Ologun is a K-1 fighter from Nigeria turned Japan television celebrity. Fame-wise, he hit the big time in 2005 and was all over TV, so most Japanese know who he is. That was bad news for me, at least as far as my work at high school goes.

Now, usually this stuff doesn't bother me. I take insults better than most people. In middle school I was called Steve Urkel. My first year of college, old white ladies said I looked like Tiger Woods. Heck, even last year, when I started work at high school, the kids called me Kevin Lyttle. I took all that in stride. But for some reason, this whole Bobby Ologun thing has really got under my skin.


First of all, I look nothing like Bobby Ologun, besides the fact that we both have dark skin. I can see the comparisons with Tiger Woods. I can even see Urkel. But I don't see this at all.


But I can be lenient on that. Maybe the real reason is because I don't like the guy at all.

If you've seen the guy, the way he acts in public is an embarrassment to black people everywhere, whether African or African-American. He's a straight up goofball, who acts stupid all the time, speaking botched Japanese (my GF says it's obviously on purpose - apparently Ologun has pretty good Japanese skills). It's good entertainment for some Japanese, but can you imagine the stereotypes that are forming in the minds of a people that hardly interact with blacks? Goofball. Stupid. Can't speak Japanese.

Of course, I shouldn't get too hot under the collar about dissing by high school punks that'll be pumping my gas someday. Nobody other than these students have called me Bobby. So I'm not trying to say that Japan is racist toward blacks or anything like that (Little Black Samba situation aside). But I'd be lying if I said the whole Bobby thing hasn't bothered me at all.

Game, Set, Match

Over the winter break, my hair had grown kind of too long. I guess with that, plus the fact that I've started wearing glasses regularly again after years of contacts, I looked like a very famous American athlete during my time in the U.S.

As I was going through one of the security checkpoints at Orlando International Airport in January, one of the guards said, "Hey man, I gotta tell you... You look like Arthur Ashe."

Then, on the plane itself, one of the flight attendants said, "Would you like beef or... hey, did anybody ever tell you that you look like a young Arthur Ashe?"

Well, as a matter of fact, yes, somebody has told me that. That's what I wanted to say, but I refrained. Anyway, it didn't take me too long to cut my hair once I got back to Japan. Not that it was all that bad to be called Arthur Ashe. Beats being called Bobby Ologun any day (by the way, that's a subject for a future post).

Donald and Me

Donald Duck's a great guy. He just quacks me up with those jokes of his. 

Get in my belly!

Now, Pluto is cool and all... but does my head look like a bone? 

The Leaning Dome of Pisa

Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.