Shot From Above

Earlier I told you guys about how Northwest Airlines screwed up the beginning of our Hawaii trip back in April 2007. This is one good thing to come out of it, I guess: a skyline shot of the Namba section of Osaka. In the foreground is Namba Parks, a shopping mall with a lot of shops, restaurants, boutiques, and a tower full of office space.

What's Up, Doc?

We went to this ranch/farm place in Sakai called Harvest no Oka sometime in March 2007. They had a pen full of rabbits, as you can see from the picture. Now, usually rabbits are timid and shy, and they don't want to go anywhere near humans. But when we moved close to the pen, they almost brought the fence down. Once we started feeding them the animal food that they sell, it was obvious why they were crashing the fence. Cute animals.

Gero

This is me in Japanese-style clothing in a lobby at an old hotel in Gero, Gifu Prefecture, February 2007. Known for its onsen (hot springs), Gero is a nice town, but other than the nice hot springs, there weren't a lot of other things to do.

The entrance to something called Gero Onsen Gassho Mura. Inside is a park with recreations of the ancient Japanese housing that Gero is also known for. We didn't go inside though; we didn't want to pay the entrance fee.

A view of the valley surrounding Gero on our way back home.

Extreme Close-Up!!!

Me and my girlfriend (now my wife) at the ski slopes of Akakura Onsen, Niigata, February 2007. Okay, so you can't see her face clearly. You better be lucky she let me even put this picture up. That's about all you're going to get, so live with it.

Akakura Onsen

The snowy main street of the ski resort of Akakura Onsen, Niigata Prefecture, February 2007. It was only my third time to go skiing. The first two times were in Shiga Prefecture. (You can read about my first trip here.) We had fun at Akakura, and I think I'm getting better at skiing. But we were dead tired after the weekend.

A view from the top of one of the ski slopes.

Some Pics from Ishigaki Island

Me at the northernmost point of Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, December 2006. It looks so beautiful, don't you agree?

This is chanpuru, an Okinawan dish made of noodles called soumen, vegetables, and some kind of meat I can't remember at this time. Anyway, I recommend it.

Another food I recommend if you ever go to Ishigaki is sa-ta-andagii, which looks and tastes like a donut hole. By far the best place to eat it is a shop called Sayoko, about one kilometer or so upland from the harbor. We couldn't get enough of it.

More From Iriomote

Having fun on Yufu Island, just off of the coast of Iriomote Island, Okinawa, December 2006. Yufu Island is a small island with a few beaches, a lot of plants, and a souvenir shop (what place in Japan doesn't have one?).

The best way to get to Yufu Island is by carriages pulled by water buffalo, which don't mind crossing the kilometer or so of shallow water. Quite scenic. Of course, you could walk, too, if you don't mind getting your feet wet.

Another sign telling us to watch out for the endangered Iriomote wild cat.

Pictures from Iriomote Island

A few cows on Iriomote Island, a sparsely-populated island just west of Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan, December 2006.

A sign warning me to watch out for Iriomote wild cats, called Iriomote yamaneko in Japanese.

A model of an Iriomote wild cat. Looks like a regular house cat to me, but I guess there are differences.

Quick Sports Takes - 20 August 2007

• I'll admit it: I'm a soccer fan. The first sport I remember playing with friends as a kid in Birmingham, Alabama, was, believe it or not, soccer. I've liked the sport for a long time. So I am a little biased. But with all the hoopla surrounding David Beckham's arrival in the United States and Major League Soccer (MLS), I'm getting tired of all of these sports talk, newspaper, and TV people attacking the sport of soccer. If they want to say that the MLS is terrible, that's fine with me. The MLS is not up to the standard of the English Premier League, the Bundesliga, and those other European leagues. If they want to say that the MLS will never be on the same level as the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball, that's okay, too. Those sports have a long tradition, and soccer is not going to sweep them away. But these people are attacking the sport itself, saying that it is boring. ESPN's Colin Cowherd said on his podcast, "One of the problems with soccer is that the clock starts from 0:00. America is a 'wind-down' country, not a 'wind-up' country." Are you kidding me? So, soccer is bad because it is different. Ridiculous. From this point on, I'm not subscribing to the Cowherd podcast, or anyone else with ridiculous comments like that.
• Another thing I'm thinking about giving up is college sports. (I can't believe I'm saying this, considering I grew up in Alabama and went to the University of Alabama.) I'm beginning to dislike the concept of kids getting full scholarships to universities to play sports and not doing their part as students. I think it's better for someone to skip college and go straight to the pros than to go to a university and graduate on classes like table tennis and The Beatles, which makes a mockery of the university they go to. The NFL should start a minor league for these kids. (Baseball obviously already has such a system, and the NBA is on its way.)
• One thing I'm not going to give up on, though, is being an Atlanta Falcons fan, even though they're in for a bad season after all the Vick trouble. I've been a Falcons fan since living in Atlanta in the early 1990s; I'm used to bad seasons. :)

More from Taketomi Island

More pictures from Taketomi Island near Ishigaki, Japan, December 2006.

Me standing near a shii-saa statue at someone's house.

A water buffalo cart on Taketomi. They're not free; you have to pay to ride them.

My Fan Club 3

The last of the uchiwa.

My Fan Club 2

More uchiwa for your perusal.

My Fan Club

The other day, my wife noted the many free fans (called uchiwa in Japanese) that I have amassed over the past couple of years. In the summer, there are many people promoting their companies' products on street corners by handing out fans adorned with the company logo, or product information. The way I see it, though, is that it's a free way to cool off a little in hot and sticky Osaka. So whenever I come across a free uchiwa, I take advantage and grab it. I know you guys are interested in knowing what kind of fans I have collected, right? So here they are. (Actually, the one above wasn't really a promotional giveaway; I got it at an udon restaurant in Kagawa Prefecture. Udon is a thick noodle served in broth; Kagawa is famous for it.)

Is This a Karate Kid Set?

I have a lot of pictures I need to catch up on, and this is the first one, taken during our trip to Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, in December 2006. This is actually on a little island to the west of Ishigaki called Taketomi, a beautiful little island with just one small village. I'm surprised that they even had electricity. There are no street lights or street signs on the whole island. Amazing!

Short Getaway

Tired of the heat and humidity of Osaka, my wife and I decided to take a little road trip on Wednesday. We drove about six hours south to the town of Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture for a little R&R as well as some swimming at the beach. (In actuality, it should take only about four hours, but the summer vacation traffic was treacherous.) My mother, when I mentioned it on the phone, said, "Oh, it's a little honeymoon, huh?" It was about a week or so after we got married, but we have bigger plans for our honeymoon. (I'll keep it a secret until it happens. :) )

Even though there was a lot of traffic, once we got far enough, the scenery on the road was beautiful. The Pacific Ocean on one side, and mountains and rock formations on the other. On the way, we stopped at a little town called Susami to swim at the beach there for two hours. It was nice: not crowded, the water was not too cold, and the scenery was good. After that, we stayed at a small ryokan on the outskirts of Kushimoto called Ebisu. The best thing about the place was the food.

The next morning, we went to a beach in Kushimoto called Hashigui. It wasn't as good as Susami; for starters, the ocean floor was covered in seaweed. The wind made the waters a bit choppy as well. Plus, we were exhausted from the swimming we did the day before. Nevertheless, we spent about an hour and a half there, then drove back to Osaka.

It seems like we got out of there at the right time. Yesterday, there was a big earthquake off the coast of Peru, and the quake caused a tsunami that traveled all the way across the Pacific Ocean to Japan. The waves at Kushimoto were choppier than we experienced.

For some reason, we ended up not taking any pictures of our little trip; I apologize for that.

Beautiful vs Cute

A while back, while looking at Mainichi Daily News' web page (my favorite English source of Japan news), I came across two interesting articles that perhaps demonstrate what many Japanese men look for, and don't look for, in a woman.


The first one is about Riyo Mori, the Japanese woman who won Miss Universe this year. According to the article, the media is portraying her as "arrogant and dumb." Apparently, the arrogance comes from her putting her hands on her hips often, saying that Miss Universe is not a beauty contest (wrong, yes, but arrogant?), and wearing makeup to accentuate her Oriental features (what, they want her to not be Asian?). The dumb part is not really explained in that article.

From other articles that I've read and interviews of her I've seen on TV, Mori certainly plays the part of a beauty queen. But it seems that she is using it as a means to acheive some good things, like starting a dance school to inspire young girls. She made comments about "empowering other Japanese women." She doesn't sound dumb to me. And it seems that the media doesn't like her because she shows confidence and shows a mature beauty.



The next article I looked at was a poll about what Japanese celebrity people wanted to marry the most. More men chose Masami Nagasawa as the woman they would most like to marry, and that amazed me. Nagasawa, who at 20 years old is one of the most popular people in Japan today, basically makes her money by acting like someone half her age. You see her on many commercials and on TV shows, smiling, giggling, knees turned in and arms turned out. I've seen her on interviews, and she has no personality, no sense of humor. Once my wife and I were watching this show that Nagasawa was on. It was a type of game show with celebrities. Each person had to stand in front of his/her group, sing a famous pop song using only cat noises, and the group had to guess what song it was. Many of the celebrities really played the role, making it funny. When it was Nagasawa's turn, however, she just stood up there and sung, a bit off key, and without any personality. But she was smiling, and when she was done, the studio audience was amazed, with the girls shouting "KAWAII!!!" ("cute" in Japanese). That is how she makes her money. Men want to marry that?

Anyway, just an interesting point about how Japanese men, in general, view their women.

Time To Catch Up

This year, I've definitely neglected regular posting to this blog. As I reflect on things during my summer vacation, this is something that I want to try yet again to fix. There have been some trips and events that have happened in the past year that I have yet to post about; I'll try to get to that in the next few weeks. I also realize that some of my experiences in Japan may be helpful to some people who live here or want to live here, so I'll try to post about those things as well.

If there's something you want me to talk about on this blog, or if you have any suggestions for improvement, please leave a comment and let me know. I can't promise anything, but I'll read your comments and see what I can do.

Rest In Peace, Grandma

The above picture is me with my maternal grandmother, taken at my university, December 1999.

My stepfather called me early morning Japan time on July 8 of this year. Once I said, "Hello," I heard my mother crying in the background, and I knew exactly what had happened. My mother told me way back in March that my grandmother was fighting cancer. They expected her to go any day at that time. It was a miracle that she made it this long.

In U.S. time, she died on 7/7/07, which is funny, because it doesn't seem like such a lucky day for my family.

I spent the next day getting a ticket to Birmingham, AL. I made it there on July 13, in time for the wake. Then I attended the funeral the next day. I didn't shed any tears; I think I was too worn out from the 17-hour trip from Japan. But I was certainly sad. The funeral was in the church my grandmother pastored; it was strange to see a church service going on there without her.

Nobody that close to me has passed away before. She meant a lot to me. In fact, she actually raised me for a year, along with my grandfather, while my parents were going through some rough times. She's responsible as much as anybody for making me into the person I am today.

While the funeral was sad, it was a beautiful thing, though, because it brought together my whole family. I saw relatives I haven't seen for years, including a cousin I haven't seen since elementary school. I saw my brother for the first time in over four years. I saw my grandfather for the first time in five years. In addition, I went back to Birmingham for the first time in over five years. A lot has changed, mainly the city has gotten worse and more decayed. That was sad to see. But there will be a place in my heart for Birmingham; that is where I spent the first years of my life, and that is where a lot of my relatives remain. And, that is where my grandmother lived and was laid to rest. I love you, Grandma.

Lemon Gas Commercial

This is one of the coolest commercials I have ever seen in Japan. This girl can rap with the best of them. Check it out:

Just a Small Delay...

As I said in my last post, our Northwest Airlines flight to Honolulu was delayed for about, oh, 20 1/2 hours. Check out the first line on the departure board in this picture, taken on April 27 at Kansai Airport (when we should've been basking in sunshine at Waikiki Beach).

EDIT: I just realized that the first line says "Continental". That's because Northwest was doing a code share flight with them. Sorry for any confusion.

Northwest Airlines: Kiss My *** (And Other Rants and Raves)

This past Golden Week, I had the privilege of going back to Hawaii for the first time since I graduated high school. (MoHS c/o '96 baby!!!) On the night of April 26th, I, the gf and her mother sat at Kansai Airport, looking forward to a week of bliss in paradise. Our Northwest Airlines flight was scheduled to leave at 9 PM, and we boarded the plane about 30 minutes prior to that.

About 15 minutes before 9 PM, with our seat belts fastened and everything secured, the captain made an announcement that there was a problem with one of the hydraulic systems, and there would be a two-hour delay while they fixed it. While we were shocked, surprisingly, most of the passengers took it well. Maybe they just wanted the problem fixed so that they could get to Paradise safely.

Back at the gate, everyone waited patiently for two hours. However, 11 PM came and went, and still nothing had happened. The crowd was starting to get restless. Then about 11:30, an attendent made an announcement that the flight was further delayed and would not leave until 12 noon the next day! At that time, all hell broke loose. Passengers rushed to find any Northwest Airline employee in the area and blasted them with their complaints. "You need to call my hotel and let them know I'll be late!" one lady said. Another passenger shouted, "What about my rental car?!?" Not a good situation at all. But Northwest did offer to put us up in a hotel for the night. After waiting an hour in line to get our hotel voucher, they took us all the way to a fancy hotel in Namba, farther away from the airport than my house is. We tried to put the night's events behind us and get a good night's sleep.

The next morning, we woke up to find a fax under the door that said that the plane was delayed even more, this time until 5 PM! The excuse was that if we left at 12 noon, when we got to Honolulu, customs would be closed. But didn't they realize that the night before? Then we wouldn't have had to wake up early. Anyway, the plane did finally leave at 5 PM. However, that wasn't the last of the problems with Northwest:

• My gf's mother asked the flight attendant for an extra blanket, obviously in Japanese. The flight attendant responded in English with a blunt "No more!" as she hurriedly went away.
• They shouldn't have wasted money installing the attendant call light on that 747, because it was of no use. Whenever I turned it on, no attendants came by to see what I wanted.
• The jack for my headphones was broken.
• The tray for my seat was broken.
• My gf's seat was broken; it wouldn't stay reclined.
• My gf caught the attention of a flight attendant. He acknowledged her, but then he never came by.

All of that, and Northwest had the nerve to print a "Customer First" philosophy in their in-flight magazine. Customer First this, Northwest!

Of course, the irony in all of this is that, with the dollar-discount vouchers they gave us to make up for the delay, we are going to use Northwest again in the future and pay them more money. You think they're being nice by giving us a voucher, but it's probably best to just not use them again. But, then again... it's a discount voucher! Oh well.

Giddyup!!!

Me at the Hanshin Racetrack in December 2006. It was my first time to go to a horse race. Have you ever been to the supermarket or department store on a Sunday in Japan, and seen all the wives of all ages - some with kids - and wondered, "Where are their husbands?" I'm pretty sure all of the husbands in Osaka and Kobe were at the Hanshin Racetrack the day I went there.

The place was packed with men. Many of them had newspapers and magazines that listed every stat and every race of every horse that was to race that day, and they were studying them like most high schoolers in the U.S. study for SATs, trying to maximise every bet. Me and my lady, though, being animal lovers, were just there to see the horses themselves. Man, were we out of place.

Office Mace

WARNING: Long post ahead.

One of the reasons why I started this blog a while back is to give me an avenue to vent. Which leads me into something that happened at the company office last week... (Guys, forgive me for this.)

Friday, about 2 PM Japan time. I'm working at my desk when one of the office full-time teachers (let's call him Guy A) comes over with two other full-timers for some small talk before they headed out for lunch. As usual at this time of year, the subject comes to what is going on with possible contracts for the next academic year. While talking about that, Guy A says that our company won't have a contract with his assigned schools' city board of education next year.

"Really?" I said. "I haven't heard anything about that BoE's plans. You probably know more than I do about that, then."

"Come on," Guy A says. "I thought you were the senior guy here. I thought you live here! You're out of the loop! What's going on?"

At that moment, I get really ticked off. And usually at the moment I get ticked off, I can't speak straight. So I let out a shocked "What?!?"

Then Guy B, who's standing next to Guy A, chimes in. "He's right... you are the senior guy here."

Now I'm fuming. These guys were berating me! "You are the senior guy... " I'm really pissed now. But like most of you know, I'm not one for open confrontation when I'm upset, so I just turned back to my computer and ignored the guys until they left for lunch.

That was a pretty busy day at the office, so I didn't give it any other thought the rest of the day. But during the weekend, my stupid brain reminded me of the incident, and I dwelled on it all weekend. I couldn't get it out of my head: "You are the senior guy... you live here!"

First of all, I don't like being mocked. Yeah, some guys do it as a joke, and that's cool. But they usually accompany the insults with a laugh or some expression or gesture that lets you know, "Hey man, I'm just playing with you." None of that occured.

Second, what does being the "senior guy" have to do with anything? I am the senior guy... of the native English teachers. That means jack on my company's totem pole. You guys who are former co-workers of mine, you know the deal. As the personnel coordinator, I have one role, other than teaching. My boss tells me what positions we have available, and I find teachers for them. That's it. I have nothing to do with my company's negotiations with school boards. Apparently Guy A thinks I should know everything about anything about the company.

Third, "You live here..." If working two days a week at the company office means living there, then I must be hibernating at the high school I work at for 3 days a week.

Then again, I should have expected something like this from Guy A, who, just 2 months into his employment here, listened to me offer someone a position, then proceeded to criticize me and tell me what I should do better (things that, by the way, goes against the company philosophy). Now, I'm not a human resources expert by any means, but if someone has been at a company longer than I have, I'm not about to give that person any advice on how to do their job unless they specifically ask for it.

Now, the main thing I dwelled on over the weekend was not that, but whether or not I should have told him off at the time of the incident. Part of me said, "You should have said something to shut him up!" But the other part said, "You know what... you did the right thing by ignoring them. Like your family always said, you start arguing with them over nonsense, you come down to their level. You don't want to look like them, right? Plus, you have other avenues for venting, like blogging."

If you're reading this, I'd love to hear your comments on this.

"A" Happy New Year

Well, it's already 2007. It's a bit late, but Happy New Year to all my family and friends in Japan, the States and around the world. Or, like they say here in Japan, あけましておめでとうございます (akemashite omedetou gozaimasu)!

Bundle of Pain

Japan is much better than the US when it comes to respecting each other in society. But in some cases, that can go too far. Yesterday we were eating at a pasta restaurant, and there were several little kids running around and making noise. I mean, they were crazy. And where were the parents? Eating and not caring what their kids were doing. Even the restaurant staff didn't say anything like, "Sorry to bother you, but your kids are making a ruckus and bothering the customers." None of that! We just had to deal with it until they left. Then again, the GF dealt with it her own way. She stuck out her leg for the little rugrats to trip over, succeeding once. Nice.