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.

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.