where cider meets condensed milk: March 2006

where cider meets condensed milk

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Daylight fading, come and waste another year...

There are lots of ways to be entertained in the countryside once it's too dark to do thrilling things like ride your bike and go to the grocery store! The bustle of Ochiai town is just a long, winding, dangerous stone's throw away if you want to pay for some company and JOY for the evening.

In fact, Bae-Yon Chris Joon and I end up here once a week!

...no wait. Not that kind of Joy.

Is it HERE, just 100 metres down the road? Yellow signs, open all night, almost as if it's an intentional mix-up...

posted by Raychaa @ 3:52 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Close Your Eyes. Yamato.

Sujoy and I went to Onomichi, in Hiroshima prefecture, to see an almost-full-size replica of the battleship Yamato. It was used in the WWII movie "Otokotachi no Yamato" (The Men of Yamato). The Yamato was the biggest ever built, went out to sea, was destroyed, and the war ended about a week later. We were able to tour around the boat, and then went through the museum and movie-set promotion area. They showed clips from the movie, mostly of sailors dying in a horribly graphic and bloody manner. I do want to see the film, but Chris saw it in Japanese and didn't understand a thing, so I will look for a subtitled screening. All through the exhibit, they kept playing the theme song to the movie, as advertised above by this shirtless singer guy. Nothing says war and sadness like bleached spiky hair, pecs, and a touch of bling. Close your eyes...

At the front of the ship-- is it weird for an American to be posing with the peace sign in front of a Japanese battleship? Does this qualify as irony? The flag here is the same one used by the ultra-nationalist groups who yell things on megaphones from their scary black vans, and I believe it symbolizes loyalty to the emperor.

The boat is sitting in the harbor in Onomichi now, and there were crowds and crowds of people there to see it. A rather amazing replica down the details, but a very odd experience to walk on the boat and then see scenes from the movie, with blood splattering all over the deck, guns clattering, bodies flying into the air, and men running out from the control room on fire. Yamato is also the name of the worst junior high in my town, home of the infamous Inbred Farm Kids, where I taught for a term before pawning it off on Madam sensei. His most troubled students have thus far run around with knives, chased other students with yellow oil paints, and tried to start fires in class. Also, the entire school smells like a combination of bleach and urine. Has nothing to do with the battleship, except that I kept thinking of the (delinquent) Boys of Yamato when I looked at the name of the ship posted everywhere.

With Sujoy/Hamu-chan and some girl, inexplicably in a kawaii pink bunny suit. I have no idea what she was doing at the Yamato museum cafe.

They were putting the little flags into the curry boats, so I asked specifically for one to put in the ice cream cone. Special YAMATO dessert: Ra-mu-ne softo cream. My dictionary says that means "soda pop" flavor, but it was more like dentist flouride mint. Hey, this softo cream tastes like defeat...

posted by Raychaa @ 12:12 AM 2 comments

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Don't drink the water...

... because addictive substances run freely from the taps in Kamogawa. And you'll be a Japan junkie before you know it. I won't be home this year as planned.Seattle 2007, anyone? Last month, I told my Board of Education I would leave in July, but felt it was the wrong decision, and reversed my decision today in order to stay on JET for a 3rd year. I have never felt more love in my staffroom than this morning, when I told my English teacher I wanted to stay another year. He jumped up clapping, and yelled out an announcement, and there were little cheers everywhere. Kocho sensei (the principal) rushed over, and patted both my shoulders awkwardly and vigourously while laughing/chuckling. Maybe it wasn't the type of "love" I was expecting, but I did feel very wanted by the 10 teachers at that school. Also, I hope that Kocho never touches me again.

Other reasons to stay:

Funny pins!
If your Japanorexia has fallen to the wayside in those long winter months when mochi-azuki soup and LOOK A La Mode were your eveningtime friends *coughnotreferringtomyselfcough*, this pin should inspire us all. Keep!! Nice body. No eat, don't overeat. Tabesugi CHUUI! Piggy says NO.

Funny cars!

Racheru: PRADO. I've discovered a new natural world!
Adamu: And I just rolled over it in my giant SUV and killed it!

Funny presents!
Hey, what's this? It looks like a tiny replica toilet made of cloth! Yes, a toilet! Look at the detail on that tiny little toilet paper holder! And there's even blue cloth to represent water in the bowl, and a little floormat. It's kind of cute... in a really really weird way. Wait, it's not JUST a toilet. It's a sayonara present for Rachel! Wow... a toilet. Um. Thanks, guys. I don't know what to say! No, honestly, I don't have a clue. Nani?

Funny students!
My adorable 3rd-year girls that gave the toilet room to me-- if they didn't like me, I'd think it was an insult. (You're a toilet of a teacher! We think you're a flushable ALT!) Metaphors are tricky-- I had a brief moment of panic recalling that my high school guidance counselor (yes, the infamous Ms. Yocum) proudly referred to me as a "veritable human pomegranate" in my university recommendation letters. What the hell is that supposed to mean?? Seedy? Expensive? A frustrating disaster of a fruit since it's too complicated with too little substance? Might cost you a 6-month stay in the underworld like Persephone? It's a miracle I got in anywhere with a horrid metaphor like that, and it'd be a miracle I wanted to stay in Japan if I extended the toilet metaphor to indicate that my "good" students think I'm flushable. But they were really excited for me to have it, as it was a term project in home economics class, and their teacher said they'd been planning it for months. Again... nani???

posted by Raychaa @ 9:59 PM 0 comments

Monday, March 06, 2006

A double steal superlative kind of night...

One superlative Saturday night in Okayama city:

Chin up, cheer up... or else he will come and get you. Bae-Yon Chris Joon says, "IT AIN'T NO FUCKIN* BIG DEAL!"

Checking out fashion at VIVRE, which is only understood as Bee-Bray, not vee-vruh. (It may look French, but don't be fooled. Conjugate it, Bob-san.) Kathryn eyes this jacket that Bae-Yon prepares to steal... or double steal. Bunchy leather? Superlative!

Worst idea yet: Spam onigiri! Worse idea than chocolate/salt PLATINUM CATS, only to be topped by as-yet-unmanufactured chocolate/bacon PORCINE CATS. (Just you wait. If you thought salt was out of the question, you were wrong. The pork choco will come.)

Big Echo Hello Kitty Karaoke: Bob and Dylan sing... Bob Dylan. (Predictably.)

When Chris becomes a famous singer in Tokyo next year, I hope he remembers that I was the Jay-Z to his Beyonce, the back-up Dolls to his Pussycat...

Some more people I like:

I'Lovely Ilana and Sparkle-eye Claire T!

Herbamy/ Team Moscoso!

Dylan and his many surnames!

Thought you should know: those sidewalk-Braille guidance bumps all over Japan were invented in Okayama! In the land of sunshine, we are kind to the blind.

Hey, isn't that KISS? Last and best moments of the evening: Buskers in the Okayama station scuffle with the po-po over the well-known ban on Gene Simmons impersonations after 9pm. I.... wanna rock and roll all nii-iiight!!!

posted by Raychaa @ 4:52 PM 0 comments

So wrong it's right. And then wrong. And then wrong again... welcome to the inaka.

About Me

Name: Raychaa
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About Me: “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this - 'devoted and obedient'. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.” (Florence Nightingale)
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