Owner: Of Rice and Zen: The Memoirs of a Gaijin URL:http://www.memoirs-of-a-gaijin.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:39:21 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: I'm moving to Japan in 5 days... Shit. The. Bed. Site statistics:Click here
Links for 2006-01-14 [del.icio.us] 2006-01-15 00:00:00
Of Rice and Zen - Episode 2
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Day 785: The Proposal 2008-03-14 03:20:00 You're holding the pen for your new Wacom graphics tablet staring at Illustrator on your Macbook when you suddenly freeze like a cop movie grass who has just been sniped from the adjacent building. The pen drops from your hand when you realise what today is. You've been spending too much time at home studying design and Japanese and you realise that you haven't been meeting up with friends and discussing what an important day this is.You don't know how to put this but... today is kind of a big deal. People know it. It's very important. It has many leather bound books and its apartment smells of rich mahogany.Being Japanese white day it's usually just the day when you return the chocolate that was given to you by the ladies in your life on Valentine's Day. This year it's a little different. Read more:Proposal
Day 793: Gacha gacha 2008-03-21 04:24:00 You walk into the Hyatt lobby and find the entire space covered in whittled wood panelling. It's like the guy who made the tables in Thai Elephant restaurants went a bit overboard and covered every wall and ceiling in his handiwork. Lighting has been embedded behind all of the panelling. You walk up a spiral staircase to the entrance of the restaurant and are greeted with celing high racks of wine. Good wine is in short supply in Japan, so this second floor wine cellar equates to a vulgar display of power. Look upon my works, ye mighty and despair.For some reason the hotel's attempts to impress are making you a little nervous. You know you're planning to propose to S over dinner, but you can't decide at what point in the meal. Should you wait til the coffee and risk anticipation exhaustion
Day 809: Sakura viewing party in Hikkone 2008-04-07 22:06:00 You'd like to lie to your male readership and assure them that they'll understand the appeal of marriage once they've done it. You'd like to tell them it's man's natural state. You'd like to tell they won't freak out more than a little. You'd like to not mention that no sooner are you married than you find hidden caches of wild oats you never knew you had.This being Japan, you're not sure of much. In this case you're not sure exactly when the "big day" is. Unlike England where you sign the register in the church, here you sign round after round of forms at home then take them to the town hall. After a few months of saving money most Japanese couples have a "ceremony" at a wedding complex that includes a fake church chapel and a reception hall in the same centre.You are planning to have a " Read more:Sakura
Day 820: The tip of a particularly aggressive iceberg 2008-06-09 00:05:00 You decided early in life that the only way you might be able to get marriage to work is to imagine you're Brad Pitt and the missus is Angelina Jolie. Continue life in as normal a way as possible. Keep going to trendy wine bars. Keep making a combination of blockbusters and big-budget indie movies. Keep meeting your personal trainer regularly and doing your ab crunches, even though there's no m
Day 822: The groping that slipped my mind 2008-06-08 23:05:00 Spring awakes in you a volatile mixture of chemicals that reminded you that the long winter slumber was over. You come to your sense and realise you are a good 10 kilos heavier than you should be and you have long since stopped taking any care over your health or appearance. You wonder when you started thinking about weight in terms of kilograms. You decide it's high time to try and recapture s
Day 821: Confessions for two 2008-06-08 22:34:00 You have been writing blogs about living in and being married in Japan since the day you proposed to your new wife. Your readers know the basics about her. Her name's S. She's two years older that you. Physically. She was known as the "beer monster" by her Japanese friends and as "the party manager" by her gaikokujin coworkers.Aside from these fact there's little you can print about her or yo
Day 820: The tip of a particularly aggressive iceberg 2008-06-08 21:27:00 You decided early in life that the only way you might be able to get marriage to work is to imagine you're Brad Pitt and the missus is Angelina Jolie. Continue life in as normal a way as possible. Keep going to trendy wine bars. Keep making a combination of blockbusters and big-budget indie movies. Keep meeting your personal trainer regularly and doing your ab crunches, even though there's no m
Day 830: 5 yen beers and a pufferfish 2008-06-13 08:06:00 Harry is leaving Japan and, to say the least, he's not happy about it. He hasn't been able to find work in the post-Nova job scramble and his visa is days away from wheezing its last. He has booked a flight and has delayed paying it for like a the self-employed avoid tax returns, but the job is proving as allusive as those big-balled tanuki we see depicted all around. The job market can't suppo
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Day 873: The Great Gatsby couldn't reclaim the past with shirts... 2008-07-09 08:25:00 Although you were allowed to choose your Nova schedule, as usual you're left with no time to keep in touch with anyone and living in the Hach means you never make the unplanned drinks. When you were unemployed this was a cause for concern, but a full time job has a way of taking your mind off of your questionable life-choices.You've just started your second week at work and it'll the same old Nov Read more:Great
Day 864: Back to square one 2008-07-09 08:19:00 The summer skips rainy season apart from all-but-abortive attempts to saturate your laundry and kicks into the choking, steamy phase. You line up a few scraps of work with the various agencies like OCT, ETC, AIM and 7ACT to try and scrabble together a living wage. As ever it too much like grafting and not enough like gliding so when Nova offer you a full time contract on your doorstep, with your Read more:square one
Day 850: A call from an old flame 2008-06-30 05:56:00 You decide to tempt the fates and cycle to the bux in Omihachiman to study and write, despite the fact that the rainy season is making spluttering attempts to kick into high gear. The Omihachiman bux lacks any of the bustle and glorious eye candy of the Yamashina bux. Unlike Yamashina bux, situated outside the station on a busy roundabout, its Omihachiman sister is situated outside the main conc Read more:flame
Day 841: Coming up for air 2008-06-29 10:59:00 S is working and you have nothing but free time on your hands until you get your visa and are able to work. You decide to go drinking with the boys in Yamashina Ichiban for old time's sake. It's your local yakitori (barbequed chicken on a stick) joint and the staff know you all by name. They ask how married life is treating you. You feel you know them well enough to give them the honest response
Day 929: Nova opens experimental sauna/eikaiwa business 2008-07-23 11:42:00 At the end of the day you are pushed into a "dolls house" style kids/voice room that has been constructed next to the reception desk. The voice room and the kids room are usually two very different rooms with distinct functions. The voice room usually has tables and chairs to accommodate a room full of adults and their writing materials. It is also usually full of maps, books or props designed
Day 928: Nova boss/interior designer 2008-07-23 11:35:00 Discipline is slack in the new branch and nobody wants to teach a real lesson. The AT and the long timers are just as disappointed as you at the conditions. Disappointed doesn't seem to cover it. Disappointed is how you feel when your team is beaten by a buzzer-beater from mid-court. Today's, however, is the disappointment you feel when you realise you're working in a Vietnamese sweatshop. Ev
Day 927: Claustrophobia 2008-07-23 11:33:00 You try to prepare your lessons but there is junk all over the desks, there is not enough space for two people to pass by each other in the teacher's room and a carton of level 6 student files is missing. You decide not to change out of your shades and flip-flops. You simply drop your bag on the floor and head outside for a smoke.Your coworker Mart tells you he's moving out of Hasegawa-san's old
Day 926: The teacher's cupboard 2008-07-23 11:31:00 The escalator reaches its apex and you turn to take in the new branch for the first time. The new look is very... pink. The tiny plot has been retrofitted with "playpen" style MDF dividers to give the impression of room. Each tiny fenced off table has no wall or windows. You love your new coworker Ted, but the man has lungs that could call rocks. You can see a big red blood pressure gauge in
Day 925: Omihachiman Nova changes location 2008-07-23 11:29:00 As a Nova teacher you may find that a few beach trips are just enough to dial down the drudgery of cycling to and from a shopping mall in the grueling summer to be poked in the pupil by other people's bubble headed miracle children. They're short on discipline, high on sugar and they plan to use your balls as a speed bag.The humidity's over 90% before you leave S's parent's house, so when you poin Read more:changes
Day 923: Hamrik micturates in Lake Biwa 2008-07-17 07:33:00 A couple of weeks ago you had an OCT interview in Osaka and decide to see if Ton-ton the Amazon queen wants to meet up for a coffee and catch up. Turns out she stressed at work and is gagging for a few pints of the black stuff at The Hub. The Hub is chain of faux pubs whose fish and chips is closer to tempura and wedges. In Kyoto you tend to avoid them because the clientelle is said to consist
Day 929: Beware the girls' gossip circle 2008-07-14 22:23:00 The Kyoto gang, in which you include yourself despite the fact that you are currently incarcerated in Omihachiman, is now centred around four western guys and their Japanese girlfriends. You and A. Mod and Y. Lionel and Yupa. Mart and Yupi. The problem with this is that in the good old days you and Mod managed to keep all your girlfriends at a respectable distance. That's a bygone era now an Read more:Beware
Day 924: The eternal question: BBs or work? 2008-07-14 22:14:00 Mod invites you to yakiniku in Minami Kusatsu. You only eat once a week so you jump at the chance. You assume the boys are going and are eager for a quick break from S's parents' house. While they're extremely kind to you, you can't help but occasionally feel that you are the Nova customer who lingers at closing time. When you get there you realise that there's a group of about 14 people. Mod
Day 922: The red panties poem 2008-07-14 22:13:00 Before starting at Omihachiman Nova Mart tells you he's got a teenage stalker but nobody can figure out who it is. She sometimes leaves notes for him between lessons. His story clearly beats the middle aged stalkers you used to get. Apparently he has sidestepped the radykillaa monicker. It's your first week at Nova when a staff member approaches the teachers' room holding a little gift box on t Read more:panties
Day 915: The eternal question: BBs or work? 2008-07-14 21:57:00 Mod invites you to yakiniku in Minami Kusatsu. You only eat once a week so you jump at the chance. You assume the boys are going and are eager for a quick break from S's parents' house. While they're extremely kind to you, you can't help but occasionally feel that you are the Nova customer who lingers at closing time. When you get there you realise that there's a group of about 14 people. Mod
Day 910: The end is in sight 2008-07-14 21:51:00 Neo-Nova turns out to be everything you hoped it would be. Close to home. familiar, occasionally rewarding and a steady wage. Although on the surface nothing much seems to have changed, the day to day reality is a much more relaxed and pleasant work place. Communication from above is no longer bristling with obvious disdain. It is relaxed, friendly almost respectful. The intrusive Big Brother-styl
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