Sunday 25 November 2007

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"dekai". It means huge. Like big, only bigger. The funny thing about this word is that I only learned it about two weeks ago and, within the day I learned it, I heard it about 3 times. Now I have no idea whether that's because I never noticed it before when I didn't understand the meaning or if......... well....... it's just pure coincidence.

But since learning the word, I hear it all the time. I'm really beginning to think that even if I only have a passing knowledge of certain words, having heard it once wires my brain to pick it out from conversations anytime afterward. I would be lying if I said I don't glaze over sometimes while people are chatting around me. It's still work to try and make sense of the language and though it's coming slowly, it's still a conscious effort so my available level of concentration makes a difference.

But no matter- this past weekend was a long weekend as, on Friday, the Japanese celebrated what I was told was a Labour Day of sorts.
On Friday, I went with Matsuda sensei (my home stay) to nearby Miyashiro city to attend some cooking class run by her friends at a community centre. And by attend, I mean sit and watch as they cook, then eat all their food haha........ Even more interesting was this cosplay competition festival thing that was happening across the hall. It's the first time I ever actually saw lots of people gather to do one of these things and, to be honest, it seems a bit unbalanced.

I mean, everyone was sitting in the gym perfecting their overly waxed cartoon hair (many in unnatural shades of colour) and outrageous costumes. And then they headed off to what seemed like a judging only to come back after 5 minutes. Then they all hang around taking pictures of each other with each other. I can understand being totally into something, but how do you justify a 30:1, 60:1, or even greater time ratio between prep and activity??

This was partly the reason why I didn't autocross more. I'd head all the way out there (although cruising down the highway with friends is always fun), spend the day at the track (runway), and run a handful of times. That's also why I never bothered to set up the car. If I had more track time I would've starting adjusting things but as it was, I just wanted to see how my car drove exactly the way I had it driving it everywhere else. It also meant I didn't have to bother with fiddling with things for 10 minutes of driving.

But then again, I always enjoyed autocrossing and I can only assume that to the cosplayers, the prep time was out of love and quality of activity is more important than quantity. And some of those people were pretty crazy. There were two guys who must've showed up as Black Hawk Down or something with desert fatigues, vests with flashlights, M16 replicas, helmets, the whole lot. I just wished they got another friend to dress up as the Black Hawk. That would've be awesome!! haha........ Reminds me of this old old picture I saw of a guy dressed up in a cardboard version of the car from Initial D. I can't find it online though haha.....

But dressing up aside, some of those people have some mad sewing skillz y0. I was a bit too busy eating to take any pictures but some of the costumes were rather well made when seen from 10 feet out....... through a window.......
I didn't take this picture but some of the people there on Friday really did put in a lot of effort and some did look like this. Although, cosplay isn't for everyone........


............... then again, maybe it is =-P............

Monday 19 November 2007

More structure, more pictures, more more more...

Yes indeed. Now that I have regular access to the online world, I can do some things I never got around to doing.

First off, I've added some really basic labels to my posts for easy referencing. I'll be expanding them as the number of topics increases but for now you can, for example, view all the Japanese words of the week posts in one go. Whether or not that interests people is beyond my control but the option is there =-).......

Secondly, some have asked for pictures of cars, so you'll find some more below. Including the one of the two bikes I liked the most from the show (I'm not only crazy about cars heh).......

Lastly, the "more more more" part refers to more frequent posting. I always seem to draw myself into these regular "segments" such as my old MSN "Did you know" facts and now my "Japanese word of the week" posts. I've been keeping a list of funny incidents so now that I have time to transcribe them all, I'll slowly be introducing yet another regular to my blog. It has no name yet but I'm sure one will make itself known heh........... til then, enjoy the pictures (I hope you can load them to a larger size, I haven't yet figured out what lets some pictures load up while not others).......

That's me getting out of a brand new Nissan GT-R at the Nissan showroom in Ginza. To be honest, the outside of the car is more impressive than the inside, which I found to be a bit to vertical and not very cohesive in terms of design. But if it's fast enough, I can over look fiddly little interior bits. Also, if you've been looking at pictures online, I should note that they don't do the car justice as it uses its size to make all its styling elements work.

Next up is the Ducati Desmosedici RR. Ducati's are a bit like the Alfa Romeo of the bike world. Distinctly Italian, they always seem to have styling elements that, like Alfa, only they themselves are able to pull off properly. You could probably get bikes just as fast from a Japanese company, but that's not the point. Although I will concede my second favourite bike from the show was the Honda CBR600RR- cost effective and fast?? Yessss.......

If cost were no object, the Ferrari F430 Scuderia is what I would've taken home without even blinking. What's not to love about one of the most brilliant cars in the world stripped out and jacked up on an even bigger dose of speed. In red though.......

Sunday 18 November 2007

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"ryooshin". It means "parents". And however candid I may be at times linking my chosen words to my topics, this one is rather straight forward. They came. To Japan.


They actually arrived later Thursday night with my uncle and step-aunt. Friday morning started out interestingly with a phone call at 7am telling me that they're at the train station (Kudanshita, in Tokyo) ready to come over. "What?!?" was my reply haha....... but all was well time-wise as it took then a while to actually take the train to my place.


After touring my house (room......) and the dojo as well as meeting all the people associated, Arakawa sensei took us to Tokyo Tower where the 4 of us went to the upper observation deck almost 250m up. Great view of the city although some bits were obscured by the constant haze that's out there. Hong Kong and San Francisco have similar problems.


Unfortunately, time ran short and after lunch, I had to leave to go to work while my parents went back to the hotel to rest. But I headed back into Tokyo after work with Richard sensei to have dinner in a street side restaurant near Ginza.


Having stayed the night at the hotel, Saturday was a big tour day with the 5 of us (parents, uncle, step-aunt, and me) all over Tokyo. We saw the Nippon Budokan (check my WadoKai National Championship post) as well as the near by emporer's palace. From there we headed to Ginza to walk the street and I got to sit in a new Nissan GT-R!! Then it was off to Hinode to ride the boat up the Sumida river towards Asakusa temple. The picture above shows a building with a funky........... well........... let's say comet shaped thing =-P. That's the Asahi Beer headquarter at the end of the Sumida boat ride. The afternoon was capped off with a short look around Akihabara.


Sunday morning we went to the Meiji-jingu shrine for some amazing scenery and a short walk through Takeshita street in Harajuku. Feel free to misread the street's name as it's a big joke for foreigners =-).


Unfortunately, Sunday was when their visit stopped because, really, this was only added onto their original vacation plans after they found out I was coming to Japan so now they're off to India for 3 weeks. But a little is better than none and I'm really grateful both to my family for visiting and to everyone here to who welcomed them so openly, albeit for a short time.

Sunday 11 November 2007

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"jishin". It means earthquake and that's exactly what happened on sunday. Although I wouldn't consider earthquakes "common" in Japan, they aren't exactly once in a blue moon. The last time there was an earthquake (that I felt) was when I first arrived in Japan back in July. It was Natural Disaster Week for me since I arrived in the midst of a typhoon and the day after there was a massive earthquake. Quite the weclome =)..... the one yesterday was a smaller and happened around early evening, local time. By the time I realised that I wasn't just tired and that it really was an earthquake, it was over.

But that wasn't the highlight by a long shot. The most exciting part of the day was going to the Tokyo Motor Show with Arakawa sensei. It was just a great time to bond with he who has so graciously taken me under his wing and shown me the ropes. I probably can't even begin to decribe all the things he's gone out of the way to do for me or the doors he's opened.It's a bit difficult to describe the Tokyo Motor Show especially if the only motor show you've been to is the one in Vancouver. The Tokyo one is more like the Tokyo Motor Spectacle, with flashing lights and music, expensive displays and presentation, and massiveness that is almost difficult to comprehend. It's not cars only either, with motorcycles and trucks and automotive technology on display too. And they have things to DO as well, such as the rider's safety course for children using mini-motorcycles.

So, I've decided to present it in the form of awards (trimmed down to 6 because I realise not everyone is as manic about cars as I am haha.........

First up, the "Most Incorrect Colour" award goes to the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti- in white. As much as I like white or black coloured cars, they just never work for me on Ferraris. Red (of course) and yellow seem best because they're bright enough to show off the styling to be appreciated. White just drowns it out and black just hides it too much. The exception is, of course, a black Enzo, which is wicked.

Next, the "Most Underappreciated Car" award belongs to the Maserati Gran Turismo. I don't think many people give Maserati much thought since they had such a horrible time through the 90s, but they're back now with their MC12R race car dominating and the new Gran Turismo offering great Italian stylist flair and performance.

"Most Awesomest Detail" award goes to none other than the super-sleeper, the Audi RS6 Avant. You get a big, practical Audi wagon that has a twin-turbo V10 but it wins the award because it houses 15" ceramic composite brakes. They have to be seen in person to be believed.

"Biggest Cop-out" goes to the McLaren Mercedes SLR Roadster. Why?? Because 15 years ago, McLaren used their Formula 1 expertise and built a car that had a 627bhp V12, sat 3 people, had luggage space for a weekend trip, active aerodynamics, carbon fibre structure, 60 litre fuel tank, and is still one of the quickest accelerating and fastest cars in the world, all in a package smaller than a Boxster. This new SLR is more Mercedes than anything and McLaren was forced to develop it within the confines of Mercedes management. McLaren did their part brilliantly, but it still uses a pre-determined Mercedes engine, Mercedes gearbox, and Mercedes styling. The worst part is that the brake calipers say, in big letters, "Mercedes Benz". How sad.......

Back to the good stuff though....... "Most Important Car Of The Show" was easily the Nissan GT-R. It took nearly 20 minutes to get close enough for a clear picture and even then, it was with the camera held as high up as possible. The sheer continuous size of the crowd and the technology it packs makes is probably the most anticipated car of the year.

"Car I'd Most Like To Drive Home" would be the Ferrari F430 Scuderia. What'd you expect?? haha......... but if I had to make payments, it would be the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Again, what'd you expect?? haha.........

January is a 3 day modified car even known as the Tokyo Auto Salon. I'll be going to that too so there will be more awards.

Lastly, in other news, my parents are coming at the end of the week! Now I just have to remember how to speak Chinese.............

Thursday 8 November 2007

What the.....


Really, this kind of thing doesn't surprise me although it does interest me. I mean, when Westerns import Japanese to use, it can also, at times, not make any sense either (ie- no one here has ever heard of "oyster motoyaki"). Regardless, I still find it really amusing because I always try to figure out what exactly they TRIED to say.

Take the above as an example. The first half of the sentence makes perfect sense- to produce the world's elites. That's all fine and dandy, but what about the method by which they produce these elites? An English shower?? When I read that, the first thing that came to mind was a lot of elementary school kids huddled in a group in a soccer field while teachers on ladders rained flashcards down on them. At least all these years of claiming to "learn by osmosis" actually makes sense in this context =).

But then again, what did they REALLY mean? A flood of English? Are the children immersed/submerged in a constant English environment? Perhaps they really meant shower and all the water tanks are murky with pulp from all the textbooks they've soaked in them........... perhaps =P........

Then there was another one at a store. It was a garbage can but on the front it said:

"Would you like to review your purpose in life?"

Wha-........ why would I want to read that when I throw things away?? It could be potentially disastrous y'know....... I'd imagine more than a few people being reduced to a quivering ball, hugging the garbage can and bawling their eyes out as they review their life only to realise they weren't very happy with where they were. But then again, maybe it's inspirational, as said people pick themselves up and gather their resolve (against the garbage can) to better themselves.

But again, what does it REALLY mean? To review my wastefulness? Am I to look at my broad over-consumption and change my evil ways? What I really want to review is what they wanted to say in Japanese to get a good feel for what they want.

Then again, I'm looking too deeply into it all since the big point of having English on the can is just to have English. No one needs to know what it means or even if it makes sense- having English is just cool. It's just like people with clothes or tattoos of foreign alphabet or characters. It may not make sense but the foreign-ness is what makes it interesting.

But if you're like me and question these things, then perhaps this is for you. I stumbled across this while reading The Economist (don't ask =P). The John Templeton Foundation asks a bunch of top flight scientists or scholars really broad questions, not unlike the one asked by the humble garbage can. Currently they're discussing the purpose of the Universe, almost as if the Universe itself bought the garbage can, questioned its own meaning, and asked these scientists to help.

There's some really interesting things in there. More than one author claims that if there was a purpose, perhaps it is to give life to sentient beings to question it. Afterall, the fact alone that carbon just happen to have all the right properties to give rise to life should be celebrated, right? But then again, as another author points out, if indeed the purpose was to give rise to life, it's odd that all the life that we know has only existed for a extremely miniscule portion of the Universe's timeline. In other words, it was pretty inefficient at acting upon it's purpose, a singular purpose at that, so perhaps life wasn't part of the plan at all.

Of course, the most interesting part is how so many authors easy tread the line between religion and science. Almost all of them leave the option of a Creator open, yet subject it to the same objectivity as they do when they review physical or chemical options.

Above all this, it's really interesting to read............................. and really serves to draw out my nerdiness haha. So if you happen to have some spare time or you truly are interested, http://www.templeton.org/purpose/ holds some rather intriguing statements. Of course, I get quite a bit of intriguing statements regularly being exposed to Japanese-imported English =).........

Sunday 4 November 2007

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"bikkuri". It means "surprised". I should point out that it's the verb form of surprise so it's more the state of a person being surprised. And so if you ever find yourself behind a tree unbeknownst to your approaching friends, jumping out and shouting "BIKKURI!!" doesn't work. Don't ask how I know =).........

Having said that, this weekend was filled with new things, some more surprising than others.

On saturday, I went to the Kita-ku (North Tokyo area) Taikai which is one of the oldest tournaments in Tokyo and thus hold quite a reputation even if it was run in a bit of an old-schooled fashion. I was registered to compete under Richard sensei's school's kumite team but my role was more support than competitor. If, for instance, the individual kumite division and team kumite division ran parallel and one of the boys had to go fight in the other division, I would have filled in for the team. But everything ran just fine so I didn't even have to get changed. Even better was that Richard's team won gold in all 3 divisions they entered in (adult men's kata, adult men's individual kumite, and the much coveted adult men's team kumite). I even got to meet a multi-time Japan National paralympic karate champion!

On sunday, I went with Okano (who I met at the dojo) for lunch and to watch this new karate movie, Kuro-Obi ("Black belt"). We had lunch at this all you can eat yakitori (bbq) place in Ginza and I managed to find out from him that "viking style" restaurants are indeed an umbrella term for any buffet. After we stuffed ourselves way beyond our limits, we went to movie.

Although I only understood about 10% of the script, it wasn't hard to follow since it was mostly action. Sort of predictable action movie plot and although some of the acting wasn't superb, the action was fun.

After that, he took me to the Tsukiji fish market. Known for being the largest fish market in the world, it's just a massive dock/warehouse where shipments of fish come in and wholesalers sell them off to restaurants or stores. "Regular" people aren't allowed to buy there and, at 7pm on a sunday, it's closed. But we just wandered through the gates and no one really seemed to care.

It was a pretty awesome place to be in at night. With a huge amount of space, boxes and boxes of fish (one area was for fruit as well), and alternating areas of light and dark, it's the kind of place that's perfectly for climatic action sequences. The smell of the fish (and diesel from trucks) mix with the lapping waves of the river and you just want to hunch over and run zig zags between rows of parked trucks and pillars, ready to exact your devastating special barrage of smelt on unsuspecting forklift drivers (how's THAT for bikkuri haha.......).

An interesting thing about the place is that they actually auction off a lot of the wares (the auction starts at 1am so let chefs get started on prepping the fish), which is a great idea to boost income since good quality fish commands such high prices with customers. And it really is huge and the sporadic lighting makes for fun pictures. The one above is a view from the edge of the market looking down the river towards the southern part of Tokyo although, without a tripod, it's hard to take a steady low light picture. But it'd be a great place for car photography hehe........

But the absolute most surprising thing of all was a small trailer that happened before the start of the movie. It had a clip of somebody walking through a busy part of Tokyo asking young people questions. It was shocking to hear two 20-some Japanese girls wondering aloud what happened in early August some 62 years ago. Bikkuri doesn't really describe it..............

Thursday 1 November 2007

Merry Halloween!!

Or is it Happy Christmas?? Either way, holidays are approached a bit differently in Japan. I asked the kids in my English classes if they did anything for Halloween and the reply was, consistently, that nobody does anything on Halloween.

What the...........??

It seems a bit at odds considering the bombardment of Halloween themed items at nearly every store I went to. You could almost get Halloween themed anything if you happened upon the right store. I even found some Halloween beer, although I didn't buy any. Perhaps it's made with pumpkin and it's orange. Or perhaps it comes with a free broom. Or maybe it was brewed in a cauldron with old ladies defiling your drink with omens. Oh even, perhaps, it contains essence of bat. Mmmm............. or maybe it's just a label.

But come the actual Halloween date, nothing happens. It's like a giant anti-climatic ending to the festival that is store decorations. Nobody dressed up, nobody trick or treats, and nobody hands out candy.

What does happen though is about a week before Halloween, the Christmas decorations go up inside some stores BESIDE the Halloween stalls. No really, I went to Joyful Honda last week and there it was, a Halloween area right next to the Christmas area.

You could, conceivably, combine purchases to deck you halls with boughs of skeletons if you so wished. Or give Rudolph a wart-infested witch's nose. Celebrating two holidays with one shopping trip?? That's like baking two cakes with one oven (which, Daniel so deftly pointed out, wouldn't work =P). Or like killing two stones with one bird......... or....... wait......... yeah =).........

I think I'll go back next week and see if the Halloween decorations are still up. I really wouldn't know what to think if I saw pumpkins and haunted houses all the way til mid-November but hey, anything can happen right?? haha...........