TheLeong.com

I think the buzzword for January and February must have been marriage, because it seemed like everyone around me was talking about it, either around here or just people I still keep in touch with over the net. People getting married, people talking about getting married, people talking about planning to talk about getting married, etc. I don’t know what the deal was. It was with my friends both in the US and Japan, so maybe it’s just getting around that time. Kind of freaky. And of course Facebook has always been like this, seeing who from high school is now married, but it’s just about at the point where people’s newest picture albums are of their newborn kids. I never would have thought Facebook would have been around this long.

The buzzword has of course changed, everyone now talking about work. Either enjoying their job, hating their job, quitting their job, getting fired, or looking for a new job, it’s everywhere. I guess everyone needs to work to pay for those weddings. (I am half joking there). I suppose the global recession and all that fun stuff is partially to blame, since I know a lot of people who have gotten laid off or had their hours cut down a lot. But for me, work has been good the last few weeks. I attended the Foodex convention in Makuhari for about a week, used InDesign for the first time in probably 3 or 4 years, and have been feeling pretty satisfied with my mini-accomplishments for now.

Back to weddings, even though I know it’s the old buzzword now. I went to my first Japanese wedding on February 22nd, which was really fun and an interesting experience. My friend Konosuke got married and was nice enough to invite me. It was even a traditional Japanese Shinto-style wedding as opposed to a Western-style church wedding, which are really popular here. It isn’t because people here are Christians, but it’s just because people think they’re cool. Kind of like why they have Engrish t-shirts. I think Shinto weddings are less common than church ones these days maybe in Japan. First there was the formal Shinto ceremony in a shrine where there were many chants chanted, many sets of bowing, and the 三三九度 (San-san-ku-do, 3-3-9 times) ritual where the bride and groom drink from 9 small cups of sake to represent family and stuff like that. They did rings and there was more chanting, and it was official. It seemed like a very quick ceremony probably lasting less than 30 minutes.

Cracking open a big barrel of sake for the reception.

After the ceremony we all headed back to the big building/memorial hall for the formal reception which was a really fancy dinner interspersed with long speeches. The bride and groom changed costumes before the reception and then again during the reception, going from super formal Japanese wedding ceremony clothes to formal Japanese wedding clothes to formal Western wedding clothes. It was pretty awesome when they came back from changing clothes during the reception, because they made a really dramatic entrance from the balcony. The lights went low, music started, and the MC announced their return. Junko was in a Western style wedding dress and Konosuke was in a tuxedo minus the overcoat with… a parachute on? No, it wasn’t a parachute, it was actually a beer keg backpack. (see pic on the left) He went around to every table and filled up pitchers with his backpack of beer. The whole day was pretty formal so this was a cool addition. After the reception we went to a second party at a small club-type place in Shibuya, which was also pretty nice and a lot more relaxed.

Insomnia. I don’t really have insomnia, just a really messed up sleep schedule. One of the sweet yet dangerous parts of working flexitime from your home is staying up super late and then waking up in the afternoon, only to repeat the next night. I think it really got bad last Thursday night when I was working on designing some sales materials, and to communicate with the US and everything I started working again around 2 or 3AM. It was easier this way because I wouldn’t have to wait hours to get a response about whether something looked good, etc. I ended up working until about 9AM, which was pretty rough but then I passed out until it was almost dark outside again. There’s always something embarrassing about doing that. Anyway ever since then I’ve been going to sleep way too late and pretty much keeping my schedule permanently messed up. For example, why am I still awake right now?

I may have written about this in the past, because I know I’ve thought about it several times. If so, too bad.

In Japan, they love giving gifts. Not necessarily big gifts, but small little presents, usually some kind of food. And they love giving these presents all the time. Seriously, the reasons to give gifts to your co-workers, friends, and estranged family members who live deep in the sewers are far too many to count. These include (but are not at all limited to) birthdays, someone getting married, quitting your job, going on a trip, going on a day trip, getting sick, someone else being sick, recovering from being sick, making someone sick, and being happy that you didn’t get sick when everyone around you is dying of the plague. And as if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, they also give gifts in return for GETTING A GIFT. Just as you imagine, this is a horrible, endless cycle of getting rice crackers, small individually wrapped cookies, and other random little things filled with sweet red beans.

Before I go any further, I will say that I enjoy receiving these little gifts, as any selfish human does. But is it worth it? OK, back to the complaining about the parts of this gift-giving system that I don’t like. As much as I’d like to say “it’s the thought that counts,” in Japan most of these gifts, especially in the workplace, have no thought or feeling at all attached, save for maybe the all-important-in-Japan feeling of obligation. People go through the motions of giving gifts because, like a lot of Japanese traditions, everyone else does it, and if you don’t do it, everyone notices and thinks there’s something socially wrong with you. People don’t care about giving boxes of cookies – they just do it because they have to. They don’t select individual gifts for their co-workers, but rather they stop by the many souvenir stands at train stations and airports to buy a standardized box of cookies, which are the same throughout the country with a different box listing it as a specialty of that area.

Sure, people do give gifts to people and mean it, but the gifts that are exchanged just as a formality become tiresome, especially when you have to consciously leave room in your suitcase anytime you go somewhere because you know you are expected to buy some kind of snack for all of your co-workers. I don’t know how much money is wasted on this industry in Japan, but it has to be pretty high.

Note: I originally got the idea for this post on Thursday morning. Between then and now I received yet another gift (a rice cracker) at work, for someone having a baby. Yes, the new mother sent the office a huge box of snacks. I am unaware of any gift sent to the mother.

I’m so grateful this country I’m living in has the natural wonder that is the Japanese Four Seasons*. Only Japan has a full spectrum of 4 distinct seasons. This may be hard for you to comprehend but let’s take a look at them:

• His Holy Majesty the Emperor’s Winter
• Graceful Dance of the Falling Cherry Blossoms Spring
• Who Needs Central AC When You Have Paper Fans Summer
• OMFG Nippon is the Greatest Country in the Galaxy Our Leaves Change Color Fall**

No other country in the world has the vast diversity in climates that Japan has, since every other country is blanketed in a single season year-round. For example: frigid cold (Canada), blazing sunshine (Australia), pollution and poisonous food (China), or gunfire (America).

The sad thing is there are some Japanese people who think something close to this. OK, maybe with less Pokemon and yeti, but the four seasons myth is something you hear far too often. Japanese people think their country is so special, a magical land that surely no other place on this planet could come close to. Yeeeeah. I’ve been asked multiple times if there is winter in St. Louis, as if the US is some alien planet devoid of temperature fluctuations. Old people, as usual, are even worse.

And before anyone starts thinking to themselves “they were probably just asking if the winter is cold, or how cold, or about the specific climate.” They weren’t. There’s no excuse.

*The terms “Japanese,” “Four,” and ” Seasons” are copyright 711 BC Emperor Jimmu, founder of Japan and direct descendant of the Sun God Amaterasu

**Alternatively referred to as OMFG Nippon is the Greatest Country in the Galaxy Our Leaves Change Color Autumn

We’ve had a few days recently of not-totally-balls-hot weather, and I’m getting hopeful. Is summer just about over? Seriously that would make things absolutely amazing. If I had to choose between sweltering heat and cool rain/overcast, I’d have to go with the latter. Mainly that’s because I’m tired of riding on hot, gross trains to and from work. Right now in Tokyo it’s 73 degrees F, slightly windy, and feels great outside. I know that this is mainly just because of all the rain we’ve been having, but if summer is wearing down I’m all for it.

Since I’m blogging already I might as well diverge into other random babbling. Nothing super interesting during the weeks following Obon Vacation, just working and not getting enough sleep at night due to watching TV and playing on the internet. On Saturday there was a Farewell Party for John who’s leaving Chiba after about a year. It was pretty good; a huge party of mostly people I didn’t know, but at least I commandeered a table for the few that I did. It doesn’t feel like it’s been a year since John got here. I think time is passing pretty quickly, which in a way is bad because I need to figure out exactly what I’m going to do with my life (been thinking about this a lot recently).

I know I don’t want to live in Japan forever, but the question of the moment is how long will I actually be here? And while I realize that a job isn’t the most important thing in life, in reality that’s going to be the deciding factor of where end up living. I guess if I could find a good job in the US I could move back, but I don’t know where in the US I would want to live. St. Louis would be good because my family and a lot of friends are there, but overall I feel like there’s not much else there for me. Japan/Tokyo is very comfortable right now, but I think it’s still different enough for me to have a slight sense of adventure living here. Maybe I’ve been living in too much of a dream world and need to get back to reality. Whether or not reality lies in the US I don’t know, but I need to kind of think what my next job will be. I suppose it’s time to start thinking of a career and some long-term goals, neither of which I have at the moment.

Mindfart.

You know how sometimes you have a dream that feels very real, and other times you have a real-life experience that seems very much like a dream? I had one of the latter today, at least I’m about 90% sure it actually happened. Either way it was pretty odd.

I was teaching classes in the evening down in Ichihara, which means I have to ride the trains about an hour and a half from Shinjuku back towards Chiba, then down south from there. Luckily if I time it right I can catch an express train from Tokyo station, meaning I don’t have to change trains mid-way. The train is usually fairly crowded, but after about 20 minutes a lot of people usually get off, yielding me around a 45-minute nap after grabbing a newly-vacated seat.

I wake up after around a half-hour and notice there’s a bit of a commotion going on in the train car. We had just left Soga station and I couldn’t imagine what was causing the usually lifeless train passengers to scoot around in such a still-silent panic. I sit up a bit and notice to my left that 3 pigeons are walking around. Yes, inside the moving train. They weren’t causing any problems, just walking and making that pigeon noise. Coo, maybe? Nonetheless, tons of people were freaking out as the pigeons just strutted about the floor, minding their business. Now, Japanese people do a lot of things that make no sense to me, but this next part really confused me. Instead of just letting the pigeons walk around and waiting until the next stop (less than 10 minutes), this one genius Japanese guy decides it would be a good idea to hit the ground near the pigeons with his umbrella.

ID. I. OT.

So of course the pigeons go flying, trying to avoid being hit with an umbrella. They head towards the windows, which of course are closed and have people sitting in front of them. The birds hit the windows and land on people, then jump around again as people try to swat at them or shake them off. The situation has just become much much worse because Mr. Wizard thought his magic umbrella would cause the 3 pigeons to vanish in a puff of smoke. So the panic level continues to rise as now you have people all over the long train car getting up and running to either the corners or to the next car. The pigeons are getting more excited now, just trying to figure out how to get off this train while avoiding getting hit by Moron of the Month’s umbrella. Then 1 or 2 more idiots start using their umbrellas (the situation might not have been as bad if it weren’t raining earlier today) to “protect themselves” from the pigeons, creating a vicious cycle or retardedness. I stand up, still slightly asleep having woken up less than a minute ago, and see one of my former co-workers running towards me. I think this was when I started to think I was still in a dream, because what in the world was she doing on this train?*

She jumps into action like she’d been specially trained to deal with pigeons on a train car, opening up a nearby window then running to catch one of the pigeons. She does, checks to make sure there are no trees or electrical poles next to the tracks, and releases pigeon #1 back outside. I get the message and run to open up the other windows on the train, while every other person on the train either 1) sits there as if nothing was going on, 2) quietly runs to the next train car to escape or 3) stare at me or my co-worker out of confusion, as if we were playing catch with a midget covered in peanut butter. Not a single person helped, opened a window, or even said anything. Japanese people love to act like nothing is going on around them. I’m pretty sure that if Godzilla really did attack this country, the reaction of the general public would be to continue walking as if nothing was happening. Or maybe they would try throwing their umbrellas.

So once she got the other 2 pigeons cleared off the train with her bare hands, we closed the windows, wiped our hands, and had a brief chat as the train pulled off at my stop. Needless to say I was pretty impressed. I definitely wouldn’t have done that myself. So that was probably the most exciting 5 minutes I’ve ever had immediately upon waking up. I’m pretty sure this actually happened.

*She was going to Goi to work, obviously.

I went to the Statue of Liberty for the first time on Friday. No, no, not in New York. This is a replica statue they have in Odaiba. It’s not as big as the real one, of course. More on Odaiba later.

There’s just one more day left of Golden Week, the unofficial national spring break here in Japan. I’ve been doing a lot of relaxing and sleeping, which is pretty much what I always do, although this vacation has felt like the end of an era, since as soon as the break finishes I’m back to working pretty much everyday. I’m doing part-time hours until June, then I start the full-time regular job. I’m kind of looking forward to getting back to reality, but it’s going to be hard to give up all the freedom (and sleep) that I’ve come to enjoy over the past few months. I guess the party had to stop sometime. I’ll be working in an office in Shinjuku, which brings with it the added bonus of a daily morning commute into Tokyo. I’m sure this blog will reflect the inevitable frustrations and problems that come with being packed into nasty, crowded trains full of old Japanese salarymen who all wear the unmistakable scent of “old ass man.” And June is going to be the hot, humid rainy season too. Great.

OK so what else did I do during Golden Week? On Friday I headed to Odaiba, going to the area with Fuji TV and Palette Town and stuff. Surprisingly I had never been to that area, and it was pretty surprising walking around because I just kept thinking to myself “how did I not know this place existed!?” I’d been to Odaiba a few times, but usually the area with Tokyo Big Site, and never this other area. First stop was the Statue of Liberty, which was funny because it was so small and out of place. It has its back to the bay and Rainbow Bridge, with an elevated walkway close to it so you can take pictures. If you have your back to the water, you can see the space station-looking Fuji TV building. It’s easier for me to just show you a picture:

I really like that picture because it makes me think of one of those weird monster movies where aliens steal all the Earth’s monuments and throw them together. I guess here you have a space station, the Statue of Liberty, and a… jungle? Haha. Anyways. Had okonomiyaki for lunch at Odaiba Aqua City, a big mall and not an aquarium like I had always thought. Also checked out Sony Mediage and Palette Town. I got dragged to a “Picture Book Show” at the Fuji TV building, but it was cool because the rest of Fuji TV is way sweet. They had a few of the studios viewable, and also props and displays from past shows.

The other big event during Golden Week was a party we organized on Saturday, which was way fun and we had a pretty good turnout. 12 people for the first party at Amataro, then 8 remained for karaoke. I was quite impressed – usually over half the group will flake out when it comes time to the all nighter, but we were going (relatively) strong this time. Of course, all night karaoke is a grueling ordeal, with McDonald’s breakfast (朝マック) being the goal at the finish line. We made it, and Bryan ate the Mega Muffin. It was impressive…

…but it was even more impressive when he finished it, said he was still hungry, and got a Sausage McMuffin set too. We tried to convince him to just go for the “Mega Day,” but he decided not to.