Charles and Neil
March 21, 2007
These two guys look alike, I think. The guy on the right is Neil Tennant, one of the Pet Shop Boys.
But who the heck is the guy on the left? He’s Charles Ayres, an actor/comedian based in Tokyo. He speaks almost perfect Japanese. I don’t think he’s well-known in Tokyo yet, but I suspect he will thrive. He plays a gay-ish character in the “5-ji-ni-muchuu” show on Tokyo MX-TV every Thursday. This Thursday show is really hillarious (notwithstanding the fact that the station is owned by the conservative Tokyo Metropolitan Government). In addition to show hosts’ way too liberal sexiest jokes for TV, Charles’s smart reactions to profane commentaries by show hosts are almost always funny.
Maybe it’s time to get in touch with “my family”…
March 20, 2007
Whenever I listen to the “80’s” music, the image of the Cloverdale community in Surrey, BC comes up. I stayed there for 2 weeks as a part of my high school’s cultural exchange program. Now I’m so ashamed of what I did to my host family there.
Tonight I was wondering what kind of car my senior “brother” was driving. It looked like a Buick… I searched through Wikipedia and figured out it was Buick Century. His car had a fairly serious crack in the windshled (he told me it was a bullet hole [and I took it seriously], but now I know it was a joke). I remember I threw up the first day he took me around the town in his car… I was so sick because of the jet lag and motion sickness. After 20 years, I’m flying between the American continent and Japan quite frequently, and don’t feel the jet lag at all.
I’m so imdebted to the Ferris family for my interesting (and happy) history afterwards. Unfortunately I haven’t been in touch with them for about two decades, but I really wanna talk with them. I wish I could surprise them by knocking their door in a few years.
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PS: Wow, I had no idea that “SMALLVILLE” was shot in Cloverdale. I found that accidentally by searching “Cloverdale (Ku-ro-ba-de-e-ru)” in Japanese at Google.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
March 19, 2007
Last Saturday was the official St. Patrick’s day, even in Tokyo. I guess the Omote-Sando area was crowded with “happy” spectators (I couldn’t be there for some errands).
I joined the parade more than ten years ago, when I had connections with Irish people in Tokyo. In my undergraduate days I won an award for my thesis, and the gift was two round-trip tickets to Ireland (because the program was supported by the Irish government). St. Patrick’s was a real fun experience. There weren’t many Irish bars around Tokyo at that time. The oldest one, Paddy Foley’s, was already there in Roppongi (at Roi Buliding). I remember there was another one nearby the Shinjuku JR station, called Dubliners or something like that.
Unfortunatley I haven’t been able to reconnect with the people I met then. This year, I celebrated the day with a “can” of Guiness.
European hit songs in Japan: the Bad Day and a “Nasty” song
March 13, 2007
I’ve just found on the Internet that Daniel Powter has just “won” a Japanese award for his hit song Bad Day today. It’s amazing to see how long it took for the song to come to Japan (presuably via the US). I heard the song first in France almost three years ago.
Meanwhile, Martin Soveig’s “Jelousy” is now promoted by a Japanese entertainment management firm. The song is indeed a hit song in Europe (I’ve heard it many times on NRJ), but why that song? The reason is “Jelousy” sounds like a Japanese word “Yara-shii” which literally means “nasty.” So the lylics sound extremely weird (and kinda fun) to the Japanese audience. The singer and the chorus keep repeating “A~ha, nasty!” in a high-pitched voice.
Fighting against the Japanese mold
March 4, 2007
Mold is a serious problem in Japanese bathrooms. Because most Japanese people bathe in hot tubs and wash their body outside the tubs, Japanese bathrooms tend to be muggy and warm for most of the day. It’s an ideal environment for fungus to grow.
I was amazed to see colonies of mold growing in my bathroom only two months after I moved in this apartment in Tokyo. I do clean the bathroom often, but mold does grow.
In response, an effective mold-treating product has long been used in Japan. It’s called Kabi-Killer (something like “mold buster” in English). It’s sold at almost all drug stores in Japan. It does work. I used it today and the mold disappeared only in a few minutes. But it’s somewhat toxic. I guess it’s a mix of chlorine bleach and some chemicals (so you can’t bring it to the US on the airplane). Make sure to ventilate the bathroom well and escape from the bathroom immediately after applying the chemical.
“Keigo” the strange tradition of Japan
March 1, 2007
It is indeed very difficult to speak the correct Japanese, even for the Japanese natives.
One of the most difficult issue is the use of “keigo” and “kenjo-go”. These are official variants of the formal Japanese language, and deployed to express one’s attitude toward others without totally changing the sentence structure. For example, “to go” can be translated in three ways:
Iki-masu: regular “to go”.
Irasshai-masu: referring to the action of going enacted by someone who is superior to the ego. This mode is called “Keigo.”
Ukagai-masu: referring to the ego’s action of going, and ego is humiliating one’s status relative to the others. This mode is called “Kenjo-go.”
“Iki”, “Irasshai” and “Ukagai” all refer to exactly the same kind of action: to go. But these different words are deployed consciously to embed one’s recognition of status toward the other without changing the sentence structure. It is in fact quite easy to manipulate the sentence because you don’t have to change the sentence structure. What’s really difficult is that you need to horn your sense of “your own status relative to the other” without asking.
What’s more complicating in the recent days is the use of “wrong Keigo and Kenjo-go.” Especially at burger joints, convenience, and other kinds of inhumane outlets, attendants often use wrong kinds of Keigo. The funny thing is that many Japanese are uncomfortable with the wrong kinds of Keigo, but they are also unsure about what’s the “right” kind of Keigo.
Even most Japanese feel it difficult to deploy the correct Keigo and Kenjo-go. If you’ve started learning Japanese, you don’t have to worry about it. If you are somewhat comfortable with conversing with your Japanese friends in Japanese, maybe it’s a good time for you to try the correct Keigo languages.
Tokushima Ramen Noodle
February 25, 2007
As I mentioned before, Rarmen (Ramen, Raamen) is a special kind of Japanese noodle. Originally it was a kind of Chinese noodle, but it has been adapted to the Japnese taste for the last 50 years. Now many cities around Japan has their own special kind of Rarmen.
Despite of its unpopularity among Japanese, I like Tokushima Rarmen. Tokushima is a city in Shikoku, about 1.5 hours from Tokyo by airplane. Its taste is quite distinct from others. First of all, the noodle tends to be a bit soggy. The soup is also a bit on the lukewarm side. Many people considers those characteristics as “failure,” but most Rarmen in Tokushima tastes like that. The interesting feature of Tokushima Rarmen is that it’s considered as a main dish, not as a meal itself; Many people in Tokushima eats Rarmen with a bowl of rice.
Due to its uniqueness, it’s hard to find a restaurant serving Tokushima Rarmen in Tokyo. I found one in Ikebukuro. It’s called “Honma-ya” (link to the restaurant’s web site). I tried it last week, and its Rarmen (700 yen) tasted somewhat authentic. I felt the soup was a bit mild and hot, and the noodle was cooked like regular Rarmen (i.e., not soggy). But overall, it was definitely a Tokushima Rarmen. If you are interested in trying a different kind of Rarmen in Tokyo, that’s the place to go.
Honmaya in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.
Don’t eat that curry tonight
February 19, 2007
The weather has been pretty nice these days in Tokyo. The air was particularliy light and warm this afternoon. It’s hard to keep me focused on my projects in this warm weather.
I cooked a pot of Japanese curry sauce last night, but it tastes much better tonight. Last night it was a bit too hot and watery. Tonight, it’s pretty mild and tasety. Japanese curry tastes much better if it’s left overnight off the heat. I don’t know why, but the difference is quite obvious. When you try cooking a pot of Japanese currey, plan ahead and leave it overnight (but be careful about food poisoning in the summer).
Kawadsu Sakura in Tokyo
February 11, 2007
There’s a famous “Sakura (cherry)” location in Tokyo nearby my apartment. Bank of a narrow river (which is fortified with cement, unfortunately) is planted with so many Sakura trees. The riverside will look fabulous in the spring.
I found a strange Sakura tree on the river bank this week. Although other Sakura trees are still in the winter mood, that tree is now almost in full blossom. I suspected that the former Vice President’s visit to Tokyo last week had summoned him to warn us about the global warming.
It turned out that the tree was a different kind of Sakura tree (Someone had put a tiny sign on it). It is “Kawadsu Sakura.” It is a native of Izu peninsula, about two hours away from Tokyo. This kind of Sakura tree is somewhat smaller than the regular Sakura (a.k.a. Somei-Yoshino), but it blossoms much earlier in February.
It’s a very lonely Sakura tree on the river bank. Others are still sleeping, but it’s now awake and hinting us that the winter is almost over.
Forgot to bring Teiki-ken
February 8, 2007
Ugh. Last night I put my Teiki-ken in my jacket when I left the train station… and today I’m wearing a different jacket. I realized that at the station this morning, and I had to buy a single-ride ticket…
(an image of Teiki-ken from Tokyo Metro’s web site)
Teiki-ken is a Japanese version of train/subway pass. Because Japanese subways/trains are charged by the length of each ride (not like the flat fare system in the US), every Teiki-ken is only valid for one segment (i.e., between two stations). Passes are vaild for one, three, or six months. Student discount is available, and the discount is huge.
