Happy 4th!

Happy Fourth of July to all of you back in the States!  Surprisingly, the Fourth isn't a big holiday here.  Go figure.

Our Independence Day has turned out to be similar to one back home.  He went hiking all morning.  Now we're getting ready for a barbecue.  Kelli will be eating her fill of salmon, which costs about one third as much as it does in Colorado.  I'll be eating yakitorii which is chicken kababs.  We made salsa and bought some sparklers.  We're ready to party.

The hike was nice.  The rainy season has turned the trail into a steep muddy mess.  We had mud up to our knees by the time we finished.  One strange thing was how loud the forest is.  There is a constant drone of birds and bugs.  With the number of mosquitoes attacking us, we thought we'd be covered in bites from head to toe, but it's not too bad.  Maybe our blood doesn't taste too good.

Japan doesn't really have an Independence Day.  They have existed more or less as a people for two thousand years or more.  Only one foreign power has ever occupied their territory for very long....  A local festival in our town has been going on for 400 years in memorial of a large fire.  About the time America was first being settled by Europeans, people were commemorating a town blaze.  We come from a young mixing pot of a country.

To all you people back home, have a happy Fourth!  Savor those bratwurst and that potato salad.  Celebrate the American way: blow stuff up!

Roadkill

Before we left Colorado, between Durango and Pagosa you would see at least eight dead animals on the side of the road.  In a one hour drive you would see at least that many dead deer and elk.  That's a lot of carnage.

Well, roadkill happens here too.  The largest thing I've seen is a raccoon type animal, and I've only seen two of those, but that doesn't mean there isn't road kill.

To get to work I have to walk for ten minutes.  In that ten minute walk I saw three dead....caterpillars.  Those little guys are everywhere right now.  Sunday I saw one crawling across the road and was so surprised I almost swerved to miss it.  On that narrow mountain road we probably would've died in a fiery car crash.  Can you imagine trying to explain that one?  Hi Saint Peter. We died in a car wreck. How did we wreck? Uh...I swerved to miss an animal.  What animal?  Hmmmm...

There are TONS of caterpillars.  I saw three dead caterpillars and four still crawling away.  We went for a walk in a park Monday and saw over a dozen.

I can't wait to see what other creatures are cruising around.

Awkward Moments, Part 2

Maybe you noticed Awkward Moments Part 2 was missing.  I never published it.  Well sit back and get ready to laugh at my misfortune and numbskullery.

In Japan, convenience stores really are just convenience stores.  In America they usually are associated with gas stations.  Not here.  They are distinct things.  Here you don't even get out of your car to get gas.  You tell them how many liters you want and while they pump it, they hand you a damp washcloth to wipe down your dash.

Convenience stores really are convenient.  Here utility bills have a little bar code on them.  You can take them to the nearest convenience store and pay them there.  It rocks.  No stamps. No envelopes.  Just show up with cash, the bill, and grab some Doritos, and you are on your way.

Most men don't wear shorts, but Kelli and I go running in shorts.  One day we decided to run to the nearest convenience store to pay a a couple of bills.  I counted out the cash.  I needed some coins so I went in the other room and grabbed them.  I dropped the coins in the envelop with the bills, and away we went.

One more piece of context before I go further: Japanese clerks and waiters are very polite as a rule.  They are always helpful and usually apologize for your mistakes for you.  Here, the costomer is always right.  Okay, back to the story.

We got to the store (Sunkus, pronounced "sanks" which is their approximate pronunciation of "thanks") and I pulled out the bills.  I'm sure we stuck out.  Not only are we white, but we were sweaty and wearing running clothes.  I handed the clerk the bills and he scanned the first one.  I looked in the envelope and I realized I had left the cash on the table when I went to get the coins!  I gestured to the clerk to stop and I apologized (I'm sorry, gomennasai) and asked him to cancel the transaction.  He just stared at me.  He never said a word.

We ran home, grabbed the cash, and ran back.  This time he scanned both bills and when I saw the total I realized I had forgotten to carry the one when I had added the bills!  I apologized again and asked him to cancel one bill.  Again, Mr. Stony-face did as I asked.  We ran home again, got the cash, and then did what any man would do.  We went to a different convenience store.

The lady at Family Mart was much more sympathetic.

Awkward moments are just part of travel.

Flowers

The Japanese word for flower is hana. They are everywhere. Kelli and I took a stroll around our neighborhood taking pictures of the flowers. Enjoy the show.

Kelli took all the pictures.  She wanted to catch the details that you miss when you just glance.

That bee was at least two inches long.  It must've been built by Sikorsky Helecopters

This is an evergreen tree.

These were only about an inch across.

Japanese gardens are beautiful.  If you want to see landscaping done right, come here!

Unbelievable

Sometimes thing in Japan strike me as foreign.  Sometimes things are different or funny.  Sometimes, things are just plain weird.

Today I was driving home and saw a man with a leash.  I thought it was just a leash because I couldn't see the animal on the end.  As I approached I saw what must be the smallest dog ever.  Is that a chihuahua?  No.

...

On the end of that leash was a guinea pig!  I can't believe I saw a Japanese man walking his speckled guinea pig. On a leash.  I laughed so hard I almost got in a car wreck.  Living in a foreign country you try to expect the unexpected.  Once in a while you still get surprised.  Thank goodness for the pleasant surprises.

The Performance

I need to start a list of things I never thought I would do that now I've done.  I'll start that list with "Perform in a taiko performance at a musical event in Japan."

The language barrier is an ever present monolith, overshadowing every interaction.  We thought we performed at 10:00am and the event went until 2:00.  No.  We played at ten and at two.  Guess who the open act was.  I'll give you a hint: it wasn't the Rolling Stones.

We showed up an hour early to don our traditional apparel.  Kelli and I wore white robes with black trim.  We wore black belts tied over it and black headbands.  I'd show you pictures, but as always, we forgot to take a camera.  Everyone else wore a different outfit; it was more of a white apron with a white headband.  We all wore cool ninja shoes, where your big toe goes in it's own pocket.  The whole time I was wearing the outfit, I had a nearly overwhelming desire to karate chop something.  I was holding big wooden drumsticks too, which didn't pacify the urge either.

The curtain on stage was down while we set up our drums.  The announcer talked for ever.  The head drummer nodded for us to kneel behind our drum.  Then we stood up.  Then we knelt.  He was talking for an awfully long time and we just wanted to get this over with.  As he kept talking we caught the word gaijin.  Our whole band broke out laughing. We've never been called gaijin in our hearing, because it is pretty rude to call someone a foreigner.  Well, now we were just called gaijin to an entire crowd of mostly traditional, reserved, elderly people.  After seeing the demographic of the crowd I developed a theory: He said it so the geriatric ward wasn't shocked to death by our appearance.

Eventually the curtain went up.  And we did our best to keep up, keep the beat, keep from feeling like a doofus.  We succeeded only moderately at all three.  It wasn't until we heard the audience clapping that it sunk in just how good our head drummer and club leader is.  She is rockin'.  It was hard not to lose the beat and just watch.

As a whole, our group did great.  After the song, we changed and went to watch the other acts.  There were fan dances and sword dances and singing and shamisen and flutes.  For lunch we all went outside and ate sushi.

Our club is awesome.  These people take the time to try and talk with us.  I get the sense that some of them are a little outside the Japanese norm, but I'm not sure.  Maybe once you get to know them, they let their guard down and become more animated.  We are grateful for them either way.  We feel welcome.

The only other male member of our band is a buff 58 year old.  He is a flute teacher, like his father before him.  He makes flutes, teaches flute, directs a high school band and is a ski instructor.  He drums like a maniac too.

To be honest, you can only take so much foreign singing in one day.  We were all relieved when the time came to suit up for the closing act.  The lead drummer's daughter, a cute nine year old, played her koto with us.  She wore her purple kimono with a dark purple and red obi.

Things didn't go much  better for Kelli and I this time, but what an experience.  The concussions of our drums filled the auditorium, our beats all moving together and then apart.  Whenever everyone was in unison it was a rush.  Maybe our drums added to the music.  Maybe they didn't.  Maybe we were more of a novelty.  Who cares?  We got to hear the music.

We have a couple weeks off from practice.  Maybe they were hoping to scare us away, but we're going back for more.

Taiko

So..... Tomorrow we have a taiko performance.  Stay tuned.  I'll write about the details tomorrow.  If the embarassment doesn't kill me.