Misadventures in Translation

Last Wednesday and Thursday (11/22 – 11/23) were spent in Tokyo. The main purpose of my trip was to see The Mars Volta. It was definitely worth the trip. It’s one of my favorite concerts I’ve been to. Two hours of nonstop playing was awesome. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the show

The concert was at Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba.

Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler Zavala

The Mars Volta. You can only see 6 of the 8 members in this photo.

Cedric Bixler Zavala

This guy came all the way from France to see The Mars Volta. That’s hardcore dedication. I would never go to another county just to see a band.

If you want to see more pictures from the concert, please click this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anwooldridge/sets/72157594382262022/

After the concert, I met a friend at the Roppongi district in Tokyo. I ate at the Tokyo Hard Rock Cafe and then went to a couple of clubs. Very fun times at the discotheque.

The next day, I purchased an all day subway pass (around 7 USD) and went all over Tokyo. Here is a break-down of the places I went:

• Odaiba – an artificial island that’s now famous for it’s shops.
• Roppongi – a popular nighttime haven for foreigners.
• Asakusa – an area ofTokyo with traditional Japanese architecture, shrines, and temples. Most were destroyed in WWII and then rebuilt.
• Akihabara – an area well-known for its electronic shops.
• Shibuya – a popular area for Tokyo’s younger set. Many shops ranging from the Gap to Gucci.
• Harajuku – an area well-known for youth fashion trendsetting.
• Shinjuku – Tokyo’s skyscraper district.
• Ueno – this area has nice shops and large open market. At the open market, a person can find many good discounts.

Now, here are some pictures from around Tokyo. If you want to see more, please click this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anwooldridge/sets/72157594394185171/

Me at the Kaminarimon Gate to Sensoji Temple in Asakusa

Nakamise-dori leading to Sensoji Temple. Many shops trying to sell crappy (sometimes good) stuff to tourists.

Sensoji Temple. Notice the smoke in the middle. You are supposed to bath and inhale the incense for good luck. Or cancer. Whichever comes first.

This is the Fuji TV Building in Odaiba.

Japan shrunk our Statue of Liberty and stole it.

Japanese Stampede in Shibuya! This intersection is like this all day long.

Tokyo Tower in Roppongi.

Poor girl. Maybe she should’ve studied Kanji harder. She is handing out flier’s for one of Akihabara’s many maid cafes. The maid cafes are very popular among the otaku (geeks). The maids call the guests master and give them a royal treatment. It’s a about the closest to having a real conversation with a girl most of the geeks will ever get. Too bad they have to pay.

This store is all over the place in Tokyo. Stay safe! Too bad its catered to the Japanese market.

I didn’t have Thanksgiving, but I guess I had the equivalent of it on Friday night (11/24). It wasn’t meant to be a substitute, but I will say it was. I went to eat dinner at Kobayashi-sensei’s house. He is a teacher from Oizumi Junior High School in Hokuto. I went there with Kazue, Megumi, and another ALT, John Tejeda. It was big dinner. Sushi, salad, udon, tofu, chicken, and vegetables. No turkey, though.

Saturday night (11/25), I hung out with Tomita-sensei in Kofu. Ate some cheap ramen, went to some good bookstores, videostores, and to Don Quixote. As I’ve mentioned before, Don Quixote is a large entertainment and shopping center. At Don Quixote, we took purikura. Purikura translates into Print Club. At the purikura booths, you take several photos, edit them, and then you get a print out. The photos are adhesive. Purikura is extremely popular in Japan. We took purikura to give as a prize for our students in our elective English class. I don’t have a scanner, so you will have to excuse the quality of the photo.

Pretty homosexual, eh?

Thursday, I will have a farewell dinner with Kazue. She is returning to the United States to resume her studies there since she finally got a new visa. It was fun teaching math on the side. I guess I’ll have more time to study Japanese now.

This weekend (Dec 1st through the 3rd), I will be in Tokyo again with Tomita-sensei. His friend is letting us stay at his house. Tokyo is huge, so there is still much more to see and do.

After a long update, you are once again caught up. Now, for your Japanese moment of zen:

I’m going to start giving the peace sign every time I get done taking a poop.

If you can’t see the video, click this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSn9VRsZWbY

It’s been another interesting week.

By the way, I’m not getting married any time soon. Nor, do I have a girlfriend. Yet…

This past weekend, I hung out with Tomita-sensei (the young guy with 1500 CD’s) on Friday in Kofu City. We ate some delicious ramen, played ping-pong and darts, and harassed the Japanese waiting in line for the PS3 over here. The PLAYSTATION 3 launch in Japan sucked. Japan only had 80,000 units. So, many people were disappointed. Americans will complain about their measly 200,000 units, but Japan had it worse. The Japanese are more loyal to the Sony brand than Americans. Why did Sony feel the need to give their most loyal customers the shaft?

Saturday evening (11/11) was spent hanging out with a girl from Yamanashi City. We had some Italian food, went to Don Quixote (a large shopping/play center), and a book store.

Sunday (11/12), I played tennis with Hatano-sensei from Akeno Elementary School. We met up with a few of her friends from Minami Alps City. We played tennis for five hours. One of the Minami Alps City boys gave me the name, “Dynamite Sexy Adam.” I was flattered. After tennis, we all ate dinner and talked for around 4 or 5 hours. It was a long day.

This week has been teaching teaching teaching and trying to hook-up Tomita-sensei with the hot librarian from my elementary school. Trying to figure out when many people are free can be a difficult task.

Friday (11/17), I ate dinner with Tomita-sensei again. Then, we meet up with one of the older teachers from my school. I walk into the restaurant to find him drunk and reading a freshly-minted smut magazine. The initial conversations went a little like this:

• “You like this girl?”
• “Yeah, she’s nice.”
• “How about this one?”
• “Yeah, her too.”
• “You want to !#$!@#$???”
• “Of course.”
• “You’re a smart guy. I like you.”

Thanks to him, I now know of various “fun-time establishments” where I can lose lots of money. He also conferred his great wisdom in “the way of happy-fun-time-make-with-woman.” I am now a much wiser person thanks to Sensei’s great knowledge in this field. I would post the actual contents of the conversation, but that would make this site rated XXX, hardcore, dominatrix to the nth power. If you really want to know, send me an e-mail.

Tonight (Saturday, Nov. 18th) will be spent hanging out with the other ALT’s in Yamanashi at Addiagios Italian Restaurant in Ostuki. When you get many foreigners in one place, you get many stares from the local Japanese.

I have no plans for Sunday. I will probably study Japanese.

Monday, I have no school! It’s Prefectural Day.

Wednesday, I will go see The Mars Volta at Zepp Tokyo in Tokyo. I’ll spend the night in Tokyo since Thursday is another day of NO SCHOOL. Labor Thanks Day! I plan on hitting up Akihabara, Asakusa, Shibuya, Ginza, and Roppongi.

I apologize for the lack of pictures this week. I’ve done nothing really that picture worthy. After being at Tokyo this week, I’ll have many more to show. I’ll also post some good pictures of Mt. Fuji and the surrounding mountains soon. It’s capped with snow and is very beautiful now.

Now, for your Japanese Moment of Zen.This video is a mockumentary on Japanese culture. Everything is false or grossly exaggerated. These comedians are pretty popular here.

If you can’t see the video, click this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIb6ZSqal64

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted. I apologize. The past couple of weeks have been very busy. On Oct. 28th and 29th, I helped the Yamanashi International Center in Kofu with a Halloween program. On the 28th, I helped get the International Center ready for the poor, deprived Japanese children. We set up a trick-or-treat room, a “there-are-human-remains-in-the-box-that-are-really-nasty-feeling-food-products” room, a haunted house, a jack o’ lantern room, and some other cultural rooms. I was in the haunted house. My friends and I got to scare the crap out of little Japanese kids. If they weren’t already afraid of foreigners, they sure will be now. We made several cry and were even able to scare a few parents out of the room. I think it was a good day of international exchange.

On Oct. 30th and 31st, I had a boring set of conferences to attend. There wasn’t much useful information. The only beneficial thing was the exchange of lessons plans. The other information was just a repetition of things I’ve already heard. The only interesting thing was the good hotel we were lodged in. The hotel was set-up like a traditional Japanese hotel. Nice tatami mat rooms, comfortable futons, and a nice onsen (public bath) on the top floor.

Part of the JET Program involves international exchange. I’ve been teaching Halloween to my elementary school students. I’ve talked about the origins and how much kids in America enjoy it. Too bad they don’t have trick-or-treating here. Houses are so close together that it would take no time to get a crapload of candy. The candy would probably suck, though. One of the activities was to color their own jack o’ lanterns. Here are a couple of pictures from the lesson. You can click here for the full album.

This past weekend was another busy weekend. On Friday, Nov. 3rd, I had no school due to Culture Day. That day, I ran 15 km in the morning. I’m trying to run more often and longer. I’m interested in running a full marathon of 42 km. So, I’m setting up a plan to run every morning before school. My weight hasn’t changed since I’ve been here. My eating habits in America weren’t that much different from what I’ve done in Japan. Running several times a week will probably drop my weight from the current 72 kg (160 lbs) to around 65 kg (145 lbs). I’ll lose some of my muscle gains in the process, but I’m interested in trying a full marathon. That night, I went to a friend’s party in Kiyosato and made some new Japanese friends.

On Nov. 4th, I administered a math test in the morning. I have been teaching a girl Mathematics over the past month in preparation for her qualifying test. Hopefully, she did well. Maybe I should try to find someone to teach Chemistry or Biology to. That afternoon, I went to play badminton and table tennis with the teachers from Akeno Elementary School. I dominated everything with my American Power. That night, I went with the elementary schools teachers to their office party. I got to show off my awesome karaoke skills again. I think I need a Grammy for my stirring renditions of YMCA and Detroit Rock City.

On Nov. 5th, I went leaf viewing with my friends Megumi and Kazue at Nishizawa Valley (Nishizawakeikoku) in Yamanashi City. It was a very beautiful area with many waterfalls. I want to go to Kyoto for leaf viewing, but my schedule for this month is too busy. Here are some good pictures from the day. You can click here for the full album.

Megumi, Me, and Kazue. Please note that one is wearing a jacket and the other is wearing a sweater. It wasn’t that cold. I’ve heard too many Japanese people say it’s cold now. It’s not cold. Since weather is a major conversation piece in Japan, I’ll just have to put up with it.

Me, Megumi, and Kazue.

Yamanashi is a very pretty area. It’s a lot like Kentucky.

All of Nov. 5th was spent with a bunch of women. Just as what would happen in an English speaking situation, I had to endure long conversations of women issues in Japanese. I understood maybe between 60-80% of what was being said. I just pretended not to know. Everything from menstrual issues to dieting. I only chimed in on the diet and exercise part since I don’t have experience in the menstrual field besides memorizing the hormones for Biology classes. There were also some other things I heard that are just a little too spicy for some of the people who read this…

After hiking, we went to Megumi’s mother’s house in Enzan. Megumi’s mother was very interesting. She’s the inspiration for this post’s title. I got the usual, “You’re cute and cool,” from her. What I wasn’t expecting was this line I heard later in the evening:

• I like you. Here’s a present. Take my daughter.
• OK. Thank you.

From what I could gather, Megumi’s mother was single. She reminded me of one of those single mothers that try to stay hip and cool. She drives a sports car, doesn’t dress like other women her age, and doesn’t look like she’s 53. At Megumi’s mother’s house, I had to endure more women conversations. These were actually interesting, though. It was a lot of discussion about kimonos. Megumi’s mother owns some very nice kimonos.

Megumi’s mother can cook a good meal. Thanks to my many Japanese friends, I have had to cook and buy very little food this month. I always feel bad taking all this stuff, but at least I politely refuse before gorging myself.

I have many friends in Japan. In three months, I now have more phone numbers in my cell-phone here than I did in the U.S. Here are some pictures of my other friends that I haven’t introduced yet.

This is Eri.

Minami and Izumi. College students from Kofu.

Akiko

Eriko

Aiyama

Reiko and Menami.

Killer Panda and Kazue

Now, for a fun little game of speculation. Which one am I engaged to be married to in the next couple of months???

Here is the usual Japanese moment of zen:

This is an old commercial with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Many American actors can make A LOT of money by doing the silliest commercials ever over here in Japan. This was the concept behind the movie Lost in Translation. There are many different examples, but this is one of my favorites.