Misadventures in Translation

Old man winter has come to Japan. It’s cold. It sucks. Fortunately, I live near the mountains and can easily go try out some winter sports for the first time. I was lucky enough to be able to purchase a discounted snowboard from a friend in Yamanashi. Saturday, I went with another ALT and two other Japanese friends to Koumi Re-Ex in the Nagano Prefecture. Right now, it’s fake snow. However, I didn’t really care since it was my first time. Koumi Re-Ex is definitely a good place for beginners. Also, the prices on the ski lifts are not bad. It’s only an hour away from my house, so I will most likely go there and other places in the area several times during the ski season.

My ichi-nichi-ken (All Day Ticket). It was very cheap that day since only one slope was open.

My sweet new board.

I’m sorry that I don’t have any pictures from the ski trip. I actually forgot to bring my camera for once.

Monday, I hung out with Sakamoto and his friends (Takashi, Kouichi, and Kei) again. Thanks to them, I know some of the better places to go in my small town. Sakamoto’s mother was kind enough to drive us to the izakaya. I had the usual self-introductions. After dropping us off, she said in surprisingly well-pronounced English, “Oh, nice face!” Japanese women love me.

I love the fact that the Japanese have no clue what they’re wearing. Sakamoto is a cool guy. I am now the proud owner of this cap. Now people will know that, “This Bitch Starts Automatically.”

Takashi, Sakamoto, Kei, Some White Guy, and Kouichi. I’m the master of karaoke in two languages.

As of now, there aren’t any plans for this weekend. My first unscheduled weekend in a long time. As I said in the previous post, next weekned is Akeno’s Bonenkai (Year End Party). The next day, Tomita and I will head to Chiba for his wrestling friend’s Christmas Party. To live in Japan, one must have strong intestinal fortitude.

For winter vacation, I will probably go and visit my host family down in Aichi again. Since I will have more time, I will get to stay over longer.

On the topic of travel, I will most likely need to come back to America during the summer. Why? One of my best friends, Jon, is getting married on July 14th. Maybe I can be the wedding singer due to all my karaoke experience.

Now, for your Japanese moment of zen:

It’s almost Christmas time. So, time for the Christmas videos.

This is Ayumi Hamasaki and Kyoko Fukada performing White Christmas. Ayumi’s English is okay, but Kyoko needs more practice. Since they can’t sing all of the song, they just turn it into some rock version of White Christmas and dance around. The redeeming factor is the Japanese Santa on the bongos.

If you can’t see the video click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1-nfm2uGsI

The following two videos are from a Japanese program covering W(Double You)’s trip to Tokyo Disney for Christmas. Altogether, it’s about twenty minutes. Don’t worry about missing any meaningful dialogue. It’s pretty much themsaying:

• “OHH, soooo cute!”
• “Look! It’s Mickey! Soooo cute!”
• “Look! It’s Minnie! Soooo cute!”
• “WOW! That’s sooo pretty!”
• “We’re popular for no apparent reason!”

Maybe it’s better that you don’t understand. There is some English in the video since there is some goofy English guy in there for comedic effect. Of course, there is the usual Japanese tradition of eating something and overexagerrating the wonderful experience of tasting the food.

If you can’t see the videos click this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSCT1yMVvgE and this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGWv1rOOOE