Kairakuen

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, but most of you know how lazy I am :). Things are good here, spring's coming, which is really exciting! We went to Kai-rak-uen park last weekend, which was gorgeous. This park has the most ume (plum) trees in all of Japan-over 3,000. Anyways, the trees started blooming a few weeks ago so we went for the Ume Festival.



There was also a house there, built by an emperor (I think) called a Kobuntei. I really loved that house-I told Brian I wanted him to buy it for me. I don't think the Japanese government would go for it though.





The rooms all had sliding doors (like we have, I don't know what they're called) painted by famous Japanese artists. They were amazing...






Anyways, that's it for now-I gotta get to work. Take care!! Laura :)

Japan: The Land of Muzak

Okay, so this is what was perched on the outskirts of my mind last week: Japan's love affair with muzak; oh boy, is it a love affair! EVERYWHERE you go, you can't help but here smooth renditions (both orchestral and electronic) of a multitude of popular western songs. I've heard everything from Beyonce (Irreplaceable) and Madonna (Crazy For You), to Aerosmith and folk songs (Too-A-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral). There are many others of course, but I've been negligent in keeping track of them (various other hip-hop, alt. rock, folk songs, etc.).

My personal favorite odd song usage has to be the signal that every Japanese store I've been in (at closing time anyway) uses to signal it's time to wrap up your shopping and get the hell out: Auld Lang Syne. Grocery stores, recycle shops (2nd hand), electronics stores, if you're shopping there between 9 and 10pm, you'll hear Auld Lang Syne. It's an odd way to say 'Dear Customers, we're closing soon, please proceed to the check out with your purchases', but it's entertainin nonetheless. You here the drunken song of renewal while browsing the aisles, look up, and all of your fellow shoppers are making a pseudo zombie-shuffle towards the cashier, items in hand. Consumer programming at its best.

Seriously though, EVERYTIME we go for dinner we are serenaded by deliciously lame renditions of songs that were, in many cases, deliciously lame to begin with. I really should start taking names.

Anway, that's it for now. Next week I'll tell you about the non-muzak offerings of a specific grocery store. Later.

Free time

Hmmmm, what to blog about today? There were so many things I thought of during the week and, of course, I can't remember a single one of them right now. They were mostly along the lines of 'Japan: The land of...'. Huh. Let me sit here and ponder... (2mins later). Well, I'm too lazy to sit and think about one of the funny observations of the past week, so I'll go with a sad one instead.

Japan: The land of severely over-worked people. I encountered two students this week that really shed some light on just how driven and consumed the Japanese are concerning work and education.

The first was an adult student. When I asked about hobbies, the student replied that he currently had NO time for hobbies. The one hobby he had before joining the workforce post-University had been given up, as all his spare time is spent on extra study for work. He doesn't even have any of his old equipment. That's how little chance he'll ever have time for it again is. As a result, he had nothing to discuss, and with no textbook to fall back on, it made for and EXTREMELY interesting conversation *sarcasm - drip, drip*

The second was just SAD. I asked the same question of a 12yr old student. She thought for a moment, and then replied 'sleeping in my room'. Her classmate spoke of custom pictures with friends, but the only thing this girl REALLY loves to do when she gets a moment of free time is to sleep. These kids are so pushed in school, have so many extracurricular activities, that most are dead on their feet @ age eleven. That's still elementary school. My junior high kids remind me of college/university students, but without the energy to party.

Costco

So we went to Costco yesterday. Gotta love how close it is to us. It's only a mere 60ish km from us in Funabashi, Chiba (near Tokyo), and thanks to the magic that is Japanese roadways, it's a painless SEVEN HOUR ROUND TRIP!!!!! Yes, SEVEN HOURS!!!!!!! Suffice to say, we never go more than once a month. Hell, if we could get a decent selection of Western food elsewhere, we'd probably never go there... if not for the pizza. Costco has the best pizza in Kanto, PERIOD. It's so good that a friend of ours tagged along for that reason alone.

We also had our newest teacher come with, then spent the rest of the evening hanging out with her and a few of our co-workers, hence the reason for a Monday post. Our house has turned into a bit of a meeting point for our friends, as it has more space than the apartments (just think back to our original apartment - that's what they're living in). This also contributed to the late post, as we were up untill 2.30am with guests, then up @ 9am for the Costco run (which is late considering it opens at 10am, and any time you can shave off of peak traffic time is MARVELOUS).

So anyway, that's the latest. Oh, and we stopped by our favorite liquor store (as Costco isn't solely a liquor store). It's called Big Boss, has a picture of Al Capone, and has an insane selection of booze. Snapped a pic with a bottle of whiskey, the quantity of which can be found in pretty much ANY standard liquor store in Japan. Enjoy.

Earthquake

So we had the largest earthquake we've felt here so far this morning. Just before 7am, it was a 5.7 (richter I would assume, as the site I got the info off of was an international site and not Japanese) and lasted for a bout 15-20 seconds. It was enough that our bedroom light was swaying back and forth for a good minute afterward. We then went back to sleep.

On another note, I'm going on record that I (can't vouch for Laura) will post here EVERY Sunday (our time). Whether it's a quick 'Sorry, nothing to write about' post, or something that's been on my mind all week, I promise it'll be up here Sunday. That said, if I have something that's gotta go up earlier, that'll happen too. I simply needed to lay down some ground rules for myself concerning my posts, as I can let it go for a long time if I'm not kicking my own ass about it.

So see you next week.

Brian.