Basic Black

In the last 24 hours, lots of things fell to pieces. Yesterday, reaching to put a box on a high shelf at in a store room at school, I aggravated a pulled a muscle in my shoulder. A bath and rest will fix it. Meanwhile, I'm out of the dojo for a few days.

On my way out of the front hall of the school, I pulled too hard on the tab of my boot and ripped through the zipper. The school nurse patched me up with a boot lace and a few safety pins. And then the zipper of my cheap shoulder bag let go. The contents stay inside, fortunately.

Usually I come apart on the phone in Japanese. Some Japanese do not notice my accent, or my lack of full fluency, and do not slow down for me. I tend to fumble when confronted with someone motormouthing me inj Japanes. Today, the downstairs office phoned me in the administration room to say there was a visitor, and I went down to receive him as everyone else was busy. The officer who had received said visitor and called the admin room was a little surprised. Who had she talked to on the phone? Yes, that was me. I feel a lot more confident when I've been reading in Japanese.

I'm still nothing near fluent. My suspicion has been that, if I could read more, I could absorb more Japanese language in a natural way.

So, I've been looking for reading material I can read quickly, stuff that interests me. When I get tired of trying to memorize kanji cards out of context (easily misplaced and quickly forgotten), I have been reading A Graded Japanese Reader , which includes short stories, essays and newspaper items, and Instant Business Japanese which presents some funny dialogues loaded with useful vocabulary and expressions. My favorite Japanese as a Second Language (JSL) magazine is J-Life, which you can get online at ALC Japan. I find these materials keep me interested. This morning's train ride went by so fast while I was reading was an essay about a group of men who started a charity to preserve　the folk art (originating in Buddhist story telling) of kamishibai　紙芝居. Interesting insight into Japanese culture while learning vocabulary.

The vocabulary and themes I'm reading are varied and help me cope with everyday life in Japan. I just keep going, reading a bit at a time. Sensei tells us to build foundation a bit at a time. Fifteen to thirty minutes a day of reading plus grammar review will build it up. I'm drawing on the concept of extensive reading to learn to cope with longer texts, learn vocabulary in context, and review known grammar.

I'm a compulsive reader. Now I can start to satisfy this urge with the heaps of reading material produced in Japan.

English language networking in Japan

English language networks between Japan resident bloggers, Japan wiki projects and Japan related websites are spreading like fungus. A spore made its way to me when Daily J interviewed South of Reality about the English teaching market in Japan.

Tori of Daily J contacted me and we have shared some linkage and memes, and Tori kindly put the meme post I wrote on JapanSoc, a bookmarking site specifically for Japan-related topics.

お好み焼き Okonomiyaki

Do you know about this pan-fried dish that is common in Japanese home kitchens? Okonomiyaki means "Whatever you like, fried", and has a simple base that every Japanese person knows. Usually, okonomiyaki has a batter made of flour, water, beaten egg, and a sticky potato called yamaimo. After that, whatever you want goes into it. Tonight, mine is pork on the bottom with Korean spicy kimchi in the batter.
自分の家庭料理でお好み焼がき出来ました。

I can't really tell you my recipe. I just eyeball it. One egg, well beaten, a tablespoon of flour, a handful of chopped cabbage, a bit of grated potato if you have it, a tablespoon of water if you don't, a teaspoon or so of grated or pickled ginger, and a few grams of pork or bacon. Then I threw in some Korean kimchi. If you want an authentic recipe, see this awesome bilingual blog. I like how this recipe uses daishi fish stock to make up the liquid part of the recipe. There are many regional variations of okonomiyaki, and nearly as many recipes as there are okonomiyaki afficionados.

お好み焼き生で Here is my own home-made okonomiyaki naked.

やっぱり私は青いのりとソースとかつおぶしが乗せています。　そのあとはmayonnaise ですよ。Here is okonomiyaki dressed the way I like it - mysterious brown sauce, Kewpie brand mayonnaise, nori seaweed and katsuo fish flakes. This keeps me warm in the winter!

裏技 Urawaza ninja homemaking

Last week, listening to CBC Radio over the 'Net, I caught an interview with Lisa Kateyama, author of Urawaza.

Urawaza, secret ways of doing things, are all over the media in Japan. Pick up a copy of Orange, Croissant, or any homemaking magazine, and the pages are filled with clever alternate uses of everyday household objects to provide solutions for little niggling problems. It's like a nation of MacGyvers.

I've got a few of my own tricks in winter - hardboiled eggs in the pockets are environmentally friendly hand warmers, and we have one for me, one for you at tea time. Before bedtime, I fill a 2 liter plastic drink bottle at the foot of the futon to keep my toes warm. By morning, it's still warmer than body temperature.

Some urawaza are merely efficient ways of doing things. My first year in Japan, I picked up some ideas from my neighbour lady. She always folded her plastic and cloth shopping bags the way you fold a flag. First, you fold it in half to make a long narrow rectangle, then you fold it in triangles, and finally fold the end into the pocket made by the last triangle. The bags are neatly stowed and easily counted.

Thomas Hjelm shares these time- and money-saving urawaza on his blog, Nihon Hacks. These hacks often result in reduction or reuse of materials, saving money and reducing garbage.

The next urawaza is my favorite human behaviour hack in Japan. I must admit that I've done this in the street, ringing parked bicycle bells to achieve the same effect - 人間が持つベル　Pedestrian Bell.

Black bean and seaweed muffin

Last night, I caught up with some local folks at the Strabucks under the Takashimaya building. There I had a cup of tea 黒豆ひじき赤味噌マフィン Black bean, hijiki seaweed and red miso muffin. And it tasted like chocolate. Only one other of our members would touch it.

Japan Meme

Over on Livejournal, the memes go 'round and 'round. I'm lifting the concept of list memes from my fellow ljers. This time, it's a Japanese list meme.

1. What's your favorite Japanese food?

A toss up between okonomiyaki and ramen.

2. What sound in the urban environment do you like best?

The roasted potato man - Ya - ki ----- imo -----!

3. What part of your daily routine do you despise most?

The commute across Tokyo.

4. Who is your favorite celebrity?

Ken Hirai who sings "Sakura".

5. Do you speak Japanese?

Yup. Not fluently, but enough to cope at the office and social stuff.

6. Can you read Japanese?

Books at an elementary school level. I read childrens literature in Japanese. I read stuff online with kanji lookup.

7. When did you first come to Japan?

1999.

8. Do you like karaoke?

Initially tolerate it well, and sing enthusiastically after a few drinks.

10. What are your favorite books by Japanese authors?

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.

11. What's the best holiday you've had in Japan?

Deep Shikoku, Kochi Prefecture. Looking out over the Pacific Ocean from Cape Ashizuri is breathtaking on a summer evening.

12. Have you ever been in the media in Japan?

As a subject, more than once - tv and newspapers. I've written for three small publications, too.

13. What do you think about Japanese Macaque monkeys?

Nasty, thieving creatures. Hate 'em.

14. Do you bow?

Yes. Even over the phone.

15. What aspect of Japanese culture has made an indellible impression on you?

Shoes off in the house. I get queasy in shoes inside a house.

Fellow Japanese residents, foreign and Japanese alike, please steal this list! Add your own questions, too.

My world is changing

I jogged today from home to 柏市民体育館　Kashiwa Municipal Gym down by the park. I've never done this before. Correctly, I've never jogged before. It just kind of happened. I needed to get my shopping bike #1 from the parking lot there, and I was under some time constraints. I don't even own running shoes. I guess I have to get some. I'm kind of chuffed to know I'm in good enough shape to jog that stretch, though it's only a few kilometers. I had no idea I could do that.

This new year is a new world for me.

I had no idea I could return a lot of plastic to point of purchase. Today's discovery is that 長崎屋　Nagasakiya department store, on the food floor, has recycling boxes that handle milk cartons, styrofoam trays, and the plastic trays that tofu, veggies and various other produce come in. My garbage bags get lighter every time I find another way to reduce the load going out. I'm not sure what this styro and the like gets recycled into, but the Yes! Tokyo website's English guide to environmental solutions and experiments in Tokyo gives some insight into how garbage is being handled in Tokyo proper, which may indicate how the 'burbs are handling it.

Ideally, I want to get the plastic consumption down.

I'm getting some inspiritation from Change Everything, an intiative of Vancity, Vancouver's community-based financial institution that gets behind many positive changes in the way we Vancouverites live. Wow, they're inspiring me waaaay over the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Pretty good!

初稽古 First Training in ninjutsu

I was really curious about Hatsumi sensei's ninjutsu. What are we going to do this year?

This week's schedule allowed for three training sessions. Monday, the day before school opened, I went to the immigration centre over at the port to get a visa endorsed, so I arranged my day around Tokyo shopping chores - book stores, import shops and the like.

Tuesday's opening ceremony at the school where I work was short, and I spent some time cleaning up my desk and preparing lessons. The evening training was out of the question - Hombu had been switched for Ayase, and of course starts later and ends later. If I were to go, I would get home by 11pm. No time for bento box lunch fixing, little time for sleep. Oh well.

Wednesday and Thursday I joined Shiraishi sensei's training. Great stuff! Shiraishi sensei introduced us to 遁走型　 tonsokata. The kanji I saw in The Way of the Ninja is the same as I wrote here, but as it displays on my machine, it looks weird. Maybe it looks right in your browser. This ryuha is totally fresh for me. I've never seen Togakure Ryu taught as a discreet set of techniques.

Friday, I thought I'd have to work late, so I didn't take my gi with me to work. At the end of the work day, I was off the hook, not having to work late, so I went to Ayase and watched the training. This coming Tuesday, I'll be there with keiko gi on.　

Light in Kashiwa

Another resolution this year is to meet local people and network within Kashiwa and just generally be more social. Already, I've met lovely people through the teacher network and too many late nights at the Hub Pub. And reconnected with the circle of Kanto residents who I had withdrawn from for a season. They are very cool people.

On a bikeride and walk at Teganuma, I met a lovely mother daughter tae kwon do team, and we're corresponding by email in anticipation of meeting up this week. Kashiwa people are fun.

I went around the neighbourhood and greeted people with Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, a very happy new year. Maro's been nuzzling my feet while I make tea and getting his fuzz on my sofa.

Last night, I had a chance to talk over tea with some local folks, both foreign and native. We got talking about hobbies and interests, and one pointed me to his blog, A Day in the Life, which documents in photos the life he sees here.

Next step is to get back to training. This is already the 9th of January, and I haven't stepped foot in dojo yet! Between seeing folks, work committments and sundry household chores, I haven't been on the mat. Tonight is Shiraishi Sensei's training in Kashiwa. Yay!

No plastic, please

Plastic bags consumed this year:


Grabbed from Reusablebags.com

When I was a kid growing up in East Van, groceries came in paper bags. We would fold them up, save them for art projects, or wrap other things with them. Sometimes our school books were wrapped in old Safeway bags when they weren't wrapped in Desperate Dan comic book pages brought back from Scotland by our Gran. Dad made some interesting turkey recipe that called for the bird to be placed in a paper bag. Greasy chips got drained on brown paper bags.

Grandpa worked at the Macmillan Bloedel lumber plant at the edge of the Fraser River. Every night, Grandpa would pack his lunch pail with a piece of fruit and a big sandwhich he made himself wrapped in waxed paper. The meat for the sandwhich was invariably purchased at Reid the Butcher's on Granville Mall. At Reid's we would scuff our feet through drifts of sawdust on the wide floor to the cold glass cabinets of pig's trotters, sausages and beef tongues lolling on ice which would scare us witless. Gran would order a cut of bacon or a pound of ground meat which the butchers would wrap in brown paper and twine that descended from spools hung from the ceiling. In her purse, she had a little zippered thing that expanded into a nylon bag like a leather toed stocking into which she put all her purchases.

My Oma(German for Grandma), after we'd laid waste to her Sunday dinner, would place side plates over bowls containing leftovers and stack them in the fridge.

I've sworn off plastic bags and plastic wrap in 2008. Don't need it.

But eliminating Plastic consumption in Japan is so hard because it is used for very nearly all packaging. Since the first day of the year, I've filled a whole plastic garbage bag with plastic. It's near impossible to get staples in string or paper packages. Rice in Japan comes in big plastic bags with zip closures, no string bags anymore. And most other dry things also come in plastic - granola, seaweed, noodles. Staple wet stuff is often in plastic - soy sauce, tofu, and kimchi is sold in unrecyclable plastic containers. You can't reuse a plastic kimchi container for anything but kimchi because it's so pungent.

The only things I am sure are recycled are plastic PET bottles, glass, styro meat trays, steel and aluminum,rags and glossy and plain paper.

I'm essentially forced to buy something I don't want and can't dispose of ethically.