Japan Part 1

I've been wanting to write in greater detail about my trip to Japan while it's all still relatively fresh in my memory. Lord knows plenty of things have occurred since to cloud my mind, so I'd better act now, I suppose.  I've told a lot of the stories, but I haven't given a day to day account of my adventures back in May and June. This is my attempt to do that.


Early 2012.

My dear friend C. sent me an e-mail with an out of the blue opportunity. She informed me that her parents had invited me to come stay with them in Japan, as long as I wanted, with room and board  provided. All I needed was a passport and a plane ticket. The answer to such a proposal is...yes.

Why had I never seriously made plans to visit Japan before? Certainly a number of friends had invited me over the years, maybe not with such explicitly generous offers, but they would have helped me for sure. I guess it always seemed too big of a thing to ever seriously consider going to Japan. People in my family don't generally go overseas unless there's a war. "Go to Japan." Sure. Someday.

I spoke with my soon-to-be hosts in Miharu, Fukushima (yes, THAT Fukushima) over Skype to get some details on the trip. They offered to show me some of the sites in that part of Japan, and if I were able to help with their English classes, that would be great.  They also suggested that we visit some of the areas damaged by the tsunami. The tsunami kind of hit home with me, because even though all of my friends were OK following the events of 3/11, I love Japan, and my heart ached to see what happened. I'm no English teacher, but there have been hundreds of hours over the years spent practicing English and Japanese with dozens of Japanese (and a few other international) students, not in any professional sense, but enough to say that yes,  I do have some background tutoring in English. So I told my future hosts that I would be glad to help in whatever way I could, not entirely sure of what that might entail.

Procrastinator that I am, I eventually started to consider such small things as plane tickets, a passport, what to pack, etc. My very first passport involved standing in a very specific corner for almost an hour at the post office, and then wondering if the ever efficient government would at some point send me an actual passport, or if I would be lost in the system. Tickets were acquired in a foolish way, through an online ticket broker I later discovered was not one of the better ones, and after a false start in which I selected the wrong arrival date (a date on which my gracious hosts would not be able to make the three plus hour drive to Narita airport to pick me up) and had to alter my reservation later, at great cost. (Lack of refunds being one of the complaints about Vayama...oops, I said their name.)

The other thing that proved to be a bigger challenge than it should have been was packing. I feel that I've gotten to be a pretty efficient packer, at least where domestic travel is concerned. Basically, the philosophy is that if you really need something you left out, there's a Walmart or Walgreens nearby. But that's not the case in Japan. In Japan, there are 7-11s and Lawsons almost on every street. But I did not want to assume that they carry clothing in my size (Giant), nor was I fully sure of what kind of climate I would be going to. Yes I knew it would be more humid than here, but what exactly does that entail? So I decided on a variety of clothes, just figured I'd try a little of everything. But I was also tasked with bringing some special items on my trip: Easter Eggs. A lot of plastic Easter Eggs, special request of my hosts. Apparently, Easter Eggs cannot be found in Japan, not that I would expect a lot of demand for them. So I intended to bring two bags instead of my preferred carry-on: one with my junk and one with Easter Eggs. I wondered how a suitcase full of empty Easter Eggs might appear to customs...

May 16
I foolishly decided to work half a shift the evening before my trip. How loyal I was to my job. Never before was there a day on which I cared less or wanted to be there less. And I didn't help my state of urgency by leaving most of my packing yet to be finalized. So when I got home, it was GO time, pack or not pack. The most effective method for packing I found is called the Bundle Wrap Method. I am not sure if it gained me a substantial amount of extra space, but it was kind of cool to fold everything strategically and end up with a big squarish mass of clothes. God forbid you need anything from the middle of the bundle during your trip though.

By about 2AM, I was finally done packing, as done as I'd ever be. Too bad I had to leave for the airport at 3AM. I specifically chose to fly out of Colorado Springs for sheer convenience sake. My dad wouldn't say no to the notion of him driving down from Woodland Park (that's 45 minutes away...actually, at that time of morning it's about 15 minutes away..hehe) to take me to the airport. It may be that he wasn't sure if I'd be coming back. Actually, neither was I. But let me note that it was incredibly kind of my dad to do that, which is typical of him, great acts of unselfishness. As we made our way to the airport, I sort of reflected on my life, looking at the empty streets and remembering previous trips to the airport, and how this was quite different. I thought back to all these years I've been interested in Japan, how it all began as a child with ninja movies and Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow (famous ninja from GI Joe toys and comics, of course) and then there was Nintendo, and then there was Japan itself, it's people, its food, its everything, and then that led to Japanese class and that led to all these wonderful friends I've made over the years, which is how this opportunity came about. Finally, it was happening. I was actually going to be in Japan in a matter of hours. A matter of many, many hours...

The wait at Colorado Spring's airport was brief. I failed to notice the disgruntled employee at the Pizza Hut Express (who seemed to have been sampling generously of his store's wares) totally overcharged me on my mediocre breakfast sandwich (better food to come on this trip...). I boarded my first flight of the day, one of those small planes that are basically buses with wings. It was barely half full, which meant I had two seats to myself, plenty of room to stretch out and try to sleep on the way to LAX. Wow, maybe the long flight to Japan would be half empty too, right? Yeah....

I was a bit intimidated by LAX, because apparently it's the worst airport in the world and the people working there hate you. And it's easy to get lost. So I did the homework. I found maps, I studied them. And I didn't need them at all, because I could see exactly where I needed to go as soon as I got off the plane. One thing I wondered about was whether my suitcase full of empty Easter Eggs would somehow miraculously end up in Japan?

The only bad part of my LAX layover was its length. I texted my way through that and as far as 4 hour layovers go, it wasn't too bad. And then, the moment of truth: boarding a plane and flying across the Pacific to another country. The reality of that.

I was disappointed to find that the plane was not very spacious, kind of a bigger version of the previous bus-plane.  Lotsa people in there too...awfully close to each other. I hoped I wouldn't sit next to anyone as big as me. I got lucky there. The person to my right was a small Asian woman, and the person to my left was a small Japanese girl. She was standing on her seat, trying to get her back into the overhead compartment, so I offered to help. She was very grateful. I didn't know she was Japanese at that point, but I hoped I could sit next to someone from Japan so I might have a chance to warm up my toddler-level language abilities. While the flight attendants were making announcements in both English and Japanese, I repeated the announcement to turn off our cellphones (keitai) in Japanese, so the girl, whose name was Chika, realized I could speak Japanese and was happy about that. We talked a little bit and I found out she was from Ichinomiya, which was a town I hoped to visit. But at that time, I hoped to visit at least a half dozen towns, which is easier said than done (not that difficult though, just time and money). Anyway, Chika was very sweet and explained how to fill out my customs form. Eventually the plane took off, and within a few minutes Chika-san had settled into watching movies on her seat-screen. I kind of hoped we would talk more, but after all, it was to be a 12 hour flight, so plenty of time for that.

At this point I was running on the one hour of sleep I barely fit in, so I hoped I would fall asleep and wake up 10 hours later and watch a movie, and boom!...  there's Japan. No dice. I never did actually fall asleep. I drifted off a little, but no real REM happening there. I put on my headphones and prepared to embark on that favorite pastime of the music loving traveler, a bunch of hours of uninterrupted rocking out. But that wasn't happening either. I was restless. So I tried watching a movie, but ended up starting two or three movies and couldn't get into them. I think I watched most of some movie starring...I don't even remember. Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, maybe? Anyway, it sucked. Sooner than expected, the attendants announced the first meal of the flight, and that was exciting, because I'd not had airline food since the 80's. I was presented with a tin foil brick of some kind of rejuvenated meat and rice...I think it was an attempt at a Japanese dish. Not good, but I was hungry enough to eat it.

At some point, I resumed small talk with Chika-san, and I discovered she was a student in California, learning English. Her main reason for learning English was so she could become proficient enough to watch movies in English without subtitles. She watched probably five movies during the flight, so she was either a huge movie fan, or in her case I guess it could be considered studying. Or maybe just killing time, like I should have done. Anyway, she was happy that I was going to Fukushima to help with English instruction, and was pleased that I chose Japan as my first international destination. By the way, Chika-san was the best flight companion you could ever hope for, for one reason: every time I needed to get up to use the bathroom, she graciously got up with a smile and gave me plenty of room to get out of my tiny seat. Not that other people I've been seated next to on planes are jerks about letting me up to go to the bathroom, but it usually involves stumbling by them and trying not to fall in their lap or trip over their feet. And half the time they're asleep or pretending to be asleep, and I feel bad if I wake them up.

The girl in the seat in front of me had the flight map on her display for almost the entire trip. I couldn't see her face, so I assumed she was asleep, but it may be that she literally stared at the Indiana Jones style white flight line for the whole of the trip. The map is a cool feature, except that it tells you how little you've traveled, and how many hours are left, which is in short, one of the things I hate: knowing how much time remains until break, the end of a movie, a trip, etc. Better not to know and be pleasantly surprised. At about 6 hours down, I began to get pretty restless, no longer wanting to be crammed into this tiny seat and wishing the plane could stop somewhere and let us get out and rest. At that six hour mark, I realized that flying for such a long time sucks. But as a famous Japanese saying translates to, "It can't be helped."

Eventually that remaining time melted away, and it dawned on me that we would soon be touching down...in Japan! By the way, during the entire flight, the window shades were pulled down. Maybe it's disconcerting to some passengers to look out and see nothing but clouds. I wasn't in a window seat so it didn't matter too much, but I did hope to see the islands of Japan far below as we approached.

I was pretty much suffering at the end of the flight. Thankfully, my troublesome knees and back didn't bother me during the trip, but I was just sick of being inside this plane. I also had a stomach ache from the second, even crappier airline meal. It did have Gyoza with it. Really bad Gyoza. Now, I had planned to get Chika's number, because as I mentioned, I tentatively planned on going down to her region of Japan. But I was too uncomfortable and feeling too restless and nervous to bother with it. I started to worry about my customs forms...what if they singled me out for bringing a bunch of plastic Easter Eggs with nothing in them, a month after Easter? Chika-san asked me if I was OK, so I guess my nerves were showing. That and the rolling in my stomach from stupid airline brick food. So I didn't establish further contact with Chika-san, and won't be seeing her again. Arigatou for your help and language practice, airplane friend.

My first glimpse of Japan was through the window of my fellow passenger on the right. The humidity was apparent from the condensation on the windows, and I could see vegetation beyond the runway. Nothing about it looked different from California from that angle, but holy crap...I was in Japan!

It was nice to get off the plane, believe me. Another first impression as I exited the plane was that all the staff was Japanese (as they would be), signs were in Japanese and English, yes it was another airport, but farther than I've ever been from home, by thousands of miles. I wondered how Immigration and Baggage Claim would go, would I get lost, would I be able to spot my host, whom I had never met before, would I make it out of this plane, or would I have to make a desperate phone call to one of my friends within my first hour in  Japan? But I need not have worried, the entire process went very smoothly. In Immigration, they take your fingerprints and a photograph, no big deal to me, but I've heard people complain about what is considered a heavy-handed process. The girl at the counter seemed curious about my intent to travel to Fukushima, with its ongoing nuclear situation. I don't know if a large number of foreign tourists are going to Fukushima these days, but she seemed pleased when I said I was going there to visit friends.

Ozzy's Best Vocal Performances

If I had to choose just one favorite singer, Ozzy Osbourne might be it. Though he lacks the technical ability or range of a Ronnie James Dio or Freddie Mercury, what Ozzy has is a unique, instantly recognizable voice, the voice of heavy metal, one that has deteriorated significantly over the years, but is still a welcome one to my ears. This is a list of my favorite Ozzy performances on record.

Black Sabbath "The Writ"

Be sure to turn it up loud for this one. Ozzy's voice perfectly captures the anger of the lyrics directed towards the band's corrupt management at the time. Possibly his best vocal performance EVER.

Black Sabbath "You Won't Change Me"

This is an obscure track, but one of my favorite Sabbath songs. Ozzy is the voice of despair on this one.

"Crazy Train"

Yeah, it's Crazy Train, everybody knows this one. But it's a classic in every way, and 16 years after I first heard it, it's still in heavy rotation. When Ozzy sings "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train," you believe it.

"So Tired"

I have always enjoyed Ozzy's ballads, and this is one of the best. Somebody has to sing love songs from the loser's perspective. Roy Orbison did it, so does Ozzy.

Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"

Ozzy's voice is incredibly high on this track, which may be why he hasn't been able to hit those notes ever since.

"Over The Mountain"

This may be my favorite Ozzy solo track. I wish he did more fast songs like this.

"See You On The Other Side"

Amazing song, written by Lemmy. Another great ballad. If this song isn't played at my funeral someday, I will be disappointed.

"Shot In The Dark"

I'm not sure what I like about this song, as it's a little pop friendly, but it's always been a standout for me.

Black Sabbath "Changes"

This is the song you play your mom when she asks how you can listen to that heavy metal crap. There is no better voice to be featured on such a sad, beautiful song. A showcase for Ozzy's unique talent.

"Time"

This is one of his new songs, and maybe in the scheme of things it's not deserving of inclusion on this list. But when I heard this track last summer for the first time, despite all the heavy doctoring of the vocals, it gave me goosebumps, just like the other classics on this list.

Black Sabbath "Megalomania" (Live version from "Past Lives" album)

This version is not only a lot creepier than the studio version, but just the fact that they played it live is pretty impressive. Ozzy is obviously trashing his voice trying to recreate this song live, but I give him credit for even trying. He sounds absolutely manic on this one.

Earthquake in Japan/ Japan and You

It was about 2:00 Friday morning when I saw the news about an earthquake in northern Japan. Earthquakes in Japan are common, and northern Japan has had quite a few big ones in the past few years, in sparsely populated areas or off the coast. When I hear "northern" Japan, I think of the northern island of Hokkaido with its comparatively smaller population, so I assumed this earthquake happened there, and probably didn't affect too many people. I was a bit shocked when I heard that the earthquake happened on Japan's most populated island of Honshu, and early reports talked about flooding and fires in Tokyo. I have a number of friends in Tokyo and all over Japan, so I started sending e-mails immediately to make sure everyone was safe. Soon I found out that the worst effects of the earthquake occurred in Sendai, Northeast of Tokyo. The earthquake there was so strong that even buildings in Tokyo and other cities far from the epicenter were damaged, along with flooding and power outages.

The earthquake itself would have been bad enough, but the resulting tsunami did the most damage. I have heard that entire coastal cities were wiped out by the waves. Entire populations were swept away. In church today, one of the pastors told us an affiliate church was completely destroyed in the tsunami, and all of its congregation is missing. The potential death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is at least 10,000, a conservative estimate. In addition to the earthquake and numerous aftershocks large enough to be considered major earthquakes themselves, several nuclear plants have been damaged and one facility in Fukushima is experiencing radiation leaks and faces possible meltdown as a result of the earthquake damages.

I'm happy to report that I have heard back from nearly all of my friends in Japan, and most of them are located far away from the earthquake's epicenter and the northeast coast. I anxiously await news of two other friends I have not heard from, but I have reason to believe they are safe. I have been talking to friends in Tokyo and other cities, and I understand that many stores are selling out of essential supplies and food, gas is selling out, and now rolling blackouts will be instituted to offset the damages done to the nuclear plants. Tokyo is the world's largest city in terms of population, a city dependent on public transportation. It's an understatement to say this disruption of services will have a huge impact on the people there.

Obviously, this series of catastrophic events is a lot to deal with. Too much. But I believe the Japanese people will endure this disaster and emerge stronger as a result. Anyone who really knows me knows what Japan means to me, and what I admire about so many Japanese I have known is their tenacity, their positivity and determination. I wish I was as strong as them.

I always try to detach from massive events like this, things so terrible they seem unreal. They are almost too much to take in. But I had tears in my eyes as I watched news footage today and saw people suffering so much, saw how much destruction was done, and it really hit me because I feel like Japan is part of me. Many of the best people I have ever known were from Japan, and I think of all they taught me and have done for me, and I feel a kinship with them.

Japan is one of the largest economies in the world, with resources that countries like Haiti lacked when disasters of this sort struck them. People might think that a nation like Japan doesn't need help because it's a rich country prepared for disasters, but my feeling is this: If donating money can expedite aid to anybody who is suffering in this situation, it's worth it to me. If for no other reason, I want to help the people of Japan as a way of saying "I care about you."

I want to ask anyone who reads this post today to think about what Japan means to you. Think of how many products you use every day that were either developed in Japan or improved in Japan. Think of the influence of Japan on our culture, our entertainment, our technology. You might be surprised how many things now common here in the US had their roots in Japan. Think of a nation that was once a bitter enemy, and has now become one of our closest friends. I can speak from experience; the Japanese people I know love and care about the US. I hope we will show love to them and support them as the friends they are. For those who pray, please pray that all survivors will be located, that all injured will be cared for, that those who have lost loved ones will be comforted. Pray that the damage to the nuclear plants will be contained and repaired, that hazardous radiation will not become widespread. Pray that Japan will be spared further damage and loss of life from aftershocks and tsunamis. Pray for people who are facing shortages of water and supplies, shelter and transportation. As a Christian, I am praying that people will come to know Jesus through this tragedy, that they will the find peace and comfort He offers, even in terrible, unreal tragedies such as this. "Pray for Japan" has already become a catchphrase over the past few days, but it's something we can all do, and I believe it will yield amazing results.

If you are interested in donating to relief efforts in Japan, here are some links:

American Red Cross

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052

Salvation Army

http://blog.salvationarmyusa.org/?p=5642

Save The Children

https://secure.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6617251/k.7E71/Donate_to_the_Japan_Earthquake_Tsunami_Children_in_Emergency_Fund/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?msource=wenlpaqk0311

Network for Good

http://www1.networkforgood.org/help-survivors-pacific-quake-tsunami

Songs of the Year

2010 is over, may it rest in peace. These are my top songs of 2010, the songs that meant the most to me. They didn't necessarily come out last year (in fact very few of them did) but they are the songs that I kept returning to the most. I found myself revisiting a lot old favorites, focusing on individual tracks rather than full albums. And unlike previous years where I tried to listen to a lot of new music (new to me anyway), this year I really narrowed down the listening to a couple of handfuls.

Opeth A Fair Judgement, Hessian Peel, Wreath

Hessian Peel has to be one of the most fascinating recordings I have heard in the last five years or so. You wouldn't get it. A Fair Judgement is a song that perfectly captures my general mood of the past six months.

Harry Nilsson Without You, Everybody's Talkin', Don't Forget Me, Save The Last Dance For Me, Many Rivers to Cross

I discovered Harry Nilsson this year, a name I had been familiar with for a long time, but had never listened to any of his stuff before. I can't say that I am love with the majority of his music, but there are songs....songs!

Ozzy Time, Life Won't Wait, Crazy Train

I have always been infatuated with Ozzy's voice, and a new album from him is always cause for celebration. Then you realize a lot of it's not that great, but it's still Ozzy singing so it can't be too bad. Not surprisingly, the two ballads on his new album were my favorites. Crazy Train is a song I have heard hundreds of times over the past 15 years, but now it makes sense.

Rush Time Stand Still, The Larger Bowl, Far Cry, Limelight, Bravado, Mission, Marathon

Rush could be considered my band of the year, either them or Iron Maiden. Rush was definitely the best (out of three) concert I saw last year. All of the above songs have great relevance to me. Limelight never gets old. I also found myself getting into a lot of their mid 80's keyboard stuff. Never would have expected to like those songs.

Metallica Fade to Black, Harvester of Sorrow, all of Death Magnetic

I think ever since I saw the Big Four performance in the theater, I realized that I actually love Metallica. I don't love everything they've ever done, far from it, but those 4 or 5 key albums they made are among the best music I have ever heard. And Fade To Black is such a powerful song, really captures a place not everyone gets to, but those who do appreciate it. I wish I could write songs like that.

Fear Factory Final Exit

Another song about death, I suppose. Don't really care about the message as much as the delivery. Burton C. Bell is not a particularly good singer in the scheme of things, but the contrast between his "soulful" voice and his death metal voice is usually pretty effective.

Black Sabbath Walk Away, Lonely is the Word, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Die Young

Well, we lost Dio this year, so Dio-era Black Sabbath was huge on my playlist. But then again, the Ozzy-era stuff never dies.

Thin Lizzy Southbound, That Woman's Gonna Break Your Heart, Didn't I, The Sun Goes Down, Cold Sweat, Killer On The Loose

Phil Lynott was such an amazing songwriter. A song like Southbound...on the surface a western themed track full of cliches, but it's all metaphoric...beautifully so.

Iron Maiden Blood Brothers, Infinite Dreams, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Coming Home, Wasted Years, No More Lies

Maiden was probably second place for band of the year. Their new album was a little underwhelming, and their concert could have used quite a few more classics in the set, but it's Maiden, and they are a staple of mine. I'm still listening to the old songs with as much interest as I did 15 years ago, and I'm even going back to records like Brave New World and Dance of Death years after they came out and realizing how great they were.

The Beach Boys Surf's Up, 'Til I Die, Pet Sounds, 20/20, etc.

No surprises here. Of course the Boys were in heavy rotation last year, because they always are. Pet Sounds is always one of my favorite records, as is 20/20, Sunflower, etc. The Beach Boys never fail to elevate my mood, at least for a couple of minutes.

Japanese Culture Festival

This past weekend I attended the Japanese Cultural Festival here in town, organized by the JASSC, The Japan America Society of Southern Colorado. This was the 11th annual festival. I'm glad it's lasted so long, and it seems to get more popular each year. It was held at the Stargazers Theater, a place I have fond memories of. That venue used to be called the Colorado Music Hall, and it was there that I saw some great shows in the past. That could be a subject for another blog, actually.

I meant to go to the festival right when the doors opened at 10:00, but I couldn't sleep the night before, so I ended up going around 1:00. Fortunately, that was still enough time to see the two events I cared the most about, the ninjutsu demonstration and the taiko drum performance. Other events included koto and biwa performances, and I believe there were some traditional dance performances too.

There were a lot of Japanese items for sale, mostly arts and craft type stuff. There were some books for sale, and while some of them had awesome 70's artwork, they all looked pretty difficult to read, and my Japanese reading skills are limited at best. I tried to find some kids books, but no luck. I did buy a picture of an oni, (Japanese devil) which is always nice, and I had my name converted into kanji and written calligraphy style (I believe Japanese calligraphy is called shodo.) by a very talented artist. The end result is a nice piece of art that will be hung next to the oni picture someday. Maybe.

Just like last year, there were bento and sushi boxes for sale. They were a little overpriced and didn't look too oishii, so I didn't buy anything except for an azuki mochi rice cake, and an ichigo ramune to drink. However, during the last hour, the prices on the bento and sushi boxes were slashed, so you can bet I picked up some sushi then! $2 sushi is a good thing. It was just California rolls and some kind of vegetable rolls, possibly with daikon, but basically I like any and all kinds of sushi. And going back to the Ramune, which is soda/pop with an interesting and unique bottle design involving a marble, I don't understand the point of the marble....I feel that it gets in the way a little bit.

The ninjutsu demonstration was pretty impressive and had sufficient simulated violence to satisy my expectations. It was really amazing to see how athletic those guys are. They did an excercise where one ninja would do a flip and then crouch down, and then the next ninja would jump over the first and crouch down next to him, and so on. The final ninja had to jump over six guys! That could have been disastrous. It could have been, but not... for a ninja.

The taiko performance finished the day off, and this time it was by a group called Mirai Daiko. I had seen them perform once before about 5 years ago when this festival was held in Manitou Springs. This year's lineup consisted of three sisters and another girl. One of them was really cute; that's irrelevant. As an amateur drummer, I am fascinated by drums in general and taiko in particular. It's a very animated and expressive form of drumming, joyful and powerful at the same time. The sticks they use are massive, like ax handles. They had an interactive segment where they brought kids from the audience on stage and showed them some of the techniques involved. It's very different from western drumming, to say the least.

My chief motive for attending the festival this time was to speak Japanese, and maybe even meet some native speakers in the hopes of getting involved in a language exchange setting again. I miss that. I have been studying Japanese more intently lately, so I hoped I would be more ready if the opportunity to speak the language arose. Unfortunately, I only ended up speaking a few sentences to the calligraphy girl, an arigatou or two to the vendors I purchased from, and little else. There didn't seem to be any Japanese students, but there were lots of older Japanese people around. I at least got to hear some native speaking around me. I even saw my old Japanese teacher from afar, and meant to talk to her, but she disappeared before I could. Regrettably, I didn't make any new friends this time around.

So ends my account of the 11th Annual Japanese Cultural Festival. It was a small affair, certainly not as elaborate as those held in communities with a larger Japanese population. But I enjoyed it, and I intend to go back next year, which will probably be mostly the same. I get a nice feeling being around Japanese culture, hearing the language, being in that world for a little while. It seems familiar, tranquil.

Why Japan?

People often ask me why I am interested in Japan, and it's something I have to stop and think about because it's been a part of me for so long now. If I just reply with "I think Japan is cool," that doesn't really answer the question very effectively. There are a lot of reasons I am interested in Japan, and I will name them all in great detail here.

Just kidding, I will try to keep this short. But it's me writing, so I think it will end up being pretty long...

My first exposure to Japan probably came from The Karate Kid movies. I remember seeing the first one on my family's very first VCR; in fact that may have been the first movie we ever watched on it. I was probably five years old at the time. The Karate Kid is a fairly inspirational movie in the vain of the Rocky films about an underdog overcoming obstacles and emerging as a champion, but what fascinated me about the movie was Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita. I thought he was one of the coolest movie characters of all time. Later I learned that he is somewhat of a stereotype, but nonetheless I was very impressed by Mr. Miyagi. A year or so later, I saw The Karate Kid Part 2 in the theater with my brother and my cousin. That movie is actually set in Okinawa, so that may have been my first glimpse of Japanese culture, at least as portrayed in a Hollywood movie. It was very influential.

My brother bought a Nintendo NES system not long after we saw those movies, and before too long I got into video games too. I realized that most of the best games were made in Japan, so I became more interested in this amazing place that made these amazing games. I always tried to pronounce the names of the Japanese game companies like Konami and Taito and Bandai as best as I could. Years later when I began studying Japanese, I was surprised to find that my pronunciations were pretty close!

Any movie or comic book or game with a ninja in it immediately appealed to me. I dressed as a ninja for Halloween at least two years in a row. To me, a ninja was the ultimate hero (or villain). I have always been drawn toward darker characters, the ones with some mystery to them. Batman instead of Superman, for example. Ninjas fit right in with that, because they would sneak in your house and try to kill you, and you never even got to see their face. (That never really happened to me.) I later found out that real life ninja were quite different from the ones I grew up admiring, but they were pretty amazing too.

Japanese cars and electronics have a reputation for high quality. I first became aware of that when I was a kid, and my dad would talk about how reliable his Toyota truck was, and my family would buy electronics made by brands like Sony and Panasonic because those were considered the best. I always felt "proud" of Japan for making the best stuff! I had developed this great admiration for a country and people I knew very little about. All I knew was that Japan produced ninja, Nintendo, karate, Toyota, and all of these other fascinating things, and that impressed me quite a bit.

It wasn't until the mid-90's that I really started to read about Japan as a country and culture, not just as a place that created cool stuff. I wanted to learn more about this country whose history extended so much further back than our own, a country who had been a bitter enemy of the US not so many decades before, but had reemerged as an amazing success story, a country of peace and prosperity. To accomplish that, it seemed that Japan must be full of some amazing people. I wanted to learn more about them.

It was also in the early 90's that I experienced Japanese food for the first time. My sister's ex husband is half Japanese, and he made sushi for us at one family party. I didn't really know what sushi was, except that it involved raw fish (which is not always true). I thought it looked like pretty interesting food, so I tried a little bit of everything. I don't remember everything he made, but there was definitely inari and maguro. I have to be honest...I really didn't like sushi the first time I tried it. It's kind of ironic that now it's my favorite food in the world! I could eat sushi every day.

By my senior year of high school, I decided I would try to learn Japanese from a book I bought at Goodwill. (I hate to admit that I have been trying to learn Japanese for so many years, because my Japanese is terrible...) To me, that seemed like the deepest immersion into Japanese culture I could experience. It didn't go very well, but it did inspire me to take Japanese classes later on.

And it was in those Japanese classes that I met people from Japan for the first time. And some of those Japanese students became some of my best friends in the world.

I have very fond memories of spending time with them, learning about Japan and hearing the language (and attempting to speak it) and getting to eat homemade Japanese food. I really enjoyed helping them with English and trying to help them with some of the culture differences. Some of them told me I was their best American friend, or even their only American friend. If that was true, I was honored to be that. I am certainly grateful to them for many happy memories.

I know other people who are interested in other countries in the same way I am with Japan. I imagine they can relate to the fascination I have. What is it about a different culture or country that reaches those of us who care to learn? Is it the differences or the similarities? Is it the desire to escape to a place so far away and different from where we grew up? I don't know. Maybe it's all of those things. I just know that I admire Japan. I admire the culture. I admire the contrasts. I admire the people. There have been disappointments and frustrations. The language still seems unattainable to my limited brain. But Japan is still a big part of my life. Japan is in my heart and my soul.

Ozzy Osbourne - Life Won't Wait

People can say what they want about him, but Ozzy is one of my favorite singers of all time. He has such a strange and unique voice. To me, he's one of those singers who could make any song better by singing it. I've always liked his sentimental, ballad-like songs. This is one of the best off his new album, and I really like this video, because who better than Ozzy to illustrate how much time we waste with bad decisions in life? He's finally clean and sober after all those decades, and if he can do it, anybody can.

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