Karaoke Part 1 and 2

When I first arrived in Nagoya, Noriko and I ate and then we were off to sing our hearts out in a private karaoke room. The karaoke places I went to in Nagoya have a better selection of English songs than any karaoke place I've been to in the States. Not only that, they have Tagalog and Korean songs in their catalogs. It isn't a Tagalog or Korean song here or there either, it's an entire section in the catalog for each language. Roslynn joined me in Nagoya a few days after I arrived and we karaoked until 2:00 am the day Roslynn got into town. Here's my song list:

Last Christmas - Wham!
Say A Little Prayer - Dionne Warwick (I prefer Aretha Franklin's version but they didn't have it)
Head to Toe - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
Last Waltz - Englebert Humperdink
Feel Like Making Love - Roberta Flack
Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tenille
Breakout - Swing Out Sister
Blue Bayou - Linda Ronstadt
Walk on By - Dionne Warwick
Sweet Thing - Chaka Khan
Agua de Beber – Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto

What is on my karaoke wish list that I haven't seen in American or Japanese song catalogs are Color Me Badd: I Wanna Sex You Up and I Adore Mi Amor.

Nagoya and My New Haircut

Before I left for Japan, I was debating whether I should get a haircut and if I'd even have the time or be able to get an appointment. My friend then said to get a haircut in Japan because then I could say I got my hair cut in Japan. Well, I got a haircut in Japan.

A few weeks ago, I got to visit my friend, Noriko, in Nagoya. Nagoya is the third largest city in Japan and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to cut my hair before returning to the country town of Osa. To get to Nagoya, I took the superfast bullet train, the Shinkansen. It pulled up to the station platform for a few seconds before it took off again. Be forewarned: if you blink while waiting for your Shinkansen train, you will miss it. The same goes for getting off on your stop. As soon as your stop is announced, line up at the train door to get off because it stops for about 15 seconds before taking off again.

So, I told Noriko that I wanted to get my hair cut. She took me to the salon her mom goes to. I was nervous at first - a new hair salon, a new stylist, a language I don't speak. It all seemed like the worst case scenario for getting my hair cut. Hair is such a sensitive thing as far as looks are concerned. Anything else can look like shit - clothes, make-up - but if my hair looks like shit, I feel like shit. Hair snafus are traumatizing. Nagoya was the perfect place to get my hair cut, though, because Noriko was with me and she told the stylist what I wanted. While I was getting my hair washed, I held an intention in my gut that I was going to love my haircut, that I would get a stylist who loves his or her work, and that we would both be happy with my haircut. Voila! The owner of the salon cut my hair beautifully - he took the weight off, blended my layers nicely, and then had one of his other stylists finish with a hair iron for shine. It was perfect because afterward we were off to a private Tiffany & Co. party to preview the new winter collection.

Every season, Noriko gets a special invitation to private Tiffany & Co. parties to view and try on the new season's collection. The one that I went to had good food and it was lucky for me that I just got the new haircut because that was the only thing about me that fit in.

Seeing Noriko was so much fun. We've been able to see each other every few years during her visits to the U.S. This visit was special, though, because it was the first time I got to see her in Japan and stay with her family - very kind and generous people. Noriko and her brother took Roslynn and me to hot springs near Nagoya. Much fun and relaxation.

I told Noriko that my visit to Nagoya and spending time with her and her family has been the highlight of my trip to Japan. "Yeah, right," she said, but it's true.

And for one day I had a cute Japanese haircut. I still do, but I don't have a hair iron to keep it looking like I did when I walked out of the salon. When I get back to the States, my first set of business will be to get a hair iron.

Spray or Bidet?

Personally, I prefer bidet. In Japan, there are high tech toilets with heated seats that give you a few options for washing your ass after you do your business. On the control panel, you can select the water pressure, either spray or bidet, and on the really nice toilets, you can adjust the water tempurature. At first, I was reluctant to try either because I wasn't sure where the water came from on the spray and bidet options, but Roslynn assured me that the water comes from a separate, clean water line and not from the toilet bowl. Spray is more of a shower-like stream and a little messier where bidet is a more focused stream of water. I laughed when I first used spray and bidet and after a few tries, it felt quite like a luxury.

You'll notice on the control panel from the photo that there is also a button for the toilet flushing sound. Roslynn told me that she saw a sign once in a bathroom that asked patrons to press the toilet flushing sound button intstead of flushing the toilet while using the stall. Her guess is that women would flush the toilet to mask the sound of them doing their business and that the sound button on the toilet gives the same effect while preserving water.

Yamada Ya

Yamada Ya is an omanju joint that also serves vanilla or chocolate softserve and green tea. In the summer time, they serve kakigori, a sweet dessert made of shaved ice, flavored syrup, and sweetened condensed milk. By the time I arrived in Niimi, kakigori season was already over AND they just began serving omanju. After 4:00 in the afternoon Yamada Ya is packed with school kids who enjoy their afternoon snack.

Yamada Ya is run by a sweet, older couple. The husband makes the omanju. He squeezes the batter from a pastry bag that hangs from a wire, which acts like a pully. The batter filled bag glides over each omanju mold where he squeezes the batter. While the batter cooks, he'll scoop up the anko (red been paste) and gently place a little bit of anko onto the cooking batter. Then, he'll squeeze more batter into vacant molds until they cook, and when they're ready, he'll place them on top of the batter filled molds with anko. Then he'll trim the edges and the omanju are ready to serve. It's a little bit like having a waffle filled with sweet red been paste, but much better.

The wife prepares and serves the softserve and tea. One day the couple's grandson came home from school running through the store and into the family home, which is above the store. Shortly after, Roslynn and I noticed her preparing several soft serve cones. She then put them on a tray and brought them upstairs. An afternoon snack for the kids. Oh, I would love to be one of her grandkids and have omanju and softserve as an afternoon snack each day.

Sometimes I'll have vanilla softserve, red bean omanju, and green tea. I'll smell the cooked batter of the omanju before I begin with nibbling around the edges where the bottom and top halves come together. It's not long into enjoying the omanju that I have to get started on my softserve cone before it starts to melt. It's like heaven: omanju, vanilla softserve, green tea, Yamada Ya. I'm usually hungry after eating everything and it's so tempting to order another round, but I don't. It gives me something to look forward to for the next time I'm in Niimi.

Katsuyama

Roslynn and I went to an art exhibit in the town of Katsuyama. It's beautiful there. It's like Niimi, but less industrial and more artsy. Tamaki san, an Osa resident and artist, took us to an exhibit in Katsuyama of beautiful Japanese metal work. The works of a South African artist and his Japanese teacher were on exhibit. Most of the works on display were Tsuba, the part of the samurai's sword that is placed just above the handle.

Niimi, Osa, and Katsuyama are all in Okayama prefecture. Many samurai resided in Okayama and took their death here. The culture of this area to this day is deeply rooted in the samurai.

The people I meet in this area are very proud of where they come from and are tied deeply to the land. I went on a walk around a lake yesterday in a nationally protected wetland and my hosts knew what trees populated the area. At the metal work exhibit, the interpreter, a Katsuyama native who now lives in London, shared how special it was for her to come home and how emotional it was for her. She lived in Katsuyama up until her teens when her family moved to Tokyo and then she went to university in England and has been there ever since, yet her home is Katsuyama. The roots that connect the people to the land are very deep here and it makes becoming acquainted with the area by them very special.

Octo-Pocky

Perhaps you know of Pocky, the Japanese sweet of ultra thin bread like sticks that are covered with either chocolate or strawberry flavored white chocolate. In Japan, they have octopus flavored Pocky. I call it Octo-Pocky, but its real name is Takoyaki Pocky. Tako is octopus in Japanese. Octo-Pocky is yummy - tastes just like Chicken in a Biscuit and I love Chicken in a Biscuit. I love saying Takoyaki Octo-Pocky. Try saying it five times fast.

Chocorat

Meet Chocorat. He's not related to Chococat. Chocorat's name is really Chocolat, as in the French for chocolate, but since the Japanese pronounce L's like R's, his name is Chocorat. Chocorat spends many of his days at The Market, a café in Okayama City that has freshly squeezed juices and organic baked breads and pastries. His mom is the owner of The Market and a store across the street that sells organic fruits and vegetables.

I had the fortune of sitting at a table that Chocorat was sitting under. Chocorat had the fortune of a shared cheese cake bite landing on the floor. A few minutes later I felt a nudge nudge against my leg from Chocorat's nose. Several minutes later it happened again. Nudge nudge.

The Honorable O

In Japanese, many foods are said with an "O" preceding it. It is the honorific "O" - ogohan (rice), ocha (tea), omanju (a cooky like sweet snack filled with red bean paste). My special "O" goes to ryokucha. Oryokucha is a type of green tea that has the benefits of easing allergies and hay fever.

My allergies in Japan are terrible - constant sneezing and runny nose, dry itchy and puffy eyes. I drink 6-9 cups of oryokucha a day and it practically eliminates my symptoms. Oryokucha is high in antioxidants and vitamins A and C.

No one says "bless you" in Japan when someone sneezes. A sneeze is ignored. Since I do a lot of sneezing due to my allergies, it took me a while to get used to not receiving so many blessings. No matter. The blessings should go to oryokucha anyway for its many benefits.

I'm Not Afraid of Kim Chee...

...anymore. Who would have thought that it would take a trip to Japan to take a liking to Korean kim chee? Not I. It used to scare me. I neglect to eat anything with cabbage, especially fermented cabbage. At home, I wouldn't eat the salads made of cabbage or (even worse) iceberg lettuce that came with many of my favorite entrées at Japanese restaurants. My fear has ceased to exist in Japan.

One of my favorite lunches is rice with an umeboshi (pickled plum) and kim chee and a fried egg each on separate plates. Everything comes on or in its own dish in Japan, so I'll plate everything separately when I cook to be consistent. Umeboshi is good for the liver and kim chee is good for the digestive tract.

I'm still afraid of sauerkraut though.

I Got Sent to the Principal's Office

There's been a bit of administrative drama regarding my stay at Roslynn's apartment in Osa. Getting official permission for my stay became a production once Roslynn told the vice principal of her base school that I would be visiting for two months. It turns out that nothing is simple and easy in the world of junior high school Japan.

Roslynn has a "caretaker" at her base school in Osa, a Japanese teacher who teaches English. Caretaker Sensei is responsible for communicating everything necessary to Roslynn that she needs to know. It turns out that she doesn't tell Roslynn much and that school events and other important school matters to note are often sprung on Roslynn at the last minute.

Caretaker Sensei had known for several weeks prior to my arrival that I would be coming to visit and the length of my stay. Roslynn told her well in advance trusting that she would pass on any important instruction, like telling any other school administrators who need to know. Only two weeks before I arrived did Caretaker Sensei tell Roslynn as an afterthought that she should let the Vice Principal know. So, she sends Roslynn in to talk to the Vice Principal all alone, who only speaks Japanese. When he heard that I'd be staying in the apartment for two months, he was aghast. Three days is okay, but not two months. She would need permission from the local Board of Education to have a visitor stay that long.

I had already been in Japan for several weeks when I got a surprise call from Roslynn while she was at work saying that I was to see the Principal within the hour and to bring my passport. I met with the Principal, a very friendly and polite man who asked what I thought of Japan, what the purpose of my stay is, if I like Japanese rice, etc. I think I got brownie points for saying that I grew up eating Japanese rice, Nikko brand in fact AND that I like eating Japanese meat. Roslynn is a bit of an oddity as a vegetarian. He then had Caretaker Sensei, who was interpreting, make photocopies of my passport and landing papers for Japan. I also showed him my visa for India so they could rest assured that I would be moving on. They made photocopies of that too.

So now I am official, although no one has officially confirmed this to Roslynn. After our meeting, the principal went straight to the Board of Education to put my passport photocopies in an official file report stating that I am visiting Roslynn at her request for two months because she is lonely in Japan. The reason that Roslynn gave them, that I want to sightsee and study in preparation for my trip to India wasn't a good enough excuse for the length of my stay.

So now I am no longer a clandestine shadow staying at the Assistant Language Teacher's (ALT's) apartment next door to the school.