Ten Month Babies

Kodai-Ji Temple. Red Maple Leaves reflected in a pond.

It takes longer to get born in Japan than in any other country. Now we all know that Japanese people live longer than the rest of the human race but it seems that many people here think they live longer in the womb as well. Japanese people claim that babies gestate here for ten rather than the traditional nine months! Well they do admit that this is tripe if you push them a bit but it stems from doctors counting the months from the month before the period is missed rather than the actual month so despite the exciting beginning to this paragraph nothing is actually different. But I thought you might find the story interesting.

Another story connected in vague way with the babies is that the traditional 'Chin-Chin' of certain types in Britain has a rather more subversive meaning in Japan. Well as will shortly be obvious it isn't really subversive but certainly a bit amusing. A chin-chin here is not a toast but rather an affectionate term for a baby boys willy. Hours of entertainment can be had toasting at bars with bemused and probably disturbed locals. Try it on a Japanese person abroad - it might be fun.

My efforts to master the Japanese language (Nihon-Go) have culminated in my receiving a very nice looking certificate, I think it just says I attended the course but as it is all in Japanese apart form my name I thought it would be useful to prove my fluency to employers back home. The course was actually very good even though I still can not really say much, this is mainly my fault for not studying between classes. Our last lesson was a field trip, haven't had one since, well for a long time. We went to the disaster prevention centre and experienced earthquakes Typhoons and other disasters - all very realistic. The most exciting part though was finally getting to use a fire extinguisher (well legally at least). I have no photos of this trip so you'll have to take my word for it that it was great craic.

Like anywhere there are crazy people in Japan, in fact there are quite a lot. One of the most famous in Kyoto is the dictionary man. He claims to be a university professor and publisher of forty seven books. Now this may be true. But he has an initially charming habit (which quickly become irritating) of accosting any foreign looking people and asking them to correct pages from his dictionary. If you have been here a while it isn't to hard to avoid him but we saw some tourist trapped for almost an hour, they looked very pleased with the situation for the first twenty minutes and steadily more and more fed up as the time ticked on. He isn't even all that polite and frequently threatens with a big smile of course that you will find yourself falling in the river if you don't help him for just another minute. We had our own run in on the way to a kareeoke bar. He only managed about ten minutes still. The kareokee this time in a little box was most entertaining you can make tons of noise and they included some very sweet rather unpleasant free drinks in the entrance price.

Fish 'n' Chips with Chop Sticks

Well there you go, thanks for all the messages how very kind of you! My Mum and Patrick are coming out to Japan in less than a week so there may not be another post until the new year, so a very happy Christmas and New Year to y'all.

Ta Roger.

Pain and Horses

This particular message may be rather disturbing for anyone of a sensitive disposition, please be warned. I have crossed the culinary Rubicon, just a few days ago I ate a horse. Well not a whole horse of course that would just be coarse. I ate some small delicately sliced pieces of raw gee-gee. And although my mind said no this is wrong there was a very happy party going on in my mouth. It's like really tasty beef, a little stronger in flavour and much harder to swallow on a mental level. So apologies to any who have been deeply offended hate mail should be sent to, Roger ate my pet, PO Box 666, 3rd Circle, Hell.

I had a note in my blog notes in my phone which read "comical nature of Japanese" now that sounds like it should have been the start of a good entry but sadly you'll have to live without because I really don't know what it is or why I wrote it down. So if I ever remember then I will let you know until then consider this entertaining little story. I have mentioned Japanese Telly a few times and its ability to amuse. I told you about the popularity of Mexican soaps (if you cant remember this scroll down through the archive until you find it, no I don't know which one you have to do some work) but the use of foreign words permeates even purely Japanese programs, sometimes in a very interesting international partnership, for example "Goud Temps", the Paris Berlin axis in action on TV in Japan. I really have no idea what the program was about but someone was crying and someone else was laughing so your guess is as good as mine.

If you like violent sports then you should watch kick boxing. I saw a bout on the telly and my god it looked painful. The two guys were just bouncing around the stage whacking each other not just on the legs arms and stuff but elbows in the face grrr it looked sore. There is also a kind of Japanese Jack-Ass a man who for shits and giggles has people come up to him and kick him in the balls, or throw bricks at him. The strangest thing though is that he doesn't look like a nutty freak case just an ordinary guy in a suit with a bit of a belly.

I will post some more pictures soon but we are having computer problems at the flat now so you'll need to wait a while. If you are still reading make a comment it makes me feel valued! Sad sad man that I am, hope all are well,
Roger

Tennessee Williams and Bike Bells

There isn't really any connection between Mr Williams and bike bells but they will both feature in this post - so live with it. I saw a bilingual version of the 'Glass Menangerie' on Sunday, it was a really good production. The bilingual element was provided by a narrator with a violin. In a spirit of generosity we offered to help take the set apart at the end of the play, this back fired though as we managed to catch the last train but missed the connection which meant once again walking over the mountain, although as I was now no longer alone it went a lot quicker the nagans of Whiskey might have helped!

On Japanese bikes anyone contemplating cycling in this country should keep a few things in mind. It is quite normal to cycle on the pavement in fact it is the preferred option secondly the natives cycle really really slowly if you were jogging you'd be going faster. So for speed junkies like myself the most important piece of safety equipment is the handlebar bell. I ring it frequently and loudly but people seem to think I will be going at a Japanese pace and don't react quite quickly enough! I haven't killed anyone yet but it might just be a matter of time.

I went for Mumooji (that's the misspelling of the Japanese word meaning looking at red leaves at night time in the autumn - more or less) again lat night at Kodai-ji temple. Again it was a very impressive sight it could easily inspire one to start producing poetry if one were so inclined. Fortunate for you I'm not.

When I got home last night I had my first genuinely scary natural disaster, just as I was making a nice cupa tea the whole room started shaking, it was like surfing, only surfing your living room is a bit wired to say the least.

On a cheerful and lucky note, I discovered a very useful little spirit chap. He is called Daruma and he fulfils your wishes, but you have a guarantee of he'll. When you buy yourself a little statue you attach one eye to Daruma when your wish comes true you give him the other eye until then he has to manage without the depth perception, great bribing the gods!

Well all the best,
Roger