Year End eh?

I've had a number of ideas on things to write about over the past few weeks but events got in the way.  So it more or less boils down to this....

Last might I met up with a drinking buddy for a round at a snack called "Nishiki".  It's a nice little place with interesting decor.  On one wall are a couple of plaques with the Chinese characters 福 and 發 written on them.  On the frames are the cardinal directions, again in Chinese characters, written in somewhat mixed up order.  I asked the proprietress what the meaning of that order was but she replied, "I don't.  I just like the look of the plaques.".  Okay.  So much for an attempt at enlightening conversation.

During the course of last night's drinking my buddy mentioned an example of an "Only in Japan" situation.  He had heard that there is a scissor maker, presumably down in Tokyo, who charges an exorbitant amount for a pair of scissors.  In addition, it takes about three years to make a pair.  Supposedly customers are willing to wait a year and a half to receive the scissors they've ordered.  The price of a pair?  三百四十万円..."three hundred and forty man yen"...¥3,400,000.  By my calculation that presently is over C$35,000.

He then went on to describe how the scissors are made.  First the handle is made.  Then the steel for the cutting edges is layered on to the ends using a technique similar to that employed by Japanese samurai sword makers.  The scissors are then hung outside to age for three years.  At the end of three years they are brought inside.  Since they were hanging outside for three years the scissors had of course rusted.  At that point the blades are sharpened and polished.  Then the scissors are shaped.  If I heard the story correctly, the scissor handles are polished to a bare metal finish and clean of hand oils.  They will be lubricated with the oil from the hands of their eventual purchasers.  And because of the aging process, the blades will be virtually rust free.

The justification for the high cost?  The scissors are indeed unique.  They're hand made with the finest of craftsmanship.  And for a traditional crafts person who uses them for a lifetime, the high cost of a single pair of these scissors offsets the cost of using lower quality pairs which will wear out and need to be replaced.  My friend's final thoughts were that "These aren't just scissors...they're heirloom pieces".  "Quite amazing" is about all I could add....

"Cop"

On Saturday morning I reached the bottom of the staircase at my apartment building which is closest to the parking lot.  I noticed a pair of scissors with a plastic cover over them and a strip of yellow tape next to it.  On the tape was the word "CAUTION".  I thought that was a bit odd.  Reminded me of the yellow tape that police forces back in North America use to cordon off a crime site.

As I walked to the drugstore next door I noticed a large number of police cars parked in the store's lot.  There obviously was something going on but I didn't stop to try and figure out what the fuss was all about.  I took the above photo and sent it by Line to our office manager.  She had taken the day off to attend a friend's wedding in Sendai so she wasn't around to see all the police cars.  I attached a teasing caption which read "They're looking for you".  She fired back a reply of shock and I added "....joke".  (I found out of Sunday from her that she had initially thought something had gone wrong with the heaters she had set to fire up by timers.  Oops!  Bad coincidence.)

Anyways, in one of my morning classes I mentioned the gathering of "cop cars".  The students may or may not have understood what I meant by that.  So I went into a short explanation of the origins of the word "cop" as it pertains to the police.  That was edifying for the students.  They seemed to appreciate it.

Later in the day my co-worker James mentioned that a police officer had visited the school asking to speak to me.  I had been teaching at the time so he advised the officer that I was busy.

When I got home that evening a couple of people were speaking to my neighbour.  They were just finishing up and they turned to me next.  They identified themselves as members of the Yonezawa police department.  There had been a robbery the previous night and they wanted to know of my whereabouts (I hadn't gone out the previous night and had gone to bed around midnight).  I mentioned I had heard people rushing about at some hour early in the morning but I hadn't checked on the time or things in general.

Last night I was called upon at home by two different police officers.  The first officer showed me his badge.  That was the first Japanese police badge I'd ever set eyes on.  They apologized for the inconvenience of calling at a late hour and asked if it was okay if they could ask a few questions.  In particular they wanted to know if I'd be willing to identify the shoes I usually wear.  I produced them and pointed out which pair I wear for work and which are my leisure wear pair.  The second officer took them aside to take prints of the bottoms of my shoes.  The first officer explained that they had found the suspects shoe prints and they wanted to ensure that they eliminated the shoes of the occupants of the building.  Once they took the prints they asked me to certify them.  That was done with a signature and a finger print (I had misplaced my registered name seal so a finger print was the acceptable substitute).

Hopefully that will mark the end of my participation in the police investigation.  As for the actual crime, I only have heard the following: the victim works in a bar, she only had ¥3000 in her wallet that night, and the incident happened around 1AM.  In addition the victim had feared for her life at the time of the incident.  So I presume she was assaulted.  The scissors I had seen on Saturday morning likely might of been her assailant's weapon.

Someone else I know had been the intended victim of an attempted purse snatching a number of years ago.  Like the incident at my apartment, it had happened as she got home to her apartment after a night's work.  In her case the want-to-be robber was wearing a tiger mask much like one worn by a character from a popular wrestling manga.  She had hung onto her purse for dear life and managed to beat off her assailant.  When we talked about the incident at my place, she reflected on the outcome of her case.  "They still haven't caught the guy", she said.  Hopefully the outcome in this case will be different.

-*-

Post script:  A news story, in Japanese, describing the incident can be read here:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20151215-00000286-yamagata-l06. The article mentions additional details such as the victim works at a nearby eatery, she had an inkling she was being followed, and the assailant had said "I'm going to kill you".  All in all, a very traumatic incident.

Further on the previous post...

Supposedly the story I read online was missing a few details:
- I heard from one person that the child died about six months ago.  That would explain the mention of "six months" the first time I heard the story.
- I also heard that the story came to light after the mother came forward to the police to file a domestic violence complaint.
- Furthermore, the death of the baby didn't take place in Yonezawa.  It took place in another city whose name I can't recall right now.  The couple moved to Yonezawa to live with the husband's grandparents after the child's death.

Of course, all of the above is what I've heard second-hand. 

-*-

I believe I've finished all my X'mas shopping.  Now it's a matter of getting everything wrapped up and shipped off.  Interestingly, last time I sent a parcel to Canada I discovered that the cost of sending it by EMS (Express Mail Service) parcel mail was lower than that for sending it by parcel airmail.  I wasn't quite expecting that.  I thought the opposite would be the case.

I've found that parcels sent by EMS get to North America quite quickly.  I think the record had to be for one I sent to a friend in New Jersey.  It got there in about two days.  The last one I sent to Canada got there in 4 days.  I paid around ¥1600 for postage on the second one.  I'm quite sure I wouldn't get that kind of service from Canada Post....

Stunned....

I went out on Monday night for a nightcap at a snack (i.e.: a type of bar, typically run by a woman, where patrons are served Japanese appetizer dishes along with their drinks).  That may sound like an expensive proposition to anyone who is aware of the going rates at snacks but the place in question is a bit different.  The base rate is ¥2100.  A new bottle of what I usually have on keep there is about ¥2500.  Not too bad since the other two places I go to charge ¥3000 for the same stuff.  The "mama" is a young woman in her early thirties who once worked at another snack I occasionally go to.

I had been settled into my seat for at least an hour (and after an old acquaintance had come in...whereupon neither of us could remember the others name) when the mama started off a "Did you hear the news..." story.  She mentioned "chissoku".  I asked what that meant.  She explained it to me.  Suffocation.  "Wait a second", I said to myself, "She's talking about an infant".  I managed to piece the picture together.  The father is 23 and the mother 17 years old.  The child literally was a new born.  Only 16 days old.  The parents let the baby suffocate because they were more interested in playing a video game.  It goes without saying I was stunned.

When I got home the first thing I did was look for an article online covering the story.  Found it in no time.  Yes, the horrible event had taken place in Yonezawa.  I browsed the comments below the story.  Nothing there helped me come to grips with the tragedy.

I brought up the story in a couple of my classes the next day.  One student mentioned that a friend of one of her co-workers was a relative of the deceased baby's father.  Somehow I was expecting something like that to come up somewhere along the line.

I don't have anything more to report on this story.  Perhaps somewhere down the line I'll hear more from someone else.  This a small city and the rumour mill runs fairly well....

-*-

Here's the URL to the story I found online: http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/16-day-old-girl-dies-after-being-put-in-trash-can-by-parents

Just got home....

I was on a Yamagata Shinkansen train this morning heading back after a couple of nights spent in Tokyo.  As I gathered my bags (yes, I had bought a fair amount of stuff) I decided I'd take a taxi home.  The thought occurred to me then that I've seemingly always gotten a driver who knows where to go when I request to be driven to my apartment building.  Thinking of the sheer number of places one could go, even in this small city, I realized it's quite surprising that so many drivers would know the building.  This morning when I got in a cab it wasn't any different.  I gave the neighbourhood name and the building name.  The driver confirmed she had heard.  Before we pulled out from the station though she turned and asked to confirm where exactly it was I wanted to go.  "There's so many apartment buildings", she remarked afterwards.  The ironic quality of the moment had me laughing quietly to myself....

Exit Through the Entrance and Vice Versa

This is a copy of a post I put up in a forum I frequent:

The local AEON shopping centre has a number of ground level parking lots.  I prefer to park in the one closest to the building and which has separate entrance and exit ways leading from/onto the main street which runs in front of the store.  Today as I started to turn into the lot someone pulled into my path...to exit from the entrance.   I pretended to turn into the nose of their car (advanced about a meter or so), and stopped...I wanted to make sure I froze the other driver in their tracks.  Then I drove into the lot on the right hand side of the entrance. Probably freaked out the other driver a bit.  Remember, we drive on the left side of the road in Japan.

When leaving the parking lot I swung to the right side of the exit and angled my car to about 45 degrees to the curb to wait for a gap in the traffic...and sure enough someone wanted to drive into the parking lot through the exit.  Since I was blocking the right side of the exit, which would be the left side for incoming traffic, the other driver had to wait.  The problem was their car was short and the lane they were in is wide.  So their car didn't block cars coming up behind them.  I had to wait for a break in the traffic to get out of the lot.  Meanwhile the other driver inched towards me and then braked.  Not sure what that was about.

So there's my traffic gripe of the day...people who enter a parking lot through the exit and others who exit the lot through the entrance.

Karaoke...Dragonflies...And more Karaoke

October is rushing by at quite a clip.  I look and see today's date is the 21st.  Doesn't seem like that long ago when I had spent a Sunday afternoon sitting through the 2nd annual charity karaoke presentation at the Yonezawa Civic Theatre.

There was no real lead up to that afternoon...aside from one of my co-workers deflecting queries a month before from his students about an upcoming karaoke presentation he was going to participate in.  He had let that item slip out in class and found himself being badgered to divulge details.  He held his ground, refused to give out any details, and the matter failed to get any further mention.

That is until I went out for drinks on a Saturday night and mentioned the matter to the proprietress of the establishment.  She smiled and told me she was going to be performing at the same event...and would I like to buy a ticket.  I said "Sure, why not?" and thus found myself the next afternoon sitting through three hours of enka tunes with a bit of dancing added in. 

My co-worker came by to say "Hi" before the show started.  He was nervous as heck and had a drink in his hand which he was consuming in an effort to calm down his stage fright.  I'd hazard to say that seemed to do the trick as he was able to do both his numbers, a duet and a solo number, without any glaring problems.  He got a more than warm round of applause during his solo effort (after being egged on by the MC with reminders of "Don't sing in English!").  Naturally, I did make a short video clip of each of his performances...to show to his students.  Hey, what are friends for eh?

-*-

Thursday last week was sunny and quite pleasant.  I drove to work that day since that's what I always do on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  As I reached the outskirts of town I noticed that were a number of dragonflies in the air...some of them coupled.  I remembered that a co-worker had said that he was afraid of dragonflies.  I had thought then "Well, I can sort of see that".  Well, as I drove along their numbers increased.  There could've been dozens of them flying past me as I drove up the road.   By the time I reached the next town their presence was starting to get a bit unnerving.  The good thing is that I didn't get any stuck on my vehicle.  I had had this happen to me last year when driving up to Tendo to watch a soccer match.  There's nothing quite as distracting as seeing a big dragonfly stuck on your windshield wiper as you drive along.

-*-

Going back to the topic of karaoke:  What does one get when you mix two drunk guys (I wasn't one of them) with a song neither of them were asked to sing...but felt they had to because someone had requested them to sing it?  Typically the response would be a polite round of hand waving and "Sorry I couldn't possibly do it" followed by a quick jab at the "Cancel this song" button.  But this past Sunday the response was more along the lines of "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!".  I don't recall the title of the song but it was a duet, an aria-like number which was quite popular about 15-20 years ago.  On a wild guess I'd say it was made popular by Pavarotti or, less likely to be correct, Sarah Brightman(sic).

Nonetheless, that night the song started and the two guys found themselves wondering what they were going to do given their inebriated states.  One fellow got the baritone part and the other got the tenor part.  It started off with the male lead singing the first verse.  Our baritone singer immediately flubbed up the words (they were in Italian) and all he could manage was a bit that sounded a bit like "con so...".  That quickly became "kon-so-me", as in "consomme" soup.  Needless to say not a single word of the original lyrics came out from there on.  It was a steady string of "kon-so-me" and "wakame" (yes, it's that wakame, the seaweed one often finds in miso soup) sung by both fellows until the end of the song.  That was accompanied by gales of hysterical laughter from the everyone else in the establishment.  The whole thing was irreverent, jack-ass-like stupid, a touch inspired, and so atypical.  It's not every night where one encounters bust-a-gut laughter in a snack....