I have no idea if the Tencho-san at Odaidokoro decided to serve sake in wine glasses or if he got the idea from somewhere else. Anyways, it was a brew (I read somewhere that sake is technically a beer and not a wine) and it went down well with the appetizer (which is referred to as "o-toshi") which came with my meal. I didn't order that much that night. Just this sake, kara-age octopus and deep fried Camembert cheese balls.
This is a record of one of those pure dumb luck moments in life. I had wandered over to take a photo of a mural painting on a shutter door to a building which is going to be demolished. I took the photo, turned to my right and there smack dab in my field of view was a Maryland licence plate. I hadn't noticed it when walking over to take the photo so I was quite surprised to see it there.
There's one thing I do which I've started to take more notice of recently: I often turn the hot water handle on a faucet without remembering that it takes a good two or three minutes for warm (not hot) water to come out. This is a far cry from back in Canada where hot water could be trusted to come out in under a minute (or so I recall). The point is that turning on and running water from the hot water side engages the water heater which uses gas. So running water through the heater and turning it off before the water gets hot is a waste of fuel. It may not be much but it's something I can conserve during the summer months. The winter months are another story unto themselves.
One last thing.... Back in February when I visited Kyoto with my mother and a group from the Vancouver Buddhist Temple I was asked to read and write a short article about the English translation of book "The Buddha's Wish for the World" by the Gomonshu-sama. The article was to be published in the Hongwanji monthly newspaper. It took me a little longer than I had expected to get that done but apparently some people were pleased with the results. The publishers of the book, the American Buddhist Study Center, have asked my permission to post an abridged version of the article on their web site. It's not a big deal but I'm kind of tickled pink. I guess all those years of writing COBOL code and requirements documents didn't completely damage my English writing abilities.
I had been eying the bicycles lined up in front of a local bike shop for some time. The hand me down "chari" I was riding had seen better days but it was still functional. The front tire was bent up, the front light worked from time to time, the brakes squealed when applied, the basket had rusted off and the frame had a sprinkling of rust on it. It wasn't glamorous or charming but it did the job.
Last Sunday I pumped up the tires a bit and headed off to the gym. Along the way I stopped at a light and then a loud "Bang!" sound went off. The front tire of my bike had exploded. The sound of it going off was like that of a pistol. I didn't have a patch kit or tools on me so I turned around and walked the bike home.
I carted the bike over to the bike shop to ask how much it would cost to replace the front tire and put in a new inner tube. That was going to cost me ¥5000. I hummed and hawed about it. I checked out the cost of a low end bicycle similar to what I had. The cheapest one was ¥19800 and one with a three speed shifter was ¥22800. I said "What the heck" and decided on getting a new bicycle.
The bottom line is that I can't afford not to own a bicycle (given that I don't own a car). My quality of life certainly takes a hit if I don't have the mobility a bicycle affords me. The train station, the gym, the movie cineplex, Book-Off, and a bunch of other stores I check out regularly are all at least a mile or more away from where I live. Some of the little morning or afternoon shopping excursions I've undertaken would be day long treks without a trusty two wheeled steed.
That's the title associated with the concert I went to on Friday, May 4th. I had seen Aiko and Hisae perform previously as 時既に遅し so I went equipped with a pair of foam earplugs. When I met Aiko I explained to her that I was using the ear plugs to preserve my hearing. She was cool with that as she said one can still hear most bands even with them in. How true that was.
Essentially I was treated to a handful of very loud and often fast playing bands. The styles of music ranged from standard punk, fast metal punk to deathcore punk. In other words the differences were there to be found by those who know the genre to some degree. If anything the most fascinating element of the night's proceedings was the youngest member of the audience: a young boy who I would've pegged as being about 12/13 years old. I suppose there wasn't much harm (other than to his hearing) as the deathcore band's vocals were completely incomprehensible. Of course I have no idea what impression he will have of watching a couple of the bands being showered with beer.
The situation was like this: I sitting close to the bicycle parking area in front of Ueno station while drinking the coffee I had purchased at the nearby Starbucks shop. I hadn't been able to find a seat in the store so I went outside and found a place to perch myself. At some point in time I heard a crashing sound in front of me and I looked up to see a scene of a young woman looking at about seven bicycles which had fallen over when she had moved hers. I took a photo of that and wondered what was going to happen next.
The woman was making a call on her cell phone and she started to walk off with her bicycle. I thought to myself "Well there's a sight for those who think Japanese people are so polite and courteous. This gal is going to leave the mess she created behind." As it turned out, that wasn't really the case.
She went around the row of bicycles whilst still on the phone. She stopped next to the first fallen bicycle, put down the kickstand for hers, and then tried to raise the first of the fallen units with her free hand. Nothing came of that. About a minute later a young man came trotting over whom she greeted. He went about righting the fallen bicycles while lightly admonishing the woman for having created the mess.
And that pretty well was the end of that. A small case of "What the heck am I going to do?" solved by a knight in a cotton t-shirt and denims in the middle of one of the world's largest cities.
Cheers!
First, the Mister Donut shop in the photo has closed now. So Heiwa Dori has become a little bit more forlorn. Supposedly it was a bustling retail strip in its heyday. The building which the Mister Donut shop was in housed a Popolo department/clothing store, Jusco, a bowling alley and a shopping mall. Today, demolition of the building is being held up by the last remaining occupant, an Outami izakaya restaurant. One local has said that if they don't move out soon, the city will build a new library on the Machi no Hiroba park across the street and wait for the restaurant to move out. Then that building will be torn down and a new Machi no Hiroba park will be made on its location.
The culprit for the abandonment of the old downtown core was a form of urban sprawl and lack of public transit. When the Sati(sic) department store (now Aeon) opened up in the Chuo area it drew customers away from the core by offering free parking. After that, other major retailers moved operations onto the road running across the northern part of the city. Essentially the area evolved into a Japanese version of a strip mall road. The only business left in the old downtown core are the Onuma department store, a few aging retail stores, a few public service offices, a handful of hotels, some restaurants and izakaya (most which do the bulk of their business at night) and lots of bars. I've been told the area has gone downhill a long ways from its former glory.
In most places I've visited in Japan the train station is an integral cornerstone of the centre of a community. In Yamagata it seems that isn't the case all the time. In some places such as Yonezawa it didn't happen from the beginning as the line couldn't be punched through to the old city centre without tearing up the fabric of the community. In other places, rail lines ceased operations and a dependency on vehicle traffic grew. There are exceptions such as Takahata where the rail line was straightened to accommodate faster trains such as the Yamagata Shinkansen and the town centre found itself a mile away from the new station.
It's interesting to see how these communities have evolved. In the future I'd like to find out more about the history of the area in the past one hundred years or so. But it might be a tricky task. For example, I haven't found a photo online of the old Yonezawa city hall which stood on the site of the Machi no Hiroba. Nor have I found a photo of the old Yonezawa castle. There must be at least one of each out there somewhere...
I think it was a trip to Hard-Off (yes, that is the name of the store) back in March that set off the events which led to a new refrigerator arriving on my doorstep today. I saw the price on a used fridge there and though that it was affordable. But there was a two-fold problem to deal with; getting it to my apartment and disposing of my old one. I did a bit of shopping and decided that a new unit was still affordable and delivery was included in the price. I got a 10% discount by paying for it with cash. Disposal and recycling fees were extra. It's not a big unit by anyone's standards with a volume of 118l which is equivalent to 4.1 cubic feet. But it's a good enough size for one person.
Other sundry stories:
On Saturday night I was telling some people the story I read about three drunk young men in Canada who came up with the great idea of stripping down and riding a shopping cart through an automated car wash. I've told the story to some of my students and the reactions have varied from laughs to bewilderment to incomprehension. Anyways, this time I told the story in Japanese (except I didn't know the Japanese word for "automated car wash" so I had to come up with a substitute which my audience understood) and was quite surprised when one person quickly blurted out "I'd like to do that!". Yes, she was a bit drunk too. Let's hope she doesn't carry through with that little bit of "cultural exchange" I gave her.
Another off the wall situation: I was teaching a class of three boys aged 11 & 12. The trio is made up of two brothers and a classmate of the older brother. I had asked the younger brother a question during a drill and one of the older boys just kept talking away. The boy I had asked the question of got annoyed with that and told him "Shut up!". That had me floored. I can honestly say I have not taught those boys that phrase. So where he picked it up I have no idea.
