Son of the "Carpet Monster"....

The "carpet monster" is a term which pops up every now and then in online forums frequented by model kit makers, especially those who make things in small scales.  It is a reference to that floor covering which consumes and refuses to regurgitate small pieces of model kits which drop, fly off, or disappear through some combination of physics, poor motor control of ones digits, and shear dumb luck.

In my case I no longer have a carpet to deal with.  I deal with a linoleum floor covering.  One would think that the odds of recovering small model kit pieces are considerably higher when dealing with such a flooring.  Alas, such is not the case.  After recently losing two small, but critical, pieces to the model ship pictured above, I broke down and decided to order a replacement sprue of parts.

When I was living in Canada I never got to take advantage of the damaged/missing parts service offered by Japanese model companies.  Their instruction sheets make it clear that it's not available to overseas customers with a "Japan only" warning on the parts order from.  Less generous than the English companies.  I once had a problem when I was around 10 years of age with a model of a Fairy Swordfish torpedo bomber kit whereupon the wing struts had broken off of their sprues and I couldn't tell which part was which.  I filled out the form listing the considerable number of mixed up parts and sent it to the manufacturer in England (I suspect it was the Matchbox Company but it could've been Airfix).  They sent me a whole new model kit as a source of replacement parts at no charge.  Solved the problem quite effectively.

This time around I wasn't so lucky.  I filled out on an online parts order request and got a reply outlining the costs of it to me.  The parts sprue itself is ¥700.  They added in a ¥300 handling fee.  Then they tacked on a ¥500 shipping fee.  The grand total of ¥1,500 is 8% less than what I paid for the whole kit...that 8% being the rate of Japan's "consumption tax" - a sales tax.  I suppose I ought to stick to losing parts from more expensive kits....

Not Again....

My iPhone went off with a klaxon sound this morning.  I snapped awake and glanced at the screen.  It was an alert informing everyone that North Korea had launched a missile.  "Go indoors or underground" was the instruction given in the message.  If only there was such a thing as underground in this city.  So I crawled out of my futon and headed into the dining room.  At least it has a corner which isn't in the direct line of an outside facing window or sliding door.  Then I measured my blood pressure and heart rate.  Blood pressure was not too bad but my heart rate was notably high...then it dropped on the second measurement I took.  I don't know...this isn't my idea of excitement on a Friday morning....

So Much For Summer....

Well.... Summer has come and gone.  This year's summer was a bit of cool and soggy affair.  So I didn't do a heck of a lot.  I did attend a local Obon-odori (Obon is that time in Japanese tradition where it is believed that the souls of the deceased pay a visit to our mortal realm.  The "odori" portion is from a Buddhist tradition.) and for the first time in decades, actually participated in a dance.  I also made a couple of quick trips to Sendai to renew my visa.  Aside from that, I spent the summer slowly cleaning up my apartment, getting a bit of exercise on my bicycle, and taking in a handful of movies at the local cinema.  And of course there was my friend's yukata party which accounted for the one time I wore my yukata this past summer.

The defining moment of my summer was the night I received an e-mail from Canada advising me that my father had passed away.  I didn't get any sleep after that and it goes to say that the next few days were a bit of a train wreck.  It's strange but right now I just don't have anything I want to say other than "It happened".

The Dragon Next Door

Well, actually it's a crane.  But when I woke up and looked out my window one morning, the top of it definitely looked like a dragon's head.  This photo doesn't quite capture the image but it'll have to do for now....

Anyways, construction has started on the new ten story apartment building which will be built next door.  It's going to take 18 months for it to be completed.  I guess I can look forward to lot more shade in the future.

Since the property was denuded of trees last fall, there are no cicadas this year to serenade us.  For a short while there was a small colony of Japanese tree frogs in some puddles next door.  Or perhaps they were toads.  Either way, the creatures let their mating calls loose in the wee hours of the morning.  They were quite loud...to the point where they could just barely keep a person awake.  But they're gone this week.  More equipment and material has been moved onto the property and some bulldozer work was done also.  So I guess all the amphibians have made good their escape.

I've seen the architect's drawings of the new building and it doesn't look like there will be any green space on the property once construction is completed.  It'll just be a concrete tower with everything else around it paved to serve as parking spaces.  So the chances of hearing any animal or insect sounds from next door in the future seem quite minimal....

Where was I?

This year has been an odd one; two trips back to Vancouver under less than happy circumstances (one for a funeral for a close relative and another to pay a possibly last visit to another ailing relative) and each visit I stayed the roughly same amount of time, five days.  I arrived on a Thursday each time and flew back to Japan on the following Monday.  When I booked time off for the second trip no one checked if I actually had days off to use.  Turns out I didn't have any paid days off left so they put down as unpaid days off which I'll make up with workdays during the Obon break.

Not having any vacation days off could've been extremely embarrassing if I had requested July 18th off.  I had agreed to purchase a spare ticket a friend had to an X Japan concert on the 17th.  There was no chance the concert would finish prior to 8:38 PM, the departure time of the last Yamagata Shinkansen train from Tokyo station.  So I was going to stay overnight any ways.  As it turns out, I managed to return to town with time to spare prior to my first class.  Though my original work schedule would've seen me trying to catch the very first Yamagata Shinkansen train...something which would've been extremely difficult if I had booked a hotel room in the Shin Yokohama area.  Nonetheless, fate turned in my favour and I was able to get back home in a relaxed manner.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

In this case the answer is "They've faded or wilted away".....

Last Tuesday I was working at a company up north of Yamagata city.  I returned in the early evening on a Tsubasa, Yamagata Shinkansen, express train.  Somewhere south of Kaminoyama, the train passed a rather striking scene: a considerable stretch of trees choked by bright violet coloured wisteria bloom.  I was a bit surprised to see that sight as it was the first time I had ever noticed it during my almost six years of residence in Yamagata prefecture.  Unfortunately my reflexes weren't quick enough, and the train was travelling a bit faster than a local train, so I wasn't able to get a photograph of the scene.

The following week I returned to Yamagata city.  On the way I thought I'd be able to see the flowers again, possibly on my return trip.  Then I realized that I'd be heading back to Yonezawa later in the evening and it would be dark.  So I shifted from my seat on the left side of the Shinkansen cabin and across to the right side.

Alas, the wisteria bloom had faded and wilted away.  I spotted a few dull grey coloured remnants of the previous week's bright display.  I snapped a photo of the wisteria plants I could make out against the green facade of the woods.  It'll be up to the imagination of those who view that sad, dull photo to recreate the previous week's scene....

A Short Post

Last night a friend and I went to see "La La Land".  It's only playing for a brief run here where I live...about 10 days.  I suppose anyone who really wanted to see it has already done so.  Two of my students saw it a month and half ago.  One went to Sendai ("That's the only place where it's playing", she said).  Another saw it it Yamagata.  Interestingly enough, she saw it only a few days after the first student.  Not sure what was going on there.

After the movie was over, I asked my friend if she had enjoyed it.  She said she liked it...but mentioned that musicals are probably a hard sell in Japan.  "A lot of people just don't understand why characters in musicals have to sing about what's happening in the story", she said.  I don't know if that was the first time I had heard that comment but I could see where it was coming from.

Today when I mentioned I had seen "La La Land" to an acquaintance at lunchtime, she went spouted off exactly, almost verbatim, the observation my friend had made last night.  The coincidence certainly caught me off guard.  Then she mentioned how she was a bit put off when she saw "Frozen", which was titled "Anna and the Snow Queen" in Japanese, and found out that it had singing in it too.  I casually offered the observation "When's the last time you saw a Disney cartoon without singing in it?".  She stopped for a moment and said "Hmm, good point".....

-*-

Life has been up and down and up recently.  Things were fine during Golden Week but I caught a cold at the tail end of that.  It took about two weeks to shake it off...just in time to take my mom and sister around while they were in town for a weekend.  The weather was hot then...both a blessing and a curse.  Vancouverites are not prepared to 30 degree weather in late May.  But the sights are much nicer in sunny weather.....