Things Are Getting Strange, I'm Starting To Worry...

...This must be a case for Mulder and Scully.

Happy Friday 13th! And what better day to finally write up this article.

The X-Files was fairly popular in Japan a few years back and most of the students know the names of the two FBI agents. It's a nice introduction for one of my favourite lessons; superstitions. It doesnt focus on language building too much, more a cultural lesson, but it's very interesting finding out which superstitions are the same here as back home, as well as which students are 'Mulders' and which are 'Scullys'.

What follows is a list of superstitions that bring good and bad luck:

-As I've posted already, the numbers 4 and 9 are unlucky, meaning death and suffering, respectively. Interestingly, they add up to 13.
-You shouldn't whistle at night as it attracts snakes. According to some students, there's some truth to this.
-You also shouldn't cut your nails after midnight. Wait until the morning. No explanation.
-It's unlucky to sleep with your head to the North as this is the direction the dead are positioned in.
-On the subject of death: if you see a funeral car you have to hide your thumbs in your fists, wrapping your fingers around them. In Japanese, the name for thumb literally translates as 'parent finger' and if you don't cover them when a hearse passes, you can't see your parents after you die.
-Still with death: if you return from a funeral, someone has to throw a small amount of salt at you before you enter your house, in order to ward off bad spirits.
-Apparently, finding a spider in your room in the morning is good luck in Japan, whereas finding one at night is bad. I'd beg to differ; both seem like bad news to me.
-It is bad etiquette to stick your chopsticks directly into food; rather you should attack the food from the side. On top of this, food should never be passed between chopsticks; rather you should put it on a plate for the other person. Both deal with the symbolism of bones at funerals. A morbid lot, the Japanese, eh!
-Many Japanese eat fried pork before exams or interviews as the food's name is 'tonkatsu' - 'kat-ta' is the verb meaning 'to win'.
-If someone is ill, friends and relatives collectively make 1000 cranes from origami, and tie them together in groups, with thread. Then they are hung up around the patient's bedroom, for good health. 1000! Dedicated as well as morbid.
-My favourite: "maneki neko" - which means 'welcoming/inviting cat'. It's history is very interesting and, although there are many versions of the story, the majority are very similar. The main gist is that a nobleman is travelling along a road and a cat waves his paw at him. Intrigued, the man goes to look and, just in time, is saved by some terrible fate - a wagon or lightning and so on. From this, it was believed that cats are clever and intuitive. Many shops and members of the public display/carry one; a raised right paw attracts money, while a raised left paw attracts customers.

This is mine:
So, the big question is: Are you a Mulder or a Scully?

Image Of The Week #13

My favourite sushi restaurant was empty today, so it seemed like a sensible/respectful time to get a few photos of the place. The more interesting follows:

This is a selection of everything you need for good sushi. On the right is a cup of green tea, behind which is a tap for hot water and, to the right, powdered green tea. In the middle is, obviously, sushi - salmon with onion - and chopsticks. On the left is a plate of soy sauce mixed with wasabi - Japanese horseradish; from the green packets in front of the soy sauce dispenser. Next to them is a plate of ginger - delicious - and the big tub it's kept in.

おいしい！

NOVA Students Say The Stupidest Things #24

Discussing meeting famous people:

Phil: I met the Queen.
Student 1: Wow, when?
Phil: About three years ago. I shook her hand.
Student 1: That's so cool.
Student 2: Was Freddie Mercury tall?

That Thing. Yes, It's An, Umm, Thingamyjig

In a lesson discussing how you use machines - e.g. first you press the switch, next... - I tried to draw a kettle but it looked more like this:


And when the students laughed and told me it looked like a gardening tool, they asked what it was called. For the first time in NOVA, I went completely blank. They found it hilarious. I called Kim and she couldn't remember either. We just couldn't place it.

A water bucket, watering pot, flowering water, flower waterer, water sprinkler, sprinkler, funnel, water pourer, watering flower...

A good ten minutes later:

Watering can!

But then, of course, it didn't sound right, so I had to check it online just now. I'm still not convinced.

Yesterday's News Is...

Fuji was back again today. A case of "been there, seen it, done it". Just yet to buy a t-shirt.

Actually, it was still as fantastic, and should look nicer with the more snow that covers it.

I was at the satellite school today - small school we own - on a different train line. The Nambu Line is renowned for being a top-spot for viewing Fuji. Some of the students recommend riding the line in lessons discussing what tourists should do.

Which is a little silly.

NOVA Students Say The Stupidest Things #23

The top three reasons for learning English at NOVA are:
- for business
- for travelling and making friends
- for watching movies without Japanese subtitles
__

Phil: Why are you learning English?
Student: NOVA is close to my house.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough… To Keep Me From Seeing Fu(Ji)

Two big reports on the News last night. Firstly, the bad weather was the result of not one, but two typhoons hitting at the same time. I lost a few socks cause of the wind and rain, but I’m over it. Here is the calm after the storm. I can sort of see a face (you need to tilt the screen), but I see no rabbit*.


The other news was that Fuji has its first snow of the year! Too bad every time I tried to see it, I failed**.

“A-ha!”, you’re thinking. I read Phil-San’s title. He did see Fuji. And you know what? You’re absolutely spot on.

I was guaranteed that come Autumn and Winter, there would be “crisp, fresh, cloudless skies”. Such as today. Walking to work this morning over the bridge, I glanced over and saw Fuji-San.

Look close – hint, look to the left:


Alright, a bit easier:



It may not look so big here, but I’ll give you some perspective. Those trees and hills are about 2 miles down the river. Fuji is a 2 hour drive away. And also, I-climbed-the-bloody-thing-don’t-tell-me-it-doesn’t-look-that-big.

The train ride into work was great too, as there were no buildings, just fields and Fuji dominating over them. However, everyone was just staring at it and I didn’t get a chance to take a photo. I’m hoping there’s many more opportunities to come.

It’s so nice to finally see it, and funny in a way that I only had to step outside my front door to get my first sighting. The first layer of snow looks cool too.

In the evening, I chilled by the river for a while. Here’s a few shots of the sunset and the sights along the river bank:





*I linked to my own blog! It seems paradoxical or something, like some strange time-continuum thingy is forever skewed…
**I went to try and get a look at it a few weeks back, but it was a bit unsuccessful so I’ve been grudged to write it up. I’ll get round to it soon, cause there was some cool things that day, such as the Ice Cave.

In The Words Of That Wise Philosopher

My two days off were typhoon-astrophic, and now I'm back at work, the sun's shining. I guess I can go outside and salvage whatever's left of my underwear washing; I lost a few socks, sadly.

I should be frustrated about the weather, but I woke up to SEVEN new blog comments, which made me over the moon. Since everyone seems to love Lily Allen, I think I'm going to quote her all over the place, starting now:

Oh well I guess I mustn't grumble,
I suppose that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday Dear お父さん*
Happy Birthday To You!

Have a great birthday weekend,

x Phil-San

(Sorry about the synch, it changes when I try uploading it)

*otousan - father/dad

The Weather Strikes Back

So much for my attempt to break from the mundane. We're mid-typhoon. The wind is so strong it took down my underwear washing.

However, we can learn two interesting things from this experience:

1. Typhoon originates from Japanese. However, they pronounce the word たいふう / typhoo*.
2. The majority of my students don't realise 'pants' in English are 'underwear'. They get all embarassed when I correct them if they say 'nice pants' or something.

Note how bored I am already!

*Phonetically: ta-i-fu-u.

Mundanity Strikes

My 'Saturday' and it's been raining elephants and lions all day, so it seemed like a good excuse to have a day off; just doing house-work and resting.

I went swimming; washed my clothes; remembered it was raining so couldn't hang them up to dry outside; tidied my room; watched an episode of "The Rise And Fall Of Reginald Perrin"; ate pasta; had a shave and a shower; went into Tsunashima; on my way out, saw a letter about tax contributions; bought yet another 'learning Japanese' book*; went to a coffee shop for a coffee and read my new book; saw a big worm; wrote about Dali and cows; threw away a sock that had lost its elastic; went back to the gym; had another shower; ate soup for dinner; watched Mulholland Drive; typing this.

It was nice to neither work nor run around sightseeing. It was, normal. It was, boring.

Oh God, it was boring.

Tomorrow, I'm going somewhere.

*I read that a big predictor of a child's intelligence is how many books are in his/her house, regardless of whether he/she reads them or not. I'm hoping the same is true for learning a language.

Which Is The More Surreal?

Last week, I felt like I should do something cultural and/or educational and/or intellectual, so I went to the Dali exhibit in Ueno Park. I didn’t know much about Dali – except for the bent clocks that feature in his paintings, and that he had a wicked moustache – but he’s Japan’s favourite Western artist, as I’ve been told by a lot of the students. Belatedly celebrating a ‘Retrospective Centennial – 1904-1989’, it’s big news in Japan to have so many works accessible to the public.

The exhibition was great; with over 60 different paintings. Ignorantly, I didn’t realise how broad his style was, from the surreal to naturalistic portraits. Nonetheless, the best thing was the titles given to the works; each one better than the next. For example, “Premature Ossification of a Railway Station”, “Partial Hallucination. Six apparitions of Lenin on a Grand Piano”, “The Meeting of the Illusion and the Arrested Moment - Fried Eggs Presented in a Spoon”, Average Atmospherocepalic Bureaucrat in the Act of Milking a Cranial Harp”.
My favourite is simply titled,"Eggs on the Plate Without the Plate”.

Here are some of my favourite paintings:




Respectively:
Soft Self-portrait with Grilled Bacon (1941)
The Persistence of Memory (1931)
The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1954)
Fiesta in Figueres (1914-16)
The Basket of Bread (1926)
The Ram (1928)

And my number one:

Geopolitical Child Watching the Birth of the New Man (1943)

After the museum, Julian* and I walked to Asakusa; passing this rather novel building.

We had a look at the temple and then went to the top of the Asahi building (next to that huge golden flame) and had a beer. The view was pretty cool.

--
The next day I went to the area around Tokyo Station – Marunouchi – to see… Cow Parade!! For those of you who don’t know, Cow Parade is a beautifully pointless event that takes place in different cities across the globe and counters all the misery in the world; the last time I saw it was in Prague, and Dan saw it in Manchester. Simply put, 50ish plastic cows line the streets in one area of a famous city, each painted by different artists. For no real purpose. But it’s great:






This is my second favourite cow. I’m not sure what the red on top is, but the skin is so cool:



And my favourite:

If it doesn’t look amazing, it makes up for it by its name: すしうし. In Japanese, “ushi” means “cow”. The title: “sushi ushi”.

*A NOVA teacher. British by name, exceedingly ‘British’ by nature.

Image Of The Week #12

One of the candidates for this year's Turner Prize.

I don't care how 'uncultured' I am or how much someone tells me I don't understand 'contemporary art', this is just rubbish.

However, if you want good art...

Fattening Up For Winter (aka Happy)

Today was a fantastic (albeit, long) day. For a start, I feel so much better today - no longer drained nor full of cold. I also received 3 great e-mails, which made me smile.

I had two of the nursery schools this morning, so it was an early start, yet it's so much fun and a better wake-up call than coffee. My favourite of the three schools was first, as the kids have so much energy, tell me I'm (かっくいでしょう） handsome, and one of the girls that works there is beautiful; she puts a big smile on my face twice a month. The second nursery is also great but a bit more violent - when we stand in a circle, the children literally fight over who gets to hold my hand*. They all love the 'hokey pokey'. And so do I.

I saw a sharon-fruit in the supermarket, and found out that they're in season and very popular although, rather unfortunately, they're called "kakki" here. And in the crazy backwards world of Japan, they're half the price of apples.

After that, I started reading a new book about punctuation, by Lynne Truss - "Eats (,) Shoots and Leaves" (the panda joke). Who would've thought how thrilling a book about punctuation could be? I'm captivated; especially since the posters and messages from my bosses are so awful. Remember: we teach English**.

Then I had my half day at work - the first lesson was with three of my favourite older ladies. I try to show interest in the students, remember personal information and use it as the lesson plan - and their faces light up***. The second group was four chatty gossippy housewives that make me laugh and told me "they missed me"****, although I hadn't seen them for only two weeks. Then I had a slightly dull lesson, followed by a group kids class - six 8 year olds - who were full of life, and laughed and laughed. Finally, I was asked to do a strange lesson which involved a cram school teacher asking me to prepare her student for a University interview. Was a little apprehensive as I didn't know what to prepare or tell her, but I just told her things I was taught; such as if they ask your opinion, give it but also say "On the other hand...". She said it was perfect. And I got all my holiday accepted today for when Dad and Barbara come.

At this point, I was waiting at a traffic light and a man was stuck in traffic in his van. He made a huge yawn and I started laughing. He saw me and joined in. Very surreal, but I couldn't stop smiling. Just one of those days, I guess.

Afterwards, I had my Japanese lesson in the community centre in Musashi Kosugi. Run by some retired Japanese people, it's a laugh every Tuesday evening for two hours. I'm not sure how much I learn but it's great - they bring us food, and teach us about the culture too. I've come a long way since I started, and I owe them a lot of gratitude******. The funny thing is, I'm not in the beginner class anymore, only because a few beginners have started since I've been there; an incidental promotion!

Afterwards - told you it was a long day - I returned to Tsunashima, had conveyor belt sushi, and plucked up the courage to try a few new things. Maybe it's better not to share for the faint-hearted of you. And then I saw the holy grail. The man that sold いまがわやき / imagawayaki - fresh thick pancakes filled with either あずき / azuki (sweet red bean paste, delicious!) or custard - had stopped for the Summer, but tonight marked his return. At 50p a go, it's a bargain. But I'll start piling on the pounds again. I wish this blog could do scents as well as pictures and videos.

Oh, and I downloaded and listened to this hilarious album "Alright, Still" by the 'next best thing', Lily Allen (Keith Allen's daughter). It's both good and bad, gimmicky and catchy, but encapsulates all that's great and terrible about England at its present state. And who can resist such fantastic lyrics as:

There was a little old lady, who was walking down the road
She was struggling with bags from Tesco
There were people in the city having lunch in the park
I believe that it's called 'al fresco'
Then a kid came along to offer a hand
But before she had time to accept it
Hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's dead
Cause he's got all her jewelley and wallet

All in all, a great day. Very content.

*One boy cried for the whole 30 minutes because of this. Bless him.
**For example, in my 6 month report: "Your an excellent teacher". Bless him.
***One went to Canada last week and brought me sweets. Bless her.
****Bless them. Ok, this is getting ridiculous now.
*****Last one: Bless them.

Just Call Me McGyver

My swimming trunks got caught in the dryer at the gym tonight, and the plastic coating on the end of one of the strings came straight off. I had a quick mental scan of what I could use to fix it, and the answer came to me. The laminator I was given to make the nursery flashcards.

One laminator, some superglue and a lighter later, good as new.

Lesson Of The Day

Hungover + Work = Not-so-fun-Phil

Harajuku Girls, Damn You've Got Some Wicked Style

Still feeling a bit drained, but tonight is a friend from work's leaving party. And how can I turn it down when it's in the fashionably hip district of Harajuku. My first party in central Tokyo. Should be fun.

And they have good crepes too.

NOVA Students Say The Sweetest Things #8

One of my favourite students comes from Ukraine, but is living in Japan. She is a lot more forceful and demanding than the Japanese students, but she's clued up and I always have a laugh with her. However, she gets frustrated with the Japanese students as they are often too nice and not willing to give opinions etc, so it was her last day today:

Student: You're good in the role of teacher.

Image Of The Week #11

The crepes in Harajuku are incredible. Especially for the variety - any fruit/ice-cream/cake/chocolate you can imagine. And notice the salad crepes at the bottom.