Let It Snow

I understand that snow can cause trouble. Older people slip and fall easily. There are more care wrecks. Sometimes the trains stop. But occasionally I think it's pretty. Normally the roads and buildings are all black and grey. I makes everywhere look so old and dirty and miserable. But when it snows everything turns white. Everything looks new and clean. All the trees present sharply contrasted lines of brown and white, looking much more intricate. And many people panic and worry about snow. This makes for a feeling of crisis and energy. It's very exciting. I like to go out and play in it, then come in and get warm. I'm always happy to get snow. It's a great change of pace.

I Love Scary Weather

We're all hanging around the house this morning because it's a national holiday and a typhoon is blowing in. My son's home because school was canceled on account of the typhoon. So it's a pretty lazy day. I love listening to the storm outside; it's pleasant for me. Where I grew up, in Texas, violent weather is normal. We regularly endured raging storms, relentless hail, and brilliant lightning, not to mention the occasional tornado. Further south, Texans have to contend with massive hurricanes. I grew up with this kind of weather, so typhoons only remind me of home. I actually have CDs of storm sounds that I sometimes play to relax. The one thing we don't have in Texas is earthquakes. I had never experienced earthquakes until I came to Japan, and those really do alarm me. I just hope this typhoon stops in time for classes tomorrow. Y'all stay safe.

Key Words

• hang around
• typhoon is blowing in
• cancel on account of 
• not to mention 
• contend with
• grow up with

If you don't understand any of these words, please ask me.

Here are my three favorite movies about scary weather:

Monkey Island: One of Kanagawa's Best-Kept Secrets

No, not the game; though we were humming the theme on the way there.


Yesterday my family had a rare opportunity in which all three of us were free at the same time, for the entire day. After oversleeping the the exclusion of any day trip more than three hours away we decided to drive down to Yokosuka (横須賀) in Kanagawa (神奈川) and visit Sarushima (猿島) or "Monkey Island."

It's the only island in Tokyo Bay, about the size of Rikers Island in the US. It's a little lump of green poking up out of the water, a five minute boat ride from shore. It was used as an artillery battery site in the Edo period, but now it's a leisure site where you can swim and barbecue.

As day-trips go, this one is very low-commitment. I can't believe we never went there before. Just take a boat five minutes and BAM, there you are. And it's a real cost-saver, too. Most people brought barbecue sets on trolleys and carts.

While on the beach, in a party nearby, one guy grappled another guy and started wailing on him. At first we thought it was some kind of sparing because the rest of their group was looking on indifferently, and they both had such excellent technique, like serious K1 fighters. But When the blood started dripping the whole beach took notice. The bigger guy just kept wailing on the skinny guy until they had to take him away on a stretcher. My first few years here, I'd tried breaking up some of these kind of fights and learned the hard way that my help in these instances is never, NEVER appreciated. There would be a better chance of me ending up in jail than bringing peace. So we just moved out of view and felt like horrible people. But I'm sure that was an unusual event. The rest of the crowd seemed very mild, and Kanagawa does get a bit impassioned compared to the rest of the Kanto plane.

Monkey Island usually gets about 1,000 people a day, but on this Golden Week holiday, 1800 people preceded us. We made up about 3,000 in all. But for all the people, we didn't feel terribly cramped like we do at Disneyland or Shibuya. No bumping or competing for spaces.

They have a little kiosk/shop where you can buy drinks, alcohol, and snacks. There's a sno-cone (kakirori/カキ氷) vendor at times, too. Free walking sticks are available; please put them back before you leave.

The tunnels are fun for the kids to run around in. There are rocks on the far side from which you can fish or climb around. The sea hawks are always entertaining with their aerial prowess. Lots of lush green knolls to picnic on. It's a great place to escape for a few hours. What's really surprising is how few people even know about this place. We've lived in the Kanto plane for over 15 years and this was our first time. I've talked to countless Japanese and foreigners since, and none of them knew about this place. So it's practically a secret garden. I probably shouldn't even be blogging this.

The boats run between fifteen and sixty minutes, and the last one returns around five. Tickets are about 1200¥ per person. Don't wait for the last boat; it'll be like a Cuban refugee raft.

Take a BBQ/picnic set, some sports equipment and have a great day.

Adventure at Disneyland

It was without a doubt the weirdest time we've ever had at Tokyo Disneyland, and we go about twice a year.

We went on a Thursday, and we thought the school kids had one more week to go before spring break. Oh, how wrong we were. No grown-up ride had less than a three hour wait, and even the dinky ones had waits of 45 min and up. It's a Small World had a 50 min wait, if you can believe that. All Fast-Passes had been suspended because of the massive crowds.

We started with innocently high hopes and headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain (as I'm slowly overcoming my fear of roller coasters, that's a recent victory). The wait was three-and-a-half hours. Scratch that. None of us had any interest in standing in line three hours for anything. We looked around. Same problem with Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. We lowered our standards. Even still it took thirty minutes just to get a ferry to Tom Sawyer Island. The canoes looked possible, but the wait for that was 45 min.

We wandered around for four hours until finally, crestfallen and defeated we decided to call it quits and go home, taking in Pirates of the Caribbean on the way out. The wait for that was down to 40 min...oh boy. The line snaked through parts of the antechamber we'd never even seen before. Once in a boat, all the disappointment was forgotten and we were having the fun we'd come for. We were finally at Disneyland! Then suddenly, half-way through, the boats came to a dead stop. Lights on; music and sounds off. There was an announcement that there was an unspecified problem with the ride and that we should please remain seated. This was repeated every two minutes.They wouldn't even tell us what the problem was. Mechanical breakdown? Bomb threat? Maybe the anamatrons were rising up and slaying the humans? But floating in a meter of water, we couldn't imagine any real kind of peril.

We remained safely seated for the next half hour.

We were stuck in the scene where the pirates were chasing the women around. It got kinda creepy with all the animatronics spasming and scuttling around, silently, unceasing. We started cutting up to kill time. Even the Japanese girls behind us started goofing on the endless announcement.

Finally the announcement came that we were to evacuate the boats. Staff in waders came out and started pushing our boats back to evacuation points.

This was literally a dream come true. I've always wanted to get off the boat half-way through and get backstage. Even back in Texas, where we had a similar ride at Six Flags, where it would be so easy to step off, but you didn't because you'd probably be banned from the park for life. But now it was happening. If I could've chosen any ride to evacuate, this would've been the one. 

It was too cool, getting to step off the ride and go backstage. We exited through a fortress near the town siege scene. It looked like backstage at any theater, if not a little neater. Lots of plywood and scaffolding. The staff were markedly professional and competent. Up some steel stairs and into the back lot. It looked a like a movie studio, with the big, square, white, sound-stage-esque buildings, and trailers. We were wondering if they'd offer some compensation like a free ticket for another time. They gave everyone passes for a ride of their choice. Without deliberation, we went straight back to Big Thunder Mountain where the wait was up to four hours...except for us! And what I didn't dare them was that we had so much fun evacuating that it was like being offered desert after having cake & ice cream. 

What started out as the worst ever trip to Disneyland turned out to be one of the best.

Here's a video of us stuck on the Pirates ride:

http://youtu.be/VsyU-kwDH40

Fitness

Health is important but every day people are getting fatter and more unhealthy.

More and more families in Japan are too busy. Either both parents work, or it's a one-parent home. Either way, no one's able to spend all afternoon shopping and cooking proper meals. And it wouldn't matter anyway, because the kids come home later and later because of school clubs and after-school activities like tutoring and English classes. And the primary bread-winner has to stay at work later and later as jobs become more and more demanding.

I see Japan slowly starting to look like America. Japanese are getting fatter and more unhealthy. Why is this? Are they not exercising, or are they eating more unhealthy food? Maybe it's a combination of the two.

The Japanese are famously healthy. Japan is one of the healthiest nations in the world, boasting one of the highest life expectancy rates and lowest obesity rates. This is because the Japanese eat very healthy food, lots of vegetables, and small amounts of fat. They also walk alot. They walk to the train, they walk to work, they walk to school, and they walk to the store. All that walking it great exercise. For further distances, they take bikes. I'm always impressed with mothers who ride bikes with three kids: one in front, one in the back, and a baby on her back. Biking, walking, climbing stairs in their homes and apartments; the world is their gym.

But that's changing. I know the number of people driving cars in Japan goes up every year. If you add scooters, then you have alot of people not walking. Recently we've seen the introduction of the very popular power-assist bicycle. Lately many of my students are brought to and from their classes here by car, even if they only live a few blocks away. How American! After the parking lot near our school was turned into an apartment building, I saw many of those students arriving on foot. So maybe losing the parking lot was a good thing.

A few years ago, futsal became popular and I knew many students who played it. Athletics in general are popular, if you you have time. But with the struggling economy workers don't have enough time to work-out or play sports. Students also spend most of their free time seated in tutoring schools.

And the one-two punch is that American fast-food is gaining popularity. It's easier to find a hamburger than a salad.

I hope

Irish Festival in Omotesando

Whatever you were planning to do 

this Sunday,

 March 17, 2013, from 1-4, forget about it. 

The only thing worth doing at that time will be 

the big Saint Patrick's Day parade in Omotesando, Tokyo.

What?

St. Patrick's Day is the annual celebration of Ireland and Irish/Celtic culture and it's one of the liveliest, most colorful street festivals you'll see anywhere in the world. The day is celebrated pretty much anywhere you have alot of Irish immigrants (or descendants). It's what happens when thousands of Irish leave their homeland, and get homesick. And here in Japan, we have several thousand of 'em (not counting their descendants, like me), and there have been Irish in Japan for over 300 years.

It starts at 2pm this Sunday on Omotesando street (one station from Shibuya), starting from Omotesando Hills. It should finish around 4. But you'll want to get to the station no later than 1:30 because it'll take time to make your way through the crowds. Oh, and wear green (or orange...if you don't know why, wear green).

This is not to be missed.

Why?
You'll see Omotesando adorned with Irish flags and thick with around 50,000 good-spirited revelers waiting for a parade of 1,500 participants with bagpipers, dancers, animals, costumes, and all manner of musicians, performers and costumes.

The festival is completely family-friendly, and you it's said that on this day every year, "everyone is Irish." 

So it's really your cultural duty to attend, as a temporary Irishman/woman.

Afterwards, friends and family retire to one of Tokyo's 300 Irish pubs (most of which are family-friendly) for a pint of Guinness and a bite. And if you like beer, but not Guinness, I'll wager you've never tried it on tap.

While in Japan, it's good to take in as much of the local culture as you can. But this is entirely too much fun to pass up. It's brief, free and unforgettable.

And if Omotesando is too far for you, there are celebrations in other areas of Japan, too including, Chiba, Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka.

For more information:
Irish Network Japan

Conversation Starter

The person who starts the conversation controls the conversation. It's in your best interest to start it.

One of the best ways begins with four little words:

"Did you hear about...?"

This introduces news and gossip in a very natural way.

"Hey, did you hear about the earthquake? Did you hear about the Lady Gaga? Did you hear about what Suzuki did?"

The pattern is simple:
Did you hear about + subject noun?

From here, the conversation follows a topic you already know.

If someone asks you, "did you hear about...?" You can answer two ways.

If you don't know about the news, you'd say, "No, what?" Then the person will tell you about it.

If you do know about the news, you'd say, "Yeah, I did..." and give some reaction or opinion about it.

Either way, don't let the conversation die. Ask questions. Give opinions.

Try it next time in class; ask your teacher or another student.