Me and Danny Choo

Oh Danny Choo, oh Danny Choo,
Without you what would I do?

This is my thank you letter to Danny Choo.

Dear Danny Choo,

Whenever I am in a tight spot in this crazy town, I go to my computer and search the internet for answers. Inevitably, your blog turns up in my search.

Looking for places to take my 16 year old niece from Hong Kong? Danny, your blog was a treasure trove that told us just where she needed to go to see all that otaku culture! Although her parents weren't thrilled about the maid cafe...

And then there were my trials and tribulations over the Japanese driver's licensing procedures. I had insomnia, I worried, I fussed. Everything online was doom and gloom and I thought I would never pass the exam. And then your blog turned up, light and funny, and I relaxed. I also passed my test on the first try - your photos were a terrific help to understanding how the whole crazy procedure worked.

And then on Coming of Age Day, I wanted to go to Shibuya's CC Lemon Hall to see all the fun. I didn't know what time - so to the internet I went. There was nothing helpful on the English language Shibuya city website, but your blog had information from last year and I made it.

And then, there you were! Notice my cheesy grin?

I know all the otaku fans love you, but I am sure you never thought you'd have a middle aged expat American mother as a cheerleader.

Thank you!

Pam

You can visit Danny's blog too!

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25018/Danny+Choo.html

Setsubun Festival in Tokyo

Setsubun took place on February 3rd. Setsubun marks the change of season in Japan, welcoming spring. This is a really fun festival that the children had a taste of when we moved to Tokyo last year that we were looking forward to this year.

For Setsubun, we cast the demons out of our homes by throwing roasted soybeans at them, saying, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" or "Demons out! Luck in!"

Sam's class made oni (devil) masks and threw soybeans at each other. I did the more adult thing and went with friends from my neighborhood to Zozoji temple, which is near Tokyo Tower. Zozoji temple is famous for its Setsubun festivities.

The man in the photo at left brought his own little onis with him. He enjoyed the attention, but I am not so sure about his dog!

At Zozoji, there is a parade of monks from the temple, dressed in festival finery. Then the children from the local school parade in, and then people from the neighborhood who are born in the current zodiac year - the year of the tiger. After the parade, the festivities - for the audience - begin.

Local dignitaries and famous people throw small bags beans at the crowd. I guess this is much less messy than loose beans. I was in the crowd with my friends, trying to catch the beans. They also threw mochi rice cakes, snacks, candy and more soybeans.

There were specially labeled beans

that could be redeemed at a stand for

special prizes of restaurant meals, sake, and hotel stays. None of us were that lucky, but I did catch a bag of hard candy.

Then, men dressed as onis took the stage, and the children from the local school threw beans at them and chased them off. The kids were very enthusiastic! There were more snacks thrown, and mochi rice pounding onstage. All in all, very fun and festive.

We go to Sumo!

Everyone has an idea of what a sumo wrestler looks like. Big fat guys, top knot in their hair, wearing some strange diaper thing. But I am willing to bet that very few have actually been to a tournament and seen a sumo match. So that's what made me decide to get us all tickets and head to the sumo tournament last month. After all, you can't live in Tokyo without going to see the sumo tournament at least once.

Not knowing what everyone's reaction to watching sumo wrestling would be like, I bought nose bleed seats. We also went with our friends and neighbors, the Herseys. Their son Dan is a good friend to all our boys.

Sumo tournaments are held throughout the year in Tokyo and other cities throughout Japan, alternating between Tokyo and other cities. January's tournament was in Tokyo at the Kokugikan. The tournament is held over 15 days, and runs all day, each day, from about 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening. It's a long day if you go for the whole day. Most spectators don't go until later in the day, when the ranked wrestlers start their matches.

We arrived at the Kokugan around 2 in the afternoon - just as the non-ranked wrestlers were finishing. There were sumo wrestlers strolling around outside the arena, and inside as well. One was very gracious and let us take his picture with our boys - I think he was visiting with his family either post- or pre-match.

The sumo tournament was filled with ceremony and tradition, especially the higher ranked wrestling matches. The wrestlers in the division are introduced and they walk around the sumo ring with ceremonial aprons.(I'm sure it has a proper name, but I am not sure of it.)

Then the matches starts, officiated by a referee in an ornate kimono. The wrestlers demonstrate their flexibility to the audience, lifting their legs high in the air - honestly, how do they do that?Stepping into the ring, they scatter salt - some wrestlers dramatically throwing the salt, other contemptuously tossing the salt at their feet. Then they confront their opponent. They show their strength, they grimace. If they are highly ranked wrestlers, they can do this for quite a while. Then they step out of the ring, wipe their faces, take a handful of salt, and start again.

Finally, they give each other the signal and the wrestling starts. Sometimes it's a fast match and one wrestler quickly overpowers the other, or manages to get a good hold on his opponent at their first clash. Other matches we watched the wrestlers struggle to get a good grip, feet slipping and the match went back and forth until the winner was decided. The winner was not always who you thought it would be.

We saw one huge sumo overpowered by a wrestler who was probably half his size. Another match ended up in the first tier of spectators, who sit on tatami mats. I was told later that if you buy those seats, you are not allowed to carry anything in with you - no bags, no food. The reason for this is that someone was skewered by an umbrella at a past tournament. And no children are allowed in that section either. That I can really understand. If a sumo landed on an spectator, they could be flattened.

There are quite a number of non-Japanese wrestlers in the ranks. Many are from Mongolia, including the 2 highest ranking wrestlers, the yokazuna. Many others are from Georgia, Russia, and Bulgaria. It's very interesting to see them take part in a sport that is so very Japanese.

Finally, the highest ranking wrestlers - the yokazuna - had their matches. A yokozuna, Asashoryo was the overall winner of the tournament, but both yokozuna lost matches to lower ranked sumo, including a very popular Estonian wrestler called Baruto.

However, Asashoryo was compelled to retire this past month after behaving badly. He apparently imbibed excessively and then hit the waiter that was serving him. I guess sports figures can behave badly in any culture, but in Japan, it can end your career.

If you want to explore more, you can visit the sumo web site (in english):

http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/eng/

Enjoy! I can't wait to go again!

Coming of Age Day

My book group chose Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living int he East Teaches Us About the West for our January selection. This is a nonfiction, light sociological book by T.R. Reid, an American journalist who lived in Tokyo about 12 years ago. While some of Reid's work is now dated, there were so many interesting anecdotes about living in Japan and the struggles that westerners have understanding eastern cultures, that I am willing to forgive the dated-ness.

One point that Reid made time and again was that eastern societies have government sponsored public ceremonies and rituals that reinforce social mores. Coincidentally, one of these public rituals happened in January, which was a really interesting way for me to witness the. On January 11, Japan celebrated Coming of Age Day. This is a public holiday when all the young people who will turn 20 years old that year are honored and celebrated. What a contrast to the United States, where the only thing that happens when you turn 18 is (if you are male) you receive your Selective Service card, or when you turn 21 and are allowed to drink alcohol.

On Coming of Age Day, each city or town government has a ceremony. The young people turning 20 are invited to their local government office or hall for this occasion. The young women dress in kimono, and the young men also dress traditionally or in basic suits. In my city, Shibuya, they arrive early at the hall to catch up with friends and pose for photos. Some of the new adults have not seen each other since high school, so there is a reunion atmosphere.

I can't emphasize enough that this is important to them. Some of the girls get up very early for hairdresser appointments and rent kimono outfits that can cost over $1000 for the day.

After socializing, the young people go into the hall where the local officials congratulate them on their adult status and encourage them to be responsible society members. At age 20, they can drink, smoke, and vote, and they are reminded of both their adult privileges and duties to their neighbors. They are also handed goody bags with lots of information reflecting their new status as adults - taxes and insurance.

My friend Denise and I went to the Shibuya CC Lemon Hall to see all the festivities. It was amazing, beautiful, a little weird, and I am so glad I saw it. Denise and I were in awe of the incredible kimonos and gorgeous hair ornaments. The women were proud and happy, hugging friends and taking photos. The young men were a bit more reserved, but also obviously proud. I think the only thing I was really surprised about was how few parents were there. A Japanese friend explained to me that only the 20-yr olds are invited - especially in the bigger cities - and that families might have a party for them later on.

I think that western cultures have done their values/ideals a disservice by not sanctioning them publicly, and delegating all "values" education to the churches and volunteer groups like the Girl and Boy Scouts. Whether or not the Japanese young adults agree with their cultural rules and mores, they definitely know that their society expects them to be responsible society members with the privileges that come with that responsibility.

Here's a short video clip from the day. More on the Stormtrooper later.

Sometimes it's the smallest things...

Sometimes it's the smallest things that throw you for a loop and make you realize you really are living in a foreign culture. You get used to the big things, like not being able to read most of the signs, and understanding only a few words that people speak.

One day last spring I said to Nick, "Sam really likes that gum that comes with the free post-its."

"Free post-its?" he asked quizzically. "Which gum is that? I haven't seen any free post-its."

"It's the cube gum," I answered. "I don't know why you get free post-its with the gum." It did seem like a very odd combination, free office supplies with your gum.

But I had already seen some odd giveaway combos, like the Miffy phone charm with the new flavor of fruit juice. And someone is always handing you a pack of tissues with advertisements from health clubs, gentlemen's clubs, restaurants and plastic surgeons. So while the combination was odd, it wasn't completely out of the question.

We were in a gum sampling mode last spring - all the different flavors here in Japan! No plain old bubblegum flavor, but exotic things like citrus soda! Grapefruit! Grape-cassis! And the very scary looking "black mint" gum where the gum really does look rather gray, resembling a pepper flavored Jelly Belly jellybean. And then we had the cube gum, with the free tiny post-its.

I finally caught on one day when Sam announced that his gum had lost its flavor and he wanted to throw it away. There I was, standing on the sidewalk, fishing through my handbag looking for a scrap of paper - an atm or grocery receipt, a used tissue, anything. The bell finally rang in my head - Aha! That's what those post-its are for!

You see, the cube gum comes in a box and there are no individual wrappers for each piece of gum. So what is a person to do when they need to dispose of the chewed gum? A very tidy, neat Japanese solution. You provide the disposal papers with the gum. They are also very handy for marking pages in books, so I keep a few extra "post-its" with my book group books. And since I used most of my used tissues to toss the chewed gum away, I have a very good supply of the tiny post-its.

Taiko Drumming at the ELC

This past Wednesday was a national holiday in Japan, National Foundation Day. Chris and Michael had school, but Sam's school had the day off with a special presentation of taiko drumming for the children.

I had never seen taiko drumming before. I knew that it was supposed to be quite an active and athletic performance, but that's all I knew. There is a troupe of taiko drummers that periodically visit the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, but I have never been motivated to go - frankly, it looked very serious and dull.

What we saw at the ELC was anything but serious and dull. It was joyful, entertaining, funny, and exciting. The taiko drummer troupe used large drums, smaller drums, handheld bells and rhythm instruments, plus many different types of flutes and recorders. The children loved it!

There were traditional songs about springtime, comic interludes with the players portraying animals, and foot tapping songs driven by enthusiastic and energetic drumming. After the performance, the players were very generous and allowed the children to drum on the largest drum they brought.  They were a very child friendly group, and a good introduction for those of us who had never seen taiko drumming before. The players gave the name of each instrument and demonstrated each one, which really helped us understand everything more fully.

If I had to compare taiko to anything I had seen before, I think I would say it was most like traditional commedia dell'arte, with the combination of storytelling and music. My friend Sheila compared it to Native American musical performances - and I can see that, too. 

Sam commented that he could feel the drumming in his chest. I think his favorite part of the day was the playtime with Aidan at our apartment afterward!