The Wayfarer Blog

Japundit has an interesting post about how the Japanese are not satisfied with only one word for rice. There are many ways to say rice in Japanese, including several not mentioned in the article.

I remember once at my high school, the teacher was translating something involving “rice” from English to Japanese, and he translated it as gohan, (ご飯), which is cooked rice that you eat, instead of kome, (米), which is uncooked rice. Since I have to pretend that I don’t know Japanese, even though the students know I do, I had to wait until after the lesson to correct him. The students didn’t get the correct information, but his delicate “face” was preserved.

(Just another case of how blindly following a set of arbitrary rules is rather idiotic and counterproductive at times, but I digress…)

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Oops! I forgot to post this. This is the last picture I took in 2007. (But there are some more pictures I haven’t posted yet…)

This is a cram school near Ogikubo Station, in Tokyo.

From left to right, the first character, (無), “Mu,” means “Not~.” The second, (敵), “teki,” means “enemy/rival.” So together, it means, “Unrivalled/invincible” The third character, (塾), “juku,” means “cram school.” Get it? If you go to this cram school, you will be invincible when take your next exam. That is important, because if you can perform better on your tests than other students, you can get into good schools, which will help you get a good job in the future.

What is a cram school? Well, a cram school is a school where students go for extra instruction–usually to pass an exam. Cram schools are not uniquely Japanese. We even have some in the U.S. (Kaplan is a good example.) In Seattle (85th and Greenwood Ave NE, across from Blockbuster Video), I used to pass by Kumon, which is a famous cram school chain in Japan. My first place in Japan was down the street from a Kumon school. I always thought it was sad when I was walking home around 10pm, and I saw tired little children leaving there. We’re talking elementary school kids, here.

I wanted to find out more about the history of cram schools, so I fired up google and found this Japanese site. According to the site, the history of cram schools and home schooling goes back to the Heian Period (794-1185). If you read Japanese and want to find out more than you ever wanted to know about how to choose a cram school in Japan, check it out. I skimmed over several pages, but quickly lost interest. (Did I mention that it’s about 12 pages long?)

Over the last few weeks, i’ve discovered that crutches are like bicycles. You never forget how to “ride” them.

A few years ago, in Seattle, I was in Aikido class. Towards the end of class, I took a bad ukemi (受け身）and suffered a partial tear of my right achilles tendon. Ukemi is the art of falling safely, practiced very heavily in many martial arts–especially Judo and Aikido. I should add that although I got hurt that time, I have used successfully ukemi in real life, to prevent serious injury when I have fallen. In fact, I actually slipped and fell the other day, taking out my trash as the typhoon was building. The ground was slick and I was favoring my left leg. I lost my footing and instantly did an ukemi. My technique wasn’t perfect, but I was unharmed. A couple years ago, I fell down a few stairs in front of my apartment, holding something in my right hand. I fell to my left side, slapping the ground with my left arm , distributing the fall evenly along the side of my body. I had a small cut on my hand, but I was fine otherwise. I stood up, still holding the stuff in my right hand!

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Cherry blossoms!

Yes, it is almost that time of year, when everyone heads out to enjoy the fleeting beauty of cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms are called “sakura” (桜) in Japanese. I think most people are familiar with the song, “Sakura, sakura…”

I found some cherry blossoms pictures from about year ago on my hard drive, which I hadn’t uploaded yet. You can see them on my Flickr page, or just click on one of the pictures in this post. If you want to learn more about cherry blossom viewing in Japan, please read on…

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Yesterday was a good day. It was Wednesday, a day I usually find myself struggling to get through. But for some reason, I woke up early–despite being tired–and everything seemed to flow. My last company class of the day was canceled, so I was able to go home early. To top it off, the weather was nice. It is beginning to feel like spring, though it still gets chilly at night.

I don’t know how common this is outside of Tokyo, but outside of major train stations, people often give away various free advertisements and gifts. Usually, it is just a piece of paper or a small pack of tissues. But sometimes they give away pens, hand towels, drinks, or other things that are more interesting.

Every Wednesday morning for the last several weeks, when I walk out of Ichigaya Station in Tokyo, several people have been handing out Manga (comics;漫画) magazines for free. I had read a post on another blog about this, but I had never gotten one. When you are walking out of the station with a huge group of people who are in a rush to get to work, it is all about simple timing: if they happen to be handing it out when your hand is in front of them, you can take it.

Of course, the fact that I am not Japanese makes it a bit more likely that I won’t get something like that. After all, I am not Japanese, so there is no way I could possibly know Japanese…that is how many, if not most people, seem to think.

Now, you might be thinking that comics are for kids. But in Japan, comic books and magazines are available for people of all ages, and the stories often revolve around everyday people. There are comics about everyday life, historical events, baseball or judo experts, to name just a few. You can often find people reading them on the long train ride home. And if you are interested in learning Japanese, they are quite useful, because they provide a good lesson in realistic Japanese in various situations.

I don’t read comics all the time, but when I do, I usually prefer historical or educational ones. I recently got one a cheap book from the used bookstore. It is a historical manga that focuses on certain key historical events from the Meiji Period (1868-1912), such as the assassination of Toshimichi Okubo (大久保 利通).

Actually, I haven’t really been reading much manga lately, but I should. It is a great way to learn about Japan. I remember many years ago, I saw a two-volume set of books called, “Mangajin’s Basic Japanese Through Comics.” But I only wanted to study “serious” books, so I never looked it them. But one day, at Border’s Book Store, curiosity got the better of me, so I picked up Volume 1 and began leafing through it. I was amazed! It was really useful, because it showed realistic situations, with realistic Japanese expressions, and lots of detailed translation and explanation. To see an example, look here. (Click on one of the Manga links, for example, “Ojama Shimasu” to see what a typical lesson looks like.) Mangajin was a magazine series that taught Japanese through comics. The books I saw at the bookstore were taken from the magazine series. Although the magazine shut down almost 10 years ago, you can still get those books. If you are interested in Japanese language, I highly recommend them. (By the way, you can also pick up back issues of the magazine from the link supplied above.)

I helped Angela get her luggage on the train to the airport, and barely got off before the doors closed. We had a leisurely last morning–perhaps a bit too leisurely–since we barely finished in time. We went out to lunch and then had to rush back to my apartment to get her luggage and get her to Shinjuku to catch her train.

Now, she is back on her way home. I remember walking back home, thinking how strange it was to be back to “normal,” whatever that means.

Of course, what we call “normal” is just what we have already accepted as our reality. Anything new or contrary to that is “strange.” But living in a place like this, I have had to challenge my views of what is normal and what is not. We all do. It is still difficult to reconcile at times, as we all experience in our own ways.

I remember in high school, one of my karate instructors used to recommend books for me to read. Some of the books were “deeper” than others, but all of them gave me a new perspective. I remember now that he introduced me to books by Dan Millman, a former gymnastics champion and martial artist, who has written many self-help books, most notably, “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.” Although his books were interesting to me at the time, this is not a plug for Mr. Millman; in fact, I hadn’t thought about him for a long time. But I do remember one quote that he wrote, which stuck with me: “There are no ordinary moments.”

Every day, every moment, we are faced with new challenges and opportunities. We usually do not see them that way, unless there is some “special” reason, such as an emergency, an illness, or a major milestone in our life.

Another way to express this is with a four-Chinese character idiom:
一期一会。 (In Japanese, it is read, “Ichi Go Ichi Eh”.) It is often translated as, “One encounter, one chance.” The first (and third) character, 一, means “1.” The second, 期, means “period; session; term.” The fourth character, 会, means “to meet.” (Interestingly enough, in Chinese, it also means “to be able to do something.”) So we could also understand this as “Each time is unique and it will never be repeated again, so do not waste it.” (Chinese characters are deep and they contain a lot of meaning. It is often difficult to translate them elegantly.)

In other words, every day is our one and only chance to encounter this exact set of challenges and opportunities. Our life is made up of nothing more than these “ordinary” moments.

As the memory of my sister’s visit fades into the past, I might forget the daily events and the details of what did, and where we went, but those memories will be a part of my life. And as I return to my “ordinary” life, I will face something entirely new.

I eagerly face the next “ordinary moment.”

今日は来日の三周年記年日だ。

日本の暮らしはね。。。まあ、殆ど慣れてきたけど、まだ慣れてない事もある。まだ頑張ろうと思う。

もう三年間に成った。。。悪いけど、日本語があまり分からない。だから、ちゃんと使えない。又、日本の文化や考え方も分からない。:oops:

これから、もっと勉強しなくてもいけない。一生懸命頑張りましょう！

宜しくお願い致します！　m(_ _)m