羽之助の帝紀

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Advance the Cause of the Proletariat at the Ichinoseki Young Worker's Hall
下層階級の大義を一関勤労青少年ホームで進む


So the other morning I was riding to the office when I noticed that the guy who has a garden/farm by the creek had gathered all his brush together and set fire to it. Technically illegal, but as I was told by a Japanese teacher, if one person does it first then that OKs it for everyone else.
先日の朝に事務所に行きながら近所の小川の隣の庭・農場を所有している人が植物のゴミを集めて燃やしたと覗いた。実は違反だけど、日本人の先生に言われた通り、誰かが最初にすれば皆がしていいの許可になる。

This stream is kind of weird. Concreted into a channel, it feeds rice fields stretching back into the ... uh, fields. I think.
この小川はちょっと変だと思う。水路にコンクリートされて、奥の田圃から・・・他の田圃まで田圃に・・・水を持ってくる。(汗)

The Japanese countryside appears to be divided into blocks, perhaps as a remnant of feudal zoning laws. So in the middle of a landscape apparently divided into "rice field" and "house" from time to time there will be a block marked "forest".
日本の田舎は角に割られているそうだ。封建時代の目的別地域区分法の遺産かもしれないな。それで、風景が「田圃」か「家」の区分に割られているみたいし、たまに「林」に割られる。

Beside this forest-block was a ... KURA! YAY!! I wanted to ask the owner of the house the history of it, but they had a really big car and so I thought they might not appreciate it. Plus I couldn't find the front door.
この林区分の隣には・・・庫だった!やった!歴史について持ち主に聞きたかったけど、でかい車を持っているので多分尋ねされたくないと思っていた。そして玄関は見つけられなかった。

So I tramped into their backyard and took pictures from a closer angle.
だから庭に侵入してもっと近い場所から写真を撮った。

A few nights ago when it was really cold someone tied up their dog outside the grocery store while they went in to get donuts or whatever. Poor doggy! Ah well, I'm sure Tessa (my family's dog) had to endure worse during Canada's winters.
先日の寒い夜に誰かが八百屋の隣で、買い物をする前に犬を外で置いた。可哀想なワンちゃんだな!まいや、テッサ(自分の家族の犬)がカナダでもっと厳しい寒さを我慢しなくちゃならなかったな。

There's this ... place on the road to my office that offers "companions" for hire. The signs say, in succession, "We offer polite companions dressed in Western or Japanese clothing", "Recruiting Companions now, hourly wage from ¥2500", and "Same-day pay OK". So ... is it a prostitution escort service or a geisha-like escort service?
事務所行きにこの場所が「相手」を雇っている。では、これは・・・売春相手営業か芸者みたいな相手営業会社か?

I had to mail a package, and on the road I see the 〒 sign which denotes postal services. The sign on the building says they sell religious articles, but hey ... so I walk in and say "Hi, you have that sign that says postal services. Can you mail this package for me?" The girl says, "Postal services?" I say, "Yeah. You have the sign". The guy sitting at the desk then says "Not here. Go to Family Mart". Then, he switches to English, and says "Go straight, turn right!"
小包を郵便したかったので、同じ道の〒の看板がある店に行った。建物の看板は宗教な商品を売っているって書いてあったが・・・入ってみて「大変失礼いたしますが、外で郵便の看板がありますしこれを送りたいんですが・・・」って言った。女性の店員が「郵便?」と返事した。「ええ。看板がありますが・・・」。机で座っている男性の店員が「ここではない。ファミリーマートでー」と言ったが、英語に替わって「Go straight, turn right!」と言った!!

Cool.
すごい。

That's almost as weird as the time I was in My Favourite Liquor Store and a random postman came in and asked me, in English, where I was from. Without an accent.
変だったけど、僕の大好きな酒屋に居る時ある配達さんが入ってカタカナ発音で喋らなくて英語で僕はどっちの国から来たと聞いた時ほど変じゃないさ。

On Peng's request, I went back to the graveyard from a few days before to examine it in more detail. I noticed an overturned sake cup on the ground from a long-ago offering.
鵬さんのお願いで先日の墓場へ戻ってもっと詳しく調べた。昔の祈りから覆された酒のおちょこが土に置いていた。

All the headstones, fallen over and in a pile ...
墓石、落ちていると小山に置いてある・・・

This person died in 1830, the twelfth year of the Bunsei (文政) era. The writing down the middle is the person's posthumous Buddhist name (called a houmyou 法名), here "all heaven good snow truth", or maybe "true pleasant snow falls from under all heaven". One of the office girls told me that burning the dead didn't come into widespread use until after Meiji, so the bones of this person may still be resting under the earth here ...
或る事務所の女性員が明治時代まで火葬じゃなくて土葬の方は普通だったから、この人の骨がまだ土の下に休んでいるかもしれない・・・

Last night was a big party for the people working at the Young Worker's Hall, and I got invited because I'm the "English Teacher". I found out that the pottery class is held at a smaller hall up near where I live, so I asked if the English class could be moved to the Education-Exchange centre. Of course I was told that was impossible because all classes had to be done in the central location. What crap. The highlight of the evening was the attendance of the Chinese teacher, so I had a right old time speaking Mandarin (better than the last time which was in December, I might add). Her class starts in May; can't wait!
昨日の夜は勤労青少年ホームで働いている人達の為の宴会だった、そして僕は「英会話講座の教師」だから招待された。陶芸講座が僕の近くにある公民館で行うと知って英会話が学習交流館に移動できるかと聞いたが、勿論「できません」といわれた。中心なところで講座の全部をしなくちゃならないって。なんとか・・・まいや、夜の圧巻は中国語講座の教師の参加だった。教師とちょっと中国語が楽しく練習できた(12月の時より喋れた)。講座は五月から;もう待てない!

So yeah, I jumped on the bandwagon and bought a Potion. It tastes like ... any other Japanese energy drink, really, though I've yet to suffer any side effects. Yet. For 630 yen it's pretty damn steep for merchandising tie-in, but hey ...
うん、ポーションの便乗をした。味は・・・別に普通の日本の力飲だと思うけど、まだ副作用ないけど・・・まだ。630円で高い便乗だけど・・・

4 Comments 論評:

  • That is because you bought the premium box. The plain is 290 I hear.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3/10/2006 5:53 AM  

  • Yeah, but premium was all they had when I walked in.

    By Blogger 羽之助, at 3/10/2006 7:08 AM  

  • Awesome~ Thanks for the pictures of graveyard. The second picture seems very moody and... sad. The part about using posthumous Buddhist name is new to me. I assume that the person is female...? I usually think "雪" sounds very feminine...

    Thanks!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3/10/2006 2:26 PM  

  • I am also guessing that the internee is female.

    There are lots of these little graveyards around here. More can be found at this earlier entry.

    By Blogger 羽之助, at 3/10/2006 3:28 PM  

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