羽之助の帝紀

お願い：谷口先生

2006-03-31T14:35:00.000+09:00

谷口先生、お願いがあります。
香港大学で北京語を勉強するつもりですが、それからは就職についてちょっと心配しています。日本人の為の国際学校の英語の先生に成れると思いますか？それとも、香港で先生の免許を取る情報があれば、お願いご連絡下さい。

Last Post 最後の記事

2006-03-30T11:21:00.000+09:00

This is probably be my last post on Blogger. To those of you who are in the know ... oh, God. They found me. I don't know how, but they found me. RUN FOR IT, MARTY!!!!
これはBloggerで多分僕の最後の記事だと思う。僕について知っている方々へ・・・くそ。僕を見つけた。どうやってしたか全く知らんが、彼らが僕を見つけた。速く逃げよ、マーティー！！！

But seriously, this blog has moved to : www.hanenosuke.com/blog
実は日記を移動しました！どうぞ上のリンクを。

I'll be taking this blog down in about a month to give everyone time to get used to the new address.
新しい住所に慣れる為に後一ヶ月ぐらい待つつもりだ。それからはこの住所の日記を消す。

See you there!
あっちで待っているよ！

Five Seconds of Shame, Half Hour of Warmth 五秒の恥、三十分の優しさ

2006-03-29T18:40:00.000+09:00

I've got more on Hong Kong, but first, a word from our sponsor. Well, not really. But anyway, something happened in the shopping mall today.
香港についてもっとあるけど、まずはスポンサーから宣言を発表する。ま、実はそんなことないけど。とにかく、今日は広場で面白い事件が起こった。

I was on the second floor of the mall, going to buy some stationery for writing letters, when it happened.
手紙を書く為に二階の文房具の場所に行っていた時、ソレが起こった。

I walked by a family - mom, young son, young daughter. The kid saw me, and as I passed, The Words came forth ...
家族を過ごした。お母さん、娘、息子。息子が僕の顔を見た。隣に通って、コトバが出た・・・

"It's an outlander! Outlander! Gaijin datta! Gaijin!"
「外人だった！外人！」

I've been called a gaijin before. By drunk older women, usually, so I don't complain. Teachers slip and say it, even my supervisor from time to time. But to everyone, I'm Patorikku-sensei, or Patorikku, or that weird guy who tells jokes every second of the day. Sometimes, I am called outlander, but only by accident, and I think nothing of it.
もちろん外人と呼んだことがある。普通は酔っているお姉さん達にので別に文句は言わない。先生がたまに言っちゃう；時々主事にも呼ばれる。でも、いつも皆の心の底から僕はパトリック先生、それともパトリック、それともあの冗談をいつも言っている変な奴だ。時々だけ外人と言われるので普通はなにも考えない。

But the boy, in his innocence, said it. And meant it. Outlander.
しかし、純良な息子だったので、本当の意味が入っていた。外人。

What did his mother say afterward? I don't know. I was already on my way down the hall. Feeling shame.
お母さんはなにか言葉直しをした？僕は知らない。もう廊下を歩いていた。恥を感じていた。

Then I arrived at the register. I put the words out of my mind. I joked with the cashier, and she gave me a laugh, instead of the nervous expression that usually happens when an employee doesn't understand why a customer is talking to her like a person instead of a machine. I went to see one if one of the English-class women was working. Turns out she took the day off to help her son move, and I joked with the staff about how strong she was. I went to downstairs to the food section and bought some bean dango. I mentioned this to the cashier, and asked what the sesame dango tasted like. She exuberantly told me it was delicious and insisted I buy some next time. Then the cashier at the next cash came over and agreed, and we were all laughing, with broad smiles.
でも、すぐレジに着いた。あのコトバを無視してレジさんと笑話をした。どうして機械じゃなくて人間に話しているっぽいお客さんが店員に話しかける迷っている顔をするではなくて、レジさんが笑ってくれた。英語講座の女性生徒がいるかを探しにいった。息子の引越しを手伝うために休んでいるっていわれた。「ま、彼女は力持ちだから大丈夫だね」といって店員さんが笑った。下にいってあんこ団子を買った。買う時にこれをレジさんにこれを言って、ゴマ団子はどんな味だと尋ねた。輝いて「美味しい」といってすぐ買いなさいといわれた。それから、隣のレジさんも話に参加して同意して、美味しいって。皆がでかい笑顔と笑っていた。

It made me think. I criticize Japan because it needs to be criticized. But in the end, I still love this country. Five seconds of shame versus a half hour of hearty laughter.
なんか考えさせられた。批判されるはずだから僕はよく日本を批判するけど、結局、この邦を愛している。五秒の恥対三十分の大笑い。

Stopping by at Hong Kong U 香港大学へちょっと見に行く！

2006-03-27T10:42:00.000+09:00

Since my next stop is China, I've been shopping around for possible institutions of learning where I might finally become fluent in Mandarin, and give me job skills for the Asian market. These days, it really isn't enough to be able to speak just two languages - three is what gives you an edge. So, since Jamie is enjoying Hong Kong very much, once my tour on JET is finished, I'll most likely head there. Hong Kong University has a nice 2-year certificate course in Mandarin, and since I'll be able to practice Mandarin with Jamie and Cantonese with regular Hong Kongers, perhaps I'll be able to add those to my repertoire. I bet Dad is thinking, "The kid can learn Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese, but he can't learn French?"

アジアの経済界で働ける為に仕事の能力を増えたいから、北京語で流暢に成る為に中国語が勉強できる学院を探している。現代は二つの言語で喋れる事ではなくて、三つのは必要だ。洁玫は香港の生活が大好きになったので日本で外国語指導助手の契約が終わってから僕は必ず香港で勉強しようと思っている。香港大学は良さそう二年間の北京語証書講座があるのでそこで勉強しようと思っている。洁玫と一緒に北京語が練習できるし、普通の香港人と広東語も練習できるからその二つの言語を僕の収集に入れられるかな。父上は多分「ガキは日本語やら北京語やら広東語やら勉強しているけど、なぜフランス語に興味ないの？」と考えていると思う。

Being an older institution, the interior of Hong Kong University was exquisite. I wish this woman was my Chinese professor. It took a while to get up there, as the school is situated in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island.
やや古い学院だから、香港大学の校内は精巧だった。この嬢は僕の中国語教師ならいいな。香港大学は香港島の半山区にあるので行くのは時間がちょうどかかった。

Outside, what appear to be cast iron dogs scratch their ears. Very Chinese, but I'm not sure of the meaning.
校外で鉄の犬が耳を掻く。とっても中国風だけど、意味はあまり分からない。

More Hong Kong University scenery.
香港大学の景色。

The Mid-Levels as seen from Hong Kong University.
香港大学から見るの半山区。

Professor Yang. 楊教師。

Along the way, we found something that was entirely appropriate. As anyone who was on exchange with me knows, I am very good at making a wolf costume for Halloween. (Note: I think that this character was part of a larger poem drawn on the sidwalk).
とっても適当な字を見つけた。僕と留学した者が分かるように、ハロヰーンの時は狼の仮装を作るのは得意だ。この字はもっと長い詩の一文字だった。

Since it was Sunday, there were no tours and most doors were closed, but we wandered around anyway. This is one of the inner gardens.
日曜日だったので観光会はなかったし扉が殆ど閉めてあったが、それを無視して流れ歩いた。これは校内の園の一つ。

This was posted on a bulletin board. Funnily enough, despite what you'd read about in the papers, I would say that most Japanese people I work with know about it. Still, a translation for our Japanese readers follows.
これは掲示板で貼ってあった。新聞で読むかテレビで見る事の逆だけど、僕の隣にいる日本人が大体南京事件の事を知っている。では、我が日本人の読者の為の翻訳・・・
「天皇の名前で」
１９３７年に、皇軍が南京に侵入してから３０万人が殺されて、２万人の女性が強姦された。虐殺中でアメリカ人の宣教師に撮られた残酷ばかりな動画が軍人や生き残り者の面接や日記と合併される。軍人が遠慮なくて殺し、拷問、後は強姦について話す。「天皇の名前で」が戦争の恐れの基本的な哲学的と精神的と道徳的な質問を尋ねる。人間がどうやってサディスティックな自動人形になる質問を探検して、第二次世界大戦で世界の責任を見る。

A good idea, and probably necessary on any university campus. And you thought only Japan had chikan problems!
これはいい考えと思うし、多分どこでもの大学で必要なものでしょう。日本だけは痴漢の問題がある事ではないよ！

Hallowed halls of learning.
学習の聖廊下。

The front of the Main Building.
中館の前。

Wonderful architecture, isn't it. Looks to me like a good place to go. I feel like a bit of a shill for liking the place this much, but if the courses are as good as the exterior, I'm sold.
素敵な建築だろう！僕の意見だけどここで勉強すれば楽しいと思う。こんなに好きになっちゃってちょっとサクラみたいな感じだけど、講座は外見ほどよかったら、行くぜ！

Bright Day in Hong Kong 香港で晴れ

2006-03-21T10:18:00.000+09:00

Saturday was a great, sunny day here in HK. Jamie and I decided to go to the nearby Lai Chi Kok park. On the way, I saw a touch of home ...
土曜日はこちらの香港で素敵だった。僕と洁玫が茘枝角（ライチーコック）公園に行こうと決めた。行きながらは故郷の懐かしい物を見た。

I have no idea what the relationship is, but apparently a LOT of Hong Kongers have ties with Canada. Could explain something, then.
この店のカナダと関係は全然分からないけど、なんかカナダと関係ある香港人は殆ど多いと聞いた。それは十分良い説明かな。

It may be a bit unfair since HK was a British colony and therefore it should be expected to have English-only schools, but I find it amusing that (still) English-obsessed Japan has, I believe, one school in the entire country that has English immersion, which is only half a day anyway.
香港は英国の植民地だったからちょっと不公平かもしれないけど、英語熱の有名な日本は全国で一軒だけの英語環境学校があると思う。そして、その学校は半日だけの英語環境；午後は普通の日本語で授業を教える。笑話ですね。

On the way, we ate at a nearby restaurant (pork and rice, yeah!), with Japan-inspired uniforms. Those hats look hot. Temperature hot.
途中で近所の飯店で御飯を食べた（豚肉と御飯、やった！）。制服は日本に影響されたでしょうね。帽子は暑そうと思う。

Already submitted it to Engrish.com. Found in a washroom in the park.
もうEngrish.comに申し出た。「無用の水」は書いてある。公衆便所で見つけた。

I was a bit confused when I first entered. No individual urinals (first time I have EVER used that word in print), just a stainless steel wall with water running down it.
入ってからちょっと迷っていた。一人ずつの為の小便所がなくて、水が流れている不銹鋼の壁だけ。

One section of the park was made out to be, well, a Chinese park. This is the entrance.
公園の一つの部分は、ま、中国風な公園のように建たれた。これは入り口だ。

Bad-ass or plump? You decide.
格好いいか丸い？汝們、お決めなさい。

Sweet as ever. いつものように～

New construction in Mei Foo.
メイフーで新しい建築だ。

A view of Mei Foo, straight down the middle.
真ん中のメイフーの風景だ。

Graduation + Back in Hong Kong 卒業＋また香港にいる～

2006-03-20T10:44:00.000+09:00

My plan on Friday morning was to leave the apartment and bike to the school to attend the graduation ceremony, then leave at 11:30 and bike to the station to catch my Shinkansen to Tokyo. Unfortunately, when I woke up it was a FREAKING DOWNPOUR so I called a taxi ... which couldn't find my apartment building. So I was 30 minutes late to the school ... I still arrived in plenty of time, of course, but STILL.
金曜日の予定は早めにアパートから出掛けて自転車で学校に行くと卒業式に参加して、東京行きの新幹線に間に合う為に１１時半に学校を出てまた自転車で駅に行くと思ってた。しかし、起きる時はすげぇ雨が降っていた！！タクシーに電話したけど、僕のアパートの地が見つけられなかったので三十分遅れていた・・・卒業式に間に合ったけど、もう！！

Everyone was dressed up, but the women were wearing kimono and hakama. Damn, guess I should have gotten one ... guess I'll have to save up, sigh. Here, the vice-principal talks on the phone. Funny, I think she looks like Sakura ...
皆はすごい服を着ていたけど、女性が着物や袴も着ていた。僕も買うべきだったかな・・・さ、お金を貯めよう！こちらで教頭先生が電話で話している。なんかさくらみたいと思う・・・

Ok, so I guess not. But I like the pink.　まいや、そうではないね。でもそのピンクな服が好きだ。

Two women from the office were making special sakura-flavoured tea that is used for celebratory occasions. It's not really tea, as all they are doing is putting a sakura blossom and what appears to be a kind of paste into hot water, but the taste is ... odd but good, if salty.
職員室の女性の二人は特別な祝いの為の桜味のお茶を作っていた。ま、ただ桜花をお湯に入れるのでお茶ではないけど、味は・・・ちょっと変だけどいい。塩の味も出る。

The stage for the ceremony. For ceremonies, Japan really goes all out.
式の舞台。式なら日本は本当に目立つようになるね。
Since it took place in the unheated gym, they rolled out the superheaters which look like the Eye of Mordor. I'm not going to say which has already been said in many blogs, but it was true - the superheaters heat the room to make it unbearably hot, then are promptly turned off for the rest of the ceremony so everyone freezes. In Japanese, this is called 'efficiency'.
暖房なしの体育館で行ったので、サウロンの目みたいの大暖房を出した。もう色んな日本経験なブログで出たから繰り返しかもしれないけど、やっぱり大暖房で部屋がすごく暑くなると、すぐ消されたので部屋がすごく寒くなって皆が凍る。あ、日本の有名な効率だね。

The students are called by name and receive their certificate of graduation directly from the principal. They then announce their intention to be good middle school students, and pass authority to the fifth-graders. Interestingly, they also said they would renounce war and live in a peaceful society. I informed a Chinese friend of this, who responded "Oh, I don't believe them". Sigh, Japan, sometimes we just can't win!
生徒たちはそれから名前で呼ばれて校長先生から卒業書をもらう。いい中学生に成るの意志を言って、五年生に学校の責任を渡す。面白い所は、戦争を放棄して平和な社会で平和な生活をするって述べた。中国人の知り合いにこれを教えてから、「へー、信じにくいね」って答えた。ああ、我が日本、たまに我らが勝てないね！

I had to leave the ceremony early, but I did make it to the station on time. I was damn starving though, so I bought a beef and rice bento. And get this - it's self-heating! Pull the string ...
早く式を出なくちゃ成らなかったけど、駅に間に合った。腹はすごく減っていたけど・・・それで、前沢牛肉の弁当を買った！素晴らしい事は自動発熱！ただ線を引いて・・・

and it gets nice and hot! Lots of steam too!
暖かくなる！蒸気もいっぱい出る。

The heating blocks or whatever are kind of heavy and take up half the packaging, but hey. I wonder how it works ...
発熱のものとかはちょっと重くて弁当の大きさの半分ぐらい大きかったけどまいや！どうやって発熱するかな・・・

Oh yeah. On the way out at Narita I saw this poster reminding everyone that U.S. beef is still banned in Japan, so DON'T EAT ANY OR YOU WILL DIE!!!! They also include Canada in the smaller text even though we've been certified safe by J-land. Bastards!!!
あ、これ。成田空港でこのポスターを見た。米牛（？米国の牛肉かな）はまだ日本で輸入停止されているので、海外で食べたらアナタガスグ死ヌゾ！！！安全だと日本に認められたのにカナダも書いてある・・・あほら！

Going to HK. Bye. 香港へ行ってきます。

2006-03-16T22:38:00.000+09:00

I'm going to Hong Kong tomorrow for about a week. Not really doing anything exciting but if I see anything I'll let everyone know.
明日は一週間ぐらい香港に行ってくる。あまり面白い物は見ないと思うけど、見たら皆に知らせする。

Oh by the way, I got interest on my bank account!
あ、銀行の口座に利息が掛かった！

Yeah, that's right! ONE YEN!!! WHOO! Every SIX MONTHS! For an average of 150 000 yen ($1500).
それはそうだ！壱円！！やった！！各六ヶ月！！１５万円の平均で！

For our Japanese readers, to compare, in Canada for example, the same amount would get me $18, or 1800 yen, in interest.
我が日本人の読者へ、カナダなら利息が同じ金額で千八百円になる。

And people wonder why I don't want to invest my money in Japan ...
どうして日本で投資したくないはわかるかな・・・

Expo Coincidence 万博の偶然

2006-03-16T11:24:00.000+09:00

By utter coincidence, I got a letter from the Nara Hostel Lady (Queen Niceness) thanking us for the maple leaves and stuff we finally got around to sending her. Nice warm feeling~! And Chris finally finished Day One of our Japan trip from last May.

偶然だけど、先日は奈良のホステルの女の方（優しさの女王様）から手紙が届いた。ついに楓の葉っぱを集めて送ったのでなんか要らない恩返しだけど・・・手紙を読むととっても暖かくなった。そして、クリスがやっと五月の日本への旅行から第一日の動画の編集を終えた。

Ditches and Mail-Order Husbands 堀と郵便注文の夫

2006-03-13T09:09:00.000+09:00

A lot of drainage in Japan isn't done through underground sewers - waste water is just shunted into ditches behind people's houses. Ostensibly this is for feeding the rice fields, which are smack dab in the middle of the city blocks. But I wonder - what kind of water goes into it? Like, the soapy water that runs from my shower after I'm done?
日本で排水は地下の水道だけではなくて、廃水は民の家の後ろに堀へ流れている。これは市内の田圃の為だとよく言われているけど、堀の水は本当にどんな水かな？家から出ているので、シャワー跡の石鹸が付いている水も入ってる？

Going shopping the other day I discovered random pants discarded near the bike parking area. No, I did not investigate further.
先日は買い物をしにいく時に捨てられたズボンを駐輪場の隣に見つけた。それ以上は掘り下げなかった。

Also, Japanese people don't know how to drive. Or park. Yes, especially park. This guy parked on the road near the entrance, essentially turning the two-lane road into a one-lane street. For over half an hour while he was inside shopping. It was still parked there when I left.
さらに、日本人はどうやって運転するか分からない。それとも駐車する。はい、特に駐車する事・・・この奴が入り口の近くに道で駐車して車線二つの道を車線一つの路に変えた。店内で買い物をして三十分以上このままで。僕が帰る時にもまだそこで駐車しておいてあった。

Saturday was a fun meet-up day with the JETs from the next two towns. I met Kira and we went to Book-Off and then we went to Mos Burger. Following Travelingrant's advice, I had the katsu burger, which wasn't bad. I was surprised that the bun was made from rice, but hey.
土曜日は楽しい日だった。隣の町のJETに会って（ま、別々だったけど）Book-OffとMos Burgerに行った。Travelingrantの提議でかつバーガーを食べたし別にまずくないと思っていた。変だったけどまずくなかった。御飯も使われてちょっとびっくりしたけどまいや。

We spent way too much money buying manga and music and whatever that day. In the evening we went to a kaiten-sushi restaurant and I proceeded to ask that the girls take the tuna off the belt and hand it to me at every opportunity.
その日は漫画や音楽をいっぱい買ったのでやっぱりお金を使いすぎた・・・夕御飯は回転寿司屋で食べた。僕が女性達にまぐろを渡すと頼んで。

The hand is quicker than the eye, or in this case my shutter speed.
「手は目より速い」、それともこの場合に僕のシャッターの速度より。

Since I really don't like anything other than tuna, I tried my hand at the natto maki. I think I've found a new favourite!
大体まぐろしか好きじゃないので、納豆巻きを食べてみた。新好評食を見つけたと思う！

At night we went back to the Abanzale bar, and we all ordered one drink. I ordered the gayest thing on the menu, a China Blue.
夜はまたAbanzaleに行った、そして皆が酒を一杯注文した。僕はメニューの一番ゲイな飲み物を頼んだーChina Blue.

We did get a special treat though - one of the guys who runs the turntables is also an amazing beatboxer. I mean really. Chris, you have a partner.
素晴らしい事を見たけど；turntablesの責任者は素敵なbeatboxerだ。本当に。クリス、相手を見つけたよ。

Anyway, the title of today's post refers to a discussion I was having, where mail-order brides are well-known, but do mail-order husband sites exist? And would they be referred to as male-orders, then? The answer is yes.
とにかく、今日の記事の話題は今朝の事務所内の話と関係ある。「郵便注文の妻」はもう結構有名だが、「郵便注文の夫」のサイトもある？ちょっと調べてからやっぱり答えは「はい」。

I've also been playing with Photoshop too much.
それ以上僕はPhotoshopと最近本当に遊びすぎる。

Journey to Hong Kong: Day Three, Crazy in Kowloon 香港への旅路：第三日、九龍で狂っている

2006-03-10T15:17:00.000+09:00

... is now online.
・・・は今から上映している。

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

2006-03-09T09:39:00.000+09:00

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・・・

Finding a New Way Home うちへ戻る為の新しい道を探すようす

2006-03-06T08:39:00.000+09:00

Since last week marked the start of my days in the office again instead of schools, I try to help out with whatever I can when I'm not doing self-improvement. One day, there was some kind of awards ceremony, so I went along to help move chairs from our office building to a building called the Ichinoseki Education and Exchange Hall.

もう先週から学校じゃなくて事務所に行くようになったので、自己改良をする時以外は何かと手伝ってあげてみる。或る日は授賞式みたいな集会があったので、自分の事務所から一関学習交流館という会館へ皆と一緒に椅子を移動した。

The building was awesome. Completely new, with a big gym and stage, plus a computer room and a meeting room with nice projection abilities. In other words, perfect to hold the evening English classes, because I require computers and projectors.
会館は素敵だった。真っ新しい、でかい体育館（舞台も含み）と電脳室と映写機能有り会室もある。即ち、僕なら電脳や映写機は夜の英語の授業にとって需要品だから完璧な会館だ。

Except it is the MIDDLE OF FREAKING NOWHERE. As you can see from the map it's on the edge of town, while the place I currently do the English at is in the centre and accessible to all.
しかし影も形もないの真ん中に在る！！地図を見るとすぐ市の端に在ると分かるでしょう。現在の夜の英語授業の場所は市内だから皆が来れる・・・

So anyway I was moving chairs and helping to set up. If you've ever been to the Japanese speech contest in Toronto, you may notice that they often have a huge banner displaying the name of whatever is going on. The stage had the bar all ready to attach the banner for this function, complete with winches for hoisting.

とにかく椅子とかを移動して色々な準備を手伝っていた。在トロントのオンタリオ州日本語弁論大会を見た事があれば、舞台の上に広い横看板があるも見たかもしれない。この舞台がもう集会を説明する横看板の鉄棒はもう付いていたし、揚げる為の巻き揚げ機もあった。

I also noticed that a handbag belonging to one of the women helping out was covered in English words with "le" in front to make it appear French. Ma abilite de la langue francais n'est pas bien, et l'Hanenosuke adult pense cet est tres imbecile, mais quand j'ai ete un enfant, j'ai pense le difference d'anglais et francais est le mot "le" - un example est le mot anglais de "toothpase" - j'ai pense le mot francais n'est pas "dentifrice" mais "le toothpaste". C'est le pense d'un enfant, non?
一人の手伝っている女の人の鞄がフランス語っぽくみる為に英語の言葉の前にフランス語の「le」が書いてあると気がついた。自分のフランス語能力は全然だめだと分かる。大人の羽之助がこれはバカだと考えているけど、子供の時もこのように考えていた。子供の時に。

Even the mayor, whom I met way back in August, was there. Even better was that Superteacher and Pond of Blood showed up, as Pond of Blood had won the Iwate prefectural English speech contest and was therefore entitled to an award. Good for her!!!
葉月会った市長さんも会館に居た。それより良い事は、「血の池」という少女が岩手県の英語弁論大会で優勝したので、受賞する。彼女とSuperteacherという中学校の先生も居た。おめでとう！！

So anyway, there's construction on one of the roads to go home, meaning that my chances of death by car have increased slightly. With that in mind, I decided to take some back roads and turn down strange intersections in hopes of finding a third, diagonal, way home. I knew that the gods of Japan approved of my choice because they gave me a new graveyard to photograph.
とにかく、僕が帰る時のよく使う道は工事中だから自分の車に轢死機会が少し増えたと思う。それを考えながら、小さな道を使って、不思議な交差点を折って対角な丙の道を探してみた。新しい墓場が撮影できたので日本の神々が僕の選択を議定したと知っている。

As I went through the new streets, I went through a brand-new subdivision! Nice roads, nice houses ... I wonder if they are connected to a sewer?
道を探検しながら、全く新しい町細別を通った！綺麗な道路、綺麗な家・・・下水道と接続されているかな？

After a few odd turns and riding through fallow rice fields (remember, I didn't know where I was going - just "diagonally"), I started to worry as to what I would do when I hit the highway. But lo and behold, an underpass! Well then I was more than halfway home ...
後少しだけの変な折りと休閑地の田圃で自転車に乗りながら（ただ対角に行っていたから）、高速道路に着いてからどうすると心配しはじめた。しかし、下道（地下道じゃないでしょう？ただの下道）が見えた！もう半分通ったな・・・

On the other side of this highway underpass lay more narrow roads and paths through rice fields, but I did eventually get home.
この高速道路の下道の向こう側で細い路と田圃の中の小路があったけどつに自宅に戻った。

That night, nearby JET Uri (whom I went to Paper Moon with the week before) had to give a farewell presentation for one of his classes the next day (having been notified just before he left his school ...). With our combined computer power we made an info presentation and some video.
同夜、近くに住んでいるウリという指導助手（先日Paper Moonと一緒に行ったの同じ人）が当日の明日の朝の為にさようならの提示を作らなくちゃならなかった（当日にお知らせをもらった）。我々の総合電脳の力で情報の提示と動画も作った。

On my last day at one of the schools, they had a Traditional Japanese Games day instead of, well, review or anything. One game that I actually enjoyed and had not done before was called Daruma-Otoshi (Falling Daruma). It's kind of like Jenga. You're only supposed to pile five blocks together, but of course we ignored that and tried to make it as high as possible before knocking the bottom pieces out.
在る学校で今学年の最後の日を過ごした。復習とかをするの代わりに「伝統的な日本の遊び」おした。一つの本当に好きだった遊びはダルマ落としという。なんかジェンガみたいと思う。部分は五階までするはずだけど、僕達は勿論それを無視して下の部分を撃つ前にできるだけ高くにしてみた。

I also happened to have a look at one of the other classrooms, and to my surprise discovered that they were having a regular English class there. The were playing an adaptation of the Japanese game of karuta, except using English words and cards. Nice.
休憩の瞬間で他の教室をちょっと覗いてびっくりした。普通の英語の授業が行っていた。カルタみたいな遊びをやっていたけど、英語の言葉で練習していた。すごいね。

Some kids - I think second graders - were also enjoying their typing class here. They were learning to use a the hiragana input method of the Japanese keyboard, and one poor girl's hands weren't big enough to place on the home row.
或る小学生（二年生かな？）が電脳授業を楽しめている。かな入力を練習していたが、一人の可哀想な少女の手は十分大きくなかったので、「は」（Ｆ）で指が二本合えたので大変タイプしにくかったそうだった。

And finally, on Saturday night fellow JET Liz and I went to downtown Ichinoseki bar Abanzale, for a DJ music party hosted by our friend Daisuke who also runs the weekend soccer club. We had a great time, especially when the bartender brought out the tequila shots.
そして最後にリズという仲間の指導助手が一関のアバンツァーレという市内バーに行った。大介というサッカー部の友達がその夜ＤＪをしていたので勿論行かなくちゃ行かなかったけど、音楽は最高だった。とっても楽しかった。特に酒仕えさんがテキーラを出す時・・・

EJC Post英日中の記事英日中的布告

2006-03-01T10:19:00.000+09:00

This week was not interesting, so I'm going to write a post in easy Chinese. It's snowing today as well. Yesterday it was cold but there wasn't any snow. I thought spring had come but I was completely wrong!

今週は面白い事はなかったので、簡単な中国語で記事を書く。今日も雪が降っている。昨日は寒かったけど雪がなかった。朕は春が来たと思っていたけど全く違った！

现在的星期没有趣, 所以朕觉得写中文的容易布告. 今天也雪是在落下. 昨天冷了但是没有雪. 朕想春来了可是完全不对.

The new Chinese textbook I ordered arrived! I've been busy recently so I haven't had a look yet though. I want to study Chinese for an hour every day. However, do I have the time? Recently I've been talking with my Canadian friends on MSN. I like talking with my friends but I have to study!

朕が注文した中国語の教科書が届いた！最近はとても忙しいのでまだ読んでないけど・・・毎日中国語を一時間ぐらい練習したい。だが、時間はあるかな？最近はＭＳＮでカナダの友達と話している。友達と話しているのが好きだけど勉強しないと！！

朕定购的新中文的教科书来了！！因为最近朕很忙，朕未看。朕喜欢每天一个点中文练习。但是朕有没有时间？最近朕一起说加拿大的朋友们MSN上。朕喜欢说一起朕的朋友但是我要学习！！

Oh, I edited this picture. This is a Japanese wanted poster. These criminals are very dangerous, so be careful!

あ、朕がこの画を編集した。これは日本の指名手配広告だ。この犯罪者達は超危ないので、気をつけて！

啊，朕编辑这个画。这是在日本的通缉公告。小心，这个犯人很危险！

Arrest her! She looks Asian! 彼女はアジア人っぽい！逮捕しろ！

2006-02-28T12:00:00.000+09:00

My ex-manager from the Falls is going to have a tough time visiting Japan next time. She could get arrested on the spot for looking Asian.
ナイアガラ瀧で働いていた時に朕の元マネージャーが日本に今度来ると大変になると思う。アジア人っぽいからすぐ逮捕される機会がある。

Police erroneously arrest 'Asian-looking' Japanese woman on immigration law breach

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 07:01 EST

SAITAMA — The Saitama prefectural police on Monday arrested a Japanese woman on suspicion of violating the immigration law but later released her after discovering that she was a Japanese national, police officials said.

The police had judged that the unemployed woman, 28, was not Japanese because she looked like a foreigner of Asian descent and that she carried an envelope written in Portuguese, the officials said. The woman was questioned by a policeman around 7:40 p.m. on Saturday in Kawaguchi. She told the officer that she was Japanese, but stopped answering further questions, the officials said. The woman's family said she is not good at speaking with strangers.

アジア系と間違え、埼玉県警が日本女性を誤認逮捕

　埼玉県警川口署は２７日、同県川口市の無職女性（２８）を東南アジア系外国人と間違え、入管法違反（旅券不携帯）容疑で誤認逮捕したと発表した。

　女性は、日本人とわかり、２６日未明の逮捕から約１４時間後に釈放された。

　同署によると、交番勤務の署員３人が２５日午後７時４０分ごろ、川口市上青木西の路上を歩いていた女性に職務質問。女性は「日本人です」としか話さず、身分を示すものも持っていなかった。署員が所持品に書かれていた母親の勤め先を訪ねたものの、身元は確認できず、２６日午前５時１５分ごろ逮捕したという。

　その後の取り調べで、女性が自分と家族の名前、生年月日を紙に書き、身元が判明。女性は午後７時２０分ごろ釈放された。

　女性の母親は、女性が普段から他人と話すのが苦手だとしているという。

　署員は「目が大きく、彫りが深かったため、外国人だと思い込んだ」という。

Isn't this an indication of the incredibly racist direction Japan is heading in? Soft racism, yes, but still, just arresting a person because they MIGHT be foreign? I mean, hey, the barber at the place I go to looks like Kim Jong Il, but there's no evidence to say that he's not Japanese. I think the police need to take a look at alllooksame.com.

これは日本が段々超差別社会の方へ進んでいるの表示ではない？やわらかい差別、確かに、だが外国人かもしれないダケで逮捕する？朕が行く床屋で或る人は金正日に似ているけど、日本人ではない証拠は全くない。日本の警察はalllooksame.comのアジア人の違いの試験を受けるべきだと思う。

Fun Times on Messenger/IRC英語のみ；勉強しなさい！

2006-02-26T13:52:00.002+09:00

This happened when I logged on IRC for the first time in decades. Apparently I couldn't type the /nick command correctly.

* Your nick is now Hane-no-suke
-
* Your nick is now Hanenosuke
-
whatever you Erroneous Nickname
-
* Your nick is now whateveryouwant
-
HANENOSUKE Unknown command
-------------------------------------------------------------------

And this is the record of a horrible chat I was having with Kayumi/Madmartigan.

羽之助 - Whatever, you erroneous nickname! says:
ahaha 賢
Dark Schneider - Whatever, you erroneous nickname! says:
I can't see that.
Dark Schneider :It looks like a big black blob
羽之助: someone who is a slave to his crotch is about as INTELLIGENT as a shellfish.
羽之助: this is the original character for 'intelligent'
羽之助: but it carries another meaning as 'rock hard'
羽之助: so my mnemonic of "crotch-slave" still stands
羽之助: except that slave should really be minister (its true original meaning is downcast eyes), so I could have a Ministry of Crotches
Dark Schneider: Except it's only "slave" as a radical/primitive, where it can also/still be used as retainer, as well.
羽之助: Yeah. I just wish Heisig would keep the same meaning for everything.
Dark Schneider - ::you can pretty much dismiss what he uses as the meanings for the radicals if you like.
Dark Schneider: FOR EXAMPLE
Dark Schneider: he lists "Rice" as meaning USA as well in radical-form
Dark Schneider: And the only place I've seen that used in the book was in Astray
Dark Schneider: (rice, road)
Dark Schneider: where I have NO idea how to use USA
Dark Schneider: but I can use rice to say "leave a trail of rice so you won't go astray"
羽之助:Following the road of the USA will lead you astray.
Dark Schneider: mine's better
Dark Schneider: or for edge
Dark Schneider: I prefer "stand on the mountain's EDGE and it'll be so windy you need to comb your hair"
羽之助:端？
Dark Schneider: no
羽之助:it is so!
Dark Schneider: ...good christ I hate this font size
Dark Schneider: that does NOT look ANYTHING like that.
羽之助: hahaha
Dark Schneider: Seriously
Dark Schneider: What font size are you using?
羽之助: Mine is a ... 12.
Dark Schneider: Wow, even at 12 it's legible.
羽之助:12 is all you need. Unless your montior resolution is set to supershrunk
Dark Schneider: It kind of is.
Dark Schneider: 12 is retarded-big looking though
羽之助: then go for 11 or 10.5
羽之助: IF IT MAKES YOUUUU HAPPPYYYYYY
Dark Schneider: She's got breast cancer. That's Sheryl Crow, right?
羽之助: Does she?
羽之助: Yes.
羽之助: Huh. Too bad.
Dark Schneider: Yeah, announced today.
Dark Schneider: I wonder if it makes her happyyyyyyyyyy.
Dark Schneider: I guess she's finding that every day is a winding road.

An Interesting Night Out夜に出掛けると面白くなるよ

2006-02-25T22:16:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was a blast! Delivered a short Hong Kong lecture because it was the last day at one of my classes, then went to the office to shock everyone with the beardless face. The evening was pretty good, as I went to the JTB office with friend Liz. We technically arrived after closing, but we gaijin smashed our way in and got her her tickets to Okinawa. After that, we walked to Strawberry Cones, which despite the name sells pizza. Good pizza, especially for Japan with its reputation for bad pizza. On the way there, I actually said "Let's Pizza" and was immediately kicked by Liz for it. Good. We ordered a large, took it back to my apartment and stuffed ourselves. After a few printing misadventures, Liz drove me downtown to the post office so I could meet Uri.

昨日は最高だった！或る学校の最後の日だったからちょっと香港について講義をして、事務所に行ってから皆を髭なしの顔で驚かせた。ははは！夕方も結構よかった。リズという友達と一緒にＪＴＢに行った。実はもう閉店してしまったけど、特別外国人攻撃をして入った。無事に沖縄の旅行の切符を買った。後、ストロベリーコーンズというピザ屋に行った。行きながら朕が「レッツ・ピザ」といってしまった・・・すぐにリズによく蹴られた。よかったね。大ピザを注文して自分のアパートに行ってよく食べた。印刷の冒険をしてからウリに会う為にリズが朕を郵便局まで連れて行ってくれた。

We headed to (where else?) Paper Moon, where I just drank coffee (because I was sleepy) and Uri just drank assorted fruit drinks (because he was driving). Mr. Watanabe provided the usual cool demeanour, and we chatted with him and co-bartender Keiko for a while about life in Japan and overseas.

相変わらずにペーパームーンに行った。朕は眠かったからコーヒーばかりを飲んだ、そしてウリは運転していたから色んな果物の飲み物を飲んでいた。渡辺さんが普通の格好良い性格をやっていた、そして副酒仕え（バーテンダー）のケイコさんと在日本と海外の生活について話していた。

Then, two men walked in. One was white, the other, Japanese. They were speaking English. At first, we were pretty cold to each other. Then I suggested to Uri that we switch our speaking language to French. The white guy, hearing this, switched to French and asked where we were from. It turns out that he was from Montreal, from the same neighbourhood as Uri, and was in Japan to do some filming. We talked until around 2 and then headed off to our respective apartments/hotels.

それで二人の男性が入ってきた。一人は白人、一人は日本人。英語で喋っていた。最初はお互いにちょっと冷たかった・・・それでウリにフランス語で喋ろうと提議した。白人がこれを聞くと、英語からフランス語に変わって朕們がどこから来たと尋ねた。彼はモントリオールからウリの同じ近所で育っていたし、映画を作る為に日本に来た。２時まで話した、そしてそれから適当なアパートとホテル部屋に戻った。

Today I watched a German movie about the end of the war and the fall of Berlin, called Der Untergang. Highly recommended.

今日も戦争の終わりとベルリンの陥落について「滅亡」というドイツの映画を見た。お勧めです。

Oh yeah, and in this story, Tottori Prefecture will soon ensure that violations against human rights will go unpunished.
----------------------------------------------

Tottori to halt human rights ordinance
Saturday, February 25, 2006 at 05:00 EST
TOTTORI — The Tottori prefectural government submitted a bill to the prefectural assembly on Friday to indefinitely suspend the enforcement of an ordinance aimed at protecting people from racial discrimination and other human rights violations, citing lack of support from legal circles. The bill is likely to be approved on March 24, the final day of the current assembly session, and the scheduled implementation of the ordinance on June 1 will be postponed indefinitely, prefectural officials said.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hurray for the Tottori Inhuman Rights Act of 2006!

そしてこの記事で、鳥取県がもうそろそろ「人間不権利方法」を作るね。

＜人権救済条例＞施行停止の条例案を提案　鳥取県知事

　表現の自由を侵すなどと批判を浴びた鳥取県人権救済条例について、片山知事は２４日開会の定例県議会に、条例の施行を無期限停止する条例案を提案した。主要会派が賛成、可決される見通し。同条例は県弁護士会が条例の運営にあたる県人権救済委員への弁護士派遣を拒否、片山知事が抜本的に見直す意向を示していた。

（毎日新聞） - 2月24日14時27分更新
---------------------------------------------------------------

And finally, I now have gold hair.
最後は、僕は金髪の獅王になった。

Snip チョキチョキ

2006-02-23T20:21:00.000+09:00

Since I got these booklets from the kids at one of my schools, I went to a stationery store and picked up some special paper to write thank-you certificates. The principal of the school had told me where I could buy the paper, so I went into his office today to thank him.
或る学校で児童達から感想表をもらったので、文房具屋に行って感謝の為の特別紙を買ってきた。その紙はどこで買えるか校長先生に教えされてもらったので、彼に礼を言う為に校長室に勝手に入った。

It appears that when he leaves his office, he tapes a picture of himself to a stuffed bear and leaves it in his chair. God I love this guy.
なんか校長先生が事務所を出かけたら、縫い包みに自分の写真を付けて椅子で置いて行くそうだ。だから彼の事が大好きだ。

Today the fifth-years were making Brazilian food.
今日は五年生がブラジル料理を作っていた。

I forget what they're called but they were pretty good.
なんというか忘れてしまったが美味しかったよ。

I wonder if this is a company that makes food ingredients specifically for Brazilians in Japan?
これは在日ブラジル人の為の食材を作る会社の商標かな？

It was actually an extremely good day at that school. Sure, I had the Class from Hell, which is always a downer but oh well. The only one I really care about is a girl I call Satori-chan, or 'Miss Enlightenment' as she is one of maybe four people in the whole class who pays attention and doesn't try to assault other students. More info in English here.
実はとても良い日だった。「地獄の授業」に教えなくちゃならなかったけど、まいや。その授業の中に朕が気に入った生徒は悟ちゃんという愛称が付いている女子だ。彼女は、授業の全員から教師の言葉を注意して他の児童を強襲しないの四人の一人だ。

Oh yeah. I got my hair cut.
あ、そう、髪の毛を切ったよ。

And, the video of Day Two in Hong Kong is online.
そして「香港への旅路：第二日」は上載してある。

Warm!　あったかい！

2006-02-21T19:23:00.000+09:00

I went biking this evening without my winter coat on - just the suit jacket - and I wasn't too cold! The snow's pretty much all melted too. Whoo! But, will it last?
夕方は冬コートを着ずに自転車に乗っていた（ただスーツのジャケット）があまり寒くなかった！雪がもう大体全部溶かした。やった！でも、この天気はいつまで頑張るか？？

The important question is, will the warmth stay long enough for me to decide to finally cut my hair?
大切な質問は、このあったかい天気は十分過ごして朕が毛を切ると決められる？

The Teach Yourself Chinese book has arrived. Looks thick and comprehensive! Goody!
「自分に中国語を教える」の教科書が届いた。厚くて包括的！よーし！

And, a link from Tvashtri ... what do you guys think about me?
そしてテュヴァシュテュリから・・・皆は朕の事について何を思っている？（下の連絡線は英語のみ）

kks's Johari Window

Valentine's Day in Japan 在日本のヴァレンタイン日

2006-02-20T11:06:00.000+09:00

So I'll talk about the title of this post and then go back in time to talk about other stuff. Sound good? Okay. Now, shut up and read and behold the pretty pictures.
では、この記事の話題について話して、それから過去に時旅（タイムスリップ、時間旅行の略語ーまた新語を作った）して他の話題について話す。良いか？よし。じゃ、口を閉めて、記事を読んでそして綺麗な写真をご覧。

Valentine's Day in Japan basically means all the women have to hand out chocolate to all the men, which is known as "obligation chocolate". I almost thought the women in our office weren't going to do it, and I was quite happy because 70% of Japanese women hate the "tradition", but I got one anyway, in the shape of an amused monkey. While I appreciate the gift, and will have a White Day return present in the form of white alcohol (pina colada, anyone?), the choice of monkey is ironic in that a few JETs refer to themselves as "trained monkeys" - amusing people who speak English but are not to be taken seriously or thought of as more than a toy. Sometimes.

日本のヴァレンタイン日は、基本的に女性が男性の皆に「義理チョコ」を出すという事だ。朕の事務所の女性達がそうしないと思っていた。日本で女性の７０％が義理チョコの「習慣」が嫌いのでこっちの女性職員はしないと思っていたけど、やっとした。朕は笑っている猿のチョコをもらった。贈り物を頂くともちろん感謝するし、ワイトデー（ホワイトじゃないよ！hな音（ホ）は英語のwhiteに全然入ってない！）の白酒の様な恩返し（ピニャ・コラダは如何？）も準備するけど、猿が選ばれたのはとても諷刺っぽいだ。する人数はちょっと少ないと思うけど、外国語指導助手が時々自分を「調教された猿」と呼ぶ。なぜなら、我々は英語で喋っている者だが、真面目的に考えされてないし、おもちゃ以上の様に尊敬されていない。時々。

The office supervisor, of course, got entirely appropriate chocolates. I really want to know where the girls got these particular ones. The packaging reads as "girl's kisses".

事務所の担当者がもちろん適当なお菓子をもらった。女性達がどこでこれを買ったか本当に知りたい。

The shop where I bought stamps from the Angry Old Man and also purchased the Evil Potatoes is closed! One day I was going by it on my bike on my way back from the BofE, and it was shut with 'For Rent' signs on it! What the heck? I mean, I hated the shop but I'd at least like to what what happened.

Edit: I talked to the bike shop guy next door, and apparently the husband died, so the wife decided to close shop.

「怒りの爺」から切手を買って「悪じゃが芋」も買った店が閉店した！或る日朕は教育委員会から戻って隣の道に乗っていたが、閉店して「入居募集中」の看板が貼っていた！何これ？まいや、その店が大嫌いだったが、少なくても何が起こったか知りたい。

編集：隣の自転車屋さんと話して旦那が亡くなったので、奥さんが閉店すると決めた。

One of the schools I was at last week was having a day where the older students would go to the younger grade classes to dispense guidance and stuff like that. I remember doing the same thing in my elementary school. I hated it, as I recall.
或る学校で、先週ぐらいは高学年の生徒達が低学年の生徒達の教室とかに行って指導を施す等をやっていた。朕も小学生の頃そうやっていた。正しく思い出したら大嫌いだった。

At another school, I was browsing around the teacher's office when my eyes fell upon this incredibly disturbing picture. Kids have cooking classes, and this is a cooking textbook. She looks like she just dumped a bunch of arsenic in her baked goods.
他の学校の職員室でただ披見していたが、朕がこの大変掻き乱す本に目を掛けた。子供は料理授業があるのでこれは料理の教科書そうだ。彼女は中々焼いた物に砒素を入れ込んだみたい。

In accordance with my previous stance, if you're going to teach something, make an effort to teach it right. Subject-verb agreement, people! The only way this gets forgiveness is if it was actually written by an elementary or junior high student.
前言った立場通り、何かを教えるつもりなら、正しく教える努力を出しなさい。「主語・動詞合意」というよ！許す場合はこの看板は本当に小学生か中学生に書かれた。

Japan likes its tobacco, and the unscrupulous youth can easily buy cigarettes and alcohol from vending machines. This one, however, has a sign that says it will have an "adulthood verification function" device attached to it in 2008. A bit late, and I think the cigarette vending machines should be outlawed completely, but better than nothing.
日本はタバコが好きだ、そして非良心的な青年が簡単にタバコと酒を自動販売機から買える。この機は２００８年に「成人識別機能」が付けるようになるって。ちょっと遅いし、朕はタバコの自動販売機は違反になるはずだけど、少なくても良い。

A few days ago, a fire truck raced by one of the schools. Meaning that there was a fire somewhere in the neighbourhood, the school officials quickly telephoned the fire department, got the address of the fire, checked to see if any student's houses were nearby, and finding that there were, quickly called the house and called the kid to the office to prepare for any possible shock. All of this within maybe 1 minute. Cool and commendable.
先日は消防車が学校の隣で走っていた。近所で火事があるという意味だから、学校の職員がすぐ消防局に電話して、火事の住所をもらってから生徒の家が近所にあると調べた。あると知ってから家に電話して子供も呼んで知らせた。全部は一分以内ぐらい起こった。素晴らしくて奇特ではない？

On the weekend, I was hitching a ride with my friend on the way to our weekly soccer game. We went by the Culture Centre, and due to some kind of event and people parking on the road because they couldn't bother to do it in the lot, what should have been a 30 second ride to pick up her brother turned into 15 minutes. Attention all road-parking 4-way-flashers: YOU ARE ALL BASTARDS, DIE DIE DIE.
週末に友達の車に乗って毎週のサッカー試合に行っていた。友達の兄さんを迎えに行く為に実家に戻っていたが、文化中心で何かがあったので皆は駐車場の代わりに道で駐車していた。それで３０秒の運転が１５分になった。道路ハザード付き駐車者への知らせ：オミャラは最低、死ね死ね死ね！

Walking home, found this at the entrance to a person's driveway. Shinto paper, to protect against the entrance of evil spirits and such.
内に帰りながら近所の家の駐車場の前でこれを見た。鬼とかが入らないよう紙かな。

Since the school term is winding down, I've been having the last lessons of the year with the more regular schools. I've received wonderful "memory books" of the past year (I've only been in the schools for 6 months but they all say "Thank you for a year of teaching" - I think they need to check their math), but the real gems are when the students say "Your classes are always interesting" "I look forward to coming" and best of all, "I hated English but now I love it". Since they are relatively few, I believe these testimonials. Hurrah, I have worth!
学年がそろそろ終わるので、よく行く学校で最後の授業をやっている。素晴らしい「感想本」を生徒からもらっている（全部は大体「一年間ありがとう」が書いてあるけど朕は６ヶ月だけここに居たーなんか数学をもっと厳しく教えようか？）。本物の宝石は「授業はいつも面白い」か「英語の授業にいつも楽しんでいる」はいいけど、最高は「パトリック先生が来るまでに英語が嫌いだったけど今は大好き！！」。こんな感想は少ないので信じている。やった、朕は物価ある！

In other news, to help me with the increasing number of Brazilian kids in the schools who do not speak Japanese, which is the main language of instruction for my English classes (oh sure, you laugh, but I can spend either 30 seconds explaining the game in Japanese or 10 minutes in English), I have ordered a "Teach Yourself Brazilian Portuguese" book. My Chinese textbook has just shipped, so I will be studying that soon too.
他の情報で・・・日本語が分からないブラジル人係が学校で人数が多くなっている（決まっている日本語講座制度は大体ないは一つな理由だと思う）し、自分の英語授業は日本語で説明する（笑うか？日本語で活動を説明すれば子供は後３０秒分かるけど英語ばかりなら１０分掛かるよ）ので、朕を手伝う為に「自分にブラジルのポルトガル語を教える」の本を注文した。中国語の教科書も今日配達されたので、もうそろそろ毎日それを勉強しはじめる。

JTHK: Day One, Tokyo to HK 香港への旅路第一日：東京から香港へ

2006-02-14T17:40:00.000+09:00

The video is finally available for public viewing.
動画がついに公衆的に見られるようになった。

Stupidity Reigns but Does Not Rule 盆暗が君臨すれど統治せず

2006-02-12T11:52:00.000+09:00

This past week has been pretty stupid in Japan.
今週は日本でとっても馬鹿だった。

First, the man who will probably be the next PM of Japan, Aso Taro, said that the Emperor must visit Yasukuni.
第一。日本の次の首相に成るはずの麻生太郎が「天皇が靖国に参社すれば」と言った。

Second, a black man who was shooed away from a store in Osaka Prefecture and had the gumption to sue about it had his case rejected because the judge had"doubts about the plaintiff's level of comprehension of the Japanese language".
第二。大阪府の店から追放された黒人が勇気を出して訴えてみたのに、裁判者が「原告の日本語能力には相当な疑問があり」と言って事件は否定された。

Third, a former trade minister, Hiranuma Takeo, said that changing the current Imperial Succession law to allow females to ascend the throne was impossible because “If Aiko becomes the reigning empress and gets involved with a blue-eyed foreigner while studying abroad and marries him, their child may become emperor. We should never let that happen". Other arguments include precedent that Japan has never had an empress before, and that Aiko does not carry the 'Imperial Y Chromosome'.
第三。元通産省の平沼赳夫が現在の皇室承継を変える事は無理だと言った。なぜなら、「愛子親王妃が天皇に成って海外で勉強しながら青い目の外国人と付き合って結婚すれば、胤が天皇に成るかもしれない。それは絶対に許さない」。他の論じは日本は女性天皇が居た事ない、それとも愛子は「皇室Ｙ染色体」を持ってない。

Fourth, Aso went at it again, this time about Taiwan, where he said that "Thanks to the significant improvement in educational standards and literacy (during the colonization), Taiwan is now a country with a very high education level and keeps up with the current era".
第四。また麻生の口から。今回は「（植民地の時代の）教育と識字率の増えの為、現在の台湾は高い教育と現代の国になった」って。

Fifth, following news that Princess Kiko is pregnant, PM Koizumi has announced that he will no longer put forward a bill allowing Imperial succession to pass to Princess Aiko.
第五。紀子親王妃が妊婦になって、小泉首相がもう愛子親王妃に皇室承継を渡す法を国会議事堂で出さないと言った。

Sixth, Koizumi announced that he is reluctant to allow more foreign workers into Japan because of a possible rise in crime.
第六。犯罪率が増えるはずなので、小泉首相が外国人の雇いをあまり入国して欲しくないって。

So why is this stupid?
では、何で馬鹿でしょうか？

1. The Emperors, beginning with Hirohito, have not visited Yasukuni Shrine ever since the spirits of executed war criminals were smuggled in one night in the seventies by shrine administrators.
一。天皇陛下は、昭和天皇から靖国神社で参社しない。理由は、７０年代に死刑された戦争犯罪者の零が或る夜に神社に連れて来られたので。

2. The fact that a visibly non-Japanese man can be shooed away from a store and a discrimination lawsuit can be easily dismissed does not bode well for a future where Japan needs immigrants to survive.
二。ただ見るとやはり日本人ではない人が店から追放できるし、差別訴訟は否定される事もあるので、将来で入国の新国民は必要な日本に悪い前兆ではないでしょうか。

3. Besides obviously racist, it is stupid because it is apparently OK for Aiko to marry a black-eyed Korean-American when studying abroad. We all know how the old guard would approve of that. Japan has also had plenty of empresses - Empress Suiko, for example. And as for using genetics as an excuse - sorry, but all you need for succession is descent from Amaterasu and possession of the Three Sacred Treasures. Japan, welcome to the 21st century. Where is the great spirit of Meiji and modernization? In Denmark, apparently.
三。差別主義だが、海外で愛子が黒い目の韓国人系のアメリカ人と結婚すれば許可みたいので馬鹿だ。保守者はその事にどんな反応をすると皆が分かるでしょう。日本は女性天皇も多かった（例：推古天皇）。そして遺伝子の言い訳；失敬いたすが、皇室承継の為に要件は天照大御神からの正系と三種の神器だけ。日本、廿一世紀へようこそ。ああ、明治時代の改革と近代化の気はどこか？？在デンマークかな。

4. Imagine the uproar if a British former trade minister made the same remark about India. For sixty years Taiwan has been independent of Japanese rule. Plenty of time for improvement by themselves. Just another example of the old guard's inability to let go of the past.
四。英国の元通産省がインドについてそう言ったら乱暴をご想像しなさい。もう六十年間以上台湾は日本から自由だった。自分で進む時間は十分でｈそう。また保守者の過去から離れるの不能力の例だ。

5. Princess Kiko's pregnancy couldn't have happened at a *coughcoughcough* more convenient time. I wonder how much pressure she came under to produce a boy as Koizumi tried to introduce a revised Imperial Succession bill. Artificial insemination and sex selection, anyone?
紀子の妊婦は好都合的にいいね（咳咳咳）。小泉が改革皇室承継法を出してみると宮内庁からどのように息子を産む為に圧力されたかな？人工授精と性別選択は関係ないでしょう？

6. More immigrants and foreign workers does not mean more crime. Seeming as Japan desperately needs immigrants to pay taxes for the pensions of the upcoming retirees, if the government is that concerned about foreign-related crime, perhaps they should crack down on the Japanese agents who import workers and force them to work in the "body" related industries.
新国民と外国人雇いは犯罪率の増えと関係ない。そろそろ退職する国民の年金を税金で払う為に、日本は重要的に新国民が要る。政府は外国人から犯罪について心配してたら、肉体関係仕事で移動民を働かせる日本人を逮捕すれば。

And that's the roundup for this week. Support the True Heir - Princess Aiko for Empress!
では、今週の要約だ。嫡子を応援し、愛子を天皇に！

Snowball Fight 雪合戦

2006-02-08T19:04:00.000+09:00

The women I went out with on Friday to the movie gave me something great - a box like the ones at shrines or temples to deposit money into for good fortune! One step closer for me getting a kamidana.
一緒に映画を見に行った女の人達が僕にこの箱をくれた。やった！神棚への一歩～

This is my view as I wait for the bus stop. For the past three days, I've been going out to a school way out in the country - only three buses per day to that area. Lots of very old interesting things there, like Murdered Woman Hill, which is an idiotic folk tale - a woman divorced her husband and went back home, and on the way home rested on a rock in the forest and fell asleep. Her ex-husband, distraught, came through the same forest, coincidence or no, and saw 'a ghost woman' lying on a rock, and killed her. Uh huh. Nice excuse. I, of course, plan to sleep on said rock overnight and see what happens.
この写真は僕が朝にバス停留所で待っている間に見える風景だ。もう三日間ぐらい市内から遠い田舎の学校に行っていた。毎日バスは三台だけ走る。その地域で色んな面白い物がある。例えば、「女殺坂」という馬鹿話がある。昔々、或る女が夫を離婚して故郷へ戻っていたけど、途中で疲れたので森の中の岩で休むと決めた。元主人が（偶然？じゃないでしょう）同時に同じ森で歩いていたが、岩で「怪女」を見たので彼女を殺した。そうか。良い言い訳だね。朕はもちろん或る夜にその岩を探して女性が殺された場所で寝る予定だ。

One popular and easy song/game is "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", at least until third or fourth grade, depending on the school. Since I don't have much in the way of material at this particular school, I get to use my favourite medium - chalk and board!
一つの人気あって簡単な歌遊びは「頭、肩、膝と足指」だ（ま、学校によって第二か第三学年まで）。こっちの学校で資料はそんなにないので、好きな媒体が使える！板！チョーク！

It's been a weird few days, with massive snowfall. Still, the shrine of the area's guardian deity looks pretty in the falling snow. 最近は本当に雪多かった。ま、地域の守り神の神社は降っている雪のままで綺麗でしょう。

Turns everything grey, though. The only spot of colour are the two junior high school students.
全部が灰色になってしまうけどな。色はこの二人の中学生からだけ。

Some kids are still suffering from flu and colds, though. One poor guy threw up inside the office, and a Circle of Protection: Vomit was immediately set up from nearby materials.
生徒達はまだ風やインフルエンザを引いているけどね。一人のかわいそうな男子が職員室で吐いてしまった。隣の資料から守丸：嘔吐を設定した。

Still, the snow was perfect for making forts, as it was wet enough to roll giant snowballs. The fort actually started out as a snowman, but as the second ball was too big for anyone to lift, it became the first part of the front wall. When I left the school for the last time today, it had gotten quite impressive. If I get a day off I might go back out there just to work on it some more.
でも、完璧な城建築の雪だった。十分塗れっていたのででかい雪球が作れた。城は元に雪だるまだったけど、二番目の球は大きすぎて誰もが運べなかったので、前壁の基地になった。今日、学校を最後に出る時、きっと堂々に成っていた。休日があれば城をもっと建築する為に又その学校に行こうかな。

Anyway, on to some non-picture commentary. As usual, the first and second graders were excellent at remembering words and WRITING (including kids making normal mistakes like writing the capital E backwards!), whereas asking the sixth graders to do the same thing would elicit groans and complaints. Since the sixth graders were going to middle school in April, I told them to get ready, because they would have English class three times a week. The look on everyone's faces was pure shock and horror. They seriously thought once they finished elementary school, they would be done with English forever. HAHAHAHA!
じゃ、写真無しの記事を書けば・・・普通のように一年生と二年生は言葉がよく覚えられたし、上手に書けた（そして、間違えする生徒が普通の間違えをした；例えば大文字のＥを逆で書く）。しかし、六年生に同じ事を命令すれば、皆が大変文句を言ってなにもしない。六年生が四月から中学校に入るから、毎週英語の授業が三回あるって言った。で、皆が大変驚いている顔をした。皆が本当に小学校を卒業してからもう英語の活動はないと真面目に思っていた。あははははは！

I also met ANOTHER girl with a Chinese mom. Man, Ichinoseki may be in the middle of nowhere but it is probably more multicultural/multiethnic than the rest of Japan! It continues to rock!
もう一人の中華人の母が居る女の子に会った。一関は田舎の真ん中にあるかもしれないけど、日本の普通の町より凄く多文化・他民族な地域だ！一関万歳！

Since I'm tired of raising my voice and screaming over the voices of noisy students, I bought a whistle, a yellow card, and a red card. Now, if they're all noisy, I can use the whistle, and if one particular students is being an idiot, I can just yellow card him. Red card means get the fuck out. Of course I have no real power to use this, so maybe a 'face the wall' would work.
生徒達の声より自分のを叫ぶのはもう面倒くさいので口笛、黄色牌、そして赤牌も買った。今、もしうるさかったら、口笛が使える、そしてもし生徒が特に馬鹿の行動をやっていたら、朕はただ彼を黄色牌できる。赤牌はもう出て行けの意味。もちろんこの権力はないけど、ただの「壁を向け動くな」は効果あるかもしれない。

Waiting for the bus to go home, I actually saw a snowplow. Now I know that they exist here.
バスに待っている間に、本物の雪掻き車を見た。日本で本当にあるか～

The New Face of Pat, Your Imperial Ruler 羽刀、貴方達庶民の天皇の、新しい顔

2006-02-07T20:32:00.000+09:00

New banner! Whee! 新しい横看板！やった！

The beard is continuing to protect against the cold, and coupled with my ever-growing hair (on the head), I can now carry giant snowballs on my shoulder and not feel cold. I'll have to shave and cut in March for girlfriend reasons, but until then, it's wolf time.
髭がまだ寒さか風を防止しているし、まだまだ伸ばしている髪の毛も含んだら肩ででかい雪球を運んでも全然寒くない。彼女の為に３月半ばは剃らなくちゃならないけど、その時までは狼の季節だ。

On Friday night I went with two nice women from the now-defunct English group to see a movie called "Always: Evening in 3-chome", about Tokyo in 1958. Even if it does glorify that damn Eiffel rip-off hunk of metal, it was a good movie. The funny parts were funny, and the sad parts were sad. I recommend.
金曜日の夜は只今停止中英会話会の二人の優しい女の人と一緒に「Always:３丁目の夕日」の映画を見にいった。そのアイフェル塔の偽者鐵の糞物をちょっと自慢するけど、良い映画だった。面白いところは面白かった、そして悲しいところは悲しかった。お勧めだ。

On Saturday I went to the gym and used the equipment with two friends, which was fun. While filling out the registration, a guy came over and asked me what country am I from and the usual chitchat. To finish up, he said 'Well, I hope you take a good Japanese wife from here!' Things progressed even more hilariousy when we went upstairs to use the equipment. The two Japanese girls I was with ... didn't say a word! They just stood there while the attendant panicked over what the hell these three people were standing there just staring at her for! Eventually I spoke up and said 'Hey, we're new. Do we give these forms to you or what?' Later, she said she had been panicking because she thought she'd have to speak English. Come on. This is Ichinoseki. If you meet a white person here, chances are they're a Portuguese-speaking Brazilian.

土曜日は二人の友達と一緒に総合体育館に行って装備を使った。楽しかった。登録しながら役人が来て朕はどっちの國から来たとかのと尋ねた。最後には「じゃ、いい日本人のお嫁さんを結婚して。」って言った。装備を使う為に階段を上ってから状況がもっともっと面白くなった。朕と一緒に居る二人の女性が何もいわなかった！店員がなぜこの三人は黙って立っているかと面って恐慌しながらこの二人がそのまま立ってじっと見ていた！ついに朕が「すいません、初めてですけど・・・」と言った。後で、店員が英語で喋らなくちゃと心配して恐慌していたっていった。マジかよ、これは一関でしょう？この町で白人に会ったら、多分ポルトガル語で喋っているブラジル人だよ！

Saturday was also Soccer Day, and I lasted for about 5 mintues before falling and twisting my ankle. AGAIN. It's fine now though.
土曜日はサッカーの日だった、そして落ちて又捻挫するまで五分ぐらい試合できた。

I've moved my computer into the kitchen, which means I'm closer to the fridge. The space heater for the kitchen is this orange demonic thing, on which I burned my underwear trying to heat it up one morning. パソコンを台所に移動したので、もっと冷蔵庫の近くになってしまった・・・台所である暖房はこの鬼みたいみかん色な物。これで或る朝に下着を暖めてみる時はよく燃やしてしまった！

And thus passed the weekend.
このように週末を過ごした。

Just A Normal Entry 只の普通な記事

2006-02-05T08:27:00.000+09:00

After a few weeks of procrastination, I finally started to make some curry. I had more than enough chicken, seen here, frozen. Damn that's hard to cut. Easier than if it was raw, but still. I bought a bunch of potatoes a few months ago from a little store, and if you peel the skin then you've got a nice layer of green. Which means poison. Normally I leave the skin on and just take out the eyes, but this time I had to peel all the potatoes ... sigh. I compensated with lots of onion and garlic, and sesame seeds. I love sesame.
何週間ぐらい延び延びしてついにカレーを作り始めた。鶏肉は十分あった（写真、凍っている）。切りにくいな。生より簡単だけど・・・八百屋から安いじゃが芋を買ったが、皮を少し剥いて層は緑だと見えた、すなわち、毒。普通は皮を剥かなくて目を取るだけだけど、今回はじゃが芋の全部を剥かなくちゃならなかった・・・いやだね。補う為に玉葱と大蒜（にんにく・・・人の肉の元？？？）と胡麻を一杯入れた。胡麻大好き！

This is a notice I saw on a bus. It reads as "For your safety, securely lock your doors! Get into the habit when you leave the house. I still remember when I was young in my Canadian hometown, we'd never lock our doors, though my the time I was almost done in elementary school we had gotten into the habit.
これはバスで見た看板。自分のカナダの故郷でもあまり戸の錠を掛けなかった、しかしもう小学校七年生の頃から毎晩やっていた。

The school I was at still had posters that the students made about other countries during their bit of international study. I did this is Grade 4 and had to do Italy. If only I had been given Japan or China then ... heh. Golf is now an English sport, by the way.
その日の学校で国際學の授業で國々の事を調べる活動からこの看板を作った。朕も四年生の時そうしたがイタリアを勉強しなくちゃならなかった。その時に日本か中国を勉強させられたら・・・まいや。ゴルフは只今からイギリスのスポーツそうだよね。

Hurrah for China! 中華万歳！

There really is no organized snow removal here. I saw one woman shovelling the snow from her driveway and ... throwing it into the middle of the road. This picture was taken near the big supermarket I live by. Vehicular traffic has (I think) created a large snow boulder in the middle of the road.
ここで本当に雪掻き制度はないと思う。一人のばあさんが自分の家から雪掻きをしていると見たが、彼女が只道路の真ん中に投げた。この写真は朕が隣に住んでいる大食品店で撮られた。交通のせいで（かな）道路の真ん中で大きな雪岩がある。

On Thursday night I went out to an onsen with Manga Girl. It was nice, except I was a little surprised that there was no outdoor bath. Because it was separated by sex, we agreed to meet back in the lobby's rest area (pictured) after half an hour. Problem was, I thought half an hour started after entering the bath; she thought it began after entering the changeroom. Ah well.
木曜日の夜は漫画女と一緒に温泉に行った。良かったけど露天風呂がないとちょっとびっくりしてがっきりした。混浴じゃなかったから玄関の休憩所（写真）で後丗分会おうと言い合わせた。しかし、朕は入浴してから丗分だと思っていたが、彼女は更衣室に入ってから丗分だと思っていた。まいや。

Out at the Japan-Style School, we were just having a 'Play Day' of sorts with the younger grades, in which I wouldn't actually teach anything, but instead introduce 'Canadian games'. A little 7-up went well, but then I took everyone to the gym for everyone's favourite - dodgeball! To make things evil, I gave them two balls to throw instead of one. When our time was up, we prepared to leave ... except that the gym doors had locked automatically!
和式学校で英語を教えなくて只「カナダの遊び」のような若い生徒に活動日があった。「七上」は上手くできたけど、後少し皆を体育館に連れて行って皆の好きな遊びをしようと述べたー避球！最悪に成る為に一つじゃなくて二つの球を上げた。時間になってから出るの準備をしたけど・・・体育館の扉が自動的に鍵が掛かった！！

I have my keitai on me at all times, so I just called the office to send someone to let us out.
いつでも携帯を持っているから朕が職員室に電話した。

Later that day the kids went around the school seeing what magnets would stick to. They all had cute horseshoe magnets - no utilitarian bar magnets here!
同日に子供達が学校内で磁石はどんなものにくつける（くっつく）と調べていた。皆は可愛い蹄鉄磁石を持っていた；功利的な棒磁石は許可をしない！

After the day was done at the school I returned to the office and managed to talk to the other city ALT for the rest of the afternoon without complaining about Japan. I also gave out chocolate-covered almonds to the staff and told them to watch out for demons. Walking home I jumped into a snow-filled rice field.
学校で活動が終わってから事務所に戻って午後の残りで日本について文句を言わずに一関市の他の指導助手と話した。職員にもチョコ扁桃を渡して鬼に食われないように気をつけてと言った。そして帰りながら雪いっぱいの田圃に飛び込んだ。

Pointless Labour 無意味な労働

2006-02-04T09:00:00.000+09:00

Did we ever get a huge snowfall the other day. Wow. We’re talking Canadian-style drifts, although I’m sure everyone up in Aomori is just sick of it. Anyway, since there was massive snow, instead of hiding in the staff room or AV room like I usually do after lunch, I went outside. Surprisingly enough, instead of playing in the snow, two kids were shoveling the front driveway. The front drive is huge, so I grabbed a shovel and began to help them.
昨日は本當に大雪が降った。凄い。「カナダ式の吹き溜まり」だったと思うけど青森縣に居る民族は多分もう嫌でしょう。とにかく大雪だったので普通の職員室や視聴覚室で隠れる行為より外へ出た。ところが雪で遊んでいるより二人の子供達が校門の道を雪掻きしていた。校門道はとっても廣いので掻きを持ってきて手伝いはじめた。

But before that, I was at another school, and I saw that the students were making some really nice representations of their names.
とりあえずその前は他の小学校に行って、生徒達が名前から本当に綺麗な絵を描いていたと見た。

I haven’t taken out the paper in a really long time. Hope they take it! 本当に久しぶりに紙とかを出しに行った。大丈夫ならいいな！

This week is the one time of the year when the Japanese acknowledge that they used to share the same calendar with the rest of East Asia. It's Setsubun-no-Hi, Season Change Day, and at the school some students put on devil masks and I whipped peanuts at them. Everyone in the class went nuts going after the peanuts. It was great. Devil out, luck in!
今週は日本人が東亜と同じ暦を使っていた事を認める年の一つの期間だ。節分の日だから生徒達が鬼の面を付けて朕が豆（実：ピーナツ）を投げ込んだ（悪笑）。生徒の皆が狂ってピーナツを受けてみたので大変楽しかった。鬼は外、福は内！

Anyway, back to the snow shovelling. Instead of playing in the snow, I helped these two kids shovel. When cleaning time started, more kids filed out to shovel, including a few teachers. Except ... there was zero organization. I think I managed to shovel more than everyone else combined, but only because everyone else was doing it so haphazardly. And they were using pickaxes to chop away at the ice under the snow. So you'll resort to kids wielding heavy mining implements but you won't salt the ice? Not that it mattered - the heavy snowfall ensured that all our work was for nothing. So WHAT WAS THE DAMN POINT of making the kids go shovel?
とにかく雪掻きの話に戻る。雪で遊ぶの変わりに二人の子供達の雪掻きを手伝った。掃除時間が始まると雪掻きをする為に生徒達と先生達がもっともっと出てきた。しかし・・・体制は全然なかった。殆ど皆がとても出鱈目的に雪掻きをしていたから朕が自分でもっともっと雪掻きできたと思う。そして氷を破れる為につるはしも使っていた。子供が重い採掘な道具を使うのを許可するけど塩を掛けない？どうでもよかった；雪がそんなに多かったので朕們の労働は無意味だった。結局子供達を雪掻きさせるのは何の目的だったかい？？？

On the way home I slid on some ice with some students. And thus the day had meaning.
帰る内に生徒達と一緒に氷滑りをした。それで日に意味が掛かった。

Seriously, though, lots of snow.
真面目的に言うけど、雪が一杯降っていた。

Sign warning motorists of an accident closing the highway between Tsukidate and Furukawa.
築館（つきだて）から古川までの道が閉まっていると示している看板。

The Differences between Canadian and Japanese Schools カナダと日本の学校の違い

2006-01-28T20:41:00.000+09:00

It’s amazing that I haven’t really gone into any depth on this subject before, but then again, I’m not out to change the way Canadian provinces educate their students. And I’d like to point out some myths about the Japanese school system while I’m at it.

この話題についてあまり詳しく書いた事ないとはちょっと珍しいけど、まいや、別にどうやってカナダの州が生徒達を教育させるか変わる訳ないでしょう。とりあえず説明しながら日本の教育の神話も指そうと思っている。

This poster is for the Fifth All-Japan Elementary School Snowball Fight, which takes place in the neighboring prefecture. If I don’t have a meeting after lunch I usually go outside and do that with the kids, and become a target for everyone. Sure, I take a few snowballs in the face (didn’t anyone ever teach this kids that you DON’T aim for the head?), but all in all it’s great fun, just like I remember in Canada. Not at school, of course, because to whip a snowball at someone earned you an immediate trip to the principal’s office.
この掲示は隣の県で行う小学校の雪合戦を公告する。昼ごはんを食べてから打ち合わせがなかったらよく外に行って雪合戦をして皆に襲われている。もちろん顔がちょっと的になってしまう（誰かが頭に投げないでって教えなかったの？）けど、大変楽しいーなんかカナダの事を懐かしくて思い出す。誰かに雪球を投げるとすぐに校長室に連れて来られてしまうので学校の懐かしい思い出ではないよ。

Another game that’s done all the time is dodgeball. One thing I’ve noticed is that since Japanese kids are more conditioned towards organization, they are able to start playing a game much quicker than I remember in Canada.
他のよくする遊びは避球（ドッジボール）だ。気づいた事は、日本人の子供達はもっと整理向けなので自分のカナダに居る時の思い出と比べたら速く遊びを始める事が出来ると思う。

I went to a ramen shop near my house where the owner’s wife is Chinese. The whole interior is done in ‘Chinese’ style, mixed with Japanese elements. It’s great to see SOME place where China and Japan can get along all-friendly like. Plus I can go there for free Mandarin practice.
朕の住まいの近くにラーメン屋が在って、店主の奥さんは中国人だって。中の雰囲気は「中国」風で日本風のものが少し補足する。中国と日本が仲良しする場所を見つけて嬉しい・・・そして無料な中国語の練習も出来る。

I had an enkai (read: excuse to drink party) where I had an exorcism (called a yakubarai,厄払い, lit. “bad luck get rid”) and I didn’t disappear like I thought. The food was all fish, as usual, but I had all the sashimi. Afterwards we went to a lounge, with hostesses (obviously) and I sang horrible karaoke. Thank God there was nobody else in the bar (for that is what it was, not as seedy as a hostess bar – these women have experience in pretending to be interested). Afterwards the women went out in the snow in their stockings and open heels to lead us to our taxis. Except for me, who biked home in the snow.
先日の宴会（意味：飲むの言い訳の会）で厄払いをもらって思いと全然違って朕が消えなかった。食事は全部魚だったけど皆の刺身を食べちゃった（悪笑）。それからは「ラウンジ」に行って朕が物凄くひどいカラオケを歌った。そのバー（本当にバーでしょう？スナックかホステスバーよりラウンジの女性達は面白い真似をする経験がもっと有って上手に見せられる）で他の客が全然居なくてよかった・・・二次会が終わってから女性達がストッキングと開いているヒールでタクシーまで連れて来てくれた。例外は雪が降りながら自転車で帰った朕どした。

Calligraphy lessons in Japanese schools. It reads as ‘World Peace’.
日本の書道の授業で「世界平和」を書いて習う。本当に影響ある？

Teaching the sixth graders job titles in English.
六年生に英語の職業の名を教える時の写真。

This is a “Nightmare Before Christmas” diorama thingy made by a sixth-grade girl. When you turn the metal handle, the pumpkins move. A work of pure genius.
これは六年生の女の子が作った「聖夜の前の悪夢」という映画からの図工。柄を転ぶとかぼちゃが動く。天才の図工だ。

Hot water kettles can be found in every office because at any given time someone is drinking tea, coffee, or making noodles. This one is awesome – the orange light lets you know exactly where the water is going to go.
誰かがいつもお茶、コーヒー、それとも瞬麺を作っているのでお湯の電急須が日本でどこでもの事務所で見える。これは特に素晴らしい；お湯はどこに行くとみかん色な光で認められる。

One of the teachers is able to jump rope at super speeds, earning the jealousy of all students.
或る先生が快速縄跳びが出来るので生徒の皆がやきもちやいっちゃう。

Let’s see, what else has happened? Went out last night to Paper Moon with some friends which was supposed to be about restarting the English classes but instead just turned into discussions over who was the stronger drinker. And a transvestite came in too, which was cool, except wow, your facial bone structure really doesn’t help you in your quest for femininity. Let’s pause for a moment here and look at the Japanese rendition of ‘transvestite’. In English it’s from the Latin roots ‘trans’, change, and ‘vestre’, clothes, according to Dictionary.com. Japanese? The most common is ‘New Half’, as in someone who has recently changed their sex except for the important bit. Since I hate katakana, I looked at the more scientific all-kanji word. It’s 服装倒錯者, or ‘clothes pervert person’. Talk about offensive. I suggest 交換服装者, change-clothes-person, or just 交服者.
他の出来事・・・昨日はまた紙月に友達と一緒に行った。なんかまた英会話教室を開始する為だったけどすぐ誰が一番酒強い話になった。そして、ニューハーフもバーに入った。凄くよかったけど、彼（彼女？）の顔の骨のせいで本当に女性っぽくなれないと思っている。ちょっと停止してこの事について考えよう。英語ならニューハーフは「transvestite」（ラテン語のtrans、交換、そしてvestre, 服装の元から）という。和製のカタカナ英語が嫌いので、もっと詳しい漢字熟語を調べた。日本語なら「服装倒錯者」という；すなわち「服の変態」。とっても面憎いと思う。自分の提案は「交換服装者」、それとも「交服者」。

I also got my credit card bill. When I first looked at it I thought I owed four thousand dollars and panicked for a while. Then I looked closely and found I had misread the numbers; it was just four hundred.
信用カードの代金表が来た。最初に見る時は、４０万円だと思っていてちょっと恐慌した。後少しまた見て、やっぱり４万円だけだった。

So it’s the weekend. Today I cleaned the apartment, and hopefully I can study some languages. Whether that actually happens depends on how fast I watch Simpsons episodes. Thank you, Charlene! On a side note, it's Chinese New Year. Wish I was in Hangzhou.
では、週末だ。今日はアパートを掃除して、そして時間に合ったらちょっと言語が勉強できる。それが本当に起こるかどうかがシンプソンズの番組の残りによる。ありがとう、シャーリーン！因みに中国の新年祭だ。杭州に居たらいいな。

Again with the lack of updates! また変更してないな！

2006-01-26T18:38:00.000+09:00

Okay, I thought I would just let the video of my trip to Hong Kong tell the story, but seeming as it takes an hour of editing for one minute of finished product, and then wait a few days for Google Video to post it, I should write about something in the interim to entertain you, the seething mob.

香港で撮った動画を旅路の物語を教えると思っていたけど、完全された動画の一分ずつの編集は一時間ぐらい掛かるし、Google Videoに上載（じょうさい、アップロードする意味。中国語から）するまでにもっと待たなくちゃので、貴方達の騒然な暴徒の為に面白い記事を書こうと決めた。

I was late in writing my New Year cards, so I rushed down to the central post office on New Year’s Day to shove them in. On the way there I found this park, called Urashima Park (whether it really was part of the back of some island or the guy who owned the land was called Urashima or what is not for me to know).
年賀状を全部書くのはちょっと遅刻しちゃったので、元旦は急いで中心郵便局に行った。行きながらこの浦島という公園（本当に島の浦だったか地主は浦島と呼ばれたか分からない）を見つけた。

Some gods of luck are here in statue form though.
石像の格好で七福神の二人はここにいる。

At the post office, other people were throwing their late cards into the post, so I didn’t feel too bad.
郵便局で送れ年賀状を出す人数は多かったので朕は別に悪い感じがなかった。

This poster is at my bank. Recently in Japan there have been crimes where someone calls up an old lady and says ‘Hey, it’s me, I need money’ to swindle the victim by making them think their son/daughter is in trouble. This poster lists possible scams, clockwise from top right: “It’s me, it’s me!”, “This is the police, your son caused a traffic accident”, “Please don’t tell anyone”, “I had a baby”, and “Mom, can you be my guarantor?”
この看板は朕の銀行である。最近は「オレオレ」という犯罪は日本で多いね。

Last weekend or so I went out with Yuuko and Liz for lunch, and we saw this ominous-looking black cat on the vending machines in front of this restaurant.
先週の週末ぐらいはゆーことリズと一緒に昼ごはんを食べにいった。で、この前兆っぽいの黒猫を食処の自動販売機の上に見た。

This has got to be the best smoke alarm poster ever. Punk brother playing guitar and smoking cigarettes in his room gets blasted by his sister (I think). It gets double points from me because it can be interpreted as anti-smoking a little.
これは世界一の火災警報器でしょう。ギターを弾いていて部屋でタバコを吸っているパンクな弟がお姉さん（かな）に煽りを食わせられた。そしてちょっとタバコ吸う反対の心像があるので朕から点を二倍上げる。

I don’t know if it’s an advertising campaign but these backpacks are being sold with angel wings. Cute, but ultimately deadly, wouldn’t you think?
なんか公告作戦かどうか分からないけどこちらの鞄は天使の翼で売られる。可愛いけど結局やばくない？

As I was walking through the grocery store one day they were selling sausages. Real sausages! I couldn’t believe it. I bought two, cut them up and used them in my fried rice. Yum. Oh yeah, I brought some Guizhou Black Bean Chili Sauce back from HK so now all my food is deadly.
或る日は食料品店で歩いてソーセージ発売を見た！本物のソーセージ！信じられなかった。二本を買って切って自分の炒飯で使った。あ、そういえば、香港から貴州黒豆ラー油を持ってきたので自分の料理は全部物凄く辛くなった。

Everyone knows that Japan whitewashes its history in high school (sarcasm re textbook). If that’s true, then elementary school kids are indoctrinated to be pacifists. This float says “Protect Article 9”, which is the article of the Japanese Constitution that prohibits offensive armed forces.
日本で皆は高校で糊塗された歴史を習うと知っている（教科書について皮肉）。それはそうなら、小学生は平和主義者に成る為に教え込まれる。これは小学校で撮ったお神輿の写真。

Walking through the department store, I saw a random origami class. It’s nice to know that there are still things about Japan that can surprise me in a good way.
部分屋（デパート）で歩きながら子供の為の折り紙授業を見た。ちょっとびっくりして日本ではまだ良い驚くものがるあるといいよね。

How about this PS2 game entitled “The Catfight”?　The Japanese title is just “Legend of the Cat Women”. このPS2ゲームはいかが？分からなかったら女性が喧嘩すれば英語で「猫喧嘩」という表現がある。

As we can see from the back, it consists of bikini sprites fighting each other. 裏を見ると、このゲームはただビキニを着ているスプライトの喧嘩だとすぐ分かる。

And who says the Japanese don’t know anything but their own country? Here’s a poster exhorting people to see the World Cultural Sites at Pusan and Gyeongju in Korea.
日本人は自国しか知らないと言っている人はいっぱい居るけど、これは釜山と慶州を公告している看板でしょう。

Why does your stomach hurt? According to this poster found in an elementary school, perhaps it’s because your bowels have grown fists and are punching away.
貴方のお腹はどうして痛いですか？この小学校で見た看板を信じたら、あんたの腸が拳を出して中から打っているみたいだ。

I, of course, have grown progressively mad. This is me wearing my panda tie and Chinawear. I have a beard because it’s cold. Simple.
朕は当然に段々狂ってきた。この写真で僕はパンダ・ネクタイと中華服を着ている。寒いから髭を伸ばしている。簡単でしょう。

Human Rights Victory 人間権利の勝利

2006-01-22T00:15:00.000+09:00

Everyone's favourite nut has done it again. Arudou Debito has won in a suit of racist remarks.
Read the ＭＤＮ English article.

皆の大好きな変人がまた勝利した。有道出人が差別記事の訴訟で勝ちました。毎日新聞の記事をお読み下さい。

And so Japan takes another step closer to equality.
これで日本が平等社会に一歩進んだ。

Hong Kong Park 香港公園

2006-01-21T22:53:00.000+09:00

I'm currently arguing with a Chinese guy who says I am ignorant of the fact that Canadians fought against the Japanese in Hong Kong.
只今は「お前はカナダ人が日本人に対して香港で戦った事は全く知らないなっ」ていっている中国人と喧嘩している。

I believe one of the first lines of my speech at the high school Remembrance Day ceremony that I planned went something like "We must remember the Canadians who died of starvation under the Japanese in Hong Kong". Here is the statue of John Robert Osborn, who threw himself on a Japanese grenade so his comrades might live, at which I duly paid homage.
朕が図った高校の戦争記念日式で自分で言った論じ演説で「日本人の監修で餓死したカナダ人を絶対に覚えないといけません」と言ったと思います。ここは、戦友が生きるために日本人が投げた手榴弾の上に自分の体を置いて殉じたジョン・ロバート・オズボーンの像です。拙者が適切的に彼の英霊に忠誠を誓った。

Horrible acting, but you get the idea.
男優は能力なしだけど、よく分かるでしょう。

The picture needs to be hosted here as proof because NTT is too stupid to automatically give me webspace, instead demanding I go through a lengthy signup and confirmation process.
自動的にネット間をくれるの代わりに長い申し込みと確認の方法があるバカなＮＴＴのせいで証拠の為に朕のブログで添付しなくちゃ。

BTW, sorry about the lack of updates. I've been spending my time editing video that I took in Hong Kong. As soon as Google Video finishes with it I'll put it up.
あまり更新しなくて失礼した。時間は香港で撮った動画を編集するのはやっぱりかかる。Google Videoに添付されるのは終わってから皆に見せられる。

Day One: Tokyo Departure and Hong Kong Arrival 一番目の日：東京出発と香港到着

2006-01-13T23:22:00.000+09:00

After a morning of perusing the closed shops of morning Akihabara, I went to Tokyo Station and caught the Narita Express. After endless moving walkways I finally arrived at my gate and prepared to board the packed Dragon Air flight to Hong Kong. I sat next to an amazing woman, a teacher of Japanese at a Hong Kong middle school, who spoke English and Cantonese in addition to her native Japanese. We had quite the conversation about government and why Princess Masako suffers from neurosis, with my argument being the oppressive controlling influence of the Imperial Household Agency, while she disagreed, stating that the neurosis was caused mostly by the reduction of an independent, Harvard University-educated woman to a male baby machine. I accepted her argument as being correct.
秋葉原の閉まってあった店を披見してから東京駅で成田特急に乗って空港に行った。限りなしの自動歩道で歩いてから出発門に着いて、香港行きの込んでいるドラゴン（龍）航空に乗る為に準備をした。母語の日本語以上の英語と広東語で喋れる私立な中学校で日本語を教えている本当に素晴らしい女の人の隣で座っていた。どうして雅子皇太子妃は神経症があるかの面白い論じ会話をした。朕は、宮内省の圧制的な影響で神経症になったと言ったが、先生が不同意してアメリカのハーバード大学を上級で卒業した自由な女の人がただの男性子供工場になったと論じた。先生の論じは正しいと認めた。

Jamie met me at Hong Kong Airport and we took the MTR (Hong Kong’s subway) to Mei Foo, where her apartment is, on the Kowloon Peninsula. I got a tour of her apartment, and then we went to bed because she had to work the next day.
香港空港でジエメイに会って九龍（カオルーン）半島の美孚（メイフー）という町で彼女のアパートに行った。アパートの紹介をもらってから彼女は次の日に働かなくちゃならなかったのですぐ寝た。

Videos will be posted in this entry as soon as I contact Alex.
アレックスと連絡してからこちらの記事に動画を添付する。

Mei Foo 美孚

2006-01-06T15:14:00.000+09:00

This is the area of Hong Kong that I'm staying in. Right next to the subway and bus terminal. So this is where all the Chinese words that enter Canada come from ... with all the haphazard romanization it's certainly easy to see why as kids we make fun of the 'ching-chong' language.
これは朕が泊まっている香港の地域の名前だ。地下鉄とバス停留所の隣に在る。やっぱりこの地方からカナダに入った中国語の単語が出た・・・メチャクチャなローマ字でどうして子供の頃にこの「チン・チョン」な言語をばかにするとはよく分かる。

On the flight over I met an awesome Japanese woman who had been living in Hong Kong since forever, teaching Japanese to middle schools ... we had a great conversation and I'm very happy to have met her. If you read this, let's meet up sometime!
飛行機で香港で凄く長い間で働いている中学校で日本語を教えている素晴らしい日本人の女性先生に会った。とても面白くて楽しい会話が出来たので会えたのは嬉しい。これを読んだらいつか会いましょう！

Jamie was kind enough to give me an Octopus Card, and kind of debit card that works pretty much everywhere. Just press against the panel and voila, you have paid and can ride the bus or pay for your double cheeseburger.
優しいジエメイが朕に「八達通」カードを買ってくれた。これはＪＲのスイカカードみたいと思うけど普通の店でも使える。ただ画面でカードを振れて払う！

As Jamie had to work yesterday, I was on my own to explore Hong Kong. I took the bus and shot a lot of video. I copied down her phone number incorrectly, got lost trying to find an internet cafe to check her phone number, was accosted by an Indian telling me I was very lucky, and got change for the phone to dial the incorrect number again.
昨日、ジエメイが働かなくちゃならなかったから朕が一人で香港を探検した。バスに乗って動画を一杯撮った。ジエメイの携帯番号を間違えに書いた、番号を調べる為にネット・カフェを探しながら迷っていた、朕がとても運が良いと変なインド人に言われた、そして間違え番号を掛ける為に硬貨をもらった。

How I got change was very interesting. I bought some food at McDonalds ($8, divide by 7 to get Canadian price), and got $2 back in change. So I asked the girl (the English-speaking guy who took my order had gone off) for two $1 coins. She then took my $2 coin and gave me ice cream. Good, but not what I needed. Spying the guy again, I attempted to explain what I wanted in English, but he thought I was asking for food that cost $1, which they didn't have. So I switched to Mandarin.
"你可以说中文吗？啊，对不起，普通话吗？ "
"一点儿。"
"我有二元，可是我要一元，二个。"
"二个？"
"二个。"
And then he gave me the coins I needed. The lesson is, screw Cantonese, learn more Mandarin! But I did buy a Lonely Planet phrasebook just in case. And a notebook to write down pronunciations.
硬貨を貰うのは面白かった。マックで＄８（７で分けたら日本円になる；８ドルは百円ちょっと）で二倍チーズ・バーガーを買って食べたが、二ドルの硬貨を貰った。英語が分かる店員が他のレジに言ったので或る女性店員に「この２ドルの硬貨から１ドルの硬貨が二つ欲しいです」と説明してみた。彼女が朕のお金を取ってアイス・クリームを上げた。いいけど欲しいものではなかった。英語の店員さんをまた見て頼んだけど、彼は朕が１ドルの値段な食べ物が欲しいと思っていた。それから北京語をやってみた通じた。それから欲しい硬貨を貰った。勉強した事は、広東語を無視して北京語に集中して！でも、「寂しい地球」という会社の表現本を買った、そして看板で見る広東語のローマ字の発音を覚える為にノートも買った。

Today's plan is to finish exporting video files to my HD and go to the Hong Kong Museum of History, then meet Jamie and around 8:30 in Times Square.
今日の予定は電脳に動画のファイルを全部輸出して香港歴史博物館に行く事です。それからは八時半ぐらい「時代広場」でジエメイに会う。

Opium for All! 皆へ阿片を上げる！

2006-01-03T22:38:00.000+09:00

I'm leaving in about 45 minutes to catch my bus to Tokyo ... and then, it's off to Hong Kong! Also, stuff was on sale at the nearby computer store so I got a DVD-video camera relatively cheap. Perhaps I will post last night's yakiniku party someday.
後４５分ぐらいアパートを出て東京行きのバスに乗る～それからは香港！そして近所のパソコン屋で新年割引の発売会があったので、ＤＶＤの動画カメラを大体安くて買った。いつか昨日の焼肉会を添付するかな～

Hatsumoude at Haishiwa 初詣＠配志和

2006-01-01T10:23:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year 2006 (Western Calendar), Heisei 18 (Japanese Standard), 2666 (Japanese Imperial, defunct)!
２００６年（西暦）、平成１８年（日本基準）、皇紀２６６６年（日本帝国、廃止）の新年明けましておめでとうございます！

I went to Haishiwa, a rather large shrine about 10 minutes away by bike (downhill) for my hatsumoude, First Prayer of the New Year. Compared to my first time going to a shrine at New Year's in Shizuoka, the streets were empty. So was the shrine. This picture is of the lantern at the entrance to the stairs leading up.
初詣する為に自転車で十分ぐらい距離（坂下がり）の配志和神社に行った。静岡で初めて日本で初詣する時と比べると一関の道は誰も居なかった。神社も・・・この写真は階段の前で掛かってある灯。

I reached the top of the hill at around 11:45 and there were only maybe 20 people there. After standing around for a bit like an idiot, I struck up a converstation with an old man to pass the time. I find that the really old ones often have their own personality and are not afraid to express what they think. We talked about the giant trees at the shrine, how not many people come anymore, whether or not the table holding the New Year's arrows was going to tip over, the Japanese custom of everyone following two religions at once, and what religion is like in Other Countries.
１１時４５分ぐらい坂の頂に着いたが２０人ぐらいしか居なかった。時間を過ごす為にお爺さんと話し始めた。なんか年上の日本人は個人的な性格あるし自分の考えは遠慮なくて言うと思う。神社の巨杉とか少ない人数とか福屋が置いてある台が落ちるかどうかについて話した。そして、日本人が二つの宗教（神仏）を従う習慣の事と他国の宗教についても話した。

Two girls had also climbed all the way up the stairs. I attempted conversation with them like with the old guys but all I got was nervous giggles.
二人の女性も階段を上った。お爺さん達のように話してみたが、ただ恥ずかしい笑いで反応してくれた・・・

Buying some talismans, I used The Cheesiest Line in the Book - "Oh, excuse me, I'd like to prove to my friends that I met a real miko - may I take your picture?" to get this. Cute, isn't she!
お守りを買う時に「日本書紀でも記録している台詞」を使ってこのお巫女さんの写真を撮った。「大変すいませんですが、友達に本物のお巫女さんに会えたと言える為に写真は撮ってよろしいですか？」可愛いね！

Nobody I knew was there, so I went back down the stairs. I noticed that a LOT of women were wearing short skirts and boots. Hello?!?! It's frikkin' middle of winter midnight freezing! Fashion slaves. The signs may say 'Welcome Spring', but ever since the Meiji Government changed the calendar the new year no longer occurs when it is warm.
神社で知り合いは居なかったのでまた階段を下げた。でも、なんかブーツと短いスカートを履いている女性達を一杯見た！もしもし？？冬の真ん中の夜半の凛々しさ感じない？？流行奴隷。「迎春」が書いてあるかもしれないけど、明治政府が暦を変えて新年はもう暖かい季節に起こらないよ。

There was a Nichiren Buddhist temple a few minutes away so I went to check it out. Not too many people there either. Still, it was cool to hear the chant of the sutras being read.
近くに日蓮仏教のお寺が在ったので見に行った。人数も少なかった・・・しかし、読経を聴くのは素晴らしかった。

The stores are all set for the New Year's Day sales ...
年始の発売の準備が出来た・・・

This morning I got a nengajo from the Suzuki family. Sweet! I feel horrible because I didn't get my in-Japan ones sent out on time ... I will mail them today.
今朝は愛知県の鈴木家族から年賀状をもらった！やった！でも朕の国内年賀状を送るのは間に合わなかった・・・今日は郵便局に行って送る。

Oh and my ISP is an idiot. To use your 10MB (only!!) of free webspace you have to register and then they process your application, which takes days. What the hell!!!!
あ、そして朕のＩＳＰは馬鹿だ。口座の無料の１０ＭＢ（だけ！！）を使う為に登録して何日間待たなくちゃ・・・なにこれ！！！

And here's my banner for the New Year.
そしてお正月の新しい横看板。

Michael Fantasy マイケル・ファンタシー

2005-12-31T10:57:00.000+09:00

If you want to see Michael Jackson fight everyone from every NES game and then save the earth, click here.
Thanks to Madmartigan for the link.
ファミコムのゲームの全部の全員と戦って地球を救うマイケル・ジャクソンを見たかったら、これをクリックしなさい。
リンクはマドマルティガンにありがとう。

Christmas in Japan 日本でクリスマス

2005-12-29T23:50:00.000+09:00

I came back to Ichinoseki in the early morning of the 24th, and after dicking on the internet for a while, showered and took a nap. I also got a phone call from home, which was great. On Sunday I was bored. Everyone was either in their hometowns or home countries. I went down to Paper Moon, and stayed at the bar until around 11, and since I was working the next morning and had to bike home in the sleet, I didn't order any alcohol. Not that it mattered. I got free German red wine (sweet!), free cake and fried chicken (which I hate eating but I did it anyway for politeness' sake).
２４日の早い朝に一関に戻った、そしてネットで遊んでからシャワーを浴びて寝た。あ、カナダに居る家族から電話を掛けたからちょっと嬉しかった。日曜日は退屈。皆が故郷か自国へ戻ってしまった・・・ペーパームーンというバーに行って１１時ぐらい店員に話し込んだ。もっと遅く居たかったけど半分雨半分雪が降っていたし次の朝は働いていた。酒を頼まなかったけど関係なかったね・・・無料で美味しいドイツの赤ワインとケーキと揚げ鶏肉（食べるのが嫌いけどしないと失礼だから食べた）。

Then something weird happened. The bartender showed me a picture of her wearing a jinbei. I said she looked cute and suggested we have a day in the summer where we all wear yukata/jinbei/whatever. She laughed and said she hates wearing traditional Japanese stuff because only old people do that.
それから変な事が起こった。バーの職員さんが彼女はじんべいを着ている写真を見せてくれた。「可愛い」っていって夏でいつか浴衣・じんべい会をしようと提議した。彼女が笑って老人ばかりが和服を着るっていった。

Think carefully about this. What kind of culture throws away its own clothing as 'outdated'? Not Western, that's for sure. There's no difference between a suit and a kimono. The suit is the traditional Western dress. Yeah, it's changed over time, but it's still a a suit. But Japan has thrown away its traditional dress, yet another unique aspect of Japanese culture tossed in the rubbish heap ... I hear that younger people are starting to buy kimonos and Japanese stuff again, with innovative new designs that appeal to young buyers. I hope so.
よく考えてください。どんな文化が自分の服は「もう廃れる」と思っているの？確かに西洋の文化じゃないよ。別に着物とスーツと違いはない。スーツは西洋国の伝統的な服だ。もちろん時代的に変わったけど基本的にまだスーツだ。但し日本が伝統的な和服を捨てた。ゴミ箱に落とされたもう一つの日本の文化の特殊な物の例だね。でも、最近若者が着物や和風な物を買っていると聞いた。新しい模様は若者に気に入れたかな。そうならいいね。

On the 26th I went to the office and drank as much tea as possible to stay awake. At six PM there was a staff party for someone who is getting married, and since the food was going to be 'traditional Japanese', I went to McDonalds beforehand. Good thing too, because except for all the yellowtail sashimi there was nothing there I could eat. Dad would have gone nuts with the crab and lobster and oysters and whatnot.
２６日は事務所に行って寝ないようにお茶を一杯一杯飲んだ。６時に結婚する職員の為に忘年会が有ったし、料理は「伝統な日本料理」だったから先にマックに行った。よかった・・・はまち刺身以外は朕が食べられる物は全然なかった。カニや大海老やカキは盛り合わせだったのでお父さんが発狂して食べるけどさ。

As we spilled out into the street, the girls wanted to go to karaoke for the after party, while the men wanted to go to a hostess bar, which they ended up doing, obviously. I didn't go because I was already dead tired, and didn't feel like spending a hundred dollars to chat up a girl in a short dress. I did, however, notice that there was a 'salon' across the road, with an entry fee of 12 0000 yen. Probably an hourly fee. A salon is a place where you get a (usually) unclothed girl pour drinks for you while you chat her up, followed by a Hunnicutt. I didn't think Ichinoseki was big enough to have one.
忘年会が終わって道路に出ると、女性達が二次会でカラオケに行きたかったけど、男性達がスナックni
行きたかった。もちろん皆が結局スナックに入った。もう疲れたし短いスカートの女性と話す為に一万円を払いたくなかったので帰った。でも、路の向う側に一万二千円入金のサロンが在ると見た。多分一時間だけかな。知らなかったら、サロンは（大体）会話をしながら自分の酒は裸婦に注がれる、そしてそれから尺八をもらう。サロンが在る為に一関は十分大きくないと思っていた。

The next day at work most of the staff looked like hell. And then, the opportunity arose for me to use my Perfect Comeback. The one I had been waiting for ...
Staff A: S, are you going back to America (for New Year's)?
Staff B (in embarrassed whisper): S is from England.
Staff A: Huh?
Me (to Staff A): Are you heading home to China for New Year's?
Staff A: Whaaa!?! You think I'm Chinese? (pointing to self incredulously).
Me: You're Asian, aren't you? So you're probably heading home to China.
And so another point is rammed home. namely that all white people are not from the U.S. of A.
次の日は職員達の顔は全員地獄に落ちたそうだった。皆は本当に死にそうだった。そして・・・そして朕の「完全復帰」を使う機会が来た。朕が随分待っていた機会・・・
職員Ａさん：Sさんは（お正月の為に）アメリカに帰る？
職員Ｂさん（恥ずかしい小声で）：イギリス人です。
職員Ａさん：えっ？
朕（職員Ａさんに）：お正月は中国の出身に帰る？
職員Ａさん：えええ！私は中国人だと思っている？？？（自分を指しながら）
朕：あなたはアジア人でしょう？だから多分中国に帰る。
白人は全員アメリカ人じゃない主義を成功に教え込んだ。

On a completely different topic, I completely cleaned my apartment. Furniture has been rearranged and and tatami has been duly vacuumed. I've also gotten a hankering recently for mapo doufu. Canadian beef may be for sale again but it's yet to reach Iwate ...
別の話題でアパートを全部掃除した。家具を別な所に移動して畳はよく掃除機された。最近は麻婆豆腐を食べたい・・・カナダの牛肉が輸入許可をもらったけどまだ岩手県に届いてない・・・

Oh yeah, and I cancelled NHK. I was paying 2500 a month in regular fees and then another 2500 for satellite. Now, I hardly ever watched TV, but I didn't mind paying the viewer fee because it really wasn't that much. But then NHK sent a man to inform me that I was not paying the satellite fee. I think NHK is boring as hell, as it seems to consist of shows about mushrooms, old men, old men and mushrooms, what happens to mushrooms without the care of old men, etc etc. But NHK's BS-1 satellite service is utter crap. Yes, compared to regular NHK. I shoved my TV in my closet (it's not really mine, it belongs to the apartment) to see if I could do without it. It's been about two months and I haven't missed TV one bit. So I checked to see if I could cancel online. Turns out I can't (I had to call and a very nice woman helped me cancel it), but here's an interesting blurb on their English site.
あ、そしてＮＨＫを無効した。普通の受信料で一ヶ月ずつ２５００円ぐらい払っていて衛星放送でまた２５００円ぐらいを払っていた。朕があまりテレビを見ないけど、そんなに高くなかったから別に受信料は払っていいと思っていた。しかし、衛星受信料を払ってないって教える為にＮＨＫが朕のアパートまで職員を行かせた。ＮＨＫは全くつまらないと思う。番組の全部はきのこ、おじいさん、きのことおじいさん、おじいさんが居ないときのこはどうになるについてばかり見たい。でもＢＳ－１衛星放送は百割糞だと思う。はい、それは普通のＮＨＫと比べると。見なくて生きられると確認する為にテレビを戸棚に入れた（売りたいけど自分よりアパートのテレビだ・・・）。もう二ヶ月ぐらい掛かったし全然テレビの事に寂しくない。ネット上で無効するかどうかと調べた。実は出来ない（電話しなくちゃ；優しいお姉さんのお陰で無効した）けど、受信料の説明頁で面白い事を読んだ。

"The receiving fees allow NHK to secure financial independence and extend fair and impartial news coverage and present high-quality programs that are socially significant, without being influenced by ratings or government or private organizations."
「公平・公正な立場で放送の自主性を保ちながら、テレビやラジオの放送を通じて国民の生命・財産を守り、公共の福祉、文化の向上に貢献することが、ＮＨＫの基本的使命です。ＮＨＫがその使命を果たすためには、政府や企業などの特定のスポンサーに頼ることのない「財政の自立」が必要です。」

Yeah f*cking right. Author Alex Kerr quoted a Far Eastern Economic Review article in his book Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan, which I shall reproduce for you here: "[in 1992] an NHK documentary on harsh living conditions in the Tibetan Himalayas featured a sand avalanche, footage of a monk praying for an end to a three-month dry spell, and an explanation that his horse had died of thirst. NHK later admitted that a crew member had deliberately caused the avalanche; it had rained twice during the filming; and the monk, whom it paid, did not own the dead horse." ("An NHK Documentary": Sebastian Moffett, "Slipping Standards, FEER, 25 April 1996.
全く嘘じゃない？アレックス・カーという作家が「犬と鬼―知られざる日本の肖像」で「遠亜経済検討雑誌」でいい引用を使った。「（１９９２年に）チベットのヒマラヤ山の厳しい生活についての記録番組（ドキュメンタリ）が砂の滑落、３ヶ月ぐらい雨が降らななかったので坊さんが祈っている、そして水がなかったから坊さんの馬が死んだのを見せた。後で、ＮＨＫが職員達がわざと滑落をした、記録中で雨が二回降った、そしてＮＨＫが金で援助した坊さんは死んでいる馬の持ち主じゃなかった。」（”ＮＨＫの記録番組”：セバスチャン・モフェット、” 落ちる基準”、遠亜経済検討雑誌、１９９６年４月２５日）

I'm not going to miss it.
朕がテレビを見なくても別にいい。

Censorship Again 又検閲をしてみているの？

2005-12-29T22:48:00.000+09:00

My post on the evil museum at Yasukuni Shrine has been erased from the front page again. Yet it still exists. Read the truth here.
靖国神社の悪物館についての記事はまた前頁から消された。しかしまだこの世に在る。真実をここでご覧。

Whoa.　あれ？

2005-12-29T10:28:00.000+09:00

Is it just me, or did my post on the Yasukuni Museum on the 27th just disappear?
朕の想像だけかもしれないけど、２７日に出版した靖国の博物館についての記事が消えたか？

Back to Iidabashi 飯田橋へ戻り

2005-12-28T13:24:00.000+09:00

By now I had the whole afternoon to kill, so by using the GPS on my phone I decided to go try and see a movie. The nearest station was Iidabashi on the JR Central Line, so I walked there. The landscape became more familiar, and I remembered schools and shops. Finally I emerged out of the jumble of streets and saw the building which encompasses the Tokyo International Youth Hostel where Chris and Mark and I stayed at in May. The bath is great. A little expensive but I recommend it to all. I wanted to get to Ikebukuro, partly because that's where my night bus would depart from and also because there seemed to be a few movie theatres there. For those that don't know me very well, I can get lost by walking in a straight line. That's why I wanted to go near a place that was near my departing bus station. Anyway, I was staring at the map above the ticket machine and trying to find the price for the station I was supposed to go to, according to my phone. I imagine my face resembled some kind of wrinkled angry white man. I wasn't angry, just wondering why I couldn't find the damn station on the map. A Japanese girl standing next to me asked me in English if I needed any help, and I showed her my phone and the route I wanted to take. The conversation quickly switched into Japanese, and she told me I needed to take the subway, not the JR line. I thanked her profusely, got the usual 'Your Japanese is so wonderful' comment, and happily received an incredulous look from her white boyfriend who had been standing there silent the whole time. Take that, whitey.

午後は全く暇だったのでなんか映画を見ようと決めて携帯の電航（ナヴィ）で探した。一番近い駅は中央線の飯田橋だったのでそこに歩いていった。あの学校を見た事あるかその店を知っていると思うとかを考えて風景を段々覚えていた。結局道の森から出て朕とクリスとマークが泊まった若者低価旅館（ユースホステル）建物を見た。お風呂は素晴らしいよ。ちょっと高いけど皆に好評するよ。映画館が在るし朕が乗るバスがそこから出発するので池袋に行きたかったけど、理由は僕は迷子だからバスが出発する駅に早く行きたかった。とにかく、どうやって行くって駅の地図を見ながら携帯の電航も見ていた。朕の顔は多分「起こっている白人の男」だったかな。起こってなかったけどなんで地図で行きたい駅が見つかれないと理解できなかっただけ。隣に立っている日本人の女性が英語で「私はなにか手伝えますか」と聞いて朕が携帯の画面を見せた。中央線じゃなくて地下鉄に乗ればすぐ到着するって教えてくれた。何回も「ありがとうございます」と言って感謝した。普通「貴方の日本語は凄いですね」と解説した。そして朕が喜んで彼女の静かでそのまま立っていた白人の彼氏に疑い深い顔をしてもらった。それが好きでしょうね、白鬼。

So I excused myself and ducked into the adjacent building to take the subway. While reading that map, I was asked by a Malaysian guy on how to get to Tokyo Station. Since going there by subway would take two transfers, I suggested that we take the train, which we did and I brought him safely to Tokyo. Since that was done, I said goodbye and took the Central Line express to Shinjuku, transfer to Yamanote Line, get to Ikebukuro. Which was on the other side of Tokyo. Meh, so what, it was a nice thing to do. When we were transferring and waiting for another train, the guy without the flag in this picture had been on the rails doing something to the tracks. The look on his face was great as he was wondering when a high-speed train of death would approach and how much time he'd have to move out of the way.
「失礼します」と言ってから隣の建物に行って階段を下げるから地下鉄の販売機に進んだ。地下鉄の地図を読みながらどうやって東京駅に行くと傍人のマレーシア人に尋ねられた。地下鉄で行けば２回乗り換えしなくちゃならなかったので電車で行こうと提議した。そうして安全的に彼を東京駅に連れて行った。それが終わってからさよならと言って中央線の新宿行きの快速に乗って山手線で乗り換えして池袋に行った。東京の向こう側だったけど・・・まいや、優しかったから十分でしょう。乗り換え中に写真で立っている旗を持っていない男の人は鉄道の修理とかをやっていた。快速轢死電車がいつ来るかなの顔をやっていたので本当に面白かった。

Arriving in Ikebukuro, I walked around trying to find the damn movie theatre. I found the bus stop I would be departing from, but try as I might I kept on going in the wrong direction to get to the theatre. According to my phone I was getting close, so I went up another block, and then found I had gone too far. All right. Backtrack, take side street, come out on correct side of street. And there it was, and it had only taken like 45 minutes to walk 200m from the station! I approached the theatre eagerly - it looked small, but maybe good enough for the Yamato movie I wanted to see. I was only a few metres away, and looked up to see what was playing.
池袋に着いてその糞な映画館を探し歩いた。一関へ帰る為のバス停留所を見つけたけど、幾らやってみても映画館が見つからなかった。携帯の電航によって段々近くなってきていたので、もう少し進んで、また確認するとやっぱり行き過ぎた・・・ちょっと戻って、小さな路に入ってから正しい側に着いた。よーし、見つけた！駅から約２００メートルぐらい歩くのはただ４５分掛かったな～ちょっと興奮して映画館の近くに着いた。ちょっと小さそうだってけど、見たかった「男たちの大和」の映画は上映していたかな。もう前に立っていたので、上を見て看板でどんな映画が上映していたと認めた。

Right. Not only did I spend 45 minutes searching for what turned out to be a porn theatre, because of the holiday it was closed! Double unfair!
そう。エロ映画館を探す為に４５分を捨てた以上、祝日だったから閉まっていた！二倍不公平！

All right, fine. According to my phone there was another theatre across the railroad tracks. I went there, and failed to find it. I did see a guy with wild hair scouting two high school girls, though. Scouts hang around the busy stations and if they see a likely target, approach and attempt to get the girls to act in porn movies. It's a good way for high school girls to earn extra money.
はいはい、でもまだ諦めてないよ！携帯の情報によって鉄道の向うに他の映画館はありそうだった。そっちに行って又見つけられなかった。でも、狂っている髪の毛の男が女子高生二人をスカウトしていた。込んでいる駅でスカウトさんが待って、いい的を見たらすぐ話し込んでエロ映画を作ると誘う。バイトより女子高生によってお金がすぐ得られる。

Feeling a bit defeated, I charged my phone and laptop at a pillar outside of a Parco and hoped that there was a wireless network around that I could use. Of course, there wasn't.
ちょっと諦めよう感じが出たので携帯と膝電をパルコの外である柱で充電して無線ネットがあると希望した。もちろんなかった。

I ended up packing my stuff and spent about four hours at this net cafe near the bus stop. Ah well, the girl at the front was nice. I met some crazy peopleon the elevator which was fun, but the ride home was pretty uneventful. And that was my trip to Tokyo, in three posts.
荷物を全部準備して四時間ぐらいこちらのバス停留所の近くにあるネットカフェで過ごした。まいや、女性な店員さんは優しかった。上下機（じょうかき、エレベーター）で発狂している人達に会って楽しかったけど、バスで一関に帰るのはまあまあ書くことはないね。そして、三つの記事でそれは朕の東京旅だった。

The Right-Wingers are Nuts 右派の奴等は痴人だ

2005-12-26T12:50:00.000+09:00

After leaving the Imperial Palace, there were various groups outside in the street carring banners like 'Japan is an Imperial Country' and 'The Emperor Must Be Revered'. Fine. I can live with that. However, they were passing out flyers at the street corner - and some were being passed out by women! - that detailed why Japan should NOT have a female emperor. The general argument presented in the leaflet was that historically it has been a male line, and even the past Empresses had inherited the throne because of their fathers, not mothers, and if a woman became Empress then her children would inherit the male blood of the non-imperial-family member and thus cease to be royal, and other countries allow the first born child to succeed to the throne but dammit, Prussia didn't, so Japan doesn't have to either. And other bullsh*t.
皇居を出てから「日本は皇国だ」とか「天皇尊敬」のような旗を持っている団体を一杯見た。別にいい。但し、どうして日本は女帝が許せないの理由は載っている広報を道角で出していたし、女性も出していたのは信じられない！一般な論じは歴史的に男系だった、昔の女性天皇もお母さんじゃなくてお父さんから天皇になったので本当は男系、現代の女性が天皇になったら配偶者とするの子供が「彼」の子供になると血統が彼のになってもう皇族な子供じゃないし、他国の王族で一番年上の子供が次の王か女王になれるけど、プロシアはその制度がなかったので日本はそうする訳ない、等等等の糞ばかり。

And so I created this little button. I mean really, I can just read the headline now: "Imperial Line Extinguished; Imperialists Rejoice, "At least a woman didn't ascend the throne" as millennia-old tradition dies."
そのせいでこの小さな釦を作った。何か新聞が想像できる・・・「皇位継承が消え；皇帝主義者が喜び。二千年間以上な伝統が亡くなり「女が天皇に成らなくてよかったね！」と宣言し」。

Then the menacing right-wing trucks and vans started to appear, screaming 'Tennou-Heika Banzai ... BANZAI!!!!' over and over again.
「天皇陛下万歳・・・バンザイ！！！」をとめどなくて叫んでいる黒い街宣車が出た。

Whatever semblance of tolerance I had disappeared when I saw this big black truck. It's designed to bully people into following the doctrine of Emperor-reverence.
このでかい黒いトラックを見る朕の包容力がなくなった。いじめで天皇を尊敬させる為ばかり。

What do most people think of it? Not much, judging by the graffitti on this sign.
庶民はどう思う？この看板の汚れを見ると何も思わなさそう。

I went back to Tokyo Station at this point. Here we see the dome from the inside of the station.
これから東京駅に戻った。これは駅内の丸屋根だ。

This is the old part of the station and actually looks good compared to the concrete crap that makes up the rest of it.
これは駅の古い部分なので残りのコンクリートの糞物と比べるといい外見だ。

I then planned to visit the Yasukuni Museum. On the way there I found another propaganda van!
それからは靖国の博物館を見に行った。途中で街宣車を又見た！

Tennou-Heika Banzai! 天皇陛下万歳！

2005-12-24T19:13:00.000+09:00

My day trip to Tokyo to see the Emperor started off, appropriately, with a fight while waiting for the bus in Sendai. Drunken groups were pouring out of restaurants, and one group came near me. They were laughing and jostling, and suddenly one guy - in the photo the tall one on the left - just wailed into another, younger man with a kick to the stomach. Amazingly, the guy just laughed it off, until the assailant gave him a right hook to the face that sent him sprawling into the road. The guy in white held the fighter back and calmed him down. Wow.
天皇を見に行く日は適当に仙台でバスに待っている間に喧嘩で始めた。酔っている団体が居酒屋から出て一つのが朕の近くに来た。笑いながら押し合っていたが、突然に一人の男の人（写真で左の背が高い人）が他の若い男の人の腹をぶっ蹴った。驚いた事は打たれた人がただ笑ったが、起こっている男性がすぐ彼の顔を打って道に押した。白いコートを着ている男性が彼を抱きとめた。うわ。

Arriving in Tokyo after an uncomfortable night on the bus, I went in search of electricty so I could power my laptop and watch Simpsons until it was time to go to the palace. Look, I arrived at 5 am, and the palace didn't open until 9:30, so I needed something to do. I found an underground mall near Tokyo Station and an unguarded outlet. Unlike Canada, it is almost impossible to find an outlet on the outside of a building or a public place. I wonder why, for both countries, really. I also found it hilarious that in the heart of Tokyo, the city that a lot of Westerners consider the world capital of technology and fashion and whatever, the first sign I saw was "I Love New York".
バスの小さすぎる席で半分ぐらい寝られた夜が過ごしてから東京に到着した。皇居に行くまでに膝電（新作語！ラップ（膝）トップ（上）のコンピューター（電脳）＝膝上電脳＝膝電（ひざでん）！どう思う？）でシンプソンズを見る為にコンセント（なんでコンセントという？和製の「concentric+plug」だが電器接続具とあまり関係ないでしょう？電接か接電はどう思う？）を地下商店街で探しに言った。皇居は九時半まで開いてなかったので時間を過ごす為に膝電を持って来た。東京駅の近くの商店街で誰も近くに居なかった電説を見つけて8時ぐらいまで番組を見た。カナダなら建物の外壁でよく電接が見つかれるけど日本はあまりないね。両国にとってどうしてかな。あ、そして西洋人が世界の技術と流行の首都だと思っている東京の中心で「ニューヨークを愛している」の看板を見ると皮肉的に面白いと思う。

Homeless ... uh, long hair, so maybe woman? In the front foyer of Tokyo Station.
無宿の・・・えーと、長い髪の毛だから、女の人？東京駅の入口で。

I finally got up and went outside the station to try and find my way to the Emperor's palace. The flags were out in full force, sort of.
ついに駅を出て皇居を探しに行った。国旗が全力で出ているそうだった（ま、少しだけかな）。

A lot of people were lined up. This was at around 7:30 AM. Good thing I came early! On my way to the lineup a weird old guy came up beside me and asked me (in English) where I was from. I replied 'Canada' to which he said 'may Canada be blessed with peace'. Surprised, I said 'May Japan also be blessed with peace'. Strange. Was he sincere? I wonder what would have happened if I had said 'China' or 'Korea'.
大勢が並んでいた。これは七時半ぐらいだった。早く来ると良かった！行きながら変なおじいさんが傍に来て英語で「どちらから来ましたか」と尋ねた。「カナダ」と返事した。それで彼が「カナダが平和に恵まれるように」と言った。ちょっとびっくりしたが、「日本も平和に恵まれるように」と言った。変だな。彼は真剣だったかな？「カナダ」の代わりに「中国」か「韓国」と答えたらどのように起こるかな？

There were lots of uniformed police and secret police in the crowd too. Here a staff member hands out Japanese flags to all of us so we can wave and go nuts.
制服を着ている警察と大勢の中にいる秘密警察も居た。ここで職員が朕等に爆挨拶ができるように小さな国旗を出してくれる。

By chance I met two Korean university students majoring in Chinese who had come from Inchon to see Tokyo and the Emperor. They weren't especially happy about waving the Hinomaru, but I told them hey, it could be worse, it could be the Rising Sun with Rays, the one on my sidebar.
偶然的に二人の仁川（インチョン）から東京を見に来た中国学専攻の韓国人の女子大生に会った。別に日の丸を持つはそんな興奮してなかった（皮肉）けど、朕が「ま、旭日旗よりいいんでしょう？」と言って彼女達が同意した。

I then suggested that maybe the flag would look better with a sakura leaf in the middle.
「日の丸より桜の丸はいいかな」と提議した。

Or maybe this one.
これはどう？

After passing through police, metal detectors, a long wait in line and many jokes about what kind of cake the Emperor eats on his birthday, the gates to the Imperial Palace opened and we began to file in. In front of us was a man with long hair, a trench coat that just covered his ass, and pantyhose. In my conversation with the Korean girls which consisted of simple English and Mandarin, we dubbed him to be 'unique' or 'qiguai', which just means 'weird'. One of the girls then said that her friend loved qiguai people.
金属探知機を持っている警察に検査されて、並びながら天皇が誕生日でどんなケーキを食べるのが好きな冗談を言ってから、皇居の門が開いた、そして朕等が段々進んだ。朕等の前に長くて黒い髪の毛、お尻を少し隠すコート、そしてパンティ・ストッキングを履いている男性が居た。朕と韓国人の女性の会話は簡単な英語と中国語だったので、彼の事について英語の「ユニーク」と中国語の「チグヮイ」（奇怪）を使った。それから一人の女性が友達は奇怪な人が好きって言った。

A nice view of the bridge.
いい橋の風景～

Getting closer ...
段々進む！

Ooo! Nice lamp!
あら、いい電灯だ！

The Imperial Guard stands ready.
天皇護兵隊が守る。

My first view of the Inner Castle.
皇居の内の最初に見た所。

Looking back to public Tokyo, I see a LOT of people have turned up. I read on the Net that there would be only about 2000 people but I later read in the paper that around 14 000 turned up.
後ろの公東京を見て本当に大勢が来たと認めた。インターネットで二千人しか来ないと期待するべきだと読んだが後新聞で一万四千人ぐらいが来たと読んだ。

Almost there ...
もうすぐ・・・

Ok, we're here. Now what?
よーし、着いた！・・・今からどうする？

This guy wishes he was out of the sun.
太陽から影に移動したがる天皇護兵隊。

The Changing of the Guard!
護兵隊代替！

And out they come!
よし、出てきた！

The crowd erupted into flag-waving madness with cheers of 'Tennou-Heika, Banzai!' or '(May) the Emperor (live for) ten thousand years!' I like the look on the guard's face on the right. 'What the fuck is wrong with these people!' After waving for a minute or two, the Emperor made his 'Shut up, I want to talk' face. He then spoke about all the snow Japan was getting this year, that he worried about the people very much, and he hoped all of us took care of our health. What a nice guy (seriously).
皆が狂って旗を振って「天皇陛下万歳！」と叫んだ。右側にいる警備さんの顔が好きだ。「この庶民に何で興奮してるかい？」。手を一分ぐらい振ってから、天皇が「口を閉め、もう話すよ」の顔を作った。それから天皇が今年の日本で雪が一杯降っている事について発表した、そして在日本の皆について心配していたので、健康と体を大事にしてって言った。天皇は優しいな！（皮肉無し）

A wider view. This picture was taken with my phone.
もっと広い写真・・・この写真は携帯で撮られた。

As one Japanese passer-by remarked, 'This is real international exchange'.
日本人の傍観者が言った通り、「これは本当の国際交流だ」。

Upon leaving the castle grounds I got a shot of this building. Watchtower, perhaps?
皇居を出るとこの城の分の写真を撮った。監視塔、かな？

Here Comes Santa Claus サンタさんが来る

2005-12-22T11:02:00.000+09:00

I was at my last school for the season the other day and they decided to have an entirely Christmas-themed lesson. To that end, they requested that I dress as Santa Claus. Now, I can get along with this. I shoved my sweater inside the red jacket thingy to give myself an added layer of fat. Oh yeah, I got the results of my medical exam back. The prognosis: perfect health except for one thing: fat! Height of 181 cm and a weighing in at 85kg. But I just need to lose 5kg to be considered 'normal' so not too bad!
先日はこの季節の最後の学校に居て、クリスマスの題で教えようと決まった。それで、朕がサンタさんの仮装を着てと求めた。喜んで同意した。もっと太くなる為にセーターを赤いコートに入れた。あ、違う話題だけど、健康結果をもらった。完全完璧健康だけど・・・太い！181の身長だが体重は85キロ・・・ま、 5キロだけ減ったら「普通」になるのでそんなに良くないね！

Anyway I walk into the classroom as Santa, and the first thing that happens is ... a kid jumps out of his chair and tries to kancho me! Good God, what is this world coming to when Japanese kids try to kancho Santa? Is it really necessary to impart to these kids the lesson that you should not inflict bodily harm on the guy who is bringing you presents? I told the teacher but she just got a half-embarrassed look on her face and said nothing.
サンタさんの仮装で教室に入って最初に起こったことは・・・或る子供が椅子から飛んで朕をカンチョーしてみた。サンタをカンチョーしてみる？地球の子供達がこんなに悪くなった？贈り物を無料で持ってきて出してあげる人を犯すなって教えるのは本当に必要ある？？？先生に教えたけどただ半分恥ずかしい顔をして何も言わなかった・・・

While waiting for lunch, I told one teacher in the staff room what had happened and she got this shocked look on her face, like "Not only do you know what a kancho is but it's actually been done to you and it happens regularly to ALT's? My God!"
昼ごはんを待っている間に職員室でカンチョーの事を一人の先生に教えた。「カンチョーの事を知っているの上にあなたはされた事あるしよく外国語指導助手に起こると言っているんですか？嘘でしょう！」の顔をした。

So a normal reaction.　で、普通の反射。

I also took some really silly pictures of myself with my phone. Please see below.
携帯でとってもあんぽんたんな写真を撮った。どうぞご覧。

Right, enough of that.　よし、もう止めようね（へへ）。

The kids were making curry for lunch and I was lucky enough to be invited to eat with them.
今日の生徒達がカレーの昼ごはんを作って朕を招待してくれた。

I asked this kid to make a 'show me the deliciousness of the food' face and this was the result.
この子供に「カレーの美味しさを見せる顔をして」と言ってこの結果になった。

At the end of the classes in the morning the kids all gave me Christmas cards! Aww! Some kids REALLY put a lot of work into the cards. Check out the decorations glued to this one! I'm going to have to make a big certificate for each of the classes that made these for me.
朝の授業が終わってから生徒の皆が朕にクリスマス片をくれた！この片の飾り物を見て！授業の生徒達の為に大きな賞状みたいな看板を作らなくちゃと思う。

During the afternoon I had THREE classes at once, but the teachers all came along too, so thankfully we had some discipline control. My favourite teacher in the school, whom I have dubbed Mr. Lynch, regularly yells at them and is not afraid to dish out the discipline. I love the guy! I showed The Matrix Christmas video to them all too and they went nuts with laughter - except when the Grinch showed up they all said 'Yay! It's Hard Gay!'. That makes absolutely no sense.
午後は同時に三つの授業が入ったけど先生達も来てくれたので少し規律の支配ができた。朕の好きな先生も来た。彼はよく生徒に叫ぶしよく規律も出すので大好きだ！メイトリックス・クリスマス（マトリックスじゃない！カタカナの一番近い発音はメイトリックスだよ！）のビデオも見せて皆が笑いで狂っていた・・・・けど、ザ・グリンチが出る時に皆が「あはは、ハードゲイだ！」。生徒達の皆の頭は腐っているかな？

During the all-out chaos English activity (I mean there were like 90 kids in the room), one teacher (young, female, does not appear to be a disciplinarian) was attempted-kancho'ed by one of the Bad Kids. I should have picked him up and hauled his ass to the principal's office, but showing more restraint than I did last time, I simply told the teacher afterwards.
完全混乱の英語活動（教室で90人の生徒が居たよ！）で一人の先生（若い、女子、規律を使わなさそう）の尻に一人の悪童がカンチョーしてみた。彼を尻か運んで校長室に持って行くべきだったかもしれないけど、前の事件より抑制してただ後で先生に教えた。

"Oh yes," she sighed, "he's a wild boy".　
「そうだね・・・彼、本当に狂っている男子だよ」（会話は英語だった）

Don't give up!
先生、諦めないで！

It's Getting Better もっと良くなっている

2005-12-20T19:50:00.000+09:00

So the Forget-The-Year party was a yawnfest. We did have some yakiniku and I did meet some interesting people, but the highlight of the evening was this nominally orange drink, which tasted like Pine-Sol. And no, there was no alcohol in it.
忘年会じゃなくて欠伸会だった・・・焼肉が食べられたし面白い人に会ったけど、その夜の一番興奮する時はこのみかん汁っぽいの飲み物。掃除液の味だった。いいえ、酒が入ってなかったよ。

On Sunday I met up with Liz from Higashiyama and we went to JTB to help book a flight/hotel for her Okinawa trip in March. I was ostensibly there to translate so she bought me lunch. We met up and went downtown, where through a series of events ended up taking Yuuko, the super basketball/soccer player, to lunch with us. We ate at Don, this great little ramen shop near the station. After sorting out JTB, we browsed in a pottery shop, but we also found a great little store which sells imported foodstuffs from the Phillipines - including, for some reason, chocolate milk and root beer!! I went there today and bought more ...
日曜日に東山のリズに会って三月の沖縄旅行の飛行機と旅館を予約する為にJTBに一緒に行った。通訳する為に朕を連れて来て昼ごはんをご馳走してくれた。会ってから駅前の町に行ってついに籠球・足球の天才のゆうことも一緒に昼ごはんを食べに行った。どんというちいちゃいラーメン屋で食べた。駅に近いし美味しいと思うよ。JTBの事が終わってから陶芸屋でちょっと買い物したけど、本当に珍しい小さなお店を見つけた。アジア商品を輸入しているけど大体フィリピン製の物だ。でも、不明な理由でチョコレート牛乳とルートビアも売っている！今日も行ってもっと買った・・・

The grocery store boasts a collection of boastful apples.
大八百屋が自慢しているりんごを自慢していうる。

Chris complained that he didn't know what my apartment looked like. Well, I cleaned it, so here you are.
クリスが朕のアパートはどうか知らないと文句を言っていた。じゃ、掃除したので、どうぞご覧。

There was also a Christmas Festival this weekend and the place I do the Monday Night English at. Not much to do with Christmas, though, of course. There was Speed Kimono Wearing, featuring the lovely Aya. I also made a Christmas Quiz, with questions like "What do kids hang by the fireplace? A: Gloves B: Stockings C: Pants D: Underwear" to which one old woman actually answered D! Hahaha!
週末には朕が月曜日の夜に英会話授業をやっている建物でクリスマス祭があった。クリスマスとあまり関係なかったけどね・・・快速着物着大会で亜矢は主役です。「贈り物をもっと貰う為に、子供達が暖炉の上に何かを掛ける。何を掛けるでしょうか？A：森　B：ストッキング（長い靴下）　C：ズボン　D:下着」のような質問が入っている朕が作ったクリスマス・クイズを見せた。一人のおばあさんがDと答えた！いいな、このおばあさん！

And this is Tae Kwon Do merged with Tai Qi, I think, though I did not read the program very closely.
これは跆拳道と太極拳が混ざっている運動かもしれない、でも説明公告をあまり読まなかった。

Jingle Bells in Mandarin was very entertaining. After this was finished it was the English group's turn, but I put a little twist in it - I gave 'White Christmas' with the pronunciation written in katakana above the lyrics, so everyone in the audience could sing. It actually went pretty well!
北京語でのジングルベルを聞くのは楽しかった。終わってから英語部の番だった・・・でも、朕が予定をちょっと変えた！「ワイト・クリスマス」の歌詞の上にカタカナを書いて皆に出したので皆が一緒に歌えた。実は・・・上手く出来ました！

It snowed on Monday, though, so biking to school was fun. In fresh snow it's actually not too bad! The roads were very pretty as the cars hadn't gone through them yet.
月曜日は雪が降ったので学校まで自転車に乗るのは楽しかった（笑）。新しい雪なら実はそんなによくないよ！車があまり出てないので道は綺麗だった。

There was some controversy a while back in Japan when it was revealed that a whopping number of people don't pay into the pension plan. So, in the time-honoured Japanese tradition of educating the masses, there's a poster camapaign. Still, I like this one.
なんか年金を払ってない人が多いが新聞に載っていたんじゃない？皆に教え込む為に、また看板だ。まいや、実はこっちのが好きだけど・・・

Mmm boy, nothing better than kim chee, except perhaps Japanese Style kim chee! Simply remove all flavour and spiciness.
わい、キムチより美味しい物は和風キムチしかないでしょう？作る為にただ味と辛さを全部消して。

And today I got mobbed by first-graders. As usual.
今日も一年生に襲われた。普通だね・・・

Well, I got my bus ticket, I'll be going down to Tokyo on the night of the 22nd (at 11:50 pm). The 23rd is going to be a fun-filled day; see the Emperor in the Imperial Palace in the morning, go to Yasukuni Museum in the afternoon, and see the Yamato movie in the evening! All by my damn self because everyone has pretty much gone home or is working.
よし、バスの旅行券を買った！２２日の夜は東京に行く。２３日は楽しくなると思う；朝は皇居で天皇陛下に会った、午後は靖国博物館を見て、そして夕方は男達の大和を見る！殆ど皆がもう帰国したか働いているので一人で行っちゃうけど・・・

Art 美術

2005-12-17T23:07:00.000+09:00

Today I went out to the dollar store to get some giant envelopes to send stuff to Canada. I happened upon some artwork that I swore I had seen before on candy as Koume and loved the artwork enough to set it as my screen background for a while, but I didn't know who had done it. Now I do, a man by the name of Hayashi Seiichi. It's a blend of traditional and modern style and it is awesome - finally, Japanese artwork that LOOKS JAPANESE.
今日は百円店に行ってカナダに送る為に十分大きな封筒を探していた。それで、小梅という飴の袋で確かに見たことあると思っていた（実は、電脳の壁紙は彼女の絵だった）が、誰が描いたか全然知らなかった。今は知っているー林静一という男の方。伝統と現代の式を混合して素晴らしくなる。やった、日本っぽいの日本美術！

I also found a page with the same hybrid style for Chinese artwork, called gongbi. I think I'll use it in a China introduction presentation for my schools. I showed that famous "world at night" picture and most kids said "China!" when I pointed to Korea, so I think a little education is in order.
同じ式の中国美術のページ工笔画（ゴンビ）という絵のページを見つけた。なんか学校で中国を紹介しようと思っているのでその絵を使おうかな。その有名な「地球の夜」の写真を見せて韓国を指すと生徒の皆「中国！」と答えたのでちょっと教育させなくちゃかな。

A Good Day at School 学校で良い日

2005-12-16T17:15:00.000+09:00

I saw this in the store yesterday. Pooh curry. It's beef, by the way.
カナダ人の目でこれは珍しいよ。プーカレー・・・熊肉じゃないね。

But anyway, I had a great day at school today and yesterday. There are a quite a few international - and by that I mean they live in Japan but are not Japanese and thus must start learning hiragana from zero - students. I made hiragana bingo and kanji bingo for their instructor, and I dug up the link to the Ultimate Kana C hallenge. Here we see two teachers competing for the high score.
とりあえず今日と昨日もは学校で素晴らしかった。色んな国際（そして「国際」というと日本で住んでいるけど日本人じゃないから零から平仮名を勉強しはじめなくちゃ）生徒がいるので、担当者の為に朕が平仮名ビンゴと漢字ビンゴを作りましたし、最高仮名挑戦のリンクを探した。ここで競争している二人の先生が見える。

The school I was at today has a small hill that has frozen, meaning we all had great fun sliding down it. It was the most fun I've had in a long time as I usually dragged a dozen or so kids with me. Man, why couldn't lunch break be extended past the usual half hour today?
今日の学校は凍っている小坂があるので凄く楽しくてお滑りをした。そんなに楽しい遊びは本当に強い久しぶりな感じがあった。朕が滑ると子供を１０人ぐらい連れていった。なんで今日の昼休みが延長してなかったの？！？

The classroom I used doubles as a studio. Man, I've said it before, but I'll say it again - these schools have more AV budgets than do entire Canadian school boards. And they hardly ever use them!
今日使った教室は劇室も。前に言ったけど、もう一回言う：日本の学校は普通のカナダの教育委員会よりビデオ予算が大きい！でもあまり使わなさそう！

One of the activities today was to divide the class and put all the letters in alphabetical order. They had tremendous fun. All in all today was a big success. Off to the Forget-The-Year party now ...
今日の活動で授業の生徒を分けて、二つの組でどっちが字を全部順番的に直せるかの大会をした。とっても楽しかった。じゃ、今からは忘年会に行く・・・

On a lighter note, some funny shit　もっと軽い話題で面白い糞

2005-12-14T21:44:00.000+09:00

Since my apartment is for unknown reasons not connected to a sewer, I (that is, my supervisor) called the poo truck (thank you Sarah) to vacuum out the tank. A few days later I got the bill for 4000 yen, which is what I expected.
天照しか知らない理由のせいで朕のアパートは下水道と直接してないので、担当者に教えて糞車（ふんしゃ！）に連絡した。タンクを掃除してから４千円（その通りを期待していた）の振込みを払わなくちゃ。

It says they sucked 560L of waste from the tank.
タンクから５６０Lを吸ったって書いてある。

Wow. In just four months I can process about 600L of crap. Cool.
うわ。四ヶ月の間に朕は糞尿が処理できる。すごいね。

I made a hilarious mistake in Japanese the other day. I told one of my friends that I used to do an easy security job for one summer in my hometown.
先日は凄く面白い日本語の間違えをした。友達に出身で警備のバイトをしたっていってみた。

I told her I did a lot of koubi.
「バイトはこうびだった」

This is not the correct word for "security". What I meant to say was keibi.
これはもちろん警備の発音じゃない。けいびとこうびの間違えをした。

So instead of "My part time job for the summer was doing security", I said "My ｐart time job for the summer was engaging in rampant copulation".
「僕の夏バイトは警備をする事だった」の変わりに、「僕の夏バイトは交尾をする事だった」といった。

The Next Kid Who Kancho's Me Will Be Blasted to the Moon 次の朕を浣腸する男児っ垂は月まで撃つ

2005-12-14T18:53:00.000+09:00

I had a semi-good morning that was unfortunately marred by two incidents.
今朝は半分ぐらいよかったけど二つの悪い事件がった。

First, I have gotten used to the kancho'ing. By that I mean I no longer scream with horror like I did on exchange. Now I just grab the offender's hand, push, and tell him to stop. It doesn't work, but usually the kid is only playing anyway, so I let it slide.
まず、カンチョーされるのは慣れた。ということは、留学中のようにもうひどく叫ばない。今はただ犯人の手をつかんで押してやめなさいという。有効はあまりないけど子供はただ遊んでいるので大体気にしない。

Not today. The little bugger got a direct hit on me, and after I grabbed him and said, if he does it again, he will die, he happily said that he wanted to die if it meant kancho'ing me. This is the end. The next kid (by which I mean boy because girls don't do this) that pokes at my ass will be slapped in the face so hard Emperor Akihito will lean out of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and say 'WTF wuz that?' and then go back to playing Counterstrike against Hu Jintao.
でも今日は違う。男児っ垂がよく撃った。彼をつかんで「もう一回すると殺されるよ」といったけどただ「殺されていい！」と答えた。これは最後だ。次の朕の尻を打つ男児（女子がしないよ）が朕にそんなに強くて撃たれて平成天皇が東京の皇居で聴こえて「なんじゃったそりゃ？」と言う。それからは胡錦濤とのカウンターストライクの大会を続ける。

I think I'm going to have to hold an assembly to explain this to everyone. Now, to anyone who complains that kancho'ing is part of Japanese culture and I should live with it, first, fuck you, and second, the other teachers don't get kancho'ed. While I enjoy playing with the kids, I realize I must become my sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Lynch, if I am ever to command respect. Therefore death is imminent for some grade school kids.
多分朝会をして皆に説明しなくちゃかもしれない。あ、もし誰かが「これは日本の文化だよ、我慢しなくちゃよ」といえば、一、てめぇは糞っ垂、二、他の先生はカンチョーされていないよ！子供達と遊んでいるのが好きだけど、やっぱり尊敬されてほしかったら自分の厳しい六年生のリンチュー先生みたい怖くならなくちゃかな。それで或る小学生に死神がそろそろ来るぜ。

The second downer of the day was when I had lunch in the classroom. We had a good lunch, even though the one piece of gyouza was cold, and I sat next to the hyperactive kid. It's true, isn't it - the students with the worst personalities are the ones who pick up English the fastest. It must have something to do with the way the brain is wired to get what one desires. Anyway, said kid and another kid were doing extreme bullying on one boy - I'm talking constant making fun of his name, telling him to die, giving the finger, etc. The teacher either did not see (possible, especially in a large class such as this) or was unable to discipline them.
二番目の悪い事件は給食中だった。餃子は冷たかったのに美味しかった、そして朕が速度過敏の男子の隣で座っていた。本当だね・・・最悪な性格ならすぐ英語を習う。なんか欲しい物を指す脳味噌の中で関係あるかな。とにかく、この子ともう一人の男児が或る男子を物凄くいじめていた。止まらない名前を馬鹿にする、死ねと言っている、中指を示す、等。生徒が多かったから先生が見えなかった、それとも、規律できなかった。

I told one kid to shut up, but he ignored me. I then laughed and said his nose was big and his ass was showing. The other kids in the room laughed at him, and he turned red and told me to shut up. Aha, I said, you don't like it when you're made fun of by someone with more power, do you? So leave the other kid alone. This worked for about five seconds before he continued to make life hell for the other kid.
一人の生徒に口を閉めといったけど無視した。朕がそれから笑って彼の鼻が大きいし尻が出ているといった。彼がすぐ「うるさい！！」と叫んだ。「あは、」朕がいった、「馬鹿にされているのが好くじゃないね！だからやめなさい！」。又その男子の命を地獄にする前にこれは五秒ぐらい有効あった。

After a constant lunch period of this, the bullied kid finally said something like 'shut up' to his oppressors, causing hyperactive kid to jump out of his chair, run over and punch the bullied kid in the head. Just like what happened with the first grader at the School of No Discipline, I exploded.
給食時間ではこればかりだった。結局いじめられている男子が「うるさいな」とかといったけど、過敏男児が椅子から飛んで男子まで走って彼の頭を打った。規律なし小学校の一年生に起こった事件のように、朕が爆発した。

I jumped out of my chair and separated the two, shoved them both down, and screamed at them. We're talking next two classrooms over hearing. I basically said that if you hated each other that much, then ignore each other. If I ever saw anyone hit anyone again, I would never come back to this class. I told them that bullying causes suicide and murder. If I saw anyone being bullied, then I would unleash hell. I then punched the wall hard enough to panic the kids in the next room and said that if they enjoyed hurting other kids with words, then they were going to be hurt by my fist.
朕が椅子から飛んであの二人を分けて、椅子に座らせて、叫んだ。隣の隣の教室で朕の声が聞こえた叫びだった。基本的には、互いがそんなに嫌いなら、互いを無視してといった。誰かを打つのを二度みたらもうこの授業に来ないっていった。いじめは自殺と殺人の原因だと述べた。朕がいじめを見たら、地獄の束縛を解くと約束した。それからは隣の教室の子供達をぎょっとさせるほど壁を打って、言葉で他人を傷つけるのが好きなれば、今度は朕の拳に傷つけられるようになる。

Scare tactics, of course. But the old samurai toughness works, sometimes. Hopefully we can all get along like poor court nobles.
怖い作戦だけだよ、勿論。でも武道の強さをたまに見せるのは有効だと思う。皆が公家みたいに仲良しになれると望むけどさ。

But I will toss the next kid who bullies or attempts to kancho me out the window.
しかし、次のいじめをする生徒か朕をカンチョーしてみる生徒を窓から投げるよ。

The Descent of Winter 冬の降下

2005-12-13T15:33:00.000+09:00

The snow continues to fall in Ichinoseki. Last week, partly due to my head still not fully recovered from my illness, I went to the wrong school. Thankfully the staff kindly pointed out my mistake and I went to the correct school by taxi, but unfortunately I made a class of fifth-graders wait until I showed up. At least it's never happened before, right? Right? Uh ... Well anyway I managed to get this great shot from the hills.
一関で雪がまだ降ってゐる。多分頭がまだ病気から治ってなかったので先週は間違え學校に行ってしまった。職員達が優しく朕の間違えをすぐ指したけどさ。其れからは速くタクシーで正しい學校に行ったけど、五年生の生達を待たせてしまった。ま、初めてだったから大丈夫でしょう？でしょう？えーと・・・まいや、岡からこの素晴らしい写真が撮れた。

Heh, even the spider webs had frost on them!
はは、蜘蛛の巣も霜が掛かってあった！

As you may or may not know, there have been a LOT of child killings in Japan over the past few weeks. Little girl strangled, little girl stabbed, little girl stabbed by own teacher. I believe this has something to do with the tradition of making kids walk to school. I'm talking about making a 6 year old girl walk 40 minutes through snow-covered mountain roads to get home. The Japanese, or rather the social system, believes that this makes kids tough. As we see, in practical terms it makes kids dead. At least they are recognizing the problem, as we see in this poster warning kids to basically not believe any of the stuff people may make up to kidnap them.
皆が知っているかどうか分からぬけど、最近は日本で子供殺しの事件がイッパイ起こった。女子絞殺、女子刺殺、自分の先生に女子刺殺。此れは學校まで子供を歩かせる習慣と関係あると思ふ。朕は雪一杯降った山路で六歳の女子を卌分位歩かせる習慣について話してゐる。日本人、即ち日本の社会制度が、この制度で子供達が強くなると信ず。実際は死体に成るそうです。でも、問題を認めると嬉しいどす。この看板をご覧下さい。誘拐する為に其々な犯人の嘘を信じない様に注意をしなさい事が書いてある。

At one of my schools I was meeting the second graders for the first time, so I revved up my Canada presentation and showed the flag. The thing that most impressed them was the picture of the beaver.
或る学校で初めて二年生に会ったので、カナダの画像発表を準備して国旗を示した。でも、一番感心された時はビーバーの写真を見る事だ。

On the weekend there was an event called, basically, "Let's Be Friendly With Foreigners", part of a campaign by the educated elite to impart the message that the foreign community is not a pack of raving wild dogs. Part of it included the mandatory Dress Them In Kimono part, although these two manage to pull it off rather well, don't you think?
外国人が狂っている犬ではない情報を広げる為に一関市の教育された精鋭者が週末は「外国人と仲良しになろう」みたいな会を組織した。一つの分は強制的な「着物を着させる」だったが、この二人が上手く出来たでしょうね。

The highlight of the day was making mochi, of course. It's sooo gooood ... One interesting thing we learned is that the hollowed out tree stump that you use to pound the mochi in is written the way it looks - 臼. Variants of this can be found in characters like 兒 (traditional variant of 児, child, which is a head on legs). It's also the basis for the traditional form of 学, learn, which is 學. On the top we have 臼 with X's in it representing knowledge, and on the bottom we have 子, child. Like making mochi, learning consists of pounding knowledge into children's heads.
今日の呼び物は勿論餅つきだった！うま～い！面白い習った事はうすの字はうすみたいの形：臼。この部首は児の旧字の兒で見える。学の旧字の學の基準も入っている。上は子供の頭を指している臼、そして知識事はXに代表されている。下に子がある。餅つきみたいに学びは子供の頭に知識を猛攻撃する事と一緒。

Do not let the older men near the 臼。I have a video of it that I will post as soon as I figure out how.
年上の男性の方は臼に来るのは許さぬ！ビデオがあるけどどうやって見せるかわからん。

We were also treated to a shamisen performance. I wonder if anyone bothers to write modern songs that people will like using these. Probably not.
三味線の演奏を聴いていただいた。三味線を使って誰かが現代曲みたいな歌を書いているかな？多分やってないね。

It snowed again on the weekend and as I made my way to the Board on Monday I was treated to blowing snow. Didn't stop some girls from not wearing anything under their skirt except underwear, though. Now, some schools forbid the girls from wearing anything but a skirt in the dead of winter, because they are Uniform Nazis. I don't have a school like that as I teach elementary and we are allowed to put on snow pants and go jump in the snow. But if I did have say a junior high school then I would wear shorts every day in protest. Or a kilt. A kilt would be nice, actually, but it would defeat the purpose of protesting because kilts are warm and heavy.
週末は雪が又降った。月曜日は教育委員会に行く時、超寒い温度だったのにスカートの下に下着しか履いていない女子学生を見た。彼女は馬鹿わけないけど；或る学校の職員は制服ナチスだから女子学生はスカート以外を着るを禁ず。朕が小学校で教えるのでそんな学校に居ない。朕は生徒と一緒に雪ズボンに入って雪で遊べる。但し、もしスカート以外禁止の厳しい学校に行ったら、抵抗する為に毎日ショートパンツに入る。それともキルト。キルトならいいな・・・でも、重くて暖かいから目的を無効するね。

Here is a picture of the snow-covered rocks of the rapids of Genbikei, from way upstream. It's quite the tourist attraction when the weather is warm. I need to take a better camera though; the keitai just doesn't cut it. Someone should Hokusai this picture though (new verb!).
雪が立つ厳美渓の岩の写真だ（川上から撮った）。天気が暖かいと観光者が一杯来る。携帯で撮るのは満足できない；もっといいカメラを持っていかなくちゃ。誰かがこの写真を北斎してくれる？わ～い、新しい動詞！

Ask dusk fell, I waited on the road for the bus.
段々宵に成った。朕は、田舎の路でバスに待っていた。

Across the road the bus stop was gradually covered with more snow.
向こう側にバス停留所が雪に隠れた。

Mailed a letter this morning. < calvin> Bugs are dying by the truckload! Hahaha, good riddance to them all!< /calvin>.
今朝は手紙を送った。< calvin>虫殺しだ！あはは、さよなら！！< /calvin>

In anticipation of my Hong Kong trip next month, I have bought a practice book. It's good and has a CD included so I can pronounce words correctly, but it's a bit lacking in grammar explanations, and the Hong Kong/Canton only characters are throwing my head for a loop. At least now I know where the hell the word 'yumcha' comes from - it means 'drink tea' and is apparantly used as a normal greeting.
来月は香港に行くので、練習本を買った。CDが付いているから正しく発音が繰り返せるけど、文法の説明はあまりないし香港・広東だけで使う漢字はちょっと分かりにくいな。まいや、ヤムチャ（飲茶）の意味が結局分かるようになってよかった。

Oh yeah, and I checked out Environment Canada to see what the temperature was like in my home town. The Ichinoseki people are complaining that the temperature is reaching -8. Ahahaha, fools!
あ、そしてカナダ環境局のサイトを調べて出身の温度を見た。こっちの温度が－８°になっているので一関の市民が文句と言っている。あははは、何を考えている、庶民？

And here's our new winter banner.
そして我々の新しい冬の長看板だ。

Party and the Stomach Virus of Death 飲み会と死神の胃腸ばい菌

2005-12-07T21:22:00.000+09:00

I've decided that I want to finish up my study of all the damn Joyo Kanji by next summer. Sure, I could wait until December to pass Level One of the JLPT, but I want it out of the way - it's been a pet project of mine ever since I found out there was a list of kanji that all Japanese people learned in school. It's Heisig Method time! I'm doing 4 a day from my wonderful Kanji Learner's Dictionary, but as I don't know how many I have left out of the 1945, whether I will make it by summer is unknown. I estimate that I know 1300 characters at the moment in Japanese, plus another hundred or so Chinese simplified and prewar variants. Which don't count.
来年の夏までは常用漢字ったれの字ずつの意味を全部覚えたいと決めた。日本語能力試験１級を合格する為に走師まで待てるけどもういいから・・・日本人が学校で習う漢字表があると知るから全部を勉強する計画があったよ。ヘイシッグ式万歳！朕の大事な漢英学習字典から毎日四つを勉強しているけど、常用漢字の１９４５字からの残りは不明なので夏までに間に合えるかどうか分からない。今は日本語で１３００字ぐらいは分かると思うし、中国語の簡体字と戦前の異体字も百ぐらい知っているかな。

On Friday night we all went out to an izakaya downtown. By the time everyone arrived there were about 10 of us. Omar, of course, went straight for the ladies. Here he prepares a back attack.
金曜日の夜は大町の居酒屋に行った。皆が集まってから１０人ぐらいになったかな。オーマーはもちろん早く女性を気に入った。こちらで後ろから襲い始める。

Targets change quickly though, provoking delightedness and utter jealousy in this example.
的がすぐ変わるので、こちらの例で喜びの感じとやきもちの感じがよく見えます。

Omar picks up the tab. Where do his funds come from?
オーマーが払ってくれる。彼の金の貯蔵はどこから来るかな？

The answer is, of course, secret karaoke contests. A bit grainy, but you can still see the look of utter concentration on Omar's face as he contemplates his next move.
答えは、もちろん、秘密カラオケ大会だ。写真があまり撮れなかったの失礼した。但し、次の作戦を考えているオーマーの集中の顔がまだ見える。

All right, enough picking on the poor guy. After finishing up karaoke at around 3 am, we all went home. I woke up to ... snow!
もうオーマーに悪い言葉（全部は冗談だよ！）を言い過ぎたので他の話題を紹介する。カラオケは３時ぐらい終わった。それで皆が帰った（ありがとう亜矢！）。起きる時は雪を見た！

Lots of it, too! I was quite happy. Around lunch I made some yakisoba and then, having eaten too much, took a nap. When I woke up, my stomach felt ill. I tried to watch a movie, but I couldn't concentrate because of my stomach. So I thought, well, perhaps the alcohol from the night before got lost in my bloodstream and wants to come out now. I made my way over to the sink and threw up, thinking I would feel better.
一杯降ったね！実は嬉しかったよ。昼ごはんは焼きそばだった、そしてそれからはちょっと寝た。起きる時は腹が気持ち悪かった。映画を見てみたが、腹のせいで集中できなかった。まいや、昨晩の酒が脈で迷ってたから今までは出たくなかったかなと思って洗面台に言って吐いた。気持ちよくなるかなと思っていたからさ。

Well, I did feel better, for about two minutes. Then I threw up again, and the pain in my stomach worsened. I drank some juice. I threw that up. I drank tea. Tea, for God's sake! The worst was the apple juice. Ever throw up 500ml of cold apple juice? It's not pleasant. And I'm not even going to talk about the toilet. Let's just say whatever I drank that managed to make it through my gag reflex quickly left my body anyway.
少し気持ちよくなったけど、２分ぐらいの間だけだった。それからまた吐いて腹がもっと痛くなった。果物汁をちょっと飲んだ。吐いた。お茶を飲んだ。お茶だけだったよ！！最低はりんご汁だったけどさ。りんご汁を５００ｍｌ吐いた事ある？気持ちよくないよ。そして便所については話さない。只・・・吐かない汁が他の所から朕の体から出た。

So, it was almost 1 AM, I couldn't eat or drink and was in horrible stomach pain. I decided to go to the hospital. The doctor and nurses were all very nice and, well, motherly. I stayed the night and got a water IV since I was feeling dehydrated and couldn't keep water down. I got medicine and went home the next day, though I was still sick enough to throw up as soon as I walked in the door of my apartment.
もう夜１時ぐらいだったし、食べられなかったし飲めなかったし腹はすごく痛かった。病院に行くと決めた。医者さんと看護婦は大変優しかった・・・お母さんっぽい？入院してから一泊泊まって、まだ水が飲めなかったので水分の点滴をもらった。薬をもらって午後はうちに帰った（ありがとう、禎子！）けど、帰ったばかりはまた洗面台に吐いた。いいね。

Then two women from my English class came over and not only brought me a hot ginger drink that made me feel better, but also cleaned my apartment and tucked me into bed. By strange coincidence, one of them is the exact same age as my mom, and has a son my age away in Saitama. I think that's one contributing reason.
それから朕の英会話から二人のお嬢様が来て腹の痛みを消す生姜の飲み物を作ってくれた。それ以上はお布団を設定してくれてアパートを掃除してくれた！！ごめんなさい！！！変な偶然だけど、一人は自分のお母さんと同年だし、朕と同年の息子が居るそうだ。それは、世話してくれるの理由の一つだと思う。

By the way, I'm making plans to go to Hong Kong in January. Already got my 'Cantonese for Beginners' book ... Chris, you just wait!
ところで１月は香港に行こうと思っている。もう「はじめての広東語」の本を買った・・・クリス、待ちやがれ！！

Beware of AUM Shinrikyo オウム真理教にご注意下さい

2005-12-07T20:29:00.000+09:00

The Japanese police seem to be in a perennial state of pissed-off that they can't find these three Aum members. I wonder if they've gone to North Korea? This was in the entrance to the big store I live by.
日本の警察はこのオウム員が見つかれないと永続的に立腹な状況を示している。北朝鮮に行ったかな？朕が隣に住んでいる店の入口でおした。

I have no idea why, but one of my schools has dressed-up skeletons on display.
理由は全然分からないけど、学校の一軒は仮装している骸骨を示している。

The last 2 days of the month are 5% off day at the store if you have the correct credit card (which I do), so I save my shopping until that time. I bought enough food to last until January! It was way too much to pack in bags, so I just lifted the whole cart up the stairs to my apartment.
月末の最後の二日間は正しいクレジットカードを持っていたら（朕は持っているよ！）５％割引がもらえる。その理由で朕は月末まで買い物するのを我慢する。睦月まで食べ物を買ったぞ！袋に入れるのは大変すぎるのだったから籠を全部朕の２階におすアパートに持って来た。

I found an interesting poster at a school the other day. Apparently the way to counter AIDS is with air and ~~salt water~~ chlorine. WTF? By the way, there was no info on AIDS being an STD, either.
おす学校で面白い看板を見た。エイズを殺す方法は空気と塩素そうだ。なに、このばか情報？？あ、ところで、エイズは性病だって書いておす情報はなかった（日本語版の百科辞典でもあまり書いてないし！）。

Yet Another Giant Shrine 又大神社に参った

2005-12-03T16:20:00.000+09:00

Coming back from the new school, I took an alternate route - the aforementioned Secret Path that significantly reduces the amount of energy I must expend going up and down hills. I found a picture-perfect depiction of the 'Asian image' - quiet, cramped houses with just enough room to walk between them.
新しい学校から戻りながら、他の道を使った（前に述べた「秘密の路」）ので坂上りと坂下がりで使わなくちゃ力を減った（普通より使わなかったという意味）。それで、完璧な「アジア街の理想」の写真が撮れた；静かで窮屈の歩道の空しかない家。

And one of the houses was, for some reason, keeping birds. To eat? I guess so ...
或る家で鳥が飼われていた。食べ物に成る為？そうかな・・・

Mountains seem to attract religous followers. This road leads to a Nichiren Buddhist temple.
山が宗教者を魅惑するそうだ。この路は日蓮仏教の寺に着く。

I came to a shrine (surprise!) that I usually pass by when I ride the bus. It's called Haishiwa (although the bus announcement sure as hell sounds like Hashiwa). The kanji for it seems to be picked at random just for pronunciation, and according to what information I've found the shrine has been there in one shape or form for at least a thousand years or so, from the end of the Heian period. As such there are giant trees. Yay!
バスに乗る時によく見る神社に行った（誰かびっくりしたか？）。配志和（はいしわ、しかしバスの公告の発音はもっとはしわみたい）神社と呼ぶ。漢字は当て字っぽいけど、朕が神社で見た情報によって平安時代の末からこの場所に在ったそうだ。それででかい木が植えている。やった！

One outer mini-shrine had some latticework so I attempted to shove my camera in and take a picture. Surprisingly it came out! Look at all the weapons!
一つの小神社は格子造りがあったのでカメラを入れてみて写真を撮った。万が一撮れた！武器をご覧！

According to the sign the shrine is dedicated to the "Relics of the Three Great Treasures". I assume they refer to the Imperial Regalia of sword, jewel, and mirror.
神社の看板によって三つの宝を奉納している。これは三種の神器についてと想定する。

Time to go up! According to the sign, it's a good spot for moon-viewing.
階段を上ろう！柱によって月見をするの良い場所だ。

Oh shit. Farther up than I thought.
くそったれ・・・思ったより遠い。

About halfway up I found a weird mini-shrine with small shoes tied to it. The red slipper just reminded me of a scene in Raise the Red Lantern when the girl peeks into the execution room.
半分ぐらい上ってから靴が付いてある変な小神社を見つけた。赤い靴がまるで大红灯笼高高挂という有名な中国の映画の女優が死刑室を覗くシーンみたかった。

Another god-village.
他の神の村。

Finding a lone shoe after seeing the mini-shrine was downright creepy.
小神社を見てから人跡まれな靴を見つけるのは本当に怖かった。

Nearing the top of the stairs, the roof of the shrine loomed large before me ... it was huge.
階段頂に段々着くと、神社の屋根が目の前にぼんやりと現れた。でかい。

What really interested me though were the small shrines off to the side. The X pattern of the roof is a very old style, reminiscent of Ise Grand Shrine.
朕に一番面白い所は隣の小神社だったけどさ。屋根のX模範はとても古い流だし、伊勢神宮を思わせる。

A stone dog guarding the entrance.
入口を守っている狛犬。

A view of the whole shrine. Those trees are huge by the way.
神社の全部を現せる写真。木はでかいよ。

Oops. A long way down ...
あら・・・下がりは大変かな・・・

Goodbye Brock ブロックへさよなら

2005-12-03T13:13:00.000+09:00

Well, since I'm no longer a Brock University student, my account is being deleted ... which means goodbye webspace. So I'm posting the banner and profile picture here because I'm too lazy to search through my documents and find out what my Japanese web address is.
もうブロック大學の学生じゃないから、朕の口座はそろそろ消されちゃう。それで、空へさよなら・・・日本の空にどうやって情報を送るの書類を見つける気がないのでここで横看板と自分の絵もここで添付する。

Ghost Castle 幽霊の城

2005-12-02T18:25:00.000+09:00

I was having an online conversation about Unit 731 when I heard loudspeakers and what seemed to be marching music from outside my window. Jumping at the chance to see a right-wing group in action, I hopped on my bike and attempted to follow the source of the noise. My journey took me along paths through groves and rice fields, rivers and ... uh, well, that's pretty much it. On the way back, I saw a housing project being advertised as an English Country Home. Didn't see any thatched roofs or stonework that is my image of a cottage out in the middle of Manchester, though.
ネット会話で731部隊についての話をしながらアパートの外から拡声器と軍隊っぽい音楽を聴いた。右派隊を見る機会かなと思ってたので速く自転車に乗って音の源を探してみた。朕が旅で森と田圃、川と・・・えーと、それだけぐらいを見た。帰る時は「英国の田舎の家」で広告されている建て場所を見た。朕の理想でマンチェスター州の中に在るわらぶきの屋根か石造物の別荘を見なかったけどさ。

Had a new school the other day. I like new schools because I don't have to do any real work; just show my Canada presentation and run around in the gym, and that's it. It does give me a chance to bond with the staff, though. It seems kind of laid-back here, but I guess that's because I am not here all day, just in the morning. Kids are great, though. The school is kind of far from my house, and on a hill, so it was kind of hard to bike there before I discovered the Secret Path.
先日は朕が新しい学校に行った。本物の仕事はしないから新しい学校が好き；ただ着いてカナダの発表をして体育館で走る。但し、職員と仲良しに成れるけどさ。あそこはちょっと落ち着いている雰囲気だったけど、朝だけは居るのでそれを感じたかな。子供達は素晴らしい。学校は朕の内からちょっと遠いし坂上に在るので自転車で来るのは「秘密の路」を見つける前にちょっと疲れる。

The school is beside a temple. Which has an awesome graveyard. How cool is that?
学校は寺の隣で在る。素敵な墓場もある。格好良いんじゃない？

A view of the temple beside the school. It's a Tendai temple, if that has any meaning to anyone.
学校の隣の寺。誰かが興味あれば天台宗だ。

After my work was done, I saw this sign saying that there had been a castle on top of the mountain. You know that I had to check this out.
仕事が終わってから山の上に城跡はあるそうだの看板を読んだ。勿論上らなくちゃならなかった。

Up this mountain. Well, off I went!
この山の上にあるそうだった。よーし、行くぜ！

A modern Japanese-style family grave, of the Miura family.
現代日本式の家族墓（三浦家）。

On my left, there was a Prefectural Protected Forest. I know because of the sign. Is the castle in there?
左側に県立保安森がある。看板が見えるから分かる。城はその中に？

I was really enjoying the heavy forest atmosphere when I saw the bane of the Japanese countryside: a construction sign. I mean, fuck. It's the middle of freaking nowhere, on an overgrown mountain! You've got to be kidding!
深い森の雰囲気を楽しんでいたが、日本の風景の破滅の元を見た；工事の看板。くそったれめ、生い茂る山の何もない場所にあるんじゃない？嘘でしょう！

Then I saw the sign. Actually, I'm happy that Japan is posting the numbers about public projects now. Still, ￥42840000 (think $428 400) for a landslide control project? There are so many trees that a landslide would only occur if Raijin the Storm God blasted the mountain repeatedly with lightning and then rained for six weeks on it.
それからこの看板を見た。実は日本が公衆工事実施の予算を告げているから嬉しいよ。でも、地すべり防止事業の為に４２８４０千円を払う？木はそんなに一杯あるので雷神が山を何回も雷で打って六週間ぐらい雨を降ろすだけで地すべりが起こると思う。

So now we have the real forest, and ... the encroachment of construction.
で、ここは本物の森と・・・段々侵食している工事。

Well, someone lives on the mountain, anyway. Or they did. Here's an abandoned house and car.
ま、誰かがこの山に住んでいるそうだ。それともそうだった。ここは捨てられた家と車だ。

But here's a very small field. Hmm.
でもここには小さな畑だ。うーむ。

Proceeding to the field, I was greeted by a very pleasant surprise; they were terraced fields, with another garden situated just below me on the side of the mountain. Plus I had a great view of the city! Man, I want to buy this land and make an Orientalist dream home!
畑に進むと、とても良い風景に迎えられた；朕の下に山の側にもう一つな畑が在った！ここは棚田（棚畑？）だ！そして町がよく見えた！や～、この土地を買って東洋学者の屋敷を建てたい！

I heard a dog bark as I passed by this ... house? Well, at least I don't have to worry about being shot. Swords are another matter, of course.
この・・・家？の隣で歩く時は犬の鳴き声を聞いた。ま、銃に撃たれるは心配ないね。剣は別の事件だけどさ。

Where is that damn castle? Up the road we go.
その城跡ったれはどこだ？！？よーし、道に上る～

I began to find old farming equipment. What the heck is this?
古い農業器具を見つけた。なんやこりゃ？

Some of the fields appear to be abandoned.
色んな畑は捨てられたみたい。

Junk.
ごみ。

Another abandoned car.
もう一台の捨てられた車。

I reached the end of the road, finding more fields. Half were being used, half were overgrown.
道の終点に着いて畑をもっと見つけた。半分は使用、半分は生い茂る。

I got a shock when I turned around to look at the house and found a poster of a woman inside staring at me.
後ろを向いて家の部屋の中から女性の姿が絵から朕をじっと見ていると大変びっくりした。

There was a semitraditional house, open to the elements. Dirty, not lived in.
半分伝統的な家が天然に開いていた。汚れていた、誰も住んでいない。

Doubling back, I found a small path going off in a different direction. To the castle, perhaps?
道を引き返して他の方面に行っている路を見つけた。城行き、かな？

Nope, a shrine.
いいえ、神社だった。

All it consists of is a stone tablet and a god-house.
ただ銘板と神家だけ・・・

The inscription was so faded I couldn't make anything out.
銘は大変衰えたので何も読めなかった。

As it was getting late, I gave up my search for the castle and headed back down the mountain. I stopped at the school and asked again about the mysterious fortress, only to be told that there was absolutely nothing left - no walls, no timbers, nothing. Just stories from the old men about the time when a castle stood proud upon the mountain.
遅くなっていたので城跡の探検を諦めて山を下げた。また学校で止まってあの不思議な城について尋ねたが、残りは全くないと言われた。壁、板材、何も。ただ山の上に自慢できる城が輝いて建てあったの老人の話だけ。

Attention Canadians Abroad 海外に住んでいるカナダ人へのお知らせ

2005-11-29T17:23:00.000+09:00

Election time! 選挙だ！

Various Shrines and Temples 異なる神社と寺

2005-11-27T18:45:00.000+09:00

I was coming back from a school I dislike (although I actually had a good day there, so perhaps my opinion will change) a bit early, so I had time to explore. I saw this massive temple gate from the main road, so I went up to it to have a look. Apparently it was rebuilt a few years ago. I didn't go into the temple itself, though. To speak truthfully, I don't like temples. I much prefer shrines.
あまり好きじゃない学校から（でも実は良い日を過ごしたので意見が変わるかも）普通より早く帰ってたので探検する時間が有った。道からこの寺の大門を覗いてちょっと見に行った。なんか何年前に再建された。寺の中に入らなかったけどさ。実は、寺はあまり好きじゃない。神社はもっともっと好き。

Inside both ... pillars? of the gate, there are Buddhist saints/gods to protect the interior. This guy might be Niou, the Benevolent King, making a scary face to prevent evil spirits from entering.
大門の・・・柱？の中に域内を守る為の仏教の聖人・神の木像がある。悪い神が入らないように怖い顔をやっている木像は仁王かもしれない。

Damned if I know where it comes from (possibly mountain streams that were concreted over in the name of progress), but water tends to flow down these ditches.
どこから来るか全く知らぬ（進展の名でコンクリートされた沢）が、水がこんな溝に流れるのは普通だ。

This particular one was very steep, and the water was rushing very fast.
この溝はとても険しいので水が早く流れた。

As the sun began to set, I entered the precincts of a shrine.
日没が始まる時に神社の域に入った。

I wasn't sure what the shrine was dedicated to. A mountain god, perhaps?
この神社は何を献納・奉納していたか分からなかった。山神かな？

Or perhaps snakes?
それとも蛇？

I would probably find my answer at the top.
山頂で答えが見つかれるかな。

Imagine my surprise when I found this giant main building at the top! There was even a Shinto priest there, dressed in robes of white and purple, who happily told me that the shrine had been here for about six hundred years, although the main shrine of which this was just a division, had been founded by the Fifteenth Emperor, Oujin. The priest also used the Imperial Year dating system (counting years from the traditional founding of Japan by Emperor Jinmu; Imperial Year 2600 was in 1940.) when he told me this. Cool. After seeing the previous signs on the way up the hill, I asked what god the shrine was dedicated to. He laughed and said all of them. It's all under Amaterasu's dominion anyway.
山頂に着いてこんなに大きな宮が在るを見ると驚いた！白と紫の袴を着ている神官がこの八幡神社が六百年前ぐらい建てたけど、本宮は第十五天皇の応神天皇に設定されたと喜んで教えた。神官さんも皇紀年齢制度を使っていた。凄い。坂を上りながら色んな神の看板を見たから神官さんにどっちの神が奉納されていると尋ねた。笑って「八百万」と答えた。全部は天照大御神の領域だから問題はない。

Biking back to the Board of Education, I saw this sign. Sounds like a 50's horror movie of sorts.
教育委員会に戻りながらこの看板を見た。なんか五十年代の恐怖映画みたいね。

A few days ago there was an International Thing at the place I teach English at on Monday night. It was designed to Teach Japanese Culture to the Foreigners, and consisted mostly of Brazilians. Omar, Joshua and I also participated, making pottery where I attempted to create a teacup that would fall within the Wabi style.
先日は国際な故事が僕が月曜日に英語を教える市立館で行った。「外国人に日本文化を教える」為の会だったしブラジル人が一杯来た。オーマーとジョシュアも参加した。朕は陶芸会で侘び式の茶碗を作ってみた。

There was also some shodou (yay!), where everyone wrote Harmony, but I, with imperial ambitions, wrote Country. The funny thing is, I kept on switching between pronunciations, alternating between kuni and koku but mostly using guo.　
書道会（やった！）も有った。皆が「和」を書いたけど、帝国的な大望を持っている朕が「國」を書いた。変な処は、異なる発音を使って、くに、コク、そして大体中国語の「グヮオ」を使っていた。

I also met the Chinese teacher, a naturalised Chinese woman whose classes I wish I could take, but they always occur on days when I am busy. The Japanese girls also dressed up in Chinawear. Here Omar works his magic.
帰化した元中国人の中国語先生に会った。先生の授業に入りたいけどいつも忙しい日に起こる。日本人の美人達も中国服を着た。この写真でオーマーが彼の魅力な魔法を使う。

The next day we all went to karaoke. For some reason I think Chibi Aya (right) looks like a fish with that face.
次の日はカラオケに行った。不明な理由でちび亜矢がその顔で魚みたいと思う。

Of course, when no-one suspected, Omar went at it again.
勿論、誰もが期待しない時に、オーマーがもう一回魔法を使った。

On the road to the Board of Education, I found another kura abandoned in the woods, next to a rice field. I wonder who owns it; I'd love to take a look inside.
また教育委員会行きの道に田圃の隣に捨てられた庫を見つけた。誰かがこれを持っているかな。中に入ってみたい。

Usually I pass by this pillar, but that day I had time and decided to explore. I went onto a small road and attempted to find the Kashihara Shrine that this pillar points the way to.
普通はこの柱を無視して行くけど、その日は時間あったので探検しようと決めた。小さな路に入って橿原（かしはら）神社の参道の路を沿った。

After a short jaunt I found it.
短い旅の後で見つけた。

Inside, there were cute instructions on washing your hands.
中には可愛い手洗い・清める説明が書いてあった。

The basin had a dragon perched on top spewing water, akin to The Hall of Two Moons in Nara.
水盤の上に龍がひょいと座って口から水を吐いていた。奈良の東大寺の二月堂みたい。

While I was looking at the giant stone pillar celebrating Amaterasu, who should appear but the same Shinto priest from Hachiman Jinja! Just a quick hello this time though.
この天照大御神を祭っている巨石柱を見ながら、八幡神社の同じ神官さんが出た！今回は急ぎ挨拶だけだったけど。

In front of the bell at the main shrine were instructions on proper praying. Turns out I've been doing it wrong the whole time.
鈴の前に正しい祈り方の説明が書いてあった。今までは違う方をやりそうだった・・・

One cool thing I found in the shrine (partly because there was nobody there to stop me) was a god village. Anyone remember Spirited Away? God houses ... Cool. Must be fun at night.
神社の中で一つ格好良い物を見つけた（僕を止めさせる人は居なかったかな？）。それは神の村だった。誰かが千と千尋の神隠し？神の家・・・凄い。夜は楽しそうだね。

I found this statue hidden behind some leaves. I wonder what god/saint it is?
葉の奥にこの石像は隠れていた。どっちの神・聖人かな？

Apparently Emperor Meiji visited here a long time ago, and there are lots of stone markers strewn about. This one celebrates the 2600th Imperial Year.
なんか昔に明治天皇がこのに来たそうだ。色んな石柱が立っている。これは皇紀２６００年を祝う。

Having seen all there was to see, I left the shrine and continued to the Board of Education. Along the way I found more stones. Graves or gods? Who knows.
見える物を全部見てから神社を出て教育委員会に行き続けた。行きながら石をもっと見つけた。墓か神？誰も知らぬ。

I've been reading a lot of Ranma recently. Gotta love Shanpu.
最近は乱馬をよく読んでいる。珊璞を愛しなくちゃならぬ。

I went to one school and saw that the fifth graders had put portraits of themselves up on the wall, much like I did in Grade 5. Except that they are much much better.
或る学校で五年生が自分が描いた絵を壁に貼った。僕も五年生の頃にこんな事をやっていた。しかし、日本人の方は目茶上手い。

I then fulfilled my promise of getting a Chinese textbook for a student at a school with a Chinese friend. It's pretty cute. Unfortunately it uses katakana, but since the pinyin is also written I hope she will learn it the correct way.
それからは中国人の友達がいる小学生に教科書を上げるよの約束を守った。結構可愛いね。但し、片仮名を使っちゃうので駄目だな・・・でも、ピンインも使うので正しい方で習うと望む。

And I cleaned the apartment.
そしてアパートの掃除をした。

Buddhist Caves 仏教の洞窟の跡

2005-11-24T19:41:00.000+09:00

On Saturday, I went with Liz and Kira to Matsushima, an area of Sendai that was called one of Japan's three most beautiful places by the great poet Basho. To get there we rode a train, and I instantly felt like I was back in Tokyo, with the blue-striped JR train coming by ... just like the Keihin-Tohoku line.
土曜日はリズとキラと一緒に芭蕉が日本の三つ一番綺麗な場所の一つと言った仙台の地域の松島に行った。その為に電車に乗って、なんか青空色の列車を見ると丸で又東京に居る感じが出た。京浜東北線の電車の色と一緒の・・・凄く懐かしい。

Before going to Matsushima, however, we stopped at a place called Shiogama (salt pot). There, we went in search of a hill fort but found a huge shrine instead.
松島に行く前に塩釜という所に行った。それで坂城を探しに行ったけどでかい神社を見つけた。

An amusing sign on the road to the shrine. It says "No throwing away cats! We are watching you!".
神社行きの路に貼ってある看板。

There was a holy horse near the main entrance of the shrine! Kira proceeded to feed it carrots. 聖馬が神社の中央口に居た！キラがにんじんを食べさせた。

A sign promoting Shichi-Go-San.
七五三をお勧めしている看板。

A creepy-looking lantern.
何か奇怪っぽいな灯。

This picture turned out nice, didn't it? Kind of like a postcard. Very Japanese.
この写真はよく撮られたね！葉書みたいでしょう。とっても日本っぽい。

So eventually we left the shrine and took the ferry to Matsushima, which isn't one island but a bunch of small ones.
結局その神社を出て松島まで路船に乗った。

One island that we visited (there are bridges at the terminal port) had apparently been the site of a Buddhist temple. As such, there were lots of caves and ruins.
朕們が行った島の一つ（橋はある）は多分お寺の域だったと想う。それで、色んな洞窟と跡が在る。

This particular cave is actually a well, which made an odd sound when I dropped a coin into it. Maybe there's a bell at the bottom?
実はこの洞窟は井戸だ。硬貨を落として不思議な音が出た。底に鈴があるか？

The Light of Buddha.
仏陀の光。

These are pictures of the various statues and caves that make up the temple complex. 寺域で在る様々な石像と洞窟の写真だ。

Buddha's light shines on Liz.
仏陀の光がリズを輝かせる。

The girls ponder the meaning of life.
命の意味を考えている二人の娘等。

The cliffs of the island.
島の岸壁。

Somebody stuffed daruma into this crack in the stone.
岩の穴に誰かが達磨を入れた。

On our way back to the station we found another (lively) temple complex, but as it was getting late and there was an entrance fee we opted to do it another day.
駅に戻りながらもう一つの寺域を見つけたけど、段々暗くなっていたし入金は必要だったので他の日にしようと決めた。

Outside of Sendai Station there were a bunch of girls dancing! The weird thing is ... they were Japanese ... yet they could dance!
仙台駅の外で女性団体が踊っていた！変な点は・・・日本人だったのに・・・踊れた！

The day finished up with dinner at Sukiya and viewing a ganguro.
すき屋で夕飯を食べて顔黒を観て日が終わった。

The Right Hand Does Not Know What the Left is Doing 右手が左手は何をしているか知らん

2005-11-23T21:11:00.000+09:00

As part of their effort of discouraging young Japanese to start smoking, Japan Tabacco offers skateboard advertisements.
若者がタバコを吸い始めない様にジャパン・タバコがこのスケートボード広告を示す。

There was a morning assembly at one of my schools because there were new transfer students. I wonder if they were embarrassed to be up in front of everyone. They also used the Robot Voices (ex: "My name is Taro! I like baseball!") that I hear about one million times a day.
新しい転校生が来たので朝会をした。皆の前に立っていると恥ずかしかったか？朕が毎日約一億回ぐらい聞くロボット声（例：僕は太郎です！好きな物は・・・野球です！）を使った。

And the poorest, way the hell out in the country Japanese school has more money invested in musical instruments than anything Ontario ever had.
日本の一番田舎に在る貧乏な学校はオンタリオ州が楽器に投資した学校と全然比べられない。

After several months of lifting students, I am now able to lift them straight up and put them on my shoulders without having to bend over. After carrying kids around for a while I like to deposit them on top of shelves. They seem pretty happy about it.
生徒を運ぶの何ヶ月後は背中が全然折らなくて生徒を真っ直ぐに上に運んで肩車が出来るようになった。少し肩車してから棚の上に置く。何か喜んでいる顔をしているけどさ。

When did the Japanese government decide that every school in the country had to have a unicycle?
日本政府がいつ全国各校は一輪車が必要な物だと決めたか？

I was biking around Ichinoseki one night and this truck stopped beside me at the intersection. Those white shapes are chickens.
或る夜は一関で自転車に回り乗りしていた、そして交差点でこの大運車が止まった。その白い形の物は鶏だ。

Fog over rice fields.
田圃で霧。

More shelf-depositing of kids. That one girl has so much energy she moves faster than my camera.
子供の棚置きの続き。あの女子は元気さがそんなに有るので朕のカメラより速い。

In the afternoon there was another assembly where students danced a traditional God Dance (kagura), called the Bird Dance. It was cool. I want to know where they get the Rising Sun Fans.
午後は又会だった。鳥舞という伝統的な神楽をした。かっこよかった。その日の丸扇はどこから買うか知りたい。

Heavenly Academy 高天原學院

2005-11-23T20:43:00.000+09:00

I was at the School of No Discipline, which has amazingly become a fun place. Perhaps my screaming at the Violent First-Grader the last time did it. I noticed that on the kids' name tags, which they all wear pinned to the front of their shirts, they also have to list the blood type! I here present an edited version.
無規律学校が奇跡的に楽しい場所になってきた。僕が前に来た時に暴力一年生に叫んだせいかもしれないな。生徒達がいつも付けている名表で液型も書かなくちゃならないと気づいた！ここで編集された編を示す。

It was sunshowering outside that day, but I got to see a rainbow. Hurrah!
その日は外側で狐の嫁入りを感じたけど、虹が見えた。やった！

There was a midyear conference in Hanamaki, at a hotel. Even the public toilets were awesome. Not only can you select the pressure for the bidet, but temperature as well!
中年研究会が花巻の大旅館で行った。公衆手洗いでも素晴らしかった。ビデの水圧が選べるだけじゃなくて温度も！

I further expounded my budding homosexuality by buying a lychee cocktail (sarcasm).
レイシ酒を買って我が新進同性愛をもっと詳説した（皮肉）。

There was even a fake church for weddings. Stupid. Why marry in the church of a religion that you don't follow? (rhetorical)
結婚式の為の偽物教会も在った。あんぽんたんだな。なんで信じてない宗教の教会で結婚するの？（修辞疑問）

Dresses for the fake ceremony. 偽物結婚式の為の婦人洋服。

After coming back from the conference, I stopped in Kitakami to see if I could find my keys and inkan. No such luck. I did find a nice shrine dedicated to the god of thunder though.
研究会から戻ってくる時は北上に止まって鍵か印鑑が見つかれるかと調べた。そんな運がなかったけどね・・・まいや、雷神の神社を見つけたけど。

This poster was at the police station. I can't tell if it's cute or really scary.
この看板は警察署にあった。可愛いか怖いか決められない。

In My Life 我が命で

2005-11-23T10:11:00.000+09:00

There's a ramen shop near the station, and this is a picture of the "onion chashu ramen" that I ordered. Chashu is a corruption of the Chinese cha1 shao1, to roast with a fork (I think), and in this case means the pork that's served in ramen. This place's chashu was AWESOME. No fat, great taste. Didn't need the onions though. Next time I'll just order their regular chashu ramen.

駅前でラーメン屋がある、そしてこの写真は僕が頼んだ玉葱叉焼老麺（たまねぎチャーシュー・ラーメン）だ。チャーシューは中国語の「叉烧 (cha1shao1)」の発音の転訛だ。意味はフォークと焼くと想う、そしてこの場合はラーメンで出ている豚肉だ。この店のチャーシューはステキだった。脂肪ない、素晴らしい味。玉葱はいらなかったけど・・・今度は普通のチャーシューラーメンを頼む。

On the way to the Board of Education, there is a small graveyard. Cool.
教育委員会に行けば墓場がある。凄い。

Most of the graves looked like this with the circle on top. Note the post-departed Buddhist name carved into the rock.　墓は大体この丸が上にある形だ。石に刻んである仏教の死後の名前を心にお書留下さい。

The date was carved into this one. Tenpou Era (1830-1844) Year 14, Month 10, Day 8. This guy died a really long time ago. この墓で年が刻んである。天保１４年１０月８日。この人が昔々に亡くなったね。

Japanese Translation Up　日本語訳の更新

2005-11-20T10:45:00.000+09:00

Busy Week Part 2 has the Japanese translation finished.

忙しい週間（第二話）の日本語訳は終了。ご覧下さい。

Attention All Japanese さ、日本人、お知らせでござる

2005-11-18T22:41:00.000+09:00

Article 21 of the Constitution of Japan.

Article 21. Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed. No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated.

日本国憲法の第２１条。

第２１条　集会、結社及び言論、出版その他一切の表現の自由は、これを保障する。検閲は、これをしてはならない。通信の秘密は、これを侵してはならない。

Addendum in response to Anonymous' comment on whether the articles in the Japanese Constitution only apply to the Japanese.

Article 14. All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.

"The people" could mean only Japanese. It is unclear. However, this is not the Imperial Constitution of 1889, which clearly only applies to Japanese nationals:

Article 29. Japanese subjects shall, within the limits of law, enjoy the liberty of speech, writing, publication, public meetings and associations.

無名のコメントに対して日本国憲法の条が日本人ばかりに影響するかどうかの付録。

第１４条　すべて国民は、法の下に平等であつて、人種、信条、性別、社会的身分又は門地により、政治的、経済的又は社会的関係において、差別されない。

「国民」って日本人ばかりという意味の可能性はある。曖昧だ。しかし、日本人に影響するばかりの1889年の大日本帝国憲法と全然違う。

第２９条 日本臣民ハ法律ノ範囲内ニ於テ言論著作印行集会及結社ノ自由ヲ有ス。

Censorship

2005-11-16T15:30:00.000+09:00

Not that I don't have confidence of Japanese people to read English, but this post is not going to have a Japanese translation. Even so, I'm choosing my words carefully and trying to be as obtuse as possible.

A while ago, I wrote an article about one of my days, where I met some people. I wrote about how they do not have citizenship of a certain country. I then wrote something about pieces of paper you need to enter a country and how they have time limits. Then I wrote about the need to teach a certain language to these people because until now they have not spoken the language of certain country until now.

Today, I was told by my supervisor to edit that part of the article. Word had gotten around. People were talking.

I agreed, thinking I had violated student-teacher confidentiality and individual privacy. So I got rid of the section about pieces of paper and time limits, added more praise words to those teaching a certain language, and showed the new paragraph to my supervisor.

No good.

Why?

Because I had mentioned their nationality.

I need opinions, please.

If, say, in your home country of Canada, the States, or Britain or Australia or wherever, you write that a Spanish child is enrolled and requires ESL classes, is that a violation of privacy and work confidentiality because you mentioned the student's nationality?

The original paragraph has been deleted and I'm not telling you what article it was in. Yes, I do have an archived copy of the original.

I thought I was helping Japan progress by showing off a place where students of different nationalities all study together at a typical Japanese school, showing how everything is all nice and happy. Or, should I restore the paragraph and just remove their specific nationalities and replace it with "various nationalities"?

One Thousand Hits 礼・千人・覧

2005-11-13T19:06:00.000+09:00

Since I put the counter up, over one thousand people have read my blog. Hurrah! Thanks to all. Since I recently got Photoshop, I decided to try and make some of those 'hit present' things that anime websites do when over a thousand people have viewed their depiction of nun cosplay.

数機を付けてから千人以上が僕の部呂倶を読んでくれた。やった！皆にありがとう。最近はフォトショップをもらってのでそのアニメ・同人誌サイトは千人が修道女コスプレの描写を見てくえたから描く「ヒット・プレゼント」みたいな物を作ってみた。