Archive for July, 2007
July 31, 2007 at 10:23 pm · Filed under Sweet Finds
Waiting for a bus outside of work today my workmate spotted a praying mantis.
I saw this guy (or a friend or relative) a few weeks ago hanging out on a wall a few metres from this location. They are amazing to watch. It’s also really cute if you hold down one of its back legs and it tries to run away and its leg stretches like an elastic band but maybe don’t do this because it is too cute and I feel sorry for it. I really wanted to hold it but those front arms look a little prickly and I was scared.
July 30, 2007 at 1:02 pm · Filed under One tear wipe
Actually I probably won’t. I can see myself playing ignorance to the fact that I have to return to Canada up until the very end. But there are reminders. Like just now when I called JAL to change my flight. It had been booked for September 4th but for a while I’ve known that I will stay for a couple more weeks. I enabled me to be vague when asked about my return date. “Oh…sometime in the middle of September…” Now it is set and it’s written in my agenda book and I added a note to my workgroup’s calendar. I will be leaving on Tuesday, September 18th – arriving in Vancouver that morning.
I don’t have a countdown but I have a total count. If I am correct after leaving in September I will have been in Japan for a total of 509 days.
July 30, 2007 at 1:05 am · Filed under Mundane
This is my spider friend:
I think I told you about him. I’m trying to learn that spiders are good because they balance out insect ecosystems in homes. So he lives. Every morning for the past week he has come out of hiding while I get ready for work. He crawls along the same path on the wall over my desk. Hangs out by the keyboard for a bit and then some days makes it to the curtains. My questions:
What does he think of me and does he see me mostly or hear me?
What should his name be?
Why do I assume it is a male spider?
Will he grow?
Where does he go when I cannot see him?
While I am here – how is everyone in Vancouver doing with the trash deal? Is it…a bad situation?
July 29, 2007 at 12:14 am · Filed under Spend spend spend!
Today I my Japanese teacher in one of our usual spots – FANCL Garden. FANCL is a cosmetic/beauty company in Japan that has branched out (I think) to some other lifestyle stuff and they have a cafe in Lumine, a department store attached to Yokohama station. The cafe serves Chaya Macrobiotic food – and coffee. It just occurred to me that – is coffee macrobiotic? I guess if you drink it with soy milk and maple powder it is. Yes – everything in the cafe is sweetened with maple powder not sugar because it is better for you………………………………………………?
Anyway, the coffee tastes like acid so today we ordered ice cream or “ice kutte”. Made without dairy products, eggs, or processed sugars (except for the maple powder maybe?). It was actually pretty good. I had the strawberry – very fruity, no fake sweetener tastes, no fake thickener tastes – I would order it again.
What I found interesting was how it was served: on a plate, in its plastic container, with the lid placed on the side, brand name facing up. It reminded me that is it important that I know I am eating Chaya Ice Kutte, recommended by the staff at FANCL Garden according to a sticker placed on the menu.
July 27, 2007 at 7:22 pm · Filed under Experiences, Japan, Toys
Off the boat and to the combini to buy fireworks. We bought Hello Kitty and an Anpanman sets full of sparklers and squealers and mice hanabi that spin in circles on the ground. Crap those things are packaged! You need 10 minutes of unpacking before you can set anything on fire.
But they do include the coolest thing – special effect glasses. Actually in Japanese they are “不思議メガネ” (fushigi megane) – mysterious or wonderous glasses. Put them on and アンパンマンの頭がいっぱいあるよ！(You can see a lot of anpanman’s head). Actually in our case it was Uncle Jam’s face that we could see when viewing bright light sources. These glasses are the coolest. Watch someone with a lit sparkle and it looks as though they are holding a magic wand spewing forth cascades of anpanman heads. Don’t worry – I will bring some back to Canada because they are that cool.
A very special kind of hanabi for the Japanese is “線香花火” (senkou hanabi). You light these small, thin hanabi from a candle included with the fireworks set. They are held pointing downwards and if you are lucky you will get a small, beautiful, humble display of fireworks. They are different from sparklers – not so quick and high energy. The flickers of light almost seem to be dripping from the end. They are very special for people in Japan, said to represent the emotion of summer. Some friends told me that they are a good finale to hanabi parties at the end of summer – being small but beautiful they are symbolic of that end of summer happy-melancholy feeling. Oh and Wikipedia tells me that they say you can get the best fireworks if you hold it at a 45 degree angle downwards.
We ended with senkouhanabi and cleaned up but I don’t think I am done with hanabi for the summer. I see a few more bright nights ahead of me.
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