Studio Ghibli

Last weekend, Natsumi and I headed west of Shinjuku to visit the Ghibli Museum. This is the company that produced the anime films like Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Grave of Fireflies. The museum is kind of a tribute to Miyazaki, the guy who is the creative mastermind behind the movies. The museum is set up like a maze, so that when you walk in you have a number of choices of a route to follow. There were various rooms that were dedicated to different movies. Also, there was a movie theater in the lower section of the museum. We were shown a 20 minute movie that is only screened in the theater itself which was pretty interesting. We went up to the roof and saw a huge replica of the robots from the movie Laputa: Castle in the sky (pictured here). It was a really cool experience.

Japanese superstitions (日本の迷信）

I came across some interesting information yesterday and I thought I would share it with you. It is concerning some superstitions that are common here is Japan. I had heard some of these before, but others were new to me so I thought I would pass it along.

Bad luck superstitions:
1. The one thing that is considered to be very bad luck in Japan is to see a hearse (霊柩車）driving down the street. If you see this, you are supposed to make a fist around your thumb and protect it. Why? Well, in Japanese, the thumb is literally translated as the "parent finger", so by wrapping it in your fist as a hearse drives by, you are protecting your parents from death or injury.
2. Another superstition that I found interesting is about bad luck numbers. In the west, we always say that 13 is an unklucky number. In Japan, it isn`t 13 that is bad luck, but rather the numbers 4 (四）and 9 (九). The reason they are unlucky is that 4 is sometimes pronounced "shi", which means "death". Similarily, 9 is sometimes pronounced "ku", which means "suffering". Therefore, various measures are taken to avoid these numbers. For example, I live on the 4th floor of my building, but there is no apartment 404. Many buildings and hospitals often don`t have a 4th floor. Also, if you are giving prensents such as plates, cups, etc you would never give them in sets of four. Most of the time they are sold in sets of 3 or 5 just to avoid such a coincidence.
3. Yet another superstition is observed after returning from a funeral. It is believed that you should throw salt on yourself (or on the other person, if with someone) to purify yourself before entering your house after a funeral.

There is also a good luck superstition that I have heard about. For us in the West, keeping a rabbit`s foot on us is considered good luck. In Japan, businesses, companies, or any organization that is hoping to make a profit have a certain ornament that is placed in the store. It is a small cat with one paw raised. In the hopes of attracting positive financial gains, this cat is used.

As I sat with Natsumi discussing these superstitions, she informed me of another interesting one. In Japan, if you go to visit a sick friend in the hospital, you should never bring a potted plant or flowers as a gift. Bringing a bouquet of flowers is fine, but if you bring something that is potted it is considered back luck. The superstition is that because the plant/flowers have roots that are entrenched in the soil of the pot, it signifies that your friend will "grow roots" of their own in the hospital and not be able to leave. Intersting huh?

Clapton, culture, and craziness

I had an interesting weekend. On Saturday, I joined my good buddy Nori at Saitama Super Arena for an Eric Clapton concert. A company affiliated with Nori's work was the main sponsor of the show, and as a result he was comped a pair of tickets. Lucky for me, he hooked me up with a ticket. We got to the show a little early so we could catch up and have some afternoon beers. Then to kill some time before the show, we took in the John Lennon Museum, conveniently located in the same arena. The museum was quite interesting, and there was many cool Lennon-related items there including; guitars, clothes, artwork, and letters. Although I couldn't take any pictures inside, here is a picture of Nori with the famous couple.
After that, it was time for the concert. The fan base at this concert was quite a bit different from what I saw at the Loud Park Metal Festival in October, with most people being in their 40s and 50s. I was quite jacked for this show though, as Clapton is one of the all time greats and I had never had the chance to see him. Our seats were decent, just off the floor to the right side of the stage. Clapton was amazing, and he was complimented by a stellar backing band. He ran through most of the hits, including Layla and Crossroads. After the show we went to Omiya and caught up with some drinks and dinner.
The next day, I met Natsumi and her sister Yuko at Tokyo Big Sight. We met there so we could attend the Tokyo Design Festa. This is a yearly meeting of all sorts of artists from Japan and other countries around the world. The variety of exhibits and paintings on display at the event were quite amazing, but some were also a bit confusing. It was interesting to walk down an isle and see a goth booth, and anime booth, a performance art booth, and the a musician's booth all packed in together. Some of the stuff was a bit amateurish looking, but some of the people who were making the goth dolls really paid attention to detail. Example:
One of the funniest/freakiest things that I saw there today was some of the performance art pieces. In one (which I will put up on Youtube ASAP), tow masked guys were addressing the crowd. They looked like guys from WWE wrestling, wearing overalls and those cheesy masks. All of a sudden, the final scene from Terminator 1 (where Arnold gets shot up and lowered into the molten steel...remember?). Anyway, when the scene came on, the two guys proceeded to enact the scene as well by screaming like idiots for about 2 mintues. And I mean SCREAMING. It was so ridiculous, but sooooooo funny. I"ll put up the link to the video soon. Anyway, after that we headed to Shimbashi and walked around in Ginza. There was even a Subway restaurant! I hadn't eaten Subway in about 3 years...natsukashii! School tomorrow though :(

l8tr!

Bye bye beardy

Well, for the first time since around 2001, I am without any facial hair. What do you think? Better or worse? Do I need to grow that thing ASAP or stick it out as is? You tell me.

Long time no speaky

Hi all!
Sorry it`s been so long since I`ve posted here, been pretty busy lately. Well, the beautiful fall days are over, and I`ve had to resort to the old kerosene heater to keep my apartment warm again. For anyone who doesn`t really know, it seems that most buildings in Japan are not given any insulation when they are built, making them almost unbearably cold in the winter. Given, I am used to the -30C winters of Manitoba, so you would think the relatively mild zero degree winters of Tokyo should be no problem...well, think again! I challenge any Canadian tough-guy to come here and say that Japan isn`t a cold place. You can still enjoy things outside, as there is rarely any snow, but the problem lies in the fact that it is almost the same temperature inside as it is outside. Central heating? Forget about it! As I said, the main heat source in buildings are smelly kerosene heaters, and the concept of "heat-retention" doesn`t exist here. So, for the next 3 or 4 months I`ll be shivering. Good times!


Natsumi and I finalized our winter vacation plans as well. We`ll bejetting off to Shanghai, China on December 21st. I am super excited about that, and I would like to really have a good poke around. I even started learning some basic Mandarin for the trip. Ni hao ma (How are you?) lol. We`ve also planned an English teacher`s Xmas party for December 16th. We`re doing a gift-exchange, and will likely be pretty merry. Natsumi and I will return to Japan on December 30th, so we will be in Tokyo for New Year`s. Not too sure what we will get up to as of yet, but we had tossed the idea around of going to a temple and bringing in the new year in the traditional Japanese style. I think this would be quite fun, as last year I was at a packed nightclub and could use a change of pace this year.

Also, this Saturday I`ll be going to see Eric Clapton at Saitama Super Arena. My good friend Nori was comped a pair of great tickets from his employer, and he asked me to go along. Lucky me! Should be a great show. I`ll post a report and link to any pics that I take from the show as well. The following day there is an art exhibition in Tokyo that I will go to with Natsumi and her sister which should be interesting as well.

It's been crazily dry here lately too. Seems everyone is down with some sort of flu, cough, cold, or sore throat, and I am no exception. The way that most Japanese deal with the problem is just to wear a small mask to protect from spreading/catching germs. Although personally I don't think they do all that much, I gave it a shot the other day. Here's the pic:



Keep checking the My Pics link to see if I have added anything new recently. Hope all is well for everyone at home. Miss you all. It is hardest being away from home around this time of year, but the fact that I don`t have to join the Xmas shopping rush makes it a bit easier! Ciao!