Bonsai

Bonsai:  When I move to Japan my goal is to become more informed about Japanese art and culture.  My knowledge of Bonsai trees comes from the Karate Kid and a small exhibit at Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Florida.  The tree pictured above, if miniaturized and placed in a container, would make a wonderful Bonsai tree.  Check out the gnarled trunk reaching past the shadow of the house searching for sunshine.  For me it represents striving for something just out of reach, yet somehow remaining grounded.  

Five degrees of Separation

Five degrees of Separation:   In college we played the Kevin Bacon game.  The idea is that there are six degrees of separation between you and Kevin Bacon.   I can get to Kevin Bacon in two steps.   I went to Skidmore College as an undergraduate.   My suite-mate Anne was from Maliibu, California.   She met Kevin Bacon on an airplane and forever shattered my image of him.  He was unkempt and smelled.   Oh, to go back to the clean shaven Footloose days.   Anyway, Facebook claims that the six degrees of separation have been cut down to five by social networking.   When I started telling friends, family, and acquaintances that I was going to Japan to teach everyone started telling me stories of friends and family that also went to Asia to teach.   Most knew someone that went specifically to Japan.   I wonder how many degrees of separation it would take you to get to a teacher in Japan (other than me).

                            

Turtarrier

Turtarrier:  Turtarrier are the concrete or plastic bumpers at the end of the parking space.  Why do I know this?   Today, Kyle and I were packing the tractor trailer truck.  We were moving a dresser and I asked him to stabilize it so it didn't fall off the hand truck.  I took a step back and tripped over the Turtarrier.   I landed on the asphalt, on my bottom, in a puddle, with the hand truck and dresser on top of me.   Kyle quickly helped get the dresser off my lap.  It took him a minute to react because he thought I was joking.   Other than a bruise the size of a softball on my calf, the only thing hurting is my pride.   I did add a new word to my vocabulary.  Bonzai!

Space Bags

Space Bags:   It sounds like something the astronauts would have taken on a trip to the moon.   Tang, air, and space bags, yup all ready to fly to the moon.   The reality is that I would love to be able to ship my memory foam pad (oh yeah another NASA invention) to Japan.   So I folded it in thirds and stuck it in a space bag.   I zipped it part of the way shut and had Kyle roll on it.  I zipped it the rest of the way shut and started sucking the air out with the vacuum.   Kyle continued to roll on it until he was good and dizzy.  The picture above is the end result.  My blanket, pillows and sheets are next in line.   My goal is to fit everything in one box!!!!

Aspirin

Aspirin:   Aspirin is expensive in Japan.  One web-site indicated that 100 tablets costs about $18 US.   Another blogger paid over $2/tablet for a package of 18 tablets. I am allergic to aspirin (makes me bleed) so aspirin is not a big deal for me.  My doctor suggested I bring some of the over the counter medicines I might need.  So today I went to Walmart and purchased generic versions of benedryl, immodium, tylenol, and name brand Zyrtec.  I cannot live without name brand Zyrtec.  It can cost as much as $1/tablet, but it's is worth it not to feel miserable.   The generic just won't do.   I bought a six month supply.  Maybe Mom will mail me more for X-mas.  

Yen vs. Dollar

                                                      

Yen vs. Dollar:  On my to do list is buying Yen.  The concept of buying money is foreign to me.  You tell your local bank that you want currency.  The look up the exchange rate and put an order in for it.  In less than a week voila - you have foreign money or Yen.  Yen is the Japanese currency: approximately $1 US equals 100 Y. So instead of a Dollar Store they have a 100 Yen Store.  I can't wait to see what they have available.  They are supposedly huge in size and you can get almost anything.  My lawyer said, "So you can get anything you have a yen for." hee, hee, hee

Dye

Dye:  To dye or not to dye that is the question.  As the recipient of dishwater brown hair, I have long experimented with different colors.  Eeewww - remember the orange henna phase?  Mostly I have ranged in color from blond to light brown.  As an emerging mid-lifer, I switched from plucking stray grays to coloring over them.  Man those suckers sure do grow fast.  Not a big deal since I color my hair any way.  Fast forward to Japan.  Apparently, the hair dye in Japan is super harsh because it has to strip the color out of thick black hair before coloring.  So tonight, resident hair style expert, Brianna is coming over to bring me enough hair dye to last me two years and train me to color my own hair.  Does anyone know if hair dye comes off of the walls?

Cosplay

Cosplay - I never heard of it until I started researching Japan.  Young people dress up as their favorite anime characters and hang out at parks and shopping centers.  Or they may have a party.  Kyle and I were driving back from Ohio this past week and were passed by a car with Japanese lettering on the bumper.  The sign on the back window asked to be notified if you have a "Cosplay" event and they will stream it on-line.   There is the Law of Attraction at work.

We had a different name for Cosplay when I was growing up.  It was called Halloween.  Jo dressed up as her favorite playing card and Jame was a ballerina every year until her tutu didn't fit anymore.  Funny I can remember what they wore, but can't think of any of my costumes.  I do remember dressing up in Pat's saris. That was more of a cultural experience than Cosplay.

(nhgreen.blogspot.com took the picture of three cosplay friends dressing as Wako Agemaki)

A Rose By Any Other Name

                                          

A Rose By Any Other Name:  Numerous websites will translate your name into Japanese.  Most sites agree that Jennifer, is pronounced jenifaa in Japanese.   It looks like the following:

ジェニファー (jenifaa)

 in Katakana from nolanlawson.com

 in Kanji Jennifer means Pure (junsui) from japanese-symbols.org

 in Hirigana (according to japanesetranslator.co.uk)

From what I have been reading it is proper to for foreigners to use the Katakana version of their name or write it in English.  Not every English name translates into an equivalent Japanese name.  You can call me Jenn, Jennifer, even Jenifa but don't call me Jenny!  I don't know who she is, but it isn't me.

Maiko vs. Geisha

Maiko:  I stand corrected.  One cannot become a Geisha for a day, but one can become a Maiko for a day. Yes Maiko (dancing child) not Mako the shark (for all the Blue Heron Buddies that love sharks - shout out to Jack and John Paul).  I was searching for a non-copyright protected picture of a Geisha, when I came across information about Maiko.  A Maiko is an apprentice Geisha.  It takes five years to become a Geisha. The training is rigorous and time consuming.  They are trained in dance, music, flower arranging, tea service, and conversation.  There are less than 2,000 Geisha today.  This is a reduction of 78,000 since the 1920's.

Geisha

                                               

Yesterday I got pinged by Facebook suggesting I sign up for a photography class taking a trip to Japan.  For $8,000 I can go to Osaka and Kyoto and take pictures.  Wow when you think about it that way I am getting a bargin.   One of the photographs is of a geisha.  You can be transformed into a geisha for a day.  It reminded me of a picture Susan Onysko took of her daughter, Neva.   Susan Onysko Photography - look it up.  It is spectacular.

Grammar: Hard Translations

Grammar:  Hard Translations:  Kyle is my sensei (teacher) or kyoshi.  A hard translation gives the words in the order they are presented.  In English, we construct our sentences with subject, verb, and object.  In Japanese they construct their sentences with subject, object, and verb.  So the sentence"I am a teacher" becomes "I teacher am" or Watashi wa kyoshi desu.

"I write a postcard in Japanese" with a hard translation is "Wa Japanese de postcard o write" or watashi wa nihongo  de  hagaki o  kakimas.

Kyle explained this very clearly in five minutes.  My Japanese phrasebook waited until page 32 to explain the same concept.  Arigato (thanks).

Pictured above it the Ohio version of a Japanese maple tree.  It is beautiful in the summer and spectacular in the fall.  The maple is slow growing and a good metaphor for learning Japanese.

Research

Research:  In less than one month, I will fly to Japan with little to no knowledge of the language.  I have flashbacks of my trip to Italy.  I was six months pregnant with Sean Ryan (as he was called then) sitting on my bladder.  I was convinced that I could survive if I knew how to ask for the location of a bathroom.  So, I practiced and practiced until I could ask.  I got up my courage and asked the host at a restaurant, only to realize that I did not have a clue what he responded.

I have no illusions that I am going to learn Japanese between now and when I leave.  My goal is to learn to say hello, goodbye, excuse me, and I am sorry.  So here is my three prong approach:

1 - Download iPad apps:  Learn Japanese in 24 Hours - the native speaker says it clearly at a normal speed and then slowly.  Kana Writing - practicing the two Japanese alphabets (Hiragana and Katakana) on the iPad or iPhone.  I saw an app that had you chose a noun, verb, etc. and then it would say a phrase or sentence for you.  I think that is my next download.

2 - Audio CD: Berlitz Japanese in 60 minutes - has 11 audio sections.  I bought this CD for Kyle while he was taking Japanese at the local community college.  I found it while I was packing.  I have been listening to this before I go to sleep.  I have lots of Japanese words swirling around in my brain, but have not idea what they mean.  I can get to about the third segment and then I fall asleep.

3 - Books:  I love books.  I bought a pocket Japanese Dictionary (Random House), a Japanese Phrasebook and Dictionary (Lonely Planet), Japanese Hiragana & Katakana for Beginners (Tuttle), Japanese a Language Map, and The Japanese Way: Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes and Customs of the Japanese (Takada and Lampkin).