Winter in the city

Firstly, I want to apologize to Dave Chappelle. Dave, if you are reading this, I am sorry I insinuated that you went crazy and fled to Africa for a year. You are not crazy, and you were only in Africa for like two weeks. Please forgive me.

Next I want to congratulate Japan on being the only country in the world still committed to researching whales. I mean, there are still a lot of things that we can learn about them. Like how best to kill and commercially sell protected species. That's important science. And if you have to kill 1000 or so of them, and then feed their fried remains to elementary school children at public schools to accomplish this aim, well, so be it.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Antarctica-Whaling.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

It's February, but I should probably mention my Christmas and New Year's. My Christmas consisted of me going to work (sick) until 530, coming home, having dinner with a friend at Kyoto station, and going to bed. Then I woke up and realized it was Christmas, and opened my presents. It was a nice little Christmas moment.
Christmas in Kyoto was hilarious. Because there is no Thanksgiving in Japan, the Christmas decorations went up right after Halloween. And they were everywhere. Kyoto station had a tree to rival Rockefeller plaza and the church/girls school next to my work was decked out in lights. However, when Christmas rolled around, those decorations went down faster than you would believe. The Kyoto station decorations came down at 6pm on Christmas evening. This is because New Years is huge here. (Except its not really New years how we celebrate it. There are spiritual and cultural ties to Oshogatsu that our New Years just doesn't have).
I was planning on going somewhere for New Years, but then got real lazy and stayed in Kyoto. That was probably for the best, I think. Going to the trouble of traveling was the last thing I wanted to do. I thought it would be a nice laid back holiday. Maybe go out on New Years eve, then go to a temple the next day. You know, take it easy. That did not happen. I ended up not doing anything cultural on New Years. Unless, that is, you count drinking at a British pub before "dancing" at a basement techno club. Not that I like techno so much. Or dancing, for that matter. Or heineken (the only beer being served). From there is was karaoke until first train in the morning. The next day was rest. Turns out, though, that during the New Years holiday (New Years day and a few days after), you can't get money out of the ATM. That will be a mistake I won't be making next year.

There will be a next year because I recontracted. I am now staying in my current location doing my current job with the current salary until at least July 2009. I really enjoy my work (mostly), and there are a lot of things I think I can learn after I spend a year getting the hang of things. Recently I have started getting nods in the hall from the vice-governor of Kyoto. It's nice being the only foreigner in the building sometimes.

The American primaries were today. I watched them on the computer, refreshing the site every few minutes to get up to the minute details. I did the same thing the day before for the Superbowl. It was oddly similar watching the two contests unfold on the computer screen a few minutes at a time. Unlike the Superbowl, though, I still couldn't tell you who won Super Tuesday. Obama won more states, but Hillary won more delegates. At least after the Superbowl was over you knew whether to be sad or happy. Also, everyone here seems to know all about the presidential race. My coworkers told me who won the Nevada primary before I could find out. It makes me feel kind of privileged to think that I get to vote in something that affects so many peoples' lives. I used to kind of hate the American primaries system because it is such a media carnival and popularity contest, but after seeing how unique it is compared to the rest of the world I have changed my opinion.

In other patriotism related news, I am representing the United States in the Great Staircase Race. Every year Kyoto holds a race up the 177 stair Grand Staircase at Kyoto station. This year, because the G8 Foreign Ministers' Summit is being held in Kyoto, there will be a PR event wherein 4-person teams representing each of the eight countries will run a relay race up the stairs. I am a member of Team USA. I have two hopes: 1) I finish the race without my heart exploding, and 2) Team USA wins the race and we spontaneously break into chants of "USA! USA! USA!" until we are deported. Also, there is a chance I will be team leader, which means I will be on television for 30 seconds. Have you ever seen sideline reporters for the NFL try to interview an athlete after a touchdown pass? It's going to be like that, except that I am by no means an athlete. I don't think I will be getting time in lieu for this race, so you can consider this service to my country.

I did get time in lieu when I worked last Sunday at the International Center's Japanese Culture Day. I interpreted all day for a group of older ladies who were explaining the incense ceremony. After a few runs through I memorized the speech they were giving and just stopped listening. It was really interesting, though. They had guests play a game where you had to identify which scent a particular incense was out of three choices. Apparently, a master incense maker will compose an incense the same way a poet writes a poem. For example, he might see a pretty sunset, and then go about making an incense that captures the essence of that scene. The ladies who were running the show were very serious at first, but after they realized nobody knew enough to be able to take it seriously, they loosened up. My favorite part of interpreting was when the ladies were making small talk with some foreigners. The oldest lady doesn't have much contact with foreigners, I think, because she saw an American with a full beard and remarked in Japanese, "Hm, he looks like Jesus, doesn't he?" I just about died laughing (all by myself), and then declined to interpret. The next best part came when a girl with a low cut shirt participated. The old ladies used hand gestures and started complimenting the girl's... features. The girl looked at me and said, "I don't think I need a translation." Priceless.

I also went to Ine for a few days. Ine is about far north in Kyoto Prefecture as it gets. It is also real small. And full of old fishermen. My friend Rachel lives there (although she is not an old fisherman). It was nice to get out of the city and see the Japanese countryside.
Rachel took us on the scenic route. It was indeed very scenic.
This is Amanohashidate. Apparently the place where the gods dipped the spear into the ocean to create the Japanese island chain. The Japanese, who have a love of ranking things, have ranked this the third most beautiful natural spot in Japan. I think I must have gone on the wrong day.


I have never been stared at in Japan like I was stared at in Ine. Maybe it was because I was in a car full of foreigners, maybe it was because the old people were just squinting to see us, but man, there were some glares.

By the way, kudos to all of you for not coming to visit in January or February. It is cold. Not so much in terms of having actual low temperatures, although it does snow quite a bit. It is just that none of the buildings here are insulated very well, leading to a situation where going indoors only protects you from the wind, not the cold. I have a heater in my apartment, but it only makes the top half of the room warm. I have to stand up to feel it. Also, as soon as it goes off, the room is immediately cold again. Turns out six inches of concrete and a sliding glass door aren't the best insulation. I can't imagine that in a few months it will be so hot I won't be able to sleep with the windows closed.