Mitsukoshi Mannequins

Mitsukoshi Mannequins
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I'm don't have much to say, I just don't want to linger too long on complaints like the last post. So here is a fun display of summer looks in the Mitsukoshi department store in Nagoya station.

Isn't firstborn child easier?

I love my job. However it is crap like this that is going to make me throw a party when I leave. Of course if I throw a party, everyone's ID's will probably taken and we'll have to have background checks before anyone can enter. But after that, we'll celebrate until all hours (with the neighbor's watching us).

"The bar federation has warned that the new law may generate a prejudiced view that all foreign visitors pose a security threat."

Really? How would that be new? They should really say what they are thinking and just require that all Chinese and Brazilian foreigners be tagged with GPS units.

It's not really the government paperwork that is frustrating. It's the fact that Japanese people don't have an ID at all, and yet businesses continually abuse the fact that foreigners do, and demand a copy of our ID, even though it is illegal. If you want to get a video membership, go to a club , get a cell phone, it is impossible without them copying your ID. And that ID has my passport number, home address, etc. Everything about me is on it.

The "us" and "them," "in-group" and "out-group" is so weird. For example, last year the vending machine at my school was broken into. The head teacher was talking to me about it. I said, "It must be students" (the American prejudice), and he said (to me, by the way), "Must be foreigners." For a note here, only 4-5 foreigners live in my town, all in my building, and I happen to be the only one who goes near Mito H.S. But then again, I don't think I was a real foreigner in that sentence since I'm not Chinese or Brazilian.

Jesus in Japan?

I did a search about my last post. Um...some people really do think Jesus was buried here. Or they did anyway.

Apparently Jesus walked across Siberia and Alaska in order to study in Japan, get married, die at age 106, and be buried with his twin brother's ear (the brother who died in his place). Nevermind that "Jesus's gospel" telling the story wasn't "discovered" until the 1930s and was "destroyed" in WW2. It has to be true! There is a traditional folk song in "Hebrew."

Though my favorite claim from all of the pages is that Jesus invented katakana. Well, he was a foreigner, wasn't he? He couldn't write Hebrew/divine language in hiragana!

Oh...and don't forget to get your Georgia coffee while you visit! Coca-cola supports Jesus!

Tomb of Christ

Tomb of Christ
Originally uploaded by Liz Bartlett.

This isn't my photo, it's from Aomori prefecture...but...

Damn, I never get over the weirdness here in Japan.

Roly-Poly

Roly-Poly
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I never know what I will find at the Tatsumi grocery store. I left singing that old camp song, "Fish heads, fish heads, roly-ploy fish heads..."

Nudity 101

Partially due to the chorus of "No Day But Today" running though my head I decided not to let life's "opportunities" pass me by this weekend. I agreed to take part in what I will dub, "Public Nudity 101." a.k.a. "Robin takes three n00bz to a hot spring." While slightly nervous about an upcoming new experience it is best to contact a native for advice.

Colleen: I'm going to an onsen.
Yasuko: Why?
Colleen: Uh...I shouldn't let life's experiences pass me by? I should experience culture?
Yasuko: Foreigners always think they have to "do Japanese things." They are always busy "doing things." I wish they would realize most Japanese things are stupid and not worth doing.
Colleen: ...Don't you teach Calligraphy?

So, having thoroughly gained confidence I set out at the butt-crack of dawn, so early in fact that I had the privilege of hearing the "Happy Morning Song" the plays over the loudspeaker in my town. The one that I have finally learned to sleep through.

After a train ride and a bus ride, we arrived. We were given wrist bands with bar code identification. (For ease of identifying bodies?). After scanning us in we were given our regulation yukata and socks. We changed into our Yukata and had the pleasure of wearing them for the three minutes it took to walk to the next set of lockers where you remove your Yukata.

Holding our regulation mini-towl in as modest a fashion as possible we proceded to matching showering cubicles that awakened long-dead memories of the movie Mr. Baseball.

You know that scene in My Fair Lady where Eliza arrives at the ball and she is standing at the top of the stairs and everyone is watching and wondering who she is and where she come from? Well, being a foreigner at an onsen is like that, except everyone at the ball is naked.

Mostly people tried to mask their staring. When we moved to the pool that had waterfall massage jets a pair of wrinkly old ladies commented on how young and pale we are and asked us what country we were from. Then they moved along and told us not to mind them they are just jealous old ladies. If we hadn't all been naked it would've been cute.

I actually had a really nice time. The myth holds true; an onsen is quite relaxing. And Nagashima spa-land did have a kind of cleanly style. I don't know if I will return, but it is definately a fascinating new entry into my "Stuff I did in Japan" log.

(P.S. Nicholas is actually the one who had that conversation with Yasuko, but I like to tell stories in the first person)