Kokeshi

Kokeshi
Originally uploaded by Sophonisba.

I went to the Osu Kannon flea market today. I bought the world's smallest kokeshi for 1,500 yen, which I thought was a bit much for one so small, but it was very nicely painted and it was one in the "old" style, which I usually don't like, yet was very nice looking. I now like it even more because when I met Robin for lunch she read the writing on it, and it's got Nagoya castle painted on it. My major find, Nicholas actually spotted tossed on top of a pile of dolls mouldering on a tarp. 500 yen for the mother of all kokeshi. Picture to follow soon. She is now the proud matriarch of my ever expanding kokeshi collection. How will I get them home? I have no idea! They weigh a TON!

Sadness

Chika from my 3E class just got a job at my local grocery store. (Technically not allowed until she graduates March 1st). She lived in America for a year, her English is beautiful, I have never said a word to her in Japanese before. I walked up to check out and I got Japanese and no indication that she knows me at all except a faint secret smile when the woman training her wasn't looking. I understand, I really do. She would be ostracized for her English, set apart, a weirdo. But it is a sad sad commentary. It is why no one here will ever really speak. It makes you out-group. It makes you weird. It's why they always insist on having a foreign teacher. They always think it is something only outsiders do. Until Japanese people speak English in front of other Japanese people, no one will ever learn.