Well mates, it’s late on Saturday evening and I’m beat, SO I don’t want to be posting photos, videos and lengthy anecdotes BUT I am devoted to ye all so I’ll give you a taster… Tomorrow, you WILL be exposed to tales from the manga museum, a video of art in progress, visions of ourselves as manga and a happy encounter (よき出合い) with a most affable Finn. I would love to post this all to you tonight, but it is late, and I am weary and I must needs rest my weary Lambe bones… Goodnight my dearies… Goodnight!
Monthly Archive for February, 2007Page 2 of 3
Just a short one today. First news is that I think (after much searching, viewing and deliberating) - I’ve found a place to live. It’s near Nijo castle in an old machiya lane. Though an old traditional wooden house - it’s all nice and new and refurbished on the inside. I’m looking forward to moving in March and posting up some pictures/videos and filling you all with deep deep envy.
Next, I had some feedback (yay! feedback!) from the refreshingly intelligent chap I met yesterday, on the topic of yesterday’s meditation. Let me remind you, if you’ve forgotten, how it went:
人の世の_________Hito no yo no_________ In the world of men
幸不幸は________ kou fukou ha__________ happiness or sorrow
不思議のご縁_____ fushigi no goen_________ is but strange chance
よき出合いを______yoki deai wo__________ live for good encounters
Anyway, I was curious as to why the “deai” was written with 合 rather than the more usual 会. So, Mr. Tanaka wrote:
“出会い” is used to describe an opportunity where 2 or more persons meet, whereas “出合い” is used when 2 or more objects meet or join together. For example, when a tributary meets a main stream of a river, the place where they meet is described as the “Deai” of those rivers. They sound simple, don’t they? However, to my perception, it contains so much meaning, because the song at Houzouji is written for any object that exists in this world but it is a message to us all.
We are here as human beings, yet we are, simultaneously, something that is part of the nature. If we define ourselves as just an object which is no more different than the other substances/objects found in this current world, using “出合い” to wish for good encounters would be more suitable than using “出会い”.
Also, my wild guess goes to the point that the “出合い” may be indicating the fact that we are not in the control of which Go En “ご縁” to meet. Go En is something provided. Thus, “出合い” rather than “出会い” insinuates the idea that our life is not driven by ourselves but by someone/something else…
…I may be making the thing so complicated… but as a remark, “Everything will go smooth if you do not stick to it”, that I heard during the talk session conducted by one of the buddhist monks last year was reminded while I was thinking of the difference…
Thanks for that! HJ asked me today if the meditation meant that we should only strive to encounter good things but bearing in mind the above, I think perhaps it means we should strive to encounter the things we inevitably meet in a good way…
Finally, more rather worrying whaling news here. It seems we might be in for another one of those “oops! someone’s been a bit irresponsible!” oil-slick-enviromental-disasters. Goodbye penguins…. 泣く
Here’s a pic of my Valentine’s present from the lady that knows me best:
Now, a few days ago “anonymous” wrote:
The healthy, veg-friendly restaurants are good and all, don’t get me wrong, but aren’t there any Indian restaurants with a nice little 3-curry buffet you could introduce us to?
I’m not sure, but I’m assuming “anonymous” is my old curry-chomping chum Greg Ionson back in Tokyo (man that guy could eat curry!). Well, I’m hoping these pictures from tonight’s repast at Didi’s make him happy. For your delectation: vegetable curry:
Chapatti and hummus…
And samosas!
(Update: I have since learned that DIDI’S has rats! I saw one myself! Don’t go there!)
I was in town meeting someone intelligent today (which was quite refreshing) so on my way home I stopped by Houzouji (寶蔵寺) for this month’s meditation:
I’m not sure how to translate this one. It’s the last part that’s throwing me, along with the grammar…
人の世の
幸不幸は
不思議のご縁
よき出合いを
After chatting with the staff at Didi’s (aforementioned curry emporium) about it, I’m thinking something like this:
In the world of men
happiness or sorrow
is but strange chance
live for good encounters
However some of the words there have a deeper significance than my simple interpretation conveys. 縁 (”en”) for example, can be chance, fate, coincidence… It is often used to suggest some kind of karmic bond. So you can say “___と縁がある” to say that you have some deep fated connection to a place or person. I asked the waitress in Didi’s why “deai” or encounter was written with the kanji 合 (to suit or fit) rather than the more usual 会 (meeting) and she thought it might be because although “shiawase” or “happiness” is usually written like this: 幸せ, it can also be written like this 仕合わせ. At that point my mind really began to boggle… so if any of you have any better explanation for it do let me know. And that final “を” I’m not sure how best to put in English, but I thought “live for” as in “do your best for…” was good enough…?Enough of that! Here’s this week’s “Whale-Love-Wagon” featuring the classic question: “So when you were rescuing the whale, weren’t any of you really thinking: Um looks tasty… Let’s eat that! ?”
Now that’s all very lovey-dovey and nice, but it doesn’t really tell me what I want to know. According to the info up here the Japanese Government plans to hunt 945 whales this year, despite already having a thousand whales’ worth of meat in stockpiles that they can’t get rid of. So… why? If whale-meat is not such a popular dish in Japan… why does Japan persist in hunting whales? There must be a reason. What’s the reason? I really would like to know. It can’t be just sheer bloody-mindedness, can it now?
Can it?
Anyway, there’s a campaign up here that you can join in, if you feel so inclined: CLICK ME!!!
It’s Sunday. Today I spent five hours marking compositions for the Junior High entrance examination. The question was something along the lines of “Which would you prefer: regular full-time work or to be a “freeter” (someone who just works part-time job to avoid getting trapped in some hum-drum career)?” Thrilling, eh? Most of the entries were pretty much the same old thing. “I want a regular job because I want money. My dream is to be rich. I want to buy a house and a car and a nice bag. My dreams are expensive. I don’t want to be lower class. I hate freeters.” That sort of thing…
My brains are fried and now I feel slightly blue. But today is Je-un’s birthday so we are all going to “Small Town Talk” later for a Party/DJ event type thingy. Which means I have to be cheerful.
Here’s a video to tide you over while I get over this maudlin mood. “Solidays” is some kind of charity for kids with AIDS I think… This video is a bit old (and French) but I like it a) because it has Peter Gabriel in it and b)because Angun is HOT. I’m off to buy a birthday cake. Enjoy!
Solidays - Qui sait
Uploaded by booahhh
(To see this bigger here’s a link: Qui Sait And the lyrics are below.)
Qui sait ? de Solidays à un ami
Paroles et Musique: Erick Benzi 2000 “Solidays”
Qui sait, qui sait ?
J’aurai peut-être un jour besoin de ça
D’une main douce et puissante
Qui sait, qui sait ?
D’un chemin plus sûr, où poser mes pas
Pour une guerre non-violente
Tout seul
J’irai pas plus haut, mais peut-être plus bas
Peut-être plus bas
Qui sait, qui sait ?
J’aurai sans doute besoin de toi, de toi
Si je ne suis plus le même
Apprends-moi
Que donner c’est recevoir en plus fort
Si je me fais attendre
Rappelle-moi
Que toutes les vies se valent encore
Les petites et les grandes
Qui sait, qui sait ?
J’aurai peut-être besoin de secours, un jour
Où je n’aurai plus personne
Qui sait, qui sait ?
Une douce phrase dans un matin sourd, qui court
Un petit feu pour les hommes
Who knows if one day
I will need your smile to color my day, my day
If I can’t see any rainbow
Qui sait, qui sait ?
L’aube d’un regard qui ne juge pas, non pas
Mais qui partage les peines
Apprends-moi
Que donner c’est recevoir du soleil
Sans qu’on ne le demande
Rappelle-moi
Que toutes les vies se valent pareil
Les petites et les grandes
Oh qui sait, qui sait ?
Oh qui sait ce qu’on sera ?
Last night at Tadg’s Irish pub Greg delights the punters ears with his mellifluous vocals. Sadly I didn’t catch the start…
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Here’s another one of those whale thingies…
Time for another eatery recommendation! Little Bamboo on Shirakawa Dori serves nice healthy organic foodage with whole grain brown rice cooked in yoghurt. The yoghurt gives the rice extra nutritional value; lots of those all important B vitamins, good for your skin, stomach… and lots of other bits I can’t remember. This is quite close to where I live (a 3 minute walk) so we’ve been going there quite a bit.
I’m afraid I forgot to take a pic of today’s lunch (sorry Rik). I was so hungry I just gobbled it all up… But here’s an artist’s impression:
All that for ￥900, eh? Take my word for it, it’s tasty, healthy and cheap and the master of the establishment is quite a friendly chap too. Here he is in his element:
He used to have a mobile healthy-fast-food van serving lunches in Osaka, but now he’s married and settled down in Kyoto. Little Bamboo as we know it opened for business just last year.
Little Bamboo is situated on Shirakawa Dori just past Mikage Dori. If you get as far as the bookshop you’ve gone too far. Anyway: RECOMMENDED.
The 梅 plum blossoms have started to bloom. These are near my house…
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Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to go to 御所 this weekend and see the blossoms there.
And here as promised is the next video in the Whale/Love series:
I just had a phone call from my mother in England, which always worries me a bit because she usually doesn’t call unless there’s a very serious reason. It turns out my Uncle Jimmy in America has died. He was 86. I never met him, but I think that’s even sadder in a way because now I never will… These past few years I’ve lost a few uncles and aunties and my parents are getting on a bit now too… When I was little they were the big people showing me how to do things, and standing between me and the big old world, and making me feel safe… Death didn’t mean anything. I thought those big people would always be there, somewhere. When the big people go away it makes the world seem a far far lonelier place. Well, I never met him but he was family. Rest in peace Jimmy Lyons of Kentucky. Hope to catch you next time around.
On a brighter note I found a nice link on Neil Gaiman’s website to a preview of Eddie Campbell’s latest. I read it. I was intrigued. Check it here.
And here as promised is the further adventures of the クジラブ wagon, reminding us all that there is more to whales than meat. There are some further whale factoids up here.
You know, Japan is not all geisha girls, zen-monks, sushi/sashimi, deeply perverted salarymen and difficult junior high school students (why did I just lump those two together?). Oh, no! There’s more clichés to it than that! Why, it’s “hi-tech” too, right? Although, I usually experience Hi-Tech-Nippon when I buy a new mobile phone, or digital camera, it just so turns out that Japan is the world leader in solar power technology. In fact Japan wants 10% of its energy to come from solar power in 2030… Marvellous! And what’s marvellouser: a company called Kyosemi, (right here in Kyoto folks!) is revolutionizing solar-power technology through the innovative use of tiny spherical solar cells capable of absorbing sunlight at any angle! There’s a very interesting article on it over at worldchanging.com which I just read (and so now I feel very clever). You can read the interview with Yoshinobu Tsujikawa, a leading engineer and assistant to the President at Kyosemi Corporation here.
Some of the exciting possibilities discussed are the integration of solar cells with other building materials to harness solar energy, and the use of this technology for small, low power applications such as portable consumer electronics and more altruistic applications. (Kyosemi has produced hearing aids for indigenous people in Africa. These clever little solar-powered devices transmit audio vibrations via bone in the ear canal!) And other possible applications “include crop monitoring in agriculture, site security, handicapped access, and visitor way-finding…”.
To be honest a lot of it is over my head: “Have you heard of ubiquitous computing? I heard the word “pervasive” is more popular in the West, but we Japanese like “ubiquitous.” But I have to admit the idea of all these Japanese egg-heads, beavering away at world-saving technologies thrills me to pieces.
And I have to say Mr. Tsujikawa’s final words charmed the pants off of me “Currently we are focused on providing energy necessary for life, but eventually we hope to enter the realm of art.”
Oh, and I found this. It’s a nice, non-confrontational, informative series of videos seeking a deeper understanding of Japan’s relationship with the mighty whale. This is just the teaser. I’ll keep on posting more until the music drives me completely nuts.
Whale-love Wagon Teaser
Back in September I wrote a reminiscence on my first experience of okonomiyaki in which I rather cheekily referred to one of my fellow JETS of that time as a “disenchanted American”. Well, I’m guessing she googled her own name because she found it and wrote:
Wasn’t it nice of the friendly ‘Americans’ to invite you out for pizza back in the day!
Long live okonomiyaki with mayonnaise and cuttle fish!
-from the “disenchanted… artistic type” who did not fancy Thad, thank you very much…
; )
Really? Not even a little bit? Well, yes it was nice of them to take me out. And I should be grateful. I merely wrote it that way for comedic effect (for what it’s worth) but I stand abashed before the tremendous power of the intraweb. Truth will out, eh? And the truth is Carrie Van Horn was a nice neighbor and a very good egg indeed back in the day. I should have written that to begin with though, shouldn’t I?
I recently hit on an idea for a J-Pop lesson which simply put would involve the students listening to stuff they like and then writing their opinion using pre-taught vocabulary. So simple it’s genius. Only I have to find the songs they request first… Aya in 3:4 was quite adamant about this one. And it took a long time but… I finally found it! Enjoy!
