Archive for category Life in Japan
February 3, 2005 – Setsubun
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on February 3, 2015
Roasted soybeans ready for throwing at demons
Happy Setsubun!
Setsubun is a traditional festival in Japan to celebrate the start of spring on the old calendar. It is celebrated every year on February 3 or 4. The characters used to write the name, 節分, literally mean “season” and “divide”. It is famously known as the day where you can throw soybeans around your house.
To properly celebrate throwing soybeans around your house, you first need to prepare an offering of roasted soybeans on the family alter. After the sun sets, the head of the house or another lucky member of the family goes around the house throwing beans at entrances and dark corners while yelling “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi”. This roughly translates to “demons go out, good luck come in”.
After dispatching any demons in the house, people may participate in one of many regional or family variations to the celebration. I asked my students to give some examples (in English), and here are some of the ideas they gave:
- Try to eat the number of soybeans that matches your age.
- Eat a large, uncut sushi roll while facing this year’s lucky direction. (This year’s lucky direction is west south west for those who are interested) The goal is to eat the entire sushi roll (25-30cm long) without stopping.
- Someone dresses up in a demon mask while kids throw soybeans at them.
- Hanging a burning sardine head outside the main entrance to the house to keep evil spirits away.
In addition to throwing beans and burning fish heads (urgh), there are often celebrations at Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines. Cities may also have their own variations; Mishima had one of their main streets lit up with lanterns in the evening.
After a year and four months in Japan, daily life is becoming more and more routine. However, I have only started scratching the surface of learning about the rich and interesting culture in Japan. In addition to being very interesting for me, it’s also a great opportunity as an English teacher to get the students talking about their culture and traditions. Everyone has fun trying to explain to the Canadian teacher why they throw soybeans around the house every year.
I wish you all a lucky, demon free year!
February 2, 2005 – Royal Rumble
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on February 2, 2015
I ended up watching the 2005 Royal Rumble this evening – don’t ask how. The ending was bizarre, with both John Cena and Batista getting eliminated at the same time. Vince McMahon came out to order the match restarted, and managed to tear both of his quad muscles at the same time while getting into the ring. Vince has worked out for years and occasionally competed in matches. What are the odds of tearing not one but BOTH of his quads at the same time getting into the ring?
I miss regularly watching pro-wrestling with my friends from home. It’s just not the same watching by myself while away.
February 1, 2005 – What makes a lady “foxy”?
Posted by Barniferous in Karaoke, Shizuoka, The Penpal on February 1, 2015
Everyone at work has colds. I felt like I was starting to get something, so I had a very relaxing day off. To be fair, I am pretty lazy on most of my days off.
In the evening I hung out with The Penpal and her friend Williams, who had just returned to Japan from a 3 month trip to England, with a run through Italy, Belguim, and France on the way home. His English definitely sounded different after a few months of speaking with native speakers.
When a Japanese person goes to another country to practice English, they usually come back with a bit of the local accent, and some more casual expressions. Nobody was going to mistake Williams for a Londoner, but he did sound more James Bond than he did previously. He was also using “like”, “you know”, and “know what I mean” liberally. These space filling expressions really help an ESL speaker sound more like a native speaker.
Despite my intentions to take care of my voice, the three of us ended up at karaoke. My new song of the evening was “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix, which thankfully doesn’t require a lot of singing ability. After the song finished, I had to try to explain what exactly makes a lady “foxy” to both The Penpal and Williams. English is hard!
January 31, 2005 – Fugu restaurant sign
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on January 31, 2015
Fugu me!
After being around sick co-workers and students, I am finally catching the cold that is going around. Nothing else interesting to report, so here is a random picture of a restaurant that serves Fugu.
January 25, 2005 – Exploring Numazu
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Shizuoka, The Penpal on January 25, 2015
A bridge over the Kano river
I have been living in Numazu for almost 3 months. It seemed like a good time to get out of the house and explore the city on my bicycle. My first stop was city hall to finally update my address with the government. City Hall is not terribly easy to navigate for someone who can’t read Japanese well. I spent a few minutes walking aimlessly checking out my options at different windows and offices, and generally looking confused. Eventually an English speaking civil servant approached me and directed me to the right place.
Senbon is a rocky beach
After a successfully completing my mission at City Hall, I took a long, meandering bike ride around the city. I went by the busy port area and then along Senbonhama beach, named after the thousands of trees along the shore. The beach itself is windy and full of rocks, so it’s not a “beach party” kind of place. It is very popular with windsurfers and kiteboarders.
Temple in Numazu, Japan
Numazu itself covers a huge area that used to be a number of smaller towns. However, the main city part of Numazu is fairly compact, and it’s easy for me to get almost anywhere by bicycle. After a nice long ride, I ended up returning home and getting ready for an evening with The Penpal.
The Penpal and I went out for dinner (now our usual activity), and I showed her a few episodes of South Park. She laughed hard at the anime stylings of “Good Times with Weapons” and the catchy theme song for “Sexual Harassment Panda”. But seriously, who doesn’t think Sexual Harassment Panda is funny?
January 18, 2005 – Computer upgrades
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on January 18, 2015
Today was a day off. Instead of being completely lazy and unproductive (as usual), I decided to give my computer some upgrades with parts that I salvaged from my computer in Canada. By the end of the process, I had a slightly better computer with a big improvement on my graphics card. It’s never going to be a serious gaming machine, but it runs better than it did before.
January 16, 2005 – MGS3 in Japanese
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on January 16, 2015
After work I went to Seiyu to buy Metal Gear Solid 3 for my PS2. I had been thinking about buying it for a few days, but all of the games are locked up in a display case. To buy anything, you need to get one of the staff to unlock the case and get the game for you.
I asked The Penpal how to ask for the game correctly in Japanese, and practiced diligently before going to the store. The purchase went off without a problem, and I happily returned home with my new game.
When I bought MGS2 I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game was playable in English or Japanese. I assumed that would also be the case for MGS3. I was wrong. The version that I bought was playable in Japanese with Japanese subtitles only. The story is set during the cold war, and includes lots of talk about politics, nuclear arms treaties, and patriotism. All of those topics are far, far beyond my Japanese skill level. I can play the game, but I can’t understand 90% of the story. Even so, the game is still pretty freaking great.
January 14, 2005 – Good food
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on January 14, 2015
I had a fun night out with The Penpal in Numazu. We ate some great Japanese food.
(2015 Update) I really wish I had kept more details about what we ate or had maybe taken a picture or two. If you are ever living away from home, take pictures of EVERYTHING. You will want to remember it all someday.
January 11, 2005 – Grilled mochi
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on January 11, 2015
Grilled mochi picture from http://spontaneoustomato.com/2014/01/30/yakimochi/
Today I had a lazy day off. In the evening, The Penpal’s family took me out for delicious ramen. Yum! After dinner, we went back to their house and had grilled mochi, which is a Japanese New Year’s tradition.
I learned about New Year’s mochi in my Introduction to Japanese class that I took in University. The classic tradition is to take rice and pound it with a giant wooden mallet until it turns into a sticky rice cake. I was hoping to get a chance to try out my mallet swinging skills, but found out that all of the mochi had already been made in The Penpal’s aunt’s mochi machine. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but it was probably for the best. At my best I am pretty clumsy and would have likely smashed someones fingers with the mallet.
We grilled the mochi on a small indoor grill, and then ate it wrapped in seaweed or cheese. The rice cakes were sticky and delicious, and it was a fun experience for all. It was also very good Japanese practice for me. Good times!
January 8, 2005 – New Izakaya! 100 yen beer!
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Life in Japan on January 8, 2015
After work, I went with Palmer to a new chain izakaya called Ryuu. It has great atmosphere with tatami mat floors and low tables. More importantly, it features 100 yen draft beer (about $1) and 260 yen orders of food. The 100 yen beer even comes with a small mystery snack. Palmer was friends with one of the staff, so we got a free order of food.
You really can’t beat 100 yen beer.
Drinking in Japan 
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