Catch

Shizen. This word materializes out of the blue. It sounds familiar, but as I say it I am not sure what it means only that my brain came up with that word. Yes, they understood me! Nado. I am not sure at all, but my brain throws a ball at me again unexpectedly, so I catch it and run. Yes, again, wherever did I learn that?! Sometimes, it throws a soccer ball in a basketball game, or a baseball in a volleyball game. But it’s starting to throw them faster and more reliably without deep thought. Keep coming, words, I am finally off the bleachers and in the heat of the game!

NameTag

I walk into the anteroom, open my shoe cupboard and wonder, how many germs do my inside shoes pick up from touching my mud-ridden outside shoes? They touch the same surface everyday! As I step onto the “clean board”, I see a shoe cupboard nametag on the ground. Something…shi…ba….Ah! Hoshiba. Ground. I see the label staring up at me. Perfect label for the ground. But that’s not really what this name means. This name is a teacher that left recently. I don’t understand why or if she will be back. I didn’t really know her, except to watch perplexed as she became increasingly stressed, an enigma hidden by her frazzled hair, an influenza mask and bulky white coat. Can Home Economics really be so stressful? I start to walk away, but the nametag is forlorn, sitting there waiting. Who will remember it? Who even cares? Suddenly, I pick it up and stuff it in my pocket, half-surprised by the vehemence of my actions. I can’t allow it to stay where it is. No one’s name should be trampled on the ground. I consider this name throughout the day. Finally, I say goodbye and fervently wish it well. It’s no longer in my hands.

2010 and such

 Wow. I just realized it's 2010. When did that happen! I'm pretty sure everyone has it wrong. It is still 2008. Still the year that I left the US.  I'm still on 2008, even though I write 2010 on the blackboard at school, like I'm writing it as an example of what it would look like if it truly was 2010. But it's not, I tell you. It's not because there is no time here, no year, no date. Time is nothing but seasons now, winter yielding to spring yielding to summer and eventually that golden sip of fall. Time is immeasurable in anything but several months and years. I am static somehow. The world stopped and I am living in eternity now in this present moment. I always knew measuring time was a gimmick. I told you so many many times, remember? It's all in your head, I told everyone who would listen. But now it's not in mine and I want it back in there. How did it come out?

I didn't see a ball drop for two years. I didn't sing Auld Lang Syne. I didn't hear fireworks or drink champagne. I didn't kiss people or feel the shivering crowd bellow in excitement. There were no annoying horns or cheap plastic cups on floors or colored confetti.

Therefore, it didn't happen. 2010 is in your world. I will have to go back to your world someday, but for now, New Year's decided to take a hiatus.

Dancing Pandas

Foreigner wanna-be’s who used to be foreign before they were in Japan for half their life and now act crazy on TV PISS ME OFF. They are called dancing pandas because they cater to the foreigner stereotype in Japan, loud, cute, entertaining and semi-ridiculous. Where do they find these people? They definitely don’t have Western mannerisms or words, hyper-active and strange. There are some major ones that are ALWAYS on TV and I am finally angry enough to research who they are after watching them act like lunatics and pass it off as Western. According to my research, this foreign prototype makes people comfortable about foreigners. Dave Spector came here in 1983. Thane Camus practically grew up here. I don’t know why these foreigners who have lived in Japan for the past like 100 years think they can represent something that they’re not. How long does it take for you to live in a foreign country before you give up your cultural pride and sell out for the Almighty Yen?! I pictured all ex-pats as a national graveyard, filled with ghosts of pop culture’s dead past, popping up to scare everyone with a gory imitation of what they once were.
Then, I met a crowd of true ex-pats in Tokyo. A family friend has been living in Tokyo for about 20 years now and Jen and I went to visit him. I fully expected everyone to have adapted to the mannerisms of the TV gaijin. Not so. Surprisingly, not so. I have come to the conclusion that no matter how long you live in a foreign country, you don’t ever lose where you’re from; it’s not as easy as losing keys. You can only give parts of yourself up directly and by choice. I am so relieved. I refuse to become a national graveyard or to dance on other’s self-made ones. In the words of Pink, I am not here for your entertainment.

1 year old Blanket

Oh man, good story. So LAST November, I took a blanket to this dry cleaner by my apt. I waited for a phone call to tell me it was done, and it never came...or so I thought. I came to the town office one day and they told me that the owner had called me, been to my house and finally had called them to find out if they knew who I was. I can’t believe he called the town office to find me, that’s either the best customer service EVER or really creepy. Considering that this is Japan, and the post office man came to my house last year to deliver like 800 yen ($8) in change and a free towel to me, I would say it’s just Japanese customer service. Anyhow, he said I could come get the blanket whenever. I took whenever to mean literally, whenever. I was really sick ALOT last year if you remember. I mean really sick, like I came home and didn’t want to move, I was so frozen. Anyhow, so a couple weeks past, and then a month past and then I was too embarrassed to go get it. I mean, what if he already threw it away, and then I couldn’t communicate, then I would have to call the town office to tell them I waited a month to get my blanket. Then, another month passed and I dreaded going near the place because I was afraid he would find me and make me take my blanket home and it was too embarrassing. So I eventually forgot about it within the year and hoped they would too. A couple weeks ago, he came to the town office and said he STILL has my blanket and wanted to know if I was cold and if I wanted it. I was like OMG I cannot believe he kept my blanket for a year!!! WHAT!? I went and got it from the store just in time for my friend Sarah’s visit this December. The plastic was dusty and a little torn, but the blanket was perfect! I would definitely have to say that Japan’s customer service is unparalleled.

At the Casa