Pajero Mini Update

Already two and a half months have passed since I became the proud owner of a new (for me) Pajero Mini. You may remember my initial excitement when I purchased the car back in July – well, that excitement has not faded!

The Mini is not sold outside Japan (which is too bad – it would have been perfect in Saipan!) – but it is VERY popular here. I see several vintages each day – and I am glad that I am driving one of my very own.

Because it is a very small “kei” car, it is much easier to navigate the narrow roads and alleys of Japan, and it’s also MUCH easier to park (I almost don’t even have to look!!

It also drives really well – I took it on the freeway and even with its tiny engine it performed fine. Of course, we’ve taken it off-road several times in four-wheel high and four-wheel low - what fun!

You'd never guess that this car was already 10 years old! The previous owner(s) must have loved the car as much as I do, and I can only hope that it keeps doing this well for another couple of years!

More on Maids

Since I've heard an interest in the maids...

Cosplay (Costume Play) is a whole subculture that has emerged, with Akihabara as its home base. Maid Cafes have sprung up in every nook and cranny, and they are frequented not only by those mega-nerds, the otaku, but by normal people too!

During our day in Akihabara we saw a lot of maids handing out flyers, etc. One flyer directed us to this "maid-san refresh" place http://www.maidrefle.net/index.html.

You can get a "hand refresh" (???) and foot bath for 2,000 yen for 15 minutes. And - coming up on October 8th is Original Costume Day (more than just maid outfits, I'm guessing).

Brian and I have yet to visit a maid cafe, but I hate to think that we're missing out on a whole pop-culture movement...maybe next time we'll just have to stop by a cafe!

The Unflushables: On Urination, Water Conservation and Female Sensibilities

For so many years now, when I’ve walked into a women’s public washroom, I could hear the melodious sounds of frequent flushing. A woman walks into the stall, and almost immediately the flushing begins.

Why all this flushing? To mask any “embarrassing” sounds – such as pee hitting water. So, women flush before/during and after – occasionally using as many as three flushes.

This is a trend that began, to my knowledge, more than five years ago, and one to which I’ve become so accustomed that I hardly even notice it anymore. And I probably wouldn’t be writing about it now, either, except that I’ve noticed certain gadgets that have turned up in the women’s washrooms over the past year or so – electronic noise makers.

With heightened awareness of and concern for water conservation, corporations and other places which offer public washroom facilities knew that they had to put a stop to the useless waste of water, and it would be pretty hard to monitor a “one flush” rule! The electronic sound makers - that actually make “flushing” sounds - seem to be working: I’ve been hearing fewer natural flushes of late:-)

Akihabara and Shinjuku

We spent Friday night in Tokyo, and got an early start in Akihabara on Saturday morning. As our main goal was just to check out the new and cool technology, and to do a little people watching, we didn't really buy much. We did find a great deal on 2GB high-speed SD cards, so we bought two for our cameras.

We also got to see some maids and other creatures of interest while we were in town:



We had a late lunch in Shinjuku, then went to an imported food shop where we filled two boxes to ship back home (the package should be arriving tonight!) before taking the very comfortable "Romance Car" back to Susono.

Picture from Shinjuku.

A Day in the Big Toe...

Brian and I have been busy most weekends, and resting on the weekends when we didn’t have to do something/be somewhere/meet someone. This weekend we are well-rested and have no other plans – so we’re heading off to Tokyo (the "Big Toe") for a day.

Tokyo isn’t that far from here, but traffic conditions pretty much prohibit driving, and expensive train fares prevent any over-riding desire to “just pop off to Tokyo” on a regular basis, so this is something of a rarity for us. In the past, long-long ago, before broadband and before we could navigate comfortably in Japanese, more frequent trips to Tokyo were necessary to procure little luxuries – English language books and magazines, and overseas food items (curry pastes and Kraft dinner!). Now – we get a wider variety of such items at cheaper prices, delivered to our door in less than a week. So what good is going to Tokyo?

While we would usually rather be riding our bikes in the mountains or drinking beer at our local beer hall than trekking around the megalopolis, since we haven’t been to the city in such a long time, we are both really looking forward to eating dinner at our favourite Mexican restaurant, sipping margaritas, and exploring what’s new in the strange and wonderful world of “Electric City”, Akihabara.

We’ll try to get some cool pics of the otaku and cosplay queens!!

Weekend Well Spent

I think we were both overdue for a long weekend. We haven't been camping or downhilling as much this year as last, but we're still keeping pretty busy on the weekends.

Sunday was "apartment cleaning day" - long, hot and tiring but certainly worth the effort.

After a morning bike ride (before the typhoon rains!), Monday was "projects" day; basically, Brian did more cleaning and organizing of bike parts, I played on my computer and did a few photo projects:

I created this effect in Photoshop Elements 4 - I'm still just learning my way around the program, but having fun doing it:



I also wanted to practice with lighting and my macro lense, so I bought these roses just to take pictures of them. They also made the room a little brighter - until they wilted and died!

Long Weekend

Monday is a national holiday - keiro no hi, which can be roughly translated as Respect for the Aged Day. There's nothing special going on that we know about - no festivities or anything. But we are certainly enjoying the extended weekend!

Our weekend began on Friday night, and we celebrated with dinner and a couple of beers at Ryoba, a chain izakaya in Numazu.




Yesterday we took advantage of the perfect late-summer weather with a long (grueling!) bike ride in the mountains, finishing the ride at the Gotemba Kogen Beer Hall. The Kogen brews its own beer, and has a large area where people can enjoy their beer outdoors. Yesterday was an extra special treat as the Kogen is having festivites and selling special beer for Oktoberfest.

We enjoyed the beer, and so did this giant wasp who insisted on having a peice of the action:

Shooting and Death at Dawson CEGEP

I'd like to post about my fabulous ride this morning, or the good time we had out at the izakaya tonight.

However, I am more interested in posting just a little about the shootings at Dawson CEGEP (a.k.a. college) in Montreal on Wednesday. An armed assailant opened fire at the CEGEP just before 1 p.m. local time. CEGEP, for those who don't know, is the two-year transition between high-school and University in Quebec. Most people go to CEGEP before moving on to the 3-year (not 4-year) University program. So, the kids at Dawson "college" really were just kids - all between the ages of 17 and 20, most likely. And one of them is now dead, the others forever changed.

I was much more (selfishly) concerned, however, about my mother, who uses the same metro station that serves Dawson CEGEP almost every day. This is a part of her emailed response to my query:

I am just fine. YES the shooting did affect me - I was in the crowd of thousands of people. I heard the shots,it was really awful. I never saw so many police with guns and police dogs.I had to run down St.Catherine [street] to St. Marc [street].I couldn"t even get a cab... Anyway I am fine.

My mind is full of the "what ifs", as it always is. But life isn't about "what if", it's about "what is". Don't waste your life worrying about loss; instead, seize the day and enjoy what you have while you have it.

By the Light of...

our new lamp!

I was out shopping the other day, and this lamp that I'd had my eye on for a while was actually in stock.




Until now, we'd been using a regular small reading lamp in the comfy TV room. It was ok, but the quality of light as well as the aesthetic appeal of this new Japanese lamp is simply more pleasing. It's also much more soothing - perhaps too soothing??

September

Wow, I finally slowed down a little at work, only to realize that it is already the 9th month. September here is traditionally the time to appreciate the moon, and people often organize 'moon viewing parties'. I haven't actually participated myself, as planned events have been scuttled due to cloud, rain or fog. Maybe this year?

This is Koson's Grasshopper Under a Full Moon:




















September's insects are abundant (and slower) as summer winds down. While out today (we are still appreciating the sun) I found a grasshopper:














While Tracy caught a resting dragonfly:




















The autumn abundance of dragonflies has been dear to the Japanese psyche since before cartographers could have recognized it, but that Japan's geographical shape resembles a dragonfly has been often noted. Can you see the resemblance?

Buggy balcony

The late-summer swelter here is bringing a wave of insects to life, or at least out into the open. Earlier in the warm season we had big stag beetles, then lots of kogane-mushi, more recently katydids, on our front balcony. Quite an interesting procession.

Yesterday I found this praying mantis upon returning from work; it had a lot of vigor, and it actually had some personality, too. It boldy walked toward me and almost ran to the camera lens when it came too close.

After seeing the famous pics of a mantis catching and eating a hummingbird, I didn't want my fingers or toes to be in striking range, but I snapped one good shot:

Linguistic Lapse

At this time last year, I was posting about my studying (or lack thereof) for the level 2 (2-qyu) Japanese Proficiency test. The test is adminsitered annually in December, but I didn't pass last year. And as for this year - well, I've lost ground rather than gained (or even maintained); therefore, I've decided to forego the test this year, and to sit for it next year instead (2007).

However, that doesn't mean that I'm done studying! On the contrary - I'm just about finished with my current textbook, and we (my teacher and I) wiill be moving on to a new text soon. We will also be practicing/drilling grammar points at the "2-qyu" level.

Finishing a whole series and being ready to move on is very motivating. I hope to vastly improve my language skill over the next year!

December 2007, here I come!

The Silent Hours

I could also have titled this post, "Why You Should Wake Up Early".

It just turned five a.m., and I've already had my first cup of tea for the day. Better still, I enjoyed it in silence.

Cars aren't driving by on the street yet, the TV isn't on, the coffee isn't brewing, and Brian is quietly sleeping. But it's more than that - there is an almost ethereal quality to the silence in the pre-dawn hours.

And these silent moments are mine. I can catch up on blogging, do my Japanese homework, or simply think with a hot cup of tea in my hand.

Alas - I so rarely manage to wake up to enjoy this time...

Back Online

We actually received our replacement modem on Sunday evening and are safely back on-line and in touch with the world!

Actually - the delivery service tried to deliver the modem in the morning, but we were out enjoying the fine weather (which is really as it should be!).

We are both happy to have our TV back and, better still, to be online at both apartments (rather than just the one) again.

On the other hand - it's unhealthy to be so dependent on a technology that, until just a couple of years ago, we were living without just fine.

Pics from Sunday - A drive in Hakone:

Off-Line Again

Our modem is well and truly down for the count. We called Yahoo BB again, and they are sending us a new modem which we will receive on Monday. However, until it arrives, we'e are once again off-line and disconnected from the TV.

I am now taking refuge in my apartment, and am enjoying my own connectivity (my provider and modem hasn't let me down:-) No TV though.
Not necessarily a bad thing - not being able to watch CNN this morning meant we got out for a very early ride, just like the old days. We rode hard on our single-speeds, and got home feeling well-exercised.

I spent my afternoon shopping for necessary items like a new frying pan and canned tomatoes...

TGIF and some fun links

Finally, the weekend is here again! We don't have any exciting plans this weekend, but sometimes the best laid plans are no laid plans at all.

Some fun sites I've had in my Favorites list for awhile:

Paul Sadowski's Birthday Calculator - find out on what day you were born, when you were conceived, your astrological sign on the Chinese calendar, just to name a few things.


Future Me - send your future-self a message; aim for five years in the future, perhaps; tell yourself how you're feeling now, what you expect to be doing in five years' time.Your message will be sent to you in five years (or in whatever time you specify). Kinda fun.

Shoutcast - listen to any number of radio sttations online - in English!


And finally, a fun but very very useful online Japanese - English dictionary:

Jim Breen's WWWJDic - good as an English/Japanese and Japanese/English dictionary, and absolutely great for finding the readings of kanji.