Basic Black

In the last 24 hours, lots of things fell to pieces. Yesterday, reaching to put a box on a high shelf at in a store room at school, I aggravated a pulled a muscle in my shoulder. A bath and rest will fix it. Meanwhile, I'm out of the dojo for a few days.

On my way out of the front hall of the school, I pulled too hard on the tab of my boot and ripped through the zipper. The school nurse patched me up with a boot lace and a few safety pins. And then the zipper of my cheap shoulder bag let go. The contents stay inside, fortunately.

Usually I come apart on the phone in Japanese. Some Japanese do not notice my accent, or my lack of full fluency, and do not slow down for me. I tend to fumble when confronted with someone motormouthing me inj Japanes. Today, the downstairs office phoned me in the administration room to say there was a visitor, and I went down to receive him as everyone else was busy. The officer who had received said visitor and called the admin room was a little surprised. Who had she talked to on the phone? Yes, that was me. I feel a lot more confident when I've been reading in Japanese.

I'm still nothing near fluent. My suspicion has been that, if I could read more, I could absorb more Japanese language in a natural way.

So, I've been looking for reading material I can read quickly, stuff that interests me. When I get tired of trying to memorize kanji cards out of context (easily misplaced and quickly forgotten), I have been reading A Graded Japanese Reader , which includes short stories, essays and newspaper items, and Instant Business Japanese which presents some funny dialogues loaded with useful vocabulary and expressions. My favorite Japanese as a Second Language (JSL) magazine is J-Life, which you can get online at ALC Japan. I find these materials keep me interested. This morning's train ride went by so fast while I was reading was an essay about a group of men who started a charity to preserve　the folk art (originating in Buddhist story telling) of kamishibai　紙芝居. Interesting insight into Japanese culture while learning vocabulary.

The vocabulary and themes I'm reading are varied and help me cope with everyday life in Japan. I just keep going, reading a bit at a time. Sensei tells us to build foundation a bit at a time. Fifteen to thirty minutes a day of reading plus grammar review will build it up. I'm drawing on the concept of extensive reading to learn to cope with longer texts, learn vocabulary in context, and review known grammar.

I'm a compulsive reader. Now I can start to satisfy this urge with the heaps of reading material produced in Japan.

English language networking in Japan

English language networks between Japan resident bloggers, Japan wiki projects and Japan related websites are spreading like fungus. A spore made its way to me when Daily J interviewed South of Reality about the English teaching market in Japan.

Tori of Daily J contacted me and we have shared some linkage and memes, and Tori kindly put the meme post I wrote on JapanSoc, a bookmarking site specifically for Japan-related topics.

裏技 Urawaza ninja homemaking

Last week, listening to CBC Radio over the 'Net, I caught an interview with Lisa Kateyama, author of Urawaza.

Urawaza, secret ways of doing things, are all over the media in Japan. Pick up a copy of Orange, Croissant, or any homemaking magazine, and the pages are filled with clever alternate uses of everyday household objects to provide solutions for little niggling problems. It's like a nation of MacGyvers.

I've got a few of my own tricks in winter - hardboiled eggs in the pockets are environmentally friendly hand warmers, and we have one for me, one for you at tea time. Before bedtime, I fill a 2 liter plastic drink bottle at the foot of the futon to keep my toes warm. By morning, it's still warmer than body temperature.

Some urawaza are merely efficient ways of doing things. My first year in Japan, I picked up some ideas from my neighbour lady. She always folded her plastic and cloth shopping bags the way you fold a flag. First, you fold it in half to make a long narrow rectangle, then you fold it in triangles, and finally fold the end into the pocket made by the last triangle. The bags are neatly stowed and easily counted.

Thomas Hjelm shares these time- and money-saving urawaza on his blog, Nihon Hacks. These hacks often result in reduction or reuse of materials, saving money and reducing garbage.

The next urawaza is my favorite human behaviour hack in Japan. I must admit that I've done this in the street, ringing parked bicycle bells to achieve the same effect - 人間が持つベル　Pedestrian Bell.

Black bean and seaweed muffin

Last night, I caught up with some local folks at the Strabucks under the Takashimaya building. There I had a cup of tea 黒豆ひじき赤味噌マフィン Black bean, hijiki seaweed and red miso muffin. And it tasted like chocolate. Only one other of our members would touch it.

Japan Meme

Over on Livejournal, the memes go 'round and 'round. I'm lifting the concept of list memes from my fellow ljers. This time, it's a Japanese list meme.

1. What's your favorite Japanese food?

A toss up between okonomiyaki and ramen.

2. What sound in the urban environment do you like best?

The roasted potato man - Ya - ki ----- imo -----!

3. What part of your daily routine do you despise most?

The commute across Tokyo.

4. Who is your favorite celebrity?

Ken Hirai who sings "Sakura".

5. Do you speak Japanese?

Yup. Not fluently, but enough to cope at the office and social stuff.

6. Can you read Japanese?

Books at an elementary school level. I read childrens literature in Japanese. I read stuff online with kanji lookup.

7. When did you first come to Japan?

1999.

8. Do you like karaoke?

Initially tolerate it well, and sing enthusiastically after a few drinks.

10. What are your favorite books by Japanese authors?

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.

11. What's the best holiday you've had in Japan?

Deep Shikoku, Kochi Prefecture. Looking out over the Pacific Ocean from Cape Ashizuri is breathtaking on a summer evening.

12. Have you ever been in the media in Japan?

As a subject, more than once - tv and newspapers. I've written for three small publications, too.

13. What do you think about Japanese Macaque monkeys?

Nasty, thieving creatures. Hate 'em.

14. Do you bow?

Yes. Even over the phone.

15. What aspect of Japanese culture has made an indellible impression on you?

Shoes off in the house. I get queasy in shoes inside a house.

Fellow Japanese residents, foreign and Japanese alike, please steal this list! Add your own questions, too.

My world is changing

I jogged today from home to 柏市民体育館　Kashiwa Municipal Gym down by the park. I've never done this before. Correctly, I've never jogged before. It just kind of happened. I needed to get my shopping bike #1 from the parking lot there, and I was under some time constraints. I don't even own running shoes. I guess I have to get some. I'm kind of chuffed to know I'm in good enough shape to jog that stretch, though it's only a few kilometers. I had no idea I could do that.

This new year is a new world for me.

I had no idea I could return a lot of plastic to point of purchase. Today's discovery is that 長崎屋　Nagasakiya department store, on the food floor, has recycling boxes that handle milk cartons, styrofoam trays, and the plastic trays that tofu, veggies and various other produce come in. My garbage bags get lighter every time I find another way to reduce the load going out. I'm not sure what this styro and the like gets recycled into, but the Yes! Tokyo website's English guide to environmental solutions and experiments in Tokyo gives some insight into how garbage is being handled in Tokyo proper, which may indicate how the 'burbs are handling it.

Ideally, I want to get the plastic consumption down.

I'm getting some inspiritation from Change Everything, an intiative of Vancity, Vancouver's community-based financial institution that gets behind many positive changes in the way we Vancouverites live. Wow, they're inspiring me waaaay over the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Pretty good!

あけましておめでとう！ Happy New Year

The banner on the wreath is a blessing of safety within the household. Lots of businesses and homes hang these 注連縄 shimenawa rope decorations in front of their doors. For safety, mine us hung in the genkan of my apartment. The landlord doesn't allow decorations on the door.

Why do I have a shimenawa wreath? It's a habit I learned from the year I lived in rural Ehime Prefecture, when my dear neighbour, the kimono teacher, madea wreath by hand and hung it on my door. She said I and my apartment could do with the blessing for the coming year.

This guardian deity meets you at the gate when you walk up to 布施弁天 Fuse Benten where I did my お参り omairi, a first visit to shrine or temple,

Benten is represented by the flow of water and the beauty of flowers. The temple is often very quiet when I visit any other day of the year. I sometimes make the 20 minute bike ride on a Sunday, and often have the whole place to myself. Once, the priestess invited me in to see the hand coloured devotional paintings made by parishoners. But this time, there was a line of people waiting to ring the gong in front of the offering box. There was a performance of 獅子舞 shishimai, the lion dance accompanied by drums and flutes played by children.

Resolution #3 is to make a one-day pilgrimmage between the three famous Bentendo temples. Fuse Benten is one of the three significant ones belonging to a branch of Shingon Buddhism. The other two are on Enoshima Island in Kanagawa and the Bentendo in the middle of Shinobazu Pond in Ueno. I'd have to start early. The trip is over 100 kilometers.

Getting an early start on resolution #1

Every time you go out for a bowl of ramen in Tokyo, you likely pick up a pair of 割り箸 waribashi, the disposable wooden chopsticks that you split with a crack before you eat. Waribashi are so ingrained in Japanese culture that there are manners specifically for their use. Break your chopsticks holding them horizontally, never vertically. Don't sand them against each other or roll them like pick up sticks. This implies that the waribashi are cheap and insults the wait staff. When you want to set them down, place them on the paper wrapper which you have artfully folded into a　箸置きhashioki chopstick rest. And when you're done, put them back in the paper wrapper, folding the end of the wrapper diagonally.

How many times does the average salaryman eat a takeout bento or eat in a noodle bar? The waribashi add up in a year to 200 pairs per person, making the total a scary 25 billion sets a year. China has slapped a surcharge on waribashi sold to Japan, which has resulted in some shops looking for alternatives. I've been really good, turning down proferred waribashi, plastic bags and other disposable unrecyclable stuff.

But what could be simpler than carrying your own? I surprised myself when I went to lunch this afternoon and, when my meal came, I automatically reached for the waribashi on the counter. No, no. My own hashi are pretty bamboo with woven handles and a sturdy sheath. I'll get used to it in no time. I have already eliminated plastic register bags from my shopping routine, so I figure I won't miss waribashi.

Meri Kurisumasu in black

Today, Christmas Day, I'm doing what everybody in the neighbourhood is doing - 大掃除 - osoji, the big year-end cleaning effort which originally was a purification rite in preparation for New Year festivities, the most important of the year. This morning, my neighbours were vacuuming loudly below me, and I got into the spirit of the day by laundering everything and scrubbing windows, floors, bath and kitchen.

While I'm working, I'm listening to CBC Radio over the 'Net to remember the day as celebrated on the other side of the ocean.

And I'm thinking about this year's events, lows and highs, mostly highs. This year, I'm grateful for friends from here and abroad, for their good wishes, encouragement, insight and enthusiasm. In the summer, The Phoenix and I visited Osaka to see Maren, then Kyoto, Himeiji, Hiroshima and Matsuyama to see what the rest (real) Japan looks and feels like. This autumn, the Bujinkan presented at the Togakushi festival, and amazing experience. Later, Shiraishi Dojo reprised the performance at the Gyoda City festival. Last Saturday was Shiraishi Dojo Bonenkai, a year-end party to say thank you to sensei and our members, and honour the two new wonderful students.

I'm happy to put 2007 behind me. A friend and inspiration to Vancouver's artists left us this year. On this side, The Phoenix, though a bright light in my world, flew home for what I thought was only a few months, but later thought better of returning to me and Japan. Curiously, despite that spargoing out, he left a little glow - a Japan-resident friend of his brings a lot of happiness into my life.

Next year holds a lot of promise - my new work, which will start in April, promises to change my whole scope of teaching and learning. In May, I hope to be well into my academic studies in the evenings, too.

And Soke's taking us on another trip into darkness, black on black, with the next training theme. Sometimes, yes, I lose heart in my training. What the hell am I doing here, in Japan, doing this? I know so little. Am I getting any better at this stuff? And then I think, 我慢, gaman meaning endurance, and　忍, nin meaning patience and concealment, are my helpers in this endeavour. I will never be the world's most amazing martial artist. But I might, with perseverance and patience, figure out what budo is and why I want to do it with body, mind and spirit. Most of all, spirit.

Reducing the plastic in my life

Today's shopping at Nagasaki-ya was under 1000 yen worth of groceries. In the basket, you can see spinach, carrots, a piece of salmnon, some lemon chuhais, a whole daikon radish, and a bag of udon noodles.

You'll see, too, the pink "No bag, please" card. If I bring my own bag, place this pink "No bag, please" card in my basket and carry my point card, the cashier gives me a stamp for each bag I refuse. After 20 no-bag points, I get a 100 yen discount.

The effort required to bring my own bag (usually my bookbag or whatever bag I brought to work with me, or a furoshiki or repurposed bag I have recieved from shopping) is negligible, yields me a small monetary reward, and makes household waste a little lighter. This year, 2007, I have endeavoured to reduce my plastic bag pile to nil, and very nearly succeeded. The only contributions were from guests. I keep all reusable plastic packaging (plastic sleeves from advertising and the like) in a bag above the fridge, and put it to work when I need to protect valuable papers.

I've been following Envirowoman's plastic free blog, a chronicle of one Vancouver woman's endeavour to eliminate plastic products and packaging from her life for one year.

Kudos to Envirowoman. Trying to follow in her footsteps in Japan is extremely difficult for this expat Canadian living in Japan. Japan has a great record for recycling appliances and paper, but I wonder where the plastic goes to, and what happens to it post-consumer use. Well, the Japan Times recently documented the incineration of plastic waste, and begins to explore the idea of burning the unburnables in Tokyo. It makes me nervous about throwing away that plastic sushi tray. Where's it really going?

So I'm throwing my efforts at consuming less plastic because I fear it is impossible to eliminate it from my diet. Virtually everything I buy, from rice crackers to fruit to noodles, is packaged in plastic. If I were to buy in bulk or one item at a time, I might be able to reduce plastic packaging, but it is impractical and expensive for the single Japanese resident. One orange is more expensive when you cost it out, and buying in bulk presents storage problems that are unique to the Japanese domestic environment.

So, for now, I'll work on getting my plastic consumption down in 2008, but barriers to eliminating it appear to insurmountable right now.

I'll still look for advice and information at Japan for Sustainability and see what information I can glean.

Meanwhile, I had a wonderful and healthful dinner of , making the most of a piece of salmon, chopped carrots and daikon radish, flavoured with miso paste, and accompanied by a side dish of Korean kimchi. If I eat whole foods, I eat better right away.

The remainder of the day's shopping haul will go into a container and turned into Japanese-style tsukemono pickles. Made with love, no extra plastic required.