Well, as the title says, it's been a month since my last post. I had no idea it had been so long. Due to popular request (popular request being an e-mail from my mother and a sentence fragment/e-mail from my brother), I am posting a long neglected update.
What have I been up to? Well, pretty much just work and snowboarding. Japanese schools are on a different schedule than American schools. They use the trimester system here, so January was the beginning of the final trimester. It also is the shortest term of the year, from January to the end of March. So, they tend to cram in the exams, classes, and my visiting schools. I have been snowboarding almost every Sunday (except last weekend, when I went to Kyoto for the day). I'll post some random pics from around the area. On a sadder note, I went to visit all my small mountain schools over the past few weeks. They are all closing in March 2009. It's a shame, the kids are really fun and I love going there. The views are awesome, and I get to see monkeys (I know, it sounds like it is worse for me than the kids and the teachers at the affected schools).
Yesterday and today I went to two of the mountain schools; I got some pics of monkeys. The monkeys were at the school I was at yesterday, there was about 10-15 of them running around outside. The pictures aren't that good, but you can see enough to know that it is a small, furry creature running around. Today, I got some good pics of Aobasan (Mt. Aoba). It is called Wakasa-Fuji, as it looks like Mt. Fuji from a distance, and Wakasa is the name of bay that boarders our area. It was great, a small village above me, the mountain and ocean across, and it was so quiet. No cars on the road, no people around, just the sound of running water, birds, and the wind. It was pretty nice.
Anyways, it's late, and I'm tired. On to the photos.
Kyoto.
Yes, I know I'm wearing a Patriots hat. Yes, I know what happened at the Super Bowl. No, I don't want to talk about it.
Rich and I in Kyoto.
Monkey business. This was Tuesday at Otomi Elementary School, Takahama.
More monkeys! Look on the railing. Otomi Elementary.
View from the teacher's room of Hibiki Elementary School, Takahama.
View from 3rd floor of Hibiki Elementary School.
Aobasan, Takahama.
Tip of the village
Finally, this picture has nothing to do with anything. I just thought it was a hilarious van. Taken at a shopping plaza in Tsuruga.
4 comments:
I think the van has too many windows to be a "get outta the van" kind of vehicle, but otherwise, it'd be perfect. Well except for the fact that it's instantly reconizable...
That's definitely a "Get Out Of The" Van! That's the most "Get Out Of The" Van I have ever seen. Of all your pictures so far, Jay, that one teaches me the most about Japan. For the love of god, keep up the posts becuase DOD and I obviously have nothing better to do at work than check your site religiously hoping for gems like that van.
I keep coming back to look at this pic of the van. Something is drawing me to it. Upon close inspection, a few things come to mind.
1. What happens when he needs to change his tires?
2. Why, in Japan, is the supermarket named "Hearts" and everything is in English?
3. In a parking lot full of those vans, and Yaris-looking things, is that a Volvo parked behind the van? Go Volvo!
That is all.
To answer your English question:
English appears quite a bit in Japan. It is cool to have your store's name in English. The same analogy can be made in the States to a business that has its name in Italian/French/Spanish, etc. It sounds cosmopolitan and hip.
Of course, a lot of the English that appers in Japan is absolute gibberish that makes no sense; I was already thinking of dedicating a post to some of the better phrases that I have seen. A lot of clothing companies put English on their clothes, and it always gives us English speakers a chuckle when we see somebody walk by with ridiculous English phrases on their shirts.
Now, don't go thinking this is just a Japanese phenomenon. How many Americans have you seen with tattoos in Japanese/Chinese kanji that tell you "This means 'Love' in Japanese." or "This means 'Spiritual' in Chinese."?
Fumi has told me that she's seen pictures of foreigners with kanji tattoos with hilarious meanings in Japanese. There is always little nuances in languages where their meaning is lost in translation. Directly translating something can lead to mistakes (think of JFK saying 'I am a jelly donut' [Ich bin ein Berliner] in front of thousands of Germans).
So what's the moral of all this? If you are naming a business/getting a tattoo in a foreign language, it's usually a good idea to run it by a native speaker first. You can usually tell if it is good or bad if they say 'OK' or burst out laughing.
Post a Comment