Hello Kitty toilet paper

As i was sitting upon my toilet, wiping myself with pink Hello Kitty toilet paper, i began to ponder. I only have two weeks left in Japan, this country of the rising sun that has caused me so much joy and anguish, and has left the taste of vinegared rice in my mouth and the smell of shiso in my nostrils. Would i miss this place? Only time will tell, but i can safely say that there are a few people i may miss, as well as a few special places that have secured a place in my heart of hearts. I may also miss the broad and straightly pointed wings of the white heron as it sails over the treetops of Tokushima park in the early evening. And the delicately meticulous planning of Japanese strolling parks: the small stone walking bridge over the thinly cut stream, the carefully arranged piles of stones beneath the softly spilling waterfall, the revered and admired ancient twisted tree.
Today i will be cycling around the mountain i see from my window, Bizan. Friday i may visit a temple in the countryside with Ash. Saturday i will go hiking in the mountains with some friends and then spend the night in a temple, being served both dinner that night and breakfast the following morning, then go hiking some more the next day and finally return to the city by bus. I am very excited to wear a yukata, which is a thin kimono worn in nice weather and bathhouses, and i am led to believe i will be given one at the temple, perhaps for bathing purposes. For some reason, it's still fun to do Japanese things; they have not, in the seven or so months i've been here, fallen into the dark depths of mundanity.
Nothing seems like it will be mundane for quite some time now. I plan on enjoying this vibrant and new world as long as i can, and its pull will continue until well after i return home to New York.

hiroshima

The city of peace, as it is known throughout Japan and the world. Its name literally means "broad island". And it is well known for its "Heiwa Kouen" (Peace Park). I am in a library typing this just outside of the "Gembaku Shiryoukan" (Atom Bomb Museum), which houses tattered clothing, damaged belongings, heat-scorched ceramic roof tiles, and iron doors with shards of glass lodged deep within them, as well as numerous photographs of presidents and world leaders, including the supposedly apolitical Einstein, who I just learned pressed Roosevelt to research atomic weaponry, legal documents concerning choices for Japanese cities to bomb, and aminiature replica of the city of Hiroshima in its grand splendor just before the bomb exploded, and another of a desolate field of ruins and rubble seconds after. I rented an audio guide in English to follow along with the exhibits, and the saddest were the accounts of the families of victims: you can listen to them describe their frantic attempts to find their loved ones amidst the fiery and bloody chaos, rummaging through piles of bodies and lifting slabs of fallen stone, finding their sons or daughters with the skin peeling off of their arms and faces, carrying them home on their backs, and nursing them until they died while only being able to recognize them by their voices and clothes because of the unidentifiable state their melted faces were in. There were many disturbing things in the museum and it felt a bit awkward to be an American in there, though there was no anger or hostility in any of the exhibits towards the U.S., and no one inside displayed anything resembling animosity.
I visited Hiroshima castle today and walked around the Peace Park a bit more. Yesterday I traveled to Miyajima, which is an island off of Hiroshima that is well-known for its torii (shinto-style spirit gate) that emerges from the water. During the afternoon, the tide recedes and people can walk straight up to the torii upon a carpet of bright green seaweed and multitudes of small mollusks. Many old women gather for the low tide to dig up clams to sell. The island itself is gorgeous, with mountains shouldering the back coast and temples and shrines dotting the interior. There are many shops on the island selling the famous food of Miyajima - "Momiji Manjuu", which are little maple leaf-shaped cakes with filling inside. The island also is home to a good number of deer, many of them so tame i could pet their heads. It reminded me of Nara, except this time i was smart enough to avoid buying deer crackers and subjecting myself to a regular mauling by ravenous deer.
I will be returning today to Tokushima.

the ultimate conservationist: a murderer!

Newsflash:
In Japan, an eighty year-old man strangled his similarly-aged wife to death last week because she made too many side dishes. She told him, reportedly, "You don't have to eat them all," but this probably just infuriated him all the more. I assume the concept of the "horn of plenty" puts him into an uncontrollable rage. Now this is a man that needs to be recruited by environmental groups who are fighting the losing battle against overconsumption! Forget recruiting, put him in charge!
After work today, i went with Yuuki to a cafe owned by a woman we sang karaoke with last night. Her friend, who i also met yesterday night, has an art exhibition in the cafe, and they drew me a napkin map that i forgot on the table of our karaoke box. When we finally arrived after much confusion with directions, the artist was overjoyed at the sight of me, since she asked me so eagerly to see her exhibition the night before. The cafe owner was also happy to see us arrive, and they all crowded around Yuuki and I, along with another artist displaying her wooden carvings of toys in the shape of a dog with wheels with a bone-shaped leash. This artist was almost on the verge of tears when i examined and complimented her work, thanking me formally and graciously as she bowed many times. The paintings of Rie, the woman from last night, are vibrant renderings of women in motion or in relaxed positions surrounded by colorful plants and either birds or fish with human eyes. I bought a postcard from her and then we sat down in the cafe and i got a egg and mushroom sandwich and some coffee. We sat and chatted, the artist and I, and Yuuki mostly listened because the conversation was probably unbearably mundane. But i managed another night speaking 98 percent Japanese, and i was told many times how good i was at speaking, though i still cannot believe it, mainly because i rely on a number of phrases that i shift around as i see fit.
Tomorrow i travel to an island that sports some kind of zoo and a miniature theme park, along with some traditional things i hope, with Yamamoto-san, Mika, and Danni. I know them all from badminton, which turned out to be a real social hotspot. Yamamoto-san, the rude and foul-mouthed construction worker in his early 30's, planned this all as my going-away trip, and i am very thankful to make such friends, even though their language may not be prime for imitating. Mika is his secret girlfriend; secret because he always avoids the question of whether or not they are dating. She is very soft-spoken and delicate, so perhaps their differences make for a connection.
Over and out once more, chums, and wish me luck on my journeys!

you dare refuse my strawberries?

The world according to Jamie Kass.

The days are numbered and counting. I have been counting them ever since i realized there were only eleven left. Now there are but eight. What days, you may ask. Working days, my friends, days of toil in the cramped classrooms of NOVA corporation. After these eight days, no more shall i slave away in the coal mine that is the 3rd floor office of the SOGO corporation department store. My lungs are full of soot and my breathing has been heavy lately. Must be too much spoken English... it wears a man down. He must guzzle bottled green tea to keep his throat moist or else the cracked flesh inside will ruin his voice, his most important tool and the only thing that earns him his living wage. The mind helps too, but most of his day is spent reading from a text and speaking as if to a child.
Most days i go to the local grocery store and buy a green apple for 88 yen or a red one for 128. Usually i go for green. There is a man who works in the store cutting and folding boxes and arranging fruits and vegetables: he often sees me and sets aside his work to come over to me and act as awkwardly as he can manage. He always stretches out his hand first, prompting me to shake it, but grips me and holds on as if he thinks this is the proper way gaijin greet each other. He doesn't let go until we are done speaking. He rarely looks me in the eyes, but often swings his head up close to me as he speaks so i can smell his breath, stinking of unbrushed teeth. He will talk about the weather, or my commute to work, or various other mundanities in broken and confusing English, with entirely bizarre intonation, so that i often have no idea what he is trying to say. But the past two days he has given me gifts of fruit, which is quite nice, and i suppose all my patience and friendliness has paid off, for i have received a bag of mikan (small clementine-looking fruits) and a package of strawberries. I don't like getting gifts simply for speaking a few English words to someone, but it was nice of him. People are literally desparate for English here; it is no lie.
When i go to work, i found Jeff, the 40-something Arizona-born man who has a Japanese wife 10 years younger than him, Alex, the 40-something Toronto-born man who has a Japanese boyfriend his age, and Denise, the 20-something Canadian who just began work here and already has begun to get on my nerves. The reason is this: when she arrived, she replied to almost everything i said to her in a brisk and uninterested tone. I kept trying to joke with her or say something meaningful, but i never could crack open her shell. This bugged me, and so today when i offered these three people strawberries and she refused, it set me off. I then said the remark that i was afterwards scolded for by Alex as "not called for". I asked her the following rhetorical question: "Denise, don't you ever take any chances?" Personally, i don't think this comment is so offensive, but Alex did, and he toldme outright. Afterwards, while we were having lunch together in the Indian restaurant, we discussed this comment and the repurcutions of my attitude towards people that i meet, and what kinds of impressions i may give them. Overall, we decided that i come off too strong and passionate with new people, and that i overwhelm them from the start. I also consciously test them to see if i can get them to be open with me, and if they don't open up, i will viciously torment them, as a crow does with a clam that just refuses to break upon the sharp rocks that shoulder the waves. But this very day, i found myself being quite warm with Denise after this lunchtime conversation, and we communicated quite smoothly. Perhaps i learned a lesson!
I plan to go to Hiroshima in a couple of days. Tomorrow is my last working day in March. I am ecstatic.

the past few days were eventful

So, the past two days. A lot happened. Let's go through it by way of a numbered list.

1. My conversation friend, Sanae, invited me to her family's house in Kuwano, south of Tokushima, on Sunday, and naturally, i went. Kuwano is a nice little country town surrounded by mountains, like all nice little Japanese country towns. Her father met us at the station and took us up a mountain to see a cool temple and breathe the fresh mountain air. Then we sojourned back to her house and her mother had made us a vegetarian lunch. The whole family was there, even her older sister's husband and baby. Apparently, i was the main attraction, though they treated me like a human and with respect, and actually barely spoke to me and let me eat in peace. Plus, they had a pretty cat that licked me when i held it. Afterwards, her father gave me some bottled homemade umeboshi and tsukemono (pickled vegetables) that came from his garden! Can you say awesome? I did.
2. Today, i went to visit Alex the Canadian from work in his little town of Kamojima in the west of Tokushima. We ate udon for lunch and dinner and went to an onsen with his boyfriend Tomomi. From the onsen, one can see the mountains beyond and the small fields with leaves sticking out, reaching desperately for the nourishment of the sunlight! We chit-chatted a bit with some naked old men, whose speech was at best barely intelligible, and one of the men shared a naked orange with me. After dinner, we went back to Tomomi's house and ate some ridiculously large citris fruits called "pottan" with his old mother. His mother began to talk, but neither i nor alex could really understand her so she just laughed. The reason for this lack of understanding is that Japanese old people speak so casually and with such a local accent that it's nearly impossible to comprehend anything they say, not to mention the speed at which they talk. They had a dog that was chained outside and was ravenous for attention. I pet her head as she climbed up on my outstretched arm. Tomomi drove me home and i ate an apple in the car.
3. I am home now and with a full stomach, full of tempura and udon and pottan and apple. God help me digest this all.

takamatsu

I went to Takamatsu today with Michelle. Takamatsu is the capitol of Kagawa prefecture, which is directly above Tokushima. It is the largest city on the humble island of Shikoku. We had been planning this trip for many moons, and we have only just acted on it. I am glad that we did. Although Michelle is a kind soul, her personality can be a bit grating at times, and by the end of the day i was glad to leave her. This is not to say i did not enjoy my time with her in Takamatsu, or at the very least some of this time. Above all this triviality, the most notable experience of this trip was visiting Ritsurin Kouen, which is the large and impressive strolling park that the large city boasts. The park was entirely crafted by human hands, as most parks often are, but this time i was struck more strongly than before by this realization, mainly because of the inexplicable beauty of certain areas of this park. I shall try to do them service with a description, of the ones that imprinted themselves the deepest in my mind: the small grove of ume (Japanese plum) trees that bloomed in purples and pinks; the twisting and contorted pine tree that gripped the back of a large mossy stone, exhibiting the so-called image of a crane with outspread wings on the shell of a tortoise; the narrow stone bridges that arch over small streams filled with carp of all colors and sizes; the coal-warmed mochi (rice gluten balls) on wooden sticks sold at a small food stand, in the flavors sakura (cherry blossom), kusa (grass), shouyu (soy sauce), and a plain doughy white, all topped with anko (sweet red bean paste); the middle-aged man who fed the carp and pigeons with shrimp crackers from a plastic shopping bag; the backdrop of mountains covered with pines and maples.
Needless to say, i ate sakura mochi and watched the carp chase after bits of food dropped into the pond by the middle-aged man with the plastic bag and an old woman with a stick of bread.
We had lunch at a "vegetarian" place that fried up little fishies in my vegetable tempura, but i couldn't complain because everything was so nice and perfect. I pulled the fishies out, and was not sickened because i see dead fish everyday here. I even ate one because i was testing to see if it was a vegetable, and i really thought it may have been, but i soon discovered it was not. The woman who cooked and managed the cafe was worried, but i kept assuring her everything was okay. I have become much less afraid of dead animal foods, especially fish, but i still do not want to eat them. Here are some photos of my pretty lunch and the pretty dessert afterwards, with a gelatin cube i also refused to eat. The lunch was, clockwise from the bottom left, red rice with unskinned boiled peanuts, sauteed daikon with lemon, boiled tofu with strips of pickled eggplant, fried wheat gluten in sesame oil and spinach, slightly fishy tempura pumpkin and lotus root with fish not yet removed, soup with greens and pieces of fried egg. The dessert is some sort of fried sweet bread with cinammon, two small sugar candies, and a mikan (small orange) wedge with houjicha (roasted green tea). I also got a large bowl with a small serving of matcha (very strongly flavored green tea powder) after dessert that i neglected to photograph.