Onomatopoetic Chocolate

Hi all,

Man, it's been busy here!  My first houseguest is here, and we're having an absolute blast.  One or many posts will come from that, but I definitely need more time than I've had to sort through all these photographs and memories.  Soon to come

I did, however, get sent this article from a friend as a birthday present--too cool not to pass on:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/61269/designer-chocolates-let-you-taste-meaning-japanese-words

One of the coolest features of the Japanese language (my friend that sent this to me is an avid linguist) is its attraction to . . . well, onomatopoeia isn't quite the right word, although I used it in this blog's title.  Onomatopoeia is for a word expressing how a concept sounds, but what's the word for a word expressing how it feels?  And not just in terms of texture--in terms of sight, or texture, or even emotion of the concept

Bonus word to add on to the ones in the chocolate box:  Pika pika, which means bright and sparkly.  And "chu" is the sound a mouse makes.  So now you know :D

Noah out

Oh High School, glad to see you never change

Hi guys,

So as many of you know, I've been part-time teaching English here in Japan since it's by far the easiest way to get a visa.  Usually, I teach business English in one-on-one lessons, but occasionally I do other things.  One day a week, for instance, I teach an hour-long English class at a private high school--which is very different indeed from one-on-one with adults.  But I manage

One interesting note about teaching English is that it's always a good idea to keep in mind the first language of all the students (in this case, Japanese, duh).  For instance, take the concepts of articles and plurals:  A/the pencil, an/the eraser, the scissors.  This is no problem for Spanish speakers, because those concepts exist in Spanish: Un/el lapiz, una/la goma, las tijeras.  They do not, however, exist in Japanese--every noun has a single form no matter how many there are, and there are no articles.  It makes sense when speaking, you just always have to make sure to use the other words to contextualize

Thus, concepts like the definite versus the indefinite article (adding in the fact that there is no indefinite article for plurals), go from being whisked past on the first day of class to actually somewhat advanced.  Well, not advanced, but certainly worth reviewing to make sure they have it (because hell, I have problems with this concept with my adult students)

My point is that going through simple sentences like "I have/want/like _____" shows up even in high school classes, where they have a pretty good command of the language due to the past man years of taking English classes.  Anyways, that was just background so that you can fully appreciate my latest work of Art.  Inspired by true events, I've written a one-act (one-scene, really) play entitled "High School Humor"



"High School Humor"

A play in One Act

by Noah T***

Inspired by true events

SCENE 1

[Many desks are arranged in a circle.  TEACHER stands at the head of the classes, with STUDENT A, STUDENT B, STUDENT C, and chorus seated in the desks]

TEACHER:  "Ok, so we'll go around.  Everyone make a sentence with 'I want' and then anything you want.  STUDENT A, you go first"
STUDENT A:  "I want . . ." [thinking]
STUDENT B:  "A girlfriend!"
[all laugh]
STUDENT A:  [still thinking]
STUDENT C:  "A boyfriend?"
[all laugh much harder]

CURTAIN



It's comforting to know that some things don't change.  Not just the subject matter, but the fact that managing to make a joke in foreign language class turns even the meagerest of japes into a Wildeian witticism.  But mostly the picture-perfect format of this conversation that could happen probably in any language in any country in the world

By my estimate, I am 10 years, 5,000 miles, and 3 lifetimes away from that fateful first period Japanese class.  So long ago.  But the point is, I'm pretty sure that joke would have gone over just as well.  Hell, I wish I still had the ability to ask for confirmation, because there's a decent chance we had pretty much that exact same exchange.  If I had to guess, I was probably STUDENT B

Noah out

On Translation, the Importance of

Hi guys,

Quick story time.  My Japanese, while not great, is not that terrible.  However, every so often I manage to mess things up because I don't even bother trying to use my Japanese.  I am not a clever man.  Let me illustrate:

I'll start the story off by explaining that I try to avoid literal translation whenever possible.  A while ago, I came across the theory that translation is the enemy of true fluency; the idea being that you shouldn't translate a Japanese word into an English word and then think about the concept expressed, you should simply jump straight from the Japanese to the concept.  For instance, when I learn the word れいぞく(reizoku) I try to teach myself that it means "the magic silver box in which we put food after dinner and then immediately take it out in a few hours for a midnight snack"--instead of teaching myself that れいぞく means "refrigerator" which in turn means "the magic silver etc. etc."

(This approach is even more meritorious when dealing with things like names.  It's not particularly helpful to think of my friend as "Mr. Bamboo Field", I think I'll be served just as well by remembering his name as "Mr. Takeda")

This concept of translation is further complicated by the fact that, for the purposes of this discussion, Japanese uses two different written languages
[Editor's note: This entire paragraph is grossly inaccurate, leaves a lot of things out, and is such an oversimplification that it has more or less crossed over into falsehood; those of you that actually know Japanese, we appreciate your bearing with us for the purposes of the story.  Actually, if you do know Japanese you can skip right to making fun of the author because you'll figure out the punchline pretty quickly]
The first language, Hiragana, is phonetic--each character represents a syllable.  The second language, Kanji, is used to convey meaning--each character represents a word, thought, or concept.  Thus, each kanji has a "reading" that you sound out using hiragana characters.  This is further complicated by the fact that kanji has a number of homophones.  In essence, the mapping is not one-to-one: While each kanji has a single reading in hiragana [Ed: *cringe*], a given string of hiragana characters could have multiple representations in kanji, meaning a given string of hiragana characters could have multiple meanings



Thus, when I saw that I would have to take the "Denkigai Exit" at Akihabara Station in order to make my lunch date, I didn't bother translating this word because a) translating is not my habit, especially not for proper nouns and b) unless you already know the word it's difficult to translate without seeing the word's kanji representation

The problem was that when I got to the station and didn't see a single sign for a "Denkigai Exit".  There's the Central Exit, the South Exit, no not those . . . the only one left was the "Akihabara Electric Town Exit", that's not it either . . . what the hell is going on here?  Where is "Denkigai Exit"???

Up stairs, down stairs, turn left, turn right, I know I've already been this way . . . at this point I'd been wandering around the station for a good five-ten minutes trying to find this elusive Denkigai Exit.  I say five-ten because I'm estimating downward from the fifty minutes it felt like as I moved from amused to annoyed to confused to bewildered to truly frustrated to seriously stressed because I didn't want to be late for lunch.  Finally, my eyes just happened to glance over the Japanese writing on an exit sign . .

Photo courtesy of--oh wait, you guys can read it yourself

See, they gave me the English translation, so silly ol' me didn't even bother looking at the Japanese.  It was merely by chance that I noticed the character 電, which is pronounced den, at which point the following train of thought went through my head in about a half a second:

"Gee, the word 'Denkigai', whose meaning I never actually bothered to translate because I am lazy
". . . could probably be written as 電気街
". . . which would mean something along the lines of 'Electricity District'
"And hey, there are those same three kanji right there on one of the dozen of signs I've walked past in the last few minutes . . .
". . . plus the 口 character which of course just an abbreviation for "exit"
"So that means that the dozens of signs for for "電気街口 Electric Town Exit" . . .
". . . past which I have breezed in an increasingly angry manner while looking for "Denkigai Exit" . . .
". . . probably mean . . .
". . . huh
". . . yup
". . . well
". . . now I feel like an idiot"

Moral of the story:  Dude, Noah, at least make an attempt not to wander back and forth around the train station like a dumb tourist.  Just try, yeah?  Can you do that for us?  Just try?

Made it to lunch with just barely a minute to spare :P

Noah out

Yanaka Matsuri; or: Japanese people know how to treat their gods; or: In which Our Hero was better lucky than good

Hey everybody,

Ooh, good day yesterday.  Very good day yesterday.  Started out with a nice but unambitious plan of going to visit my favorite curry place (and believe you me, that will get its own post very soon), maybe take the long way home, nothing fancy.  But as I got to the neighborhood, checking out a nice senbei shop, I hear from around the corner rhymthic clapping and chanting.  Could it be??

It could, and it is!

Sure enough, I just happened to come to one of my favorite little neighborhoods in Tokyo right in time for their annual matsuri (festival)!!!

Allow me to explain.  See that golden shrine up there?  Well, that is the house of the local temple's resident kami (god, more or less).  Usually it hangs out in the back of the temple, being approached by supplicants and suchlike.  But once a year, kami-sama gets to come out of the temple, gets paraded around the neighborhood, and gets treated to sweets and sake.  Because really, as cool as it would be to have people swinging by your house every day, every once in a while you'd like to get out, see some sunshine, and have a drink and a bite to eat.  Like I said in the the title, Japanese people know how to treat their gods

Also, she has it pretty good too.  No, I don't know what you have to do to get that seat.  Super jealous

Bearers step in and step out, the procession moves forward and backwards, and the whole thing is accompanied by chanting and celebration.  No one is in a hurry.  Guest appearances are even welcome--if I'd had a travelling companion to act as my photographer you'd see a picture of me taking a turn on the poles!

Last year, Alix and I had the absolute pleasure of being able to visit during Sanja Matsuri, the biggest and most important temple in Tokyo's version of this festival.  And that was amazing, don't get me wrong.  But that was filled to the brim with people from all around Tokyo and all around the world.  This one?  Just a neighborhood festival, with an absolutely wonderful feeling.  It was a warm, sunny Saturday, everyone was taking god for a walk around the streets, and everyone was ready to have a lot of fun



Of course, it just wouldn't be a festival without food.  And oh yes, Japanese do fair food right.  Not only is the food awesome, but guess where they set it up?  Right in the middle of temple grounds.  Because it is a matsuri, and like I said Japanese do this whole thing right

Meat+skewer+fire.  An amazing recipe around the world

Not to mention grilled squid

Desserts too.  Yes, that is a banana on a stick dipped in chocolate with a funny hat.  Matsuri!!!

Giant flattop of yakisoba?  Giant flattop of yakisoba

Gorgeous temple, hundreds of years old.  I sat on the steps and ate gyoza

I feel so amazingly lucky to have stumbled upon this.  Matsuri like this perfectly encapsulate one of the most wonderful, uniquely Japanese things I've ever experienced:  Three hundred sixty-four days out of the year, this temple is a place of reverence and respect, a place of hushed voices and thoughtful contemplation; on the three hundred and sixth-fifth, we flip it around into an expression of noise and color and celebration.  And that's not a contradiction at all, just two expressions of the exact same respect for their god--and I say that with the understanding that, as my mother the priest will tell you, "god" is just a code word for community and tradition and all of the intangible things that tie us together.  What a great thing to be a part of

The delicious, delicious food doesn't hurt either :D

The building in the background houses the temple's sacred spring, at which you purify yourself before making offerings to the temple god.  One day out of the year, you can also come here to get a chocolate-dipped banana

Noah out

Teishoku

Hey guys,

Ok gather 'round, I'ma teach you all a very important word in Japanese:  Teishoku

Now, this is not quite on the level of the most important word in the Japanese language, okawari (literally means "change", in practice it means "refill" . . . as in, you hold up an empty glass or bowl and say okawari and a new one shows up.  It's amazing).  And probably not quite up there with the next tier of words like sumimasen, arigatou, and nama biiru ("excuse me", "thank you", and "draft beer").  But still pretty important

First, of all, let's back up.  See, there is this one part of town with a bunch of restaurants organized by a particularly excellent conceit:  Each one specialize in a different kind of meat.  There's the beef restaurant, the pork restaurant, the chicken restaurant, etc. etc.  Needless to say, this is an awesome idea, and the setting makes it even more awesome

Perhaps "restaurant" is not the best word, because these are not fancy places.  No host to seat you, no fancy trappings, just simple places where you can get delicious food and nama biiru (told you that word was useful).  In fact, these places are all located underneath some of the train tracks right outside Tokyo Station.  The easiest way to get to them?  Cut through the section of all the yakitori places (and believe you me I will be writing about those soon) to the unmarked alley at the back, and then down the corridor that is just barely nicer than the Caltech steam tunnels:

You thought likening them to the steam tunnels was an exaggeration, didn't you?

Starts to get a little nicer as you near the end . . .

Patience is a virtue, and after a few hundred feet you get to paradise.  Sadly, the horsemeat restaurant, my absolute favorite in this complex, was closed when I went by--but don't worry that place will get a full write-up just as soon as possible.  What was open, however, was the shellfish restaurant, which brings us to that magical word:  Teishoku

See, dining out in Japan can be expensive.  Mostly because wherever you go you are getting the best quality food they can get--these people do not mess about with their foods.  The inexplicable exception to this rule seems to be the ubiquitous lunch set, or teishoku.  A teishoku usually contains a main dish, a few sides, rice and soup . . . and usually costs like two-thirds of the price of that main dish during dinner service.  I have no idea why it is, but for whatever reason it means that you can get a meal like this . . .

. . . consisting of four large fried oysters (at least 3 or 4 inches, which is I believe is 7.3kilowatts or whatever  metric conversion), three small steamed conchs, a sashimi platter with scallops and two kinds of clams, rice, and miso soup filled with delicious tiny clams . . . for 900yen ($9).  Because Teishoku

Learn that word, learn to love it

Feeling pretty good today

Noah out