Teresa and Dan Go Nihon!

I finally got visitors!

At long, long last I was reunited with high-school chum (and apple of my eye), Teresa Vigmostad.  Fresh out of the Navy and accompanied by her lushly-bearded beau, Dan Viola, she came prepared to experience the wonders of this great island nation.  Wonders which included three junior high school boys wiping out in the middle of the street while trying to ride one bicycle and lots of guys in short-sleeved white work shirts.  But I digress.

Teresa and I on the train to Miyajima Island.  I had somehow managed to secure a day off, though I'm sure I'll have to pay for it later with my soul.  As a side note, don't we look totally boss in this picture?

Teresa and I on Miyajima Island with the famous Vermillion gate in the background.  I know I've shown you Miyajima pics before, but these ones have Teresa in them and are thus far superior to my previous photos.

Dan, Ryan, Teresa and I outside of an arcade on Hondori (the main drag through downtown Hiroshima) with that eternal titan of Japanese cute-dom, Rilakuma.  That's right, we met the Rilakuma.  He's actually a really down-to-earth guy.

Me, Shiho and Dan gearing up for some serious Print Club action.  Dan was excessively surly about something, but the beard counteracts any negative impact that surliness would have had on this picture.

Print Club Photo the first!  I like Ryan's expression on the right.  I'm still not sure if he was intentionally trying to imitate The Scream or if he just wanted this picture to look as freaky as possible.

Print Club Photo the second!  Just look at Dan's face on the bottom right.  Good luck falling asleep tonight!

Korean Dramas

I've already mentioned multiple times that Korean stuff is huge in Japan.  In fact, Korean culture is enjoying a surge in popularity throughout Asia -- a surge known as "hallyu," or the "Korean wave."  One of the most popular Korean imports?  Dramas. 

Dramas in Asia are more or less the equivalent of soap operas in America, except they aren't as long-running and none of them feature Timmy the Talking Doll (which is a bit of a shame, really).  Japanese dramas are usually twelve episodes long and somewhat less melodramatic than their American counterparts.  Korean dramas, meanwhile, are 16 episodes long and completely insane.

But boy, they sure are popular.  And Ryan and I felt that we would be remiss if we didn't at least try to understand them.  So we did some cursory research on the internet and downloaded the K-drama that allegedly sparked Japan's fascination with the genre: Full House.

No, not that Full House...

This Full House.

Full House is the story of a woman named Ji-eun whose terrible, terrible friends sell her house and pocket the cash after sending her on a bogus trip to Shanghai.  While in China, she meets famous movie star and heart-throb Young Jae.  Through a series of whacky misunderstandings, Ji-eun and Young Jae end up married and living in the very house Ji-eun's stupid friends sold at the beginning of the show.  Turns out they sold it to Young Jae!  Man, what a kooky turn of events!  The madcap, unbridled zaniness is further heightened by the fact that Ji-eun and Young Jae despise each other and only got married so Young Jae could protect the privacy of his childhood friend and Ji-eun could earn her house back by acting as his maid/slave.  Somehow!

If you couldn't follow any of that, don't worry.  I suspect the success of Full House has less to do with its intricate plot and more to do with the guy who plays Young Jae.

SQUEEEEEEEEAAAAAL!

This is Rain, a famous singer/actor in Korea who can pull off a petulant-little-boy pout like nobody's business.  When I worked at the Korean tutoring center in Ann Arbor, I had to read at least three essays about "Why Rain is my Hero."  In short, Korean kids (and middle-aged ladies?) loooooove Rain.

So now for some of the defining features of Korean dramas, as manifested in Full House.

1. Korean dramas are filmed as they air.  From what I understand, this means that lots of time and money are lavished on the first few installments while subsequent episodes have to get pooped out in a hot hurry.  In the case off Full House,  the initial episodes had our heroine traveling around Shanghai, staying in a fancy hotel and visiting various up-scale restaurants.  By the end of the show, though, she and Young Jae just hung out at home a lot and always went to the same empty bar that played the same Bob Dylan song on a constant loop.  It was clear that the crew had run out of time, money, and possibly the ability to care less.

2. Korean dramas are very receptive to audience feedback.  Apparently, the creators of Korean dramas regularly troll the internet in order to suss out fans' opinions.  If the fans don't like a character, the character will suddenly die of a massive heart attack in the next episode.  If fans love a character who is in the final stages of terminal brain cancer, that tumor will suddenly decide to take a hike.  Most bizarrely, if fans enjoyed a particular scene, the writers will throw in a very similar scene later on.  In Full House, this translated to the exact same things happening over and over again without any variation at all.  The writers literally wrote in the same scene eight times.

3. Korean dramas are addictive.  I have to admit, as tiresome as it got hearing Rain emotionally abuse a girl whom he had manipulated into a contract marriage, and as repetitive as it was watching the EXACT SAME SCENE for the ninetieth time, I couldn't just stop watching.  I had to see if they got together in the end.  Unfortunately, the pay-off in the final episode was Young Jae and Ji-eun sitting together (fully-clothed) in a tent and engaging in a "hot kiss."  And I use that term loosely, since I've seen hotter kisses planted on the cheeks of people's grandmothers.


In the final analysis, I don't believe Korean drama is a genre I could get particularly invested in.  But I can see why a lot of people are completely consumed by them.  They are kind of fun.

Plus Rain, you guys.  Rain.

Pictures from my phone, vol. 2 - Engrish Shirt Edition

Hey people! We're pretty terrible at this blogging thing, huh? It's been over a month since our last post. Oops. Things have been both extremely busy and amazingly uneventful around here. With the exception of our friends Teresa and Dan visiting Japan two weekends ago, it's just been work work work with a smidgen of relaxing on the weekends. Also, Joanna's computer is busted, so that makes it even more difficult!

Anyway, here is a post with more pictures from my phone, this time with a theme: Engrish shirts!  You see so many of these in Japan.  It's the equivalent of people wearing shirts with Chinese characters on them in the States.  You don't know what it means, but by golly do you look cool wearing it!  So, without further ado, LET'S SO BRING IT!! ON DOWN.

"Urban Division.  BAD BOY LOS ANGELES.  BAD BOY 1982.  Go ahead.  Challenge the world.  We'll see you out there."  Found in the kids' clothes section of my local mall.  There is nothing I can add that would make this shirt any cooler than it already is.

"SCRUM.  EFFECTIVE AREA HERO.  UNDER 10."  Again from the kid's clothes section.

"HERALDRY LEGEND.  CHOP POINT.  There is never met KING OF FREEWAY."  Another from the same place.  I think this one is talking about Mad Max?

Not really too much Engrish shirt, but I love thinking of Bill Cosby as the PROFESSIONAL'S CHOICE.

"PRIURI.  DREAM ABOUT FANTASIZE.  Being Pleasant.  Believing In Yourself."  From the girls' section of the same store as Bad Boy 1982.  While boys' shirts are all a bunch of words about being cool and tough and effective area heroes, girls' shirts are just a bunch of flowery yet reaffirming messages.  Some are kind of weird though.  Dream about fantasize?  That's some Inception stuff right there!

"Girl going to work in an office."  "I'm Really Really PLEASED."  Found at Uniqlo, a popular and hip yet cheap clothing store.  The irony of the first shirt is that if you really were a girl going to work in an office, you wouldn't be wearing a t-shirt.

"I'M SO VERY UNHAPPY."  "Give me back my zip-up fleece top!"  Again from Uniqlo.  I suppose you can buy both Really Really PLEASED and SO VERY UNHAPPY and let the world know how you're feeling on a particular day.  As for the other shirt, it's kind of a passive-aggressive way of getting your stuff back, isn't it?

"I am enjoy it now!!  DO you enjoy it?"  Not a shirt but a bear backpack.  "Enjoy" is the Engrish word of choice.  You see it EVERYWHERE.

That's all for now. Hopefully more soon! Keep it real, Effective Area Heroes!

Blast from the Past: The Hiroshima Flower Festival

This post, I`m afraid, is over a month late.  The Hiroshima Flower Festival, an annual downtown extravaganza celebrating peace, unhealthy street-vendor food, and little girls dancing in skimpy outfits, took place at the beginning of May.  But between one thing and another, we never got around to posting about it.  I will now rectify that oversight.  And don`t you dare complain about my tardiness on this one, or I`ll stick you in the kappa-crotch bounce house (see below).

Rah-rah peace!  Rah-rah Japan!  There must have been literally hundreds of dance troops at this festival.  Some were spectacular, some were composed entirely of preschoolers jumping up and down and waving to their moms, and most were a mixture of both.  But seriously, at any one time there were at least four different dance troops performing in different locations around Peace Memorial Park.

A traditional drum group performs near the Peace Museum.  Ryan was absolutely tickled that he managed to catch this man`s ribbon in mid-twirl.  Do him a favor and act like you`re really excited about it! :P

The crowd on Heiwa-odori (Peace Boulevard) got even more horrendous than this, believe it or not.  There were times when I thought I would either pass out, throw up, or spontaneously combust if we didn`t get away from the relentless crush of human bodies (and Winnie the Pooh inflatables).

This dude rocked the house as far as I`m concerned.  He was a competitor in an enka-singing contest.  Enka is a very traditional form of Japanese music, roughly equivalent to country western in the United States.  Except only old people listen to (and sing) enka.  The crowd at this man`s performance was like a geriatric convention.

Meanwhile, the crowd at this show was all under seven.  These are characters from a children`s show produced by NHK, the Japanese equivalent of PBS.

This is one of those bouncey houses they always have at carnivals and/or rich kids` birthday parties.  It was shaped like a kappa, a Japanese mythological creature.  It also featured a very unfortunately-placed exit via the kappa`s...erm, loins.

What didn`t they have at the Flower Festival?  At one poine, we stumbled across this yurt.  It was part of an exhibition on Mongolia.  Apparently, Mongolians are trying to raise interest in their country and drum up some tourists and investors.  And they were so nice about it!

They even let me try on a traditional Mongolian outfit.  I, for one, hope they succeed in raising Mongolia Awareness.  Go Mongolia go!

A robot panda.  What`s Japan without robots?  Honestly, I`m disappointed in myself for not having posted a picture of one prior to this.

Japan`s most famous homeless man, Hiroshima Taro.  You can`t see it so well in this picture, but he`s totally covered in UFO Catcher dolls.  I guess people gave them to him or something?  It`s something of a mystery.　　　

There was also a tourist booth for Daegu, Korea; and again, I got to dress up.  This time, they put me in a hanbok.  I guess they hadn`t been planning on any American-size people visiting their booth, though, since they had to give me the biggest habok they had.  Jeez, I`m such a giantess around here. :(

Demons performing a traditional Japanese dance.  At one point, one of the kids climbed up on the stage and the demons charged at him.  They scared the poop out of him so bad he ran back through the crowd screaming for his mom.  Little bugger deserved it, if you ask me.

Wooden cranes in Peace Memorial Park, lit from within by lanterns.

Ryan likes to complain about how much his camera was freaking out when he took this picture, but I think it turned out kind of rad.  Dig that halo around the flame.

Small lanterns in Peace Memorial Park.  Each one had been decorated by a Japanese student.

This is the most contemplative I`ve ever looked in a photograph.  Heck, this is the most contemplative I`ve ever looked PERIOD.  In case you couldn`t tell, I didn`t know I was being photographed.

A close-up of some of the lanterns, whereupon were scrawled pleas for peace and harmony.  And occassionally, pictures of Pikachu and Raichu fighting.  I think some of the kids missed the point...

A float in the Flower Festival parade.  Note the woman at the very left, Miss Thailand 2010.  I guess she really had nothing better to do than fly to Hiroshima and stand on a float all day.

Some dancers in the Flower Festival parade.  I love the really small kid toward the center left.  He`s having a blast, even though he has no idea what the heck he`s supposed to be doing.  Sure, kid, just keep jumping up and down for the duration of the song.  That`ll wow `em!

These girls danced in a rather...well, wanton fashion.  And the four-year-old prostitot at left just about broke my heart.  Didn`t her mother look at her before she left the house?  What is the world coming to!?

This group had the most energy of any single group of people in the history of ever.  (Go ahead; try to diagram that sentence.  I dare you).

Korea`s Got Seoul

From the first moment I realized I would be living in Japan for a year, I knew South Korea was one of the places I would have to visit.  As many of you know, I worked at a private tutoring center in Ann Arbor for a year and a half.  The center was owned and run by a Korean family, and all of the students were either Korean-American or relatively-recent Korean immigrants.  During that time, I heard a lot about the country and managed to work up a healthy curiosity.  So when I began to arrange my vacation days, Seoul ended up on the short list of intended travel destinations.

When I asked my Japanese friends and acquaintances about Korea, I got mixed opinions.  I may have mentioned before that relations between Korea and Japan are somewhat fraught -- Japan occupied Korea for about 35 years beginning in 1910 and ruthlessly oppressed Korean culture, and there`s still a lot of lingering animosity.  In addition, development came to Korea fairly late in modern history, so I think there`s a tendency by some older Japanese to see Korea as a little dirtier and more backwater than their own country (the phrases we heard were "more Asian" or "more like China."  Pro-tip: in certain countries, among certain generations of people, saying something is "like China" is almost never a compliment).

The younger generation of Japanese is a different story, however.  They were generally enthused about Seoul, telling us that it was cheap, great for shopping, and had an abudance of delicious food.  Still, I wondered about the actual culture of Korea.  What made Korea special?  What did the country have to offer, besides shopping and stuffing your face?  Luckily, when it comes to sharing their culture with foreigners, South Koreans are some of the most enthusiastic and outgoing people I`ve ever encountered.  There`s a big push in Korea to attract more tourism and open cross-cultural exchange with other nations.  While in Seoul, we were entreated more than once to "please love Korea." 

And I did.  I LOVED Korea. :)  Now for some pictures.

My ticket to Korea, via Asiana Airlines.  Notice that "Ms. Joanna R Lesher" somehow got garbled into "LESHER.JOANNARMS."  I felt like I needed to develop really ripped biceps in order to be worthy of my new nickname.

The wastebasket at Gimpo Airport.  In case I never mentioned it before, Japan is obsessive about sorting garbage.  There`s a bin for burnables, a bin for non-burnables, a bin for cans, a bin for plastic bottles, etc.  But here at Gimpo, what did I see?  One wastebasket for every kind of garbage!  That was when I knew I wasn`t in Japan anymore.

Hanbok, the traditional costume of Korea.  Some people I`ve talked to say these look like maternity dresses, but I think they`re beautiful.  I almost bought one but decided not to at the last minute.  Now I kind of regret it. :(

Our hotel room was ENORMOUS.  And cheap.  The money we spent on this room would have gotten us a rabbit hutch with a bare matress on the floor in Tokyo.  This is the most luxurious room we`ve ever had since arriving in Asia.

Striking a pose in front of Sejong the Great, ruler of Korea in the 1400s and inventor of the Korean alphabet, Hangul.  This is a big deal because, prior to the invention of Hangul, Koreans had no writing system of their own.  They had to use Chinese characters instead.  Now the country has an almost 100% literacy rate because Hangul is the most scientific writing system in the world.  (Allegedly.  I`m not sure how you`d actually measure something like that).

Ryan in front of Sejong.

A protest in Insa-dong in downtown Seoul.  If you look closely, you can see that the poster reads "Dogs are friend!  Don`t eat dog."  I can definitely get behind those sentiments. :)

Gyeongbokgung, the Imperial Palace of Korea.  It`s one of five palaces in Seoul but is supposed to be the grandest and most imposing.

The changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung.  Lots of drumming and marching around in formation.  Very cool to watch.

Haechi, the mythical protector of Seoul.  He has scales and wings and looks kind of doofy, but in a lovable sort of way.  I`m not sure if I`d trust him to protect my city, but I do want to snuggle him.

The throne at Gyeongbokgung.  The mural behind the throne shows a sun (representing the king), a moon (representing the queen), and five peaks (representing...I forgot).  Colorful, isn`t it?

A gold dragon on the ceiling of the palace.  This dragon is special because it has seven claws, whereas most dragons have only five.  Why the extra two claws?  For kicking more @ss of course!  No, but seriously, no one knows for sure.

Monkeys on the roof of the party hall.  These statues (plus the curved roof) are intended to redirect any malicious spirits (i.e. sky ghosts) that show up.

The back side of the party hall.  You could only reach it by boat.  Gorgeous!

Ah, and now to a more modern part of Seoul, where there is no Emperor and Mario is a candidate for the presidency.  I`m pretty sure he isn`t a naturalized Korean citizen, though...

Insa-dong, the traditional Korean craft district.  Lots of food booths, tea houses, and souvenir shops selling ultra-cheap crafts to foreigners.  And I do mean CHEAP.  The downside about visiting Insa-dong was I realized that all the gifts my Korean students had given me over the years cost the equivalent of like, two bucks and could be purchased in packs of eight.  Oh well, I still feel special!

Man panty!  Only 10,000 won (the equivalent of ten bucks).  What a steal!

Neolithic pithouses at Amsa-dong.  Only an archaeology nerd like me (and a pottery nerd like Ryan) would make this kind of a side trip.  It was so worth it, though.

Namdaemun, a giant marketplace in downtown Seoul.  The vendors there sell everything from knock-off Louis Vuitton purses to knock-off Calvin Klein underwear to knock-off Michigan State hoodies (with the wrong school colors).  We even found a sweatshirt with a picture of Totoro and the lyrics to "London Calling" printed on the back.  I still can`t fathom why we didn`t buy that shirt.

Myeong-dong, a more upscale fashion district.  This is where all the hip youngsters hang out.  We didn`t buy any clothes, though.  We just bought a bunch of traditional Korean cakes.  I think we were doing it wrong.

Who is this sexy Korean dream boat?  We may never know.

Cheonggyecheong, an awesomely charming stream near Myeong-dong (and make-out point of the century, if the number of lip-locked couples was any indication).

A virtual garden at Cheonggyecheong.  The flowers grow a little each day and move when your shadow touches them.

A display on the Seoul metro, featuring the most bone-chilling rendition of Mr. Bean I have ever seen.

On our last morning in Seoul, we met up with my former student, Tae hee.  He took us out for a traditional Korean lunch, which included spicy cabbage, beef, and so many side-dishes they barely fit on the table.  Korean eateries are kind of known for this.

Me and Tae hee, just before we parted ways and Ryan and I headed back to Japan.  Bye bye, Korea.  I love you!