100% FAIL

~On my ride home from work today, I rode past the infamous Hananomachi Avenue. Near the edge, outside of one seedy-looking establishment of dubious repute, was one tough-looking guy...or at least, he was doing his best to look like a gangster. You know what I mean: black clothes, black hat, shoulders hunched over, furiously smoking a cigarette and glaring at everyone who walks by.

...but as I rode past him, I happened to look back, and noticed the writing on the back of his "tough guy" jacket: HAMSTER CLUB. Seriously, that's an instant, 100%, no-question-about it FAIL. ~Oyasumi!

NOTE: I'm in the process of moving, and my internet service here will be turned off tomorrow. This means that I may be incommunicado for a few days. Fear not, David Does Japan will return before I actually leave Japan.

Give Me A Break

~Here's a uniquely Japanese confection:

^ Peach-flavored KitKats! I couldn't resist buying these to see how they tasted. They were actually not that bad, albeit a bit too sweet for my tastes. What's next, cherry-blossom-flavored Snickers? ~Oyasumi!

Culinary Creations

~Today, I'll answer the question that I know has been on everyone's mind: what does David eat in Japan? The truth is that I haven't exactly gone native...far from it, actually. While I've tried many Japanese foods in an effort to broaden my culinary horizons, few of them have become lasting parts of my diet. Take, for example, tonight's dinner (a veritable feast, if I do say so myself):

^ The dinner menu for Monday, April 9th, 2007, is as follows:

• Main course: Cheese-filled tortellini pasta, topped with tomato sauce and parmasean cheese.
• Vegetables: Steamed broccoli and carrots.
• Meat: Chicken wings, topped with powdered garlic (keeps the vampires away)
• Side: Heated dinner roll with margerine.
• One glass of red wine ("Frontera" Cabernet Sauvingon, from Chile)
  
• One tall glass of chocolate milk
  

I was very hungry from riding my bicycle all over Nagaoka and from cleaning my apartment all day, in preparation for my replacement teacher. Of course, the fact that I didn't eat any breakfast and had only a small lunch may have contributed to this gastronomic celebration. I usually don't have time to cook such a delicious meal, but since I'm off of work on Monday, I usually put a bit more effort into making food on the weekend.

This reminds me of when I was living in an apartment in college and cooked meals similar to this. One time, my roommate walked in, looked at the food in awe, and said, "It looks...so...so...nutritious."

By the way, here's some Japanglish I found on a soap dispenser while cleaning:

hand soap
Always clean your hand
500ml

I imagine that washing your hand, if you only had one, would be a bit of a trick. No offence intended to any one-armed men. Or women. ~Oyasumi!

Sensei Update

~Back in my post on Japanese name suffixes, I mentioned that the suffix "sensei" can be used for professions other than teachers; for example, doctors. Just yesterday I learned another interesting and subtle way for the suffix to be used for a particular job.

During a make-up lesson with one of my more advanced students, we played a game of "20 questions", selecting a word from a particular category and asking yes-or-no questions to determine what word the other person picked. After going through animals and countries, my student wanted "Characters from Harry Potter" as the category, because we are reading through the first novel in class. I complied, secretly selecting the school headmaster, Dumbledore.

The questions she asked me were good: "Are you a student?" (no). "Can you do magic?" (yes). "Are you a friend of Harry?" (yes). Questions like this continued for some time, until she asked, "Are you a teacher?". I responded negatively, as Dumbledore is the headmaster (principal) of the school, and doesn't actually teach any classes.

My student eventually conceded, but became irritated when I revealed my character. I expected her to understand and be amused when she realized the difference between "headmaster" and "teacher", but for some reason she was unable to make the distinction.

Later that day, I had another student, a genki high school girl. One of the vocabulary words for her lesson was "boss", and I asked her who the "boss" of her school was. Immediately, she replied, "Suzuki-sensei!". I asked her if Suzuki-sensei was a teacher, and she said no, explaining that he was the school "manager" (i.e., the principal).

The problem from the previous lesson suddenly clicked into place. School principals and similar leaders, it seems, also get the -sensei suffix, even if they aren't technically teachers. The student from my previous class understood the difference, but was unable to make a quick distinction in her mind. She must have defaulted that Dumbledore, as headmaster of Hogwarts, automatically deserved the title of "sensei", and in her mind she must have filed him under the category of "teacher" for the question she asked me. Interesting. ~Oyasumi!