yoi otoshi o

Happy holidays all y'all.

Hoping you are yours are happy and well-fed.

Life continues to accelerate at a breakneck pace (literally, as described herein). I officially live in a bachelor pad. My floor is periodically strewn with bento boxes, dry cleaning bags, and cans of beer. I clean when I have time, so not all that often.


Biggest development: A bicycle. It's red. It has a built in lock. All the locks in the country are so flimsy!

My red bicycle now opens up a world unto me hidden with back-alleys, bonsai, and the satisfaction derived from orientation in one's surrounding. I have learnt more about my new home in 3 days than I did in the previous 6 weeks.

sub-development: compass. crucial. Bicycling home tonight I found my self heading north when I was trying to go south. screwy streets. Incidentally, I can bike to work in 20 minutes. )

I had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. I had a Big Mac for Christmas dinner. Class. I then proceded to bicycle an hour across town to a Christmas Party, followed by an 1 1/2 hour bicycle ride home (uphill this time). Then I went to work in the morning. Merry Christmas! Santa mailed me a pair of leather gloves, they are well appreciated on the bike!

My holidays start on the 30th, back on the 5th. Heading to Tokyo for two nights to go to the Fish Market (among other things). Stupid Ghibli Museum is closed for the holidays. damn damn damn. now I HAVE to go back. ooh! and I get to take the bullet train of fame and fortune, the Shinkansen. wee!

oh and some jehovah's witnesses came a-knocking today. yes, that's right folks, they're a creed of all colors, kicking doors in internationally. My foreigner status gave me the opportunity to give them the quick shoo-off though. Sometimes language barriers are A OK.

Again:

Take care of yourself this season. I miss you. yes you.

Happy Holy Days

<3 oyshiface <3

word of the day: youshou (infancy)

The frequency of my posts has diminished greatly as of late. I feel the cause the of this is the end of my gestation period, and my entry into youshou, or infancy, here in Japan. I am now out exploring much more, toddling around, trying to to stick my foot in it daily.Yesterday went to Kobe. They have a chinatown. Every year they hold a celebration called luminare (or to that effect), where they display very ornate christmas light displays to commemorate an earthquake in 1995. Even with prior knowledge (thats patent talk y'all!), the crowd was just too much, I was just too tired, and so Luminare will have to wait till next year, sorry folks. In lieu, here is footage of a reindeer on a bike. Tour du Pole Nord.


What I did instead was hang out in a dumpling shop and watch the crowds drift by, eat delicious steamed buns. They have a unique squid ink bun that is jet black. oishi! Otherwise, I work. Long ass weeks. Short short weekends. But I make'em count.
a week from tomorrow (December 23rd) is the emperors birthday, and I am going to wakayama to visit my first onsen (hot spring). EXCITED.


I got a phone. joy of all joys. I can watch all the japanese television I want for free. just don't call me from Canada. mmm gyoza.

I had some really wild pictures to show you, but I deleted them (merde).

For now this will have to do. Playlist #2 next time!

love

oyshiface

score to oyshiface (movement no.1)

It has been a just over a fortnight since my arrival in Osaka. I am quickly developing routines, and moving through daily motions. Time has slipped by swiftly, yet in some aspects I feel at home already. In many other ways however, I don't think I can ever truly feel at home here, but that remains to be seen. I feel good being here, and I think I can be happy. )

I have embedded a playlist in this blog describing my day to day motions here in Osaka. It is a movement in three parts, depicting my way to work (#1-3), my way home(#4-6), and exploration of Osaka(#7-8). I can't stop singing/humming these tracks, and the thought of them keeps me awake at work.

I spent a goodly amount of time figuring a way for these tracks to play successively, so please listen to it, I hope you will take something from it.

Track list
01 fleet foxes - blue ridge mountains
02 bridget bardot - la madrague
03 jamie lidell - another day
04 deastro - light powered
05 michna - triple chrome dipped
06 flyamsam - the offbeat
07 flying lotus - massage situation
08 flying lotus - tea leaf dancers




I wake up in the morning and iron a shirt, drink a bowl of coffee (thanks helene), and tie a tie. I understand the motions of tying a tie, but still, there's a certain savoir faire that can only come with time. Which I look forward to very much, as I thoroughly enjoy looking snappy. I'm in love with three piece suits, and when I have an income I'm getting shirts fitted just for me and my orangutan arms.

I take the train to work. It can be quite cozy, but fortunately its a quick ride, I can get from home to work in roughly 20 minutes in rush hour. I will write more about the transit system later, it deserves dedicated focus. This is the Crystal Tower. I work on the fifteenth floor (about halfway up). This photo was taken near Osaka Castle moat, and we have a stellar view from my office. I try to minimize staring out the window, but damn. I'm too shy to take pictures in my office yet. trade secrets and all, y'know?

I'm learning lots about Japanese Patent Law, and how to sit at a desk all day. More importantly I am developing a work ethic. I just need to finish my damn thesis so I can get on with my life. I've probably procrastinated enough fiddlin' with playlists and such.

Anyways...things are going well. I am adapting in my usual manner to my surroundings. I have been out on the town until 6 AM the last two nights, and I am making friends. The bars don't close, so it reaches a point where you are just kickin around the bar waiting for the trains to open. late nights.

My home feels like a home. I bought more bedding, so I have a good lil' nest in my loft, and I have lots of new friends to keep dippy, tortoise, and myself company.

in a complete non sequitur, Greenland just voted 72% yes in a referendum to move towards more autonomy. I think this is awesome. bbc here.


love y'all

<3 oyshiface <3

word of the day: shiro (castle)

Went to Osaka-jo, or Osaka castle today. It struck me as very capable of keeping people out. go figure.

Osaka-jo seems like it would be a stalwart bastion against samurai hordes; artillery not so much. I think a howitzer would revert it to matchsticks in short order. Apparently this thing has been taken and razed or razed before being taken a couple of times. The foundations are solid though. We are talking 100-tonne 65 square meter stone slabs. Pretty nifty. Ginkgo trees abound here. I feel very at home in a country that values trees as much as Japan does. What doesn't make me feel at home (aside from many other things) is the lack of systematic streets. I'm considering buying myself a compass. Its hard to navigate by sun when half the time you are underground or in covered arcades. Not they they ain't cool. coz they are.

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word of the day: nato (fermented beans/north atlantic treaty org./latin for swim)

Went for sushi today for the first time.

sushi is slapped down onto a conveyor belt two by two.

thus, ordering/recieving your food is straightforward.

1. see food
2. take food
3. eat food.

your bill is accorded by the number/colour of plates you have stacked up.

People made me take Nato maki, which is a fermented bean dish commonly eaten for breakfast in Japan. It has a very rancid acid taste. very strong. eating it was supposed to be initiation.

Most people supposedly spit the first one out. I ate both. )
(hint: soy sauce and wasabi actually make it tolerable...it might even grow on you...). Apparently the beans are quite good for you.

Apparently there are much better places, but this is a start!

Going to Kyoto tomorrow,
more posts on the way soon.

love

oyshiface

word(s) of the day: shio kosho sato (salt pepper sugar)

I just had my first dinner at home.
Miso soup and a sandwich. Now it feels like home. I went grocery shopping! I bought salt pepper sugar milk tea cereal miso sesame oil bread cheese salami snacks. I also bought a pot for boiling water, shoe polish, and a sugar dish. I can't stress enough how much we take our day to day actions for granted in the familiar environment, i.e. where we can read signs and speak a lingua franca. Finding all of the foodstuffs I bought was a combination of luck, ingenuity and a lot of "sumimasen...(object) wa doko des ka?" I'm lucky people want to help here. In south america random people I would ask for help would just look at me like there' was something growing out of my forehead.

Bringing food into the apartment makes in much more of a home. Also figuring out how to turn on the heat also helps. But there's this mystery draft a-blowing on me from somewhere all the same. but I digress.

I have a home. This is what it looks like. I have a sleeping loft. I have a big open space with (practically) nothing in it. I have an ironing board. I like my ironing board. I have bathroom (no bidet unfortunately), but a super deep tiny bathtub, and the best bathmat ever. I have friends who keep me company in the bathroom. They're names are dippy and anonymous stegosaurus ( haven't named her yet...maybe tortoise...TORTOISE FAMILY LOVE!). I have a kitchenette. I have a cutting board shaped like a crab. I think I have everything I need to make domestic. Cept' a broom.

It's expensive to buy all the little
accoutrements of domestic home.
Especially in Japan, stuff is expensive here.

Food too. I can't believe how much packaging everything comes in. its a lot. I took for granted the iron I found in the alley at Lisgar. If anyone there is reading this, the iron is in my old closet. treasure it. they ain't free. unless they are free.

oyshiface

word of the day: kameraya (camera shop)

A kameraya to end all kamerayas. Colloquially know as Yodobashi Camera, Yodobashi-Umeda is a behemoth department store. Colossal. Its very large. Look how many vacuum cleaners they sell. Far as the eye can see.

I now have a spiffy new camera (Olympus mu series 1050 SW). Its waterproof (3m). and drop-proof (1.5 m). My rationale was I broke my last digital camera throwing it across a peruvian river because it couldn't get wet, and I was about to be swept away downstream. Hence, my new camera is designed to withstand the rigours I will undoubtedly subject it to. I hope. remains to be seen...I just need to find a torrential river surround by rocks...

oyshiface

word of the day: osoy (late)

hurray being late for my first day of work. To be fair, a lot of people were late, due to the man having a seizure on the packed commuter train. wee.

Work went well otherwise. Big shiny building, I can see Osaka castle. I watched videotaped lectures of the nerdiest lawyers ever explaining patent theory. I get to look forward to this for at least a week. wee.

today was my very first encounter with a bidet. it was warm. the seat was heated too. it was a public toilet, no less! There was the little button on the armrest of the toilet (yes, it had an armrest), and the little button had a little bum on it. I had to push it. once again, warm. also, the seat was heated. This blew me away. Upon reading the warning, I discovered the seat can cause surface burns to sensitive skin, and as such proper caution should be taken. futuristic!

I got let off work early to find my way to my ward office, where I applied for my gaijin card. In case you didn't know, a gaijin is a foreigner. I have to keep proper identification on me at all times (passport/gaijin card) at all times, or its incarceration for me! wee.

Soon I will have a camera, and I can upload photos. I went to a colosseum-calibre electronics department store named yodobashi-umeda. f***in huge. But I forgot my credit card at home. So I go back tomorrow or soon thereafter, and then the righteous photo documentation will begin.

enough for now, I need to take a bath,

yours from his tiny tiny bathtub

oyshiface

never a better time than now (OYSHI!)

todays word of the day is "oyshi". this means tasty.

This was in response to the tasty octopus pancakes and gyoza a maternal-like woman made in front of me behind a bar, while her husband brought me beer. My first meal.

I live in Japan now. Tomorrow I start my new work. Today I dove into the heart of Osaka, and grinned like a fool for all the people.

I saw a giant red sperm whale today suspended in a mall. I like sperm whales. sperm whale vs. giant squid. cetacean vs. cephalopod.

As my meal included cephalopod, I'll lump myself in as a sperm whale. for today at least.

more to come, especially once I have a camera.

<3 oyshiface <3