observations of a foreigner in japan
because earthquakes have a history of devastation in the nation of japan, schools have periodic earthquake drills. they board of education wants all students to be prepared in the case of a major earthquake, like in kobe, 1995.
they should exit the building before it looks like this (kobe 1995).
recently, mickie moved to japan for unknown reasons.
cushion cut, for those curious ones.
recently i met my former student ai so mickie and i took her to cuban food, versailles. quite nearby was nathalee thai but i’m the kind of guy who doesn’t like spicy with artificial dyes. when it comes to food i’m quite shy, i don’t like to try new things in fear i might die, or have explosive 3.5.
ai and i at versailles
this isn’t going to be a long post but just a short, heartfelt one. there’s some stuff that i miss in torrance that i don’t think about on a regular basis but i DO miss. these are those things that you don’t really even think about until you see/have them and then realize how much you miss them. here are a couple of mine:
mom’s homemade peach cobbler –
it's the best because it uses auntie sandy's peaches, another thing that i miss dearly. japan has ONLY white peaches.
most people in japan, even college-aged and young professionals, live at home with their parents so there isn’t a lot of privacy, especially because many homes have paper-thin doors without locks. these conditions just aren’t all that conducive to gettin’ busy so in come (heh) the love hotels.
a book inspired by the phenomenon.
before emiko left for florida, i promised i would go with her to her favorite stage actor’s show. saotome taichi is this 19 year old kid that is part of a family of stage performers. the family troupe travels around japan performing various things like taishuu engeki (a traditional theater performance related to kabuki), traditional and modern mixed dance performances, and taichi’s specialty: onnagata. “what is onnagata?” you might ask. emiko told me that it’s very beautiful, graceful, prestigious, blah blah blah, but what it really boils down to: he’s a cross-dresser.
just like creepy dudes love young girls (bishoujo), creepy women love young dudes (bishounen) like saotome taichi.
being from torrance, i always took going to the beach for granted. i mean, torrance beach was about 15 minutes from my house, and redondo/hermosa/manhattan were only about 20 minutes away each. then, when i went to ucsd, la jolla shores was a 15 minute walk/5 minute drive from campus. even living in torrance and wanting to go to huntington beach is only a 40 minute drive. i went to the beach with some friends in august, and it took, wait for it…..3 HOURS!
at least we had plenty of time to apply ample amounts of alliteration/sunscreen.
anyone who reads this blog knows that i have a (semi) unhealthy obsession with bape. i think it’s because it’s cute without being cutesy, if that makes any sense at all.
alright, i wouldn't have rocked this shirt but you get the point.
it’s been a while since i’ve posted anything so i’ll slowly try to catch up with my doings. this post is reaching all the way back to the beginning of august.
i'm "backblogged." *rimshot*
NOTE: i won’t be posting for a couple weeks cuz i’ll be at home visiting friends and fam. grandma’s house doesn’t have internet so i’m kinda SOL. see you in a few weeks!
i love google images.