Adventures in Japan no. 24

The sky turned black at 5 o'clock. We knew a storm was coming. Sitting in class with a student, the room went dark. No lights. He quickly left the building and I followed not far behind him.

The rain fell like the ocean was emptying into the street and I had forgotten my umbrella in the car. I grabbed a spare from the downtown classroom as I fled out the door where the water was making its way up.

I dashed down the deserted sidewalk, my heels filling with water, and took a shortcut through a back-alley – rapidly being filled-up with water by the overflowing storm drain.

Once in my car I turn on the heat – it's a humid evening, but I needed to dry my clothes.

The only sounds back at home are the thunder and rain shattering against the clay-tiled roof. The shoji light up from the illuminated dragon that darts across the sky. The thunder shakes the house. I wonder how long it will last.

Mizu Shōbai

Just a few days ago an English teacher was murdered. She was smart, attractive, Western and my age. She'd only been in Japan for a short time – a place I was in not too long ago. It's a vulnerable place and sadly, she didn't make it through.


The Japanese man views a woman differently then a Western man. She was put on this earth to service him. Nothing more. This murder reeks of sexual aggression and Japan's gender issues.

Her murder has brought up thoughts of another murder of a Western girl, Lucie Blackman. But Lucie wasn't an English teacher. She came to Japan in search of wealth – working as a hostess in a hostess bar.

Since I first arrived in Japan 10 months ago, I've been fascinated by this strange sexual counterculture. You can't escape it – the Mizu Shōbai - it's everywhere.

Adventures in Japan no. 23

I went to a party last night that was one part casual dinner party, one part guitar jam session, and one part college kegger.

Here the French speak English, the Irish speak French and the British speak Japanese. How did we fit into this mix? Perfectly.

After ordering about 8 pizzas (Japanese sized pizza, not American) we settled in with the vino, made some new friends and listened to the best cover of Jimi Hendrix by a Japanese man that could be done.

Though he said tonight he would speak Japanese only, after a few beers his English was impeccable.

Adventures in Japan no. 22

Yesterday I noticed two paper lanterns next door. Giant lanterns leading down the path to the home on our right. Have these always been here and am I just noticing them? Couldn't be – they are too massive, to magnificent, too reminiscent of old world Japan.

My first thought was, “They're building a restaurant next door!”. But that's not the case. These lanterns have a special significance. They are symbolic of the funerary proceedings in the house on our right.

It is very common to see these lanterns around neighborhoods this time of year. As one of my students put it, this is a common time for death. The changing seasons must be too much for these ancient bodies to handle.

Funeral ceremonies in Japan are a very sacred time, and the families stay in mourning until the New Year. This is a time to release the spirit of their deceased to the ancestor world. Once dead, their ancestors become spirits and gods. They will never be forgotten and will be prayed to and cared for after death.

Two major chopsticks faux-pas come from this ceremony. During the funeral, the bones of the deceased are passed through a line of chopsticks-wielding family members and bowls of rice with chopsticks vertically stuck in the middle are placed at an alter to the deceased. It's considered unforgivable to pass food from one set of chopsticks to the other, and also to stick your chopsticks vertical into the center of your rice.