On my way to Tokyo... I missed my flight because there wasn't any toilet paper.

The airport in Chitose is an hour and a half train ride from Date. To catch my flight I needed to catch the 9AM train heading out of Date. I got to the Date train station at about 8:30AM. Plenty of time. But at 8:50AM, I get the feeling... the feeling like I need to go to the bathroom. Since it's 8:50 already, I figure I'll just hold it until I get on the train. I soon discover that that's not an option. So, I rush into the bathroom at the train station.

I go into the stall where there's a squatty-potty. I do my business and then realize that there isn't a toilet paper dispenser. I look around the stall to see if there's a free roll just lying around, but of course, there isn't one. I peek out of my stall and look for paper towels, pieces of garbage in the trash, anything to use. Nothing. I go back into the stall to check one last time.

Now, I hear an announcement over the PA system giving the last call for people boarding the train to the airport. I decide to ask the ticket master if they have any toilet paper. I zip up, yeah it's gross, and waddle like a penguin for about 20 feet to the ticket booth. I ask for toilet paper and he says, "We don't carry toilet paper." After I stared blankly at him for a while, he stands up, and says, "But I can give you some tissues." He hands me a pocket package of tissues, I take them, and head back. I wipe up real quick and run to the train platform only to see the doors close right before me eyes. I bang on the doors a couple of times. The ticket master goes out to me and says, "Don't do that, it's dangerous." My patience with him in running real low at this point.

I ask the ticket master, "When's the next train to the airport?" He responds, "Not for another hour and 15 minutes." I do some quick math, and realize that I have no chance at catching my plane. So, I ask him for another package of tissues. "Sorry, we can only give people one package at a time." I was a very unhappy semi-Japanese boy.

Just got back from a seminar/conference in Tokyo that went from the 25th to the 27th.

While I was waiting for my flight out of Tokyo back to Hokkaido in the airport terminal, I noticed this guy who was sitting in front of me. He was actually a couple of rows ahead of me. And this dude was full on picking his nose. This wasn't the courtesy rubbing of the nose. Or brushing by the knuckles. You all know what I'm talking about. No, this guy wasn't discreet about it at all. No shame. Just straight diggin'. "Craikee... I can't believe me eyes!"

Last week of the regular season... haha, this is getting way too much "hype"

Considering that the 5824 house in itself owns 3 blogs, it should be a conference in itself... a mid-major like Conference USA or something. That would cause some rivalry! Oh well, not this time around. Speaking of which, I am pleasantly surprised by the success of the Cal Bears on the football field over the past couple of years. Win over Stanford and a bowl berth. I don't know if this proves Tedford's genius or Holmoe's incompetency.

Anyway, with the last week, is the lineup of the BCS bowls. It's championship week.

Blogger.com Bowl
(No.1 vs. No.2)

Hyper "bole"
(Highest ranking blogger out of the East Bay conference vs. Highest ranking blogger out of the South Bay conference)

Ramen Bowl
(Highest ranking blogger out of the SoCal conference vs. at large bid)

Manute Bol
(Highest non-California conference blogger vs. at large bid)

Today, there was an art display at the city community center. They were displaying the works of art of the elementary school kids from the city of Date. When I saw what many of them had drawn, I couldn't help but laugh. No no, the drawings were actually very good. A lot better than me when I was in elementary school. Man, a lot better than me now. It wasn't the technique that made me chuckle. It was the subject of their drawing.

When I was in elementary school, I think I drew stuff like cars and airplanes and big buildings and dinosaurs (or at least things that resembled dinosaurs in my mind). What did the children of Date draw? I saw about 5 construction shovels. And I saw about 15 tractors. The others, were things like trees and flowers and stuff. This was a pretty small display too. 15 tractors! I was like, "Where am I? Iowa?" Nope, Date, baby.

Tomorrow, I'll be having Thanksgiving dinner. Since I'll be away on the actual day of Thanksgiving, I decided to hold a Thanksgiving dinner at the church tomorrow as a coffee house idea. And in preparation, I've been making a whole mess of food tonight. Bruschetta, corn bread, mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, cornish game hens (because I can't get turkey), fruit salad, pumpkin pies, and peanut butter cookies. Whew. I'm figuring other people'll bring other appetizers and drinks. Should be hammin' it up tomorrow! Oh yeah.

Every now and then, some Japanese person will ask me, "Is the Japanese language difficult?" For about a year or so, I told them what I really thought. "No, I mean learning any foreign language is a challenge, but Japanese isn't especially challenging." BIG MISTAKE. To that response, I'd always get a weird look and some explanation about why the Japanese language in particular is incredibly difficult for non-Japanese people to learn. Some pointed out that Japanese grammar is so different from any other language (point out that it's the same as Korean and some people get mad). Some pointed out that the pronunciation of the Japanese sounds are difficult for non-native speakers to make (but for the most part I don't have too much difficulty with this). Some have nothing specific to point out but just blankets everything with the overarching statement, "Yeah, Japanese is a very complex language."
An interesting thing about an island country, particularly with Asian countries that start with the letter J and rhyme with "Apan"... because historically they don't get much exposure to other countries and cultures, they believe that they are so unique from everybody else. And in some cases, the Japanese are correct, but not nearly as often as they think. Use of chopsticks. Eating rice.
The idea of globalization? Yeah, here, it's pretty much just an idea. I don't know how many people were surprised that I've eaten sushi in America. Or that I own a Toshiba computer that I bought in America (some people actually became very proud of Japanese manufacturing because of my Toshiba computer).
Then again, I've heard that the urban areas of Tokyo and Osaka are more aware of what's going on in other countries. Maybe this is all just coming from the country perspective.

Peanut butter cookies are good. Especially if you use chunky peanut putter. Mmmm. Add hot cocoa, and well, that's a good winter night spent.

BCS rankings have been updated... two more weeks left in the regular season! Then we get into the bowls. Oh yeah! Can you feel the tension? I sure can. Ooohhhh. Speaking of which, I have a real hankering to watch a football game. I've now missed six straight football seasons. Well, actually it's more like three pro football seasons and three college football seasons, but in my book they should be counted separately.

Today, it snowed for the first time this year in Date. When I say "this year" I of course don't mean 2003 because it snowed all the way up til mid May. Yo, mid-May snow is "nooooo-good." But anyway, it snowed today, and when compared to last year, this year is a bit late. Last year is snowed in the beginning of November. That's right, snow from November to mid-May. A little over 6 months of winter. Blah! Some Hokkaido people were having some fun with me in saying that Hokkaido has only 3 seasons... winter, spring, and fall. They may very well be correct.

So, with snow, come changes. Clothes get more numerous and puffy. The space heater gets turned on all the time. The tires on the car have to get changed... and so do the windshield wipers. I can't wear a pair of shoes I own... and regardless of the shoes I'm wearing, I have to do the "walking on ice and snow shuffle." I can't hang my clothes out to dry anymore (although I think I should try it with an old T-shirt just to see if I really freezes). Hot chocolate suddenly tastes really really good. Ditto for microwaved smores, well, until the marshmallow cools and gets all hard and sticky.

Interesting thing about the Japanese language...

Recently, I've noticed that the Japanese have interesting names for some animals. Japan is not home to very many animals in the animal kingdom. And so, while the Japanese language was being developed, only a few animals got Japanese names. Examples include dogs (inu) and cats (neko).

Some of the animals without Japanese names have names that sound like the English counterpart. Examples include gorillas (gorira) and lions (raion).

But then, there are those animals with names that are really Japanese descriptions. These are the really interesting ones. Examples include porcupines (harinezumi) and raccoons (araiguma). Harinezumi means needle mouse while araiguma means washing bear. The Japanese for porcupines I understood immediately. I guess a person who's never seen one could say that it looks like a mouse with needles sticking out of it. But the raccoon... the raccoon had me stumped for a while. I mean, the first thing I notice about raccoons are the black rings around their eyes. I don't notice the fact that they wipe/wash everything they eat with their hands. And there's the whole bear thing. They don't look anything like a bear. They look more like cats or dogs or I dunno, beavers than bears. But then that's my opinion.

I had sushi for dinner today. It was good. There's a sushi restaurant like around the corner from my place, and that place is bomb! It's close. It's cheap. And they've got big portions. "Sushi? Big portions?" you may be asking yourself. To which I reply, "Yes indeedy!" It's not like you can supersize the rice in the sushi. BUT... the topping (neta) is huge at this place (note: most of the sushi in Japan are the ones with the rice on the bottom and the fish on top... not the rolls).

Example: If you pick up an unagi plate. You get two pieces of unagi sushi. Pretty normal. The rice on the bottom... regular size. BUT, whereas most sushi restaurants have the pieces of unagi sitting on top of the rice, this place has it on top of the rice and curling under it. Basically, it's twice the size. My favorite... the King Salmon sushi plate that has pieces of raw King Salmon resting on top of the rice, with about 3/4 inch of excess flapping on the sides. Can't get that out in Tokyo! Gotta come out to the country to get some of that good finga lickin' food.

One of the things I never get tired of here in Japan are the clothes. I love seeing people wear clothes with weird English on them. When I went to Sapporo the other day, at the train station, I saw this guy with a windbreaker jacket that had the letters "ASS" written in big bold yellow letters on the back. Then below that it said something like "Authentic California Clothing."

Yeah, in all my years in California, I don't think I've ever seen clothes by that make. It just made me think though, "Who designed that jacket?" Some Japanese guy who's never been to California? Or some Californian who wanted to play a joke on Japanese fashion knowing that people would wear that jacket in public in Japan?

Today, on my day off, I went to Sapporo. It was a lot of fun. I never realized how much I am a city boy until I came here to Hokkaido. For those who don't know, I'm in a city of 35,000 people. Now, some of you in the bay area may say, "Oh, 35,000? That's like the size of El Cerrito (maybe?)." The thing about the bay area suburbs is just that... it's a suburb of a fairly large metropolitan area. Basically, if you're driving down I-80... it's hard to tell where one city starts and another begins. Out here, it's very easy to tell where one city starts and another begins. There are stretches of fields that separate our city from its neighbors. So, we get that small town feel. And thus, I realize how much of a city boy I am.

I think I wrote this about Sapporo before, but I find it strange how it seems like the people in Sapporo are like 6 inches taller than the people in Date (where I'm living). Then again, maybe not. Young people live in Sapporo. People in their 20s and 30s are there. Out here, we have more the 50s, 60s, 70s type people. And everybody knows that many Asian people in their 70s are hunched over, pushing some cart or something. And well, people hunched over just aren't as tall as people who are standing up straight.

My hair's getting a little shaggy. Yeah, it's getting a little long. Normally, I'd cut it. But right now, I'm having second thoughts. Why? Because it's getting mighty cold. And short hair doesn't insulate the noggin as well as longer hair. The hair also helps with the wind chill factor. And we got plenty of that.

The problem with longer hair of course, is multiple. It takes longer to dry when I come out of the shower. It goes all over the place when I wake up. It starts brushing up on my eyebrows which I absolutely hate. And well, it's just not very stylin'. Am I metro?

Today there was a funeral...

And go figure, even in this solemn atmosphere, a lady came up to me and asked me, "Would you like me to set you up with my granddaughter?" I've almost gotten used to people saying something like this to me so I wasn't surprised so much by what she said as I was by the way she brought up the topic.

Lady: Thank you for coming.
Hideyo: Oh, it was no problem. You have my condolences.
Lady: Thank you. Would you like to stay around to eat?
Hideyo: No thanks. I don't want to cause too much trouble.
Lady: It's no trouble at all. You can come eat with us.
Hideyo: Thank you. But no thanks.
Lady: Oh. Well, thank you for coming. Would you like me to set you up with my granddaughter?

Completely came outta the blue. I mean, what the hao?!

Tonight, we had our weekly prayer meeting. Only, this week, instead of the pastor, I led it. Boy oh boy... was I overwhelmed! I don't know about everybody else, but I was touched by God during our time of prayer tonight. It was awesome. At the end, I kept thinking, "Man, I should've brought a camera! I should've brought a camera!" It was just one of those meetings where the Holy Spirit was just moving and you could see it with your eyes (and probably through the lens of a camera).

If there's one thing you can't dock Japanese Christians for, it's praying. Japanese Christians pray. There are a lot of things about Japanese Christianity that drives me absolutely nutso... but I highly respect them for praying.

Oh, and by the way, today, I had bowl of miso ramen. That mess is good!

Part 2 of the sticky rice saga...

I forgot to mention that it's the sticky rice balls the "onigiri" that the Japanese anime cartoon people are often eating while they're walking. I don't care what the English dub over says. They ain't DONUTS... or MEATBALLS. Out here, if you wanna get donuts, you go to Mister Donut... or as the locals call it, MisuDo. I remember the first time I heard "MisuDo." I was like "Miss who?"

Mad props out to Kat-chan for the comment about the onigiri. Actually, it probably more like a full blown post. And Japanese ingenuity indeed. It doesn't matter where you go. If you order fried rice, it'll come served as a dome. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you might go to a restaurant that puts a little toothpick flag on top. And if you're still a kid and order the kids' special, you get that with a little tempura shrimp all served on a bullet train (shinkansen) dish. But, shoot, I want some of that bomb umeboshi. I'm guessin that it won't pass through customs inspection though. If Naomi Sato gets a contract with Kewpie mayonaisse though, I can learn how to make that stuff from watching "san-pun-kukkingu."

About Seri's comment, I read the word "inane" like "ee-nah-neh." I thought it was a Japanese word and so I read it like one. Sigh. How am I ever going to get through apps?