A Japan funny...

It's been a while since we've had a Japan funny.

S and I went to Ginza over the weekend to a Parisian shop that sells scented candles, sprays, burning oils, etc. Basically smelly things. S wanted to find a "cedar" scented oil that he had once bought and really liked. S is a good customer. He bought 2 candles and the cedar oil. As expected in Japan, the sales clerk dutifully wrapped each item in layers of bright white tissue paper, folding the edges with crisp precision and securing them with a golden seal. I swear only someone who has practiced origami since age 5 can wrap items with such zeal. She even scurried to find us some pine-scented potpourri she offered to add for free as a special service. To wrap everything up (literally), she carefully packaged our items, now unbreakable even if dropped from the top of Tokyo Tower, and inserted them into the daintiest little shopping bag for transport to our bleak-smelling home.

We got home, opened the package, and realized that our clerk had been so busy wrapping she had forgotten to put the cedar oil in the shopping bag. S was of course in a rage. "Merde! I don't care eef every-ZING eez WRAP-- I just want zees zings for which I PAID!" I called the shop and explained our situation, and listened to the woman apologize profusely for the mistake in her most humble Japanese... and ONLY IN JAPAN... she offered to mail us the cedar oil, along with a complimentary gift. One day later, we received both items, and a letter:

"Thank you for coming to the shop for the other day. I'm sorry that I was not able to pass the commodity to you. It was our mistake. I'm very sorry. I send 'CEDRE OIL' to you, and I present 'CEDRE SACHET' to you. Please use it.

Thank you, come again."

Only in Japan, I tell you. Only in Japan...

Another year past...

In Japan, you know it by the sakura (cherry blossoms).

The rest of the year has gone by in a blur, but one can almost always remember where he/she did a hanami (cherry blossom viewing) the year before, annually stamping the passage of time with a picnic blanket and a beer. Last year, I remember a big, beautiful picnic in Shinjuku park with Px, Px's mom, Becca, Oneichan, Matt-o, and S. A night viewing at Yasukuni Shrine with the Frenchies (one on crutches with a bum leg) and Becca. A stroll through Aoyama cemetery with S. An okonomiyaki lunch at Zojoji while on break from work. And then I can't believe it's already been one whole year since those times and how things have changed since. Becca isn't here. She's getting married! Px is no longer my flatmate, and is no longer in Tokyo. She's spending this year's sakura season on a beach somewhere in Southeast Asia! Even I am not here anymore... or full time at least.

It also means a full year-plus with S. Last year around this time we were already quite serious, and here we are one year later.

To start off this season's memories, S and I went for a leisurely stroll around Nezu/Yanaka area on Saturday and caught some beautiful blooms. We're off to Kyoto Thursday and Friday, where hopefully we won't be too early. And finally, before I leave Japan to return to wintertime again, we'll have another Shinjuku hanami with (almost) the same crowd as last year.

I wonder if the wind will scatter this year's petals in yet even more different directions... !?

Old places, new starts

Tokyo hasn't changed much in the past month. The chemist down the street is remodeling. S' scooter has seen the last of its good days. We bought a rice cooker! Nothing earthshattering, but still just enough to show that life goes on.

Yesterday was a holiday, so S had the day off, and we decided to explore a place neither of us had been before. The sun was shining, which I now appreciate more than ever before, so we went to Koraku-en to see the last of the plum blossoms in bloom. It was the perfect time of day, and the sun and shadows were dancing with each other in all kinds of interesting ways. I had a good time with my camera!

Afterwards, we went to see Syriana, which I really enjoyed though struggled to understand at some parts. I don't recommend it for non-native English speakers. S didn't catch most of the plot, since little parts of the dialogue really link all the disconnected scenes together. But I love spy movies and political dramas, so I was an easy audience to please.

A steaming bowl of ramen really topped off the night. God it's good to be back!

Too much to say!

The month long disappearances really don't do much for blogging continuity, I suppose.

The past month was filled to the brim with good memories. I'm now in Tokyo, happily separated from my laptop which I left at school, so I will forego uploading photos at the moment, but I'll give some links to albums of a couple of European stints: Americans in Paris! Nazareth meets Barcelona! (Note: I just uploaded some from my camera, so here is a little preview of Barcelona)

The rowing season ended with a disappointing finish for us but a really good party! My guys' eight did not quality for the Lent Bumps race, which is the week-long Cambridge boating extravaganza. The River Cam is a narrow, windy pain in the arse (particularly for coxes), so there is not much room for traditional-type races. Instead, we have Bumps. In each section there are about 12 boats, each takes off one after another, and the object is to catch up to the boat in front of you, and literally "bump" it. Likewise, you are trying not to get bumped by the boat behind you. If you succeed in "bumping," you take that boat's place in the next day's race, and continue trying to move up one by one over the seasons/years of Bumps racing at Cambridge. Like the thousands of other oddities of Cambridge, boating, too, has its traditions. My friend H is lucky-- no, huge and skillful-- enough to row for Caius college's first men, which is the "head of the river." No one has caught them in (I think) 3 consecutive years, so they will get a clocktower on the roof of their boathouse this year for their prize. Something every man should strive for!

During "Bumps week," uni friends A and L came to visit, so actually I wasn't as disappointed about losing the "getting on" race as I should have been. Instead I went to Paris, a small consolation ;-) . And then we came back to London/Cambridge and partied like rock stars, as our undergrad experience taught us so well to do. The remaining brain cells at the end of the week pondered how we actually made it though undergrad, and with near-perfect GPAs to boot, while living together and partying like that! Maybe I'm just getting old...

And well, I am. My birthday was March 11th, and for that I had the company of another visiting friend, this one from high school, and we took a 3 day trip to Barcelona. Late nights, blue skies, and sangria. That's what I'll remember from this one.

It's been one week after my return and I'm here in Tokyo for a 2 week break to see S. Yup, despite some rough patches, we're still going strong :-)

So that's the basic outline of the past month... of course there has been some studying going on in between-- paper writing in particular, and some simulations of the six party talks on North Korea, in which I was blessed with the role of representing the big bad USA. I not only had to worry about my negotiating position, but also had to refrain from using "aggressive rhetoric" a la Bush, and therefore couldn't even partake in the enjoyment of calling my colleague the "axis of evil." I guess that's the price of diplomacy...

Now that I'm on break, I should be updating more often, in theory :-)