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Broadcasting to an audience of three (and a goldfish)...
Comment, ramblings and musings... life through the eyes of a Japanologist...
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Wednesday, May 1, 2002 |
 One more post...
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This being not just the first day of the month but specifically the
first day of May, it's koromo-gae! Traditionally, Japanese people
change from summer to winter clothes, and vice-versa- on two set days of
the year, one of them being today. This change also applies to uniforms,
etc.
Well, I haven't seen anyone in the office in short-sleeved shirts (the
only change for men) yet, but I wish I'd been the trend-setter and gone
over to short-sleeves from today; the humidity is really unpleasant-
and, of course, it'll be at least another month before the
air-conditioning is switched on (there's a day for that, too, although
as far as I know it doesn't have a traditional name...)
Interestingly, when I first came here I would quite happily have worn
short-sleeved shirts before the official date, irrespective of what the
Japanese around me were doing. But I find more and more that I'm
sticking to the conventions in Japanese life. Perhaps the idea of
conformity comes not from education so much as from the concept of
deru kugi wa utaeru- 'the nail that sticks out is hammered down'.
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Speaking of tomatoes (slight non-sequitur, but there you are), is it
possible to get food poisoning from fried tomatoes? If so, it looks like
my first attempt at Washibe-style Italian 'peasant' cooking (a whole new
genre created especially for this posting) turned out less than
spectacularly. And there I was, thinking that my grilled tomatoes with
pepper and garlic had actually turned out quite well...
Oh well, perhaps it's just better to stick to rice and pickles...
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Superb!
I can update this weblog over email, in real time! I knew it was
theoretically possible, but I'd never tried it until today.
At last, something to do during those slack periods at work... ;-)
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Being the first day of the month, today was the chorei- the
morning meeting for the whole of the office, where the Mayor gives a
short speech. Everyone is supposed to attend, but today there were about
thirty people- about one-third of the office. Even by normal standards,
this is abysmal.
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This morning smells like ripening tomatoes in a warm greenhouse. An
earthy smell that would in fact be quite pleasant were it not for the
accompanying humidity...
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 7:55:13 pm.
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