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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, June 5, 2002 |
 Taiko, blood types
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Fair enough, I don't think many people people would argue with the suggestion that there's not much to do here on a Wednesday afternoon, but even so...
When I left the office, there were two businessmen sitting in the 'smoking corner'... reading telephone directories. And no, before you ask, they weren't looking up a number. I watched for long enough to be sure of this. No, they were definitely reading. Telephone directories.
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After a break from practicing (of nearly two years!), I've committed
myself to going to taiko this evening. This is distinct from the
kagura in Washibe, and is conventional, taiko-for-fun taiko. I
used to enjoy playing a great deal (there's something very satisfying
about beating the hell out of a skin of leather, especially if you can
project the face of someone who's annoyed you onto it), but, for various
reasons, I decided to call it a day two summers ago. Which was fine,
except that the group refused to see it as an end, but instead as a
break...
...which is why I'm going back. I can't saying I'm looking forward
to it with baited breath, but then on the other hand I wouldn't be going
if I didn't want to play at all. I was the one who suggested a
resumption of practices, after all. But I wonder whether it might not
have been sensible to have waited until autumn, when the weather is
cooler. This sudden heat is very tiring, even when sitting in an
air-conditioned office all day.
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Amusing incident in the office this afternoon... about cleaning swimming pools.
(Well, it's amazing what can become amusing when you're on a
small island...)
The new chap in the office came in a state of high agitation to my desk,
to tell me (follow this carefully) that Miyanohara Elementary School had
said that I had a lesson at Ozu Elementary School on the day that the
pool at Ohara was supposed to be being cleaned, so that the teachers
from Ozu wouldn't be able to help with the cleaning. Except he was so
agitated, he neglected to explain who'd said this, where the lesson was,
and quite why cleaning a swimming pool was involved at all, so the whole
thing became something like "Miyanohara Elementary School... Nathan Time
[my lesson]... swimming pool... Ozu Elementary School... impossible to
help..." Not very clearly explained, in other words. In fact, the first
impression I got was that he was asking if he could help with my lesson
in Miyanohara in return for my helping him with cleaning a swimming pool
after I'd been to Ozu. So just a slight misunderstanding, then. And it
wasn't my Japanese, either- the people around were completely nonplussed
as well.
The amusing (well, relatively so, at least) thing was that the fact that
nobody had a clue about what he was trying to explain made him even more
agitated, so the second time round was even more garbled than the first.
The man sitting next to me asked him if he was really a Japanese person;
I just told him to calm down and listen to me while I repeated his
message back to him, to check we'd all understood. Needless to say, we
hadn't. In the end, it took about about five minutes and eight attempts,
not to mention floods of tears of laughter, and a whole range of teasing
in Hiroshima dialect, before the message (or, at least, what we think
was the message) was conveyed. I'm still not sure whether he wants to
come to my lesson or not, though!
...well, it was funny at the time, anyway.
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It happened this lunchtime. As normal, went to the Naval Base for lunch,
and the guard on the gate waved me through without even asking what I
was doing! Then, better still, in the restaurant, they knew what we
wanted before we even asked!
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A real heat haze over the bay this morning; the island across the water
was hardly visible. I was reminded of the early morning mist of an
English summer's day- but while a misty English summer morning is still
fresh and cool, here in Washibe it's already muggy even at
breakfast.
This sort of heat is about a month earlier than it should
be. The tsuyu should be along soon, too, but a rainy season
combined with this sort of heat will be intolerable. The rainy season is
bad enough as it is...
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 8:05:19 pm.
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