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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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Friday, October 25, 2002 |
 After taiko, I went to Mejiro, to meet Takedomi-kun. Takedomi-kun was on a crutch, his foot not having got properly better after the march back from Hachihonmatsu a couple of weeks ago. It was good to drink with a friend on a Friday, especially after the stress of the taiko practice. We drank until fairly late, and then Takedomi-kun asked me back for a drink at his house, but I turned him down, having already been drinking at the practice (of course- this is Washibe Kagura Hozonkai we're talking about here!), and having to be at the kominkan for nine o'clock the following morning. There'll be other chances in the future.
When I got to Mejiro, Daisuke-kun, one of the youngsters who works at Gokurakutombo, and whom I taught in my first year in Etajima (when he was in the sixth year of elementary school), was there with some friends. When he was at school, he misbehaved all the time, he was rude, and he almost never spoke to me, but when he saw me in Mejiro, he greeted me just as if I were an old friend! I think this every time I go to Gokurakutombo, but starting work has done Daisuke-kun a great deal of good. Credit where credit's due: he's really grown up, and moreover grown up well.
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The final taiko practice before the festival went pretty well; in the end, our kagura 'skit', Shishi-taiji, is now relatively good (or, at least, no longer embarrassingly bad). This is despite the efforts of some of the more senior members of the group to make wholesale changes at such a late stage. Things like this- when people who don't come to practices, and aren't playing the taiko or dancing the roles, waltz in at the last minute and start meddling in things they lost their right to meddle in by their not having come regularly to practices- really make my blood boil. Luckily, though, it seems that I'm not the only one who feels like this, because after several heated exchanges (in which I refrained- with difficulty- from participating) nothing was changed, and our rehearsal went smoothly. So... fingers crossed for the inaugural performance on Sunday!
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Went to Etajima Elementary School in the afternoon, to play rounders with the 3rd- and 4th-years. The 3rd-years were, as ever, difficult (I've been through the reasons at great length before, so suffice it to say here 'incompetent teacher'), and the 4th-years were, as ever, great fun.
In the 4th-years, though, three of the girls refused even to try and hit the ball; one of them even refused to hold the bat at all! I wonder why? These girls, though, were more than made up for by four of the boys, who played superbly- so well, in fact, that I gave them extra stickers each. We're not talking about skill here, but rather enthusiasm- the four boys really gave their everything, both fielding and batting. Mind you, the same four are equally enthusiastic no matter what lesson I do. If only all my students were like this...
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The BBC is reporting that Japan is insisting that the five people abducted by North Korea will stay in Japan indefinitely. This is presumably at least in part as a response to the demands of the families of the five. What happens from here, though, is anyone's guess.
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Today started with a trip to the dentist. Not because I needed treatment myself, though, but as interpreter for Wendy. I don't particularly dislike dentists (although I'd never go as far as to state that I liked them), but all the same, it was a good feeling to be there not for myself.
This feeling strengthened six-thousand-fold or so, when I left Wendy in the chair and went out to the waiting area; opposite me was a man who, without a shadow of a doubt, would gain first prize with honours in any poll to find the person you'd least like to share dental instruments with. Quivering, slavering lips framed by droopy, stray-strands-of-facial-hair-gone-wild cheeks, with (a particularly nice touch, this) liitle flecks of concealed food in the hairs. 'Trogloditic' (if there is such an adjective) sums everything up pretty well. On top of everything, every now and again he would completely un-self-consciously stick out a flabby, furred-white tongue out, to reveal a dentists' nightmare scenario of yellowing, rotten teeth.
I'm sure Wendy (when I kindly pointed this spectacle out to her) was happy she'd gone in before seeing this. I know if it had been me in the queue after this man, I'd have found an excuse to make a new appointment on another day...!
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 8:51:05 pm.
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