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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, January 15, 2003 |
 What I did today
Today, I...
- Got paid (hooray!);
- Went to Ozu Elementary School;
- Had a good day at work (I detect a thawing in relations with Nemesis T);
- Finally got round to updating the Breakfast Show;
- Went to taiko practice, and enjoyed myself (again!- this is becoming a bit of a habit...).
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Went to Ozu Elementary School for two lessons of English skit practice before the Mochitsuki Fureai Shukai, which takes place on Sunday. The second- to fourth-years are doing a simple skit about one week at school, and to be honest they weren't bad. However, they (for some reason, it being the middle of January) decided to put 'Jingle Bells' into the skit, which is fair enough, I suppose, except that almost all of the children sing 'one whore open sleigh'! Hmmm. I think- I hope!- that I stressed the importance of correcting this before Sunday, especially as I want to video the whole thing to send to a school in England.
The fifths and sixths, meanwhile, are doing 'Momotaro'. Momotaro is the story of a boy born from a peach, who (helped by a motley collection of animals) fights and beats a devil. It's a true story, apparently... Anyway, the children are still not quite perfect as far as the script goes, but their acting is really excellent. For the first time in all the time I've been doing English plays in several of the elementary schools, I get the feeling that the children actually understand what they're saying, and are enjoying themselves. I suppose it's at least in part because they actually wrote the script themselves; all I did was translate it into English. If they're able to use the remaining two days to get the script up to scratch, then it will be a really amusing play. Actually, it'll be amusing anyway; for example, the little boy who's playing the part of the devil remembers almost none of his lines, but he walks (unintentionally, I'm sure!) just like John Wayne...
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 Web articles worthy of mention...
An article in the Electronic Telegraph about the world's most expensive burger. At $41, it's certainly not something you'd choose lightly, but more interesting were the comments in the final two paragraphs:
Although the burger is delicious, it is impossible to eat a whole one without feeling slightly ill. Your body wants you to know that it doesn't like what you just did to it.
But that comes later. The meat really does melt in the mouth, and even our vegetarian photographer was moved to have a nibble. The end effect is that you feel as if you have been kissed by a beautiful stranger who has then punched you in the stomach.
You know, that's exactly how I felt on Saturday night after my 16oz burger in the American Naval Base in Kure. Except there, there was none of the beautiful stranger to start with...
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 Japan A-Z
Kappa
A kappa is an imaginary creature in Japanese folklore.Said to be about the same height as a child, it lives in or near water, and the top of its head is shaped like a dish and filled with water. Kappa are mischievous, and sometimes wrestle with human beings. They are easy to beat, though; all that is necessary is to bow to the kappa. The kappa will bow back, and in doing so lose the water from the saucer on the top of its head, without which it is powerless.
Akutagawa Ryunosuke wrote a famous novel about the creatures (entitled, oddly enough, 'Kappa'), and cucumber maki-zushi is known as kappa-maki, because kappa are supposed to like cucumber.
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 Another entry from the sake book. Alcohol and Health: T
Taboo: Drinking is a taboo in Islamic countries.
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