いらっしゃいませ

IRASSHAIMASE!!!

Welcome all to Joel's adventures in bloggy-land. Hope you're all well.

Sorry for not writing to anybody for, well, (ahem...) nearly five months. It seems kind of crazy, but I haven't had a lot of time to get around to it. First there was moving to Japan, then there was getting used to living in Japan, and then there was getting around to see cool things in Japan. Oh yeah, for those of you who are reading this and didn't know, I live in Japan now.

Japan's cool; the trains are efficient, the ATMs are inconvenient, the food's hard to decipher, and summer's in June. Oh, and everybody speaks Japanese.

So, the point of this blog is to periodically:

a) let people know that I'm still alive
b) let you know that I still care about you (again, apologies for the e-snobbery)
c) tell you what I'm up to in Japan
d) answer any questions you might have, and most importantly
e) post photos of weird Japanese crap that makes me laugh.

So first, respect (and explanation) where it's due, my friend Nicky found the eponymous photo (above). It works for me on a few levels: first there's the (unintentional) pun, second there's the complimentary look on his face, and third, the obligatory dinky little cute cartoon characters.

Cuteness figures highly in Japan's advertising policy it seems. Take this subtle little gem:



The meeting must have been something like:

Boss-type: "Now, what is our ultimate aim?"
Some underling: "Uh, to get people to drink Lipton?"
Boss-type: "Great. And what do we know about our target market?"
Insightful underling: "Teenagers want to be cute?"
Boss-type: "Nice work, Jenkins. Now, let's tactfully get from A to B..."

TV's funny too. Here's a still from my favourite kids' show:



Yep, it's a baby rhino, wearing underpants, a talking (kinda evil looking) toilet, and a smiling toilet roll holder. This is a regular segment, usually slotted in between a one minute segment of a kid (different kid each day) brushing his/her teeth, and the girl whose dance repertoire includes the 'let's be clocks' dance, the 'let's be bumblebees' dance, and the 'let's be [something that my lack of knowledge of interpretive dance methods combined with lack of comprehension of the Japanese language forbids me from knowing what] dance'. That was a good dance.

And then, of course, there's Hello Kitty. Here's just a few specimens I've picked up so far:



Take a classic, historic icon of Japanese art - then let Hello Kitty surf on it! Aloha sacrilege.



Raw fish, uber-cute cat. Why do I feel a bit funny about eating this meal?



And, oh yes, Hello Kitty fireworks.

Not Hello Kitty, but...



Kind of defies description, doesn't it?

Anyway, on the topic of fireworks, last weekend Gifu (the city where I work but don't live - more on that another day) had the first of its two summer fireworks festivals - the biggest in Japan, apparently. I went to a friend's house to sit on his roof and watch, until it became apparent that the mountain sitting conspicuously on the horizon, which I had a notion was going to be in the way, turned out to, indeed, be in the way. I then spent the next 90 minutes listening to fireworks. Not quite as entertaining.

The next night we went out to see Ratatouille - for once a film that opened in Japan sooner than Australia. I particularly enjoyed the fact that over here the title translates (inaccurately) to "The Restaurant Whose Remi Is Tasty". Guess Ratatouille is too difficult to spell in Katakana.

Well, as much as there's a lot more to say (trips to Kyoto, Tokyo, and the Hamamatsu Kite Fighting festival included), I don't think I'll bother saying it for now. I'll be contributing to this fairly regularly, with whatever minutiae I deem worthy of publishing, and, as this is in bloggy form (resisting, as I am, using facebook - the kids seem to be into it, but I just can't understand how to use it) then you can feel free to ignore it at your will. I'll be harassing you with occasional emails, to give you an update of the riveting headlines that will appear on this page, and if any of you can spare a few minutes here and there, it would be nice to hear from real life Australians.

Hope you're all good, catch you really soon.

ージョエル
(-Joel)