Sunday, December 18, 2005

Pascale performed in a nihon buyo performance.  12:17:25 PM    comment []

	Friday, December 16, 2005

In November we went to China, where we had a most interesting time.  Here a picture of the great wall, where we spent a spectacular day.  The great wall is one of the few architectural structures that actually enhances rather than destroys nature by beautifully highlighting the ridge top. 7:38:41 PM    comment []

ALLY’S CHRISTMAS     CHARACTERS:   Santa-        Marina Reindeer- Doug-oun, Mari, Annie, Nina, Yoke-mun, Bad Kid- Anna Good kid- Maggie Elf- Mio Mom- Pascale Parrot- Yun-ju     Introduction – Pascale     North Pole: Santa is sleeping and snoring   Elf:  Santa, time to get up!!!!   Santa: snors   Elf: It’s an emergency!!   Santa: What? What? fire? tsunami ?earthquake?  global warming?     Elf: Good morning Santa   Santa: Good morning   Elf: I’ve taken good care of the reindeer, they are trim and fit!   Santa: Really? Let’s go see.   (When they enter the stables the reindeer are lying about fat and lazy!)   Santa: You call this trim and fit????!!!!!   Elf: Comit, Prancer, Dancer, Cupid  and Rudolf !!! Line up in order!!   Santa: That’s better! Ready my sleigh! I must visit all the houses of the world tonight!!     Pascale: About two hours later……     Santa: Off we go!1 First stop  - Ally and Leslie’s house!   At Anna and Leslie’s House:   Mom: Please go to bed leslie,   Leslie: O.k. Mom, good night   Santa: What a good girl!! I will give Her presents.   Mom: Ally you Go to your room!!!!   Ally: No way!   Carrot the Parrot: Go to your room!!     Repeat     Mom- For the 3rd time, GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!!! (Push her in)   Carrot the Parrot: What about me?   MOM: GO TO YOUR CAGE!!!!!! (PUSH HER IN )   Santa: What a repulsive girl, she’ll get a lump of coal.    (In the night, Santa and reindeer sneak in and put teddy bear by Leslie, and lump of coal by Ally)   Narrator: In the morning   Ally: Ew, dog pooh!    (Ally sneaks into Leslie’s room)   Ally: Hey, she got a teddy bear!   (Ally switches the lump of coal with Teddy bear)   Leslie: Oh no, dog pooh, Santa must not like me anymore!   (Begins to cry)   Santa: Of course I like you, your mean sister Ally switched a Teddy bear with a lump of coal.   Leslie: Santa!   (Santa goes into Ally’s room)   Santa: You naughty girl, you switched your sister’s present with your own!   (Santa puts down lump of coal and spanks Ally)   Narrator: The End   Carrot the parrot: The end, the end!       6:45:44 AM    comment []

	Friday, October 14, 2005

Ongaku   Our project had to give a presentation to a group of senior managers last week.  Due to an accident on the train tracks I was late for the meeting, which for some reason had been changed venues and was being held in the large cafeteria—called Sunny Table—downstairs, with a very sterile white interior.  When I arrived and took a seat, my colleague was already presenting.  But as soon as I sat down, I noticed the loud noise coming from the speakers in the ceiling.  It was quite overwhelming actually and because of the bad acoustics in the room, I was quite convinced that the people in the back could not hear a word of what was being said.  So I got up to go and talk to the people that run the cafeteria, but when I whispered my intention to another colleague seated next to me, he said: “But Erik-san, probably this is a rule for this cafeteria.”  And so I sat down again quite baffled; here is a group of senior managers who are prevented from doing their work by the music in the cafeteria, but feel they can’t do a thing about it. 1:45:53 PM    comment []

	Sunday, October 09, 2005

We went to Japanese friends’ house the other day.  Their children also go to TIS, indeed their apartment looks out over the playground at TIS.  We had a wonderful time with them; they cooked delicious Japanese food, we played bowling video game, and they served us kir.  Their apartment was in a building especially constructed for foreigners they told us, and so quite roomy for Japanese standards—livingroom  kitchen bathroom downstairs, two bedrooms upstairs—but the place could not have been much bigger than 700 square feet.  Space not withstanding, they had just bought a large refridgerator, which was placed in the livingroom.  It is one of those new models made by Sharp and clearly aimed at the Japanese market.  The whole thing was programmable through a touchscreen on the front.  The door to the separate vegetable compartment had a special long space for the long spring onions that are typical here (they are two feet, and so we have to break them in two to put them in our Western fridge, but the can put them in their special compartment).  The feature that struck me most was that the refridgerator had a special button which allowed one to make short voice recordings, which will playback when another button is pushed.  And when you think about the reality of life in Japan, the purpose of this feature becomes clear.  Japanese salary men routinely come home after midnight from work, but still have not eaten so when they come home they can simply stumble to the fridge, push a button and hear the voice of their wife say: “Dinner is on the second shelf, please put it in the microwave for 3 minutes.”  Let’s hope it stays a niche market. 10:49:00 AM    comment []

	Friday, October 07, 2005

Both Saskia and Pascale participated in a swim meet against the British School.  They both did great, especially for first year swim team members.  Pascale came in 2nd and 4th, Saskia 3rd and 1st.  The cheering by the audience was  intense.  Everybody had a good time.  Now the swimming season is over and track and field is about to begin.  9:20:50 AM    comment []

	Wednesday, October 05, 2005

The season for t-shirts with bad English text on them is actually over, but last weekend it was unseasonably hot.  I saw a young man wearing a t-shirt sporting the text: "safer sex machine for rent" in Shibuya.  I also saw a man who had a t-shirt on with a red circle, from the sign were dangling a set of large breasts.  Above it was written: "No fake tits" below it "Keep it real".  According to some reports, breast implants are also becoming quite popular in Japan, I guess he was trying to warn his Japanese fellow citizens against this trend.  I, of course, am merely a reporter. 4:08:23 PM    comment []

	Tuesday, September 27, 2005

We went to Tateyama for the three day weekend.  Unfortunately, there was a typhoon that arrived, and so we could not take full advantage of the place where we stayed  (http://www.outdoorjapan.com/accommodation/accommodation-hakkakuso.html) which provides lodgers with mountain bikes to explore the area.  That would have been great if the weather had not been so dreadful.  We managed to have a good time nevertheless, in part because we had for the first time rented a car and thus were able to explore the area from the comfort of a Toyota corolla (comfort for those up front at least).  The rental car came with GPS, which was programmed to direct the driver to some place in Tokyo, and so whenever we came upon an intersection, it would tell us to turn left or right.  It got to be quite annoying, but we could not figure out how to turn the darn thing off.  Even when it was folded and slid back into the dashboard, it still kept reminding us that we should turn at the upcoming intersection.  I was a bit nervous about driving on the left hand side of the street, but my experience driving a huge campervan through Australia and New Zealand came in handy.  Also, as one would expect, Japanese drivers are kind and forgiving.  Many people complain about the Japanese educational system, and I belief with good cause, but it nevertheless produces the most pleasant public behavior one could every wish for.  (When I was in the USA the last time, one the way back from Boston to Los Angeles, I was waiting in the back of the plane for the bathroom.  There was a lady behind me holding a small girl, and I asked her whether she wanted to go first.  She did not need to go, she was just up for a walk.  Behind her down a little ways down the aisle, there was a young boy and a father.  When the toilet became free and I went in, the father of the boy said, loudly: "Normally grown-ups let children go first."  I was already in the bathroom, so I did my business and when I went out, and gave way to the boy who was by now jumping up and down in discomfort he said "Again, normally adults let children go first."  This kind of open hostility would never happen in Japan.  It is unthinkable, and frankly, that alone, makes one just want to stay here.)  The children swam in the ocean, which was apparently not that cold, but neither parent was brave enough.  The beach had a lot of large concrete blocks on it, which supposedly help against erosion, but as it has turned out, actually increase the speed with which the sand is taken out by the ocean.  So now all that is left are these huge blocks of concrete.  It is truly tragic and one wonders why  nobody takes action.  I guess everybody's attitiude is shoganai (it cannot be helped).  We ate some absolutely amazing sashimi in Tateyama, and learned that 90% of the fish that reaches the fish market in Tokyo is brought in by trucks (despite it being on Tokyo Bay).  We also saw a snake, which was very small, but completely freaked out Saskia and Lukas, who started running and we did not catch up with him until much, much further down the path. 5:38:37 PM    comment []

	Sunday, September 11, 2005

I have written a longish report on our trip to Kanazawa, but do not know how to put the pictures in here.  So please send me an e-mail if you wish to receive it: erik@vinkhuyzen.com 10:49:11 PM    comment []

	Thursday, August 18, 2005

One of the things that makes the work here somewhat trying and a little tiring as well are the inescapable language problems.  Even those people that speak English well will say things that make you wonder what could they possibly mean.  People about whom I feel confident that they can understand me will often give me answers that make me realize that I should probably revise my impression.  It is relatively easy to fake understanding.  One of my favorite people we ever interviewed was a young lady who would respond to my question with frequent headnods, looks of understanding, the occassional raised eyebrow, etc.,  then when I finished she would look to the translator.  Nothing, at all, had come across, but I had felt very encouraged by her listener behavior. It is hard to keep track of some of the things that people say, but an occassional e-mail can illustrate what I mean.  Here is an e-mail I sent to the project leader yesterday:   > xxxxx-san, > Jack has time from 9am - 1pm tomorrow, and he would really like to > have a discussion with the KS team about what they are thinking about > what the participants to the workshop said. > Can we limit the all-hands to 90 min - 120 min, and spend the rest of > the morning with the KS team to discuss the results of the last > workshop? > Erik   And then his response   Erik san   I am safe, and come with opening at time.        xxxxx   Now I think that he may have typed his answer in Japanese and have the automatic translating language do its marvelous work, but still, when he read this back to himself did this make sense to him?? There is only one solution, of course, and that is to learn Japanese—and quick.           5:19:53 AM    comment []

	Sunday, August 07, 2005

http://www.conbinibento.com/photos/index.php?gallery=./Smoking%20Manners 9:33:48 PM    comment []

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