Abunai!

sign-abunai-1, originally uploaded by sleepytako.

No swimming in the pond here.

Where I Proposed. Or. Tanise no Tsuribashi.

Asking someone to marry you is something that growing up you imagine you'll eventually do hopefully once in your lifetime, but how to do it is something you never think about. The process of getting from dating to marriage was lost to me. Of course there’s the cliché version of what will happen that is ingrained in your mind from countless fairy tails and Disney movies. It seems to involve expensive rocks, flowers, and getting down on one knee. Then there’s the teaser story for the 11 o’clock news method. That typically involves putting it up on the jumbotron at the local baseball stadium, or skywriting. When I actually decided to do it the how part of the situation is missing. I decided that I was going to ask my future wife, Y, to marry me sometime in late 2007. That’s all I knew.

A little background. I'm a California born American, she's a Kansai born Japanese. Our relationship is about 70% Japanese 25% English 5% laughing and other nonverbal communication. We can understand each other very well, maybe even more so than same language couples thanks to our language differences. I’ve known Y since the Fall of 2005 and we’ve been dating since the Fall of 2006. When I was an exchange student I use to study my Japanese at her coffee shop. Besides providing a great place to do my homework, she would make a different lunch each day and I loved each one. Her older sister, who also worked at the coffee shop, would gasp in astonishment that I could use chopsticks every time I used them. Back then my Japanese ability was meager at best. I couldn’t have grown as much as I have with out Y’s help. When I came back to Japan after a month in the US between graduating and starting my current employment. I returned to the coffee shop the day before it was to close. At first Y and I would just go out for fun. After a few months of hanging out together we grew closer. I never would have expected at that time that it would lead to this. Although, the first time I met Y way back in 2005 I knew she was special and that I liked being around her.

I have learned just by being with her that Y wouldn't like a ring. She’s not that kind of person. That was good for me in some ways; I've got no clue how to buy a ring, how much to spend, what stone to get. However, the lack of a ring also presented a new problem: how to ask and make it meaningful. I chose to wait till we were in a beautiful place. Something memorable. When Y suggested that we walk across the longest suspension bridge in Japan on a 2 night car trip we took the other week I knew I had a chance.

I knew where, but I didn’t know what to say. The language difference did play a role. Which language should I ask in became important. I chose to ask in English. It seemed to me that asking in Japanese wouldn't reflect me, my history, who I was. Although I love being in Japan, I’m not Japanese. My favorite Japanese way to propose is to ask, “Will you wash my underwear?” I love to ask that to Y jokingly. Her reply is always a stern, “NO!” I chose to ask the only way I knew how with the simple “Will you” line.

Tanise no Tsuribashi is a 297.7 meter long bridge stretched between two mountains 54 meters above a wide rocky riverbed. Needless to say the view there is amazing. It's also amazingly scary. I like bridges, buildings and engineering wonders like that, but I don't like heights. My fear was even more elevated by the swaying of the bridge, and the beating of my heart. Below the bridge is a campground where the main activity seems to be making pictures out of white rocks for people on the bridge above to read. A majority of the stone pictures were names, dates and silly pictures. Another one had the name and phone number of a popular sushi restaurant in Itami city, Osaka prefecture. The one below says, “Drive safely.” Something written all over Japan, but not read so often.

By the middle of the bridge I had gotten use to the shaking and I could enjoy myself enough to take a few photos. We got to the other side, took a few more photos, looked around and decided to walk back across. The odd thing about this bridge is that the locals use it, but for the tourists there’s really nothing to see on the other side. The bridge itself is the attraction. A free attraction I might add! We both donated 100 yen to it’s upkeep, however. I wonder what percentage of crossers are locals vs. tourists.

It was halfway across the bridge, after stalling her a few times so I could build up the courage that I asked the question.

"Will you marry me?"

Y's reply, in a mix of Japanese, English, and various noises was something to the point of, “Eh, what did you say? Did you say what I just thought you said?”

I affirmed that that was what I said.

Y replied in a burst of screams and smiles and just joy.

In a mild delirium I made are way back to the car with Y, skipping the customary omiyage shops. In the parking lot there was a pipe funneling natural water down off the mountain with two metal cups on strings. I drank my fill and splashed water on my face and through my hair. We got into the car and continued our trip.

In the car I asked timidly, "So that is yes, right?"

She replied, "Of course yes! Why did you ask again?"

"Well, you never actually said yes. I kinda wanted to hear that word."

"I didn't say yes? I thought I did. What did I say?"

"Well you said, AHHHHHEEEE!"

We laughed and continued down the road.

I chose the bridge for a few reasons. I thought there was a lot of symbolism in the bridge. We had made it across together and we made it back together. Marriage marks the middle of ones life, and I asked in the middle of the bridge. I don't know what will happen in the future, but if we go into the future happy together like we were on that bridge I'm sure can overcome whatever problems we encounter in the future.

The photos are from my Tanise no Tsuribashi set at Flickr.

Stairs #1

Totsukawa-michinoeki-stairs-1, originally uploaded by sleepytako.

Stairs leading up to a UFO / Space theme rest area called Hoshi no Kuni (Country of Stars) in Totsukawa, Nara.

Rusted sign in Osaka

rustedsign-osaka-1, originally uploaded by sleepytako.

A rusted sign on a small street in Osaka near this onsen.

Flipping into an Acquaintance

freemag-1, originally uploaded by sleepytako.

I was attracted to the name of this free magazine on the street in Kobe, but I was completely surprised to see my friend's face in the magazine as I flipped through it. This led to a question: to what extent can your employer use your image and how much power do you have over your own image?

Anyhow, I hope my friend doesn't mind me putting his image on my blog!

Kiseru - きせる

I was first exposed to kiseru, a long Japanese pipe made from bamboo with metal fittings on each end, in passing from a guy who use to work at my local bar. He would smoke it while working which the bar owner frowned upon it because he thought it had a bad image. Jump forward 6 months and my pal Joe got one as a birthday gift. Joe's an interesting fellow; he doesn't drink or smoke cigarettes, but he's a huge pipe and cigar smoker. He's gotten me back into cigar smoking, and now pipe smoking. The night he received the pipe we all went out to karaoke and I tried smoking the kiseru for the first time. I totally fell in love with it and knew I had to buy one for my self. Well I finally got around to doing that. I went down to Sugimoto liquor and cigar shop in Kobe's Motomachi district (in the shopping arcade that starts in front of the the Kobe Daimaru) and asked for one. The lady walked into a corner of their stuffed store and from a closet pulled out a plastic box with a selection of kiseru. I chose this basic model for ¥1,700, but they had smaller and larger more ornate ones starting at ¥700 to around ¥7,000. The tobacco is quite surprising, nothing like typical rolling tobacco I've smoked in the states. It's very dry and cut in to long strands. I gather that there are only two brands available, but I've only seen Koiki from the giant Japanese tobacco company JT for sale.

I asked the shop's owner how to prepare the pipe and he said just brushing the inside with a pipe cleaner was all I needed to do. No soap or water needed. Guessing from past smoking experiences and other sources, I packed the bowl by wetting my fingers on my tongue then pinched out a bit of the tobacco and rolled it into a pea sized ball. Like a cigarette you inhale kiseru tobacco but not as deeply as you would a cigarette. Lighting and smoking must be done gently as if you suck too hard you might pull ash into your mouth. You also need to be careful of blowing back into the kiseru as the lit tobacco will pop out of the bowl quite easily. Although the first few tries are a bit awkward at best, getting to understand the method of smoking the kiseru becomes quite easy. It's also important to pay attention to how much is left in the bowl. Sucking in ash is quite degusting. The perfered method of emptying the bowl is to tap it firmly aginst your hand. I would guess that hitting it against an ashtray might damage the pipe fitting.

Besides the taste and the pleasant feeling you get from the tobacco I also like the kiseru because it takes time. The process of smoking becomes much more important. It's not so fast and easy as a cigarette. You cannot do this while driving or walking. It requires patience and time. In my busy rushed life I found the time it takes to pack and smoke the kiseru quite relaxing. It can be unnerving smoking the kiseru because everyone, Japanese and foreigners alike will look at you. I'm not sure if it has a bad image, but in a country of smokers this will really make you stand out.

This blog has a quite interesting write up about the kiseru along with the etymology of the word and a review of an online store that sells and ships kiseru world wide. The shops webpage in English, here, also has some links to some interesting videos about kiseru although all in Japanese.

Kiseru also has another meaning in Japanese. Kiserunori means cheating on train fare by buying the first and last parts of your journey and riding the longest most expensive part in the middle for free. This mimics the construction of the kiseru with gold, or metal, on each end with bamboo in the middle.

Happy smoking!

Newspapers - 新聞

Hasedera-13, originally uploaded by sleepytako.

Newspapers are distributed by local companies that cover a given neighborhood. In larger towns the bigger publishers' such as Asahi, Yomiuri, and Mainichi have distributers that only deal with their publications, delivering the newspapers on moped like bikes that you can see sputtering around at all times of the day. These distributers receive the papers from the printing plant add local flyers and advertisements then bundle them for the local markets and stores or deliver them to individual homes. My friend's family use to run a Yomiuri distribution center here in Nishinomiya. In rural areas, like Hase in Nara prefecture, one distributer will offer many different newspapers. The signboards above the shop advertise the newspapers available.

Hasedera 長谷寺

Hasedera-7, originally uploaded by sleepytako.

I went to Hase temple last weekend. Nase temple is hidden in a small river valley in southern Nara prefecture and known for its botan (peaony) flowers. We came a week too early sadly and the flowers had yet to bloom. When they bloom the stairs up to the temple are bordered by hundreds of those flowers. I'll have to go again. I did take a few photos. The set can be seen here.