もったいない- Mottainai

Recently, I have been reading a book by a Nobel peace prize winner about Mottainai- which is a concept on wastefulness. It goes beyond just being wasteful though and instead means closer to "a sense of regret concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized". It can also refer to wasted and wasteful efforts and actions, activities, time, souls, talents, emotion, minds, dreams, and potential. It astounds me sometimes how the Japanese have such a great way of putting such deep concepts into few words! (I also love the word "yugen"- which is an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and profound for words)


In the old days, the Japanese were very aware of the concept of wastefulness. They had metal things to put on the end of pencils to ensure you used it right down to the numb, you ate every bit of rice down to the last grain and even broken chinaware was repaired. Though in the west we also had the same concepts of wastefulness (hand me downs and left overs, etc), the Japanese go just a little deeper. For example, it is important to eat every grain of rice not just because of wastefulness, because it is the product of a farmer's labour, a labour of love and hard work. The bento (lunchbox) that your mum made you that you left on the train is not just a waste of food, but more importantly wasteful of your mother's love and feelings.





Mottainai can also apply to people too. If you are not utilizing your talents at work ( eg- if you speak three languages, or are a beautiful painter), that is also mottainai, because you are wasting some important skills.


Obviously this can apply to the more materialistic as well- Japan's agricultural ministry estimates that 23 million tons of food were discarded in 2007, about ¥11 trillion ($120 billion) worth, which is the monetary equivalent of Japan's annual agricultural output. Moreover, it cost ¥2 trillion ($21 billion) to process that waste.

Certainly food for thought....

Halloweenies

When I was a kid I was obsessed with lollies. They were such little jubes of heaven that having three square meals a day of pure sugar would be an ideal meal plan (Mind you, this comes from the girl who once got into a bag of flour). So when I used to watch all those American T.V Halloween specials, I used to look upon the screen with tears of longing in my eyes, wondering why I can't dress up for a night and come home with a bag full of candy goodness.

I always put this down to many reasons- the first of which was that I lived in a rural area, so unless I wanted to get Mum to drive me from house to house, it probably wasn't going to happen. The second, and the one that seems much more prominent now- is that I live in Australia.

Nevertheless, one year Mum and I came to an agreement. I would dress up and ring the front door bell, and she would give me a bag of chocolates. It was a deal that worked out splendidly and now makes me wonder why I didn't think of it before. I'm pretty sure that my costume at the time was me wrapped in toilet paper- something to this effect.



But the desired chocolaty outcome was still achieved.

However this year I can proudly say, that it was not only my very first Halloween, but also my second (Ahh the fun of working at two different schools). For some reason the Japanese really embrace Halloween over here, or at least the English schools do. I suppose it is no surprise given we use American spelling (shudder) and American text books.

Getting into the full Halloween spirit over here consists of the same ingredients as what I imagine would be in 'Merica. Namely getting loaded up on chocolate (though, not as much as the kiddies) and running around like a crazy person- Or in my case crazy Polar Bear. I did have a proper jack o lanter carving experience. As you can see, my awesome vision didn't turn out quite so well in pumpkin form. I think I was going for vampire....




We also got to build a haunted house, which was pretty scary with the lights off for the kiddies. However not quite as scary as some of the Gaijins hiding within. Luckily, with the lure of enough candy you can get even the most timid child through...





Happy Halloween everyone.Time to slaughter the livestock and disguise oneself against harmful spirits.

Obligation family- a lesson in Japanese

The other day when I was in Japanese class I was telling a story about my family and needed to know the word for Sister in law. My teacher told me that it was 'Giri no imoto'. I thought to myself for a second that I know the word for sister 'imoto', and I have heard the word 'giri' before- at Valentines day. If you might remember one of my earlier posts 'giri choco' is the obligation chocolate that you have to give co-workers to keep in their good graces. This made me laugh- was it the same word that is used for 'Giri no imoto'?  My Japanese teacher wasn't quite sure, but we have since found out that yes- it is Obligation Sister. Perhaps in Japanese, obligation doesn't have the same negative connotations that it does in English.

At least I can be glad that to me, my in laws are in no way an obligation.

Death to all monkeys!

So, less than 6 months ago I was sitting here typing how special it is to be surrounded by such beautiful wildlife~

 How things have changed.

There a plenty of snakes around here, but most are not poisonous, so I don't mind them. There are bears too, but they tend to stick in the woods so far (touch wood), and I do remind myself of the old song~ If you go into the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise~ so I figure I won't venture into their territory.

 The monkeys, however, are making me want to go out and come back looking something like this.


You see, the monkeys around here are becoming a bit of a problem. They started off as an, 'oh monkey, Y U steal all the vegetables from the gardens'.



But since then, things have turned far more sinister... Now it is at the stage where I am running into the house, locking the doors and peeking through closed blinds and then darting into the corner to huddle in the foetal position. And before you think I am over reacting, they DO break into houses....

So when did this (I believe rational) Maimouphobia (fear of monkeys) begin? Well, it started a few weeks ago with three of the big male monkeys went charging after Luke as he was walking up near his school. At first we were all like 'wow, that was pretty intense'. Next, when they would charge the car we drove by, we thought 'You so silly monkeys'.

But the other week whilst on our morning walk, we encountered a troupe of 10.  At first we thought, just don't make eye contact and keep walking and all will be fine. Treating them much in the same way as many other animals in the 'leave us alone, and we'll leave you alone'. Yeah right. Before we knew it a troupe of 10 charged us- hissing and spitting through their dripping fangs. These weren't the cute little monkeys you see on TV, nor are they the lovable nappy wearing chimps that fetch you snacks out of the fridge (Oh how I wouldn't mind those). Nope, these are the bright red arse, yellow fanged spawn straight from the pits of hell...


So, Luke takes off first (this is running up the hill), with the hissing hell spawn baring their fangs and charging us. I take a look over my shoulder and the big alpha is almost on me, ready to pounce and tear at my face. So I yell out for Luke. Like a gallant knight, he stops and starts flailing his arms and legs, hissing and spitting right back as we do a weird backwards run up the hill (a great glute workout though- not to mention all the adrenaline). Luckily, they gave up after a little bit. Though it did mean that our 40 min walk turned into a 1hr 20min as we were forced to backtrack and went very the long way home. It was actually very lucky, as about 200mtrs behind us there was a little obaasan (grandma), who, if she would have gotten there first would probably be monkey breakfast by now.

We thought that was the end of it though and that they might move on. Not so lucky. Even today, about 5 minutes after I had sent Luke off on his way to work, I heard the front door open and Luke returning for his 'monkey whacking stick' (It is sad that one must have a stick kept for this purpose). I was a little worried about him, so told him I would follow him in the car should things turn bad.

There, around the next bend, the hell creatures loitered for any unsuspecting passers by. The big one saw Luke and made a few motions to charge, but every time Luke swung the stick in the air, the devil spawn hesitated. It was a stand off. I, in the meantime sat safely in the car, with my foot at the ready to floor it and protect my husband if needed. However the monkey was smart... Too smart, maybe, and stayed put. So Luke got in the car and I floored it straight towards the monkey, hoping to scare them off the road and into the woods- away from people walking. But the demon creature snarled and then lunged at the car... Needless to say, I gunned it up the hill pretty fast to drop Luke off. But the problem came from having to get back home. Thankfully, I hadn't locked the house (it is Japan) so I knew I could just run inside, but when I drove past the monkeys again, they did another lunge for the car. I planted my foot and drove the rest of the way like lightening (it was only about 200mtrs to my house from where they skulked), all the while checking the rearview mirror in case a snarling monkey had  lunged onto the boot of the car, T2 style, and was trying to terminate me. Or that the troupe would turn the corner, still hissing a silent vengeance under their rancid breath.

Three minutes later, with all the doors in the house firmly locked, I sit down to settle my heart beat a little and look outside....




Monkeys. Everywhere.

My house was surrounded (There are more moving into position as I took this shot). I know primates were supposed to be smart, but could they really read a licence plate from a car? Did they know it was me? Is this really when and how I die? By some obscure death by monkeys. Or do I become the twitchy shut in for the rest of my life, opening the blinds just a crack to ensure that I live another day. All the while huddled on the floor in the foetal position, crying "Can't sleep, monkeys will eat me." You can guess my surprise when one of the shifty creatures sat a metre away (where the first wall is in the picture) from my window and looked in like it wanted to avenge the death of a loved one. All I needed now was thunder and lightening to flash behind it, and the monkey drenched with rain and dripping with the stench of vengeance....

But I am happy to report the monkeys are moving on. Though, that won't stop me from carrying a kitchen knife when I have to run out to the car later to go to work.

I now can't help but reminisce on how it was not long ago that I was creeping so quietly up to them to take a quick photo of the precious, precious darlings.

 Now I say- Death to all monkeys...

Sometimes you just need a hug- Cuddle cafes

Hi Guys,

Well, after 2 months without my laptop, I finally have it back. Turns out getting an Aussie laptop repaired in Japan takes a bit of time due to the shipping in of specific parts. At least they also gave it a good cleaning, and got all the food out from under the keys (note to self- stop eating over the keyboard, nom nom nom nom) but I digress...

I was reading this morning about the latest new shop to open up in Akihabara, Tokyo- Cuddle Cafes! Basically for a fee you can pay to sleep (note: there are no quotation marks) with a beautiful stranger. The idea is something has sprung from the mind of the Japanese, and is really no surprise after all the maid cafes and various animal cafes (like cats and rabbits that you can pay to stroke). Now for a fee you can stroke a real live girl...

Prices range from 3000 for 20mins (about $38AUD) to 50,000 for about 10hrs ($620). Mind you, that is for the standard course (which I have to assume is just laying there stiff as a board (pun intended) for the allocated time). There are additional extras though, depending on how much you want to pay, such as:

Customer sleeps in girl’s arm (3 min) – 1,000 yen 
Girl pats customer on the back (3 min) – 1,000 yen 
Customer pets girl on the head (3 min) – 1,000 yen   
Customer and girl stare at each other (1 min) – 1,000 yen 
Girl changes clothes (1 time) – 1,000 yen 
Girl gives customer foot massage (3 min) – 1,000 yen   
Customer gives girl foot massage (3 min) – 2,000 yen 
Customer sleeps with head on girl’s lap (3 min) – 1,000 yen 
Girl sleeps with head on customer’s lap (3 min) – 2,000 yen

Personally, I'm not sure that paying $12AUD to stare at someone for a minute would be quite the bargain, considering you can do that on a train for free. However, I suppose if it brings a bit of comfort to a lonely Otaku, then who are we to judge...though, paying money to pet a high school girl does fall into the realm of the shudder. 

The Bear Patrol

These bears that I have been concerned about for the last few months have been stalking ever closer to us, no doubt smelling the delicious burning of my bacon, and last week they were just down the road in our park. Or at least, a baby bear was. But, where baby goes, mum is usually not too far behind so needless to say I won't be venturing into the woods alone, or entering any strange porridge filled cabins nearby. It was all a bit of excitement as Senior Lukington had a lovely visit from the bear patrol (Yes, there was an actual bear patrol- sirens and all) and the police before they went for their search for the bear, but (probably lucky for the bear) they didn't find it.


Clearly though with this evidence of bears skulking about, the bear patrol is not doing its job correctly. And in light of this we have purchased a bell that *supposedly* keeps away large mammals such as bears (unfortunately, they were out of special, multi purpose tiger rocks). To think, we always though the lady that walked around the neighbourhood with her bells on was always going to a party....




But not to be overcome by a fear of bears, or Melissophobia, we decided to venture to the local woods for a BBQ on a nice summers evening to cook some delicious meats and frolic with the fireflies. The Japanese seem to love nature, and show their love by keeping it beautifully and meticulously groomed.

It is a beautiful park and thankfully the rock worked and we were able to eat bear free- after all, there is nothing like the safety of consuming alcohol and eating meat in the woods in the darkness where the bears lurk. But when the other Gaijins came it did put me at ease a little bit more... After all, it was only a one in five chance of being eaten and I was sure that I might run faster than at least one of them.

Mushi

Being the wonderful wife I am, the other weekend I took my grown up boy (my husband) to the Bug Museum. Don't get me wrong, I like bugs, and I think a lot of them are very cute, like Ladybugs or Christmas beetles, but they don't exactly excite me like they do Senor Lukington.

Never the less, we set out into the mountains of Tainai to find the house in the middle nowhere (Lots of 'watch out for Monkeys' signs) and I am pleased to report that it was an enjoyable morning. They had a few cages where you could pick up the beetles (I felt a little sorry for the beetles though, being manhandled all the time) and of course lots of various dead insects for display. They had lots of gorgeous butterflies too, a lot of which I recognised from Northern Queensland.

They also had a bit of a butterfly house, where you could take little colourful containers of syrup to try and attract the butterflies.

I am sure that our experience would have been even more enriching if we could read half of the Kanji on the wall, but for Y4.10, it was an absolute bargain and a fun day out.