Friday August 29, 2008
Do you ever have one of those periods in your life that things are moving forward as planned but are off balance? Well, my life this week has been like that. I checked my astrological forecast for August by Susan Miller but could not find anything that suggested this would happen this week. Perhaps its caused by the weather?
Speaking of weather, I am beginning to think I actually live in Kuala Lumpur and the idea that I’m living and working in Tokyo is a mirage or maybe I’m living in the "Matrix" of Tokyo. We have had thunderstorms all week! And if I was really living in Tokyo, the rainy season was supposed to be over in June! The thunder and lightening storm on Friday was wild. It was on top of Tokyo and the lightening was so close with torrential rain. Even Skipper was getting scared and wanted to be on my lap through the whole night. It was a restless night due to Skipper’s whimpering while sleeping next to me. So what is causing this strange weather? According to the concierge of my apartment who loves researching this kind of stuff, the cold air from Siberia is clashing with the warm air from the South. Typically, the cold air pushes the wild weather down South to where the ocean is warm and thus you get typhoons and thunderstorms in Southern Asia. But because the ocean temperature around Tokyo is warmer this year, this weather phenomena is stuck in Tokyo Bay. We are supposed to get thunderstorms for the next 3 days! That’s about 7 straight days of thunderstorms!
Tokyo Monsoon
So as usual, I start the weekend with my breadmaking class which I really did not feel like taking as I felt sluggish and yukky with the rain and humidity. But because I don’t want to pay late cancellation fees I haul my butt to the class. I get there and I’m happy to find the English speaking instructor that I like teaching both of the classes. I learn to make a sesame bun and a sweet bread stuffed with Earl Grey flavored creme. All turned out OK, except because my life been out of balance, one of the sesame breads did not have any sesame in them and the Earl Grey creme I made had 2 tiny lumps. Also, I’m not a fan of "creme breads" and thought the idea of tea flavored creme sounded awful. I ate one and it was OK but not quite good. Anyhow, the concierge’s of my building like creme bread so I gave the rest to them and to the taxi driver that took my the short distance home from Tokyo Midtown in the torrential rain.
Sesame Buns
Milk Tea Creme Bread
Saturday August 27, 2008
I get up early to get ready for the American Embassy friendship day barbeque and am pleased to see the sun out. The forecast predicted thunderstorms but I believe that surely after 5 straight days on thunderstorms its over. I have the whole day planned where I drop Skipper off to Dog Days for his haircut and spa treatments, meet everyone at my house, go to the barbeque, pick up Skipper, and have everyone over for a get together at my place.
Well, after a an hour a so, I start seeing dark clouds and now am thinking its going to be a rainy day. I think positively, and take Skipper to Dog Days where I experience my first hiccup. They have problem with entrance because its flooded due to the torrential rain the night before. So instead of dropping him off at 1030am, Skipper and I have to wait another 30 minutes to get in the store. Now I’m running late as people are meeting me at my place at 1130am. Anyhow, I get Skipper in and rush back to my place. I run into Ishii-san, his wife – Yasuko and ADORABLE son on the way home who of course, got to my place early. Noriko, Dima and Patrick all arrive on time although Noriko also got there early when I wasn’t home and had to wait outside a bit. We do the intros, get our act together and leave to attend the barbeque.
Skipper with his New Haircut – the one thing I accomplished this weekend
While we are walking, I realize I left my cellphone so have to go back, get it and then join the party. We get to the front of the US Embassy compound where the party is being held and we all feel huge raindrops hitting us….not alot, just huge. Dima suggests we go back and just as we started debating, the downpour starts. We rush back to my place in the MONSOON. Even with umbrellas we are SOAKED. Ishii-san’s family is soaked and make the decision to go home. Everyone else gets to my place and I provide them with a change of clothes. We have a good view of the compound from my place and find people taking shelter. What a mess! Anyhow, we get the food out, Noriko teaches me how to make edamame – so easy- yet had no idea how to do it, and we sit to eat and chat. Here’s a summary of some of the interesting discussions we had with Noriko being our Japanese advisor.
Weddings
Many Japanese like to have Christian weddings although they are not Christian. I told a story of a wedding I attended which took place in a restaurant with an altar and was officiated by what I thought was a Christian priest and two nuns dressed as Florence Nightingale (that in itself was weird because its usually altar boys that assist). Anyhow, it was a full blown Christian wedding in English where I was the only one responding to the priest when he said things like "The Lord be With You" and I would say " And Also with You" ( I went to Catholic school). Well, I found out the priest was an actor. Many of my Western and Christian friends find it appalling that one can have a Christian wedding while not believing in Christianity and some find it a "mocking" of Christianity. So why do they have a Christian wedding when they don’t believe in Christianity? My theory is that people see these weddings in Hollywood movies, US and French TV shows (Tokyo-ites are the worlds biggest francophiles) and like the way it looks so decide to have the same ceremony. Now, of course, there are many Japanese people who have traditional Shinto weddings (which is very beautiful and serene, by the way and find it sad that people are preferring Western style weddings to the traditional Japanese wedding) and there are Japanese Christians who believe in stating their vows in front of God. Also, you have to understand religion in Japan to understand the rationale. Japan is a Buddhist and Shinto country. Its all about harmony so one can belong to multiple religions in Japan. I know many baptized Catholics in Japan that follow Catholicism until death, where they die Buddhist. In Buddhism and Shinto-ism there is no dogma or doctrine like the Middle Eastern religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Therefore, why not have a Christian style wedding? I personally believe that if you believe in marriage, it’s special and should be treated with the respect and held in a ceremony that reflects one values. Therefore find it sad for some to have a Christian style wedding because its "fashionable" when it does not reflect your belief and value. And finally, one can say the same to the many Westerners that "practice" certain Bhuddhist or Hindu traditions and arts without believing or thoroughly studying the Bhuddhist and Hindu philosophy.
The Art of Not Saying "No"
Doing business in Japan can be frustrating because of the cultural differences but one of the toughest is that you can never get a firm "No" answer in Japan. So I thought this was a Japan only thing until I started learning about Bhutan. Bhutan is a country that has Mahayana Buddhism as its official religion (however, its in the Tantric form – the only country in the world to do so). In Bhutan, its impolite to say "No", so a Bhutanese will answer any question as an affirmative (sound familiar for those of us in Japan?) or evade it altogether if it means he/she has to say "no" and thus lose face in front of the questioner, or make the questioner lose face. What are the main schools of Mahayana Buddhism? Pure Land, Tibetan, Tendai, Shingon, Nicheren and Zen. Therefore, Buddhism in Japan is based on Mahayana Buddhism! And for those of us who know Japan, Buddhism is deeply entrenched and is the basis of the Japanese culture. So this is Janet’s theory on why you can’t get a "no" as an answer in Japan
The Art of Gift Receiving and Giving
This topic too is related to Buddhism in my opinion because in Bhutan, just like in Japan, exchanging presents is much more important than in the West. As Patrick said after I described the thought process of receiving and giving gifts in Japan, "its Deep". When one receives a gift in Japan, its common to have the receiver "apologize’ to the giver. One apologizes because one has to think of the trouble and effort the giver put into giving the gift. This thought process is something I admire very much about Japan and Buddhism and is something I was taught to appreciate (my mother was Japanese and my father studied Zen Buddhism). Its not about the individual but the impact the action has on the surroundings. This is ingrained in the Japanese psyche and therefore, I find the Japanese to be the most conscientious people in the world because they always put the other person first. I also found the Vietnamese people to be the same and Buddhism in Vietnam is also based on the Mahayana School.
Sunday August 31, 2008
Another hot, humid day in Tokyo. I swear this is not Tokyo. We are supposed to get thunderstorms AGAIN!
I went to Haneda Airport early this morning to pick up my friends daughter who is spending a week in Japan. She’s spending tonite with me and the rest of the week going to Gaijin camp. I arrive at Haneda airport to find her flight delayed for over an hour! So much for checking flight arrivals on the Internet! Also, since its early NOTHING is open so I just sit and wait. I can’t even listen to my iPod cuz the batteries are dead. Damn! I’m very frustrated but this has been the story of my life this week.
She finally arrives and I get her settled and we decide to have brunch in Harajuku which is a fun place for teenage girls. We go to lunch and to make a long story short, my temporary crown on a cracked tooth comes off and disaster! So we now have to go to the dentist and I feel so bad as she spends the afternoon at the dentist office at Hotel Okura.
Oh god, what a week. What else can happen. Anyhow, we decide to spend the rest of the day watching movies, eating left overs from yesterday’s get together, ordering Domino’s pizza and hope I regain my "balance" this week.