The Rotary Club that is hosting my exchange had a Christmas party for all of the exchange students, past present and future, in this area. They rented a room at a ritzy hotel overlooking the bay... a lovely banquet was laid out. Call me a wimp if you will, but I went for the fruit basket (instead of oysters, escargot, and eel). The gai-jin (foreigners) were expected to come up with an impromptu speech in Japanese... I wasn't booed, so I count it a success. Then the host parents had to say a few words about us. My mom was able to point out one of my weaknesses by shifting the blame to herself. She said that she talks to fast for me to understand... I think she really meant that I don't respond enough.
We then went bowling in the hotel's lanes. They have my size shoe (29cm), but they don't let them go without a show. Eeeeh? 29 senchi? Sugoui! After sinking a couple of gutter-balls, I decided to convey that I am actually South Pole (left-handed), and since my left pinkie is broken, I have to bowl right-handed... very hard to switch.
Our last day of school before winter break was the 22nd, a half day. That evening my Homeroom teacher treated the guys in the class to supper at an oconomiyaki place. We ate in the private party room, where we cooked our own food on the grill. Oishikata desu... (it was yummy...) There was also a Karaoke machine. During the meal, and for an hour after, we sang all of the "best hits" of Japan and the US. I'm getting to the point where I can read the Japanese on the Karaoke screen and sing along... or at least fake it. As far as understanding it, though, that's quite a different story. What, exactly, are they talking about the inside of a man? Dunno. Once I knew "ai" (love) it was a lot easier to fake-along with my classmates. Ah, love... the official intercultural intergenerational song theme.
J-pop (Japanese pop music) is a lot like America's music scene. There is ska, heavy, bubblegum, backsteetboys-ish, hiphop... everything. I can hear elements of the old singing style, Enka, in the singing of today's Rockers. Of course, my classmates think I'm crazy for thinking this.
New Year's is the biggest holiday in Japan. And the biggest party in Japan is the New Year's spectacular in Tokyo. As it is near impossible to get tickets, I'm watching the event on the tube. The idea behind the event is a singing war of the sexes. All types of Japanese music is represented, from Enka to J-pop. The most popular singers and groups are invited to sing in the concert... including a couple gender-bending individuals. I wonder what team they are a part of.
The judges are several famous figures, including a sumo wrestler. At the end of the four-hour concert the judges (10 males, 10 females) vote for either the red team (males) or the white team (females). The audience gets one vote as well, which they cast by raising the correct color fan. This is all very exciting, and the tension mounts as the count the 21 votes on stage... Otoko win by one! Yay! I voted for them as well.
Rewind to the 30th of December. Every year at New Year's the Murakami family makes mochitsuki. These are dumplings of rice starch filled with sweet bean paste. The men boil the rice and pound in into a thick gum outside. The pounding of the rice is done by two people. One has the wooden sledge hammer, and the other folds the blob after each whack. There is a lot of trust in this operation, any variation of the 1, 2 rhythm might break the folder's hand. Then the women shape the blob into the pastries. These are extremely filling, and I can barely eat one.
Whoa... T minus to 15min until y2k and the power in the house went off. Lucyilk, I'm tkping on a laptop computer... Turns out it was just a blown fuse. 3 min and counting. I have my fingers crossed... I couldn't make it to the temple, so I will make my first New Year's prayer here: Peace.
...
No fire, no brimstone. 2000 is here, and all is well. The clock at the big party in Tokyo was 1 min off of CNN's so I got to count down a couple of times. (In Japanese, of course: go, yon, san, ni, ichi... !!!) My host brother walked into the room, and I said "omedeto." He was surprised that the moment had past already... I guess there are things in life some sleep through.
I decided to seek out a temple to make my official first prayer of the New Year. I walked from the house, towards the place where I thought there was a temple. After a while, I knew that I had gone too far, and gave up. I was walking home a different way, when I spotted the place that I was shooting for in the first place. I walked through the gate, which shows visitors the place to begin preparing themselves for prayer. Hanging out in the background, watching everybody do their thing, I noticed that my host grandfather was serving the sake (rice wine). Suddenly the voice of my host mother and father saying "doish'tan" finds me. We were not planning to meet here, so it is interesting that we have. After they go through the motions I decide to go for it:
Bow to the greeters and tell them "Omedeto gozaimasu," bow to the matron of the temple, tell her "Omedeto gozaimasu," lower head, throw the coins into the wooden box, clap twice, make prayer, clap twice, get a small saucer of sake. "Matron" may not be the correct English word for the woman at the temple. She was wearing a kimono and a tall black hat. As each person makes their prayer she brushes their head with a white zigzag paper thing. I don't know if I did the motions exactly correctly, but they seemed happy that I tried. After I finished my ounce of sake they asked me what the large piece of bamboo I was carrying was. So I played "Auld Lang Syne" for them on my digeridoo. Everybody was impressed, and clapped for me. What interesting people these outsiders can be...
-Forrest