Thursday, February 22, 2007

my weekend at naked man.

firstly, they aren't naked. some show a little too much, but they are in sumo-diapers (as we gaijin like to call them). the whole situation is quite ridiculous, but kate, natalie, maki and i felt the need to see this example of stupidity. we took the train to okayama--the first time for all but maki to go to this prefecture--and got there saturday morning. dropping off bags at our hotel, we killed time waiting for nats to join us then lunched at bagle and bagle (yes, another fun spelling error). another bag taken to the hotel, traded for our room keys before heading for the okayama castle. i was excited about this castle because it was supposed to have a photo shoot set up so you could get dressed up like geisha and preserve the experience on film. Through the misty rain, we made it too late to the castle for photos, but we still took the tour and our photos of yet another rebuilt japanese castle.

the black castle.

since we were exhausted at this point, we napped back at the hotel before getting our okonomiyaki dinner (a strange craving to have outside of the okonomiyaki capital, hiroshima). the fireworks started at nine, after dinner it was already 8:30, the actual naked man fest didn't start till midnight, but the fireworks we wanted to see didn't look likely. thirty minutes later on the train we arrived at sedaiji, the part of town where the festival was happening. beautiful lit lanterns welcomed us, as well as fireworks off in the distance. photos were taken and then we followed a small mass towards the temple, we hoped. once there we got stamps, and free ginger sake (yummy!). we weren't sure what was going to happen, but then we saw our first group of 'naked' men, some scrawny japanese men running down the 'street' then quickly turning around. this was followed by masses of cops dressed in white, covered in plastic, and then a group of enthusiastic gaijin 'naked' men running by. This was the beginning of many jiggly (and not so jiggly) butts passing us that night.

our first naked men.

this story then goes onto running into okayama JETs, hiroshima JETs and other familiar (if only because they were gaijin) faces. we eventually found out we needed tickets, which we didn't have, and were told by a cop to just 'try and stay in'--all the non-ticketed guests were supposed to leave at 10pm. well it worked, and we spent the next two hours standing in the rain repeating the phrase, 'oh my god, this is insane!'. for two hours the 'naked' men, including a quick to thin population of gaijin, ran around in a large circle. in the cold and the rain. nearly naked. they circled the temple grounds, even running through pools of cold water, passing by us girls in progressively organized groups. we were standing on the line, being cold and wet, and shacked at how stupid and cold these men must have been. there were elderly men, boys who looked twelve, wide strong looking guys, chubby guys, impossibly skinny guys; all of which you could easily imagine walking down the street ing their salary man uniform. most surprisingly there was even a group of about twenty blind guys in a huddle, being guided by about four sighted men. most impressive, extra stupid. looking to the men's uniforms, mixed in with all the white and off-white sumo diapers were very few men with red, or a few more with navy blue, loin clothes. we assumed you earned these by winning in previous years, or participating for so many sequential years.

as we begin to tire, just standing there in the wet and cold night, midnight finally approached. the 'naked' men now gathered on the steps of the temple. firstly, gathered is really to gentle of a word. these men pushed and shoved their ay to the top of the marble steps of this large (but not large enough) temple. one man would slip, twenty would cash down onto the hard steps. the spectators would get back up, now covered in bright red bruises, and attempt to again push their way to the top. now this, along with all the running, was all build up to the main event. this exciting 'climatic' event is the 'naked' men being thrown a stick. they fight over the stick. whoever has it must take it some place special (i assume on the temple grounds) without it being taken away. what this turns into is five hundred (or more) men, dressed in loin clothes, at midnight, on what is supposed to be the coldest day of the year, fighting over a stick. hmm... i wonder which is the smart stick? could this festival possibly answer this question?

the next stage.

well, while this stupidity was happening, us girls were getting old and soaked, and ten minutes after the 'fight' started, we opted to scadadel out of there, since we couldn't really see anything besides the stream. the steam coming off of these guys was absolutely amazing. we actually thought maybe there was fire involved once the 'fight' got intense. leaving the insanity seemed like an even better idea once i realized my umbrella didn't just have a leak, it was a leak. after two, three hours in the rain, my umbrella had given up and just decided to let the rain come on through. the night was over. we happily sat on the toasty train for forty minutes, then hobbled from the okayama station to our hotel--that we were freakishly happy to have booked in advance.

the sunday after this fiasco of a festival we had breakfast at our hotel, trekked it back to the castle (missed the photo thing again) then wandered the garden across the way. we were all very happy to catch our trains home--nats splitting off to catch her own, the other three of us road to fukuyama, we said good-bye to maki, and kate walked me to my haircut. feeling well groomed and exhausted, i got home at seven or so.

three.

my conclusion about this event is that i will only do this once, and the polar bear club has nothing on naked man. (one man dies over the weekend as a result from anticipation in this festival).

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

today was valentine's day.

now i didn't really realize this until part way through the day. it was nice not to even be aware of this obligatory holiday. however, i was reminded by a few e-mails, in reference to romantic plans of my friends, and frightening student love for others, as well as the fact that i had to teach two classes with a valentine's theme. for the most part i didn't care about the holiday, the fact that i don't have someone that i would celebrate it with, or anything related to the day. my day was pretty standard, save for plans to go to a concert in the evening. and i was enjoying, immensely, the fact that current reading material is "are men necessary?" by maureen dowd. (one of favorite quotes thus far, "men have a perfect right to be insecure. they're doomed, poor darlings"). what was interesting was, after leaving work, downtown i got to see the japanese valentine's day in action. officially women are supposed to give men chocolate, homemade chocolate, and that's it. no 'things' and no gifts for women. so of course as i went down to the sogo (department store) basement to buy my dinner, the dessert floor was filled with free samples of amazing chocolate truffles and women in business suits buying large packages. efficient and yet still totally fulfilling the feminine role that japan requires. a perfect example of japanese culture. next stop for me was to kill time at starbucks before going to the concert. of course by this time i knew that my friend, who was supposed to be going with me to the concert, had bailed on me. i was considering just going home, but decided to say fuck and go--i could always leave if it was awful. part of my reservations, i'm sad to say, was a fear that the concert would be all couples and i would just feel like a standout. of course, no matter what i would feel like a standout. i'm white. so off to the concert it was, but first came starbucks. as i was enjoying my short chai (proof that i am turning japanese, i think a venti is too much. in fact, a grande seems excessive) and delicious salad from sogo, i watched the other customers. one white couple, some japanese women in pairs or alone, and maybe a japanese couple or two. nearing the end of my sit, a young high school japanese couple sat down next to me. they were clearly on a date, sharing food, showing each other books and cds that liked, with gifts sitting in wait for the moment of the exchange (i assume they were gifts). what was interesting to me was that they were exchanging gifts, and not following the 'rules'. this was quite refreshing and just made me feel a little better for the next generation of japanese that will enter the real world. my book was also refreshing reading for the v-day (whether i'm taking it seriously or not) and the concert turned out to be amazing.

i was going to this concert in particular because our bartender from my new favorite bar, m-style, was in a band playing there. he is the bassist for the 'slinking cats'. i showed up at the right time, another band was playing, who were decent, and to my surprise and joy 'slinking cats' were on next. kazu, while setting up, noticed me right away and waved and said thank you for coming. i was already psyched just to see someone i knew playing, but then they were actually good. really good. they had quite the following, too. what made it extra extra special for me was that their singer was woman and their drummer was the cutest girl. and the guitarist? a john lennon wanna be. the whole thing just made me smile. i, of course ended up buying a cd, and getting all their autographs. they were then followed by a decent girl band, 'chapper'. and after that my heart rate got up at the imitation-slip-knot-wanna-bes, ' smack down'. they were more funny than good, but as far as the genre goes, they weren't bad. and to be able to move with a crowd to music just felt so good. after that i was on a bus, then a train and home before ten. i love my placement. if i didn't love portland more, i'd want to stay.

the night ended as i stepped in my door and a bug careened into my nostril. but all and all, a good day.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

movies.

i just watched 'the last king of scotland'. and to say the least that was a hard film to watch. it was beautiful. it was powerful. and i related to the 'entry' character. but it was hard to watch. mostly i say this as i think on the last really good movie i watched, 'the departed'. i saw that movie in the theater, and at the end i knew i was going *home*. that movie reminded me why i need to go home. it was amazing, stunning, and so well made. i don't like that kind of movie--violence, mobsters, all male cast-- and yet...stunned. now, watching 'the last king of scotland' i was also amazingly impressed. the characters were engaging, the story was fascinating, disturbing and the story was true. it was painful and true (for the main details, at the very least). though it was just as good of a film, it did not leave me feeling the same way as 'the departed'. films like LKOS are definitely another reason i want to be part of the industry, telling the stories that people don't want to hear, but that's just the thing, i'm people. i don't want to hear these things. but i am so glad that i do. being able to think about these hard topics, being forced to think, is so valuable. it gives focus in another way beyond our normal comfortable lives. hopefully it reminds many of us that there are problems in the world, even though the events that this film portrayed occurred in the seventies, they are still incredibly relevant today. for once i'll preach the hiroshima wisdom, we must remember so it does not happen again. clearly this is something that has not been successful in the same way as hiroshima's peace, but it is something we can be aware of and uneasy about so we can say, i am not happy with the way things are in the world. i wonder if there is anything i can do?