For Lack of a Better Name
This week was chock full o' nuts, enough so that I couldn't find the time to post an entry for a few days. However, I did resort to scribbling incomprehensible notes into a journal so here's the best stab at putting them into some sort of logical order.
Although I'm here to learn Japanese, take in the culture, and be laughed at from time to time, Japanese TV is certainly worth watching, mostly for its comedic value. I usually sit with Shun and Shoko so they can explain what I can't understand by general deduction and cursory knowledge of Japanese. So far I have two favorite programs aside from the daily news in the morning which has its own array of wacky humor (One morning on the news a woman was run over by a bakery truck in Kobe and the news station made an elderly-woman-being-hit-by-a-truck 3D animation which left me half chuckling/sick to my stomach).
Regardless, one of my favorite shows is called "Toribia no Izumi" (Well of Trivia) and involves two hosts and a panel of famous Japanese actors, singers, magicians, and other famous TV personalities. The hosts present the panel with useless but interesting knowledge (the more hilarious the better, like "until 1995 Japan's Meteorological Agency measured the intensity of earthquakes on how strong its staff members felt they were," "spiders can't create webs properly if they drink coffee", or "there is a bronze statue of a group of 1980s heartthrobs on an uninhabited island in Okinawa"). The panel then responds to the level of humor or shock by pressing a button in front of them which makes a very nasal "heh" sound. The hosts talk some more and ask questions to the panel, then all of the “heh’s” are tabulated to give an overall rating of humor.
The show I watched the other night was also a riot. I was not sure of the name, but yet again it featured a panel of famous Japanese people. Their challenge was to perform various activities ranging from giving and receiving gifts to viewing a dead body in the “traditional” manner. A panel of knowledgeable Japanese would rate each of the contestants on form and execution to the amusement of everyone watching at home. It was reassuring to know that most of the contestants didn't know much more than I did when it came to most of the "traditional" Japanese activities. One particularly hilarious part of the program came when the contestants watched a video of a boss offering to pay for his staff's lunches. Something was done incorrectly on the video and the contestants had to come up to a giant head of a cat with a camera inside, stick their own head into its mouth, and whisper their answer. Makes American TV sound rather uninteresting, doesn’t it?
Yesterday at school all of my classes ended 10 minutes early for a "special presentation" to the school after lunch. At the appropriate time the whole school filed into the gym where a man was waiting with a PowerPoint presentation. After deciphering the first line of text I discerned that he was from the Okayama Women's Studies Institute to give us a little talk about the "birds and the bees." His whole presentation ended up being about STDs, prophylactics, and general sex-ed. I thought it was very informative, even in Japanese. The kids also didn't laugh very much throughout the whole presentation which was impressive.
On Friday after school Sakaguchi-sensei came to Kendo practice (which is very uncommon because he is often busy with school meetings and had not been to practice in a few weeks). I had been practicing Kendo every day, and he said my improvement was "astonishing." He had Asama, the captain, dress in the Kendo armor and I got to take some swings at him. This was the first time I had hit anything with the sword and it was amazing. You make a growling yell sound before you swing, and when you hit your opponent you yell "men!" or "do!" depending on where your strike lands. This is especially awesome because I don’t find myself to be a very aggressive person and hitting people with sticks feels really good. I can't wait to put the armor on myself and go at it for real.
Last night I went to eat dinner with Andee's host family. There are five people, and the oldest host daughter, Keiko, is in America. His host family is very nice, and we had a delicious dinner of tempura and teriyaki. Andee's other host sister goes to college in Okayama and loves The Strokes. She speaks English well so we had a talk about colleges in Japan. After dinner Andee and I took a bike ride to the beach. We stayed until after midnight, taking nighttime photos and admiring the night sea.
Although I'm here to learn Japanese, take in the culture, and be laughed at from time to time, Japanese TV is certainly worth watching, mostly for its comedic value. I usually sit with Shun and Shoko so they can explain what I can't understand by general deduction and cursory knowledge of Japanese. So far I have two favorite programs aside from the daily news in the morning which has its own array of wacky humor (One morning on the news a woman was run over by a bakery truck in Kobe and the news station made an elderly-woman-being-hit-by-a-truck 3D animation which left me half chuckling/sick to my stomach).
Regardless, one of my favorite shows is called "Toribia no Izumi" (Well of Trivia) and involves two hosts and a panel of famous Japanese actors, singers, magicians, and other famous TV personalities. The hosts present the panel with useless but interesting knowledge (the more hilarious the better, like "until 1995 Japan's Meteorological Agency measured the intensity of earthquakes on how strong its staff members felt they were," "spiders can't create webs properly if they drink coffee", or "there is a bronze statue of a group of 1980s heartthrobs on an uninhabited island in Okinawa"). The panel then responds to the level of humor or shock by pressing a button in front of them which makes a very nasal "heh" sound. The hosts talk some more and ask questions to the panel, then all of the “heh’s” are tabulated to give an overall rating of humor.
The show I watched the other night was also a riot. I was not sure of the name, but yet again it featured a panel of famous Japanese people. Their challenge was to perform various activities ranging from giving and receiving gifts to viewing a dead body in the “traditional” manner. A panel of knowledgeable Japanese would rate each of the contestants on form and execution to the amusement of everyone watching at home. It was reassuring to know that most of the contestants didn't know much more than I did when it came to most of the "traditional" Japanese activities. One particularly hilarious part of the program came when the contestants watched a video of a boss offering to pay for his staff's lunches. Something was done incorrectly on the video and the contestants had to come up to a giant head of a cat with a camera inside, stick their own head into its mouth, and whisper their answer. Makes American TV sound rather uninteresting, doesn’t it?
Yesterday at school all of my classes ended 10 minutes early for a "special presentation" to the school after lunch. At the appropriate time the whole school filed into the gym where a man was waiting with a PowerPoint presentation. After deciphering the first line of text I discerned that he was from the Okayama Women's Studies Institute to give us a little talk about the "birds and the bees." His whole presentation ended up being about STDs, prophylactics, and general sex-ed. I thought it was very informative, even in Japanese. The kids also didn't laugh very much throughout the whole presentation which was impressive.
On Friday after school Sakaguchi-sensei came to Kendo practice (which is very uncommon because he is often busy with school meetings and had not been to practice in a few weeks). I had been practicing Kendo every day, and he said my improvement was "astonishing." He had Asama, the captain, dress in the Kendo armor and I got to take some swings at him. This was the first time I had hit anything with the sword and it was amazing. You make a growling yell sound before you swing, and when you hit your opponent you yell "men!" or "do!" depending on where your strike lands. This is especially awesome because I don’t find myself to be a very aggressive person and hitting people with sticks feels really good. I can't wait to put the armor on myself and go at it for real.
Last night I went to eat dinner with Andee's host family. There are five people, and the oldest host daughter, Keiko, is in America. His host family is very nice, and we had a delicious dinner of tempura and teriyaki. Andee's other host sister goes to college in Okayama and loves The Strokes. She speaks English well so we had a talk about colleges in Japan. After dinner Andee and I took a bike ride to the beach. We stayed until after midnight, taking nighttime photos and admiring the night sea.
1 Comments:
Would Shoko ever watch those TV shows if you weren't in the house? Plus, you can never get too much of that sex ed.
By mom, at 8:22 PM
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