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  02.28.04
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It's less than two weeks before I leave for
Thailand and I'm getting pretty excited.
I haven't bought my new camera yet, but I've
pretty much settled on the Canon 10D -- Thanks to everyone for their input on
this.
 02.24.04
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We buy our groceries at several different
small shops along our neigbourhood's main
shopping street, Kotsu Dori. We buy bananas
and canned tomatoes at one place, tofu and
strawberries at another, and brown rice and
noodles at a third.
Up towards the end of the street, near the
train station, is a small fruit shop run
by the Takahashi family. That's where we
buy all of our grapes, oranges, melons and
apples.
Old Mr. Takahashi is a jovial man with smiling
eyes. He always dotes over our son Jack,
or 'Ichiro-kun' (Ichiro being his middle
name) as he's known in the neighbourhood.
It's seldom that we leave his shop without
Jack greedily clutching a candy or bag of
sembei crackers that he received as a present.
Mr. Takahashi doesn't speak much English,
but sometimes he makes an attempt.
The first
time he tried it kind of caught me
off guard.
I went to the shop to buy some mandarin oranges.
After I paid him, and he put the oranges
in the bag, Mr. Takahashi said to me, "San kyu", which is Japanese for 'three, nine'.
So I said back to him, in Japanese, "Three
nine what? Did I give you enough money."
He then started to repeat this peculiar numeric
phrase again and again in quick succession,
"No, No, san kyu, san kyu, san kyu."
It was then that I realized, he was saying
'Thank you'. Then I remember what one of
my language students had told me the year
before. Not too long after the war and subsequent
occupation, it was commonly held that you
could say thank you (Japanese arigato) to the Americans by saying the numbers
san (three) and kyu (nine) quickly -- it's kind of a pronunciation
aid, since Japanese doesn't have a 'th' sound.
I guess old Mr. Takahashi learned this method
of saying the phrase back when he was a kid.
So I turned back to Mr. Takahashi with a
new, enlightened look on my face and said
to him something else that my student had
taught to me, "Hai, Takahashi-san. Don't touch my mustache."
"What?" he said.
"Don't touch my mustache", I said
again quickly and with conviction. This is
a bastardized way for English people to say,
doo itashimashite, Japanese for 'you're welcome.'
He seemed to get it the second time. "Okay,
san kyu, san kyu. Bye bye," he said as I walked off
with my bag of oranges under my arm, and
one more mangled attempt at language learning
under my belt.
 02.20.04
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Here are those pictures from Karen's taiko
recital that I promised. Isn't she cool?
I used to be in Karen's class, but I dropped
out -- I wanted to spend my limited free
time playing guitar instead. I guess that
makes me a drum-flunky.
I used to play a lot of guitar back in Canada,
I was a single student and had (what seems
now) eons of time to waste. Now I just try
to play enough to keep up my 'chops', as
they say. I can't remember the last time
that I learned a new song.
I played a few numbers at Tony and Gabrielle's
going away party a few weeks ago -- Muleskinner
Blues, Samson and Delilah, Yokohama Mama
-- and the cafe manager asked me to come
back and do a concert of my own. I turned
him down at the time because I'm not really
keen on performing. However, I changed my
mind later because it dawned on me that preparing
for a concert would be a great way to kick
my ass in gear and start moving ahead with
the guitar again.
Anyway, I set a tentative date for a show
in mid to late April; after we get back from
Thailand. The place is called the Forbidden Galaxy Cafe, and it's a few stops past Ikebukuro station
on some line or other, I can't recall right
now. It's only a small place, seats maybe
30 or 40 people tops. The manager said he'd
give me half the door receipts, so at least
I'll get my train fare covered.
Nothing's for certain yet, but I'll
let you
know if the show actually happens.
 02.16.04
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Today's pictures where all taken yesterday
in Yoyogi Park. Karen had a taiko drum recital in a concert
hall near the park, and afterwards I had
to pass through it on my way to Harajuku
station.
Karen's taiko concert was great to watch
-- Karen looked pretty 'rock' banging on
those big drums. I've got some good pictures
of the concert, and I'll put them up next
time after Karen has had a chance to look
at them.
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