Listen

This conversation is actually from a long time ago, right before V-Rock Festival (I had it saved in a different journal), but it is related to what I was feeling tonight:

I was reminding one of my mentor/coworker that I was taking a day off for the concerts.
They sort of laughed in that knowing way that I've come to recognize as polite, amused, derision for my love of visual kei.
So I asked them, "I have noticed that many Japanese don't have a good impression of VK."
Another derisive laugh.
Me: "You don't like it?"
Teacher: "I think it is.. a little strange."
Me: "Ah, yes. Their outfit are a bit unusual, but I think it just adds to the music-"
Teacher: "So you consider them musician, then?" Very direct.

OMG, this comment just shocked me to silence for a moment.

Me: "Of course!! I wouldn't care about them if I didn't like their music!"
Teacher: "Oh, really? They actually play good music?"
Me: "Yes!! Musicians?! Yoshiki is the most famous musician in Japan!"
Teacher: "Oh, well, yes, Yoshiki is good. He's good.."
Me: "He's the father of visual kei!!" <--- complete disbelief that is conversation is happening.

I'm still reeling. Is that what Japanese people really think? That they are all just a bunch of overpaid crossdressers? The prejudice is just overwhelming. This was actually the first time (not this conversation, but the subject in general) I have come in contact with the rather infamous prejudices of the Japanese... to have it be against something I love so dearly (hello, a MAJOR reason for my interest in Japan!) really rather crushed me like a burnt piece of paper.

Anyway, I think of this conversation often (b/c even close Japanese friends of mine, while being polite, cannot help suppress a laugh when asking me how my concerts went). Like this evening, I was getting depressed thinking about Christmas again, wondering what I was gonna do... and Miyavi pops onto my iTunes singing a soft acoustic song, and it was like... the equivalent of a family member suddenly calling me just when I need to hear a friendly voice. I wish I could impart that feeling to my Japanese friends. It is part of their own culture, after all.

Anyway, this is what came up on my iTunes. you should listen to it. maybe you'll know how I felt.

Miyavi - We love you ~ Sekai wa Kimi wo Aishiteru.mp3

Found at: http://www.filestube.com

Miyavi - Dear my love.mp3

Found at: http://www.filestube.com

Cheers,

382 Baer

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yay, my 2nd favorite holiday after Halloween!

To celebrate, and educate my sadly unacquainted-with-Thanksgiving co-workers, I decided to make pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, is something I only began to crave once I started living abroad. First, in Russian, where I convinced our program director to throw a make-a-pumpkin-pie party, and now here, struggling with a little tiny oven. They are just such American foods, living abroad brings it out in me.

So, my first attempt was actually last Friday. My mother sent me my Grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe, and I had 3 cans of American pumpkin from when she visited me. I know what you are thinking: "Lindsay, you couldn't even manage to bake cookies without burning them, how the heck are you gonna make a pie?" Well, I would be shocked and offended at your doubt in me, but since it is true, I can forgive you. As it turns out, before I started baking the pies I figured out why I ended up with burned outside/mushy inside cookies. It had never occur ed to me before that moment that my oven was actually set in Celcius... a minor culture shock error, except that it had me cooking cookies at about 464 degrees Fahreinheit. Oops.


To the right, you can see my first pumpkin pie (ever!). Sorry, I didn't think to get a picture of it until after I had taste-tested it. Yum. Actually, because I only have a convection oven, it was really more of a pumpkin-tart. Each one is only about 8 inches in diameter in a tart tray. But the intention was pie, so that is what I am going to call it. Anyway, I saved half for myself and gave the other half to Yuki. On Saturday, I made another pie and gave it to my supervisor, Sakazume-sensei. I am really on a quest to prove that American pumpkin and Japanese Kabocha are not the same thing. What are they more likely to believe than their own taste buds?

I discovered that because my pies were so small, the recipe I had actually made 3 pies worth of filling, and 2 pies worth of crust. I suddenly had a great deal more pumpkin than I thought I had. The only annoyance was buying butter. Butter is expensive! To buy a 200g pack (2 sticks) is about $4.50! Each recipe calls for 1 whole stick of butter (so, half a stick of butter in each of my mini-pies). I was able to find some cheaper butter later, but still, I ended up spending about $12 on butter! I asked Yuki about this and she said that the government actually had requested that only a small amount of butter be produced (because it is unhealthy, I imagine). She said, even a couple months ago, you would have been hard pressed to find even a single stick of butter. Unbelievable. A country that loves deep fried food almost as much as Texas, and they are afraid of butter. Huff.

Anyway, ignoring my rapidly lightening wallet, I had plenty of supplies to make lots of pumpkin pie. So I did! Last night I made 5 pumpkin pies! Actually, I even still have enough filling and crust to make 1 more, but I was so damn tired (not from cooking, just in general) that I opted for bed instead.

Thanks to my efforts, I had 4 lovely pumpkin pies to take with me to school today for my teachers. Aren't they beautiful!

Hashiba-sensei is always remarking, after I have told her about my latest kitchen-adventure, on how much I like to cook. Somehow, I feel like this is not quite accurate. My mother likes to cook. I just like to eat. and I like to surprise people with unexpected gifts. Cooking just sort of becomes a necessity, doesn't it? Does the fact that you like to be clean mean you love taking showers? or that you just don't want to be a one-man island on the subway. You decide.

In the meantime, I'm gonna have some pie. mmm pie.

Cheers,

pumpkin Baer

Apartment Life

I know I am long overdue on posting pictures of my apartment. My apologies. However, there are some things about living here that don't show up in pictures. Just little things. First there is the man that lives... somewhere.. near me, who likes to sing. I don't know what it is he sings, but the wobbly old man voice makes me think he is a fan of enka (look it up on YouTube). He only sings at night and only for a relatively short period of time. It occurred to me that he might be a singing-in-the-shower kind of guy. I wonder if he knows all of his neighbors are in his shower with him.

When my evening soundtrack is not old-man warbling, there's also the cat fights. First time I heard the cats in neighborhood crying, I thought it was one seriously upset (human) baby. Except it just kept going on and on, one continues painful wail, and I was wondering, why the heck nobody was taking care of this baby? The animal finally had a catch in its breath long enough for me to identify it. Gods, I've never heard a cat make a sound like that. It really sounded human. Now it is not so much the crying I hear, but occasional cat fights. I've never heard a cat fight before either, but man... there must be some seriously unhappy cats living in this neighborhood. Their bark must be bigger than their bite or there would be nothing left.

Winter is starting to sneak up on us. In the interest of keeping costs down as much as possible, I have resisted using my heaters. However, now that it is consistently 52 degrees in my apartment every evening, I have given in somewhat. I pamper myself with a little space heater in the living room, where I spend most of my time. It heats the small room up to about 65 or so, which is just fine for me. However, going to sleep and getting up in the morning is still a painfully chilly dash, as I don't put the heater in there. I have a big fluffy down comforter that, with some socks on, keeps me warm. A month ago I laughed at my friend Mark, who is from London, for searching for a hot water bottle. We had a long discussion on the differences between American and British conveniences (did you know they don't use pot holders?). I'm not laughing anymore. I think I will put it on my shopping list for next time I go to the mall.

It seems like this month has flown by. I was just at the hyaku-en shop ($ store) tonight and saw that they have quite a bit of Christmas stuff out. I even found some icicle lights (for 100 yen!) ! I want to get some blue ones and hang them along the wall of my little living room. It will be kind of like my freshman year of college, lol.

I can't believe we are almost to December. I am really starting to get bummed about Christmas. Even if the religious significance is lost to me, it is still a pretty deeply ingrained holiday/tradition. The idea of getting up on Christmas morning, ALONE with NO tree, NO stocking, NO presents, NO cinnamon rolls... and then having to go to WORK! Ugh. I haven't had any homesickness at all since I have been here, but I think I am going to be really depressed on December 25th. Send me some love, ok? I think I will make some little gifts of some kind to take to work with me, give myself something nice to focus on/look forward to.

In the mean time, Thanksgiving is almost here. I am attempting to make some pumpkin pie with the canned pumpkin my mother was kind enough to bring me. There actually IS a Thanksgiving party for JETs next Friday (so I will actually be celebrating the same day as all of you back home! ha ha) so, fortunately, it is one holiday I wont have to miss out on.

I'm gonna go fight my not-so-easy-bake oven now.

Cheers,

just Baer

Kaleideoscope /Kaya concert

I haven't written a blog in a while, so, if you are interested, I wrote about my concert experience last Saturday in Tokyo. I went to Tokyo solely for the purpose of seeing this concert, and headed home the same day.

The show was held at the Ruido K3. This was actually my first concert in Japan, not counting V-Rock Fest, so I had no clue about the venue, setup, crowd, anything. When I arrived, I was shocked to the see how small the building was. It was no longer strange to me that it didn't show up on Google Maps. There was a very small crowd of about 65 nicely dresses, mostly lolita-style, girls standing around outside, (I was defiantly the only foreigner) so I knew it was the right place. A staffer guy started calling out ticket numbers, which was a surprise to me. I knew my ticket had a number, but I thought it was all standing room. To facilitate an orderly entry once the doors opened, the staffer lined us up more or less in numerical order. Except, the entry was in the basement and the building was so small, we lined up by winding around the stairs going up the inside of the building.

After the doors opened, we slowly wound ourselves down into the basement. I was really shocked (again) to see how small the room was were the concert would be held. They had filled the standing room with folding chairs, which explained the ticket numbers, but I am pretty sure we could have held the concert in my 1LK apartment. Honestly, I was thrilled to see the arrangement. It guaranteed that no matter where you were, you had a good seat and could see Kaya and all the band members. I was super happy to get to sit down for the next hour and half as well.

The band members came out first, took up their places and, minus Kaya, began to play. I liked it immediately. It was a jazzy sort of rock/pop that I could tell immediately would suit Kaya to a T. Even without Kaya, I would have gone to see this band play, as they were quite good, and quite fun to watch. I thought the Bassist, Shingo, was particularly cute, as he was clearly having fun; he kept sticking his tongue out and would sometimes silently mouth the sound of the other instruments (which cracked me up).

After the first song, the band paused, and Kaya blew onto the stage. He was dressed in platform boots, a black high-waisted pants, a white shirt, a short black jacket with looong coat tails, and a short white wig. I was a little disappointed he didn't just stick with his natural hair. The wig was definitely a little weird, and I know he looks gorgeous as just himself... ah, but anyway, he was very quiet, reserved, did a simple little bow, and sat down.

The first couple of songs were the same jazzy stuff that the band had been playing as a warm up. It was not very fast paced, just easy, relaxing. Kaya sounded even better with them than I could have imagined. From the first time I heard his music, my fantasy of him has always been to have him sing at private jazz club/restaurant, without big crowds and where one could dance. My fantasy was somewhat fulfilled; I think, if he ever did such a thing, this is what it would sound like. I wanted to sit there and listen to them forever.

However, after the first couple of songs, the lights came up and so did the band members. Kaya, Shingo, and... the guitarist (he was cute too! I just.. can't.. remember his name...) had all been sitting down, but they popped up and suddenly the mood changed. Kaya laughed and started talking. I have no idea what he said after "Good evening!" so don't ask me. They started playing without much talking, but it was a faster pace, not as mellow, though it still had that jazzy edge to it. After they played for a bit, Kaya whisked away off stage while the band kept playing. I assumed he had gone to change his clothes. The band played a full song, and when Kaya had still not reappeared, they continued into a... rotating solo. Shingo went first, the spotlight shinning down on him as he showed off with his bass. The guitarist went next, then the pianist, then the drummer. They did this about 5 times until Kaya swept back on stage again. He had indeed changed his clothes, now a blouse and skirt. As the girls next to me burst into a quiet round of "Kawaii~!", Kaya summed up the transformation himself: "I'm a princess!" He then apologized (I think... don't quote me on the translation!) for taking so long because he couldn't get his clothes on! Everyone laughed at both comments.

The fast paced music continued for the rest of the show. They did pause for about 15 minutes to do a "Talk Show Corner", where Kaya read from cards collected from the audience. I could only read the second half of the question on my card, so I didn't fill it out; I think it was asking where we wanted to go with the Kaya Express, but again, don't quote me. I grew a bit bored from not being able to understand. Watching Shingo was fun though; at one point, he was too busy checking himself out in mirror and fixing his clothes, that he didn't even hear Kaya ask him a question, which he got teased mercilessly for.

I floated out of that venue on a cloud. It was such a good show on every possible level. The band was amazing, Kaya was amazing, and venue was perfect, and even the sound was great. I was really sad that I hadn't bought a ticket for the 2nd show of the night, but I did have to make the last train home so... till next time Kaya.

I have two more concerts in Tokyo this weekend, ha ha. I don't think they will be as amazing (the venue is much bigger) but I will let you know!

Cheers,

musical Baer(s)

Twizzlers, oh so good for you~

Happy (belated) Halloween!

I love Halloween. I do. It's so much fun and not religious, so I don't even have to feel guilty about enjoying it.
Thus, it was a little disheartening to see such a lack of proper enthusiasm from my fellow residents! My neighbor, Yuki, who speaks English, invited me to a Halloween party at a nearby English school. She told me not to dress up though... so I just wore a colorful tie in effort to be a little different. Walking around Ota, you'd never guess there was anything unusual about this Saturday, that it was a Saturday like any other. It drove me crazy! I wanted to yell to the people on the street, "It's Halloween! Why aren't you dressed up?!" Yuki just laughed at me.

The English school was really small and yet the amount of people at the party could not have filled even one room. It was a little awkward, to say the least. There was a mix of ALTs from all over and Japanese people interested in English. The absolute best part of the party was... one of the Japanese women there had been given Twizzlers as a gift from an ALT, but hated them. When she discovered that I liked licorice, she perked up and immediately said, "Wait here, I'll go home and get them for you!" We all just sort of stared as she ran out the door... she was really eager to get rid of those Twizzlers!

When she came back and gave them to me, I was feeling a bit mischievous and looking for something to cut the boredom. So, naturally, I offered some "great American candy" to the Japanese people around me. I cannot even tell you.. how amusing it was to watch their reaction, from the moment they pulled a single strip from the package and watched it sort of flop in their grasp. 'Seriously skeptical' would be an understatement. However, good manners won out over suspicion, and they all gamely took that first bite. Gods, their expression! After chewing for just a moment, they looked over at each other and asked, in Japanese, "What is this?" over and over, like they simply couldn't understand. "This is plastic./Is this plastic?" or "is this really edible?" was the standard response, accompanied by a pain expression as they chewed. Yet, even as they have this look on their face like they are eating poison, they look over and me and nod, "Oh yes, very good. Delicious." I was laughing my ass off. Even for the sake of being polite and maintaining harmony, they simply could not contain their disgust for this so called "candy." One woman even suggested that it might be a candle. lol. They asked me if it was really candy. I told them it was actually quite popular in America, and they didn't believe me!

Thus, for every unsuspecting Japanese person I saw that night, I would innocently offer them some "very popular American candy," to which they would eagerly respond until they actually tried it. Then the response was universally the same as I described above. A few people actually said they didn't mind it, but I was not sure at all if they were just better at maintaining harmony in the face of great odds. lol.

I am SO buying Twizzlers to bring to the office. Mwahaha.

Cheers,

evil Baer

JRock is good for the soul

I am late in my report, as usual, but before too much more time passes, I wanted to tell you what a did the weekend before last.

On Saturday, Chingyi and I headed into Tokyo. As usual, it was right after payday, so I was guaranteed to be poor for the rest of the month. However, I'd been looking forward to this weekend for a month, so I was sure it would be worth it.
First we went to a somewhat last-minute concert for a band that Chingyi likes and that I have never heard of, Monkey Majik. What was funny about them was that the band was made up of two Japanese guys and two Canadian guys. The Canadian guys sang all the songs in Japanese though, and, as it turns out, were former ALTs. It was a pretty small concert, held at the Canadian Embassy, and I think we might have been the only foreigners there. What really cracked me up was that, if the band members wanted to confer privately (say, about the next song) all they had to do was switch briefly to English and they were instantly alone.

We puttered around Tokyo for the rest of the day, primarily Harajuku (my heaven/haven). Unfortunately, as soon as we left the concert, it started to rain! Rain! I was so unhappy about this. Raining on my Tokyo day. Not to mention, raining on my nice dress!! Irk. We hid in Laforet for a while, looking around at all the nice clothes and trying desperately not to buy anything. I did end up getting a coat, a nice long white one that Chingyi says makes me look like a Russian princess. I was sure happy to have it though, because the rain did not let up for the rest of the weekend. We were even forced to buy an umbrella, a super stylish $6 one that I would end up losing later that weekend.

As a weekend of many firsts, it was, firstly, the first time we ever got lost in Tokyo. We had been good little girls and left Harajuku with plenty of time to get some rest at our hotel before the evenings activities, however, we did not anticipate how much difficulty we would have finding it. We probably walked for 1/2 hour before I determined we were definitely lost. We caught a cab in effort to save time and energy, but the cabby ended up being an idiot who could not even find a MAJOR department store, letting us off in the WRONG place, and forcing us to go down into the subway before we could find the correct route to the hotel. $9 just to get us more lost. thanks a ton.

That night we went to a party in Tokyo, called Tokyo Decadance. This is a party where every crazy Tokyo fashion you have ever seen or heard about, come together. It was quite amazing to see. I didn't get any pictures, because I didn't want to be rude, but it was fun. We saw the first couple performers, really unusual performers, but had to leave at 2am. I was really sad to leave... one of my favorite artists was supposed to perform later that, er, morning, probably closer to 5am. However, I had to wake up at 5am so... I've never had that kind of stamina, unfortunately. 3 hours of sleep already had me feeling like death the next morning.

So, yes, the next morning I went to Chiba, the next prefecture over, for the 2nd day of the V-Rock Festival, a huge event held at Makuhari Messe, where about 50 visual rock artists came together to perform. Snow told me later that she had seen on TV that 30,000 people went to this festival over 2 days. Amazing! I saw 3 of my favorite artists, including Versailles. It was so nice to see Versailles. They are absolutely my most favorite band to see live. They had some random fellow wearing all black, standing towards the back of the stage playing bass in place of Jasmine You (I wrote earlier about how he died recently), which was sad to see... They had Jasmine You's guitar there though, and held it up during introductions, as if to say "He's still a part of us." It made me happy to see them together.

So, a pretty busy weekend! I took the next day off, which was good, because I needed it just to recover. Already, though, I am buying tickets to other concerts soon, and even planning to see Versailles again in January. Not soon enough, I think.

Cheers,

VK Baer