The Problem With the French is that They Don’t Have a Word for Entrepreneur

I must have been distracted when I left my home because
Left or right I'm sure I went. (I wonder which it was!)
Anyway, I never veered: I walked in that direction
Utterly absorbed, it seems, in quiet introspection.

Quick summary of the week before Obon. Byron arrived August 3rd, and I went for dinner with him and his boss and coworker. We went to quite a nice restaurant nearby, where we had big slabs of beef sashimi. Omoshiroi, yes, ooishi, maybe no. (Interesting, but not tasty). I spent most of the weekend with Byron, explaining rules and showing him around. I tok him to all you can eat yakiniku on Friday, I ate more than him except for the cow stomach, which is gross. Also had pig cheek, which is very fatty. Saturday we explored Kyoto Station, downtown, and Toji Temple, then we traveled to Osaka, met Tongxin, Mark, and 2 girls (one foreigner) that we met at the train station.

Fireworks!!! They were amazing! Some of the best I’ve seen, and lasted long too, nearly an hour. The place was incredibly busy, with people nearly as far as you could see (though it was dark so…). Took about 45 minutes to walk a distance of 100m to the train station o.O.
Work was decent that week. I actually made some real progress improving George’s code, it works a lot nicer now. I think I’ll have a work related section later on in this post (Turns out no, maybe next post) , so… onto Okinawa!

Okinawa was awesome! There, got that outta the way. I put some of the best pictures on the bottom of this post, and there’s more at http://picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link I also uploaded about 100 more pictures recently and organized them all into nice neat piles. Some of the pictures have been on my blog before, but a lot of new ones too. Check em out, and leave comments if you want. Also, thanks everyone for the excellent comments on my blog. Some were maybe a bit subtle, but they all made me laugh, which is a good thing.

Ok, onto Okinawa (attempt 2!) To start, I told you deer were creepy! Almost as creepy as the miniature ponies that would give wagon rides during Stampede outside where I worked the past 3 summers. Thanks a lot Stacie for reminding me!

So yeah, Last Friday, the night before our flight, I met up with Keith for Nara’s candle festival. We got take-out food (with extra rice ><) and ate it near the pond near the deer park. After finishing we went to look for the main candle area. Apparently there is supposed to be a whole field of candles, like in the pictures, but we only found small paths of candles (which were quickly being extinguished and removed). Anton told us after that we didn’t go far enough, the main area was closer to Todaiji. Aah, well.

But yeah, I had a run in with a deer. I was carrying a plastic bag with the remains of the take out food when a deer sneak attacked me from behind! He ripped open the bag, spilling rice and garbage everywhere, and everyone laughed at me, and I laughed at me hardest. Told you they were creepy.

We went to Anton’s after, since our flight was semi-early the next day and we figured it would make most sense to travel to the airport together. So we spent a few hours talking, and me and Keith and a very involved game of War, in which after half an hour we were still quite even. I won after stealing all the cards when Keith wasn't looking.

Woke up the next day, and after having breakfast at the usual place, we took a 2 hour train ride to Kobe airport. Kobe seemed like a nice place judging by the limited view we had from the train, and the airport was very modern and new and clean. The flight to Okinawa was great, first class. Lots of legroom and big armrests. A cool thing about Japanese airlines is they have cameras in the front of the plane, so you can watch during takeoffs and landings. On the return flight there was of course, a Pokemon episode playing on the TVs, followed by a 20 minute instructional video on exercises you can do on the plane. How handy…

If Your Shoulders Aren’t Red by the End of the Day, You Ought to Seriously Re-examine Your Life

Being grown up isn’t half as fun as growing up
These are the best days of our lives.
The only thing that matters
Is just following your heart
And eventually you’ll finally get it right.

Ok, finally, onto Okinawa (attempt 3!) I guess this would be a good place to describe what/where/how Okinawa is… which brings us to tonight’s WØRD:

Okinawa

Okinawa is a tiny little island chain off the southern edge of Japan [It’s only 1000km long].

It’s pretty tropical, with palm trees and coral reefs [with sea urchins with foot long spikes!].

There’s a large American presence there, which is important! Bringing freedom to Japan!!! [Yes, exactly what they’re doing…].

The US was in control of Okinawa until 1972, but still has a large military force there, just in case the Japanese get outta hand! [Hmm… more likely that the Americans will].

But get this! Okinawa just loooooves to make contradictions! Native Okinawans have the longest life expectancy in the world, with men living on average 90.1 years, and women living 93.2 [Key Words: Native Okinawans]

And yet the island is having a big problem with obesity! A report just published today shows that the percentage of overweight men in okinawa has risen 5% in the past 6 years to 29%, and in Naha, the capital, 45.4% of men in their 40s and 50s are obese! How could this be? [Hmm… It couldn’t be the Americans with their A&W, or the excessive consumption of alcohol, could it?!]

And how can there be such beautiful beaches and water with such dangerous jellyfish [I shall name him Squishy and he shall be mine...] and sea urchins and scorpionfish in the water?! [Must be mother nature telling us to stay the heck out... what an environmentalist She is!].

Okinawa is kinda like ghetto Hawaii [in all ways but price]. It's got the beautiful beaches sure [but not enough of them], but a lot of the buildings and roads are old and decrepit, and who wants to live next to an army base? [Once again, probably not the Japanese].

And at the same time, it reminds me of a ghetto Las Vegas! Pachinko parlours, hotels with miniaturized historical landmarks [Pyramids, Arc de Triumphe, etc] outside. Light up Palm Trees! How tacky! [Gambling's not even legal!]

And I don’t know how to end this in a humorous way [Link = not smrt enough], so that’s tonight’s WØRD.

That was fun! I love using excessive brackets as it is, I should write in that style more often… in fact, I could make my own recurring segments in my blog. First there could be "Old Man in Japan", and "Brett vs the Bugs" (both self explanatory), then something to do with the daily poem/song that’s already in my blog. If anyone has any other suggestions, leave a comment, I’ll give you credit if I use it (and even if I don’t if it’s a bad enough idea).

So we arrived late afternoon on Saturday, took about 40-45 minutes to get to our hotel. Quite a nice hotel, got a balcony, 2 beds and a pull-out, a TV, fridge, and safe. The hotel had a few restaurants and a lounge and a spa. Keith and Anton wanted massages, but by the time they were ready for one, they were no longer ready… I don’t want to think how painful a massage would be with sunburns like ours. There was also a pool in the hotel, which we went to the first night, which was fun. The restaurant wasn’t that great for dinner. I got steak, which was good, but the veggies that came with weren’t that great (or warm) and the fries were very very soggy. We tried looking for a nightclub or something afterwards, but only found karaoke and hostess bars. Instead we went to play pool for a bit, then headed back to the hotel.

Mmm… buffet breakfast. We went every day, they had pancakes, we got laughed at. Everyone else took one or 2, we’d take 4-5 and go back for seconds or thirds. Other interesting things on the menu… the soggy soggy french fries, and Spam (which was bad even for Spam, according to Keith). But the pancakes and pineapple made up for it.

That day we went to the beach and were a little disappointed. Because of jellyfish, the total swimming area was not a lot bigger than a large swimming pool. And the water wasn’t clear at all. And Keith stole my sandals. So we rented ocean kayaks for an hour and had fun paddling in the clearer nicer water. A storm was coming in, so they were clearing the water, which was when we left.

Went to another beach, kinda run by a family or maybe the homes nearby. We rented some snorkels and went in the water. Some very very cool things in there, sea urchins with foot long spikes, and others with half inch spikes, plus schools of fish zipping past us as we swam. Went for dinner at a local restaurant, and I used the tried and true method of pointing randomly at an Okinawan specialty. Turned out not too too bad, it was a dish of three kinds of fish in a spinach salad. Not really my thing, but least I could eat it.

Second full day was scuba day!!! We met the shuttle in the lobby at 8am, took a half hour shuttle ride to the dock, then filled out forms and got on the boat. About 5 crew, maybe 10 guests on the boat. The boat ride was probably around an hour and a half. We got to sit at the front, which bounced up and down quite a bit with the waves. It was fun, and the view was amazing!

The scuba diving was great! A bit short, only lasted a half hour. The water was maybe 20 feet deep, but you could see the bottom from the boat, so clear! Us three went down with two guides, saw cool coral, schools of tropical fish, and most importantly, Nemo in his anemone!!! Sooo cool. Spend another few hours snorkeling and swimming, Anton was diving from the top of the boat. Swam to the beach and Keith and Anton were nice enough to bury me in sand so I could barely get out. They deserve to be poked. A picture’s worth a thousand words, so instead of trying to describe how beautiful it was, check out my web album.

On the way back we were in the front of the boat again, no shade either… so by the end we were all very sunburnt. Even as I type this I am shedding excessively. I've been peeling nastily since friday, and haven't stopped yet. My entire arms, face, hands, back, shoulders, neck, and feet have peeled. Half my lower back to go, and my legs just started peeling tonight. Gross.

Commander Coriander Salamander and ‘er Singlehander Bellylander

The last full day, Tuesday, was tourist day! We spent the day at the main tourist street in Okinawa. Along with omiyage, I bought a nice sharktooth necklace for myself, Anton got a super cool (and informative) T-shirt, and Keith bought snake alcohol, crazy guy. We stopped for ice cream, and Anton got a goya (bitter melon) float, which was one of the worst things I have ever tasted. I’d rather eat cow stomach, and you can quote me!

We had yakiniku for dinner, then around ten we went to a nightclub nearby, called Re-Green (odd, yes). When we entered, there were a whole three visible customers besides us. Yet the music (oh, the music! Mostly 80s and early 90s, like George Michael and stuff. The most recent song we heard was a remix of Men in Black… if only I couldn’t remember ><. And that movie came out in 97) and the smoke machine were both going full blast. We stayed around for 2 reasons: 1) We paid 15 bucks to get in, and 2) The staff said the place gets busy after midnight.

Now you’re all probably in suspense about whether the staff were honest or not. Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the world, and it is in order that this situation should not in any way be exacerbated that the following facts will now be revealed in advance:

They were lying.
I (unfortunately) did not drink.
The girl I danced with showed me her scar.

In order that some sense of mystery should still be preserved, no revelation will yet be made concerning the location of the scar.

Thanks Mr Douglas Adams… so yeah, the music was really bad, but for 15 bucks, you could get unlimited pop, rum and cokes, or screwdrivers. I sure got my money’s worth, ordering one whole coke. And the screwdrivers apparently sucked, as they were made with orange drink, not orange juice. People slowly started trickling in, one guy was sure getting his funk on (solo), dancing pretty crazily, in the dark, by himself. Later a group of guys came in, and were dancing awfully weirdly and close together, causing us to question which orientation the club caters to. Not to mention both (as in there were only two) girls on the dance floor were dancing together and/or with the wall. And of course the music…

So maximum attendance that night… maybe just over a dozen people… We went on the dance floor for a bit, there were the two wall dancer girls, and another girl as well. The new girl started dancing with me and Keith, and she took us (separately) over to the bar to show us a large, maybe 2 inch scar, on her foot, then brought us back to the dance floor. "Time to go now" we said… So we left, trying to decide where to go.

There was another club across the street that looked shadier than Re-Green, and a nicer one down the street, but it charged $25 for cover, and it was already nearing 2am… so back to the hotel.

Not much left to write about… went home the next morning, and met two girls that stayed at the same hotel as us at the airport. We invited them for lunch, which was quite nice, got to practice Japanese a bit. I didn’t say much, but I could understand the entire conversation, so… Maybe I’m better at Japanese than I think, I just gotta get the courage to actually try speaking… but I’m even more shy trying to speak Japanese than I am trying to speak english back home.

So all in all, Okinawa was great. The scuba diving was the highlight of course, but everything else was either totally cool dudes, or overly interesting. Too overly maybe... Thanks to Keith for all the planning, and thanks to Anton to slapping me on the back when I had a sunburn!

Nothing else really happened since… work was kinda boring again, today I was given my next task with absolutely no information on how to go about it, no requirements, nothing… it’s the weirdest thing. So I’ll ask him tomorrow if he’s around.

Sounds like I missed a lot last weekend. The CJP crew climbed Fuji-san. I hear mixed reviews, Fuji-Q Highland was really good but long lineups, the climb was cold and difficult and the sunset may or may not have been worth it. I had work on Saturday, and was a bit low on funds after Okinawa, so I decided to skip out. And back home in Calgary, I missed a cabin party. You shoulda waited till April when I got back! Who else would stay sober and remind you of all the stupid stuff you did?! Who’s gonna tell you that yes, blood does indeed stain carpet?! /sigh.

And yes, another round of... Brett vs the Bugs!!! Last week I had an infestation of a different sort... cockroaches. I was sitting at my computer at about one at night when I feel something crawling on my leg... mmmm... so after panicking and shaking it off, it scurried away! After searching frantically for a whole 15 minutes, I found it under my desk. Taking decisive action I barricaded it in with books, then checked on the internet how long it can survive without food or water... "Needs water daily", Perfect! After coming back from Okinawa, I look under my desk to see if he's alive... and he's not there... where did he go? Is he dead? Maybe he's planning his next attack even as i type thAAAAAAAHHHHH!

It’s Difficult to Comprehend How Insane Some People Can Be… Especially When You’re Insane

(Another Friday of accordion music will make anyone crazy)

My tiger, it seems, is running 'round nude.
This fur coat must have him made perspire.
It lies on the floor - should this be construed
As a permanent change of attire?
Perhaps he considers its colors passé,
Or maybe it fit him too snug
Will he want it back? Should I put it away?
Or use it right here as a rug?
- Bill Watterson

So many good titles I could use for today’s blog. I mean, I definitely needed one to do with insanity, but I’m sure it comes as a surprise to nobody that I have a list of a dozen good insanity quotes I could use. I chose this one though, simply because I’m not the only crazy person who thinks adventures are a good idea, no matter what they involve. So if you don’t already know what’s coming, here goes… Anton and I went to the Onsen with Kaitani-san, the man we met on the train last week.

After he wrote Anton a second time, we had to make a choice… we could lie, say we were too busy to go, we could ignore the email and look like rude foreigners, or we could go along with it. After all, gotta try an Onsen at least once, and this way we have a guide so we don’t draw attention to ourselves. (Haha, yeah right, two white naked foreigners in an Onsen, not drawing attention to themselves!) Besides, Japan is very safe, unlike Canada. One guy Anton knows spent 5 weeks hitchhiking Japan and had no problems. And also, we have a great story to blog about.

Anton wrote Kaitani-san (after this point I’ll refer to him as Uncle Masa, just to be consistent with Anton’s blog) to arrange a meeting, then he told me the plan when he got home around 8. Of course this left me 10 minutes to pack and run to the train station in the pouring rain if I was to meet Anton on time. Unfortunately I made the mistake of assuming rain = cold like in Calgary, and brought a jacket; when I got the train station I was wet and sweaty. But no worries, I’d be bathing soon anyway o.O.

Met Anton at 10 to 9 at Takanohara station in Nara. We both couldn’t help laughing at what a weird situation we had gotten ourselves into. It’s pouring rain, 10 at night, work the next day, and we were going with someone we met on the train to a place where we would be bathing naked with other people.

Aah, well, I didn’t come to Japan to work 9 to 5 every day and sit in my dorm the rest of the time. I came to have fun, have an adventure, and experience Japanese culture! And yes, this adventure does turn out for the best, and though I don’t have anything to compare it to, going to an Onsen at night in the rain seems like a really good time to go.

Maybe this is a good spot to describe an Onsen. I’m sure none of you in Canada have been to one, and probably most of the CJP hasn’t yet either. The place we went to was half Onsen, half Sento. Onsen is the outdoor hot springs, basically made out of stone, while the Sento consists of the indoor baths. The shower facilities are indoors as well. The total bathing area would have been about the same as a medium sized swimming pool. The inside baths were interesting, one had magenta colored water, another had seats with water jets shooting at you, another was filled with very cold (17C) water. There’s two sets of baths, one for each gender, and I’ve read that the genders switch every day or so. I mean you switch baths, you stay the same gender!!!

Hahaha…ha… ha… yeah… Lame joke courtesy of “Dave Barry Does Japan”. If you want an educational, informative guide to Japan, this isn’t your book. This is a non-fiction book about him, the Average Joe American guy, going to Japan with his family for three weeks. It’s a funny perspective on Japanese culture, I highly recommend it.
Edit: Managed to find the first chapter of the book online, if ya wanna read it, go here:
http://www.sdss.jhu.edu/~szgyula/szabolcs/davebarr.htm

Anyways, Onsen are extremely popular in Japan. Some cities (Beppo is one, I believe) are known for their Onsen resorts, where people go on vacation… yes… to have baths...

So I should probably mention this now. Everyone who knows me knows I’m rather quiet and shy. I’m also rather skinny, and my friends in Calgary make fun of me lots for looking rather young… so bathing naked with other people is something I would never even thought about back in Canada. I’m remembering a certain party at a cabin last summer, where I was the only one fully clothed, while other people (male, but they’ll remain nameless) were on the trampoline with only a toga on and nothing underneath. Of course, I was completely sober surrounded by people who were far from sober, but still, my point is I’m quite shy. So this was quite the experience for me. And yes, I know this is worthy of another “Cute” comment, grrr…

Continuing on with the story, Uncle Masa met us at the station, and we talked with him on the way to the Onsen. We found out he has a family, with a son (19) and a daughter (20 or 21, he couldn’t remember), so that makes everything quite less creepy. He also told us about Onsen, some of the rules and what it’s like. He asked if we had any tattoos. In Japan, tattoos are a sign of the Yakuza (Japanese gang), and Onsens don’t want gang members hanging about inside.

When we got there, we locked our shoes in a locker, then got a key to another locker upstairs and went to the change rooms. I guess locker room would be more appropriate, not really changing into anything except your birthday suit. Also, apparently you don’t wash before you get into the tubs like I had read, you just rinse yourself off. But perhaps if you’re going yourself it would be safer to wash first before getting in. You can also take a facecloth in with you, but you have to wear it on your head when you’re in the tub, it can’t go in the water.

We go into the Onsen outside first, and sat on a little rock bench in the bath. I was right beside the rock where the hot water comes out of, so it was toasty warm. After talking for a bit, we went inside to actually shower (Uncle Masa offered to wash Anton’s back, which sounds weird, but is actually normal in Japan. Anton politely declined however.), then went into the maroon bath and then the jet baths. I challenged Anton to see who could stay in the cold bath the longest. Anton won I think, I was quite freezing, I have no insulation on me. Masa had to leave for a few minutes so me and Anton went back to the outside Onsen for a bit. After we see some bamboo mats on the side that you can lay on. We decide to try it out, and I must say, it was really nice, with your eyes closed and the warm rain falling on you.

After getting out, Masa tells us it’s customary to have a drink after bathing. Anton offers to pay but Masa refuses, and buys us each a coffee milk. We talk with him for over an hour, about many different things. Finally we head back to Takanohara station, where we say thank you and goodbye to Kaitani-san. By this time it was 11:43, and the only way for me to get home was to fly according to Anton, so I stayed at his place for the night. Nothing else eventful happened, I got up at 7 and took the train back to Kyoto for work. I got to my dorm with about 5 minutes to spare before heading to the office. It was a good thing I had a bath the night before.

- - -- --- ----- -------- ------------- ---------------------

Hmm, other events this week:

Brett vs the Bugs: Round 1
On Wednesday night I had a fight to the death with a mosquito. I wake up at 2:30am from a nightmare about itchy hands, when I realize, it was NO NIGHTMARE!!! 5 bites from one pesky mosquito, it bit my back, chest and hands without me rolling on it and squishing it. I’m allergic to mosquito bites too, I swell up huge and itch for days. I wake up, turn the light on, and spot the sucker… and smash it with my pillow. In its death it still manages to spite me… by staining my sheets with my own blood!

Today had me taking measurements for use with the root canal machine at my company. This meant that I had to work with decayed, extracted human teeth for a few hours, mmm exciting and not creepy. And yes, another Friday afternoon with 3 hours of accordion music.

This week I’ve been doing a lot of soldering as well, working on the production of some of the units at my company, which I spent 3 days doing. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but the soldering iron is hot and it’s quite warm here.

I got my Denshi Jisho today (electronic dictionary). I still gotta figure out how to work it, the instructions are in Japanese, but it has an English interface and a stylus pen, so you can draw Kanji you see and it’ll tell you the translation, how handy!

And finally, the weekend ahead looks quite exciting, I’m meeting with a bunch of Co-op Japaners, we’re exploring Osaka again, perhaps going to the Kaede concert (if we can find our way there). So I’ll have more to blog about in a couple of days!