WHITE DAY
March 14, 2007


As my very first White Day came and went, I was left chocolate-less... I mean honestly though, I didnt even get any of that giri-chocolate --obligatory chocolate that male co-workers give you just for being female and not possessing a penis. So sad for me. Wish I was a little bit cooler. j/k :) White Day is a festival that was created by a concentrated marketing effort in Japan. White Day is celebrated in Japan on March 14, one month after Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, women give gifts to men; on White Day, men who received chocolate on Valentine's Day return the favor and give gifts to women. The observance of Valentine's Day in Japan, particularly among students, is somewhat different than at home. Valentine's day is mainly for the girls to give chocolates (either store-bought or handmade) to the boy of their choice. There also exists the "Giri-Choco" (Japanese: 義理チョコ), which translates as "Obligatory Chocolate" that a girl will give to those close to her but has no romantic interest in such as co-workers and bosses. When White Day rolls around, it is the boy's role to return the gift in what is called "sanbai-gaeshi" (3倍返し) or "triple return", as the gift the boy gives is supposed to be three times the value of the initial gift from the girl…as the way it should be ;)

There are many theories about the origins of White Day, but according to one, the holiday began in 1965, when a marshmallow maker started marketing to men that they should pay back the women who gave them chocolate and other gifts with marshmallows. Originally it was called Marshmallow Day, and later it was changed to White Day.

Soon, the chocolate companies started realizing that they could capitalize as well on this day, and began marketing white chocolate. Now, Japanese men give both white and non-white chocolate, as well as other edible and non-edible gifts (such as jewelry, flowers, or other favors that will not be mentioned) to the women who gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day a month prior.

Interesting lil tid-bits:

33% of the men celebrating White Day give cookies as presents. Only 11% give flowers. 55% make presents other than cookies, sweets or flowers. –so practical, especially since everyone know the way to a woman’s heart is through cookies, chocolates and ice cream. Who needs flowers?!?

Almost half of the men give presents to two to three women and 29% to just one… DOESN’T THAT JUST SAY IT ALL!?!? Over ½ can’t even commit to one woman when it comes to White Day either!

The rest (19%) gives presents to more than three women. Two thirds of the men celebrating White Day give presents to their girlfriends or wives OR their wives and girlfriends.

...the dissapointment of being THAT girl that didnt get ANY chocolates lasted all of .2 seconds because I'm leaving tomorrow!!! YAY! :) Just another testament as to why boys suck! :p

Only 3 Days 'til PnG

On Saturday, Melissa and I went to Tony and Guy to get our haircuts. ½ off for the first month! Apparently it is a famous salon in Europe but I have never heard of it before in my life. BUT, they speak English, (as Hiro would say) YAAAATTA! In case you are wondering, it’s on the 4^th floor in the new LoveLa (Lobe-u-La: sounds kinda like that) mall. Let me just say, the massages alone are worth the money. After they wash your hair for about 20 minutes, they give you a massage, then they cut your hair and then ANOTHER massage! Now, let me just warn you, the 2^nd massage included monkey knuckles and karate chopping on the head…maybe its your cup-o-tea but it is really strange for me. Melissa and I, despite trying to hold back our giggles, couldn’t help ourselves and ended up laughing at the weirdness of it all.

Word of advice, DON’T go when the mall opens. Our appointments were at 10am, which is also when the stores open. Around 9:55 we headed over just to hang out and drink our Starbucks. There was a line of over 100 people already built up that wrapped around the building with police escorts and a security guard holding a sign marking the back of the line. There were even police people standing at the escalators waving their arms and directing traffic as if you could go the wrong damn way on an ESCALATOR! Let me just say that the Japanese are the promptest people on the planet. Who lines up for the mall in the middle of March @ stupid-o-clock especially when there are NO sales? I mean who really does that? But the mall has stores that my mom would love: LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, GAP, Khaki something-or-other, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger and a whole bunch of funky interior design stores…so def. worth a lil look-see.

The musical is FINALLY over!! YAY! We had our last performance in Shibata this weekend. We had no curtain, no lights, and no mics for ½ the performance! Oh well, it’s over and we are all still friends at the end of it, which is an accomplishment in itself!

Afterwards, we had a final hoorah party @ Immigrants as a fundraiser for Papua New Guinea. The theme was a Snt. Patricks Day! I hate green but was decked out for the affair.

I even painted my nails green (which I am now getting weird looks for @ school) and wore a pin that said “World’s cutest leprechaun!” How’s that for team spirit?

Anyways, designated driver status again, but the party was still really fun and a whole bunch of foreigners that I have NEVER seen before all showed up to show their support.

Only 3 days ‘til PnG!

I rode a 2.2meter Long Penis with 5 of my friends!

Now, that I have your attention…it’s true. I did! A wooden one. Who else can say that they have done that…or maybe, who else would WANT to say they’ve done that? Either way, it was sooo cool and the perfect way to spend a Sunday.

I heard about this unique festival when I got here in August and ever since then I was determined to go. I couldn’t believe it! There was NO way that the conservative minds of Japan, where there is no cursing allowed, you can’t wear jewelry in school and you have indoor shoes that MUST ONLY be worn indoors, would allow such a obscene ritual. But apparently here, if you slap the word “tradition” onto it, anything goes.

Prayers of fertility and good fortune

...and I thought my shoes were painful

This festival is held each year at Shimoraiden on the second Sunday of March. Shimoraiden is a village of Tochio area in Nagaoka City (20 minutes from my house). Originally, the main symbol of the Hodare festival – a wooden penis, 2.2m in length and weighing 600kg – was made of stone. This symbol had special religious significance for many people who believed that praying to or touching the symbol would ensure a good marriage, fertility or good fortune. Today, it is the biggest of its kind in Japan. But, then again, I can’t imagine that would be a very sought after recognition, not many entries vying for the honor of being able to say “Come to _____, home of the largest penis in Japan.”

The Hodare symbol usually rests in a shrine located next to an 800year-old cedar tree. During the festival, a large ceremonial rope weighing 200kg is tied around the tree. It takes about 25 men to assist in this task.

Festival – おまつり

The ceremony begins @ 11am, which meant that we had to wake up @ 8:30 to start driving from Niitsu, after getting home from out Year End Musical Party @ 5am. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, excited for our day’s fun-sitivites; Johanna (The Texan), Natasha (The Souf E-ffri-can), Pam(the Irish princess), Jenelle(the Candadian), Ros (the English) and I set out in the SNOW to the festival naming as many words, we could think of for “penis” just to kill the time. In one car you had all the girls from cold countries saying: "Look how beautiful the snow is, it's so wonderful, magical, mystical!" Then, in the other we had me, the S.African and the Texan, looking outside completely disgusted, complaining, "this sucks. It's cold. I wish it would stop snowing. This sucks. It's cold. I wish it would stop snowing!"

us : FRRREEZZZING @ 11am many people place strings of special beads in front of the Hodare symbol. This is followed by hopeful mothers-to-be, who pray for a happy home-life and healthy babies. They symbol is then carried from it usual resting place to the street and placed on to a portable shrine. Some women climb on to it and are carried around the streets of Shimoraiden.

Newlyweds go first, followed, of course, BY US!!! (the weird geijin who have absolutely ZERO shame)

I'm sure my mom would be so proud...if she could only see me now ;)

You KNOW I had to take it a step further over the line! :)

The festival is said to have its origins from before the Edo Era. In those days on the day of the festival, the young villagers would gather in the open space before the Buddhist statue and then carry the stone penis and large worry beads around the village accompanied by conch shell and ‘taiko’ drum players. It was thought that if they stopped, misfortune would descend upon them. Nothing like a threat that bad luck will curse you and your family for the rest of time as a powerful incentive to carry a heavy stone penis all around the town. I mean, to be fair, that may have been the only way I could have been coerced into doing it.

Hodare in English is ‘male genitals’, but if the character ほだれ are used, the meaning then becomes, ‘the ripening of rice plants.’

A stand selling hotdogs @ the penis festival...how um appropriate?

At the festival there was a lottery, lucky mochi making, a stall selling Tochio’s famous Aburage, temari, and souvenirs (so be on the look out for penis-shaped candies, ‘cock-suckers’ in your mailboxes some time in the near future) There was also a shop selling the local sake and ‘kajika’ which is pictured below. That is a real fish by the way.

Should I do it?????

After praying @ the shrine... or at the penis, whichever you prefer, you see the priest and drink some local sake out ouf saucers and bow-- a lot.....then you get leafy things for something that we have no clue..but I dropped mine immediately after I got it and then accidentally stepped on it... ouch!
then we all stuck them random places and walked around like a bunch of idiots for a while..
no need to call anymore attention to us!!!
seriously the paparrazi was out in FULL force:
It was really wierd...no matter what we were doing there were people surrounding us taking pictures... Im glad that they got one of me looking sooo classy....see above!

Also out in full force: drunk old men who kept following us around saying: OOKII PANIS! ITS PANIS!!! lol
-yes, we realize that it's a PANIS , why else did you think we came to stand outside and freeze our asses off if NOT for the OOKII penis!?!?

Graduation:
March 6, 2007

My kid-lets graduated on Tuesday. The ceremony was the longest thing EVA! Not to mention that it was in the gym where it is below 0… All the teachers had to sit together so I sit on the end, freezing. Then I slouched back to get comfortable and prepare my self for the long haul ahead of me. When I look up, the Japanese teacher is looking at me and I can’t figure out why. Then it hit me:

Am I supposed to sit like this for the WHOLE ceremony??? If you don’t know me that well, I can’t sit still for more than 30 seconds, and that is SERIOUSLY pushing it. Program in lap, hands crossed, knees together, feet flat on the floor, feet side by side, no slouching, neck turned to the stage, body facing straight forward! The whole thing had my head spinning to get all the intricacies of sitting correct. OK, I’m a big girl. I can sit here like a grown woman. Apparently not, because after what seemed like an hour (15 minutes) I was frozen stiff and my left butt cheek had fallen asleep. You know when someone tells you “don’t scratch your nose” all of a sudden, all you can think of is how much your nose itches!?! That was pretty much the same thing. The more I tried to sit still, the more anxious I got. Needless to say, these three hours seemed like torture. I played with my camera, took pictures, folded my program into a little crane-esque thing, and managed to get in a solid 10 minute nap.

One thing that did really bother me: The only attendees of the ceremony were WOMEN. Since moms usually don’t have work, even these days, they were the ONLY people there. It was weird to see more actual graduates than people in the audience. Maybe it’s just not done in Japan, but in America my Dad took off work to come see me graduate because it was just as important to him (if not more) to be there, than my mom –who also works full time. I guess I just assumed that family ALWAYS came first and didn’t even bother to consider any other possibility. I felt sorry for the kid’s who didn’t have ANYONE there at all. I couldn’t imagine having no one there that was proud of you…and when your name was called: silence. I was never the most popular kid in school, but damnit, when my name was called, my cheers from the crowd were the loudest. My ENTIRE family, including aunts, uncles, cousins, the FitzGeralds, grandparents, Terry and Mark all made sure to woop and holler @ the top of their lungs like a bunch of crazed fans…I remember that me and Michael always had the craziest applause like we had won a Nobel Peace Prize or something. It used to embarrass me, but now I couldn’t imagine it any other way. It makes me happy that although I am Japanese, I was not born and raised here. I wonder how different my family would be if I were.

But, overall I guess graduation was alright, there were more formal proceedings… The kids all sang songs, gave speeches and thanked their teachers. The toughest kid cried like a baby, no one smiled except me, and then they were off. Off to the scary world known as high school. I feel sorry for them. Being a freshman sucked for me, nothing good can come out of being @ the bottom of the food chain, when you’ve been the head honcho for a year…but I didn’t tell them so. Everyone was really excited and I think I’m going to miss them, but only time will tell.

Happy Birthday Jeffe!

Saturday March 10, 2007

So it’s my little brother’s birthday today! I absolutely heart the little shit! Ever since I’ve been in Japan, I’ve notice how similar we both are, except that I’m just a lil bit cooler! Ya know how when you think of someone in your head, you picture them how YOU see them, not as they really are? If that makes any sense to you…when I think about my little brother, I still think him as 10 years old, with his jack-o-lantern teeth, crazy bowl haircut, and scabby knees…He sent me a pic of him that was in the Newspaper the other day, and I looked at it and thought, “ummm, why are you sending me a pic of some random guy?” anyways…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUFASA! ! !

17 sucks. You were already old enough to drive for a whole year and now you have to wait a WHOLE ‘nother year to buy lotto tickets, vote, and have your curfew changed to…12! HA HA HA..sorry didn’t mean to put you on blast like that..

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Michael! My brother from another mother -- hope you had a GREAT one and had a drink on me! See you in June!!

Answers To Quiz:


So what do you get when you put bored ALT's in a teacher's room all day with nothing to do?? Random knowledge that "normal" people would never have the patience to acquire painstakingly seiving over 1,000's of articles on Wikipedia! Good Job guys... I think between all of us we managed to answer pretty much all the questions! Remember this was written by an American and since America is the ONLY place in the whole world, some answers might be slightly umm biased. I know, I know, us Americans and our ethnocentric thinking! Anyways...here are the answers: DRUM ROLL PALEASE!!



1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends....boxing

2. The North American landmark constantly moving backward...Niagara Falls (the rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.

3. The only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons....asparagus and rhubarb.

4. The only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball....baseball.

5. The fruit with its seeds on the outside...strawberry.

6. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside The bottle. The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.

7. Three English words beginning with dw...dwarf, dwell, and dwindle.

8. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar. period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

9. The original lakes referred to in Lakers...in Minnesota. The team was originally known as the Minneapolis Lakers, and kept the name when they moved west.

10. The seven ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without getting a hit...taking a base on balls (a walk), batter hit by a pitch, passed ball, catcher interference, catcher drops third strike, fielder's choice, and being designated as a pinch-runner

11. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh...lettuce.

12. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning With "S"... Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts, stilletos.

OK Smarty Pants, Show Me Whatchya Got!!


~Here are some tough questions, and it's frustrating when you see the answers. You say, "I should have known that." Compliments of Wilson...seriously, Good Luck. I'll post the answers tomorrow and let you brood for an entire day over the fact that you SHOULD know EVERY answer.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4 Name the only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball?

5. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

6. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

7. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.

8. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

9. Where are the lakes that are referred to in the Los Angeles Lakers?

10. There are 7 ways a baseball player can legally reach first base Without getting a hit. Taking a base on balls (a walk) is one way. Name the other 6.

11. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

12. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."

--Post your answers in my comments..it'll be interesting to see what you come up with!

White Snt. Patricks Day?!?!?

According to the Sanjo-ites this January was the first time it didn’t snow in 112 years. Even in February it was unusually “warm.” Everyone makes it a point to let me know how lucky I am that I came this year instead of last, when the snow was thiiiiiiiiis high!!! They tend to attest that its due to global warming, but then again, everything that is slightly askew with the world is due to “g-ro-ba-ru wa-ru-meen” They even blame the recent increase of bear attacks on the fact that they cant hibernate because it’s too warm. Whatever the case may have been, mother nature has a funny sense of humor. Everyone couldn’t wait to see the California girl break under Niigata’s hellish winter and I beat the odds. Here I sit, looking 10 shades of smug, breaking out my flip-flops for the first time today since it’s been sunny all week…but when I walk outside: SNOW!

Now I guess that I’m still pretty lucky in that it was as high as a 2-story building, but it was definitely enough that I had to dig snow off of my car. It’s like some sort of weird joke, go ahead and think that you are in the clear and then dump all winter’s worth of snow on me in one day! It is really pretty and everything but I was looking forward to spring weather coming, guess I’ll have to wait another week or so. All I can think of is poor Natasha having to ride her bike through this stuff (cursing all the way in her South E-ffri-can accent, “This sucks, man!”) and I can’t help but to giggle to myself and thank the higher power that I have a car!!!

Olivia the Optomist --

Have a Wonderful B-day Wench-ita!

Your favorite pose!

DJ Holla, what? --oh yeah suck!!!

White Out-- DTB
def. makin a statement

Wench Fest and Corrie's pucker practice

Tell us how you really feel Steph!

Happy Heart day! 2006! Best V-day Eva!

Got that Gold Card Baby!

Ride or Die Mamas --
The token asians of SLO