Taiko no Tatsujin / Taiko Drum Master Happy Meal Toys

Even if I haven't played this music game forever and don't really care to pump to 200 yen (2+ USD) into one at a game center (and everyone and their mom loves this game and lines up to pay what's usually twice the price of a BEMANI game), I do want one of these Happy Meal toys from McDonald's.

Today, I inquired as to whether I could purchase one without having to give up my dignity by buying a happy meal, but apparently this is not possible.

NOW HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET A TAIKO DRUM MASCOT THAT LOOKS LIKE A CAKE OR SERVES ME MCDONALDS?! (or looks like a creepy panda with bamboo growing out of its head)

Who knew?!

From http://kanjipictographix.com/2009/04/english-words-born-in-japan/:

Honcho: A person in charge of some group or of some function, usually a male person. A Japanese word, often mistakenly thought to be of Spanish origin. In Japanese it’s a term for a small-time yakuza gangster in charge of just a few underlings, but the underworld flavor has mostly been lost as the word has been adopted into English.

And I found it in Japanese...
班長 はんちょう (hanchou)
(n) squad leader; honcho; team leader; group leader

Now you know!!

And hopefully some real content soon. I haven't been taking pictures or thinking of anything interesting from my daily life to toss in here. Sorry. :(

Japan gives anti-whaling activists suspended sentences

I'll admit I was pretty amused reading this since I just had just tried whale recently (it was on that big sashimi boat in a prior entry, so it wasn't like it was purely intentional! I was just enjoying random sashimi that my friends picked alright?!). Makes me think about how Japan is supposedly putting tuna at risk of becoming endangered (and man do I love tuna).

Yeah, Japan loves their seafood, and SO DO I. Guilty as charged.

Sweet Sapporo People

What to talk about? I feel I have nothing interesting to write about. Well, what would be better than the nice people? First off, the people at my school are super nice. Upon entering at the beginning of the term, the English club made me some nice welcome messages, in the pics you see above. The English teachers I work with are awesome and really look after me, and the kyoto sensei (head teacher) and other teachers are great. It's just a matter of getting more familiar with students (who are pretty dang shy with me), as well as teachers, who are a little shy with me too. It kind of comes down to me needing to stop being tired and speak Japanese with people more.

The other ALTs (as well as some non-ALTs) I've met are really nice, seasoned and new. Of course, my friends who came to UO on exchange, Tatsuya and Nozomi, and my friend Amber (with whom I became friends with through some sort of weaboo-livejournal-parapara connection). I'm lucky I already have people I know here. Last but not least, my friend Sho is from Sapporo but still in the US so I met his family, who took me out and showed me around and were way too generous and kind like Japanese people will be (paid for everything, including a nice dinner, and bought me omiyage - welcome gifts...! Aaaaa). And they took me to the Okurayama ski jump where the Winter Olympics were hosted in the 70s. Check it out (and a Hokkaido melon, one of the many gifts I got).



For what its worth, I would just like to acknowledge everyone's kindness so far and give them recognition here. Even the random owner of the genghis khan shop in my neighborhood - he was ridiculously nice. People in Sapporo are great!!! Thanks ya'll.

Just a day in the life in Japan.

Ya know, this kinda stuff.

Post with substance? (well not really)

I don't think I can possibly sum up the past month in Japan... I might post of a video of an update on all that. But! Tonight I met some friends, a couple who studied at my school on exchange, and we ate sashimi (raw fish) and drank beer. A dinner completely of raw fish...

I especially wanted to mention this just to say I got to try crazy stuff like shark's head (mmm cartilage), whale, crab eggs, umi no budou (lit. "sea grapes") and tentacles (or were they...?). Also had this little squid before the big sashimi boat came out... it was a whole squid, head and all. So in eating it, I had to remove the head with my chopsticks. :(

They had crazy decor at the place.

The inspiration for this blog's name

Sapp Time, by Bob Sapp. It is ridiculous, funny and so politically incorrect. So at he same time you can see how non-Japanese people can be portrayed in the media in Japan (especially black folks). Maybe this is why a guy said "kowai" (lit. "scary") right to my face while passing me on the street (jerk)...

According to the Japan wikipedia article, the population is as follows: 98.5% Japanese, 0.5% Korean, 0.4% Chinese, 0.6% "other".

So being a white person who's a part of that 0.6% percent, I'm going to accumulate probably, like, thousands of instances where the locals will stare, assume I am a tourist who doesn't actually live here or know Japanese language or culture, etc. Sigh. (But I got myself into this whole deal being pretty aware of this, so I suppose it's alright?)

So in a way, this video can also encompass the (non-asian?) foreigner's struggle living in Japan, haha...