White Day

In Japan there are numerous occasions where a gift is appropriate and often required, and today happens to be one of those times. March 14th is known in Japan as White Day, where men have an obligation to give presents to the girls that gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day (on which day girls feel an obligation to give chocolate to male coworkers, friends, etc).

Here's my rather bitter take on Valentine's Day and White Day.

In my humble opinion, gift-giving should come from the heart. It should be about generosity and sharing. I feel that if you give someone a gift and expect something in return simply because you gave them something, the focus turns away from the person receiving the gift and onto yourself, which makes the act of gift-giving seem a bit selfish. And for the person on the receiving end, having to give something because it's required of you makes gift-giving become a simple act of reciprocity, without any of the feeling that makes gifts special.

Having said that, there was one gift that I put some thought into. On Valentine's Day you see a lot of truffles, small chocolate squares and round bon-bons in pretty little boxes. For the most part you're paying for wrapping and presentation. In the case of a friend's mother, she gave me 10-pieces of individually wrapped chocolate that were tied into a stack. Each 2-inch square piece is a simple flat piece of chocolate mixed with a variety of unique flavors, and she chose that one because its originality and simplicity stood out from everything else in the store. I got home and ate the first piece thinking the tiny stack probably cost about $20.

I should preface this by saying that I spent the last month testing different chocolates to figure out what makes some more expensive than others, and after eating tons of chocolate that cost more than $3 a piece, my tastes have become sensitive to good quality chocolate. You'd probably think I was retarded if you heard how much I spent on this "taste-test" so I'm keeping that a secret. Anyhow, after eating the first piece in the stack, I realized that each piece probably cost between $4 and $6 and there were ten of them. Pretty shocking, but believable when thinking about how much this woman spends on other stuff (sometimes it's nice to have friends from wealthy families!).

Since she had spent time trying to find something original, I got something unique for her. If this were back in the States, I'd be weirded out thinking it was for a friend's mother, but since it's Japan that makes it okay. I found a store in Kyoto that sells a high quality tea called Uji Matcha and they were selling sweets for White Day. I had some delivered and got some for myself, too, because they looked really good and I wanted to know what makes Uji Matcha so good.White chocolate covered in Uji Matcha Tea powder. So nice! Not too sweet and the tea blends well with the white chocolate. They just melt in your mouth. Each piece is about the size of my pinky finger until the first bend. There were twenty in the small box and I greedily ate them all in one go.I absolutely love these! The outside is Cherry Blossom mochi and the inside is some kind of paste made with Uji Matcha. The tea is fragrant but not overwhelming. So smooth and creamy. Green tea usually has a bitter aftertaste, but this one doesn't taste bitter at all and is so good! I might have to order more before they sell out! (I won't tell you the price, because again, you'd think I was retarded.) They look kind of big in the photo, but each one is the size of when you put your thumb and forefinger together to make a circle. They come six in a box, and I forced myself to use restraint by not eating them all in one go. I gobbled up three yesterday, and just had the other three a minute ago.

Additionally for myself I got some Green Tea mixed with toasted rice (Genmai Cha) and flavored with Uji Matcha. I haven't opened the package yet but can't wait to try that out, too!

Warcraft

I have the potential within me to be a total game nerd, but unfortunately lack the time to feed my game cravings and let them blossom into a full-blown obsession. I was in university when the Playstation came out and since I didn't even have a TV during those four years, I didn't have the option of rotting my brain through video games, and had to rely on simple alcohol. Then I came to Japan and bought a Playstation, but I couldn't play anything because of the language barrier so my Playstation got more use as a DVD player (game consoles and software are marked by region, so my Japanese playstation only plays Japanese games). I missed the whole X-Box rush that happened back in the States because it never made it over here.

Last night I was reminiscing about how back in university someone had installed a game called Warcraft on one of the computers in the lounge, which (to my downfall?) I discovered and became addicted to. I couldn't stop playing. I loved the thrill of racing to beat the computer... it was tough finding a balance between building up a camp and raiding nearby villages. I generally chose to be the orcish horde and crushed those pesky little humans. The voices of each character were also comical enough that I still remember exactly how they sound when you click on them. My favorite was the peon - it sounded like Scooby Doo was saying "Ready to wooork!"

So anyhow last night I remembered how much I loved Warcraft, and I looked it up. Apparently in 2002, Warcraft 3 came out and there was a link for a downloadable demo. As you can already imagine, the game freak inside me flared to life and I played for 4 hours straight. The demo had whet my appetite and I craved for more. I got on-line and was about to order the full version, but when I saw that international shipping cost more than the original game, the extension pack and two guidebooks put together, my dream came to an abrupt halt. It was fun, but not worth spending that much on shipping.

Then tonight I was talking to someone who happened to mention a game that he just finished playing. Warcraft 3!!! What a coincidence!!! He'll lend it to me next time we see each other. Now if that's not fate then I don't know what is. I'm meant to be a game nerd.

The nerd inside me shall live.

It's only a matter of time before my obsession completely overwhelms me and I become a true game nerd - the kind that's too busy to eat or sleep or shower because the game must come first. The countdown begins...

New pet?

She was on the curtain when I came home, and I have no idea where she went. She's probably hiding somewhere behind a bookshelf. Or in the closet. Or under the sofa. But not in the bed, please.

Death Note 3 - L Change the World

After getting my hair cut Sunday I hurried over to Wasada Town to catch this movie, and made it just in time for the previews (which I enjoy, although I sometimes regret that they reveal too much). I bought the book back in December on the day it came out and just haven't had time to get to it yet. I'm still impressed with how they turned the original books, primarily made up of logical arguments and deductive reasoning, into a movie. They were filled with phrases like "If this, then that. But if not that, then this." Then you have to keep those hypothetical situations in mind while reading the next 20 pages to find out what really happened. Anyhow I was impressed with how they made the movies.

Unfortunately the third movie was totally different. I was hoping for some of the wit and plot-twists that made the first two movies interesting, but this one had nothing to do with the mysterious death notes and the first half was poorly scripted. There didn't seem to be any motive behind the characters' actions, and they were violent or sad for odd reasons, or sometimes for no reason at all. The actors did a wonderful job playing their parts, but their lines were weird and the director needs to be fired.

The verdict: I should have waited for it to come out on video. And I'm hoping the book is more interesting.

At the end of a movie I usually wait until the credits finish rolling and the lights come on before I get up to leave. I know a lot of people do this, but I don't know why anyone else does. I do it because it gives me a chance to reflect on the movie and replay favorite scenes in my head while it's still dark and quiet, without any distractions. Occasionally there's an important extra scene at the end that most people miss because they're eager to leave, like in the X-Men. And this one, too.

Haircut

I generally get my haircut every three months, and it was about that time again. I wanted to try something new instead of getting the same old thing, so I've been paying attention to everyone's hair and found a style I like:

Long bangs combed to the side, with short messy hair on top.

But how to describe what I want using words? That never goes well. When you're describing what you want, I suspect the hairdresser is already imagining what to cut and only half-listening. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I found this on-line and mailed it to my cell phone:

I like how it turned out! I have to grow my bangs a bit longer to get it how I want, but here's what it looks like now:
Since I was the last customer of the evening and the only one in the shop, the staff seemed a lot more relaxed and talkative than usual. The owner saw my boots and asked where I got them. He only wears boots to work because he can't stand it when hair gets in his shoes and pokes his feet all day. Then I looked around to see what kind of footwear everyone else had on, and one guy was wearing simple sneakers. The owner was like, "This guy always comes to work in low-cut shoes, and he usually doesn't even wear socks. Can you believe it?" Apparently the feeling of hair poking his feet doesn't bother him all that much, but it totally irritates his wife when he comes home and gets hair all over the place. Hmmm... behind the scenes stuff I've never thought about before.

My new favorite song

After seeing KIDS last week, the theme song just kept replaying itself in my head so I looked it up. The refrain is totally catchy.

Makihara Noriyuki has a bunch of other songs out, but I never paid much attention to him when he appeared on music programs and stuff. It's amazing how much impact movies have on my attention. If it weren't for the movie, I probably wouldn't have even noticed this song.

I like the meaning of it. I believe the purpose of life isn't to leave our mark on the world, but to help others along on their way to doing good for themselves. The song sort of shares this sentiment. I think a lot of people enter the medical field because they have dreams of helping others, then unfortunately get caught up in the stress of life and the politics of the industry. I have no qualms about giving up that path. It might not be as hands-on as the medical field, but I love what I do now and know I'm affecting at least a few of the people I come in contact with. I can't say for sure, but I'm hoping it's in a good way!

I'm not so good at translating but roughly it says,

Fearless, I jump ahead in front of me.
I'm led by the path that I'm meant to follow;
it leads me like the dim glow of a firefly.
If I can't find a reason for myself to live,
I want to be the trigger that might bring about someone else's happiness.
That's why I will keep on living.

There were other videos on YouTube with better quality, but this one has the lyrics to follow along with.

How to eat sushi

This was linked on a friend's blog and I loved it. It's a short guide teaching foreigners the proper way to eat sushi, and I can only hope to see someone following these instructions to a T.

If you want to see it without the YouTube mark blocking the corner of the screen, you can check it out here.

28 Weeks Later

To follow with a similar title as the previous post, I've decided to review a movie I saw recently. The original film "28 Days Later" was great. After the Rage virus is released and we see a few scenes of people being attacked and torn apart, I love that the movie focussed on plot twists rather than becoming a simple horror flick with "the infected" ravaging the survivors.

The sequel 28 Weeks Later occurs after "the infected" have all died of starvation, and unfortunately is more Hollywood-esque. The first 30 minutes made me think a lot about how a country could be started from scratch, but after the virus infects the first victim the plotline becomes rather linear. Aside from the plotline, I did like how the scenes were well done and you can feel the characters' fear. If you're into horror flicks, it's worth seeing.

One Day Later

Time heals all wounds, or so they say. I feel much more relaxed than yesterday and have realized a few things. I was under the impression that the plans had changed at the last minute, but actually they had probably changed a while ago and no one had let me know, probably because they thought someone else already had. It was just a bit of miscommunication. I can't blame anyone for this because I could be equally at fault for not having confirmed what time people were coming over.

One thing still bugs me though. The person who let me know about the plan changes apologized in advance, so she knew that I'd already prepared stuff. And even after finding out that I'd taken off work and had been rushing to get things done, her attitude was a simple "oh sorry about that" whereas most people would have asked if the original plan would have been better or at least mentioned the situation to someone else. She seemed completely indifferent to how inconvenienced I was. I keep recalling yesterday in the store when I asked, "By the way when did the plans change?" Her back was turned to me as she walked away, and all she said was "Before." This answer and attitude totally irritate me.

I'm pretty sure she's the one who wanted to go to the batting cages, which makes sense why she pretended like nothing was wrong and hadn't mentioned to anyone how inconvenienced I'd been. The more I think about it, the more her actions seem deliberate.

So that's my verdict on the situation. I don't want to fill up any more blog space with negativity and won't be ranting on about this anymore... unless something else comes up and I need to vent!

The birthday party

Imagine this. Three weeks ago your friends say they want to have a pizza party at your place. The date is decided. You're quite busy and don't have much free time, so the day before the party you decide to cancel some lessons (we're imagining you have a job as a private tutor) to go home early and clean the apartment and get things ready... and in this case, taking off from work means you don't get paid.

At 11pm, you're just about to leave for the store to buy a few more things before it closes when you get a text message saying that the plan for tomorrow is to meet in downtown Oita at 1:30pm, go to the batting cages, then head over to someone else's place for dinner. What? You're confused, right?

So you send back a message asking if plans for the pizza party have been cancelled. The reply is that you always seem really busy, and with you in mind they decided to change locations, and sorry if you've already gotten stuff ready. What do you do?

You try not to get angry and casually mention that actually you had taken off work to clean the apartment and get everything ready. A half hour later the reply is, "My cell phone battery died so I'm writing from my computer account. Thanks for going so far as taking off from work to clean and stuff. I know we've been talking about having pizza at your place the whole time, but then we realized that you're pretty busy so decided to change plans. We should have let you know sooner. Sorry!" At this point, what would you be thinking?

Personally, I was pissed off. They had me in mind, so they tell me the plans have changed after I'd already gotten stuff ready? You mean to tell me that I took off of work and spent the evening rushing to get stuff ready for nothing? I was incensed. I considered not even showing up to the damn party. But I went anyway because I didn't want my anger to get the better of me.

Thankfully there was another foreigner there who I could talk to and get my mind off of how I felt. I spent my entire time talking with him because simply looking at anyone else put me in a bad mood. I really didn't want to ruin a birthday party. I shouldn't have gone in the first place.

After going to the batting cages we stopped off at a grocery store to pick up stuff to cook at our friend's house. I was standing next to one friend, and when I looked in the basket, there was a bottle of salsa sitting in it. I let it slip how I had actually bought that same bottle of salsa thinking that people were coming over. Then the words just came out... that I was pretty pissed that I'd found out the plans were cancelled after I had taken off work and had already gotten stuff ready. I could feel my blood pressure rising so I walked away.

A minute later I felt someone hug me from behind. It was a different friend. She said, "Sorry, we thought you were too busy so we changed plans." I guess word had spread that I was in a bad mood. But you know what? I don't care what the reason is that the plans were changed, I just find it extremely inconsiderate that no one bothered to tell me until the last minute. And did they really think that telling me at 11pm the night before the party would be appropriate? Any normal person would realize that this would be too late.

Everyone apologized. Sorry. We didn't know you'd already gotten stuff ready. We thought you were too busy so we decided to have the party at someone else's house.

Whatever. I put on my best happy face and said it was okay, that everything was alright. I suppressed my true feelings as best I could because I really didn't want to ruin everyone's day. But I did think about a few things. This situation came about not because of indifference towards me, but because of simple ignorance and a lack of common sense... a combination that leads to inconsiderate behavior and harsh feelings, whether or not it be unintentional. Do I really want to spend time around people who are this clueless? It's sad to say, but I really don't feel the same about this group of friends anymore. I don't feel as eager to hang out with them as I used to.

This just happened today and the irritation is still coursing through my veins. I wonder how long it will take for these bitter feelings to fade.