NagaZasshi

A 15-Minute Whirlwind

It’s cleaning time and a handful of first-year students and I are trying to clean the floors of our junior high’s English room. This however proves to be nearly impossible to achieve, as an inexplicable number of nickel-sized dust balls have found their way into the room and scattered themselves all about the sticky floor. The kids are on their hands and knees trying to dislodge them, all the while prattling on about whatever pops into their heads. I listen to their unfiltered chatter (picking out what I can from the mess of Japanese slang plus local dialect) and chuckle to myself after particularly silly comments. Suddenly their chattering ceases and they begin the interrogation.

“What’s みそしる (miso siru) in English?” asks the cheekiest boy out of the bunch.
“Miso soup,” I answer while pushing the desks back into straight rows.
“What about コーンポテジ (kon poteji)?” continues Mr. Cheeky.
“Corn soup.” (Read more)

The Changing of Mores in Japan

Did you know that in a 2009 survey of 1,154 high school girls by the Culture Studies Institute in Tokyo, hostessing ranked No. 12 out of the 40 most popular professions, ahead of public servant (18) and nurse (22)?

And according to a club recruiter in the Kabuki-cho district of Tokyo, it isn’t uncommon for women nowadays to turn up at hostessing interviews with their mothers in tow?

Also, were you aware that a member of the Japanese Parliament, Kazumi Ota, was once a hostess? That revelation once would have ignited a huge scandal, but it has not, and she’ll run for re-election on the leading opposition party ticket, the Democratic Party of Japan, in the national election next month.

I picked up the tidbits listed above from a recent article in the New York Times titled The Well-Paid Flirt. According to that article, the current recession (Japan’s worst since World War II) is changing mores, and hostessing is becoming an increasingly respectable profession. I had no idea this was current perception of hostess girls, and this article was able to enlighten me about a world I know very little about. If you’d like to read it too, go ahead. The article also has an accompanying photo slideshow.

-Mutia Adisoma

Living the Dream at the Gatalympics

Mud and I go way back. My big present from my parents for my fifth birthday was in fact a big pile of dirt. It was a rather large pile mind you, but still, that was it. To this day it is probably the present that ended up bringing me the most enjoyment of any I have received since. I spent countless hours building fortresses for action figures and digging tunnel systems as deep as my tiny 5 year-old hands could reach. Being sprayed down with the garden hose before being granted entry to the house became a daily ritual. Perhaps it was destiny then that some 22 years later I would find myself once more having copious amounts of mud hosed off me, albeit this time it was with a fire hose.

(Read more)

Sushi & Hashi

Check out the videos from “The Japanese Tradition” series – they’re hilarious!

This is the first one I ever watched (and still my favorite):

This one is also great: (Read more)

Baseball

Here’s an article for those of you who haven’t yet made it to a baseball game in Japan (that includes me! >_<).

Since everyone I know plus the New York Times is telling me it’s a guaranteed good time, I’m guessing they’re probably not lying. Here’s to proving it’s as fun as everyone says! 野球ゲームに一緒に行きましょうか？

-Mutia Adisoma