Six month milestone extravaganza!

This week is a milestone for me…. six whole months in Japan. So how’s all that going, then? Very well, and so quickly! Things can get on top of you sometimes – an immense language barrier, a workaholic culture, a seeming average of two square meters of personal space, an irrational longing to see some actual grass or some trees, and a generally chaotic existence – but I wouldn’t trade it for anything, and there’s still so much to see and do. But there’ll be plenty more on all that in the future!

To help me commemorate the occasion, please join me for a flimsily-premised montage: Fire Flowers 2: the Revenge of the Fire Flowers, taken at the Edogawa fireworks festival in August. Oh, and if you could also hum “That’s What Friends Are For” as you view it to help with the whole montage vibe, that would be great.

Plenty more at the fireworks gallery too!

No, E. Honda wasn’t there

Last weekend let me cross another big ticket item off my list of things to do: sumo!

A sumo tournament is something I can whole-heartedly recommend attending if you come to Japan. It’s a chance to see the locals let their hair down – barracking for the top-tier matches is passionate, with spectators yelling out the names of the favourite wrestlers. Reportedly, if one of the top-ranked yokozuna is defeated by a lower ranked wrestler, the audience all throw their seat cushions at the wrestlers in the ring, but sadly, the yokozuna won his bout the day I was there.

When it comes to watching man-mountains hurl each other around, it certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front:

Lots more photos and stories of sumo after the jump!

Every syllable is sacred

This happened to me tonight at dinner while eating shabu-shabu.

One of my co-workers brought his new baby.  To make small talk, I wanted to ask how old his new arrival was.  Instead of saying “ikutsu” (how old), I said “ikura” (how much).

How much?

How much for the baby?

Takeaway point: offering to buy someone’s baby in Japan is absolutely p*ss funny, apparently.