Stated in terms of practical everyday life, wabi is to be satisfied with a little hut, a room of two or three tatami (mats), like the log cabin of Thoreau, and with a dish of vegetables picked in the neighboring fields, and perhaps to be listening to the pattering of a gentle spring rainfall.
- from Zen and Japanese Culture by Daisetsu T. Suzuki (1938)
In September when I returned to Kyoto my friends gave me a 5 kilo bag of rice as a sort of house-warming gift for my new pad in Katsura. I was happy to get this. But at the same time I thought, 5 kilos? This will last me a year!
I just made my last bowl of rice from this large bag.
Japan's annual per capita rice consumption is more than 61 kilos. I don't think I'll hit that mark, but I am surprised how much rice I eat. Like any Japanese household it has become a staple for me. A day without at least one bowl of rice is rare.
I've had a few interesting/funny one-off jobs since I moved to Japan.
I did a voice recording in English which may or may not be used in a hotel elevator somewhere in Japan: "First floor. Second floor. Third floor. Parking Garage..."
I played Santa Claus for a Kindergarten in Minami-ku.
But the most interesting, most fun job I've had by far was playing a small part in the new music video Friday by Japanese singer-songwriter Marie Ueda (above).
How did I get this gig you may ask. My German modeling agent in Osaka, of course. True. I got an e-mail from him in early December asking me if I was free to do a music video the day after Christmas. He didn't tell me anything except wear a white shirt, dark trousers and boots if you have them.
He took me to the studio in Osaka where we met the director and the rest of the crew shooting the video. My agent speaks perfect Japanese. I obviously do not. So he stuck around for a while to translate and make sure everything was okay. Then he left.
I couldn't help but to think of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation when he is doing the whiskey commercial: "For relaxing times, make it Suntory time." At one point, following the second or third take of one scene, the director said to me, "More languid, please." I had to scramble to think what that meant.
I imagine it is always sort of strange and funny to act in front of a green-screen with no background or set to orientate you. It is even more strange and funny in Japanese. Because I was not privy to the concept for the video and my role in each scene could only be communicated in very simple English, I mostly had no idea what was going on. I graciously did what they asked me to do, and graciously did it again when they asked me to do it again.
Everyone, including Miss Ueda, who ended up styling my look in the video, were perfectly friendly and very patient. I could not have spent a more amusing and enjoyable 4 hours the day after Christmas.
For more info. on Marie Ueda and her new album はなしはそれからだ (Stories from the Body) which is released February 25th visit her website: http://uedamarie.com/index.html
Your average Japanese person will avoid speaking English if at all possible. It is the anxiety of making mistakes and sounding foolish that keeps them quiet. They will stand on a train rather than sit next to a Westerner for fear that person might engage them in an English conversation. This is commonly known as the "Eigo complex".
Then there is the older gentleman that suddenly asked to sit down at my table in a teishoku restaurant in Osaka. In broken English he told me he doesn't speak English but he loves the language. He studied it in Junior High School, but was a poor student. He wanted to try learning it again. I told him I worked as an Eigo Kyoshi (teacher) at an eikaiwa nearby. This excited him. He wanted to come with me. I explained that the school was only for children. Disappointed he left. But not before thanking me and paying for my lunch.
"Do you live in Kyoto?"
vs.
"Where are you from?"
