Nagoya Adventures

[snarp]

Six people from my class plus one of our teachers went to the Nagoya Castle Saturday, as well as to a number of other important Nagoya sites, like this store that had a bunch of pot-leaf air-fresheners. These two important scenes occurred:

-1-

Z-san: Sensei, what’s the charm on your cell phone?

Doom-sensei: It’s a piece of melon bread.

Z-san: But it’s a person!

Doom-sensei: Yes, it’s a melon bread person. (menacingly) Isn’t it cute, Z-san?

Z-san: - yes, of course.

Me: Is it from that comic strip “Kogepan“?

Doom-sensei: Yes, it’s the Melon Bread from Kogepan! …I have no idea why you know that.

-2-

*I pick up a water-bottle-looking object with a seal I’m pretty sure I should recognize on it. I frown at it very seriously.*

Sleep-san: Are you going to buy that?

Me: No, I just can’t remember what it is.

*Sleep-san takes it, looks at it, then points it at me in an intimidating fashion.*

Sleep-san: Zah!

*He gives it back.*

Sleep-san: That’s what it is.

Me: I don’t really think it’s magic… Sensei, what’s this?

Doom-sensei: Uhhh…

*Doom-sensei is clearly considering how to explain this given my vocabulary. Then, giving up, she takes it from me and makes the same gesture Sleep-san did, but without the “Zah!”)

Doom-sensei: It’s from this really famous TV show.

Me: Oh…

*I stand near the Hello Kitty-themed plastic toy food pondering this, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. Doom-sensei goes over to look at little fake gold dolphins. Suddenly, I have a revelation relating to Japanese historical dramas from the 70’s - the best kind of revelation.*

Me: Sensei! Is it Mito Koumon’s thingie? The old guy who, uhhh -

*I cannot remember how to say “rights wrongs and triumphs over evil.”*

Doom-sensei: - Yes! Mito Koumon, right! You know, I think maybe your method of studying Japanese has been kind of weird.

Me: …maybe.

-

I note that she did not accuse Sleep-san of being weird, despite the fact that he was obviously also familiar with the source material.

I got Mom and thegeekgene attractive souvenirs from the castle. The one I got elongated_tito is very nice and respectable-looking to a foreigner, but would be immediately recognized by a Japanese person as the tackiest item one could ever possibly own.

Also, I took a bunch of pictures. But I cannot upload them. I cannot upload them because my brand new computer came with Windows Vista. Which, from what I can tell from looking at about a million tech support forums last night, means I cannot upload anything ever again, because there is no fix for this particular bug yet.

Since I’ve decided to wait until I’m at home to set Ubuntu up, I’m probably going to have to borrow someone else’s computer, or else behave badly in the lab. I Am Very Upset.

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

Comments

[elongated-tito.livejournal.com]

What is this gift for me?

[elongated-tito.livejournal.com]

Also, I feel strongly that you should fly on the Hello Kitty Jet. I think it only goes to Taiwan, but you wanted to go there anyway, right?

[snarp]

I guess you'll find out in December! MAYBE.

The propaganda is completely true. Hello Kitty is on everything. I saw a large stuffed Hello Kitty dressed up as Tokugawa Ieyasu, the ruthless dictator to whom people now pray for success in their business ventures and high school entrance exams at the many temples dedicated to him. Apparently there are themed regional Hello Kitties for pretty much every city in Japan, and Okazaki is Ieyasu's hometown, so presumably that's the reason. Okazaki is also known for its fireworks and jazz musicians, so I hold out high hopes for finding 1) an Exploded Kitty and 2) a Racially Insensitive Kitty.

I decided not to get you the bowl of Hello Kitty-endorsed fake pork and egg ramen ("fake" in this context meaning that it was made of plastic) on the grounds that it was heavy and felt breakable. I did get a Hello Kitty white chocolate mousse in a collectible bowl the other day. The mousse made me sick, but I kept the bowl for you.