September 4, 2006
I got a phone call from my supervisor telling me about a co-worker who was fired for drug possession. Police arrested him and the company wanted to make sure that employees had the facts and not gossip. I only met him once, but I felt bad for him cause I suspect the drug laws here to be harsh. Later that night I saw a clip of him on TV. He was whisked away in handcuffs with his coat draped over his head, looking like some serious offender. You would think he had a host of grow-ups going, but no. Turns out that he had this wimpy looking pot plant in his apartment. It was not even a metre high and looked really pathetic. I think someone ratted him out when he had the plant on his balcony for sun. No doubt it needed something. He’s getting deported over that pathetic plant and what is really sad is that he has a Japanese wife here, as well as kids.
On a brighter note, I bumped into a coworker and he offered me a job teaching his class while he was away in November. He said that I could have his job when he left in January, so I am psyched. It’s just a couple of hours a week, but it will fatten up my wallet.
My new scenic bike route through pastures
Having several days off has done tons for my disposition. I enjoyed the sunny days, yes still sweating, and the scenery. Been discovering new biking routes, as I love short cuts. My new route takes me through a nice residential neighbourhood with many fine homes and gardens. There is also a rural streak to the ride, as I pass a pasture that has been used of grazing cows, so it has the cow poop smell to it, a wonderfully rustic aroma.
I smell the cow dung, but where are the cows.......?
The country is in ecstasy, now that a male heir to the throne has been born. I feel badly for the girls who seem to have little value, now. Well, it’s all a lot more complicated than that, but the media is having a field day speculating about royal drama. I read in the paper an article that blamed gender equality (hmmm – is that what it is?) on the low birth rates in Japan. Women should be getting married and having kids. That is their role. I would love to speak to a Japanese feminist right about now.
I finally made it out to Mal’s Bar, which is located in the outskirts of Kakegawa city. No wonder I had such difficulties finding the bar. This is the foreigner’s bar that my supervisor told me about the first day I arrived here in Kakegawa.
First, I treated myself to an evening of fine Indian food first at Katmandu, a Nepalese-Indian restaurant that is on the way to Mal’s. One of the owners speaks passable English and had spent some time living in Texas. So I had an interesting conversation with him about the Nepalese community in the area, which numbers 100. We talked about different things, including Canada, where he has two brothers living in Vancouver. He mentioned the political situation in Nepal, which I was current due to my addiction to news – this is where it helps to be a news addict. We spoke about Buddhism (they quickly recognized my Buddhist beads that I had inherited from my Tibetan lama friend) and the Dalai Lama who is currently in Vancouver. I think I will have to make that trip to Nepal that I have always said I wanted to do while I am in Asia. I will be able to pick up some pointers from my new Nepalese acquaintances. I spoke to another Nepalese immigrant working in Japan who shared information about the Brazilian population. He had a very thick Japanese-Nepalese accent, so it was difficult to understand him at times. But my understanding was that the Brazilians who come here to work (due to the lack of work/money back in Brazil) often do not stay long in Japan. Then there was also the problem of Brazilians who overstayed their time in Japan, I think. If they return to Brazil, they have to also pay lots of money to someone. It was difficult to understand him when he got excited, but the gist of the situation was that the Brazilians were in a difficult spot living in Japan.
The food was excellent, but perhaps the palak paneer was not as good as Veena’s in my hood, which apparently is owned by Japanese. They both offer delicious varieties of nam bread, of which I always order garlic nam. Yum. The Nepalese owner offered me some special Nepalese tea, which was very chai like and delicious. They were very gracious and I promised to return and tell others, since their establishment recently opened.
From that delicious meal with 'foreigners-bonding' conversation, I made my way to Mal’s, just a quick bike ride away. I was reluctant to enter at first, as I could see that there were only men, but I gathered my courage and entered. Mal was right there to give me a warm greeting. There was a deluge of conversation, as if we were old friends, hooking up again. He was larger than I expected and wearing a Harley Davidson t-shirt. In fact he might have passed for a hell’s angel biker except for the fact that he was African-American. In a nutshell, he said he could hook me up with anything that I wanted, whether it was work, Japanese, taiko – he said he was the mayor of Kakegawa. Apart from the bar, he has a recording studio and label – totown records – a play on Motown ala Tokyo. He books American jazz musicians in Japan and touted photos of his family with Stevie Wonder. He pointed out photos of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. He also offers English lessons and Japanese cultural workshops for the business sector, his latest thing.
He’s been living in Japan for 30 years and started off as a news broadcaster or journalist for CBS. He then started off CNN in Japan. I remember Andrew telling me this. When I told him I was researching different matsuris, he said he would hook me up with the local matsuri and told me he knew the matsuri taiko folks. During my matsuri conversation with some of the other locals in the bar, whom Mal introduced me to, we talked about the upcoming ones such as Iwata’s (nude) hadaka festival. William then mentioned the fertility festival, which he described as the penis festival. He said that a massive pink penis is placed on the portable shrine and carted around by women. Everyone had a good laugh and then cell phones whipped out, as well as laptops, to verify this info via the net. Sure enough there are fertility festivals in different parts of Japan. “The Japanese are not restrained by Judeo-Christian thinking y’know!” This is probably the third time I have heard this statement from gaijin.
After several hours of socializing and an inauguration into Mal’s family bar, complete with future invitations to bar-b-q’s and pizza time, I took my leave. It was an interesting evening of hanging out with foreigners in Japan.
Living in the moment, as the buddhist practise goes, I am endeavoring.....
Act City is the cyclindrical sky scraper, where I had lunch atop the building for a family reunion in Hamamatsu city.
I love the rows and rows of bicycles that you can come upon suddenly. A place of high human traffic no doubt. I think this is the back of a cinema acutally.
Dragon Basin 
