A Journey to the Levant
嵐, Arashi, the very popular band from Johnny’s entertainment announced today that they will stop their activity at the end of 2020.
Boom! Japanese internet and news sites are all over the news.
Line News notification:
Arashi website is not accessible:
Twitter has already about 200,000 related tweets in less than an hour since the news came out.
Is famous for the view of Mt. Fuji.
As much as I love Mt. Fuji, I was more fascinated by the people walking on the beach, enjoying the cold weather and the view
The Japanese word シャキシャキ (ShakiShaki) can be translated as “crispy” when talking about food, but can also be used to describe people. Maybe the right translation would be Energetic, but I actually like the connotation of crispy for personality as well.
Not a word I use, but Japanese love using onomatopoeia which sometimes is unclear to me.
A few days ago I went to a wine bar for dinner, and a couple on their first date were sitting next to me at the counter. Both seemed in their late 20s or early 30s, both dressed well, would even say more fashionable than the average.
Guy drinking Sangria (?!), girl drinking wine.
Conversation was mostly about music, music I love like New Order, Talking heads and Indies which was quite surprising considering their age. I wanted to join the conversation, but obviously didn’t as not to interrupt their date (and glad I didn’t)
Girl was the quiet type, answering questions; the guy leading the conversation asking questions while she is answering in a quiet voice and sometimes vague answers.
And then, when I was about to leave the restaurant, the guy changed conversation to her previous boyfriends. Honesty, don’t know how dates are done in Japan, but seemed too aggressive to me. Girl answered as always, with a vague, unclear, uncertain voice.
And here we connect to シャキシャキ.
The guy suddenly said that her character and behavior were not what he expected from their correspondence before the date. That he thought she was シャキシャキ , but she is not. At this point, the girl went even more silent asking if that is bad. To which he answered , “no, but different from my expectation”.
How I wish I could finish the story. What happened next? Did the date end in that note or did they enjoy the rest of the night and maybe decide on a second date?
Anyways, people sometimes have different personality when writing on SNS and instant messaging, being シャキシャキ. Energetic and strong, while different when meeting face to face.
Was thinking about writing this for a while, but an experience I had gave me the motivation to finally do it.
While on a business trip to Singapore, I went to Black Tap at the Marina Bay Sands for Lunch. Sitting on the Sofa, the (Korean) guy in the table besides me kept bouncing his leg. Had two options: to tell him to stop, or to move to a chair. I moved to a chair and started planning what to write this blog post.
In Japan, it is considered a bad habit, one that shows “bad education”. The wiki page for 貧乏ゆすり is not linked to a page in other languages and mentions
多くの場合において品を欠く行為・悪い癖だとされる
Which means vulgarity and bad habit. The literal translation of 貧乏ゆすり is “poverty fidgeting”.
Did not research, but not familiar with such contempt to fidgeting in other cultures. If we look at the English wiki page for fidgeting it tries to explain the condition and reasons for it, not judging it
Fidgeting is considered a nervous habit, though it does have some underlying benefits. People who fidget regularly tend to weigh less than people who do not fidget because they burn more calories than those who remain still, which is called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT).[13] It has been reported that fidgeting burns about 350 extra calories per day.[14]
Living in Japan, I got used to thinking the same way. I notice when people bounce their legs and show nervousness. Was surprised when at a meeting a Japanese customer was bouncing his leg and even discussed it with our partner.
(A late post as forgot about it)
What a surprise I had when I found out there is a map in Hebrew of Kanazawa.
As I visited the visitor center to get information, the staff asked where I am from and when they heard Israel they pulled out the map and said there are MANY visitors from Israeli in Kanazawa.
The translation to Hebrew is quite good, which is much more than I expected.
Started reading Sayaka Murata’s (村田沙耶香）latest novel 地球星人 . Literal translation of the name is 地球 = Earth 星人=Person from the planet. Interesting combination.
The book was published last week, so only available in Hardcover. Not sure why it is not available in Kindle as previous one.
Looking forward to it, as I enjoyed her last books and the way she looks at our lives, social standards.
Wanted to share a story of a whiskey bar, which I feel has passed the line of being unique to the place I feel it is too pretentious for me to visit again.
As I love Single Malt Whiskey, I searched the web for a bar which servers good whiskey. The Japanese web gave very good score to this place, a Whiskey bar.
Entered the place, two customers were sitting on the counter, quite apart from each other so I am guessing they were not conversing. Bartender asked me somebody introduced me to the place, which I said “No”.
Within 5 minutes both customers finished their drinks and left, which gave me a chance to chat with the Bartender.
“we only have unique whiskey bottles, otherwise it is not interesting”
“We do not have Japanese Whiskey”
“We only work with Whiskey collectors”
Obviously, the Whiskey is good, but did not like the tone and conversation style.
About 10 minutes later, a man stepped through the door asking “Is this a Whiskey bar”, which the bartender answered “yes”. The man was chatting with a woman standing outside the entrance and they decided not to enter.
Asked the bartender “you have only Whiskey?” which he answered
“We have anything, but I don’t want this type of customers”
Then it became stranger when the phone rang and the bartender answered ”
“Sorry, we are not open”
And then he went to close the Bar.
When I left (quite early), the Bar sign was “closed” and I felt this is a strange way of doing business.
Conclusions:
Good Whiskey . 2 drinks for 3900円 , a bit expensive.
Strange behavior and over pretentiousness is an issue for me.
Will not visit this bar again.
Not the Dam, the Gorge.
Although it rained on us, it was an interesting experience.
From Unazuki station to Keyakidaira takes about one hour and 18 minutes. It is a lovely ride, but you have to remember that going back is the exact same route. When it rains, it is a bit less attractive.
The train:
Open car:
The view:
Buddha Rock:
And the rain, which stopped us from hiking around Keyakidaira station.
For more photos you can change the Flickr Album
Traveled last week in Ishikawa-ken and Toyama-ken and also traveled to Shirakawago (in Gifu).
Rain rushed us, but was lucky enough to take some good photos.
Another year that I did not go to Fuji Rock.
Thinking about it every year, but the logistics around it discourage me.
Had dinner on Friday and the sommelier told me he is planning to go on the following day on a one day trip. Actually a good idea, though a bit difficult driving back after a full day at a music festival.
This year, I watched over youtube.
CHVRCHES:
