Happy New Year

The idle monkey trainer has been too idle to even update the blog in over a month. My sincerest apologies to both my readers. And Happy New Year! May your year of the ox be a good one. (And yes, I fully realize that the animal sculpture pictured above is not, in fact, an ox.)

We are the champions -- of Kariya

The Tokyo Street Hockey Association (TSHA) got on a fast train last weekend to join the 3rd annual Kariya, Japan ball hockey tournament. It was a less than ideal day for ball hockey, with steady and at times heavier rain persisting for most of the day. In the end, however, the sun came out and the TSHA faced off against Ball Hockey United, who had made the trip from Canada as part of a sister city exchange. The only two six-man teams, meaning no substitutes or line changes, battled hard for the trophy, but it was the TSHA that took the prize, dominating play throughout. 

You can read the full report here.

The 2008 Yamato Cup

The inaugural Yamato Cup was held October 11, 2008 at Amazing Square in Tokyo. Determination of who would win the coveted Golden Godzilla game down the the final seconds, when the final shot hit the post as time expired. In the end, Team Korea rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Tokyo Street Hockey Association (TSHA) 6-5. The final game was hard fought by both teams, and those in the arena were treated to fast-paced, back-and-forth ball hockey.

In the challenge for third place, and the slightly less-coveted Silver Gamera, the MHL Misconduct defeated the Boring Sponge with an impressive performance by the fast-passing, talented team. Tied at the end of the first half, the Misconduct opened up the game in the second half and cruised to victory.

Full details of this year's tournament can be found at www.yamatocup.com/2008. Information on how to be involved in next year's tournament can be found at www.yamatocup.com/2009.

German Beer and Sausages

On a brilliant autumn afternoon, the idle monkey trainer took time off from being entirely idle to indulge in the sights, sounds, food and, most importantly, brews of the German people. And as with any fine showcase of German tradition, it was held in Yokohama, Japan.

For two weeks, crowds of people, mostly Japanese, cram into long tables to eat German sausages and drink (expensive) German beer, all while polka bands, clad in lederhosen play. (In what would seem to be a break from true German tradition, however, there was also plenty of Japanese edamame, fried noodles and fried chicken.)
The final day was no exception, as the weather was perfect for an afternoon of drinking.

猿島 - Monkey Island

Being the idle monkey trainer, it seemed only fitting to visit Sarushima (Monkey Island)(pictured above). Monkey Island is the only remaining natural island in Tokyo Bay. It is located only a few minutes by boat from Yokosuka Naval Base, the forward deployment spot for the U.S. Navy's USS George Washington.

Visiting on the day the George Washington -- a nuclear powered vessel -- arrived in port, meant that a protest was inevitable. Being a Thursday, however, may have dampened participation. Or people really don't care. In either case, there were only seven elderly protesters at the station.

Bypassing the protest, we indulged in a couple of local beers - Sarushima, Yokosuka, and Admaarali (named for Admiral Togo), whose flagship from the Ruso-Japan war in 1905-6 did some serious damage to the Russian's Baltic fleet.


It was then off to Monkey Island. The island was used over various centuries as a fort and gun battalion, defending the bay up through the Meiji era. Remnants of the fort still remain on the island. Monkeys, however, do not reside there.

Upon realization of this fact, I was left to ponder why it was called Monkey Island. So with no information presenting itself, I developed a couple of theories about why there were no monkeys. These of course were based solely on the idea that the name Monkey Island implied the presence of monkeys, at least at the time the island was named. If that was true, then the monkeys had been wiped out by something. I formed two theories:

1. The monkeys were eaten into extension by the numerous kites that hover above the island. This theory, however, supposes that the kites hunt monkeys and there was no evidence to support that. The kites witnessed on Thursday showed more scavenger tendencies. Therefore, theory two came into being:

2. The soldiers posted on the island ate the monkeys into extinction. Again, there was no evidence that the soldiers ever ate monkeys.

Neither theory, however, was nearly as interesting as the real source of the name Monkey Island. The real story runs thus:

A boat of Buddhist monks were traveling in the bay by small boat. A massive storm came up and threatened to swamp the boat. A white monkey appeared before the monks and beckoned them to the safety of the island where the monks could ride out the storm. (White, in Japanese folklore, is often representative of ghosts or spirits. Why a monkey, however, is not really clear.)

Global Tito Update

After several months, Global Tito has finally been updated with some pictures from the Trail of the 47 Ronin.

And if that seems like a morbid route to follow, keep in mind this is Japan and you can always make it cute. For example, you can always collect all 47 Hello Kitty Ronin (conveniently available just outside the Sengaku Temple entrance.)

The Last Festival of the Season

Over the weekend the Idle Monkey Trainer ventured to Konandai, Yokohama to take part in what will be the last festival of the season (for him, anyway). The small shrine in the neighborhood hosted a local festival with only one event: a mikoshi.There was also only one food stall at the shrine, selling hot dogs.

This particular festival had a limited number of participants, and a fortunately smaller mikoshi than during previous experiences. This was fortunate in that the Idle Monkey Trainer stands several inches (centimeters) taller than most people in this country. The result was a Sweaty Monkey Trainer, with a sore shoulder. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable evening.It was just a good thing the festival did not last too long.

An Idle Thought

If PETA had been around in the early days of mining, would we still have the expression "a canary in a coal mine"?

The American Pastime, in a Japanese Style

The Idle Monkey Trainer, after several years of living in Japan, finally made it out to "the old ball game". Like anything borrowed from another culture, adjustments to local norms is likely. In the IT industry, this is referred to as "localization". And baseball is no exception. The Japanese have localized it.

I had read and heard about the differences from others. But, for a while I have wanted to experience it first hand. So, last weekend I made my way to Yokohama Stadium to see the Yokohama Baystars take on the Tokyo Giants. (I see no point in going to a dome for a baseball game; the point of baseball to me has always been to sit in the sun and drink beer.)

The differences were apparent before the game even started. The first difference was presented to us when we reserved the tickets. A friend of the Idle Monkey Trainer made the reservations for tickets through a friend's husband who works for the organization. He apologized for the current bottom-of-the-league ranking of the Baystars. We were also asked which team we supported so that are seats would be in the right place. Fans are divided to keep tempers in check and the fists from flying. About half the stadium was full of Giants fans. Arriving just after 2:00 for a 2:30 first pitch, our party was greeted by the classic strains of "Take me out to the ball game". The song is not repeated in the 7th inning stretch. There were also more cheerleaders and costumed characters -- the black pig at the left is the mascot of the Tokyo Broadcasting System, owner of the Yokohama Baystars -- running around the field than I have ever seen at a U.S. game. The fans keep up an almost constant cheering and singing, in turn with their teams' respective at-bats. There are also specific songs/cheers that rise up after each run is scored. The Baystar's song ends in three cheers of "Bonzai"!



The game itself does not show much difference, in terms of rules or play anyway. The only obvious difference being that when a pitcher hits a batter, the pitcher will tip his hat in apology. I am more accustomed to the U.S. style of staring the guy down. Interestingly enough, on this afternoon, both pitchers were from the U.S.. Williams, starting for the Giants and lasting 2 2/3 innings, only tipped his hat to the first of the two batters he hit.

In the end, the Baystars won 4 - 1 over the Giants (who are, by the way, the NY Yankees of Japan - with every negative -- and perhaps positive -- connotation that conveys).

Taiko Sushi

The idle monkey trainer was fortunate enough to be introduced to Taiko, a sushi shop of some renown in the Asakusabashi area of Tokyo. The fish was very good - fresh and tasty - and very reasonably priced, as are the drinks.

1500 yen, built for two

Taiko is also famous for its nightly round of じゃんけん (janken) or game of rock-paper-scissors. Each night at about 8 o'clock, give or take the whims of the owner, a game of rock-paper-scissors is played to give away several prizes. On the night I was there the prizes included a package of ramen soup mix (a house specialty, and extremely good - and cheap), a store t-shirt, a basket of fruit, which included watermelon, cantaloup, plum, peach and grapes, 200 grams of sashimi-grade tuna and two Sendai steaks, to be taken home by the winner. All prizes are give out during the game, and if the owner wins, the round is replayed.

Free Bird

Japan is a very low crime country. Even minor crimes do not appear to be much of a problem here, but there are obviously some areas in which certain precautions must be taken.

Star search

From Reuters:

Besides Tanabata celebrations, more than 70,000 Japanese shops, offices and tourist attractions such as Tokyo Tower will take part in a "lights off" campaign to save energy on Monday evening.

 "The G8 summit will take place on Tanabata, so we are working towards turning off the lights, and gazing at the milky way while re-affirming the importance of the environment," said Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in a speech last month. 


Having lived in Tokyo for several years, I cannot help but think that the effort will not result in a view of the Milky Way. There is so much light pollution here, that only on the clearest nights and after the
lights at the nearby temple have been turned off, have I seen more than two stars at any one time. And one of those could have been a planet. The G8 leaders, at their relatively remote retreat, may indeed be able to see stars in the night sky.

Tanabata is based on a Chinese legend, in which Kengyuu (the star Alter) meets Orihime (the star Vega) only once a year on this day over the Milky Way. People celebrate this day by putting up big branches of bamboo with colourful decorations at home. People also make a wish and hang a strip of paper with their wish written on it. (from nihongomemo.com)

Global Tito Update

Once again there has been a sporadic update to Global Tito. This year the idle monkey trainer was lucky enough to take the day off from idleness and spend some time carrying a three-ton shrine around the neighborhood. You can read more about it and see the shrine here.

The following week, I was also dragged from idleness to again carry a shrine, though smaller and for less time, at the Torigoe Matsuri. This particular festival is held in the evening, with candles illuminating the mikoshi as they are carried to the small shrine.

The orange lights are the shrines.

Stopping to receive the blessing of the temple priests under the crescent moon.

A foreign monkey trainer burdened with mikoshi.

Surrounding the main event, of course, are the attendant booths, selling food, booze and those with games. Games like "scoop the goldfish/turtle/other aquatic creature". Well, that is not the official name, but that better conveys the gist of it.

Scoop them up and take them home, as many as you can before your paper scooper disintegrates.

The catch of the idle monkey trainer, who, by the way, practices catch and release. After all, what is an idle monkey trainer going to do with six small green turtles and that other thing?

Different festivals have different attendant events, of course, and among the more rare is the lion dance. This apparently used to be much more common, but has lost some of its popularity and there are fewer dancers able to perform nowadays. But, if you are lucky enough to get a "bite" from the lion, it brings good luck.

Yoshida Brothers

One advantage of being an idle monkey trainer, as opposed to one regularly and gainfully employed*, is the abundance of free time which allows me to attend concerts oddly scheduled on a Friday afternoon.

Yoshida Brothers (吉田兄弟） put on just such a show on May 2, 2008 at the new ACT Theater in Tokyo's swanky Akasaka district. The small theater was opened in April along with an office tower and shopping and restaurant area. This being Japan, of course every shop and restaurant opened on precisely the same day and at precisely the same time.

Given the time the concert started - 2:00 p.m. on a normal Friday - it was perhaps not surprising that the audience would be older. By my own rough estimate (monkey trainers, by the way, are remarkably accurate at gaging percentages in large crowds and can easily recognize numbers up to five) approximately 80 per cent of the audience was above the age of 60. It was also predominately female. I counted five Westerners.

Of course, another explanation of the audience's demographics could be the relative lack of interest in the shamisen, the traditional three-stringed Japanese instrument the Yoshida Brothers play. Traditional, however, is not how one would describe their music.

Some of their songs are played only by the two brothers, seated at center stage, with their shamisen hooked into amplifiers. On other songs they were backed up by taiko drums and a traditional flute. On yet others they were backed by a full drum kit, bass guitar, violin, electric guitar and keyboards.

Over 90 minutes, they played approximately nine songs, including a two-song encore of what are arguably their two most well-known songs: Rising and Kodo. (See below.) There was also a ten-minute movie that provided a bit of humor and a chance for them to go from jeans and t-shirts to more traditional kimono (as seen in the video).

For those unfamiliar with the Yoshida Brothers:

Rising


Kodo (This song was also used in the brilliant Nintendo Wii commercials in the US.)

Global Tito Update

Global Tito has two new pages from the trip to Seoul, South Korea mentioned below. Check out more images of Seoul, as well as the start of the new Urban Wildlife series.

Seoul Tournament

The TSHA played a ball hockey tournament in Seoul, South Korea on Sunday, April 14, 2008. Only five members of the TSHA made the trip, picking up some assistance from a variety of goalies and some new-to-Seoul players generously loaned to us by the organizers.

The NHL-sized rink at Seoul's 1988 Olympic Stadium.

The TSHA accomplished our first international tournament win, ending the day with one win and three losses, and missing the second round by one point. Although disappointed to some extent at not advancing, it did mean we were able to retire earlier to good food, rice wine and foot massages.

Core TSHA members and "astronaut".

On the road

The idle monkey trainer is on the road, bound for Seoul for kimchi, soju and a ball hockey tournament. Huzzah!

Spring in Tokyo

Officially the sakura blossoms have come out six days earlier than last year. Global warming? I have no idea. But, it looks good this week.


Both photographs were taken March 23, 2008 in Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan.

Reference Materials

A book of English phrases was recently brought to my attention. There is no shortage of these books in Japan. And many of them are geared as quick references for surprisingly specific uses.

The particular book I was shown was designed to assist with English phrases in short notes, post cards, etc. Many of the phrases were standard, some more eccentric. The same was true of the situations in which the phrases were set out.

There were the standard phrases for Thank You notes, birthday cards, congratulatory cards for all manner of accomplishment. There were some phrases outlined for praising the contributions to one's own success.

The phrases that really caught my attention, however, came at the end of the book. Under the heading "Adultery". The example phrases were all written as coming from women to a lover, and included such useful lines as:

"My husband means nothing to me."
"My body hungers for yours."

Although there is widespread infidelity here, I had not realized it had reached a point where it was necessary to have such useful phrases at the ready in English.

Hello Kitty Causes Cancer

Indirectly anyway.