JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

This is a photo of one of the North American lizards.

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For those of you who were at Bar JET towards the end of July, the “documentary” that was being filmed is supposed to be airing on NHK at 8:00 a.m. Sunday, 20 August 2006, according to the info told to Taki. For those of you who were not at the bar during the filming, here is some background info. NHK, the Japanese version of PBS, was filming the musicians of the local music scene in the Okinawa City area last month. From what Taki was told, it was supposed to be a documentary. Therefore, we had an entire production crew at the bar. Normally, I would not care much, as long as the crew was filming from the observational perspective (without interfering with business as normal). Unfortunately, usually that is not the case. What does usually happen is these “documentaries” end up with a choreographed sequence of events (similar to promotional films) that have nothing to do with the real weekend to weekend bar scene.

It should be noted that you should not be seeing me in the documentary for several reasons:

1) The manner in which the documentary was explained, in order to get approval to film at the bar, was that the documentary was supposed to be about the band, not me or the club.
2) I was cured of the “fame” bug a long, long time ago (almost 25 years ago in fact)….after I did a local TV commercial for butter cookies that ran on the airwaves for many years, but I never received even one yen for. (As far as I know, the local agent that booked that gig and never paid me, is no longer in business for having the same business ethics with other people that she booked gigs for.) Therefore, I straight out told the crew prior to filming that I was not giving my permission to be filmed or recorded – which Taki had already explained to them earlier. (Of course, that did not stop them from filming and recording things (such as me and the counter) that they were told were not to be included in the “documentary about the local musicians”, despite the producer previously agreeing not to.)
3) The behavior of the crew described above just reinforced my NOT wanting to be filmed or recorded despite several other attempts made by the crew to change my mind. (I tried my hardest to conduct business as usual without ending-up in the film crew’s floodlights that lit up the club as if it was an awards show.)

Anyway, for those of you who were at Bar JET those weekends, and want to see how the “documentary” turned out, do not forget to put the time and date on your calendars.

Some of the new blooms in a neighborhood flowerbed.

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I recently ran across a site that has some very good background information on Japanese life. Although somewhat stereotypical, it is a good beginning for anyone interested in the basic culture.

Hubby was at a local super market and ran into a sale on international beers. With him being a beer drinker, especially after working outside in the hot afternoon sun, he thought he’d give them a try.

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The originating countries of the beers are (from left to right): Czechoslovakia, Myanmar, Russia, Austria, and Greece.

NOTE: What hubby didn’t realize until he arrived at home is that the Russian beer is of the non-alcohol variety!

Even though it hasn’t been officially announced, the tropical cyclone season is bearing down on us again. And even though we haven’t been personally affected on island (yet), it looks like it’s going to be another whopper of a season. China is currently dealing with a record breaking typhoon for the month of May. Earlier this month the local deigo trees were full of fiery red blossoms. Local folklore has it that when that particular variety of tree overly-blossoms than a hardy typhoon season is upon us. Keep tuned to find out if it’s true!

I was reading a news story today on the changing home environment in Japan. It struck me as a little sad that, according to the report, some individuals saw these changes as a threat instead of simply an alternative for those who choose to adopt a change in their living quarters. Maybe being from a different culture, and viewing alternatives as positive, makes the thought of having options a necessary part of adjusting to an ever changing world. And maybe those views seperate me from those who view options as threats. But I can’t see a negative side to having options in making a house a home that relects the owner’s personality.

We’re outside working in the back yard. The weather has finally cooperated enough to allow us a little time to clean. But it’s election week here on island. Instead of the happy bird songs our ears are being bombarded with numerous echoes of election hopefuls as they follow the tradition that is reminiscent of the train campaign trails of yesteryear. I’m sure that this type of campaigning must have some adrenal rush for the hopefuls, but in reality it’s impossible to understand anything that is being belted out of the loud speakers as the echoes skip along the air waves. This type of sound pollution only lasts briefly, even though it feels like forever when it’s; going on. And as the hopefuls move to the next stop, the peaceful and calming sounds of the local bird songs return.

I recently ran across a site that had this interesting post about the Japanese pop (J-pop) music scene. Finding the perspective of the student who wrote the essay to be fairly insightful, I delved a little further into the overall site. For anyone interested in foreigners’ views of life in Japan, the blog covers many different aspects and might be worth your time. Also, although written a little while back, this thread offers some candid opinions of the life.

Weekly Hogen (Okinawan Dialect) :

English – It is noisy.

Japanese – yakamashii(?????)
yagamashii (?????) *
urasai (????)

Hogen – yagamasanu (?????)

(*NOTE: This word seems to be a deviation on base word yakamashii. As with the individual islands of the Ryukyu Island chain, certain areas of Japan tend to have a "slang" and word derivatives that are indicative of each particular area. This is simliar to the "you all" and "y’all" differences heard in America.)

Back on 25 December I wrote about the continuing saga of the water pipes. Well as soon as I stepped out of the shower first thing this morning, I was greeted by the sounds of picks followed by jack hammerish sounds. Seems that the waterworks pit is finally going to get some pavement over it. Given that the rainy season is approaching, this is a noisy but good thing.