(no subject)
Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so I took a break from packing to go and buy a bento and chill by the river to eat. It was beautiful and sunny, and while it was warm, it was a lot cooler than it's been. As I was sitting there, this old man walked by, pushing a bike with a box strapped to the back, propped open, music quietly playing from inside. He spoke to me as he was walking by, in broken English which was nonetheless better than my Japanese:
Him: Today is hot day! (think: hotto dei) Very nice!
Me: Yes, it's beautiful!
Him: (nodding vigorously) Yes! (pointing to the box on the back of his bike) It's Japanese enka. Very very good music! (think: bery bery guddo musjhic)
Me: Yeah -- kireii desu! (My minor Japanese contribution, which means, "It's beautiful")
He laughed at me in a friendly way and kept walking.
It was a very exclamation point! kind of conversation.
The amusing thing is that enka music is kind of the Japanese equivalent to country-western, in that the people who like it LOVE it, and the people who don't like it can't wrap their heads around it at all. I prefer it to country-western, certainly, though I haven't heard enough to say whether I LIKE it or not. To be honest, whenever I hear about enka, the first thing that comes to mind is my student Hanae's explanation of the genre when I asked her about it:
Hanae: "It's kind of. . . old-style Japanese folk music. I don't really like it."
Me: "Why not?"
Hanae: "Well, you know, they just. . . they always sing like (strikes a pose with a facial expression roughly along the lines of Celine Dion when she's singing "my heart will go oooooooooooooooooooonnnnn annnnnnnnnddddd ooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn")."
Me: "OH. Gotcha."
I have so much to write up here, including typing up my Mt Fuji descent notes and my travel journals, but I'm not going ot have time before I go home this weekend. I haven't forgotten but they're just LONG. I'll work the kinks out of them on the plane on Friday, and then type them up when I'm back in Seattle (this weekend, dudes!).
I hate packing and this whole leaving thing sucks. For awhile, especially during my farewell party, I was REALLY sad. Now I'm just. . . I'm tired of leaving. I want to be GONE and have it done with. But I still have two more days of work in which I'll be training my replacement. Woot.
Him: Today is hot day! (think: hotto dei) Very nice!
Me: Yes, it's beautiful!
Him: (nodding vigorously) Yes! (pointing to the box on the back of his bike) It's Japanese enka. Very very good music! (think: bery bery guddo musjhic)
Me: Yeah -- kireii desu! (My minor Japanese contribution, which means, "It's beautiful")
He laughed at me in a friendly way and kept walking.
It was a very exclamation point! kind of conversation.
The amusing thing is that enka music is kind of the Japanese equivalent to country-western, in that the people who like it LOVE it, and the people who don't like it can't wrap their heads around it at all. I prefer it to country-western, certainly, though I haven't heard enough to say whether I LIKE it or not. To be honest, whenever I hear about enka, the first thing that comes to mind is my student Hanae's explanation of the genre when I asked her about it:
Hanae: "It's kind of. . . old-style Japanese folk music. I don't really like it."
Me: "Why not?"
Hanae: "Well, you know, they just. . . they always sing like (strikes a pose with a facial expression roughly along the lines of Celine Dion when she's singing "my heart will go oooooooooooooooooooonnnnn annnnnnnnnddddd ooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn")."
Me: "OH. Gotcha."
I have so much to write up here, including typing up my Mt Fuji descent notes and my travel journals, but I'm not going ot have time before I go home this weekend. I haven't forgotten but they're just LONG. I'll work the kinks out of them on the plane on Friday, and then type them up when I'm back in Seattle (this weekend, dudes!).
I hate packing and this whole leaving thing sucks. For awhile, especially during my farewell party, I was REALLY sad. Now I'm just. . . I'm tired of leaving. I want to be GONE and have it done with. But I still have two more days of work in which I'll be training my replacement. Woot.