Obon=Eisa

So last week was Obon, like a Japanese Dia De Los Muertos, where the spirits of our ancestors return to us and we offer them food and drink and entertainment.

The offerings go on the family altar, usually some fruit and some rice (this is when you put your chopsticks in the rice sticking up), a glass of water and/or some sake (or awamori in our case).

The entertainment?

Eisa, of course.

We live in Okinawa City, which boasts the best Eisa teams in the country; so each section of the city (Goya, Takahara, Awase, etc.) has a team that goes through the neighboroods playing during Obon.

I was working on the last blog when I heard something, I opened the window and this is what I saw:

I grabbed my wife, who was recording another gorgeous song, and we ran downstairs to find the dancers. And what do you know? They came to us!




These teams rely on the patronage of the neighborhoods, so they will come around with a collections box. We live next to a conbini (convenience store) so we bought them a 6-pack of beer and a few liters of water and gave them Y1000 (we're not sure what we're supposed to give so this seemed to cover all the bases).

So, what happens when two Eisa teams meet while doing the rounds? Well, they have to battle, of course.

The two teams will face off where both teams have to try to maintain the rhythm (because although the songs are the same name, each group has a slight variation of the traditionals). If someone on your team gets off beat you lose and your whole team has to get out of the way and let the others through. To determine this a crowd is really necessary and so the teams really try hard to avoid heavily trafficked areas unless they think that they are rock-solid.

We went to the Goya neighborhood (near Koza Music Town) because we heard that the two best teams in Okinawa, Goya and Senda (spelling?), have a tradition on the last night of Obon of squaring off. On the way we saw these folks:

EISA

So, my wife and I and some folks from the lab are participating in an EISA team and we've been practicing for about a month or so... and it rules.

This weekend we went down to (Yonabaru first, but that's the very next blog) Naha to see the end of the 10,000 Eisa dancers parade.

Eisa seems to have derived its name from a Buddhist chant and is celebrated at the end of the Obon festival as a "one last hurrah" for the ancestors. More at wikipedia.

So the original Eisa dances would have looked something like this:

This team is from Uruma City, where we work.

Okinawa has, over the last century, been developing a more and more energetic dance:


The central region of Okinawa Honto (the main Island) is really renowned for their Eisa teams, and so I feel really honored to represent Okinawa City in the Zento (All-Island) Eisa Festival at the end of August.

Typically the Eisa team will have the sanshin players and singers, big drummers (that's what I'm practicing), the smaller drums, dancers (female and male dances are slightly different), and then a clown-like character that whips everyone into a frenzy. We feel fortunate to be able to participate as usually women are not allowed to play drums and this is really more of a young man's event - oh, and usually no gaijin.

Where we practice is in an old folk's home and I really enjoy getting to practice in front of them because they get all jazzed up and start clapping and singing and I really feel like I'm participating in a deeper human community. I feel honored to welcome their ancestors for one last dance until they come next year. Even more profoundly, sometimes, I feel trusted, a deep trust that is easy to overlook maybe. Some of these folks can't leave their rooms, so they sit up in their beds and they dance and sing and clap. Maybe they will be the ancestors that will come next year during Obon. On the opposite of the spectrum, though are these little kids running around, also practicing these dances and the cycle is just really moving. That's when I feel the strongest need to show my ki-ai that's what all the shouting is about: it's the bellowing of the living, it's a connecting of the heart and the body and mind in an affirmative SAH and I feel so much more alive and grateful for that gift.

In my confucian studies I've come to understand that truth means something different, perhaps more, in a confucian world. What is true is behaving in a way that is true to those who have come before you (those you learn the Eisa dance from) and behaving in a way that can be trusted by those to come (the kids who watch us and practice what we do). And these practices really deeply resonate with me on this level, I feel like this is the most concrete expression of that definition of performative truth; and I feel more convinced that this is the notion of truth that more people should come to know and express.

Best Day Ever!

So today I went to work and that was alright. But then things got fun-ner:

After work we headed up the hill to the Goya area of Okinawa City where we had our second practice with the Gaijin Eisa team. We're really delighted to be able to participate in this oh-so-Okinawan tradition because for the most part you're not allowed to dance Eisa after the age of 25. We will be performing at the end of August as part of a really large Okinawa City Eisa Festival. Here are some photos:

Then we met up with Miyagi-san and had Yaginiku, goat meat soup. The Japanese used to eat a lot of goat meat, but since the end of World War II this meat has been replaced steadily by beef. It's still eaten in some places, including Okinawa. Part of the reason goat meat has lost its favor is because goat meat has a pretty strong smell. That said, you can put some fresh mugwort in the soup and that not only adds a nice flavor it also changes the aroma a bit.

The belief is that goat meat will reinvigorate the consumer and is to be eaten after strenuous activity. And I gotta say I did feel pretty jazzed up afterwards. After a delicious bowl of goat soup with the mugwort and ginger and awamori hot sauce I knew I had to try it, goat sashimi:

I'm not sure how well you can see from this picture, but there are two cuts of goat sashimi here. There were a very few cuts that were a deep red, almost purple, very thinly sliced and were heavenly. My favorite, though, had to be the thick cut from the back of the goat which still had the skin on it, nice and thick. What an amazing texture! It was like eating a celery stalk made of goat meat - incredible and three totally different experiences.

Usually your told not to drink anything cold with the goat meat as it can be pretty fatty and there is a fear that drinking cold liquids will congeal the fat and give you a bad stomach ache - so usually you drink hot tea with it. But this taste experience lacked one thing. That's right, wasabi ice cream.

We went to Gelo Bello and saw that they have a new exhibit, this time from Dr. Cue. We watched some Spongebob Squarepants and called it a night.

What To Do in the Event of an Earthquake

I live in Japan and that means earthquakes will happen. Although historically Okinawa has not sustained the same magnitude of earthquakes (and their subsequent destruction) as in the mainland, we are far from immune to them.

For example, yesterday we had a pretty significant earthquake here. The seismic effects of the quake (whose epicenter was north and west of the main island, Okinawa Honto) was measured at JMA 3. JMA stands for Japan Meteorological Agency. At JMA 3 the following are likely to be observed:
"Rather strong. Slight shaking of houses and buildings, rattling of doors and Japanese sliding doors (shoji). The water surface of a vessel can be seen to ripple. Felt to be slightly surprising, and sleeping persons wake up, but they do not run outside or feel afraid. Many people outside feel it, but some pedestrians may not." (This is from an explanation of the scale here)

We were in our 日本語 (Japanese language) class when the quake began and it lasted for about thirty seconds. It was bizarre feeling the earth move around like that, like being drunk and then laying down.

I'm including a link to a .pdf that gives pretty great information about what to do if an earthquake strikes:

If outdoors

• Avoid stone walls and vending machines
• Get away from buildings and go to the nearest open space

If at the office

• Protect your head with a cushion and get under a desk
• Get away from book cases, and tall furniture; the best places are uncluttered hallways and lobby areas
• Watch for objects underfoot (such as broken glass or sharp metal)
• Don't use an elevator, use the stairs; if you're in an elevator, use the emergency phone

At the Supermarket

• Cover your head and get away from aisle displays that might fall on you
• Get under a sturdy desk or near a support column
• Do not rush to the exit: follow instructions issued by the store personnel

When Driving

• Pull over to the left (or whatever side you drive on)
• Do not leave the car until the tremors subside
• Close your windows, turn off the car, and leave the keys in the ignition with the doors unlocked
• Do not try to evacuate by car

The big worry with an earthquake is being crushed by walls or vending machines or other large pieces of furniture or building frontages.
The next biggest concern is that gas lines will be ruptured and cause serious fires; so, turn off the gas as soon as you can.

[UPDATED 12:18pm]
Here's an article from Scientific American the same magazine my wife was published in last year.

Record Shopping in Okinawa City

This is a special post. My old friend, Alex, asked me if I would talk a bit about record shopping here Okinawa and this turned out to be one of my favorite things to do for this blog. So, please, if you are curious about something, like getting groceries, or driving, please don't hesitate to put me on an investigative report!

Okinawa City is the music capital of Okinawa. Recently, Okinawa has become the fertile birthing grounds of many of Japan's top pop performers. Since the 1970's Koza has been at the heart of the Okinawan music scene. So, I went down to Park Avenue Arcade in Koza to do a bit of record shopping.

First off, Japan has the second largest media industry in the world, after Hollywood. So, there's a lot to choose from. And, it's all in Japanese. Which is tough if you don't know how to read Japanese and don't know who plays what kind of music.

Fortunately for you, Tsutaya (which is like Japan's Blockbuster Video) has an extensive music rental section. That's right, you can rent all the cd's you want. Right next to the cash register where you rent the discs are a big ol' pile of cd-rw's. I've yet to rent a cd, but this will be my preferable manner in which to introduce myself.

But, back to Koza.

So, while my wife was away for a week in New Zealand, I decided I'd go check out the record stores one night. My first thought was here:

Teruya Music on Park Avenue is awesome. There's a great selection of both Western and Japanese music AND a really great instrument store. You can buy a Buckwheat Zydeco album, something off the Pop Charts here, an accordion, a digital delay, and head on to greatness.

But the best place I found, which I should realize is a no-brainer, is this used cd-shop:

I walked in and the first thing I noticed, was that there were tons of records, not just cds. Probably equal amounts of both. Then I noticed that there was this incredible noise playing. Literally, it was this crazy, droney, loopy stuff. I thought, "Sweet, lots of records, odd music playing, this is gonna be like visiting Matt Benard at the CD Warehouse."

Except Matt spoke my language and we were old room mates. Eventually I was able to ask who it was that was playing, Jim O'rourke (whom I'd only just recently seen when I was looking at the Tenorion youtube clips here and here). That's when I started to get really excited because I saw that they had a copy of his Tzadik (a record label I like very much because of it's "avante-guard stable) release. Then I saw a large collection of Smog's stuff on Drag City Records. Then they started playing this old 45 from Trojan Records (an old school reggae label from the 60s).

I was really floored because this is a used cd shop. These were used cd's. The only Westerners near here other than me and the folks from work are the guys on base (the street parallel to Park Avenue is Gate 2 street that takes you onto Kadena Airbase). In fact, walking around Koza I saw this graffiti that had been intended for the guys on base:

(there are a lot of rapes and bad things being visited on the Okinawans in this area by our service members, and I will address this later).

So, who's buying these cd's and then selling them? I'm stoked to meet them.

What did I buy? Because I'm curious to know more about Jim O'rourke, I get an album with and Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth) on it. They put together a trio with Mats Gustafsson called the Diskaholics Trio. Click here for more information and to have a listen.

Wasabi Ice Cream

I first noticed this place after I had gone to Krishna in Plaza House for what seems to be the best curry in Okinawa City.

It's a fun looking place, but I don't really eat a lot of ice cream as a rule. But one night I thought, "what the heck," and am I glad! I first had the blackened sesame ice cream, which tastes kinda like peanut butter, but with a delicious smokiness. Then I saw this:

Wasabi flavor. There's real wasabi in there, they blend the ice creams right before you. They also offer juices and smoothies and advertise that this is all additive free, low in sugar, calories and fat (hmm...)

Other flavors include:

• green tea
• turmeric
• sea weed
• purple sweet potato
• okinawan sugar cane and soy flour
• and a bunch of more traditional flavors

Oishi Desu!

Their website is:
http://gelobello.ti-da.net/

Graffiti in Okinawa City

Found in Okinawa City on Awase Bay Street



These three were found in the Park Avenue area near Koza


These with JMO(0?) were found near Ike Island

Getting an Inkan Registered

The Japanese prefer personal seals (sometimes they are called inkan, other times they are called hanko - I'm not sure why the two names) over what they feel are easy-to-forge signatures. There is some flexibility for gaijin on this matter, though. You can establish a bank account, a cellphone contract, even a lease with your signature, but there's a caveat:
If you start an account with an inkan/hanko, you are forever bound to using that same stamp for the term of your account (no signing one month and stamping another), so don't lose your inkan!

You can buy inkan in many places and there are inkan stores that will make a seal to your specifications, typically in less than a week. It seems that if yours is a Western name, it's likely you will get an inkan that is in romaji (the alphabet), I am guessing that all others will have their names transliterated into katakana (the Japanese syllabary). Here are some examples of inkans/hankos:
This is from the ANA Visa people and it's the organization's official seal.
This is from the Roshi (Abbot), Fukushima, of the Tofukuji monastery there are several seals on this fan.

You should only use your inkan for official documents, don't go slapping it on any old thing (which was my first impulse). For that, you use an unofficial stamp (again you can buy these all over the place), they are called sanmonban. You use sanmonban for signing for packages, maybe as a neat little embellishment to a letter to your buddies back home, whatever.

Here's an informal stamp that I use:

It says "Po-Ru" which is the transliteration into katakana of my name.

To register your inkan you must go to City Hall (near Koza here in Okinawa City) and present your gaijin card and pay some money. In Okinawa City you receive a Hibiscus Card (like a credit card) which is used to further verify your address. Here's where in City Hall you go to register (also the same window to get a gaijin card, by the way):

You go to the window there, don't worry, they speak English, and tell them what you'd like to do. They will ask for your identification and Hibiscus Card and then tell you how many tickets to purchase:

I guess it wouldn't be right to give the municipal authorities money outright, so they have this ticket system in place. You put your money into a vending machine next to the window and select the tickets you want and then present the tickets you've purchased to the office clerks. You'll notice that you rarely just put money into someone's hands in Japan.

St. Patrick's Day in Koza

Who knew that there was a St. Patrick's Day Parade in Koza, Okinawa City? There sure is. I missed the parade but did get to stroll around the Park Avenue area. Koza is the music capital of Okinawa and what says Erin go Braugh more than crumping (a highly-stylized street dance from the West Coast of the US)?


Not only is there a parade, but there's live music all day and night and a little flea market where I saw this:

Welcome to Okinawa City (沖縄市)

Welcome! This site is intended to share with you some of what we have learned so far living in Okinawa.

Okinawa Ken (Prefecture) is a beautiful archipelago of subtropical islands south of the Japanese mainland and just north and east of Taiwan. Okinawa is the largest island in the archipelago and Okinawa Shi (City) is the second largest city on the island. Flights from Naha, the capital of Okinawa Ken, can have you to Taipei in less than two hours; Seoul, South Korea in about three hours; Beijing, China in about four hours; and Tokyo in about three hours. Okinawa lies almost exactly equidistant from both Tokyo and Manila in the Phillipines.

Okinawa Shi neighbors the beautiful village of Kitanakagusuku and the newly formed Uruma Shi (City) which is along the coast at Awase Bay.

For those of you that are fluent in Japanese or are Uchinanchu (Okinawan), please share any corrections or insights.

This blog will somewhat chronicle my stay in Okinawa over the next several years. I will provide some pretty simple things at times (like, "how to use a Japanese washing machine," or, "how to reduce the humidity in your apartment,") as well as more touristy things (like, whale watching tours). There will be regular photos and videos as well as useful links and what have you.

Ultimately this will be a humorous site as most of what will be shared will be informed by the humiliating mistakes made by an author that is wholly illiterate in Japanese. Enjoy!