Can Anyone Explain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FcOHkdiVQY

Why do people go to the beach? Is the sky really bluer there? Does ice cream taste better there? Or is it because everyone goes, so you feel obliged to be there too? I had so many doubts about the beach before.

Besides, I can’t swim, so I failed to see any reason to be there, except to show off my new bikini. Well, with that purpose in mind, and only that, I went to the beach last weekend, for the first time in my life!

But to my surprise, I really enjoyed it, and not only the bikini-showing part. I loved the gentle breeze on my face and the cool seawater at my feet. And I was always busy watching something at the beach, the blazing sun playing with the water, a black Labrador chasing his red ball, and the people!

At the beach, people-watching is not a mere sport anymore, it’s an art! But of course at the same time, I realize I am also being watched, although being an exhibitionist, I adore that too…

Oh and I collected many stones! I know it's childish, but I always like rocks, even though I don’t rock. Now I have a fine collection of stones with various shapes, colors and texture. I feel so rich!

Actually I took a book there to read, but I was simply too busy taking everything in to even turn a page.

But the best thing was the smell of the sea, warm, wet and salty, which took me right back to my childhood as I grew up by the sea. (Fine, you can laugh now, but I just can't swim!!)

No wonder smell is considered the most powerful trigger of memories.

Food for Thot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EqgwW3zCKg

I love food. Fantasize about it, look at it, smell it, choose it, , prepare it, cook it, and of course taste it, and eat it. Everything about it.

It's an essential part of our daily life, not to mention you are what you eat and blah blah blah, so why not make it into something special, even if it’s not anything spectacular?

Every country has its own food culture, but I think the 2 most popular cuisines in the world are Italian and Chinese, although probably just because Italians and Chinese are everywhere.

But if you are tired of pizza and pasta, or sweet and sour pork and lemon chicken, you can always go for something else.

For example, if you feel like stuffing yourself, you can either have Indian curry or American hamburgers. But if you prefer looking at half-empty plates and not eating, you can just sit elegantly and toy with some fancy French foie gras.

Thai food and Korean food are my favorites, because I love spicy food. I am one of the spicy food masochists, the spicier the better.

Of course for any cuisines, the tastes is the most important. But I also enjoy the whole presentation, especially in Japanese food. All the plates, bowls, chopsticks and the rests, their texture, whether it’s ceramic or wood, and all the rich but understated colors, it’s a visual feast on it’s own!

Razzle Dazzle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eykLf8b_Vk

Is it just a myth that only women and gay men enjoy musicals, while straight men tolerate them just to earn brownie points?

Personally I love musicals, but only the very good ones, of course. I have seen quite a few in the theater, but my all time favorite is still “Chicago.”

The story itself is common enough, a womanizer gets exactly what he deserves and the murderess goes to jail. But it has all the ingredients for a great musical, witty lines, fantastic music and brilliant choreography, etc.

Thought-provoking it may not be, but it certainly reflects the social aspects of the time it depicts, like the injustice of the justice system, the manipulation of news making and so on.

And the notion only women and gay men like musicals? Well I don't know, Italians love their operas, men, women, and children. Chinese operas and Japanese kabuki are popular among both genders. Now don't tell me musicals are different!

So why do straight men feel the need to show their disgust at musicals? To protect their perceived muscularity? Or are there just not enough boobs and blood in musicals? Are musicals too girly and glittering for straight men?

But what’s wrong with some razzle dazzle? Life is just a show anyway!

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57tK6aQS_H0

Japan is probably the last developed country where you can still smoke almost everywhere.

People here feel it's their right to smoke anywhere they so please. I don't understand why they don't pee everywhere too, or maybe they do, only God knows!

I often fantasize carrying a water pistol around and shoot at the lit-up cigarettes on the street one by one. It disgusts me how people can walk and smoke at the same time. Do they walk and pee at the same time too?

Worst of all, I often get to sit next to the only smoker in the restaurant. It’s just my luck! Over the years, I’ve developed some techniques to give the next table smokers the hints, including fanning away the coming smoke with the menu, covering my nose and mouth like he has contagious disease, coughing so hard like I am about to pass out, etc.

Once I had an argument with my neighbor downstairs because he often smoked on his balcony and the smoke came into my living room without invitation. And when I asked why he didn't smoke inside, he said he didn't want to make his wife and daughter suffer from his second- hand smoke!

It was his business if he chose to die from lung cancer one day, but I refused to die along too. Of course in the end I won the case. He stopped smoking on his balcony, and I stopped spraying air-freshener on mine. The other day I met him in the elevator and he proudly informed me he had quit smoking successfully!

Whenever I see any of my students smoking in the gas chamber, I threaten them with more homework. Such a filthy, hideous habit from such young age! Yuk!

Do they think they look cool when they are smoking? Or do they actually enjoy it? I’ve never smoked, so I honestly have no idea. But one thing for sure, there are no smiling smokers!

Puppet On A String

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrs8CgpH980

I went to a traditional Thai puppet show the other day. Many countries have puppets, but it seems only in Japan and Thailand, the puppet is operated by 3 people, 1 controls the legs, another controls the head and a hand, and the 3rd one the other hand. The puppet and the 3 masters all move and dance together at the same time as one unit.

On the way to the theater, I got hopelessly lost as usual. So I asked some high school girls on the street, and they told me excitedly that they were also going to the same show, in the language I supposed Thai!

Well, it wasn't the first time for me. In fact, everywhere I travel in Asia, people talk to me in their local languages, and I usually just smile and pretend I understand, until my answer is earnestly expected. And the funny thing is, only the people in my hometown ask where I am from!

Anyway I followed those Thai girls to the theater and we smiled our way there. After some very important people gave their very important speeches and the audience started snoring, the show finally began.

The story that evening is about the legend of the lunar eclipse, an old Thai folklore. There are many wars involved between various parties, including a God who transforms himself into a beautiful temptress to seduce the enemy. At one point, the whole zoo seemed to be on stage, to keep the audience from falling asleep again, I guess.

Basically the legend is about how the moon was swallowed by another angry God seeking revenge, after losing the battle and being cut into half, thus explains why we have the lunar eclipse now. The puppet show was beautifully and skillfully performed. The music/singing was also, hmmmm, interesting. And the story plot is excellent too. You see, even the ancient wisdom tells us that sex and violence sell!

But I keep wondering, how did we manage to get the unfortunate moon back later? Did the deranged God find its taste so disagreeable that he deiced to spit it out?

Just Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Abk1jAONjw&ob=av3n

I love dancing. And I don’t get why some people just can’t. I think they probably consider themselves too God-like to be fooling around like the ordinary beings.

But dancing is such a natural way to give your body the freedom to express itself, a bit like when you jump up and down with joy, which is actually a kind of dance too, I suppose.

Do you sometimes start whistling or humming some tunes, and you don’t even notice you are doing it at first? Singing is also another outlet of our emotions, even if we are completely tone-deaf.

Everyone has music in them, although not all of us allow ourselves to hear it. But once we open up our mind, our body will follow. It doesn’t matter if our dance hurts people’s eyes and our singing causes physical pain in their ears.

Some people can dance to any music, because they just enjoy moving their bodies, I guess. But mine freezes when the music is not danceable by my standard. I know, I am such a music snob!

I am at my happiest when I dance to the music I like, completely wrapped in my own world, somewhere nobody can get in and tell me what to do and what not. But I also enjoy social dance, especially waltz or my beloved tango, though it’s extremely difficult to find the right partner to dance with.

There are many dance clubs here in Tokyo. Even though I am not the clubbing type, I go there from time to time, when my feet get itchy for it. But so far I still haven’t found any club that can keep me on the dance floor all night.

Maybe I should just stay home tonight and dance in front of my bedroom mirror again!

Too Big

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzsmWimL2qo

When you think of parks, you probably have something like Central Park or Hyde Park in mind. Well I tell you, most of the parks in Tokyo are technically a patch of grass with 1 or 2 under-nutritious tress, although some bigger ones are also equipped with a 6 tatami sized playground for children. 

They are more like left-over ambitions of the city developers and after- thoughts of the local governments.

But of course there are also a few real parks here, such as Ueno Park, Shinjuku Gyoen, Inokashira Park and so on, even though many of them are atcually home to the homeless at night. During the day you use the parks, and during the night they belong to the homeless, a very efficient way to share the parks, in my opinion.

Now what do people do in the park anyway? The real ones, I mean. Hmmmm, I suppose you can go for a walk, jog or picnic, and sometimes even a concert, art fair or jazz festival.

Many big parks have artificial lakes and you can also enjoy a boat ride there. But only the people in Japan have the privilege to take one of those swan-shaped white toy boats and see how slow you can row it around.

I think I will go to a park and see if there are some early autumn leaves, perhaps sometime next week when I suddenly feel charitable for the starving mosquitoes there.