Month: December 2018

  • Oh, Bad Move

    Oh, Bad Move

    I let Nana know that I was sending nengajou (New Year’s greeting cards) this year.

    Now I’m officially in charge of nengajou for this household …

  • Time Zones and Geek Levels

    Time Zones and Geek Levels

    On our way home from visiting my family, we had a two-hour layover in Seattle. We decided to stop in a café since Nana hadn’t had any breakfast. We were working on the Eastern timezone and so wanted some lunch, but in Seattle it was still breakfast time. So we ordered a local IPA and had a seafood omelet and a lox and a schmear.

    That turned out to be too much food for us, as Nana only finished half the omelette and didn’t have any of either the sourdough bread or the bagel. But I was eager to sample the lox in Seattle, so I did my best to plough through it all. (As a result, I skipped the meal service on the flight home, but that was no great loss.)

    A little early in the morning for that sort of thing?

    Anyway, as we were enjoying the food and the IPA, I noticed that one of the waitresses was upselling on the beer. Whenever a patron ordered a beer, she would suggest a shot of bourbon for an additional $5. Where I come from that’s a boilermaker, and I was amused to hear the waitress pushing them at 9 a.m. local time. (I did not verify if everyone having alcohol in the café was, like us, working on a different time zone.)

    There are levels of geekdom

    The other thing I noticed while we were enjoying the food and drink was that the two waitresses kept talking about a machine that wasn’t working. I didn’t hear what machine they were discussing, but they were agreed that it wasn’t showing any sign of power. “I pulled out the plug and then plugged it in again, and I reset the breaker,” one of them said.

    I briefly thought about offering to have a look, but to be honest my geek is more on the software side of things. Give me a couple of hundred thousand pages of content to be repurposed and I’m all over it. Sorting out a shorting bit of commercial kitchen hardware? I didn’t even have a continuity tester on me.

    I think the ladies really needed someone like this guy:

    (There are hundreds of these videos, and I can sit and watch them for hours.)

  • How to open a wine bottle

    … without a corkscrew.

    None of these methods mentions an umbrella….

    Drinking problem

    After Nana egged me into opening the bottle of red using nothing but an umbrella, she confessed she still had some white in her glass.

  • Jingle Bells: Preludes and Nocturnes

    Thanks to Romain for this variation on a holiday classic:

    That performance definitely reminded me of Schroeder playing Jingle Bells for Lucy. Unfortunately, this is the only copy I could find in five seconds of searching:

    Then there’s this macabre version:

    Happy and/or Merry (in roughly chronological order):

    • Hanukkah (2-10 December)
    • International Day of Disabled Persons (3 December)
    • Chalica (3-9 December)
    • Saint Barbara’s Day (4 December)
    • Saint Nicholas’ Day (6 December)
    • Bodhi Day (8 December)
    • Feast of the Immaculate Conception Day (8 December)
    • Human Rights Day (10 December)
    • Saint Lucia’s Day (13 December)
    • Zamenhof Day (15 December)
    • Las Posadas (16–24 December)
    • Saturnalia: (December 17–23)
    • Yalda (21 December)
    • Soyal (21 December)
    • Pancha Ganapati (21-25 December)
    • Yule (21 December-1 January)
    • Mōdraniht: or Mothers’ Night (22 December)
    • Dongzhi Festival (22 December)
    • Solstice (22 December)
    • HumanLight (23 December)
    • Christmas Eve (24 December)
    • Christmas Day (25 December)
    • Anastasia of Sirmium feast day (25 December)
    • Malkh (25 December)
    • Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Day of the birth of the Unconquered Sun) (25 December)
    • Newtonmas (25 December)
    • Saint Stephen’s Day (26 December)
    • Boxing Day (26 December)
    • Kwanzaa (26 December–1 January)
    • Saint John the Evangelist’s Day (27 December)
    • Holy Innocents’ Day (28 December)
    • Saint Sylvester’s Day (31 December)
    • New Year’s Eve (31 December)
    • Watch Night (31 December)
    • Hogmanay (31 December–1 January)
  • Sensō-ji (Asakusa)

    Sensō-ji (Asakusa)

    金龍山浅草寺

    Sensō-ji, also known as Asakusa for the neighborhood it dominates (and whose kanji it shares), is Tokyo’s oldest and most famous temple as well as one of the most popular temples to visit at the New Year’s holiday. The temple was founded in 645 to house a statue of bodhisattva Kannon (Avalokiteshvara) which legend has it was discovered in nearby Sumida River by two fishermen, the brothers Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari, in 628. The temple and its various structures have been destroyed several times by fire and most recently by Allied bombing during World War II, and the current structures mostly date from the 1960s.

    Kaminarimon, the Thunder Gate

    Visitors flock to see the impressive Kaminarimon gate — 11.7m tall and originally erected by the military commander Taira no Kinmasa in 941, and moved to its current location in 1635 — with its statues of Fujin, god of wind, and Raijin, god of thunder, as well as the 4m tall paper lantern hanging in the center of the gate bearing the characters 雷門 (Kaminarimon).

    Kaminarimon -- entrance to Sensoji
    Kaminarimon — entrance to Sensoji

    Kaminarimon paper lantern
    Kaminarimon paper lantern

    The reverse side of the gate features status of the god Tenryū and the goddess Kinryū, carved by master sculptor Hirakushi Denchū when he was 106 years old.

    Tenryū, by Hirakushi DenchūKinryū, by Hirakushi Denchū
    Tenryū and Kinryū, by Hirakushi Denchū

    Shopping for Japanese kitsch in Nakamise-dōri

    Nakamise-dōri, stretching 250m from the Kaminarimon to the inner Hōzōmon (Treasure House Gate), is home to about 90 shops offering lacquerware, painted fans, yukata and kimono (in various degrees of authenticity) and assorted Japanese bric-à-brac and kitsch such as Godzilla toys and maneki-neko figurines. The crowds are often at their thickest here, and it’s not unusual to encounter foreigners in rented kimono.

    Shop decorations, Nakamise-dōri
    Shop decorations, Nakamise-dōri

    Shop decoration, Nakamise-dōri
    Shop decoration, Nakamise-dōri

    Maneki-neko "beckoning cat" figurines
    Maneki-neko “beckoning cat” figurines

    New Year's shop decoration
    New Year’s shop decoration

    Uchiwa -- Japanese fans
    Uchiwa — Japanese fans

    Happy Year of the Boar!
    Happy Year of the Boar!

    Eaves of Nakamise-dōri shop building
    Eaves of Nakamise-dōri shop building

    Tengu, fox and other masks
    Tengu, fox and other masks

    Visitors often dress in kimono
    Visitors often dress in kimono

    Hōzōmon, the Treasure House Gate

    Hōzōmon, the inner gate at 22.7m tall, was first built by Taira no Kinmasa in 942. It houses two enormous Nio deities and a pair of giant sandals. Because the gate in its current incarnation is built of fire-resistant materials, the second story is used to house the temple’s treasures, including a sutra that is designated a National Treasure.

    Hōzōmon with pagoda in background
    Hōzōmon with pagoda in background

    To one side of Hōzōmon stands a five-story pagoda, and to the other are statues of two bodhisattva, including Kannon (Avalokiteshvara), the enshrined deity of Sensō-ji.

    Bodhisattva Seshi and Avalokiteshvara
    Bodhisattva Seshi and Avalokiteshvara

    Approach to Hōzōmon
    Approach to Hōzōmon

    Detail of Hōzōmon
    Detail of Hōzōmon

    Jinrikisha guide points out Hōzōmon
    Jinrikisha guide points out Hōzōmon

    Sensō-ji, Tokyo’s oldest temple

    After Hōzōmon we come at last to Sensō-ji itself, a high-peaked structure dedicated to bodhisattva Kannon.

    Sensō-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple
    Sensō-ji, Tokyo’s oldest temple

    Ceiling mural in Sensō-ji
    Ceiling mural in Sensō-ji

    Priests inside the temple chant as clouds of incense rise among fabulous gilt decorations. Outside, visitors line up the steps to the portico to toss in their five-yen coins and offer their prayers. The large inner foyer, topped by faded and peeling murals, offers ample opportunities to purchase o-mikuji.

    Sensō-ji with Tokyo Skytree and crescent moon
    Sensō-ji with Tokyo Skytree and crescent moon
  • Like Ginger without Fred

    Nana:
    I did so much shopping today, because it’s quintuple points! I won’t have to shop for another week. Look, I got your bagels!
    Guy Jean:
    That’s great! Did you get more cream cheese?
    Nana:
    . . .
    GJ:
    . . .
  • Daihizan Bujouji

    Daihizan Bujouji

    大悲山峰定寺

    Bujouji
    Bujouji (sourced from Google Images)

    Bujouji is a platform-style temple suspended from a cliff, similar to the larger and more famous Kiyomizudera in nearby Kyoto. The temple was founded by Kankou Seinen in 1154 by order of Emperor Toba.

    Construction of the platform is interlocking wooden posts and beams, without the use of nails. The platform’s thick posts rest atop the stones of the cliff. They are not sunk into a foundation but are held in place only by the weight of the structure.

    Entry to the temple is via the Niomon Gate, constructed in 1350. Visitors must then climb 410 steps up the side of the mountain to reach the temple and enjoy the vista of cedar and pine trees. Photography is prohibited: visitors are required to leave all cameras, phones and other electronic devices with the attendant at the entrance before ascending to the temple.

    Niomon Gate of Bujouji
    Niomon Gate of Bujouji

    The temple is home to many important cultural artifacts, including wooden Buddha statues dating from the foundation of the temple in 1154. These are on display only three days out of the year: May 3, Sept. 17, Nov. 3.

    Daihizan Bujouji「大悲山峰定寺」

    Three-trunked cedar tree 花脊の三本杉

    Hanase no 3-bon sugi
    Hanase no 3-bon sugi

    A 15-minute walk from the temple entrance is the ancient three-trunked cedar tree, estimated to be 1,200 years old. The Eastern Trunk is the tallest cedar in Japan at 62.3m. The Northwestern Trunk is 60.7m, and the Western Trunk 57.2m.

    The circumference of the tree trunks where they join at the base is 1.36m.

    Hanase no 3-bon sugi「花脊の三本杉」