Matsuri

Matsuri

Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2004 9:31 PM
Subject: Weekly Email

This week was the Summer Matsuri (festival) at the offices where I work. They carry a portable Shinto shrine called the Mikoshi around the block after drinking sake. Then you drink more sake and eat a lot while having a party. At the party you do traditional things like pounding rice with a huge wooden mallet and then making it into a rice ball desert. Or you stack cups into pyramids and the first one to finish gets a toy Winnie the Pooh bear. That pretty well describes it. So attached is a picture of the Mikoshi - note the traditional blond hair style of the one guy carrying it (just kidding).

The heat has been oppressive. It got up to 100 degrees on the day before the summer solstice. On that day, you are supposed to eat "unagi" which is a type of eel. I asked my secretary about this but couldn't really understand - it is supposed to give you strength on really hot days or something. According to my secretary, the eel is imported from China because "Japanese eel is too expensive". I think it is fresh water eel but I am not sure. The eel they serve in the sushi shop is conger eel and is called anago.

Hope you are all well. Stay out of the heat if you aren't able to get any unagi...

Back in Japan

Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 5:53 PM
Subject: Back in Japan

My flight got in an hour early so it was a good flight. I let an Exxon guy who was in Tokyo for a while when I was gone borrow my apartment and he left me a good bottle of wine and some chevre (goat cheese) - he is a Frenchman - so my pantry is stocked better than it was when I left.

I enjoyed seeing you all when I was home....

Tanabata

Tanabata

Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 8:25 PM
Subject: Weekly Email

Hello to all and I hope you are doing well. This week I went to a festival called Tanabata which is based on an old Chinese tale converted to Japanese. There are lots of festivals in Japan during the year but this is one of the more famous ones. It is frequently translated as the "Star Festival" and the story is something like Romeo and Juliet depending on who you hear it from. If you are interested, here are some websites:

http://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/holidays/akie.html
http://www.geocities.com/shunkomuroya/nihongo-memo/nenchugyoji/tanabata.htm

I went to the festival at Hiratsuka which is just south of Tokyo, in the Kamakura area. I've attached two photos from that festival. Basically you wander down the street with a million other people and look at the lanterns and decorations. And then you stop at one or more of the stalls and eat and drink. It goes on for blocks and blocks and blocks. A lot of girls wear kimono (really they are wearing yukata which is a simpler lightweight cotton kimono - kimono are too heavy and expensive to wear to a summer festival) and there are lots of families. It was fun.

The end of FEED party went well and all the Chiyoda (Japanese), Qataris, and expats seemed to have fun. I made a pretty good mistake before the party trying to speak japanese. But if you don't make mistakes you aren't trying. Anyway, my boss from Doha told one of the Japanese that a plate was pretty. So I translated it as "Kirai desu" but this means "He hates it". The correct translation is "Kirei desu". But one of the japanese guys laughed and said are you sure about that? I caught my error since I knew both words. Another one along the same line that I messed up once is "Karei desu" which means it is spicy. An "r" sounds more like an "l" to us a lot of the times so these words are pronounced:

kirai (key-lie-ee) - hate
kirei (key-lay-ee) - pretty
karei (ka-lay-ee) - spicy

Muzukashii desu ne - Hard isn't it? A lot of Japanese jokes are based on plays on words. You would have to be careful what you said to a Japanese girl or you could call her spicy or tell her you hated her.

So, next week I am going to a cryogenic heat exchanger fabrication shop in New Jersey and then to Houston for a week so I won't write for a while.