Moon Setting Behind Fuji-san

Fuji-san

The moon fades behind
Fuji-san so still and quiet
I freeze for a time

A Haiku poem. (Megan: I bet you didn't think I wrote poetry). This is a picture I took of Mt. Fuji in early evening with the moon disappearing behind it. Haiku is traditional Japanese poetry with a number of forms but is usually short. I chose 17 syllables, in 3 lines, arranged 5-7-5 which is a common form. It oftens includes nature and an emotion. Usually there is a clever turn in it. Do an internet search and you can find out more.

Climbing Fuji-san

Hello and I hope you are doing well. It sounds like everyone is back at school or working and so it is with me.



This week the big news is that I climbed Mount Fuji (Fuji-san) starting around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and finishing the morning of Sunday the 29th of September. Fuji-san is 12,390 feet tall and there are four trails or so up to the summit. You normally start at what is called the 5th stage which is around the tree line.



I started with two people I work with - a Malaysian woman and a guy from Qatar. I got separated from them and thought they had turned back. I was foolish enough to continue. The big problem was that I wasn't dressed properly. I had on blue jeans, running shoes, a head lamp, and a good gore-tex coat. Thank goodness for the coat.



All the Japanese people had on North Face equipment and looked like they were on an expedition to Everest. I sure wish I had my rain pants, gore-tex boots, and gaiters. That volcanic rock isn't much fun when it gets in your running shoes. And I couldn't have gotten wetter if I were sitting in a tub.



I climbed hard the first evening on the Kawaguchi-ko trail and got to stage 8.5 which is less than 400m altitude from the top I think and less than an hour away at the rate I was climbing. This was a very good pace - much faster than average. It was raining lightly and dark. I was tired and had an altitude headache but could have made it easily. At that point I was still relatively dry. But I was the only person climbing and I couldn't see the trail because my glasses were wet so I thought it better to stop.



This was the last place where there was a climbing hut so I spent the night there. You can get a spot on a wooden floor laying beside other people for $60. The spots are arranged in rows with a rack built above the floor to get a second layer of people in. You get a warm blanket under and above you and a pillow that feels like it is full of sand. Fortunately there weren't that many people on the mountain and there was nobody beside me or across from me or I would have been very crowded.



I was hoping it was going to stop raining, being an optimist and all. Of course it started raining harder but I managed to sleep about 4 hours. The bed was uncomfortable and it was cold, humid, and noisy in the hut. When I woke up about 3:00 am it was raining hard. I heard people outside starting to climb. The idea is to climb at night and then watch the sunrise. Around 3:45 am I started climbing again.



Unfortunately I was soaked with 15 minutes. It was raining too hard and very windy. It was also cold. I don't know how cold for sure but probably in the 40s. The mountain was slippery. I fell in with a Japanese group that had a guide so I was pretty sure I would stay on the trail. The night before I wasn't so sure. But within 20 minutes there was a continuous line of people climbing to the top. It took more than 2 hours stop and go to finally get there because it is mostly a single file trail and because some people were having trouble. (I saw people gasping for air stopping to smoke a cigarette).



At the top there is a shrine where you can get your climbing stick stamped, a noodle shop, post office, and a weather station. There isn't really a summit - it is a crater rim which I had planned to walk. But I was so cold and miserable I just got my stick stamped and started down. Most people don't make it to the top - they just walk for a while and turn around. I didn't take any pictures - it was raining too hard and I didn't want to get my camera wet. You definitely couldn't see the sun rise.

I found out at work the next day that my friends had made it. In the text message they sent to my cell phone they had a typo and said they were at Station 5 (the start) when they were really at Station 8. I wish I could have stayed with them because it would have been more fun (except when Zaharah was getting sick).



All in all, this was one of the more uncomfortable things I have done in my life. I couldn't wait to get off the mountain. It was a tough slog up and even tough down because of the mud. I didn't have my spare clothes properly packed and they got soaked in my pack so I couldn't wear them. It was 4 hours back to Tokyo wet and cold the whole way. It seems like most of the really miserable things I have done were either in the deep open ocean or on high mountains. Maybe I should stay somewhere in between (or at least plan better and maybe look at the weather forecast).

If you go, pick a nice day when the sun is shining and not when a typhoon is passing by. Of course it makes for a good story either way.



Mata ato de - see you later

Yebisu

Yebisu - My favorite Japanese beer (I visited the town, the brewery, and the shrine)
Frank

Writing in Japanese

I am very fine and I hope you are too. This week I thought I would write about Japanese writing. This is one of the things that make the language difficult - you can't easily learn to read it like you can Spanish or German. The basic history of the written language is this:

The Japanese adopted their written language from the Chinese and the basic characters are called Kanji. These are the somewhat complicated looking characters that you see and are pictographs. According to one book I have this didn't happen until the 5th or 6th century so it is really pretty recent. Right now there are about 2000 Kanji symbols that most school children learn but there are many more there are either archaic or in uncommon usage.

The characters are similar enough to Chinese that most Japanese can recognize many Chinese symbols even though the languages are very different except for some borrowed words. Interestingly, the Chinese have changed their symbols quite a bit since Mao and the characters used in Taiwan are apparently more similar to those in Japan than what is used in modern China.

Because the Chinese and Japanese languages are so different, the Japanese also adopted two phonetic syllabic writing systems. In other words, each character represents a syllable like ba, ki, or ga. The syllables consist of the vowels a, e, i, o, and u pronounced very similar to Spanish plus a bunch of syllables and "n". All Japanese words end in a vowel or n. The vowels are pretty much always pronounced the same with a few rules and thus pronunciation is "easy".

The first syllabic system is called Hiragana and is used to basically make Kanji usable in Japanese. It is used for grammatical words not present in Chinese, verb endings indicating tense, etc. It can also be used to spell any word in Japanese and is used for that when there isn't a standard Kanji symbol.

The second syllabic system is call Katakana and is used for foreign words and those borrowed from foreign languages. There are a lot of borrowed words, especially scientific words and things adopted from the West. It's 46 characters have exactly the same syllabic sounds as Hiragana. Hirigana and Katakana together are called kana.

Also used is Romaji which is a way of using our alphabet to spell Japanese words. You usually see Romaji in block letters but the Japanese I know can print or write cursive. There is quite a bit of advertising done in English. So Japanese schoolchildren have to learn a lot of characters!

It's interesting to write your name in Japanese. The proper way to write your name as a foreigner is to do it in Katakana. Because not all the sounds present in English exist in Japanese (and remember each word must end in a vowel or n) it isn't going to sound the same as in English. But Japanese characters and Kanji can be very beautiful in their own right and people like to see them written in different ways. For fun, see how my name and that of my brothers can be written in Japanese below.

The Milburn Boys

Click on this picture, or any picture on the blog, to make it bigger. Our names are shown in English, Romaji, Hirigana, Katakana, Kanji, and the basis for the Kanji symbols that were chosen by the translator. On the right is my Hanko, or stamp. Hanko are still used for signature on formal documents by everyday Japanese people. Mine is a combination Kanji / Katakana translation that is based on sound as well as meaning for Frank. The name Milburn (Mill Stream) can be translated as Usugawa in Japanese.

If you want to find out about your first name in Japanese, try the link on my Blog titled "Your Name in Japanese". It is a really interesting web site.

Ebara Shrine

Here I am at Ebara Shrine in Shinagawa with a statue of Ebisu, one of the Seven Good Fortune Gods. Note that he is holding a fishing rod and that is a fish under his arm. Ebisu is the patron of Fisherman. This shrine is famous for a festival in June as well as Ebisu.

Beatles while Eating

I have discovered two restaurants in Tsurumi where I work that appear to play Beatles music all the time. They are a Noodle Shop (Raman-ya) and Fast Food Hamburger Place (Mos Burger). Why Beatles? I don't know. The interesting thing about this is I hear songs I haven't heard for 35 years and remember them immediately. Things I just heard yesterday I have no recollection of.

Anyway here is what I have found I like at these places:

• Raman-ya: Order the "Number 1 Miso" or if you really like it spicy, the Number 2. I think Number 3 is probably too spicy and have never tried it. You say "Number 1" in English, not Japanese. Each ladle of spice costs an extra 20 yen or so. I like to order mine with tamago - a boiled egg.
• Mos Burger: Try the Nan Taco (nantakosu in Japanese). I thought they only did stuff like this in the United States. It is taco meat with some curry and taco like seasoning and tomato / lettuce on a piece of Nan bread held so it forms a kind of taco. For those of you unfortunate enough not to have had it, Nan is a bread from India. Point to the picture of it when ordering although they probably would understand Nan Taco. I order mine "seto" with a salad.

Oishii desu - It's tasty.

A Nice Walk

This week was a bit unusual. I decided to walk today from Tokyo to Kawasaki which is a pretty good walk. It took me about 5 hours but it was cool today from a rain and quite nice. The amazing thing is you can walk the whole way on sidewalk and see other people walking along the whole route. Can you imagine that in Houston or LA? It is continuous mid-rise buildings most of the way but you see temples, shrines, parks, and so on. Really interesting but it wore me out.

A couple of other things of interest happened this week:

1. A woman cut in line in front of me at the checkout this week. The first time I can ever remember.
2. We had a train problem and it took an extra 20 minutes to get to work. This is only the second time this has happened that I can remember. The last time it took an extra 5 minutes. Trains are very reliable here.
3. A child had a temper tantrum on the train because his sister wouldn't give him part of her candy. This is practically unheard of. I suspect she is like Cody was and waited until her brother had finished his and then started eating hers.

The gym in my apartment is closing for the week. Just when I had started really working out again. Oh well. I'll start up again next week. Take care of yourself and I'll write again then.

Shantytown in Kawasaki

During my walk today I passed this shantytown in the flood plain of the Kawasaki River. You can see the river in the background. Pretty nice housing for the homeless. In general the homeless seem to take care of themselves here and look presentable. I see some exercising and getting dressed in suits. Most seem to sleep on benches or have small tents. These shacks look fairly permanent and some have small gardens.

I was surprised to see homeless here although I'm not sure why. You certainly see them in Houston, New York City, London, and Paris. Apparently there is very little crime associated with the homeless here and I've never been bothered by anyone as I walked about. It is just part of the fabric of life these days I guess.

Summer Fireworks

One of the big summer events is to have fireworks. There are a number of major displays all over Japan. Last evening they had the one you can see from my building but I went over and watched it with some people I know from work. The display goes on for about an hour and a half non-stop. The Japanese girls wear yukata, it was hot, and some people drank a bit too much. Something like the 4th of July I suppose.

Fireworks over Tokyo Bay

Difficult to Translate

My secretary sends email to me in Japanese at times to help me improve. Yesterday she sent an email in Romaji asking if I had anything on my calendar for Monday. I understood it and attempted to reply. I got the first part correct - "Right now, Monday's calendar is empty". At least she understood it. But my attempt at the second part was completely indecipherable apparently - "But by Monday it will be full".

The reasons this happens are sometimes complicated. The word you pick from the dictionary may not really fit in that context or is not normally used in the sentence structure you picked. In this case I'm not sure that the concept was one that is even commonly used in Japanese. My secretary and the contracts engineer discussed at quite some length how to say this and they never gave me a good simple translation.

Which leads to another point. When you say something simple in English and someone translates it - why does it take so many words? I have asked this and received a couple of related reasons:

1. Japanese people are not direct in their language - this would be considered rude and they add polite additions. In English you just come out and say it.
2. Because they are not direct, they are often looking for the shading and reasons behind what to us would appear a simple statement. When translating, the translator will attempt to help the listener understand shades and meaning behind what the speaker said.

Interesting. But don't take anything that I write on the Japanese language as fact or based on any real scholarship. I find Japanese people have more in common with me than differences and the perceived differences are just interesting.

Tin Ear

I have a tin ear. Maybe not tin, but no better than brass at best. Anyone who has listened to me try to tune a guitar or pick out a tune on the piano knows this. With language, this means that it takes me 10 tries before I guess how a new word is pronounced. Alternatively, you can write it out and say it V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W-L-Y for me. Kaite kudasai. Yukkuri hanashite kudasai.

This hit home when I kept trying to hear for a week what they were saying when the door on the train closes: "Doa ga shimarimasu". I knew it meant the door was closing - they always say it just before the door closes - what else could it mean. I tried to repeat what I thought I'd heard to my secretary and she had a blank stare. One of the other guys said "Oh - Doa ga shimarimasu". She said "Oh - The door will close". The guy who knew how to say it said "Oh - Is that what it means?"

Now how is it that he could hear it and repeat it and not even know what it means? He said he had been hearing it every day for 6 months - of course he could repeat it. I think some people have a better ear for sound than others. Also, I am losing some hearing from being around too many power tools and industrial compressors without hearing protection. Not to mention firearms. But my Japanese is better than the other guys. Which shows you can excel if you try hard enough (and the other guys don't know it is a competition).

Conflicting Advice on Grammar

One of the problems with engineers doing things is that they want to know how it works. I have been an engineer too long. I want to know why Japanese sentences are said the way they are and what the rules for constructing the sentence are. Needless to say, this is not the way children learn to talk and it probably isn't the way I should learn either.



The word "no" in Japanese is a way to state the possessive. The word for shirt in Japanese is "shatsu". If you don't pronounce the u at the end it sounds like shirts a bit. This is because essentially all of the Japanese words for western style clothing come from English. So "Frank's shirt" is "Frank-san no shatsu" in Japanese.



In pidgin Japanese I used to ask for miso soup with small clams by asking for "Shijimi Misoshiru" - clam soup. But one of the secretaries pointed out to me that I really should be putting "no" in between (not on this example, but on something similar). So, today I asked for "Shijimi no Misoshiru o kudasai" - Please give me soup of clams. Much more proper. The waitress called to the back "Shijimi Misoshiru".



So when I got back to the office I asked another secretary about it. "Oh yes - Shijimi Misoshiru is just fine" she said. What about the other example where I was supposed to put no in between. "Well", she said, "that is OK too". It is unlikely I will have to pass a Japanese grammar test so I am going to quit worrying about it.



Mata ato de... See you later...

Cicadas and Nurses

Two things hit me as I was walking home this evening. I have noticed both before, but I was still thinking about them when I walked into the apartment...



Cicadas: They are deafening. You hear them all around trees in the parks and outside the building at Chiyoda. I don't ever remember hearing them as loud as they are here. There is concrete everywhere but they find the trees.



Nurses: They still wear white uniforms and hats just like the '50s at the hospital across the street from my apartment. It is a teaching hospital and it may not be the same everywhere in Japan. But they all look much more professional and proper than in the United States. This is probably a good place to get sick if you have to do it.

I may not have written about the time I got sick here. It was just the sinus infection I usually get after my allergies in the spring. Demo, ima genki desu. I went to a doctor with my secretary. He charged me 3000 yen ($25) if I remember right and that included the prescription for antibiotics and cough medicine. My secretary said that was a bit more than if I had gone to the clinic, but I didn't have to wait - I walked straight in. All without health insurance. He had just bought a 1957 Chevrolet Belair convertible and showed me a picture of it.

Oyasumi nisai...

Nijubashi

Yakitori

Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2004 6:58 PM
Subject: Weekly Email

One of the highlights of this week was going to the yakitori (working man's place where they serve beer, sake, and grilled chicken). Yakitori means grilled chicken. This yakitori is in Hamamatsucho on the way to my apartment from the train and I have gone by there many times but never gone in. It is an open air place and is always crowded. None of my gaijin (foreigner) friends would ever go in so I talked one of the Japanese guys I work with into going there.



This one has been there at least 50 years and the waitress who served us said she had been there 40. She was 80 years old and a real sweetheart. So they had the expected skewered chicken, oshinko, bieru, and sake. But they also had a lot more. I won't go into all the delicacies but there is no part of the chicken or pig that isn't utilized. I had the equivalent of Japanese menudo and it was really good. All of it was good. Oishikatta desu. It was the best sake I have ever had - I think I am developing a real taste for it.



Today I went for a long walk around the palace in central Tokyo. This is where the feudal lords used to have their castle and rule Japan during the Edo (samurai if you prefer) era. I went by Hibiya park and there was a band playing the blues and jug band music. I walked the gardens where the palace is.



Erica talked me into creating a "blog" which is an electronic log you can put on the internet. If you would like to see a picture of a famous bridge at the palace then look at my blog:



http://frankmilburn.blogspot.com/




I will try and update it in future and you can look back at old emails if you find that interesting. I put some more pictures in there that you may not have seen. I think I captured most of my emails since I got this new computer but probably not all of them. If there is one missing that you think was worthwhile and you kept, just send it to me and I'll post it.



I have started working out at the gym again so I feel good about that. I hope you are eating right, doing what you can to stay healthy, and enjoying the sights too.



See you next week...

Tokyo is Prettier at Night

Small Things

Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2004 9:39 PM
Subject: Weekly Email

This was a slow week and not too much to write about. I always learn something though. Here are a few of the things I learned:

• My regular oven is also a microwave - a space saving feature. I didn't know I had a microwave because all the writing is in kanji.
• When they carry the portable shrine (makoshi) they bounce it up and down. The reason they do that is because the god is "rowdy" and he is supposed to like it
• The rope that hangs around a shrine is made from rice straw for good luck and because rice was so special to the diet
• When you dip sushi into shouyu (soy sauce) you are supposed to dip it fish side first so the rice does not crumble. Actually, I thought I was doing fairly well until I learned that. Now I am having trouble with the rice crumbling.
• The Japanese equivalent of cheap gin or white lightening is called shochu and it used to be a working man's drink. Except now it has gotten trendy kind of like tequila or fancy vodka and they sell expensive versions.

It has been hot but a typhoon (real name is taifuu) came through and cooled things off a bit. They usually aren't much more than some good rain (ame). Sometimes there is a pretty strong wind (kaze ga tsuyoi). My Japanese isn't much better but a few of the guys at work have not taken it upon themselves to teach me inappropriate language. I think they are finding it entertaining.

I hope things are going well for you....