Thursday, March 27, 2008

Escalation

The Japanese have a reputation for being quiet and polite to absurd extremes. This, like all stereotypes, never applies all, or even most, of the time, but I saw something yesterday that reinforced it pretty strongly for me. Twice a week, I teach English in a nearby town, to which I commute by Shinkansen (aka bullet train). I had just gone through the ticket gate when I saw this guy lying on his back at the bottom of the escalator that leads to the train platform. It looked he was having a fit at first because he was kicking and flailing around like crazy.

I ran over and asked him if he was ok. He stuck his hand out and grunted "Hipatte kudasai!" ("Pull!"). I tried to help him up, but he wouldn't budge. Then there was a tearing sound, and it finally filters through my thick skull that he had somehow gotten his suit jacket caught in the escalator.

An elderly guy who had noticed by now and I helped him out of his jacket so he could stand up. A station attendant also appeared and shut off the escalator as we were getting him out of his jacket. What was really impressive to me was that when I first saw him he was trying his damnedest to get up without calling for help or otherwise inconveniencing his fellow commuters. In his place, I would have been screaming my freaking head off.

Anyway, by the time the poor dude was on his feet, I realized I only had about a minute before my train left, so I took off. I am pretty sure the guy also sprinted off to make his next connection too.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Un-American Bicycles

Damn...it has been a good long while since a blog post. I just have not been finding a lot of cool/funny stuff to photo lately. Probably need to get out more. But spring is on us like a drunk oyaji at an izakaya, and with temperatures finally soaring into the double digits (centigrade) I have been able to venture out on my bicycle more. To my great confusion, the below sign has been posted on every single telephone pole along a street in my neighborhood.

My bicycle is left? I don't really get it since my bicycle has never expressed any particular political affiliation. Oh well. Maybe they know something I don't about bicycles and secret meetings at docks.

In other news, electronic music gods Mercer Friendly, incorporated the monja pic from my previous post into an illustration for one of their tunes. They tell me: "I wanted you to know that we appropriated your monjayaki picture for the six demon 1 render -- the monjayaki is texture mapped on the globules under the hair." I feel so honored I don't know what to say! Check out the globules, and the great tune here...OR DIE!!!!!