Today is Election Day. I, along with the rest of the country world predict a landslide victory for the opposition party, meaning the end of the LDP’s grasp on Japanese government for the past 50 odd years. Personally, I have minimal or less than minimal knowledge of politics, and despite my best efforts over the years to pick up some basic understanding (taking Politics classes for a year / reading the paper / participating in low level conversations on the subjecct), I still have no clue.

Anyway, today was the very first time in my life that I participated in an election. Up to this point, I have not been an eligble registered voter in the countries I have lived in. Admittedly, there was the regional election earlier this year that I did not participate in… but this it the national election!! Some might wonder why someone who has difficulty remembering which party the Prime Minister belongs to, is allowed to vote. One thing I do know is that, borrowing a catchphrase from another electoral campaign, “We want change”. Japan has had 4 Prime Ministers in past few years, each one worse than the one before… we need another Koizumi-esque person with character, charisma, and most important of all, the ability to fix stuff.

So, I went to the polling station, which was like 5 minutes away. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I was somewhat surprised at the low-tech nature of it all. Apart from the barcoded paper that was delivered by post to identify each one of us, everything else was hand written. I mean, no proof of identify required, just saying “yes, that’s my name”… then, it was writing the name of your candidate on a piece of paper… followed by checking a couple more boxes for other positions (which I didn’t really understand). Where was the barcoded or electronically readable voting forms? Good luck to whoever has to read my handwriting!

Influenza

In other news, swinging back to Monday. The guy sitting next to me looked seriously ill on Monday, coughing and spluttering everywhere. Thankfully he got a mask by mid-morning, which eased my tension… but by mid-afternoon I hightailed it out of there and headed to the other office to complete my work day. Anyway, he took the next day off which was a relief, but he returned on Wednesday to torture me again.

I’m not sure if it was him or some other factor but by the end of the week, I was feeling pretty rough. To be honest, I was feeling rough on Monday. [ I should have taken my manager's advice and headed home on that day ... ] Thursday, I had a scheduled day of, and I felt refreshed after that…. returning to work on Friday – eugh, again.

Anyway, finally the weekend and some relief… but, it’s funny… the whole week I’d been on the verge of being sick – as soon as the weekend hits, so does the full on being sick thing. Ok, not exactly sick…just a slight temperature and a major chest infection and throat swelling. I pretty much slept from 6pm to this morning on and off… my voice is sort of back and at least I can breathe easier but I have half a day to fix this before work tomorrow T_T.

It ain’t influenza thankfully, but it ain’t something I like having…

License

So, in an eventfull week… I got my driver’s license!! After 7 odd years of pissing about and never actually taking the test, on Thursday (my day off), I got the actual card!

It all started back in the UK, before university even… I started taking lessons, practicing with my dad, etc etc… then uni came and screwed up my whole schedule… having to cancel the driving test because of exams… and then deciding I didn’t need a license in London…

Coming to Japan, a few things made me realise I needed a license – 1. the fact that I had put it off so long and I had no reason to anymore, 2. I needed a pastime of sorts, 3. one time when I spoke with my granddad, he mentioned it as one of the things that a guy needs – (something like: money, education, driver’s license) … I think this was the material list… I think we also had talks about the immaterial list like compassion, etc etc… but I’m getting off track.

So I took up driving lessons in Japan too. After dillydalling around in Japan too… trying not to take too many days off – trying not to fail the test too many times – and also taking “required” courses like First Aid, etc… I got my license! woooo~~~!

You know, I’ve been so used to not driving, it seems strange to think that I can sit in the driving seat / rent-a-car / plan road trips etc…

hmm, where to? who with… Now, that’s a very good question.

Happy New Year! あけましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。All the best for 2009.

So, I saw through the New Year at my grandparents place in the countryside, in Japan, for the second consecutive year. I have a vague recollection of standing on Westminster Bridge to see the fireworks in 2007 but I don’t recall anything before that. This New Year was the first new year that I celebrated as a resident of this country. Having complained and stressed over the commercialisation and couple-ism of Christmas in previous posts, I actually prefer the Japanese style New Year over the Western version. I guess it’s because it has a lot more tradition, be it, eating 年越しそば (toshikoshi-soba) at Midnight, to signify long life and good health for the coming year. Eating おせち (Osechi) and お雑煮 (Ozouni) over the first few days of the New Year. Visiting the Shrines for 初詣　(Hatsumoude). Other more modern traditions include watching 紅白歌合戦 (Kouhaku uta gasen) on Eve, which despite being littered with unknown artists is a delight to watch. This year’s highlights included a 25 Year anniversary medley of music from films produced by the Ghibli Studios pairing of Hayao Miyazaki and Jo Hisaishi. Songs from films such as Totoro, Nausica, Laputa and the latest film Ponyo, which I have yet to see!

I got to see Mount Fuji on Eve and also on New Year’s Day, which some may interpret as bringing good luck in the coming year – I really do hope so!

It wasn’t all good fun though. I barely got any rest at my grandparents place, as every day they woke up early and made me do chore after chore. I didn’t complain as it’s not every day that I get to do 親孝行 (Oya-kou-kou), which apparently translates as “filial piety”; I have no idea what the English means, but the Japanese can be roughly translated as “making your parents happy”, by looking after them, doing something nice for them, etc. In my case it would be “Oba-chan kou-kou” as Oya means parents and Oba-chan means grandmother. Anyway, my point is there’s only really me that spends time with them regularly, and especially this New Years, I was the only 孫 (mago, grandchild) there.

On what turned out to be my last day there. I woke up around 9am, when my grandmother complained that they were waiting for me to wake up so we could have breakfast together. She asked me if I was feeling unwell as I hadn’t woken up – Yes, clearly, waking up at 9am means I’m unwell and waking up around 8am means I’m fine! I guess on the plus side, it doesn’t feel so bad getting back into work mode as I don’t have to wake up earlier than I did during the break!

Anger, frustration, stress and exhaustion. All these feelings are bottled up inside at the moment. It’s strange how a reasonable day can turn so quickly in one moment.

Listening to death metal seems like a perfect cure at the instant you feel that anger but it only adds to the adrenalin pumping through you and does nothing to calm you down.

The root of all this bad feeling? I guess the stress and exhaustion have been due to the excessively tiring week I’ve had. I didn’t have a single night in last week. Ok, admittedly my definition of a night in means going home straight from work and staying in, and doesn’t cover those cases when I pop out for a few hours.

Drive

Driving lessons have eaten up most of my spare time the past couple of weeks. Thankfully I’m now at a point where I can actually take the test and be pretty confident that I’ll pass. However, the one obstacle is the theory. Theory is bad enough when in English, but when it’s in Japanese and is also sufficiently cunning enough to include a large number of trick questions, it doesn’t make it any easier! For the preliminary licence – the one you need to actually take the actual full licence on-road – you need to get 45 out of the 50 True/False questions correct; I did a mock test today – I got 44 out of 50 – fail. I plan on taking it within the week though. I think it’s a lot more guess work, feeling and luck than actually learning some of this stuff. Some of it doesn’t make sense.

Anger

Anyway, the root of my anger and frustration? Yes, you guessed it, my brother. I decided to have some toast as I was hungry. He made a passing comment saying something like “why?”, which he then went on to clarify as asking why I hadn’t asked him if he wanted any. That in itself was annoying enough but then after I commented that there was only 1 slice left, he said that “do you think mum would do that?”, at that point a lot of offensive words went through my head. Mostly focused on the thought that I was not his mother, and also wondering how the hell we were related. I’m not the maid/chef/servant either.

There was another incident yesterday. I invited him to play tennis yesterday. He was patronising and down right rude to my friends. I could tell that he didn’t think much of them, at one point he was “dame-dana”, roughly translating to “not good enough” in terms of their character, personality etc. Incredibly prejudiced and judgemental. Asking what people did at university seems like an acceptable question, right? Not when asked in such a way as to imply that the person spent their whole time studying and was friendless. Unfortunately, our social circles overlap more than I would like, and being in the same industry does not help that, but seriously, never again am I going to invite him to anything.

Actually, whilst I’m ranting about all of this. When I decided to go to the uni I picked, I was really miffed (to put it mildly) that my brother decided to join me there. Spending my entire life trying to break free of standing in his shadow; maybe I cast a bigger shadow now, but his is shadow remains darker, thicker and more choking.

Choke

Smokers – why? I really don’t understand the “habit”/”pastime”. People say that smoking and drinking are on a par. They are wrong. Drinking does not kill those people around you. Smoking does. Drinking does not make everything smell of smoke. Smoking does. The worst thing is that a segregated restaurant in Japan means that there’s just an area for smokers but usually no barrier or separate ventilation. Ban it, dramatically increase the cost or invent something that doesn’t have any impact on everyone/everything around the smoker. Introduce anti-smoking laws. The excuse that smokers have to go outside or will loiter outside the buildings are not valid excuses. These people should be shunned and smoking along with it.

Also, the worst kind of smoker is “the casual/social” smoker. That makes no sense to me.

Then again, my youthful innocence of the past, when I believed that I’d never want to associate myself with any smokers or stop speaking to people if they did, has not stood the test of time. Do I have to learn to accept that Japan is smoking central? Can I refuse to attend an event if I know it’ll be too smoky? Can I politely say “yes” when people ask “do you mind if I smoke?”?

I need a holiday.

So, I’ve started driving lessons again. Maybe I’ve mentioned this previously already but lessons in Japan take place on a special course off the road. It’s usually an oval circuit with internal chicanes and so forth in the centre. Anyway, I’ve only had my first lesson so far but I’ve found that all the hours I’ve put in back in London have not gone to waste. My body still seems to remember how to start, change gears and control the car. However, the Japanese getting license is a lot more painful than in the UK. You have to first get a provisional license by practising on these off road circuits for a number of hours and then after you’ve got that you can start practising on the roads. Finally, after taking the on-road test, you have to take another course for driving on highways and basic first aid. Within all that there’s the theory test for the provisional and another theory test for the full license. Expensive, time consuming but hopefully worthwhile at the end of it!

Oops, that was a hell of a long paragraph!

Anyway, today was the first time I drank a Japanese favourite, the hot coffee in a can from a vending machine. Unfortunately, the way I imagined I’d be sharing a hot coffee can and my first experience greatly differed. There’s something somewhat romantic about being on a date on a cold day, buying a girl a hot coffee can, warming up your hands whilst talking late into the evening sitting on a bench somewhere. … or something like that.

My granddad told me there are certain things a man must do to truly be whole:

1. Get a drivers license
2. Good money management
3. Photography
4. Be able to use a computer

My brothers view of things to prioritise is as follows:

1. Work
2. Find a girlfriend

My view? Well, I think I respect my grandfather a lot more than my brother, but work and finding a girl cannot be ignored. Ah well, one step at at time!

Yesterday I played tennis for the first time in nearly a decade; I honestly can’t remember the last time I played but I’m sure it’s over 6 years ago so that rounds up to a decade! Anyway, the theme of the day was travel as I had to wake up super-early, 6am, to get to my friend’s place.

The Long and Winding Road

So, it was probably my first time experiencing the winding expressways of Tokyo properly; I think the only other times were in the Limousine Bus or possibly asleep in the back of the car. We talked about how London really cannot compare with Tokyo roads – there’s really no cross-city highway or complex raised junctions of spaghetti roads… hmm, that English didn’t make sense!

Anyway, the experience gave me a reason to sort out my driving licence – not to get stuck in traffic, but just to drive around, see the city and the area around Tokyo on the weekends. Obviously, I won’t be buying a car anytime soon but renting should be pretty simple… but first, the long road to actually getting the licence!

Tennis

So, tennis. I suck at it now… well, I sucked at it before, but I really want to get back to a decent level again. I’m writing off my serve but backhand etc, def needs more work! My right shoulder slightly aches today – I do enjoy that feeling of having done exercise though.

Rails

Anyway, I went to see my grandparents in the evening, which meant another long trip, this time in to the countryside. I ended up staying the night and here we sit on Sunday evening…. I don’t know where the afternoon went.

Air

I’m off back to London next weekend so I need to get some plans sorted. First thing is to find out when people are free. Actually, the first thing is to find out if people want anything from Japan. I did go slightly overboard this morning with the omiyage shopping though. I have to pack my suitcase to see how much more stuff I can take. I’m taking a big suitcase there but only a little one back meaning omiyage will make a big part of my luggage!

p.s. the map shows my journey over the last two days back and forth across Tokyo. The line to the south should stretch to my grandparents place. The central line-break is roughly where my house is.