John Stupart.com

An early post, but one in anticipation of a relatively sedate weekend ahead. My precious car is in the garage for it’s compulsory ‘Shakken’ inspection, and I may only get it back on Monday. Alas I yearn for the open road and the breakneck 60km/h speed limits Japanese highways afford!

One of the more interesting things I have noticed when sitting in the school’s staff room is just how downright focused the people around here are on food. Not necessarily the simple consumption thereof, but more on the planning, contemplation and borderline philosophical musings on the different qualities of the forthcoming meal. Organising lunch for the school’s festival, for example, sees the distribution of a brown envelope for each teacher’s money, together with a full A4 page listing the many things one can choose to eat. From scrambled egg and pork sandwiches (I’ll pass thanks), buttercream puffballs and the like to the more noramlised fare of bento lunch box sets, ice cream and various noodle dishes. Upon selection and insertion of payment, the envelopes are gathered by the school’s bureaucrat guy, who then proceeds to inspect said collection of lunch preferences and discuss just what each person is eating with the vice principal. I may not understand Japanese, but when my name crops up combined with ‘bento’, followed on by much emphatic nodding and murmurs of approval, I realize I have chosen correctly in my culinary destiny. I wonder what their reaction would have been if I’d chosen the sandwiches…

But it doesn’t end there. Where one must have the food delivered, and at what time are all valid and integral questions in the process. I would honest not be surprised if the most efficient route for the delivery of said food was a check mark on the list of things to do to ensure maximum mastacatory pleasure. Phone calls to the caterers, complete with minor addendums and additions to the menu are constantly checked off to boot. No wonder Japan has such wonderful food. There’s just so much effort invested into the experience. Somehow ordering the refried remains of some long-forgotten cage-bred chicken at KFC will just not really compare anymore…

I could be mistaken for thinking this was restricted to my little portion of Hokkaido, but a quick five minute channel surf will show that food, and the enjoyment thereof, is as much a part of Japanese society as nuclear bombs and anime.

Then, there are the school plays. The little drama skits each class prepares for the school festival. Perhaps a humourous ditty about their teachers, or a remake of Hamlet? Certainly not. I was greeted early on this week by a giant sack full of what appeared to be automatic assault rifles, complete with attached optics and extended magazines. Even a sawn-off shotgun is sitting in the corner as I write this…

They’re toys, of course, but the play the second graders have chosen is a remake of some part of WW2. I noticed a dvd of the battle for Iwo Jima, and I thank my stars I’m not American. Explaining all that would have been… interesting. The first graders have a sack full of toy Katanas, and the one student even brought his own dulled practice sword which he seems quite confident with. Bear in mind that this lad is twelve years old. For a country whose formal military exists only as a domestic ‘self-defence’ force, the world’s most passive nation has a truly interesting take on theatre.

In all it should make for a grand festival. Stay tuned for pictures.

In other news, no more snow has fallen, but the temperature still remained at a firm level of bloody cold, so I can hope that the countryside will soon be all fluffy white!

Also, there is now a brand new South African consulate in Sapporo. Should SA finally stop the act and announce their true aggression towards Japan, I should be able to be evacuated most quickly. Also, it’s great for lost passports and things to boot, but I think the former is far more likely!

The first graders just came into the office and requisitioned the armoury of Katanas, giant grins all around. Only in Japan methinks!