Growing up in the United States, I am totally confused by most of the metric system measurements used in Japan. I understand 5Km, 10Km, and 42Km because they are running distances. Most everything else, especially temperature, I have no idea. See this little clip below and how easy it can be to convert temperature from Centigrade to Fahrenheit! Sugoi!
If you're like me, you still can't help wanting those temps in Fahrenheit. But if mentally trying F = 9/5C + 32 doesn’t work for you, here’s a tip on quickly making the conversion in your head when in Africa (or most places in the world).
Some years ago I was visiting a colleague in Canada, who saw me staring at a temperature sign given in Centigrade. He must have figured I was trying to use the standard formula (F = 9/5C + 32) to work out the Fahrenheit value, so he gave me this tip: double the Centigrade temp, subtract the first digit of the result from the result and add 32. It works pretty well; you’re usually right on but you’ll never be more than 1 degree Fahrenheit off.
For example, 23 C equals 74 F.
23 C x 2 = 46;
46 – 4 = 42;
42 + 32 = 74 F
(I don't know where this came from or who to credit it to, but it works)
I tried to get this finished but I still have two little dragonflies to stitch. I haven't decided what this will be made into, but I'm thinking about it.
In Japan, a couple who marries must (by law) both take the same last name, and usually it is the husband's name.
A female teacher who was married three years ago and had been working for Nihon University Daisangakuen since 2003, sued the school for the right to use her maiden name while working. Before marriage she had lectured and published reference books and academic research under her maiden name. When she married, she took her husband's name in the family registration system in compliance with the law, but asked the school to allow her to use her maiden name in the workplace. The school refused her request. Last week, the Tokyo District Court dismissed her case, ruling that it was not a violation of her rights for the school to insist that she use her married name.
What are the laws in your country? Is it common to change surnames, even if it is not required? If you are married, what did you and your spouse do about names?
I'm taking a little break from the difficult to baste Japanese fabrics. This week I have basted 28 cotton fabric hexagons for a new idea I have.
The company where I work hosts an annual Autumn Festival for its employees. I was happy to attend this year, even though I didn't know a lot about what was going on.
There was a ton of free food and large cups of draft beer for only 100 yen. Unfortunately, I'm still eating the after surgery soft diet, so all I could eat and drink were little egg sandwiches and bottle tea.
At the beginning, there was a Japanese Drum performance. The movements of the drummers are as much dance as drumming.
Each department had team members who participated in games. I thought the first one was going to be like Name That Tune but I was wrong. The game was three loud songs played at the same time and the teams had to write down the names of the songs. The audience was trying to guess along with the contestants. I had no idea!
The next game was two part. The contestants had to walk across the stage with a ping pong ball on a spoon and put it in a cup to pick up a paper. They then went back to the start in the order of putting the ball in the cup and read the paper in a microphone, then had to run out into the audience and find someone. I'm not sure about all of the papers, but they said things like -- find someone with 30,000 yen in his wallet or find someone wearing a certain thing. The contestant and the person ran back to the stage.
The third game was called something like Four people, Six legs. I'm not sure about that one. Several of my students were contestants in this one. As this game was later in the evening, I'm guessing these contestants had already had a few of these cheap beers. These groups were tied together and had to go under a bar, then walk over a rough section without shoes. Getting under the bar without knocking it off was really difficult.
I think everyone had a good time at the Autumn Festival.
I know -- I should work on something already in progress, but I couldn't resist starting a new project. I need some new ornaments this year. This is a free chart that I have had for quite a while.
I like most animals (not mice or rats, of course) and would love to have a pet of my own. I especially like cats and miss Monica, the best cat ever, who died two years before I moved to Japan. Unfortunately the apartments I have lived in here have not allowed pets. On top of that, pets are very expensive here and I probably couldn't afford to keep one anyway. I talk to the cute cats who live next door to me, but I think they must not understand my Japanese.
Some of my students have pets and I enjoy hearing about them. It was several weeks into classes before I figured out that when one student talked about doing things with his "family" he was talking about his wife and two dogs, not two children. It's funny how our pets become family. One student and his wife have a girl dog named Milk. Milk wears a dress and goes to the dog cafe, where her people eat lunch and she gets to see her dog friends. She eats breakfast and dinner, but not lunch, and she doesn't like fireworks. Another student took his dog to the dog pool. (I didn't even know there were pools just for dogs!) His dog was afraid of the water, and maybe the other dogs, so they didn't go again. One student has a pet turtle and has shown me video of the turtle on his phone. Before seeing the video, I didn't think turtles could be so cute. This turtle is about 20 years old and is big. She weighs about 3 kilograms. In the warm weather she lives in a pool with a sunning deck in the yard. When the weather turns cool, she lives in a smaller pool in the house with a heater. She doesn't make any sound, but she does come to the side of the pool when her person comes to the pool. If I could have a pet, I think I would have a cat rather than a dog or a turtle.
Monica, around 2008
Sheryl, from Sewing After Seven in Spain, sent me this great package of fabrics! I am so excited! I'm sure some of these will find their way into hexagon projects and others look like they will be perfect for applique. I really appreciate this gift. Thank you!
If you aren't already a fan of Sheryl and her beautiful needlework, you need to check out her blog!
Yesterday was a national holiday in Japan -- Sports Day, so I had a three day weekend. I started this little cross stitch ornament on Saturday and finished it last night. I used two strands of DMC floss for the cross stitches and the same floss for the twisted cord. The back is kimono silk.
I only completed five more this week, but I do have more ready to baste. Maybe I'll be able to do more in the next week.
Have you heard of Larry Walters? In one of the textbooks I use, the lesson on irregular past tense verbs had a story about a 33 year old truck driver in California who attached 45 helium filled weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair and attempted to fly across the dessert to the mountains. He took along some water, a CB radio, an altimeter, a camera, and a pellet gun. He had the chair tied down to the bumper of a car. When his friend cut one of the ropes, the other snapped and Larry shot up into the sky, losing his glasses.
The textbook said he went up at the rate of 300 meters a second until he was about 5 km above the ground. My student and I wondered if that was a misprint because that is really fast. He drifted into the airspace of the Long Beach Airport instead of going across the desert. He was very cold and dizzy, so he used the pellet gun to shoot some of the balloons causing him to float down to the ground. He was immediately arrested and became famous for his adventure. The FAA wanted to take away his pilot's license, but they couldn't because he didn't have one!
My student didn't think the story was true, so we looked it up on the internet. Wikipedia confirmed the story and gave us more details. My student thought it was just crazy and couldn't understand why anyone would try such a thing.
While I, too, think it was crazy, I can kind of understand why someone would do such a thing. I wouldn't try it at this stage in my life, but when I was younger... I don't know, maybe I would have. I can certainly understand wanting to try something adventurous. When I was younger I probably thought I would live forever and wouldn't have comprehended the danger.
How about you? Did you ever do or think of doing something crazy and adventurous without thinking about the consequences?
In 2009, UNESCO intangible cultural heritage objects added Ojiya Chiijimi fabric, which was the first time Japanese textiles had been given this status. This fabric technique had been classified as an intangible cultural heritage object by Japan since 1955.
The production of this fabric must meet specific conditions, including hand picking the ramie plant stalks, picking the fibers apart with fingernails, fastening the threads together, and hand weaving the fabric on back-tension looms. After the fabric is taken off the looms, it is washed in hot water and massaged with the feet. Finally, the fabric is laid out on the snow for ten to twenty days, where the sun and snow bleach it.
All of this takes place in the Ojiya region of Niigata Prefecture, known for its heavy snowfall and wide open spaces. This tradition of fabric making goes back to the 17th century and is used today to make summer kimonos.
Many of my students are avid golfers. Sometimes there are golf outings on the weekends with co-workers and I hear about their golf events in English class. I've never played golf but I have seen it on television.
A hole-in-one is pretty rare in a golf game and elsewhere the golfer who makes a hole-in-one might win a prize for it or at least get some free drinks after the game. Sounds kind of crazy, but in Japan, the golfer who makes a hole in one is obligated to have a big party and give away prizes or gifts! For that reason, golfers buy hole-in-one insurance.
One of my students had this insurance policy when he made a hole-in-one and was glad that he did. He said the insurance is not that expensive because it is unlikely that the insurance company will have to pay out, but very handy to have in case the golfer does make a hole-in-one.
I pulled out a printed sashiko panel and started working on it after finishing the mitten ornament. The running stitch is somehow relaxing and I can do it while listening to an audiobook without making mistakes. I want to do some more serious stitching, but for now, this is what I can work on.
I have long been fascinated by the Hina Ornaments made by Queenie Patch and shown on her blog Queenie's Needlework. In the hospital dayroom were two wall hangings, so I took a few photos. I'm especially fond of the hexagon turtle. I like the idea of starting a mobile and making a few ornaments every year. I know, I should get started soon. March will be here before I know it!
The Japanese fabric is more difficult to baste, so it takes longer. This week - 21 new for a total of 135.
Unlike in the US, I rarely hear or read about murder in Japan. Recently stories about the murders of two 88 year old men in an eight bed room on the fourth floor of Oguchi Hospital in Yokohama has caught and kept my attention, probably because of my recent hospital stay (with an IV drip for three days) and because of the few murder stories here.
Two elderly men were murdered by disinfectant that was injected into their IV drip bags. In addition to the bags that killed these two men, ten other unused bags that had been tampered with were also found. Who would do such a thing and why?
I read one story that attributed the deaths to being on the fourth floor, because four is a bad luck number in Japan. I don't think of myself as superstitious, maybe it was good luck that the other ten bags were discovered before more people were murdered. An investigation is being conducted into these two murders and the deaths of 46 other patients who have died on this floor since July. How sad for this to happen anywhere, but especially here in Japan.
My Japanese "O" word is Okii, meaning large. Here are a few of my large pieces.
Linking up with Chiara at the Grey Tail. Check out the posts of other Alphabet Club members!
