Facing Lucky 2012

Tags

ehoumaki, lucky direction roll, risshun, setsubun

It shall soon be February, which means it’s time for school marathons, JLPT results, and throwing beans at people.

Setsubun is in the air!

I introduced setsubun and ehoumaki in this post last year, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about, please look there. But, in short, part of the tradition for welcoming spring involves eating an uncut sushi roll, the “ehoumaki” or “lucky direction roll,” while facing the year’s lucky direction. As the recorded message over the loudspeakers at Daiei told me, this year you’ll need to face 北北西, or north-northwest, while eating your ehoumaki to ensure good fortune.

Interestingly, as I looked up this issue in Japanese to verify that the lucky direction was north-northwest, I came across this Yahoo Answers page where someone asked what direction to face while eating the ehoumaki. One response goes into great detail explaining how the year’s direction is determined according to the 10 signs of the calendar. But at the bottom, a commenter responded, “That’s all well and good, but is there such a custom in your region? If not, then it would be good to eat it facing whatever direction you like.” Is it just me, or is that a saucy answer? >o<; Like some of the people I spoke to last year, this person must feel that the ehoumaki is encroaching on strictly bean-throwing territory.

Well, tomorrow I’ll be making my weekly stop at Daiei, so I’ll probably go looking for an interesting ehoumaki to eat this year.

Long Legs

Tags

anime, fashion illustration, illustration, legs, manga

I stand at just 5’6″ (167 cm) so I never thought of myself as having long legs. But it’s something I get told here in Japan, not for being tall, but because my legs are long relative to my torso. Many Japanese have a longer torso relative to their legs. Now, when I first started paying attention to this ratio after being told that I had long legs, I thought, how funny, considering one of the few things that nearly all anime have in common is that the characters have ludicrously lengthy limbs on par with the 9.5 heads high human figures of fashion illustration. Of course, anime and manga are not real life, so I can put it down fantasy. But I was a bit surprised by the nearly universal reaction to this illustration:

I drew this for a lesson on shopping. I didn't have enough time to fix the skewed perspective caused by drawing on a flat surface.

「足長っ！」

“What long legs!”

I thought, “Is it really that different from what you see in anime? Isn’t that normal for this type of drawing?” @_@ Out loud, however, I just laughed and said, “It’s a habit I developed because I first learned how to draw humans from a fashion illustration book.” (Which is true, BTW.)

After the fashion illustration book, the biggest influence on my drawing style was Sailor Moon. There go them long legs again!

After Sailor Moon, Ayami Kojima's illustrations in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night made me consider seriously studying art.

Our half-vampire half-human friend there stands about 8.25 heads high in this illustration (counting to his heel, not the heel of his boots–which I’ve always wanted a pair of! >o<;), still with longer legs relative to his torso than the average person has in real life, Western or otherwise.

Well, I will say that, especially on the girl in my illustration, the legs are not so much “too long” as they are “too big.” Drawing the lower half of the body too large is a tendency I have that is exacerbated by lack of a proper slanted drawing surface, and lack of time to fix the mistake when I see it.

Culture as Excuse

And with that festive title,

HAPPY NEW YEAR! *Confetti* あけましておめでとうございま〜す！

Well, I got back to Japan on the night of Sunday the 7th. My vacation felt way too short. There were so many things I wanted to pick up or photograph to use in future classes, and I just didn’t get around to it. Didn’t get my hair cut either. But, I did get to see friends and family, eat pizza, tacos, and pastel de tres leches. And choco-flan. And–

lemme stop.

^o^; It was bad enough I was smelling people’s bentou as tacos al pastor. I need to get my mind back on my favorite Japanese food.

Tonkotsu ramen. Yudofu. Beni-imo flavored anything. Matcha Milk. Matcha Ice Cream.  Matcha Cheesecake Set.

From Kyo Hayashiya in JR Hakata City.

*Slaps self back to reality*

So, what am I thinking about in the New Year other than green tea?

Actually, this has been on my mind for a while. What made me ponder it again was something that happened with some friends who were visiting me at home. We had ordered pizza so I had gone to the kitchen to make sure we had enough plates and such. Meanwhile, my brother and 4 friends had started playing Tekken Tag Tournament. When I got back, I sat down. The loser of each round would pass the controller. It seemed like they had decided a play order, so I figured I’d just sit back and join in at the end of the rotation. But no one passed the controller to me, and since I knew I wouldn’t be able to do much anyway, I just sat back and watched and talked. Eventually, someone realized I wasn’t playing and asked me if I wanted to. I said that I could, and when someone asked me, “Why didn’t you say anything?” I said, “No one passed me the controller.” The response to that?

“You’re so Asian!!!”

@_@

Okay, so the whole “Asians are submissive” stereotype is at play here, even though I think it’s odd for someone to think that Asians would be like that among friends in an environment as familiar as someone’s house. What struck me on a personal level was how a behavior I’ve ALWAYS had — staying in the background in social situations — was suddenly perceived as the result of my living in Japan. I can’t even say I’m a wallflower, cuz I wouldn’t even go to the dance! But no one said I was Asian in high school.

This reminded me of how I was never, ever, eeeeeever told that I spoke English with an accent until I went to college, where for the first time the majority of my classmates were white, and only after they found out I hadn’t been born in the States.

I think people accept things as simple personality quirks until they think they have something to blame it on.

From the standpoint of the individual whose traits are in question, I do think culture can be and is often used as a shield for fear, or as a Get Out of Jail Free card. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I seriously hope that my students aren’t really suffering from a crippling shyness that prevents them from speaking out in class (as teachers would have me believe) and that they’re just using the national excuse not to speak.

Another example: I hate going to parties, but I don’t mind hosting them. Given my background in AmeriCorps, I could tell you that it’s because I love my fellow man so much, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to serve. 思いやりの心 and all that. But it’d be a big fat lie. The simple fact is, once a social gathering becomes something more than 2 people talking, I feel immense pressure to have to be entertaining. To exude charisma, animal magnetism, which I have none of. But if I’m the hostess, I can let the guests entertain themselves, while I hustle about getting food and drink, making sure everyone is comfortable, without actually having to hold a conversation, without having to be ignored or interrupted mid-sentence (something I hate, hate, hate, hate, haaaaaaate). In short, it’s easier to fulfill the role of Caring Hostess than of Personable Human Being. Well, if only I were judged as a Human Being, which would mean as a Man, it would be easier. But that’s a rant for another day.

Hm, before my train of thought becomes even more difficult to follow, I’ma just stop. >o<; I’ll try to be more Happy Fun Times in the next post. Maybe. Ahahaha…

For kicks, here’s a photo I took early Christmas Eve morning. (And now I’ve got Cyndi Lauper in my head.)

Forgot to resize the photo before uploading. Ahhhh...don't feel like it now. >o<;

☆