How noir is it to open a newspaper and see your own face? Answer: Pretty noir. Please imagine the camera crawling towards a desk as the detective flips open his news paper and takes a swig from his bottle. The voiceover says, “I didn’t expect to find trouble in the variety section, but there she was. My crossword would have to wait for this dame…” and so on.

On Sunday, I went with a friend to a tea ceremony at the local castle museum. We had free tickets from one of my teachers, and were the only foriegners there. Somehow, we were last into the room so we sat at the front… which is where the guest of honor sits (a sensei usually sits right by the preparation lady and does all the official tea business, accepts the first cup, leads the bowing, etc. We were RIGHT NEXT TO that person). My friend, Ada, speaks Japanese, and tells me that they announced “We have two foreign guests today”. Aieee, I was so worried about forgetting part of the tea ritual. We were already behind: apparently you bring a fan and paper for the sweets and we had neither. There is also a big to-do about bowing and asking your neighbors permission before drinking and admiring the tea-cup and so on…

Happily, the lady next to me sort of demonstrated things in an obvious manner, and I just followed her lead.

Please also note that we were sitting seiza style… which means your legs are tucked under your body. After 30 minutes of this, you have moved from agonizing pain into immobile numbness. After the ceremony, you are supposed to move about the room and admire the calligraphy, the tea equipment, and the shrine & flowers. Ada and I were sitting in front of the shrine & flowers, and all these ladies were trying to get us to move out of the way, but we literally couldn’t.

After maybe 5 minutes of grimacing, we were able to stand up and hobble off. Then a newspaper guy ran after us and interviewed us, and the newspaper hit my desk today! Excitement.

Also on the weekend, I went swimming off the coast of Anan city, rode the train for the first time, went to Japan’s version of IKEA and mooned over the bed sets, was stung by a jellyfish, bought overalls, and was sick as a dog. I also began to play the ukulele with some semblance of musical ability (as I was bedridden all day yesterday and had nothing else to do).

pip pip, and love, and more later
Emily