Porn
29 March 2002, 21:06
One thing that is difficult to get used to in this country is the prevalence of porn. We have, for example, a porn vending machine at the end or street which sells magazines, DVDs, sex toys and other fetishistic items.
We also receive, nearly every day, leaflets in our mailbox advertising porn services which are not remotely ambiguous. A particular favourite is the “happy little prostitute” who is shown in one photo, butt naked, jumping up and down on a bed, in another, butt naked, showing her pretty wares, and in a third, butt naked, sucking on what looks to be honey, but who really knows?
The third porn phenomena is the racks of manga porn lined up in convenience stores usually obscured my salary men clamouring for a read. They are shameless in their open appreciation for somewhat sick and degraded comics (which, somehow make it OK) or “half and half” comics which are half drawn and half photos. Now, I’m not above a good bit of porn every now and then, and mostly I find it more amusing than wrong, but it is this uncompromising acceptance of sexual violence that makes me uncomfortable.
Permanent Link | Cherry Blossoms
24 March 2002, 21:05
Today we went cherry blossom viewing (Hanami) in Iidabashi. Hanami is the spring cherry blossoms festival, an ostensibly civilized excuse to get rip roaring drunk on sake under the cherry trees.
We took our obentos (boxed lunches) to the stretch of blossoms along the river and ate in peace and quiet with hundreds of other merry revelers.
Hanami can be a bit unpredictable; the blooms only last a week or so, and this year they came a few weeks early which put Japan- an otherwise perfectly-timed machine - into an uncontrollable spin of confusion. Furthermore, Hanami has been tainted by rain and wind which blew most of the flowers off within a day or two.
Cherry blossoms aside, the atmosphere of a Hanami festival is something else. Vendors (Yakuza-run?) had set up open food stalls called ‘yatai’ which sold all kinds of goodies - mini okonomiyakis, barbequed fish on skewers, yaki-tori, oden (filled dumplings cooked in water) and of course, enough beer and sake to water a small country. The colourful facades of the yatai, the jaunty pink, red and white paper lanterns strung up everywhere and the blossoms which created a pink and white ceiling over the eating area, made for a stunning vista.
