Intereting coinkie-dinkies

This week has been full of interesting things. The more I live here, I feel the energy of the life of Asia, and have come to understand why the concept of yin yang is so powerful. Here, things do melt into each other, retaining a piece of themselves only to become manisfest as the other, and going back again.
I was supposed to have a friend over for dinner,and was cleaning up my messy apartment. I have been buying the Daily Yomiuri lately, because it keeps me in touch with the world, has a lot of US news from different papers, and it also has a great Japanese language section every few days. Also, there are a lot of good articles I can send different people, so it acts as a way to connect with all of you guys. I have been buying the paper at the local convenience store, but since it is cheaper by far to subscribe, I have been thinking about doing that. I put it off a lot, and hadn't rembered to do it as of yet.
Well, as I was sorting through the paper, and going through about two weeks of stuff, a man rang my door bell. He wanted to sign me up for a subscription to the Yomiuri.

I signed up immediately.

Last night, my friend bailed out on me. I settled in to watch 24, which I have, as of recently, only seen in Japanese. I started watching the first few episodes of season five, and am now conflicted: do I stop here, and start watching season 4, because I can watch backstory, or do I forge ahead and go through 5, and then start at the beginning and work my way through. Well, while I was able to spend some quiet time at home, I got another calling: some very nice, very cute Jehovah's witnesses. They wanted to convert me, and have me go to their meetings. I told them I am pretty Catholic, and go to church regularly (which I have been doing throuhout the Lenten season, and am continuing to do so.) They were pretty pushy, and I had to be as polite as possible to be as rude as possible, something you only learn by dealing with the Japanese. I went to bed even more firm to continue my faith, so in a way, they did their job,ust not for their own church.

I am now a firm believer, mostly in coincidence.

Hey Osaka Jo, Whadday Know?

For this years Hanami, my friends Hugh, Jack and I went to Osaka Castle, or, Osaka-Jo as it known around these parts.

It was a rainy day, cold and windy to boot. I was not happy, to say the least. I wanted to join in at least one hanami somehow, and this seemed like the perfect day to do it, the days before. Throughout the whole week, news sources consistently forecast good weather. Ha.

The first meteorologist who utters, "My bad!" should be cast into the fire, as an example to the others.

Well, as we approached the castle, the rain abated, and the sun started to come out. Japan is a place where there can be blue sky and sun, and yet the rain still falls, and this day was no execption.



The rain stopped enough that we could all sit, and sip our chu-hi or sake, and compose our haiku:

Hugh:
The rain falls heavily
The blossoms rise elegant
All things in their time.


Jack:
As people come by
In awe of cherry blossoms
We all shriek, "Kampai"!


me:
The uguisu
Shakes the blossoms to the ground
Like the rain before.