Xmas Eve in Japan

As one could probably imagine, Christmas in Japan is not an event which is followed by in the traditional western Xmas sense. Here in Japan, Xmas is viewed more like a reason to date a girl than to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. (or as Kevin Smith would put it, Buddy Christ) Here are some of the common things that people in Japan think and do during Christmas.

- eat Christmas cake, which is in fact a strawberry & vanilla sponge cake. Why strawberry? I don’t know, but the shops are full of them just before Xmas. Ask them about Xmas pudding, and they have no idea what you’re talking about. Bring some over to Japan, and offer it to them… then see them squirm around in their seat while they struggle to get a single mouthful down their throat. Something about being too spicy, not liking cinnamon and currants.

- What? JC was born on Xmas day? I thought that Xmas was a time when kids got presents from Santa and their parents? What do you mean about kids actually give presents to their parents and to other siblings? That’s weird.

- Huh? spend time with the family? Isn’t Christmas about going out on dates with your girl/boy friend and spending the night at a classy hotel or love hotel?

- Oh? They’re actually edible? I though candy canes were just tree decorations. Oh that’s interesting since it has the word “candy” in it. (and yes, in Japan they say キャンディー Kandi as well)

On the 21st of December (Thurs), as always I held evening "Language Salon" gathering. But this time around, we had a nice potluck to celebrate the holidays. Last year, I did a wee cooking class, but this time around I couldn't be bothered with it all. We had a good number of people turn out, all of the local and neighbouring ALTs (whom were still around) and regular LS members. A good 30+ people turned out to share some Xmas diner delight, and as a closure, similar to last year, I pulled out my violin (minus ex-ALT Nathan) and we sang some Xmas tunes with me accompanying. To be honest, since there was no snow this year in Sanjo, compared to last years hell of dump, I'm not really in the Xmas spirit.

In anycase, I worked Xmas day. It was just like any other work day. But, thanks to a number of foreigners in my area whom failed to get out of here, on Xmas Eve we enjoyed an early diner at a local smoky 焼き肉　(yakiniku) parlour. Yakiniku is a cuisine where you simply order crap loads of meat and BBQ’em on a communal hotplate and stuff yourself silly. Vegetables can be order too if you like. If you like your BBQ’d meat, I really recommend heading over to Korea for the real thing. After a smoking ourselves in various parts of cattle meat and juices, we cleared our eyes from further tears by hitting the local karaoke joint. Nothing quite special for a Xmas Eve, but since Xmas day being a Monday was a normal work day. Hence the whole night ended before 10pm. Eventhough it was an early night, we still had our fun.

Karaoke fun after a belly full of dead fleshmore pics of the Language Salon Xmas potluck (making sausage-yaki)
waiting for more tucka!

Planing weekend

A while back, I had the opportunity to work as an interpreter for the biannual (not biennial) 削ろう会(Kezuro-kai) . Now, when you hear planing, I’m sure that you’re first thinking that I said “planning” or something to do with “planes”. The “plane” I mean is the woodworkers tool which has a blade set in a flat surface, and is used to make the surface of an area smooth by shaving very thin layers of wood off it.

Hmm, doesn’t sound exciting does it? But you’d be surprised if you came to this event. I must admit that in the beginning I didn’t know what to expect, and one I was there, I could clearly say that this has been probably the most culturally and historically (in a being in Japan sense) interesting thing I’ve done since I’ve been here in Japan. A competition between carpenters and woodworkers, to see how refined they are with their planes. The main competition is to see how thin and long of a wood shaving you could create. I can’t remember the exact length of the wood, but each wood shaving is on average over 1.5 meters, possibly even 2 meters. And the top level planners can get their wood shaving as thin as 4/1000mm. That’s frick’n thin. So thin that you can pretty much see through’em and the whole thing feels like silk. And if you pull it parallel to the grain, it’s still pretty tough.

It was pretty amazing to see the carpenters at work. I must admit that pretty much everybody was a bloke. There was a small American contingent of students from Palomar College in California whom are studying Japanese carpentry and have come to this event to take part and also observe the architecture along with the actual construction of Japanese carpentry tools. The precision required to create such a thin layer of wood shavings is an art form in itself. The need to maintain a sharp blade, the need to keep it smooth, flat and straight. The physical need be able to pull and give enough pressure to maintain a consistent wood shaving. The various kinds of planes, and techniques used to create traditional Japanese wood work.

What I found to be the most interesting part of it all is that the whole difference in the “push and pull” aspect of carpentry. I know now that you’re probably scratching your head now, trying to figure out what the frick’n hell I’m talking about. Well, here’s the thing. With a traditional European wood plane, you have a handle to hold, and a ball at the front and you push against the wood to plane it. Whereas here in Japan, you simply have a wood block, and you pull to plane. Same thing with a saw. With a western saw, you cut the wood when you push down on it, but in Japan you actually cut through the wood when you pull up. There you go, another difference in culture can even be displayed with carpentry tools. Do you push? or do you pull?

Frick'n thin layers of wood shavings

Japanese wood saw being sharpened
making sure that the plane flat. Yup, you even shave the actual plane once in a while to keep it flat and smooth. The important piece is the blade. You can always make a new block.
Old method: Used after an adze for more details

Difference kind of woodshavings created by the spear plane. 槍鉋(yari-kanna)Making a flower out of the wood shavings
Using an adze to shape lumber
The blade is an important aspect of a carpenter
You can only shapen a blade up to how good your natural whetstone isMost planes are smal, but there are pretty funky big ones as well
I also had the opportunity to make my own traditional Japanese nail 和釘(wakugi)
Decorations created by an adze