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Thursday, February 27, 2003
Everything looks a wee bit shiny!
An early start, dreaming of the tokyo in ghostwritten, then waking up and remebering I'm here.
Over to the venue in Roppongi, managed to get lost - Roppongi is a maze and a notorious gai-jin late night drinking area and has more than its fair share of massage parlours and hostess bars. It's loud and lary and there are screens blaring from every corner. The exhibition venue, an old junior school is a haven of peace, just seconds from the subway, with the original playground overlooked on all sides by apatos and offices.
I arrived to find Yuko-san and the team insatlling the photography exhibition. The space has been converted by creating walls and screens out of thick cardboard, it looks really good. You can see the corrogations and they look lovely really finished, smart.
They've built a wall for me and my space looks like a giant slice of a dolls house, japanese room on one side, uk on the other. The english room has pink carpet, table, lacy tablecloth, ballerina, lamp, cushion, roses wall paper and a painting. Yuko-san brought in a flower pic but it looked too japanese so we are opting for the Haywain or something like that.
The Japanese room has tatami rug, tapestry, lamp, antique table, floor cushion and dolls case. I was really pleased when I saw it all looking like the drawing I had made.
Then it was back and day 2 of editing and translation, after 10 hours 4 more films were complete and translated. Naoko-san was the translator this time and did a sterling job. Tomorrow I have Hiroko-san (3 in 3 days!) and it's the final furlong.
If anyone would like to come to the exhibition or artists talk (in tokyo), please email me for more details.
ashta x
posted by Jeanie Thursday, February 27, 2003
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
The tantrum trousers are well and truly on!!!
Ah, poor blog. I've been a bit neglectful of late but there just hasn't been the time.
So as well as becoming a pensioner during my stay, I've also become nocturnal. Am now down to around 4-5 hours sleep a night, which for me is unheard of. I like to sleep so much that it's usual for me to have dreams telling me I have the day off work and, sure I can sleep for an extra few hours. But I'm not feeling too bad on it and am making real progress with the work which is satisfying, things just look a wee bit shiny!.
I realised last night when I was being interviewed the enormity of the task I have set myself. The journalist asked to see Aiko-san's interview, when I said they weren't complete yet she said (not very tactfully I thought) oh no, will you get everything done in time, what about the exhibition, it opens on Saturday. Am quite clear about that already but just smiled and explained that in England when I made Home-Maker I developed a relationship with the 4 people and made the piece over about 6 months and that I had only been in Japan for 3 weeks so neede to work right up until the end.
It then struck me what I was trying to do and I'm not sure really why I thought that interviewing and editing in another language would somehow be really simple and could be done in a much shorter time. But it is somehow coming together and I just have to trust that everything will be there on Saturday. I'm enjoying the ride, this has been an amazing experience and I've met some really lovely people and have fallen in love with Tokyo all over again.
Mikari-san came all day today and we edited and subtitled mangi-san into english. It's really funny, here as well as the Uk the women I've interviewed are pretty concise and straightforward, the men on the other hand are very long winded and go right round the houses to say something quite simple. I've also found that the men are really quite sentimental and romantic but try hard to hide it with bravado and machismo.
The longer I spend here the stranger I feel. I keep forgetting I'm in another country as technology wise I'm only a click away and have been talking to Sheil fairly reguarly but then something reminds me where I am. Earlier this evening I discovered my toilet is actually electric and the seat heats up. My english is getting all fucked up. In Japanese the verb always comes at the end of the sentence and I've realised that I've started doing that when I'm speaking english to simplify it for whoever I'm talking to.
I've started reading Ghost written by David Mitchell which is a series of intertwining stories set in Tokyo and Okinawa. Loads of it is near here and it's really strange to read about places you've been that day. I didn't realise but the population of Tokyo is 20 million. Oh my god!
Got to go, early start tomorrow, I'm going to see the exhibition space and the home-maker room installation in roppongi
ashta x
posted by Jeanie Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Monday, February 24, 2003
Elderly Neon and heated carpet
Oh my god. A week to go before the exhibition and the tantrum trousers are well and truly on!!!
There is loads to do for the exhibition and not enough hours in the day. I have been going to bed at 4 each night which i thought was late enough, leaving the office at 11/12midnight. Last night Yuko-san slept for 3 hours in the office and nao-chan didn't sleep at all. I told them off, it's pointless doing that you can't possibly work on no sleep indefinetly, Yuko-san keeps telling me they will sleep after March 1st. Mad, Mad. Mad, I'm refusing to join in and am overdosing on vitamins, aloe vera and yoga as a healthy protest.
There is an atmosphere of bemused insanity at Muse at the moment, it's a lot of work but pretty good fun and I can only liken it to the insanity of the live TV Swansong broadcast. Everyone has the far away look of beyond tired.
Editing alongside my trusty companion
One of the girls had a hissy fit yesterday and from now on will be known as tantrum trousers, She has been given the job of making projectors for the exhibition in Final cut pro which I have been supervising. She keeps changing the planned edit and doing flashy (japanese style tv edits) which are completely inappropriate for a contemplative installation piece of old photographs. Consequently she has had to restart 8 times now and there have been a lot of tears. After about the 3rd time my sympathy disappeared and I had to restrain myself from throwing my own gai-jin hissy fit. I have too much to do myslef without the added bonus of a frustrated steven speilberg. grrrr.
Ame ga fute imasu, it's really raining
Must stop saying oh my god at Muse because it now sounds like my catch phrase and some of the girls have started saying it, have been careful to not swear extensively while editing as I usually do and that might catch on as well.
The panos are coming together and look pretty different to the uk ones. The main difference is the amaount of stuff in the rooms. There's generally less room here so all avaliable space is used, and I think it shows in the photographs. Content wise there are key differnces like all the japanese images contain ancestors boxes which are buddist shrines to deceased relatives, Although none of the uk images contain religious iconography each uk picture has an abundance of family photographs. I guess the mantlepiece is the uk equivilant of an ancestors box.
Have been told that my japanese is kawai (cute) 3 times today. I guess this means, you're a bit crap but don't stop trying!
Was chatted up by a very cheeky taxi driver who when i told him i had an english boyfriend suggested I needed a japanese one as well. He obviously had his eyes closed as I have bags the size of bin bags under my eyes.
Had another interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun tonight, for 2 hours (the record so far) they are usually around 1.5 hours. In england it's usually 5 mins over the phone. They are going to run a piece about home-maker and interview aiko-san (96) about being photographed. Aiko-san moved into an old peoples home 2 days after I took the pictures so I'm really glad I had the opportunity to photograph her room. I going to get the print framed for her as a presento. She has lent me her doll collection for the installation, to go into the japanese room, complete with glass doll box.
Had my own Madonna tantrum moment when I asked the photographer to not take my picture from the floor looking up, have learned from bad experiences with a certain nottingham newspaper that if this happens you end up looking like mrs Chinface, Madonna would have been proud, she has a no photos from the side rule - shows just how old her neck looks!
Japanese wrestling
Keep the music suggestions coming, much appreciated
my current top 5 ( and will always remind me of this time) is:
Ryan Adams - Sweet Caroline / damn sam i love a woman that rains
serge gainsbourg - bonnie and clyde
dirty timberlake - cry me a river (word from Fann is Timber compared kylie's ass to an onion, so good it makes you want to cry)
jonny cash - i see a darkness / one
calexico
Japanese wrestling
must get back to the edit. - have japanese wrestling pics to post up , the funniest thing I have seen on J TV.
Japanese wrestling
posted by Jeanie Monday, February 24, 2003
Saturday, February 22, 2003
Kanji Notes
Saturday 22 February
Fingers crossed this posting goes up, I've been battling with Aol all day. I've not posted for a few days, as I've been so busy I've not had chance. Thanks for all of the emails; it's really good to hear what's happening in England. Sheil kindly sent me pics of Timber and the Princess of Pert at this weeks Brits.
Timber and her Pertness
It's official, I've caught old. I looked at myself last night - sat on my heated carpet (the greatest invention in the world) with a towel wrapped round my head after a hot bath listening to Jonny Cash, in cosy socks, surrounded by computer equipment, happy as I'm so warm and I realised that 5 years of making work about elderly people has turned me prematurely old - 70 at 30. Mmmmmmm heated carpet.
Elderly neon - Gotanda
Does anyone have any recommendations for new music to listen to, I've exhausted my I tunes collection and need something new to listen to, Tower records is beckoning... Have you heard McCarther park by Jimmy Webb, what's going on? '...Someone left the cake out in the rain, and I know that I should save it, because it took so long to bake it and I'll never have that recipe again'
I've just finished reading Them by Jon Ronson about the secret Rulers of the world. It's really funny and disturbing all at the same time.
Meguro Cafe
The work rate has accelerated this week with the exhibition looming. On Thursday Yuko-san, Nao-chan and myself were planning at Muse till 3am, and the last 2 nights I've worked till 4am. It feels like being a student again, and is something I vowed I'd never do again so am trying to start and finish early. Trouble is everything starts and finishes late here.
I had another interview with a newspaper - this time the Mainichi times, I'm looking forward to seeing the press which should come out next week.
I�ve written a lot in this blog about the cultural differences between Japan and the UK as they have shaped my whole experience of working here. The differences are the exciting and enjoyable things about visiting another country but can also be infuriating! This week I've been trying to get things done quickly but it seems impossible to do. Everything seems to run at a slower, maybe more considered pace. For example I went to buy a lamp for Home-Maker and the transaction took 25 minutes as the salesman packed it great care and consideration. Lovely but I just wanted him to sling it into a carrier so I could catch my train. Maybe I'm just an impatient gai-jin.
JR Railway - snow bear
There's so many codes of behavior that I sometimes feel like rebelling like a petulant teenager and wearing my shoes in the house, blowing my nose, jaywalking when I see my bus coming, not wearing the special toilet slippers when I wee and wearing a low cut top, but I like and respect my Japanese friends too much to offend them. I read an article that the UK fans that came over for the world cup were really well behaved here as the Japanese kindness made them not want to offend anyone.
Rabbit drinks vending machine
This week, inspired my Mangi-san I've been collecting photos of Japanese kawai - cuteness. It is everywhere, In a day I probably see 30 different cute characters on TV, buses, usually public service instructions. Japanese animators all seem to be good at showing the kawai bowing.
I made 2 trips to Akihabara this week to speed up my computer and the editing process - I bought 512mb of ram which I had installed which has helped, and I bought the cutest miniature firewire drive. I also had a mini technical breakthrough last night, I successfully installed Japanese keyboard layout which should have been simple but took a visit to a mac chatroom (I am a geek, official) is now working and consequently I have been subtitling the Home-maker UK films into Japanese. Kanji and Katakana subtitles look so beautiful, much more than English and it looks funny Roy being rude about his ex-wife in Japanese.
Soba Party
It's not all been work this week and on Thursday I went to Yamaouchi-San's Soba party (my landlord and his wife). On the second floor they have a soba house and once a month they have a party where (some chefs) make soba noodles, their friends come round and they have a big soba meal. I had to stand up and introduce myself in Japanese which earnt me a round of applause and all the sake I could drink.
Soba Party
It was really nice, there were about 20 people there and I pushed my Japanese to its limits. I've definitely improved, I'm not about to win any language awards but I can converse at the bus stop with ease now!
Yamaouchi-san
Today I got up early to meet Sayaka-San at Muse, she didn't come (slept in) so I took the opportunity to walk around Harajuku before I went back to edit at home.
Konichi-wa Becks
Emily Temple Cute
Harajuku is full of boutiques, film crews and teenagers who dress up to go down and hang out. These girls looked amazing - Goth maids I had to get their picture. On the way I passed a wedding parade enroute to their reception in a Tiffanys style store, the assistants all rang wee bells as the couple walked in.
Wedding
Back home and the junior sumo's were taking on the big boys at Tug of war, the Juniors won. The big sumo players were consoled by performing karaoke duets with j-pop stars. Those guys can really sing.
Junior Sumo
Japan's wanted - Police Station
Taksan shigoto o shimasu, ashta mata x
posted by Jeanie Saturday, February 22, 2003
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
All over the news like a rash
no.77 - day
Another long day (12 hours), but it's all coming together.
Mikari-san and I filmed Emi-san again, this time without any ah ha noises from the wrong side of the camera. It was a better interview this time as she was so much more relaxed.
Here is me and Emi-san, I wanted to show you our difference in height.
On to Muse and an interview with the Asahi Times which is a National newspaper. The journalist seemed interested, I get really side tracked (in meetings) watching people take notes in kanji, it looks really intricate.
Asahi Times - kanji notes
I've been listening to Itunes all day on my headphones, cutting the panoramas together and as a result have Ryan Adams and Timberlake fighting it out in my head to see who takes precedance. Oh dear, I'm clearly going mad.
Everything stopped in the office when Yuko-san got the news through on Aol about Beckham's injured eye caused by alex ferguson's 'accident'. I don't believe a word of it.
takana sushi
Sayaka-chan took me to a new store for lunch which is the best I've been to yet. We watched a man making special sushi - pickles, nori and cucmber wrapped in green cabbage leaf. We really wanted to buy some but didn't have enough money so made do with watching. Yuko-san came back from a meeting 2 hours later and had bought the verysame sushi which we had for tea. It was delicious, the cabbage was much moister than seaweed for the outside. We also has yuki-pudding which is creme caramel and I tried aloe vera drink which is really addictive.
I've been trying all the supplement 'genki' drinks which you can buy from all the convenience stores / vending machines which pick you up a bit if you're flagging. I tried collagen supplement yesterday which is supposed to be good for your skin (no it doesn't puff your lips up!).
no.77 - night
Japanese stuff part 3
Hardly anywhere has central heating, instead there is air conditioning that blows hot, electric porta heaters or (my favourite) electric carpets.
There's very little drama on telly, (maybe more on cable). A really popular format is kind of like extended local news with say a panel of 4 who cut to a story - eg. what girls are buying for valentines day, how to wrap presents or, this morning, the graffiti artist who fires ink from a water pistol as he rides a bike - then close ups of the panel in a little box appear on the screen. I thought when they cut to vt was when the presenters had chance for a break, a fag, a natter etc but here they are all on standby making (I think genuinely) interested faces. This format is applied to almost everything from Iraq, food, shopping. All with big graphics.
Everyone has mobiles but you rarely hear one ring as usually they are on silent.
All convenience stores have death condolense cards, as no-one likes to have them in the house, bad luck.
Banzai means viva/long life /hurrah.
bimbo na means poor.
One of my favourite drinks is called pokari sweat.
There was rationing in tokyo until 1970
posted by Jeanie Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Monday, February 17, 2003
'Dont panic'
Monday 17th february
I have just got in, it's 10pm and I'm knackered. I'm just having my dinner, watching Bush on TV, and the anti war protests from around the world. My Japanese is not good enough for me to know what the Japanese stance is on it all. I can't believe Blair is following this man, I'm scared to know what is to come next.
Walk
After yesterday's winter, spring is back with bright sunshine. I walked half of the way to Muse this morning to make the most of the sun.
There is so much to do for the exhibition - editing, panorama making, subtitling, building the space as well as helping muse coordinate and design their part of the exhibition. All I can just do is imagine it will all be done and ready in time.
Walk
Yuko-san and I visited a computer resource centre today to meet the man who ran the facilities to tell him about Muse Company's work, Home-maker and the possibility of future collaboration.
Back to Muse and more editing and exhibition planning. Tomorrow I will be interviewed by someone from the Asahi Times after I film Emi-san again. Oh my god, it never stops.
Atsakara samadeshita!
What you say after a day at work - It means I'm tired from working hard for the day, or something like that.
ashta mata - see you tomorrow. x
Sunday 16th February
It's raining cats and dogs, and keeps trying to snow. It is so cold here! I ventured out for filming, umbrellas in hand - everyone, and I mean eveyone has an umbrella. I bought mine at the convenience store for the bargain price of 340 Yen - �1.70 The whole umbrella thing has really been thought through; as soon as it starts raining most shops either put out plastic umbrella covers or have umbrella stands, or in galleries, lockable umbrella stands. Only in Japan.
Mangi-san
Today Mikari-san came to translate and we spent 4 hours interviewing Mangi-san. He has a lot of interests and loves to talk so it was quite hard to be brief or concise! He is definetly going to be the hardest to edit. He talked about his love of animals - they never lie, his house, his mug and cap collections and his mother who died when he was 13.
Quiche plate
After filming it was back to Quiche and tart with Mikari-san for a quiche plate.
When I got in I watched the funniest, quite serious programme - top 100 househould tips, It was like Viz top tips brought to life. I'm sure it wasn't supposed to be so funny but I loved it.
So a Japanese bath and an early night with my �1 book from the cheap book shop near the station in Notts.
Japanese bath is extra hot, tall and deep, you shower before you get in the bath and then sit with the water up to your chin. The bath is for relaxation not bathing (which is why you get clean first). In the ryokan last year there was a communal bath which was filled at 5 and the (same) water was kept hot until 11pm. I really liked it but Steven said it was filled with gai-jin pubes and put me off the whole experience.
Saturday 15th February
An early start and off to mangi-san's house tor photograph him for the panorama. His house is really unusual, he built it 10 years ago and is massive for tokyo. Today's sunshine provided good light in the room and I think will look good.
We finished early so I had a half day off. Instead of staying home like someone sensible I decided to go to the ntt icc digital arts gallery. It took me hours, I hadn't figured on shinjuku being just so busy on a saturday.
Shinjuku - Night
TheICCis on a new mini railway line Hatsudai station which is very confusing as it's not on all the tube maps.
Tokyo opera city
I got to the Opera house, which is an amazing new building housing the opera, Tokyo Opera city art gallery (great large scale contemporary art) and the ICC. The ICC is kind of like Fact in the Uk, set up by Nippon Telecommunications 5 years ago to display digital and technology based work based on the theme of communication. Unfortunately my Timeout Tokyo guide had said the gallery shut at 9, it's actually 6 so I wasn't able to get in to see the show.
hand activation - Web of life
What I did see though was a piece in the foyer - Web of Life which was a piece from ZKM, Kahlsrehe in Germany, a hand activated interactive projection pice. I wanted to put the see-through plasma screen in my bag as a wee souvenir.
Web of life
After my failed trip to ICC I had a more succesful trip to department store - called (fantastically) Oh my lord, where I bought a new bag, a girl can never have too many bags or shoes, I have learned! I also found a great comic book which has cartoon versions of 200 films, including one of my favourites beneath the valley of the dolls
Beneath the valley of the dolls
Back home again and Jacko is on tv, again. Japan has bought the Bashir documentary so will be here soon. The Beckham Almond ads started tonight as well, ah Beckham, you just want to put him in your pocket and save him for later.
All over the news like a rash
posted by Jeanie Monday, February 17, 2003
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Bless the patron saint of footbal
Homestay stairs
Up early today to get to Shinjuku before 10. A quick sprint down the five floors of my homestay and a walk to meguro station to catch the JR line - I'm certainly getting fitter.
There are 2 main railway companies - the subway and the JR (Japan railways). You need different tickets for each, can sometimes transfer but not always, so it's a bit confusing at first. There is usually a map in english in the tube, but not always so you have to get used to recognising the kanji for each station. There is always a gai-jin gazing at the map in the station, trying to figure out where they are going.
Shinjuku station is huge and really crowded. In Time Out tokyo the advice for when you hit Tokyo is the 'don't panic'.
Shinjuku rush hour
I arrived at rush hour so it is unbelievably busy. I managed to find the new south exit and waited for Sayaka-chan from Muse. Half an hour later and the multiple exits of Shinjuku had caused confusion, she was waiting at the south exit. Reunited we made our way over to Tokyu Hands which is a 7 floor hardware/household store attached to Takashimae Times Square which is a huge department store on the lines of Selfridges.
Squinting at the new south exit
We'd gone to source exhibition materials and to see about getting vinyl lettering printed. Oh my god, this is where the price difference between england and Japan shows, materials are so expensive - £2.50 a word for lettering. It looks like it's going to be cheaper to source materials from the Uk and ship them over, which seems crazy. 5t's really frustrating not just being able to pick up the phone and order stuff from the supplier I know in Radford or Basford!
Sayaka-chan and her cartoon lookalike
We went to a chinese / Japanes mix place for lunch, incerdibly quick and cheap. I had rice and noodles with vegetables and a clear (gelitanous) sauce, delicious. The decor was great, really atmospheric, we had our own wee booth to sit in.
Booths at lunchtime
Back to Muse, an afternoon of editing and planning for the weekend - 2 more days of filming and photography. I'll be filming a bit more with Emi-san on Sunday, the interview has too much ah ha, noises from the translator and Yuko-san and is unusable in the edit. I don't mind too much as I willget better sound with the new mic anyway.
Yuko and I went to Ueno this evening to meet up with François. He has a one night stop over from Australia enroute to england. We went to a Japanese pub which was my first time and I really enjoyed it. We sat in a (no shoes) raised area with a table that you lowered your legs under. I had pomegranete sour (mixed with vodka kind of drink) and we had a selection of snacks - soya beans, spinach and garlic salad, tofu balls, japanese pizza with dried fish (which is kind of like a tortilla) and ramen noodles. delicious.
posted by Jeanie Saturday, February 15, 2003
Thursday, February 13, 2003
A v neck or anything vaguely bosum baring
Shibuya lights
It's about 10pm and I've just got in from a trip to Shibuya after work. Shibuya is the first place I went to in Tokyo 2 years ago and is all you imagine Tokyo to be; neon towers, loads of people and giant tv screens.
Shibuya crossing
I'd gone to visit Tower records which is a 7 floor monster, selling every kind of music and the most expensive imported british newspapers. The top floor - imports is filled with Gai-jin. I went to try and find my friend Jason the new Bangles album (he's a secret fan) but it wasn't out, instead I bought the new Calexico album and spectator magazine for me.
Tokyo is whipping itself into a valentines day chocolate buying frenzy. Walking from Harajuku to Omote Sando this morning I saw 3 different film crews interviewing women to see what they had bought their valentines.
Kawai
As I got to Omote Sando all I could hear was girls saying kawai, kawai, kawai (cute). There was a group of people each with a minature dog - chihuahas, poodles, spaniels on leads, all wearing wee coats. I didn't figure out what was going on, I can't imagine it was a protest, maybe just a small dog club but they caused a real stir and a photo phone stampede.
Bakery
A quick trip to Gap to get some black trousers, I thought they would have international sizes but no the biggest size is a uk 10, I'd have to give up clothes shopping if I lived here. Saw strange football sculptures being installed in a gallery in Harajuku, much to everyone passing by's amusement.
Sculptures in Harajuku
Crossing the footbridge to Muse I was thinking about Aiko-san and thought she would probably like today's clouds.
Clouds over Omote Sando
On to Muse for more editing and an interview with a Japanese newspaper (Yomiuri Shimbun) about my work. The editing is going ok, I just need to plough throughthe tapes and get the stories right. After that I have to overlay the japanese and English subtitles which should be interesting.
Back to my flat and get my evening Beckham fix. Bless the patron saint of football.
Komban wa Beckham-San
It's Chris Cooke's rough screening tomorrow in Nottingham of his film One for the Road. I wish I could be there to see it (and Charles Gant from Heat, loving his work!). Hope all goes well.
posted by Jeanie Thursday, February 13, 2003
Pesky Japanese flavour twists
I've just seen Heathrow on the news, what the hell is happening? If I was in England I would be going to the anti-war march on Saturday in London. Bush is mad.
We've all been putting in long days preparing for the exhibition leaving the office today at 10.30pm. I missed the last bus back to Shirokanadei so got a taxi, oh I love a taxi! Tokyo taxi's look like 50's cars that have been brought up to date. The taxi drivers wear uniforms including white gloves and the usually have a fancy satellite navigation system. The doors open and close automatically as you get in and the seats are covered in lacey crochet. Fumiko (Japanese teacher) would be proud of my directions.
I got dropped off at the 7-11 to get a quick snack and pick up my copy of the beautiful Game (magazine) starring Beckham-San on the cover, naturally. There are convenience stores everywhere and I read somewhere that you are never more than 3 minutes away fin Tokyo. They all stay open really late, in fact most of the shops open late in the morning and close at 10pm.
The posters and flyers arrived back today and the office is filled with he lovely smell of fresh print - just call me a graphics junkie. Muse are currently distributing 20000 flyers and 2000 posters all over the city. Yuko-San has taught me how to say 'here is a poster showing my work, please come to the exhibition.' and is encouraging me to give them to everyone I meet.
Editing at Muse
I started editing today and am really pushing my laptop but it seems to be coping ok. Aiko-san looks lovely on camera, really cute as she's a tiny old lady. Her interviews are quite philisophical and I started to put her cloud pictures against her story. I think it looks good which is a relief. I'm always think in the back of my mind, what if it doesn't work There are so many technical things to think about anyone could go wrong. I suppose you just go into auto pilot.
I was really hungry at the office so I got a bento box delivered - amazing, fish, rice and dim sum delivered to the door.
I'm being interviewed tomorrow for a newspaper/magazine so have to find a suitably respectable outfit to wear. I've stopped wearing anything with a v neck or vaguely bosum baring, as I would in England! It's just not done in the day, so I have adapted the way I dress accordingly.
I've managed to get a pic of my favourite ad - a rabbit dj. The punchline is hey shouldn't you wear those headphones on your ears.
Nova Bunny
ashta mata!
posted by Jeanie Thursday, February 13, 2003
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Aiko-san and Electric Town
Keep getting caught out by pesky japanese flavour twists - the bottle of grape juice I bought earlier was actually sour plum drink. Delicious but a complete surprise. The lovely lemon drink I bought turned out to be lemon / milk fizzy hybrid, not so nice. I need to keep on flavour alert, it's not so much that things taste bad, just a massive jolt to the system every now and again. I have been feeding other taste miscalculations to te crows which sit on my window sill.
I've been here a week now, which feels like much longer. Today was day 2 of filming aiko-san in Shinagawa.
Aiko-san's name plate
Mikari, the translator came today and was really helpful. There is now way I could do this without translation! Aiko-san really relaxed in front of the camera and told us about her clouds, dolls and her hopes for the future.
Mikari and Aiko-san
Mikari will be helping me edit, finding the threads of story and matching to the cutaways I've filmed. She is also translating Home-maker derbyshire into Japanese. She tried to do this yesterday but has had some difficulty understanding the accents and local phrases so I have to write a dialogue list.
Aiko-san's tower block
Aiko-san has asked us to visit her in her new home which we will do next week. It looked unlikely she would be able to come to the exhibition but Mikari has volunteered to get her there.
Shinangawa, Aiko can see from her window
Back to Muse Company and more exhibition planning. Materials are very expensive here so it's proving quite challenging. Will find out tomorrow what is achievable with the budget. I have been having real problems remebering people's names which has become a standing joke. My inability to pronounce Naoko properly has led to her being called nao-chan for my benefit. It's taken me 2 days to remember Mikari, I kept calling her Mirako. Oh dear.
texting on the subway
Carol emailed me this site about Japanese temples and Nightingale floors really beautiful.
Japanese stuff
No-one jay walks, ever, in fact I saw an american being shouted at the other day by a traffic cop for jay walking.
If you have a cold you wear a mask.
Even though it is rude to blow your nose in public it is fine for men to hock up great lumps of phlegm and spit.
Eggs are pure white - makes me feel like a 50's house wife when I cook with them.
It's rude to eat in public.
Beckham is everwhere.
Baseball is really popular
The theme tune to the morning weather report is a j-pop version of I'm in the mood for dancing by the Nolans.
There is always a food programme on tv, no matter the time... I suppose you could safely say the same about the UK - Nigella, Jamie et al.
posted by Jeanie Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Monday, February 10, 2003
Day 2 at Emi's house
Shinagawa by day
Today I met and photographed Aiko-San who lives in Shinagawa, home to the technology giants - sony, canon, phillips and more.
Shinagawa by night
She's a remarkable Lady, 96. She's moving out of her council flat in 2 days after 26 years to go into an old people's home, so we have been really lucky to be able to see her and record something that just won't be there soon.
Room Detail
Her flat is very traditional with sliding shoshi (paper screens), tatami mats and is filled with her dolls collection and things that she has made from recycled paper and packaging. She is as sharp as a tack and is only going into a home now because her legs are bad.
Me and Aiko-san
To me, she's a real artist. She doesn't really watch tv and says she feels quite out of touch with teh modern world. From her window, each day she takes a photograph of the sky. These are then compiled into albums. She explained this , then we saw that there was about 10 albums, each with 6 photos a page, all different, beautiful photographs. She told me 'the world changes but the sky stays the same'. I have borrowed a book to scan for the films.
We're back tomorrow to interview Aiko about her room and experiences.
Hitting the Jr line at Rush Hour
Most of the shops stay open till 10pm so I decided to hit Electric town. Oh my god. I've heard about Akihabara, Arts group Command-N make video work to show in the tv screens in the windows, and seen photos but nothing prepared me for the scale of it.
Akihibara - Electric Town
It's basically giant shop after giant shop selling electrical goods at knock down prices. I was in electric heaven. I bought - 64mb flash media for my camera, mini dv tapes (rainbow coloured of course), a sony rifle mic for my camera and a mini japanese - english - japanese translator. I think it's safe to say I love shopping!
posted by Jeanie Monday, February 10, 2003
O hayo gozaimasu Emi-san
Waiting in Shirokanedai
Day 2 at Emi's house. We were about to start when I realised that my clip mic wasn't in my bag, a quick taxi back to my flat confirmed that I had left it in England. Noooooh! So Plan B kicked in - using the camera mic with a view to buying a new mic in Akihabara (electric town) next week. The room was so small the sound was ok.
I've had to learn to not make any sound when interviewing people, I always used to go ah ha, ah ha to encourage the speaker and I when it came to the edit would be really mad with myself, so I know spend a lot of time nodding furiously. However Yuko-san and the interpreter kept making noises. I think it's particularly hard for Japanese as they usually make so much affirming sound when you're talking.
me and Emi-san
The filming went well, Emi answering my questions through the interpreter, telling me a bout her family shrine in the room which has been passed through 200 generations, starting with Samurai. Every morning the first thing she does is bring water and some small food - an apple, rice to the ancestors and chants. She then reads from the book the names of the people that dies that day (the 3rd, the 4th etc) It was really interesting, In Buddhism when people die they become Buddha's, so each person has their ancestors as their own gods.
What I'm realising now is that Home-maker Derbysire and Tokyo will have real threads of connection - although in Derbys there aren't family shrines, there are massive collections of family photos on show. There are also huge differences in the amount of space and the way people live. Everything in Japan is nearer the floor!
Jelly fish - Roppongi
After Emi-san's it was on to Roppongi. Yuko-san wanted to show me a potential home-maker person, an architect who built his own house 20 years ago. His room was really interesting, high ceilings and jam-packed full with photos, maps and architectural models. He told us about the history of Roppongi and how the Shogun had given permission for only 5 shrines in the area, which makes them very powerful today. He studied history so was very keen to explain all of this.
I asked him if he would like to take part in Home-Maker, showed him the UK version on my g4 laptop and he did the classic response, listened to me and Yuko explain the project for about 5 minutes then when we had finished asked me what make the computer was and how much it cost! (which is exactly what my Grandpa did!) He then evaded the question by showing us the word processor he bought 10 years ago, which was like a tank.
Yuko-san was signaling to me that we should go and he then got out another 2 photo albums (Yuko had seen before), I got the giggles, so did Yuko and I was stuffing my hand in my mouth, crying with laughter as he remained oblivious and carried on.
I was so trying not to be rude but I was nearly hysterical with laughter. Maybe you had be there but it was so funny.
We made our excuses and left, if we hadn't been direct we could have been there still. We decided that it was probably a good thing he was not taking part in home-maker, although he was an interesting man with a beautiful house I would have to edit about 6hours of footage as he would never stop talking and going off at tangents.
Stevia Sheila
Back to my home stay and on TV there was a programme with a young Japanese man staying in Essex with a family-run business making dolls houses. He made his own Japanese dolls house. It reminded me of the whole home-maker process, in the exhibition I explained the layout of the 2 adjacent rooms as like a dolls house cut open at the front. It was pretty funny the English family kept shouting in Pidgin English - you like this, yes?
Essex dolls house
posted by Jeanie Monday, February 10, 2003
Saturday, February 08, 2003
Emily Temple Cute
Today was the first day of Home-maker filming, exhausted is not the word for what I'm feeling. Working and speaking Japanese is really tiring as you feel like your brain is being stretched in 2 different ways, so from now on I will be working in English!
Emi is 80 and lives in Shiroganedai, near to my home-stay. She owned a book shop in the area which closed down 5 years ago.
The first immediate difference is the amount of room / flat that people have to live in. Everything is compacted together, is miniturised and there is less total room than the ground floor of my house. I was struck yesterday again with my height, I take up a lot of room in Japan! Emi is about 4 foot 10 or so, in fact no one is over about 5 ft 3, I'm 5 ft 7 and feel like a giant.
(emi-san)
What I had forgotten from the original home-maker is just how long the process takes. In derbyshire I visited and got to know florrie and all the others over a number of weeks and then started to video and got the relaxed photos I was looking for. We spent 6 hours at Emi's house, drank a lot of ocha, (japanese tea), and had lots of wee snacks, like most old ladies in Britain there was a never ending supply of biscuits. I brought a chisai presento (small gift) for Emi-san from Nottingham, a Nottingham lace lavender bag and postcards of Market square and an old picture of the Trip to Jerusalem. She asked if the council house was based on the White house.
Nao-chan and sayaka-chan from muse, as well as Yuko-san came with me so it was pretty cramped but made for a nice but not completely practical atmosphere. Nao chan kept getting walking in to shot so tomorrow I think there will only be 3 of us - yuko and the translator.
(room detail)
Emi was keen to show us her photo albums, which had amazing photos from the last 100 years. Here father was into new gadgets so owned one of the first cameras. I think they will make it into the films as they look fantastic. While I was there Emi's friend (75) came round as he wanted to see what was going on and speak some english, he was almost fluent.
After dinner at Quiche and tart (rice, aubergine, olive and tomato quiches at a japanese french restaurant) we all visited his house, which was really interesting. He (I can't remember his name) built his house in a cooperative 10 years ago and has the biggest house I've been to yet. Loads of space crammed with his kawai collections, toy cars, mugs with dogs on, beanie babies, french paintings, newspaper articles stuck on the wall and photos. I asked him if he would like to take part in Home-maker, so will be photographing him next week. Although it means one more person than I planned for, he was so interesting and Yuko told me, an unusual Japanese man - he never married, lives alone, has his own house, has travelled a lot - that it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I think he is kind of an equivilant to Roy in the original home-maker.
So video and nterviewing Emi-san with a translator tomorrow. Should be interesting. Just like in England the hardest thing will be to get a concise interview, old ladies love to talk.
I've just seen the maddest looking news item - loads of tanned japanese and american sumo wrestelers in blue costumes, with Kimono clad ladies on a stage throwing what I think was sakura (cherry blossom) into a screaming crowd. Sakura watching is a big deal here so maybe this was the first of the season. fantastic.
posted by Jeanie Saturday, February 08, 2003
Friday, February 07, 2003
Searching for Beckham-San
Oh my god, I've just seen martin Bashir interviewed on Japanese news about Jacko. Now I know what Sheil and popbitch were on about. Someone please look out for Timber so he doesn't meet the same fate in about 10 years time.
My jet lag has finally gone, today was the first time I felt really normal and slept and got up at reasonable times. I headed off to Hiro early to look for second hand furniture.
(Slocombe-san waiting for my bus)
Hiro is on my bus route into town and is really cheap, lots of food markets and girls clothes shops. I took the opportunity to buy some cute socks. I don't normally wear socks - i think they strangle your feet, but it's essential here. Nearly everywhere you go you have to take your shoes off before entering and put on a wee pair of slippers. No sock means freezing toes.
(neat trees in hiro)
It's really cold here about -3, but is very sunny. I've also invested in a hat and have started wearing it at all times in the flat as it's freeezing. Hiro didn't have any 2nd hand furniture shops, as I thought so I may have to borrow furniture for the installation.
(laforet - relaunch mural)
Loads of the shops are closed for february, have murals painted on the windows and will relaunch in March with a sale and all the new stock. Laforet is an amazing shopping centre in Harajuku - like Hyper Hyper in London, loads of small clothes shops - Emily Temple Cute, Agent orange Shoes, Swimmer. Fanatastic shoes but nothing bigger than a size 5. rubbish, I'm a 7.
(hanozomon line)
Then, a sprint across town to present home-maker and muse company to a man from the local council. Lots of bowing and meishi swapping. I've nearly run out of meishi (business cards) so have designed some new ones to get printed out here with my name in katakana.
(french living cafe)
Then back for final preparations for tomorrows filming. I hope it all goes well.
Japanese stuff part 1
Everything gets recycled, very diligently rubbish is separated and collected on different days. I have made about 4 bins in my flat for glass, paper, cans and combustables. What I don't understand is why there is so much packaging on everything in the first place.
Some food is really strange or surprising. Yuko-san offered me some sweet bread earlier, I thought she meant brioche or a pastry type thing. What it was, was a sweet bread with sweet potato and azuki beans in the centre. It's really confusing on the taste buds as it looks like one thing then tastes like another completely. I had an icecream the other day and the raisins in it turned out to be soya beans.
Toilets are really technical. they are either hole in the ground - squat style or really high tech. Lots of them have heated seats, have a built in bidet, a sensor as you sit down starts a flushing sound (to cover any embarassing noises) and flushes automatically as you stand up.
Everything is neat and tidy and there is no litter, any where. My flat is probably the messiest thing in Japan.
Lots of the most geeky looking gai-jin (foreigners) have the most beautiful japanese girlfriends. Nao-Chan's australian english teacher told me they are known as 'charisma men'. The japanese girls throw themselves at these white blokes and it goes to their heads, making them think they are truly charismatic.
(kawai desu ne)
Cute characters are absolutely everywhere, from the bus logo, the symbol for the police and toys - definetly not just for kids.
I saw a white faced diva on tv last night who sang with tears streaming down her face. I love her.
Micheal J fox is always on telly.
Who wants to be a millionairre is exactly the same, apart from you win multiple millions of yen.
Gap has exactly the same window displays here as in Nottingham.
george w sounds just as dim in japanese.
posted by Jeanie Friday, February 07, 2003
Thursday, February 06, 2003
My fish is bad
Jetlag strikes again, I managed 4 hours sleep so was awake to see the sun come up.
(shiroganedai from my window)
I got into town early, today by subway and had a wander around Rappongi before I met Nao-chan and Yuko-san. Hasd my morning fix of Beckham on the tube!
(beckham-san)
Rappongi is the easiest kanji to recognise on the subway map as it looks like a forest, or collection of trees. It may have been years ago but today is an urban monster with huge redevelopment going on. The last couple of times I visited Tokyo I went to the Rappongi hills Think zone / Mori Art building which is a 65 (roughly) storey, shiny new skyscraper with a massive new gallery being devloped in the pent house. It's going to be good - partnered with Tate and pompidou as long as the funding / commercial investment continues.
(almond, most famous, pink cafe in tokyo)
I waited for the others in almond cafe, a pink meeting spot famous in Rappongi for gai-jin (foreigners). Everywhere is promoting valentines day at the moment, but in Japan only women buy gifts for men and in March on White day teh blokes reciprocate. There are the most intricate chocolates and hearts and everything cuddly on sale. `kawai deu ne!
(where's becks?)
Becks is following me, I still haven't tracked down chocolate Beckham, but Muse company are on the case.
We met up in the exhibition space which is a disused school hall, right in teh heart of Rappongi. The location is excellent and it's interesting to see a shell of a building right next to massive urban redevelopment. We met up with 5 arts management students who will be building the exhibition structure and helping me source furniture to create the room installations for home-Maker. I explained in my best broken japanese the layout and structure. I'm definetly starting to understand more, my ear is slowly tuning in like a radio and I can understand the main theme of conversations, even if I don't catch all the details.
I have a new set of words to confuse: yasashi=easy yasai=vegetable yasui=cheap
I'm managing to use these indescriminately which makes for interesting reactions - this lipstick was very vegetable, etc.
Started on the shashin projections for the exhibition in final cut , before home-maker filming starts on saturday, it's looking really striking - old photographs of the 4 different wards with kanji superimposed and documentary narrative /story underneath.
(nao-chan - moshi moshi)
Nao-chan has been acting as sensei and has been teaching me new japanese every day which is a great help. I learnt how to say 'I have caught old' today, as that is how I feel(too many yaers working with older people!). My back is so bad I feel like a pensioner, have been doing lots of yoga, taking japanese baths and am considering a trip to the accupuncturist. fingers crossed it gets better. Maybe more sleep will help.
posted by Jeanie Thursday, February 06, 2003
Jetlag and blowfish
After 14 hours sleep I feel considerably more human and have lost the feeling that I'm on a boat.
(number 77 to minami-aoyama 5-chome)
I caught the bus to minami aoyama 5-chome from my home-stay which makes me feel very much at home, although it's not as fast as the subway the view is great. When I've been to Tokyo before I've stayed in Yanaka which is a very quiet area with shrines and old houses - one of the only places unaffected by the bombing and earth quake. Shiroganedai is much more modern with a lot of urban redevelopment. It's really enjoyable to get to know some where new.
(Omoto Sando crossing)
After some exhibition planning, and a goobye to François I went exploring in Omoto Sando. Went to the 360 gallery which is a small space showing new photgraphers work. They are especially interested in Fluxus work and had stuff by joseph beuys, weber and yoko ono. The show was icelandic sea scapes, beautiful big prints.
(360 degrees gallery)
I then went to the spiral which is where the Canon awards cermony was in December last year. It's an amazing building with cafes, record shops, gallery and exhibition halls. The show was tokyo uni design degree show. really amazing, attention to detail work. The show was really slick and looked like it had a budget no Uk degree shows have. Most in Japan are commercialy sponsored.
(spiral)
Back to Muse and more exhibition planning. We are going to meet the electricians tomorrow, basically the space is completely site specific and has no electricity so we are designing the layout to fit in a generator. We finished the graphics / posters and sent them to printers. I now want to find somewhere which produces vinyl lettering, should be interesting with my japanese.
I have to check my prononciations - today I made 2 classic mistakes:
1. I complimented my landlady on her house and told her it was karai desu ne, which means despised / hated. I meant kirei - beautiful.
2. I went into the chemists to explain that my back was hurting, and did they have anything for it. I said watashi no sakana wa warui desu, which means my fish is bad, I should have said sanaka - back.
doh, must try harder.
I don't think my land lord yusumau san was too offended, they have invited me to watch them making soba noodles next week, and they offered to take me to see fuji-san, mount fuji. fuji-san de yumi ga fute imas. It's snowing there at the moment.
Finally made it to the supermarket and got my groceries. It's called the garden and is beautiful and very expensive. i managed to spend £50 on 4 carrier bags of food. Fresh fruit and veg is totemo takai desu - very expensive. £2 for a big apple. Saying that everything else is about the same price as the uk. I had a choice of about 20 different kinds of tofu and miso, fantastic.
posted by Jeanie Thursday, February 06, 2003 | 0 comments
Wednesday, February 05, 2003
David, jason and Jawbreaker
Tuesday 12 midnight Japan time - 2.36pm nottingham
What a day and night. I've just got in after dinner (which I ate kogu (delicious poisenous blow fish))and am settling into my home stay, which comprises of my own little flat, which is exactly what I wanted. It's much bigger than I imagined as Tokyo space is at a premium.
short cut to Muse Company, Minami Aoyam 5-chome
I've had no sleep and I'm at that can't get my words our properly, everything looks a bit shiny, I should really be in bed but I can't remember how to sleep, jetlag feeling.
Today has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.
It started with the 'ever so helpful' virgin air stewards who weighed my hand luggage - containing all computer and camera equipment needed for the project, I'd gone over the weight allowance and was then told I could leave dome stuff behind - to be thrown away or pay excess baggage costs of £148. No matter how much they told me 'I know, tokyo is our most expensive route', 'you now I could be charging you £448' I didn't really feel that much consolation as they wrenched my visa card out of my hand as I cried like a baby. I'm bringing everything home again so may incur the same cost on the way back, fanatstic - will look into shipping stuff...
Sulked on the flight until the drink came round percked up and watched loads of stuff:
Possession - Gwyneth Paltrow does english, again. Do we not have any actresses? Still, quite romantic...
The Banger Sisters - just silly, goldie hawn tries out boobs.
Road to perdition.
Elysian Fields - Mick Jagger runs an escort agency for men, andy garcia down on his luck writer gets hired and gets entangled. mick jagger is great and kind of posh. it has to be seen...
the office, black books, big train
Each time I've been to Japan I'm always stunned by people's kindness. I caught the limousine bus from the airport to, the hotel I was meant to meet Naoko in central tokyo. When we came to the end of the line and no sign of Hotel mayoku, the bus driver explained I must have got on the wrong bus and started to show me where to get a taxi from, he then offered to take me there himself, and drove the bus 5 km out of his way. It was so kind of him. totemo shinzentsu deshta.
So I made it to my flat, had an hour for shower then back on the bus to Muse Company for what I thought was just a coffee and chat with Francois (Matarasso, from Nottingham speaking at British Council Conference) which turned into a pretty big meeting with hara-san from the British Council, all of Muse Company, writer, earpieces and simultaneous translation - about the place of engaged practice and community practice in relation to Japan and Muse's work, how my pieces work in relation to this and how we can ensure that the exhibition and further projects are a success. It was really good, but I was just about coping with keeping my eyes open at that stage.
Francois leaves tomorrow so I took him to do some essential gift buying in Kiddy land - 5 floors of kawai (cute characters) and anime. He did very well...
(François and Yuko)
Then lovely meal with all of Muse Company and Francois. The thing I really like about Japanese food is you get loads of courses and get to try a little bit of everything, the food just keeps coming until you've had enough. We had tofu (green tea flavoured), fish gelatine, breem, noodles, tuna sashimi and blow fish. If it's not prepared properly it can be poisenous so there was that moment of hesitation before you eat it, (is a taste worth it? ) but it does taste fantastic - like monk fish with a peppery kick. Yuko told me that some people really like a bit of poison, that it's like mustard to them.
(delicious blow fish)
I do need to try and sleep so I don't go loopy.
(Nao-chan and some of Muse Company)
posted by Jeanie Wednesday, February 05, 2003 | 0 comments
Monday, February 03, 2003
Have been wonderfully looked after by David and Jason in Kennington
(we watched jawbreaker on dvd, like extreme Heathers) and am just waiting for my taxi to take me over to heathrow. After the trauma of tackling the tube with 2 suitcases last night (my childhood fear of escalators came hurtling back!), I decided it had to be mini cab. Have managed to pack the minimum (I think) for a month's stary, including all of the computer and viseo equipment I need to make home-maker. Customs are going to have a fit!
Looking forward to watching a million movies on virgin and getting some lovely sleep. The flight's 12 hours long and I should arrive in Tokyo 10am tomorrow morning. I then have time to move my stuff into my granny flat, shower and a 3.00pm meeting in omoto sando. Should be interesting with jetlag, usually go a bit starey and things all look a bit shiny. dewa mata!
posted by Jeanie Monday, February 03, 2003
Sunday, February 02, 2003
Still haven't packed.
posted by Jeanie Sunday, February 02, 2003
