So, even though I love the smell of a fresh spruce in the house during Christmas time, I will pass at $410 (of course this is sold at National Azabu, the most expensive grocery store I have become immune to). I think they import them from Oregon...but even the ones cut down in Japan are still 2/3 of the cost. This has forced some to go the fake Costco route. Sorry, I will never, ever buy a fake tree. Anyway, we will be in Dublin for Christmas so maybe Santa will give us a tree in our hotel room...
Another picture I attached are the strange floral/Christmas creations that the caretaker has been inserting into the pots in the front of the house. It started with a few golden ornaments, which have progressed to plastic grapes and pomegranites. The American flag is my doing, stolen from the Obama victory party that we attended here when I felt very nationalistic. Perhaps these artistic creations are those an artist trapped in the body of an 80 yo cute Japanese man.
On a totally different tangent, I need to sound off on the ridiculous outfits on these poor little school boys. Apparently when you attend a very prestigious school here, boys are forced to wear short shorts in the middle of winter. So I see groups of 6 yr olds in their bowling hats, enormous leather backpacks, and shorts while their parents are in winter coats, scarves and pants. Can we do something about this please? Is this not some sort of neglect...I'm calling SSI. On the SSI front, Japanese parents and Britney Spears (the old bipolar one) have something in common. They don't believe in child seats, and you often see children just sitting in the front in the passenger seat. This used to shock me, that along with seeing gorgeous 5 year old girls walking home from school by themselves. You know that would never happen in America, or anywhere else in the world for that matter.
2 comments:
Never say never re: fake tree. I believe the same was also once said about having a blog.
What? Just saying.
I am from Germany and in my childhood in the sixtees it was a sign of a severe and conservative education that boys had to stay in shorts summer and winter. Winters are very cold in Germany with frost periods of -10C° with snow and ice. From my infant days on my brother and I had to be in short leather shorts with knee socks the year round, without any exeption until the age of 17. We went to a private school, where the wearing of shorts was compulsory for boys.
This was seen as a toughening process to harden a boy.
In Japan the purifiing effects of cold are seeing improvingly for boys not to become too soft.
The concommitant discomfort to be with bare legs in the cold is also seen to built up the caracter of a boy, because he has to deal with the situation and has not the posssibility for the first best solution.
Beside the fact that it looks cute, boys look dynamic and sportive with short shorts and bare thighs and knees.
In Europe there are still bording- and private schools who have a short pants requirement. Most of this schools are in the UK.
Over the last years I was helping at a bording school in the north of France to built up a christmas market. This school is lead by benedictin monks under the guidelines of scouts. It is tradition that all the boys from 6-16 have to wear short leather shorts with white knee socks the year round. The socks have to be rolled down to make shure that most of the leg is bare.
The boys have to work a lot outside at the campus.
It might look strange seeing all this boys with bluished knees and purlished red thighs in the cold.
Talking with the teachers and the parents they tell that the boys are much more obedient dressed this way and it is easyer to tame them, as they feel that they are still boys with limited rights.
As I was educated the same way I must say that when you are used to it from the infant days, you do not feel the cold as much as other people mean, because you are toughened. It is more the problem that you feel humilated when you have to show your bare thighs and knees when you are in your teens and others are allowed to be in longs.
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