Time passes, but it's been fun so far
Happy Birthday to my older son. He's 10 now, which is sort of mind-boggling. Then my friend Patrick sent me a message on Facebook that we had met 19 years ago. Where has all this time gone?
Anyway, we took our boys and 3 other school friends to the Yokosuka base to go bowling. I have never seen such excitement. They all, including two who have never bowled before, did better than me. (Until the third round, when I crushed). They were all really cute and encouraging, with lots of cheering. Then we went to the picnic tables outside (they don't allow outside food in the bolwing alley) for the worst-tasting birthday cake ever. I don't think it was even made of real food. Not one kid could finish a slice.
Saturday, we took our kids on a surprise trip to Disney Sea. It's a pretty cool place, I must say. All the themed sections were really well done. It was less cartoon-oriented, more like the non-animated Disney movies. I could've sworn we were in Renaissance Florence or the Casbah. The Atlantis-looking section was the coolest. Very HG Wells. The best rides were The Indiana Jones Adventure and Journey to the Center of the Earth, although the latter scared D to tears. Poor kid has a lightning/thunder phobia, and he isn't real fond of swooping coaster-like hills.
I was amazed by the amount of ears I saw. Everyone had them, kids, women, men. (I suffered a serious bout of ear-envy) Jeff sent me an article yesterday that explains Japan's mania for Disney characters:
Since it opened in 1983, the Tokyo Disney resort has been a much envied marketing success story. Marketers, management gurus, academics and consultants of numerous colors have at different times given their expert opinions on the reasons behind Disney's love affair with the Japanese consumer, with whom Disney is uniquely the favourite not only of children, but also a significant proportion of adults. The overall appeal of Disney works the same as in other cultures but there appears to be an exaggerated and residual emotional attachment to the characters that makes it not uncommon for middle aged executives to have a Mickey Mouse pendant dangling from their cell phone or a fluffy Winnie the Pooh attached to their laptop case. Mike Fiorelli, an expert on Japanese consumer trends and brains behind the website www.japanmarketingnews.com thinks that the Disney 'cute' factor is very important to its success in Japan, he comments that, 'The burden of social demands in a traditional and historically regimented society like Japan takes an emotional toll. 'Cute' things bring some fun, brightness, and a bit of escape to daily life on a personal level...Appreciation of cuteness is one of Japan's great harmonizers and social lubricants.' Further than this, cute characters are also endowed with a relatively higher amount of trust by Japanese consumers. Thus, Sumitomo have used Mickey Mouse as a mascot to sell money market accounts, a fact that leads the analyst Mary Yoko Brennen to pronounce that in Japan, 'Cuteness is associated with childhood and evokes a certain nostalgia for a time when life was uncomplicated, safe and reliable' (Academy of Management Review, vol 29, 2004). Most recently, in May this year, Walt Disney Japan announced the launch of a new banking service aimed at women and families in partnership with Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
I was really surprised by the un-Japanese rudeness at the park. It took us a good ten minutes to get this picture, because of the girls and kids shoving past us to get a picture with "Gu-hi."
We stayed at a Sheraton hotel just across the way, courtesy of Jeff's frequent-stay miles. Very nice place. It catered not only to Disney-goers, but wedding parties. Like many of the nicer hotels in Japan, it had a wedding chapel. This is a popular trend, western-style weddings.. It was right next to the cool outdoor pool.
The hotel also had a kids' play-area, and I got to try a public bath house at last. I was encouraged by the fact that the rules said "No heavy tattoos". The kids' area also had rules, but I had trouble figuring out what some of them were. No ear-growing? No changing from cat to bunny?
We saw this in the gift shop. Classic Engrish:
Uhhh, yeah. Very Lolita.
On Monday, the kids started school (yea!), and Jeff had the day off for Labor Day, so we had an anniversary-celebrating day-date. We went to the Yokohama Museum of Art. There was a special exhibit by Morimura Yasumasa. It was a voice-guided tour set up like classrooms. His idea was that laughter is a great weapon, that we should fight wars with laughs instead of arms. This guy is an painter, photographer, and an actor. Basically, he likes to dress up in men's and women's costumes and put himself in famous paintings. He reconstructs the whole painting and then photographs it. It's pretty amazing.
He had a Rembrandt room, which focused on his self-portraits. This, and the Man Ray photo of Marchesa Casati in the museum's regular collection, inspired me to do a self-portrait, Casati-style (thanks to Valerie, who introduced me to this fascinating character). So that's what I'm working on now. It's nice to have the time to paint again.
So M is 10, I've known Patrick for 19 years, and I've now been married for 13 years. Yeah, I feel a bit old, but I also feel like my life is pretty rich, so no complaints.
And, by the way, there is a typhoon headed our way. Jeff used it as an excuse not to go into work today, because Yokosuka is, obviously, on the coast, and will thus get hit harder. We should be fine here, in our back-corner, sunless apartment.
Anyway, we took our boys and 3 other school friends to the Yokosuka base to go bowling. I have never seen such excitement. They all, including two who have never bowled before, did better than me. (Until the third round, when I crushed). They were all really cute and encouraging, with lots of cheering. Then we went to the picnic tables outside (they don't allow outside food in the bolwing alley) for the worst-tasting birthday cake ever. I don't think it was even made of real food. Not one kid could finish a slice.
Saturday, we took our kids on a surprise trip to Disney Sea. It's a pretty cool place, I must say. All the themed sections were really well done. It was less cartoon-oriented, more like the non-animated Disney movies. I could've sworn we were in Renaissance Florence or the Casbah. The Atlantis-looking section was the coolest. Very HG Wells. The best rides were The Indiana Jones Adventure and Journey to the Center of the Earth, although the latter scared D to tears. Poor kid has a lightning/thunder phobia, and he isn't real fond of swooping coaster-like hills.
I was amazed by the amount of ears I saw. Everyone had them, kids, women, men. (I suffered a serious bout of ear-envy) Jeff sent me an article yesterday that explains Japan's mania for Disney characters:
Since it opened in 1983, the Tokyo Disney resort has been a much envied marketing success story. Marketers, management gurus, academics and consultants of numerous colors have at different times given their expert opinions on the reasons behind Disney's love affair with the Japanese consumer, with whom Disney is uniquely the favourite not only of children, but also a significant proportion of adults. The overall appeal of Disney works the same as in other cultures but there appears to be an exaggerated and residual emotional attachment to the characters that makes it not uncommon for middle aged executives to have a Mickey Mouse pendant dangling from their cell phone or a fluffy Winnie the Pooh attached to their laptop case. Mike Fiorelli, an expert on Japanese consumer trends and brains behind the website www.japanmarketingnews.com thinks that the Disney 'cute' factor is very important to its success in Japan, he comments that, 'The burden of social demands in a traditional and historically regimented society like Japan takes an emotional toll. 'Cute' things bring some fun, brightness, and a bit of escape to daily life on a personal level...Appreciation of cuteness is one of Japan's great harmonizers and social lubricants.' Further than this, cute characters are also endowed with a relatively higher amount of trust by Japanese consumers. Thus, Sumitomo have used Mickey Mouse as a mascot to sell money market accounts, a fact that leads the analyst Mary Yoko Brennen to pronounce that in Japan, 'Cuteness is associated with childhood and evokes a certain nostalgia for a time when life was uncomplicated, safe and reliable' (Academy of Management Review, vol 29, 2004). Most recently, in May this year, Walt Disney Japan announced the launch of a new banking service aimed at women and families in partnership with Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
I was really surprised by the un-Japanese rudeness at the park. It took us a good ten minutes to get this picture, because of the girls and kids shoving past us to get a picture with "Gu-hi."
We stayed at a Sheraton hotel just across the way, courtesy of Jeff's frequent-stay miles. Very nice place. It catered not only to Disney-goers, but wedding parties. Like many of the nicer hotels in Japan, it had a wedding chapel. This is a popular trend, western-style weddings.. It was right next to the cool outdoor pool.
The hotel also had a kids' play-area, and I got to try a public bath house at last. I was encouraged by the fact that the rules said "No heavy tattoos". The kids' area also had rules, but I had trouble figuring out what some of them were. No ear-growing? No changing from cat to bunny?
We saw this in the gift shop. Classic Engrish:
Uhhh, yeah. Very Lolita.
On Monday, the kids started school (yea!), and Jeff had the day off for Labor Day, so we had an anniversary-celebrating day-date. We went to the Yokohama Museum of Art. There was a special exhibit by Morimura Yasumasa. It was a voice-guided tour set up like classrooms. His idea was that laughter is a great weapon, that we should fight wars with laughs instead of arms. This guy is an painter, photographer, and an actor. Basically, he likes to dress up in men's and women's costumes and put himself in famous paintings. He reconstructs the whole painting and then photographs it. It's pretty amazing.
He had a Rembrandt room, which focused on his self-portraits. This, and the Man Ray photo of Marchesa Casati in the museum's regular collection, inspired me to do a self-portrait, Casati-style (thanks to Valerie, who introduced me to this fascinating character). So that's what I'm working on now. It's nice to have the time to paint again.
So M is 10, I've known Patrick for 19 years, and I've now been married for 13 years. Yeah, I feel a bit old, but I also feel like my life is pretty rich, so no complaints.
And, by the way, there is a typhoon headed our way. Jeff used it as an excuse not to go into work today, because Yokosuka is, obviously, on the coast, and will thus get hit harder. We should be fine here, in our back-corner, sunless apartment.
posted by Sandi at 8:08 AM
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