June 2001

    Ties Talk Archive Update: Pearl Harbor Movie Reaction | Sumo, Nikkei Hockey and Tahsis Salmon Down | Social Ills a Global Concern | Sweet 16: A Cup For Ray and the Avs | Cho Berry Gu: Ichigo gari | Internet Residue | Wells Fargo Museum: Memories of the Wild West | Film: Memento | Kyôgen Recital | Weekend in the 'Chuck | Ties Talk Archive Update: Pan-Asian Community | Quick Trip to Japan | Wong Fei-hung (Once Upon a Time in China) | Chet Atkins (1924-2001)

  • Chet Atkins (1924-2001)
    Chet Atkins, the guitarist famous for his finger picking style, passed away today at age 77 after a battle with cancer. Back during my final year of pathology residency, listening to the Neck and Neck album he did with Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler helped get me through studying for my qualifying exam. And further back, during our family's first trip to Japan in 1973, my father bought a Chet Atkins tape called Discover Japan (Nihon no uta). "Mr. Guitar"'s versions of well-known melodies like Akatombo (Red Dragonfly) and Furusato (Hometown) were my first exposure to Japanese songs -- albeit with a twang!

    (04 July 2001)
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  • Wong Fei-hung (Once Upon a Time in China) (China 1991; Dir: TSUI Hark) ****

    Perhaps inspired by the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Cinema 21 brought this kung fu classic to Portland. Legendary martial artist master Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li) battles triads and European colonial forces in 19th-century Canton. There are plenty of tightly choreographed, rapidfire fight sequences, liberal doses of lowbrow humour, and just a hint of romance. The historical setting adds an extra dimension: it was a time of transition, with the lure of gold in America looming large. "Our kung fu is no match for guns," Master Wong realizes. Of the many interesting secondary characters, I empathized with Bucktooth So, the American-born Chinese doctor returned to learn traditional Chinese medicine from Master Wong. He stutters whenever he tries to speak Chinese, and a patient dies because he is unable to read the Chinese characters on the labels of the medicine bottles. But in the end, his English-language skills are crucial to a happy ending.

    This film drew much the same young, white male crowd that came to the FUKASAKU Kinji retrospective in March and April. It was something to hear them cheering the victory of the Chinese over the Americans!

    (28 June 2001)
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  • Quick Trip to Japan
    I am just back from a quick trip to Tokyo JP.

    (23-26 June 2001)
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  • Ties Talk Archive Update: Pan-Asian Community
    There is an update at the Ties Talk Archive, with a page called Pan-Asian Community, about the growing trend for the various Asian communities in North America to form a united front and pool resources in presenting cultural events and pursuing political objectives.

    Local Asian American drumming group Portland Taiko has organized a new Pan-Asian event for Portland: Art Explosion!, a program of contemporary and traditional dance, music and theatre from Java, India, Nepal, Hawai'i, Iran, China, Laos, Cambodia, Tahiti and Japan.
    Art Explosion! Parkrose Community Center Theater, 12003 NE Shaver Street, Portland, OR, USA, 22-23 June 2001

    (22 June 2001)
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  • Weekend in the 'Chuck
    I am just back from a weekend Edmonton, Alberta, Canada -- "The 'Chuck".

    (15-18 June 2001)
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  • Kyôgen Recital
    This evening Dorami-chan's JAPAN 452 Traditional Japanese Drama class at Portland State University had their final exam -- in front of about 100 people! The instructor, Professor Laurence Kominz, studied traditional Japanese drama in Japan and has been teaching at PSU for 16 years. He has made it a tradition to end each JPN 452 course with a free public recital of some works he has translated into English. During the term, Mondays and Wednesdays are classroom lectures, but each Friday his students rehearse for the show. (Those who are overcome with stagefright can use the time to write a term paper instead -- 2 exercised this option this year.)

    JAPAN 452 students are a mixed bag from different departments: Japanese language majors, drama students, and ryugakusei (Japanese nationals studying abroad). For the ryugakusei, this course is a chance to learn about something that isn't taught in Japanese schools. They presented a 1 1/2-hour program of kyôgen plays and dances that included:

    • Bonsan - A thief, caught in the act of stealing bonsai trees, tries to hide behind one of them. The store owner, amused by the absurdity of it all, toys with the thief a bit before chasing him away.
    • Busu - A nobleman leaves on a daytrip and instructs his two servants, Tarokaja and Jirokaja, to guard a mysterious package while he is away. They discover the package is sugar and eat it all, but then must find a way to explain where it went.
    • The Mountain Wizard & The Persimmons - A mountain wizard, caught in the act of stealing kaki (persimmons) from a tree, tries to hide behind a branch. The farmer, amused by the absurdity of it all, toys with the wizard a bit before making him fall out of the tree.
    • The Thunder God - While generating a storm, the Thunder God falls out of the sky through a hole in the clouds and hurts himself. He is treated by a passing doctor, and out of gratitude promises rain so that farmers will have healthy crops and therefore plenty of money to pay their medical fees.

    Dorami-chan was part of the 5-person jiutai (chorus), who sit at the side of the stage and sing accompaniment. Prof. Kominz gave a helpful explanatory introduction for each performance. Kyôgen is comic theatre, which dates back at least as far as the 16th century and was originally meant to provide interludes between more serious Noh plays. Noh and kyôgen performers were traditionally trained within families, parent to child. Prof. Kominz, whose wife is Japanese, is continuing that tradition with their 12-year-old son, who performed Busu with his friend. The Kominz's 9-year-old daughter is learning Nihon buyô (Japanese dancing) and was also part of the program.

    After the show, students and friends went to Thanh Long Restaurant & Bakery, a nearby Vietnamese eatery, for a delicious meal. Prof. Kominz told stories about past recitals: the year when not enough time was alotted for getting dressed up in the traditional costumes; the student who was so skinny his hakama kept riding up; the student who was so big around, none of the hakama would fit. The makeup of the class varies from year to year, so each recital is different. It takes about four years to rotate through his current repertoire of plays. If enough students are senior Japanese majors and Japanese nationals, plays and songs can be performed in Japanese rather than English.

    This was a great opportunity to experience a little-seen part of Japanese culture. Unfortunately, if I have sparked your interest for next year, you are out of luck. JAPAN 452 will not be offered in 2002, as Prof. Kominz will be going on sabbatical to Japan, where he plans to learn more plays, some of which will be part of future recitals once he returns!

    (14 June 2001)
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  • Memento (USA 2000; Dir: Christopher Nolan) ***
    A man seeks to avenge his wife, who was murdered in the same attack that caused him to lose his ability to form new memories. His memory since getting his "condition" is a pocket full of Polaroid photos on which he jots details he deems relevant, before he forgets them (he trusts the notes he writes because he can recognize his own handwriting). His search for his wife's killer unfolds as a series of episodes in reverse chronological order,which keeps the audience just as disoriented as the protagonist. In the end -- er, beginning -- we see that memories are what we want them to be, and not necessarily the truth. This a well-acted film, worth seeing for the fresh storytelling device alone.

    (13 June 2001)
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  • Wells Fargo Museum: Memories of the Wild West
    Today I was in downtown Portland during office hours for the first time in a while, and saw that the renovations of the ground floor of the Wells Fargo Center (the big, white tower that dominates Portland's skyline) are finally complete. Recognizing that most people do their banking at ATMs or online these days, all but two of the teller stations had been done away with. In their place, there is a new museum! The San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego main branches also have museums, but this one explains the role the Wells Fargo Bank played in late 1800s Portland.

    The centrepiece of the museum is an actual Concord stagecoach, the workhorse of the time, which transported people, money, goods and mail from city to city. The routes travelled by the stagecoaches were more or less where today's interstates and other major highways run. Hints for Stagecoach Riders from an 1877 issue of the Omaha Herald is reprinted for display. Some of the advice is dated:

    • Sit close to the driver (less bumpy ride)
    • If the horse team runs away, stay in the coach (jumping resulted in injury nine times out of ten)
    • Never fire a gun or pistol (the horse team might get frightened)
    • Spit on the leeward side of the coach

    Other hints are helpful even in today's age of jet travel:

    • Don't smoke in the coach
    • Don't drink in the coach (unless you are willing to share your beverage with others)
    • Don't complain about the food (people are doing their best under less-than-ideal conditions)
    • Don't discuss politics or religion, nor point out places on the road where horrible murders have been committed.

    Other displays relate how the Gold Rush made The Dalles Oregon's second largest city at the time. A mockup telegraph station includes a copy of a codebook. Sending entire text messages would take too long to tap out using Morse code, so short 4- or 5-letter words were used to represent longer sentences. The same kind of solution is happening today, with the abbreviations used in chat rooms and with wireless devices (e.g. "I w8 fr yr mesg"). The Japanese might be said to have an advantage here, in that contracting foreign words has been commonplace in Japan since Meiji times: moga ("modern girl"), kongura ("computer graphics"), potechi ("potato chips"), rankuru (Toyota Land Cruiser), even BuraPi (Brad Pitt)

    (13 June 2001)
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  • Internet Residue
    Today I completed my first e-bay transaction, paying for and picking up the Iomega Zip drive that I won in an online auction on earlier in the week. There were over one hundred Zip drives on the e-bay system, so I made use of the "Items In My Area" filter and found that someone in Portland was selling the kind of drive I wanted. When I won the auction, the seller and I arranged to meet at a local shopping center, thereby saving me the shipping charges (on e-bay, the buyer usually pays the cost of shipping, $10 or so for small items). Overall it was a very positive experience, and we left feedback on the e-bay system about each other saying so. I look forward to future e-bay transactions!

    With my new Zip drive, I was able to check the Zip discs containing data from the carcass of Toshi, my last computer. (I had borrowed a Zip drive to make the discs back in January.) The files for the Canada Sumo Basho 1998 photo essay, Canadian Japanese Hockey League, and Tahsis Salmon Fishing were there, so look for them to me resurrected soon on Angelfire.com.

    This whole HotBot episode has got me thinking about permanence on the Internet. If my files get erased, what will be left of the Runker Room? Here is an article that addresses this issue:

    • The Scarlet B
      Kyle Mizokami on how his lifelong fling with Bigfoot has stomped on his dating prospects.

    (12 June 2001)
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  • Cho Berry Gu: Ichigo gari
    This is the height of the Oregon strawberry season, so Dorami-chan wanted to find out if all the good things she has heard about Oregon strawberries are true. We drove a half-hour south of Portland to Koch Family Farm in Tualitin OR, one of many "pick your own" berry farms in the area. At the fruit stand next to the field, farm staff weighed the empty containers we had brought, then set us loose. They were growing two varieties of strawberry (genus Fragaria): Shuksan and Benton. The yield per strawberry plant was incredible -- I hardly had to move before my first container was full of big, juicy, red berries. We came away with almost 10 pounds in only 30 minutes, a bit of a shock and disappointment for Dorami-chan. Growing up in Tokyo, she had never even seen a strawberry plant before. She thought ichigo gari (strawberry picking) was about leisurely looking for berries, pausing frequently along the way to sample. For me growing up in Canada, harvesting strawberries was one of the garden chores, something to get done as quickly as possible. I guess I will have to restrain myself next time!
    Koch Family Farm, 11350 SW Tualitin-Sherwood Road, Tualitin 97062, 503-692-5749

    Shuksan (mid season): Large, glossy and bright red, relatively sweet. Good all-around berry for either processing or fresh eating.
    Named for: A mountain in Washington State's Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest; the name means "The Roaring Mountain" in the language of the Nooksack First Nation, a reference to the sound of glaciers calving off of its slopes.

    Benton (mid/late season): Bright red and medium-firm, though quicker to fall apart than many of the other varieties when cooked. Good for fresh eating. Slightly lower acid level makes it slightly less acceptable for preserves. Doesn't retain its beautiful color when frozen.
    Named for: A county in Oregon named in honor of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, a strong advocate of free land laws which eventually led to the growth and development of the Oregon country; Corvallis OR, in Benton County, is the site of Oregon State University, a school strong in agriculture)

    The sign for Koch Family Farm said "Since 1938". I wondered whether it was one of the farms leased by Japanese Americans before World War Two. Nikkei farmers once dominated the strawberry industry along the West Coast, including British Columbia. Then, as now, picking strawberries was the lowest-paid, most difficult, and therefore least desirable farm work. Strawberries are fragile and bruise easily. Workers must select only berries of the proper size, firmness, shape, and color, and pick them with great care. But when a piece-rate wage is being paid, workers must pick berries as fast as they can, stooping over the short plants. The first Japanese immigrant strawberry workers replaced earlier Chinese immigrants who had left for better jobs. (Today Latinos make up most of the strawberry picking workforce.) Eventually they came to own their own farming businesses and were quite successful. But things changed drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Farmers were taken to internment camps even as berry crops remained to be picked. While they were incarcerated, land leases expired, and farms were lost. A scenario like this was part of the plot of the novel and film Snow Falling On Cedars

    Oregon is America's third-largest strawberry producer, after California and Florida. Oregon strawberries are apparently better, but Oregon's high minimum wage makes it difficult for producers here to compete for North American buyers, who only look for the lowest price. Oregon growers are either turning to different crops, or trying to sell their strawberries in new markets where taste and quality are paramount, such as Japan.

    (10 June 2001)
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  • Sweet Sixteen: A Cup For Ray and the Avs
    The National Hockey League playoffs finally ended this evening, just as I predicted back in April when this whole thing started, with the Colorado Avalanche having won the requisite 16 games over 4 rounds to become 2001 Stanley Cup Champions. It was a marathon for players and fans alike, mitigated somewhat by the personal saga of the Avs' Raymond Borque, who was seeking his first championship of his 22-year professional career. I am lucky that Dorami-chan is a hockey fan -- many a significant other would have long ago said, "Enough, already!" At 8:09 p.m. Pacific Time, as the clock ran down to a 3-1 Colorado victory, I must admit I was paying more attention to whether I would win my first ever e-bay online auction. (I did! A new Iomega Zip disk drive for half the retail price.) Now attention to turns to off-season dealmaking, as teams try to improve themselves for next year -- it may well prove more interesting than the action on the ice.

    (09 June 2001)
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  • Social Ills a Global Concern
    One of the top Canadian news stories today involved the discovery in Calgary of the decompsing body of a 15-month-old boy and the search for the body of his 3-month-old sister. The mother is a young Japanese woman who came to Calgary four years ago as a ryugakusei (visiting student) to learn English. She got involved with a Canadian man and quit her studies, and had two children by him. They split up, leaving her to contend with life as a single mother. The full details of this tragic story have yet to be told, in particular how the children died and why the mother let it happen. The early news stories have not made much of the fact that she is Japanese, other than to suggest that her support network may therefore not have been strong. She was in Canada illegally, having overstayed her student visa, and so may have been reluctant to contact the many social services agencies available in Calgary. Would the outcome have been different had the mother been in Japan and not Canada? The stereotypical image of Japan is one of social order and harmony, where children are valued and well cared for. But the pressures of modern life are there, too, moreso with the added economic woes of "The Lost Decade", Japan's recession though the 1990s.

    (08 June 2001)
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  • Sumo, Nikkei Hockey and Tahsis Salmon Down
    Some time ago, this Runker Room website got too big for the free server space provided by GeoCities, so I moved some of the more image-intense sections to free server space provided by HotBot: the photo essay on Canada Sumo Basho 1998, Canadian Japanese Hockey League, and Tahsis Salmon Fishing. I only recently found out that HotBot closed down this service as of 31 January 2001, leaving the support of free personal homepages to Tripod and Angelfire, other members of the Lycos Network. HotBot tells me e-mail notification was sent to all users on 10 January 2001, but this was right around the time when my old computer Toshi died. I think I was able to recover these files from Toshi's carcass. I hope to be able to determine this soon and get those sections back up and running as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience -- the Internet is constantly in flux!

    (06 June 2001)
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  • Ties Talk Archive Update: Pearl Harbor Movie Reaction
    There is an update at the Ties Talk Archive, with a page called Pearl Harbor Movie Reaction, a collection of Japanese American takes on the recently released summer blockbuster.

    (03 June 2001)
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