I decided to get creative with Yasu’s lunch today, and i made an Anpanman Bento. I’ve been inspired by a few Japanese ladies’ blogs around the net, who make masterpiece bento’s. Of course, i can’t do it like that right now, as it’s the first time i’ve ever made a character bento. I thought it was ok for a first time, and Yasu knew who it was the first time he looked at it, even though it’s not exactly true to detail. I had a problem with mixing the colour, so the face is a little bit redder than the body. Maybe Anpanman got too much sun (we are in Aus after all), or maybe he had too many drinks after work.
Anpanman Bento
The face and body is sushi rice with tuna mayo as a filling (food colouring for the colour), a cheese star as the belt buckle, all on a bed of lettuce with tomato, cucumber, cheese, red onion, and a cherry blossom shaped carrot as the garnish. Scrambled egg around the sides with orange pieces on the other side. Seaweed eyes and mouth and a tomato nose.
On the weekend hubby and some Japanese friends of his were here and they were discussing me, but referred to me as a “gaijin”. I was quick to correct them and tell them “i’m not a gaijin, this is MY country!”. To which they replied that they knew that, but couldn’t help referring to non-Japanese as gaijin, no matter where in the world they are.
I found this somewhat offensive. The term “gaijin” or “outside person” is somewhat derogatory, they could have used “australia jin” to refer to me.
What gets me is that, once you go out of your native country, YOU become the foreigner! The Japanese people i have spoken to seem not to realise this!
So how do Japanese people feel about being referred to as a “gaijin” themselves? According to our friends, it’s not a word they would use to describe themselves. How about “Jap” then? As alot of people in Aus seem to call them that, unbeknownst to them.
I don’t know about you but it’s just one of those things that really ticks me off. All these double standards. It makes it seem like Japanese people think they are higher than other races because they never refer to themselves as “gaijin”.
What are your thoughts?
It’s been stressful at home these past few days, not for me but for Yasu as he’s been having a hard time at work. His boss is being overly demanding, and another problem is that due to the shortage of Australians who want to work, his boss has had to contract workers from the Phillipines to come over and work. This creates a problem for Yasu as they can’t understand his accent, and they never follow his orders. When they can’t understand Yasu they just say “yes ok” and go off and do something completely different to what they were told. Yasu is the supervisor and has to get things ready by a deadline but he’s finding it extremely difficult to deal with at the moment.
At night he has been coming home and having anxiety attacks where he can’t breathe, indigestion, nausea, and vomiting. It is really hard for me to see him like this, as he’s usually so strong and doesn’t let things bother him. I’ve been trying to look out for him as much as i can, and i’ve stopped nagging him to do stuff because i think too much stress on the home-front could send him over the edge. I just want to make a safe place for him to come home to and feel comfortable, and hopefully his mental state will get back to normal.
I racked my brains trying to think of something else i could do for Yasu, and i thought of getting him a copy of Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine from Japan. I have a lady that i had bought it from on ebay in the past, so i contacted her again and asked her to send me over the most recent copy. Yasu loves reading Japanese novels but had read all of the ones he had bought, and for weeks had nothing to read on his lunch break.
It arrived yesterday and i gave it to Yasu when he got home. He was very happy to receive it and over the duration of the night i noticed he was less sick than usual. This morning when he got up he was very chirpy, which was unusual as lately his mood has been sombre before work. When he left i peeked at him out the window only to see the precious Shukan Bunshun cradled under his arm like a treasure.
Shukan Bunshun (週間文春) with Love
When i called him at work on his lunch break to see how he was doing he sounded much happier than usual, and had lots of stories to tell me that he’d read in the magazine. I am amazed at what paper with words on it can do for mental health! If only i had thought of this sooner. Maybe it’s keeping his mind of things at work and giving him something to look forward to. It’s a small comfort that doesn’t cost much, but somehow makes a world of difference. If i could take out a subscription for him i would but it would be so expensive, i’ve just looked into it and it’s $460.00 a year plus postage. I may think about it as a possible christmas present though. Though through ebay i pay $17 per magazine (including post) and that works out to $884.00 so it’s definitely cheaper in the long run!
Anyway, i’m glad that a 週間文春 can go someway towards soothing some hurts for my love.
The teacher of the psychic development circle that i go to has recently developed a ghost tour at the old quarantine station at Woodman Point. Last sunday night, the 12th was the first ever tour, and my fellow class-mates and i with a few others went along to see if we could catch some ghosts.
You can read more about the history of the station here. The ghost tour is held once per month, and you can see information about it on the official website.
It was a very creepy atmosphere, especially in the hospital where there is reputedly alot of “action” that goes on, and in the bush near the crematorium. As people’s flashes went off it exposed thousands of orbs all around us. I will post a photo below to show and i also have more on my facebook albums. I also recorded some EVP’s (electronic voice phenomena) that i’m currently going through, and will hopefully get someone speaking on them.
Walking through the bush to the crematorium, orbs everywhere
All in all it was a great night and we got to hear some groovy noises in the hospital, and because the tour leader is a spiritual medium, we got to hear from some of the “residents” about what happened at the site. I would recommend it to you if you are brave enough! If you read the information on the website you will find out that the quarantine station has just as much history as the Fremantle prison or other such places that they run ghost tours.
