Blogging Miles Around the Metro

I was surprised to know that Brazilians actually comprise the third largest foreign group in Japan. I have often wondered how Brazilians adapt themselves to Japanese culture which is as opposed to the geographic locations of these countries on the planet. The Japanese are polite, restrained and subtle, while Brazilians are warm, energetic and expressive. Once a year, Asakusa in Tokyo celebrates these differences and the history of these countries together through a day-long festival of feathers, sequins, bikinis, and samba; the Asakusa Samba Festival.

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Thai police offenders who refuse to follow their superiors’ warnings to mend their ways will find themselves shamed into doing so - forced to wear a hot pink armband adorned with the Japanese cartoon character Hello Kitty, beloved of little girls.

Frustrated senior officers searching for ways to force their underlings to toe the line believe the cutesy armband will be sufficiently humiliating to deter policemen from further misdemeanours.

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Every neighborhood has a mini red-light district. And despite the fact that the place I live in is a university town, a small entertainment district also exists to augment its diversity as a place of higher learning. erhm. And of course, in typical Japanese fashion, engrish or Japanese-english rules supreme when it comes to choosing a suitable (if there is such a thing) name for such establishments. While I cannot afford to spend time in these bars or pubs, the cheapest and perhaps safest form of entertainment I can have from them is in their signboards. Take a gander at these interesting names! Perhaps they can inspire your creativity!

No need to go to the UK to get inspired by the Beatles! just drop by for some rhythm and value!

Gotta hold your head up high during the night!

My personal favorite. No false leads, just the hard facts.

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” Style detached from content.
A fatal attraction to cuteness.
Style is style.
Fashion is fashion.
Girl, you got style. ”

We already know that Gwen Stefani made waves when she confessed that she’s a fan of Harajuku Girls. I’ve seen them around Tokyo but never took pictures. And so one time, I finally did! They just basically sit around Harajuku, near the entrance to Meiji shrine on Sundays. People pass by, gawk, AND take pictures. And they will readily pose for you too!

Most of the girls are hobbyists. Yes, the stuff they wear like the gothic lolita dresses are handmade, and it’s their hobby to show off their creations. The streets are literally like a catwalk of color and different styles. Many young Japanese designers also sell their clothes in Harajuku, and the most popular haunt is Takeshita doori.

So far, the styles have been classified as gothic lolita, gothic maid, wamono (a fusion of Japanese and western clothes), second-hand fashion, cyber, and decora. Harajuku is vibrant and pulsating, it seems that half of Japan’s young ‘uns are prowling the streets, waiting to be seen.

Unsurprisingly, I also saw some foreigners trying to get into the Harajuku vibe. Some are dressed for the occassion, while others hold up “Free Hug” signs, and sell artworks. If you’re a fan of youth culture, Harajuku is definitely on your must-see list!

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A few months back, I had seen this cab. I burst out laughing when I saw its name. Here in the Manila, our cabs have names. Generally the name of the operator, in Manila you’ll see the oddest names, which can be basically be anything, from the combined first syllables of the driver’s/owner’s children, to the title of a Bible verse, to just about whatever comes to the driver’s/owner’s mind. I once saw a cab named “Whilsper”, and immediately texted a friend about it. He shot back with something like, “Was the cab driving fast? If so, maybe it can be called ‘Whilsper with wings’” (alluding to a popular brand of sanitary napkins with the so-called wings).

Anyhow, the above taxi is named “Ilandbhoy”. For the uninitiated to the idiosyncrasies of Pinoy speak, “Ilandbhoy” would be pronounced the way you say “Island Boy”. Though it is customary for Filipinos to randomly insert H’s into their names (someone mentioned to me that it was for luck, please don’t ask me how), I don’t understand why there isn’t an S in the word “Iland”. Instead of overanalyzing this detail, I would just like to think that either the name was misspelled, or the guy who lettered it figured with the limited space, he might as well eliminate the seemingly least important letter (which would be the one that doesn’t seem to be pronounced. Why he would choose the S over the H is beyond me).

I found this funny article on Pinoy names here.

Above photo was taken along Kamuning Road in Quezon City. The photographer was trying look as though she was texting with her phone instead of taking a picture. Yelle is going out of town today, and will be back later this week with more stories.

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Here’s something interesting about the local new year. Although everyone finds this the most enjoyable time to be in Thailand, the local transexual community despises it. To find out in more detail why the community is annoyed by the holidays, check out this article from the Asian Sex Gazette

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Don’t wonder why everyday affairs in the Philippines these days have come to a crawl. It’s Holy Week, one of the most revered and celebrated (but less commercialized than Christmas) occasions of the Catholic Church. It basically celebrates the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, and serves as the culmination of Lent (which, to obedient Catholics is 40 days of sacrifice), ending with a joyful Easter.

Though people usually take this time as an opportunity to go out of town, rest and relax (as this is more or less a week-long holiday), there are those who religiously (forgive the pun) observe Holy Week traditions, such as visiting and praying in as many churches as you can (Visita Iglesia), reflecting on the Way of the Cross, going to confession, attending the different services, attending retreats and recollections, and such. There are also those who take it to the extreme, with self-flagellation and having oneself nailed to the cross. You see, sacrifices can range from giving up cakes and chocolates to whipping your back bloody. People’s motivations range from showing sympathy for the passion of Christ, to making sacrifices in order to secure favor (somewhat like a tradeoff of sorts). The Catholic Church has frowned on the latter type of thinking when it comes to sacrifice, as it supposedly defeats the purpose of Holy Week as a time of reflection, and hopefully as an opportunity to start over for the better.

Here’s a clip I found showing some of the self-flagellating practices we call Penitensya.

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Since the middle of last year, it have become the norm for most Bangkokians to wear yellow clothing on each Monday. Wearing yellow is considered as a tribute to His Majesty, the King of Thailand, which is part of the 80 year celebrations for his reign in the Kingdom.

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Up until the overwhelming onslaught of gay lingo within Philippine popular culture, foreigners, Caucasian men in particular, were all called “Joe” (in reference to the popular American nickname). Now this would be regardless of whether the person in question is European, Australian, white South African, Kiwi, or whatever. As long as your skin is white and your hair blonde or brown, you would automatically be lumped together with all the Joes of this world (this is still quite the phenomenon in the rural areas and some urban communities). I suppose this would be similar to the way Asians (whether you’re Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese or Cambodian, etc.) are lumped together as Chinese, or Oriental (hoowhee, bring on political correctness!).

I suppose from this you can tell how potent the American influence still is in our country. Other terms for hapless Caucasians would be “Kano”, or “Kana”—short for Amerikano or Amerikana—again, in reference to the United States.

Nowadays you will hear the term “Afam”. This would be considered as a popularized gay term for “foreigner”, with “Afamista/s” referring to the “Afam’s” local partner/s (usually of a romantic nature). Not yet included in Copongcopong’s Pinoy Slang Dictionary, other origin results for the term yielded the fact that the term is also short for African American. A friend said that perhaps in the Philippines it did refer to African Americans, then expanded to include all other foreigners. If anyone else has a more informed explanation, do let me know.

There are also terms for other types of foreigners (Indians, Chinese, etc.), some quite derogatory in nature too, but rather fun to discuss (maybe when we’re all drunk, yeah?).

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I notice that many cities tend to have their own colloquial expression for foreigners (in this case refering to western foreigners). In Bangkok, foreigners are often called “farang” which means “guavas” (yes, the green fruit) if literally translated from Thai. So the next time you’re in Bangkok and someone calls you Farang, don’t get it confused with the fruit. Here’s some other interesting expressions for “foreigner” that I’ve picked up from the region:

Malay = Mat Salleh
Cantonese = Gwai Low (if literally tranlated, stands for “white ghost”)
Hindi = Gorasafed (literally translated, means “white devil”)
Lao = Bok See Dah
Japanese = Gaijin

Feel free to add to the list!

Note: Although most words can be considered to be quite rude, these days its meanings have evolved into simple and easy expressions for foreigners.

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