Uchu Hyakka

My favorite store, Uchu Hyakka, is in Shibuya, Tokyo.  Lots of asian kitsch.  I lurve it.     Funky desktop wallpapers here.  Enjoy.     

I prefer droopy ones.

I had an interesting conversation with some students today.

A pair of girls in an 8th grade class talked with me about how foreigners have “high noses,” and how much Japanese people like it. They were curious if in America, the same was true. Was my moderately high-bridged nose desirable? for example.

I told them that my nose was pretty normal, and that having too big a nose was very undesirable, and that we don’t really think of it in terms of high or low. I also commented that to some Americans, the Asian low-bridged nose was very cute, particularly on women. They seemed very amused and surprised by this.

Then they asked me about eyes; if big eyes were preferred or not, and what about shape?

They told me that Japanese prefer “droopy eyes”/ 垂れ目 to “turned-up, slit eyes”/ ツリ目, something I had never heard of before, and they had to explain it to me. Apparently eyes with down-turned corners are appealing in a “warm” sort of way, whereas up-turned eyes look like a cat or a fox, someone cunning or sly.

After having this explained to me, I began to look at their faces in a different way to find this attribute, and somehow a peculiar new visual awareness took place in my mind. I began to see the difference between droopy and not. I talked with two other teachers about it and they confirmed that it was some kind of universal Japanese fact; to prefer droopy eyes over turned-up ones.

Apparently it’s not entirely universal; here is a page on eye cosmetic surgery for Japanese women.

The last picture on the page explains a procedure to lengthen the corners of the eyes, for someone who would like to “fix droopy or turned-up eyes.”

The rest of the pictures on the page explain procedures to enlarge the eyelids.

Beats silicon injections if you ask me.

I’m told I’m turning Japanese

[Pearl enters a 1st grade class room in rural Japan]

1st grader: It’s Pearl-sensei!
Pearl-sensei: Hello!
1st grader: Pearl-sensei, where are you from?
Pearl-sensei: I’m from America.
1st grader: I thought you were from Italy, but America, huh?
Pearl-sensei: Yes, America.

[Several minutes elapse and class begins. Suddenly 1st grader stands up and points towards the front of the room in excitement]

1st grader: I’ve got it! You’re Japanese!
Pearl: No, I’m American.
1st grader: But you’re speaking Japanese! You’re American, but you’re speaking Japanese! You’re Japanese!
Pearl: I’m American.
1st grader: You’re Japanese!
Pearl: I’m American, but I can speak Japanese.
1st grader: You’re Japanese!

[Class resumes]

-The End-

Best. Toaster. Story.

Ever.

Courtesy of the man behind Dinosaur Comics.

Boys Don’t Knit

Today was the first real snowfall of the season and it got really, really cold. Every un-centrally heated room in my two-floor apartment was 48 degrees fahrenheit before turning on my space heaters. Then I roasted the ice crystals off of my walls and everything was OK again.

At school one of my teachers, who knows I knit, told me about a very effeminate man named Hirose Kouji who is an expert knitter with several books and T.V. appearances behind him.

I was amazed but not shocked exactly; when I attended DesignFesta in Tokyo a few weeks ago, all of the three people who I saw selling hand-knitted goods were men. And they were fairly manly men to boot. Clearly the men-who-knit trend is blazing far ahead of that in the U.S., at least publicly anyway.

Coincidentally, when I was a knitting instructor in the U.S., my first student was a man. He told me he wanted to knit lingerie for his wife. He was very charming, but clearly I have a weakness for that sort of thing…