sex machines and Tea ceremonies

I am sorry to say that my Saturday was a grandiose bust!! My friend G and I are working on a zine. Should be out in February. Its going pretty well, we have stirred up quite a bit of interest from some amazing writers and photographers. So on the talent front we are doing great. Of course, Saturday we were out in Sakaide working on a story idea. The article is suppose to be about the wierd and wonderful stuff of Japan. And we had heard about the Soy Sauce Museum of art in Sakaide. So the two of us decided to make a day out of it and hit a couple of birds with one stone. G. was stoked to hear that Sakaide is also home of a series of Sex Vending Machines (mainly pornos, but a couple "used" panty machines). Anyhow, we get there with cameras and notepads (you know sporting the cub reporter look...fedora with pencil sticking out, eager expressions on our faces.) Only to learn that the Soy Sauce Museum of Art has been temporarily uprooted and moved to Tokyo. And worse (well at least in G.'s mind) the Sex Machines have been Giuliani-ized...Sakaide is like Time Square (you know if T.S. were small, rural, depressing and in Japan.)
Well, hopefully our other features don't have so much trouble getting researched...and at the very least we have fodder from the letter from the editor.

Moving on...Sunday, I attended my first "official" tea ceremony. It was a special Autumn Tea Ceremony that was held at the castle in Takamatsu. It wasn't so bad. Actually, I found it quite interesting, very beautiful and ritualized. It was a bit uncomfortable though, as I was there with a few other foreigners from my program...we had been invited as special guests...aka the "foreign factor". This is something that I have gotten used to during my 3 months in Japan. Every once in awhile, I will be invited to be a special guest at an event, merely because I am a foreigner and whomever is inviting me wants the opportunity to put me on display and show the world that they have foreign friends. In the case of the tea ceremony, me and 13 of my friends were placed front and center in a room of about 75 people. We were given special seating to make allowances for the paparazzi that followed us around that day. Everytime one of my friends took a drink or a bite of food, there would be a blinding wall of flashes from the 10 cameras that were positioned in front of us. Sometimes, I feel a bit like an alien in a cage at a special showing. Of course, I do consider myself quite lucky...for the most part that is...Since I look asian (although before coming here, i never really thought that I did) I am often a disappointment when people who've never met me invite me out for the "foreign factor'. When they see me, they usually are quick to cover up their shock that I am part Okinawin. It seems I do not look foreign enough for the people of Japan. Therefore, the way I am treated in public situations is very different from my very "western" looking friends and predecessor.