Pooh-san

Winnie the Pooh is known as 'Pooh-san' here in Japan, and he is the subject of this week's whiteboard doodle. I was literally singing the theme song the entire time I was drawing him. He was requested by quite a few of my sixth grade girls, and I decided to draw him to welcome the arrival of fall.... which was many months ago now. As I look out upon the mountains of snow outside my office window, I can't help but remember fall fondly. Honestly, spring and fall are the best times of year in Japan, and while I do appreciate having four distinct, beautiful seasons here, there are times when I just get sick to death of snow.

Blue Baby's Breath

Yet another Ikebana attempt. I actually really like this one, but I guess it's more a normal flower arrangement than an Ikebana, as traditional Ikebana has rules and math (yes, math, ugh!). I found out only recently that there are fairly strict rules where the subject flower has to be at a 45 degree angle from the main flower, or some other such number/angle depending on which shape or style the Ikebana arrangement is in. Boo for math, but yay for blue baby's breath and lilies, although I don't know if the blue is natural or sprayed on. Either way, it's pretty!

My Kids

Japan has privacy laws out the ying-yang, which is why I never post pictures of my kids, unless it's at some sort of public event like a festival, which even then is kind of pushing it. I had to post this picture though, as not only does it show the entirety of my fourth grade class that I do all these whiteboard drawings for, it shows them playing one of my favorite activities: human alphabet! In this picture they are making the letter K, and doing it quite well. It also made me laugh for some reason, so I had to take a picture of it. They were very obliging to stay still while I took it, and they enjoyed seeing it after the fact. They laughed too, although why we all found this picture so funny I still can't really say. As none of the kids are showing their faces, I also feel reasonably safe in posting it, so yay! (Well, one kid is kinda looking up, but it's blurry, so oh well.) These kids were 1st graders when I first came to Japan, and they'll be 6th graders when I leave. I've really enjoyed watching them grow up so much this far, and I'm looking forward to the time I have left with them. Yay for my favorite class!

Kitty-chan

This isn't the most detailed whiteboard doodle I've done, or the best, but it is one of my favorites, simply because of why it was drawn. All the drawings I've done up to this point were originally for my fourth graders, who were first graders when I first came to Japan. They were also the class I was with during the Tohoku Earthquake a couple years ago now, and they are hands-down my favorite class ever. Always have been. So, I originally started drawing things the fourth graders requested, with an occasional request from the sixth graders (who benefited from following the fourth graders' class) thrown in there. This drawing is one of my favorites because a little girl named Ai requested it, who is the ONLY girl in the entire class of very rambunctious (well-behaved and sweet, but super energetic) fourth grade boys. She asked me, in a very quiet voice, if I would draw her a Kitty-chan (Hello Kitty), even though she thought it was kind of selfish of her to even ask, as she was the only one who liked it.

I drew her name in kanji and a Kitty-chan the very next week; she was almost in tears she was so happy when she saw it, and all the boys danced around her in a circle and cheered and celebrated that she got what she wanted.

Little Yellow Flowers

 

This week's Ikebana is... okay. I like it well enough. Not terribly interesting, but not bad. Plus, while I don't know the name of the little yellow wildflowers, I do know the pink and orange ones! They're roses... that's why I know them. On a side note, I just realized I'd never seen orange roses before this. Huh.

Ninja Restaurants, However, are Cooler Than Ninja Drawings

In Tokyo, the Akasaka district to be exact, there is a restaurant named Ninja Akasaka. It is probably the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to, but it is also the most awesome. I went there last summer when I had relatives come to visit, and if you ever have some free time in Tokyo and lots of money to burn, I can't recommend it enough. If the restaurant is good enough for Steven Spielberg (that's his signature on a wall in the restaurant pictured above), then it's good enough for you.

Ninja Akasaka is a theme restaurant, in that it's all built around the premise of diners eating inside an old ninja fortress. From the outside it's very plain; the building is nothing more than a brownish color warehouse, with a man in a suit standing outside the entryway with a checklist. Upon approaching him, he will ask if you have a reservation, as that is the only way to get into the restaurant. Answering in the affirmative and your name being on 'the list' gets you a bow and a smile as the man moves out of your way, and you enter the realm of the ninja!... Actually, not quite yet. You enter into a little waiting area, where a hostess is waiting to greet you. After double-checking your name and what sort of table you wanted, she summons your server by knocking on the wall, after which your waiter or waitress opens up a hidden panel door in the wall and literally somersaults out to land in front of you. The night just gets more awesome from there.

Your server leads you to your table through an underground tunnel area, complete with a small river and waterfall and working draw-bridge, before finally arriving safely at your table. The menu, all written on a magic ninja scroll, is unfurled in front of you with flair. All the food has ninja-themed puns, and many dishes have some sort of magic/special presentation show to go with them. Things are lit on fire, spun around, thrown into the air and juggled, all for your viewing pleasure. The dessert menu is written on flash paper and immediately set on fire once read, so as to prevent it from falling into enemy hands, and a special ninja comes to your table during dinner to do a magic show while you eat.

All these gimmicks, as awesome as they are, wouldn't make up for poor quality food, so it's fortunate that the food is delicious. To be fair, though, poor quality food is a very rare exception in Japanese restaurants; even little hole-in-the-wall ramen shacks on the side of the road are usually incredibly tasty and safe. My favorite dish of the night was actually not my main course (although my cubed steak with slices of garlic and vegetables literally melted in my mouth), but a little appetizer I got, pictured above. It's small pieces of seared mahi tuna with rice-stuffed scallions over a kind of tare sauce, it cost $12 a plate, and it was worth every freaking cent. I ordered two of them actually, just because I needed another one as soon as I finished the first one. The desert, a chocolate lava cake with real vanilla bean ice cream, was also to die for. Going to this place again before I leave is already on my Japan bucket list, and again, if you ever have the chance, I cannot recommend it enough. Go enter the realm of the ninja!

Ninja Drawings are More Fun

Of course, one could argue that this isn't a proper ninja drawing, as you can see it. This particular ninja is Naruto, who is from the anime of the same name. After One Piece, I think this is one of the most popular animes among young boys currently. I had a lot of requests for Naruto, and I ended up really enjoying drawing this. Getting the perspective on the hand right was tough, but it turned out well. It's a shame this photo didn't turn out better, as there's lots of orange and yellow highlights I did in his hair and jumpsuit that you can't really see at all unless you get close. One of my fourth graders asked how I got the yellow, as they thought I was still using the school's markers, which are limited to black, red, and blue. Little did he know that by this point, I had already bought my own set of markers for use on whiteboard doodles, as the school's markers were running out of ink at an alarming rate. I was going to tease the kid by telling him I made it by mixing red and blue, but I thought it best not to mess with his color wheel studies.