Low-down Panda Blues

Sponging off my friends

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 05:15:40 GMT

My friend Sar's favorite rant is the lack of kissing on Japanese television. Two people can wake up naked next to each other. People can run around almost naked. Sexual tension can hold Tokyo hostage, but the big pay off for most tv dramas is the most chaste little lip lock during the last episode. Argh put some feeeeeling into it (or at least a good grope and a bit o' tongue eh!). Bring me my Sex and the City DVDs post haste!

Another friend (a fellow American), who works in the same office is getting married to a great Japanese guy in a few weeks. This will be my first traditional Japanese wedding. I can't wait to go. However B has had to adjust to a lot of things that go along with dating and marrying a Japanese man, which I'll get into in a different post. Watching her do the marriage dance affirms that I'm in no hurry to walk down the aisle (breaking my poor mother's heart here).

Getting used to BOB

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 13:17:05 GMT

Another crazy Monday night. My current dilemma is whether I stay up and watch SMAPxSMAP so I can get my Shingo Katori fix or crawl into bed like my lazy body tells me to. I am such the social ~~butterfly~~ slug.

This past week I decided it was high time that I invest in my own happiness more fully. I am now the proud owner of my very first pocket rocket. Sometimes I'm embarrased just thinking about the fact I bought a vibrator and other times I'm embarrased because I went so long without one. I had to fork out teh big money for International shipping. The risk of family or friend opening this package before passing it on was just too mortifying. Actually the shipping to Japan was more than the vibrator, but to hell with that and on with more efficient and satisfying self pleasure, right?

I'm not that terribly comfortable with my own body, so for me a vibrator is a big step in trying to come to terms with it. Well that and the fact I doubt I'll be getting some male action for awhile. Practicality first!

Okay watching my famous person crush has won over sleep. Maybe after I can try utilizing...hmmm I'm going to need a name...

Bring on the desert metaphors

Wed, 10 Aug 2005 04:46:10 GMT

The long days of endless butt sores and Internet surfing are here again. I may complain during the school months about all the work, but nothing compares to the tumbleweeds blowing through my brain during summer vacation. This boredom drives me to contact every person I've ever known in a desperate bid to at least liven up my nights. It's sad staring at your cell phone, wishing that the little mail icon will pop up.

Tomorrow night I finally managed to schedule an evening out with T, one of my former students from adult English conversation class. She has a really great world view, and her introduction in class ran, "Hello I'm T. I live in xxxxx. I'm single and looking." Gotta give a girl credit for such a ballsy statement in a class where most of the participants were housewives. I think we might make good friends. Too bad if any single cute guys wandered by she isn't about to push them my way.

I think my supervisor went to a meeting. Curses, now there is no way I will be let out of work early. I know, how can I complain when I do nothing and just came back from vacation. Let's call it a special talent. Maybe I'll work up the nerve to respond to Nearby Guy.

Jumping walls or building them higher

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 10:21:52 GMT

I just got back from a wonderful two week trip all around China. I walked the Great Wall, saw the Terra-cotta warriors and shopped hard in the markets of Hong Kong. However, as always it's good to be home. Coming home also means catching up on e-mail. There are several penpal/dating sites that cater to both foreigners and Japanese looking to hook up. One of the most popular is Asoboo, which is especially popular with the foreign English teacher population in Japan. You can write up a quick profile, put a silly pixel avatar picture up and away you go! I made a profile on a whim and forgot all about it. Checking my e-mail today I found two e-mails from Asoboo from the same Japanese guy who actually lives in the next prefecture over from me. He seems friendly, not too old, good English...and yet...if he was farther away I would respond without a second thought. The fact he lives so close makes me nervous.

It seems stupid that I keep putting out these feelers on the Internet, but when it comes to someone who might be close enough to actually meet me I freak out and stop responding. E-mail is so easy to ignore. To respond or not to respond? What am I afraid of more, him not liking me, or me not liking him? Oh and somehow the possibility he is a crazy psycho doesn't come into this. oops, internet dating the stupid way. Desperation does not a pretty pretty princess make.

On being a female Asian-chaser

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 05:48:49 GMT

At some point in their life almost everyone has met an asian-chaser. He's that guy who sits across from you in Japanese class with a shirt that says in bad kanji "I want to date a Japanese girl". He might be that staid business man who suddenly disappears for a few weeks on vacation and comes back with a Korean bride on his arm. More often than not the stereotype is the white boy who longs for that passive and exotic asian woman to cater to his every whim with a sexy smile on her petite face. I'm not saying every guy who has a preference for Asians is like this, but honestly I've known my fair share and the majority easily fall into conventional stereotypes. I've dated these guys, been friends with them, hated some of them, and now I found that I've become one. An Asian-chaser that is...not a guy.

I moved to Japan one year ago to teach English to Elementary school students. I came to Japan wanting to have a good time, widen my horizons, travel Asia, and with a preference for blond, blue-eyed boys. I don't know when it happend, but somehow along the way that changed. I went home for the Christmas holidays and found myself blah about all the guys I saw. As soon as I stepped onto my International flight back to Japan I instantly spotted some hot prospects. It took me a few minutes before I realized they were all Asian men.

Being a female asian-chaser is a bit odd. Am I the same as all the boys that ticked me off so royally in my Japanese history class with their mooning over any Asian girl that graced their path? I definitely know that Japanese men don't have the same "positive" traits attributed to the women. If anything both my Japanese father and grandma (halfie in the house!) have told me to stay away from Japanese men (Asian men all around) because they don't treat women right. It could simply be a preference, like how some women only want to date black men. In my more honest moments I wonder if it's simply because I'm currently fascinated with all things Japan and Asia (anime fans have created a whole new set of stigmas) Another problem is that while Japanese women seem attracted to foreign men, there are proportionately fewer Japanese men who are interested in foreign women. Something about us being loud and opinionated or some such nonsense...

So this is a tricky issue. All of this wordy background is just to set up the picture for my future exploits in dating in Japan. Er if I can manage more action that I've been getting lately *details details*