Lost In Translation

Fish

There was an aquarium tunnel near the Duty Free Shop on the main strip in Waikiki.

American Jackass

There was a great feature in the September issue of GQ about a certain kind of male:

AMERICAN JACKASS Who waxes his chest, quaffs $14 cocktails, and throws down for a $13,000 weekend in Vegas? The American Jackass. GQ celebrates the untethered man in his natural habitat.

Furthermore:

You know who they are.
Every city America has them. Maybe you are friends with one. Maybe you are one. Maybe we're one. Some nights we definately are.
Jackasses.

We're not talking about Johnny Knoxville and his skateboards ruffians. We're talking about real Jackasses-the kind of guys who think nothing of bellying up for a $14 cocktail, a $75 seafood grand plateau (actual value of seafood: $9), or throwing down the platinum Amex for the spontaneous $13,000 weekend in Vegas. They wax their hair, wax their chests, and throw down $2,000 a night for that stretch Hummer you wonder who the hell ever rents. They helicopter to the Hamptons, hit the dance floor even if they can't dance, and swing form the back tees at the golf, even if they've only played three time in their entire lives. And they enjoy every second of it.

Enthusiastic, consumeristic, upwardly mobile, and untethered, Jackasses wield enormous influence on our economy and culture. Without jackasses, there would be no plasma TVs, no hyper caffeinated drinks, no studio apartments with Sub-Zero refrigerators, and no Dave Matthews Band. They are arguably earth's most coveted demographic. Check out TV sports sometime: Ninety-nine percent of ads are targeted to free-spending Jackasses. It increasingly looks like we elected ourselves a Jackass president.

Still, we come not to bury the American Jackass but to praise him. He is, after all, a reflection of us-American men. He is a product of ambition, determination, and ultimately success. He is, after all, a reflection of us-American men. He is a product of ambition, and ultimately success. He is refreshingly uncynical, and not just because he blew off the Sartre in college. He is alive and optimistic and living the dream. It may be a dream that involves Tara Reid, two $400-an-hour strippers, and a $7,000 presidential suite in South Beach, but it's a dream nonetheless.

Jackasses are here: they're near; get used to them. So order yourself a$600 bottle of champagne-and enjoy our celebration of Jackass life in America.

The feature goes on to describe aspects of dress, restaurants, habitat, movies, and music. I'll point out a few of the more choice observations.

*Do You Dress Like A Jackass?

THE SHIRT-When going out always a striped dress shirt. Always untucked.

THE CIGAR-$30 stogies preferred: best when smoked only one quarter.

THE LID-Always cotton. Usually white. Preferably from a college. All-time Jackass hat: University of South Carolina "COCKS."

THE TATOO-Usually situated on the bicep. Must be generally meaningless and huge. Often barbed wire.

THE WAX-Jackasses love a good wax. Chest, back, and butt, and if they?re especially daring their "junk."(Ladies love it.)

THE BEER-Light or low carb. Jackasses want to get drunk-not fat.

BOARD SHORTS-Not that Jackasses surf or anything. Maybe once, in Cabo.

FLIP-FLOPS-For the apartment, for the gym, for the pool.

*Education

The list CORNELL, MICHIGAN, TULANE, DUKE, AMERICAN, USC, MIAMI, ARIZONA, DARTMOUTH, PENN-but I would amend this by saying any state college- especially UW and WSU.

*Movie

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION-Why do Jackasses love "Shawshank"? Simple. It's the most shameless male-bonding movie ever made. Also add: HOOSIERS, RUDY, REMEMBER THE TITANS.

*(isms)

"Dude." "Duuuuude." "Bro." "Just doing the __________ thing, bro." "I?m fading, dude." "Game Over." "Go fuck yourself, Senator."

*Habitat
Among those listed are Super Bowl weekend, congress, and "Little Chicago, NYC," this is what the writer said about it:

I have a friend who calls the stretch of Park Avenue South between 17th and 30th streets "Date Rape Alley," which I admit, is pretty catchy. But I prefer "Little Chicago," because to the newly arrived, it looks like the coolest strip in town-if that town happened to be Chicago, or Phoenix or Dallas. There's a restaurant or club every five feet, and on a Friday night they're all packed with pretty women in for a night of too much Chardonnay and a roll on the futon. Not to sound snobby, but none of it is "New York" New York. It's New York as imagined by the creators of Friends. Calling it Little Chicago will, I'm sure, come off as Manhattan elitism, especially to our proud readers from Chicago. But I hold that the good people of Chicago would hate this place, too.

This sounds like Pioneer Square in Seattle. I would also suggest places like The Blu Water Bistro on Lake Union, and Peso's on Queen Anne.

Actually saw quite a few AJs (American Jackasses) in Hawaii.

Local Style

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The last few nights I hung out with Ed, who is a friend of a friend from Tokyo. He's a local who just got back from basic training, he's going into millitary intelligence. He took me to a local restaurant called The Sidestreet Inn. They served huge family style portions. The dish below is Cajun seared Mahi Mahi (cooked on the ouside and raw in the middle) with a mustard sauce. We also had fried rice, teraki chicken, and chicken katsu.

Liberal Pranksters

It's good to see that there are some liberal pranksters on the UH campus.

Cultural Diveristy & Language Education

The reason I went to Hawaii was to attend a conference on Cultural Diversity & Language Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. There were only two sessions that I thought were applicable to a university lecturer form Japan: "What difference does "Culture" make? (Re)Imagining the Japanese EFL context" and "Promoting Dialogue about Gender in EFL Classes at a Japanese University."

The first session on culture seemed a bit of a leap of faith for me, because I don't think there is any place in the world that is more homogeneous than teaching Japan. The presenter talked about Burakumin (lower caste people)-of which I have yet to encounter in Japan, Ainu (aboriginal people from Hokkaido) also of which I have never met, Ryukyu (Okinawa people) of who I have met but don't define themselves as being so, and Uchi (Others) Korean, Chinese and others left over from the after effects of empire building in the mid 20th century-these people usually have Japanese names and you wouldn't know in most cases unless they tell you or if their friends tell you-but they can't hold Japanese passports. I can't imagine using this in the classroom. Most of my students can't even use the present perfect accurately.

The second session seemed more interesting to me. "Promoting Dialogue about Gender in EFL Classrooms in Japan" seemed more applicable to me. I think this is something that might elicit dialogue; unfortunately most of my students wouldn't have the ability to have in-depth discussion. But there are two classes in which I might try to introduce a lesson on gender differences, especially since Japan in transition as far as gender roles go, women are doing things that they never have before, but traditional roles are being reinforced as well.

Here's a Chinese statue in front of Jefferson Hall, where the conference was held.

Here are two paintings inside the conference center.

Some Notes About Food

One of my favorite things about traveling is eating. While in Hawaii I had the opportunity to eat all the unhealthy junk food that is unavailiable in Japan: Jack-N-The-Box (Sourdough Cheeseburger), Taco Bell (Soft Taco Supreme), Denny's (Moons Over My Hammy), Burger King (The Whopper), Roundtable Pizza, etc...

But there was also a lot of really good fine dining as well. In particular, I really liked the different types of Hawaiian fish: Ono (a white fish), Ahi (yellow fin tuna), Mahi Mahi (dolphin fish-it has white flaky meat). I had these fish prepared a variety of ways: Mahi Mahi Tacos, a Mahi Mahi club Sandwich, Poke (which is Hawaiian style sashimi (raw fish), among others. But my favorite meal was a Screamin Sesame Opah Roasted Szechuan style (with sesame, chili pepper and green onion) that I had at Hula Grill, a new beachside restaurant in Waikiki.

Some other good restaurants I went to include Duke's, which is also in the Ourigger Hotel, it is just below Hula Grill. I had Ono Baked "Duke's Style" (baked in garlic, lemon and sweet basil glaze). And then there's Keoni's, a Thai restaurant in the Ohana East Hotel. I really enjoyed the Evil Jungle Prince Curry there.

I joined 24 Hour Fitness to combat my eating frenzy, but I still managed to put on a few pounds anyway, despite 6 trips to the gym.

Myself and Phil had some of the most authentic Pho I've had outisde Vietnam, before climbing Diamond Head.

I loved the bamboo wallpaper at Saigon restaurant.

Film Notes: Open Water & Open Wounds

I felt that Open Water was an appropriate movie to see while on vacation in Hawaii, even though we weren't doing any diving. I heard it was like The Blair Witch project, but filmed in the ocean. I don't think it was as scary, but it definitely had some frightening moments. Overall, I quite enjoyed it.

The other film I saw was We Don't Live Here Anymore, which is based on two short stories, "We Don't Live Here Anymore" and "Adultery," by one of my favorite contemporary short story writers, the late Andre Dubus. I don't remember the stories all that well; I was into my Dubus phase as an undergrad at the UW. I'd like to re-read them after seeing the movie. It was a powerful drama about marital dischord, and the leads were particularly excellent: Peter Krause, (my favorite actor from the excellent HBO series Six Feet Under), Naomi Watts (one of my favorite actresses-who was equally excellent in 21 Grams), Mark Ruffalo (who always does excellent work-see You Can Count On Me), Laura Dern (she finally seems to be showing signs of aging). The movie was supposed to be set in Washington State, but I don't know if it was actually filmed there. Dubus' stories usually took place in New England, Massachusetts or Maine. Incidentally, the more impressive film, In The Bedroom, was also based on a Dubus short story.

Diamond Head

Phil (below to the right-he teaches with me at Toyo University and is from Sydney) and I decided to climb Diamon Head, something I had hoped to do on my first trip (most of which was spent under the banyan tree at the Moana Hotel drinking Bud). It wasn't as easy as I thought in the sweltering tropical heat. Some sections were quite steep, especially the 90 steps near the summit. There were some beautiful views from up there, which made it worth the trouble.

Sweaty at the summit.

Another stunning viewpoint.

There's an army base in the crater, and the ridges have bunkers in them.

Comments

I just wanted to urge my readers to post more comments, especially if there are typos, inaccurate information, or dead links. Edward, in particular, has done a good job of letting me know about issues related to this.

In addition, sometimes when I run into people they tell me that they saw a movie based on my recommendation or were inspired to eat something based on a post. Let me know. That kind of stuff interests me, espeically if you disagree. I'd like this site to be more of a dialogue rather than a one way communication.

Lastly, if I don't know you personally I'd still like to hear any feedback. In some cases, it's more interesting to hear an outsider's opinion. Feel free to post. I hope you are enjoying the content of my blog, because I enjoy posting on it.

USS Arizona Memorial

I wanted to visit this memorial on my first trip, but didn't fit it in. The historical documentary that is shown before the boat trip that takes vistors out to the memorial was informative and well-made. There's quite a wait to get there, but it was worthwhile to visit.

This wall lists the name of every sailor who perished, the average age was 19.

This is the gun turret visable above the water.

It still oozes a gallon or two of oil a day, you can see it on the water surface here.