too long

I know I've been here too long when things like this are no longer surprising. (YOU know I've been here too long when you look down and see that I'm wearing pink anime plastic bunny head slippers and thinking nothing of it.)
This Pokemon car was parked at school today. I don't know why, no. I don't ask how or who. I chose to simply appreciate it for what it was.

the secret of nabe

Ok ok, I`ll actually tell you why Nabe is a funny name for my car. Asta is right on: nabe means pot in Japanese. Isnt that funny enough, right there?

My car is Okinawan and clearly female, so after a nomikai (drinking party) one night I asked my female co-workers, "what is a typical Okinawan female name?" Shouko hiccoughs (being somewhat tipsy at the time this occurred), sways, ponders for a moment, raises her index finger and proclaims NABE!. Case closed.

Why would this be a name for a person, you are wondering. Before WWII, it wasn't uncommon for women in Okinawa to be named after common household kitchen items. One of these names was Nabe. So, thats pretty much just weird and hilarious by itself.

A last twist on the story is that the most famous woman poet in Okinawan history (my sources on this are Etsuko sensei and Jeff) was named Nabe. Onna Nabe (Ms. Pot Woman).

So its a good name! Respectibiggle (as some cheerful Marsh-wiggles might say) and full of Okinawan cultural history.

なべ the '93 Toyota Starlet

You may or may not know that the Chapman Women have a long tradition of naming our automobiles. Sandi`s poor Charlie (who had a troubled history of drugs and tinted windows) moved on to a new foster family several years back; I laid the faithful Petunia to rest, just before coming to Japan; Ruby Pearl (whose delicious, glossy paint we shall never forget) set out with a new job as a community organizer last year, headed south to work with FLOC (the Farm Labor Organizing Committee). In her place, mom welcomed Juanita (a bio-diesel who is more into character than flash) into the family. And I? I now drive a 1993 Toyota Starlet. Starlets were never marketed in American (go ahead, someone correct me, I know nothing of cars). Here she is:

I know what you're thinking... geez, Joyce is really into the Toyota type. She likes those small little Japanese cars: responsible, reliable, strong in emotional crisis... it's not like that! Pure coincidence, friends.

I blush to say that it has taken me 6 months to decide on a name for the lovely Starlet. But decided it is!

なべ。 Nabe.

If you aren't living in Okinawa, you are probably not guffawing at that name. Ha. It shall remain a mystery to you. Or maybe I'll have more energy to write more about it later.