Resuscitating the Heater on Shunbun No hi

My night was spent like most of my nights since moving here to Kashihara City. There I was, bundled in a sweater a few sizes too larger for, sitting by the warmth of my Ukadac FH-1225 IV heater typing away at a journal entry like this one while downloading a film to watch either that evening or sometime later in the week. Working in a video store for two years allowed for the wonderful the consumption of cinema which I so crave. I am a cinephil, a film snob, whatever label you want to slap onto somebody who devoures films as though they were oversized chocolate Rice Crispies with chocolate cake icing filling (oh, Chocolate Pillows, why are you eluding me so? Did I do something to upset you? I take it back…I TAKE IT BACK!) I will spare you the long rant I go on about the current state of modern film and the sheer amount of shit produced each year for millions of dollars. Though the video store were be sent boxes and boxes of the fecal matter which is Little Man or anything staring Vince Vaughn (Swingers excluded) every so often I would find something watchable crushed underneath the crap. We would often be sent Criterion Collection DVDs which are generally considered the pinnacle of cinema (if you obliterate from your mind the release of Armageddon), we’d receive many documentaries and then there were those cult titles that were either hit or miss but usually a homerun. I was fairly close to clearing all the films of interest before leaving. Not being a person for bars or clubs, rented cinema –check that…FREE rented cinema…ah, the perks-- filled up a large hole in my evening life between emails and sleep and now with the net back at my adoring fingertips I have a downloadable video store that is just a click a way. I was not one to download films back home (although it was not because of some stance against downloading and piracy) but in my current situation it is much easier then trying to find films with English subtitles or communicate to somebody who doesn’t understand me just what it is I am looking for. That and, of course, it doesn’t cost me a single Yen and with the net speed here I am able to have a flick on the laptop here in a few hours. My preference has been Japanese cinema as I like the idea of watching films in the country of their origin. I have seen Seven Samurai and have Rashomon ready to go, two Kurosawa classics. Tokyo Story awaits a viewing as does Hiroshima, Mon Amore (which I actually would like to watch in Hiroshima itself if I decide to cart the laptop up there). I have also found some rarities I have been meaning to watch for years but could never dig up.

During my keyboard tapping and cinema searching a strange sound started emanate from my immediate left. It startled me so much I nearly split my coffee over The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (a book borrowed from another teacher at our last staff meeting). The sound was exactly what one might here if you were standing close to a bug zapper. Zap! Buzz! Zap! The sound of fried mosquitoes. The light on the wall flickered and dimmed. Ack! No, tell me this isn’t so! The sound was coming from my heater! A bulb was flickering out in the bug zapping buzzing sound and my heart froze in my chest at the thought of the provider of my heat dying. I immediately engaged in heater CPR by unplugging the giver of warmth and then plugging it backed it. This worked for a few minutes but then the zap, zap, zap returned. I started to wonder if this thing had the capability of busting into flames. Looking at all the wood around me I decided to not find out and unplugged the heater until it cooled down. I figured I’d examine the inside but could not remove the cage. This would be needed to replace the bulb and looks like it requires a screwdriver that I do not have. Shivering now on this cold March evening I gave into possible tragedy and plugged the dying heater back in figuring that if my room caught fire at least I’d be warm. Burnt and crispy warm like overcooked bacon. Pass over some marshmallows. Within minutes the heater gave one final pop and zap and the top bulb went out completely leaving only the middle and bottom bulbs. The results of the burnt out bulb is that the heater now producers less warmth but less warmth is better than no warmth and it will do until the warm weather comes around in the next few weeks. By winter I am sure I’d have figured out how to use the fan heating unit above the television set but for now I am huddled next to my FH-1225 hoping it still has some life inside of it despite missing a vital organ. Don’t you die on me, heater. You’re the closest thing to a warm set of arms that I have and, besides that, you keep my coffee hot when I find myself in a mad typing rhythm and forget that I had a cup of coffee to begin with. You are my heat and my light and if, if I dare say, I love you little guy. Without you I’d be cold inside…no, really, I’d be fucking freezing inside so you just keep right on burning and I’ll keep right on loving you in that totally platonic way a man shows such emmotion to a three foot heating unit.

Moving right along, today is a National Holiday in Japan but not a holiday for me as I still had to work. You’d think there would be less kids arriving to class on a holiday but with them having been home all day the parents, I’m sure, really wanted to ditch them and I had class loads. No troubles, though, as both of my lessons today went by without me having to elevate my voice above my normal octave. The holiday is called Shunbun no hi or Vernal Equinox Day. This day is set aside for the Japanese to admire nature and all of its living things. I guess it is sort of like the Japanese version of Earth Day. The holiday first started in 806. On this day many Japanese will visit the graves of their ancestors to place down flowers and wash the tombstones using those wells and basins I have seen in the few cemeteries I have visited. I think every country needs a day dedicated to general contemplation of life and the earth. We could call it Hippie Day. Maybe with some time set aside to focus on the greatest of nature we wouldn’t, as a race, keep fucking it up so much.

Happy Shunbun no hi everybody!