日本での一年間 = One Year In Japan: Wednesday, June 16, 2010- (THE JAPANESE TWINS LIST)

First of all, my sister Maria has started her blog for Rotary Youth Exchange to Argentina 2010-2011. It is cleverly named "La Vida Mia" which in Spanish means both "My Life" and "The Life of Mia"(her childhood nickname!) BE SURE TO CHECK IT OUT!! She just posted her first entry: mestenson.blogspot.com

And now for one of the blog entries I've been thinking about for months now.

And it all starts Katherine Norrie...or at least her twin sister, whichever one you want to pick. It was she/they who set me off on a yearlong quest that is finally coming to fruition. You see the art teacher here at my local high school could be the perfect Japanese match for my art teacher and close family friend, Katherine Norrie, back at my alma mater of Northfield High School. It took less than a day at my school here before I started making a list of “Japanese Twins” based on family, friends, and celebrities back at home. Obviously I don’t have pictures of all these people, but for the most part I have found people who look like someone I know. As you’ll see from the following list, it is one of the most random conglomerations of names to ever grace the blog-o-sphere. I would like to say, before we begin, that this doesn’t in any way reflect how I feel towards you. I didn’t even find my own family, so if you aren’t on the list, don’t feel bad, it just means I haven’t found your Japanese clone yet!

Katherine Norrie and her sister, Yoshida-Sensei, are both fun and energetic art teachers. In fact, the word for glue in Japanese is even pronounced nori. It’s like it was meant to be! *
Yujie Sun has a fellow partner in (fashion) crime with Kikuchi from my homeroom. I’m pretty sure they’ve both at some point or another worn suspenders to school
Taylor Lawson served me sushi at a fast food restaurant
Miki, my other best friend from school will admit himself that he resembles everyone’s favorite Disney character
A woman walking her beagle - PERFECT match to Faye Caskey
Tyler Lebens apparently quit college in the US only to attend fishery school
Chelsea Koenigs’ kindred spirit is one of my other good friends here
Matt Vogel was in a children’s news program on channel 12
The quiet and smart kid from the fishery class last year was a mixture of Kyle Smested and Ira Hanson
Laurie Brackee was on the news in a story about her elderly mother living independently
Calina Hall is a Rotary rebound student who went to France for a year
A mixture of Cindy Barrientos and Sarah Behr also spent a year abroad through Rotary
My fishing and kayaking teacher Tanaka-Sensei is just like John Daniels*
The 45-year-old version of Jonny Bauman was snorkeling for giant salamanders in a sewer
Doug Hiza enjoying a nice dip in the local hot springs
Arlene Carol passed me while biking
My cousin Phil has the same sense of humor and comical facial expressions as Abe from my homeroom class
Russell Anway’s voice was on one of those cheesy tapes accompanying the school’s English textbooks
The twin of my other cousin, Brian still towered over his fellow soccer players in the men’s local futsol league
Steph (of Jeff and Steph fame) quietly read her book on a train to Utsunomiya with me – I was tempted to ask her how she’d been doing lately but didn’t want to disturb her from her novel!
Adrian Lazaro’s new name is Shogo, one of the Rotex friends I made
Amber Woitalla’s voice came floating (okay screaming) down the hallways of my high school…just like the good old days, minus the Japanese of course!
Sonja Norgaard plays the guitar in a bright purple dress, apparently
Ashley Reilly was in the background of some political event on TV
Brekken, the rambunctious German shorthair dog owned by my cousins, was doing what she loved most – hunting. But this time, instead of pheasants she was chasing stray monkeys through the hills of Nagano!! Turns out monkeys are a bit smarter than birds. I could just see her little mind running though, - I’ll even go through the trouble of translating it for you! - “Awww, man I almost had that one!! Really, really. Jeez, I’d even give my left ear if I could just climb these darn trees!! Then they’d really be stuck. I’m gonn- MONKEY!!!!” and off she would sprint again.
Cindy Kramer and Deb Thomforde both have children going abroad next year. I’ll bet you didn’t know that, did you ladies?! =)
Siri Thompson is a TV celebrity
A third year in my school is Meowth from Pokemon - his hairstyle even looks like cat ears
His friend looks like an Orc from Lord of the Rings, or maybe a goblin. I’m not sure which yet, all I know is I feel really bad for that guy…
Yosh Soltis was a doctor giving flu shots
A duo of third year students remind me a bit too much of lizards. I tend to steer clear of them!*
Isaac Tut stood out for obvious reasons in a crowd of short little Japanese people
Margaret Colangelo in a convenience store buying juice
Donna Paulsen making her way home on the train
Katy Shuermann was a teacher leading her class through the castle of Naha, Okinawa
Danyelle Fuhrmann in the international street of that same city
Jacob Merkle driving his scooter near the beach
Pam Vig in a full body wind suit jogging happily with a friend (in an equally flashy outfit) along the sidewalk. I always knew you had a neon pink and yellow flare to you, Pam!
Jeanne Tamura outside of a Harajuku 100 Yen store
Sam Studer was dressed like Santa Claus in Shinjuku, Tokyo
Susan Boyle dropped off her kid at Bato High School
Alan Riveros riding a Tokyo train
Nick Arvidson in a business suit. Lookin’ spiffy Nick!
Katrin Holl, the Austrian exchange student who came to NHS a couple years back, was shopping in a Yokohama mall
Bri Lane was also (surprise surprise) power shopping at the mall!
Mia Miller was my waitress in a Chinatown restaurant. You looked a little bit upset though, Mia, what happened to you on December 6^th, 2009?! You were making your twin angry =P
Ellen Mucha boarding a Shinkansen Bullet Train in Tokyo
A fortuneteller who looked a lot like a giant toad. Too bad her own fortune didn’t turn out better
Mrs. Salisbury owns a books store near my house
Maya Rudolph from SNL was waiting at a stoplight
Felicia Hansel walking home from school
There’s a girl in my cooking class who looks like Allie Lyman did during her self admittedly awkward childhood years. Anyone who’s been to her house, picture the little league button on their fridge!
A drawing of a Christmas elf on the side of a chocolate bar looked like Barry Carlson
Maren Dvorak was on the side of every cigarette vending machine in Japan for the month of December
Casey Watkins in a Sendai department store on Christmas Eve
Someone walking the streets with his girlfriend had the same hair and nose as the Crazy Horse statue in South Dakota
Sarah Martens on a TV show about savings the cheetahs
Kylie Daniels was some school girl making mochi rice cakes on channel 4
Rachael Stets was a very fashionable girl on the train who wore a giant fur hat and even had a “Rachael Stets-ian” scarf
Angie Tanghe was wearing an expensive kimono in an Utsunomiya department store
Vicki Dilley is a singer dressed all in white who sang at the New Year’s television special*
Cousin Alisa competed in the Japanese version of Name That Tune.
Wendy Smith holding a bouquet of flowers in a crowded train station
A mixture of Rachel Sampson and Emily Quinnell (or kind of like the recent, and much improved, version of Miley Cyrus) eating ramen noodles in Sano. Still the best-looking girl I’ve seen all year!!
Chisaki Iijima even had a Japanese twin. Max and I were convinced it was her for a minute
Frau Winkelman boarding a train in Utsunomiya
A fifty-year-old, excessively well groomed Jacob Anderson was standing talking to himself about how cold it was in the station waiting room
Gary Carlson gave me a kind nod as I biked to school – very Gary Carlson of him!
Tommy VanWylen was touring the Asakusa Shrine
Phil Soltis stopped to enjoy a street performance in Ueno Park
A 45-year-old version of Neil Wefel near the Japanese National Museum – Neil’s favorite place, of course
Hillary Van Wyngeeran had more than just a little bit of sass as she walked down a nearly empty Tokyo sidewalk. It was like she was struttin’ her stuff on the catwalk rather than a dirty city walkway! But good for you, Hill.
Cinda Laabs gave me a very Cinda-esque smile and nod a narrow Tokyo street
My grandma Estenson was (in my mind) wearing a far too racy and lacy black sequins dress for a nationwide karaoke competition on TV. She even had long black gloves and matching red hair…That one scared me a little bit. I can honestly say I’d never pictured my grandma Asian before!
Again, Allie Lyman if she were thirty years older this time, and owned a Chinese restaurant – shoot for the stars Allie =D
Bjorn Carlson was an aspiring acapella punk rocker on a competitive music program
I found a 12-year-old Cale Steinhoff on my host brother’s soccer team, he played defense and not only was he half as tiny as everyone else, he was twice as crafty
Lila Weaver seemed very happy to be spending the day in Tokyo Disney Sea
In a Rotary magazine there was a picture of a big, scary foreign man (I’m guessing Ukrainian or Belarusian) who had a flat top and was wearing a black and blue soccer warm up. I was convinced Cohrs had finally seen the light and become a Rotarian!
I saw Emma Twito in fifty years. Don’t worry Emma, you’ve still got your same spunk and style =)
Céline Dion was driving her van near the supermarket – gotta make that sushi!
Amanda Frazier was on a Japanese game show…and failed horribly!
Taylor Shroyer (or his dad, seeing as they look the same) reeled in a 20 kilo Giant Sea Bass on a famous fishing program, well done Shroyer, well done.
I saw a tall blonde foreigner that looked so much like Solveig Hagen that I was left wondering if it wasn’t really her. Solveig, were you by any chance in rural South-central Japan this February?
I found Amberly, my fellow exchange student, waitressing in the Tsutaya Wired café n the top floor of the Shibuya shop. Is that how you afforded all those crazy Harajuku outfits, Amberly??
Professor Snape was an Olympic long jump skier*
Kristy Wacek and George from Seinfeld were holding hands on an early spring walks through town
Sandra Bernhard has moved to tiny Tochigi, Japan. The last place in the world any paparazzi would be looking for her (but then again, when was the last time any were!)
Ruth Bauman is a little country farmer
Congratulations Kevin Holmsten, you graduated from high school in Japan also.
My Aunt Barb and Lois Peterson were a duet at a local music concert. I didn’t know you two could play the Japanese koto!
Meanwhile at that same concert Bruce Dalgaard sat with a smile on his face, just like I’m sure the real Bruce would be enjoying a koto recital.
Jake Sager was eating at a hamburger restaurant called “The Grab Happiness”
Beret Amundson if she were a middle aged Japanese house wife
There’s a pair of really dense fellows in the fishery first year class who remind me of Crabbe and Goyle from Harry Potter
Imagine Liz Brady in a perpetual state of fear, like when she makes her eyes so big you can see the white all the way around them, and that was the face of a woman trying to park her car in the restaurant parking lot. Very frightening
Lindsay Vonn apparently did some post Olympic R&R in Nakagawa, Japan
Picture a frog with a big curly Afro like bubble of hair and that’s one of my classmates
Abby Stets was one of two people, either the youngest (and as you can see from the picture on the right - cutest) grand-daughter of my first host family or a freshman at my high school who has hair longer than her waist. So you can pick Abby, which do you want to be?!? =)*
Liza Rod served me lunch one time
Joe Gallagher was really into photographing trees…what’s that all about, Joe?
Ron Sommers cruising the countryside roads in his truck
Sam Maus out for a jog
Aaron Bradley drives a fancy black Nissan
A clone of Emily Stets, but with the personality of Dusti Boyum
Funny enough, the first find during the trip with my cousin Andrew was none other than our grandma Alice. She was sitting across from us on the train and proceeded to pull random items out of her purse, in true grandma fashion. Her hair was even the same style
Heather Scott was the first person I recognized in the Kyoto station
A very “Jenny Kram” like girl was checking emails at our Kyoto hotel
A nice plump Rosie O’Donnell waiting for the Osaka train
Mr. Joyce fell asleep on the metro across from Andrew and I. Andrew wanted to pull a prank on him, but I convinced him it probably wasn’t the real Mr. Joyce
If Sam Weaver’s aunt Trish looked a little bit more like an Eskimo I could have sworn that she got on a metro train with us in Osaka
The previous Prime Minister Mr. Hatoyama for some reason looks like he could be in the Abdella family*
A Japanese mix of my cousin Molly Studer and Katie Nygren on the metro
Beyoncé also loves the metro system apparently
Stina Nesbit was, of course, a Japanese television drama star
Colleen Norton almost hit me in her Jeep. Don’t worry Colleen, I forgive you =)
Alan Cox, definitely an Alan Cox, was spotted on my way to school
Justin Stets if he wore glasses and were a banker
Mary Carlson perusing a Tokyo CD store
I served Katie Ingman lunch at our restaurant – she ordered soba noodles and tempura (good choice, Kate, good choice!)
17-year-old Anne Minske passed me in rollerblades
Jim Thompson dropping off his daughter at school. But unless Siri or Liv have shrunk by about a foot and dyed their hair black, I don’t think he was dropping off either of them. =P
And finally, just a few days ago, I spotted my cousin’s little boy Cole Sommer, frantically trying to escape from his parents at a rest stop. He put up a good fight too, getting out of their grip and halfway across the parking lot before he was recaptured