Michigander in Hyogo

Tajima Ultimate

2009-07-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

Numbers:

0 practice sessions
2 days of Ultimate
7 games
7 losses
20th place
1 small bottle of sunblock
20 bottles of water
1 bucket of sweat and blood

Words:

ALTs from Tamba and Sasayama and friends and family made the journey to Tajima in northern Hyogo prefecture for a two-day Ultimate tournament this weekend. We never bothered to practice as a team before going. We didn't even throw a frisbee around. That did not deter us from getting out onto the pitch and having a good time.

Admittedly, I have been living a pretty inactive life for the past few months, so I was not well-prepared for running around. By the third game on Saturday my legs were nearly shot. By the fourth game my legs felt like over-stretched rubberbands. It was a bit overcast but it was still hot. I sweat buckets.

Still, we did well and continually increased our score in each game even though we were going up against teams of all sorts of abilities.

After the games we stopped by an onsen, set up the tents on the camp ground, and went to a bbq for dinner.

The second day was not too bad, but by the end I was as useful as some unuseful thing on the field.

Fun, but tiring.

Pictures:

Also, it appears that I forgot to publish a post back in March about my trip to Hiroshima. It's posted now, so please view it!

Summertime

2009-06-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

It's summer here in Japan. The air conditioner is in use. The rainy season is here. There are giant spiders and centipede in the house. Everyday I walk through enough spiderwebs to knit a sweater for a toy poodle.

I thought I'd show you some pictures from around the house. First, we have the front yard and the mountain across the street.

On the other side of that wall is a giant gutter. My car could fit in it. Crabs, frogs, fish, kingfishers, wagtails, spiders, and lizards make their home there. Mostly because I never clean out the weeds that grow there. But then, the school doesn't either.

Next I have some photos from a walk around Aogaki I took with some people from the KUStudio.

関西大学佐治スタジオ Kansai University Saji Studio

2009-05-31T06:20:00.000-07:00

A few months ago my barber suggested that I go around the corner and meet the folks at the Kansai University Saji Studio. So I did!

Saji is one of the neighborhoods in Aogaki. In fact, it is theneighborhood. It is certainly the most densely populated part of town and is home to several schools, the bank, the post office, and many vending machines. It's sandwiched nicely between the river and mountains. Thus, it was a good place to house the Saji Studio.

The Studio (if I understood correctly) was a joint project between Kansai University and the town government. The University asked what was needed and delivered it. The University uses the Studio as a sort of mini base of operations. Students might spend the weekend there while they participate in some hands-on projects, research independently, or attend seminars. Saji neighborhood gets a bunch of young and willing volunteers to renovate select buildings, a way to bring in interesting speakers, and cultural events. Strawberry picking, knitting, cooking, gardening, Nordic walking ... you name it!

It's somewhere between a community center and a university laboratory.

It also brings a lot of younger people and ideas into the town. Not to mention, people I can hang out with and relate to a bit! I usually stop by after work at my base school to see what's going on. It's a good way for me to practice my very poor Japanese and meet some new people in town.

This weekend the Saji Studio hosted a certain Mr. Yoji Inoue, a landscape architect, who went on a tour of Aogaki with us on Saturday (followed by a great dinner) and then had a presentation on Sunday at the community center. I wish my Japanese were good enough to be able to understand everything, because the handouts were certainly impressive, but I have to admit that I had little idea what was being said. Still, the visuals were enough to get me by and Mr. Inoue was kind enough to banter with me in English a little bit. He asked me what I thought about Aogaki and gave me a little insight into the layout of the town.

His current (or latest) project is Art in Farm in Tachikawa outside of Tokyo. Check it out!

I got Seoul

2009-05-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

There were several options available for filling up my Golden Week vacation. I could go to Toyo-Oka, just a few hours away. I could go to Sasebo and finally see the island of Kyushu.

But just a month away from Golden Week I decided I was going to go to South Korea. I have a great friend teaching English there, family of a friend, and lots of other JETs in the area had been there before, so I could glean some information and recommendations from them.

So I ordered up my ferry tickets, my shinkansen/bullet train tickets, found a host on couchsurfing, and was off!

April 29th, Showa Day
I got into Fukuoka, bought my ferry ticket, and then chilled around town. There was a very nice, practically free museum (Fukuoka Prefectural Museum) that I hung around for several hours. Very comfy chairs, let me tell you. That evening I met up with my couchsurfing host and we went out for some dinner and drinks with other couchsurfers. Some passing Japanese even decided to join our little picnic of dried squid, Pringles, and sausage.

April 30th
I hopped aboard the JR Kyushu Beetle ferry from Fukuoka to Busan. Slept most of the way there. Got into Busan and dropped my luggage off at the apartment of friends of a friend.

Busan is the second largest city in Korea and is a port city and everything is built into the hills. The apartment complexes are huge and tower above all else. There are restaurants on every street and lots of them have tanks of baby octopus, flounder, eel, and other sea critters in front of the storefront. Streets are busy. Cars will not slow down to squeeze through pedestrians and other cars.

Went to Beomeosa Temple, where I had my First Middle Aged Asian Stalker With a Giant Camera. I managed to shake him off a bit when I struck a pose complete with peace signs. No, sir, you do not possess ninja powers of invisibility. Yes, sir, I noticed you about 20 minutes ago.

The temples were preparing for Buddha's Birthday and hanging lanterns. Lanterns with chibi-Buddha.

Beomeosa also had a lovely path (walking towards the temple you'll see it on your left) with hundreds of wisteria vines. It was a bit mysterious that they bothered supporting some of them with metal scaffolding when they had hundreds of trees to cling to.

That evening I went out with Lisa, the friend of a friend, to a kimbap restaurant.

I was really only in South Korea for the sake of eating everything I could.

I don't think this cost us more than 10,000 won ($8). Egg, rice, kimchi jjiggae soup, mandu dumplings, side dishes, kimbap rolls, kimchi, and more soup.

It was the best damn stuff I'd had in a while.

People were pretty friendly. Someone actually paid for a subway ticket for me when I couldn't get through the gate because my ticket was 200 won short (the fare map lied to me, I'm sure of it!). People were always eager to make sure I knew where I was going.

May 1st

I got on a train from Busan to Seoul. This train went 301 km/h and the ticket cost me 48,100 won ($37). It was a 2.5 hour ride. The same will cost you about $150 in Japan.

I met up with Mary (fellow AYFer and MSU grad) and her workmates and we went out for a dinner of galbi, which is Korean BBQ beef wrapped in a leaf with garlic, mushrooms, kimchee, red pepper sauce, and anything else you care to eat with it.

This meal cost 0 won, because Mary's Newfoundland workmates treated me. They also treated me to some Hoegaarten at a Canadian bar that had just relocated and reopened. There were bagpipes. I was pleased.

May 2nd

It was a rainy day, so I went to the Gustav Klimt exhibit at the Seoul Arts Center, which was pretty neat.

I also went to Jogyesa Temple as it was Buddha's Birthday.

I really dig Korea's approach to buildings. They are always very open.

May 3rd

I went to the amazing Korean National Museum. It was huge. Not just the museum, but the grounds. I checked out their first floor of pre-historic artifacts and their Buddhist statues.

I met up with the brother of a friend from MSU. We went out to dinner, saw a palace, and he told me a good amount about Korea and Seoul.

May 4th

There was a belated Buddhamas Miracle when Mary was feeling better and we had a great day out. The weather was beautiful. We went to Itaewong's foreign district where there is an amazing English bookstore with new and used books. I got some pretty neat stuff. I also got some souvenirs and loads of stationery. Lunch at The Foreign Restaurant included a free side of Bollywood music videos.

I will not tell you how much I spent on books. But I will tell you what I got: Y The Last Man, The Sandman, Takarazuka, The Habit, Anansi Boys, Making Money, Biomimicry, The Story of English, and Everything is Illuminated.

There was also street food. Delicious, delicious street food.

May 5th

Packed, ate breakfast, and said my goodbyes. I got in a taxi cab at about 7:40AM and I arrived in Aogaki at about 10:15PM. I was very lucky to get a shinkansen ticket once I got off the ferry. I did not want to spend two days on local trains. I didn't have to do too much walking, which made me happy.

Hiroshima 広島

2009-03-29T02:59:00.000-07:00

My apologies! I never published, but had it saved as a draft. (July 17th)

Thursday morning I woke up. Showered, got dressed, ate. Took luggage and self to the car.
Car did not start. Steering wheel was locked up. Could not get it to unlock. 5:30AM. Train would leave at 6:44AM from Kaibara. Station is 30 minutes away by car. Key is still not turning in locked and steering wheel is still locked.

I paid 10,000 yen for bus tickets from Osaka to Hiroshima. I was getting on a train to Osaka, dammit!

So I walked down to the convenience store to see if they had the telephone number for the taxi company in town. Taxis wouldn't start running until 8AM, however. So instead of taking a taxi the convenience store staff arranged to have me arrive at the station at 7:30AM via bread delivery truck. The delivery guy was good company on the way to the station. He even skipped his last stop before the station to make sure I got on the train on time. Mr. Morikawa, I take off my cap to you!

I eventually got to Osaka (after some delays) and Heidi and I took a later bus to Hiroshima.

We stayed at a lovely hostel called the Hana Hostel and hung out with a bunch of great people, mostly Westerners, in the evenings.

Our first full day we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Dome, which is a skeleton of a building that survived the blast. We also went to the Peace Memorial Museum and the memorial for Sadako Sasaki.

Our second day we went to Miyajima Island, famous for its "floating" architecture, monkeys, momiji manju, and deer imported from Nara. They have some of the best preserved forests in Japan on the island.

Amazing Adventures in Aogaki!

2009-03-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right, dear readers! Saturday I snubbed my sickly symptoms and struck out on my one-speed steed to soak in the sun and surroundings.

Sakura and sugi are just some of the symbols of spring in this Land of the Sun. Sakura summon the sights and sounds of sloshed salarymen sipping Sapporo, sake, and shochu under a snowfall of petals. Sadly, sugi seasonally send scores of sufferers into spasms of sneezes, their schnozes veritable spouts of snot, eyes shedding salty tears.

(I hope at this point you're as impressed with my prose as I am!)

I walked along the river for a while in the hopes of catching sight of something new. And I did! More flowers that my guides fail to cover. I guess Aogaki offers more than can be covered in two guides.

This little Buddhist shrine is nestled half-way up a small hill.

Each day Buddah looks down on the little town of Aogaki and wonders if it will ever be more than a two-convenience store village.

I'm sure there's an art to catching birds on film (or in pixels). Something tells me there's a lot of waiting and chance involved. Perhaps some camouflage as well. I usually end up scaring birds away before I am able to spot them. Usually they taunt me with their frilly calls.

"I'm here, I'm here!"
"I hear you, but I can't see you."
"Now I'm over here! Over here!"
"You're getting farther away."
"Over here, over here!"
"That's all well and good, but I have other things to do..."
"Over here, over here!"
"I'm pedaling away. You are such a tease."

There were two of these keri or grey-headed lapwings in a rice field. Finally something that guide can i.d.

It was two hours well used.

Sumo in Osaka

2009-03-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday I headed to Osaka to watch the sweeping, salt-throwing, name-announcing, ice cream-hawking, futon-carrying, bow-wielding, face-wiping, belly-pounding extravaganza known as sumo. Oh yeah, there was also some fat man shoving and throwing going on.

First, the two competing stables will have their members called one-by-one as they enter the ring and do a little ritual. It is the "macarena" of sumo. Easy to do and synchronized.

Before the actual bout can begin, there's still a lot to do.

You gotta sweep and water and then do some more sweeping.

Then you gotta announce the wrestlers and if there are any sponsors, you get some stable boys to walk around the ring with advertisements. At the final bout McDonald's had three banners. Mm, the food of champions.

Finally, the wrestlers enter the ring after throwing in some salt. Everyone has their preferences for how much they throw and how high. And then the stare-down begins. They look like they're about to duke it out when finally one stands up and walks out of the ring and the other follows. They go back to their corners, get a drink, spit it out, and grab some more salt. There is another round of staring each other down. Then they stand up again. The crowd goes nuts. They go back to their corners and wipe themselves with a handkerchief. They grab some more salt. Finally they're ready to go.

There's a lot of preparation (sometimes 3 minutes) and the actual bout lasts usually less than a minute.

Rinse and repeat 35 times.

More adventures with food

2009-03-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

What could be better than buttered toast?

How about a kimchee omelet on buttered toast?

How about a kimchee omelet on rye bread?

Yay for non-white bread.

It's like I never left home

2009-02-23T01:38:00.000-08:00

Two Sundays ago the temperature was in the 60s and it was glorious

Three wishes:
1. Bird would give me a moment to grab my camera,
2. I had a camera that could handle more distance and I knew how to use it,
3. I had a decent guide to Japanese birds. The current one does not cut it.

Something is always in bloom in Hyogo.

Now the weather's back to being crummy, gloomy, rainy, and snowy.

I pass by this sign everyday that says キリストの再臨は近い！キリスト (kirisuto) and 近い(chikai, or "near") were the only two words I could read and I didn't know what kirisuto could be. It's in the katakana script, which is mostly reserved for foreign words. So for the longest time I thought the sign said something like "There is a crystal (kirisuto) shop nearby" or maybe "There is a crystal mine nearby". But about a month ago I was biking by it again and recognized the kanji 再, which sorta means "again" or "re-" and suddenly it all clicked!

First person to put it all together using only what's been written here gets Japanese sweet potato KitKats sent to them.

(Hint: kirisuto =/= crystal, の = 's (possessive))

漫才　Manzai!

2009-02-23T00:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday I was invited to see some manzai in Sasayama. Manzai is usually a two-man comedic act in which a straight man and his idiot partner discuss this or that. The idiot gets hit upside the head a lot and the straight man is always astounding by his friend's stupidity. Manzai has expanded to include lots of different styles. Some are more physical and full of slapstick, while others drop the straight man/idiot set up, and still other acts may have up to four members.

There were 20 acts in all (although there were also magic acts and a musical performance by my neighbor, Maestro Adachi) and of them I really only understood one well enough to honestly laugh a bit. Still, I didn't think I'd understand even that much.

The audience was mixed; everyone from 2-year-old tots to 90-year-old crones showed up. Being the inaka and Japan being an aging/aged society, there were definitely more of the latter. Perhaps that accounts for the audience response, as the performers were usually a lot younger than the audience. Some of the non-manzai acts actually got more laughs than the manzai acts.

Or maybe Japanese comedy is just like Japanese sweets - not too overwhelming. There was no knee-slapping or rolling in the aisles or having to wipe tears away. Goofy? Yes. Clever? Yes. HILARIOUS? No. But then, I don't speak Japanese.

Here is Somei Yoshino, the one group I did manage to understand (though they performed a different piece).

青垣の生活　　Daily Life in Aogaki : A Dichotomous Key

2009-02-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

6:30AM Alarm goes off.

1a. If Monday, Tuesday, or Thursdays, go to 2
1b. If Wednesday or Friday --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:10

2a. If I can see my breath, --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:30
2b. If I can't see my breath --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:15

Okay, enough of that.

Breakfast used to be well-rounded, but that was months ago when I was still going to bed at 8PM and waking up at 5AM. Now I'm doing good if I remember to grab a mikan orange on my way out the door or if I remember to throw some toast into the toaster oven. Sometimes there is time for tea.

MTTh I am at work by 8:10 and morning meeting starts at 8:15 at my base school. I swivel around in my chair and listen to the meeting, but hardly understand anything. Usually I hold off my reading of the NYTimes until about 8:20, when the morning meeting is over and teachers are running around getting ready for homeroom. I have time to look at my schedule, set out books, find class lists, mentally prepare myself, and maybe eat that mikan.

If I have to go to the bank I'll find an hour I don't have anything to do and walk down to the bank. A good 7 minute walk. Wakes me up and gets me out of the office with all of its fumes from the space heaters.

Usually I'll have 2-3 classes, though sometimes only 1 or as many as 4. Usually I can be out by 4PM, but sometimes I'll stay later if there's something to work on or ponder. Once in a while a student will ask for a conversation hour after class or the cooking or taiko clubs will invite me to a meeting and I will be at the school until 5 or 6PM.

In warm weather I might go for a walk or bike my way on some errands after work, but in cold weather I do one thing: sit under my kotatsu, eat at my kotatsu, and drink at my kotatsu. I catch up with mail and messages and Skype friends and family. It's my time to unwind.

WF I am at work by 8:05 for the 8:10 meeting. More of the same. Any number of classes. If it's a slow day I'll walk into town for lunch, either to the grocery store or the bakery.

If it's a Wednesday I stay in the office and work/read until about 5PM and then head out to dinner with friends before going to my weekly Japanese lesson. I get home around 9 or 10PM, depending on when the lesson begins and how long it lasts, which all depends on if I feel like the living dead or not.

If it's a Friday, there are several possibilities: I run out of the building at 4 on the dot and return home, I run out at 4 on the dot and hop on the train to a weekend destination, or I stay until 6 and hang out with the tea ceremony club. I sorta got roped into that, but it's fun and there are Japanese sweets involved, so it's all good.

In other news, I killed a mukade in the bathroom yesterday. I guess that means it's spring.

猫の時間 Neko no Jikan!

2009-02-08T02:11:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Osaka with a fellow ALT, who works at the same school as I do, only on a different day.

We went to a cat cafe, where you pay a 1,050 yen to hang out with cats for an hour and enjoy a drink. You can doodle in guest books, flip through cat photography books, and do various other cat-related things.

The cats are friendly, but they won't come and sit in your lap. I mean, they're cats, right? What did you expect? This guy just sat on the bookshelf with his face in the corner.

I was unfortunate enough to be stuck in the doorway between the cafe and the cat room when the owners decided it was feeding time and suddenly I was in the middle of a cat stampede. Imagine that scene in LotR where Arwen rescues Frodo by summoning those river horses (no, not hippos, you know what I mean) to drown the Nazgul. Yeah, it was like that.

Altogether a good time. The longhairs were real friendly and it was great to watch the cats jump around and cause a little bit of mischief.

I think I'll have to check out the dog cafe sometime soon.

Kyoto Part Two!

2009-01-13T01:21:00.000-08:00

From Saturday through Monday I was in Kyoto with fellow MSU grad and current ALT Heidi. We stayed at the Shunko-in Temple in northern Kyoto City. Believe it or not, I found out about the temple through a facebook advertisement hawking discounts to JETs and Arizona State University alum. The vice-abbot speaks English and gives tours of the temple and garden and leads a 30 minute meditation session, mercifully excluding the Stick of Compassion. Unlike the Portugeuse bell, hidden crosses in the garden lanterns, and some of the Christian imagery on the temple's screens, the Stick of Compassion did not come over with the Jesuits (I don't think they brought any Catholic school nuns with them).

Enjoying some tea and not causing trouble after meditation.

The accomodations were not at all shabby!

The temple is a part of a larger complex called Myoshinji.

Another part of Myoshinji is Sanmon (above), which has a really ornate upper room with a Kannon statue. Every last inch is painted in bright colors and bold outlines.

One of the many many buildings in the complex. It's large, but it feels small with everything behind walls.

The temple offered free bikes on loan. I took one to Ryoanji, which is unfortunately closed until February for construction of some sort. Still, it was a nice bike ride uphill and I went on a little walk in the woods.

Being in the former capital of Japan, of course we had to sample some of the local fare, which is how we found ourselves at a WONDERFUL Turkish restaurant in Teramachi. Good tea!

We also stopped by Kiyomizudera, which is featured in the Tale of Genji. There's a spring with healing/wish-giving waters and a sort of cave that's like Buddha's womb. You pay 100 yen to go down some steps and walk around in the dark for a minute or two (while holding the rail with your left hand! Don't let go!) until you reach an illuminated stone, where you place your hands and pray to Buddha. Then it's a little further until you reach the staircase and are reborn when you exit. It's worth it for the wow! effect of walking around in the dark and seeing only the stone lit up.

Kiyomizudera is also a stop on the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage, so I brought my stamp book along. That's two down, thirty-one more to go!

We also checked out the International Manga Museum, which had a neat exhibit on French comics from the 1800s to the present and an exhibit on a project between European and Asian comic artists. The exhibits are in Japanese and English, so be sure to check it out if you have the chance.

Our last day it snowed on and off. It was lovely!

I'm sure I'll be back in the spring. I've seen Kyoto in summer, fall, and winter. It would only make sense!

Christmas and New Year's Eve and Day

2009-01-04T02:58:00.001-08:00

I've been slacking on the writing and picture taking. Pardon!

Christmas was spent at the office, but the day afterward I took off to have a Christmas party at my house. There was snow on the ground for the first time when I woke up and it snowed quite a bit in the early afternoon. The Sasayama/Tamba crew came over to celebrate and celebrate we did with a lot of food and spirits.

New Year's Eve was spent in Sasayama watching movies, eating, drinking, and going to Kasuga Shrine to watch a ceremony after midnight, drink some sake, and get an arrow to hang in the house and ward off bad luck.

New Year's Day I rolled into Kaibara and spent the better part of the day with a JTE and his family. We had lunch and dinner, played some card games, watched some manzai comedy, and went to Hachiman Shrine to pray and get our fortunes. It snowed a ton starting around 5 or 6PM. I was sent home with a lot of goodies and was safe on the roads.

It's been a nice and relaxing break.

I was going to start Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage, but couldn't get off my lazy butt. Next weekend I'll be in Kyoto for a temple stay, so I might hit up some of the temples in Kyoto. I'm not really doing it for the sake of Doing It Right, but I thought it would be a neat way to see some architechture from different prefectures with at least one constant: Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy.

When I was in Europe I enjoyed going to churches dedicated to Mother Mary and seeing what they had in common (or not) and I'm hoping this will be a similarly enjoyable experience.

I've got some more ideas brewing about in my skull for future posts. More later!

Aogaki by ~jozzig on deviant ART

Here's a little sketch of Aogaki.

Peace!

A Little Tidbit

2008-12-14T05:10:00.000-08:00

Friday I did a bit of grocery shopping and was very elated to find a loaf of bread with eight slices.

You see, in Japan, all loaves are the same size and it's all white bread. Brand matters not. The difference is the thickness of the slices. They range from four to ten slices per loaf. I have only heard tell of the ten-slice loaves. This Friday was the first time I had seen eight-slice loaves. Usually I must settle for six slices.

I'll have to document more Adventures in Food in Japan sometime as well as Christmas in Japan.

Answers

2008-12-02T01:24:00.000-08:00

Show me pictures of your car! and if my bike can fit in it.

It's a little Daihatsu Mira K-car. About 10 years old, I think? The back seats fold down. Perhaps if you take a wheel off I could fit it in there. I'd have to check it out with my bike.

My bike is a hand-me-down from my predecessor and probably her predecessor, too. It's a mama chari. It has two speeds: slow and stop. It doesn't like hills. I mostly use it for shopping.

public transportation.
chopsticks: do they have forks anywhere?
maybe what you know about the government?
is it weird to pay 10000 yen for like a banana?
Forks are plentiful. All I could tell you about the government is what I heard a few months ago. Basically, the last prime minister Yasuo Fukuda resigned and Taro "one culture, one civilization, one language, and one ethnic group" Aso took his place. The Liberal Democratic Party has been in power in Japan for nearly all of the post-war period. Both Fukuda and Aso are LDP members.

That banana had better be made of gold if it's going for 10,000 yen. In the summer bananas were about 300-400 yen for 4-5 bananas, I think...?

As for public transportation, there isn't too much and it's pretty expensive. Trains are pretty fairly priced, but buses charge you according to how far you travel. For example, it costs me about 1,800 yen to go from Osaka to Kaibara ( 2.5 hours of travel). It costs me 800 yen to go from Aogaki to Kaibara by bus (45 minutes). It's much better if you're in a more populated area. Taxis are killer: 4,500 yen from Kaibara to Aogaki (30 minutes).

Nara

2008-12-02T00:32:00.001-08:00

I was in Nara City from Nov 21st to the 23rd. I hoped on the train right after work, got a bit lost trying to find the Kintetsu Line in Tsuruhashi, and made it to a fellow ALT's apartment by late evening.

Nara is a former capital city from the 700s and is known for Nara Park, which is crawling in deer, young families, and tourists. You can purchase a stack of shika sembei or deer crackers for 150 yen and be accosted by little deer. I've heard stories and seen pictures of deer bowing politely in order to receive a cracker, but these guys were pretty adamant. They're all pretty tame, if pushy, and you can pet them. In October there are a few antler cutting ceremonies, where many of the male deer are rounded up and have their antlers removed to keep the deer from going on bloody rampages.

This is the approach to Todai-ji. You can buy all the souvenirs you could ever want here. I picked up some delicious deer droppings (chocolate peanuts) for some neighbors and some deer-shaped cookies for everyone at my base school. I never ever ever buy omiyage when I visit other towns and figured I probably should this time.

This is Todai-ji, the largest wooden structure in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inside you'll find a Buddha (the Daibutsu or Large Buddha) and some guardian statues. To Buddha's left there is a pillar with a hole in the bottom. If you crawl through it, then (according to various sources) you'll become enlightened/have a long life/have happiness/have a wish granted. The hole is the size of the Buddha's nostril. I was the only person above the age of nine waiting in line to crawl through (hint: go in diagonally with one arm in front).

Crummy picture. One just has to wonder, though: did I climb out of or into Buddha's head? What if I was already enlightened and this undid all my work? What then?

After Todai-ji we headed over to Nigatsu-do, which offered a great sight of the city and some tea. I also picked up what I've seen called a goshuin, a noukyouchou, or a shuinchou. Whatever you want to call it, it's a book of stamps and calligraphy signed by a priest at a temple. For me it's just a souvenir, but it acts as proof of your visit to a temple. I'll post some pictures later.

Then it was back to the apartment for some delicious lemon soup, cheese and crackers (boursin!), and fruity tea. Oh yeah, and SLEEP!

On Sunday we saw the Kofuku-ji complex.

While waiting in line to see some Buddhist statues in a stupa we chitchatted a little with some Japanese ladies who wanted to know if I got my little red pepper charm from Korea. The conversation was prefaced by a listing of languages that we might have possibly been speaking (French? English?).

Also part of Kohfukuji was this octogonal temple with a Kannon statue inside. More info here.

Afterwards we walked around the newer part of town. We got some fresh mochi. Mmm mmm! Too bad I was already bursting at the seams from all the food I had eaten throughout the day.

I'm looking forward to returning to Nara one day and seeing more of it.

Possible blog ideas

2008-11-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

What are you interested in hearing about from me? Is there some detail I've completely failed to mention in this blog? Is there something about Japan that you're just dying to know about? Here, let me throw you some topics. Give me some feedback. This blog is just as much for you as it is for me.

- convenience stores and their convenience
- school systems
- transportation
- food and drink
- my house and its lack of insulation
- internationalism in Japan
- bowing, shoes, toilets, chopsticks, etc.
- daily schedule

Have at it!

Fauna of Aogaki

2008-11-15T01:21:00.000-08:00

What I love most about Aogaki is the Kakogawa River. While much of it is dried up it's still a haven for all sorts of animals and plants. My favorite thing to do is bike along it. It never fails to offer up something new and exciting. I cross it everyday on the way to work and ocassionally I break the rules and ignore the school-prescribed route back home so I can see what's going on in the river bed.

Today on the way to Kogenji Temple I forgot to cross a bridge that would let me hug the banks of the river, but I was still rewarded with plenty of opportunities to catch some local fauna on camera.

I really need a guide to birds and trees in Japan. I wish I could tell you what these are.

Neither Wikipedia nor Google will tell me what kind of dove this is.

I think these are black kites, but can't be certain. Where there is one there is certainly another nearby. Same goes with the crows that are on the next telephone pole. The crows are really amazingly intelligent and affectionate. I've seen pairs feed each other. They really love the cherry tomatoes in the garden next door (birds in general are pretty attracted to red).

The same pair again. I chased them between phone poles for a while until I could get a good shot of them. Sorry for being so annoying!

This is not the best picture. I can only zoom so far and I only have so many pixels, but you see that blue/green smudge in the center there? It's some sort of kingfisher. I've seen one once before near the high school.

A heron! These guys are all over the place and are really skittish. I had to hide behind a traffic sign just to get a picture. Half the time I stop along the river to look at something I end up scaring one of these guys up without having previously known they were there.

There was also a beautiful pheasant that landed right in front of me, but I couldn't get it on camera. Oh well! Next time.

Enough of the birds. Here's a weasel of some sort by the river. This guy came really close and wasn't afraid of me at all; just curious. Half the time I see these they have some juicy prize in their jaws. I've seen a larger mustelid of some sort romping through my backyard (I was eating toast and staring out the kitchen window when he entered stage left). It was twice the size and had a darker, redder coat without a mask. A sable or marten? ::shrugs::

This little frog was hanging out in this faux bamboo rail for a few days. I guess he was down. It's not easy being green.

Kogenji Temple 高原時

2008-11-15T00:57:00.000-08:00

Another post? There are more to come today! I've got a lot of catching up to do.

It is fall and the leaves finally changed about a week or two ago. The ginkgos are all brilliant and have been for a while. The maples (momiji) just turned red this week. Persimmons hang in naked trees and from drying racks throwing a bit of orange into the mix.

There's still a fair bit of green out there, though. Mornings are a little overcast, but the days have been sunny and surprisingly warm.

Today I biked to Kogenji Temple, which is a popular place to view autumn leaves for 300yen.

The three-story temple there is quite old (about a thousand years old, I think).

I'd been to the temple grounds before (though never all the way up to the pagoda). It's nice in the fall, but I much prefer it during the summer when everything is rich and green. I'll have to visit in the winter, too.

文化祭、　発表会 Culture Festival and Recital

2008-11-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

Friday was the bunkasai or culture festival at my base school in Aogaki. Whereas American schools usually have cultural events after school or only for part of the day (the only exception I can think of was the IA Olympics), a culture festival here can span from one to two days depending on the size of the school. Students put on a variety of acts, some of their own volition and others not. The PTA and school staff also join in the festivities by overseeing events or performing.

The taiko club invited me to play with them for the festival about two weeks ago, so I took up the offer. I played two of the simpler songs with them for the opening ceremony. Some of the kids are half asleep in class sometimes, but they're really energetic when they're doing what they love. I got to wear a happi coat and braided headband and the kids got me to put some styling wax in my hair (and then the second conversation of the week about the differentness of my hair ensued. The day before some first years were surprised to see that I had blonde eyelashes and eyebrows.)

There was also a rock band, a tea ceremony, lots of food, mothers who wanted their middle schoolers to speak a bit of English with me, calligraphy and arts and crafts displays, and conversation with people here and there. I also got roped into judging the choruses, which gave me the opportunity to talk with the principal and vice principal (two new words : seikatsu　生活　（daily life) and shi 詩 poetry).

Then today there was a recital at the elementary school down the street. About a week and a half ago the little girl next door ran over with a letter in an envelop inviting me to the happyoukai or recital.

So, today, early on a Saturday morning I went over to the school. The gym was full of parents and grandparents and the usual line of video cameras lined up in the back. There were art displays on the walls and reports about animal and plant life in the river (I was pretty geeked about all the plants). The principal came over and introduced himself (of course he knew who I was). Elementary goes from first to sixth grade here and each class did their own presentation, usually of a musical nature, though the older kids did reports about the history of the town and history of animal and plant life in the river. The staff and PTA also had their own performances and used the chance to give the kids (and audience) some good laughs. Parents dressed up at Anpanman or in drag and danced to the theme from Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. One staff member even acted drunk of stage (while holding an Asahi beer can as a prop). Definitely not the type of humor you'd see in an American elementary school, but good times were had by all.

At the end there was a performance by a musical group that the school had invited. They had some African percussion, a pianist, and two singers do a musical version of a children's book called Tomodachiya, which is about a fox who goes around selling one hour of friendship for 100yen (so far as I could understand). But the best part was when they brought out the Austrian they had been hiding behind stage and he played several pieces on accordian, which the kids got a real kick out of.

Afterwards I got to flex my German muscles (my brain cannot handle two languages at once and I kept saying little filler words in Japanese). Turns out one of the Japanese members of the troupe had studied in the Netherlands and had met the accordianist in Vienna and each year he returns to Japan to play in Tamba City and other places in Japan. It was great to be able to speak a language that I am almost fluent in, be understood, and understand those talking to me! And who would have thought I'd be able to that in little Aogaki? Of course, if this were a bigger city I wouldn't have great neighbors to invite me to different events and I'd never get to speak in person with all these interesting people. The accordianist, whose name is Alexander Chevchenko (as translated from the katakana flier), has a concert in Osaka, but I sadly cannot make it, as it is on Wednesday.

What a great day! :)

Himeji 姫路

2008-11-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

This Monday was Culture Day, a national holiday in Japan, so I had the day off. A few weeks ago I had signed up to participate in a budo festival at the budokan in Himeji on Culture Day and invited some fellow ALTs to go with.

The day started off on the right foot when I woke up late and ran out of the door. I drove down to Himeji with some Sasayama ALTs and we only managed to get lost for 20 minutes. Thankfully we only missed the opening ceremony at the beginning and I was on time for a free lesson in wushu tai chi chaun.

Afterwards there was a demonstration of various martials arts.

Taekwondo team breaking some boards. It was set to a music track.

Karate. Those little kids were spot-on and kept up with the older kids.

Pretty sure this was shorinji kempo.

Taiko half-time show.

Naginata, taught to upper-class women back in the day, as far as I know.

Judo. Some sort of a stretching exercise...?

Kyudo, Japanese archery.

After the demonstrations we walked around the Himeji Castle grounds and took some pictures, had dinner and dessert, and then headed back home. It was quite a long day, but well spent.

Learning Japanese I think I'm learning Japanese I really think so

2008-10-22T06:11:00.001-07:00

My language materials from CLAIRE came in the mail today. Beforehand I had been doing a bit of review here and there from my old course materials and reading some of the books left behind from previous ALTs. Still, my grammar continued to disintegrate, though my vocabulary grew.

If anything good came from my monitor being down for a month and a half, it was that I watched a lot of Japanese TV. While low in nutritional and entertainment value, most of Japanese television is subtitled in one way or another, which means that you get the benefits of listening and reading. I picked up a lot of combinations of kanji I already knew as well as common words.

There are free Japanese lessons offered in Kaibara out of a volunteer's home. I went to a lesson yesterday. While the material is review for me, well, I need it desperately, as well at the listening and speaking practice. I do a bit of speaking at the school with the office staff and some neighbors, but not often enough.

Hopefully everything combined will show some results. I signed up for the intermediate course materials with CLAIRE, which may or may not have been a mistake. Before signing up I looked at the material covered in the beginner course and it seemed like I wouldn't have any problem skipping it. However, there is a fair amount of vocabulary and some grammar that I didn't learn at university, so I'm playing super catch-up with this course. I guess it'll just be like an excelerated course.

My next step is to maintain my German! I know of one German speaker in the area and hopefully I can get in contact with her sometime soon.

Kyoto 京都

2008-10-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

昨日は先生と京都へ行きました。京都はふるい首都。やっぱりたくさん神社と寺があります。京都へいったことがあります。でもたくさん所みたことがありませんでした。

さいしょに京都東寺へ行きました。この寺は日本の一番の高いパゴダですと。このパゴダは国宝。

Yesterday I went to Kyoto with one of my JTEs. Kyoto was the former capital city of Japan until it moved to Tokyo (Edo). Naturally there are a lot of shrines, temples, and palaces. I'd been to Kyoto before, but I didn't get to see any of these places. You can visit a temple every day in Kyoto and not see them all.

First we visited the Touji Temple, which has the largest pagoda in Japan. It's a National Treasure.

Main Hallの中ではYakushi　Trinity (click!)

Inside of the Main Hall is the Yakushi Trinity.

沢山　Fudo　があります。 There were a lot of Fudo statues. Praying to him will protect you (especially from car accidents).

---

次は三十三間堂です。この堂は立っているの観音千一体とすわているの観音一体が持っています。

The next place we went to was Sanjyuusangen-dou. Inside of the hall there are 1,001 Buddhas. In the center is a large sitting Buddha, Kannon (who can be either male or female), who is flanked by 500 standing Kannons on the right and 500 on the left.

とても長いです！

---

次は西本願寺です。
The next place we visited was Nishi Honganji Temple. It's a large hall somewhat comparable to a sanctuary, I guess. You enter, sit on the floor, contemplate, or listen to the monks. I'm not expert on Buddhism, so don't go quoting me here. I'm just sayin' what I saw.

本願寺は一番の大きいな木で作られているの寺です。
This is next to the largest wooden lecture hall (I think).

---

次は二条城でした。

Then we saw Nijou-jou, which was started under Ieyasu Tokugawa. By his time the capital had been moved to Edo (Tokyo), but there were still a lot of official residences and offices in Kyoto.

Nijou-jou is well-known for its nightingale floors (they squeak to alert guards of intruders). There are also some lovely painted and gold-plated walls. As my JTE said, "mottanai!" or "what a waste!"

In front of the gates.

Looking over the complex.

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次は金閣寺はでした。
The next was Kinkaku-hi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Very nice and picturesque, but not much else. We visited in the evening around 5PM when the sun was low in the sky and shining off the gold walls.

Aki Matsuri　秋祭り

2008-10-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

This morning I managed to drag myself out of bed. As an aside, I didn't sleep well because I had a mad headache and neck ache. I considered several times driving to the 24-hour convenience store (or コンビに konbini) in my pajamas to get some Advil or similar product, though I doubted my abilities to drive or read katakana at 2AM on little sleep.

Anyhow. I got myself all prettied-up and drove over to Kaibara for the aki matsuri or fall festival. There was food and fun. I had an okonomiyaki (a sweet pancake-omelet type deal) and then bumped into some Kaibara ALTs and their Japanese friends and watched a taiko drum performance and then the procession.

Taiko performance. They were really good.

Procession.

Messengers in the procession. Ah, the days before e-mail were tough, weren't they?

I met some volunteer Japanese teachers and bought a little messenger bag that I sorely needed from a woman and her husband that had worked in Bangladesh for 25 years and got to practice my Japanese a bit.

I also picked up some cosmos flowers to throw into my yard. I need to pull out more of the crab grass. Everything else, while a bit weedy, actually produces some neat little flowers.

Some of us headed to Miwakare Park (水分れ), where mountain runoff is directed to the Sea of Japan and the Pacific　Ocean and played some frisbee. Then it was off to dinner and some second-hand shops for some deliciously cheap manga (Kaze Hikaru and Slayers).

It was a nice three day weekend and I'm looking forward to the week ahead.

Arthropods!

2008-10-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

Japan is a land of many, many things with exoskeletons. When I first got to my house one of my tasks was to go through all the cabinets and see what past ALTs had left. I found a veritable arsenal of insecticides and traps in one cabinet. I had heard stories of fierce mukade (centipedes) that roam the countryside, looking for innocent JETs to terrorize. It seemed that my house would be the battlefield on which I met the horrible, hundred-foot foe.

First Encounter: a rainy day

It was raining, but the house was muggy and I wanted to let some cool air in. I let in more than that. I walked into my eight-tatami room to find a mukade on the inside of the screen. I got some spray and hot water to back me up and then swept it outside. It was pretty long, but not all that terrifying. Only half as big as I thought it would be.

Before you get the impression that I go through my house spraying every thing that moves, know this: mukade are venomous and it's recommended that you go to the nearest hospital or clinic if bitten. While not deadly (to most), it's rather painful. I do have a rather Wizard Howl-like appreciation for the spiders in my house (and they're kind enough to stay out of my blankets).

Second Encounter: the futon

I've gone through spells of sleeping on the futon on the floor and sleeping on the bed. I had another encounter with a geji geji, a smaller centipede that isn't nearly as venomous earlier, which moved me from the futon to the bed. But after a while I was back to my comfy comfy futon.

One night, around 3AM, a mukade crawled across my face. Thankfully, my little prehistoric critter brain clicked on and knew what to do; pick it off my cheek, throw it down, jump up, turn on the light, wait for eyes to adjust, find it, and kill it. I was pretty buzzed on adrenaline and didn't sleep well the rest of the night.

The next week I was gifted with some insecticides (er, arthropodicides) from a JTE (Japanese Teacher of English). It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Future and current JETs: you have been warned.

But now for some neat bugs!

A cicada. On a hot day your eardrums almost burst because these guys sing so loudly! They're called semi or セミ in Japanese.

A hitchhiker! This guy is green, but I've seen dark and light brown praying mantises as well.

Over the course of a week two of these caterpillars ate the vine outside of my kitchen window. I wonder if these guys turn into the giant black and blue butterflies I've seen (unfortunately difficult to capture with my camera).

I was biking along the Kakogawa River when I saw the sidewalk covered in these little guys.

Looks like some sort of long-horned grasshopper, but don't quote me on that.

I passed this spider everyday on my way to work. She's got real gorgeous, bright markings. The spiders here are huge. You can see them in their webs on the telephone wires from your car.

That's all for now! I wish I had some pictures of the Asian Giant Hornets I've seen, but alas! I usually run from those (two inches long and venomous) before thinking of taking out my camera.

Food

2008-10-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hey! First of all, it's been a while since I posted due to my laptop being likely somehow sensitive to foreign voltages. The monitor hasn't been working, so I've only just purchased a new external monitor. But that's another (month-long) story.

Today I'm here to tell you about my colorful adventures in the world of food.

As you may or may not know, Japan has different foods from those in the USA. I was well aware of this fact before departing, but I had no idea (outside of seafood) exactly what was different. What would I find in a little countryside スパー (supaa or supermarket)? What would I not find?

My first week was a pretty cautious one. I could have spent hours in those three aisles, slowly and audibly reading the katakana script, but instead I opted for fruits and vegetables, which are readily recognizable, and noodles. I ate a lot of Italian pasta with onions, garlic, and mushrooms.

Adventure Number One: ika shoga yaki (ginger Cthulu)
Recipe from Recipe Zaar

This one was fun, because I got to dismantle a squid, which I had never done before. I got two squid at the market for about 200 yen. There are some handy instructions online for taking apart a squid. Suffice it to say, they are some slippery guys and it took a while to get the skin off. The end result was not bad, though it was recommended to try the same with pork, which is much tastier. Squid doesn't really offer much in terms of taste; it's pretty plain.

Adventure Number Two: Chicken, soumen noodles, and onion
Recipe from some TV show.

Wish I could remember just got to make this 'cause it was tasty! Slice the chicken, dip it in some egg, and roll it around in some flour. Throw it in a pan and indiscriminately toss in enough water and mirin to let it boil and make some tasty tasty gravy. The chicken turns out delicious and moist. Chop up some spring onions or whatever they're called.

I know. This isn't very helpful, is it?

Adventure Number Three: goya (bitter melon)
Recipe: none

I had never seen goya (bumpy green with a yellow inside and red seeds) before. A neighbor of the school brought in some eggplant, peppers, and goya, and some were given to me. I asked what I should do with it and tempura was suggested. It makes an okay tempura, though it's not the best. Chop up, soak in egg, dip in flakes, toss (carefully) into pot of oil and quickly take it out with a pair of chopsticks without dripping any oil on your bare feet (your feet are bare because your socks were feeling tight and your slippers are alllll the way over in the other room and this is a good idea because why?).

Goya tastes a bit crisp and peppery and is okay in small amounts, but after a while you realize why it's called bitter melon. (Because it's bitter.) I hear if you soak it in lime the bitterness goes away.

That's all for now! Stay tuned.

Obon in Kyoto

2008-08-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been in Japan now since the 3rd of the month and I haven't posted even once yet, partly because not too much has happened that's all that blog-worthy. I had my Tokyo orientation, went to my base school, visited the other high school, and sat at my desk writing my first lesson plan. There's also been opening my bank account (exciting!), meeting my co-workers, registering with the city (even more exciting!!), getting to know the town, and figuring out how my washing machine works (this one takes the cake!!!).

The past three days I spent at the Yashiro training facility with the Hyogo Board of Education and my fellow ALTs. The facility is widely known as Yashiro "prison", because you are boarded there, there is a curfew, and there isn't much to do in the area. The one thing there is to do is drink, which in the past has led to neighbors complaining about the noise and the infamous "Yashiro strangling", which I won't go into. Despite all that, our group had a wonderful time, thanks mostly to the kitchen staff and several ALTs. Last night we had three guitars, a fiddle, and a mandolin (sometimes a ukulele), and a lot of singers belting out Beatles, Elvis, and various other classic artists.

Today it was suggested that some of us go out to Kyoto for Obon. While this would be easier with a car, well, I don't have a car, so it's not easy. Add that to the fact that I've never navigated the Japanese rail system or the local bus system on my own, chances were looking slim. However, my base school's staff really jumped in and found a schedule for me tomorrow. SO! I will be in Kyoto tomorrow for Obon. Pretty neat! Now I sorta have a base for further travel without a car.

More, later.

Another Year, Another Country

2008-07-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

It's been over a year in the making, from entertaining the idea, printing off the checklist, getting letters, taking some intro JPN courses, filling out the application, the interview, graduating, orientations, etc., etc., etc., but in less than a week I'll finally, actually, shockingly be in Japan. For a year.

This blog is primarily for family and friends to read, but if you just happen to stumble upon it, well, I guess that's okay. And maybe if you're an aspiring ALT this'll come in handy. I'll post pictures, maybe video, and whatever else I can come up with.