Teaching in Tohoku

XYZ

2008-05-19T15:09:00.005+09:00

1D class was practicing in pairs, and I was writing on the board preparing the next part of the lesson, when a boy got up and came to the front. A few students had already started giggling before he leaned over and whispered (loudly) in my ear something in Japanese. I didn't understand all the vocabulary used, but I recognized "~aite imasu" ("~is open") and looked down to see that my fly was indeed open.

By that point, most of the class had become aware of it, and there was no point in trying to be discreet. I faced the class and made a surprised face, told the boy "thank you!" and tiptoed out of the classroom in an obvious manner. I zipped up and strutted back in like nothing had happened (though really, I was making it very clear), and I whispered loudly to the boy, thanking him once more. They all thought it was a riot.

I really do love when these little unexpected things occur. It can be great for livening up a class, especially on a Monday.

On the same topic, today I explained the English phrase "XYZ" to some students, and was amused to learn that the Japanese euphemism for the situation is "shakai no mado" which means "window of society" or "social window".

Hanami

2008-05-12T21:29:00.015+09:00

I've been pretty busy lately and so there haven't been any new posts for a long time. I've mostly been adjusting to my classes for the new school year (which began in March) and working on creating dance music for a side-project I'm doing (more on that later). Anyway, sorry for the lack of updates.

Rather than write a lot of summary of what I've been up to, I'd like to just post a bunch of pictures from our cherry-blossom-viewing trip to Hirosaki. But first, a little explanation:

Hanami ("flower viewing") refers to the annual nationwide celebration of the sakura ("cherry blossoms") coming into bloom. They first appear in Okinawa in January, and move north through the main islands during spring. In Akita, they tend to bloom in early April. Japanese love them for their beauty and their impermanence (they were hardly in Akita City for a week before they began to fall).

Unfortunately, they were a little too impermanent for me and I wasn't able to do hanami in Akita City. Then, Caito had the idea of taking a trip up north where they were still in bloom, and that's how we ended up in Hirosaki with Casey and his wife, Chie from Odate.

Basically, hanami consists of getting together with family and friends and having a picnic in the shade of the sakura.

Before finding our own plot of land, we stopped to admire Hirosaki castle.

We then found a lovely spot directly under a willowing sakura. It was like a small room surrounded by curtains of flowers. Plus, we had a great view of the castle.

And in the distance, we had a clear view of Mt. Iwaki.

I was glad that I got to do hanami after all, especially in such a nice place and time. We were a little worried that it would be too late, even in Hirosaki, but we were pleased to find that there were plenty of full blooming sakura, and most of them had just begun to fall, like snow- which, they say, is the best time to view them.

Christmas in Tokyo: High Tea and Kabuki

2008-03-05T11:01:00.010+09:00

On Christmas morning, we treated ourselves to "High Tea" at the Hilton. The tea was high all-right, not only in quality and price, but also in altitude, since we were atop one of Shinjuku's many skyscrapers, where, sitting right next to the windows, we commanded an awesome view of the city.

Some of us were a little under-dressed for the place, but we payed our 3000 yen and got what we came for: delicious tea, scrumptious cookies and desserts, a great view, and a chance to feel like important people (while wearing polo shirts, sneakers and the like).

In the evening we headed to the Kabuki-za in Ginza, the primary theater for Kabuki productions in Tokyo- Kabuki being a 400 yr-old traditional Japanese theater in which men traditionally play all the roles, including those of women, often wearing elaborate makeup like this. The men who play women are specialists known as Onnagata ("woman form") and they are renowned for their ability to mimic women in voice, gesture, and appearance.

We sat back in the top balcony through two of the three acts for a great discount price of about 1400 yen (including headphones for an English translation). The first act was a short dance number that had two monochrome-faced bakers making mochi- twirling around a pot, hammers in-hand, "pounding" the mochi in time with the music. The other villagers got involved and basically everyone had a grand old time.

The second work was a substantial dramatic play called "Furu Amerika-ni Sode-ha Nurasaji" (My Sleeves Will Never Be Wet With the Rain of America). It was actually a modern (1950s) play adapted for Kabuki just that year. It turned out to be a good one for experienciing Onnagata, as two of the primary characters were women.

I didn't think the female characters were particularly uncanny- certainly, not at first. After a while, though, I was pulled into the story, hypnotized into believing that they were women. I owe this more to their consistency in using the stylized voice, rather than to any realistic accuracy. I liked it, however, because it was less like they were real people or even actors, and more like they were vivid illustrations in a storybook.

Perhaps the most amusing part was the American character who spoke almost no Japanese in the play. Misunderstandings would arise between him and the Japanese characters, often with humorous consequences featuring Japanese wordplay using English words. At other times the miscommunication lead to tense situations. And it was kind of funny to hear the actor playing the American use an obviously forced, exaggerated accent.

Christmas in Tokyo: Asakusa

2008-03-04T11:26:00.002+09:00

Near Ueno lies Asakusa, which, with the Sensoji temple (the largest Buddhist temple in Tokyo), joins Ueno in being Tokyo's center of Japanese culture. The main street leading up to the temple's entrance is lined with endless vendors selling souvenirs and food that comes on sticks.

Jon and myself, in front of the gatehouse.

Approaching the temple.

The pagoda.

Visitors burning incense out front, wafting the smoke onto their heads.

And more (Thanks goes to Caito for all the pics.):

Christmas in Tokyo: Ueno

2008-01-30T08:35:00.004+09:00

The first hotel we stayed at was in Ueno, "the cultural center of Tokyo." Ueno's main attractions (several temples and other old structures, various museums, and the zoo) were all located in one big park (Ueno park) next to the station, making them all easy to get to, but hard to decide where we wanted to go (we could have easily spent a couple days just going to the museums).

We discovered a free English tour guide service, and a nice woman gave us a personal tour of the park (no one else showed up). We learned about the battle that took place there a century and a half ago and saw a temple gate perforated with holes from bullets and cannon balls.

At the museum of Western art we saw a great exhibit of Edvard Munch paintings, and several Rodin sculptures, including one of the three original casts of his Gates of Hell.

The museum of science featured a special "Robot" exhibit that had, among many others, a robot that you could ballroom dance with and a robot that played the theme song to "Totoro" on a trumpet. They also had a display of "old-fashioned" robots, containing gears and springs instead of microchips. These were some of the most impressive, I thought. There was one, a delicate-looking painted Buddha-like doll with a calm pleasant smile, that could draw an arrow from a nearby quiver, leisurely nock it to his bow, and release it, hitting the center of a target. The highlight, however, had to be Asimo, Honda Motor Company's talking, walking humanoid robot, who was apparently designed for the sole purpose of getting his groove on:

OK, he also walked, ran, served coffee, and kicked soccer balls. Just imagine, in the future we won't need to bother with such menial tasks because we will just get a million-dollar robot to do them for us! And just like all Japanese robots, he spoke with that abrasively high, childlike voice that is the standard for all female customer service workers and public announcers in Japan, presumably because it sounds polite and nonthreatening. We can rest assured that these robots will never turn against their masters and enslave us all, because they all sound like three-year-olds.

The zoo was fun. It wasn't markedly different from zoos in the states. Here are some highlights (Thanks goes to Jon for the photos):

I especially like the last one of the seal. There's just something very human about the way he's leaning against the wall with his head cocked, like a guy soaking in a jacuzzi.

Christmas in Tokyo: Overview

2008-01-22T12:06:00.000+09:00

When winter holiday rolled around, I chose to stay in Japan, intent on getting to know some of the more distant parts of this country. Tokyo was an obvious choice, if not my first, but it turned out to be the best compromise between someplace warm, fun, and affordable to travel to, and it was a blast! Caito from Noshiro came along as my travel buddy, and in Tokyo, we met up with Jon from Honjo and his friend Kisa. We were there for four and a half days and saw a lot in that time. So much so, in fact, that I think it's best if I write about it over a series of posts.

And this right here is the Japan Railways Seishun 18 ticket, the cheapest way to travel locally for anyone living in Japan (if you don't live in Japan, you can buy the even niftier JR Pass). This ticket gives you five days (consecutive or no) of access to all regular trains in Japan. The downside, of course, is that you can't take any of the express trains or Shinkansen (bullet trains). For us, this meant that it would take two days to travel to or from Tokyo, but we didn't mind. The countryside views as we crossed the "Japanese Alps" were beautiful, and in all, we each paid about the equivalent of $100 for a round trip to and from Tokyo.

Tokyo is huge. It's effectively twenty-three independent cities in one, each with it's own unique attractions and atmosphere. There are more than 8 million people living in the city itself, and as much as 30 million in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, making it the largest metropolitan area in the world with a fourth of Japan's entire population.

I've decided to divide up my posts based on the different areas we visited just to make it easier on myself. Up first will be Ueno and Asakusa.

Japanese Cheese

2007-12-10T21:16:00.000+09:00

The Japanese don't appreciate cheese the same way Westerners do. At least, that's what I gather from shopping at local supermarkets here. In the States you can go to a your local Ralphs and find an entire display island of assorted cheeses with various sizes, colors, and flavors, but here, my "cheese section" consists of a couple different brands of maybe two or three cheese flavors, which are all pretty much the same flavor anyway: processed.

OK, none of this is really surprising. If you're at all familiar with Japanese cuisine, you should know that cheese isn't a big part of it (though glatin is pretty popular here). The real reason I'm posting is just to share this:

This bright red box caught my eye as I walked by the cheese and butter section. Closer inspection revealed a picture of pre-sliced cheese with a curious pink middle layer in every slice, and the word "ham" prominently displayed. Ham and cheese, together, in one stack of cheese-like slices, for the ham-and-cheese fan on the go. Of course, I added it to my basket.

All right, so it wasn't real ham. The box actually says "ham-flavored cheese" which may or may not be less strange. I still find the box interesting. Let's take a closer look:

Here you can see the distinct pink and white stripes labeled "ham flavored cheese in the center" and "60% gouda on the outside." Apparently being 60% real cheese is a selling point. What I really like, though, is the picture they have in the lower left corner. The ideal way to eat ham flavored cheese, apparently, is on a plate with some slices of real ham, some lettuce and olives, and a tall glass of beer.

Anyway, I'm just having some fun because I found something I'd never seen before. I know this isn't any more strange that some things we have in the States. It's certainly not as weird as our Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancakes and Sausage on a Stick.

Kanmanji Temple

2007-11-30T10:49:00.000+09:00

I'm not sure what this little building was. It's not the temple itself.

Back when I went down to Kisakata to watch karate, I decided to stop by a temple that appeared on the tour map people were handing out at the train station.

I don't know much about the history of Kanmanji temple. There was a big sign near the entrance with a lengthy explanation, but it was filled with unknown kanji, and I didn't want to spend an hour translating it with my dictionary. Thus, unfortunately, I can't tell you who this guy is here:

I was able to look up some of the temple's past in its Wikipedia entry, which places the its origin over a thousand years ago, though I doubt any of the surviving buildings are that old. The gate, for example, is supposed to be 300-something years old:

There's no English entry for Kanmanji on Wikipedia, but if you want to have some fun, you can view the Japanese page translated by Google, which interprets Kanmanji as "perfused swastika." Disclaimer: Google translator doesn't work well with Japanese grammar or kanji.

Detail of some of the carvings on the gate.

This is a statue of Matsuo Basho, the famous traveling poet, most well-known for his collections of haikus. Kisakata was one of the northern-most points in his journey before he turned back southward.

There was a large graveyard sectioned off from the rest of the temple, but there were also some graves just in the entrance area.

People left flowers and cans of tea near the graves. Perhaps they got the tea from the vending machines at the entrance from the main road (vending machines are EVERYWHERE!)

These are all statues of the same guy: Jizo, the guardian of the spirits of children who die before their parents (including the spirits of children who die before birth). It is said that a child who dies before their parents is doomed to spend an eternity piling stones along a mythical river bank as penance for making their parents suffer. The parents pray to Jizo asking him to intervene, and he hides the children under his cloak, speaking mantras to them and leading them to the afterlife.

Correspondingly, the statues of Jizo often have babyish faces and are dressed in bibs or children's clothes.

Sorry. I don't know who this is.

For some reason, there was a whole clowder of cats in residence on the temple grounds. Here they are crowding around some food set out by one of the care-takers.

A large building, not the main temple

The main temple building. I saw a separate group of visitors approach the entrance and each, in turn, deposited some money and struck the hanging bell.

I'm sorry I haven't been posting all that often. Everything is going good and Minami High School is busy as ever. It's definitely been getting colder here and we've already had a good amount of snowfall. I'll try to update more often. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Halloween

2007-11-09T10:01:00.001+09:00

It turns out that the biggest jack-o-lantern I've ever made was in Japan. I brought in the pumpkin pictured above for my third-year class to carve, but it wasn't easy. It took two people, myself and another teacher, to lift it, and then we carted it to the classroom.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, though it was a little disorganized since it was so last-minute (I only managed to procure a pumpkin the day before, thanks to the other ALT who visits my school).

The class involved was my 3H class, hence the creative design for the nose and mouth. (The faces are censored because, technically, it's illegal to show recognizable pictures of your students online without parental consent).

I let them do everything themselves, although the partially mutilated top is mostly my fault. I got them started cutting the top off, but I started too high. After going around to some other students, I came back to find that, having been unable to remove the top completely, they had begun chipping away at the poor pumpkin's left lobe. So, we tried again lower, hence the scars around the top.

When they cut out the first piece from the face (the heart-shaped eye), they were almost more interested in the removed piece than the pumpkin itself. They held it up triumphantly and shouted "kawaiiiii!" (all girls). They thought it was so cute to have this little heart-shaped piece of pumpkin. As some of them continued to work on the pumpkin, others worked on the heart piece, boring out it's center to make it into a bowl and filling it with chopped-up pumpkin cubes like some kind of melon. They asked if they could eat it. I told them they weren't supposed to and they immediately went around offering some to other teachers in the halls.

I prepared a couple other activities for them to do while not working on the pumpkin, like this origami witch's cat design I found online.

It was mostly girls that got into the origami. Not surprisingly, the cats all came out rather well. In the end, none of them took their cat with them, and now I'm left with a drawer full of them.

Kokutai: Sumo

2007-10-09T12:08:00.000+09:00

Yep, there's Sugichi again. Now, when your friends ask you if you've ever seen a sumo wrestling cedar tree, you can confidently answer, "Yes."

I've been lazy about getting this post up for no good reason, except that it means I have to look through the dozens of pictures and videos I took to choose the best ones-and I took a quite a lot of sumo.

Sumo was great! I think I'd have to say it was my favorite of the Kokutai events I saw (I liked Karate, but it didn't have the energy of sumo). For one thing, everyone's attention is focused on one center ring (dohyo), so when a match ends (and some did so spectacularly) the whole crowd reacts at the same time. In the meantime, people shout to their favored wrestler to "Go for it!" or say "You got it! You're all right!"

Teams of three wrestlers from each competing prefecture are welcomed by applause as they enter the arena. The dohyo had to be constructed for the event, according to official specifications. Every dohyo has a shrine-like roof suspended above the ring, with four different colored tassels hanging from each corner, representing the respective spirits of the four cardinal directions.

The beginning of a match seen from where we sat. Frank from Noshiro joined me in what we discerned to be the Akita section of the crowd on the second level.

Now, part of being a tall, light-haired foreigner in Japan is attracting curious, surprised, or suspicious glances, hearing the people nearby mutter things about you, or even burst into giggles for no other reason than the obvious. It should be no surprise that us gaijin get treated differently. Some love the attention. Personally, I think it gets a little tiring sometimes. Still, I'd be a hypocrite if I complained, since I can't honestly say that I've never taken advantage of being a foreigner when it's beneficial for me to do so:

"How much is this fruit?... Free? Oh, you shouldn't have!"

"What's that? It's OK that the machine ate my ticket? Thank you!"

-which brings me back to sumo. After a couple full tournaments, Frank decided to call it a day and left. I was about to follow suit when I decided I'd first check out the view from the standing area on the ground floor. Not twenty seconds after walking in was I approached and offered a place on one of the "benches" where some people sat and an unopened can of tea. So, I decided to stick around a bit, watching from my new viewpoint:

I conversed casually with the guy sitting to my left, asking him a few questions about sumo now and then. As it turned out, he lived just down the road, and was supplying lodging for the Hokkaido sumo team. I ended up staying to the end, after which he invited me to his house for dinner. My sense of modesty said no, but my desire for a unique Japanese experience said yes and we drove over to meet the rest of his family. I immediately felt guilty about accepting after entering their house. I found myself really wishing I had brought some nice gift with me to give them, but anyway, I tried to be a nice guest, enjoyed talking and eating with them, and made sure to get their address so that I can look them up in the future (and bring something to thank them).

Most matches ended with someone being pushed backward out of the ring, while others (like this one seen here) ended with someone just being completely thrown out. Some others ended with people falling forward on their face, backward off the stage, or being lifted up in a giant bear-hug by the other guy and just carried out (which always got a good reaction from the crowd!).

Some more pictures:

Sumo matches being as short as they are, I took over 40 videos of individual matches with my camera. Here's a few selections (linked to google video because there's a bunch):

Video 1 - The smaller guy manages to squirm around to get behind his opponent, making it easy to lead him out of the ring.

Video 2 - This match ends quickly when both guys fly out of the ring together. Notice that the match begins only when both opponents are touching the ground with both fists.

Video 3 - This guy was by far the smallest competitor there. All of his matches pretty much went like this one. We think maybe he was supposed to go to the athletics event and got lost.

Video 4 - Here's a pretty close match that Akita won. If you watch it, I think it's pretty clear that Akita wins as a direct result of Frank's and my cheering.

Video 5 - Another close match. This time, Akita lost.

Video 6 - There were a couple sections of bleachers occupied by kids on a field trip or something. They cheered for whoever was on their side of the arena, and pretty much didn't stop doing cheers the whole day.

And finally, here's Keiko and Tomomi, the mother and daughter of the family I visited. Tomomi must be the only Japanese person alive who can play the accordion.

Kokutai: Karate

2007-10-05T10:38:00.001+09:00

I spent my first day off from work down in Kisakata, watching the karate events. Matches were held in four different rings simultaneously, and went on all day. First was men's kata (one person performing a predetermined array of moves on their own), followed by girls, boys, and women's sparring, as well as the first round of men's sparring at the very end.

Here's a wide shot of the whole place.

Halfway through the day, they took a break from the matches and presented the "Sugichi Dance," performed by a whole bunch of little kids and a guy in a Sugichi costume. Very cute. Here's a video:

Go team Akita! You're the best... around...

This is a video of one of the kata entries. Performing a kata is not unlike performing a piece of music. In both cases, you have to do a specific sequence of actions in order. This sequence can be written down, but ultimately must be memorized, or at least internalized through muscle memory (but it's not like karate practitioners can read a list of moves while they do them). The choice and order of the notes or moves isn't random (aleatoric music aside), but has a relative sense of progression. Also, there is a certain level of skill and exactness required to articulate notes and phrases just right, or to have a good stance and body movements. The whole performance has inherent dynamic variation, which it is the performer's job to emphasize and communicate in their performance. Still, there is plenty of room for creative interpretation- how fast/slow to perform certain moves, when to pause, when to kiai (shout), etc. Ah, I miss karate.

And finally, here's a clip of some sparring, or "kumite" (no, not the secret freestyle martial arts tournament in 'Bloodsport'). Sparring is pretty much a game of tag. Points are scored by striking the front torso above the belt, or the face. It's not really fighting, and it's not about hitting hard. Still, a few kids managed to get bloody noses, despite those clear face guards.

Tazawa-ko

2007-10-04T11:00:00.000+09:00

(enormous dragon head at the Tazawa-ko train station)

About 45 km east of where I live is Lake Tazawa (Tazawa-ko), the deepest lake in Japan. It's kind of Tahoesque, with its clear water, surrounding mountains, and ski resorts in the winter—definitely one of Akita Prefecture's most photographed and visited sites. I was really looking forward to going, and was glad when Rob, another ALT, organized a camping trip two weekends ago. I was even more glad when the typhoon approaching us at the time shifted northward leaving us with great weather for the weekend.

A (blurry) picture of the bungalows we stayed in.

On Saturday night, we had a wonderful potluck barbecue, thanks very much to Tristan, an ALT from Utah, who didn't stop chopping and grilling until everyone was eating. Then, we all went down to the lake's shore for a nice campfire. A few of us tried out the cold waters and experienced Lake Tazawa firsthand. It was incredibly peaceful just floating there, surrounded only by a starry gray sky and black mountains, reflected in the water all around.

A visitors' center near the campground.

The lake was just down the road.

On Sunday morning, we all split into separate groups. I went hiking with Rob, Tristan, Rheanna, and Mike, because I wanted to try out my new hiking boots, and because I was determined to get to the top of a mountain this time. As it turned out, we didn't need to do a whole lot of hiking (the bus took us most of the way up), but we got in some good exercise, saw some views, and had time for dinner and onsen (hot springs) afterward.

A deposit of volcanic rock or perhaps an alien landscape from Star Trek TOS.

Tazawa is surrounded by rows and rows of mountains, completely covered in deciduous trees and shrubs. Just imagine this view in the fall, when all the greens, blues, and purples turn red, orange, and yellow.

A channel carved out by lava on the side of a hill

A nice view of Lake Tazawa from a distance.

Some fall colors making an early appearance.

Some people hiking up a peak opposite from ours.

Making our way back down.

After hiking, we went to a cozy little spaghetti place whose walls were decorated with musical instruments. Then, three of us finished off the day with a trip to the onsen (my first!).

An onsen is a sort of bath house that uses the naturally heated water from local hot springs. First you undress (men and women are usually separate, but not always), then shower off, usually with a detached shower-head, sitting on a wooden stool. Then you go soak in the onsen, usually outside. You get a little towel to preserve some bit of modesty on your way to the baths, should you care.

The water in the onsen often contains minerals from the hot springs, which are supposed to be good for your skin. Ours was white and cloudy so that you couldn't see below the surface, and it had a faint odor (I hear some of them are pretty stinky!) The whole time, we were completely open to a cool breeze and a wonderful view of Lake Tazawa and the surrounding mountains, just as the sun was beginning to set.

This is from the bus ride back from the onsen. At this point, we were all too tired and relaxed to say anything. It was a nice way to end the day.

Kokutai plans

2007-09-21T19:11:00.000+09:00

Every year, some prefecture in Japan hosts the Kokutai, a national sports festival that lasts about two weeks and features matches between teams all over Japan in sports ranging from team sports like baseball, basketball, and hockey, to boating sports like sailing and rowing, to martial arts like judo, karate, and kendo.

This year, the Kokutai is being held in Akita, and everywhere you look, you can see Sugichi, the anthropomorphic christmas tree mascot of Akita, holding olympic-looking torches, swinging a baseball bat, wearing a sumo mawashi, or even (frighteningly enough) holding a gun and smiling gleefully.

Needless to say, it's pretty awesome that Akita's hosting the Kokutai while I'm here. Our students have no class during the main week of the festival's matches, and many teachers choose to take some days off too. The best part is, if we use this time to go see some sporting event, it doesn't count against our days of paid vacation. Because of this, and the fact that I would have practically nothing to do here at school, I'm trying to see as many things as possible. Planning is tough though, as there are so many events, and many occur at the same time.

My tentative plan at the moment is as follows:

9/30 - soccer
10/1 - karate
10/2 - sumo
10/3 - kendo
10/4 - soccer
10/5 - rugby
10/6 - baseball
10/7 - judo

It should be fun cheering for Akita, even though it sounds like our baseball team will get crushed in the first round.

And before I leave for the weekend, here's a few more pictures:

My apartment from the outside.

My school, as seen from the balcony of my apartment (I told you it was close!)

My living area in my apartment, all fixed up. Lots of Akita maps, and a nice recliner given to me by the principal.

The largest can of peas at my local supermarket.

"natsu kurimu" = not peanut butter

Mt. Chokai

2007-09-20T12:08:00.000+09:00

I took the train south to Honjo last weekend and met up with the friendly local English teachers pictured above. Together we set off to climb Mt. Chokai, an active volcano on the southern border of Akita prefecture. Because of its size and shape, it's sometimes referred to as Akita-Fuji (Mt. Fuji of Akita) or Dewa-Fuji (Mt. Fuji of Yamagata), depending on which side of the peak your loyalties lie.

We had planned on making it to the top, but left too late. Getting to the top and coming back down takes about 8 hours of hiking without rests. We left at 11AM and took breaks along the way, so eventually we had to turn back for the sake of daylight. We went most of the way up, though, saw a lot of great views, and enjoyed the unusually warm, sunny weather in spite of the forecast for rain.

Approaching Chokai by car. You can't see the peak here, but you can see where the outer edges disappear into the clouds.

Shortly after we began to drive up the mountainside we stopped to admire the areal view of the Sea of Japan coastline.

Team Chokai, minus myself: Phil from Manchester, Sophie from New York, and Canadian-Jeff

This view was pretty amazing and caught us all off guard as we came around the corner.

The view.

Here is Canadian-Jeff demonstrating the dangers posed to pedestrians by the so-called Gaijin traps, the trough-like gutters that skirt several country roads in Japan, threatening to wreck the cars of any unsuspecting foreigners. Honestly, what other purpose can they possibly serve?

The beginning of our trek looked pretty easy.

The paved road quickly disappeared, however.

Halfway to the peak there's a little rest-house with bathrooms and a great view.

Looking down from the rest-house was like looking out of an airplane.

Looking the opposite direction from the same place.

There were several people coming and going along the way, including one other grizzled-looking foreigner who wished us luck.

Here you can see our laughably deficient hiking footwear. On the left, me and my Converse® sneakers, followed by Canadian Jeff's flip-flops (which elicited cries of "sugoi!" from Japanese passersby who were impressed, and what sounded like admonishments from others who thought he was just stupid), and finally Phil and his sad old boots which began to fall apart near the top of the mountains and had to be tied together impromptu with the string from one of our sweatshirts.

Next up is Lake Tazawa, and this time I got a decent pair of hiking shoes (though I had to have the store order a pair in my size).

My Apartment

2007-09-12T08:21:00.001+09:00

I knew nothing about my apartment before coming to Akita, for the simple reason that they did not have one for me yet. I'm very happy with the one they chose, however.

I've seen at least one other JET's apartment and heard descriptions of others, and it sounds like mine is a relatively good size. I have two tatami rooms: a 6-mat one where I sleep, and a 4.5-mat one where guests can stay, or where I can serve meals or tea. I have a living-area (upper right) where I can watch TV on my recliner or eat at my kitchen table. The kitchen and living-area are pretty much opened up to each other, though you can close the sliding doors. Then there's the entrance area (remember to take off your shoes!), the toilet (western style!), bath/shower room, sink, washing machine, and outdoor balcony for drying clothes.

6-tatami room. Plenty of closet space there on the left. I sleep on the blue thing to the right.
4.5-tatami room. I've got a low table there now, great for Japanese-style meals.

Living area. This looks really messy, but I've cleaned it up now. I took out those awkward square tatami and pushed the kitchen table against the wall. The junk in the corner is my heating system, which someone will come install before the weather starts getting too cold.

The kitchen, seen from the living area. My microwave has an "oven" function, but I've yet to try it out. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be able to do.

(Looking in from the entrance area.)

Sink and medicine cabinet. Japanese sinks are pretty low off the ground.

Here's where I take showers. It took a while to figure out how to use, even with the help of some teachers. I had five Japanese people over at my apartment before we got it working! First you have to turn on the gas, turn some knob, light the flame, hold for about 15 seconds, turn the knob to shower, and finally turn the shower on. I've been showering standing in the tub, although I guess that's not necessary, as the whole room is a shower that drains through a grate on the floor.

The washing machine. The left is for washing and rinsing, and the right is for wringing out clothes before you hang them up. The Hello Kitty stickers were there when I moved in.

The toilet- with a sink and faucet over the water tank, so you can wash your hands using the water that refills the tank.

Outdoor balcony. If I look to the right from here, I'm looking right at my high school, to which I literally live next door.

View from my bedroom window.

Also from my bedroom window.

And if you're interested you can see my apartment from above with the impressively clairvoyant Google Maps here. The buildings directly below my apartment and to the right are Akita Minami High School, where I work. (Also, if you're familiar with Google Maps already, you might be able to figure this out on your own, but since its in Japanese: if you want to go to satellite view, click on the middle of the three buttons on the upper-right corner of the map.)

So, my place is a pretty good size, very close to the supermarket and school, and (best of all) it's a jutaku apartment, which means its subsidized especially for people employed by the city, myself included. I end up paying 11,400 yen a month for rent (about $114), so I can go out for sushi several times a week if I want.

Teaching Shock

2007-09-11T10:21:00.000+09:00

I came to Akita on a Friday and was asked to prepare a self introduction to give in front of the whole school on Monday. They said I could use either English or Japanese, so I went with Japanese, because A: it was more fun, and B: it was a good excuse to just say some really basic stuff.

Hundreds of students assembled in the gym, standing attentively in rows. They had me walk from the very back all the way to the stage, going straight down the middle as they all turned and stared, murmuring excitedly. Why they couldn't start the ceremony with me already at the front of this gym, much larger than that of my own high school, I have no idea. In any case, my speech went fine, although they seemed to laugh a lot. This was partly because they were surprised at my Japanese, and partly, as I was later informed by a student, because I used some old-fashioned words that sounded silly (Damn you, Nintendo DS dictionary!)

I must say, the shock of having to introduce myself to classes and begin teaching right away was much greater than any of those things people associate with culture shock. Speaking Japanese and trying weird new foods is positively fun, as is learning how to use all the unfamiliar-looking Japanese appliances at my apartment. To suddenly become a high school teacher having never been one before, however, is quite a challenge.

But speaking of foods, I must admit, I do miss American peanut butter. All they have at our local supermarket is this "natsu kurimu" (nuts cream), which no matter what anyone says, is NOT peanut butter.

Onagori Matsuri

2007-09-10T16:41:00.001+09:00

Last weekend, I escaped the suburbs of Akita City for the first time since I arrived here and took the trains (on my own!) up to Noshiro for the Onagori festival. There, I met up with a friendly group of JETs, and together we enjoyed the festival and Noshiro night life. We were a colorful assortment of nationalities, being variously an American, an Englishman, an Irish girl, a Canadian, and an Australian.

The Onagori festival is a sort of end-of-summer amalgamation of traditions drawn from several different festivals in the area. So, it was perfect for me, having come too late to see most of them.

The introductory picture shows one of the brilliant Nebuta floats, carried by a team of young men, who run around the street, spinning the entire structure faster than you would imagine is possible from seeing a still photograph (it's probably lighter than it looks) and if the people watching from the sidewalks cheer enough, they'll rush toward you, stopping just short of a collision and leaning the whole float forward, effectively "bowing" the float for all the spectators to see.

Nebuta float greeting the opposite side of the street.

This is a little before the main events started. You can see men carrying lanterns from the Kanto festival (of my own Akita City). Each of these constructs, with about 30 to 40 lanterns in all, is hoisted up on a single pole and carried by one man, who balances the end of the pole expertly on his forehead, chin, or shoulders. (Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this, but see the background of my blog).

Everywhere, there are street vendors, grilling yakitori, takoyaki, yakiniku, and many other yaki's. Also, you can find ice cream, shaved ice, and other tasty desserts.

No, she's not Japanese. This is one of the visiting Brazilian dancers featured in the festival. Some were quite friendly, and it was amusing to watch them approach the more modest spectators. The girl in the photo started dancing with a little 4-year-old boy.

Here's a man preparing my takoyaki (octopus, tempura, and vegetables stuffed in a batter dumpling and topped with sauces). I waited a long time for these, but found, as the other JETs had warned me, that I could only finish about six before I'd had enough. Good stuff, though.

A float with many people and flowers and figures.

I saw a taiko group of young boys practicing near a bright paper float before the main events.

And these are a couple videos I took. At some point, you can see the paper float seen above with its wings and towers bent over to facilitate its movement under low hanging power lines.

Onagori Matsuri
Onagori Matsuri 2

Typhoon Fitow

2007-09-07T11:05:00.000+09:00

Typhoons are a fact of life in Japan, with several occurring between May and October each year. The season peaks right about now (August to September) and sure enough, typhoon Fitow, the ninth of this season, will be passing over us soon, as you can see in my diagram:

This picture is from earlier, so it's actually much closer now! Fortunately, typhoons aren't nearly as devastating here as they are further south on the pacific coast. In the Tokyo area, there has been flooding, water damage, and several injuries.

In Akita, however, typhoons rarely cause serious damage to anything but crops, which suffer from the seawater-saturated winds. Occasionally, (every few years, say my coworkers) some structural damage also occurs, so it's still important to be careful and stay indoors when possible.

For me, the approaching typhoon meant deciding whether we wanted to open the windows and have the wind come whistling in, blowing all our papers around, or shut the windows and suffer a hot, stuffy room. It also meant that all three of my classes for today were canceled. Students are being sent home early today as a precaution. It's supposed to pass over us between 3 and 9PM, but it's still only a little breezy right now. Unfortunately, we have tests starting next Tuesday and I was going to use our class time today to finish up some last topics. I'm hoping I can arrange to see one of my classes on Monday.

The speech that didn't make sense

2007-09-04T15:30:00.000+09:00

On my second day of teaching here, one of the English teachers asked if I would help coach some students who were practicing for an English recitation contest. I happily agreed, and she led me to a classroom where a couple students waited. OK, I thought, this should be easy. With my native knowledge of grammar, word choice, and intonation, I should be a great help to these kids.

We asked the first student to begin. With great enthusiasm and flawless memorization, she recited her speech, but as she went on, I came to the sad realization that I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. Her pronounciation was pretty good, and I had the script right in front of me. It just didn't make sense! It certainly seemed very emotional, and parts of it were coherent. The grammar and word choice were OK, if somewhat unusual. But what the hell was she talking about? Why would she write this for a competition? What was I supposed to say when she finished?

I decided against asking her what her speech had been about, and instead pointed out some grammar and word choices that I would have phrased differently. As I went over these points, crossing out and adding in words on her script, the English teacher leaned over and whispered to me politely, "Um, Jeff sensei? She is reciting from a text by Hellen Keller. She did not write this, so... we can't change it." Something clicked and I immediately recognized the text. All I could do was laugh at my mistake say "hazukashii!!!"

So anyway, from then on I decided to focus mainly on pronounciation, intonation, and eye-contact. And I'm pleased to say that the student reciting the speech went on to win first prize in her age group. In my defense, it's a pretty bizarre essay when taken out of context.

The Beginning

2007-09-03T16:33:00.000+09:00

Well, I did it. I'm in Japan. It's been nearly a year since I began the altogether-too-long application process required for the JET program, from filling out the extensive application, to acquiring letters of recommendation, to the nerve racking interview, to desperately waiting for the results, to being rejected (alternate status), to not knowing what would happen next, to being accepted, to hasty preparations for one of the biggest changes in my life. It certainly feels like it's been a long time.

But now I'm in Japan. And it's still hard to imagine a world map with the "You are here" arrow pointing at those islands, so far from everything that's familiar to me, to imagine that I live there now, after having grown up thinking it a fact of reality that Southern California is where I lived, live, and always will live, to imagine that I'm going to be here for a year, maybe even longer. I cannot guess what such a tremendous change will mean for me as a person, but I am excited to find out.

I hope to use this blog, mainly, as a way of staying in touch with my family and friends, to let them know about life in Japan, and to keep them updated on my own life here. It will also serve as my own personal record of my experiences, something I can look back on later in life. And finally, it will serve as an outlet for any thoughts or feelings I may have while I'm here.

To my family and friends, I miss you already. And, don't worry. I'll be home before you know it. And in the meantime, get AIM, get Skype, or just email me. I want to hear from everyone and know how you're all doing, okay?

Ja~, kore kara, gambarimasu!