Erin in the Land of Wa

The Past 6 Months

2008-07-11T11:48:00.019+09:00

Snowboarding at either Honouki Daira or Arkopia

Snowy Shrine

Big Geisha

Opening Ceremony

Sakura

Karakuri

High School girls doing ... well, they're doing something!

Expensive fruit ($20 Watermelon, $30 Cantaloupe)

Me in Kamioka

One of the 48 waterfalls in Kokufu

A street in Furukawa

Koi streamers

These are found in front of almost all the houses in the Hida region. When I first got here I thought to myself: wow, these people have a lot of medical waste! Yeah, that's not what they're for. I'm not going to tell you what these they are used for, although if you can read kanji then you've already figured it out. Happy guessing!

Making Hoba-zushi at my taiko-sensei's house.

How cute is this!

Mary Poppins, I mean me, with two of my Jr.High students

Gifts from the staff and students of Iwataki Elementary School

Sunset from my balcony

Takayama Spring Festival

2008-05-26T13:54:00.004+09:00

Last year's festival took place over the weekend so I was able to walk around and take pictures. I also hung-out by the river, eating festival food and blowing bubbles with A. and my friend R. who was visiting from Toronto. Fun times :-)

My Family in Japan

2008-05-26T13:26:00.007+09:00

So last July my parents and brother came over for a visit. We took a 174 billion pictures. Here's a few of them:

Mom and Dad on 'The Big Chair' in Takayama

Dad eating kyushoku with some of my 6th grade kids

Mom in Nara

D. in Miyajima

D. getting his shirt munched-on by a deer in Miyajima

Me on a Mountain in Mushroom hat.

Tourists in the big city

The Family, doing what we do best. Besides eating.

Friends, Dinosaurs, and a really big Buddha

2008-05-22T11:57:00.009+09:00

Wow, three posts in a week - I'm on a role! (or perhaps feeling guilty about my lack of posts in the past...)

So this weekend I drove over to Fukui-ken, a neighbouring prefecture, to visit my friend G. We went to Kanazawa in Ishikawa-ken and saw Kenrokuen Garden, and then stopped by the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art for the Ron Muek exhibit. Cool stuff. Big baby.

On Sunday we drove out to the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama.

After my close call with a toothy Fukui-saurus (or something), we continued on to the Echizen Dai Butsu, a Buddhist temple complex with a 17 meter-tall bronze statue of the Buddha. Apparently it's bigger than the one in Nara, although considerably less famous. Either way, it was impressive, not only for it's size and beauty, but for the over 1000 smaller statues places in niches in the temple walls. Here are some pictures and a video:

Is your temple not attracting enough small children? Just add pinwheels!

This is myself, a massive guardian statue, and a fire extinguisher

A Tour of my Apartment

2008-05-21T20:47:00.001+09:00

Look, I made a dorky video of my apartment!

That's Right, NO Insulation! (or, How to Survive a Winter in Japan)

2008-05-15T08:33:00.030+09:00

Aaaaaand, it's May. Wow, it's been awhile since I posted something. Sorry, time has just been flying. It's actually gorgeous, and sunny and warm in Takayama right now. The sakura and magnolia came and went in April, the rice fields have been flooded and planted, the trees are green with new leaves, and flowers abound. So let me remind you of this:

Winter. Fluffy snow, perfect for snowboarding and snowball fights, then steaming hot-toddies shared with friends while sitting around a cozy apartment with movies and freshly baked cookies. Watching while the outside world is slowly covered with a soft, sparkling blanket of white, as you relax, in pajamas and fuzzy slippers, with a magazine and cup of hot tea.

Yeah, I wish.

Winter in Japan is tough. Others before me have likened it to going camping in the winter, except you're in your house. (And not taking a shower is simply not an option). The houses here aren't insulated, the windows are not doubled-paned, and nothing is air-tight. Some people have electric heating systems that double as air-conditioners in the summer, but the majority of people use kerosene stoves, kotatsus, and a variety of other magic tricks meant to keep the cold at bay. Some are more successful than others. Let me explain:

This is a 'Kotatsu', and it is indipensable for surviving a winter in the Japanese mountains. I would have surely perished without mine. (Over-dramatic much? Maybe. Or maybe not...)

A Kotatsu consists of a table frame with a heating device underneath. It is plugged-in to an outlet, and the heat levels can be controlled with a switch. A thick blanket is spread over the frame, and the table is placed on top. Most people put a blanket underneath the kotatsu too, for extra warmth and to protect the floor.

Yes, the kotatsu and blankets I inherited was ugly and brown, but they were free, so I couldn't really complain. (I say 'was' because I threw the blankets out last month. It was definitely time.)

And this is how I spent the past two winters: on the floor, under my kotatsu. I admit I was skeptical at first: how can something you simply shove your legs under keep you warm? But it's amazing how it does! And then it makes you drowsy. And before you know it, you're on your back, fast asleep, and this leads to interesting and prolonged cramping. And then you start to hibernate there because you can't be bothered leaving the warmth of your kotatsu to enter the icy kitchen and make another hot-toddy. But somehow you summon the courage. And you drink your hot lemon and whisky, and fall back asleep, and just before you do, you curse the winter and dream of spring.

This is a kerosene heater, the other primary heating device in a Japanese home. The newer ones are pretty fancy; they have timers and great controls, and turn off when they detect too much carbon dioxide in the air. They can also heat up a room fairly quickly, depending on the size of the room of course. However, because they burn kerosene, it means you have to turn them off and open the windows periodically so you don't kill yourself. And opening the windows lets in plenty of cold air, and soon your room is freezing cold again, so you turn on your kerosene heater once more only to have to open the windows yet again, and I'm sure you get the picture.

This is a kerosene - "toyu" in Japanese - container? Jug? Can? The device on the left is the pump. Mine is battery operated, so all I have to do is flip the switch and wait. Outside in the freezing cold. And trust me, spillage happens. Pretty soon you just get used to always smelling like kerosene. And avoiding open flames.

So while kerosene heaters are quite effective, they really only work in one room. And my apartment has 4, plus a toilet room and a shower. And lots of pipes.

Thankfully, my apartment came with a heated toilet seat. I love mine and wish I could bring it back with me. No cold shocks to the bum at Erin's apartment!

Even the pipes have their own, plug-in heaters.

I don't heat my bedroom, but turn-on my electric blanket a good hour before going to bed. It heats up all the duvet (and Teddy) and keeps me toasty. But I still have to wear socks to bed. And I hate wearing socks in bed!

This cute little thing is humidifier. The air here gets really, really dry, which leads to chest colds and bloody noses, so these things are essential. This one uses empty water/juice bottles and cost me less than 1000yen ($10).

Another great source of humidity is drying laundry. It's rare to find a actual dryer in most Japanese homes, but everyone has an arsenal of drying paraphernalia. Drying racks of every shape and size, hangers, specialized clips and clamps etc. And this works great during the warmer months. (when it's not raining). But try drying your clothes outside in a blizzard; it doesn't work so well. I solved the clothing and humidity problem by buying a 100yen ($1) piece of bamboo at the local home center, and hanging up my laundry in my tatami room where my heater was. Yes, that's my underwear.

This little packet - with the super, crazy adorable harp seal pup on the front - is a hand warmer. And as you can see, the hand warmer is keeping the seal pup warm and happy until the hunter comes along with a hakapik, but that's another story. These are how my students keep themselves warm at school during the winter months. You open them up, give them a shake, and then keep them in your pockets to warm your fingers and various extremities. You can buy larger ones for your back/stomach, small ones for your shoes etc. They're incredibly convenient, not very environmentally friendly, and they keep seal pups and kids happy.

And finally, to keep warm in Japan during the winter, you need lots and lots of hot things to drink. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, hot-toddys. Whatever does the trick. Oh! And of course, you'll need a toque and a scarf and a coat and gloves. All to we worn inside. Because if you don't stay warm you'll end up like this ...

... Sick, unimpressed, and hidden behind a mask that fogs up your glasses no matter what you do. And if you're sick, you'll be subjected to all of this ...

... a years worth of medication. For a cold. So kids, stay warm and dry! And enjoy those hot beverages ;-)

5 o'clock in Takayama

2008-02-09T23:23:00.000+09:00

Every day at 5 o'clock, the residents of Takayama get to hear Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, in E minor. Last winter it was the Japanese nursery/folk song 'Furusato'. The song changes yet again in the spring and summer, and the time is changed to ... 6 o'clock? 6:30? I'll let you know in the spring!

Lately in Takayama ...

2008-02-08T22:51:00.000+09:00

1. I had my very first Shuji lesson (see picture to the left). It says "New Year". Despite my happy grin, I am aware that it is pretty terrible. I love my Japanese teacher for taking the time to teach me though.

2. The students at my small elementary school went tobogganing for their Phys. ed class.

3. A feisty pomeranian bit me on my knuckle.

4. One of my 5th year students cried because she didn't want to eat her pickle at lunch time. (I would have offered to eat it for her - I LOVE tsukemono, i.e. Japanese pickles - but that wouldn't have been proper. She apparently needs to learn to eat pickles without crying.)

5. I have fallen asleep under my kotatsu basically every single day since returning from winter vacation.

6. I received a fax from my supervisor asking if I'd partake in a discussion Meeting about cakes. That's exactly how it was worded, and I decided that if I ever start a band, I'm going to call it "a discussion Meeting about cakes".

7. I finally got to teach some Jr. High classes on my own! Last week I "taught" 3 of the 3rd year classes solo. Taught is in quotation marks because what we really did was play games; but everyone had a great time! Including me! *Hint* 15 year old boys love drawing 'underwear' on the blackboard.

It's a snow-Totoro!!

This is a picture of Mt.Fuji that I took on my flight from SanFrancisco to Nagoya. I can't believe I've stood (nearly) on the top of that thing. Wait, have I mentioned that?

It's Autumn, Winter's on the way...

2007-10-21T19:41:00.000+09:00

Today when I woke up and looked out my balcony window, Mount Norikura was capped in snow. *sigh* Winter is coming indeed.

Here's another shot I took from Kita Yama Koen (Northern Mountain), the Park/Cemetery behind and above my apartment:

And here's a lovely, red, tombo (dragonfly) who was relaxing in the sun. Over here, dragon flies - especially red dragonflies - mean it's fall. This guy looks like he's wearing a warm, furry vest. I need one of those.

Cake? Chestnuts?

2007-10-20T19:15:00.000+09:00

Tonight I made Kuri Gohan (Chestnut Rice), and it smells sweet, like cake. I kid you not. Kuri Gohan is a traditional autumn dish here in Japan, and it's really easy to make:

You need:

200g of shelled chestnuts (or there abouts)
3 cup of rice
3 cups of water
1 tablespoon each (or maybe even a little bit more) of Shouyu (soy sauce), Mirin and cooking Sake

1. Wash the rice until the water runs clear
2. Add the 3 cups of water, shouyu, mirin and sake
3. Place the chestnuts on top of the rice
4. Turn on your rice cooker.

Oh yeah, I used a rice cooker. I'm unable to make rice without one.

Here's a picture, yumm:

And here are some pictures of local rice fields: before harvesting, and after.

Ka-Blamo !!

2007-09-06T20:13:00.000+09:00

A few weeks ago bunch of us went swimming in a river, then to an onsen with 14 different types of baths - one had water dyed bright green that smelled like apples; it was like bathing in a giant tub of kool aid - and then to Maze (Mah-zeh) for their annual Hanabi Matsuri (fireworks festival).

I think I wrote about it last year, and posted some pictures. This year I took a video:

If the above doesn't work, here's the url:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcLNXw92Nxg

And no, that is definitely not me you hear in the background going 'wowwww!'.

I love Japan in the summer

2007-08-17T20:44:00.001+09:00

So a lot has happened since the last time I wrote anything. My parents and brother came to Japan, and we travelled all over Japan (so it seemed). School finished, vacation started. A group of alts left and a group of new ones arrived. I got new glasses ( thanks little brother!! no really, thanks. your breaking of my old glasses was the pivotal turning point in me getting new ones - and I really like my new ones. they're a dark ruby red, and i'm finally living out my kelli martin 'life goes on' fantasy of having red-framed glasses)

So I just finished dipping pirate maps in a mixture of coffee and tea, and then scrunching them up and burning them to make them look old and totally awsome (with some friends - we're preparing for the annual English Workshop up at Mt. Norikura, and this year we're going with a pirate theme). The burning was a lot of fun, but rather smokey. We heard fire-trucks at one point and got a bit concerned that a neighbour had called the fire department, but all was well. Here's a picture:

And yesterday I was at a local curry restaurant, when one of my Kyoto Senseis (Vice Principals) sat beside me. It turned out he'd spent the day fishing, and the proceeded to go out to his car and return with 4 frozen fish. Whole and absolutely ungutted. Which he then gave to me, in the middle of the curry restaurant. They sat beside me, defrosting, for the rest of the evening. I'm going to figure out how to cook them, just to spite him.

So, in an attempt to make this post relate to the title, I love summer in Japan. It's all sun and blue skies and cicada's buzzing in the trees. Cool, bright mornings and Miyazaki evenings. Have a lot to talk about, but as I'm about to meet friends for dinner and Karaoke, I'll leave you with this picture of my brother fixing my fridge. Thanks for thank D. ! No leaks since ;-)

School Again! A Small Elementary School's Entrance Ceremony

2007-07-01T21:14:00.001+09:00

The Japanese school year finishes at the end of March, and starts again around April 10th. The students get about 2 weeks "vacation", but since this Japan they still come in every day for club activities. The teacher's don't get vacations. They live at the school full-time and only leave to buy instant noodles at the nearest convenience store.

When a child starts elementary school at age 6, it's a big deal over here. They're dressed in adorable pants suits or frilly dresses, and are then taken to photography studios to get professional pictures taken. On their first day of school they're given an elaborate welcome ceremony - almost like reverse graduation. They parade into the gymnasium in front of the entire school, teachers, PTA and fawning parents. Speeches are made, songs are sung, pictures are taken, and each student is formally introduced. Here are some pictures from one of my elementary school's entrance ceremony back in April. It's a very small school, so there were only 5 ichi nen-sei (1st year students) this year.

A 'Congratulations!' sign, welcoming the new students. It says "Omedeto".

The 1st Year Classroom with another welcome message on the blackboard.

The new students make their much-anticipated first appearance! I was curious to see if any of them would be shy or apprehensive, but they were beaming and obviously loved the spotlight.

Aren't they adorable ;-)

The new students walked the red carpet, listened to speeches, heard the school song, and then got to see some performances from the other students. Here's a video I took of the 2nd and 3rd year students doing their welcome performance. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it's pretty darn cute. You also get to see the rest of the school - there are 23 kids in total - and the mother's dressed in kimonos.

Let's Enjoy Ice Cucumber!

2007-06-15T07:02:00.000+09:00

So last night, after a strenuous Kenbu practice (where I forgot the bottom half of my uniform - oops) I decided that I could stand to use some refreshing. So F. and I stopped by a convenience store and purchased a bottle of Pepsi Ice Cucumber.

It glowed a healthy, natural, nuclear green:

In the end it wasn't thaat terrible : it was like drinking club soda flavoured with cucumber. And hey, if artificial essence of cucumber is your thing, then go for it. But next time I'll trust my instincts and not drink anything that looks like mouth wash.

ps. when looking at these pictures please keep in mind that a) I hadn't washed my hair that day, b) it was really humid and sticky, and c) I'd just come from a 2-hour Kenbu practice.

I hike a sulphurous volcano and teach rowdy 6-year olds

2007-05-31T08:43:00.000+09:00

On Tuesday I went to one of my elementary schools and taught the new 1st grade students for the very first time. They were all adorable, sticky, loud and totally excited about learning English. As usual I was mobbed, tickled and climbed on. One child decided he didn't want to participate, and turned blind and deaf and slumped to the floor like a pile of ooze while his classmates stepped on his head. Charming. Another child gave me a back massage, but it was hard to appreciate it because another little boy kept grabbing at my chest. What is up with that? Little kids in Japan - read, boys - seem to think that breasts and butts are fair game and it's open season all the time. It's so creepy! Where do they learn these things?

Now that the snow is gone and the weather is warm I've been doing a lot of hiking. Last weekend I climbed to the top of 'Yake Dake', which is an active volcano in the Japanese Alps. It was a great work-out, and the views were gorgeous, but the hike itself was really, really stinky thanks to the numerous sulphur vents. It's hard to enjoy lunch when everything smells like rotten eggs.

Off to Tokyo this weekend for a conference, huzzah!

I took this on my way up. There was still a bit of snow on the peak, and even more down in the forest.

On the summit. It was really, really windy.

A Japanese hiker and a putrid, yellow sulphur vent.

I took this picture on the way down.

Remember New Years? Part II:

2007-05-17T11:24:00.000+09:00

After getting home I quickly made some soba noodles and incredibly managed to eat some. They're a traditional New Year's Eve food, meant to represent a long life. Then I bundled up and headed out into the crisp, snowy night.

My first stop was the string of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the Higashiyama Temple District. At midnight the bells at the temples started ringing, and would continue until they'd been rung 109 times. Supposedly this is to banish the 109 'evils', and start the New Year off right.

A Buddhist priest ringing the bell. Locals are lined up to get their chance too.

I walked up the huge staircase to my favourite Shinto shrine which is located high up a hill, surrounded by towering pine trees. There was a special ceremony taking place, and a large bonfire had been lit. I stood in the glow of the fire while the priest chanted and offerings were made by serious looking men in suits. More and more people arrived, some carrying their New Years decorations from last year. Made from straw and paper, they were tossed into the fire. After the ceremony people approached the temple altar, bowed, clapped, and made their first prayers of the New Year. I did the same, and enjoyed a small cup of sake afterwards. Then I made my way back down the hill to Kokubunji Temple, my favourite Buddhist temple in the middle of town. I stood in line to ring the bell, and soon got to climb the wooden ladder up to the bell tower. I rang my first New Years bell ( I was ring number 97), was given a sugar cake in the shape of a flower, and then walked home while the final bells rang through the clear night sky.

A blazing fire outside of a Temple

Offerings for New Years

The bell tower at Kokubunji Temple

The next day I walked through town, visiting more shrines and enjoying the peace and quiet.

At a local shrine a short walk from my apartment

A lion keeping watch in the snow

Naka Bashi (aka The Red Bridge) in the snow

Walking around was also a great chance to admire the many different New Years decorations (called 'shimenawa') that people had displayed outside their homes. Some were very simple straw and paper:

Some were simple branches of greenery (my favourite):

Some were more elaborate. The one's decorated with bright red crayfish seemed to decorate the doors of shops and inns.

Some people don't stop at mere door decorations. This shop had a whole display, including one in the window:

Remember New Years? Part I: I have a bath and eat a lot

2007-05-17T09:48:00.000+09:00

So my original plans were to go to Thailand and Cambodia with some friends; however, when it came time to buy tickets I discovered that recently buying a car meant that I had no money. So I decided to suck-it-up and experience a traditional New Years in Japan - not exactly a terrible thing to do. As it turns out, I got sick over the holidays, which would have made for a terrible time overseas. So I guess it was just mean to be.

When my Taiko sensei heard that I was staying in Takayama she immediately invited me over for New Year's Eve dinner with her family. I jumped at the chance. After a rather painful 'conversation' over the phone (it's much harder to speak Japanese when you can't gesture wildly to help get your point across) I agreed to help B.-sensei clean the Taiko dojo, and then help her with dinner preparations.

The dinner she (we!) prepared was incredible. There was nabe (hot pot), huge crabs, a million little dishes of salads and different beans etc. There was fish and mountain vegetables and pickles and fruit. And plenty of beer and sake. I spent the afternoon peeling and chopping and stirring and stuffing and arranging.

Around 3:30, before her daughter's family came over, I was told that it was now time for me to take a bath and relax. Ok. Bathtime. I was given a towel and led to the family shower/bath room. As I was scrubbing myself off (in Japan you wash yourself outside of the bath) B.-sensei walked in! She had an armful of roses, which she proceeded to dump in the bathtub. Then she turned on the radio and told me to take my time. Then she finally left. I finished with the soap and climbed into the bath, which was full of roses. How... romantic? The radio was tuned-in to a heavy rock station that just happened to be blasting AC/DC. So I spent the afternoon of New Year's Eve taking a romantic bath, listening to AC/DC, in my Taiko-sensei's house. I bet you've never done that before!!

After my bath the rest of the family came over - kids in pajamas - and we tucked-in to dinner.

It was great to be a part of a informal, family gathering, and although we couldn't have any truly meaningful conversations, we did the best with the help of several electronic dictionaries. (After much beer and sake had been consumed I was 'asked' why there was discrimination in America. How does one answer that exactly?) In Japan there are some traditional New Years games that are played, and the B. family also had their own. The whole family played Hide and Go Seek and Karuta - kind of like the card game 'Snap'. Then they brought out an elaborate bean-bag toss game which I was terrible at. Whenever the kids 'won', they were given gift-certificates to local toy stores. They had an absolute ball! B.-sensei's 5 year old granddaughter - whose name I can't remember now - drew me pictures and made sure I was surrounded with her stuffed animals at all times.

As the night wore on, more food was eaten and drinks consumed. The grandson spent the night with his face buried in crab shells - he was after a delicacy known as 'Kani Miso' aka. Crab Brains. B.-sensei enjoyed her sake and turned a brilliant cherry red. I impressed everyone with my chopstick skills. Eventually I had to say goodbye, despite B.sensei's protests. (she sat on the hood of my car and tried to tackle me to the ground). It was a fun evening, but as midnight approached I wanted to be out among the shrines and temples.

Natto. I can't escape! HELP!

2007-04-12T12:53:00.000+09:00

So today they served natto for lunch. Natto, for those of you who are blissfully unaware, is fermented soy beans. It's stinky, and stringy (think snotty), and absolutely an acquired taste. One of the fist things people ask you in Japan is "Can you eat natto?" They do so with a slight smirk and a gleam in their eye, and are sooo disappointed if you can answer "Why yes! I quite enjoy stinky, slimy fermented soy beans. Why, natto is delicious! "

I cannot eat natto.

Unfortunately the smell wafts and permeates, so I also am unable to get away from it. I'm in for a long afternoon. (And all the teachers are laughing at me)

right now...

2007-03-28T22:59:00.000+09:00

i would like a library full of children's books. like this one. i love that place! i'm currently craving some little house, some secret garden. kid's books in general. what i wouldn't do for a quick peek into the moons of madeleine. or to try and find a copy of b is for betsy, which i hear they're re-releasing in paperback. usually my books are there for me when i need them, and i'm used to having many, large libraries at my disposal. *sigh*

now, to change the topic. this is a picture of the february portion of my current wall calendar. doesn't it remind you of allan gardens in toronto?!

Some pictures

2007-02-14T22:29:00.000+09:00

I apologize for not updating more frequently. It's a shame too since I've done and seen some pretty awsome things and people (Neko Case!!) Instead here are some pictures:

This is me and K. enjoying ourselves at the JET Mid-year Conference (the second one!) in Gifu city a couple weeks ago.

This is me on the chairlift at Honoki Ski Jo. Back when we had snow. This year has been the warmest winter on record, or so my JTE claims. Normally at this point in February there's still a meter of snow on the ground. Today it poured rain all day, which it normally doesnt' do until the end of March. I wish my apartment would clue-in and start getting warmer.

The teacher's room at my Jr. High School, minus any teachers or students. My desk is in there somewhere. You can just barely make out the Little House on the Prarie stovepipe up at the front. I'm taking the picture from the kitchen area, which despite the stove and fridge, is really the exclusive coffee and cigarettes area.

This was today's Kyushouku, or School Lunch. It was so gross I had to take a picture. In the upper left-hand corner is a bowl of cold, fried tofu, konyaku (tastes like absolutely nothing feels like hard jello, is purple in colour), and a super hard-boiled egg that was so dry it sucked all the moisture from my mouth. Everything is covered in a brown sauce that tasted like... brown. Next to that is a bowl of white rice, the only thing that saved the meal for me and got me through the rest of the day still breathing. Below the rice is a large serving of cabbage salad covered in purple flakes that tasted... bad. I don't know quite how to describe it. Normally I like cabbage salad, but the purple flakes ruined it completely. Bleh. And finally, the plate of purple squid. If it had come battered and deep-fried, all would have been well - although that's a lot of calamari! - but this one came cold, slimy, and with a long spiney thing inside that everyone had to pull-out.

On days like this I would kill for one of thepeanut-butter and lettuce sandwiches that my brother and I used to get back in elementary school. I hated them at the time (who puts lettuce in a peanut-butter sandwich! Dad!), but anything would be better than today's meal of purple.

A Week in Takayama

2007-02-02T14:56:00.000+09:00

On Saturday and Sunday I:

fell on my ass repeatedly. I went snowboarding both days and tried to learn how to carve. It didn't work out so well for me or my bottom half.

On Monday I:

ate nothing but apple pie for lunch. On Monday, school lunch consisted of cream soup, udon noodles to eat in the cream soup, apple pie, and whole fish tossed with almonds. Because of my lactose issues I couldn't eat the soup, which meant I couldn't eat the noodles, which left the fish and the pie. You try eating a plateful of silver fish - eyes, tails and fins included - tossed with almond flakes! Hence the meal of pie. Oishii.

On Tuesday I:

received instructions about what to teach next week at one of my Elementary schools. For the 5th years it said: " Teach dairy activities with gestures". Dairy activities. I imagined myself trying to teach 10 year olds how to milk a cow and separate curds and whey. How was I going to do that in English? And it's not like I have a clue. But then one of my JTE's suggested that perhaps they meant 'daily' activites, like go to bed and brush your teeth. Right.

On Wednesday I:

helped teach a class where we played a song and had the students arrange the lyrics in the correct order. At the end of the class I had written the following on the blackboard : Doo-wop, sha-la-la-la, bulimia, Karen Carpenter. Not that it was my choice in the first place, but perhaps 'Yesterday Once More' isn't the best song to do in an activity like this.

On Thursday I:

helped teach a class that was suspiciously like a black mass. At one point the teacher had me reading a story out of the textbook, backwards while holding the book upside down. Doing that for too long can mess with your head.

And today I:

woke-up to find I had no hot water in my apartment. I ended up washing my hair in ice-cold water, boiling water on the stove to wash my face, and all in an apartment with a temperature that was hovering around 7 degrees C.

Viva Japan!

Carols, Christmas Cake and another Cute Cushion

2007-01-06T14:33:00.000+09:00

So about Christmas. I had to work on Christmas day, which was a new experience, and I have to admit I was pretty depressed that morning. Christmas is a huge deal in my family, and nearly everyone in Takayama had returned home or had flown-off someplace warm for the holidays. It was rather difficult waking up alone on Christmas morning and then heading off to work. I don't recommend it. However, things picked up considerably that afternoon when I got together with the few remaining ALTs - all of us Canadian - and sang Christmas carols at a local hospital in red Santa hats and white beards. The patients could have cared less but we certainly cheered ourselves up! Then we all met at M's house for a rather non-traditional dinner of Christmas sushi. It was lovely! (We all met up again a few days later for a second attempt at Christmas dinner, this one more traditional and decidedly Canadian. The menu included: a crazy amount of appetizers, including pate from Spain, fresh guacamole - courtesy of moi - and a cream cheese salmon/shrimp spread, roast chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatos, yams, 2 tortierres !!!, salad, rolls, oranges, maple sugar pie, and christmas cake. Oh, and there was mulled wine, beer, plum wine and sake. Everything, minus the crackers and pate, was homemade and everything was deliriously delicious. We all rolled home)

Christmas in Japan is interesting: decorations go up and carols start playing by the beginning of November, all in English, of course. Santas and Christmas trees are everywhere, as are tacky home light displays. But Christmas isn't a holiday, most families don't really have trees or stockings, and children get one gift from their parents if they get anything at all. The only 'tradition' that the Japanese seem to have is the ordering and eating of a Christmas Cake. In Japan, this means a sweet, vanilla cake piled high with lots of sugary frosting, strawberries and little plastic decorations. The dark, candied-fruit version that we're familiar with would NOT go over well here! We actually got some with our school lunch on Christmas Day, and all the students were super-excited. Even the sulky 3rd years who are heading off to highschool in a few months. It was pretty cute. Oh, and as I was walking home after our Christmas sushi dinner, I noticed that every single decoration had been taken down. Not a trace was left. Very efficient I suppose.

My little school lunch Christmas cake. It came in a cute box with directions on how to open it. It was pretty self-explanatory, but still, how thoughtful!

Canadian expats sitting down to dinner

And finally, on the 26th I went to my school's big, year-end staff party, called a "bon-enkai". It was held in a beautiful onsen-hotel in the town of Gero (famous for it's onsens and hotels), and during dinner all the men insisted on wearing their yukatta (light, traditional bath-robes). Fine, they were probably more comfortable than pants and a shirt, but loose cotton robes and free-flowing beer and sake don't mix well. Things become even more liberated when you throw karaoke into the mix. Oy. But hey, remember my sushi pillow? At the enkai the teachers did a small gift-exchange, and I am now the proud owner of a tofu pillow:

If you don't like cute, don't come to this country.

Ken-bu Performance

2007-01-06T14:25:00.000+09:00

Back sometime in December - last year was such a blur - I had my first Kenbu performance at the Takayama cultural centre. I wasn't feeling the greatest that day, but we were all happy with the results. Just not our headbands.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu...

2007-01-06T14:17:00.000+09:00

... Meri Karisumasu etc.

first here are some more pictures of my apartment:

Thank goodness for that!

2006-12-16T19:31:00.000+09:00

Two weekends ago I was walking down the main street of Takayama when I spotted two women - western women and obviously tourists - holding a map and looking lost. I stopped and asked if I could help them out and we started chatting. Suddenly one of the women turned to me and said,

"By the way, your English is excellent!"

I paused and then replied "Why thank-you! I am Canadian..."

She looked a bit flustered for a second and then said something about how she would have known if only I'd said 'aboot', hahaha. And I explained about teaching English with the JET Programme etc.

They eventually went on their way. I was relieved to hear that my English speaking abilities haven't diminished after 4.5 months of living in Japan.

Wheels, Weddings and Winter Vegetables !!!

2006-12-10T17:34:00.000+09:00

The Wheels:

So, I've bought my first car. It's small, red, and zippy, and it has a turbo engine. This helps immensely on the steep, twisty mountain roads here in the Hida region. A few days after I got it I took it on a road trip down to Lake Kawaguchi (at the base of Mt. Fuji - it was breathtaking) and it handled things beautifully. My first car! It's already starting to accumulate a small amount of junk, although so-far there are no plates of toast on the floor (does anyone remember Morello's car?)

I'm already embarrassed about the dorky spoiler so SHUSH!

The Wedding:

Last weekend a fellow ALT married his Japanese girlfriend, and everyone attended. It was a Buddhist ceremony held in the local temple of a nearby village, and it was quite beautiful and dignified, but also seemed quite personal and heartfelt; although they rented traditional Japanese wedding costumes, it was for tradition and not for show. Everyone who showed up for the ceremony was there to support the bride and grooom, and the ceremony itself was fascinating - in short, it was a happy occasion!

The Bride and Groom

Group shot

Exchanging prayer beads with the priest

Yes, they were adorable. And played a very important part in the ceremony! (they poured the sake, several times in fact)

The wedding party

The Winter Vegetables !!!:

My landlords - who I've never met - dropped off a box of home-grown vegetables for me. I was quite suprised and touched! They left me cabbage, leeks, daikon, potatoes, rice and some leafy-thing rather like parsley, all of it grown by themselves. I called to thank them, but since they don't speak English and my Japanese is still pretty rudimentary, the call went something like this:

Me: Hello! This is Erin, the ALT! Thank-you so very much for the vegetables and rice!

Them: something something something - winter vegetable!

Me: Yes! Thank-you so very much for the vegetables!

Them: Ahh, something something something vegetables!

Me: umm.... yes! vegetables! thank you! i like vegetables!

And so on. But they did seem quite tickled that I'd called. I think I'll send them a Christmas card. Anyways, here's a picture of my vegetables!

Sushi Pillow!!

2006-11-19T22:10:00.000+09:00

This is 'Ebi'. She's a piece of shrimp sushi. She's also a pillow. She cost me 430 yen. She rocks!

Pictures of my apartment

2006-11-13T17:58:00.000+09:00

Chickpeas, I've missed you so

2006-11-13T17:50:00.000+09:00

Two weekends ago I was in Nagoya, which is a very nice, modern city I'd like to go back to someday. Amongst other things, Nagoya has a foreign food store. This is what I came back with (I'll only allude to how ridiculously expensive these purchases were).

Two Weekends Ago, Part II

2006-11-13T16:31:00.000+09:00

Technically it's Three Weekends Ago, but we'll overlook it this time. And now that I'm finally connected to the internet at my apartment (while sitting under my kotatsu, which I'll explain about in a forthcoming post), I should be able to update more frequently.

I believe I covered the market, temples and gardens of Kyoto, so now it's time for

People

It was C's birthday so first we made him blush by singing 'Happy Birthday' in the Chinese restaurant (it was a decidedly non-singing sort of place) ;then we went out for karaoke.

Some of us at the Imperial Palace

These (japanese) guys were stirring things up at an Irish pub we dropped by, and they were really good! I forget their band's name, but it was weird and had the word 'milk' in it.

Geisha

This is a picture of an old-world geisha disappearing into a modern, urban nightscape *roll eyes here* but seriously, these woman have magical powers. We saw two geisha walking down the street that night on two separate occasions, and both times when we tried to take pictures strange things happened to our cameras. In my case, the camera refused to focus for the 30 seconds or so we had to take an effective photograph, and my friend's camera suddenly ran out of batteries, for those 30 seconds or so only! Crazy.

Look closely: there are two geisha in this photo. You can the backs of their heads. Let's not disturb them though, we want to observe, not intrude. And thus concludes our thrilling attempt to capture the elusive geisha in her natural habitat. The end.

Our Ryokan

Thanks to C, we got to spend several nights at the lovely Casa de Natu Inn, a traditional ryokan. This was the girls room.

Another shot of the girl's room. It was everything you'd expect a traditonal Japanese to be.

Breakfast on the floor in the hallway

This chair was awsomely creepy.

The ryokan garden

Details

Internet Interlude

2006-11-13T16:16:00.000+09:00

ahem, I HAVE INTERNET!!! Like, at my apartment. No, I swear. I'm totally not making this up. Look, I'll prove it to you:

Two Weekends Ago, Part I

2006-11-09T16:33:00.000+09:00

Two weekends ago I went to Kyoto. To be honest, I wasn't impressed with the city of Kyoto itself - it was just a huge expanse of concrete sprall - but the temples and gardens were beautiful. I also met up with some old friends from Toronto, and made some new ones too, so all-in-all, it was a great weekend.

The Market:

I took the early bus from Takayama on the Friday and had pretty much the entire day to myself. This is the first place I went to: Nishiki Market. It was almost entirely devoted to food, and I left entirely devoted to it. Yum!

A market stall selling... tsukemono, I think. (Japanese pickles) Ange, you would fall in love with this place.

Temples and Shrines:

This shrine was off to the side of a busy shopping arcade.

Gardens:

A wedding!

Three Weekends Ago

2006-11-09T12:33:00.000+09:00

Three weekends ago I climbed to the top of Haku-san, one of Japan’s three sacred peaks. 8 of us crashed at a fellow ALT’s house in Shirakawa (about an hour’s drive away from Takayama, and a UNESCO world heritage site). Oh! but first we all went out for dinner at one of Takayama’s two Mexican restaurants. I love guacamole, but that evening I LOVED guacamole!

It was a beautiful fall day, and the colours were spectacular. We started off in one big group, but eventually broke off into pairs. The beginning was a long, vertical hike through fairly dense forest. The leaves were at their peak, so we were surrounded by red and yellow and gold, with the peaks of other mountains looming on the horizon. Eventually the thick tree cover began to thin out. At that altitude the leaves had already dropped, so the trees that did manage to grow there looked like twisted, white bones; they were especially striking when the clouds began to roll in. We came across patches of snow,our first of the season. Eventually, above the tree line, our surroundings changed again, this time to the wide-open expanse of a sunny, alpine meadow (like-thing. I doubt that’s the correct terminology) The sky was a deep, clear blue and reminded me of a Miyazaki film. After hiking through the “meadow” for some time, we came across an expansive mountain lodge. Although it was boarded up for the season, there were still a few groups stopped for a rest. This was the where the final climb to the peak was, so there was also a small Shinto shrine with a Torii gate. We stayed there just a bit too long and it was tough getting going again, but we eventually fell back into a rhythm and before we knew it, we were standing on the top of the world. Honestly, that’s what it felt like. When you looked off into the horizon, all you could see were clouds far, far below, and the peaks of distant mountains. It was exhilarating!

There were 5 Canadians, and we all had Mountain Equipment Co-op backpacks (most Canadians do)

This shot was taken from the trail: mountains off in the distance

Everyone else stopped to take pictures too

Trees in the mist

As we approached the treeline the trees started to look rather skeletal

Our first glimpse of snow. It's hard to tell from this picture, but we're actually quite high up. If you look closely, you can see the 'skeleton' trees far below.

The alpine 'meadow' and the lodge

The Torii gate and small shrine at the bottm. (It looks like a simple stroll to the top, but it wasn't!)

The small shrine at the top!

Looking... north? I don't remember now. But the little lake was the most beautiful shade of blue.

Clouds on the horizon and rolling-in over the lodge down below.

On top of the world...

Hanging out and having lunch - on top of the world!

Some help please

2006-11-06T13:55:00.000+09:00

Lunch has just finished. Today they served a sort of soup/stew thing that included boiled cubes of daikon (japanese radish for those not in the know). It didn't taste all that bad, but now the entire school smells like a diaper. A not-so-pleasant diaper. I'm not entirely sure how to deal with this situation.

Takayama Hachiman Autum Festival

2006-10-23T15:07:00.000+09:00

So back on the 9th and 10th of October (I can't believe it's almost November!) my quiet little city at the base of the western alps became the world's largest tour bus parking lot. Or so it seemed. The streets and bridges and shops and temples became swollen rivers of humanity - all carrying cameras and cellphones - and my friends and I became one with the greasy, dripping, pefection otherwise known as Festival Food.

It rained the entire week, and the entire weekend, and then on Monday morning, the morning of the festival, the sky was so clear that I could see Norikura, newly dusted with snow, from my balcony:

Despite being tired from a weekend in Tokyo and long night of karaoke-ing, I just couldn't stay in bed. I also wanted a sampling of Festival Food before the streets became the DVP on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend. So I went out.

A colourful flower stand, the very first I came across. After that it was alllll food.

Food stands! This is a mere trickle of people compared to what came later in the day. I had some sweet cakes, not unlike Korean walnut cakes, in the shape of fish, some superb Hida Yaki-Niku (Hida region beef skewers) and a cherry ice. A great breakfast. Here are some more food stand shots:

I then made my may up to the main temple and came across a display of the beautiful and infamous "yatai", or floats, the highlight of the festival. The level of craftmanship is superb and I could have stayed there the entire morning admiring all the intricate details.

After that I wandered around town for awhile...

... met up with some friends and went sake tasting...

... and then grabbed more festival food and collapsed on the banks of the Miyagawa River (I had taco-yaki and chicken shwarma from some Turkish guys out of Nagoya).

Later, when it was dark out, we watched while the yatai's were hung with glowing lanterns and paraded around the streets of the city:

And honestly, I don't remember what we did that night; more karaoke I think. I had to work during the 2nd day of the festival, but that evening I met my friend Becca and we managed to squeeze in one last Festival Food meal before the next one in April. We ate okonimiyaki, taco yaki, sweet potato fries and more of those little fish cakes. Oishikatta.

Life is hard with no internet

2006-10-16T08:56:00.000+09:00

I got a letter from Softbank: they need another copy of my gaijin-card picture and may not be able to set-up in my area. At this rate, I'll probably have internet access at my apartment by my birthday. I am a Taurus.

Anyway, as usual I've been really, really busy. Last weekend I met my friend Andrew in Tokyo for a much-needed urban slap in the face (I had my toes stepped on by hoards of people and I loved it!) and then spent the Holiday Monday wandering around my own little city, taking in the sites and sounds and tastes - the most important part - of the Takayama Fall Festival. The number of people who suddenly flooded the streets and riverbanks and back alleys, temples and sake shops was almost terrifying. I went sake-sampling with friends and each time we emerged from the dark, wood-and-stone shops with their ominous cedar balls hanging out front, the world was just a bit more sparkly. We had glorious weather.

I spent last week at Norikura doing English stuff and hiking with slow 10 year olds. Then I was at one of my Shogakkos (elementary schools) where I made Jack-o-lantern masks with 6 year olds and had them knock on my (imaginary) door and practice trick-or-treating (with real candy). They ate up every sugar infused second of it and at the end of the day I watched them traipse down the hill/mountain - some of the children walk 50 mins each way! - with red and black back-packs, yellow hats and orange faces.

I haven't downloaded any pictures yet so I will leave you with this one, taken back in August.

Takayama has a Totoro shop! It's actually devoted to all things Miyazaki, but the majority of their wares is Totoro. What more could you ask for in a small Japanese city in the mountains?

Ok, here are some more pictures of Takayama, taken back in August:

The Miyagawa River and the Tori-gate bridge

A pretty stretch of river that is tucked-away amongst merchant houses and souvenir shops

Owwwwwwwww.

2006-10-02T14:17:00.000+09:00

Went hiking/climbing on saturday. It was amazing. Now I can't move as I apparently pulled every single muscle in my body (including my liver, but that happened Sat. night). Before I elaborate, however, here are some pictures of the last two weeks:

My friends from Toronto stayed a couple of days. I showed them around Takayama, we went to an onsen and ate a fabulous dinner of Hida yaki-niku.

Lynn and Nate in what was actually a gift shop in the old section of Takayama

Me and Lynn on the 'Big Chair' on Kokubunji St. I've started doing the 'finger thing'. Japan is slowly creeping into my brain

Last Saturday I went to the town of Furukawa, about 15 mins north of Takayama, for their Kitsune-bi Matsuri (Fox fire festival). It was really, really cool, and had a very local, small-town feel to it which was nice. It's a harvest festival where people dress up as foxes and parade around the town, and then make their way to the base of the shrine -- right next to the local elementary school -- where a fox god marriage is reenacted. Oh, and it's all done by torchlight.

The approach to the temple

Me and my friend Katie in fox make-up.

The first-two torch bearers approach ...

... and light the various fire 'baskets' along the path to the temple.

The fox-god's procession (this was all done to taiko drums)

It's not a fire festival for nothing! We were standing right next to one of these things and nearly caught on fire ourselves.

The fox-bride approaches with her hand-maidens

The marriage ceremony begins, but...

... dragons interrupt! No really, these are dragons. I know it's hard to tell from my lousy photographs, but they were really cool. They're made from braided rice straw and are 'worked' by about 4 people who jump and snarl and have a great time. They were actually pretty scary!

So basically the dragons interrupt, a lot of fighting goes on, the dragons are set on fire and eventually give up, the party goes on and everyone dances around in celebration. In addition to the taiko drums, there was a whole group of foxes playing wooden flutes which was very nice to hear. Like I said, it was an amazing festival. And I got to eat festival food.

And finally, Becca and I climbed Nishi Hotaka on Saturday (I mean 'climb': a good part of the trail was vertical). To reach the trail-head we first had to take the longest cable car ride in Asia: the Shin Hotaka Ropeway

This is not my picture: there is no snow yet. But you get the idea. And yes, it's a double-decker gondola. The view of the Japanese Alps was spectacular.

We started hiking at 10am; the trail was a steep hike through beautiful and lush forest. We kept passing tour group after tour group (the Japanese really like to hike!) and by 10:45 had reached the lodge, situated right at the tree-line. It was quite large and apparently could sleep up to 300 people - crowded together on tatami mats, of course. Or you could pay a small fee and set up a tent. At 10:45 in the morning it was already swarming with people.

The view from the lodge

We stopped to use the washrooms and were soon on our way again. Instead of walking through dense forest we were now out in the open and walking through low, evergreen bushes (which were pleasantly soft to the touch!). The trail became steep and rocky, and before long we were carefully making our way up skree (loose rocks) to the ridgeline.

This picture was taken at the first 'stop', a flat part of the trail where many people stop to take a break. This is looking back down the path; the lodge is somewhere down there.

The path going up. See the skree!? It's not fun to walk on. If not for my really good hiking boots I would have twisted my ankle and/or fallen more times than I can count.

This is the view from the first 'fake' peak. This is also where parts of the trail became more vertical than horizontal, our poles were packed away, and we started using our arms as much as our legs.

Lunch! Just be careful where you put your onigiri.

Looking east

The trai (somewhere)

The trail goes up

The peak on the left is Nishi, another 15 mins or so away from where this picture was taken. Unfortunately I didn't quite make it thanks to my asthma and the altitude (2908 m). I was pretty angry, but figured I'd rather continue breathing than not, so Becca went on and I sat on the edge of a very, very high cliff. And just to make things interesting, as I was catching my breath I heard the sounds of falling rock and people on the peak all looking over the edge. To my horror, I saw something blue and white go tumbling and smashing down the mountain and disappear. For a second I thought it was a person, but it turned out to be a person's pack. *phew* He came racing down with a cell phone and no pack a little while later, but I have no idea how he'll get it back. A little while after that my heart finally stopped racing.

Me and Becca

Me and Becca back at the trailhead at about 4:30. Behind us is the peak of Nishi Hotaka-dake! It was an excellent hike, despite me not being able to move today. Oh, and we ended the day with a loooong, hot soak. I love Japan!

I've been busy

2006-09-29T13:26:00.000+09:00

So the last two weeks have been rather busy. Some friends from Toronto dropped by Takayama and stayed a couple of days, I went to a Fox fire festival, bobbed my hair yet again (no bangs this time), went to another izakaya with some teachers, drank a whole lot of sake, bought some really good sake, had two days of English hour workshops up at Norikura, and had Japanese lessons and Taiko drumming and Ken-bu classes. Oh, and I've been going for walks/jogs in the evenings. Now it is Friday and I am going hiking up in the mountains tomorrow. Most likely, here:

Or possibly here:

I will post pictures at a later date, including pictures of the last two weeks. But until then, here is me and a friend at Karaoke last week:

Have a great weekend everyone :-)

Sports Day !

2006-09-21T09:06:00.000+09:00

First of all, I would like to start out by saying that MY TEAM WON!! We rocked. Secondly, Sports Day -- in Japanese 'Undokai' and at Higashiyama Jr. High, 'Toukonsai', for reasons not clear to me -- is not like anything we have in Canada. It is Track and Field, Play Day and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies mixed vigorously with a pinch of North Korean Mass Games and a liberal serving of Japanese tradition, pomp and ceremony.

Actually, it's not very complicated. At my school, all 450 students were divided into 3 teams: Yellow, Blue and Red. (I was a member of the Yellow team. Who won *cough cough*) Each team had one main leader (a 3rd year student), and several more team leaders who provided competent leadership that the rest of the team could look up to. The students started meeting at the end of the first term and came in every day through the holidays to make props, costumes, practice routines etc. Hmm... Ok, I think pictures would be far more interesting.

The three teams gathered out on the field. Each student wore their sports uniform and a headband (which made for some pretty funky tan lines at the end of the day!)

Parents, grandparents, locals, dignitaries etc. all gathered for a day of friendly competition and to see how the youths of Takayama are progressing. There were sun umbrellas, hats and bentos (packed lunches) a plenty.

A horn was blown (or a bell rung, I don't remember) and all the kids came runnin'.

The team leaders saluted the Kocho-sensei (Principal who is out of this particular shot) by screaming at him.

Everyone did their morning excercises, including the teachers (and yours truly - I don't know how I managed to take this picture)

And then all the students ran away screaming because they could no longer take the super genki and super irritating exercise music.

And then the events beain! This is when it becomes clear that one is in Japan. The students participate in large groups - sometimes their entire team!, everyone participates no questions asked, and during each event crazy, whacky back-ground music is played. (Think the Can-Can plus Jingle Bells plus insane cartoon music with a touch of the opening theme of Saturday Night Live) The only serious event was the group relay, although the students take every event seriously. The other events were as follows:

Mass-team Tug of War

The 15 (?) Legged Race

The 'That Log is Mine You Wicked Wench' game. (Ok, so I don't know what it's called. But two teams - girls only - lay down along two ropes on either side of the field. A shot was fired and they all got up, screaming, and had to try and throw as many logs as possible on their side of the rope. The whole point of the game was to watch Jr. High girls wrestle each other to the ground and/or get dragged through the dirt. Fun times!)

The Running With Logs game. Fairly self-explanatory. There was a lot of screaming involved with this one too.

The Drag a Kid Around the Track on a Tire event. Exactly what it sounds like plus screaming.

The Carry a Kid Around the Track While He Hangs Like a Monkey event. You'll notice they're wearing helmets. They were needed; many kids fell or were dropped, generally on their heads.

The Mukade event (yes, that's it's real name. Mukade are gross, disgusting,and poisonous centipedes that you need to boil to kill. They're nasty creatures, but I enjoyed watching this event)

The kids who weren't participating cheered on their teammates, ran around with big flags, and beat on a Taiko drum

The giant flags

Just before lunch the girls got together and performed their dance. They used this rather odd music with lots of shouting and wailing in it, and their moves and actions were like a more vigorous version of a Bon Odori dance. This year they decided to wear costumes. I tried to be supportive, but quite frankly I think they look like wannabe superheroes. And all of that synthetic material was making the girls sweat!

Another shot of the dance

After lunch the boys got to perform their dance. They took off their shirts and shoes, grunted, sweated and acted all manly.

Observe the manliness

Yet more manliness

Next came the cheering contest, and I was asked to be a judge. Each team had 2 mins to perform a cheer using various props; my students used pom-poms, fans, their shirts and their hands. And their voices. They were judged on how loud they were, their creativity, their energy and their timing.

The Blue team using pom-poms

The Red team doing a wave with their pom-poms

The Yellow team spelling out "No. 1" with pom-poms

... and spelling TOP with their fans

Next there was a hand-held hanabi (fireworks) show! It was pretty cool.

Then there were more events! In this one, kids from each team had to race across the field but on the backs of their team members.

Only the boys did this event. Two teams started on either end of the field. Half the group crowded around a long pole with a flag in the top while the other half started running around the track. When each team had run half way around they suddenly stormed the other team and tried to grab their flag. The first team to capture the flag was the winner. Inevitably there was a great deal of tackling, grappling and violence. Boys were seen limping off the field with battle wounds. The Yellow team was totally creamed in this one.

And finally, after being outside in the sun all day, after running and dancing and pom-pom waving, after fighting, cheering and generally exerting themselves to the fullest, these poor children had to jump rope. And if they weren't jumping, they were sitting in the sun, dripping and melting and yelling encouragements to their teammates. Gambatte.

At last it was 3:30. Time to get in formation, salute the Kocho-sensei again and then scream out the school song.

Awards were handed out. As previously noted, my team won :-)

The team leaders gave their final speeches, and every one of them burst into tears. It was all very emotional and there was hardly a dry eye in the crowd. Except for me. Desite wearing a hat, long pants and a high-cut t-shirt I got horribly sun- burned. I got the worst sandal and t-shirt tan of my life!

There was time for one, last victory cheer...

And then all the teacher's got thrown into the air in celebration (?). This isn't me, it's of my JTE's Ms.Yamaguchi, but I imagine I looked much the same. At least the student's didn't drop me on my head like the teachers did later that evening.

And so that was Sports Day. Everyone had a great time and went home tired, sunburned and hoarse. Except for the teachers who went out that night for a big dinner and lots of drinks. :-)

p.s. I apologize for the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. I may or may not fix them at a later date.

I am now climbing apparatus

2006-09-15T13:26:00.000+09:00

I have now been to two out of three of my Elementary schools: Nishi and Iwataki. Elementary school children - ages 6 to 11, thereabouts - are awsome. They speak to you in Japanese and don't care when you don't understand them. They speak to you in English and don't care when they don't get things right. They are also smelly, have sticky hands, like to use the new ALT as their own, personal jungle gym, and are impossibly adorable. They're also accomplished unicyle stunt artists.

On Wednesday I rode to Nishi Elementary on my bike in the pouring rain. As soon as I approached the building I was attacked by little beings wearing blue shorts and yellow hats and brandishing big, yellow umbrellas. I was made even more happy when a boy caming running up to my desk in the Teacher's Room looking for high-fives; he was one of the kids I worked with at the Norikura English workshop in August. I did intros for a 3rd year class and a 4th year class, and got to eat lunch (a small, hard lump of fish, vegetable salad in a rice vinegar dressing and 3 slices of white bread with a plastic package of what looked liked plum butter but tasted like a food product possibly related to chocolate) with a very loud class of 8 year olds. I handed out stickers and homemade namecards and was a hit. I rode back home in the pouring rain and promptly fell asleep for 3 hours.

Yesterday I was picked up in the parking lot of the local cinema (which is close to my apartment), and was driven 20 minutes north to Iwataki Elementary. It's a 3-story building with a pool, gardens and sprawling school yard high on top of a hill surrounded by rice paddies and mountains. It also has a total of 23 students. They manage to use the entire school, save the third floor, but even still it's rather eerie. There's dust in the corners and the library is only open on thursdays. My lessons on animals, sports and family went over well; they all know what moose and beavers are, as well as hockey and lacrosse. I brought Mr.Moose, an adorable stuffed moose who wears a plaid scarf and who is on loan from my friend Angela, and he was a huge hit. The kids - 6 1st graders, 5 2nd graders, 3 3rd graders, 6 4th graders, 2 5th graders and 1 lone 6th grader - were wonderful. They all wanted me to read the English on their shirts and shoes. And after lunch they all brushed their teeth to hypnotic, fairy-tale music. It's an interesting place, Iwataki. The Vice-Principal asked me if my parents would mind buying and shipping him a router saw table from Sears in Canada (he'd pay them back of course). I told him that it was very hard for them to get to a post-office. This was the same man who asked that I send him pictures of animals for him to print and laminate, and then called up and asked if I really needed the one of the elephant? When i started to insist that yes, I most certainly did, he informed me that he had guests in his office and he had to go. Indeed. Something tells me that his guests didn't speak English, but he wanted to make sure they knew that he did. ;-) And in the end, the elephant never got printed.

Anyways, here are some Nishi kids on their unicycles (in the pouring rain):

A highly enjoyable weekend

2006-09-11T16:20:00.000+09:00

Had a great weekend. My school had it's Toukonsai (Sport's Day) on Friday -- which I'll get to later -- and that meant an enkai (party) for the teachers afterwards. It was held at the Hida Hotel in a big tatami-mat room. The Principal and two Vice-Principals sat at one end of the room, and the teachers sat on the ground in two long lines against the walls. Everyone had a pillow, a back rest and a lovely wooden tray filled with beautiful dishes of food. The second-year teachers were responsible for organizing the party, so they started off serving people drinks. Everyone had a small glass of something (it was red, sweet and alcoholic) to start off the party with a 'kampai' (cheers), and then the beer, sake and oolong tea started flowing. In Japan you never pour yourself a drink, someone else does it for you which means everyone talks to everyone else. It was great fun but I was quite frustrated at not being able to speak Japanese. Women in kimono were continually taking away dishes and replacing them. All the food was small, colourful, delicate and beautiful. And delicious. The teacher's got to relax and simply chat and enjoy themselves. The strict rules and unspoken codes of the workplace vanished. We sang songs, drank, ate, chatted, drank and played our own 'sport's day' games. At the end I got tossed up in the air as a 'welcome to the family' sort of thing - and was nearly dropped on my head. Then some of the younger teachers continued on to a bar/lounge for the 'second party' -- that's really what it's called -- and I was given excellent whisky, many compliments and a taste of real japanese karaoke. Good times were had by all.

On Sat. I went to one of the morning markets along the banks of the Miyagawa river: I bought cucumbers, potatos, onions, tsukemono (japanese pickled vegetables) and some pretty cuttings of something that resembled holly. I ran into my friend Becca, and we arranged to meet later in the afternoon to do one of the 'temple walks' in Takayama. We ended up visiting about 7 or 8 temples and shrines, and eventually found ourselves in a sort of garden tea-house decorated with a mix of japanese antiques (think 1920s typewriters and attache cases, japanese farm house antiques, beautiful old fans and french china dolls - it was incredibly surreal and we decided that we'd actually fainted from heat stroke and were in fact either face down on the road somewhere or in someone's backyard drinking from their garden hose). We 'hiked' through the lovely, forested Shiroyama park, made our way back through the old historic section of town (where we pretended to be tourists and samples the miso and sake), had dinner at a cheap but delicious izakaya (with an entertaining English menu) and ended the day with fruit and chocolate cake at a tea shop overlooking the Miyagawa river.

On Sunday Becca and our friend Fletcher had planned to go hiking. We left Takayama at 6:30am, bought snacks and lunch at a combini (convenience store) and drove about one hour north-east to a mountain whose name is something like 'Fukiji'. Our guide book said it took 4 hours to complete and was pretty much a steep incline the entire way. It was absolutely a steep incline and the day was hot and humid. Fortunately it was heavily forested so we weren't walking in the direct sunlight. Full of youthful, genki energy we set out and passed many groups of hikers no younger than 65 (!). We were sweating and breathless before long, but we kept on going and eventually reached the 'peak'. In less than one hour. There were some beautiful views, and it was great training, but it was something of a disappointment. I think we were looking for something that climbed higher than the tree-line. But in the end it was enjoyable and we were glad we came. The second trail we'd planned on hiking was closed so we ended up having lunch beside a waterfall and then spending the afternoon at an onsen. Then it was back to Takayama for dinner at a sushi restaurant and then 'Purikura' (short for 'Print Club'; you grab your friends and take all sorts of silly pictures in a picture booth with crazy backgrounds, and then add all sorts of embelishments. I'll post some pictures later). I was going to go to sleep early, but I ended up going to Red Hill (a local bar) to return a movie the owner had leant me and so I stayed for a drink. Just one.

As the post title suggests, it was a highly enjoyable weekend. Now here are some pictures:

Becca inspecting the trail in the midst of some beautiful cedar trees

The top of the 'mountain'! Becca is less than impressed.

The view from the top of the mountain

Me and Becca beside our waterfall

Me, Fletcher and Becca. We went and soaked in an Onsen next and it was delicious.

The exhaustion, the dampness

2006-09-07T10:32:00.000+09:00

I am sooo tired. Exhausted. One step away from being the Living Dead. Ever since I've arrived I've been going, going, going and it's finally caught up with me. I need sleep. And coffee.

The weather has changed. On the first day of September it suddenly became cooler, I kid you not. I've taken out the matching duvet to my futon and am partially closing my windows and doors at night. I'm wearing sweatshirts - during the day! The past few days have been rainy, and my school is damp. My second period class smelled like daikon.

Went to my first Japanese lessons last night with a lovely woman named Noriko, and my friend who is another new ALT. Noriko is excellent, and at what works out to be $8.00/hour, is a steal. I desperately need these lessons; I really need structure when studying.

Tomorrow is my school's Sports Day. I will take pictures and explain it all later.

Jya

One before the weekend

2006-09-01T15:40:00.000+09:00

More introductions today, and they all went well

This is a picture from the first-year English textbook. In the book, the new English teacher is Ms. Green from Toronto, Canada. When she does her introduction and is asked if she can speak Japanese, she says "sukoshi", which means "a little". I get asked this exact question over, and over and over, and they all start cheering when I answer "sukoshi". It's absolutely hilarious, the kids love it and it's the truth! I do speak a little Japanese! Have a great weekend everyone. I'll be camping at a electronic/trance festival and probably won't get much sleep ;-)

All Genkied Out

2006-08-31T11:15:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I began doing my self-introduction to the students of Higashiyama Jr. High. I have pictures that I show using my laptop and a projector, and I play a game of tic-tac-toe with questions about myself and my family (what is my pet's name, is my brother older or younger - that sort of thing). The English teachers here all seemed to be impressed and keep asking if I've ever taught before, but I AM EXHAUSTED!! I don't know how much longer I can continue being genki (up, energetic). I'm also getting tired of talking about myself. Maybe next week I'll tell them that I went to school at Hogwarts and have a lion named kitty-chan as a pet.

In other news, yesterday's lunch made a half-hearted attempt to kill me and didn't quite succeed. The meal consisted of breaded chicken, steamed vegetables, a weird corn/veggie soup thing and a huge stick of brown bread. (Brown bread here is basically white bread dyed brown, and it all tastes like wonder bread.) The thing is, lunch came with a single fork and no knife. So to eat the chicken you had to skewer it with your fork and rip chunks out of it, and either slurp the soup or eat it with a fork. I admit, I missed the rice.

I feel as though I'm starting to settle in. I've made some really good friends here - although all the new and old ALTs get along really, really well and we have some pretty good times together - and I'm liking being on a schedule again. Some of the young, female teachers at my school took me out to an izakaya for a welcome dinner, I start Japanese lessons next week, and tonight I'm going to my first Kenbu class - that's samurai dancing with a sword and fan. Pretty cool stuff, and I'm really, really excited. I won't have internet access at my apartment for another month, but I have a keitai(cell phone) and friends with cars. That's really, really important :-)

And just so I don't continue this trend of posts that are all text and no pictures, here are some shots from last weekend. On the Friday night my friend and I went to a reggae party (yes, a reggae party) and had a blast, and then on Sat. a bunch of us from Takayama met up with some other Hida region ALTs and went to the little village/town of Maze to visit an onsen and to watch their amazing fireworks festival. I don't have a picture of the onsen (hot spring/spa), but it had 15 separate pools/stations, including a hot pool, a cold pool, scented pools, a sleeping pool, stream rooms , jet showers, inside pools, outside pools and steam boxes where only your head stuck out. It rocked. The boys went to their side, the girls went to ours and we stayed for 1.5 hours. Then, while we de-pruned we ate yummy festival food and then watched the gorgeous fireworks display.

The little mountain town of Maze

Festival Food! Flavoured 'ice', a festival favourite and very pretty to look at

People and more people

Fireworks. We were perched precariously on the edge of a high wall which itself was perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, but we had an amazing view. The fireworks themselves were spectacular: they were enormous, colourful and made the most spectacular noise.

More fireworks...

And after a full day of onsens and fireworks a few of us went down to The River by Kiyomi, lit a fire and toasted marshmallows. But, this being Japan, we had to toast small, strawberry filled marshmallows using chopsticks over a fire built mainly with more chopsticks and cardboard. We managed :-)

The School Lunch Is Out To Kill Me!!!

2006-08-29T14:06:00.000+09:00

Today is the second day of school. The students are writing tests all day so there are no classes. There is still, however, school lunch.

Lunch works differently over here, or at least it does in Jr. High. At 12:30 4th period ends and there is 15 min 'Lunch Preparation' time. Everyone, including the teachers, eats the school lunch. I am no exception. And, because I am the resident ALT I get to eat with the students, a new class each week. This week it's class 1B.

Each class has designated 'lunch kids' (they may have official names for them, but until I find out what those are I'm calling them 'lunch kids'). They don huge aprons, face masks and kerchiefs, and they dole out the food, which is brought up to the front of the class. Quite frankly, they look scary: like evil nurses in miniature. Actually, forget the 'lunch kids', they're Evil Lunch Nurses.

See! This is the sign that hangs outside the room where the Evil Lunch Nurses pick up the lunches. It's an Evil Lunch Nurse, out to get you! (sorry about the picture quality: I took it with my cell phone)

Today the lunch consisted of: white rice, vegetable pickles, a bowl of miso soup with fried tofu and vegetables, teriaki salmon, and a quaint glass bottle of milk. Since I'm lactose intolerant, I didn't have to drink the milk and was given strict instructions to tell anyone who asked that I was allergic to the stuff. The rest of it was ok and since I didn't eat breakfast, I rather enjoyed it. Until about 30 mins later. All I will say is that the school lunch tried to kill me, and very nearly succeeded.

Another thing: I was all prepared to chat up the kids, trade japanese for english etc. But the kids don't talk! Barely a word was said. Now, this may be because by the time the Evil Lunch Nurses have finished serving everyone, the students only have about 10 mins to eat. Or maybe it was because I was there. But it was still rather creepy.

I don't know what I'm going to do about lunch tomorrow.

School has officially started

2006-08-29T13:29:00.000+09:00

The Higashiyama Jr.High official opening ceremony was held yesterday. I cycled to work in my charcoal grey suit and immediately regreted doing so. Duh. I got to school just in time for my very first staff meeting. A bell was rung, everyone stood up, bowed and said 'ohayo gozaimasu', which means 'good morning', and then a whole lot was said in Japanese. I understood a few words here and there, and when I was being talked about. The other teachers really find my mixed Japanese/Irish heritage interesting, and I can understand enough Japanese to know when it's being brought up in conversation. Anyhow, they made me get up in front of everyone, introduce myself briefly in English and then in Japanese, and then I got to sit down again. I tripped on my too-long pant legs while walking up to the front of the staff room. Great first impression. (actually, I was kind of embarrased about my pant legs -- which are too long because I had them hemmed for heels -- but then realized that all the other female teacher's pant legs were also too long. Yes, I could have re-hemmed them, but my laziness has allowed me to kind of fit-in. hah!).

At 9:15 the entire school filed into the gymnasium for the official welcome ceremony; I wish I had brought my camera (but I didn't, so no pictures). The students, who had been coming to school all through the summer break wearing their school gym clothes, were now wearing their real school uniforms. I was not disappointed in the least - they were everything Japanese school uniforms are supposed to be! The boys wear white dress shirts and grey pants, and the girls wear white and navy sailor dresses. Their shoes are colour-coded to correspondwith the grade they're in. They lined up outside, and then jogged-in purposefully to form lines. Once everyone was in there was a lot of bowing, more japanese, and then the school song was sung. Wow, what an experience. I was expecting a pitiful, half-hearted, warbly sort of thing with the staff cringing and the students looking uncomfortable. Instead, three 3rd year boys (the equivalent to about grade 9) got up on the stage and took turns yelling at the ceiling, their hands clasped behind their backs, bobbing up and down while leaning backwards. Then the rest of the student population got up and did the same thing. In two-part harmony. While yelling. And bobbing up and down in that backwards sort-of fashion. IT WAS BIZARRE!!! But very, very cool. And the staff seemed to approve. Then, after a lot of talking, I heard the kocho-sensei(principal) start talking about me again. And it was my turn to get up on stage.

Duh-duh-duhhhhhh.

Now, I generally don't have a problem speaking in front of people, and I had been asked to prepare a short speech in simple English. So I did. However, earlier that morning one of the English teachers asked that I write it out -- so that she could translate it into Japanese. For me. I got the translation about 15 mins before the ceremony started and practiced furiously. I got up on stage and stumbled through it; out of the corner of my eye I could see the other English teachers giggling amongst themselves. In the end, I think I got most of the pronounciation correct, and if anything it strengthened my resolve to learn Japanese. And I'm sure the kids got a good laugh.

Later that evening I went out for dinner with a friend, and then for drinks at a really, really cool bar/lounge thing with a huge collection of vinyl and a really good sound system. And all was well with the world.

A Tour and a River

2006-08-24T15:54:00.000+09:00

Last Friday the Jr.High/Elementary ALTs in Takayama received a tour of the old section of the city, courtesy of about 40 Jr.High/Elementary school students. They were pretty cute and a few of them spoke English quite well.

The girl on the left is Mimi. She looks all cute and innocent, but she came up to Norikura last weekend for English World, and was pretty merciless when it came to our game of Capture the Flag (she made me a prisoner!). In the background you can see some of the preserved 'traditional houses' that Takayama is famous for.

This is a mechanical puppet that lives outside of a restaurant. Everytime he lifts his box a new meal appears: it's hard to see, but in this picture he's currently advertising Hida beef, a regional specialty.

Tasting miso in a miso shop. They also sold huge bottles of shoyu (soy sauce).

But the highlight of last weekend was definitely The River. It's exactly what is sounds like, a lovely stretch of river about 15 mins outside of Takayama, with a swimming hole and waterfalls and large rocks to stretch out on and soak up the sun. It's actually one of many 'secret river' locations, but all are referred to as The River by us ALTs.

By 'ethnic' chili we assumed they meant Mexican

Oh, and how could I forget: that evening the owner of a local English coversation school threw a party. We drank lots of beer, ate lots of food and chatted with many Japanese people (many of whom were incredibly impressed that they sold Kewpie mayo in Canada - you know, the stuff that comes in the sqeezable bottles with the red cap. Angela knows what I'm talking about!!)

And of course, karaoke afterwards

Gujo Bon Odori Matsuri

2006-08-23T13:02:00.000+09:00

Just got back from a 3 day 'English World' summer camp up Mt. Norikura. There were 11 ALTs, 5 of us newly arrived last week, 65 elementary school kids, and a huge amount of energy and excitement (mostly on behalf of the students). No other parents or teachers were present. This is not something that could have happened back at home! It could have been a total disaster, but I'm happy to say that things went smoothly. We taught them names of bugs, how to make lemonade stands, and how to play capture the flag; we had a 'crazy olympics' tournament, a world passport game where they had to run around the Norikura compound and complete tasks for stamps, and at the end we introduced them to pinatas. The kids had a blast and the ALTs also had a great time (especially after they went to bed). The lack of supervision wasn't a problem at all. The kids woke up on time, bathed themselves and put themselves to bed, were always in the right places at the right times -- which was more than could be said for us ALTs -- and were darlings at meal time. They took reasonable portions and ate more salad and rice than french fries! What sort of kids do that??? Maybe the Japanese put something in the water... That being said, it was bloody exhausting. Having to be genki all the time really takes it out of you. However, I was also introduced to Japanese public baths. Yes, you get to get soapy with a room full of other naked women, but then you get to slip into a pool of blissfully hot water and soak the day away. (and afterwards pay a visit to the beer/chuhai vending machine down the hall).

I don't have any pictures, but I do have pictures of my visit last weekend to the Bon Matsuri at the town of Gujo Hachiman. Obon (or just Bon) is a holiday that celebrates the spirits of one's ancestors. People take time off from work and return to their home towns. Bon Odori is the dancing that takes place during the matsuri (festival); it is slow and repetative, and people take part in great numbers. Everyone comes out to dance, from the very young to the very old, and people wear their yukata (summer kimono) and wooden sandals. Last Sunday, several of us ALTs from Takayama met up with some ALTs from Gero and went to Gujo. The Gujo festival is famous because they celebrate for 31 nights, and for four nights in August the dancing goes on until dawn. We joined in and after a bit of practice and a lot of stumbling managed to catch on. You wouldn't think that slow, repetative dancing in large circles would be very interesting, but it becomes quite medetative. We had a great time, sampled some delicious festival food, and afterwards found a lovely little stream to cool our feet in. Gujo is a beautiful little town and I would love to go back one day.

The busy food vendor strip

The musicians were in the middle of four main streets and people formed enormous circles in each of the four streets

The musicians again

Dancers

More dancers

Festival food includes anything and everything deep fried, beer and roasted fish on a stick

And here's mine! It was quite salty and tasty, but they don't clean the fish they just shove a stick down it's throat and throw it over the coals. That means it is better to simply munch away and not look inside...

In addition to food there are the games and contests. And what's a matsuri without the perennial favourite "Hook an eel and then take it home in a platic bag" game. Fun times.

And finally, the perfect way to relax after a hard night of dancing.

All work, and some play

2006-08-17T11:12:00.000+09:00

So the next day after arriving in Takayama, we were immediately thrown into the deep end and had to participate in a 2-day English Workshop for students, Elementary to Highschool. We also got to meet the rest of the Takayama ALTs, and some others from the surrounding area. I was hot, tired and still pretty jet-lagged, but it was a great experience and was actually fun. The first day I got to sit-in on the Highschool student's cooking with gaijin class. :-) Yum. I got to 'talk' with teenagers and sample: Hoba sushi (seasoned rice wrapped up in a hoba leaf), miso soup with pork and burdock, daifuku (sticky rice cakes filled with sweet bean paste), okinomiyaki (a savoury pancake cooked with vegetables and spread with a tangy sauce), and grilled mochi (sticky rice cakes) coated with shoyu (soy sauce). It was a great way to spend the afternoon! I wish I had pictures... The next day I helped do a little excercise where we pretended that various groups of students were stranded on a desert island and needed to name 10 items they would want. Charades, over acting and overall ridiculousness ensued. Finally, in the afternoon the students 'travelled' around the world visiting various countries and then had to answer simple questions about said country. Myself and another Japanese English teacher -- who had spent some time in Thunder Bay -- represented Canada. We talked about Niagara falls, the maple leaf, the Canadian anthem and bilingualism. I had my passport with me and was able to show the kids how everything is written in both English and French. They either really were impressed or just pretended to be.

Some of students during the opening ceremony

On the Friday night some of the new and old Takayama ALTs, plus some Japanese friends, got together for drinks and Karaoke. Enough said, here are some pictures:

Wow, we rocked!

To Takayama

2006-08-15T11:59:00.000+09:00

So, on the Wednesday morning everyone got up, said our final goodbyes, and departed for our various placements. I met up with the GifuPrefectural group, and by 9am we were on the bus to the Tokyo train station to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train).

The Gifu group waiting for the train.
The Shinkansen! Bear with me here, the next several pictures will be for my Dad :-)
The Gifu group on the train. We travelled about1.5 hours or so, and got off in the city of Gifu where we were met by our supervisors. Everyone said goodbye and hello, and we were off! Oh, and yes, the bullet train is extremely fast, devoid of any bumps or jolts, and makes your ears pop like crazy.
Myself, and three other new ALTs - Katie, Ryan and Dan - were driven up to Takayama by our supervisor, Hikage-san, and another woman from the Board of Education whose name I've forgotten.
On the way up, we stopped at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. It was pretty damn cool, and cheap! Fun, delicious and colourful. Oishi.
Driving up into the mountains
First we stopped off at what looked like a magazine/stationary shop and ordered our hankos (official stamps that people here use in liu of written signatures). Then were were taken to the Board of Education to meet various officials, and had to do our introductions in Japanese. I was happy with the results of mine :-) Then the four of us were each taken to our schools for more intruductions, and suddenly very little English was being spoken. Charades became all important. I met my Kyoto-sensei (vice principal) and one of the English teachers, Hori-san, and they took me to my apartment on the nothern edge of town. As I mentioned before, it's absolutely lovely. I'm not going to post any pictures until I've have things in order, but here are the views from balcony: Looking north
Looking south - on a clear day you can see more of the mountains

That evening several of the new and current ALTs were going to the Takayama fireworks festival, but since I didn't have a phone and nobody really new where my apartment was, nobody knew how to find me. So after doing some grocery shopping and buying onigiri (rice balls) from a combini (convenience store), I decided to explore and found the festival myself. It wasn't exactly difficult ;-)

What you can't see in this picture are the people holding on to the fireworks on the ground. Pretty crazy!
Again, it's hard to see, but this is a shot of a Taiko drummer in front of an enormous Tori gate on one of the main bridges.

Tokyo 2: Toilets and more toilets

2006-08-15T09:48:00.000+09:00

So, a week ago back in Tokyo...

We arrived at Tokyo Narita International Airport. You can't tell from this picture, but from the moment we emerged from customs there were dozens and dozens of volunteers helping us out and showing us where to go. After being in transit for most of the day, it was greatly appreciated.

My very first Japanese-style toilet! Piece of cake! (but now I realize why you always take off your shoes before walking inside a Japanese house - you just don't know where a person's shoes have been, or what they've been standing on)

On the road from the airport to the Keio Plaza Hotel. We did drive by Tokyo Disney, although this is just some random ferriswheel. Dad? You up for Tokyo Disney? They have Pirates of the Caribbean!

Our first night in Shinjuku, Andrew, Leanne and I stumbled around looking for a place to eat. This picture doesn't do the sensory overload justice. We eventually found a little shop that sold Udon, ordered some and tucked in. Oishi.

After eating with some other new ALTs from Winnipeg, we walked around some more and stopped by an arcade. This is a super fun and super cute Taiko drum game, which can also be seen in Lost in Translation. You go, Andrew!

This was my room at the Keio Plaza, which I shared with another ALT from Toronto named Kaleelah. It was spacious and beautiful: we were spoiled.

The bathroom had a cool 'non-fog' section of mirror.

It also had a heated toilet with various functions (though it didn't recommend 'America Town')

The view from my hotel window.

Monday morning was the official welcome ceremony (or something like that). All the new JETs were brought together by prefecture and we listened to speeches. This picture doesn't show the size of the room nor the number of people involved (there were a lot).

Me and Chris, both of us looking professional in our suits.

The lovely Ms.Galina(na-na). Grammy, you'll notice I'm wearing my 'Terumi' pendant :-)

Tokyo street shot

I believe this is Shinjuku station

On the Monday night we were invited to a reception at the Canadian Embassy, a big, grey building with lots of granite and which screamed 'CANADA' !! Unfortunately it was rather disappointing: they served us sandwiches, Lays potato chips and Canada Dry gingerale, and nothing interesting happened. Luckily, however, the spectacular sunset and gorgeous washrooms made up for the lack of civic excitment. I don't have any pictures of the washrooms (Galina! email me), but I do have some of the sunset.

What's a Canadian embassy without an inukshuk? This guys gets a great view of Tokyo.

Wow, purple sky. Thank you pollution!

Oooooh...

Aaaaaw... Even though we're jetlagged, we're still hott. That would be me, Galina, Audrey, Mia and Leanne.

We managed to brave the subway system, and eventually get back to the Keio Plaza.

That's right Kevin, Huzzah!

Finally, before heading off to bed, Galina and I made the trek up to the 47th floor, and took some pictures of the surrounding night-time lights of Tokyo. Mine didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea.

In Takayama!

2006-08-13T12:41:00.000+09:00

So I`m in Takayama now, but still don`t have any internet access (I`m currently in a Internet Cafe) nor do I have a phone. Actually, I`m not even sure of my address! Hopefully I`ll be getting all of those things soon. Takayama is a great little city; today I went to the morning market and saw some temples and shrines. Went to a fireworks festival the first night I arrived. My apartment is lovely. It is on a river and has three rooms (two are hardwood one is a traditional tatami mat room), a Japanese-style shower/bath room and a kitchen. Can`t wait to update with pictures! Hope everyone is well. E.

Tokyo 1: Having a Lost in Translation Moment

2006-08-09T03:30:00.000+09:00

'Lost in Translation' being the wonderful movie about Jet lag and Karaoke in Tokyo (amongst other things) by Sofia Coppola, starring Bill Murray and Scarlet Johanson. I say this because it is currently 3:29 AM Tokyo time and I am wide awake, unable to sleep. Now, despite the wakefulness of myself at this present time, I'm also exhausted and I can't think straight. So let me give you some pictures.

Me and my mom at YYZ

Me and my dad at YYZ

So I said my goodbyes and was about to go through US customs when I heard my mother shout my name; turns out my brother had just called to say goodbye (aww). The security people were nice and let me go back to take the call.

These are some of the crazy kids I hung out with at the airport: Galina, Yuri and Audrey. Nice hat, Yuri.

We flew Northwest and first had a short stop-over in Detroit. Andrew and I went for a stroll and then nearly missed our connecting flight. Obviously we did not, but here we're a little sweaty and breathless from the run through the airport. Whoops.

And look, my very first view of Japan!

Well, that's it for this evening. We all depart for our prefectures early tomorrow morning and things will be crazy -- apparently there's a typhoon coming? Fun times! More pictures to come.

And I'm off!

2006-08-05T14:54:00.000+09:00

So it's almost 2am and I'm still up doing last-minute packing things. We had our final JET orientation/reception today at the Toronto Hilton, and the only picture I managed to take was this one:

Kevin and Andrew having a Seinfeld moment in the Parking Garage (Look at those snazzy suits - and yes, we found the car eventually)

Tokyo tomorrow!

Hullo, I'm off to Japan

2006-08-04T11:06:00.000+09:00

Hullo everyone - I leave for Japan this Saturday. Wow, time flies. Thank you to everyone who came to my goodbye party and who sent me cards etc. It's all extremely appreciated!

Currently I'm busy trying to pack and sort through boxes and scan photos and other fun things, so, in lieu of a real post with any sort of decent content I'm just going to post some totally random photos.

The sky at the cottage

Last night in Uxbridge before the storm - rather ominous wouldn't you say?

Me and Devin (a few years ago)

Me and Devin (a few weeks ago)

Kita watch where you're sniffing!

Some of the Toronto JET group on a boat cruise back in June

My 'Good bye' party cake: that's my middle name 'Terumi' in Japanese characters

Family portrait up at the cottage