This actually happened a couple of months back but my first draft disappeared into the ether somewhere and I’m only just getting around to re-writing it.  You know, had a baby and all to help bring into the world.  🙂

Rochelle, Cory and I had a really fun day at the EcoMesse event at Makuhari Messe.  The event is a chance for groups and companies both big and small to highlight their eco-related activities, from gas companies teaching kids (and big kids like us!) about ‘setsuden’ (power saving) through a game of ‘Setsuden Bingo’, through to small university-based groups concerned about insect and amphibian populations around their city habitats, to woodworking classes and can crushing clubs! (we scoffed at the can crushing at first, but this was really fun – they have a world record, based on height and width, for the best can crush of 1.05, if I remember correctly, and I crushed a 1.26!  Was pretty exciting!)

The lovely lady in the green t-shirt is Tomomi Sato, or ‘Ton-chan’.  You can find her blog here and you can find her post about the fun we all had together here.  She writes about running the ‘setsuden bingo’.  She was a great host, super-genki, full of fun and energy.  There were no more seats so we big gaijin had to sit on the ground in the front.  Anyway, this meant a lot of interaction with Ton-chan, and, as she goes on to explain, in the excitement of being on stage and perhaps not using her English skills all that often, she asked us, ‘Do you love me?!’  Cory and I kinda looked at each other, looked back at her.  I can’t remember for sure whether he also called out, ‘Yes!’  Haha.  I think what she meant to say was, ‘Do you love it?’ as in the ‘setsuden bingo’ but yeah…  she realised her mistake pretty much straight away and it gave us all a good laugh.  We continued that laugh when we found her again outside later in the afternoon, where, as she writes, we helped enliven the little cooking stall they had going on.  She was a really bright spark – perfect lady for that line of work and helped make the event a lot more fun.  She told us about her blog and asked if we could take a picture together and I asked her to put it on the blog and well, here we go…

This was a cool event and helped teach me a bit about the work Chiba prefecture is doing in relation to recycling and green industries.  Chiba is known for having the huge industrial belt running around the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay.  In recent years, that industry has been joined by some big recycling operations, some independent and others a part of those established industrial giants.  An example is the recycling of plastic that can then be used along with coke in the firing process for making steel.  Some of these big industrial operations can be visited as part of Chiba’s Industrial Sightseeing promotion.  One day I’m gonna go see that big steel factory!

Just a note on some of the ways the little bear cub and I have been enjoying music together over the past few weeks:

1. Watching Rido struggle through the last of his bottle, eyes rolling back in his head, drunk on formula, I remembered the Dead Kennedy’s tune I’d scrolled past in my playlist earlier that day, and rechristened it ‘Too Drunk to Suck.’

2. Learning how to ‘play’ (that may overstate its musicality -‘make a good noise’) with the little wooden bird I bought for Rido in Nikko. Babies at this stage love sound and movement together. This has a little mouth that moves when you blow through it. The man has been making and selling them in that spot for 57 years!

3. Building a wee list of ‘Rido’s songs’.  So far we’ve got Drop It Like Its Hot for when he poops and So Fresh, So Clean for when he comes out of the bath.  I’ve also got Peaches little ditty, Fuck the Pain Away, with that great first line, ‘Suckin’ on my titties like you wanted me..’  I just kinda sing this one to myself though…

4.  Making up new words for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  God, there really is very little to that nursery rhyme!  A recent re-wording came in the form of:

          Twinkle twinkle little Rido
          Will you be the next Beatle?

Another:
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

          What goes on inside your head
          When you’re awake and you’re in bed

Or:
 Trucks outside go rolling past
           But you’re asleep, sound at last

5. Being put to sleep by the likes of Shapeshifter’s Long White Cloud and Subfocus’ Future Bass mix for Mixmag (which if you haven’t heard, you should definitely heard it!)  That’s my boy!

We joined the line snaking around the courtyard of the shrine, waiting for well over 30 minutes.  We were then ushered into the waiting room, ready to be a part of the next group of 50 or so to have their children’s milestones acknowledged.  In our case, birth and the first meeting with the gods.  Others were there to celebrate this also.  While others were there for their child’s third, fifth or seventh year as is the custom in Japan.  While we waited, I read the sign board (well, probably more so looked at the pictures) describing how to present yourself properly to the gods – bow twice, clap twice, bow one more time.  I asked M again, ‘Now, is there anything I have to do when we go in here.’  It was an important occasion and I didn’t want to do anything dumb.  No, she told me, just sit down.  Rido, M’s mother and I sat in the front.  M stood at the back.  Things were progressing nicely until I heard the words, ‘something something daihyou’ – ‘representative’ and saw the priests eyes fall on me.

Let me back up a bit.  Omiya mairi is a Shinto tradition where a newborn baby, around a month after birth, is taken to the local shrine to be introduced to the god residing there, asking for his/her blessing for a healthy (‘genki’) upbringing.  As Rido was born in Saitama, we headed to Hikawa Jinja in Omiya city (there is a bit of a play on words here – omiya mairi – お宮 and 大宮 – Oomiya, lit. big shrine).  It’s a pretty shrine with big red gates and a red bridge crossing a pond with carp, turtles and a waterfall.

 

It was a very busy day and traffic was not only heavy getting to the shrine but also once we got there, too.  Inside the gates was a line that snaked from the ticket box, down back to the gate and back around half way up through the courtyard.

 

We waited for around a half an hour, taking photos, and then another 15 minutes or so inside the waiting room (where I was reading the ‘how to pray’ signboard) and Rido, the good little ‘oriko’ (well – behaved child) that he is, chilled and slept the whole time.  Right through the ceremony, too.  Phew!  He looked beautifully androgynous in his little white dress.

So, coming back to my responsibility as ‘daihyou’.  It was indicated that I should approach the platform where the priests were standing.  Thankfully I didn’t hear anyone say, ‘gaijin da!’ (it’s a foreigner!) cos that would have made me even more nervous, although M told me later she heard it at the back of the room.  I was given a branch which I was meant to present to the god of the shrine.  At first I had it the wrong way around, but the priest guided me as to its right way and had me place it on a small altar.  I then took a step back, bowed twice, clapped twice and bowed once more.  And that was it.  Each child’s name was called by the priest so the gods knew who they were dealing with, we were given a small gift and we were back out into the sunshine that had come out that afternoon.

Afterwards, we took a bunch more photos, both at the shrine and back at M’s mother’s place, of which I will let you peruse below.

Rido and M are back home now, have been for a little over a fortnight now.  It’s wonderful having them here.  Seeing Rido every day, picking him up, playing with him, playing music and dancing with him, is just awesome.  Right now, I have a bit of a cold so I haven’t been able to pick him up for a couple of days.  But I got onto the doctor quickly and got some pharmaceuticals, which though I have heard it said are weaker than our counterparts back home (you certainly receive more – I have pills, powders and lozenges!), I have found to be very effective.  Almost 100% again 😀

The Anatomy of Dependence (Amae no Kouzou) – Takeo Doi

It’s a little hard to get your head around at first – the idea that, in a culture where people tread so carefully in relying on someone, indulgently relying on others is, in fact, the central defining personality characteristic of the Japanese.  But it is exactly this multi – layered maze of customs and linguistic expressions dedicated to said act that make it so.  As the threads came together and the concept made more sense, I realized prominent psychologist, Takeo Doi’s The Anatomy of Dependence provides an interesting and revealing perspective that will deepen readers’ understanding of the Japanese and the culture here.

Doi uses the lens of language for the most part to expound his theory that language and its usage is key to understanding peoples’ psychology.  Quoting linguist Benjamin Whorf:

‘… every language is a vast pattern-system, different from others, in which are culturally ordained the forms and categories by which the personality not only communicates, but also analyzes nature, notices or neglects types of relationship and phenomena, channels his reasoning, and builds the house of his consciousness.’

Doi’s book looks at many words familiar to most people who have spent some time in Japan – enryo, sumimasen, ki, for example, and introduces many more that constitute the conceptual world of the Japanese.  His research work included comparative linguistic analysis; looking at the use of these words and concepts in Japanese as opposed to other languages.  The book will enlighten the reader wondering about Japanese thinking regarding giri (social obligation, duty) and ninjou (humanity, human nature, empathy).  Also, the oft-mentioned, yet rarely well-understood centrality of the group also gets a digging over for the reader’s intellectual consideration.

In translating the Japanese title of the book Amae no Kouzou (甘えの構造), amae, the book’s central concept, has received the English word ‘dependence’.  The book features defining phrases for amae throughout:

–       ‘to lean on a person’s goodwill’ (72)

–       ‘the right to presume on them (i.e. relations) or harbor emotional resentment just as they like’ (16)

Or more fully, in translator John Bester’s foreword:

–       ‘It is the behavior of the child who desires spiritually to ‘snuggle up’ to the mother, to be enveloped in an indulgent love, that is referred to in Japanese as amaeru (the verb; amae is the noun).  By extension, it refers to the same behavior, whether, unconscious or deliberately adopted, in the adult.  And by extension again, it refers to any situation in which a person assumes that he has another’s goodwill, or takes a – possibly unjustifiably – optimistic view of a particular situation in order to gratify his need to feel at one with, or indulged by, his surroundings.’

The book makes clear though, that a straight translation of ‘dependence’ is not satisfactory.  The term amae carries connotations and cultural weight that are not matched by the term ‘dependence’ in English.  Given the book’s basis in comparative linguistic analyses, I think the reader could expect a somewhat clearer understanding of the difference here.  By the end of the book it is still difficult to get your head around what amae is exactly.  And don’t assume that Japanese all think of it in the same way as Doi!  I’ll illustrate with an example.  Talking with my wife’s mother the other day, I tried to describe the situation we were discussing as one where amae was at play.  Her response was basically, hmm not really.  I was left scratching my head, still unclear exactly as to the centrality of this thing.

So the book is perhaps going to pose more questions than it is going to give answers.  It does both of these things in fairly equal measure however, so as to be thought-provoking, while concurrently deepening your knowledge.  It provides moments of ‘yes, I’ve seen that before’, along with moments of ‘hmm, perhaps future experience will further confirm that…’

So what other words does the book investigate?  Sumimasen (or sumanai, the straight dictionary negative, as Doi uses) is, according to him, a strange term as it encapsulates both gratitude and apology.  As you become more familiar with Japanese society you notice that in a lot of the situations where you would say, ‘arigatou gozaimasu,’ Japanese actually say, ‘sumimasen’.  Doi first compares scholar Yanagida Kunio’s choice of 澄む – to be clear of free from impurities, as the derivation of ‘sumimasen’ with his choice of verb 済む – to finish, to end, to be completed, which he believes is closer to the actual usage of the word.

‘In other words, the matter is ‘not ended’ – something is still left over – because one has not done everything one should have done.  Thus it expresses a strong feeling of apology towards the other person – and it is precisely for this reason that the word sumanai is also used to thank him for his kindness.’

Not only a strong feeling of apology, but also indebtedness.  Surely important when so many people are living so close to each other and surely a part of why Japan is a relatively safe country and so socially cohesive.  Apologizing is something of a stylized art form in Japan.  Not beautiful like ikebana, not calming like shodo, not fearsome like kendo, but a practical art form for smoothing human interactions and holding on to a person’s goodwill.  As Doi writes:

‘The question here … is why the Japanese are not content simply to show gratitude for a kind action but most apologize for the trouble which they imagine it has caused the other person.  The reason is that they fear that unless they apologize the other man will think them impolite with the result that they may lose his good will.  And this, it seems, accounts for the frequency of the word sumanai – the desire not to lose the other’s good will, to be permitted the same degree of self-indulgence indefinitely.’

Through explanations like this covering myriad words, including honorifics and words related to the inability to amaeru, Doi gradually shows the reader the pervasiveness of amae in the Japanese mentality.

‘In Japan, little value is attributed to the individual’s private realm as distinct from the group.’  Doi writes that Japanese life is the domain of inner and outer circles, ‘each with its own, different, standards of behavior, no one feeling the slightest oddity in this discrepancy.’

The power of the group has a part in the ‘serious dearth of the type of public spirit that transcends both individual and group’ in Japanese life, argues Doi.  He also compares the Japanese concepts of the inner and outer to Western concepts of private and public.  It was interesting for me just how clearly he brought home the idea of the prominence of the group in Japan and its power in shaping behavior and character.  It doesn’t get much clearer than that quote opening this paragraph.

Doi’s writing on the words giri (social obligation, duty) and ninjou (humanity, human nature, empathy) makes for very interesting reading.  Their relation to the concept of inner and outer circles is vital.  The further out the circle, the more restraint (enryo suru 遠慮する)　is used, i.e. the less you can amaeru.  Because of a ninjou relationship with your family, your innermost circle, you can act enryo shinai (without restraint).

Doi describes ninjou as a set of emotions especially familiar to the Japanese in which amae is the central emotion.

’Nevertheless, it seems almost certain that the things understood as ninjou are apprehended vaguely as a kind of Gestalt, and that it is the ability or failure of foreigners to fall in with this that gives rise to remarks about foreigners understanding or not understanding ninjou.’

Giri and ninjou overlap each other somewhat as Doi describes giri as a relationship where ninjou is brought in artificially as opposed to naturally,’ e.g. at a job, school, friends etc.  So basically, as you become closer to your friends and co-workers you can ‘amaeru on them’ more.  He describes ninjou as ‘welcoming dependence’ whereas giri ‘binds humans in a dependent relationship.’  In other words, ninjou relationships are those of natural dependence whereas giri invites dependence based on duty and social obligation.

Sometimes it happens in the parent-child relationship that giri is the dominating force to the point that the parent-child relationship is damaged.  Anyone watching the new series of Great Teacher Onizuka GTO will have seen examples of this; overworked/neglected kids and domineering, cold mother figures.  The shows really gets me going for some reason.  Pulls on the heartstrings a lot.  And phew, that Ryuji character – do Australians/Kiwis remember that section on Rove, ‘Who would you go gay for?’  Dude…

It can be seen through these two words that there is a sense that, whereas the historical drive in Western society has been towards freedom, individuality, privacy etc., in Japanese society that drive has been directed more towards dependence, the group and duty.  Doi describes how the post-war ‘removal of ideological restrictions’ (i.e. those imposed by the Emperor system and family system and the introduction of American/Western concepts of freedom etc.) didn’t directly serve the cause of individualism, ‘but by destroying the traditional channels of amae had contributed, if anything, to the spiritual and social confusion.’

An interesting insight into the Japanese perspective on freedom comes in the word ‘jiyuu’.   When the Japanese needed a word for the Western concept this is the one they choose.  Traditionally, Doi argues, this word has meant freedom in the sense of ‘free to amaeru.’  It’s usage was within the context of the group.  In the Western sense, freedom has served as the basis for asserting the individual over the group, ‘in which respect again it affords a marked contrast with the Japanese idea of jiyuu.’  So while, for Japanese, this word contains its positive Western connotations, and its positive Japanese connotations, there is also a conflict which produces a negative side where jiyuu becomes seen as the right to do what one pleases – wagamama – being selfish.  Wondered why Japanese think we’re kinda selfish sometimes?

‘The idea of Personality, which, in the form of Freedom, determines everything in the morality of conscience, and in the form of Object, everything in the ethic of values – this idea is, after all, a Western belief, unknown in our sense to the Far East, and pre-eminently and peculiarly the destiny of us Europeans.’

I want to finish with one of the most incisive parts of the book, again related to freedom.  Doi argues correctly, that the West still behaves on the assumption the individual is free.  Just check out our advertising.  He then illustrates the cracks that the 19^th and 20^th centuries have created in that assumption: Marx’s analyses of dehumanising capitalism, Nietzsche’s proclamation of Christian morality as a slave morality (although surely Nietzsche’s ubermen affirms freedom) and the psychoanalysis of Freud, ‘who emphasized the control of the spiritual life by the unconscious’.  Some thinkers, he claims, such as Sartre, have held onto the idea of human freedom as the only absolute in the face of a superstructure in the process of collapse.  He finishes the point with this:

‘Yet where does this type of freedom lead?  Ultimately, it can only mean – if not the simple gratification of individual desires – solidarity with others through participation, in which the Western idea of freedom becomes ultimately something not so different from the Japanese.’

For anyone interested in really deepening their understand of the Japanese psychology and society, The Anatomy of Dependence is a very good waypoint.  Sometimes dense and a little obscure, it still manages to edify on its topic while informing quite widely around it also, for an overall satisfying, thought-provoking experience.

Despite no individual first places (a 2nd, two 3rd’s and a 4th), Tako came out the overall champ last Wednesday.

While an individual 1st would be great, after my first year, where every kid got 2nd place (!), I feel, for the most part, satisfied now.

And besides that, the kids were great to work with over the summer. We had a lot of laughs. And I think they got something from the process English-wise, speech-wise and personally, too. (Thanks for reminding me part way through that it’s not just about winning, Brennan!)

Congrats, girls!!

Around three months ago my Japanese teacher sent a soil sample from my ‘hatake’ – garden (畑), into the local town office for me.   It had a reading of 221.99 becquerel per kg (Bg/kg), a bit high.  It was time for another measurement.  This occasion I took the test subjects in myself.  I had three things measured – soil from the same spot, some eggplant and the compost that had been stewing away at the back of the garden.

The  test results are measured in becquerel.  The sample should be a minimum of 400 grams.  As becquerel measures isotope decay over time, the test takes about 30 minutes (the 1800 you can see in the photo – number of seconds).

So how did the results come in?  The soil sample taken from the same location – 92.00 Bg/kg.  Great improvement!  The eggplants have been very productive and I had enough available at one time for the 400g needed for the test.  They came back ND – ‘not detected’.  Hurrah!  I should have enough basil to do this too, whose results I will also post.

The compost, however, which, over a period of my inattention, has turned itself into some really nice looking plant food, has a reading of 539.41 Bg/Kg.  It can’t be used.  The Japanese government safety recommendation is under 400 Bg/kg for compost.  Sigh.  Oh well.  Perhaps the reason for the high number is the large amount of fallen leaves, collected from around the school, I put on the pile.  Leaves accumulate radioactive particles very heavily, so I’ve been told.

For those who are wondering, M doesn’t eat out of this garden (well, the odd lettuce leaf).  In fact, she stays away from Chiba/Ibaraki area produce as much as possible.  She is eating a lot of her grandma’s produce now, who has her Saitama garden checked once a week.  So my garden doesn’t feed my family, unfortunately.  It is really just a large research garden right now.  Actually though, it has done me pretty well over the summer for tomatoes, cucumber, beans, eggplants, capsicum and basil for making pesto!

A good collection of information regarding the nuclear situation can be found at factsanddetails.com, albeit not updated since March 2012.

My old buddy and partner in crime, Kate Caldwell, perhaps put it most eloquently when she wrote, ‘Michael did a baby.’  And within only moments of his being born, I could see indeed that I had.  I could see myself in him very clearly (the bloodiness, the conehead…) right from the get go.  Nurses laid him out on the table and cleaned him up.  They stuck tubes up his nose and down his throat, put a little oxygen mask over his face.  He was ‘genki’ 元気 – full of energy and life, though.  I was on duty taking as many pictures as I could.  And in between, just staring at him, in elation.  And with this growing sense of looking at a part of myself.

It’s been three weeks now since Rido was born.  The leaves are beginning to fall at school, the mornings and evenings aren’t quite as hot anymore and gradually an autumn breeze becomes deliciously more frequent.  It’s raining more, too.  Turns out I love thunder and lightening!

When M headed off to Okinawa for three months, the last thing either of us expected was that in two weeks she would be back in Tokyo.  She called me on Christmas Day and called me again the next day to confirm after the doctor’s trip and we had her on a plane back here on New Year’s Eve.  I picked her up from the airport and we returned to Saitama before going down to Omiya’s Hikawa Shrine, to pray and celebrate.  Was it that night three weeks earlier when we went to see The Lion King and visited Tokyo Tower for her birthday?

M moved in around the 10th of March, and we got married on the 23rd after waiting a month for a document from Births, Deaths and Marriages in New Zealand.  Monthly, then bi-weekly and then weekly she would trip back to Saitama for doctor’s visits and time with her family.  And in late July, she returned to her grandparent’s home, for what is known as ‘satogaeri’ – 里帰り – the kanji meaning ‘hometown’ and ‘going home’.

And so, just like the seasons, things gradually progressed.  M prepared for her coming child.  She ate well and read widely.  She, bit by bit, bought or was given, pieces of clothing, toys, baby accessories etc.  Again, bit by bit, we prepared the house for our coming child.  We got rid of a big black leather couch (cheers, Reuben!), our kitchen cabinets – bought a new low white cupboard.  M put it together.  In my second run-in with this style of Japanese home and garden furniture, the box told her, “60min for men, 90min for women”!  The work continues even now though as I make final little tidy-ups to the house.  And I finish our new kitchen table.  Maybe 85% there now.  It’s gonna be awesome!

Along the way we have both learned a lot.  One of the final learning experiences was going to a parenting class at the hospital M would give birth at.  These were two two hour sessions; one in the morning and one in the afternoon, which culminated in bathing a plastic baby.  I bathed the baby and felt a little more confident  (The real life bathing is a little more difficult.  I look forward to just plopping him in the bath with me).  Following along in Japanese all day was difficult but I was able to take most of it in.  It was a good experience.  I’ve learned about breastfeeding, nappies, bathing, teaching values, birth itself, nutrition, health, child development, insurance, water server machines, radiation measurements…

So you want me to get to the birth?  Well, ok then.  He was right on time, ‘yoteibi’ = 予定日 – the due date.  It was one of the first days back at school from summer vacation (where the children still come to school nearly everyday; it’s just that they don’t have classes).  The summer days were at their most intense – long, hot and very humid.  I’m still amazed at the human body’s capacity to sweat after this summer.  It was lunchtime and I was in the middle of speech competition practice with a 2nd year student.  It was very exciting to get that call.  The calmness I had experienced about the whole thing up until that moment was jolted heartily by realness.  I told this student what was happening, rushed around the school, packing up and telling the necessary people (H san and H san in the office = most important!), and then headed home.  The next bus was after 3pm, over an hour and a half way as for some silly reason there is a stupid big gap in the timetable in the middle of the day.  So I hopped my bike to Shibayama Chiyoda station and rode the next train out of there.

I got to the hospital a little after 4.30pm with the gracious help of her mother, giving me a ride from the final station.  I was lucky I didn’t wait because in three hours I would have a son.

Prepare yourself.  From there, there was a lot of anus pushing and either pushing or rubbing of M’s back.    I was gradually introduced by M and the nurses and then left to fill the role.   Yes, that’s right.  When your partner is about to give birth, crouched on all fours, experiencing increasingly painful, increasingly frequent contractions, your role is to sit beside or behind her and when those contractions come, push down hard on her lower back with one arm and push her anus on the other.  And in between, chat with her mother who is sitting there, too.

By around 6.30pm M was moved to the birthing area, first to a bed and sometime around 7 to the actual room where the birth would take place.  My role was to stand at her shoulder, supporting her, holding her hand and saying nice things.  When the contractions came I was to push her up off her shoulders, so to increase her pushing power.  This was hard work, too!  I was tired too, when he came only 50 minutes later.  That fatigue was forgotten, for both of us, however, once he was a free citizen of the world.  There was a sense of wonder and elation shared by both M and I.  She did an incredible job.  With no painkillers, she bore us a perfect little ‘blue moon’ baby.  Thank you, Mana!

As previously mentioned, the nurses cleaned him up and laid him on Mama’s chest for an all-too-quick cuddle.  We had a few minutes together before the staff took him away for more tests and to give him some extra oxygen.  The birth had been a little stressful, they told us and while Rido was fine, he just needed a little help getting going.  While for the most part I thought the birth had gone pretty well (it was fast!), the final stages were a little shocking.  A little stool was propped next to the birthing bed/table.  The main nurse stood on top of it and pushed down HARD on M’s stomach, five or six times, like she was performing CPR on someone.  This was the quite literal last push needed to help bring Rido into the wide world at 7:53pm on August 31st, with a blue moon hanging in the night sky (think ‘Once in a blue moon‘).

Rido weighed in at 3180 or so grams at birth and was 52 cm long (long gaijin legs!).  He was kept in an intensive care unit for four or five days.  The first night (two nights?) he spent in an incubator.  Visiting times were from 1pm till 7pm and were limited to three people, presenting an awkward situation when her mother and father and I all came together; one of us had to wait outside.  All good though.  The care in the unit was excellent.  The nurses were on top of it and happy to answer your questions.  We had a couple that we particularly liked.  I think M liked the nurse who pushed on her stomach.  I liked this other nurse who always had a great manner with both the baby and with us.

Going in each time to hold him was always really exciting.  We would hang out for a couple of hours, give him a break and then come back for another hour or two.  Going in each time required removing any jewelry and scrubbing up to your elbows, along with antibacterial spray.  I think M and her mother were still confused about navigating this place when we left.  He was a really chilled little baby.  Just slept, didn’t cry much, sometimes woke up for some stimulation.  Was beautiful to hold.  A precious lump of life curled up in the crook between your elbow and your wrist.  Gradually the tubes and the like came out of him; first the one in the nose and a couple of days later, the ‘tenteki’ -　点滴 – the IV drip, was taken out.   And it became a lot easier to take him out of the crib.  M started breastfeeding around this time and things have continued well there.  Rido’s now waking her up in the night for feeds, so that’s a good sign.  Gotta have a good appetite!  Just as M was about to leave the hospital he was removed from the care units to the general nursing station.  M could have him just hang out with her in her room.  She went home on the Wednesday, visiting Rido the next day and then taking him home on Friday.

Home until early October is M’s grandmother’s house in Omiya, Saitama prefecture.  It’s around 2 – 3 hours by train, depending on connections, from Tako.  M and Rido have a room to themselves where I can crash down when I stay as well.  Rido sleeps on a little futon between us.  It’s really cute, actually.  I can’t wait to go back next weekend.  Her grandmother is fantastic.  She makes me feel very welcome and at home.  She provides everything I need and many things I don’t.  We have our moments, but it’s generally a lot of fun.  That probably sums M and I up pretty well too, actually!  So I am travelling back and forth when I can to see Rido.  I’ll be on a train in a few hours actually.  I wish I could see him more, but I know that this is the Japanese way of doing things and I can respect that.  He and M will be home Oct 10th and we can spend as much time together then as I want.  Well, nearly.  I’ll be able to take some time off work, a few days at a time.

Rido’s condition now is good.  As I said above he is feeding well.  He is slowly putting on weight.  His eyes are still very dark and it is hard to see which way they will go at the moment.  He has far more hair on his head than I did at that time.  Visiting him yesterday, it was surprising how much stronger and more able his little arms and legs have become.  He can put out a good little bit of pushing pressure with those legs now.  He’s crying a lot more.  And has become a much hungrier little boy,too.  Generally, he has become a much more active baby than those first couple of weeks.  Perhaps his personality is starting to show.

See any similarity?  He looks just like me, so I keep being told.  Damn, look at that dome head.  Thankfully he doesn’t have that.  Moreover, is that a sign of things to come for me?

Anyway… So M and I will continue learning: about babies, raising children and each other as we voyage on this journey together.  Right now, I have big books on bilingualism at school (thanks, Megan!) and I just finished taking a bunch of notes (which I’m happy to share) from Dorothy Law Nolte’s great book, Children Learn What They Live.  Questions of how to raise this child the best I can are constantly with me.  Of course, a much more physical learning will come in simply getting familiar with bathing and feeding the lil’ man.  I already feel reasonably familiar with diaper changes! (nobody says nappy up here… it’s slipping out the side door of my vocabulary – sorry, home folk!).  Although, just when I thought I knew what it was all about we bonded again yesterday and the colour of this thing was incredible – full on radioactive green.  My God…

Anyway…

M and I will have to work together to share this learning with each other.  Leaving behind the sweltering summer, the cooler temperatures of the autumn going into winter, along with the love of a new baby to share will hopefully keep things cool between M and I.  In that space, we can build a strong family, listening to each other and learning from each other, sharing our cultures and perspectives for the benefit of this curious little bean.

While pottering around today I came across, well, first of all, a shit load of police. But then, a protest, I’d say 500 strong or so, of various ages and shades of the political spectrum calling for the govt to shut down the ‘unnecessary nuclear power plants’.

Now how a country can have over 50 nuclear power plants and these be ‘unnecessary’ I don’t understand, but truth is, the country was running without any of these plants until recently (possibly still so actually; I’m not sure plans to bring a reactor back online went through) as all plants were shut for safety testing.

So seemingly it’s doable. I don’t know of anywhere that has been seriously affected by summer blackouts (the result of heavy air con use in combination with those downed reactors). Sure we had a couple points where the lights went out briefly at school but that’s bout it.

But I can’t help feeling there is some naivety on the part of these ppl in the face of the likes of climate change. Perhaps thats unfair; the threat of having your food poisoned and your children harmed is a scary one. But instead of protesting for the shutdown of the reactors, why not protest for their proper regulation, safety oversight and to not to build them in places where fuckin’ tsunami can hit them just cos the land’s cheap?

T’was a little worrying at first. The crowd initially was quite elderly. It did not bode well that this was the vanguard of change in Japanese society, but eventually a younger contingent including family and children and a hip hop group on the back of a truck came through.

For a while there have been protest vigils outside the Prime Minister’s residence every Friday night. My Japanese friend doesn’t think they’ll last. Today gave me a sign that maybe they’ll go on a little longer than he thinks.

How coincidental – it’s been exactly two months today since I last posted.  I have three or four things lined up for the next wee while so, back into it!

I know you probably all want to read about babies… Just hold on a bit, will ya?  I’m getting there…  I’m actually finding it quite difficult to write.  Of course I want to do my son rhetorical justice.  There is also the consideration of how much heart I wear on my sleeve…  Anyway, along with a bunch more photos, my impressions on becoming a father are coming!

Tonight though, I just want to get back into things with a simple photo log.  Here is the summer that was, ‘012. (you know, oh twelve… like we did back in ’02 – oh two.)

A rather merry looking Dawn, a couple weeks before she headed back to the States and her husband 🙂

The Crew @ Sosa Gion Festival

The shoe explosion, Chris’s apartment, post-festival

The rice nears harvest

Bowling in Asahi – my best game ever!

True child of the 80’s… One last trip out with Jaimie, before she went back to the States. Miss you, Jaimie!

I came up with the idea. Mana executed it. And then a month or so later, she really executed it.

A day trip up to Choshi with the International Assoc. in Sosa! That turtle could kick my arse.

Trey at Tako Festival. He was surprised by how many kids knew me and said hello. To the point where he started preempting them. ‘Look! Look! It’s Mike. Hello!’

The Mode something something building, Shinjuku

Park Hyatt, Shinjuku

Docomo Tower, from the other side, near Shinjuku Station

Docomo Tower in the distance, from Harajuku

At Ageha, Trey’s last night out in Japan

Keio Plaza Pool, baby. Still haven’t swam in it though

View from the 43rd (I think) floor men’s toilet, Keio Plaza. Stunning eh…

Taiko performance at the British embassy – much respect to the Ambassador’s lovely wife 🙂

I saw 4 or 5 am far too many times to be healthy this week. Tokyo Metro Govt Building, perhaps 5.30am ish

My partner in crime at Tokyo Orientation, the lovely Janette. Thanks for the memories, the t-shirt and introducing me to Hanamaru Udon!

Love the goofy looks on our faces here – seeing the man off at the airport

Boom! No no, don’t worry, she’s still cruisin’. Already put another 500k on her..

Gardener and teacher – to the amazement of the locals!

Tako English Club material – the story was already interesting enough but then when we started discussing the Japanese pronunciation of Qantas… well…

My two first year speech contest kids – so much fun, so cute and they practice sooo hard! A major part of my summer.

Staying at M’s grandparents’ place in Saitama. Took this photo for my lil’ sis on her birthday. Happy birthday, Nic!

Sunset at Yasashigaura Beach, Asahi

Shoulda added this to my poster collection

Out on the town with Kent and Mike, one of the new guys!

Kent should start smoking these!

Practising for the front pack.

Crazy green/blue reflective building in the middle of the countryside by Sosa.

I’m working on putting together a new bench for meal preparation in our kitchen. Sick of leaning over at 30 degrees every time I’m buttering my toast! More pics when I finish!

Sky Tree, from Kinshicho Station, around 5.30am

Sunflower strip, Tako

Made a lot of pesto this summer – spicy and normal, in this case

I mentioned recently on Facebook what a lucky man I am having had both of my sisters come and visit me in Japan; firstly, Nicola in November last year and then Shelley on her way through on a three week mission around Europe just last weekend.

Shelley and I had a full on whirlwind of a time.  Straight off the plane she was quite literally immersed in Japanese culture.  We lockered her bag at the airport (where we would be coming back through to get to little Tako) and went to Yamato Onsen just outside of Narita.  I remembered what an experience it was being in China, knowing nothing of the language, so for Shelley to arrive and jump into such a situation was very open-minded I thought.  One elderly lady tried to talk to her but gave up when Shelley replied in a stream of English.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent exploring Tokyo.  We went nearly everywhere – Ueno, Akihabara, the Museum of Modern Art, Asakusa, Shinjuku, Shibuya and for the night, on to Ageha for the Bass Night event there.  The gig featured DJ Krush, Foreign Beggars, DJ Kentaro, Hifana and DJ Aki.  It was a ridiculous line up.  We had a great time, staying out till 4.30ish when we headed back to our capsule hotel with enough time for me to catch some rest before the JLPT that afternoon.  Shell succeeded in making her way back to Ueno and enjoying the zoo.  We then meet up and Shell had the chance to experience an izakaya dinner before heading to a movie theatre near our hotel and catching the new Snow White flick (damn good fun, in my opinion) before finally enjoying the hotel’s bath and sauna facilities and crashing.  If you are looking for a capsule hotel experience I definitely recommend the Tokyo Kiba Hotel.

On Monday we hired a couple of bicycles from the Mujirushi Ryouhin next to Yurakucho station.  From there we biked through Ginza and on to Tsukiji where we had a sashimi lunch.  Shelley enjoyed the maguro (tuna) sashimi and she loved the atmosphere of the restaurant, particularly all of the chefs calling out to us as we entered and left.  We continued around the island of Tsukishima heading to its tip for a view of the Rainbow bridge.  We returned the bikes around 3.30 and jumped on the train over to the Omotesando and Harajuku.  At Design Festa gallery we enjoyed a beer, and then headed on to the Tokyo Metropolitan Tower so that Shelley could get her first view of Tokyo from up high (as she’d been too afraid to ride the Space Shot at Hanayashiki).  Time was starting to get tight so we only had 15 minutes or so to stand in front of the big windows up on the 45th floor gazing out at the seemingly endless metropolis.

Shell’s final day we went to Tako JHS together so she could get a taste of Japanese school life and Japanese kids.  I think she enjoyed herself but was having trouble embracing her inner rock star.  I realised this takes some time to become accustomed to, perhaps.  The other idea I had is it fits my ego just nicely.  We had a busy schedule visiting a first, second and third year class, watching sewing class, seminars with local elderly people and helping kids prepare for the EIKEN tests.

We had a great time together, only getting on each other’s nerves two or three times.. 😉  I’m just so happy that both of my sisters were able to come and have a Japanese experience while I am here.  My parents come in late October and without a doubt will suffer the most culture shock.  Will keep it a bit more tame for them.  Won’t be taking Dad to Kabuki-cho, that’s for sure.

An independent Diet commission has concluded that the events at Fukushima were largely man-made, the result of regulatory systems run on collusion between the various parties.

This paragraph from Tokyo University professor, Kiyoshi Kurokawa is highly revealing:

“What must be admitted — very painfully — is that this was a disaster ‘Made in Japan… Its fundamental causes are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to ‘sticking with the program’; our groupism; and our insularity.”

It’s interesting that the banking industry around the world is currently facing similar issues of corruption and regulatory systems not doing their job and that the causes could be said to largely be the same.  The maintenance and profit of the group and the individuals within it, whether it be TEPCO or Barclays, is put ahead of fairness, honesty, safety and citizenship.  The one thing left off that list above is an unhealthy level of self interest, as is demonstrated in this quote: “From Tepco’s perspective, new regulations would have interfered with plant operations and weakened their stance in potential lawsuits. That was enough motivation for Tepco to aggressively oppose new safety regulations.”

That self interest is such that in both cases it has left huge numbers of people significantly worse off in their quality of life.

The article has already fallen off the main page of The Japan Times.  No editorial or opinion pieces have surfaced on the site to dig deeper into the finding’s conclusions, the implications and where to go from here.  Is this report just to be buried in Japan’s bureaucratic back closet?  Or can something actually come of this?  I suspect there is perhaps more hope in the groups protesting outside the Prime Minister’s residence each Friday night…

The article can be found at: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120706a1.html

Hold Your Colour still ranks as my favourite drum & bass album, bar none.  Different songs would just hook me for about six weeks at a time.  Unfortunately, it’s been a disappointing progression from there.  Their second and third albums never gripped like the first, with their movement towards a more rock band style of drum & bass.  Ironically, the first time I got to see them was after they dropped the second album by which time they were already a mix of dnb and rock that I didn’t really like.  The classicness of the R1 Essential Mix, Jungle Sound and the above mentioned album was past.  It was the third time I’d stumped up to see Pendulum.  The last time was also in Japan at a big convention centre gig called Womb Adventure.  Just one of the original three worked the decks and slammed out a set of classics interwoven with the rockier sound of the second and third albums.  An enjoyable enough but thoroughly unexciting set.  I was curious to know what would happen with the change to club land.  It was a very similar ride to the big convention centre gig though.   The place went batshit but in a way that was more rock concert than dnb gig.  It was weird inside this club.  Definitely intense, the place was humming.  The floor swarmed with tall gaijin men on the prowl, particularly the front half – madness up there.  Well, Japanese madness.  But, crowd surfing at a dnb gig in a club – crazy, man.

OK, a few pics:

The Party

Crew

Soft focus Tomo

Rock concert

What’s that coming out of her hand?

Aki’s set slowed the pace down just right with a set swinging back and forth through dubstep to the darker side of dnb.  Numbers in the club thinned out just right and the vibe stayed nice until 5.30ish.  A very appreciative crowd gave a warm round of applause as Aki stood on the dj booth and danced out the last tune.

The insistence in touring sets that are like the greatest hits played at a rock concert is somewhat understandable.  Particularly when their old tracks are so killer.  But there is not only a vitality missing in doing this, there is the rock.  The rock influence in Pendulum’s brand of drum & bass takes the drop and turns it into something more like a head banging riff.  Something that upsets the very essence of dnb.

Anyway, still a very enjoyable night!

And another big one in a couple of weeks – better make the most of it, this won’t be happening too often in the near future!  But my sister is coming to Tokyo.  That night, Bass Camp @ Ageha with DJ Kentaro, Hifana, Aki and DJ Krush.  Woop!

If you read that as ‘baby sex’, (several of my friends, I’m looking at you) shame on you!

Pretty sweet Saturday – last Saturday this is, bit slow on it, sorry.  In the morning, M finally relented on the secret she’d held since the night before and told me the baby’s sex.  [SPOILER ALERT – FOR THOSE WHO DON’T WANT TO KNOW THE BABY’S SEX – skip to the next paragraph!] – as the doctor had previously hinted at, it’s a boy.  Still haven’t received any better ultrasound pics than the one from way back in February.  Bigger the baby gets, the less human it appears to be.

After that, I headed to Narita Airport to meet up with somebody around 11ish.  Heading into Terminal 1 there was a big line of people outside.  I didn’t ask anyone what was going on, just carried on with my business.  Coming out an hour or so later though I saw that all these people were still there but now inside Terminal 1.  I decided to pop in and ask what was going on.  I asked a security guard, ‘Who are they waiting for?’ and he replied in a Japanese accent, ‘Johnny Depp.’

I’m definitely not much of a fan of celebrity culture but Johnny (we’re on a first name basis now) is probably my favorite actor – not really for his acting per se, but for the choice and quality of the films he is in, his enduring and continually original collaborations with Tim Burton (checked out Sweeney Todd for the first time the other day – brilliant!  Can’t wait to see Dark Shadows) and just his general integrity – how many other American actors actually live outside the United States, in the south of France, no less!

He was very gracious with his fans, taking the time to shake many peoples’ hands and to sign autographs.  One girl who came with a Johnny Depp book got a little stoke under the chin (where, were she not Japanese, she would probably never wash again).  My parents saw Johnny filming The Tourist when they were tourists in Venice and took a couple of blurry photos from a distance.  My mum was the first person I emailed a photo too – ‘Guess who I just met – haha, shits all over your holiday pics, eh!?’    Certainly none of the pics are perfect, all a little blurry but I still feel pretty lucky for getting that close and for the pics I did get.  See, I’m a little embarrassed to say this has turned me into a rabid ‘oh my god!’ kinda person… shame on me…

Finally that day, I found the tie clip my parents gave me for my birthday that week (the 9th for all those still guessing).  I wore it to school that day and by the end of the day it had disappeared somewhere.  I was gutted (although I received two tie clips that day; the second, my dead grandfathers which he used to wear flying.  Luckily I didn’t wear that one!  And I’m a little paranoid about doing son now)  I had a good idea it was between my bike’s parking spot and my new little garden down behind the school soccer field.  I searched and searched for it.  The next day I swept up and down between those two spots again but still couldn’t find it.  I had checked the compost heap, digging through the pile of grass I had applied that day..  Come Saturday I am about to turn the compost heap when I spy the tie pin attached to the top of the wire frame – front and centre.  I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it earlier!

Happy days!  Right time for lunch then off to the garden again 🙂  Sans tie clip.

This is charcoal toothpaste. I’ve used this. It’s actually not bad. Strange as it is brushing your teeth with something black…

My NZ toothpaste supply ran out a while ago.  I was at a loss when I went to the supermarket so I picked one that ‘looked good’.  Turns out it is kinda crunchy and incredibly sweet so that when you’re cleaning your teeth it feels like you are doing so with a pastefull of sugar.  Surely not, right..?  But yeah, still not what I’m looking for in a toothpaste.

So this time, I decided I’d do a little research into a recommended toothpaste before I went to the supermarket.  First page I came across was this one debunking the myth that Japanese toothpaste is lacking in key ingredients, particularly fluoride.  It also provides some Japanese to help you in your toothpaste purchasing adventure.  Happily, it also recommends the toothpaste I use at school, Aquafresh.

Ok Aquafresh, here I come.

More people tend to read when I make the title… juicy, shall we say?  I hope it will not be said that I misled you though.  Both those delightful terms do feature quite strongly in this piece.  You can only read on and see if I deliver.

Masao Miyamoto’s 1995 book, Straitjacket Society (a translation of Oyakusho no okite – お役所の掟 – compiled from a series of articles he wrote for the Monthly Asahi) provides a look into and an analysis of the world of the Japanese bureaucrat.  Miyamoto’s background as a psychologist, trained and having worked in the U.S., coupled with the fact he is a native Japanese, gives his account a level of insight and legitimacy that is rare for the foreign reader to be able to access.   The subtitle of the book is ‘An Insider’s Irreverent View of Bureaucratic Japan’ and Miyamoto’s writing style lives up to that title.  It clearly illuminates his individuality and inability to put up with any shit.  The book is written through a large number of vignettes, startlingly clear thanks to Miyamoto’s training as a psychologist, where remembering what people said and how they said it is vitally important.  Interwoven is Miyamoto’s take on the psychology behind his interlocutors’ words and actions.

Rather than review the book itself any more than that, I want to write this piece to introduce the main things Miyamoto has to say, as I see them, as much for the clarification of my understanding as for the benefit of anyone who should so take the time to read this.

Miyamoto’s central ideas are:
– that the bureaucracy nigh-on monopolizes power in Japan
– its philosophy denies individuality, rights and freedom, even those enshrined in the Japanese Constitution
– the structure and role of the bureaucracy and the groupism at its centre creates huge inefficiencies and arrested development

The book’s Foreword by Juzo Itami and it’s introduction provide an overview of the restructuring of Japan since the Meiji era, including the American – led Constitution and how those reforms were subverted to retain power in the hands of the bureaucratic class who have run the country since the Tokugawa era started some 400 years ago.  For example, the autonomy of local government to enact local laws was brought under control with a simple clause stating ‘…unless otherwise stipulated by national law or government directives based thereupon.’ Similarly, local governors who were seen as a potential threat to ‘national objectives’ were silenced by a clause allowing bureaucrats to dismiss them.  Now, a common view of their position is simply going to Tokyo to beg for projects and funds.

In a section I found particularly interesting, Miyamoto, soon after joining the Ministry of Health and Welfare, queries the separation of powers in Japan.  Having spent 10+ years living in America he has become used to the very clear American-style separation of government and the return to Japan proves difficult for him.  The bureaucrats employed to administer the laws written by the parliament instead write the large majority of the laws and regulations, giving them vast power.  As one bureaucrat points out to Miyamoto, “Power to run the country based on the basis of law is one thing, you see, but power to create the laws is greater by far.”  And if you can do both, well…

The bureaucrats view the politicians with a modicum of respect (as they have been elected by the people) but not as people fit to do the job they are elected for.
“Unfortunately, most Diet members lack the ability to write laws.”
“Do they see lawmaking as their main duty?”
“In principle, yes.  In fact, however, their main duty is to procure benefits for their local districts, like a new bridge or a new bullet train line.”

The conversation continues, “This may sound strange, but it’d suit us just fine if the Diet members stayed the way they are.”
“As legislators without legislative ability, you mean?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
See the quote above about power to run a country to see where the conversation continues from there.

The relationship between Diet members and the bureaucracy is put on the couch some more when Miyamoto explains the relationship between the two in regards to Diet interpellation (I had to look it up too, so I’m saving you the time).  The lines of questioning for the following day are divulged to the relevant ministry (precisely, if you are the LDP; generally, if you are the DPJ; and very vaguely if you are the JCP – the Japanese Communist Party) who then spend all night coming up with answers to ten or twenty possible questions.  The final product can be the size of a book, requires cross-Ministry checking and the imprimatur of the Finance Ministry, just in case any answers affect the following year’s budget.  This finishes up about dawn and the bureaucrats ‘rub their sleepy eyes and start in on the morning’s work as usual.’

Which brings me nicely to masochism.

A friend of mine, in relation to the Japanese, once said to me, “That’s because their natural state is to be subjugated.”  At the time, I thought that’s overstating it a bit, isn’t it…?  But gradually, more and more, I’ve come to see that there is a lot of truth in what he said.  I came across a speech given by Miyamoto after this book was translated into English where he says, “The concept of freedom has never been a part of Japanese society.”  He continues, “In Japan, to be true to yourself, to be original, to be creative, to be independent is not perceived positively. In essence being free as an individual is a foreign idea for many Japanese.”  I put this statement to M, asking her if she agreed with it, and without having to think about it much at all, she did.

What does this have to do with bureaucrats?  Messhi hoko, that’s what.  Messhi hoko is the philosophy of sacrificing one’s life, freedom, individuality etc. for the sake of the group.    The positive qualities of this are evident in the recovery Japan experienced post – WWII and the dedication with which Japanese approach many of the things they do.  The negatives though include sacrificing your personal life, voluntarily or otherwise.  It most clearly takes the form of working incredibly long hours and not taking vacation, even though you’re entitled to it.  Messhi hoko is not just a philosophy of the bureaucracy; it is a central philosophy of Japanese life and can be seen nowhere better than in the Japanese education system where students arrive at school often before 7am for club activities, endure class, more club activity after school (until 6pm in the summer) and then in 70%-80% of cases spend their evenings in private cram schools called juku.  Weekends and holidays are also filled with club activities.  Teachers, similarly, endure long hours, arriving before the students and often leaving around 8 at night.  When you ask them how they spent their weekend the most common response is 1. bukatsu (club activities) and 2. slept, left with no energy to spend proper time with their families or enjoy personal endeavours.

Miyamoto contends that Japanese develop a masochistic tendency in relation to messhi hoko.  The more they subjugate themselves to the desires of their superiors (thus identifying with them in a form of narcissism) and to the system, the more pleasure they gain from it.  Senior bureaucrats proudly boast of never having a day off.  They (along with their wives) describe themselves as sodai gomi – large useless trash – feeling more comfortable at work than in their home and thus spending ridiculously long hours at the former.  This masochism becomes a bonding agent allowing the individual to feel like a part of the group through the self sacrifice they all share.  You see this in the kids at school.  When you ask them what they did during the holidays, you get a pained answer of ‘bukatsu’ but at the same time they love it.  I guess at least partly because they derive their place in a group and to a degree, their identity from their shared sacrifice.

Similarly, bullying or ijime is used as a bonding agent.  Miyamoto was bullied when he first arrived at the MHW.  In time he realised this bullying was ‘actually intended to hasten my integration into the group.’  This matches with recent conversations I have had with Japanese about bullying (see about half way down, beneath the picture of the origami cranes).  Bullying seemingly, is viewed as the fault of the bullied who has failed to integrate into the group properly.  Miyamoto writes, ‘Anyone lacking in sufficient masochistic tendencies is bullied by the group, which wants to see one and all acquire the same degree of masochism.  The act of bullying also serves as a way to test the extent of the newcomer’s latent masochistic tendencies.’  One of the Ministry’s Director General’s put it to Miyamoto this way: “If you don’t understand the joy of putting off private satisfaction for the sake of your work, you don’t deserve to be a government bureaucrat.”

ALT’s aren’t immune to this structure either.  Don’t get me wrong, we have it pretty cushy here but I personally have been discouraged from using my sick leave even when I was entitled to.  Also, when each vacation rolls around, a piece of paper is placed in front of me where I have to detail how I’m going to use the days off, something I view as a real invasion of privacy.  In the book, Miyamoto tries to take a vacation.  It doesn’t go well.  Despite being entitled to the holiday leave he is unable to take a two week vacation in Southern Europe without weaving a complex web of deceit involving a funeral and his aging and ill mother.  Not only did he have to list what he was going to do and where he was going to go, he had to receive authorization to even travel overseas! (a direct contravention of the right to freedom of movement enshrined in the Constitution)  Rather than seeing this for the invasion of personal freedom that it is, higher-ups responded with the likes of, “After all this time, you still can’t get America out of your system, can you?”

The structure and focus of the bureaucracy is outdated and protectionist, creating inefficiencies and cover-ups, such as that related to HIV-infected blood products.  The primary role of the bureaucracy, post-Meiji era was to protect and foster industrial growth; in essense, to catch up with the West.  Japan long ago caught up but the primary role has not changed.  Thus, one of the biggest problems related to the Japanese bureaucracy that Miyamoto describes is that they work primarily for producers and not for consumers.  The main goal is the expansion of Japan Inc., not the protection of Japan’s citizens, evident in the link above.  The hidden goal is to maintain themselves at all costs.

The unofficial rules of the bureaucracy are thus:
1. never be late
2. never take a vacation
3. never do any work
What this leads to is of course, the status quo.  In a society where harmony is a central cultural load pin and where rank and seniority are sacred, doing something that upsets someone, particularly if he (I used the male pronoun quite consciously here) ranks above you, is the biggest no-no.  What’s the best way to avoid that?  Do nothing.  Or more specifically, don’t do anything that breaks precedent.  When everything is done based on precedent, nothing changes.  The fact that responsibility rarely lies with individuals but with the organisation and whoever is at the top of the chain of command restrains individual ability and behaviour, as Miyamoto experienced not only in his job but also in publishing the articles that led to the book.  It also partly explains why we have seen so many Japanese Prime Ministers in the last five or six years (I wonder what cushy jobs they’re in now…).

There are two big black marks for bureaucrats.  One, is making a mistake that causes others trouble, as mentioned above.  Number two, is losing a vested interest.  The key goal of all departments and the bureaucrats within (as mentioned above) is, at the least, to maintain themselves and even better, to expand their budget and their influence.  Miyamoto describes the various Ministries and their sub-departments and bureaus as ‘villages’  and when its budget time, the ‘villages’ engage in ‘inter-village competition’, to see who will expand.  This ethos of protecting and expanding your turf (sound vaguely Yakuza-like, anyone?), combined with the severe loss of face for seniors if an underling were to criticize a program as unnecessary, means that things rarely change.  When they do, it is not the most necessary changes that happen but whatever happens to be receiving the most media attention or foreign pressure at that time.  Thus (as the budget necessarily contains only so much), when programs do have to be cut or re-assigned, the fault can be placed on gaiatsu – foreign pressure – face can saved and harmony therefore retained.  ‘As long as foreign countries are made the villains, insiders – residents of the government ‘village’ – can get along without altercations.  Thus, the village peace is preserved.’

The effect of this philosophy and structure, according to Miyamoto, is arrested development.  The ‘world as harmonious’ as bureaucrats want Japanese to experience it is an illusion.  The Japanese proclivity for harmony, whilst having its good points, also has its negatives.  In a 1995 speech at Cambridge University; “I do not want it to be thought that I advocate dispute, but when harmony becomes the final goal to the point that one has to close their eyes to reality or confrontation has to be avoided, then I think it is a problem since it means that the group can only function in a world of illusion.”

To believe in this illusion, Miyamoto argues that the bureaucracy ‘castrates’ individuals.    He states that this is done through the education system training students in maintaining harmony at all costs and denying their talent, creativity and individuality; perpetuating illusions and thus denying Japanese youth full ‘identity integration’.  A psychoanalytic term, Miyamoto defines identity integration as being ‘able to develop the capacity to distance yourself from the parental figure and become independent… All of us live in the worlds of both fantasy and reality, but most of us are able to make a distinction between the two. What identity integration does is to place a clear boundary between these two worlds. If these boundaries are clear one has the capacity to control one’s impulses, and at the same time to deal with stranger and separation anxiety. Therefore, identity integration is a sine qua non to function without difficulty in everyday life, particularly when yes and no are clearly stated.’  In his speech related to the HIV scandal, he states, ‘In order to mature identity integration, it is essential to develop the strength to face reality, and this strength will allow the maturation of identity integration.’

‘ The Japanese bureaucracy wants the people to be as obedient as sheep. Not to complain. Not to challenge the system. Not to resist their superiors. For individuals to enslave themselves to the system. If one is educated to embrace these values, then Japan as a system can maintain harmony. From the bureaucrats’ point of view, from the point of view of those who control Japan Inc., this is ideal.’  He concludes, ‘This is why I say that the goal of Japanese education is psychological castration. Unfortunately the bureaucrats are also puppets of the bureaucracy, and their identity integration is the same as other people’s. Therefore, they do not know that they hinder identity integration.’

I hope this ‘review’ has shed some light on the workings of the bureaucracy in Japan.  Even before arriving here I had heard about the infamous Japanese bureaucracy, simultaneously labeled as incredibly efficient and ridiculously inefficient, a model for the world and an anachronism begging for overhaul.  Truth be told, until I read this book I didn’t fully understand what the word ‘bureaucrat’ even meant.  It has become rather more clear in the process.  The Japanese government has, since foreign pressure regarding Japanese workaholism mounted in the 90’s, declared its intention of making Japan a ‘lifestyle superpower’.  The reality some 15 years later couldn’t be any further from the truth and as long as the philosophy of messhi hoko holds sway, it is, sadly, unlikely to change.

I started by outlining the power the bureaucracy has over legislation as well as administration in Japan.  Juzo Itami’s foreword to Straitjacket Society puts it simply and clearly: ‘For the average Japanese person such as myself, the greatest problem concerning the bureaucracy is that it has usurped so much legislative power.  Unlike politicians, bureaucrats cannot be voted out of office.  We may be unhappy about the bureaucrats, but we have no way of registering our dissatisfaction.  In sort, we are powerless to influence this most important of all Japanese institutions, no matter how poorly it serves us.’

Miyamoto sadly passed away from cancer in 1999.  I can’t help thinking how the country might be different if he were still alive.  For the country’s future, let’s hope politicians and citizens can break through the illusion and bring change.

* For those of you living in Chiba, I obtained this book from the Tomisato Public Library through my local library’s exchange system.  You should be able to do the same at your local library.  There is also a copy with the Chiba Prefectural Library, I’m fairly sure.

Hey hey,

I’ve managed to score a ‘hatake’ (basically ‘vegie garden’ in Japanese) just down the hill a little from my school.  If you’d like to read about what I’ve been up to in the garden lately, have a look at my gardening journal at MyFolia.com, a great site if you’re a gardener and looking to chronicle what you do, learn more about plants and processes or peek in on other peoples’ gardening adventures.

Cheers!

Beautiful, inspiring video from Mr Mark Bramley.  Makes me wanna go out learn how to shoot/edit something like this!

Because I don’t really know anything about baby clothes yet! Saw these cute lil fellas at the Tako Nanohana Festival and had to scoop them up. They double as little zip-up carry bags too! かわいい！

This video really is pretty much on the money (although my kids are not quite as ‘namaiki’ – cheeky – as this) and it cracks me up every time.

I want to give you my impression of Japanese children after a year and a half here.  Take this with a grain of salt as I work in only one school in the countryside just out of Tokyo so my viewpoint is obviously limited.  Kids in Japan and their behaviour, vary just as they do in New Zealand, America etc.  In describing the kids, I can’t help talking about some of the routines etc.  that help shape them so this post should also give you something of an intro to Japanese school life as well.

On the whole, the students at Tako Chuu are pretty sweet.  They fulfill some of the stereotypes that Westerners have of Japanese children – they are obedient, they are shy, they all have black hair.  On my first day,  being introduced to everyone, I walked into the gym and remember being quite struck by the sea of black hair.  But of course, stereotypes help us understand very little.  Nearly two years here and I still feel like I understand very little.  What I do know still feels far to informed by stereotypes and what I’ve read in books.  The all-over-the-place nature of this piece of writing is a good signal of that!

Another stereotype that Westerners have of Japanese – actually, of Asians in general, and one that I can quickly dispel,  is that they are all smart and that they are all good students.  Within classes there is a wide range of ability levels.  Japanese classes aren’t streamed to the same degree that New Zealand classes are but I’m not sure if there is really a higher expectation on brighter students to help lower ability students catch up.  If there is, I haven’t really seen anything specifically encouraging it.  In saying this though, the Japanese school system encourages peer learning implicitly through its emphasis on pairing students and on groups.  Every class at Tako Chuu features 6 rows, put together in three sets of pairs.  Each pair has a boy and a girl sitting together (or occasionally the same sex when numbers require it).   The teaching and learning system is very focused on rote learning.  As I said though, there is an implicit sense of students working together in these pairs.  Students will often help each other, keep each other on track (nani yatten no?  – what are you doing?!), look at and share each others’ answers.

Sometimes when I eat with the class,a student will bring my lunch up for me. One day, three boys did!

This is reinforced by grouping as well.  I can’t remember ever walking past a class and seeing the tables moved into groups (except the science lab and at lunchtime where it happens everyday) but there are set groups and these groups work together on things like cleaning and serving lunch when it is their turn and so act implicitly as guiding forces for students’ behaviour and learning.  If not so much their academic learning, certainly their social learning.  In fact it may be the pressure to be a part of the group, rather than grouping itself, that encourages peer teaching/learning.  A couple of quotes from Alex Kerr’s Dogs and Demons The Fall of Modern Japan illustrate this idea of social learning:

‘Facts memorised for exams are only the by-product, for the real purpose of education in Japan is not education but the habit of obedience to a group…’

‘The American Ray Eberts relates the following exchange with his friend Mr Uchimura:

”If Japan’s schools are so very good, why do you have to spend so much money for extra education?”

”The children do not learn what they need to know to pass the exams for university in public schools.”

”Well, what are they doing in school, then?”

”They are learning to be Japanese.”

Getting back to the ability thing, students’ projections and reactions to their ability are also similar to Western societies’ but probably in every way somewhat toned down.  Intelligent kids for the most part are very quiet but there are those who are more precocious and the odd one to the level that they are annoying and disrespectful (a couple of particular kids come to mind…).  Students of lower ability present similar behaviours (do I sound like a psychologist!?) but significantly toned down compared to New Zealand kids.  One of the most intriguing things about Japanese kids is that when they are off task, they are generally off task very quietly!  In a New Zealand classroom when kids are off task they are usually taking other kids off task too or they are doing something else to annoy the piss out of you.  Japanese kids often sleep, read a book or manga, do juku (after school ‘cram schools’) homework or if distracting others, at least do it very quietly (note passing is quite common, and teachers’ reactions generally much slighter than their Western counterparts).

I really wish I didn't have to do that to their faces... sorry 😦

These behaviours (both students and teachers) can perhaps be traced to the ingrained cultural emphasis on harmony – maintaining harmony in a situation is paramount in Japanese society (perhaps a part of why M so often tells me ‘shoganai’ – there’s nothing that can be done about it; often when I can very clearly see something that can or could be done about it).  The need for harmony is part of why Japanese are known for talking very obscurely.  According to Boye Lafeyette DeMente, this even permits lying.  When students are off task at Tako Chuu, they usually don’t disrupt the rest of the class.  This could also be tied to the emphasis on being part of a group in Japan.  The saying, ‘The nail that sticks up gets hammered down’ is a classic Japanese ‘kotowaza’ (proverb).  Western kids, on the other hand are, in my experience, much more attention-grabbing when they are not engaged in classroom learning.  They are highly individualistic and try to assert that individuality, their ‘coolness’.  They shout across the class, they stand up and walk around, they actively try to disrupt what the class is doing.

So the question that naturally arises is, does this quietness, this lack of acting out, equal children who are in any way more self – aware, more comfortable with themselves than Western children.  Well, to be honest, I don’t know.  The desire to draw the attention of others while detracting from the environment’s target (i.e. students’ education) seems to me to be very negative behaviour, indicative of personality traits including a lack of self-awareness and foresight, early narcissism and a untempered disrespect for authority.

On the other end of the scale though, there are children at Tako Chuu that are painfully quiet and shy, particularly with foreigners.  One of the most interesting things (and sometimes kinda distressing) is the reaction that some kids have to me.  If they turn around and see me walking towards them, standing near them, or about to talk to them, they nearly shit their pants.  They draw away like I’m something horrifying.  Japanese xenophobia is something I’ve read a fair amount about but the reaction is still startling.  With girls, in particular, their reactions can include pulling their body away from you, jaw dropping and eyes opening wide, through to actually backing away from you, arms crossing their body or their face (‘muri muri muri!’ – I can’t!  No!  It’s impossible!).   Of course it has something to do with being shy.  Of course it has something to do with the unfamiliar but for the Japanese this goes to a whole ‘nother level.  Shikata, or exact ways of doing things, have long been a keystone in Japanese society and being presented with someone who doesn’t know these ways and who acts outside of them, is perhaps more than some kids can handle (some adults too!).

Of course there are a bunch of kids whose reaction to me is just delightful.  Japanese kids seem to do pure joy much more so than Kiwi kids.  Some kids faces just light up when they see you, they’ll give you a big wave and throw out their most enthusiastic ‘hello’!  It’s something you don’t see very often in kids back home, at least not after six or seven years old.  There are your kids who are just ‘genki’ – happy, bright little things but in some kids there is a purity and naivety that is something quite beautiful to see in 12, 13 and 14 year olds.  I remember one girl in particular; she’s a bit gawky, maybe gets picked on a bit.  I commented on her work one day in class and the smile I was rewarded with was one of the purest brilliance.  Jesus couldn’t smile like this child did.  I was deeply touched.    Another very touching moment was when I first arrived at school and was presented with a hundred cranes made by an incredibly ‘genki’ 2nd year girl.

This post is really jumping around all over the place (thank God for the editing process!)

Returning to my lack of understanding of Japanese kids’ psychological well being, I restate the fact that I have experience with only one set of kids in one school.  You could equally find a New Zealand school where the children largely don’t act out.  I have heard some horror stories from other schools – pretty direct, aggressive challenging of teachers, bullying, unruly classes.  Japanese movies like Confessions paint a very dark picture of Japanese youth.  And books like Dogs and Demons and Japan Unmasked both have chapters dedicated to how horrific the Japanese school system is and how much students hate it… but none of these really match my experience.  In saying that, and in opposition to what I said about purity above, there are definitely some students in whom I sense a vein of darkness that does seem quantitatively different to something you might sense in Western children (nothing to the extent of Confessions though!).

I haven’t really seen any major cases of bullying.  Of course it is very difficult for me to catch kids in the act – kids are sneaky enough about bullying but when you add a foreign language into the mix, there has really only been one or two instances where I have directly heard kids saying nasty shit about each other.  Bullying often takes such subtle forms too.   Being ostracized from the group is the big one.  As Kerr writes, ‘Ijime is a national problem, and it results in several much publicised suicides of schoolchildren every year.  With a girl, it starts with being called kusai (smelly) or baikin (bacteria), and eventually takes the psychologically crushing form of not being talked to, or being shunned when she approaches.’  De Mente cites a Toyo University study measuring compassion and public conscience of junior and senior high school students from six different countries.  Japanese students scored the lowest.

This doesn’t suprise me given the attitudes I have encountered from various adults recently.  All, to varying degrees, placed the blame on the student who is being bullied.  Yes, the blame also lies with the bully, they say, but the focus always came back to the bullied who had ‘failed to make good relationships’ or whose parents ‘hadn’t changed his behaviour’ (never mind that bullying often has little to do with changeable behaviour!).  This really hit home for me all the fuss made in books about ‘group culture’.  Masao Miyazaki, quoted in Kerr’s book, puts it best: ‘…the concept of harmony means an acceptance of differences, but when the Japanese talk about harmony it means a denial of differences and an embrace of sameness.  Sameness in interpersonal relationships means a reflection of the other, the basic concept of which derives from narcissism.’ (I have Dr. Miyamoto’s book on order from the library and I can’t wait to read it!  You can be sure there will be a review!)

Another area where Japanese kids really exhibit pure emotions is in sports.  Japanese kids love sports and they love competing against each other, perhaps at no time more than the school ‘taiikusai’ (sports festival).  The preparations for it are elaborate.  As they are for most Japanese school events.  Sometimes this seems over-the-top to me but there is something to be said for the ritual that is a part of these events.  They are major events through the school year and the emphasis placed on them makes them feel like that.  New Zealand school events don’t have this emphasis to anywhere near the same degree.  Much is made about rituals that symbolize a child’s movement through the stages of childhood and the importance of these psychologically and I feel this is something Japan does much better than Western countries (that isn’t to say there aren’t criticisms though).  Practice for the taiikusai starts a week to ten days before the event.  When I first heard this, I thought this entailed a lot of practice for the events but that is not the case at all.  In fact, they are the least essential part of the practice regiment.  It is the ceremony and the group bonding that occurs through songs and cheering routines that are the emphasis of practice.  The ceremony includes marching around the track, salutations to each team and to the school principal and separate performances by the boys and girls.  The cheering routines are led by 3rd year students and culminate in a performance, points from which are added to each team’s overall score for the day.  Winning and losing is a big thing and tears will flow at the end of the day.  Have you ever seen kids cry at an athletics day back home?  And no, sprained ankles don’t count.  I’d be very surprised if anyone said yes.  It’s enough just getting kids to compete (I know, my friends and I were just the same in high school).

Boy's performance - 'kumi taiso' - umm, lit. boys group physical exercises, I guess...

Japanese students exhibit a purity seldom seen in New Zealand in the way they touch each other.  Girls at school hold hands a lot and, more surprisingly, boys often throw their arms around each other, jump on each others’ backs and can even be seen sitting on each others’ knees.  Boys in New Zealand don’t really touch each other very often, unless to hit each other, and Japanese boys certainly do that as well, but there is much less of the homophobia and machismo attached to physical contact that we have back home.  A favourite tease of Japanese boys is the ‘kanchou’ which literally means ‘enema’, where they put their hands together, index fingers pointing out and pock each other in the ringhole.  I have experienced the ‘kanchou’ but in my case, it was a teacher who liked to do this!

What I think I’m getting at is there is less cynicism generally in Japanese children.  Many New Zealand kid’s take everything with a dose of cynicism and irony, like they’ve ‘been there, done that’ all before.  With Japanese kids many things are approached with earnestness and enthusiasm.  This doesn’t apply to everything – cleaning time is, for most students, ‘do the minimal and then piss around’ time.  At Tako Chuu, the attitude towards English also, is pretty lax.  I guess for a lot of students they see English as having little relevance to their future.  The fact that English is treated largely as just another ‘pass the exam’ subject doesn’t help.  The paradoxical flip-side to this is that we ALT’s are told the goal of junior high school English is to ‘make English fun’ for students when the formulaic nature of most lessons and lack of focus on ‘real communication’ do anything but that.  There are large parts of teaching in Japan that a NZ teacher could do with their eyes closed such is the nature of the curriculum (teach to the textbook, no assignment work or essay-style exams and hence very light marking loads).

Soo… yeah… what a mess…  I’m not really that happy with this piece.  It’s a real jumble of things and there isn’t really any thread pulling it all together.  If I can pull anything out of it… Psychologically, there are certainly differences between Japanese and New Zealand children but what I’ve also figured out writing this is that humans, from country to country are really the same.  We present the same behaviours, albeit slightly different given our cultural milieu.  That cultural milieu I’m still far from understanding, particularly parenting in Japan but I guess I’m in for a crash course on it in the near future!

What else can I pull out of this… given what I just wrote, I guess I can say Japanese kids are no more comfortable with themselves or self-aware.  If they are, it is because their society features so little pluralism – there is one really strongly presented way of being and doing things that has been handed down for so long.  The negative natural conclusions of this are two fold though – 1. a lack of reflexive and critical thinking and 2. severe issues (noted in Japan’s high suicide rate and new phenomenons such as hikkomori) for those who don’t fit the mold.

Finally, there does seem to be a paradox here and that is, for all the pressure that is on Japanese kids to conform and to succeed, there is this lack of cynicism that I mentioned… a purity that you would think couldn’t exist in such a society.  I think I’ll make it my mission to look for this in students everyday.  And to help develop it in my own child.

See the photos from the trip here.

Saturday we headed out of Chiba city after a huge feed at I Luv Pizza – probably the tastiest pizza dough I’ve ever eaten.  Watching the owner flip the pizzas out the back probably added to the tastiness, quantitatively and qualitatively.

We arrived just slightly late for the last bus (after receiving directions from some nice local high school lads) and so had to take the car over to Ito (the plan was to have the car in place so we could catch the bus from the end of the hike and then jump straight into the car, but didn’t quite work that way…).

The hostel we stayed in was fantastic!  It’s called K’s House, Ito and I can’t recommend it enough.  If you have friends/family coming to Japan and you want to take them somewhere, beautiful, traditional and friendly, this is it.  The building is over 100 years old, recently renovated, with a onsen in the basement and full of beautiful timber and touches of Japanese style.  Price-wise too, it did the job too – 4400 yen each.

Looking through the dining area and out toward the river

We parked the car, took in a cheap Chinese dinner and had a wander around Ito, coming across one of its less savory establishments – ピンク座.   After a relaxing onsen back at the hostel, we readied for bed and the next day.

Catching the 7.55am bus from bay no.3 at the station (the next bus ain’t until 10 so if you’re planning on doing this hike, I recommend staying at K’s and then getting that first bus), we made our way to Amagi Kogen Golf Course, the last stop.  Here’s how to do it.  Follow the other hikers to the start of the track and from there, the signs to Mt. Banjirodake, a 45 min or so uphill, nothing too difficult and about the worst you’ll face all day.

A very happy Japanese-American man.

As you can see, the mist was fairly heavy that early part of the day, making for some great horror movie forest effects.  From Mt Banjirodake the path undulates for another hour or so to the highest point of the Amagi-san ridgeline, Mt. Banzaburo-dake, where we, pre-occupied with eating, forgot to take any photos!  We made it, really, I swear!

Another 6km or so of easy walking gets you to Hacho Pond, a peaceful little clearing surrounded by beech trees.  On the way you’ll pass the Snake Beech, a beech tree bent more in the shape of a snail than a snake.  At least, we thought so.  You’ll also see some nice alpine grasslands and plenty of fallen trees, roots splayed, baring all.

The last couple of hours of the hike see you heading slowly downhill crossing some wasabi beds (dunno if this is the right word…?) along the way.  With about 15 minutes to go, you reach a junction pointing down to the old Amagi Tunnel.  This is the end of the track and another sign will point you down to the bus stop.  We managed to make the 3.44 with about one minute to spare.

Despite our logistical problems, it was a great weekend.  Cheers to Kate for letting me crash once again on the way back!

Agree?

On Saturday night M and I went to observe a pottery class at the community plaza.  As the picture attests, simply observe we did not.  The people there were super friendly, the teacher fantastic and we spent two and a half hours each making a coffee cup.  They now sit in that same room drying before heading into the kiln.  The classes are on a Wednesday and a Saturday but the Saturday classes are actually a bunch of people preparing work for a competition so that will probably be the last Saturday night we attend for a while.  And unfortunately for me, Wednesday nights I have Tako English Club so until August at least (when the competition is over and done with) that’ll be the last pottery class for me.  Damn, I enjoyed it so much… creating something….

Anyway, I’m rambling because yes, that title does say husband and wife.  Manami and I got married at the local town hall on March 22nd.  No muss, no fuss.  No money for a mussin’ and a fussin’ as we have a little bundle of joy on the way come the end of August.  Manami was creating two things that night.  I was compensating for my desire to create like her (according to a book I’m reading).  I do have the desire to make something coursing through my blood though.  I’m constantly thinking about gardening, woodworking, the clay (now) and building a home on a little patch of land.

So would we otherwise be married now if Manami wasn’t four months pregnant?  No, probably not, but I am very happy.  I’m looking forward to being a father.  We’re hoping for a girl.  Manami is a strong, crazy women, someone who will work the kinks out of me (probably create a few new ones at the same time) and help me become a fuller human being.

And that seems like a good place to finish.  For now.

It’s 5.30 on Sunday evening.  I woke up an hour ago.  I got home at 8.30 after leaving a club in Roppongi, Tokyo at 4.15, walking an hour and a half to Tokyo Station, riding the train to Nippori and then another on out to Narita airport, sitting watching CNN there for 40 minutes (while being questioned by a plain clothes) and then riding the bus out to Tako.

The long walk took me all the way down Roppongi-doori, following the expressways running above my head.  I then wandered through the government building area learning the Japanese for Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs and so on.  Greeting the policeman and security guards starting their day.  Next I wandered through the edges of the Imperial Gardens and then through the financial district (SMBC Securities…  why do I have no idea what the hell they do…? is this why I’ll never be rich…?) leading me to Tokyo Station.

On my long walk I took a few photos.  This is them.

A ‘very casual’ restaurant

The ANA Intercontinental Hotel (if I remember correctly) dining room

And this is a video I shot.

I was looking for a book that could help explain why M and I fight the way we do.  I spent a good hour in the Kinokuniya bookstore, the eight floor behemoth not far from the north east exit of Shinjuku station.  But relationship advice was only one of the reasons I was looking for a book on Japanese culture.  I had for a while been wanting to read something that could help me get a better idea of what was really happening in this society.  I was looking for a book that could help me reflect on my experiences here so far.  I was looking for a book that would deepen my understanding and help me to appreciate how the Japanese do things and why they are done that way.

I didn’t really get it in Boyé Lafeyette De Mente’s Japan Unmasked.

The book felt flat, uninteresting and became quite boring a lot of the time.  Despite a lifetime of experience with Japan, De Mente tells little in the way of stories, provides little in the way of interesting characters, players in the field, resources, references or depth.  What we are given instead feels as light and dry as a sembei cracker.

The book is divided into 38 short chapters.  The short chapters, while making for variety, were insufficient in depth to be really stimulating.  Certainly, some of the history sections and tales of old Japan were very interesting (the beginnings of the yakuza being one particular tale) but the information on the picture today isn’t deep enough.  In the chapter on bureaucracy, for instance, there is no look at the bureaucratic structure of any Ministry or any serious cases of bureaucratic incompetence.  Thus, the bureaucracy of Japan remains this amorphous group of Japanese salarymen whose processes and actual level of inefficiency I still know little about.

That said, I did find out what Japanese bureaucrats apparently spend most of their time doing – writing the question and answers, the script, essentially, for the members of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.  That’s when they are not entertaining people of import by enjoying the company of high priced ‘hostesses’; part of the way business is done here.  Welcome to Japan.

DeMente’s central idea is that Japan’s unique culture is primarily derived from the kata-ization of everything that went on from about the 7th century onwards.  Starting in the Heian court, very specific ways of  ‘correctly’ doing things slowly filtered down through the ranks of society, from the Imperial Court to the samurai, to the merchants and artisans and finally, to the farmers.  These prescribed methods (think wet rice farming, court etiquette, kanji stroke order, the tea ceremony, the making of arts and crafts etc. as some basic examples) became the standard and served to homogenize the Japanese severely.

These kata gave the Japanese distinct advantages and disadvantages.  The ability to work in groups for a well defined goal, dexterity with small objects (as a result of learning kanji), a desire to do their best and an emphasis on quality mark some of the advantages.  But the kata also promoted groupthink, where change becomes highly undesirable and people are  highly reluctant to show originality or take responsibility.  The kata’s design, to promote and maintain harmony, also made it so that interactions became very indirect and could even permit lying to maintain said harmony.   These disadvantages are at the heart of the challenges facing Japan right now.

The book presents these sort of insights largely through a business discourse which wasn’t the angle that I wanted to come at this from.  For someone with little knowledge of Japanese culture the book probably provides a wide perspective on where the Japanese have come from and where they are at now.  For me though, it meant covering a lot of things which I already knew very superficially, adding little in terms of new knowledge, complexity or depth.

The kata concept, I must admit, is very interesting and I do want to know more about the ”hundreds” of kata that made up Japanese life, pre-WWII.  Perhaps DeMente’s other books, such as KATA – The Key to Understanding and Dealing with the Japanese (although that sounds suspiciously ‘businessman – targeted’ as well) and, more promisingly, Japan’s Cultural Code Words (I looked seriously at this one in the bookstore) provide some of that knowledge and depth that was lacking in Japan Unmasked.

It must also be said that the book introduced me to some interesting new concepts that I look forward to finding out more about, such as shinjinrui – very literally meaning, new breed of people, a term used by traditionalists to describe  the Japanese born post-World War II, their values and lifestyle being so different from that of the old.

So did the book help me in understanding why M and I kenka suru (fight) the way we do?  Yeah, bits and pieces did throw a little light on the cultural differences and why we argue the way we do.  Are we still fighting though?  You bet!

Japan’s reasonably well known aversion to tattoo’s greeted me as I was about to get into the pool last night.  A women from the SANMU GENKIKAN came out as I was stretching at the poolside.  She accused me of being talked to about this a couple of weeks earlier.  I had been to the pool a couple of weeks earlier but no one had said anything to me.  I had enjoyed their sauna with the tv in it after a swim.

Now, when I am in the pool I wear a rashtop to cover my tattoo.  There is no option for some kind of bandage here.  However, when I go into the ofuro (bath) I get naked.  I don’t  get into the pools but I do use the sauna.  I dunno if someone in the sauna said something or if a staff member noticed and blah blah blah… who cares…

I listened to the first lady who talked to me and she outlined how it was ‘Nihon bunka’ and a few other things I didn’t properly understand.  The second lot of people as I collected my shoe locker key I didn’t even bother trying to understand their very fast, very polite Japanese; I just brusquely said, ‘Wakarimashita’ (I get it).  Being hacked off and kinda indignant I just wasn’t really interested in hearing the message, something I regret somewhat now.

Well, I still have the pool over the back of Yokaichiba.  Its about a 15 km ride on the freshly retreaded bike.  That’s right, I give my car back in a week or so in an effort to save some dosh.  It’s gonna be too cold for another month or so at least I think.  But Yokaichiba’s pool is cheaper, closer.  And it is a fun ride on the bike.  I just hope I can get them to up the temp on their sauna! Haha!

Was greeted by these pretty sights in Tokyo’s Ueno Park the other night while returning home from M’s.  There was even a couple of Japanese couples making out around the place!!

I was gonna add a photo of last night’s snowfall but well the shot I got ain’t all that impressive and anyway, the stupid WordPress app only let’s me uploaded one at a time.

As for the title of this little post; well, I came across this (i.e. the photo) the other day looking for vinyl greenhouses (or ‘onshitsu’, lit. ‘warm room’) for my balcony. The highlighted Japanese basically says, ‘so easy to construct, even women can do it’.

I couldn’t believe it at first; the idea of reading something like this in a western advertisement is so foreign.

My first reaction was to burst out laughing. I pointed it out to a young female colleague. She was in a hurry out the door and didnt really say much. Did she not get it because of that or did she just not get it?

Well, I introduced the page to the school office ladies (sorry, school office people… folk… workers… professionals?) last friday and they had no idea what I was talking about. ‘futsuu no hyougen, deshou’ (‘it’s an ordinary expression’), I was told. I explained how that was perceived in the West and showed them a couple of old advertising pics.

Obviously, there are things that are ‘otoko no tokui’ and ‘onna no tokui’ (men’s specialties and women’s specialties).  To what degree this is natural or is culturally conditioned is a question I do not have the answer to.  Perhaps, in one sense, the Japanese are more honest and realistic about these roles.    But as I tried to explain to the office ladies, it’s more about the ‘idea’ in the West.  The idea that making certain spheres primarily ‘men’s’ or ‘women’s’ is inhibiting to both sexes.  The idea that a women (or increasingly, a man) should not be looked at as strange or different because they are capable at something that is typically the other sex’s domain.  Finally, the idea that a woman should not be inhibited from doing something she enjoys because she will be perceived as ‘masculine’.  I use the word ‘idea’ but perhaps the word ‘ideal’ is more apt – as the oven cleaning ad linked to above suggests, we still have a long way to go before we are past the idea of a gendered division of labour.  Lampooning it only shows how prevelant it still is, but it is a step in the right direction, I believe.   A step along the way towards a new reality we are creating. 

Japan, as a nation and a culture, has for a very long time, had incredibly entrenched ideas about roles.  This I was aware of.  Still, this provided quite an interesting new insight into how entrenched what we would call very old fashioned ideas about women’s roles still are in Japan. Also, it is interesting to compare with what’s going on in America’s military right now.

Turns out I can add another photo. The things men can do!

Had an awesome experience last night.  T and I decided on having a day of male bonding.  A trip to the hakubutsukan (博物館　museum, in fact The National Museum of Japanese History) in Sakura never eventuated as we buggered around a little too long.  We traveled into Narita and went to the Aeon Mall for a shopping expedition.  I tormented T, the dieter, with donuts 🙂  Keep the spirit, T, you can do it! がんばって！

We then headed on to the far west side of Narita to Yamato Onsen.  Or, as I was instantly reminded, the bath house from the movie Spirited Away.

Rather than being a bath house for the spirits though, it seems this onsen is a major point of rest and relaxation for the tired salarymen, wives and workers of the general Narita area.

The first thing that struck me was the place’s location.  It was way out of the centre of Narita (seeminly, but in reality no more than 10 min max) in farmland, tucked off the main road hidden by a small hill which it backed onto.  There was a magical feel to it having left the shitty big boxes of the main roads of Narita and Tomisato behind.  I am discovering that the way to get around Chiba is its backroads.  The traffic is dramatically lower and the landscapes are sometimes quite breathtaking Japanese countryside views.

The second thing to strike me was upon actually coming across the onsen, its size.  At least 4 stories built into the side of the hill with huge long glass windows covering two of the stories.  Two car parks serviced the place, the second big, bumpy and full of potholes.  A sloping road ran around the back of the building to the crest of the hill and the establishment’s entrance.  It felt like a hotel and reminded me a little of The Rees in Queenstown.

Inside the place was one of the nicest onsen experiences I’ve had in Japan.  The entrance was beautiful.  We bought towels, small and bathrobe size and wandered through the lounge which served beers nicer than you would get in a lot of Japanese restaurants.

The outdoor onsen is a beautifully crafted example of Japanese aesthetics.  A steel frame of girders hangs over the pool interweaved with bamboo, creating an enclosing and framing effect.  Framing what?  A view out over the night sky and intermittently lit Japanese countryside with the occasional JR Narita Line train gliding past behind the fence.

The places houses two restaurants; one, a specialist sushi house.  The website mentions nothing (that I could see) regarding tattoos and I had no problems using the facility.  The sauna is the biggest and best I’ve ever been in.  It is huge with a significant space dedicated to spots for lying down and the temperature just right at 94°C.  There is even a cold plunge pool at its door!  I can’t recommend this place to everybody enough.  It has made my life here feel significantly richer for its existence.

Let’s go onsen, everybody!

I had a great time in Japan, Michael was a great tour guide. I arrived on the Friday night and as soon as I got there it was all go. I dropped off my suitcase at his place, packed my bag and we headed into Tokyo, where we stayed for 3 nights with his girlfriend Manami. The next morning I got a traditional Japanese breakfast which was rice, fish, pumpkin and some potato salad which was really yum!!  I really enjoyed (most) of the food in Japan especially the raw fish (salmon, squid) and I think most of it was relatively healthy which was a bonus.

The next night we went out to a club, it was huge.  It was an old building with about 4 floors, all below ground.  There were people everywhere but I didn’t see any security staff around the building at all.  It was very smoky inside as you can mostly smoke anywhere in Japan. We were in the huge main room where the dj was playing and the sound was amazing and so were all the visuals, nothing like I had heard before. That was a great night but my jet lag was catching up on me a bit so I was quite tired.

We went out for Halloween and we went to the big zoo in Tokyo, that was cool.  Seen a big Panda, it looked really dopey.  There were heaps of strange animals I had never seen before like long haired monkeys and wild cats.

Not the big dopey panda at Ueno Zoo

Michael took me to a cat café.  You may have seen the photos of the cats on my Facebook. It’s just a wee shop you go into, they give you a hot drink and there are heaps of cats that you can play with . The cats were lazy and liked to sleep but a few got up and chased feathers. We also went to a maid café where girls serve you dressed up as maids.  That was an experience but I think to people in Japan its normal, not seen as anything wrong at all, Michael liked it (he likes the Japanese girls).  I really didn’t see many hot Japanese guys at all, there are a lot more pretty Japanese girls. Everyone is really nice there and the service is excellent.

Love from the maids of Akiba - moe moe kyuuuun!

The shopping over there is crazy.  There are lots of shops that come out on to the street. The clothes there are really nice but the girls there are tiny!!! So the clothes are really small. I didn’t do much shopping as we didn’t really have time.  I came home with a nice top and skirt.  We went to the Hello Kitty store which was fun, so much stuff everywhere. Mike’s girlfriend got me a nice Hello Kitty watch.

I went to Mike’s school with him for a few days.  The schools are not too different from here, they were all really friendly. Was hard because I couldn’t talk Japanese so there were quite a lot of blank looks, I think they are very curious about white people, ha. The kids are better behaved than home and they get these really good school lunches that get delivered with rice, fish, soup etc. One girl did grab my tit and said I have a good size chest (yes, very curious).

We did lots of hiking.  We went to a place called Hakone where we climbed Mount Kintoki which was beautiful and the weather was really nice for it. From the top there was a wee hut with an old lady who sometimes lives up there.  She told us some really interesting stories, she has been coming up and down the mountain for 65 years!!!! You could see Mount Fuji from the top I got some good photos of that. We stayed in a youth hostel that was traditional Japanese style so we slept on the floor, was good to experience that. Had an onsen (hot pool) there where you get naked and bath in a big hot spring, very relaxing.  Later in the trip when we were in a place called Kobe I had an onsen with lots of other naked women, that was an experience!!

We went to a big hot pool park in Hakone.  There were lots of different hot pools (coffee, green tea, red wine, sake) and there was a water slide and lots of different relaxing pools. Michael and I weren’t allowed in the outside onsen (naked bit) as we had tattoos which I think are perceived as a gang related thing so in a public place you can’t have them shown. I don’t think I saw anyone with a tattoo over there.

Stayed in an internet café in Shinjuku where you pay to sleep in a little box for the night if you live far away or have missed the train or just need somewhere to stay. Was quite cramped and the bright lights stayed on all night so I had to cover my face but surprisingly feel asleep quite easily.

We went on a camping trip with some of Mike’s friends to a place called Yamanashi. We hiked the Nishizawa Valley, the autumn colours were beautiful. There were lots of really pretty waterfalls along the walk as well. We stayed in a cabin and cooked a huge bbq outside and I discovered I have a new favourite drink, black Russian.

We all went to the rollercoaster park called Fuji-Q Highland.  God it was scary but so much fun. The first one we went on was by far the scariest.  You go up really high then you just drop and it goes so fast I couldn’t even put my arms up I was so scared. The second one you got fully strapped in, we had to wait quite a long time as the lines were really big so I just kept getting more and more nervous.  I thought this one was going to be really scary as it looked really hardout but it wasn’t as bad as the first one but man, they go fast. Went on a water ride where Mike got soaked and another one which is like the Tower of Terror with how it shoots out really fast then it goes up and over a big rise. I met a nice boy on the camping trip but he couldn’t really talk English so there was no way that would have worked ha.

We took trains all the time, the train stations in Japan are huge and they are run so well the trains are run right down to the second. We went on the bullet train to Hiroshima which is a huge train called the Skinkansen, they go very fast.

Hiroshima was a beautiful city.  We hired bikes that were motorised and toured around the city. We went to the big peace memorial site where the atomic bomb was dropped and looked all around the area and in the museum, this was one of my favourite bits of the trip, really interesting.

We went on a ferry over to Miyajima Island where there was a huge shrine out in the water called Itsukushima. It is a big orange coloured statue, it is a world heritage site and when the tide went out we got to walk out to it and throw coins up on to it. We climbed Mount Misen on the island which was probably my favourite hike.  It was just a really nice climb and there were deer all over the island they were really tame but they did try to steal your food!!!!! I ate some different food, I had eel which is a delicacy over there, it was alright. I liked octopus balls (takoyaki), the onigiri was really nice which was rice that had chicken and mayo in it wrapped in seaweed. I had them for lunch lots as they were easy and cheap. There were nice puff pastry balls filled with meat called nikuman.  I would say they would be the Japanese equivalent to a NZ pie. Also they make savoury pancakes with cabbage and egg they were gooooooooood. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the food in Japan. Except I didn’t like tofu, natto (fermented soybean) or the green tea noodles (cold and slimey.)

We went on a nice hike around a wee moat village in a city called Nara, where there were lots of yummy nice fruit growing on all the trees, big mandarins, grapefruit, apples, eggplant, capsicum and persimmon. The persimmon was really nice and refreshing it looked like an orange tomato. In the village there were lots of temples and there were some emperor’s tombs that were interesting but we didn’t know if they were actually buried under the big lumps of ground or not. That night we went out to a small club in Osaka where lots of different djs were playing, I noticed they just free pour their spirits there, they don’t measure them. That was a good night of dancing.

There are temples everywhere in Japan, they are just in between all the big high buildings, they sell lots of good luck charms in Japan to do with marriage, pregnancy and love. We went to a gold castle called Kinkaku Temple, that was beautiful. There are always people everywhere at all the touristy places but I never felt like it was too crowded except on the trains were you are just all squished together.

I had such a great holiday! Before I go back again I want to learn some basic Japanese. Mike’s Japanese is really good I think if he stays there for another couple of years which he thinks he is going to, he will be fluent by then. I am very glad that I went. I can’t wait to go travelling again!

Someone doesn’t want me visiting Tomisato’s ジョイフル (Joyful).  Or perhaps the 神様 (Gods) have something against it..  maybe they’ve just got something against me.

Context.  ジョイフル is a big box homeware store about 30 minutes drive from where I live in god-awful looking Tomisato.  I heard it was the place to go for the random assortment of homeware items I needed.  The first trip I took on Monday.  I found the place eventually.  Half of it is currently wrapped in black undergoing some sort of renovations.  Probably making the place even bigger.  If someone had just told me, head to the two gaudy 6 or 7 storey love hotels, its just in front of those, I would have had an easier time.  No worries, 7.38pm I park my car, plenty of time…  What kind of big box store closes at 7pm?!?!?   So I headed home, stopping along the way to sit with the young Japanese men at Matsuya’s counter, talking to no one, and eating a cheap, shitty gyuudon (beef on top of rice) .

The next night I tried again.  My car needed an oil change.  This went as planned and I set out at 4.47pm, plenty of time.  And I arrived with plenty of time.  But arrive only just, did I.  A couple of corners before ジョイフル my iPhone, running through the car stereo, starts cutting out.  Then my battery light comes on…  I take the iPhone out, turn off the window wipers and drive along past ジョイフル in the hopes of recharging the battery.  No such luck.  My lights start getting dim.  People start flashing their headlights at me and eventually the car simply dies.  I manage to pull off the road with no problems and start walking to an open garage I saw down the street.
‘Sumimasen, chotto mondai ga arun desukedo… boku no kuruma wa, 100 metoru gurai, acchi (points in the direction of the car), batteri ga nakunachatta…’ (Excuse, I have a bit of a problem.   The battery in my car has died about 100 metres down the street).

The young fella at the shop was very helpful.  He had a nice smile but fucked up teeth and he laughed at my 神様 (Gods) line.  He told me he could change the battey and it would sting me about 12,000 yen.  When I told him it was a rental car things became slightly more difficult.  I had to find the number for the rental company.
‘Sumimasen, chotto onegai shitain desuga, denwa de nihongo wa mada muzukashii desu… renta ka ya san ni denwa kaketekuremasuka…?’ (Umm.. Japanese on the telephone is still really difficult for me… could you do me a favour and ring the rental car company for me…?).  He did me this favour and the owner of the rental car shop told him to swap the battery and make sure I took away a receipt.

Tests on the battery revealed the car’s alternator was also rooted.  That’s why I now have no car for three days.  No major worries, I’m planning to give it up at the end of the month anyway.  The friendly mechanic with the bad teeth but nice smile told me, ‘noranaide’, which, although it doesn’t fit my current understanding of the word, I took to mean drive straight home, don’t stop on the way.  Also, I had to take the car to the rental car place first thing the next day.  I was hungry but I couldn’t stop,  I was a little cold but I couldn’t turn on the heater, it was a little rainy but I couldn’t… no, I did use the window wipers, I’m not crazy.

I decided to grab dinner at an izakaya (Japanese style pub) about 300 metres from my house.  If the car wouldn’t start again I could easily walk home.  I had been to this little joint for only the second time the previous week.  Last week I couldn’t drink but this week, no problem, and I certainly had a good excuse.  I ordered up oyakodon (chicken and egg on rice – oya means parent, ko means child) and a big bottle of beer.  The ‘jyouren’ (locals, regulars), my friend and I discovered last week, are very friendly.  The friendliest, Tada-san arrived half way through my meal.  He bought me another bottle of beer, got his own huge bottle of shochu (Japanese liquor) from the shelf and started chatting away.  He poured me a little shochu and from there it was all over..  Japanese hospitality took control.  Tada-san’s chatting became singing; the local high school song, which he still remembers perfectly from some 40 odd years ago).  I arrived about 7.30.  Before I knew it, it was quarter to ten.  When I left, it was well after 11.  ‘Don’t worry, shochu doesn’t give you a hangover’ (futsukayoi in Japanese – literally ‘two days drunk’).  Haha.  I certainly felt pretty crook this morning.

And that’s my story.  Maybe next week I will manage to make it to Joyful and buy the bits and bobs I’m after.  Gods, give me a sign.

In a fit of reliving 90’s rock a week ago on Sunday I played this little ditty for M.

Somehow this one didn’t get stuck in my head like The Offspring’s Bad Habit and Self Esteem, and Green Day’s classic, Basketcase.  A few straight hours of dirty drum n bass the other night seems to have finally dealt to them though.

The pondering about a 90’s rock karaoke night still lives on though…

A few shots from the O6S drum n bass night at Womb in Shibuya, 7 Jan.  Sweet beats.

A shot from the day after I had my wisdom teeth removed, three days ago. Left hand side only, obviously.

Wonderful Japanese health system – I organized the appt two weeks ago and it’s already done. The cost – a mere 6,300 yen (bout $100 bucks) including the pharmacy prescription!

The only annoying bit (beside the pain itself) is the incredibly insufficient amount of painkillers I was given. So today I’ll be on the phone with my dealer.. I mean, my dentist for some more.

Otherwise, seem to be recovering well. Read Slaughterhouse 5 and now onto Murakami’s Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (I couldn’t find a copy of 1Q84 out in Narita before the op).  Watching plenty of Gundam Wing and Boardwalk Empire.  As I fear my eyes are really gonna go square, today’s gonna be a little more productive.

I posted this, didn’t I? 😉

 

Had my school bounenkai (end of year party) in Choushi on Thursday night.  Choushi is a small city (about 70,000 people) on the far eastern tip of Chiba prefecture.  The party was held at the Keisei Hotel, right on the tip of Cape Inubo, near the famous lighthouse there.

It was my first time to visit, so the following day, after starting with an outdoor onsen watching the ocean and the sunrise, I did some sightseeing.  Firstly, I took in the lighthouse.  No pictures of it but several pictures from it.  Along the way I took in the Horizon clifftop, where slightly elevated, you can see the rounding of the horizon.  I also cruised past the Port, checking out the fishing industry.  And incidentally the local skate park.

I briefly took in a temple to Kannon in the middle of Choushi.  I don’t know what the name of it was but it had cool bonzai surrounding the main building, barbed wire surrounding the pagoda and I had what started as a very loose but turned into a very deep prayer there.

I crossed the bridge into Ibaraki ken determined to find the industrial plants I could see clouding the sky from the lighthouse.  These were further away than what I thought.  I crisscrossed little backroads on this narrow strip of land between the Tone River and the Pacific Ocean.  Finally I ended up back on the main highway where I realised I was still a good 5 or 10 kilometres away from these plants.  Getting closer I noticeably sensed a change in my breathing.  It was so foreign seeing these giant stacks pouring steam (and I hope only steam) out the top.  I thought about how much of our modern lives come from places like this and yet how unfamiliar I am with the sight of them.  How little land, even in Japan, we dedicate to them relative to agriculture, retail, housing etc.

I cruised back into Choushi and picked up a couple of ALT friends for lunch.  They took me to a little cafe called Curaccho Cafe that specialises in bagels.  The salmon cream cheese bagel was awesome.  The coffee art even better.  I also ordered the blueberry cheese cake which came with little jam filled love hearts embossed into it and plenty of cream – great place.

They then took me to a supermarket called Yamaya that has a lot of foreign brand goods.  There were a lot of quality items that I recognised from home like pasta sauces, delicious beers and couscous.  I bought a few things that I will need after my wisdom teeth surgery on Monday – soups, juices etc.

It was at this point that I parted ways with my friends and with Choushi, bidding the giant wind turbines farewell on my way out the 126.

Today I was asked to look at a digital singing star named Hatsune Miku

and a cartoon called Capelito (カペリート in Japanese).

The latter is seemingly of Spanish origin.  Simply, it’s a claymation about a mushroom whose top changes at the squeeze of his nose.  Some third year girls were doing this weird thing squeezing their noses and this is what they directed me to watch.  The former I was introduced to by a second year girl in a note she wrote and put in my ‘mail box’.  The singer is a projection.  The vocals are fully digitalised, created on software called Vocaloid (the name given to these types of singers also… sinister sounding, right…?  so Blade Runner… since arriving, I haven’t really came in to much contact with this tech-future fetish the Japanese, through anime and manga, so clearly express… cool..), that was put together by Yamaha and a Spanish university.

Look at that, a link to our little  カペリート above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look what we got for lunch today! It was so delicious, I then accosted students for theirs (every interaction is a learning experience, right? Sometimes the kids learn something too!).

Whereas we dig on fruit cake for Xmas, the Japanese usually eat sponge cake, one of the little differences in their adaptation of the holiday.

I’ve spent the past few lessons doing various Christmas related lessons with the students. In the course of these I’ve found out a few things about Santa and Christmas.

One, where does Santa live? Ask Kiwi kids and the answer unanimously would be the North Pole. Ask Japanese kids and the answer can vary from Finland to NZ to my house.

Two, how many Santas are there? (the red underline when I pluralize ‘Santa’ adds a meta level to this question!) Despite the issue of department store Santas the answer almost unanimously would be one, right? In Japan the best answer is probably いっぱい – ‘a lot’.

Three, how does Santa get in the house. Actually the majority of the kids answered ‘entotsu’ meaning chimney. But barely any Japanese homes have chimneys.. I said to them. ‘Through the window’ was another popular answer (like a common thief!). ‘With the key’ I thought was the most original!

Four, how many presents do Japanese kids get? The majority get one. But, for New Year the average Japanese kid receives about $400 in cash, so kinda balances out.

If you are drinking alcohol at your ‘bounenkai’ (lit. forget the year party) or ‘shinnenkai’ (new year party) please be extra careful in the train station.

Don’t cause トラブル (trouble) in the train. It’s bad to fall on the rails too.

Thanks,

The Odakyu Line

I too frequently see interesting Japanese takes on English but it hadn’t occurred to me that they might do it with French as well. Whether or not the French works, its the phonetic arrangement in English that made me chuckle. And of course, I took a box home.

I have been rather neglectful of my blog of late. A glut of television watching, Japanese study, an online course I’m doing and hanging out with M. are to blame. I do plan to do something more in that series of things I have seen in a year here. Although my sister arrives at the end of this week, staying until mid November, so don’t expect anything else too soon!

Japanese food is internationally renowned.  Whether for it’s refinement.  Or for it’s oddities. Everybody has heard of sushi.  Most people know about those plates of plastic food they have in restaurant windows (yes, they do often look good enough to eat!).  Tokyo is the best place in the world to eat out – it boasts more Michelin stars than any other city in the world.  Across the world, Japanese restaurants are everywhere.  Even ol’ Invers, the antithesis of style and cosmopolitanism, can boast maybe three Japanese restaurants (OK, I can think of at least one sushi bar and a pretty decent little restaurant).  My university town, a couple hundred kilometres up the road can boast a half a dozen places easily, all the ones I sampled being pretty decent.

Food in Japan is something of an obsession.  As the Japanese have cultivated a very unique culture in their island isolation, so they have cultivated a very unique cuisine.  There are places to eat literally everywhere.  Omiyage (gift giving after you go on a trip) mostly centres around food.  Each prefecture is nigh represented by the food it is famous for.  You come back from a trip (or tell people about an upcoming trip) and you can bet they will know what food that place is famous for (check out this site for a bit of a list).  Rice, fish and ritual, of course, abound.

I’m sure many examples of Japanese cuisine have similar dishes on the continent, in Korea and China.  I don’t yet know enough to tell you, but certainly the Chinese and Korean food in Japan is very different.  Anyway, Japan, being an island country, I’m sure, has a cuisine that is unique to itself.  My favourite Japanese food so far? (as good a place to start as any).  I’m still telling people it’s takoyaki, small deep-fried balls of octopus, popular at matsuri (festivals)… but I’m starting to doubt the truth of this.  It works well because I live in Tako-machi (sometimes people will joke and call it octopus town but the kanji actually stand for ‘many old things’)  I think I’m more in love with takoyaki sauce than anything else…

I’m very tempted to say okonomiyaki, a thick savoury pancake usually filled with cabbage and seafood, but it has a sauce that is very similar to takoyaki.  I’ve recently started to make this at home though and first time I did it, I forgot the sauce and it was still pretty awesome…  For straight freshness and flavour, you can’t beat a really good slice of maguro (tuna) sashimi.  That may currently be my favourite…  Then again the garlic pepper ‘big chicken’ from Lawsons has rocked my world a couple of times lately.

Okonomiyaki

As the sheep is to New Zealand, so rice is to Japan.  Even paddock and paddies share the first four letters.  My apartment is surrounded by rice paddies, but also, unfortunately, by a busy state highway on one side – microcosmic Japan.  I believe last year’s rice harvest was 8.6 million tonnes.  It is just coming up harvest time now.  The rice is starting to turn brown.  The machines are being brought out to pull it up and day by day more and more paddies will lose their lush green to be reduced to brown nubs.  At some point that will be burnt off, returning that nutrition to the soil and all around me will be a filthy brown until the spring comes.

Rice, my house (top floor, far left) and a dirty empty field

My local town is famous for rice – Tako Mai they call it.  I can’t remember its properties off the top of my head.  That’s right, different types of rice have different properties.  It’s a bit like that thing where Eskimos (is that the right word now?) have 30+ words for snow.  I guess we have all manner of different types of potato… And if you’ve ever made sushi, you know you use a particular type of rice… But anyway, some rice is better for cooking, some is better for making mochi, a sticky paste made from pounding the rice and which is eaten in soups and as a confectionary, even as ice cream.

That brings me quite nicely to Japanese confectionary – known as wagashi.  If food is an obsession, sweets/candy/lollies, whatever you call them, is an artform here.  Japanese sweets are typically less sweet than their Western counterparts.  The most common ingredients are an, a paste made from red beans and mochi.  Various flavours are added, such as sakura (cherry blossoms) and yuzu (a type of citrus fruit).  You can check out some examples here.  And I encourage a Google Image Search!

Sakura ankoh - beautiful, ne?!

Of course there are many Western style confectionaries in Japan.  The chocolate selection mostly consists of Japanese brands – Ghana, Meiji, but thankfully, Snickers seems to be the most common foreign bar for sale in konbinis.  Yes, the konbini.  Here, you can pick up all manner of on-the-run goods.  Starting with confectionary – chocolate, ice-cream, various hard boiled things, maybe some kind of gum-drops; I’m not sure, I’ve never bought them, puddings (pronounced ‘purin’); small plastic tubs of various flavoured custard-like puddings, bakery style sweets; i.e. shit with cream in it!  Yum!  Umm… what have I missed… I think that covers most things.

I’ve already mentioned the wonderful garlic pepper big chicken – a rather delicious variety of yakitori (fried meat on a skewer, a Japanese favourite, particularly at izakaya and matsuri).  You can also pick up nikuman, a large Chinese dumpling – doughy on the outside, full of flavoured meat on the inside.  Nothing compared to Yokohama Chinatown but still pretty good.  All the drinks under the sun, including alcohol, are at your fingertips.  I particularly like the Mt Rainiers iced coffee and the apple juices.  The 8% chuhai’s (500ml of course – do the math on how many beers that is) are a good starter for a night out.  There are a bunch of different bentos (ready-made meals) you can buy – pastas, salads, rice and meat, fried chicken, which are handy for a cheap meal when you’re out or a quick meal when you can’t be bothered.  The onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed, containing chicken, fish, salmons eggs etc.) are a great cheap lunch.

What’s perhaps most interesting about the konbini – cos right now, it’s just sounding a lot like a Night ‘n’ Day back home, right? – is the ubiquity of them.  There are about four or five competing major brands – Lawsons, 7-11, Mini-Stop, Family Mart, Daily Yamazaki – and they are everywhere.  Within one kilometre of my house, I have a 7 – 11, a Lawsons and a Mini Stop.  Oh, before I forget, the Lawsons sell gig tickets as well.  Its about the only way I’ve bought tickets to anything in Japan – they’ve got it locked down and it’s so easy!  Back on topic, out of city centres, they have huge carparks (well, compared to a convenience store back home where you generally park on the road or the little carpark tucked in the back; they’re still nothing compared to the pachinko parlour carparks!) and are totally geared to car culture.  It’s often really hard to find a rubbish bin in Japan but you are always guaranteed to find one outside a konbini because people pull up, dump their rubbish from yesterday’s mid-commute konbini visit and go in and buy the next day’s cheap food.  It isn’t just major highways though, konbini’s are everywhere.  On a little country backroad suddenly a sign pops up for a 7 – 11, it’s weird.  The thing here, at least in heavily populated Chiba, is that the country is never the country.

Oh, I forgot to mention, you can pay your bills at most konbini, all have a photocopier and most have an ATM (don’t get me started on Japanese ATMs though..).

We’ve been to the rice paddy.  To the konbini.  Where shall we go next?  How about to school?  The school lunches here go by the name kyuushoku.  What this means is that at most schools, the children don’t actually bring their lunch to school, nor do they buy it at school.  Rather, a local company makes all the lunches and trucks it into the school each day.  Parents are billed monthly.  My lunch for a month costs me 4700 yen, about NZ$70 dollars.  Not bad if you think about how much you probably spend on lunch for a month.  And this is a biiiig lunch.  So big, my eyes flutter shut on a far too regular basis on steamy Japanese summer arvos.  The deliveries are organised based on class.  Each class will have a large stainless trolley that is put in the elevator (most Japanese schools are three or four stories high) and then wheeled in front of the class where it is unloaded by that week’s assigned students and served to the class.  I really haven’t asked anyone yet why the Japanese use this system.  Should probably do that.  Westerners would probably quickly ascribe ideas like, ‘as everyone is eating the same thing and the class stays seated together, it reinforces the idea of the group’ and this may be true, but at the moment, I honestly don’t know.  I do know that its efficient (the kyuushoku centre is less than a kilometre from the school), every kid is guaranteed a nutritious lunch (cos not one kid brings their lunch to school) and it works.  And yeah, I could complain about some things on the menu (the quality of the vegetables sometimes, the gelantinous fish cake things) but generally its pretty good.  My favourite is curry rice.  The Japanese idea of curry is a little different to what we’re generally used too.  It’s probably full of preservatives, but it’s pretty damn tasty.

Sometimes when I eat with the class,a student will bring my lunch up for me. One day, three boys did!

I’m now going to segue on to whales.  Some of you are probably wondering about whales.  How am I going to segue from kyuushoku to whales you ask? Well, our journey continues in a little town called Wada, down the east coast of Chiba, where, so a friend told me last weekend, the local BOE/kyuushoku centre will sometimes serve up a bit of whale for the kid’s lunch.  Apparently the locals still drag in a whale from time to time and you can go and see it being brought in and cut up.  M and I were going to try some passing through there on Sunday, but meal times and swimming time all kinda conflicted and well, we just didn’t do it.  Maybe next time.

In terms of the Japanese eating whale, it is not a very popular dish.  You would be hard pressed to find a place with it on the menu.  It has a pretty bad image with young Japanese for two reasons.  The first is the obvious one; whale is really the international protest flavour of the month.  That sounds cynical but was actually meant to be a play on flavour, whale etc.  Anyway… the second reason is that post WWII the Japanese ate a lot of whale as a source of cheap food when the country was very poor, struggling and people were starving.  That image hangs on.

What does it taste like?  Well, as I’ve mentioned, I can’t tell you from personal experience, but opinions have ranged from ‘not very nice, quite chewy’, to ‘mmm, oishii yo‘ (mmm, it’s delicious!).

So now are journey continues to a little izakaya visited as the second (read: getting drunken) half of one of the first enkais I had here.  This segue comes courtesy of moving from one strange food to another.  What’s the strangest thing I have eaten in Japan you ask?  That would have to be basashi.  What is basashi you ask?  Horse sashimi.  In other words, small cuts of raw horse meat.  That’s right.  And it was pretty good.

The next one is not quite so strange, but still a little out there – unagi, eel – damn, it’s good!  Usually it comes on a bed of rice, it’s kinda expensive but it tastes amazing!  Nicola, get ready, you’re definitely gonna get a taste of this come November!  In fact, fish in general, I’m discovering all kinds of new and tasty fish and I feel so healthy doing so!  Buri (Japanese amberjack), hokke (umm… dunno, hokke… ohh, actually, the Arabesque greenling or Okhotsk Atka mackerel, so my dictionary tells me), saba (plain ‘ol mackerel, but esp. the chub mackerel, according to Kotoba), which is usually cooked in miso paste and has a really strong flavour but is delicious with white rice.  Another kyuushoku favourite!

Buri with a little soy and some daikon radish on top

‘How about vegetables?’ some people may be asking.  Japan has some amazing vegetables.  I tried okura here for the first time.  Yum!  Great in salads.  Idamame beans are an izakaya favourite – boiled in salt, they go down delish with a beer.  Renkon is the root of the lotus plant and it tastes amazing but I am still trying to recapture that first taste, probably because that came courtesy of a Japanese woman and now its just me cooking it.  And doing it wrong.  There are a plethora of mushrooms here, not just the famous shiitake, or brown and white buttons like most NZ supermarkets.  Some of them look a little weird but all pretty tasty.

I mentioned the enkai above.  These are work parties.  Usually you will take up the large ‘party’ room of a restaurant, sitting on the floor.  There will be a designated place for you to sit.  The food is amazing – unagi, tempura prawns, sashimi, soba (cold buckwheat noodles), fish etc. etc.  Karaoke will often be sung, drinking will be done according to the wonderful Japanese custom of always filling others’ glasses, never your own, people let themselves go a bit and general goodness ensues.

What other rituals are there when it comes to food?  One of the most important is the saying of ‘itadakimasu‘ (lit. ‘I humbly receive’) before eating.  The closest equivalent in the West is grace but it lacks the religious connotations of that ritual.  It is simply an act of thanks for the food, and one of the things I really love about Japan; that humble thankfulness that is still embodied in a ritual that is nearly universal in the society.  A sort of civility we have largely lost in the West. Another ritual includes not standing your chopsticks up in the rice, as this is only done at services for the dead.  It’s impolite to point your chopsticks at someone and you should lift your bowl of rice to your mouth when eating it.  Slurping is ok.  I haven’t asked about that one yet.  One of the good things about writing these blogs is I figure out all the questions that I really should just go ahead and ask.

Well, that’s really about it.  The eating experience here in Japan is one of the most sense-satisfying and interesting parts of the overall experience of living here.  And I know there is still so much to discover!  Still haven’t been to Gonpatchi, the inspiration for Kill Bill’s restaurant fight scene (eh, M-chan, ne?!).  Still haven’t eaten sukiyaki or Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki.  Still so many things to try.

Right, my dinner is waiting for me.  The rice is cooked.  Just gotta make the salad, heat the corn, put the sashimi on the plate and decide whether I’m gonna eat that tofu that’s in the fridge as well…

That’s right!  I’ve acquired a formally acknowledged ‘basic’ level of Japanese proficiency.  This was awaiting me in the post box this morning after a long two month wait.  I only had time to grab it, stuff it in my bag and head to school, where I got a few small things sorted before giving myself some small moments of peace to open it.  I didn’t want to open it in front of the office ladies because I still wasn’t sure that I had passed.  I was leaning on the side of Yeah, (put it this way, it would have been really disappointing to fail) but I wasn’t sure yet.

But anyway, 119 out of 180.  Participants need 90 out of 180 to pass, but you must meet a certain minimum in each section.  In the listening it’s 19 out of 60.  In the Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar) and Reading section, you need 38 out of 120.  Sounds low, right?  If you scrape by with these scores though, it doesn’t mean you’ve passed because you haven’t achieved an overall mark of 50%.  What it does mean is, if you score 100 out of 120 in the Language Knowledge/Reading section and 18/60 in the Listening, you fail.  Oh the A A A means that I scored above 67% in each of those categories!  Yeah, that’s right..! 😉

As I said above, I have achieved a ‘basic’ level of Japanese.  As of a couple of years ago, there are 5 levels (up from 4); N5 being the easiest and N1 being ‘able to understand Japanese in a variety of situations’.  Yes, I’ve been here a year but N1 is still a long way off folks!  Yeah, I am becoming able to express myself better and I  can understand some Japanese in a variety of situations – work, at the post office, socialising – but only in quite a surface way.  I am a long way from being capable in variety of situations – e.g. I still don’t understand 80% of the morning meetings at school, for example.  And the kids routinely laugh at my Japanese.

So I received various congratulations from my co-workers today along with several comments about looking like a criminal in my picture.  It is a terrible picture!

A nice marker for a little over a year in Japan.  The plan now is to sit the N3 next July.  That’s another 400 or so kanji to learn, plus Lord knows what grammar.  Hopefully, something useful!  Good thing I don’t mind hitting the books… (nerd alert…)

頑張ります！

 

 

 

The other day I received these lovely boxes of vegies from a local lady.  And tonight I set about making the pumpkin recipe she had told me about…

Cube your pumpkin and put into a pot
Add around 200 ml of water (so the pumpkin won’t burn, but it’s not covered)
2 tbsp of soy sauce
2.5 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of mirin (optional)

Softly boil the pumpkin for about  tens, drain and serve.

Along with my pumpkin I had tuna and salmon sashimi (the first time I’d eaten sashimi at home), tofu (first time I’d had tofu at home), some beautiful corn and a ‘big boy’ bottle of Kirin to wash it all down. 　おいしかった！ (It was delicious!)

M described it as ‘like what a Japanese boy would eat for dinner’.

That song, ‘I think I’m turning Japanese’ has been stuck in my head most of the day…

I sit down to write this post a little over one year after arriving in Japan (one year and one week, in fact) and its striking me how little I know about Japanese culture…  I’m brainstorming what to write and yeah, I’ve got some things but well, they don’t seem good enough…  I don’t feel as though I have really got that far below the stereotypical surface, but perhaps if I write, hopefully I’ll see that I know a little more than I think…

I’m going to pick five things and concentrate on those…

1.  The thing with taking off the shoes (Ritual) – Japan, being a country with a much longer history than that of New Zealand (even including that of the Maori), has all sorts of rituals which make up daily and annual life.  Taking off your shoes when entering a person’s home is one of the more well – known ones.  I’ll go into this particularly when I talk about schools, where it is also done.

Entering a person’s home, there is an area called the genkan (げんかん、玄関）where you take your shoes off.  This is also where you’d say, “Ojama shimasu” （おじゃまします), literally ‘Excuse me for intruding’.  This is also accompanied by “Ojama shimashita” (past tense) when leaving.  English also has these ritual sayings; all languages do, but their usage seems more regular and deeply formalised in Japanese.  Other examples include, “yoroshiku onegai shimasu” (よろしくおねがいします）which I think can be translated as, ‘Thank you for your future effort,’ or ‘I look forward to working with you’.  It’s used often in the business and school environment.  Others used at school include, “otsukaresama desu” (おつかれさまです） and “osaki ni shitsurei shimasu” （おさきにしつれいします）- ‘thank you for your hard work’, and ‘excuse me for leaving before you’, respectively.  These are used much more ritualistically in Japanese than their equivalents are in English.  My hairdresser says ‘otsukaresama desu‘ after I’ve been sitting in the chair for an hour!  Kinda a ‘thank you for your patronage thing’ but something that is still hard for me to get my head around.  After all, he was doing the work!  Equally, at home, the phrases, “ittekimasu/tadaima”, (‘I’m going out’/’I’m back’ “itterasshai/okaeri” (Google Translate says ‘Bon Voyage’ (lol)/Welcome back/home’) are the set standards for leaving the house/seeing someone off.  It’s just what you say.  I’m pretty sure my Mum didn’t say ‘Welcome home’ each time I came back in the door (why not, Mum?  Why not?)

Japan’s rituals derive from several sources as far as I can tell.  Buddhism and Shinto are an important source.   The seasons and their relation to food production and the human condition is another.  A section on ritual isn’t really complete without some discussion of religion now, is it?  Shinto is the ‘native’ religion of Japan.  People, particularly Western people, seem to like to fight over whether it is a religion or not… I don’t fully understand the basis of this argument… I think it has something to do with the diversity of beliefs and the fact Shinto is seen as a way to live rather than about worshipping of Gods… but there are Gods… so I don’t really know ;p  What’s the difference between spirituality and religion.  The answer is in that question.  後で (‘Later’)

Shinto has at its basis, ancestor worship and nature worship.  Ancestor worship is still a major part of Japanese society today.  The Obon festival in August is a three – four day period of remembering the dead where families gather together.  For many families this will be only one of two times in the year where the family comes together from whatever parts of Japan they have spread to.  Families will visit shrines and leave offerings for the dead of food and drinks (including cup sake!  more about that in the food section), reflecting the Shinto beliefs of the dead and the living occupying the same spiritual space.  That is, the dead walk among us, carrying on their lives.  You can see this reflected in many anime; Bleach comes to mind, for example.

Ancestor worship has also played its part in Japan having such a long, unbroken line of Emperors.  While the political history of Japan has been tumultuous in terms of warring states, attempted Mongolian invasions and various openings and closings to foreign influence, from the time of recorded history onwards the same family has always occupied the seat of Emperor.  Japanese mythology tells that the Emperor’s family line is descended directly from Amatarasu, the Sun God.  From the book, The Japanese Spirit, the message is pretty much this – the warring daimyo and the Shogun  knew that, if you wanted to keep any measure of social cohesion, the Emperor was not to be fucked with.

Nature worship is seen in many facets of Japanese life.  Many Japanese are still deeply connected to the changing of the seasons.  The autumn season is revered for the beautiful foliage that develops in October and November.  This is truly stunning and is why it is, so far, my favourite part of the year here (the respite from summer whilst still being all go for hiking is a big part of it too!).  In the spring, Japanese enjoy hanami (はなみ、花見), literally, flowering watching, where groups gather under cherry trees, enjoying the blossoms, eating and drinking and being merry.  My hiking guide book has warnings about visiting particular areas at particular times, particularly places with plenty of pretty flowers, because of the volumes of people become pretty annoying.  How’s that for nature worship?  Ok, that probably says more about Japan’s staggering population.  Still, the mountains, thought of as gods, hold a very special, very spiritual place in the Japanese psyche and climbing them is hugely popular.  Princess Mononoke provides many glimpses into the Japanese attitude toward nature.

Another example of the Japanese relation to nature is the Setusbun celebration.  This comes early in February and is a celebration welcoming the spring (when it definitely still feels too cold to be spring, and I have a feeling celestially its not quite there either…).  This is done by throwing beans from the inside of your house to the outside.  Sometimes your father or one of your school teachers will dress up as a devil and you can throw the beans at him.  Accompanying the throwing are shouts of ‘Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi‘ (鬼は外、福は内、I think that Kanji is right…), meaning ‘Out devils! Come in good luck!’

Many of the matsuri (祭) – festivals – also relate to aspects of nature, particularly asking the gods for a good growing season for rice or a good catch out on the seas.  One of these is the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri – Ohara Naked Festival, which is actually in Chiba but which I didn’t see last year.  Definitely this year!   One of the festivals in my little town, Tako, is the Ajisai Matsuri.  This celebrates the coming of the hydrangea flower (not a flower or a plant I had found particularly pretty until this year)  but also harks back to before the start of the 20th century when rice was dedicated to the Emperor each year. Rice barrels (these things used to weigh 60kilos each when they did this old school style, full of rice and not paper) are put on carriers which are hoisted onto the shoulders of locals, many of them from the junior high school where I work, and are then carried through the town to a site where locals, playing the parts of the emperor and other dignitaries, still go through the dedication of the rice.  The matsuri are a huge part of life in Japan.  People come out and line the streets strolling around and enjoying matsuri food, music, fireworks and performances.  New Zealand has absolutely nothing like it.  Some of these are designated as National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Assets, an attempt by the Japanese government to recognise and preserve these rituals.

Is that preservation happening…?  Well, I’m not entirely sure yet.  The festivals are enthusiastically attended.  They are often structured in such a way that everyone can participate.  For example, the Tako Matsuri has small children helping to manoeuvre the dashi, the large wooden parade floats, through the town.  Their young mothers can be seen helping, initiating the children into the festival and also initiating themselves into a new phase of life, motherhood.   The junior high school students play a large part in the Ajisai Matsuri, so much so that Sunday (matsuri day) became a school day and we got Monday off!

Smaller aspects of culture which I’ve talked about with my Japanese teacher, I do remember him saying, ‘but the younger generation aren’t doing that so much these days. ‘  I wish I could be more specific, but I can’t remember what those aspects are…  Good thing I had another chat with him today!  Unfortunately, I didn’t ask him about those aspects we’d talked about, but we did talk about family connections and the duties (legally binding duties, that is) of children to take care of their parents in their old age.  In Japanese culture, similar to Maori and Pacific Island cultures, it is very common for three generations to live together on the same property (although I have noticed that quite often the elderly family member will have their own separate little building on the property).  He said it is becoming more and more common in Japan for elderly parents to no longer live with their children but instead to live in nursing homes.  Perhaps because mother and daughter-in-law don’t get along, he sited as one potential reason).

Are young Japanese losing their connection to nature? Well, while you do see a lot of young people climbing mountains, particularly the easily accessible, popular ones, previously on this blog, and I still stand by it, I’ve put the average age of hikers at 55 years old.  Are they less concerned about their family, ancestors and the walking dead?  See the above point.  Are they more worried about Western-style individualism, consumerism and hedonism?  Perhaps, I’m not really sure yet.  Although, I had a conversation with M a while ago. There is a concern in Japanese society about the decline of masculinity and the bushido spirit in Japanese men.  She put it down to the changing roles of the sexes in the 20th century and the fact that Japanese men have not coped well with these changes.   I queried if it could have to do with a generation raised in the relative ‘softness’ of the past 30 – 40 years…

I have only scratched the surface of a real knowledge about any of these issues.

Also, I’m always weary of these type of questions because its impossible to tell objectively from one generation to the next whether there has been more or less “loss of culture”.  Or more commonly, whether one generation is worse than the next.  It seems to be inbuilt into us to consider the next generation more degenerate than our own.  It doesn’t seem entirely rational; more like a product of rose-tinted glasses.  If someone would just tie the correct crime statistics and correctly biased qualitative images and stories together to convince me!  (Hold on, I could probably do that… or I could search Google and find someone has already done it!  This would be handy also for an understanding of the current UK riots) It also seems inbuilt to see society as on a downwards slope.  This quote from the Wikipedia article on Gangs in the United Kingdom (unrelated research) is enlightening – “Dr Michael Macilwee of Liverpool John Moores University and author of The Gangs of Liverpool states, “You can learn lessons from the past and it’s fascinating to compare the newspaper headlines of today with those from the late 1800s. The issues are exactly the same. People were worried about rising youth crime and the influence of ‘penny dreadfuls’ on people’s behaviour. Like today, some commentators demanded longer prison sentences and even flogging while others called for better education and more youth clubs.”  As some people look at Christians, some others (sometimes the same people) look at society similarly – only focusing on the negative aspects.  Our social milieu includes incredible achievements on the small and large scale – medical, scientific, artistic, ethical, economical – I mean, look at the amount of debt we’ve managed to rack up.  Incredible achievements.  (Full disclosure: In spite of saying this above, I personally see society on a downwards slope – the future ain’t looking bright and sunny)

Culture can’t really be lost, it only changes.   A culture can be less though for the loss or change of aspects of itself.  Do I have an example to back that up…?  Maoridom’s loss of te reo, in part, through laws prohibiting its use at school. An example where a culture wasn’t subjugated by another?  Well, that’s a little harder because cultures don’t typically tend to throw out long standing rituals and customs… they just gradually fall by the wayside, society carries on, changed, but overall, less for that loss…?  Hmm.. now I don’t know… I’m rambling and unsure… agh…  For Japan to lose the Bushido ethos would suck.  M made it a masculinity thing but bushido isn’t really about masculinity.  The core precepts of bushido – loyalty, courage, benevolence, veracity, honor, a sense of justice – are not, by definition, male-only qualities.  It is just that they are historical linked to samurai, who were male.  Samurai wives, samurai children also exhibited these precepts.  People, male and female, of all social classes, exhibit these precepts.  That’s why I see it as being about more than just males struggling to cope with the more public role of females.  What exactly the cause is, is impossible to know, but I can tell you the result will not be good.

I didn’t really get to talking about Buddhism.  And this post is getting really long.  Longer than I ever want to make them.  I don’t have too much in particular to say on the subject in terms of specific rituals.  Buddhism is the religion ‘of night and gloomy death’- the mourning and the rituals involved with death – compared to Shinto, the ‘cult… of daylight and the living dead’. Buddhism, with its core idea of achieving nirvana – the realise from worldly desires – was taken on by the Japanese and used very practically as a way to remove oneself from not only the desires but the turmoils of everyday life.  To face things stoically, in other words.  The stoicism people saw from the Japanese during and after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami – put that down to Buddhism.

So, that’s ritual.  I said in the beginning I was going to talk about five things.  I’ve now decided this will become the first in a series of posts.  Part 2 coming soon.  As I speculated at the start, I do know a bit more than I initially thought about ritual in Japanese culture but it still feels like very surface knowledge.  I need to ask some deeper questions.  The kinda questions that will probably be answered by, ‘Cos we just do.’  But you never know…

Inane piece of Japanese culture – Drugs are bad, right?  In Japan, as in many other Asian countries, drugs are really bad.  The Japanese justice system doesn’t make any distinction between soft and hard drugs.  If its illegal, its illegal.  Marijuana may as well be meth.  Sentences are, by Western standards, harsh (although I think if you are a Westerner, you are often talking simply being deported) and Japanese jails from what I hear, are not pleasant.  Cannabis use is incredibly low – 0.1% of the population smoke annually.

And yet… nearly everyday I’ll see a car with a big fat cannabis leaf air freshener hanging in the front window!?!  I’ve seen a teacher’s car with a big fat cannabis leaf hanging in the front window!  Now you could never do that as a teacher in NZ!  I’ve been told its simply a fashion thing.  In NZ it’d be a ‘get your car repeatedly pulled over’ thing.

Also, go down to the cheap fashion shop down the street and you can find some stunning cannabis flavoured (pun intended) tracksuits.  That’s another thing… the Japanese can be so stylish… and then they can wear tracksuits like they are some chav from a Liverpool housing estate…  Weird…

It’s hard to be alone in Japan.  Even my little country town has a city of 40,000 ten minutes up the road, another of 125,000 just twenty minutes west and south west about thirty minutes drive another of 175,000 people.  The countryside doesn’t really  have open space.  There are always houses dotted around in little village clumps, surrounded by their little patch of rice paddies.  You can drive on roads with a speed limit of 50km/h for miles and miles and miles…

So to find a spot like that pictured above, is a true rarity here.  This little gem is tucked away under  the  Tanagawa-dake ropeway, just out of Minakami in Gunma prefecture.  M and I took off for the weekend to what is probably my favourite little place in Japan.  This was my first time taking the rental car on a really long trip (oh yeah, I got a rental car for the summer!).  To avoid a huge motorway toll I took a route where it was about 80 km before we got on the motorway.  That took us three hours (see what I said above about driving on 50km/h roads for miles and miles..).  Next time I’ll just pay the motorway toll.  After that though I got to drive on Tokyo’s motorways!  Awesome!  I told M how cool I felt.  She told me it wasn’t that cool 😦 Driving along at 100km/h propped up on a road that is running parallel with the 6 or 7th floor of the buildings beside it, for a little Kiwi boy like me, made me feel pretty worldly, and thus, pretty cool.

We stayed in a really nicely done little camping ground, tucked well away from the main part of the town.  On the Sunday we climbed Tanagawa dake, taking the ropeway up to about 1300 metres and then hiking the remaining 600 metres to the summit.  The views were beautiful, although the clouds came in from the west, obscuring the view and killing a lot of good photo snapping opportunities.  I have posted some of the pics on Facebook.   The number of people got on my nerves a bit (M is really pointing out to me what an impatient person I am – I hate waiting for people… and traffic on motorways!) but that thinned out a lot once we got to the second summit as many people head back and take the ropeway down.

Riding the ropeway up I spotted this waterfall again.  I had seen it before on a previous trip to this mountain.  About 3o minutes into the walk uphill, drenched in sweat, I became determined that we were going to make it to that waterfall the next day.

Early Monday, M and I got packed up at our camp site and headed to the ropeway carpark.  I estimated a half hour walk up the track underneath the ropeway.  I was about right.  I had kept an eye on the landmarks around the day before and when I found these we jumped off the ford across the stream and started boulder hopping upstream.  After about 200 metres of this we came to a small pool that took some getting around, leading to a little gully and out into the space pictured above.

We spent the majority of the day here swimming, eating and jumping off the boulders.  The wind off the waterfall was a bit cool at first but we seemed to get used to it.  The only thing spoiling your privacy is the ropeway coming overhead but as I said, here in Japan, if that’s the only other person around, well, that’s nothing really.

Next weekend I’ll climb Fuji-san (or Mt Fuji for us Westerners) on Saturday night, hiking through the night for the sunrise at about 4.30pm.  Then hop a bus back to Tokyo and a shinkansen (or bullet train for us Westerners) the hour and a half up to Niigata prefecture for Fuji Rock!  It’s a full on Fuji weekend!  Gonna be huge – Cake, Chemical Brothers, The Black Angels and DJ Nu-Mark, not to mention a host of other fun stuffs!  WOOP!)  Will report that one soon.

Right, gotta go, have a shower and then off for a haircut.  Long time readers know how much I love those!  Head massage time!  And then its off to Tokyo for Tokyo Electro Fest!

This little dude was riding the very back of my scooter when I got home today.  Cute, eh?  He has his buddy up on the other end too and then 14 other friends between my parking spot and my door.  OK, it was 13 but I went back to count one more, I’m a bit superstitious like that.

Then the other day at school I met another snake.  My first encounter soon after arriving in Tako involved running over this black one that looked like a big leaf in the middle of the road.  Hold on, I thought… that felt like it had a vertebrae… sure enough, something was squiggling in my rear vision mirror.  This time I inflicted no pain, just watching from a distance and taking snaps. 蛇が大好きよ！ (I love snakes!)

The mosquitos were vicious the other night.  See what they did to me…  Blood sucking bastards…  There are some other bugs invading my apartment also.  They come out at night (‘we only come out at night’ – putting that one on right now…).  These are little black things and they congregate near my rubbish bin, under the bright fluorescent in my kitchen.  I can’t tell if its the light they like or the delicious remnants of foods spilled in the cooking process…  These little guys are my girlfriend, M’s new friends.

And then this morning I got into my car.  It was parked under a big tree.  As I sat down I saw one of the biggest beetles I’ve ever seen, coloured like he’d been taken to with a can of gold spray paint, hanging out in my lap.  I got out of the car, mildly panicked and gave him a good flick.  He came off with that flick but not without a minimal tearing sound from my clothing.  Luckily, no damage was done.  Bugs here are way bigger than back home…  In the Japanese summer, they’re gettin’ towards tropical size.  Oh, there was a little praying mantis hanging out on my car when I left school too 🙂

I haven’t written in a long time (over a month).  My excuses are threefold.  One, spending a lot of time with M.  Two, studying a lot for the upcoming JLPT test.  That’s this weekend.  It’s a bit fingers crossed as to whether I’ll pass but with a bit of luck (part of why I recounted those frogs!)…  いっしょうけんめい, がんばろう – I’ll do my best, Fight!.  Three, I just haven’t really wanted to, obviously.  After this test, I imagine I’ll get back into it a bit more.  I want to get into writing more generally over the holiday period.  Definitely slide back the Japanese study a notch or three… haha.  It’s coming up a year here as well, time to reflect and consider how little I know so far.

Ok, dinners pretty much cooked, put the rice on before I leave, and I’m off to the pool for a swim…  And. Click. “Post!”

Japan’s a crazy place.  Japan, during Golden Week, is supposedly a mental place.  Golden Week is the week-to-10days at the end of April/beginning of May over which four public holidays fall.  Depending on how they fall it can be 6 or 7 days off for Japanese, about as long a holiday as many of them ever take it seems, and so they go in for it big time and travelling within the country becomes hectic (and flying out of the country – pricey).  This year, with the weekends, it meant two three day holidays but as a gaijin who is not so duty-bound, a couple of days of nenkyu (paid leave) took this up to ten days.  Woop!   Because of the whispers of madness we had heard, my friend D and I started planning a couple of months in advance.  A Facebook thread was started, the group grew to a total of 5, the thread grew, people didn’t read it and hence asked stupid questions, and preparations were made!  It was on!  I took care of the travel arrangements, D took care of the accomodation and car rental on the island.  Oh, the island, that’s right, I should tell you where we went.  We sloughed ourselves to the not-so-fair (hmm.. more about that later..) subtropical climes of Yakushima, a World Heritage classified island off the bottom of Kyushu.

Every place in Japan is famous for something.  For example, my town, Tako, is famous for rice (how can you be famous for rice you ask?  Yeah, I’m still figuring that one out).  Yakushima is most noticeably well-known for 1000+ year old giant cedar trees.  The most famous of these is Jomon Sugi (or Somon Jugi or whatever you called it, S), a tree that is put at between 2,400 years (scientific core sample) and 7000 years old (going by size, which I guess, means people’s guesses…but maybe they’re ‘experts’ guesses).

It’s definitely older than any other trees we came across because the bark has an entirely different look to it, as if the tree is somewhat human and its ‘skin’ has taken on all the wrinkles, creases and character of old age.

Our trip began out of Tokyo with D, T and myself meeting up on the Thursday night to catch the overnight bus down to Kyoto, where we would meet up with S, staying a couple of nights at his dubstep-hatin’ pigeon war-pad (the neighbours are on an anti-bass crusade and the pigeons are shitting all over his porch).  We also met up with M, who came down from Tokyo a couple of days later than the rest of us (by comfy and quick shinkansen no less… bitch).  On the Sunday evening we sailed out of Osaka on the Sunflower Satsuma ferry for Shibushi, a small port town at the very south east tip of Kyushu.  From there, we rode a shuttle bus the two and a half hours into Kagoshima, a city of about 600,000 where we were to catch the hydrofoil over to Yakushima.  As you can tell, it was a logistical exercise getting all this together and I have to give a huge shoutout to my office ladies (yes, they are MY office ladies, I’m usin’ the possessive pronoun, that’s right!) for all their help.  I now feel much more confident about making bookings over the internet in Japanese… and somewhat more comfortable about making reservations by phone!  Haha.

We had a great couple of days in Kyoto/Osaka.  Around 3 or 4 hours after arriving on an overnight bus on which we obtained very little sleep (approx. 1 hour for me) we were off to the Nagisa Music Festival, somewhere out in the docklands of Osaka city.  It was strange being in a city where I had no idea of where I was.  The festival was relatively small.  I’m guessing around 5000 people.  There were a half a dozen stages, including a couple of bigger ones.

Straight away we were grooving with the locals to some nice beats in the sun.  The highlights of the day for me came later on with DJ Krush playing a set that very quickly moved into drum n bass and continued solely in that direction. Mmm 😀  The finale of the day was Hifana, a Japanese breaks/scratching kamikaze duo, who just rocked the place.  They looked a bit like this:

From there we carried on to the afterparty and en route met the first character of the trip.  His name was Shaun or Shane, not sure which.  He was very strange…  somewhat awkward.  And possibly a pedophile.  He wanted to smoke something synthetic with us.  He also told us that he’d had ’12 year olds givin’ him back on the train’.  We tried to lose him in the subway system but he was persistent.  We managed it when we came above ground again but then made the stupid decision of eating on the street from a ramen shop.  We were found again.  Some kind words from some of us and looking at the ground from others of us finally gave him the hint and he disappeared into the night.  Ah… Shane/Shaun… what are you doing now…?  Is some young girl rubbing up against you…?  I hope not…

The afterparty was in a club called Partita built into an old warehouse building.  There were a couple of rooms in the front building, another dj playing outside which led you on under an old steel framework into a little alley selling food, where four more tiny dj booths were set up and on to the last room of the place, the main stage.  It was a pretty impressive place, in size, layout and industrial-ness.  Quite the opposite of Ageha in Tokyo, the big ass club I’m most familiar with there.  Kinda dingy and low key, it had a cool vibe about it.  There was even a pile of rubble!  I managed to lift a new poster for my Japanese Hip-hop poster collection.

The poster features Japanese naaastieeest gangbanger, the infamous D.O.  Check that guy out – the tats, the slicked back hair, the teeth, the snarl, the glasses and the popped suit collar, this guy is GANGSTA!!  Getting caught woulda been worth it just for this fulla.  If you want a laugh, copy and paste this – マザファッカ – (the word underneath his name) into Google Translate and see what you get.  We cranked until the sun came up and then headed back to Kyoto and crashed for a few hours.

In the afternoon we arose and went for a little trip around Kyoto, checking out the Kiyomizu Temple.  This was a very cool place but very crowded and hence difficult to feel anything all that spiritual.  Kinda cooler was the walk up the hill to the temple and the 墓地 (bochi – cemetery) we passed through.

We wandered the streets a bit after that, had a beer by the riverside and then went to an izakaya for dinner.  We got ourselves home at the decent hour of 1am to prepare ourselves for our travels beginning the next day.

We left S’s place early, giving him and his lady a little bit of privacy and headed out to see some more of Kyoto’s famed sites.  Kyoto was Japan’s capital for over 1000 years and is pretty much THE place to go for a Japanese history buff (T, I’m looking at you).  Time was not really our friend and thus we got half way up the hill covered by the Inari Gates before we decided to come back down and move on to the Imperial Palace.  The Palace is open only on select days of the year so our view was pretty much of the impressive walls surrounding it only.  Serene garden to walk through though.

From here we headed into Osaka and met up with S and M (see what I did there!).  M informed us correctly that we were actually heading to the wrong terminal for the ferry we were to catch, the only hitch in my transportation organisation.  The ferry was a blast.  The ride was 15 hours overnight and we had booked the cheapest class – 10,930 yen (about $160 dollars) so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Were we to just find space to sleep where we could?  We had sleeping bags and bed rolls with us…  As it turned out we were put in a large room with about 50 other people and provided a futon, pillow, sheets and a blanket.  It was perfect!

We brought some bentos on the boat with us for dinner and a couple of bottles of whiskey for the evening.  Vending machines provided us with beer when we felt like a change and cheap, greasy food for breakfast in the morning.  There was an onsen that we didn’t get around to using on the way down but we made sure we used it on the way back.  It was pretty amazing getting in there at 6.30 am as the day lightened and we re-approached Osaka, watching the ocean, the mountains in the background and planes running parallel to us coming in to Kansai International Aiport.  The onsen also provided the gayest moment of the trip (it’s a bunch of naked men, of course it did, you say), as D and S splashed each other with water from the cold tap.  It was a beautiful thing.

On the way back we also meet the other character of the trip – a very drunken young Japanese mother who, with child in tow, pretty much assaulted each of us in her attempts to take us to bed (or the toilets, boat deck, right there, I don’t know that she really had a plan…).  Each of us was hugged viciously as she recited the title lyrics to Elvis Presley’s I Want You, I Need You, I Love You; D was kissed on the neck, I was grabbed by the hips and bit on the back of the neck and S was fully laid out upon.  It was a morality test but it was ultimately concluded that to take advantage of this when her child was tugging on her sleeve saying ‘Mama, neru yo’ (‘Mum, its bed time’), among other things, was contemptible.

Arrival in Shibushi, Kyushu, the ferry’s birthing port, was followed by a two and a half hour bus ride to Kagoshima.  For some of us this was our first look at Kyushu and it was very nice indeed.  Largely rural and somewhat more tropical in vegetation than Chiba with tea plantations instead of rice paddies.  We made it to Kagoshima, did our food shopping for the couple of days hiking ahead, rode a tram to the hydrofoil port and shot our way across to the island.  OK, if you’ve been keeping track, you’ll know that the group has now travelled by: bus, train, Shinkansen (OK, M only, but I’m still counting it), subway, ferry, tram, hydrofoil and taxi.  Not bad.

It was as we were about to board the hydrofoil that the news came through about the death of Bin Laden, raising T’s usual patriotic fervour to a patriotic furore.  You couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

Service on the island was incredible.  We were picked up at the small port in Anbo, the town we were staying in the first night, by the hostel folk.  They took us to a little place out of the town centre secluded in the bush; a house that had been converted into a hostel.  They also took us to a restaurant for dinner (this was a bit cartel-like in nature though) where we ate two types of とびうお (tobiuo – flying fish) amongst other things, snuck sips of the giant bottle of shochu we’d brought in with us, and simultaneously entertained/were entertained by two impertinent little girls dressed in pink.  They were very funny and very non-Japanese – cheeky and in your face.  Because I don’t take photos of little girls I can’t show them to you, but D took some shots before one little girl said (in Japanese, of course), ‘Stop taking photos of us and just play with us’.  Hilarious.  Actually, they’d have to be the third character of the trip.  We then caught up with a friend who happened to be on the island at the same time.  We sat next to the river running through Anbo at a funky little cafe/bar and supped away a bottle of Mitake.  Very civilised, even if I’m sure the conversation wasn’t.  Upon return to the hostel we met some lovely Japanese girls who T and I sat up until 2:30am chatting too, much to the annoyance of S particularly, who was pretty much a part of the conversation as he was trying to sleep on the couch where we were congregating.

The next morning saw us out the door before 9am to catch the bus up to ヤクスギランド (Yakusugiland) to the head of the hiking trail.  The weather was foreboding, with the sky a heavy grey and light rain falling on us.  We managed to catch the right bus, largely thanks to T, and started winding up into the mountains.  The ride was about 40 mins with a 20 min walk at the end to the start of the trail.  After a woman tried to sell us a portable toilet thing (I have read about these; because of the large numbers of trampers in the Japanese wilderness, they want you to defecate into a bag and carry it out with you!  Pretty shit, eh?! Hahaha), we got to it.  An hour or two in we came to a small rock outcropping and began to realise how little we were going to see in terms of views on this trip.  The precipitation hung heavy over the mountains, reducing visibility to the immediate area around you.  This was probably the biggest disappointment of the trip.  Our view from Mt Miyanoura, the highest point south of Honshu, was basically nothing.  This, our first deer sighting, will give you an idea.

These deer were so tame.  You could come within two or three metres of them and they would still go about their business.  Yakushima is famous for two animals – Yakushika – deer and Yakuzaru – monkeys, both of which we saw in abundance.  Once we arrived at the hut that night, I wandered in the dark down to the stream to get some water.  I was watching my footing carefully as it was very wet and there were logs and roots and a couple of little drops to negotiate.  Next thing I know a couple of deer eyes a metre or two in front of me are reflecting the piercing white light of my head torch. びっくりした！(lit.’I was surprised!’  I got a fright)

We arrived at the hut soaking wet.  We had heard from a Japanese guy earlier in the day that the hut wasn’t very busy.  He’s a damn liar.  It was definitely busy when we got there.  We managed to find space for four of us in the hut and I decided to be stoic and pitch my tent in spite of the pleas of my friends that there would be space somewhere.  There probably was, but it wasn’t going to be much space.  Thankfully the rain had abated at this point.  I found a spot that wasn’t too sodden and got my gears out.  My sleeping bag was fairly wet so I opened it up, hoping it would dry a bit before I crashed out for the night.  This was around 6pm.  D and I started to cook some dinner and got into the couple of bottles of wine we’d lugged up the hill.  I was getting cold cooking dinner so went back to the tent and changed into some dry clothes (I’d been smart enough to have a pack liner for my gears, not smart enough to wrap my sleeping bag in even a plastic bag in the bottom compartment of my pack), after which I felt a lot better.  The wine probably helped too.  It was about 9pm when we headed to bed and my sleeping bag was still wet so I laid out still fully dressed and went to sleep.  I woke up at some point feeling kinda cold.  Thankfully the sleeping bag had dried out a lot by this stage and I was able to throw it over me and actually got a fairly comfortable nights sleep.  Until the helicopter arrived.  It was about 6.30am.  There was construction going on around the camp and I just presumed that this chopper was here to drop off or pick up construction equipment so I stuck my head out for one tiny look and then tried to go back to sleep for a bit.  Turned out it was actually airlifting a lady out of the bush as she had hurt her leg.  I missed all the action but the others caught it.  D has some pictures posted here.

The weather held overnight and the day started quite nice on that front (pun intended).  We were about 50 minutes away from Jomon Sugi.  On a different front, because of the famous tree, the number of people on the track dramatically increased from here.  At points it felt like you were walking down the Omotesando (Tokyo’s Champs-Élyseés).  Not exactly my favourite hiking conditions.  I think I counted the number of cute girls we passed at 115.  The famed tree itself… well, not really too much to say.  I’ve already mentioned its wrinkly skin.  Another description – it kinda looked like the Blob – like it could go amorphous at any moment, collapse on itself and crush all of us standing on the platform built to protect it from us.

Far more impressive was Wilson’s Stump, in my opinion.  The remains of a tree logged at some time in the past, the circumference of this bad boy is a whopping 32 metres.  The inside is hollow and inside there is a small shrine.  You can wander around inside, looking up through the gaping hole at the canopy above you.

The visibility was slightly better that day but we didn’t have the majestic vantage points that we had been up on the day before.  There was a lot more roaring water this day too with several awe-inspiring bridge crossings.

The track eventually came to some old train lines which the hiking trail followed.  At some point along these we were meant to turn off to the north but somehow we missed the turnoff.  There is only one spot I remember where it could’ve happened and the signs here was very old and decrepit.  This I guess was the other disappointment of the trip.  It meant we missed the Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine… should I Google Image search it now…  Curiosity will kill me if not… chotto matte kudasai… (hold on a minute)… phew, I didn’t find anything that filled me with too much regret, although most of these pics were taken on clear days including one with a beautiful blue sky and a great view down to the coastline… bastards…  Missing the turnoff meant we came out an hour or two earlier than expected at the Arakawa dam.  There were a lot of people round.  A couple of buses came 30 minutes later and took us on the return journey into Anbo (not where we wanted to go; two more buses later we made it back to Miyanoura on the island’s north coast).

Our hostel that night, it was as if they knew we were coming sopping and tired.  The washing machine and dryer was right next to our room.  We had a small kitchen area in our room.  D cooked up a pasta dish in the rice cooker using the leftover tuna we had amongst some other things from the supermarket.  ‘Twas a glorious meal, accompanied by some beers and Yakushima’s finest, the Mitake shochu.

The following day was probably the best of the trip. We managed to rent a car, thanks to T’s international driver’s licence, he being the only person who remembered to bring it.  Thank God.  We started out from Miyanoura and headed west with the plan of circumnavigating the whole coast of the island.  The weather was much as the day before starting out but just as we reached the beautiful Inakahama Beach, the rain stopped, the clouds parted (well, no that’s a step too far) and the wind died down, and we were able to do a little subtropical skinnydipping.  Swimming in the ocean, along with the hiking was what I really wanted to do here.  It’s nearly summer, we’re half way to Okinawa on a beautiful island, we have to get in the ocean!  The previous couple of days had dampened my hopes so the fact that this came off made my day.  T wasn’t down for it, and M wasn’t felling too well so she stayed in the car, but D,S and myself stripped down and spent a glorious 30 mins or so in the water splashing around like a bunch of seals.  Various Japanese people wandered onto the beach.  T proceeded to tell them we were naked much to their delight, particularly two old ladies.  The young girls (we’re talking 20’s here I guess) that were with them apparently left the beach realising we weren’t going to get out until they did so and then proceeded to watch us from the carpark up the top of the beach.  Sneaky bitches…

We carried on from here towards Ohko no taki, the island’s most famous waterfall.  Along the way the road ducked through the forest where we encountered monkeys for the first time.  Lots of monkeys.  Apparently you’re not meant to look these bad boys in the eyes.  We had no probs but I did imagine what a monkey rampage might be like.  I reckon they would FUCK you up.

The waterfall was spectacular and very powerful.  There’s something about the neverending flow of water that I find incredibly beautiful, whether its a trickle or a torrent.  There was a rock outcrop you could climb above the splash pool which made for some great photos.  Getting down right by the pool’s edge the spray and the force of the wind was impressive.  Here we met a man who couldn’t quite be classified as a character but his teeth sure could, all three of those long ass mofo’s precariously hanging on to his lower gumline.  The wooden charms he was selling smelled wonderful and so we all snapped one up.

Continuing around the coast we got to the Hirauchi Kaichu Onsen, a small onsen charging only 100 yen to relax in their pools right beside the ocean.  The hostel worker in the morning had told us 11.30 – 2.00  were the times that the tide would permit us to use the pools today.  We showed up nearer 2.3o and things were definitely still all good!  Everyone was stoked.  We stripped down for the second time that day and joined the few old men enjoying the hot water in the pools.  M came and dipped her feet in with us but wasn’t game enough to strip it off with the boys.  She took some pictures though.  A Japanese couple then came along and the woman, who spoke good English, asked if we’d take a naked photo with her man.  Of course we would.

The rest of the day pasted in a restful haze as the onsen did its magic and the weather deteriorated on the east side of the island.  We searched briefly for something describe on the map as the ‘Pillow-shaped Lava Field’ but alas didn’t find it.  We took some backroads and came across a magnificient sunset.

That evening we cooked in the hostel again, eager to save a bit of coin.  We then had a couple of drinks at the izakaya down the road.  From there we climbed the steel staircase of a couple of silos probably eight or 10 stories up in the air for a beautiful view of the harbour and lights of Miyanoura.  Thankfully no one saw us and called the cops.

The next morning we began the return journey to Osaka.  10am – hydrofoil. 2.45pm – shuttle bus.  5.50pm – ferry.  8am the next day – arrive in Osaka.  We were all fairly exhausted by this stage, perhaps a little sick of each other but I think most of all, for us Tokyo boys, keen to see our respective Tokyo girls, so we looked into changing our bus to an earlier one but to no avail.  This meant 12 hours hanging out in Osaka trying to spend as little money as possible.  We achieved this quite admirably I feel.  A bit of breakfast in a small city park, after which we met some friendly foreign skaters; Tokyoites, doing a little filming tour of Nagoya and Osaka.  We hung out with them for a bit, catching sunrays and encouraging one guy trying to tailslide up a ramp edge and 360 flip out.  He came close but didn’t quite nail it before the piled into their van and continued on their way.

From there, we went on the hunt for a frisbee.  Coca-Cola blessed me with a free watch from one of their vending machines (as my watch is buggered, I’m wearing it right now).  Our frisbee hunt produced no fruit but we wandered through a loooong covered arcade which took us to a fun little video arcade and the coolest grocery store on the planet.  My sunnies broke at some point along the way but thankfully they clung to my face for the day with just one temple (this is the name opticians use for that side part of glasses – I had to Google search ‘what do you call the part of glasses that hangs over your ears’ to find that out – I found this website).

S departed from us at this point.  Our trip was nearing its end.  D, T and I hunted around for a spot for dinner after venturing into Namco Town, one of the craziest game centres I’ve yet been to in Japan.  We found an izakaya type place with small circular tables and tall stools, different to your usual izakaya setting.  Our simultaneous ‘Doumo!’s to the waitresses got old pretty quickly I think so we took our leave and headed to the bus stop, arriving in plenty of time.  Along the way we discovered this place.

The bus back to Tokyo was a lot more comfy than the one to Osaka and I managed a good few hours sleep.  D and I got off in Shinjuku leaving T to ride the final few kilometres to Tokyo on his own.  D and I shared a train as far as Ikebukuro before parting ways without a word (he thought I was getting off too, turned out I wasn’t and there was no moving back through that crowded carriage).  I ended up at the wrong station which added 15 mins to my 15 min walk to M’s place.  I got there before she shot off to work though, surprising her in the shower (haha).  She introduced me to her Grandmother who lives downstairs and who chucked my washing in the machine for me.  After getting it back and hanging it I crashed into bed for a few hours.  Later on I did some Japanese study and fiddled around with a guitar I found in M’s wardrobe.  In the late afternoon I indulged my new favourite hobby and went for a walk through the small back streets of the neighbourhoods around M’s apartment (with the iPhone I never get lost!).  D gave me a call and helped me with the recipe for poached peaches.  Finally I arrived at the supermarket and bought some things for dinner.

M and I ate dinner and drank and talked into the small hours of the morning.  With two or three hours sleep I arose at 4.30am to jump the trains and buses I’d need to get back to Tako in time for work.  I didn’t get back in time for work.  I arrived 20 mins late.  No worries though, but still not something I’m going to make a habit of.

It’s a bit of a cliche but ‘epic’ really is the word that describes this trip.  Nearly 60 hours spent in transit on various modes of transport, more drinking than I’ve perhaps ever done (I never got shitfaced, I just mean the drinking was steadily continuous, if that makes sense), climbing another of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains,  getting wet… a lot, getting naked… a lot, all nighters in Osaka, deer and monkeys and helicopters,  good friends, good times and a lot of laughs.  I can’t wait for the next long haul!

I just wanted to throw a shoutout to the place we stayed in Hakone a few weeks back – Hakone Sengokuhara Youth Hostel.  Lovely little place, great staff (English and Japanese), indoor and outdoor onsen, convenient to the buses and reasonably priced.

So for the best part of a month (since my last post really) my life has been somewhat taken over by Bleach, the anime series that all my friends watched about 5 years ago.  At Episode 108, I’m saying, ‘No more!  I want my life back!’  Yeah, I’ve enjoyed it, I’m still enjoying it, although that enjoyment has waned at points particularly when battles stretch out over four or five episodes.  It’s easy to watch.  But, well, there’s simply better things I can be doing with my time.  Play guitar, work on my Japanese, read more, write more, blog more… The advancement of the story and characters is so slow, the show labours over points repeatedly and the continual movement from battle to battle with a little bit of character development at the end of each story arc is really just boring.  I chuck it on in the evening to blob out to cos I’m usually fuckin’ knackered (despite my days not exactly being demanding) but now I’m saying no more!

I’m actually developing this theory that my hair is currently stealing my ‘vitality’, my essential life force, my day to day energy reserves, whatever you want to call it.  Cos man, these locks have a springy mind of their own at the moment.  I can’t wait to get the pampering treatment at D’Art again on Thursday.  And I just seem to be tired all the time!  ‘Cept when I go out in Tokyo and crank the whole night (by myself too cos everyone piked on me) and right through the next day!  Woop!  Hit some drum n bass (twas meant to be Goldie, but his wife made him stay home after the earthquake etc… kinda pathetic… Another Brit, Silkie stepped in in his place), got my skank on, I’m talking about dancing here, but I did also met a really nice girl, then went to Kamakura and checked out some horseback archery, so… great weekend.  That was last weekend.  So despite the Bleachathon I have still been out there and doing things.  Rather a lot of things really.

I hit up Hakone for the first time a few weeks ago.  Hakone is a resort town about 90 mins south of Tokyo (south, away from the radiation, ya’ll).  It was great.  Admittedly, not at its best in what was really still the tail end of winter though.  Japan really is a country of four seasons.  Whereas in NZ you can hike in winter and the mountainsides are still resplendent in green, Japanese mountainsides become a sea of light grey.  Still, we had a great hike on the Saturday.  Best view of Fuji I’ve enjoyed so far (no. 5 and counting I think).  We checked out Odawara Castle (I fantasized about owning an authentic Japanese sword or set of samurai armour one day… when I’m a millionaire…), enjoyed great food, stayed at a really cool little youth hostel with its own indoor and outdoor onsen, and rode a ye olde European style ship across Lake Ashinoko.  I’m not going to spend too much time writing about it because my friend Jaimie who I went with has done it for me.  She has done it in two parts… and I’m wondering if there is a third part (i.e. the final day) in the works.  I want to add one or two little details and clear up a couple of inaccuracies, mostly to do with time…

1.  That rest stop she mentions was after less than an hour hiking, not the 1 hour 45 mins she puts it at!!    Also, coming down was more like an hour – hour and a half, not the 2 and a half hours she’ll tell you it was!  Haha.  Did the effort warp your sense of time a bit, Jaimie? 😉  And, don’t worry, I had no qualms about your pace…  remember, I’m Kiwi, baby – laidback, nothing’s a problem, sweet as etc. etc.

2.  The temple we spent time loitering around is called Daiyuzan Saijo-ji and it is the most beautiful, most peaceful temple I have yet been to in Japan.  Perhaps Nikko is a little more spectacular but this place was so quiet.  It was 9am on a Saturday morning and there were no more than a handful of people walking around the place, not the hundreds you usually find, well, anywhere in Japan.  In fact, the hiking trail also was relatively quiet.  There were perhaps 15 or 20 people on the top with us.  Not bad for such an accessible place.

3.  The old couple we met were indeed lovely.  It was really cool hiking with them throughout the day.  Jaimie really impressed me (i.e. made me jealous) with her Japanese ability here too.  She scored the more friendly old man for most of the way downhill, leaving me with the less talkative old lady.  And the look on that old lady’s face when Jaimie hugged her was priceless.

4.  Oh, Jaimie and I wrote some little VISA Priceless ads about Japan while there… might discuss with her a bit more before putting those up on here… haha.  Also review them with the aid of a little time for offensiveness, perhaps…

Pics have been up on Facebook for a bit here.

The following weekend I went to Shanghai.  After the earthquake all my plans fell through, so I decided to check what a near-future flight to see Jared would cost me.  Fairly reasonable, so I booked it all up, hooked up the visa, sorted the paid leave (did that last – haha) and on the Thursday night I was off!  Again, I’m going to report to you secondhand – this time from an email description I sent to my Mum –

China was great.  Was really good catching up with Jared.  He’s still going through puberty I think, cos he’s got a shitload bigger!  He’s just got himself the cutest little dog called Scruffy D.  His sister Pip lives there too and she is great fun.  She bought Scruffy D a little outfit for Jared’s birthday.  Absolutely hilarious.  ‘Adidog’ in a light blue with little red shoes.  We went out for dinner on the last night to a nice restaurant, got a double on Jared’s new bicycle!  Ordered so much food – half a Peking duck, a spicy tofu dish, vegie dish, a fish dish, beans… it was great.  Cost $120, a reasonably expensive meal there.  We ate 5 of us at another place on the fri night and that cost 200yuan total – about 45 bucks.  You could buy big bottles of beer in little shops for 4yuan – about $1.  Awesome! The food was delicious – I think my favourite things were these flat breads that we bought off the street – so yummy!   We had a big barbecue on Saturday night at Jared’s uncle’s house.  He lives in this beautiful old place in the French Concession, an area of Shanghai built in European style by the French 100 years or so ago.  Lamb chops, prawns, chicken wings, salads, breads, pork…  lots of cheap beer… 😉  Actually one of the best things about Shanghai was the shopping (and you know I don’t really dig shopping… although I do love a bargain…) – I bought a really nice oriental scroll with a Chinese mountain scene (170yuan), I bought a cool chess set (100 yuan) and I bought a beautiful, large folding screen (700 yuan) that is still in Shanghai.  I’m looking into getting it shipped back here.  Things were just so cheap – I could never afford to buy these things in Japan.  Jared and I bought a bike on the Friday (450 yuan – around 100 bucks) and I spent friday afternoon cruising around in the crazy Shanghai traffic on that.  I’ll post some vids on youtube and pics on facebook sometime soon.  Shanghai was cool cos there was such amazing energy on the streets.  Things were so interesting.  Whereas Tokyo is all suits and heels going about their business, in Shanghai there were street vendors everywhere, bicycles and motorbikes with goods piled on the back of them, people eating and playing cards on the street, street markets.  It was just so interesting.  And the way the old and the new are smack bang up against each other was interesting too.  Unlike the steel and concrete decay of Japanese cities, the decay of Shanghai is that of old brick and wooden buildings and is beautiful.  Rode the maglev train to the airport on Monday morning – 430km/h – woop!

So there you have it.  You can see the pics here.  I spent some of that time on the bike taking videos (including a couple being doubled) and you can see them here.

So really, with my trip to Hakone, Shanghai, and my powerhouse weekend, you are largely up to date.  Oh, I spent the previous week’s evenings helping a young Japanese/Korean guy with his English before he headed off to Canada on Saturday.  That was great fun too.  An hour or so lesson, a big feed of delicious food and then drinking and chatting with the family until well after 10pm each evening.  Really lovely people.  Is really nice to have such people so close by, i.e. actually in Tako-machi.  Looking forward to joining the mother and daughter for a few drinks in Narita one night!

Now that I am free of the distraction that is Bleach I will hopefully post a little more often.  I still want to write about Japanese school kids, my favourite katakana words (English words Japanized) and the most interesting aspects of Japanese culture I have experienced so far, so keep an eye out for those scribble sometime hopefully soon!

(Oh a quick update on the earthquake – I’m at 1600 words nearly now, so I mean quick…  Last week we had some strong aftershocks but it seems to have calmed down again.  Trains seem to all be running on normal schedules… as far as I know.  Keikaku teiden (planned power outages) are still in effect but haven’t hit Tako at all.  Word is they’ll end start of May but crank up again summer time when everyone switches their aircon on.  I know about as much about the nuclear plant as most of you I’d say.  I follow the news as little as possible.  My Japanese teacher is a bit worried I think.  The biggest worry is another strong earthquake fucking things up more.  I just read today though they have got an alternative power line installed now just in case that happens.  Along with the Tako English Club, sent a box of toys etc. up to an emergency shelter in Ishikawa ken… good feeling to do something to help… Umm… yeah, ya’ll have nothing to worry about… relax yo’selves.)

Well, the earthquake… what can I say…?  It’s three days later now and life is and isn’t returning to normal.  I went into school today along with the other teachers and cleaned up.  Our office on the fourth floor was a mess but fairly quickly came back into shape; mostly just books and papers thrown around.  The school, much like the rest of Tako, has suffered no major damage.  A few people have some roofing issues (I saw the blue tarps dotting rooftops from the second floor of the Community Plaza today) and there are a couple of bits of damaged road but even one of these has already been repaired today.

The entrance to my apartment building - sorry, the pic is far from great

As for the day  itself, the school was preparing for graduation ceremony 卒業式 (sotsugyoushiki) the following day.  I was in the school entrance area with a half dozen girls and the two office ladies about to ask for something to do (as I had been wandering aimlessly for the best part of an hour or so) when things started to sway a bit.  We all looked at each other, fairly used to this, waiting for it to stop.  But it didn’t.  It’s one of the most surreal feelings because you kinda feel the seconds draw apart and each one becomes really long like you’re sitting in it, just thinking its gonna stop now, its gonna stop now.  And it doesn’t.  Also, at that strength, you’re not used to it and you start to get frightened and your adrenalin starts to run.  We crouched together in the centre of the entrance area mainly watching the trophy cabinet in front of us… the one we were far enough away from, should it fall, not to be crushed, but probably not to be safe from all the flying glass.  The trophies inside the cabinet started to tip over.  Something less dangerous but still attention – captivating was the pond in the middle of the courtyard, now filled with huge waves.

After what I guessed to be about a minute, the shaking stopped and the vice principal 教頭先生 (kyoutou sensei) came running through the hallway, literally screaming at us to get outside.  And so, we ran, out into the middle of the sports area in front of the school building.  The building emptied quickly and an initial count said five were missing.  Then six ran out of the building.  Go figure.

We assembled here (minus the piggy back racing)

I hung around until about 4:30pm.  Parents were slowly picking students up.  I heard from a teacher today they were there until about 6pm.  I shot up to the fourth floor, gawked at the mess, grabbed my bag and jacket and shot down to the community plaza to check on people there.  I was meant to have a Japanese lesson that afternoon so I shot around to see my teacher.  He wasn’t there but I talked with his wife and discovered they and their house were fine and he was out checking on an (even more) elderly neighbour.  Now, for home.  My scooter took the couple of new bumps in the road no problems.  I also surveyed some upturned pavers on the promenade beside the 栗山川 Kuriyama River.

Kinda artistic, ね?

At home I was greeted by one hell of a mess.  The main cabinet in my kitchen had toppled over and had been caught on a 45° angle by the small table in the middle of my little kitchen area (oh just got another good little shake then…).  The glass doors that made up the centre of the thing were shattered, as were many of the glasses and mugs inside there.

I forgot to take a picture before putting the cabinet back in place and I wasn't going to lean it back over just to take one!

The aftermath at mild 296, apt 205!! Shit, I better put that butter away!

The offending cabinet and the table that caught it, including a glass that did not break

I spent until dark getting tidied up and then popped my head torch on and cooked a dinner of fried rice.  I had no power and no cell coverage but thankfully, I still had water and gas… although whether I should have been using it…  I did and still do have some camping gas…  I still at this point had no idea what was going on other than a 7.9 magnitude earthquake had struck and that the epicentre was somewhere off Miyagi prefecture.  ‘But that’s 300 or so km away,’ I said to my colleague, the implications of which he didn’t understand.  Also at this point, no one outside of Tako had any idea about me and, as I discovered the next day, you were all worried and wondering.  I was very touched by all the messages people left for me on Facebook, by the way.  I had no idea you all cared so much.  Thank you.  About 7:30pm the water conked out and I thought well, might as well catch up on sleep… and so I lay the cabinet back down on the floor in case of aftershocks and went to bed for 15 hours.

How did I sleep that long?  Through aftershocks?  After experiencing a massive natural disaster?  Why am I so kinda blasé about the whole thing?  Well, first of all, here in Tako, it wasn’t that massive.  Sure, it was a strong earthquake, but it was nothing in terms of destruction, injury and death compared to Christchurch and definitely nothing compared to the scene unfolding up north.  When I say I’m blasé, I certainly don’t mean in terms of acknowledging the horrific situation the people of Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwaki and to a lesser extent, Ibaraki, are experiencing.  It looks like hell on earth (before and after sat shots) and I can’t fully imagine what its like to lose so much so quickly.  I think the feeling that I have though is a quite healthy sense of perspective.  I’m here and I’m well and I’m safe.  I’m not going to be paralysed by fear.  And nor are the Japanese people I see around me.  Am I worried about aftershocks?  A little.  But its more adrenalin than fear that kicks in during them.  Have I taken the necessary precautions that I am able to?  Yes.  I have a disaster pack sorted, I’m following the news as well as I can (this site helped), I’m following the directions of the JET Prefectural Advisors (thank you so much Erica – not sure if ppl will be able to see her Facebook page but great update feed and way to keep people calm) and I’m talking with my colleagues.  Am I worried about the nuclear power plant.  Yeah, now that’s a little more scary.  After reading Dogs and Demons, my faith in Japanese technology, expertise and bureaucracy isn’t as rock solid as some other peoples’ seems to be, although the information coming from news site and other analysis (reading way beyond CNN’s hyperbolic headlines here) generally looks positive, including this letter here.  But again, what am I going to do, short of leaving the country, something my mother brought up tonight, shortly before telling me something I know but rarely hear out loud; that she loves me.  She’s worried.  Getting on a plane though is just something I don’t think is necessary and I’m not prepared to do.  If the shit hits the fan, well it hits and I’ll deal with those bridges when I come to them.  Lacking so much fear, I kinda wonder if some part of me wants the shit to hit the fan, if just to test me.  To put me in a situation where its (maybe quite literally) sink or swim.  Where my ability to cope in the situation means the difference between success and failure and, in this case, life and death.  Where if people are in real danger, I can maybe do something to help them.  I feel largely untested as a man in my life and I think I’m slowly discovering this has given me a psychological complex about being weak.  Maybe I just want to be thrilled.  Anyway, you can come up with your own theories as to why I’m not scared.  Maybe I’m just dumb.  You tell me – should I be more scared?

So from here, many prefectures will experience rolling blackouts.  Those scheduled for today, seem to have come to naught, as power usage (demand) has remained below what supply can provide.  Hurry for that!   My Japanese sensei had told me to cook early in case the power was suspended so I flagged the idea of defrosting a piece of fish (no microwave you see) and decided to head to the super, most likely for a cheap and easy bento.  I’m not sure whether it is because of these rolling blackouts but my local supermarket and 24 hour drug store/supermarket were both closed tonight on my way home at 5ish.  The conbini down the road was open so I purchased some tuna and kimchi.  I met a lady I know in the store and she told me she’d seen bread at the other supermarket which just happens to be across the road and happened to be open so I decided to shoot across there, purchase bread if there was any and pancake mix if there wasn’t.  Pancake mix it was!  The last of my bread I had with tuna and kimchi on top for dinner along with a bowl of miso soup.  True disaster food!  I’m assuming stocks are going to soon return to normal but well, we’ll see…  If it helps, send it north.  We can make do.  I mean, shit, I’ve got a sense of humour and pancakes for breakfast – woop!!

Final update – I left this for the night so I could proof it today before posting – The situation has changed a bit today, on a couple of fronts.  First, on the lighter side – the supermarket was still closed and from what I hear it is due to the shelves being bare, not the rolling blackouts (which again came to naught today, a good example of Japan pulling together).  I wouldn’t have really expected this disruption in material goods here in Chiba but it appears it is so.  Food at mine is getting low so gonna have to get a little creative in the next few days…  Also I heard from a colleague today that they had been to multiple petrol stations, all of them closed.  That was when I figured that the barrier at the back entry of the petrol station just down the road from me was mirrored at the main entrance and that the place has been closed for the past two or three days.  I got a half tank in the scooter.  Got my bicycle and school’s the only place I need to go on either of those two things so all good on that front.

Secondly, on the darker side, the news from the nuclear plant continues to get worse.  There has been another explosion today, one which has potentially breached the containment barrier.  Radiation levels have risen significantly in the area around the plant and as far away as Tokyo.  The news is still generally confident though.  There has been nothing from our Embassy beyond advice to listen to the Japanese authorities.  The messages coming from my Advisors are confident also, encouraging people to remain calm and keep the numbers in perspective.  Still, people around me are leaving or considering it.  I have one friend who has gone, another who called tonight telling me she is considering it and who knows of a dozen people who have already fled the country.  We pondered how the Japanese can seemingly remain so calm in the face of this.  I suggested, well, what else can they do?  I came across the CNN Belief blog later, which had what I thought was an interesting quote: “It’s very important in Japanese life to react in a positive way, to be persistent and to clean up in the face of adversity, and their religions would emphasize that,” says University College Cork’s Bocking. “They’ll say we have to develop a powerful, even joyful attitude in the face of adversity.”  I understand the logic in this and I agree with it as a generally positive psychological move… so long as it doesn’t obscure the reality of the seriousness of the situation.  Things look generally good now but what if they go downhill drastically, in a way that isn’t being predicted…  Still, I’m currently standing by yesterday’s call to stay here.  It’s also about solidarity, something akin to the development of that powerful attitude in the face of adversity.

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No, not what some of you may be thinking (Stefan Pirie, Paul McGibbon, I’m looking at you!).  The kitchen bench in my apartment forced me to bend over like an old lady who’s spent all her years in rice paddies, so I decided to build a new bench over the summer.  M was away, back at her grandmothers for the month before and after the baby was born.  I had:

1. time on my hands with summer holidays (although it took until nearly the end of those holidays before I finally got started in earnest)
2. a long held desire to get into some wordworking
3. absolutely no desire to buy some piece of cut-out shite from Ikea or the like
4. a wordworking room at school (with a whole bunch of machines which I didn’t end up using)

The slow start was partly the fault of planning and buying up the things I would need, and partly the fault of simply not getting stuck in quick enough.  On the planning side though, I had to find a design to work to.  I had to figure out what I wanted in terms of size and features.  Without a car, I had to organise for some help from one of the lovely office ladies at school to buy wood from the hardware store.

Once I got started in earnest, school had pretty much started again and as such I had only an hour in the evenings between the end of speech comp practice and people leaving the building.  I pushed on each day.

Actually, another delay was figuring out how to make square cuts.  I knew from the start this was vitally important if I didn’t want a table that rocked and wobbled all about the place.  I had to go back to the internet and find a way to do this by hand as I didn’t want to bother the woodworking teacher asking for instruction on how to use all those machines in the room (he’s also in charge of timetabling and as such is very busy).  I came across a website about making square cuts by hand using what’s called a ‘bench hook’.  So I made me one of these and what’dya know, it worked!

From there, work progressed relatively smoothly, I guess.  It just took time.  I guess in all, plannning, shopping and building, I spent 50 hours putting everything together.  One interesting event was coming in one day and finding the heat had melted some of the sap in one of the table legs, leaving a long trail running down nearly to the floor.

The key feature was height.  Whereas the previous table was around 75cm high, this one stands 89cm high.  After that, it all gets a bit tech ;).  As the pics show, on the right hand side there is a slot for the chopping board.  No more moving back and forth to where it sat behind the sink.  The second feature, on the left side, is a gladwrap holder (apologies to any American readers – I mean ‘saran wrap’).  Attached to the table is a cutting edge from an old box (a 750 ft Costco box that I’ve had since my predecessor left!).  No more having to pick up a box of plastic wrap and struggle to get it out and cut.  Boom!  Finally, and the feature I am most proud of, is the hole for composting garbage in the back and centre of the table.  I’d seen this once or twice before and had ever since wanted a bench with such a feature.  You cut, slice, peel, whatever and then just push the remains down the hole where it shoots down the tube to the attached bucket, landing with a satisfying ‘thunk’.  You can check out the video here!

I love making things like this.  And my woodworking has definitely come along from the box I made for making biltong a couple of years ago.

I look forward to my next project now with both a bit more experience and confidence under my belt!

Despite no individual first places (a 2nd, two 3rd’s and a 4th), Tako came out the overall champ last Wednesday.

While an individual 1st would be great, after my first year, where every kid got 2nd place (!), I feel, for the most part, satisfied now.

And besides that, the kids were great to work with over the summer. We had a lot of laughs. And I think they got something from the process English-wise, speech-wise and personally, too. (Thanks for reminding me part way through that it’s not just about winning, Brennan!)

Congrats, girls!!

The words of Liberty Hyde Bailey, a rather interesting-sounding man.  But this is not an educational treatise, just a collection of (not-so) recent sunset photos… This post has been sitting in the half done pile for a while.  The one with the spider – it’s that time of year and the spiders are coming back again.  Time to get a head-full of cobwebs each morning and evening.

From my apartment

This is a stately compound that is on my way to and from school. I like to believe seven generations live there under the one roof or that the shrine in the home worships their hardcore samurai ancestors or that it is the local Yukaza bosses pad. He probably runs all of Tako’s pachinko parlours.

Looking towards the Community Plaza

From Iigura Station platform

From my apartment

From my apartment

From the 4th floor of Tako Junior High School

From Seimiya, my local supermarket

Naruto Station Platform (that’s right, like the anime)

Outside my apartment

from the northern part of Kujukuri Beach, 20km or so from my place

Another uber – fun weekend in Japan!  It began straight after work on Friday.  The Belle and Sebastian gig started at 7.00pm in Shin-Kiba, the south east corner of Tokyo.  The earliest I could get in from Tako was 7.08, so, full of a couple of chu-hi’s supped on the train, I legged it to Ageha, the venue.  I got to the door and it was eerily quiet.  I stepped into the bar area and there were perhaps 20 people in there…  I could hear the band playing, I’m a Cuckoo and I thought, what’s going on?  where is everyone? I discovered where they were upon opening the doors into the main room of the venue.  It was packed from wall to wall (the place’s capacity is 2400 I think).  I was looking long ways down the room – on my right was the band playing on stage, in front of me a sea of people and to the left, more people raised on the couple of tiers at the back of the room.  There wasn’t a hope in hell of finding my friends in there so I squeezed in 5 or 6 metres to a spot with a pretty good view and just started enjoying myself.  I was THAT annoying guy, wearing a backpack and bouncing about excitedly in the tightly packed crowd.  Japanese crowds are very gracious and accommodating though thankfully, so nobody gave me any shit.  Everyone was very still, taking in the music.  Particularly at first, it felt as though people were engaged in some kind of academic exercise, scrutinising the band in preparation for a written analysis, but people loosened up (sorta) as the set went on.  A factor in this was perhaps that the first few songs didn’t seem to quite have the zing that they have on the albums.  As a friend described it afterwards, they seemed a bit slow.  This definitely didn’t last though and by the fourth or fifth song in we were in full swing.

Throughout the show, the band was obviously having a good time on stage.  Stuart meandered out into the crowd a couple of times.  People were pulled on stage a couple of times to have a boogie with the band.  The stage banter was fun with Stevie Jackson acting as Murdoch’s ‘translator’ a couple of times.  Jackson also treated us to a little ditty entitled, Let’s be French, the lyrics to which I, sadly, can’t remember, other than vin de rouge and vin de plonk.  Jackson drew the crowd in, asking them to harmonise on my favourite song of the evening, I’m Not Living in the Real World from the band’s latest album, Belle and Sebastian Write About Love.  The set list was, to my great delight, widely varied, fast and slow, old and new, something I wasn’t sure was going to be the case beforehand.  It included, amongst others, The Boy With the Arab Strap, If You’re Feeling Sinister, Sukie in the Graveyard, Piazza, New York Catcher, Sleep the Clock Around, Lord Anthony (the last two being particular highlights for me), and closing their encore with, after an audience request, The Blues Are Still Blue. From the new album, they played I Didn’t See it Coming (the lone song my late entry meant I missed, but one I definitely lament!), Come on Sister, I Want the World to Stop, I’m Not Living in the Real World and album closer Sunday’s Pretty Icon’s. They played for two and a half hours including an encore and even in that time couldn’t play every song I or the rest of the crowd wanted to hear (The State I Am In and Expectations from Tigermilk being a couple of tunes I would have loved to hear).

I still had my drink ticket after the show so downed a quick screwdriver before meeting my friends outside and hoping the train back to K’s place where I was crashing for the night.  We were slightly high, slightly drunk and thus highly obnoxious on the train, talking loudly, playing music, singing and dancing, including wiggling my hips a little too close to some guy’s face, much to his distaste.  According to K,  “He hates you right now.”

The next day I traveled up to Ibaraki prefecture to the Mito Plum Festival which I’d read about in a tourist brochure I picked up at Narita Airport (my second home, my gateway from Tako to the wider world – I will pass through that place more than any other JET in Japan, guaranteed).  We were really lucky with the weather because the previous two days had been bitterly cold but the Saturday had the feel of spring in the air.  The park, Kairakuen, was touted as one of the three most beautiful parks in Japan and I have to say it was a fine sight.  Unfortunately, we were probably about a week early for seeing the place in its full bloom.  As well as being a very hot summer last year (the ‘worst’, if that’s the word you want to use, in 200 years, according to my friend, M), it has also been a very cold winter (of course, I blame the man-made global warming) and thus, though the festival has started, only some of the trees are in bloom.  Still, we had a lot of fun wandering around the stalls, sitting on the grass looking down towards Lake Senba and the city skyline, wandering through the old residence of Tokugawa Nariaki and enjoying a ride on the swan peddle boat out on the lake.  Well, I enjoyed that, M’s fear of birds precluded her full pleasure of the lake.  In saying that, a big ass swan did give me a fright at one point when I discovered it was still at my side, very close to my side, in fact, and this, soon after M told me she had seen them having a go at people’s hands.  Before jumping the train back south we were able to see the opening fireworks and the lighting of all the candles around the park, a really pretty sight.  A long, serene walk in the dark took us along the lake edge into the city centre and the train station.  I must say, Mito looked like a really attractive little city, more so than they often seem in Japan (maybe write more on that another time).  A major highlight of the day was the constant consumption of matsuri food.  A short list goes thus: an onigiri wrapped in bacon, mine topped with kimchi, M’s with ginger, some kind of thick pancake type thing filled with sakura (cherry blossom) and some other flavoured stuff, kumara chips (yesss!), miso dipped mochi (a sticky rice paste sweet thing), a whole grilled fish (I’d been wanting to try one of these for awhile… strange at first, but not bad), a continual picking at of the free samples of what I’m pretty sure is ume mochi – plum flavoured mochi wrapped in ume leaves – super tasty, karage (fried chicken), and omorettofranku (a long sausage on a stick with a thin omelette wrapped around it).  As you can see, I still have some ways to go getting my head around the names, let alone the intricacies of Japanese foods.  Anyway, enjoy some photos.  Apologies the quality of the concert ones isn’t better.

OK, I did say I might try to write this entry in Japanese and I took a shot at it, but after a good 10 minutes I had three sentences and I was really struggling to express myself in the style I like to writing in English.  I also felt that what I was writing was probably making an absolute butchering of the Japanese language… so, it may be best to wait for a while on that front…

Slowly but surely I explore more of the Greater Tokyo Area.  You may wonder when I’m going to get out of this area and see some of the rest of the country.  The next couple of months look as though they will take me through large parts of the southern half of the country.  Last Saturday, along with my friend and language exchange partner, K, I went to Kamakura, a major historical destination about 50km south of Tokyo, and Yokohama, Japan’s second biggest city, and perhaps its most international, given its history as the first port opened by Commodore Perry and his warships.

 

During the previous week, I announced my plans to the office ladies who are always interested in my adventures, particularly when a girl is involved.  H san dropped a gold nugget when she told me about the JR ホリデイパス (Holiday Pass).  This bad boy entitles you to a whole day’s travel around the Greater Tokyo Area for 2300 yen (about 40 bucks).  Considering the trip down to Kamakura alone was going to cost 2000 yen, this was a budgetary Godsend.

I picked one of these up from the JR station at Narita Airport and headed through to Funabashi where I was meeting K.  After a little confusion about gates, we found each other and hopped the train out of Funabashi that luckily ran us all the way down to Kamakura.  We talked about bosses, musicals and taking your Dad’s car out in the snow to pass the time.  On the way we saw the tiniest bit of snow falling.  Unfortunately this never eventuated into much, just a bit of rain later on and a day that was incredibly fuckin’ cold, even with the five layers I had on the top half of my body.

From Kamakura station we headed down the lively Komachi dori (lit. Little Town Street) towards Tsugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine.  The street is filled with restaurants and souvenir shops.  It also had one of the first boutique delis I have seen in Japan.  The souvenir shops were a touch above what I have seen in Tokyo or Narita, some specializing in a particular product such as chopsticks or cotton prints (for bags, handkerchiefs, wall hangings etc.).  Others featured plenty of ‘suka jumpers’ – I dunno what we call these exactly in the West… but I’m presuming the name comes from the fact Americans from nearby Yokusuka Naval Base wore them a lot sometime after WWII.

Tsugaoka Hachiman-gu is a beautiful complex.  It is backed by low hillsides covered in bush.  It features a long central walkway heading to 61 stairs which take you up to the main shrine building.  おかし (okashi – sweets) stalls line either side of the walkway.  On the right of the central walkway is a medium sized pond with かも (kamo – ducks) cruising around.

It was here that I had my first encounter with a りす risu – a squirrel.  Man, those things are fast!  K also gave me a short lesson on the names for some animals in Japanese – the two I’ve already mentioned, along with はと (hato – pigeon), からす (karasu – crow)

Within the main shrine building you can see the みこし (mikoshi – portable shrines) that are carried on the shoulders of the men during Kamakura Festival in the middle of April.  The festival also features やぶさめ (yabusame – horseback archery) – can’t wait for that! You can also see the small boards that people write their wishes on; e.g. for success in an upcoming exam, for the good health of a family member or for general prosperity.  There is an amazing view looking back down the main street of Kamakura, seeing almost all the way to the ocean.  In another month or so this will be flooded with the pink of sakura blossoms, just one excuse to go back (Kamakura Tourist Board, please put the money in my account soon).

After this we wandered back down the Komachi dori and had lunch at a nice little soba restaurant.  My noodles came with chicken and mozzarella cheese on top.  K had duck which looked a little lighter than that which we’d shoot back home.  At this point I told her about going duckshooting (かもうち – kamouchi) with my Dad to which she looked kinda horrified.  We stopped in a few shops, tried some sweets and bought some omiyage.  I quipped that being with a Japanese person had me thinking  about what I could buy for other people, rather than myself, as I usually would.

We took the bus from the station up the road in the opposite direction to the daibutsu, the second largest in Japan, after the one at Nokogiri yama (see earlier post).  Ksenia had told me this one was more impressive than that at Nokogiri and I have to agree.  The main reason for that I think is that it’s free standing.  Whereas the Buddha at Nokogiri yama has the slope of the mountain behind it, this daibutsu stands alone in the middle of the temple complex.  You can also get closer to this daibutsu and I’m not sure whether it’s because of this but there seems to be more expression in his face.  By paying 20 yen (besides stuff that is free, this will be the cheapest thing you do in Japan) you can go inside the buddha’s belly.

 

We ended the day in Kamakura by walking down to the ocean for a look.  The beach here isn’t the most attractive but I’ve heard that others in the area will definitely be worth a visit in summer.  We walked back to the little train line that runs along the coast and rode the few stops back to Kamakura Station, in time to head up to Yokohama for some dinner before the ride north east back to Chiba.

Lovely day, でしょう?

One thing Yokohama is famous for is its Chinatown, (ちゅかがい, chukagai).  I wanted to try nikuman from Chinatown.  I’ve been here six months, these are sold all over, conbini included, yet I still haven’t tried them.  Imagine a large, heavy, flour-based bun filled with yummy meat and spice-filled sauce.  おいしかった! (oishikatta – it was delicious!)

 

All parking buildings should be beautified thus

We walked down to the waterfront and looked out into the murky darkness where we could just make out the bridge across Yokohama Bay.  We looked down towards the city centre and decided to let the cold attack our face and stir up our souls by wandering towards the next station.

We ended up walking all the way into the CBD with stops along the way at Akarengasoko, an old red brick warehouse complex that has been converted into a shopping mall.  This provided one of the highlights of the day when, upon walking into a shop, we were presented with a free, yes free, coffee.  Sure, it was little, but it was free and fuckin’ delicious!  After that, I dunno if it was the coffee itself or the fact it was free and it was just the most ridiculous service, but I was on a high.  We went back into the cold, past the little amusement park marked by the Cosmo Clock 21, a giant ferris wheel, and into Queen’s Square, a shopping mall with a great candy shop and an entrance into the subway which would run us back to Yokohama and our train home.  We gave the shitty weather the middle finger and had a ball in spite of it.  Etched in as a great day.  I will be returning soon!

 

January got a bit hectic (no more hectic than February is turning out to be though… and March, April and the beginning of May look to be…) and I never really posted anything about the cool stuff that I did so…

Winter time… time for the Tokyo Snow Club to kick into full gear.  Nearly every weekend for the next couple of months, George, a sane, normal, even awesome Australian (can you believe it?) will be running trips up to the powder.  Thanks George!!

We met up at Shinjuku very early on Saturday morning, the 8th, arriving in Hakuba about 12.30.   Our hotel backed right on to the powder.  Walk out the back door, a few metres up the hill, clip your board in and go.  It was amazing.  The field, Tsugaike Kogen has around a dozen lifts and a gondola that rocks 4km up to the top of the mountain.

The run takes about 25 minutes at my mid level pace to get from top to bottom.  Ridiculous, given the longest run back home is the Big Mama at Porters coming in at a little over 2 km, I believe.  The snow was great.  Saturday daytime was いいてんきね (beautiful weather) and in the evening it started snowing again so that there was nearly a foot of fresh powder the next day.  T and I took to the top of the mountain for the morning and found a nice little under-used run full of deep snow (well, for me) to cut through.  At one point I got stuck just before the lip into this area and so drew on my past gymnastics experience to do a dive roll into the run.  Made it back to my feet but didn’t quite have the balance to get going.  Also, did some night skiing for the first time which was great fun.  Just hung around on the green slopes practising little jumps and 180s under the lift pylons.  The Saturday night we took in some bands at a little club called Club Naughty.  The place was a dingy yet charming establishment with a stage down the far end, a roof with an ellipse of purple lights running around the roof, and a bar which many peoples’ homes would stock a wider variety of liquor.  The Mootekkis are a great band, half gaigin, half Japanese, based in Tokyo.  Hard rocking with a great lead singer (put the money into my account, Mike), they reminded me a bit of a band I caught once or twice in my university days (I pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve used that phrase… oh god…), Thought Creature.  Also saw Byron Space Circus, some friendly American dudes playing a mix of folk and Irish gigging.  Afterwards we kicked off a little afterparty, joining the Japanese DJ on stage with some drums, some dancing and some MCing of varying quality.  We then went upstairs and continued drinking and I managed to roll Trey for 1000 yen playing pool – boo yah!

Biggest difference between NZ and Japanese skifields – their’s have trees!  I kinda felt like I was in a movie at some points.  I liked to imagine Goldeneye, cept Bond is always a skiier, never a boarder; time to update your images, James!

On Saturday 22nd I took in a Japanese legend.  This was my first visit to the sumo and it was awesome!  K’s landlord takes a bunch of people every time they hold a tournament in Tokyo and a space opened up which I happily filled.  We took our seats, our goodie bag arrived, containing beer, juice, sandwiches and yakitori, and the spectacle began.  The one let-down – I forgot my camera, so unfortunately I don’t have any good shots.  Tournaments run for two weeks and we went on the second last day.  The りきし (rikishi – wrestlers) are trying to gain at least 8 wins from the 15 bouts they will fight over the two weeks.  Those who continually win the most bouts move up the ranks to おぜき (Ozeki) status (also the name of cheap by-the-jar sake you can buy here – it’s not bad too 😉 )  and ultimately よこずな (Yokozuna) – the Grand Champion.  The current よこずな is Hakuho and his final battle was fantastic.  Most matches last for a matter of mere seconds so those that go for longer than this very quickly become very exciting.  It is easy for us to laugh but there is really a lot of skill to it as well and I was fascinated.  I will definitely be taking another trip when the next tournament comes up in May.  Unfortunately I’m pretty sure I’ll find myself paying this time and with no goodie bag in sight – *sigh*.  Oh, here’s a video I posted a long time ago.

The 19th and 20th saw a couple of days away from school for the Chiba JET Mid Year Conference.  I wrote about this in my last post and the changes that it helped prompt in what I am doing at school (helped by the fact that the following week the 1st year kids were off school and hence, I had very little to do).  So far these have made me feel much more fulfilled in my job.  I’m playing soccer or basketball with kids a couple of times a week, I’m speaking much less Japanese with the students (and I’m picking and choosing more carefully who needs it and who doesn’t, rather than just using the kids for practice), and I’m dropping in on other classes such as science and art.  And hopefully, soon, the 2nd year ‘make and take care of a baby class’.  Well, that’s just the name I’ve given it; I don’t know that they actually teach the students how to make a baby.  Perhaps I could teach them that…  Anyway, the Conference…  It was great to see everyone again and to become more friendly with a few different people.  We had a great speaker the first morning (he’s the one quoted in the post below) and I got to see some of my friends team teach (Kate! Kate!  You were great!  Gooooo Kate!).  I learned about ALTS – Assistant Language Teacher Signing – a powerful tool for getting kids off the Japanese teat.  A lot of people hate conferences by default.  Sometimes I hate them too.  I gotta say though, this one was pretty good.

Finally, on a language note, I began a conversation exchange with a Japanese girl which is going great.  On Saturday we went down to Kamakura and Yokohama together, my first time to both, and checked out a couple of famous spots there.  I’ll post about that soon (‘soon’ is an appropriately loose term).  Also, a small but very important thing:  わたしはパソコンに日本語をはなしました!! – You could very loosely translate this as, ‘I made my computer speak Japanese!!’  (I think it better translates as ‘I spoke Japanese to my computer’ which is not what I mean! わたしのパソコンは日本語をはなしている – My computer is speaking Japanese).  Perhaps I’ll try writing that next post in Japanese…

PHOTOS!!!

When you go to a country, you must learn how to say two things: how to ask for food, and to tell a woman that you love her. Of these the second is more important, for if you tell a woman you love her she will certainly feed you.
– Louis L’Amour

The two best ways to learn a country’s language are through its women and in its prisons.
– Vicky, random pot grower I met in the Netherlands

Trust a man with the surname ‘L’Amour’ to say something like that.  Still, his advice is simple; I can probably do those two things, so I take some encouragement from that.  I have no desire to see the inside of a Japanese prison.  I know that there I’d do no better, and quite possibly worse than I would in a New Zealand prison.  I’m fairly sure I have zero redeemable qualities for prison.  Well, perhaps one… ahem.

I have wanted to write for a while on my desire, process and progress of learning the Japanese language but the subject keeps getting bigger and hence scarier.  But, here we go.

(Editor’s Note: This effort eventually totalled 4,274 words, not counting the words in this note.  For the readers sanity, I have asked Michael to highlight certain words or phrases so the reader, if they desire, can pick and choose what they want to read.)

We’ll start with a little chronology.  My first experience learning Japanese was in Form 3 at James Hargest with Mrs Van Koton (I think that’s how you spell her name; she married a Dutch guy).  I went with the one term taster, ultimately sticking with French for my first two years of high school.  The only thing I remember from that time is　りんご ‘ringo’ – the Japanese for ‘apple’.  And those French lessons… well I spent a good chunk of them darting out to the toilet and sticking my head in Mrs Van Koton’s window to yak with my mate Stefan.

Since then there has been a steady diet of anime which taught me　ばか ‘baka’ – ‘idiot’ and　何 ‘nani’ – ‘what?’  Then, for six months before coming to Japan, I got down to some semi-serious study and learned hiragana and katakana along with some basic phrases and vocabulary (トイレはどこですか　‘toire wa doko desu ka’ – ‘where is the toilet?’).

On February 1^st I will have been living in Japan for six months.  Wow…

No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he voluntarily makes himself a great baby, – so helpless and so ridiculous.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks, Ralph.  Did you really manage to do this before you toured Europe in 1832?  If so, damn… I’ve come a long way from　りんご ‘ringo’ but only realise what an incredibly long way I have to go.  I still barely understand anything that anyone says.  I still often can’t express myself.  And I still couldn’t really flirt with a pretty Japanese girl to save myself.  I have days of frustration, let’s say.  Definitely days where I feel like a ‘great baby’.  Around a month ago, those were quite frequent and I was getting a little bit depressed, but the New Year has begun with fresh vigour and fresh ideas for mastering this biatch.  I’ll come back to those later.

Any time you think some other language is strange, remember that yours is just as strange, you’re just used to it.
– from Linguistic Mystic.com

So how are Japanese and English different? Which is more difficult than the other?  Well, the second question is one that is impossible as a native English speaker to answer.  I’ve often heard that English is a very difficult language to learn though and studying Japanese and of course, teaching English to junior high kids has thrown that, quite nicely, into relief.  What I can tell you are what the pros and cons of each language are, as I see them.

There are two major difficulties with English.  The first is that the sounds are in no way uniform.  Think of the word ‘Christ’ and the word ‘chicken’.  Both start with the consonant blend ‘ch’ but make completely different sounds.  Think of ‘Christ’ and ‘crystal’.  They begin with the same sound but different consonant blends.  Think of silent letters in English.  One that came up in class yesterday was the word ‘sign’.  One thing with Japanese is that you can always count on a syllable to sound the same (someone may be able to contradict me on that, but in my experience…).  When you learn a new word, the difficulty in learning to pronounce that word is only in getting your tongue around something so different from an English word.  Fun Japanese words to pronounce – つづける‘tsudzukeru’ – to continue, とどける‘todokeru’ – to deliver,　つとめる ‘tsutomeru’ – to hold a postion, to work (even more fun as a present participle which is pretty much how you always use it – つとめている　‘tsutometeiru’).

The second major difficulty with English is the irregularity of verbs.  In Japanese the conjugation of verbs is very uniform.  There are only two irregular verbs – 来る　‘kuru’ – to come and　する ‘suru’ – to do.  In English there are at least 200 irregular verbs in common usage.  Japanese may have a couple of different verb forms and myriad ways of conjugating them to create different syntactical structures but at least they are UNIFORM.  When you learn a verb, you don’t have to learn its present tense, past tense and past participle.  In English the most simple verbs can also change due to plurality.  Take this, for example, lifted from Wikipedia:

• Be: I am, you are, he is, we are, they are; in addition, the preterite forms are irregular: I was, you were, he was, we were, they were. Its subjunctive mood is also irregular: the past form is always were, and the present form is always be.
• Do (and compounds such as “undo” and “redo”): I do, you do, he does, we do, they do where “does” is pronounced dəz in contrast to du, the pronunciation of the infinitive and the other present tense forms.
• Have: I have, you have, he has, we have, they have.
• Say: I say, you say, he says, we say, they say

The most obvious difficulty with Japanese is kanji.  There are some 3000+ characters derived from the Chinese pictograph system.  My understanding and knowledge of kanji is still quite limited because so far it has only been a real sideline area of study for me.  I have been focussing on vocabulary and grammar – the necessaries for communicating orally with people.  I guess so far I know around 50 or so perhaps… I may even be overestimating.  The kanji are made up of what are called radicals.  Wikipedia, can define better than I.       “Wikipedia, please define radical.”
(Imagine a HAL-like voice): “Definition of Radical: A Chinese radical (from the Latin radix, meaning “root”) is a basic component of every Chinese character. Used in Chinese dictionaries (Chinese: 部首; pinyin: bùshǒu), radicals form the basis of an indexing system that has classified Chinese characters throughout the ages, from ancient Shouwen Jiezi characters to their modern successors.”

As kanji are derived from Chinese characters, this also applies to them. Funny thing is, before I looked up that definition, I was thinking about how to define a radical, and I would have said they are kinda like root words.  As vocabulary becomes more complex, multiple kanji are joined together, the meanings of each kanji giving some understanding as to the concept.  A really basic example – 今日- ‘kyou’, meaning ‘today’, combines the kanji for ‘now’ and for ‘day’.  I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that there are around 215 radicals.  Know these building blocks and you basically know how to write kanji.  At the moment each new kanji I learn is so much fun to struggle over and master that remembering them seems fairly easy.  I doubt I’ll be able to say that when I know 300, 400 or 500 and they are all starting to blur together into the same thing…  I can proudly say I know a 13 stroke kanji – 新meaning ‘new’ but some kanji can have 25 or 30 strokes that make them up) so I do foresee a confusing nightmare.

Another thing I find difficult are particles.  We would, in many cases, know these as prepositions in English and they are something that people studying that language also struggle with.  This time from About.com – “Prepositions convey the following relationships: agency (by); comparison (like, as . . . as); direction (to, toward, through); place (at, by, on); possession (of); purpose (for); source (from, out of); and time (at, before, on).”  In Japanese, particles also related to the sentence subject, topic and object.  I am trying my best to get my head around these but in terms of making meaning they are far from the most important constituents of the sentence, at least at the level of very basic sentences.  In terms of proficiency tests and correct grammar they are important though so my Japanese teacher is creating some specific worksheets to help me out J (and starting to whip my ass a bit about getting them right!).

A sensible conclusion is that languages are ‘difficult’ in inverse proportion to the strength of motivation for learning them.
– Reg Hindley

Consuetudo certissima est loquendi magistra.
Usage is the best language teacher.
– Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

I mentioned my difficulties with listening above. I put this down to three things. 1.  My hearing ain’t all that great anyway.  2.  I’m simply not getting enough practice, which sounds dumb because I’m living in Japan but actual deliberate practice I need to do more of.  I spend a lot of my day at my desk.  Students are fairly reticent to engage in conversation.  Teachers are often too busy to (or they just don’t want to) talk to me so I don’t get much of that.  Also, Tako is a small town and I just haven’t made that many friends here to spend time with outside of work and talk Japanese with.  I’m doing something about this though.  I have two Japanese lessons of an hour and a half each a week and my Japanese teacher really pushes me to understand in Japanese.  I also have some audio CD’s with conversation dialogues that I’m going to try to listen to some more.  Finally, I have begun a language exchange with a girl that works at the airport and this provides me with a dedicated hour to talk and listen to ‘real’ Japanese.  I’m hoping this is going to be a big help.  3.  I’m not all that quick witted.  I like to see things written down in front of me.   I like to mull things over and I often think of the right thing to say too late.  Sometimes I feel pretty poor at oral communication.  This is all compounded when you are dealing with another language.  I’m trying to understand what I am hearing but my brain can’t recall the words fast enough, I can’t keep up with it and so I lose the flow.  It doesn’t help that, grammatically, Japanese is structured the opposite way to English.  Verbs come at the end of sentences.  The subordinate clause comes first.

So I mentioned the frustration of a month ago and the birth of new ideas for how to improve and get past that frustration. I’ll deal with the new ideas first and then go over what I have been doing previously to pick up the lingo.    I put an ad in Metropolis magazine, an English language magazine here, for a language exchange partner based in the Narita/Chiba city area.  A girl that works at the airport has made contact with me.  We have met twice so far; the first time was just an initial meet and greet with Thai food.  The second time we went to a coffee shop and spent an hour talking in Japanese (well, I estimate 40% Japanese and 60% English but that will hopefully switch around the other way as time goes on!) and then an hour discussing the difference between ‘another’ and ‘other’ and some English idioms.  Her English level is a lot better than my Japanese level which is handy for explanation but I need to be careful of not taking the easy route and just slipping into English.  The session was great practice for my listening as well as teaching me a lot about new grammatical structures and new vocabulary.  She’s really friendly and easy to talk too also, so the time just flowed easily.

Човекът е толкова пъти човек, колкото езика знае
(Čovekãt e tolkova pãti čovek, kolkoto ezika znae)
The more languages you know, the more you are a person
– Bulgarian proverb

‘The more you are a person’ because the wider your view of the world becomes.  You are also able, to a degree, to see the world the way another culture sees it.  Through their eyes, as the saying goes.  This becomes particularly true when you become au fait with a culture’s proverbs and idioms.  I learned a Japanese idiom the other day – 目にいれてもいたくない　‘me ni iretemo itakunai’.  This description comes from http://thejapanesepage.com/book/export/html/1359 –

“This literally means “Even if stuck in my eye, it won’t hurt.”

When you put something in your eye, it hurts–bad. But if something is cute enough, you wouldn’t mind even putting it in your eye to get a closer look.”

I also learned it’s not really one to say to cute girls.  It’s more something a grandparent would say to a small child.

Anyway, another idea I have had is getting seriously stuck into my Japanese grammar textbook, the second half of which is all about more complex Japanese grammar.  We’re not talking about writing an academic paper or anything, just stuff with conjunctions, subordinate clauses, two verbs – stuff like that.  I want to nail one of these every week or two.  This should widen my range of expression a lot and hopefully allow me to communicate better.

Finally, I have some CDs with dialogues on them that I can listen to to sharpen my ear to the sounds and grammatical structures of Japanese.  I am doing this all day at school as well but the people there speak so fast.  They also speak with vocabulary and grammar that I’m completely unfamiliar with and in the corruptions which are a part of spoken language.  I think I can do more deliberate practice to sharpen my ear to the Japanese language.

Oh actually, another idea came to me just on Wednesday.  I was joining in a Science class and they were watching a clip from a Japanese game show about introduced species where Japanese ants were battling Argentinean ants.  The show was subtitled (in Japanese, not English) at the bottom.  I haven’t really watched Japanese TV for about 4 months.  It’s loud, garish and I basically can’t understand anything but I think I’m ready to give it another try as a study tool.  The combination of sound and subtitle meant I could check my understanding as to what I had heard (to a limited degree).  It also means I’ll see kanji and hear the words that are associated with them also.  The teacher told me that most Japanese TV is subtitled in this way.

(I tried this idea last night.  It was still pretty painful!)

As for what I have been doing up until now, well it’s a real range of things. There are so many avenues for learning Japanese!  At the end of last year I treated myself to an iPod touch.  It was on that that I first set up flash card lists (now numbering 1079 cards, of which I probably know 70 or 80% pretty solidly) and learned hiragana and katakana.  The iPod has now been upgraded to an iPhone and I have added Kotoba, a dictionary app which has been brilliant and saved me from buying an electronic dictionary, and a couple of kanji study applications.  The electronic dictionary also has functions for studying the kanji related to each of the JLPT levels.

The JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, the standard recognition of Japanese Language ability.  It has 5 levels, Level 5 being the easiest.  The test is sat twice a year, in July and December.  I am hoping to sit Level 5 in July.   My goal over the 3 years I plan on being here is to get Level 3 before I leave.  My predecessor studied Japanese at university and lived here for 5 years and just managed to get Level 2 before she left so I think this is realistic.

The best avenue of study since I’ve been here is the Japanese lessons I have twice a week with K-san, a retired teacher who lives in Tako and donates his time to help ALTs and others with their Japanese.  We have been using the Japanese for Busy People textbooks, the first of which I should finish by the end of this week.  Volume II is all ready to go!  He has also supplied me with a kanji study book, the first lesson of which I have completed and which we should start using in conjunction with JfBP Volume II.  K-san has been amazing.  Although his English is good, he tries to speak only in Japanese with me.  This can be trying at times but I have learned so much because of it.  Repeated terms that meant nothing to me at first gradually gained meaning.  Sometimes I become very sleepy in lessons with him but I think this is because my brain is making such an effort to take things in and understand.  I’m often also coming off a huge school lunch!  From April, K-san has told me he will start bringing me old JLPT tests to work through.  These lessons are giving me a really solid grounding in grammar.  They also give me a chance to regularly interact with an interesting older Japanese person.  K-san regularly brings me fresh vegetables from his garden, his other hobby.  Thank you, K-san!

The JET Programme has also been good at providing language materials for participants.  Before we left our home countries, we received the JET Programme Japanese for JETs workbook which I am ashamed to say I never completed.  I got about two thirds of the way through.  I should go back to it sometime even for a quick flick through to see what I now know and what I don’t.  It had a lot of good stuff in it and moved along at a quite rapid pace.  Also moving along at a quite rapid pace are the JET Programme Japanese Language Course books.  Although unfortunately only presented in romaji (Romanised Japanese pronunciation), it still has provided good revision of stuff I have covered with K-san as well as some interesting and useful vocabulary/phrases that I hadn’t been aware of.  If the progression continues at its current pace I’m sure in another book or two I’ll be learning a lot of new stuff.  Oh, there are six books in total.  To pass, you need to score over 70% on 5 out of the 6 tests.  I’ve just completed number 2.  Proud to say, on test 1, got 98% – one question wrong – with an average candidate score of 93%.  Woop!

“You’re learning a new world, a world that you’ve never seen before.”
– Prof. Takahiro Hattori (at the Chiba JET Mid Year Conference)

I’ve had plenty of time at school to study Japanese also, but I am going to curtail this a bit because I realise I was giving the kids a bit of a raw deal.  Myself too, actually.  My routine at school basically consisted of team teaching, prepping for team teaching, splitting lunch between the staff one day and students the next, chatting with the office ladies and studying Japanese, with the occasional visit to bukatsu, after school clubs.  Some days, particularly if team teaching was cancelled for some reason (and this happens with disappointing frequency), this could leave me with a lot of time for studying Japanese.  After the Chiba JET Mid Year Conference and the free time that came with the first year students being away skiing, I have realised I need to get more involved.  I spent that week of the ski trip playing soccer with 3^rd years boys and joining in a 3^rd year science class, sitting with a couple of girls who are particularly keen to learn English (but which I hadn’t known until that week).  The rewards came right away in the form of a nice thank you letter from these girls and a feeling of already improved relationships with students.  Today I continued it with a visit to an art class.

Probably the most entertaining Japanese learning so far has come from the school office ladies.  Their English level is pretty good; the best in the school next to the English teachers.  It was they who first taught me the Japanese word, すけべい‘sukebei’, meaning lewdness or a lewd person and well, it has just kinda gone on from there.  Whereas K-san is my formal Japanese teacher, they see themselves as my informal Japanese teachers.   They are the main people that I have the opportunity to speak Japanese too also.  The staff whose office I am a part of say very little to me and are always busy so that if I make the effort to try and communicate I always feel as though I’m interrupting them.  With the office ladies I can hang out a bit and chat, although they are still working; i.e. still have telephones ringing, people coming in asking them for/about things.  This is one of the best things about the language exchange I have started – it’s a chance to sit down with a Japanese person and have the time to really engage in conversation, something that just can’t really happen at school.  The office ladies make the time for me though.  They will help me with anything and I take them for granted a bit.  They enjoy talking with me in English and helping me with my Japanese.  We have lots of laughs together.  They have made my time so far in Japan immeasurably more comfortable and hospitable.

Talking with English-speaking friends is also a good way of learning new Japanese.  My friend T has got a really good grip on the language since his arrival here and we often will exchange words, phrases, grammar points with each other.  We will sometimes txt each other in Japanese which is always an interesting exercise!  My other friend J wants to get on Skype once a week or so so we can teach each other bits and pieces we have been learning.  It all helps!

So… concluding comments for this essay…  I began with the irreverent, I want to conclude with the serious and fulfil my opening commitment to discuss my desire for learning Japanese, as well as a commitment to make this an intellectual exercise and not just a recount.

I’ve long believed the idea that learning another language allows you to look at the world from a whole different perspective.  Languages are so idiosyncratic.  They reveal so much about a people’s culture to the point that thinkers have asked the question, What comes first – language or culture? I want to learn another language because as the Bulgarian quote says above, I know I will become a fuller person by doing so.  I’ve told myself that if I could go to the grave comprehending and conversable in Japanese, French, Maori and English, I would be proud of myself.

Kolik jazyků znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem.
You live a new life for every new language you speak.
If you know only one language, you live only once.
– Czech proverb

Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen.
Those who know no foreign language know nothing of their mother tongue.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I think these two quotes sum up very well what I am thinking.  By speaking Japanese I open access to the country, its customs, its peoples and their thoughts on the world.  I live a new life in a way; a new life in Japan living the language and the culture and a new life afterwards using the widened understanding that that learning and experience has bestowed upon me.

By learning other languages, other customs, the English speaking world is thrown into relief also.  I am looking at the English speaking world in contrast.  An example that I am currently pondering a bit and hope to write on in the future is the seeming lack of ritual in Western society compared to Japanese society and what that means about our respective views on life and the world.  I am also learning a huge amount about English grammar and grammar in general through the process of learning another language.  As an English teacher this is stuff I am supposed to know but to be honest, I have a shamefully shallow knowledge of grammar.  Learning Japanese may make me a better writer and teacher of English.

I never gave this notion too much thought beforehand because it’s kinda obvious, but learning Japanese is also an incredible challenge.  It is the largest learning endeavour I have ever undertaken in my life.  Forget university.  Learning another language requires a motivation, commitment and intensity far far beyond that and one that is fulfilling me as a person in and of itself.  What I’m realising I guess, is that the learning process is certainly not just a means to an ends.  I am enjoying and growing myself as I go (even though its bloody hard work!).

Notitia linguarum est prima porta sapientiae.
Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom.
– Roger Bacon

 

I mentioned in my last post that I’d try to get some images up of the day down at Mt Nokogiri.  The Nihon temple complex turned out to be much larger than I expected and a great day trip.  The only stress of the day was a lost Suica on the way but this didn’t stop us and once the ocean came into view all was forgotten with its beauty.  Ksenia and I spent some time on the ratty little rubbish-strewn beach, eating some sandwiches for lunch from the 7-11 up the road.  Eschewing the Keisei Ropeway for the charms of the Hamakanaya’s back streets we crossed under the railway line, understood we were going the right way and headed up the hill.   We passed a man with a very cute lab called Akai (Red), a Japanese family with two sons, one of whom slipped over coming down the hill, struck as he was by Ksenia’s beauty, and a couple of gaijin dudes who very nearly caught me pissing off the side of the mountain (not including any of those pictures).

At the top of the slog up the hill we were greeted by the ticket gate.  600 yen please.  But really, a mere pittance for such a fantastic site.  The first view was the gigantic relief carving of Guanyin.  This was followed by the apex of the ‘mountain’ with the saw tooth edge that the mountain is named after.  From here you could see across Tokyo Bay to Mt Fuji, Yokohama and in the far distance the skyscrapers of Tokyo.  On the other side of the mountain was the very picturesque looking town of Hota (where I discovered today, my Japanese teacher’s cousin used to live, and that there is an island some 500 metres out that he swam to one day before coming back and walking up the mountain!  Respect!).

For anyone that gives a shit, M.I.A is rockin’ my fuckin’ socks right now.  Bring on Feb. 12th!!

Next, we descended down the other side to the giant daibutsu.  31 metres in height, this is the largest Buddha in Japan, although not as impressive as the one across the bay at Kamakura, according to Ksenia (another trip, another day, eh?).  Still rocked my socks.

The sunset was now approaching so we made our way to the other high point of the mountain, realised that we were the only ones left on the mountain and revelled in the fact.  The light effects playing off the water, the clouds and the land on the other side of the bay was truly beautiful.  A camera (well, the cameras we had) does not do justice.  By now, we had missed the last ropeway carriage down the hill and night was rapidly descending.  We had come prepared with a head torch but the cat man at the ropeway office gave us a powerful torch to take down the little mountain pathway through the bush.  This pathway gave us a pretty view of the lights down at sea level in Hamakanaya.  We returned the torch at the office at the base of the mountain and had dinner in a little cafe – cum – manga library by the train station.  Possibly the cutest place I will eat at in Japan.  White plastic seats and tables, walls packed with magazines and comics, a heater right at the back of me and cheap cheap food.  The ramen, fried chicken, sashimi and beer went down so well.  And the free soup was perhaps the tastiest I’ve ever had.  A perfect end to the day.

Anyway, here’s the pictures, in no particular order, but maybe you can match them up with my babble.

I posted previously about the confusion my Japanese hiking buddies had over my pronunciation of the word ‘otearai’ (lavatory), with them hearing the word ‘otera’ (temple).  Well, today, I again had trouble with that most sacred of places.  Only today, it was in English.

I’ll get back to that in a minute.

It has been a while since I have posted and maybe some of you are wondering what I did with my Christmas and New Years.  Well, here is the version that I delivered to three classes today.  Sorry it doesn’t have much detail but well if you really want it, I’m sure you’ll ask.  Maybe I’ll post some pictures of Mt Nokogiri sometime soon.  Students had to listen and answer a question sheet written in Japanese by the JTE (Japanese teacher of English).  I read this speech (and its amended version later in the day), I would say, 9 times today.  That doesn’t count reading specific parts of it out again to help students answer the questions.  I had this thing done pat by the end of the day.  Well, pretty much.

 

Michael’s Winter Vacation

My winter vacation was very relaxing.  For Christmas I visited my friend.  My friend is an officer at the Yokota Air Force Base in Fussa.  Fussa is in western Tokyo.  We spent Christmas Day cooking lots of food.  I also talked to my family on Skype.  At 5 o’clock my friend and I sat down to eat a huge dinner.  The next day my friend came to Tako with me.  We went shopping in Narita at Aeon Mall.  On the 29^th December we climbed to the top of Mt Nokogiri in south Chiba.  That was a great day.

On New Year’s Eve I partied in Tokyo at a big club called Ageha.  I learned ‘ageha’ is the Japanese word for butterfly.  On New Year’s Day I visited a temple in Tokyo.  Inside was very beautiful and interesting.  After New Year’s Day I relaxed at my apartment in Tako.  I watched movies, read some books and wrote some stories.  On the last day of the holiday I went to the cinema in Narita with my friend.  It was an awesome holiday!
(Timed with a stopwatch: 2 minutes 18 seconds)

And the amended version, changing/removing some of the more difficult grammar and/or non-essential parts, in terms of answering the questions.  This also helped with the timing of the lesson.

Michael’s Winter Vacation

My winter vacation was very relaxing.  For Christmas I visited my friend.  She lives in Tokyo.  We spent Christmas Day cooking lots of food and also talking to my family on Skype.  The next day my friend came to Tako with me.  We went shopping in Narita at Aeon Mall.  On the 29^th December we climbed to the top of Mt Nokogiri in south Chiba.  That was a great day.

On New Year’s Eve I partied in Tokyo at a big club called Ageha.  I learned ‘ageha’ is the Japanese word for butterfly.  On New Year’s Day I visited a temple in Tokyo.  Inside was very beautiful and interesting.  After New Year’s Day I relaxed at my apartment in Tako.  On the last day of the holiday I went to the cinema in Narita with my friend.  It was an awesome holiday!

So, there ya go.  It was an awesome holiday.  I got out and did some fun stuff; I’d wanted to climb Nokogiri since before I even arrived in Japan but it was also a real chance to recharge my batteries a bit after a pretty hardcore month or two beforehand.

Anyway, so as I was reading this out, I noticed that in each class a few students would titter and turn around to each other every time I said the word ‘temple’.  After the second period I asked M sensei why this was and he didn’t know.  In the last period of the day I read the speech out for the first time, noted the reaction again, and so while they were working away on their answers I asked M sensei if he had noticed this time and he sorted off half answered, “It maybe because it sounds like another word when you say it…”  My mind started ticking… what word…?  Temple temple chemple chimple chinpo…  ‘Chinpo’ is Japanese for ‘penis’.  So there ya go…

This isn’t the first time this has happened.  Half the class laughes every time I say ‘six’ because apparently it sounds like I’m saying ‘sex’, although I’ve talked with American friends and find it hard to distinguish a difference.

 

 

While I was at home for my cousin’s wedding, my sister, Shelley, asked me, ‘What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen in Japan?’ and I couldn’t answer her.  I wasn’t really sure.  I’m not the quickest thinker on my feet and I knew this was a question I’d have to go away and think about.

Well, Shell, here’s a list, in no set order, of the coolest things I’ve seen in Japan.

1.  The night lights of Tokyo from the 28th floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel, Shinjuku.

Definitely not doing justice...

2.  Undokai – this is the school sports day, preparation for which takes the full week beforehand.  It was held on the first Saturday after school went back from natsuyasumi – the summer holiday – unthinkable in New Zealand, for both students and staff!  This was cool for many reasons – the unfamiliarity of everything, first of all.  Secondly, the military style parade/opening ceremony was so well choreographed.  Finally, watching kids performing cheers to support their team and almost 100% getting fully behind it was an introduction to the ethos of Japanese students and Japan, in general.  The prominence of the group over the individual came to the fore as did the ‘genkiness’ (hmm… ‘high energy’) of many of the students.

3.  Nikko – That banner shot at the top of the page was taken in Nikko.  Nikko has it all.  Nature, incredible World Heritage Temple grounds and onsen… mmm… onsen… mmm… so many naked dudes…

4.  Feria – my first Tokyo super club.  Whilst being kinda cheesy in terms of what music they played, this place blew my mind for sheer size and opulence.  Five floors, a basement dance club, lobby, VIP on the 2nd floor, 3rd floor bar and dance floor and 4th floor lounge bar with terrace.  Ridic (this is my new favourite word).

Those plush recessed red seats in the background run the whole length of the dance floor and are for (supposedly) for women only

Trey plays god on the rooftop terrace water feature

4.  Snakes – As a kid I was pretty into snakes.  I think this probably had something to do with Jake the Snake, the WWF wrestler who used to bring a big ass snake into the ring during his intro.  New Zealand, of course, has no snakes.  I met an American who had lived here for four years and we saw a snake together; his first one in Japan, my third.  This was after seeing a big ass one slithering across the path at Takaragawa Onsen and running over a decent sized black one on my way to school one morning.  I just thought it was a big leaf in the middle of the road.  Oh hold on… that felt like it had a vertebrae.

5.  Middle-aged Japanese ladies who smile with their eyes – I have two in mind particularly.  This phenomenon just makes me feel relaxed and like I’m in the company of good people.  I was recently stoked to be told that I also smile with my eyes 🙂

6.  Takaragawa Onsen – see above and here and here.

7.  The Tone River – There ain’t no rivers down on the Kanto or Kansai Plains that you would even want to think about swimming in but get up into the mountains and you have a swimming hole that rivals any that I have found in New Zealand.  Yes, Giles, even Taylorville.  You would love this place, bro!

A view up the Tone River from the middle of Minakami

8.  Akihabara Maids – For those who don’t know, Akihabara is the electronics/anime capital of Japan.  It’s basically geek paradise.  Small alleyways are filled with tiny specialist electronic stores.  Second, third and fourth floors of buildings with narrow little staircases have tiny shops dedicated to cosplay, anime dolls, manga and DVD’s.  And the streets have this:

There are also cafes where you can be served by lovely Japanese girls dressed much like these two.  Every block has two or three of these costumed lovelies handing out fliers to … well, I dunno what, actually… never paid much attention to the fliers…

9.  Womb Adventure – Dang… Richie Hawtin’s light show was one of the most incredible stage shows I’ve ever seen.  He had some kind of giant cage thing all round him which the lights ran on so there was essentially a 3D light show encircling him.  At points this would give way and he would be backlit so that he and all the equipment he was using were silhouetted.

Also, just for sheer size this ranks as one of the coolest things I’ve seen in Japan.  The kinda dance party were you really feel like you are in a sea of people 🙂

10.  Shapeshifter in Japan.  Twice.

11.  Trey rapping it out in a little bar in Kujukuri Beach – I dunno how long we’d been here… it was still in August I’m pretty sure.  We were invited along to a bar with a bunch of cool Japanese surfer types, getting all kinds of drunk, when Trey grabs the mic and starts trying to amp the crowd up even further.  Then he just breaks into these nice little rhymes and the crowd goes mental.  I still remember Nathan’s comment, ‘Woah, this just adds another string to this guy’s bow!’  I was well impressed too, Trey.  Fuckin’ awesome!

12.  75 year old shirtless man climbing a 2000m peak in the rain –  This just blew me away, enough to inspire me to follow his lead and go shirtless too.  It’s not often when I’m hiking that I get the chance to do something like that as I’m usually carrying a big pack but this was a day hike.  And, despite the rain, it was HOOOT.  The other thing that was amazing about this man was that he spoke really good English.  We stopped together at a point ahead of the group I was with and spent some time together chatting.  He told me all about the ‘tengu’ – the winged monster that supposedly lives on Japan’s peaks.  I think I’ve said somewhere before that I put the average age of people on Japan’s mountains at 55.

13.  Japanese women’s legs.

 

Well, there ya go.  My patchy memory has most surely missed other amazing sights.  Can I pick the coolest thing out of all of these, Shell?   That old man is indelibly printed on my memory.  Trey rapping in that bar is also.  It’s gotta be one of those two… I think.  Memories, more so than they are sights.  I mean, I see Japanese women and their legs all the time, I can go back to the Keio Plaza, Nikko, Feria or Minakami whenever I want and I only have to go to Akihabara to see the maids… so yeah… here’s to travelling and making unforgettable memories.

Chiba-kun!

This wee fella is Chiba-kun, the prefecture’s mascot for the National Games that were held here in October of this year.  I had to take him down to make space to hang my Christmas poster at school and decided to bring him home, chop him out of his usual blue background and make him the newest addition to my still somewhat bare walls.   Before I left school with him though, I discovered that some child had come along and drawn, in light green pen, an axe in Chiba-kun’s left hand.  Love it!  As you can see, I have emboldened their subversion with the help of a black marker pen and a bright pink highlighter.

Below is my Christmas poster.  The school has a kick ass mega-sized HP printer.  I dunno what size paper this is on – A0 maybe?  Thanks Mum for scanning the photos and emailing them.  As you can see, they came out awesome!  Stoked with this!  And yes, that’s me in the pink t-shirt and I can’t even claim it was the ’80’s.  It was 1992.  *sigh*

Womb Adventure ’10 went off!  This is the kinda scale that I knew Japan could and would offer.  10,000 people at the Makuhari Messe Convention Centre.  Roni Size, Crookers and Richie Hawtin were ridic.  Cheers to the crew that made it so much fun – Ksenia, Tomo, Patsy, Yuki, Dave and Hajime – you guys rock!  Cheers to Japanese crowds – you were awesome – so well mannered and having so much fucking fun!

Here’s some video action – turn your speakers down!

 

 

 

Chronologically ordered.

 

1.  This was taken at a basketball tournament in Toke (pronounced To-ke, but yes, I chuckle every time).  A JET’s boyfriend helped organise so we were all invited.  We fielded a team made up of Trey, Reuben, Ben and I and surprise, surprise, won our first game.  Or was it the first two games…?  I can’t remember.  I know I put some points on the board first game so was happy with that.  Yeah, I think it was the first two games we won.  Fun day in the stinking hot sun (seems so long ago…)

2.  BBQ with some Japanese surfer dudes, after they took us out for a surf, down near Kujukuri Beach.  That funny face he is making totally mocks old Western caricatures of Asians, eh?  Funny as.  Man, we ate so well.  Prawns, big steak sandwiches, lots of beer.  That’s the day I lost my hat…

3.  This yummy bottle of sake came from my boss, the school principal.  Thanks Kouchou-sensei.  It is apparently made by the monks at Katori city temple.  It now lives its life devoid of sake, as a flower vase at my friend, Kate’s house.  Sake ga daisuki desu (I love sake).  While drinking it I happened to say to her, “I’m developing… I don’t want to say an addiction…  and she has never let me forget it.  Kate, I’m making you my official sake watchdog, OK?  If it gets to the stage where you think an intervention is necessary, do it.  You have my blessing.

4.  A big crazy cloud over Tako.  Striking.  I’m saving various sunset pictures for another post, another time.

5.  Wandering around some of the little back streets of some part of Tokyo, we came across this festival.  It was some kind of Octopus festival.  Man, did those streets get crowded!

6.  A cool house near Yokaichiba, the nearest city to me.  Big stone slabs out front, little bonzais propped on rocks behind them and a big balcony area you can see up the top left.  And a big friendly dog guarding it all from the top as I stood and stared.

7.  Narita Shinsho-ji Temple at night.  I’m not sure what exactly I was doing there at that time…  Probably lost.

8.  “When there is no more room in hell, the table tennis players shall rule the halls.”  This cracked me up the first time I saw it.  I now go down about once a week to practice with them for awhile 🙂

9.  I came across this man at the local kyouiku iinkai (Board of Education) doing (inaccurate verb – what do I say, writing, drawing, painting?) the most incredible calligraphy.  Once he had done this, he went back with a little brush and touched up edges and corners that already looked perfect to me.  Amazing.

10.  Japan’s latest thriller – Team Medical Dragon 3.  I shoulda gone and seen this at the cinema.

11.  This is konnyaku.  It is made from the root of the konnyaku plant.  By grating it and combining it with water, you eventually get this gelatinous blob that looks rather like a breast implant, if you ask me.  Anyway, it was suggested to me to eat it with a little soy sauce and ginger on top (I might have gone a little overboard on the ginger with this first one).  It has no flavour and the texture… hmm… yeah I guess, gelatinous.  It is meant to be good for the large intestine.  One of the nutrients in it cannot be digested by the human body but is loved by the bacteria that live in the large intestine so you are giving them a good work out and I must say, my large intestine feels really good since eating konnyaku.

12.  I had this portrait done at the Cosmos Festival here in Tako.  It cost me 500 yen (about $9 bucks) and I was the first NZer the man had ever painted before.  It made great pains to point that out, I guess as insurance, in case I didn’t like it.  I think he did an amazing job.  He got my lazy eye and everything!

13.  A packed train.  I believe this was a commuter train travelling out to Takasaki one evening.  It reminds me of lyrics from the Immortal Technique song, Harlem Streets – ‘The subway stays packed like a multicultural slave ship’.  ‘Cept I was probably the only white guy on here.  I sometimes am conscious of being in the absolute minority but seldom do I feel any sense of the fact that Japan is a very monocultural country.  98.5% Japanese.  Of that 1.5% other, .9% of it is either Chinese or Korean.  There are around 600,000 non-Asian people in Japan.  Half of them are white, the other half are Nigerian.  Just kidding, but sometimes it feels like that.  Also, in Shinjuku, at night, it sometimes feels like all 600,000 are there, too!

14.  This is the only pic I took at the Halloween picture I went to in Takasaki.  It came out really well though!  Scary, ne?!  The guy on the left had the best costume I saw all night.  He was a cycle crash victim (pertinent stuff back home right now, eh?).  He had taken a bicycle tyre, covered it in ink and rolled it over various parts of his body.  There was fake blood.  Bandages.  He had taken an old pair of shoes and ran a grinder over them!  Mad commitment to a costume!

15.  When I obtained local celebrity status.  Well no…  I already had that 😉  This put it in ink though.  A couple of people came to the school during one of our speech contest practices one day and took some pictures.  They then sat me down and interviewed me, via translation by the JTE I was working with.  Still not sure what it says.  Gotta make it a mission to read it at some point.

16.  I’m pretty sure this must be a love hotel in Chiba city.   Beautiful, isn’t it?  I haven’t got a picture of the Hotel Colon (yes, that’s right, the Hotel Colon) near Togane yet, but I’ll get one.

17.  Took this picture in the hostess bar we were hanging out in last Friday.  These are a couple of the hostesses.  Just kidding, Kate and Nicola!  I think it was around this point that my memory gets pretty blurry.  Memory loss and that type of shit doesn’t usually happen to me…  Apparently, at some point, the Evangelion theme song (the song from my last post) came on…  now, I would remember that shit… but I don’t…  Let me go back a bit… it seems hostess barmen can’t really mix a drink.  Nate and I ordered a whiskey first up.  I wanted mine straight.  We got two glasses with ice and soda.  Nate tried to send mine back, they took both of them and returned two glasses FULL to the same line as the previous drink of straight whiskey (not good whiskey either).  Later, after the bar closed and we were the only ones there, some 96% Polish vodka came out… Uuuggghh…  I was really sick the next day… right up to my first Thanksgiving meal at 3pm in the afternoon.  I came right just in time 🙂

18.  Yes, we are dancing on the train.  Saturday night.

19.  Sunday morning.  Trey asleep in the priority seats (reserved for the handicapped, elderly and pregnant women) on the way back to Togane.  The stares he got as people got on and off at each station were hilarious.  The laugh I shared with an old man half way down the carriage as I took this photo was hilarious.  Straight liquor was his downfall also.  Entering Roppongi some Japanese girls got out of a car behind us with quarter of a bottle of Maker’s Mark, offering it to me.  Now I still wasn’t drinking at this point (a few hours later I had a few Kahlua and Coke’s, but I was taken it easy after the night before) but I gave Trey a yell and he traded his can of Yebisu beer (mm.. I’m about to have one with dinner..) for this bottle.  This picture (and several others were the result).  I remember him slurring on the first train, before we left everyone else, something about wanting to spew, which reminded me of a book I read a year or so ago, Under the Osakan Sun, about a Kiwi’s time living in Japan and his story of vomiting on the train.  I just thought, Oh God, please don’t… and he didn’t.  He just slept instead.  Well done, Trey 🙂

 

Well, that was fun.  So there is some of the highlights and some of the randomness of the last couple of months in Japan.  While I was at home, my sister asked me what was the coolest thing I had seen here and I couldn’t answer her.  Tough question.  Well, Shelley, I’m still thinking on it, and I will post something soon.

My friend Trey has just started watching Neon Genesis Evangelion and after sitting down with him on Sunday and watching six episodes in a row I’ve decided to watch it through again.  You can find the episodes online here (the link says dubbed but I checked and it’s subbed.  It appears to have options to change it anyway, if that’s not your cup of tea).  I super highly recommend it as one of the best, if not the best anime I’ve ever watched.

I really want to rip this one out at a karaoke night sometime and impress some people so we have made it our mission to get the lyrics down.  It’s such a catchy song, that I don’t think it should take too long.  We are going to learn the lyrics first and then put some dance moves to it.  Here are the lyrics in both Japanese (romaji) and English.



Zankoku na tenshi no you ni
Shonen yo, shinwa ni nare…

Aoi kaze ga ima mune no doa wo tataitemo,
Watashi dake wo tada mitsumete
Hohoenderu Anata
Sotto Fureru mono
Motomeru koto ni muchuu de,
Unmei sae mada shiranai itaikena hitom

Dakedo itsuka kizuku deshou
Sono senaka ni wa
Haruka mirai mezasu tame no
Hane ga aru koto…

Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze
Madobe kara yagate tobitatsu
Hotobashiru atsui patosu de
Omoide wo uragiru nara
O-zora wo daite kagayaku
Shonen yo, shinwa ni nare

Zutto nemutteru watashi no ai no yurikago
Anata dake ga yume no shisha ni
Yobareru asa ga kuru
Hosoi kubisuji wo tsukiakari ga utsushiteru
Sekai-ju- no toki wo tomete
Tojikometai kedo…

Moshi mo futari aeta koto ni imi ga aru nara,
Watashi wa, sou, jiyu- wo shiru
Tame no Baiburu

Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze
Kanashimi ga soshite hajimaru
Dakishimeta inochi no katachi
Sono yume ni mezameta toki
Dare yori mo hikari wo hanatsu
Shonen yo, shinwa ni nare

Hito wa ai wo tsumugi nagara rekishi wo tsukuru
Megami nante narenai mama
Watashi wa ikiru…

Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze
Madobe kara yagate tobitatsu
Hotobashiru atsui patosu de
Omoide wo uragiru nara
O-zora wo daite kagayaku
Shonen yo, shinwa ni nare
==========================

 

Young boy, like a cruel angel’s thesis,
Live up to be a legend…

Even though clear blue winds
Beat on the door of my heart,
You just smile, looking straight at me
Too involved in yearning for
Something to hold on
The innocent eyes still no nothing of fate yet.

But someday you will notice
On those shoulders of your
There are strong wings
To guide you to the far future.

A cruel angel’s thesis
Will someday fly high from the window
If memories are betrayed by
The overflowing, burning pathos (emotions).
Young boy, shine like a legend,
Holding the sky in your arms.

The cradle of love that sleeps within me
There will be a morining that
A servant of dreams will come for you.
The moonlight shines on your thin neckline.
I’d stop time in this world
And lock it away for myself, but…

If there is any meaning
In the fate that pulled us together,
Then I am, yes, the Bible
That teaches you of freedom.

A cruel angel’s thesis
And then sorrow comes forth
When the shapes of the dreams you hold in your arms
Come to life within you.
Young boy, who shines brighter than anyone else,
Rise to become a legend.

People weave together love to create history
And so I live on,
Unable to become a goddess…

A cruel angel’s thesis
Will someday fly high from the window
If memories are betrayed by
The overflowing, burning pathos (feelings).
Young boy, shine like a legend,
Holding the sky in your arms.

It’s a pretty cool little language learning activity also.  There are plenty of words in there (the majority, in fact) that I don’t know and will have to look up and investigate.  It should also prove interesting from a grammar and conjugation standpoint.  I’m really enjoying learning the language.  There are definite points of frustration but that’s not so much with learning the language per se but the fact that I don’t know the language and can’t express myself.  Anyway, I want to save all this for a full post on learning Japanese so…

Maybe soon there will be a video on here of me belting this badboy out.  We’ll see…

About $8 bucks. School bazaar. His friends – the jug and the rice cooker.

Is that title in bad taste?  Not intended but apologies if you think so.

What a weekend!  Narita Airport Wednesday night, Gold Coast Thursday morning, Auckland Thursday afternoon, Queenstown Friday afternoon.  Total time in Queenstown – 45 hours 40 minutes.  Time spent drinking – well over half of it.  It’s now Monday night and I’m back in Tako-machi, Chiba.

Flights – great.  Slept on the plane.  Talked to interesting Japanese people and flight attendants.  Nearly finished a book and writing a story.  Watched an Adam Sandler movie, Grown Ups that had a few funny moments but was mostly lame.

Wedding – awesome.  The lady at the Mt Soho winery when I expressed my admiration suggested I might like to come back for my wedding.  Amazing spot.  I think I was a little jealous when the bride and groom zoomed off for photos in a 4WD up into the hills behind the winery.

Thata way

The bride and groom looked stunning.  Those pearls were bang on, Crystal 🙂  The bridesmaids were beauteous in black dresses and the groomsmen scrubbed up not to bad either, if I do say so.  I’m slipping into wedding MC role again.  That all went well, thanks to a supply of jokes and one liners from the internet and the very able girl in charge of catering who kept telling me what to say and when to do it (along with some prompting from the bride too, of course).  Was a really fun family time and nice to catch up and see a lot of people, even if I didn’t talk to them all.  I believe the entire immediate Smith clan had a few times up on the dance floor all at the same time 🙂

The evening ended by going into Queenstown until 6am and stopping in for a swim in the lake on the way back.

Auckland on the way in and out wasn’t such a horrible pain in the arse and waste of time either, catching up and enjoying fine food and booze with lovely people there, but also becoming a part of the bed bug epidemic of Auckland and the world.  Suddenly, between this, the Mine Disaster, I feel like I’m following news again.

 

Thata way

So I finally remembered that other stupid thing I did…  I came to Japan with a big hat.  It was big.

This picture really doesn't do justice to the size of the hat...

Anyway, so one weekend we had a bbq near the beach with some Japanese dudes we’d meet.  The afternoon had been spent sunning it up, downing beverages and eating hot chillis and giant steak sandwiches.  My hat had alternated between my head, other people’s heads and hanging around my neck on its rather long drawstring. 

Because I live in the middle of nowhere I had to leave come 4.30ish to take trains to the point where  I could catch the last bus home at 6.15pm.  We were running late and I missed my first train but luckily another one came in earlier than expected and I made my connecting train at Naruto.  At Naruto eki (station), I had to make a dash from one train to the other.  As I did so, the wind picked up my hat and lifted it off my head.  In my slightly inebriated state, I thought to myself, Don’t worry about it, its hanging on that string around your neck as it has all afternoon.  Unfortunately, as I discovered on my next train, it was not.  It was sitting somewhere on the platform (or God forbid, the rails) at Naruto eki…  I can only imagine the thoughts and the looks on the faces of the people at the station as this all happened.  What is that strange gaijin doing..?  Why isn’t he going back for that fuckin’ awesome hat?!?

This all takes me back to summer… *sigh*

RIP giant hat - May you shade another..

Japanese gangsta

 

… like I was plotting to take over the country or something.

 

Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan REVIEW

“The gaps between Japan’s way of doing things and the realities of modern life, both international and domestic, is extreme – there is no other way to put it.  It is this that leads me to call Japan a case of failed modernisation.”

Dogs and Demons is an interesting read, particularly for someone freshly on Japanese soil, still undergoing the euphoria that is living in another country and one that you have been so enamoured over for such a long time.  It was just the book to temper that enthusiasm, in fact.  While being interesting, the downer vibe sometimes got all a bit much for this soft heart.

Alex Kerr gives us an impassioned view of the things he sees going on in various facets of Japanese life and politics – the construction industry, the environment, bureaucracy, education, financial management and the flow of information.   The breadth of topics is extremely interesting.  It does help to give a wide-angle picture on trends in Japanese society.  It also draws back nicely to various parts of Japanese history and custom or to Kerr’s understanding of the Japanese psyche.

The downside is that this breadth feels like it comes at the sacrifice of substance.  On many topics I felt as though I was left wanting more.  While the book does feel well researched, there are points where you just wish Kerr had one more bit of information; another fact or another story to convince you of his point of view.  I just constantly had the feeling that like I’d like to know more.  Perhaps it’s wrong of me to count that as a fault of the book; my knowledge of, and more importantly, my interest in these things has, after all, been lifted, but there were times in which the feeling was one of needing to know more to be convinced of argument he was putting forward.

Perhaps because the book is so strongly of his point of view, I more keenly felt a need for facts and examples.  Kerr has lived over thirty years in Japan, and written and presented on it extensively (see my review of his earlier book, Lost Japan, here).  He has a deep passion and affinity for the Japanese land and its people.  It is obvious by his prose that he is disturbed by what he sees happening to the country.  I can’t help but think of him and think, you know, he’s kinda got a point, every time I look at power lines in Japan.  It feels like a pet peeve of his.  Why can’t this country bury its power lines as every other advanced country has largely done!).

 

The lovely view from Kate's bedroom

 

This passion seems a bit like an axe to grind at points.  I sometimes found the book tough going because it was so negative.  While there are brief moments of balance where Kerr mentions redeeming features of the Japanese character, these are so few and far between that the book becomes hard work.  The outlook is not good either.  “Although I’m sceptical of Japan’s ability to change (the very roots of the tragedy lie in systems that repress change), in my heart I dream of change.”  That said, this tone is in tune with the intent of the author.  He is not here to paint the pretty side of the Japanese experience as is so often blindly done.  Doesn’t exactly leave you amped for making change when you finish (or even immediately continuing your research!  Although I do have my eye on a book on the Japanese economy at Kinokuniya..).

I’ve mentioned above that this is an interesting book.  It goes into loan sharking schemes backed up by yakuza thugs.  It talks about minamata and itai-itai, sicknesses brought about by toxic dumping and the government’s complicity with corporations in covering them up.  It discusses Japan’s nearest nuclear power disaster and the absurd lack of preparedness of the local applicable bodies.  It opens up the world of the amakudari (lit. ‘descended from heaven’), the bureaucrats sucking greedily at the nation’s tit and the uniquely Japanese way of doing finance.  Some of the stuff is astounding.  Hopefully it is possible to find more in depth treatments of some of these things in English.  I am already reading a book by Jake Adelstein on vice in Tokyo and its surrounds which I will review shortly.  And I mentioned the economics one above…

In short, definitely a book worth reading.  It’s interesting and generally well researched.  It will drive you to seek out more information on these topics and most of the time that is because they are just so damn interesting.   A different sensibility may have none of the problems I have with the book’s tone.  I was undergoing euphoria so was hardly objective.  Read it.

Special Treat: A list of the interesting terms I picked up reading Dogs and Demons

Amakudari – Bureaucrats who take a lucrative second career, e.g. Ministry of Finance guys become bank directors

Sakoku – ‘closed country’

Yatoi gaikokujin – ‘hired foreigners’ – a term from the Meiji era when many foreign experts where brought into Japan to teach it the best of the West

Kaizen – ‘improvement’ – the well known system where employees offer suggestions to better the company.  Apparently they rarely focus on negative issues though (part of that harmony thing..)

Yarase – lit. ‘made to do it’ – staged news and documentaries

Zaito – the second budget, not under Diet (parliament) control, the MOF distributes funds

Tobashi – ‘flying’ – transactions where an entity sells assets to a subsidiary.  Form of funshoku kessen – ‘cosmetic accounting’

Juisen – housing loan corporations

Wakon Yosai – ‘Japanese spirit, Western technology’ Meiji era catch cry

Keiretsu – industrial groupings, conglomerations is perhaps another descriptor

Minamata and itai itai – the diseases mentioned above caused by toxic waste dumping

Tokushu hojin – special government corporation

Koeki hojin – public corp (next rung down)

Kyokai – industry association (lobby groups)

Yonige – ‘Midnight Run’ – doing a runner from your life, changing your identity to escape loan sharks, risen from 50,000 to over 100,000 cases a year recently

Jo, ha, kyu, zenshin – slow, faster, fastest, stop.  Saying that indicates once Japan is on a course it won’t stop until the extreme

Seihin no Shiso – philosophy of pure poverty, simplicity of life

Ware Tada Taru Shiru – ‘I know the limits and that is enough’.

Keyo Hsuka – ‘atonement tombstones’ for natural things we’ve used harshly for our own purposes.

Hanamichi – raised walkway through the audience at a kabuki play.

Chenmage – traditional hairdos (top knot)

Settai – wining and dining of corporate clients.  Extends to what other countries would call bribery

The beginning of this trip was punctuated by phone calls.  It was going to be a long day, starting at 4am.  The night before when I was trying to get into bed by 9pm I got a call from Trey at 8.50pm.  I still managed to get up at 3am though and have my usual breakfast and a shower.  As I was putting my boots at 3.55pm on I got a call from H- san, checking to see if I was on my way.  ‘I’m just walking out the door,’ I told him and shot through the early hours of the night on my scooter, Drain You by Nirvana amping me up, to the yakuba (town hall).  We were heading for Echizendake.  This was to be my first time south of Tokyo, my first sighting of Fuji-san and my first trip with the Tako Mountaineering Club.

As the mini bus rather bumply propelled us along the motorway into and through Tokyo, I took in the humorous names of some of the love hotels – Hotel Seeds, Hotel First Wood, Hotel C Love, the Elegance Inn, Hotel Rix (my cousin’s name is Ricky).  I remembered that Kate was possibly still up and about, prowling the streets and buildings of Roppongi, Shibuya or some other dodgy locale  (perhaps even Kabukicho…?) and so sent her a text.  Typical fuckin’ American (just takin’ the piss, guys!), she was at McDonalds.  She relayed the news of her night and I told her how beautiful the lights of Tokyo looked reflected in the harbour.  She asked if I could see Tokyo Tower.  I told her I couldn’t.  And then low and behold, it came into sight!  And she could see it too!  30 million people, schedules completely opposite and we could pass by each other like that and be seeing the same thing.  Twas a cool moment, Kate 🙂  I then travelled into the Tokyo suburbs listening to this beautiful ditty over and over..

The trip was very quiet with most people catching an extra slice of sleep.  This saved me from exhausting myself early trying to understand Japanese.  It takes it out of ya, I tell ya!  Communicating with people is like a double edged sword.  You want to because, well, we humans just want to do that, and you want to meet people, find out new things, test/practice your Japanese etc. but at the same time, it is such a challenge, that sometimes I find myself loathing the task.  So instead, I got it on the way back when my entire being was like mush.  Old people further the sword metaphor – they are often the most interesting people to talk to but they are also the least accommodating in terms of speaking understandable Japanese (mumble mumble mumble) and in terms of slowing their speech and speaking simple Japanese.

The sunrise was stunning.  I believe the post I sent to Facebook went something like – ‘Morning light – so beautiful.  Perhaps that’s why He/She/It makes it so difficult to get up for it’.  The sun hung huge in the sky, blazed across the Pacific and the plains, and lit the mountain sides so softly, given the roiling star charging to the left and behind us.   All my attempts at capturing it were foiled by motorway sound barriers, unfortunately.  Too powerful, too beautiful to be caught.  So I give you this poor visual account.

We started walking somewhere between 7.30 and 8am and were at the summit soon after 10.  It was a very easy climb and the pace was super relaxed.  We were a group of ten with an average age of say, 55, so nothing too strenuous.  The walk up proved interesting in terms of learning the Japanese names for some of the plants around me like the ever present sasa, which is apparently a type of bamboo and a favourite food of the small black bears.  I also learned about ahibi, a dark green leafed plant (slightly strange in autumn in Japan when so much is changing colour), that when translated means ‘horse drunk’, i.e. horses eat this and they get drunk.  I learned that the Japanese word for ‘root’ is ‘nekko’, nearly identical to ‘neko’, the word for cat.  It also provided me a chance to breath deeply of the fresh air and think about the makings of the good life.  I don’t mean in terms of material things but the basics for a sound body and mind.  I came up with the need for proper breathing, for correct posture and walking, for proper hydration, and peaceful and adequate sleep.  It was truly a serene time.

The early part of the day saw stellar views of Fuji san but by the time we had reached the 1504 m summit, the ol’ girl had become a little shy and drawn a veil of cloud around her.  This panorama was probably my best shot of the day and shows you the in between stage.

 

From the top we could also see the Minami Alps (Southern Japanese Alps), the city of Fuji and across to the Izu Peninsula.  I was introduced to the next youngest member of the group, A-san, who asked my age.  When I asked hers, she told me it was a secret and when I said, ‘Hmm.. 29?’ I received a delighted slap on the arm.  Haha.  We took a photo together and I put my arm around her which illicited excited calls from the others in the group and made me feel like a fucking giant!  I’m making this sound pretty sizzling, aren’t I?  It wasn’t really.  There was then a small run on photos with Michael, the Giant’s arms around you.

Along the way, I also thought about the Hyakumeizan, the 100 Famous Mountains and asked a couple of the other climbers how many they had conquered.  H- san said he had done 20, O- san, 30.  I think if I can knock off a 1/5th in my time here, I’ll be happy.  Surprisingly, it seemed only two people in the group had knocked off Fuji-san, the holy grail of climbers and walkers in Japan.  One of those two people happened to be the 74 year old Mama-san of the group too! (albeit that was when she was 45)

We had an amazing lunch at a lookout point.  The generosity of Japanese people is beyond compare.  Miso soup was shared.  Small containers of tamago yaki (fried egg, but a little different to what you’re used to), and various pickled things were passed around.  Beer was poured.  It was a miniature feast.  While there, we had a military helicopter fly over head and the sounds of rifle shots down on the plains below.  Some kind of Japan Self Defense Forces exercise had been going on all morning.  First it was cannon fire (I asked H- san about the cannon I hear sometimes in Tako… its simply for scaring the birds out of the rice paddies), then automatic weapon fire and by lunch time, rifles.  Pretty intense.  The sound on the video below would have you think they were right behind me, comin’ for my ass.

Those who know me well, know I have the bladder of an old woman (although not any of the old woman on this trip apparently).  I wanna know what it is.  Is it because my hearts so big that it squishes all those other organs onto my poor piss sack?  Do I just have this tiny bladder?  Is it metabolism related?  I tend to think its a bit like sex, where issues aren’t always entirely physical, but psychological in nature.  Probably usually psychological.  It seems to be worse in situations where I am not in control.  I had to go about four times on that mountain and had no idea what the etiquette was with Japanese people and public peeing.  The first time, H- san practically stood guard for me.  The second time I gave him the slip by being last in the group and wandering off to a nice viewpoint.  Anyway, enough about my bodily functions.  Unless you want me to talk about farting…

At the bottom of the mountain we came across the shrine to the kami sama (deity) of the mountain where I got a short crash course in what to do.  Hands together, bow twice, clap your hands twice (the speed of which seemed to vary greatly from person to person.  I prefer slowly, a distinct gap seems more dignified or something) and then bow again, once this time.

We also found that our bus had a dead battery.  This meant a wait of half an hour or so for a repair truck to come, a highball in a can (very popular in Japan) and another trip to the toilet; this time, a porta loo.  Unfortunately this curtailed our planned trip to an onsen.  Upon sitting down in that bus, I just crashed.  Tiredness washed over me and I lulled in and out of sleep and straining my neck until Tokyo.  From there I was fairly well awake and read some more of Walden on my iPhone (while Henry David Thoreau turned in his grave).

There was spirited discussion of which I couldn’t take part as we drove through Tomisato as to where we would have dinner.  We ended up at a Chinese restaurant and the food was great.  I resisted a beer to appear responsible, having to drive my scooter home in less than an hour (if I haven’t already said, the alcohol limit for drink driving in Japan is a big fat zero).  My final thoughts for the day, also posted to Facebook, were how beautiful some middle age Japanese women are, with their smiling eyes.  M- san, you know I’m talking about you xo

This just continues the point I made in my last post that its fun to laugh at other’s mangling of your language…  Two words that I’m glad I confused when and where I did (with members of the Tako Mountaineering Club during dinner) and not at some other occasion (say,  when mentioning to the priest how beautiful his temple is) –

Temple – otera (pronounce like the Otira Gorge)
Lavatory – (i.e. a feminine word for toilet so I wouldn’t really be saying it anyway, but..) – otearai

Maybe they don’t seem all that close but when I tried to pronounce lavatory, people heard temple, soooo…  there ya go..

Hopefully tomorrow, when I’m not so shattered (got up at 3am this morn!) I’ll write about today’s outing, hopefully full of the serenity that I felt at various points today.

A while back I promised some Japlish…  For the unacquainted, ‘Japlish’ is the name given to humorous corruptions of the English language made by Japanese translators.  It also goes by the term, ‘Engrish,’ as evidenced by this hilarious site here.  These are found most frequently on clothing, advertisements and signs.

Again, I have no qualms about being labelled a racist or whatnot because its fun to laugh at each other’s linguistic fuck ups.  There is no malicious or racist intent involved.  My Japanese co-workers have got great laughs (and I’ve got great mileage) out of some of the stupid things I’ve said.  Like when I confused ‘enkai’ and ‘iinkai’ (subtle difference in pronunciation) so I was saying something like the ‘education drinking party’ rather than the ‘Board of Education’.  Or, when reading a child’s work; – ‘I want to be …’ does that say ‘yakuza’?  No, it actually said ‘yakuzaishi’ – pharmacist.  Or ‘pan’ – gotta be careful with that one cos it means both ‘bread’ and ‘panties’.  (some dirty Japanese – ‘pan chira’ – panty flash, ‘no pan’ – wearing no underwear).  Anyway, I’m getting distracted…  on with the photos…

Your favourite?  Never got a photo of that ‘erectric’ sign… down by Trey’s, near the beach, next time I go past…

Here’s a flickriver of photos tagged with ‘Japlish’.

Just had the most fantastic weekend up in Nikko, enjoying Japan’s stunning Autumn colours, having strange experiences and meeting all sorts of interesting people.

The Autumn holiday has just finished here.  All five days of it.  Students at Taku Chu go back to school tomorrow.  I know of other schools were the students went back on Tuesday (Monday was an official holiday – Health and Culture Day) so I’m still not quite sure how term holidays work here in Japan.  It certainly isn’t two weeks at fairly regular intervals as it is back in New Zealand, that’s for sure!

I was meant to be climbing a mountain somewhere with my fellow first year teachers but they bailed on me around about the Wednesday before the weekend.  It was only about this time that I found out I had five days off.  Well, not exactly.  I had three days but, despite their being no students at school Tuesday and Wednesday, I would need to take nenkyu (my very limited, and hence very precious, paid vacation) if I wanted the Tuesday and Wednesday off.  So I was a bit crafty.  I had been told that for the extra hours I had put in after school coaching the students for the speech competition I could gain nenkyu.  I hadn’t kept a very accurate schedule of the hours I’d done but had tallied around four.  This gave me the half day off on Wednesday and I used a day of nenkyu for the Tuesday. Wednesday afternoon I am sitting in at school typing this for you.

So, a couple of days before the weekend, my plans changed.  I consulted my Hiking in Japan bible to see what I could come up with.  It has a Tokyo region featuring hikes within a couple of hours of the city.  I’d heard of Nikko – lots of history, gorgeous temples, beautiful hinterland surrounding it.  And what an advertising campaign to draw me in as well!

This picture is up in train stations all around Tokyo.  The little boy’s name is Mikey, coincidentally.  The campaign is called, ‘Oh, Mikey’ and is in its 10^th year.  Remember the smoking man I featured a while ago in the Camera Roll?  This is kinda similar… Plasticine Western people… why..?  I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of the Japanese psyche…

The trip required some careful planning for a couple of reasons.  One, the delicate timing in regard to nenkyu that I’d mentioned above, added to by the need to catch certain trains to be in certain places by certain times.  Two, I was running a bit short on cash for the month.  I would have to watch my spending.  In that respect, I really did quite well.  Transport all up was about \10,000 ($160 bucks).  The campsite was \1000 a night but she only charged me \1000 for the two nights J  The onsen were cheap – \500 a time.  Food was \2500, all pre-bought and packed in my handy Clik-Clak (thanks, Sarah!).  And that was about it, besides the odd extra here and there.  Like tramping socks and a bear bell (\1900) (just imagine those lines are yen symbols, my computer at home changed ’em all.  Sorry.)

Back to timing, I stayed the Saturday night at my friend Kate’s place in Kamagaya.  Thank you Kate for letting me crash!  I was up just after 5am for the 6:05 into Tokyo.  Kamagaya is less than an hour away from Akihabara where I transferred to the subway, six stops, then to Kita-senju station for the Limited Express to Nikko.  This was nice.  Comfy seats, footrests were you had to take your shoes off.  The guy next to me drinking a couple of highballs at 8:00 in the morning.  Tempted me, I tell ya.  I was in Nikko by 9:20 and on the bus out to Ryuzu-no-taki (‘taki’ is Nihongo for ‘waterfall’).

This spot was really busy.  It’s just off the main road that runs around Chuzenji-ko (‘ko’ is Nihongo for ‘lake’.  There is a bridge you stand on for your first view of the waterfall.  I was standing there, taking a couple of photos, minding my own business. I stepped back to turn around and a fuckin’ taxi ran over the back of my foot!  That’s how busy this place is!  I just didn’t hear it coming with the roar of the falls.  Didn’t really hurt.  Just tingled for a while afterwards.  Thankfully I already had my tramping boots on.  Don’t worry about the bears, it’s the bloody taxis you’ve got to worry about in the Japanese wilderness.

From here, a 9 km nature trail began over the Senjo – ga – hara (part of that possibly means ‘plateau’ but I think there’s some other meaning to it).  This was boardwalked and ran beside the Yukawa (‘kawa’ means ‘river’ – so saying ‘Yukawa River’ is like saying Yu River River, a bit of a Japanese joke).  The walk was pretty, with the 2486 metres of Mt Nantai off to the right and lesser mountains to my left and in front of me.  Big difference to pretty much any walk in New Zealand was being able to see buses on the road a half kilometre or so to your right.  The walk led to the head of the Yukawa, the spectacular Yutaki falls, tumbling out of Yunoko (remember what ‘ko’ means?) with Yumoto, my destination, on the northwestern shores.  Don’t worry, I’m still confused by all the words starting with ‘Yu’.  Gettin’ the hang of it though.

The last stretch took me around the Western side of the lake where there were a couple of people sketching the fiery oranges and reds that dotted the lake’s edge and the slopes behind.  Once in Yumoto, my first stop was the Visitor’s Centre where I would sort out my campsite.  They knew I was coming (thanks, Hirayama san and Haga san).  There I met Jack, a friendly Japanese man who had just returned from living 22 years in New Zealand.  He and the equally friendly young lady on the counter hooked me up with a sheet showing me where all the onsen were, which places had outdoor as well as indoor onsen, how much they cost and the hours that outsiders (i.e. not residents of the hotel) could go and use them.  I got my tent set up and chose Oruri Hotel as my spot.  Outdoor onsen, \500 and open for at least another couple of hours.  Couldn’t go wrong.  And it didn’t.  Sweet outdoor onsen with views of the hills, good water temperature.  ‘Iyudana!’ (this apparently translates as ‘Ahhh, good hot springs!’).

In the evening I met a Welshman, an Englishman, an Irishman and a Japanese-American girl, David, Roger, Finnian, and Emily, respectively.  They were a good bunch and had come wickedly overloaded with food so invited me to join them.  So just as I finished my dinner I prepared for a second one.  This took a while so perhaps a good thing I ate first.  Their dinner was a whole fried fish, possibly seabass, gutted and filled with lemon by Roger.  Then came a giant Thai chicken curry.  This, all washed down with a bit of red wine and a few glasses of Asahi.  Damn!  Cheers guys!  This saw me up to well after ten – 10:10 on the 10/10/2010, in fact – oooooohhh.  I crashed with a full belly ready to get up at 5 or so the next morning.

David, Emily and I crawled out of our respective tents at around the same time and got on our way up the mountain about 6:15.  The tramp begins by heading up gently sloping fields underneath ski lifts.  It then turns and follows a ridgeline steadily up.  By 8:00 we had summitted the ridgeline and headed along the one running perpendicular to it towards the first summit, Mae Shirane san (lit. ‘in front of Shirane san’).  We reached here sometime just before 9:00 and took in the impressive view of Goshiki-numa (‘numa’ can mean ‘swamp, bog, pond or lake’.  In this case, I’d say ‘pond’.  ‘Goshiki’ means ‘five colours’) below us and the mighty Shirane san (‘san’ is a variant reading of the kanji ‘yama’ meaning ‘mountain’) in front of us.  Once upon the ridgeline we had been struck by a cold wind and cloud swirling by just above our heads.  On Mae Shirane san though this began to clear and we got views (and photos!) down towards Chuzenji – ko and Mt Nantai.

We descended for a bit here, passing a cool little emergency hut before heading up the final climb.  I had been happy so far with the relatively small number of people we had seen that day.  This was all about to change.  Going up the final climb we met with the first groups starting to come down off the peak for the day.  Now we found ourselves saying ‘Konnichwa’ with fervent regularity.  So I chucked in the odd ‘Hello’, ‘Good morning’, just to see who would bust out in English.  The odd person would greet you in English anyway.  They were always the friendliest.  Emily and I reached the summit together, David having gone a bit faster than us, and our eyes were ‘greeted’ with the two dozen or so people crawling over the small utmost peak of the mountain.  The whole top area was quite large and took in several distinct areas, one including a small shrine.  Total, I would say there were 50 or 60 people wandering around at 2570+ metres.  Two thirds of them, at a guess, would have been over 50 years old.  Coming down the other side, there was probably another 50 or 60 people on their way up.

 

Not much room

 

 

Pretty certain that's Fuji-san in the background

 

The view was stunning.  We could see all the way to Fuji-san, rising out of the clouds in the far distance.  To the south east we could see past Chuzenji-ko, out onto a plain, possibly the Kanto and onto another range of mountains.  I really need a quality map of Japan… To the north, the mountains just rolled on and on with a couple of small, picturesque lakes lying at Shirane san’s feet.

Here, David, Emily and I parted ways.  I almost continued down the mountain with them at breakneck speed but decided I wasn’t going to climb all this way to head down that quickly.  After all, I didn’t have to beat the traffic back to Tokyo.  I just had an onsen to look forward to at the bottom.  I actually wondered whether there would be that many people thinking the same thing as them that they all create the ‘traffic jam before the traffic jam’.  Instead I took a seat, fired up the gas cooker and had a cup of tea.  At this point an interesting old man came and said Hello.  We talked for a bit about the similarities and differences between New Zealand and Japan.  I saw him again on the way down where he offered me a very small berry to eat.It looked like those type of berries that I’m sure are poisonous in NZ.  He said the Scandinavian name is Lingon.  It tasted like a tart cherry.  Very nice.  I discovered, reading Hiking in Japan later, that the Land of the Rising Sun has a lot of edible forest foods, called sansai – mountain vegetables – and that as part of some of their endurance tasks, ascetic mountain priests had to subsist on only these.

The walk off the mountain was largely uneventful, just fuckin’ painful on the knees and thighs, dropping down some 1100 metres or so (not as bad as that 1400 metres of Cascade Saddle though, Sarah), with only one section of respite. Near the bottom I met a Czech couple and an American guy – Japanese girl couple.  The Czech’s were asking whether they would make it up and down the mountain before dark.  My advice?  ‘Hell no!’  The American-Japanese couple were young and friendly.  The guy had been on JET several years ago and was back in Japan working for a pharmaceutical company that specialized in making medicines for rare diseases.  Would’ve been interested in finding out more about that from him.  Don’t even know what his role was in the company.  On our way down we encountered a tiny little snake, the first living one the American guy had seen in all his years in Japan, but my third one in ten weeks!  すごい! (Wow!)

I got back into Yumoto about 2:00 and was ready to hit an onsen.  I decided to check out the one at the local temple, Onsen-ji.  Still not sure whether this was a good or bad choice.  I guess it had elements of being both.  The good – it’s an onsen in a temple, not a hotel.  Also, interesting old men who tried to speak to me even those it was clear I wasn’t following jack.  One of the guys was stretching his leg and I tried to follow suit.  I’m not very flexible and clearly wasn’t doing it right so this guy stood up, grabbed my foot and my knee and did it right for me.  Hurt a little but in that good sort of way ( but not that good sort of way though!).  The bad – the onsen was all of 2m x 2m and had six of us dudes naked in it at its fullest.  That’s right, call it what you will – cock-fest, sausage-fest etc.  That’s what it was.  And just a little too close for comfort for me.  I wanted to stretch my legs out but didn’t dare!

I returned to the camp, decided I couldn’t be bothered with dinner and just crashed in my tent.  I spent the next 15 hours in there!  Around 6pm I decided I better pull my pack in from outside at which point I was greeted by a mysterious female.  I was in a bit of a daze at this point and barely realized she was out there.  It had become fairly dark so I couldn’t really make her out properly.  She knew I had hiked Shirane san that day and wanted to know how long it had taken me.  She said she was staying around until November.  I thought, Ahh, must be the girl from the Visitor’s Centre, so upon going in the next day, I asked.  The girl looked at me blankly.  Jack stood beside her and translated and she still looked at me blankly.  It wasn’t her..  Obviously this was someone I had met on my travels and told my plans but buggered if I can figure out who she was!

The next day I caught the bus out of Yumoto about 11am and rode to the World Heritage main temple complex on the northern edge of Nikko.  These temples are gorgeous!  Gilded with gold, darkened, beautifully decorated interiors and surrounded by giant sugi (cedar trees), the place is magical.  There are five different complexes all on the one large site.  The most impressive in my mind was Rinnoji, also the smallest.  It had several stair cases leading up to the main courtyard and an intricately patterned roof and a full suit of samurai armour inside its main hall.  Something that was pretty special for me was visiting the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Shogun who quelled the warring daimyo and united Japan at the end of the 16^th century.  He shifted the capital to Edo (now Tokyo) and as a method of control, deemed it that the daimyo’s wives and children must spend part of every year or second year in Edo.

 

Put this one in for the cute yellow hats as much as the temple action

 

 

Apologies for the road cones...

 

From here it was a 40 minute wander back down to Tobu Nikko station.  I stopped for an early dinner at a place called Hippaku Tako.  Quite the coincidence, as Tako is the name of my little town.  The food was cheap and amazing.  Awesome place.  Had a bit of a broken Japanese – English conversation with the obachan (old lady) there before leaving.  The ride home was long and uneventful until the final leg.  I met a man called Daisuke who took my constant looking at the railway map as a sign that something was wrong.  A seat freed up so I sat next to him and we proceeded to chat away.  Turned out he had to jump the same train as me and head a couple of stops further along than I.  He ended up giving me a little rubber mascot, called Pipukun, the mascot for none other than the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.

So that was Nikko.  An inspiring place.  There is still so much to see and do there…  There is a samurai village where you can dress up as someone from the Edo period and there are any number of hikes and other onsen to enjoy.  Woop, Japan!

The rest of my Nikko photos are here.

One of my JTE’s (Japanese Teachers of English) came up with the wonderful ego-stroking idea of having all the students write me a compliment of some kind as a way of teaching them the grammar pattern – ‘You look…’

Here’s a sample; humorous most of the time for their English; at times, for their absurdity in relation to me, and occasionally, for both.

You look like a good basketball player.
You look good in that cloth.
You look great in this clothes.
You look great in that pants.
You look English.
You look a kind gentle person.
You look good in that wristwatch.
You look like レオナルド デカプリオ (Leonardo DiCaprio in katakana – ichiban suki! – my favourite!)
You look very rich.
You look realy very very very very very nice guy!!!
You look nice orra (i.e. you have a nice aura – niban suki – second favourite)
You look good in your green eyes.
You look cool today.
You look nice gentleman.
You look good in that remote control. (I’d been carrying around a remote control earlier in class for a skit JTE and I were doing)
You look great in this arm clock.
You look tall.
You look popular for girls.  (Damn right!)
You look great in your blue eyes (the girl above was right, I have green eyes!?!?!)
You look cool in your leg.
You look great in this bag.
You look great in your brown hair.
You look great in this haircut.
You look great in that beard.

Don’t get the idea I’m taking the piss out of these kids…  Well I am a bit, I guess…They are ichinensei (first year Junior High).  This is their first year of serious English study.  They are following a pattern and in terms of that, they’ve done a cracker job.  Things like this really make you think about the complexity of language, particularly as you are both teaching it and learning a new language at the same time.  Prepositions (or postpositions as they are in Japanese!) are a bitch!

I’ll follow this up soon with some photos of interesting Japlish I’ve seen around and about the place.  Ahh, language, you devilish thing, you!

In the mean time, which one above is your favourite?  Let me know!

 

So far, I can only count three really dumb things I’ve done in this country… I’ll list them in chronological order.  I have this feeling there is a fourth but I seem to have forgotten it… maybe one day in a blaze of cringing it will come back to me.

1.  While talking to my African American friend, Trey, I managed to drop the ‘n’ bomb.  It just sorta slipped out.  I can’t remember what the context was exactly…  Thankfully, being a New Zealander gets you forgiven for all sorts of things, including this.  Of course I understand connotations of that word but being so far removed from its reality…  At home, having no African American people around, yet being surrounded by American hip hop culture, we say that word all the time.  There’s always a level of jest and self-consciousness tied to it.  A particular favourite is mimicking ol’ Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction, when he greets Vincent Vega after his long sojourn in the ‘dam.

2.  Washing my hands with toilet cleaner – sooooo it was no less than the Principal  who figured out I was doing this one.  Went to the toilet after lunch.  He was cleaning his teeth.  Cleaned my hands as I usually did with this tube of stuff that is kinda like a coarse talcum powder.  Seemed to clean my hands real good and there was no soap around so I just assumed.  Turned out…  He didn’t tell me either.  He’s an English teacher, he can speak my language and he didn’t say anything!  Instead, he sent one of the young English teachers up to the first year office to tell me.  He came in with this can in hand and I just started saying, ‘Oh no, oh no…’  His English isn’t great so it was taking him a while to get it out.  I just switched to saying, ‘Just tell me what it is, what is it?  what is it?’  Eventually, I found out..

3.  Standing up in the morning meeting to introduce Amelia, only to find that I’ve cut in right as the Principal is about to stand up and speak.  I put my hand up to talk, the guy in charge of the timetabling, looked at me as though, ‘Yeah, get up, tell us all who she is.’  I got up and started talking only to be met by a chorus of severely disturbed staff voices.  You would think I was about to walk off a cliff.

As many of you know, my lovely girlfriend, Amelia, came to visit for ten days recently.  I had to work for a good chunk of this but Amelia was able to come into school a few and experience being a celebrity in Japan.  We also managed a bit of a tiki tour, up to Minakami, where we went Canyoning (one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, without a doubt doing it again), returning to Tokyo and taking in Disneyland and a couple of sites around the city before returning to Tako stressfully on Monday night (last trains and all).  Our favourite ride at Disneyland was Space Mountain.  Discovered that Disneyland really is a kid’s wonderland though.  There aren’t that many adrenaline pumping rides so I don’t see myself returning anytime too soon.  Here are the best of the pics I took there…  Actually, in doing this, I’ve realised I didn’t get too many good ones… really like that one of my feet though…

I added some pics of Asakusa too, to make up for the average Disneyland ones.  Decided I wanted to play with angles with a chunk of those ones..  They are the first ten or so (duh).

 

Came across this page on the Japanese advances in robotic technology – kinda interesting stuff..  As the article says it is used with a teleprompter as a kind of proxy; something that the participant can communicate with more easily than the distant people on the screen, half way round the country or world.  A technology to interface with a technology that is already about closing the distance between people… or maintaining it, depending on how you want to look at it.  It’s a crazy world we’re living in.  We’re through the looking glass here people…

More interesting perhaps, is the link at the bottom of the page which feature the ‘supermodel’ robot.    This article is quite humorous in its style.  The robot was made to look anime-ish rather than ‘real’ because as one of the researchers said, “If we had made the robot too similar to a real human, it would have been uncanny.”  Isn’t that something of the point..?  We all know the sex industry is funding this, don’t we?  And surely, they want as realistic as possible?

Words can only sometimes do justice… – Lost in Translation, Sophia Coppola

(contains spoilers – go watch it first, I guarantee its worth it)

Since arriving in Japan, I’ve been hankering to watch this film again.  The sweeping shots of the Tokyo cityscape evoked awe the first time I saw it and still do now, despite the fact that I have now actually experienced those views.  The movie drags a ton of awards behind it because it is perfectly cast, well-paced, uses music wonderfully and best of all, is funny and feels real.  It feels authentic.  Like one of those special fleeting moments that happens in life.  All of these things make it a joy to watch.

The film follows two main characters, Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), each in Tokyo and each somewhat lost in their lives.  Bob is “getting paid $2 million to endorse a whiskey when I could be doing a play somewhere” and Charlotte is accompanying her photographer husband because she “wasn’t doing anything else”.  Charlotte’s searching is represented through long lingering over-the-shoulder shots out her hotel window, giving us those awe-inspiring views I mentioned.

She feels alone and the movie hints at the ego’s need for attention.  Bob’s comeback to Charlotte’s withering attacks on his one night stand late in the film, “Wasn’t there anyone else there to lavish you with attention.”   Neither of the two can sleep and from meeting in the hotel bar and swimming pool at the midnight hour they begin an unlikely friendship, always verging on romance but all the better for the film that it doesn’t take us further than lingering looks and moments of silence.

Discussing the other other woman

 

The movie’s triumph is the chemistry between the two leads.  Murray is somewhere between a father, a lover and a friend to Johansson, who treats him as an equal, rather than a movie star and who seems drawn to his world-weariness, at least in part because there may be some answers for her within it.  Murray’s character actually starts the film being a bit of a culturally insensitive wanker but you become aware of an authenticity and playfulness in these scenes lacking in others later such as when talking to his wife on the phone.  Some of these scenes, such as when the prostitute asks him to ‘Lip them, lip them’ (i.e. rip her stockings), and when the director asks him to imitate Roger Moore, are hilarious.  As the line above shows, Murray’s character, Bob, is less than satisfied with making commercials in Japan.  His marriage is stale, being solely about the kids and picking out new carpet for his study (Fedex’d to him in Japan!?! Could it not just wait till he gets home!).  “I like the burgundy one, but whatever you like.”   “We used to have a lot of fun,” he tells Charlotte, when she asks whether marriage gets easier.

Actually I think this one is Frank Sinatra - Ol' Blue Eyes

She is two years in, compared to Bob’s 25 (“But really, you sleep 1/3 of your life, so that cuts off eight years right there.  That takes you down to 16 and change, you know, you’re just a teenager at marriage.  You can drive it but there’s still the occasional accident.”), and is unsure she knows her husband.  The scenes between the two are characterised as lacking time and having a shallowness of communication that is nicely juxtaposed with the scenes of the two leads.  The scenes between Murray and Johansson say oceans worth when often very little is actually verbalised.  Charlotte is seeking.  She doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life.  She is a thoughtful soul, a philosophy graduate and has tried her hand at a few artistic endeavours.  She tells Bob, “I’ve tried writing, but I hate my writing” (a lot of the time, I know how she feels).

Her husband calls her a snob but the audience has little trouble siding with Charlotte when they see his people pleasing ways.  This is typified in the scenes with the blonde Hollywood actress, Kelly, who, in one of the film’s funniest scenes, tells us how often people tell her she’s anorexic.
“Oh, cos I thought you were anorexic, too… you know, cos you look so…” in that kinda sleepy way that Giovanni Ribisi just owns.
“Thank you! I know, but it’s…”  And on she goes, to talk of “power cleanses.“  “You must try this power cleanse!” at which point, I’m cracking up and Charlotte just up and leaves, joining a miserable Bob at the bar.  They plan a prison break, leaving first the bar, the hotel, the city and then the country, and needing a lot of alcohol in the process; a conversation so full of whimsy it dances all around the bullshit talk that comes right before it.

Music is integral to both narrative and the propulsion of the thematic interests of Coppola.  The karaoke scene halfway through the film is pivotal in its placement, its narrative importance and is one of the most beautiful scenes ever committed to celluloid.  Chaotically cut and filmed on handicam, it continues to capture a sense of playfulness and connection between Bob and Charlotte.  Charlotte sings Brass in Pocket with Coppola capturing the looks between her and Bob masterfully (I feel like I’ve shared that look many times), building the chemistry between the two and adding to movie’s unclear message about authenticity vs. the needs of the ego.  Bob follows, singing Bryan Ferry’s beautiful More than This.  Does the film really tell us there is nothing more than this?  In a lot of ways, yeah.  The searching of these characters is producing for them little in the way of fruitful results.  What it perhaps helps lead to is a whimsical friendship that captures so much of what is glorious about life – fun, fancy, vivacious experience, communication void of words, and desire and the repression of it.  Their searching bears no fruit by the film’s end.  Bob’s comment to his wife about wanting to change his lifestyle and eat Japanese is comical, as is her response.   Charlotte; well, we are left with little idea where she will go from here.

So Into You is played by the hotel jazz band near the film’s end adding to the star’s chemistry in a similar way to the karaoke scene.  Two-shots of Bob and Charlotte holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes are intercut with shots of the band.  Bob’s eyes show the ache of desire, of parting, and of age and a path already taken.  Charlotte’s look is one of commiseration for all those things.  The choice of song beguiles the audience further as to what exactly is the nature of this relationship.

This movie is funny.  Very funny.  It touches you but also makes you laugh.  Translation in the film primarily relates to these characters being in states of change.  Reading translation simply as from one language to another would be a very shallow, surface take on the film, but this is undeniably a part of the film and adds hugely to its humour.  Murray’s scenes being shot for the Suntory whiskey ads are hilarious.  The first director is very intense, splurting loud, rapid and lengthy Japanese of which Bob’s translator relays in a few words of English.  “Is that everything?  It seemed like he said quite a bit more than that.”  I’ve already mentioned the scenes with the other director and with the prostitute.  There is another scene where Bob is in the hospital talking to a little old man, having no idea what he is saying and being laughed at by two woman sitting behind him.  I saw Bill Murray on the Late Show recently and got the sense he was probably very comfortable with this role and doing these scenes.

Tokyo is made love to by Coppola’s camera.  As a Japanophile the movie is interesting enough just for the shots of Tokyo and the brief immersion in various aspects of the country’s culture which it provides.  We eat out, we’re given omiyage, we practise ikebana, we do karaoke, we drink sake, we go to bars, to Shibuya, to Kyoto, to temples, to the pachinko parlour and the video arcade, but it is the long shots out the windows of the hotel’s upper levels which still leave me awe-inspired and makes Tokyo feel like the third person in this short but special relationship.  The camera roves back and forth over Johansson’s shoulder a number of times in a number of shots, symbolising the vastness of her character’s search and of life.    The rarer night shots showing the flashing red lights of Tokyo’s skyscrapers and the floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel bar also dazzle.

Lost in Translation revels in the subtleties of communication, relationships and life.  It shows us scene after scene where words do not suffice or words are not needed.  For this, it is beautiful.  It satisfies musically, visually, and its pace keeps the viewer ever interested and full of suspense as to where this relationship will go.  The film scores the triple homerun of being funny, authentic and thought-provoking.  Coppola, Johansson and Murray deserve every one of their heavy haul.  I know I’ll watch this movie again and again.

 

 

 

This post was meant to be a summary of my first week at Tako Chugakkou and particularly of the unique Japanese take on Sports Day (undokai or… what’s that other name…?) but two weeks has passed since then and now I’m not exactly sure what this post is going to morph into, so if you thought you were in safe hands (why, I’ll never know), you now know you aren’t.

Luckily I wrote some notes about a fortnight ago..  My first day of school I had to introduce myself to the students in the gym along with the new art teacher.  We were sat on the stage and various people came up and down off their with us saying a few words.  This was all punctuated with a lot of bowing.  I simply followed the lead of the sensei beside me.  I got up and said my few words without too much trouble.  The thing that struck me, not on the stage, but afterwards sitting at the side, was the sea of black hair.  Every head… black hair…  It’s as if nature and culture have colluded in this group mentality thing that the Japanese are known for.  That’s one more division swept away.  Think of how loaded the concept of hair colour is in Western countries.  Blondes are thick/have more fun, red heads are passionate, black heads – hold on, that’s not right… people with black hair are dark and depressed.  I’m stretching a little with the last one, but you get the idea.

A sea of black hair

This is not to say they all look the same though.  My sister asked me the politically incorrect question (bless her!) – ‘Can you tell the kids apart?’ – and the answer is yeah, I really can.  I guess its something to do with immersion.  When all the faces around you are Asian, the differences are a lot more pronounced.  There are kids that look similar but for the most part, the faces are as individual as Western faces, even if the colour of their hair isn’t.

Moving on… the thing that took the most getting used to that week was shoes (kutsu, in Nihongo).  Most people know that the Japanese don’t wear shoes inside their homes but this also extends to schools.  By the front doors are lockers for each of the teacher’s shoes and the pair that they wear inside.  At each end of the building are a mass of cubbyholes for the student’s shoes.  My first week was spent wearing a pair of snazzy blue slippers around inside until I bought some stunning white trainers after observing what the other men seemed to be wearing.  It was also spent trying to remember to wear those snazzy blue slippers inside.  It was also spent trying to keep those snazzy blue slippers on my feet, particularly while going up the stairs of the four floors of the school building.

As a little aside, there have been a couple of typhoons pass by Chiba in the past fortnight, the second one is hitting right now, in fact.  To cope with this, well, look back a few posts and you’ll see my jacket.  Along with this, the office ladies kindly donated some sexy gumboots, known as rainboots here in Japan.  You should see me wearing these things with my little black stubbies and my plastic jacket (that’s right, I’m still using it) – I feel like the world’s cheapest prostitute.  Anyway, it’s apparently OK for me to wear my gumboots inside the Board of Education.  They don’t make you take your shoes off going in there, but wearing gumboots inside is simply anathema for someone from New Zealand.  We would never do it.  I can’t do it.  So the couple of times I’ve been down there in them I take them off at the door and they think I’m really strange.  It could also be the jacket I’m wearing though…  You should all know though, I only do the stubbies-gummies combo on the way to school in the morning – I could permanently scar people and destroy any chance of community acceptance wearing that outfit at any other time.

Moving on again… the most difficult and frustrating thing of the past three weeks has been my inability to express myself.  At points, I feel like a baby.  Usually when you need information you can get it.  Communication, although difficult, takes place; for example, learning how to use the copier (which is slightly different in Japan) and the guillotine (which is very different in Japan; that thing is a beast!  Albeit, a safety conscious beast).

It’s those times when something happens and you want to comment or you think of a good idea or witty remark, that frustration occurs, because, speaking in English, no one around you is going to understand, and speaking in Japanese… well, I just don’t have the Japanese ability to express what I want to say.  This has felt compounded at times because I’m in an environment – school – that is essentially familiar.  I guess I should be grateful as this has probably made the frustration less than what it could be.

Sports Day in Japan consumes the whole week that comes before it.  I can only imagine how this would go down with teachers and with parents, for that matter, in New Zealand.  The first week back to school was taken up with ‘practice’ for the big day, which fell on Saturday (got the following Monday off, don’t worry!).  Each day was spent outside in the ridiculous Japanese summer heat and humidity.  I did hear of other schools were students were actually dropping of fatigue/sun stroke throughout the day.  One school apparently had nearly thirty kids go down on the actual morning of their Sports Day until they called it off to do the rest the following week!  Thankfully, being the gaijin I was allowed some leeway and could pop inside and outside.  I think people were actually impressed I was outside as much as I was.

It wasn’t until Thursday, I’m fairly sure, that I saw anything that looked remotely like the practising of sports.  Up until then there was practice of an elaborate opening ceremony involving militaristic marching, flag raising and taking my hat off for the Japanese national anthem.  I wonder what my very un – P.C grandmother, who loves to remind me of WWII, would’ve said seeing this..

There was practising of the girl’s choreographed dance and for the boys, kumi taiso, which can’t really be translated but is something like ‘strength exercises’.  Both of these were pretty impressive.  The sannensei (third year) students choreograph a dance over the summer and then teach it to all the girls.  One teacher told me that this dance was quite different because rather than a pop song, they had chosen a folk song from Hokkaido about fishermen, hence some of the movements.  This song had some great singing in it, too!  The kumi taiso involved a range of different activities, one of the coolest of which I’ve got no pictures of.  Still, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

There were two teams – Red and White – this seems to be common across all of Japan and the day was a competition between the two to see which could amass the most points.  Each team developed what were called ‘ohen’ – team cheers or chants is probably what we would call them.  These were awesome!  The students were just so genki (energetic) about the whole thing.  In New Zealand, something like this, would, in many cases, be gutted by too many students who think they are too cool for singing and dancing (I probably would’ve been amongst them) and while these students were present, they were certainly in the minority and even they were still doing it.  That group mentality thing again.

So on to the sports and the day itself… these weren’t sports as we would think of Sports Day.  I guess we call it ‘Athletic’s Day’, don’t we?  That’s what I had in mind, particularly as I’d seen some kids using the pole vault one afternoon.  It was nothing like that.  Instead, there were a series of games.  Perhaps the coolest one was four students running a bamboo pole down to a cone, around it and back up to the other rows of four students.  These rows had to jump as the students with the bamboo ran it underneath them and then returned it to the front for the next group of students.  I was waiting for the carnage…  There were tall bamboo poles erected with a basket at the top.  Groups with different coloured balls then attempted to get as many balls in the basket as possible.  These were a competition between the different classes in each year level and also included the parents of the students.  This was a really nice touch I thought.  It was kinda a family day out.  Other games involved parents, like the one where students grabbed a hula hoop and a card which instructed them on who had to cross the finish line alongside them in that hula hoop.  There was another game I have dubbed ‘the soccer game’, where students grabbed a particular colour bib, the colour corresponding to what they had to do – dribble the ball, kick it, run with it between their knees etc. – and be first to the other end.  It was all great fun.  There was also a relay which I somehow managed to cock up.  I dunno, maybe a saved it from an even worse cock up but I made the guy after me run a full lap instead of the mandated half lap.

Finally, before signing off, I’ve just remembered how Sports Day brought up the first instances of kuuki yomenai – ‘reading the air’.  The first thing I noticed was that everyone had their shirts tucked in.  So the following day I did the same and found it very surprising how quickly this actually felt alright.  The second thing was that no one was wearing sunglasses despite being out in the bright sun all day.  I left my sunnies down in Togane at this point anyway so I was forced into fitting in.  Had they been with me, I woulda been wearing ’em.  Never been one to fall all the way in line.

Around the time of Chiba Orientation, a little over a month ago, a wee birdie whispered in my ear that Shapeshifter were coming to Japan.  No, it couldn’t be, I thought..  Probably my favourite band and the best live act in New Zealand coming here.. this has got to be too good to be true.  Fevered internet searching revealed that it, in fact, wasn’t and that Shapeshifter would play two gigs, the first of the 11th Sept in a little place in the mountains called Minakami at a gig called Summer Splash.  Their second gig would be Tokyo, the following Saturday, at a club called Unit (a little bit of which I have already posted 😀 ).

The weekend was brilliant.  I’ll paint the briefest picture because our tour guide and all around good guy George, has written up a review here that would have me largely only repeating him.

We were not the ones would had to catch a shinkansen instead of the bus.  We made it on time, just.  We all (Trey, Kate and I) stayed the night at Kate’s beforehand, caught the 6.20 train out of Kamagaya to Shinjuku and emerged from it with nearly a half an hour to find the bus, as I had planned.

I haven’t really gone into this yet and I guess now is as good a time as any but I am a founding member of a fraternity here in Japan.  Don’t ask me our name cos I can’t remember – ‘Alpha Oh La La’ rings a bell…  There are around seven members of the fraternity at the moment – Trey, Kate, myself, Nathan, Amanda, Kiwi Nicola and Tyler (I think that’s everyone).  I have been designated the Navigator because of my superior geography and well, navigation skills.

So, rather obviously, it was my job to set this all up and essentially get us on that fuckin’ bus.  That morning I discovered that when I don’t know where I’m going and particularly when I’m working with limited time I become more than a little bit stressed.  It’s two weeks later and I still have a very distinct memory of Kate and Trey walking behind me down this tunnel (stoopid, crazy giant station) chatting away and laughing as the time approached for the bus and me with Google Maps in hand talking to myself, saying, ‘I don’t think this is right, shit, fuck, shit’ and feeling myself getting agitated; more so with their lighthearted banter in my left ear.  And finally, even more so when we emerge from the tunnel and I know this isn’t right and Trey says, ‘We go up there, I reckon’ and… he’s fuckin’ right!!

Moving right along, the early afternoon was spent by the Tone River which runs through Minakami and which has a swimming hole that ranks up there with the best of any I’ve experienced in New Zealand.  Rocky outcrops, perfect for jumping, lined both sides of the river for a strip of about 60 or 70 metres.  Later on a group of young kids came down, Minakami locals, and counted me down while I jumped.  One of them came over the other side and we were able to communicate a little bit.  I asked if they came here every day (mainichi koko ni kimasu ka – very bad but understandable Japanese) and he replied in the affirmative – lucky bastards .  He showed me how it was done from the top, giving me the balls to give it a go too (the height wasn’t the issue, it was the depth.  I was already touching the bottom from the next ledge below.   This boy was half my weight too, but fuck it, only live once).  Awesome, awesome fun!

A view up the lovely Tone River from the middle of Minakami

The onsen at Mochiya Ryokan, the place where we stayed was pretty cool.  And very very hot!  There were separate ones for guys and gals, with an open space near the roof allowing us to talk to each other (and for the odd person to peek over) if we so wanted.  The room was quite large with the pool taking up perhaps a third of the floor space.  The windows opened onto a green slope right behind the inn and there were little stools and shower heads low to the ground for clean off beforehand.  Getting in was an exercise in patience.  And one that I didn’t do too well in at first.  I quickly retreated and eased myself in a bit at a time towards ecstasy (yes! in my spare time I am a writer of erotic fiction, how did you guess!?).  Pretty soon I had a good sweat up and time was getting on.  It was time for Summer Splash!

I remember catching a band called the Dirty T’s who were awesome.  George’s description is very apt.  What he misses though is myself and a very drunk Kiwi girl called Ashlee right down the front rockin’ out for all we were worth.  For Ashlee, this extended to getting on stage and trying to strum both the bassist and vocalists guitars while they played!  I missed everything else from there up until Shapeshifter.  I think the pool table is where I found myself at this time.  Shapeshifter, of course, were awesome, but I couldn’t help being a little disappointed that it was only Reno and P Diggsss… Now I know what the title ‘Shapeshifter Soundsystem’ means…  Nothing can capture the essence that is the full Shapies line up live.. but they still put on a damn fine set and had the place rockin as they transitioned into more club oriented sounds and I headed home for bed about 1.30.

(As a side note, Sambora was added to the duo the following week in Tokyo and have to say this did make a substantial difference with Diggsss able to concentrate on vocals a lot more.)

Climbing Tanigawa dake was amazing.  I met a shirtless 75 year old Japanese man on the way up who spoke amazing English and inspired the shirtless look in me despite the lightly falling rain.  He taught me about the tengu – a mythical creature in a little red cap and with a big nose that sometimes lands on the rocky outcrop where we were chatting and who I later saw cast in something (or was it carved from wood..) at Takaragawa Onsen.  It’s not often I’m tramping without a big fuck off pack on so I was taking the liberating chance of going shirtless while I had it.  This picture says it all.

As George mentions we got so close to the top but not quite there.  Myself, a German guy and a Japanese girl got closer than anyone else.  ‘We’ll go just that little bit further’ as it looked like we might get a view over the ridge to the mountains in the background.  Unfortunately we didn’t really and it only caused me frustration because another ten minutes and we would’ve been up to the marker post near the summit.  We would also have missed either lunch or the bus.  The former perhaps I could’ve handled for the view..

Takaragawa Onsen is a beautiful, mystical place.  Didn’t much like the black bears in the little cages though..  Still, can’t wait to go back here.  Got to say, highly impressed with everyone’s openness and maturity vis a vis the nudity.  Helped make the experience all the more authentic Japanese.  On the flipside of that though, a few of the boys wouldn’t have minded seein’ a bit more tittie though I’m sure.  That topic sentence so doesn’t fit the rest of this paragraph now, does it?

Then came the bus ride home.  We were meant to arrive about 8pm but snarling Tokyo traffic meant we made Shinjuku station about 9.30.  Here’s where the story gets really interesting!  I knew I wasn’t going to make it home by train.  My scooter was waiting for me at Shibayama Chiyoda eki and the last train there was at 10.30.  I wasn’t going to make it.  I had options.  Stay here, stay there and then get the train in the morn.  I still had a Japanese lesson to prep for though so I was keen to get home that night to get up and do that in the morn before school so off I went.  I made it into Narita at 11.30 and realised I still hadn’t made it to a cash machine (I had to sponge 1000 yen off Trey for lunch earlier that day – take more money with you, Michael).  I tried a machine, all looked good but then my 5000 yen was not spat out with the receipt.  What was going on?  I didn’t know but suspected that although the machine looked like it was open, it was in fact closed (I later found out, Chiba Ginko, my bank, shuts off all its ATM operations at 11.00 despite the fact this machine was open until 1am – ATM’s are fucked up in Japan..and given we’re talking about a cash society…)  So… I had no money, no train home.. I went to the nearest 7-11 to try their ATM.  Again, no luck.  I met a woman who spoke a little English who offered to swap the $10 NZ dollars I had in my wallet for 1000 yen (after I assured her of the exchange rate) – this was incredibly kind of her!  Lovely Japanese people!  Pity a taxi to the station was gonna be 5000 yen!  That’s like nearly $100 bucks to go ten k.  Fuckers!  There was no way he was taking me anywhere so I tapped directions into Google Maps and headed on my way.  I guesstimated my time of arrival at home at 3am..  Luckily after about 3 k of dark backroads I hit a slightly busier road and after a dozen or so cars had gone past and ignored my thumb a guy picked me up.  You were young, a horse trainer, I can’t remember your name, my white knight, I’m sorry, but you are fuckin’ awesome!  I didn’t offer him that 1000 yen at the station.  I gave him something much more (ugh, no!!!) – the 500ml of Asahi Super Dry I was carrying.  He accepted it, we parted and at 12.50am I got on my scooter and rode home.

George, thanks a lot for that review cos somehow this thing turned into a monster!  It’s becoming a bit of a habit though.

A photo roll of people’s shots can be viewed here.  My Facebook album can be found here.

Time for dinner.

Came across these wandering around this fairly hideous little mall in Sosa shi, the closest city to Tako town, on Respect for the Aged day (Sept 20th).  From what I saw, Sosa shi looks fairly hideous in general actually.  The one cool thing was this furniture shop that looks like a second hand store by the layout of the place but has all this beautiful, expensive wooden furniture inside it.  Thought I might find a screen for my apartment in there but alas, no.  Maybe in Narita tonight.

I also managed to bring back sleep deprivation, damaged hearing and a few damn good memories 🙂  Oh and this…

This bastard gets to sleep while I make sure we don't miss our transfer (all the while nodding off and banging my head against the window)

The typhoon has hit.  Its blowing a gale outside and has been bucketing down since about 3.00pm.  Finally!  (the rain I mean, haven’t seen a lot of that)  So here’s what the office ladies (‘jimu no onnano hito’ maybe…) fashioned me for my scooter ride home today.  They also got me some gumboots that apparently have been sitting at school for twenty years.  Sex on legs, I tell ya…

If you can’t quite tell this is just a large plastic bag with a holes cut at the bottom for my head and arms.  I also went to the BOE (kyouiku iinkai) wearing this, forgetting how many students hang out there and being laughed at by many a high school student.  Who cares though.  I’m a crazy gaijin in this country and making a fool of myself seems almost part of my job description so I just smiled and laughed and asked, ‘Suki desu ka’ – do you like it? to which came a halting, ‘Oh, ah, yes, ah…’ Put them on the spot…

I’ve written these in 3 – 5 – 3 because I think that syllable count better captures the ideals of traditional Japanese haiku where the syllable count is 5 – 7 – 5 (‘three lines that don’t rhyme’ for anyone that listens to Haiku d’etat out there).  Japanese syllables are shorter and given even stress.  Haiku written in 5 – 7 – 5 in English often feel wordy compared to the translations of Japanese haiku that I have read which often don’t subscribe to the 5 – 7 – 5 syllable count.

Peddling legs
mimic cicada’s
dry rhythm

Wild horses
on peaks, surge forth from
golden light

On peaks, wild
horses surge forth from
golden light

From golden
light, wild horses come,
Scaring me

Golden light
rifts heavy cloud, wild
horses surge

Obviously, the last four are variations on the one thing; a dream, in fact.  In one of two dreams that night where I was on mountain tops, darkish grey clouds hung in the distance, with magnificient golden light breaking through them – the kind of effect you see on some days except I’ve never seen the light look golden like this.  From the peaks below this light came marauding a bunch of wild horses whose outlines I could vaguely make out in this distance.  Despite them being quite a long ways away, I was terrified of being trampled and was trying to push myself hard up against some rocks where I gap existed, hoping they would pass by me.  Was a cool dream!  Vivid!

Would definitely appreciate any feedback on which one people think captures the dream best…  In each version, it felt like I had to sacrifice something…

I just got a haircut and while that may seem like a rather inane experience I thought I’d share it anyway.  Hey, it’s YOU reading this.

Obviously, the thing to share is not just the process but the feelings associated with it.  It is 35 degrees here in Chiba… every day… that’s the first thing.  So shedding the mane is a practical step to being just that little bit cooler and certainly the bike ride home was a joyous thing as I felt the kaze (wind) swish past my ears.

Second thing; when my hair gets to any sort of length I feel the insatiable need to twist it.  I’m not entirely sure where this comes from.  It’s not really a nervous tick.  More like something to do with my hands and something I do when I’m thinking.  My mother does it (or did it, maybe not so much now).  It just feels good.  Fuckin’ great, in fact.  But I know it is unbecoming to an adult male, particularly in front of a class of young people.  It’s also rather effeminate and just looks odd.  Perhaps I shouldn’t care but well… I do a bit obviously.

Anyway, I was talking about feelings.  Getting something like a haircut done in a country where you can’t really communicate properly is a little bit of a scary thing.  Thankfully, there are other ways you can communicate.  I took a picture in of myself after a recent haircut.  This was the only such picture I had and it also had my girlfriend, Amelia in it.

The cute young woman on the counter immediately asked me who she was.  “Gurofrendo,” I replied.  “Ah, in Nujirando?  She is very pretty. Kawai!” (cute) at which point she proceeded to do that funny love heart thing with her hands.

This broke the ice and although I couldn’t understand basically anything she said, she was lovely.  She sat me down and conferred with the guy who would eventually cut my hair.  The usual garments were put over me except the gown thingie had sleeves which took me a minute to realise.  I should also say this place was basically just like a salon back home.  She then asked if I would like my hair shampoo’d, to which I replied, ‘Oh, yes please.’  This is possibly the best part of the haircut experience.  It feels like absolute pampering and you don’t have to sit and watch yourself in the mirror for whatever period of time, wondering why you look so strange to yourself.  In fact, a veil was placed over my face.  Why?  Maybe to stop shit getting in my eyes.  Maybe to reduce glare from the flourescents above me.  I dunno.  Anyway, I liked it.  ‘So this is what it’s like to be a bride…’ ran through my mind.  Three different products were put through my hair.  I dunno if my hair was dirty but she was really thorough.  I also got my temples and scalp massaged a little bit.  Ah, bliss!

Next came the actual haircut.  This was the longest haircut I’ve ever had.  The whole experience took an hour and a quarter of which I was in the chair for 50 minutes I guess.  That usually flick me out the door within 20 at home.  It was also the first I’ve ever had a cut done by a man.  This didn’t produce any anxiety, perhaps because he had awesome wavy locks himself.  Perhaps it was because he looked like a Japanese cowboy with all his paraphernalia in a holster on his hip.  Perhaps that sorta thing just doesn’t worry me.  This man was an artist.  He clipped here.  He snipped there.  He stood back and took a look from all the angles.  There was no buzzing the side of my head with clippers.  He did the whole thing freehand.  And he understood what I meant when I said clippers and made a buzzing action up the side of my dome.  I was watching very closely what he was doing, as I just wasn’t sure that his idea of what I was after was the same as my idea of what I was after.  About two thirds through though I realised that it was.

My haircut was concluded with a head and shoulder massage of a good few minutes – very nice.  Some cold stuff was shot into my scalp before being vigorously rubbed.  My shoulders were kneaded while I tried to remain still.  It’s a little different being massaged that vigorously while sitting up.  Finally, I was rinsed and that was it.  An hour and a quarter later and 3,360 yen (50 bucks) poorer, I walked into the bright sunshine followed by my head artist who saw me out – service in Japan is fucking awesome, but that’s a whole ‘nother story – and shook my hand goodbye.

For the moment, I’m just going to speak to photos because I think they will allow me to collect my impressions as good as anything (and more succinctly than just allowing me to free write – see the last post).  They’ll also allow me to create a starting point for things I can elaborate on when I actually understand this country a bit more.  I’ll preface the body of this by saying, if you don’t like cuss words just be aware that they are in here, particularly in no.8.  If you are appalled by pornography, don’t read number 8.  If you are my parents or grandparents, please don’t read no.8 (or if you do so, you can’t say you were not warned).

1.  It’s a pretty shitty picture and a shitty picture to start with but trains fuckin’ rock.  This is the Keisei line sweeping into Narita from Shibayama Chiyoda and Narita Airport.  Shibayama Chiyoda is the nearest train station to me (about 8k away) which I biked to a couple of weekends ago, simply eager to jump on a train somewhere.  It took me around about here, from where I could have gone pretty much anywhere I like 🙂  The engineering blows my mind.  Look at those ginormous slabs of concrete!  We don’t tend to build ‘up’ in New Zealand all that much.  In Japan it’s a necessity and it makes for some incredibly impressive spatial features.

2.  Basically you look into the heart of that previous picture and that is where I found this man.  I’ve seen him a few times now and I still cannot figure a psychology where that would induce you to take up or continue smoking.  ‘Holy shit, smokings going to make me look like that!  I’ve got to cut this shit out!’  If my time in Japan provides me insight into how the fuck that ad sells cigarettes I will consider the time well spent.

3 – 6.  Narita san Shinsho-ji Temple – This place is huge!  And a very famous temple in Japan.  Its grandiosity along with its beauty makes it a wonder to wander around.  Here is a link to the map of the temple grounds.  Met an Australian women here who wasn’t handling the heat very well, definitely not as well as this Kiwi who’d just biked 8 k earlier that day – haha, delicious irony…

4 – 7.  Kiwi buddies!  We have all gone our separate ways (I’m one of only three Kiwi JETs in Chiba, and the only new one) and I look forward to us meeting up again, cos these guys were cool.  That’s Ashlee eating tongue.  Yum!  That’s Michael wandering through a little bit of Shinjuku (possibly carrying a jar of sake…?  That’s right, a jar – for the measly sum of 150 yen or so – a couple of bucks).  He was an interesting cat and hopefully I will get down to Hyogo at some point soon for a visit.  With slightly more Japanese than the last time we saw each other, Mike!

8.  Ahh… yes… what do I say about this one…  This was taken in a porn centre, dubbed the ‘Yellow Submarine’ cos the building its in looks like a giant fuck off yellow submarine.  Inside, there was no Beatles playing on the stereo although there was a bit of Beastie Boys including ‘Hey Ladies’ at one point, somewhat ironically.  This place was Naaaaasssssty.  Like, reeeeeeeeaaaaal Naaaaasssty.  Capital ‘N’ Naaaaassssty  And for those that know me, that’s coming from me!  For the unintiated (to Japanese porn, not me), in Japan, the genitals are blurred in pornos.  In manga hentai, you’ll get a little grey strip across the ‘bits’ that really still doesn’t leave anything to the imagination.  DVD’s its fully blurred.  Other than that though, it’s pretty much anything goes.  Bondage, shit fetish, guys getting the shit beaten out of them, rape, guys getting the shit beaten out of them while eating shit, and worst of all, kids.  All sorts of crazy shit featuring little kids… I don’t think any of the DVDs have young kids actually having sex but all manner of voyeurism.  I hear the age of consent in Japan varies from prefecture to prefecture, I don’t know what the story is regarding pornography and what is and isn’t ok involving those under 18 but I think I can safely say what the three of us did see was enough to turn all our stomachs.   On a lighter note, I’m a pig and Trey is a madam dripping hot wax on my little piggy ass.  Oh did I mention the hot wax bondage DVD’s…?

9.  Togane festival – Kate, Nathan and Trey.  This was a super fun night, preceded by a super fun day taking surfing lessons and and even more super fun night partying with the surfers from earlier in the day (with Trey dropping jewels on the mic for a bit – woop!).  This festival saw the local Togane JETs dressed up in yukatta (not 100% sure I’m spelling that right), a light summer komono and joining in the parade.  We other international folk were cajoled into joining (not savvy Nathan though, he knew what was coming…) and dancing around this big building for about 45 minutes straight.  I think we did three laps.  We were amongst all these other groups but we were repping the Togane International Friendship Association (fo’ life!) and they hooked up the drinks afterwards so good on them 🙂

10.  Trey and Nathan earlier in the day, pre – surfing… both wearing purple shirts… make of it what you will…

11.  Us folk out in Tokyo trying to find the restaurant we would eventually eat at.  Place was called Chopsticks and looked very swank and expensive but was in fact, entirely reasonable.  I think it came to 2200 yen each (just under $40 bucks) and I had three beers too!  One of the dishes was an elegantly sliced raw fish, brought to the table where it was seared with a blow torch.  I know there is a reaction shot of me that is rather amusing at this point but it must be on someone’s camera, not the internet.  Will see if I can put my hands on it at some point.  Interestingly, one of the Japanese girls we were with was a bit taken aback at splitting the bill evenly.  Apparently we men should have been paying or at least paying more.  Not in America, baby!  Woah, hold on… I’ve been spending too much time with Americans…  Oh, I should also mention Roppongi.  Don’t recommend it.  Full of sleazy gaigin.  Fully of sleazy Japanese.  Just sleazy all round.  Not a nice vibe.

12 – 13.  You know you are out far too late in Tokyo if you can cross an intersection that looks like this.  This is between Tokyo Station and Chiyoda Park (not 100% on this name, someone please correct me…), where Trey and I caught an hour or so’s sleep before hopping the bus back to Togane.  Sleeping in the park… just like bums… and feeling a bit like bums at that point…  It was 6am and already starting to get warm.  As you can see from no. 13 though, certainly not looking like bums.  Check out that Mac.  Gonna blow Trey’s horn a wee bit here (yeah yeah, ya dirty fuckers) – quoting Nathan:  “This guy just continually impresses me.”  Me too.  Intelligent, driven, gregarious and therefore great fun to be around, he brings the party.  It’s in large part down to him that I’ve had such a great time in Japan so far.  You won’t have my vote President Reliford (only because I’m not a citizen, of course) but definitely keep that ambassadorship open for me.

14.  Pachinko parlour down the road from my house.  This thing is beautiful, if gaudy.  It flashes different colours and the lights can make it look like its rotating.  I live in the country but I’m on Route 296, a fairly major road running through the north east of Chiba, from Sosashi through Tomisatoshi, Sakurashi and on to Funabashi,  northwest of Chiba City.  I dunno how many pachinko parlours I’ve got within a 1km radius of my house but its kinda scary.  There is another place in the opposite direction and the car park on that motherfucker is the size of the Pak ‘n’ Save or Countdown carpark back home in Invers (I tried getting a picture the other night but too dark, next time I’m passing in daylight).  To enlighten you further on vice in Japan; gambling, at least to my understanding is essentially illegal.  I have been told you can bet on horses but that was a rather halting conversation where I don’t think either of us really understood each other.  Pachinko parlours operate as gambling institutes by having the collection area ‘around the corner’.  I’m not sure how much ‘around the corner’ this really is; the collection areas may be in the same building and the government pretty much turns a blind eye to it.  I do know, you ain’t gonna go to any (legal) casino in Japan and betting on baseball is a big no no, as some Sumo grand champions recently found out.

15.  Apparently this stuff is rubbish.  Yes, that gigantic carved Buddha-like figure, holding a baby in her arms is garbage.  Incredible.

16.  My place is the second story, fair left.  That’s the hospital you can see in the distance on the left, across the rice paddies.

As I write this, (2010.8.8 – date’s written backwards here) I mark one week in Japan.  It has been quite a ride so far.  From the Keio Plaza Hotel in the middle of Shinjuku to Tako-machi, a little town in the middle of Chiba.  While geographically not too many miles apart, psychologically it has been a shinkansen ride from one end of the country to the other.  That is a bit of an overstatement, as I have had so much help since I’ve arrived in Tako but no longer do I have other English speaking JETs around to help me navigate trains or order food in restaurants or translate what I’m trying to say to people.  I discovered yesterday that it is a confounding experience to ask someone something simple in English first and then in what I thought was a reasonable Nihongo approximation only to be met with a blank stare.  How do you respond to that..?  I don’t know how to say, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ in Nihongo!

The bus ride into Tokyo from Narita Airport was my first glimpse of what my new home might look like.  Chiba prefecture is really green!  I knew Japan would have trees (obviously) and forests but wasn’t prepared for how many in such a small area with so many people.  Tako is beautiful.  The view is like nothing you would ever see in New Zealand.  From my second story apaato, I look out over rice paddies to houses tucked against tree covered hills.  I have Route 296, a semi-major bi-way on the other side of me.  Across the paddies I can see Seimiya, the super super market (no that’s not a proofing error) and the byouin (hospital).  So many of the houses have that stunning tiling that Asian structures are well known for.  Besides the rice, that is the visual thing that constantly reminds me I am in another country.  Funnily enough, all the kanji doesn’t strike me so much.  I think because I’m reasonably used to seeing Chinese characters at home, although obviously not so many. 

Not quite so much green here

I wonder what the Nihongo is for ‘Foreigner Invasion’?  ‘Gaigin…?’  cos I imagine that was what some of the Tokyo-ites around Keio Plaza were describing Tokyo Orientation as.  I believe there were around 800 of us in this hotel and that was only one of 3 orientations.   There are some 4,500 JETs, including us newbies and those re-contracting.  The majority there were American but there were also Canadians, Brits, Jamaicans, among others.  No Australians! 😉  We had a Kiwi contingent of just under 100.  Tuesday night, they had us all at a reception at the NZ embassy which was nice.  Good food but the beer to wine ratio coming out of the kitchen was all wrong.  You could see, particularly the guys, making a beeline, like big cats going in for the kill when a new tray of alcohol came out.  Mmm, precious beer…  Mmm, mixed metaphors…  Speaking of beer, one of the three bottles I brought over for omiyage broke in my tramping pack – really didn’t think through the packing of those bad boys very well.  Had some pretty stinky, sodden socks when I arrived.  And no, I didn’t open my mouth and wring them out.  I swear.

The Orientation workshops covered a lot of ground, some of it useful, some of it not.  Some who burnt the candle at both ends a bit too much slept through chunks of it; they know who they are 😉  Some of it was a case of ‘Heard this before’/’Isn’t that common sense’.  I’ve become pretty well aware though that common sense ain’t all that common.  The workshop on financial responsibility and budgeting yielded a couple of good tips.  There ya go Mum, I am being responsible.  Also, the one on bringing a partner to Japan was also useful.  There ya go Amelia, I got ya back.  By the end of it all, I was well over sitting through lectures though.  It was hot and we were in one of the great cities of the world – I just wanted to get out and explore.    The nights provided a chance for a bit of that and to cement friendships with Kiwis, prefectural friends and randoms met.  I indulged in a couple of sessions of karaoke.  The second night with my prefectural buddy Kate and a bunch of North Americans who, while super nice, were very intense in that particularly American way and so after the call, ‘Let’s find another bar and some more JETs’, I disappeared quietly into the night and went exploring around Shinjuku station, getting help from Japanese people, then getting myself lost (why couldn’t it have been the other way around!), and then finding myself again. 

Dinner out on the first night with a bunch of Kiwis taught me how to order things off a yakitori menu – was awesome to feel like I was getting a grip on the language straight away.  Our group thinned to five for karaoke and then after dropping the girls back at the hotel thinned again to three gentleman who were definitely not quite ready for bed.  Michael, our ‘tour guide’ of sorts, with the help of a hawker (I think that’s the word I want) navigated us to a little bar on the sixth floor of a building with the most awesome whiskey selection I’ve ever seen.  This bit’s for you, Jonni.  Ordered a beautiful Coal Isla – ohh, think I’m gonna enjoy the Japanese taste for whiskey…  The final night was spent in Shibuya (you know that big famous crossing with people moving in all directions..) being harassed by hawkers and showing true Kiwi indecision.  We initially thought our bill in one place came to 10,000 or so yen before figuring all the little bills were not to be added on top of each other; that had already been done and we just owed the amount on the bill on top.  Phew!  Finally we checked out a little hiphop club called GasPanic – could be good for a night out with some beatnuts – before catching my first train in Japan back to the hotel.

Some of the kiwi crew singing up a storm

I’m sure you’re wondering, what are the strangest things you’ve seen so far, Michael?  Probably the strangest so far is the basin that sits on top of my toilet.  Basically when I flush, water starts running out the tap on top (no not the flushed water idiot), cleaning your hands and refilling the cistern.  Quite ingenious really.  Another thing that has struck me – spiders are fuckin’ massive over here.  I’m not talking tarantula styles but imagine your common house spider, enlarge it by a dozen or more times to look like a crab of sorts with a huge ass end.  He hides during the day so don’t really have a great photo yet, will try though.  Oh lots of frogs hang out around my apartment; a frog party as Tsurumi – san quipped the other day.  Hmm what else, in Narita yesterday I saw the squat toilets for the first time.  Luckily I didn’t need to do no.2’s so can’t really comment there.  Oh used the squirt function in the hotel in Tokyo.  Very… accurate… that’s all I’ll say.  I won’t be using it again I don’t think.  This is kinda funny – I take my shoes off when I arrived at the school and put on these little slippers which I find hard to keep on my feet.  The door on the little cubby hole for my shoes won’t shut though, they are too big.

Super efficient toilet

The people in Tako have been amazing.  The first day was long.  We left Tokyo at 9 and went to the Chiba City Women’s Centre.  There we meet our supervisors.  I was met by three people – Watanabe san, my supervisor, who seems quiet and speaks very little English, Tsurumi san, who speaks pretty good English (aided by her Kenkyushu English/Nihongo Dictionary from her high school/college days) and Hirayama san (literally ‘flat mountain’) who has a little English and who enjoys tramping – Yokatta!  The ride in to Tako was great – plenty of conversation and lots of laughs.  We got my alien registration paperwork done (had to have a photo taken prior – my first experience of taking my shoes off before entering a house), went to the bank, sorted my apartment and attempted sorting a mobile phone.  We also got some groceries sorted and, by the end of the day, I had a bicycle on loan from Hirayama san.  Tsurumi san has been fantastic in helping me get sorted, being someone to speak English with and practice my Japanese on.  I have also met Koike san (lit. ‘small pond’), my Japanese teacher for one session and he is great.  We speak in Japanese as much as possible with English were I don’t understand. 

This is getting ridiculously long.  Entries won’t all be this long; I just thought it necessary to really explain this first week.  There will be other things like my new iphone (sorry Jonni, fully dark side now), my adventure to Narita Shinsho-ji temple and my speech contest students to write about but I’ll save those for a bit down the line.

So, the first seminar for new JET participants has been knocked off.  The second one will be on July 31st, the day before flying out for Tokyo.  The seminar was the first chance to meet our fellow JET participants from around the South Island, a chance to meet the Consul, to hear about travel and visa info and finally, to ask questions.  Drove up to Christchurch on Thursday evening (a leisurely 8 hour drive) and stayed two nights in the Camelot Cathedral Square – got an awesome deal from Wotif – if you’re travelling around NZ and want cheap motel accomodation (dorm rooms can be fun but when you want to chill) this site is awesome.  Had views right out over Cathedral Square and was all of two minutes from the hotel the seminar was held in.  Thursday night visited a very empty Japanese bar in Sol Square called Ishimoto and tried a very nice cocktail made with Honey Manuka vodka, ginger beer and mint followed by a couple of nice cups of sake.  These were delivered in large shot glasses sitting in the middle of a small tray filled with the overflowing sake.  I don’t think this is the traditional way of serving (and definitely not the one they described in the literature on the table) but was still pretty cool nonetheless.

Hotel view: a rather empty Cathedral Square by night

 

The seminar yielded a lot of useful information as well as a large pile of reading to take away, which I am slowly chewing through.  I am sure that will bring up questions I didn’t even know I had yet.  This apparently will pale in comparison to the amount of info given to us at Tokyo Orientation – some 5kg worth!!  Ms Carolyn Shaw of the Christchurch Polytechnic came in to give us a wee intro to learning Japanese.  She put us into teams and gave us a variety of activities where the more able Nihongo speakers could help those of us beginners.  I’d like to point out that my map of Japan was considered the best of the three groups  – very proud of that (thanks Dad for all those geography quizzes as a kid).  Also, the pic is the first I’ve taken on my new camera – a Fuji Finepix s1600 – needed more zoom power before heading off.  Mmm.. 15x optical zoom… aaaghhhh (drool, ala Homer Simpson).

Thanks Dad!

 

I’d also like to thank Carolyn for the quality of her presentation/activities and for what was the most enjoyable part of the day. 

A team teaching demonstration from Michael and Mark, two previous JET’s participating again, was insightful in regards to how an English lesson is run and what sort of activities are often used. 

The Q and A session at the end brought up some interesting points; contraception being one of them.  This kinda came out of the blue.  Michael, who seemed an incredibly on-to-it and very forthright man, informed us that things are a little bit different in Japan when it comes to family planning and protecting yourself.  The pill has only been available in Japan for a decade or so (in fact, the JET handbook says, “The pill is now available in Japan.” – my italics).  Getting it requires a rather full on initial visit to the gyno, followed by monthly visits for your prescription.  His advice was for us to import it from Thailand (or was it Taiwan…?).  Condoms also are apparently not to be trusted – I really should have clarified what he meant by that… – are they pricking holes in them at the factory to increase the birth rate or something…?!?!  Customs allows you to bring 25 condoms max into Japan – why 25?  Who chose that number? 

There’s a topic I didn’t think would be covered in Q and A.  A very important one though 🙂

I brought up the issue of tattoos.  It seems that people have had varied experiences with tattoos in Japan from, “Ok, you can come in this time but you’re not allowed back” to taping them up to sitting in the onsen with members of the yakuza (I asked this guy – can’t remember his name – if he broached the topic of their social status.  His answer: “No way!”).  Some things just can’t be answered until you get there, I guess.  One person said something about sticking a bandaid over it which, if you look at the picture, ain’t gonna happen.  Where it is, sticking even some kind of large bandage over it is going to be a pain in the arse. 

Bandaid that!

 

After the seminar, we had dinner at Osaka-ya – cute little Japanese restaurant down a lane in central Chch, owned by a man called Antonio, who, according to a sign in the bar, didn’t used to like music but then, late in life, discovered it was the language of the soul (or something to that effect) and who apparently whips out his keyboard the odd time in the restaurant! 

From there, we had a few drinks at the Vic and Whale and I caught up with my old flatmate, Giles.  He had been drinking with Chch’s finest (new crime reporter for The Press, you see).  Now this is where I’m going to start muddling my stories…  Giles’s mate, Dan, was along, and he likes to make Giles and I out to be a lovely married-like couple, alternating cooking nights and playing cards together (and like some married couples, sleeping in separate rooms, I might add).  He said to me at one point, “So Giles has given permission for Amelia to go along with you?”  which is where I break narrative continuity to tell ya’ll that my girlfriend Amelia and I are planning for her to join me in Japan in February.  Tis quite a big step as we have only been together a few months and I will be out of here pretty soon.  I really did not expect to fall in love before going away; in fact, I was quite adamant it wouldn’t happen – that if I was with someone it would be, “See ya later” – but no..  Damn you, Love, creepin’ up on me!  Damn you Amelia! 😉

This one is Giles. Mexican wrestler Giles, no less

Bandaid that!

This one is Amelia

Hotel view: a rather empty Cathedral Square by night

Thanks Dad!

Saturday morning saw my sister cook me a big feed of pancakes – thanks Shell!  I then headed over the hill to my old haunt, Greymouth.  Twas sad to see that while the nets have finally been erected (no astroturf down yet though), the cricket clubrooms have been burnt out!  I wonder what the story is…  Stayed the night with my Floridian friend, Jennie Sieczynski (or Ms Ski as they call her at school) – she was stoked I could spell her name.  Thanks for the hospitality Jennie – the warm fire, the sandwiches, the small child jumping all over me 😉

In other related news, New Zealand JETs now have a Facebook community.  I will also add a link in the side bar along with links to the JET Alumni association (who were awesome at the seminar btw, thank you so much). 

Damn… why do I feel like I’m forgetting something…  At a 1200+ words, it’s not surprising, I guess…  Japanese coming along slowly – kagami = mirror, daidokoro = kitchen (possibly my new favourite word), atama = head, keiji = notice.  Now I’m just rambling so time to go build a billtong box (will talk about that next time!)

So I finally got the letter and will be heading to the small town of Tako (I’m guessing ‘-machi’ is a suffix meaning ‘town’ – can’t find a translation on the net.  Oh, hold on, my Everyday Japanese wordbook tells me that yes, I am, in fact, correct).

God I love parentheses (because I can get all stream-of-consciousness on yo readin’ ass).

Anywho, Tako has a population of about 16,000 people (thanks Wikipedia; largely my only source of info so far), a density of 226 people per km squared (compared with Invercargill – 106 people per km squared and Dunedin – 454 per km squared) and from what Google Earth tells me is all of 4-5km from Narita Airport, putting me about 70km or so out of Tokyo!  My desire was to be on the other (west) side of Tokyo, somewhere in the Japanese Alps but I’m not too disappointed.  I had chosen Matsumoto (isn’t that the coolest sounding city ever!) as my first choice.  As a friend told me of the 100 or so JETs he knew, only about 3 of them were placed anywhere near where they had requested.  I was under no illusions.  At least I’m still close to Tokyo for exploring, gigs and any weekend shenanigans.  Also, Chiba prefecture apparently has a couple of the country’s best beaches.  And, the peninsula is mountainous in parts.  Well… ‘hilly’ might be a more accurate term.  My last climb – the Harman Pass – 1,350 metres.  Nokogiriyama (Mt Nokogiri), one of the more picturesque mountains, ‘towers’ at 329.5 metres.  Chuckle you may, but I bet you don’t have one of these on your nearest mountain…

Yeah, that’s right!

Narita Airport… 220,000 flights in and out per year.  Only 600 or so planes over my head each day… OMFG!  Please excuse the blasphemy but I get all of about 8 planes over my head each day here in Invers – they do fly incredbly low though.

You might have guessed I am obsessed by scale and I’ve quite possibly saved the best one for last.  Southland’s land mass – 34,300 km squared.  Population – 93,000.  Chiba prefecture’s land mass – 5,156 km squared.  Population – 6,006,185 people.  6th most populous region in Japan.  So if my maths is correct (and it always is… not), that’s 1/7th the size and 60 times the population.  Phew!

So yeah, this is the post I’ve been waiting so long to… umm, post.  Tako-machi.  August 1st.

Skype never worked on my old PC.  The mic setup I bought wouldn’t fit in the jacks properly.  My laptop on the other hand…

I’m all Skyped up now folks so if you want to befriend me look for michael.f.smith.nz.  I should be linked to Invercargill, New Zealand also.  You’ve got to make things specific with a name like Michael Smith…

The F stands for ‘Fredrick’ perchance you were wondering.  My great-grandfather’s name. 

I want to write about where I’ve been posted and upcoming conferences but too tired… tomorrow maybe…

Alright, I have five fans following my ‘Basic Japanese phrases’ deck on iflipr.com.  Admittedly, one of them is me.  This little flashcard app rocks though.  It gives you access to thousands of user-created decks and allows you to easily upload your own.  Creating new decks can be done easily either on their website (and then synced with your device) or on your iPod/iPhone itself.  It’s one of the greatest learning tools I’ve ever used (cos I’m all about the learning)… And it cost me less than $5! (well, that’s if you don’t factor in price of the iPod *snap*) Sugoi!

We've all had this happen...

The Tokyo Anime Center (it’s really strange as a Kiwi, writing ‘centre’ like that) is holding a Lupin III convention at the moment to celebrate Lupin III’s 21st television special.  I love the Lupin III movies – they are beautifully animated with cool little stories and lots of laughs.  The article also tells of a Lupin III Blu-ray boxset coming out with all 21 specials – that’d be sweeeeeetttt….

TAC Should be a cool place to visit…

Has been awhile since I posted anything.  Have been sick, have been tramping and have been completing medical tests for JET instead of finding out where my destination is.  The letter came early in April asking for a chest x-ray and full medical check (not cheap!) and telling us we would be given our destinations sometime in May with a seminar to follow in Christchurch in June. 

Have been pretty slack with the Nihongo study but getting back into it this week.  I’m remembering a lot and have moved on from studying the kana to writing out my vocab in kana as an additional way of learning the vocab, remembering the kana and practising reading and writing it.

Also checked out this website – http://www.blizzardboy.net where I found this interesting article about volunteering in Japan.  Second Harvest was the first food bank set up in Japan.  It’s been running for ten years taking on the vast wastage of a metropolis to feed those facing food insecurity.  These are the stories and faces of Japan that I get the feeling most people don’t really know about.  I guess its the same story for a lot of countries but weird in a world where certain countries (e.g. Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Colombia, Mexico) ALL you know about them is those kinda stories…

Oh, btw, Blizzard Boy’s site looks worth exploring but strangely enough, is what comes up when you put MY website address into Google?!? WTF..

Interesting article on a new festival in Tokyo.  Sounds very cool.  Includes a short list of other alt music fests in Japan.

An article from Metropolis magazine on how traditional approaches to language learning are changing in Japan.  Metropolis calls itself Japan’s No.1 English magazine and contains features and gig guides.  The article has some interesting info on changes to the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (which I am thinking about taking if I feel my Japanese ever gets to the point where it’s up to it), some links to Nintendo DS and ipod/iphone apps to help with language learning and a section called the Manga Method – several popular manga ranked 1 – 4 in terms of their language difficulty. 

So far I have not used a text book at all to help with learning Japanese.  I have some resources that I have pulled from to create vocabulary lists.  These I have put into my itouch using iflipr – a very simple flashcard making app.  If you can’t be bothered making your own lists, you will be able to find my vocab lists (which will grow) at the website among 800,000 other flashcard lists of all kinds.  Sugoi!  Once my vocabulary has built up some more I guess there will come a point where I need to consult a text book to understand the finer points of Japanese grammar.  That’s a month or two away yet though I think. 

Nihongo ga sukoshi dake dekimasu – I can only speak a little Japanese.  (Have been wanting to learn that one for awhile!)

As I mentioned below, a new category has been created – ‘I must experience…’ will catalogue all the amazing places and experiences I hear about and decide I must see or do while in Japan.  I get the feeling this list will grow pretty rapidly particularly as I know where I am going to be living in Japan and start doing a bit more in-depth research.  Hopefully it can serve as a bit of a reference for others travelling to Japan.

Dotonbori is a major entertainment avenue in Osaka and in the article mentioned in the previous post is described as inspiring the cityscape seen in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.  I have to see this.  A Google search for Dotonbori brought up a Wikipedia page first thing (surprise surprise) which mentioned Ebisubashi, a bridge off the street and had the words ‘pick up spot’ hyperlinked.  Well, curiosity demanded I check this out which led me to the term, ‘nanpa’.  Apparantly this is the act of standing in a crowded place and when you see someone who you like the look of, well you just ask ’em along somewhere – bar, restaurant, karaoke etc…  I’m not quite so sure this is something I must do but it definitely sounds like something I must see!

A couple of links for more info:

http://www.quirkyjapan.or.tv/nampa1.htm

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20010408tc.html#1

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/international/3526622/Osakas-delicious-road-to-ruin

Interesting article on food in Osaka. Didn’t know that Dotonburi provided inspiration for Blade Runner, one of my fav films. This fact has inspired a new category – must experience ( which I’ll sort another time when not posting from my iPod – first time!). Posts should be a bit more regular from now on as have got iPod issues sorted meaning I can get on with learning the language.

Oh I should find out where I will be posted in a week or two – can’t wait!

Came across this channel on Youtube – TheJapanChannel.com (website link) which is well worth a look for the variety of short vids there on aspects of Japan from Work and Visas to beach fashion to tattoos (see below) to car vending machines to panty vending machines to crazy highway junctions to wedding stuff to 100 yen shops to slippers to biking in Japan (ooh, just noticed that one…).  The guy is Australian but we won’t hold that against him. 

Over 200 hundred videos so still plenty to watch! (stupid videos that aren’t embedding right now for some reason… will try again later)

Have dropped the Reviews tab as it was largely redundant – to see everything within a category of content, scrowl to the very bottom of the blog and you’ll find the links. 

It was also a pain in the arse to maintain lol :-p

Here is the review of Alex Kerr’s Lost Japan that I promised.  For those who can’t be bothered reading..  It’s good.  Get it.  Read it. 

I proofed it this arvo but can’t be bothered doing it again.  $5 if you find a mistake.

Imagine writing something in Japanese, then trying to translate it into English and discovering you cannot do it.  This was the dilemma faced by Alex Kerr when trying to translate Lost Japan, the award – winning novel he had crafted out of a series of articles for Shincho Magazine.  Kerr uses a Kabuki term – hikinuki – to highlight both the number of versions the book has been through and also the difficulty of translation.  This small bit of information in the preface is an example of the stories and insights which punctuate Lost Japan regularly and make it so easy and entertaining to read. 

Lost Japan, chapter by chapter, moves over different aspects of traditional Japanese culture and Kerr’s involvement with them, while also lamenting changes in that culture which are far more perceptive than simply the public’s decline in interest.  We see this when Kerr draws on a Japanese author, Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, to highlight the use of garish fluorescent lighting nearly everywhere. 

“Tanizaki laments the fact that the beauty of shadows is no longer understood in modern Japan.  Anyone who has lived in an old Japanese house will know how one always feels starved of light, as if one were swimming underwater.  It was the constant pressure of this darkness which drove the Japanese to create cities of neon and fluorescent lights.  Brightness is a fundamental desire in modern Japan, as can be seen in its uniformly lit hotel lobbies and flashing pachinko parlours.”

He also comments on the damage down to the environment over his time there, quoting Akira Kurosawa, and calling Japan, “one of the world’s ugliest countries.”  (I look forward to testing this statement)  Kerr has the authority to comment having lived full time in Japan since 1977 when “Japan’s systematic environmental destruction was already becoming visible.” (the book was originally published in 1996, this print 2001)

Kerr covers topics such as kabuki, calligraphy and Eastern art in a readable and entertaining way.  The chapters combine anecdotes and descriptions of personalities with interesting information on each art form.  The description of two giants of the kabuki world, Tamasaburo and Jakuemon, their insights into their art and Kerr’s developing friendship with them visiting productions’ backstages is a good example of this.  An appreciation of both the aesthetic beauty of the art and its place within the culture is evident.  Kerr holds degrees in Japanese and Chinese Studies from Yale and Oxford respectively and has been involved in art collecting for the majority of his time in Japan.  I enjoyed the way Kerr wrote about art – informative and insightful with an obvious degree of reverence but not over the top. 

Other chapters of the book discuss Kerr’s homes, Chiiori and Tenmangu, in Japan.  The book’s second chapter is about Iya Valley, on Shikoku, the site of Kerr’s first home, Chiiori.  He discusses the process of renovating the house, restoring the thatch roof and collecting handicrafts from the surrounding area before discarding most of them for the beauty of “the ‘black glistening’ of the open floor” and “the ethos of the ‘empty room.’”  The importance, but more clearly, the joy of a home, particularly in relation to being an art collector, comes through in these chapters. 

As far as criticisms goes, the first half of the book is a lot stronger than the second half.  The first half includes the chapters on Chiiori and Tenmangu, as well as the arts.  The later chapters mainly centre around various places in Kansai region and become somewhat like tourist guides around some of the littler known local temples at times.  Lacking are those elements mentioned above – the stories and personalities – that make the earlier chapters exciting, although the same characters do turn up through the entire book. 

Through the process of translation, it seems Alex Kerr discovered even more what a unique culture Japan is.  Kerr, having initially written for a Japanese audience, eventually decided on advice to have someone else translate his Japanese and then revise their script.  The result is an accessible and interesting book about modern day Japan, still thoroughly imbued with deep insights. 

I know this is a question that has kept me up at nights: just where did Hello Kitty come from?  You can find one theory here at Ampontan, one of the many WordPress sites on Japan, which I must start exploring.

This is the collection of stuff my friend Jennie from Greymouth sent down to me.  It includes:
– the old Kansai Time Out I mentioned in a post yesterday
– a copy of The Alien (pre-Charisma Man – more about him another time!)
– a whole bunch of photocopied language resources
– a detective book called Inspector Imanishi Investigates (has won a couple of prizes, will read and review, of course) 
– an English Japanese Wordbook
– a book of Illustrated Japanese characters
– a book called Read Japanese Today

The cat was already here.  Thanks Jennie!  I’ve got heaps to work with now 🙂

Well, this first bits not news but it does come from the Japan Times website – a little ABC of living in Japan that, while by no means authoratative or lengthy, does contain some interesting little bits of info – e.g. takoyaki = Octopus Balls.  Yum!!! (trust me).

Following up on Asashoryu’s shame (see below) – he has decided to quit.  Oops, I mean retire.  And well, why not?  A 120 million yen retirement settlement (roughly NZ$2 million) and regular payments of 37 million yen (NZ$600,000) make for a pretty comfy life for the yokozuna.  Question is, what’s he going to do now?

Japanese carmakers seem beset by safety issues at the moment.  Both Honda and Toyota have had to recall hundreds of thousands of cars for issues relating to steering and software (Toyota) and airbag safety (Honda).  Apparently those airbags can be dangerous, even fatal, with too much pressure behind them.

http://tinyurl.com/y8pfn2f
http://tinyurl.com/yd6nya3
http://tinyurl.com/yda268h

The final link provides some interesting insight into congressional investigations in the United States and the influence that corporations, even foreign ones, have on these.

I love to get down to the pool for a swim.  In Invercargill where I live there is usually not too much of a crowd when I head down to swim laps.  I can always get into the steam room and the spa pool with no problems. 

In Japan though, I may be confronted by this…

Wow!  I may have to re-define my definition of personal space!  I have no idea whether this is typical or not but it doesn’t really matter.  It made me think of the time I spent in Europe and the sense I had while there that public space really is that – public space.  In many parts of NZ you can go to a public space like a park and feel like you’re still in some sort of private existance – the only or nearly the only person there.  In European cities the population density is such that the park on a sunny day is packed, people everywhere.  I remember one park in Amsterdam in particular.  I also remember desiring somewhere to just be alone at times.  I can only imagine that in somewhere like Japan this will be even more extreme.  The Japanese subway is famous for perves coping a grope during the crowded rush hour and the gloved men in the sharp looking uniforms pushing and holding you in as the doors close.

Here’s the hard data for you quantitative types out there:

                         Japan (36th most densely pop.)        NZ (200th M.D.P)

Area:                              377,873 km²                                            270,534 km²

Density:                 337.23 ppl per sq. km                         15.95 ppl per sq. km 

Hmm.. maybe I’ll need to start visiting a busy cow shed or get in the middle of the next stock run of sheep I find to begin preparing myself for all those people!!

A friend of mine recently sent me a June 1998 copy of Kansai Time Out magazine from her time in Japan.  It is sad to hear that the magazine has fallen over after 391 issues because of falling circulation and advertising revenue. 

I’m guessing that’s why the website displays only a blank page when I click on it. 

There is a Youtube response which will take you on to further video clips here…

“In the long process of acquiring spoken and written Japanese, you can expect to encounter dozens, perhaps hundreds, of kotowaza (ことわざ, aphorisms), seigo (成語, set phrases), koji (故事, fables), meigen (名言, famous quotations) and kanyo-ku (慣用句, idioms), which pop up regularly in news articles, books and everyday conversation.”

An interesting little article on the place of the above in the Japanese language.  Could see this as definitely being a good way of learning both culture and language.  I feel like I’ve got both the kana (hiragana and katakana) largely sorted and now its time to move on to some vocab building and grammar work.  Then perhaps soon find someone to engage in some conversation! 🙂

I have added a review of the 1962 Hiroshi Inagaki film, The 47 Ronin, the classic samurai loyalty story, on the Reviews page.

A friend of mine who is in Korea at the moment put me onto this website.  Hilarious!  Strange.  And very common according to her.  Something else, beside those castles and mountain views, to keep an eye out for once I arrive!  I don’t get it – surely it isn’t that hard to find someone to check the grammar of the English…

This particular image also reminds me that, amongst the centuries-old culture and ettiquette, there’s gonna be a whole lot of tacky in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Brings a bit of new meaning to ‘doing the robot’.  I’d love to catch this guy in the flesh (or in the storm trooper uniform).  Danny Choo, a computer programmer and self confessed ‘otaku’ (anime fanboy) likes to dress up as a storm trooper and bust out his moves around Tokyo in the hopes of building a new imperial army (or something like that).  I’m sure you can find more videos by searching ‘Dancing Stormtrooper’ on Youtube or by going to his blog – dannychoo.com

The music is not bad too – UK artist, Mint Royale, aka Neil Claxton.

Oh, and interestingly (perhaps only for the ladies and the fashion conscious), he’s the son of Jimmy Choo, famous shoe designer.

“Dear Michael
 
I am delighted to tell you that you are going to be recommended to Tokyo!”

This came to me by email on Monday.  Stoked!  From here, I believe it is a case of how many JET’s decide to stay on for another year in Japan as to whether I am placed.  I hear in April.

Don’t ask me about the interview questions as I think I have a case of selective amnesia… I can’t remember any of them!  Well, except the last one.  “If you were in a rural/agricultural school in a class of 45 boys, none of whom saw English as at all related to them or their future, how would you go about teaching them?”

The interview panel consisted of four people – I can’t remember what the position was of the first man, but their was a member of the JET alumni association, a Japanese government representative and the final person was an adminstrator of the JET programme here in NZ.

Came across this little article on the Japan Times website – remember the sumo battle with the cosmic energy and the world splitting in half, one of my first posts? Well, one of those wrestlers, Asashoryu, is apparently the ‘bad boy’ of the Japanese wrestling scene and has been going out, getting drunk, punching people and lying about it.  Shame, Asashoryu!

Does anyone else get the feeling that the techno future we as a culture have dreamed and nightmared of is just about upon us…?   Genetics, nanotech, network ubiquity, cybernetics… the ipod.  This idea is a recurring theme of Japanese anime and one of the pre-occupations I find so interesting about Japan.

I’ve never owned an ipod.  Until a month and a half ago.  I came across a New Scientist article on ‘apps’.  Journalistic spin sold me – there was one particular line : “The device in your pocket is not a phone any more.  It is anything you want it to be.”

Anything I want it to be…  Wow…  While it hasn’t quite lived up to that reputation, there is still the sense that apps are limited mostly by human imagination.  I see this as a huge jump forward for cybernetics.  The ipod/iphone paves the way toward a society comfortable with the idea of biology and circuitry being one. 

Anyhow, the point of all this is, I’m hoping apps can be an effective way to learn Japanese and so far I can say they are!

Kana Complete

This little app costs a measly NZ$4.19 (about US$3) and has helped me learn the entire hiragana set in a little over a month and that’s a pretty slack month – I certainly haven’t been practising everyday.  As the name suggests, the app teaches both the hiragana and katakana syllabaries.  It does this via drills and flashcards primarily.  The drills include audio, have all the options you need and seem to work on spaced repetition which has proved an excellent learning method (at least, for me).  Flashcards back up the knowledge you have gained in the drills.  Kana Complete also contains writing practice (using the touch screen!) and pronunciation notes.  Comes with my big fat recommendation!

http://epochrypha.com/kanacomplete/

 

 

Japan Subway Route Map – Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya

A map of  the entire subway systems of each of these cities right on your ipod!    Shows each line, which various lines each station can transfer to and exit information (which apparently can be a complicated experience – for example, Shibuya station has over 15 exits!).  Very handy, although hard to judge how handy at the moment given my inability to really test it.  There is no search function so if you have a station you need to get to, you need to know the line, failing that you’ve got to search for it on the map.  The website, cryptically states, “Please note in advance that we dare not prepare search functions for routes in this application, because of the shortest movement using JR and a private railway, rather than Tokyo subway, in some cases.”  Huh?!?!  ‘Shortest movement…’?  They ‘dare not’?  What’s going to happen to them?  Anway, still a cool little app.

http://lab.studioheat.com/?page_id=955 (scroll down for English, includes video)

Obviously, knowing people who have previously been on JET is incredibly handy.  A teaching buddy, Daniel, provided me with this, along with several other pieces of excellent advice for the upcoming JET interview.  This one though, is my least favourite:

“5.       Make sure you are clean shaven.   (Beards and moustaches look dodgy to Japanese and looking young is best)”

But it is done.  *Sigh*

Woah, this bad boy nearly knocked me over, Day 3.  By about the tenth hour and 1400 metres straight down, my legs were struggling to keep me upright over roots and rocks.   Entirely worth it though 🙂 

This doesn’t exactly relate to Japan but it does give you a bit of an idea about me and what I’m up to (when I’m not studying flash cards on my itouch).  Also might be useful for later comparison with the mountains of Japan. 

The link to the rest of the album lies here..

‘Haikingu’ – gotta love transliteration.  Another of those similarities between Japanese and Maori.  ‘Tramping’ wouldn’t transliterate well with that ‘r’ in there I imagine…

Anyway, this book is something I treated myself to awhile back and am currently perusing.  So far, so good.  Plenty of interesting little tidbits but haven’t really gotten into the tramps big time yet…  It is slightly daunting so much information.  Think I’m gonna start with the favourite tramps of the three co-authors and work on from there…

This website – Hiking in Japan – is recommended in the book and in a rather interesting feedback loop I’m linking to their review of Hiking in Japan which compared this edition to the former and seemed pretty on to it.

Feb 4th, Consular Office of Japan, Christchurch – WOOP!

This blog also serves as an opportunity for dialogue – for those with different knowledge than I to inform me, to add to my musings or to clear up/muddy my misconceptions and ignorant stereotypes (I’d like to think not… but sometimes you’re blind to things until someone says something)

Now here in New Zealand, we call them ‘kiwifruit’ to distinguish them from the ‘kiwi’ – our national bird, which, according to the vox populi of an American friend tramping round the country, nobody has ever seen (I saw one in a nature enclosure-thing once, I think..).  When you all come to New Zealand and talk about how much you love eating kiwi’s, some Kiwi’s will look at you a little funny… just warnin’ ya. 

Anyways, a Japanese advert for Zespri kiwifruit.  Enjoy.

Wow, sumo suddenly became a lot more interesting! I can’t wait to see a sumo match if they’re all like this!!  With this explosion of all things 3-D at the mo, maybe I will be able to purchase some special glasses as I enter the arena… (this is Japan – anything’s technologically possible, right?)

Is it sad that I find the addition of some questionable graphics so exciting?

Welcome to kiwiinjapan, a blog resource for anyone interested in living in Japan.  My intention here is not to spew forth opinion (although there will likely be a bit of that) but to create a resource of videos, reviews, news items, photos, PDF’s, podcasts, observations, tidbits etc. to reside in digital perpetuity for fellow knowledge-hungry travellers. 

Now I should mention that this Kiwi is not actually in Japan.  Not yet anyway.  I plan to leave in July/August 2010 with the JET programme, all things going well application-wise, so you will also be able to follow that process here…  I have just returned home to spend some time with family.  The next six months of my life are dedicated to relief teaching (dollaz and sense, as the RZA would say) and to learning Japanese.

Won’t give the whole game away just yet… 😉