輪島大祭 (Wajima Taisai)

Howdy doody everyone! Time for another update.

As stated in my last post, last wednesday, I was asked to read Edgard Allen Poe`s The Raven to a Japanese audience. The reading itself was quite a bizzare and surreal experience. Having never acted or done dramatic readings before, it took all of my inner strength to not burst out laughing and knowing I was speaking to an audience who had absolutely no idea what I was saying. Further compounding the hilarity of the situation was listening to the Japanese translation of The Raven that my supervisor was reading. One can only hear Nebamoru the Japanese phonetic translation of nevermore so many times before they start to crack up. Even worse, the only instance where I`ve actually heard The Raven read outloud was from The Simpsons` Halloween episode adaption. As this version was read by the sublime voice of James Earl Jones, that is precisely the voice that was running through my head the whole time. Suffice to say, I must have looked very strange trying to contort my face into serious mode the whole time. Oh, and I forgot to mention the whole thing was going to the local newspaper. Here is the article that was published:

Famous

After this rather strange episode, I got my very first taste of a Japanese matsuri (festival) last weekend. Before I go into detail about my experience, I will give a little background on Japanese  religion that I feel is important to undertand. One important aspect of religion in Japan that is important to be cognizant of is Shinto (roughly translates to the way of the gods). Shintoism and religion is a rather complicated subject and I am oversimplifying, of course, but Shinto can be thought of as Japan`s native religion. Shinto generally holds that the world is inhabited by kami (gods or spirits) and that they are present in all forms of nature in the world, from living things such as animals and trees, to inanimate objects such as rocks. Another important aspect of religion in Japan is Buddhism, which was exported to Japan via China and Korea in roughly the 6th century. One way that the Japanese concept of religion has differed greatly from many wetsern attitudes is that religious views are not neccissarily mutually exclusive. Thus, one can similtaneously be both Buddhist and Shinto at the same time. Indeed, over the years, these religions have meshed together so much that it is often very difficult to tell which traditions and temples are exclusively Buddhist and which are Shinto.

Japanese festivals are traditionally a product of this mixed Buddhist/Shinto worldview and many concern kami or incarnations of the Buddha in some fashion. Some of these are done to thank the gods for favorable historical events (such as Wajima Taisai, part of it commemorates the warding off of enemy Samurai in the 16th century), others are meant to praise a certain kami, or to ward off evil spirits. In conclusion, they are very diverse in meaning. Interestingly enough though, it would seem that the meaning is lost on many participating in the festivals and is widely used as an event to get and drunk and go CRAZY! I caps locked the word "crazy" because Wajima Taisai is very much one of the most wild celebrations in which I've ever participated. Whole streets were filled wall to wall with very inebriated (and still holding their beers and sake in hand) and very wild Japanese people.

Waiting by the kirko (portable shrines).

Anyway, Wajima Taisai goes on for four nights! Each night, different squads of very drunk Japanese carry their respective kiriko (portable shrines) throughout the streets of Wajima spinning them wildly and banging on Taiko drums the whole time. The bellow clips are of a kiriko being carried and spinned, and a guy dressed as Spiderman banging on Taiko drums (like I said, very wild party).

Who knew Spiderman was a very good drunk taiko player?

After the various squads of kiriko arrive at their destination, the festival gets even wilder. A giant pole is set up in the middle of the town where the various teams gather. The pole is then promptly set on fire because drunk people and fire is a always a good combination. It gets even better though, in the pole is a special stick that if a team grabs and returns to their base, they are granted good fortune. At this point in the festival, I felt as though I were in the middle of a mosh pit as various teams literally brawled with each other around the blazing pole to get that stick. I would post a video of it, but evidently I have reach the max amount of memory allotted in this post. Maybe I'll put it up on a different one.

In terms of getting used to life in Japan, as always, the language barrier proves to be the greatest challenge. For those of you who are familiar with the film Good Burger, I often find myself repeating Ed (see link).

きれい金沢 (Beautiful Kanazawa)

            Hello everyone! I return to you now with another update. Again, a lot has happened since my last post so I will try to summarize as best as I can. Life in Japan continues to be fantastic and I am still filled with euphoria about living here despite the language barrier and various cultural disparities that inevitably happen everyday. I have started going to the assorted junior highs and elementary schools I will be teaching at and am doing my best to learn the names of my co-workers but, alas, I have quite a few of them and it is proving to be an arduous task (time to make a seating chart it seems). As classes won’t commence until early September, most of my time at the office has thus far been spent studying Japanese and preparing my English self-introduction that I will give to all my schools (fun fact many of you who are reading this post will be featured).

            In terms of non-work related events, my last two weekends have been filled with all sorts of interesting experiences. Two Saturdays ago, I was invited to a puppet show performed by the students of Kanazawa University for the local children in one of my nearby villages. The show was a good opportunity to meet some of the local kids, and I was rather glad the show was for children because I could actually understand most of the simple Japanese vocab and grammar being employed (I was able understand stuff made for 1^st graders Woot! Woot!) From what I gathered, the puppet show was about a group of children who encounter a Kappa (a Japanese mythical creature that is like a turtle-monkey combination) and the shenanigans that follow.

Kappa Play

        The next day, my Japanese Board of Education supervisor, Muroishi-san, generously invited my co-worker, Jillian, and myself over to his house for dinner. I had a splendid time meeting his family and eating myself silly with all of the delicious food his wife made. We concluded the evening by setting off some fireworks and listening to Muroishi-san talk about Japanese constellations (of which he apparently knows everything according to his wife).

Delicious

            This last weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, I had the privilege to visit the capital of Ishikawa prefecture, the beautiful city of Kanazawa for the new Ishikawa JETs’ orientation. As Kanazawa was one of the few major Japanese cities to be spared the horrors of being firebombed during World War II, the city has preserved much of its traditional architectural heritage, making it very similar to Kyoto. Unfortunately, my trip did not begin on a high note as when I took the bus to Kanazawa, I missed the stop I was supposed to get off at and had to walk a good 30 minutes in the stifling heat (in a suit no less) to the prefectural office where orientation was being held. Despite this bump in the road, orientation was a lot of fun and it was great getting to meet all of colleagues in the Ishikawa prefecture. That night, several other JETs and I went to a cool restaurant in downtown Kanazawa where I had some very delicious raw tuna.

Kanazawa Station

            One thing that really caught my eye in Kanazawa the first night was the number of young people. The reason that this caught my attention can be traced to Japan’s demographic situation, and some would say, woes. Japan, especially in rural areas (aka my town) is currently suffering from a gross population imbalance where the old significantly outnumber the young. Indeed, rural areas in Japan suffer from this trend even more as virtually all of the young people flee to the cities after graduating from high school. I have certainly seen this demographic trend in Noto-Cho as everyone between the ages of 18 to about 30 is virtually absent.

            Anyway, I digress, the next day in Kanazawa was more orientation stuff followed by a bar crawl at the end of the day. The first bar we went to was owned by a fellow American and the people who went had great fun imitating each others accents (fun fact ask someone from New Zealand to say Moscow Mule with an American accent hilarious results will follow, kind of sounds like Yosemite Sam). Next we went to a St. Louis themed bar where the bartenders juggle booze for peoples birthdays and suffice to say it was a lot of fun watching them.

The average American according to New Zealand

On Saturday, I had the chance to do some sightseeing of the city and saw some really cool things. The first site I visited was Kanazawa Castle. The castle grounds were enormous and took me a good 40 minutes to explore in its entirety.

Kanazawa Castle

The only bad note at the castle was an absolutely terrifying encounter with the dreaded Osuzumebachi. Indeed, even the Japanese couples that were walking next to me absolutely started booking it when they saw this evil spawn of nature.

Watch out for the Suzumebachi

After this encounter with Satan-bee, I visited the nationally renowned Kenrokuen garden. I vow to return to this gorgeous place during Sakura season when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. 

Scenes from Kenroku-en Garden

round noon, I headed over to a picnic by the Saigawa River that was being held by several older JETs and had a good time conversing with many old and new JETs.

Picnic at the river

            The next day, the Noto JETs and I headed back up to the depths of Noto and stopped by the city of Wajima on the way, which has a thriving market every Sunday. One of the highlights was going into an antique store that was actually selling Samurai armor, and medieval era katanas, spears and muskets. According to one of the older JETs, these old artifacts are evidently rather cheaper than one would expect in Japan as long as they weren’t owned by anyone famous. However, it is also quite illegal to take these artifacts out of the country so don’t expect any Samurai armor souvenirs. 

Samurai armor for sale!

I did, however make a fine purchase of grilled cuttlefish, which despite its rather intimidating looking appearance was quite tasty.

Grilled Cuttlefish

            That’s all for now folks, I expect something else amusing will happen this upcoming week. Randomly, I have been asked to read the English translation of “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe for the local international society. Having never done anything to do with poetry or dramatic reading ever this should prove quite interesting (half of me wants to say the lyrics to Barney the Dinosaur darkly and see if anyone can actually understand me). Also coming up this weekend is a local Matsuri (festival) in Wajima that is supposed to be a good time. 

Tokyo, Noto and The Two Japans

東京オリエンテーション（Tokyo Orientation)

Hello everyone! It’s been one week since my departure from America and a lot has happened since then. I guess I will begin with my departure from Chicago (which oddly enough seems like several months ago). After bidding farewell to my dad, with whom I drove to Chicago with, at the Holiday Inn Express near O’Hare, I began my life as JET. The Chicago orientation was pretty simple, just a few addresses by former JETs and Japanese officials on the importance of the program and the challenges we will face being a new culture, etc. After the orientation stuff was over, a few former Gusties (4 of us are in JET this year!) and I went to a nearby bar to have a few beers and watch the bizarre opening of the London Olympics and I daresay that the opening was very hilarious without any sound or context as to what was going on.

Anyway, the next day the real journey began when we got up bright and early to catch our plane to Tokyo! Then, after a grueling, leg-cramping, jet lag inducing 13-hour flight, we finally touched down in Narita airport, which is about 2 hours away by bus from Tokyo. The first thing I really noticed about Tokyo during the bus ride over is how truly massive a city it is both in scale and people-wise. At one point, the entire highway we were traveling on was surrounded by apartment buildings as far as the eye could see! After finally arriving at the Keio Plaza hotel in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo and having a satisfying bowl of udon noodles at a nearby restaurant, I promptly collapsed in my room around 9pm Tokyo time.

Enjoying the udon

Unfortunately, due to both being incredibly busy with orientation stuff and being incredibly jet lagged, I didn’t get to do a whole lot of exploring in Tokyo. However, I did get a chance one afternoon to take a stroll around Shinjuku and take in the megalopolis that is Tokyo. The city is certainly a bustling concrete jungle filled to the brim with crowds (certainly not a place for the claustrophobic). Indeed, reflecting back on it now living in rural Japan it really is striking how stark the difference is between Tokyo and my current living situation. Tokyo orientation itself consisted of many, many speeches by Japanese government officials, teachers, and current and former JETs. Most of the speeches were actually quite well done and interesting to hear (although it did get a tad bit repetitive towards the end). The rest of the orientation consisted of meeting with other new JETs placed in the Ishikawa prefecture (21 in all) and meeting new JETs going to Noto (6 in all).

Shinjuku

Japanese govt. official addressing the new JETs

It can get a bit crowded in Tokyo

Part 2 能登　(Noto)

The next day, (Wednesday August 1) I was off to a very different part of Japan compared to Tokyo, my new home of Noto! Having lived in Minnesota for pretty much my whole life, I inevitably must make comparisons between my two homes. In contrast to flat, lake-plentiful Minnesota, the landscape in Noto is very mountainous (which will make for some challenging drives come winter) and is surrounded by the ocean. One similarity between Noto and Minnesota is the stifling heat and humidity. Truly, it is almost like I never left Minnesota behind in regards to the weather as I have been perpetually sweating since I arrived. On the plus side, currently the ocean is ridiculously warm and really nice to swim in as I learned last weekend when a few JETs and I went to the beach, but more on that later.

There is, however, one more negative consequence to the abundant heat and humidity that surrounds me right now, which would be bugs, bugs, bugs. Walking outside, one is almost deafened by the huge quantity of cicadas chirping away all day. Spiders are on almost every house, as are a bunch of other random bugs I have never seen or heard of before. Thankfully, however, I have yet to run into two of the most notorious bugs in rural Japan…The first is the fearsome looking mukade, a giant, poisonous centipede that likes moist, dark places (apartments).

Fear incarnate

Although the mukade is poisonous, it thankfully won’t kill or incapacitate if it bites you, which leads me to the other notorious bug, the Osuzumebachi (in Japanese, giant sparrow bee, giant asian hornet in English). These suckers are particularly nasty, one sting from them is enough to hospitalize a full grown adult and it gets even better…Apparently when of them feels threatened or is attacking, it releases a pheromone, which calls all of its friends over to come join in the attack.

BEWARE!

Needless to say, if I come across one of these spawns of Satan, I will be booking it faster than a Japanese businessman running away from Godzilla.

Bugs of death and heat aside, I really do enjoy Noto a lot. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous! In comparison to Tokyo and Osaka there is green pretty much everywhere I look and all of the houses are built in a more traditional style. Furthermore, the seafood is sublime and really cheap. Plus, I have to rely on all Japanese as virtually no one here speaks English (which is what I wanted).

The village where my apartment is called Ukawa

Anyway, more about my personal experience as JET. To start off, here is a list of things that are exceedingly challenging and tiresome to do while jet lagged:

1.    Start a new job and meet your supervisor, boss, and co-workers all right in a row
2.    Meet the mayor of the new city you are moving to
3.    Have said meeting recorded for the local news
4.    Set up a bank account
5.    Set up internet
6.    Set up a phone plan
7.    Do all of the above in Japanese

Surprise! This is pretty much how my first day in Noto went down. The most interesting part was indeed visiting the mayor. First of all, I had no idea that I would be doing this until my supervisor casually mentioned it about 20 minutes before I would go and meet him. I was also casually told that the whole affair would be recorded for the local news, as a new JET coming to town is evidently a big deal. Thus, my nervous, exhausted self would have to do a brief self-introduction, in Japanese, and sit around and have a short chat. Another thing I was made aware of during my meeting with the mayor was how formal and serious an affair it was going to be. Indeed, there was a whole ritual for this sort of thing, which involved each person in the meeting having an assigned seat, an assigned number of bows to give and an assigned speech and formally giving me my work contract. Thus, I was a bundle of tired nerves when I gave my Japanese self-introduction and lets just say I have desire to ever, ever see that recording.

Meeting the mayor

Despite this road bump, the night definitely ended on a good note. After all of these exhausting procedures had been done, my supervisor treated my fellow Noto JET, Jillian, and me to a delicious okinomiyaki restaurant. Okinomiyaki is kind of like a Japanese pancake with eggs, meat, batter, veggies and whatever else you want in there, although usually topped with a sauce and mayonnaise.

The next few days have been mostly getting acclimated to my surroundings as school in Japan is out during August and therefore I really don’t have to much to do at the moment. Some of the cool sights I’ve seen in the Noto have been Mitsukejima (often called Battleship Island so named for its ship-like appearance). Another highlight was Senmaida, a bunch of scenic rice paddies by the ocean. Another great experience was going to my first beach in Japan. As I said before, the pool-temperature water was completely awesome to swim in. I was definitely a bit of a celebrity at the beach…one particularly vociferous group of Japanese thought it best to get my attention by both calling out “David” and by shouting out random English words.

Mitsukejima

Senmaida Rice Paddies

All in all, its been a very hectic first week filled with many challenges but also very many rewarding experiences and I continue to look forward to my time here.