Rainpocolypse and Thanksgiving

Whew! After a long absence I'm back! I'll just jump right in to what I've been up these past weeks. Being very much afflicted by the weather these past few weeks, I'll start there. Japan is well known for having a rainy season that pops up roughly around June every year. The exception to this rule seems to be my region which has been perpetually bombarded by rain for the last 2-3 weeks almost nonstop. I've never seen rain go on for this long and it we even had thunder and lightning for about 3-4 days in a row! As much as I love rain and storms, I can't pretend that this is a little much and I am desperately hankering for some solar power soon. 

On the plus side, since all the crappy weather has also made it impossible to do my regular runs and bike rides, I have been forced to get acquainted with Sean T. and have been slowly getting my butt kicked by insanity less and less.

Despite the relentless torrent of rain, the nature and fall scenery in Ishikawa continues to be sublime. Two weekends ago, I got a chance to head down to Kanazawa to do what they call in Japan "Autumn Leaf Hunting." As I coming to realize, Japan really values seasonal activities and foods.  In a conversation with one of my Japanese English teacher, I was told that there are certain times when one should go to certain places and certain foods that should only be eaten during a specific season.

Kenrokuen Garden at Autumn

Kanazawa Road

Train I took to get Kanazawa oh Japan:)

After I finished my fall leaf hunting excursion, some fellow JETs and I went out to eat in Kanazawa and had Japan's version of "Chinese" food. Japanese Chinese food differs significantly from American Chinese food in that they are a lot less meat focused and usually feature ramen, potstickers, and tofu related dishes. It's really interesting how Chinese menus seem to change and adapt to the respective cultures' tastes that they are surrounded by. (Although they all remain pretty greasy and delicious).

Japanese/Chinese Meal

Fried Gyoza

Spicy Tofu Dish

To combat homesickness and to bring a little bit of home to Japan, several JETs and I had a Thanksgiving feast yesterday where we all contributed our own side dishes. I brought a little Norwegian/Minnesota pride by making some lefse by scratch. Although they turned out pretty well in the end, I daresay I shan't be making them again in the near future. The reason is that these suckers evidently need about a metric ton of flour in order to make them less adhesive to one's rolling pin. Flour is also pretty darn expensive in Japan so I ended up having to throw down more than 10 dollars on flour just to make one batch.

Ya sure you betcha it's some lefse doncha know!

 Other goodies that JETs made included some usual staples;  potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc. However, we did get some entries that were new to my thanksgiving experience. Some Japanese friends of one of the JETs brought over a bowl of chopped cow tongue, another person made some vietnamese spring rolls. My favorite entry, however, was made by a guy named Jiri, a guy from the Czech Republic who brews beer in a local restaurant made some fabulous Czech beer! As most of the beer in Japan tastes like keystone in my opinion, having a good brew made for a most jovial Thanksgiving indeed.

Jiri

Of course, no Thanksgiving celebration is complete without Turkey and thankfully, one of the JETs was able to deliver! As there are virtually no turkeys in Japan, I'm quite happy they were able to acquire this delectable specimen. 

Turkey!

Overall a very fun night.

All in all, a very fun night that helped fight some of the homesickness. (Still can't make up for the many wonderful friends and family back in the states though).

In other exciting news, I have booked a flight to see my friend of colossal proportions, Colleen O'Connor, in China at the beginning of January! I will be visting her in the city of Kunming, which is in the Yunnan Province in Southern China near the borders of Tibet and Vietnam. It will be weird going to China and not seeing Beijing, the Great Wall or any other famous spots, but I nevertheless expect the adventure of a lifetime.

I am also very glad I was able to book the trip because the process of it was an enormous ordeal! For starters, I had to send money back home in order to put money on my American credit card so I could purchase a ticket (Japan really isn't big on credit cards and almost all financial transactions are done in cash). The process of sending money home was about as pleasant as a rectal exam. For starters, After completing the very very detailed form to send money home, I was told by the post office worker that I had to do the whole thing over because I hadn't put my address in Japanese characters. After meticulously rewriting the whole, much to my horror, I discovered that I had accidentally switched the numbers of my American and Japanese bank accounts and had to start over yet again. So, after two hours of hell, I finally was able to turn in my form.

The next major challenge to my upcoming trip has come in the form of obtaining a Chinese tourist visa. As the Chinese embassy infuriatingly won't accept applications by mail and the closest one to me is 8 hours away in Tokyo, I had to dig in the recesses of the internet to find a Japanese company that could apply for the visa by proxy. After searching the internet high and low, I came across a very badly translated site that says it can do such a thing. As I found the link on A JET forum I really really hope this company will prove able to process my application...I also had to give them my passport as well so I am praying to whatever the patron god of bureaucracy is here that my application and visa will find there way through the system at the moment.   

Anyway, here's hoping it will all work out in the end.

The Way of the Sword and Ancient Ruins

Since I began living in Japan, I have been itching to try my hand at some form of martial art. After mentioning this at my Board of Education, I am now officially taking kendo lessons at a nearby dojo every Wednesday and Saturday evening! 

For those that are unfamiliar, kendo, which roughly translates as "the way of the sword," is a Japanese martial art that concerns itself with swordsmanship (albiet with bamboo replicas called shinai and not the real deal) and cultivating a focused mind.

The shinai

Kendo is similar to western fencing in that competitions are about gaining points by being the first to strike against ones opponent in certain areas of the body. In kendo, there are four basic pieces of equipment that one wears and is allowed to strike. The first is the men that covers the face and shoulders. 

The men

The next is the do (pronounced like Homer Simpson's iconic d'oh) that covers the chest. 

The do

Next is the tare ( pronounced like a Canadian saying "tar" then "eh") that covers the waist. 

The tare

The last pieces are the kote (pronounced like a Candian saying "coat" then "eh") which cover the hands.    

The kote

Yet, kendo slightly differs from western fencing in that it not only encourages physical self-cultivation, but mental discipline as well. This concern with ones mental state can largely be attributed to kendo's history. Kendo's origin's can be traced to two key points in Japanese history, the development of Buddism and the origins of the Samurai warrior class. Back in the day (around 1000-1600 A.D.) Japan had yet to become a unified country and thus suffered from chronic civil war. This period of warfare and instability lead to the proliferation of an increasingly influential militaristic aristocratic class. These warriors would later developed in to the renowned Samurai we all love today. Developing at roughly the same time as the Samurai class were new sects of Buddhism in Japan. One of the most influential Buddhist teachings to emerge during this period was Zen (heavily influenced by Buddhism in China), which emphasized awareness with ones surroundings and the ephemeral nature of life. Since warfare and battle were constants in the nasty, brutish and often short life of the Samurai, it was only natural that Zen had a lot of appeal. Thus, swordplay in the Samurai way of life emphasized not only physical training, but training ones mental state of being as well. Although the Samurai are long gone, many of the ideals of the warrior code survive in modern kendo. Indeed, the point of kendo, as I am often told by my sensei, is more concerned with calming and preparing ones mind and spirit rather than on winning a match. 

Having never done kendo in my life, I am currently practicing with elementary-age kids (many are my students) and so far, practices have consisted of the following:

We start by doing a series of taiso or exercises and warm ups.

Next, all the students line up and sit in the proper seika poistion (where one sits on their feet, which I daresay is quite painful on the hardwood floor we practice on at the moment) followed by chanting the names of the various pieces of armor, the men, the do, tare, and the kote (why this is I have yet to figure out). After that, we place our hands on the floor and do a low bow towards the sensei to show respect and humility.

Since I am a novice I usually get a private lesson from the second in command while the sensei leads the rest of the class. Thus far, I have learned how to hold the shinai properly, how to step properly, how to yell properly, how to bow properly, and how to sit properly as it seems there is a right way to do virtually everything in kendo (part of the mental discipline I assume). So far, everything I have done has been greeted with a coy smile from my instructor followed by a it`s difficult isn`t it so I can only assume I am blundering my way through at the moment. Nothing to do but practice, practice, practice I guess. Also, as the whole class is conducted in Japanese, I will naturally be a bit of slow learner, seeing as I can only understand about 50% of what my instructor says at any given moment.

We then end the class the same way as we began, by doing exercises and bowing again to the sensei. Anyway, here's hoping my warrior spirit will increase in the coming days.

As I had a whole day to myself and the weather was gorgeous (around 65 degrees!) last Sunday, I decided to do some self-exploration around my town. My first stop was the Makaki Ruins, which are about a 20 minute drive from my house. This site boasts one of the few archaelogical ruins of the Jomon culture, which thrived in Japan around 6,000 years ago.  Although the museum itself turned out to be closed for the day, I nevertheless got to see the excavation site and a few reconstructions of some the remains found around the surrounding area.

Beautiful autumn day at the Makaki Ruins

Reconstruction of a Jomon era Monument at Makaki Ruins

The wood circle

Excavation Site

After my excursion at the ruins, I stopped by the grocery store for lunch and to my pleasant surprise, someone was carving up a fresh tuna right at the entrance. Since there was a huge crowd of locals clamoring to get some tuna, I decided to do as the romans do and buy some myself (it was quite delicous).

Giant tuna at the grocery store (there was a stampede of people behind me)

After returning home and storing my precious tuna, I decided to take a little hike around my village. My first excursion was the area behind my apartment, which until 2005 was a railroad. Evidently, the railway became defunct as the population in my town became too low to merit continued service.

Old railroad by my apartment

Tunnel of doom! Kind of reminded of Miyazaki`s Spirited Away

My next path lead me along the ocean and some of the country roads Noto has to offer.

Mountains across the sea

Country road by the ocean

All in all a beautiful day

On a final note, I will definitely be keeping my eye on the election tomorrow. Thus far, none of my coworkers have even acknowledged that there is an election happening in 'murica so I might be the only one looking/caring at the office.

Autumn in Ishikawa

So due to my iphone meeting a watery grave, I don't have as many pictures to contribute to this post. I don't have my camera on me as often as I did my beloved iphone. Thus, I'll do the best I can to describe and you, the viewer, must use the power of imagination.

Anyway, its been pretty much a roller coaster these past two weeks of events both good and bad. On the down side, I was immobily ill last weekend and didn't get a chance to do too much. (Ah the joys of working at the germ distribution center that is an elementary school.) I did, however, have to go to a mandatory team-teaching conference put on for all the JETs. Thus, exceedingly groggy and still rocking a wicked cold did I attend said conference. One of the highlights from the conference was listening to the main speaker who added quite a bit of humor to the proceedings. One amusing story was his experience going to Whitney Houston concert in Japan many years ago. Evidently, when Whitney asked the Japanese audience the traditional "How's everyone doing tonight", the whole crowd responded in unison, "I'm fine thank you and you?" (The stock phrase that we, the ALTs, teach at the beginning of every lesson).

One a brighter note, Autumn is now in full stride in the Noto as the leaves are finally starting to turn into really spectacular colors. Coupled with this firework display of nature is the arrival of my favorite holiday, Halloween! Although Halloween isn't really celebrated in Japan to the extent that is in America, many of my students are familiar with it nevertheless and love doing halloween lessons. My lessons consist of halloween bingo, making paper pumpkins (actual pumpkins would cause me to go bankrupt due to the number of students I have and how expensive pumpkins are), and doing a trick or treat game I made up where the student have to a ridiculous task (such as dancing with me in front of the whole class) in order to win the coveted prize of candy. It never ceases to amuse me when one the students picks the "do a dance with Sam-sensei" card as they will usually stand there in stunned silence and in horror at the impending task for about 20 seconds before they decide that candy is a worthy price for their dignity. (I suppose free candy sounds like a pretty good concept to anyone). For my costume, I chose to be Monkey D. Luffy from the manga/anime One Piece (which is insanely popular over here) and all of the students seem to get a good kick out of it.

Luffy!

Recently, one of my schools had several classes canceled and there were a large string of meetings held in their place. When I asked why, it turns out that one of the students had actually punched a teacher! This certainly blew the lid off of my preconceptions that all Japanese students were nice and polite. It was further revealed to me that this was such a huge deal for the school as this was the first time it happened in twenty years. Still, keeping in mind the chaos of student life in Hopkins and how well behaved the rest of my students are, I still believe that there is no comparison between American and Japanese students in terms of bad behavior. My students generally win by a longshot.

In terms of weather, it's starting to get a bit chilly at night and inside some of my schools as many Japanese buildings are somewhat notorious for their lack of insulation. Coupled with gas heating costing an arm and an ear, this predicament makes for some creative ways to beat the weather. Thus far, I`ve been wrapping up in layers at night and firing up my trusty kotatsu, which is a table that you can turn on and heat up to warm your blankets and your butt if need be. I`ve also joined a gym which has a small pool and exercise equipment, but more importantly, also has a hot tub by the pool and an onsen in the locker room. I daresay this place will become a regular haunt for me as the weather becomes steadily colder. A definite plus of this change in the weather, however, is the truly beautiful scenery Noto has to offer while the leaves are changing.

My partner in warmness the kotatsu

Leaves by my house

Gym/Onsen anti-winter fortress

In other news, I've also booked a ski trip for Hokkaido this coming February. For once, I'll actually be looking forward to that abomination of a month.

りんご、運動会、千枚田 Apples, Undokai, and Senmaida

I keep telling myself to update more frequently but alas, I am often too tired after work to update. I have recently become an old man as I usually only have the energy to stay up until 10:30ish on the weekdays now. Suffice to say college Sam is very displeased.

Anyway, a few weekends ago, I kicked off my break by going apple picking with some of my fellow JETs. Fruit over here is ridiculously expensive over here (for example some watermelons over here can be up to 50$ depending on how well they’re wrapped!) thus, I really enjoyed the chance to pick some delicious fruits at a more reasonable price for once. The orchard was a small farm owned a family and the apples we picked there were quite tasty.

Delicious apples!

The rest of the day was followed by lunch at a delicious udon restaurant and then some epic Mario Party gaming over at one of the JETs apartment.

An udon feast afterwards

The next day was my towns’ undokai (or exercise gathering). This event turned out to be very similar to my school’s sports festival except for adults representing their respective villages (my “town” is technically more a collection of villages rather than one cohesive unit). The event occurred took place in Kiriko park, which was a rather cool park with a giant monument of a kiriko not too far away.

Kiriko Park

I got to participate along with several other adults from my village of Ukawa.  A few of the events that I personally did included: a game where all members stood in a line and passed a bunch of balls bucket to bucket in order to throw the balls at a cardboard fire, a relay, tug o’ war, and of course, a janken race.

Some of my teammates and I

Again, each of these games emphasized teamwork and group cooperation in a similar vein to my school’s sports festival. One highlight from the undokai was catching a glimpse of the increasingly ubiquitous Spiderman, who is becoming rather like the Where’s Waldo of events over here. Being the only “foreign” looking person at the undokai, again I attracted a lot of curiosity but my favorite moment was sitting down and having two kids (not my students) come up to me, barrage me with questions and then commence a grass throwing battle with me. They were too cute! 

Silly kids sitting next to me

A glimpse of the omnipresent Spiderman

There he is again!

Some food we were served at the Undokai. I think these were either pickled cucumbers or eggplants. They were ridiculously salty.

Our main dish at the Undokai proved much more palatable then the pickled  mystery veggies however.

After the undokai, I went to yet another Enkai, this time hosted by my board of education (thankfully however, they covered all the charges so I didn`t have to empty my wallet.) The delicious menagerie of food consisted of sushi, sashimi, veggies and meat. I was later informed that one of the fish I consumed was the infamous fugu, a fish equally known for its delicacy in Japanese cuisine and for its potential lethality if prepared incorrectly. Thankfully, it seems that our chef knew what s/he was doing as I am currently blogging to you fine folks today.

One of the dishes at the enkai (the white fish in the back are fugu).

The next day, my landlord stopped by my house and asked if I wanted some squid. Always jumping on the chance to acquire free-food, \i accepted and recived the following. Thus, I began my first time gutting a squid. Gutting it was disgusting...yet oddly satisfying. I was quite unprepared for the level of ink hidden in that little cephalopod and my cutting board is now stained a permanent black. I@d say the end result was pretty satisfactory as the stir fry I made with the squid turned out pretty well.

This last weekend, several JETs and I volunteered to set up and light candles at the Senmaida rice paddies for their annual festival. The scenery at the event and the surrounding ambiance was really quite spectacular.

Walking down the rice paddies

Fellow JETs setting up the candles

Pumped up!

There was quite a significant amount of critters roaming around the rice paddies such as this snake.

Lighting the candles

Very scenic and relaxing

The end result was truly quite beautiful.

This light up was followed by all the volunteers waving torches in the dark. I had more pictures of the event but alas, my faithful iphone met a watery grave in a puddle before I could upload the pictures. Living without it really really stinks as it was a dictionary, music player and map to me. I also found out that getting a new ipod will be exceedingly frustrating as I either have to do a 3hour drive back and forth to Kanazawa (the only place that carries them according to an electronics store employee in my area) or I have to wait 1 to 4 weeks for a new one to arrive via Japan amazon :( Part of the package of living in a rural area I suppose.

Races, Pokemon, and Markets

Update time! Thus far, life in Japan is going pretty splendidly and it seems that getting accustomed to things over here is getting easier by the day. My speaking level of Japanese is probably at the level when I last left Japan (which makes sense I suppose considering I studied abroad for two months and I`ve been here for two months). Anyway, here is a collection of anecdotes about what I`ve been up to since my last update.

Two weekends ago, I ran a 5k in one a neighboring village called Yanagida. The village, which is situated in the middle of the mountains, offered some truly spectacular scenery during the race.

After I finished the race, I was welcomed with an assortment of stalls selling food that would be quite uncommon after a race in the States. Deciding to purchase whatever seemed the most popular with the masses, I celebrated my completion of the 5k by buying a fish on a stick (much to my chagrin, it was incredibly salty, which being dehydrated after a race did not for a merry Christmas make). 

After I consumed my salty little friend, I noticed that a very long line had started in front of one of the stands, which was emanating a most pleasant aroma. The long wait turned out to be worthy endeavor as this stand sold these very delicious pastries, which I can only describe as pancakes with fillings (I purchased the sweet bean paste and custard filled ones).

so delicious!

While waiting in line for the dessert, I had a very interesting conversation with a Japanese lady who spoke English pretty well and she told me all about her experience as a medical volunteer in Mongolia. Indeed, speaking with her and listening to her adventure has really made my fervor for travel throughout East Asia burn ever stronger.

School continues to provide interesting learning experiences and amusing anecdotes as well. One interesting thing I noticed is that the world maps in Japanese classrooms all seem to place Japan and East Asia at the center of the world, rather than the Euro-centric one we often see in the west. I guess it`s to be expected though that any culture will obviously view themselves at the center of the world, but it is nevertheless interesting how that message is conveyed either intentionally or even unintentionally by maps.

Japan-centric map

Another observation I’ve made is that some things are more or less universally popular at every Japanese school I’ve been to thus far and indeed, it has been interesting how much overlap in interests there seems to be between 1^st graders and 9^th graders. Virtually every student loves Pokemon whether a boy, girl, 1^st grader or 9^th grader. (One of the most common questions I get asked at BOTH elementary and junior highs is “what is your favorite Pokemon?”). In addition, virtually every student has told me that they like the manga (Japanese comic) One Piece. Again, there is very little variation between older and younger and between boys and girls. Furthermore, boy bands and girl bands are insanely popular over here as well (The most popular of which is a group called AKB48, which has 48 members!) The popularity of these bands definitely brings me back to the 90’s and the glory days of the Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls.

On a more amusing note, however, last Friday I was told at the last minute by one of my teachers that I would be conducting a class all by self! Adding to my shock was that she gave me a worksheet for the students to fill out and told me that after 20 minutes I was to provide another worksheet with all the answers. My first thought was that there was no way in hell that the students would put any effort into the assignment and my thoughts turned out to be quite accurate. Thus, realizing that I was fighting a losing battle, I gave up any pretentions of them actually working on the sheet and did my best to just chat and have fun with the kids in English. This led to a very amusing conversation explaining the concept of a ladies’ man to some of my students. The topic came up when one of the kids was goofing around and writing in English about how his friend “loved” a girl in the neighboring class. Remarkably, when I told the English what had transpired she really didn’t seem all too upset and indeed even told me that she thought it was a good idea so I guess it worked out in the end.

Also, at one of my elementary schools, one of my students drew a cool Samurai picture for me that now stands proudly on my fridge. (Not too bad for a fifth grader!)

Better artist than me already

Last weekend, I was invited to go out with Jillian (my fellow JET in Noto) and one of my coworkers for dinner. I had a great time ordering trying out all of the cool flavors at the all-you-can drink soda and latte bar (melon soda and strawberry lattes are excellent) and honing my Japanese skills with all of them. The next day, I went to Kanazawa for night of fun at a local club and stayed a fellow JETs place for the night. I really am in love with Kanazawa it has also the niceties and conveniences of a city without the urban blight and overcrowded feel of Tokyo.

After the night of revelry, I awakened and wandered around Kanazawa and did some exploring around my friend`s neighborhood. Much to my satisfaction, there seemed to be some sort of Sunday market going on that was selling an abundance of delicious food and cool looking lacquer ware. I personally bought some steak slathered in teriyaki sauce and some chicken tikka masala from of the stands that was selling Indian food. 

There were also various performances going on and I stopped to watch some Tahitian dancers and a hip-hop group putting on their moves. 

At this point however, the effects of a typhoon were in full swing and my umbrella turned into more use as a projectile weapon rather than a protective measure against the torrential wind and rain so I retreated back to my friends place.

Well that's all for now folks, plans for the future include pear picking in a nearby town, and going to an event called Undokai but more on that in the ne