Monday, November 13, 2006

And Finally Some Pictures

Hey everybody,

My apologies for the last post. That's what I get for not having my own connection... I think it posts, but it doesn't. Oh well.

So, besides a quick update, this should include some of the pictures I've been neglecting to update and post for everyone.

Last week was my birthday. It was odd having it away from home for the first time in as many years. But, I did manage to find some decent company around the town, mainly consisting of the other English teachers I've run into at the supermarket or shopping for housing wares. They also planned the late Halloween costume party which was its main them, so that got two done with one party. Generally a fun and fantastic evening. Pics below should everything go well.

I've been having some foot trouble on and off for the last few months. When I went to Nikko the other month, got rained out and consequently had everything wet, including my shoes, and my feet got infected with something. I thought it was a reaccurance of some athlete's foot I had back in the day (which hadn't made an appearance for awhile for my usual treatment), but the usual treatment of tea tree oil wasn't doing it. They eventually got infected and then I decided to see a doctor.

So, finding out about the Japanese medical institution has been interesting. The doctor at the general clinic my friends at work refered me to was an interesting fellow. The friends spoke of him tentatively though, using a word (I can't remember right now) that translated as "dreadful." Luckily, he wasn't so bad. Spoke enough English to get by with my bad Japanese luckily. He essentially said the foot meds I had been using had caused it (which I am skeptical) and it wasn't athlete's foot (which I quite agreed) and that it was some kind of other dermatitis (oh fun). After that, some antibiotics and other anti-inflamatories (god knows what kinds), and a B2 vitamin (for the antibiotics), and some various cremes (again with god knowing) and my foot got better. They're like new, almost.

Except, after the party, the other one (one was more infected than the other, though they both had something in the beginning) got re-ifecte. Blame the alcohol, or whatever, but last week was another one of hobbling from class to class and wearing sandles so my feet could at least fit in a shoe. But, another round of antibiotics seems to have done the trick again.

Now, to figure out what's up with my chi and get it realigned. Something chronic going on perhaps. Oh well.

But, enough about my feet.

I did learn that my work visa has been approved. No word yet when it will actually show up, but my company said sometime this month (oh, yay...). Then, another week for the foreginer registration card to come... and then I can be a real boy. Get me a cell phone, internet, and... er,... um... get legally paid... yeah.

I've also been slacking on doing my nanowrimo attempt. Got somewhere around 15,000 words and have been entirely lazy about doing it regularly. Must do so. Tomorrow's a holiday in all of Saitama Prefecture, so here's hoping I get to at least a good stint of it.

I've got two RPG groups to attend as well, with plenty of other opportunities awaiting, though most of them a fair bit away. One is currently playing a game called Polaris, which is very interesting and a bit hard to play, but very enjoyable. The other is a Shadowrun game with a bunch of hippies who don't want to kill anyone, myself included. We'll see how they go.

Learned there's an Aikido group in town that meets at the Fukaya Big Turtle at some point, so I'm hoping to get to that once my foot's good enough and they'll let me in (with my pending gaijin card). Still need to get more than the bike commute's worth of exercise though. More yoga for sure, but perhaps some jogging is in order. The winter is beginning to set in rather good now and I wouldn't want to fatten up too much.

Otherwise, not much else to report.

On to the pictures:

First, I went to Nikko back in late September. Nikko is a good two or so hours by train from Tokyo, which I went through in order to get a better ticket price. Nice place. Best known for the fall colors, and a decent place to see the spring ones as well--it also has a large congregation of natural hot-springs, making it a tourist attraction for locals and internationals alike. Spendy, but that didn't stop me.

I got a late start on Friday so got there late at night. Took the last bus as far as it would go, which got me in the middle of no-where's-ville and a little hot-spring resort with not much else. Not even a convenience store, which is hard to do here. Dipped my feet in an outdoor foot dipping place. Found that and eventually befriended a young couple who were also there past curfew. They were meeting other friends that worked at a resort a bit later, and eventually wasn't able to hang out with them, but they did direct me to a place I could get a bath (baths usually being part of a resort deal stay as I found out). Took a nice bath in the sulfurous waters and camped in a park nearby. Rained a bit, but nothing much.

Next day, lots of hiking. Saw some sights. Pretty. Found out eventually that there was a big storm blowing in, part of a typhoon apparently. Decided to camp it out anyway (there was a hostel back in Nikko, but I was only half way). Tried to find another bath, but to no avail. Got rained on hard. Blowing winds soaked me and the bivy sack got flooded. Woke up mostly wet and my shoes made better cups than protectors. Forgot to pack sandles. Slosh around all day did I.

Which eventually wore on the morale. I had planned on catching the, also touristy, temples and interesting structures back in Nikko. I did take a quick look, but didn't want to pay and check out any of the temples. So, tried to leave as quickly as possible. Got some quick gifts and was back to home.

I don't think that was the same weekend I bought my computer, which I had planned on doing soon or already that weekend when I got back into town. I think I did. Got a computer, took awhile, and eventually got home on nearly the last train around midnight.

Oh yes, pictures.

Me at some falls in Nikko. When I get the chance I'll try and look up the map points better. Suffice it to say that the one full day I was there was pretty and nice, so I ended up hiking around a lot and enjoying the scenery in the outer parts of Nikko which were mountains and hot springs.
The other end of that rapids behind me. Can't remember the name of the lake though. Darn.
I believe these were at the bottom of the previous two. Nice, if blurry.
Or this one... Or both. I seem to remember there was a few along the way. It went on for a bit, rather.
An interesting little set of monuments and a grotto on one of the riverside paths.
I think this was the smaller lake near where I started the day. Hum... notes are a good thing. This one was fed by a rather odorous hot-spring which I completely failed to take any pictures of. Lots of interesting bits of sulfur salts and corrosion and stuff at its origin.
Nara out by a shack on a trail just off of the river. Rather tame as well.
Mmmm.... Japanese mountains.
Tree and roots on the path as well. Did I mention I went hiking a lot... Like, a lot.
Mmm... Japanese mountains in the mist.
This was one of the bear gates at the end of one area of preserved flora. As you can see, it's also Cthulhu proof... or at least as much as anything is.
Me being very wet and mostly unhappy in Nikko.
A cute bug I found while I was waiting for my bus back to the train in Nikko. Looks like a samurai, neh?



Okay, now on to some pics of Fukaya!

This would be a water tower (I hope) on my way to school every morning. That would be a negi and tulip in the name, Fukaya's stantions.
The other side. Happy churipu [sic] indeed!
And the fields of negi right next to the watertower. Oh, how there are many of them. And when the farmers harvest them, they usually hack off the top half of the green-leafy part and leave them in piles, so one can catch a decent whiff of onion-y air every now and again. Also, due to the agricultural nature of the town, the fertilizer "smell" is often apparent from time to time. Reminds me of home (Corvallis) quite a lot actually. Nice touch.
So, a few weeks back there was a local harvest festival. Not much more than seeing this cart, or at least others like it, being drug around town. Lots of god-awful noise, but nice on the whole. I think we got a day off for it, but I couldn't find any more interesting festivities other than noise making. I'll spare you for now, at least.
Also at the harvest time, there were a bunch of these kinds of paintings displayed (if a bit haphazardly) around the train station (which is also a cool red-brick sorta new-old-fashioned deal I'll have to post sometime). This was one of the more creative ones, but the others had cool flowers and foliage.
As such. Actually, they were more about kids and surrealism now that I think about it. The flowery one was a long panel set and I need to photo-stitch it together sometime with software I don't have on me.
And again. I like these.
Fukaya's own attempt at a nice laquer-style bridge. It's not, but it is pretty nonetheless. This is right near the station, about a block from me, right in front of one of the three temples I know about. I pass the other two on my way to school (away from the station).

So, a few from Tokyo on some occasions I managed.

A sign right on the station wall of Harajuku. I'm still not entirely sure what it means.
This, taken in the vast underground section of terminal in Shinjuku station, is the Japanese take on Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Yes. Everything in Japan is, or will be, cutified.
Um... Detail...
A poster on the walkway at Harajuku. Don't know what it says, but I know it's Kino's Journeys in the Beautiful World. Good anime. Looks like either a movie or a new series coming out next year. Will work on translation.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Routine

Hey folks. Still alive. Doing well actually. Many apologies again. I still can't get internet at home, and since I'm still technically living off savings until my first pay check comes (they often delay your first paycheck a month here, don't know why, but I don't see money), not that I'm officially supposed to get paid until my visa approval comes (which it won't for another good three or four weeks probably), I've been needing to conserve my resources as much as possible (edit: paycheck came today--hooray!). I've also been using my credit card a fair amount as well, which probably isn't good, but can't be helped. Hopefully all that will resolve itself fairly soon once my visa is approved and I get to be an official human being here. Yay international bureaucracy.

Since you've been so patient, I'll make this one a longer post (I'm writing it at home anyway), but do forgive me if I ramble on and tangent off a lot. I need practice anyway. I'm planning on doing nanowrimo next month, so writing will be my friend.

So, what pray tell, is the life of this ALT (assistance language teacher) like nowdays? Here be the lowdown:

On a typical day I get up around 7:30 am, sometimes woken up earlier by the searing rays of the sun coming in through my southern porch window. Japan doesn't observe daylight savings, so it's an early day and early evening. I eat something: the healthiest I've found so far has been some (relatively) cheap fiber cereal from the discount drug store--the least healthy being convenience store bread products that have none of the afore mentioned fiber (white bread the whole country wide). Few foods here seem to have much in the way of fiber, except, of course, the actual fresh vegetables.

I leave my house around 8 am for a decent 15-20 minute bike ride through the agricultural and residential outskirts of town. Besides being on high alert for just about every Japanese driver that inadvertently will try to kill me as I try to get to my destination, it's a fairly nice ride, so long as it's not raining. It's been raining a lot recently. Those are less pleasurable days--cold and wet by the time I get to school. I've got some decent rain gear now, but it's still generally cold, and getting colder. It does at least provide some exercise though.

Getting to school around 8:20-30, I do my best to cool off from the ride and manage the drenched garments. Obligatory changing of shoes, of course. Most of the students and teachers have already arrived (around 8 am?), but since my contract says I start work at 8:30, and I usually arrive early anyway, there's really no reason to come any earlier.

And then I start my job.

My job basically consists of going to a number of English classes throughout the day and being an English speaker. There are two English teachers at my school, both with a reasonable, if basic, understanding of English. I tend to be able to communicate with them, whereas everyone else I really can't. It can be a bit of a challenge sometimes, especially if someone not one of the two teachers wants me to do something. I've also found that very few people here tend to do much of the pointing and making with hand signals (the cornerstone of surpassing language problems), and give up fairly quickly if I don't know what they're saying. Oh well.

The day is split up into six periods, though Monday and Friday both don't have a sixth period of classes. I've still not actually been able to figure out what exactly they do then, but it's some other activity or homeroom class or something. My schedule is made by one of the other English teachers, usually before I need it during the week, but sometimes not. I also get a schedule of general week activities in Japanese, which I can at least vaguely figure out if there are going to be large gaps in the schedule (which there usually are). I have about three or four classes a day, typically with either the first or third graders (grades here are renewed each school, so first graders in junior-high would equal seventh graders in the US, etc.). Whether it's a scheduling error or intentional, I have seen the second graders rarely (less than half as much as the others). I take my text book (thin, paperback thing of about 100 pages), and my worksheet collection if it's first or second grade class, and am off to read my English.

Which is on the whole boring. The text books, of course, are written to introduce language appropriately for the grade level, and tame to take into account usual Japanese politeness, so I can understand why students couldn't be more enthralled. Some of the chapters do introduce some useful English speaker attitudes and social customs (one about how Americans will greet store clerks and elevator girls--which isn't done here). The younger, more energetic (genki) students don't seem to care as much (whether it's that or the fact that they don't understand what they're parroting), but it is what it is and I don't really have an opinion. So I read them their vocabulary and their selected conversations and reading excerpts, sometimes questions, etc. Depending on the teacher (the two that are at my school are a bit different in their methods of teaching, to various and interesting results I'll have to mention at some point), I'll do my reading in English, have the kids repeat, and trade off duties of translation and Japanese grammar explanation to the Japanese teacher. This is, roughly, how it is done all over Japan as I understand. They listen to me primarily for the pronunciation, accents and pacing, and the teacher does a better job of explaining the finer grammar points.

Occasionally I'll invent some kind of activity or game or bring in a track of music that might relate to some vocabulary or point in one of their current units of study. Generally I am just an English parrot though.

I've also been pressed into helping students with English speeches they've been preparing to present (more on that below). So, I'll go over pronunciation of words, how to correctly have the accent on phrases, and how to improve the flow and presentation of dramatic speaking. It's gone fairly well.

I've also done some reading examples for their midterm tests that occurred last week. They had to report answers from my recorded reading. Fun.

In between classes, and during down time or unrestricted time during class, I'll try to engage the students in some way. Usually this amounts to not much more than, "Hi. How's it going?" (that was a good one; it's a typical greeting, but colloquial so it throws them... they will still answer the traditional, invariate and disgustingly cardboard "I'm fine thank you" answer though... still working on breaking that). The third graders have been doing better at asking more interesting questions, though still rather simple as their vocabulary is still rather slim--rather, their usable vocabulary. Many of the older students actually know a decent amount of English when written, it's the speaking ability that they need the most, and presumably one of the other reason's I was hired.

When I'm not scheduled for a class, I'll keep myself occupied with thinking of things to do with the kids, or trying to browse the internet on the (terribly) old computers that have the internet filtered so I can rarely get through to my email or any sites of use. I've been finding better ways around this lately, but it's still a slow process. And I study my Japanese using my various books and resources.

At 12:30, the lunch cart comes in to prepare the teachers' lunches. I tried out the school lunch program for the first week before entirely giving up on it. I tried to explain that I either needed to have a vegetarian lunch (which I didn't expect them to make for me) or not to give me the meat portions since I would just abandon or throw them away anyway. After a few days of reminding them I gave up and just ate around the sections I could, which were few. Somehow, the Japanese have managed to add meat to everything here, even when simple things don't really call for them. Most of the soups would be just fine without that little bit of extra bacon or whatever it is they will add. And even at the supermarket deli (which is, on the whole, hard to find), the one tofu dish they provided had a meat sauce with it. Perplexing indeed. So, I've been bringing my own lunch ever since. I cook a lot at home as well.

Most days I bring a salad I've prepared the night before. The produce at the grocery stores is rather fantastic. Fantastically expensive to match, but perfect foods do have a price. And all the vegetables are perfect. They have one kind of carrot here--and they are cartoon perfect, symmetrical, blunt and bright orange Bugs Bunny carrots. Same goes for apples (often individually wrapped in their own styrofoam jacket protectors). Grapes are (unseeded) succulent, bulbous orbs straight out of a painting--often costing about 5 times as much as anything you would see in the U.S. Melons are tiny (and perfect), often having the stem retained--and can go for upwards of $20 or more each. Bananas and some greenery (locally grown thing that looks close to spinach but is not) are about the only thing that are about the same price as back home, so I tend to get these in quantity. There is also the ginormous Japanese radish (daikon) that I can usually only buy half of a small one before it starts to go bad; they usually come about half a meter in length (perhaps only slightly shorter), and about 10 cm in diameter (for much of the length). Huge they are, and cheaper than the dirt they're planted in (usually about a dollar US for a whole one). Relatively bland (unless you really let them sit in the fridge for a week as I have found out...), but make for a decently crunchy salad, which seems to be what the Japanese do with them. They're usually cut into thin long strips and made with a light yogurty or vinegary dressing. The other fairly cheap, and apparently healthy, veg is the Japanese cucumber (small, pickle like, plentiful, cheap, and crisp). They are often combined in a similar manner with the daikon to make the afore mentioned salad.

I've also gotten a rice cooker recently and been making more creative dishes at home that, pending leftovers, will often go to lunch. And with the timer function, can have my natto for breakfast as well. Finally found a grocery store that had a (very expensive) curry paste (without meat in it as most every pre-packaged curry meal does) and made myself a rather decent "red curry" with some yams, lotus root, and onion and garlic. Couldn't find any coconut milk though. I have managed to also find some decent brown rice. Most brown rice in the stores is extremely expensive. I have figured this is primarily because the pre-packaged brown rice (genmai) is rarely eaten, and must therefore be premium grade to appeal to the Japanese palate. I have since found another place that will sell me genmai at a fraction of the regular store price (about a 1/4 as much). I think this is because the cheaper genmai is actually intended for customers to buy (in it's un-polished state) and have it polished in store while they do their shopping. The place had a number of genmai varieties and some large machinery nearby, so I can only assume. The cheaper genmai seems to be polished less than the premium stuff I was buying, and has a bit more of the chaff on the outside. Still tastes fine by my standard, which is significantly different to the Japanese's.

When I first started my salads I would get quite a few interesting looks from the staff. Many were impressed by their size (I usually fill a ziplock cube container with salad--plenty enough even to fill me up) and their lack of anything else (though I have been adding red beans and garbanzos to the mix, as well as some nice snack crisps that work well as crutons). I will often also supplement my lunch with some inarizushi (little fried and seasoned tofu pockets filled with sushi rice) that can be found in any supermarket's deli section (and often half-price if you go later in the evening).

The Japanese lunches tend to have some sort of main meat product (often a fried fish), a small bowl of soup, some vegetable (steamed broccoli or the afore mentioned salad), and sometimes a bread item (which they cal pan--as the Portuguese gave them the idea for that).

After 15 minutes of lunch, everyone else puts all the dirty dishes back on the cart, discarded food back in the (invariable) (literal) bucket from which the soup came, folds their half-pint milk carton (everyday!!!) and stacks them in a neat pile. Then there is the 15 minutes cleanng period which every student in the school does some kind of cleaning either in their classroom or some schedule of rotation in other parts of the building. After the first few days I was pressed into helping clean the teacher's office, though happily. However, it's mostly a show of good faith--though I try my best. The students tend not to clean so much as polish off areas already cleaned the previous day. In as much, real cleaning would imply moving objects and getting areas that might build up dirt, crevices, underneath desks, and the like. But no. No objects, save the occasional chair for an obvious piece of grit, do the students move. I've found rather large dust bunnies (kurokuroske) lurking in plain view, that take little more than a creative movement of the broom to remove. This is assuming the students do much toward cleaning in the first place. Sometimes they don't really even try to look busy.

This period of cleaning also has a soundtrack, the exact same sequence everyday, broadcast school-wide:
-Main Theme to Indiana Jones
-Chariots of Fire by Vangelis
-Ghostbusters (main theme song with English lyrics)
-Chariots of Fire again

After putting in a good 5-10 minutes of sweeping and occasionally trying to encourage the students to do some actual cleaning, I finish and return to my desk, awaiting the next class, or go back to the internet or Japanese studying. After lunch are the remaining two periods and a short period of end of day nothingness. I am officially allowed to leave at 4:15 pm. Many days I stay late just to use the internet longer since I try to not look like I'm hogging the computer during the day.

However, two other teachers at school, around my age, accosted me early on to have me teach them some English. I have no idea how to do this officially, so I mostly just hold a basic conversation time with them, cover simple aspects of English small talk, and mostly use them to help figure more out about the town and life in Japan. We usually try to meet on Wednesdays and Fridays, pending actual schedule conflicts, meetings, and holidays. They've also helped me go shopping, figure out what to say and translation items. So, it's nice to have a few friends at least. I'll usually end up staying till about 5 pm or even later depending on my after school schedule (which is still fairly non-existent).

On the whole, the above daily schedule has only actually happened once or twice. Almost every week thus far (I count eight) has had some kind of holiday or major school activity that doesn't allow for the regular schedule. So far there have been two holidays: Mondays so far, though next week there's a Friday off. There was the all-school sports day: this involved about two weeks of abbreviated class schedules (45 minutes each as opposed to the usual 50 minute periods for each class; and only 5 minutes to the usual 10 for in between time) to allow for training and practice for their team games, track and field type activities, etc. One day was the actual sports day competition, which had no classes, had parents come in to cheer them on, etc (another post on this sometime later). Or, like this weekend, we had Thursday off to switch the school day to Saturday for an all day cultural exhibition. It mostly consisted of each grade and class singing a selected song and then performances from the school artistic clubs (dance club, jazz club, flute club, band, etc.). They also showed off some of their other class activities on posters around the school (one I managed to find out was a dying experiment using household agents to dye white yarn and test its adherence when washed). A fun show in general. I also got to participate with the song performed by the teaching staff and gave a brief demonstration of what entailed my English speech coaching: several students chose to write a speech in English, memorize, and perform as part of a competition. One of my students actually did very well, though had most of her training and speech done before I came on the scene.


After all that, it's another bike ride home. The way back is significantly easier as it seems to be mostly downhill on return, making the morning a bit more vigorous. Along the way I also pass several interesting landmarks.

One is the Nagano shinkansen (famous Japanese bullet trains) track that runs split through the city (the shinkansen track leads NW out of Tokyo to Nagano and the north-west shore of Japan). Our city isn't actually a stop on it (that's two train stops away, but still reasonably convenient, if also very expensive). I often see it blazing past in the morning or afternoon.

The other is the recently built, still novel, gigantic multi-purpose facility for Fukaya known as the "Fukaya Big Turtle." It is literally named Fukaya Big Turtle (in Engilsh). It's an arena facility with an attached physical fitness area and such, architecturally bearing a large green tome over the arena section giving it its name. Only popped my head in briefly as I still need my alien registration card to use the facilities. Soon... Soon... hopefully...

And lastly there's the reasonably sized park reserve next to the Fukaya Big Turtle, which also has a Shinto temple or shrine on one section of the grounds. Some nice forested areas that have some jogging tracks and areas to sit in relative secluded nature.

The rest of Fukaya is residential, bedroom community sprawl intermixed with small family farm plots.

Fukaya is also known for two major agricultural products (as it was primarily an agricultural town before it became said bedroom community). Negi (which are large Japanese leek style onions) and tulips (which are more of a spring thing, so I'll keep ya posted). Their individualized man-hole cover has the tulip detailed. The negi are everywhere else in force (which are also cheap at the grocery store, though I've yet to figure out a good use for it as it is a *whole* lotta onion). I've also seen a fair amount of cabbage and lettuce like plants being grown for harvest, as well as plenty of rice (all over Japan).

Incidentally, one of the free English entertainment and activity magazines produced out of the Kansai area (Osaka/Kyoto) called Japanzine (the other being Metropolis for Tokyo) has a back page taken after the Onion that has named itself "The Negi", complete with picture. I also recommend the interesting Engrish flavor of Ask Kazuhide; a Japanese with enough English to manage writes a rather hilarious write-in column..

When I get home I undress from my shirt and slacks, often replacing with t-shirt and regular pants, and am free.

To do very little. No internet, few friends to speak of, and not much to do in Fukaya. Still working on that. Truth be told I've managed to get into some gaming groups and find some other people to talk to, though they tend to be generally spread all over Tokyo, which is hell on transportation costs.

I've talked briefly with a few of the other ALTs here in Fukaya, usually meeting them in the supermarket (everyone eats, and there's not much else to do here...), complaining of the distinct lack of night life and activities for young adults. There are plenty of restaurants, and pachinko parlors, just like everywhere else in Japan. But no coffee shops, few if any recognizable bar-clubs--not that I tend to frequent either, but the former would at least be a start. Presumably there are activities for other folk like me, but it's hard to find them without the language ability, or internet (and even then, the northern Saitama area is not covered terrible well online--unless you know Japanese). Working on learning Japanese. It's a hard language.

So, many of my nights are spent reading or watching DVDs borrowed from the conversant/friends at work, or playing some of the video games I've managed to find online when I do finally go (a decent 15 minute bike ride) to the internet/manga/relaxation cafe (this one's known as "The Club") and pay for my time there. Occasionally I'll go biking or exploring via train to the nearby cities and places, hang out in the park. Now days its usually dark by the time school gets out though. It's still hard to discern what's available without good language ability, and other cities I'm also limited to foot travel if I take the train, so that can limit distances. But, I'm doing okay. I got a fair number of books when I found a few decent and used book shops in Tokyo, and I don't currently find myself bored.

So, all in all, a perfect time to write a novel. Yeah, sounds good.

Thank you if you've read this far. I will hopefully make more numerous, frequent, shorter posts. And especially when I can actually get internet in my apartment.

Till next time. Take care!

Monday, September 11, 2006

New Apartment

Hey folks, sorry again for delays. Finding internet here in my new home was a bit challenging, and, as is, is a bit of a 20 minute bike ride. At least until I can find a computer. Still debating whether to bulid my own or buy a used something. Decisions.

Nonetheless, teaching at the school now is interesting, of which I'll go into more depth later. For now, I will grace you with photos of my new place.


City, it is... the road is a bit noisy, but not too bad at night at least. Palace, I should say not, though my actual living space is decent, the bathroom is small for a japanese person, and the kitchen non-existent. But, I'll survive just fine.


Mine's at the back right. Walk is slippery as hell when it rains though. Hazardous.


The view from the loft. Yay loft. Though, it's too hot up there to live currently. I bought a fouton like thing and that's in front of the porch doors now. Works out reasonably well.


His new domain...

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

First Impressions

Are, generally, not my strong suit. I'm working on this.

Of the things that are bad to do in Japan, being late is high on the list of no-no's. So, what do I do on my interview day? Arrive two hours late to the interview with the board of education. I got lost on the train to get to the city the job is in (Fukaya, Saitama, Japan), didn't know about the transfer, had to backtrack, and then had trouble calling my pick-up. But, I did eventually get there.

And the interview went fairly well, at least after I explained how I got lost and it'll never happen again. Important cultural learning experience to be sure. Mostly I have to remember to talk slower and not use my extensive vocabulary. These are, after all, junior high students and I don't want to lose all of them the first day. So, I've got some homework already.

For Friday. I start Friday. Holy crap!

So, things are moving quickly. I'm trying to finish up anything else I'll need here in Tokyo (as much as I can manage) before heading out to Fukaya. The agency that helped me get the position has already found me a place to move into on Friday and will be fronting me the key money from my future salary, so that's pretty cool and nice. All I have to do is find a bike and a bed. I am pleased.

Otherwise, doing well. I did loose my wallet last week, which is the other reason I've been busy. I need to call the lost and found places again to see if it's shown up since, but so far no luck. Could've been picked, could've fallen out. Hard to say. Luckily I still have my passport and nothing entirely vital was lost. So that was fun.

And, along with the balloon thing from last post, in Yoyogi park the same weekend, there was also this rather extensive dancing display (Super Yosakoi Festival). Several dozen ameteur dance groups gave street and stage performances, much like the one below. It's an odd mix of modern and traditional stylings, I figure at least. Some were pretty decent, though some were quite ameteur. Enjoyable nonetheless.



My apologies for the video quality. I had to hold it above my head and it was hard... ;-) Does anyone else have trouble with the audio synching? The fans should pop out on the music cue if anyone is wondering.

Well, I'm off to check out a used english book sale (yay 30% off half-of-cover-price... needs stock up before I leave town... foreign books are expensive here), buy some more business wear, find some shoes, and a belt.

Oh, and on other notes, if anyone is interested in chatting me up online, right now I've got gmail and that's about it (schinji@gmail.com). And, if you'd like a postcard from Japan, just send me your address as well. I'll let ya know when I get set up for a Skype account.

Later!

Yes... King of Mouse! Not to be confused with the Rat King...

Monday, August 28, 2006

Japanese Fun Time

So, I suppose I could continue to apologise for not posting. I've been spending almost all my internet time, which is precious to me, on looking for a job here in Tokyo. Or necessary entertainment to stave off lonely depression. One of the two. That and many posts are still in draft phase and need some tweaking and adding to make them ready. I'm also still writing a lot from my time in Hiroshima to do it some justice. All excuses, all, but nonetheless, I hope to get to it fairly soon.

It does look like I have a job interview tomorrow for a possible ALT in Fukaya, Saitama, which is about an hour north of Tokyo and sounds like a decent position. We'll see tomorrow. If not that, some possible leads in a city called Toyohashi, which is somewhere between Shizuoka and Kyoto near the coast. Not quite as desireable as it looks like a conversation school with lots of kids. Hum. We'll see...

To keep you folks happy, though, I present to you this.



They had a hot-air balloon festival in Yoyogi park, and this is what they do at night. Amusing. It's like karaoke, but with balloons and fire... Enjoy.

More soon, really... I hope.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Briefs

Well, my apologies for neglecting the blog for so long. But enough of that.

I had the chance while on the train from Hokkaido to Aomori to write about three hours worth of blog posts... but that's a bit much to post all at once, so I'll be trying to split things up a bit and back post some stuff.

As for right now though, I'm in Hiroshima, generally being very warm and most as is the climate. Planning on getting to somewhere in Kyushu tomorrow, though, why I'm going even further south is still perplexing to me. Hopefully write more about the peace memorial on the 6th. It was pretty good.

And then, maybe some photos too... Easy to spend lots of time at these manga kissa without even noting it. Sigh.

Oh, and after all of that... I did manage to loose a pair of underwear. Washing machine ate it or something... ah well...

Monday, July 24, 2006

Koya-san

Got a late start on Monday (this would be the 24th now) but was determined to get to Koya-san on my pass, since it was close, and I wanted to go. Koya-san is a small temple community, or at least, was converted to one some time ago by Kobo Dashi. A big name in the analects of Japanese Religious History, I believe he originated the kana sylabary (in some respect) back in his day (though, don't quote me on that), and founded a sect of buddhism that centered around the teaching that enlightenment was possible within one's own lifetime. What I've read, at least in the guide books and such, has been cool. Right up my alley. So, yeah, why not go.

Course, it would've been good to know the trip took three hours.

Ah well, it was very pretty at least. Long, local trains from Osaka to Wakayama, and a number of other small cities to transfer and get onto a local train into the mountains, then finally up a cable-car to the top of this mountain plateau. Fun ride, though my JR pass only covered parts of it and ended up dropping another ¥1800 or so. In Koya-san, there's this gigantic cemetery with over 300,000 tomb stones leading up to the lantern houses before getting to Dashi's tomb at the far end of town. I believe the remains (ashes?) of Basho and some other poets are there, many monks, everyone who's anyone apparently. The temple was nifty as well, many lanterns, and very helpful monks who knew some english. Kobo Dashi is also apparently a patron of travelers (he was big on hiking around Shikoku apparently--hence the 88 temple pilgrimage thingy I may try and get to part of later). So, I paid my respects and got a Kobo Dashi protective amulet. It's very nice and blue... ;-)

On the way out, there was also a section of tomb markers devoted to, apparently, fallen members of companies. There was a Nissan marker, and a number of other corporate looking markers. I unfortunately couldn't find the one from the extermination company apologizing for killing hoards of ants. I did find the one with a rocket though, presumably a space program of some kind.

After trying to find some food in Koya-san, which was either too expensive, or not really vegetarian, I headed back for Osaka. I was intending to try out the hostel instead, but due to the time of getting back from Koya-san, only really had time to get back to the Capsule hotel for another night. Not that it was that bad. Hard to complain with a well attendended, free tooth-brushes, and a number of entertaining channels on the tube.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Osaka or Bust

Sunday I decided to finally head out of Kyoto with hopes of getting to Osaka and checking out their festival occuring fairly soon, and to just get out of Kyoto. Had to get going on the JR pass and see more of the country, as the cities were starting to get to be more of the same.

Got to a late start though, and wanted to hit up Nijo-jo (Kyoto's castle) before leaving, which I did, but had to hurry as they closed at 4 pm (yeah, real late start--I had some internet after getting out of the hostel). Very nice castle, enjoyabe difference to the temples. They aso had some mannequins that took the place of the shogun, daimyos, and other retainers of the period and such. Gave it an interesting, historicl, and more lived in and politically charged atmosphere. Had flashbacks to the many days of L5R LARPs done, with ideas of how to envision future palace settings. Ah, nostalgia for such underhanded schemes. Nonetheless.

Also, while I was at the coffee shop next to the Uno house getting some internet before shoving off, I noticed a small flyer for a local art exhibit of rather cute fairy artwork. It wasn't far from the Kyoto Station, so I decided to give it a check out. After eventually finding it (without too much trouble all things considered), a small artisans gallery had several paintings and postcards with the arstist on hand. Managed to get through the language barrier, had a smal cup of tea and cookies, bought some postcards. Very cute and pretty artwork (pics soon).

And then off to Kyoto Station and the activation of the golden ticket... I mean, JR Pass. Had to wait in line for a good while, but after it was all done, it is a joy. As long as I'm on JR lines, which is most everywhere, but not usually about half the subways around big cities, my ride is included. I bought the pass ticket in Hawai'i for around $530 or so (¥57,700 at whatever the going rate was), and I'll probably end up using it for somewhat more than that. I'm not going to keep track now, but it is very cool, and convienient if nothing else. Aparently, going from Tokyo to Hiroshima and back adds up to bout that much or more--which will at least be done. Yay.

Took a short Shinkansen to Osaka and was getting pretty late. Found the capsule hotel there and thought I'd give it a try since I hadn't yet. Best thing so far. It was fairly cheap at around ¥2700 and also had a very nice, two floor sento for only ¥500 more. Very nice indeed. Did that, found some food, and eventually passed out after watching the TV in my little cubby. Alas, this one, and most of them, are only for men. Decidedly men's club kinda feel to it though--and fairly quiet. A little too quiet actually, but that's Japanese culture for you.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Daibutsu (+pics)

Friday then, after a few hours of sleep and getting out around 10ish or so, I walked myself over to Kitano Tenman-gu, another temple in Kyoto, in the north west section of town. Luckily, the Uno House was more or less in the middle of town, and most things were fairly easy to get to. Also wandered, from there, to Kinkaku-ji, the entirely gold temple (gold leaf on laquered wood), which although impressive on it's lake, was very crowded as well. And, after seeing so many temples, it's along the lines of: "Oh well, this temple's gold... cool... (picture)... yeah, next?" Which is bad, so I needed to find a new way of doing things. Nice, but yeah, too many temples, and that's not including the little ones that are on every block or so.
Stopped off on the way through Funaokayama-koen (park and tempe), or was it Daitoku-ji. Pretty sure it was the former. Resisted against getting a pizza at Pizza Hut, and opted for some veggies and ramen. Still haven't had a good pizza in months. Probably better for me that way. The veggies nd ramen were probably the heathiest thing I've eaten here yet.

Saturday I made a day trip out to Nara, the prevous old capitol site of Japan. Got a day pass for the train as I was still waiting to activate the JR pass so as to use it to it's full potential.

Saw the Daibutsu and traveled around Nara park for awhile. Nara is the word for deer in Japanee, and there were lots of them. Had to be careful though, as I found out, even if you're just petting them, they'll nible on things, like my map, that didn't come away intact. God forbid you should try to feed them with the ¥150 food cakes that vendors offer; you give one out and the herd of them follows you until you run out and are obviously not carrying any more of themw, and even that doesn't always deter them. Several children were quite distressed and in the process of fleeing deer being a bit on the agressive side during my walk.

Big Buddha was cool, as well as the accompanying statuary (pictures, soon, I promise). Forgot to go through the Daibutu nose though; there's a hole in one of the pillars of the temple that is supposedly as wide as the buddha's nostril (yes, *big* buddha), and if you go through it you'll be ensured of englightenment. I forgot where it was and left before re-reading of its location. But, ah well. I'm still not too worried. ;-) Apparently it's a treat for the locals to watch big westerners try to squeeze through as it is, still, a fairly small hole.

Back to Kyoto and the Uno House. Caught another sento. A guy from New York was there and mentioned that on his previous trip through Kyoto there was a bunch of locals on the bank of the river for saturday night. So, went to that, and caught a group of rather talented fire dancers (poi and flaming sticks, though no swords or other implements I've seen used before), along with some drumming and some didjeridoo. Tried out the didj a bit after they were done, but that was about it. Caught some beers. Then the rain caught the rest of us and that was the end of it.

Mind you, these are in a random and mostly reverse order. No time to fix now.

Yet another. I should figure out what these are called sometime. I think they might actually be in the shot though.
Another statue in the area.
Nifty statuary near the Daibutsu.
That would be the Daibutsu. Looks smaller in the picture.
Nara in nara.
Happy teeth!
Best Engrish I've found all trip. Mind you, this was not an impressive car by far. Some kind of compact, ignorable type. Fantastic.
Kinkaku-ji in all it's magnificent spleandor.
So, funny story. Coming back from Nara I accidentally got on the Green Car train to make the return trip. Had to pay an extra 500 yen. Not horrible, but, Cthulhu got an extra special ride. Picture, 500 yen.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Karaoke (+pics)

Back in Kyoto, this would be Tuesday, the 18th of July (jeeze I need to update sooner), I went out with three french folk (one serving as tour guide because she'd been there before) and a lady from Indonesia. Hit up Tenryu-ji and Daikaku-ji, both being rather nice temples, the first with a fatastic garden (that I believe made it in the last photo UL). It was, however, extremely rainy, and not much fun on that regard, but by taking busses and limiting the amount of time we were acutally in it and instead inside a temple, it was sufferable. Vacation is hard, isn't it.

Back at the Uno House it was time for a Sento. Instead of getting to the onsen that was way on the other side of town, there was a smaller, but still quite nice one about a block from the hostel. Far more convenient. Several heavily tatooed japanese--I hear tell only the Yakuza really tend to get that. Got some internet as well.

Back at the hostel, however, the small group dining and social space was hoppin'. There was an older gentlemen, Miamoto-san I believe, who was keeping the social atmosphere going, not that that was generally a problem on the whole, and eventually got us into a small singing contest (I believe encouraged by one of the ladies from Germany) and to have a cup-drawn raffle for who should sing a song at the table. Did I mention some beers were involved? Fun time--the old guy realy likes to sing. When the house-crew finally shut us down at midnight, Miamoto-san suggested we go chat outside instead, where he proceeded to lead the lot of us down several alleys of Kyoto till finally finding a Karaoke bar to have us all pile into.

Thus was the first instance of what we later came to call Miamoto's Eleven.

I have now discovered why it is that the Japanese like Karaoke bars so much--they actually do it right. The space is much cosier and designed for keeping the group together. Everybody sings, not just those with the mic, and even if you don't know the tune (i.e. most japanese songs for me--which, alternatively, is probably the most enjoyable way to learn to read japanese) you hum along. The energy of the people is involved and far more centered than any karaoke experience previously, and they're all there to have a good time (with the music), which usually doesn't happen with the American style karaoke bars (since its more bar-centric I would say). The music selection for english songs was actually pretty sparse compared to the japanese songs, but with a healthy mix of both it was not hard to manage. Oddly enough, I found myself exceling at Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid (I can fake a good Sebastian rasta accent). Go figure.

We got out of there, to the pouring rain of dawn.

Went back and slept a bit at the hostel. Tried to get up earlier to catch some more groups for sightseeing, but the house has a day-close policy and everyone else had gone. Got myself a bike (which was by far the best idea for sightseeing yet) and took myself around to Eikan-do and Nanzen-ji temples. The latter was quite nice, and that's where I found the nice forested walk up the mountain (see photos and waterfall steps). Took a respite from the touristy places and a nice forsest hike, meditated a bit near a little cave up the mountain face as well. Looked a bit like a mountain hermitage spot, though only for meditation.

Back down the mountain, the temples were closed so I went around to find the philosopher's trail near by (something the guide mentioned was interesting) and in the process found a small temple or shrine or something devoted to, presumably deceased, animals and pets. Hence the hampster and cat statuary. The path itself was not much, a little path near the water viaduct, but I eventually lost it along with another tourist. Biked back home, caught some more conversation, and on to bed with some continued sleep deprivation from the Karaoke. This was also the one day it didn't rain since I got to Kyoto. A perfect day for sightseeing.

Thursday then was spent milling around with the two nice ladies from Germany (with blog) and a guy from Holland who were heading out the next day. This day turned out to be rainy as well, so some video games were in order. It actually took some time to find a place that actually had a DDR station, but we got that in, along with the guitar rockstar, taiko drumming game, and some mario cart extreme. Fun times. The drum set game (not taiko, not tried--way way too hard) is by far the most impressive though; one quite literally has to be very good at drumming already to be able to keep up with the game.

Got some time at a manga kissa. These are, by far, my second most favorite thing about Japan so far. They'd win out if they weren't so expensive, but you do get quite a lot as well. Internet and computer access, unlimited drinks (matcha latte is the best, and the corn juice is, well... interesting--all matter of carbonated sodas, coffee, and tea drinks, milk variations, hot and cold, most have slushies), PS2, games and movies to rent included (alas, most without english subtitles that aren't already american language movies), and most have showers and abilities to stay the night and be fairy comfy... oh, and manga as far as the eye can see... which I still can't read, alas. I updated the blog and applied for some jobs. Sending the resume out wherever it'll go.

Hung out for most of the rest of the evening, the group having planned on getting out to more Karaoke to see the folks off. Interacted with some dorm mates, a couple of highschoolers who didn't know much english, but nonetheless wanted to have their picture taken with me. Nice guys.

And then the return of Miyamoto's Eleven.

Soon, there will be photos of much repute... or something. But, as I have left the CD of archived photos in my other bag, you'll have to wait to see Cthulhu doing Karoke and eating pocky. Found out I'm also good at Bridge Over Troubled Water, at least, I think. Could've been worse. Good things to know.

Pictures!
Yes... *that* would be Miamoto-san.
Pocky... almost as tasty as devouring the world...
Cthulhu on the mic

Okay, so most of the other photos for Karaoke turned out poorly due to the darkness of the venue. But, ya get the idea.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Kyoto - Pictures 5

Okay, finally got the pictures in. However, running out of internet time, so the commentary will have to wait. Make up your own if you like. I'll get to them soon as well... sure... I... will...

Off to go check out Osaka's Tenzin Matsuri... (sp)... festival hopping... yay!

Next issue... capsule hotel... ;-)

***now with comments***


Ah! Sanders-san... in festival garb...

So, when I arrived in Kyoto that monday it was the last day of Gion Matsuri, the big Gion festival. So, many of these photos will be from that.


Hence, there was a procession of celebrants in traditional-ish garb going through the shopping arcade.


Sometimes... you just don't want to know... Japanese Richard Simmons?


More of the people going through the shopping arcade for the festival.


Miniature samurai altar thing.


An actual Gion float that is either stuck or abandoned. There were a few others around as well. Don't know why. Big.


One of the special floats. They shook these around with much vigor. Noisy. Shiny. :-)


The lanterns at the actual Gion temple lit.


I believe this is Tenryu-ji, or near it, in the rain. A small pre-garden before the temple. Very nice.


Me in the Garden at Tenryu-ji.


Nice close up of leaves in the rain.


Cute mushroom right off the trail.


Nice tree moss near the garden path. Ya know, I don't think I took many pictures of the actual temple. Ah well.


Dragon screen inside the temple.


Yay seiza.


Interesting red painting. The flash flare added nicely I thought.


I think this is at the Daikaku-ji temple. Lost track a bit. Gold tree screen.




Hares on the bottom of screens.


More of the garden around Daikaku-ji.


The crew that I went with to see the previous two temples.


I believe a stature of Kannon, godess protectorate. Cemetary near... someplace. Nanzen-ji I think?


Dragonfly near there as well. Bit of a hike up the side of the mountain, but nice.


Kyoto from that up-the-mountain-place.


Painting of many Buddhas.


Zen sand mound. I believe this was Eikan-do or Nanzen-ji again. Saw them both about the same time.


Dining room in one of the places. Eikan-do pretty sure.


More Eikan-do.


Aqueduct flowing behind Nanzen-ji. Notice the stick.


Behind Nanzen-ji there was this really cool forest walk up the side of the bluff.


Guardian stature near the forest temple.


Did I mention the part where it had been raining a lot. Well, there was a little waterfall here before that apparently. Now, it's taken up most of the stairs. Nonetheless, I went through that...


...to get here for this shot. Cthulhu likes to meditate under the waterfall as well.


Wandered around a bit after that and found a nice little temple/shrine to pets. This one's a monkey of some kind.


Cat shrine. Very cool.


Shrine to hampsters. That's a big nut.


More cat statues.


Really awesome engrish. This was not an amazing car by the way; small commuter at best.


Guitar rock game. It was harder than Guitar Rock Hero for the PS2, and way too short.


Obligatory DDR with some ladies from the Uno House.