Losses and Gains

hey,

We lost one of the ALTs living in my building this Friday: she's moved back to the US, and Japan is a little bit more boring and less interesting now that she's gone. We never had anything going on, but it is always sad when you lose a comrade who's gone through similar things, and someone who always lights up a room. In her place, we have a new ALT from New York.

I've crossed the 2 month mark, and went through my normal rounds of bike parking, housing, school lunch, etc bills. The weather this whole weekend has been about as dreary as imaginable, so I've just stayed in, read, watched anime, and played some video games.

I'd really like to see Kyoto next, but I don't see how I can see everything, or even a reasonable number of sites, over the course of a weekend. It turns out that my school's trip to Kyoto was rescheduled for September due to the swine flu outbreak in the Kansai region, so the trip didn't happen last Monday like I thought.

In other news, my 3rd year teacher wants me to teach the grammar point for the next lesson in English. Previously, she would explain the sentence in Japanese, and have a few examples in English and/or a small conversation featuring the sentence type. Now, I get to do my own presentation, so we'll see how that goes.

Not too much else going on.

Cheers,

Eating Japan, Part 2

Top Left: Colored azuki bean paste and vegetable oil in balloons(pop the balloon with a toothpick, then enjoy a sweet, chewy treat). Top Right: Chewy treat, slight carmel flavor. Bottom Left: Fried(?) Batter of some kind, sweet and with a lingering spicy aftertaste. Bottom Right: Fried sweet batter of some kind.

Roppoyaki: similar to manju (steamed balls of pounded rice), except cubed instead of blobbed.

Tonkatsu: breaded pork cutlet, with sauce and miso soup.

Beans: Top left: azuki beans covered in some powder; soft and sweet. Top Right: same as left, but a different powder. Bottom: different kind of bean, crunchy, sweet, and slightly spicey.

Kawagoe, Part 2

hey all,

Incredibly, the weather today was crappy, and I had already decided that I wanted to try to visit Kawagoe again. I waited most of the morning and early afternoon for the rain to stop, and ended up doing my laundry in the mean time. Finally, around 3PM, the rain stopped and I asked my neighbor Ramon if he wanted to come to Kawagoe, and so the two of us headed over there.



The first time I went, I must have walked right by the most famous landmark several times without seeing it: the 時の鐘 (toki no kane/ Tower of Time). This time, we walked straight there, and also found the true Candy Lane. After wandering around for an hour or so, the rain started up again, so we came back to Omiya.

Cheers,

Ret-Conned

hey all,

So I doubt that this has showed up on the radar, but I've been going back to previous posts and spell-checking them, expanding certain sections if I think I missed something the first time, adding a few pictures here and there, etc. If you get bored, you might want to check out some of the older posts and see if they've been updated.

Cheers

Kamakura

hey all,

I just got back from Kamakura. This is a historic town to the south of Tokyo, which contains many famous places. The most famous one is probably Kotoku-in, which has the largest statue of Buddha in all Japan. It is over- and underwhelming at the same time: it is really large and everything, but there is nothing else to see there. Much more interesting is the Hase Dera, which houses a large statue of Kannon, the goddess of Mercy. There is a cave with very low ceilings, forcing you to stoop just to walk around. Inside, there is a statue of some goddess of beauty, I think. The main bulding is up on a hill, and there are several places to look out at the rest of Kamakura and the ocean, and the views are spectacular.



I also went to the Kamakura Literature Museum and Hachiman-gu shrine. The museum was hosting a flower showing, and I decided I'd be Japanese and have a fetish for flowers for a few minutes. Hachiman-gu shrine was my last stop. It was moved to Kamakura by Minamoto no Yorimoto, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate way back in 1191.

A wedding ceremony at Hachiman-gu.

As with my sightseeing trip to Nikko, I bought a few souvenirs at the shrines and temples: a small demon mask at Hase Dera, a pair of geta near Hachiman-gu, a caligraphy brush at Hachiman-gu, and some snacks for my teachers from Kotoku-in. Since I shaved my head a few days ago, I also bought a hat after I noticed my scalp was on fire, but that was a practical item and not really a souvenir.

Cheers

Book and Game Recommendations

hey all,

So this is only slightly related to being in Japan. Because I have so much free time at work, I've been spending a lot of time reading books (and not studying Japanese like I should be), and I read a really amazing sci-fi series by Dan Simmons consisting of Illium and Olympos. It starts as a futuristic re-telling of The Illiad, featuring post-humans, sentient robots, advanced nanotechnology, and several other sci-fi staples, but then turns into this amazing adventure as the plot starts to diverge wildly away from Homer's classic. If it sounds trite or overdone, it isn't. The tone is spot on, sombre, ironic, touching, and uproarious at all the right moments.

I've also been re-reading George R.R. Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, and I remember why I love it so much: it is the most adult fantasy series I've ever read. By that I mean many things: that the characters are not simple; each one is complicated enough to be featured as the main character in his/her own book, but the cast starts with about 10, and you slowly gain more characters as you go. I also mean that it features violence and, yes, sexuality: things for adults. Another thing is that no one is safe: by the end of the 4th book, about 5 of the characters you started with in book 1 have been killed. Each one of these deaths tears at you: the character might not have been your favorite, but you were in his/her head for several thousand pages, and it hurts to lose that presence. The only downside to this series is that it is not complete: the 5th book will be published later this year, but there are 2 books projected after that. Between the 3rd and 4th book, there was a wait of 5 years, and between the 4th and 5th book, about 4 years. So the end of this story is still a good decade away.

I've been tempted to return to the Wheel of Time series, but now it looks like the final book is still several years from being published in its entirity. The author, Robert Jordan, died of cancer several years ago while working on the last book, and now they have asked another author to finish it, but now the final book is being split into 3 volumes to be published over 3 years, starting in 2010. Oh how they love to keep us waiting! Fans of this series have already been waiting 20 years and almost 10,000 pages (11 published volumes clocking in at around 700-1000 pages each, depending on edition) for a conclusion.

Since I finally got my PS3 working several weeks ago, I've also been looking at what games are coming out. The sequels are looking the most exciting: Red Faction Guerilla, Bad Company 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Bioshock 2. Red Faction and Bad Company will both feature destructible environments. In the old days, this used to mean you could break boxes, tables, chairs, and bottles, etc, but these games allow you to deform the terrian and put really big wholes in walls, roofs, trees, and doors, which takes away cover and hiding places from enemies. To be honest, not that much is out there about Assassin's Creed 2, but I'm really stoked about the game nonetheless.

I've finally completed the prologue chapters of Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzen!, the game which features Miyamoto Musashi, and I've been making a little progress in KillZone 2, but I only have about 5 hours free after work each day, and most of that time goes to grocery shopping, eating, researching future trips, recovering from past trips, and coordinating with other ALTs. Even my weekends are usually much too busy to squeeze in more than an hour or two in a row. Which is really a good thing, because I'm enjoying the sights, smells, tastes, and sometimes the people of Japan.

Cheers

二万円今日

hey,

So the title is "ni-man-en kyou" or 20,000 yen today, which is about what I've spent paying my phone bill, bike parking bill, school lunch bill, and buying some hair clippers over at ビックカメラ (Bic Camera).

The hair clippers themselves cost more than any of the other bills, but I really don't care. They will pay for themselves in two months, because a hair cut would cost me 4000円 at least for a buzz cut.

My third year students are taking a field trip to Kyoto on Monday, and I'm very jealous of them. The teacher suggested I should go with them, but I'm not sure if I'm actually allowed to go, or even if there is enough time to include me in the trip. I'll stop by the junior high after I finish the elementary school tomorrow and see if this is possible.

Cheers,

Weekend Plans

hey all,

Pretty typical week at school so far, nothing too exciting. I've got my first actual phone bill to pay, next month's rent, parking for next month, and my school lunch fee. Tomorrow is my first payday, so that makes paying all these things possible.

I'm hoping to do some celebrating this weekend, but we'll see how it goes. If I don't go out, then I'll probably make a trip over to Kamakura, where there is the largest Buddha statue in Japan. I'll be doing some laundry, and I've been looking into buying some hair clippers, but so far all I've seen are electric shavers with beard trimming attachments.

Friday I have my second day at the elementary school, which I'm looking forward to.

Cheers,

Elementary School

hi all,

This week has gone pretty well. I finished watching Chobits, and I've been teaching about 4-5 classes per day, which gives me about 2-3 hours of free time to grade papers, read my sci-fi book, and study Japanese.

Today was my first day of teaching at my elementary school. I told my teachers at the junior high yesterday that I would be teaching at the elementary school today, and they were all surprised. I guess I probably would be too: I've been teaching there for almost 2 months, and then suddenly I start teaching random Fridays at a different school? Anyway, I got over to the elementary school without too much trouble. It is pretty easy to find, and the people all were very friendly. A few of the staff members, including the principal, speak pretty decent English (although not as good as the English teachers at my junior high). Like at the junior high, several were very friendly and chatty off the bat, but we'll see if they stay that way at the elementary school.

They basically went over some pre-made lesson plans with me, and then I taught them: the Japanese teachers work in the background, while I go through gestures, drawing on the board, etc, to help the students get through my all English self-introduction. I only taught 4 classes: 2 5th year classes, and 2 6th year classes. Apparently elementary school here goes for 6 years, not counting kindergarten.

One last thing is that they want me to stay a little longer than I'm contracted for one time each month to teach some of the teachers English. I need to ask Heart if this is cool, and if I can get paid extra for this, since I'll working slightly longer than normal.

Tomorrow, I head into Shinjuku to extend my housing contract.

Cheers

Nikko

hey all,

Just got back from Nikko. Getting there involves taking one train North for over an hour, then changing and taking another train Northwest for about an hour. I brought one of my hefty books to read for the ride, and it passed relatively quickly. Once at Nikko station, I took a taxi over to my hotel. It would have been a 40 minute walk through a city I wasn't familiar with in the dark: no, thank you. Checked in, and read for a little before going to bed.

After breakfast, I walked over to the Shinkyo bridge: a sacred bridge that for centuries only the emperor, the shogun, and the nobles could cross. Now you can pay 500円 to cross it. Got some pictures of it, as it is quite picturesque, then headed over to one of the many shrines. I bought a combination ticket, so I could see Sanbutsu, Taiyuin, Futarasan, Toshogu, and Rinnoji.


Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside most of these places, but I do have tons of pictures of their exteriors. Sanbutsu is part of Rinnoji: sanbutsu means "three Buddahs", and it is famous for three huge Buddah statues. After seeing Sanbutsudo, I headed over to Toshogu, which is where Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined. For Japanese history non-buffs, this is the guy who finally united all of Japan (after 100 years of war) under his rule around 1600 following a pivotal battle (Players of the Samurai Warriors game series will know it as The Battle of Sekigahara.). His descendants ruled Japan until 1868, when supportors of the Emperor re-instated Emperor Meiji as the ruler of Japan. So this guy is important. For those interested in his life and times, you may want to check out the Path of Assassin manga, written and illustrated by the same people who did Lone Wolf and Cub. Be warned that, like Lone Wolf and Cub, Path of the Assassin features violence, swearing, and nudity.

He is enshrined in Nikko due to his wish to protect Japan after his death. Nikko is North of Tokyo: North for some reason is considered the direct that demons, evil, and devils come from, so he had himself moved North of the capital to symbolically guard it from evil. Anyway, the place was originally quite small, but was enlarged to its current size by one of his descendants. It is quite possibly one of the most stupendous, decadent things I've ever seen.

After Toshogu, I went to Futarasan, which is muted in comparison. After that, Taiyuin, which is where the third shogun (Tokugawa Iemitsu) is enshrined. Also very opulent, but smaller than Toshogu.

I should mention that all of these places are loaded with souvenirs stands: it would be almost impossible to go here and not be loaded down with them, and after my visit, I was. At Sanbutsudo, I had picked up a charm to protect me from demons coming down from the North; at Toshogu, I picked up charms for my studies, traffic safety, long life/happiness, and for my birthyear; at Futarasan, I picked up a painting of a dragon to which I asked the artist to add the kanji 浪人 (ronin: samurai without a master). Basically, nothing bad can happen to me in the next year. And the painting is awesome.

Anyway, since my bag was heavier than when I left, I came back to the hotel, dropped my stuff off, then hit Kanmangafuchi Abyss, part of which is lined by hundreds of stone Buddahs. After that, I hiked up to Jakko no taki, Jakko waterfalls. This was a 40 minute hike by foot, and there were no buses I could have taken to get out there. After getting back from the waterfall, I went to the Imperial Palace museum, which had the actual Imperial Palace in use for the last 400 years. For only 500 円, you get to walk around almost the whole place, and you can even take pictures inside. Unfortunately, the inside is not really that interesting.

After exploring the palace and gardens, it is around 4 in the afternoon, and I've only had breakfast. I stopped by a restaurant and had a delicious bowl of duck soba. I read in my hotel room for a bit, then soaked in the private onsen, then watched some TV and read some more before going back to bed.



The onsen itself deserves a little explanation. Normally, there would be a wash room, then a large body of hot water. You strip down and wash yourself in the washroom, then soak along with everyone else in the hot spring. Men and women usually have separate soaking areas. Since I have tattoos, I would have to cover mine up in order to use a public onsen. Or go to a yakuza-operated one (the yakuza are basically the Japanese mafia, and tattoos are still strongly associated with their members), which doesn't sound too appealing. Anyway, the foto above is of a private onsen: sit on the stool and scrub yourself, then soak for as long as you can stand in the the scalding water on the right.

This morning, I took a bus back to the train station, and two trains later I'm back in Omiya safe and several 10,000円 lighter.

There are still several things that I didn't get to see. There are several hiking trails to the North and to the West, and a lake (Chuzenji, also to the West), with more shrines, waterfalls, and hot springs than you can shake a stick at. The Lake is 40 minutes away by bus, and after my first day of exploring, I was feeling more than a little out of it. Besides, I also wanted to make sure that I didn't get stuck in Nikko. Although this is a rather absurd paranoia that I would get stuck there, after having to hike 20km, then finally hitchhike the last 6km back to my hotel in Montpellier, France 5 years ago (long story, and not related to being in Japan...), I get paranoid about getting stuck places.

Cheers

I am ... eating Japan!

Duck Soba from Nikko

Sounds weird but is delicious.

Sakura-flavored ice cream: tastes slightly floral, but with a hint of cherry

This is how you will place your order in many restaurants: insert money, push the button for the item(s) you want, give ticket to waitress.

Gyoza (Chinese pork dumplings), and some pork and veggies over rice.

Dango: balls of pounded rice on a stick, covered with sauce. (This is anko, or red bean sauce. I prefer the sweet soy sauce ones...)

Adventures in Commuting

hey all,

What a crappy morning! I did some laundry last night, but one load wouldn't dry before I needed to go to bed, so I was up late waiting for that and didn't get as much sleep as I normally do. I got up in time for the first of two trains that will get me to Ageo on time, but the thing was delayed by 15 minutes. On top of that, I realized while waiting for the train that I didn't have my bike key with me, so I'd have to run all the way to my school.

And that's what I did: I ran all the way from Ageo train station over to my school, which is a around a 45-55 minute walk, and took me less than half that to get there. But I was still late by 3 minutes.

Other than the crappy start, the day went pretty well: 5 lessons, and I gave out some of the candies I had picked up yesterday to the teachers, OLs (Office Ladies: this is what they are officially called), and principal, vice-principal, etc. I get the impression that some teachers really appreciated this, while some didn't.

Anyway, I finally booked my hotel for my trip to Nikko. I should have Friday night and Saturday night, and the weather seems like it should be decent: somewhat cloudy, but no rain is in the forecast for Saturday. After work tomorrow, I come back to Omiya, re-load my Suica, and head over to Nikko. The weather Friday is supposed to be somewhat crappy, but that work fine as long as Saturday is good. I return to Omiya on Sunday.

Hopefully, I can pull this off without a hitch.

Cheers,

Last Day of Golden Week

hey all,

So tomorrow I return to my job.

My plan for yesterday was originally to head over to Kawagoe. This was historically called "Little Edo," for reasons that I don't quite get yet. One of the former ALT's recommended that I go there, so I did. But yesterday was rainy, and I had my adventure with my futon, so that never happened. And today was also rainy, but I decided I'd go over to Kawagoe any way. The city is somewhat famous for its kashi, traditional Japanese style sweets and candies, and I will be using some as o-miyage for my teachers. O-miyage are souvenir-type gifts that you give to others when you get back from a trip. I've also been told by other ALTs that they are very useful ice breakers to get your teachers to try to talk to you, or at least start being a little friendly.

So I made it over to Kawagoe very easily, since it is about as far as Tokyo from Omiya. It lies about dead West from Omiya, just 20 minutes away. Once in Kawagoe, I became disoriented and started out in the opposite direction that I needed to go in. I didn't have a map, and my normal navigational device (the Sun: as Bear Grylls/SurvivorMan as this sounds, I really do rely on the Sun to let me know if I'm heading East, West, or whatever. Even if a road or path twists and turns and you can't remember which way you came from, you can still tell what direction you're headed.) was disabled thanks to the cloudy/rainy weather.

I figured I was headed the wrong way, went back to the station, re-oriented, and again headed out in the wrong direction. The good news was that this time I was closer to right, but still not quite good enough. So back to the station it was. By then, I'd been walking around in the rain (with an umbrella, though), for at least 1.5 hours. At the station, I found the tourist office which I had missed the first two times, and picked up a map, and finally headed in the right direction.

The district that I was headed to was clearly marked on the road signs in Japanese and English with distances to various temples and shrines as well. The road that I took was a long line of shops: touristy places, as well as everyday type shops: book stores, game stores, pharmacies, grocery stores, etc. After another 30 minutes in the rain, I made it to the old town section, which is where the candy shops are. I stopped by 3 or 4, buying a few items at each one. For most of them, I have no idea what I bought, or even how traditional some of candies are.

I think when the weather is better, I'll head back and get some decent pictures of the shrines etc. I figured there was little point in getting dreary ones.

As for the weekend, I still plan on trying to see Nikko. I think I'll make reservations at a hotel for Friday and Saturday nights, see the sights on Saturday, and a little on Sunday, then come back Sunday. There are several temples there, some famous brigdes, some hot springs, plus Tokugawa Ieyasu's remains in a massive mausaleum. Right now, I'm getting conflicting weather reports for Saturday, so we'll see what they say tomorrow, then I'll think about making a reservation.

Cheers

Adventures with Laundry

When I woke up this morning, it seemed like my futon was a little damp. I've read that you need to air them out to dry them and to keep them from getting musty smelling. On nice days, you can also see futon after futon hanging on balconies everywhere, so I did the same with mine.

Except I didn't notice right away when it started raining, so my futon ended up slightly soaked. I had to hang it off a ledge inside the guesthouse, which seems to have done the trick.

Later, Masa and I and one of his friends went out to several bars and talked for a bit. It is still Golden week, so they are mostly dead.

One more day of Golden week.

Cheers

My Room

More Exploration

hey all,

Today I continued my exploration of Tokyo, but went solo. I headed over to Ueno park and zoo, and also to Akakusa. During Golden week, Tokyo empties out and most people go to Kyoto or visit abroad, but today the remaining people apparently decided that going to Ueno park and zoo and also Akakusa were the best things to do. Both places were CROWDED!

The park was really cool, though. My orignal plan was to see the zoo and check out the park while I was at it, but I ended up seeing the park, and checking out the zoo while there. The zoo was OK, but it was even more crowded then the park thanks to the free admission today.

Akakusa was also pretty amazing, although the effect was kinda spoiled by having the largest temple there undergoing renovation.

After my adventures sightseeing, I went over to an English used book store I found on the web, located near Ebisu station. I bought 3 massive books (1 postmodern, 1 sci-fi, and 1 fantasy), which should last me the rest of the month at least.

Cheers

Festival

hi all,

I ran into one of the former ALTs still living in the guesthouse, and she said she was going to a festival and asked if I wanted to come along, so I quickly ate my lunch and went. There was a wandering brass band, some comedians, several different pantomime acts, a Cirque de Soleile type act, and some incredibly flexible Chinese gymnasts. The festival was in Koenji (高円寺)、which is near Shinjuku station.

We got to go to a couple different shows, and I really wish I had brought my camera. On the way back, I picked up some brochures from the train station about different places to see and also stopped in Akihabara. This is the electronics district in Tokyo: if it needs electricity to work, or is somehow related to electronic products, you will find it here. There are dozens of video game shops, DVD/CD shops, some weird adult shops (weird as in they advertise by sending these women dressed as French maids out onto the street to distribute flyers for the store), tons of computer shops, cellphone stores, and several Best Buy style orgies of electronic gadetry.

I stopped by one of the smaller smorgesborg shops to pick up a USB stick, and then went to a game store to pick up a copy of a game featuring Miyamoto Musashi. It was released seveal years ago, but hasn't been released outside of Japan yet, so I wasn't sure if it would work on my American PS3. It does in fact work, but the entire interface, dialoge, etc is in Japanese, so I'll need to study quite a bit more before I can actually play it. Still, from what I got to do, it seems like a really fun game.

Tomorrow is Green Day, which for me means that I get free admission to Ueno Zoo. A bunch of people went to that park and zoo during hanami, and several ALTs seem to think that I haven't been getting out enough, so I'm going there and maybe to Asakusa, which is near the zoo. There are some large, famous temples there. Tomorrow, I'll have my camera with me, so I'll have more pictures up as well.

Next weekend, I might try to go to Nikko. It is about 2 hours to the North by local train, but half that (and twice more expensive) by shinkansen. I've seen some pictures and read about it a little, and its definitely somewhere I want to see.

Cheers

School Day

I just realized that I haven't really described what a junior high school day is like.

I get to the school at around 8:05 or so, take off my shoes at the entrance, and switch into my indoor shoes. I have a locker with my name on it to store my regular shoes. The teachers and staff use one entrance, and the students use a different entrance. After that, I go to the teachers room, say good morning very loudly, then head to my desk. The morning meeting begins at 8:15. When the bell rings, we all stand up and say "Good morning" (in Japanese) while bowing to each other. Then we sit down, and teachers take turns making announcements. Then, the teachers split up by what grade they teach and make more announcements. This happens every day.

The homeroom teachers then go to their homerooms. I have no clue what they do there, because I don't go. The first class starts at 8:50. Depending on the day, I could have anywhere from 0 to 5 classes. If I'm not in class, I usually just study Japanese, and sometimes make some worksheets or go over students papers, but the last two don't really take up too much time.

In Japan, the students do not move from their classroom, except for gym, music and subjects like that, and during the 10 minute breaks in between classes. Instead, the teachers move from classroom to classroom. Even lunch, for instance, is served in the classroom: there is no cafeteria.

There are four classes in the morning, usually 50 minutes long, but sometimes 45 (for reasons I can't figure out). Then there is lunch, followed by a small break and then 2 more classes in the afternoon. There is also a cleaning time, during which the students clean their classrooms (sweeping and scrubbing the floor, cleaning the blackboard, and cleaning the hallways in between classes as well). The students even clean the teachers room. When they do this, they line up in front of the vice principal, make a pre-written speech about how they're going to begin cleaning and how hard they'll try, and then they clean. Afterwards, they line up again and make another speech. This also happens every day.

In fact, whenever, a student enters the teachers room, they knock on the door, say "Sorry for intruding," state their grade, name, and purpose for being in the teachers room, then wait for someone to answer them. This is usually done with such seriousness that it make you want to laugh out loud. Especially funny is when the vice principal will chide a student for speaking too quietly.

At the end of my day, most of the students have already left, or are participating in one of their clubs or sports teams. I get my timesheet stamped by the vice principal or principal, then I grab my stuff and say "I'm being rude by leaving before you" loudly to the vice principal/senior teacher (This is one of the most polite farewells in Japanese: o-saki-ni shitsureishimasu.), say quieter slightly less polite/formal good byes to a few teachers, then leave.

Hope that was interesting.