Shirakawa-go New Years Trip

Hey all,

For New Years 2018-2019, Michi and I made a small trip to Shirakawa-go, which is a village in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. From Tokyo, you're looking at a two-hour plus ride by bullet train, followed by about an hour and a half or two-hour bus ride. The reason you might want to travel to this out of the way area is because of the buildings. Shirakawa-go is home to dozens of traditionally constructed Japanese buildings, although the construction techniques and designs are somewhat unique to that area.

If you can ignore the lovely lady in the foreground, in the background you'll see a steeply peaked roof made of mats of woven grass. The walls are simple slats of wood, and the windows are made of rice paper. Yes, even in a place that gets several meters of snow each winter and regularly reaches temperatures of -10 C (that's 14 F for you non-metric folks), they have designed their houses to allow for maximum air flow.

Anyway. The buildings were fun to see, and you can pay a small fee to walk around inside them, where they also have tea and videos explaining the construction techniques. We spent the night at the wonderful Toyota Eco-Institute, which is a kind of research center that also provides accommodation for scientists who wish to study the Shirakawa-go buildings, although they also allow normal people to stay there. Dinner and breakfast were well-prepared and lovely, and the hotel offers a lot of different activities you can easily sign up for. Michi and I decided to take a snow shoe tour through the woods surrounding the hotel, and it was delightful. At one point the guide asked everyone to gather around a "special" tree so he could explain something about it, whereupon he shook the tree, dumping snow on everyone's heads. It was quite funny. Later, he invited those crazy enough to jump off the trail and into the snow, which was about 4 feet deep.

We also visited a couple of restaurants and locations in Takayama. Now, since the early 2000s it seems like Kobe beef has been a known item among foodies in the US. This is a kind of beef that is very tender, and has high levels of marbleization, due to the cows being forced not to move around, being given massages, and yes sometimes being force-fed beer. In recent years, another kind of beef has been gaining in prominence in Japan: Hida beef, which is beef from cows raised in the certain areas around Takayama in Gifu. So, whenever you visit here make sure you try some Hida beef and you will not be disappointed.

Although it was just a month ago that we made the trip, it really drove home how much I miss snow. The Kanto area of Japan has a little in common with Amsterdam, in terms of weather patterns. One is the overall mildness of the winters here, and the lack of snow.

I highly recommend checking out Shirakawa-go. Thanks for reading!

Hell on Earth

hey all,

If I haven't mentioned it recently, it is really hot here in Japan right now. I know most of you might still have those images of snow-covered mountains in your minds from my trip about a month ago, but for several weeks I've been taking three showers a day just to survive. Three ice cold showers. One in the morning to remove the night's sweat. Another when I get home to remove the day's sweat, which is quite copious and feels like a layer of glue covering my whole body. And a last one just before going to bed.

A few months ago there were worries about there not being enough electricity to go around. To be honest I'm not sure what happened, but there doesn't seem to be any lack. Michi and I were avoiding using the AC until about a week ago, but we've had it going at work for quite some time.

Still, it is muggy. I really like that word. I think I forgot it for about a year or so and was only using humid.That's what happens to your English when you live abroad.

Good time for swimming.

I've only been watching a little of the Olympics. Mr. Phelps got himself 18 gold coins, I see. Mostly Japan has been getting their butts kicked. Only other results I kinda know is that it seems like Kenya took gold, silver, and bronze in the women's marathon (but don't quote me on that). Even though one of those runners looked like she was just girl-running-to-the-toilet the whole time.

Cheers,

Short Fuse

hey all,

Last week was E3. We got some interesting games coming out this year, but nothing that really grabbed me like last year.

I barely got any sleep at all last week, but that is my fault. I started a new series called The Kingkiller Chronicles, and the first two books were really good. So good, in fact, that I didn't get to bed until 1AM or 2AM most nights. Not sure when the third book is coming out, but I'm looking forward to it.

I'm still plugging away at the teaching books, though my pace is slow. One of my coworkers complained about books all having the same plot, etc, and I recommended she read Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest. I actually started Infinite Jest for my second read through this weekend, as well.

Friday was a brutish day. We had a potential new teacher come in and teach a bit, but he had zero experience and would need a lot of training. My class had to finish early so I could head over to the immigration bureau and pick up my new visa. I applied for the three year visa, and I actually got it, so that was nice. But then both of my afternoon classes severely disappointed me. The younger kids never look up any words, and I yelled at them for not making enough efforts at home (such as looking up words they didn't know). Then my high school class. It starts at 6:10PM, and despite telling them to review the vocabulary because there would be a quiz, they hadn't. The class only meets once a week, and is only 50 minutes long, but it is nothing but a waste of time. The students don't study, they don't seem to retain what is taught, etc. I told them to come back next week with a goal for us to reach. Hopefully, if they can come up with a reason to study, it will go much smoother.

Probably because of the stress and lack of sleep, I've come down with a headcold. One of those, "why did my ancestors need to have evolved sinuses?" headcolds that through off your balance, your hearing, and give you a killer headache. I slept through most of Saturday, and I'll be going to bed early tonight as well.

I have got in a few more hours in Kingdoms of Amalur, too. The combat really makes the game.

Next week we have more potential teachers coming in. We'll see if they work out.

Cheers,

1-1

hey all,

So I wasn't detained or put into handcuffs at the immigration bureau. I did have to wait 3 hours, but that is just a bit longer than average. I got the application in, and I was only missing one form, which nobody at the school, nor even Michi had heard of or seen before.

School is going OK, but as I mentioned, one of the unstable students has returned so the AM class can be a little touch and go.

Thankfully, I only had my group PM class after that, so I got a new packet printed out, plus I made a new vocab quiz, flashcards, and made two videos for my AM class.

Afterwards, I got to put in a few more hours in Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning. Still fun.

For anyone keeping track, now that I have finished reading Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos for the second time, I am making some progress on those education books, like Teach Like a Champion, Making Thinking Visible, and  Visible Learning for Teachers.

I wanted to mention that Michi and I watched this really old Japanese flick (it feels like 1970's but was made in 1987) last weekend called Watashi-o ski-ni tsurettete, which is something like Please Take me Skiing. It is like your classic skiiing movie from the 1980's, but you can tell it is Japanese because the protagonists have a really tough ski course that they need to complete in order to save their company's butt. There is a romantic interest between the main character and an office lady that also happens to work at his company (of course). Pretty funny, worth seeing once, but Michi is obsessed with it now.

Cheers,

Pass and Fail

hey all,

Well, work-wise this week has gone pretty well. Morning classes are going pretty smooth again. But that probably has something to do with one of those mentally unstable students being gone again.

In terms of bureaucracy, I think this week's score is 1-0, them. If you look at the diagram, you can see that the Tokyo Immigration Bureau includes offices in Niigata, Utsunomiya, and other places pretty far from Tokyo itself. Since I work in Yokohama,I thought it would be more convenient for me to go to the Yokohama branch office, instead of the one in Tokyo-to Minato-ku.

Apparently this is not allowable. Why, don't ask me. So I have to go back to the Immigration office, this time I have to go to the one in Tokyo. At the time they told me I was really pissed. As in I folded my 100 ¥ umbrella into fourths on my way out of the building. I had waited for two hours before I even got to present my papers and application, and then I had to wait another 30 minutes while they consulted with various people about how to inform this gaijin without making him go Spartan on their Persian butts.

Anyway, I went back to work, having already called them on the way back and made plans for Monday to go in again. The only good news is that my new passport has arrived, so at least on Monday I can give them all the paperwork they need.

In health news, the temperature is still climbing here, and last weekend I started going swimming at a local pool. It is a little on the pricey side, about 4 or 5 dollars each time, and I'm only swimming for about 20 or 30 minutes (about 500 to 700 meters), since I don't want to mess up one of my shoulders again.

Cheers,

Bean Counting

hey all,

So I am now being screwed by the bureaucracy of not one but two nations. The people at the US Embassy told me at the Embassy that it would be 4-5 days before I got my passport back, and then said it usually takes 2-3 weeks when I called. They still have not even shipped the thing.

Michi was kind enough to write a letter to the Japanese Immigration Bureau explaining that I don't have my passport on me, and thus wouldn't be able to come in before my visa expired. However, they called me at work and explained that that was unacceptable, and that I should still come in with the paperwork that I had before the visa expired. So now I've had to ask one of my coworkers to take over one of my classes, and explain to the parents and students of my AM class that I need to leave a bit early on Friday; otherwise they will soon have a new teacher and I'll be headed for the US.

The thing that really gets me about the Japanese end of this is the paperwork. They need proof from the city or ward office that I have paid my taxes. I need to physically go there, ask for this piece of paper in person, carry it in my bag, and play mailman to deliver it into the hands of the people at Immigration. Now, the people at Immigration know full well where I have lived. They are the ones that said "Make sure you go to the city office of ___" and pick up these forms. Why can't they call, fax, or e-mail that office and get them sent over? What is so mystical or special or essential for the legality of this process about me playing mailman? They are government officials who have a legal right (and according to them, a need) to view these documents, why do I need to be involved at all? Given the fact that I am a foreigner, it should actually be easier for them just to do it themselves.

Anywho,

Aomori, Part 2

hey all,

This is going to have to be rather short as well. I have about 500 things on my to-do list, and like the mythical hydra of yore...you get the idea.

Michi and I made it up to Aomori station where we parted ways. She went to the wedding, and I went to Hirosaki, to see Hirosaki Castle.

Some art/sculpture on the way to Hirosaki castle from the station.

A still blooming cherry tree near the castle.

Hirosaki Castle

This is crazily delicious! It is mango flavored soda/jello with chunks of nata de coco thrown in for good measure.

Afterwards, we met up again and spent the night in Aomori City. The next morning we traveled to the Towada Lake area, which is famous for the eponymous crater lake, and for the Oirase River, which has lots and lots of waterfalls on it. We spent most of that day hiking the river trail.

One of the many waterfalls along the Oirase River.

The view from the hot spring at our hotel. Can you believe we paid something like $70 per person for these views?

One of the views from a boat on Lake Towada

Yet another of the many waterfalls on the Oirase River

The next day, we took a bus from our hotel over to the lake itself so we could ride the boat across the lake. Somewhat stupidly, we took a taxi back to the river so we could hike a little more. (There was some confusion about the bus stop we wanted, since it was apparently so obvious what this one bus stop's name was that nobody bothered to label it on any of the maps.)

We then started the Odyssey back to Tokyo. Just after we had exchanged our train tickets at Hachinose station, the staff announced that there was a stop signal for our train and they didn't know when it would get moving. We had to wait for 40 minutes or so before we could get on, and then it stopped for at least the same amount of time at Morioka station. We got off there, and waited for a Yamabiko bullet train, because that bullet train starts at Morioka and it has three free seating cars. That meant that we actually had a chance of sitting down during the 4+ hour ride back to our place. Luckily, we were able to get seats and the rest of the ride went pretty smoothly.

We didn't get back until around 10PM, three hours later than we had originally planned, but we made it back.

Cheers,

Curriculum Planning and Kamikaze

hey all,

So our week of curriculum planning ends tomorrow. I think we got some stuff done. I wish I could say more than that, but I'm of kinda mixed opinions about the school right now.

This is our vacation time. We get 2 weeks off in summer, and two weeks off in winter, plus an additional week off at the end of April (for curriculum planning). That is it. Because we really needed more material and to get things organized, I asked the other teachers to come in and do planning and preparation. And we have in fact created some new materials, edited some old ones so that they better fit the levels of our current students, and planned class schedules out for the next several weeks.

But our boss has also taken up several hours each day with rants that I don't really understand. One day the rant will seem to conclude with X as our best option, and the next day's rant will conclude with Y as our best option (where X and Y are impossible to do at the same time). And half of the rants just don't seem to make sense. It seems like it has been several years since teachers have done the kind of preparation that we volunteered to do, and we have to put up with these rants? Along with complaints that our boss was tired of doing all the preparation work? The teachers have 4 solid hours of classes in the mornings, and then various private and groups lessons from 1:40 until 7PM. When are we supposed to do preparation? After 7PM at home? When we aren't being paid? At best the rants accomplish nothing, and at worst they are a waste of time, confusing, and serve to alienate and frustrate our teachers, myself included.

I'm a bit stressed out about the move, and the situation at work doesn't help. At the same time, I feel like I've created some cool things, like the image below. If you follow the directions, you will have colored in a map showing ancient Egyptian civilization, complete with Red and Mediterranean Seas and the Nile River.

I've got coloring maps like this for Minoan, Indus Valley, and Sumerian civilizations as well. Everyone was very impressed.

Still, my 5-year plan might be pushing it a little bit too far. That is, around 2015 changing jobs and/or careers. I guess it depends on how the next few years go here, what my financial situation is like, whether the teaching/preparing ratio changes for the better, and whether I can tolerate these rants. By this time next year, I should have completed the certificate for curriculum planning, and if I have time, I'd like to take up my Japanese study again. I've seen several translation job offerings recently, but each of them requires the JLPT level 1 or 2, and I've only got the level 3. If translation doesn't seem like a viable option, then it would probably be best not to waste the curriculum planning certificate, and go into that field.

If the situation at the school worsens, or at least doesn't improve between now and 2015, then I might decide to leave before then. Still, we'll see.

Tomorrow is our last day of planning and preparation. Friday I have to clean my room, do several loads of laundry, go to the city hall to tell them that another dangerous and not to be trusted foreigner will be moving in, head over to the bank and phone company and tell them about the move, and also go to the realtor for the contract signing and to pick up the key. Saturday will be the actual move.

Last item is the phrase kamikaze. Most of you will know it from the suicide bombers during WWII, but in fact the term comes from the attempted and unsuccessful Mongolian invasion of Japan back in the 1300's, when a freak storm destroyed most of the Mongolian fleet. The only reason I know that is because of playing RTS games like Shogun: Total War. In any case, I probably haven't mentioned that the temperature has been about 10-15 degrees C cooler than just a few weeks earlier. This is all thanks to the typhoons, which Michi has been referring to as kamikaze, the wind of god or the divine wind. Why? Because it has saved Japan's butt yet again. Only last year old and young people were dropping like flies in the hottest summer that Japan had seen in decades, and now that we have a power crunch, it has surely let us survive without turning the air conditioners on too high.

Cheers,

Vacation Day Three and Four

hey all,

So I should preface this by saying that it is 1AM and I have had several rum and cokes with a buddy earlier.

Wednesday was not too exciting. I finished Dragon Age 2, and did some more packing. That was honestly most of the day. I also talked briefly with Michi and we called off the trip this weekend.

Thursday I got up and went over to Matsumoto all by my lonesome. It would have been just a little too stressful to try to coordinate with Michi this weekend, and the weather just didn't look that great. Matsumoto Castle was really amazing. I met with some mountain climbing retired guys who were volunteering as English guides to the castle and they explained a lot of the history and finer points of castle building/defense.

After that, I picked up some duck soba, which was really tasty. There is a special type of soba dish which Matsumoto is famous for, but I had to go with the duck soba, since it is one of my favorite Japanese dishes of all time. Following lunch, I went to the Ukiyoe Museum, which was difficult to find and a little bit small, but still worth the trip.

I should mention that from Yokohama it is about a 3 hour train ride to Matsumoto, so I had over 6 hours of commuting today. I arranged to hang out with a buddy on my way back to Yokohama, and we got caught up over some rum and cokes.

I literally caught the last train to Yokohama and they closed the station behind me. For some reason, a lone white guy with a backpack walking drunkenly from the station at 12AM is like catnip to your average streetwalker, and I found myself getting propositioned more and more insistently the farther I got from the station (until of course I was so far away that there weren't any streetwalkers). I had my MP3 player going, so I'm not sure if they were advertising as masseurs, or what.

Tomorrow will be spent recovering from today, and maybe doing some more packing.

Cheers,

Rain

hey all,

So the rainy season ended probably 2 or 3 weeks ago, but it rained yesterday and is still raining today, and will probably rain tomorrow. Because after rainy season comes typhoon season, and we've got a typhoon coming towards Japan.

Two more days of work and then the break. I am still feeling really tired. Break, please hurry.

Cheers,

What?!

hey all,

First some A Dance with Dragons stuff. I read a bunch of it while riding the shinkansen and at Michi's family's second house, since there is little to do each day after dark falls. I actually stayed up until 2AM last night to finish it, and I need to go to bed early today to make up for the lost sleep.

It was a pretty good book. It is certainly up to the same high standards as his previous releases, and as ever the tone, description etc are on target.

Some of the plot devices seem to be getting a bit stale, though. A character thought to have died before the first book even began is brought back and his existence is explained by having been switched places with another baby. A similar ploy was used in the second book, where two characters are "executed" for trying to escape, when in fact their executioner was unable to find them and used some poor peasant bodies instead. And actually, another character was pretend executed, with yet another body double taking his place in the current book. And in the previous book, another character's place is taken by a look alike, and that look alike continues her role in this book. And yet another character is "killed off," only to have it later revealed that he is still alive, and a sorceress used magic to swap his and another character's appearance (so that the other character was actually killed). I think you get the idea.

From reading his blog, it seems that timing and pacing were major troubles for him in the writing of it. At the end of book 3 and/or 4, several characters were all making their way toward one of the main characters, and it seems that GRRM sweated the details of who would arrive when, in what order, and what the consequences would be of arriving at different times and in different orders. As I read the book, I could almost feel this. The same storm or set of storms messes with the ships of several characters, causing them to arrive earlier or later than they had planned. Some characters encounter mishap after mishap, only to finally make it within mere feet of their goal and still not quite accomplish it. Some make it to their goal, and arrive too late to achieve it. Half of them haven't even arrived, but are still en route or have abandoned their quest as of the end of A Dance with Dragons. I suppose he got the timing he wanted, but parts of it feel very contrived. Perhaps the delays of some characters will be given meaning in the later books.

Lastly, there are the cliff hangers. As a fan who has waited 6 years to find out what happens to his favorite characters (all three were excluded from the last volume), the prospect of facing another 6 years waiting to see if some of them have really truly been killed off is not high on my list of things I want. One of my favorite character's last chapter ends with him being stabbed in the stomach and between the shoulder blades by some of his own men-at-arms. This character has been in the books from day one, and to me at least, I had always envisioned him shacking up with one of the other major characters and ruling the world together in happiness and peace. But now it seems he is dead, maybe.

This should not have surprised me. Other characters were growing more and more frustrated with his actions, and some of them warned him to keep more protectors around himself. Like other characters that GRRM has killed off in the past, most notably the blood bath in A Storm of Swords, where several major characters were killed. And of course even in the first book, GRRM infamously pulls no punches and has the central character executed, as many of you will have seen in HBO's adaptation, Game of Thrones.

I can only hope that he will be rescued and healed in the mean time.

Oh well. The 3 day weekend was pretty fun. We did some gardening work, which for me involved pretending to be a squirrel and cutting off more branches that were shading the backyard. And after than we did a BBQ on Saturday which was delicious: grilled strips of beef, chicken, onion, eggplant, carrot, and potato. Sunday was devoted to hiking up Mt. Azuma. I got sunburned on my hands, my upper arms, the back of my neck, and the lower half of my legs, despite slopping on plenty of SPF 50 sunblock before we even started. Some of it must have sweated or been rubbed off, because the sunburned areas are only in patches. I also got bit on my ribs by some crazy insect. As I was hiking, my left ribs started to hurt when my backpack strap pressed against them, and I figured the bag was just poorly designed. Turns out there was a bug which was biting my skin there and I didn't notice until I had to pull the thing off me in the shower. It refused to let go and I had to try three times to get it off me. It looked a bit like a small spider, but I'm not sure what it was.

That night, we also watched Norwegian Wood, a movie based on the partly autobiographical book by famous Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Nowhere near as compelling as the book, but compared to the usual mess that the Japanese make when making a movie these days (and especially when compared to the crap is gets produced when adapting a book or comic into a movie) it wasn't bad. Not as compelling as A Dance with Dragons, which I also brought along with me to read on the shinkansen and when we'd finished the day's grilling, hiking, and gardening. But still decent.

I got to play with my new Android phone a little bit, but it seems like other smartphones it can't hold a charge for longer than three or four days. I ask you, what use is a smartphone with a built in compass, GPS locator, and thermometer on a multi-day wilderness trek if I have to plug it in at night to be able to use these functions? Still, overall a cool tool.

Lastly, it seems we have the contract for our new place taken care of, so it only remains to wait a few weeks and then I move my stuff in, and the weekend after that, she moves her stuff in. We had planned to talk about house rules this weekend, but between me having my nose glued to A Dance with Dragons and the grilling, gardening, movie watching, and hiking, we felt that our plates were full. I will push for next weekend.

Below, please enjoy some of the pictures of the trip.

Cheers,

Cool Biz

hey all,

I've been doing a cool biz look at work lately: short-sleeved work shirt with no tie, and dress pants. I still haven't used the air conditioning at work yet this year. I'm going to try to keep from doing so unless the temperature gets above 28C. The temperature is not too high yet, but the rainy season is in full blast, and it feels like I've got a layer of glue covering my body no matter how many showers I take, or how many times I wash my face or neck.

Episode 9 of Game of Thrones has lived up to the high standards they've set for the previous ones. Except for one thing. They've been making lots of changes as they go through the story, and most of them I understand. There is a limited amount of time, a limited budget, and the limitations of a audience's interest and memory to consider. I didn't understand why they changed the flow of the wedding night of one of the characters in the first episode, and I don't understand why they made the paramour of one of the main characters a foreigner. It makes no sense, adds nothing to the character, etc. (Edit: Apparently this change was made to account for the actress's German accent. Still.)

Things are busy at work and after work, as I'm trying to keep everything prepared with vocabulary, study guides, etc.

Michi and I have talked a bit, but things are going to be rough for a while longer I think.

Cheers,

Dave: 1; Paperwork Samurai: 0

hey all,

As I posted last time, I've got my new visa. As of this afternoon, I've had my foreigner registration card updated as well, which means that I don't have to carry around my passport to prove that I'm not here illegally anymore.

The weather was downright atrocious this weekend. It rained all through Saturday, Sunday, and into Monday morning. I almost did the exact same thing as the weekend before last, and left 2L of chili and 1L of rice cooling next to my refrigerator. I was on my way out the door when I realized what I'd forgotten. It was also a little dramatic, because Michi and I got into a couple arguments. Thankfully, we patched them up pretty quickly. We had originally planned to go climbing at a gym, but we decided to see a movie instead. Unfortunately, almost everyone else had the same idea, and the movie we wanted to see (Gaku , a mountain rescue movie based on a manga, and also the name we picked out for any potential male offspring...) was sold out except for a really late show. Instead, we rented the Green Zone. Pretty good, but I have to agree with "Movie" Bob's assessment: it minimalizes the role of the Iraqis in their own story. Besides all that, for my sake we probably should have picked a movie that wasn't such a downer given the weather that day and the arguments we'd had.

Food-wise, we ate at a mediocre ramen shop near her place (my tsukemen noodles were fine, but the soup lacked flavor and didn't have enough vegetables and meat, and the dish Michi ordered didn't have any warning about how spicy it was on it and was too spicy to actually eat), and also at a Osaka-style okonomiyaki restaurant near the movie theater. The okonomiyaki place was actually quite good.

On the upside, we finally booked the hotel we'll be staying at when we visit Matsumoto, and settled on a place to do some hiking and some sights to see besides the castle.

When I came back on Sunday evening, I noticed a post on our house whiteboard that 2 more people have moved in. I need to get out of here. Two people on one side of my room, two on the other, one directly across, two more on that side, then 4 living in a dorm-style room, and 2 more people on the first floor. All sharing a kitchen so small that only one person can cook at a time. Michi and I also agreed to go apartment hunting again next weekend...

Three more episodes of Game of Thrones' first season left. The book ends on such a cliff hanger for so many plot points that waiting for another year for season two to come out will be tough. Sounds silly, considering that I've already read the first book 3 or more times, once in Japanese, but the TV series is that good. At least a new book in the series is coming out in a few months. I'd preorder it but I think I'll be living in a different place by the time it arrives.

Cheers,

Enoshima, or In Praise of Spontaneity

hey all,

The original plan for today was to go rock climbing either at a gym in Tokyo or head over to Yugawara for the millionth time, but...Well, life happens. We woke up a little late, but yesterday I had realized on my to Tokyo that I had left the 2.8L of sweet and sour chicken I'd made sitting on the floor cooling next to my refrigerator. Two red peppers, 1 carrot, 1Kg of chicken thigh meat, 1 can of pineapple, ketchup, vinegar, and a whole lot of arrowroot starch...No way was I going to let that sit out for 36 hours and probably spoil in the meantime. 12 hours, yes. But 36?

Yes, 2.8 liters of homemade sweet and sour chicken. When you get home at 7PM and arrive at work at 8:30AM, you tend to cook lots at once, and feast throughout the week

So instead, I left before Michi and went back to my apartment and put the food in the fridge. We met back at Yokohama station and headed to Enoshima, which you can read about here or here.

If you go there, you will see lots of dragons everywhere, because of a legend that after an especially powerful earthquake, a 5-headed dragon popped out of the island (which itself had suddenly appeared) and started to lay waste to the surrounding villages and villagers. One day, the dragon encountered a beautiful goddess, and fell in love with her. The goddess, however, refused give her love to the dragon unless he changed his ways. From then on, he became a helpful dragon and stopped terrorizing and devouring the villagers.

One of the pillars on the bridge leading to Enoshima.

Mt. Fuji just barely visible in the distance.

One of the caves and the candle/torch the give you to light your way.

Turtle Rock

One of the cooler dragon shrines on the island.

There are tons of these eagles? around. They look like Golden eagles, but I'm not sure.

Two pieces of fried whale meat, which I bought at a street vender and yes, I ate. Pretty good, but not sure if it justifies killing them.

In other news, I'm still in the process of renewing my visa. I sent them the papers they asked for, and they responded by saying that the type of visa I have is not the correct kind for the kind of workplace I'm currently at, so I need to change it. And, hooray, in order to change it there is even more paperwork that both my company and I need to gather, fill out, and mail in. I sometimes wonder if it might not be better for all involved if the Japanese just went back to beheading foreigners who crossed into Japanese territory.

Cheers,

Trips

hey all,

So things are busy. I guess one of the nice things, about myself at least, is that when I'm busy I generally keep my room clean, organize my time a bit better, and don't waste it on stupid things. The downside is that I'm busy, so I don't have relaxation time or even enough time to fit in errands sometimes.

Take today for example. My one errand that I wanted to get done was to do a wire transfer to the US. But we had a 3 day holiday, so when I tried in the morning before class, I couldn't get through because I bet lots of people were trying to get their own bank errands done before the weekend. And between 1:30 and 6:45, I had 30 minutes of free time, split up into ten minutes, ten minutes, ten minutes, which is not enough time to prepare for the next class and make a phone call.

In any case, Ogawayama was...dramatic, to say the least. On the first day, Michi and I went to a rock in the Family Rocks area, called Mara Iwa (Mara Rock, or something like Penis Rock in old Japanese). This is a rather tall pillar of rock which features a lot of slab climbing: smooth, almost flat and featureless rock walls. We climbed a few routes there but most of them were out of our league.

The next day we had a climbing lesson, but...that's where the drama comes in. For now, I'll just say that we finished the lesson early, and went hiking around the Rooftop Rocks area.

The last day was lots of fun. We went over to Mother Rock, again in the Family Rocks area. Most of the routes on Mother Rock are 5.8, 5.9, and a few 5.10's and above. We climbed almost everything that we could, something like 8 or 9 routes in 6 hours. With a really satisfying day of climbing in the bag, after two days of frustration and disappointment, we went back to Tokyo.

And back to work. Monday was a normal day at work, more or less. But Monday night, we left for our second trip, to Michi's second house near Mt. Asama. We got to check out a field strewn with volcanic rock, a shrine where Masayuki Sanada is buried, Ueda Castle (where the Sanada clan ruled), and also a waterfall. Of course, there was also the usual gardening and yard work as well, but for the most part, fun stuff prevailed.

Mara Rock on the right, and Older Sister Rock on the left.

A strange indentation in one of the rocks in Rooftop.

Our lodge seen from the top of one of the routes at Mother Rock.

Mt. Asama

Entrance gate to the volcanic rock field.

Me doing the demon rock thing.

Cookies made to look like volcanic rock, supposedly with some of the rock ground up inside them.

A cherry blossom tree near the Hasedera in Ueda where Masayuki Sanada is buried.

One of the remained turrets of Ueda Castle.

A waterfall we stopped by on the way back to Tokyo.

And then today, Friday, was of course another normal work day, but it felt like Monday. I kept on commenting on it during the day, but none of the kids got the joke. The parents did, though.

Cheers,

And Now for Something Completely Different...

hey all,

Still alive, still here in Japan. I wish the news and the Universe would give this poor little island a break. We had a smallish earthquake earlier this week (Wednesday, apparently, but I must have slept through it or something), but by now I can't count how many we've had. Of course, if you asked a seismologist, he or she would probably tell you that Japan has several seismic events every day, but most of them are so minor that we can't feel them. But I've actually lost track of the number of times I've felt the ground or the building I'm in swaying like a boat on slightly rough water, or see items on shelves visibly shake since the Big One on Friday.

Yesterday I went up to Tokyo on the excuse of picking up some warm gloves that I'd ordered (just in time for the weather to warm up, BTW), and Michi and I met up. I had gotten a hold of her Friday night, but seeing her in person was a real load off of my mind.

By this time, news was coming in from some of the places that had been out of contact, and we were also getting news about this continuing streak of (potential) disasters, such as this nuclear power plant fiasco. It doesn't look as bad as Chernobyl or Three Mile Island, but both of those happened either before I was born or far away from me. While Fukushima is still a good distance from Yokohama, should an even minor explosion occur, the weather could easily carry radioactive material this far.

We were planning on going rock climbing today, but the nuclear reactor news changed our minds. We stayed in and watched lots of South Park. I also got in some Japanese study time while she was checking the news, etc.

Next week, I have work on Saturday (and there will probably be work tomorrow). We're planning on going to Hakone, but we might have to cancel if the disaster toll keeps rising. I keep expecting Mothra and Godzilla to suddenly appear.

Cheers

Biggest in History

hey all,


So apparently the biggest earthquake in recorded history has hit Japan. Yes, I'm fine. Clearly, I still have internet access, my hands are working, etc.

I'm sure you all can find the details all over the web, but here's the skinny. An 8.8 or 8.9 earthquake occurred about 125 km off the shore of north eastern Japan around 14:45 today. It caused a few fires from broken gas pipes, and has collapsed a few buildings, and damaged a lot of roads. Unfortunately, it also generated a 10m tsunami, which dealt a large amount of damage along the coast.

Down here in Yokohama, I was about to begin a baby lesson when I noticed the swaying and shaking of the school building. We all ran outside and watched in stupor as the cars in the parking lot rocked in their places, the buildings across the street teetered like drunken old men, and nature in general showed us that how ever much we think we're in charge, there're some powerful things that can come out of nowhere and show you the true situation.

We tried to resume lessons after that, but several aftershocks came, less powerful than the quake, but still enough to send us out of the building. I've been trying to get in touch with Michi since then, but to no avail. Phone service is more or less non existent. The train lines are all stopped, and have been for the last 8 hours or so. As of 20:30, there are still aftershocks coming through.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

Story

hey all,

One story that I wanted to share was of my experience eating at a Yoshinoya a few days ago. Yoshinoya is basically a Japanese McDonald's: they don't serve burgers or fries, but they do serve food just as cheaply, and as unhealthy and quick as McDonald's. I was sitting there, stuffing my face with shredded beef, onion, and rice, when a beer can was thrust into my face. I barely looked up and waved it off. There was an obviously drunk guy for some reason offering me a beer. He saw I wasn't grabbing, and went around the whole shop offering it to other customers in the same brusque manner. This was not the middle of the night, but the middle of the day, and everyone started at him much as I did. The staff didn't throw him out, but they didn't welcome him in either.

Cheers,

Debut

hey all,

Been a busy week. Lessons are going pretty well, but I think my PM class is getting sleepier and sleepier every day. I have to have them go through an essay about designing stamps of all things on Monday, but hopefully we will have a new packet of material.

Yesterday went all right at work. A lot of baby lessons, but I got out at 5PM which was nice. Michi came over and we watched part of The Dark Knight, but the voices for the movie were really soft despite the volume being at 100% and we had to get up early for rock climbing anyway.

Today was the debut for my 70L hiking/camping backpack. It handled pretty well, and felt much lighter than my 46L. The bigger pack has more padding on the hips, shoulder straps, and back, plus it is actually designed for hiking as opposed to air travel like the 46L. But, I think I need to spot bringing all of my climbing gear on every trip though, because all those nuts, carabiners, cams, and slings really add up to a lot of weight that doesn't all get used. I think I'll really have to pack my gear carefully too, since it seemed...not full necessarily, but even with just my gear rack, water, rope, harness, and shoes the bag seemed like I'd have to start strapping stuff to the outside. Of course, I'll have to do that anyway for climbing/camping trips, but for just a climbing day trip it felt a bit strange.

We headed over to Yugawara, which I at least haven't been to for almost 4 months. We only climbed four different routes, but we climbed each one several times a piece, so we still got in a decent about of climbing time. Especially fun was a 5.10b called Christmas Rose which  I climbed 3 times. The last climb of the day was a frustrating 5.10b called Alibaba, which I had to down climb because I couldn't make it to the top. As the last climb of the day, I should have chosen a 5.10a or a 5.9 since I was already tired.

If you're in to flowers, Japan is not a bad place to live, especially since being in to flowers doesn't seem to have any homosexual or overly girly connotations. Most of the people stopping and taking photos of flowers are actually middle aged or retired guys with monster cameras. What I wanted to say is that right now is the ume season (the Japanese plum tree), and there was a whole field of them at Yugawara. And of course, for the next month to 6 weeks, we'll have the sakura season. Basically, if you aren't in to flowers when you come here, you will probably develop a major thing for them during your stay.

In the "It's a small world" department, in case anyone has heard about that earthquake in New Zealand, it appears that one of Michi's friends from yoga school might have lost her life in the incident. The name, age, and profession all match Michi's friend, and I don't want to to run the odds on there being another Japanese woman with the same name, age and job being in the same place at the same time as Michi's friend.

In about 16 days, I'll be looking at 2 years in Japan, not counting the 4 day romp I had in the US for New Year's.

Cheers,

Roasted Mountain, Mmmm

hey all,

Cheers,