February Post

We had the annual JET "Skills Development Conference," formerly known as the "Mid-Year Conference." This is the only time in the year where Miyagi JETs are able to officially cavort with Sendai JETs, as we usually have separate group meetings and orientations. This year I showed off a new way to tie a necktie, the Eldredge Knot:

Pretty snazzy, eh?

A couple weeks later, a stray dog followed me to work. It didn't look like a "real" stray dog, just one that seems to have escaped from her owner's home. She's quite a beautiful dog; I'd like to have a Shiba at some point. Maybe when I have kids.

Cute Shiba-ken!

The big event in February was the annual Sapporo Snow Festival! Every year, MAJET goes to Sapporo, Hokkaido to celebrate, and we have a grand fest at the Sapporo Beer Garden where we stuff ourselves full of lamb and Sapporo Beer. Just look at my bib!

The Snow Festival was like usual, filled with cold temperature, snow sculptures, ice sculptures, snow slides, snow mobile-pulled rafting, crabs, soup curry, Sapporo ramen, and blizzards.

Blue Dragon

Sapporo Ramen!

Lucky Cat

Snowtubing!

View from the Top

Cheeeeeeeeeese!

Ice Castle!

Hotel-like Room on the Return Ferry

 Word of the Day: 結び目　「むすびめ」 "musubime," or "knot."

Meat

Wow, what a weekend. I don’t even remember everything that happened. What the hell did I do on Friday? I’m 80% sure I stayed home and relaxed…it was an incredibly long week, and I needed to just sit and *chill.* I spent some time playing Street Fighter X Tekken, which is easily becoming one of my favorite fighting games, for the sheer fun (and competition!) it provides.

Gonna go on a video game side tangent right now. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you have no interest in SFXT or fighting games. So, there is an online ranking system in which you (as the player) are given Battle Points (BP) after you win a battle, and you lose BP when you lose a battle. You start at D rank; next is D+, then C, then C+, and so on. I’ve only ever seen up to B+, even on videos online. I assume it goes up to A+; maybe even higher for tournament champions. Tekken has a similar system, but rather than a letter grade, it gives a title, such as “Destroyer” or “Shihan,” for example. Anyway, I’ve been playing it a lot this past week, and I manage to rack up 2000 BP (YAY!) which puts me closer to C+. I notice that when I battle people B Rank and up, they beat me. Not necessarily “easily;” I certainly give a good fight, but most of the time, they win. Watching videos online and simply facing more skilled opponents has improved my game a lot. But I find that my losses are due to either a slipup of the controls, or my lack of knowledge of opponents’ techniques and strategies. If I spent as much time learning the ins and outs of SFXT like I did with Tekken Tag and Tekken 4, back in the day, I would probably be a B Rank in no time. In case you were curious, my main team is composed of Ryu and Kazuya; not combo-heavy characters, but hard hitting. Kind of like how I fight, actually. When I first picked up Kazuya, it was pretty amazing learning his move set and abilities. He’s incredibly fun to play, and very different from Ryu. So much so, that I was in a bit of Ryu funk, and used mostly Kazuya when I played. It seemed like Ryu was underpowered all of a sudden, his lack of a “bounce” move, and having only one crappy mid attack made me want to use him even less. But luckily, I spent time in the Training room, and learned a few new tricks with both Ryu and Kazuya, learning some decent team combos and strats. Ah, love this game. Gotta play some tonight after doing karate.

So what did I do on Friday? Oh! I remember now! I went to a Sri Lanka/Italian restaurant! The guy who owns it actually had a different one last year, but had to ditch it and move to Osaka due to the big earthquake. But he missed the area, so he came back! I had Guinness, gnocchi, Brazilian sausage with beans, and Baileys. Good times.


On Saturday, I went out with an old friend I hadn't seen in a while and a former co-worker I hadn't hung out with in a while. We went to an all-you-can-eat barbeque place. DELISH.


And on Sunday, I went to my friend's house 'cause she and her family were holding a barbeque. YES! MORE MEAT! I hadn't had ribs in a while; yum. There was also mashed potatoes, bacon gravy (crazy right?), grilled clams, tira misu, a chocolate cake, yakitori, various cheeses, and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy their various wines, beers, and home-made plum wine, because I drove there. But her dad and I got into many discussions about sports cars (he owns a Nissan Fairlady Z), motorcycles, and touring around Japan. My buddy was also there, and we discussed plans for an organization I'm in (he was a former co-president, and I'm a new co-president). Yes, my life will continue to be busy.


I feel so fat.


Word of the Day: デブ　「でぶ」 "debu," which means "fat" or "chubbie." It's often used as a derogatory term to make fun of or insult someone. "You fattie!" That kinda thing.

Lazy Update

I met one of the local "bosses" (whatever that means!) at a sushi bar the other night. He owns various hotels in the region. And he was drunk, but he gave me some great advice: 「ちゃんと愛するんだよ！」って。 "Love (someone) properly!"

こないだ、寿司屋さんで、この辺の「ボス」に会った。その人は酔っ払っていたけど、良いアドバイスを言ってくれた：「ちゃんと愛するんだよ！」って。

Note: This is a "Lazy Update" because it's literally just my latest facebook status update, used as a blog post until I have time to actually write something up. Hopefully this weekend! Unless I'm out...which is entirely possible.

Word of the Day: 愛する　「あいする」　"ai suru," or "(to) love." If you want to say, "I love you," in Japanese using this verb, it would be 「愛している」 "ai shite iru" in the written form. If it is verbal, you may drop the い (i), and it would become 「愛してる」 "ai shiteru."

End of one school year and the start of the next

I meant to publish this last week (two weeks ago?), but やっぱり, had too much on my plate to finish all my food. And right now, as I type this, I find that there are a series of things I want to do tonight, but I may not have time to do everything. All day, I had been working on my Japanese test (the JET Program offers a very useful self-study Japanese course), so my activities tonight would be mostly recreational. I wanted to get some guitar practice in as well (have I mentioned that I own two guitars now? I don't recall). Speaking of guitars, when I was in Sendai, I found an instrument section of a CD store. One of my guitars is a K-Garage Stratocaster by Kikutani Music.



So late March marks the end of the school year and fiscal year in Japan. It's a time when people change jobs, including teachers, public employees, and company employees. Graduation from all major types of schools in Japan happens in this month as well, to coincide with the matriculation of new students and employees in early April.

I went to a couple going away parties; one for the Junior High, and one for the Town Hall. The Junior High going-away party was particularly amusing. It was sad to see the Principal go, as it was his final year working. In Japan, people retire at age 60. And it's not even a voluntary thing, really; people are forced to retire at age 60. Usually people do their own thing from that point on, like run a private business or do various odd jobs. But if you are a normal "salaryman" you definitely gotta retire; especially if you're a public servant.

In any case, the Principal, a very nice guy who was a former English teacher, said his final goodbyes to us at the party. Other teachers who left was the Industrial Arts teacher, who is just two years my senior (great guy, fantastic guitarist), the Nutritionist (she is in charge of our school food), the head office guy (also very friendly), and one of the incredibly kind assistant teachers whose daughter was one of my nursery school students. It was sad to see them all go. But we all enjoyed our last feast with them.

Here is the part where I mention the really amusing part. So, most of us had been drinking throughout the party and were quite tipsy towards the end. And in drinking parties like this, people always walking around pouring drinks for people and sitting in other people's seats. I had gotten up to go to the restroom, and when I got back, the Japanese Class sensei was sitting in my seat. Let's call her Kokugo-sensei (国語　「こくご」 "kokugo" is literally "country language," and it is what "Japanese class" is called in Japan). So anyway, Kokugo-sensei is in her early thirties; a fun, energetic, genki teacher. I went up next to her and pretended to start sitting back down in my seat. "Just kidding!" I said, as I began to sit in the adjacent seat. She said, "No no, please sit," as she scooted over and made room for me on the seat. So, I sat next to her, as she requested.

Of course, it's difficult for two adults to sit on one restaurant chair comfortably, so I had to cross my legs and rest my left arm on the seat back behind Kokugo-sensei. A few other teachers were laughing as they saw me do this and engage Kokugo-sensei in conversation. We were talking about traveling in Europe, and I was trying to draw a map in the air of places I've traveled. She didn't quite understand the respective locations, so she held out her hand and had me "draw" the map again on her palm with my finger. At this point, the laughter from other teachers turned into gawking, and a couple of them started yelling, "That's dangerous! Dangerous!!!" in Japanese. "Kokugo-sensei, go back to your seat!!!" As she got up, she replied, "...just drawing a map..."

The Town Hall going away party was much larger, and held in the town center. Of the seven or so people leaving, one of them was a senior member of my Board of Education, whom I'll call Mr. Masters. Mr. Masters was awesome; he helped me out so much with so many things. The biggest in particular was in helping me purchase my beautiful car (he helped by introducing me to his mechanic, who ordered it for me). Her name is Misa (I'll explain that in some later post).

So it was really sad to see him go. Interestingly enough, I sat next to my former supervisor, Supes! It was fun shooting the shit with him again. And after dinner, I went with him to the Nijikai (Second Party), which is essentially the term for "After Party." Lots of people from the first party showed up. Someone turned on the karaoke machine and we sang some songs. I ended the night by singing "Hotel California" with a very drunk Japanese guy. Good times.

Word of the Day: 酔っ払い　「よっぱらい」　"yopparai," or "drunkard;" "someone who is drunk."

Spring is here! Or is it?

Yesterday was 春分の日, also known as the Vernal Equinox. It is the day that marks Spring as having officially arrived. (But in Japan, there was some other day earlier this year that supposedly signified that. I call BS.) For those of you in the US, today is the Vernal Equinox. According to my brother, it's "hot as balls" over there, whereas over here it is pretty damn cold. I woke up this morning to a couple inches of snow on the ground! An annoying surprise. Thankfully, the sun came out a bit and melted some of the snow. Hopefully it'll melt further; slush isn't very safe.

This weekend was pretty nice, pretty busy. I went to the movies on Saturday and saw Time (In Time?). It wasn't groundbreaking, or even great, but I enjoyed it. And it was interesting seeing Justin Timberlake in an almost-action-star role. The few scenes where he gets into a scuffle were cool; but they didn't make too much sense for the character. Why would someone like him be so skilled at taking out multiple guys with weapons? 'Cause he grew up in the ghetto? Eh, I don't buy it. But that's just me nit-picking; those scenes made the movie more exciting.

The movie had a theme of valuing time; not just as their form of currency (tangible value), but also how you make use of what little time you have left. The underlying theme was about class warfare; the 1% benefiting from the expense of the 99%, if you will. "For a few to be immortal, many must die." The movie really made me think about how I've been spending my time, and how I want to spend my time. This brings me to a new hobby:

I just bought an electric guitar! Actually, I got it a few months ago, but I haven't updated my blog in a while, so as far as you guys know, I just got it. It was mad cheap, so it doesn't have the best sound (same can be said with the amp), but it will do for now. I've been learning chords and some simple songs. Eventually, when I get better, I want to replace it with a higher-quality guitar. Perhaps I'll just pick up a decent acoustic guitar rather than replace my electric. That way, I'll have the option to switch between guitars as I switch between playing various genres of music.

Speaking of music, I went to a concert on Sunday! It was a benefit concert for Northeastern Japan. I got to see Monkey Majik perform 6 songs on stage! 5 of which I knew! Monkey Majik is a band based in Sendai (just an hour away!) whose four members are composed of two Japanese guys and two Canadian guys (brothers). One of the Canadian guys was once an ALT, just like I am. After he ended his English teaching job, he started Monkey Majik. After some changing of band members and the introduction of his brother, the band has risen to great success. At the concert, they were the first band to play after the opening act; they got great response (they're arguably one of the most popular musicians in the region).

After Monkey Majik was 西野カナ (Nishino Kana). She is an up and coming pop star; my students bought her album last year when it was released. Mad cute and really popular. Her songs were decent, but I hadn't listened to her before, so I can't say too much. Except that her backup dancers were hottttttt.

There was another guest after her. Naoto something. Some weird name. Really quirky guy. His facial hair/appearance really throws you off for what his personality and singing style would be; basically picture Brad Pitt's character from Fight Club singing like Justin Bieber. Just didn't make sense.

After him was Ai (stylized AI or A.I.), who is a quarter Italian, was born in LA. Really cool, and great artist. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of what her genre of music was; her poster gave an impression of dance pop (like Koda Kumi), but it was actually hip-hop and R&B. Again, awesome backup dancers; but this time doing hip-hop rather than pop-style dancing.

The equinoxes are holidays in Japan. So, on my day off, I drove an hour and a half to visit a friend, with guitar in tow. He's got mad skill, so he showed me some sweet tricks and techniques that I will be trying out. It was really fun jamming with him, and I got a great idea for a music video project that I want him and another friend to help me with. We grabbed some ramen for lunch and some tapas with two more friends that night. It was too bad that we all have work today, otherwise we could have enjoyed the wine and drink selection. A little pricey, but definitely a good date spot. If only people didn't smoke in places where food was served.

Word of the Day: 異常気象　「いじょうきしょう」　"ijou kishou," which means "abnormal weather."

Productive Day

Today was quite productive! Even though at work, I had no classes to teach, because it was test day. But I did give the Listening portion of the test; I hope my students did alright. I wrote the script myself (using the text book example as a base), but made it a little more difficult. Well, here's hoping! I also managed to work through most of my taxes. I should be able to submit it this week! And for those of you who think it's overdue, well, it isn't. For those of us who live abroad, we're given an automatic extension for the due date, and we can also file another form to extend it further (which is necessary in order to fulfill the strange "330 days present in foreign country" rule).

When I got home, I cleaned up my living room, put some things away on my book shelves, cleaned my yoga mat, sweeped the floor (actually, wiped it with a wet floor wipe), and worked out! Working out felt great (and terrible) since I hadn't done it in 2 weeks! And 8 weeks before that! I started P90X back in May, got to day 60, and had to drop it for a while 'cause of all my traveling. 75 days had passed before I had finally started it back up again (today). I started on day 61, where I left off, because I intend to finish this and move on to the 60 day Insanity Workout. It's unfortunate that I took such a long break from P90X, 'cause now all my results are messed up. The before/after shots won't make any sense. Really, I should probably start P90X over completely, but I really want to check out Insanity. Of course, I do have the option of just moving onto Insanity after I restart P90X from the beginning. Just a thought.

After working out, I did the laundry, bleached a towel and karate bag, and made myself a delicious Korean dish called bibimbap! Mmmmm, soooooo goooood. Just thinking about it makes me hungry again. Good thing I have leftovers. ;-) During dinner, I watched an episode of Breaking Bad. My brother was right; definitely a great series! After dinner, I washed the dishes, ripped open 25 milk and juice cartons for recycling, cleaned up some of my kitchen area, hung my laundry, brushed my teeth, and took a shower. And finally, after getting dressed, here I am writing a blog post!

Goodnight world!

Word of the day: 積極的　「せっきょくてき」　"sekkyokuteki," which means "proactive." It's a good word. :-)

TGS and Oktoberfest

So, I realized today after class, that it doesn't really make sense to write old posts first before updating people on what I've been up to more recently. 'Cause if I did that, then I would NEVER catch up, and I would ALWAYS just be updating! So, instead, I've decided to update the blog more regularly, with current news and recent events, while going back and finishing the other blog posts that I had started way back when. Especially the disaster stuff.

Just a week and a half ago, Tokyo Game Show was held in Chiba, Japan (not actually/technically Tokyo, but close enough). TGS is the largest video game convention in Japan. And as such, it is the place where a lot of game developers and publishers like to announce news and reveal new things about their products. The big hit for the weekend was the PlayStation Vita, Sony's new handheld, the successor of the PSP.

I was one of the lucky ones, along with my two college buddies with whom I attended TGS, to get my hands on a PSVita. It was a sleek device, showing off PS3 graphics on such a small and gorgeous machine. I was expecting the back touchpad to feel something like that found on a laptop, but it was actually smooth and glossy, not unlike the glass screen on a cell phone.

I played Michael Jackson: The Experience. Why? 'Cause we had played it earlier on the PS3 Move, and it was DAMN FUN. I was curious as to how a full-body dance game would transfer over to a touch-screen handheld experience. Taking a lesson from Osu! Tatakae Ouendan, there are a lot of finger swipes across the screen to the beat of the song, as well as other movements. Finger dancing, if you will.

The highlight of TGS for me was getting to play Street Fighter X Tekken months before its official release! Incredibly fun; and a completely different game from Street Fighter, Tekken, or any of the Versus games. Aesthetically, it looks quite similar to Street Fighter IV, but plays more like, say, Marvel VS Capcom 3 without super jumps. But with a SF4 button layout. Anyway, for a fan of both series, a matchup like this is like a dream come true.

At TGS, there were also a lot of cosplayers. Some really EXCELLENT ones! I'll try to post an album at some point. My friend and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the cosplay show in the evening, where some of the best cosplay I had EVER seen went on stage to act out a skit and/or pose. Pretty damn awesome. I wish I had a better camera.

The remainder of my Tokyo trip consisted of hanging out with my friends in the evenings, eating some good food and drinking some good beer. We actually hit up a Hooters to see how different it was to those in the States. Gotta say, as happy as we were to enjoy some wings (it had been too long!) and Philly Cheesesteak (also been too long!), we were kind of disappointed about the servers. Not that they weren't attractive ("maa maa" as some would say), but just that they were surprisingly cold and unfriendly. Well, afterwards, we went to karaoke and even busted out some free-style between lyrics (or sometimes replacing lyrics entirely, haha).

Speaking of drinking, last week, Oktoberfest was celebrated in Sendai! Having been super busy and completely forgetting about it until the last day (Sunday), I finally managed to make my way out there. There were many food booths serving things like German sausage, potatoes, and even sauerkraut! Now THAT took me back to my days in eastern Pennsylvania. And there was even a Hofbrau booth! I bought their Oktoberfest beer and even bought a glass beer mug! A mug with "HB" written on it. Feels like it was made just for me. ;-)

Word of the day: 久しぶり　「ひさしぶり」　"hisashiburi." I have used this word at least twice already, in previous posts, even titling one of my posts with it! This word basically means "It's been a while," often in the phrase "Ohisashiburi desu ne!" which means the same thing but is more polite.

The second First Day

It's the first day of the second year. And what a tiring, fun, awesome day. The first day of Tokyo Orientation for the newbies, and an incredible experience. I remember the first day of orientation for me, one year ago. It was like a dream. And at the same time, it didn't feel like Japan. But this time, I was on the "other side," being a senior member and guiding the way for all the younglings. Funny to call them that, as some of them are certainly older than me, and some with prior experiences in Japan.

Orientation was tiring. We had shifts at odd hours; early morning, late at night. But it was damn fun, even when we just wanted to sleep! In fact, those times might have been the most fun, 'cause we were tired and everything was amusing to us. The "shifts" I refer to are times that we are stationed to the Information Desk or Hospitality Center. The Hosp Center was arguably more amusing, as we were allowed to doodle on the portraits of all of the Orientation Assistants and Coordinators. I put my art skills to use and turned one of my friends into Kakashi from Naruto, and another friend into Super Saiyan Goku! Hilarity ensued.

There were a surprising amount of Filipinos there (as Assistants/Coordinators). Five and a half, I think. And perhaps some of the best parts about the orientation were meal times: free all-you-can-eat breakfasts in the hotel (Western breakfast, how I've missed you so!), and some sweet eateries around Shinjuku. Some meals worth mentioning: Burger King Whopper, it had been too long; kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi), always fun; ten-don (no, not tendons, the connective tissue between muscle and bone), but literally "heaven ricebowl," or rather, " shrimp tempura ricebowl." Sooooooo good.

Here's to more adventures!

Word of the day: 天丼　「てんどん」　"ten-don," explained above.

A month of goodness

I am a terrible, terrible person. Not only have I not updated my blog in forever, but I have also not been to karate class since my last blog post! I tried going last night actually, but it seems class was canceled. The lights were out, and no one showed up for the 20 minutes that I waited there, besides a parent and his two kids who were also waiting. I hope it wasn't just that class started late. :-/

Okay, so, many, many things happened over this past month! My friend Oreo came to visit (I don't actually call him that; though it's possible that I called him that 10 years ago). Anyway, he is an old friend whom I hadn't seen since last summer (or earlier?) I think. We traveled quite a bit of places in Miyagi.

I met up with him on a Thursday. I was in Sendai that day for a work-related conference. Unfortunately, the last bus leaves pretty early, so we decided to save our Sendai festivities for later. On the following day, we went skiing! It was my first time, but Oreo is an expert, so he was showing me the ropes. For those who know anything about skiing: I spent most of my time in pizza. It was quite fun, but since I'm not any good, I was just stuck practicing the basics. I really need to learn how to properly stop (the turn-sideways version, not the falling over version).



Then on Saturday, we drove over to the local onsen and took a dip. There, we were talking with a couple naked old guys. Apparently, the hot spring that the water comes from is one kilometer down! Pretty awesome. After the onsen, I took us to a local steakhouse. They have amazing beef curry there, so we ordered that. Afterward, we hit up Sendai to check out their night life. Unfortunately, because of the season (read: effing cold), it was pretty dead. But we still walked around a bit and found a quaint little restaurant/bar place. The hosts were amusingly nice to us. We kept asking for their recommendations so they gladly said, "Leave it to us!" Though there was a point when they were trying to figure out what my background was. I overheard them say "Chinese [person]." But then they also said something like, "his Japanese is good!" Haha

On Sunday, I drove us up to Naruko Onsen, where we once again took a dip in the natural hot springs (fresh smell of sulfur and other minerals, yay!) and also saw some of the beautiful scenery. The mountains in that area had gotten hit with a lot of snow, so that in itself was pretty nice to see. Pretty slippery though. We also bought a bunch of small little omiyage for people. I got a set of chop sticks made out of cherry blossom wood!

On Monday, we went to Matsushima. But instead of walking along the long red bridge to one of the islands, we hopped on a boat and got a chance to see a bunch of the islands! It was a really fun ride. Of course I played, "I'm on a Boat!" by The Lonely Island. There were seagulls following the ship, and it was really amusing seeing them dive into the water as people threw shrimp chips/fries at them. I got some sweet video of that. Ah, and before we boarded the ship, we also visited some temple grounds and also ate some fresh Matsushima sushi! We had oysters, fatty tuna (YUM), and Sendai beef! Yes, that's right, BEEF SUSHI. It was surprisingly delicious.

The following day, I took Oreo to work with me, at the Elementary School, where he sat in on class and even answered a few questions. At night, we went out to karaoke with some friends, which was incredibly fun, but I wasn't able to hold my liquor very well. Hah, I'm so weak! On Wednesday, I took him to the Jr High in the morning, and he was quite a hit! He did a great job interacting with the students and forcing them to speak English to him without them being able to fall back on Japanese (like they do with me, because I am able to understand most of what they say). In the afternoon, he came with me to the other elementary school and even helped me teach class! It was really fun. On Thursday night, we went to a friend's house where she hosted a hot pot party. The people who came were all either English speakers or people who wanted to learn/improve their English, so it was good for Oreo to be there.

THE CAR STORY

Okay so the big car story takes place on that same Thursday. Oreo had intended to drive to the same mountain we went to in order to go skiing again. The route is very simple, so he knew how to get there, and I had let him practice in my car a few times so he was used to driving in Japan. Well, he drove to the mountain, and as he approached the top, the engine was dying, so he pulled into the first ski lodge (he wanted to go to the second one). When he finally parked, the engine had died.

He gave me a call and told me that there were three employees trying to help him with the car, but none of them could speak English and he can't speak Japanese so they were using hand drawn pictures to communicate. Eventually, after some discussion with me, my coworkers and those employees, Oreo decided to drive back to town. The car was able to start, but it just sounded weak, he said. Luckily, he made it back okay with no problems.

After school, one of my JTE's called his car man to come and take a look at my car. He arrived in a tow truck and took it away! The next day (Friday), he took apart my engine and tried to see what was wrong with it. He said that whatever problem it was was only fixable by replacing the entire engine. Knowing that it wasn't worth it, I said that I'll look for another car. He put the engine back together, and the car runs, but it feels weak. There is definitely less power than before, and the car will probably die in the near future. I can still drive it places, but I am trying my best to get my "poor man's dream car" (Toyota Celica GT-Four) as soon as possible. I need to find out how to get rid of this car, too.

It was a wonderful time, and all of the seemingly bad things are actually pieces of good fortune in disguise.

Word of the Day: 旅行 「りょこう」 "ryokou" which means "trip" or "travel."

Coming of Age Day

Happy Coming of Age Day! Not really sure how to say that in Japanese, or if there even is a way to say it. (Much like we don't say Happy Labor Day! in the US.) But Coming of Age Day is called 成人の日　「せいじんのひ」 "Seijin no Hi" in Japanese. Anyway, on this day, everyone who became a legal adult (age 20, in Japan) since last year's Coming of Age Day is allowed to get all dressed up and celebrate! This usually entails dressing up in a kimono (or suit and tie for the guys) and going to a shrine to bow, pray, and do the usual. I didn't go out today, seeing as how my Coming of Age was over half a decade ago (damn, I feel old saying that!).

Two days ago was the "cutting of the New Year's rice cake," or the 鏡開き　「かがみびらき」　"Kagami Biraki." This literally means "Opening the Mirror." It's because the mochi (rice cake) resembles the shape of a mirror. Or so I've been told. This ceremony was held in the 桜花館　「おうかかん」 "Oukakan", also known as the 武道館　「ぶどうかん」　"Budoukan": the Martial Arts Hall. (FYI, the Budoukan in town is named the Oukakan.) At the event were some traditional blessings and prayers, the first martial arts practices for the three major clubs, and eating of mochi! Yay!

I met the Karate Master. He came up right to me as soon as the ceremonial stuff was over (and before training) and we talked martial arts. It was strange though; one of the first things he did was to ask me which martial arts group I wanted to join. He seemed very eager to take me in as one of his students. And it seemed as though he had already heard of me and already knew of my desire to enroll in a local martial arts academy. After some discussion, I found out that the first practice of the year (after the Kagami Biraki) is tonight. At 7 PM. So, in less than an hour, I'll be out there! Oh boy. Wish me luck!

Oh, yeah, after the practice, we ate mochi soup! It was delicious! But they made me get seconds, and they filled the second bowl completely (and with a ton of mochi). I sat next to the Karate Master and he looked over at me, laughing when I looked like I was struggling finishing it all. After I was done, he said, "You must be tired!" (お疲れ様でした。　It's said at the end of a work day. Haha.)

Word of the day: 頑張ります！　「がんばります！」　"Ganbarimasu!" It means, "I'll do my best!"

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Phrase of the day: 明けましておめでとうございます！「あけましておめでとうございます！」 "Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!" You can guess what it means. :-) Literally, it means "Congratulations for opening!" or something along those lines.

The December Issue

Unfortunately, I didn't start any blogs in the middle of December and save it for later like I did the November ones. Except for this one, on December 31st, minutes before the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. So I'll use this space here to summarize my December activities.

December is a wonderful month; my favorite month of the year. In December are my favorite holiday, long breaks from school or work, a festive atmosphere, shopping sales at nearly every store, opportunities to spend time with friends and family, and my birthday. There are many reasons to love December. But also many reasons to dislike it: it's probably the most expensive month, it has the shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice), and it's when the cold really starts kicking in. But I like to think the good outweighs the bad, so I still like it. Maybe that's the optimist in me speaking.

Anyway, the month was really fun! For my birthday, some of my coworkers and I went out to Sendai to a really nice restaurant. We ate amazingly delicious food, and they surprised me with a cake! Everyone in the restaurant clapped for me; it was so nice. ^_^ I was surprised to see American-style sushi rolls there, as well. You know, the kind that has the rice outside the seaweed wrapper rather than inside. Because the rice is outside, the roll is usually larger, so you can fit more ingredients in it. Traditional Japanese sushi rolls usually only have one ingredient. The following week, another friend took me out to Sendai (near the nice restaurant) to a cozy American-style diner/deli. The specialty? Burgers. I happily feasted on a large burger and onion rings. And a milk shake. Rock on.

While in Sendai, I saw "光のページェント", or "Pageant of Light." A street in Sendai gets all of its trees completely lit up with white Christmas lights. Looks beautiful! I'll post a picture in an update.

The first snowfall occurred! Not too different from the US. But the scenery is different. Again, pictures later.

A friend and I stuffed ourselves at a kaitenzushi place. 13 plates each! That's 27 pieces (one tray had 3 rather than 2), and a bowl of soup! Insanity.

A co-worker invited me to his house to have lunch. I happily accepted of course! He is the youngest employee at the Junior High. The funny thing is that he had actually invited me over in November, but he never set a date, so I just let it slide until he brought it up again. Sometime earlier in December, he mentioned that his sister kept asking when I was going to come over; I had forgotten that one of my students was his sister. O.o Anyway, when I finally came over, his mother had prepared a wonderful lunch, with which I stuffed myself silly. We played some Mario on their Wii, then went outside to play catch. It had been years since I had last thrown a ball, but despite my lack of practice, it was still really fun. His sister had a wicked throw. (She's on the baseball team!) His other sister couldn't catch (or throw) very well, but it was still fun. Their family gave me quite a bit of food to take home; yummy, delicious, homemade Japanese food. I am drooling just thinking about it.

So in December, because it is the end of the year, there are many "End of the Year Parties," known as 忘年会　「ぼうねんかい」 "bounenkai." Literally, it means "forget year meeting." So I guess you're supposed to party all night and drink until you forget all the bad things that happened that year? Or maybe it's a party so you don't forget? Anyway, every school and every organization and every company seems to hold one. Being involved with so many groups here, I was of course invited to a bunch, but unfortunately due to lack of funds, I could only attend...four, or so.

The first was a very small, private party, with the same people who threw me a birthday party, plus one more person. It was mad fun, and we held it at a restaurant in Sendai that Shoe and I have grown to love (and frequent recently). The next one was held by an international organization in a neighboring town, where I met new friends and ate yummy home-made food. There was so much there that I took food home to last me a couple days!

The biggest 忘年会 that I went to was held by the junior high school. We went to Naruko Onsen, which is a city in the north famous for its hot springs! Naturally, we stayed overnight to eat, drink, and bath in the hot springs. And let me tell you, that water is damn hot. For some reason, even though I was born in the tropics, my body has a tendency to be able to handle colder temperatures much better than hotter temperatures. In any case, I still took a dip, in both the inside bath and the outside bath. The outside bath was amaaaaaaaaazing. Unfortunately, it was so windy, that the steam that rose from the hot bath was quickly blown away. But for the moments that it lingered, it had a wonderful atmosphere. Minus the sulfuric smell of the natural hot spring. And the naked old men.

After the 忘年会 were all over, my vacation started! Winter break was a BLAST. My girlfriend came up from Kyoto to visit me, and seeing her always makes me happy. We did some shopping in Sendai, where she got a vest, and where I had purchased a vest just a couple weeks earlier. We also checked out Sendai's 光のページェント, this time, walking down the entire street rather than driving through it.

Christmas was a good time. My girlfriend got me a much-needed soft, beautiful scarf, and I got her many socks and stockings. And an iPod case. And Utada Hikaru's new album. And a cute leather papillon keychain. And something else, I think, but I can't recall it at the moment. Oh, right, a Christmas Cake for us to share. This brings me to a side note.

For some reason, Christmas is really improperly/incorrectly represented in Japan; it's extremely misunderstood. I thought it was bad enough in the US, but I've grown to accept its commercialization, mainly because I enjoy the atmosphere, the "Santa side," and because I'm not religious. But Japan. Oh, Japan. According to my friend Ken, Christmas in Japan is about love. But not the way it is in the US, where it's about the love shared between families and friends; no, here in Japan, it's about the love between couples, not unlike Valentine's Day. And on Christmas in Japan, the dinner usually includes a big chicken dinner from KFC (lol) and a Christmas Cake. Now conveniently, this way of celebration worked out for my girlfriend and me, where none of our family members are in Japan, so it was best to spend it with one another. But rather than grab KFC, my girlfriend wanted to cook dinner for me.

And boy did she prepare a feast! It included home-made karaage chicken, her specialty home-made macaroni and cheese, and fresh broccoli and asparagus. My contribution was a tray of appetizers, the cake, and a bottle of chardonnay. I have to emphasize "home-made" with my girlfriend's dishes, because it was a much larger endeavor than the easy Kraft Mac 'n Cheese or preparing fried chicken.

Later that evening, we watched Elf. Good times. Later than week, we watched that wretched Tekken movie. And I thought Dragonball: Evolution was bad. Well, okay, both movies are just as bad as the other. Any of the Street Fighter movies can be thrown in with that pile of worthless crap. So, to get enjoyment from the movie? My girlfriend and I turned it into a drinking game: take a drink whenever something non-canonical or nonsensical comes up. I was actually starting to run out of drink, so we had to slow it down (haha).

My friend Nana-chan came to visit before the end of the year. So the three of us had lots of fun, spending time with my friend Shoe or Ken, going to various places to shop, watching tons of movies, going out to karaoke, and even taking a dip in the local onsen for the first time! On New Year's Eve, we went to Shiogama Shrine, which sits at the top of a 220-step staircase, and with hundreds (thousands?) of Japanese people, we participated in the annual bowing and prayers during this time. I was happy to do so. I also bought a couple charms; one for health, and one that was in the shape of a giant arrow. I didn't know charms could be so bad-ass.

December 31: I am at Shiogama Shrine to check out how the New Year celebration is done in Japan!

Phrase of the day: 良いお年を！ 「よいおとしを！」 "Yoi otoshi wo!" It's a phrase said at the end of the year, which literally means, "(Have) a good year!"

Thanksgiving

Oh, Thanksgiving. So, poor planning resulted in a small two-person fun-fest what was supposed to be a 4-5 person pot luck. To be honest, it was probably better off as a two-person fun-fest; mainly because the two of us couldn't cook very well. Nor did we have anything prepared 'til late at night, so if there were any other guests present, they'd probably be pretty pissed off.

So, my buddy John invited me and a few other ALTs to his place the weekend after Thanksgiving for some festivities. He ordered a hefty amount of turkey meat that we would cook (bake?) and we had planned to hit up the supermarket for ingredients for other Thanksgiving dishes: mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn-on-the-cob. The image in our minds was a grand feast.

Instead, we got a grand laugh.

First off, the turkey meat we had, while very little compared to a normal turkey, was still pretty damn huge for the two of us. He ordered enough meat for 5 people; heavy helpings each (so more like 8-10 people). So with just the two of us, we decided to use a little less than half of the meat. Well, with a big hunk of meat and no oven, how were we supposed to cook it? Oh, right, with the microwave.

So, the fascinating thing about Japanese microwaves is that they are part microwave and part oven. I don't really know how the oven part works; maybe just like any other oven? I imagine the microwave parts would get destroyed with that sort of heat. But apparently not, 'cause that's what it was designed to do. So yeah, we used the microwave as an oven. Neither of us really knew what we were doing, so we used our best judgment and thought things out. The turkey turned out well cooked; not burned, but a bit dry. But at least it wasn't raw. Objective completed!

At the supermarket, it was surprisingly difficult to find certain ingredients. Like corn. Eventually we found it...frozen... and not on the cob. John was disappointed. He was looking forward to it quite a bit. We bought the frozen corn anyway, but didn't end up eating it 'cause we were stuffed from the other dishes.

John made the mashed potatoes and I made the stuffing. And DAMN was it good! We didn't have any stock for the stuffing, so John suggested using the soup from a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. What a wonderful suggestion, 'cause it tasted damn awesome. I just wish I cut the bread cubes and celery bits a little smaller. The mashed potatoes turned out pretty well, too! But what didn't was the gravy.

We had never made gravy ourselves before, so we scoured the internet for some recipes. The main idea was to use the turkey runoff as the base for the gravy, add some salt and spices to flavor it, and add flour to thicken it up. Weeelllll, we added too much flour, so it basically tasted like uncooked pancake batter. So, after using some of the gravy for the turkey, we cooked the batter and made a "gravy pancake."

We also decided to make Yaki-Campbells. It's like Yakisoba, but instead of frying soba noodles, we fried the remaining contents of the can of chicken noodle soup. Nice. What a feast.

Word of the day: 感謝祭 「かんしゃさい」 "kanshasai," which means "Thanksgiving (Day)."

Fall Leaves

The leaves in autumn
Fall ever so gracefully.
A beautiful sight.

秋の葉は
淑やか落ちて
美しい。

So, the leaves have been gradually changing over the past month. It starts in northern Japan, and sweeps the country towards the south, like a shock wave. This means that the leaves changed color up here before Kyoto. That also means that I had the opportunity to see beautiful mountainside views of the leaves up here, then to travel down to Kyoto and see them again! So I did. I took so many pictures! I will post some up here for you all to enjoy. Actually, I went to three different sites. The first was after the Fall Festival, a few weeks ago. Then after that, (a week or two later), I went to Naruko with Shoe to check out the leaves there. Gorgeous. Then this past weekend, I went to Kyoto again! My girlfriend and I visited Arashi Yama (literally, "Storm Mountain") and saw the beautiful leaves, next to the beautiful river, with beautiful geisha tending to their clients. It was quite a beautiful weekend.

My girlfriend and I were both recovering from a cough/cold, so we couldn't do too much, but we still explored and did everything we could. Some fun activities include:

1) Going to a ninja themed restaurant!
2) Participating in tea ceremony!
3) Eating awesome delicious huge fresh sushi with an old college buddy!
4) Winning Evangelion figurines from an impossibly difficult UFO catcher with said buddy! (Actually he did all the work, haha.)
5) Watching a master flower arranger arrange flowers!
6) Watching a kyougen play! (old-style comedy play)
7) Watching a dance performed by two beautiful geiko!
8) Watching a bunraku (puppet) performance!

It was definitely my most event-filled trip to Kyoto thus far. I will try to post pictures...somehow. Can't do it right now, 'cause this computer I'm using at work is just too old for that!

Word of the day: 美しい　「うつくしい」 "utsukushii," which means "beautiful."

October already?

I can't believe I've already been living in Japan for over two months! It really doesn't feel like that. It feels more like...a couple weeks. I was expecting that my language ability would be spectacular by now. But really, it still feels like it's plateaued, though I know that I've gained a few things, like new vocabulary, a bit of new grammar, some local dialect, and new kanji. So I guess I have improved a bit. But I suppose I'm just frustrated about not being able to understand everything that people are saying around me, or even directly to me.


Today, one of the teachers was asking the other teachers what he should do or where he should go for this three-day weekend. After some discussion, he was excited to have decided to go to Tokyo Tower. But besides those main parts, I couldn't understand what they were talking about. And just a few minutes ago, I got back from the convenience store, having purchased some food. When I was buying the siopao (a Chinese pork bun; I forget what they call them here), the clerk was asking me something. I had no idea what she said. The only thing I caught was the "-masu ka" at the end of the sentence, indicating that it was a question. So I quickly explained that "I had just moved to Japan (so my language skills suck)...", so she said "ah" and pulled out a plastic bag. I didn't even hear the word for bag (fukuro)! Maybe she was asking something along the lines of, "For here or to go?"

Then there's my students...I don't understand half of what they say. Especially the little ones, 'cause they mumble or they're so quiet or they're asking me something using little-kid vocabulary. Don't talk about bugs, ask me something about the embassy or the library! Speaking of students, I keep forgetting that one of my junior high kids (3rd year, so, equivalent to a 9th grader in the US) lived in the US for five years! The reason I keep forgetting is because whenever I see her, she rarely ever speaks English to me. Even when I grade her homework, she is always one of the top students, but not significantly better or more creative than the others.


Change of topic; I've discovered something that's baffling, amazing, and after further thought, a little troubling: I can drink the milk here. For those who don't know, I suffer from adult-type hypolactasia, also known as lactase non-persistence. Or, in layman's terms, lactose intolerance. Because I am lactose intolerant, I cannot drink a normal glass of milk without having intestinal discomfort. I won't go into detail, but lactose intolerance SUCKS. Especially because I love milk and dairy products: ice cream, cream sauces, cheese, milk-based drinks (including my awesome White Filipino). It's not very severe, so I can actually enjoy the foods without too much of an issue, but it's when I drink a glass of milk that I really feel the effects of lactose intolerance. So, to get around this problem, I take lactase enzyme supplements when I eat or drink dairy products. They work fantastically well.


At school, in both the JHS and ES, milk is provided as the drink that accompanies the school lunch. I made sure to pack a two-month supply of lactase enzymes in my suitcase before I moved to Japan. Welllll, it's been two months, and my supply is incredibly low. So I searched online if it was possible to buy lactase enzymes (or Lactaid brand milk) in Japan; and I even looked at various stores, including a large pharmacy (like a big CVS or Rite Aid), but it was a no go. One of the things I found online, though, was that someone had mentioned that a friend of theirs who was lactose intolerant didn't have problems in Japan. I pondered this. And I needed a solution to my problem of running out of lactase enzymes. I wanted to test it. So, I did.


I drank a tall glass of milk, into which I added this coffee mix (turning it into "coffee milk," a delicious drink you can find at any convenience store or supermarket). After having finished it, I didn't feel a thing! Normally, I would feel the effects within 15 minutes of drinking it; sometimes even before I finished the drink. But no, nothing. So, I tested it again the next day, and drank another coffee milk drink from a carton. Again, no issues. Hmm... Okay, the best way to test it is to use the real, pure, genuine milk that we get at school. During my first week of eating school lunch, I actually had to run to the bathroom after having drank the milk, even though I took a lactase enzyme tablet. The stuff was so thick that I could swear it's cream. (Japan loves its whole milk.) So, the day of reckoning came.


Two days ago, I drank the carton of milk at the ES. I accidentally left my lactase in my bag downstairs, too, so I had to drink it straight. I was a little nervous, because I had to teach classes in the afternoon. I didn't want to feel discomfort or have to run to the bathroom during class. Well, thankfully, the test provided good results! Again, I didn't experience any problems! I was happily surprised (or rather, relieved for the lack of "surprise"). I tested it again today, at the JHS. Again, good news.

So what's the deal? Why am I lactose intolerant in the US, but seemingly, not in Japan? What's the difference between the milk in the US versus the milk in Japan? Is it 'cause it's so damn creamy? No, that can't be it... Oh, I know.

The milk in the US is pasteurized.

What does this have to do with anything? And how can stopping a drink from being made safer possibly improve its drinkability? Well, I heard from my Canadian and American friends this past weekend that the milk here in Japan is not pasteurized. Having heard this, I was a little troubled. I know of a man in Pittsburgh who was hospitalized because his family drank a batch of bad unpasteurized milk. Not that it had "gone bad," but rather, it still contained microbes which were responsible for making his entire family get sick. So, I am well aware of the dangers of unpasteurized milk. For those who don't know, the process involves heating the milk to a certain temperature to kill all of the bacteria and other microbes that might be inside. Well, if milk is left unpasteurized, placed into a milk carton, and is consumed by someone, then that person is also drinking whatever microbes may still be present in the milk.


Now, keep in mind that not all microbes are bad. We use bacteria to make many products, including yogurt. So I speculated that perhaps the milk here in Japan contains a certain microbe that metabolizes the lactase sugar in the milk and produces very little or no bad waste products that would make us experience discomfort. If it metabolizes the lactase, then the bacteria in our intestines can't use the lactase. Normally, if the bacteria in our intestines eats lactose, the process of metabolizing it produces waste products that lead to the symptoms of lactose intolerance. But lactic acid bacteria will turn the lactose into fatty acids and other useful things without creating any troublesome products. So yeah...I'm thinking that perhaps because the milk in Japan is not pasteurized (so I've been told), then maybe it contains the wonderful lactic acid bacteria that allows me to drink milk without any gastrointestinal problems! Yay!

Now, this is all just speculation, and the only proof I have to back this up are my own experiences. There is no true scientific evidence. And I still believe that the risks of drinking unpasteurized milk outweighs the satisfaction, and if I had a choice, I would rather drink pasteurized milk with a tablet of lactase enzymes.

Speaking of scientific evidence (and such), I want to wish Richard Heck, Eiichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki a huge congratulations for winning the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry today! Dr. Heck lives in the Philippines (Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Delaware), and the two other winners are Japanese; one is from Purdue University and the other is from Hokkaido University.

Word of the day: 牛乳　「ぎゅうにゅう」　"gyuunyuu," or "milk." Literally, "cow milk."

Kyoto and Video Games [Update]

I've discovered something on Japanese keyboards! There is a way to make it behave like an American keyboard! What I mean is that the keys change to the American counterparts, so even if a certain character/symbol is written on the Japanese key, it will type the American key. For example, the Japanese keyboard has a colon (:) where the apostrophe key is on the American keyboard. So normally, when I press this key with my right pinky finger, I type a colon. But when I do this trick, I get an apostrophe! The trick is pressing the following keystroke: Alt + Shift. This keystroke is normally used on American keyboards to change language inputs; it's what I use to switch between Japanese and English on my laptop and desktop computers in the US. Normally, there is a designated key to do that on Japanese keyboards, so pressing the key maintains the Japanese layout of characters and punctuation. But not with this keystroke trick! Bwahaha! I don't have to type Shift + 7 for apostrophes anymore!

/endcelebration

So! This past week has been SUPER DUPER busy, which is why I haven't been able to post an update. It's unfortunate, because I wish I could recall all of the things that have happened since my last post (which itself was quickly written). I am currently typing this at the Yakuba, so I will update this post later with pictures.

First off, I'll mention this quick gaming news that blew my mind. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was announced!!! Click that link for the article and an epic trailer! This announcement helps fighting game fans like myself to envision the next two or so years of fighting games from Namco and Capcom. There's Marvel Versus Capcom 3, Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and Tekken X Street Fighter. MVC2 and TTT are two of my favorite fighting games of all time, so hearing that both of their sequels are being planned/developed makes me very happy. ^_^ Also, the TTT2 announcement was made at Tokyo Game Show (TGS), which was this past weekend. I would have LOVED to go, and it's so cheap, too (Just ￥1200 per day or ￥1000 in advance; that's about $14.14 and $11.78, respectively, at the current exchange rate)! But I wasn't able to go because of something else more important:


I was in Kyoto this past weekend with my girlfriend! :-D I wasn't able to see her for two months prior; it was so wonderful to spend time with her again. I took an overnight bus from Sendai to Kyoto; it was an 11.5 hour ride. Not very comfortable; or rather, the seats were comfy compared to American buses; it was roomy, and the seats reclined pretty far back. And there was decent leg room. But there was no bathroom on the bus! The nice thing about that is that there is no foul smell that sometimes plagues the rear of American buses. But the problem is that the driver has to pull over every 3 hours to give people a 15 minute potty/smoking/stretching break. This wouldn't be such a big deal if he didn't turn on the lights whenever he stopped. So yeah, suffice it to say, but I didn't have restful sleep that night, even though I attempted to sleep for the entire duration of the ride. Another plus is that I was able to be in Kyoto by 7 in the morning, and the price was way cheaper than the Shinkansen (approx $82 vs $236).

Kyoto is amazing. I can easily see why it would be the "most favorite city in the world" for many of my friends. I'll definitely be taking more trips there; and it may become the same thing for me. The areas I went to were mostly suburban in feeling, even though it was in the city. There were lots of famous temples there: I went to see Ryouanji Temple with the famous rock garden, and Kinkajuji Temple, the famous golden temple. Very beautiful places.


We had lots of adventures in Kyoto. On the first day, we went to Ryouanji. It's kinda funny; when my girlfriend and I got there, we ran into some other students living in the same dorm, and when we walked into the temple grounds, we were greeted by a group of Japanese college students who wanted to give foreigners tours of the temple. We obliged and had enjoyable conversations in English and Japanese. It was funny because the Japanese people were speaking English, and we Americans would respond in Japanese. After the tour, we left the grounds, and found a dessert shop where they served green tea/vanilla twist soft ice cream! It was sooooooooooo good. After that, we found a conveyor belt sushi restaurant (kaitenzushi). I'm guessing that the ice cream filled us up a bit, because we only managed to eat 11 (or so?) little plates of sushi, one soup, and two drinks. All for just ￥1700 (like $20)! After that, we checked out her campus. It's a really nice campus; very localized. No need to travel far between classes like on Pitt's campus. But the catch is that housing is a little far (only a little).


In the evening of the first night, we met up with an old friend of mine with whom I studied Japanese back at Pitt. It was nice to see him again and meet his girlfriend, who had surprisingly good English (she studied abroad in the US for a year). I was happy that I had the opportunity to check out downtown. Now, if you know me, you would know that I love going to cities and exploring stores, arcades, malls, and busy areas like that. When we got off the bus to downtown, the closest place was a 6-floor Namco arcade! Unfortunately, we didn't have any time to check it out, but I'll definitely hit it up next time. Instead, we walked around the izakaya area, with lots of bars and restaurants, looking for a place to dine. We ended up finding a place, that strangely enough, played Black Eyed Peas the whole time we were there. Maybe they thought we were BEP. We kinda looked it. Anyway, the place had tiny booths with cave-like aesthetics. But the food and drink was good, and the company was better, so I was happy. Later, we went to an area under a bridge and next to a river. The place was bustling with people: foreigners and Japanese people; lots and lots of couples. That's apparently where my friend and his girlfriend had met. It's cute 'cause along the riverbank, couples are sitting side-by-side, evenly spaced.


The next day, we grabbed some ramen for lunch. MMMMMMMMM SOOOOOOOOO GOOD! I can still remember how good it was. The place was called Ramen Kyoto Tengu. And for just ￥700, you can get a delicious bowl of ramen that looks like this:




Kinkakuji was gorgeous. Just look at the pictures! Unfortunately, it started to rain when we arrived, so I couldn't get any shots of the temple's reflection in the water, but it was beautiful nonetheless. After seeing the temple, my girlfriend and I enjoyed a tea ceremony with a sweet snack. I'm not sure what to call the building we had the ceremony at, but it was one room with tatami mats and something like a shrine at one end and a kitchen in the corner at the other end. Afterward, we did some bell ringing, candle-lighting, and other luck/fortune-cultivating activities. I bought various keychains and omiyage at the gift shop nearby. When we left, we were looking for green tea ice cream (actually matcha ice cream), but the temple's gift shops had already closed the ice cream section. :-( So we left and found some at a nearby touristy shop. :-)


It was a three-day-weekend, so I was able to stay for two nights. I left on Monday, so I had to take the Shinkansen back. The ride was interesting; in fact, the entire commute was interesting. We walked from the dorm to the nearest train station, which took us directly to Kyoto Station. There, I bought tickets from Kyoto to Sendai, which requires a transfer at Tokyo Station. But before I left, my girlfriend and I grabbed a quick lunch at a local cold-udon/cold-soba place. Not as good as the ramen the other day, but still pretty decent. What was neat was that we paid for it using a vending-machine-like thing. After lunch, we had a tearful goodbye. I reminded her (and had to remind myself) that I'll see her again in a few weeks. We also broke the unspoken rule of "no public affection in Japan." Well, if PDA is illegal here, then call me a criminal.


I then headed to the platform where I looked for the unreserved seats, in cars 1-3. Sweet, I found it; but dammit, it's full! So full that a whole bunch of people were standing for the entire duration of the trip to Tokyo. Including me. The ride itself was a little over two hours (two and a half maybe? Something like that). Actually, correction; I got to sit down for the last fifteen minutes or so, when some people left at the stop before Tokyo Station. I sat next to a lady who was kind enough to show me where I would go to make my transfer to the Tohoku-bound trains. The second leg of my trip was much nicer; I managed to get my own seat, and when the guy left at the first stop, I had an entire bench to myself! Good deal. A friend of mine was picking me up, and he asked me to continue past Sendai into the next town, which required another transfer. It wasn't a problem and only cost about $8.

One thing I noticed while I was in Kyoto and on the Shinkansen: girls in Japan sure love moccasins. I don't know what the deal is with that. But Japanese girls can seem to make even the ugliest outfits look cute.

Oh, and lastly, I finally bought a Nintendo DSi! My best friend has been telling me to get a DS for the past five years. Better late than never! Hahaha

Word of the day: 自由席　「じゆうせき」 "jiyuuseki," which means "unreserved seat."

Activities

Japan is interesting. I don't know if it's just small towns like this one, if larger cities are included, or if it's just this town in particular; but damn, do people love events! I've been living in Japan for about a month now, and already, I've attended two town-wide events with hundreds of attendees! The first was the Kappa Festival, which I mentioned in a blog entry last month. Today's even was the Field Day.

Yeah, Field Day. Remember Field Day? Way back in elementary school, when the school district would all come together to old a massive athletics event with relay races and whatnot? Well, this one is TOWN WIDE, with participants not limited to just students! In fact, some events are designed specifically for adults, and many events (all, maybe?) are separated by age group. At one point, I saw 6 groups of a dozen senior citizens all throwing colored rubber balls into a reed basket 15 feet in the air. Not an easy task. And seeing this made me realize something: how physical activity is such an important aspect of Japanese culture. It's not just "important;" rather, it's "normal." It's just a regular, everyday thing. There are many farmers in town; they're always outside working, laboring, on their land. In offices, there are morning exercises; people warm up in sync to elevator music. It's amazing, really.


Anyway, it was neat to see the whole town participating in competitive activities. Everyone was split up into neighborhoods. When I first arrived, the Field Day event was already half-way through (I overslept; oops). And of course, I ran into my students on the way there (I walked) and was greeted by more upon my arrival. I didn't know where to go at first, so I hung out at the judges tent, where I saw two guys from the Board of Education (my superiors). [Side note: one of the guys is known simply as "Kachou," which basically means "section chief."] I grabbed a grape Fanta (remember, it's called "juice" here) and a "caramel milk crepe" and ate it at the judges tent. After a while, I met a friend of my JET predecessor who is learning English. She talked to me about some sort of "English club" that was established in a neighboring city by my pred; I'll attend this week's meeting. :-) After that brief conversation, she had to leave, and I went off to join my neighborhood. Again, I ran into some students; but they actually live in my neighborhood! It was fun cheering with them (or for them, in some cases) and cheering with their families. The Field Day ended with a big relay race.

Everyone was leaving, so I decided to grab some food before the stands were closed; I managed to get a box of tako yaki (octopus balls) and some okonomiyaki wrapped around some chop sticks. Okonomiyaki is like...well, like a crepe, but with a bunch of things thrown into it while it's cooked; kind of like an omelette would be made. Anyway, I just hung out at home afterward, watching some Breaking Bad (good series, by the way; I recommend it). As I went outside to the vending machine to grab some oolong tea, some elementary (or nursery?) school students said hello to me. Then the kuchou (president of the neighborhood...or something)　showed up and told me that our neighborhood won! Yay!


So yeah, this weekend was both eventful (literally) and uneventful (figuratively) at the same time. Saturday was especially boring. Such that I learned the phrase to exclaim my boredom and text it to two friends. Unfortunately, both people I texted were busy. :-( Oh well, I spent the time watching Breaking Bad (actually started it yesterday) and cooking some awesome udon. I made the soup myself this time, too! Just some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and seasoned salt that I brought from the U.S. Seasoned salt makes everything taste better. Even victory.


Oh! I almost forgot to mention! I finally got my iPhone! Yay! I was thinking about making a "Cell phones in Japan Part 3," but I'm not really sure it's necessary. There isn't much more I can say about Japanese cell phones. Except that the majority of them use infrared to transmit the owner's account info (name, number, e-mail, picture) to someone else. It's so much more convenient than having to type it in! Unfortunately, iPhones don't have infrared; I'd have to buy a special dongle for that. But they do have bluetooth! And WiFi! Which means that I can download an app called "Bump" that'll let me "bump" my phone with another iPhone user (who also has the app) and exchange info that way. Yay apps.

Oh, another cool thing about Japanese phones is that they have a QR Code reader that can read these black and white square codes. These codes usually have websites, but I found an app that allows one to create a QR Code that contains phone info. Here is an example of a QR Code that happens to contain a link for this blog:



Cool, huh? So yeah, cell phones read those. I got an app to read them, as well. Lastly, I'll say that I finally worked out a little (weight lifting, calisthenics) in a loooooooooong time. It must have been all that exercise I saw today. And this epic video.



Phrase of the day: 退屈だな。 「たいくつだな。」　"Taikutsu da na." "I'm bored."

A gift for those of you who got to the end of this post:

Harold's Japan Picture Gallery

What'd he say?

Touhoku-ben. A very interesting dialect.　One of my Japanese Language professors told me that it's probably the most difficult hougen (dialect) in Japan. Having done some research, and talking to people here about it, it indeed is something unique. It's also pejoratively called "zuzu-ben" because many different sounds in standard Japanese are all pronounced "zu" in Touhoku-ben. In case you didn't know, Touhoku is the north eastern region of Japan (tou = east, hoku = north). Apparently, some of the different provinces here have slightly different hougen, so one might call the dialect here "Miyagi-ben," or "Shikama-ben," depending on how spread out the usage is of a particular hougen.

One afternoon (early evening) after work, I was hanging around after school, and upon seeing a stranger I said, "Konnichi wa," and he replied, "Oban desu." Oban desu? Did I mishear him? I heard "Oban desu" during the Obon festival, too; I thought they were saying "Obon desu." I went home and looked up "oban" on Jim Breen's WWWJDIC: Online Japanese Dictionary Service, and according to Jim Breen, "oban" means "old maid; frump; hag." So, was that guy calling me an old hag? Or was he saying, "Watch out for that old hag behind you!" to warn me that I might get attacked by a crazy old Japanese lady? No, of course not. He must have said something in a Miyagi/Touhoku dialect. Jim Breen's website is a pretty expansive resource filled with tons of words; but it must not have any hougen in it. So I thought about it for a bit..."Konban wa" is the usual saying for "good evening," which literally means "as for this evening." So I realized that his saying "oban desu" is something similar: the prefix "o" has the role of making the word polite or making it refer to "yours". So literally, he said "it is the night/evening."

At school the other day, someone was showing me how to get lunch ourselves, and he said "jubun." I knew what he meant..."jibun" means "oneself." And "jubun" means...well, nothing, in standard Japanese. But again, hougen rears its (not so ugly) head.

There are other　interesting words or phrases or conjugations that I've come across as well. These will be the words of the day:

1) The conjugation 「ーあいん」 "-ain" which is equivalent to the 「てください」　"te kudasai" conjugations, which are requests. For example, 食べてください "tabete kudasai" becomes 食べらいん. Basically, the final "u" sound of any verbal is dropped, and replaced with "-ain." Note that it is a very irregular conjugation; usually, "ru" verbals like 食べる　"taberu" or 寝る "neru" drop the final "ru" when conjugating. But in Touhoku-ben, you only drop the final "u". So, verbals like 飲む "nomu" or tsukuru 作る "tsukuru" become 飲まいん "nomain" and 作らいん "tsukurain," respectively.

2) んだよねぇ。 "ndayonee." Hahaha, yes, this dialect has words that start with ん　"n," which in standard Japanese, is only ever in the MIDDLE or at the END of a word. Anyday, "ndayone" means something like そうですねぇ　"sou desu nee," which itself is difficult to translate. Basically, an English equivalent could be "Yeah, it's like that, isn't it."

3) はらくっつい。 "Hara kuttsui." This means the same thing as おなかがいっぱい "onaka ga ippai," or "I'm full." I learned this last night, actually, when I went out with some friends to grab some "Tantanmen," which is a Chinese noodle dish. We were stuffed, so I said "ippai" and another guy responded with an energetic "hara kuttsui!" Good times. :-)

Fun side note--after dinner, we stopped by a convenient store ("combini") and grabbed some halo-halo, a Filipino dessert. It wasn't real halo-halo, but it came pretty close. I was happy to see some Filipino influence here, even if it was just that small thing. ^_^