Quick Update

I finally published an old post that I started ages ago. There are actually MANY posts that I started, but didn't finish. I will be finishing them up like this, and updating this specific post accordingly, posting links as the posts get finished. Enjoy!

Month of Goodness (February)

I'm alive and well.

As I'm sure all of you heard by now, Japan has been dealing with many issues as of late: a nuclear reactor that can't seem to stabilize, a tsunami that wiped out towns on the east coast, and the largest earthquake in Japanese history, which started all of the problems. All that aside, I'm actually doing quite well.

As I write this, I am in a hostel in Kyoto, on the early morning of April Fool's Day, after having just gotten back from Osaka. At the moment I am on special leave from work, as things are getting back to normal in my town. My supervisor told me today that utilities and food supplies are all back to normal, but gasoline stations still have many long lines. He expects that even that will be normal by next week, when I'm scheduled to return.

I have many unpublished posts which I've started over the past couple months but haven't yet finished. I really must publish my post regarding my "adventures" in March, as it has certainly been the most dramatic, filled with fear, grief, sadness, relief, and even joy. So as I publish posts over the next few weeks, I'll make sure to include a link to the post, as it'll have a date in the past because of when I started the post. But anyway, for now it's time to sleep.

Goodnight.

Word of the day: 安心 「あんしん」 "anshin" which means "relief."

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."

Words of Wisdom

I learned a very interesting new phrase. 吾唯足知。「われただたるをしる。」 "Ware tada taru (wo) shiru." Its meaning is very similar to the phrase, "Be happy with what you have." (Literally, it says, "I know just enough.") Another way to put it is, "What I have is all I need." The most interesting thing about this phrase is that it can be written with just one 口 in the middle of the four other radicals, so that it looks something like this, found at Ryoanji (Temple), in Kyoto.



I had Karate practice last night. My body is so sore! Anyway, this time,　there were more students, so we actually had a more formal class. Interestingly enough, the other students were in 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades, and all at least Brown Belts. Hah! Wonderful. :-) At the end of class, we recited the Dojo-Kun, which is basically the school's motto or rules. Well, it's actually more like a "code of honor." There are five things, and each is numbered "1." because each is just as important as the other.


訓
一。　人格感性に努むること。
一。　誠の道を守ること。
一。　努力の精神を養うこと。
一。　礼儀を重んずること。
一。　血気の勇を戒むること。

Next time, I will explain them all. :-) But for now, I must take care of quite a few things, as tomorrow is the mid-year conference, a friend from the US is visiting this Thursday, I have to submit my test on (by?) Thursday, and I also have to submit my contract renewal yes/no sheet. So much to do, so little time!

Phrase of the day: 吾唯足知。

First Karate Practice

I just got back from my first Karate practice here in Japan. And after over a decade of training in so many different styles, I couldn't help but think of a line from that mediocre movie starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, The Forbidden Kingdom: "How can you fill your cup, if it's already full? Empty your cup." [Note: according to my friend Clint, who studies Kung Fu and Chinese Culture/History, the saying is actually quite old, so I need not worry. :-) Thanks, buddy!]

In that scene, the protagonist, whom I shall refer to as "Idiot," was discussing Kung Fu with Jackie. But every time Jackie would mention something, Idiot would say, "Oh yeah, yeah! I know that!" and proceed to annoy Jackie. Jackie told Idiot to fill his cup, which was clearly full. Idiot said, "I can't." To which Jackie replied with the above quote.

In order for Idiot to properly learn from Jackie and Jet, he must forget everything he thought he knew. I felt a little bit like Idiot during the practice. After years of practicing a martial art in a certain stance, it's difficult to train in a stance that is only similar to that stance, but not the same. To learn the nuances of a new style, one must (I must) unlearn habits acquired from previous training. Many martial artists would agree that it's actually more difficult learning a brand new style of martial art after building years of experience versus someone starting a martial art for the first time with no prior experience.

To break it down, what happened tonight was that my years of experience practicing American Kenpo Karate made it difficult for me to properly perform the Japanese Karate Kyokai Shotokan versions of techniques. I kept reverting back to the Kenpo style that has been ingrained into my body's muscle memory. It happened when I was practicing basic punches and kicks in basic stances, and it even occurred when I performed kata. At my home dojo in the US, my master adjusted the traditional Japanese kata to better fit the form of our style, and it works very well for its purpose. But it makes it difficult to learn the original versions. The good thing, though, is that it provides a good foundation, as I already know the basic movements; I must merely learn the differences between the details. But that might end up being harder anyway, haha.

In case you were curious, let me mention some of the differences that I experienced tonight. The forward stance. In Kenpo, it's more shallow. But in Shotokan, not only is it deeper; it changes depending on whether you're blocking or striking. At least, for the downward block and reverse punch. Whereas, in Kenpo, you merely have to change your arm placement and maintain the same stance. For things like middle inward block or rising block, as well, there were slight differences in the trajectory of the hands and movement of the arms. Slight, but enough to be incorrect.

So anyway, it was still a good time. I enjoyed it. I forgot to mention that another thing that made practice difficult was the language barrier. I simply never had the opportunity to learn any specific martial arts jargon in class, nor any words that would be used in the description of techniques. I'll describe more about Karate in a later post and about the history of this style versus the "other" Shotokan style. And I'm not talking about the one featured in Street Fighter.

Word of the Day: 空手道　「からてどう」　"karatedou", or "The way of the empty hand."

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!"

Word of the Year

I learned today, at Dictionary.com that the "Word of the Year" for 2010 was "epic."

What an utter disappointment. Well, at least it wasn't a surprise. I've heard this word used so often this past year or two that it's even become a part of my normal lexicon. It's annoying when words aren't used properly, but even I'm guilty of such crimes ("awesome"). But to hear that "epic" is the new "awesome" is...I don't know...a tad bit annoying. Perhaps because it's used primarily by the younger generation; like they're trying too hard to be cool or something. Anyway, I try to look at it the same way I look at Time Magazine's Person of the Year: the winner was chosen as a result of a combination of things, from popularity (person), usage (word), or otherwise something of a representation of a major event or occurrence that year. In Mark Zuckerberg's case, he was simply the biggest douche of 2010. Well, more like 2004. "Epic" was something like that. Just not nearly as bad.

On a related note, the kanji 暑 was chosen as the "Kanji of the Year" for 2010 here in Japan. It means "hot/heat," and describes the ridic heat in 2010. I personally would have chosen 高, as it means "high/tall," and can be used to describe both the weather and the high value of the Yen.

Kanji of the day: 帰 from 帰る　「かえる」 "kaeru," which means "to return (home)." 'Cause that's what I'm about to do! Peace out!