What's on your feet?

I had to attend an incredibly boring class on morality today. One of the teachers at my school had to give a lesson in front of the rest of the teachers while being critically judged on every diminutive aspect of the lesson. Anyhow, the lesson was in Japanese therefore I did not understand anything besides unimportant words like today and "and" and thus my attention was wont to wonder. I was busy checking out every one's shoes until I saw my Principal's. All my teachers wear runners no matter if they are wearing a suit, a dress or a track suit so I am accustom to that fashion but my principal was wearing CONVERSE SKATER runners. I had to prevent myself from laughing in the middle of this poor teachers lessons. Oh for those of you not versed in Canadiana... runners = sneakers /running shoes. There really is no age specific dress here until the age of 50.

Yay for one day of internet!

Today is Saturday and I am working, sort of. Because I am working (it is my school's 40th anniversary), I had Wednesday off and Thursday was a National holiday. I finally had people come out on Wednesday to fix my internet. I was skeptical because I had a couple people try to hook it up and it was always a no go and I figured it was the modem thing that was the problem. Weird things were happening that day with my phone line, my parents had called me and then half an hour later I was unable to call out. I thought this would impede them further but they had it running in a short amount of time. I had been paying for the damn service so I was relieved. That afternoon I went away for another thanksgiving (my third one this year). It was an enjoyable affair with an amazing drive along the sea coast of Japan. I learned to play crib so dad and Bruce watch out! Anyhow, I come back tried out my phone which happily worked then went on to my internet and NOTHING. Now the techies charged much more than I was told they would and it only ended up working for half a day. It is turning out to be more hassle than it is worth, grrrrr.

Forever Fall

I have never experienced such a long fall with such vibrant colours. Back home we have a week of coloured leaves and then they are snapped off by frost. The leaves have been in the process of changing for almost a month and the time simply allows the hues to deepen and diversify. The mountains as opposed to the flat prairie of SK gives an incomparable view. The pictures can never compare however. This is my school with colourful hills in the background.

This is the spine I was writing about earlier. The gigantic sunblock.

Snow is visible on the mountains in the distance. My area usually does not get snow until January, however.

Random pictures

I forgot to include a picture or description of my lovely car as of yet. I quite enjoy my car but those sitting in the passenger seat (especially if they are tall) have a hard time of it. My passenger seat is fully equipped for a handicapped person so it swivels and moves completely out of the door. Because it is able to complete these operations, it does not adjust as a normal seat would and allows for little leg room. No I have not taken to driving around handicapped people because of it, this is just Iwan testing it out. There is a jagged mountain ridge in front of my school that the locals have named after a cartoon character because apparently it looks like this character lying down in profile. We don't see the sun after 4:15 because of this ridge. This is a picture of the ridge at around 5:00.

I don't believe I have spoken on the squat toilet yet. Traditionally the squat toilet was the toilet of choice (well maybe not choice because it was simply all there was)in Japan. A normal toilet is called a western toilet. Most places these days you can find western toilets but my area is quite country so squat toilets are the norm. My school luckily has one western toilet but most businesses in my town only have squat toilets. Apparently many Japanese people feel that sitting on a western toilet is disgusting and I have heard of Japanese people who actually climb on the toilet seat and squat on a western toilet. At any rate male anatomy would certainly make using these toilets a lot easier!

We went to the beach in August for Iwan's birthday. It the first time I have ever swam in salt water and I was surprised at the warmth of it. It was almost too warm when you are looking for relief from the sweltering weather. It was not enjoyable tasting the saltiness of the water, either. There was not a single shell on the beach but we did find live starfish in the water.

View of the Shinano river(which is the longest river in Japan)and my finger, in Niigata city.

There is an area in Tokyo called Harajuku where people gather on Sundays and dress in outrageous clothing. We found this Harajuku boy in Shibata at the festival. I have never seen a male prettier than his girlfriend but he takes the cake. Linds and Emma couldn't help but get a pic with him.

Emi-chan is my Japanese tutor's daughter. She is incredibly cute but definitely a handful. James calls her Tabe-chan because taberu means to eat and this child will eat anything.

A group shot from Tokomachi rehearsal. This is Joel's typical pose...I think he is going for Greek God? Tomo is drunk and Kaede is just cute.

PS: We caught the mouse after using many different types of traps. No hamster as of yet.

The Great Challengie

A bit of background information is required to effectively tell this story. I work in one school that houses an elementary school and a junior high. Though they are in the same building they are completely separate and I have two desks in two teachers rooms. I tend to get along with my junior high teachers better because they are younger and they are not as busy as the elementary teachers and thus have time to answer my inane questions. The junior high teachers and the elementary teacher have a bit of a rivalry going on but I am not sure the background for this. Anyhow, I was at my elementary school desk and I decided I was quite famished so I opened my drawer to get omiyage. Time out for Omiyage...

Omiyage is a gift given to co-workers after going on a business trip or vacation. It seems they only give omiyage if they go out of the prefecture (province) and it tends to be food. This can range from unappetizing crackers coated in soya sauce to yummy cakes and cookies. Apparently, this is done to keep the harmony of the office environment by showing that the vacationing worker was thinking of the people back home while they were toiling away in their offices. Anyhow, we receive omiyage quite frequently and I keep it in my desk drawers for those times when I can't make it to lunch without my stomach loudly protesting.

... So I went into my drawer to eat a yummy looking apple pie and I noticed the wrapper was shredded. I was a bit disappointed figuring it would be stale so I went into a different drawer to get the Japanese equivalent of an Oreo. One of my team teachers gave me a box of them and the three that were left clearly had little teeth bites out of them all. Now I am not, nor have ever been afraid of mice but for one I do not want them popping out of my desk, two the damn things are eating my cache of sweets and three Canadian mice carry diseases so I figured Japanese mice might as well and thus was not pleased. I thought to get help in exterminating this problem. I showed the clerk and she said oh and laughed. I then asked "do you kill mice?" to which she replied "No, it is okay" in a very limited English exchange. I was not happy with this answer so I went up to the junior high teachers room evidence in hand and asked one of the teachers I really like if it was really okay and is it common in Japan to let mice run amok in peoples' desks. She was shocked and proceeded to tell the vice-principal about the situation. It was very amusing because they considered catching my mouse a challenge (they say this word in Japan but pronounce it challengie) and produced the oldest looking trap I have ever seen. It is a rusty cage with a piece of metal wire dangling inside that a five year old child could build. You affix food to one end of the wire and the other holds up the door. I was skeptical of the effectiveness of this trap but decided to give it a go.

So we set the trap and as soon as I got to school this morning my junior high teachers asked me to go check the trap in the elementary office (because they don't willingly go there themselves unless necessary). The porky little mouse ate all the food and escaped unscathed. My kyoto-sensei (vice-principal) reworked the trap and is positive it will get him next time. I just found out however, that the third grade hamster is on the loose, so perhaps it is not a mouse I will be catching. He surmises this is the reason the elementary teachers did not want to catch it because the kids might be upset if it was harmed in the process. He clearly stated, however, that he did not care so gambatte (go for it)! Updates forthcoming!

Musical a la Murikami

We had a thanksgiving in Murikami this past weekend with the musical and I was salivating over the thought of turkey all week long. The weather was miserable so it was nice to cozy up in a heated room after a long day of work. Melissa is quite the little cook and even brought her own apron along with her. We were concerned that the meal was going to lack in potatoes and vegetables because we could not get the gas to turn on and thus no burners. After half an hour the man working at the facility finally figured out how to operate the ovens and we were in business. The meal was fairly good (thought the turkey kind of tasted of fish) but by the time everyone finished preparing their dishes we had less than 30 minutes to eat. I have never felt so full in my life. Not only have I been deprived of this food for 3 months but I had only thirty minutes to eat it. It was the typical after thanksgiving feeling x 5. Kristen snapped a picture of me lying on the floor because honestly it was painful to sit upright.

She also took pictures of our bloated and distended stomachs but I'll leave that to your imagination. Next we were off to karaoke, some intelligent person (our director) decided we should walk there in typhoon like conditions so we arrive in a soggy and somewhat irritable state. We received an amazing deal, however, where we could sing karaoke and drink all we want for approximately $33.00 Canadian. It was a karaoke marathon of 7 and a half hours. We stumbled out at around 5:00 in the morning to grab 5 hours of sleep.

The guys singing "You've lost that lovin feeling" by the Righteous Brothers.

Not quite sure what dance Ashley and Seth are performing here.

Girls rocking it out to "I would do anything for love" by Meatloaf.

Kiku Festival

On our free Friday afternoon Kristen, Melissa and I went to a Chrysanthemum festival in a town in the mountains with a lady Kristen knows and her adorable daughter. Chrysanthemum is Kiku in Japanese which just happens to be Kristen's middle name because the flower blooms in November, when the world was graced with her presence! Enough posturing, I'm not really a flower person..well maybe orchids and some lilies but other than that they are not my thing. I was not attending the festival to observe the rare and beautiful award winning kiku. In fact I did not remember what the festival was for until we got there. So, I was lucky that the temple complex, where the festival was held, was absolutely beautiful. It is the largest temple I have been to thus far and the architecture was very impressive . The brilliantly coloured leaves on the trees and the ground and the dreary day added a mystic quality to the setting.

Torii gates are typical of shrines in Japan and mark the transition from the sacred to the profane. Most of the small shrines in my town have relatively small torii gates and they are generally a drab colour. While driving along the highway to get to the festival we drove under a massive torii gate. This one is much small than the mammoth gate but still much more intricate and imposing than what I have seen so far.

Small temple near the entrance.

Melissa doing what Melissa does best, besides drink. She is an amazing photographer but I am always afraid of losing her because she takes so many pictures. Luckily she only brought three cameras to this festival!

Gate to the inner temple.

Kristen and Saya, a very cute and precocious child who was hyped up on cotton candy.

I figured I should get one picture of the flowers and this plant was pretty extraordinary.

A girl in traditional hakama pants.

Sunday around town

My town has approximately 18000 people but it is an amalgamation of 4 towns and has an area of 952 km2. My small town in the town is called Mikawa (which is further divided into smaller sections but I have no idea what their names are) and has a pop of 4000 and an area of 250 km2. On Sunday I decided to explore the back country a bit more since thus far I have only covered a small area on my granny bike and it was along the main highway. The area is so incredibly beautiful with mountains, rivers, and shrines dotted here and there. The further I traveled from the main highway the more rustic the areas became, though often they all still had new vehicles parked in front of their shacks. I happened upon one hamlet like area where all the farmers were sitting in front of their houses on mats and cleaning their vegetables. It was very interesting and I received many a stare from this lot.

I found a dam I didn't realize existed because we by pass that view by driving through a tunnel in the mountain. It is actually mesmerizing watching the intensely constricted power of the water surge through this small fissure. In much of Japan nature is contained and it is somewhat sad. Riverbank are concrete, waterfalls are manufactured even the roads between the rice fields are paved. It causes me to lament on how difficult it will be to find an untouched, unaltered piece of earth in the future. Although, there is still much beauty to be found. This is a picture from this crazy mountain road I found. It clung to the side with barely a guard rail to prevent a long plunge but the view was spectacular. It continued going although nothing was along it and I do not believe anything was at the end. I did not follow it through however because places to turn were becoming few and far between.

I found this surprisingly long stair case in a very small hamlet. I believe there were bear droppings on the stairs so I was a little scared but there an old man cleaning vegetables at the bottom so I figured he could protect me!

This is the shrine that lives at the top of the staircase. All areas have their own shrines but this one is fairly large for such a small area. It was a very peaceful and picturesque spot if a bit shabby. When praying at a shrine you wash out your mouth and your hands, if a fountain is available, and then you throw money in a wooden box, if this is available, you then ring a bell that is at the top of a rope and clap your hands two times. After this you can make a wish to the God of the shrine and then bow when you leave. Well the bell at this shrine was ripped in half and needless to say did not work. I am not sure if the God is a malignant one or if the bears perhaps had a bit too much fun.

Bamboo forest along the stair to the shrine. It is the first one I have seen in Japan though bamboo is used quite often and is prevalent in every day life.

Aquarium

Saturday went to the aquarium with Melissa and Kristen. It was pretty small but still interesting. Melissa was pretty excited because she had never seen a dolphin show before. Dolphin shows in Japan are identical to those in North America so it wasn't anything new to me and the show was pretty small scale, but her excitement was contagious. It was nice to get out of Aga-machi and see some sites in the city.

Kristen snapped this awesome pic. I have eaten more octopus and squid here than I ever thought to in my life.

Anticipating the dolphin show.The sea lions were pretty cute, these two were fighting over their little island.After we went for a walk along the beach and watched a gorgeous sunset over the sea of Japan.

Kristen strolling in the white sands.Romantic sunset!


Slowly fading....
...

almost gone

Horse meat...

Went to an izakaya in Tsugawa on Friday night with a group of people from our town and Gosen. The drinks were good and the food was excellent...until they decided to order raw horse meat. I don't gross out easily and I know I would be fine eating it; it is simply the principal of the matter. I don't want to contribute to horses being raised for slaughter (not sure if they are but just in case). The rest seemed to find it delicious. I like my meat well done so even if it wasn't a poor horsey chopped up I don't think I would have liked it, though I have had raw fish and it is alright. A couple of the Japanese girls attempted to teach me this children's song about a creature called Tanuki. Tanuki is a popular figure here and quite a prevalent image at restaurants. He is a squirrel like creature with overly large testicles.

The song is a children's song about Tanuki's testicle swinging or something similar to that. This is a childrens song! What would be incredibly taboo back home is everyday here. For instance the kancho. Kancho is when a person joins their hands together with index fingers pointed and attempts to stick them up another persons bum. The nursery school children have no compunction attempting this over and over again upon my own and at one point I was standing, stranded, with my hand covering my bum amidst a sea of little kanchoers. Anyhow, I attempted to learn the song but it was too much for my limited Japanese.

Minori and I. Minori is a beautiful girl but her face gets incredibly red when she drinks.

Holiday Monday!

Monday was a holiday in lieu of the Saturday I had to work. Jimmy and I decided to go on a longer hike and the leaves are just beginning to change so we were hoping the view would be nice. It rained the day before so it was quite a muddy slog going up. Coming down I landed on my bum many of the time and fell into splits a couple as well. James' junior high does the climb every year and it is amazing because it is fairly dangerous. Back home parents would have to sign a mile of paper to allow their kids to go. My elementary school did a shorter climb but it had steeper sections and kids could have been seriously injured. We started the climb around 9:30 and finished at 3 something I think. At the top it is 1300 metre high. It was good to get exercise though I felt it the next day. We stopped at an onsen after to relax our weary muscles. This is the scene for my most embarrassing moment in Japan thus far. I have explained previously that in onsens one bathes in the nude. Well, they generally have an inside and outside pool. The outside is more picturesque often consisting of rocks and plants etc and so it was on my way to this outside oasis that I slid down the stairs feet in the air in all my naked glory! I was on display to all those inside because the windows beside the stairs were floor to ceiling and I received a fairly deep gash on my elbow. Nothing hurts the pride more than making a fool of yourself in the buff.

The water from these falls was delicious! There was a bigger waterfall but I was too exhausted at that point to take my camera out.

It doesn't look like it but that is the path straight behind James.

At the bottom the leaves were still on the trees and gradually there were less and less until we reaches these trees.

It is pretty desolate at the top.

Picture of the river with all the trees changing colour. Never looks as good, though!