school trip!

Went to Aizuwakamatsu on Tuesday with my eighth grade. Aizuwakamatsu is on all the road signs because it is the next big city going east from Agamachi. When I first came to Japan I found this name extremely long and completely unpronounceable typically calling Aizu blah blah blah but now with the vast amounts of Japanese I have acquire I can pronounce it loud and proud! Anyhow, finally went to the mysterious city beyond my town and was a little disappointed. The train station was pretty small and unassuming but I had great hopes for the castle. Tsurugajo (Crane castle) is the first Japanese castle I have had the chance to view and ... it was small. Pretty much the whole castle is a rebuild because the Meiji emperors tore it down and the inside is a museum. It is a pretty castle but I appreciate the real thing. Most Japanese castles were built out of wood and thus not as long lasting as their European counterparts.

The unfortunate fate of the Byakkotai of Aizuwakumatsu is extremely interesting, though. The Byakkotai (White Tiger corps.) were a group of young samurai between the ages of 14 and 17. A group of twenty Byakkotai were on a nearby mountain preparing for battle during the Boshin war 1868-1869 when they saw smoke billowing from Tsurugajo castle. Thinking that their castle had been taken and their daimyo (leader) killed; they all committed seppuku (ritual suicide). What makes the tale even more tragic though is that the castle's defenses had not been breached; the smoke was but a fire in the courtyard.

My English teacher and school nurse by what is probably the oldest part of the building.

In the castle they had a kimono people could try on. Apparently this type of kimono would be worn by the daughter of the daimyo. When I put the kimono on this cute little old lady took it upon herself to make sure I was presenting the kimono in the appropriate manner and adjusted, tucked and folded it until it met with her approval. I don't think she realized I understood when she told her friend that I was too tall.

We also went to a samurai residence as well and I found this the most interesting part of the trip though the students all said it was boring. I was surprised at the lack of obvious wealth. The rooms were mainly tatami floors with sliding doors. To decorate they would add a colourful folding screen or a few choice pieces of furniture. It was the location of another tragic event in Aizu history. The head of the house and all the samurai had left for battle during the Boshin war and the women of the house had heard news that they may have been captured so they all committed suicide before the enemy could capture them. One woman was unable to kill herself, due to fear I think, but fortuitously a man entered the house. She asked if him if he was a retainer of her lord. He said he was and he helped her complete her task. The man had lied however and was a scout for the enemy. The Japanese commend this man for his great mercy.

BBQ

Errol's buddy had a BBQ a few weeks ago and a bunch of went before Peter's going away party. The weather was horrible and we often huddled around the BBQ to stay warm but the food was pretty good and good ol' rye helped keep the body warm, as well. Regi and I were goofing around on the play equipment which was quite elaborate for Japan since my school only has monkey bars. The castle has slides coming out of it and a star of David?

No one here has propane BBQs they are all charcoal.

We all squeezed into the back of Aki's vehicle to get to and from the beach. Another model pose for Evan.

rice planting season

They have flooded the fields and planted the rice and are now praying for it to grow. The fields surprisingly come in all shapes and sizes. Some are fairly large (nothing like a wheat field) but some are as small as 10 x 10 feet. Generally they are square but I have seen some wacky shaped fields because they attempt to squeeze them in anywhere, on the edge of cliffs, in between houses, yes you even will see rice fields in the middle of cities. The field is built up around the edge to contain the water once it is flooded but it also contains masses of frogs! They are quite loud as of now but it is a somewhat peaceful song. I scrunched far to many of the poor little guys under the tire of my car though. The fields are very beautiful once flooded reflecting the sky and the mountains as you drive by. This, however, is not a very beautiful picture.

Some people still plant their fields by hand using a basket full of seedling on their shoulder. Many old women are permanently stooped at a 90 degree angle; I am assuming due to planting and gardening. I should mention they also cover themselves from head to toe in various clothing meant to keep their skin white in avoidance of the sun.

Many people around these parts though use a tractor like machine to do the planting for them. They simply load the seedlings in the back and it somehow plants them into the ground. They also have mini-combines for harvesting in the fall. I was a bit disappointed because I was unable to plant rice with my elementary school but perhaps next year.

dokoka gorge park

A few weekends ago James and I went for a hike on a trail somewhat hidden deep in Mikawa mountains. The weather was quite nice but the bugs were terrible. They did not bite just hovered around incessantly to drive us insane so much so that I didn't even stop to eat. It was a gorgeous climb though with multitudes of blooming flowers and verdant greenery that carried the smell of freshness. We couldn't make it to the top however because there was still snow and it became slightly dangerous and to be honest we were tired anyway. I have been lax in any sort of exercising of late and there were points where I was sure my lungs were going to burst and I was not alone. When we where on our way down though we realized just how steep much of the trail was and felt somewhat vindicated.

It does not look as steep as it is.

shizeno aishiteru

I am in constant awe of the beauty that surrounds my little town. I just finished reading a fictional biography on the author of The Tale of Gengi and it often discussed the colour pairing of layers of kimono and named them using nature as an example. I can easily imagine the people of the time discussing the mountains as layers of coloured kimonos. When I arrived in the summer everything was drenched with green a wet, dark, verdant green. Fall came around and the mountains were brilliant hues of red, yellow, orange and brown. Once the leaves had fallen stark rock faces and crags were visible that had previously held masses of vines and the bones of the mountains were revealed. Then the snow coated everything in pristine masses of white which held a stark but dangerous beauty but now I think they are at their most beautiful. It seemed the mountains awakened with spots of cherry blossoms here and there, and next came the leaves which when young have a light green hue that stands in contrast with the dark of the pines. I have never seen so many wild flowers in my life. They are everywhere and varied. I had also never seen a magnolia tree and in bloom they are quite magnificent. The prairies are certainly beautiful in their own way but the mountains thrust their beauty at the sky and display it proudly.

health check

Japan has nationalized health care and I am typically for it but I think the system has gone wrong here. If you recall earlier I had a friend in the hospital late last year and I found the conditionals pretty appalling for a developed country, ie peeling walls, 70 year old beds small room and dirty halls. Well, today I went for a required health check up and my opinions were further reinforced. All the people in the town (so I am assuming all Japan) are required to go to a health check every year that consists of lung x-ray, urine and blood test, BMI measurement, eyes, ears, and heart.

To begin with LUNG X-RAY...the only time I have every had one before was to get accepted to this program. I would think that a technologically developed country like this wouldn't force their citizens to undergo a redundant test that can cause cancer. My doctor back home said he had to fudge a reason for the test because they only give them when necessary.

Next was the urine test. A urine test no big deal you pee in a cup, seal the lid and put it in a little door for the nice lab technicians to examine. It goes a little different here, you are given a paper coffee cup that has lines on it where to pee to, proceed to the bathroom and do your business, gingerly carry out the cup (it has no lid) into a waiting room full of people and stand in line with others who are holding their own cups of pee. Now you can take the time to examine each other's pee before you set it down on the table that is covered with numerous cups of pee. The technician then puts a stick in a cup of pee and analyzes it on a machine (in the waiting room) and he wasn't even wearing gloves. If someone bumps the table of cups of pee, well then, since there are no lids, there is pee all over the floor. I absolutely couldn't believe.

Later I was hooked up to some machine that looked like it might provide electric shock treatment and had my blood taken on a unsanitized table from a lady who wasn't wearing gloves.
Perhaps signs that nationalized health is not a good idea.

mikawa sites

I was awoken very early by sunlight glaring through my curtain and decided to go for a bit of a walk on a beautiful day. I took some pics of shrines and the likes.

Niigata is semi famous for a steam train that runs frequently between Niigata and Aizuwakumatsu. Whenever the train is scheduled I have old men (with their large cameras) camped outside my apartment waiting to take a picture of this stupid train. What is even more ridiculous is that people come from as far away as Tokyo to see the train for 5 seconds and get a couple of pictures. This train runs quite frequently but I never fail to see wanna be photographers. While I was walking the train came by and so here is my piece of art!

Niigata is also famous for Tulips, as the Tulip capital of Japan. There are large tulip farms across the prefecture and a festival to honour these flowers. This flower is seen everywhere, yards, schools, businesses and shrines. This is a picture near a shrine.

new single

Today I heard Avril Lavigne's new single for the first time during my school's lunch radio program. It was quite an odd experience. They always play songs and sometime they are in English but I didn't know this one so I asked my student. The reply I received was Abril Labine wa sugoi kakkoi. Means Avril Lavigne is super cool. So I am being exposed to new Canadian culture through my Japanese school? I have to say she sounds like she reverted to 16 again but my students seemed to like it singing out the word girlfriend because it is the only one they know. Strange things happen every day!

Nihonshu

In Japan sake actually refers to all alcoholic beverages, the proper term for sake is nihonshu. I have had sake on occasionally and generally enjoy it, though it seems to be the drink of choice for old men. It can be served cold or warm but I prefer it warm. Apparently the practice of warming sake began during world war two when quality ingredients were scarce because the warming process tends to mask harsh tastes. In Tsugawa there are two very famous sake breweries Kirin and Kirinzan. These sakes are famous throughout Japan and we had the opportunity to tour the Kirinzan factory the day of the festival.

Kirinzan sake.

The building is very small and unremarkable, I regularly drive by it and would never had known it was a sake brewery. The tour was in Japanese though I had my trusty interpreters (Minori and Aiko) who kept calling carbohydrates hydro carbons. It was a pretty boring tour because it was quite in depth into the science of the fermentation. The building was not that impressive inside and it is difficult to imagine how this small factory makes so much sake.
In the room pictures below they spread the rice on the table, kneed in sake bacteria and allow it to ferment.


Each tank holds sake that during this stage of fermentation is constantly bubbling and releasing some kind of gases. Apparently if you fell in the tank you would die from lack of oxygen due to these gases.

The unassuming entrance to the sake factory. Above our heads is a green straw ball that indicates new sake. If you are in need of a liquor shop in Japan look for a brown straw ball hanging above a door.

Kitsune no yomeiri

The foxy festival! Since it is a fox festival the townspeople go all out and assume fox form. On the day of the festival you can go into 711, the post office or even the police station and see men and women painted up like foxes. All festival workers, all performers and many participants have their faces painted. My supervisor (who is a town employee) spent the day (which was a holiday) painting town workers faces. I decided to join the throng and made Minori and Aiko come along. Apparently there are those who are really good at painting faces and those who are really bad. Mine was good and Minori's was bad according to the gals, I didn't see much difference. There were only a few foreigners at the festival and a multitude of old Japanese men with cameras so I was often swarmed with gigantic lens in my face. I have never seen so many people with fabulously huge cameras as in Japan. I was even asked to speak English for a video. It is somewhat annoying and it makes me wonder where these pictures will end up. I guess that is what I get for being the blue-eyed fox.

Minori, Aiko and I with James' stupid love bone. Honestly the blow up bone says love on it. He got it from a junior high school girl!

There were many booths with amazing food (very very good beef) and performances throughout the day before the procession. This is a yosakoi group from Mikawa. A couple of my students' parents are members of the group and asked me to join at the enkai last Friday. I enjoy dance and am in for learning aspects of Japanese tradition so I was excited about the invite...before I saw them dance. It was an odd mixture between yosakoi and hip hop. It look very difficult and extremely ridiculous. It was not in time with the music, very random and just not my thing. Aiko informed me that yosakoi was started by the yakuza very recently and is not a type of traditional Japanese dance anyhow.

My students that are in the yosakoi group.


A group of foxes. Tomoko (Iwan's gf), me, Minori, Aiko and Evan.

Scott got into the spirit it being his last year and all.

The Mikawa taiko group also played at the festival and once again I found my taiko group is much better. When we began taiko the members had informed us that the Mikagura taiko group is very good and has played some really big festivals. I was very skeptical (as I tend to be at these claims) but the more I see taiko the more I believe it. We have a couple events in June and July so perhaps we will see other groups!

Procession

The wedding procession was much more beautiful than I expected. Especially after the bunsui courtesan parade. The myth behind the procession begins on Kirinzan (the mountain I had climbed earlier). Throughout the mountain's history local people have claimed to have seen mysterious lights floating along the ridge. As you have seen, the ridge is pretty treacherous and impassable to humans at night and so the story evolved that is was a fox wedding procession. The lights may actually have been a natural phenomenon when phosphorus ignites in contact with oxygen which is actually called fox fire and thus the fox bride procession.

The procession begins as the sun starts to set near the shrine in Tsugawa. The fox bride travels a short way to her groom's house with 108 attendants (this short distance actually takes an hour for them to walk). They walk to eerily beautiful music with a slight chasse step and occasionally stop to strike a fox like pose while pawing at the air.

The bride and many attendants retire in the house while little children in long white underwear and puffed up fox tails scamper around in little foxy dances. After the dances the procession resumes and makes its way down to the river which takes another hour and a half.

The wedding is held on the bank of the river with the mountain as a majestic backdrop. The priest says some words in Japanese they drink some sake and are fictionally married to the beats of taiko drums. They then embark in a boat to the other bank of the river and shortly after lights appearing leading up the mountain and along the ridge, the finale of the fox bride procession. It was beautiful.

hmmmm

Well I haven't been posting because I really haven't been doing anything interesting or exciting. Many of the foreigners are traveling for golden week to exciting and exotic places while I hole it up in the country. I was in another car accident last week that was actually my fault and so goes money down the drain. Another reason I'm stickin in the sticks is the amazing Fox Bride Festival which will happen on Thursday. I really don't know if it is that amazing but it is the only interesting thing my town has going for it and I want to be a front row observer. So I have a few pics from another rock climbing adventure and some more cherry blossoms! I hear you screaming YEAH!

These pictures are from a short cut route we often use to get to the city because you can drive faster than 50 km (no cops) and there are no traffic lights! This little stream is usually pretty unremarkable almost on the ugly side until...the cherry trees bloom along the concrete waterway. I was actually really glad I had a chance to see this because on the whole my first cherry blossom season had been disappointing. Here's to hidden gems!

Went on a hike with Evan and Misael where hijinks prevailed.

Not sure if he is constipated here or slightly possessed.

On an unrelated note I had an enkai on Friday with the PTA group. I hadn't seen many of the parents since the 40th anniversary in the fall and many of them remarked on my improved Japanese ability. I was fairly proud that night, perhaps slightly alcohol induced, but on further reflection I think they were simply complementing me on the fact that I know a word in Japanese. Half the time I discern (guess) what people are saying based solely on a single word in a multitude that I may be able to pick up. 35% of the time I have no idea what they are saying and simply say sorry I don't understand Japanese and perhaps 15% of the time I actually understand what they are saying. The 15% I do understand consists of typical questions like when did you come to Japan, or what is your favourite food. Small steps I know but I have noticed that rather than say yes, I say hai without even thinking. There may be hope for me yet...as long as I get over my phobia of studying.