musical randomness

The musical is not all hard work there has been much partying and shenanigans that have accompanied our weekend practices and performances! Here are some...

Of course there is karaoke

and funny faces

and cold places
snowy times
and bad rhymes

crazy richie

and crazy spotlights

tweedle dumplings

and men in tights (with crazy little men on their shoulder)

an indian monkey with a southern accent

a contortionist and a clown hidden within

and sometimes perhaps a sense of chagrin!

more tokamachi

Here are some beautiful pics Melissa took of the stage and a candle display. Tokamachi is famous for kimono so there were a group of women all decked out and paraded in the finery!

winter paradise in tokamachi

We had the musical this weekend in the city that had been hit the worst in the earthquake. It was a free show because we are such caring and generous people. Apparently free means not worth attending and not very many people showed up plus it was absolutely freezing in the gym so it didn't end up being the best show on our tour across Niigata. After however we went to the Tokamachi snow festival which is noted as being the best or biggest or something est of Japan. Tokamachi is a small city in the mountains that receives the most snowfall on earth and so a snow festival is a clever way to make snow into money!!! They had tons of beautiful snow sculptures around the city and the festival routes were lighted by snow candle pillars. The stage was a massive castle that was made entirely out of snow (hopefully I can steal a picture of it from someone) and it pretty much snowed the whole time we were there. On the drive to Tokamachi Fiona and I stopped to see how high the snowbanks truly were and took some photo opportunities. These are not large piles made by snow plows but the actual height of the snow everywhere.
Unfortunately cleaning off the car in the morning was a bit of a pain. I was thanking god (and Fujita) for my four wheel drive since I was able to plow through while the others had to dig away every speck of snow.

My car has pretty straight sides and didn't allow much snow to gather. Jimmy was not so fortunate. That is a car under the pile and it had only been there since the night before.

we are famous!!!

The musical has been in the state/provincial paper three times now and I have had numerous people I know calling and messaging to say they have seen me in one of my various aliases! It is actually quite a feat considering last year the musical was pretty obscure and brought in so little money. Here is one article, for a taste of Japanese newspapers, and a moving moment from the musical!!

musical madness once again!

Perhaps against my better judgment I am part of the musical again this year. It is a great way to meet the new ALTs and get out of my town. Our play is cleverly named Alice in Japan (rather than Alice in Wonderland) and once against better judgment I am acting in it. The writing this year is quite clever and the acting on most parts is very good. I hope no one is offended if I say the set leaves much to be desired but there was little to work with. The amount of money we are bringing in this year is amazing! The first performance brought in more money than we did the whole of last year and our last show in Murakami was sold out! I think we are sitting close to the equivalent of $80 000 and we still have five shows left. I wish I had the money to go to Papua New Guinea with the rest of the group because I am sure it will be incredibly rewarding to give that money to the people. Anyhow some pictures of the show...

to stay or not to stay that is the question!

I am grappling with the decision to stay in Japan another year. I had thought my mind made up on staying even though most of my friends are leaving. I had attending a JET conference and now I am left with a sick feeling in my stomach whenever I think about the question. I am not going to go into the details of the pros and cons but I am afraid of the reverse culture shock if i leave. Apparently when leaving Japan (since the culture is so different from that of English speaking countries) many people go into an extreme reverse culture shock and basically begin hating their own cultures and countries. I was always really bad after I returned home at the end of summer camp and that was onlya week. I realize I have to return some time and I don't want to teach English for the rest of my life. This decision is anything but fun :(

finally finally snow

We finally had a few decent snowfalls in Mikawa though they continually melt. I am still disappointed since I was told to expect two metres of snow and the ski resort is in a constant flux of opening and closing since they don't manufacture any snow. The snowflakes here are so thick and beautiful though, that when they fall it is like a dream. I went for a walk during the last snowfall and took some pictures with my sad cell phone camera. Camera has still not recovered from the beer.
The big puddle of water is due to the street clearing system which consists of a strip of dribbling sprinklers that spread water along the street. Since it is winter I had worn winter boots and not rubber boots and my feet were slightly drowned by the time I got back.
My lovely car the morning after. To prepare for the snow everyone here puts up their windshield wipers at night, thus it is easier to clear off the snow!

no pictures

While home my camera took and impromptu beer bath and as such is not working now. I cleverly took out the data card thinking I could retrieve the pictures through another means but I have, true to form, lost the data card (I am sure it is in a safe place). Lovely, Melissa remembered that we had taken out a three year warranty on our cameras so I will attempt to dry my camera out in a bowl of rice and take it in to be repaired. Hopefully I can find my data card once my bags are completely unpacked. Pictures of New Years, ice fishing and more hopefully to come...

christmas in canada

Well after the 26 hours it took to get here it was nice to have Christmas with the family. I had a Tim Horton's Ice Cap as soon as I sighted the place and it was lovely! I think my taste buds are going to crap in Japan because I also sampled a cinnamon bun and I found it too sweet. I don't think that concept even existed to me before. It is funny comparing the flights of American airlines and Canadian. On Air Canada the white population was under fifty percent with the other being people with different national backgrounds but Canadian. The lines for the American airlines were almost solely white. With the massive amount of white people I catch myself thinking that I know them or they look familiar. I also bowed to a lady in the drug store! I find that I am incredibly more polite than I have ever been but I am hesitant to ask for help with anything. Only here for 6 more days so need to make the most of it!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

japanese cars part 2 - names

Japan has to have the most ridiculous car names of any country. Rarely is there a car name that is Japanese (because that would be uncool) but instead they bungle any foreign word that might make sense?

The duet because it is music for two!

The naked....???? (Actually a really ugly car)

Note this is a car.

This car is made for the Street.

That's .... a car?

The box isn't even very boxy for a car in Japan.

The diva for ladies with an attitude.

FunCargo

Either the big or Homy?

and life on wheels

There is also the...

“Applause” - People will clap as it drives by.

“Rocky” - the movie or the terrain?

“Town Cube” - oh the cube.

“Joy Machine” - sounds kinky.

“Acty Crawler” - huh?

“Life Dunk” - if you dunk life is it a good thing or a bad thing?

“Stout” - not the drink but is a good name for an ugly car.

“Toyopet” - ???

“Deliboy” - don't know of many delis or deliboys around here.

“Prairie Joy” - because of the lush prairies of Japan

“Big Thumb” - big thumb = small car

“Fairlady” - any men driving this car?

“Delica Space Gear” - A delicious car with space-ship equipment.

"Fit" - driving this car is like exercise!

"Chaser" - never in the lead.

"Sprinter" - perhaps ahead of the Chaser.

"Starlet" - for wanna be movie stars.

"Coaster" - no gas pedal in this one.

"Be -1" - be in one?

"Sunny California" - ...?

"Jazz" - and all that Jazz.

"Today" - today this is a car tomorrow...?

"Bongo Friendee" - the bongo players choice!

"Bongo Brawny" - those players with thick wrists.

"Scrum" - for the rugby lovers.

"Pistachio" - definitely for women.

"Town box" - you never need to leave your car.

"Charade" - it just acts like a car.

"Move latte" - uuuh?

"Elf van" - Santa's choice.

"Fargo Filly" - straight from North Dakota.

and many many more...