kanazawa

As in all my recent blogs it has been a while since James and I went to Kanazawa (mid-August) but there are some nice pictures I want to share. Kanazawa is roughly four hours away if one takes the expressway but we decided to meander our way down the seacoast and see what that route had to offer beyond the concrete walls and endless tunnels of the expressway. It was gorgeous! At times the mountains came down and buried themselves in the sea covered in brilliant green or stark black volcanic rock, and others the rice paddies crept almost to the edge of the water. Unfortunately, Japan has a habit of smearing concrete everywhere so many of the beaches were marred by strange concrete Xs that act as breakers and concrete steps that march down into the water. Along the way we saw a few beautiful shrines and many great beaches that we didn't have a chance to stop at. Apparently, sunset viewing is a popular reason to travel the "seaside line" and we stopped to partake as well. It was quite a site but the clouds covered the sun before it had a chance to kissed the water.

We stopped along the way in Toyama to hit a few golf balls. Often, when people think of Japan and golf they think of multitierred driving ranges. In my town there are actually quite a few beautiful , and expensive, country clubs but we had often driven by the driving ranges and thought when in Japan...
The 2nd floor was actually not in use but we went up there anyhow, since it was the only reason we were going. Our clubs were old and chipped and the grip of mine was sticky with who know what. The second floor was dirty and covered with cobwebs but we were determined. The ball tee was actually quite sophisticated and a little machine did everything you simply had to decided your preferred height. We had a little difficulty obtaining our balls in the first place though. We bought a card from a vending machine and after repeated tries at putting the card in the ball vending machine we had to ask for help. It turns out that James had been trying to put in a love hotel member's card rather than the ball card and the lady seemed quite amused. We went during Obon so the only open, available, and cheap hotels were love hotels!

My swing is a little rusty!Kanazawa is know as the "little Kyoto" meaning it has a lot of culture and history. Unfortunately the day we had for touring around was pretty dreary and rainy. We saw a few sites however. Kanazawa castle is no longer standing but a few of it's gates and towers remain so we had a chance to view them. To be honest, thus far my experience in Japan is if you have seen one castle you have seen them all. Don't get me wrong I love castles and all the history surrounding them but they are pretty much all the same. Himeji was definitely the best preserved but even so it was still a building with few adornments. Historically the Japanese decorated with hanging scrolls, beautifully painted screens and curtains but not much of this remains and is never set up in the castles like it would have been, end my rant on castles.

We also visited the 3rd most beautiful garden in Japan or is it the 3rd most beautiful garden in Japan when viewed in the winter? I forget among all the lists and rankings. It was beautiful though. The Japanese form of gardening is very precise and often involves certain elements such as moss, bonsai, ponds and careful placing of rocks. Because it was a holiday we got in free (yeah) but it was raining the whole time. I think this garden would be interesting viewed in all sorts of weather and all season!

We also went to a temple (where photography was not allowed) nicknamed the ninja's temple. It's history has nothing to do with ninjas but the many different secret stairways, trap doors, secret rooms and other such trickeries caused it to received it's nickname. We were exhausted after walking in the rain and didn't have a chance to visit the geisha districts in Kanazawa. I hear next to Kyoto they are the best!

Evan's goodbye bbq

Evan has sadly took his leave of us in Agamachi and he is definitely missed. I could usually count on him to go for Chinese food or yasaiitame at the Minagawaya plus there were our great times at taiko practice. We had a goodbye BBQ for him at the end of July on a riverbank in Muramatsu. The location was quite beautiful and we ended up playing cornhole and swimming in the freezing cold mountain stream. Unfortunately only a few of us opted to stay along with the rain. It ended up being four of us around a campfire huddled under our umbrellas talking and playing drinking games. It was actually quite enjoyable but I realized the next day that had its drawbacks. Namely, fifty or so monster mosquito(or some other creature from the insect family that enjoys sucking blood) bites covering my legs. They were really quite gross because the bites swelled up to massive proportions so it looked like the surface of my skin was bubble wrap though not as uniformed. I survived of course but it was an itchy few days.

The preparations

Iwan and his girl!

Minori and Aiko


The man of the hour

sumo

Back in May James, Evan, Michael, Rie and I went to a Sumo tournament in Tokyo. Official Sumo tournaments last for 15 days and each rikishi has one match a day. I love sumo and watch it everyday after school when a tournament is on. Click here if you want more info on Sumo. I was pretty excited to go and see the real thing. Tickets are quite expensive for seats that are not all that great (like ours). We each paid around $100 for a box which is essentially a small fenced off area on a floor where you sit on pillows, with nothing to lean back on and no leg room. I was quite disappointed to be honest, from where we were sitting I couldn't tell who the individual rikishi were. It was good to take in the atmosphere and there were certain aspects you don't see while watching TV but the actual matches I would prefer to watch up close and personal. Although some of the fat rolls and body hair are a bit too up close. Anyhow, the one thing I was surprised about was how big they actually are. I realized they are fat but I figured they be like really fat Japanese people but many of them are much taller. It was weird being towered over again. Kotooshu (Bulgarian sumo wrestler) is massive at 6'8 and 340pds but he is not fat like the others. Here are some not very good pictures of the tournament.



We also had a few nights out in the city. I didn't really get any pictures because the clubs we went to did not allow photography!?

taking a trip back in time to rice planting

I finally got a bunch of picture of this years events from James. I think the planting was in late April early May and it was quite cold out!

The tender little rice seedlings waiting for our expert hands to take them to their home.

Taka the gospel singing farmer, kindly allowed us to muck about in his fields.

The real farming equipment. Most commercial farmers use farm equipment these days though Taka said this is a really old and crappy tractor. Many families have a couple plots of rice just for their own consumption though and they often have the little old grandmas and grandpas planting by hand.

Initially we started in rubber boots, real planters have thigh high waders.

We found that the suction was incredibly strong and we would get nothing done taking a minute to move five steps...

so the boots came off

and we froze our little toes...and hands

Taka looking mighty and clean on the tractor.

The machine at work

us at work.

It was an interesting experience but we chose a bad day for it. I planted again with one of my elementary schools and it was much more enjoyable with the warm mud tickling your toesrather than freezing them off.

gosen matsuri

I had bought a yukata (summer kimono made from cotton) when I had first come to Japan and did not find the opportunity to wear it. Gosen matsuri is quite small and uneventful but dammit I wanted to wear my yukata, so I did. I had Noriko help put it on because it is a bit of a process. I had to wear a special bra to flatten my chest and a towel around my waist because the square streamline look is desired. She thought it would be funny to dress James up in a Yukata, as well. Tsubo thought James looked like Yakuza(Japanese maffia) though.

Although uneventful as matsuris go, there were many things that I think outside of Japan would be interesting. I will try to be more camera happy in the future. Typically, they carry ancient shrines around town but Gosen has changed and now they carry popular anime characters around. This year ponya and doraemon were populous.

Pimp my Keitai

Perhaps I am behind the times and cellphone stickers (or as some call it bling) have crossed the ocean and are popular in North America but when I came to Japan it was all new and blindingly sparkly to me. As I said in my previous post, Japanese cellphones are already pretty cool to start with but they are into the bright, sparkly and outrageous "Pimped out Keitai" (cellphone in Japanese). Most people will have at least a few stickers on their keitai. My Japanese English teacher has had hers' professionally done for about $40.00. She has a sparkly cat and some gemstone but her keitai is almost mundane compared with the glitz that is out there!

There are the gemstones...

And the adhereable food!

The famous characters...in gemstones.

and more...

Don't you guys feel left out they have a sparkly line catered toward more manly designs!

Strapya seems to be a good place to buy bling, as well, if you are so inclined, I'm not.

http://www.strapya-world.com/categories/12_1147.html

what's hanging off your cellphone?

Everyone and their dog has a cellphone in Japan, from little kids (for security reasons!?) to little old ladies. The cellphones here come in an amazing array of colours and styles so you would think people would be satisfied with the vast choice, think not! This is the country of accessorizing and it is shown no more than in their cellphones. Cellphone charms are the norm not the opposite. Go into any tourist store anywhere in the country and there will be cellphone charms with the likes of hello kitty, kewpies and a host of others to decorate your bland phone. In fact go into almost any store and you'll find them. People need them to express the individuality of their cellphones? One will not suffice though, oh no, most people will have at least three or four making their phone difficult to fit into a pocket comfortably so you will see the charms hanging out of their pants or purses. The charms run from the common and cute.
To the slightly twisted.
To the perverted (kewpie bondage?)
The most popular charm of all is the delicious looking golden ice cream. Did I say ice cream I meant golden POOP! They consider the golden poop to be a good luck charm and you will see it all over the place in Japan.
If you would like to get your fingers on some wonderful charms apparently strapya is the best place to get them.

PS: you won't see a charm gracing my phone anytime soon!

http://www.Strapya-World.com

two months since the last post !!!

This is really just a random amalgam of pictures and tidbits because I felt I couldn't let my blog go past two months without an update.

The massive bugs have come out once again and all the children are shaking with delight. They are seen as pets here and sold in stores with all the accouterments, cages with toys and special food etc... I have seen on TV they even have insect sumo and people raise these bugs like they might prized thoroughbreds. The price of a proven sire can be up to two thousand dollars (for a BUG!). This is just a random one in the hallway of my apartment building . Much bigger than my big toe!

Evan has left the town with one lest gaijin and a lot less Australian spirit. We had a couple goodbye parties for him and they were sad affairs, though it doesn't really seem like he is gone. This is a plate of sashimi(raw meat) that was at one of the goodbye parties. One of our principals footed the bill for that one!


I had mentioned gaijin traps in an earlier blog entry but I will recap. They are deep gutters on the side on the road that call out longingly for foreigner to drive in. On a slightly different topic that will relate( I promise) I have never seen more public urinaters in my life and that is saying a lot coming from a small town. Cars will pull over anywhere and out will swagger a man be he construction worker or business man and nonchalantly do his business. This is somewhat strange in itself since there are reststops and convenience stores every 50 metres but I have become use to it. A while ago though I was driving on a small windy mountain road and I saw a bright pink car stopped off at the side. What did I see but a little old lady peeing in a gaijin trap. I had to drive between her and her car to get by and do you think she even batted an eye. She just continued with her business as I had to slow down so as to not hit her!

I was having dinner with a friend a few weeks ago and I spotted a fox through the window. I let my friend know and she jumped out and ran outside in glee to catch a glimpse. She thought it was such a novelty since she had only seen one in a zoo. Contrast that with monkeys frolicking in the school yard and my face against the window watching until the last one lumbers away, the rest of my teachers are working away, once in a while looking at me like I belong in a zoo.

The great summer sports competition was upon us again and my girls volleyball team had high hopes of winning first prize. The made a strong showing until the finals where the met a team with a girl who consistently jump served! I didn't even know a high school player who could jump serve back home. PS I hate the new scoring of volleyball.

Since summer has begun so has the sun paranoia. Japanese people are so crazy about avoiding the sun that if you go to the beach it will be you and the kids in swimsuits everyone else is covered to their ears. It is not uncommon to see women walking around with frilly parasols and long gloves to cover the arms and hands. They always say it is about skin cancer but truly it is because they yearn for white skin. Many skin products here contain bleaching agents and purport whitening effects. Personally I think really white Japanese people look really weird.

the stranger person drill

I am becoming very negligent to this blog, I may have to break down and get the net at home! I am sure I encounter things everyday that you would find strange or interesting but they have become so common place to me as to seem unremarkable. I'll try to be better.

Have any idea what this is?

To be honest I never gave it much of a thought. They have one in each classroom and I think I kind of assumed they were used to clean the spiderwebs off the roof or some other mundane usage. Well I discovered their true purpose during the stranger person drill (this is what my teacher said it is called)! A few years ago a strange guy entered an elementary school and killed? maimed? seven children with a knife. Since that time in typical Japanese overreaction fashion all schools in the country are now equipped with these human fending off devises and the teachers must take courses to ensure they are able to wield them. One of the teachers dressed up as a "stranger" and all the kids had to evacuate the school while select teachers, who are adept with the human forks, rushed to the location of the intruder and pinned him against the wall. Of course he did not struggle at all and it was a piece of cake. However, I am curious to see how well they work against someone who is not so complacent. Perhaps the inventor of the human fork is friends with the minister of education?