Traveling Tales トラベリング　テールズ

Riding the Shink

2012-01-06T00:18:00.000+09:00

Shortly after Christmas Tess and I took a trip to Sendai. One reason we wanted to go was less about Sendai and more about the mode of transportation you can use. The new E5 Series Shinkansen, which runs the northern route from Tokyo to Aomori Prefecture at the far tip of Honshu.

We had to change trains at Omiya station, to catch our E5 Hayabusa. This is the newest Shinkansen, and only went into regular service last March, just a few days before the earthquake disrupted the northbound trainlines.

This new trainset is one of the sleekest yet, and has a top design speed of 320 km/h (299 mph), but currently only runs at 300 km/h (186 mph). This is still fast enough to cover 321 kilometers between Omiya and Sendai in a mere 71 minutes.

I have always said that the Shinkansen is the only way to travel. For pure speed and comfort, it is just pure bliss on tracks. And the new trains are even better!

2011

2012-01-03T21:18:00.000+09:00

Tokyo Waterfront

Snow in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture.

Plum Blossoms in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.

Cherry Blossoms in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture.

Rice Paddies in Ishikawa Prefecture

Shibuya, Tokyo

Shirane-san crater, Gunma Prefecture

Starbucks, Insaong shopping street, Seoul.

Candles, Takasaki

Fritz the family dog, Rocky Mountains of Colorado

Garden in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture

Panda Bear in Ueno Zoo, Tokyo

Panorama, Ikaho Onsen, Gunma Prefecture

Garlic and Chili Peppers

2011-12-14T18:56:00.000+09:00

Chicken Calbi

You cannot live in Japan for as long as I have and not love Japanese food. However, you cannot live in Japan for as long as I have and not be just a little sick of Japanese food. As delicious as it is, sometimes Japanese cuisine is just a little too refined, and a little too under-spiced. (Wasabi aside)

Traveling to Korea was more than just a chance to see some new sights. It was a chance to eat my way through some of the best food on the planet. I must admit, this took me by surprise. I have always enjoyed such stalwarts as bibinba and Korean BBQ, but the huge variety and tons of amazing flavors rather blindsided me.

Like most in most Asian countries, eating in Korea is about more than just sustenance. Eating out is a chance to excite your taste buds while you enjoy the company of your friends and family. The first part is covered with liberal application of chili paste and garlic in most meals. Some of the worst (best?) garlic breath of my life was on Jeju island, and not Italy as one might expect. After the more subtle flavors that predominate in Japan, I was pretty excited at the thrice daily chance to sear a few layers off of my tongue.

As mentioned, eating is very communal in Korea. Rather than pick a dish and order it for yourself, most restaurants will serve up a huge main dish, with five endlessly refillable side dishes to share. These side dishes were quite interesting. Usually composed of a variety of kimchee or two, with other various veggies, pickles and what have you. They were often mysterious, but always delicious. Top the meal off with few bottles of cheap beer and/ or soju and by the end everybody feels great.

I was happy enough to come back to okonomiyaki, sushi, shabu shabu and tonkatsu, but Korean cuisine will always hold a special spot in my pantheon of food.

Korean BBQ, one of the best things. Ever.

Lunar Eclipse

2011-12-11T22:16:00.000+09:00

Last night saw the last total lunar eclipse for a couple of years. It seems every time one of these rolls around I am either far from the optimal viewing area, or the sky is totally covered with clouds. Luckily this past weekend saw Japan in an excellent place to view the eclipse and the night was as clear a winter night as you could ever ask for.

Tess and I were walking back to my house and noticed a bite slowly being taken out of the gorgeous full moon. It was almost unnerving, watching the darkness spread across the face of the moon. It was hard to not stare at it as we walked.

Once we got home, I quickly swapped out lenses on my camera and grabbed my tripod for a little astronomical photography. I must admit, I am pretty happy with the results. My setup for this sort of thing is far from professional, but I got some good shots. It was exciting to watch the moon turn a blood red, and to record it. Though the clear December air was very chilly, it was a good thing I had the fixings for a good nabe dinner once the eclipse had finished.

The Adventures Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

2011-12-08T15:33:00.000+09:00

The Adventures of Tintin, based on the classic comics by Herge, released last week here in Japan. I grew up surrounded by the colorful characters and interesting situations Tintin finds himself embroiled in, and was eagerly looking forward to the film version. As is often the case, I was worried about how it would translate from page to screen. Though certainly the talent behind the all digital camera has a certain pedigree. Steven Speilberg knows adventure and action set pieces, and producer Peter Jackson well knows how to lovingly adapt a well known work for a new medium. Steven Moffat, one of the screenwriters, is currently running the show for both Doctor Who and Sherlock for the BBC, and has shown a great grasp of both fun and adventure on those programs.

The film is an amalgam of two of the comic adventures, The Secret of the Unicorn and The Crab with the Golden Claws. This necessitated quite a bit of structural change to fit the two together, but the result was quite enjoyable. The basics that make Tintin great survived intact. The interplay between Tintin and the crusty Captain Haddock, the slapstick of the Thompson twins, and the heroism and frequent barking of Snowy the dog are all present and accounted for. As well there are plenty of winks and nods from the Tintin Canon that have made their way into the film.

In short, I had a blast. Tintin is a true comic book film. Filled with adventure, humor, and that sense of hightened reality that comes from the best adventure fiction, be it Indiana Jones or The Three Musketeers. I find myself hoping that Tintin does quite well this holiday season, so that we may see another installment a few years down the line!

The DMZ

2011-11-29T22:02:00.000+09:00

Hanging over the hustle and bustle of Seoul is the nearby border with North Korea. It can be hard to believe that a brutal dictatorship exists so close to a vibrant modern state. We couldn't come all the way to South Korea without a trip to the DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone that separates North from South.

As we got closer to the border fences, pillboxes and watch towers begin to appear. This bridge is one of the only links between the two states, a recently built railway that was hoped to bring the sundered halves closer together.

The first real stop on the tour was at a museum that looked at the history of the Korean war, and the cross border tensions since then. It didn't have the more recent spats listed, but it gave a good overview of things. There was also a video presentation that stressed the nature reserve aspect of the DMZ over the soldiers, pillboxes and landmines aspect. It was fine, but it did seem a bit Pollyanna considering the history and the tensions.

After the museum we got to visit Infiltration Tunnel #3. This is the third of four tunnels that have been found piercing the border. The North Koreans claim it is a coal mine, and planted coal dust to back up their claim. However, the way the tunnel is fashioned and the way it slopes (up towards South Korea) show the lie. It was built for use in a surprise attack. It is estimated that there are many more tunnels that have not been found. Sadly for me, photography was not permitted within the tunnel. In this way, the tour was very highly regulated. Passports were required, and photography was strictly limited. If you were seen taking photographs in a forbidden area, guards would accost you and make you delete the file.

Then it was time to journey to an overlook where we could peer into North Korea itself. We were there on a very clear day, and got excellent views of the hills surrounding a North Korean city whose name escapes me. We also got to view what were once the tallest and second tallest flag poles in the world. Each side kept building their flagpole taller, until South Korea stopped bothering. Here again, photography was only allowed to a certain point. From the edge you could see South Korean military fortifications, and they wanted to ensure no agents could photograph the troop dispositions.

Our last stop was Dorason station. It is a brand new train station that has never been used. It was built to service the same train line the bridge was built for, but relations between North and South soured, and regular service never began. It was eery walking around a shiny but empty train station.

While we did not get to see the Joint Security Area and the actual border line on this tour, we did get an excellent glimpse of the fractured recent history of the Korean peninsula. It was a fascinating day, and a sobering one as well. A true peace treaty was never signed, and as we have seen in the news there are still flashes and flare ups. While we may hope a resurgent Korean War will never happen, our trip to the DMZ reminded us that it is certainly possible.

The Alloy of Law

2011-11-18T21:16:00.000+09:00

I interrupt the (ir)regularly scheduled Korea trip posts for a quick diversion.

I have been a big fan of fantasy author Brandon Sanderson's work since I read his Mistborn Trilogy some years back. The story was conceived as a way of turning most of the Tolkienesque tropes of fantasy on their head. In this setting, the grand quest to rid the world of evil failed, saddling the known world with a thousand years of dark lord dictatorship. The books were fun, interesting and fresh, and I really enjoyed the world Sanderson created. While the ending wrapped up the trilogy quite nicely, there is always room for more stories. Hence, The Alloy of Law.

This newest book in the series is a stand alone tale set three hundred years after the end of the trilogy. Unlike most fantasy worlds, where things stay generally medieval for centuries, here is a much more dynamic world. Railroads are proliferating, and a general wild west/ steampunk vibe has been very successfully overlaid on the rules and history of the series. The Alloy of Law was written as a bit of a break between other more epic fantasy novels and is a much shorter, fluffier book than we might be used to in the genre, and even from this author. There are no world spanning conflicts, no epic armies clashing. Rather there is a solid central mystery complimented by fun characters, interesting dialogue and a chance to revisit a very interesting setting. As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed The Alloy of Law, and I am very much looking forward to more stories in the Mistborn universe.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

2011-11-16T21:12:00.000+09:00

The largest and grandest of Seoul's several ancient palaces is Gyeongbokgung. Sadly though, much of the Palace is less ancient than you might think. Much of the palace was destroyed by the Japanese colonial efforts prior to the Second World War. Quite a bit has been restored and rebuilt though, and the whole thing is very impressive.

We were lucky enough to arrive right at the height of a ceremonial changing of the guard. What most interested me was the military bands horns, they sounded a lot like bagpipes without the bags! The colorful flags and costumes where perfect for setting the mood as we got ready to explore the palace.

This particular building was one of the few left standing, and was built as a party pavilion. I can see the appeal, with the lake side location and gorgeous mountain views. Sadly, I don't think it is being rented out anymore.

What was being rented (for free) were costumes. Wear a guard costume, and experience Korean Culture. Or just horse around and pretend to be in a fighting game. We had a lot of fun in our allotted time, and a great many very goofy photographs were taken.

The general architecture and layout of the palace was very interesting, East Asian for sure, but still unique. The basic layout reminded me of a smaller scale Forbidden City, though far less elaborate in color scheme than China tends to be. In fact, it was like much of Korea seemed, a bit of a halfway point between Japan and China. Which, geographically at least, it certainly is. Poor Korea was caught between those two quite often throughout the years.

The grounds of the palace also contained a museum of Korean history and culture that was very well done. I learned a lot about a country that I must admit I have often overlooked.

Where did he go?

2011-10-11T09:56:00.000+09:00

     Things have been a little quiet on the blog front lately, but for very good reasons. In late September I went back to America for two weeks, for both a visit home and to attend my mother's art opening. I have a strong mischevious streak, and didn't actually tell my parents I was coming home. Luckily their shock was quickly overcome with joy at seeing their wayward first-born show up on the doorstep. I hadn't been back since I left for Japan in March of last year, so it had been a while since we had seen each other in a non-skype capacity.

     The opening itself was amazing, with beautiful art in every corner and plenty of people milling about singing my mom's praises. She had turned out some fantastic work in the past year and a half, and it was a pleasure to experience all these new paintings first hand.

     I also had the chance to catch up with my Aunt, who flew in from Hawaii, and my cousin from Seattle that I hadn't seen in ages. We had a bit of a mini family reunion, which was very nice. Topping all that off with plenty of non-Japanese food and I had a great two weeks.

     Some photos will follow, but I am still a bit backed up processing Korea photos, and I have some from a visit to Ishikawa as well as festival photos from Maebashi to deal with too. I have been pretty busy lately, which gives plenty of blog material, but not much time to actually write everything up!

Is Your Seoul Saved?

2011-09-09T14:06:00.000+09:00

After plenty of relaxing on Jeju Island, it was time to visit the big city. Once we arrived at our rather swanky hotel and met up with Travis, the fourth and final member of our team, we headed into the thick of things on an important mission: buying pants. Marcos is a very connected young man, and one of his old friends from college is now an event planner in Seoul. She managed to get us on the list for a pretty fancy club, but they had a dresscode. No Shorts Allowed. It being summer in East Asia, I had not bothered to bring pants and so had to venture downtown to pick up a pair.

While en-route we stopped off at a street vendor for a rather unique snack, a corn-dog covered in french fries and fried. As far as heart stopping bits of mutated Americana go, it was excellent. For our shopping pleasure we went to a huge mall of individual clothing stalls that were packed with cheap duds that could be had even cheaper if you felt like a bit of bargaining.

Dinner was in a small local place off one of the side streets, and like every other meal we had in Korea was utterly delicious and shockingly cheap. The dance club itself was intensely swanky, we looked and felt pretty out of place. Though I had fun dancing and seeing how the other half live for an evening. We all had a lot more fun at a restaurant / bar we went to post-clubbing. I enjoy drinking with good friends and good conversation much more than in a dark cavern where you can't even hear yourself think. The next morning we were ready to explore a bit more of what Seoul had to offer.

Jeju Islands Gorgeous Geology

2011-09-06T21:23:00.000+09:00

In a lot of ways Jeju Island is Korea's answer to Hawaii. Both are getaway islands where you can visit someplace exotic without leaving your home country. Both are also massive shield volcanoes looming out of the sea. In fact, geologically Jeju shares many traits with the Big Island of Hawaii. The Big Island is still active, erupting even as I write this. Halle-San, the volcano that makes up the bulk of Jeju Island, is sleeping for now.

It last erupted about a thousand years ago, which is only an eyeblink in geological terms. During one of those past eruptions in carved out a few fantastic lava tubes. Lava tubes are formed when the top of a lava flow cools and hardens, insulating the center of the flow. This allows the molten rock to travel further down the flanks of the volcano, and leaves behind some pretty interesting caves. Jeju has two lava tubes of note, one the longest known specimen. The other is one of very few lava tubes to feature stalactites and stalagmites.

Stalactites and stalagmites are formed in limestone caves, but the black basalt of Jeju (or Hawaii) holds none of the minerals required for them to form. Except one of the lava tubes spent some time under the sea, and a layer of dead shellfish formed over the lava. After it surfaced, rainwater filtered through the shells and into the cave, bringing with it the lime needed to make the stalactites formations.

For lunch we went for a local specialty, pan grilled black pork. It was heaven. You layer tender strips of pork, some kimchee, some garlic and some hot sauce on a lettuce leaf and make your own Korean fajita burrito. Everything but the pork has free refills, which encourages eating a lot of veggies. I can really get behind vegetables that have been dosed with plenty of garlic and chili pepper.

On the other side of the island looms Sunrise Peak, a tuff cone built from the explosive meeting of lava and seawater. It was formed about 5,000 years ago, and is one of the most famous and beautiful spots on the island.

The hike up was short but steep, and the late summer heat left us all soaked in sweat. But as always, the view was worth it. It was very, very worth it.

Flyin Out

2011-08-30T10:43:00.000+09:00

I have a confession to make. I haven't flown since I arrived back in Japan in March 2010. That is a long time for a travel hungry person such as myself! A total of four friends of mine were on board for summer vacation in Korea, but our start points were scattered all across Japan. The first part of my journey was in the company of my good friend Marcos.

Our flight originated at Haneda International Airport, which has actually been the domestic hub for Tokyo for the past few decades. Haneda is placed pretty close in to the city, and makes for a very convenient departure point. A brand new International Terminal was completed last year to service more flights to Asia and the United States. Part of the reason for this is the convenient location, and part to relieve pressure from Narita Airport, the primary International hub. Ironically Narita was built when it was deemed to expensive and difficult to expand Haneda in the first place!

Security in Haneda was quick and easy, yet still thorough. All of the people manning the machines were polite young women, with the older more muscle-bound types standing back. It was a revelation. The customer gets a fantastic, stress-free experience, without compromising safety. I hope the US learns that lesson some day.

Our flight was quick, smooth and generally uneventful, which is exactly what you want! We flew into Gimpo International, which is Seoul's equivalent of Haneda, taking a backseat to the larger and newer Inchon Airport. I collected a new stamp for my passport, cleared customs and we met up with the third member of our Group, Peter. Our next flight was to Jeju Island, essentially the Hawaii or Okinawa of Korea, an island of beaches, volcanoes and relaxing.

It was pouring rain in Seoul, but the weather in Jeju was said to be cloudy to clear, but no precipitation. Phew. Nobody wants to see their beach holiday rained out!

The flight was short and sweet, and around half way the whole plane joined in to play the Korean version of Rock Paper Scissors. As English teachers we are well versed in the intricacies of "Janken" and we did well, but none of us won. After we endured a hair raising taxi trip to our hostel (lanes were a mere suggestion, and red lights may as well have not existed for this driver) we tucked in to our first real Korean meal. Braised fish in spicy chile ginger sauce and seafood stew. I didn't try the stew, being a bit averse to shellfish, but the fish was amazing, the soft mild meat a drastic contrast to the spicy flavors of the sauce. Already our trip was looking successful.

Costco

2011-08-29T12:26:00.000+09:00

Living on the other side of the Pacific Ocean from your birthplace is a sure way to make you miss things you used to take for granted. I am a pretty hungry guy, so a lot of what I miss is food related. Things have actually gotten a lot better over the years, and I can find almost anything I want these days. Almost.

Enter the newest Costco in Japan. For those who don't know, Costco is a wholesale style buyers club where you can get steep discounts by buying way more of a product than you really need. The local expats here enjoy it because it often has American and foreign goods that you just cant find anywhere else. People have long trekked into the neighboring prefecture of Saitama for a chance to fill their fridge with a dozen bratwurst. Now Maebashi has its very own store, filled with just about everything.

This was my first trip to a Japanese Costco, and it was fascinating, and cart filling. Much of the basic offerings are the same as in the states, huge bags of candy, great cuts of meat, giant blocks of cheese and more. Though there were nods to the Asian location as well, with tubs of kimchee and pallets of ramen noodles on offer too. One funny thing I noticed is that the books they had were almost universally in English, which seems strange. They must sell, because I can`t imagine them stocking them otherwise. One thing that shocked us was the sheer number of people buying frozen pizzas. The Costco frozen pizza is far cheaper than anything in the stores here, but is also far larger. Knowing the relative size of Japanese freezers and ovens, I was wondering just how this was going to work. My ride, a local, let us befuddled Americans in on the secret. People will cut up the pizza before its cooked so it will fit in the oven. Ingenious, if a little time consuming.

Being that it was opening weekend, things were pretty wild. Carts jockeyed for position with all the fervor of a Formula 1 race, and more than a few heels got nailed by the cart behind. Overall though, I was impressed with the efficiency of the staff. The lines were long but they moved quickly, much more so than I had expected. The famous Hot Dog and Drink combo was in full effect, a dirt cheap 250 yen. That and a slice of pizza for under 500 yen? I am sold!

In the end I came away with quite a few goodies, including a 24 pack of non-name brand microbrew, a box of raisin bran, some bratwurst, some pre-cooked breakfast sausage patties (they didn't have fresh sausage, alas) and a giant bag of limes. On the list for next time is real ground beef (its often mixed with pork here), tons of cheese, New York cut steaks and more. It is really nice to have this sort of thing lurking in the neighborhood, even if I will need to beg for rides and the use of my friends membership cards!

Rolling Thunder

2011-08-24T21:25:00.000+09:00

I am happy to report my computer issues have been resolved, for now. In celebration, and while I process my Korea pictures, I present a few shots I took a couple of weeks ago when a huge thunderstorm rolled over Maebashi. I was lucky enough that the center of the storm stayed away from my area, offering a perfect view of the fireworks with none of the pouring rain or power outages others had to deal with. These are certainly the best lightning photos I have ever had the privilege to take.

Korea Bound

2011-08-15T21:03:00.000+09:00

I apologize for the sudden absence of blog posts. My computer has developed some problems that have kept me offline for a week. I will be off for a bit longer, as I am departing for Korea tomorrow morning. Three days on the beaches of Jeju Island and three days in Seoul should provide a fantastic vacation! Expect plenty of photos and stories when I get back, and when I fix the computer.

Sky High Fish

2011-08-09T21:00:00.000+09:00

One of the benefits of living on the edge of the Kanto Plain is that you are never very far away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. Last weekend I had the chance to meet up with a friend and spend some time just exploring the city.

Since we had no plan or any particular places to go, I recommended a Chipotle-esque burrito restaurant in the Roppongi neighborhood. Mexican food of all stripes is hard to come by in Japan so I often seek this place out when I visit the capital. After lunch we had some time to kill before we caught trains for home, and happened to see a poster advertising a Sky Aquarium on the upper floors of the Mori Tower. With the prospect of fish and city views, we felt like this was a fantastic idea.

Interestingly enough the aquarium displays were much more about aesthetics, and much less about science. There were no captions, no explanations, not even any lists of what fish were in each tank. All you had to go on were the tanks, environments and the moody lighting.

The effect was perfect. Rather than worry about what fish you were looking at, you could just enjoy their beauty. Though this guy was less beautiful and more kinda freaky looking.

The final room was the best, full of soft colored lights and gently undulating jellyfish.

Anytime you step out of your door an adventure awaits, and that is especially true when taking impromptu trips to Tokyo. You just never know what you'll find around the next corner. We can only hope it will always be as fantastic as burritos and 50th floor clown fish.

Bellies Bellies Everywhere...

2011-08-06T13:54:00.001+09:00

It seems that Japan hardly needs a reason to throw a festival, which is fine because I hardly need a reason to attend one! I recently visited the nearby city of Shibukawa for the Heso Matsuri, also known as the Bellybutton Festival. While there are a fair number of ancient fertility festivals held around Japan, with some rather suggestive floats, the bellybutton doesn't seem like a body part worth celebrating.

The roots of this particular celebration are much more recent and have to do with the fact that Shibukawa is located close to the geographical center point of Japan. The bellybutton of the country, so to speak. Nothing terribly sacred, the festival is more an attempt to drum up visitors and economic opportunities. Which is fair enough. These days even the most ancient festivals, steeped in Shinto lore are becoming much more about eating, drinking, and having a good time than celebrating anything profound. Not that I find anything wrong with walking around with a beer in one hand and fried chicken in the other while admiring ancient floats.

Sadly, there are no floats or portable shrines at the Heso Matsuri. There were some pretty entertaining taiko performances though. The main attraction is a pair of parades with shirtless people dancing by with faces painted on their bellies. The first parade was small children, and most of them were not having any of it. I don't know if I have ever seen such a group of youngsters who were so upset at their lot in life. Some were outright bawling. Though a few had a pretty big smile.

The adults certainly had a bit more fun. Their improved mood may be due in part to the beer carts that followed each group of dancers to provide refreshment in the summer heat. While the whole affair was interesting, I would hardly call it compelling. Really the Heso Matsuri was a fun way to spend an afternoon with friends, but it wasn't much more than that.

Departures This Way...

2011-07-28T12:41:00.000+09:00

The life of an English teacher in Japan sometimes seems to have even more violent ups and downs than might be the case in a more normal environment. One area of both opportunity and loss is the revolving door of friendship. I have found that living overseas tends to attract some truely amazing people, and many of my best friends are ones I met here.

However the very nature of the life means that for most it is a temperary distraction, and so when their year or two or five is up, they amble on home and out of your life. This always brings the the chance of an awesome replacement, but it also means that bittersweet goodbyes are a common element to life here.

Late July and early August is the departure and arriveal time of the famous JET program, and so it is packed with exits and is always a hard time for those staying behind.

The next couple of weeks will see me saying farewell to two very different best friends.

Five years ago I welcomed Travis into the Kanazawa community and quickly made a fast friend. We traveled together, drank together, survived earthquakes together and moaned about women together. He didnt live in Kanazawa, but was close enough that it was a rare weekend he didnt end up crashing on my spare futon. I dont know if I can count all the good times we had scarfing yakitori and litres of Asahi.

Then I left. He was one of the last people I saw in Japan, coming all the way to Osaka to bid me farewell with a day at Universal Studios.

When I returned to Japan last year we picked up right where we left off, with chicken on a stick and huge mugs of ice cold lager. We havent seen each other as often as we might like, living 4 hours and one very expensive train ride away, but our friendship has never been stronger. I know that Travis will be one of those people that I am in touch with for a very, very long time. Soon we will once again be saying not so much Good Bye as See You Later.

Also exiting soon is Anna, my closest neighbor and most likely closest friend in all Gunma. I feel it is rare to find a beautiful, intelligent woman who can sling poo jokes with the best of them. She dishes out, and takes, all manner of playful abuse with a smile and a toss of her red hair. Though you dont get to best friend status by simply trading barbs about being from Americas Hat. You get that by being there for someone, and she certainly stepped up to the plate. It is no secret that I had some emotinally dark days this spring, and Anna was there 100% with a friendly ear. We always need someone we can talk to, and someone to offer advice. Though I havent always taken her advice, I certainly appreciate her offering it.

Even though we have only been friends since January, we have packed years worth of experience into those few months. We have gone biking up mountains, dancing in Tokyo, to the zoo, to a soccer tournament, to karaoke and more. I dont think I could have asked for a more hilarous and grounded friend. Though her views on penguins, and their proper place in a relationship, leaves a bit to be desired...

Two Best Friends will leave us this month, and our lives will undoubtably be the poorer for it. But of course my life would have been all the poorer had I never met them, and in that there is plenty of solace to be found. Companions for five years or a few months are better than no companions at all, especially when they are of this quality. And now I must look to the future, and the further unknown friends who wait just over the horizon.

Mjölnir

2011-07-27T19:20:00.000+09:00

A pair of thunderstorms rolled over Maebashi last night. Of the 18 photos I shot, these were the only two that caught Thor in action, but I'm still pretty pleased with that result, especially the bottom one.

Haikyo

2011-07-25T17:05:00.000+09:00

Japan is covered in abandoned buildings, or haikyo. Some are old military installations, some are mining ghost towns, and some are relics of the 80s property boom. Some are just buildings that have been replaced.

Our days target for exploration was the abandoned Mt. Asama Volcano Museum and Observatory. It sits on the slopes of Mt. Asama, the most active volcano on the main island of Honshu. Asama-san straddles the border between Gunma and Nagano prefectures, and if things aren’t too hazy it is clearly visible on my ride to work. The museum was abandoned when a more modern (and less architecturally interesting) one was built right next door. Rather than tear it down, they just left it for the volcano to do the dirty work for them.

Both museums are located in the Oni Oshi Dashi, a lava field left by a cataclysmic eruption in 1783. The name refers to the exiled demons that were ejected from the volcano. It was fun for me to see a lava field like the ones I saw on Kilauea, only 200 years older. Despite the ample scrub, the lava fields still look pretty desolate.

In the 20 some years since it was left to rot, the volcano has done a pretty good job at breaking down the old building. Eruptions and earthquakes have shattered the glass, peeled the paint and even knocked down some walls and support pillars. The structure may not collapse tomorrow, but it is certainly looking a bit worse for wear. In fact, it is looking worse than it did even a few years ago, based on old photos and blog posts I have found online.

While most of the seismic action this year has been off the north eastern coast, the ground under Asama has seen a few good sized tremors as well, including one that hit in the wee hours of the morning on March 12th that woke up everybody in Gunma. This and the eruption in early 2009 have knocked the poor old museum around quite a bit.

While there are signs forbidding entry, it’s quite easy to get pretty close to the building, though plywood across the doors makes actual entry more difficult. In my great folly and or wisdom, I decided not to actually enter, but a couple of people in our group were a bit more adventurous and headed inside. They made it in and out in safety, so either things aren’t as bad as they look or we were fantastically lucky!

Return to the Crater

2011-07-20T21:08:00.001+09:00

One of my favorite places in Gunma is the brilliant blue crater lake at Mt. Shirane, and the hot springs town of Kusatsu at the base of the mountain. It makes for an easy day trip from Maebashi, and the scenery is gorgeous and unique.

Our group had failed to consider the effects of the three day weekend, and traffic was pretty heavy on approach to the summit. Heavy in a "You can actually walk faster than the car" sort of a way. We saw license plates from all over Japan as we idled along. We had been joined on our excursion by people from Tokyo, Nagoya, Kanazawa, Utsunomiya and more. Despite the seemingly endless line of cars snaking up the mountain we persevered and were glad that we did.

The temperature in the uplands was fantastic, much cooler than steamy Maebashi. Peter, Dean and Tessia were all new to the sights and smells of Mt. Shirane, and were all suitably impressed. It was my third time to the top, and fourth to Kusatsu, but I had a fantastic time as always. There is a certain thrill to walking around an obviously active volcano that keeps one coming back, even with epic traffic.

While we had places to be in the evening, a stop at Mt. Shirane is not complete without a visit to the famous sulfur onsen below. I maintain that Kusatsu has my favorite onsen waters in all Japan. You just feel so GOOD getting out of the bath, though you do have to be careful of dehydration. I lost over a kilogram of water weight in an hour. It was a good thing we had Gatorade ready for replenishment.

From Kusatsu we sped to our next stop, a place of vengeful demons!

A Warm Welcome to High Summer

2011-07-18T16:23:00.001+09:00

Every summer sees a flurry of fireworks festivals across Japan. There are actually fewer this year, as many of the larger displays have been cancelled due to the earthquake and damage to the power grid. Luckily for Gunma, the Tamamura display went ahead as planned.

Several friends came to visit over this past three day weekend, and we launched things with the hour long display. Traffic was pretty rough on the way over, and the area was super crowded, far more than last year. However, we still managed to snag a choice location, almost as close to the display as you could go. When the wind shifted we were sometimes hit with hot ash from the explosions almost directly overhead! It was by far the closest I have ever been to a fireworks display.

I brought along my tripod, and had a lot of fun playing with shutter speed settings for different effects. Fireworks are tricky to photograph, but the end result can be a lot of fun.

Around the Noto in One Day

2011-07-15T23:05:00.000+09:00

We awoke the next morning feeling a little worse for wear, but ready to tackle a long day of driving. The Noto Peninsula juts out of the north western side of Japan and is known for its scenic but rural nature. Kanazawa is the cultural heart of Ishikawa prefecture, so there was never much reason to seek out the more rural areas. My lack of friends with cars also made it harder to explore. Japan Rail service stops at Nanao, and I had never made it north of there.

My primary goal for the day was a stop at the Senmaida, or 1,000 rice fields. Its a series of small rice paddies stairstepping down a steep slope towards the sea. Its a very famous place, especially around Ishikawa, and I had always wanted to see it myself. The day was a little greyer than I may have liked, as it often is in Japan. However, the view was still amazing.

My current home in Gunma is one of the more landlocked areas in Japan, so it was nice to get a view of the ocean, in this case the Japan Sea. Travis and I were stopped by a pair of Japanese tourists who wanted to get photos taken with us. This isnt actually as uncommon as you might think. There can still be a touch of "Holy Moses a Foreigner!" in daily life here, especailly in the more boondocky areas.

Our next stop was totally unplanned. We happened to be traveling on Childrens Day, which is celebrated with giant carp streamers. We passed by a small town that had a huge display up, with dancers and food vendors to round out the flying fish. It wasnt much, but it was a nice stop to break up our long drive.

Lunch was at the Nihonkai Microbrewery. Micro brewing is slowly gaining in popularity in Japan, but it still hasn't caught on with the fervor it has in America. There are a few excellent smaller brewers though, and Nihonkai is one of them. Not only is the beer pretty good, but their brew pub is a perfectly American take on pairing good food and good beer in one place. One very scenic place I might add, on a hill overlooking the Japan Sea. They even have an epic slide to take you down to the beach, though you may want to limit your beer intake before you ride it. For lunch I got a big plate of kebab meat, a huge naan bread and enough salad to make me feel like it might be healthy. It was a bit of a culture clash, but still plenty delicious.

We finished the day back in Kanazawa in the Kagadaiko yakitori restaurant. I always say that it is my favorite bar in the world, and that hasn't changed. Excellent yakitori, large cold draft Asahi, hilarious staff and good friends all on offer. It doesn't get much better than that.

The Sky is Burning

2011-07-11T21:53:00.000+09:00

Yesterday saw a spectacularly fiery sunset behind Mt. Haruna. I Shot a few frames, though on second shot I probably shouldn't have been looking through the viewfinder all zoomed in. My eyes do seem to still be working, so maybe all is well.

Ishikawa Dreamin

2011-07-10T21:26:00.000+09:00

Over Golden Week I returned to my old stomping grounds in Ishikawa for a few days to visit old friends and see a few sights I missed when I lived there. The lead event was the Dekayama festival in the city of Nanao. Festivals are always a great time, and this one was no exception.

My tour guide this trip was Travis, one of my oldest and best friends. The festival itself was filled with giant floats, good food, plenty of beer and some great company that all made for a great start to the week.

The floats are the centerpiece of this particular festival, and after an opening dance and blessing they are pulled through the streets by a large team of men. Having helped carry the much smaller portable mikoshi shrines, I can't imagine the massive weight of these huge floats.

That could be why the actual pulling didn't last too long, the floats are more for admiring then moving.

Once the festivities wound down, our large group migrated inside. An old acquaintance had offered up his house for crash space to anybody who needed it. We hung out for a while, playing games, joking and drinking. One of the girls who lived nearby actually knew somebody I know here in Gunma. It really is a small world and the world of us English teachers is even smaller.

Well I didn't expect...

2011-06-27T21:47:00.000+09:00

You can't plan an adventure, but you can make the best use of one when it arrives. Our original intent after stopping in Matsumoto had been to head back to Gunma. It would be a long drive, but we'd save money on hotel. As the day wore on Travis the driver became less and less enamored of that option. Having served in his role myself, I fully understood his desire to stop moving for the night, so we headed to Nagano city, home to the famous temple of Zenko-ji.

I had stayed at a nice youth hostel near Zenko-ji a year before, so we figured to try there first. The hostel itself is in an old temple, and the lady who runs it doesn't speak a lick of English. Though she may be the nicest hosteler I've ever encountered. When she found out we were residents of Japan, she dropped the no reservations charge, and then threw in free parking just for fun.

The next stop was dinner, which we found at a local soba place that came highly recommended. It figures that they were out of soba, but my sukiyaki udon was still pretty amazing.

Like Gunma, Nagano Prefecture is known for its hot springs, and within a moderate jaunt of the hostel is a primo resort. Indoor and outdoor baths, saunas, steam rooms and more. It really is just the thing to relax a body after a long hard days travel. Though en-route we happened upon a passage, a tunnel with paper lanterns that just seemed to go somewhere interesting.

So of course we walked down it! At the end, like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, we found a sake brewery. Because of course that is what you find at the end of strange passageways.

All good sake breweries have to have tastings available, and Travis, Peter and I surely took them up on that. Of course, they ply you with free booze so that you'll be more likely to buy the non-free booze. It works like a charm every time.

Freshly ladened with our freshly brewed nihonshu we made it to the hot springs without any further damage to our wallets. Back at the hostel post soak, we were ready to tuck into our bottles with gusto when the proprietor noticed the logo on our bags. Rather than forbid us from drinking in the rooms, she dished out a bottle of the same company from her own stock, as well as some home made plum wine. In fact, she kept bringing out new things to drink and sample even after we had drunk our fill. Nobody expects an adventure, but nonetheless, sometimes you find one.

Green Lunch, Black Castle

2011-06-16T22:12:00.000+09:00

After spending so much time moving and dodging aftershocks, I knew I wanted to get out of Gunma for Spring Break. Even a few days away can be quite the restorative, and time with friends is never wasted so when Travis proposed a road trip in Nagano I took him up on the offer.

Our first stop was the Daio Wasabi Farm. Despite having lived in Japan for almost five years, Travis had never been. The weather hazier than I would have liked. On clear days the Japan Alps loom over the rows of spicy veggies, but our view was much less majestic. Luckily, the fresh ground wasabi on my cutlet was still pretty majestic!

The sensible double bill with the wasabi farm is Matsumoto castle. It is close by, beautiful, and one of the few remaining castles that escaped fire, war, earthquakes, the end of feudalism and the firebombings of WW II. I've been several times, but I never get sick of taking pictures of red bridge, moat and the lofty black ramparts.

Sakura, Sprinkles, and Sake

2011-06-02T22:23:00.000+09:00

Cherry blossom season has always been one of my favorite times in Japan. Two weeks of sunny skies, warming weather and cherry trees covered in delicate flowers are enough to banish winter from any heart. This was my fourth chance to enjoy hanami (花見), the flower viewing festivals that sweep every city in Japan.

This year I joined a huge ALT party in the nearby city of Takasaki. Takasaki is actually the largest city in Gunma, and has a much more vibrant city center than Maebashi, even though the latter is the prefectural capital. (Years ago, Takasaki got the shinkansen stop and Maebashi didn't, and that quick link to Tokyo has made its effects known economically.)

Despite a rather dismal weather forecast and lingering doubts about how much we should celebrate in the face of the recent earthquake, our group gathered near the site of old Takasaki castle and settled down to the serious business of enjoying the flowers, and our snack and alcohol selections.

We did have some light rain, but nothing to damp the festivities too much. There had been some discussion of Karaoke, but in the end most people departed after dinner at the local Garlic Restaurant. When you start drinking at 1 PM, its hard to stay out much past 6 or 7!

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu !

2011-05-30T19:20:00.000+09:00

Starting over is always hard. No matter how many times you do it, walking into a new workplace on the first day takes a bit of guts. Especially when that workplace looks a little bit like a prison. And 95% of the inhabitants don't speak your native language.

Even so, I've found my transition between schools has gone much more smoothly than I could ever have hoped. The students and teachers at my new base Junior High School have welcomed me with open arms. While not every class goes perfectly, and not every student loves English, by and large the experience has been very positive.

I think this is partly because I know a bit more about how the schools and classes operate than I did last year at this time. My Japanese, still not strong, has also improved to a point where I can make decent small talk with any kid who feels up to chatting with this crazy foreigner who has invaded their classroom. As well, my "entertaining Japanese school children" shtick has also improved.

I've made it a point to get a bit more involved too, popping by the ping pong and kendo clubs with some regularity. I have played a few games of ping pong, but haven't made any attempts at crossing swords with the kendo kids. Humiliation over a table tennis game is one thing, but those bamboo swords look like they'd leave quite the bruise!

The 2nd years, about the same age as an American 8th grade class, seem to form my biggest fan club so far. One impossibly cute girl can not see me in the halls without a high five, and one of the boys will always make me stop for a quick conversation. I've even got him saying "what's up?" instead of the omnipresent "How are you?" and it's "I'mfinethankyouandyou" reply.

The new school is a bit larger than Miyagi, with an extra class per grade I have 3 1st year classes, 4 2nd year classes and 3 3rd year classes, certainly enough to keep me busy. I don't have a dedicated computer terminal this time around, which keeps me a bit more focused on work, but can make days with no classes really drag.

The new elementary schools are also quite nice. I'm proving quite popular with the 3rd and 4th graders for my acumen at tag (called onigokko here) and piggy back rides. Though of course when playing tag, I seem to find myself "it" rather often. For all the frustration and occasional hardships that come with this job and lifestyle, getting paid to make kids laugh and smile, and sometimes speak English, isn't all that bad at all.

Long time no blog

2011-05-29T20:46:00.000+09:00

While my blog posts have almost petered out, there have been plenty of reasons for the dry spell. I had no internet connection for the entire month of April, and that of course makes it hard to post! As well, I've been quite busy, but not with things that would necessarily make compelling blog posts. Add in to that a rather emotionally trying spring as well and blogging just hasn't been as high on my to do list as it should have been.

That said, I am almost finished with processing photos from my last few trips. Spring break saw me in Nagano for a visit to Matsumoto Castle and the wasabi farm again. The Golden Week holidays were spent in Ishikawa visiting a very interesting festival, with the requisite giant floats and booths of festival food and of course beer. So these trips will grace the blog with their presence soon. Lurking in there will also be photos from the three different hanami (cherry blossom viewing) celebrations I attended. As well, once my apartment is truly internet presentable, I want to post some photos of my home decorating choices for the world to see. So stay tuned, I should be able to restore some semblance of normalcy around here soon!

Easter in Japan

2011-04-24T21:21:00.001+09:00

It had been a while since I had seen the inside of a Church, so I tracked down a local one so I could attend Easter Mass. The one I found in downtown Maebashi holds services in English, and Portuguese and Spanish, but only on certain Sundays. For Easter, things were to be in Japanese.

On this perfect spring morning I met up with a friend who was also interested in seeing how things were celebrated locally, even though she leans more Protestant then my own papist persuasion. I was a bit surprised at how full the Church ended up being. It wasn't a very large building, but for obvious reasons you don't expect to run into many Catholics in Japan.The vast majority of those attending were Japanese, though there were a sprinkling of Europeans and Filipinos there as well. In a pleasant surprise, while most of the service was Japanese, they read each reading twice, once in 日本語, and once in English. A few of the hymns were sung in English as well, by a small guitar accompanied choir. Singing the rest of the songs in Japanese was a fun challenge. It wasn't easy trying to read the music and the language at the same time. My results were rather mixed.

Seated a couple of rows in front of us were a threesome of rather rowdy young Japanese boys. They goofed off, played with a sports drink bottle, and generally paid no attention to the service whatsoever. So pretty much just like American kids. The most interesting departure from what I remember back home was the peace. Rather than a hearty hand shake and a "Peace be With you", everybody just bowed to their neighbors while mumbling something about heiwa.

In a surprise ending, all the newcomers that day were made to stand up and introduce themselves! It was rather shocking, and a tad bit awkward. As a foreigner here, you know you stand out. You try to avoid standing out too much, but you know that you will never, ever blend in. So you tend to do your best to avoid situations that call even more attention to yourself. Say situations like standing up in church on Easter telling everybody your name and where you come from!

That embarrassing aside over, we ducked out to a local family restaurant for brunch. A quesadilla, Salisbury steak and a chicken cesar salad made for an unusual but delicious Easter meal.

Damages

2011-04-19T20:35:00.000+09:00

It is hard to take a photo during a blackout at night. Funny thing about blackouts, there just doesn't seem to be as much light as usual. Though things have been good on that front, all the scheduled blackouts for the past several weeks have been canceled for now, as the weather has been fine and power usage has been down. Though people are worried about summer. This past summer was a scorcher, and this year is predicted to be similar. How the damaged power supply grid will respond to everybody running the a/c all night remains to be seen, but the idea has people in high places concerned.

The gasoline lines are gone here too. They only lasted a few weeks, but it was interesting to see the laws of supply and demand at work. Luckily the gas companies engaged in a bit of charitable price fixing. Gas prices did go up, but only moderately. I lucked out both times I had to fill up, sneaking in to the line right as it opened. Looking back on things, it is amazing that it took less than a month to clear up the gasoline issues, especially considering that much of the import and refining machinery in North and Eastern Japan was damaged to outright wrecked by the Earthquake.

Though even so, power problems and gasoline shortages were effects of the earthquake that were felt here in Gunma, but had causes hundreds of miles away. Locally, some of the only actual damage I saw was like this, roof top tiles knocked asunder. While I wouldn't want to have my own roof looking this beat up, especially with spring rains coming, it must be admitted that on a scale of 1 to "your house got washed away by a wall of water" this rates pretty low.

All this is to say, here in Gunma, we got lucky. Aftershocks continue, though with days between them instead of hours, but all in all, life is back to normal.

The same old moving song

2011-03-31T13:38:00.000+09:00

I hate moving.

I think almost everyone does. It is without a doubt one of the more annoying and life disrupting things that we do to ourselves. Ironically, I have moved almost once a year since 2004. In some of those years I moved twice. 3 of those moves were across the Pacific Ocean.

You'd think that for all that practice I'd be really good at it. But I'm still terrible at organizing packing and unpacking. Luckily, all that moving has kept me pretty possession light, so I don't have much stuff to worry about.

The past week has seen me move myself across town, as well as assist one friend in a move up the hill from his current apartment, and the cleaning out (looting?) of the apartment of a friend who decided to decamp from Japan in the face of the earthquake aftermath. So essentially, I spent last week moving 3 people. To say that I am sick and tired of carrying boxes and appliances would be to drastically understate the case. If I never have to help carry a large appliance again it will be far to soon. Though of course there is still a couch to be fetched...

Between the moving and the rather frequent pre- 8 am aftershock wakeup calls I find myself at the end of my 2 week break rather exhausted. I am looking forward to school starting next week though, and getting back into the daily routine that has been so thoroughly disrupted by everything. As always I look at my new schools with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. I'm sure I'll enjoy them just as much as the ones I've taught at this past year though.

All in all though, despite the stress, the bodily aches and pains, the still occasionally shifting earth and whatever else the fates have flung at me of late, I still feel generally content, perhaps even happy.

In other news, I don't have internet at the new apartment yet. I will try and keep things updated as much as possible, but post frequency may drop for a few weeks.

新しいアパート The New Apartment

2011-03-22T22:31:00.000+09:00

Despite radiation leaks and the occasional aftershock, life is moving on steadily. Today I signed the lease on my new apartment. It's a thing of beauty. I love it already, and I haven't even finished moving in yet.

The entryway is an actual hallway, and not a hallway / kitchen/ bathroom/ washroom as it is in my current place. The cabinet on the side is for shoe storage. I'm actually standing in the genkan, a lowered area built for taking off shoes.

The main living/ dining room is larger than my whole current apartment.

The bedroom is of decent size, and has a tatami floor. Tatami is one of the quintessentially Japanese things that I've only ever slept on in traditional inns and the odd temple, so that is pretty exciting. Though we will see how I feel about it in a few months.

I also have a kitchen. Its a small kitchen, but its a KITCHEN, with actual storage and gas burners. I must say, I'm quite excited for this new place, after a total of 3 years of living is cramped, expensive, transitory housing it will be nice to live in a real apartment.

Spring, a time for Beginnings.

2011-03-20T10:26:00.000+09:00

The week since the great quake has certainly been one of the strangest of my life, filled with hopes, fears, friends, endings, beginnings and more. People around the globe have had an eye on the unfolding nuclear crisis in Fukushima. While the affected reactors are pretty far away, they are close enough that everybody in the Kanto region have been keeping at least one eye on the news.

There has been a bit of an exodus here of late, with a lot of ALTs taking a quick vacation home. Some aren't coming back either. I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest. I understand the desire to ensure your own safety, and to seek comfort in family and friends. But I also feel that the crisis, while certainly very serious, has been blown out of proportion by the media. Though I also wonder if I should be less sanguine about it all. I'm watching the news, and prepared to leave if I have to, but I'm not losing any sleep about my possibly glowing in the dark someday. I suppose only time will tell if I am foolish or simply sensible.

The weather is turning warm as April approaches, which makes things seem even more surreal in some ways. The weather this weekend has been amazing. Warm, sunny, the sort of days that just make you want stroll aimlessly around enjoying the blue skies and budding flowers. There is a stark contrast between the feelings of rebirth and hope offered by the changing seasons, and the feelings of sadness and fear coming from the disaster area and the departure of close friends and confidants.

I had my own last days at my current schools this week. I was really sad to say goodbye, especially at the elementary schools. Even now the kids are so full of life and energy that you can't not smile when you see them. While I won't deny that my eyes filled with tears a few times, it was a good sadness, and a nice counterpart to everything else.

The aftershocks are slowing down, but are still coming. Last night another large one hit while I was driving, and I will admit to an awful sense of deja vu. Thankfully it was soon over and caused no damage. Counting the large foreshocks last Wednesday there have been 613 earthquakes in Japan in a week and a half. To see an amazing visual representation I highly recommend this website. It is hypnotic, and almost beautiful, like fireworks. Relatively few of these movements have made it to us here in Gunma, but enough have that I figure I am OK if I never feel the earth move again.

Aftershocks

2011-03-14T13:35:00.000+09:00

It is one thing to know that terrible things happen in the world. It is another thing to understand this fact.

Even as you watch CNN and see dramatic footage of whatever tragedy has befallen some obscure corner of the world, you always assume it won’t happen to you. Even living in a country as seismically active as Japan, you know that the chances of being affected are so low, you just don’t really worry about it.

I know that I am a very lucky man. Gunma prefecture is far enough from the fault, and the sea, that we have hardly been affected. The city of Kiryu has seen some property damage, and one death, but most areas were fine. A few books knocked off the shelf, a broken fish tank, smashed dishes. These are things that are a pain to clean up, but things that CAN be cleaned up.

My apartment lost power for about 12 hours, but even that came back on pretty quickly. Some friends in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture were without power until late Sunday, and still don’t have water. The further north and east you go of course, the greater the disruption and devastation.

Life around here is desperately trying to return to normal, but I suspect that true equilibrium may take a while to return. In Gunma prefecture schools are open, and classes are going on as normal. Though since the 3^rd years graduated last week there aren’t as many classes to teach.

I hear that even not counting the potential for a nuclear disaster to the north, the probable permanent loss of those plants means that Japan has lost between 15 and 20% of its total nuclear electrical generating capacity. There have been warnings of rolling blackouts starting today, and possibly lasting until late April. The morning blackouts didn’t go off as planned, which was good news for my coffee maker, though there is still an outage intended for this evening. Despite being an Eagle Scout with my Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge, I actually don’t own a flashlight, an oversight I may not be able to rectify now.

The local stores are running seriously low on food stocks, and gas deliveries have stopped. Gasoline is being rationed, 10 liters per car, and the lines at the pump are out of this world. I have a half a tank myself, which should last a pretty long while if I am careful with it, but who knows when that supply line will be restored. A lot of restaurants are open, though there are shortages there too. Transit links are slowly being restored and brought back to normal, though the planned blackouts will be affecting train travel.

The aftershocks themselves are coming more slowly now. Friday afternoon and Saturday morning saw a lot of shaking, including three quakes large enough to wake me up through a sound sleep. As I have been writing this post another aftershock struck off of the coast of Ibaraki and shook the school rather hard. Worryingly enough the authorities have said that there is a 70% chance of a magnitude 7 or higher aftershock over the next 36 hours. Everybody is feeling pretty jumpy anyway, and even bumping a desk or table is enough to get people looking around a little wide eyed to see if the world is indeed shaking again.

The Sendai Earthquake

2011-03-11T20:56:00.000+09:00

Well I was going to write a post today about the Junior High School graduation, however Mother Nature had other plans. At 2:45 this afternoon a massive earthquake struck near the northern city of Sendai. Thankfully for my city, the quake was far enough away that there is little to no damage, though we certainly felt it. I was driving at the time, and could feel the world shaking as my small car rocked back and forth for three minutes. Thirty minutes later I was in the City Hall when a strong aftershock hit. The lights and signs were shaking back and forth and everybody inside paused to see if they needed to duck under the desk or not.

My apartment was mostly intact, with a few things knocked to the floor. Cornflakes all over the entryway.While there was no visible building damage in my area power had been knocked out over a wide swath of eastern Maebashi. My friend in neighboring Ibaraki prefecture, closer to the epicenter, reported some damage to walls and as well large swaths of power outages. Clearly, damage in the north is of epic proportions. Japan Rail has stopped running, so now several of us are ensconced in a friends house that is near the center of the city that still has power, and internet.

The aftershocks have kept coming, though most of them have been pretty minor. I think we are all ready for the earth to stop moving.

Life Lessons Through Snacking

2011-03-08T19:11:00.000+09:00

For such a generally conservative society, Japan has a strange fascination with change. Concepts like the cycle of life, the change of the seasons, and the transitory nature of existence are found throughout Japanese culture. Poetry, art, religion and food are all outlets for this melancholy celebration.

One vector for the idea that nothing stays the same is in junk food and snacks. Go to any grocery store or convenience store and you will be confronted with a very wide variety of limited time sodas, beer, and snack foods. Some are seasonal; some are simply specials.

This approach does have its benefits. Every trip to the store brings the possibility of discovering something amazing and delicious. Items like the winter special chocolate almonds, with a dusting of bitter sweet cocoa powder on the outside. Some years ago several companies offered tomato and mozzarella flavored potato chips, an interesting combination that I grew quite fond of that has since disappeared for good. Not every new product is a hit though, for example the cheese flavored Kitkat bars or the famous cucumber flavored Pepsi. I tried that one myself, and while it wasn’t as atrocious as one might expect, neither was it something I cared to revisit. It pretty much tasted like cucumber though, which really is a triumph of better living through chemistry.

McDonalds has also seized on this, and regularly features rotating special sandwiches. In the fall there were four chicken sandwiches, including a Fondue sandwich that had the chicken dipped in a cheese sauce, then slapped on a bun with bacon and another slice of cheese. There was also the German Sausage sandwich with chicken, a slice of sausage, sauerkraut and mustard sauce. Each sandwich lasted two weeks, and once the time was up, that sandwich was gone.

Currently they are running a campaign called Big America 2, a sequel to last years Big America Burgers. The offering include the Idaho Burger, with a hash brown on top of the patty. It is probably the most delicious McDonalds burger I have ever had, though as you can imagine it is NOT for the calorie conscious. There was also the Miami Burger, with corn chips and chili as a topping. How they got from chili to Miami I'm not entirely sure. However, both of those are gone, and now the last burger looms large, the Manhattan with its deli looking bun and pastrami topper. I haven't tried it yet, but I suppose I should, in the interests of completeness.

The real downside of and lesson in all this is that nothing lasts forever. When you find an interesting flavor that excites your taste buds you know that you had better enjoy it now, because it will be gone soon. A fitting lesson for life brought to you by potato chips.

The White Tiger Corps

2011-03-02T17:19:00.000+09:00

Aizuwakamatsu has another more tragic facet of history connected to the castle. During the Boshin War siege a small group of young samurai who were members of the White Tiger Corps (Byakkotai in Japanese) retreated to a hill overlooking the city during a battle. They looked back at the castle, and seeing the smoke from the burning town wrongfully assumed that the castle itself had fallen.

This would have meant that their lord, his retainers and many of their own samurai fathers were dead. Thinking that their cause was lost, the twenty young men, most around sixteen or seventeen years old, committed suicide. The story is known because one failed in his attempt at an honorable death, and was rescued by a local farmer.

All twenty were buried at the top of the hill, and today Iimori Hill is one of the main sights in Aizuwakamatsu. There is a cluster of souvenir shops around the bottom, and then a series of shrines and temples line the path to the summit.

The snow that had fallen the day before covered the path and made the paths up the hill a much more treacherous proposition. About half way up we came upon a tower with two spiral ramps to the top, one for the ascent and one for the descent. Hidden in the core of the tower are Buddhist statues of Kannon, the goddess of Mercy.

Nearby was an automated omikuji dispenser. Omikuji are small paper scrolls that tell your fortune. They usually cover the general outlook on life as well as specific details for love, business, tests and more. There are many levels of luck that you can receive, from the very best to the very worst. If you get the very worst fortune, you tie the paper off nearby so the bad luck won’t attach itself to you. My fortune this time was for uncertain luck, so some was good and some was bad.

At the top there is the graveyard of the Byakkotai and a monument to their sacrifice. Interestingly enough, in the late 1920s Benito Mussolini heard the story and was so touched by it he donated a pillar from Pompeii topped with an Imperial Roman Eagle. The Eagle is still there, watching over the hilltop.

For a place that has such an unfortunate claim to fame, Iimori really impressed me. It has just the right proportions of history, natural beauty and a lot of amazing things to take photos of.

The Beginnings of Goodbyes

2011-02-26T16:32:00.000+09:00

     I slipped quietly into the elementary school gymnasium so as to not disturb the singing sixth years. They were lined up, accordions in the front to flutes in the back practicing their farewell song. In a few short weeks they will graduate and move up the ladder of life to the middle school up the road.
     A short time later they filed out, and things got underway for the "goodbye party." Party seems like the wrong word, though that is what it said on my schedule. I'd call it a "farewell assembly." Each class had prepared a song to sing to congratulate the sixth years on their completion of elementary school. Even the youngest kids had instruments and had obviously practiced quite hard for the day. The fourth year classes even had coordinated dance moves!
     The fifth years did something a little different, with various skits reenacting the whole elementary school experience. They even managed to squeeze in some pretty pointed jabs at some of the teachers that had the whole audience laughing. At one point, a rather rotund young man came bursting out dressed in a toga to pose as the great Buddha statue at Kamakura. I am always amazed at the depths of creativity in these kids, especially as it doesn't always show itself in class.
     Even the teachers (sans me, who is only there once a week) got into the act, with a rousing rendition of the popular song Kiseki complete with electric guitar, violin and trombone! The whole thing was a lot of fun, even though a lot of it went over my still tragically limited Japanese listening skills.

    On the middle school side of things, I got a chance to go to the big end of year drinking party attended by staff from every middle school in Maebashi. The invite went something like this...

"Grant sensei, are you coming to the party on Friday?"
"Uh.. this Friday?"
"Yes"
"Uh... sure."
"Ok, be there at 6:00"

     So I was expecting just a normal staff party, with just people from my school and a nice, casual dress code. What I got was 200 people in suits, and me in jeans and a t-shirt. Oooops. Luckily once the beer starts to pour, nobody cares, and honestly as a foreigner, they don't really care anyway. The before party speeches did drag a bit, looking around I saw a great many teachers had nodded right off!
     As always with a big event like this, the food was excellent, and the beer was plentiful. During Japanese drinking parties you never pour your own drink, you allow others near you to pour for you. Also, people will often get up and walk over to an authority figure to pour their drinks as a sign of respect. Well, I was sitting next to the Vice-Principle and a lot of people came over to pour his drink, then went ahead and topped me up since I was right there. Being that I am by nature a thirsty person my glass was often in need of some attention. (Seriously, it doesn't matter what I'm drinking, water, coke, juice, beer, margaritas... I drink lots and a drink fast.)
    One nice thing about this particular shindig was that since every school was in attendance, I wasn't the only foreigner for once. Several good friends were also there, so I got to have some nice chats in something other than broken Japanese.

     The school year is rapidly winding down, and everybody is in for some big changes over the next few weeks. Good thing too, without change life just wouldn't be interesting would it?

Tsuruga-jo

2011-02-22T16:17:00.001+09:00

Falling snow really does make things better. The way it cloaks the hustle and bustle of daily life in a layer of cold fluffy cotton makes everything seem positively ethereal. There is already a certain magic at work in the curves and ridges of Japanese Castles, and drenched in snow they look even more beautiful.

At the center of Aizuwakamatsu is the hill castle Tsuruga-jo. I have always enjoyed Japanese castles because in addition to being imposing fortifications, they are also works of great beauty. Tsuruga-jo is no exception. Like most of the castles around, it is a concrete reproduction. The original was pulled down when feudalism was abolished in the early Meiji Era.

The castle grounds were a hive of activity as volunteers prepared for a lantern festival that was going on that night. Our group sidestepped the work, and stopped for a look at a small Inari shrine on the castle grounds. The falling snow and older accumulation did make everything that much more beautiful, but it also made the steps that much more treacherous.

The ticket taker standing at the entrance was dressed up in full samurai gear, and jumped right into our group shot with a grin and some pretty decent English skills. The interior was dedicated to a museum showcasing the history of the area. Tsuruga-jo is fairly unique in the realm of Japanese castles, as it actually saw combat. The Aizu area was a stronghold of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and resisted the Meiji Restoration during the Boshin war. There was a battle that burned much of the town, and the castle itself held out for a month under siege before it fell to the Imperial forces.

I got to pick up a replica firearm from 1800s Japan, and boy was in a heavy and unwieldy piece of junk! The stock was shockingly small; I suppose to account for the user wearing armor. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to fire it with any hope of accuracy.

The top floor of the castle was devoted to an observation deck, but here was where the snow was a hindrance to our enjoyment. The view hemmed in by low clouds, blowing snow and was decidedly unpanoramic.

Near to the castle was a small garden and tea room that was included on our combo ticket. It didn’t take very long to wander through, but was all the more enjoyable for its small size. Our legs were getting tired from walking, and the chill was taking its toll. And so we walked up the mountain, to the wonderful onsen I talked about earlier. Post bathing, we taxied it back into town for a dinner of Thai food. I ordered the spicy pork salad, and it about burned my tastebuds off. I was the only person at the table who could eat it! I have had the same meal in Thailand, and that stands to this day as the spiciest thing I have ever eaten, and I love spicy food!

School Lunch

2011-02-19T11:32:00.000+09:00

A bright point of any work day is lunch. The day is at least half over, and a nice break with good food is always appreciated. Working as an ALT, eating Japanese school lunches, lunch becomes both a break in the day and a bit of a game of roulette.

In some ways I am luckier than a great many other ALTs, in that I have always made learning how to read Japanese menus a high priority. At the beginning of every month all the teachers receive a list of every lunch for that month with a nutritional break down. For those who can’t read much Japanese this is not a big help, and every day brings a new surprise.

I can usually read most of what is coming, and at least figure out if the lunch will be good or bad. This being Japan, there is a lot of fish on tap, though it is usually a random hunk of cooked fish, a meal that rarely appeals to my landlocked taste buds. The variety is actually rather amazing. Naturally most of the time lunch is Japanese food, but there are plenty of meals inspired by Chinese, Korean and Western cooking.

I say inspired by because like most things here, these cuisines have been filtered through that uniquely Japanese sense of taste. Things that should be spicy have been robbed of all pep, and beware of anything that should have cheese in it.

Each lunch is actually quite balanced though, with fruit, veggies, protein and carbs. Really, aside from the occasional bad tasting clunker, the lunches are pretty good. The real problem for the ALT is that each serving is intended for a growing young junior high school student. They pack a pretty big punch calorie wise, and yet the serving size rarely seems like quite enough, which makes seconds a tempting but risky proposition.

As someone who never ate school lunch growing up, I have nothing to compare my lunches too, but I think that generally they do a good job. Not every lunch is a winner, but that holds true when restaurant hopping in downtown Denver too.

Steam and Snow

2011-02-15T16:21:00.000+09:00

The roaring of the nearby waterfall filled my ears as I settled back in the warm waters. Before me I could see a canyon lit by floodlights, with scraggly snow covered trees dotted along the slope. Snow blew through the air, sometimes dancing into the alcove the bath was situated in. Beams of light shone through a slatted ceiling through the steam and snow, subtly illuminating the scene. One wall was open, showcasing the winter vista of the snow covered canyon. One word floated to the top of my consciousness, magical.

Japan is so geologically active that hot water bursts from the ground just about everywhere. In the mountainous regions it can be hard to find a town that doesn’t have a hot springs bath nearby, but as always some places are more famous than others. The town of Aizuwakamatsu, in the northern prefecture of Fukushima, is justly famous for its onsen baths.

Bandai-san, a massive active volcano that erupted explosively in the late 1800s, looms near Aizu, and helps keep the area well supplied with natural hot water. The particular set of baths we found was in the onsen resort area of Higashiyama, within walking distance of central Aizu. From the road we could see the steam billowing out from the near river level outdoor baths below and we knew that this was a good place for hot bath in the snow.

The interior was pure high class modern Japanese hotel. Lots of wood and white paneled walls, with broad windows overlooking the river and a well stocked bar welcomed us inside. Because it was a hotel onsen, there were no lockers in the changing room, so we had to leave all our valuables at the front desk.

Our group of four ranged from myself, a regular visitor of Japanese bathing establishments, to a total onsen newbie who said she felt nervous butterflies of the type you get when you stand in line for a roller coaster.

The offerings on the men's side were one very hot indoor bath, one tepid indoor bath and two medium heat baths outside exposed to the elements. One of the outdoor baths was large enough to fit a fair number of people, and one was just a deep barrel, only large enough for one. The temperature was very well balanced, with the outdoor baths being warm enough to withstand the snowy weather but cool enough that you didn’t overheat. Many places have a cold bath to cool off in, though usually the cold bath is truly frigid. This one was more tepid than cold, and provided a nice way to cool off without being a major shock to the system. We reconvened outside after almost two hours in the baths, and everybody agreed it had been a fantastic time. The hot water was the perfect antidote after a long snowy day of tourism.

The Red Castle in Snow

2011-02-11T10:09:00.000+09:00

Snow wise this winter has been very mild. Maebashi is protected by the Echigo mountain range to our west, and so all the precipitation falls on my old stomping grounds in Kanazawa, and points north. The city itself has seen flurries only rarely, and only this week have we got anything worth the name snow. It snowed Wednesday morning, but the accumulation was gone by 10 am. It is snowing now, as I write this though, and is forecast to keep it up over the weekend.

While it has been very nice to not have to deal with the daily tribulations of regular snow fall, it doesn’t really seem like winter without at least an occasional glimpse. Luckily, Mt. Akagi, my backyard dormant volcano, has had a nice snow cap since late December. Recently Peter and I decided to get some use out of my snow tires and see how things looked up top.

It was a clear day with a deep blue sky, but even from my apartment I could see how fast the wisps of cloud were moving around the summit. Did this inspire me to grab a hat and gloves? Of course not! The drive up wasn’t bad at all, I continue to be impressed with my little car, it really is a champion.

The summit lake is very popular for ice fishing, though I have never really seen the appeal. Fishing itself is fun if a tad boring, but add in biting wind and sub zero temperatures and it just seems like torture. Though there are obviously plenty of people who disagree with me, as the lake was dotted with a fair number of small shelters.

Hatless and gloveless as we were, we still walked from the parking area to Akagi shrine. The area is always beautiful, but the red shrine, white snow and blue sky all came together to be particularly picturesque.

Kusatsu in Winter

2011-02-08T22:14:00.000+09:00

Ever since I first visited Kusatsu Onsen in August, I have been a big proponent of this mountain top hot springs resort. As a big fan of the Japanese style of public bathing, when I call Kusatsu my favorite bath, it really means something.

While Kusatsu is an attractive destination all year round, the appeal of a nice hot bath in the depths of winter is hard to beat. In an effort to been the creeping chill of mid winter, I got together a group of friends who were eager for a bath in the snow.

My friend Marcos is from Miami, and while he has seen snow before, he had never seen falling snow. He was thrilled from the moment we arrived, with a light snow delicately falling as we explored the city. Even being the hardened winter warrior that I am the scene was magical. Marcos was like a kid in a candy store, drinking in the experience with such glee that I think we all had an even better time.

While there are tons of baths around the city, my favorite is on the edge of town, and offers a sauna, indoor bath and outdoor bath. In the basement there is a selection of pools of different temperatures and acidity. Along one side of this room was a patch of wooden floor with a log headrest to lie down on and cool off. Relaxing on the wet wood with sulfurous steam making patterns in the beams of light above was a simply amazing experience.

Fully warmed and relaxed from the baths, we angled straight for an okonomiyaki lunch. Clustering around the hot griddle with the thickening snow fall outside was the perfect end of a winter day.

Wa and you, a guide to not rocking the boat.

2011-02-03T17:48:00.000+09:00

     An aspect of Japanese culture that is both wonderful and annoying is the emphasis on group harmony. Criticism is always veiled, and nobody ever says no. They will instead say "maybe" or, "hmm it is a little difficult..." In the dating realm, rather than face a confrontation with someone they may not be interested in, they will simply not respond to messages. This goes for boys and girls, of all age ranges.
     This embracing of at least the appearance of consensus and harmony is called "wa" 和, and it permeates life here. I was reminded about wa today when I had a conversation with my company about a leave request. I had wanted to go home for a spell to take a badly needed break, and had found an excellent airfare for early February. It was all a little last minute, but I figured at best I could see friends and family and grab a few quick bites of Mexican food and at worst they'd just say no.
   But of course, they can't say no. Rather, they let it sit for two weeks, long enough for airfare to go up, and then said "well it is a little difficult..." I noted that the airfare had risen and that it didn't really matter anymore. My supervisors voice brightened at that, and she said, "Oh, so you will cancel the leave request, that is wonderful." They don't have to say no, and the group harmony is maintained. Or it would have been, if I was Japanese. My more western sensibilities were a bit knocked out of joint by the passive aggressive maneuvering that led to me "not needing to take a vacation anymore." I would have much preferred a straight yes or no answer two weeks ago, but that is simply not the Japanese way, a lesson to be remembered. After all, you don't need time off, if you have wa!

Double the Daruma

2011-02-02T17:44:00.000+09:00

The nearby city of Takasaki is renowned as the birthplace of the Daruma dolls. A Daruma is a round wooden doll with unpainted eyes. After buying one, you color in one eye and make a wish. If and when the wish comes true, you then color in the other eye.

While this can be done at any time of the year, the New Year sees a bevy of festivals celebrating a fresh start and fresh hopes for the oncoming year. People bring their old Daruma with both eyes filled in, and give them back to the temple for a ritual burning. They then buy a new blank doll for a new goal or wish.

I had the fortune to go to two different Daruma festivals. The first was in Takasaki, and was at the temple popularly known as the birthplace of the Daruma. A few days later the festival took over central Maebashi. While it was much the same the second time around, with even many of the exact same booths and vendors, I never pass up a chance for festival food.

I bought a small Daruma myself, and made a wish. It hasn’t come true yet, but it has only been a month so I suppose I should be more patient!

Above the maddening crowds

2011-01-31T17:13:00.000+09:00

Shinjuku as seen from Mori Tower.

I have been to the Mori Tower in Tokyos Roppongi neighborhood before, but I wanted to go back over break because I learned about the Sky Deck. In Japan almost all of the various towers, sky scrapers and observation platforms are enclosed, unlike the older towers and cathedral view points in Europe.

Now, enclosed or not the view is pretty spectacular. However, the glass can make for a difficult environment for a photographer. Colors are altered, reflections appear, and sometimes you start to zoom in and thunk, the lens hits the window!

Yokohama rises in the distance.

Standard admission to Mori Tower gets you access to a standard enclosed observation deck and an art museum that offers rotating exhibitions. Once you reach the heights you can opt to pay an extra 300 yen (about 3.50 US) to ascend to the roof. The view is actually a little bit worse up there, with parts of the building blocking you from looking straight down.

Shibuya from above. If you zoom in, you can see the iconic 109 building.

That is more than made up for with the glorious feeling of standing in the open so high above one of the greatest metropolises in the world. Despite the fact that I was up there on January 1^st, the weather was bright and clear, and could even be described as warm. The opportunity to walk out on the roof of a 781 foot skyscraper is fairly unique, and one that I heartily recommend, despite the extra cost.

A vertical panorama of Tokyo Tower.

New Years in Tokyo: Odaiba

2011-01-26T07:26:00.000+09:00

I spent the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 in the heart of Tokyo. While there are few major tourist sights there that I have yet to see, one can always find something interesting to do there.

One of my goals this trip was to visit the O Edo Onsen Monogatari, which is in the southern district of Odaiba. Odaiba is an artificial island in Tokyo Bay with a number of museums and attractions including the Tokyo Maritime Museum and the Tokyo Big Sight conference center.

The O Edo Onsen recreates, in unironically cheesy fashion, the feel of a street in old Edo. After you enter and pay, you select a design from a number for brightly colored yukata to wear on your trip back in time. A quick change later and you are surrounded by gaudy yukata, a painted sunset ceiling, and a plethora of shops and restaurants with overpriced goods.

There is an outdoor footbath open to both sexes, and of course the standard segregated baths. They had a variety of indoor baths, outdoor baths and a sauna. The overall experience was enjoyable, though certainly very commercial.

Also on the island is a mall complex complete with Ferris Wheel. I was there on a pretty clear day, so it was a no brainer to ride the wheel to the top and get a view of the city.

I even managed to glimpse Mt. Fuji, which has always been notoriously shy; I rarely get much more than a glimpse of Japan’s most famous landmark.

Gunma Flower Park

2011-01-12T22:14:00.000+09:00

Gunma prefecture has a fair number of rural tourist traps left over from the bubble, and one of them is quite close to me. The Gunma Flower Park is just a few kilometers up the road from Ogo, along the slopes of Mt. Akagi.

While I am sure it has proved less a draw than the owners may have hoped, the Flower Park does offer a beautiful setting to enjoy a botanical garden. Facing one way you have the volcanic bulk of Mt. Akagi, facing the other you can see across the northern reaches of the Kanto plain, and the urban areas of Maebashi and Takasaki.

Since I was there in fall there weren’t many flowers at the Flower Park, so the best part was the observation deck. Both days were quite clear, and you could easily see the skyscrapers of Tokyo, some 100 kilometers distant. There are coin operated binoculars too, which really threw the buildings into sharp relief.

Similar to the Denver Botanical Gardens, there is a cluster of green houses with more tropically oriented plants. The green houses function both as a repository of interesting plants from places like the Philippines, Thailand and Mexico and as a place of refuge from the biting Gunma wind.

During my second trip to the park I managed to catch a glorious sunset that covered everything in the most amazing light. I was sporting my telephoto lens at the time, which made for an excellent combo of good light and good glass.

Red Wine, Yellow Sun

2011-01-08T15:59:00.022+09:00

For reasons unknown to me, the Japanese adore the Beaujolais Nouveau. Like so many things from other cultures, they have seized on the first wine of the season and made it their own. Around here there is a family run winery in the city of Ashikaga, in Tochigi Prefecture. Every November they hold a harvest festival. Your entry fee gets you a bottle of wine, red or white, a glass and a bottle opener. Then its up to you to sit back, enjoy music, conversation and sun and just relax under the vines.

Though of course some people relaxed more than others. I myself found the moment rather culturally surreal. Here I was drinking red wine, with a good German bratwurst that I was eating with chopsticks. Now THAT my friends is multiculturalism at its finest.

The weather was glorious, sunny and warm, and the wine and food were both delicious. The weekend was a ton of fun, and is exactly the sort of event that anybody can enjoy. Even non-drinkers, as there is sparkling grape juice available for those who are not fond of wine. For anybody that finds themselves in Japan in November, seek out the Coco Winery in Ashikaga. Even if you go alone, you'll make plenty of friends before the day is out!

The sun sets on 2010

2011-01-05T15:49:00.002+09:00

As the fall winds cleared the summer haze, Gunma was treated with some amazing sunsets. All through October, November and December I have been treated to spectacular vistas on my drive home after work.

There is no doubt that the end of 2010 has hit me hard. Japan is a wonderful country, but the heart of the foreigner experience remains that of a stranger in a strange land. Couple that with working and living in a small farming town, and the sense of isolation can be near overwhelming at times.

Which isn't to say all is gloom and doom. As I meet more and more people from across the prefecture, I have made ever more lasting friendships. As well, the teachers and students are more often looking at me as a teacher and colleague than as "that weird foreign dude". At one of the ubiquitous end of the year parties (忘年会 bounenkai, literally "forget the year party") one of my principals told me that he though I was a good ALT, and that the students loved me, which is always nice to hear.

As always the new year will bring all new challenges, experiences, and more. On the horizon are hints that life may be getting better, so like everybody else I'll play my hand and see how many chips I end up with.

And in the meantime, I'll take more photos, travel more places, and blog about it all, hopefully in a more timely manner than of late.

Here's hoping for a healthy, wealthy, and wonderful 2011 for all involved!

Merry Christmas! (Belated)

2010-12-26T12:24:00.000+09:00

I hope everybody has had a wonderful Christmas! I do apologize for my lack of activity of late, I have a few posts lined up but I must admit that I just haven't been doing much recently. At least not much that is all that blog worthy.

I have here a selection of photos from last years Christmas display at the Denver Botanical Gardens. There are a few illuminations around here in Japan, but I have yet to visit any!

Nikko in Fall

2010-11-30T07:49:00.000+09:00

This fall has been truly beautiful. While the past summer was baking hot, and in fact set a few records, October and November have been filled with clear and sunny days. Not too hot, not too cold.

Nearby Nikko, home of Toshogu Shrine that I visited in August, is famous across Japan as an autumn destination. The brilliant fall colors in the area draw people from all over the Kanto region.

This can certainly make for clogged roads and busy attractions, but luckily for us, most people access Nikko from the Tokyo side. The drive from my place to Nikko was easy and pleasant, with gorgeous views at every turn. I drove up with a trio of flatlanders, who really enjoyed the trip.

We met up with a few more friends from around the area in Nikko, though it took longer than expected due to brutal traffic through town. The shrines were as gorgeous as always, and the small garden near the entrance to Toshogu was a delight.

That is one thing I really love about Japanese cultural sites. No matter how many times you have been, and this marks my third trip to Nikko, there always seems to be something new to discover.

We then headed up into the hills, back to the Kegon falls. It was nice to arrive a little earlier this time, and get the chance to take the elevator down to the lower viewing platform.

The geology nut in me loved that vantage point. We could see the bottom of a layer of columnar basalt, the same type of rock that formed the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland. The meeting point between the basalt lava flows and the underlying rocks was very obvious, even in the fading light.

After a well deserved sit down and some dinner, we all went our separate ways, with the knowledge that the weekend had been properly seized.

上毛電鉄

2010-11-18T17:53:00.000+09:00

My area is served by the Jomo Electric Railway, a non Japan Rail local line that runs between Maebashi and the nearby city of Kiryu. The trains are small, old, and expensive to ride, but despite all that it has become my train system, and so I will defend it with all my heart.

Despite not being JR, the Jomo line still maintains the Japanese reputation of punctuality. Though unfortunately the trains only run every half hour, so if my own punctuality is lacking it can be a bit of a pain waiting for the next train. Fairly often I will ride the train into Maebashi rather than drive, so I have amassed quite a few photos of Ogo Station.

The line runs to Chuo-Maebashi station, which is a kilometer walk from the main JR station. There is a shuttle bus that connects the two for a mere 100 yen, but usually I like to walk it. It's fast enough, and as long as it isn't raining it can be rather pleasant.

Ogo also marks the location of the service and repair yard for the whole line. A couple of weekends ago they held an open house where people could walk around the yard and the maintenance shed. The event was free, but there were souvenirs and food for sale, and I am sure they were hoping that people would ride the train in to see the sights.

They have a few restored older train cars that are trotted out for special occasions. Sometimes they will even make the run into Maebashi. I haven’t had that opportunity yet, but it was still kind of fun to get up close and check them out. Though even the regular line trains are antiques of a sort, they date from the 1960s!

It was nice having an activity going on in Ogo, it often seems that I have to leave my area to do much of interest, and I was happy to be proved wrong for a weekend.

Festivals Both Sporty and Cultural

2010-11-16T16:32:00.001+09:00

In Japan festivals aren’t limited solely to religious celebrations; every school also has a few festivals of their own throughout the year. In September every school has a Sports Festival. The basic idea is like the American Field Day, with races and fun sporty activities for the kids. However, the sports festival is a much bigger deal here. The schools practice for weeks ahead of time. Classes are canceled in the afternoon while the kids practice every aspect of every activity.

When the day comes, there are opening and closing ceremonies with speeches, and more. One of my schools even had food vendors set up in the parking lot! At the elementary schools the marching band took the field after lunch for a quick display for the assembled parents and siblings. Being September, and being that we were coming off a blisteringly hot summer, I didn’t envy those kids tromping through the sunny field in their full dress uniforms.

In addition to the old field day standards like the relay race, they have more unusual events like whole class jump rope. One of my favorites was a team event where four kids would support one on their shoulders. The top kid would have a hat on, and their job was to collect the hats of the other teams, without surrendering their own hat. It was fun to watch and looked fun to play too!

The other, more recent, festival was the Culture Festival. Each school does something different for their Culture Festival. My junior high school set it up so each class (there are 7) wrote and performed a play. Each play was about 20 minutes, and they were wildly different.

One involved a young girl who gets a bad grade on her test, and commits suicide. She doesn’t die right away though, and has time to regret her choice. At the end though, she died anyway. It was beautiful and grim all at once, and absolutely fantastic even if you don’t consider it was written and performed by 13 year olds. Another featured a love story set in the turmoil of the Meiji Era, and climaxed with a sword fight vs the Shinsengumi.

While a lot of the more intricate plot details escaped me, my Japanese listening needs a lot of work, I still had a great time watching my kids give these plays their all. After the lunch break there was an interlude of traditional dances from a local dance troupe. That was followed by a musical presentation by some of the students. The elementary school students came in around then, in time to watch the last two plays. Some of them spotted me sitting in front and I could here whispers of "look, its Grant-sensei!" behind me. Like any proper movie star, I looked back and waved at my adoring fans.

Both festivals were a lot of fun, a way to really experience some of the differences between growing up in America, and growing up in Japan.

Almost Autumn Myōgi-san

2010-11-09T18:57:00.000+09:00

A couple of weeks ago a large contingent of locals headed to Mt. Myogi for a hike and some fall colors. Alas for our group, the fall colors didn't show up. The abnormally hot summer, one of the hottest on record, has pushed the changing of the leaves back a few weeks.

Our very large group.

We ended up splitting up naturally as we hiked along. Most of the group ended up taking the chain route that scared my pants off last time I went on Myogi. Lauren and I and a few other wise souls decided to take the short cut that avoided the steep chain area.

Luckily for all involved, the weather was fantastic. We had come off of a couple of weeks of pretty steady rain, but our day dawned bright and sunny, warm enough not to freeze but cool enough that nobody melted into a puddle.

One of these days I'd like to go back to Myogi on a really clear day, I imagine the view would be tremendous. The view is pretty good anyway, but the haze can really get in the way.

I felt pretty good once we got to the bottom, even though we actually hiked quite a bit further than last time. However, there had been one section of narrow, steep stairs that came back to haunt me the next day. Luckily, misery loves company, and I know I wasn't the only one to feel the complaints of disused muscles.

Night falls on the Kawagoe Matsuri

2010-10-27T16:44:00.001+09:00

As we reached the furthest area of the festival, dusk was fully upon us. Of course, in a Japanese festival, night time isn’t an excuse to go home and have a quiet dinner, but rather a time to hang out the lanterns, light up the streets and keep partying!

The floats had been pretty impressive in the daylight hours, but bedecked with lanterns and lights they were even more so. At first the daytime crowds seemed to thin a bit, but that was an artifact of our location at the fringes of the action. As we headed back towards the central streets, things got even busier and more packed than they had been.

At each major intersection a troupe of acrobatic old fashioned firemen did a performance. They would lift a ladder far above the crowds, and then members would climb up and do tricks high above our heads. Their skills were impressive, and a large crowd gathered around. A very large crowd. As the performance ended, we had to all hold on to each other to make sure we weren’t separated as we ploughed through the teeming horde of people.

Things got so busy that we eventually took to a side street to avoid the crowds. While we did miss the bright festival booths in that area, by this point each of us had overindulged in festival food, and weren’t in a mood to do much more buying. We were in the mood to sit down and relax, and to sing. Once we found a good karaoke booth, we stayed for three hours of badly belted melodies and draft beer. It was a perfect end to a great day.

Daylight Kawagoe Matsuri

2010-10-24T16:04:00.000+09:00

Last weekend I met up with some friends from around the area to go to the Kawagoe festival and celebrate my friend Peter's birthday.One of the first things we ran into was a mikoshi headed out of a shrine. This is very like the one I helped carry at the Maebashi Matsuri the week before. I'm glad they didn't try to press me into action again, as my shoulder was still a little sore from the last one.

One of the best reasons to go to a festival has to be festival food. The mingled smells of a street or courtyard full of food stalls is sure to set your stomach to grumbling. From yakitori to okonomiyaki to ramen burgers to fried twisty potatoes to doner kebab, just about anything is available and it all tastes great.

The festival is a popular one, and one of the largest I've seen. The food stalls, toy booths and fairground games of chance stretched from the station to the old town, and filled the grounds of every shrine and temple in between. The whole stretch was jammed with plenty of festival goers, though during the day the crowd wasn't too bad to elbow through.

Along the way there were large floats with dancing, drums, flutes and more.

Though not everybody on the floats seemed to be totally enthused to be there.

Like the portable shrines, the floats are all human powered. Luckily, they have wheels so there is probably less of a chance of a painfully bruised shoulder.

As we snacked our way from one end of the festival to the other the sun went down, and the festival geared up for the night...

Careening down the Canyons

2010-10-18T18:15:00.001+09:00

Some weeks ago I had a chance to go Canyoning with a group of local
English teachers. Canyoning is a newish sport that involves, well,
traveling through a canyon by any means necessary. In the States it is
more of a solo adventure, involving technical rock climbing and
rappelling. But our trip was a group trip, led by a seasoned Kiwi
guide. He had been guiding various adventure sports all around the
world for almost ten years. He had meant to stop off in Japan for a
season while heading home from Europe, but that one season had turned
into something like four years!

We had traveled into the mountains in the far northern corner of
Gunma, to the resort town of Minakami. Minakami is a popular place
year round, with canyoning, bungee jumping, rafting and more during
the summer months and plenty of skiing come winter.

The first stop upon arrival was to get geared up. One wetsuit, helmet,
and rock proof seat guard later we were ready to get wet. The trip
started out easily enough, floating down stream dodging the occasional
rock. It was relaxing and fun, the perfect way to lull the group into
a false sense of complacency. We came to a few small waterfalls and
slid down them like we were at natures own waterpark. As a devoted
lover of Colorados giant Water World waterpark, I loved the natural
waterslide effect.

Then we came to the big one. A 20 meter waterfall blocked our path,
the only way through was to jump and ride it down. The guide had a
rope set up to lower us into the stream and let the water, and
gravity, carry us into the deep pool at the bottom. He could either
let us go near the top, or at the midway point for those a little
worried about the heights involved.

I have no shame in admitting I went for the halfway point drop.
Standing twenty meters above my friends and cohorts, the distances
involved certainly made me a little weak kneed. Its funny, I really
don’t have much fear of heights. I will clamber and scramble on rocks
all day long, and I eat tall buildings and observation towers for
breakfast. But I do fear falling, hence a general distaste of roller
coasters and rock climbing and any other situation where I face
exposure. This sort of drop was almost too much for me, though once I
was down I must admit the thrill of death and dismemberment was
remarkably fun. In an oh God Oh God OH GOD sort of way.

The rest of the trip wasn’t nearly as terrifying, and the many falls
and currents were amazingly fun to navigate. At the very end we had a
chance to jump off a small cliff into a deep pool. To make up for my
weakness earlier I clambered up to get in line. All was well till it
was time to make the jump. From below it seemed so easy watching my
cohorts doing back flips off the ledge.. Standing up there looking
down was another thing entirely. Leaping into space like that took me
to and beyond my comfort limit, but I did it anyway! Not only that,
but I did it twice! It was almost excessively exhilarating, and a
perfect way to end the trip. We all trooped back to the bus in high
spirits, ready for a big lunch.

All canyoning photos credited to my new friend Allen Bo Agundy and his borrowed waterproof camera.

Maebashi Matsuri

2010-10-10T18:53:00.000+09:00

I apologize that I haven't updated in a while. I've beat off two successive colds over the past two weeks, and so I haven't really done much that is blog worthy over the past couple of weeks.

Until today that is.

The Maebashi Matsuri is THE major festival for the city. The weather was gorgeous, so rather than take the train into town, I rode my bike. It was a long ride, but it felt great to get out and about. Sadly, my camera didn't have a memory card, so I didn't get any photos of the festival at all.

Things kicked off with a dance ceremony. The very first group to take the stage were a series of young girls doing cheerleader dance routines set to American pop music. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that here we are kicking off an event with great cultural and even religious import with kids dancing to Avril Lavigne. Though I have to say that the kids did a great job, they really knew their stuff. Later groups were a bit more traditional, including one that used two huge flags to backstop their performance. These flags were so large that the poles were in danger of hitting the powerlines, and sometimes did! I could see the flag bearers working harder than the dancers to keep them flapping, and the effect was very impressive.

Next on the schedule was the reason I came, the elementary school marching band parade. Now I know a lot of readers probably did a bit of a double take, I'm well known for a general dislike of parades and marching bands. However, all that changes when it is YOUR kids doing the marching. And while I may only see these kids once a week, they are still my kids. It was great seeing them all spiffy in their uniforms, and I think they got a kick out of seeing "English Teacher" on the sidelines. After the parade, I walked over to the ending area to say hi to the kids and the teachers. My kids know me well, their first question was, "Are you hungry?"

Being that I was a little hungry, I headed back into the maelstrom to see what I could find to eat. While I was perusing the plentiful purveyors of festival food I came upon an all female taiko troupe doing a performance. I love taiko drumming, and throw in a group of gorgeous 20 something women and I really love taiko. It doesn't hurt that they were very good at what they did. The performance banished all thought of food from my mind, at least until it was over.

As people were filtering away from the area a new call went up, a mikoshi was coming through. Mikoshi are portable Shinto shrines, and are often a part of festivals. I had seen a few tromping about, but this one was coming right up the middle of the pedestrian mall, pushing the crowd out to the sides as it came. I watched them pass and thought to myself that it looked like the mikoshi was very heavy, the bearers were working hard to keep it moving. As they were almost by me an elderly gentleman came up and asked if I wanted to wear his happi, a sort of coat that all the bearers wear, and help carry? I jumped at the chance, and soon found out that yes, the shrine was indeed very heavy. Brutally so. Painfully so. Still, it was amazing, trying to chant, carry, and move simultaneously without falling into a heap. Definitely a highlight of the festival.

From there, exhausted I made my way over to a karaage (fried chicken) stand where I finally got something for lunch. I can say for certain that the festival was amazing, and really just the Japan only sort of shot in the arm I needed this month.

Play Ball!

2010-09-26T18:23:00.000+09:00

A couple of weeks ago I finally had the chance to catch a Japanese baseball game. The 'home' team was the Saitama Seibu Lions, from the prefecture next door. They played the Osaka Orix Buffaloes, which was the team we ended up rooting for. Entering the stadium, we got to choose which teams 'section' to sit in. I picked the Buffaloes because there were more open seats, so we could sit closer to the field. The Lions took an early lead, and so the American love of the underdog came out and we ended up cheering pretty hard for the boys from Osaka.

They must have heard us, because despite some horrible baseball on their part in the early part of the game, they came back and ended up winning 8 to 4. I really enjoyed my first trip to a baseball game in Japan. The smaller field made for a much more intimate game. The fans were so much quieter and nicer than at the last American game I saw. Though there were 'cheap seat' cheering sections for each team, each with their own band ready to strike up the team fight song!

Poems

2010-09-21T21:03:00.000+09:00

A few weeks ago we did a poetry lesson for the third year junior high school students. The idea was to come up with a nice short English language poem. The only direction was to start with one word, then two words, three, four and finally one last word to summarize. The two classes were both right before lunch, so I had a lot of fun just brainstorming up mostly food related example poems. Later on when I went through the student's efforts I saw some excellent work, and I decided they deserved a blog post.

My Poems

Mountain

So high

Hiking, climbing, resting

I’m on the top

Beautiful!

Pizza

Smells good

Round, greasy, cheesy

I want it now

Delicious

Okonomiyaki

Hiroshima? Osaka?

I cook it

Lots of sauce now

Heavenly

Hamburger

From America

Beef, Bacon, Cheese

Let’s grill it outside

Summer

Mochi

Pounded rice

It’s so chewy

Goes well with ice-cream

Yum

Lunchtime

So happy

I can eat

Oh no, its seafood

Sad

Students Poems

Homework

What’s this?

Sad, busy, tired

Take me far away

Wonderful

Rainy

Moon Crying

Umbrella, raincoat, boots

But, I don’t use

Running

Egg

Very Cute

White, round, good

Eating it makes smile

Happy

Study

Mother say

Study Study Study

I don’t like studying

Tired

Water

Very cold

Lake river sea

The water is smiling

Wonderful

Leaf

Many colors

Green, yellow, red

It changes by a season

Interesting

Moon

Sky light

Big, shining quietly

It is very big face

Great

Weather

Todays feelings

Snow, cloudy, rainy?

How is the weather?

Sunny!!

Sky

Sunny, rainy, cloudy

Blue sky

The sky is smiling

So beautiful

Sea

Very big

Blue, wide, beautiful

I want to swim

To far-off!

Sweets

So delicious

Chocorates, cookies cakes

I like ice creams

Love!

School

Very fun

Friends, teachers, basketball

It is happy time

Spicy

2010-09-15T19:55:00.000+09:00

In the middle of Nagano Prefecture, near Matsumoto and its famous castle, there exists a dream come true for wasabi lovers. The Daio Wasabi Farm is set in a broad valley among the high Japanese Alps, and is the perfect combination of scenery and flavor. To get there, you rent a bike at Hotaka station, and ride a couple of kilometers through rice paddies and corn fields.

We started our visit at the restaurant, with a very wasabi lunch. My meal consisted of wasabi juice and a wasabi croquette, and both were excellent. The green monstrosity you see above was a wasabi beer ordered by Ryan. While this may not catch on for St. Patrick's Day back Stateside, it was actually far more delicious than you might expect. The wasabi flavor was very subtle, but was certainly present. The beer was in fact just a bit spicy, and went down perfectly with a side of wasabi peas.

The farm itself is quite a sight to see. Wasabi must be grown in a rocky stream bed of fresh, flowing water. The plants are also temperature sensitive, hence the black shade coverings.

We got to dip our feet in the water, and I took the opportunity to get a shot under the canopy. The water was chill, and very refreshing. However, I can't imagine what will grow downstream of anywhere my feet have been.

Once you are done exploring the paths among and above the spicy little roots, well there is only one thing left to do...

... and that is to have some Wasabi ice cream!

This was actually my second trip to the farm, but I had just as much fun as the first time. It really is a little seen gem of Japan, though I can understand why. Nagano Prefecture is a bit off the Tokyo to Kyoto to maybe Nara or Hiroshima tourist path. Getting to the farm from anywhere that isn't Matsumoto or Nagano City will take a few hours, and would anybody on a ten day trip really want to devote a whole day to wasabi? That said, for anybody who has the time or is in the area, it's a uniquely Japanese experience that doesn't involve a shrine, temple, or skyscraper.

Tosho-gu

2010-09-08T21:26:00.001+09:00

Located in Tochigi Prefecture north west of Tokyo, Nikko has been a worthwhile destination for centuries. The primary draw for the past couple of hundred years is Tosho-gu, the shrine that is the final resting place for Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Tosho-gu was built by Ieyasu's son Hidetada, and enlarged by his grandson Iemitsu. They needed a grand and glorious gesture to show the power and wealth of the still new Tokugawa Shogunate. Japan had just come out of a long period of civil war and disunity, and the Tokugawa made every effort to forestall any slide back into chaos. That their own heads would have been first on the chopping block in that event was certainly an added motivation.

The various shrine complexes are set a short ways up from the town itself, and an easy walk from the train station. Nikko is a very popular day trip from Tokyo, and it is easy to see why. It provides a remarkable contrast to Ieyasu's old capital, with the tall forests and ornate shrine buildings a far cry from the busy streets around Shinjuku.

Nikko is rather unique in Japan, far more gaudy and ornate than is usually the case in Japanese religious buildings. In that way it shares a certain aesthetic similarity with some of the traditional buildings I saw in China, bright and colorful as opposed to the more standard unpainted wood.

Indeed, Nikko can be overwhelming to the senses, especially when you factor in heat, crowds and a surfeit of steps. (I was at Nikko three days after Fuji, and had mostly recovered, but the steps triggered a measure of Post Traumatic Mountain Stress Syndrome in my calves.)

I have been to Nikko before, by myself over five years ago. That trip was during a very chilly mountain March, so I was quite glad to return with friends. Though the occasional drizzle merely made the late August heat even wetter and stickier and made the dirty snow piles of March an attractive alternative.

After an extra fee and a hike up more stairs into the woods you come to the burial place of the man who unified Japan. It does seem ironic that once you get past the Rococo meets East Asia styling of the shrine buildings, Tokugawa's mausoleum is an understated bronze cylinder that still holds whatever remains of his ashes, these hundreds of years later.

Driving to Nikko

2010-09-05T16:37:00.000+09:00

Nikko is one of the premier tourist destinations in Japan. It is an area of immense natural beauty and historical importance that has the good fortune to also be quite close to Tokyo. Nikko sits in the mountains to the north of Gunma, about two hours drive from my house. My old friend Zach and his girlfriend Miku came up to Gunma from Osaka during summer break, meeting up with me and our mutual friend Ryan. We planned a drive to Nikko, as Miku had never been!

While enroute we came across an old Imperial getaway that is now a museum. Originally built for the local lord, the small palace was obtained by the Imperial Family during the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s, and was expanded and made more luxurious, as befits an Emperor.

Now of course, it is a museum that gives a look into the very private lives of the Japanese Imperial Family. There are displays on the history of the building, old Japanese building techniques, and of course rooms that show how the Imperial Family lived, from the shower room to the audience room to the billiards room.

This was a very nice surprise, everyone but Miku had been here before, some multiple times. It was just far enough away from the central tourist sites of Nikko that you wouldn't know about it without prior planning or a car. Just one of those happy accidents that happens when you are traveling.

Nick's Tokyo

2010-08-30T21:48:00.001+09:00

My old friend Nick, a fellow ex-GEOS teacher, visited back in early August. While he had lived near me in Ishikawa Prefecture for a year, he had never managed to visit Tokyo. So when he visited, a couple of days in the capital were our first stop.

And the first stop in the capital is always The Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. The building itself is plenty impressive, and the views of the sprawling megalopolis below are always staggering. We were lucky to have a nice clear day, and could see all the way to Yokohama. The boxy building in the center of the above photo is the Yokohama Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan, and currently the third tallest structure.

Sadly, the area around Mt. Fuji was wreathed in clouds, and not visible. That darn mountain has hidden its face from me each time I've been in one of the many observation lounges that dot Tokyo. One of these day's I'll get it on 'film'. It owes me after the typhoon business.

Dinner that night was shabu shabu, one of my favorites and a dish Nick hadn't tried yet. The basics are similar to fondue or a Chinese hot pot. This strips of meat, chunks of tofu, veggies, and noodles are cooked in a pot of boiling water. They are then dipped in one of two sauces, the tart soy and vinegar based ponzu sauce or the creamy sesame based goma sauce. With the pot of boiling water in the center of the table, shabu shabu is more suited to a cold winters day, but washed down with plenty of iced beer we survived.

All that was left to do in Shinjuku was explore the bustling area under the bright city lights that make Tokyo nights almost brighter than Tokyo days.

Poo what a stink!

2010-08-25T17:29:00.000+09:00

At the base of Mt. Shirane is the resort town of Kusatsu. Kusatsu is one of the most famous hot springs towns in Japan, and is one of Gunma Prefecture's primary tourist draws, with highway buses direct from Tokyo. I've been accused of being an "Onsen Otaku" before, and for the most part it is true. I love going to the hot springs baths. It really is just about the most relaxing thing I can think of, even better than going to the beach, and closer too.

The main spring bubbles up right in the center of town, in an area called the Yubatake. The mineral rich water steams as it flows along wooden channels and into a pool, making the whole town center stink of sulfur. There is even a notice that the Yubatake is one of "100 Scenic Spots of Peculiar Smell" in Japan. I do wonder where the other 99 are, and what they all stink of.

The town is jammed to the rafters with onsen, some free, some paid, some indoors, some outdoors. This one here is said to be the oldest in town, and is hands down the hottest bath I've ever almost taken. I say almost taken because I couldn't submerge my legs for more than a few seconds, and sticking my whole body in the water was out of the question. Luckily, there are plenty of other, cooler baths available. One pay complex on the edge of town has an indoor bath, outdoor bath and sauna, and has to be one of the best hot springs I've ever visited, despite the smell.

Fuji

2010-08-20T14:29:00.002+09:00

The wind howled through the misty, rain swept blackness. Below, a trail of lights faded into the distance. Above, the same trail seemed to climb forever. The universe was a cold conglomeration of black rock, black night, screaming winds and and frigid horizontal rain. I had to ask myself, just what the heck was I doing here?

Much earlier that day, our group of climbers assembled at the 5th Station, at about 7,000 feet above sea level, roughly half way up the sloping cone of Mt. Fuji. One of the group, Peter, had decided that he wanted to truly climb the entire mountain and had spent the day hiking from the 1st station. Saner climbers tend to skip that step, making straight for the 5th station, and its collection of restaurants, bus stops, souvenir shops and vending machines.
As we trickled into the meeting area the early clouds burned and blew away in the wind, leaving a crystal clear blue sky. A typhoon was forecast, but there was no evidence in the glorious, near perfect weather to start a late afternoon climb.The vast cone of Fuji-san thrust above, naked and dark with its winter coating of snow long since melted. The black ash and lava flows made for an uninviting peak, and the speed at which the clouds passed over the summit were an unheeded warning that the climb would be less pleasant than hoped.

For most climbers, the plan is to start late in the day, climb through the evening and then sleep in a mountain hut. After a scant few hours of rest you finish the climb and enjoy the glory of a high mountain sunrise. Those of us who can't really afford the rather steep prices of the huts, about $70 for the cheaper ones, choose instead to climb through the night, forgoing sleep and warmth to be the first to the top, and the dawn.

The gentle opening phase was an absolute joy. Despite the recent rains, and the occasional cloud misting its way past us, the weather was perfect for hiking. Not too hot, not too cold, not too dry, not too wet. The trail was well built and maintained, ready for the thousands of people that hike Fuji every year. Our group joked, bantered, took photos, and just enjoyed each others company and this wonderful climb.

The day waned, and the sun began to sink along the other side of the peak, casting a great shadow across the clouds. The trail climbed ever higher, the omnipresent overcast of Japan becoming a far away carpet of cotton balls below.

Full night eventually settled, and the stars, so shy in this overly illuminated nation, came out in all their glory. Climbers who thought to turn off their head lamp for a moment were treated with views of Cassiopeia, The Big Dipper, even the Milky Way. In the distance the vast urban megalopolis of Tokyo could be seen, brilliant lights shining all the way from Yokohama on the coast to Omiya near the mountains. As the night drug on and the altitude increased, the wind picked up, and the cold began to settle.

    Layers came out, first an extra t-shirt, then a fleece, then a shell, then a hat, finally gloves. We had all walked from sticky summer to frigid winter in just a few miles. The summit and sunrise were driven out of mind, they were many hours off in a remote and unseen future. What mattered was the smaller indications of progress. The next station, the next hut, the next switchback. There was an udon restaurant at the top of the 8th station that became more sought after than heaven itself. We knew it was there, we knew it would be glorious.
     Naturally reality was less inviting than the fantasy, but two hours of cat naps and hot food prepped the group for the next challenge, or so we had thought.

   It seemed that no sooner had the 8th station faded behind than small flecks of rain appeared in the glow of the headlamps. Faint at first, hardly worthy of notice, yet certainly a harbinger of difficulties to come. Soon, the lights of the cities and the huts below vanished in the enveloping clouds. We went from the top of the world to our own world, cut off from everything and everybody. The end game had arrived, the summit was close. Every step became harder, every foot of elevation gain more precious as we all climbed further into the teeth of the typhoon. The climb grew ever more difficult, fog, rain and exertion rendered glasses useless, and any exposed article of clothing became sopping wet.

     At last, the summit of Mt. Fuji, 12,388 ft above sea level. The winds and rain whipped by stronger than ever, speaking was impossible, and waiting for sunrise near suicidal folly. One imperative, one simple goal remained. Descent.
   Having stowed my glasses in my pack, I carefully picked my way through the darkness and the jagged black volcanic rocks. They winds gusted at over 70 mph, enough to shift a climber even if he wasn't moving, and more than enough to send you tumbling to the ground if you weren't ready for it.
Slowly, gently definition returned to the world. The black sky became imperceptibly lighter, and then lighter again. The winds and rain remained, but the dawn had finally arrived.

The sun illuminated the trail, and gave visual representation to the speed of the winds, as the clouds sped past us. The sunrise was visible only in spurts, hidden then revealed again by the scudding of the clouds. The pestering rains and winds never stopped, never showed mercy.

Any decent is a labor, with energy, water, and food running low, but after a rain soaked, wind whipped, typhoon torn climb through the night, the hike down was undoubtedly the most difficult of my life. The winter hat would unravel into my face, blocking my vision. Clenching my fists in my gloves was like wringing out a wash cloth in the shower, except that they never got dry. Heavy, clammy jeans clung to my legs reminding me that I knew better than to wear jeans in the mountains. The humid mid August heat of Japan seemed a far off memory, something that had never been, could never have been real.

   Every time there was a lull in the wind, when the thought that "perhaps it will be easier now" would cross your mind, a cannonade of air would shoot across your back, and remind you that it wouldn't end until you reached the car.
By this point our group of five had splintered into three components. At the top of the 7th station Nick and I encountered a group of rangers who were putting together a 'safety road'. Rather than descend the occasionally rocky ascent trail we had been using, they shunted a large group onto the bulldozer path that provides supply to the mountain huts. The going was much easier on the sandy path, and the line made good time down to the bottom of the 7th station. The end was in sight, but the wind and rain seemed stronger than ever. The urge to be done of this peak, to be home, to be warm, to be fed, to be rested was overwhelming.
     Then, a glimpse through the clouds, the fifth station was near. Close, closer, and finally, hands clasped in a ragged cheer we were there. Down. Done.

   Well, done except for the three hour drive home anyway...

Where the road sings

2010-08-06T12:41:00.000+09:00

Most of the volcanoes in Gunma are extinct, or at least long dormant. They may erupt again, some day, but all signs point to a nice peaceful slumber for the present. However, in the far northern part of Gunma, near Nagano, there are a few mountains that are a little more awake. One of these is Mt. Shirane, an 7,123 foot volcano that last erupted in 1983.

Like Mt. Aso in Kyushu, the summit crater contains a milky blue acidic lake that reeks of sulfur. In fact, the entire mountain has a faint sulfur smell. The road to the top passes through an area of vents and springs that spew sulfur into the air. Foolishly I rolled down my window during that portion of the drive, and the smell stayed in the car for quite some time!

The locals put all that hot sulfur water to good use, the large and famous spa town of Kusatsu is nestled at the base of the mountain. The highway to Kusatsu is called the Japan Romantic Road, and on a segment right before the town there is a melody road. You know the grooves that are sometimes cut in the side of the road to wake you up if you go to far over? A melody road is like that, but the grooves cross the whole road, and the tones you hear make up a song.

I had known there was a melody road somewhere in Gunma, but never quite where it was, so I was pretty surprised when these weird noises enveloped the car!

The top of Shirane was a delight, far cooler and less muggy than the flats down below. The day before I had been in Tokyo, and difference in climate was very noticeable, and very welcome.There were a variety of hiking trails along the top, but Travis's leg was in a fair amount of pain from an old soccer injury, and he wasn't up to do much walking.

As we had been driving up, I was surprised to see highway buses negotiating the road to the top, direct from Shinjuku in Tokyo. The area is known to local tourists, but I don't think Shirane is very high on the list for people visiting Japan, which is a shame. There aren't many easily accesible active volcanoes in the world, and while Shirane may not have the cache and lava explosions of Kilauea it is still a great place to visit.

The smell of charcoal

2010-08-04T18:35:00.000+09:00

Living anywhere requires certain sacrifices, often of a culinary nature. Back in America it is hard to find such things as Japanese style curry, okonomiyaki, or yakitori. Here in Japan, it is Mexican food, and think juicy burgers that have gone missing.

In a quest to honor summer with an old and sacred tradition, yesterday Scott and I decided to try our hands at grilling burgers. We had a very interesting time of it. I like to think of myself as a pretty hot hand behind a grill, but I was humbled by the experience, even though the end result came out pretty well.

Grilling is actually quite popular in Japan, but with some significant differences to the art as practiced in the States. Here they tend to prefer more of a yaki-niku style with grilling small bits of marinated meat, or shish-kebob style with skewers of meat and veggies. Burgers, hot dogs and steaks aren't really on the menu, and that complicates things. Japanese charcoal grills are designed differently, with a small mesh covering suitable for smaller chunks of meat. This makes flipping burgers a bit more of a challenge, especially when the meat is a mix of pork and beef instead of the all ground beef I am used to.

The real challenge however was starting the fire in the first place. I'm a Boy Scout, I know how to light things on fire, especially if these things are stacked in a grill. However, the local hardware store didn't sell lighter fluid, rather they sold lighter gel, a thick, pink concoction that merely sat on the charcoal and smoldered weakly. We eventually figured out that rather than soak into the charcoal, the gel was more of a kindling source, something to place beneath the pile. This lesson cost us at least thirty minutes and about half of the five dollar bottle of fluid.

Our next attempt at a roaring fire was more successful, though it was a bit too successful. Scott returned from the store with a new kindling source AND a small, mini blowtorch especially for fire starting. These two efforts combined finally set the charcoal alight, but the blowtorch had a tendency to stir up storms of sparks. These sparks then landed on our feet, legs, arms and burgers, burning small holes everywhere. The burgers didn't really mind, but I did. Those sparks hurt! We were lucky that we weren't in Colorado, as we probably would have lit half the state on fire with that thing.

Despite our troubles, the finished product actually tasted pretty good. It had been a long time since I had tasted a home grilled blue cheese burger, and I was delighted to finally get the chance.

The good news is we still have the grill, blowtorch and a wee bit of blue cheese left, ready for next time.

Myōgi-san

2010-07-28T20:32:00.000+09:00

Mt. Myōgi is one of the three Mountains of Jomo (Gunma), along with Mt. Haruna and Mt. Akagi. It is the furthest away from me, and the final one that I visited. After our group had so much fun on Mt. Tsukuba, we decided to tackle another hike the next weekend.

Like Akagi and Haruna, Myōgi is of volcanic origin, though it is far, far older than its two sister peaks. The massif is long extinct, and heavily eroded. Myōgi has no graceful hump, but instead a chaotic mass of spires and ridges, perfect for the adventurous rock scrambler.

There are ladders and chains to hold on to for the tricky parts, though I'll admit even the ladder up to this spire was a bit too exposed and a tad slick for my tastes, though I made it safe and sound. We got an excellent group panorama, and then headed further up the mountain for more scrambling and more vistas.

The climb wasn't technical, but it did demand a sure foot and a steady hand. The heat and humidity conspired to make my hands pretty slick, and while this section was no problem, there was a pretty sheer face later on that had me a little worried, with steep, slick rocks and wet hands.

The views we were rewarded with were far more expansive than those on Tsukuba, though the hiking was much more strenuous, as a few of the party were quick to point out!

I'd learned my lessons from Tsukuba, and had stocked a face towel for sweat and a pair of two liter water bottles from the store, though I found that a pair of hiking boots would have been fantastic to have on hand, especially for the steeper bits of rock scrambling. Despite the heat, humidity, and angry wasps I've fallen even more in love with hiking in Japan, and a return to Myōgi to climb a little higher is certainly in order, as are further vertical exploits. Fuji, here we come!

High Summer

2010-07-26T12:28:00.005+09:00

The rainy season is officially over, though it went out with a bang a few days ago with a lightning storm that rocked the whole neighborhood. I unplugged my computer and hoped for the best, we had some pretty close hits. I've learned my lesson too, about trying to shoot lighting when the storm is right over your head. On a side note, the top three photos here are all panorama stitches, and I recommend clicking on them to get a larger view of all the details.

The weather has generally been clear and beautiful, but sticky and hot. Standing in front of a gaggle of elementary students doing activities and singing songs in a classroom with no A/C is not an experience I recommend.

However, now it is summer break, which stretches from late July to late August for me, though some have longer. It's not as epic as we used to get back in my Elementary School days, but it's certainly the longest employed time off I've had in forever. I just wish I had enough money to really travel and go somewhere new (like Korea!), but I'll be spending the month in Japan, hiking, hanging out, and entertaining guests.

Summer also brings with it fireworks, and ever town in the region is having their own display, so if you plan it right every weekend you can catch some fireworks somewhere in the area. Last weekend we had a show in Tamamura, and I made sure to catch at least part of the show, though traffic and a late start meant I only caught the last 15 minutes or so, but I wasn't too worried because there will be more where that came from. Tamamura was the first show of the summer, but far from the last!

Tokugawa Ieyasu: Shogun

2010-07-23T11:50:00.000+09:00

     When browsing for English books on Japan, you will find a great many that cover recent Japanese history. Reams have been written about the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Meiji Restoration, World War II and the course of Modern Japan. You can also find plenty of books that cover general historical topics like samurai or castles. However, I have had a hard time finding a book that zeros in on the details of the reunification of Japan and the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
     Ever since I read James Clavell's Shogun I have wanted to read an actual history about the three great unifiers, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and of course Tokugawa Ieyasu. While I haven't found a book that fulfills that criteria, a friend pointed me towards this book, Tokugawa Ieyasu: Shogun by Conrad Totman. In a brisk 197 pages the book concentrates on Ieyasu's life from about 1599, and his successful reunification of Japan through diplomacy and force. We see the diplomatic acrobatics that he used to build an maintain his power base, as well as the ruthlessness of the time. If a letter or a new wife wouldn't sway you to Tokugawa's way of thinking, a sword probably would, though of course by then it was too late.
     The book flits about geographically quite a bit, and it was fun for me as many places I know popped up in the text. Tokugawa was born in the castle town of Okazaki, which of course was where I worked back in September of 2005. The books also spends a fair amount of time in the Kansai region, especially the cities of Osaka and Kyoto. Edo (Tokyo) gets a fair amount of words as well as Totman describes the cities development from a muddy village to the base of the most powerful family in Japan. Kanazawa gets a few mentions as well as some areas I know near to Ogo!
      Really the only problem with the book is one rather inherent in Japanese History generally, names. The major daimyo (feudal lords) of the era all crop up rather often, as do their sons, grandsons, cousins, brothers, and more. Throw in shifting alliances, a multitude of wives and a plethora of children and sometimes it can be hard to figure out just who is doing what.
     That said, this really is an excellent introduction to a very complex and fascinating period in history.

New Old Kanda

2010-07-23T11:23:00.000+09:00

While I was looking for older photos for the Akihabara, I found these pictures I took from Kanda Station back in August of 2007 but never blogged. Technically speaking these aren't proper Yamanote shots as I took them from the Chuo Line tracks. The Chuo line cuts right through Tokyo, connecting the East and West sides in a very convenient fashion. I'm off to Tokyo this weekend, for training and fun, so I should have a whole new batch of stations ready to keep the project going for a while.

Tsukuba-San

2010-07-21T20:56:00.000+09:00

When I came to Japan in March I had been told I was going to Ibaraki Prefecture, and so I did a lot of research. Of course I was eventually placed in Gunma, but I still have several good friends in Ibaraki that I did training with. One of them invited me to climb Mt. Tsukuba as a prelude hike to Mt. Fuji, which we hope to climb in August. My day started pretty early to make it to Ibaraki by 11, and it included travel on this one car diesel train, a rarity in the generally electrified grid of Japanese rail.

Mountains are often sacred to Shinto, and Tsukuba-san is no different. There is a beautiful large shrine at the base of the peak, and the trails start from there.

It has been a while since I had done much hiking, and for most of our group this was their first hike. We weren't quite prepared, especially water wise. Luckily one of us had brought a fair amount of extra water, so those of us who had only packed a little bit were saved. I really should (and do) know better, but I wasn't quite prepared for how the heat and humidity of Japanese summer affects hiking. To put it briefly, you sweat, a lot. I've now learned that any hike in Japan had better be accompanied by a small towel around your neck to absorb the sweat pouring off your face.

Despite the heat and the sweat, the hike was lovely. I had almost forgotten just how much I love hiking. The lush green forests were a remarkable contrast to the dry pine forests and wide open fields of the Rocky Mountains. The trail was also quite busy, but mostly with people coming down the peak after riding the cable car to the top!

As always once we got to the top all the work it took was forgotten as we looked out over the flatlands of Ibaraki Prefecture. Unlike most Colorado Mountains, there were vending machines, a restaurant, and a gift shop up top, so we had plenty to amuse ourselves with other than the view!

Though I must confess, we didn't actually make it to the TOP, rather we made it a large saddle that is between Tsukuba-san's two peaks. We were up very late in the day (5:00), and had to head down to avoid hiking down in the dark, as we were utterly unprepared for that. I suppose that means I have unfinished business in Ibaraki Prefecture, and I may just have to head back and make it to the top of BOTH peaks, and not take the cable car down next time....

Travel and Cultural Awareness, or Why Raw Horse is Delicious

2010-07-19T10:00:00.000+09:00

I remember speaking to an acquaintance of mine, back in the states, and suggesting grabbing some Japanese food for dinner. The first response was "Eww I don't like fish." Ironically of course, I had beef bowls in mind, which is about as far from fish as you can get.

It made me think. While Sushi is perhaps one of the more famous aspects of Japanese cuisine, anybody that has spent much time with me, or in Japan, knows that there is much more to your standard Japanese restaurant than just seafood. In fact, Japanese cuisine offers all sorts of barbecued and even fried hunks of land critter to devour. However, my acquaintance simply rejected an entire nation's cuisine based on an incorrect preconceived notion. As a travel AND food junkie, I was pretty shocked by that response.

It made me think a bit about how travel really does affect your life and your world view. People always talk about how travel opens your mind, but I think it is more than just nice museums and interesting monuments. The reality of travel is much more interesting, and germane to the way we live our lives.

I myself am far from the pickiest eater I know, and could indeed be considered an adventurous eater by many. However, within my family I am probably the most inhibited of the bunch. To this day I disdain common place items like mushrooms and olives, shrimp and mussels and more. In the past I was even more of a snob, turning up my nose at any number of dishes.

While part of growing up is growing out of being picky, my multitude of experiences living in Japan have certainly accelerated the process. I have had no choice but to break loose and see just what strange things I could actually stomach. The results have sometimes been surprising. I imagine that very few people in America have eaten basashi, or to put it more simply horse sashimi, but I have. And to be honest, it was amazingly delcious. In fact, after I tried it the first time in Nagasaki, I often order it when I see it on the menu. I do this both to shock and amaze my dining partners and because I genuinely enjoy the dish. I didn't have to try basashi while I was in Kyushu, I could have got by on teriyaki or even McDonalds. But I didn't, I had traveled enough, experienced enough, and was brave enough (the beer helped) to go where few of my country men ever will.

Does this make me a better person? Of course not, and some horse lovers might think take my taste for horse flesh as a detriment. But I feel that it does make my life and experiences a bit richer and more enjoyable. In the same conversation, I had mentioned possibly traveling to Mexico for a nice relaxing beach vacation, and to that my companion said, "I won't travel anywhere that I can't drink the water." This could be called a sensible approach to life, but one of my favorite trips ever was to Thailand and Vietnam, and you most certainly can NOT drink the water in South East Asia. Luckily, bottled water is readily available as is beer, fruit juice, soda and more. Even such a sensible approach to life as limiting yourself to places with potable water will inevitably limit your experiences.

So whats the point? Simply this. Every experience we have, no matter the location, adds another layer of complexity to our psyche and our soul. However, travel aids this, because it forces you out of your comfort zone. Living within the same city your entire life doesn't prohibit either personal growth or the accumulation of new experiences, but it does enable those that are so inclined to wall themselves away into a daily routine that never challenges them. Travel is not a prerequisite to being a better person, or to living a fulfilling and enriched life. However, it IS a bit of a shortcut, because it makes it that much harder to coast by on what feels comfortable. That is the key, because every time we try something that might be strange or different, we have the chance to discover something that is in fact even better than what we had in our life before then.

Akihabara Station 秋葉原駅

2010-07-16T18:31:00.000+09:00

Japan is something of a destination for geeks as it is, but within Japan, the true Mecca off all that is Geekish is certainly Akihabara. With dozens stores from the tiny to the massive, in Akihabara you can get computer parts, video games old and new, costumes, anime merchandise and more. Even if you aren't really a geek, Akihabara warrants a look, as you can often catch interesting asides like maid street karaoke. As the guiding light of the 'otaku' culture, a fair number of trends have surfaced here, from maid cafes to super thick 'Kanazawa style curry'. I find that Akihabara is one of the best places in Tokyo to just kill time, but then spending an hour in a 10 floor camera shop is just the sort of thing I love!

Tanabata

2010-07-14T18:48:00.001+09:00

In Japan the seventh day of the seventh month brings the festival of Tanabata, celebrating the meeting of the stars Altair and Vega in the sky.

There is a folktale describing the origins of the festival. Orihime (Vega) was the daughter of the Sky King. She sat by the banks of the heavenly river, the Milky Way, and wove cloth all day. She worked so hard, that she never had time to meet or love anybody. Her father wanted his daughter to be happy, and introduced her to Hikoboshi (Altair), a cow herder who worked on the other side of the river. The two fell in love and were married right away, but once happily married Orihime stopped weaving and Hikoboshi stopped tending his cows, who wandered willy nilly around the heavens.

The Sky King couldn't let this continue, and separated the happy lovers with the Milky Way. Orihime was distraught to be apart from her true love, and so her father allowed them to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month.

The modern Tanabata is a bit of a date night, and mostly an excuse to get dressed up in yukata (light, cotton kimono made for summer wear) and eat lots of wonderful festival food. I looked into buying a yukata, but UniQlo didn't stock any men's styles this year, and the specialty yukata shop's wares were 150 bucks, which is a bit steep for something I may wear once or twice a year.

So I put on street clothes, grabbed my umbrella, and headed downtown to stuff myself on overpriced street food. I went with a lot of options I'd never tried before, including a mochi- potato creation with salt and butter, a Chinese flat bread like the ones I enjoyed so much in China, and a ramen burger, which was a creation of fried ramen noodle 'buns' with pork, fish cake, cabbage and ramen broth sauce. It was all amazing!

Omiya

2010-07-12T21:20:00.001+09:00

Some weeks ago I visited the city of Omiya, in Saitama prefecture. Omiya is mostly noted for being a major Japan Rail transfer hub for the northern part of the Kanto Plain. It's also a major suburb of Tokyo, existing in the sort of limbo that envelops large cities on the periphery of even larger cities. There's plenty of things to see and do in Omiya, but as the northern reaches of Tokyo are some 20 minutes away by train, a whole world of other, more interesting things to see and do exists right over the horizon. However, I had seen plenty of Tokyo, and little of Omiya, so I was primed to jump right on in.

The major attraction in Omiya is Hikawa Shrine, which is one of the major Shinto Shrines in the Kanto Region. In fact, Omiya the city is named after the shrine, Omiya means large temple/palace. Plenty of people still come to admire the long entrance avenue and huge torii.

For me, there was another good reason to make it to Omiya. The Japan Rail Railroad Museum! I'm a well known transportation buff, and my love of Japan's railway system is legendary. How then could I not be attracted to a huge museum devoted to trains from the very first steam engines to the latest in Shinkansen technology?

I have an old link to Omiya as well. Back in 2005, when I first visited Japan, I transferred through Omiya Station a few times. I never got to leave the station, but the view of the vast array of tall buildings and shops outside the train windows intrigued me, and I thought it would be an interesting place to live. I also transferred through Nagoya Station a few times, and when the time came to request a placement with GEOS, I got the two places mixed up, and asked for Nagoya! I remember living in Nagoya, and wondering why I mis-remembered the view from the station. It wasn't till my first trip from Kanazawa to Tokyo that I got another chance to look out the window, and realize that I had meant Omiya....

We stayed late into the evening, with some time at a cheap izakaya chain, though we were all too tired from an early start and a long day of walking to really get into a night life sort of mood, though a round of cold beer and some excellent Japanese bar food really hit the spot!

Kanda Station 神田駅

2010-07-09T17:12:00.000+09:00

One stop counterclockwise from Tokyo is Kanda Station. I had never stopped there before, probably because there's not much at Kanda to stop for! I walked around a bit, and while the area had some nice looking bars and restaurants and such, it was nothing that was really all that special. Mostly, I think its a small, residential area close to the office towers and shops near Tokyo Station and the Ginza district.

Though I'll admit, I didn't feel much like exploring too widely on the day I went to Kanda. I had already walked around Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ebisu, and I was tired!

Even though Kanda may not be a prime tourist destination, I still feel like I got some cool photographs, and it was far from a wasted trip.

A few more stories from school

2010-07-07T22:07:00.000+09:00

     One of the really fun things about living overseas is seeing how different cultures approach things differently. The other day I was in the teachers room for lunch, and a fly had been buzzing around the curry rice and generally causing a ruckus. One of the teachers grabbed a fly swatter and sent the little bugger to meet his maker. Now, so far so normal, after all we have fly swatters in America too. Swatter meets fly, fly gets smooshed, we all live happily ever after (well, except for the fly, who got smooshed.) However, in Japan, rather than use a tissue or even just your hands to transfer the recently deceased to the trash can, the teacher removed a pair of special, fly handling chopsticks from the handle of the fly swatter. What a genius idea, it’s quick, easy and relatively clean. The tips of those chopsticks did look pretty heinous though.
     That same day I saw the groundskeeper fire up a mini flamethrower to burn weeds. The thing sounded like a mini jet engine, and looked like both a chore and sorta fun too. Anytime you get to light stuff on fire you can have at least a little bit of fun. I have since decided that perhaps burning weeds is more common than I had thought, but for me it was an entirely new phenomenon. After all, it is so dry in Colorado that if somebody sneezes too hard you can start a forest fire that consumes thousands of acres. Burning weeds back home would be like swimming with sharks, without the shark cage and with an open cut!
     As I’ve mentioned, I live in the countryside. My schools are all even further from the city center, such as it is, than I am. A few weeks ago at one of my elementary schools they did a schedule change, because the 5th graders were planting rice. Of course, in modern Japan there are all sorts of agricultural machines that obviate the need for the backbreaking task of planting rice by hand, but I guess the school felt that it would be a good experience to have. Perhaps as a way of seeing just how people lived up until pretty recently. I wasn’t there to see the planting, though I did drive by the field on the way to work, but I did see the aftermath. The kids were drenched in mud. Now, I’ve never planted rice, though looking at those water filled paddies I can imagine its messy work, but I think that you could probably do it without looking like a victim of a spa mud bath gone horribly wrong. I saw that as a (responsible?) adult though, not as a hyperactive 5th grader. I suppose that if you took my 12 year old self and dumped him in a rice paddy planting those little shoots, I would have ended up much the same way.
     Many buildings in Japan have what is called a genkan, an area at the entrance for taking off and storing your shoes. Houses, schools, some hotels, restaurants and more all have this uniquely Japanese architectural addition. The idea of course is to keep the indoors cleaner by not tracking in mud, dirt and dog poop. The reason I bring this up is that it really didn’t matter that the mud drenched young rice farmers took off their shoes. It didn’t even matter that they had all been sprayed off outside, there were still little footprints of water and mud making a trail from the entryway to the changing room on the 2nd floor. I did an inform poll though, asking if their trip out to the fields had been fun, and 100% of respondents said yes!

The 29th

2010-07-05T20:16:00.000+09:00

     I celebrated 29 years of continued existence last weekend. Several of my good friends, both locally and from the neighboring prefectures, joined me for a night of beer, pool and karaoke! While I missed the big fireworks shows and grilled goods of Independence Day back home, I must say that I had a really good birthday.
     I'll admit that of late I've been feeling pretty isolated. My nearest friend is a good 10 to 15 minute drive away, closer to 25 minutes if I'm at the speed limit. The rest of the Maebashi crew are even further than that, all the way across town. Add that to general culture shock and a sense of being alone is totally natural, though still unfortunate.
     However, if there is one cure for that, then surrounding yourself with good friends is it! We started off with a little big of all you can drink beer mixed with yakitori, french fries, and Japanese fried chicken. We then waked along the river to a really cool pool hall I learned of recently, with cheap import beer (Corona!) and 8 pool tables. Six of us caught the train back to my neck of the woods for some classic karaoke. Surprisingly, at midnight there was a 30 minute wait for a karaoke booth! We spent the waiting time planning out the songs to sing, and one of our number spent that time talking to a Japanese guy.. who gave him a beetle! Luckily, he gave it back before we went to the booth, I'd hate to think of what would have happened had that rather large bug been wandering freely in our darkened karaoke room...
   The next day, the actual 4th of July, four of us drove up to Ikaho, where I finally got a chance to try the famous rotemboro, our outdoor onsen bath. The water is laced with iron, making the whole area smell rather pungently of metal, but the hot waters were a perfect balm for our sore muscles, and the bath and surrounding area was truly beautiful.
     Special thanks to Scott Rothrock for the photo, he and his new 28 mm prime lens captured much of the party and a bit of the next day too.

Kanji 漢字

2010-06-30T22:36:00.000+09:00

     I have been studying Japanese with a bit more gusto than I did when I lived in Kanazawa. Working at an English conversation school is rather like living in a bubble of English. You use it in ever class, you use it with your boss, your coworkers and students. Unless you feel really dedicated, you don’t really need more than a rudimentary level of Japanese. This is of course why and how I lived in this country for two years with only a rudimentary level of Japanese. I could ask for directions, find a bathroom, order a steak or a beer, ask what time it was and introduce myself. However, anything more complicated than that was going to be a stretch. Reading wise I learned the two Japanese kana alphabets, hiragana (ひらがな) for Japanese words, and katakana (カタカナ)　for transliterated foreign loan words. I also studied a bit of Kanji, the imported Chinese characters. With all that, I could navigate a train station, or piece together a menu to know what I wanted, or even more importantly what I didn’t want.     Living in the rural suburbs of Maebashi and working at a 'real' school is a very different experience. My
students are of course much younger and much lower level than the businessmen and housewives I taught at GEOS. Though to be honest, some of the English teachers I work with can hardly string a sentence together either (though some are quite fluent). Naturally, Japanese is everywhere, the school schedules and handouts are, understandably, entirely in Japanese. If you want to have even just an inkling of what is going on around you, you had better start studying.
     And study I have. I have a kanji book that will teach you how to read and write the 323 most common characters. I’m up character number 195, though I can’t say I have mastered writing all of them, I can usually read them. 195 characters seems like a lot, until you look at the list of over 2,000 daily use kanji that you need to read a newspaper and function in day to day living. Though a lot of name and place kanji aren’t on that list, so really the number of kanji your average Japanese person can read is quite a bit higher than 2,000.
     Unlike many students of Japanese, and I assume Chinese as well, I actually enjoy studying the characters. It is fun to see how the concepts fit together, and how words are related. For example, the word for　fireworks, 花火 is a combination of the word hana, flower, and bi, fire. That’s a pretty good conceptual　representation of fireworks! Every character either contains or is a radical, a basic element that repeats and provides some idea to the theme of a word. For example, 言 is the character for talking, or saying something. It is also the base radical in any number of other communication related words like 話, to converse, 読　to read,　語, language, 試, test, and I’m sure dozens of words that I haven’t learned yet. The problem with studying kanji though is they are a very efficient way of conveying meaning, but they give no hint on how to pronounce the word. Each character has at minimum two readings, one evolved from the original Chinese pronunciation, and one from the original Japanese word that was attached to that concept before the written language arrived. Different compounds and situations call for a different pronunciation, and while some of it can be deduced, most of it must simply be memorized, at least as far as I can tell. For example, I know the characters 来, come　場, place, and 者, person. I also know the compound word 場所, basho, which means place as well. 場 here is pronounced ba. But in the new word I learned, 来場者, raijousha, which means, attendees or visitors, 場 is pronounced jou. So simply by looking at the word, I could take a stab at meaning, come place people, but I had to look it up in a dictionary to check my pronunciation. Its good I did too, because my first guess was way off! Luckily for my studies, I see this more as an intellectual challenge than a massive pain in the rear, so it has actually been motivating me to study lots of kanji, and all that work is paying off. I still can’t read everything in the school handouts, but bit by bit I can read more. My spoken language skills and listening skills are improving as well, but at a slower speed. I’ve always known I was a visually oriented person, but now I can really see how that affects my language studies. If I see something enough times, I'll remember it, but if I hear something it’s gone. I’m sure my mother could tell a few stories about me forgetting vital spoken information...

View from the Mori Tower

2010-06-28T20:39:00.000+09:00

While I went to the Mori Tower to see the art exhibit, the fact that a combo ticket to the observation area was available meant I had to take yet another opportunity to view the urban landscape of Tokyo from above. I've taken some cool pictures of the Mori Tower from Tokyo Tower, so it was fun to get a chance to look back the other way.

Roppongi lies to the south of the center of Tokyo, and offers a slightly different view of the city. I say slightly, because its still a view of endless, wall to wall buildings! Though, if you get a really clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji to the west, poking above the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. Sadly, this day was clear, but not that clear.

We got some pretty cool views, but nothing truely spectacular. Though I'd love to head back up on a super clear day, or for sunset. Out front of the tower is this nightmare inducing metal spider. It's a cast of Maman, by Louise Bourgeois. The original is outside the Tate in London. Bourgeois died on May 31st this year, which was less than a week before I took the photo.

Traveling Tales トラベリング テールズ