Andrea's Escapades in Japan

I went camping this weekend

2006-05-22T14:28:00.000+09:00

Well, technically I slept in the car so I suppose you could say that the other people went camping and I...slept in the car. There was a mini festival down in the southern part of my prefecture, kind of near Mount Fuji, which was sponsored by a slew of outdoor companies like Columbia, Teva, and Lowe Alpine, among others. At each of these companies' tents were boxes and racks full of brand new, back-ordered goods that just never sold. So there were bins of fleeces, warm socks, hats, sandals, shells, backpacks and that sort of stuff being sold for dirt cheap. Nice, thick, Lowe Alpine fleeces were going for $30 and solid backpacks were maybe $100.

So what these companies did was, they got together and said, "We have all of this two and three-year old gear that nobody ever bought sitting around in our warehouses. Who buys this stuff anyway? Hippie gearheads? Perfect. Let's throw a jam band music festival, invite all the hippies, make sure the ticket is really cheap so that they all have money left over to buy our gear that never sold for full price in the catalog." And that's what they did.

This guy was really cool; I think his name is GoRo and he DJs while playing the digeredoo. Very entertainig.

This is the keyboard player from the band Meltone. Meltone has played at High Sierra Music Fest for the past few years. They cover the theme from Ghostbusters.

And there was a flame thrower, too.

This is Santos. He won Character of the Weekend Award, according to our car. He is Nepalese but must have been living in Japan for a while because he speaks fluent Japanese as well as English. He was quite silly, and asked if he could get on stage with the band Dachambo and beat on the drums with them for a song. What Dachambo apparently didn't realize at the time, was that Santos has no idea how to play his drums. Instead, he just got on stage (wasted) and vamped the audience for what seemed like what would be an indefinite period of time, flailing his arms in the air, shaking his bum, and pumping his fists like he was at a Widespread Panic show. The funniest part came when they tried to get him off the stage; when it became blaringly obvious that Santos could not, in fact, contribute on any level to the musicianship playing behind him on that stage, it became the task of the roadies to get him down. That took some coaxing, but he finally hopped back into the audience. I think his pride was a little hurt.

And then the band went into a ripping 2001 with the groove from Immigrant Song interwoven throughout. Nice. This is the guitarist from Dachambo.

So it was a good weekend and a definite warm-up for Fuji Rock Fest which is the exact last three days of my work visa. It's gonna be a fun goodbye party: me, String Cheese, and the beautiful mountains of Niigata Prefecture. Oh, and I think there are some other bands playing as well.

Morgan's theme party

2006-05-22T11:37:00.000+09:00

Okay...so a few weekends after Golden Week my buddy Morgan hosted a theme party at his house. Morgan is one of the luckier English teachers in this prefecture because he lives rent-free in a huge two-story traditional Japanese-style house in a cute little village in the southern part of Yamanashi Prefecture. His house, in the traditional Japanese fashion, has tatami mats (woven reed mats covering the floor), and sliding paper doors. It's so precious. Anyway, because of its size, it's perfect for hosting people.

The theme was Arabian Nights, and Morgan went all out decorating his house. He laid down futons all over the floor, drew huge Arabian-themed murals and hung them on the wall, and even built a little cave where an effigy of Osama Bin Laden was hiding. Everyone went all out with costumes, too. Mine was pretty weak...I just wore a t-shirt that said "What would Muhammed do?" on the back. Other people, however, were decked out in King Tut gear, or actual belly dancing skirts, or turbans and robes.

Oh, and for all of you CU alums, did I mention that Sally Schneider came to visit? We went out to dinner, did Print Club (see the Print Club blog entry for details), and drove over to Morgan's. Sally, if you're out there reading this, I had a ball with you, girl! Check us out.

Yes, it was a fabulous night. The next morning the drive back home was so amazingly beautiful, as well. The sun was shining, Bill Monroe was playing in my car, and the mountains of Yamanashi have never looked so gorgeous. Spring is completely here and it's funny, because I forgot how lush and green (and subsequently humid) it gets here in Japan. I have to enjoy it while it lasts, though, because in two weeks rainy season begins and I have been told that I will not see a break in the rain from June 1 to July 15. Apparently the rainy season is like clockwork here.

Wow, we have a lot of catching up to do!

2006-05-22T10:50:00.000+09:00

It's been a while, but I have some new pictures and mini-stories for y'all. Sometimes I wish I was from the dirty South so I could say y'all without feeling like such a square. Regardless, I have had a wonderful past few weeks. Even though I'm feeling slightly restless and ready to return to America (10 weeks to go!), I have been having a blast with a lot of really fabulous people here.

Over Golden Week (weeklong Spring Break type holiday during the first week of May), I went to the beach on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Saw some surfing, drank some Absinthe, sang some karaoke. Good times were had by all. I even got a facial!

This guy was funny...we went to his jazz bar and before we knew it he was giving us free shots and trying to jam with us girls on the tambourine and the cowbell.

We also went to a winery for a wine tasting. Andrea plus unlimited free wine equals headache in the morning. To say the least.

The Fuzz

2006-04-26T11:14:00.000+09:00

Real quick? I just got off the phone with The Fuzz. They hunted me down. Actually, first I got a call from the eye doctor who told me the cops called them looking for me and that I should call them. So I call the cops and they tell me...well, I'll start from the begining.

I was sprinting to the train station last Saturday night to try and make the last train back home after the bars. I mean, I was SRINTING. I had my wallet out because I had to buy my ticket, so I was running with my wallet open. Apparently, somewhere in the midst of my sprint, a bunch of stuff fell out of my wallet, including a punch card to my favorite store (it was almost all punched!), a gift certificate, and the business card of my eye doctor. I remember getting on that train and looking down at my wallet and going, "Oh no! I lost my Malaika punch card!" because that was the only thing I really cared about that had fallen out. ANYWAY...so I pretty much thought that everything was completely gone and didn't give it another thought.

I was so wrong. What actually happened was, someone found my cards, brought them to a police station, the police hunted me down via eye doctor business card (which had my name written inside, it was kind of a membership card I guess), the eye doctor called me, I called The Fuzz and confirmed the missing items, and now all I have to do is go down to the Cop Shop and pick them up. Can you believe it? In Milwaukee (or Boulder, for that matter) some bum would have wiped his ass with those cards, but in Japan somebody picked them up and turned them in and now I can redeem my punch card at Malaika! This country really is something else, I tell you what.

Abby's escapade in Japan

2006-04-26T11:00:00.000+09:00

For all you Coloradans...I met up with Abby Nielsen and her boyfriend Akira in Tokyo last weekend for an Earth Day festival in Yoyogi Park. There were tons of booths with earthy themes: organic foods, recycling, basically a hippy tree-hugger event. It was great, plus, there was live music and tons of vendors selling beads, clothes, glass, jewelry, musical intruments, and of course the inevitable drum circle. Cartman would have had a field day. Anyway, check us out. Also, note my sweet new sunglasses..."and then girls are like muscles and I'm coming all day long! ...yeah, that's how I feel."

These are some guys running one of the booths that sold really beautiful African prints.

Cherry blossom season is upon us

2006-04-26T10:40:00.000+09:00

Japan is famous for her cherry blossom trees. I always knew this, but I had never actually experienced the cherry blossom season. The Japanese ritually partake in what they call "Hanami," which means "flower viewing." It is a cultural phenomenon specific to Japan. There are innumerable amounts of blossoming trees in this country, peaches, cherries, plums, that all have amazing flowers for about two weeks during springtime. During this time, the Japanese get out their picnic baskets, throw on their party shoes, and go outside to sit under the trees and, well, get drunk. It's a huge party. I didn't actually partake in a hanami party, but I did take a picture of some cherry blossom trees next to my elementary school.

International Children's Art Fair (or, I am so good at my job!)

2006-04-26T10:23:00.000+09:00

Malinda and I just finished co-organizing and co-hosting my favorite event we have done since we arrived here last August. We made an International Children's Art Fair where we sent away to some schools in Texas, Oregon, and the Philippines to donate their drawings. The theme was "International Friends." Of course, four local elementary schools contributed as well. Here are some pictures I took of our gallery.

You know what's funny, when comparing the drawings from America to the drawings from Japan, the artistic ability of the Japanese second graders was on par with that of the fifth graders in America. Kind of makes you wonder.... Needless to say, we only posted the names of each child and NOT their grade level. America looks bad enough in the eyes of the international community, no use throwing salt in the wounds.

Hard Gay

2006-04-20T17:24:00.000+09:00

There is a television personality here in Japan who is wildly famous called Hard Gay (H.G., for short). He is a flamboyant actor (who is, in actuality dating a famous actress here in Japan) who runs around in this skimpy little black leather hotpants biker outfit and shrieks and makes jokes in this weird voice. Occasionally at his own discretion, he will force guests and other television personalities to look at his package, which is bulging through his patent leather hotpants.

He is one of the most popular celebrities in Japan. My students find him hilarious. My MALE students.

Print Cub, my new obsession

2006-04-12T17:10:00.000+09:00

Ok, so not only have I become completely obsessed with karaoke, but I am now totally addicted to this Japanese phenomenon called Print Club. I think they have it in the States in some places, but, like karaoke, not quite as much as I would hope. Print Club is this little photo booth where you go inside and take a series of pictures of you and your friends. Here's how it works:

1) You choose your backgrounds. There are loads of backgrounds you can choose from, ranging from being on stage at a concert to being on the moon. You could be caught in a rainstorm, or surrounded by jungle animals. It is quite entertaining.

2) Next, the picture-taking begins. Music starts playing to get you in the mood for a photo shoot; sometimes you even get to choose the genre yourself. Sometimes there is a fan blowing dramatic wind in your face, sometimes the platform you are standing on has hydraulics so that you can alter your height. Sometimes there is a mini-light show going on inside your booth, which completely changes each of your photos. A voice counts down for you in Japanese, ("three, two, one!") and by that time, you had better be in your perfect pose because the picture is about to be taken. The perfect pose is super-easy to find, too, because the camera is behind a mirrored window, so you just adjust yourself until you are at the perfect angle in the mirror; without fail, everyone looks good in these shots.

3) So after the pictures are taken, the best part comes. This is the part where you get to color and personalize each shot. You step outside of the booth and around to the back where you enter a separate booth. In this new booth is a screen and some computer pens. Here, you can write phrases on your photos (i.e. "Girls nite out!" or, "Wild 'n crazy!"), you can add borders, you can stamp hearts, shamrocks, stars (basically anything found in a box of Lucky Charms); you can put glasses on people, fake noses, crowns, devil horns, top hats, ANYTHING. No matter what you want to do, they have it. My favorite is to go to the sparkle page and edit sparkle glints on people's teeth if they are smiling really big. Or in their eyes.

4) When you are all finished decorating, you hit the FINISH button and then wait about sixty seconds for the photos to pop out of the bottom. They come out on a tiny little sheet of thirty-six stickers, each sticker about 1 by 1/2 inches.

Here are some that I did on St. Patrick's Day. You're probably wondering why I'm not wearing green on my holy day of obligation, but I actually am. We went into a kelly-green booth, thinking "hey, it's a green booth, and it's St. Patrick's Day, perfect!" The background was, however, like that blue screen from Wayne's World when they're rehearsing for the show in the studio ("I'm in New York. I got a gun let's go to a Broadway show!"), so our outfits actually just blended in perfectly to each change the background made because we were wearing the exact color of the background. I really hope that made sense. Anyway...

So basically, Print Club is amazing and if you ever get the chance, please try it because it is so fun. And bottom line, as previously mentioned, you always come out on top because no matter what, you will look like a babe in these shots. I promise.

The samurai festival

2006-04-12T09:46:00.000+09:00

Hi, long time no see! Or, as the Japanese would say, HISASHIBURI!!!! Anyway, I know I haven't written here since God was a boy, but I (believe it or not) have a life now. Yeah, hey? Ever since February when I went on the ski trip to Hakuba Ski Resort in Nagano Prefecture with a grip of foreigners who also teach English here in Yamanashi Prefecture, I have actually been going out on the weekends. No more drinking alone! (I JOKE.) But seriously, it's so nice to finally have people here to whom I can say things like, "Isn't it weird how much Japanese people love John Denver?" and he or she will know exactly what I'm talking about and be able to cite four examples of exactly how weird that is. Anyway, so I'm sorry I haven't been writing lately, but that's also due to the lack of material. This past weekend, however, I went to the local samurai festival which was amazing. So here we go...

It's called the Takeda Shingen Festival because, for those of you who aren't familiar with Japanese history, Takeda Shingen is a really famous historical samurai warlord from the 1500s who, coincidentally, lived in my prefecture. So he is one of Yamanashi's claims to fame. Mount Fuji is also in this prefecture, but Takeda Shingen rivals Fuji in coolness, according to many Japanese. Justin and I actually visited his home which is in the town of Enzan...but enough of this tangent. Anyway, every spring there is this festival dedicated to Takeda in Kofu, the largest city in Yamanashi. So last Saturday morning I hopped on the train with a couple other Americans from my town and arrived in Kofu at about 2:00.

The streets were blocked off all they way from the train station to the castle area and there were tents and stalls everywhere. That is the best part, they sell the funniest food at festivals. There are octopus balls (not testicles, but dough balls filled with tentacles and sauce), chicken skewers, fried noodles, I accidentally bought some chopped up fried pig skin (it looked really good when I thought it was just pork, but then I realized that I bought a box of stir fried skin for $5...ick); one can buy curry rice, various foods that come on sticks such as tofu, sausage, chocolate bananas, fried whole fishes (that's what I'm eating in this picture and Krystal could not control her gag reflex the entire time because she hates fish haha), and then there is hot sake, crepes, candied apples and strawberries, beer...the list goes on. There was one tent I found that was selling a hot dog and a leaf of lettuce wrapped up in a tortilla with some salsa on top. How weird is that. So the main part of the day was spent buying all the funny foods and then sitting down on the grass to eat and people watch.

The majority of people at the festival were dressed up as, well, samurai. Surprise, surprise. Actually, the main reason we went there was because a group of our guy friends were asked to participate in the Samurai Parade as representatives of their respective regions within the prefecture. For diversity's sake, I suppose. So my region had two representatives, but all together from the entire prefecture were about ten of our guy friends got all decked out in samurai gear, waving flags and blowing conch-shell horns for this parade. (Side note: don't you think it's slightly discriminatory that only men were asked to be in the samurai parade? I would make a great samurai....)

The highlight of my day was actually in the early afternoon, right when we arrived. In the search for the beer tent, Krystal and Jamie (some of my new friends, no big deal) and I stumbled upon a rather large concentration of rowdy samurai on one specific side street so we went over to see what all the fuss was about. About point four seconds after we entered the crowd, some photographers rallied us over to a specific group of samurai, gave us props (helmets, swords, conch shell horns), and posed us next to these super-intense samurai-guys for photos. When I say "some" photographers, I meant about twenty-two...well, really just about nine or so. But it was like the freaking paparazzi and I was Brangelina! They took so many pictures of us on their sweet, technologically-advanced Japanese cameras and then asked us if we minded being in the newspaper. So basically, what I'm trying to say is, I'll try not to forget about all of you when I become a huge star in Japan. So we stayed in that group of rowdy samurai for a while because, let's face it, they loved us. We were a hit.

Well, that was pretty much the festival, we wandered around the food stalls, checked out the castle (which is beautifully highlighted in this season with the cherry blossom trees that have just begun to bloom), watched the parade, and then started drinking. By late eary evening, it had become quite blustery and probably about as cold as Conan must have been when he went to Finland ("Fagerstrom, get out here!"), so we went inside and got down to business. As for the rest of the evening, there was a slew of bars, drunken samurai, and definitely more than one tequila shot. It was a fabulous night and I am excited because it marks the beginning of festival season in Japan! Let the good times roll...

Karaoke, Japanese style

2006-02-22T16:10:00.000+09:00

I never would have thought of myself as the type to go out at night to sing karaoke. But I am; well, as long as I'm in Japan.

See, in America, the karaoke places are Karaoke Bars, where you get the mic and stand up in front of a bar full of people and sing whatever song. But in Japan, you go to what is called a Karaoke Box. How it works is, you get your group of friends together and you go to the karaoke place. You walk inside and there is a front desk. There, you sign in and get your microphones. Then, you are escorted to you room. In high profile places in Tokyo there are high-rise karaoke places that have glass windows where you can look out over the nightline of the city, pretty cool huh? But anyway, at the end you pay at that little desk again for your hourly fee plus whatever food or drinks you ordered in there.

So they escort you to your private room where you and your friends are enclosed and can feel free to get drunk and sing and dance as loudly and obnoxiously as you want. There is a little phone inside your room where you can just pick it right up if you want to order food or drinks. And then you just go to town! There are, of course, horrible J-Pop (Japanese Pop, to the layperson) songs, but then there are also thousands of American songs, as well. Songs you wouldn't even think of. And beyond that, there are medleys. So, for example, if you couldn't choose between Like a Virgin and Vogue, just choose the Madonna Medley and it plays a seamless four-minute medley of her most popular songs. It's amazing.

The karaoke bar is actually a fabulous place to pre-game before you go out to the bar. You go there, have a couple of drinks while belting out Thriller or Mr. Roboto or Let It Be or whatever, and then you go out to the bar after that. I am obsessed.

So I am a new fan of karaoke, and if there are places like this in the States (I have never seen one, but I would think that somewhere there would have to be karaoke boxes, right?), please let me know because I will need to hunt this place down and become a regular there. And you're coming with me.

My family's Japanese debut

2006-02-21T17:09:00.000+09:00

First of all, this is a loooong overdue post that my family has been hounding me to write so here it goes...

The Japanese school system runs on a trimester, meaning that they have three major blocks of school all year round, instead of having two major semesters and then a long summer vacation like most schools in the U.S. do. Spring and summer vacations are both about a month long, and winter break is a little shorter. So for winter vacation, instead of me flying back to the States as I would have liked, my family came out to see me in Japan. Although not my first choice, it was very nice to have them out here and I was glad that they could see Japan, a country to which I have dedicated a big part of my life.

After meeting them at Narita Int'l Airport, we took the train into Tokyo where we were going to stay for a couple days while they got used to the time change. We stayed at a pretty decent hotel in Roppongi district, overlooking Tokyo's answer to the Eiffel Tower: Tokyo Tower. It is an exact replica (although slightly taller) of its Parisian cousin, and at night is all lit up with red lights.

Tokyo, however, was not the highlight of the trip by any means. The main part of our sightseeing took place in the ancient capital of Japan, Kyoto. To get to Kyoto from Tokyo requires the use of Japan's famous bullet trains. Much of the technology in Japan, including their trains, cell phones, and cars, is far superior to the technology of the rest of the world, including America; however, if you notice, none of these were actually invented in Japan. The Japanese are not bothered by this; in fact, they are quite proud that they stole these ideas from other industrial nations and quite effectively made them more efficient. I find that pretty funny.

Anyway, so we hopped on a bullet train from Tokyo and arrived in Kyoto about two hours later. Although, compared to the U.S., Japan is quite tiny and the culture is significantly homogenous, according to the Japanese, Kyoto is like another world compared to Tokyo. In terms of culture, class, history, and charm, Kyoto is the Paris of Japan. It has more temples, shrines, and museums than Milwaukee has fat people. If you are Japanese, you can also apparently hear a dialect difference in Kyoto; in a guide book I read that the Kyoto dialect can be likened to that of a Southern Belle, and many men from outside Kyoto find a woman who speaks in Kyoto dialect to be extremely sexy. I'll have you know, however, that I could detect no real difference between these regional dialects, much like the Japanese cannot tell the difference between the twang of a person from Fargo and that of a person from Birmingham.

We stayed in Kyoto for about four days and barely knicked the surface of the tourism opportunities there. We took many walking tours, had tea in traditional teahouses, ate traditional Kyoto-style food (which, to me, tasted just like every other type of Japanese food...but don't tell Kyoto I said that). We saw all the major sights: The Silver Pavillion Temple, The Philosopher's Path, Kiyomizu Temple, and Gion, the geisha district. Speaking of geisha which, in Kyoto dialect are actually called geiko), we saw a bunch of them! Actually, I think they were not geisha, but geisha-in-training (maiko); I think they weren't real geisha because whenever I tell Japaese people, "Yeah, and we saw geisha, too!" they all kind of laugh patronizingly and then tell me that we only saw maiko. Whatever.

A Geisha, for those of you who didn't see Memoirs of a Geisha, are entertainers by trade. They always wear Japanese kimono and they always have white makeup caked on their faces and necks, they are well-versed in all types of poetry and song, and can usually play more than one traditional Japanese instrument. They are not allowed to marry; they can become involved with their customers if they so desire, but marriage could never be an option. Their job is to entertain extremely wealthy men (it costs over $2,000 per evening); they basically just serve them dinner, pour tea and sake, recite poetry, sing, dance, play some instrument, and maintain stimulating conversations with their guests. They are not hookers; in fact, they rarely engage in anything but entertainment. And we saw some of them clickity-clacking down the street in the ancient Gion district one night! I saw them coming toward us and I totally froze; it was like Owen Wilson was walking toward me or something, I couldn't even react. They were so cute and unreal; like life-sized dolls walking toward me. After they passed, my dad goes to me, "Next time get your camera out!" Even though I kind of felt like the paparazzi, here are some shots of various geisha we encountered after that first sighting.

One day, we took the train to Nara, the even older capital city prior to Kyoto. Nara was the capital in the year 710. It is only about a forty minute train ride from Kyoto, so it was a great day trip. Nara is fabulous; the main attraction there is a place called Nara Park, which is an enormous park that houses numerous ancient temples and shrines from the time when Nara flourished as the capital city of Japan. What makes this park unique, however, is the fact that there are hundreds and hundreds of totally docile deer that roam freely everywhere. They are considered to be Shinto messangers of the gods, and are protected by the Japanese government as National Treasures. They have lived in this park since at least 1880 when the park was officially established, and they are extremely bold and domesticated. It is so weird; they walk right up to you and eat the food out of your hand. There are little stands that sell "deer crackers" for about $2 per packet; these are like doggie treats or something, so humans shouldn't eat them. But the deer tear them to pieces; they love 'em. ("Look at him...he LOVES it.") The second you break into a packet of deer crackers they come galloping from miles away and basically start humping your leg until you give them some. Okay, maybe I'm slightly exaggerating, but they really go nuts for these crackers! They'll crowd around you and jostle you and nip at your fingers until the crackers are all gone. And their little mouthes look sooooo weird; they kind of look like fish trying to eat the fish food off of the surface of the water, their little lips curl up to reveal these tiny little teeth. And they look at you with blank stares through their black, beady eyes. Ew. I can't explain it...I was screaming and laughing but frightened at the same time. And slightly shaken after the crackers were gone and the deer left me high and dry for my brother who had just torn open his own fresh packet and started whipping the disc-shaped crackers at the deer like frisbees. They used me for my crackers and then broke out, with no regard to my feelings whatsoever. Bastards.

There is this one temple in Nara called Todaiji. It is one of the most famous temples in all of Japan because it houses the largest bronze Buddha in Japan, or maybe in the world...I forgot, but definitely the largest bronze Buddha statue in Japan. So you pay your fee, walk around in this really tall, cavernous temple with an enormous statue of the Buddha in it. But what's especially cool about this temple is that at the bottom of one of the pillars is a big hole. The hole is the exact size of this bronze Buddha statue's nostril. It is said that if you can fit through this nostril-sized hole, something good will happen to you. I also don't completely remember what good thing will happen to you, something like your wish comes true, or you go to the Buddhist Paradise Heaven or something...anyway, good things come to those who fit through The Nostril. I had fit through it once back in 2000, so I wasn't planning on going through this time around (I mean, I'm definitely still the exact same size as I was in 2000 and everything, so it's not like I was scared to try and fit through, in case that's what you were thinking), but my brother decided to give it a go. So here is a picture of Marty struggling to get through The Nostril, haha. It was great because by the time he finally made it through there was a crowd gathered around watching this huge, beastly, Western-sized football giant try to fit through this little nostril hole. And when Marty made it through, the crowd started cheering and applauding for him. It was awesome.

After Kyoto and Nara, we had an extremely long train ride back up north to Yamanashi Prefecture so the fam could visit KEEP and see where I live and work. They stayed in the lodge at KEEP for free, courtesy of my office. Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal around here. Haha, I am, of course, kidding; most people I work with assume I'm a tourist. But anyway, since KEEP is in quite a rural area, we didn't do too much up here. We lounged around in the hot springs, ate wonderful dinners, and basically just relaxed.

So all in all it was a fantastic time having my family come out here. I am so glad that they got to visit me in this beautiful country and also see where I work and play. I think they had a really good time, as well. Japan is a bizarre place, though, and I warned them of that. But all in all, I think they had a ball getting to know this place with all of its weird quirks and all of its wonderful cultural customs alike.

Now, this is a personal message to the fam: If I have forgotten any important story or if there is anything you would like to add, feel free to drop down and write in a comment. Thanks.

My new favorite food

2006-02-11T08:34:00.000+09:00

Okay, I know it's gross but I can't be in the closet anymore about this; I have a new favorite food. It's called NATTO, I'll explain.

Natto, technically, is fermented soybeans, but I prefer to think of them as little brown balls of gooey ecstasy. Foreigners, generally speaking, hate natto with a passion; I was among those foreigners when I first got here because last time I was in Japan in 2002, my friend Becca who was on my trip tried natto and she said it tasted like someone's science experiment. So when I got here, even though I live in the land of natto (the region where I live is renowned for eating massive quantities of natto), I never really felt like trying it.

However, on my second day of adult English night class way back in October or something, we talked a little about natto. I asked my class what their favorite foods were, and one very funny man said natto was his favorite food and that he ate it every day. Then, the whole class had a laugh about how I had never eaten natto and how I was scared of it; so, when I assigned homework for them, they assigned homework for me. They said that, by next week's class, I had to try natto.

So Malinda, who loves natto, sat me down and we did it. The process goes as follows:

1) Open the little paper cup. Natto comes in one-serving sized cups, how convenient!

2) Take out the packet of mustard and soy sauce broth; empty the packets into the cup.
3) If you are feeling ambitious, mince some green onions and throw those in there.
4) This is the fun part; get a little spoon or some chopsticks or something and mix everything together, really fast. At this point, the natto gets really frothy. Apparently, this "unlocks" the flavor.

5) Spoon the natto onto a piece of bread or into a bowl of rice.
6) Have at it!

So anyway, I liked it a little my first time; I definitely didn't finish my one-cup serving size, but I didn't hate it or anything. It's an acquired taste. Actually, it's an acquired texture; it's kind of like eating really snotty boogers. And boy did I acquire a taste for it! Now, I eat it every day (sometimes twice a day), and if I skip a day, I feel weird and unhealthy. Natto has many health benefits such as lessening the risk of cancer, improving circulation, improving digestion, and weight loss. It also has active cultures (like yogurt), and those are always good, right? The Japanese believe that it actually builds up brain cells, making those who eat it smarter, but I couldn't find anything that supported those comments in my brief yahoo search. But it is made of soybeans, a very good source of protein; basically, it's super-healthy and I am addicted to it.

The only bad thing is, it kind of smells like cat pee if you leave an empty container laying out in your room; you gotta get rid of that shit right away because it is definitely putrid.

But in all honesty, I think I can say without hesitation that natto is my new favorite food in the entire world. I just hope I will be able to find it when I return home to the States because, in all seriousness, I don't think I can live without it ever again.

A trip to the salon

2006-02-10T10:57:00.000+09:00

So up until yesterday, it had been about six months since my last haircut (for those of you who remember, it was right before graduation and it was an alright haircut, I guess). So, over the weekend when I was on my snowboarding trip with all the foreign English teachers from my prefecture, I learned from a girl on the trip that foreigners really luck out in Japan when they want to get a haircut. Apparently, non-Japanese straight hair is a hairdresser's dream come true in Japan. So she made me an appointment at the place she goes ("Jammin'") and me and my neighbor John (who also needed a haircut) drove down there last night.

So after conferring with Allison, Jane, and Dani on the phone for quite some time, I decided that my best bet would just be to bring in multiple photos of Jennifer Aniston's hair (I am SUCH a dork), and hope for the best.

It was hilarious, during the whole time I was in the salon, four different guys worked on me! And they were all so excited about it. There was one guy to wash my hair, one guy to dry my hair, one guy to cut my hair, and one guy to color my hair. They were so funny and they kept being so amazed at how different my hair is than Japanese people's hair. The owner of the salon, the guy who cut my hair, told me he has been waiting for me (not like, I made an appointment and he was expecting me, but more like, he has dreamed of this moment for years or something). It was so fun.

But I felt bad for John, whose appointment took like four seconds and mine literally took three hours. He was a good sport, though, and hit on the cute Japanese hairdressers for the duration of my haircut so I think he was fine.

The best part of all, though, was a cut and color (I got two different color highlights) was...get ready...$20!!!! And this is a really nice salon, too. He told me that he is a scholar of foreigner's hair, so he only charged me for the most basic haircut available, the same as a male haircut would cost. The coloring was free, and he thanked me profusely for choosing his salon. Above is a picture of all the different guys who worked on my hair. The one to my right is the hair-washer, the one dressed like Dave Chappelle is the owner and hairstylist, and one next to Chappelle with the paintbush and the tweeker look on his face is the colorist, and the one behind and in between them who looks like the Japanese version of Sticky is the hair dryer guy. The other guys just jumped in for the hell of it. How cute is my hair??

TV in Japan

2006-02-01T11:40:00.000+09:00

So a couple weeks ago, I decided that I wasn't learning the language here fast enough for my tastes. Actually, I feel like the biggest moron of all time because when I moved here I vowed that I would be totally fluent in Japanese by the three month mark. Well, it's definitely past the six month mark and I'm still a stupid foreign idiot who stutters and blushes whenever she tries to speak Japanese. And, I majored in Japanese and I STILL can't speak it fluently, how stupid do I feel?

SO...I figured that I would have to do something drastic so I bought a TV. I went to the junk store, bought a little TV for about $55 and got to watching. I can understand TV much more than I can understand people, mainly, because there are pictures to follow along with. And I thought to myself, "hey, maybe there is a show like the Japanese version of the O.C., or Desperate Housewives or something that I can start getting addicted to and then I will learn Japanese quicker." It's a good idea, in theory, except for the fact that Japanese TV sucks. First off, I only have about six channels so that limits me a little. Furthermore, there are only about a handful of types of shows in Japan: kids shows, anime cartoons, the news, weird game shows, and dramas.

Now, you're probably thinking, "so watch the news, watch a drama, get over it," or something, am I right? Well, I'm trying, lay off me! So I have been really successful with kids shows, and I mean little kids. I can understand all of that. So that makes me feel good, except then I realize that I can only speak Japanese at the level of a four year old and that makes me sad again. So then, in the pursuit of more mentally stimulatin programing, I change the channel and try to watch something else. But game shows are really busy and loud and dramas are all really bad. Like, picture the worst soap opera you have ever seen, then put it into Japanese mode, then set it back in the historical Tokugawa Period (Japan, 1600s). That is what I'm working with here. But one cool thing I noticed is that at 12:30 during my lunch break The A Team is on, dubbed over in Japanese, so that is wonderful. Or, subarashi, as the Japanese say. Hehehe.

Well that is all I have to say. Except that in the mornings I LOVE watching the kids' channel because they have this cooking show on. Today's kid was the cutest ever; he was this little chubby boy who was wearing his gold medal from the junior sumo wrestler's championship! He was sooooooo cute, I almost cried. He is actually the reason that I wanted to write a blog on Japanese TV at all, he was precious. So mini-sumo boy and the overly zealous chef man made some sort of special sashimi and it was awesome. I think that is my new favorite show, except Japanese A Team. But by and large, I miss American TV so much, you wouldn't believe.

Japanese preschool is my personal Heaven

2006-02-01T10:58:00.000+09:00

Awwwww! Today I had my last day of teaching at Kobuchisawa East Preschool, and I am so sad to go. I also teach at Kobuchisawa Middle School, Kobuchisawa Elementary School, and Kobuchisawa West Preschool, but East Preschool is by far the best. The middle school is okay I guess, but the kids are all going through puberty and that kind of grosses me out; plus, they are totally concerned with being "cool" so they can be jerks a lot of times. Not everyone, but there are definitely students that deserve a severe beating. Elementary school I really like a lot; however, it takes a lot of preparation because, unlike middle school, I am their only English teacher. But the kids in elementary school are really cute, and we have a lot of fun. Preschool, though, is the best of all. And if I had to choose between the two preschools, I would choose East because there are only twelve children in my class, unlike West, which has thirty-three kids. Oh, and I only have to be at preschool for one hour on Wednesday mornings, so that really breaks my week up nicely.

So here is a typical preschool lesson: We have greetings first. I say, "Good morning, everyone!" in this ultra-cheesy, super-excited voice. Then, in the same voice, I ask, "How are you?" And the pre-fabricated response to this question engrained into the mind of every single Japanese person since he or she was a fetus is, "I'm fine, thank you. And you?" But it actually comes out more like, "I'm fine, sank you, ahhhnd yoooouuuuu?" in, again, ridiculously rehersed and overly sing-song voices. So after we go through this a few times to make sure that they all say it, we do many things. We discuss weather. We discuss fruit, and the many colors of fruit. We sing the ABC song (they sing it differently in Japan, which really threw me for a loop the first time I tried to sing it with them), we count (my kids can count to thirteen!), we discuss animals and the sounds they make (in Japan, for example, a dog says, "wan," but in America, a dog says, "woof."). We sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," which is a definite crowd-pleaser; sometimes we even sing it twice. We sing "The Wheels on the Bus," after discussing what a wheel is and what a bus is. We practice opposites by opening and closing doors or our eyes, or a book. Or, we observe the difference between "in" and "out" by putting a crayon in a box and then taking it out. Sometimes we go inside the classroom and then outside into the hallway. Then, of course, we play a game. One game they really like is Duck, Duck, Goose (come on, how fun was this game when you were four?), but I change the words all the time. So, today we played, Fly, Fly, Bee, because they were having a hard time remembering what a fly was and what a bee was. Then, we played Cow, Cow, Pig, you get my point. They LOVE this game. And by that time, class is over!

How cute is that? Preschool is ADORABLE, and the kids are really eager to learn. They also have really good pronunciation because they are so young. Unfortunately, by the time they get to middle school they will be faking that they can't pronounce properly because it isn't cool to be good at English at that point. Anwyay, but I love preschool and so I thought I would put up a picture of me taken today with my favorite kids of all the kids I teach out here. Aren't they the cutest things you have ever seen?

Other blog

2006-01-27T22:27:00.000+09:00

I was just in the Phililppines, so if you want you can check out that blog
you can see pictures of headhunters, rice terraces, your mom, and more! It's gargantuan, though, so you might want to grab a beer and change into your jammies because this one will take a while to get through.

Check it out:

Cleaning the school

2006-01-27T09:25:00.000+09:00

One interesting thing I noticed about Japanese schools is that there is no janitor. Wait, maybe I'm supposed to say "custodial engineer." Anyway, there is no person employed to sweep the floors and wash the chalkboards, or to throw those disinfectant crystals over some kid's puke in the hallway and then later mop it up while all the other kids stand around gagging. What they do have is a full-time employee there to fix broken windows and frozen pipes and such, but no guy walking around with his cleaning supplies cart in his army green jumpsuit cleaning the cafeteria after lunch. With me?

You're probably DYING to know how the school gets cleaned every day, and I bet you won't be able to sleep at night until I tell you. Okay, fine! What happens is, there is a special period during the school day just for cleaning. So basically, for fifteen minutes every day after lunch, the entire school stops everything and deep-cleans the school. You know in Saved by the Bell when Zack would go, "Time out!" and everything would freeze and then he would give a little aside before starting up real time again? Well, this is nothing like that. I just thought we could all stop and remember how cool Zack Morris is.

Anyway, so how it goes down is, the bell after lunch rings. And by "rings," I mean it chimes like how church bells do when they go off on the hour. Dum, dum, dum, dummmmmm...dum, dum, dum, dummmmmm. And then they ring a certain amount of times for what class period is about to start. It's actually quite calming, unlike the stressful bells at most schools in America that sound like the alarm clock from Hell. OK, so the bell chimes and then this is where it gets good because then, the School Cleaning Music comes on over the loudspeaker all over the school, presumably to get everyone really motivated about cleaning.

This music is amazing. It kind of reminds me of music that would be on an after-school special for maybe a kid who refused drugs and gangs all year long and then in the end, he leads his basketball team in a victorious game against the local thugs. In the end, the game gets reall fierce (well, as fierce as an after-school special can get) and the good guys almost lose. But then, just when it looks like the gang members are going to dominate, the protagonist makes a real comeback (even though he was injured because earlier in the show one of the bad kids pistol whipped him--just kidding, I meant to say kicked him in the shin) and the last point of the game is played in slow motion with some ultra-cheesy inspirational music in the background. You all know exactly what music I'm talking about. That is the music we clean to. It's also the same music that was played in Cool Runnings when the Jamaicans are getting fired up practicing for the Olympics. But that was before their coach got all sketchy and put that weight into the front of their bobsled...ANYWAY!

So this same inspirational song is played over and over and over and over for fifteen minutes while the kids are cleaning the bejesus out of the school. They sweep, they mop, they get on their hands and knees and scrub, they open all the windows and air out the bulding, they do the bathrooms, they empty the garbages, they do it all.

This is great and everything, but I am always caught off guard. I don't know if I should help, or if I should walk around and "monitor" the students or what. At first, I used to just sit in my desk, alone in the staff lounge, while kids were cleaning around and under me. That felt weird, so I the other day I started walking around and talking to kids. When I started taking pictures, they all thought I was crazy. That is, until I explained to them that in America, we don't clean the school, we hire a person to clean it for us. All the kids were crowing around me, so baffled by the fact that American kids don't have to clean their school. "Eee, nah!" they kept sighing (which means, "Wow, that must be nice!") as they looked down at the sponge or broom in their hands.

The tradition comes from Buddhism, actually. Buddhist monks clean the temple every day, even if there isn't an ounce of dust anywhere. They do the same cleaning, in the same order every single day as a form of discipline and even a kind of meditation. So the tradition has carried over, and although I would have HATED it when I was in school, I think it does instill a huge sense of discipline and personal responsibility to the well-being of the group in each student. Furthermore, when everyone works together, the school gets completely cleaned from top to bottom in only fifteen minutes! Okay, the Monica Geller in me is starting to surface...watch out, Allison! And, you don't have to pay a janitor either, which saves money considering how much the Japanese school boards have to pay their foreign English teachers.

I thought that was interesting, even though it kind of makes me feel like a slob. Not only do I not clean with them (the Vice Principal told me that I shouldn't clean, it was a job for students), I come from a country that teaches kids that they should just hire a maid instead of buckling down and all chipping in to get the job done quickly and effectively. In the real world, too, Japan is visibly more group-oriented than America is. In Japan, you work at a company as a member of a group, committed to pushing your company forward as a whole. However, in America, many times, one competes with others within his or her company for the promotion or for the raise or whatever. This Japanese concept of working together to improve situations for the group rather than the individual is engrained into the Japanese psyche from a young age. There is a common phrase here in Japan: "The nail that sticks up gets pounded back down." The children in my school, and at schools nationwide, are being bred to funnel into Japanese society, into The Group. In America, however, kindergarteners are being treated with a much more individualistic approach. Individuaity is much more nurtered in America than it is in Japan.

In the end, there are definite pros and cons for each mindset. While Americans have more psychological freedom to be eccentric and think outside the box, that also creates astronomical levels of competition and self-centeredness. In Japan, while individuality is put on the back burner, people are much more willing to work together to help out their peers to a degree that I never thought was possible until I moved here and saw it firsthand. These two methods of social interaction, while exceedingly contrary, respectively produced two of the world's leading economic powers; what I find the most interesting of all is that these polar-opposite societies managed to both make it to the top, taking completely different paths to arrive there. And on top of it all, they are still good friends.

And to think, I got all that from cleaning.

Mount Fuji after the first snow

2005-12-13T17:03:00.000+09:00

Here is yet another photograph of wonderful Mount Fuji. It is so far away; it takes two hours to drive there, and it's still taller than the mountains right next door to my house! I swear, though, it looks way cooler in real life.

Going out to dinner

2005-12-12T09:40:00.000+09:00

So I went out to dinner the other night.... Well, first let me begin by saying that I have absolutely nothing to do today (a stark contrast from last week, when I had to do all of my own classes, plus take on the classes from the other English teacher at my middle school) so if this blog entry is long and rambling I apologize. But seriously...I have nothing else to do!!!!

Okay, so anyway...I went out to dinner on Friday with my boss and another man who donates tons of his time to KEEP. His name is Mr. Nunokawa, and he is quite interesting, actually. In the 1950s he lived in the United States for five years; he went to Penn State. So his English is quite good, and he LOVES football. So anyway, we took the train up to Kobuchisawa (the town where I teach) and walked over to this super-cute Japanese restaurant for dinner.

Dinner in Japan is different than going out to dinner in America, as you can imagine. In America, we check out the menu, decide what we want for each course, and then the waiter comes by in a few minutes to take your order. Then, you sit there with your drink and talk while each course comes out. After about an hour or two, dinner is over and you ask for the check and pay the bill. With a tip, of course.

In Japan, on the other hand, you sit down and are immediately given a tiny little dish of...something. Let me preface that with this, Japanese people cannot fathom drinking alcohol without food. It is simply just not done. So upon being seated, you order your drinks and with the drinks they bring out this tiny appetizer thingy. Maybe you could call it an amuse bouche. Usually, it is a pickled vegetable of some sort, or maybe some raw seafood. I've had little chunks of sashimi, also raw squid in its own ink. So then you look at the menu for a while (well, I don't because I have no idea what the menu says...I have grown very accustomed to not having any idea what I am ordering before it comes to the table.), and when you are ready to order you yell, "Excuse me!" really loudly. That is not rude; the server then comes over and whoever is doing the ordering orders a bunch of stuff. But here's where it gets different: when the food comes, everyone shares everything. You order a bunch of stuff and share it all. Slowly. Dinners like this can take about four hours, for what really isn't that much food. In America we go out to dinner to eat a huge, thousand-course meal, and then we leave about fourteen pounds heavier than when we sat down. In Japan, you just order a bunch of snacky appetizer foods (a big salad, some sashimi, some fried fish, some yakitori skewers, etc.) and slowly munch on them while drinking sake and talking. I don't know which one I like better...I guess it really depends on my mood.

So that was fun. Wanna see a funny picture? At dinner we ordered this special house sake called Iwasazake (I think), and this is it. It comes in this little ceramic teapot-like thing, served hot. That dark thing floating in there? That is a fried fish. Seriously. It just hangs out in there, giving the sake flavor. A really good flavor, actually. It sounds gross, and I was totally put off at first, but I really liked it. And that wicker thing in the foreground is the handle of the teapot. We also ordered Takezake (take means bamboo, zake means acohol) and it comes in a cute little section of a bamboo trunk. I liked the fish one better.

The Tanzanians left today

2005-12-01T17:02:00.000+09:00

Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP) where I live and work is quite exemplary of an eco-tourist destination. Located in an extremely mountainous highland region two hours west of Tokyo, Kiyosato is a mecca for the outdoorsy and adventerous. KEEP itself, a "green" non-profit organization, also boasts a dairy farm, an orchard, a lodge, a church, two museums, two nature centers, and a handful of shops and restaurants.

Because of how advanced KEEP's knowledge and practice of eco-tourism is, the Japanese government has sponsored an exchange program between Japan and lesser-developed countries in order for these countries to observe and understand how to strengthen their economies through eco-tourism.

So, for the past two months, two Tanzanian men have been living and working at KEEP, studying the way that KEEP works in order to bring that knowledge back to Tanzania. Their names are Charles and Felix, and they are hilarious. Whenever you enter a room they are in, their universal greeting is, "You are welcome," in these beautiful African accents. I didn't really get a chance to get to know them too too well until their going away party, which was last night. But I did find out some interesting things: they nicknamed everyone in the office; my nickname was Hai becasue they thought the way I say "hai" ("yes" in Japanese), and I suppose the way I talk in general, was quite amusing. They were dying laughing when they were telling me this. Also, apparently they think that the way I dress is hilarious as well. They said that they would be eating dinner together and they would be like, "Hey, did you see what Hai was wearing today?" and then crack up about it for a couple minutes.

I can't decide if I'm insulted or not. I don't think I am, and Charles put it well when he said that these funny traits of mine have been making them happy this whole time so I should be glad that I have been the source of great happiness for them. Yeah, I guess.... Anyway, this here is a picture of us last night; Felix is in the green and Charles in the burgundy.

Church in Japan

2005-11-28T16:17:00.000+09:00

As some of you are aware, I am employed by KEEP, which stands for Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project and was founded after WWII during The Reconstruction by an American named Paul Rusch. Paul Rusch, a devout Episcopalian, pretty much rebuilt the economy of this area after the war and is almot deified by the local people here. He brought his knowledge of dairy farming as well as tons of equipment from John Deere to this region; he also built hospitals and schools. Here in the Yatsugatake Region where I live, he is frequently memorialized in statues, busts, blown-up photos, and his famous quote, "Do your best, and it must be first class." There is even a song that the preschool here at KEEP sings and the lines are, "Do your best, do your best, and it must be first class," followed by a rousing chorus where they just repeat "Paul Rusch, Paul Rusch, Paul Rusch" like four million times to the same tune. It is very cute and only slightly disturbing.

Anwyay, my point is, KEEP has an Episcopalian affiliation so down the road from my house is St. Andrew's Church where there are regular Sunday services in Japanese. For those of you who don't know anything about anything, Episcopalian services are the exact same thing as a Catholic mass, except there is no bread and wine. Episcopalian is the American branch of the Anglican Church of England; I don't know why they call it something different in America, but it is the same thing as Anglicanism. That is my understanding, at least.

So what I'm trying to say here is that on November 25, I went to an Episcopal church service in Japanese. It was the late Paul Rusch's birthday, so there was a special mass for him and my office was encouraged to go. So since I didn't have school I decided to go. I had no real idea of what they were talking about except they pronounce "Jesus Christ" like "Yes Curisto." I was told later that they pronounce "Jesus" like "Yes" because "Jesus" is really pronounced like "Yezu"...right? Anyway it was very interesting and I had to sit on my knees on a tatami mat on the floor the entire time, as there are no pews. Here is the picture of the church, which is actually very interesting...a clashing of cultures for sure. During the building of KEEP many years ago, men hauled each rock up from some river to build the church. I bet those guys definately got into Heaven.

Thanksgiving, grade one

2005-11-28T15:59:00.000+09:00

On November 21st, I was scheduled to teach first grade at my elementary school. My lesson centered around The Turkey. Introducing the concept of turkey to these kids was quite interesting since the Japanese do not eat turkey; they find it odd. This, coming from the culture that eats raw horse meat and whale. So I ask, "Why don't you eat turkey here in Japan?" And the answer is, amazingly enough, "We don't eat turkey because it is too ugly of an animal." So I'm just trying to make sense of this here: Japanese people have no problem breaking off chunks of dried squid tentacles and eating them alongside beer nuts, they have no problem eating skewers of nothing but chicken knuckles and skin, but a turkey sandwich is weird?? Ya, okay.

ANYWAY...so here I am, trying to teach these little kids about turkey. My lesson pretty much boiled down to, a) Even though it looks like a baked chicken, it's not, b) It does, in fact, taste really good, and c) Turkeys say, "gobble, gobble." That last part was probably the most hilarious thing that these kids had ever heard; even the teacher was cracking up about "gobble, gobble." So basically, after we talked about turkeys, we dove right into the art project which was making these cute little turkey hats to wear. How adorable are they?? The little boy here thought it would be way more fun to pull his down and pretend to be some space-fighter guy with a helmet on or something. So precious.

Mount Fuji at sunset

2005-11-28T15:55:00.000+09:00

Mount Fuji, November 18, 2005. Taken from the road outside my International Relations office at KEEP.

Sherm's international debut

2005-11-25T11:44:00.000+09:00

Wow...this is a LONG overdue post! First off, I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I wish I were at home with all the Wisniewskis (and those few Heiderers) eating turkey and stuffing...and a special shout-out to my cousin Tricia who loves my blog and inspired me to write a new entry today.

So anyway...on October 28th, Justin arrived at Narita Airport for his first experience abroad. Okay, scratch that, he once went to Toronto for a Phish show but I'm pretty sure he was only there for a few hours and then returned to New York, so I'm almost positive that his trip here to Japan still counts as his first international experience.

I picked him up, which was a huge ordeal. The airport is, technically, only about a three hour drive from where I live. But if I were to drive it by myself, it would cost about $200 in tolls, roundtrip. I think it has something to do with the fact that after WWII when Japan was in her reconstruction period, the highways were all built and subsequently owned by private companies and not by the government; I'm not sure if that's still the case today, but that is the reason for the excessive tolls. Or something. Anyway, so I took a variety of transportation methods to get there (car, train, bus), and finally, about six hours later I arrived at the airport. And it only cost me $60 roundtrip.

For the next two nights, we took off for Lake Kawaguchi, which is one of the five lakes that encircle Mount Fuji. Legend has it, when this giant was building Mount Fuji, he accidentally tripped and fell down. Apparently, when he landed on his hands, his five fingers made the imprints of the five lakes that surround Mount Fuji; I guess he was a really big giant. So we stayed in a cheap hotel, and spent my birthday eating lunch in this pseudo-Italian restaurant (the tuna carpaccio looked like someone emptied a cat food can, still in the mold of the can, onto a plate of lettuce...mmmmm!!!!!) and then renting a swan paddle boat and hanging out in the middle of the lake for a while.

The next few days (Mon, Tue, Wed) I had to teach, so Justin was on his own during the daytime. I usually just let him loose at a trailhead and then found him roaming the streets later after school. I felt kind of bad, but he was fine. He's very adaptable.

On Tuesday night, we decided to go out to dinner at this seafood and sake restaurant down the road from KEEP; we sat down, had some food and drinks, and were pretty much finishing up dinner when the two men at the next table invited us to join them at their table for drinks; we accepted. So before long, we were pounding classes of locally-brewed sake and eating...well, I'm not gonna lie...fried whale. Funny story...we sat down and the guys (who are both named Mr. Nakamura, no relation) offered us some fried stuff off their platters so we accepted; and me and Justin are going, "Wow, this tastes like nothing we've ever had before, what is it?" And the Nakamuras reply, "Kujira," in Japanese. And I'm thinking to myself, "Kujira, kujira, I KNOW I've heard that before...kujira, kujira, what does that mean??" And before I knew it, Mr. Nakamura was drawing a picture of Shamoo with a spout on the napkin; so Justin and I realized at the same time that we were eating whale and kinda choked a little on it, but it was actually not bad. It was kind of pink and really tough...definately tasted more like a mammal than a fish, that's for sure. So that was really fun, especially for Justin who has had very little exposure to people of other cultures; I this meal was one of his favorite parts of the whole trip. They really liked Justin, though, and I think that, had I not been the only one of us who spoke Japanese, they would have had nothing to do with me. But since I was the translator, they were obligated to talk to me. Oh, yeah, and when we left, our bill had already been accounted for. Thanks, Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Nakamura!

Wednesday, I only had to teach for an hour in the morning, so immediately after that we took off for Matsumoto which is in Nagano prefecture. Matsumoto is an ancient castle city that the famous warlord Takeda Shingen ruled over during the Warring States Period in Japanese history. Anyway, so we took the train there (by the way, there are wine shops at most of the train stations where you can buy a bottle and the store will open it for you and give you cups for the train ride...those Japanese, what will they think of next?) and arrived in the early afternoon.

We stayed at this beautiful Japanese inn; it was a bed and breakfast a'la Japanese, where our room was covered in bamboo-woven mats and we slept on thick, feather-bed futons right on the floor. It was amazing. We actually came on the perfect weekend, because it happened to be a national holiday: Culture Day. So we got to experience a street festival; we ate fried octopus, drank sweet warm sake, and partook in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony inside an ancient Buddhist temple. We also toured the castle, and later were forced to take shelter inside a sake shop because it started raining; needless to say, we exited that place a LOT warmer than when we entered...hehehe.

After Matsumoto, we headed off to Tokyo to finish up Justin's trip. Tokyo, as I'm sure you are aware, is a crazy-busy place where there are tons of stuff to do and different districts and tourist attractions everywhere; so we had to choose. We decided to go to Tsukiji Fish Market first thing in the morning. Tsukiji is probably the most famous fish market in Japan; all the fish there has been caught earlier that morning, and they have all the weirdest stuff with, of course, extra tenticles. And, of course, there are sushi shops galore there, so we popped into one which was, coincidentally, called Sushi Zanmai (for those of you who don't know, Sushi Zanmai is also the name of a Japanese restaurant in Boulder that is infamous for its sake bombs among other things) and had, what I can say without hyperbole, the most perfect and delicious food I have ever and will ever eat in my entire life. Oh, my, God, you have no idea. We ordered this tuna sushi platter of all these different tunas that were literally caught about four seconds before we ate them; the fish was actually falling apart it was so tender...I am still not over it.

Then after that, we took the train over to Harajuku which is this crazy pedestrian shopping mall area with all these crazy people walking around; mowhawk people and Japanese gothic girls wearing these creepy victorian Little Bo Peep outfits...kind of a counter-culture area.

After that we went out to dinner and basically went home and passed out...it was a long day of walking around and dealing with Tokyo crowds and subways and...argh I hate crowds!

Anyway, so Justin left the next day and that was sad. But it wasn't as sad as when I left Boulder in July, and actually, it was bittersweet. I got to introduce him to Japan, this part of me, and I think that was a really good thing. He got to see this place that, up until this point, I have devoted a big part of my life to, and in doing so I think he really discovered a side of me that was unexplored territory for him.

So there it is...Justin's Escapades in Japan. It was spectacular. So, until next time....

Tokyo rocks my world

2005-11-10T16:06:00.000+09:00

So a few weekends back...let's see, it was the weekend of October 22...I went down to Tokyo, again. I got a free train ticket (value of $100) from work since I had to work down there as a tour guide for an American for one afternoon, and I decided to stay all weekend. I stayed at my new friend Tamara's apartment. I met her at the Zilla show back in September, and she said I was always welcome to stay at her place if I came to Tokyo; I warned her that I would take her up on that offer, so she shouldn't say things if she didn't mean it, but she assured me that she was telling the truth.

Anwyay, so we ended up going out to some clubs and meeting up with her hipster friends. It was hilarious; we went to a club and saw a band, then left with her friends who drive a white VW van with stickers of Moe., GD, Phish, etc. Actually, this picture here is of Tamara and the guy who owns the VW van. It was just so crazy because I was sitting in a VW van with Moe. stickers all over it, listening to a Phish show that I actually saw (Utah), with two dreadlocked guys in the front seat speaking in rapid Japanese. Aside from the whole rapid Japanese part, I might have well been in Boulder on any given Saturday night. Hahaha, love it.

We drove to another club after that, where we saw a slightly famous Japanese jam band play a late night show. They are called Dachambo, and they are pretty good, considering. They covered First Tube haha. But what I came to realize is that, although Japan has this scene going on, the Japanese kids all strive to go to their Mecca for music, America. I met kids who went to Hornings, Coventry, various New Years shows, etc. But I think it is widely known that as far as native Japanese bands go, its more like, "nice try, guys." But at the same time, I've only seen one band out of a decent handful that Tokyo boasts. So, we'll see; I'll keep you posted.

After the show, Tamara's guy friends knew the band so we went backstage. That might sound like a bigger deal than it really is; the scene in Tokyo is soooo small that everyone knows everyone. I feel like about half of the audience (which was probably less than fifty people) went backstage. We just sat there and had drinks and the venue brought up food.

Finally, 5:30am rolled around and the trains started running again. Whew. But, Tamara's apartment was about an hour and a half from the club we were at so we didn't get to bed until forever. I slept on the train, don't worry about me. All in all, it was a fantabulous evening, and I am going to try to go back again in two weeks or so; that depends on my money situation which is quite depleted since Justin was just here...awwwww.

"But that's a whole nother story all together...I had to beat him to death with his own shoe..." -Wayne's World II.

Lunch surgeons

2005-10-17T21:09:00.000+09:00

Hi, I just wanted to share this picture of the seventh graders I teach. This is how school lunch is prepared. The kids wear these surgeon outfits and serve the lunch to their homeroom. I just thought they were soooo adorable in their getup, and figured that other people might get a kick out of it as well.

Japan is SUCH a crazy place.

County Fair

2005-10-17T20:45:00.000+09:00

County Fair is a time here at KEEP where the Japanese get in touch with their inner hick.

There are pig races, horse races, food tents, and John Deere tractors taking people around on hayrides. There are also two stages for musicians, there are fireworks, and of course, shopping. The Kentuckians (please refer to "Kentuckians know how to party") set up their craft booths and demonstration tables among the local Japanese artisans for quite a multi-cultural experience. It is really fun, but I had to be there from 9am until close all weekend, so I am pretty tired. That is the main reason that my sentences here are all about four words long. Sorry, I promise to write more eloquently next time.

Anyway, so since KEEP is the home of Japan's American Football Hall of Fame (dead serious), there was also the ceremonial "kickoff" and, of course, rent-a-cheerleaders. That is their picture down there, check them out. Can't you see Mount Fuji in the background, too?

After the fair was over on both nights, there was a staff bonfire party out on the field with loads and loads of food, beer, and sake, as well as live music and inebriated dancers. Japan is a wild, wild place.

ps...has anybody else heard of Kentucky Coffee? I hadn't until this week...Kentucky Coffee is drinking bourbon on the rocks during the daytime. And trust me, these Kentuckians love their coffee. Many of them start drinking their coffee at literally 10am. I can't decide if it's depressing, or just an element of Kentucky culture with which I am not yet familiar. I prefer to believe the latter.

Kentuckians know how to party

2005-10-17T19:42:00.000+09:00

I have been attached at the hip with a group of Kentuckians for the past week. Hokuto City (I live in Kiyosato, a town within Hokuto) shares a sister region relationship with Madison County, KY and every year the cities send over delegations of twenty or more members to visit and experience one another's home countries. So, for the past week, the Kentucky Delegation has been here in Kiyosato touring the area and learning about their sister region in Japan. I took off school for their visit and acted as a hostess/guide/translator to make things run smoothly and assure that the Kentuckians felt comfortable all the time.

The reason that this region of Kentucky was paired up with this region of Japan is mostly because of their similarities; farmlands, a tremendous amount of craftspeople, a vast countryside, a love for whisky (seriously), and a mountainous region are all characteristics that the two sister regions share. The delegation from Kentucky was mostly comprised of artisans, craftspeople, and also of a six-piece bluegrass band. We toured the Suntory Whisky Factory ("Suntory times"). We took a tour, had a taste test, and we even saw the guy who charrs the oak casks that the whisky ages in. It was pretty cool, but the whole place reeked like whisky...go figure.

We also got to go to a preschool, which was precious. I go to preschool once a week so I'm pretty spoiled, but the Delegation was so excited to be there. The kids were all adorable, check them out.

So during the day, we would ride around on a tour bus and go sightseeing all around the area; we took lots of tours and ate lots and lots of food. At night, there were elaborate parties thrown for the Kentuckians, where they are treated like total VIPs. They got whatever they wanted, and were treated with the utmost respect.

After the boring cocktail parties where I had to wear my pants suit and "translate" (because I'm sooooo good at Japanese translation...yeah and monkeys might fly out of my butt), the real party would start. That is the part of the night after everyone has changed out of their stuffy clothes and they get together for a Kentucky-style party. This means that we all go up to room 201, the biggest suite in the KEEP hotel where the two heads of the Delegation were staying and drink bourbon and beer and listen to the bluegrass band jam together for hours. Everyone was drinking Maker's Mark, Wild Turkey 101, Evan Williams, and even Suntory bourbons all night long (they get mad if you call their bourbon whisky, I made that mistake once and I will not make it again) and singing Amazing Grace, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, and of course, My Old Kentucky Home. All this among a plethora of other bluegrass songs. I'll note, however, that Rocky Top was never allowed to be played because apparently it is the biggest cliche known to the bluegrass community. So anyway, this here is a picture of Al the guitar player playing licks so hot that Ryan the banjo player needed to fan them off haha. That's how it was explained to me, anyway. Also, note the random Japanese banjo player in the background. How cute is that?

By the final night, the Delegation had polished off twenty-four bottles of bourbon, not counting their personal bottles they brought with them. The blacksmith of the Delegation even brought over and completely finished a Jim Beam handle filled with moonshine, swear to god. And, they are hilarious because they say things like "y'all." And also, instead of supposing things, they all "reckon" things. Oh yeah, and my favorite is when they put "I tell you what!" on the end of a sentence for emphasis. I wish I could talk Country. These people are crazy, but I had a blast with them all.

Amazing Elementary schoolers

2005-09-30T18:24:00.000+09:00

I went to Elementary school today and it was really cute and everything but the coolest part was the fact that my babies are really talented! In Japan, kids are taught to do all this really cool stuff, just to exercise the mind. So my kids can walk on stilts, ride unicycles, and juggle. As I walked out of school today, I was engulfed in a massive flock of little kids riding around on unicycles with amazing skill. They all began to swarm around me and grab onto me from their unicycles and I couldn't go anywhere; I was surrounded. But it was super-cute and they were all showing me tricks they could do. It's amazing. Then, there was the group of girls prancing around on stilts. They let me try, but I kept falling over. Go figure. Anyway here are some photos.

Today was really cute, I ate lunch with the other class of second graders today and they were so funny. They were making faces me and crossing their eyes. One boisterous young lad decided to tell me about how all foreigners (white people) had big noses. I took that offensively, since I have always enjoyed my nose and thought it to be small, comparatively speaking. That's probably why I pierced it. Did I mention that Japan made me take my nose ring out and that I miss it terribly? Anyway, I'm so glad it's Friday, this has been a really long week and my feet hurt.

Tokyo craziness

2005-09-27T15:46:00.000+09:00

I went to Tokyo again this past Saturday, September 24. I went with a JET teacher named Kasia (pronounced KA-sha)who lives down the road from me. This is Kasia over here on the left right outside Shibuya Station. Shibuya is a crazy place, not unlike Times Square, as you can see from the big screens behind her. Since it was typhooning in Western Japan over the weekend, it was misty all night in Tokyo. Anyway, she wanted to go to Tokyo to go clubbing with a friend of hers who was going to be in Tokyo that night, and I wanted to go to Tokyo to see Zilla (http://www.zillamusic.com/). Zilla, for those of you who don't know, is drummer Michael Travis of The String Cheese Incident's side project band. And if you don't know who SCI is you better ask somebody. So I went down mostly to see Zilla, since I would not be able to see SCI play their Tokyo show. What were they thinking scheduling a show on a Wednesday night anyway? Jerks.

So we drove to Nagasaka, parked the car, and took the bus from there to Tokyo, which takes about two and a half hours. Our plan was to get into Tokyo around 6:00pm, eat dinner together, go our separate ways, and then meet up again after Zilla at around midnight. Our bus back to the mountains was scheduled to leave at 7:20 the next morning. Yikes.

Once we arrived at Shinjuku Station (the biggest train station in Japan), we hopped on the subway to Shibuya. Shibuya is a district of Tokyo that is famous for restaurants, clubs, and bars, and I decided to take Kasia to the same sushi joint that Stu and I went to a month ago when he and I painted the town. I forgot what it's called, but apparently it's really famous. The line was really long to get in, but it doesn't matter because you are only allowed to stay for a maximum of 20 minutes. They actually time you and tap you on the shoulder when it is time for you to get out. You sit around this sushi conveyer belt and pick the appealing sushi plates off the belt as they come around. The sushi chefs stand in the middle and slice and dice the whole time. Check this guy out over here on the right. So that was great; the minimum is seven plates per person and at $1 per plate, that is amazing. I love that place.

After dinner, I parted with Kasia for the Zilla show. We promised to meet up again later on after the show. She was going to some club called Yellow in the Roppongi clubbing district (pure craziness) and I was to go there after Zilla and somehow find her. Easier said than done, but we'll talk about that later.

So I got on the Yamanote train line at Shibuya Station bound for a random exit called Tamachi. When I got off the train, Kyle Hollingsworth and his wife were standing there, no big deal. I almost asked them if I could get a ride to the show, but instead I got all flustered and ran away giggling. So I walked about six blocks in heels, might I add, (what was I thinking?!) to this club in the middle of the dark, empty docks of Tokyo. Studio Cube (www.studiocube326.com) is the name of the club, and when I got there the music was bumping. Also, just as a side note, I paid (yeah, that's right) $50 to see Zilla. I almost fell over when the guy at the door told me how much he expected me to pay to get into the club. I wanted to shake him and tell him that in Boulder I used to see Zilla for like $10 at Trilogy, but then I realized that I probably would have sounded like Grandpa Simpson telling a story about back in the day, so I just paid it and sprinted up to the second floor where I could hear Jamie Janover rockin the hammer already. I should have taken better pictures, but this is all I have.

So the show was absolutely amazing, and I met a ton of people (and by "a ton" I mean three people) as well. I met a girl from Canada who lives in Tokyo and knows everyone in the very small, yet extremely well-established, tightly-knit jam band community in Japan. Also, I met this other kid who is housing Sector 9 when they come out for their tour. And I found out that SCI and STS9 are both playing in this festival at Mount Fuji in two weekends and it's totally sold out. The kid who is housing STS9 can't even get a ticket. How mad were we?? But anyway, the show was great, there were these trippy screens and the venue kinda reminded me of Trilogy. Actually it was pretty much identical except there is no bar in the front. After the show, I talked a lot with the bassist Aaron (http://www.vibesquad.com/aaron.htm) who is SO nice and completely smiley, I talked a little with Jamie (http://jamiejanover.com/), and had a few words with Trav (http://www.crazewire.com/features/2002102735.php). Don't worry about it, it's really not that big of a deal. Basically, I went to the show not only to hear live music (finally), but to meet people hooked into the scene and I think I successfully accomplished that goal. There are tons of Japanese jam bands and a really wonderful scene reminiscent of the American scene, but sans scuzzies. Literally, there was no scuzz factor whatsoever, everyone was adorable and pumped up and loving the music. It was so fun being there, even if I was by myself. The show ended at about midnight or so, and the last trains stop running at 12:30 so I hauled ass to the train station to catch the last train into Roppongi for my own personal after-show...sick.

So I got off the subway at Roppongi and realized that amidst the craziest clubbing district in Tokyo, and by far the most international area in all of Japan, I had NO IDEA where this supposed Club Yellow was. Finally, what I had to end up doing was go to the police box (in Japan, there are mini-police stations all over the place if you need help) and have them write down the address of Yellow and the get in a cab. It was only about four blocks from where I was, but since I had no idea how to get there (Japanese streets are so confusing), the cabbie took me right there.

Yellow is three stories high, and had entertainment all over the place. DJ in the chill room on one floor, VIP rooms, insanely crowded basement where the main events were being held. The main act that night (for whom I was forced to pay a cover charge of $40...gad!) was a DJ named Gilles Peterson from the UK. This name means nothing to me, but people (Westerners and Japanese alike) were wetting themselves over this guy so I was pretty excited to see him. He didn't go on til 3am, though. So when I got there, this brass band called (haha) Soil & "Pimp" Scissors (I did not insert the quotations, that is just their name) were playing. They were AMAZING. Great energy, really good improv jazz and really high energy. Did I mention the high energy level yet? Check out these pictures of them. This guy over here on the right is the lead singer. Apparently, he was quite hilarious because the audience would lose it every time he opened his mouth, but I couldn't really understand why. This other guy over here on the left is the trumpet player. Every time he played, he would bend back all dramatic-like and belt it out. Every time. Nine times.

Anwyay, so finally Gilles (www.djgillespeterson.com) came on and he was great. Latin, jazzy, funky, house, sick nasty DJ. Like I said, I don't know anything about DJs, but I know that I was dancing a lot and so was everyone else.

After that, I passed out upstairs because it was 4:30am and my friends were still rocking downstairs. I was sleeping in the chill room which had like forty other sleeping people in it as well, waiting for their parties to get tired too so they could go home. Finally, Kasia poked me and told me that we were leaving. We decided to get food.

We went to a noodle shop by the station and ate food in a little restaurant stall filled with drunk people. I, of course, was not one of them. I am quite responsible, as you all know.

After that we slept for an hour in the train station until 7:20am rolled around and we hopped on the bus bound for Yamanashi. I was so glad to be headed for the mountains again. Tokyo is great and all, but I can't understand how people just live there...it's like New York City. Crowds really annoy me and Tokyo has a lot of those. But it's soooo fun to just swoop in for the night and then be back on a bus bound for the mountains before anyone even knows you were there. Ah, good ole Tokyo.

Here I am!

2005-09-22T15:19:00.000+09:00

Hey guys just wanted to fulfill everyone's request for more pictures of me. How's this? I am one wild and crrrazy girl! K talk to you later.

Undo-kai at elementary school

2005-09-21T10:13:00.000+09:00

Last Sunday, September 18th was Undo-Kai (Sports Day) at Kobuchisawa Elementary School. I arrived at 8:40am as a spectator, not exactly sure what to expect. What it is, is a day-long event where the entire school competes in little kids' sports events on the playground and their families all watch from the stands. The school is divided into four teams: the Yellow Team, Blue Team, Red Team, and White Team. Each team has kids from all of the grades to make it fair. It is really really cute and all the kids were so excited. I sat in the announcer's tent (in the shade, luckily, because the sun is just as harsh as Boulder) taking pictures and applauding for the kids...they were all trying so hard; it was adorable.

This on the left here is a picture of the cheerleaders for the Red Team...awwww!!!! They came running out on to the field to that 80's song "Hey Mickey," but in Japanese. I have no idea what the song said, and I didn't even realize it was in another language until I listened harder. How funny. I was cracking up and nobody around me could really understand why.

Over here on the right now is a picture of the Yellow Team and the Blue Team playing tug-o-war against the Red Team and the White Team. I don't quite understand why the two teams got together to battle each other, but I have learned that it is best to not ask questions when the answers don't especially apply to your daily life. So anyway how cute are my babies?

I even participated in the parent/teacher sports event. It was fun, and my team won first place! Damn straight! Me and my partner (somebody's dad) had to race other partners from the other teams at tossing rings around opened umbrellas and then running around a cone or something. It was fun and my new friend Daisaku, a retired old man who is on the Kobuchisawa City Council and is also a photographer with a camera that probably cost more than a year's tuition at CU Boulder took a picture of me "in action" during my event. He said he would make me a copy.

So after hours and hours of these types of competitions (obstacle courses, relay races, rolling big balls around plastic cones, etc.) the day's events were over. This over here on the left is the school band, who, might I add, is extremely talented; never a sour note, always marching in synch. Again, so cute. The band played Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da (gotta love those Beatles), and the later we all did the Kobuchisawa traditional dance which my students were happy to teach me. How cute are they? "Andorea Sensei, will you do the dance by me?" Awww of course I will you little cutie.

Temples & shrines

2005-09-21T09:51:00.000+09:00

This is me and Malinda on September 14th at a Shinto shrine down the road from Kiyosato. I don't know what it's called, but we had to take a picture of ourselves together to email back to the states for this newsletter so I decided to share it with y'all as well. The picture is a little crooked because I was holding my cell phone and trying to take the picture at the same time. I am the queen of multi-tasking.

This over here on the right is at a Buddhist temple called Kaigan-ji which is in Takane-cho. Kaigan-ji literally means "Seaside Temple," which is ironic since I am completely land-locked here in Yamanashi prefecture. As the story goes, this temple was completed at the same time as another temple which is at the seashore. Upon completion, two messangers were assigned to take the signs to the respective temples by horseback; however, they mixed up the signs, so the newly-constructed seaside temple was named Ungan-ji, and the landlocked temple in the mountains was named Kaigan-ji. AND...I have been to both of them, I went to Ungan-ji by the seaside when I visited Japan in 2002 with CU. It sure is a small world, isn't it?

I broke my car

2005-09-16T13:45:00.000+09:00

Well today has proven to be the worst day since I got here. I got in a car accident and now my pretty red car has to be traded in for an ugly, navy blue old hybrid car that barely goes over 60 km/hr. Plus, it has all this writing all over it so everyone knows that I work at KEEP, Inc.

How it happened is, me and Malinda were driving to Kofu, the capital city of Yamanashi, to go to the International Center to put up flyers (and, of course, go shopping). It takes about forty-five minutes to drive there. I was driving. Nirasaki was the scene of the accident.

Nirasaki is about halfway to Kofu; the roads there get all narrow and turney. Oh, also, let me preface this story with the fact that in Japan, you are allowed to just stop your car in the middle of the lane, wherever, and put on your hazards and let the other drivers deal with how to get around you. So I was driving through Nirasaki, trying to get through an intersection when I noticed a mini pickup truck (like, picture the smallest pickup truck you can imagine...kind of like a clown car) parked in the middle of the lane and everyone was going aroud it. Oncoming traffic, however, was my greater concern because two, enormous semi trucks were coming at me. So, I was supposed to get around this lil pickup truck while simultaneously avoid a head-on collison with two semis. I chose to compensate for the semis, and totally scraped the whole side of my car with the mini pickup. My left side mirror is completely off and so is the front left door handle.

Now, keep in mind that Japanese roads are literally the smallest things I have ever seen. If you have ever been to Europe and have driven through those super-narrow, claustrophobia roads then maybe you can feel my pain. Or at least partly. So on top of driving on the opposite side of the car, I'm driving on the opposite side of the road, a road that is about as wide as a popsicle stick, and there are random cars parked in the middle of my lane! And it's rush hour! ARGHRGHRGH!!!!!

So I'm bawling, of course; Malinda is talking to the Fuzz for me, who are being total jerks (I think that all police worldwide must have the same understanding that they are a superior class of humans to us non-law enforcers); the street is packed with cars who keep slowing down to watch the tall white girl cry because she knocked off her side mirror; elderly gawkers are emerging left and right from their neighborhoods to witness the only excitement they have had in their neighborhood for decades, pointing and speculating from all corners of the intersection ("ooo, look at the foreigners try to talk Japanese, what stupid idiots they must be," is probably what they were saying to each other); meanwhile Malinda is on and off of the phone with our boss who I'm sure was going to crucify us when we got back.

All was well, though. We went to Gusto for lunch, which is the Japanese equivalent of Denny's and I got comfort food (I was really craving mashed potatoes, but instead I got miso soup and red bean rice and a fountain coke), which helped a bit. Then, we drove back to the office (I totally ruined our fun day in Kofu...tear) and faced The Boss, who was quite understanding, laughing, and said that it was a mistake and not a problem at all. But my car is ruined and now I have to drive this hybrid P.O.S. car over here on the right. I'm not complaining that it's a hybrid, I'm complaining that it gets no pick up and when you try to drive it up a hill this little turtle light turns on inside the dashboard which means that the car apologizes, but it will be running as slow as a freaking turtle now.

So today was eventful, and as my boss put it, a rite of passage. An experience, I suppose. But I'm fine, it's just my nerves that are shot. I could really use a strong cup of coffee and a hot shower or something. Maybe a martini...

My View

2005-09-14T14:59:00.000+09:00

This is the view from my front driveway. If you look really hard and tilt your computer screen a little bit can't you see Mount Fuji back there? She's freakin' huge! And so symmetrically perfect from all angles...wow I always get all sentimental whenever it's not hazy out and I can see her...I am also, the world's biggest sap. Anyway, there she is, and when it starts to get cold and she gets really visible I will post WAY cooler pictures for y'all to check out. K gotta go, I'm going to a Buddhist temple today with Malinda.

The Yellow Bridge

2005-09-14T14:51:00.000+09:00

This is the yellow bridge I drive over every day on the way to work. Those are mountains back behind it in the haze...it's really hazy here but apparently in winter you can see as far as Mount Fuji every single day. So far, I have only seen Mount Fuji less than five times and I've already lived here for over a month and a half. Anyway I love driving over this bridge, it connects two mountain tops. I took this picture on my cell phone camera at about seven o'clock in the morning.

My Super-Cool Welcome Party

2005-09-14T14:02:00.000+09:00

My middle school threw me a welcome party! Well, that's what they told me it was, but I'm pretty sure they were just saying that since they made me bring $50 and get my own ride there. But I was seated at the head of the table with the principal and vice principal (who looks like the Japanese version of Barb Rasman! How weird is that?), meaning that my end of the table got its asses kissed a lot and sake glasses filled most frequently.

But anyway why I'm really writing is because I wanted to describe the ten course meal that ensued during this dinner party. Before I describe the food, however, I am going to have to describe the restaurant. It was about twenty minutes from Kiyosato (where I live), and Malinda drove me because drunk driving (or, quite literally, driving under the infuence of even Robitussin) is one of the worst things a person in Japan can do; as I may have mentioned to those of you who actually read the emails I send out, a person pulled over for drunk driving gets their license taken away forever, gets fined $3,000, and each passenger in the car gets fined $2,000 just for choosing to ride in the car of a person who has been drinking. So anyway Malinda drove me out to Nagasaka (not to be confused with Nagasaki which is a southern port town that got nuclear bombed after Hiroshima in 1945). So ANYWAY...we had to drive through these tiny (and I mean tiny) little roads that are, in fact two way but are barely wide enough for one car, through some cabbage fields and under some train tracks all twisty and turney; we totally thought we were lost when we saw the abandoned cement factory all spooky and dark, but then around the next corner was a well-lit, clean wooden Japanese style house. Inside there was just one room, a long rectangular room with an equally long, rectangular low wooden table on the ground with about twenty places set for all of us. Oh, and the floor was tatami which is that Japanese style mat woven from grain...I think they have them in the back rooms of Sushi Zanmai. Anyway so you aren't allowed to wear shoes there so we all went barefoot and sat on our cushions on the ground waiting for the first course...

The Courses (10)

1. An appetizer platter served to each individual on a green rectangle ceramic plate. On it, there were miniscule servings of raw cucumber with miso paste, this red veggie stuff on a white shell (good presentation), some small squares of sweet scrambled egg, a couple of deep fried lima beans in what looked like a mini-cupcake foil, and some eggplant with a sort of teriyaki sauce dollopped on top.

2. A little ceramic bowl of steamed, chilled spinach with a sesame soy drizzle and cracked white sesame seeds served to each individual. Very good.

3. Communal plates of traditional Japanese pickled veggies and kimchee (spicy Korean pickled cabbage) .

4. Sashimi platter. This means raw fish but no rice underneath, just slices of raw fish. Fresh octopus, scallops, clams, deep red fatty tuna, salmon skin, and whole shrimpies with feelers and eyeballs and everything. This was also served communally in three huge platters. Oh god my mouth is watering just thinking about the tuna...

5. Communal three-tiered platters of (top to bottom) cold, bright green, salted edamame, french-fried whole sardines that you eat, well, like french fries. The bottom tier was fried chicken wings and drumsticks (KFC, much??), as well as some fried chicken nugget balls (no seriousy, if I wanted fast food I would have driven forty-five minutes to McDonald's).

6. Individual deep, rectangle glass dishes of fried eggplant.

7. An amazing tofu salad. It was two little blocks of totally raw, soft tofu with some salad baby greens on top and a lemon vinegarette dressing that was absolutely amazing; the salad bowl was ice-cold, too, like they kept them in the fridge for a while to make them extra-cold. I love that.

8. Huge communal tureens filled with wontons and a little amount of broth. You could actually call them cauldrons, all big and black (double double toil and trouble). And those of you who lived anywhere within a one-mile radius of me last year know how I feel about wonton soup...yes, I am drooling again....

9. This was totally the grossest dish of them all. Cooked teriyaki chicken livers, served to each individual in a little lacquered square dish. Gag me with a maggot. Seriously.

10. Finally, a nice polished wooden bowl of handmade soba noodles (buckwheat) in cold broth with shaved green onion on top. Very nice.

All with unlimited Sapporo beer and sake. WheneverI reveal I'm from Milwaukee people here feel the need to quote an old Sapporo beer commercial in which the announcer (whom I imagine with an intensely low voice) says in his regal voice, "Milwaukee, Munich...Sapporo!" in reference to the biggest beer-producing cities in the world...I guess. So yeah I don't know what made me think of that.

Anyway, it was a good meal and if any of you come visit me maybe we can do it all over again! But don't bring your car, we'll take the train home!

Lunchtime with the Second Grade

2005-09-14T13:47:00.000+09:00

Lunchtime at Kobuchisawa Elementary School turned out to be quite the experience for me, the brand-spanking new Assistant Language Teacher. I was told that I would be dining with the second graders in their classroom, and when my two eight-year-old escorts arrived at the staff office to accompany me back to their classroom, I was ready with hot lunch tray in hand. These little boys were extremely shy and I’m pretty sure they would have willingly cannon-balled into the crater of Mount Fuji to avoid making eye contact with me. They sprinted up the stairs and down the hallway, leaving me to guess where their classroom was; luckily, I'm pretty smart (that's why they pay me the big bucks) so I figured it out.

Upon my arrival at their classroom I was shown to my seat, which was not, in fact, the teacher’s desk at the head of the classroom like I had imagined; I would actually be sitting with the students at my very own miniature desk. So I lumbered over to the three little girls sitting in a pod of four dollhouse-sized desks and filled the last empty seat. My new lunchmates stared at me, blinking. For the record, I am significantly larger than the average adult male in Japan, so my attempt at saddling up to one of these desks was, as one might imagine, quite comical. It took every ounce of strength to keep my knees from lifting the tiny desk off the ground. I felt like Will Ferrell in that creepy movie Elf. Of course, the desk did achieve lift-off once or twice during the next forty-five minutes but, for the most part, I kept things under control.

Lunch was quite a treat, especially compared to the hot lunches of Salisbury steak and tapioca pudding that I remembered from my days in the Milwaukee Public Schools; we had fish, rice, mixed cold vegetables, and a cup of lemon jello. And, of course a school lunch beverage that transcends all time and international borders, the inevitable carton of milk, complete with straw.

Following lunch, I experienced one of the most superbly hygienic and, well, adorable scenes I have witnessed in a public school, ever: tooth brushing time! After all the trays were scraped clean and neatly stacked on their cart, the children ran up to the front of the classroom to grab their toothbrushes. All of a sudden, a song came blaring over the loudspeaker that sounded like a sort of Japanese Seinfeld Bizzaro World version of Alvin & the Chipmunks. Immediately, the students all scurried back to their desks, toothbrushes in hand, and began scrubbing away. For the duration of this song that echoed down the hallways, the children brushed vigorously, leaving me to sit quietly in my mini hover-desk to observe.

The funny part about it is I never actually saw anybody spit out any toothpaste.... My grandma once told me that you get really really sick if you swallow toothpaste. Maybe Japanese toothpaste is different. Well, either way...

Blog: Round Two

2005-09-09T16:35:00.000+09:00

So ok...I think I actually have a "blog" this time. Not like last time, which was a huge waste of time: I decided to work all hard on perfecting my first entries to my blog and then when I woke up in the morning and checked my email the blog company was all, "sorry, we don't take blogs from Japan." Again, news that might have been useful YESTERDAY!!!! And then everyone decided to tell me my blog wasn't working and it was a whole fiasco and I felt really technologically incapable, like I was an elderly Amish woman trying to make sense of a computer for the first time or something.

But I think I have it figured out and I would invite all of you to now, officially, come play with me in cyber space. And not like that, you pervert! This blog is rated PG13. Feel free to leave comments (apparently that is possible; however, I am a newbie when it comes to the blog world) since it is comments, emails, and the occasional email text message I receive on my cell that keeps me going every day here! That, and the gorgeous view of Mt. Fuji I have from the edge of my driveway.

K, well, welcome to my blog and make yourself comfortable. Hope to hear from you soon!