April in Japan

“It seams to be that time passes quickly” quoting some Japanese English items in my house, it really is so right now. I can’t believe how fast the last little bit has gone by. This is definitely the most exciting part of the year and the best time to be in Japan.

So much has happened since I last wrote, the biggest one being Mom and Dad coming to visit me in Japan for 2 weeks at Easter. Although there was a ton of things to plan before they came, it all paid off and we had such a blast together! I got to show them so many different parts of my life here and play tour guide : ) I picked them up in Nagoya at the airport we stayed in Nagoya (Super hotel!) for a night before starting our adventures in Kyoto the next day. Poor Mom and Dad didn’t even really get a chance to recover from Jet leg as I had them off and running from the start (with many pauses for photos of course!). Lol Mom was just like me when I first came—taking pictures of everything- especially toilets and signs! Hehe. Mom and Dad were lucky enough to have the JR (Japan Rail) passes and so we Shinkansen’d almost everywhere. In Kyoto, there are over 1000 temples. We made it to a few and some various pagodas and got our fill. We jammed in Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji (under reconstruction –boo), Sanjusangendo temple (33 bay temple, founded in 1164, famous for its 1001 beautiful wooden and gold-leaf covered statues of Kannon, goddess of mercy, with shrines for health, happiness, love, safe journey etc), and Kiyomizu-dera temple (beautiful with the cherry blossoms and view but it takes a long time to get up there through the busy steep street and the ‘waterfall’ is definitely overhyped.) We also followed a random parading ‘fox in a rickshaw’ festival near Gion by Yasaka shrine, past an old cherry tree and through the streets until we found ourselves at another free pagoda which was giving out Nomihodai sake! We were pretty exhausted in Kyoto but still managed to get up early enough for a Japanese style breakfast at Toyoko Inn before heading off to Nara. In Nara we did the obligatory pics with some deer who would bow to us in Deer Park, and of course to the beautiful Todaji temple (largest wooden structure in the world—houses the largest wooden Buddha (Daibatsu) and walked by other shrines and the big Pagoda in Nara.
Next, Mom and Dad had a few days to recover at my place back in Neo while I had to go back to work. They toured around my village (Usuzumi Sakura of course!) and I went to closing ceremonies and graduations. They also went to a doll class and sword museum tour I arranged with Chisako my Japanese doll teacher. We managed to do quite a bit in those few days—having dinner parties with my Elementary school teachers, Rika’s family and my English conversation class. While learning to eat with chopsticks they tried a variety of traditional Japanese foods including sushi and my favorite-yaki soba. Then fit in a tour of both my schools—sorry in advance for anyone who views the hours of videos they took! I really did try to ration it! There was just so much to see though.
On Friday we were off and running again- catching busses and trains to Hiroshima. The first day we spent at Miyajima seeing the beautiful gate and more deer. Miyajima is on of my favorite places in Japan. I think it’s absolutely beautiful and practically impossible to take a bad picture there. We got to go up the ropeway and to a few places I didn’t go to last time so that was cool for me too. The view from the top of the ropeway (and even more so after the hour long hike to the peak) was stunning. We didn’t see any of the wild monkeys that are supposedly up there, but met some cool people and barely made the last ropeline down. The cherry blossoms seemed to be just starting everywhere we went and we couldn’t help but say “ahh if only we were here a few days later!” a little too often. Still everything was quite beautiful and we stayed to see the Tori-gate at high tide, low tide and night. The next day, we went to Hiroshima and took in all of Peace Park. For lunch we went to Subway (my first time in Japan--- ahhhh how I missed you Subway!) and then for crepes when all of a sudden I heard someone calling my name—Sandi (my friend from Edmonton who came on JET at the same time as me) had her parents visiting too and although we both knew we’d be in Hiroshima at the same time, I was super shocked to be running into her a few blocks off the main tourist strip. It turned out her parents and her were having lunch at Subway too right after us- at the same table none the less. After a quick intro and catch up both groups of visiting Canadians were off to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. En route, we passed the craziest Daiso ever—something like 8 stories of dollar store—ahh Japan. : ) The memorial museum was just as influential as last time—and this time I was able to go to the Peace Memorial hall which was filled with personal stories in an exhibition about leaving those behind. Wow is all I can say. So powerful.
That night we headed off to Okonomiyaki mura and did it up true Hiroshima style—we took a random elevator into a building and found floors of restaurants all making Okonomiyaki in front of you. (Okonomiyaki Hiroshima style is egg, cabbage, soba, meat etc cooked like a pizza/pancake). We pretended we knew what we were doing and found a place to sit and somehow managed to get food and drink. Although I think they could potentially tell we weren’t from around there somehow. Hehe. Afterwards, I decided Mom and Dad couldn’t leave Japan without going to a Karaoke place—and fortunately Big Echo was one floor up on that magical elevator. Although I think Mom was a little hesitant at first, we all had a great time and in true karaoke fashion ended up extending our time because we couldn’t get enough. For our last day in Hiroshima we found ourselves visiting Hiroshima castle and some more beautiful gardens before heading back to Neo.
Mom and Dad left for Tokyo a few days later after some “sleep over” parties in my living room and a last visit to Usuzumi Sakura before it bloomed (only a few days after they left.) They went to Saitama (near Tokyo) to stay with our relatives and see all that Tokyo has to offer. I sadly couldn’t go because of more meetings and ceremonies at work.
The next weekend, I headed off for a big ole catch up weekend with my crew- Narin, Jess, and Jords. We went to Kobe with a half day side trip to Himeji castle. Himeji is arguably the most famous castle in Japan and we undoubtedly saw it at it’s most beautiful time—Cherry blossom season. The only down side, was that thousands upon thousands of other people had the same idea on that sunny day. We took crazy amounts of pictures--- posing with Ninja’s was a highlight- and ate lots of festival foods as it was the Himeji sweet festival nearby. We bought tickets to see the nearby garden and inside of the castle, but with the hoards of people, we only made it to the 2nd floor before giving up on the multiple hours waiting inline to reach the top of the castle. Lol seriously, this is what our group of tourists has come to. We were all ashamed, but couldn’t think of anything else but getting back to Kobe and heading out on the town then back to our capsules. Oh yah, I stayed in my first capsule hotel—and potentially spoiled myself because this one is Kobe is one of the best capsules in all of Japan. It was very cool and had separate floors for women. Jess and I quite enjoyed the free onsen that was open 24/7 and had daily feature flavor pools (we got a sakura one the last day we were there ). Kobe itself, is famous for the old European houses and Western influence. The houses were neat, but we decided they weren’t worth paying for tours of or anything. We went on a ropeway (with gorgeous views over Osaka bay) and walked for miles uphill to visit a waterfall as well in Kobe- but without a doubt that trip will be remembered for Himeji castle above all else.
So other than my constant voyages in the last month or two, I’ve been sticking around home and re-discovering local life once again. One weekend (although unfortunately it made me miss out on the infamous Penis (fertility) festival) my schools and Narin’s JHS (along with a few hundred other people), participated in the Usuzumi Roman Walk- a choice between 3km and 60km walk all ending at my village’s famous tree. I chose to go on the 18km walk from Tanigumi station to Neo along with one of the ladies from my convo class, Narin and many of my kids. The elementary students all walked 3km and some of my grade 8s even ran 38km! 18 was perfect for me—although I’d like to think if I could go again next year I’d do 28k. There were celebratory free soups etc at the end and it was a neat way to hang out with some of my town people outside of work.. That night we went out for a fundraiser for Simon’s trip to India during Golden Week. His Beer Games at America Land were a hit! There was a fantastic turnout and I even got to hang out with some of the Canadian Jets from other prefectures that I hadn’t seen since August. The next day I managed to make my way to the ever so addictive Chisako’s doll class. I keep saying “this is my last one” but everytime I see another one I want to make. This time it was cool because I got to personalize a love letter in advance. A week before, I wrote what I wanted on it in English- Chisako translated- then her husband wrote it out in tiny kanji. Bet you can’t guess who it was to? Hehe. Sandra, Evan and one of Sanj’s teachers were there that day too making flat dolls—now I really want to do one of those because they turn out so gorgeous.
So as I have probably mentioned before, March-April is the end/start of new school years in Japan. This means sad goodbyes with my grade 9s, the transition of some of my elementary kids to the big world of JHS and…. new little ones!! How I heart my little babies! : ) Grade 1 kids are absolutely adorable! Kidnap alert going out—Jords and I are scheming on how to smuggle some of them back to Canada! It really is cool though seeing some of the family connections between my kids though—I have some huge families in Neo and some of my kids have 7,8,9 brothers and sisters. Along with new kids, it also means new staff. Here teachers change without really having any choice every few years. They only find out a few days before they have to transfer too—I can only imagine how teachers would take that back home. Needless to stay, school has been full of excitement and emotions lately. Oh and days off for the kids which aren’t actually days off for the teachers—more necessary than the August month of ‘teacher only’days—but all the same—an official change of years and not a single day off—union where are you?
With the changing of school years—means enkais (staff drinking dinner parties) are in full swing. I have 3 in a span of 8 days this week, plus we had an end of the year apartment party too a while ago. They are really fun and such a great way to interact with your teachers outside of school—and the English (and my Japanese) flows so much more easily in those types of situations! I was very sad to see many of my favorite teachers leave, and in particular Kocho sensei of the ES did it up right one last time. I could seriously write an entire blog about him. He’s such a character!! Beyond hilarious and so jolly. Although—he dared to question the infamous Sojiro and ocarinas (http://www.sojiro.net/ )and I thought there might be a throw down right there from the JHS teachers defending it. Everyday I find a new thing that makes me laugh and question both Canadian and Japanese etiquette. At the last apartment party is was sounds of eating, talking while eating, elbows on table and chomping off pieces of meat without cutting—hey you can only do so much with chopsticks.

Now school is up and full on back to normal. I’m running with the kids in the morning and still circuit training and playing badminton with the school club as often as I can. Spring “vacation” and the first week of school were just weird—with so many transitions and lots of protective gossip. Desks were cleaned out for the first times in years—teachers I mean—and baseball season is back on—so it’s back to having tv in the staff room on teacher days. Although admittedly there was some work to do to get ready for the new year, the “look busy” mentality often won over again. I met a man on a train who was telling me that Japan has the most “conventional” society….. it’s definitely functional but I still think it’s not my cup of tea sometimes. The endless meetings …. Well I won’t go there.. on to more happy things…

The latest excitement has been the students getting ready for homestays in Devon. There is lots of buzz around the school and I can help but wish I was going with them. I truly hope that the board decides to continue the Devon-Neo homestay exchange, although it is really not looking good, as now that we are part of Motosu- an Australian partnership is in the talks. Maybe my dreams of coming back as a Devon rep to Neo aren’t quite going to come to fruition…
Oh wait, how on earth have I missed the most important thing in all of Neo this month--- it’s Usuzumi Sakura time!!! Narin, Kiri and my other friends here I am sure are bored to death of me talking about the tree—but since this is a blog—feel free to scroll down for all those who that applies to—the rest of you--- I LOVE MY TREE!! I’m such a Neo’ite now!
First a little bit of a tribute to the history of my tree
-Usuzumi Sakura (Indian ink colored Cherry blossom)
-the oldest cherry blossom tree in Japan (presumably the world) over 1500 years old!
-planted by the 26th Emperor Keitai who was seeking refuge in Neo for a number of years before he took the throne
-named a National Natural Monument in 1922
-survived earthquakes, typhoons, heavy snow and other catastrophes—making it a subject of many preservation projects—now perfectly healthy—although held up by some poles and has had many root grafs
-a very rare type of cherry blossom because of it’s light pink grayish color as it changes
-has it’s own museum (also very cool Kikkaseki -Chrysanthemum rocks there from the earthquake to see for anyone who visits) and is definitely the most famous tree in Japan
-also has many songs, poems and artwork written for it
-new and exciting as of this month--- some of its seeds will be gathered in August and sent to SPACE as part of an experiment to see how seeds do in 0 gravity.

Personally, I had been to the tree a number of times before the official blooming this year—including for the walk, and an early summer concert with Sojiro. This week I went for another good part of 4 days. First was for our JHS students and the Sakura Reception—playing the ocarina for a hundred dignified guests as well as some of the 200,000 people who visit Neo (remember population of 2,000 people) this month. They also did “tree ambassador work” (don’t laugh!) and played tour guide giving mini concerts and info about our famous tree. This continued Monday and Tuesday afternoons as well. Saturday I invited a bunch of my ALT friends and Rika and her friends from around Neo and we had a hanami party my the tree—think all day picnic with waaayyy to much food! Everyone came back to my little apartment afterwards for a taco night (we dare assume that it was the first ever Taco party following a hanami party). Twas a fantastic little weekend that also included the once a year Nogo-no-Noh mai performances (traditional Japanese theatre and music) on the Sunday. Lol and in case that wasn’t enough tree lovin for me… Tuesday I went with the elementary school on an all day field trip around town which included walking to the local waterfalls to release our fish, picking some herbs for kyushoku later in the year, and….a visit to Usuzumi Sakura museum and picnic and games in the park. It was by far one of my favorite days with my kids—probably equivalent to Sports Festivals in excitement level- but for me even more so because now I really new my kids and there wasn’t the month of lead up hype.
For more info on the tree… http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/829338/page/vc/vc/1 or ask me for my pages of info or google search. Seriously I heart it very much. It had the kind of views that poetry is made of—cherry blossoms falling like snow in a dream….—haha ok I’ll spare you- but it was gorgeous and I’m proud of it just like every other person in my village.

Well, it’s job application time for back in Canada now a days. It’s so much work to get everything ready- I forgot how much I dread applications and interviews. I’m still looking into Peace Boat too (my dream ship of sailing around the world and teaching English), although think I may have to delay it for a year or two as I’m not exactly qualified—a few months short but still may apply all the same.
My focus is also on the countdown to Thailand paradise!! I’m so excited for this trip! Seeing Duane for the first time since Christmas break—and hanging out with Jess—and beaches, elephants, monkeys and sun!! Whooooo!!! Beyond excited! Not that I really need a vacation or anything from my wonderful life here but… you can’t pass up things like this!!

In any case, thank you for reading all this and hope I didn’t ramble too much.
Happy spring everyone!! Enjoy the sunshine finally! Please check out all my pics on facebook since I can’t post them on here with my dial up internet and all.
: )
Cheers!
~Julie