Hiroshima and Ise

I finally made it out to Hiroshima, one of the spots I was determined to visit before I leave Japan. It was all I expected with an added bonus of being close to Miajima- an absolutely beautiful island a ferry ride away. Although it was quite a serious and somber trip, filled with pretty overwhelming moments, definitely glad I went!

Jordan, Jess, Narin and I made the trek by Shinkansen on Friday night and came back Monday after the long weekend (thus no nenkyuu! Yeah!) We stayed at the ever so lovely Super Hotel and one hostel as well. Saturday we started the tour with a trip to Shukkeien garden. Japanese gardens are always calming and well taken care of, but it was a little different at this one, when you learn of the history that surrounds just about every inch of the city. We then took in the rebuilt Hiroshima castle Hiroshima-Rijo where Jordan and I enjoyed dressing up like Samurai and taking pictures from the top after climbing 6 sets of stairs.

After lunch our main pursuit of Hiroshima was reached as we explored the A-bomb Dome, Peace Memorial Park (including a Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, a mound of tens of thousands of victims’ remains, various peace bells, a monument for students of Hiroshima, a monument for Koreans killed (did you know that 10% killed were Korean workers in Hiroshima?) and a Statue of the A-bomb children in particular memory of Sadako Sasaki) and the Peace Memorial Museum. (For more info: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index_e2.html ) I was reading in the Lonely Planet that the cranes around the Children monument were actually burned by a college student protesting the fact that he couldn’t get a job, a few years back. I was shocked and sickened. Peace Memorial Park was a very good place to reflect, but filled us with profound sadness. It was powerful, difficult, and intense to say the least. Since I am, after all a social studies teacher, I hope you can bear with me as I recount some of the things that we witnessed.
As soon as we turned the corner and saw the Genbaku-domu atomic bomb dome, we all fell silent. It made such an impact to bring across the fact of how one bomb tore up such a city and so many lives. While the city is filled with life and growing rapidly now, (1,100,000 people) it was once believed that nothing would grow here for 75 years. Where once stood the Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall with a bright green roof, is now the skeletal remains that are known as the atomic bomb dome—the building that was right at the hypocenter and somehow remained intact. It is located maybe a hundred meters from the intended target- a T shaped bridge nearby.

Hiroshima was once a city known for Education, industrialization in the Meiji period and later some military. It was chosen as a potential bomb site in May of 1945 along with Kokura, Niigata and Kyoto (which later was removed and replaced with Nagasaki). It is estimated that 140,000 people were killed in the explosion and its aftermath within a few years. Other estimates say 200, 000 died overall as a result of the bomb. The survivors, known as hibakusha, some say were cursed worse than death. I bought a book of drawings compiled by the museum from the hibakusha and they truly show the terror that must still haunt these survivor’s memories. We enjoyed the museum so much that we went back a second time for another few hours before we left Hiroshima on Monday. The museum had great video testimonies, a headset to listen to victim’s personal experiences, and stunning artifacts that will not leave my memory any time soon. Particularly affective were the fingernails of a hibakusha, a tricycle of a child, full but scorched child’s lunch box, and a watch of one of the victims, frozen at 8:15, the time the bomb detonated. The images that centred around students and children were particularly disturbing for me, as a young person and a teacher I guess. The stories of them going out on duty that morning and teacher’s trying to comfort dying children tugged at me pretty deep. The museum also included various displays of black rain and the famous shadow burned onto the cement stairs in the later sections of the museum. (By the way, if you ever go, make sure you to save most of your time for the part of the museum AFTER the gift shop, because that’s where all the real artifacts are. The first parts are just background information-which is more important for those who don’t know the basic history I suppose.) I ended up buying three books, and am still thinking about getting another powerful (but only Japanese captioned) photo book called “My lens filled with tears.” It is about a journalist who went to cover the bombing when it first occurred, but was too overwhelmed to take more than a few pictures, and so there are very few actual photographs of the immediate bombing aftermath that exist today. There was also a large portion of the museum dedicated to the future of nuclear weapons. I found the museum to be quite fair to all sides involved and share a variety of perspectives. It was surprisingly honest about the build up towards the catastrophe and the reasons that lay behind the various aspects in the war, and the future threat of nuclear holocaust

As we left the museum, we found a group of “Free Hug” people outside—a most appropriate spot really. There was a Japanese school visiting the memorial and various people from around the world filled the park. I really hope that the youth of today get a chance to visit these historical places and don’t lose the memories and lessons. After the museum, I looked at the citizens of Hiroshima a little differently, realising some of the older people would have been survivors themselves, and nearly all of the people currently living in the city would have their own personal family stories from the bombing. I was overwhelmed at just how quickly they had rebuilt the city and their lives, after seeing pictures from the blast of the emptiness that remained. It also got me thinking about my own grandparents and how I want to spend more time when I get home, talking to them about, and recording their war stories.

Next we headed to a cathedral on the other side of the city. Catholic churches are generally pretty hard to find in Japan, but this one was build through international cooperation funds and was just what we needed to sit and take it all in.

That night we had a Okonomiyaki Hiroshima style (which is so much better than Osaka style I will state for the record!), walked around the city for a bit, and then fell into our beds exhausted.
The next day we made it out to another UNESCO World Heritage Site- Itsukushima Shrine and the famous floating torii gate. Arriving at Miyajima we had perfect timing for the kaki(oyster not persimmon this time) matsuri (festival) and joined the swarms of people on the island. The ride over on the JR ferry was quite lovely itself- it’s crazy that I somehow seem to forget that Japan is an island since I am stuck in the inaka of the one landlocked prefecture (lol I’m not bitter). In addition to sampling some fresh grilled kaki, we also fell tempted to the Japanese regional food addiction and picked up momiji manju omiyage (souvenirs of Japanese maple leaf shaped pastry.) I even bought some in Hello Kitty shapes—man am I ever turning Japanese sometimes! (So are Narin, Jess and Jords as I filmed them all sleeping on the tram home—so Japanese!)
Miyajima was absolutely beautiful! Deer everywhere wandered the island- although not quite as aggressive, nor as talented as the Nara ones. The turning of the tides, heaps of pagodas and the gate and shrine itself made for a perfectly picturesque day! Virtually impossible to get a bad shot (minus the people who stayed at the hostel and didn’t shower that morning of course!).

On the shinkansen ride home on Monday (after visiting Peace Park one last time and buying the last of our omiyage of course); I read the hibakusha book from cover to cover and found myself back in a daze. I recommend it to any history teachers or anyone just interested in the experience of the victims themselves. The man who compiled the book also gives interesting commentary that makes you think about things like changing world attitudes about remembering the bomb, and the initial concept of “Ground Zero.”

So yes, combining the history that is seeped throughout the city, being close to Miyajima, having great transportation network of trams and the Shinkansen, being close to the sea, not to mention an ideal population size and climate- Hiroshima left a lasting impression as my favorite place in Japan so far (and unlike the warnings— no Yakuza as far as I could tell!). I loved it! There were so many more museums to see and also a bustling central downtown shopping and karaoke core! Maybe I’ll be back with Mom and Dad—hopefully we can even catch a Carp baseball game next time too!


Part 2:
Well since I couldn’t let the Hello Kitty cell phone charm collection remain the same size for more than a week or two, I decided it was time to travel again this weekend. I managed to find an awesome group of people and a pre-planned trip to join too! Bonus!!! So, after a cooking class with Narin, Kiri, Jess and the international centre of Mizuho City on Saturday, early Sunday morning, I joined the Gifu Youth Overseas Association on their trip to Isse Shrine and around Toba city in Mie Prefecture. (For more details http://wikitravel.org/en/Ise_shrine).

My traveling companions this round included 23 Japanese people and 16 other foreigners originally from Canada, USA, Sweden, Peru, and the Philippines. What a great bunch they were too! Using a combination of Japanese and English, we all made many friends that trip and learned a lot too! First stop was Isse Shrine after contesting for a spot with hundreds of other busses around the area. They weren’t kidding when they said this is the most famous shrine in Japan- holiest and most important Shinto site! (more info on Shinto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto ) Here’s a little of the reason why the shrine I visited was so important, loose compliments of Wikipedia!:

According to the official chronology, Ise Shrine was originally constructed in the year 4 BC. Although some historians claim it was 690 AD. Sacred objects of the royal family reside within, including a covered mirror which has reportedly not been looked into for over a thousand years. The shrines are famously dismantled and rebuilt to exacting specifications every 20 years at exorbitant expense. The present buildings, dating from 1993, are the 61st iteration to date and are scheduled for rebuilding in 2013. The shrine consists of two sites, some 6 kilometers apart but connected by a sacred forest. Access to the inner sanctum of these sites is strictly limited, with the general public allowed to see little more than the thatched roofs of the central structures, hidden behind three tall wooden fences. Guards are on hand to ensure this too! The Gekū or Outer Shrine is dedicated to the goddess of food, clothing, and housing, and Naiku or Inner Shrine is dedicated to the sun goddess (obviously the more important of the two).
From some of my new Japanese friends I learned about the proper way to wash my hands and mouth before going to the shrine, how to properly pray (5 yen is apparently the best to throw by the way). We also were very fortunate and visited the shrine in the midst of a harvest praying celebration. It was really interesting to see one female in the procession as well! Apparently women were once refrained from going to Shinto shrines, especially if they were menstruating.
After observing different people praying in different manners and locations around the grounds, and checking out the next site for the shrine in 2013, we went by the charm area where one of my new friends bought a shrine charm (yakudoshi) for her and her friend to ward off any bad luck from the Japanese bad female years of 19 and 33 (males bad age years are 25, 42 and 60 by the way).

Next we went for a very quick shopping trip to Oharai Machi, but luckily for us, one of the guys on the tour decided not to visit the shrine at all and immediately lined up for the famous (and lately infamous) akafuku, a mochi rice cake wrapped in red bean jam. (The running joke is that this famous food is more of a reason that people come to the shrine, than the shrine itself). Apparently akafuku is the highest selling omiyage in all of Japan and even with being closed down for health infractions from last October until it just reopened a few weeks ago, they still had a record sales and a line that lasted a little over an hour when we were there! Fortunately the super genki (jolly) guy on our tour bought 50 some boxes to sell to us Gifu-ites back on the bus : ) Yeah! My schools were pleased!

Lunch was a wonderful meal at the top of a seaside hotel near Toba. We had sashimi, oysters, miso soup, seaweed rice, duck, and more! After lunch we also were treated to a sweet little onsen too! We were the only ones in the place and so we really did feel quite fortunate (how this whole trip only cost $35 I will never know!) Palm trees, snow and onsen are a perfect combination by the way!

Next we went on a tour of a Pearl Museum, and home of the world famous Mikimoto Pearls (first cultured pearls in the world.) We even got to see the female divers go into the Pacific Ocean and dive for the cultured pearls! http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/aug/24/japan.justinmccurry (remember it’s also February and snowing!!) It has always been female divers in Japan and never males because of a tradition that was based on the belief that women have an extra layer of fat to insulate themselves, and also that they could hold their breath longer. Anyways we got to tour the museum, make our own peal keitai straps and shop! I am now the proud owner of Mikimoto pearls by the way (although of course I only looked at the ones that were the 10th grade ones and thousands of dollars, and bought the lower quality, but all the same, I own some Mikimoto’s!
On the trip there bus games were played and we had arranged seats to get to know each other (by the way bus trivia: anyone know how long those middle white lines are on the super express roads are? 8 m each, with 12 m in between each one.. lol don’t ask.) On the trip home, everyone warmed up even more and the characters really came out. It was not my first time to play Bingo in Japan, or Karaoke on a bus, but it certainly was memorable! Man do they like their bus bingo! The views were gorgeous too! Including a fake castle amusement park that was coated in real gold! It was particularly gorgeous driving by the sea (Pacific Ocean) and up the mountain sides. It truly was another great trip and with a new great group of people!

Time for me to get back to work (my students were doing year end tests most of the day today but I still have planning for the elementary students tomorrow!) Convo class is still lots of fun! Rika taught us freestyle traditional Japanese flower arranging last week (which her work sponsors females in the country to learn twice a month). The frog stand with spikes is perfect for making a gorgeous display! The weather is still pretty crappy (it’s ridiculous how much the weather plays with my mood!) but I guess it gives me more time to watch the Amazing Race (kindly burned from Narin)—they were in Osaka last episode!!

Valentine’s Day come and went; nothing super special since Duane and I were in different continents and all. Narin, Jess, Kiri, Sanj and I went to Sweenie Todd and grabbed dinner together, and we gave Narin chocolates though. Valentine’s Day is only for boys in Japan, girls have their own day later called White Day. For bigger news, I did find out another one of my friend’s got engaged!! Ahh are we truly at that age already?? Congrats to Kirst and Andy! The two high school sweethearts really are great together!!

Hugs to all! I really do miss home and although am having a blast here, can’t wait to see and talk to you all again!!!

I’ll leave you with two last questions,
1) What kind of traveler are you?
One who takes a picture and says, been there done that? Or one who truly enjoys the moment in a new place.
2) What makes a hero?
Thinking back to the drawings and stories by the survivors of Hiroshima, and also remembering Rachel Scott from Columbine, who stood up for her beliefs and answered in the face of death, when asked, “Do you believe in God”, replied, “You know I do.”

Carpe Diem!

2nd Blog of the Year

Well, the papers are officially signed and are going to be faxed tomorrow. I had such a hard time telling my JHS that I was not staying a second year (my principal thought I was breaking contract as he’d not even assumed going home after one year was an option.) In Japan, there is a saying that if you don’t try something for at least three years- you aren’t giving it a chance. Although people are disappointed, and I feel like I am somewhat letting people down, I still think I am making the right decision for me right now (even when accompanied with a huge amount of guilt.). Tomorrow should also be awkward as I have to tell my super genki principal about my decision, and probably surprise a whole other school that my initial contract is only one year and I am not renewing. Oh well, not going to dwell on it too much here.

Holy moly, officially less than six months to go now. Here’s what’s happened since the last update…

Narin, Sandra and I watched an awesome movie called Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows). It was a Japanese movie based on a true story about some abandoned children living on their own. It was really sad but I encourage all of you to watch it (with subtitles of course). For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_%28film%29
This weekend Narin and I also watched Letters to Iwo Jima. It’s so interesting now that I have been living here and understand more of the culture and mindset.

Life at school is pretty much the same. The students are still meticulous (yet only half write any notes in class) and aren’t held accountable (at least to the extent my university education taught me they should be), but they still manage to go from test to test. We’re still in entrance exam season for our grade 9’s applying to highschool’s. Therefore life is busy, but also rewarding. Once the students get accepted into their high school, they go around to each of the teacher’s who helped them and tell them about their success and say thank you. The students are so emotional and sweet. It was especially adorable when the first girl came up to me after class (when I hadn’t yet seen the procedure and thought it was just random and genuine) and recited the thank you. Still, it’s nice to have the student’s come up to you and acknowledge how you have helped them along their journey (especially when they are nervous and sweating and struggling to find the words in English.) Also writing my note to the grade 6 and grade 9 classes for the year book has brought me into a reflective mood about my whole experience with the kids.
Now that the weather is getting a little better, I’m trying to get outside more. Whenever the ground is not wet, I try to get outside and play with the kids at both schools. Sometimes if it’s snowing I’ll go play with the girls on the mats in the gym, and some of them finally taught me the sakura song and another one on the ocarina! Yeshha!
At the Elementary school, I got to watch a grade two math class the other day. It was very interesting because the grade two teacher is someone who the kids are always all over since they just love him to death. It’s quite interesting watching him interact with them. A lot of time’s he reminds me of dad and his kids—or even more what dad would be like without all the legal restrictions and if he were teaching grade one or two. The interesting thing I observed at that class was how much Japanese schools seem to value quality over quantity. Where, for example, in Canada a math class would learn the new procedure and then have multiple examples and trial questions to practice; in Japan, the entire class goes over again and again the same problem and recites it multiple times. They also show their friends how they got the answer and have to explain everything orally multiple times. However, they only did a similar problem with different numbers during the last two minutes of class. It really was insightful for me (reflecting on both systems.)Anyways, for those who aren’t teacher’s, maybe that’s not that interesting, but the next few things may be… so last week was Kyshoku (school lunch) anniversary and appreciation week. Students learned to be thankful to all the people who contribute to their daily meals and also we tried many new types of food—including whale (which I got out of eating if you hadn’t heard.) Since then there have been even more scandals with dolphin and whale meat, including the discovery of extremely high poisoning levels of mercury in dolphin meat. Eeks. Yikes. On a related note, don’t worry, I didn’t eat any of the poisoned Gyoza imported from China—although it was quite the story around here for a while. Hundreds of people are still in hospital throughout Japan.
Now, for what Jordan would deem the most exciting part of today’s blog entry: this week, my favorite little grade one student (who I absolutely adore), front kanchoed me! (for those who don’t know what kancho is- refer to previous blogs or wikipedia it). He thought he was quite clever and had himself a good laugh out of it. I was used to being ‘molested’ by my grade one’s during “head, shoulders, knees and toes” when they decide to try to do the dance with my body instead of theirs… even though they can’t quite reach and end up mangling me in the process…..but kancho intentionally is where I definitely draw the line… eww shudder.
Although it’s starting to warm up a bit, the kairos are still very near and dear to me (shakey heat bag things). A few weeks ago, after our second Jet Midterm conference, I went on a trip to Gero snowboarding with heaps of other Jets. There were 80 of us altogether at the Kashimo lodge for the weekend of onsen and snowboarding. Most were Gifu Jets but some also came from Aichi and there were other Japanese and Brazilian friends of Jets there too. It was such a wonderful time! It was one of my best weekends in Japan (despite or maybe partially because of my ridiculous alcohol consumption—nomihodai can be such a killer). The mountain was fantastic for beginners-very open and not too many people on the hill. The view from the top was likewise quite perfect. I did my best snowboarding ever while I was there and just had a great time! As anyone who has spent a day on the hill would know, the onsen afterwards topped things right off too!
Although the drive back was long for a full car of hungover and tired people, the massage at Aeon once we got to Jess’s place was fantastic!

Other news in life—I can’t believe how fast time is flying. More people than ever are getting engaged (or at least being asked rather), and I’ve been catching up with a few old elementary school friends lately too (oh the wonder we call Facebook!).

My conversation class is still quite an experience, and along with my Japanese lessons and weekend adventures, the week passes quickly. This past weekend I went out for a friend’s birthday dinner at a great Indian restaurant in Ogaki and then the next day went to a Spring Festival outside Ogaki city. One of the men I met at my friend’s birthday was Japanese and he offered to take us to the festival the next day (which was fantastic because I am really getting fed up with Japanese roads (if you can even call them roads!)). Anyways the festival was so unlike anything from home! It was centered around an old monk ritual and Setsuban. Setsuban is the festival throughout Japan on February 3rd (the first day of spring on the Chinese calendar). Roasted soybeans are scattered in and around your house and into crowds at shrines and temples to drive out sickness and misfortune. Represented by a devil mask- bad luck go out, good luck come in! Is the theme of the festival. In the particular one in Ogaki—the traditional monk ritual was performed by almost 40 daring volunteer men (none who were actually monks I might add—and all who were quite drunk!) who stripped completely naked—minus a sumo looking loin cloth and ran around the streets chanting and getting soaked with water. They then went running through the river (oh yah, did I add that it was one of our coldest days in Japan yet (below 0 and super windy) and that they were practically naked for 3 hours!) haha it was quite the sight to see. Ooh and also at the end they hoisted each other up and crowd surf style passed naked people (still throwing water at them) until a man threw a big bale of hay down from a tower—which the men then ripped apart as fast as they could to get the prize inside. Oh and for the best luck, the crowd should try to catch and eat as many roasted beans as they are years old. I don’t know if I quite caught and ate that many, but I had quite a few. Some of the bags of beans even had prize tickets in them too- although I wasn’t one of the lucky ones this year. You’ll have to check out my pictures and videos on Facebook—coming soon!

Random Japanese of the day:
Foot/Leg in Japanese is: ashi
Finger in Japanese is: ubi
Thus, toe in Japanese is: ashi no ubi (or leg/food finger). Sometimes this language just makes sense : ) I wish English was so—for example today trying to teach the students how to answer “Don’t you like mushrooms?” – yes, uhh, no, uh...

Buffet in Japanese translation- Viking Style

Banzai: Literal meaning is “ten thousand years” is the Japanese equivalent to three cheers! It is often yelled (with hands above your head) three times at a high point or end of a celebration. Letters to Iwo Jima got me thinking about this one.

Kashiwade: refers to clapping of hands in worship at a Shinto shrine. It is done in order to attract the gods’ attention and to concentrate one’s own mind.

That’s all for now!
Stay genki! And as Mom always says… Make Wise Choices! : )

January in Japan-- look out it's a long one

First, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!! To all those I saw at home during Christmas break--- that was absolutely incredible! I was soo happy to see everyone again—you have no idea! For those who I missed this round—you’re always welcome in Japan!! Or else I guess August isn’t that far away!
This year’s New Year Resolutions are to enjoy every minute of my traveling time, try to get back into shape and healthy again, and figure out my future career path…. All do-able I hope!

I arrived back in Japan on the night of January 7th. I flew into Osaka and took multiple trains to arrive back in Motosu where Narin and Kiri were waiting for me with Gloria (my gangsta car) in the Maleria parking lot (oh yes Maleria is a mall in case you don’t read this regularly)—in their PJ’s! Gotta love it! It was about midnight when I finally arrived back at my apartment in Neo and I was pretty exhausted. Still, I was determined to beat the jet-lag, as I pretty much had to since I had to be at school the next morning all dressed up for the opening ceremony of the new year. The first day back is only a half day with students—filled with homeroom, assembly, whole school calligraphy, and staff meetings of course. That night I also went to a joint Elem and JHS New Year’s Staff Party in Motosu! Thinking back I was probably crazy, but I really had a great time!

The first week back was tough. I knew it would be when I was at home and had the sudden realization that all the things I’d been so excited to do, see, eat, feel again at home during my trip home were about to come to an end—as I returned to my isolated and cold little village. I did bring pretty much a suitcase full of comfort foods back—which stash, proudly I have yet to really break into. Hehe. Yes I know I’m crazy and my suitcases are ALWAYS borderline on the weight limit—but I’m a Beck, what can I say!

So the first weekend since Narin, Kiri and Jess were all going to Tokyo on family/friends from home trips, I decided I also needed to get out and stay busy. I went up to visit Jordan (from Calgary) in Shirakawa-go and hang out with some of the other Hida Jets. My friend Carol from Ireland and her friend drove up with me in my big clunker gansta Gloria car. We hung out with Fiona (also from Ireland) in Takayama, then Jords and I did some Takayama sightseeing before meeting up with Nancy, George, Greg, Erica, Sandra and the birthday boy Kyle at Centre 4 Burgers—a cute little restaurant in Takayama which sells the best burgers in Japan—as decided by a very unofficial Jet consensus. It was really fun since Kyle knows the owners and so we closed down the restaurant and played some good ole fashioned beer pong for the next few hours and multiple drinks later. Jordan and I drove back to Shirakawa, where I realized just how much more snow they had than Neo! Eeeks I really feel for ya Jords! The next day we visited the Gassho houses and went to the onsen. Monday (it was a national long weekend—Coming of Age Day where 20 year olds celebrate officially becoming adults- and being able to drink, vote and smoke), we went back to Takayama- went out for breakfast with Carol, Aofie, Sandra and Kyle where we did some trip talk about my upcoming trip to Thailand and their just completed trips over Christmas break; followed by a visit of the infamous cult. The most notable building in the Takayama skyline is the bright gold “World Shrine.” Rumors fly, but I have yet to do more research on it. Apparently if you are a member of the cult, when the end of the world comes—Takayama will be the last place left—and aliens will save those who have the blessing power necklace…hmm yes. For some more info, wikipedia or http://www.mahikari.org/
Another just as intriguing topic: Do you brush your teeth with hot water or cold? I found this weekend that both are equally popular.
Ooh and one last random thing in Shirakawa—and maybe multiple other places—water spurting from the centre line in the road to melt the snow. Surprisingly it wasn’t icy!

So now it’s the end of week two being back. I’m about to set off on a cheap chillaxing weekend in Motosu filled with big catch up gab fests with all my crew—and Karaoke of course! But I figure before I procrastinate any longer, I decided I should finish up this blog and add a few more things before more eventful stuff happens. (didn’t happen as I am now watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s and about to post this Monday night!)

So a quick summary of my realizations etc from the first two weeks back—first “oh crap!” I forgot that they didn’t have hot water in the schools –or my bathroom sink for that matter! I remembered the lack of central heating of course—but the day I got home and realized that hand dryers don’t exist outside of malls, and you are supposed to carry around a handkerchief in your pocket to dry your hands before icicles form on them, ah yes… back to Japan. I’m most definitely sick already! Not sick of Japan—just sick actually sick. Haha oops there I go complaining again—well it’s not really complaining—I’ve chalked it up to cultural differences—but here—well yes it does quite sound like complaining… Other things I was right back into---rice-- fish—fish –fish- and more rice. Absolutely everyday—usually twice a day if I was eating with Japanese people—probably three if I had ever had the chance to eat breakfast with them. Thinking that I was in the only land-locked prefecture in all of Japan I might have a chance to escape the fish aspect—wrong again. Although I really am getting accustomed to most of it. Even liking some. We had really cool sushi’ish fish at an Italian Japanese restaurant at the staff party—topped with raspberries and blueberries! Odd no? Sure was tasty though!

It didn’t take me long to readjust to driving on the left side of the road—and although Neo got 70cm of snow on New Year’s Eve—it’s been quite beautiful out lately and the snow is melting quite nicely. Although I still am thankful for my winter tires!

It’s great being back with the kids—I really love spending time with them. Not so much having endless free time in the staff room—I feel a little useless and cooped up sometimes. But I guess free time is not exactly something that one should complain about. I’m trying to get back into my Japanese study—slowly but surely! I really do like learning languages—I just have to go out on a limb and try to use them more. My only main problem is that 99% of Japanese people have a better command of the English language than my Japanese—and they are all eager to practice speaking with one of the only foreigners around. I suppose, again this is what I was hired for so I can’t really argue. I’m glad I went home for a few weeks and came back to Japan—I feel like I am in the new stage again (on a smaller scale of course), where I realize all the interesting things around me—I had started to get too familiar with it all before I left. Such as… at my Elementary school yesterday--- I observed at lunch that at least 80% of the students (and staff really) had English writing on their shirts. The remaining didn’t have anything else on theirs—just stripes or solid colors etc. There was not a single Asian character on anyone’s clothing today. Peculiar isn’t it? That brings me to my next thought—just how lucky (not sure that is exactly the word… but for now it is) that I was born in an English speaking country. Having fully grasped the English language is so advantageous in many ways. Things like the internet and traveling-- completely transformed depending on whether or not you can communicate in English. Although at the same time—it provides an opportunity for all of us native English speakers to take it for granted and become extremely lazy since—“everyone wants to learn our language.” It sure is tricky at times though! Especially for a native speaker to explain to second language learners! I’ve also realized just how difficult English can be- and how sometimes it reflects our culture and it’s hard to come up with any reason why things are the way they are. Explaining why things are “in” the sky, why reasons and explanations are switched in order from Japanese to English and countless grammatical things—makes me yet again appreciate that I was born a native speaker of a language with so many exceptions to the rules.

Speaking of learning our language—my adult English conversation class is back up and running. I really do enjoy my time with those ladies each week! You never know what will come up and I’m sure I learn at least as much from them as they learn from me. This week I even had to do my weekly review in Japanese (bless their hearts for having the patience to struggle through my brutal Japanese with me!)

I mentioned earlier about a New Year staff dinner I attended last week… funny thing is the way that all of the ladies were at one end of the table (and helped a lot with the serving at the restaurant—great hostesses Japanese women are) and all the men at the other. Sugiyama sensei and I were the only women drinking—while all the men had beer. The funniest part was the way I was bonding with all my female teachers—over conversations about Hollywood movies and in particular—Brad Pitt! Lol. Oh well if it does the job! Afterwards Sugiyama sensei and I decided we should have movie nights together—and so yesterday she came over and we watched High School Musical in English, with Japanese subtitles. It was a really great time! She brought over cookies that she baked after school and I put out some of my leftover Canadian Christmas cookies too. We even were big geeks and watched some of her extra dvds that taught us the dances in the movie! It was quite the rockin’ little party in my apartment!

So the big decision is coming up in the next few weeks. Although, for me… I didn’t really let myself have much of a change of heart and am sticking with my original intentions for coming here- 1 year- learn what I can, gain many experiences then move on. Although, sometimes I start to reconsider…thinking it would be different now that I know an entire school year rotation and all… thinking how much my Japanese would improve too…almost reconsidering… for a while anyways. This big decision is all about recontracting and staying in Japan another year. Jet needs to know the first week of February. Which means it’s almost time to have the big talk with my teachers/principal/board of education. I am pretty sure everyone assumes I am staying at least 2 or 3 years—so it shall be right awkward when I have to tell them I’ve decided to go back home. I’m sure there will be many things about Japan that I miss. But I’ve got two main reasons for my decision that outweigh everything else. First is the job frustrations. I must say I was warned and knew what I was getting into—but it’s really difficult for me to be fresh out of the gates and running, wanting to finally put all my university training to use and be a teacher in my own classroom—when I feel I am being held back and am, as my job title applies only an assistant. For me professionally, this just isn’t cutting it. It would be a nice year off in the future I’m sure—and I’ll look back at the glory days with getting paid and having so much free time—but for now, not what I want. Furthermore the constant miscommunication and lack of genuine communication (mainly still due to the language barrier and cultural differences and structure—although they really are getting better.). I really do love my kids—and really like some of my staff too—but there is only so much progress you can make professionally and in terms of building relationships when you are so limited in so many ways. So other than my professional reasons, also the obvious personal ones remain—my family, best friends and boyfriend are still thousands of miles away. I know I’ll be fine with another 6 months that lay ahead where I won’t see most of them—but to commit to another 18 months—that just is a long time. Plus, although Duane and I are doing super—let’s be honest- long distance relationships can be tough. Especially when you consider I applied for Jet while I was still starting my last year in college—between now and then a lot of things (I hope) shall have changed and even more would in the 18 months that would follow. I’m just so happy everyone has been so supportive! That being said I have made some absolutely incredible friends here and had so many adventures with them which I wouldn’t trade for the world!

So this week is going to be a little tough for a variety of reasons—first the chance that I may have to give the “ummm I’m leaving in 6 months” talk at any time (I just have my fingers crossed that everyone will be understanding and even more so that my town will get another ALT after me – I think I am probably one of the ALTs that visits the least amount of students because of the small size of my village-so I worry with cutbacks and all. It would make it so much harder to leave if I didn’t know someone else would soon be coming to spend time with my kiddies.) Other things going on this week: Friday’s Jet conference—which I am the only ALT I know whose teacher is not coming with them to the conference—apparently my teacher chose to stay at the school for the grade 6 visit and Ocarina practice rather than coming with me to the joint JTE ALT conference. I’m not actually as bitter as I sound—just feel a bit like a child whose parent doesn’t come to the parent teacher interview with them. Anyways, moving on, the third interesting awkward convo of the week will be tomorrow when I have to tell people that I won’t eat whale for school lunch. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Whaling_an_emotional_issue_for_Japan/articleshow/2710948.cms
I am hoping to eat in the staff room and be able to bring my own lunch that day—but we’ll see. Hopefully it won’t be a big deal, but sometimes you never know what will become extreme.
Speaking of extremish and kinda strict… Kiri’s boyfriend had his car broken into this weekend-window smashed and all, which is becoming a too common occurrence in Gifu the past few weeks. He had some school papers which included student information that was stolen from inside the car and so he had to call an emergency staff meeting to apologize. This month our prefecture is really getting strict on protecting student information, grades, and tests-saying all files should be locked at all times and usb drives kept in safe metal locked containers with multiple passwords too. It is the biggest time of the year for testing right now, as it is High School entrance exam week and the stress if found throughout the school—both for staff and imaginably even more so for students. Apparently there were also 3 other occurrences of teacher car break ins this weekend. Consequently, there are staff meetings galore, and her boyfriend had to do major suit and tie-gift food style- apologies. Poor thing. Apparently he even had to apologize to the 3rd grade students and there were some tears shed. Shame and guilt culture all the time. Tonight it will be on the news and tomorrow in the paper too. Yikes indeed. Terrible timing considering we got a handout just on last Thursday about the consequences of teachers not properly storing student information and improper behavior like finding money in an atm and keeping it(note yes I know this is wrong- and she’s being fined by the police etc) but then comes the shame---this reflects bad on all teachers, all of your nationality, all of your town, all nani nani nani (Japanese- what.. blah blah etc etc) . Teachers really are expected to act on a higher level of conduct here as government employees- much more so than back home- often things are taken quite to the extreme though.

More about teacher’s behavior—I learned from Narin an explanation for why some teachers close their eyes or even nap during breaks, in the staff room, even in meetings….
Apparently sleeping on the job- for an upper level employee anyways- is a sign that they are completely dedicated to their job and spent all of their free time working and thus did not have time to sleep at home. Closing your eyes is a sign that you are concentrating on your job, and quick naps show that you want to be at your highest level of performance for your class. Hmmm sound good?

More about student observations… man are the kids ever quiet. Sometimes the JHS ones don’t even seem like kids. I don’t know how much is a matter of manners, how much is respect and adherence to structure, and how much is just plain shyness, but it’s quite unbelievable at times. I dare say you would be hard pressed to find the kind of daily silence and barely audible voices from kids back home. Sometimes I think it’s awesome—but a lot of time I just feel bad for them—although I suppose I could find many things at fault with young people back home too. It’s interesting the way my teacher’s deal with students and not answering questions—a lot of time a student will be called upon, ie in a class round of something simple like “How are you?”- and after they sit with their head down for about 30 seconds, are asked once again, then are quickly moved over. I understand if the student has learning difficulties, or if it happens once in a while, but the teacher’s rarely return to the student even privately to get an answer, and it happens with the same multiple students on a regular basis—in all the grades that I teach. No extra comment or judgement from me at this time. Narin says there are also kids who sleep on a regular basis in his class and the teacher condones it. On the other hand, one of the cool things that happens is some of the determined attitudes some of the students show. When in Canada I am sure that a student who is much slower than the others at reading out loud would eventually just fake it and try to rush through—I have one kid in my grade nine class who will not give up and will stay standing reading out loud for a good extra minute while everyone is sitting—and he’s not embarrassed at all. Sometimes the kids amaze me at how much leadership they show—running practices, meetings, giving feedback etc—but then at other times I am amazed at how they can possess such robotic qualities at the same time.

Sorry for jumping around a bit and making this the longest blog ever—but I keep adding parts to it and never posting. So a quick note on Japanese New Years (which I felt a bit of the effect of when I got back but was away for the actual New Years). Japanese people do not give Christmas cards, but rather give New Year’s cards (which I got too! Whoo hoo!). Children also get otoshi dama which is gift money from their grandparents, uncles, aunts, sometime parents etc (and they tried to get me to give them the first day back too!) Their version of boxing day is something called “Lucky Box” which is available for purchase during the first few days of the new year- which contain products that you do not get to pick but are supposed to be filled with goods worth 5 times what you are paying for them. This year Kiri had a Tofu one in her house while her sister visited. For multiple days after New Years- it is lucky to eat mochi and practice calligraphy so I have got to experience that first hand. For more info on New Years check this out http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/Hiroshima/Festivals/27.html I’ve also been introduced to the daruma character. Who has no eyes, and you color one in when you make a wish and he sits with one eye until the wish comes true, when you then color in the second eye. Neat eh? For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daruma_doll
On New Year’s eve this year whilst everyone was out visiting the shrines (jinja), it snowed 70cm in Neo (I think I already mentioned that but since we are having quite a mild winter so far everyone in town won’t let me forget the one snowfall). I also came back to news of staff car accidents and snowboarding accident. All which have transformed the tone of the staff room the past few weeks. One teacher is still in the hospital for a few more months. We’ll all hoping for her quick recovery. Accompanying the new year is more talks about appropriate behavior, safety, and no drinking and driving.

Parties also are in full force in the holiday season. Always lots of food and drink- with this season’s most popular dish being sukiyaki (where you dip the nabbe (pot) food into a raw egg before eating it. Quite tasty!

I’ve been busy planning multiple trips coming up in the spring. This weekend upcoming after the conference I am going to go snowboarding in the mountains with a huge group of Jets. Upcoming is a potential trip to Nagasaki, another to Hiroshima, and then of course Thailand. So much to see! So little nenkyuu! Such is life! I just hope I can fit in Okinawa too!!
Other than that, my life has been filled with reading, studying Japanese, watching tv that Duane and Narin downloaded and burned for me, hanging out with my crew (and constantly defending to my students and staff that Narin and I really are just friends!) and Karaoke of course! My house remains cold, but the stink bugs have left! And fortunately the gas heater I use everyday hasn’t caused permanent damage as far as I can tell!

School was pretty entertaining last week as I got a chance to have a “Let’s enjoy English Cooking” class with my grade 6 class. It was originally going to be making Udon from scratch, but last minute was changed to Spaghetti with Meat Sauce instead. Sometimes I am not sure who was more entertaining- the teacher or the kids! My teacher forgot to buy beef, and onions and got tomato sauce instead of tomato paste so our meal was quite more basic than anticipated and almost impossible to screw up. Still they gave it their best shot I think at times! I am not sure I could handle being a perma home ec. teacher! Between the kids asking every 2 seconds “Is it good now? Can I add it now? Now?” and the one who decided since I told her earlier that we didn’t use giant chopsticks in Canada to stir and later saw me motioning to “stir your pasta” (action done with my hand and not an imaginary spoon) decided that I meant to stick her hand into the boiling water to stir—eeks! Barely caught that one in time! Everything turned out ok in the end though—and a few of my boys have found a new love for oregano!

As I may have mentioned earlier, my Japanese study is going ok. Sometimes it is difficult to believe it or not, find people who will help you practice (it takes lots of patience, plus all the Japanese people want to practice their English). But overall I am satisfied enough with the progress I made. It’s really cool being able to measure exactly how much I’ve learned the past few months—considering I didn’t know a thing when I got here! Still, I’m learning just as much about my own language and culture as the Japanese. I suppose the old saying holds true about having to leave home to really learn about your own culture.

While I feel somewhat like the culture shock is setting in all over again- I’m reminded of the old IC motto that you can’t live in two places at once and sometimes you have to sacrifice staying in contact too much with home, for truly living your life here. With that note and a bow and two hands presentation of this way too length blog entry, I’m off to get back to living in Japan- and not just writing about it!

Take Care
Hope everyone is well and sticking to all of their resolutions for 2008!

Julz

Ooh and for those Devonians out there, everyone here is getting excited for the upcoming trip! Time to go join in the staff meeting where they are talking about the trip right now! Wish I could go too!

Ooh and one random piece of trivia I learned—remember Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes—story from elementary school? She was a girl dying from cancer resulting from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima? Well she did make 1000 cranes! In fact 1200! The author just changed the story for effect!

Conversation Class

In attempts to keep this blog a little more current, a quick note about one of my weeknight hightlights each week. My English conversation group!!
It's made up of 4 ladies from Neo and area that come to my house each week for a few hours of food, tea and english practice in some of the most random topics ever!
This week was pretty tame, but exile, political asylum, pedophiles, and Oshiri Kajiri Moushi did come up (the Butt Biting Bug Song) and that was quite interesting and comical! Japanese people really do have a whole different perception and attitude towards the human body than most North Americans I think. First example: onsens and feeling comfortable being naked around each other. Second, the butt biting bug song-- it's not that we wouldn't have a song like that at home or anything, but it's hard to explain just how it is different here. Third, interactions between people-- ie) in class today I had grade 9 boys fixing each other's hair and clothes in the middle of class, my teacher gave one of the grade nine boys a nice little football style smack on the butt folloed by a friendly butt squeeze (I wouldn't even want to think of the overblown reprucussions back home that would follow that one!).
One of the things I've found interesting lately in convo class, is the random idioms and expressions that come up that are so similar across different languages. Last week we were talking about proverbs and "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" came up, but in the Japanese version it is something counting your racoon skin before you have it. (Torranu tanuki no kawazanyo for those who speak Japanese).

These ladies have taught me so much over the past few months that really give me a better inside look into the lives of ordinary Japanese well at least Neo'jin people. They have taught me so many things about Japanese culture (traditional like the tea ceremony, and popculture icons too) and language as well. Even with my ridiculously miniscule usage ability in the Japanese language, I know so much about the linguistic points now-- and a little about regional dialects, syntax and speech patterns as well.
They also surprise me each week such as tonight when our most senior member (age ~73) was talking about the transition that she remembers when she was in elementary and English was absolutely prohibited because it was seen as the enemy lanuage (at time of WWIIish) to her Junior High days when there were many Americans in Japan and there was a strong push to learn as much English as possible. By the time she was in high school, they were reading and memorizing Shakespeare (which she still remembers and quoted some to me!). Yikes I thought old English was difficult enough to translate for a natural speaker of English. They also have similar old-Japanese-- I couldn't imagine even trying to decipher that!

Ooh and other randomness from my world-- my grade 7 students now know really do know why we celebrate Christmas and that Santa Claus IS NOT Jesus' father! Ooh and my low-temperature, intense burn on my stomache (uhhh from my chemical shakey handwarmer thing (which I still love despite my injury)) is finally scarring over and has stopped giving me too much grief. I held off on going to the doctor, which was potentially not a wise decision but saved me some embarassment and even more paperwork. However, I found out today that in the new year I have to undergo a Japanese mandatory physical exam-- I have been fortunate enough so far to by-pass all medical institutions but what I;ve been told there are less clearly laid out lines of 'personal space' and even less confidentiality).

In any case, the countdown to going home is still on 9 sleeps until I go home for Christmas!! This is the first time ever my countdown isn't going all the way to Christmas Eve, because I think my arrival at the airport in Edmonton is going to be even more exciting for me! Whooo can't wait to see everyone!!!!

Hope all is well wherever you may be found in the world.
~Julz

P.S. Sorry I am still having troubles putting pictures on blogger since my computer and I still are having issues with each other, but please add me to facebook to see all my latest pictures! : )

Random Japanese thoughts of the Day
do: as in ju-do, ken-do, being the study/practice of a skill by taking time at it
kani: crab
sutra: special book like bible
magi: slang for 'really?''
turtle necks are called babshirts (grandma shirts) and t shirts can be Yshirts

Random Thoughts from Julz in Japan

So I was realizing I only usually blog about big events but not the daily events and occurrences that now seem common place to me. In the future I'll try to include more of that stuff too! Wow I didn't realise how long it's been since I've written much other than Korea; Ok, I guess I lied, a little bit about some recent trips because they really are the interesting stuff I’d say anyways.

Halloween was a blast! I taught Halloween stuff to my elementary kids for 2 straight weeks! It was awesome! Lots of fun games, songs, dances and more! I also had a party with my Eikaiwa (which also was a belated welcome party for me), and another one with my teachers, and then I went to a Nagoya International Friends Party with some of my friends from around Gifu. It was quite the party as all Japanese ones seem to be Nomihodai---= all you can drink. I dressed up as Hello Kitty and went with my friends Superman, My Melody, the Wayne’s world crew, pacman, Cinderella, a bumble bee and new found friends Winnie the Pooh and Salary man. Good times had by all! Especially trying to find our way back to the hotel room which would somehow hold all of us!
The next day we took a very very long train ride to Nara. Nara is gorgeous!! It was the perfect season to visit as the leaves were red and orange and yellow.. Nara was the ancient capital of Japan between 710-784Ad before it was moved to Kyoto (and then Tokyo).Nara flourished under the influence of Buddhism, leading to the creation of an enormous number of cultural assets, buildings and books, many of which are preserved today. Nara has the largest number of buildings designated National Treasures in Japan. It also has many deer wandering around the city who love to harass tourists for food. They are pretty adorable when they bow though—and uber tame! My highlight was Todaiiji Temple with it’s massive wooden Buddha statue and wooden post that promises enlightenment to anyone who can fit through the hole in the side of it (by the way you now know a truly enlightened person right here!)
Another trip was hiking with some friends and my Eikaiwa up a mountain a few hours away. It was a great hike with stunning leaves that offered us a chance to meet new friends, practice some Japanese and English combinations, and also was a challenge for us not so avid hikers.

Daily Life:
Call me a wuss, but it’s darn cold living without central heating—even if it’s still above 0 outside. It just seems wrong to be able to see your breathe inside your own house! I’ve been drinking more tea than ever before and just hope I will not poison myself from the Kerosene heaters too! School is probably the worst because we have a rule where if the temperature is above 8 degrees--- no heat. If it’s under 8, we are allowed to turn them on just until it goes back over 8. eeks. It really is chilly. Luckily hand warmers are cheap. I bought a pack of 30 shake and use handwamers, 10 feet warmers and 30 sticky ones. They last forever and have been my best friend in the last few weeks! I use them everyday!! Yesterday however…. I had a nice little incident where I left one on all day stuck to my rib cage--- and when I took it off last night, I realized I had burned myself on it!!! I had a full few layers of skin ripped off and it was painful as!! Seriously, who does that?? Oh well, lesson learned—don’t enjoy the heat too much! Take it off after 10 hours, and don’t apply directly to my skin!
In other reports about the climate--- Neo is absolutely gorgeous right now. I am told Spring is the time to come here, but the leaves on the trees are still on and so all the mountains around me have yellow and orange patches. Gorgeous!!! Although, the one mountain has snow already—I’m told after the 3rd time it snows on the mountain, it will snow in town… today is the second time it’s snowing on it—but really I can’t complain, it’s already a week into December and not a flake of snow yet! Just rain rain rain. Canadians really do enjoy talking about the weather don’t we? Random.

Anyways, onto other things, I am really getting on well with my teachers now. I’m living in the teachers only apartments and we have parties once a month altogether for the 12 of us or so that live there. They are heaps of fun and the random thing is that they usually occur on a school day and involve lots of drinking and bring out a whole different side of your staff! The next morning seeing each other at work is also quite interesting! I really do like living there. It’s great to know your neighbors (most of the time) and it’s super close to both my schools.

Other news regarding daily life…
School is going really well minus the cold. I really do enjoy spending time with my students! I can’t wait until I am a teacher back home though and can have more in depth conversations with them! Teaching Christmas is pretty fun and I even bought a Santa costume and got my teacher from the JHS to come to the Elem and team teach in it with me for a day. Lots of fun! The kids were adorable!! And so impressed that Santa knew Japanese!!! ZZNow I’m his best buddy and he comes up to me all the time and hugs me and is just awesome. He was the one kid that took me a long time to crack but also it is the most gratifying to have made contact with. Yippeee!!!

I’ve got 10 days from today left in Japan before I go home for Christmas break. Life truly is sweet right now!- although a little stressful as it always is around holiday time. We have lots of Bonenkais (year end party) going on which always makes for a great time though. Yesterday I went to my friend Rika’s house for a Sukiyaki dinner party. I love cooking on the hot plate at the table—and then with Sukiyaki you dip the meat/cabbage/udon/seaweed etc into a mixed up raw egg. It was actually really good! Her family is so incredibly kind to me!! This time Narin and Kiri came as well, and also her uncles, aunts and cousins were there. They are definitely the closest I’ve got to a Japanese family over here—I love the Devon-Neo ike enshi (I don’t think that’s the right word, but it is something close—meaning connections and friendly relationships).
I can’t believe how attatched I’ve gotten to my little village town. I am actually really excited to see Usuzumi Sakura in the Spring now (our famous cherry blossom tree) and I am going to all the town parties, trying to make it out to more school events, and I get all defensive of my town too now when people dis it. It really is adorable and beautiful!

Wow I just realized how long it has been since I last wrote! So much has happened! By far the biggest thing from home that has happened while I’ve been gone lately is one of my best friends, Heather, getting ENGAGED! It is still unfathomable to me that we are actually at the age of getting engaged and married and all of that! I still feel like such a little kid—even like I am just one of my elementary students some days! But I am super happy for her and Jason. They truly are a great couple! Speaking of great couples—hehe Duane and I are still doing well and have been dating now for 1 year! Wow how fast time flies.

In Japan, my last month or two has quieted down on the traveling trip taking activities and more into finding places closer to home. It was Narin’s birthday in November and so of course a party was in order and very much in ALT fashion, we made a trip to do Karaoke!! We are really obsessed! Last weekend we went to Little World, a cute little tourist attraction in Inuyama that is a 2.5 km round path showcasing houses, food and clothes from various countries around the world.. It was made to teach Japanese people about foreign cultures—but we also had a really good time there ourselves! Also this weekend I went to Ogaki and helped out with an AJET International Festival. It was also a good time and neat to see so many JETs together again.

A few weeks ago I finally managed to get myself to an English speaking Catholic church (let me tell you, not that easy to find!) I went to Nagoya with my friend from Ireland for the first week of advent. It was really funny at the time to offer each other the sign of peace, Carol and I shook hands, and then turned to the next people (who were actually Portugese anyways) and they looked at us as if we were crazy--- low and behold we forgot that Japan is a culture all about bowing! Even then! Lol. Silly foreigners we are sometimes!

I’ve also been out to Seki a few times for paper doll making classes and hope to make a few more for Christmas this weekend! They are lots of fun and I’m pretty impressed with myself considering my complete and utter lack of any physically artistic bone in my body when it comes to being creative.

As in Japan when Auld Lang Syne starts to play to signal the closing of restaurants and stores, a big Otsukaresamadeshita for reading and keeping in touch!

A few Japanese phrases
Nekokabori= dissembler/ a wolf in sheep’s clothing
Seachicken= tuna
Yukimi daifuku= snow desert—YUM!

Historical background of Japan: Shinto brings Japan its gardens, leaves, torii (gate), and shrines where as Buddhism is the reason for the flower arranging, tea, ceramics, paint, calligraphy, and martial arts.

Sorry if this was a little disjoined but I really will try to keep this updated more in the near future!! : )
Ooh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE!!

Korea!!! Nov 15-20, 2007

First my analysis, then a bit more of a narration of my trip. It's a long one so look out!!

Japan Versus Korea: A pretty shallow and uneducated surface analysis
Please excuse the gross assumptions and generalizations. I am just writing my observations for my own reminders of my personal experiences and to share with friends. If you are looking for expert knowledge you will def not find it here so please take everything lightly!

On the train home from the airport in Nagoya I’m very glad to be home in Japan. After living here almost four months now I can finally call it that.
I left for Korea Thursday and returned to Japan Tuesday. In my short visit to Seoul, South Korean countryside, and North Korea, I took note of various things. Keep in mind, also living in Japan as my first Asian country has definitely made my biased towards what I think is normal in Asia too.

In general, I find Japanese people much more quiet, reserved, and willing to help foreigners. Etiquette is huge and as a whole, they are EXTREMELY polite! In Korea on the other hand, attitudes and impressions slightly differ. Sandi and I had several encounters with people being more forward, pushy, and even rude. (From our cultural standpoint of course). Whether it be waiting in lines and suddenly having old ladies shove in front of us as if we weren’t there, or being cut off by Korean tourists when in the middle of a conversation at the information desks, having to fight your way on or off a bus, or general behavior in the onsen/spas, we were continuously shocked by the differences in behavior. On this note, I would like to add that in Korean (as well as Japanese) culture, old people are treated very well as they are highly respected. (And largely it was the elderly women who were ‘enforcing’ their superior position over us unworthy young blonde foreigners. So maybe in their eyes we were the ones being extremely rude by not automatically stumbling over ourselves to become more humble and automatically showing that we were undeserving of our position in the situation). On the other hand, like everywhere, we also did meet genuinely kind people who (potentially because we did look so lost and foreign -did I mention neither Sandi or I knew a word of Korean?) were nothing but helpful to us. (As you can notice I think my mastery of English grammar is slowly slipping away). I’m not sure if I mentioned anywhere in my blog yet my ‘celebrity’ status in Japan. It’s a lot like what I read about before I left—people staring on the street (although you do get used to it) and asking to take pictures with me. I guess it’s just cuz I’m blonde but it still seems bizarre to me, coming from a truly multinational country, that people would want a picture of some random foreigner in their pictures. I get stopped at least once a trip I would say for random pictures with strangers. This trip Sandi and I also had Korean men stop their cars, get out and invite us to come with them for drinks. (This is where Japan is different, they are not quite as forward like that usually). We also had a man on the bus (who was probably very nice but too old) practically beg us to go out for lunch/dinner with him or let him take us to our hotel—this is where the yes it is nice but way too creepy factor came in. Don’t worry! We were good! Don’t go with strangers—lesson learned in elementary! : )


In terms of fashion, we noticed that Japanese people have much more detailed, accessorized looks to their outfits- even in the inaka. They also wear more stylized hairdos (ie clips, curls etc) while Koreans looks seemed to reflect a preference towards flat hair or simply have it pulled off their face (rarely fringe or decorations). The clothing styles (especially shoes) were notably different too and soon became one of the main ways that Sandi and I could first decipher who was Japanese versus Korean.
The thing that I was most glad to be leaving behind in Korea was the stench of kim-chi everywhere. Perhaps it is an acquired taste but for me, I think I’ll pass for a little longer and see if maybe in a year my taste buds have changed. Korean food is quite difference from Japanese food. It is much more spicy too! I’m still getting used to eating foods in both Asian countries’ traditional breakfasts that are very non-traditional for Westerners to eat in the morning. Each day soup, rice, some sort of pickled veggies, tofu and seafood morcels are just not quite working for me as replacements for cereal and yoghurt. At least food is decently priced though! In either country a typical full meal you can purchase for about USD$10. Ooh and fruit in Korea is so much more reasonably priced!
Moving on, speaking of foreign smells, I noticed an overwhelming odor in some Korean washrooms. Because of their sewer systems, you should not put toilet paper down the toilet, but instead must always throw it in the waste pail in front of you in the stall. It is understandable since the sewage problem really was an issue, but the resulting smell from the sometimes overflowing garbages full of used toilet paper=- and I mean very used complete with all of the loveliness that you could expect to find in a women’s washroom that should have been flushed down the toilet in most cases. Eww is all I am going to say on that one. It was quite the relief to find the sign in Nagoya airport indicating which disposables should be placed where (in the traditional flush the toilet paper down the toilet fashion.). Anyways yes I guess I should get off of my washroom rant soon.

So on to transportation. I think it’s quite comparable to Japan and miles ahead of Canada. Both Japan and South Korea have very extensive public transit systems that go anywhere and are always on time! They also have wonderful services online and through people to help you navigate through the subways and busses ahead of time. So lovely! I often think of how much more difficult it would be to freely tour Canada without arranging an organized tour or having to rent a car. I don’t feel qualified to compare landscapes too much , but when I was in Korea everything was brown and autumn was well on its way to becoming winter. Japan on the other hand is still green and so has many more aesthetic charms about it at the moment. I think Japan also has more beautification projects underway as they seem to fill many roadsides/hills with some design or decoration, where as I didn’t notice anything similar in Korea along the highways. Both places are very clean, despite the lack of garbages (that drives me crazy about Asia!)

Housing in Korea is much more Western than Japan. Although in both country’s major cities there are inevitably rows of mass identical stock apartment complexes, Korean ones were more colorful. Outside of the city core, Japanese homes on the other side are much more distinctly Japanese-traditional styled where as Korean homes shared many more Western looks to them. Ooh and did I mention that Korea has heated floors and beds everywhere! Ahhh that definitely makes me jealous.

Another aspect that Sandi and I discussed was which country was more Westernized as a whole. We noticed more white people and English language used on Korean commercials, advertisements, and television, but also found it more difficult to find English romanji signs and people to speak English with us in many Korean places. For us tourists, this is pretty important as everyone knows our Korean is not quite up to par (aka non-existent). How lucky are we that we speak English as our native language and have most countries in the world learning it as a second language! It gives us travelers so many more opportunities! I thought about commenting on my observations regarding friendliness and people talking to us, but it is very hard to compare because we were in different circumstances in each country.. but… well no I can’t make any assertion but I just really appreciate how friendly so many people are to us obvious foreigners.


Few things I loved when first returning to Japan
-Bowing: Oh how I missed it! Along with “dozo”- my translation: after you, go ahead please! So polite! I wonder how I will feel when I go home for Christmas after living here for 6 months…
- Toilet sign in Nagoya airport—I already talked about it but yes, just happy. Haha you guys know I really do have a fascination with toilets, and when Sandi and I were driving to the airport in Seoul we saw a sign welcoming the International World Toilet Association Conference. Haha too funny!
-No kimchi smell or smoking! I know that Japan has it’s fair share of, um interesting smells and I’m sure the Tokyo fish market ranks up there pretty high, but in general there’s not as much smoking in restaurants I have found and to be free from the constant kim chi smell- funky spicy cabbage thing for those who don’t know, was quite the relief!

Don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderful time, and loved my surface exploring of an obviously cultured country, but for now I’ll stick with Japan! Yeah JET!


Well I just realized I finished my bit of analysis between South Korea and Japan but didn’t mention anything about the trip itself really! The real reason we were going… the trip to North Korea! Woot Woot!!

Being the Social Studies geek I am, of course I have a fascination with North Korea and the way the country is run. When I found out we could go into the country with a tour—even past the DMZ I was totally in!

So we flew into Incheon airport, a really cool futuristic place built on its own island that also has an accompanying nearby airport town (complete with a Korean spa which of course Sandi and I had to visit!) On Friday morning we got up from our hotel in airport town and headed to Seoul city where we encountered many many many South Korean soldiers. It was really intimidating at first, but everything turned out ok. I think they were just down for the weekend away from training duties, but just soo many men in uniforms and half with guns was quite a shock—and we were still well into SOUTH Korea! We kept thinking—uh ohhhh what are we getting ourselves into!? Sandi and I took a 3 hour bus ride to the eastern coast of South Korea (on a bus where there were only about 4 other people who were not wearing army uniforms) and arrived in the town near the North-South border where we would start our tour. It was a little scary getting off the bus in the middle of nowhere—to a bus depot that was closed—with few lights anywhere—not knowing the language or having Korean cell phones (luckily my Japanese one occasionally got service). But Sandi and I are great body language communicators and approached the other civilians who got off the bus with us and called our tour guide in Seoul who was supposed to have a car waiting for us at the bus stop. Interesting start to our adventure we decided. Soon though, a man was there to pick us up, who took us to an endearing little condo right on the sea. We could see the ocean from our room- ah if only it wasn’t so late (the sun sets soo early here—I wish they would adopt daylight savings!).
Anyways Saturday morning Sandi and I met up with the only two other English people on the whole tour, who were two sisters from Australia. They were really fun and so helpful too since one of them was in Korea on a University study exchange and knew a bit of Korean. We passed through all the checkpoints and slowly made our way to the final border and immigration into North Korea in the early morning. We were quite wary at first, as we just found this tour on the internet, and everyone knows North Korea is not exactly the best of allies with North America and little blonde white girls who cannot understand what they are saying. But in the end, we were quite relieved as there were about 25 busses each with about 40 people on them who were going with our tour to an area which we found out later was heavily fortified in order to be a Tourist Only Zone. It was basically built up by South Korea and was comparably very safe. Although, that being said, it still showed signs that a whole different world was not that far away.
We entered the DMZ (demilitarized zone of 4kms between the North and South borders) along a road near the ocean where we could see barbed wire along all of the beaches and alongside the road on either side. This barbed wire continued throughout the rest of the tour alongside the road, accompanied by numerous guards and gates.
Our tour was to explore North Korea and all of its beauties by hiking up the mountains and visiting selective sites. The tourist only zone included a lake which used to be a date spot for lovers, then was turned into a meeting spot for families to have 3 days together to reunite after the country was divided, and now is only for tourists and North Koreans even in the town can’t access at all. Also in the tourist zone is the mountain we climbed Mt Kumgang (the Grand Canyon of North Korea), Onjeonggak town (which means Hot Spring House) and its accompanying hotspring, and an acrobatic show to impress the tourists. The town was about 15 or 20 minutes by car into North Korea from the immigration area on the border. I learned that there are only about 3 entry points throughout North Korea that outsiders are allowed in. This is the only one with a special designated tourist zone.
In order to go on our tour we had to submit documents weeks in advance (pictures, application info, copies of passport etc). The tour company then set up our Visas that allowed us to go on the organized tour with minders and restrictions on our mobility. I would’ve loved to explore more of the real North Korea but getting access is very difficult and even more dangerous so for the time being our tour that gave us only a glimpse into the country had to suffice. Some of the rules about the tour included restrictions about what we could bring into the country. These included: no cell phones or cell phone chargers, no GPS, no binoculars with certain amount of zoom, no inappropriate literature or any literature to share with others (political, religious, including no magazines, newspapers or detailed maps etc). Cameras were allowed if their zoom was minimal which luckily mine was as well as Sandi’s personal video camera, but what we were allowed to film was very limited. We were not allowed to take any pictures of North Koreans or pictures that even had North Koreans or their daily lifestyle/home/buildings in the background. North Koreans posing as civilians (but distinguishable by their pin of the Great Leader of course) would inspect to make sure that rules were being followed and Sandi and I had to delete pictures and video even when something inappropriate got in by accident. Another limiting rule was that we were only allowed to take pictures in certain designated areas and absolutely no pictures were to be taken from the bus. This meant pretty much limiting us to the things they wanted us to show when we went back home—nice scenery, fake built up tourist zones only and their images that would portray North Korea favorably to the outside world. It was so difficult for me not to take pics of the things I really wanted to capture—like the soldiers standing on the hills, and the homes, and the people in the field etc. More rules included no talking to North Koreans unless they initiate the conversation and that we could not talk about sensitive issues like politics, religion, or the outside world really. We were always being monitored. We were even warned that places may be bugged such as restaurants, our hotel room etc so don’t say/do anything you wouldn’t want a North Korean official to hear or see.
Anyways, so back to everything. We entered North Korea and Sandi and I felt like refugees (or maybe more like cattle) for the first time in our lives… hoping we would get in, practicing what to say to the guards, triple checking our paperwork, waiting endlessly in line (haha very similar to on the way out hoping everything would check out too!). There were guards everywhere and a big photo of the Great Leader and music playing out of the speakers on repeat which apparently was welcoming us and saying nice to meet you (translated by a Korean on the tour with us). Sandi and I originally chose to interpret the folk song as some hailing of their great leaders still. It was awesome. So out of a movie! And the lady singing the song sounded like Glinda off of the Wizard of Oz. Such a funny voice—even when she spoke later at the acrobatic show. We got a kick out of it and are currently searching for it online (you know that North Korean civilians don’t get have access to the internet right?).
We passed through immigration and were herded back onto the bus. Constantly reminded not to take any pictures! We soon arrived in the town in the tourist zone and were told to change all of our money into American dollars (ironic no?) as South Korean won was only sometimes accepted in the places we would visit. The tourist zone was quite like what you would expect for a tourist area, but there were always signs that would remind you that you are actually in the dictatorship of North Korea. Even the tv and music we were exposed to were from South Korea (I was quite disappointed as I was really looking forward to watching North Korean Tv—but I suppose I understand that they don’t want us seeing it.) The Tourist Area is fenced off from the neighboring North Korean village of On Jung Li and was created at the cost of tearing down an entire village and displacing its residents. According to an article I found, “Hyundai Asan, an offshoot of the Korean car company, built the resort. It paid the North Korean government US$1 billion for 50 years of exclusive rights to the region and other business interests in North Korea. It spent an additional US$400 million to build the five-hotel resort, which opened in 1998.”

I wish that we could have been on the English tour (we hear they run at least one bus with a fully English guide at least once a month) to get more information, but I suppose we were fortunate enough to get to observe most everything with our own eyes anyways. I suppose the tanks hiding in the bunkers on the hillsides and guards with weapons ready who are holding the red flags that they will hold up if they sense any problems/us taking photos is obvious enough though.
Anyways back to a few more observations. The landscape: lack of trees and much soil depletion. Although apparently the South Korean man who could speak limited English sitting next to me translated that South Korea is now helping North Korea learn some farming techniques and that 20 years ago their landscape looked very similar. The hills were largely bare as they had chopped down many of the trees because Korea is largely still running on burning wood as a source of heat. The area we were in was mountainous and quite pretty minus the brownness and guards everywhere. At every hill, bridge, new ditch, town through road, or entry point you would see armed guards just standing there. We saw very little wildlife or even domesticated animals. I think I saw about four cows in the field and 2 herds of goats—with an actual man with a Sheppard looking pole tending them. We didn’t see a single civilian vehicle. Potentially because they were not allowed near the tourist zone, but I have my doubts at how many vehicles there would be anyways. It’s quite the third world country in places –which is just so unbelievable when you contrast it with South Korea. I say this because we saw what looked like cows pulling wagons and even people, only 2 old tractors in terms of mechanized farming—everything was human hand land labour. A few military jeeps/trucks carried soldiers and vendors working for the tour in them but nearly everyone was walking and maybe ¼ of the people we saw were on bicycles. Also, we observed that our tour bus license plates were covered over with tape or cardboard- still uncertain of the stated reason. I think I was hoping for more huge portraits of their president to be mounted throughout the towns we saw but I suppose not all of my 1984 Big Brother ideas about North Korea were true in the area that we visited at least. After the sun went down and we were driving back to our hotel, you would not even be able to know that there were towns in the places we had observed them earlier that day—there was not a single source of light. It was only about 7 in the evening so we weren’t quite sure where the people would be and how they would cope without light. Past the town we saw 3 soldiers repairing a guard overhang (I think) at the side of the road—almost fully in the dark. I think one guy may have been holding a flashlight (could have even been a candle but I just can’t imagine not even giving the soldiers something better than a candle, so I’m going with flashlight.) As I mentioned earlier we also spotted tanks on the hillsides in bunkers and more tanks pointed out at sea. We got to drive by a school and see some makeshift basketball nets standing up in the courtyard. The kids were cute and waving to us (it was a Sunday and the kids weren’t actually going to school or anything, but they were nearby).
As you can imagine the style is quite different in North Korea (at least from what we could observe.) Think 80’s looking jackets and old shoes. Even comparing with the not always so fashionable parts of South Korea it was quite the step backwards. The housage, signage and road condition comparison I think is just so noticeable when you realize the contrast with South Korea only a few miles away. This is probably the thing that stood out most in my mind. When I think of other nations around the world who are living in similar conditions I think of the geography and wars etc associated with it, but with North Korea it’s so bizarre how two sides of an imaginary (well maybe not so imaginary any more) border can become so different in such a short time period.
One of the highlights about our mountain hike was seeing the massive stone engravings in the sides of the mountains. They were everywhere! Written in Chinese characters mostly they dictated the glory of Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Song, and Kim Jong Su (Kim Jong Il’s wife who is also Kim Il Song’s mother). Another highlight was going to the acrobatic show! It was so awesome to see! The performers were incredibly talented and the costumes were hilarious since they were so old school! I know this blog entry is getting incredibly long so I will try to wrap it up soon. One of the other Asian crazes we got a chance to try in North Korea at the tourist spa was the Dr Fish treatment. Basically you would put your feet/hands/ full naked body if you were brave into a warm water bath filled with hundreds of tiny fish who would then eat off your dead skin. It was such a weird feeling! It tickled so much and was hard to stay still. Eventually I think Sandi and I both enjoyed it and we loved the feeling of our feet afterwards!
Sunday we drove back to South Korea and were warmly welcomed by a South Korean guard on the other side of the border (what a contrast from the North—this one was smiling and waving!) and we felt much better about soldiers than we did when we were first on the bus full of them! It was yet another sign of the differences. Sandi and I were both sad and relieved when we did not receive a stamp from North Korea is our Canadian passports. We did have our own personal North Korea visa/passport but they confiscated that when we left the country. L
In Seoul we did a walking tour and met up with our friendly Aussie friends by chance at a gorgeous palace in the city. We went for lunch with them, did some shopping in Insa-dong and went to the only Starbucks in the world that has a different signage on the outside, walked around the canal, and got a little more shopping done before the snow really came down and limited the rest of our evening. The North Seoul tower was therefore shut and we had to return to our hotel. Our hotel was quite interesting as it seams anything that isn’t crazy expensive is often quite dodgy. This one had a mirror on the ceiling, condoms on the dresser, and a broken (and by that I mean physically broken in half) lamp next to the bed.
All in all we had a fantastic trip but were about ready to return home to Japan. We had a nice warm welcome from Japan as it was the first day of the new immigration security procedures and we had to get fingerprinted and have our pictures taken as all foreigners entering Japan have to do from now on. When we reached the other side of the gate we were met by about 8 government officials and news reporters who interviewed us about what we thought of the new security procedures. We may have also been on national television yesterday! NHK channel! Although I’m not sure for how long, since there were many other foreigners holding large protests in Tokyo yesterday and we weren’t overly opinionated! That’s all for now! 2 days of school and then it’s the weekend again : )

Hida Weekend

So this weekend (posted a few weeks later) I was fortunate enough to go on a completely free weekend to a beautiful spot in Japan. Kiri was approached by a tour company a few weeks ago to invite her and some of her foreigner friends on a test-run tour of the Hida region in northern Gifu for foreigners. The only catch was we had to let them take photos of us which they may use for promotion material, and fill out a survey at the end of the tour! It was wicked! We had such a wonderful time!
The bus picked us up Saturday morning from Gifu station and took us north to Hida where we met our fellow tour mates then went apple picking. On the tour with us were people from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Thailand and of course my friends from Australia and America. It was a really cool and diverse group of about 20 of us.
Hida is famous for many types of food; including apples, peaches, beef and milk. After apple picking (and many photo ops) we headed to a nice little restaurant for a welcome speech from one of the government employees and a traditional Japanese lunch. We then headed to a Samurai house that was rebuilt using traditional Japanese architecture. It was gorgeous! I love all the paper walls and the designs in the architecture. It was also really neat sitting by the rock gardens and realizing that we were looking at the same views that people would have five hundred years ago who visited the grounds for fancy dinner parties would have been looking at. The house also came equipped with also very cool hidden sliding doors where “ninja-like guards” could jump out and surprise people who attempted to attack the master of the household. (You know we couldn’t resist taking pictures in that place!)
We then were supposed to go on a big trek through some country trails but because of the rain earlier in the morning we went for a walk around some paths in town instead. They were so gorgeous! Twas a very picturesque little town that Kamioka of Hida city. The leaves were enormous and so colorful. For you physics people out there the town also won a nobel prize for some mining particle thing (I’ll update when I find out more).
Since the train stopped running to the town a few years ago, some of the people in the town decided to use the rail lines for bike trails. They created quite the contraptions that allowed us to ride on the tracks through the gorgeous scenery. The Bike Rail Ride was lots of fun and quite original! By this point we were quite tired and getting chilly. We then went to an Onsen in the area. Onsen’s are sooo relaxing especially as the weather gets cooler!
We then went to our hotel and had an official welcome reception and dinner party with many of the people from the tourism department of the city. It was so nice of them! A deluxe dinner for all of us, of course filled with many delicacies from the area. The night was, as many are in Japan, surrounded by speeches, songs, dancing, and endless sake and Asahi beer. : )
Our accommodations were really nice. We stayed in a cute little hotel where half of us were in Japanese style tatami rooms and the other half in Western style beds.
The second day of the tour we had more traditional Japanese breakfast foods and then got to try making soba by hand. It was really neat to learn and quite the art form. We also got to sample our masterpieces! The only thing that wasn’t fun was cooking in the freezing cold. Oh how I miss indoor central heating! And hot water in taps!!
Lunch was a traditional hot pot in a cute little restaurant in Furukawa Town. We then went on a few tours of museums in Furukawa like the shrine museums where they hold 3 of the 9 shrines used during the Matsuri festival. (I def plan on going back for the festival April 19 and 20 with the huge parades of shrines and midnight rite called Okoshi Daiko where young men in loincloths parade a giant drum through the streets and compete to place small drums on a stage. It looks like a riot! I’ll try to add video later!) The craft museum and exploring the architecture in the town was very interesting as well. Furukawa was a very cute little town complete with multiple old school sake breweries, a store with a man making candles in the window display (whose family had been doing it for many many generations), a picturesque temple, canal lined streets throughout town and heaps of trees with all the beautiful fall colors Japan has to offer. We of course also sampled the local specialty foods from each area and did some souvenir shopping. My Hello Kitty phone danglers collection is getting pretty massive at this point! Twas such a great weekend and the kindness was overwhelming! I heart Japan!