Tomorrow is our first day back to school after 6 weeks off. Truth be told, it got boring at times (there ain't much to do where we are if you don't want to spend much money), but we had a lot of fun and relaxed a lot. A few days ago we went to the Ueno Zoo near Tokyo. It was really great, had a variety of animals, though unfortunately no Giant Panda (their famous one Ling Ling died a little over a year ago). Working the last two summers at the Woodland Park Zoo, I couldn't help but compare the two, and while you probably have a little better view of some of the animals, their living areas often seemed a little too small and sparse. WPZ in Seattle has some really amazing natural-looking enclosures. Pictures of the zoo trip at the bottom.
We also had a really fun BBQ on Saturday in Kashima on the beach with some other English-speaking ALT friends. Good people + good food = good times. We had wagyu beef burgers (!!) and fresh scallops cooked over the grill on their own shells (!!) along with chicken, veggies, chip and salsa, etc. A nice Western-style BBQ this time. Afterwards we went lakeside and viewed perhaps the best fireworks show we've ever seen.
I'm going to let this go now, with woah there's a typhoon going on outside (see Tessa's post below about it) and today I've had my worst allergy attack in months. Yecchh! Anyways, bye for now!
Reporting live from Namegata, where we've been in the middle of Typhoon Krovanh all day today and most of last night. It's our first one, and while we haven't seen any trees uprooted we've definitely been impressed.
Apparently, a typhoon is the same thing as a hurricane, or tropical cyclone. The name just refers to geographic locations: typhoons for west of the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, and hurricanes for east (typhoons in Asia, hurricanes in America).
Anyway, we've had heavy gales and blowing rain for the last 18 hours or so. In Japan, many homes and apartments have big metal sliding panels that cover your windows, which you would definitely close in case of a typhoon. But each of our two windows has a stuck slider, making the wind blow through them, causing it to feel almost like an earthquake. It's not very serious where we are, but I know that in Kashima (45 min away on the Eastern coast, and very windy most days) they cancelled classes at the English school where our friends work.
As some of you might have heard, yesterday Japan held Parliamentary elections and there was a huge power shift. It was expected by many, but the Democratic Party won by a 3 to 1 ratio over the Liberal Democrats who have been in power since WWII. As evidence of Chris' comedic influence on me, I say that this typhoon is merely the winds of change......
get it? Winds of change? Yeah, I know. . .
Well, tomorrow we go back to school for the start of Term 2. I actually had to iron today for the first time in 6 weeks. We've been here 5 months now, and look forward to getting through this next term quickly.
Yesterday we went to a BBQ hosted by our coordinator from the company we work for and some of her friends and family. A couple of the other ALTs in the area were also invited, so the 4 of us piled into one tiny Suzuki Alto (the backseat of which I assure you is as or more uncomfortable than that of an old VW Beetle) and we carpooled to the beach city of Oarai about 1.25 hours away. While riding on the way, I noticed a small green tree frog had attatched itself to the outside of the car, very near the window of the front of the car. The windows were down because it was hot and the air conditioning didn't work, and eventually the little frog hopped inside the car, across the dash, to the driver's side. After a few tense minutes in which we were worried the little frog would then jump onto the driver, he hopped out the other window and began to cling for dear life on the side mirror. Ken (the driver) rolled his window up so it couldn't hop back in, and the frog stayed attached for a good 20 minutes until he (Justin decided its name was Gary) got uncomfortable and tried to move but lost his grip and went flying off the car. Godspeed Gary, wherever you are...
When we finally found the BBQ site we were greeted by our smiling coordinator Naomi, a very nice Japanese woman our age who is our contact to the company we work for. Her sister, nieces, and friends were already there, and we helped get things set up. The site was not quite on the beach, but very close to it. Justin and I helped start the fire and get the coals burning (without lighter fluid) and we munched on veggie snacks while we waited for the coals to heat up. They tossed in potatoes wrapped in foil to bake, and we set up a wire mesh-like pan over the coals and tossed on veggies like onions, eggplant, bean sprouts, and others. They then laid on some fatty strips of pork (bite size, but not actually bacon). The way the Japanese do BBQ is after things are done grilling, they grab the bits with chopsticks and dip them into this amazing thin sauce called "ebara" and eat. Very, very tasty. After the pork, they added thin strips of beef, and just kept piling it on. Then came the fresh prawns. Later, they even put on this big flat pan and fried up some yakisoba (grilled noodles), which apparently is common at Japanese barbecues. Everything was delicious, and there was as much beer as I could drink to wash it down with. We also played a lot with Naomi's niece and nephews (age between 2 and 3) who were completely adorable. They were very shy at first, but in the end they were challenging me and Tessa to races and repeating things we would say to them in English. A good time all around.
One of the interesting things about Japanese BBQs is that instead of a kind of potluck where everyone brings something, often times they will have one person bring everything, and charge a fee to those attending. It cost us about $24 each, but it was worth it for the food, beer, and chance to interact with some great Japanese folks around our age and a little older.
The next day (today) we found out the true price of that BBQ, in the form of mosquito bites. Tessa has over 20 on her legs, and I have about 10 on my legs and 3 on my arm. They itch just as much as they do in America. Luckily, Tessa had the foresight to bring hydrocortisone creme with her from America. Only 1 more week left of summer break! :( We go back to work on September 1st. Thanks for reading, we miss you all!
Once again, I've neglected this blog. . .but I'm making up for it today with some very cool pictures. For months, Chris has been dying to visit the Aqua World in Oarai, a really neat beach town/city about 75 minutes north of us on Japan's easter coast. This place is nationally famous, so we finally set the alarm a little early (it's summer break, we're allowed to sleep in!) and made a day of it.
It was a Monday, so we expected a lighter crowd - no luck! We literally had to park on the sidewalk, with the full blessings of the lot attendant. The Japanese will park their cars anywhere without a second thought, this much I have learned.
Anyway, the Aqua World is pretty huge, and we walked through many different halls and rooms of gigantic tanks containing all sizes and varieties of sharks, tropical fish, sea turtles (yay!), mondo-crabs, eels, manta rays, octupi and more. We were almost equally entertained by the hundreds of awestruck Japanese toddlers, pointing and shouting "kore, kore!" ("that, that!").
We had heard about a great dolphin show (although a little subdued after recently reading an article on Japanese amusement parks' notorious mistreatment of dolphins) and waited with a mob of families to get into the arena. We made it down to the 2nd row, nearly empty because that's where you get splashed the most, but we thought, why not? The staff were handily selling plastic tarps for 300 Yen, but we wanted to brave it. The show was pretty great, if fairly short at 23ish minutes. Still, these animals perform several times a day, maybe they should shorten it even more!
The dolphins were really neat. A cheesy host spoke in Japanese while instrumental Disney power ballads played in the background, but we were just focusing on these creatures that were kicking balls with their tails, leaping many many feet in the air, and launching their human trainers across the pool with great splashes and pizazz. Later another trainer brought out a seal to do sort of a comedy routine where he would cover his eyes with his flippers, clap, balance beach balls ("beach-ey baru") on his nose, and generally impress everyone. Let's hope these animals aren't worked too hard and actually get more space than just the arena pool to live in.
Later we got some lunch (we were glad to see that the food court didn't sell fish, that would have just been insulting) and watched the Humboldt penguins outside - they're the same species as the ones at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.
Hope you like these pictures - what a great day!
PS: Although the food court inside the aqarium didn't sell fish, on the other side of the gift shop by the entry, you could find any seafood item your heart desired, hopefully not from the nearby exhibits. . .
Since we've been in Japan, we've felt quite a few quakes and tremors. I'd say about 2 or so per month. At first, we were a little surprised, like "whoa, I think we just had an earthquake!" when we felt our first tremor or two. Then, it got to the point where we would feel it, yawn, and wait for it to pass. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised, I mean we ARE on the Ring of Fire here, but growing up in the Pacific Northwest USA, I've been through less than 5 earthquakes that I can remember. Anyways, tonight we felt a bigger and longer quake. It started like all the others, but kept going, and shaking harder. Then our apartment started to sway a little. Tessa and I just kind of looked at each other like "uh, ok, is it going to stop soon?" It felt like we were in a subway car. It eventually subsided, but if it had gotten any worse, I would've dove under the crappy little table we have. Everything is fine though, at least here, no harm done. Early reports having the quake being between 6.9 to 7.1 in magnatude, off the East coast of Japan, sorta by Tokyo. Hope everything is OK there too.
At long last I just got my first hair cut in Japan. Yes, after 4+ months I finally bit the bullet and got my ears lowered. I have a forehead now! I had been putting it off for awhile now because I had been really nervous about getting it without being able to speak the language. It can sometimes be difficult to get your hair cut the way you want it even when you speak the same language, so I was a little terrified. Before going in I armed myself with a few phrases that I thought might help, but I didn't really need them. I picked a style out of a magazine that I felt looked closest to what I wanted, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. First, a nice young Japanese woman led me to the back to get my hair thoroughly washed and conditioned, and a nice scalp massage. After that, I was then led to the stylist's chair where I attempted to explain what I wanted in broken Japanese. The woman then gave me a "massage" which mainly consisted of her hitting my shoulders and upper back repeatedly. She was then replaced by the man who would end up cutting my hair. I re-explained to him and, he cut away. He actually chatted me up quite a bit, and though there were a lot of language difficulties, we were able to communicate through the little Japanese I knew. Anyways, my hair didn't turn out 100% the way I wanted it (he way over-layered it) but given the circumstances, it's not too bad, I think. See below:
Before: 4+ months of shaggy hair
After: Clean cut all-American good boy (though still with a 5 o'clock shadow). Much, much better, I'd say.
Our vacation is half over, only 3 weeks left. We'll have to make the most of it. Bye!
We sure had a great time. Tessa wrote a great and long account of the trip (see the post below) but I just wanted to share a couple tidbits from my perspective.
The first 24 hours were pretty rough. About 10-11 hours of bus riding, no showering and less than an hour of sleeping. We were wet from the rain and from the humidity when it wasn't raining. Once we finally checked in and slept on a bed (!!!) and showered, we were OK. You have to understand, we haven't slept on a bed since our training in Mito back in the first week of April. Our apartment has a Japanese style futon, which is nothing like the American couch/bed combo on a frame. Our futon is basically a few pads and comforters stacked on top f each other and covered by a sheet. It has no frame, and rests on the floor. Because of this, it is also very important to hang it outside and air it out at least once a week to prevent mold/mildew and things like that. So, long story short, bed = us very excited.
As Tessa said, I really liked the "Genghis Khan" platter we ate in Kyoto. Grilled lamb, bean sprouts, pumpkin, green peppers, and that sauce. Normally I don't go for those kinds of veggies, but the sauce that we had to dip them in was delicious, or "oishii" as the Japanese would say. I don't know what the sauce was, but it was thin, kinda like a broth, sweet, spicy, and flavorful. Mmmmmm....
My favorite place we visited was probably Nijo-jo, the ancient Japanese castle formerly occupied by the Shogun. We got to walk inside a palace inside of it, which was really cool. The floorboards inside squeak with a distinct, unique sound, a design so that guards could hear any intruders. There were also many different tatami lined rooms that had beautiful paintings on the walls and sliding wooden doors. Sadly, cameras were not allowed inside.
Well, I don't have much else to say, other than what Tessa already said. Hopefully I'll be able to get postcards out to people soon. Bye!
Chris and I returned from Kyoto on Friday night, but I'm only now summoning the mental strength to blog about our trip. There was just so much to see and do there - it's overwhelming trying to describe it all! But here goes. A warning: it's going to be loooong. Feel free to skim instead.
Last Monday afternoon, we caught a "highway bus" (kind of like the equivalent of the US' Greyhound system) down to Tokyo. Arriving around 4pm, we immediately went to buy our tickets for the overnight "Dream Bus" to Kyoto, having decided it would save on hotels and be much cheaper than the Shinkansen (or Bullet Train). We chose the 11pm departing bus because we didn't want to get to Kyoto so early in the morning that everything was closed. Of course, this left us with about 6 1/2 hours to kill in the meantime. And it was pouring buckets outside. (Somehow, whenever we go down to Tokyo it starts raining - maybe it senses our NW auras)
Anyway, we walked over to the Imperial Palace Gardens to look at the swans in the moat. Yes, they call it a moat. But it was really coming down and we worried about our bags getting mildew before we'd even gotten to our destination. So, we made our way down into the bowels of Tokyo Station, which turned out to be, you guessed it, a huge shopping center. Shopping is truly king in this city. You could find bikinis, sake, fancy deli meats, Hello Kitty t-shirts, and just about anything else you can imagine, and all this just in Tokyo Station! We had a quick dinner and people-watched, although it quickly became high-heel-watching due to the overwhelming abundance of stiletto or platform clad women, usually with very very short skirts or shorts. How can they spend all day walking in those? It's beyond me. . .
Finally, after multiple card games, walking in circles around the station, scouting for available benches (which are few and far between) we were able to get on the bus. We booked the cheap one, so we shouldn't have been surprised that the bus was just like any other, and ill-equipped to host sleeping passengers. Yes, there were curtains pulled so that most of the street lights couldn't get in, but that was it. Anyway, I estimate that we each got maybe an hour of sleep, broken into very small chunks. So, getting off at Kyoto Station at 6:15 am, we were already exhausted. But our hotel wouldn't check us in until 2pm - despite having advance warning of this, we still cursed the gods...So, more walking around for 2+ hours until the station Tourism Office opened and we could get maps and subway directions in English. We decided to drop our stuff off at the hotel early, so at least our shoulders could recover a bit.
After unloading (and looking longingly at the elevators taking people up to their rooms), we walked over to what we thought was Nijo-jo Castle, but turned out to be the Imperial Gardens of Kyoto. We discovered a lovely little shrine down one of the paths, where several cats were hanging out watching the coi swimming in the moat. Yep, another moat. And more coi - the Japanese really love their coi ponds. We also saw tons of turtles swimming around with them, which cheered us up enough to continue wandering around.
By the way, let me just tell you that when you arrive in Kyoto in the morning, your ears will be assaulted with a deafening buzzing. Apparently, it's the world headquarters for the cicada population, and they all buzz to each other for about 9 hours from morning till late afternoon, then mysteriously stop before dinnertime. Walking around in the Imperial Gardens, we started noticing all of these big brown, dead bugs on the pathways. At first, we just thought it was weird and tried not to step on them. Then we came upon a tree where there were several of these things basically attached to the bark. Upon closer examination, however, Chris the Animal Expert pronounced the bugs just empty carapaces (old exo-skeletons) of the cicadas. So, the park is littered with bug shells, basically.
Later, we watched part of a baseball game, ordered yummy frozen coffee drinks at a coffee shop with A/C and soft chairs, and then made our way back to the hotel to sit on their couches and wait till check-in. Chris had the great idea to ask them if we could go up early, and they relented. Nap time! A good 4 hours later, we emerged showered and with renewed energy.
We had been given a restaurant guide by the hotel, and we made our way to the Gion district (where all the famous Geisha lived back in the day, and where a select few still apparently work). We walked along the river, which at night is beautiful with lantern-bedecked restaurants and shops along its banks. We found our restaurant, which was pretty hole-in-the-wall but a fabulous find. This place could maybe fit 8 or 9 people inside, where everyone sits at the bar. We chose the "Genghis Khan" set, and watched as the cheerful chef put a big pot in front of us that had hot coals and flames inside, then set some kind of rounded grill cover on it. Then he poured on bean sprouts, green peppers, onions, etc. When they were mostly cooked, he added chunks of fresh mutton (which I had never actually eaten before) and handed us little dishes of sauce with chopsticks. We were instructed to just take what we wanted directly off of the grill pot, and dunk them in our sauce before eating. Let me tell you, one of the best meals I've ever had. I think Chris was even more in love with it, though, as he couldn't stop eating the bean sprouts and veggies, not just the meat. He raved about it the whole trip, actually ;)
Later we just walked around the neighborhood, and even caught the end of a special shrine being carried over a bridge by a huge crowd of men in traditional white robes and pants. There was a lot of yelling, and incense. We ended up walking around a huge shopping area, and just checking out the Kyoto nightlife.
The next day we had a lot to see. After breakfast in a famous Kyoto coffee shop, we found the correct Nijo-jo Castle. The day was hot and humid, in the heaviest sense imaginable. My shirt was drenched before noon. The castle was really neat, though. You have to take off your shoes, as per Japanese custom in nearly any highly respected place. As you walk, you notice the floor creaking a lot. Apparently this feature was an intentional design, so that guards could easily detect any intruders. The walls of each room were carved or painted with hawks, nightingales, and just really lovely ancient scenes. They even had mannequins set up in traditional costume with placards reading about their position in the room and what that signified about their status.
Next we took a bus (having bought 2-day all-access cards that let us on the subway and all buses) to Kinkaku-ji Temple. This is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto. One minute you're just walking up a very normal paved path through some trees, the next minute you're staring at a huge golden pavilion, which is literally painted in golf leaf and very impressive. A great photo op, let me tell you. We took a path all the way around the pavilion, and picked up some really neat postcards and trinkets.
Our last major stop of the day was the Ryoanji Temple, which houses a famous Zen rock garden. We were ushered inside, where there were at least 25 other tourists just sitting quietly either staring at the garden or praying. It's not a very big rock garden, only 30m x 10m. It consists of raked gravel and 15 small boulders, although apparently from any angle in the garden you can only see 14. The Buddhist concept behind this was that only through Enlightenment would you be able to see the 15th stone. Pretty neat. That night we just picked up some food and collapsed in bed to watch bizarre Japanese tv shows, a memorable one involving a moody teenage boy who turns out to be a vampire, and may or may not have a questionable relationship with his teacher. He was also followed by an older man who might have been Satan, but we really couldn't figure it out.
The next day (our last in Kyoto) we started out with The Museum of Kyoto, which happened to be just a few blocks from the hotel. The first room had to do with the history of Japanese cinema, which was pretty interesting. Lots of black and white pictures of movies that looked a lot like Hollywood film of the same era, complete with cheesy titles and strange hairdos. Although there were a few Samurai films thrown in, and a huge replica of the Oscar won for Kurasawa'sRashomon. The 2nd floor had really cool models of the way different districts of Kyoto looked hundreds of years ago, and the progression of Kyoto as cultural capital of Japan. We tried not to break the bank buying postcard prints of amazing paintings, but the temptation was strong.
Later we took a bus up to Ginkaku-ji Temple (not to be confused with Kinkaku-ji). After getting off we still had to walk up a hill to the temple, and passed by tons of different touristy shops and stands, and women in kimonos offering tastes of fruit-flavored mochi (rice dough pastry). Once through the gate (all the temples and shrines have huge wooden gates, sometimes painted red, which are really just kind of A-shaped archways) there was a really peaceful air. The main pavilion was being worked on, but there was a rock garden, beautiful little bridges and ponds, and lovely bamboo fences. Little shrines were tucked away around corners or down narrow pathways. We took a path that led up a hill, where you could get a fantastic view not only of the temple, but also Kyoto - I loved this place, my absolute favorite thing in Kyoto.
Afterwards we took a bus back down to the Higashiyama district, near Gion, to wander through Maruyama Park. This place is literally packed with shrines and beautiful gates. Lanterns hung everywhere. There were neat fountains with metal cups with long handles, where you are supposed to purify your hands before praying. Other shrines had long ropes that you pull to ring a bell before praying, ostensibly to get the spirits' attention? Many of the people we saw praying were older, which seems to make sense considering the generational divide in this country.
That night, we returned to the Gion district to find some dinner - we stopped in a little place that made good tempura and grilled meat, where we met the proprietor who spoke very good English. We chatted for a bit, he was surprised to learn that we were ALT's - I think 99% of the non-Japanese visitors to Kyoto are tourists on vacation, so people were always surprised that we could speak a little Japanese, like saying the proper thing before eating "itadakimasu" and after eating "gochisousamadeshita". Afterwards we walked to Gion Corner, where they produce short performances of Japanese artistic and creative mediums. A sampler of Japanese culture, if you will. We saw snippets of the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, court music and dance, Japanese harp, geisha dance, Kyogen (comic interludes between longer pieces, very vaudevillian) and Bunraku, puppet theatre. The last two were our favorites, of course. We had actually studied them a bit at WWU, so it was amazing to watch live.
Later we sat by the river and just soaked it all in. We are so lucky to be able to experience these things - the whole trip, we kept remarking how much our families and friends would love to see this or that. Of course, we're really blessed to get to share these things with each other - in 20 years we'll still be able to remember these experiences and be so glad we came to Japan together.
The next morning we rose early, got to Kyoto Station and bought our tickets back. No night bus this time, thankfully. We spent all of Friday on buses, first from Kyoto to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Aso where we live. We were exhausted, but it was nice to be back in our quiet little town. And we still have 4 weeks left of vacation! I think our next order of business is to make up our own board game. We'll let you know how it goes ;)
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