Osaka and the Bicycle of Hate

This past weekend was a three-day, and despite my efforts to be well traveled/worldly, etc., I hadn’t made a single plan.

So on Thursday, I decided this would be my weekend for visiting Osaka, where Danielle lives. Who is Danielle? She is a lovely lady I worked with in Seattle during those long, arduous iD tech Camp months (or just the two of them). We got along wonderfully and it was only by chance that we both ended up in the same country and quite close to each other (about… 4.5 hours away in total, I think). So we were definitely overdue for a weekend together!

I grabbed a train from Mineyama (where Desirae and Andy were kind and took Kirby in for the weekend) and hustled to Kyoto Station. Originally, the loose plan was to meet up at Kyoto Station for some walking around and then later hop the train back to Osaka for a Thanksgiving Dinner at Outback Steakhouse. This was a grand idea in theory. I arrived at Kyoto station after receiving a text that Danielle was meeting a potential private student and probably wouldn’t make it to Kyoto, which was fine. The train station was the most crowded I had ever seen it! It seemed that Tokyo had come over for a visit and brought the twins. That’s a terrible metaphor. Anyway there was like, a butt-load of people there for some reason. Oh the reason? Gee, maybe that every Kyoto festival ever was happening on this weekend (which is probably why we had the three day weekend to begin with). There were lots of people in kimono and I was seeing geisha and maiko left and right!!! I decided to get the hell out of Dodge.

I hopped a hopelessly crowded train to Osaka. The ride was fast, but it didn’t seem as such when I was half stooped, half leaned between a door, a vapid couple, and a baby carriage. Most of me was standing, some of me was scrunched against the wall, and all of me was trying its hardest not to fall on the baby. The infant lived to see another day, and I arrived at my destination.

Osaka station is big and confusing. It connects to probably a million subway stations, underground malls, and hotels. I wandered while waiting for Danielle to text me back and tell me where to go next. About 75 minutes later, I got a single text from her. ‘Go to umeda station and the outback is around there.’ I then realized that Danielle wasn’t getting any of my text messages, and it was only by luck that she had sent me this one. I found my way to the subway station she had mentioned, after awhile… I didn’t realize it was a subway station so I sort of wandered around the JR trains… like an idiot. However after my relative success at locating the station, I then realized that there were 10 exits to the streets above. Not knowing much about Osaka, I then wandered around for an even longer time trying to locate the Aussie-American steak place. After asking two security guards, I found my way to the restaurant. I looked inside but did not see Danielle, so I proceeded to wait for 40 minutes outside, watching all the gaijin pass by.

Osaka has a lot of gaijin. It was scary, and I felt out of place since I seemed to fit in so well. Osaka also has a lot of bicycles…

I went back inside after the 40 minutes to find Danielle and her friend Pete in a corner. I suppose I just hadn’t seen them earlier. Regardless, I had a delicious steak dinner and got drunk on red wine. Danielle then had a bad asthma attack and spent a bit of time in the bathroom trying not to pass out… in our drunken states, Pete and I probably weren’t a great help to her. Eventually, however, we got Danielle back on her feet and grabbed a cab back to her house in Momodani.

Her house is about three stories and WONDERFUL. She has a crazy kiwi roommate who laughs to herself while watching movies and likes to talk AT people. This explained the behavior she had towards Danielle when we stumbled in, pale and drunk, and she started talking about knitting patterns or something. Maybe all Kiwis are just like that. I have yet to meet a sane one (cough BRYN cough).

We slept.

The next day we got up around noon (well I did, but mostly because I thought Danielle was still sleeping!) We decided food needed to come next, and then got lost on the subways trying to find any. Danielle usually bikes everywhere, but as her bike was stolen a few weeks back, and her borrowed bike was still at the Outback Steakhouse, we had no other choice but to take the trains. We did a lot of walking. Osaka has bridges, buildings, and subways. Not much when it comes to cultural things, but it was actually nice to be in a city that resembled a city and not a cultural heritage site for a change. Not that I’m complaining (I’m complaining a little).
We eventually found ourselves in Namba, an area Danielle lived in while she was with NOVA (as to say before NOVA died a slow horrible death). She took me to an excellent okonomiyake place where we dined on fine cabbage pancakes and colas. After that it was Starbucks city, which delighted me in oh-so-many ways. Ways which I am not comfortable discussing… Also I bought yarn and stamps. Yarn and stamps also make me happy for inappropriate reasons.

It was nearly 5pm by this time, and we made our way back to Outback Steakhouse to retrieve Pete’s bike (the borrowed bike, that is to say). At about this time, I realized that Danielle planned on biking back to Momodani. But what about Rachel, I asked? She pointed to the back metal grill of her bicycle. I obliged.

Riding on the back of that bike was a thrilling experience. Whizzing past traffic, people, lights, stores, and other bikes… and not being able to see a thing in front of me except for Danielle. It was terrifying. And amazing. At one point we hit a big bump and my leg flailed, causing us to lose balance. But we recovered! We in fact managed to not die the entire way home. We then watched TV shows and grabbed some dinner nearby (again on the bike). This time I used a sweater to pad my behind, as it was quite sore from the previous half hour ride from Osaka Station. Anyway, I’m no daredevil, so this was exciting to me. I’m such a rebel.

We also got donuts and coffee, which was easily as rebellious as the rest of it. Mine had chocolate on it.

The next day Danielle and I went to Kyoto city. We grabbed some coffees and took pictures with some maiko that were in town. A maiko is an apprentice geisha. The maiko in Kyoto are well known for their colourful kimonos and fabulous hairdos. They were adorable to boot! Couldn’t have been over 18 years old and definitely not over five feet tall. Kawaii to the max.

We then met up with Megan B and her friend Zara and walked around a crowded flea market in the area of Kitanosomething… anyway we took a bus there and then cabbed it over to teramachi where we had sandwiches and lemonade. THEN we did purikura. Purikura being a weird Japanese thing where you take funny pictures and then decorate them with backgrounds, sparkles, funny stamps or writing tools… and you make them look… EVEN MORE JAPANESE. We came out with some pretty decent ones if I do say so myself. They are stickers too, did I mention?

After that Danielle decided to wander the streets of Kyoto armed only with her amazing 10 megapixel camera. The rest of us did some half-assed karaoke (well Zara was whole assed, but Megan and I were definitely half assed). Japanese songs are strange. Japan is strange.

I then left and met Scott, Simon and Leigh for a ride home to Tango. It was uneventful, and as Tango-ey as ever. Everyone quiet and tired, and there being unnecessary tension all the time forever. I LOVE WHERE I LIVE.

Then it was home at midnight, and sleep for not long enough (this is how my weekends seem to be ending this month).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

It may seem KIND OF sad, but in actuality I did pig out on Thanksgiving.

Mostly I forgot it was Thanksgiving, but when I remembered, I prepared a feast. Not one, but TWO tuna fish sandwiches on toast. And a beer! And coffee! AND A TRUFFLE. And there's more food if I wanted it too, oh yeah.

And I watched Grey's Anatomy... and I just might watch more movies. 'Cause it's Thanksgiving and that's just how I roll.

My weekend in Wakayamano Koyasan

The Trip to Wakayama

The trip to Wakayama was long, and we had a very late start in the morning. However, we did manage to get to the prefecture and up a long mountain road to ‘Koyasan’, which is a famous mountain area chock full of Buddhist Temples in Wakayama prefecture. The leaves were spectacular, but man oh man was the weather COLD.

First thing we did was walk around a temple area and see lots of old Buddhist temples, new ones (since 99.9% of Buddhist temples seem to burn down multiple times) and lots of statues of Buddha, Bodhisatva and other friends as well. The weather was quite nice that day, and it was cool seeing some of the JETs I’d met at the airport in LA or at the Tokyo Conference in July! Everyone took plenty of pictures and nothing else is worth writing about.

The Temple

That night we went to a Buddhist temple where we would stay the night. We all crowded into a spacious dining area and feasted on delicious vegan foods prepared by the monks. It was a wide assortment of tastes and colours. The Swiss Buddhist monk who was our MC for the evening mentioned that the meals always must have 5 flavours. There were indeed, at least 4. I may not be the biggest fan in the world of TOFU, but it wasn’t half bad, not half bad at all. We also indulged on BEER which was twice as good as half bad! After that, we all went over to a facility on the 2nd floor and made PRAYER BEADS! This sounds like some sort of rehab retreat by now, but I swear it isn’t… My beads are pink and many of the beads list good qualities and qualities that could be improved upon. After that, it was time for a hot soak in the bathing area, which was tiny, but emptied of most JETs after about an hour and a half of waiting around. It was freezing cold in the temple, but the bathwater warmed everyone up just enough that we didn’t die before we got to the futons. I shared a room with my carpool (Desi, Andy, Marina and Kristin, who came from Sonobe). It was cozy.

The next morning we woke up at quarter to 6am to take part in a meditation ceremony downstairs. The room was cold and everyone was exhausted, so I don’t think anyone stayed the entire hour and a half, but it was definitely interesting! The monks chanted and some lit candles or incense. We had the opportunity to walk around and view the chanting area and candle area from all sides. It was really cool!

The Graveyard

After the meditation and a light (and delicious) breakfast, the group of us went over to a famous graveyard in Koyasan to… look at tombstones! Japanese tombstones are very different than Western ones, of course, but it never occurred to me before I arrived in Japan. Japanese stones are generally shaped like Shinto lamps (I’m sure I’m not correct in calling them that), and they are set up in more of a shrine area up some stairs and grouped in families or like causes. They are much less creepy than western cemeteries, … and there is a noticeable lack of zombies.

Nothing too terribly interesting, aside from some lighthearted stories about suicide, betrayal, and samurai killings. Although there was a blowfish shaped tombstone (it seriously looks like a cartoon blowfish) that was for the deaths of people who ate the poisoned part of blowfish sushi (fugu). Unbelievably awesome. The only other aspect of the tour that I can recall is HOW COLD IT WAS. I think it just dropped into the lower 40’s without warning and everyone was numb and cranky by the end of the two hours. We all wandered over for some hot lunch before calling it a day and driving home.

The Trip Home

The only thing notable about our trip home is that it took us 9.5 hours to get back to Mineyama. Why, you ask? The reason is that we got lost in Osaka for about four hours. Easily four hours. I won’t go into it because I want to block out the memory, but there you have it. 9+ hours to get home. I didn’t even bother to try and go home to Ine since I knew that detour would be waiting for me again with open arms, and fresh tanuki/unicorn corpses. Also because my car died when I tried to start it and wouldn’t start up properly until the next morning. So, I left early the next morning and drove home only to begin a considerably shorter workweek.

Shorter because I would spend Tuesday at home with a bad fever, and because Friday is a national ‘Thanksgiving Harvest’ holiday that I can’t wait to sleep through.

Epilogue

So other than that ridiculous week, nothing much to report other than the weather, which has turned very cold and very rainy. Although, I’m fond of rain! The Japan Sea side of Japan apparently gets quite a bit of rain and snow in the cold months, so I suppose I have that to look forward to. The books don’t mention much about how much HAIL and THUNDER we get, but maybe (probably) it’s just Ine.

and now enjoy pictures of leaves for no other reason than they're pretty:

Elementary School, the Next Day

Elementary school was not as horrible as I expected it to be. The kids were lovely as always, and lending my camera to the first and second graders ended up being a delightful mistake. I now have a great deal of adorable pictures of the kids I hold in very high/cutecutecute regards. Now I can show the world! Other than that, it was my last day at elementary school until mid-January, so I will miss those kids dearly and I’ll just have to wave at them when I see them playing on the side of the road.

My good day was somewhat rushed to a halt as I quickly packed and headed to Mineyama to stay with Desirae and Andy before going to Wakayama the next day. I met up with Scotty K. and Leigh-J for some sushi and it was actually great seeing Scott again since I hadn’t seen that kid in forever and a half! We chatted for quite some time, I ate pudding, and then Leigh and I went to hang out with Andirae in Mineyama for a bit. Desi was a bit LUSHY that evening and it was really amusing to watch. Leigh left and I had some champagne before going to sleep for not long enough.

Kyoto Conference & the long way home

The Kyoto Conference

Not too much to go into about the conference this year. My JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) was Aimi Sensei, and I finally found out that her first name is Ayako. Nice name! So we had fun learning new ideas for activities and realizing how awesome we are in general. I never realized how lucky I had it being at a small school with only two JTEs and generally lax lesson planning restrictions. I’m sort of living it up, as it turns out! No wonder I’m not unhappy at work!

Other than that, we got to see some riveting workshops run by fellow JETs, most of whom I am acquaintances with to say the least. I won’t go into Lyle’s, but his was definitely the most memorable. Other than that, Raymond and Audrey gave very good workshops as well, and all of the moderators were outstanding, in their own way. Keeping time and all. Tough job, but somebody’s got to do it!

We also had an interesting guest speaker. She’s a translator (native Japanese) in her 50’s who discussed the growing social crises in Japan along the lines of drop in birthrate, marriage, etc. She was interesting because she kept trying to denounce the fact that she was any sort of ‘militarist feminist’, although clearly she has some sort of faith in women in the workplace, as she is a notable example of one such lady. Ah well, Japanese. They even contradict their own facts. I was sort of hoping Godzilla would give a speech, but he got stuck in traffic or something. Alas.

After the work, I went and played with a number of JETs. The first evening I hung out with Amy, Lauren and Greg and we went to get okonomiyaki, which is a sort of egg pancake with meets and cabbage and veggies that really hit the spot. Having a beer with dinner was a real treat too, as I had nowhere to drive for a change. Afterwards, Amy and I wandered around Kyoto station mall (the one underground) and had some frappucinos and Christmas drinks at ye olde Starbucks. We wandered for a bit and met up with Rae, the kumihama JET, and chatted about the more interesting parts of the conference. Amy and I then hopped a train back to Kameoka (where I was staying with CIR Megan B.) and found ourselves to Megan’s apartment. We then met up with the fabulous Oirish John B. and scuttled off into the cold night for some karaoke, which was wonderful! I can tell you right now, those three Kameoka JETs are some damn good people to do karaoke with!

The next evening I stayed with Leigh and Simon (who were my carpool back to the Tango Penninsula). We went to dinner at Café Independence, which is a nice place with good wine in the Sanjo area (cool area of downtown Kyoto). After chatting a bit with the city kids, we left pretty late to get back home. The car ride home was interesting. First, all three of us managed to miss our turn completely and we ended up fairly lost in Hyogo prefecture, which is not at all where we live! Thanks to the help of the stealthy Rae, we found our way back only to realize we BASICALLY had no gas in the car. We may look like grown ups, but I assure you it is not the reality of our situation. We managed to ‘ganbatte’ all the way to Mineyama where we stocked up on some badly needed gas and get home to Leigh’s house in Yasaka. Unfortunately for me, Yasaka is still 45 minutes away from where I live in Ine. So I hopped in my car and began the trek homeward.

The Detour of Terror

There was a detour on a main stretch of coastal highway that leads directly to my town. I was hesitant to take it, but I also really wanted to go home and sleep. I was beginning to feel so tired that my eyes were shaking in my skull. It was as much fun as it sounds. The road was going the same direction as the adjacent highway, although it was winding considerably through some mountains, and dark only became darker once I entered some very thick woods. Every 5 miles or so, I’d see a construction man waving me in some strange direction, further on this detour which I was convinced would see me straight to my terrifying demise. Mind you, this is around 1am, why are there even construction men hiding in a forest at 1am? Farther into the forest I crept, my car doing its best to putter along at 15mph (maybe 30km/h). The farther in I went, the more tanuki corpses I began to see.
Now, this may sound ridiculous, but I had NO idea tanuki were real animals. I thought they were mythical or extinct animals only seen in Japanese folktales and temples. So, when I saw a dead one sprawled in front of me, jaws ajar, eyes glinting a menacing green, you can imagine my surprise (read; complete terror). As many JETs have already heard me say, it was like seeing a dead unicorn in the middle of the road. I had nooo idea what the animal was. A coyote? A mutated raccoon the size of a golden retriever? It finally hit me as soon as I’d passed the third road corpse that it was in fact, a tanuki. The more you know. Anyway I eventually did make it out of the detour forest and home, and collapsed in my bed around 2am, not at all ready for my Friday at elementary school.

Recitations and Hos = my weekend

What did I even do this weekend? For starters, I went to Miyazu on Saturday for the Recitation Contest of Junior High School Students. I hopped a bus at 0730 with Tsuji-sensei and the Honjo kids (Kohei and Kaai) and we then swooped down to Ine JHS to pick up Aimi-sensei, Chisato, Takashi, Misa and Ikumi. We arrived at Miyazu High School really early and I hung around my kids trying to make them feel less nervous. I don’t think it worked too well. My kids are used to an environment of very few students. The biggest school in the area is 58 kids, and Honjo is only 32 kids. Being around more people than even populate their schools was rather unnerving for them.

Soon other AETs had arrived as well! Simon, Brynmore, Jannie and Eric, and Liz as well (cheering on our students and probably having little better to do!) We began the contest and all of the students, in my opinion, did really well! There were only two cases of forgotten speeches, and in those cases the students didn’t panic, but they stopped, remembered, and carried on. I have to admit that I was nervous for all of my students! Knowing how hard they had been practicing since early October, I feared that they might make a mistake. However, my kids all did really well! The best I’ve seen them do! They all got great comments from the judges, and Ikumi and Misa took home 2nd place for the first years, and Kaai took home first place for the second year students! I was so proud of them! We talked and ate packed lunches on the way back home from Miyazu. Kaai especially was beaming with her victory (although it was misspelled) and Tsuji-sensei and I recited all of the dialogues on the ride home. We weren’t too shabby!

I spent the rest of the day napping and playing with Kirby. In the evening I joined up with the AETs from the contest as well as Jun, Lyle, Leigh and Nori (Leigh’s friend from Kyoto) at an Izakaya somewhere near Nodagawa (at least after getting lost for forty minutes, I think that’s where it ended up being). Spent the evening picking at the food and enjoying my friends increasing drunkenness! I however, being a driver, stuck to cola. It was good times. I then helped ferry people to a nearby small bar/café where I eventually said goodnight to everyone and left for home. I slept forever as soon as I arrived back at my house.

The mornings are getting colder, which means it’s getting more and more impossible to wake up! Luckily I discovered one more box of winter clothing in my closet! I now am armed with flannel winter pajamas and sweatpants. At least most of my body will stay warm during the winter months.

Other than that, Leigh and Liz came for dinner on Sunday evening. We had some curry that Leigh brought from home, played with Kirby for a little while, and I helped Leigh remember how to knit while Liz played on the internet (as she is lacking it at home due to some bad luck with her laptop). We then watched the majority of The Last Unicorn, which as we all know is a high quality movie… at least a high quality movie circa 1982. Or a poor quality movie from 1982, you decide. They soon went home to sleep and I curled up under my kotatsu, knitted, and watched Hustle and Flow, which is basically a retelling of the Last Unicorn but with more black people, pimps, ho’s, violence, and rap. I mean they both have songs.

Anyway this week’s adventures will be from my team teaching conference in Kyoto, which I am prepared for mentally and physically after weeks of training. Training to sit and be bored out of my SKULL.

Kirby and Shuji

This week was primarily spent playing with the ferret, who I have named Kirby! He is genki as ever and enjoys running around and playing tag/hide and seek/leap on Rachel's slippers. It's sort of a game of his own invention and it's terribly cute.

Kirby enjoys tunneling under ugly blankets.

Of course I realize that the ferret will cause problems in the future when I want to go on holiday or take trips to places, however this week especially it has provided me with the sanity I have needed to get through the generally anti-social evenings. I am sure there are things going on with people in the evenings, but I don't know about them. So, I hang out with the ferret, read, study and watch movies. It's not a bad existance!

"My name is Kirby. I enjoy biting on things, nibbling on things and hanging onto things with my teeth." (he seemed to say)

I also have decided that shuji is my favourite place to be at all times. It's relaxing to draw kanji, it's so much fun talking with the boys and girls who come to practice with me, and the teacher (Kamitsuji-sensei) is endlesly patient with me and kind just to have me even though we can't have any super interesting conversations aside from "agh this is so bad don't look at it!" "Agh Reicheru that's so bad what are you DOING?!" and so on. I am fairly pleased with the kanji for the seasons that I made last night though. And everyone in the room learned the word "tummy" so the teacher could say "I have big tummy!" hehehehe

Behold! Fall/winter (on the left side) and Spring summer! (right)

My head is good, my brain is bright.

Second Years Gone : Happy People Come out of Woodworks

OK it's decided. Ine Jr. High School is simply a better place when the 2nd year chuckleheads, are gone. At the moment they are in Tokyo going around the area and going to Disney Land. While I don't agree that taking horrible students to the happiest place in Nippon is a good idea, I do revel in their absence. All the teachers seem to have a little more of a spring to their step. The two classes I taught today were great! Everyone seemed happier than usual and the third years had a hell of a time writing a composition about the pros and cons of certain 'debatable matters'. Such as, 'I think students should/shouldn't learn English' and so on.

My favorites include;

I think students shouldn't learn English. Here are my reasons. First, I'm Japanese. Second, Japan doesn't use English. Third, I can live without English. (ouch)

and the other one about whether or not video games are good for children to play

'If children play video games often, their heads become bad. If they study, their brains will become bright.'

The reasoning of course is because in Japanese you say 'your head is good/bad' for describing a smart/dimwitted individual. They also have a single word to describe the brain/the mind. Well done, kids! They made my day. But you know what it's mean to make fun of Engrish simply because ENGLISH IS REALLY DIFFICULT FOR JAPANESE PEOPLE TO LEARN.

Ganbatte, everyone. Ganbatte.

In other news, the ferret is named Kirby! And he sends his regards. And nibbles.

Enter the Ferret

Not a ton happened this week... aside from me meeting the new love of my life through a series of hours on the road, last minute decision making, and a lot of help from a lot of awesome people (Ian).



Bitey (or whatever his name will be in the future) is a big fan of 'delighted grunting'.

The next question is..... what should the name be?