Weekend with my Japanese Homies

When asked what my weekend plans were, I replied, "I am eating. With Japanese girls."

Essentially that was precisely what I did this past Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, I braved my slight cold (read: I had no ability to breathe) to meet Yumi and Scott and the Honeycomb coffee shop. This is a coffee shop with cute cakes, derricious coffee beverages, and some attractive waitresses! If only I swung that way. But I'm not into waitresses.

Yumi, I should add, wanted to go back there about five times during the day. I blame LIZ for this, as she introduced me to it awhile back and I have been addicted ever since. The addiction has now been passed on.

After coffee, the three of us went to meet Miss Yuuki Shibayama for some Sushi Ro------- in Oyima. The sushi was good, but my sickness prevented me from eating a disgusting amount, as I usually do. Alas.

We ditched Scott afterwards and Yuuki drove us to a Jersey Cow dairy farm in Kumihama! They had baby cows in one pen and HUUUUUGE Jersey dairy cows in the barn. They were HUGE! I don't know why they seemed so big... either Jersey Cows are humongous or I haven't ever actually seen a cow before and I forgot. Anyway, the point is we tried salt ice cream and it was gross. So we revived our taste buds by eating blueberry yogurt ice cream was what soooo good.

After a quick glimpse of the Kumihama vegetable market and a very detailed discussion on sweet potatoes, we went back to the Mineyama area, stalked Liz from place to place, and bought me a shiny maroon bicycle! It's being delivered on Monday after school (in theory). Hooray transportation that isn't my car! Not that I have anywhere in biking distance I can go to, but damnit it's the principle of the thing.

After wandering around Mine and looking at ugly ugly shoes, we went to Seiryuu (a Japanese tavern by the train station). Yumi and Yuuki's stomachs were bottomless pits. I was thoroughly showed up by their crazy hunger.

The next day was meant to be taking Kirby-kun to the vet. However, the friendly vet said that he didn't actually know anything about ferrets and recommended a farther away different ferret-affiliated veterinarian. We did not go all the way to Fukuichiyama, however. Instead, we dropped Kirby off in Ine and drove even FARTHER and close to (in?) Fukui Prefecture. The goal, you see, was a road trip to Obama. Obama, through the ridiculousness of the Japanese kanji system, means "small beach". The name could easily be pronounced "kohama", but fortunately for my obsession with novelty, it is pronounced like our dreamy possibly presidential candidate. You know, the black one.

Obama has two mermaid statues, a public restroom, and a train station. We found no statues of Barak Obama, no ridiculous Obama-shaped cakes, and no shirts with Engrish pronouncing undying fidelity to the strange, American politician. It was sad. We DID however, find an excellent onsen! Yumi and I got nekkid and enjoyed the seaweed, vitamin, and freakishly hot baths in the onsen, drank lots of water, and hopped back in the car!

I should add that on the way to Obama (small beach), we passed Nagahama (long beach), Takahama (high beach), and Oohama (big beach).

We met Marina and Scotty at Karachi (the Indian/Pakistani curry shop in Maizuru). Quick fact about Maizuru, it means, "dancing stork". YAY! 舞鶴. Curry, as always, was magnificent.

Then it was moooore driving! Dropped Yumi off, went home, and realized that my glasses are still so broken and I have to wear contacts until I figure out how to procure more eye wear. Crap.

Hokkaido Part Four: The long way home – how did it get colder?

The long way home – how did it get colder?

Getting up the next morning at 6:30am was murder. It was really difficult to leave my warm, comfortable bunk for the cold outside and a long day of transit.
Marina and I hopped a train to the airport and had a nice breakfast there. After an uneventful two hour flight, we arrived back in Osaka, had a pizza lunch, and grabbed another train back to Kyoto. From Kyoto, we trained it YET AGAIN to Kameoka and began our drive home. It was essentially a day of trains, planes and automobile. We polished off the evening with a kaiten sushi dinner and I picked Kirby up from Yumi’s house and went home to go to bed fairly early.

It was depressing going home only because it was colder in my bed than I had felt the entire time in Hokkaido. Hokkaido, the snowiest coldest place in Japan. Figures.

Today was a day off from work though, which is excellent! It’s ‘National Foundation Day’, or 建国記念の日.

Here are some facts about this national holiday:

o Japanese people celebrate Emperor Jimmu, the first mythical emperor of Japan. It’s to honor and celebrate his imperial line as well as the country’s birthday.

o It became a holiday in the late 19th century when Japan adopted the Gregorian (Roman) calendar.

o Japanese people may put up a flag or two, but other than that it’s a fairly boring, tradition-less holiday where people don’t have to go to work. Amen to that!

Hokkaido Part Three: Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

Marina and I tried to sleep in on Sunday morning (or rather sleep off certain post-drinking affects). However, the girls in the room were making a lot of noise fairly early in the morning, so we eventually got out of bed. Marina then asked the girl who had stolen her bunk what the deal with THAT was. The girl replied that neither of them had left their bags on their bunks, so they had been cleaned. So the girl’s bunk had no sheets. And somehow it made sense to her to steal Marina’s sheetless bunk. In conclusion, that girl was crazy.

After a Starbucks breakfast, we met up with Andrew (from Shiga) on the shuttle bus to Satoland. Satoland is a sort of children’s ice wonderland constructed about 25 minutes outside of the city. They have snow slides, an ice labyrinth, and lots of snow games for children. We spent a few hours there, mostly standing in line. The snow maze was about as exciting as a colder version of a hay-maze. Megan and Kyle eventually caught up with us, along with Desirae and her friend James. Together we went on the ice slides (after a two hour stand in a line/queue). It was totally worth it! The slide was ridiculously fun. After standing in the cold, crowded, child-infested Satoland for a few hours, the lot of us hopped the bus back to Sapporo.

We walked around the fish market so Kyle could purchase delicious crab. It’s crab season, and some of the most delicious and expensive crabs can be bought in Sapporo and Hokkaido! (Some can also be bought in my area of Kyoto, I should add). Kyle showed us to a great sushi place that was recommended in her guide book. The sushi was definitely the best I’ve had in Japan. Melt in your mouth delicious, and the price was really affordable to boot!

Everyone left for other activities and I was left with Megan and Kyle. They needed to catch their ferry back home, so I went with them to a convenience store to stock up on snacks and we all had Baskin and Robbins ice cream! It had been too long since I’d had a proper mint chocolate chip sundae.

After everyone was gone, and I realized that there were no new movies out in the cinema, I went back for an early night at the youth hostel. I was exhausted from the day and it was nice having the room to myself to do a little reading.

Hokkaido Part Two: Snow festival, snow slide and beer hall.

Saturday, February 9th Part 2: Snow Festival, Snow Slide & Beer Hall

The youth hostel was so very warm. I slept in until about 9am, while poor Marina left around 7am to go skiing with KAJET (an association of JETs from our prefecture). I have no interest in falling off a mountain on wooden sticks and moreover, I didn’t want to wake up at 6am. So, I enjoyed my lie-in and eventually met Megan and her friend Kyle (female) in Susukino.

Susukino is in fact a red-light entertainment district. However, for the amounts of small children that pass through it during the snow festival, perhaps the prostitutes go on a skiing trip for that week. By which I mean, we did not see any ladies of the evening. We did, however, see a lot of ice sculptures! The ice sculptures ranged from cartoon characters to more elaborate designs with things inside of the ice. One such sculpture showcased crabs, fish and squid (dead, I think). Another had Bailey’s Irish cream bottles inside of the ice. If you went inside the little ice stand, you were allowed a cup of hot Bailey’s with coffee or cream. Not too shabby!

The three of us then went back over to Odori Park to see the snow festival sculptures once more. They were very different in the daytime, and the weather was absolutely perfect for it. There were a lot of families with small, adorable children wrapped up in snow suits and blankets. There were some game show type performances on stage (probably for television) and we even saw some jumping snowboarders on one of the stages! The snow sculptures included massive architectural feats (castles, bulidings etc), cartoon characters, and weird things such as the head of Al Gore. There is certainly something for everyone! After feet were partially frozen and bellies were hungry, we looked around a shopping mall for a famous ‘ramen village’, as ramen is very famous in Sapporo! However, everyone else’s thoughts had already found them at ramen village. So, we settled for Japanese style dim-sum with a nice view of the station. We sat for a long while and sipped tea before setting off again.

A huge ice sculpture including two MAMMOTHS! So cool!

In the evening, we hopped a bus to the Sapporo Beer Hall and Museum outside of the city area. The museum was all in Japanese, so I didn’t learn anything about beer… however, it was warm! We met Kyle’s friend Andrew (also from Shiga prefecture) and his friend Vanessa, who is a Hokkaido JET. The lot of us went to the beer hall for a lamb dinner! All you can eat lamb with veggies (you cook it yourself sukiyaki style) and all you can drink delicious dark beer. Marina joined us too, after her ill-fated ski trip. After much drinking, some falling out of chairs, and a brief interaction with a man dressed as a bear, we found an outdoor slide made of snow and made some use of it.

Drunk and covered in snow, we decided to head back to Susukino to look at the pretty lights and to find some karaoke. We did just that! Karaoke lasted at least 3 hours into the night (and we were joined by Desriae, a Kyoto JET). Drunk and all songed out, we stumbled home to our various hotels and hostels. However, when Marina and I got to our room, we found that some strange girl had taken Marina’s bed! So, Marina and I shared my roomy bunk and slept well into the morning.

Some information on The Snow Festival (taken from Wikipedia)

The Snow Festival began in 1950, when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japan Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculptures, for which the Snow Festival has now become famous.

- The snow festival is still fairly new! This year (2008) marked it's 58th anniversary. The year's theme seemed to be 'global awareness'.

Hokkaido Part One: The Journey North

Friday, February 8th : Part 1: The Journey North

After spending the evening at Amy’s apartment in Kameoka, I met Marina in the morning. Together, we walked to the train station where we’d catch an early train into Kyoto Station, and from there to Kansai International Airport. Marina, the previous evening, had discovered that she had left something rather important at home. That being, her coat. She had fortunately borrowed a coat from Paulette (another girl in Kameoka who had hosted Marina for the evening). Coat drama aside, we made it to the airport without too much hassle. We caught our flight to the airport in Sapporo (New Chisate Airport). We were off to Hokkaido at long last!

We reached the airport in the early afternoon and took a train ride into the city of Sapporo. The subway system and grid system made Sapporo extremely easy to navigate. Using a map Marina had brought, we found our youth hostel with little to no trouble (although I managed to get us fairly turned around). We dressed for the falling snow, dropped off our bags and explored Sapporo Station to find some lunch. We feasted on okonomiyake (ironically a famous cuisine in Osaka, which we had just come from).

We then visited Odori Park, which is the main venue for the Snow Festival (雪祭り) or Yuki Matsuri. It was getting dark by then, so we were able to see the snow sculptures lit up with coloured lights! There were a few performances going on atop of a few of the stages in front of the mammoth ice sculptures as well. Some better than others. The pair of us were privy to a ‘light show’ sponsored by Disney. The sculpture was for the upcoming film Prince Caspian, which is the second of the Chronicles of Narnia. They had a Japanese narration with sound track music and crazy coloured lights. I assume they were depicting the story. By the time we had walked up and down the twelve blocks of Odori park, we were frozen. A quick subway trip back to the station was rewarded with hot chocolates at Starbucks and we then made it an early night and hung out in the youth hostel until morning.

The Prince Caspian light show

The scultpures sponsored by Egyptian Air

Some history on Sapporo:

- The city itself was largely inhabited by the Ainu people (the indigenous people of Hokkaido who appear more Caucasian than Asian). In the mid 1860’s, Japanese settlers began to migrate to the lower areas of Hokkaido and establish their own culture there. However, the name Sapporo is from the Ainu language and means ‘large river running through a plain’.

-In the 1870’s, the city of Sapporo was built with the advice from the American government and borrowed the American-style grid system to lay out the city itself (the city even uses street cars). Sapporo remains a sister city with Portland, Oregon.

-In the city, you can visit the nightlife center of Susukino, the huge bisecting park named Odori Park (odori meaning a large road or avenue), or you can visit the Sapporo beer hall or museum!

-Outside of the city is fantastic skiing and some of the most beautiful and well-preserved natural parks in all of the country. (I will definitely be going back to see some of that in the spring)

Weekend of anti-anti-socialness

Weekend was more social than expected.

On Saturday I joined a few Tango people for dinner. Due to feelings that I might have to detach a lot of people from my life in order to be happy/make new friends/keep other friends, I had stopped hanging out with a few of them. However, after some self-evaluation, I decided I didn't like that about myself at all, and tried to reconnect with said people. Not be their best friends, not even be good friends, but be an acquaintance. Nobody's really that awful anyway.

That said, on Saturday I met Marina, Desirae, Andy, Eric, Yuumi, Jarrad and Scott at Mipple for dinner at the little restaurant we always go to on the fourth floor. We had lots of delicious food for not very much money and followed it up with ice cream next door at 'pier jolly', as I discovered it is called.

Afterwards, we drove to Nodagawa to get some karaoke time in. We sang for HOURS. I didn't realize how late it was until one person started throwing up from too much whiskey and my voice was about as useful as said puking person's coordination. Andy and I did a mean nirvana duet complete with headbanging/hoarse screaming! And Desirae and I rocked out to some Alanis Morisette as well, which was the end of my voice. Everyone was really drunk except for the drivers/devoted girlfriends of drunken louts. We played in the snow a little bit too

I drove Desi and Andy back to their home and decided to stay there for the night since the snow might make it problematic to get back to Ine (over an hour away) at 2 in the morning. So, the next morning I set off home to feed Kirby and change clothes and then set BACK off to Mineyama to meet Liz for lunch.

I hadn't seen Liz in ages, so it was nice catching up with her even though neither of us had too much to talk about! We ate a lot of sushi (as to say, I ate a lot of sushi) and then went for coffee at a cute little cafe called 'Honeycomb'. Liz got a very nice looking cake!

Together we set off for an IYP event (IYP stands for something official that I cannot remember). We made moss-balls! So, we took potted flowers and ivy/dragon's mustache (yay!) and shaped the soil into a ball, covered it with soft, damp moss and tied green string around it to make it stay. Voila! Moss and ball, together at last.

Granted, they were really pretty! Mine is set up by my kitchen window now, which gives my kitchen the effect of looking non-horrible! (This is always a plus).

That's the gist of the weekend, anyway. I'll put up some pictures as soon as I find my picture adapter thingie.

Rachel

Post Rachelmas Empty Nest

I woke up at 9:30 am when I saw John, Amy and Lauren leaving the room of sleep. I wanted to go hang out with them downstairs, but found I couldn’t get up without feeling pukey. I also took this moment to appreciate that I had gone to sleep in my belt. I however didn’t take it off as I went back to sleep for an hour or so. At 10:30 I joined Megan downstairs as she was making delicious rice/apple/cinnamon porridge for everyone. I couldn’t do much but sit still and drink soda water and hope to regain hydration. I was however pleased at my hangover, as I feel it made Rachelmas seem even more legend. By this point, John, Amy, Lauren and Desirae had left. It was very sad. I mourned in my own way. The way of eating porridge and watching Grey’s anatomy until Marina and Ian joined us. We watched TV and ate porridge for a few hours and then headed down to Miyazu to give Yuumi back her wallet. After that it was sushi-city in Fukuchiyama and a long long drive back to Ine.

My house was SO empty. After having 20 happy, smiley people in the house and then having NONE was very strange. It was extremely lonely, I won’t lie. I feel that adds to the LEGEND that was Rachelmas 2K7 though, and I know that once I transcend space, time and emotion, I will forget the loneliness and remember only the LEGEND.

Sub par chocolate covered bananas. Oh, and fireworks.

I drove down to Amino this afternoon to have lunch with Shinobu, a friend of Liz'. She had a 'thank you' sort of luncheon for the people who had helped out for the Halloween party a few weeks back (the one for elementary schoolers), however I was the only person of that group who was able to attend. Besides me, Liz, Leigh and Jannie came and we were joined by Shinobu, her friends (both Yuko's) and Yuko B's two young children (Chika and Ryouji, who were adorable).

The lunch spread was amazing. I think we ate for about two-three hours straight. I should also mention that Shinobu's house is gorgeous. It's a Japanese-style place, all one floor and connecting through paper walls that slide. Kotatsu tables, magnificent garden outside (filled with trees, ponds, flowers etc) and beautiful art and decorations to match. Really lovely environment!

After lunch I dropped by shimamura with Jannie so we could pick up some clothing items. I'm wearing the slipper socks I bought... they were a good purchase for SURE. My feet have been having trouble staying warm lately. These will help out a great deal.

We then met up with Marina, Amy (Marina's friend from Fukuchiyama), Bryn, Simon, Lyle and Scott and watched the fireworks at the Iwataki side of Amanohashidate. It wasn't too cold today, so the viewing was entirely pleasant! We also had sub par chocolate covered bananas, which didn't taste of chocolate or banana, in my opinion.

Now it's home to finish out the weekend with a tuna fish sandwich and a glass of milk.

I might get my car looked at tomorrow morning before school if I can manage to wake up early enough. Ha!

Kyoto - the Silver Pavilion & the Philosopher's Walk

One is Silver, and the Other Gold

After waking up late, yet again, I decided to head out to the Silver Pavilion (銀閣寺). As it turned out, quite a few other people wanted to go there as well! So I decided to meet them after an early lunch with Lauren and Tyler around Toji. After taking a crowded bus up to the silver pavilion area, I sat down in an empty cafe called "the Pink Bunny". It was decorated in pink and white chairs, tablecloths, wallpaper, and lots and lots of bunnies. Toys, stuffed animals, ceramics, plates, glass, you name it, it was a bunny. The owner even had a English sort of garden outside surrounded in bunny statuary and butterflies! It was my favorite place in the world for the 15 minutes I was there.

Afterwards everyone met up and we walked around the Pavilion which was extremely crowded. It was very beautiful and I will have to go back at a time it's not packed! They had lots of gardens, rock gardens, and a hilltop climb with beautiful trees. The changing of the autumn leaves made for a spectacular view as well! After the pavilion, everyone got interesting ice cream at a nearby stand. Blueberry, sweet potato, sesame, chestnut, matcha (green tea powder) etc. I had chocolate, myself.

After ice cream, I suggested that we go on the Philosopher's walk, which is a pathway about 1 mile long (1.5 km) that goes past quite a few temples and shrines. It's a lovely walk surrounded by a small river full of fish and flowers and trees on either side. We passed quite a few interesting shrines and temples as well, and stopped at the last one (Nanzen-ji 南禅寺) which is an expansive temple. We climbed up one of the towers and got a wonderful view of the area (many photos were snapped). We then trekked further towards the Museum of Modern Art (where sadly, I did not get a chance to go to). However we did see a dance contest between groups in wildly colored costumes doing obondori, which is traditional Japanese dance. Only it was mixed with some very lively modern music and modern dancing. The dancers were even smiling. It was one of the highlights of the day! We then walked endlessly in search of onigiri and snacks, which we had in spades.

Afterwards we wandered back to Sanjo where we met up with more JETs at a tavern type place and all had sandwiches and wine! It was a lot of people so it was a bit difficult to make decisions, but it was nice seeing everyone again and my sandwich was amazing. I also got prety drunk on a half bottle of wine that I was sharing with Leigh, which tasted somewhat like Jell-O. After that we went back to the river! I was already on my way to drunk at that point and decided that I was grumpy and then drank a LOT more. I think 3 or 4 beers more, which left me at being... the drunkest I have ever been in my life! I was stealing phones and writing nonsense texts, went into a very heated conversation about innie/outtie nipples with Blakeney and Fiona, wandered around giving high fives,, and had frequent conversations in line for the bathroom. One of which I remember was about a magazine entitled "glay" which I thought was hilarious at the time. And ... even now.Then eventually Liz, Leigh and Ger decided to take me home with them as Lauren and Tyler had already left and they figured I wouldn't be able to take a cab home alone (how right they were!) So I passed out in Liz's room almost immediately.
Although due to all the sight seeing everyone had been doing, it was an early night.

Sand Dunes, Wet Blankets, and a Landslide

Elderly Respected, Sand Dunes Walked On

This weekend was a three day weekend. We had Monday off of work because it is the "Respect for the Aged Day" in Japan! It exists to honor and give respect to the elderly denizens of this fine fishing nation. Established in 1966, it used to be held every September 15th. Then someone brilliant established the "Happy Monday System" in Japan, moving quite a few holidays to Mondays in order to procure three day weekends. Since the Happy Monday System's establishment, Respect for the Aged day now occurs every third Monday in September.Historical tangent aside, we had Monday off of work.

A group of us who had Saturday free decided to go to Tottori. Tottori has quite a few natural attractions and tourist attractions! We had set out to see the Toy Museum, the Sand Dunes, and stay at an onsen for a bath and some dinner!!!

The crew: Marina, Jarrad, Yumi, Desirae, Andy (Desi's fiancé), and Kristin. Four Yankees, two canucks, and one Nihonjin in a pear tree. Or rather, in two tiny cars. We set off from Mineyama after a breakfast of French toast and tea ceremony matcha tea (which is strange and delicious). I had Jarrad, Marina and Yumi in my tiny car. The Canadians took Desirae with them. We listened to music and began the three hour trek west. It was a beautiful drive, but the 95 degree weather made us all very sweaty and cranky. We stopped at a few places on the way to take some photos!

At last we were at Tottori! We piled out of the car and explored the sand dunes. Apparently, there are sand dunes in Japan. Specifically in Tottori, and nowhere else. Who knew? It was hot but not too humid, as we were next to the ocean. We had fun playing in the alien desert and running up and down hills! There were quite a few tourists there, and it was fun watching the parents chase after their all-too-energetic toddlers, who inevitably would fall down the hills of the dunes in the most adorable of ways. It was definitely a lot of fun and something extremely different, even for Japan. Yumi had even made and brought onigiri for us to eat! For those of you who don't remember my brief onigiri obsession, they are Japan's answer to the sandwich. Sticky rice with something inside (like fish, fish paste, seaweed, tuna, etc) and wrapped in some nori (seaweed). They were fantastic and kept us going on our ridiculous trip.

After that we shopped for some onigiri. I suppose pears are the seasonal delicacy of Tottori because everything had pear in it. Some of the group even got pear ice creams! I stuck with water, since I was really dehydrated at that point. Then it was time for the toy museum! The museum was full of all sorts of toys from Japan and around the world. They had masks from every country, dolls, action figures, traditional old toys, modern toys, legos, kites, model airplanes, wooden toys, and puzzles! It was wonderful! We only had about an hour or so to spend in the museum, but everyone had a really great time!

Picture Says 900 Words, Poets Proved Wrong

Then it was about 5pm, and it was time to grab dinner and head back to Tango since it would be a long drive home. We got lost for about an hour trying to find some Thai restaurant and finally after asking about 2 people on the side of the road, we found a tiny tiny side road that led us to the restaurant. It had a gorgeous view and the curry was really delicious! We spent a lot of time there and set off on the road pretty late.

Grown Man, "Just Wants to Go Home".

Then the drama began. It was about a 2.5-3 hour drive to where we had began our journey, Mineyama. Mineyama is about an hour, hour and a half from Miyazu-city. So, because Ine was closer than Miyazu, I invited Yumi, Marina and Jarrad to stay over and I would drive them home in the morning or what have you. Everyone was fine with that, except Jarrad. Jarrad was only interested in getting to his apartment and got irritable and cranky. He said "well why can't we just go back to Miyazu and you can stay there?" "Because that's a four hour drive and I am tired?" Six hours of driving, in my book, is too much. He complained that he didn't have spare clothes or underwear. I said "Well... I have big t-shirts you can borrow if you want, and you can use my laundry machine or we can find you some underwear at the convenience store b/c they sell it at quite a few of them.... and I have extra toothbrushes, you can have a bath and a beer and you'll be fine." He was disagreeable to the whole situation. Finally we made him see reason and started home.

We took the northern coastal route. Jarrad by now had calmed down and explained that when plans change, he tends to get grumpy for awhile. I guess that's fine, I mean everyone is different. So everyone had high spirits once again! We stopped at a conbini to grab a few more supplies (candy, coffee for me, and underwear for Jarrad!) and then continued on our route, which led straight from Tottori to Ine, what a break!

Two and a half hours of driving and listening the ol' ipod later, we are nearing Ine! Nearing a bath and a fresh change of clothes and a good night's sleep on a soft futon... mmmmm. Instead we reach a sign and a huge blockade in front of the road. "Land slide. Road closed."

Oh. My. God. That was just about everyone's reaction. We were at least 45 minutes from the nearest small town and there are no other roads to Ine. The only one is closed. In order to get to Ine, it would take another hour and 45 minutes, by going back east, taking a southern route, going through Miyazu and then back up north to Ine, which would be ridiculous. Instead, we kept our cool and headed back towards Mineyama where Desi and Andy live. But it was nearly midnight by then and everyone was asleep! Instead I decided to keep truckin' and hoof it to Miyazu, where Jarrad would have his damn way. I think people thought I was going to freak out, but I just wanted sleep. I wasn't too tired to drive, but I was tired of being in a hot sweaty car with no A/C. On our dark winding road back through the coastal countryside, I slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting the wildlife in front of the car. It was a mama boar and her seven piglets. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. The scene was ruined a little by Marina screaming bloody murder at the surprise stop, and Jarrad's reaction to being awoken by Marina screaming and the sudden stop, which led to him grabbing the front seats and hitting his head on top of the car. Ridiculous. The pigs were even freaked out. We stopped, stared, and both went on our way. The piglets followed the mama like baby geese.

Finally we reached Miyazu. A shower. A good night's sleep. And Jarrad had his damn change of underwear.

But the weekend does not stop here.

Sunday we had a concert in Ine-cho. A group of people from Osaka joined up with quite a few of the Ine people to play the koto (wooden harp instrument), the shamisen (a Japanse "banjo") and one man played the bamboo flute. I was excited about the concert! However, matters became complicated when one person from Kyoto city (a 3 hour train ride away) decided that although she had not told me she would be coming, she would show up in Miyazu at 12:07. She let me know when she was on the train and said "pick me up at 12:07!" It takes an hour to get to Ine from Miyazu and the concert starts at 1pm. I was livid. After I banged my head on the wall, I said "FINE WE WILL PICK HER UP." but I was not happy about it. I didn't want to be late to my own town's concert because some person with no common sense went and.... didn't use common sense!!!! So I piled the three in the car again and drove to the station. After five people in my car (which is illegal for a car of my size, and very well should be) I drove as quickly/safely as humanly possible up the coast. My car barely moves with four people in it, so imagine five people plus me in an enormous hurry. I told the passengers that if anyone made a crack about my driving, they could walk the rest of the way. They got the picture.

And we made it! In 45 minutes! We got to the concert just in time to meet Randall and Toko (this Randall being a charming man from NZ who is married to the Japanese lady, Toko). The concert was beautiful. A lot of my coworkers and neighbors joined in with their instruments and everyone wore beautiful kimonos! It was the first time I had seen people in kimonos since coming to Japan, as they are traditionally winter-clothes and it's still summer (and in the 90s). I really enjoyed the different style of music and my neighbors were really excited to see me there!

After that we relaxed in Ine and there was more driving drama in that I had to drive everyone back, but my car was out of gas and all t he gas stations in town closed early because of the holiday. I made it as far as Iwataki and met up with Jun, another Japanese girl we're all friends with. She bought me a cannister of gas (which filled up 1/4 tank of my car!!!) and we went out to dinner with quite a few of the Tango JETs who had been to their sports festival on Saturday. After some delicious food, good stories, and play-by-plays of sports festivals, I was recharged. I drove back to Ine and intended to sleep for a thousand hours. When I arrived home I had a text message from Jarrad, "I forgot my keys in your car."

Blegh.

The next morning I slept in, had a big breakfast and caught up on movie-watching and sitting around. It was glorious. Around 2pm I went back to Miyazu to give Jarrad his keys and to hang out at Mipple where a group of us got lunch and coffee . It was very relaxing compared to the rest of the weekend. I got to know Simon and Bryn (two JETs who have been here awhile) and drove Bryn home to Iwataki as it was on the way home for me. He is really cool and told me all about my predecessors for the past four years. A lot of them really loved it in Ine, so I am not the first (and surely not the last). It was a nice change of company too, since I had been in the car with the same people for two days straight.

I have to say that overall, even though the weekend was badly planned on my part, it was extremely awesome. I definitely bonded with Yumi and Marina, although I am growing apart from Jarrad who I find generally annoying and unpleasant more and more frequently. But, as I learned, it's a big peninsula, and there are plenty of other people to drive around it with!

Obon in Miyazu. Limited Casualties.

Obon : The Buddhist Dio de los Muertos

Last night I went to Miyazu City to take part in the celebration for Obon. Obon is a Buddhist holiday celebrating the ancestors, and its the day of the dead. Ghosts and zombies and all that. Well, maybe not zombies.

So I went over to Jarrad's home which is among some rice fields in the city (because even decent sized cities still have weird rice fields and ditches). His home is small, but very cozy and he actually has some furniture which I find amazing. We practiced flashcards while waiting for Scott and Liz to show up from Omiya (a tiny bit west from the area). They got stuck in traffic (as did I, I spent about 80 minutes driving straight from work to Miyazu in fact!) but they eventually made it.

From Jarrad's we all walked to the big department store, Mipple. It was packed! Everyone had gathered there to watch the lanterns and boats and fireworks. We eventually found our friends in the crowd and sat down. Yumi was there with her friend Jun, who is hilarious and brought sesame balls filled with delicious things. Marina was also there (the girl from LA) as well as Bryn (a kiwi who has been in his city of Iwataki for going on 4 years now) and Jannie (an Aussie who is on her 3rd year in Kaya). The boys went off to find food in the kiosks (a lot of ice creams, sodas, crêpes, and really greasy chicken) while the ladies went to look at the bay. Amanohashidate, the bay in Miyazu, is totally gorgeous all the time. But for Obon there were tons of little floating paper lanterns with candles in the bay, to represent ancestors I guess, and a lot of strange very "oriental" looking boats floating in the bay as well. They had lanterns and fires all over, some of them were manned some not. It was a strange thing to see, and the reds and oranges were really beautiful against the dusky blue background. As the sun disappeared, we went back to our tarp to watch the fireworks.

Fireworks in Japanese is "hanabi" which means "fire flower". I think that makes a lot more sense than firework. A work of... fire? I don't pretend to understand English. I only teach it.
The fireworks were amazing. They weren't like American ones where it's about a 15-20 minute show. Instead, they had 30 second, 2 minute displays, all of them different and sponsored by different companies. After the first would end, they would play a musical interlude while the sky cleared of smoke, and then would start the next display. It was very organized, and I saw some fireworks I had never seen before. The shape of a cat face, or a flower, or a smiley face, or a heart. Things like that, it was really neat! Some of the fireworks looked bigger and more glorious than I imagined they would. I think maybe I am not used to seeing fireworks so close up, or maybe it was the reflection off the water that made it seem grander? I don't know. Anyway the displays went on for about an hour. During this time, we decided to teach Yumi some American slang/Ebonics. So if you see a tall Japanese girl saying "what up, shorty?" ... we are to blame.

Afterwards, we all gathered around a big sort of wooden stand with speakers. A lot of people at the gathering were in yukata, which is summer-time clothing. Not to be confused with kimono, which are more of a winter wear (and more formal, I think). Anyway there were people of all ages wearing them, and man did they look pretty. The little girls especially looked as pretty as could be, and the older women in their patterned yukata and sandals looked like they were in a picture book. Everyone looked like paper.

The dancing began! Elderly women in the big wooden stand began to sing traditional songs about Miyazu and Amanohashidate while men played taiko drums and some other instruments I don't know the names of. It was really spectacular! Many of the people in yukata began to dance in a circle going clockwise, and many people without yukata joined in (including quite a few from our group). The dance steps were easy, but I could tell by seeing the older women do them that they took years of practice to perfect the grace and the balance of the dance. After the first "number", they played a few more songs, but always repeating them. It went on for quite sometime! I even joined in one of the dances, the easy one, with some other JETs. This older lady in front of us in a yukata was helping us learn the steps, and I had more fun watching her than I did actually doing the dance. It was like tai chi... and very much like tai chi, my balance always ends up on the wrong foot. Always. There were a few young men in the group adding their own sort of spice to the dance, and one of them came over to Marina and said, "shall we dance!" She couldn't say no. Liz and I decided to dosie-do instead, which was fun.

Afterwards, we went for a long walk to avoid traffic (we weren't in a hurry to go home anyway). We went to find cheap vending machines and got some drinks (tea for me, and "sweet kiss" soda for the others, which is basically mountain dew). We also spotted some little frogs along the way, and some big spiders.

Then it was back home, and a very long boring drive. Driving past the sea at night scares me, I feel like I could fall off the edge of the world into outer space if I make a wrong turn. But I didn't, and I got home, and I feel asleep almost immediately.

Weekend/fun had by many

Two Cars, Nine Foreigners, One Beach

This weekend was wonderful! On Saturday I cleaned my entire house... mostly. It was about 96º outside, so I took constant tea and coffee and ice cream breaks, watched a movie in the middle of the day, and spent most of the time reconfiguring the futon business and putting away the leftover blankets in the tatami bedroom closets. So now everything that was out is put away, which is awesome.

I also sorted all my gross trash and I can't wait until Tuesday when I can put out all my old food garbage, ugh its really beginning to smell funky! Blegh.

Sunday was a more eventful day, as I had nine people come over so we could all go to my nearby beach in Honjo, aptly named Honjo Beach. I drove down to Miyazu city, which is about a 50 minute drive, and picked up three ladies at the train station (Marina, Amy and Paulette). Marina is from LA and she is a hilarious tiny tiny Ukranian girl who lives in Fukuchiyama (which is a bit of a hike by train to Miyazu). Amy deLong is from Kentucky hilarious behind her freckled, quiet exterior. And Miss Paulette, who is an awesome theatre junkie from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is very boisterous.

From the train station I drove us to Mipple, which is a big lame department store on the bay in Miyazu. There we met Jarrad, a 31-year old ex lawyer from Tacoma. He looks like he’s about 24 years old. He told us that everyone he meets thinks he is a nice Jewish boy because he has a sweet face and glasses and a beard and he's a soft spoken lawyer. There are worse things to be mistaken as, I guess!

We also met up with Yumi, my favorite Japanese person. She is a 25 year old student who lives in Miyazu and likes to tag along on JET outings. Her English is flawless and she asks great questions, such as "what is crazy sex?" Or "do you think Lucy Liu is beautiful? Japanese people don't." Her mom of all people dropped her off, which I guess isn't extremely embarrassing in Japan (nerdy things tend to not be nerdy here, I have noticed). Grown men in Hello Kitty slippers? HELL yeah.

We then went inside Mipple and grabbed some food, since everyone wanted lunch. I personally was dying to go to a restaurant, but nobody else wanted to. I guess they all have restaurants in their towns so they didn't find the idea nearly as exciting. So we bought bentos and onigiri (the rice balls of deliciousness). The coolest thing I discovered, other than the pikachu ride in the upstairs arcade, was a cooler of green tea cans. I reached in to grab a can of ice cold green tea for the hot day and then realized the can was HOT. It was a cooler of hot drinks! Technology! The rest of the JETs started touching all the cans and yelling "its hot!" I then realized we must have looked insane to everyone else in the store. Stupid gaijins.

In Mipple, we met up with the last three JETs, Desirae (Kentucky fried Sweetheart), Scott (our South African resident/former film student), and new JET from Maryland, Liz! Liz is 100% Maryland. She came in with her dark blue regatta sports t-shirt, jean shorts, flip flops and dark blue visor, complete with freckles and a runner's ponytail. She is also a huge Harry Potter fan, so the conversation flowed like buttah.

The crew drove out to Ine in two cars: my little kei-car and Scott's white plated, normal-sized car. It was a long trek, and very warm, but we finally made it to my house! Everyone oohd and aahd at the size of my "mansion" and we ate snacks and put on sun screen. Then we grabbed the beer and food and went to the beach. The beach by my house is AWESOME. The water is mostly warm (but not too warm), there are no waves, no sticky sand, and no pointy things in the water. It's the perfect relaxation beach. We grabbed some inner tubes and hung out in the ocean for hours. It was delightful. Desirae brought her snorkel mask and kept finding us starfish! A few of us got nibbled on by a curious little crab (I am convinced it was the same crab every time) and we saw quite a few fishes. It was pretty much the best day ever. After we'd had enough swimming, we plastered ourselves on the sand and drank beers and had delicious Japanese snacks, procured by Miss Paulette. Mochi-balls (sticky sweet rice) and shrimp crackers and delicious beeeeer (brought by yours truly and Amy). Then we swapped bad relationship stories (I received much sympathy for the Randall debacle, or as Yumi called it "that horrible bastard boyfriend" because she couldn't say his name.) The best was the few who were admitting to writing or receiving really bad poetry from significant others or people who had crushes on them.

After the beach we had some delicious Nyuu Yooku sutayaru cheezuke-ki (New York style cheesecake) made by Yumi. It was very delicious! People kept telling me they wanted to stay, and I honestly wanted them to stay for more time! But sadly, there were trains to catch. So we began the long trip back to Miyazu, where I dropped everyone off, and turned right around to go home. I think I spent about 4 hours in the car yesterday. Worth it.

It's amazing how many instant friends I seem to have already! I only just made good friends my last few weeks in Los Angeles, so it's incredible to have so much socializing all of a sudden. I am not complaining, mind you.

Anyway, it was a good weekend and I even got a tan (to cover my burn!)

Still in Japan

Still in Japan : A Day at the Bridge of Heaven

I went to the beach this weekend with some JETs and some locals who speak awesome English. We went to Amanohashidate, which is this famous bay area nearby. I drove to the train station which was about 45 minutes by car along some crazy narrow roads. It was a little unnerving because drivers round those corners at a million miles per hour (rather, a million kilometers per hour) in the MIDDLE of the road. Lucky for me, my car is small so I fear them less. Though, the safety features on my car are no more fancy than those on a tuna fish sandwich.

The bay was totally awesome. Amanohashidate (天橋立) means "Bridge of the Heavens". The story says that the gods dipped a sword into the sea, from whence Japan came into creation. The land bridge that goes across a bit of water in Northern Kyoto is where the sword first touched the sea. It is also one of the top three "beauty spots" in Japan, which is conveniently close! There are two sides where you can view the land bridge, one in Iwataki and one in Miyazu. If you bend over and look through your legs at designated 'viewing spots', the land bridge is supposed to look like a dragon in the sky. Does it really? I think that's a personal decision.

We got some delicious sandwiches and ice coffee beverages and then went for a swim. I got burnt. Stupid American. I didn’t think I would need THAT much sun screen and we were only in for 40 minutes! But the parts I had put sunscreen on (such as my shoulders got MORE burnt than the rest of me. So that just goes to show, that white people always get burnt and there’s not a lot we can do about it. That is how I validate my pink skin.

Anyway I made some friends and it was all good! There is a South African guy named Scott who has also done film stuff so we chatted about that. And a girl from Los Angeles lent me a swimsuit that was soooo small (the girl is barely 5 feet tall). She is awesome. I met a New Zealand JET named Bryn who lives nearby and a girl named Desirae who lives in sin with a Canadian JET, Andy, in Mineyama. I also met two awesome Japanese girls, Yumi and Jun. They were really tall for Japanese girls, like 5 foot 8 or something! And they were hysterical. I got to practice some Japanese on them, and they got to practice English on me (by practice English, I mean they are fluent already). A fair trade. Then we went for stew and more ice coffee. Then the train ride back to Miyazu station and the long drive home. I had a splitting headache the whole time which sucked, but I don't know what it was from! Probably just the humidity. I blame everything on humidity. Later I learned that Amanohashidate is about a 30 minute drive from my house, so the 45 minute drive to Miyazu station and train ride from there actually took me backwards in distance, and in logic.
I watched quite a bit of TV this weekend... they have weird shows on Japanese TV. One show was a race to find the biggest bug-thing. I don’t know what they are called, but they’re almost a foot long and they have pincers and they are slow moving beetles or something. Anyway they are GROSS. Then they have these commercials for cell phones with Cameron Diaz everywhere and Tommy Lee Jones is in canned coffee commercials where he is working as airport security and then turns into a monster and frightens children. I think he could probably just frighten kids with his face... regardless. Isn’t he supposed to be in MENSA???? Its weird. My favorite thing this weekend by far was the Egyptian game show that had Japanese people in Egypt exploring museums and stuff for the sake of a question game show thing. It made no sense! But it was cute seeing tiny Japanese women interviewing old decrepit Egyptian women with unibrows. I was feeling strangely at home watching both of them. They also had a reenactment of something to do with Pharaohs? And in it they had Japanese men dressed up like Pharaohs and a Japanese lady who was supposed to be... Cleopatra? Everybody knows she looked like (see Elizabeth Taylor).