My Parents Come to the Japans

In late April and early May, my very international mum & dad came for a very Japanese visit! We went to a LOT of places, which was great for me because I haven't really seen that much of Honshu until now!

We first went to Yokohama to see all of the very modern, very beautiful buildings and piers around the city. We also went to Chinatown to eat dumplings. Here are pictures.

Jet-lag got the better of my folks. But they're just so cute!

The very next day, we took a train ride to Hakone. Hakone is also in Kanagawa Prefecture (along with Yokohama). It's a town full of hot springs, craft museums, and fancy hotels! We made use of Ryokan living, craft museums, trains, buses and yukata! I also introduced my parents to the onsen, but... we I haven't any pictures of that.

Hard to imagine that I come from their combined loins.

My parents also managed to visit my elementary schools! My dad had a BLAST at one of them on his very first full day in Japan. The second elementary school involved a much shorter visit and meatloaf shaped like a koi with a corn kernel eyeball! Mmmmm ketchup scales! We were also treated by my BOE to dinner at the onsen (with a beautiful view) and a ferry ride on Ine-bay around the boathouses! And what trip to Tango would be incomplete without a steak dinner at the Ikari Farm and a visit to the Whirling Giants of Death™?






Finally we ended our vacation in Kyoto. I have almost no pictures of the fabulous sight-seeing that my parents went on due to the fact that I was deathly ill. I mostly watched the BBC. I did, however, get out for one day with my dad and we saw the Golden Pavilion; overrated, but shiny.

Dinner at the Boss’ house, Reminder that I don’t speak Japanese.

The other night I went to a dinner at Hamano-san’s house. Hamano-san is the Head of the Board of Education in Ine. So, his title is 教育長 (Kyoiku-cho). I went accompanied by Miyajima-sensei (the music/cooking teacher at Honjo JHS), Akiyama-sensei (the nurse/everyone’s second mother), and Tsuji-sensei (my partner in crime and JTE). We met the Hamanos at their lovely home in Tsutsukawa, which is one of the many villages that makes up Ine-town. Their house was old and beautiful, but decorated with the Japanese luxuries of life (large flat screen televisions, couches, cuckoo clocks, stuffed toys and other things Japanese people like more than most).

Dinner was ‘inoshishi nabe’, which was wild boar meat cooked nabe-style, in a large hot pot! We mixed it with miso dashi (the main sauce ingredient which the meat and vegetables are cooked in), mushrooms, onions, cabbage etc.


The evening, for me, was spent trying not to get drunk as Hamano-san kept refilling my beer, and then his own. I also tried my best to understand what everyone else was talking about. However, the TV was on and distracted me greatly throughout most of the meal. By the end of it (three hours later), Tsuji-sensei and I drove back to Honjo JHS to get my car. She asked me if I had been watching the TV. I hesitantly told her that I had, and was embarrassed if it was very obvious. She mentioned that she had been watching too, and wanted to know the outcome of the game show. I told her that the other guy had missed his alarm, so Shinji had won the 1,000,000 yen.

Walkabout

Saturday wasn’t terribly eventful… mostly going to a tavern-type place (izakaya) with some friends after hanging out with Liz at her house for a few hours. She put up some Christmas decorations and I showed her a thing or two about her new macbook laptop!

The next day I joined the townspeople of my area for a walkathon! I wasn’t quite sure why the town was having a walkathon until much later, but the reason for it was that the bridge connecting the main road to itself was completed. Now I am able to take a main road from my house to anyone else’s house, which will be great once it starts to snow. Before I would have to take one of three back roads to get anywhere. This cuts my travel time by about 10 minutes, which is handy!

I suppose the walkathon was in celebration of this bridge, and for the hell of it. As autumn seems to be turning into a strange, moist season (it rains or hails 99% of the time now), I think everyone was keen to walk while the weather was still manageable.

Luckily for the people of Tsutsukawa, Ine and Honjo, the weather was lovely! It was in the 50’s and the day was clear and even a bit warm (or maybe it was all the walking). The walk was divided into three courses, 4 kilometers, 7 kilometers and 10 kilometers. None of them was too long or arduous. I joined the boss of the Board of Education (or rather he sort of made me join him) and some of his family. He had a daughter (in law?) and three grandchildren. Hamano-san is an energetic and kindly old man. I think he likes hanging out with the town gaijin because it makes him look good to the rest of the town and interesting to his colleagues. I would have spent the time with my students, but I suppose the company wasn’t lacking!

There were a lot of children and elderly people joining in the walk (and I am talking ELDERLY, like people in their 80’s and 90’s). Many of them decided on the shorter courses, but I was impressed nonetheless! Many of the children joined the walk as well with their parents and friends. Most of them did the full 10 kilometers. The baseball team ran the whole thing! I was so impressed by that. It wasn’t just 10 kilometers around a track; it was up and down Seaside Mountains and everything! We even saw a miniature dauschund walking the 10 km hike! He seemed pleased. The whole thing took just under three hours with the constant stopping to appease the 3 year old. It’s hard to make a 3-year-old walk five miles without stopping, it really is. He, Harunori, was a pretty awesome kid though, and didn't’ complain once. When he got tired he would simply sit down until his mother came to fetch him and carry him on her back. The walk was beautiful, and because nobody stretched, we were all very sore the next day. My feet hurt quite a bit by the end of it, but instead of falling asleep on the floor of my hallway, I managed to drive South and hang out with some people at a Korean-style restaurant before going to a shopping mall and buying a new watch.

Nothing else remotely interesting happened, which was fine by me! I’ve had enough crazy weekends so this was a nice relaxing one for a change.

Baby's First Enkai

Head of the BOE, Yukiko, and some crazy girl

Last night was my first enkai (宴会). What is an enkai? Well, that's a very good question! Websters describes enkai as a group of Japanese people trying to get the newbies or younger staff members drunk at a party or gathering. Actually the kanji for enkai means "banquet". But there is a lot of drinking generally involved. Because the workplace in Japan is an especially stiff one, the only true way to get to know your colleagues or underlings is to drink with them. And it was indeed a new experience in getting to know my coworkers.

There is zero tolerance for driving and alcohol in Japan. If you are caught drinking and driving, they ask you to step out of the car, give you a bushido blade, and request that your sepukku be a quick one. If you are in the car with a person who has alcohol in their system and you get pulled over, its sepuuku (read: jail) for you as well, and heaps of fines.

Because of this, and because everyone drives in Ine, we hired a bus to take us to the restaurant. So five of us piled into the bus. My JTE was there too, Tsuji-sensei. I think they invited her along to help translate, but it was great having conversations in English and in Japanese. The only translations she really did were before and after the enkai.

So the party was a lot of fun! I had every kind of sushi and sashimi that I have been craving since I got to this country! And they kept force feeding me more when they found out I love sashimi! I couldn't say now... I guess I just love raw fish.

There was a lot of alcohol too. Most of the male coworkers got pretty drunk. I myself got a little tipsier than I wanted to. I had one beer but then they made me drink something that is like a Japanese zima? But it was actually like a 16 oz gin and tonic in the end... mostly gin. It was hard to focus on what was going on even more than usual. I mean, sober Japanese people are hard enough to understand. But they asked if I had a boyfriend! And I realized I was probably the only single person at that table. I guess I am on my way to being an old maid! And I'm so FINE with that.

I am still shocked at how much food a tiny Japanese person can eat. I think they have super powers. In Japanese the "betsu-bara", or second stomach, is something you have so you can squeeze in desserts after a big dinner. I like the way they think.

On the way home, we talked about music in English that the kids in school like. Apparently they really like Avril Lavigne. A LOT. It is my new goal in life to change that, and to give them some new, better music for their own benefit!