Happy Haruna and the Yogo School Festival

Isn't she lovely? She has an excellent memory, too.
Last night my neighbor invited me to go to his special ed school's festival. I had been planning to head to the onsen at Ioujima, but try not to pass up opportunities to go to the little local festivals here. This charming girl's name is Haruna, and she graduated from this school in the Spring. I met her (only once!) last December when I went with Murphy-sensei (my neighbor) to give my "jiko shokai" (self intro) to his classes. She was excited when she heard I was an art teacher, because she loved art and even had a painting hanging in the front entrance of the school. So, all these months later, she sees me and remembers me!
So here she is singing karaoke on the stage - she, like all of the other kids I saw, exuded such joy. It's so addicting. Below is a photo of some of the junior high teachers doing the Billy workout (?) I'm not absolutely sure, but it sounded like it was in English, and reminded me of my Tae-Bo/kickboxing days. Which came in handy, beause suddenly, two yellow-gloved hands grabbed me and Murphy, and the crowd apparently expected an impromptu gaijin performance, too! So we got right in there (me in a long skirt, Murphy after doing some heavy lifting at practice just prior to the festival - we were a sight!) and followed the crazy man in yellow gloves and camo pants. What better way to spend a Friday night than this?

More on how you GO in Japan

I think I've mentioned before that my favorite godson, Berns, is really into anything related to transportation. Considering I don't have a car here, I am afforded many opportunities to take all kinds of vehicles to get me where I want to go. As I was at the Fukuoka station waiting for my train (which is the Kamome, the slick white one that runs between Nagasaki and Fukuoka), I saw this one, a Midori, going to Sasebo. I used the explanation of taking a photo for my godson to start a conversation with the lady behind me in line (I've decided to just start talking to people in my broken Japanese - I figure, hey! law of averages - someone's bound to talk back eventually!). She seemed very amused, and, so encouraged, I proceeded to show her my purchases from the day. Apparently I wasn't too boring or incomprehensible, since she wanted to sit next to me on the train, too.
The other photo is of some good-natured しゃしょう "shasho" (train conductors) on the nishitestu train I took out to Dazaifu. The man inside the little booth is announcing that this is the Nishitetsu train heading for Omuta, and that the next stop is Shimo-ori. They of course said this in Japanese...
I can't believe how the Japanese is 'changing'...if I pay attention, more and more comprehensible words and concepts are filtering through what used to be all background white noise! :)

Flying Body Attack and Donkey-Hote

This weekend I was requiring some social interaction, so Saturday I went up to Fukuoka again. I'd planned on meeting up with Kate on Sunday, but when she emailed me with the message, "Hey, going to see '300' - wanna come?" Hmmm...let's see, that's a tough one...300+ ripped, mostly naked men running around brandishing swords, fighting for honor and freedom against all odds, swirling around in scarlet red capes...do I have a pulse? So of course I met the girls. We went to Hard Rock Cafe first - sounds so cheesy, but it was a nice departure from the occasionally monotonous predictability of Japanese fare. And I wanted MEAT. I ended up with fajitas, but I could still identify a few slices of beef in there. Ooo - they even had real, life-sized napkins that weren't waterproof! (spend some time in inaka Japan and you'll know what I mean).
We enjoyed the movie, of course; though the story wasn't strong, the visuals more than made up for what the story was lacking :)
Before heading back to Tenjin, we stopped at "Donkey-Hote" (another one of those clever names like the piano bar 'Hugh Jorgens') since they have a little of everything. Baby shirts with wrestlers surfing (?), toys next to the "toys" (wink wink), next aisle you find dartboards and skateboards, you can also grab a new lamp, stock up on cheap candy, and pick up some motor oil on your way to the check out line. Hyaku-en shop on acid. But I at least got some photos to amuse myself :)

仮面ライダー (Kamen Rider)

(if you don't see the Japanese on these pages, then look for the "text encoding" in your browser menu and select "Japanese" - it looks much cooler than the random symbols that are probably coming up if you haven't enabled that feature) SO - what do you think of my new bike and outfit? The only drawback is that at this time of year it's a little warm.

But すごいかっこいい、ね！(but really cool-looking, isn't it!)
This week my students are doing little skits about famous characters/people. I just had to post a picture of this one - you've got to love mutant superheroes. They sound so ridiculous when you're not familiar with their story. Kamen Rider, too, seems to have the formulaic story of fighting against another mutant gone mad who's prime objective is - you guessed it - total world domination. You must go to the wikipedia link (click the title of this post) and check out the episode titles...at the very least you'll get to learn a few new Japanese vocabulary words! I can't decide which is my favorite: Strangeness! Bee Woman (怪異! 蜂女 Kaii! Hachi Onna) or Cockroach Man!! The Terrifying Bacterial Ad-Balloon (ゴキブリ男!! 恐怖の細菌アドバルーン Gokiburi Otoko!! Kyōfu no Saikin Adobarūn) or

Sone

Here's the jazz bar we went to in Kobe.

Kobe conference

At the end of May I went to the Kobe conference for recontracting JETs. So for those of you who didn't get the previous memo - yes, I'll be here till at least Aug 2008. The conference had some really good bits, and I'm glad I went. I was really excited to hang out with some GIRLS for once (we're sadly lacking them in Isahaya!), and I met some really nice people from Fukuoka ken. I went to a great ws on using AV aids to make my experience more fun and engaging, and I attended a discussion about eikaiwa (English conversation) since I seem to keep getting invited back to the bar to teach. I'll have to take some photos of the bar eikaiwa peeps - they're really cool. I also went to a presentation by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) about meeting challenges in ALT-JTE (basically "foreigner" vs Japanese) communication. Wow - it was very enlightening - things getting "lost in the translation" is only the tip of the iceberg! Tatoeba (for example), one major difference: "Western" style for meetings - discussing and deciding; "Japanese" style - announcing and agreeing (the deciding goes on before the meeting apparently). !!! Anyway - I mentioned neat people from Fukuoka (remember that sounds like "who-coo-OH!-ka"), and we found a fantastic Greek restaurant downtown. Good thing there weren't more of us - we wouldn't have all fit in the restaurant. Afterwards we went to a great jazz bar, and much to the dismay of the snooty host, my Isahaya mates met up with us, too, so there was quite the gaijin contingent. The musicians didn't seems to mind, and the piano player's American English was spot on!
Unfortunately, we never got the renowned Kobe beef, so I really hope someone reading this (with some extra money to spend) will come visit and take me out for dinner :)

Train tram

While I was having a tea waiting for my plane in Kobe, I realized the airport trams looked more like little trains and less like monorail cars. So, here you go, Berns (and anyothers of you who are interested in transportation)! Have I posted any pics of the trolleys in Nag yet?

Apato souji

Here's my little neighbourhood! One Saturday the people who live in my apt (mostly teachers) all turned out to do some intensive weeding and general outside maintenance (yet, that same day I was asked to pay a maintenance fee???). Working together was actually a lot of fun! The weeds could have been swiftly annihilated with a power edger thingy, but using the big scythes (sp?) was a lot more fun. I even brought out some of my American music... My nihonglish is improving by leaps and bounds...
By the way, the very un-Japanese looking guy is my upstairs neighbour, Colin the Strong (there's another one who's Colin the Tall), from Colorado. His contract ends in July, and then he's going to Tokyo to study Japanese (or the J-girls, not quite sure). He's the one who keeps me updated on what's happening via The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. :)

Oh, no! Gotta run - going to English Camp with Dawn's kids this week - be back later!

Taiko lessons and Dad bonding

So my dad is a drummer. He just can't help it; it's in him and you just can't stop his constant beat. But I wouldn't want to anyway...it kinda helps make Dad, well, Dad. He plays all sorts of other instruments, as well - some he's even made, but, sadly the music making genes did not get passed on to me. He's given me many other things, like my love for photography, my need for my own (power) tools (because he taught me everything I know :) ), my thirst for adventure, my insatiable curiosity, and though I have a deep appreciation for a variety of music genres thanks to him, I've really been wanting to be able to create something musical, too. Sometimes, when I'm in the "zone" as a visual artist, I feel the energy of other artists - it's like a common electrical current. Somehow with the drumming, I hope to maybe tap into my dad's "beat" - even though I'm on the other side of the world in his tomorrow.
So, I've decided to study taiko drumming. I've been able to attend two workshops at a nearby university, but we're hoping to find a right proper, more regular practice space. These are my teachers giving a performance at the end of one practice, and here I am in a most difficult playing position (of course it's much easier when you're looking at the drum and not mugging for the camera). I just realized I've not been putting up a lot of photos of me - sorry - I'm just usually the photographer, and I've also been vain and mourning the loss of my long hair - it's really best not to have things "get lost in the translation" at the hair dressers...ah, well, shikatta ga nai, yo!
So, tonight I faked enough Japanese to get myself an old motorcycle tire from the Suzuki guy down the street...and now all I need is a couple of decent dowels/drum sticks and I'm in business with my practice instrument.
I can already see Mom now, looking down, grinning and shaking her head -
(well, Mom, since singing counts twice as much as praying, ask The Boss there how much does drumming count for?)

txo

アヤメ

Yesterday I rode my bike up to Omura City because I'd heard that the irises "ayame" (アヤメ）were blooming. At the base of the castle in Omura Park are thousands of irises - probably hundreds of varieties. I left Isahaya in the mid afternoon and got to the park just as the light lost its glare...everything was more golden...the perfect moment for viewing the flowers. While I was there I saw a couple in traditional dress (kimono, etc) having their pictures done in the garden. There were also many people out on blankets enjoying picnics around the park, reminding me of summer barbeques we have back home (menus vary slightly, though). Of course there were the usual festival food booths - yakisoba, yakiniku (バラ蓋が大好きです、よ！), fried corn, frozen pineapple, ice cream (including green tea flavor), beer/sake, fried squid (ika), mochi. Sometimes with these guys you can get an extra serving if you beat them in a game of janken (their version of RockPaperScissors). I'm just going to give a friendly suggestion to steer clear of yakiniku guys who wear a ridiculous amount of costume jewelry - especially if they say your nihongo wa jouzu desu, and all you've said is "konnichiwa". (At least I'm bigger than they are -)

Anyway - I love how the Japanese celebrate such natural events - I've been to hanami (cherry blossom parties), ume (plum) blossom viewings, azalea matsuri, and just last night I joined (or they joined me) my neighbors in visiting with the fireflies "hotaru" (ホタル) in the "mountains" behind my house. I feel like I fell in to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and there were little sparks of magic all around...

Kodo

Just a quick post - I got a free ticket to see these guys on Sunday...5th row...すごいamazing, yo! I've been in 神戸　　Kobe for a conference this week - back at school tomorrow, so if it doesn't rain I'll lug my computer to school and make another post to let you know what I've been up to. I've got to hit the sack - I've got the Nagasaki Sports Days, and don't have a day off till next Tuesday - また！
PS - thanks for the care package, Cara!

It's a giant chicken, I tell you, a giant chicken!

(No picture this post - you just have to use your imagination with this one, or see an old episode of "Animaniacs")
OK - alright - you can have a picture, then. Doing a websearch for a "giant chicken" was just too much fun.

Right then. So you know how sometimes teachers "mess up" on purpose to check to make sure students are paying attention? That's what I was doing in Tuesday's post.
Right.
I believe it was my dear friend, Mr. W, another ex-JET, who called me on the picture falsely labeled a "tori" - which is really "chicken" in Japanese. "Torii" is a shrine gate. (Mr. Anonymous clarified this in one of the comments for that post - I figure it was Mr. W or Jon, and Jon's usually brave enough to sign his name) So thanks for clearing that up for us. So here's how I responded to that comment (in case you haven't been reading the comments)
OH, come ON! It's a giant chicken! Haven't you heard that one? Forgive me for not checking up on my source (a Japanese person) who wrote - in romaji - "tori" for me when I asked what this was. I just thought it was funny that it was the same as "chicken".

So - I stand corrected. Please make sure to continue commenting on grammar, factual, or just generally insane absurdities I'm inclined to post...it just makes this less of a one-sided dialogue here. And I could really use the practice in English...

Rajio Taisou

...which literally means "radio exercise," and it's broadcast by NHK every morning. From what I understand, it is an exercise routine that the Japanese learn when in elementary school, and they do it before sports functions, at camps, and at some companies. Here is a picture of the group doing it at the ichinensei "boot camp", but I also did it before the town sports day in Takaki and at the volleyball match I did last month. It's very funny, since the music is classically ridiculous to my western ears, and no one really stretches properly. It's still great fun, though. It's one of those "catchy" ridiculous things - you find yourself humming the song long after it's stopped. That is of course why I'll let YOU do the web search to find the song - so you can't blame your insomnia on me :)

Well, once again at Unzen here. A walk around the lake led to this little spot. These arches, "tori" (there's no plural in Japanese - which does make it a little easier... or more difficult to understand, depending on your point of view) - so, these "tori" are all over the place here. It's really neat - they're like appetizers for something delicious up the path from there. OK, well in this case maybe it wasn't so "delicious" - what awaited me was this carving in some rocks. And it was more mossy and mushy up there around the rocks.
Which reminds me - today I tried to see what "mushy" was in Japanese (my shrimp tempura got a little mushy in my soba). After the copy room lady asked the English teacher who consulted the biology teacher, and was then overheard by the two vice principals who joined in, I came to the conclusion that some things really do just get lost in the translation. (the closest I got was "kusaru/kunaru" = go bad, rotten or "bishomere(no)" = soggy)
Anyway, the carving there is of a - alright - you've got me - I've got no idea. But it looked more Incan than Japanese to me. If I figure it out, I'll let you know. At least this "garden feature" was more PG and hopefully none of the corporate filters will be censoring it out...by the way, don't forget to read the comments to the posts!

Give those SoftBank Hawks a hand...

When I was in Fukuoka, I went to "Hawks Town" - an arcade and shopping area near the SoftBank Hawks' Baseball stadium. It reminded me of Sawgrass Mills near the Panther stadium. Along the outer perimeter of the stadium were these interactive sculptures, where you could go by and 'shake' the players' hands.

Happy little flowers

Just another random shot from Unzen. I have really enjoyed seeing all the different flowers at different times of the year (I think they call this phenomenon "seasons"? New to me, since all I knew in soFla was hurricane season and, well, Not). Apparently the Japanese like flowers, too. As I walked around Unzen, I saw these little flower pots all over, but they were all different (and didn't seem too "professionally/systematically" done). I can only assume that there was a flower/decorating contest going on. I saw another one with Thomas the Train and his friends, but as you can see in the photo, this artist went with a Disney theme. I included the car in there for scale - notice how it DWARFS the figures in the flower box...
(ok - I'm leaving now so you don't have to endure any more lame attempts to be punny)
(By the way - I put up a photo of me in close proximity of a giant stone phallus, and NO ONE says a word? Is anyone still out there?)

Heaven and Jigoku

For the record, right now I feel like I'm in a really weird time warp - well, maybe ripple. I worked here till late on Friday and stayed up too late watching a movie with some other ALTs. Early Saturday morning the apt peeps had a clean up day around the apt (apparently we don't have a groundskeeper - though there isn't much "gound" to keep!), and then I helped some of the ALTs move to a new apt. That night the weather was bad so I stayed in, and worked all day Sunday (the students had exams and then there was a big parent meeting). Yeah, another Sunday and holiday when it was business as usual. I had Monday off, and went for a hike since the weather was so nice. Hit south Nag and picked up some necessary bike stuff from Taniguchi san, and then hopped on a ferry and headed over to Ioujima (not IWoJima) where there's a really nice onsen. Now I'm back work again, and I think it's Tuesday. Not sure why I should be confused, but I guess I just can't get used to having to work on weekends and holidays. The Japanese around me don't seem to be affected. How do they do that?
Anyway, the above is a photo from across the lake looking back at the little town of Unzen. Too be honest, it looks much better from a distance; sadly, most of the lakeside buildings and residences are quite vacant and/or dilapidated - mottainai, yo. If you had real estate like that - on a lake, in the mountains- in the US - I daresay it would be stunning and lively. I don't understand why the Japanese don't take advantage of some of their beautiful resources. The natural areas around Unzen are amazing, though. The other photo is of a "jigoku" - "hell" - the birthplace of the hotsprings and where the onsens get their hot water. Very surreal walking around. I'll be honest, though - it kind of reminded me of Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World!
OK - back to work now...

TOO much of a good thing?

OK - a little break from the camp photos - here's something from the "social" part of my life that I'm trying to HARD to cultivate! (oh, no!) Sorry - it's 6:45pm on Friday night, and even if I leave now, I think at least half of the staff will still be here at least another hour or two (!). But I'm wrecked, I'm outta here soon...
Last week was "Golden Week" and I actually had a few days completely off - when I didn't have to come to the office at all! We had smashing good weather on Wednesday & Thursday, so I headed over to Unzen to hike around and enjoy a nice onsen bath. So - here is what I found on one of my hikes - this lovely shrine - I can only guess - devoted to fertility. There was an accompanying one of its female counterpart appropriately tucked away in a little cave nearby. Once again, kanji/nihongo wo yomemasen, yo - and sorekara - I really have no idea what this was about. The other picture is of a random gaijin siting at the foot spa outside one of the hotels. It's really cool - well, HOT, actually - after hiking around, you can just take off your shoes, roll up your pants, and enjoy a soak for free. If you walk around in this one, the river stones on the bottom massage your feet. Velly nice.
I'm also excited because when I was hiking around Unzen, I found a really nice campsite on a lake. Since I just invested in a decent pack and tent, I can't wait to get back out there and try them out.
OK, desu - time to go home - it's now 7 - ack. Oh - and NO, this is not anyone I'm dating (his loss, ne?) No - he's just an - go figure! - English teacher who lives in Nagasaki. But it was nice to be able to speak English :)

Don't forget you can always click on a photo to enlarge, but, then again, sometimes too much of a good thing really is - TOO much of a good thing, yo!

goofin'

More pictures from camp. So there was a lot of marching and singing (the SAME song - over and over). But look - here's the crazy ALT mixin it up a little (they're still kids - they should be allowed to have SOME fun, ne?) Here we are in the room playing "HA!" before our baths. I wasn't sure how the whole physical contact aspect of the game would work with Japanese kids, but the girls thought it was hilarious :)

And some of you ask about the Japanese food? Well, obviously we're enjoying it very much (especially when we're starving after hiking up a mountain!).

Jump JUMP!

As promised - here are the kids in the jump rope competition we had one night at camp. Imagine - a gym full of over 300 10th graders (after hiking and marching all day!). They jumped in classes of about 40, 3 classes at a time.
They weren't too good at first, but eventually all the classes found their rhythm...

I know I couldn't do this! This is why I just crawled around on the floor taking photos (crazy gaijin that I am - I figure if I'm doing something I REALLY shouldn't, eventually someone will come wave me down.)

PS - make sure you read the comments in each of the posts for a "behind the scenes" point of view. For those of you who were curious, Jon - who's been making several comments - was a Nagasaki JET last year, and has a pretty good understanding of what I'm going through...though I think, Jon, that though your social life must have been better, your school life sounds like it was a little more challenging??? Just getting you prepped for the life of a Florida school teacher, ne!
Which, by the way - if any of you school teachers are still reading this, I'm looking for reading comprehension question stems. (Of course I had files of these back home, but - ) Believe it or not, I can't seem to nail down standards for English reading and writing here...the teachers just keep reinventing the wheel everytime they make tests. (!!!) Thanks in advance!