また、ね！

Mata, ne!

So Yutagawa was on Friday, and I’d heard it was quite a hike by bike, so I made sure to look up the directions on Alex’s internet connection (remember that time when I didn’t have internet?) before I left in the morning, and I got up extra early to allow an hour to get there, as it’s 20 minutes by car (10 km from my apartment, do the conversion to miles as you will).  Good thing, too, because in my attempt to outsmart the directions (I saw a shortcut I could take that would get me headed in the right direction faster than Google Maps’ route) I got totally turned around in Tsuruoka, and spent the first 40 minutes of said hour trying to get back in the right direction.  Finally, I found a sign pointing toward Yutagawa, but just to be sure I would end up on the 345 going in the right direction, I stopped at the Koban (police box) across the street.  The cop on crossing guard duty probably thought I was dumb, given that I pointed to the sign with Yutagawa written on it and said I could read the kanji, but he motioned for me to come inside for a map.  It was already 8 a.m. at this point, and I figured I had to make it to the school in time for the 8:20 a.m. meeting, so I was really sweating it.  The cop got me pointed in the right direction, and I called Ishikawa-sensei to tell him I might be running late.  He assured me I would make it in time now that I was headed for the 345, but he called ahead anyway.  It turns out that I don’t really need to be there for the elementary school morning meetings, but nevertheless I made it at exactly 8:20, and was warmly received by an older woman who told me to take my time next time (and in this case I think she genuinely meant it; I was drenched in sweat and out of breath).  I was ushered into the little tatami waiting room, apart from the other staff, and the lovely school (helllooooooooooo) nurse served me some tea.  It was officially go time!  The first teacher came in and gave me a quick run down of the lesson, and then sent a student to come get me when class started.  I had the third-years first, and of course they were all shocked at how tall I am!  They were so genki (energetic) though that all the first-time jitters went right out the window, and we got right down to the English lesson.  They were learning about animals, and of course the monkey was the biggest hit.  It’s good to know some things transcend cultures!

The sixth-years (elementary school runs for 6 years in Japan) were pretty quiet…they seem to be gearing up for their angsty phase in middle school (yes, there’s a designated angst phase, I forget the word for it).  The teacher and I dutifully worked through the lesson, revolving around “I can…” and “I can’t…”  They clearly know the words, and can understand what I say, they’re just not that talkative.  Such is life!  Some of the other staff members (namely, the vice principal) came in and walked through the class to see how the sixth-years were doing.  I wasn’t sure at this point if this was normal, so I got a little nervous, but it was fine.  I headed back to the little tatami room in the teachers’ office, where the fan was still fixated on the spot where I sit, blowing a relentless stream of air squarely at my face.  It was a little annoying after a while, but I was so grateful to have my own fan and moving air that I didn’t let it get to me.

And then, the first-year teacher came and talked to me about her class…of four little girls.  That’s it!  One of them came to lead me to the class room, where three other equally adorable girls all sat waiting for class to begin.  I’ve never had so much fun!  They were doing a coloring exercise in which they had to match the number I said to a balloon.  The balloon had a color written in English, and the girls then had to select the right crayon and color the balloon.  The best part: there was only one mistake throughout the entire class!  These girls are SMART!  According to their teacher, they’ve been learning English at home as well, over the summer break.  They’re so freaking cute I could go on for days about how awesome it is to be able to teach them, but I’ll spare you.

The second years are similarly energetic, and their teacher had a game all lined up for them.  We reviewed a bunch of items on cards (clock, pencil case, schoolbag, etc.) and then spread the cards out on the floor, at which point we broke the class into two teams, each with their own special pointer that they held when it was their turn to play.  They said the lesson’s title phrase: “What’s that?”  And I would respond with “It’s a clock/schoolbag/computer/unicycle,” at which point they would rush toward the cards in an attempt to find the item I said.  It got VERY physical very fast, but it was really fun to watch!  I had my first school lunch with the third-years, and finished out the day by teaching the combined fourth- and fifth-year class Rock, Paper, Scissors in English (using “Shoot!” as the final count…mistake?).  They loved using it to play Snakes and Ladders (move one space for winning with Rock, two for winning with scissors, and five for winning with paper), and they put a smile on my face as I left for the day.  Since I was so rushed getting to the school, I had to wait until I left to take some pictures of the area, and so I won’t keep you waiting any longer!  No pictures of the kids, I’m afraid, as I don’t have any yet.

The front of the elementary school. So tiny!

Same school, but from a wider angle. The guy here is waiting for one of the students, I think he's a grandfather.

Did I mention Yutagawa is nestled in the mountains? MOUN-tains. Sorry, that was my teacher side coming out.

The entrance to the Yutagawa Spa, as it's called on the signs leading to town. Hooray for traditional-looking hot springs! I'm going to check it out soon.

Before I left town completely, I decided to take a quick bike around the place.  Looking at my photos, I realized that I did not take enough photos of the town itself, because I’m totally in love with it and want to move there.  I think.  This is all after one visit, mind you.  Anyway, I stopped in at a local grocer/convenience store that is not called 7-11 or Lawson’s (two of the big chains here) because the woman running the place had some interesting postcards in the window.  It’s totally in the touristy, this-is-what-Japan-looked-like-back-in-the-day feeling, but I think Yutagawa has some legitimate history behind it, and the buildings all seem quite old, compared with the relative modernity of Tsuruoka.  I was bowled over by the beauty of the surrounding mountains, as well.  I think in my haste to look around the town more and then get back home to relax, I forgot to take decent pictures.  But I will soon!

A shot from the store where I bought some postcards. I have not adequately captured the town's brilliance yet.

On the return trip, I kept stopping to take pictures of the gorgeous green expanses.  And my god are they beautiful…

I love this little dirt path. I want it to be my driveway. Is that weird?

Liquor Shop Abe (ah-bay). I don't even think it's open anymore, but it's cute and situated in front of a gorgeous rice paddy. *click!*

Like, holy crap. Could there BE more green in this photo? Love it!

Oh wait, here's more green. The rice fields are especially beautiful right now, but I hear come winter they'll be barren, as you can imagine. Too bad!

Take me hoooooome / country roooaaaaads / to the place / I beloooooong! / Yutagawa, mountain mama / take me hooooome / country roads!

Along the way, I caught a shock of red in someone’s garden.  Not sure exactly what kind of flowers they are, but they sure are pretty!

Look at that! I should be so lucky to one day have all this cool stuff growing right near my house.

As I approached Tsuruoka City Center, I came across this oddity.  I’d been told by Gavin that some of the trucks in this area get unusually large by Japanese standards due to the snow and whatnot, but I admit I didn’t fully believe him until I saw this.

Huh...I'm amazed that this thing fits down some of the narrow streets in this area!

Keep in mind that this isn’t even the biggest I’ve seen, it’s just the biggest one I’ve seen while carrying my camera at the ready!

Is there no end to the vast green expanse? So pretty.

Just as I was about to make the turn to head right into the heart of Tsuruoka, I stopped to wait for a traffic light to change.  I heard a wooshing sound, and turned around to see a crane flying RIGHT AT ME.  Okay, so it was overhead, but I was still in shock at never having experienced such a thing, so I kind of froze before my brain said “Idiot, at least try to take a picture, this would be perfect!”  So I settled for a picture of the crane after he landed on the house behind me.

He's a bit hard to see, but I wasn't about to go back to get a closer picture. Not in this heat.

So that was my odyssey on Friday.  I spent the weekend catching up on cleaning and laundry after three days of being away, and consequently missed a hell of a time at Zao Rock, which is a three-day rock and DJ music festival at the foot of Mt. Zao.  I shall catch it next year!  People camp out at the base of the mountain and go to concerts all day long, and it’s paid for by the city.  There’s an admission fee, of course, but it’s relatively low.

HOWEVER.  Not going to Zao meant that I attended the final session of an English Conversation Club taught by one Charles, a Canadian who is returning home after 18 years in Japan.  I will be taking over his conversation club, which is full of intermediate-to-advanced Japanese people who come to converse in English in order to practice.  It meets twice a month on Saturdays, and it’s going to be pretty sweet, as these people are all really engaged, and love discussing world issues and politics.  After the class was over, Charles mentioned that he’d be leaving by September 1, and that he was still looking for a buyer for his car.  Long story short, I was that interested buyer, and I now have his car!  It’s a nice little Daihatsu Move, a kei car (light car) with tons of headroom, room for 4 (comfortably), and even some sweet storage in the back.  Most importantly, it’s an automatic!  I was not looking forward to learning how to work a manual transmission with my left hand while driving on the opposite side of the road.  The insurance just got finalized yesterday (Sept. 1), so I haven’t taken it out for a spin just yet, but needless to say it was quite the investment, so don’t expect any more posts about things I have bought for a good long while.  Overall it represented a great deal though, even though the insurance is a bit expensive relative to my budget (I’m 23 with no driving record in Japan…they’ve got me where they want me).

Say hello to my little friend!

As you can see, it's remarkably tall for its size. I actually have more headroom in this car than I do in many cars in America. Baffling.

The back of the car. The back hatch opens to the right.

Winter tires included. Huzzah!

As you can see, there's plenty of head clearance. No, the steering wheels are not upside down in Japan; I was turning in the driveway.

The back seat. If you slide the front seats forward a tad, there's plenty of legroom for passengers.

Tour complete!  It’s short and sweet, but I’m pretty happy with it.

Monday and Tuesday were my first days at 三中 (san chuu), Tsuruoka’s Third Junior High School.  Tsuruoka has at least five Junior Highs, and they keep it simple by just numbering them all.  So I am at the third, Alex is at the first, and Gavin is at the fifth.  I’ve met the majority of the English teachers at the Third Junior High, and I have yet to meet one who cannot string at least one English sentence together.  I count myself lucky on that front, as I’ve heard stories of Math teachers who are better able to speak English than the actual English teachers.  I count myself even luckier to have some truly intelligent students in my classes!  One asked me what I know about Futenma, the ever-controversial American military base located on Okinawa, the southernmost island of Japan.  In English!  I wanted to say, “You’re 12, stop worrying about that stuff,” but I was genuinely impressed.  Special thanks go out to Washida-sensei, who has been my caretaker of sorts up to this point.  He’s lived in Canada before, and thus his English is pretty close to perfect.  He’s been showing me the ropes, and helping me when I’m wandering around the halls wondering if the morning meeting is going to be in the gym like it was the day before (answer: no, that was for the students, the teachers’ meeting obviously takes place in the staff room).

Speaking of!  The staff room, bless it, is air conditioned.  The rest of the school (and this goes for Yutagawa as well) is not.  It is consistently above 30º Celsius every day, with humidity that I can only imagine is near 100%.  Take the predicted temperature for Sept. 2: 33º C.  That’s 91º F, and some places have set record temperatures of 34º C, which is 93º F.  Blugh.  I’m still sweating through everything I own, and some days I save money on the water heating because it feels better to come home and take an ice cold shower to rinse off and reset my body’s thermometer.  I dread having first-year classes at San Chuu because they’re up on the fourth floor, and it doesn’t take a middle schooler to tell you that heat rises.  The kids are all sweating bullets, and I’m never really sure if some of the kids are just making faces, or preparing to go face down on their desks from heat stroke.  They certainly didn’t cover THAT subject at any of the orientations.  The students at San Chuu love coming in to talk to the teachers, though, because it means they get to take a short respite from the oppressive heat.  One of the girls actually said “Ooh, it’s cool in here!  I want to become a teacher!”  When I thought about it, withholding air conditioning might be a good enough incentive to get people interested in becoming educators.  Or it might be totally misguided.  Either way, I love break time, because it means I get to stop sweating for a couple minutes.

Which is a great segue into my schedule!  San Chuu has me for a full day every time I’m there, from about 8:30 until 4:30 (and beyond at the moment, as I’m helping three girls prepare for a speech contest—I hope they win!).  There are six periods on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Wednesday and Friday there are only five periods, but I have to be there until school is over (or until club activities finish, but I have yet to join any of the clubs).  I’m not teaching every period, and as such I have a few blocks of about 45 to 50 minutes to prepare more lesson ideas, practice Japanese, or what have you.  I’ve got a computer at my desk, but I won’t use it to check Facebook or update this blog, as that would send the wrong message in any country.  I usually try to strike up a conversation with one of the teachers nearby (Watanabe-sensei and Kato-sensei are both pretty awesome when it comes to English—and Kato-sensei checked out Florence + the Machine because I mentioned it in class!) just to build up some good will.  I can already tell I’m going to miss some of these teachers if they change schools at the end of the academic year.  The school year in Japan ends in March, and that frequently means the entire staff of a school can change since teachers don’t belong to a particular school.  Ah well, we’ve got to enjoy the time we have, right?

If this post seems long on elementary school specifics and light on middle school details, that’s just because of the sheer size of the middle school and the little progress I’ve made so far.  Every day, I have a different class level (first-year, second-year or third-year) and a different section (1-about 6 or 7).  There are a total of 25 classes, and each day I have to perform my self-introduction at the beginning of class.  I’m usually a hit because of my height, and the fact that I have to duck under EVERY doorway on the way into EVERY classroom.  I’ve bumped my head twice so far, if you’re keeping score at home, and today I tripped over a bucket of water in elementary school, which dampened my pant leg for a class or two.  Nevertheless, I’m not doing much more than introducing myself and talking about the wild turkeys that roam my backyard while my father is fishing and my mother is riding horses.  I’m going to make an effort to learn the students’ names, but considering I’m already shaky when it comes to kanji, and the kanji used in names can have a totally different reading compared to everyday use, the odds are stacked against me for sure.  Nonetheless, I have yet to encounter a class that doesn’t have at least one student eager to answer a question or speak English, and I haven’t been approached by any students asking me how big I am (and they don’t mean height).  Yes, the students will get rowdy every now and again, and I’ve only been there two days to date, but I have to say I’m feeling pretty lucky.  I think I’ve got some really smart kids who are going to learn quite a bit from me, or at least I hope they will.  And before this post gets too dewy-eyed, I will say that I believe one student at elementary today called me by my predecessor’s name.  On the flip side, he did remember Rock, Paper, Scissors, which I taught him in English last Friday.  Another student came up to me during game time in the gym, put his finger right in my face, almost touching my nose, paused, and blurted out “Your nose is big!” in Japanese before scurrying off to his friends.  It was goofy and funny and probably something I would have done as a child his age.

I must say, I feel like I’m living a pretty charmed life.  Remind me of this post when I come home grouchy because a kid with the flu puked on me and I can feel myself contracting the disease by the minute!

Mata, ne!

A lot has happened since I last updated, mainly in the form of some super cool gatherings in and around Tsuruoka.  Dan from Haguro invited a bunch of us out to his house (yes, he gets a whole house!) for a little housewarming party.  Block leader Corey combined this event with a birthday party for Virginia, and it was off to the races!  For reference, Dan’s house is owned by a Japanese man who once ran a shop out of it.  One room is off limits due to storage, but the place has a massive kitchen, sizeable tatami room (i.e. the traditional mats woven from straw), another big living room, a full bedroom (or possibly two), and as Corey put it, “rooms Dan hasn’t even found yet.”  As such, we have dubbed the place Haguro-jo (Haguro Castle), and suffice it to say we all had an awesome night, complete with a wicked good Irish music set courtesy of Scott, Corey, Virginia, Kaoru (an awesome Japanese fiddle player) and Pierre, who comes from France.

First, though, I want to share a photo of a little dish I made called “Let’s see if marinating chicken in some pineapple juice works.”  The answer is “not really,” but if you add slices of canned pineapple and some broccoli, and put it over rice, it can turn out okay.  So long as you match each bite of chicken with a bite of pineapple.  Without further delay:

Also, trying to caramelize the pineapples in their own juice kind of failed. Live and learn!

So after that (thoroughly mediocre) meal, Alex and I made the bike trek out to Haguro-jo, where we were the first non-Japanese to arrive and keep Dan company.  It was a great time spent with wonderful people, as you will see!

Yu-chan got Virginia a present. It obviously wasn't a volleyball, but Virginia liked it. Dan's in the background there.

All the girls! Yu-chan's in the back, Rie-chan is in front of Yu, Anie (Canada) is making the heart, and Hiromi-chan and Ran-chan are in the very front. The other two...I can't remember their names! What else is new?

"We baked you a birthday cake / If you get a tummy-ache / And you moan and groan in woe / Don't forget we told you so!"...was not sung when the cake was presented.

The night was spent trying to find the coolest spot in the house (usually the tatami room, where we weren’t crammed in like sardines), and chatting pleasantly with all the guests.  I did of course mention that nice little Irish band set, and for your viewing pleasure I have uploaded it here.  Corey’s already a YouTube star, and he’s read the blog before (hey there!) so I’m going to post this one to publicize their awesome musical skills.

As you can see, there was no shortage of entertainment!

Pierre, Alex, Kaoru and Susie hanging out as the party winds down

So as you can see, I am surrounded by the most awesome people in the world, period.  And I got to go to karaoke with them at the new JET welcome party in Shinjo City a week later!  Shinjo is a good half hour and change from Tsuruoka by car, and Richard was kind enough to drive me.  We all met up for a nice little snack at one of the bars in town before karaoke time, and what a time it was!  Just a few pics courtesy of Alex, as I forgot to take my camera.

Amber (from the original Jersey!), Susie, Johnny (Ireland) and myself, belting out...Lily Allen I think?

Amber, Andie (New Zealand) and I working through Travis' "Flowers in the Window"

And of course, no karaoke session is complete without a couple really drunk Japanese guys invading your karaoke room!

Lovely face!

It was a wonderful night, and my streak of loving every single Yamagata prefecture JET I’ve met remains intact.

Whipping through the days (which at this point were still mostly play-and-settle-in time), we arrive at this Monday just passed, whereupon I had long considered buying a Playstation 3, and decided that since I still had some cash left over from when I first arrived, and since we had just received our first paychecks, now was the time.  I was of course on a mission to find a cheap one, however, and this proved more difficult than I imagined it would be.  See, there are some older models of Playstation 3 that play Playstation 2 games, and therefore these editions of the hardware are sometimes sold used for more than a brand new system is worth.  There’s also an interesting cultural dynamic that drives the pricing of used systems as well.  See, Japan loves to collect things, and they love to collect special editions of things.  It seems that for a time, there were silver Playstation 3 systems available, but you rarely see them anymore because the hardware has changed once again.  So silver systems are frequently far more than new systems, even though the new systems are sleeker and smaller.

Enter the system at Otachu (The Big Black Barn).  I was about to just swallow my pride and go for a new system when I was wandering the packed aisles at Otachu, and Alex pulled me aside to show me a used Playstation 3 on sale for 14,800 yen.  The going rate for a new system is about 30,000, or a little over $300 US.  This system, therefore, is just under half the price.  I wondered what could possibly be wrong with it.  The tag on the system itself said: “Scratch on the front.”  Surely, that couldn’t be the only problem?  All the cables appeared to be there, and there was a controller included as well.  I asked for assistance from the staff member nearby.

“Where is the scratch?  I can’t see it.”

“There’s one on the front here, and a couple on the top here, and here.”

“Is there anything else wrong with it?”

“No, it should work perfectly fine.”

Remember, Japan like to collect things.  They like to collect PRETTY things, in addition to their special edition obsession.  So yes, this system was essentially half-off because of a couple little scratches on the front and the top.

“I’ll take this one, then.”  In an aside to myself, I thought “I love you, Japan!”

So I am now the proud owner of a shiny used Playstation 3 with a couple of minor scuffs and no other issues.  Huzzah!  I picked up Tekken 6, Virtua Fighter 5, 3D Dot Game Heroes, and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (Yes, it’s an American game, but I’ve played a great demo for the sequel, and you have to start from the beginning to get the full effect!).  I’m pretty pleased with the purchase, and it gives me something shiny to fill what little leisure time I’ll have once school gets into gear.  Don’t expect any reviews or impressions though, that’s not what I’m here to blog about!

Anyway, if you haven’t asked yourself by now what the hell the title of this post has to do with anything, ask yourself now.  I’ll wait.  Good.  Lovely human being and friend of the JET Program Ran-chan (photo from Dan’s party above) has been working at a farm nearby in order to save up some money, as she is moving to Canada in September to spend a year working on her English.  This is a good get for Canada, but that’s beside the point.  She sorts out edamame (soybeans) to sell to market.  The ones she rejects—which are a little imperfect but by no means inedible—she gets to keep.  She ends up with about two huge bags of edamame every day.  But these aren’t your granddad’s edamame; oh no.  These are the local strain of edamame known as dadacha mame, and they’re bigger, fatter, and juicier than your everyday soybean.  In other words, they’re delicious times 10.  She was kind enough to bring some over, and I’m still eating them!  This was about a week ago now, and I’ve still got a quarter of the bag left.  I’m very much in danger of becoming a soybean, I’ve eaten so many.  But I have determined that they’re so small you can never get full from eating them.  It’s just not possible!

Part of the reason I still have so many beans left is due to the Yamagata Prefectural Orientation, which took place this past week from Tuesday to Thursday out in Tendo City, about an hour or two from Tsuruoka.  Ishikawa-sensei drove Alex, Dan, Richard and myself out to the Education Center in Tendo, where we stayed in the dormitory and had several very helpful orientation seminars and workshops that were actually targeted to the schools at which we will be teaching, as opposed to the Tokyo “well, it might be this, but everything’s different everywhere” orientation.  Not that Tokyo wasn’t helpful, it’s just that an orientation in your home prefecture tends to be worth more in the long run, as the people orienting you actually work in and around the cities you’ll be working in, and they know how the Board of Ed works in said cities.

When we arrived, we had a quick greeting ceremony, and then it was off to the onsen (hot springs).  The trip was optional, and I’m not a huge fan of hopping in 40º C water when it’s nearly 40º C outside, so I stayed behind.  Everyone was wearing their traditional yukata though (provided by the education center), and we all looked as Japanese as we could.  Some people, however, decided to put a little spin on the traditional yukata look.

Scott, looking like an Eastern European grandmother.

Everyone wants a picture! Corey and Johnny approve of Scott's look. Corey perhaps a little too much.

Corey then had to raise the stakes.

Adorable or creepy? Discuss.

After the crew got back from the onsen, the remainder of the group (Corey, Johnny, Dan, Richard and myself) joined them for our first (formal) enkai involving members of the Yamagata educational institute and such.  Everyone was still wearing their yukatas, so we all looked uniformly presentable.

We all clean up pretty well!

Everyone's getting settled in, and eyeing all the food on the table. But we cannot eat until after the toast!

The bigwigs from the Education Center are seated at a table perpendicular to ours.

So, with everyone seated and all the bigwigs installed in their proper places, it was time to formally open the enkai.  Kato-sensei from the Center made a nice little opening speech, everyone yelled “kanpai!” (cheers!), and the festivities began.  As I mentioned before, no one is allowed to start until the speeches have been made and the toast completed, and similarly it’s very rude to let anyone’s glass go empty.  There are big bottles of beer on the table, and this particular enkai was 2 hours of nomihoudai (all you can drink)  It doesn’t take much math to figure out that the enkai is designed to get people drunk, bigwigs included.  It’s all culturally sanctioned stuff, and it even happens among the schools at which we’ll be teaching.  At some point, I will probably see one of my fellow teachers three sheets to the wind, and it will be interesting and awkward I’m sure.  But first, we ate!  There was a lot of tofu involved in this meal, and not all of it was delicious.  In fact, most of it was pretty iffy.  There were some pickled veggies that were pretty good, and a little cold veggie mix that was just what the doctor ordered for a hot summer’s eve.  Tempura also factored in here, and it was nothing short of spectacular.  There was other food too, but it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea (I’m looking at you, tofu).

Megan and Alex approve of the food. Andie (right) will probably tell me to take this down.

After a while, it was time for a skit on enkai etiquette!  All the continuing JETs put on a skit with the staff from the Education Center.  It began with Kato-sensei imploring us all to read a book on enkai etiquette “as much as humanly possible,” at which point he handed it to Sandy, at right in this photo.

Sandy, Aido, Andie, Corey and Michelle await the start of the skit. As much as humanly possible.

Sandy is handed the book, and promptly tosses it aside.

For the crime of drinking before the toast is complete, Sandy is summarily executed by Suzuki-sensei.

Aido, undeterred by Sandy's dead body flashing some leg, begins to pour his own drink...

...and is struck down where he sits.

Two down. Will Andie fare any better?

Andie goes to greet the head honchos, but she's all touchy-feely and disrespectful. Out comes the sword!

Corey starts off well, pouring a drink for Suzuki-sensei

Then he just grabs Suzuki-sensei's rice and starts wolfing it down.

And for that, he must die.

A supposed two hours later, Michelle finds the book, reads it, and performs flawlessly at the enkai: she waits until the toast is finished to start eating and drinking, she doesn’t pour her own drink, she treats the big kahunas with respect, pours them a drink, and doesn’t swipe their food.  Well done Michelle, and great acting job everyone!

Hooray!

As you can tell from the skit, the enkai is great fun, but it’s also very structured and formal.  It’s important to show respect to everyone involved, and you never pour your own drink.  This means your cup is always magically full, which is a blessing and a curse if you’re drinking alcohol.  Generally, what happens at the enkai stays at the enkai, but I hope they’ll forgive me for breaking that rule in order to share a cultural lesson with all of you!

The night continued after the skit, and everyone got to know each other better, as this was the first time all the newbies in Yamagata Prefecture got to meet each other.  Everyone was having a great time, and some silly things happened.

Johnny, another Alex, and Scott. Somewhere, this could be an album cover or band photo.

Amber, Richard, and 2 Meter Mike (he's taller than me!)

Alex, our new Prefectural Advisor, hijacked my camera for a self-portrait.

I borrowed Anie's Canada hat for this ALT group photo.

Scott helps Dan deal with the weight of his new iPhone 4.

Me, with just a few of the reasons why Yamagata Prefecture rocks.

The evening drew to a close once nomihoudai was over, and we all headed back to the dorms to hang out for a bit longer before crashing.  We did have to get up by 7:30 for breakfast, after all.

The second day of orientation was filled with a lot of useful hints on how to teach with the Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs), how to go about implementing games in the classroom (we were the guinea pigs, of course—very fun!), and how to do a proper self-introduction.  All well and good, but not necessarily great blog fodder, amiright?

And so we turn to the area in which the dorms are located: beautiful Tendo City!  Surrounded by mountains on just about every side, the dormitory offered some spectacular views.

Ya-ma-yo yama-yo! (clap clap) yama-yo yama-yo!

This little bit of pretty is actually on the grounds of the dormitory and Education Center complex. Not too shabby!

Mountains, actual size. For comparison, two humans are walking on the pavement.

There was a really neat sky on this particular night

Obligatory cool sunset photo. Looks like volcanic ash, but it's not.

The third day was filled with more (very helpful) workshops, but soon it was time to stop living out of a suitcase (yeah!) and head back to Tsuruoka to prepare for my first day of work (boo—wait, yeah!).  Ishikawa-sensei again came wayyyyyy out of his way to pick us up, and we began making the long journey back.  Along the way, we stopped to pick up some snacks at a store with a bunch of tasty pastries.  That’s when I saw this:

Uh...

Hm...

Now if you’re anything like me, your first thought was “Huh, butt cakes.”  I realize that’s an unlikely scenario, but that was quite literally my first thought when I laid eyes on this little thing.  I then noticed that the tag said akachan no, loosely, “A baby’s.”  Okay, now I’m really curious.  I read the first like of the description under the name: “Baked in the shape of a baby’s buttocks…”

Wait, WHAT?!

Yes, quite literally, when they say this little cake is “A Baby’s,” they are implying that it’s a baby’s butt.  It’s even got a light dusting of powder!  The cake is breadlike and sweet, and the powdered sugar is delicious.

And here’s the kicker: it’s cream-filled!

I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

Upon returning home, Alex, Dan and I made a beeline for Dosanko, a local ramen shop (part of a larger chain) whose zanmai ramen (three sheets ramen) has earned a special place in my heart and gut.  There were quite a few vegetarians at the orientation, and as such the menu was largely geared toward veggie-only dishes.  Vegetarians, I love you, but I also love meat.  A lot.  I was having a bit of a protein crash, so I immediately ordered the zanmai ramen, which consists of your usual ramen noodles and broth (though Hokkaido style, so the broth is super thick), the usual assortment of shoots and seaweed piled on extra high, and the crowning achievement: generous slices of pork prepared three different ways.  One set is lightly battered and fried, another pan-fried, and another boiled.  It’s just the thing to get when you’ve gone three days with a small salmon filet as your only meat.

After a (leisurely, that ramen is killer) bike ride home, it was time for me to prepare for my first day of real work.  I visited Yutagawa Elementary School, and I think the details of that will have to wait until tomorrow, as it’s already 2:30 in the morning, and I’ve broken my “update on Saturday” rule.  Ah well, it’s still Saturday in the States, so I win!

I can’t wait to tell you all about my first day, but I wouldn’t want to miss any of the details, so to sleep I go!

Mata, ne!

Then, it was time for an assembly!  Where I was to introduce myself in front of all the students!  On stage, with a microphone!  Huzzah!  I figured this was coming, but hadn`t prepared anything.  It was okay in the end though.  The principal introduced a new English teacher (the current teacher is abroad in Canada, and returns Monday) first, and then me.  I was a little more nervous that I imagined I`d be, because ALL THE KIDS WERE LOOKING AT ME, even when I wasn`t on stage.  I knew this would happen, but it`s one thing to mentally say you`ll be fine, and another thing to experience it.  Nonetheless, I did a simple intro speech in English (and one of the kids even said “Good Morning!” back to me.  Extra points!), and then a similar speech in Japanese so they could understand me better.  All the kids clapped for me as they`re supposed to, but it felt like there was some excitement in there.  I hope so, anyway!

I probably won`t be back there until at least next Friday, though I`m supposed to visit my first elementary school then, too, so we`ll see what happens.  Overall, I think I`m going to be pretty comfortable with the teachers here, and I can`t wait to actually start working!

頑張ります! (Ganbarimasu!; I`ll do my best!)

In other news, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test registration opens August 28th!  That gives me just enough time to figure out which level I want to shoot for.  Right now, my gut feeling is Level 2…my kanji (Chinese characters the Japanese borrowed to make writing harder but reading somewhat easier) skills have seriously deteriorated, and I feel like a functional illiterate sometimes (sorry, Meguro-sensei!).  With a lot of practice I might feel confident enough to try for Level 1, but I`m thinking I`ll start with Level 2 and work up to Level 1 next July.  Again, 頑張ります!

For now, though, I`m going to enjoy an evening with all the Shonai JETs as we celebrate the lovely Virginia`s birthday!  You may remember Virginia from such blog posts as “Kanpai!”  An on Saturday evening, we have the Yamagata Prefecture welcome party in the nearby (by car) city of Shinjo, and I`m not one to say no to the possibility of karaoke.  Expect pictures if I can find some internet afterward!

Mata, ne!

I`m not letting the lack of apartment internet keep me from sharing a quick note:  I`ve finally got a schedule!  Yes, believe it or not I did come here to actually WORK.  I`ll have to head in sometime before the end of this week to introduce myself to the teaching staff (and give out some New Jersey-born salt water taffy–woo!), and then I`ll officially start teaching next Monday, August 23, 2010; a date that shall go relatively unnoticed by history.  The following day, I have to attend a three-day orientation for all of Yamagata Prefecture.  So much for continuity!

As for the internet, my application will be faxed in on August 19, and from there it`ll take about two weeks for the modem to arrive.  Which is just as well, because my predecessor`s contract (not his internet service–go figure) is actually effective untill August 31.  The bottom line is that I should have apartment internet by September 1.

Hooray for actually earning money!  Stay tuned, and keep the comments coming!

また、ね！

Anyway, it was a PACKED. HOUSE.  The air conditioner (which is mounted near the ceiling—don’t ask) was on full blast, but it was no use; the apartment got too hot too fast with a ton of people AND the electric grill on which we were making the okonomiyaki.  For the uninitiated, okonomiyaki can look like this:

Japanese Pancakes! These particular 'cakes have squid in them, and the one on the right has a bit of cheese on it. Yum!

It’s a fluffy pancake-like dish with an egg-and-flour batter that has small strips of cabbage worked into it, sometimes with puffed rice for a little crunch, and then you cook up some bacon (or oysters, if you’re in Hiroshima) and pour the batter over it, thus making a wonderful dinner pancake with bacon (or oysters or shrimp or whatever you want) cooked right in.  We made a bunch with squid, and a number with bacon.  Some had cheese, some didn’t.  Most of them came out a little too thick, but once you add the bonito flakes, bits of dried seaweed, scallion, a generous helping of special okonomi sauce (no idea what’s in it, sorry) and some mayonnaise (the Japanese kind, which is sweeter and actually quite good), it doesn’t matter how well they were made, they’re still going to be delicious.  Even so, one of our Japanese friends in attendance dubbed them “Western Okonomiyaki” on Facebook.  Must…refine…technique!  The little spatulas you see in the above photo are for flipping the cake as well as cutting it up to serve among friends, of whom there were plenty on this night.

Kiwi Mike (his last night in Japan!), Yui-chan, and Anielyn

Maiko and Scott (love this photo!)

So many people! L to R: Richard (USA), half of Kiwi Mike, Yui-chan, Anielyn's side, Scott, Mide, Susie, Megan, and Alex's hand

On three...wooooo Japanese pancakes!

Chow time! Alex, Megumi-chan, and Head Chef Gavin

Maya-chan and...crap. Another name, forgotten! Help!

Gavin, myself, Maya-chan, and ??-kun

Gavin's the Guitar Guy at the party. Here, he serenades Megan.

After people had their fill, we had some sparklers and such that a friend brought over, so we lit a few on the balcony.  It’s July in August, hooray!  Oh wait, the Japanese don’t have Independence Day, they just have ridiculously large fireworks displays…

Later on in the evening, a bandmate of Gavin’s stopped by with a couple friends and made up some pretty funny songs on the spot, including one for Megan.

L to R: Masa-kun, Kire-kun, Aniki-kun (possibly a nickname...aniki also refers to a yakuza rank), and Katsuya-kun

Katsuya was particularly 元気 (genki; energetic, healthy), but nine times out of ten would only speak one word at a time—ENTHUSIASTICALLY.  Usually, this word was やばい！ (yabai; weird, suspicious, dubious), with the exception of いちもつ！ (ichimotsu; explained to us as “a man’s katana” [wink], but actually meaning “a single thing” or “a superb article,” so I suppose if you’re feeling cocky Katsuya’s definition applies to the latter).

Saturday was a pretty low-key day, but in the evening I had a bunch of the JETs over for a viewing of one of my all time favorite Japanese films, 茶の味 (Cha no Aji; The Taste of Tea).  A word about Japanese films:  they are often almost impenetrable for Western audiences due to the cultural divide.  Japanese cinema takes a different approach, favoring long shots of nature some times, for instance, or appearing to almost completely dispense with what Westerners might call “coherent plot” other times.  At any rate, most Westerners watch Japanese films and consider them “bad.”  Usually, I say they’re not bad, they’re just different.  But then I saw Ryou ga Gotoku, based on the Yakuza games for the Playstation 2.  Yikes, was that movie a mess.

But I digress.  The Taste of Tea is quite slow moving, but most everyone I show it to loves it.  I chalk this up to a few things: for one, it’s hilarious.  It centers on a family living out in the country, each with their own issues: the boy, Hajime, is hopeless with women, and his latest crush has just moved away; Sachiko, the youngest, is a girl beset with extreme self-consciousness—she imagines a giant version of herself is always watching her; their older brother Ayano is a sound mixer who gets a strange request from his comic artist uncle; the clan’s father is a hypnotist; the clan’s mother is an animator struggling to make a comeback.  Then there’s the goofy grandfather, who absolutely makes the movie.  Without giving too much away, he randomly pulls out a tuning fork, which he strikes and holds up to his ear, sometimes checking his pitch as well.  Hoo boy.  At any rate, it comes highly recommended from me if you don’t mind a very relaxed pace and a LOT of strangeness.  It’s ultimately a very sweet movie, and I’d be curious to know what you think of it in the comments section if you do seek it out and watch it.  Don’t worry!  It’ll have English subtitles.

The same night as the movie viewing, Gavin’s friend Megumi brought a theremin!  Everyone was fascinated by this magical instrument.  You place your left hand over the curved bar, and that controls the volume, i.e. the higher your hand, the louder the tone produced.  You then manipulate the strength of the tone by moving your left hand toward or away from the antenna on the right.  The pitch is manipulated based on the height of your right hand.  I’m hesitant to post videos of people I know without their express permission, but if I get the okay, I’ll post some of the videos of people trying out the theremin here.  Until then, enjoy this tutorial that’s already on YouTube:

Today, though (Sunday), I went to a live music festival (don’t get too excited, we were sitting on repurposed sake crates).  Several bands and solo acts played half-hour sets from 1 PM until 6 PM.  Some were good, some were not so good, and one had a song called “I Hate People,” and it was not tongue-in-cheek.  He even told the audience he hated them during the course of the song.  Good story, dude!  The final two bands, however, were fantastic.  マルチ放電 (maruchi houden; multispark being their preferred English translation) and キャバレーサテライツ (kyabare— sateraitsu; Cabaret Satellites) are tops on my list, and I shall soon have a video of me and a bunch of other JETs dancing in front of the stage during their last song.  We were personally invited to do so by an organizer of the event, and it was freaking awesome.  I think some of the other members of the audience were confused, but when a lead singer AND a concert organizer are jumping off a trampoline in front of the stage, I don’t think you really need much more encouragement.  Needless to say, it was a great day, and one I won’t soon forget.

Sadly, I will be without internet for the next two weeks, at least.  My predecessor’s internet contract expires as of this last post, and the modem must be shipped back to Tokyo, at which point my own contract will enter the set-up process.  I will still make an effort to post here (sans pictures, as I don’t want to sit at the community center with my camera and cables all over the place) in the interim, and I hope you guys won’t forget that I’m here.  Until then,

またね！

Verdant!

We soon arrived at Haguro.  Now, I had heard stories from Gavin about this mountain and its stairs, but how bad could it be? I thought.  I was in for a treat.

This might as well say "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, of feeling you've reached the summit"

The five of us walked in, and started walking…downstairs?

“Don’t be fooled, it starts going way uphill,” Mide told us, and sure enough, it started to flatten out and move skyward.  we weren’t sure if the downhill stairs counted toward the supposed 1,000 steps of Haguro, but it would have been hard to tell if some of them were steps; they looked more like errant slabs of rock between complete stairs.  There was a really pretty bridge not too far in

They want to draw you in, so they don't tell you how bad it is...

and a cute little shrine, followed by this pretty cool pagoda, which looked from a distance to be made entirely of wood, but I’m not entirely sure that’s the case.

Oooooooh.

After that, it was alllllll uphill from here.  As the twilight approached, Mide and Megan decided to head back to the car in order to avoid the swarms of bugs that were ambushing us from the surrounding foliage.  Alex, Dan and I pressed on like men.  Intrepid, slightly overconfident men, but men nonetheless.  And so we climbed.

So it begins.

We reached the first landing.  Not bad at all!  What were these people complaining about, anyway?  Then we looked off into the distance…

Oh. Hey there.

Okay, that's a lot of stairs.

After 15 minutes (or half an hour, or three hours, who’s to say?), we finally reached a nice clearing, with a stand that apparently sells beer during the day.  Beer?  On this walk?  That’s almost as bad a choice as milk when it’s so hot out.  The twilight view, however, was superb:

That is gorgeous. Hello, Haguro!

"It's dangerous! Please don't touch!" says the sign.

I'm doing my best to look happy, even as I sweat through my shirt. It's the Japanese thing to do.

So, after a brief rest and a swig from Alex’s water bottle (he is consistently the most logical and practical person I’ve met so far, which is handy, as I am often neither of those), we pressed on.  The landings were a little closer together now, but there were still a ton of stairs.

The flash makes it look like the stairs extend into infinite darkness, which is about how it felt.

There was some sort of place where I think you can get food during usual hours, but it was closed of course.

It looks like a cool place, but we had to keep moving to keep the bugs at bay.

Not long after, we finally (!) reached the summit.

Yesssssssssss. That's what I imagine Dan here was saying in his head.

There was a massive temple at the top, and a number of smaller structures:

One of the smaller structures

The Sphere of Whoknowswhat

The temple, sadly, wasn’t coming out in any photo, no way no how, so I’ll have to go back when the sun is up and snag a picture of it.  And after all that!  There were also a number of frogs up on the summit, and they were all very excited to see us.  Or so I tell myself:

It was a wonderful night all told, and I only escaped with one bug bite, but we were all exhausted as we ran to Mide’s car to quickly hop in and hope no bugs followed (only two made it in, and they were quickly shown the window).  My legs burned for a couple days every time I ascended the steps to my apartment.  Yep, I did Haguro!

The second was the welcoming of Group B the next night!  No pics from this evening, but suffice it to say we hit up an izakaya in nearby Sakata, had our fill of delicious, delicious food and drinks, and then had a 二次会 (nijikai; second party) at a local karaoke place.  I also want to note that some of the Japanese girls who are friends of the group are AMAZING singers.  I was almost embarrassed to sing again after hearing a spot-on rendition of Utada Hikaru’s Prisoner of Love!  But I did anyway, of course, and even attempted my first Japanese song: Superfly’s 愛をこめて花束を (Ai wo komete hanataba wo; [I give you] A bouquet loaded with love, or at least I think that’s a decent translation)!  I was told “yoku ganbatta!” (you really gave it your best!), which is Japanese for “eegh, that could use some work!” but I am undeterred.  If nothing else, I will leave Japan able to sing that song perfectly.  Goals are good, but properly prioritized goals are best!

From the “it’s like looking into your future!” department, Gavin had to wake up at the crack of dawn Friday to catch a ride with our supervisor, Ishikawa-sensei, to get his Japanese driver’s license!  After two failed attempts, he finally passed the road test, and had to go an hour and a half out of town to pick up his license between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.  No, that’s not a typo.  Apparently Alex’s predecessor, Tom, made the same trip but got stuck in traffic, and so arrived a couple minutes after nine.  He was promptly turned away, and told to try again tomorrow.  Yeeeeeah.  I’ll probably just go up the night before and sleep outside the center if I have to do the same thing next year.  For now, though, I have an International Driver’s Permit from AAA, which is good for exactly one year from the date of entry into Japan, so I’m set.  Friday was a pretty lazy day for me though.

Given that, I woke up a little on the late side (9 a.m.) on Saturday and decided I was going to spend as much time as possible out of the house.  The first order of business was finding my school, 三中 (the third middle school).  This is where I will be doing the majority of my teaching, and it’s only about a 10 minute bike ride from the apartment.  Huzzah!  From there I made my way to the Kokusai Mura for internet time, where Dan caught up with me.  He’d just received his car insurance, and so he took me out to a brilliant little soba shop near his place in Haguro (we can’t escape!).  We chatted with the owner for a little bit, thanked him for a delicious meal, and Dan dropped me off back at the Mura, where I charted a course for Tsuruoka Park.  It’s a healthy ride, but I was feeling up to it.  It turns out the route from the Mura to the park is one of the cleanest, most gorgeous strips of suburbia I’ve ever seen, and on a cloudless sunny day, I felt free and easy, flying down the sidewalk.  Wooooooo!

I made my way to the park without getting lost (thank you, map!), and proceeded to wander around.  I was approached by an older gentleman who asked where I was from, agreed that it was very hot out, and proceeded to go on some fast-paced tangent that had something to do with deer.  I smiled and nodded, and he bid me adieu.

But enough talk!  The park is quite pretty, and speaks for itself.

A little man-made lake. No swimming!

A really peaceful little gazebo that is raised above the rest of the park...

...that affords you this view of the park! The building across the way is a University science complex

The waters of the park are teeming with waterfowl. This poor guy thought I had food.

Shonai Taisai! I think the Shonai Grand Festival this banner is from is over...not sure though.

The park also gave me an opportunity to show you all just how formidable the cicada population is here in Shonai.

It’s soooooo loudddddd!

Following the park, I continued west on the Haguro Kaido, the main drag I believe I posted pictures of earlier.  This time I headed in the direction opposite the Kokusai Mura, and I eventually came to the au shop where I bought my phone!  A-HA!  I’m making connections throughout the area and really getting the lay of the land down.  On the way back home, I stopped at a nice little bakery, picked up some Melon Pan (a sweet, melon-flavored bread…so delicious!) and some karintou, my beloved little fried dough snacks with a molasses-y glaze and brown sugar dusting.  Or at least that’s what I was used to!  I found instead karintou that look like little scraps of crunchy paper, all curled up in warped little squares.  I bought some anyway, because it says karintou and by god, it’ll taste good.  I also stopped at a local farm market advertising dadacha mame, also known as Tsuruoka’s famed giant edamame.  They were pricey (800 yen for a bag that made 2 generous bowls), but they were among the first of the season, and I was eager to try them.  I am happy to report that giant soybeans are just as delicious as regular soybeans, but you get more bang for the pod this way.  Deeeeelicious!  I made some up for Gavin and I to snack on when I got home, and we devoured them before playing a round of a Gundam arcade game he has for the Playstation 2.  He’s absolutely addicted to it, and whenever there’s a free moment it’s usually his first suggestion.  It IS pretty fun, though.

Sunday was a beautiful, hot day, and Mide invited me to a BBQ on the beach before the big fireworks competition in Tsuruoka!  How could I say no?  We’re about half an hour away by car (45 mins. to an hour-plus by bike, depending on how good you are with biking up hills) from the beach, so we might as well get it in before the season’s over!  The BBQ started at 9 a.m. (so early!), but I left at about 9:30 since there was no rush.  Once again, I used my famous last words, “How bad could it be?” and decided that all the bike riding out in the sun hadn’t burned me, so why would I need sunscreen at the beach?  I suited up for swimming, and headed off to the Haguro Kaido as per Gavin’s directions.

As I got further along, I started trying to figure out the gears on my sweet little green road bike.  There are two levers on the frame just under the handlebars, and I started fiddling with them, hoping I could loosen up the gears a bit before heading up the mountain I had to go through (it’s really not that bad a slope, just long).  I succeeded in messing up the chain such that it kept popping between gears just as I approached the mountain.  I walked it further up the slope, dripping with sweat and congratulating myself for buying a huge water bottle at the last 7-Eleven I saw (yes, they’ve got 7-Elevens out here!  And they’re clean!).  I tried to mess with the chain, flexing the little shifter near the rear wheel to free up some chain to work with.  I was largely unsuccessful, and so rode a poppy, clangy bike over the mountain, as I was almost on the downswing.  I let it glide down the mountain, and I realized I was fast approaching the beach, according to Gavin’s directions.  As I descended one of the last hills before the beach parking lot, I decided to fiddle with the gears one last time to see if I could get the chain to correct itself.  I succeeded in pushing the lever down such that the chain went totally lose, as if to switch gears.  Huzzah!  I tried it one more time, heard a horrible wrenching sound, and was surprised to find that my bike had ground itself to a halt.  Odd, I hadn’t pressed the brakes at all!  Did this thing have a secret e-brake I didn’t know about?

NO!  Instead, the little flexing part of the gear near the rear wheel had somehow caught the spoke of said wheel, and instead of resting comfortably underneath the axle, ready to shift, was now resting uncomfortably on top of the axle, and a metal bar that had once held it securely in place had been completely sheared off.  Quite the pickle!  I tried to fiddle with the busted gearshift so that it wouldn’t snag on the wheel, but to no avail.  Left with no other choice but to drag a bike with an immobile rear wheel, I simply decided that today would be an adventure, and left the bike where it was.  I could see the water, after all; it couldn’t be that much further.

So I continued on down the road on foot, looking for all the grease as though I’d murdered a bike with my bare hands.  I ducked into a conbini and washed up, purchased some potato chips for the BBQ, and went down to the beach.  Mide and friends showed up not long after, and we eventually found the ringleader of the shindig, Take.

Look at that water! This is the road I left my bike on.

Plenty of people!

Interesting cultural fact: The Japanese drive their SUVs onto the beach for BBQs. Quite a few get stuck.

For instance, the Explorer on the left got stuck...

...and it took two trucks to get it out.

The beach is super hot, but the water is GORGEOUS! We were down in the jet-ski area. Be careful when swimming!

The BBQ was delicious, and they had everything from steak to escargot (iiiiii KNOW!) coming out in waves, including…

Shrimp!

A ton of people showed up, including Group B newbies Susie (UK), Anielyn (US) and Scott (Canada), as well as a bunch of Japanese people I had never met, and only a handful of whose names I remember.  Kiwi Mike, US Mike, Mide, Dan, Ran-chan, Hiromi-chan, Ian, and more were all in attendance.  I talked at length with Yui-chan, who it turns out lives near the Kokusai Mura, where I’ve been going for internet.  Small towns woo!

Yui-chan is on the left, and I can't remember her friend's name (ごめん！). Careful inspection of my farmer's tan will show you where my no sunscreen experiment is headed.

Kiwi Mike killin' it in Elton John glasses. Don't recall who's on the right there. He's taller than me, and therefore terrifying.

L to R: Susie, Scott and Dan.

More people whose names I don't remember! Thumbs up for sunburn!

The party didn't really start until Oscar got there. Ian's in the middle, and Kiwi Mike's on top.

Ringleader Take and US Mike, obscured by the floppy tarp

Now, the water is gorgeous, but the Japanese take a different approach to the beach.  As most Japanese smoke, the beach is still like a giant ashtray, and no one really thinks twice about it.  Wrappers and such can be found all along the beach, and sections of it made me think of this scene from Mad Men, about two minutes in:

There’s about as much trash as you’d find at the typical Jersey shore, I guess, minus the hypodermic needles found in North Jersey.  Still, it’s a little surprising in a culture that so values cleanliness. Of course, you also get great pop art out of it, so I suppose it’s okay as long as someone is cleaning up the beach at night.

Welcome to the Asahi Super Dry Castle!

Of course, after spending several hours in the direct sun, I was horribly burnt.  How burnt?

FUHHHHHHHH

Yeeeeeow.  I’ve been recovering from that ever since.  Funny story, I went out today to get some relief for it, except that what was recommended to me apparently contained something I am allergic to, so I immediately started itching on top of my most painful sunburn in recent memory.  I’ve got real aloe cream now though, so it’s okay.

Back to happier times when I still had a full range of motion!

Sunday night was the big fireworks competition in Tsuruoka, and I had no idea what kind of show I was in for.  When the Japanese do fireworks, they do it BIG.  It’s one of the few things they may actually go overboard on.  People can enter synchronized shows to music, or they can design a firework of their own, which usually mimics some sort of flower, bursting off in layers to create a stem or leaves on the stem, before finally exploding in a grand blossom at the top.  In all, the show lasted for a solid 1 hour and 45 minutes, and every time Alex and I decided that surely, this must be the finale, we were wrong.  Every.  Single.  Time.  Even as we walked back to the apartment, tired of standing but glad we had gone, there were MORE fireworks, and they were LARGER than anything that had been set off before!  They make the 4th of July celebrations in the States look like child’s play.  I took some videos of the competition, so without further redue, the highlight reel:

These fireworks were designed such that the explosion looked like the face of a pig.  Mixing the words for fireworks (hanabi) and pig (buta), they called it “hanabu”

Here’s one of the entries synced to music, in this case a Japanese song I’m not familiar with:

And finally, hands down the coolest entry synced to music:

Take that, America!  (ahem)  Sorry.

On a final note (because I don’t know where else to put this kind of info), I’ve had quite the run of luck at some local festivals.  There’s a shrine not too far from my house that had a little celebration last week, and they had bingo cards for everyone.  I won a small wicker basket with a cloth lining that I now use to hold all the loose change I have, and I load my pockets appropriately for the day ahead.  At the festival right on the river by my apartment complex, I won yet again, and this time scored a nice set of three little microwave-safe bowls that probably cost more than the bingo cards and the numbers to call out combined.  All that, just for showing up!  But now, it’s time for me to get some proper relief from this ridiculous sunburn and sleep in a bed of aloe cream.  Or at least put some on before I go to sleep.

お休み！(oyasumi!; goodnight!)

Anyway, be sure to head all the way back to July 25 (should be on page two, working backwards) to get the full story on my journey to Japan for the second time, and be sure to watch this space for more updates.  よし！

じゃあ、ね！

I went to the Kokusai Mura to use the internet for a bit, and realized when I was done that I was without my little stamp.  This is a pretty big mess, as I need it for things like, oh, say, my internet contract.  Thankfully, this being Japan, it was right where I dropped it, on the corner of the street not too far back toward my place.  It had popped out of its case and rolled toward an area where some shrubs were planted.  Whew!  I now keep it in my room at all times, unless I know for sure that I’ll need it.

So I went on to the supermarket and stocked up on fruits and veggies, as I’d decided not to get any during my last bag-wrecking run.  This time I was much more sensible, but still got a mess of apples, oranges and peaches.  A word about living away from major cities in Japan: Hallelujah.  That is, for fresh fruit and veg.  There are so many farms nearby, that you can get in-season produce for ridiculously cheap prices.  This is the tail end of the peach season, and my god are they plump, sweet juicy balls of heaven.  I didn’t even bother cutting into them for fear some of the juice might escape.  I just bite into them and suck up all the flavor.  And quite soon, the area’s famous dadacha mame (giant soybeans) will be coming into season, making for delicious eating.  Just boil them up, add salt, and pop them right out of their pods!  Watermelons are also delicious and cheap, as are melons, one of which Gavin got from a friend with a nearby farm.  I usually don’t like melon as much as I like watermelon, but I ate every last bit of the slice Gavin handed me, right down to the rind.  I’m really looking forward to getting to know the ebb and flow of the farming seasons up here, as it will no doubt yield fantastic results every time.  I’m also contemplating a little herb garden, though at the end of the summer it’s probably a better idea to wait for next spring, so I won’t lose all my hard work as soon as the temperatures take a dive.

I also forgot to mention a little slice of awesome that’s right outside my door: the bakery chain Kimuraya.

Mmmmm, omiyage...

This place sells a bunch of the famous sweets of the Tsuruoka and Yamagata area, and so when going to visit friends this is where I would pick up an omiyage, or a little souvenir from my area to say “thanks for having me!”  I was served a complimentary confection when I went in with Gavin, and drooled over all the little cakes and pastries.  I will definitely be coming back here, and Gavin seems to have got on well with the owner of this store, so like I said, there’s plenty of opportunity for community integration here.

The other thing you might notice in that photo are the construction cones.  Apparently, the idea was to take all the power lines and put them underground.  They’ve done that on the left side of the road, for the most part, but over on Kimuraya’s side, little progress is being made.  Gavin says he’s pretty sure they’re just digging holes, hopping in the holes to look around, and then filing them again.  Based on my own observations, I’d have to agree.  It’s pretty annoying sometimes, but the larger machinery has pretty much quieted down of late.

Yep, this is pretty much what my street looks like at any given time

The view down the other side of my street (Kimuraya is on your left). The little bridge there is over a river.

So yeah, I live pretty close to neat little river in Tsuruoka.  If we were to jump into the above picture and walk over the bridge to the left, we’d come to Ginza Dori, one of the former shopping strips in Tsuruoka.  There are still shops here, but not many of them look very busy, and most of them are shuttered.

The beginning of Ginza Dori

As we move down the street, we pass a bulletin board advertising movies.  You’ll never guess what America’s exporting.

Yep, it's the A-Team reboot. Oh America...

A-Team commercials regularly pop up on TV as well, and it’s billed as a “super refreshing” movie.  I’m not so sure, but hey, if it’ll put asses in the seats…

Moving on, we come to an intersection with a Chinese restaurant and Snack Ballade.  I’ve not seen the chinese restaurant (or any restaurant on the Ginza Dori) open, but the Snack Ballade would only be open at night.  See, Tsuruoka is full of Snacks.  In Japan, a Snack is something akin to a hostess bar.  A hostess bar is a unique part of Japanese culture; it’s a place where a guy can go spend money to have drinks with a pretty lady, say things that might potentially get him slapped in polite society, and otherwise aggressively flirt.  That’s it, though.  There’s no romance or dating or anything remotely close to sex involved, just companionship.  For money.  These hostess bars get pretty pricey in the bigger cities, and some people become so obsessed that they’ll buy gifts for their favorite hostess, under the illusion that the relationship will actually go somewhere.  These hostesses, though, are consummate professionals (unless you’re at a seedier bar), and will keep the relationship platonic, even as they accept expensive gifts.  But Tsuruoka just has Snacks, which are basically just drinks and chit-chat with, in the words of Gavin, “moderately attractive women.”  It’s kind of like hostess bar-lite, I suppose, and probably not somewhere I’ll go unless someone really wants an on-the-ground report about Snacks.

Then there’s the Rising Diner, which I believe Gavin said is good, but I’ve not ever seen it open.  I’ll report on it if I have the chance to go.

The Rising Diner, fine purveyor of liquor, coffee and foods.

Then there’s the local Shufu no Mise supermarket, which I have chosen to take from such a distance that it looks like the earth on the other side of Ginza Dori is on a slope that the builders didn’t account for.

"Supermarket" might be a stretch. They've got a good sake selection, though.

Eventually, we come to the Haguro Kaido, which is a main drag that leads to—yep—Haguro.  Haguro is the next town over that Dan works in, and it’s home to Hagurosan, one of the three big-deal mountains in this area.  More on Haguro (and its treacherous stairs) later.  Haguro Kaido is the road I use to get to the Kokusai Mura for internet-using purposes.  It’s got a neat little shrine on it, and also a pretty beat up old VW Bug that looks like it could shine again with a little TLC.

Cool! I'll visit it sometime

Piiiiiimp. Well, it could be. Potentially.

Haguro Kaido also crosses over another little river, which is the other fork of the main river that runs past my apartment complex.

Cloudy. A pretty typical state in Seatt—I mean, Tsuruoka

The view on the other side of the bridge

Eventually you come to the Dewa Shonai Kokusai Mura and Amazon Folk Museum.  This is where the free internet is in town, and it’s also home of THE4-WAYTEST.

The front of the building. Woo?

Can it meet all four requirements?

Museum of Mankind?? Oh boy!

It’s a really nice building inside, with kitchens that can be rented out for cooking classes, of which Gavin says he’s held a few.  They also have some decently sized ovens in there.  I’m thinking a pizza cooking class will be a great way to bring the community together, so I’m going to talk to them about it soon.

The Kokusai Mura is also home to information about Tsuruoka’s sister city.  Can you guess what it is?  I’ll give you a hint:

No, not Camden...

...it's New Brunswick, New Jersey!

As a South Jersey boy, I’m finding that the further away from home I go, the more connections my home has to the place I’m going.  It’s really starting to freak me out.  Both times I’ve been to Japan, I have lived with or near someone from New Jersey.  Yamaya has Phillies and Eagles ice cream.  New Brunswick is my new home’s sister city.  What.  Are.  The.  Odds?

The display case of New Jersey-related materials is a little out of date, though…check out the cover of the magazine lying down on the shelf.

Eek, James McGreevey! Quick, someone send me a new issue of that 'zine, STAT!

There’s also an impressive collection of dolls from around the world.  I’m not sure how this is connected to the whole sister city business, other than the fact that the “kokusai” in “kokusai mura” means international.

That's...a lot of dolls. Yep.

And with that, I’m going to wrap up the play-by-play of my first week in Tsuruoka.  Stay tuned to this space for more happenings as they occur, but with a lot less painstaking detail (probably)!  I think once school (and thus my classes and my job) start, I’ll shoot for a weekly update schedule, probably on Saturday evenings Japan time, Saturday morning EST.  Until then, however, my BoE is kind enough to give me time off, as I may have mentioned before, so be on the lookout for more updates as I have the time!

Fate?

What??  Phillies Graham Slam in Japan??  Did they know I was coming from the Philadelphia area? What’s more, the price tag is actually for Eagles Touchdown Sundae.  A sign of things to come?  Time will tell!

Afterwards, I went crazy at MaxValu.  It’s so much bigger and better stocked than our local Shufu no Mise (literally, “Housewife’s Store”), and I decided to just get everything that I thought I could cook, without worrying about how I’d get it home.  This was of course foolish, but when confronted with several packets of ramen, yakisoba, and udon noodles; okonomiyaki kits; and discounted daifuku (rice pounded down into a gelatin and filled with a sweet bean mixture) how can I resist?  My bike of course toppled over before I even left the parking lot, much to the concern of all bystanders within earshot.  I hung one of the bags from the bottom of my handlebar, and used my bike as a glorified scooter in order to get home.  During one of my more intrepid moments where I tried to pedal, there suddenly arose a horrible noise from my front wheel.  My shopping bag now had a giant hole in it, and through it, I could see this:

Things just got more interesting!

Thankfully, the inner bags were unharmed, and I was able to make it home with my quarry intact, and to whoever decided that cereal bags should also go in boxes as klutz insurance, thank you.

My second meal in the new kitchen (the first being totally average yakisoba) was a nice plate of spaghetti—Western nostalgia!—whose packaging was almost completely in Italian (you’re welcome, Victoria!).  I ate it while taking in some Japanese TV, and on this night I was in for a treat.

In Japan, there is a style of theater called takarazuka, which is an all-female revue.  This means that all the women adopt male roles as well, which is a nice bit of gender-bending in an otherwise strictly regulated society.  On this particular show, a group of six takarazuka actresses were put through a series of increasingly interesting challenges, starting with trampolining into a wall covered with velcro to see how many points they could score (the higher your hands reach, the more points you get), moving to filling in the blank with a giant keyboard on the wall (and then selecting the right kanji, or chinese characters, for the word before sending it in), then it’s onto the treadmill challenge, where one of the six contestants must list four items in a given category while her teammates run full speed on their treadmills, and then there’s the mouse-punching challenge, where they must score 3,200 points punching mouse puppets that pop up on the stage like whack-a-mole, and finally, they must beat a guy dressed up like a ghost at air hockey.  Got all that?  Since they won all but the velcro challenge, the actresses got to chuck darts at a spinning wheel full of prizes, and wherever the dart stuck, that’s what they won.  It was hugely entertaining, so long as you didn’t think to hard about how they came up with these ridiculous challenges.  And of course, there was the compulsory “how do you pull off acting like a man?” question, which one of the actresses answered by acting out a romantic scene with a fellow contestant, moving in for the kiss but then pulling away and winking at the camera at the last second.  Oh Japan, you tease!

There was also an interview program with the latest boy-band sensation, WaT, whose life story I’d seen earlier as well.  Two appearances in a week—gotta love that media machine!  Anyway, a brief summary:  the boys are Wentz and Teppei (see what they did there?), and if you said “Wentz, what the hell kind of a Japanese name is that??” you’re right.  Wentz is half American, and appears to be fluent in both English and Japanese.  When I first saw him, I thought he was a foreigner who learned Japanese, and I suppose I was close.  They were mildly interesting, but on this interview program they were asked about their fears, which included things like “The girl I like most won’t hold my hand” (I wish I were kidding).  The second guest of the evening, Beni, is also half-American, hails from Okinawa, and is 24.  She also appears to cater to the preteen set, so think Justin Bieber, but older, prettier, and not under the illusion that she’s a boy.  With all the mixed-race stars on TV, I’m going to have to parlay my English and Japanese abilities into the new bi-racial craze!

Sadly, I think it’s too late for that…..