"Monet is Big in Japan" Week 18 Jan 4th-10th

Sunday I set out for Nagoya to meet Gwenn and Derrick at the Nagoya City Art Museum for a Monet exhibit that had just opened.  The small museum situated in Shigawa Park next to the City Science Museum has a nice permanent collection of various artists from many different countries including works by famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera who I came to like after seeing his work displayed with his more famous wife, Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Art Museum’s Frida exhibit.  For the next two hours we viewed about 40 Monet paintings on display many of which were some of Monet’s most famous works.  Also interesting was each painting listing where it was on loan from.  In most cases the paintings were owned in permanent collections from larger museums all over Japan.  Only one piece was on loan from France itself and in some cases the pieces seemed to be owned in private collections or by large corporations like the Ashai Brewery and large Japanese construction firms.  I could not help but assume many of these were purchased during the high flying late 80’s and early 90’s when the Japanese economy was at its strongest and plenty of cash was on hand to plunk down several billion yen on a rare Monet.  After leaving the museum we headed out to Tiger Café in Fushimi for some coffee and sandwiches before going our separate ways home.  I finished the evening by meeting Akiko in Kasugai and grabbing some Indian food at my new favorite spot, Shanti.

     Monday I went back to Nagoya to check out the Midland Square Building across the street from the Nagoya station.  The building, which appears to be the largest in Nagoya, has an enclosed Skywalk on the roof from which I was able to see for miles as well as snap some great photos of Nagoya from above.  The building houses a modern movie theater on its 5^th floor as well as a high-end shopping mall on floors 1-4.  From there I headed back to Tiger Café for some coffee and to do some work online before closing out the night by meeting up with my new pal Garreth, my co teacher Sam, her friend Margot and Akiko at where else but out new hangout, The Hub.  Even better Garreth made many friends by drinking a little too much and wearing a cocktail shaker on his head as a hat and terrifying Japanese patrons by asking them to join him in a song he created about wearing a cocktail shaker as a hat all the while wearing a cocktail shaker for a hat.

     After another week at school I did the thing that has become most regular for me and headed to the Backbeat with Sam, Sayaka and Hiro for some drinks after work before stopping for a late evening meal at the 24 hour Chinese restaurant, Osho a few blocks from the bar before turning in for the night.  As always I went with my personal favorite, the “Kasugai Seto” consisting of still I claim the best gyoza in Japan, fried rice or “Cha Hahn” as it called her as well as a large bowl or Pork ramen.

  On Saturday after school Sam and about 15 friends as well as myself headed to Ozone to our friend Adam’s apartment for a house party he was throwing.  Adam who is from California plays professional basketball for the Nagoya based Mitsubishi Dolphins and his apartment as you would imagine is cavernous by Japanese standards boasting three bedrooms as well as a large kitchen.  For the rest of the night the group did what you would expect at a house party, drank, and played music with me getting some DJ experience on Adam’s large DJ turntables.  At the end of the night myself and two of my Japanese friends, Hiro and Yoshi split a cab back to Kasugai well after 2 AM to close out the week.

 

I Will Take That as a Compliment

This week while preparing a lesson on food I grabbed some plastic fruit and what I thought were small plates from the storage room to use during my baby lesson.  I thought handing the kids fake food on a plate would be a good way to show how to receive food etc.  As I walked passed my Manager she began laughing and asked what I was doing.  When I explained she took what I thought were plates and explained they were actually small toy cutting boards (who knew they made those) and showed me we did have real plates to use for the lesson.  She then said, “Brian, you always make us laugh with your actions that are both funny and ridiculous”.  Ok, thank you, I think

"Year of the Cow" Week 17 Dec 28th-Jan 3rd

Although I had been planning to travel to Korea over the New Year the cost, the crowds and the like had me deciding to stay close to home for the 9-day break.  On Sunday I traveled into Nagoya and met up with some friends for what was supposed to be a trip to a well-known Mexican restaurant that ultimately we found closed like a lot of things were over the holiday week.   Making a quick recovery we headed to another place nearby advertising tacos and beers of the world and although the food was hardly going to make anyone forget truly great Mexican food it was a nice change and I even happily enjoyed 2 cold cheap Budweiser bottles.  From there myself and my co-net Sam as well of two of her friends visiting from other parts of Japan headed back to Sakae and the safety of our home bar the foreigner friendly Hub, where Akiko met us after she finished with some work she had at school.  In another fortunate turn of events we ended meeting a guy named Garreth from Manchester, England.  We enjoyed some drinks and then headed to Big Echo Karaoke to close out the night with Garreth and I polishing off some smuggled in vodka we bought at the convenience store next to the karaoke bar.  As I write about this week please assume if a day is not mentioned I never left the comfort of my apartment and truly enjoyed the break either working on line, watching movies etc.  Although ultimately at the end of the break I had some guilt about not having done more I have to say it was enjoyable to just do little more than sleep in etc. after how hectic the last 4 months have been in Japan.  And hopefully all the places I have yet to see will fall into place and I will get there soon.  On Tuesday I saw off some friends who had planned a ski trip to Nagano as we had diner at an Indian restaurant in Kasugai of all places.  Although the Mexican was so-so, Shanti in Kasugai was outstanding and although the Japanese food here is wonderful it was nice to have good Indian food for the first time since arriving in Japan.  The following day I woke up late and headed to try out one of the very popular conveyor belt sushi places that are close to my apartment.  The chain, called Sushiro is one of the more popular in Japan and features 100 yen ($1.00) plates of sushi delivered on a huge belt spanning the entire restaurant.  While getting some strange looks when arriving on the crowded New Year’s Eve I sat down and enjoyed some very good and cheap sushi.  Strangely people keep asking how often I am eating sushi but this was only the second time I had eaten it since arriving in Japan.  With that said as good as this place was that is going to change as I had 10 or so plates, two Coke’s as well as some homemade Japanese cheesecake for well under 10 bucks, plus no tipping (sweet!).  For New Year’s Eve I headed into Nagoya to meet some friends at the station who were also returning from ski holiday in Nagano.  Once arriving at the station I met fellow teachers, Loren and Mike as well as some of their friends visiting from Canada and Australia before deciding to go back to the Hub for the New Year’s Eve festivities.  The Hub, which was staying open till 5am to ring in the New Year, was packed for the holiday and we met two other friends, Adam and Ray who were also there.  The night was like pretty much any other New Year’s Eve you might expect, plenty of drinking in a crowded bar the only difference being a small Japanese guy in a cow costume firing a confetti gun at midnight to ring in 2009.  The night ended somewhat early for me as I had a little too good a time at the Hub when I was the benefactor of many free drinks as well as shots of tequila from some Japanese guys we met at the bar (damn the Japanese and their friendliness ).  Not wanting to let them down I drank a little more than I probably should and parted with the group a little ill as they headed off to all night karaoke and I hopped in a cab for the 15 minute ride home to Kasugai.

     After staying home for New Year’s Day watching the party going on in Time’s Square with Anderson Cooper on CNN, I headed back into Nagoya on Friday to check out Oasis 21 near Sakae.  Oasis 21 is a large shopping complex with a glass roof deck and I spent several hours checking out the stores (Pokemon shop was a highlight), grabbing some coffee at the French bistro as well as taking some photos from the roof deck.

     As 2008 drew to a close I have to say the new year had me reflecting on the previous year and how it ended with me living in Japan.  If you would have told me at the close of 2007 this is where I would find myself I would have thought you were crazy, but now settled here with many new friends I have to say I am enjoying things quite a bit.  Also as many of you know my disdain for New Year’s Eve the last two have been some of my best, I rang in 2008 32,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean aboard a plane bound for Madrid Spain and this year found me half way across the world in a bar in Japan welcoming 2009, not bad.

"It's a Quest for Fun"! Week 16 Dec 21rst-Dec 27th

My hopes of rising at 5:30AM were both ridiculous and unattainable as I slept thru the alarm but fortunately woke around 6:30AM to begin my journey to Tokyo Disneyland.  After a bus ride, JR train from Kasugai to Nagoya, Shinkansen from Nagoya to Tokyo and then a 2^nd JR train from Tokyo out to Disneyland I arrived at the park on what had turned out to be a rather gorgeous December day with the sun shining and temps in the near low 50’s.  After stowing my large bag I met up with my former training group in Tommorowland at around noon.  It was great seeing everyone again as I had said in earlier posts it was difficult leaving out little group when we all arrived in Japan.  The stressful week of training in a foreign country formed some close bonds in only a week so it was great to see everyone after Amity had scattered us to schools all over Japan once training was completed.  Right away I was the fortunate recipient of Shaan’s Fast Pass ticket for Space Mountain, as she was feeling a little ill after the previous night, so my first Disney ride in some time was probably the best, Space Mountain.  From there we were able to ride Star Tours (Star Wars themed ride) as well as take in a 3D movie called “Micro Adventures” which we came to find out was actually “Honey I Shrunk the Audience” which I had seen years ago at Epcot Center in Disney World Orlando.  From there we picked up a late straggler, Joel who had also overslept due to his late night at a friend’s birthday party and waited in line for my favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean.  The ride, which has been updated in all the Disney parks, has all the old characters but now includes an animatronic Geoffrey Rush reprising his Barbossa character as well as at least 3 or 4 of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow character from the popular Pirates movie series.  The new Jack Sparrow’s were actually creepy in their realism and we swore they were a real person for a second or two.  The park was gorgeously decorated for Christmas and even though it was mid December the crowds were there to prove it.  I am not sure but one of the people in our group said that entrance to the park was actually suspended later in the afternoon as the crowd reached over 500,000 for the day.  For the remainder of the day I was able to get one more ride on Space Mountain prior to closing, as well as Space Jets and Thunder Mountain Railroad with Ted and I taking advantage of the shorter lines during the Electrical Light Parade.  The only two main differences were the Japanese affinity for waiting in line and the food.  Early on all of us jumped in a relatively short 15-20 minute line assuming it was for some ride we could check off our list only to find out after waiting near 25 minutes that it was a line to gain special seating during the closing character show.  Ultimately we did not win upgraded tickets but I can’t imagine people in the States waiting this long for the hope of better seating at a Disney show.  Also on several occasions we noticed huge lines of nearly 100 people snaking around the park only to find it was people waiting in line for a particular style of popcorn.  I love popcorn as much as the next person but I can’t imagine waiting in line upwards of what seemed to be 30-40 minutes just for chocolate popcorn.  Also lines of near the same amount waited patiently to have their picture taken in front of a Buzz Lightyear plastic life size figurine.  Again the park was similar to what you might find in the States other than the food, which was quite different to say the least.  After spotting a sign for “churros” Shaun and myself hopped in the short line only to determine when ordering that these were not the more typical cinnamon churros but actually “honey-lemon” flavor.  The group who all tried it agreed with my assumption that it tasted like a old foot sprayed with Lemon Pledge.  In fact the taste was so horrific we kept taking bites of the thing just to see if it was actually as bad as we believed it to be (it was).  Also it seems interesting to me that the Japanese never submit a simpler alternative when it comes to theme park food.  After finding a pizza place in Tommorowland we came to find that the two types of pizza where either Chicken and Mushroom or Snow Crab.  It seems like just giving a “plain pizza” option makes more sense as it might be difficult to have the masses determine which they like less on a pizza, mushrooms or crab.  Either way I opted for the crab pizza and have to say it was pretty good.  All in all seeing the foods you would not find on the States just showed how good Disney is at marketing to a global audience, in Orlando its burgers and fries before a ride on a roller coaster in Japan you find omelet rice and Japanese curry.  Upon leaving the park at 10PM we headed back on the JR train and then the Tokyo subway to our capsule hotel in the suburbs that Shaan had booked us all in.  Although it was a great place for the money (about $24.00) the hotel was not near as nice at the capsule I have stayed at twice here in Nagoya in fact my bottom capsule felt like I was trying to enter a dog house as I scrambled on my hands and knees to enter.  To close out the night the entire group headed to karaoke (what else) for a few drinks before calling it a night.  I crawled on my stomach into my “room” and fell asleep quickly after the long day.

     For Day 2 most of the group headed back to the park to tackle the second theme park, DisneySea with myself Krysta and Garnett heading to Shibuya in Tokyo to hang out on what was a not so great cold and drizzly day unlike the previous days weather.  Tokyo is such a large and daunting city to see in a day we decided to stay put and just chill out and really we did little more than hit up the large Tower Records where I happily plunked down about 8 dollars for an English Time Magazine with Barrack Obama as it’s Man of the Year.  From there we exhibited more behavior of Americans (and Canadians) starved for a taste of home as we hit up the TGI Friday’s where we tore into a 3 for All Appetizer which should be called “Three Things You Will Never See in Japan”, mozzarella sticks, hot wings and potato skins.  I swear I had tears in my eyes when I saw real Bleu Cheese being served with the wings, amazing.  After our late lunch we checked out the famous Shibuya Crossing where I am told (need to fact check this) over 1 million people cross thru each and every day before saying goodbye and catching the Shinkansen home to Nagoya.

     Tuesday while not only being the Emperor of Japan’s birthday also happens to be my birthday I stayed close to home and enjoyed the day off before returning to work on Christmas Eve.  I know many of you have asked but the holidays passed for me with little fanfare since without the family and the friends, the plans and the parties you sort of forget its Christmas.  I did however thanks to my great family have many presents to open and did so for a while in front of my webcam on Christmas day as I checked in on the celebrations at home.  On Christmas night Sam and I took the train to Nagoya to meet up with some friends and had a few drinks at the Aussie bar, Red Rock to celebrate the holiday. 

     On Friday Ryan, Sam, Sayaka, Gwenn and I headed to the Backbeat as happily the group keeps getting larger in support of my two friends and owners, Kazuhiko and Mikka.  I was surprised and touched when around 11PM Kazuhiko started to clear the spot in front of me with the assumption that he was either preparing to close or to kick me out only to see him carrying a small cake affixed with 7 candles in celebration of my birthday.  After cutting into the cake the entire group including some of the bar regulars enjoyed the very typical and exotic delicacy of cold draft beer and birthday cake.  An interesting question has been asked of me recently as to what is the best or my favorite part of Japan thus far.  Stumped both times it was posed to me I now may have a good answer.  Perhaps all the castles, shrines and kimonos are great but what is best about being here is two new friends who speak little English consulting an English dictionary so they can properly and precisely write “Happy Birthday Brian” on a cake they made special for you.  I think that thus far has been the best part

It’s Him!  One of the nice things about being in a smaller Japanese town is the possibility of running into your students outside of school.  And from the reaction most children find it akin to running into Barney the Purple Dinosaur outside of school.  While eating at Denny’s (yes, that Denny’s) I was seated at a booth directly next to two young girls and their mother who take several classes at school.  As they watched intently as I ordered and began eating my lunch the older girl presented me with her placemat as they left in which she had drawn a likeness of me.  In it my head is grotesquely large and my face bears a resemblance to some type of half man, half ape being only know to be me by the lack of hair on my head replaced with some dots where hair would normally be.

Happy New Year You Idiot It seems that New Year’s cards are both popular to send and receive during the holiday so I was quite happy to receive one from a girl at school who I had taught in a private lesson.  As I thanked her for the kind gift I realized it was written completely in Kata Kana and therefore I was unable to read the sentiments.  Later in the day I handed it to one of the Japanese teachers and watched as she read it and then began laughing, to translate it said:

Happy New Year Brian (Boo-ryan, how they kids say my name)

Do you even understand Japanese?

Anna

Even though I do not understand Japanese I appreciate the sentiments just the same.

By the way I apologize for the very long post this week as I have gotten feedback it seems some of you would prefer I had a better editor but as happy I am that people are reading and hopefully enjoying the blog it serves me as well so I do not forget all the great, funny or embarrassing things that are happening here.

Catch up with me next week to see what the New Year has in store for me in Japan.

"Hello Kewpie" Week 15 Dec 14th-Dec 20th

After shaking away some cobwebs from the previous nights festivities I arrived late at my friend Adam’s basketball game in Ozone.  Adam I may have mentioned before is a former NBA player from UC Irvine who now plays professional basketball for the Mitsubishi Dolphins based in Nagoya.  Although I arrived at the start of the 4th quarter I got to see a bit of the game as the Dolphins got a win at home.  I met up with Ryan, Alyanna and Darlene at the game and from there we headed over to the Nagoya Dome (home of the Chunichi Dragons) next door where a large Ski and Snowboard Expo was going on.  Although I am not a skier or snowboarder the rest of the group checked out the gear ahead of there Christmas break trip to Nagano.  After departing I left everyone picked up some Christmas gifts at the Dragons shop at the stadium before heading across the street to the large mall in Ozone.  The strange thing about malls here in Japan is they are almost entirely clothing and shoe stores.  This I guess is not strange since fashion is highly important for both men and woman here in Japan, the good part for me is due to the size issues I never have to concern myself with blowing 200 bucks (20,000 yen) on a fresh pair of sneakers since a 9 or a 10 is the largest you are likely to find.  The good part of the day was locating a Subway inside the mall that had previously evaded me.  As I keep saying the food here is extraordinary but sandwiches especially like those like Subway makes are quite a rare thing.  I am happy to report that they do however have Tuna on Whole Wheat which was every bit as good as you find in the States.  I happily treated myself to a 15 cm (damn the Metric System) sandwich (Just saying foot long is so much easier) before heading back to Kasugai.  Monday I traveled to Nagoya again to meet Kerin and my new co teacher, Samantha.  We had dinner at the Hub in Nagoya before heading over to an Aussie Bar called Red Rock where we met up with about 10 other friends who were there to celebrate Ryan’s birthday. The great news is Sam seems real cool and already I think we are going to get along great.  Also since Sam attended International High School in Japan she just might be able to punch up my weak Japanese.       As has become regular custom myself, Kerin, Ryan and Sam hit the Backbeat on Friday to catch up with Kazuhiko and Mikka as well as have them meet our new teacher.  Sam did herself proud with our friends, as Kazuhiko was highly impressed with Sam’s ability to put away an Ashai or two.  On Saturday after work the whole crew from work took Samantha and Kerin out for a welcome to Japan and goodbye to Japan dinner at a restaurant called Ogatshi across the street from school.  Again hanging with the fellow teachers outside of work was real fun as we talked over some excellent Japanese dishes I had yet to try that were served family style.  My two favorites were omu rice which is a spicy seasoned rice covered with cooked egg (Omelet-rice) as well as a dish in the “tastes much better than it sounds department”, Tarako Spaghetti which is a creamy pasta made with small cod roe (fish eggs).  Although the group was heading out for some karaoke action following dinner I had to call it a night since I am to board a 7am Shinkansen train to meet my friends in Tokyo Disneyland tomorrow.

My New Nickname This week at school I was finishing up for the night when I went to retrieve some items from one of the classrooms.  As I walked by a group of pre teen girls and said hello one of the bolder girls smiled at me and greeted me by saying  “Hello Kewpie” as the other girls began giggling and holding their hands up to their mouths.  As I retrieved my stuff I went by again as she again say in English “See ya Kewpie”.  When I explained this to the Japanese teachers they all thought the name was pretty hilarious as apparently Japanese kewpie dolls are bald, cherubic dolls with large eyes.  Although my friend Sayaka explained really it might be a compliment since it could mean she thinks I have pretty eyes I am not so sure.  As you can see from the photo at the top of the blog perhaps I bear a slight resemblance. 

Do You Want to Upsize Your Sandwich  Most Americans are only too familiar with the “Supersize” feature one finds at fast food establishments.  In Japan at Subway you are asked if you would like to “upsize” your sandwich for 100 yen with some cocktail shrimp.  I am not sure that will catch on in the States, “Do you want cocktail shrimp on that Cold Cut Combo”?   We will have to wait and see.

"That Chick Pulled a Gun on Me"! Week 14-Dec 7th-Dec 13th

Sunday my friend Akiko and I hung out in quiet Kasugai and hit up the coffee shop in Shimizuya (the large mega shopping/food store) for some coffee and then had lunch at a pasta restaurant called Goemon across the street.  Spaghetti Carbonara is oddly popular in Japan and Goemon so far has the best, it is sort of like Alfredo sauce pasta with ham and peas and is very good.  From there we watched a movie on cable before she had to head back to Nagoya to meet up with her study group.  I would love to tell you I was highly productive the remainder of the day but instead I took a long nap, made some dinner at home and called it a day.  I am finding it more and more difficult to get a lot done on the weekends.  It seems the grand plans of traveling all over Japan when off from work was a great plan indeed but after the long but fun and rewarding days at school I am just as happy lying down and watching a movie on cable.  This is a development I am hoping to rectify in the coming New Year, but then again it could signal that Japan is starting to feel less like an extended vacation and more like my home.

     Monday after running a couple of errands around town I headed into Nagoya to grab some dinner as well as check out the large Christmas display outside Nagoya station.  After some searching I found Yabaton on the 8^th floor of the Meitisu Department store that is connected to the train station.  I had heard many times about Yabaton, as it appears to be the Pat’s Steak’s of Nagoya, a local restaurant of universal acclaim.  I have spoken a couple of times of my affinity for the local specialty called Tonkatsu and apparently Yabaton is the best place to eat it.  Basically tonkatsu is a breaded and fried pork cutlet usually served with a thick barbecue like sauce on a bed of shredded cabbage.  When I entered the restaurant I sat at the counter where shockingly the chef was able to surmise I was not a local.  After talking for a few minutes he explained he had lived in the US for a while, strangely Nashville, Tennessee of all places before returning to Japan a few years back.  He also explained that Yabaton had looked at opening an outpost in New York City and that he had hoped to be one of the chefs chosen to cook there since he liked living in the US.  Unfortunately the parent company found real estate in NYC too expensive and decided against the venture.  As he assisted me in ordering the tonkatsu “seto” (set meal) he told me I had to try Yabaton and Nagoya’s specialty, namely the “aka miso” (red soybean) sauce for which they are known.  As he was quite a good chef he was correct on the miso, as it was far superior to the barbeque sauce you normally find served with the dish in other parts of Japan.  After finishing my set meal with rice, miso soup and a couple of glasses of cold green tea I thanked my friend and headed out to check out the lights.  Rest assured anyone who makes a visit to Japan could count on eating here, as it was one of the best meals I have had thus far in Japan.  After descending the escalators to the ground floor I spent about an hour checking out the grand Christmas display of lights outside of the station before heading home to Kasugai.  As I talked about before Christmas is an odd holiday here since no deeper meaning is bestowed upon the holiday but the decorations I have seen here rival everything short of Fifth Avenue in New York City for there beauty and their elaborateness.  As for work during the week my co net began preparations for her ultimate departure from Japan and the new teachers soon arrival to Kasugai. 

     Saturday I finished at work and both myself, Kerin and one of our Japanese teachers headed into Nagoya for another night of partying at Maverick in Fushimi where my friends Ryan, Tommy and Shane were heading up a 2^nd DJ card.  After having some drinks with the large group that showed for the show some of the group began catching last trains home to their particular towns while the hard-core people of the group (any idea which group I was in?) prepared for an all nighter.   Fortunately Tommy had set up an after party at a club several blocks away after Maverick shut down at 2AM where about 6 or 7 of us headed over to in the light drizzle that was beginning to fall.  For the next few hours we enjoyed some drinks and listened to the music at the club, which was small and was run by a high octane Brazilian guy that Shane knew from DJ’ng in the Nagoya.  The truly interesting part of the night was I making my entrance into the 2^nd floor smallish club and having about 100 Japanese people turn around in unison and stare at me as the place seemed to be mostly local unlike Maverick which gets a heavy group of foreigners who frequent it.  Secondly was a cute Japanese girl putting a gun to my head as I entered only to find the bar for some unknown reason hands out 38 special cap guns to all patrons for what reason I have yet to determine.  All in all having a gun pointed at me is not what usually passes for Saturday night fun but we all ended up having a good time.  I even made a Japanese friend who spoke not a word of English who hung with our group much of the night, so named by me as “okii aka” (Big Red) because of his size and his bright red hoodie.  After the club started closing down we all walked to a guy’s apartment we met at the club and hung out for about an hour until the morning trains starting running.  I am not sure what everyone else did because I passed out on the guy’s couch within minutes of arriving and slept for an hour until Ryan woke me explaining it was time to leave.  Unfortunately for us one of our friends passed out on the guy’s futon and was unable to be revived.  As we headed to the train to go back to Kasugai we laughed as we imagined scenarios our friend might find himself in passing out at a random guy’s place with no one around.  Most of them centered on a Silence of the Lambs ending where he awoke at the bottom of a hole being ordered to “place the lotion in the basket” but alas we got word the following day all was well and he was on his way home.

Another week in Japan comes to a close with some drinking (shocker!).  Catch up with me next week to see what random guy’s couch I fall asleep on next.

Waiter There is a Mosquito in my Rice! Week 13 November 30th-December 6th

Sunday I woke up as early as I have since arriving here to meet some of my new friends at the Nagoya station for a day trip to the seaside town of Toba.  After meeting the organizer, Adam at the station the group of 8 of us boarded the train at the Kintetsu station next door for the 2-hour train ride to Toba.  Although our plans were to go to an island off the coast we were unable as some people arrived too late for first train and thus the first ferry at Toba.  Either way we arrived in Toba and decided to pay about 10 dollars each for a cruise in the harbor with a drop off by the popular Toba Aquarium.  Toba was beautiful if a little windy and cold and the boat ride was great.  We spent a large portion of it feeding scores of seagulls shrimp chips that trailed us off the back of the boat.  After arriving at the Aquarium we balked at the expensive entry fee and instead walked around before heading to a local restaurant on the water for a popular set dish in Japan called EbiFry (fried shrimp).  The food was great although my friend Joel did find the aforementioned mosquito at the bottom of his rice bowl as we finished our meal (bummer Joel).  From Toba we traveled aboard a local train and then a bus to Ise Shima Shrine, which I am told, is one of the more popular and famous in Japan.  Even more cool was the recreated ancient Japanese village that surrounds the Shrine with food stalls, shops and the like. This being my second visit to a Japanese shrine the grounds are so beautiful words do not do it justice.  Ise Shima is situated next to a river bursting with wild koi as trees hundreds of years old mingle amongst the manicured grounds.  It was not surprising when my Japanese friend Hiro explained that much of the Shinto religion is based on the natural beauty of the world around us so it is clear why these places are seemingly so gorgeous.  As at the other shrine there was little to see other than the beauty of nature around you but it would seem while Westerners expect the religious beauty of Notre Dame in Paris or Westminster Abbey in London the Japanese experience “religion” in the beauty of the outside world.  After leaving the shrine we stopped in the makeshift village outside its gate for a traditional meal of a sweet red bean and mochi (chewy rice derivative) as well as some hot tea.  Although mochi and red bean are an acquired taste the setting was great as we sat on tatimi mats and warmed our hands over the open fires inside the pavilion.  Once we returned to Nagoya we headed to Sakae where Adam took us to a local Chinese restaurant where our large group enjoyed a delicious dinner of gyoza, cha han (fried rice), spring rolls and Yaki Soba noodles as well as some cold beers.  Even though from there the group was heading to a bar called Red Rock the early start and the long day had me saying my goodbyes and heading home at around 9PM.  In even more exciting news I hooked up my new cable TV box which had arrived earlier in the weekend and fell asleep watching the 40 Year Old Virgin in English on one of my new movie channels.

Stop Mocking Me

It seems my new students have quickly gotten used to me and many have taken to mimicking my speech patterns at various times at school.  On a recent Saturday I turned my back to grab a game when one of my wild younger boys decided this was a great time to stand up on his chair.  Upon seeing him I immediately motioned with my hand for him to get down while repeating “yo, yo, yo “.  Not at first understanding me he hopped down and then began repeating the phrase, “Yo, yo, yo, New York City”.  A second student as I was preparing a lesson grabbed a ball from a classroom and began throwing it at his sister as I approached I quietly held out my hand and said, “Ball please”.  Since saying that he enjoys mimicking my deep voice by saying, “Ball please” whenever I see him.  And as I may have said before we are forbidden from speaking Japanese at any time in or out of the classroom as they fear if the children know we understand this will lessen their need to speak English to us.  Unfortunately one of my rowdier groups of pre teens was being loud and raucous as I sat and checked their homework in class.  As all four  of them were shouting and laughing one kept badgering me as to whether I liked a local gyudon chain called Matsuya.  Wanting to finish up I without thinking shouted “Hai (yes)” as I finished marking their books.  Once they heard me respond to their questions in Japanese they began laughing and repeating me saying “Hai” over and over again.  From there one of the girls in the class told her mother at the funny development so I was forced to apologize for my oversight as I read out to her the lesson we had just completed.

Another Slice of Christmas Cake? Week 12 November 23rd-November 29th

After my night of excitement in Kasugai at the Kombah I took it easy on Sunday and did little but stay close to home with a stop up to the shopping center for some Starbucks as my big excitement of the day.  Monday I headed out again on the JR Train back to Gifu (this being my third trip) as I had missed the large Buddha statue that is housed at Gifu and I wanted to take some photos and check it out.  If I have not mentioned before the rain in this region of the world is amazing.  It rains hard as rain can come down for extended periods as it did on my trip to Gifu.  Although I was unable to go back up to the mountain to see Gifu Castle as well I did find my way to the Buddha which strangely enough is housed in a large warehouse at the base of the mountain.  After paying my 100 yen entrance fee I spent about a half hour taking photos as the only fool who seemingly made there way there in a torrential downpour.  After having my fill I walked back thru the park but finally gave in as I was now soaked to the bone and began the bus trip back to Gifu station.  The only other item of note on my way home was stopping at my new favorite fast food chain, Mos Burger for a cheeseburger for dinner.  The remainder of the week was quiet at school other than parent’s observations and my contracting some type of flu that nearly knocked me out of commission.  Fortunately having gotten a flu shot (nice work flu shot) the week before I headed back to the clinic owned by one of my students’ parents were they took pity on me and rushed my thru quickly to see the doctor and gave me some antibiotics to cure what was ailing me.  Not sure the ins and the outs of the system but it sure went smooth, the doctor saw me, quickly diagnosed my slight fever and sore throat that was making swallowing increasingly difficult and send me out with my medication in hand in about 30 minutes at the cost of about 14 dollars with my Japanese social insurance card.  Way to go Japan!  Saturday night my friend Akiko came to visit in Kasugai where we headed to the Backbeat for some dinner and got to check out a Japanese rock band Kazuhiko had booked.  The guys were great and really friendly and although I did not know any of the tunes they played they did do a kick ass instrumental version of the Eagles Hotel California.

 

Christmas in Japan

Several of you have asked about Christmas in Japan and it is a subject very interesting indeed.  Since the country is almost entirely either Shinto or Buddhist the religious aspects of the holiday aren’t recognized obviously but with that said the Japanese make up for that with all the secular trappings one could hope for.  As early as Halloween lights began popping up all over as did elaborate Christmas displays featuring Santa, Christmas trees, Rudolph as well the other usual suspects.  It is odd that on Christmas day I will be working so if they are embracing these aspects you would think they would take that day as a holiday but it seems they roll Christmas into the more popular New Year’s festivities.  The other funny thing is everyone here eats what they call “Christmas cake” and even funnier they seem to believe this also to be a popular American custom.  As Christmas gears up stores begin posting about what types of cakes they will have available.  These cakes are meticulously decorated and are expensive so it seems people try to get the most beautiful and elaborate one they can find.  When asked about the tradition I explained Americans do not eat “Christmas cake” per say and on several occasins that comment was met with surprise by Japanese friends as they believed it was part of our holiday tradition.

 

Other Interesting Note about it Here

Another odd thing of note in Japan is the prevalence of hip-hop culture amongst Japanese teenagers her in Japan.  Upon my arrival I began noticing large groups of teens gathering in public places to practice highly choreographed dance moves seen in American Hip Hop videos.  On one night out in Fushimi I exited the train station to find about 50 kids in groups practicing all manner of dancing with some even busting out some break dancing.  I felt like I stepped into a casting call for an Usher video.