Living in Japan: March 2006

Kaitenzushi shop

Today was another shortened day at school. I had made plans to meet Yamada sensei for lunch, and when I asked my supervisor if it was all right for me to leave the school grounds for lunch she said that I didn’t have to come back in the afternoon since many teachers are leaving early today. Yoohoo!

Yamada sensei and I went to a kaitenzushi ('rotating sushi') restaurant. It was my first time! It’s the kind of restaurant where people sit around a large conveyor belt type thing on which there’s a wide variety of different sushi plates which rotate around the whole restaurant. If something looks good to you, you grab it as it goes by.

You can also order dishes if you don’t see anything you like. When you’re done eating, you call over a waitress who will charge you according to how many plates you have in front of you.

Mandarin Offensive

For those who thought that English was the language of the world, here's an article that suggests otherwise..

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/mandarin.html

Day at school

I finished cleaning out my desk at school, getting things ready for the new school year. Tomorrow, I'll work on cleaning out the Oral Communication room.

A couple of English teachers and I went out to a restaurant for lunch. 3 hours later, we headed back to school. The lady on the right is Uchida sensei, my supervisor (only until the end of today!) and the lady on the left is Tagawa sensei.

It is cherry blossom season! (pictures taken around Yagami, a few minutes walk from my apartment).

Mom and dad, you must have arrived in Haifa by now, take lots of pictures!!

Sightseeing in Nag and another End-of-Year enkai

It’s spring holidays but teachers are still expected to go to school. However, we can arrive a little later, leave a little earlier, and everyone is dressed down, very relaxed atmosphere. There was another end-of-year enkai for the English teachers tonight which I was going to go to straight from school. Sheila and Alice were going to spend the day downtown, and we were going to meet up later in the evening, after the enkai.

I arrived at school around 9am, and although some teachers are very busy with meetings, I don’t have too much to do. When my supervisor found out that I had friends visiting, she said ‘you go spend the day with your friends, just come back before we head to the party together. Don’t worry about taking nenkyu (paid holiday), go have a good time!’. What a nice lady :)

So I spent most of the day downtown with Sheila and Alice. I took them sight seeing around the city. We started off at Suwa Shrine. It was founded in the 1600s during the time when the government was trying to stamp out Christianity. Suwa shrine is considered one of the most important Shinto shrine in Nagasaki and is the site of the famous autumn festival called Kunchi. I once read somewhere that the Kunchi festival is known as one of the Japan’s three great festivals and is unique in that the performances reflect Nagasaki’s history of international exchange. Below is a picture of the view leading up to Suwa Shrine from the bottom of the stairs.

Here's another as we get closer to Suwa shrine.

As we make out way to the top, we can see cherry blossoms on either side.

What makes Nagasaki one of Japan’s more interesting places to visit is the fact that it was the only place in all of Japan that had contact with the outside world for almost 300 years. As a result, there’s a lot of foreign influence (mostly Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese) to be found here. Also, Nagasaki is all lush green hills, it's beautiful.

We went by the site of the 26 Martyrs. Although I've been here for almost a year and half, this was the first time that I visited the hill of the 26 martyrs.

In the 1500s, a law was passed banning Christianity in Japan. Christians were brought to Nagasaki from Osaka and Kyoto to be excuted on this hill where now stands a large monument. There's a church as well as a museum which displays information about the persecution of the Christians. Here we are in front of the museum, the outside of which is covered in mozaic.

When we got to the Atomic Bomb museum, Sheila went in while Alice and I waited in the park. Alice had recently visited the Hiroshima museum and didn't feel up to seeing the Nagasaki museum. I've been in several times, and it's always difficult to see the effects of the bomb... It's sometimes hard to believe that it happened only 60 years ago.

Right outside the Atomic Bomb museum is the Hypocenter. A large monument marks the spot above which the bomb was dropped.

The Peace Park is just a few minutes walk away. There are monuments/statues representing peace that have been donated from countries around the world.

After the Peace Park, Alice and Sheila stayed downtown, while I headed back to school.

Later in the evening was the end-of-year enkai for the English teachers at Seiryo. Since I don't drink, I gave some teachers a ride to the enkai. We had a little trouble finding the restaurant, but eventually made it there.

On our way there, one of the teachers said she had been looking forward to the dinner, and was a little disappointed to found out that one (of the many) dishes was going to be fugu (blowfish). I remember reading in a Dave Barry book that, every year, there are people who die from eating blowfish that has not been prepared correctly. Apparently blowfish is a delicacy and is very expensive. It's raw lungs of the blowfish, I think, I'm not sure. I asked the teacher to point out the blowfish when it is served.

Voila raw blowfish lungs, a delicacy in Japan. Though poisonous if not prepared correctly, still very well-liked by many.

The dishes served at enkais are very elaborate, the food is beautifully presented. The dinner included the following (amongst other things):

This is a HUGE shrimp.

There are 13 English teachers at Seiryo, 5 of whom will be transferring to a new school. Included in the teachers who are leaving is my supervisor. I'm sad to see them go, I wonder what the new teachers will be like.

Friends visiting from Kochi

A couple of friends were visiting from the Kochi prefecture. Sheila is a Baha'i from Malaysia who is teaching at a private school in the Kochi prefecture, and Alice is a one year exchange student from Poland studying at the university of Kochi. It’s always nice to have English speaking friends over!!

We spent a couple of days sightseeing around Nagasaki and the surrounding areas. They arrived in the late morning on Sunday in Isahaya, and from there we drove to Unzen, a quaint little town most famous for onsens (hot springs). Unzen is located near the top of an active volcano. The most famous place to visit in the town is the jigoku (hell). Similar to the hells found in Beppu (see ‘Please be naked!’), the ground is so hot that the water/mud bubbles, and there’s steam that rises from the ground.

There’s a slightly elevated path that goes around the area. The dozen or so times that I’ve been to Unzen, there’s always been some construction happening due to the high levels of sulphur found in the water which ruins the wood/metal.

We then soaked our feet in a foot onsen, which is always an enjoyable experience.

Above the foot onsen, there’s a sign which says something about the water being good for stiff necks/shoulders and that while sitting and relaxing your feet in the water, one should ‘make pleasurable conversation’.

The road leading to Unzen is a winding road up the side of the mountain. Along the way, in a small area where a car could pull over, there was a large chair. It looked so out of place.

After Unzen, we headed into Nagasaki city where we visited Urakami Church. Before being destroyed by the bomb on August 6th 1945, it was one of the largest church in East Asia. The statues in the forefront of the picture remain from the original church before the bombing.

Later on, we went down to China town,

also to Hamanomachi arcade (a strip mall) where we ate the scrumptiously delicious ‘choco cros’. I’ve eaten way too many sweets in the past couple of days!

End-of-year Enkai

Today was the last day of school, before the spring holidays begin! School will resume on April 7th (I think that's when the opening ceremony will be held)

However, most teachers and students will still be going to school during the holidays.. Teachers have work to catch up on, and students have club activities which go on 365 days a year.

Every 6 years or so teachers are transferred to a different school. This year, there were 13 out of the 60 or so teachers from my school that will be changing schools. I guess the thinking behind this system is to prevent things from getting stagnant, the community of teachers becomes stronger because over the course of their teaching career they will have worked with many colleagues, keep things

The closing ceremony was held today during which the teachers who are being transferred to a new school all gave short goodbye speeches. It was so sad!!

The teachers have till April 1st to make travel arrangements to their new town/city, find a place to stay (sometimes the school has teacher's appartments available, like where I live), sometimes have to enroll their children in new schools, become familiar with their new town, meet the new teachers they'll be working with, etc. They have 1 week to get this all done. I have no idea how they manage all this in the short time they're given...

There was an end-of-year enkai this evening (there have been many in the past week, 'tis the season of enkais..), during which the teachers again said a few words. The vice-principal from my school is changing, he will be a principal at the next school he goes to. I'm really sad to see him go! I will really miss some of the teachers..

At enkais, everyone gets really drunk, and say what they've always want to say. The whole of japanese society relies heavily on drinking...it's a social lubricant here. However people are very responsable, even when completely drunk!

Mom's birthday!

Happy birthday mommy!!!

You’re the best mom in the world. I love you!!

Happy Naw Ruz!

Happy New year!

(http://www.bahai.org)

International day at Isahaya

About 6 or 7 ALTs were invited to attend the international day at Isahaya Commercial high school. Each ALT was assigned to a group of students, and we spent the day doing different kinds of activities, put on skits, etc.

Voila my group:

It was a fun day!

The solution to an aging population is...

Robots!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060314/lf_afp/afplifestylejapan_060314151752

Japan's aging population is slowly but surely making itself felt on its economy. Above is a link showing one way that Japan is looking to solve the problem!

Last day at Bunko for this year

Since I started working at Seiryo High School, I've been visiting a branch school of its called Bunko, once a week. They will be closing down Bunko next year. In preparation for the closing, they stopped admitting any new students last year. So in my first year teaching there, there were 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students. Now, my second year teaching there, there are only 2nd and 3rd year students. The school year ends in March, so next month, when the new school year begins, there will only be 3rd year students.

Because there will only be 3rd year students, it has not yet been decided whether I will continue with my weekly visits. I was disappointed to hear that, because I looked forward to seeing the kids at this school. Despite their roudiness and many problems, they're good kids!

Stairway to heaven

You'd think that walking up 3333 steps (THREE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE steps) would lead you straight to heaven. It doesn't.

I spent the weekend in Kumamoto, where we visited a famous spot in the Izumi area called "Nihon ichi no ishidan"(Japan's number one stone steps).

At the start of our climbing, we were all really gung-ho.

Once we got to the 200th stair, we were panting pretty bad. At one point, I was sure we must have been at least at the 2000th stairs, if not more. The sign said we had reached the 600th step. Still had a long way to go!

We were all huffing, puffing and weazing the whole way up. We stopped a few times to catch our breath. I'm surprised we made it to the top at all!

After about 1 hour 40 minutes, we finally reached the top! (the stone reads 3333rd step)

Once at the top, we were all delirious with joy and took random pictures.

Although it doesn't lead to heaven, you do get a gorgeous view from the top!

Something that foreigners usually comment on when they come to Japan is the fact that vending machines can be found EVERYWHERE you go. Along a road, you cannot drive 200 meters without running across a vending machine. Somebody once jokingly said that they double up as street lamps (cos they're so bright and can be seen regularly along the street). One would think that there would be several vending machines at the top of the stairs. There wasn't!!

It took only about 40 minutes to run down (which was a really bad idea...i'm in so much pain.)

Here we are, having succeeded in climbing up and back down 3333 stone steps.

We ended the day by visiting a much needed onsen.

Fingerprinting?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4781260.stm

Dinner at Sharara

After school today, a teacher and I went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant which was right opposite the place where the graduation enkai was held (where I had problems getting out of the parking spot).

This nice little restaurant is run by the owner and his family. The teacher I went with is a regular there, everyone who came in seemed to know her! The owner was a really sweet man, who gave us free yaki niku! (raw meat and vegetables which you cook yourself on a givenheated plate). It was delicious!

The owner is the man on the far right (I'm not sure who the other 2 are).

Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of war in your room, please control yourself.

During my time in Japan, I've come across many strange logos/sayings, such as:

I guess it's the equivalent of shirts with random kanjis that you find in the West.

At my school's last 'sports day', I wore a T-shirt I had bought in France that had 3 kanjis on the front. I hadn't given any thought to the fact that people might be able to read the kanjis here. All day, I had people asking me what the meaning of the writing on my shirt was. I guess these kanjis aren't usually used together, so they didn't know how to read them or what the intended meaning was. I tried to explain that recently you find kanjis on clothing because it looks cool, but that people aren't necessarily concerned with the meaning.

It seems to me that it's kind of the same way English is sometimes used on clothing in Japan: just random words stuck together.

Iojima Island

On a passé la journee sur Iojima, une petite ile qui se trouve au large de la baie de Nagasaki. Ca a pris a peu pres une vingtaine de minutes pour y arriver en bateau.

Pour faire le tour de l’ile, on a le choix de faire une promenade a pied ou de louer un velo. On a decide de faire une balade a velo. These bikes were old and squeaky…mais bon, they worked. Parts of the path were by the water

and other parts, we had to struggle up hills. We gave up pretty quickly biking up the hills...ended up walking our bikes. Ca fait tellement longtemps que j'ai pas fait du velo. Une fois arrivees au sommet de Iojima, on a une vue magnifique!

There were tennis courts, a very attractive looking beach which I would love to come back to during the summer. Il y a aussi la cathedrale Okinoshima qui domine la mer.
Ca nous a pris 2 heures pour faire le tour de l'ile. Il y a un onsen bien connu sur cette ile qui s'appelle..hmm je ne me rappelle plus, mais j'ai pris une photo.