Living in Japan: April 2006

Arita Pottery festival

Erica and I spent the day in Arita, in the Saga prefecture.

Today's the first day of a week long 'pottery festival' in Arita. People come from all over Kyushu (and further) to visit the many stalls on the main road which stretches over 5km, displaying a wide variety of pottery. You can find many good deals.

At one cafe, you buy a coffee and get to keep the cup!

There are also many very expensive items available..the most expensive one that we saw being a beautiful hand painted bowl for $90 000. That's right, NINETY THOUSAND DOLLARS...

I bought a hand made cup to replace the one I've been using at school.

Shitsureshimasu

It's customary to announce yourself before entering a room. At school, when students enter the staff room, they must say 'shitsureishimasu' which translates loosely to "excuse me for bothering you". When they exit the staff room, they stop just outside the doorway, face the inside of the room, bow and say shitsureishimashita. When people other than teachers come to the staff room, they also say 'shitsureishimasu', bow then state in a loud voice for all to hear who they are before they enter. When I first arrived here I found this strange, but very quickly got use to it.

Kitano sensei (my new supervisor) and Shimasaki sensei (the new teacher, it's her first year teaching) and I went out for dinner after school. Just as we were preparing to leave, the baseball coach came into the staff room and said that this year's new members to the baseball team will be practicing their 'entering the staff room' greeting. They practice yelling (at the top of their lungs) shitsureishimasu, bow before entering the staff room, walk through the room stopping to bow and greet the vice- principal (Konnichiwa!!) and exit at the opposite end.(shitsureishimasu!!) . The staff room is a large room, the picture below shows about 2 thirds of it. The vice-principal is seated in the middle of room.

So for about 10 minutes, there was a string of students coming through the staff room one after the other, each yelling at the top of their voice before entering, and exiting. If they didnt yell loud enough or clearly enough, didn't walk correctly, didn't look confident, didn't bow low enough when greeting the vice-principal etc..they had to go around and do it again.

At one point, Fukuda sensei answered the phone which happened to be close to the door from which the students were coming in. I wonder what the person on the other end thought of all the yelling.

I found this whole exercise very strange...but entertaining at the same time!

I went to the community center for volley-ball practice today. It was my first time there. When I got to the door, I was surprised to find both Iwata san and her husband there! They had just finished working out. When she asked what i was going to be doing, she said they were in no rush so they came to watch the beginning of our volley-ball practice. Turns out, that Iwata san's husband (who's in the police force) knows the volley-ball coach of our team (who's also a police officer)! When we finished practice, i heard someone call my name from the other side of the gym, it was one my students who was coming to pick up her brother! Then, as we were leaving, I ran into Umebayashi san who was coming for badminton. I wasn't expecting to run into so many people I know...!

After practice, all the players were going to one of the team member's home. I could only stay till 8:30pm because i had already made plans, but it was nice to get to know them a little better. This was only the third practice that i've been to. Matsue san is an incredible cook!! She and some of the other players had prepared a feast! Before I left, we took a picture :)

Welcome home mom and dad!

Mom and dad got back safe and sound from Israel where they were visiting David for a few weeks.

Apparently, we also have relatives who live not too far from the Gaza strip.

Looks like they had a good time!

Ouch..

When I got back from volleyball late yesterday evening, I accidentally slammed my head in the front doorway entrance…everything went dark for a couple of seconds. I have a cut on my forehead from having banged it so hard.

I felt like such a dork today when my teacher asked what happened to my forehead!

First day of classes!

Today was a crazy day at school, first day of classes! The students this year seem to be really genki. I’m looking forward to getting to know them.

Classes ended a little earlier than usual today, because there were some activities that were organized to introduce the 1st year students to the many cultural clubs that are available at school. There were presentations done by the drama club, cooking club, art club, tea ceremony club, the band, etc. They were put on in order to try to recruit the 1st year students.

I left early in the morning for Kumamoto. Here's a picture of Shimabara as we leave the port.

Lots of birdies wanting to be fed..!

I spent the day at the Diamond city shopping mall that just opened about half a year ago.

On the drive back from Shimabara to Nagasaki, route 251 runs along side of the water.

Hike changed to B-ball/V-ball tournaments

The ensoku (hike) planned for today was cancelled due to rainy weather. In place of it, students were organized into teams that were entered into either basket-ball or volley-ball tournaments. I had bought my new camera with the intention of bringing it today, but forgot it at home!

When my parents came to visit, they were invited to join in on the ensoku, which was lots of fun! I can't believe it's already been a year since my parents were here! Here are some pictures from the hike last year.

Once at the top, everyone did a folk dance,

then ate lunch.

We spent a couple of hours at the top taking in the view,

talking and playing sports before making our way back down.

New digital camera!

The camera I've been using for the last couple of years has been well used (maybe even abused?). If you saw what shape my old one was in, you'd agree that it was high time I invested in a new one!

Although it's taken quite a beating, it has served me well! So I decided to replace it with a new version of it.

I'll try to take better care of this one!

Entrance Ceremony

As I was leaving this morning for school, Uchida sensei called with information about a volley-ball league that I could join in Yagami. They get together every Tuesday and Thursday evening. I'll be going tomorrow to see what it's like.

This morning began with a meeting in the gym where the newly arrived teachers were introduced to all the 2nd and 3rd year students. During this meeting, the students were also reminded that they are now the role models/mentors for students who will entering the high school, and should make sure they act accordingly. The students were standing in line at attention, like they usually do. In the middle of the principal's speech, there was suddenly a loud bump...it turned out to be one of the students fainting, their head hit the gym floor! Teachers rushed for a gurney, the nurse helped her out, and the ceremony continued. I spoke to the nurse later on, she said that the student was all right.

In the afternoon, the shininshiki (entrance ceremony) was held. Students' entrance into high school is the beginning of a new chapter in their lives and it's marked by a very formal (read 'stuffy') ceremony. Many parents attend the entrance ceremony. The band plays and everyone claps while the new students file into the gym. Each student's name is called out by the homeroom teacher, then the principal gives an address. The school song is sung, there's lots of standing and bowing at different times for different people.

The students did a presentation showing the new students what kind of events to expect during the year (ie Sports Festival, Cultural Day, Marathon, Sport days, etc..). They also performed the Essasa dance.

The weather was terrible today. It was pouring...the wind was so strong, it sounded like the windows in the gym were going to give in!

Of all days, it had to be today that I get a flat tire....but on the bright side, I noticed it while still on school grounds, so I walked back to the school to use the phone. Uchida sensei was kind enough to call the gas station where I had bought 4 new tires only three weeks. They arrived within 10 minutes of the call, very speedy. However, he had to take the tire back to the station for something or another and come back. I ended up leaving school close to 7pm...!

Hiroshima Road Trip (April 6-9th)

Early in the morning, we started off for Hiroshima. The drive took almost 4 hours from Erica's place, not as long as we had been led to believe it would take! Although cheaper than taking the train, it was still quite pricey because of the tolls. All highways in Japan are toll roads.

This is the bridge we crossed that joins Kyushyu to Honshu

We arrived in downtown Hiroshima around noon and once we'd finally found our way around the city and found parking, we wandered around the Peace Park area. Because it was such a beautiful day and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, everyone was out sitting by the water under the cherry blossom trees having their lunch.

Wandering around Hiroshima, you can't help but be amazed at how well Hiroshima has recovered from the most horrendous thing that could ever befall a city...Looking around, it's hard to believe only 60 years ago the entire city was completely destroyed.

We visited the Atomic Bomb Museum

Here's the Peace monument outside the Atomic Bomb museum where a Peace Memorial Ceremony is held every year gathering many to pray for peace.

the Atomic Bomb Dome, a Unesco World Heritage site, is a symbol of the atomic bomb. It was decided to keep the building to remember the disaster and the war and has become a symbol of the people's hope that it will not happen again.

Hiroshima is famous for its own version of Okonomiyaki

We spent one day in Miyajima, famous for the torii (red gate) leading to Itsukushima shrine.

As you exit the ferry port in Miyajima, you are met by deers which wander freely around the island. I always thought of deers as being very gentle creatures. They're not.

If you have food (or if they think you have food) they will butt you (and it hurts!) until you give them what you have. They can be very aggressive!

They're much friendlier when they're tired?..

Istukushima Shrine, registered as a World Cultural Heritage, is said to have been founded in the 600's.

There happen to be a wedding in progress while we were there.

At the start of the day, notice how high the tide is.

In the afternoon, the tide was low enough that you could walk up to the torii and touch it

Sitting under one of the many cherry blossom trees on the island.

A very typical Japanese scene during this time of year: enjoying a meal in good company under a cherry blossom tree.

According to our guide book, the view from the top of Mount Misen is worth seeing. We had the choice of either taking a ropeway up or following a trail. Although we hadn't planned to do any hiking, we figured it'd be nice to hike it since it was only 2.5 km.