A new aspiration

This is a real article from the Daily Yomouri (the English newspaper that my Japanese teacher gets every day and shares with me). As I read this, I just kept thinking that it seemed like a fake article that you'd read somewhere like The Onion. But, I assure you it's real.
Blades of glory: World champion barber's tale

Gero Onsen

Last weekend some of our friends organized a bus tour out to a famous onsen town. At first we didn't think that Jason was going to be able to come because he had a group presentation for one of his SJSU classes. But luckily his group picked Friday for their presentation, so he was free to come, too.
Saturday morning all 30 of us piled on our bus and off we went. It was quite a long bus ride, but the organizers planned some games for us to play. For one of the games we were each given something that we had to collect throughout the day. Jason and I had yennies (the Americanized name for one yen coins, which are worth about a penny). My competitive nature came through, and I was on a serious yennie hunt. Some of our friends were supposed to collect receipts, so I grabbed some from a convenience store and tried to sell them for a yennie each. My efforts paid off, and Jason and I were the yennie champions!
On the ride up we stopped at a park that had 3,000 trees, all of which were various shades of red, orange and yellow. We did about a 20 minute walk through the park, which was really beautiful. I enjoyed being in a group with a bunch of other people from Phoenix who were equally impressed by the leaves. Some people don't understand that we just don't have such things in Phoenix.
When we got to Gero we all headed off for the hot springs. The town had many to choose from, but we'd been given a list with some suggestions. In all, we visited four different baths, and they were all really nice ... and hot. Our last stop Saturday night was the free public onsen, which was located on the river bank. Most private onsen are separated, to keep the naked men away from the naked women. This was a mixed onsen, so you were supposed to wear bathing suits (there was a sign that apparently said so in Japanese). Our group followed this sign, but there were some Japanese visitors (of both sexes) who did not. It was an interesting evening.
Our dinner and breakfast were both included in the place where we stayed, so they were both Japanese style. The dinner was good, even if it had a little more seafood than I'd pick for myself (but I sure have come a long way). But I can't do Japanese breakfast. Miso soup and fish just isn't breakfast.
On the ride back we stopped for a boat cruise. The scenery along the river was beautiful with the changing trees and the weather cooperated wonderfully. Plus, we lucked out and were on a really interesting boat. The entire inside was tatami mat. It was quite different and fun.

There are more pictures on the picasa site.

'good food come come'

This week my students were practicing writing about their dreams and what they want to be in the future. Here are some direct quotes from their papers ...

- I want to become a gentle, painful nurse with a smile.
- When I become a wonderful working member of society, I will want to travel around The Japan.
- First, I like coffee. But I always after drinking it, I have a stomachache.
- Fifth, I'm TV talent of one's dreams.
- I want people to be moved by my volleyball.
- I wanted to do it that a butterfly called ordered medicine it thought it was difficult.
- I will make my comic books. For example, gag, a love story.
- I want to make Chinese food shop. Shop name is 'good food come come'.

Some of them obviously typed what they wanted into a translator and as Jason and I have learned, the results aren't always what you actually wanted to say.

Kurashiki

--still catching up--

Jason and I celebrated five years of being together with a day trip to Kurashiki at the end of October. The descriptions we'd read of the town said that it was quaint and a nice place to spend an afternoon. There's a river (canal?) that cuts through town and there are many old, traditional shops and museums along the banks.
It turned out to rain all day, but we put on our ponchos and didn't let it stop us. We still had a very pleasant stroll through town. I always enjoy poking around in old shops and Jason was a good sport to humor me.
On our way home we stopped in Okayama and finally managed to eat at a burger joint that we'd read about. It was our fifth try. Our previous attempts had failed due to bad train connections, bad directions to the restaurant, and the restaurant randomly deciding to close on Tuesdays. But, this time we found it and it was open. The burgers were really delicious. My burger came topped with grilled apples and Jason got one with avocado. Yum.

Tottori

--still catching up -- (almost there!)

While our Czech friends were here we took a day trip out to Tottori. It's on the Japan Sea coast. It's known for its sand dunes. It was truly bizarre. We've seen a range of sceneries in Japan, but the sand dunes around Tottori didn't mesh with any of them. For one thing, there were camels. I can't imagine that they're native creatures. We considered but opted not to go for ride. Although plenty of the Japanese grannies did.
We trekked across the dunes and up the hill and were rewarded with a great view.
I'll put the rest of the pictures on picasa soon.

International Festival

--still catching up--

Once again this year I volunteered as a stage MC at Himeji's International Festival. It wasn't a difficult job, I just had to announce the next act (in English). Jason came to the festival too, but he volunteered at the English booth.
The best part of this festival is the range of food. They organize food booths from countries all over the world. We tried Australian barbecue, Polish meat, Spanish taquitos, Indonesian crepes among others. Yum.

Aboshi Lantern Festival

--still catching up--

We really enjoyed the lantern smashing festival in Aboshi. It was once again a bit jarring to see the beautifully painted lanterns completely destroyed, but the frantic mob is fun to watch. Even though this was the second year that we've gone to this festival, I still really don't understand the point. I'm not sure why they smash the lanterns. That being said, it is my favorite of all of the local festivals.
Our friends from the Czech Republic were here, and it was fun to be able to show them a Japanese festival. We even managed to snag a couple of wayward lanterns for them to take home a souvenirs. They particularly enjoyed all of the men running around in fundoshi (loin cloths) and the wide assortment of (fried) festival food.
Another interesting aspect of the evening was the fact that Jason and I were "famous". We both taught at elementary and junior high schools in the area last year, so every few seconds were were recognized by a group of students and could hear our names being shouted.
There are more pictures on the picasa site.

ikebana

This week I started ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). Some people had told me that it was difficult because there was a lot of math involved, but for me the math wasn't the difficult part. That the height of the secondary piece needs to be 70% of the primary piece, etc., made sense to me. The "making sure it looks right" part was much more difficult.
Anyway, here's my first creation.

Nada Fighting Festival

We just came through festival season again in Himeji. With my schedule, we weren't able to get to all the festivals we went to last year, but we did go back to the Nada Fighting Festival. Last year I spent all day at this festival, but this year we just went in the evening. Although apparently it wasn't on the official program, we felt that the evening portion was the most interesting, so we were content to see that again.
We managed to find some seats on the hill overlooking the main festival site. I think people pay for these seats, but we just found an empty mat. Chelsey asked the people sitting next to it if we could sit there, and they said OK, and so we had seats for the night. We sat down to our dinner of fried festival food and waited for the big shrines to be carried down from the hill. Last year, Chelsey and I ventured down into the main area, but it was quite chaotic and a little scary, so we were happy to stay on the hill this time.
The festival gets its name because groups of men take their portable shrines and crash them into one another, until one group can't hold anymore and the shrines fall to the ground. Then, I presume, the other group is the winner. This year, though, the festival really lived up to its name, as after a couple of shrine clashes, the men decided to keep it going with some fisticuffs. At one point a guy climbed up on a shrine and was aiming kicks at people until he was pulled down. There were police around the area for crowd control, and none of the fights lasted too long, but it was probably good we were well away from that area this year.
-Jason
There are more pictures on the picasa page.

Himeji castle reconstruction

I haven't been updating this as regularly as I'd planned, but here's what the castle looked like on Oct. 16. It's completely covered now. I'll try to get a new picture soon.

Aussie Rules

This year's Grand Final in the Australian Football League ended in a tie for the first time in decades. Apparently, under league rules, if the final ends in a tie they replay the game a week later. This year, that meant some Australians in our building ordered the Internet feed of the replay, so I got to watch the second go-round. (Apparently, if the second game ended in a tie, they would have gone to overtime). I remember seeing Aussie Rules on TSN when I was young, but all I really remember is the six-shooter signal the official makes when a goal is scored. So I think this was the first game I've watched all the way through.
It was quite enjoyable, too, even though it wasn't a classic game. It was between Collingwood and St. Kilda's. Apparently, Collingwood is something like the Yankees of the AFL, except they hadn't won the title since 1990. (Maybe the Maple Leafs are a better example? Big market team that hasn't won in years but nobody likes them anyways?) I was watching with two people from Adelaide. There are two teams from Adelaide, and each of my fellow viewers supports a different Adelaide team, presumably making them rivals. Nevertheless, they were in agreement we should cheer for St. Kilda's.
Unfortunately, Collingwood ran away with it. The tone was set earlier by a hilarious gaffe from the St. Kilda's captain. For NFL fans, it was like Leon Lett's brain cramp in the Super Bowl, if only Lett's play had been the turning point of a tightly-contested game instead of comic relief in his team's blowout win. So anyways, the big team went on to win comfortably and the small team lost the final for the second year in a row.
Before coming here, I would always have described Aussie Rules as "like rugby", a comparison the Australians in the building always disagree with strongly. After watching the game, I see why. While there are superficial similarities to rugby (they use a similar ball, there's tackling and no pads), in strategy the game is much more like hockey or soccer. Players move, unconstrained, all around the field of play, as does the ball, while the point of the game is to propel the ball through a goal - not to maintain possession across a line, as in rugby or American and Canadian football.
Nevertheless, I had fun watching the game. It was also good to watch it with some people who could explain things to me. That part may have been a good learning experience; what if I have a Grey Cup party and have to explain this play?

takoyaki pancake balls

Takoyaki means "octopus grilled" but is usually translated as "octopus balls". They are not the Japanese equivalent of Rocky Mountain oysters, but are actual dough balls that have a piece of octopus meat in the middle. They are tolerable, but not one of my favorite dishes.
Our apartment came with a takoyaki maker that we'd never used. One day I was thinking about it and trying to come up with something to do with it, and I thought of using it to make pancake balls with a blueberry in the middle. I tested them out one morning for breakfast, and they were great! So much so, that now I'm trying to think of other things to make. I pitched the idea of a saltier dough with ham and cheese in the middle to Jason, and he seemed weary. I think he'd rather I try the pancake batter with chocolate in the middle.
Any suggestions?

Shinzaike Festival 2010

We had our second go-around at our neighbourhood festival at the beginning of October. This is the real beginning of our festival season here in Japan. Unfortunately, this year it rained that weekend, so we only had a shortened version of the festival. Blog readers may remember our tales of jostling the shrines from last year. Well, that got excised from the program this year. Instead, we rolled the shrine around the neighbourhood for a couple of hours, picking it up for some solo jostling three or four times. This included once in the parking lot of our building, for some reason. We got Japanese-style lunchboxes, as we did last year, but this year we ate them at our building instead under tents with the rest of the community at the nearby park. We did go back to the park for some kids dancing in the afternoon, but everything seemed shorter and less of a celebration than last year. Darn the rain!
-Jason

There are more pictures on the picasa site.