Kimono & Homecooking

I met Miyakawa-san once before, during my first year on JET, when I went to check out a taiko-drumming group. And over four years later, I see her again when she transferred to one of my schools, actually she recognised me first since I could not for the life of me remember who she was.

I was invited over to try some stage kimono that her late mother had left behind. Afterwards, I was treated to some Japanese homecooking, and she completely outdid herself with this feast she'd prepared. It was so good... and it tasted all the better knowing that someone had taken the time and effort to prepare it for me. I came away with a pair of kimono and a doggy bag of yumminess.

Halloween on Base

I didn't realise Halloween was such a huge occasion for Americans! It was like Christmas, but with spooky deco. At an ex-colleague's small Halloween gathering on Yokota Base, I got to try out their extremely well-made self-constructed Haunted House..

Shikoku

For about 6 days, I did a circuit around the island of Shikoku, and went around to the four main cities of the island, Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Kochi, and Tokushima. Unfortunately, I got caught up in a typhoon whilst in Matsuyama, and had to extend my stay there by another day because of the cancellation of all trains and buses. Other then that though, it was a nice holiday.

The highlights would definitely have to be the food at Hirome Market and the Yosakoi Festival which are both in Kochi. Recommended.

Takamatsu: Udon; Temples in Konpira; Shikoku Village; Ritsurin Park.

Matsuyama: Goshiki somen noodles; Matsuyama Castle; Dogo Onsen.

Kochi: Kochi Castle; Fish balls and Fatty tuna sushi at Hirome Market; Yosakoi Festival.

Tokushima: Naruto whirlpools; Awa Odori Festival.

Jam and Pickled Plums

I'm having a great holiday so far, and have been keeping myself busy. Although, not often, there are times when I'm left alone with my thoughts, and I am forced to think about things I don't want to think about. Last night was one of those times which made me feel pretty depressed, and it didn't help that I had to go in to work the next day, to a job where the dislikes outweigh the likes.

But one of the teachers at work, who's an absolute dear, brightened up my day. He's been honing his skills in jam-making in anticipation of the day he will retire and open his own bakery, and he's been pickling plums with his SEN students. I got to try the pickled plums on rice, traditional Japanese fare that's perceived as a patriotic food because of it's resemblance to the national flag (mentally remove the nori from my picture). I was also gifted with more of the pickled plums, and a jar each of plum jam and blueberry jam ;)

Festivals Up North

At the beginning of August, a friend and I went on a three day Japanese-style tour to the north of Japan. The trip was pretty much coach-based, but it was a good way to get a taste of what the north of Honshu has to offer. We were fortunate enough to have fantastic weather, and only got rained down upon on the coach during the journey back to Tokyo.

From Tokyo to Aomori, it takes 10 hours. I bought a snack from one of the service stations we stopped at:

 

[Steamed yellow and purple sweet potato cake]

On Day 1, we watched the Nebuta Festival in Aomori. The illuminated floats were fantastic, but compared to other festivals I've seen in Japan, the atmosphere didn't quite have that festive vibe to it.

On Day 2, we went to Lake Tanzawa in the Akita prefecture which was absolutely gorgeous, it was so clean and clear. We stopped by Kakunodate - traditional Japanese houses in a "Little Kyoto" setting - which I didn't find particularly interesting, before heading to Akita City to watch the Akita Kanko Festival.

 [Top: Fish in the lake; shrine by the lake. Bottom: Misotanbo = miso-glazed barbecued rice on a stick; Baba Hera ice-cream, tastes like it's bubblegum flavoured.]

[Akita City has a lovely park.]

The Kanko Festival was so much more exciting than the Nebuta Festival. Performers balanced bamboo poles hung with candle-lit lanterns on various parts of their bodies, and competed to see who could make theirs the tallest by adding more bamboo extensions to their poles. It was really exhilarating to watch.

Day 3, before starting the journey back to Tokyo, we visited Yamagata, where we checked out the Sankyo Soko Warehouses in Sakata, a seafood shop, and Mt.Haguro. With an hour's free time, I figured, I could climb up the two thousand-odd steps to the summit and back with time to spare for a persimmon snow cone. I was halfway there before I was forced to turn back. My mosquito magnetic powers were working as well as ever, and I wasn't geared for mosquito bite prevention. Yeah, it was disappointing, but hiking the three holy mountains in the area is on my to-do list, so I should be back.

Overall, I enjoyed the trip, as with most tours, it was a little rushed for time, but that was to be expected. Anyway, with all the eating and sitting, I'm sure I had gained weight from it all!

Summer Fireworks

In Japan, summer means fireworks, festivals, watermelons and snow cones.

Us veteran JETs took the newbies to Okutama Nohryo Fireworks Festival in West Tokyo to experience a bit of Japanese culture. The fireworks display was modest and didn't last long, but the mountain air and the lack of crowds was preferable to Tokyo Bay's firework display which was also taking place on the same day. The daytime high in downtown Tokyo was 37 degrees C, and come evening, the temperature was still in the 30s, so it was nice to get away from the heat and humidity.

Happy New Year!

This morning, I got up at 02:30. A friend and I were going to catch the sunrise at Mount Takao.

A new year is a new beginning, and during New Year's, it's traditional in Japan to savour the first time of something, such as catching the first sunrise of the year.

There were crowds of people when we arrived at Takaosanguchi Station, but not the masses that I'd expected. I guess most folk had decided to sleep in their nice warm beds rather than come out to the mountains in zero-degree weather for just a few moments of glory. Most people took the cable car up, or walked up the easy paved trail to the top. We hiked up the Inariyama Course instead.

After last week, I needed the extra workout, my mate was up for a night hike, we were prepared with torches, and fewer people were taking this route up which was all the more reason for us to do this course ;) This route is very much a mountain trail and was iced up in places, but there were some idiots (some with kids) who tried to do it without a light.

The skies were clear, so there were great views of Mount Fuji and the sunrise. Getting out of bed so early on a cold morning required some effort, but I'm glad I did it ;) Happy New Year!

Mochitsuki

[Mochi with kinako (soybean powder) and sweet shoyu sauce]

We had a mochi-making ceremony called mochitsuki at my school. Mochi, or rice cake, is a traditional food eaten during the New Year in Japan. Mochi-making is quite a labour intensive process, what with all the washing, cooking, pounding and wetting to make glutinous rice into sticky rice cakes. I got to do some pounding with a mochi mallet! My hard work of waving around the mallet ten times was rewarded with two globs of mochi (see above), yummy!

Chocolate Takoyaki

[A Hina doll set]

I went rock-climbing for the second time this week, two days after the previous climb, and I was more tired than usual by the time I hit the 3-hour mark. Apparently, one day isn't enough time to recover for a beginner who's only hit the rock-climbing gym for the fourth time. No muscle pain, just some tiredness in the arms, nothing a dip in the hotspring won't solve ;) I seem to be building up some hand grip and arm strength too (along with some calluses ;)), useful for when I'll have to swing a 20kg pack on my back later this Summer... last year, it didn't quite happen, not even at the end of the trek with a less than 15kg pack...

Yesterday was also Girls' Day or Japanese Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri 雛祭り), so I had a festive takoyaki (octopus dumpling balls, but without the octopus) dinner with some SGI members. Here's a tip, chocolate takoyaki doesn't work if you have dashi (Japanese soup stock) in the batter, we've tried and tested it, and take it from me, it tastes bloody awful.

Going to someone's house

I went to have dinner at a friend's house who lives with her parents. I was instructed in etiquette well, by being pulled back [and made aware of my manners] until I said the required phrases. We had all contributed to dinner - I made lasagne, the host provided consomme soup, and the everyone else made sesame radish salad, earl grey almond pound cake, and doriyaki 銅鑼焼き (= sweet Japanese pancake with filling). It was fun, and great to get away from school. My week wasn't the best... I had three 2nd Year students middle-finger me?... Not surprisingly, that and how crappy the behaviour policy is, is not making my enthusiasm towards work any more than it was before.

The things I witness and experience this week, and almost every week... my work load is lighter than what it was when I was teaching in England, but the stress of what I have to deal with makes up for it... what is up with these teachers, students and parents???

A teacher gets kicked by a student and says that it's not an issue?

A 15-year old boy who shows signs of dyslexia, doesn't even know katakana (=one of the basic writing components of Japanese, equivalent of the English alphabet), and is told by the English teacher that he can do whatever he wants in the English lesson as long as he keeps quiet? The teacher then ignores him. There is no one-to-one support in the school. There is currently no Special Needs support in this city.

A 1st year in this Junior High, 13-years old, loses his textbook. His parent phones the homeroom teacher and asks about the textbook. The parent asks for a meeting to discuss this issue on Sunday at school... in other words, he/she are holding the teacher responsible, and is hoping to get another book free-of-charge. Talk about being unreasonable, can't a teacher relax, even on a Sunday?

Then, there's behaviour issues, everyday I'm racking my brain about why there is no behaviour policy visibly being followed, where the heck is the classroom management and why aren't behaviour strategies being used?!

I've never talked about the same topic in this many posts before, so for the time-being I will shut up about it, try and stop thinking about it, unless its a serious case or until it is somehow miraculously solved.

=========================================================

When entering someone's house,

1) Say "Ojama shimasu おじゃまします" - which means sort like a mix  of 'Excuse me' and 'Sorry for disturbing you'.

2) Wait until the owner/resident gives their consent e.g. "douzo" (=please) before entering the house.

3) At the genkan (=doorway) take off your shoes and step up into the hallway to put on the slippers.

4) Before entering a room with tatami flooring, leave your slippers at the entrance. When first entering someone's room, say "Shitsurei shimasu" which means something similar to ojama shimasu and literally means 'Sorry for interrupting 失礼します.'

5) Sitting in the tatami room, at the low table, there are cushions where it is polite to sit in the seiza 正座 position i.e. sitting with your lower legs folded under your thighs and bottom.

6) When leaving, say "Shitsurei shimasu", where in this situation means a mixture of 'Excuse my leaving/Goodbye' and thank the host "Arigatou gozaimashita ありがとうございました".

Bye Bye Elmo

At last a holiday, and yesterday was my last time being Elmo. Elmo was a major hit at my Junior High School. I'm thinking of being something else for Christmas, maybe Santa Claus with cushions as my belly... but I don't know if I should really give students the temptation of touching my solar plexus... When I was Elmo, I had to tell off a few students to stop taking off my head...

So what's happened so far... I invited myself to an enkai (Japanese drinking party), and it was surprisingly fun, especially to see how my colleagues acted after a couple of drinks. Their karaoke singing was amazing, and seeing the guys grabbing and josting each other was... something. Thinking about it the guys were real lightweights, while the ladies hadn't even reached tipsiness. How drunk? I went to catch the train with two of the teachers, one of them plays badminton, and while waiting for the train, he was image-training on the platform. He was also spouting the most English I have heard from him or any other non-English teacher since I had first worked here, and it was pretty decent conversational English. Hmm..

On Sunday, I danced as part of the parade in the Murayama Deedara Festival 村山デエダラまつり. It was fun, but it was tiring and we were completely  バラバラ all over the place. We were probably quite bad because we weren't on TV, and none of my students saw or admitted seeing me... At work the next day, my arms were stiff and aching from waving around the batons. The instructor had advised us to hold the batons high, as it looks more pleasing to the eye, but near the end pf the parade it felt like holding 2kg weights, in each hand, so I probably looked more like a dancing ant than anything else.

 [A gift from a student. 

It's me wearing my Elmo suit and saying that it is too hot at 24 degrees C.]

Japanese Tongue Twisters

Neglecting my blog for over a month is seriously business, my parents have been chasing me up. Sorry!

I've started to teach Elementary as well on Wednesdays. The kids are so cute! The school staff are much younger compared to my Junior High school, but they're all very friendly. None of them, except for the Headteacher and Deputy's Japanised English, speak a speck of English.

Today, I went to one of the few English Afternoons that the Board of Education organise. It wasn't the most interesting thing ever, but it was more than made up for by my discovery of retractable chair shelves stored underneath the assembly stage and Japanese Tongue Twisters:

“Nama-mugi, Nama-gome, Nama-tamago."

(生麦、生米、生卵)

meaning. "Raw barley, Raw rice, Raw egg."

Try saying it really fast over and over! I suppose it's quite easy compared to saying "Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry" several times!

The day was followed by the usual Wednesday dinner of Tonkatsu (n. pork cutlet) with the other English Teachers.

Japanese Tea Ceremony

After a Japanese tea ceremony, where we got to experience being served by the Master and carrying it out ourselves, the Master showed her stuff on her kota.

Zongzi 粽子

Zongzi is traditionally eaten during the Tuen Ng Festival. They are dumplings, made of glutinous rice with different fillings, wrapped in bamboo leaves. Zongzi differentiate in shape, the wrapping of the vine, and the colour/type of leaf wrapping.

The zongzi originated when an advisor of the king was forced to commit suicide, and the body was thrown in the river. It was said that the local people, who admired him, threw rice dumplings in the river to feed the fish, so that they wouldn't eat his body. They also sailed out into the river, beating drums and splashing the water with their paddles, to scare away the fish. This is said to be where dragon boat racing originated from.

One of the nice caretakers or "Big Sisters" 姐姐, as the teachers and children call them, made me a couple of zongzi, the above one pictured is a lye water zongzi 梘水粽. This one in particular can be eaten with sugar or soy sauce.

Moons, Eggs and Babies

Yesterday marked the completion of my new baby cousin's first month of life. The special occasion was celebrated with a bountiful dinner party in Kwai Fong. It was a small but lively event, and the star of the show, who is still currently nameless, had a great time... sleeping.

~~~~~~~~

A Baby's Full Moon 滿月marks a baby's first month of life after birth. This is also a day where the mother is released from her confinement period, and is now allowed to come and go out of the house as she pleases. During the confinement period, the mother and the baby recuperate and would usually be cared for by a confinement lady 陪月. The mother would also refrain from having baths and drinking cold water.

Chinese folklore state that the womb is unclean, so it is believed that shaving the baby's head would remove some of the bad luck.

During my new cousin's party, hard-boiled eggs which have been dyed red were served with pickled ginger. Red eggs symbolise new life and good luck.

More info: ezinearticles