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2 Conferences, 2 Festivals, and a Vacation in Nara

久しぶりですね (hisashi buri desu ne) : It's been awhile, hasn't it.

 The last few weeks have been incredibly busy for me, so I appologize for not updating in awhile. School officially started yesterday, and the time between my last update and then have been filled with cramming in as much as humanly possible. The last two weeks have been filled with several multi-day conferences and trainings in Kanazawa. With travel included, those days I was gone for 12+ hours a day. In addition to that, Seth and I took part in two matsuri (festivals). It was my first time seeing a matsuri in person, and it was great! The first one was a dance festival held two weeks ago in Komatsu. Seth, a handful of the other Kaga JETs and myself joined the Komatsu cityhall team. They provided us with festival attire, taught us the dance we would be preforming, and treated us to an all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner before setting out for the festival. Everyone who was participating had lined up in the streets with their team (all the teams had different costumes/colors) and danced around in a train-like fashion for several hours while traditional musicians sang and played taiko drums. The dance was pretty simple, but of course, I have no coordination so it took me until about an hour into the festival before I actually got it down smoothly. Much to the surprise of all, Seth was a total natural!

Then, last monday, an area of Kaga called Iburihashi had their own festival called Guzu Yaki. The festival commemorates a supposed event where a giant fish destroyed the town until a man came and killed the fish and threw it into a fire. I can't vouch for the authenticity of that story, but I can say the festival was a blast! Two teams spend months creating giant fish floats and then carry them all around town while someone rides ontop playing taiko. Once arriving at the center of town, the two teams ram the fish into each-other, and the one that is less destroyed is the winner. The loser's fish then gets carried back to the local shrine and thrown into a bonfire. I simply watched as a bystander, however Seth actually joined the red-team and got to carry the fish. His team won the fight as well! I took a lot of pictures and video which I will be posting seperately soon. I highly reccomend watching it. They sadly don't convey just how fun and exciting the whole thing was, but its still quite interesting to see! The best part, in my oppinion, was the sense of community and camaraderie it fostered....also the festival food....that festival food...

Last Wednesday-Sunday, I used the last of my Autumn cultural furlow to go to Nara with Seth. Really, I didn't do much that was new, but I was able to show Seth all my favorite places from when I visited in 2016. We went to Nara park and Seth played deer whisperer, saw Todaiji temple (the gigantic Buddha temple), explored the world-heritage primeval forest, played with the owls in the owl cafe, and ate a boat-load of ramen. My favorite ramen place in the world is in Nara, and its cheap and to die for. We literally ended up eating there every single day, but neither one of us wanted to go anywhere else when the ramen place was just around the corner.

While we were there, we also took a trip into Kyoto, which is only about an hour away by train. I had a fantastic time there!  We went to the museum of traditional crafts where they highlighted hand-crafted items made with incredibly old techniques, such as kimono dyeing and embroidery, wood work, metal work, paper making, potteryand more. They even had craftsmen demonstraiting their skills, and the giftshop was filled with their work that you could buy. I wanted to get so much, but it was all way over my budget so sadly, I only looked. At some point while I'm in Japan, I will have to save up and go back there to get something. It was really incredible!

After that we went to Nijo Castle, the castle of Ieyasu Tokugawa (arguably one of the most important men in Japanese history, and also, a particular interest to me.) When I was in college, we actually spent almost an entire week in my Edo art class discussing Nijo Castle, so it was amazing to see it in person. I was thrilled! I also pretty much acted as tour guide for Seth. It was funny because I'd tell him all about a painting or architecture and/ or the history/meaning behind it, and then a few minutes later we'd find a display that said exactly what I had just told him! It was amusing to me.

Finally, we finished our Kyoto trip with a visit to Fushimi Inari Shrine (the 5,000 Tori gate shrine.) I had visited it before as well, but considering its one of Japan's most famous shrines (as well as just being incredible) I was happy to see it again. By the time we got there, it was already almost dark, so we didn't travel very far up the mountain. They light up the shrine, and to some extent the mountain pathway, but it still seemed daunting when it started to get steep. Not to mention, we were pretty exhausted already from the previous few days of travel. In 3 days, we walked almost 30 miles! My feet are still tired lol

Now we are back home and school has finally started. In somewhat of a mixed blessing, I am still mostly just sitting at a computer for now. The students have testing this week, so my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English, aka., the teacher I will be co-teaching with) doesn't want me to start teaching until next week. It was a little dissapointing because I didn't know that when I came to school yesterday, so I had stayed up late the night before preparing my lesson and was ready and excited to meet my students, and then I just sat at my desk all day. On the bright side, it gives me time to meet all the other teachers and get familiar with the school, as well as get ahead in lesson planning, so its not all bad. It also finally gave me a chance to sit down and write about the last few weeks! lol!

As I mentioned previously, I have a lot of pictures and videos from the last two weeks that I will be posting in a seperate post soon. Half of them are still on my phone, so I can't upload them until I get home tonight, but please stay tuned.

FYI: I don't know if the news in America has mentioned it at all, but there is a large typhoon that is making landfall today. Its not suppose to reach Ishikawa until tonight, but the latter-half of school has been canclled preemptively. From what I've been told, it shouldn't hit us too badly here as we are nestled between two mountains, but we have plans just incase we do need to find a safe place. I will keep you all updated, but just in case the wind knocks out power or something, please don't think something happened to me. Its much more likely that the powerlines were affected than that something has happened to us.

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An Easy Day and a Real Honor

After our ordeal on Wednesday, Seth and I took Thursday as an easy day. We mostly stayed at home and worked on cleaning and organizing our apartment. Seth spent the afternoon baking and made peach danishes for my coworkers and our new baker friend Coco.  

At lunch, we decided to try the restaurant right across the street, called  “Fair Lady.” It’s a French-inspired restaurant although still very Japanese. The food was great, and we will definitely be going back again (especially since it’s a 20-second walk from our apartment lol.

In the evening, we were invited to Coco’s house for drinks. Seth brought his pastries and we had an extremely nice evening drinking beer, eating snacks and desserts, and having great conversations with a lovely person.  We are both thrilled to have such a kind and caring new friend here in Kaga. 

On Friday I went back to work, but Seth spent the day baking with Coco at her house. He said they had a wonderful time and some deep philosophical conversation. He seemed so happy and even said, “I was really hoping I’d befriend an Ojiisan (grandpa), but instead I befriended an Obasan (Aunt) and I’m good with it!” I’m really glad that he is making new friends and has someone to spend time with while I’m away all day. 

Yesterday was an exciting day for me as well. After work, all the new JETs in Kaga, myself included, went to city hall and met with the mayor of Kaga. It was a very formal and official meeting. Newspaper and TV reporters were there taking pictures and videos for the local news, and the mayor gave us all words of encouragement as cultural ambassadors to Japan. It was very exciting although also pretty nerve-racking, and definitely a big honor. I don’t currently have any pictures of it myself, but I will keep my eyes out for the article in the newspaper. 

In the meantime, here is a bonus picture of Pikiboo eating some lettuce.

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Some of the lazy buns at Tsuki Usagi Sato

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Rabbit Village and Heat Exhaustion

I took yesterday and today off work. My supervisor let me know on Monday that I have 5 days of “cultural furlough” that I get each season to learn about Japanese culture. Even though I just arrived, I can still use my summer days, but it has to be before the end of August. So I took 2 days this week, and I am taking 3 days the last week in August. Yesterday we decided to check out the rabbit village, but it turned out to be quite the ordeal. 

In theory, there was a bus about 2 minutes from us that would drop us off about 5 minutes from the village, however when the bus came, it went right past our stop without even slowing down...We waited about 15 minutes to make sure that it really was our bus, but when I checked the bus schedule, it showed me the location of our bus, and it had indeed gone right past us -_- Worse, there wasn’t going to be another one for almost 3 hours. So, I told Seth I didn’t want to give up on going and that we should just walk....bad idea. It was an hour walk, which normally I could have done without much of a problem, but I seriously underestimated the heat. The entire walk was in the sun and it was about 100 degrees and humid. I just about passed out from heat exhaustion. We stopped and got water a couple times, and I had a hand fan that I was using constantly, but even so I was extremely hot, turning red, and feeling really light headed.  We had to stop a few times to try and find shade, and I was really worried towards the end that I wasn’t going to make it without passing out. Luckily, we made it there alright, and once we arrived we immediately went into the airconditioned gift shop and I began to feel better. Seth was really worried and upset by the whole incident though, and neither one of us was really in the best mood to enjoy it. We definitely want to go back another time when the weather isn’t so hot.

 The village itself was pretty interesting. I learned that the rabbit village exists as a tribute to a “lucky rabbit” who supposedly stopped a destructive flood as thanks after being saved by a member of the Daisho clan back in the Edo period.  Rabbits roam freely inside the walled village, and they are all tame so you can go right up to them and pet them and feed them. Unfortunately, with the temperature so hot, the rabbits were also very lethargic, and most were either hiding in the shade or underground in their burrows. We still got to pet a few of them though and had a nice lunch at the cafe. The gift shop was also extremely fun to look around in. It was quite large and had just about everything you could think of with rabbits on it. I literally wanted everything in the store! All I bought was a folder for work, but I plan on going back and doing a big shopping next time! I would love some socks, jewelry, kitchen towels, dishware etc, but I didn’t want to have to carry all that back with me this time. I probably could have because we ended up getting a taxi back home, but I wasn’t sure if we would have to walk back too. When the weather gets a little cooler, we will definitely go back!

In other news, we now have a pet here in Japan! A JET who just finished the program had a hamster that she could not take back to America with her, and was unable to find anyone to care for it. Since I’m familiar with caring for small animals, I told her I would be happy to give her a home. Her name is Pikiboo (although we are mostly calling her Pika) and she is a sweet old lady. Due to her advanced age, she is losing strength in her back legs, and apparently, she has cataracts so she can’t see terribly well, but she is still a happy sweet little girl. She likes to nibble, but luckily not hard. Its only been a day, but our apartment feels a lot more like home now. 

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Some of my pictures didn't post last time, so here are more pictures from the garden!

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Kenrokuen Garden part 2

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Yakiniku

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Kanazawa castle part 2

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Kanazawa castle part 1

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Weekend in Kanazawa

We have been busy this weekend! Yesterday afternoon there is a Japanese language class held at the Board of Education, so Seth and I both attended. Before that though, we tried out the local Indian restaurant, which was fantastic. The class itself was nice because they split everyone up into groups based on their Japanese ablitity, so Seth was able to learn at his level, and me at my own. Classes are held once a week, and it's only $5 per class, so we are going to make it a weekly habit to go so we can both improve our communication ability. Afterwards, we had planned to check out some local attractions, but I was feeling a little under the weather, so we ended up just going home and resting for a bit. I took a nap while Seth played Fallout. We did at least look up what is around us though, and we found out Kaga has its own rabbit village! It's not quite as filled with rabbits as rabbit island, but it's also walking distance from us! We are definitely going to check it out soon! After it cooled down a little, we did at least take a long walk around, played some Pokémon GO, and found a beautiful park and temple. We even met some Japanese Pokémon players and did Machamp raid together. As we were about to head back, a Japanese woman walking with a young German man stopped us. She spoke perfect English, and told us she was so surprised to see foreigners in Kaga. She said she was hosting the German guy named Sabastian at her house and that she really wanted to make more non-Japanese friends. We talked for awhile, and she was extremely nice. As it turns out she is in Kaga to start up a new, healthy bakery. Seth was very excited to meet a local who also loves baking, and she told us we could come over and bake with her any time!

Today we went to Kanazawa with a group of other ALTs from Kaga. Kanazawa is about an hour train ride from us, but it's the closest large city. We went to Kanazawa castle, explored a nearby garden, and then went out for all-you-can-eat Yakiniku. It was amazing! At a Yakiniku restaurant, there is a grill in the table so you order whatever kinds and cuts of meat you like and they bring it out raw for you to cook to your liking. I can't tell you how much food we ordered, but it was all fantastic! It wasn't all meat either. We also ordered a salad, some spiced cucumbers, corn cakes, and bean sprouts as well as several kinds of dessert. We ate so much, but it was so worth it! Pictures will follow in a separate post.

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Arrival and welcome party!

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First Days in Kaga

The last few days have been kind of a whirlwind for me. We left Tokyo on Wednesday morning at about 7 am and took a plane to Komatsu. When we arrived my supervisor, Takatsuji-san, and James, a 5th year ALT from Kaga, were waiting with a sign welcoming us. Both of them are incredibly nice! 

The other JETs working at the Board of Education with me call Takatsuji-san `Japan Mom` and its very easy to see why. She is an incredibly sweet and helpful! From the airport she drove us to our apartment in Kaga about 20-30 minutes from the airport. She took us to the board of education and introduced us to everyone, then took us to city hall to register as residents, and helped us fill out the forms since they were entirely in Japanese and very official. Afterwards,  she took us out to lunch at the local kaiten sushi (conveyor-belt sushi) restaurant and treated us to an amazing meal! I`m told that Ishikawa has some of the best sushi in Japan. Although I can`t vouch for that claim, I can say it was definitely the best sushi I personally have ever had! The best part was, it was incredibly cheap so we will definitely be going back! The sushi came as two pieces per plate, and each plate was only $1! I ate a ton of salmon, squid, tamago (Japanese style egg), duck (Ishikawa is famous for duck) and more. For the 4 of us, the bill came out to $33 total. I was dumbfounded! 

After lunch, she then drove us to the Aeon (a popular mall/grocery chain in Japan) and helped us buy everything we needed for our new apartment. She and James showed us around and told us what everything was and helped us pick out the best Japanese products. They then helped us get everything in our apartment, and made sure we were settled before leaving us. 

Yesterday Takatsuji-san surprised me with a pocket wifi. It`s a rechargeable portable device that allows you to use WiFi anywhere in Japan. Normally you have to pay to rent them, however Takatsuji-san either got it through the BoE or paid for it herself (I didn`t ask) because she said we did not have to pay for it. So luckily, even though it will take awhile to get actual internet service and phone, thanks to her we can still connect, as well as use google maps to explore the city. I seriously love her, and I am so happy that she is my new boss!

Yesterday I had my first day of `work`. I say it with quotes because right now is summer break, so hardly anyone is at work and there is really nothing to do. I`ve mostly just been studying Japanese and looking up ideas for games to play with the kids once school resumes. It`s kind of boring, but the other ALTs that I work with here are very nice so it`s nice to sit and chat. Last night the BoE held a welcome party for all the new JETs in Kaga. They took us to a pan-asian restaurant called Spice and treated us to a big meal and all we could drink. They had a mango beer from Singapore that was out of this world! I probably drank 4 or 5, but they weren`t terribly alcoholic (2.8%). They also bought us all some local Kaga sake which was much more potent, but also very tasty. It was a lot of fun but unfortunately Seth wasn`t able to join us since it was a BoE event, but this weekend the Kaga JETs are going to get together for a more informal event.  

#kaga #JET Programme #spice #board of education

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Orientation

Orientation has been long, but helpful. We had workshops 12 hours yesterday, and another 12 hours today! There was a lot of useful info about Japan, the JET Programme, and teaching/working in Japan. Unfortunately, the long hours have left me extremely tired and with no time to do anything other than work. On the bright side, everyone I have met is extremely friendly, and the energy here is very exciting! I did get scolded once for being only 1 minute early to one of the workshops....yes, you read that right. I knew Japanese people took promptness seriously, and that in Japan if you are on time, you are “5 minutes late”, but I seriously wasn’t expecting to get scolded for being “late” when I was still technically early!

Last night we had a welcome dinner after orientation. The food and drink were fantastic! It was buffet style with a huge selection of both Japanese and various western-style food as well as free malt beer and whiskey. Sadly, there were so many things to try, I only took a little taste of each figuring I’d go back and get more of the things I liked, but the line was so long, I couldn’t go back for seconds and was still hungry when I left lol. We stopped by the 7-11 across the street and got a snack before heading back to the room.

Orientation is finished, and tomorrow we head out early in the morning for Kaga! Tonight we are going to try some tonkatsu ramen from a nearby restaurant that was recommended to me by a fellow JET ALT, and then meeting up with my friend Anna from UC who happens to be on vacation in Tokyo for dessert somewhere (TBD).

#Japan #JET Programme #Orientation #Shinjuku #Ramen

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Orientation is about to begin. Hundreds of people from 73 different countries!

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We’ve Arrived!

The days leading up to our departure were somewhat stressful and very emotional. It was difficult to say goodbye to friends, family, and pets. There was a lot of crying, but once I stepped on the plane nerves and sadness turned to excitement. The airplane was less than stellar, although it wasn’t horrible. The fee for onboard wifi was outrageous, and it was down for half the flight anyway! Luckily, I didn’t waste my money. They did have a good selection of streaming movies and tv shows so we spent the majority of the 12-hour flight binge-watching movies we hadn’t seen yet.

We arrived at Narita airport at about 1 pm local time. We had been told that someone from the JET Programme would meet us at the airport, however, I was not expecting the turnout we had! There were probably 30-50 people who helped guide us through every step of the process of getting our luggage, going through customs, having our excess luggage shipped to our new home, and getting a bus to the hotel. 

We arrived at Keio Plaza hotel in Shinjuku Tokyo about an hour and a half later. More JET Programme assistants were there to help us get checked in and give us a brief explanation of what to expect in the upcoming days. Tomorrow will be a long day of orientations for me, but Seth will be free to explore Tokyo at his leisure. 

As for the hotel itself, Keio Plaza is a beautiful, upscale hotel. We spent the first 20 minutes in the hotel just ogling all the cool amenities (fancy high-tech toilet, huge bathtub, complimentary cell phone with free local and international calling, electric outlet converters so we can use our electronics, and much more!)

It’s about 5pm local time here and we are free for the rest of the day!  Although we definitely want to get some dinner, I think we are going to take the rest of the day relatively easy. Traveling was long and difficult, and we’ve been awake for about 20 hours already. As much as I would love to go explore Tokyo, I think it will probably have to wait for tomorrow.

#tokyo #keio plaza #shinjuku #first day in Japan

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The Inaugural First Post

Today is our last day in Cincinnati before we begin our journey. We are making our final preparations, packing last minute items, and saying goodbye to friends and family and pets. It’s an emotional time for sure, but we are excited all the same! Tomorrow evening we will leave for Detroit in preparation for our pre-flight orientation and luncheon with the Japanese consulate on Friday. Saturday morning at 9 am we will be arriving at the airport for our flight to Japan! I plan to update throughout the process, however, once we arrive in Japan I can’t promise I will be able to post regularly until we are settled. We were told it can take a few weeks to get internet set up in our new apartment, so please hang tight for the first few weeks as I can’t be sure I will have easily accessible internet access. I hope you will continue to follow our journey as we explore our new home in Kaga Japan!

#first post #Japan #JET Program