Japonaut

So much fun, so little time!

I’ve not posted much lately so now I’ve got to much to post. I’m going to start it up again by backing up a bit. The following pictures come from the very end of February. I’ll post a bit more over the next few days, so much has happened and I’ve been more than busy, is that possible?! Ah well, all in the name of fun…

Ekiden Race down south
(February 27th 2005)
The southern town of Shirokawa hosted an ekiden race which consist of running an eleven person relay with various lengths. There was a pre-race party on Saturday night. I ran 800meters, but I’m no runner and it showed especially since my leg of the race turned out to be up hill! Thanks to our better runners the team came in 2nd out of a dozen or so teams.

John, my neighbor from one town over, came over in the evening and helped cook up some dinner before we went to Shirokawa. I thought I might throw in a picture of my kitchen since I haven’t gotten around to showing the rest of my house yet. To summarize John, he’s a sarcastic wit from New Zealand with a zeal for cooking and quite a few other hobbies including languages. I don’t doubt that this kid will have parapara (perfect) Japanese in a year or two!

The moon was huge on the way down to the pre-race party. We had to pull a number of illegal U-turns to get to a good spot to take photos but the night turned out to be to cold to hold our cameras steady anyways!

Most of the gaijin (foreigner) team racers and friends stayed at Sara’s house in Shirokawa. This is the scene right before everyone woke up and made the mad dash to the race after sleeping only a few hours and drinking a bit to much. Other than the all the beer the party also included dog piles, a cool card game called apples to apples, music, dancin’ and a dramatic wedgie.

Lining up for the closing ceremony. Please take note of Yacoub’s ultra-stylish blinding-hot orange shorts and contrasting baby blue jacket topped with calf high grass green socks…classic!

Most of the trophies are reused over and over. Winners keep the trophy for a time, attach a name ribbon to it and pass it along to the next winner when that time comes.

Our two lead runners, Gab and Frank, line up to receive our award. We were all disappointed to discover that we weren’t actually allowed to compete with the other teams but instead were placed in a special category. This is fine, as we didn’t fulfill all the rules, but they also didn’t acknowledge the fastest individual times despite that these two guys held the two top spots over all. That sucked, but isn’t an unusual way to be treated as non-japanese. Hopefully next year the organizing will be fairer!

One of the many parties after the race. Each grouping on the floor contained a different hot pot with a different soup cooking. Sebo is shocked to learn that he’s been in Japan for the past 7 months.

As often happens as the token foreigners we had to entertain the crowd with self-introductions. Everyone managed in Japanese and it was great to see that we’ve all learned so much!

Playing some step-child version of soccer with some local elementary school boys after dinner.

Shirokowa is really contry side and tucked up in the mountains. Almost as much fun as the pre-party, race, or after-party combined, was just seeing the beauty of this area!

I wish I knew why this water is so blue.

Construction and road signs taking a lazy nap in the afternoon.

Stopping along the road on the way back home.

Hiroshima for the first time

A quick 2 days at the end of February with Edo and Patricia, the two craziest people I know.
We met up with a few other people, got some Mexican food, went out and ended up seeing a hip hop dance competition. We also got a glimpse of “reggae dancing” which is a weird (read: slutty bastardazation of whatever reggae dancing is supposed to be) but very athletic tabletop-style dancing. I’ve made a habit of not bringing my camera along when I go out at night, but as it warms up I’ll change that habit, somethings you just have to see to believe.

Edo close up, abunai! Edo is pretty crazy, and that’s saying a lot seeing as most of the gaijin I know around here are pretty wild. (side note: word spell check knows the word gaijin (foreigner)! Weird!) But he lives out on a tiny island and I figure you have to be a little bit crazy to keep having a good time out there.

We took a bus over to Hiroshima. It’s only about 3 hours away, but the bus costs approximately 30 bucks one way. We tried to study Japanese on the way there, probably scared the be-jesus out of the other passengers while we repeated words like “weird” and Edo impersonated old islander men.

Japanese work eithic is strange to me. Teachers at my school stay well past dark almost every day. I stayed late once to finish a lesson and left at 7pm while teachers were making themselves hot instant ramen. My guess is that this guy is a victim of a late night, but that’s still not a good reason to be falling asleep out on the road!! Every time traffic came to a stop he dozed off and then woke back up when things started to move again.

The Hiroshima skyline.
The Ganbaku Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial above which the first atomic bomb was centered on August 6th, 1945) is visible on the left but it’s dwarfed by the growing city. I didn’t go to the museum this trip because I’m still debating about going through that experience, but I have a feeling I will.

Posed. Taking in the city as we first start to walk around.

Patricia and I did way too much window-shopping for our own good; she showed me some uber-cool shoes that I later bought in Osaka. This store was a little too stylish and they had to label the door (“DO-A”) so that people could get in. On the inside they had a mix of gothic chain and death garb mixed with trendy pastel pop wear and a splash of stylish retro-inspired (as in 19th century) duds all watched over by store clerks that started at age 40 something. Wha?

Dozing on the way back to Ehime.

The inland sea is so beautiful. We passed over a series of bridges to get from mainland Japan (Honshu) to our island (Shikoku).

Jeremy Sewell came all the way to Japan!

Jeremy Sewell came all the way to Japan! How cool is that? I had an awesome time! It was great to see Jeremy, to travel around, to talk shop (design), and show this side of the world to someone from my side. We went to Kyoto for the first weekend, then came back to Tanbara for a week of school (I had to work) and then back out to Osaka for a long weekend! School was fun, Jeremy got to experience the weirdness that is Japanese youth. In Osaka we shopped, walked, played tourists and then also visited my favorite museum CASO and swung over the neighboring warehouses to see a sound installation piece. At night, despite the cold we made the club circuit as well, Osaka has an impressive range of clubs! And oh my I’ve got a lot of pictures for this entry!

Inside the Ijo castle complex.

Same location: Ijo-jo, in the gardens the blossoms were blooming: cherry, plums, and a few others that I don’t know.

Stones of the deceased.
I can’t call this a grave yard because the dead are cremated here. This site went up the side of a mountain overlooking the city.

After walking up through Gion we came to the temple complex of Kiyomizu-Dera. This is Kyoto’s most beleloved temple according to Ben’s Japanese co-worker. Mizu means water and this temple has 3 water fountains coming out of the side of the mountain from which you can take a drink. Each fall gives you health, wealth or intelligence. You can only drink from two though. ;)

Kinkakuji (golden pavilion)
I had come to this temple with Ben, but it was really cool so I brought Jeremy to it as well. I like this photo.

Feisty koi.

Jeremy outside of my apartment as we left for an evening in Matsuyama, the big city in Ehime prefecture.

Some sweet graffiti in Matsuyama. Is it a nipple or belly button? I say belly button.

Pachinko Tainment. My god I love it.

On to Osaka with us! Yaqoub came along to pick up his friend Timmo who was coming in from Germany. I’m not sure what this critter is, but it rather enjoyed being kissed by Yaqoub, and the man leading it around only said that it’s famous in Japan.

This is the coolest toy.

If only I had this as a little girl while going through my horse phase (Shush, you went through that same phase too, it’s freaking universal girl-ness)!

I like this photo too.

Osaka castle.

It was beautiful for half the trip, freezing cold, snowing and rainy for the other half. It’s actually snowing in this picture and Yaqoub and Timmo are warming their mitts above a barrel fire.

Osaka castle and the encroaching city skyline.

March 3rd is girls’ day (Hina-matsuri) and the celebration includes setting up displays of dolls depicting the emperor and his court. I would have been more into dolls if mine had looked this cool. I love the hair and the dozens of layers of kimono.

The matching male figurine.
These two were on display at the Osaka history museum. There will be a boy's day celebration as well. This includes fish air socks and more dolls (only these dolls are warrior gods! wha!? girls got the shaft!). Girl’s day is 3/3 and cutely enough boy’s day is 5/5.

Wha? Also at the museum. These are ema, boards to write your wish on and leave at a shrine. I wonder what the theme is supposed to be for these ones?

Yacoub and Jeremy at a small noodle shop in Osaka. I think the cold induced everyone into drinking to much alcohol, but beer and ramen are admittedly a good combination.

We stayed at a capsule hotel!! And I didn’t get any pictures of my cubby hole!!! This is the lounge area, complete with comics and video games.

On the way back to Shikoku on the day ferry. Again, the inland sea is just gorgeous.

A small island floats by.

One of the massive bridges connecting Shikoku to the mainland by leapfrogging across the inland sea’s islands.

It's finally spring!

I'm broke, but in a good way. I'm also the new proud-shared-owner of a mini-van. I'll put pictures up soon. She's a beut, even has a sunroof!

The rices are starting to come up again, green is such a lovely color.

Streets are so small here and often it's impossible to see around corners with out the aid of these mirrors. (Especially useful on all the mountain roads!)

In Japan all beginnings and endings are market with lots of pomp, circumstance and partying. This is enkai season because the school year has officially ended, so teachers are being rotated around the schools. It's utter chaos and rather harsh if you ask me but it works for the Japanese. I've been told the thought is to keep the schools equally well stocked with both good and bad teachers.

An enkai is a big party help for any number of occasions, usually it involves lavish amounts of food, lots of speeches and even more drinking. These puppies start at about fifty US dollars, but can be even more expensive depending on what is being drunk that night and how many people are paying. In Japan you never your poor your own drink at a party, so if you want to stay sober you can�ft ever take even one sip, because someone will swoop in and fill it back up!

I've discovered so much about my abilities to stomach just about everything�cexcept these little guys. A weird mutant cousin of the shrimp, with green gou oozing out of the middle. AND they take for ever to break into. Some food is exotic, some food is rare, these guys are just gross.

These are some of the teachers I work with. The woman in the middle is the schools tea lady, and quite possibly my favorite person in Tanbara! It's so amusing to see people who are normally very conservative and well behaved get roaring drunk.

Start where you begin

A big part of being here is learning how a culture that is so superficially similar to my own can be so vastly different under the surface. I really appreciate the benefits of a different system but I struggle on a daily basis to understand what’s going on around me. In Japan a bit of ambiguity is considered a very positive thing, I can only guess that seen benefits include more shared responsibility and more leniency for the parties involved. In this system solutions don’t get solved, they evolve; it’s quiet intriguing to see in action! So here is a funny example of the kind of ambiguity that I experience in my work place:
At my school there are three English teachers (or sensei if you prefer). Two of whom I teach with (Mrs. Nishi and Mr. Saiki and a third (Ms. Sazuka) who does not teach with ALTs for some unstated reason). The schedule for school changed with the rollover of the new semester. Every week I go to my teachers and ask what they want me to teach the following week so I can plan the lesson.

Last week I shuffled over to Mr. Saiki and asked:
“What should I prepare for the 3rd grade this coming week?”
He replied, “Well we had a cultural lesson last week so… some grammar point would be best I think.”
“Ah I see, what grammar point should I cover then?”
With a puzzled look on his face, “Well…I don’t know.”
“Err, well, what are they currently studying in class?”
“Well…I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I don’t teach them.” He said this almost defensively so I was really thrown off at this point.
“How can you not know what they are learning?”
“I’m not their teacher.”
“Wha? You’re not their teacher…(long pause while I try to register this one)…so who is their teacher?”
“Oh, it’s Ms. Sazuka.”
“Wha? What? You mean she teaches them all week long except the one class with the assistant teacher (that’s me btw) during which the main teacher is switched and no one told me? Shouldn’t she have said something to me? What kind of damage could I cause to her lessons otherwise?!”
“Ah yes, it’s strange I think.”
Truly I believe no one was would have pointed out this situation if I hadn’t stumbled upon it.

Many teachers are transferred every April. Perhaps the reasoning is to spread around the good and bad teachers. I’ve really enjoyed the new friendly faces. But what’s more is that I’m learning from them that it’s not just the ALTs (assistant language teachers) who suffer. See, at first, I thought it was just me. All ALTs have had the experience of working away at their desk only to look up and discover that the usually bustling office is completely empty and that the school may be as well. About two weeks ago I was working on lessons only to look up and see the office deserted with the exception of the new nurse. We both looked at each other and in two languages said the exact same thing “Where is everybody?!” Sometimes it’s nice to know that it’s not just you.

HANAMI- Flower viewing parties. Wherever you look there are trees with soft pink flowers and petals falling all about. Then it’s all over when the first rain knocks all the petals off the trees and washes them away.

Second year students dawn their matching blue sweats and take an hour-long walk over to a local mountain temple for field day.

Flowers other than cherry blossoms are also in full bloom. Students run freely about the temple grounds playing and giggling, because the temple grounds don’t require lifeless silence like many other religious establishments do.

A girl shows me her ant catching skills.

As a group building activity students from each class compete at jumping a super jump rope. Each class contains 27 students, so that’s about 25 people jumping at one time, the winners scored 24 jumps straight to win!

On Saturday I went for a 20K hike with some friends to Yokomineji temple. Along the path are many smaller shrines and temples.

Emma and Rob pose along side a road while we take a breather.

At the top of the mountain, on the temple grounds are many small figurines.

The bad typhoon season of the previous year has utterly ruined parts of the pilgrims path to the temple.

On Shikoku there are 88 temples that pilgrims can travel to. The founder of the temples was a man named Kobo Daishi. He is said to have created the kana syllabary, and founded the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan. The paths to follow are marked by the red pilgrim figure on the sign.

Golden Week Part 1

Lazy days have begun! Golden Week has a few holidays stacked right in a row so many Japanese travel or go visit family. Well actually I’m keeping pretty occupied looking for jobs back in the states and cursing my city for cutting my pay these past few months. I’ll get the money back when I leave (which makes for a convenient savings plan) but I’d rather have it while I was in Japan! Nonetheless, the weather is amazing, the sun is up and I’m not the only one hanging around home base for the holidays. Also my friend Kenichi is back in town visiting family. We met right before he moved to Tokyo at the beginning of this year. He’s an interesting fellow; the only Japanese person I know with a thick British accent.

Perhaps I should have shown a picture like this a long time ago? This is my “mansion”. It literly says MANSHON on the front of the building. I’ve actually got a really awesome little flat, when it’s cleaner I’ll take more pictures of the inside.

This is a view down one side of the street that my mansion overlooks. I’m not sure if street is the proper word, perhaps alleyway is closer. It always feels like two passing bikes will scrap handlebars.

An evening of beach-ness and fireworkin’.

We both like taking photos so passing the camera around and bouncing off each other’s ideas is to fun!

This one is Kenichi’s photo! Word! Nice shot yo!

This is my favorite firework, Once it gets going a small ball of orange flaming goo forms on the end and then it starts sparking with little flower like explosions, if you shake it to much the show ends early and ball drops off the line.

I was kept occupied last weekend when I discovered a kitten in a parking lot last week. Only one, so I can’t fathom what happened to the others. In the end this little guy didn’t make it either, but along the way we got some really kind help. Kenichi took us to the vet’s office where they checked up on him, got him feeding, and gave me some more supplies all for no charge. I was hoping not to see the infamously poor treatment of animals in Japan that I’ve heard about. Unfortunately I have seen a few cases, but thankfully they were fairly isolated and most people are very kind. I don’t think animal treatment is so much worse in Japan compared to other places. It is more an issue that people won’t interfere in other people’s lives to stop these sorts of things when they start.

We returned to the beach during the day because the view needed to go on film.

Just to show a little scale. Well, and because climbing on things is ALWAYS fun!

This one is for me to laugh at, again and again! I’m so evil sometimes!

A golf range that drops off into a lake! I like to think of the bottom of the lake filled with algae coated golf balls, or maybe they use balls that float, and they skim them from the pond once a week?!

A small island of trees floating in the golf range lake.

An “American style” store selling jeans and cowboy hats and full of American nick-naks. According to this store America is the land of James Dean, Lee and Levis, cowboys and Indians with everyone carrying a knife or a gun to shot all those pesky buffalo.

Must, Post, More, Regularly, GW Part 2

The end of Golden Week.

Last weekend I went to an exhibition of Ray and Charles Eames work in Matsuyama. I’m probably breaking a few laws with this one, but this is the most precious letter… Dear Love, I’ve been thinking of U...

Engrish will never stop being funny.

Trisha a K model the fro-curry lunch plate. It’s groovelicious…yeah, you have permission to smack me later for that one…

A schematic drawing of the contents of the parfait, actually pretty helpful to us less in the know…

セークーハーラ＝SE-KU-HA-RA= SExual HARAssment.
How quant, and is that a bulg in his pants? I wish I could understand the other poster as well!

Is this an example of seku?!! No no, it's Trisha's awesome birthday party, last weekend, and here she is getting the royal birthday girl treatment from the stud-ly Koichi.

Birthday in Tokyo

I headed up to Tokyo with a few friends for the Design Festa and a birthday party or two. We rode the overnight bus, ack, on the way there, and then I made a little blunder that left poor Tricia and I sulking home on the bullet train (shinkansen)…oh darn. Of course Tokyo and friends were the best part, but I do love fast things…and we even saw Mt. Fuji out the windows.
There was dining and the festival and shopping and exploring and meeting up with recent-old friends like my predecessor from Tambara and I remembered how much fun big cities are! It’s been a rough week since I headed back to Tambara, feeling like I’m going to dye of boredom, but it’s also nice to be back in my cozy home!

The design fest is open to anyone who foots the bill. A lot of the work is more commercial than straight-up art. But that meant that I could actually buy things! There was music and food and very interesting live performances.

One night I stayed with a friend in “the Gaijin house”. The place was a hole, but cozy in that you can hear and see what most people are up to at all times of the day and night! It’s mostly full of Japanese people, but nearly everyone who lives in this house speaks English. The location is hot, right south of Shinagawa off the Oimachi JR railway stop, and the rent is surprisingly cheap for Tokyo, but still coming in at close to $600 a month for a one bedroom, shared bathroom abode.

This is the location of Design Festa, it’s called Big Sight and I still haven’t figured out what’s going on inside those upside down pyramids…

Alison, an ALT from Ehime, was showing these lovely pieces of ceramics…Alison: I still want to throw them like Jacks!

After a piece of fashion the models pose for pictures, the fashion was pretty lacking, but from what I hear it changes each show, perhaps a good excuse to come again next year?

Just when I say there wasn’t enough art for art’s sake these guys come out with howling music playing, I think she/it dies and then the packing bubbles man dies too, and then maybe we are supposed to feel empty inside without them? I just wanted to rough up the bubbles guy and see if we could make his packaging pop pop pop!

One booth was full of girls selling the best animal caps I have ever seen, here is another merchant displaying a horsy cap, I really wanted to ask “Why the long face?” but I have no idea how to say such a thing in Japanese…which is probably for the best.

it’s a map of one of the subway lines with tubes and metal parts, this could have only been cooler if there was a train attached to a railing system so you could send it winging through the tubes, instead of stuffing it full of straw wrappers.

I love Japanese construction sites!? They are always extremely orderly, buildings under construction are always covered in a sheath of tarps to hide the work/ keep in debris and dust, and the flashing lights aren’t the methodical blips we see in the states, no no, they are disco worthy strobes and swirling patterns of LED goodness.

I’m waiting to met up with some friends in Shinjuku and enjoying the parade of people that come washing past each time the signals turn blue.

Christon Café for Clair’s goth style birthday dinner, May is THE month to be born after all! I loved Clair’s friends, the party split up after dinner and I had fun hanging out with just Clair, Amiyu, and Clair’s sweet roommate while I waiting for friends. I headed out to some clubs, and then… it seems like every time I’ve been to Tokyo I have to end at least one night with breakfast at a ramen shop with the sun rising in the doorway.

Monday was my birthday! So Sunday night was Mexican food with many, and then just us two girls scouring the Shinjuku nightlife. We missed a rockabilly show at club Doctor but met the band (The Cat Fanclub)and nabbed a not yet released cd from their super cool lady drummer Ayaka. Monday was a blaze of shopping; we hit Shibuyu and then Harajuku. Less than half was shopping, the higher percentage goes to people watching, Japan is full of the craziest, most well maintained people on the planet! Eye candy everywhere! We hit some department stores including this one with crazy floral covered elevators. Then it was a rush to the Bullet train a change to an Express and then a Van and then bed.

The end of May

Just bits of the past few weeks around the end of May…

Sometimes they wake me up Saturday morning to come out and play. Crazy neighborhood kids…

Tis’ むぎ or wheat, on a misty day the colors were majestic (山は　ゆうだいでした！).

A mansion マンション down the street from mine looks like it’s going to transform.

Farm life is interesting, and who knew it’s also a chance to aid the local fledgling cranes, serving up bugs galore.

I’m not sure what’s going on with this rice, but I’d seen baskets out all over my town this particular week.

They’re cute! Oh, sorry, Japan is rubbing off on me…

I love how forms can be recognizable despite missing information, perhaps a sign of really good character design, and yes Disney, Dream Works, and the rest of the lot are very popular here in Japan.

I met up with a friend of mine who owns a coffee shop. She took me to her pottery instructor and we got crepes along the way there.

At the studio I was fascinated with the little monsters. They’re the indicators for the kiln.

This is Nishioka-sensei, and wow I’ve never seen anyone throw such a perfect bowl, his whole family works in this pottery studio.

Yaqoub has a rascally little dog that would not leave the ladies performing tea ceremony alone.

The latest addition to Patricia’s growing collection.

A convini party by accident.

Bejesus! I can’t get over how crazy the bugs are!

It's OK Mom, I didn't get a Tattoo!

It’s the required random photo, this time it’s sushi for lunch at school, dang-it, how cool is that!

Friday night a group piled into my car and headed to Matsuyama for a tattoo/rockabilly show. On one level was a bar and tattoo artists buzzing away on the other floor was a stage and dancing. Possibly one of the coolest shows I’ve ever been to. Seriously so much madness…

No name, I forgot to ask. Bad me.

Saint Jimmy (しんじ), the upright bass player for the Janie Jones band.

Hiro and St. Jimmy (hey, ほんとに that’s what he said to call him, I’m not making it up!)

Many fellow photographers were floating around the show. I’ve also forgotten this person's name, and I wasn’t even drinking! NO PHOTOGRAPH NO LIFE, word, well the English isn't so hot, but it's better than some of the other permanent grammar mistakes I’ve seen!

Here’s me attacking Hiro, this is seconds before I drop him to the floor in a display of shear strength!

Hiro and Katsuyuki trying to act tough.

Hiro’s got Tricia up on his shoulders while Atsushi dances around like a monkey on fire.

Janie Jones was freaking brillantてんさい, loved it!

Driving home in the morning behind two biker chicks, sweetsweet!

Design on my mind

Interface design is even more interesting when language serves as a barrier and not an aid. At first I had to totally rely on visual cues and systems like color-coding. It made all of my daily tasks difficult and confusing, when an interface was particularly intuitive it really stuck out! Even now that I can read the phonetic system Kanji still serves as a barrier.
In Japan it seems like people are inundated with much more information than I experienced in the states. Perhaps people here have a higher tolerance for the cognitive friction created with information overload. I’ll try to post some examples next week. In the mean time here are some of the interfaces lurking around my house.

This is a microwave, toaster, oven and convection oven all rolled into one. Which really means that it doesn’t do any of those tasks really well, but it saves a lot of space! The preset buttons are strangly standard on most people’s micro-toast-ens. 1. warming 2. defrost (?) meat and 3.warm sashimi (2 numbers on one button, go figure?) 4.warm milk 5.cook leafy veggies 6.cook potatoes 7.this is to cook a strange egg pudding 8.cook GURATAN 9.cook KAKI 10.toast TO-SUTO 11.this one is to heat up CONBENI (convenience store) meals.
The start button sticks out in pink and the stop button is also easy to find. I have figured out how to use all of the settings but only with a lot of experimenting. I still wish the cake button would just make cake magically appear.

This is my aircon. This is also another jam-packed device with an air-conditioned, heater, fan, dehumidifier and humidifier. The led screen turns blue when it’s cooling and red when it’s heating, and yellow or white for other functions. It shows the current temperature and the target temperature and sometimes has a little spinning character or animation of a fan. This is it for temperature control in most homes (and schools and business), there is no central heating or air conditioning in Japan, power is just so expensive. A lot of people use gas heaters in the winter and now I’ve got a fan going most hours of the day. During the winter I was praying to the aircon-god, shutting myself off in the room with this thing in an attempt to keep from freezing to death, it was rough.

The remote is also color-coded. I love that the complicated buttons are hidden away. I’m sure there is a way to get the aircon working on a timer, but I’m not that advanced yet.

My laundry machine, this thing sucks. I sometimes venture into unknown territory and try different settings, but I can’t ever tell if anything has changed. The machine has an inner basket that rotates around with a strong force, tangling all my bra straps and stretching out all of my shirts. It only uses cold water and everyone in Japan line dries their clothing including me. The lid saves space by folding open and that’s the only thing I like.

くる　くる　すし! I went with my friend Ruriko to kaiten sushi (a sushi train, actually two sushi trains!). You pay by the plate and just grab whatever looks good. They were pulling fish out of a big tank and the only means of cooking were small blowtorches and an oven somewhere in the back for cakes that were rotating through with the sushi.

After sushi we had some spare time. We were in Matsuyama so we headed over to the ferris wheel to take in the night view of the city. Ferris wheel in Japanese translates to something like view wheel= KANRANSHA. I love how Japanese can be so literal sometimes.

I’ve almost forgotten what crossing lights look like in the states. The signs here are always a slight bit more detailed, and I think it makes them a little more difficult to take in quickly, but they’ve got more character.

He’s standing still, what makes you think you can act any differently?

All of the rice fields are filled with water and the reflections are especially beautiful at night.

That’s my local mini-mountain. It has a small temple at its base and one on top. A teacher was telling me that it used to be the home base for a troop of Tanuki (raccoon dogs), which I think is grand.

Just playing around.

To busy for words…

Last Weeks In Japan

Nishioka-sensei and Ruriko had a sayonara party for me two weeks ago. We ended up this dinner because no one wanted the night to end to early. Those two are awesome, I’m really sad to leave them, and the party was really fun! Thank you both!!! ほんとに　アリアと！　たのしかったです！

”Aen” a Chinese tea house in Imabari. Hanging out for the last time with Liam and Scott.

This is Shogo. He had a bike and we nearly got into an accident a few weeks ago, but I got his number. He picked me up a few nights ago and let me ride around with him hours, I want a bike now.

Josh and I made a quick trip to Hiroshima and then Miyajima. I could barely handle the museum in Hiroshima, all of the stories about kids reminded me to much of my own students.

The ferry to Miyajima.

Our Mom worked here, oh yeah.

The dear are dangerous, あぶないよ！

The tori gates. The island is not just covered with temples for the gods, it is a god. “I think it’s cool to deem a whole island as a god.”-Leslie “Yeah, well I think it’s cool to walk on a god.”-Josh

He really wanted some sweets.

This is Shinya Chiba. He’s traveled from Hokkaido and is headed to Okinawa…all on the bike bellow…

Wow, I still want a bike.

This one is for mom…does it look the same?

I will never get over the beauty of jellyfish…

He’s got his face pressed up against the glass saying hi. Freaking adorable, and smart, we played with them through the glass for a good half hour.

Oh hell, time is running out, and I want to be out and about...so speeding up…おいしい！

He agrees.

Miyajima shops

Osaka Castle

Little boys dreaming

Awesome looking certificate in Osaka History Museum

Awesome looking cicade in Osaka

Awesome looking butterflies in Osaka

Penguines zooming by in the Osaka Aquarium

Running into a festival in Kyoto

Me and the Bro

Josh and I toured around Kyoto for a few days, met some fun people at the hostel, and made little swings back to Osaka because I can’t ever get enough of that city!

The nice guy at the hostel front desk told us to check out the Osaka Tenjin Matsuri festival, so Josh and I joined some ladies from Scotland and spent an evening roaming around, trying food, and watching fireworks and witnessing some great dancing like these boys standing on a shrine drunk out of their minds and obviously having a blast!

A band playing near Namba station in Osaka.

Josh standing outside of the Kyoto Imperial Palace (ごしょ), in the Imperial Park, with what turned out to not be an imperial umbrella.

Details of roof construction in one of small shrines near Kinkakuji.

I love the layering and the moss.

Leaving from Kyoto station.

Gabe from Virginia and Josh on the subway, we were headed back to the festival, which turned out to be cancelled by rain, so we went in search of Okonomiyaki instead.

Yum, sweat…

It moves too! This giant crab is always on the front of Kanidouraku restaurants.

You know you’re in Amerikamura when you see those crazy lampposts. Yep, a bit like China town, but instead it’s America town!

The big cities have had major problems with groping on the packed subways and trains, so now most major lines have female only cars, hence the bright pink car.

I can’t believe it, there are Denny’s here, how weird is that? Turns out there is one down the street from where I’m staying in Tokyo too! I’m tempted to step in...

Asakusa Hanabi

I love the Japanese word for fireworks: Hanabi, which means flower fire.
Josh and I stayed at the Khoasan Hostel in Asakusa, Tokyo. Which was tucked neatly right next to the river. They had an awesome rooftop party during the fireworks display and we had a lot of fun hanging out with people from the hostel and watching the show.

The fireworks were in a set, one up river and one down river. The rooftop crowd watching the opening display.

To our left was the smaller display of fireworks and you can see Phillip Starck’s 'Golden Flame' Asahi Building, more grittily referred to by locals as "the golden poo," and little dashes of light from the helicopters that were roaming about all evening.

And then the show really began when on our right the second segment began.

The bridge below was crowded with hundreds of viewers, how nice to be up on a rooftop!

Uwww, Ahhhh!

We all want to learn to surf. Notice how pictures of me taken with my camera are never in focus, hence why shots of me are rare on this site.

Another giant insect spotting! There are no doubts about where the inspiration for Godzilla monsters came from.