TraveLLs

I knew this Christmas would be different than any I have experienced in my life and it has proven to be one I will never forget.  Despite my family being on the other side of the world, the adventures I had and the people I shared them with were upon the best I have had. Last year I was in Thailand for Christmas.  The only sign of Christmas was a giant neon Christmas tree outside of Central, the local mall.  There was no Christmas music, no Christmas lights, no Santa Claus, and no Christmas activities.   This year, in Japan, I had a large fix of Christmas!  Everywhere I went I heard Christmas songs and there were various Christmas trees scattered throughout the city.  The city streets were decorated with lights and there were even some locals who chose to decorate their own homes with Christmas lights.  We played Christmas songs in the classroom and had a holiday concert to celebrate the end of the term.  Santa even came to visit the chil...

Somewhere, Japan "When the Japanese go on holiday, they like it to be planned. Planned to an extent that would make a Sandhurst trained officer feel he was a happy-go-lucky, spontaneous type in comparison. `Assemble 0800 hours. Board bus 0810 hours for 43 minute journey to cathedral. Breakfast at 0855 hours in cathedral café`, that sort of thing. I once attended a presentation by a Japanese tour guide, about how guiding Westerners was different to guiding Japanese; it was particularly funny when he said that sometimes western tourists want to walk round a city away from their tour group. The audience, made almost entirely of `women of a certain age` gasped, utterly shocked at how anyone might do such a selfish, dangerous thing.  `But what if they got lost? ` shouted one? `But what if they got murdered or shot? ` bawled another.  The hysteria was quite palpable. Flexibility and change on a Japanese holiday are about as welcome as syphilis. So, as an a...

Last weekend I decided to take a solo adventure.  I had been hearing about the famous illuminations around Japan and decided to see if I could find one to check out.  The closest one to Nagoya is Nabana No Seto, located in Kuwana City in the neighboring prefecture of Mei.  To get there from Nagakute I had to take the subway to Nagoya Station, then the Japanese Railway to Nagashima then a bus from there to the illumination.  It was a simple task, but given the language barrier it was a little challenging.   I made it to Nagoya Station on my own, asked someone to help me figure out how much my ticket was as the stop I needed to get to was only written in Japanese, then made it to a platform.  As I was trying to make sense of the time table a kind Japanese man came up to me and asked where I was trying to get to.  I told him Nagashima and pointed to it on the map.  He helped me find the correct platform and told me what time the train would co...

This past week was a difficult one.  My Aunt Rose Marie passed away after a very brief battle with cancer. I want to send my love to all my family back in the states and I want to encourage them to stay strong through this hard time.  I wish I could be there with you to support you. “Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, you are you and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.  Call me by the old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a s...

I have so much to be thankful for.  To start off, I have a wonderful family.  I wouldn't be where I am today without their undying support and love.  I also have met some amazing people in my lifetime.  I am thankful for everyone of them for without them I would not be who I am today.  Most of all I am thankful for life.  It has been a good one so far and I look forward to what it has to offer me in the future. This year I was lucky enough to have not one, but two Thanksgiving celebrations!  The first one was provided by the lovely Ellen.  Ellen is a coworker of mine at KIS.  She has lived here for almost two years and this is her second Thanksgiving in Japan.  She is also one of the best cooks I know.  She made a beautiful array of Thanksgiving dishes including green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, corn bread, and a tasty turkey.  Our friend Kumiko also brought a sushi dish to give our thanksgiving a Japanese twist.  A...

Fall in Japan is beautiful.  Back in Utah and Colorado fall lasts a whole two weeks.  Those two weeks are gorgeous but the come and go so quickly if sleep in too late you've already missed the beautiful colors.  In Japan the fall season has lasted almost a full month.  The leaves started changing colors a few weeks ago and they are still holding strong. There are several places in and around Nagoya to see the fall colors.  One of these places is the Nagoya Castle.  This is a castle located right in the heart of the city.  The city of Nagoya was bombed during WWII.  As a result, the whole city was destroyed, including the Nagoya Castle.  Fortunately for me and other tourists destined for Nagoya, they have built a replica of the castle and made it into somewhat of a museum.   I convinced my friend Phil to accompany me on a day trip to the castle.  It is silly to even call it this since it is located in the city in which we li...

"I sit quietly, listening to the falling leaves - A lonely hut, a life of renunciation. The past has faded, things are no longer remembered, My sleeve is wet with tears." Ryokan

Winter has arrived here in Nagakute.  Unfortunately, I believe the worst is yet to come.  It is unbearably cold with temperatures as low as 29F as night approaches.  This winter I have two main things pulling against me.  The first is the fact that I have been lucky enough to have avoided any temperature lower than 70F since May 2011.  Secondly, at KIS (and other traditional Japanese schools) they believe that children's bodies must learn to regulate themselves.  Therefore, we are not able to turn the heat on in our classrooms when the children are present.  I am not sure when and if these circumstances will change.  These fact alone would make for an unfortunate winter.  But pair that with the lack of insulation in any Japanese structure and I am doomed.   I have recently learned (by word of mouth through Kimmy) that because of the extreme weather conditions Japan faces throughout the year their houses must be built accordingly...

In Japan they have a shop that is equivalent to the dollar store in the States.  Unlike the dollar stores in the States, these 100 yen shops are not full of useless junk.  You can find anything you want/need from coffee filters and floor cleaners to candles and calendars.  There is a 100 yen shop right around the corner from my apartment that I pass every day on my way home from the school.  It is a dangerous thing. Everything seen here (sans jewelry)was purchased from a 100 yen store.  

Last weekend a friend of mine from college came to Tokyo to meet up with me.  She is in Japan visiting her grandparents up north in the prefecture of Akita.  Since I am in the southern half of Japan we thought it would be best to meet up in the middle in the great city of Tokyo. I took my first overnight bus in Japan from Nagoya Station to Tokyo Station.  Surprisingly they are not as comfortable as the overnight buses in Thailand, but I survived with the help of multiple stops at Starbucks (all the while stealing internet from the only free wifi in Japan) Akina and her cousin Corina met up with me early Saturday morning and we walked ALL over Tokyo.  If you look at the path we took on the subway map it would create at least two stars of David.  Here are a few photos of our progression of Tokyo. After dropping off our extra bags in a locker in the subway station we started our journey by heading to Asakusa to see the Sensō-ji temple.  We...

A few weeks back I mentioned Feel the World .  This past weekend Feel the World hosted the World Rally via Linimo.  Built for Aichi Expo 2005, Nagoya's Linimo service is a Maglev (magnetic-levitated) train and claims to be the first of its kind.  Here is a link for further information on the Linimo . The World Rally via Linimo occupied eight of the nine stations on the Linimo line.  Each station represented a different country.  The countries represented were Guam, South Africa, Vietnam, America, New Zealand, the United Nations and there were two stations designated to Japan.  Each station, except for the UN station, had a native from the country who was put in charge of presenting information about their country in the form of entertainment and activities.  The participants each paid 500 ¥ for a passport along with 800 ¥ for a day Linimo pass.  They were then allowed to stop at every station, participate in the activities, get a passport stamp ...

The past month has been spent building up to the candy filled holiday of Halloween.  In Japan they do not celebrate Halloween in the traditional sense.  In Japan there is no trick or treating done and if you choose not to dress up, you are one of many. However, there are many signs of Halloween around the city!  If you walk into a restaurant there will be a sign that says "Happy Halloween" or there will be some cobwebs set up to set the mood.  Japan acknowledges Halloween, it is just not celebrated here.  Nonetheless, being from the states, I was not going to let another Halloween slip by unnoticed.  In addition to all the Halloween crafts and activities we have been doing in our class all month, I had almost a full week of festivities leading up to the big day.   Saturday:   We were invited to a Halloween party the Saturday before Halloween by one of my friends Japanese friends.  For just 3000 yen one could enter into seven differ...

The literal translation for the meaning of the days of the week in Japanese: Monday- Moon day Tuesday- Fire day Wednesday- Water day Thursday- Tree (Wood) day Friday- Gold day Saturday- Soil or earth day Sunday- Sun Day **Side note** I asked Miho about these meanings before I posted this entry to be sure I wasn't mistaken. She said "Oh,yes, I guess so!  I guess that is why I like Friday so much!  It is gold day!" 

The Education Network has three branches: KEC, the conversational English school, KIS, the international preschool, and Kids Station, the Japanese English teachers go to origination.  In addition to these three branches there is a non profit organization connected to the Education NEtwork called Feel the World.  Directly translated from their page by "google translate" this is the explanation of the organization. "We have been involved in, such as teacher training and leadership training in the field of English language education primarily. I met many people with a desire to become available in English and English longing for it. As a result he has been seriously considered, would not be a force such people has led us to "Feel the World" this.  Why do we keep so much possession consciousness chronically weak Japanese to English. Japanese I should have learned English at least six years. I would have felt "Why not speak" "and" weak ...

Chestnuts are very popular in Japan, especially this time of year.  One of the children in my class, Chiaharu, went chestnut picking last weekend.  The result was an abundance of chestnuts, some of which she brought to school for Miho and I to share.  Her mother told Miho how to boil the chestnuts and Miho, being from Japan, knew the rest of the steps to enjoy the seasonal nut. On Wednesday, Miho brought in the delicious boiled chestnuts for lunch.  She cut them in half and we scooped them out of the shell.  They were sweet and nutty; the perfect snack!  After consuming about six or seven halves I found a little, white caterpillar nuzzled in one of the halves I was about to dig into.  Thankfully I saw a full caterpillar and not a half.  The poor bug had been soaking in the boiling water for the whole hour that Miho had cooked the chestnuts.  It was beyond dead and thankfully I saw it, as it blended in with the chestnut meat!  No har...

This Tuesday the staff of KIS as well as a few of the KEC staff attended a conference in the city.  Carolyn Graham and Ken Wilson, sponsored by Oxford University Press, spoke at a two hour conference at Nanzan University.  The conference opened with a lecture by Ken Wilson.  Ken Wilson is a teacher trainer from London with extensive knowledge of the performing arts.  He has written and recorded about 150 language teaching songs, worked as a performer, sketch-writer and eventually director with the English Teaching Theatre, and has written at least five published English course materials, including Drama and Improvisation in 2008 by Oxford University Press.  Ken Wilson's lecture in Nagoya was titled  "Can improvisation work in the Japanese classroom?"  In his lecture he introduced me to the idea that Japanese people are not quite as outspoken as us 'merikans.  He had us do several controlled and uncontrolled improvisation exercises.  ...

Last Sunday, the lovely Sachiko brought Phil, Dominique and myself to the Mei prefecture to hike to see the beautiful Akame Shijuhachitaki Falls.  Akame Shijuhachitaki Falls is a series of crystal blue waterfalls that covers around 4 kilometers.  Overall there is said to be 48 waterfalls.  We didn't see all of them, but there is no way to tell how many we did see.  There were waterfalls of all sizes and who am I to judge whether a waterfall is big enough to be considered one of the 48 waterfalls of Akame? We headed to Nagoya station at 8:30 a.m. and took three separate trains and a taxi from there to get to the entrance.  Admissions to the falls also admitted us to the Japanese salamander museum.  There we saw some of the largest salamanders of our lives.  We renamed the display "This kids, is why you shouldn't swim in the river!"  
The given name "Akame (Red Eye)" is based on the legend in which Fudo-Myoo , commander of the Wisdom Kings i...

Here in Japan we have been blessed with another three day weekend!  This time it was to celebrate sports day.  When I heard this was the reason, I was very curious as to what "sports day" entailed.  After trying to find an answer to this question, the best I could come up with was "Japan wanted a holiday, so they came up with sports day." Since I cannot verify nor deny this statement, I will just accept it and enjoy my time off. I was lucky enough to be invited by my boss to head back to the beautiful prefecture of Nagano.  I was hesitant to head off on another pricy trip before I got my first paycheck.  After thinking it over, I actually verbalized the phrase "you only live once," and opted to join Mitani-san, Ellen, Dominique, Phil, Claire, and Mitani-san's family on a lovely weekend getaway. The trip started early Saturday morning when we piled into Mitani-san's rented vehicle and drove straight to Nagano.  Our first stop was a delicious ...

I have now had several experiences where I have stripped down in front of strangers and friends and taken a shower.  After I shower with strangers and friends, I step into a bath and relax, in the nude, with these strangers and friends.   Technically, an Onsen , in Japan, is defined by the temperature of the water, usually with a temperature over 25 °C and should contain 19 essential minerals designated by the Japanese Environmental Agency. Also the water must have its origins from a volcanic spring. However, the term has now been expanded to define the general process of bathing in Japan.   One first strips down and places their clothing and belongings into a basket in the changing room.  Then, covered by a hand towel, one migrates to the shower room.  The shower room is a room lined with shower heads, very similar to a shower room in a high school-the ones that are no longe...

A few weeks ago I went on a weekend adventure to Nagano.  On this adventure Kumiko was kind enough to book a soba noodle making class!  Soba is the Japanese word for buckwheat.  So it goes that soba noodles are noodles made of buckwheat flour. The class we took was easy to follow due to the fact that Kumiko was able to translate for us.  If she was not there we would not have a clue as to what to do or why we were doing what we were doing.   We were given a bowl of flower and a cup of water.  We then poured the water in an lightly mixed it up, first with a flat wooden spoon, then with our hands.   When we were finished lightly mixing we kneaded the dough into a ball.  We were told to knead the dough 200 times.  Kumiko and I took turns and we each kneaded 100 times.   When we finished kneading the dough we were told to roll it out into a circle.  The old woman who was an expert helped get our dough starte...