A few months worth of freedays and observations

I know, I know, it has been a long time since my last update. But, I have been making every effort to keep as busy as possible and have not had much free time to write. I am now taking a lazy Saturday afternoon to update this page.

In my last update, I mentioned that I have taken some trips and visited a few places around Kagoshima Prefecture. I will now attempt to summarize four months of weekends and time off.
Back in August, when I first got here, I was concerned that without hiking the Inca Trail every month, I would get lazy. So, I put the TV in the closet. Every morning, I either went for a run or a walk before heading to the office. In the evening, I usually ate dinner early and then walked for a few hours until bed time. I make an effort to leave town every weekend, and I started with my second weekend in Kagoshima.

On the 17th of August, a couple of JET friends joined me on a trip to the beach. I picked a place on the map, figured out the bus schedule and packed a lunch. We went to Fukiagehama Beach, about an hour from here. It is a huge beach, and was pretty much empty. The next weekend, we went to Hiyoshi Beach and again, it was mostly empty. Partially, this is because Japanese people tend to avoid the sun in an effort to keep their skin white. But, this particular beach is also empty because this is where the North Koreans used to kidnap Japanese people from in the 70s and 80s. They have since apologized for these actions, but the political fallout has been a top news story for a few months now. Some of the kidnapees have been allowed to return to Japan, without their new North Korean families. They are now being held here, but I am not sure if it is against their will or not. Also, Japan raised a North Korean spy ship that it sank last year. So, it is hard to say why, but the beaches were mostly empty.

The final day of August was a typhoon, so most of the city was closed. I took a great five hour walk in the rain and found some great nearby hill tops. I plan on returning to them sometime when it is not raining and enjoying the views.

In September, I decided to use any free weekend day to walk around the prefecture. I figure it will take about 40 days of walking to circle the whole prefecture. So, on any free day, I take a bus to where I last left off and walk all day, usually about 15 or 20 miles. On the 1st of September, I started my effort with a walk from Kushikino, along Fukiagehama beach, to Fukiage town. It was a long, but enjoyable day.

The next weekend, I returned to the beach for some swimming and to watch the surfers. On the 8th of September, I went up to Hayato town. The local yacht club was hosting an international exchange event. About 80 guests, foreign and Japanese, came and took part. Each boat took a few passengers on as crew and we raced to some islands. Once we got there, we swam and had a BBQ. Every team won a prize. For those of us who finished pretty low in the rankings, we received ketchup and some instant noodles. In Japan, often it is not the gift that counts, but the idea.

The next day, I went to the a lakeside retreat in Kanoya. It was a week-long culture and language seminar for 24 new ALTs. In the mornings we studied Japanese and in the afternoon we did cultural projects. I made my own paper lampshade for a lamp and we also made some small reed mats. I spent the early mornings and early evenings exploring the countryside and went for some great walks. I discovered a long abandoned shrine deep in the woods on a mountainside.
I came back to town on the 13th of September and took the night ferry to Amamioshima Island with a few other JETs. The next day we arrived at the island and went to stay with our friend, Steve. We went straight to the beach of this tropical island and went snorkeling. I saw some of the prettiest fish and most colorful coral of my life in my first hour there. I also had a chance to do some scuba diving, and was reminded again of how peaceful it is under the water.

The 16th of September was Respect for the Aged Day. We took a water taxi to an even smaller island and watched a very small town festival. All the Junior and Senior High School students participated in a Sumo contest. Some of the old people played music and sang. Every one ate. We were invited to join and soon Daniel and I were requested to step up to the sumo area and wrestle. I managed to trip him up in the first round, but he pushed me out of the ring in round two. In the final round, I prevailed and was awarded with a giant bottle of shochu (potato alcohol).

On the 19th of September, I took a ferry to Yakushima Island. Yakushima is a UNESCO world heritage sight and I had a great five days there hiking and swimming. There are giant cedar trees on the island, and I saw many monkeys and deer as well. It took me four days to cross the island. I stopped and played in many rivers along the way. I also climbed the highest point in Kagoshima Prefecture, Miyanore Dake. It was over 5,000 feet and pretty cold.

After I reached the other side of the island, I went to one of the best hot springs of my life. It was right on the beach, among a lot of volcanic rocks. For less than a dollar, I could soak in the seaside pool and watch the sun set and the full moon rise. I decide to sleep out on the beach there and wait for the tide to go out. At about 2:00 in the morning, under a full moon, I went down to another set of pools. This set was under the high tide mark, but above the low tide level, so it could only be used in low tide. I had the whole place to myself and soaked in the hot water for a while. It was a very special place.

I really liked Yakushima and have a bunch more activities planned there once the winter is over.
On the 28th of September, I continued my Prefectural walk. From Fukiage Town, I followed the beach for a full day to Kasasa Town. It was another good day and now I have walked the entire 30 miles of the second longest beach in Japan. The next day was Sports Day, as described in my September entry.

The 12th of October was the beginning of another three day weekend. I took a ferry across the harbor to Sakurajima Volcano and then went south, all the way to Cape Sata, the southern most point of 갾mainland갿 Japan. I got there by lunch time and started walking. I walked along the pacific ocean for the rest of the day. The waves were really big and crashed loudly against the rocks. Mostly, though, I was in the hills above the ocean, following the trails.

After a night out in the woods, I continued walking. I saw many wild boar and a couple of snakes. This area of Japan is sparsely populated and I did not see anyone for most of the day. I was following what used to be a narrow one lane road, but was now an overgrown animal track. I eventually made it back to a main road and went home.

The next weekend, I joined a bunch of teachers from Wada Junior High School for a hike up Kurino Dake mountain. It was nice of them to include me in their outing and we did all of the mandatory things. We ate riceballs at the top and then went to a hot spring for a soak afterwards. This one was special because it was muddy and smelled like sulfur. My little white towel is now yellow.

On the 20th of October, I went back to Hayato town for another cultural event. About five ALTs and 20 Japanese people put on samurai costumes and formed the samurai contingent of a big parade. We marched three miles to the harbor and stopped to pray at a bunch of shrines. After lunch and some more bowing in unison and raising our swords, we marched back to the shrine at the start for another 30 minutes of bowing and trying not to fall asleep. It was a long day, but luckily not too hot. The outfits were heavy, but cool looking.

The next Sunday, the 27th, was the Kinpo Marathon. Marathon (marason) is the Japanese word for any running race. This one was five miles long and gained over 1500 feet. About 600 people started the uphill walk 30 minutes before the running race started. At 10:00 on that day, I started my first running race since I quit the Ely High School Cross Country team in 1986. I let most of the people pass me in the flat first mile. Once the uphill started, and it never ended, I began to pass people. Any time I got tired and felt like walking, there was a group of walkers there to cheer me on with shouts of "Ganbatte" and "Fight-O." So, I ran the whole way and finished with at time of 47:42. I was 20th out of 74 in my 30-59 age group. I was pretty happy with the effort.

At the top, they gave us hot soup and riceballs. The race is also known as the "Riceball Run."
After lunch, a group of us went to the local hot spring for a recovery soak.

This month has been busy as well. On the 2nd of November, I went to Kirishima, a mountainous area in the north of the Prefecture. Winter came surprisingly early and we got snowed on. Luckily, after some cold hiking, we had a large number of hot springs to choose from.

I bought a bicycle a few weeks ago. It is a very nice touring bike made by Giant. It has front suspension and panniers and saddle bags. I am looking forward to taking it on a long camping trip. For now, though, I have to be content with riding to school and weekend excursions. My daily commute is now between 20 minutes and 45 minutes to my three schools. In all cases, the bike is faster than the bus, thanks to the fact that I do not get stuck in traffic. I used to study Japanese during the daily commute, so now I have to make the effort to study at night instead.
On the 9th of November, I went to Sakurajima Volcano and rode around it. The 23 miles took about 3 hours. Sakurajima had snow on it for the first time this year, a month earlier than last year, so my morning of riding was pretty cold.

The next day, I went down to Kaimon Dake Mountain with Rie, one of the English teachers at Taniyama Kita Junior High School. We climbed the nearly 3,000 foot mountain and then went to the beach. It was too cold to swim, but this beach was special because the sand is heated naturally from below. We paid our entrance fee and went down to the beach. Five women rapidly dug a hole for each of us. Once we lay down, they buried us. They had little umbrellas to plant in the sand to block the sun from our faces. The sand felt very heavy and started to get pretty hot. I lasted the recommended 15 minutes and then rose from my warm sandy grave.

My weekly routine has settled into a pretty regular pattern. I ride my bike to school, teach a few classes, have lunch with some students, play soccer with the boys or talk to the girls, have another class or two and then head home. If I have the time, I stop by the office for some Internet. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I go to the gym for a workout. On Thursdays, I have Tai Chi class and on Wednesdays I have Japanese class. I also try to run three or four times per week, in the mornings, before school. I am registered for a 6 mile race in January and one in February, so I want to train.

I make an effort to leave town every weekend as well. Often, there is an organized group I can join, like the sailing or marching. Tomorrow, I am headed off with one such group to Kajiki Town for some sword-fighting lessons. Now that I have a bike, I would like to train up to the point where I can ride 60 miles in a day. Once I can do that, I will be able to explore a lot more places on my free days.

I have left out the descriptions of a few other hikes and outings, but I figure you got the idea by now. I am busy on the weekends.

I am making an effort to learn Japanese, and it seems to be going well. The students are happy to help me and I ask them to check my homework for me.

My landlord invites me and another ALT to his house once a month for dinner and a 30 minute English lesson.

I have had dinner at a few other people's houses and have enjoyed each occasion.

When I first got here, in August, I made an effort to eat out at least one time per day. I live near the downtown shopping area of a big city, so there are plenty of choices. I really like sushi, and I think I had sushi five times one week. It is not at all expensive in the cheap places and tastes great. I can now add stringy, smelly fermented soy beans, raw chicken and raw egg to the list of things I have tried.

Now that I eat lunch at school everyday, I do not eat out very much. I think that the students here are very lucky. They get to have Japanese food every day!

I do not know why, but I am still very popular at school. The students wave to me when I get there, greet me in the halls and seem excited to see me when I get to class. Unfortunately, many of the teachers do not really utilize my skills, so the students soon get as bored as I do. But, they are sitting down, so they can sleep. No real effort is ever made to rouse them. The students near the window usually watch the P.E. class play whatever the sport of the month is. This month it has been softball. With all the talking and such in class I do not think that any student beyond the third row can hear the teacher anyway.

In August, we had a prefectural meeting for all of the new ALTs. I spoke with the country JETs and heard about life out there. Most of them are forced to learn Japanese, because no one in their towns or offices speak English. They have a lot of contact with neighbors and community events. They seem to have a good small town life, but many of them need cars to get out of town. In the end, I have decided that the food, events and ease of transport almost balances out the anonymity and crowds of city living.

I have a rice cooker and will make my first home made rice balls this week. I will mix the rice with some sesame seeds and other small tasty things. Then I will form fist sized balls and poke a piece of salmon into the center. Then I will wrap it all with a piece of seaweed and put it into the fridge for the next days snack. I really like riceballs (onigiri) and have been eating a lot of them.
There are convenience stores everywhere. I think I will head to one now for an onigiri. Since I can not read the labels, I am always afraid that I will pick the one with a sour plum inside. But, when I get the salmon filled jackpot, I am very happy.

More when I get the chance.