Well, I guess it has been a little bit longer than usual since my last update. Before Japan, when I was traveling, it was easy to get bored in some new city every month or two and sneak away to an Internet cafe and update my web page. Now that I am living in a city and am making every effort to keep completely busy, I find that I have no time to sit around and type. There is always something else to do. Besides all of my various outside interests, there is a whole range of domestic experiences that make demands upon my time now that I am stationary. Things like cooking dinner, cleaning the bathroom, paying bills, making the bed, ironing a shirt every few months and having a girlfriend. All things which never seemed to catch up with me when I was camping or sleeping in hotels all of the time, but are none the less an integral part of the non-wandering experience.
So, I guess I will just start with where I left off last time. Last April, the new school year started. The first week of school was pretty easy for me. After the starting ceremony, the rest of the week was taken up with health checks. All sorts of doctors and dentists came to poke and prod the students. In the afternoons, the teachers visited all of the student's houses to meet the parents.
The weekend before school started, Rie and I went for her first camping trip. Japan has lots of great campgrounds, but they are only open in July and August -The Camping Season. I found out early in my stay here, that outside of those two months the campgrounds are still great, and empty. We went on over to the Osumi Peninsula (across the bay) and found a nice place to camp. The chain across the gate was old and rusted and held together by a small piece of wire. It was a simple matter to untwist the wire, drive in, and re-twist the wire to close the gate. Suddenly, we had a big nice campground complete with wild pigs, a river, a view up the valley and platforms for the tent all to ourselves. Despite the ice on the ground the next morning, we had a great time.
Later in April, on the 20th, a few of us went to Fukiage for a race. It was only 7km (a bit over 4 miles) but nearly half of it was along the beach, in the sand. That made it a bit of a challenge. My friend, Natalie, won fifth place for her age group. Her prize was a pair of socks. Afterwards, we went to the (in my mind, at least) mandatory post-race hot spring to relax. From the 26th of April until the 5th of May we had what is called "Golden Week". By taking a few days of paid vacation, I had 10 days to ride my bike. I live on an island called Kyushu. It has lots of mountains up the middle and I decided to ride north, through the mountains. One of the holidays of Golden Week is Children's Day. Before the big day, families with boys put up very tall poles and hang carp shaped kites all over the place. They were nice to look at as I cycled by. The second day out was spent mostly climbing one very big hill, with a stop to look at a waterfall. On the third day, I got to Mt. Aso, a 50 mile wide volcanic caldera. They claim it is the largest in the world. After climbing the side, I rode down into the middle. It is so big, that they have towns, roads, fields and even train service inside the former volcano mouth. In the middle of the crater, there is a very tall mountain, which is all that is left of the active portion of the volcano. I rode up there to the visitor's center near the top. Unfortunately, the actual active portion of the volcanic crater at the top was spitting out some noxious fumes that day, so I was not allowed to climb the last 200 feet and look down into it.
From the top of Mt. Aso, I rode down the other side to the caldera floor and then back up the other side of the caldera wall. Then, it was mostly down hill to the hot-spring town of Kurokawa. I found a campground outside of the town and at night a bunch of us went in and soaked in a beautiful outdoor, river-side hot spring. On day four, I rode all the way to the northern Kyushu city of Fukuoka. It is a very large city and the bike ride in along the busy roads was not fun. That night was the first little bit of rain on my bike ride and, since I was in the middle of a big city, I decided to get a hotel room instead of camping. I spent the evening looking around the city. They have a much bigger red light district than Kagoshima.
I am not a big fan of large cities, so I left early the next morning and started going west. I rode through Saga Prefecture and spent the night camping in the hills above the town of Sasebo. In Sasebo, visible from my perch, they build huge ocean going super-tankers. Also, there is a very big U.S. Navy base there with lots of Americans in town.
Early the next morning, I took a ferry out to the one of the five Goto Islands. It took me a few hours to ride from the ferry terminal to the bottom of the island, where I caught another ferry and went down to the next island. That night, after crossing the island, I found a small town with a hot spring and a nice park to camp in.
On Day seven, I took the afternoon ferry to the city of Nagasaki. Approaching by sea, Nagasaki reminded me of San Francisco. It is a smallish city, on a big bay with lots of hills. I spent the next morning visiting the Peace Parks and nuclear bomb museums. I was surprised to see that the museums actually mentioned some of Japan's aggressive actions before World War Two. Although, it was a shame that they chose to blame the worst of Japan's expansion into Manchuria on "renegade army groups." I was also happy to note that (in the 1970's) they added a plaque for the thousands of Korean slave laborers who also died there. In the park, they have what they hope is not an eternal flame. It looks like an eternal flame, but they will put it out when the last nuclear bomb in the world is dismantled. I hope they don't have to wait to long, but I am not holding my breath. The museum's display of bomb damaged people and products was interesting, but the final area impressed me the most. They had a display on the damage that nuclear arms continue to cause. They had videos of people whose current work brings them into contact with America's and Russia's nuclear arsenals. They also had videos of people who live near military bases where these bombs are stored. Video after video told horrifying tales of sickness and extensive government health monitoring programs in these areas. There was one woman who related her tale of when she was in grade school. The government monitors came in and she set off the Geiger counter. They told her not to drink so much water at home.
Another reason I liked Nagasaki so much, was that not only was it easy to get into by boat, but it was easy to get out of by bike. Thirty minutes of riding up the hill facing the water brought me back into the countryside. I rode down the backside of that hill and ended up in a small port town, from which I took a ferry to one of the Amakusa Islands. After crossing that island, I took another ferry to Minamata, near my own Kagoshima Ken. On the ninth day, I re-entered Kagoshima Ken, and naturally, it started to pour. I became convinced that it only rains in Kagoshima. I had nearly perfect weather on the rest of my ride. Some of the islands I visited had perfect sand beaches with blue water and lots of sunshine.
Before my last night of camping on this trip (and the first rainy one) I went to a fantastic hot spring near the town of Sendai. After one full day of riding in the rain, and ten days in total, I returned home in time for an easy four day work week.
Near the end of May, I had a conference to go to in the city of Kobe. It was a conference for all first year JETs in southern Japan who had re-contracted for a second year. More than 1000 people attended. I new the dates of the conference a few months in advance, so I tried to buy some flight tickets. Of course, riding there would have been more fun, but I figured it was about eight days away by bike and I did not have enough vacation days to spare. In February, when I first started checking out prices I learned something interesting about the Japanese travel industry. The airlines only publish their schedules and fares two months in advance. So, all I could do was make a reservation based on last years times and prices and subject to change when the new schedules were published. I decide to wait until April. I went back with my friends Dana and Felicity and we found the flights with the best times and prices for us and made reservations. This was when I learned the great up-side to the Japanese system for customers. Once we had reservations, they were guaranteed. We did not have to actually pay for the tickets until the day before the flight. When we finally went in to pay, we learned that they had made a booking error and for the same price, were now on a more expensive and more convenient flight.
The three of us flew to Kyoto and visited the Golden Temple. We also saw the famous rock garden nearby. The culture stuff was nice, but for me, cities mean food. We ate mediocre Mexican food that night and wandered around the central shopping area. The next day we took a train to the city of Nara. They have a big park there with lots of deer and temples. They also have the world's largest wooden building. The original burnt down a long time ago and this one is only a two thirds size reproduction, but it is still the biggest wooden building in the world. Inside is a huge Buddha statue. That night, the 25th of May, we returned to Kyoto and ate Nepali food. I ate the Nepali national dish of rice and lentils, the same meal I ate at least a hundred times when I was in Nepal. It brought back lots of good memories.
On the Monday, we headed over to Kobe and went to the small island full of hotels where we were staying. It was a nice three day conference without too many boring speakers. The keynote speakers were a pair of very energetic former JETs who now have their own company for teaching the teachers of Japanese elementary students. They reminded a very receptive audience that the Japanese teachers can go home at the end of their day (7 or 8) and be off work. But, for us JETs, when we go home at 4:15, we can not relax and forget about our jobs. Our job is to promote "Internationalism" and we do this every time we leave the house. When someone sees us shopping or jogging or eating, then they can say "Oh, look, there is a foreign person" and we are doing our jobs of "Internationalizing" Japan.
The other memorable speech from the conference was from a professor at a Japanese university. He gave a wonderful speech on the goals of teaching English as a second language. He pointed out that we could have an alternative goal when we teach and he suggested we not only teach English, but also create "World citizens" at the same time. Every time we teach a grammar point we have the option of using a theme for the day to help us. He suggested that we use topics such as world hunger, war and environmental pollution to help us teach English. That way, at the end of the course, the students will have learned some English and have gained some world understanding. It was a very thought provoking and inspiring speech.
On the 4th of June, Kagoshima City had an English Speech Contest for Junior High School students. In the weeks leading up to the big day all of us JETs were busy helping students at our various schools to prepare. In some schools we helped a lot and in others not at all. At Wada Junior High School, I helped a very little bit and at Taniyamakita I helped a bit more. Most of the JETs from my office (9 out of 10) showed up to watch the event. Some students were impossible to understand, but many were very good. They had good pronunciation and interesting topics. The students with the most confidence and enthusiasm did the best. Luckily for me, and much to the disappointment of my fellow JETs, my students won everything. Two boys from Taniyamakita JHS won the 8th grade contest with a nice skit about baseball. Another one of my students, from Wada, won the 9th grade contest with a speech about his cat. The three of them each received a two week trip to Miami over the summer. I was very happy for them.
The speech contest made the evening news, and so did I, for a few seconds. For the next week, nearly everyone I know mentioned seeing me on TV. I was famous, among people who already knew me.
Two days later, I held my final English class for the Tamae Elementary School Little Cherries Jazz and Swing Band before their trip to Clarinda, Iowa for the Laurence Welk Festival. Someone gave me a microphone to wear before the class and the entire hour was filmed. I made the news again when the Little Cherries returned a few weeks later and their mini-documentary was shown on TV. Another 20 seconds of fame has been knocked off my allotted 15 minutes.
School and life continued for another few weeks with the normal amount of goofing off at school and bike riding or hiking on the weekends. One weekend, I took the ferry over to Tarumizu, across the bay, and rode my bike a few miles up the valley. From the end of the road, I started walking up the river. There were several large pools and I had to swim upstream at times. I went up for about three hours and had a great time swimming, walking or climbing higher. I eventually reached a steep gorge that was blocked off by a huge boulder with water pouring over it. There was a small hole off to the side that I am sure I could of crawl/climbed through, but there was a dead and rotting deer or pig carcass wedged in the hole and I did not feel like picking it out. Maybe it will be gone by next summer and I can try again.
On the 17th of July, I flew to Boston to start off five weeks of vacation in America. I had my usual enjoyable visit with my Dad, Elizabeth and Emily. Emily and I played games and my father and I went to lots of movies and restaurants. On the 19th, Dad and Emily and I went to see the U.S. Mens National Soccer Team play Cuba as part of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Landon Donavon scored three goals and helped lead the US to a 6-1 victory. But, perhaps more exciting, was the crowd warming up for the following game between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. While the US was racking up the points, the fans for the next game were marching around with drums and cheering in anticipation.
After a family reunion softball game, I went to stay with Milo in New York City. I had a good time hanging out there and ate lots of good food in "The City." I also got to see a bunch of my favorite friends. Susie was in Baltimore for a family reunion and was able to spare an afternoon for me. Sue and her new family were in town and we had a pizza dinner and some ice cream. Matt and his girlfriend were around and we went to an interesting show. It was staged in and around a pool on the roof of a hotel.
After a fun week of hanging out with Milo, I went to New Jersey. I had a great visit with Josh, Nancy, Aunt Anne, and UNCLE JIM. I watched him play the guitar and sing in a cafe with his brother and friends. We also enjoyed our annual game of pitch and putt golf. His recent back surgery did not slow him down at all and I lost, like always.
On the 3rd of August, I flew down to Florida. I spent a few weeks sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating my mother's cooking. I also found time to visit my cousins and grandparents. I left for Japan again on the 21st and arrived on the 23rd. Those two days of travel also included a fun six hours in Korea. I brought back about 100 pounds of food from my mother and have been enjoying it ever since.
Once back in Japan, I had a week in the office to goof off and then it was back to school and the start of the second tri-mester. After the first week of school, I went back to Hayato town for the annual sailing race. We had a bit more wind than last year and sailed well. The race was followed by some swimming, a big bbq lunch and a nap in my hammock.
In addition to the three schools I visited last year, I have a new one to go to this year. It is very small and far away, so I only go one or two times per month. Suzuyama Junior High School is 13 miles from my house, and up a big mountain. It takes me about an hour and a half to ride my bike there. The first 30 minutes is through the city, but the final hour is a long hard climb through small mountain roads. A great way to start the day. The ride home takes well under an hour.
There are only 16 students in the whole junior high school. Only two in the 7th grade. But, as with every other class in every other school, the teacher says "Good morning everyone" at the start of each lesson. I am hoping that one of the two girls is absent some day so I can see if he still says "Good morning everyone." At lunch time, all of the teachers and students eat together in one classroom.
Because there are so few students, the school is combined with a 24 student elementary school. So, I will get to visit them as well and play lots of games with a bunch of little kids.
On the 12th of September, I flew up to Tokyo. My friends Karla and Daniel, from Colorado, flew in and I met them in the airport. The next day, we took lots of different trains to the Mt. Fuji area and then a taxi to the end of the road, half way up the mountain. We got there in the very late afternoon and it was windy and cold and getting dark. We started hiking up. After a bit over two hours and a little bit of rain and a lot of cold, we came to the eighth station and our home for the night.
In the little mountain hut, we ate dinner. At least I ate dinner. Karla can be a little picky sometimes and even Daniel could not stomach all of the new Japanese food. After that, it was time for bed. In this mountain hut, the bed room consisted of a two tiered section of floor about six feet wide and twenty feet long. We were crammed in there, head to toes, with a lot of other people, including some very loud snorers. I was wedged between two strange men with very smelly feet. I did not sleep much that night. We had no trouble being up and ready to go before 2:00 am.
In the middle of the night, we started climbing again. There were occasional large groups of Japanese following a guide. The guides always had two foot long red LED light sticks and looked liked they should be directing traffic on at a construction sight, not climbing a mountain. We got to the top of the 12,290 foot peak of the volcano about an hour before sunrise. We waited in the cold, with the gathering crowd to watch the sunrise. We were lucky with the weather and watched the sunrise over a beautiful clear day. After a few hours of running down hill, we were back at the starting point and ready to catch a bus back to Tokyo. It was a great bus ride, but I don't remember a thing. I slept the whole ride.
Once back in Tokyo, I headed to the Shinjuku area and one of the uniquely Japanese experiences that I had been looking forward to for a very long time. I went to a capsule hotel. Capsule hotels are designed for business men who miss the last train home and must sleep in the city or for people who go out drinking and need a place to crash. I checked in at the front desk and was given a locker key. I went to the locker and found my small blue robe and pair of blue boxer shorts waiting for me. I changed into the hotel guest clothing and put the rest of my luggage into the storeroom. Next, I checked out my capsule.
I went down to floor with my capsule and found number 3142. It was near the end of a long hallway and it was an upper bunk. The capsule itself was about three feet high, three feet wide and six feet long. A little big, but still comfortable. I crawled in and checked out the small tv and radio. The light controls also worked well.
Down the hallway from my "room", was a lounge. They had some video games, drink machines and a tv. A bunch of men were sitting around in their boxers and robes, smoking and watching tv. I went up a few flights of stairs, past the lockers and saunas, to the fifth floor. There was a restaurant there with lots of men sitting around and eating and watching tv, all wearing the blue shorts and short robes, except for the me who did not wear medium sized boxers. The large size boxers were bright orange. I enjoyed the feeling of walking through a small city where everybody was dressed the same.
Next to the restaurant was a massage room. I went up another flight of stairs to the hot spring level. They also had a barber shop and big area with all sorts of hair and body tonics, blow dryers and combs and mirrors. To the left was a big room with lots of small taps to wash yourself at. There was also a large central pool for soaking. I washed up and then went through to the other side of the floor. There was another big hot pool for soaking and small Japanese women who gave massages and walked on your back, for an extra fee. I went past them into the sauna and watched tv in there for a while. Then it was time for the extra special feature of the city center seventh floor hot spring - the outside bath. The view was nothing special, being of only the tops of a few nearby buildings, but the water was nice and hot and it was a good night to be outside soaking.
When it was time for bed, which was early for me because I had not slept at all the night before, I went back to my capsule and crawled in. The roll down door of wooden slats let in a bit too much light, so I hung my blanket over the door and it got dark enough to sleep comfortably. I was worried that when all the drunk people came in later, that they would wake me, but I never heard a peep. I woke up the next day at 4:30 to catch a bus to the airport and the hotel was full of people who had come in during the night and not made any noise.
On September 15th (Respect for the Aged Day), I flew back to Kagoshima and met Karla and Daniel there. I was excited to have my friends here for a week and couldn't wait to show them many of my favorite things. With Rie, we went straight to some whirly noodles for lunch. That afternoon we visited the local gardens. For the rest of the week we went to the beach, played in the river near Tarumizu, went to the samurai houses and Kamikaze museum in Chiran, went to the Sakurajima volcano and explored the city. I also introduced them to all sorts of good and fun Japanese restaurants. It was a great visit and I was sorry to see them go after a week.
Karla was nice enough to bring me a chain removal tool for me to use on my bike. The day after they left, I spent a few hours completely dis-assembling my bike. The next day, I cleaned each part and spent over eight hours putting it all back together. I only had one small piece left over when I was done. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Of course, not all was perfect on the bike and I spent the next week or so fine tuning all of the little adjustments. On my 30 mile ride the next Saturday, I had to stop every few miles to turn a screw or adjust a knob. But, eventually, everything was back to tip top and sparkling clean shape. And now, I have more confidence in the workings of my bike and my ability to repair it. Confidence and skill that will be important in my proposed three month crossing of Japan from north to south by bike next summer.
On the 4th of October, I went on a long hike with a bunch of teachers from Wada JHS. We climbed Mt. Takachiho, the highest mountain around. It was a long and enjoyable climb. We were lucky with the weather and had a great view from the top. After a soak in a nearby hot spring, we went back to one of the teachers houses for a dinner party. The teachers husband teaches German at the local university, but also spoke excellent English. I ate a lot of good food with them, while they drank a lot of wine.
On the 11th of October, I loaded up my bike and went off for a three day ride. I took the ferry to Tarumizu and started riding east. Over the summer, when I went home, I bought a little computer for my bike, so now I can keep track of all sorts of useless information while I ride. I rode east for about 50 miles, through mountains and rain. I spent that night camping in my new tent in one of the ever present perfectly groomed groves of cedar trees that are found everywhere in Japan. The next day I rode east to Nichinan on the east coast and then turned around and started back west for a good 75 mile day in the pouring rain. I camped near one of the "Top 100" waterfalls in Japan near Miyakanojo City. On the Monday, I rode the 55 miles back home. I had to come down a big hill at one point and my top speed for the weekend was 73 kmh (about 45 miles per hour). I really enjoy blowing by scooters and even passing cars on the down hill streches. Of course, on the 4 mile an hour uphills, the opposite happens.
Last Saturday, the 18th, I rode the 30 miles down to Ibusuki Town. From there I rode the 26 mile route for the Nanohana Marathon that I hope to run in January. Then I came back to Kagoshima. Usually, on my weekend rides, I avoid the busier roads, but I was in a hurry to get to and from Ibusuki, so I rode along the main road. The combination of sun screen a 86 miles of busy roads left me covered in black soot and reminded me why I don't like roads with lots of trucks and busses.
Yesterday, Rie and I drove back up to the Kirishima/Makizono area of national park and hot springs. I had obtained some sketchy directions to a free hot spring in the mountains and we decided to try to find it. Rie was a bit worried because the directions basically said to drive by some noxious gas and other dangers warning signs, park at the next set of warning signs, hike twenty minutes to the final set of big warning signs and then go down towards the steaming and boiling water in the river. But, when we finally got there (after a couple of false starts) there was other people already soaking in the river, so Rie felt a bit more comfortable.
There was stinky sulferous smoke all over the place and big sections of boiling water in the river. The first place I tried to get in was too close and way too hot. We tried downstream a little ways and the water temperature was perfect. The water was full of grey ash and small red worms but neither detered us from a nice long soak. For those of you who may remember some of my adventures in Nepal, Chile and Colorado, you well know that one of my greatest pleasures is to hike to hot springs in the mountains and soak there. I finally found a place to do that in Japan and it was great. I am hoping that it snows there this winter and we can return.
I found a 16 week training schedule for the marathon and am busy running almost every day in training. So, the rest of my weekends for this year will be spent running or resting. No more time for big bike rides until January. I thought that with all of this running, I might lose some weight, but that does not seem to have happened. Also, I still go to the gym twice a week to lift some weights. I thought that with all of this working out in the gym, I would have gained some weight, but that does not seem to be happening either.
Monday, October 20, 2003
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
A few more months worth of observations
Well, it has been a little while since my last update, so it is about time to tell you how much fun I am still having here in Japan. But, before I start, I want to make sure everyone understands how unqualified I am to teach English as a foreign language. When I was in High School, I studied Spanish as a foreign language. I mis-behaved so much that after being kicked out of class three times in one year, I was not allowed to return to class for a week and had to go to in-school detention instead. Also, in High School, I failed English and had to go to summer school. In University, I only took one English course. It was during the summer and the teacher was had just received his PhD and was getting ready to move to a new state to start his first job. He had no time for us. We did about a third of the work that was technically required. So, with my experiences as a student of English and as a student of a foreign language in mind, please enjoy my latest update.
In February, my boss asked me to visit an elementary school on Friday nights to teach English. The Little Cherries Jazz and Swing Band of Tamae Elementary school will visit Iowa in June. The 22 members of the band want to learn some conversational English before their trip. So, once a week, I visit the school and play games with the students for an hour. I really enjoy it. The kids are very motivated make a real effort to learn during the class. Also, there is no JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) with me, so I have to plan everything and run the class by myself. That is fun. We play a lot of games and after class, one of the mothers gives me an envelope with about $50 in it, which is great because that is about twice the normal rate for an hour of English lessons. I went to their concert a few weeks ago and was very impressed. I have not listened to that much Glenn Miller since Grandma and Grandpa drove me to Space Camp in the mid-80s.
We had a three-day weekend in March and I went for my first bike/camp trip of the spring. I rode down to Cape Sata, the southernmost point in mainland Japan. From there, I explored the hills of the Osumi Peninsula. On the final day, I went to a great onsen (hot spring) in the hills overlooking Kinko Bay, Sakurajima Volcano and Kagoshima City. It was a great bike trip and I am looking forward to many more weekend getaways in the coming months.
Also in March, I competed in another 10km race and finished in just over 50 minutes. Two weeks later, I rode my bike for three hours to Kaseda town. I spent the night there and the next day I competed in the Kaseda Duathalon. The race consisted of a one mile run, a ten-mile bike ride and another one mile run. Everyone else had fancy racing bikes as opposed to my fancy touring bike. I am sure that my bike weighed at least twice as much as any other bike there.
I did well on the first run and then came the bike ride. I felt like I was not doing too poorly, even though many people passed me. We were supposed to ride around the park five times, but I forgot to count. When I figured I had finished my fifth lap, I got off the bike and did the final run. Near the end, I passed a 72 year old man who was walking. That was when I was convinced that I had done six laps of the park, instead of the five required. If I were a woman, I still would have come in third place, but in the men갽s category, I was beaten by some of my 13 year old Junior High School students. So, now I have it easy for next year. Everybody else must train harder to improve their times. All I have to do is learn to count to five and I can knock about seven minutes off of my time.
After the race, everybody else put their bikes into their cars and drove home. It seems I was the only one faced with a thirty-mile bike ride back home. And I had to go quickly, because it was my once a month dinner with the landlord night.
I mentioned in February that the third grade students at my Junior High Schools were busy taking tests to get into High School. They finished their testing by mid-March. Then we had a graduation ceremony. I shaved off my winter beard and wore a jacket and tie to the ceremony. The students said I looked "dandy." As the graduates left school, the younger students gave them flowers. The graduating boys gave buttons off of their jackets to younger girls whom they liked. The popular boys ended up with no buttons at all and some even gave away their jackets and shirts. For and hour, they all knew what it feels like to be a rock star or an ALT.
A week later, we had a closing ceremony for the two remaining grades. They were given the normal anti-smoking and anti-two people on a bike lectures and sent home for spring break. This was the end of the school year and they all had a one week break before moving up to the next grade. For one week they had no classes. They only had to come to school for half a day to practice their club activities.
In Kagoshima, the public schools have a better reputation than the private ones, so most students try to go there. Those that do not pass the tests or the interviews go to private schools. The schools often have specialties as well, such as academics, business, agriculture or mechanics.
Compulsory and free education ends with Junior High School. Some students choose not to go to High School. Others fail the tests and do not get accepted, so even if they want to go to High School, they can not. A few of my favorite bad students were unable to get accepted anywhere, so I will look for them working the late shift at a convenience store or a gas station. They do not make exceptions or allowances. I have an ALT friend with a daughter who is 16. She was raised in America, but has lived here for two years. Needless to say, she has limited Japanese. She was unable to pass the tests for High School and will now have to be home schooled.
It is common practice in the Japanese government to move people around every few years, especially among teachers in Kagoshima. There are many remote islands in this prefecture and in order to get teachers into every school, the Board of Education reassigns each teacher every three to six years. Near the end of Spring Break, the newspapers published the names and schools of all the moving teachers in the prefecture. It seems that about a quarter of all teachers move each year. And when I say, move, I don't just mean across town. The normal move is to one of the islands, 12 hours away by ferry. The teachers had one week from when they found out to pack up and move. On March 31st ,all of the teachers were in their old schools. On April 1st, they were supposed to be in their new schools, ready to work.
The remaining teachers made themselves useful by assisting in the moving, going to the port to wave goodbye and welcoming the new teachers.
In the space of two weeks, we had ceremonies for third grade graduation, for the end of the school year, to say goodbye to old teachers, to welcome new students to the school and a combined starting and new teachers ceremony. They really like their speeches and ceremonies here.
Some schools have an additional ceremony. After the normal third grade graduation there is a special ceremony in the Principal's office for the graduating students who never came to school. In Japanese schools no one fails and no one is held back.
At my Board of Education office about half of the Japanese staff were reassigned. We had one going away party, and the next week, we had a welcome party. They were the now familiar all you can drink and tons of fishy Japanese dishes to eat with some speeches and silliness. Our new OL (office lady - the one who makes tea) is only 18. She finished High School two weeks ago and is already working. Her introductory speech was interrupted several times by drunken middle-aged men (co-workers) yelling "cute."
For many years I have traveled and slept on peoples couches. Now that I have my own place, I want lots of people to come and visit me. Sort of a karma thing. I joined a JET home stay group and have had 15 house guests so far. Many of them I have never met. They contact me by email and often want to stay over on long weekends when I go away. I just leave my place open and when I get home there is a nice thank you card and a gift on my table. The ones I have met have been great. They usually leave me some food, and are fun to talk to. I did have one house guest that wasn't part of the JET program. Timothy is a 16 year old German exchange student living in Nagasaki. He felt too constrained by Japanese life and took off on a one-week trip around Kagoshima. I found him sleeping in the park one morning and invited him home for the night. He was a nice kid, I hope he is having fun back in Nagasaki.
At one of my schools, the students had to write poems in English. Most wrote about flowers, the sea, the sky or summer. A few of my favorite poems were about English. Here they are.
English Class It's sweet lullaby It's take me to Dream World
School Study hard Play with my friends So happy place
Sleepy How Sleepy!! I want to sleep very much
Now its English Class I want to go home soon
My Japanese language classes continue to challenge me, but I am making progress. I had to make a speech in Japanese at one of the closing ceremonies and everyone told me that I did a good job. In my last update, I forgot to mention that my new favorite Japanese word was "tabemono". It means "eat thing", which means food. I have since learned that many nouns in Japanese are made by combining a verb with the word "thing." For example, shopping is "buy thing". But, my new favorite word is "kuinigeshimasu" and it is a verb that means "to run away with out paying for your food." I just love the idea that they actually have a word that means all that.
There is another thing about Japanese that I really like. You can end a sentence with "Yo." "Yo" means that the preceding sentence had some new or interesting information in it. It is commonly used. It is quite normal to say "Nice weather today, Yo." I feel like I am Hip-Hop or Rap star when I speak.
I am still struggling to learn Kanji. It is more annoying now. Before I could ignore them all, but now I have to try to read them, because I just may understand one or two. My teacher gives me 50 new kanji to learn each week, so now I literally know a dozen of them. It is much more frustrating now because I can recognize more than a hundred of them, but all I can say is "I studied that one and now I have no idea what it means." I should have taken Art Appreciation in university. That would have helped.
I have a bunch of random observations that I will now share with you.
My favorite sushi place had a sale last week. Normally, a plate of sushi starts at about one dollar. They had a 50% off sale. Sushi for less than 50 cents per plate. It was great. I pigged out on sushi for under $4, three days in a row.
In class, each student is given a number. Boys start with number one and go up from there. Girls start with number 50. Teachers often call students by their numbers.
When one students is forced to stand up and answer a question, the students around her will loudly whisper the answer.
The students must copy large portions of their textbooks into workbooks. This is their homework. Teachers must check the work, but it is very boring. They just put a big red circle on each page. Often. the students do the checking. One opens the book and the other stamps the date onto the page. They are very efficient, and since they don't actually read the homework, they can check all 40 books in under five minutes.
Every month or so I seem to wonder about another aspect of the Japanese people and use my class room time to check my theories. For two months I looked for a left handed kid before actually finding two. Recently, I have been looking for a girl who pulls her hair back into a ponytail with no bangs. I have not found yet one. They have three approved hair styles in Junior High School; a single rear pony tail, two pony tails (one on each side) or short hair (above the collar). Of course, the hair must be black.
Just about every thing comes wrapped in plastic. The plastic pouches are always easy to open. They have an arrow pointing to a small slit in the side where you are supposed to start opening it from.
Many people ride small bikes to work. But, it seems that bikes are considered more like pedestrians than vehicles. The bikes must drive on the side walk. Bike riders often do the same activities as walkers, which means using cell phones, smoking cigarettes and holding an umbrella. I am waiting to see what happens when a cigarette smoking bike rider in the rain gets a phone call.
During cold season it is normal for sick people to wear little cotton masks so as not to contaminate anybody else. Very considerate.
Every student has a pencil case filled with pencils, erasers, staplers and pens. Each case is decorated with photos, stickers and graffiti. They usually have small toys hanging off the ends.
There is a style of noodle called soumen. It is like soba, a brown buckwheat noodle. In the summer, it is popular to go to special restaurants in the country to eat it. They have donut shaped tables. In the table is a whirlpool of water. You drop the noodles in, watch them swirl around for as long as you like and then catch them with chopsticks. They come with a soy sauce and wasabi dipping sauce and are very tasty. I like playing with my food.
In the countryside, I have observed many small video stores. I decided to have a look inside one. They are very small and usually located along the road. Inside are a bunch of vending machines with videos for rent. They are all porn.
When you walk into any business, they yell "irashaimase." It means "welcome", but it can be pretty annoying when every waitress yells it at the top of her super-high voice.
Most restaurants have a plastic display of their food out front. The displays are incredibly realistic. I have been most impressed.
Sometimes a student forgets his text book for class. He will just sit there and stare straight ahead. It will never occur to him to share with his neighbor and usually the teacher will not suggest this either.
When the students write in English, they often don't leave spaces between the words and break words in funny places at the end of the line. This is perfectly acceptable in Japanese and part of what makes Japanese difficult for me. But in English, it makes for some hard reading.
In Elementary school, it is popular for little boys to sneak up behind someone and poke their fingers up their butt while yelling "suppository." Unfortunately, some of the Junior High School students have not yet outgrown this game.
The Japanese use both the western calendar to count years and their own. The native Japanese calendar starts at one whenever there is a new Emperor. It is currently year 15 here. The previous Emperor lived a long time. So, it turns out that I was born in year 46 of the Showa era. It is fun to tell people that I was born in 46, especially if they get confused and think that I mean 1946 in the western calendar.
Public toilets do not have paper towels. You are supposed to carry around your own handkerchief for wiping your hands after washing them. Judging by the number of wet hand-prints on men's backsides when they come out of the bathroom, not everyone carries around their own towels.
I went to the Kamikazi museum in Chiran town. They had pictures of each of the 1066 kamikazi pilots of World War II, as well as their final letters home and some other memorabilia of those "that gave their lives for freedom."
Garbage. They have a difficult system for dealing with it here. There are about ten different classifications for it and every one must sort their garbage before bringing out to the collection points in the street. I have not figured out the whole system, so I just have separate bags for bottles, cans, plastics and paper and foodstuffs. Technically, you are supposed to put everything into its own clear plastic bag and write your name and address on the outside, in case someone finds a forbidden item in the bag. I have some friends in the country who are so afraid that they only bring out their trash in the middle of the night, every few months. Luckily, there is a garbage room in my building and I don갽t have to wait until garbage day to drop off my bags.
Since they separate trash, they must have many different garbage cans. Stores and cities seem reluctant to place public trash cans because if they put one out they have to put five or six out. There is a severe shortage of public trash cans. Convenience stores usually have trash cans and so do some bigger parks, but that is about it. It is not uncommon to walk around with a piece of trash until I get home. Even toilets don't have trash cans.
I learned early on in my visit to never make a tape or a video of myself because then people will laugh at me for years to come. Well, last month I was asked to make a video and here it is.
I know I sound stupid, but remember, my intended audience is young Japanese people that don't understand any English. This five-minute speech is the one I have given more than 50 times. It is my now standard self -introduction.
A training vessel from the Spanish Navy was in town for a week. Many of the High School Girls and female ALTs were very excited. The sailors all wore sailor outfits. That is also the uniform for school girls. I sometimes had trouble telling them apart, especially the High School girls and the female sailors.
That's all for now.
In February, my boss asked me to visit an elementary school on Friday nights to teach English. The Little Cherries Jazz and Swing Band of Tamae Elementary school will visit Iowa in June. The 22 members of the band want to learn some conversational English before their trip. So, once a week, I visit the school and play games with the students for an hour. I really enjoy it. The kids are very motivated make a real effort to learn during the class. Also, there is no JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) with me, so I have to plan everything and run the class by myself. That is fun. We play a lot of games and after class, one of the mothers gives me an envelope with about $50 in it, which is great because that is about twice the normal rate for an hour of English lessons. I went to their concert a few weeks ago and was very impressed. I have not listened to that much Glenn Miller since Grandma and Grandpa drove me to Space Camp in the mid-80s.
We had a three-day weekend in March and I went for my first bike/camp trip of the spring. I rode down to Cape Sata, the southernmost point in mainland Japan. From there, I explored the hills of the Osumi Peninsula. On the final day, I went to a great onsen (hot spring) in the hills overlooking Kinko Bay, Sakurajima Volcano and Kagoshima City. It was a great bike trip and I am looking forward to many more weekend getaways in the coming months.
Also in March, I competed in another 10km race and finished in just over 50 minutes. Two weeks later, I rode my bike for three hours to Kaseda town. I spent the night there and the next day I competed in the Kaseda Duathalon. The race consisted of a one mile run, a ten-mile bike ride and another one mile run. Everyone else had fancy racing bikes as opposed to my fancy touring bike. I am sure that my bike weighed at least twice as much as any other bike there.
I did well on the first run and then came the bike ride. I felt like I was not doing too poorly, even though many people passed me. We were supposed to ride around the park five times, but I forgot to count. When I figured I had finished my fifth lap, I got off the bike and did the final run. Near the end, I passed a 72 year old man who was walking. That was when I was convinced that I had done six laps of the park, instead of the five required. If I were a woman, I still would have come in third place, but in the men갽s category, I was beaten by some of my 13 year old Junior High School students. So, now I have it easy for next year. Everybody else must train harder to improve their times. All I have to do is learn to count to five and I can knock about seven minutes off of my time.
After the race, everybody else put their bikes into their cars and drove home. It seems I was the only one faced with a thirty-mile bike ride back home. And I had to go quickly, because it was my once a month dinner with the landlord night.
I mentioned in February that the third grade students at my Junior High Schools were busy taking tests to get into High School. They finished their testing by mid-March. Then we had a graduation ceremony. I shaved off my winter beard and wore a jacket and tie to the ceremony. The students said I looked "dandy." As the graduates left school, the younger students gave them flowers. The graduating boys gave buttons off of their jackets to younger girls whom they liked. The popular boys ended up with no buttons at all and some even gave away their jackets and shirts. For and hour, they all knew what it feels like to be a rock star or an ALT.
A week later, we had a closing ceremony for the two remaining grades. They were given the normal anti-smoking and anti-two people on a bike lectures and sent home for spring break. This was the end of the school year and they all had a one week break before moving up to the next grade. For one week they had no classes. They only had to come to school for half a day to practice their club activities.
In Kagoshima, the public schools have a better reputation than the private ones, so most students try to go there. Those that do not pass the tests or the interviews go to private schools. The schools often have specialties as well, such as academics, business, agriculture or mechanics.
Compulsory and free education ends with Junior High School. Some students choose not to go to High School. Others fail the tests and do not get accepted, so even if they want to go to High School, they can not. A few of my favorite bad students were unable to get accepted anywhere, so I will look for them working the late shift at a convenience store or a gas station. They do not make exceptions or allowances. I have an ALT friend with a daughter who is 16. She was raised in America, but has lived here for two years. Needless to say, she has limited Japanese. She was unable to pass the tests for High School and will now have to be home schooled.
It is common practice in the Japanese government to move people around every few years, especially among teachers in Kagoshima. There are many remote islands in this prefecture and in order to get teachers into every school, the Board of Education reassigns each teacher every three to six years. Near the end of Spring Break, the newspapers published the names and schools of all the moving teachers in the prefecture. It seems that about a quarter of all teachers move each year. And when I say, move, I don't just mean across town. The normal move is to one of the islands, 12 hours away by ferry. The teachers had one week from when they found out to pack up and move. On March 31st ,all of the teachers were in their old schools. On April 1st, they were supposed to be in their new schools, ready to work.
The remaining teachers made themselves useful by assisting in the moving, going to the port to wave goodbye and welcoming the new teachers.
In the space of two weeks, we had ceremonies for third grade graduation, for the end of the school year, to say goodbye to old teachers, to welcome new students to the school and a combined starting and new teachers ceremony. They really like their speeches and ceremonies here.
Some schools have an additional ceremony. After the normal third grade graduation there is a special ceremony in the Principal's office for the graduating students who never came to school. In Japanese schools no one fails and no one is held back.
At my Board of Education office about half of the Japanese staff were reassigned. We had one going away party, and the next week, we had a welcome party. They were the now familiar all you can drink and tons of fishy Japanese dishes to eat with some speeches and silliness. Our new OL (office lady - the one who makes tea) is only 18. She finished High School two weeks ago and is already working. Her introductory speech was interrupted several times by drunken middle-aged men (co-workers) yelling "cute."
For many years I have traveled and slept on peoples couches. Now that I have my own place, I want lots of people to come and visit me. Sort of a karma thing. I joined a JET home stay group and have had 15 house guests so far. Many of them I have never met. They contact me by email and often want to stay over on long weekends when I go away. I just leave my place open and when I get home there is a nice thank you card and a gift on my table. The ones I have met have been great. They usually leave me some food, and are fun to talk to. I did have one house guest that wasn't part of the JET program. Timothy is a 16 year old German exchange student living in Nagasaki. He felt too constrained by Japanese life and took off on a one-week trip around Kagoshima. I found him sleeping in the park one morning and invited him home for the night. He was a nice kid, I hope he is having fun back in Nagasaki.
At one of my schools, the students had to write poems in English. Most wrote about flowers, the sea, the sky or summer. A few of my favorite poems were about English. Here they are.
English Class It's sweet lullaby It's take me to Dream World
School Study hard Play with my friends So happy place
Sleepy How Sleepy!! I want to sleep very much
Now its English Class I want to go home soon
My Japanese language classes continue to challenge me, but I am making progress. I had to make a speech in Japanese at one of the closing ceremonies and everyone told me that I did a good job. In my last update, I forgot to mention that my new favorite Japanese word was "tabemono". It means "eat thing", which means food. I have since learned that many nouns in Japanese are made by combining a verb with the word "thing." For example, shopping is "buy thing". But, my new favorite word is "kuinigeshimasu" and it is a verb that means "to run away with out paying for your food." I just love the idea that they actually have a word that means all that.
There is another thing about Japanese that I really like. You can end a sentence with "Yo." "Yo" means that the preceding sentence had some new or interesting information in it. It is commonly used. It is quite normal to say "Nice weather today, Yo." I feel like I am Hip-Hop or Rap star when I speak.
I am still struggling to learn Kanji. It is more annoying now. Before I could ignore them all, but now I have to try to read them, because I just may understand one or two. My teacher gives me 50 new kanji to learn each week, so now I literally know a dozen of them. It is much more frustrating now because I can recognize more than a hundred of them, but all I can say is "I studied that one and now I have no idea what it means." I should have taken Art Appreciation in university. That would have helped.
I have a bunch of random observations that I will now share with you.
My favorite sushi place had a sale last week. Normally, a plate of sushi starts at about one dollar. They had a 50% off sale. Sushi for less than 50 cents per plate. It was great. I pigged out on sushi for under $4, three days in a row.
In class, each student is given a number. Boys start with number one and go up from there. Girls start with number 50. Teachers often call students by their numbers.
When one students is forced to stand up and answer a question, the students around her will loudly whisper the answer.
The students must copy large portions of their textbooks into workbooks. This is their homework. Teachers must check the work, but it is very boring. They just put a big red circle on each page. Often. the students do the checking. One opens the book and the other stamps the date onto the page. They are very efficient, and since they don't actually read the homework, they can check all 40 books in under five minutes.
Every month or so I seem to wonder about another aspect of the Japanese people and use my class room time to check my theories. For two months I looked for a left handed kid before actually finding two. Recently, I have been looking for a girl who pulls her hair back into a ponytail with no bangs. I have not found yet one. They have three approved hair styles in Junior High School; a single rear pony tail, two pony tails (one on each side) or short hair (above the collar). Of course, the hair must be black.
Just about every thing comes wrapped in plastic. The plastic pouches are always easy to open. They have an arrow pointing to a small slit in the side where you are supposed to start opening it from.
Many people ride small bikes to work. But, it seems that bikes are considered more like pedestrians than vehicles. The bikes must drive on the side walk. Bike riders often do the same activities as walkers, which means using cell phones, smoking cigarettes and holding an umbrella. I am waiting to see what happens when a cigarette smoking bike rider in the rain gets a phone call.
During cold season it is normal for sick people to wear little cotton masks so as not to contaminate anybody else. Very considerate.
Every student has a pencil case filled with pencils, erasers, staplers and pens. Each case is decorated with photos, stickers and graffiti. They usually have small toys hanging off the ends.
There is a style of noodle called soumen. It is like soba, a brown buckwheat noodle. In the summer, it is popular to go to special restaurants in the country to eat it. They have donut shaped tables. In the table is a whirlpool of water. You drop the noodles in, watch them swirl around for as long as you like and then catch them with chopsticks. They come with a soy sauce and wasabi dipping sauce and are very tasty. I like playing with my food.
In the countryside, I have observed many small video stores. I decided to have a look inside one. They are very small and usually located along the road. Inside are a bunch of vending machines with videos for rent. They are all porn.
When you walk into any business, they yell "irashaimase." It means "welcome", but it can be pretty annoying when every waitress yells it at the top of her super-high voice.
Most restaurants have a plastic display of their food out front. The displays are incredibly realistic. I have been most impressed.
Sometimes a student forgets his text book for class. He will just sit there and stare straight ahead. It will never occur to him to share with his neighbor and usually the teacher will not suggest this either.
When the students write in English, they often don't leave spaces between the words and break words in funny places at the end of the line. This is perfectly acceptable in Japanese and part of what makes Japanese difficult for me. But in English, it makes for some hard reading.
In Elementary school, it is popular for little boys to sneak up behind someone and poke their fingers up their butt while yelling "suppository." Unfortunately, some of the Junior High School students have not yet outgrown this game.
The Japanese use both the western calendar to count years and their own. The native Japanese calendar starts at one whenever there is a new Emperor. It is currently year 15 here. The previous Emperor lived a long time. So, it turns out that I was born in year 46 of the Showa era. It is fun to tell people that I was born in 46, especially if they get confused and think that I mean 1946 in the western calendar.
Public toilets do not have paper towels. You are supposed to carry around your own handkerchief for wiping your hands after washing them. Judging by the number of wet hand-prints on men's backsides when they come out of the bathroom, not everyone carries around their own towels.
I went to the Kamikazi museum in Chiran town. They had pictures of each of the 1066 kamikazi pilots of World War II, as well as their final letters home and some other memorabilia of those "that gave their lives for freedom."
Garbage. They have a difficult system for dealing with it here. There are about ten different classifications for it and every one must sort their garbage before bringing out to the collection points in the street. I have not figured out the whole system, so I just have separate bags for bottles, cans, plastics and paper and foodstuffs. Technically, you are supposed to put everything into its own clear plastic bag and write your name and address on the outside, in case someone finds a forbidden item in the bag. I have some friends in the country who are so afraid that they only bring out their trash in the middle of the night, every few months. Luckily, there is a garbage room in my building and I don갽t have to wait until garbage day to drop off my bags.
Since they separate trash, they must have many different garbage cans. Stores and cities seem reluctant to place public trash cans because if they put one out they have to put five or six out. There is a severe shortage of public trash cans. Convenience stores usually have trash cans and so do some bigger parks, but that is about it. It is not uncommon to walk around with a piece of trash until I get home. Even toilets don't have trash cans.
I learned early on in my visit to never make a tape or a video of myself because then people will laugh at me for years to come. Well, last month I was asked to make a video and here it is.
I know I sound stupid, but remember, my intended audience is young Japanese people that don't understand any English. This five-minute speech is the one I have given more than 50 times. It is my now standard self -introduction.
A training vessel from the Spanish Navy was in town for a week. Many of the High School Girls and female ALTs were very excited. The sailors all wore sailor outfits. That is also the uniform for school girls. I sometimes had trouble telling them apart, especially the High School girls and the female sailors.
That's all for now.
Saturday, February 1, 2003
A few more months worth of freedays and observations.
Hello again from the Land of the Rising Sun, as the Chinese dubbed the country many centuries ago.
As you might expect, I have been very busy since my last update in November. School life has settled into a comfortable routine. I ride to school and get there at about 8:30 in the morning. I help teach a few classes in the morning and usually have an hour or two free to study Japanese. I eat lunch in a different class room everyday. The students are always excited to see me enter the room at lunch time. Sometimes they talk to me, sometimes they don't. After lunch there is a free period, and I have begun playing Shogi with the students.
Shogi is the Japanese version of chess. It is very similar to chess, so I was able to figure it out quickly. In some ways I like it more than chess. When you capture an opponent's piece, you can put it back on the board for your own side. In one of my school's the students are not allowed to play games, but in the other two, I enjoy a game or two of Shogi before my final class of the day. Then, I head home and go to the gym or Tai Chi or rock climbing or Japanese class.
At school, I have settled into a routine with my teachers. Some only use me to stand up there and read an occasional sentence. Others like me to do a five or ten minute warm up activity before standing up there and reading an occasional sentence. A few make an effort to never use the text book when I am there and plan fun activities for the whole class. A couple of others always ask me what I have planned and let me run the whole 50 minute class.
I no longer visit third grade student classes. They are too busy for fun and games. They will all take the entrance examinations for High School during the next five weeks. The examinations for the private High Schools started yesterday and continue through the 8th of March, when the public school test is given. This is a very big deal to them and they have spent a lot of time studying.
On Thursday, at Kamoike Junior High School, the students were given a large pile of papers describing how to behave and what to do during this weekends testing. For an hour, they were told a million little details over the loud speaker. They were told to get a good night rest, to eat breakfast, to take public transport to the test, wear a clean uniform, make sure no buttons are missing, use the toilet at home before they go, bring their own slippers, not to fight with students from other schools at the test site, cut their finger nails, call the homeroom teacher as soon as they get home and not to eat during breaks. They had so many rules to remember that I will be surprised if there is any room left in their heads for the actual test material.
Last August I started to learn the Hiragana alphabet. Hiragana is the Japanese writing system used for verb endings, prepositions, pronunciation guides, general "Japanese" words and most non-verb and non-noun parts of speech. It took a while to learn all 46 symbols, but I have got it down pretty well now. In October, I started on Katakana. Katakana is sort of like the printing version of the cursive Hiragana style. Each of the 46 Hiragana symbols has very different Katakana version. Katakana is used for foreign loan words, of which there is a surprising number. Many foods, foreign names, and all of the thousands of borrowed words in Japanese are written in Katakana.
An amazing number of things are written in Katakana. Once I was able to read it, I could understand a lot. The only trick is trying to guess the English word buried in the Japanese pronunciation. There is no way to write the "TH", "L" or "V" sounds in any Japanese writing system, so they have to approximate with "SE", "RA" and "BU" instead. This means that "Love" is written as "Rabu" in Japanese. Some words, like "Aisu Curimu"(ice cream) are easy. Others, like "Hochikisu" (Hodgekiss - the word they use for stapler) are a bit more difficult to figure out.
Finally, I have begun to study Kanji, as well. Kanji is the picture writing system that was borrowed from the Chinese. Kanji is used for people and place names, as well as for verb roots and most nouns. Some of the pictures look like what they are supposed to mean. So, it is easy to read mountain, because it looks like a mountain. Most are much more difficult. There are about 80 basic elements that make up the majority of Kanji characters and I am starting to become familiar with them. I would have to learn about 2000 of the well over 10,000 to read a newspaper. I don't expect to ever read a newspaper.
Ever since the first time I learned to read, over 25 years ago, I have enjoyed reading. As I become familiar with more and more characters in the various Japanese alphabets, it takes me longer and longer to walk down the street. I try to read as much of every sign as I can, so a one block walk can take about 15 minutes as I slowly sound out each letter. I can still hear my mother's voice in my head from 25 years ago encouraging me to look at the word and "sound it out".
Sometimes, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I went to my favorite store in town, Outdoors Station, and found an application for a rock climbing class. There was a lot of undecipherable Kanji on the form, but I could read the parts in Katakana that spoke of rock climbing, middle and expert classes, top-roping and other climbing terms. I signed up and went on the appropriate day. Everyone took turns climbing on the 40 foot wall. I had my turn and only got up about half way before falling off and being caught by the rope. When I got down, one of the other contestants told me "Not to worry, every one does poorly in their first competition." Competition? This was the first I had heard of a competition, I thought it was a class. Needless to say, I came in last place. The next day I bought some climbing shoes and a harness and now I go out to the wall a few times per week to practice.
Speaking of competitive events, I ran in my first 10km (6.2 mile) race in January. I went down to Ibuski for the 22st (22st is their spelling -last year was the 21th and I suppose that next year will be the 23nd) Nanohana Marathon and had a good time. I had stopped training six weeks before due to the cold, so I was well rested. The main event of the day was a marathon, in which about 6,000 people participated. I joined the smaller crowd of nearly 3,000 for the 10 km race. I started in the back, so it took nearly two minutes for me just to get to the starting line.
For the first 5km there were so many people packed into the street, that it was difficult to pass anyone. During the second half of the race, it was still crowded, but I could finally speed up a little bit. I was good and tired by the end, but finished in a decent 52 minutes. After the race, I headed straight to the beach to get buried up to my neck in the naturally heated sand. Then I went back to the road to watch the marathoners finish. Even after five hours, there were still hundreds of them passing by. I have a few more races planned in the next few months and I hope to improve my times. I am making the Nanohana Marathon of 2004 my training goal.
I am still spending one day each weekend on a long bike ride. Click here to see my bike, it is in the Products page, the Great Journey 1. I usually go about 60 or 70 miles in a different direction each week.
I had nine days of free time during the New Year's break. I finally got a chance to take my new bike out for a true test. On the 28th of December, I loaded up my tent, stove, food, camping supplies and bike tools and headed northwest. I knew I was off to a good start when I got to about 2,000 feet above sea level and it started to snow. I came down the other side of the mountain and into the rain. I went almost to Nagashima, in the extreme Northwest part of Kagoshima Prefecture. I camped near the ocean and rode on into Amuksa in the Kumamoto Prefecture the next day. After spending a night near some hot springs, I continued on to Kumamoto City. I saw one of the three best preserved (recently reconstructed) ancient castles of Japan. I also ate the regional specialty -raw horse meat sushi. The neck was white and chewy and not my favorite. The chest meat was tasty and red and well marbled with fat, as they like all their mammal meats here.
Kumamoto is a bigger city than Kagoshima and I saw many things there that we do not have here. They had ATM machines open until mid-night and a Starbucks coffee shop. But I don't miss those things here in Kagoshima. I don't often bank late at night and I don't drink coffee. Besides, we do have Haagen Daaz and Baskin Robbins ice cream shops in Kagoshima.
From Kumamoto, I headed east and camped near Gokase, in Miyazaki Prefecture. I camped near the southernmost ski resort in Japan. The operative part of that phrase was ski resort and not southernmost. It was cold. Then I went to Miyazaki City and Aoshima Island on the east coast of this part of Japan. I soaked in a nice hot spring and then continued south. Along the way I saw some monkeys. At Cape Toi I saw wild horses, but I had no soy sauce, so I left them alone. The whole southern coast of Miyazaki Prefecture is lined with interesting rock formations which I could admire from my bike as I rode through the rain.
After a few days of being cold and wet, I decided to head home early. I ended up riding about 400 miles in eight days. I still like hiking better, but I now think that a bike would be a great way to get from hike to hike on some future multi-month vacation.
I was glad I cut my ride a day short. A few hours after I got home, it snowed for the first time in 16 years in Kagoshima City. It snowed all night and all day the next day. The snow stuck around for about three days and many children had their first snowball fights. On Monday, the little elementary school boys were so cute in their super-short shorts and uniform jackets. None of them strolled to school that day. Nope, they all ran through the snow with their little knees knocking, no doubt looking forward to the days when they will be Junior High School students and will be allowed (required) to wear long pants every day. The girls also looked cold in their skirts, but they will not be allowed to wear tights until they get to High School. But, they can wear shorts under their skirts and as many shirts as will fit under their sailor uniforms.
Last Wednesday, it snowed for the second time in 16 years, as well as the second time this month. It was hard to keep the student's attention in class since they all wanted to watch the snow storm outside the big windows. But, it was fun to watch their breath as they talked. I stole a page from their book and started heavy layering. On the cold days, I now wear long under wear under my pants, and three jackets over my heavy work shirt and undershirts. The class rooms are well ventilated and don't really start to heat up until about 30 minutes after class starts. After it ends, the doors are opened up again as people come and go. Then, the cold comes and the heat goes. The teachers return to the teacher's room and stand around the little kerosene heater with the teapot on top and complain about how cold it is.
For the past two weeks, many students and teachers have been absent. In some classes, as many as 10 students were missing, out of 35. Some schools were closed due to lack of attendance. There has been a bad cold going around, which they call influenza, but I think we just call it the flu in English.
Many students, especially girls, carry around cute washcloth sized towels. In the summer they used them to blot sweat off of their heads. Now, I have discovered that they have a winter use as well. They can blot their nose if anything leaks out. As every good Japanese knows, it is rude and disgusting to blow your nose in a tissue. If you do, you are stuck with a dirty piece of garbage in your hand. No, it is much better to sniffle. The music of 30 people in a room sniffling is truly unique to my experience. The towels are just a back-up, in case gravity proves to be stronger than suction. I have this picture in my head of young Japanese children, sitting in front of the TV when they have a cold and blowing their noses. In my vision, their mothers scold them and say "Stop blowing your nose and just sniffle." I imagine that none of them have experienced the horror of being chased and smothered by a tissue and told to blow.
I mentioned the wonders of mid-night banking in Kumamoto City. The banking system here has taken some getting used to for my. Here the banks are doing you a favor by looking after your money and you have to fit your visits to them into your schedule. They do not pay interest on regular accounts, but they do have some 6 month CDs that return a whopping 0.2%. Yes, that is less than one percent. Don't even ask about the rate for a one month CD. Banks are open on weekdays, from about 9:30 am until 3:30 pm. Most of the cash machines are located in the bank lobby and remain open until about 6:00 pm. Often, they are open for about eight hours on Saturday as well. The rest of the time, the miracle of 24hour banking has not yet arrived to Japan, except in Tokyo airport and a few other places.
People do not use checks here and credit cards are extremely rare. Cash is used for all store purchases. When the amounts get too high, or when you want to give money to another individual or organization, the direct bank transfer is used. When I want to pay my rent, I race to the bank to get to the ATM before the attendant goes home and the ATM shuts down. I punch in a bunch of numbers, deposit my coins and bills into the machine and send it all to my landlord's account electronically. My friends bought a brand new car using a bank transfer. All of the applications for the races I enter also come with a bank number so that I can transfer the registration fee directly to them at the post office. The bank accounts still use passbooks and the ATM machine accepts them as well. I discovered yesterday that the machine can even turn the pages in the book when one fills up and it wants to start printing on the next page.
On the note of Japanese technology, some things here still confuse me. They have a high level of technology in many areas, but on the evening news, they do not always make use of it. When the newsreader is talking about the operations of a ship, he moves a little plastic ship around his desk to demonstrate. Many things on the news that have been presented by computer graphics for years in the US are shown with cardboard posters and tape and magnets here.
I am still getting to sushi quite often, as well as learning to make my own Japanese rice balls and pancakes (they have squid in them).
Since 1995, I have organized my life so as to avoid winter. To me, there has only been tourist season and rainy season. Cold weather season meant climbing a mountain, hot weather season meant going to the beach. Here, they organize their seasons differently. I do not even have to move to change seasons. One month it summer, later it is fall, and then a few months later it is winter. It is strange for me to witness the change of seasons without traveling. It also means that I can not get warm again by just lowering my elevation. I am already at sea level. This whole winter thing is taking some getting used to, especially since it is the coldest winter in a very long time here. But, on the 21st of December I was happy. Up until that day, every day since the day I arrived in Japan, was shorter than the previous one. Since the end of December, however, every day has been longer than the one before it and I can expect this pattern to continue for many more months still.
For the first time since July of 1995, I do not have sandal tan marks on my feet. I have no tan marks anyplace. Too much bundling up I fear.
Re-contracting decision day was yesterday and I formally requested a second year here on the JET program. So, after the summer that I am looking forward to, it seems that I will have another winter to survive. But, survive I will, and no doubt enjoy as well.
As you might expect, I have been very busy since my last update in November. School life has settled into a comfortable routine. I ride to school and get there at about 8:30 in the morning. I help teach a few classes in the morning and usually have an hour or two free to study Japanese. I eat lunch in a different class room everyday. The students are always excited to see me enter the room at lunch time. Sometimes they talk to me, sometimes they don't. After lunch there is a free period, and I have begun playing Shogi with the students.
Shogi is the Japanese version of chess. It is very similar to chess, so I was able to figure it out quickly. In some ways I like it more than chess. When you capture an opponent's piece, you can put it back on the board for your own side. In one of my school's the students are not allowed to play games, but in the other two, I enjoy a game or two of Shogi before my final class of the day. Then, I head home and go to the gym or Tai Chi or rock climbing or Japanese class.
At school, I have settled into a routine with my teachers. Some only use me to stand up there and read an occasional sentence. Others like me to do a five or ten minute warm up activity before standing up there and reading an occasional sentence. A few make an effort to never use the text book when I am there and plan fun activities for the whole class. A couple of others always ask me what I have planned and let me run the whole 50 minute class.
I no longer visit third grade student classes. They are too busy for fun and games. They will all take the entrance examinations for High School during the next five weeks. The examinations for the private High Schools started yesterday and continue through the 8th of March, when the public school test is given. This is a very big deal to them and they have spent a lot of time studying.
On Thursday, at Kamoike Junior High School, the students were given a large pile of papers describing how to behave and what to do during this weekends testing. For an hour, they were told a million little details over the loud speaker. They were told to get a good night rest, to eat breakfast, to take public transport to the test, wear a clean uniform, make sure no buttons are missing, use the toilet at home before they go, bring their own slippers, not to fight with students from other schools at the test site, cut their finger nails, call the homeroom teacher as soon as they get home and not to eat during breaks. They had so many rules to remember that I will be surprised if there is any room left in their heads for the actual test material.
Last August I started to learn the Hiragana alphabet. Hiragana is the Japanese writing system used for verb endings, prepositions, pronunciation guides, general "Japanese" words and most non-verb and non-noun parts of speech. It took a while to learn all 46 symbols, but I have got it down pretty well now. In October, I started on Katakana. Katakana is sort of like the printing version of the cursive Hiragana style. Each of the 46 Hiragana symbols has very different Katakana version. Katakana is used for foreign loan words, of which there is a surprising number. Many foods, foreign names, and all of the thousands of borrowed words in Japanese are written in Katakana.
An amazing number of things are written in Katakana. Once I was able to read it, I could understand a lot. The only trick is trying to guess the English word buried in the Japanese pronunciation. There is no way to write the "TH", "L" or "V" sounds in any Japanese writing system, so they have to approximate with "SE", "RA" and "BU" instead. This means that "Love" is written as "Rabu" in Japanese. Some words, like "Aisu Curimu"(ice cream) are easy. Others, like "Hochikisu" (Hodgekiss - the word they use for stapler) are a bit more difficult to figure out.
Finally, I have begun to study Kanji, as well. Kanji is the picture writing system that was borrowed from the Chinese. Kanji is used for people and place names, as well as for verb roots and most nouns. Some of the pictures look like what they are supposed to mean. So, it is easy to read mountain, because it looks like a mountain. Most are much more difficult. There are about 80 basic elements that make up the majority of Kanji characters and I am starting to become familiar with them. I would have to learn about 2000 of the well over 10,000 to read a newspaper. I don't expect to ever read a newspaper.
Ever since the first time I learned to read, over 25 years ago, I have enjoyed reading. As I become familiar with more and more characters in the various Japanese alphabets, it takes me longer and longer to walk down the street. I try to read as much of every sign as I can, so a one block walk can take about 15 minutes as I slowly sound out each letter. I can still hear my mother's voice in my head from 25 years ago encouraging me to look at the word and "sound it out".
Sometimes, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I went to my favorite store in town, Outdoors Station, and found an application for a rock climbing class. There was a lot of undecipherable Kanji on the form, but I could read the parts in Katakana that spoke of rock climbing, middle and expert classes, top-roping and other climbing terms. I signed up and went on the appropriate day. Everyone took turns climbing on the 40 foot wall. I had my turn and only got up about half way before falling off and being caught by the rope. When I got down, one of the other contestants told me "Not to worry, every one does poorly in their first competition." Competition? This was the first I had heard of a competition, I thought it was a class. Needless to say, I came in last place. The next day I bought some climbing shoes and a harness and now I go out to the wall a few times per week to practice.
Speaking of competitive events, I ran in my first 10km (6.2 mile) race in January. I went down to Ibuski for the 22st (22st is their spelling -last year was the 21th and I suppose that next year will be the 23nd) Nanohana Marathon and had a good time. I had stopped training six weeks before due to the cold, so I was well rested. The main event of the day was a marathon, in which about 6,000 people participated. I joined the smaller crowd of nearly 3,000 for the 10 km race. I started in the back, so it took nearly two minutes for me just to get to the starting line.
For the first 5km there were so many people packed into the street, that it was difficult to pass anyone. During the second half of the race, it was still crowded, but I could finally speed up a little bit. I was good and tired by the end, but finished in a decent 52 minutes. After the race, I headed straight to the beach to get buried up to my neck in the naturally heated sand. Then I went back to the road to watch the marathoners finish. Even after five hours, there were still hundreds of them passing by. I have a few more races planned in the next few months and I hope to improve my times. I am making the Nanohana Marathon of 2004 my training goal.
I am still spending one day each weekend on a long bike ride. Click here to see my bike, it is in the Products page, the Great Journey 1. I usually go about 60 or 70 miles in a different direction each week.
I had nine days of free time during the New Year's break. I finally got a chance to take my new bike out for a true test. On the 28th of December, I loaded up my tent, stove, food, camping supplies and bike tools and headed northwest. I knew I was off to a good start when I got to about 2,000 feet above sea level and it started to snow. I came down the other side of the mountain and into the rain. I went almost to Nagashima, in the extreme Northwest part of Kagoshima Prefecture. I camped near the ocean and rode on into Amuksa in the Kumamoto Prefecture the next day. After spending a night near some hot springs, I continued on to Kumamoto City. I saw one of the three best preserved (recently reconstructed) ancient castles of Japan. I also ate the regional specialty -raw horse meat sushi. The neck was white and chewy and not my favorite. The chest meat was tasty and red and well marbled with fat, as they like all their mammal meats here.
Kumamoto is a bigger city than Kagoshima and I saw many things there that we do not have here. They had ATM machines open until mid-night and a Starbucks coffee shop. But I don't miss those things here in Kagoshima. I don't often bank late at night and I don't drink coffee. Besides, we do have Haagen Daaz and Baskin Robbins ice cream shops in Kagoshima.
From Kumamoto, I headed east and camped near Gokase, in Miyazaki Prefecture. I camped near the southernmost ski resort in Japan. The operative part of that phrase was ski resort and not southernmost. It was cold. Then I went to Miyazaki City and Aoshima Island on the east coast of this part of Japan. I soaked in a nice hot spring and then continued south. Along the way I saw some monkeys. At Cape Toi I saw wild horses, but I had no soy sauce, so I left them alone. The whole southern coast of Miyazaki Prefecture is lined with interesting rock formations which I could admire from my bike as I rode through the rain.
After a few days of being cold and wet, I decided to head home early. I ended up riding about 400 miles in eight days. I still like hiking better, but I now think that a bike would be a great way to get from hike to hike on some future multi-month vacation.
I was glad I cut my ride a day short. A few hours after I got home, it snowed for the first time in 16 years in Kagoshima City. It snowed all night and all day the next day. The snow stuck around for about three days and many children had their first snowball fights. On Monday, the little elementary school boys were so cute in their super-short shorts and uniform jackets. None of them strolled to school that day. Nope, they all ran through the snow with their little knees knocking, no doubt looking forward to the days when they will be Junior High School students and will be allowed (required) to wear long pants every day. The girls also looked cold in their skirts, but they will not be allowed to wear tights until they get to High School. But, they can wear shorts under their skirts and as many shirts as will fit under their sailor uniforms.
Last Wednesday, it snowed for the second time in 16 years, as well as the second time this month. It was hard to keep the student's attention in class since they all wanted to watch the snow storm outside the big windows. But, it was fun to watch their breath as they talked. I stole a page from their book and started heavy layering. On the cold days, I now wear long under wear under my pants, and three jackets over my heavy work shirt and undershirts. The class rooms are well ventilated and don't really start to heat up until about 30 minutes after class starts. After it ends, the doors are opened up again as people come and go. Then, the cold comes and the heat goes. The teachers return to the teacher's room and stand around the little kerosene heater with the teapot on top and complain about how cold it is.
For the past two weeks, many students and teachers have been absent. In some classes, as many as 10 students were missing, out of 35. Some schools were closed due to lack of attendance. There has been a bad cold going around, which they call influenza, but I think we just call it the flu in English.
Many students, especially girls, carry around cute washcloth sized towels. In the summer they used them to blot sweat off of their heads. Now, I have discovered that they have a winter use as well. They can blot their nose if anything leaks out. As every good Japanese knows, it is rude and disgusting to blow your nose in a tissue. If you do, you are stuck with a dirty piece of garbage in your hand. No, it is much better to sniffle. The music of 30 people in a room sniffling is truly unique to my experience. The towels are just a back-up, in case gravity proves to be stronger than suction. I have this picture in my head of young Japanese children, sitting in front of the TV when they have a cold and blowing their noses. In my vision, their mothers scold them and say "Stop blowing your nose and just sniffle." I imagine that none of them have experienced the horror of being chased and smothered by a tissue and told to blow.
I mentioned the wonders of mid-night banking in Kumamoto City. The banking system here has taken some getting used to for my. Here the banks are doing you a favor by looking after your money and you have to fit your visits to them into your schedule. They do not pay interest on regular accounts, but they do have some 6 month CDs that return a whopping 0.2%. Yes, that is less than one percent. Don't even ask about the rate for a one month CD. Banks are open on weekdays, from about 9:30 am until 3:30 pm. Most of the cash machines are located in the bank lobby and remain open until about 6:00 pm. Often, they are open for about eight hours on Saturday as well. The rest of the time, the miracle of 24hour banking has not yet arrived to Japan, except in Tokyo airport and a few other places.
People do not use checks here and credit cards are extremely rare. Cash is used for all store purchases. When the amounts get too high, or when you want to give money to another individual or organization, the direct bank transfer is used. When I want to pay my rent, I race to the bank to get to the ATM before the attendant goes home and the ATM shuts down. I punch in a bunch of numbers, deposit my coins and bills into the machine and send it all to my landlord's account electronically. My friends bought a brand new car using a bank transfer. All of the applications for the races I enter also come with a bank number so that I can transfer the registration fee directly to them at the post office. The bank accounts still use passbooks and the ATM machine accepts them as well. I discovered yesterday that the machine can even turn the pages in the book when one fills up and it wants to start printing on the next page.
On the note of Japanese technology, some things here still confuse me. They have a high level of technology in many areas, but on the evening news, they do not always make use of it. When the newsreader is talking about the operations of a ship, he moves a little plastic ship around his desk to demonstrate. Many things on the news that have been presented by computer graphics for years in the US are shown with cardboard posters and tape and magnets here.
I am still getting to sushi quite often, as well as learning to make my own Japanese rice balls and pancakes (they have squid in them).
Since 1995, I have organized my life so as to avoid winter. To me, there has only been tourist season and rainy season. Cold weather season meant climbing a mountain, hot weather season meant going to the beach. Here, they organize their seasons differently. I do not even have to move to change seasons. One month it summer, later it is fall, and then a few months later it is winter. It is strange for me to witness the change of seasons without traveling. It also means that I can not get warm again by just lowering my elevation. I am already at sea level. This whole winter thing is taking some getting used to, especially since it is the coldest winter in a very long time here. But, on the 21st of December I was happy. Up until that day, every day since the day I arrived in Japan, was shorter than the previous one. Since the end of December, however, every day has been longer than the one before it and I can expect this pattern to continue for many more months still.
For the first time since July of 1995, I do not have sandal tan marks on my feet. I have no tan marks anyplace. Too much bundling up I fear.
Re-contracting decision day was yesterday and I formally requested a second year here on the JET program. So, after the summer that I am looking forward to, it seems that I will have another winter to survive. But, survive I will, and no doubt enjoy as well.
Saturday, November 16, 2002
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.
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.
Monday, September 30, 2002
My first month of school in Japan, as a teacher
Hello again from the Land of the Rising Sun.
I shall begin with a recap of the events of the past six weeks.
August was spent mostly in the office. I played on the Internet and studied some Japanese. I felt sorry for my co-workers here at the Kagoshima City Board of Education. When I show up at 8:30 they are already hard at work. When I leave at noon for lunch, they are eating at their desks. When I return from lunch at a little before two, they are working again. When I head home at 4:15, they are still hours away from doing the same. And, when I am actually at my desk, they look a lot busier than I do. I cruise the Internet and they push papers.
My fellow office mates all have a locker in the corner of the office. Whenever there is an important meeting, they go over there and put on their ties. Twice a day the OL (office lady) brings us our tea and snack. Now, several weeks later, I miss the office days, but back in August they got to be a bit tedious.
Our office had a welcome party for the six new ALTs (assistant language teachers). We met at a nice restaurant, poured drinks for each other, said a few speeches and ate good food.
For a few days in August, we had a prefectural orientation. Mostly, it was just more boring speeches and some teacher training. My favorite lesson was taught by a Romanian man. He came into the room and spoke to us in Romanian for an hour. He tried to teach us some of the language and we all got to feel like our students feel like in class, when they have no idea what the teacher is saying. We had another Elementary School English Teachers seminar, but it was all in Japanese so I do not know what was said that day.
For four days at the end of August, we taught at an elementary school summer camp. We played some games with the kids and taught them a little bit of English. At that level, they can read the letters and say a few sentences. We taught them the days of the week and the months of the year.
On Monday, the 2nd of September, my real job began. I visit three Junior High Schools. The students range in age from 12 to 15 years old. They are divided into three grades, called first, second and third. Wada-chu JHS has about 1200 students and I spend two weeks per month there. Kamoike JHS has about 400 students and I spend about a week per month there. I also spend about one week per month with the 500 students of Taniyama-Kita JHS.
On the 2nd, I went to Kamoike JHS. I showed up, took off my street shoes, put them in a cubbyhole, and put on my school sandals. Then I was entertained in the Principal's office until it was time for a brief self-introduction. I went into the teacher's meeting and told them that "My name is America" and "I come from Avram". This Japanese stuff can be a bit difficult for me at times.
From there, it was off to the general assembly. School actually starts in April, but since August is a month off, they all have to be reacquainted to school life. The assembly was in the gym, and the students sat on the floor. Everyone left their shoes at the door. I made my first speech ever for 500 people, and I did not even have to wear shoes to do it. I introduced myself briefly in English, gave my extremely short Japanese introduction and listened to a student read a much longer welcome speech to me in Japanese. After a few more speeches, the school day was over and I went home.
For the next two days, I went back to Kamoike and introduced myself to the students. Every student in the schools must take English. So, between three schools, I have 59 classes of 40 students each to visit every month. Lesson planning is nice. I can use the same lesson for a month at a time. At Kamoike, I met my first class of surly third grades. As the oldest students in the school, they have had the most life sucked out of them and are pretty non-responsive and uninterested. My first class bombed, but luckily I had a free period next and I improved it greatly.
Here is what my self-introduction lesson has evolved into. I walk in to either applause or snores. Then they all stand up and say "Good Morning", "How are you?" and "I am fine, thank you." After they sit down, I tell them my name and write it on the board. They can call me Mr. Fox if they want, but we all seem to prefer Avram or Avram-sensei. Next, I hang up a big map and point out Japan, Florida, and many of the countries I have visited. At the end of my five minutes of talking they get to guess the number of countries I have visited (about 40) and my age (30).
Then I hand out a list of picture descriptions and we practice saying them and define the difficult words like 'camel', 'wedding party', and 'mummies'. Next comes the part they all love. I hand out about 25 pictures of me from my travels and they have to match the pictures to the descriptions. They get to laugh at me with long hair and wonder why I was wearing a turban. After we check the answers, if there is more time, they can either ask me more questions or we play Bingo using the words from my handout. And that is that, another 50 minute lesson finished.
In each class, the regular JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) is there to assist me by translating what I say or what the students say. They have also made many suggestions to me which has improved my presentation over the weeks.
For the most part, except for some of the third graders, the students are excited to see me. If properly prepared, I get a nice round of applause when I walk in and some even wave American flags. Also, I am a welcome break from the normal textbook work. Between classes there is a ten minute break. I head to the teacher's room and usually talk to which ever students wander in and feel like talking. In the halls lots of boys will exchange a few words with me. In the teacher's room it is usually girls. They like to tell me I have nice eyebrows, nice eyes, and a big nose (apparently a compliment here). They giggle a lot and I encourage them to keep learning English. It is a lot of fun to walk around school and say hello to every one. When I walk by a class in session, I feel sorry for the teacher, because all of the students lean out the windows to shout 'hello' at me.
The JTEs and other teachers I work with are generally pretty interesting. Many of them can say a few words in English and we can exchange a few pleasantries. Most of the JTEs speak English well enough to have a basic conversation. Some of the JTEs do not speak English very well at all.
The schools do not have any air-conditioning or heat. In early September, the classrooms were very hot. The teachers all raced back to the teacher's room between classes to enjoy the air-conditioning. Many students followed us back. There are always students coming and going from the room. They announce their name and class, state their business, and apologize. Some teacher gives them permission to enter, and then they just mill about for a while, before apologizing again and leaving. In the middle of September, the air-conditioners were turned off for the winter. It has not really cooled off too much, but the air-conditioners and the winter heaters are regulated by an official schedule and not the actual weather conditions.
The students day starts at around 8:15 or so. In their nice school uniforms, they must go to Homeroom for a half an hour. The students stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers move around. At 8:50, first period starts. The classes usually last 50 minutes, but are often shortened so that the students can do some other activity in the afternoon. After the class, there is a 10 to 15 minute break.
After fourth period it is lunch time. Six students from each class put on a hair net and a smock. In one school they also wear a face mask. They head down to the kitchen and bring back buckets of food and a case of milk. They bring the food back to the classroom and portion it out into bowls. They distribute the food to each desk in the classroom and the students all ignore it. When the food distributors of the day are done, and the smocks are put away, they sit down. The teacher leads the "Itadakemasu" (time to eat) and the boys shovel the food in and the girls pick at it. Lunch is enjoyed with classical music from the loud speaker. I have the option of eating in the teacher's room or with the students. I usually eat with the students. Lunch is usually rice, but sometimes bread, a vegetable curry or some-other kind of stew, a small bowl of some sort of fish, and sometimes, a frozen dessert.
After lunch, we shovel the scraps into a bucket, being careful to put the cardboard desert spoon into a separate pile and the desert spoon plastic wrapper into a separate pile and any other container in yet another place. The students bring all the lunch stuff back to the kitchen and then it is free time. Many students play or run around in the school yard. They all wear shorts and a t-shirt under their uniform, so changing takes place in the back of the classroom. Some play cards or visit the teacher갽s room.
After the next bell, everyone goes to their cleaning place and to the sound of fast-paced classical music, cleans. They sweep, mop, scrub and clean the whole school. Of course, they are normal kids and most don't take it too seriously, despite the teacher who helps out in each group. But, as one principal told me, "They are cheap labor". So, the schools never do get a proper, professional cleaning, but the dirt is pushed around real well each day.
After cleaning time, there are one or two more classes. Then the students go to their club activities, usually sports or some activity. Finally, after five, they get to go home. Again, I feel sorry for my co-workers. At the earliest, I show up for first period, but not if I have first period free. The teachers must supervise the after-school activities, but I leave, if I want to, as soon as my last class is over. I can just say that I am going to the office and I can head out. Often, I actually do go to the office, to check my email. As I get to know my schools better, I may stay for some of the activities like archery or aikido.
I have a desk at the BOE. At each school I also have a desk. Actually, I have more than one. Each grade has a teacher's room and they each have a desk for me, except for one. Usually the desk is in the worst place, but it is still mine. So, with three schools of three grades each and one office desk, minus the third grade teacher's room at Taniyama-Kita JHS, I have nine desks. I am also welcome to the snacks and drinks near each one of my desks.
I am amazed by how well everything works at each school. The students are great at re-arranging the classroom to make groups. Also, they do all of the cleaning and food service and moving around the school without any need of supervision and without complaint.
Each school has one troubled girl. She often has her hair dyed, which is against school rules. Her skirt is too short and her eyebrows too plucked. She also wears those 80's push down baggy socks, instead of normal sports socks. She does not go to class, but sits in the teacher's room or an empty room all day. The teachers tell me that she has problems at home.
I do not know what three boys did to make their teacher angry one day, but I did see the teacher whacking them on the heads. He did not hit too hard and they did not try to avoid it.
Another student got an unacceptable hair cut. It was very short on the sides and in the back, but had three inch long hair in the front. Every time I came back to the teacher's room, he was there looking defiant. Teachers took turns yelling at him. I do not know if he went to class or not that day, but it must have been a rough day for him. The next day his bangs were only two inches long, but he was still getting lectured.
Yesterday was Sports Day at the Junior High Schools. I chose to attend the event at Taniyama-Kita JHS. A lot of family members showed up to watch. The students were divided into two teams and ran all sorts of races against each other. They had been rehearsing the ceremonies and events all week. Also, they had spent the previous week putting up the tents, marking the track, and hanging signs. The students ran the whole thing with very little supervision. They did the announcing, timing, event co-ordination, set-up, clean-up and every thing else.
Every Japanese event seems to start with an opening ceremony, and this was no exception.
There was music and marching and flag raising and speeches. After a few events, there was a crowd participation event. At noon, there was a one hour break and everyone had a picnic lunch. After filling up on rice and small Japanese food things, we returned for some more races and activities. The school clubs did a demonstration and I think that the aikido club members look like samurai warriors. The archery club also has cool dresses and big bows. I participated in one event. Each team had to take turns kicking a football (really a rugby ball) across the field, around a cone, and back to the start. Footballs do not bounce very predictably, so I chose to juggle the ball like a soccer ball as I ran. The principal was very impressed and came up to congratulate me after my team one.
After the closing ceremony, the students dismantled the tents, put the chairs and tables away, put all of the equipment away and cleaned up the grounds. Then they went to homeroom class and had a brief meeting before going home. To celebrate another successful Sports Day, the teachers had a party. We met at a hotel dining room and pigged out on yet another awesome Japanese food spread. Another one of my schools was having their party at the same hotel, and I went to visit them near the end of our dinner. By the time I got there, they were all very drunk, and I was well received. I was made to give my self-introduction and help lead the "Banzai" (closing cheer). Parties all end at a specific time and they are not at all shy about saying "Thank you for coming, the party is now over, please leave".
The teachers all have the day off today, to recover. Unfortunately, I am not a school employee. I had to come to my desk at the Board of Education and look busy all day. This is not so bad, but it will be worse when the schools all have longer vacations and I will have to spend them in the office. But, I do get my four weeks off each year and there is a three day weekend each month. Actually, I have had a week long seminar, two three day weekends, and four days of paid vacation, so I have really worked a lot less than my description of those nine days makes it sound. But, it is time to head home. I hope to add more eventually.
I shall begin with a recap of the events of the past six weeks.
August was spent mostly in the office. I played on the Internet and studied some Japanese. I felt sorry for my co-workers here at the Kagoshima City Board of Education. When I show up at 8:30 they are already hard at work. When I leave at noon for lunch, they are eating at their desks. When I return from lunch at a little before two, they are working again. When I head home at 4:15, they are still hours away from doing the same. And, when I am actually at my desk, they look a lot busier than I do. I cruise the Internet and they push papers.
My fellow office mates all have a locker in the corner of the office. Whenever there is an important meeting, they go over there and put on their ties. Twice a day the OL (office lady) brings us our tea and snack. Now, several weeks later, I miss the office days, but back in August they got to be a bit tedious.
Our office had a welcome party for the six new ALTs (assistant language teachers). We met at a nice restaurant, poured drinks for each other, said a few speeches and ate good food.
For a few days in August, we had a prefectural orientation. Mostly, it was just more boring speeches and some teacher training. My favorite lesson was taught by a Romanian man. He came into the room and spoke to us in Romanian for an hour. He tried to teach us some of the language and we all got to feel like our students feel like in class, when they have no idea what the teacher is saying. We had another Elementary School English Teachers seminar, but it was all in Japanese so I do not know what was said that day.
For four days at the end of August, we taught at an elementary school summer camp. We played some games with the kids and taught them a little bit of English. At that level, they can read the letters and say a few sentences. We taught them the days of the week and the months of the year.
On Monday, the 2nd of September, my real job began. I visit three Junior High Schools. The students range in age from 12 to 15 years old. They are divided into three grades, called first, second and third. Wada-chu JHS has about 1200 students and I spend two weeks per month there. Kamoike JHS has about 400 students and I spend about a week per month there. I also spend about one week per month with the 500 students of Taniyama-Kita JHS.
On the 2nd, I went to Kamoike JHS. I showed up, took off my street shoes, put them in a cubbyhole, and put on my school sandals. Then I was entertained in the Principal's office until it was time for a brief self-introduction. I went into the teacher's meeting and told them that "My name is America" and "I come from Avram". This Japanese stuff can be a bit difficult for me at times.
From there, it was off to the general assembly. School actually starts in April, but since August is a month off, they all have to be reacquainted to school life. The assembly was in the gym, and the students sat on the floor. Everyone left their shoes at the door. I made my first speech ever for 500 people, and I did not even have to wear shoes to do it. I introduced myself briefly in English, gave my extremely short Japanese introduction and listened to a student read a much longer welcome speech to me in Japanese. After a few more speeches, the school day was over and I went home.
For the next two days, I went back to Kamoike and introduced myself to the students. Every student in the schools must take English. So, between three schools, I have 59 classes of 40 students each to visit every month. Lesson planning is nice. I can use the same lesson for a month at a time. At Kamoike, I met my first class of surly third grades. As the oldest students in the school, they have had the most life sucked out of them and are pretty non-responsive and uninterested. My first class bombed, but luckily I had a free period next and I improved it greatly.
Here is what my self-introduction lesson has evolved into. I walk in to either applause or snores. Then they all stand up and say "Good Morning", "How are you?" and "I am fine, thank you." After they sit down, I tell them my name and write it on the board. They can call me Mr. Fox if they want, but we all seem to prefer Avram or Avram-sensei. Next, I hang up a big map and point out Japan, Florida, and many of the countries I have visited. At the end of my five minutes of talking they get to guess the number of countries I have visited (about 40) and my age (30).
Then I hand out a list of picture descriptions and we practice saying them and define the difficult words like 'camel', 'wedding party', and 'mummies'. Next comes the part they all love. I hand out about 25 pictures of me from my travels and they have to match the pictures to the descriptions. They get to laugh at me with long hair and wonder why I was wearing a turban. After we check the answers, if there is more time, they can either ask me more questions or we play Bingo using the words from my handout. And that is that, another 50 minute lesson finished.
In each class, the regular JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) is there to assist me by translating what I say or what the students say. They have also made many suggestions to me which has improved my presentation over the weeks.
For the most part, except for some of the third graders, the students are excited to see me. If properly prepared, I get a nice round of applause when I walk in and some even wave American flags. Also, I am a welcome break from the normal textbook work. Between classes there is a ten minute break. I head to the teacher's room and usually talk to which ever students wander in and feel like talking. In the halls lots of boys will exchange a few words with me. In the teacher's room it is usually girls. They like to tell me I have nice eyebrows, nice eyes, and a big nose (apparently a compliment here). They giggle a lot and I encourage them to keep learning English. It is a lot of fun to walk around school and say hello to every one. When I walk by a class in session, I feel sorry for the teacher, because all of the students lean out the windows to shout 'hello' at me.
The JTEs and other teachers I work with are generally pretty interesting. Many of them can say a few words in English and we can exchange a few pleasantries. Most of the JTEs speak English well enough to have a basic conversation. Some of the JTEs do not speak English very well at all.
The schools do not have any air-conditioning or heat. In early September, the classrooms were very hot. The teachers all raced back to the teacher's room between classes to enjoy the air-conditioning. Many students followed us back. There are always students coming and going from the room. They announce their name and class, state their business, and apologize. Some teacher gives them permission to enter, and then they just mill about for a while, before apologizing again and leaving. In the middle of September, the air-conditioners were turned off for the winter. It has not really cooled off too much, but the air-conditioners and the winter heaters are regulated by an official schedule and not the actual weather conditions.
The students day starts at around 8:15 or so. In their nice school uniforms, they must go to Homeroom for a half an hour. The students stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers move around. At 8:50, first period starts. The classes usually last 50 minutes, but are often shortened so that the students can do some other activity in the afternoon. After the class, there is a 10 to 15 minute break.
After fourth period it is lunch time. Six students from each class put on a hair net and a smock. In one school they also wear a face mask. They head down to the kitchen and bring back buckets of food and a case of milk. They bring the food back to the classroom and portion it out into bowls. They distribute the food to each desk in the classroom and the students all ignore it. When the food distributors of the day are done, and the smocks are put away, they sit down. The teacher leads the "Itadakemasu" (time to eat) and the boys shovel the food in and the girls pick at it. Lunch is enjoyed with classical music from the loud speaker. I have the option of eating in the teacher's room or with the students. I usually eat with the students. Lunch is usually rice, but sometimes bread, a vegetable curry or some-other kind of stew, a small bowl of some sort of fish, and sometimes, a frozen dessert.
After lunch, we shovel the scraps into a bucket, being careful to put the cardboard desert spoon into a separate pile and the desert spoon plastic wrapper into a separate pile and any other container in yet another place. The students bring all the lunch stuff back to the kitchen and then it is free time. Many students play or run around in the school yard. They all wear shorts and a t-shirt under their uniform, so changing takes place in the back of the classroom. Some play cards or visit the teacher갽s room.
After the next bell, everyone goes to their cleaning place and to the sound of fast-paced classical music, cleans. They sweep, mop, scrub and clean the whole school. Of course, they are normal kids and most don't take it too seriously, despite the teacher who helps out in each group. But, as one principal told me, "They are cheap labor". So, the schools never do get a proper, professional cleaning, but the dirt is pushed around real well each day.
After cleaning time, there are one or two more classes. Then the students go to their club activities, usually sports or some activity. Finally, after five, they get to go home. Again, I feel sorry for my co-workers. At the earliest, I show up for first period, but not if I have first period free. The teachers must supervise the after-school activities, but I leave, if I want to, as soon as my last class is over. I can just say that I am going to the office and I can head out. Often, I actually do go to the office, to check my email. As I get to know my schools better, I may stay for some of the activities like archery or aikido.
I have a desk at the BOE. At each school I also have a desk. Actually, I have more than one. Each grade has a teacher's room and they each have a desk for me, except for one. Usually the desk is in the worst place, but it is still mine. So, with three schools of three grades each and one office desk, minus the third grade teacher's room at Taniyama-Kita JHS, I have nine desks. I am also welcome to the snacks and drinks near each one of my desks.
I am amazed by how well everything works at each school. The students are great at re-arranging the classroom to make groups. Also, they do all of the cleaning and food service and moving around the school without any need of supervision and without complaint.
Each school has one troubled girl. She often has her hair dyed, which is against school rules. Her skirt is too short and her eyebrows too plucked. She also wears those 80's push down baggy socks, instead of normal sports socks. She does not go to class, but sits in the teacher's room or an empty room all day. The teachers tell me that she has problems at home.
I do not know what three boys did to make their teacher angry one day, but I did see the teacher whacking them on the heads. He did not hit too hard and they did not try to avoid it.
Another student got an unacceptable hair cut. It was very short on the sides and in the back, but had three inch long hair in the front. Every time I came back to the teacher's room, he was there looking defiant. Teachers took turns yelling at him. I do not know if he went to class or not that day, but it must have been a rough day for him. The next day his bangs were only two inches long, but he was still getting lectured.
Yesterday was Sports Day at the Junior High Schools. I chose to attend the event at Taniyama-Kita JHS. A lot of family members showed up to watch. The students were divided into two teams and ran all sorts of races against each other. They had been rehearsing the ceremonies and events all week. Also, they had spent the previous week putting up the tents, marking the track, and hanging signs. The students ran the whole thing with very little supervision. They did the announcing, timing, event co-ordination, set-up, clean-up and every thing else.
Every Japanese event seems to start with an opening ceremony, and this was no exception.
There was music and marching and flag raising and speeches. After a few events, there was a crowd participation event. At noon, there was a one hour break and everyone had a picnic lunch. After filling up on rice and small Japanese food things, we returned for some more races and activities. The school clubs did a demonstration and I think that the aikido club members look like samurai warriors. The archery club also has cool dresses and big bows. I participated in one event. Each team had to take turns kicking a football (really a rugby ball) across the field, around a cone, and back to the start. Footballs do not bounce very predictably, so I chose to juggle the ball like a soccer ball as I ran. The principal was very impressed and came up to congratulate me after my team one.
After the closing ceremony, the students dismantled the tents, put the chairs and tables away, put all of the equipment away and cleaned up the grounds. Then they went to homeroom class and had a brief meeting before going home. To celebrate another successful Sports Day, the teachers had a party. We met at a hotel dining room and pigged out on yet another awesome Japanese food spread. Another one of my schools was having their party at the same hotel, and I went to visit them near the end of our dinner. By the time I got there, they were all very drunk, and I was well received. I was made to give my self-introduction and help lead the "Banzai" (closing cheer). Parties all end at a specific time and they are not at all shy about saying "Thank you for coming, the party is now over, please leave".
The teachers all have the day off today, to recover. Unfortunately, I am not a school employee. I had to come to my desk at the Board of Education and look busy all day. This is not so bad, but it will be worse when the schools all have longer vacations and I will have to spend them in the office. But, I do get my four weeks off each year and there is a three day weekend each month. Actually, I have had a week long seminar, two three day weekends, and four days of paid vacation, so I have really worked a lot less than my description of those nine days makes it sound. But, it is time to head home. I hope to add more eventually.
Monday, August 12, 2002
My new home in Kagoshima, Japan
Well, well, well, what a difference a week can make. I am now in my new home town, Kagoshima, Japan.
After my update on the 2nd, I went down to Miami for a pre-departure orientation and reception. We spent the afternoon asking questions and getting information about Japan. The reception took place at the home of the Consul General of the Japanese Consulate in Miami. He had a nice home and about 100 guests for our going away party. I met his daughter, Reiko. She will be coming to Kagoshima to visit her boyfriend soon.
On the morning of Saturday the 3rd, I went down to Miami and flew to Minnesota. Even though I did not leave the airport in Minneapolis, I am counting this as the 48th state I have visited. After lunch, we boarded the plane Japan. Because we left in the morning and were flying northwest, the entire flight took place during daylight. We flew over western Canada and Alaska. I was able to see 50 mile long glaciers and mountains. I recognized many of the places from my tour leading days up there. We passed just south of Anchorage and had a great view of Mt. Denali/McKinley. It would have been nice to stop there for some hiking, but that was not the plan.
Around 5:00 pm, local time, on Sunday the 4th, we landed in Narita Airport near Tokyo, Japan. I am here as a member of the JET Programme (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program). The JET programme is very well organized. We were met by a bunch of people and taken to our five star hotel in downtown Tokyo.
Nothing was planned for that evening and I went to bed early. The next morning I woke up early and explored the city a little bit. The park next to the hotel had a large homeless population. The park's inhabitants had very neat and organized tarp covered shacks. They were up early sweeping the dirt and cooking breakfast. The one's without a shack slept on the pavement on a piece of cardboard. They left their shoes next to them, just like they would at a real home. I have seen many shanty towns in my travels, and this one was the cleanest and most orderly one I have ever seen.
That Monday, the 5th, was taken up with lots of speeches from important government ministers and such. I was in the second orientation. Our group had 1300 people. In all of Japan, there are well over 6000 JETs.
On the 6th, I went to some lectures on teaching in the Junior High Schools. After lunch, I went to a few lectures on adjusting to life in Japan. The US embassy had a raffle and I was one of the 96 lucky winners. I was invited to the Deputy Charge d'mission (DCM) house for a small party. He has a nice home and good food. Some former JETs and current foreign service employees were there to talk to and two of them had lived in Kagoshima. It was nice to talk to them. The DCM seemed very excited for all of us and wished us luck, before making a small recruitment speech for the US foreign service.
On Wednesday, the 7th, I flew to Kagoshima in far southern Japan. With Chris and Dana, my two fellow group B Kagoshima city Jets, I visited the office at the Board of Education. I met some bosses and co-workers and then went to my new home in the Satsuki Mansion.
Mansion is the Japanese word for apartment building. I have a great place. It is at least four times bigger than the van I have lived out of for much of the previous seven years. I measured the floor space. I have nearly 200 square feet all to myself. You walk in the front door into a three foot by three foot entrance way. There you take off your shoes and store them in a small closet before stepping up into the apartment proper. Now, on the right is a closet with the washing machine. Straight ahead a few steps is the kitchen/hallway. On the left side of the hall is my two burner gas stove, sink, cupboards and a really, really tiny refrigerator. On the right is my 16 square foot bathroom. The tub is well under four feet long. The shoulder end is almost two feet wide, but the feet end is only about a foot wide.
After passing through the six foot long hallway, you enter the ten foot by ten foot living space. The walls were recently painted white, so it looks very clean and shiny. I have tatami (reed mats) on the floor. In the room I have a small table and a comfortable chair. That is it. Nothing else. So, when I put the table in the corner and the chair near the rear sliding glass door, the place looks pretty empty. It is great. There are lots of closets, so all of my stuff is put away out of sight. At night, I take my futon out of the closet and set it down on the ground to sleep on.
I have a 36 square foot balcony in the back. I am on the fifth floor, so I have a decent view of lots of buildings. If I stand in the right place, I can catch a glimpse of the bay. I am hoping to get a few plants to decorate the balcony with.
Across the bay is Sakurajima volcano. There is a building blocking my view, but I can still see the sides and top of the volcano. It is usually covered in clouds, but quite often smoke comes out of it. I have only seen the clouds so far, but I will keep looking.
I think that is about it for my place. It is certainly large enough for me, but it is in a city center. It is a five minute walk to the bay and also a five minute walk to a small park with a hill to climb and lots of stray cats.
So, after being shown my home last Wednesday, I was done with work for the day. On Thursday I went to work and applied for my Alien Registration Card. I also received my Inkan. The Inkan is a stamp with my personal Japanese symbol on it. Here, they do not sign documents, they stamp them. So, without a stamp, I would be unable to sign contracts. On Friday I went to the bank and opened up an account. In the afternoons I went back the office and tried to look busy. My desk is in a block of eight, butting up against my neighbors and facing others on the other side of the desk. It is very strange for me to wear nice clothes and go to the office each day. When I get there, I follow the local custom and shout out "good morning" when I get to the door. This is accompanied by a bow. In the afternoon, when I go home, I bow again and shout out "Excuse me for leaving before you".
On Saturday we had a small city orientation. Yesterday I took the 15 minute ferry over to the Sakurajima Volcano. I walked around for about nine hours and found some nice spots. School does not actually start for a few more weeks, so I will be spending my days at the office on the computer or studying Japanese.
I do not have to be at the office until 8:30 in the morning, so I have a few hours each day to explore the city before the sun gets too hot. I wake up at 5:30 and either run or walk around town and see a new bit each day. After work I have time for looking around some more. I hope to find a soccer team and some other afternoon activities soon.
So, all in all, I am keeping busy, enjoying the local food and attempting to make the adjustment to living in a city. I am now very motivated to learn Japanese, so that I can use the buses and trains to explore more of the countryside.
I live downtown, near the big shopping area. There are lots of restaurants to try, so I am happy about that. The cool kids hang out in the shopping area and they all have dyed hair. It is a reddish blond and is very noticeable in this land of black hair. The really cool guys get the hair teased so that they look a bit like Einstein in his famous pictures.
After my update on the 2nd, I went down to Miami for a pre-departure orientation and reception. We spent the afternoon asking questions and getting information about Japan. The reception took place at the home of the Consul General of the Japanese Consulate in Miami. He had a nice home and about 100 guests for our going away party. I met his daughter, Reiko. She will be coming to Kagoshima to visit her boyfriend soon.
On the morning of Saturday the 3rd, I went down to Miami and flew to Minnesota. Even though I did not leave the airport in Minneapolis, I am counting this as the 48th state I have visited. After lunch, we boarded the plane Japan. Because we left in the morning and were flying northwest, the entire flight took place during daylight. We flew over western Canada and Alaska. I was able to see 50 mile long glaciers and mountains. I recognized many of the places from my tour leading days up there. We passed just south of Anchorage and had a great view of Mt. Denali/McKinley. It would have been nice to stop there for some hiking, but that was not the plan.
Around 5:00 pm, local time, on Sunday the 4th, we landed in Narita Airport near Tokyo, Japan. I am here as a member of the JET Programme (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program). The JET programme is very well organized. We were met by a bunch of people and taken to our five star hotel in downtown Tokyo.
Nothing was planned for that evening and I went to bed early. The next morning I woke up early and explored the city a little bit. The park next to the hotel had a large homeless population. The park's inhabitants had very neat and organized tarp covered shacks. They were up early sweeping the dirt and cooking breakfast. The one's without a shack slept on the pavement on a piece of cardboard. They left their shoes next to them, just like they would at a real home. I have seen many shanty towns in my travels, and this one was the cleanest and most orderly one I have ever seen.
That Monday, the 5th, was taken up with lots of speeches from important government ministers and such. I was in the second orientation. Our group had 1300 people. In all of Japan, there are well over 6000 JETs.
On the 6th, I went to some lectures on teaching in the Junior High Schools. After lunch, I went to a few lectures on adjusting to life in Japan. The US embassy had a raffle and I was one of the 96 lucky winners. I was invited to the Deputy Charge d'mission (DCM) house for a small party. He has a nice home and good food. Some former JETs and current foreign service employees were there to talk to and two of them had lived in Kagoshima. It was nice to talk to them. The DCM seemed very excited for all of us and wished us luck, before making a small recruitment speech for the US foreign service.
On Wednesday, the 7th, I flew to Kagoshima in far southern Japan. With Chris and Dana, my two fellow group B Kagoshima city Jets, I visited the office at the Board of Education. I met some bosses and co-workers and then went to my new home in the Satsuki Mansion.
Mansion is the Japanese word for apartment building. I have a great place. It is at least four times bigger than the van I have lived out of for much of the previous seven years. I measured the floor space. I have nearly 200 square feet all to myself. You walk in the front door into a three foot by three foot entrance way. There you take off your shoes and store them in a small closet before stepping up into the apartment proper. Now, on the right is a closet with the washing machine. Straight ahead a few steps is the kitchen/hallway. On the left side of the hall is my two burner gas stove, sink, cupboards and a really, really tiny refrigerator. On the right is my 16 square foot bathroom. The tub is well under four feet long. The shoulder end is almost two feet wide, but the feet end is only about a foot wide.
After passing through the six foot long hallway, you enter the ten foot by ten foot living space. The walls were recently painted white, so it looks very clean and shiny. I have tatami (reed mats) on the floor. In the room I have a small table and a comfortable chair. That is it. Nothing else. So, when I put the table in the corner and the chair near the rear sliding glass door, the place looks pretty empty. It is great. There are lots of closets, so all of my stuff is put away out of sight. At night, I take my futon out of the closet and set it down on the ground to sleep on.
I have a 36 square foot balcony in the back. I am on the fifth floor, so I have a decent view of lots of buildings. If I stand in the right place, I can catch a glimpse of the bay. I am hoping to get a few plants to decorate the balcony with.
Across the bay is Sakurajima volcano. There is a building blocking my view, but I can still see the sides and top of the volcano. It is usually covered in clouds, but quite often smoke comes out of it. I have only seen the clouds so far, but I will keep looking.
I think that is about it for my place. It is certainly large enough for me, but it is in a city center. It is a five minute walk to the bay and also a five minute walk to a small park with a hill to climb and lots of stray cats.
So, after being shown my home last Wednesday, I was done with work for the day. On Thursday I went to work and applied for my Alien Registration Card. I also received my Inkan. The Inkan is a stamp with my personal Japanese symbol on it. Here, they do not sign documents, they stamp them. So, without a stamp, I would be unable to sign contracts. On Friday I went to the bank and opened up an account. In the afternoons I went back the office and tried to look busy. My desk is in a block of eight, butting up against my neighbors and facing others on the other side of the desk. It is very strange for me to wear nice clothes and go to the office each day. When I get there, I follow the local custom and shout out "good morning" when I get to the door. This is accompanied by a bow. In the afternoon, when I go home, I bow again and shout out "Excuse me for leaving before you".
On Saturday we had a small city orientation. Yesterday I took the 15 minute ferry over to the Sakurajima Volcano. I walked around for about nine hours and found some nice spots. School does not actually start for a few more weeks, so I will be spending my days at the office on the computer or studying Japanese.
I do not have to be at the office until 8:30 in the morning, so I have a few hours each day to explore the city before the sun gets too hot. I wake up at 5:30 and either run or walk around town and see a new bit each day. After work I have time for looking around some more. I hope to find a soccer team and some other afternoon activities soon.
So, all in all, I am keeping busy, enjoying the local food and attempting to make the adjustment to living in a city. I am now very motivated to learn Japanese, so that I can use the buses and trains to explore more of the countryside.
I live downtown, near the big shopping area. There are lots of restaurants to try, so I am happy about that. The cool kids hang out in the shopping area and they all have dyed hair. It is a reddish blond and is very noticeable in this land of black hair. The really cool guys get the hair teased so that they look a bit like Einstein in his famous pictures.
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