The Continuing Adventures of Japanese life

Japan cannot be judged by single moments or incidents, but it can be redeemed by them.

Drum and Flute

I followed the sounds of a chirping flute and a booming drum and discovered that the Ajimu shrine—usually a quiet and empty place—was alive with the movements and colors of a local festival. I had noticed the hanging lanterns the night before leading up from the torii as I looked out over the now harvested rice fields. The colors of my town have changed from summer green to autumn gold and the once lush fields are now muddy, prickly places with little tents of drying rice. With the time of the harvest come little local festivals celebrating traditions that span far back in Japanese history. As a young foreigner, these events provide a perfect place to connect more with my community and get a few strange stares from people.

As a walked up the stone stairs to the shrine, I recalled memories of that place from back in August when I first came there looking for “real Japanese cultural” to photograph. Back then, the weather was fiercely hot and the shrine was bear and silent. This time, however, autumn wind blew chills over me and there were dozens of banners and lanterns hanging all along the stairs. Cars were parked along the road below and music floated down from the hill above.

Once inside, I ran into some young people who first saw me from across the way and shortly after were suddenly behind me (totally freaked me out at first). I spoke a little Japanese to them before another guy arrived to offer me takoyaki (fried octopus…yummy).

After that, the performers on stage who had been dancing out a story of a battle between a hero and some oni (demons) threw some mochi at the crowd and sent everyone running and collecting (mochi are rice balls and can really hurt if they hit you in the face). I got a pocket full and was cornered by a very old man who wanted to touch my hand. He kept shaking it and holding it and saying something very meaningful-sounding, but alas I didn’t understand and we both politely bowed and smiled.

Feeling satisfied, I headed back down the stairs and across the fields that lay between my apartment and the shrine. Ajimu is small and quiet, but I love living here. I’ve never experience the small town lifestyle and at first I thought being placed here was a cruel mistake. But now, I feel good about coming home and the remoteness of my new home is something I choose to appreciate.

Three Months in Japan

I made the front page of the school newspaper. The photograph is me chugging a glass of thick, green tea at the school cultural festival with a student standing next to me chugging a glass of cola. The “challenge” was issued to me as soon as I walked by the small stage where all sorts of eating and drinking (non-alcoholic, of course) competitions were taking place. The quality of the picture is rough due to the cheap recycled paper it’s printed one—a type of paper popular in Japanese schools for all kinds of announcements and memos—but one can clearly recognize me with my longer-than-normal hair and slightly stiff posture (I was a bit nervous at the time with so many Nihonjin watching).

I laughed when I saw the picture and felt special for making the collage of images displaying the events of the festival. I’ve been here in Japan for three months now and only this past week have I felt like I was beginning to jive with my co-sensei. The working environment can be intense with teachers rushing around all day working hard and then staying until 7 or 8 or even later. I’m the only one who leaves before 5 and recently I’ve been staying later to help with English speech practices and also to attend some of the various club activities. Like Japanese teachers, Japanese students are at school all the time and remaining on the grounds until dinner time or later is normal. Another JET described the Japanese school as serving more of the role of the family with parents expecting teachers to help raise their children, students often feeling closer bounds with their homeroom teacher than with their parents, and teachers spending more time at work than at home. I think having me stick around later (and my constant attempts to succeed despite constant failure) has helped the other teachers see that I’m not just a slack westerner come to Japan to drink and slack off (ALTs don’t always have the best reputation).

In other exciting new, today was English movie day! What’s the first thing out of the school’s extensive English video library? “Full House”, season one! Yes, with all the countless television series and movies out there in the English world, “Full House” is the one that my school owns and uses when a teacher is absent. Some of you die hard fans of the show may remember that later on in the series, Uncle Jessey made it big in Japan with his band…not sure if this is the reason the school choose this English series or not. Anyway, I felt decently excited about watching the show (even though season one was produced back in 1990 or something) since it is a form of English media (a rarity for me) until I got to the class and learned that there would not only be Japanese subtitles on, but also full Japanese voice-overs enabled. That means no English anywhere! So I got to watch episodes 1 and 2 of “Full House” completely in Japanese. My excitement climaxed when one of the students kept pointing at the screen and saying “Justin?” every time Danny Tanner appeared. Oh geeze, all in a day’s work.

This afternoon we are cleaning up the town. I don’t really understand what’s going to happen…all I know is that everyone is meeting at the junior high school where cleaning assignments will be given out. Everyone has vanished at this point, so I guess I’ll just go with the flow and hope for the best.

Until next time. Abayo!

ONLINE!

Three very helpful and very eager Japanese men just left my apartment. A network of wires and cords are bisecting my living room and I am online for the first time in three months. YES, that's right ladies and gentlemen, I am using UNRESTRICTED HOME INTERNET!

Family, friends, a new era has begun.

My Japanese Double Date

It all started late one Saturday night when I was awoken from sleep by the phone ringing. Oh heavens! What's going on?! Has someone died? Have the Robot Wars come at last?, were the first thoughts to rush through my head. Fortunately, the caller was only Joel Van Loon, the first year Canadian JET who lives out in the inaka with me (for those readers who still don't know what the inaka is, I suggest going back and reading earlier posts). Joel was calling me because he was out with two lovely Japanese girls, Aki and Mina, and said that one of them, Mina, was keen to meet me. "Great, okay…I'd like to meet her too (right?)", was my response and a week later I found myself on my very first Japanese date.

The four of us met in Usa at Aki's brother's restaurant—a quaint little place perfect for cool autumn nights—and enjoyed *kara-age and **biru together (except I had ***kora because I was driving). Through Mina's and Aki's basic English and Joel's extensive Japanese, we managed to talk about hobbies, family members, and music (all the basics for a first date). Turns out that Mina is quite a fan of U.K. bands and likes to call herself a "crazy girl" (I think her word choice on this point is a little off mainly due to her limited vocabulary). The evening was going well with our yakiniku popping and sizzling on the open flame and smiles being exchanged between all…dating in Japan was turning out to be rather fun and relaxing.

As if in response to this pleasant atmosphere, Fate decided to bring a fifth person into our company. After a phone call to Joel, a drunken, red-eyed, post-enkai Danny (another first year JET from California) showed up to amuse us (who doesn't love a fifth wheel?). He was in true form and engaged Mina in a hot debate over who the best U.K. bands are...the only problem was that sometimes they weren't really understanding one another and Mina would say, "Justin, help", to which I would reply, "Danny, be nice."

Long story short, we headed back to Aki's place where her and her brother have about a thousand songs on vinyl and a sweet turn table to play them on (they both have histories of being DJs). The five of us just chilled and Mina tried out some choice phrases from an English phrase book (one of them being "cheese is made from milk"). I enjoyed myself and was glad to meet and socialize with some young Japanese people. Aki and Mina are the first young people I've met here in the inaka and I hope to see them more often (and Danny can come too).


Japanese words defined:
*kara-age = big fried chicken nuggets
**biru = beer
***kora = cola


PS – quick internet update…I still don't have it at home! The internet guy was supposed to come on Wednesday, but the only people who managed to make it out to my apartment were the Jehovah's Witnesses! This crew really deserves their own post, but as a preview for next time, let me tell you two things: dangerous maneuvering and "wakarimasen".

Japan Spotlight: Driving in Japan

So I've been driving around in my sweet little Suzuki (the car that can park anywhere!) for close to two months now and I can tell you that the roads of Japan are a bit different from the roads of my homeland. The first thing one (an American) notices is that the roads are much narrower in Japan. A two lane road here would constitute a wide, one-way street back home, but there is still a dividing line down the center. Second, the roads often curve and wind all around mountains and cliffs and drop down at sudden angles or rise in sudden asphalt ascensions making normal drives seem more like an exciting excursion. Third, and this is just for North Americans, the cars in Japan drive on the LEFT side of the road and this causes a bit of confusion with all one's driving instincts (only when I panic at an intersection do I drive down the wrong way). And finally, fourth, the typical Japanese driver is bit more insane behind the wheel than the average driver I knew back home (but then again, I knew a lot of wet blankets).

Nonetheless, having a car and using it to drive around the countryside and city streets has made me feel a lot more independent here. Before I came to Japan, I wasn't planning on driving at all, but now, driving is one of my favorite activities (you know what I'm saying Dirty Dianna).

The other week (or was it month?) I took a trip to visit my friend, Ben, in his inaka town of Honyabakei. The route there was along a road that went upupup a mountain and then back downdowndown the other side. Along the way I enjoyed freaking out as I drove through dark Japanese forests (searching for elusive tengu!) and swerving to avoid other cars that would suddenly appear from around a narrow curve. There were also amazing/insane drop-offs from the road where, if a car were to fly over the edge, the farmers in their rice fields below would get a really good show. Half the fun of the trip was the drive (especially the return trip at night in the rain).

One of the best things about driving in Japan is being able to do reckless maneuvers without feeling too bad (or too illegal) because most other people drive like lunatics too. Go the wrong way? Do a u-turn anywhere! In a hurry? Pull out in front of those other jokers on the road, they'll slow down! Need to answer your keitai (cell phone)? Just pull over slightly to the side and turn on your blinker—you can practically park there! (no joke, Japanese people think of the road as a driveway sometimes and you will often have to drive around someone who's stopped to, 1. talk on the phone, 2. take a break, 3. gotten out of their car to go have coffee inside their friend's house).

Like everything else in this country, driving has been a learning experience for me. I often go the wrong way and end up making u-turns in the middle of the road and more than once I've just pulled off the road slightly, turned on my blinker, and gone inside a friend's house to have coffee (not really, mom). My car may be small, but she has heart and is a good companion in the inaka. And now that my fellow Ajimu JET, Chris, has lost his license due to speeding (something like 60km over the speed limit) my little Suzuki is a necessity.

PS – sorry Chris…I just wanted to put some gossip in my entry so more people would read.

Giggling in the classroom

Today was a good day.