Ding Dong! (or "ping pong" in Japanese)

Living in big apartment building in Beppu has many advantages such as smelling other people’s dinners cooking, hearing other people’s children screaming, and having random folks ring your doorbell with all kinds of exciting things to tell you.

Just this morning a girl came by asking if I had any kids who would like to join her English conversation class. Her question was funny on a couple levels: 1.) I don’t have any kids…I don’t even have a spouse…so the thought of having a kid old enough to speak is crazy! 2.) I already speak English…and I speak it rather well, if I do say so myself…so if I did have any kids, I think I would be their English conversation teacher.

I’ve also answered the door to the familiar Jehovah’s Witnesses (who always speak advanced English!) with their many pamphlets and endless attempts to get me to join their Bible study. I’ve learned how to respectfully listen and then firmly tell them I’m not interested so they don’t keep sending delegations to save me.

Of course the most unique group who has came a’knocking was what I call, “the happy sunshine people” who meet every morning at the city park at 5am. They are on a mission to make the world a better place through early morning meetings and group breakfasts (or something like that…I didn’t catch it all). They were very nice ladies.

Ah yes, the many 5 minute visitors who patron my doorbell with smiles and offers. I never know who is going to stop by next. Perhaps it will be a CoCo curry deliveryman with the wrong address—one can only hope!

New Year's in Kansai

Pictures of my trip to Kansai!

I stole from Paris Hilton

Recently I asked my dear friend, Sheena, if she, given the option, would give up the need to sleep (just think of how much more productive one could be!). She said she wouldn’t because she wants to be able to dream and have a break from reality. I pondered this thought and quickly came to agree with her. Dreams are amazing little side quests to our lives and provide outlets for our thoughts and emotions…and sometimes give us the opportunity to be superheroes or see Mars or go on dates with Deanna Troi from Star Trek.

In a dream I had the other night I stole from Paris Hilton and got to eat some very tasty carrot cake. I don’t remember every part of the dream, but I do remember vacationing in Paris Hilton’s mountain mansion and having the chance to rifle through her shoe closet while she was out. I wasn’t stealing shoes for myself…but rather for Sheena and Selena who were waiting for me in the Burger King a few miles away. No, I didn’t care about the shoes…I instead went after Paris’ cell phone so I could have contact info for half of Hollywood (albeit perhaps the skankier half). While in the process of choosing between sparkles or leather heels (again, not for me, but for my friends…), I also found a hoard of carrot cake (one of my favorite desserts!). I was very practical about taking the cake and was sure to wrap it up neatly in plastic wrap before wiping my finger prints off all surfaces.

As I was leaving the Hilton mansion with cake, shoes, and phone, a massive Bigfoot creature appeared just outside the front door. Everyone started screaming and I knew I only had seconds before the monster broke into the house. This is the point the dream became something extra special! In the dream I was thinking, “oh dear, I’m getting scared…don’t like this…going to have to run and hide and blablabla…I just want to enjoy this bit of petty theft without the hassle of defending myself against a tired urban myth…” And while thinking this I realized, “hey wait, I’m dreaming…this is in my head…my imagination…so that means I can anything!” A second later Bigfoot was breaking through the wall and instead of being scared, I was getting stronger. I had enough realization in my dream to give myself superpowers and quickly repelled the beast with one big energy shockwave from my hands.

The dream petered out after that…I remember the house filling with water and something about a cat and my cousin Miranda…and then I woke up.

Anyway, I wanted to report this to everyone to give you something interesting to read as you start your week (for many people after a holiday). The next time you find yourself in a dream—which should be the next time you fall soundly asleep—try to take control and see what you can do. For surly the limits of what you can do/be in a dream are only bound by the limits of your imagination.

Happy New Year!

It’s 2008—the Year of the Rat—the Summer Olympics in China—and the year I’m finally getting serious about my future. Yes, that’s right, after adventuring around in Japan for the past 2.5 years, I think it’s time for me to get my goals and dreams together and get on a path to greater things. I’m posting this on my blog so it’s out there and I can’t procrastinate and push it aside anymore.

Resolutions anyone? Come on, tis the best time of year to make some positive changes in your life. Here are mine!

1.) Improve my Japanese! I have a good textbook and a cool sensei…so I just need to get my butt in gear and learn that Nihongo.

2.) Produce more creative works…aka WRITE MORE…and then get it published. I want to find a writing contest and make a submission in the next 3 months. I feel like I have a creative hurricane inside me just blowing around in a chaotic roar and I’d like to funnel that storm into a brilliant story or paper. Creating things makes me happy…and I haven’t been writing enough over the last few months.

3.) Figure out the next step of my life’s journey. This is the tough one…and one I’d reckon a lot of people are stuck on. What’s next? Where should I go? What should I do? Who am I?! Factors like job/career, relationship, dreams, opportunities, and destiny all intertwine here…and it can be hard to find the right direction to go in. BUT, the most important part is having a vision of where you want to go. I need to first figure that out.

So there you go! What do you think?

In other news, I just got back from a New Year’s trip to Kansai with some really awesome folks. I’ll have an update with pictures from that trip soon.

Happy going everyone.

Merii Kurisumasu

Holy nativity scenes! Tis almost Christmas!

Hey everyone, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I’ve had a lot of folks back home asking me if Japan celebrates Christmas so I thought I’d do some internationalization and lay out the exciting details about how Santa, Baby Jesus, and Rudolph are recognized here.

First, YES, Christmas is celebrated in Japan. BUT like all western things importer here, Christmas doesn’t look/feel like it does back home. Right now all over Japan there are Christmas decorations like illumination, Santa and Frosty posters, and precariously placed reindeer on rooftops. Many stores and businesses have Christmas trees, but as far as I can tell they’re all artificial (which makes sense since trees are precious in Japan and used only for making chopsticks).

Second, some people so exchange gifts…but this is mostly with parents giving a few things to children or couples exchanging gifts. I don’t think there is any concept of Santa being the one to deliver the gifts since Japanese homes don’t have chimneys (so how on earth would the fat man get inside?!).

Third, the food…omg, this is the best part. Back home, the food at Christmas time is some of the best all year. The turkey, pies, casseroles…all so wonderful. But here in Japan, people eat KFC and cake.

Yes, some how KFC pulled off a “Christmas Chicken Bucket Ruse” and the cake companies added to this by creating the “Christmas Cake Myth”…so many people order up a special holiday KFC bucket (must order in advance) and finish the finger-licking meal off with a lovely cake. When I tell Japanese people that Americans don’t eat these things at Christmas, they always give me they shocked “really?!” face.

So Christmas is a bit different here in Japan…but as we all know, the Christmas spirit isn’t something around us, but rather it’s something inside us (cue cheesy “awwwe”).

I’ll be here in Beppu for the big day, and then taking a trip up to Kansai for New Year’s…which is the big holiday in Japan. I’ll let you guys know how it all goes.

November Update!

Here you go!

Beppu vs. Ajimu

WHOSH! That’s the sound of time/life flying by! That’s what I’ve been hearing everyday for the past 3ish weeks as I’ve been settling into my new life in Beppu. I knew I’d have to hit the ground running as soon as I got back to Japan, so all the moving and driving and meeting and unpacking and cleaning and shopping and freaking out has gone rather well.

Here’s a quick rundown of Ajimu (my old home) versus Beppu (my new home) to give you an idea of where I’m living now.

AJIMU
- Population: about 8,000
- Number of…
Grocery stores: 2 (both small)
Restaurants: 1.5 (Joyfull was my standby and then there was another place open only for lunch during the week)
Bars: never really found one
People between 20 and 30 years old: well, there was me and…
- Famous for: turtle soup and wine
- Notable features: countryside beauty, Kyushu’s tallest waterfall, lots of rice fields.

BEPPU
- Population: A lot more than Ajimu
- Number of…
Grocery stores: Tons! Including a large one right down the street!
Restaurants: Innumerable! All my favorites, many within walking distance.
Bars: Still counting! Downtown is about 10 minutes walk from my apartment!
People between 20 and 30 years old: A whole lot! With APU (international university) in town, Beppu has the largest foreign population after Tokyo!
- Famous for: Onsen! It’s the hot spring capital of Japan.
- Notable features: beautiful green mountains that border a blue sea, a ferry to Osaka, lots of hills for good running workout.

Okay, so it looks like Beppu might sort of beat out Ajimu…but I still have a lot of love for my old inaka town. I’ve been by a few times to pick up some of my stuff and I always stop just to look and remember all the good times there. Sure it was really dark at night and sometimes spiders the size of face-huggers from ALIENS would run around my house and it took half an hour to get anywhere and that was only by car because there were no trains in my town…BUT still, it’s a very nice place (and all the isolating inspired great things like Shark Friend).

So yeah, Beppu is rocking and I’m happy to be here. I’ll have more soon…got to go and make some dinner before heading off to work.

Justin's Europe Trip

Here's where I was in September!

Thank you everyone!

It’s almost 5pm on Sunday afternoon and I should be packing my bags for Japan. But as I’m rolling t-shirts and trying to fit muffin mix amongst dress shoes, I keep dropping little tears and saying, “I can’t go, I can’t leave home again.”

I’m about to start my third year and Japan and this is the hardest goodbye to my family that I’ve ever had. The past two months have been split between my home(s) in the south and a trip in Europe and all along the way I’ve been loved and supported by my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, my grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins, my Mexican buddy, long time friends, newly met friends, and complete strangers. I’ve been blessed and cared for so much—thank you!!

I feel good about the future that awaits me in Japan with a new job in a new city. There’s A LOT to do when I return, but I know Beppu is the best place for me right now. The hardest part is leaving all that I have here in America. Honestly, I’m so amazed at how my family has taken care of me while I’ve been here.

Julie and Paul, I love staying with you two. You house is so lovely and there’s always good food there. Thank you for the Wii party and giving so much while I was there. I’ll be waiting for you in Japan! Come and visit!!

Mom and Dad, thank you so much for all you’ve done for me. The love of a parent for their child must be the greatest form of love capable by human beings. I’ve been so comfortable here and leaving is breaking my heart. I love you both so much.

As I’ve said before, living in Japan is a dream of mine…and often times in order to accomplish our dreams, we have to sacrifice something. The end result is of course more amazing than the initial tears, but still those tears do hurt.

Good bye America, I’ll see you again another day.

Good bye

On Friday afternoon I found myself in a place I haven’t been since I first arrived in Japan. I was standing on the stage in the school gym, sweating in the heat while wearing a tie, and reading a speech I wrote in Japanese. The first time I was there I was introducing myself to the students and teachers of Ajimu High School…and this time I was saying good bye.

It’s amazing thing to stand in front of all my students and tell them how much they’ve meant to me these past two years. I was deeply touched by their applause and cheering as I walked off stage and given a bouquet of flowers. I will miss them all so much…even the ones who always slapped my butt and grabbed my crotch.

This is ESS, English Speakers Society, English club. These kids were some of the best. Man we've had some crazy times.

On Sunday I leave Ajimu and the inaka life I’ve known since arriving in Japan. Along with this farewell are the many good byes to friends who are returning to their home countries. Saying so many sayonaras is draining, but I like to think that no farewell is permanent and that somewhere alone the way, in the future, in another life, I will see these dear friends again.

This chapter in my life is coming to a close…but the story is far from over.

See you later everyone!

Shark Friend, Series Finale

One more video to cap off a year of extreme personal growth.

Final Decision

Finally, we know where I'm going...

Bling and Irises

Well July has suddenly come upon us and the countdown to the end of the 2006-2007 JET Contract year is on. What better way to spend one of the last remaining weekends than donning oneself in flashy bling for a fancy dinner and then viewing lovely irises the following day? Still with me, mom? Let’s just go to the pictures…

BEHOLD, Justin all blinged out. No, I am not Michael Jackson.

Here’s Diego reverting back to his thug image days. I told him the bandana suited him, but he refused to wear it into the restaurant.

Our lovely female friends at dinner (Rhoda was the inspiration for the evening).

After out night out (and sleeping in Rhoda’s house where temperatures approach that of the sun) we teamed up with Sheena and took a stroll into the countryside to view some irises. While I wasn’t bursting with anticipation at first, the flower viewing turned out to be a very nice afternoon. Except for when spiders starting attacking us in the gazebo over the dried up lake.

The field of purple and white stretched endlessly into the green hills (flower pictures! it's like your blog, Julie!).

RABBIT! No wait, INDIAN!

Me and Diego.

I feel like I’ve neglected my blog recently…this is because I’ve been so unsettled about my future that I’ve been waiting to post until I had something BIG and IMPORTANT to announce. Just to give you all an update, I will soon be deciding whether or not I’ll be staying in Japan another year. After months of discussion with my bosses in Oita-ken, it turns out that I cannot remain a third year on JET. However, I’ve been looking for other jobs and have been offered a position with a private English company. I’m at an important crossroads and this week will involve a lot of thinking and praying about the future.

My love to you all.

Extreme Diagnosis

This blog entry is coming to you under fever-induced delirium so I hope the humor carries over.

Right now I’m suffering from terrible flu-like symptoms and after a day without any improvement, I decided to try to look online to see if I could figure out what might be wrong with me (I rarely get sick and even when I am I don’t let it slow me down…but this episode of illness is taking a toll).

I found an easy to use flow chart to diagnosis my symptoms and while the chart wasn’t much help, the end result was hilarious (**warning, dark humor ahead).

Observe:

1. Is the person an infant of child? NO.
2. Does your fever come and go and does your temperature stay between 97° and 102°? YES.
3. Have you had a fever for weeks along with tiredness and a sore throat? NO
4. Do you have a sore throat, a dry cough, tiredness, mild headaches or muscle aches? YES.
5. Do you have aches, chills, nausea, vomiting, cramps or watery diarrhea? YES.
6. Are you short of breath and do you have a cough that produces yellow, green or tan mucus? Not really...

Conclusion: You may have a serious infection, such as TUBERCULOSIS or AIDS.

Hmmm…perhaps a bit hasty on the emergency diagnosis…and speaks loudly of the dangers of uninformed self-diagnosis. But at least I got a big laugh out of the extreme ending.

Thieves Strike Again!

A while ago (like MONTHS ago) I posted an entry about two little girls breaking into my house and stealing a bunch of my cookies. These two culprits still come by every now and then and do things like yell at me in Japanese, kick my shins, and try their best to get into my house (I lock my door only because of them). Last week they came by to call me a liar and steal my broom.

Apparently there was some confusion about my country of origin due to an incident that occurred the other week when a visiting friend told some students he was from Mexico when we were driving by the play ground (the kids always shout “herro!” and things like “Are you from America?!” and my friend responded back, “NO, I’m Mexican!” and thus this sent the school was sent into chaos).

So the two little girls came by to call me a liar kick my shins (I wish I was joking, but this is all true). I tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but really all they were interested in was getting into my house. I repeatedly told them NO! and while trying to block their entry, one of them grabbed a broom that was near the door. She said, “thank you very much!” and started running down the street. I sighed, weighed my options, then quickly put on my shoes and ran after her.

Imagine this scene, two little girls running and screaming down a main road in town with a foreigner running after them growling. I caught up to the one holding the broom after running past her friend who screamed and jumped into a rice field. We briefly played tug-of-war while a minivan drove by with staring eyes and gasping mouths. I gain control of the broom, smacked the girl on the feet and dashed back home (I had a hot date and needed to get showered and into the city so there was no time for a lecture).

Hooray Ajimu!

Sarah's Japan Video

My friend from home who made it to visit me here, Sarah, made an awesome video. I'm honored to post it to my blog.

Sarah Wilda visits Japan!

Follow the link to view the video!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8292254095754614041

(still working on technical issues)

UPDATE?!

Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating recently. I actually have some super HOT videos just dying to be uploaded, but for some reason YouTube is playing a joke on me and everytime I try to share my vision with the masses, I get a big I DON'T THINK SO PUNY HUMAN reaction from the Robots in control of the internet.

Fear not, I'm working to overcome this problem and get the blog updated. Just hang in there!

Happy Times

Warm spring is here, the teenagers I hang out with 5 days a week are genki, and I have enough of a life that I don’t need to resort to making Shark Friend videos to fill my time. Life is good! This post is purely to help spread the positive karma to all who graciously view my blog.

The Rose…one of my favorite karaoke songs is Bette Midler’s “The Rose”. All joking aside, the song’s message of love is very powerful and one that I’ve taken to heart. And yes, this particular rose was a gift.

Japanese ema…these are small wooden plaques found at Shinto shrines that people write wishes on in hopes of the gods reading them and granting their desires. I wrote one of these back in April as part of my campaign of hope to stay in Japan (still waiting for the final answer…).

Scottish breakfast…thank you Rhoda and Rhoda’s parents! I was treated to a delicious and filling breakfast served up Scottish style this past Saturday consisting of eggs, bacon, these potato cakes things, and ketchup all inside a nice bread roll—a truly remarkable deviation from Japanese breakfast of soup, rice, and pickles.

Fun night out…just look at the ridiculously smile on my face! This is Rhoda, me and Diego at Hit Parade—the 50’s themed restaurant/night club in Beppu. Awesome night.

Hong Kong!

Check it out!