My young friends

Wednesday was a holiday here in Japan and I had the opportunity to spend the day with some really cool people. A friend of mine, who I shall call Tanabee, graciously offered to take myself and a group of graduated young people on a road trip in his big, sweet van. We awed at mountain views, ate delicious food, engaged in English-Japanese conversations, and all around enjoyed a day off work. Please allow me to share the photos with you.

Swings at the top of a mountain…the positioning of the swings on the hill makes you gasp every time you swing out cause you feel like you’re flying over the edge.
Eating DELICIOUS cheese cake flavored ice cream…what a happy crew!

These kids are amazing people and my day with them was so fun. You can see where I get inspiration for my hairstyles. Ah, I love Japan for many reasons, but maybe the biggest is because I can be friends with folks like these. Ajimu for life!

I’ll eat anything! (maybe)

Japanese cuisine can include all kinds of wonderfully scary/tasty things—many of them being some sort of sea creature with its eyes still intact and looking at you. Sushi has become one of my favorite meals and after a year and a half here, I really enjoy eating raw octopus and fish eggs (and don’t forget the raw horse meat!).

This being said, there are still times when I must say DAME (that means “don’t”) to a particular food item.

For example, the other day I had a wonderful meal with some friends and included in one of the dishes was a happy little shrimp smiling up at me (see photo above). He looked like he had just come from the sea with all his antenna (is that what you call them?) still pointing out and his little eyes glistening in a dreamy gaze. My first clue that maybe this wasn’t the best thing to try is the fact that we had to ask the waiter, “How do you eat this?”

“Just pop him in your mouth,” we were told. Okay, sounds easy…let’s try!

I would come to regret this.
This is me feeling not only pain in my palette, but also in my mouth…you see, the little shrimp’s pointy bits were stabbing the insides of my cheeks and gums. It was kind of like chewing on long tooth picks.

In the end I managed to get it all down…but was left with some mouth pain and a lingering taste of shrimpy saltiness. Not the best moment of my week, but I did feel stronger for the experience.

Now, please don’t let this discourage any of you from trying the many exciting dishes Japan has to offer. The food here really is amazing and I have rarely had a bad experience (this shrimp story was an anomaly—that’s why I’m writing about it…and I just wanted to throw up an update).

Two Wrongs Make a Right

First, just to explain the title, the above photo is of my dear friends, Jared and Steph Long…but in Japan where “l” and “r” is a mystery for some, their name sometimes becomes “Wrong”. Get it?

Anyway, as you all know, I live a very glamorous life out here in Ajimu. My weekdays are filled with uniform-clad teenagers and countryside serenity…and my weekends are 48 hours of pure Bacchus-inspired merriment.

Well, sort of.

The last two weekends have been fun times as I’ve had the chance to hang out with Jared and Steph (and they are such nice people!). Last weekend was the 80’s dance in Oita City where Jared was DJ-ing and I was dressed up as Spike from TRANSFORMERS (maybe two of you will know who Spike is). The night started slow but gradually grew to a pretty groovy dance party (in part due to my really great idea of group tequila shots!). See below.

Lick it, shoot it, suck it!

This past weekend, the Longs came out to the inaka to visit me and enjoy some of the sites that the countryside has to offer. I rarely get visitors, but am always happy to serve as tour guide.

Steph and Jared at the Ajimu waterfall (Kyushu’s tallest).

Jared and I after we had just passed a group of Korean tourist who wanted to give us all high fives…it was pretty funny (Steph said Jared and I looked “special” in this photo).

Fun times, yo. KOREA!

Tokyo, Yokohama, and My Birthday!

The breakdown: I spent 5 days up in Tokyo (Japan’s mega capital) and Yokohama (city just beside Tokyo that has a futuristic utopian feel) to attend a conference and celebrate my birthday (February 28th, thanks everyone for the messages and wishes). Lisa was my primary travel companion and besides her weird urges for almonds and zero calorie jelly, we had a great time together.

The above picture is Landmark Tower in Yokohama that served as our, well, landmark as we navigated the spotless streets and long moving walkways of the city (seriously, Yokohama made me think of Earth in the Star Trek universe—all perfect and peaceful with white buildings and ferries wheels).

Even though I’ve been to Tokyo before, there are still many parts of the city I wanted to explore. To help with this, I opted for a FREE TOUR of these desired areas with a volunteer tour guide (check out tokyofreeguide.com). Below is a picture of our guide, his friend, and Lisa. They’re all Japanese…can you spot the Japanese-American? With our guide’s knowledge of the city, Lisa and I had a fun time and accomplished our sightseeing goals (even though Lisa kept wanting to go into weird stores that made our guide nervous).

After two days and about 11 billion yen in Tokyo, we headed over to Yokohama for our conference. Lisa continued to crave almonds and zero calorie jelly (at this point I started emailing her boyfriend asking if I should intervene or something) and we enjoyed a night out in the area’s renowned China Town to celebrate my quarter century mark (25, baby!). Below are pictures of the evening…and after spending several days up in the Kanto area, we were all saying things like, “I’m almost out of money!” or “Either I have another beer tonight or lunch tomorrow…can’t swing both” It was cool.

Lisa, Rhoda, and Andy in China Town

Crazy British Andy and me...we ordered the same thing!

And here's Lisa and Rhoda...also ordered the same food!

Lisa! (where are your almonds now!)

Boku wa nekojita desu!

Harajuku Girls

Thanks to the Asian-loving pop star, Gwen Stefani, the term “Harajuku Girls” has become familiar to many around the western world. For those of you out there (such as my mom, for example) who don’t know who Gwen is or what Harajuku means, allow me to explain.

Harajuku is one of the ultra-cool districts of Tokyo. It’s perhaps most famous for being the hangout spot for some of Tokyo’s wilder citizens...and since it’s Japan that means they aren’t really that wild…but, boy howdy, they sure can dress neat!

Teenagers from all around come to Harajuku dressed in varying degrees of wildness. Some only wear frilly costumes and big platform shoes…others dye their hair and style it in spikey works of art…and the most extreme Harajuku kids complete their look with vibrant make-up and punky attitudes.

Basically, on a nice Sunday afternoon, one can walk around Harajuku and see lots of young people dressed up in colorful costumes. They do this possibly as a reaction against the uniformity of Japanese society…or perhaps they just enjoy a good costume day (I can relate!). During my recent trip to Tokyo, I made sure to stop by the area and take a few pictures of the Harajuku Girls (the boys I saw didn’t look like they wanted me to take their photo).

More to come about my trip to Tokyo!

Shark Friend, Valentine's Day

Just for you...

Slice of Japanese Life

I had a little disposable camera leftover from my Christmas trip and used it to take a few pictures of life here. Enjoy the dichotomy of Japan.

Series One: Usa Shrine

Stone Lantern and Ancient Tree

Prayers for the New Year

Lake Tree

Series Two: Karaoke!!

Jared and Steph singing a duet

Justin don't mess around at karaoke

Backstreet Collaboration

Second winter not as cold

As I was reading through my journal entries from last winter I realized that life this year is noticeable better than last year. A year ago I was complaining about my countryside experience, problems interacting with Japanese people, and the constant cold that grips you and makes you scream when you have to change clothes (especially underpants!). But this year, I love my town, my unique work life, and the cold isn’t so bad (but that part might be due to global warming).

I know I’ve said it before, but I just want to say it again to both reaffirm myself and encourage all the inaka JETs out there who might be suffering this winter…THE INAKA IS MAGICAL! EMBRACE IT!

I think of Ajimu as something akin to the elvish sanctuary of Rivendell in Lord of the Rings (stop the otaku jokes now). Tolkien writes about how life inside the ancient elvish land glows and moves in a way that is different from the rest of the world. There’s a sense of peace and ancient majesty in the air and those who dwell there are safe and blessed. That is the feeling I get when I walk around town…even when little kids bark at me in an attempt to imitate English, or when teenagers look at my grocery bags outside the store and ask, “What’s dinner? Panties?”, or when old ladies just stare and stare and stare at me when I politely bow and say “konnichiwa” on the sidewalk.

The other day I took a picture out my back window of the frost covered fields at dawn...and then another picture of the town at sun set. I think they capture the feelings I have about life here.

My time here is slowly coming to an end, and I hope to enjoy all the dawns and dusks (and pantie jokes) I have left.

Panic! in the night…

Blaring sirens tore me from sleep at 2am. The entire town was screaming in a high pitched whine that I had never heard projected over the loud speaker system before (my town has loud speakers scattered all over the valley that carry town-wide announcements and sing little tunes at 7am, noon, and 5pm). My mind began to make a list of possible reasons why an alarm was being sounded.

North Korea had finally cracked and launched their missiles.
or could it be the Chinese?!
no, that’s crazy, it must be zombies. The cold weather had pushed them down from the mountain aeries and a horde of undead was soon to assail my home.

I began to panic. Then, a firm male voice came over the loud speakers. “Japanesejapanesejapanesejapanesejapanese. Japanesejapanesejapanese….japanese”

What? Was it possible I understood none of that?!

Deadly silence followed and I clutched my blankets thinking what I should do. I walked over to the window and parted the curtains just a little to look out. Thick fog consumed the surrounding fields and the pulsing yellow stop light barely beamed down the street. Zombies.

Okay, think…remember your training. First, stay calm. Next, pee. What? I have to pee. Really? Yes. Okay, just don’t turn on any lights or make any noise…the zombies don’t know I’m home and if they can’t see me or hear me, I may survive.

I walked down my steep, creaky stairs to the bathroom with more grace and care than ever before and looked nervously at the massive sliding glass doors that take up a wall in both my downstairs room and kitchen (why on earth I would ever need so many sliding glass doors is beyond me. They only serve to carelessly release the heating and provide a really great entry point for zombies). I entered the bathroom and completed my task, then carefully glided back upstairs to hide in bed.

Silence still held the land. Then faintly, I heard a siren…it was getting closer…was it an ambulance? Fire truck? I didn’t dare approach the window again.

After a few minutes and several passing sirens, I began to calm down. Time passed…not sure how much…and then the wailing town alarm sounded. Again the voice came over the loud speaker and again I understood nothing (time to hit the books again). The feelings of dread and tension passed and I drifted back to sleep.

This morning at school I asked what all the noise was about during the night and was told that there was a house fire in town. Not sure of the extent of the damage, but I don’t think it was too bad.

Been here a year and a half and still having new and exciting events in the middle of the night.

Santa and the Japanese Kancho

Friends, this is a true story. Many of you have heard about the Japanese kancho—the two finger jab attack aimed at a victim’s rear—and today I bring you REAL FOOTAGE of the kancho in action. This is me as Santa playing with some Japanese kids. After they had thoroughly investigated my costume, they wanted to see how I would react to the kancho. They were also curious to see what was inside my pants. My friend Rhoda stands by and tries to assist. Gigi is the one filming (bless her for capturing this moment).

Shark Friend, Irreplaceable

One more video for the week. I needed to make this one...for me.

Cambodia and Vietnam!

Part 2 of my Christmas Adventure. It's rocking!

Ruins of Angkor

Pictures from my trip to Cambodia.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

Three days from now I’ll be relaxing in Cambodia gearing up for touring Angkor Wat (a dream since 10th grade World History class) and enjoying the holiday season in warm temperatures. I’ll spend a little over two weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam and get a chance to experience a completely different side of Asian culture.

Alas, due to trip preparations and a busy past few days, I cannot regal you with a new zany blog update…and since I’ll be fighting for my life (just kidding, mom) in SE Asian until January, you must wait until 2007 for a new video, song, or story.

But let me take this opportunity to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone and here is a virtual high five and hug—SLAP, EMBRACE!

You can look forward to some pretty awesome stuff in the New Year including a new video series about Robots in the Office Place (and for all you Shark Friend fanatics, don’t worry, he’ll still get plenty of air time too).

My love to you all.

Christmas is all around me

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes…

This past weekend I had the opportunity to don the holly jolly mantle not once, but THREE times. First, I played Santa in the 21st Holiday English Fair with some of my students. We worked hard putting together a Christmas musical extravaganza entitled “Love Story at Holy Night” that included Bible verses, a tricky love triangle plot, dance routines, and a Mariah Carey finale. Honestly, it was pretty freakin’ awesome.

Later that night, I went from Santa to reindeer as I became one of The Eight in a production of “The Reindeer Monologues”. I played Cupid and along with some other ALTs we entertain the Oita community with a story of corruption in the North Pole.

Finally, on Sunday I took on the guise of Saint Nick again to amuse, inspire, and freak out kids at the orphanage. The older kids took off shortly after my appearance, but the little ones stuck around to continuously question my true identity. The fact that my Santa pants lack any kind of waistband and as a result the cushion stuffed under the outfit kept falling out made it hard to convince them that I was indeed Santa Claus. They also pointed out my socks and jeans poking out the bottom and that my beard was fake. These kids were relentless! They just kept questioning me and pulling on me and then when they tired of that, they started kanchoing me! Later, when I changed back into my civilian clothes, I had a little boy about 7 years old come up to me and shout, “You’re that stupid Santa!” and then he punched me with all his little kid might right in the crotch.

Anyway, Happy Holidays.

Shark Friend, Christmas

Happy Christmas!

Adopted in Kyoto

Stories circulate within the JET community about a most curious and wonderful phenomenon called “obāsan adoption” (obāsan = grandmother). From the moment a new JET enters Tokyo, rumors of old Japanese ladies and their incredible kindness towards lost and confused foreigners are heard and remembered. JET publications seemed filled with tales of foreigners who couldn’t find their train or the grocery store and are then suddenly rescued by an old lady who takes it upon herself to adopt the JET and provide a year of hot meals and guided trips around the countryside.

These stories are heartwarming and pleasant…and to those who have never experienced obāsan adoption, these stories are enviable.

I’ve been in Japan for about 16 months now and have been on the look out for my obāsan every single day. When I walk around town and see an old lady, I’ll act lost or injured or look really sad in hopes she’ll take pity on me. When I’m at the train station, I’ll stare at the time table and kind of whimper if a grandmother is near. And sometimes I ask my students, “Does your grandmother cook you dinner? I’m a bad cook…do you think she could cook me dinner?” But alas, I’ve never found my obāsan.

That is, until just last week!

I was touring around Kyoto and had decided to take the subway instead of the exploding-capacity city buses. When I reached my stop and exited the train, I heard a soft but confident voice ask, “Are you a visitor?” I turned and saw no one…but then a strong hand pulled on my sleeve and I looked down to see a smiling old Japanese lady. “Yes, I am,” I said, and then she showed me a ticket for a bonsai tree exhibition (bonsai trees are the little, crafted trees whose beauty is found in their tranquility and strength). “It’s very near,” she said and then I did my awkward smile-puzzled face.

After a short Japanese-English exchange, I discerned that she was learning English and wanted to practice with a native speaker. She also had an extra ticket to a bonsai exhibition and was inviting me to go with her. I had plans to see other things in the city, but I knew I couldn’t pass up this shot at obāsan adoption…so I left the subway station with her and confidently jaywalked to the exhibition hall (she was really excited and just ran across the street…I followed hoping no one would ticket an old lady/foreigner duo).

Once inside the hall, we joined about 200 Japanese adults who were in their 50s, 60s, 70s…90s…Japanese people remain active well into their senior years…in a tour of about 150 bonsai trees and other amazing rock carvings and carefully crafted plants (all very Zen). My obāsan taught me all the different tree names and I taught her words like “acorn” and “squirrel”. I really enjoyed looking at all the trees—many of them having a fantasy world appeal—and I think the old Japanese people enjoyed seeing me and obāsan chatting together in English.

Afterwards, obāsan treated me to lunch and repeatedly interrogated me to make sure I was safe and knew how to get to my hostel and how to get back home later. It was great! We parted ways and I resumed my touring schedule feeling well cared for.

Three Days in Kansai

Here's what I did over Thanksgiving.

Random photos that document my life

Here are a few random pictures from my keitai (cell phone). I think they serve to give ya’ll an idea of my life these days. WOOT!


First up, a screaming cat. This is a Japan’s version of the magazine “Cat Fancy”…maybe, I didn’t actually look at the magazine…I just liked the cover.



Mothercoat! This is the shirt I bought at the Mothercoat concert last Saturday. The band was AWESOME…and totally weirdo Japanese.


Tiny beer cans. Finally, the perfect size beer for little Yuki’s lunch box. (a big thanks to Lisa for modeling the tiny beer…I’ve been using her face a lot in lessons…the kids respond well to her face...but I've never paired her face with beer in class)


My new image. A lot of my students are into hip hop, so I decided to totally revamp my image and become more gangsta. (just kidding…this was for Rhoda’s crazy bday party)


Exploded tired! I had my first Japanese blowout not too long ago on the expressway. Thankfully a very polite and courteous Japanese family came and saved me.


And finally, cheese ramen. Overall, cheese is hard to find in Japan and I rarely eat it, but recently I’ve been getting cravings for it and have started partaking in the bizarre Japanese dishes that include cheese. When I first arrived, I wouldn’t go near cheese ramen or cheese curry…but now, I think it’s kind of tasty.

Hai, ja ne!

Rubik’s Cube Party (Happy Birthday, Phil!)

Saturday night marked another awesome party at my middle-of-nowhere apartment (where we can be as loud as we want!). The theme was “Rubik’s Cube” and required everyone to come dressed in the 6 different colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white) of a Rubik’s Cube. Then over the course of the evening the goal was to trade items with other people in order to become all one color (thus the human cube is solved). Not everyone fully understood this method, but enough people come in good spirits to promote a night of random tacky outfits that shifted and changed to result in a group of unichrome superhero-like costumes.


Here’s me and Lisa at the beginning of the night.


And here we are again at the end. I went the yellow route and Lisa became a complete different person!

Okay, just kidding, that isn’t Lisa…that’s Tamara. But I bet I made you do a double take.

The party had a rowdy, but intimate feel and approximately 75 drinks were spilled inside my house. Phil, the birthday boy, managed to spill about 95% of those (the number of paper towels we went through is unimaginable). Nonetheless, I love having folks visit me in Ajimu and I’m already brainstorming for the next shindig. Para la ventana!