Recap for November 2004

OK - I’m gonna update y’all on a few of the happenings from the last two months of 2004 that I haven’t mentioned yet. These entries are as much for me, so a year from now I can remember what I was doing back in 2004.

So we’ll start with random happenings from November.

On the 11th and 12th I attended the 2-day Mid Year Seminar for all Shimane ALTs. It was workshops and seminars, and while some of it was helpful, much of it was time that could have been better spent. I did get this nifty lesson plan book, that I contributed to, so that was good. I also learned how to play a Japanese card game called karuta. And I got to see a bunch of the JETs from other parts of Shimane that I rarely see, so that was nice. Since the event took place in Hirata, which is only about 45 minutes away by car, Lisa, Rusty and I carpooled, so I missed out on the poker game that night at the lodge where everyone from farther away was staying. I really miss playing cards, especially poker.

That Saturday, the 13th, was the speech contest for three of my san nen sei girls. I’ve already posted a pic of us holding the trophy from last year. My girls all did well, but not perfect, so they came in 2nd overall as a team. None got individual prizes, which was disappointing, but they all had fun practicing, and I feel like i know the three of them better than just about any of my other 9th graders. I’ll be a bit sad in April at graduation to see some of them move on to High School, as just as I’m getting to know many of them they’ll be gone.

Thursday, the 18th, was the other speech contest in Gotsu. I was supposed to accompany two girls, one 8th grader and one 9th grader, but the 9th grader had been very sick for about a week, so she couldn’t go. One of my JTEs (Ms. Hama) and I boarded the southbound JR train in Izumo with my ni nen sei, Asuka. It was about a two-hour train ride down to Gotsu, where we congregated at Gotsu Sr. High, where Koren is the ALT. I was very happy with Asuka’s performance, as this contest featured longer pieces, and Asuka’s selection, about a young hemophiliac with HIV, was a difficult piece that she recited well. But alas, no prize for her either. I’m hoping that despite the passing of Ishitobi-sensei, who was the JTE that really pushed students to enter these contests, that my school will continue to enter these contests. I really enjoy helping the students prepare, and practices are a great way for me to get to know some of my students beyond the classroom.

Friday the 19th was International Day at Sada Jr. High, a school where a JET friend, Rob, is the ALT. Since I’m simply “American,” which I guess isn’t very exotic, I was asked to run the room where the teams of students came to play Baseball Trivia. Now this is not trivia questions about the game of baseball, but rather random questions that I asked two competitors, facing off “Family Feud” style, in English on a variety of topics. But if they got the question right they rolled a dice and that determined if they got a single, double, triple, home run or an out. So two teams competed to score runs and be the winner. It was great fun and well suited to my abilities - but my voice was hoarse by the end of the day from all the talking and cheering and shouting. Some of the other, more exotic ALTs held mini seminars on their home countries, so the kids got to learn about Ireland, Scotland, Romania, Hawaii, and Finland. And at the break after lunch I got to teach the kids how to play competitive four-square, one of my all-time favorite playground games. Rob put on a great event for his school of about 100 kids, and I hope to go back next year.

Sunday, November 21st, was a fun day and night. My local shrine, IzumoTaisha, was having a big festival for the arrival of the Gods in Shimane, which happens every November. The shrine priests started out down on the beach, welcoming the Gods ashore and then walked through my town up to the shrine, where they did some more rituals involving prays and parades. Lots of people turned out and it was a festive atmosphere only dampened a bit by the intermittent rain and encroaching cold. I walked from my aparto to the shrine with two ALTs who arrived to check it all out, Emily (U.S.) and Rebecca (U.K.). We saw other JETs at the shrine, and I felt a bit sheepish, since it’s my town but I don’t really know it all that well in terms of where to park, what was going on, or where to go for food when it was all done. There isn’t much in Taisha, and much of the shops, bars, and restaurants are barely signposted - you just have to know they’re there. I’m getting better at knowing my way around, but when the weather warms up I really need to just take some time and have a good walk ‘round the whole town.

That Tuesday, the 23rd, was a holiday for the Japanese version of Thanksgiving, where they celebrate the harvest. So I took the Monday off to have a 4-day weekend, which was nice. After a short 3-day work week, it was the weekend already and that Sunday, the 28th, I was invited by my smallest shoogakkoo (Usagi Elementary) to their town festival. So I got a ride with my Jr. High school Kocho Sensei (Principal) and we arrived in Usagi at about 9 am for food and dancing and presentations by the 8 students of Usagi Sho. It was great fun, and I even sampled some of the local delicacies, like tasty, homemade Udon noodles, although I passed on the “squid pancakes” they offered. I also got to see the local community and some of the students perform a ritual dance involving rhythmic drumming and Oni (demon gods) costumes and waving sticks around. Some of the older women in the audience were tearing up during the performance, but I have to admit that the relevance was lost on me.

The next day, Monday the 29th, was a busy day as I had to head by bus up to my 2nd smallest shoogakkoo, Hinomisaki, and teach some classes in the morning. In the afternoon, my supervisor, Utani-san, came and picked me up in a cramped BoE car, and we headed into Izumo for an opinion sharing session with the JET PAs (prefectural advisors). Basically it was just a shoot-the-shit table discussion with about a dozen of the other local ALTs and CIRs. Our supervisors had their own meeting upstairs. I really wish I could get some feedback, positive and negative, from my superiors and teachers, but none is offered. I would like to think that means I’m doing a good job, but I think that Japanese modesty would prevent many of my co-workers from ever saying anything negative, even if it were warranted.

So that was the parts of November 2004, not already covered in other previous posts, in brief synopsis. I’ll post a similar synopsis for December soon.

-Jason

Trivia - Monday, Jan 10th

Melrose Placewas actually a spin-off of 90210. Which Melrose character served as the link between the two?

A. Jake
B. Amanda
C. Billy
D. Jo

Yesterday's Answer: "Streets of Philadelphia"

Trivia - Sat & Sun, Jan 8 & 9

Bruce Springsteen's video for which Oscar-winning song featured him singing live to a pre-recorded backing track?

Yesterday's Answer: The College of William and Mary

Trivia - Friday, Jan 7th

Jon Stewart killed time playing soccer at which southern college?

Yesterday's Answer: Gary Coleman

IzumoTaisha - New Year's 2005

IzumoTaisha - New Year's 2005
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Some of the crowds attending my local shrine on Jan. 2nd. That's not snow on the tree on the right - it's little white slips of paper with wishes on them tied to the branches and trunk. Souvenir stand in left background is selling cards and trinkets meant to bring good luck in the coming year.
I was there at dusk which was nice, but it was still super crowded. Many vendors and stalls along the long walk up to the shrine were selling food, so I had some tasty chicken thingies and a passable hotdog-on-a-stick.

SouthWest entrance at IzumoTaisha

SouthWest entrance at IzumoTaisha
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

This is the most crowded I've seen my local shrine. Large rope in background is good luck if you can toss a coin into the coils and make it stick. Woman in foreground is carrying an arrow with a bell attached that many people had - not sure what it signifies.

Trivia - Thursday, Jan 6th

Which former child star is portrayed in the 2003 hit musical Avenue Q?


Yesterday's Answer: Paul Schaffer

Trivia - Wednesday, Jan 5th

Which talk show bandleader wrote the '80s anthem It's Raining Men?

No multiple choice on this one, but it's fairly easy if you think about it a bit.

Yesterday's answer: D. New Order

Trivia - Tuesday, Jan 4th

The surviving members of Joy Division went on to form what seminal '80s dance group?

A. Depeche Mode
B. Bronski Beat
C. General Public
D. New Order

Yesterday's Answer: B. London School of Economics

Non-Japan ramblings

I've had some free time lately, since school doesn't start up again until Jan. 11th.

So I've been tooling around the net and doing some reading. I know I need to update this-here blog with stories from December - I'll get to it this week.

One thing I stumbled across over at the Oni Press community board was a discussion of the new "Sin City" movie.

Sin City is a comic book written and drawn by comics legend Frank Miller, who wrote the famous Batman mini series "The Dark Knight Returns." I'm a huge fan of Frank's work and "Sin City" in particular.

Robert Rodriguez, director of the Spy Kids films and the El Mariachi trilogy, is co-directing a live-action "Sin City" film along with Frank. I've been excited about seeing this film ever since it was announced. But I was BLOWN AWAY by the stills from the film, following Frank's awesome art style so closely. You can see them here. They are really quite something.

But then I was checking out all the nifty new trailers at the awesome Apple trailers page and I saw a link for a Sin City trailer. The movie looks incredible!!! Check out the trailer here.

It's so satisfying as a fan of something to see it adapted with care and an eye toward perserving the original impact of the source material. Wether it be a play, a book, a musical, a comic, a true story, a video game - whatever you're a fan of - if you see it made into a movie you want it done right - and "Sin City" looks like they're doing it right. I can't wait to see it.

2005 is shaping up to be quite a "Jason" year at the movies. The third and final Star Wars movie, a new Batman movie, the Sin City movie, an Elektra movie, a Fantastic Four movie - lots of cool fanboy flicks to keep me happy.

But just clicking on trailer titles I also stumbled across the following trailer for a new movie by the director of "Bend it Like Beckham." It's called "Bride & Prejudice." The movie itself seems like a silly Bollywood-meets-Hollywood bit of fluff, but the lead actress is the most beautiful woman I've seen in ages. She's incredibly gorgeous! Check out the trailer here.

I've got a bit of an Indian fixation going at the moment since I just finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel, "The Namesake," which is about Indian immigrants to America. Fantastic book! I really related to much of it, even though my parents immigrated from England, so I never was seen as an outsider based simply on my looks or surname. Together with her superb collection of short stories ("Interpreter of Maladies"), Lahiri is now an author I'll anxiously await news of each new book.

Speaking of good books, I'm about a third of the way into "The Da Vinci Code" and I must admit it's a compelling read - quite the page turner. I've heard that Tom Hanks has been cast in the lead role for the movie version that should start filming this year. I'll be curious who they get for the female lead.

Anyway, hope you're all having a good New Year so far. More Japan content soon.

-Jason

Trivia - Monday, Jan 3rd

What school did Mick Jagger attend before turning his attention to music?

A. New York University
B. London School of Economics
C. Oxford
D. City and Guilds of London Art School

Yesterday's Answer: C. David Bowie

Something new for 2005

Here's an added bonus for all my loyal readers.... (the sound of crickets) You are out there, right?

Anyway, I got quite a few calendars for Xmas this year. Which is cool, cuz I love calendars. I never have enough places to put all the calendars I buy and get as gifts each year.

This year I got three nifty desk page-a-day type calendars. One will go on my desk by my laptop at home; one will go on my desk at school, and I don't yet know where I'll put the third.

One of these calendars is made by Entertainment Weekly magazine and has a Pop Culture Quiz question for every weekday and one question for Saturday & Sunday combined.

So I thought I'd just type in each day's question and then post the answer the following day.

Feel free to post your guess at the answer in the comments section. If you just can't wait for an answer, feel free to email me. My email is jasoninjapan(at)msn(dot)com

On to the inaugural question:

Luther Vandross' big break came in 1975 when he sang backup vocals for which pop legend?
A. Rod Stewart
B. Carly Simon
C. David Bowie
D. Eric Clapton

I'll admit this one had me stumped, and here I'm supposed to be some guru of Pop Culture knowledge. Anyway, I'm not making these questions up, so I make no claim that they'll be enlightening or easy or particularly interesting, but over the course of the year, they should be fun.

-Jason

Snow in front of my aparto

Snow in front of my aparto
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

We had snow for New Year's. Not much was still around the following afternoon, but it's still all new to me.

Snow in my backyard

Snow in my backyard
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Taken from my back porch on 1-2-05

New Years in Japan

Here's some info about the New Year's holiday as observed in Japan that I gathered off the web.

I'm off to my local shrine tomorrow to take part in various festivities - don't know how much I'll be partaking in the food mentioned below, but you never know.

Hope your New Year's was great.

It's only been one day into 2005 and I've already experienced a first of sorts. It snowed in Taisha tonight and a thin blanket is currently covering the ground. Having grown up in Texas and Southern California, I've never really lived in snow, although we did get the occsional bit in Dallas when I was a boy (more icce than snow). So having to get around and deal with snow is all new to me. And boy is it cold! Lord knows what my heating bill will be for December and January, but it's freezing in my apartment, so I'm willing to spend the extra to keep all my bits from falling off.

On to the info:

January 1st to 3rd are shougatsu (New Year's holidays) in Japan. These are the most important holidays in Japan. People say to each other "ake-mashite-omedetou-gozaimasu" (Happy new year) whenever they see at the first time in the new  year.

Japanese people eat special dishes called osechi ryouri during shogatsu. Osechi ryouri is packed in a Jubako box, which has several layers. The foods are colorful and artistically presented. Each dish has a particular meaning. For example, prawns for long life, kuromame (cooked sweet black beans) for health, kazunoko (herring roe) for fertility, tazukuri (teriyaki taste small sardines) for a good harvest, kurikinton (sweet chestnuts and mashed sweet potato) for happiness, and more. It's also traditional to eat mochi (rice cake) dishes on New Year's Days.

It is traditional for Japanese people to visit to a shrine or a temple during New Year's Days. People pray for safety, health and good fortune. The first visit to a temple or shrine in a year is called Hatsumoude. It is not a very religious event but rather a custom. You can go any shrine or temple near you for Hatsumoude. Many well-known temples and shrines are extremely crowded. For example, Tokyo Meiji Jinguu, Kanagawa Kawasaki Taisya, Chiba Naritasan, Nagoya Atsuta Jinguu are very popular and expect a couple million visitors during New Year's  Days each year. If you want to visit one of the famous shrines or temples, be aware of pickpockets.

Since most businesses are closed during the first three days of the year, the streets tend to be quiet except for those near shrines and temples. Nowadays, it is common for many department stores to hold New Year's special sales at this time. So, you see many shoppers in the street too.

>>>>>
The only thing that's affected me so far as far as business being closed is that the banks are closed and they don't refill the ATMs, so if you didn't get money before the 1st, you're out of luck until the morning of the 4th. Luckily I was warned and remembered to get some.

My local shrine (IzumoTaisha) is one of the most crowded in Shimane at this time. They expect 2 to 3 million visitors over the course of the three New Year's holidays. That's an amazing amount of people in my tiny town, so I'm gonna go check it all out tomorrow.

-Jason

Matthew & Me - Iwami Silver Mine site

Matthew & Me - Iwami Silver Mine site
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Matt & me along a path to the original silver mine entrance at Iwami. Iwami is up in the mountains a bit, near Mt. Sanbe. Had a good day walking around the site, but all the signs describing what we were seeing were in Japanese, so we had to guess most of the time. Despite the cold, it turned out to be a nice day after the sun came out.

J&M at IzumoTaisha

J&M at IzumoTaisha
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My friends, Jodi and Matthew, who visited just after Xmas. They live out on a small island in the Oki Islands named Chibu. They had fun hanging out on the "mainland" and we had a good time doing some sightseeing around Shimane despite the overcast weather and the cold.

Long walk up to IzumoTaisha

Long walk up to IzumoTaisha
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

At a large torii (gate) on the scenic walk up to the Izumo Grand shrine in my town. 12-27-04

Xmas 04 - Usagi Sho

Xmas 04 - Usagi Sho
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Me as Santa with the awesome kids at my smallest elementary school - Usagi Sho.

I was Santa-san 4 times last week at four different yochiens (kindergartens). It was exhausting, and at times it too closely resembled being a mall Santa, but I had a blast doing it and the kids' reactions were priceless. Should be even more fun next year!

Tuesday, Dec. 14th - getting started

getting started
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Getting started with my jikoshokai (self-introduction) at Araki Shoogakkoo (elementary) with a combined class of about 70 third graders.

You can also click on any photo on this page and you'll be taken to my online photo album at flickr.com, which has more photos than just the ones included here.

Enjoy!

group - smiles

group - smiles
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My supa-genki kids at Araki sho. This was a fun day. Combined class with two classes of kids and two combined periods, so I was "on" for an hour and 45 minutes.

short sleeves vs sweater

short sleeves vs sweater
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

It's the middle of December, but I still wear short sleeves to work, as opposed to the Japanese sensei on the right in a sweater. My fellow teahers can't get over this and always ask me if I'm cold.

You'll also notice in these pics that I'm sporting my Santa-san beard.

Surfing

Surfing
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Teaching about my hometown, San Diego. I lie and tell the kids that that's me in the photo...
(I'm kidding)

jikoshokai

jikoshokai
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Teaching about California and America during my self-introduction. Ironic that 4 months after arriving in Japan I'm still intriducing my self to students, but since I have 5 elementary schools I'm still meeting a few of the classes for the first time.

Jason money -Spidey

jason money -Spidey
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Handing out "Jason money" to the bingo winners. In this pic you can see how I replaced George Washington's face in the American dollar bill with Spider-Man's head. I also have bills with Pokemon characters, Star Wars characters, Batman, Superman, and my face.

Namae wa

Namae wa
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Leaning over to hear this young man tell me his name. "Namae wa?" (What is your name?) I tower over these kids, but they love how big and furry I am.
Bonus for my sister - you can see her age on the whiteboard behind me; part of my self-intro where I have the kids guess how old I am.

Jason face

Jason face
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

We're getting ready to play "animal bingo" here. Also, according to my niece, Brittany, this is a classic "Jason Face."

Goooold

Goooold
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Teaching colors. OK - say it with me... "Gold."

shaking hands

shaking hands
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

At the end of the lesson I shake hands and say goodbye to every student.

Santa Jason - the drunk?

So last week was a terrible week. But this week is starting out great.

It started on Saturday with a nice get-together at my friend Rob's place out in Sada for a Hanukah celebration. About a dozen JETs and some Japanese people gathered to eat traditional foods, drink and play games. Fun was had by all and Rob and his girlfriend, Kayoko, were very gracious hosts. Rob has a pretty spiffy two story semi-detached house - one of the benefits of living out in the sticks. Pictures from the night can be seen here.

Going to the party on Saturday, where I ended up sleeping on Rob's tatami instead of heading home, meant missing a kendo tournament on Sunday. I was supposed to show up at 7am at the Jr High to get on a bus to Nita which is about 90 minutes away. I was still asleep at 7am on Sunday, considering I didn't go to bed until 4am, so I didn't show up. When I got home Sunday afternoon, there were 4 messages on my machine with no message - just calls then hang ups. I wondered about it until I got an email from one of my English teachers asking me if I was alright, as she'd come by my place at 2pm and noticed that my newspaper was still in my mailbox. Seems the Kendo team had called asking her to check on me since I didn't show up. I was resting later that day at about 5pm and a knock on my door got me out of bed. 4 or 5 of the Kendo parents were at my door, just checking to make sure I was OK. It was hard for me to explain where I'd been, so I just nodded that I was fine and all seemed well. They smiled and went home. I didn't know if I should be a bit miffed about being so closely watched, since I'd mentioned on Friday at Kendo practice that there was a chance I wouldn't make it to the Sunday event since it was so early on Sunday morning and I'd be at a party the night before. But I mentioned it to a JET friend and he said it was nice that they cared, since he could be missing three weeks and no one would notice. And I guess in light of what happened with the Kendo coach, Ishitobi sensei, the previous week (see last post), it's understandable for them to be concerned.

Monday was the start of the last full week of classes before we break for winter vacation next week. I have to be Santa three times this week at three different kindergartens. Monday was the first at Yokan yochien (Yokan kindergarten). Ironically, the Santa suit was not designed for someone Santa size, so they had to alter it making it bigger so it would fit me. I took part in a little skit about two mice, Guri and Gura, who are famous children's books characters here, that meet Santa. I bring them a cake and then dash off as I'm late. All the 3, 4 and 5-year-olds enjoyed my cameo appearance. I then came back into the room and sat in front of the gathered kids and answered questions in English as Santa. They'd ask, "Where do you live?" or "What is your favorite food?" in Japanese and I'd answer "The North Pole" or "Christmas Cake" in English and the Kindergarten teacher would translate. It was really fun and the kids were super cute. I got to hand out gift bags the teachers and parents had prepared and shake each kids hand and say "Merry Christmas" in my best Santa voice. After I left, the kids all wrote little notes and drew pictures for Santa, which the head teacher of the yochien gave me today - so how cool is that? I get to do it two more times this week in Hinomisaki and at Araki yochien. Monday afternoon all the Jr High attended a concert in the local music hall, featuring traditional Japanese instruments. It was pretty good music and the kids clapped along and enjoyed themselves.

Today was a more normal day, but I was super busy. I taught three Jr High classes in the morning, ate some rice for lunch, did my 15-minute radio show, then it was off to Araki shoogakkoo to entertain 70 3rd graders. After I introduced myself and talked about my family and San Diego a bit, we played color bingo and animal bingo and then the kids got to ask me questions. First question, almost always from a girl, is am I married/do I have a girlfriend? They proceeded to ask the accustomed questions about favorite foods, animal, how tall I am, how much do I weigh - one girl asked what job I had. I said "Ima (now)?" and she nodded, so I said, "Eigo sensei," and she seemed amused, like it was funny to her that I was getting paid to run around and teach 3rd graders how to say "purple" and "monkey." And I have to agree, that some days it is pretty funny that I get paid to do this. Then one boy asked a question that all three Japanese teachers in the room were either unable to translate or too embarrased to translate, so I just looked at him and said, "Wakari nai," which means "I don't understand" or "I don't know."

Making chit-chat to the best of my limited-Japanese abilites in the staff room before my show-stopping performance with the 3rd graders, one of the male teachers offered me some coffee and I politely declined, saying "Kohii nomimasen (I don't drink coffee)." He looked at me strange and then said something about how he thought Americans liked coffee. It's funny when one of the my likes/dislikes get extrapolated to the entire American population. I explained that many Americans do indeed like coffee, I just don't care for it - I prefer tea as a hot beverage, and Pepsi as a cold beverage. He followed the line of inquiry and asked if I liked "sake." Now sake is not only the Japanese rice wine that many of you have heard of, but osake is the Japanese word for alcohol as well, so I had to make sure which one he meant. I explained that I wasn't really a big drinker - that I had a little at the Kanpai (Cheers) but then I usually just switched to cold tea or cola. He looked puzzled and then said "Biiru" (Beer)? I shook my head no, and he laughed, saying in his best English, "That's interesting because you look like drunk." I hope he wasn't commenting on my appearance at that moment, as I'm sure I did look a bit disheveled, having just come off my scooter, and I am sporting my Santa beard right now, but it's clean and not stragely. So I took it that he meant I looked like I'm a big drinker, probably because I'm a big guy and most JETs have a reputation for enjoying alcohol.

From Santa to a drunk within a day - what a job. :)

Anyway - hope all is well where you are. If any of the SDA students are reading this, I encourage you to check out my friend and fellow JET Trevor's blog, which is an interesting read. But the real bonus is that he posts the same entries in both English and Japanese, and everyday he posts a new kanji for that day with it's meaning and reading and examples. Fun stuff to help you learn the language. I got a 98 on my first Japanese language test in the correspondence course I'm enrolled in. I missed one question. It was an open book test so no real big accomplishment, but it's good practice. My next test is due January 28th.

A beautiful and a sad day

Yesterday was a gorgeous day weather-wise. Sunny and bright, crisp and cool without being too cold. I love weather like we had yesterday. Unfortunately I couldn't really enjoy it. I had to do something in Japan yesterday that I've never had to do before - I had to attend a funeral and mourn the passing of a friend.

I wasn't planning on reprinting my monthly column that I write for the Shimane JET publication "The Black Taxi." But I'll reprint this one since the end few paragraphs detail the events of yesterday and I can't muster the emotional energy to write about it again.

There have been funerals for people I care about, but they've always taken place in England, as every relative I have is English. So I've never attended any of those - my Mom or Dad would go instead. And everyone close to me in America is still alive, so I've been lucky. I don't even own a black suit, which was the cause of some concern Tuesday, as Japanese men dress for funerals in black pants, black shoes, black tie, white shirt and black jacket. I was able to borrow a jacket, so that part was taken care of. The Japanese also give a gift of money in a specially designed envelope featuring intertwined black and white coarse ribbons, but my supervisor helped me out with this detail as well. I had to memorize a short saying in Japanese to say instead of the Japanese for sorry ("gomen nasai"), which they don't say at funerals. It was a somber and sad occasion that really did little for me to abate the shock of the unexpected loss, but a sure sign that life will go on was the behavior of the 9th grade class of students I walked to the ceremony with. They were quiet and sad, but not morose and we chatted a little as we walked, and that cheered me up somewhat.

So please read to the end of the following column for the details. Sorry that the paragraphs preceeding the funeral details are rather frivolous and innocuous - I'm usually a happy-go-lucky kind of guy but this week has been cause for pause and reflection.

Be well.

-Jason

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Hitchhiker’s Guide...

Birth and death. It’s a never ending cycle and so it goes that this month I have news of another big-deal celebrity birth and, unfortunately, news of another passing to tell you about.

First up, actress and star of two holiday films hitting U.S. theaters this month (“Closer” & “Ocean’s 12”), Julia Roberts, gave birth to twins on Sunday, November 28th. Roberts, who is married to cinematographer Daniel Moder, delivered Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus Walter Moder at a hospital in Southern California. Roberts, 37, has been married to Moder for two years after high profile relationships with Keifer Sutherland and Benjamin Bratt and a marriage to Lyle Lovett, that did not produce children. OK - Hazel is a pretty decent name, but “Phinnaeus”? And “Walter” as a backup? To paraphrase “The Sure Thing,” whatever happened to simple and direct names like Nick? Nick’s your buddy, Nick’s your pal. This trend in funky names for celebrity offspring isn’t a recent phenomenon, but it certainly seems to have been embraced by modern movie stars looking to forever saddle their kids with clunky and taunt-inducing sobriquets.

In movie news, there are a bunch of good ones and much-anticipated ones coming out this holiday season, but we won’t be seeing any of them until the new year in Japan. So if you’re heading home and see some good flicks over the holidays, post on the BT web site or send me an e-mail and let me know what was worth checking out and what to avoid. I’ll be staying in Japan for the holidays, so no new movies for me, although I did make it out to the amazing Movix complex in Yonago the other night to see Pixar’s latest offering, “The Incredibles.” I’ll be trite and simply say it was indeed incredible. Another great animated film from Pixar (“Finding Nemo”) and the director responsible for 1999’s underrated “The Iron Giant.”

In DVD news I have more anniversary special editions to comment on. Two more terrible names to add to the list of all-time bad monikers would be Ren and Ariel. If you’re an 80s movie fan then you know that those two names belong to the lead characters in “Footloose” - a film celebrating its 20-year anniversary with a special edition DVD. “Footloose” was huge hit in my Texas town when it came out in 1984 and the soundtrack was everywhere. It’s total cheese, but enjoyable cheese. And Kevin Bacon, as witnessed on a recent “Will & Grace” where, playing himself, he dances to the title track with Will, obviously has a healthy sense of humor about the film that made him a star. Bacon provides a commentary track on this DVD, which also features an interesting documentary about the making of the film and includes contemporary interviews with many of the stars of the film. Another of my favorite films enjoying an anniversary this year is the delightful family film, “Mary Poppins.” Dick Van Dyke’s dodgy cockney accent aside, this Disney classic from 1964 is still an entertaining and funny and thoughtful film that gets the special treatment it deserves in this two-disc edition. Many Disney fans consider “Mary Poppins” to be Walt’s crowning achievement and it was the only one of his features to be nominated for a best picture Academy Award until Beauty and the Beast in 1991.
The big release on DVD this week is the expanded, 4-disc Platinum edition of the concluding chapter in the LOTR trilogy, “The Return of the King.” If you have the other two Platinum extended versions of “Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Two Towers” then this is a must buy. The amazing amount of detail and care that went into these superlative DVD editions has set the bar for future special version DVDs of epic films like the LOTR films.

Another DVD that was just released to coincide with an anniversary is the first official release of the Live Aid concert from July of 1985. It’s the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Band Aid charity single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” which topped the charts in December of 1984 and raised money for victims of the famine in Ethiopia. A new crop of British pop stars has just released a remake of the 1984 chart-topper and it debuted at the top of the U.K. singles chart last week. Although the Band Aid 20 track came nowhere near the first-week sales of its 1984 predecessor, it sold 292,000 copies, including two purchased by Prime Minister Tony Blair at an HMV store in Edinburgh on Friday. The original Bob Geldof-led single sold nearly 800,000 in its first week and went on to sell a reported 3 million copies in the United Kingdom alone. The project led to the global fundraising phenomenon Live Aid the following year.
The 2004 version features Paul McCartney. Coldplay's Chris Martin, Travis' Fran Healy, the Darkness, Keane, Robbie Williams, Dido, Snow Patrol and Natasha Bedingfield, among others. U2 singer Bono, who was a member of the 1984 Band Aid chorus, also participates in the new recording. Like the original, proceeds will provide aid for Africa, particularly Sudan's Darfur region.
The DVD of the Live Aid concert is a four-disc package that offers 10 hours of footage from the two simultaneous concerts that took place in Wembley and Philadelphia on July 13, 1985. Even though I know many of my fellow JETs were too young to remember that historic day, I vividly recall where I was that day - at work at a summer job at a toy store in a mall in Dallas. I annoyed my boss by running into the back room every few minutes to listen to the radio simulcast. I didn’t have MTV at the time, which was the only station showing the entire concert, so after I got home from work I had to settle for the ABC broadcast, which showed highlights of the first part of the concert and then showed the last three hours live. Many of my heroes performed that day and two of my favorite bands, U2 and Queen, turned in triumphant sets. Curiously absent from the concert, considering how big they were in 1985, were Prince, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen. The simultaneous Wembley/Philadelphia broadcast lasted 16 hours. The 4-disc DVD set is 10 hours, plus extras. They’ve cut out some of the backstage stuff and a few of the songs too. Extras include the documentary “Food and Trucks and Rock N Roll,” which features the original Michael Buerk news report that stirred Geldof into action and charts the genesis of Band Aid, Live Aid and how the money raised helped alleviate, if not eradicate, the suffering.

No room this month to talk books, but I’ll be back next month with reviews of the new Greg Rucka thriller and Garth Ennis’ run on the Vertigo comic “Hellblazer.”

Finally, I yet again have to end the Guide this month on a somber note. I’ve experienced many firsts since moving to Japan this year, but today, Wednesay, December 8th, I had to experience something I never imagined I would have to take part in - a Japanese funeral. On Monday morning, one of my JTEs at Taisha Jr. High was found dead at his home. Turns out he had a hemorrhage in his brain and died in his sleep on Friday night after school. Ishitobi sensei was my only male JTE and the kendo coach at Taisha Chu, my base school. We had become friends in the short 4 months I’ve been here and we enjoyed nights out drinking and singing karaoke with the kendo parents. He had a great singing voice and often entertained us with his deep-bass renditions of traditional Japanese songs. His English was really good, so I relied on him at school to help me understand what was going on from day-to-day. He was my liaison to all the teachers at my 5 elementary schools and he was the one who urged me to join the kendo team and take part in some unique aspect of Japanese culture. Ishitobi sensei was 48 and a bachelor, so much of his free time was devoted to the kids at Taisha Chuugakkoo. It might seem odd that I feel such loss for a person who I’ve only known for such a short period of time; heck, I didn’t even know his first name until today. But Ishitobi sensei had become my mentor, and I will miss his easy laugh and his enthusiasm for our classes and his stern but fair teaching presence. At the funeral today, which took place in a building located on the grounds of IzumoTaisha shrine, I understood little of the speeches or ceremony, and it occurred to me as I walked back to school that it would have been Ishitobi sensei that I would have asked to explain what I’d witnessed. More than just a mentor, Ishitobi-san was my friend, and I will miss him.

OK - so that wraps up another edition of the Hitchhiker’s Guide. I’d like to extend my warmest holiday wishes to all the Shimane JETs. Please be safe if you’re traveling this holiday season and I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year. Take a moment to tell the ones you love how much they mean to you.


-Jason

Rain, rain - go away...

It's been pouring rain all weekend. Sucks!

Last night was the first time when I really wished I had a car here. I needed to go out. I had to return some movies to the video store by midnight to avoid late fees and I fancied a hamburger for dinner. But it started raining yesterday at about noon and didn't stop all day and night. Plus, some of the local JET community were getting together at my friend Mark's place to watch English premier league football (soccer). So I made the decision to venture out into the night on my scooter and make the 15 minute trek over to Izumo to return the videos and watch some soccer.

One of the pieces of really good advice I got from my predecessor, Sara, was to bring "rain pants." I wasn't sure what rain pants were, but I had these seemingly water-proof workout pants that I brought with me. Turns out that they're more "water-resistant" than water proof, but they help on days when I have to scooter to work and it's only raining a bit. I also have some Adidas sweat pants that are not that comfortable, but they are 100% polyester, so I put those on and then my rain pants on over those. I have a rain jacket with a hood and some water proof gloves that my folks just sent me from England, sol I was decked out and ready to go. Man was it raining though. I have no face shield on my scooter helmet so the rain was pelting my face as I rode along despite the fact that I can only go about 30 kmh.

I arrived at the video store first and took the videos upstairs, still dripping wet from my ride, and turned them in without renting more. I got back on my scooter and rode the last 5 minutes over to Mark's apartment and wasn't too worse for wear. Wet, but not soaked thru and oddly enough it wasn't that cold last night.

I did yell my first obscenity at a Japanese motorist last night. I was cruising down a main street in Izumo toward Mark's place and an oncoming car wanted to make a right across my lane of traffic (we drive on the left here in Japan). I have a decent headlight on my scooter, so I know she saw me coming, but she proceeded to pull into my lane of traffic. Well, I swerved and as I passed I extended my middle finger and yelled the accompanying "F- you!" Have no idea if it was understood, but it was necessary all the same. I'm on a scooter with low visibility in the pouring rain and you just have to go first - I think not!

By the time I left Mark's at about 2am, it had stopped raining so the ride home was uneventful. But the wind was strong all night, making my house and windows creak something awful at times, and it's rained on and off all day today, so kind of a sucky weekend.

I'm gonna have a good old fashioned British Fry Up soon, as I finally bought some eggs to scramble and I have toast and sausage, so that should be nice. Nothing on Japanese TV today that I can watch, except some sports like J-league soccer, so I'll probably read (I'm in the middle of two books right now, with the "Da Vinci Code" winning out recently) and work on writing my article for a Shimane JET publication that they put out here called the Black Taxi. I've been writing a monthly column on movies and pop culture called "The Hitchhiker's Guide..." and it seems to be well received, although it's really hard to tell how many people are actually reading it.

Hope your weekend is going well. Hopefully posts this week about the Speech contests in November and what I did for Thanksgiving and my return to Kendo.

Be Good-
Jason

Learning Names and Language

What follows is a list of the names of the 23 ni nen sei (8th grade) students in one of my twice-weekly, elective English classes.

8 of the names below belong to female students; the rest are boys’ names. See if you can pick out the girls’ names...

Tomoya
Kyohei
Hitoshi
Hiroshi
Satoshi
Koki
Mayu
Hiroko
Sayaka
Megumi
Risako
Shiori
Yukato
Maiko
Kota
Hironori
Kentaro
Hayato
Yasuto
Tomoya
Yasuto
Yuuki
Keita

How’d you do? There are ways to detect gender as you get more familiar with Japanese, but it’s still damn tough. And my pronunciation is way off on a few, which of course elicits laughter anytime I try and say some names. Notice that I have a Hiroshi and a Hitoshi. I have two boys named Tomoya and two boys named Yasuto.

The list of girl names starts with Mayu and goes thru Maiko. Many female names end in ~ko. So I have 8 girls in the class.

Add two more obstacles to my trying to learn my students’ names:

1) Subtle differences in pronunciation are a big deal sometimes. It’s not just like Americans named Willem vs William or Kirsten vs Kristen, or Katy vs Kate. Those are still identifiable as male or female names. But a common boy name here is Yuuki and a common girl name here is Yuki. I’ve called a few boys here Yuki, without elongating the U sound, and it gets howls of laughter from his classmates and in one instance a well-deserved glare, since I’d just made him a girl.

2) When I ask Japanese kids their name by saying “What is your name” in either Japanese or English, the response is always lightening fast and most often said in the traditional Japanese style of last name (or family name) first followed by the first name. So I would be Harris Jason, or John Lennon’s wife would say her name Ono Yoko when speaking with other Japanese people. When I ask the kids their first name, they often looked puzzled or stare back blankly, since all their teachers generally refer to them by their last names.

I’ve been making a real effort to at least learn the names of the teachers I interact with on a regular basis, but I’m a visual learner when it comes to remembering names, so I need to write them down. But I feel bad asking teachers to say their name or spell it after 4 months of being here. I know my main teachers at my Jr. High because I see them almost everyday, but I’m still meeting some of my Elementary teachers for the first or second time, and anytime they send me a lesson plan or other document their name is always written in Kanji, which makes it really hard for me to decipher.

I’d like to learn more of my students’ names, especially at my Jr. High, but it’s really tough. The chances of me remembering a child’s name at one of my 5 elementary schools is even more remote. And the ironic thing there is that many of my Elem. kids love rushing over to me and blurting out the only English phrase they really know by heart, which is “My name is ~~~~.” I just smile and say “Nice to see you again” or “Genki desu ka” which is “How are you?” in Japanese.

You want to know the hardest thing for me right now in regards to learning written Japanese? Let me offer an example:

Here^%\sentence++hasmanywords#@$it andallrunstogether^&*youunderstand

The above sentence is almost unintelligible. Well that’s kinda like learning Japanese. They put no spaces between words, so you just have to learn particles and markers for word separation. They often use no punctuation, so no periods at the ends of sentences, no commas, no question marks. They do have a form of quotation marks. They use and intermix three different writing alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The symbols above represent Kanji. Even when I can decipher some sentences, there are still tons of Kanji I can’t read, so there are little holes in my sentences. Add to that the fact that in a Japanese newspaper the text is meant to be read from top to bottom and from right to left, and you can see some of the difficulty I’m having with the written language.

But I persevere. My speaking abilities are definitely getting better, and my confidence in the classroom after four months is far greater than when I first arrived. Of course, much of that vocab is classroom specific stuff like “Mo ikai” which means “one more time” or “suwatte” which means “sit down” or “joozu desu nee” which means “well done” or “really good.” I’m still struggling when I go out into the Japanese community, but it gets better with each passing day. My ability to understand what is being said TO me is much better, but I’m still having trouble articulating what I want to convey without resorting to English.

I just turned in my first Japanese test in a correspondence course offered thru the JET organization. It was fairly easy for me, as I have at least studied Japanese a little bit in college, but I still had to look some things up (it’s an open book test), so that was disappointing. I have to set aside more time to study in the evenings.

That being said, I’m gonna turn the computer off for a while and try to get some other things done, like the dishes and some laundry and maybe I’ll even listen to my Japanese language CD while I’m doing these tasks.

Sayonara,
Jason

Non-Japan related news: Jeopardy Whiz ends 74 game streak

My parents came out to California in late May of 2004 to celebrate my college graduation and help me prepare to move to Japan. One of my favorite programs to watch each night has always been Jeopardy. My folks often joined me on the couch to watch the show, and just after they arrived we started watching a young man named Ken Jennings win night after night in such convincing fashion that it was stunning. Just last year Jeopardy changed their rules so contestants could keep coming back and competing as long as they could keep winning. No longer did they have to stop after 5 wins and then just come back for the Tournament of Champions. So Ken kept winning and winning and banking more and more money. It was astonishing to watch - he seemed unbeatable. Jeopardy went on summer break just before I left for Japan in late July, but Ken came back this fall and continued right on winning match after match. Well, I read on the net today that he finally lost the other night. Wish I could have seen it.

Here's the AP News story:

NEW YORK (AP) - ``Jeopardy'' whiz Ken Jennings finally met his match after a 74-game run as a pop culture icon who made brainiacs cool, beaten by a woman whose own 8-year-old daughter asked for his autograph when they first met.

As someone who always has prepared his own tax returns, Jennings was tripped up in Final Jeopardy by this answer: Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.

The correct reply: ``What is H&R Block?'' But Jennings guessed Federal Express, ending his remarkable run as the biggest winner in TV game show history with a haul of $2,520,700.

Having an accountant-friend who's nearly impossible to reach at tax time paid off big-time for his conqueror, California real estate agent Nancy Zerg, who ousted the baby-faced killer competitor in the episode airing Tuesday.

During his streak that began June 2, Jennings usually had opponents so thoroughly beaten that the Final Jeopardy question was meaningless to the outcome. But Zerg was within striking range at that point, with $10,000 to Jennings' $14,400.

The champion had to think; out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Zerg had quickly written her reply.

``I was pretty sure before the music ended that was the ballgame,'' he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Her correct reply gave Zerg $14,001 to Jennings' $8,799.

Even before that, she had needed an unusual display of Jennings fallibility to stay in the game. He twice answered wrong on Daily Double questions, which give contestants a chance to make big wagers and increase their leads.

Maybe that's why he paused, ever so slightly, when asked in the AP interview Tuesday whether he had lost or been beaten. He then graciously gave Zerg credit.

``I would have dwelt on it if I missed something that I knew or didn't phrase it in the form of a question,'' said Jennings, a computer software engineer from Salt Lake City. ``It was a big relief to me that I lost to someone who played a better game than me.''

Zerg, a former actress who lives in Ventura, Calif., told the AP that she psyched herself up before the game by repeating to herself: ``Someone's got to beat him sometime, it might as well be me.''

Hanging out backstage with fellow contestants, she saw some Jennings opponents had essentially lost before the game. She heard one person say that it looked like he was playing for second, and another just wishing not to be humiliated.

``I heard another one say, `It's no great sin to lose to Ken Jennings,' and they went in and lost to Ken Jennings,'' she said. ``I thought, `That's no way to play the game.'''

Some stats: Jennings' average daily haul was $34,063.51. He toyed with the previous daily record of $52,000 - tying it four times - before shattering it with a $75,000 win in Game 38. He gave more than 2,700 correct responses.

He combined an extraordinary breadth of knowledge, uncanny skill at sensing the precise instant to ring his buzzer, and a sharp competitive instinct hidden behind his grin and polite manner.

It made many of the games boring. But ``Jeopardy!'' executives aren't complaining; ratings were up 22 percent over the same period last time.

Jennings said he'd been thinking about walking away after some future milestone - 100 wins, perhaps, or $3 million or $4 million in winnings. He said there were about a dozen games where one reply made the difference between winning and losing.

``The fact that they had all fallen my way was beginning to worry me,'' he said, ``because at some point the law of averages was going to kick in.''

He wasn't prepared for how much he'd miss the daily competition, though.

``It didn't really hit me that was going to be the hard part,'' he said. ``I thought the hard part would be the loss.''

The loss is actually a distant memory and not really a secret: The show was taped in early September and news leaked right away. Video clips of his loss appeared Monday on the Internet.

Neither Jennings nor Zerg expect the record will be broken.

``It's not because things fell the right way,'' she said. ``It's because he's that good.''

Jennings, a Mormon, will donate 10 percent of his winnings to his church - and a European vacation is planned, ``probably a really nice one.'' He'll hardly slip back into anonymity; he's visiting David Letterman and Regis Philbin this week, has a book deal and is open to any commercial sponsorship opportunities.

He's in a new tax bracket now, and H&R Block is making sure he'll always remember the company for other reasons: It has offered him free tax preparation for life.

Nishinoshima, OKI - Nov. 6, 2004

Nishinoshima5
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

It was a foggy day that Saturday, but you can still get a sense of the rugged landscape and awesome scenery on Nishinoshima.

Read about my adventures here in the post below.

OKI Islands - Nov. 6th & 7th

I became friends with Canadian/American JET Jodi during Tokyo orientation when we both had just arrived in Japan for the first time. She’s a really down-to-earth person and one of the nicest people I’ve met since being here. She got assigned to the OKI Islands, a small island group just off the coast of Shimane-ken, and furthermore to the smallest of the 4 islands - Chibu.

Her husband, Matt, joined her out on Chibu shortly after Jodi arrived in late July and I’d been meaning to visit them ever since we saw each other again at the prefectural orientation in late August.

JETs tend to fill up our weekends with assorted activities, so it wasn’t until the weekend of November 6th and 7th that our schedules meshed so I could plan on visiting OKI. My friend, Rusty, asked if he could tag along, and happy to have company, I planned on meeting Rusty over in Izumo and heading out early Saturday the 6th.

In order to get to the OKIs, you have to take a ferry that takes about 2 hours. The ferry only departs the Shimane coast twice a day - once at 9:30am and again at 3pm. We decided to try to catch the 9:30am ferry so we wouldn’t miss most of Saturday, but that meant getting a train to Matsue and then a bus from Matsue to the port where the ferry departs - a total travel time of about 2 hrs. Add to that the 2 hrs on the ferry and it was about 4 hours of traveling to get out to OKI, which may be one reason more JETs don’t ever visit. But they’re really missing out.

The ferry cost about $25 for a one-way ticket. It’s unusual in that there are no seats inside. Just wide, carpeted spaces with small blankets and pillows available. The idea is that you lie down and that helps combat seasickness. Many of our fellow passengers took a nap for the two-hour duration, but Rusty and I watched TV, played Game-Boy, chatted or walked about the ship. The Japan Sea was a bit choppy that day, but boats don’t really bother me that much so I was fine.

We arrived at Nishinoshima island at about 11:30 and met Jodi and Matt and Australian CIR Alana, who is the sole JET living on Nishinoshima. Alana was involved in an international day of sorts at her community center, so we hung out and got to sample the local delicacy of “squid balls.” OK - I didn’t try them, but Rusty and Matt did. Basically, they were balls of dough with a chunk of squid embedded inside with some other ingredients like mayonnaise and chopped green onions all fried up into a ball the size of your standard meatball. Chewy, but decent was Matt’s verdict. I got some yaki tori chicken strips and chowed down on those. Jodi didn't eat, as she is a vegetarian, but I try not to hold that against her. :)

Alana finished up and all 5 of us crammed into her little car and started our tour of Nishinoshima. Some great scenery and hiking spots. I hope to post some more photos that Matt took with his digital camera. Cows graze free and we often had to be careful not to hit one darting around on the narrow roads. We visited a shrine built into the side of a mountain, but I’ll admit I was a bit pooped by then and opted out of hiking up to see it. Alana taught us about the dangers of “swooping,” which apparently is an Australian phenomenon where birds swoop down and attack innocent pedestrians. We were on alert for possible swooping incidents the rest of the weekend.

Getting hungry and a bit tired, we headed for the inter-island ferry to take us over to Jodi and Matt’s home island of Chibu. $3 for each of us and $10 for Alana’s car, which it was pointed out by the gas-station attendant was only supposed to legally carry 4 total people, not 5. We thought he might call the police on us, but Alana wasn’t worried as she plays tennis with one of the only two police officers on the island.

We arrived on Chibu in no time and decided to head out to the island’s ONLY restaurant for dinner. Ironically, it’s a little family owned and operated joint that serves Italian food. The owner’s daughters do the cooking and I had steak for the first time since coming to Japan, while the others tried some of the various pasta dishes on offer. Delicious.
Chibu only has about 750 people, so it goes without saying that Jodi and Matt are the only two non-Japanese on the island. I think having her husband with her allows Jodi to keep it together in such isolation, especially since she spoke no Japanese when she first arrived 4 months ago.

We all retired to Jodi’s apartment, a roomy place in a complex overlooking a Chibu harbor. We had fun playing cards and the “name game” and a drinking game called “Kings.” Rusty and I kipped out on futons in the spare room that Matt uses for painting, a hobby of his that he’s very good at, and Jodi uses as a study. Their apartment is a more traditional tatami mat setup, unlike the hard wood floors I have at my apartment.

I awoke on Sunday morning to find Matt busy making pancakes from scratch and Jodi and Alana relaxing on the balcony enjoying the sun and very warm weather. It was about 70 degrees F that sunday, compared to the high 50s that awaited us when we returned to the mainland. Alana had to skedaddle off to attend to other business, so the 4 of us decided to explore a bit of Chibu and take advantage of the fine weather. Matt and I rode mopeds over to the beach and Jodi and Rusty followed on foot. They have an amazing beach - secluded and rather private. The water is very clear and blue, and according to Jodi is very warm in the summer. Matt enjoys fishing and they both enjoy snorkeling, so they’re well suited to life on this small island. I don’t know if I could be happy out there, but they’re having a good time, and being so close to the water has convinced Jodi that she wants to live close to the water when she leaves JET and returns to the world.

We had to make the Sunday ferry, which departs Nishinoshima at 3pm so we said our goodbyes and boarded the small inter-island ferry. After a smoother inbound ferry ride back to the mainland and a bus and train ride, Rusty and I made it back to Izumo at around 7:30pm, and hungry for dinner we hit the local MOS Burger for some tasty hamburgers and shakes.

All-in-all a great weekend. Rusty and I both plan on making it out to OKI in the new year. Jodi and Matt are traveling a lot right now. They just got back from Korea and are off to the Philippines for the Xmas holiday, so I’m sure they’ll have lots to tell us during our next visit. It was such a relaxing visit and a great and scenic place to stay, that I can’t wait to visit again.

-Jason

Jason's Angels

Speech Cntst group1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Wait, if this is supposed to be like "Charlie's Angles" wouldn't that make me Bosley in this photo? Can I at least be the cool Bill Murray version of Bosley?

At the Englsih Recitation contest - Saturday, November 13th. From left: Me, Saki, Nonoka, & Wakiko

Unfortunately we didn't win that trophy - that was last year's trophy that Taisha JH won and we're returning it for this year's winner, which ended up being Hamayama JH. My group, pictured here, did well and came in 2nd.

Weekend of Halloween

The Weekend of October 30th (Saturday) and 31st (Sunday) was a good time. I’ve already posted photos below, so check them out.

Saturday started with a school event that took place in my town at first. I was in charge of asking other JETs to come to Taisha and participate in an “International Day” where we would interact with 4th, 5th and 6th graders from 3 of the local elementary schools.

I managed to get 6 other ALTs to join me for fun with the kids. Heather (Canadian), Olivia (American by way of Singapore), Amy (Canadian), Rob (American) and his girlfriend Kayoko (who supplied the digital pics), Chris (American) and me all joined some Chinese language teachers on a bus trip to Akagi-cho to pick apples and spend some time with the students.

I didn’t really know what to expect, but the man in charge was really organized and good with the kids, having prepared games to play on the bus and activities to keep us busy.

It turned out to be a slightly overcast day, but no rain fell, so that was good. The apple orchard ended up being about two-hours away by bus, but the kids were surprisingly content and we played some games along the way. Many of the students in my group asked me to draw something in their event program. I really need to learn to draw a few things other than my old standby (Batman) that I can draw quickly. Until you have to interact with younger children on a daily basis you don’t realize how useful it would be to know a few magic tricks or how to juggle or how to draw.

The apples were big and tasty, and very sweet. We ate our fill and then it was off to pick blueberries, which weren’t quite as tasty. Then we had lunch, all sitting around a baseball diamond. The lunch consisted of “chocolate” milk and various sweet breads. That’s it. Nothing “savory” at all. I guess they figured we’d already be half-full from all the apples. I say chocolate milk hesitantly because I have yet to have true chocolate milk here - it’s always flavored with some degree of coffee flavoring. They want to hook the kids early I guess. They also love to fill their bread with bean paste or other fillings. I’m sure I could tell what I was about to eat if I could read the kanji on the packaging, but sometimes I take a blind bite only to be met by a strange and unexpected taste sensation.

We played some games like a very fast Japanese version of patty cake and then a spirited game of “Duck, Duck, Goose.” I displayed my virtuosity at elbow-quarter-catching. This is where you stack coins on your raised and bent elbow and then in one swift motion, you lower and extend your arm and catch all the coins in your hand. Oohs and Aahhhs from the kids. :)

We got back in the bus and headed back to Taisha. Impromptu autograph sessions broke out, and the kids even asked for mine, even though most of them see me all the time at their respective elementary schools. I brought picture flash cards and we had a little trivia bee in the back of the bus, while the Chinese ALTs sang traditional songs. When asked to sing an American song, all I could think of was B-I-N-G-O, so we sang that and had fun clapping along.

When we arrived back in Taisha, we were asked to say a few words to the kids and some of the parents that had arrived to pick them up. I spoke mostly in English, but added a deferential “Arigatoo Gozaimasu” and bowed. Somebody else also said “arigatoo” at the end of their speech, but instead of the usual and correct pronunciation of “are-ri-gaw-toe” they pronounced it “ah-rehg-gih-tow”. Unbelievable. If there’s one word you should know how to say after being here for a while, it’s "arigatoo gozaimasu." Heck, hadn’t they ever heard the Styx song “Mr. Roboto”?

Anyway, another nice bonus was that the event organizers paid us for our travel expenses and our time. I wasn’t expecting anything, but the extra cash was a nice surprise.

That night, my friend, Rusty, who lives in Izumo was having a Halloween party. He wasn’t expecting that many people to show up, since many JETs had attended the bigger party in Matsue the night before, but by the time I got to his apartment, located in the appropriately named complex “The Friendship House,” at 10pm, there were about 20 people enjoying themselves, most of them in costume. I had wanted to wear my Merlin costume, but I absent-mindedly left it at school on Friday. So I went in civilian clothes and was roundly chastised for not improvising some sort of costume, especially by Rusty, who was wearing a makeshift toga made from one of his bed sheets. Fun was had by all, and the party went on to the wee hours of the morning. Downstairs, they had a HUGE carved pumpkin in the window. Not sure where they got it, since orange pumpkins are rare in Japan, let alone one of this gargantuan size. Should have snapped a photo of it.

Sunday, the 31st, was a lazy day. I got up about 10 am and called Rusty, who was surprisingly awake. We had planned on meeting over at my aparto to attend a soba noodle tasting that was just up the road from my place. He made it over just after 11 am, and we headed over to check out the eats. Rusty had already purchased coupon books for 900 yen that were good for 1000 yen worth of food. It was really crowded and busy, but we managed to make our way thru the crowds and walked around the various food stalls, checking out what was on offer. We first tried some gyoza (like a chinese pot sticker) that were made with soba wheat. Delicious! Then we wanted to have some hot noodles, so we traded in 600 yen worth of our coupons and got some tasty soba noodles in hot broth. We topped it off with some really good carmel ice cream and sat back and did some people watching, or I should say that people watched us. Various amounts of staring happen whenever we venture out in my town, since I’m the only westerner living in Taisha. We met our friend, Dustin, at the tasting and he invited us over to his place later to watch a Japanese movie called “Casshern.” Dustin is an American who’s on his fifth year as a JET. He teaches exclusively at elementary schools and his Japanese is very good. He’s just secured a job up in Hokkaido so he can stay in Japan after his contract with JET expires next July. (Five years is the maximum you can be in the programme) Rusty, Lisa (an American ALT living at the Friendship House), Mark (an Irish CIR also living at the Friendship House), Fintan (an Irish ALT from Matsue) and Dustin and myself all squeezed into his small apartment and watched this flick. It was incredibly weird and surreal, but beautifully made and put together. It was raining when we all set out for home later that night, so I got pretty wet going home on my scooter. One of the few drawbacks to my otherwise excellent mode of transport.

So that was that weekend - pretty good in sum, I must say.

Next longer posting will be about my trip out to the glorious OKI Islands that took place the first weekend in November. Also, I need to give you the results of the various speech contests I attended this month.

More soon.

-Jason

Nishi group - Elvis pose

Nishi group - Elvis pose
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

From left: Me, Rusty, Alana, and Jodi.
All doing our best Elvis pose on Nishinoshima in the OKI Islands. Saturday, Nov. 6th.

You Too and U2

Hello All,

I'm super busy this week, and this weekend is also jam-packed with activities, so it might be about a week before I post another entry, that read, according to my Mother, "like a bloody novel." Thanx Mom! :)

But I've added a few photos to whet your appetite for next week's posts.

The bottom two are from the great Halloween gathering we had in Izumo on Saturday, October 30th.

And the one above is a group shot of the OKI Islands gang (doing our best Elvis pose) from the following weekend, November 6 &7. Matt, Jodi's husband, took the photo, so he's missing from the shot.

In non-Japan news, I recently paid $1 and downloaded the new U2 single from iTunes, the awesome online Apple Music store. U2, one of the best rock bands in the past 20 years, is releasing a new CD on November 23rd, but you can hear and buy their new single. It's called "Vertigo," and it echoes the first single ("Beautiful Day") off their fantastic previous album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind." Like "Beautiful Day," "Vertigo" is chunky guitar rock featuring another great riff from the Edge and some fine vocal work from Bono. It's damn catchy, and I found myself humming it all day today after I played it for my Jr High kids during my weekly radio show at Taisha Chuugakkoo. So if you can, pick up their new album or download the new track - you won't be disappointed.

This gives me an opportunity to thank my folks once again for the excellent graduation gift - the excellent Apple iBook laptop that is my lifeline to the internet and all my friends and family via email. Never had a Mac before, but I'm totally satisfied, and iTunes is such a great digital music program, I'm so glad I chose to buy an Apple. You too can be cool - check out www.apple.com for all kinds of nifty computer stuff, including the best gadget since the cell phone, the iPod.

OK - enough blathering. Check back for another update next week.

Cya,
Jason

Nigel as Waldo

Nigel as Waldo
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My friend and fellow ALT, Nigel, in the best costume of the night as Waldo from the "Where's Waldo?" books.

Rusty - Hallwn 04

Rusty - Hallwn 04
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Ever the host, Rusty making fruity liquor drinks in his best last-minute costume. Halloween Party '04 at the Izumo Friendship House.

Enkais and Elections

This entry covers events that happened from late October to early November.

Had my first thunder storms here during the first week of November and we even had some small hail. And guess what, I was walking to school when it started hailing. But more on that in a minute.

Nov. 1st to Nov. 5th was a slow week here. I know the election happened on Tuesday, but I had already submitted my absentee ballot weeks ago and the coverage didn’t really happen here until Wednesday because of the time difference.

That reminds me, I should mention that Japan doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time, so now California is 17 hours behind and England is 9 hours behind Japan time. (instead of the previous difference of 16 and 8 hours respectively) Good info in case anyone wants to call me - I never get calls unless they’re wrong numbers dialed by very confused Japanese people who hear a strange Western voice on the other end.

Wednesday was a good day for the election to be covered here, because it was a national holiday (Culture Day) so I basically stayed home all day and watched the ABC news feed, which was broadcast in English in 45 minute chunks throughout the day and evening.

My initial reaction to the news that Bush had won reelection for a 2nd term is reflected in this e-mail message I sent to my brother, Paul. But since I’ve now had time to reflect, I don’t think it’s as grim as I first thought, but I am still profoundly disappointed and not exactly looking forward to the next 4 years with Bush still ensconced as our leader.

E-mail to Paul:

Paul,

Sadly, I watched what little coverage I could here in Japan as Bush maintained his lead throughout the election and seemed destined for victory. While my one absentee ballot did little to change the result, I feel good that I was one of those "record number" of Americans who voted against perhaps the worst sitting president to ever be reelected.

But one thing discussed on the ABC news feed I was watching was the "rightness" of America now. And I'm not talking about correctness, but rather a move to the conservative right that doesn't seem to be a temporary shift by any means. We have to face the fact that America is a far different country now than it was even 4 years ago. 9/11 has impacted us in ways that are only now starting to emerge. While the west coast and much of the east coast voted for Kerry, the large middle and southern section of the country voted for Bush and his conservative "values." America is really a divided country now, and not since the days of the Civil War have we seen a nation so polarized and unwilling to compromise.

Bush could go a long way to repairing some of the partisan divide by making smart appointments and trying to move to the center on a few issues, but I seriously doubt he will take this course. If anything, he'll push further to the right and now that the Republicans have a majority in both houses and the presidency, I can see a day not too far from now when the Democratic party becomes the permanent minority party in the U.S., simply struggling to keep the Republicans from overwhelming national politics completely. It happened here in Japan, and it could happen in America. What will Bush do about the "Michael Moore voters" - those who really dislike him and his stance on Iraq? Probably nothing. It's really up to the Democratic party to muster the energy of these extremely dissatisfied citizens and channel that into gains for the Democrats in the next election.

The election did not go the way I had hoped, so I may just have to find a way to stay in Japan until 2008, or I may have to move back in a few years and find a way to make sure that the values and ideas I believe in are represented in Washington once again.

Peace,
Jason

I’m not as sure the country is as divided as I stated above. I’ve read coverage of the aftermath of the election and one reporter mentioned that Americans are still by and large a united people - we all shop at the same Wal-Marts and Starbucks, we are by-and-large patriotic citizens who believe that America is a great country with a good political system. The country is as a whole Christian and shares many of the same values. While I am neither Christian nor overly patriotic, I do have faith in people and America is my home and always will be, so I hope that we can endure and maybe even thrive during the next four years - and at least Bush can’t run again in 2008.

Anyway, I need to post an entry about the Apple picking event, which is represented by a few pictures below. And the Halloween party and soba noodle tasting that happened that same weekend of Oct. 30th & 31st. So that’ll be my next entry. And then I need to describe the weekend trip to the OKI Islands I took on Nov. 6th and 7th, cuz I have a few pictures to post for that too.

But first, I’ll briefly describe why I was walking in the rain the other day.

Tuesday night, Nov. 2nd, I was invited to an “enkai” which is a formal Japanese party with drinking and eating and speeches. I was a special guest, as it was a “welcome” party for me and a farewell party for others leaving my local Board of Education, the people that employ me. So I put on a jacket and tie and rode thru the rain to my town offices, where I left my scooter and we went by car up the road to a nearby inn that has special rooms for these type of large parties. Everyone sits on the floor in front of a small, ground-level table about 2 feet by 2 feet. I was seated near the front, befitting my special guest status. I usually have a so-so time at these events, since I can’t really converse with anyone due to the language barrier. But my supervisor was seated next to me, and he always tries his best to make sure I’m enjoying myself, despite his limited English. The meal consists of many small portions, and they always serve fish in most of these courses, so I don’t end up eating much as I don’t eat anything that swims. And the only thing they usually have to drink is beer or sake, and I really don’t drink. Another interesting thing is that you can’t eat or drink ANYTHING at a Japanese enkai until the first few speeches have been given and they make an official toast and say “Kanpai,” the Japanese version of “Cheers.” Can you imagine being at a dinner party in America for 20 or more people where you have to stand around and chat with no appetizers or beverages at all for the first 20 or 30 minutes?

I’ve been to a number of these parties now, and I’ve discovered that they’re really expensive as well. The first one I went to was also for me, so as a guest I wasn’t expected to pay. But the day after I went to the 2nd one, for a departing teacher at my Jr. High, another teacher came to my desk and casually mentioned that I owed 7000¥, which is about $70, for last night’s party. I was flabbergasted. Apparently, $70 is standard for men and women pay about $50. I paid, but I decided that I would find out ahead of time next time how much it was gonna cost before I agreed to go. So the next time I was invited by the Kendo parents, I declined, explaining to my Japanese teacher, who is also the Kendo coach, that I couldn’t really afford to spend $70 on a party where I barely ate anything and barely drank anything. But the parents insisted I come, and said that I could attend without paying. So I agreed to go and when I arrived I found out that they had arranged to have a special dinner made for me with steak and spaghetti and they even had bottles of Pepsi brought in. So then I felt a bit sheepish about refusing to pay, but I’ll make it up to them.

The fun part of these parties is that it’s socially acceptable to get pretty drunk, and it’s one of the few times you get to see your co-workers with their guard down and sometimes their real personalities emerge and you’d be surprised how much some of them can speak English after they’ve had a little alcohol to bolster their confidence. And often, the dinner party is only the first party. Often, small groups will continue the party at a local bar or karaoke joint or even someone’s home.

The tolerance for drinking and driving here is ZERO. You can even get in trouble for riding your bicycle if you’ve been drinking, so most people at these parties take a taxi home or have their spouse come and pick them up. So after the party on Nov. 2nd, we all went to a local bar that has karaoke, and I entertained with my rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode” and then we had a group sing of “Imagine” by John Lennon, who is as revered over here just as much as he is in the West. I was drinking cola the whole time and had only had a few sips of beer during dinner and for the Kanpai toast. As a conversation starter, people at these parties get up and go to other guests, and offer to refill their glass of beer, so I had to drink a gulp or two from time to time just to be polite. But even though I’ve lost weight since coming here, I still am a big enough guy that a few gulps of beer and the odd shot of sake are hardly going to get me “drunk” or even tipsy.

Still, when it came time to go home, my supervisor refused to allow me to drive my scooter home, so I had to go with him by taxi, which are really expensive over here BTW. So wednesday, I had told the Kendo coach I would try and make it to school, even though it was a holiday, to help coach the girls participating in the upcoming speech contest. I slept in, but managed to get ready to leave my aparto by 11 am. It was cloudy and raining ever so slightly, but I decided I would walk the 25 minutes to school, check in on the girls, and then get my scooter, which was still parked at the town hall. Well, about 10 minutes into my walk, the heavens opened up and it started to pour. And then about 5 minutes later it started to hail. I ducked under some cover in a open garage and waited out the hail. I was wearing jeans and sneakers, and I was soaked right thru, but I was already halfway to school, so I decided to trudge on, since I was already soaked. I got to school only to find that everyone I needed to see had already gone home, so I grumbled some hellos to students that probably wondered what their English teacher was doing walking to school in the rain on a holiday. I walked down the road, got on my scooter and rode home. Of course, by that time it had stopped raining, and as some cosmic joke, a rainbow started to appear on the horizon. *sigh*

OK - enough for now. I’ll post soon about the more interesting apple picking event and my trip to OKI, and more pictures are on the way as well. Be good.

-Jason

Apple group 2

Apple group 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

We also picked blueberries that day and ate lunch with the kids and played games. A great day - thanx to all the other ALTs who came out and helped Taisha have a successful event.

Jason w kids 10_04

Jason w kids 10_04
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Click on any of the photos to be taken to Flickr where I'll be storing all my blog photos online, including other photos not posted to the blog.

Apple group 1

Apple group 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Apple picking photos from a day trip me and 6 other ALTs took on Saturday, October 30th. We had to chaperone small groups of elementary students from 3 of my local schools here in Taisha. A fun time was had by all. Thanks to Kayoko for the photos!

Rainy and Cold

It's been rainy and cold today, ending a week of really nice weather. Winter is settling in here, but we've had some nice autumn days - crisp, sunny and not too cold.

I've been super busy recently, and I have many topics and events that I want to blog about, so look for some updates this weekend or early next week.

I had a great moment of fanboy satisffaction this week, because in news completely unrelated to Japan, the new Star Wars trailer is available for viewing online Here, and Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith looks to be the movie all us Star Wars fans hope it will be - dark and exciting, revealing the story behind the transformation of Anakin Skywalker (Luke and Leia's dad) into Darth Vader.

Hope all is well where you are.

-Jason

Speechifying in the Land of the Rising Sun

I haven’t been attending Kendo practice for the past two weeks, which is a shame cuz I’d just started to develop a great Kendo blister on my right foot. I was told not to wear socks inside my house to toughen the soles of my feet for the kendo floor, cuz all the stomping and moving around in bare feet on the hard wood floors requires tough soles. And I’d just started getting a good callous going, when I had to stop practicing.

Instead I’m involved in the callous-free activity of English speech practice. 3 of my san-nen sei (9th grade) girls are practicing for an English recitation contest that takes place on Saturday, November 13th.
I’m also helping two other girls (one 8th grader and one 9th grader) prepare for a more demanding recitation contest that takes place on November 18th.

The three girls competing on the 13th are Wakiko, Nonoka and Saki. They each have to memorize a short piece in English (from 1 to 3 minutes in length) and then recite it in front on an audience and judges. They get to pick their selection out of a book with a number of choices. Wakiko picked a piece from the first “Harry Potter” book, when Harry and Ron discover the invisibility cloak. She’s doing well with her piece, but some of the words are really tough for her, like “fluid,” “silvery,” and “invisible.”

Nonoka picked a rather curious piece as it’s based on the understanding of English puns. It’s akin to the famous “Who’s on First?” routine by Abbot and Costello. But Nonoka’s piece involves Mr. Watt (“what”) and Mr. Will Knott (“not”). She’s doing well too, but the rhythm and timing needed to really sell the selection is slow coming.

Saki picked a piece that is also featured in the 9th grade English Textbook in longer form. It’s called “A Mother’s Lullaby.” Here is an excerpt:

“One day, a big bomb fell on the city of Hiroshima. Many people lost their lives, and many others were injured. They had burns all over their bodies. I was very sad when i saw those people.
On the night of that day, some people were already dead. I heard a lullaby. A young girl was singing to a little boy.
“Mommy! Mommy!” the boy cried.
“Don’t cry,” the girl said. “Mommy is here.” Then she began to sing again.

The story ends this way:
After a while the boy stopped crying and quietly died. But the little mother did not stop singing. It was a sad lullaby. The girl’s voice became weaker and weaker.
Morning came and the sun rose, but the girl never moved again.

And then Saki, who is a cute girl of 14 or 15, smiles real big and says “Thank you” and bows.

Now imagine that you’re an American and you’re asked on one of your first days in a Japanese classroom to read that story out loud from the text book, and then have the class repeat after you. It would be like asking a visiting Japanese teacher to read from a soldier’s diary who had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into it, and it’s not like the kids glared at me when I finished reading or anything, but it still made me uneasy somehow.

Asuka, one of the girls in the longer length piece competition, is reading an equally depressing selection about a young boy, named Ryuhei, who is a hemophiliac and gets AIDS from tainted blood that came from the U.S. Of course, with the proper dramatic emphasis, this story could be a real tear-jerker, but Asuka is simply struggling to pronounce all the English correctly and she says the entire 5 minute speech in the same monotone accent. And on the day of the competition I’m sure I’ll have to hear this piece at least 7 or 8 times, as each student picks their selection from the same book.

The last time I went to a speech contest this same thing happened. I had a male student, Hitoshi, in that competition who did really well, placing 4th out of about 35 students. Hitoshi had lived in the U.S. for 3 years when he was 6 to 9 years old, so I think they “handicapped” him a bit to make it fair for the other kids, cuz Hitoshi’s English is very good.
But I had a girl in that competition and her selection was called “Butterflies” and about 8 students, all girls, recited the same piece. No one else chose Hitoshi’s piece which was rather long and difficult. Most of the boys at that competition either picked a story about an ancient storyteller who has his ears cut off by a demon and is thereafter known as Naguchi the Earless, or a story about a little boy who draws pictures that come alive and one day he draws a tiger who devours all the monks in a temple. Nice stuff, huh? :)

Oh well, at least they’re speaking English and are motivated enough to memorize their pieces and come to practice everyday after school and even on the weekends.

And I’m learning way more than they are as I try to talk to them every day in Japanese and they help me with my Japanese grammar and pronunciation. I also ask them questions about their lives, so I’m gaining all sorts of interesting insights into the life of a Japanese teenager.

I’ll let you know how they all do in a couple of weeks, and then it’s back to Kendo practice for me and blisters on my feet.

-Jason