One of the brighter spots about my emerging fluency in Japanese is that I worry less about grammar, pronounciation, and listening skills, and more on other more interesting nuances, phrases, euphemisms and expressions. Things are still very frustrating for me at times, but I’m catching a lot of things with my ear I didn’t catch before. When speaking to an English teacher at one of my schools, I heard her use the phrase “hakoiri musume.” 箱入り娘This literally means something like “boxed daughter.” Hako means box. As I was not sure exactly what she meant, I made her explain it to me.

It means something like sheltered daughter. Picture an insulated lap child, somewhat naïve and ignorant about the ways of the world. She is a girl or a young woman who still lives at home with well-to-do over-protective parents. It came up in conversation when we were talking about overprotective parents. The teacher I was talking to mentioned a mutual acquaintance, and I had to laugh because I was about to ask about her. I can think of several other women I know who fit this category quite well. So for posterity and my own personal amusement, I have decided to list a couple other phrases I have picked up lately.

Goma o suru – ごまをするThis phrase literally means “do the sesame” or “grind the sesame.” When you eat tonkatsu (a fried pork dish with a sesame sauce) you have to grind the sesame seeds yourself. You grind them into a powder and then mix it with some goo. Outside of this context, it means something along the lines of flattery, especially in a flirtatious context. Someone who is overly flattering or complimentary might be accused of “grinding” or “softening” the sesame. This would also be the case if you were insincere or were less than honorable in your motives. I have never heard it used seriously.

Haraguroi –　腹黒いThis literally translates to black stomach. In more traditional Japanese culture, people held the notion that one’s ‘heart’ or ‘mind’ existed in one’s stomach. So the idea literally means that somebody has a dark, or evil soul. They may be smiling and happy on the surface, but they have a ‘dirty mind’ as it were.

Hashinoshita – 橋の下 I was joking around with some teachers and practicing the first word hakoirimusume (boxed daughter) and trying to gauge its usage and people’s reactions. I asked one teacher, whose son I know, if he has a boxed son. Hashinoshita was his response. It means “under the bridge” or homeless, abandoned and disowned. Its not too dissimilar from the English translation in the same context. He wasn't being very serious either.

Nekojita - This literally translates to "cat's tounge." Cats will not drink or eat anything if it is too hot, so Nekojita refers to a person who doesn't eat or drink anything too hot. So while everyone else has finished their coffee or tea, this person is waiting for it to become lukewarm.

Shopping with Brenden & Debbie

今日は須賀川市の松明あかしに行きました。松明あかしはとても面白い祭りです。毎年須賀川市であります。私の友達ブレンヂンさんは岩手県の花巻市から来ました。ブレンヂンさんは大学の同級生です。ときどき一緒に遊びました。放課後ではときどきパンケーキを一緒に食べました。
ブレンヂンさんは友達と一緒に郡山に来ました。デービーさんはアメリカの１年生ＡＥＴの先生です。岩手県の高校で働いています。

須賀川市のまつりに行きました。とても楽しかった！でも雨が降りました。


The following day I took Brenden & Debbie to a "recycle shop" near my house. We had tons of fun there, even though it is right near my house and I frequent the place. It might be considered the Japanese equivalent of Goodwill, except that people shop there for style, not for economic reasons. In fact, we noticed numerous imported used items from the USA that probably cost more than their newer counterparts that Americans buy domestically. Having only been in Japan just over 3 months, Debbie was far more cognizant of American purchasing power parity than Brenden and I. We saw used (very used) Letter Jackets from High Schools across the Midwest go for over 120 dollars. Used Starwars neckties were going for 30 dollars, when I could probably buy them new in Target for half the price. The first thing they say to avoid culture shock is not to compare. But sheesh.

I also decided to take a picture of Debbie & Brenden with the giant Pooh bear. For whatever reason, Japanese people (and young Japanese women in particular) are smitten with Pooh Bear. Finally I took them both to the Koriyama branch of the Northern Arizona University bookstore for some Lumberjack apparel. It was actually a store called “North Rim” where the guy carries new NAU t-shirts for around 50 USD. NAU tees were out of stock, but he did have ASU shirts on a clearance rack. Yeah, the Japanese know where its at. I had met the guy several times before. Being a foreigner, people easily remember me, so we made a bit of small talk. He asked me to teach him English. For free. Fat chance.

Sukagawa Fire Festival

Lying to the South of Koriyama, the sleepy little town of Sukagawa sprawls out into the rice fields of central Tohoku. While Sukagawa constitutes little more than a “suburb” of Koriyama, it is quite famous for its annual “Fire Festival.” Each year, thousands descend upon the town to commemorate the destruction of an ancient castle that once stood on a hill. Around 40 to 50 large towers are constructed to represent the castle. Standing 10 to 30 meters high, each tower is a heavy column filled with mostly hay and timber. At precisely six thirty, on Saturday night, they burn

While Brenden, Debbie and I spent the better part of the day worrying about precipitation ruining the festival, people were busy erecting the towers all day as the rain fell. We watched them finish hoisting the last two upon our arrival. Using extendable ladders, wooden poles, ropes, and pulleys, groups of uniformed festival volunteers shouted chants to synchronize and coordinate their efforts. Silence ensued for a short bit as several people shuffled around to prepare another lifting. As silence fell upon the audience shortly before the completion of this task, a cry penetrated the rain soaked darkness. A single lone voice from the swirling mass of uniforms shouted into the crowd,"HEY BRENT!!"
"Yeah?"
"Get a picture of this $＃イと!!"

Upon closer inspection, this particular individual had blonde hair, blue eyes, and an Australian accent.

Prior to coming, I had agreed to meet another friend named Kaori at the festival, a preschool teacher who I know from my local gym, Peare. She showed up with a friend from her preschool, and we all ate tonjiru as I made introductions. I was happy when she did show up, because they both had umbrellas that we could share, and we weren’t stuck with Brenden’s. But the rain kept pouring, and we all got wet despite the umbrellas. I felt sorry for Kaori’s friend Maiko, who was wearing girly sandals in the mud.

As we stood around making small talk, an army of little children filed past. The children were holding small wooden fishing poles, on the ends of which were suspended arcane glowing balls of fire. Police and firemen shouted to make way, as over two hundred children marched up the hill and into the area. The burning of the columns was soon imminent.

Following this, people started climbing tall ladders up the sides of the columns, holding large torches. Shoving them into the tops of the columns, they quickly descended as the pillars slowly smoldered in the rain, and then lit up the night in a spectacular display.

Words cannot describe the majestic flaming maelstrom blazing right in front of us. Smoke poured into the sky as the burning conflagration rose up to defy the endless rain falling against it. We watched until nearly all the pyres turned to crumbled masses of embers on the ground. Then we all went out to eat at an Izakaya (bar &grill).

To read Brenden's take, see his blog here.

Friends from Hanamaki

My old college buddy Brenden Pitt has been teaching English here in Japan for as long as I have. Faithful readers will recall my visit to Pittmeister’s town in September. Coming down from his post in Iwate in the North, Brenden brought his friend Debbie Wong along with him.

Both of them were excited to see the infamous Fire Festival in Sukagawa that takes place on Saturday. At first Brenden and his friend weren’t sure if they could come. But after sending them a picture of last year’s festival, they quickly vocalized unbridled enthusiasm. Living in a remote farming village in the North (their town is like Helena Montana), both were eager to go shopping and sip lattes in the urbane, cosmopolitan atmosphere of Koriyama.

Being fellow Lumberjacks, Brenden and I spent a lot of time talking about our old professors at Northern Arizona University, especially Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Foley. We had plenty of entertaining stories for Debbie.

Coming from San Francisco, Debbie is a first year teacher in Japan. She seemed very nice, and was quite patient as Brenden and I related story after story of our antics and tomfoolery at NAU and Flagstaff, Arizona. Sill being quite new to Japan, she wasn’t speaking very much Japanese yet. She still seems quite impressed with all the cultural and social differences here in Japan, as I probably was during my first year.

忘れ物 Multifarious Friday night

An atypical Friday night.

Getting home Friday, I discovered that Adoni, neighbor and fellow teacher from New York, was overly eager to “go for a drive” with me. I quickly discovered however, that she had forgotten to bring home the power cord from her laptop, and needed me to take her to her school and pick it up. Feeling especially generous, and not having any concrete plans that evening, I decided to help her out. She thanked me by taking me out to dinner.

The drive took about 40 minutes, so we had plenty of time to chat. She told me she loved most of the teachers and students, except for one English teacher she worked with. This man has apparently given her no end of grief. Upset about the Iraq war, and Adoni’s involvement (being an American), he apparently yelled at Adoni one day until she was nearly in tears. The Board of Education visited the school on Adoni’s behalf, and berated the man quite severely for several hours. She tells me things have improved since then, but he still has a screw loose and does nutty things every other day. We arrived at her school and I met some of the teachers she works with, but not this guy. It might have been an interesting conversation.

After dinner with Adoni, I met up with a friend at the local watering hole. While we were there, I ran into　some other friends I haven’t seen since March and had a pretty good evening. We later went to karaoke. I met another woman in this crowd that I had apparently met over a year ago. Her name was Natsu, and she said she met me on a camping trip during my first year. I remembered the trip, but I couldn’t recall meeting her at all. She said it was probably because she had put on some weight. She was probably right.

However, she had an interesting job as tour guide in foreign countries. She typically went to China, leading groups through Beijing and Shanghai. But she traveled all over the world for her job, including Rome, London, Paris, San Francisco, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and numerous other destinations popular with Japanese tourists.

Democrats take the House アメリカの選挙

今日はアメリカの選挙です。民主的なグループは勝ちました。おめでとうございます！

After careful consideration, I've decided I'm not going to use this blog to spout my political opinions (despite overwhelming faultlessness and indisputability) at this point in time. But I'm sure most of you know that myself and all the American expats I know in Japan are toasting tonight.

Instead, I thought I would leave you all with another stupid youtube video!

A Day in Nikko 日光

金曜日は日光市に行きました。古い神社とお寺を行って見ました。日光市の渋滞とても大変でした。渋滞から私がちょっと怒りました。でも日光市は楽しかった。猿はちょっと意地悪と思いました。猿は一人だけ見ました。寂しいと思いました。日光市の秋はとてもきれいでした。　野生の猿を見ました。渋滞から早くで帰りました。


Nestled in the mountains north of Tokyo lies one of the greatest cultural and natural treasures in all of Japan. For over a thousand years, the temples and shrines of Nikko hid amongst the enormous cedar forests on rugged hills. Shrouded in mystery and seclusion, Nikko holds some of the greatest wonders of traditional Japanese architecture, art, history and culture.

But like most wonderful things that have been “loved to death,” Nikko is now an immensely popular tourist trap for Tokyo residents vainly seeking a respite from the crowded subways and sidewalks of one of the world’s most crowded cities. Their futile attempt at escape from an insane urban nightmare is thwarted at every turn in the crowded National Park.

Traffic slows to a crawl, inching across poorly planned public infrastructure with the speed of glaciers. Over one hour behind schedule, as I approach Nikko station to pick up my friend Erika I summon every ounce of self restraint to keep my temper in check.

Once I actually meet up with Erika, and she takes me into the temples, I jostle with only a mildly annoying crowd.

I also see my first wild monkey! I see one monkey and ponder the whereabouts of the rest of his clan. He sat on a sidewalk with busy traffic and started harassing people for food. He lunged at several passing tourists with plastic bags. Erika tells me that the monkeys pester unsuspecting travelers because they want food, the annoying product of ignorant tourists feeding wild animals and turning them into pests. I can’t help but recall living in the canyon and watching people do the same to squirrels, deer and any other critter brave enough to eat from someone's hand.

We left sooner than I expected, thinking the traffic will be just as bad leaving the place.

Alison Yeardley raises $400 for Breast Cancer!

My friend Alison Yeardley, if some of you will recall, is living in Houston Texas, where she is teaching at a British primary school. This is a better picture that she sent me, so that I could congratulate her for all the money she raised in the race. Unfortunately, lacking a credit card, I've had some trouble sending her some money. But I promised her that I'll send some money for her cause before Christmas!

Anyways, I'm thinking I can use this blog to promote other charities and pet causes that any of my readers might be interested in. So far, Alison Yeardley has promoted the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Being that I have a vast internet audience around the globe, all my readers should tell me about their favorite charities! If I decide that I like the charity, I will promote it.

So come on readers!! Everybody tell me where you give your money!!


彼女の名前はアリソ\u12531 ンヤールドリーさんです。私の友達です。彼女はイギリス人です。でも今はアメリカのテクサス州に住んでいる。イギリスの小学校で働きます。5年前カリフォルニア州でリソ\u12531 ンヤールドリーさんに会いました。最近は癌の研究のためにロードレースをやりました。

Another Silly Diet Coke and Mentos Commercial

Here comes another Diet Coke and Mentos video, this time from my brother in law and faithful blog reader Seth Holler. As you can plainly see in the video, they rig this ridiculous domino contraption to shoot soda pop and and candy all over the place. See the video here.

The first question anyone asks is... who has this kind of free time?

I'm kind of tired right now, so I'm going to write more on this later.

Around the World Farewell Party

私の友達みえさんは4ヶ月間の世界旅行をします。昨日の夜は送別会がありました。とても楽しかったです。たくさんの友達に会いました。Ａｍｙさんはマレーシアから来ました。Ａｍｙさんはとても面白かったです。ウエイターさんがジッパーを忘れたときにＡｍｙさんが笑いました。そのことをみんなに英語で知らせました。でもウエイターさんは全く気がつきませんでした!Ａｍｙさんの冗談はちょっと変だなと思いましたね！

Yesterday, a small group of friends of mine and I bid farewell to Mie, who is embarking on a 3 month voyage around the world. She and her mother signed up for a four month cruise, which will take her to 15 different ports of call around the world, including Vietnam, Seychelles, Kenya, Egypt, Greece, Spain, Morocco, Libya, Venezuela, Panama, California, and numerous places between. I am honestly quite jealous of her trip and wish I could do something similar myself.

I have been toying with the idea of doing an around the world trip, but I don’t know if I will ever have the courage to go through with it. Mie’s trip has a very strict itinerary though, and I’m not sure I would want that.

I met up with Mie and several other friends from the Japanese class where she teaches and I attend. Several others from the class joined us. The aforementioned Tomoe made an appearance and Malaysians Enchan and Amy came as well. We met at a local restaurant for dinner and joked around. The manager came over to fill our coffee, and Amy couldn’t stop giggling because the poor man had forgotten to zip his fly! Speaking English, she pointed it out to everyone at the table who could understand (me, Enchan and Tomoe). Like a gaggle of freshmen at band camp, muffled laughter and red faces quickly infected the table. This particular episode highlights my need to make friends who are more mature, or at least find more male friends.

Originally from Malaysia, Amy is married with children and lives with her Japanese in-laws in Motomiyamachi. I really don’t know her very well, except that she once sent me an text to my phone (at midnight) asking about my astrological sign. Because of her asian appearance, people often assume she is Japanese until she opens her mouth. Amy entertained us with ridiculous stories of a flasher that appeared outside her school playground when she lived in Malaysia. After the 3rd or 4th time, it wasn’t such a shock and kids just laughed at the guy. She was quite funny as well.

Also, my friend Tomoe is planning a trip to the USA and Canada in February or March, and needs people with couches to crash on. She speaks fluent English when she feels like it, and is very outgoing. So if you don’t mind showing off what a great country we have, let me know and I will send her your way.

We all wished Mie well on her voyage and asked her to bring back all sorts of trinkets and junk she found. We’ll wait and see what I get in February.

Diet Coke & Mentos

Today, I went to Tomoe’s church for the first time. Like the other churches I have attended here in Japan, this one wasn’t very different on the surface. They met at Tomoe’s house in Motomiyamachi, where Tomoe’s father was the pastor. And while most of his sermon went way over my head, I was proud of the fact that I at least could tell what he was talking about most of the time.

Following this, Mie, Tomoe and I drove to Koriyama in Mie’s car. talking about something or another, when the subject of youtube came up. Being a Youtube addict in dire need of a 12-step program, I quickly described a number of the videos I had seen. Tomoe also told of some videos and provided a detailed description of the site to Mie, who had never heard of it. One of the videos I described seeing was what happens when you drop mentos candy into Diet Coke.

When we stopped at a 7-eleven, I instantly made a beeline for the Diet Coke, which isn’t a product I typically buy in Japan. I also bought the last package of Mentos candy, which is something I'm not typically aware of in Japanese stores. Tomoe was laughing so hard just at the thought of me doing this at a 7-11 that I thought she might get a hernia. I put the bottle out in the parking lot and dropped one candy in, as they do in the videos. Unfortunately, it only fizzed up about 20 centimeters. I was kind of disappointed.

So I ran inside and got a second bottle, this time determined to drop 5 candies into the bottle. On coming out of the store though, Tomoe stopped laughing just long enough to point out the fact that I had forgotten to pay! I was risking deportation and all kinds of legal trouble for a stupid human trick! I rushed back inside as fast as I could, while bowing and profusely apologizing to the attendants. I summoned the most polite groveling Japanese I could. Having watched my antics on the sidewalk, the employees were somewhat amused and I think they understood that it was an honest mistake. My two friends will probably never let me live it up though!

Motomiyamachi Festival and the Dashi 山車

今日は山車の写真を撮りました。

On Saturday, I woke somewhat early in order to go hiking up near a ski resort. The weather turned out to be perfect. A nice cool breeze and blue skies prevailed after a slightly foggy morning. My friend Mie and I drove up a dirt road that followed a ski lift, until the road finally broke off and made for a separate mountain.

We arrived at a trailhead to see numerous trucks, a construction crew, and a pile of rotten wood. It turns out that workers were removing old retainers that were placed along the trail to contain erosion and work as stairs. The crews were using these gas powered hauling devices with tank tracks to haul the wood up the trails. The things might have held about half a cord of wood, while the worker stood behind it and controlled it like a lawnmower. They were loud and obnoxious, and spoiled what was otherwise a lovely day. We passed three of them on the way in and passed another 2 on the way out. It was a lovely hike otherwise, but we unfortunately missed the spectacular autumn leaves that grace the Japanese mountains.

Following this, Mie and left early. We went to a festival, where we met another friend of ours. We promised to photograph her carrying a mikoshi, which is a portable shrine carried on the shoulders, (picture an Asian version of the Ark of the Convenant). We finally met up with Enchan, a Malaysian exchange student at a local high school. I met both Mie and Enchan through my new Japanese class in this town. She was carrying a shrine with a bunch of women in the town’s annual harvest festival/parade, and had spent the previous week begging somebody to come photograph her carrying the shrine.

We got there around sunset and conditions were pretty good, and I got some great shots of Enchan and a large dashi. A dashi is a shrine carriage with wheels that is covered with glowing paper lanterns called chouchin. This festival wasn’t quite as big as the one I saw in Hanamaki with my friend Brenden. But I liked it nonetheless.

Mie and I met up with another friend, Tomoe during the evening. Tomoe spent most of the time spilling gossip about all the foreigners at a foreigner’s Halloween Party the previous night. So I spent a lot of time listening to her tell about the philandering lifestyles of people I met 2 years ago and haven’t seen since.

Stretching with Students ストレッチ!

昨日安積中学校でストレッチの会議がありました。二年生は全員体育館へ行きました。2時頃やりました。ストレッチの先生は郡山市の体育プログラムから来ました。彼女はあまりじょうずじゃないと思いました。いつも右側だけをやって、左側を忘れていました。それから筋肉痛があります、でも右側だけですね。放課後は陸所部活と一緒にやりました。著郷里を走りました。陸女部活は楽しかったよ！

Today at school, they scheduled an entire afternoon for nothing but stretches. All of the ni-nenseis (8th graders) went to the gym for 2 hours of stretching excersizes. And by stretching, I mean that we did nothing but stretch all afternoon until cleaning time. I actually didn't mind so much. As I have been feeling kind of lethargic and sluggish for the last few weeks, I was happy to limber up.

Unfortunately, the woman leading the stretching exersizes wasn't particularly good at her job. The principal introduced her as coming from some kind of city sports program, although the details were lost in translation. On the surface she resembled my aerobics instructor and a lot of the younger female PE teachers, overly fit, petite, healthy looking (attractive) and extremely cheerful and energetic. She had some great stretches in her routine, but she often failed to lead everyone in stretching both sides of the body! So when we were finished stretching our left leg or whatever, she would forget to stretch the right one. At first I wondered if I wasn't hearing her correctly or paying attention, but after 30 minutes of this I realized that she was just incompetent.

School Festival Weekend 中学校の文化祭

中学校の文化祭に行きました。しゅうまつは日和田中学校と片平中学校に行きました。日和田中の文化祭は楽しかった。でも病気から帰りました。頭が痛かった。日曜日は片平中の文化祭へ行きました。片平中は太鼓をありました。楽しかった。しかしちょっと寂しかった。

Saturday morning, I went to Hiwada Middle School’s Bunkasai, or school festival, as everyone is so quick to translate it. It is basically a big production put on by the students. The students showcase their artwork, raise money through selling food and donations, and spend several hours sitting in a darkened gym putting on various stage productions and presentations.

The highlight that all the parents and teachers talk about is the choral competition, where each class sings a choral song to the school, in a competition with the other homeroom classes and grades. Always accompanied by a pianist, some of the classes are quite good, while others obviously need work. My first year here in Japan, I found the format and everything very strange. After two years however, it seems just as natural to have the chorus competition as it is natural to have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

Katahira’s bunkasai was on Sunday, so my weekend was completely booked. Katahira has a unique tradition of incorporating Taiko drumming into their bunkasai. Unique to Japan, Taiko drumming is difficult to describe. Picture 30 uniformed people banging heavy wooden drums at fast paces and high decibels. Drums range in size from that of a small bowl to enormous cylinders large enough to contain a VW Beetle. I'll let you guess who got to help carry the “big drum” into the gym.

The students bang on them in unison. I have heard enough Taiko drumming at competitions, half marathons, and other events to know that Katahira’s middle schoolers were not going to win any prizes, but they were impressive nonetheless. I was proud of them for learning the songs (they had to bring in two outside teachers to put the performances together).

At the end of the class performances, 6 of the girls put on a REAL taiko production.
The six girls obviously do this quite regularly, and have done so for a long time. Having obviously put an enormous amount of work into it, this final drum performance was very impressive, and worth the 6 hours at school.

For those of you in the states who don’t know what taiko drumming sounds (and looks) like, check out another youtube video. The picture above is from last year's event, as I forgot my camera. This year we had one drum that was MUCH bigger. You can rent Tom Cruise’s “The Last Samurai” and there is a sequence in it somewhere with the telltale drums on the soundtrack. (The movie is basically scientology nut Tom Cruise ripping off “Dances with Wolves”, but in Japan.)

Katahira's Bunkasai then finished after several very weak performances, and I was happy to get home and salvage the remaining hours of an extremely busy weekend.

The Japanese Rice Harvest

Saturday was the day of Hiwada Middle School's school festival. It was scheduled to last until about 3 or 4 oclock, but something was happening that day that I just could not pass up. Today was the final day of the rice harvest.

My friend Sanpei Sensei, who teaches P.E. at Katahira JHS, was in the process of harvesting the rice growing from his modest little plot of soil in front of his house. He lives Northeast of my city, where I imagine most everybody has a rice field. It's quite common for families, especially in rural areas, to own a bit of land (usually about an acre or 2) and do this for a little free food, or make a little cash on the side.

Sanpei Sensei was excited that I could come and help him harvest. I arrived about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and saw about 5 people out in his field. Initially thinking he had hired some help, I discovered that they were in fact his family! Sanpei Sensei's mother, who I had previously only seen sitting hunched over in her orthopedic seat with a back problem, (I never saw her move during the 5 or 6 hours I previously spent at their home) was out there slaving away with his wife and sons. Meeting this woman 5 months ago, I wouldn't have thought she could even walk very well, let alone carry enormous enormous bags of rice.

As soon as I got there I quickly realized that a ratty t-shirt and my hiking boots would not suffice. His wife's maternal instincts quickly kicked in, and I was outfitted with a thick overcoat and gloves to protect my forearms from sharp rice stems. I would come to be very grateful for this. She also insisted I wear a hat and a face mask, which I would be less grateful for, as it just looked kind of dorky. I also lacked adequate footwear, and wished I had bought some long boots for wading in the mud.

I was set to work learning the most unsophisticated of tasks under the careful tutelage of Sanpei Sensei's son. About 2 weeks before my arrival, the rice was cut from the ground and tied along scaffolds to dry out. Our task was to remove the whole plant from this scaffolding and put it into a machine. The machine looked like a hunchbacked commercial lawnmower with tank tracks. He operated a the contraption that bagged rice, while I was responsible for the vital task of throwing the rice stems into the machine.

The machine then haphazardly spewed dust, dirt, and smoke out the front, used up stems out the side, and poured large quantities of rice into bags waiting in the rear. The bags were arranged on a track, so you could leave them behind as they filled up, seamlessly switching to another bag while you work. It was rather brainless work on my part, just throwing the rice into one side.

As a way of thanking me for an honest afternoon's work, Sanpei Sensei took me out with his family to a sushi restaurant. Sanpei Sensei and I had a good time, but I think his sons thought I was nuts for wanting to help with the rice harvest. For them I guess, it would be like some crazy foreign guy in suburban America who makes a visit to help his friend mow the lawn, clean the gutters and rake the leaves, or some other mundanity. I wouldn't have understood that when I was 16 either.

Karaoke with 5 year olds.

One thing I like about my neighborhood is the youthfulness. Most of my apartment neighbors consist of young mothers with their small children. Their children range in age from 6 months to 5 years old. If the weather is nice, I often catch them outside playing with their children in the parking lot if the weather permits. So I sometimes have fun playing with their kids and chatting with them to learn Japanese. They are friendly ladies, and over the last 2 years, I’ve gotten to know them quite well. My friend Adoni does the same, and we often hang out with them.

Awhile back, we were invited to a couple of the BBQs they held, and one woman, Aki, invites us to dinner parties she holds at her new house. She moved out of the apartments when she and her husband finished building a brand new home in a suburban area nearby. She still brings her kids over to play though, and we’ve become good friends.

So on Friday night, my friend Adoni (from New York) and I were invited to attend the birthday party of Aki’s son Shota. Another neighbor came along with her two sons, who are about Shota’s age. Another woman from the neighborhood joined us as well. This party was to be held at a sprawling Karaoke complex. Only the mothers with 5 year old boys came along.

The evening was kind of interesting, although a bit awkward. Aki is pregnant, and the third woman, Kaori, had just bore a child 6 months ago. So I learned lots of new words, like tsuwari (morning sickness). In fact, between listening to their five year olds scream pokemon songs on the karaoke machine, I spent most of the evening listening to the ladies chat to me about morning sickness, doctor's visits, and breast feeding. I just sheepishly smiled, and tried not to blush too much while pretending I could relate.

I wished they had brought their husbands along so I could have had some more varied conversation. I rarely see their husbands, as they slave away till 8 or 9 at night. As for the karaoke, I still can’t sing any Japanese songs decently, but I almost nailed a couple. The kids were singing all kinds of Dragonball and Doraemon songs that I had never heard. They also made a spectacular mess of the karaoke room.

Whale Meat for Lunch???

The school lunches in Japan typically consist of semi-traditional Japanese fare. The students put on a big production of serving it to each other and eating it together in the classroom. Typically one can count on eating rice, some kind of soup, a vegetable, and a piece of meat/fish on most days of the week. Some days they will have a variation with some kind of noodle dish or jelly sandwiches instead of rice.

Some of the teachers pay great attention to what they eat, largely because they aren't crazy about many Japanese foods. They read the school lunch menu, (or have it read too them). I on the other hand, usually enjoy the school lunch, and consider most of it to be fairly nutritious and wholesome grindage, despite its tendency to be quite bland. The curry & rice they serve is often particularly good. I pay little attention to what I'm eating, and often don't even know what it is. While I used to be a very finicky eater, I just couldn't be bothered to care about anything I stuff in my face anymore.

Then yesterday, another English teacher by the name of Christel asked me if I had eaten the lunch on Tuesday. I replied yes, asking why she was curious. She responded that the fish that day, was in fact a large Cetacean mammal! I had heard of Whale meat being served in Japanese lunches, but never actually had the experience of it being served to me.

Many of my environmentalist readers may be familiar with the controversy Japan is in right now, as they conduct "scientific whaling" under the auspices of "research." But everyone knows it winds up in Tokyo supermarkets and on the plates of Middle School Students. The Japanese have begun harvesting Minke whales, much to the displeasure of most of the planet.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, an informed opinion would suggest the Japanese government could certainly make an argument for a carefully managed harvest of certain whale species, assuming a thorough environmental impact study supports such a plan. But what has happened, is that they are killing whales in International waters against the wishes of the rest of the international community, which I find most disturbing. This is surprising, because I find Japanese culture often surpresses the needs of individuals to the needs of the rest of the group. So why then, is the Japanese government as beligerent and thickheaded as it is on the world stage with regards to whaling? I aslo find many people I meet to be concerned about how their country is percieved in the rest of the world, even if that only amounts to how popular sushi is in America.

Sailing Inawashiro with the Koriyama Yacht Club

Every autumn in Japan, all of the middle schools across the land put on a big production called a bunkasai, or school festival. Students entertain parents and the day is filled filled with singing, dance productions, skits, other assorted activities, speeches, and what passes for entertainment in this country.

Because I had committed to attending two of these bunkasais, I wasn't able to join my friend Teppei Takahashi for our monthly moutaineering excursion into the woods. So he kindly invited me to join him on the waters of Lake Inawashiro at his "Yacht Club" the week all the Bunkasais ended. Teppei and I head up to the hills every other month or so for some hiking and mountaineering, but this was my first time sailing with him.

This would be fantastic! Spending a sporty day with mist and spray in my face as our vessel screamed across the water at breakneck speed! Whitecaps smashing over the deck and threatening to capsize our vessel! Rubbing shoulders with all the beautiful people while as a five course meal is served to us on the deck, complete with champagne, caviar, and all sorts of Japanese delicacies I couldn't possibly afford! Then kicking the boat back into high gear and returning to shore, as I stand triumphantly on the bow of a majestic vessel arriving at an exotic port of call!

Teppei picked me up before dawn and we drove up to Lake Inawashiro, which lies over the mountains to the West of Koriyama City. When he told me our destination, my preconceptions were already in doubt. We met up with a number of Teppei's Koriyama Yacht club friends at the Club's lake shore campground. Upon seeing the property, all the images in the previous paragraph were instantly shattered. Several people's tiny boats, some ancient sheds full of life jackets and thick brush surrounded a dying campfire and 2 tents. Most people had camped the previous evening, sailing their dingys on the nearby lake shore. We gave them a hand as they loaded their tiny sailboats back onto trailers. Teppei seemed particularly proud of the fact that the club made (by hand) most of the custom trailers and roof racks hauling their little boats. I was a bit surprised that these little dingys, most of which were not much bigger than a large canoe, passed as yachts (yotto), but that's what they called them! But they reassured me we'd be in a much bigger boat for the afternoon.

After cleaning the campsite and eating breakfast, we all drove off for a marina on the other side of Lake Inawashiro. Twenty minutes later, we reached the marina where the sailboats were still small, but a much more respectable size. The marina crew lowered the club's boat into the water, and we all piled into a ship dubbed the "World Wind." The boat was apparently owned by one member of the club, but they all contributed to marina fees and maintenance costs. So THIS was the magnificent vessel everyone was boasting about at breakfast! While only 20 or so feet from bow to stern, it would be perfect for an afternoon of fun on the lake.

After some basic maintenance, our team was ready to go! We quickly departed after loading the ship with giant cases full of onigiri and a week's supply of beer. How long were we going to be out here? The sun had finally pierced the foggy haze and blue skies surrounded us. I had been concerned about weather, as Lake Inawashiro often gets relentless rain showers. At times, I've seen some scary storms on the lake as well. While relieved at the beautiful weather, we lacked a good strong wind, which surprised everyone on board. The area usually gets a good strong wind from the West. Consequently, we never did get moving much faster than two or three knots. Good thing we brought lots of beer!

Lake Inawashiro, the third largest freshwater lake in Japan, is located just West of Koriyama City. It lies right near the center of Fukushima Prefecture in North Central Honshu. Steeply terraced rice fields and rugged green mountains of cedar forests surround the beautiful lake on almost all sides. Besides sailing, Inawashiro serves as the local playground for numerous other water-sports enthusiasts, as wind surfers, kayakers and jet-skiers flock to its shores on the weekend. Siberian swans find refuge on its shores in the winter, and attract their legions of weekend ornithologists armed with cameras and binoculars. Winter also bring skiers to the slopes, who come from all around in search of decent powder, majestic views, and steaming hot onsens. The imposing slopes of Mount Bandai preside over the whole area with ominous doom, waiting for the day when the peak spews forth a cloud of toxic ash and violent pyroclastic avalanches of superheated gas and rubble.

Trying to keep my mind off the image of an eruption, I met some pretty interesting folks aboard the ship. There were a couple of guys who lived in the USA at various times, although they had forgotten most of their English. There was also a guy and his son who had lived in China for several years. His son had also gone to one of my schools, but long before I ever got there. Despite living in Japan for over two years, I was still impressed by everyone's hospitality. Everyone was curious about my impressions of Japan and Koriyama City and I entertained them as best I could with crazy stories from the local middle school I teach at.

Then there was my friend Teppei Takahashi, who works for the City. While he's never lived abroad as his friends have, he's an extremely adventurous and outgoing guy, often boisterous and very talkative. He's extremely sporty, and responsible for various city sports programs and the school lunch menu. He's at the head of his section, which is comprised almost entirely of former PE teachers. While most of the people in the city hall work late into the evening, (or pretend to do so), his section always goes home at 5 PM sharp. I can usually find Teppei pumping iron at our local gym after hours as well. Its very refreshing to see folks here with such healthy attitudes about work and play.

Anyways, back to sailing. I learned a few things about sailing by watching the crew, but I mostly just tried to stay out of everyone's way. I learned some important Japanese sailing terminology, including sutaba! (starboard) It was a great day, and everyone was having a good time until....we spotted GODZILLA rising from the lakebed!

To be continued......

日曜日はヨットに乗りました。郡山のヨットクラブと一緒に猪苗代湖で船旅をしました。去年郡山市役所で働いている私の友達の高橋哲平さんと会いました。郡山のヨットクラブは２０人位います。ときどき高橋哲平さんと一緒に山登りします。クラブのヨットの名前はＷｏｒｌｄ　Ｗｉｎｄです。ヨットは８ｍ位だと思います。　いい天気でした。でも風は少し弱いと思いました。ヨットはゆっくり動きました。日焼けしてしまいました。痛かったです。クラブの人々は親切でした。楽しかったよ！　

Saturday at Xaverio Junior High School

Yesterday, I went to the International Day festival at Xaverio Chugakko, a private girl’s school here in Koriyama. Xaverio is actually a Catholic school, begun by a group of Canadian missionaries before I came here. I’m uncertain how strongly religious instruction is stressed at Xaverio, and actually know very little about it. The school does however, have an excellent reputation in the city for English Education. Every year except last, they have taken the city middle school English Speech Contest Prize.

I showed up at 9:30, and was put in a room with all the other foreigners. Then they held a big opening ceremony. Finally they escorted me to a class of first year students (7th graders). The students stood up one by one and introduced themselves, which went something like this: “Hello! My name is Akiko! I like cat! I play table tennis after school! I also like okonomiyaki!” (Okonomiyaki is a fried Korean pancake thing.)

After 20 or so variations on this, I gave my own introduction in roughly the same manner, something I’ve grown accustomed to in my own job. Following this introduction, we broke off into small groups and I was with roughly 8 girls who were supposed to ask me questions and practice English with me. This was to last roughly 1 hour.

After 5 minutes, all the kids had exhausted their questions and vocabulary, so I entertained the girls with silly impersonations of famous Japanese singers, politicians, and comedians. I don’t like to brag, but my group was laughing longer and louder than all the other groups in my class combined! (A special thanks goes out to my father, for teaching me the “finger in your ear, tounge in your cheek” thing). I finally thought of an English game to play, and we did that for the rest of the hour.

I was lucky they were younger, and there was less structure in the class. I felt sorry for the 3rd year students, who had to spend a whole hour talking about global warming and the merits of recycling PET bottles in English. (American readers, imagine doing this in Spanish as an 8th grader).

After this, there was a big closing ceremony, where the school presented a large donation to an orphanage in Rwanda. They gave us a lunch, and then I left.

Giant Japanese Wasps

今日は大きいスズメバチが私のクラスに来ました。生徒がとても怖がりました。スズメバチは5㎝ぐらいの大きさだったと思います。太いだった大きさ。アメリカのアリゾナ腫のスズメバチは細いです。

During most of my classes, I have some measure of control over the activities, content, and control of the class. However, there are those days or classes when the teacher still wishes for me to follow their own strict lesson plan, or do something ridiculous, impossible, or both. Today was such a day, when I was asked (ordered) to lead the class in singing a sappy song about saving the starving children of the world. The song was aptly written by none other than...Michael Jackson.

Most of you know, I'm not musically, and especially vocally inclined, so I was mildly dreading a lessson involving a song about healing children by Wacko Jacko. I had never even heard the song before, as I managed to dodge it during my previous two years. But it is in the textbook, so of course we have to do it. And my luck ran dry, or so I thought.

However, halfway into the second round, I was saved from implementing such joyless and wearisome instruction by an enormous mutant wasp! I kid you not, this thing was over two inches long. And it wasn’t like the skinny American wasps, this thing was fat and beefy. It looked like it could tussle with a humming bird. I don’t call it mutant lightly either, as Fukushima prefecture's stable soils make it Northern Japan’s primary location for nuclear power plants (the soils absorb earthquakes better here). The size of this wasp suggests a dire need for a new environmental impact study. I suspect the behemoth and its brood can glow in the dark and read minds.

As soon as it flew into the room, I heard cries of “KOWAI!! (scary), and most of the kids quickly poured out of the room. They turned the lights off, opened the windows and waited for the Pilsbury insect to lose interest in my Michael Jackson lesson. The minute the wasp left, the bell rang, and the torture was over. Saved from teaching the King of Pop!

You can watch this cool video I found here.