Tokyo -- Shinjuku

A couple of weekends ago I went to Tokyo to visit my friends Daisuke, Yukiko, and Kenshin (age 4). I first met them 11 years ago during my initial trip to Japan. Below are some of the highlights: Yes!!! Krispy Kreme in Japan!! I indulged in not one, not two, but three yummy doughnuts. FYI, they are the same size, shape and exact same taste. You get one free hot one while standing in line to order and can also watch them being made. As for flavors, there are some variations like cheesecake, mixed berry, and orange creme filled chocolate! おいしいですよ！
(They are delicious I tell you!)

We also visited Ueno Park where we had a lovely picnic (Yukiko taught me how to make a Japanese picnic) and enjoyed a swan boat paddle boat rides. FYI, Japanese paddle boats are not made with the westerner's long legs in mind, and life jackets are not required (even for the littlest riders).

While the three of us paddled Daisuke snapped pictures with my camera and found some excitingly huge and hungry fishies! Although they are cute, they definitely weren't as much fun as the conveyor belt sushi restaurant that we visited (and I failed to photograph!) There are few things as creative as seeing your food being served on a conveyor belt.

When Daisuke asked if I liked ice cream, I informed him that it literally pumps through my veins. So instead of stopping at the Red Cross we visited Baskin Robbins instead. Ahh, the joys of frozen cream with friends!!!

I'm not even creative enough to make this one up!

An actual collection of texts from me to Helen-Marie and Sarah:

• Should I be worried? My bus driver just stopped the bus and got out!
• Uh-oh! He is now doing knee bends in the middle of the road!
• Now he's petting random dogs on their morning walk.
• Update. Driver is back in the bus and driving.
• I love the randomness of Japan :-)

Sports' Day

In 1964, Tokyo hosted the summer Olympics. Since then, the second Monday of October is a national holiday to remember that special occasion. Every year, junior high schools around Japan have a special Sports' Day to celebrate Japan's athletic achievements. My school's Sports' Day was last Saturday and I have compiled a video of the students for you to have a glimpse into my current world. Sports' Day is really a perfect example of Japanese society, thinking, and methodology and to help you better understand what you are viewing, I will describe several things. First, there are five third-year student classes. At the beginning of the school year, the tansho (the five guys carrying the flags, wearing longer headbands, as well as arm bands) were each randomly assigned a team color -- red, white, blue, yellow, and green. The younger two grades were then separated by class into these five teams. Therefore, each color team has between 2-3 entire classes. Every student is required to participate and the older students develop their skills as leaders as they teach the younger ones. The students have been working hard for the past five months for the Most Valuable Group (remember, Japan is all about the group!!) award. Each team divides its members to compete in a series of events including recognizable ones such as sprints, relay races, three-legged races, and tug-of-war. The students also compete in very traditional Japanese events such as the "horseman" competition, where three students act as the horse carrying the newspaper origami/earthquake helmet bestooned "samurai" and the "bamboo pull," which is based on an old Japanese folk story. The highlights of the events are the girls' dance competitions and boys' pyramids. Ultimately, the points are tallied from each event and the group with the highest set of points win. To make your viewing of the below video more interesting, I highly encourage you to look for the chair "shoes," the boy who keeps on hopping even when he loses one of his stilts, and the two most colorful teachers (they are wearing their respective team colors). As far as the slogan presented on the banner, it loosely translates as "At Shinohara there are five sleeping buds, that will blossom into flowers at Sports' Day." The art club (all girls!) were so proud of their banner, I'm not so sure the boys were all that impressed!

The rest of the story... So, my camera died right after the band started. Therefore, I missed taking pictures of the revealing of the MVG. When the scores were tallied, the Blue Team beat the Green Team by one point, but the White Team actually was awarded the MVG cup. I'm not sure why, but then again I'm not sure why a lot of things happen as they do here in Japan :-)

Purikura Imitating Life

Sarah had a friend from Korea visit her last week and we decided to take Judy to a purikura booth to experience true Japanese pop culture! (As a hilarious aside, the entire evening brought stares as Sarah and I spoke Japanese while Judy looked completely bewildered as Japanese people kept on attempting to talk to her and couldn't understand why she wouldn't respond back!") Anyway, our two favorite pictures of the night are below. Why do they imitate life...? ...as a foreigner in Japan, people get scared, run away, and sometimes just think you are an alien that has been teleported from another planet!

Guns and Roses: LOL Style

About two weeks ago while waiting for the bus, I heard a pebble bounce across the road. I didn't think too much about it until a second one flew near my eye and hit the wall of the building behind me. I looked up from my Japanese textbook thinking that maybe a sand truck had gone by, but instead of seeing a dump truck, I saw one of my 3rd grade elementary school students pointing a BB gun in my direction. What I thought were pebbles were actually pellets that he had been shooting at the passing cars and bikers. His inaccurate aim found him staring open-mouthed at me for split second before he ran and hid behind a trash can. From his new hideout, he proceeded to shoot thinking he wasn't to be caught. Of course I told him to stop, but yelling in a foreign language across a busy street is probably not the most effective method of instructing a student. It wasn't until a LOL from the school's neighborhood joined me at the bus stop that he retreated completely out of sight...

When the LOL approached the bus stop she proceeded to ask me what time the bus arrived. Thankfully, I had just been reviewing telling time in Japanese, so I successfully answered her question, which led her to believe that I was fluent in Japanese. As she proceeded to chatter away to my blank stares, nods, and Japanese exclamations (that I hoped I could successfully place in the midst of her monologue), I couldn't help but consider the craziness of the current adventure. She then asked me where I was going (or was it where was I from? Or, maybe it was where did I live?) I figured answering Hamamatsu City sounded like an appropriate response because it answered two of the three possible questions and only a little logic would show that I actually wasn't from the city. Whatever the question, she seemed satisfied by my answer and proceeded to present me with two tickets to a regional ikebana (traditional Japanese flower arranging) show that was taking place that weekend. I was totally flabbergasted and proceeded to say thank you many times until the bus arrived (In Japan you can never say thank you or I'm sorry too many times!) I then started contemplating who I should take with me.

The answer to that question was quite easy -- Mrs. Takeyama. She was the first lady in my church to invite me over. Being quite quiet and reserved, I find that sometimes she seems almost a bit intimidated when Mihoko and Kuniko are around so she quietly slips away whenever they interrupt our conversations. I knew that she liked flowers and since her husband Dr. Takeyama had recently agreed to teach me Japanese (with the understanding that I wouldn't hold him accountable for any bad teaching skills since I was his first-ever language student or, as he fondly calls me, his guinea pig) inviting her along wasn't hard at all.

Early Saturday morning we met in front of the exhibition hall, and together enjoyed the many flower arrangements. I learned many things that day about Mrs. Takeyama and flower arranging. For example, I never knew that she liked flower arranging, that she attended a traditional school for summer courses every year, and that she was one of five ladies in the church who make the weekly arrangements on a rotating basis. It is amazing the things you can learn about people by just spending a little time with them!


I also learned a lot about ikebana such as you can use kiwi fruit (and not kiwis --there is a big difference I have learned from New Zealand's Sarah Moffatt) in arrangements and they can still look neat....

...that ikebana does not have to be in a vase and can be a wall hanging instead. (And that there is some crazy whitish globe-shaped flower that looks like a puffer fish)...

...that although it is a very mathematical art form, it is still very creative...

...that it can be both traditional and modern...

...and that Japanese people like to share their experiences with others for I was invited to join a "Let's Ikebana Experience" for free since I was a foreigner! For the next hour after browsing the beautiful arrangements, I strained my brain to understand the class -- "Don't touch the pincushion in the water (or was the word poisonous frog? Either way, its bite did hurt!) "Cut the garadiora one and a half times the width of the water bowl" ("What's a garadiora? The only flowers in front of me are gerbera daisies and gladiolas! Oh wait, the r/l combination! Gets them every time!) "Move the flower forwards." "Move the flower back." "Move the flower to the right." "Move the flower to the left." "Forward" "Back" "Right" "Left" -- As I sat there feeling like my flower was a pawn piece on a chessboard, I realized that although ikebana is a traditional art form, it isn't an exact science and personal preference does play an important role.


Finally, my arrangement was done. I was so proud of myself. It actually even looked a bit balanced! As I reveled in my success and envisioned marching out of the exhibit hall arrangement in hand while everyone congratulated me on my fine and balanced arrangement, I noticed that everyone else was removing their flowers from the water and wrapping them in brown paper. All our hard work over the past hour -- the cutting, the measuring, the stripping of leaves, the moving the flowers this way and that -- was to be completely destroyed in an instant. The pincushion/poisonous frog contraptions and water bowls were to be reused by the next group of students waiting their turn. As I carried my carefully trimmed flowers outside the exhibit hall, Mrs. Takeyama asked me how I had enjoyed the experience. I told her that it had been so much fun and asked her where I could purchase a poisonous pincushion. Maybe, just maybe, I thought I could recreate my arrangement back in my apartment. "Oh, you don't need one of those!" she exclaimed. "You can put the flowers in any glass or vase. You can just cut them to fit." And that what I did! I'm American after all!!

As for my student with the gun, well, let's just say he got in big trouble the next day when I reported him to my vice principal. I might not speak Japanese, but I am not clueless (that is of course, if I am not expected to carry on a conversation with a LOL :-)

Staring Food

I know I have posted a lot about how much I hate it when my lunch stares back at me. So, I thought it was important to include the most recent lunch-time eyes to document that not all eyeballs are bad. In fact when they are on kumapan (bear bread), they are actually kind of cute! (For those of you curious of the rest of the meal, going clockwise from the bread is cold, sweet scrambled egg "cake" with a ketchup/BBQ kind of sauce on top; yogurt with canned mixed fruit, cold curry noddles sauteed with cabbage, pork, and carrots, vegetable soup with tofu and fu (a croutony thing), and a carton of milk. You may be surprised to know that this is actually a "small portion.")

I'm a published photographer!

Okay, I don't mean to toot my on horn (or pull my own harp strings!) but I am really excited about my most recent photography success and I wanted to share. Last winter, the JET association asked for photography and journal submissions that are published in a yearly book for all JET participants. This book is given to the first-year teachers upon arrival in Japan and it is a good beginning orientation. Anyway, long story short, I decided to submit several pictures (In actuality, I submitted a blank CD case and after realizing my mistake had to resubmit!) and promptly forgot about them. Well, the "old" JETs just received our books and when I looked at the cover I promptly exclaimed, "I know that picture." Sure enough, one of my pictures was on the front page in a collage. A friend of mine was thumbing through the book and said, "Here's another one with your name on it." So for you viewing pleasure I am sharing my snapshots. The first was taken early last fall on the Hamamatsu Castle grounds. The dragon was guarding a random temple I happened to stumble across.

Nagasaki: Day 3

Day three began with another lovely meal in the lodge's dining room...

Then we headed up a mountain in hopes to see the hundreds of mini islands near Nagasaki. On our very windy bus drive, the driver took a sharp turn which I wasn't expecting. I literally went flying over to the seats on the other side of the bus to the absolute suprise and terror of my LOLs (while the other passengers couldn't help but burst into gales oflaughter!) Once we reached the top of the mountain, it was unfortunately really cloudy and overcast, but I did get some nice cloudy shots!

Here are the partners-in-crime!

(Notice that I am attempting not to tower over them)

Madame Butterfly

I then decided to climb up a little higher. Here are the results... While my ladies were snapping pictures and shouting up the mountain to me (and I shouting back down) our fellow bus passengers once again started laughing. I guess we really made a scene!

After lunch we decided to visit the sulfur pools. They weren't particularly spectacular, but incredibly smelly!

Then it was time to say goodbye to the hotel and our wonderful staff.

Before the staff sent us off, they presented us with an "ice cream present" of lemon ice cream.

(I really liked this hotel -- if you haven't noticed! Especially their infatuation with ice cream!)

Here I am really towering over them. No wonder I stick out in Japan!

On our drive back to Nagasaki, we asked the taxi cab driver to pull over so I could take some pictures of the tiered rice paddy fields.

Our last stop was the "Eyeglass bridge." Then, it was back to the airport to start another year in the Japanese schools, and to reminicse another amazing LOL adventure!

Nagasaki: Day 2b

That evening, my LOLs decided to treat themselves to an amazing French dinner. Not to be left out, I didn't mind splurging either. Although the dining room was a bit rustic, the table setting sure wasn't. In fact, I have never seen that many forks on one table before (except maybe at Grandma's Thanksgiving dinners for 15, but then each person only gets two!)

After the waitstaff graciously pulled out each of our chairs, the maitre de presented the beverage menu. Our choice? Unzen's "famous" lemon soda. You would have thought that we had ordered an expensive bottle of champagne by the way the entire staff handled the bottles. Whenever our glasses were just slightly empty, they would come, wrap the glass soda bottle in a cloth, and pour ever so gently so that not a bubble of lemony fizz would be spilled.

The maitre de then presented us with the first course -- a bite-sized croissant with an anchovy inside. She described it in Japanese and with the use of the printed menu at each place setting and my handy-dandy dictionary, my ladies translated the best they could. I then took notes because I knew there would be too much to remember in an eight-course dinner!

Course two (requiring the outside-most set of silverware) was fresh conger eel served with lemon, plums, tomatoes, and caviar. Fresh bread made from natural yeast was also served. I'm not sure what the excitement was regarding the natural yeast, I was just delighted to see fresh baked bread!!

Course Three (above) was fresh trout served with trout caviar, black truffle mushrooms, garlic potatoes, and fresh vegetables with cream.

Course 4 (above) was sea urchin, some kind of fish called a sillaginod, and okra on top of a block of okra gelatin. While course 5 was flying fish, shrimp, and artichokes served in a parsley and spinach sauce. Course 6 (below), was the taste bud clarifying course and consisted of the three largest blueberries I have ever seen served on a bed of ice.

Course 7 (below) was filet mignon stuffed with pickles, oranges, scallions, and served with a truffle mushroom sauce. As weird as it might sound, it was absolutely delicious, as was every other course! Each flavor was so light and the fish didn't taste like fish at all.

Dessert with coffee was the final course. Poached figs served with fresh vanilla ice cream, fig sorbet, and garnished with a crisp cream cookie completed the absolutely amazing and 2.5 hour dinner.

After a cool shower and a late night soak in the hot springs it was off to bed.... only to wake up several hours later dreaming I was boiling in a pot of rotten eggs. It was then I learned something else about my LOLs -- air conditioners aren't necessary when windows can be opened!! However, for this Florida girl who has incredibly active midnight dreams, ACs are very important especially when spending the night in a sulfur hot springs resort!

Nagasaki: Day 2a

The second day of our trip began at a children's book museum. Although the museum was small (and the books almost entirely incomprehensible to me), it still was an enjoyable experience. Several "famous" (though I had never heard of them) Japanese authors' works were featured, including the original paintings from a book about a runaway egg. Unfortunately (and a bit bizarrely) the book wasn't sold in the adjoining bookstore. I would have loved a copy as it reminded me of a story that my daddy used to read to me as a child. Another neat aspect of the museum was to find some of my favorite stories including Arthur and the Magic Pebble, Where the Wild Things Are, The Gift of the Magi, and Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse (to name a few) reprinted in Japanese.

the outside of the museum featuring Pooh and Christopher Robbin

One thing that that I love about my LOLs is that on our very first trip, they told me that whenever they travel, they always eat "soft cream" (i.e. soft-serve ice cream). Since our first delicious sakura cherry blossom version in Kyoto when it was freezing cold outside, I have thoroughly enjoyed their tradition (and if they didn't have it, would have most likely started it myself!) I have also discovered that each area in Japan has different flavors according to the season, which cannot be found anywhere else. Nagasaki for example is famous for biwa (see Biwa It May post) and so our flavor of choice was biwa/banira swirl. (The poor Japanese -- the b/v and l/r combinations gets them every time!)




It was then time to head for Holland, I mean, Dejima! During Japan's period of isolation, Nagasaki was only open to Dutch and Portuguese traders. However, when Christianity began to seep into the country, the Japanese decided to build an island to keep the Christians (and their religion) from infiltrating the country. Thus, the creation of Dejima. Although, the city was completely destroyed in the war (and the area is, in fact, no longer an island because of recent land reclamation), it is in the process of being rebuilt as a historical museum. Because Dutch traders were the primary residents, the city looks like it should be in Holland (and is supposedly gorgeous in the spring with all of the tulips). I should also mention that it was here in 1877 that Japan's first Protestant Seminary was built. Unfortunately, I learned this after the fact and so failed to take a proper picture of the blue two-story building. Below though is a random picture I snapped of its windows.

Here I am in front of the flagpole. I really wanted to climb it, alas, it was closed to monkeys like me!

From the Dutch district we headed to Chinatown for lunch and then back to the hotel for Portuguese cake and a Nagasaki delicacy castilla. (Are you noticing yet that Nagasaki is very internationalized?)




Then it was time to head for Unzen -- a hot springs resort up in the middle of the mountains. During our 1.5 hour car ride we passed through Obama, Japan (directly translated as "Big Water") Although the city existed way before the current US president, it has now become a pilgrimage site for Obama fans all over the world. I am probably the only American who has ever traveled through Obama (in this current term) without stopping, desiring to stop to snap pictures. In fact, I also probably the only American who slept almost the entire way through the city!

We finally arrived at our amazing hotel. Built in the early 1900s in the style of a Swiss lodge, the hotel was designed to cater to any traveler's desires. I felt like a celebrity stepping out of the taxi into a 1920s Grand Hotel. The staff was so courteous (and so cute in their Swiss bellhop uniforms and gloves!) After a relaxing massage, and a soak in the aforementioned hot springs in true Japanese-style communal bathing (no pictures here let me assure you!), we took an evening stroll before our assigned dinner time.

Our walk lead us by the local fire department where the men were practicing drills. I couldn't help by exclaiming how "cute" their fire trucks were, which my LOLs thought was absolutely hilarious. "Cute," they exclaimed, "why cute?" I then explained that back home our fire trucks are at least 2.5 times bigger. (What I didn't tell them was that the entire entourage reminded me of when I was a student at Stetson and felt a little wary about the "public safety" official's competency when I saw them driving around in golf carts and Segways). My LOLs decided it was important to pass on their new-found knowledge regarding the size of American fire trucks to the Japanese Fire Marshall. I think he might have felt a little defensive because he proudly showed us their "big" fire truck. It probably didn't help his ego when I giggled at the size of this vehicle, too!

Then it was time to head back to the hotel for a dinner I will never forget...