I know this may come as a shock to most of you, but I am white. Like really white. I am also pretty bald, which makes the whiteness (or redness depending on the season) of my head stand out. I am also what I would consider average height (although I have no basis for comparison). I had a realization today that was both startling and stunning (useless parenthetical comment).
As I finished school lunch today, I stood up and walked the length of the lunchroom to return the little card with my name on it to the lady who takes the little cards with your name on it. As a side note, my name is in Japanese, and it is followed by the Kanji for sensei. I am sure that one of the things I will miss most about Japan is being called Jeff-sensei. What was I saying? Oh yeah. So I walked the length of the lunchroom and had my startling realization. I am the only whitest, tallest and baldest person in the room. I double-checked by standing tall and walking past some of the taller people and in fact, I am the tallest person. No where besides Japan have I had that distinction. I also realized how little I take into account race...or so I thought.
After work, I stopped by my local grocery store to procure food and sundries for the preparation of meals. As I was there in between the kimchi and bread I came across a stunning realization. I walked by a mirror that was on a pillar in the middle of the store and saw my reflection as I passed (now you know why it was stunning). I kind of jumped a little at seeing such a tall white person in the store. It totally caught me off guard. After realizing it was me and doing a few curls with my shopping basket, it occurred to me that I don't see myself as looking any different than the other people in the store. After all, I can't see myself when I walk, so in my mind, I feel like I fit right in. Then I see a mirror and realize I don't.
Last Monday was the mark for 3 months since I touched down in Japan. The only thing I feel like I haven't done that I meant to do thus far is see the ocean (granted, I saw a lot of it when I flew over here in the airplane). I think of how radically my life has changed from 3 months ago, and it is hard to even recognize all of the changes. I feel less and less like Bilbo Baggins in a strange land I as I have felt myself transform. I have notice that have picked up a few Japanese mannerisms in the short time I have been here. When Japanese people talk to you (or you to them) they nod a lot and will even say things to show that they are listening. When you spend all your time trying to communicate with these people, you find yourself mimicking them. As I have talked to other Americans, I find myself rushing to vocally signal that I am listening to them and nodding my head a lot. I don't recall saying yeahyeahyeahyeah (really fast like a machine gun) as much before I came here. I say it a lot now.
I had an epiphany when I saw this at the conbini (awesome 7-11) on my way home. I looked out and saw these mountains that are entirely featureless with the sun behind them. The sky looked like a ripped piece of paper with the mountains serving as the tear. It was one of those moments that made me pause and ask, "How did I get here?" I still can't grasp that I live in Japan among people I would never have met if I hadn't decided to take a running leap.
Yet here I am, doing things I never thought I would or could. I teach kids...that is my job. I never thought I would do that. I live by myself in a place that seems infested with bugs that seem to exist solely to terrify me. I ate raw horse. I go entire days without having genuine conversations consisting of more than 2-syllable words (none of us thought I was capable of that one). I cook for myself now. I am a car owner (and I have insurance)! For me this has been a great leap forward into that 'adulthood' that everyone talked about for so long. If I don't clean my house now, I am the one who suffers. If I don't deal with the problems that are in front of me, they get much more painful as time goes on.
All of this has come as a shock to me because it has happened so quickly. Though these things happened slowly in my mind (because the last 3 months have felt like several lifetimes), they have actually come quite suddenly. So while I can't articulate the changes that I have felt in the last 3 months, I feel it. I still can't imagine how I got here though. I know, it was a plane, but even that plane ride seems so long ago that it feels like a movie that I watched from my own perspective years ago.
So as not to end on a totally philosophical note. Here is a picture of a tiny apple.
SERIOUSLY! LOOK AT THAT APPLE! They eat it just like a regular apple, but with much smaller bites. I guess they save space?
I saw this on a poster in one of my classes and it made me laugh out loud. Look at that face that is drooling with the googley eyes and the caption that says "I love sweets." Classic Japan. On another note, I think that silhouette at the bottom in the triumphant stance is wearing a cape. Now that is classic Japan.
Today I was hanging out at school after completing a totally killer day at elementary school when a teacher came up to me and said volleyball. I smiled and nodded. They then said Naga Chu, volleyball. I eventually figured out that they were telling me that I was supposed to go play volleyball at Nagasaka Chugakko (middle school). Weird, but whatever. I went to the school, and asked one of the English teachers what was going on. Turns out there was a teacher volleyball tournament on this day. Glad people tell me things...
Now I don't wish to toot my own horn, but 9-year-old me would be very proud of me for the amount of people that were clamoring over me to be on their team. Volleyball happens to be one of the things I don't suck at. My good friend once said to me, "you know Jeff, you aren't terrible at volleyball." Kinder words were never spoken. Of the 6 schools participating in the tournament, I teach at 3 of the schools. It sure doesn't hurt being the tallest person in a mile radius.
Here you can see the teachers milling around. This was after our first victory. Unfortunately, they weren't using real volleyballs, so when I would hit it with enthusiasm, it would fly quite far. They were using dodgeball type balls to play with.
A quick note on the way the Japanese play volleyball. They are REALLY good at it. I think it is a living testament to the community model that seeps into every facet of Japanese life. I think there was only 1 or 2 times where the ball went across to the other side on less than 3 hits. I didn't actually do much (they had 9 players on each side).
I know you are tired of spider pictures, but now I feel like they aren't even trying to keep them in check. Spiders at eye level? In case you didn't recognize it, this is in the hall of human nightmares.
In class, I taught the 1st graders how to color Jack o' Lanterns. These kids are extraordinarily cute, and I snapped some secret video of them while they were coloring. It is funny that even at age 6 in Japan, the boys and girls color very different pictures. Although, at second 25 or so, you can see possibly the most horrifying picture I have ever seen created. It was created by possibly the cutest little girl...
...I don't know if you can see it, but that thing was crazy scary.
Fair warning, this post contains no ketchup. Although, I did eat 3 (count them 3) Big Macs at lunch today. It is a celebration for the Big Mac this week, so they were only 200 yen. Cheap hamburger = happy Jeff. The Big Mac in Japan lacks the same quality that you find in America.
I have a few random pictures that have made their way into this 'ketchup post.' Clever and an appetite...how am I still single? Seriously, how?
How about this little bugger that I found on my wall. (get it? bugger?)
A close up. Seconds from the painful death it suffered at the hands of poison.
Awesome choir room at my Junior High. I took this while everyone was having the special teacher afternoon. They bring in 11 different teachers every so often to do special classes for the Junior High students. They learned stuff like cake making, wood working, calligraphy, wool doll making, tea ceremony, some Chinese game, nature painting, and pottery. It was interesting to go around and see the kids doing all of the classes. I got invited to participate in the tea ceremony. When done right, I am pretty sure that it is a beautiful tradition, but it required sitting in Seiza position (which you may remember from an earlier post). It was like painful Japanese torture. Both my feet fell asleep during it, but I bore like a champ.
I found this sign in the hall that made me laugh. I think we should all catch dream.
I am concerned at this picture. It makes me feel...really weird.
Saturday we had the pub quiz! It was at a cafe in Otsuki. It was a little long (4 hours) but I was a phenomenal asset to my team. I was able to answer every Lord of the Rings question.
These are people who are from the Yamanashi area.
Elliot on the left and Nick on the right. Elliot was on my team, and we dominated some people.
Pizza and fish and chips. The pizza was not spectacular.
Carlos the Irish Spanish master who was on my team. We won those 'punny' shirts.
Devil horns, they fit right?
Carlos (previously mentioned), Karen (also Irish), and Christina (my next door neighbor).
Also went to Don Kihote. Yeah, it is like it sounds. It is a mega store of all sorts of bizarre stuff.
Coin-op machines full of Japanese characters.
THEY HAVE PUPPIES! This is a little tiny chihuahua.
Other tiny puppies!
Check. Out. This. TINY. DOG! Cute right? Problem: This dog costs about 1,800 dollars.
Also, kittens. Can't express my love for the kittens.
They sell a whole lot of Halloween stuff here which is rare because Japan doesn't celebrate Halloween much.
Here is a nifty little item: A pillow that has all the lovable characteristics of a body wearing a thong. Weird right? I accidentally wandered into a not-clearly marked section of the store where I found many confusing items. It took me an embarrassing 20 seconds or so to realize what I was looking at. At this point, I felt weird and scuttled away.
Red Cozy Blanket. Amazing right? I think I am actually going to get one of these!
They have a whole bunch of imported stuff here. I got some Sour Cream and Onion Lays, Jalepeno Pringles and Doritos! The chips pictured remind me of the Sabor de Soledad chips in the TV show 30 Rock.
Who wants one of these? I can get them to you. What is better than pretending that you have a pet, and that it is rooting through the trash? These are one of many treasures that you will find at Don Kihote.
I feel bad, I don't have anything exciting to say. I have had a few things kicking around in my old brainparts though for a few days. Because of this, I am making a hodge podge post. The following will make no logical connections to each other, so don't try and find the story line.
First: I am not sure what I am going to do for my life...long term. I have been giving it thought in between teaching classes. I realize that right now I am very impressionable, partially because I feel like the world is (literally) my oyster. I don't really like oysters, but I understand that if I had a great many oysters, I could turn that into some kind of profit. Here is a list of careers that I have seriously considered in the past week or two, and how I came to consider it:
Dairy Farmer (Paul Rusch festival)
Fine vendor of delicious meats (Paul Rusch festival)
Corn Maze owner/operator (Halloween lesson for kids)
Spy (TV Show Chuck)
Mayor of a City (TV Show Parks and Recreation)
Archaeologist/Adventurer (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Restaurant Owner (Inspired by my fierce desire for first-rate bacon)
Blacksmith (Paul Rusch festival)
Philanthropist (inspired by my everyday desire to have money and give it away)
I am currently taking any suggestions on these areas of study because frankly, I am stumped. I don't know what I want to/should do with my time when I am back in the U.S.
Second: I have been listening to a lot of music (not that this is a change from any other period in my life) and I have been thinking about how interesting your life is when you choose the soundtrack. I was driving along on the wrong side of the road listening to a song I have been listening to for years. The scenery has changed, but the soundtrack is the same. As I was thinking about this, I looked at my most played songs in my iTunes. I found one song that has been played 3 times as many as the next highest. It is no surprise that this is my go-to song to fix my mood. I have listened to this song hundreds of times in the last 15 months and I never get tired of it. Here is a link. Give yourself a few minutes and take a listen:
I will let you all know right now that when I die and get to heaven (cross fingers), I expect this to be playing. Awesome.
Third: I know I keep harping on this whole 'bug situation' here in Japan. Luckily, all these suckers are going to die when it snows, and I shall dance on their graves. At the train station I use, they seem to not care about the rampant spider population. If I were to stick my hands above my head and walk, I would (not exaggerating) run my hands into no less than 12 spider webs. The spiders also have no fear of humans, they boldly go about their tasks of building a web and creeping me out. I would gladly carry around a can of spider-cide and show them the fear of the spray, but I feel like that would be frowned upon.
I took a few pictures for you to grasp how large some of these spiders get when they are without fear and unchecked.
NOPE! You have got to be kidding me! I first saw this spider and there wasn't a pane of glass to separate us. This is the largest spider I have seen in this country. It is the second largest spider I have seen in the wild (we have some tarantulas in Cedar sometimes). Those things in the air, those are about the size of potato bugs...This one is monster, and no one cares.
Same type of spider, but about 200 feet from the other one. This spider is in a web hanging from a building 25 feet in the air. Here is a rule: If you can see a spider that is 25 feet in the air, run. Run away.
Happy Halloween (I guess)! The Japanese don't celebrate Halloween, but I bet they wouldn't be that freaked out by a room in a haunted house filled with spiders. Every time I go to church, I have to walk through the Hall of Human Nightmares, but the Japanese remain unfazed.
Hodge podge complete. Hopefully you enjoyed it! If you didn't enjoy it, I am not really worried, because you already read it (which was my original intent). Joke's on you.
This weekend was the Paul Rusch Festival and Yatsugatake County Fair up here in our fair city. Unfortunately, the weather was kind of like the high moors of Scotland, rather than the fields of Kentucky. Let me back up first and let you know who Paul Rusch is. Paul Rusch was a man who came to Japan in the 20's after the Great Kanto Earthquake as a missionary. He stayed in Japan until the war started. He returned to Japan after the war and found the people of Kiyosato (the place I leave) eating potatoes and grains that were meant for livestock. He arranged the importing of Jersey cows to the area, which are especially good at high altitudes and cold weather. He started an organization here that teaches about high altitude farming and other environmental programs called the Kiyosato Education Experiment Project. Sometime in the 80's they started with the Paul Rusch Festival which is also a county fair.
That is a big old block of text...on to the pictures.
A giant picture of the man, the myth and the legend. Paul Rusch. People say I look like him...
I guess I see it...
Looks like a good old fashioned county fair...in the highlands of Japan.
Check out that super sweet archway made out of hay bales.
All sorts of different stuff. Unfortunately, most of the stuff is super boring (like crafts).
This was about as clear as it got all day.
Ah...this is more like it. Like where me ancestors be from on the ol' emerald isle.
These are the Japanese version of those rubber band guns. They are made of metal. I had to snap this picture all sneaky like. This was right across from the chopstick booth. They had chopsticks there that cost 900 dollars. Perhaps I am being culturally insensitive...but they are chopsticks. Two sticks that taper in size...that's an expensive stick.
No county fair would be complete without cheerleaders. What do they cheer for? Why our good friend Paul of course.
You may remember this organ truck from an earlier post. The organ was cranking out tunes like Stars and Stripes Forever and Dixie.
I challenge you to find something more adorable than these little children (who look too little to be real life) dancing to this song.
Food on a stick is common at fairs, but how often do you get the whole dang fish? Only in Japan.
They make their own ice cream from the fresh jersey cow dairy. I have it on good authority that this is the best ice cream in all of southeast Asia. The specialty flavor for this year was strawberry. So good!
Yeah. Turns out that I can't take normal pictures. I am just trying to show off these pork ribs (that were terribly expensive) and I look like a wizard that not only didn't find the rabbit in the hat, but managed to find rabbit poo in there.
Don't I look happy? Ribs will do that. Also that guy in the background was saying "Can you hear me now? Good!" in Japanese. Verizon has had 18 new spokespeople in the 4 years since that commercial, get with the times buddy.
It was quite a fun time, and I am glad for the opportunity to have some down home country food. Paul Rusch is also called the Father of American Football in Japan. Now, I haven't seen any Japanese playing football, but I guess he is the father of it. The speech contest for the second year Junior High students this year is about Paul Rusch and American football. The speech is kind of confusing when it outlines the life of Paul Rusch. Here is an excerpt from the speech that the students memorize:
But in the late 30s, Japan and the U.S. were ready for war. Paul really wanted to stop the war. On December the 7th, 1941, he spoke to the American people through the radio. "The friendship between our countries is growing. Let's stop the war!" But, it was no use. On the very next day, the war started. Many of his students had to go to war. Paul had to leave Japan too. He was very sad.
I find it intriguing how they frame this. Clearly it is written from the Japanese perspective. Interesting guy nonetheless. He doesn't have a Wikipedia page though, perhaps someone should get on that.
Comments should be working now, I hope. You still may not be able to login with your account, but post as anonymous, and mention who ya are.
Monday was Sports and Health day. We got a day off of work for the Tokyo Olympics coming once upon a time a long time ago. Whatever right? I will totally take the time off. Fair warning: this is a long post.
This is a big giant lake filled with lotus flowers. Unfortunately they aren't blooming, so it looks like a big pumpkin patch. It really is a lake under there.
It is in the middle of city, and there is a zoo next to it with PANDAS! I didn't see them yet, but I will. I. Will.
They have these stalls set up with food.
An old shrine.
Big duck rafts out on the lake. Many boats and things. We were going to go, but it the lake was small, and I don't trust swans.
Suspicious looking aren't they.
Extra picture with no catchy caption.
I heard the sound of a war beat and naturally followed it until I found the source. This here is a Taiko/flute performance group on the street.
Video proof so you can see.
This hallway leads to a bookstore. I thought it looked pretty snazzy.
This is the busiest intersection in the entire world. All the signs stop and 1,000s of people cross all at once during the peak hours. Quite interesting to watch.
Shibuya! Very busy, and full of young people.
In Japan, they build their signs up high in the sky, which makes it all very confusing.
Japan knows where the cool comics are...Marvel baby.
I found a Shakey's Pizza... I am pretty sure they have these in America. This is a legitimate pizza buffet...awesome right?
I didn't actually eat here, I just looked around and bolted...suckers!
Another angle of the intersection.
It is a very odd shaped intersection.
I don't think I am selling this intersection for as cool as it is.
This is a statue called Hachiko. It is a statue of a dog who would wait for its owner at the train station everyday and they would walk home together. One day, his owner had a brain hemorrhage and died. Hachiko would still come everyday at the same time for 9 years and wait for him. He became well known, and they made a statue for him. This story really tugs at my heartstrings and reminds me that I want to get a dog. This is also a very popular meeting place for foreigners.
Takeshita is a popular shopping district in Harajuku. Harajuku is known for a bridge where young 'uns will get together in all goth and stuff and hang out on the bridge...somehow this is interesting. I believe Gwen Stefani travelled around with some Harajuku girls for a while, but don't quote me on that.
A picture of the bridge where the Harajuku kids hang out.
A big giant torii leading into the Meiji Jingu. Emperor Meiji was the emperor that opened Japan to the west and ruled until 1925. This area has 100,000 trees that were dedicated to him and the empress. The shrine is dedicated to his god-spirit.
A very refreshing walk in contrast to the rest of the city which is so crowded.
The purification part outside the shrine. Here you wash your left hand, then right, then put water in your hand and wash your mouth, then was the left and wash the dipper. I met some other Mormons here, I could tell because a kid was wearing a Jimmer shirt. Dead giveaway.
Inside the front shrine entryway.
Cool looking...entryway...thing.
They have weddings here. Here you can see the traditional wedding party following behind the bride and groom.
The party.
Failed attempt at an artsy pick...
Looking across the inner square.
Other view
This is a wishing tree type thing. You can write wishes and good lucky things and hang them on the racks, or put the wishes on a paper and put it in the box...I am not sure how the wishes come true, but they do.
I bought this in lieu of getting any of you anything for Christmas this year. So...you are welcome.
Cool yeah?
I put it in the super wish granting spot.
Those papery squiggles are wishes. I couldn't take pictures of the shrine itself, but you throw money into the money catcher, bow twice, clap twice, wish for something and then bow again.
Contrast between old style Japan and new Japan.
Going up to the treasure building.
Koi
One lonely tree. Doesn't it look picturesque? They had a sign that said that going up to it was prohibited...don't know what you got, 'til it's gone.
A nice lawn outside the treasure building.
Really cool construction in the treasure building courtyard
Main building
This was the entrance. The treasures weren't actually that cool. they had pictures of emperors going back for 1000's of years and some artifacts that the Emperor used himself...in the broad spectrum of how old Japan is, his 80 year old artifacts don't seem that important.
I think those ladies in the distance were practicing the Hula...I can't be sure, but it looked pretty hippy.
Ok. Now, in honor of Halloween, something absolutely terrifying:
