Not Just Ninjas

The weather’s been warming up, which means I can locomote by bike again! Biking to school is so much more enjoyable than driving. I pass all sorts of businesspeople, also on bikes, on the way to their jobs. We bow and smile and “Ohio gozaimasu” to each other. I see grandmas getting up to care for their property, shop owners tidying up, cats on the prowl.

Most kids pedal their way to school, as Noshiro is small enough to navigate entirely by bike. I pass every sort of plaid on my way to work… it’s kind of like Scotland and tartans, only here it’s kids and school-specific plaid uniforms. As I get within a few blocks of my school, I start to see my students. They’re always surprised to see me…. maybe adults are supposed to be in cars? They know I have one… perhaps they wonder why I’m slumming it with them? It’s an easy answer: one part California hippie fossil fuel consciousness and one part exercise.

I’ve never really been inspired to burn calories via bike. Perhaps it’s because I’ve lived in car-infested areas like Berkeley or San Diego or LA where you suck up more fumes than anything else. However, I just read the account of a woman, just out of college, who biked the Silk Road with a few friends in China. 5,000 kilometres in 4 months, riding through punishing mountainous terrain in Eastern China. This adventure has inspired me to rediscover Japan by bike. If only I had the vacation time, I would circumnavigate Hokkaido, complete the 88 temple pilgrimage in Shikoku, and do laps around Lake Biwa. For now, I’ve settled for rediscovering the countryside around me.

After 9 months here, I figured I pretty much knew everything there was to know about Noshiro. But there are those little streets between the arteries that still beg for exploration. I’ve found new temples and shrines in neighborhoods tucked away in the rural expanse. I’ve discovered beautiful tiny access roads that drift between the rice fields, which have all just been flooded with water for the upcoming planting season. I’ve biked to the next closest city, about 25 km to the east, following the serpentine Yoneshiro river. Along the river is an overgrown forgotten park full of blooming cherry trees and dilapidated playground equipment. Clusters of vertical polished stones indicate a small graveyard here or there.

In the middle of my ride, I stopped to talk to some older ladies to ask where I was, as I’m not sure where my town Noshiro ends and the next, Futatsui, begins. When I asked these women where I was, they said something like “Noshiro inaka desu yo!” and cackled, which roughly translates to “man, you’re in deep-country-side-boondocks-Noshiro!”

Farmers in their tractors pass me on the road, calling out to ask me if I’m tired or cold (no to both!). Farmers farther off in their fields bow slightly in my direction as I pass and do the same. I watch as everyone manicures their rice and vegetable fields, leveling the wet heavy muck, or patiently hoeing the dirt into rows for produce. The birds are out, grey herons and white egrets that stumble warily out of the river brush as I ride by.

I am falling in love with Tohoku all over again as green overtakes the countryside, and spring slowly manifests itself. And I can’t wait to see what happens next, what lies around the next curve.

Only if you live in Tohoku are you lucky enough for cherry blossom season and Golden Week to intersect. Ever since I saw revellers sitting out in Kyoto, drinking sake under the blossoms and the stars, I’ve been awaiting my chance to do the same in Noshiro. While the blossoms are finally, finally here, the social aspect kept falling through for some reason.

Last weekend we made plans to party with my adult English class, but the weather was cold and the blossoms weren’t out yet. Tuesday, our English club at the high school was going to make a go of it after school, until two of the girls were caught shoplifting. After that incident it was considered in poor taste to go out and have fun, so the girls stayed after school to do English drills instead. I was invited to not one, but TWO tea ceremony/flower viewing parties last Thursday, but unfortunately, I caught the crud that’s been going around the high school, and I was incapacitated by a 24 hour flu.

So this weekend, with the trees in full bloom, we created our own sakura gameplan. Plan A was to wander through the park near our house, and try to get ourselves “pulled in” to an ongoing party. We arrived a bit late in the festivities, as everyone was winding things up just before sunset, but we did have some nice exchanges with these friendly construction workers, who fancied a good frolic on the swing set.

The rest of the weekend, we went chasing blooms. The most magnificent display was just to the north in Hachimori, which boasts an entire hillside covered in cherry trees. We also checked out two castle parks in the not so near Akita City, but these didn’t hold a candle to the parks closer to home.

On Monday, we were satisfied with the blossom element, but still searching out the party. We said screw it, plan B, we’re going to make our own party. So three of us, all English teachers from America, bravely trotted out to the park, plentiful goodies and alcoholic supplies underarm. No sooner did we all crack open a beer when we were swept into an adjacent party (see plan A).

We were invited to join a party of Izakaya owners and goers, which means they all frequent a particular pub ’n grub establishment in town. It also means they are very practiced at having a good time. This crew brought several dozen glass steins and a beer keg to the park! Festival food for the offering included someone’s tentacles, denuded shellfish, remarkably lifelike shrimp with all the appropriate appendages still attached. We ate hanami dango and sausages and grilled veggies. The party also included a long haired dachsund, who would run amok on the picnic blanket, spilling food and dragging food in his wake.

And now we’re off to Osaka to enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Happy Golden Week, y’all!

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Tokyo records first snowless winter

Kyodo News

The Tokyo metropolitan area has experienced its first winter without snow since 1876, the Meteorological Agency said Thursday.

The agency’s observatory in Otemachi did not detect any snowfall from December to February, the period defined as winter in Japan.

While Tokyo is more inclined to get heavy snow in early spring than midwinter, it is not certain to see snow in March or later because temperatures are expected to remain unseasonably high, the agency said.

The Japan Times

(C) All rights reserved

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20070301b3.html

Have you ever noticed this striking similarity?

They should call it land of the setting sun, as that is all I see when I get out of work these days. I never thought I would say this, but boy do I miss Daylight Savings Time. Wind and rain are becoming more of an issue. Festival season is long gone. And all the exciting details of living life in another country have now become a comfortable routine. Winter is almost upon us, and I’m trying to scrape together a warm work wardrobe out of the thrift stores in town. Noshiro isn’t exactly the pinnacle of the fashion world, so I’m having a rough time of it.

So I’ve done the research. I’ve asked around, and both experienced assistant language teachers (ALTs) and other Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) agree that my Japanese teacher is coming from left-field regarding the home arrest after class scenario. Which makes everything a little easier to deal with; instead of picking a fight with an entire country, it’s now down to the very manageable size of an interpersonal issue. So, hooray.

Chris and I have been chasing reports of stunning fall foliage all over the ken, with minimal success. We’ve found a particularly picturesque area called Juniko (12 lakes) just north of us, where the waters are unsettling colors of blue and green. We found a dam, and a few waterfalls, a really tall tree, and a zillion Shinto shrines, but the breathtaking I-am-one-with-nature foliage has remained elusive. We had to settle for merely pretty, which is great by me, as this is my first actual fall with leaves turning colors and everything.

Fall seems to have abruptly come to a close, though, as wind and rain have been whipping through Noshiro for about 48 hours now. And we’re not talking breezy crisp cute fall weather here. We’re talking about wind that rattles all your windows until your desk and computer are gently swaying back and forth. We’re talking about insidious howling and creaking that invades your dreams and gives you sleepless nights.

Last week I began teaching the first of a 10 part series at the community center, “Better know a Dialect”, otherwise known to the Japanese community as an English class, or eikaiwa. I had been a little nervous, as I’d never had my own academic class before. What will we do? What will we talk about? How can we possibly fill 2 hours? Everyone told me to chill, and I just took their advice and decided it would all work out. And so far… it has! My class is filled with mostly older women, all of which have great English accents and are adorable and willing to learn. This is such a relief in contrast to school, where I have to pull teeth to get my students to say… pretty much anything. The eikaiwa is much more my element, where I can hang out with people who actually want to learn. Plus I get to teach whatever I want however I want. A girl could get used to this.

It was a weekend of natural adventures at the Boegeman household. Autumn has arrived, which means gold fields and smoke in the air as the rice is harvested. Saturday we decided it was high time to hit a spot on the map that we’ve been eyeing for over a month: an series of gorges and mountain lakes just a bit north and east of us.

We got in our still-not-legal car and started driving via back roads in the general direction of the gorge. On the way we passed a lovely little waterfall, a rather large Shinto shrine at the top of an impressive stairway, and a huge World Heritage center with museum exhibits about the region. In the heart of the Shirakami mountains is a virgin beech forest that’s apparently one of the largest in the world.

We didn’t make it all the way up into the center of the mountain range, but we did drive quite a way on a startlingly curvy road full of one-lane bridges and the ubiquitous Japanese convex mirrors at every curve since it was impossible to see around corners. Just as we decided to turn around, we stumbled upon a trailhead that was accompanied by the enticing sound of rushing water in the distance.

I have to say, Japanese forest trails are f*cking awesome. They somehow strike the perfect balance between maintaining the natural beauty of the trail while still appointing it with all the comforts of civilization. Much of the trail is “paved” with wood chips; steep sections are laid with lovely little wooden stairways which are easy to walk on but almost look like they are a natural part of the forest; wet and mucky bits are “paved” with raised wooden walkways; chasms are spanned by bridges that are alternately tasteful and impressive depending on the size of the dropoff.

The forest was lush with infinite shades of green and impressive huge trees with convoluted trunks growing around each other. Japanese wildlife seems generally more “interactive” than the American equivalents. Butterflies and dragonflies fly at your face constantly, and sometimes just land on you. Steph found a frog (toad?) that was not exactly happy to be picked up but didn’t make much of an effort to get away.

At the bottom of the trail we found our goal; a lovely crystal-clear mountain stream cascading over a million rocks, amid the first few trees turning red for fall. In a couple months this will all be buried under meters of snow, so we’re enjoying it while we can.

Sunday was a different story altogether. Somehow I let Steph talk me into signing up for an English-teaching adventure at the Akita city zoo. We heard through a friend of a friend of a co-worker that an English school in Akita was looking for English speakers to accompany the kids for a day of animal spotting and games at the zoo. I’m a terrible teacher, and I have a tendency to be tongue-tied around kids in any case, so this wasn’t exactly my bag. Not to mention that I rather expected the zoo to be full of depressing tiny concrete cages full of miserable animals.

Well, I was mostly pleasantly surprised.

This wasn’t the San Diego Zoo, but it was not nearly as bad as I had been fearing. There was very little concrete, and the big animals had a decent amount of space to roam around. It was actually pretty impressive how close we were able to get to the animals. I saw (that’s right) lions, tigers, bears, and reindeer face-to-face; the monkey mountain had over 50 monkeys (including at least 20 babies) running around and being entertaining. The only animals in the zoo that were boring were the kangaroos.

As for the English-teaching bit; there were about 5 Americans, a Brit, and a Canadian along for the ride. Each was assigned to a group of kids; Steph got the 4-5 year-olds and I got the 9-12s. We basically had to give little spiels about the animals and administer a quiz based on the information. It wasn’t particularly exciting for anyone but hey, free zoo trip.

After an hour at the zoo it was lunch and game time. This was actually pretty entertaining.  Of course the best part was Hoho.  This is the 2.75 year-old daughter of the friend of the friend of the co-worker from whom we heard about this gig.  Hoho was the most adorable and irrepressible girl and she had a pair of killer ladybug boots.  Hoho’s parents named her that because — to quote Dave Barry: I am not making this up — it is easy to pronounce and sounds like Santa Claus’s signature line.  Apparently Hoho’s mother’s name (Chihiro) is often mispronounced, and she didn’t want her daughter to have to deal with that annoyance.  Awesome.  Chihiro and Hoho were great fun to hang out with (not to mention living near a great restaurant) so we hope we will get to see more of them in the future.

After 2pm we had the rest of the day to ourselves.  I have to admit that my main reason for accepting this zoo gig was to have an excuse to visit the “big city” and have some food and experiences that aren’t available in Noshiro.  The first thing we did after the zoo was hit Starbucks for a real honest-to-god mocha.  Akita prefecture has exactly one Starbucks, and we go there whenever we’re in the city.

The rest of the day was not really blog-worthy.  We hit a couple of stores to look for shoes.  I’ve been wearing nothing but tennis shoes and thongs for three months and I’d really like to have something a bit nicer for when we go out to dinner and stuff.  Turns out shoes are butt-expensive in Japan, but I guess that’s no surprise.  We also hit a travel agent to ask about tickets to Indonesia for the holidays.  It wasn’t as cheap as we were hoping, but we do have tickets now so it’s official: we’re going to Java and Bali for Christmas and the New Year! After that we went to dinner at what I believe is the only microbrewery in Akita. Their beer is good but expensive, and unfortunately the food is only so-so.  Oh well!  It was worth a try.

This last weekend was a long one, due to “Respect for your Elders” Day. Since we have no elders here to honor, Chris and I took advantage of the holiday and fleeting good weather, and made the drive to Sendai, on the east coast of Japan. Here are some pictures if you want to follow along.

Renting a car in Japan is way, way easier than it should be. We expected a mountain of forms and hassles, but really you just show someone your passport and licence, pay in cash, then off you go. Well, first they sit with you in the running car and explain the air conditioner, radio, gas tank, seat adjustments, and turn signals, then stop traffic for you as you pull out, and THEN off you go. :)

We made the trip in about 4 hours, burrowing through central japan’s mountain ranges via tunnel on the expressway. I had been expecting something dramatic, like crossing the rockies, but no. Just massive 4 kilometer-long tunnels.

We stayed in a cute little youth hostel, where you take off your shoes at the entrance, and you use public baths. Perhaps now is a good time to go over bathing protocol for those of you planning on visiting. Men and women go to separate bathing areas. In the first room, you’ll take off your shoes at the entrance, and strip NAKED, leaving all your belongings in an unlocked cubby. Towels most likely won’t be provided, so bring your own. Then you go through this door to the group showers… keep in mind that the door will slide, not swing open. This doesn’t sound very important until you are naked in a room full of Japanese people frantically pulling in vain on this door that refuses to open.

So you go through, and there are open showers next to each other, with a nozzle placed about chest high. There will be stools for you to sit on while you bathe yourself. Once you are totally clean, then and only then should you get into the public hot tub, perpendicular to the showers. This is for soaking, not cleaning. The group nakedness is supposed to help facilitate conversation, so don’t freak out if someone wants to talk to you (although i pretty much stick to the speak when spoken principal here).

The public baths sound scary, but they’re actually pretty nice, especially when you have the whole room to yourself. I hear that the Japanese onsens (hot springs) pretty much follow the same procedure, though I haven’t actually tried one yet.

So, what does Sendai, the largest city in our region, have to offer? Well, to a certain degree, one big city is just like other big cities. Mostly, Sendai offered Chris and myself food unavailable in Noshiro. This included mexican food, all you can eat cake, some beer variety, Balinese food, and some honest-to-god coffee. We also managed to find a lovely glass museum, which was easy to enjoy, because the art form kind of transcends language. I can see it’s glass, what else do I need to know? :)

There are some very “Japanese” sites that make a good day trip from Sendai. We went to Matsushima, one of the THREE most SCENIC spots in Japan! Wow! It was pretty scenic, I have to say: on the ocean, with tons of little islands dotting the bay, and red arched bridges connecting some of them. Some of the islands have temples, and you can tour the bay in a dragon or peacock boat. Noshiro doesn’t really have any geishas or pagodas or any of the flashy traditional Japanese stuff (other than a few temples), so mostly we just had a good time walking around Mastushima and feeling the whole Japan vibe.

On the way back home, we swung by our own local scenic spot, the Oga Peninsula. This area didn’t disappoint, and was full of drop dead gorgeous scenes of cliffs and ocean and all of these crazy demon creatures. We even found an aquarium nestled amongst the cliffs, which we’ll have to attend another time.

So now it’s Tuesday, and it’s good to be home, even though the clouds refuse to go away, and I hear that a typhoon’s a comin’ tomorrow. I hope I can still bike to work, as my car ownership papers are still in the works. A typhoon doesn’t sounds like the best time to take out your contraband car, but I may have to do it.