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Luke's Blog
August 30, 2007 to December 12, 2007
It's been a busy time. Christmas is approaching and so in order to get presents to people on time this year we have been busy shopping, writing christmas cards etc. I have been quite busy substitute teaching and supervising distance education exams being written at the embassy. In addition I was approached by St. Mary's international school to replace the grade 8 science/math teacher who is moving up to high school. The high school physics teacher is returning to Australia now since the school year there begins in February. The long and short of it is I should be teaching full time at the end of January for the rest of the school year. This is provided I get permission from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to modify my diplomatic visa.
Anyway, in the preparations for Christmas, the embassy held its children's Christmas party and the ambassador's wife asked me to play Christmas music on the piano. It brought back memories of me attending the same Christmas party 20+ years ago in the same room. There was Santa too, of course, who handed out presents to the kids. The smaller kids were afraid of Santa as usual but all in all they had a good time.
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When we were out shopping for presents we ran across one of the many local festivals that are always occuring in Japan. Frequently you run across a two or three block festival for some local tradition. This one happened to have what can only be described as a Japanese polka band with flavours of rock and roll. It was pretty fun and the bass player had an interesting bass.
Last weekend we decided to see what the hubbub was about near our house and went for a walk. It apparently was the time of year to see the fall colours along a stretch of road that leads to a national museum. It's special because it is lined with ginko trees that have been sculpted. The crowd was incredible as were the colours. The do their viewing of fall colours with gusto and tour buses. During the week you could see tour buses unload their mostly senior citizens with cameras as big as they are. The cameras run around and take pictures and then they storm back onto the bus to the next locale to view and take pictures. It's amusing to see the frenetic pace with which they do things that to many other people usually imply slowing down and relaxing.
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Isn't it nice. We realize, of course, that those in North America are suffering from cold, snow, sleet and generally miserable weather. But don't worry. We're fine. Single digit numbers and pretty nice weather so everything here is OK.
We hosted a Christmas party last weekend in which we used our chocolate fountain for the first time. A gift at our wedding engagement party from Sumi we hadn't got around to using it. Here is where electrical differences make a difference. The voltage in Japan is 100V or 10 V less than in North America. The fountain uses an auger to bring the cholocate to the top but the motor was designed for 110V so the chocolate made it to a point 1 cm from the top. Frustrating! We eventually found a step up transformer so it all ended well and everyone enjoyed the chocolate.
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One of our guests brough his dog to the party. A real cutey who spent a lot of time looking up with big eyes, big sighs and wimpering at people in hopes of getting some food. I think she enjoyed the attention that people gave her.
So Christmas is almost here and we will be heading to Geneva on the 21st to have Christmas with my parents and brothers. It's very exciting. And when we arrive back on the 3rd of January we have to wait at the airport for Mika's replacement for her Human Resources position. Finally!
It's winter. No kidding you say. Really though, it has been unseasonably warm here until a week and a half ago. There are other indications that it is winter. Things you don't see in Canada. For starters, this is the time of year that everyone starts to wear masks. Either they have a cold, allergies or don't want a cold, people don masks to keep their germs to themselves. A courtesy you don't see on the bus in Ottawa as the guy next to you sprays his infection to everyone. It's quite a good idea if you ask me.
Another sign that it is winter is the tree trimming that goes on. I noticed this last year but decided I needed pictures to describe it. This isn't just any normal tree trimming. The trees goes from fully clothed to naked. Last year I was agast when I walked down the street one day to see the leafy trees cut bare. "They've killed them", I thought to myself. However, by mid-summer they had grown back. I can only imagine what would happen if they left them alone.
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Not to mention, again, that it's cold now (for Japan). A sunny day a week and a half ago we woke up and say a beautiful, blue sunny day. So we decided to drive north of Tokyo to Nikko. A nearby (2 hours) mountain, park area. We arrived to an area that was cloudy, windy and cold. There was even some snow falling but it wasn't yet sticking around. It will soon there though because it is 2000 m above sea level. But we discovered a really pretty water fall.
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We didn't last long hiking around so we decided to warm up in an onsen (Hot bathhouse) at the foot of the falls. They are so cheap, relaxing and convenient it is hard to resist.
I may have mentioned the construction sites before in a previous blog but I have to do it again because of what I saw near our house. As you may know from movies etc., the streets that are not main arteries are narrow, winding and easy to get lost on. But the one thing that won't happen to you is to drive into a construction site and/or hurt yourself; even if your blind and driving/walking around (although what you're doing driving is beyond me).
Japanese take safety very seriously. Well to a ridiculous level perhaps. Around a small construction site you will have a variety of signs indicating dangers, cones with flashing lights, additional flashing lights on poles, flags waving in the breeze, maybe a mechanical robot man waving a blinking baton so you know you have to go around and at the same time a real live person doing the same thing. It may be a "make work" project to keep people employed, but if you get hurt near one of these, you deserve to be nominated for the Darwin awards.
In our little street, they were doing construction. The street is no wider than a standard sized car but take a look at the number of signs. Plus there were three people to usher people along the concrete path with a rubber mat around the construction site. You just have to giggle when you see this.
Finally, I have decided to share with you in my blog the different sweets we have everytime we do a tea ceremony lesson. Tea ceremony incorporates a lot of different elements and arts. This includes flower arranging (Ikebana), insence, scrolls and the like for atmosphere. When you have tea, you also have a sweet. The sweet is to balance the bitter taste that comes from the tea. The art of making these sweets is quite developed. Generally, the sweets (or Okashi) are made of bean paste that is coloured and shaped into something that resembles the season you are in. I don't think we have ever had the same sweet twice and the source that our teacher has is quite extraordinary. So I will add to my blog pictures of the sweets after each lesson for you to appreciate. The one for today is supposed to look like a chrysamthemum flower still closed with cotton on the top. Apparently in the past, cotton was placed on the flower buds to collect the dew (and associated chemicals from the flower) to use as a beauty product. The dew was supposed to be good for the skin.
Thank-you all for writing to me and letting me know that I'm a ding-a-ling and forgot to put a link to the Halloween photos. There were here on the website but I forgot the link. It was also interesting to see who popped up. There are quite a more people reading my blog than I expected. That's great!
Last week the United Way camaign continued with an art exhibit of some art and antiques from a local gallery. There was also an interesting twist with a well establish Japanese artist who painted a painting right there in front of the crowd. As the MC of the even said (and I paraphrase here) 'We hardly get to see the moment of creation and what the artist meant. Tonight we can". It was an interesting idea as it is possible with the black ink paintings (similar to scroll painting) that this artist does. It was neat to see him do it. I was responsible for collecting the bids for the art after he finished. The painting went for 10,000 JPN yen or about CDN$1,000.
Other events that are going on this week are a pancake breakfast and silent auction at the ambassadors residence, a sake tasting event (which I'm looking forward to. I need to learn the finer points), a lobster dinner with East coast lobster and finally a 9-ball tournament which so far I'm not doing too badly in. Oh I forgot that there was a casino night last week too, but we did not attend. So we're doing our part, are you?
As promised I have the pictures up now of our trip to Yamagata. I decided since there were so many of them to do the narration with the pictures so check there for the various places we visisted and their descriptions.
Last weekend was my tea ceremony exam (Shoden level) which went very well. I finally did everything without a mistake. A good thing to do in the exam. Although passing was reasonably assured as they don't let you do the test unless you will pass. Very Japanese. The pictures are in the photo section of me in my new kimono and the skirt which is called a hakama. Mika's aunt from Yokohama came as well as a couple we met here in Tokyo through Mika's mother. It was quite a busy day as after my exam and one other student, was the regular tea cermony day. This involves a bunch of tea cermony sittings for those who have been invited to attend that day. Various teachers prepare the tea in front of the guests but it involves an army of people in the next room also preparing tea. This is because one person can hardly prepare tea for 15 people in a room in a reasonable amount of time. So there is a prinicpal guest whom the person doing the ceremony prepares the tea for and the rest have tea brought to them from the other room where there is a production line to make tea. I had to help prepare tea in the other room and bring it in. It was quite amusing as the tea ceremony is quite and calm but in the next room, there is a flurry of activity trying to get sweets and tea bowls in and out of the room while maintaining the illusion of calm. At any rate I have completed my first level and this means I have been awarded my tea name. The name was developed in consultaion with the grand master and is Komura Iikyu. The Kimura part means old hamlet (obviously from Oldham), the Ii part is from Iiemoto sensei's name. All tea names have to have this from their grand master. The kyu part means enduring. In Japanese tradition the enduring adds class as enduring gives the impression of experience etc. So my tea name in English is enduring old village/hamlet.
Pictures from Halloeen are now up in the photo album section so please have a look. In particular there was Ron dressed as a woman. So? you say? Well take a look because Ron is a very beefy military security guard dressed in very tight and skimpy clothing. An interesting thing to note is that most of the Japanese staff didn't recognise him because he wasn't wearing his normal uniform while most of the Canadians easily recognised him. I have a theory about this. Costume is very important to the Japanese; whether it is fashionable or otherwise. With a new costume a person in Japan can assume a new identity and thus be able to act in a completely different way. I refer you to the Rockabilly crowd who dress like 1950's greasers on the weekend but may be high power stock brokers at work and the Goth/weirdo crowd in Harajuku. So in this context, it is natural for Japanese to not see Ron but someone else even though he is plainly recognisable.
I was dressed as a samurai. The Japanese easily recognised this but the foreigners seemed to think I was a Jedi Knight from Star Wars. This, for some reason or other, seemed to impress the Japanese that complete strangers were asking to have their photo with me. Mika said something about The Last Samurai movie with Tom Cruise. I don't know but you go with the flow.
Mika and her staff were dressed as Akihabara maids. This takes a little bit of explaining to those who have not been to Tokyo. Akihabara is also known as Electric Town and is sort of geek and nerd central in Tokyo. Electronics shops everywhere where you can buy all the latest gadjets and doodads for your computer, TV, phone, robot, etc. Serving the area are the usual noodle bars but also maid bars. These bars offer tours of Akihabara with a maid and also the staff are all dressed as maids. This is a bit of an off shoot of the Harajuku maids and the weird fetishes that the Japanese have. Typically nerds frequent these places (although geeks are also found there along with other stereotypical groups). Turns out that nerds and geeks in Japan look like nerds and geeks everywhere else in the world. Sooo, Mika and her staff are dressed as these maids you see in Akihabara and also Harajuku. You have to see the pictures.
At any rate the Halloween party had about 250 people attend and raised funds for the United Way in Canada.
Last weekend Mika had a long weekend. It was a compromise between Rememberance day and a Japanese holiday. So we travelled north of Tokyo to a region called Yamagata. I took loads of pictures and I haven't quite finished adjusting them yet so I will tell you more about the trip later when I have the photos. Until then "Ja matta ne".
It's almost Halloween. In fact the embassy had its United Way fund raiser Halloween party last friday. But I forgot my camera. So I'm going to get others to send me some pictures so I can show you the crazy costumes. As with last year, the best costume was a man dressed as a woman. This year it was one of our military security guards. Quite astonishing. More on that later.
A week ago, Sunday to be precise, the sun finally came out again. Mika had planned to work all day on something-or-other but I convinced her that this was a poor thing to do on such a nice day. We decided to go hiking on the closest moutain: Mount Takao. It takes about an hour to get there and it is very popular. I mean very very popular. It is close and not to gruelling making it very kid/family friendly. Consequently there were a lot of people. No girls in teetering high heels this time though. Yes, some places you see them climbing the mountain.
It is quite a nice and easy hike with many trails to the top. There is also a tram and chair lift. The mountain isn't that high though so it seems a bit pointless. On the valley trail up the mountain is a shrine (what's a mountain in Japan without a shrine?). This one is next to a waterfall that has been fenced off. The story is that a monk was walking on the mountain and heard music. The source of the music turned out to be a mysterious man playing a lute on a rock. When the monk approached the him to learn his wisdom, the man disappeared and a well of water sprang up in the man's place creating the waterfall. So people go here to pray.
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As I said the hike up was pretty easy and there were a lot of people of all ages. The top of the mountain is the most crowded mountain top I have ever seen. People everywhere and a few restaurants too. It's not your typical Canadian hiking in the wilderness experience that's for sure.
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The day was very sunny and looked clear when you were at the bottom, but when you get up on the mountain you can still see the haze covering the higher mountains nearby and sitting on top of Tokyo. It's a good view of the Tokyo plane though as the mountain is on the south western edge of Tokyo.
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The hike down along the ridge was very nice and again you see why practically every wooden object in Japan is made of ceder. It's everywhere.
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On Saturday this past weekend, we went to pick up my kimono. It looks great but I still have to learn how to put it on properly. I tried it on for size and I have a few photos but I will have better ones after my tea teacher instructs me on how to wear it properly. It is quite a process to get a kimono and takes a bit of time with the measuring and trying on and adjusting etc. Mr. Tanaka from Seibu department store was very helpful. He's the one tying me into my kimono to check the fit. The other picture is the hakama which is like a pant or skirt that goes over mens' kimono.
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I have mentioned before the high quality of service that you simply cannot get in Canada. It's a shame really. The weather was lousy as there was a typhoon rolling in so it was pouring rain. In every store that does not have plastic bags they will put a clear plastic "poncho" over your paper bag so that it does not get wet. This is not exclusive to the expensive stores. All stores do this. You just can't get that in Canada.
On days like the one with the typhoon, you can really see how crowded this city is when your in the train stations or one of the many underground arcade/tunnels that connect stores and train stations. You have never experienced crowded until you've been to places like this. Again stores do something never done in Canada. They have plastic bags or covers for your umbrella so you don't drip all over the place or get your clothes wet. There are machines in the doorways that you slide your umbrella into and it covers your umbrella with plastic. Amazing!
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Well I'm off to write the foreign service exams. Hope I do well.
So I'm half way through a three week substitute teaching stint at the American School in Japan. This is a relief because I went a week and a half without work and spent most of my days by myself as everyone else I know works. What a drag and it highlights how important family and friends are to me and Mika. I have no work yet lined up for November but I'm not going to worry about that now.
We haven't travelled that much since Mika has been really busy (as usual) and on Thanksgiving weekend we had our tea teachers and some of Mika's co-workers over for a turkey dinner.
So I have some random comments and pictures from puttering around trying to keep myself amused.
First of all, it seems that Tokyo's weather is similar to that of Seattle. Or so I'm told by a teacher from Seattle. It's been cloudy for so many days I'm beginning to wonder why anyone would want to live in Seattle. Not raining mind you. Just cloudy. But it makes it easier to take photographs of a blimp that flew over our house. A welcome change from the Japanese and US Army helicopters that fly over everyday.
I went walking around an area near us called Shibuya. It is a trendy, shopping area from younger Japanese and is quite lively at nights and on the weekends. This is the area with the famous intersection that has thousands of people crossing at once. I also discovered that there is a new kind of music I have never heard of before "Black Music". I found this sign anyway that had me chuckling.
There is also an amusing chain of stores in Tokyo that... well I'm sure you can figure it out from the name. There is so much variety in the store that somethings you have to look at and wonder 'Do people actually buy this?'.
There is a new store that has opened up in Harajuku which we have to go through to get to the JR (Japan Rail) train station. It is called "Shamrock Airlines". It seems to sell stuff to make your plane trips comfy and stylish. Lots of pink cushions and such but also a model of a plane covered in shiny plastic/sequin things. It was listed at $10,000. Unbelievable!
I know I've mentioned before how buildings take up every space imaginable and the city is a very vertical city. Yet, saying it never seems to be enough to get the idea across. So they started work on a new building with a 45 square metre foot print that will be about 4 stories tall. When you look at the picture of the size of the footprint, it seems astonishing that anyone would build something that size. What can you fit in these buildings?
Yet you see these buidlings all over the place.
The other funny thing is that squished in beside giant corporate buildings are some little tiny shrines that were there before the building. Instead of removing them they build around them. So some buildings have little chunks taken out of their corners to preserve these shrines. I guess people visit them but I've never seen it happen.
Mika has family in Nagoya. A city south of Tokyo near Osaka and Kyoto. An industrial centre which is twenty minutes from the town of Toyota where Toyota car company is located (imagine that!). Her uncle, a retired professor of electrical engineering specialising in superconductors, is a close copy of Mika's father. At least in expressions and mannerisms. This I find amusing and if you have met Mika's father you might understand why.
At any rate we went to visit over the weekend and drop off a diplomatic parcel at the Canadian mission in Nagoya. Lots of family stuff and we even went to church. Unusual since most Japanese are not religious, let alone christian, and if they are they subscribe to Shintoism or Buddhism (usually both). I of course understood very little except that the word "Shu" kept appearing in all the hymns including the old chestnut with the "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" that gives me visions of mister Bean in church. At any rate, I discovered that "Shu" means "Lord", that the church is probably protestant (hard to tell) and that one parishiner is part of the Giddeon bible guys who stick the bible everywhere.
After the service we went for Udon noodles. But Nagoya style Udon noodles with red miso (soy bean paste). In Japan, every region has their own "special" something-or-other that they are known for. The restaurant made the noodles fresh. And you can watch. It is quite a skill. First the dough is rolled out with a wooden dowl. Then the flattened dough is spooled up on the dowl and rolled by pressing the dough outwards to thin it out. Quite a different technique from thinning out pastry dough. Once thinned, the noodle maker uses a giant clever specially designed for cutting noodles and cuts away at tremendous speed. Amazingly the noodles all come out with uniform thickness. Then he weighs the amount needed and stacks them up. It couldn't be simpler, but it looks like it takes some skill.
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Once it is cooked with the red miso paste and other ingredients, it looks and tastes very good. A treat to be had for sure.
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We also went to visit her uncle to get Mika's grandmother's tea equipment. Since no one else in the family does tea ceremony, we were to be the beneficiary of this antique and expensive tea heater and tea pot.
Speaking of tea. I was fitted for my kimono on Monday evening with the help of my tea teacher. The fabric is quite nice and there are some pictures below. It will last me a lifetime. And I'll know if I get too fat; if I can't fit into my kimono. It's quite expensive and I think its easier and cheaper to lose weight than have another one made. The blue role is the kimono material, the thin silver material is the Obi (waist belt), the striped pattern role is for the Hakama (a sort of samurai skirt/pant that goes over the kimono) and the large piece is the underlining.
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| Trying on a hakama for measurment purposes. |
More to come tomorrow. I've been at home, alone, all week with not a soul to speak (everyone is working or busy) to so I started wandering around and taking pictures of stuff. Next week I start three weeks at ASIJ. It can't come soon enough. I'm going a little crazy talking to myself all day.
The past three days, I've been at ASIJ (American School in Japan) substitute teaching for a physics teacher. So far, I think that ASIJ has the friendliest atmosphere of all the schools I've been in. Don't get me wrong, the staff in all the schools have been nice but ASIJ seems just a tad more comfy. The building is reasonably bright inside and not run down which I think helps too. I'm going to be spending three weeks in October teaching grade 7 science for a teacher on parental leave which is good news for me even though the commute is 1 hour and 15 minutes one way by train.
On my way home from the school today, I noticed that the local Japanese elementary school was doing something that I don't think we would see in Canada. It wasn't a special sports day in particular (I know this because if it was, all the parents would be there) but they had divided the school into what seemed like two teams and were having running competitions between classes. The kids here get way more exercise than they do in Canada.
Last weekend, we went kimono shopping has I mentioned previously. Well, the process is not finished. After deciding on the material for the kimono we had to have the store bring in several samples of material to try to match with the fabric to make the hakama (A pant/skirt like covering that goes over the bottom of the kimono). When that comes in I guess I get measured up and we also choose an Obi (waist band fabric). Hopefully this will all be done by the beginning of November.
Since we didn't have anything else to do on Sunday, we went to one of the many convention centres for the Tokyo Game Show. This is not like Wheel of Fortune but the annual convention for computer games with companies from all over the world, including Canada. We were told it was going to be crowded, but it was inconceivably crowded. When we arrived at the opening time of 10 am. There were already several lines for tickets that were long (the picture below shows the back of the line winding its way up to where I took the picture just before the ticket gate).
This is a popular event and it takes up the space of about 8 football fields.
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The show allows people to see new game systems, play new (and unreleased games) for various systems. With lights blinking everywhere, giant screens demonstrating the latest in game play cute Japanese girls dressed in skimpy plastic clothing showing off games consoles it was a geek's paradise. Incidentally, it turns out that geeks all over the world are instantly recognisable in dress and behaviour. Who would have thought.
There were of course those who take their obsession with video games even further than the geeks. You ask how this is possible? I give you the people who dress up as their favourite video game character. We have seen this before when we stumbled upon a comic book character convention last year. I hate to say it but its not really suprising me anymore. What does that say about me?
I was about to get in line for Halo 3 but, one look at the line and I decided I didn't want to age while waiting in line. Needless to say, Halo 3 looks amazing (sorry no pictures, they were pretty forceful about that near Halo 3). The graphics are top notch with additional vehicles and weapons and stuff to terrorise and demolish your opponents (i.e. friends). In addition, there appears to be a Katamari version for Xbox360 as well (for those who enjoyed the playstation version).
Unlike North America, mobile phones here are generations ahead with very sophisticated video games that can be loaded onto cell phones. You can even watch TV on your cell phone if you buy the right kind. (Below are people trying out the new cell phone games).
Lots and lots of games. Long, long lines of people wanting to try them. It's a good thing that Japanese seem to enjoy cueing up for things. I'm glad we went, but we're not going back next year. Just way to crazy. You leave with your head spinning from the noise and flashing lights. Not recommended for those prone to seizures.
A weekend ago, the US embassy hosted their annual "Welcome to Japan" party for the diplomat's of the US embassy and their "friendly" nations. This meant Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Ireland. We went to this last year and had a good time. It is held at the American embassy housing compound which is enormous (The embassy has three to four times the staff that any other embassy has). This is the same place where we went to the July 4th celebrations.
So Mika and I handed out Canadian beer at our Canada tent which was a big hit, just like last year. All countries enjoyed it so much that we ran out reasonably quickly.
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Welcome to Canada | Little Haley enjoys the music |
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| More Canadian Embassy family |
The entertainment for the evening consisted of groups from the various embassies as well as some others who are somehow related to the embassies. Canada had two bands made up of locally engaged staff (Japanese citizens) performing. One called "The Doobie brothers" and the other called "The liverpool Band" (guess what they play. You get a gold star if you guessed Beatles music). All the entertainment was great but there was something odd. It was like it was opposite day or something as the Irish tap dancers (a la "Riverdance") were Japanese, the Japanese guitar players playing traditional Japanese music were American, the pipers were Japanese. Very strange. The interesting thing to note about Japanese staff and Japanese in general who speak English, have a marked improvement in their pronunciation of English words when singing. Listen to the Bluegrass band (made up of Japanese) and you'll see. They were tall players. I understand that in the bluegrass world, tall is synonymous with good.
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I took some camera video so you could hear for yourself. Special note to the less computer savy: Be warned that it may time to download before it will play.
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Last night Mika and I had dinner with three officers from corrections Canada. They were here to transfer two Canadian prisoners here in Japan to a correctional facility in Canada so they can carry out their sentence in Canada where family can visit I guess. Mika's new position as Consul sure brings her into contact with people we would not normally see.
For those who are interested, the public service commission has launch another recruitment drive for a variety of jobs in the public service including the Foreign service. I've decided to submit an application and write the exams and see what happens.
Last weekend we had our first tea lesson since coming back to Japan. I will be tested for my first level (shodan) in tea ceremony on November 11. It's all very exciting but I have to get my hands on a men's kimono that fits me. Caucasians have slightly different proportions than Asians so when I manage to find a Kimono that is long enough (rarely) the sleeves are far too short. So this coming weekend, Mika and I will be going kimono shopping with our tea teacher in order to get me a kimono that fits. This is going to be costly but I only need one.
The weekend before last, on Saturday, we went to the beach near Kamakura. Since the weather here is still piping hot and sticky humid it was a relief to be able to go swimming in the ocean. There were a lot of people with windsurfers as well as surfboards and kite surfers. A very busy place but unfortunately the pictures I took did not really capture the area very well. So no pictures.
On the Sunday we went to Brazil. Ok, so we didn't actually get on a plane or anything but we went to Yoyogi park where there was a Brazil festival. For those who have been reading my blog regularily, this is the same place where we went to India and Sri Lanka. It really is a wonderful place for festivals and the food is always amazing and interesting. I particularily enjoyed this Brazil festival as the music was excellent and complemented the sunny day. There were dancers in their extravagent costumes and local Brazil expats just gathering together with their own instruments in the crowd and singing and dancing together. It was great fun. Maybe one day we'll get to go there for real.
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On our way to the park we passed a procession heading around the neighbourhood. In Japan each neighbourhood has its own Shinto shrine with it own gods and goddesses. During the summer and fall, each shrine has its own day to have a festival to bring good luck to the neighbourhood. This involves taking a small portable shrine called a Mikoshi around the neighbourhood. The evening before the parade the doors of the Mikoshi are opened so that the deity can enter the shrine and then during the parade, a load of members of the community carry the shrine and shake it up and down as they follow the route yelling "wushi" in beat with the shaking. It is said that the more you shake the shrine, the more good luck comes to the community. In front of the Mikoshi are priests and a band that plays traditional music.
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Also on our way up Omotesando to Yoyogi park we saw a building that had previously been covered due to construction. So what you say? Well, I have said before that most buildings in Japan are unattactive, monoliths to the god of concrete. Sometimes, however, they do some interesting things and I thought this building was interesting as the windows pass from one floor to another (look at the picture).
I've been lucky. This past week I managed to get a whole week of substitute work in. Yeah! This is a good thing financially but also helps me get out of the house and seeing other people than Mika. Not that seeing Mika is bad, but it is nice to talk to others as well.
So I have finally sifted through the mirad photos taken this summer and will put them up under the photo section in albums soon. However, here are some from our first excursion after coming back from Canada. By the way, it's still crazy hot here. Temperature of 30 plus 87% humidity makes for some uncomfortable days.
A couple of weeks we went to Hakone (pronounced kak-o-nei) which is a resort town about an hour west into the mountains towards Mount Fuji. It is essentially inside the caldera of a volcano that has erupted several times over geologic history to leave a bowl with a moutainous rim and a lake in the middle called, not suprisingly Hakone lake. When you live in Tokyo, you forget that the whole country is not a concrete jungle and there is nature.
We drove out there but it would probably have been better to take the train as it turns out the the Odakyu train company has a special pass to Hakone that allows you to get there and back and use the public transit around Hakone for a very cheap price. Cheaper than the road tolls. In case I haven't mentioned it before. Japan has probably the most expensive road tolls in the world. For example, it cost us about $25 in tolls one way (100 km) to Hakone.
Anyway Mika, with the help of Bargain Girl (otherwise known as Yone-chan at the embassy), found a hotel with Onsen in the area for a good price. I'm really getting into Onsen which are hot baths. Think Roman bath house but in Japanese style. In the Hakone area, these communal (men and women are separate) baths are quite luxurious and are often volcanically heated with natural mineterals in the water etc. which is supposed to be good for your skin. It is quite relaxing and something that really needs to be experienced to do it justice. The hotel had buffet dinner which included traditional food as well as western food. Once again the gorging tendency of Japanese when things are free/one base price was apparent as a gentleman (I use that politely) ate enough crab legs to sink a battleship. Astounding really.
We spent two days in Hakone. The first day involved getting there and then taking a gondola ride over the mountain to a site called Odawara. This is where sulphur vents off gas and hot water heated by magma bubbles near the surface. A little local economy flourishes there boiling eggs in the sulphur rich water. Why you ask? I'm so glad you asked. Apparently for each egg you eat, your life is extended by several years. The Japanese being as supersitious as they are, or at least subscribing to the idea that it can't hurt, gobble this eggs down. I didn't try any because the smell of sulphur was bad enough, not to mention the shells of the eggs come out the water black. Amazing place to see anyway and of course there is a Hello Kitty dressed as one of these eggs. So, naturally, Mika wanted her picture with it.
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The second day we went to explore around Lake Hakone. There are some walking trails around the lake that would take all day to hike. you can also get from one end of the lake to the gondolas and other transits via boat. But, this being Japan, not just any boat. The boat must be cute or at least kitchy. So two of the boats look like Disney made pirate ships. No sails though.
There is also a cable car that goes up to the top of Mount Komagatake. A not insignificant mountain that is 1327m above the sea (~4000 ft). This was nice because if you notice in the picture of the boat above the air is very hazy near sea level and when we got to the top of the mountain we were at the same altitude as the clouds and the air cleared up. A breathtaking view of Hakone lake below us (panorama shot below)
As with most mountains in Japan, there is a shrine at the top which allows people to pray to the god that lives in the mountain.
On our way up the mountain as wells as at the top you can see Mount Fuji. It has almost no snow on it but we are getting toward the end of the climbing season when you can go up mount Fuji. I have included a photo of Mt. Fuji in winter below for comparison purposes.
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We have done a few other things since then, but I think that suffices for now. Until next time.
There is English radio here in Tokyo. We can tune in AFN (Air Force Network) radio which is the American military radio channel. It's quite good but you have to ignore all the public service announcements about what movies are playing on the base theatres and stuff like that. The reason I mention all of this is because it is a convenient source for weather and we just had some. A typhoon actually.
From the sounds on the radio it would seem like it was going to be a much bigger deal than it actually was. Tuesday rolled around and the radio announced all military bases were now on Tropical Storm Readiness 4. By Thursday it was up to Readiness 1. They cancelled school and requested only emergency staff to come to the base etc. It sounded like we were in for some hum-dinger of a storm. So I waited. 7p.m. rolled around when the storm was expected to hit and the rain that we already were getting stayed the same. It got blustery and rainy overnight but it didn't do any damage to anything and I slept through it all. Most international schools except the American international school cancelled classes for Friday but I can't figure out why. By noon the sun was shining like nothing happen. Much ado about nothing.
Last weekend we went to Hakone. A "resort" area about 1 hour drive from Tokyo which has all these small hotels with Onsen (hot mineral baths). We went on Sunday to avoid the crowds since Monday was a holiday for the embassy but not a Japanese holiday. It was quite nice and I do have pictures, however, I'm still sifting through the 300+ we took this summer so I'm a little behind. Consequently I will have more on that later.
On a more mundane note, I have managed to secure some substitute teaching days already this year and maybe a three week stint in October teaching grade 7 science. Hopefully this means I will get more work this year. OK, back to getting the photos sorted. I also have to prepare lessons for a week of teaching math so I might not have the photos up real soon. We'll see.
Well we are back in Japan. After a very nice holiday in Canada in Ottawa and also a few days in Calgary we have returned to the scortching hot and humid concrete jungle of Tokyo. It was nice to get away to the beautiful and relaxing Canada and we are a little sorry that we had to leave because we were having so much fun. Saw lots of friends and family and when you live in another country where you don't know a lot of people you really appreciate the friends and family that you have where ever they are. So on a mushy, but important note, thanks for being who you are and our family and friends. You are welcome here in Japan anytime.
Ok, enough sentimental gushy stuff.
Mika is back at work preparing to move jobs. That's right, there has been a shuffle at the embassy. Mika was doing HR stuff but will be taking over the position as Consul. This is a promotion for her and she also already been backing up the Consul a quarter of the time anyway so she already has some experience. But this means that if you do something dumb when in Japan, you will get Mika's wrath.
| Page last updated: March 4, 2008 |