The Adventure in another world: Japan

いらっしゃいませ

2007-02-13T06:41:00.000+09:00

いらっしゃいませ　（Come On In!）

Hello friends and welcome to my blog. My name is Joshua Wheeler and for about one semester I traveled to Japan's frosty northern Island of Hokkaido. There I studied and traveled and made notes of the journey. The tales of my adventures and woes are all here on this site so pour yourself a nice hot cup of green tea and pull up a chair while you read the Redragon's tales of Japan.

For those who stuck with me and read all those posts, thank you. However, I feel like there's no point in really going on detailing past events or going off on Portland vs. Sapporo. Instead, I'm back in P.Town studying at Lewis and Clark Co. and studing for my B.A. degree. For this trip I'd like to thank 1st Lewis and Clark Oversea's program for offering the program; 2nd for Hokusei Gakuen University for hosting the program; and third my parents who helped me financially to go participate in this program... Thanks guys!

As for blogging, I've gotten some exellent experience in posting and writing. Someday I'd like to start blogging again, but I think i'll wait until I get a new idea or embark on a new adventure. Maybe on this blog you'll see a link to r3dinthailand, r3din(exotic country), or r3dsailingthepacific whatever it'll be, expect a new theme and a new blog detailing my adventures abroad. For now, I'm taking a break.

So to everyone... here's my blog... check out the links, the webalbum, previous blogs from Day 1 to now. See you around!

~Jya Ne Bye Bye

~Josh the redragon

*note: to view some posts you must have Asian characters loaded on your browser if you don't follow intructions at the (asian character's) promt in order to enable them.

More to say... the transistion back...

2007-01-21T03:26:00.000+09:00

It's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post. I thought that there was really nothing more to say. To some extent I can't really post about *new* Japanese adventures, but most recently, people have asked what's the transition back like ?

Is it really different coming back?

Getting back in the swing of my original American lifestyle has been challenging in some ways and easy in others. Truth be told... I love America and everything about it. However, a piece of me wants to go back to Japan. The difference between the two places is really "me" (as in my place here verses there). In Japan, I'm a "Gaijin" or foreigner. I'm the minority, but it's not isolation. When you're abroad you can see America from a third point of view. It's like going into space to get a different perspective of earth. Somehow I enjoyed being somewhat of an American ambassador... I suppose that as I continue to live here I'll have more to say on the topic.

I've heard people here (in America) say that they feel like they're becoming the minority due to the increase of immigrants moving here. Perhaps that maybe, but it's nothing close to being the only white Amerikan guy on the train.

I don't want to forget everything I've fought so hard to learn and experience. In some ways Home feels foreign... I don't know why it does, but it does. If anything, I truly want to feel at home and I'm very happy to be home. I only hope that as I slowly unwind and transition back into Lewis and Clark, "American," college my day dreams about Japan and Sapporo won't distract me to much.

~J

P.S.
American T.V. has come to me as a great shock. To go from Japan's light hearted game-shows, cheezy drama's, and easy going news to America's crude talent shows, deep-seated dramas, and overly traumatizing news is something of an eye opener.

I'm back home everybody!

2007-01-06T14:15:00.000+09:00

Happy New Years everybody… I’m happy to say that I’ve landed back in the United States. It feels good to be home.

A lot of stuff has happened between when I left you all and now. For starters, Tink and I went to Meiji Shrine on New Years and then the next day went and saw the Emperor of Japan! What an amazing trip it’s been.

I assume that everybody out there has read the little paragraph a the bottom of this blog…

“The adventure is not about people or places or culture. The adventure is what you make it when you're in the middle of it. Seize the day and make it your own. This adventure is about me in a world apart of my own. What doesn't happen is just a part of the adventure as what does happen... Life happens so make the best of it.”

From the day I wrote that, to today I still believe that everyone can have the same adventure as me. However, what of Japan? What of the Japanese? Have I learned any valuable lessons or skills while I was there? The answer is this…

Japan is one of those places that mystifies you with its rich mixture of old tradition and new technology. As soon as you think you’ve witnessed something so magnificent that nothing else could match its “coolness” you’re faced the next day with yet another sight that baffles the mind. I’ve learned that you cannot “do it all” and I have also learned that “you can’t do it all by yourself.” The friends I’ve made along the way have helped me learn just who I am and for that I want to thank them for their companionship.

Japan might seem like the a Far East Asian country that holds it’s secrets deep behind a developed wall of courteously and politeness. In some respects, that is true of them, but it is not who they are. What seems like a system of Honor and Politeness is in fact the result of years of training to be that way no matter what. If one finds a way to peel off that layer they’ll find a group of people much like us who face the same challenges as us and have very similar opinions as us. While it’s easy to call them “Asian” and “Orientals,” after living with them I think that they are more western then we think. In fact, Japan is very “western” and because they are very western (from their clothes to (most) their toilets) it wasn’t hard to adjust.

Like everything else in the world, the concept of “Westernization” is becoming more and more like “Globalization.” Globalization is the common standard of living from one 1^st World country to the next. However, Japan holds on to deeply rooted traditions that make Japan, Japan and not America. As an American I thought I knew just what was American and what wasn’t. I quickly learned that what I thought was uniquely American was really Globalization and what I thought wasn’t American I found out was. For example, upon arrival I searched out a bottle of Skippy’s peanut butter. Skippy’s I thought was so uniquely American that I knew it’d be hard to find, however Skippy’s can be found in most Groceries Stores. There was another case in which I stumbled over some corn dogs. I asked the guy what that was in Japanese and he gave me one of those looks like “are you crazy?” He told me that they call them “American Dogs” and he was convinced that it was an all American food. Things like that are what make up this “culture shock” that is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

Overall, I’ve learned more then a language, I’ve learned a culture. The adventure by far was a success because I kept in mind that, the adventure is what you make it when you're in the middle of it. Seize the day and make it your own.

~J out

Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and stuff

2006-12-26T23:04:00.000+09:00

Hey... I was thinking about some big ole post detailing the adventure from City to City, but then I realized that it'd be better to post the pictures I took instead.

So for now (until I get like 5-7 hours of free time) check out "red's web album" (my photo site) for pics of the adventure Tink and I are on.

Thanks~

~J out

2006-12-26T09:42:00.000+09:00

My first visit to Tokyo was something out of a Sci Fi film. I wasn’t expecting much other then a big city, what I got was something else.

Coming from Sapporo Japan (5^th largest city in Japan) I thought I knew “big cities.” Standing on the cold platform of Sapporo Station I wondered how much different this new metropolis they call “Tokyo” will be to my Sapporo. Riding the train out of the station made me feel a sense of loss as I went past familiar places and stations. I was leaving a home, bound for adventure in places I’ve never been before.

The train trip itself was nothing special. In brief: “farm…. Farm…. Trees…. Farm….. car…. Farm…. Tunnel…. More farms” Yeah… that’s the same Japan we all know. It’s a lot of farmland and housing. The Tunnel was cool though…. Well ok for about 2 minutes. This tunnel I speak of was the tunnel that connects Hokkaido to Honshu. It’s an underground tunnel that goes on and on. The cool thing about it is that it was created and that it’s there.

The whole trip lasted about ten hours with three neck breaking transfers (i.e. 4 min to get from one train to the other) and one really bad fish bento. The best part of the trip, however, was the last transfer…

Riding the Shikansen (bullet Train).

They don’t call this thing the bullet train for nothing. With its long nose and aerodynamically shaped hull, this puppy shot me down the east side of Japan at 201 kph (124.90 mph). Riding in a bullet train is like riding is like riding in an airplane. The stewards go up and down with snacks (you can buy) and the seats recline easily. What’s different is that, on a bullet train, there’s twice as much leg room, you’ll never have to turn off your cell phone or electronic device, you can call anyone from the on board phone (if you don’t have a cell phone), and on some trains there’s a vending machine. Yes… Japan has come along nicely. In fact, both tink and I think AmTrack could take a lesson from Japan!

Anyway the bullet train pulled into “Tokyo” “Tokyo des.” The excitement built up for me as I stepped off the train and onto Tokyo Station’s platform. My first visit to Tokyo was something out of a Sci Fi film. I wasn’t expecting much other then a big city, what I got was something else. I had to get from Tokyo Station to Gotanda station. Using the Yamanote loop line I got on and rode one of the most futuristic trains I’ve seen yet. On the outside these were just the same commuter trains you get in Sapporo, on the inside, however, there was two televisions. One broadcasted t.v. commercials and the other gave you a map of the Yamanote line and the precise time at which you would arrive at your station… AMAZING!

The city was big and full of lights and sounds that big cities have. The sectors of the city showed different sides of Tokyo’s attitude. “You could get lost very easily if you weren’t careful” I thought. There’s a side of Tokyo for everyone too ya know. There’s a historical side, an Otaku (anime) side, Electronics side, an American side, Euro side, etc etc. anyone can fit in here and get a job if they needed too.

Tink and I were to meet at the KFC outside Gotanda. Those that have been to our hotel before told me it was pretty easy to find… No joking either! There it was. It wasn’t a long wait till Tink arrived. We trudged along till we found the Ryokan (Japanese style hotel) and checked into our little room with tatami mats and a little bathroom and a little (separate) toilet.

The next day we toured the Ueno Park and walked around. Late that night we met up with our friend Alan who took us out for some dinner. We really appreciated that too! We look forward to our next time in Tokyo coming up soon (in a couple of days). Anyway that was a little taste of my adventure.

~J out

Merry Christmas from Japan!

2006-12-24T23:48:00.000+09:00

Right now it’s 11:30pm and I can feel Santa making his rounds… even here in Japan. Before he comes however I’d like to say a few things to you all…

First Thank you for reading my blog for the last three and a half months or so… It really means a lot to me and for logging in and reading I feel that’s the best present of them all. Christmas in Japan is similar to America, in that it has all the hustle and bustle of shopping and good tidings, but I feel that it’s also different. I’m lucky to see Christmas from another point of view. It’s special in so many ways.

Christina and I are sharing a Merry Christmas here in Osaka, and so from the both of us

We would like to wish you all a...

Very Merry Christmas!!!

From Japan

I'm Back!

2006-12-24T14:08:00.000+09:00

Yeah Finally I found a hotel with free internet! Ohhhh the stories I have for you all. The pictures... the tales... the everything!

But first I should tell you that Tink and Me met up in Tokyo and all is well with us now. We're safe here in Osaka, Japan. However... we're a little hungry from the train trip over.. After we get a little to eat and check out just where the heck we are I'll post all I can about the trip from Sapporo to Tokyo, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Himeji Castle.

So I'm back to Blogging however it is now "RedinOsaka." So check back in a little bit y'all!

~J out

Japan Rail Pass

2006-12-13T21:17:00.000+09:00

Friends and folks here is the Japan Rail Pass... As the brochure bosts:

"Your Sight-seeing Passport to Japan"

Indeed it is... This little feller will let you ride any Japan Rail service from Trains to Buses to Ferries even. It's usefulness surpasses anything I've ever bought (including the New York Metro Pass). How to use the pass is pretty easy, but mine doesn't start until Saturday.

In the same breath that I say it's useful, I'll say it's also expensive. At $488 USD it's nothing to scoff at... However, the trip from Sapporo to Tokyo alone will undoubtably make this little piece of paper worth all the hastle (because prices for Japanese citizens are outragous!).

This pass is the last of the three, one can buy. The 21-day pass is good from the 16th of Dec-5th of Jan (i.e. my trip) and so this is really what really makes my trip somewhat doable.

Speaking of the trip... it wouldn't be me if I didn't let you on the bulk of my travel plans...

From Sapporo I make my way to Tokyo where i'll meet Christina (my girlfriend). Two days later we'll depart and make our way to Kyoto where we'll see hundreds of temples (it seems) and castles including Himeji which is on our "side-trip" tour.

After Kyoto the plan is...

(from Kyoto) day trip to Nara
(from Kyoto) day trip to Himeji
Osaka
Nagoya (where I flew in 3 months ago) with a side trip to:
-Ise
and back to Tokyo with a side trip to:
-Kamakura
-Nikko

then fly home on the 4th of January. It sounds busy and expensive (I know). The hotels for the trip will roughly be about $1500 usd. However... I'm going places I've wanted to go my whole life so if it's between money and an experence of a lifetime, then I'm choosing the later. Of course with the help and contribution made by my parents, this opportunity would never of been possiable... so A big thanks to them!! If for some reason I never get to comeback then I'll never regret what i'm about to embark on in just 3 days.

stay tuned for my grand summery of everything post. I'm going to try to say everything I need to say then, but it won't be the last post! I assure you that.

Thanks for reading!

~J out

The Speech

2006-12-09T17:20:00.000+09:00

For Japanese class we had to write a speech. The difficulty was based on our level of Japanese and so for class 3 Japanese we had to write like 700 characters using the grammar we learned in class. So I'll go ahead and post my speech. This speech is about the Japanese vending machine. I basically compare it to the American vending machine. If you can read Japanese　（日本語のできるの人なら） then どうぞう：

ウィラー・ジョシュアのスピーチ：

はじめまして、わたしはジョシュア·ウィラーです。自動販売機について話します。日本の自動販売機はかっこいいと思います。

日本へ来る前、自動販売機はつまらない物だと思っていましたが、日本へ来てから、自動販売機はかっこいいと思うようになりました。どうして、日本の自動販売機は、アメリカの自動販売機よりかっこいいんでしょうか。それは、たぶん、日本の自動販売機とアメリカの自動販売機が本当にちがうからでしょう。アメリカの自動販売機はコーラーとジャンクフードと（時々）おいしくない料理があるだけです。でも、日本の自動販売機には色々なものがあります。例えば、タバコやたまごやライスやうどんやアイスやビデオ(DVD)、CDソフトやしたぎやトイレットペーパーもあります。

いつから、じどうはんばいきは普及したのでしょうか。エソールトメントドットコム（essortment.com）の話によると東京の１９６４年のオリンピックに多くの人が来ました。でも、多くの人が来た時、かかりがほとんどいなかったので、飲み物と食べ物をうるために、自動販売機が普及するようになりました。

札幌市の自動販売機はとてもかっこいいし、使いやすいですが、時々変です。でも、一番変で、かっこいい自動販売機は東京にあります。東京にはいろいろな自動販売機があります。それに、ぜんぶとても便利です。アメリカの自動販売機にはコークスとジャンクフードがあるだけなので、日本に来た時、私は本当にびっくりしました。

アメリカへ帰る時、日本の自動販売機を一つ持って帰りたいです。でも、たぶんこれは無理でしょう。なぜ、日本の自動販売機はアメリカの自動販売機より、かっこいいのでしょうか。もしかしたらアメリカの自動販売機もこれからもっとかっこよくなるかもしれません。

I'll try to translate it later for you English folks...

~J out

EDIT:
Fixed some mistakes but I give it tomorrow... Wish me luck!

Japanese Culture (文化) Part 3: Language and the language gap

2006-12-09T17:18:00.000+09:00

Again from the same book as before, the author remarks on "borrowed words." First I'll give you what he wrote and comment later...

"Borrowed words" (外来語・gairai-go)

The Japanese Language has incorporated so many English words that many people find it hard to talk without using English. Today's young Japanese, who grew up using more that any other generation, will likely have a hard time telling foreign words form Japanese words. But many still have a problem with correct English pronunciation...

Comment:
I find this one to be the biggest joke here... Often, if you ask a Japanese person, "can you speak english?" "英語はできますか" the common responce will be a resounding "no" "ぜんぜんできません！" but perhaps later on as the two of you chat, you'll notice the common use of English words to describe either new gadgets or places. It's weird! Like someone today (an American) asked me how to say "good-bye" in Japanese? To be honest it's..."Jaa Ne Bye-bye" or just bye bye. I tried telling this to a Japanese person that if they willed it they too could speak English.

However, while the words are the same the spelling is in Katakana (or one of the two phonetic alphabets) thus forming what is called "Katakana-go" or "katakana Language." This only applies to speaking however... Japanese people can read English amazingly well and understand a lot.

I'd also like to tell you that often the English words that are borrowed are American English words, meaning that the word "Color" is spelled "C-O-L-O-R" and not "Colour" as it would be in say... England.

~J out "bye! bye!"

Japanese Culture (文化) Part 2: "Real intention"

2006-12-09T17:17:00.000+09:00

A book that was given to me by an unassuming Japanese person revealed deep in the back some interestesting lessons about Japanese culture that I'd like to share with you...

From Japan (english ed) by Toshiya Enomoto

"Hon'ne," or real intent, is the opposite of "tatema'e" (or Diplomatic Language). Japanese often cover up their "hon'ne" when they are still in early stages of a new relationship. They usually think it's best policy to humor the other person along to better build the relationship. The think it is much more "polite" because their "hon'ne" could make the other person unhappy. A Japanese salesman may tell you he is a "Ham Fighters" fan himself when he finds out you have a season ticket for the "Hams." But his "hon'ne" may be that he is a hardcore Tigers fan from Osaka and doesn't give a #&$! about "those miserable Hams." When a new Japanese acquaintance tells you something nice about what you do (i.e. say you're good at Japanese), take it with a large grain of salt. I always do when I test-market my phrasebook to Japanese readers. They will say "What a nice phrasebook by such a nice author!" but start to laugh at the typos the moment my back is turned!

I showed this to my host mom and her responce was, "Yeah that's about right for a lot of Japanese folks" however she was quick to say that the generation is changing and that sometimes Hon'ne leaks out and people are starting to be... well.. more American.

~J out

Sayoonara parties and Kompai's!

2006-12-09T17:01:00.000+09:00

Starting last night was first of my Sayoonara parties or Good-by parties. I have one more tonight with the kendo club and another on the 14th with my host-family and friends. Next week is my last week in Sapporo, Japan. All the final tests and speeches and whatnot are wrapping up and soon we'll all be back in our home towns or off exploring Japan.

So Kompai (cheers) Y'all for reading the blog... Maybe I'll even do a Kompai post later on. Expect the grand summation post of my whole trip, plus a new Japanese culture post...

But for now I'm writting my evaluations of the classes I attended. So far I've just finished my Japanese class eval (5 pages) and plan to start work on the other 2.

By the way it snowed here. It's predicted to continue tonight. It's at a foot or so now and tough to walk though, but I still love it. I'd like to stay longer just to play in it some more, but alas I can't so I'll play in it when I have time.

~J

Two words

2006-12-06T22:16:00.000+09:00

Kanji Test....

Yeah got a big ole kanji test tomorrow. Tonight I'm study'n like hell. Got some big ones too... If your computer can show kanji here's a few I gotta remember:

離婚 - divorce
熱 - hot things
暖かい - warm things
意味 - meaning
指定席 - reserved seat
会議室 - conference room
試験 - exam
残念 - regrettable
結果 - result
結婚 - marrage
親切；寝屋 - kindness; bedroom (the hiragana spelling is the same しんせつ "shinsetsu")
選手 - player, athlete
農業 - agriculture

Just to name a few.

So wish me luck... I'll need it

~J out

EDIT: (for firefox users)
If you can't read the kanji try going to "View"--> "Character Encoding"--> "UTF-8" (works for me)

2006-12-04T20:07:00.000+09:00

Again under assignment from Dad, I revisited Hokkaido University after a hard snow. It was cold and treacherous, but well worth it.

Hitting both places I’ve been, as well as, places I haven’t I tried to make it new and refreshing. Anyway here’s my account of the adventure…

I started at Oasa (where all adventures start) and rode the train in Sapporo. I was in the back of the train and had a good shot at the train cockpit so I took a few pics of it. I’ll admit that I’m a nerd when it comes to stuff like trains and gadgets. Before coming here to Japan, I used to play this game called “Densha de Go” or “Lets go by train” which was a Train Simulation Game. After playing that game for a while I got into trains so, seeing a real train work just like the game was amusing!

Sorry… So at Sapporo Station I made my way outside towards Hokkudai (Short for Hokkaido University). I entered into the gates and before me was the same park I had taken shots of 2 months earlier. Everything was white and the leaves and sticks that fallen on to the snow were very visible. So when I arrived to Hokkudai, it looked like a peppered white blanket had been put down over everything.

Honestly the whole place looked a lot different then when I went earlier in the year. I went to park, Clark bust, and the rock formation. Then I went hiking around looking for new stuff to take pictures of. It was only in my exploration that I found a secret nuclear bunker where Japan is hiding their WMDs for the next attempt to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Or maybe it was just the Chemistry building. You decide.

Last stop was the famous street where the trees go on an on. The last time I was here was in November and it didn’t look half as good as it did this time. The street you see was solid black ice. So if you took a running start you could probably slide for 5ft.

I headed home, but not after first going to hibachi camera (i.e. electronics shop) to check out all the new games and stuff. There they had a playable PS3 so I got a chance to play Ridge Racers which is REALLY fun! (Haven’t played the Wii yet, but when I do get it I’m planning on getting the U.S. release)

Anyway that was my trip… the pics say more then my words. Check ‘em out on the web album.

~J out

Snow be a falling

2006-12-03T10:33:00.000+09:00

Snow started last night and didn't end until this morning. So it's up about 1/2 ft or 2/3 of a foot of snow.

here's a pic of last night:

Here's a pic of this morning:

Yeah... so... it snowed. This morning I awoke the sound of plow trucks shoveling snow and ice off the streets. The streets are full of black ice and snow pack. This of course isn't totally rare for these parts. I guess getting a foot or two of snow is more or less expected for December. I love it! I've never seen so much snow in a single day... this is GREAT!

If only everyone could share the same amount of enthusiasm as me!

~J out

The first day of December

2006-12-01T19:47:00.000+09:00

The first day of December... Wow! Where has the time gone? This is hardly a "reflection post" but It's a shocker to think I have about 2 weeks left in good ole Sapporo.

The trip is planned and the dates and places are set. Here's a quick brief of our itenerary:

Start: December 16th End: January 4th.
Two people: Christina and I
Cities we're visiting:

Kyoto: 6 days
Nara
Himeji
Osaka: 3 days
Nagoya: 2 days
Ise:
Kamakura:
Tokyo: 7 days
________________
Total: 19~20 days (with two days reserved for transit)

Pretty impressive of me to plan all this: The hotels are being arranged, and JR tickets are being bought. Seems like this trip will happen after all.

For me, I'm sad to leave Sapporo and the friends I've made here, but on the other hand, I'm excited to get out and see the rest of Japan.

I feel that this will make a grand end to a great adventure.

On the Blog:
I don't know if i'll be able to blog on the trip. I'll have the laptop and a wifi connector so I'll try as hard as I can.

The future of the blog is also something I'm thinking about... I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it. However that's for another time and another place.

~J out

Isogashii

2006-11-29T22:37:00.000+09:00

Today I made a movie called Isogashii ("Busy" in Japanese). I uploaded it to the blog through google video...

(High-Speed internet needed to watch it)

hope you like it...

If you really want to know: This is actually an assignment from my dad who asked me to go and take pictures of Japanese people. I thought how I was going to do that and then, in a starbucks, it hit me... I should do a movie here in Sapporo Station. So as I was filming the starbucks bit, this song started on my psp and because it fit so well with the atmosphere, I used it. I then went around the station and filmed various places and then when I got home I put it all together and Zam! Here it is.

The technology used was my Fuji film: FinePix A360 Digi-cam + Windows Movie Maker.

~J out

Japanese Culture (文化) Part 1: Materialism

2006-11-28T20:07:00.000+09:00

I thought I'd do a three or four part series on Japanese culture (or bunka 文化） based on my observations thus far.

I want to start with materialism because it's so noticeable here. From the minute you step off the plane, you’re immersed in a sea of advertising, marketing, fashion trend magazines, as well as the people who follow it religiously. Materialism or “Shoppingu” is considered a hobby, a past time, and sometimes a necessity. I don’t even want to guess at what percentage of these students part time job goes to shopping for the latest fad. Whether it’s skin tight jeans with cowboy boots, or a short mini-skirt with Eskimo boots (while it’s snowing), or the common skirt and jeans combo these “children of fashion” do what it takes, no matter the weather, to be fashionable or be seen by others.

Is it wrong? Well… Yes and No. Perhaps I should break it down into why, I think, it might be good and why it might be bad.

The Good:

The reason materialism could be seen as good (perhaps necessary) is really plain economics. Hokkaido economics isn’t really “booming,” according to some residents, Hokkaido’s economy has been sliding down. Perhaps the reason is because Hokkaido’s number one industry is Tourism (Skiing) and Agriculture. However, if people from the rest of Japan (or the world) can’t afford travel or have an excess of foodstuffs then Hokkaido’s economy suffers. Therefore Hokkaido’s economy is constantly in a state of fluxuation. The only industry that remains constant is textiles or sales. So back to why consumerism/materialism is good: It helps Hokkaido and the rest of Japan by providing a stable industry amongst all the other less stable ones.

The Bad:

It’s everywhere and very distracting. Just today I was at the JR Sapporo Station drinking a cup of Starbucks coffee and looking at all the shops all around. From Gucci to Armani, and from Gap to Uniclo shopping is all around. If it were contained to the JR Station then I might not complain, but it’s more then that. It’s a religion that is obeyed by even the youngest of children to the eldest of elders. In one hour I witnessed a 3-4 year old child wearing a new down coat, designer pants, etc. Perhaps I'm wrong that it is in the center of everything, but this is all based on my observations only. In America, at the center is a symbol of some sort. For example, the flag or Jesus or something that touches every American deep inside. Here it’s the fashion and recently the constant use of the word: “X-Mas.” If I was a complete stranger to Japan and "Christmas" then I would think the 24^th was X-Mas eve and the 25^th was X-Mas. If the center of X-Mas isn’t Santa-sama and Presents then it’s “Kurisamasu Kēki” (Christmas cake) and KFC, not the advent, or Christ, or anything that Americans have grown-up with. It’s goods and services, and reds and whites, Santa designed plush dolls, and jingle bell rock type songs. It's a materialistic Christmas that's celebrated for it's hallmark nature.

All of this materialism is mostly based on culture and upbringing from (most likely) after the economic boom of the 90's. Therefore, all out advertising on billboards, phones, bookbags, school walls, vending machines, bathroom walls, buses, taxis, etc. isn't “weird” or out of place due to the current generation's upbringing. I expect to see a day in the near future when the United States follows suits with the whole “Christless Christmas” or X-mas idea. Religion isn’t professed or imposed here. Somehow I see this trend as something to be asorbed as globalism. Only this time it would be from Japan to the West, and not vice-versa.

~J out

Oh stay tuned for a movie I made today at Sapporo Eki called "isogashii" (busy in Japanese).

2006-11-27T18:21:00.000+09:00

The calm before the storm as they say… Have a look at the ole “tenki yohō” (weather report) for Sapporo.

(Source: GOO2006 NTT Resonant Inc. )

11月28日（火）(Nov. 28^th: Tuesday)

Tuesday: Mostly sunny but in the evening the snow begins! It’s predicted to be 3 degrees C with 1mm of snow and a 72% humidity.

Rest of the week:

29(水) (wed): Cloudy/Snow; Hi/lo 6/2 Cº

30(木) (thur): Cloudy/Snow; Hi/lo 3/-3 Cº

1(金) (fri): Cloudy/Snow; Hi/lo 3/-2 Cº

2(土) (sat): Cloudy/Snow; Hi/lo 1/-3 Cº

3(日) (sun): Cloudy/Snow; Hi/lo 1/-5 Cº

4(月) (mon): Cloudy/Snow; Hi/lo 2/-5 Cº

What does it mean? It means that tuesday night it's going to start snowing and it's not going to end till Monday. Pretty wild eh… time to batten down the hatches! Maybe I'll be able to get those snowy scenery shots of Hokkaido University after all...Pretty wild… A whole week of snow! Guess it's time to batten down the hatches!

~J out

Photography Art Folder

2006-11-26T12:42:00.000+09:00

While I have been here, I've tried my hand at some "photography art." They're nothing special, just experiments with my camera and free software on the net.

When you're checking them out, know that I'm just using a $100 digital camera and Picasa2 from Google.com.

enjoy!

~J out

(you can see them in my web album)

Hmmm maybe next time

2006-11-26T10:29:00.000+09:00

I know it's not a problem for Sapporo to snow hard and to generate a lot of snow, but lately these snow "flurries" that melt off the next day are frustrating for people like me who want a good snow shot.

Without the snow, Hokkaido University looks kind of creepy... I was looking at pics from its fall season; Hokkaido looks dark and skeleton like. There was a group of prospective students touring the campus, while I took pics and from what I saw the scenery wasn't selling the place. The day wasn't "lost," just delayed. I was with friends who also wanted a good "Hokkaido Pic" and so we went wondering through Sapporo until we reached the Odori German Festival. Yep, the Odori German Festival where Germans from all around (Munich I assume, Sapporo's Sister City) we're selling Sausages and sauerkraut (with Chopsticks), as well as, (not so great) German Beer. I bought some cinnamon bread and a cocoa and admired Odori's annual "Winter Illumination." Winter Illumination is kind of like if PIR let you walk around their light show instead of driving. Its spans the whole park with little displays everywhere.

It was getting late when I finally got my cocoa, so I headed home... I ended up giving the cinnamon bread to the family, not because it was bad, but because I thought it was a good time to give 'em a gift.

~J out

Winter Wonderland

2006-11-24T18:16:00.002+09:00

These are pics of campus before and after the snow. Cool 'eh? Yeah... the landscape is changing day by day. Soon it'll all look like this! Tomorrow is Saturday and if the weather continues to be this cold, I plan to revisit Hokkaido University and take round 2 of Hokkaido "snow" pics.

~J out

Nippon Ham Fighter's Arigatoo parade

2006-11-23T10:49:00.000+09:00

My apologies for being lazy… I’ve been meaning to write these next couple of posts for some time.

Last Saturday was a big “Congratulations” parade to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Baseball team. The parade was celebrating a great run that ended in First ever National League Championships for the hams. The entire city (it seemed) was there to cheer the team on. From their first game victory to their last, Sapporo Ham Fighters fans are dedicated to supporting their team. There are few things here in Sapporo that “Sapporians” are devoted too, it seems: Sapporo Beer, Skiing, and their Baseball & Soccer teams.

The parade started at Sapporo Station (Sapporo’s HQ) and went down past Odori, the arcade, and finally to Susukino. The whole team and the hams coach (a white Texan guy) were the guests of honor and parade was just for them only. That means that once the team pasted by the parade was over. I went and was amazed by what I saw… Here’s what happened:

I got on the train and headed down to Sapporo Station where the parade was going to start. There were hundreds of people crammed on the street sidewalks ready for a good show. Apparently, as one told me, they had been there since last night! LAST NIGHT IN SAPPORO IN NOVEMBER! Talk about devotion!

Anyway… the parade started and jumped on the subway to Susukino so get a good look at ‘em. I saw some hoopala going on down the street, and then I saw them in their victorious glory. It was pretty good show… The music, the screams, the “ARIGATOO’s” everything! The amazing part really wasn’t the Parade, but what took place afterwards.

The team went by and the confetti fell… it fell and fell… then after they went by and the people (the spectators) got on their hands and knees and picked up every single confetti piece. It was amazing to watch. I got mostly photos of that… Later I found out that Sapporo has a street law on the books that says that stuff like confetti blocks traffic so if they didn’t pick it up in like 3 or 4 hours then the parade organizers would be law breakers. So the parade organizers asked the public to assist and they did… they helped out. Even I picked up a handful just to not look out of place, but imagine it people! Macy Day Parade in NYC or Thanksgiving parade! People throwing confetti and then picking it up! Yeah Right!

Well that’s what happened and if you don’t believe me then believe the pics.

Simply fantastic! more pics in the web-album..

Japan is all business, but good business!

2006-11-20T17:45:00.000+09:00

I love Japan for their services, however, Japan is really all business but good business. Here's what happened...

About two weeks ago my eletronic dictionary that I got September 11th broke. By "broke" I mean that it didn't turn on. I thought it was the batteries so I went and got some and put them in (the right way + -> +; - -> -) and nothing happened. So not knowing anything about Japanese warrenties, I let it sit on my desk for about a week until I finially decided to go back to Yamada Denki, the store I got it at, and ask for another one.

So at the Yamada Denki I handed them the dictionary and said "broken I think" and they obviously thought I didn't put the batteries in right, so they proceeded to change the batteries and nothing happened. Convinced that it was broken, they took it in and filled out the "broken" paperwork. I stumbled over the info they needed, but eventually filled out the forms correct and then they put into their "fix" bin. They told me that they were going to send it to Cannon to get it fixed and then have it sent back. "The total amount of time would be around a month is that ok?" they said, "ok desu" I replied. I was stricken with grief. A month later I'd be gone, somewhere in Honshu fretting over some Kanji or Word without a dictionary to help me. Alas I walked out in somber spirits.

One week later...

So I'm sitting in a coffee shop with my friends awaiting a call from someone who was to meet us there and the phone rings. The number was 110 something (i.e. not a cell phone that usually starts with either 090 or 080). I answered the phone and someone came on in super fast Japanese that I couldn't understand at first. I went into my usual "you got the wrong number" thing, but she persisted. Eventually she slowed down and said the basics:

YD: "is this 080... ... ...?"
ME: "Hai"
YD: "Are you Weeraa Jooshua?"
ME: "Hai"
YD: "This is Yamada Denki desu" she said.
ME: "Eh? Yamada Denki? Ohhhhhh! (*Excuse me) the Dictionary!, (Excuse me) but, how is it?" (realizing how much a fool I was)

YD: "Finished desu!"
ME: "Oh (excuse me) I see! I'll drop by tomorrow and pick it up... (excuse me)"
YD: "Hai! Ok that is fine"
ME: (Excuse me) Thankyou... (excuse me) Thank you for calling.

*Excuse me or Sumimasen (すみません）is an useful expression that Japanese people use a lot for all situations. In this case, after realizing how much a fool I was, I used Sumimasen to emply that I was sorry for not realizing that it was Yamada Denki calling about my dictionary.

So, of course, I forgot about it Sunday when they called, but today I went and got it. When I went to get it I didn't have my papers, but my phone number was good enough I guess. They ended up giving me a new one and the one week wait was just Yamada Denki waiting for the Cannon Company to just say "ok give 'em a new one." At least that's what I think.

Anyway I got a brand new Cannon Wordtank C50 that's good to go... I don't have to worry about standing there at some Subway sign wondering what "あぶない" means.

Thanks Yamada Denki for all the help!

~J out

Nothing like a juicy steak~

2006-11-18T10:22:00.000+09:00

Hey Everybody!

Last night after kendo a friend and I decided to check out "Shin-Sapporo Station" opposite from Odori and Susukino where we usually go on a friday night. Shin-Sapporo is the station that I usually either ride my bike to or take the bus on my commute to school. It's a fairly big station, because its also a JR Train station, as well as, Sapporo Subway station. Anyway... On our tour of Shin-Sapporo we looked around for a good place to eat. There's three sections or Malls here all with different restraunt floors (usually the top floor).

So at the top of one Mall "Duo 1" we found a great Italian place with relitively cheap pizza's for $3-$3.50, as well as, thick juicy steaks. The Steak is what drew us both in... it had been awhile since I had a nice Rump Steak. We went in and was seated in a grand room with classical Italian art mounted on the walls and ceiling. The music atmosphere was that steriotypical "Italian Sound." The menu had salads, pizzas, pasta, and stuff. The big one was of course the steak. I had to order... 700-800 yen for a little steak... little but a good one! So we ate and were happy! here's the pic I took with my cell phone:

~J out.

EARTHQUAKE & TSUNAMI in Hokkaido

2006-11-15T23:16:00.000+09:00

Ok here's the skinny:

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.1 hits Etorofu Island off Hokkaido of northern Japan. The earthquake struck at 8:15 p.m. Tokyo time at a depth of 30 kilometers near Russia's Kuril Islands, the Japanese meteorological agency said.

The tsunami was likely to hit the eastern part of the Pacific coast of Hokkaido at 9:10 p.m. Japan time, the agency said on its Web site. The first wave was expected to be 1 meter high. A wave up to 2 meters (about 6ft or so) high could reach the Okhotsk Sea coast of Hokkaido by 9:20 p.m., the agency said. There were no immediate reports from those locations.

Yeah... exciting eh? Earth Quake in Japanese is JISHIN Tsunami in Japanese is, well, TSUNAMI.

~J out "I'm ok"

New Weather Sticker

2006-11-15T23:00:00.000+09:00

Hey y'all~ yet another cool gadget!

I know it might be a little late, but I found a cool weather tick from weatherunderground.com. If you look at the very bottom of the blog you find it has the temp and weather condition. As the weather gets worse or better... y'all can check in to see how the weather is doing. It's not a "banner" or ad or anything. I try to keep this blog "ad free" with the exception of the blogger banner and the counter.

ok...

~J out

By the way... the foot's doing better.

The Akai Yakata (あかいやかた)

2006-11-15T20:53:00.000+09:00

Welcome to the Akai Yakata

Off the beaten path is a special place that the three of us (Rob, Nick, and I) go frequently “The Akai Yakata.” It was found by mistake but, this place is somehow is one of those places that you love because of its ambiance and character. If you’ve never been here before you’re in for either a culture shock or a delightful treat. Simply put, this coffee shop is one of those rare places that time forgot after 1970. You can see how years of smoking has “seasoned” this place. The walls, the curtains, and ceilings are a light brown from years of tobacco smoke (as well as other kinds of smoke). We all wonder what this place was like 30-40 years ago. It must have been rock’n at one time like one of those coffee shop joints in New York back in the 50's. I think its a real Bob Dylan kind of place (whatever that means to you). The people that come and go, I assume, are time travelers just making their way to where ever they’re from. It's new and old, dated and current all in one. It's how you appreciate it when you're there that makes it great or makes it drab.

For me, I think the atmosphere is great! Come in and sit down at anyone of the old table top video game tables. There's an old horse racing game, an old pong game, and Tetris (but Tetris is the only one that works). While you’re sitting there (assumably playing Tetris) you’re greeted by Yuko, a nice waitress that serves you a glass of water and patiently waits for you to order. There are many specialties here at the Akai Yakata. Most people order coffee and the Mikku Fry (which is a deep fried dish of tempura, oyster, potato, and cod). The Mikku Fry comes with Salad, Mizo Soup, Rice, and an apple slice. Also if you order coffee (ko~hi~) they usually include it in the order. Prices are pretty reasonable as Japanese coffee shops (ki-sa-ten) go: Coffee is 350 yen and the Mikku Fry is 880 yen. The other option is to order the excellent spaghetti. At the Akai Yakata they have all sorts of spaghetti from Nato Speghetti to Meat Spaghetti, you name it. Great stuff too if you ask me. A better review of the Menu (especially the HAMBAAGU) can be read at

http://navy.ap.teacup.com/applet/sugasuga/200607/archive

just search for the「『赤い館』のハンバーグ♪」. Beware its all in Japanese!

Anyway pretty much everyday I make my way down the Shiroshi Bicycling Path to the first street intersection where I turn left and head down the street to the barber sign where I hang another left and there it is “the red café.” You won’t find it in a travel guide or from any English travel guides like Lonely Planet, but this is the place! Its retro, but nobody is trying to keep it retro… it is what it is and that’s why I recommend it.

~J out

One Night of Incredible Snow!

2006-11-13T17:48:00.000+09:00

Last night was a beautiful sight to see. It was if everything I’d been accustomed to had changed into a magical wonderland of snow. Snow, of course, is hardly rare this time of the month so to see it was nothing special for the family. For me it was so awesome that I had to go out and play around. The forecast was for snow that evening, but the next day it simply melted away.

The snow last night, however, was actually different from the snowflake snow. Last night’s snow was like round pellets, not hard or soft, just pellet snow. It was too cold and too dark to catch any really grand shots of the scenery, but I managed to get a before and after shot of the front of our house.

This first was one I took when I got here in September:

This second one was last-night’s picture.

It is pretty cool to see the snow beginning to fall here. Today the snow didn’t fall, but I’m sure it’ll fall later this week and when it does, you better believe I’ll get some groovy snow shots. Like this one that I took last night as a train passed by.

~J out

Out for the count this week

2006-11-10T07:13:00.000+09:00

I posted a deal about my foot before. The status now is that I believe I injured it in a Kendo practice. I did talk to the nurse and I think she said to chill it and take a break from Kendo. So yesterday and today I think I'll just take a break "Yasumi" and give my foot a chance to rest.

In other news, registration for spring 2007 is going on at Lewis and Clark. Trying to register has been challenging, but in the end it is working out. My *estimated graduation time is roughly Fall of '07.

Other then that... everything is working out well!

goodtimes
~J out

EDIT Monday, November 13th, 2006:

Foot is doing better. I think I'll go back to practicing Kendo tomorrow night.

~J out

Worst ride home in a long time

2006-11-07T23:02:00.000+09:00

Thought I'd tell you all that today it rained hard. This morning started out pretty confortable at 17 degrees celcius, but as the day wore on the rain, thunder, and lightning made for a pretty miserable day.

The worst part of it was riding home from Shin-Sapporo Station home. I thought I was strong, I thought I was brave, but no... the weather beat me into submission. Something about that ３．５km ride home in the blistering rain and wind nearly broke me down.

I had a large jean jacket and a wool flannel, jeans & a tee shirt, Doc martins, and my grey had with the brim and I got soaked down to my underwear and tee shirt. The only I could say to my host mom was, "シャワーあびたいおにがいします。”　（I want to take a shower please)

The Ofuro was warm so I soaked until I was back to normal and then my host mom make me a heaping bowl of hot steaming Kimchi and mongolian beef which was fantastic. So at least it ended well.

~J out

REDRAGON'S PHOTO ALBUM ONLINE!

2006-11-06T23:53:00.000+09:00

What you say? Amazing!

If y'all would look to the nav bar on the right, you'll see a pic of me with a camera and a sign that says,

"Picasa Web: Online Photo Album"

Click on "me" and it'll take you to my online photo album where you can browse pics that I didn't post on previous blog posts. The album name should corespond with the post I made. A good tactic *could be* to read the post again by scrolling on the

"Find Older Posts Here! <_ /"

Tab and then look at the pics that I took of that event.

Sorry I didn't do this earlier, but better late then never right?

~J out

A Family Adventure to Niseko Onsen

2006-11-06T22:16:00.000+09:00

This past weekend I was invited to come with my host family and the other families to Niseko Onsen. The whole trip was awesome and well worth it if anyone gets a chance to travel Hokkaido. Admittedly, Niseko is best visited in the middle of winter during the snow fall, visiting this glorious place when we did offered just as much beauty. Spelled ニセコ (ni-se-ko) in Katakana, it’s origins come from the Native Hokkaido Ainu language. Ainu names are a lot like Northwest Native American names in that even major cities like Sapporo (for example) come from Ainu Origins just like “Seattle” is named after Chief Seattle.

The method of travel was carpool. All of us and our gear fit in three cars. Off to Niseko we went like a SUV Caravan. We didn’t go directly there; instead we stopped at a couple of spots to enjoy the wonders of Hokkaido’s natural wonders.

Our first stop was an Ice Cream stand called the Aisu House or Ice Cream House. Aisu is Japanese for Ice Cream, but it’s usually spelled in Hiragana “あいす”。After filling ourselves with Hokkaido’s best ice cream we headed out towards Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The trip was long and somewhat boring. Hokkaido (outside the city) first reminded me of Tillamook. Then as we got into the deeper countryside, it reminded me of East Oregon on the 395 highway. I mean… the hills and mountains and small farm towns really made me feel like I was back in Oregon on that road trip home. I suppose if I had to pick a small town to live in, I’d choose this area between Niseko and Otaru, because it has beauty, it reminds me of Oregon, and it’s still 100% Japan. Oh and don’t forget it’s plenty volcanic here, in fact, the volcano’s in the area are still pretty active making the area a Geologist’s (or geology lovers) dream! =)

The scenery changed as we entered the boundaries of Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The lake here was absolutely beautiful. The landscape is simple amazing! Where we were was an old pier that leaned to the side and had an old rustic look that married with the lake and the mountains, made for a good shot. That wasn’t all, from the lake you could see the volcanos (and steam coming out of each peak!). According to the Lonely Planet Guide, The volcanoes are still making headlines: Usuzan erupted quite violently in 2000, sending boulders thousands of feet into the air. Apparently, in 1943, after a series of earthquakes, Showa Shin-Zan emerged as an upstart bump in some vegetable fields southeast of Toya-ko Onsen, it then surged upwards for two more years to reach its present height of 407m (1335.3’ ft.). The guide mentions that at the time, Japanese officials were keen to hush it up as they thought it was a bad omen and might portend an inauspicious end to WWII. Local officials were urged to douse the volcanic flames (they didn’t) so that Allied aircraft couldn’t use them for orientation. Showa-Shin-Zan is still belching sulphurous fumes, creating an awesome spectacle for visitors. I can tell you all that it truly was pretty amazing to see all that coming out of a big hill.

After messing around at the lake we all piled back in and headed for this place simple known as “Forest 276 Otaki.” I can’t really tell you why other then it was a cool farmer’s market and there were plenty of trees around. This place had that “logger jack” feel to it. It also had a restaurant that had big log beams holding the roof up. I also don’t really know why we stopped other then it being a good pit stop and a good stretch point.

The next placed we stopped at was this little tofu place, but the tofu wasn’t the attraction. In front of us was a very large mountain and out of the ground were springs that apparently were fresh and clean enough to drink from. I was encouraged to drink from one of 6 or 7 spouts spurting water all over. I wasn’t alone either, there must have been nearly 20 people filling up bottles, jugs, and 5 & 10 gallon barrels. The tofu shop was pretty neat too. They had all sorts of tofu samples and tofu doughnuts that were tasty and different. I can’t say I’m a tofu nut, all the tofu samples tasted similar, but I’ll try anything once.

Finally we reached Niseko and checked into the “Yodel” B&B. We dropped a couple of bucks at the local Max Value (Supermarket) for some beer and munchies. Once we settled in we all decided to hit the Onsen. The Onsen access was actually in a Hotel (as most are). All you do is pay an access fee (500y) and bring a towel (important!) to save the rental fee. The Spa was really large and plenty deep to soak in. I don’t know why America doesn’t capitalize on this Onsen idea. I mean you could make bank with a Mt. Hood Onsen or a Bachelor Onsen back at home. Good deal… The onsen we went to was also co-ed.

Ok… so back at the hotel was dinner waiting for us. I think we did the “shabbu shabbu” meal, if it’s called something else then my apologies. It’s basically this: You get a one burner stove in the middle of the table and then you get a tray of veggies and meat. On the stove is a big half dome cooking pan (cast iron perhaps) that you then cook and eat as you feel like. One burner/pan is good for about 4 people. It was like a personal Mongolian grill that you prepared for yourself. Good food! Plenty of meat and veggies with a fish platter on the side.

That night the kids went off one place and the adults went in another and drank. We drank all night and told stories and talked about stuff. I got a good Japanese culture lesson out of it (besides the headache the next morning).

The next morning we woke and was served Japanese breakfast. Breakfast IS different from a typical US breakfast. Really that’s all I’ll say for now. This down time provided for some picture time, so off I went taking pics of this and that.

Finally the time came to head home. We headed to some train station that apparently had a steam engine ride to some resort town, but we missed the train and the next one was due in an hour so we decided to roll instead. I guess even Japanese people can be late for the train! Just kidding.

Next stop was Otamoi Coast. From the look on the outside you’d only see a shrine thingy and a lot of rocks, but that is only because the access to a large theme park was knocked out a couple of years ago. The beach however has a story behind it. The placard at the head of the trail read this:

Otamoi Coast Story

Otamoi Coast is located in the in the north of Otaru city. It is part of 10km coastline between Cape Takashima and Shioya Bay.

The coast consists of a range of sheer cliffs of approximately 200m above the sea and strange shaped rocks. This area was designated as a Niseko, Shakotan, Otaru Coast Quasi-National Park in 1963 and it has always attracted people because of it spectacular vies together with the adjoining Shukutsu and Akiwa coasts.

There was once a marvelous amusement park in this picturesque place. At eh beginning of Showa period (1930’s), there was a prosperous Japanese restaurant “Janome” in Hanasono-cho. In those days, the owner of the restaurant (Kato Akitoro) was keen to find a place of natural beauty and interest stirred by his acquaintance’s comment that there were no sight-seeing spots in Otaru. Then, at last, he found a place which was called “White Snake Vallet” and then completed the “Otamoi Dream Land” in 1936.

The placard says further that it was first class and people came from all over to see it. Unfortunately, the park was brunt down in May of 1952. The only reminders of the resort are on the cliff and tunnels in the promenade.

So that was that… Coast line was cool, but it was some hike to get there.

Shortly after getting there, we left for Otaru for some lunch and then headed home where I finished some Japanese homework. Oh and it rain just as we got home… Other then that it was good weather all around.

That’s it! That was my weekend… pretty cool!

~J out

A plan be a brewing!

2006-11-04T09:11:00.000+09:00

Arrr~

My apologies for not blogging more frequently I’ve been busy planning for an “after semester” travel itinerary. You see, I have an opportunity to travel around Japan for a few weeks, because school at Lewis and Clark College doesn’t start until mid January.

To plan my trip efficiently I went out and bought the Lonely Planet guide to Japan and started a route. My girlfriend, Christina is also going to meet me in Tokyo and together we’re going to explore the wonders of Honshu (main island), Japan. According to friends from school, Honshu is way different then Hokkaido. It’s like the “old Japan” where history happened. Some of the places on our itinerary include: Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and Mount Fuji. We also are going to visit a variety of temples and shrines like “Ise Shrine” as well as “Todai-ji Temple.” So when we have a solid itinerary, I plan to post it.

~J out

A day in the life ~

2006-11-04T08:03:00.000+09:00

Some of you have been wondering about what a regular day is like for me. I’ve been trying to think how to post this one, because everyday seems different. So here’s my best shot at a day in the life of Josh:

The day typically begins with waking up and getting dressed, then I head downstairs for the first round of “Ohayoo’s.” I usually boot up the old laptop to check emails and blog posts (if any). Afterwards, I’ve served breakfast and coffee then after cleaning up I leave the house. Of course, before I leave I call out “Itekimasu” which means “I’m leaving” and usually I get a response like, “Iterashai” which means “come back.”

At this point I need to decide how I want to get to school. I could either:

Ride the bus to the Subway station (eki) and then catch the subway to school, (30-40min, 400Yen )
Ride my bike to the subway station, (40 min, 200Yen)
Ride my bike all the way into to school. (40-50, Free, but I’m cold and tired)

So that’s the options I have. Most of them are about the same amount of time so my choice is usually based on, whether or not, it is raining or if I really want to ride my bike. While I should ride my bike in everyday, that biting 2.7 degree’s Celsius sometimes is pretty tough to get warmed up in.

Once at school I take a break and wait for class to start. My first class is Japanese which is three hours long and runs four days a week. It actually can be fun at times, but usually everyone is dragging when it starts at 8:50am and typically dragging when it ends at 12am.

Lunch is usually from 12-1pm. For lunch I can go to the cafeteria, or I can eat out at various restaurants around town. Sometimes my host mom makes me some Onigari or rice balls which tide me over for a little bit. Some days, however, a small group of us gaijin go to the “red coffee shop” which is a coffee house that the 70’s literally forgot about. We’re sure that it was a happening place 30 years ago when the walls were white and the curtains were fresh, but now after 30+ years of cigarette and cigar smoke the place is just a mere shell of its former self. It’s probably the aesthetic of the place that draws our regular attendance. Tables are no more then old arcade tables with games like Tetris, Mahjong, and old horse racing games. The walls are brown and tan and we’re convinced that if you licked the wall you’d get a hearty buzz on nicotine. Some day I’ll blog on just this place, because it’s just so unique.

Ok, so on Tuesday I have a 1pm class called film and Japanese society. Some days go faster then others. Watching movies and then discussing them sometimes is fun and sometimes is pointless. Like discussing the deep hidden values in My Friend Totoro… yeah.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays I have Shinto Traditions class, taught by a Jason Borrows. It’s one of those classes, I think, that you need some prior knowledge about Japanese history and religious practices to fully appreciate his lessons. My opinion is always changing about that class, I either like it or I don’t. Anyway, the class starts at 4:20 officially and usually ends at 6pm.

After that I have kendo on Tuesdays (and Fridays) at 4-6pm and Thursdays from 6-8pm. After all that, I’m usually exhausted and head home the way I came. Dinner is usually cooked and sitting on the stove and usually that’s when I blog and do homework.

That’s my day in a nutshell… pretty much anything outside of that is special.

TTYL Y’all

At it again

2006-11-01T18:56:00.000+09:00

Happy Halloween Y'all.

Halloween is an American holiday. The reason is because Japanese don't exactly go door to door and say "trick or treat." In fact, most of the Japanese people I met didn't quite know the meaning of trick or treat. So really, it's one of those holidays that happened here in Japan, but was bigger in America. For halloween an American teacher held a halloween party at a local karaoke parlor "the Cat's Eye" we were to show up in costume and then *refreshments* would be served. We were also told that there would be food, but it was mostly snacks. It was a good party, I showed up in my Kendo "Samurai Josh" outfit. Some people said it wasn't a "real" costume until I told them that I paid over a hundred dollars for the whole outfit. Of course that all didn't matter because almost everyone who showed up was having a good time.

That day, however, I actually had kendo practice before the party so I went to kendo practice first and then to the party afterwards. In kendo we practiced pretty hard and I must of pulled a mustle or something, because this morning the top of my left foot really is hurting. I'm able to get around, but not without feeling some pain. So I'm limping again, but don't worry! The College has a nurse that happens to be in tomorrow. I took a look at the sick-bay schedule and, like all school nurses, everyday except tomorrow and another day this month they're open.

Some of you have asked back channel for a blog about a "day in the life of Josh." Basically, what a normal day is like so next blog post I'll try my best.

~J out

Sapporo Winter Sports Museum & Hokkaido Jingu

2006-10-29T17:01:00.000+09:00

Today I was treated to a special trip with my host family. It started out with them asking if I wanted to go eat some ramen and ended up in an excursion of Sapporo's, “hard to get to” treasures.

In earlier posts I talked about the Matsuri. There are tons of different kinds of Matsuri and different ways it’s done. My host family took me to the 2006 Ramen Matsuri in Sapporo. As you could expect, tons of dealers were broadcasting their ramen as "Oishii (good)". With my ticket, I went to the most vacant stand and ordered a bowl of ramen. I can't tell you which ramen it was other then the fact that it was good ramen. The climate today (and especially in there) was really dry and the pressure was high too, because I got a small bloody nose while in there which I had to promptly take care of. It is a good thing that Japanese stores bombard you with little tissue packs everywhere you go!

After cleaning up and finishing a fine bowl of Ramen, my host parents asked if I wanted to go to the "jumpu." "The jumpu?" I asked, "hai, sukii jumpu." They were referencing the famous Sapporo Winter Sports Museum (札幌ウィンタースポーシミュージアム)　which is in Miyano-mori, Chuo-ku. To get there from Shiroshi (where we were) took about 15-20 min by car through Sapporo's tricky and clustered roads. Up the hill we went until we saw the giant ski jump. Chances are that, if you didn't have a car, you could take a taxi from Odori there but I don’t know how reasonable it would be.

Now, for those who experienced 1972...

If you can remember 1972 and the 1972 winter Olympics in Sapporo, I salute you! For those who did not, here is a brief recap of the ’72 Winter Olympics...

The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XI Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan, the first Winter Olympics to be held in Asia.
35 Nations competed including: The USSR, United States, Yugoslavia, West Germany, East Germany, Great Britain, and the North Korea, oh and Andorra(?).
The USSR took the most medals with 16 totals (8 gold/5 silver/3 bronze). East Germany took 2nd with 14 (4g/3s/7b), and Switzerland took third with 10 total (4g/3s/3b). The U.S. placed 5th overall with 8 total (3g/2s/3b)/
The Banner looked like this. (right)
The opening ceremony was opened my Emperor Hiro Hito
It was Avery Brundage's (84) last year as president of the International Olympic Committee; as the 1972 Winter Games approached; he decided to make an example of Alpine skiing, which had become highly commercialized in Europe.
Karl Schranz (AUT) was disqualified.
Yukio Kasaya, Akitsugu Konno and Seiji Aochi gave the Japanese public a triple in ski jumping, on the 70m jump. It was the first Japanese Olympic title in the Winter Games.

Remember now? If do not remember, that’s ok... What matters is the last event, "3 Japanese won the 70m jump".

To commemorate this victory, forever, the Sapporo Winter Sports Museum holds the actual ski jump used in that Olympic game! There's a chairlift that takes you to the top, but for some reason it wasn't running today. Despite the chairs not working, I had a pretty good view of Sapporo from up there and more importantly a shot of the actual jump used in the 1972 Olympics!

We parked down below in a small parking lot and rode a long escalator up to the jump. The actual museum wasn't exactly "wow" material, because most of it you could find via the internet. However, looking at ski jump was awesome! It's huge; for things this size it’s hard to grasp the size of this thing until you stand in front of it... Hopefully my picture will help. If you get a chance to come to Hokkaido, Sapporo tries to take a trip to this place!

The second place we went to was the Hokkaido Jingu (北海道神宮）. The Lonely Planet guide describes this place:

Hokkaido Jingu is nestled in a forest (Maruyama-koen) so dense it's easy to forget that the shrine is just beyond the city. The place is carefully labeled so that you don't have to ask what that plant is. There's a shop that serves green tea for free.

That's about it for this temple. Well I think Lonely Planet could have written a bit more so here's my review.

First, this place was a shrine (not a temple) meaning that it was Shinto. While we were there, the 七五三 or Shichi-go-san (7-5-3) event was taking place. Shichi-Go-San is an event in which parents celebrate their children's growth. Typically in the fall months of October and November, 3 and 5-year-old boys, and 3 and 7-year-old girls
are taken to Shinto shrines, where their parents pray for their future. Boys often wear haori, or half-coat, and hakama, or divided skirt, and girls wear a kimono. The practice is supposed to date back to the years in which young kids often didn't survive long and so these ages were landmarks for children. The tradition stuck and now (most) Japanese families who are somewhat religious take their children at these ages to get prayed for. It is a sight to see! The kids were running around in their kimonos and hakama, and parents and grand parents running around taking their pictures. It's really no different then dressing up young American kids and taking them to baptism or something. It was all very cute.

Now as you enter the Shrine grounds you have to pass through the front gate called a Torii (left). This particular torii was huge and worth noting as you pass through. As you walk down the path towards the main entrance there's stone lanterns the line the path on either side. As you approach the shrine, there is a basin with running water for purifying yourself. The water is very pure and I saw people drinking from it. After the water basin is a large gate that you pass under (gate 2). In the back of the site is the shrine where the kids were getting prayed for. In front of it is the worship area where you pray. There is not a secret to praying (no secret handshake or set prayer) for commoners and there isn’t some bouncer (usher) that asks for a Shinto membership card. Anyone can pray and pray for anything. After praying my host mom (Na-chan) took me over to the oracle box. For 100 yen you could grab a fortune and then read it and then put it on a communal prayer stand to pray for it to come true. So I tossed my 100 yen and grabbed a fortune from the “foreigner’s box” and read my fortune “Luck fortune.” I can’t recall what all it said, because I tied it to the prayer stand after I read it. I’m chalking it up as experience that I will ask for forgiveness for… later.

The Shrine's grounds are very pretty to walk around in. We spent a good amount of time walking around the park there where I took a couple of shots of the scenery. I find that Shrines and Temples usually have the best spots for scenery shots. Walking in and around them isn't a problem either. The routine is pretty much like walking into a big catholic cathedral... Taking pictures and stuff is allowed and most of the time there's a little gift shop nearby. I tried my hand at photography again and came up with some “ok” shots.

When we were finished with the Shrine we went to a Kisaten or Coffee shop. The place we went to was called Lloyd’s Coffee or something and it was pretty small and quiet. I liked it a lot while we were there. I noticed that in many coffee shops the general music is classical. It really is all about the atmosphere in places like these, because the coffee is the same everywhere and usually costs 400 yen a cup. In spite of the price, I come to relax at these places. It was a good ending to a great tour. I really appreciated seeing Sapporo beyond the Subway and Bus restricted areas.

Ok so if y’all have a chance… put the temple and the museum on your “check this out” list, Ok?

~J out

Good times good times

2006-10-28T21:04:00.000+09:00

It's been pretty busy around here lately. I've been keeping up at school, as well as, planning for a big after Semester trip. Today I bought the Lonely Planet Guide to Japan (EN) and started making out a rough Itinerary for the trip.

Yesterday I had kendo where we practiced the "Kata" kendo form. Kata is not exactly "beat the man down" form of kendo. It's more of the ritualistic form or the 道 (do) of 剣道 (kendo) ("do" meaning the way of ~). A better description can be found on wikipedia:

Kata

There are 10 nihon kendo kata (Japanese kendo forms). Performed with wooden swords (bokken/bokuto), the kata include fundamental techniques of attacking and counter-attacking, and have useful practical application in general kendo. Occasionally, real swords or swords with a blunt edge, called kata-yo or habiki, may be used for a display of kata.

Kata 1–7 are performed with both partners using a bokken (long sword) of around 102 cm. Kata 8–10 are performed with one partner using a bokken and the other using a kodachi (short sword) of around 55cm.

During kata practice, the participants take the roles of either uchidachi (teacher) or shidachi (student). The uchidachi makes the first move or attack in each kata. As this is a teaching role, the uchidachi is always the 'losing' side, thus allowing the shidachi or student to learn and gain confidence.

Nihon kendo kata were drawn from representative kenjutsu schools and tend to be quite deep and advanced. In some areas the regular training curriculum does not include nihon kendo kata.

In 2003, the introduction of Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho, a set of basic exercises using a (bokken/bokuto), attempted to bridge this gap. Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho is intended primarily for kendoka up to 2-dan, but is useful for all kendo students.

So we have practiced the first 3 forms of Kata, hopefully we'll get to practice the other forms later.

~J out

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Won!

2006-10-26T22:13:00.000+09:00

The Nippon Ham Fighters Take the Japanese Championship!
It's been 44 years since the Fighters last victory in 1962.

With a score of 4 to 1 against the Chunichi Dragons, the Nippon Ham Fighters won their 5th and final game to take the Japan league Championship. "I can't believe it," said Trey Hillman (American coach for the Fighters). "It's a blessing to have an opportunity to work for this organization and to manage this group of men."

It was the second straight year that an American manager has led his team to victory in the Japan Series. The fighters held the Dragons to one run on eight hits while striking out six as the Fighters won their first Japan Series title since 1962!, when they were known as the "Toei Flyers." The game was non-stop action and with out a doubt it big news for Sapporo's die hard fans.

I'm sure they'll be a party downtown this weekend!

Good Job Nippon Ham Fighters! We knew you could do it!

~J out

Fall has fell in Sapporo, Japan

2006-10-25T20:52:00.000+09:00

On a lazy Wednesday I awoke to the cold and peered out my window to gaze at the plethora of fall colors and golden leaves.

Fall has reached Sapporo and is slowly transforming the landscape into a sea of fiery reds, oranges, and yellows. Japanese for Fall is “Aki” but the kanji for fall is this: 秋 the second radical 火 means fire. Perhaps they called this season the fire season because it seemed like all the leaves were on fire. Never the less, the trees looked beautiful. I had an idea to try and take pictures of this season as it developed; I just had to find a place that really showed a full range of fall’s beautiful colors.

It was this idea and a brochure from the subway station that inspired me to take a trip to Hokkaido University (北海道大学) one of Sapporo’s famous college campuses. What makes it famous is it's age and splendor. The College is similar to Portland State University or the University of Washington, in that it is more then a college; it is a symbol of it's respective city. I wanted to visit this place, because I heard somewhere that as Fall rolls in, Hokkaido University transforms into a beautiful array of colors.

Hokkaido University is a walk away from Sapporo Station. I jumped on the JR Train to Sapporo Station and walked to the campus (about 10min). The first place I walked into was Hokkaido’s “Elm Forest.” The Campus was huge from this view. Across from where I was standing was a creek running through the forest (Sakushukotoni Rv.). I followed the creek up to a small waterfall that glistened as split into two streams. From a distance, it looked like an old man with a long mustache. I watched the leaves as they floated along. The park was quiet and pleasant; people from all directions were carrying their cameras to catch a glimpse of falls blazing colors. The temperature was cold, but not biting cold like the other days, but I wore a hooded-sweater and a heavy jean jacket, with my gloves and beanie.

I moseyed out of the elm woods and drifted towards the main road where I met a statue of Doctor William S. Clark who used to be the President of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as well as, the first Vice President of Hokkaido University in July of 1876, back when Mass. Amherst was named Massachusetts Agricultural College and Hokkaido University was named, (The) Sapporo Agricultural College (1876-1907). According to Wikipedia, he was a professor of chemistry at Amherst, but in 1861 went into the military, where he became a Colonel. Afterwards, he became a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, as well as, a member of the ex officio. He moved to Japan for one year from 1876-1877, where “he taught his students not only academic lectures but also Christian principles.

Although it was a short stay, he influenced many students, leading them to Christian conversions. Some of them later played important roles in the field of Christianity, Education, and International Relations in the beginning of Modern Japan. Alumni such as Uchimura Ka nzō (Christian thinker and evangelist) and Nitobe Inazo (Quaker) are still well known nationwide in Japan.” ~Wikipedia

According to the University and Wikipedia: “On the day of his departure, April 16th, 1877, Clark is supposed to have said to the around ten students that came to see him off Boys, be ambitious! and a few variations on that theme. One of those students was apparently so moved that he memorized the phrase and later used it in a lecture, making it the famous phrase it is in Japan today.” ~Wikipedia

Past Dr. Clark’s statue is a small rock formation where I tried my hand at a little photography (Click for Full Ver.). I don’t have the best camera, but the one have does make pretty good pictures at times. The model I use is a FinePix A360. I know there are others here, but don’t get the idea that electronics like digital cameras and ipods are super cheap here… because they’re not. If electronics was cheap I’d probably buy a better camera. The editing software I used was Picasa2 from google.com. It's totally free to download and really easy to use.

Walking around the campus, I found lots of people on bikes that stopped occasionally to take a picture here or there. I spent a lot of time just looking at the old and new buildings and walking in to see what they all were about. I think that Hokkaido University is also a graduate college only because I found higher education buildings around. I’d be interested sometime in finding out Hokkaido Universities Majors (not that I’m planning for my Masters).

At the end of the main road was a sign, “Model Barn.” It was one of those things that were weird enough to warrant a side trip to check it out. I’ll be honest that I don’t understand why it is really there, but I can assume that because Hokkaido used to be an all Agricultural College; this model barn(s) was there to perhaps represent what the campus used to be, or what barns in Hokkaido looked liked. This is only speculation though.

Finally, I found a campus map at the model barn site and I noticed an avenue of trees that I’ve seen all around Sapporo. It’s some famous avenue called “Gingko Avenue.” It was a distance from the barn, but now with a map in hand I oriented myself and walked to the avenue while gazing at the cool buildings and stuff. A couple of minutes later I was there. The avenue had that kind of Sleepy Hollow look with Ichabod Crane types walking about. It looked like one of those classic scenes you’d find in some college entrance magazines advertising their impressive demographics and professor profiles.

While standing At Gingko Ave. I took my 1000^th picture (left) with my camera. It was a straight shot of Gingko Avenue… I’ll admit to sprucing it up a little bit, but it’s a pretty good picture for being my 1000^th.

It was a cool place overall. I wouldn’t mind coming back another time when the campus fades into an even deeper shade of red and yellow.

Cold Weather...

2006-10-24T20:32:00.000+09:00

They told me that Hokkaido gets cold in the Fall and the Winter months. Perhaps I wasn't listening or perhaps I didn't believe that cold meant cold. This morning the temperature hovered at around 2.7-2.9 degrees Celsius (about 37 F). Now that was pretty cold to walk in, but the commute, on my bike, today was bone chilling! My feet were so cold that they didn't thaw until 12:00pm today. I was wearing two fleece jackets, a beanie, fleece gloves, jeans, and a pair of Doc Martin boots. Somehow I make it to school, but man is it cold here!

And... it seems like it's not going to get any much better in the days to come according to the weather report.

currently it's: 34 degrees F

Current conditions as of 8:30 pm JST October 24, 2006

Partly Cloudy

Feels Like: 34°
Barometer: 30.39 in and steady
Humidity: 81%
Visibility: 6.21 mi
Dewpoint: 28°
Wind: Calm
Sunrise: 5:58 am
Sunset: 4:39 pm

~J out

New layout

2006-10-23T21:17:00.000+09:00

For new readers who wanna read older posts, I changed that archive format so you can click on the month (on the right hand bar) and the title of the post comes up. Just click on the title and the blog post should come up.

~J

back from camp

2006-10-23T20:26:00.000+09:00

Well it wasn't what you'd call a "camp." It was a two day excursion of southern Hokkaido. It was like the bus tour where they tried to cram too much in too little time. It could of been planned better in my opinion. For starters, the school had us show up late on Saturday (12:30 am) and then the first place we went was to the Ainu Museum where we were whisked around, by the school staff, to different exhibits (in Japanese), but we really didn't get enough time to really "explore" much less try to understand what the Ainu people were telling us. I really wished that we would have left earlier to check out the museum more. There was a lot of places we didn't go too and the building we did go to didn't show a whole lot. They tried to get us to make headbands at the Ainu place, like hand stitching, but again we only had about 45 min or less to do it.... lame.

The school whisked us, via bus, to this hotel which was pretty nice with an onsen and everything; I got at least an hour or so to enjoy the onsen. I think that was the most memorable only because you could relax (for a bit). Dinner that night was served buffet style, because there was about 30+ of us and another group "EASCON" who participated. For 2 hours, in the dark of night, a small group of us went and checked out the town. We saw the "hell valley" and it did look like hell… Creepy. The rest of the night was a blur so... don't ask ; - ) cool volcano though!

The next day they tried to wake us up at 7am for breakfast, but that didn't happen... heh heh. At 9am they shoveled us into the bus and took us to this Edo Wonderland. Now, this "Edo Wonderland" was kinda like enchanted forest and an old western town like Calico put into one. However, the shows were so-so and while the buildings and stuff were cool.. it felt dead. I can't even describe the little buildings they had. For example, I walked into this "ninja house" which ended up being one of those really dumb house of mirrors and slanted floors to trip you out, but I had a (ahem) headache from the other night so some of that dizziness came back... ya know? Not fun.. not much fun at all.

You see they were trying to replicate a (kids) version of Japan before 1868's "samurai age." But they were trying too hard and some of it didn't make since. They had this building that they called the Yoshiwara (read: sex district) that had a "geisha show", but it was no show. They had a ninja program, but it was totally staged and it had the ninja/samurai exhibits had little to no educational value.

I'd say if you wanted a cheap thrills, then find a happening bar and save your money then to go to "Edo Wonderland." Sorry.. it just didn't turn me on. But I did manage to remember to buy my host family a box of bean cakes which they liked.

That was it for that day.. 9:30-1:00pm and then we went home to Sapporo (yeh!). When we got back, I had a coffee with my buddy Nick and then went home... Slightly disappointed. I was only disappointed because they rushed us through the cool educational places like the Ainu museum and Norboribetsu town which had A FREAKING LIVE VOLCANO! and then dumped us in a very boring and un-educational theme park that just wasn't suited for college age students.

Well... I'd still like to go back to Norboribetsu sometime and really explore that town. They have a bear zoo! Why on earth didn't the school take us there? Oh well... Back to home work...

~J out

Preparing for the International Camp.

2006-10-21T07:41:00.000+09:00

I told y'all that i'd be going on a big trip this weekend and so I thought I would clue you all in as to where I was going.

We're going to Norboribetsu City (登別市), it's a mostly a tourist trap for Japanese and Gaijin alike. The city is famous for some geological sites like: Jigokudani (Hell Vally), Hiyoriyama (Mt. Hiyori), Oyunoyu (Oyu Swamp), and Kuttarako (lake Kuttarako).

Also the town has the Kuma bokujo or the "bear park" as well as a historical town like the old coyboy western towns (only Japanese samurai style). The other famous thing about Norboriebetsu is thier onsens... oh yeah.

If you want to read more about Norboribetsu (before I post about it) you can visit the website (in English) @

http://www.noboribetsu-spa.jp/en/index.htm (flash ver.)

http://www.noboribetsu-spa.jp/en/index_nonflash.htm (non-flash ver)

PS.
btw... injured my foot durring kendo last night, but I took a salt tablet and walked it off. Hey, ya know, if you don't feel pain, you're not trying right?! Right.

Samurai Josh

2006-10-20T07:09:00.000+09:00

The other day I got myself new duds for kendo practice. The First is a jacket or "Keigoki" that is made of a real thick fabric and the second piece of clothing is the pants called "hakama". There are rules and procedures to putting this clothing on:

For the Keigoki, you must put it on and tie the strings in a bow. The bow must face horizontally.

For the Hakama, you must first wrap the forward straps around your waist 1 1/2 times and then tie it in a bow behind your back. Then you must put this doggle from behind into your back strap and then tie the back straps forward in a square knot.

This is the way of the clothes. I feel that as I put it on, I feel focused and charged about doing kendo. Like when a president of some big company puts on a red "power" tie. It's cool, it looks cool, and feels great.

About the color... most all kendo outfits are indiglo. There really is no distinguishing marks between levels (Kyu) and Ranks (Dan). The ranks and level are better explained in the wikipedia version of Kendo (google "kendo").

So here you go, Samurai Josh!

What's coming next is a "tare" or short name skirt that goes in front on the hakama. The Tare is usually personalized with peoples names in Kanji. My friend Nic's last name is Stone or Ishi which translates ok, but Wheeler translates to "multiple wheels" or something with car and tires. So I picked my own kanji... "Akaryuu" or "Red Dragon" plus the school name and my last name in Katakana. here's what it'll look like:

北星大
ウィラー
赤

龍

Yep pretty cool 'eh? I'll edit this post when I get it.

~J out

UNSC and N.Korea Opinion

2006-10-17T21:34:00.000+09:00

Seeing as my Major in College is East Asian Studies International Relations (EASIR), I want to briefly comment on the UN Security Council’s recent resolution (Resolution 1718) concerning North Korea (DPRK) and their WMDs. This is a big deal, internationally, for a couple of reasons.

First, the U.S. and Japan are the most aggressive players, calling for heavy sanctions against North Korea. (Huh? Japan holding an aggressive position? Japan debating a military response? Interesting)
Second, China voted for Res. 1718 which binds them to some serious sanctions against North Korea (normally China veto’s sanctions against anyone even Iran or Iraq).
Third, North Korea’s actions indicate that they do not care. (the display made my the DPRK walking out shows arrogance and a general disregard for international diplomacy system)
And forth, no one knows how far this is going to play-out, so precautions are already taking place in case of the worst.

Some things that are significant (in my opinion) in the actual resolution is that:

· It demands the DPRK to not test/fire another missile

· It demands DPRK is disband every WMD they own

· It calls on all UN States (China, ROK, Japan incl.) to not send direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer military goods or otherwise including luxury goods (something that the DPRK elite often import) (See Paragraph 8)

Other things that are important are that, China is bound by the resolution to carry out what it requires of them. Perhaps this little stunt by the DPRK will convince China of their rogue-state behavior?

I might be wrong, but I also think that the reason the U.S. is cracking down on North Korea is because they want to send a clear message to Iran, basically saying if you go ahead with WMDs, the US will thrown down on you.

Here in Japan, it’s on the news all the time. It’s on people’s minds here, the general opinion is that the North Korean People are good people; it’s just that their leader is not. I’ll simply say that there’s years of history between Japan and the Pacific Rim Asian nations. If you want to see diplomacy at work, I find this N.Korea situation to be the ultimate example of international diplomacy at work... for all of us little people.

More to come later…

~J out

The sleepy town of Otaru

2006-10-15T15:01:00.000+09:00

*beware big post*

Yesterday I visited the sleepy ocean town of Otaru with my friends Nic (20’s) and Robert (30’s).

The day started out with all of us meeting at Sapporo JR Station where we would catch a JR train to Otaru. To get to Sapporo I rode my bike to the Oasa Station and rode the local train to Sapporo. I told Robert to meet me at the West Gates, but when I got there I couldn’t find him anywhere. The meeting time was 9am, but my train showed up at 9:13 so I stood waiting. I didn’t realize however that Robert was standing behind me about 15 feet away facing the other direction! We both spun around at the sound of a train whistle and found each other. Crazy… Nic said he’d be late so Robert and I went to “Mr. Doughnut” for a coffee and some “pan” or doughnuts. So as we snacked on coffee and bread, Robert told me that he’d been there for an hour waiting and wasn’t sure when and where the meeting place was… communication is golden I guess. Nic finally showed up and we rolled out at around 9:30am.

Purchasing tickets is pretty straight forward in Japan. Basically, there’s a panel with a bunch of station names, “Oasa, Ebetsu, Sapporo, Shin Sapporo, etc” and below the station’s name is a price (local stops are about 260 yen, far away stops are in a 3000-4000 range sometimes like Hakodate). Otaru is relatively close so a one way to Otaru was 620 yen. So once you find your desired destination you tap on it and it gives you a cost. From there you just insert the money and the machine spits out a small one way ticket.

Once all three of us had our ticket we went through the gates and stared at the huge time table of departures and arrivals. We found three trains going 10 minutes apart to Otaru, but they we’re all local. In Sapporo, there are 4 types of trains: Local, Semi Rapid, Rapid, and Air Port Rapid. The difference between all of them is amount of stops each train makes. The Local had 14 stops while the Air Port rapid had only 4 or 5 total. This may all sound trivial, but once you’ve been riding trains for awhile, all of this really DOES make a difference. Well actually truth be told, this was trivial to my friends who had never rode a train before. They didn’t mind the extra stops, so local train it was. We boarded at 9:40 and left exactly at 9:44am. The train trip was 40mins into the countryside. When we arrived we got off and entered the sleepy town that is Otaru. We had a craving for coffee so we visited a coffee shop (ki-sa-ten) in Otaru’s little mall walk.

The coffee shop was really old salty dog kind of place. Like one of those old Sea Captain places with ship’s wheels and ship’s lanterns and stuff. It had an old feeling about it and Nic (who is English) liked the whole aesthetic claiming that there are plenty of ones like this one in Kent, England where he’s from. We must have spent an hour chatting about stuff and Robert found a notebook in the shop where customers wrote little experiences and stories in. I decided to add my own entry, using my best cursive which neither Rob nor Nic could read.

We left feeling spry and ready for the day. We strolled along the covered walkway plaza looking at stores and shops. At the end of the mall we made a turn left and began to walk. Like any adventure with three guys the itinerary was show up early, leave late that’s it. So basically we navigated Otaru by observation, “Hey what’s that? Let’s check it out!” “Oh, hey, that looks weird! Cool! Let’s check that out..!” And the hardest thing was finding food. Not that there’s enough restaurants, there’s plenty with all sorts of food, it’s just finding one that fits all our needs (and wallets). So… exploring was the game. We found a map of the town, but with in the hour we we’re off the map. It was the best a couple of guys can do.

The first landmark we found was a small ramen ally. It was designed after the old Japanese style with old roofs and fish on the roof. Without a doubt it was cool. Each one of the shops served something a little different. One was a yakiniku (beef on a stick) which looked really good with all of its different styles. One of the shops was serving really good smelling ramen (Hokkaido Ramen) that is “the best.” Another shop carried a beef and rice dish that is cooked on your table with a dome shaped grill.

The building was just as awesome as the shops in it. Like I said the aesthetic resembled the old Japanese style roofs with the tower at the center. Each shop had sliding doors and that square wood and light tan color that is so common to Japanese architecture. You see a lot of this style everywhere, except that most of these places mix new appliances and modern lighting with the old building style. In this case you knew it was a touristy spot, but the whole Japanese building style was a flash back to Japanese art class at LC.

Across from the little ramen ally/ village was the Otaru Canal that spans all through the city to the Japanese sea. It reminded Robert of Amsterdam (when he was in the Air Force) with the cobble stone walkway and bridges. Along the walkway were rickshaws running about taking people on trips while others were offering to take people anywhere in Otaru they wanted. While tempted, all of us decided it’d be better to walk. Next time we might take him up on the offer. Each intersection between the canal and the street were plaza’s where people performed music or sold artsy wares. It was all pleasant to watch, there was no one begging us to buy or anything. It was fun to just walk and watch and enjoy the whole environment. In some places along the canal, you really felt the age of the place.

On the other side of the canal was a little Market street. This place really reminded me of Seaside, Oregon with crafts from the ocean and plenty of candies and seafood for sell. The real difference though, was that Otaru felt real, like a real old town that still operates like it did a hundred years ago. I say that because, Seaside and Astoria, Oregon is more tourists oriented while Otaru still operates a thriving fishing industry. In fact, a large amount of Sapporo’s fish comes from Otaru, so… while Otaru has tourism; tourism is only one part of its overall economy.

As we walked along this Market place, there was a mask shop. I walked in and found a shop specializing in ornate New Orleans style Masks. What was a store like doing here? Why New Orleans Masks? Was this Japan or somewhere else? It was fun just to see something totally different.

At 1pm we were hungry again so we went back on the prowl for food. We found a groovy place that was old and dark with Kerosene lamps and had an old smell about it. The food of choice was a bowl of udon soup, fries, and some sweet bread. We all ordered coffee and took pictures of the place even though there were signs everywhere saying to not take pictures. Again that “I’m a foreigner and I don’t understand” trick allowed us to get away with it. They played classical music in the big hall and people just we’re chilling enjoying the ambiance of the place. I tried to take long exposure shots of the place, but the best I could get was this kind of golden shot.

We left shortly after finishing our coffee and headed towards some more shops selling over priced nic-nacks. Otaru apparently is known for music boxes. We found some really cool ones that played tunes like yesterday by The Beatles as well as Mozart. I have to admit to you all, that however cool it was, a big store full of music boxes is like being in a clock shop at 12pm… kinda loud and obnoxious. We headed out and started going towards the sea.

After touring all the sights and sounds of Otaru’s tourist business we headed out towards a park Robert Saw and it was around 4pm. It was a small park dedicated to some big anchor and bobber thing. We weren’t really sure what it was doing there, but it had a rope guard around it so we figured we would clime it. Yep. Big rusty anchor bobble thing was just too temping! We had to clime it. According to the informational plaque, it was 12 ton’s we think but the Kanji could have said anything. We sat on this big giant rust ball for about an hour looking at the Japanese Sea.

One of us spotted a giant Ferris wheel and, like the whole trip thus far, we said, “Hey look at that… that’s cool you want to ride it? Yeah!” So rode it, we did. 400 yen a piece was all. We saw all of Otaru and the trains rolling in and out and the ocean it was all very cool. In fact it was so cool that we asked the staff guy if we could take it for one more revolution which he allowed for free (Arigatoo dude). It was a good end to a good day in Otaru.

After we got off the train I remembered that my host Dad birthday was the other day so I picked up a big bottle of Otaru microbrew (about 1 liter). I told the clerk that it was a present and so she wrapped it up all pretty like for me in gift wrap which is the custom here. Yep dudes, to all guys, “listen up.” In Japan, it’s typical for the store to wrap gift presents up all pretty and ornate for free. This saves on headaches, getting it to look nice.

Ok so for the last leg of our trip, we went and got ice cream and waited for the next train (which was an Airport Rapid Train 25 min!). Before our train showed up we spotted this sign in the smoking part of the platform.

We can cross Otaru off the list now; next weekend is a big trip to Noboribetsu and Edo wonderland! Stay tuned!

~J Out

PS… June-chan really liked the present!

The Weekend!

2006-10-14T07:55:00.000+09:00

Well I made it to the weekend! It's not like it was some big feat, but I did make it. Weekend in Japanese is "Shuu-matsu" and often you get asked on friday what you're doing..

Today a couple of friends and I are going to the sleepy town of Otaru which borders the Japanese Sea. This is the same town that I went to when my host dad took me fishing. There's more to Otaru then what meets the eye I guess. Old buildings and sleepy coffee shops line the town's streets.

We're going to try to get there by train today... I figure it's going to be in the 1000 yen range, but that's ok. Otaru is a short distance away so getting there and back shouldn't be a prob.

Yesterday (friday the 13th) was my host father's birthday. Because it was on a friday, we're going to celebrate it today, however, my host mom (na-chan) doesn't know what time it'll start, but she'll call me when she knows... I'm not going let that ruin my Otaru trip though..

So next post I'll take you to the old sleepy town of Otaru.

~J

False Alarm

2006-10-12T13:10:00.000+09:00

Some of you might of heard that an Earthquake hit Japan yesterday. I'm here to tell you that everything is ok. From the reports it seemed like it came off the east coast of Honshu not Hokkaido. According to the Japanese Meteorological Society and U.S. Geological Survey it was registered as a moderate earthquake of 5.8 magnitude, shortly before 10 a.m.

Sapporo was protected and didn't feel anything... At least I didn't and I was at home awake.

So.. no worries~

~J

Summary of the last post

2006-10-11T19:17:00.000+09:00

Ok, perhaps the last post was long so I'll quickly jot down what's important and what to watch out for:

China, Japan, and S.Korea told N.Korea to not test a nuke or else.
Everyone is 90% sure North Korea tested a nuke, so N.Korea choose "else."
"Else" is being debated in the UN Security Council right now.
Japan wants to throw down on the North.
China is agreeing to some sanctions against the North, THIS ONE IS BIG!
South Korea-Japan and China-Japan are talking again after 5 years of bad blood.
Shinzo Abe (JP) is pushing to punish N.Korea and the U.S. is backing Japan.

Ok that's it... That's what's important...

Today we got lighting, thunder, and rain... cool 'eh?
oh and I bought and am listening to Ellegarden's Album: Riot on the Grill~

~J out.

The Domino effect: North Korea vs. Asia

2006-10-09T16:24:00.000+09:00

Big News…

If you all aren't keeping up on news and, I don't mean the war in Iraq, you should know that tensions are running high, really high, over North Korea's Missile Test today. My last news report was about Abe's new post as Prime Minister. Since then, a series of non-stop actions have been taking place since Abe took office. From various sources I'll try to give you a time line. These series of events plague the Japanese news and are pretty remarkable to experience.

Here is what has been going on thus far…

Tuesday October 3rd:
On Tuesday, Abe heatedly denied Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii's (right) remark [that during a Diet session in 1997, Abe demanded "a modification" to the apology to wartime sex slaves who were forced to serve Japanese soldiers] that he was trying to change the pacifist Constitution to permit the Self-Defense Forces to go to war.

"Criticism that (our) purpose for revising the Constitution is to create a country that will engage in war overseas is completely off the target," Abe said, raising his voice.

But he failed to give any details about how he intended to revise the charter's Article 9, which prohibits collective defense and limits Japan's use of force only to self-defense.

North Korea says it plans nuclear test
North Korea's statement Tuesday that it will conduct a nuclear test "in the future" threatens to intensify the international standoff over its missile and atomic weapons programs and upset the already fragile balance in the region, according to analysts... A test would have "a significant impact" on public opinion in Japan and South Korea, perhaps fueling the nascent debate in Japan over whether it should develop nuclear weapons of its own.

Such an event would likely harden the U.S. position on the nuclear issue, as well as public opinion in Japan as well as in South Korea, and spark worries in China about its neighbors building up their militaries in response to a nuclear North Korea, analysts say.

"At the moment, North Korea is only saying that it has nuclear weapons. But if a nuclear test is carried out, there would no longer be any doubt as to whether North Korea is a nuclear power," a Western diplomat in Beijing said.

"It would become a completely different ballgame."

Wednesday October 4th:
Abe noncommittal on war stance
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged Japan's wartime aggression but avoided giving his own opinion on the issue while speaking Tuesday at a Lower House plenary session. "I believe that politicians should be humble about speaking about war or history . . . because a politician's statements hold political and diplomatic meaning," Abe said during the Diet session.

U.S. hails summits
The United States on Monday welcomed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to visit China and South Korea in an effort to mend strained ties. "This is really a matter for those countries to work out and to discuss on their own," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said. "We definitely want to see Japan have positive relations with all its neighbors, including (South) Korea and China." Noting that China, South Korea and Japan cooperated with the U.S. in having the U.N. Security Council adopt a resolution condemning North Korea's July missile launches.

Sunday October 8th:

China, Japan oppose N Korea nuke test
Japan and China agreed on Sunday that a North Korean nuclear test "cannot be tolerated." [Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe also urged the North [Koreans] to heed the joint message. The common ground emerged as a South Korean politician said a North Korean nuclear test was not imminent and that the North was ready to drop its plans if Washington engaged in direct talks.

Abe, whose country has felt increasingly threatened by North Korea's missile and nuclear programs, promised to put the nuclear-test threat at the top of his agenda in summit meetings in China. He meets with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Seoul on Monday.

Nuke test unacceptable

The Japanese leader said he and Chinese President Hu Jintao found the prospect of a North Korean nuclear test unacceptable. "We need to prevent a nuclear North Korea," Abe told reporters after meeting with Hu. "We saw eye-to-eye that North Korea's announcement of a nuclear test cannot be tolerated because it is a great threat to East Asia and the international community."

Abe suggested that North Korea should pay attention to the agreement, coming as it did in a summit between two often estranged countries, one of which, China, is an ally of
North Korea.

"China, I must assume, has major influence," Abe said.

Monday October 9th:

Abe, Hu agree to push 'strategic' ties
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) agreed Sunday with Chinese President Hu Jintao (right) that the two nations will push forward a "strategic" partnership, breaking the ice in a diplomatic relationship that in recent years has grown increasingly cold.

Their meeting was the first summit between the two Asian powers in more than a year. They shared common ground on the North Korean nuclear crisis. A joint statement released after the summit stated that "both sides expressed deep concern about recent situations over the Korean Peninsula, including the issue of nuclear tests."

"President Hu and I agreed that a North Korean nuclear test would be a threat to East Asia as well as the rest of the world and that we cannot accept it," Abe said at a post summit news conference. "This agreement sends a strong message to North Korea."

Monday at around 10:36 a.m.:

North Korea Conducts 'Historic' Nuclear Test

North Korea carried out their first-ever nuclear test on Monday at around 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT on Sunday), putting to rest any doubt that the country has been working to back up its claims of working towards nuclear capabilities.

According to the communist regime's official news agency, the test was executed safely with no harmful effects, saying that it "was carried out under a scientific consideration and careful calculation.” The North Korean news agency said that the "historic event" would "contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it." President's Roh Moo-hyun's spokesperson, Yoon Tae-young, said that "Related countries are in consultations on the issue," and that Roh had called an emergency meeting to talk about responses to the news.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's new prime minister, arrived in Seoul on Monday in order to talk with President Roh about the damaged relations between the two respective nations as well as the recent nuclear threat North Korea made last Tuesday.

Japan's U.N. ambassador Kenzo Oshima, who leads the Security Council this month, said that "Should North Korea ignore calls of the international community, the Security Council will act consistent with its responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations." The Security Council is expected to discuss measures to be taken.

North Korea has shown that they are not to be underestimated or scoffed at. Though their missile tests proved to be "unsuccessful," and though they are not believed to possess the capability of reaching the U.S. with nuclear arms, it seems that the U.S. and the U.N. can no longer afford to rely on doubt to further delay significant action against North Korea.

------------------------------------------------------------------

It seems that the ball is rolling towards something intense. North Korea is acting against everything its neighbors are demanding. How this pans out is up to China's Leader Hu and Japan's New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (who has been on the job a total of 15 days).

Out of this bazaar series of events comes here is some questions to think about:

1st: What is Korea's intentions? Is it power, money, or prestige?

2nd: For a over 5 years relations between Japan-China and Japan-S.Korea have been poor. However, in order to send a united message to N.Korea Japan, China, and S.Korea all need to work together. Will N.Korea's missile test bring the three North Asian Power players back to the table?

3rd: Will Shinzo Abe push to revise the charter's Article 9, which prohibits collective defense and limits Japan's use of force only to self-defense?

4th: Can Abe and his conservative party (The LDP) rally U.S.-Japan Support for an offensive position against N.Korea.

5th: How is this going to effect, nationally, political views of North Korea and will Tokyo make drastic changes in national security (like the U.S. has with the patriot act, FAA, etc.)?

I know first hand that it's on the news and has my host family worried. It's big news and it's on everyone's mind. My dad asked me earlier how Japan feels about Iraq and the war over there； it's not in the news here, the issue is Korea and their recent aggressive behaviors. In President Bush's first term two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York and it changed everything... Now Korea threatens to test Nuclear Missiles in Shinzo Abe's first term, there's a chance that such an event could change Japan as 9/11 changed the U.S.

to be continued...

~J out.

Hokusei Gakuen University's Matsuri

2006-10-09T08:10:00.000+09:00

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I helped out in our club's (Hi-C) Matsuri festival stand. Matsuri is different for everyone. About a week earlier the local shinto shrine had it's matsuri. Basically matsuri is just a festival event when clubs sell all different goods and host games for people to play and have fun.

Hi-C's plan was to make crepes, lots of crepes, and then sell them at their matsuri stand. Friday night they planned on making the crepe base and then all durring the next day they made them and sold them. In a weird series of events I got involved in making those crepes friday night. The atmosphere was pleasant and the people friendly. We make crepe bases till roughly 11:00pm that night in college apartments "Kirari."

The next day (Saturday); The weather was bad with wind and rain howling and the temp around 11 degrees celcius (i.e. cold). The club made all different types from chocolate to banana to you name it. The price was set at 200 yen- 300 yen. In the beginning they sold pretty good, but as the day rolled on the sales dropped slowly. Even though the sales were slow, I learned about Japanese marketing/selling stuff proceedure. So here's a crash course in selling to Japanese people.

To get people to come to your stand: You say, "Irashiemase." (en: please come in)
To get people to look and buy your wares you say: "Iraga desu ka?" (en: would you look/buy)
When they buy you bow (jap style) and say "Arigatoo Gozaimasu."

I did that all day until I decided to roll at around 4:30pm.

Now... from what I hear, the club didn't clean up good enough when they left at 6:00pm so the school banned the selling of crepes the next day. So, when I came back to check the stand on Sunday no one was there exept for a few people standing around. The plan changed from hanging out selling crepes to going karaoking in a karaoke hall in Odori. Shortly after, we left to go shopping for a minute or two where I found a cool traditional Japanese store.

After shopping we headed towards an awesome hole in the wall restraunt that opened up below into a really happening place. Through out the night we were fed Japanese dish after Japanese dish. It was a real great time to end the weekend.... KOMPAI! (en: cheers!)

~J

BUNRAKU (or NINGYO JORURI)

2006-10-07T08:29:00.000+09:00

Edit: Pics are up now! Enjoy!

Ok So here's the Puppet Show Post!

Last Thursday I was given the opportunity to go to a Bunraku or Traditional Japanese Puppet Show. The show was one stop past Odori park in Sapporo's Old Town. The cost for one person I heard was roughly $50 usd for each ticket, however the school picked up the tab. (Thanks!) There is a bit of humor to all of this, due to the fact that when I was trying to tell my host family I'd be going to a Bunraku performance; they didn't know what on earth Bunraku was. They had never been to bunraku, kabuki, or a noh performance before and they're Japanese! Not to worry, I'm sure there's something I haven't done in America before... ... ...but I can't think of it yet.
We went by subway. We started in Oyachi and got off at the station after Odori (the name I forget). The theater was located in a giant park. As we headed in, we were all given tickets with our seat number (ex. 2ね8) and we're seated accordingly. The "ne" in 2ne8 is just the order we were seated in according to the Japanese hiragana alphabet (あ、か、さ、た、なーね). After being seated we waited for the play to begin. No one really knew what was about to happen, because no one in our group (Japanese included) had ever been to one.

If you don't know officially what Bunraku is... here's a great description from the Japan Art Council :

Bunraku is the traditional puppet theatre of Japan, a high-level stage art of which Japan is very proud of. “Bunraku” was originally the name of the theatre in which this puppet drama was performed, but gradually it came to be used as the name of the art itself and is today used as the official name of the puppet theatre. The art only came to be known as "Bunraku" around the end of the Meiji era (1868-1912); up until that time, the art was known as ayatsuri joruri shibai ("puppet joruri plays") or ningyo joruri, or "puppet narrative drama." Now,joruri is a type of shamisen music, and the name reflects that the puppet plays were performed to a joruri accompaniment. Bunraku's world renown stems not only from its high-quality artistic technique, but also from the high level of its joruri music and the unique nature of manipulating the puppets―each puppet requires three puppeteers to bring it to life. Throughout the world there are a number of types of puppet theatre, and they all treat with simple stories such as myths and legends. There is no other art that requires a whole day for its long, serious drama to unfold. Furthermore, in most of the world's puppet theatres, great pains have been taken to hide the manipulation of the puppeteers from the audience. There are several methods of achieving this: suspending the puppet from strings attached to the ceiling, as with marionettes; placing a hand within the puppet and moving it with the fingers, as with guignol puppets; and casting shadows upon a screen, as with the wayan kulit shadow puppets. But in Bunraku, the manipulators appear openly, in full view of the audience. These two characteristics, which make it completely different from the other puppet theatre traditions around the world, can be said to be the reason that Bunraku is called the most highly developed puppet theatre art in the world.

I don't know if this is what we actually experienced, but it was a highly sophisticated puppet show. The show began with a man walking to the stage and giving us a history lession on bunraku. This informational was of course in Japanese, in fact it was all in Japanese. He basically said where it was started and the elements of Bunraku and such and then he left. The next guy that showed up was the narrator who gave a speech on the elements of narrorating both the guy and gal's voices. In bunraku, there is no women at all so the narrator has to do both man and women's voices. The skill involved is intense and is taught the same way as the age old Master to Apprentice.

The next guy to enter the stage was the shaminsen guy who gave examples of playing and beats and assisting the narrator. He showed the audience all the parts of the Shaminsen and how he learned how to play the 3 stringed instrument. A note on Shaminsen is that it uses friction pegs so sometimes it goes out of tune, but honestly I wouldn't know if it was out of tune or in tune.

The Last guy came out with two other assistances who helped him with a large female puppet. This was the Puppeteer who demonstrated the skills of making a puppet come to life. The examples he showed the audience were facinating to say the least. The way he moved it made it come to life, not like puppets on Mr. Rodgers. This was just awesome how it made it bend and turn and bow like we do. The whole performance was performed in this masterful way that at times made you forget about the puppeteer and just imagine the puppets as people. Culturally, the main Puppeteer wears a white robe with a black robe over it. His head is exposed and he often makes the expressions his puppet makes in order to consume himself and the audience with realism. The other assistances however wear black robes with face masks so that only the puppet and the puppeteer is exposed. It's like any staff person at a show, concert, or public hall wears a black outfit to "disapear" so to speak.

When he left the performance began and the curtin went up. It was 1pm and we didn't get outta there until 4:30pm. The performance was awesome, I'm sure it'd be better if I knew what was going on, but I didn't. Not sure what I was seeing, I liked the outfits and the characters and shaminsens and stuff. My friend and I went and took some snap shots of the play, although I heard afterwards that pictures may not of been allowed. "Oh well" I say... sometimes it's easier to appologize then to ask permission, right? Plus, it's not about me anyway... it's about you all!

To review the entire performance would be crazy! I'll say it was equally cool as it was boring. Most of us might of dozed off for the slow scenes, but woke up to the cool scenes. I'll admit I was bored so instead of dozing, I took pictures... lots and lots of pictures (about 101 pics and short movies). Overall it was a good experience and a look at what Japan has to offer.

~J out

Kendo Club

2006-10-06T14:47:00.000+09:00

So last night I got a chance to practice with the kendo club which was a real treat! However, the kendo club here doesn't necessarly have a "Sensei". Rather, the club is ran by a small group of "Sempai" or the experienced members. So I went with a friend of mine to check it out and we were greeted warmly by the other members.

In minutes we were given a "Shinai" which is made of four bamboo slats (take) held together by two pieces of leather, tsuka-gawa (handle) and saki-gawa (tip), and a string (tsuru). Placed under the saki-gawa is a plastic plug saki-gomu. To prevent the four take from getting misplaced there is a small square of metal, chigiri, placed between them inside the tsuka-gawa. A leather thong (nakayui) is wrapped around the take and tied to the tsuru about one-third of the way down the shinai from the tip (kensen); this holds take together in the event of a break and marks the proper striking portion of the blade (datosubu).

We were told to line up with the other kendo class and ritually meditate and then thank the gym owners for the use of the gym by bowing to the ground this is called Sonkyo (I think).

Warm up came up next and we were to replecate simple drills that I tried, but was far from "good."

The Kendo class then split into groups and a member from the group came to Nick (my friend) and I and began instructing us on the basics of kendo starting with the foot stance, stride (or walk), the holding of a Shinai, and the forward and backwards walk with the shinai. It all seemed pretty easy, but in fact it was very difficult to get it right.

After getting the stance and the walk, we practiced drills with the shinai. The first drill had us moving across the floor with the shinai at a 45 degree angle. Nick and I went back and forth until our instructor said it was ok.

The next drill we did was called "Neh" where we were to strike the head of our opponent and call out "N~E~E~E~H!" This drill was followed by a simple Right/Left Strike to the temple of our opponent's head. (umm I should point out that these we're drills and everyone was completely safe and didn't get hurn during any of this)

The sempai put these two drills together to make a full drill. This full drill started with first taking a long forward stride while striking our partner's Shinai, then striking to the right, left, right, left, (then going backwards) right, left, right, left, right and then the final strike which we had to scream Meeeeeeeeeeeen! (x2).

We did about an hour and a half of these drills with breaks in between them. It was fun, I felt really tired and sore, but it was that real good sore feeling like you had worked new mustles. Out of all the pains I feel regularly, that "work out" pain feels the best. The night was over at 8:00pm so tired and hungry, my friend and I went out to get some Chinese food and some Sapporo Classic beer. It was a good night, I felt like I had done something cool and worth while.

Next practice is next Tuesday at 4pm I think... I can't wait.

~J out ya'll

*Edit:
Ok ya'll according to All United States Kendo Federation (AUSKF), the drill we did was called Kirikaeshi. This is the discription that they give:

Kirikaeshi is one of the fundamental learning tools used in Kendo. It contains 5 elements which are described by the metropolitan police as the following: 1. sho-men, 2. tai-atari, 3. four yoko-men forward followed by five backwards, sho-men, 4. four yoko-men forward followed by five backward, 5. sho-men followed by zanshin. Conceptually kirikaeshi develops strong ki-ai and breath control, large motion, correct cutting angle (ha-suji), correct grip (te-no-uchi), correct footwork (ashi-sabaki) all with ki-ken-tai-ichi. It also limbers the muscles, promotes harmonious action of the whole body and correct ma-ai, follow through with zanshin. Kirikaeshi is said to provide 10 virtues to the attacker and 8 virtues to the receiver. It makes the waza sharp and swift, strengthens the cut, builds stamina, relaxes the stroke and body, improves the motion of the body, improves dexterity and grip, improves the vision of the partner, improves the ma-ai, teaches mental tranquillity, improves observation of the opponent, makes the grip firm yet flexible. ~from http://www.auskf.info/main/study.htm

Where's the posts?

2006-10-06T13:25:00.000+09:00

I know... I know you all want the bunraku report with pics and stuff and well I don't have it yet. Recently things have gotten busy with Japanese class. We're learning a lot of stuff at once as well as doing crazy readings like for example...

私の大学は国立大学です。大きくて新しい大学です。学生も先生も多いです。東京から少し遠いですが、大学の中は広くてとても静かです。東京駅の南口から。。。Yeah

I could go on, but you prob get the gist. Anyway.. Big festival coming up, "Matsuri" as they say. It's supposed to be a party time festival thingy. According to my Shinto Teacher the festival comes from a shinto religious event when all the shinto gods get together at this one place leaving the beer god to rule Japan for the month (I think)...

It's pretty cool in my opinion. Tomorrow though I'm going to try to make another flea market... then I'm going to check out this party going on in Sapporo.

So don't worry the 'posts' are coming!

~J out

Shall we ダンス?

2006-10-03T22:44:00.000+09:00

Today I had two classes: Japanese and Japanese Society. Japanese went on like it usually does with it's various lessons, but in Japanese Society we watched and discussed the famous movie "Shall We ダンス?" Or how they pronounce it Sharu-wii-dansu. It's a classic here and (for Clark College Students) a required movie for any Okuhara Sensei Japanese 100 level class! If you don’t know about the Japanese version, It was produced in roughly 1996 when Japanese businessmen had permanent jobs and permanent wives…

This version is somewhat different from the American version which I believe is basically a rip off the original Jap version. In the Japanese version, the plotline is more believable because the main character is played by a Kōji Yakusho (See Person on the right ) who is no Richard Gere. However, you all should know Yakusho’s later work in Memoirs of a Geisha where he played Nobu. If you still don’t know him look him up, because I think he’s a really great actor.

The plot line is more or less about an accountant Shohei Sugiyama (Kôji Yakusho) who is feeling bored with his routine life, limited to hard work and staying at home with his wife Masako Sugiyama (Hideko Hara) and his teenage daughter. One night, while traveling home by train, he sees the beautiful face of Mai Kishikawa (Tamiyo Kusakari) in the balcony of a dance school, and a couple of days later, he decides to visit the school and secretly take ballroom dance lessons every Wednesdays night. However, he becomes ashamed to tell his family his secret. Meanwhile, Masako feels the changes in the behavior of her happier husband, and hires a private eye to investigate whether Shohei is having an affair. While the private investigators look into Shohei’s life, Shohei is slowly falling in love with the art as well as the girl. It’s a funny and romantic movie that suitable for all audiences. The Japanese version comes with English subtitles as well so non Japanese Speaking people can enjoy it as well.

Another famous Japanese actor in this movie is Naoto Takenaka (Person on the left in the bottom left pic) who plays Mr. Tomio Aoki, the wild and crazy Mambo dancer. Takenaka has done jobs as an Actor, Director, Writer, Cinematographer, as well as himself. Some of you might know him as “Butterfly Joe” in Ping Pong (ピンポン), the wild and strict ping pong coach. I get the feeling that all his roles are the same exaggerated roles. Overall I think he’s a really good actor as well.

If you’re wondering why we’re watching this movie, I’ll tell you. The class is about Japanese society and this movie deals with the lifestyle of Japanese business men here in Japan. However, the drudgery of everyday “salary men” is changing. In Japan, it was common place for a Japanese man to land a job for life. In this movie it portrays this man as more of an “everyday man” doing things a traditional Japanese man wouldn’t do. This movie (some say) changed all that by making it “ok” for Japanese men in their 40’s and 50’s to do unordinary things then commute, work, eat, drink, and sleep. If any of you get the chance I strongly urge you to seek out the Japanese version and watch it.

After watching the first half the movie I had nothing to do so a friend of mine invited me to the Kendo club. In America I had practiced a little bit at a local Dojo, but I’m far from “good.” The club here is run by the more experienced students (Sempai) who teach the Kohai drills and offensive/defensive moves. Sometime I’ll drop by and practice with them.

Other news is that tomorrow I’ve been invited to see a Bunraku play (or a Japanese puppet show). You can obviously find all you need to know about Bunraku from (reliable) sources like wikipedia, but basically this is a traditional Japanese puppet show. I’m going to take a stab that this is a really old and often unheard of art to the Japanese, because my host mom has never heard about it.

I’ll write a formal analysis tomorrow.

Anyway what’s this Amish news I hear over here? What another shooting from a remote part of America? Whatever it’s about, it must be big if I’m hearing about here… ne?

Get’n late!

~J out

Cloudy and busy!

2006-10-02T16:36:00.000+09:00

Welcome to October in Japan. The leaves are slowly dropping down earth colors of browns and oranges. The other day I felt a chilly draft go through the air. It was evident that winter is inching its way around here. The day time is a confortable 20 degrees (C), but night time is usually a drafty 14-16 degrees (C).

Here in Japan, costume stores in the train-stations are gearing up for Halloween. They do celebrate the event here on the 31st (tues). The costumes are somewhat simular too, except that there's costumes of some pretty scary gods or demons that are classic to the Buddhist sects. It all makes for one of those simular, but yet different kinds of events.

School is doing ok... It seems like just yesterday I was gearing up to go to Japan and it has already been nearly a month. Where does the time go? Today the school issued us our lunch money: 13,200 yen for the month. They told us that they thought 600 yen a day for lunch is fair. I guess so, for the most part I eat with everyone else in the lunch room. I've had my eye, however, on a cool ramen shop. Someday I'll head over there and get something cheap.

Right now I'm in study mode.. big test in a few days. Hopefully I'll make it through.

~J out

The One Day Bus Tour of Hokkaido

2006-09-30T20:54:00.000+09:00

Today the Hokkai University treated the surrounding schools to a one day bus tour of two local attractions: The Yamaguchi Koen and the Nikka Whisky distillery. The Yamaguchi Koen is a grape/fruit farm where I think they also make wine. The Nikka Whisky distillery is an old (1934) distillery that brews Scottish style whisky.

For starters I had to get to the location where we were to depart. The place we all had to get to was the Gakuen Mae station which is on the Tohō subway line. I had two choices as to how I was going to get there; I could either ride my bike down to Shin-sapporo station and then ride the subway to Odori and then transfer to the Tohō (55-60min), or I could go via the JR Train to Sapporo Station then take the same Tohō subway down (40-45min). The later seemed the fastest and easiest. So I whipped out my JR time table and plotted the course. Here was my travel plan:

Departed house at 7:53 and biked up to Oasa JR Station （大麻駅）(~10min)
Got onto the 8:03 commuter train to Sapporo St.（札幌駅） (~20min)
Arrived at Sapporo St. at 8:22 and transferred to the Tohō subway line (5~7min)
Took the Tohō subway 3 stops to Gakuen Mae (~8-10min)
Got off at Gakuen Mae and walked to Hokkai University (Arriving at 8:46am)

Total time: 42-45 minutes. Not bad eh? (That’s like going from Vancouver, WA to LC by train & subway)

Total cost: ¥200~¥230 (*note I used June-chan’s JR Pass from Oasa to Sapporo -¥280)

So at the school I met up with my friends and was given a name badge with my name written in Katakana: “ジョシアウィラー.” We were escorted to a waiting room where I met other gaikokujin 外国人 (foreigners) from all over the world. Of the people I met: there was a group from ChinaJiangxi I think, there was someone from Southern Nigeria, Someone from Tanzania, and a couple from Iran. That was just a few people from the total group of a little over 60.

At around 9:20 we got on two large tour buses and left for the small sea town of Otaru. Otaru wasn’t our destination but it was near there. Otaru is a cool little town to visit. It’s very old and has a lot of little shops all around the place. Someone in our group said he biked there, but I don’t know if that’d be wise. For about ¥1000 you can take a JR Train to Otaru station which is in the heart of the town and explore. Someday I’ll do that and take pictures. The route we were taking took us through some of Otaru’s windy roads that hugged the coast line facing the Japan Sea (Nihon Kai 日本海). After following those windy roads, we went into a big tunnel which opened up into vast farmlands and acres of grape vines. It looked like we had some how stumbled into Hokkaido’s very own Sonoma Valley.

~Yamaguchi Koen~

Our destination was a place called Yamaguchi Koen (山口園) which I think was a wine vineyard but I’m not sure. They had lots of concord grapes that we were free to pick and eat at our leisure. There really wasn’t much of a plan then to just eat our fill of grapes then sit down for some lunch. The Grapes were great; they were mostly all wine grapes which differ from store bought grapes. Seeds galore! But they were very juicy!

After having our fill of grapes we sat for lunch. Lunch was a box of rice and either salmon and fish eggs or muscles and rice with a ginger slab. I grabbed both of them. I honestly can tell you that this was the first time I had eaten this kind of fish egg. It was alright… I don’t think I’ll be snacking on them anytime soon…

When lunch was over, the group gathered around and we just talked about whatever. In the distance we heard a bell ring and people chatting. The weather was great! Not a drop came down and the sun shined bright! It was a pretty cool day. Next to where we were sitting we heard some thumping going on… Two farm guys in these cool outfits were pounding rice into mochi. Mochi is made of glutinous rice, pounded into paste and molded into shape; however, unlike the Chinese variety, it is molded right after it is pounded. Because of it being so glutinous, Mochi is very sticky and somewhat tricky to eat.

To make mochi, you need to participate in Mochitsuki the traditional mochi-pounding ceremony in Japan. The ceremony goes something like this…

Polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked.
It is pounded with wooden mallets (kine) in a traditional mortar (usu). Two people will alternate the work, one pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi. The mochi must be kept wet to keep it from sticking to the mallet.
The sticky mass is then formed into various shapes (usually a sphere or cube).

This mochi was formed into a sphere, but the fun part was pounding that rice into a sticky blob. The guys who were showing us how to do it quickly asked the audience to participate. Volunteers were made to wear a mochi shirts and swing the big ole mallet at the rice blob while this old Japanese guy (who was missing his finger) turned and wetted the mochi rice. Of course yours truly wouldn’t pass up a chance to swing a cartoon like mallet at a rice blob as hard as he could… I put on the shirt and the old Japanese guy handed me the mallet. I’ll admit it was heavy, but with all the people looking around I had to give it my all.

The Master Mochi Man and I got a rhythm going with the pounding and the wetting. Every time I hit it the crowd cheered and the next time I swung harder till I could feel the rice being crushed. Many volunteers went and in time we had a fresh blob of mochi which was kneaded by “O-ne san” and distributed in little bowls where you could put sweet dressings on it.

Eating mochi is a little hard. Freshly pounded mochi is very very sticky. If you don’t eat it in small bits and fast it’ll stick to your mouth. Mochi is very good though… If you’ve never had it, you should. There is mochi mix in Asian stores where you can mix and bake it. It’s not like real mochi, but hey… if you wanted that you’d come here, right?

~Nikka Whiskey Distillery~

After mochi, we left Yamaguchi’s and headed toward Nikka’s Whisky Distillery. Nikka is a pretty famous whisky around these parts. According to the brochure:

Nikka Whisky’s two domestic distilleries in Yoichi Town, Hokkaido and Miyagikyo, Sendai, was founded by Masataka Taketsuru (1894-1979), the father of Japanese whisky. Masataka [left] was the first Japanese to study the techniques of whisky making in Scotland and bring them back to Japan. Masataka decided to build his first whisky distillery in Yoichi Town, Hokkaido. It had all the necessary conditions and a climate ideal for whisky making, with mist, clean air, and cool, clean water. The first distillery (the one we were at) was founded in 1934.

Out of the two distilleries, we were at Yoichi Distillery (Hokkaido Plan) i.e. the older one. The tour was pretty informative. Although the tour was in Japanese the guide pointed out that the Hokkaido location is the “home to Japan’s warmest, richest malt whiskies. The entire region is unspoiled, with the scenic Shakotan Peninsula to the west, the canal town Oraru to the east, and the Kiroro and Niseko ski resorts to the south.

The tour started out with the history of the plant which was pretty facinating. Afterwards the tour went into the processes of distilling malt whisky: (Note this is how to make whisky. If you don’t care skip down to the next section)

1. Building 1~ Raw Material: Large-grain, high-quality barley is germinated to produce malted barley.

2. Building 2~ Kilning: The malt is dried inside a kiln tower with burning piece of peat. This is the process that gives malt whisky its unique smoky flavor. (Peat is carbonized piles of wateredge plants like reeds and sedges)

3. Building 3~ Saccharifying: Warm water combined with the crushed malt activates enzymes in the malt that convert starches into sweet-tasting wort.

4. Building 4~ Fermentation: The addition of teasts to the wort converts the sugar content into alcohol.

5. Building 5~ Distillation: The alcohol is taken out with a potstill. The distillation is repeated twice, yielding a colorless, transparent liquid.

6. Building 6~ Maturation: The whisky is matured in an oak cask. The rich aroma and amber color develop over many years (average is 10 years).

Ok so… after the tour ended we were served a very small (1/10^th of a shot) of whisky to try out. The whisky served was very smoky and aged to about 10years. You could literally taste the oak barrel used to age it. I thought it was pretty good overall. (I.e. tasted like whisky)

Next was the gift shop like all good tours should end at, we were then escorted to some bar where you could buy whisky in small bottles or big bottles. I kind of thought they were too pricey though.

For Northwestern folks, it was like going to the Tillamook Cheese factory and getting the cheese sample. Then after you get the cheese you can buy a brick, right? But you know you could get that same brink at Safeway for ½ the price. Well, truth is… you can get that same 5^th of whisky at a Super Market or 7/11 for ½ the price as well over here. It was cool to see where and how they made it though.

After a while of shopping and drinking samples we departed back to Sapporo (Odori). We stopped halfway for a break, but then returned at around 4pm. It was pretty much 7 hours of what’s in the local surroundings. In retrospect, it was pretty cool for what it was: “a free tour of the local stuff.” While nothing was spectacular, I’m more aware of local fruits and wines, as well as, Nikka Whisky. I mean… when you guys think of Hokkaido, do you think of Whisky? Not really, but Nikka Whiskey exists and it’s here and the Japanese are very proud that they can make it as good as the Scottish can. I think Nikka’s founder, Masataka, learned to make whisky because whisky making is an art/process that can be perfected and even mastered (i.e. an art like tea making or flower arranging) only this process was from Scotland.

So I’m happy I got to go. It was a good experience overall. Some other time I want to explore Otaru some more, and also I found out about another bath house around that I got to try locally.

Ok it’s late…

~J out.

Hiraoka tyuo elementary school grade 3-3

2006-09-28T19:04:00.000+09:00

Ok big post:

Instead of breaking this into two posts I wanted to write it as one big post. On September 20th and on the 27th (yesterday) a group of us LC students and other foreigners got the privilage to visit a Japanese elementary school (Sho-gaku). The experience was one I'll never forget. The school was loud and bustling and the kids were awesome. This is how it all went down...

The first trip...

In the afternoon of the 20th, our guide took us by taxi to a elementary school in Sapporo. We showed up at the door and were instantly met by the vice principal. The drill was that we were to take off our shoes and put on these slippers. Like always the slippers weren't big enough and they always slipped off.

After putting on these slippers, we were escorted like a gaijin parade through the school. Elementary kids from all over stared at us and some were eager to meet and greet us. They were all over us laughing and wanting to shake our hands. Sticking together, the VP took us to a big Office where the plaques on the wall displayed a long heritage of being an "outstanding school." This was the Principal's office, a fine place with two big sofas. It was obvious he hosted guests often here, however this time he was gone on some business trip. The VP's assistant was quick to serve us tea and we told the VP where we were from and why we were there. By then, I was quite familure with the "Gaijin Questionare." If you ever come to Japan there are simple questions Japanese people will ask you:

What is your name?
Are you from America? If so, Where in America? (they know Seattle "Ichiro", San Francisco, and L.A.)
How old are you?
How long are you staying?
Why have you come to Japan?

Roughly you get at least those questions. Sometimes you'll be asked more, but usually never less then that. So be prepared!

After the interview, the elementary school teachers came to bring us to their classes. They carefully called out our names in broken english and then escorted us to their room(s). Out of the five or so teachers, about 2 of them spoke a little english. Unfortunately my partner and I did not get either of them. It was still fun though.

The classroom design is not like an American design. If you think back to elementary school, you might recall that the classroom had a door and that it was a separate space then "the school." To change rooms you went out one door and into another. This school was different, the classrooms had three walls and one side was open. It looked like an oversized cubical building with separated spaces which we're designed to be class spaces, instead of classrooms. I later asked the VP about this design, he told me that this design was the "old Japan" style and that about 10 years ago the school was more like an American school with closed rooms. He said that when he was a teacher (15 years ago) he thought that the closed room style was good, but to loud. In Japan, decipline of elementary schoolers often doesn't happen. The schools are loud and the kids are often rambunkous. Open classes allow the sound to disperse into open air. My opinion was that it was really loud from the start to the end.

As we walked in the kids got really excited to see us. They looked at us with wide eyes and talked amongst themselves. The teacher motioned and told us in Japanese to introduce ourselves. My Partner and I were unsure whether to speak Japanese or English so in trying to represent America and make sense, we did it in both Japanese and English. When we spoke Japanese the kids were awe struck that we could speak their toung. However (as I later found out)... Japanese elementary kids are like American elementary kids, the Japanese we spoke was "adult" Japanese and the kids spoke kid Japanese. The teacher was very nice and ended up translating a lot of our Japanese into kid Japanese. It was fun language lesson for all of us involved.

After introducing ourselves we were to teach the kids an American/English song. We both agreed on teaching the kids Itsy Bitsy Spider because it had good hand motions and it was fun to hear the song in a Japanese accent. Teaching the kids was plenty of fun. After two or three attempts and a lyric guide the kids finally sang along with us and it was a bunch of fun.

In return they taught us a song they leaned "the number rock" or something. And then it was time for an interview. I can't say whether the interview came first or the song, it doesn't matter, as I write it is really just a big blur. The questions we were asked were written in English, Katakana, and then in Japanese. The kids asked nerviously what kind of music we liked, if we liked Japan, and some other ones. There were also questions that were undeciferable and it took a great effort to translate the question and then answer it. If ever there was a language gap it was there in that room with my electronic dictionary, the teacher, and a confused kid who didn't really know what he wanted to ask. Ahhh elementary kids they were so cute and I was hard pressed to leave when I did. They all said goodbye till next time and followed us down the hall.

The second trip...

The second trip went down like the first with the meet and greet at the door, the shoes, and the interviews. This time, however, the President was there to meet us instead of the VP and he asked around and was very happy to have us there. Out teachers arrived and escorted us again to the three walled rooms where the kids again gawked at us, except this time a lot of them sprung up in jeer and were so excited to see us they nearly blew up with joy. My parter and I sat and the class began with them singing us the "hello, hello, hello very glad to meet you" song. It was definately the best thing ever. Next they told us that they were going to teach US a song, a Japanese song, "Sakura, Sakura." Like our song, Sakura had hand motions simular to paddy cake, paddy cake baker's man. The first round they sang, the second round we sang, the third round they did the hand motions, the fourth round we repeated. The next 5th, 6th, and 7th rounds kids were eager to do the motions with me. It was uber fun to learn and play along with these kids who took it so seriously.

Next, my partner and I were to teach the kids an American game. My choice... Red Rover, Red Rover. That's right.. Some might say this was a mean choice to make Japanese kids have to say four "R" words, but I say if you teach them hard english words now they'll grow up with hard english words not being a problem to pronounce (or so was my dream).

Like the song, the teacher had game rules translated into Japanese. The teacher formed the class like troops in a battalion. In an instant these kids went from hooligans to orderly. As the kids sat in eagar anticipation; the teacher, my partner and I hashed out how this game was going to work.

Ok.. two lines, one line calls out "red rover, red rover send _____~san over." Got it? good.
Ok let's go!

The kids sprung up and formed two lines. My Partner played side A and I played side B. I huddled the group of kids around us and they shouted names at me. Using the boy scout leadership skills in me, I decided quickly on a kid and told them let's pick him ok? Ooo K! Back in the line I felt like I was on the front row of a battle field. We gathered our strength as we yelled out our battle cry, "weh-doh ba weh-doh ba sen-do HIRO~KUN!!! Ohh-baaaaa!" Like flash lightning Hiro~san ran at our line and broke though like an olympic runner in his last heat. We had failed, but our spirit was still intact. The other team huddled and repeated the chant calling out for Tanaka~san. Tanaka-san charged up and rushed the A side like a blazing wind, but the otherside tightend up and literally clotheslined Tanaka san to the floor. The boy hit the ground like a WWE wrestling match. The tears began to well and I thought it was all over, but the teacher knew better. The teacher squat down and said something to the boy, and like clockwork everything was better and he was back in the game like nothing had happend.... With the situation clear, our turn was next. We huddled once again and picked another kid. This time I coached them to stand strong and to not let them pass. My advice worked too, not one person for the entire game broke our line. Five or Six rounds went by before the teacher gave us the time's up one more round, our team got together and made our pick. We went and our player broke their line, they went and didn't break our line. We had won! and I was very proud of the little buggers... Good job team! maybe we should go pro?

Time to go and they said goodbye, except they also prepared a thank you card. The card was 7 green construction papers thick and full of thank you's in simple hiragana/katakana. It almost made me want to cry, but I held it in and deeply expressed my graditude by bowing low and saying "Arigatoo Gozaimasu" lots of times. They all ran up to us and shook our hands, it was cool, very cool.

Coming back we were greeted again by the principal who escorted us to his office. We sat down and began to chat again. In chatting, the principal told us that he or someone he knew was an origami master. To prove it we brought out a really awesome piece that is supposed to represent the universe and all things in it. I didn't really get it, but I thought it was cool enought to snap a pic of it.

As we left the kids watched and waved, we got our shoes on back to the taxis on our way to school. I began to read the thank you notes and felt really good that I participated in this little foreign relations exchange with the future generation of Japan.

~J out

Big Japanese News

2006-09-27T21:23:00.000+09:00

I'm not sure if this made American News, but this is very big news in Japan.

From The Japan Times Online:

Abe made prime minister

*New* Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Earlier in the day, Abe was elected prime minister with the majority vote held by the LDP and its coalition partner, New Komeito, in the House of Representatives. Abe secured 339 votes of the 476 cast in the Lower House, compared with 115 votes for Ichiro Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan. In the House of Councilors, Abe received 136 of the 240 votes cast, while Ozawa [Candidate for The Democratic Party of Japan] got 85.

Newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe names his Cabinet, giving most of the posts to his close aides and people who actively supported him during the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election. The 52-year-old president of the ruling LDP is the youngest postwar prime minister and the first to be born after World War II.

Taro Aso, Abe's rival in the LDP presidential race, was reappointed foreign minister, where he will continue efforts to mend ties with China and South Korea.

The repeated visits by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, to Yasukuni Shrine have chilled Japan's relations with the two Asian neighbors and they refused to hold summits with him.

Abe also increased the number of special advisers to the prime minister to five from two. Issues they will deal with include national security, Pyongyang's abductions, economic and fiscal policy, education reform and public relations.

If you want to read the whole stories and more about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe you can use this link: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060927a1.html

Big News thought you'd like to know.

~J

The Atsubetsu Heated Pool

2006-09-27T20:13:00.000+09:00

On Wednesdays I don't have morning classes, so this wednesday I decided to check out the Atsubetsu Ward Pool (プール). The pool is near the Shin-Sapporo Station, McDonalds, and other Government Offices.

When I arrived I thought it looked like a fairly modern pool. It was 9:30am and the pool opened at 10:00am. They still let people in, but I just had to wait a bit to get dressed. As I waited, men and women in their 70's started showing up. With in 15-20 minutes there was nearly 25 of them all getting ready to swim. I decided to check out the schedule for Wednesday at 10:00am. Using my eletronic dictionary I deciphered the schedule to find out that 10am Wednesday's is elder exercise hour. I should of known.... water exercises.

The room was filled with women in their 70's looking at me with those curious "what's a young gaijin doing here?" None of them came up and asked me who I was or what I was (trying) to do. Instead most of them smiled and talked amongst themselves.

The locker room finally opened... I went in and got changed and went to the shower room. Next to the shower room is a toilet room. In order to use it though you had to put on those familure slippers that never seem to fit. The shower room was like any shower room only there are stalls and the shower head is the kind you pull out and shower down by hand. After taking a quick shower I went out to the pool. In this pool however, both men and women have to pass though the "shower gate." Unfortunately I don't have a pic of the shower gate, but hopefully I decribe this thing.

When you walk from the locker room to the pool both men and women's rooms unite at this short hallway with shower heads on either side. The drill is that both men and women have to pass through the gate. The gate is no more then two shower walls with many shower spouts and what apeared to be a motion detector. So as you pass through the gate the shower heads start spraying you down and then turn off as you leave. It was literally a human car wash and most likely the most bazzar thing I've seen at a pool.

The actual pool was pretty big. The room had about three different pools in it. The first was a Exercize pool where most of the group went. The second was a children's pool (kodomo pu-ru), And the third pool was a regular lap pool. However, due to the swimming classes going on, there was only one or two open lanes for lap swim. After going this far I was going to do it no matter what.

I made my way towards the water when the lifeguard caught me and the little Japanese dialog began, "Chooto Matte, Chooto Matte" she called out. "Hai, dooshita-n desu ka?" I replied, "Ano... eru-ringu to ringu mo motenai!" she commanded, "Soshite, booshi nai~ oyoogi nai!" she continued.

Translation: "Wait, Wait...." she called. "Yes.. what's the matter?" "You can't wear jewelery in the pool and if you don't have a swimming cap you can't swim." She motioned for me to wait as she quickly ran into a side room and removed a cap for me to wear. I went back and "debarbed" myself of all jewelery and then tucked my long hair into this small little cap. With the cap on I looked in the mirror and seriously didn't recognize myself. I should say that I didn't bring goggles either so when I was done swimming my eyes were bright red as you can see the pic. The Japanese really chlorinated their pool so my eyes buzzed for a while afterwards.

All in all, I swam laps for about a hour and a half. Afterwards I decided to leave back through the shower gate and then out. The total cost was in the range of 500-600 yen. I thought it was kinda spendy but it was a pretty hightech center. I might go back some other day, did I mention it was heated? Oh yeah that made a big difference plus I feel good about working out. Japan seems to be giving me a pretty good workout!

~J out

Classes begin

2006-09-26T20:34:00.000+09:00

Today I registered for my *extra classes* today on top of Japanese class. The extra classes i'm taking is Japanese Society through film and Intro to Shinto & Christianity in Japan. Last week I was able to sample most of the classes offered to forigners and those two seemed like interesting choices. Mind you, these classes aren't really top-notch LC type classes by any means.

The Society class is mostly 3 hours of watching a Japanese movie and then discussing elements of Japanese Society represented in the film (i.e. Japanese motifs, themes, and devices). Yeah... It might pick up later on, but I can't say I'm totally sold on the class. The concept is good. Many movie inspired classes work if the teacher is trying to teach something. However I do not detect a "plan" from this teacher so I'm concerned there is really no "direction" or "point" this teacher wishes to teach us.

The Shinto Class is ok, but it doesn't compare to the first week or two of Japanese History at LC. Many foreigners and Japanese are taking this class because the subject is kinda interesting, but the teacher is even more interesting. The Class is taught by a Jason Barrows "Jason Sensei." My personal opinion of him I'll keep to myself, but his teaching style is very direct and perhaps "commanding" of his students particularlly these three female "assistants" who assist him in all various manners. He teaches the class using what he thinks he knows and what he thinks is important. It's not a teach and then discuss class and I felt the first day was a little starved of hard facts. I've heard many opinions of this teacher by many different people including my host mom and they vary from good to Not so good. If you're truely wondering about this class... let's just say one of the notes I jotted on the top of my note pad the first day was:

Shinto Class = Where's the facts?
(This class should read) Jason Sensei's interpretation and opinion class of Shinto stuff.

Well I'll keep ya'll posted on how this and the other class rate later on. Maybe it'll get better.

~J

To my readers:

Back channel I hear that my reader "fan-base" is growing. I just would like to just say thank you all for taking the one or two minutes a day to read my short posts about Japan. I apprecite the comments left (I read them ya know), e-mails, and stuff. If there's something I write that you want question/comment you can either post on the blog or do it backchannel by e-mailing me at wheejc@gmail.com or replying through the blog.

Again thanks for reading my blog.

~J out

KAMI-KAZE COLD!

2006-09-25T22:03:00.000+09:00

Beware the Japanese KAMI-KAZE-KOLD...!

If you've been following along you know that i've been under a tough cold that refuses to go. It's been traveling from the boy (kei) to me, then on to the Dad (June-chan), and now it's plaguing the mom (Na-chan).

The Japanese word for this cold is *"Kaze" (かぜ). However, this is a special cold that seems to attack you hard and quick, therefore I'm nameing this one *KAMIKAZE!!!!!! ("kami" originates from Shinto and means "god") or "god cold."

So far everyone, but the cat has it and Na-chan has it so bad that she couldn't cook tonight. I had to make a "Ma-ku-do" run for both me and Kei. Some of Na-chan's friends brought over some food, but I wasn't into it and neither was Kei.

Once it passes we'll be immune, but man while it's around it sure takes all the energy outta you.

~J out

ーーBlog Notesーー
*Kaze also means wind, but is spelled 風

*Some of you might think "Kamikaze" refers to the Japanese Suicide Bombers from world war 2 and you are right. "Kamikaze" means a lot of things, but is orginally, an old word that dates back to the times of the Ghengis Khan. The story goes that when Ghengis Khan tried to invade Japan, a giant Typhoon hit Japan and killed most of Khan's invading army. A few years later, Khan tried a second time to invade Japan and yet another great Typhoon hit again and wiped out the second army. The Priests of their time took credit for raising the storms and called the two storms Kami (god) and Kaze (wind) or Great-wind from the gods. Many, many years later the Japanese Suicide Bombers used this word to describe their attack on America. Their point was that they were going to hit America like the great typhoons swiftly hit and wiped out Ghengis Khan's Great Army. History is great.... isn't it?

Hippies around the world

2006-09-24T18:11:00.000+09:00

Maybe it makes no difference or maybe it makes all the difference in the world, but I never thought that I'd be sitting at the table with a Japanese family at 6pm on a sunday listening to Pink Floyd's "The great big gig in the sky."

Yeah... Pink Floyd rocks here too. We're all just hippies.

~J out

The Starbucks of Burgers

2006-09-24T14:12:00.000+09:00

Having lived in America for years I've grown accustomed to certain combinations like: Burgers & Coke; Doughnuts and Bagels & Coffee; and Cookies with Mocha. Never in my life would I think of coffee and burgers being a good combo, yet Moss Burger, The Japanese Fine Burger and Coffee some how makes this combo work.

Doing my home work, I got hungry so I went towards the McDonalds where I found Moss Burger. At first I didn't know if it was a coffee shop or fast food joint. It was both. Half starbucks "hi-class" and half fast food Micky-D. Whooooa.

The lady at the counter welcomed me and politely asked what I wanted. Not sure I pointed at number 8 "hatchi ban onigaishimasu" it was some Japanese spicy burger, but I didn't know that. I think she asked if I wanted anything else, but I was so enamored by my surrounding that I spaced and just said, "iie, daijoobu desu" (that's all). It was somewhere on the spendy side, but I've learned that for the money here you get really good service.

To give you a clue... The lady took my money and then sat me down in a seat and served me water. I didn't even ask for water and she served me. whoa. It's hard to get used to being treated polite all the time in fast food places. I remember back in the states being rushed to order and pay and sometimes I'd get the wrong order. Where did you're customer service go America?

The food arrived and the burger looked small, but was filling. I sat enjoying the small cafe style of this relaxed place.

When I got up to leave, I began to take my basket and trash to the bins when that same girl ran out and took my basket and trash and then bowed deeply and thanked me for coming in and to come back soon. This and other simular experiences are frequent here and because of it, I just might come back just for the service.

~J out

The Big Centennial Memorial Tower

2006-09-23T17:35:00.000+09:00

The Centennial Memorial Tower and Nopporo Forest ParkSo I couldn't help it.

Everyday I ride past this giant tower. It makes me think I'm more in Qo'noS (the Klingon Homeworld) then Sapporo, Japan, Earth. (don't ask me how I know that).

I had to figure out what this thing is all about... So after the flea mart trip, I headed over to this tower thing.

I didn't know what route to take, only that If I headed toward it on my bike, I'd get to it eventually. So on some unknown road I began to ride to this tall tower... the road became a dirt path and I was running my bike and me through bushes and bamboo heading somewhere on some path to nowhere. I kept riding and riding not knowing where I was headed. I felt that this tower was more like the pot of gold you find at the end of a rainbow.

Eventually I ran into a sign in all kanji pointing to the tower. I followed it.

the path went up and was very steep. I had to get off my bike and walk the bike up to another point, where I couldn't push the bike anymore. So I had to carry it the rest of the way.
I felt myself being transformed from a regular guy to some super monk trying to prove myself to some karate Master at the top of this mountain.

Eventually the trail opened up and it was my first view of the tower and the fields. It was a remarkable glory that is just undescribeable.

I had entered another relm of Japan. People were playing, throwing freezbee's, sitting in the grass, having fun. I took my bike and began to navigate this other paradise. I knew I was in Hokkaido, I knew I was in Sapporo, but it felt different.

It was a happy place, I liked it.

The tower itself was a monument to Hokkaido's entrence into the Japanese union (or empire). It was supposed to represent the people of Hokkaido not the people of Japan. It's message was clear, this tower is for the people of Hokkaido who, while continuing to make progress in medicine and industry, need to look back and be reminded of their roots as the people of Hokkaido.

The tower doubled as a great observitory. The stairs up weren't too bad and the observation deck was only 8 floors up. It was impressive to see so far out. To see the park and the city of Sapporo.

Going down the stairs I caught a pic of this groovy sign. The message is supposed to be no tagging, but I like this version better.

The rest of the park is beautiful. The park is like a giant wildlife park with small hiking trails that go around the park. The Park itself is called the Nopporo Forest Park. There's many different facilities and things to see in it. Some of the Facilities are the Centennial Tower, Vistor's Center, Historical Museum of Hokkaido, Historical Village, Archaeological Operations Center, and Forest House. Some other day I'll have to take a long trip in this park and look at all the cool stuff. At the park they have wild wildlife like flying squirls, Black Woodpeckers, and Chestnut-cheeked Starlings. Pretty cool eh?

I should point out that this massive park is about 4-6 minutes away by bike. Their wildflower selection is also pretty exotic with Chishima-azami a "tribble" looking plant that is all spiky, or the Zazenso that looks really bazzar.

Yeah.. the kids were catching butterflies and it was a happy place I'd like to take all of you too.

~J out

The Atsubetsu "Dream" Flea Market

2006-09-23T16:57:00.000+09:00

Today I flipped through a Japanese "What's happening in Sapporo" and it mentioned a flea market (Read: Swap meet) happening near my house at the Atsubetsu Ward Office Parking Lot. (For those who know were I live, it's next to the Shin-Sapporo Station)

So off on my route.... taking the 12 down to the Micky-d's where I hung a left and went past the station to a parking lot full of Japanese people selling their wares.

I was home everybody

People swapping goods for goods and selling old stuff they didn't want to people (like me) that are uber proned to buying... ... ... junk. To list everything I saw is impossiable but I can tell you a short list of what these guys were selling:

there was:

Cds, Dvds, Shoes, Pants, Shirts, Sweaters, Ski gear, Super Famicoms, Nintendo Famicom, Games (from Famicom to N64-Playstation), Shinto stuff, keychains, "Cute" toes, qoo dolls, you name a Japanese thing it was likely to be there and for cheap.

Like being at an American Swapmeet, I devised the three walk-around system and went to each row looking for bargans. There was lots of stuff I could of bought (and most of it in the 50-100 yen range) but I didn't buy it. Instead I bought a sporty tee-shirt (bright yellow), a sweat shirt, a qoo doll, a couple of cds (incl. the Jap import of Rednex sex & violins) yeah. Good stuff.

Don't worry I got pics too.

By the way... when I saw that buddha with the fish I had to get it. Although I had to bargin an old Japanese woman for it, I thought it'd be a cool Josh to Dad gift!

Here's some more pics.

~J out

Happy Otanjoobi Dad

2006-09-23T09:05:00.000+09:00

Hey man, have a great happy birthday.

here's my card from Japan!I'm on the hunt for a ridculously cool gift!
Watch out!

EDIT: 5:00pm
Ok ready for your gift man?

Drum roll

............................................................................................................................................................................

Here it isMay he bring you much good luck!
Happy Birthday man!

Down and out for 3 count cont.

2006-09-21T15:45:00.000+09:00

When you're sick there's nothing really you can do except sleep, drink tea, and watch t.v.

Someday I'll do one or two blog posts on Jap t.v. but I thought this was halarious when I saw it. Apparently the Suntory the company that makes Boss coffee roped Tommy Lee Jones into being their mascot. So after looking through you tube I found it.. check it out

~J

Down and out for the 3 count

2006-09-21T13:52:00.000+09:00

I don't know what it is that I got, but it's bad. two days ago is when I noticed it. My voice began to change ache with every drink of water, food ate, word spoke. It didn't really hit hard though until yesterday morning. Yesterday I went to school and when I was talking to my friends I had that voice you get when the day earlier you drink too much whiskey. Ya know that low graspy voice. It hurt like heck when I talked. I was about to spit for home and take a break when our international councilor person caught me walking off and said, "hey you're supposed to meet the elementary school today." The way she phrased it made me think this was some sort of century old trick to make foreigners who can't speak good Japanese to do what they want.

Some other time I’ll do a post about it, but to wrap up.

Today I’m down and out my voice gone and ache like crazy. I played hookie at school and drinking tea. My nose drips like a leaky fossit and my head is cloudy. I hope Japanese colds die off as quick as American colds because I’m sick and tired already of being sick and tired. Plus the medicine that the host family is giving me is in Japanese so I don’t know what they’re giving me.

~Urgh J

Otaru and the fishing trip

2006-09-20T10:25:00.000+09:00

2 days ago June-chan invited me to go fishing with him. Kei (his son) and his wife Na-chan usually don’t go fishing, so to have a partner was exciting for him (or so I thought). He asked me if I had ever gone fishing and I told him that my dad had taught me to fly fish, but never ocean fishing.

Before we left for Otaru we had to get bait. Near the edge of Atsubetsu-ku is a tackle and bait shop. For the most part of my stay here, most stores are pretty small and often don’t have what you’re looking for. This tackle store, however, was huge and had all sorts of fishing lures, bates, rods and poles (bamboo, wood, glass, graphite, etc.), outfits, rod holders, boots, waders, watches, knifes, tackle, and tackle boxes that would all blow your mind. I guess Hokkaido is a fishing place!

While June was getting the stuff to fish, I was meandering over all the Japanese fishing goods. It was obvious Japanese people take their fishing seriously. 20 minutes later June was ready, he had bought me a pole, bate, line, you name it. We were prepared for war against the fish. It was time to roll.

This was the first time I had been on the open road in Japan. Highways here are supposed to be convenient and this one didn’t fail. This highway only went from Sapporo to Otaru. What’s different (well I guess different from Portland) is that you have to pay a toll to get on and a toll to get off. In exchange for a small toll of 400 yen you get a clear two lane highway (fast and slow). The speed limit on the highway was 80 kph which if you do the math (80 x 6= 480 then drop the last digit) equates to 48 mph. That might seem pretty slow, but people usually do 100 kph (60mph) here plus Otaru is nearby so the trip was pretty short.

The weather for today in Otaru was mostly cloudy with a chance for rain. Maybe the weather man was asleep because once it started raining, the wind blew hard. When the wind blew hard, the rain came down harder. It all just made for a soggy adventure.

The first spot was a dud. So we moved to another which was also a dud. So we went to another and that was a dud. So the fishing trip became an exploration of Hokkaido’s vast coast. June says that when it’s clear the fish bite a lot and it’s a lot more tolerable. Standing out there, I felt like I was back in Portland, maybe somewhere along the Columbia. It felt good to feel wind and rain. Weird eh?

Fishing Japanese style is similar to fishing off of Huntington Beach. You can’t cast without a license, but you can drop hooks without a license. We did what was allowed and dropped bait laden hooks into the murky waters of the Japan Sea.

While our luck was wavering, June was intent on fishing. He wizzed through the gear setting it up like some Japanese master. June reminded me of a passage in Ernest Hemmingway's Old Man and the Sea. Watching June was a sight to see. I was able to catch this photo of the Fishing Sensei in action. From watching him and other Japanese guys fish it looked like, through all the modernity that is slowly fading old Japanese traditions, this activity seems like it bonded the man with his roots. I guess this isn't mutually exclusive, all cultures probabally have some activity that has transended modernity and when one or more people do it they too are connecting with their past, it was all kinda spiritual in a way. Perhaps, I'm wrong and it's just that fishing is fun, and June was showing off his honed skills. Whatever the case, he made it fun to go out and fish in those harsh conditions.

Anyway, we were having fun moving from one spot to the next. The fishermen who were pretty experienced said the good fish were not biting their lines either so I guess it wasn't our day.

That didn't stop us from exploring Hokkaido. June-chan wanted to check out some places he'd never been before. I'm guessing that Kei isn't all into exploring new places or atleast going out fishing new spots with his dad, but me I was game. So for some unknown reason, him and I started traveling the Hokkaido countryside enjoying the scenery and taking in the fresh air of the less traveled part of Hokkaido.

From what I could tell, outside of Sapporo and Ebetsu is mostly countryside and farmlands. The coast is real simular to the pacific coast on the Oregon side (i.e. cold, misty rain, salty air, and fishing boats). Driving along we saw ships from all over. There was one ship that had three white guys hanging over the rail, I waved to them and said "goodmorning" they waved back and said "Dobroye utro" (good morning in Russian) I forgot that Otaru does a lot of fishing trade with Russia. I thought it was pretty cool to see a real mix of people here.

Eventually we drove all over and ended up at a beach. We got out and saw a lot of people kite boarding, windsurfing, and salmon fishing. The view from the beach was beautiful. The Hokkaido Mountain ranges were in the background and the Japanese Sea seemed like it streached for miles.

The beach sand was a dark brown. I couldn't tell you why, but it was pretty different from Oregon beaches. There were also many people camping out here. From what I could discern there weren't any state parks to pay or regulations for fishing. Here it seemed like if you wanted to camp, you brought a tent and some wood, and some food and then you set it up. Just looking around I say plenty of great camping spots too. Hokkaido is full of great mountainous hikes and camping spots. The family told me they often camp at either the beach or at this lake. Some day I'll go and check them out.

It wasn't long before we called it a day and headed back home. The host mom went and bought some salmon and made a really good salmon meal. While I know the day could of been better, I told June that this was one the greatest days I've had here.

~J out

The Sapporo Bier Museum and Bier Garden

2006-09-20T10:02:00.000+09:00

On Saturday, my host father “June-chan” asked me what my plan was for the day. I didn’t know for sure so I started browsing the brochures you get from the visitor center. The Sapporo Bier Museum came up and I pointed to that and said “today I go here.”

Before leaving I was trying to plan my route there. I had subway maps and city maps opened up on the table trying to make a good route. June said, “What are you doing?” “Planning my route” I replied. “No, no, no, you should take the JR Train to Sapporo Station and then walk there.” I wasn’t sure about this idea, I had looked at prices to ride the JR train and they’re pretty spendy, except they are fast. “Here, use my pass to get there” June said. So it was set, thanks to June-chan the route was pretty straight forward: 1st get on the train, 2nd walk to the factory (15min walk).

Densha de GO! (Let’s ride the train)

Honestly I had never ridden in a commuter train before. I’ve been in other trains like from Portland to Seattle, but it was not quite like this. I rode my bike to Oasa Eki (above pic) in Ebetsu-shi and used my pass to get into the train station.

Everything looked old and used like it had been there for years and have sent many Japanese too and from all sorts of places. I asked a nice person just which train to take and then waited for the train to arrive.

In Japan, the trains travel the same way cars do in Japan (opposite from America). This little fact I didn’t know or atleast forgot on my way back home which cost me 15 minutes to figure out.

Once on the train I was headed to Sapporo Station. Sapporo station is pretty big by comparison to the other stations in the greater Sapporo/Ebetsu area. It’s like the grand central of Hokkaido. All of this was pretty cool to look at, but a station that big made it easy to get lost or at least mixed up on which way was south and north.

Eventually I headed in the right direction and in about 15-20minutes I was standing in front of that famous smoke stack, the one with a big red star and サッポロビール written lengthwise on one side. Pretty big eh?

My first impression was that this was a real old antique looking place. It had all the elements of a German style pub/brewery yet with a hint of old Japanese to make it a truly unique place.

I was unsure as to how to proceed, so I went into a building and the lady at the front escorted me to the museum section (how Sapporo beer started, is made, etc.). The tour was very interesting and cute. Everything about mass beer brewing was explained in detail according to some ancient method developed about 100-150 years ago. According to the tour, Sapporo Classic Beer is made with hops and brewed like all beers are usually brewed. The results taste the same as most beers do with slight variations between the quantities of each batch. Supposedly, Sapporo has found that beer magic to make each batch as good as the next. Who cares really, it was obvious people were eager to get to the “tasting room.” Some of the tour was cool, in the beginning Sapporo beer was distributed in wooden kegs and the advertising for the beer was usually some geisha girl drinking Sapporo beer. Also Sapporo beer has had many name changes over the years: Hokkaido Beer, Nippon Beer, etc. A final interesting tidbit is that the Sapporo Company produces Green Tea, Water, Sports drinks, cola, and a lot more. Beer is only what Sapporo is famous for but, the factory produces much more then just beer. They’re latest beer product is “draft one,” it’s supposed to taste like draft beer only it’s in a can. It’s alright, they’ve done pretty good, but nothing really beats draft from a tap.

Knowing that, I was headed to the tasting room. The tasting room looked like an old beer cellar. It was lit with these old lamps and the walls were made of brick. I ordered a draft beer (200 yen) and just sat to enjoy this place. What an experience this place was. If anyone was to visit Sapporo, then I’d recommend the Beer Museum. The tour is about 15 minutes long, it takes about 15 minutes to get there by walking from Sapporo station, and it’s awesome. Admission is free to get in, only the beer tasting costs money.

The rest of the museum is spread out in a big campus with beer gardens and cafés everywhere. The Genghis Khan is nothing more then a grown up barbeque with beer for a lot. That night, June cooked up a big meal for us that resembled the Genghis Khan with draft one beer.

That night old friends (the ones I met on the first day) came back and we partied celebrating just being together.

The next day (they day we went fishing) it rained.

~J out

Jozankei Onsen

2006-09-20T09:44:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was quite the adventure. A friend of mine invited me to come with him and some other friends to the Jozankei Onsen. The onsen is a Japanese style public bath that is very relaxing and is supposed to “rejuvenate you.” For anyone planning on coming to Japan, an onsen trip is a must. There are pretty much two kinds of Onsens, natural hotsprings and simulated ones. The one we went to was a natural hot spring.

To begin our adventure, our intentions were to get on a bus and ride it the aprox 70min. to the resort town of Jozankei then pile out and enjoy the relaxation of the pools.

What really happened was far from that.

It started out ok we found the right bus and paid the 750 yen it would take to ride all the way out of Sapporo to Jozankei. However, as soon as we got on the bus we were not totally sure what stop to get off at. Our only guide was this small paragraph in the Sapporo tourist pamphlet that said to get on this stop and get off at the Jozankei Stop and that it’d take 70min. Hah! So we stayed on that bus a whole 70 minutes and then we got concerned. We didn’t know if this place was or wasn’t the infamous “Jozankei” we read about. So gleaming over maps we decided that at (what we thought was) stop 25 we’d get off check the map and try to find this place. So we did, stop 25 came up and we got off. Too bad that after 10min when the bus had left we realized we were about 2 kilometers from Jozankei. “Oh” my friend said, “2K isn’t far, why when I was in the military….” Yeah right we said. Almost like clock work we were peering over the bus time table at the bus stop we were at. We were 3 American guys, and a British guy trying to figure out when the next bus came. So after 20min trying to decipher “the code,” we were almost at a loss when a bus showed up. Naturally everyone set aside their arguments about what bus to take or if this meant 2 minutes or 2 hours. The bus took off and we were on it, my friend said, “the bus should take a left up here” … it didn’t. “ok, ok, it’s somewhere over here!” nope. “Man, ok well it’ll turn left just you see.” Well, 20 minutes passed and eventually it did but as soon as it turned, it stopped, “Everybody out, last stop!” The bus driver bellowed. We were puzzled, the place he dropped us out at didn’t look a hot spring at all. In fact it looked like the bus has taken us to some farm village in Costa Rica. The four of us asked, “is this Jozankei?” at this, the bus driver looked at us and laughed, “no, sorry.” He closed the door and there we were in the middle of no where, far from Sapporo and with out a clue as to where “Jozankei” was. So we sat at the bus stop waiting, and waiting, relaxation at that point was far from our minds. 15 minutes went by with no sound of a bus. We were confused, anxious, you name it. My friend and another guy decided to walk to a store near by to ask for directions. As they were walking off, I saw that same bus, the one that dropped us off in this mystery land, come back the other way. I ran out and stopped him and asked, “hey, just how do we get to Jozankei?” the bus driver squinted at me and replied, “sugi no busu wa norimasu” which we took to mean the next bus was the one we should take, but when did that come? It was nearly 3:30pm and we had left at 1pm so we were pretty skeptical about *just waiting* we asked the driver for a timetable and at this the bus driver hesitated and then preceded to rumble through hundreds of timetables like he was some master of the Japanese Transportation Time Space Continuum. It was hopeless, he didn’t know, we didn’t know, we were lost and we were miles away from any kind of English help. Hopes were low as the bus driver peered over tables of numbers, as he did, I heard the faint rumble of diesel as a lazy bus emerged from the corner of a building. The bus driver perked up and pointed to that bus like a hound finding a bird, “that one!”

We jumped, and ran like the wind to get on that bus, waving and thanking the bus driver as we hustled to the other bus. We had made it at last. The bus rumbled off towards the mountains and with in another 10-15 minutes we entered the resort town of Jozankei Hot Springs. The ordeal in our minds were over, we were exhausted from the whole thing, now it was time to rest.

The Spa experience…

Nothing makes you feel more like a foreigner then an Onsen Spa. Like most everything here, there’s a kinda of ritual to relax. First you can’t enter the onsen with out a towel. There was a minute mart nearby so we all bought a small towel. The spa was roughly 1050 yen (about 10 bucks) with a towel. The experience… Priceless! After paying our fee, we were escorted to lockers in the lobby where we were given a key to put our shoes in. In this locker was a pair of (small) slippers. We put the slippers on and the lady escort asked that we give her the key. In exchange for the “shoe key” we were given another locker key for the dressing room. She escorted us to the dressing room where some of us had to use the bathroom. However, in Japan, the bathroom has a separate “WC” or “Toilet” Slippers. So off with one pair and on with the other, then off with those and on with the other. We were then escorted to a group locker room where we were instructed to put our bags, coats, etc in. So we did. Then standing there we were unsure where to go next. A nice man in the locker room showed us to another room with a bunch of cubby holes. We were to strip down to nothing and then proceed to the spa. This is where it got weird. I felt that I had just gone back to high school track and field’s locker room. We figured, when in Rome… yeah… so into the spa we went, 4 naked white guys without a clue as to what we were walking into. We saw a washing station and so we went there. The room was huge.. There was about 7 or 8 huge pools with varying degrees of mineral water all around. The bathing section was traditional Japanese style i.e. rinse, soap, rinse, shampoo, rinse and then your good to go! As you may imagine there was plenty of giggles and laughs from all of us. Soon we had got over the humility naked thing and were ready for the Japanese experience.

Not sure as to how to proceed now that we were clean, the four of us started testing every pool, moving from one to the other with only a small cheap towel covering us up. The pools were divided between different temperatures. The first we went into was said it was about 40-42 degrees Celsius, others were around 36-39 and then one really hot one. There was also a sauna and a “cold pool” in case you got too hot you could chill out so to speak. With in minutes we had forgot our ordeal and we’re relaxing Japanese style in these pools. It was glorious, we just put all our minds at rest and relaxed.

We were in that pool for about 1 and ½ hour when we decided we were properly relaxed. We then began the ritual of wash and rinse then proceeded to the changing room when we got to play the slipper/locker game. Rested and Relaxed we found a bus stop and like clock work the bus showed up and we were on our way back to Sapporo.

The Jozankei Onsen was quite the experience. I’ll have to do that again sometime. I know other onsens are different and now, after doing one, I’m game to try some others around here.

~J out

Update: Comunication

2006-09-20T09:22:00.000+09:00

Ok well no luck on the internet at home, here in Sapporo you pay your internet/phone bill via a convience store. Kinda like pay as you go, but different. My host mom says it'll get up today or tomorrow so right now i'm writting to you via the library on this thing. Comming up is three posts I've wanted to share with you... stay tuned!

Today a big typhoon rolled in and everything is in chaos. I think it's the reminents of the big Kyuushuu Typhoon so it's not full force. Still it nearly knocked me off my bike today!

-J

Out of Touch

2006-09-19T16:51:00.000+09:00

Please don`t think I`ve forgotten to blog. I have three posts in the workings. The usual place and time I post is at my Host families house usually in the afternoon. However, most recently (2 or 3 days ago) the families internet just went down. I pinged microsoft, google, and yahoo and only got timed out messages. Today I was able to access the internet from school.

Japanese keyboards are a little difficult to use (they are NOT exactly like American keyboards). So if I cannot get the internet tonight I will bring my laptop here to school and post the 3 adventures. If you`re wondering they`re:

The Adventure to the Jozankei Onsen
A Tour of the Sapporo Bier Museum
Sea Fishing in the small sea town of Otaru.

Again sorry for not posting earlier. It`s funny how connected you get to the internet, and then when it`s gone you begin to freakout a little. So if not tonight, look forward to tomorrow.

TTYL

Meet the Shachō

2006-09-16T09:28:00.000+09:00

Meet the Shachō　(社長)

Yesterday we (us Gaijin posse) were asked to meet the president. The Japanese word for President sounds like “Shachō” it probably comes from the word “Honcho” because this guy owns this place. I got the feeling that there's not a yen spent or a minute that passes that this guy doesn't know about. He was very nice to us, but it was clear that this guy was all business.

For those who don’t know, Hokusei Gakuen University share’s it’s facilities with Hokusei Gakuen Junior College. They’re different schools, but both Hokusei University and Hokusei Junior College are private colleges. I get the since here, also, that Sapporo is kinda like California (educationally) where public schools are cheap and private schools are expensive. So to wrap it up, this guy is pretty much in charge of one of the more prestigious colleges here in Sapporo. I should feel honored I was allowed 15 minutes in his presence.

The visit wasn’t long, he introduced himself and welcomed us to Hokusei (all in Japanese) and then asked us to introduce ourselves (all 25+ of us) then we took a group photo and that’s was it.

Japanese business men are all business down to exact minute, yen, and meter, it makes you want to gag sometimes.　He had a nice office though.

~J out

P.S.

*A note about colleges here in Japan; the hardest part of Japanese education is getting into a college. Not just prestigious colleges but any college. You see, to get into a college you have to take a battery of exams worse then any SAT. If you get a good score then you’re in and *could * just slack off. If you have any college education on your resume then you can get work here.

I don't know if anyone else thought this, but I thought this guy look remarkablly simular to this guy... Maybe all happy asian men look the same to me...

Odori...

2006-09-14T20:32:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I didn't have any classes so instead of hanging out at home I thought I'd check out this "Odori Park" I read so much about. In a nutshell, Odori is an awesome park for the awesome city of Sapporo. Just because you may have never heard of Odori or Sapporo for that matter doesn't take from the fact that these great places exist.

Let me set the scene first. As I walked out of Odori Subway station I was greeted by a crystal clear blue sky. The temperature was perfect. Warmer then Portland, but not too hot or humid. The sights and smells filled the air and I watched as Japanese street venders sold roasted corn-on-the-cob to pedestrians along the side walk. Sapporo has an inspiring "old and new mixed" aesthetic. Walking through Odori you get the feeling that the people here took extra care when they built this city.

An interesting note about Odori park. According to a local, the park was originally created to protect one half of the city from fire. If a fire was to break out (say in Susukino, the party district) the park is big enough that it could prevent the fire from spreading to the otherside, such as what happened in the Great fire of London in 1666. I don't know if it could really do this, but it's a cool story.

Here in Sapporo, and I assume all of Japan engrish is everywhere. In a vending machine I found the sollution to you Americans that are just *too happy all the time it's "DEEPRESSO" no matter how you justify it, it's just funny to see it everywhere.

To get to Odori I had to walk to the bus stop, then take the train all the way in, then walk around. By the time I was actually in Odori it was about noon so I was hungry. Luckily Sapporo has a secret weapon! ラーメン！(Ramen Noodles). Sapporo is famous for their ramen noodles. They're a little spendy but well worth it. They're served in huge bowls and usually has all sorts of meats, veggies, and stuff in it. So to eat it you basically take a pair of chopsticks (箸 ha-shi) and a soup spoon (the chinese style) and dig in. As you can imagine, if you're aren't good at chopsticks better get to the nearest chinese restaunt and start practicing! There's no spoons, forks, or knifes at these establishments.

What did you expect?
it's Japan...

So anyway... Odori is split up into quarters or districts. One of them is Susukino, susukino is kinda like the red light district. It's pretty active at night, but pretty sleepy during the day. As I was walking around this place, looking for this so called "Best Ramen," I saw caberets, bars, pachiko parlors, you name it. It was only after about half hour that I found this ramen sancturary "ramen alley" what you say? Ramen alley? yeah it's one ally that's all ramen. From Miso to Squid every kind is represented. It's the Ramen U.N. (United Noodles). Prices were reasonable I guess. Big Bowl of noodles runs you about 700-600 yen. Good stuff.

Packed full of noodles, I went out exploring the streets, taking pictures, and chilling. Sapporo is just like any other big city. Stores, parks, old town places, and groovy graffiti. The only real difference between Sapporo and Portland is that everything is mostly geared towards, what I call, "the Japanese experience." Meaning that people here are born and raised in this place and thus, think this is common. It's the source of culture shock when you take a person from this and put them somewhere that's not this. Make since? Sure. I'm an American, but, I'm just not any old American. I'm a westcoaster. And If the topic is culture shock, i'll be honest. I had more culture shock in the middle of New York City then I have here in Sapporo, Japan. Speaking of Portland. For those conservationists out there I found this kinda funny---> engrish gotta love it.

Too bad Portland doesn't have one of these next to the 711. It's a Buddist temple. Often on the major walking paths you'll find a monk from one of these temples standing with an offering bag. In many ways it's real cool to see someone dressed in traditional buddhist robes, not saying a word, just standing there. It harkens back to this feeling of the old exsisting with the new is some kinda weird harmony.

Past the temple you find shopping strips. Not strip malls, but a covered street (like fremont street in Vegas) where it's all shops. One of the better ones is this place (see left) the "real monkey." Again from the Japanese experience, this is a play on history, when America de-humanized the Japanese durring world-war 2 by calling them monkeys. This store just counters that with size 150+ jeans over a giant American flag. The message couldn't be more clear...

Don't get outraged though, we got the drop on these guys. In some ways this store is scary because inside they're selling Jeans for 50+ USD. All sizes from w28 L32 to w42 to L36. Levi's 517, 501, 535, etc. yeah.. it's places like this that kinda makes me wonder if I shouldn't just buy American Levis and sell them here then try to work some 20 year career at a desk.

just kidding ; )

It was getting late so I made my way back to the park when I ran into this guy. No real audience beside me taking his picture after pic of this guy doing crazy stuff on a BMX bike.

It was time to go so on the train I went back to shin-sapporo station. Trains here are really cool. I might just devote a whole blog post to them sometime. Padded seats, heated or ac, digital maps inside. yeah JR trains rule.

On my way, via the bus, I took a minute to snap a pic of this place. It's the "Homac" or the Home Depot of Japan. It has all the home improvement you'd need AND they're extremely... EXTREMELY helpful. Walking in, 99% of the time you can guarantee you'll never get lost and the employees will help you get whatever you need or didn't need till now!

Today I got to ride my bike to school and the trip was long but worth it. It took about 50 min, but that's because I stopped and took pics and checked the map and stuff. Tomorrow I expect to cut it down to 40 minutes or less.

On my way I found, yes, Ma-cu-do-na-ru McDonalds.

Here's a cool sight on the way home. According to the Historical Museum of Hokkaido:
[The]"Centennial Memorial Tower' was completed as a part of the undertaking of the centennial commemoration of the Hokkaido in September, 1970. The gratitude of Hokkaido people all the predecessors who built today's Hokkaido is put, and it is the tower of the steel frame "torasu" structure built as a thing which symbolizes endless development to the future. It is based on the 100th anniversary in Hokkaido, and the height of the tower is 100m. That shape symbolizes development to the future by secondary curve to cross in the height of the infinity in the speck toward the sky. When it is seen in the planar, that shape makes the hexagon of the crystal of the snow a motif.
　It can hope for the stores and houses on a street of Sapporo and Ebetsu and the wood of Nopporo from the view room in the height 23.5m."

from:
http://www.hmh.pref.hokkaido.jp/english/annai/kouen/E_tou.htm

No Joke either. I took this shot from probabally 20-30 miles away. It's a bike ride away and free as well.

Some trip 'eh? Tomorrow is friday and I got some Japanese tests to take, but then it's the weekend. A three day weekend none the less. Monday is respect the elderly day. It a day that the country stops and *respects the elderly for their wisdom and stuff, but if you ask any Japanese what they're doing on Monday they say, "hey it's a day off, I think i'll go shopping, or fishing, or go the baseball game."

Ok signing off another day...

See ya on the flipside good night! or should I say good morning...

~J out

A Trip to Japan's recycle shop

2006-09-12T20:33:00.000+09:00

Most of today was spent in class practicing my Japanese. However today I did put aside sometime for exploration. Today's trip: the #2 recycle store. It started with a brief trip on one of Sapporo's big clean subways.

Afterwards me and a few friends went exploring in what we thought was Japan's goodwills'. Well we were in for a shock. Used junk for way more then you can imagine. Used jeans selling for 50-70 bucks usd. A friend of mine found a jean jacket selling for over $1000 usd. Not cheap! It wasn't long before we left in shock.

Some times you can find deals elsewhere, like my bike. But don't going looking for a deal at a recycle shop... because there is none!

~J

*I noticed that the "Comments/Questions?" link was locked for "blogger member's only" Sorry about that. I unlocked it so hopefully you guys can leave a comment without having to sign up for an account.

A New Bike!

2006-09-12T19:34:00.000+09:00

A couple of hours ago I bought a new Japanese style bike. a "Bike" in Japanese is called a "Jitensha" (自転車）. Japanese bikes are really expensive, but you're kinda limited as to where you can go, if you don't get one. If you're wondering, I paid 5,000 yen for this bike (~$42) . Here's the pics of this beauty:

Ok so here's the specs:

2 new white rim tires
front basket & rear back-pack holder
Front headlight*
Solid Frame (Aluminium)
Rear (back tire lifting) kickstand
6 gears w/shimano gripshift system (*new)
Wrap-around handlebars (made for Japanese)
Adjustable rear seat
New Tires and Tubes
Front self locking bike lock-------------L@@K------------->

Ok... so check out this bike lock. It hooks to the front fork of the bike and basically has a dead-bolt that you push to lock it. Once locked you take the key out and the front tire is supposedly locked because the bolt stops the spokes. While this is pretty nifty and *feels * like it is locked, I'm not convinced. I'm compelled to go get a separate lock (100 yen) as well, for the back.

In Japan bikes aren't locked to anything. To lock your bike you basically lock the back tire by putting a lock around the tire and the frame. Theft here is pretty big, but theifs aren't punk kids looking to get a deal, it's typically drunk businessmen looking for an unlocked bike so that they can ride home. There's tons of bikes here so I guess, while they're expensive, they aren't THAT hot to steal... that doesn't stop me from getting a rear lock though. (they're 100 yen anyway)

*So this front headlight isn't battery powered instead it has a small generator connected on the front tire so when you start riding the bike, the front headlight comes on. Cool eh? It's like a magneto for a bicycle light. Crazy... every bike has one here in Japan. Some are more advanced and some are basic like mine, but they're all pretty much the same. I had to get one because it seems like distance is measured by how long it takes to get from point A to point B by bicycle.

I hope to get the most outta this thing while I'm here. Since I live far from the school I expect to use it often. Feels good to have a little freedom.

~J

First day of School: A 9/11 Emergency!

2006-09-11T20:07:00.000+09:00

For 9/11 2006 in Japan it was tough in many ways. Starting with it being 9/11, the Japanese recognize it as an American tragedy. There isn’t a big vigil or anything just a mention of it on the news. While I know for Americans the memorial is tomorrow, I can’t help but think about the tragedy when I look at the date on my bus ticket.

Besides that a more pressing issue on my mind was the first day of school. Yes, today marks my first day of School at Hokusei Gakuen University (北西学園大学). To say that the day was rough is an understatement! It was like going back to the first day of elementary school… However this time I fretted more about the route there then the class!

Several Important Questions passed my mind as I traversed this mysterious and complex transportation system. Questions like:

“Is this a bus stop? (バス停)” or

“I hope this bus is going to the right subway! (新札幌駅)

“Jee… When do I get off this subway line?”

“man.. look at all the black hair, Japan sure has a lot of Japanese people!”

luckily my host father came with me up until my train stop then I was on my own. So naturally as I exited Oyachi Station I asked myself, “Ok now what?!”

For about 10 minutes I was lost, then I recognized a 100 yen shop and I was on my way to school! YYYYOOSH!

The first day for me consisted of Japanese class and that’s was it. However Japanese class is about 3 hours long with a 10 minute break. By far this was a long day… I can’t imagine what it will be like when I sign up for more classes.

I am supposed to get 4 books for this class and the sum total is about 100 bucks US. Luckily I got it but that’s just for Japanese class. The electronic dictionary helps when doing homework though. Good thing I got that. Yesterday I got a Canon C50 Wordtank.. This thing is a beauty! My Secret Weapon against the Japanese!

However today the bookstore was closed, but that didn’t stop me from exploring. Today I got myself a subway pass worth 3300 yen (1 way in a subway is 280 yen) and I went exploring to the groovy ward of Otari (Sapporo’s City Center) There I meandered through the many shops in the subway station. After what seemed like hours of walking I went to the surface to find the JR Radio Tower; A wonderful grand tower that towers over the ward. There was fountains and street venders and sorts. There were plenty of big sky scrapers and people too. It was fantastic!

5:00 pm rolled around and I decided to go home. I found that rush hour in Sapporo doesn’t happen on the streets, but in the subway. They didn’t shove me in, but there were a lot of people! It was hard to find a seat for most the trip. I was headed to Shin Sapporo Station from Otari which is a long ride on that thing! Sure enough I got to the shin-sapporo station. Now it was time to find the bus… Earlier my host father suggested either bus stand 9 or 10 so I stood at terminal 9 hoping that this next bus would take me there. Knowing me though, I couldn’t stand * just * not knowing which bus to take so I asked a nice Japanese man if he’d tell me what stop to get off at. He did, he told me bus 26 and then made sure, on the way to the stop, that I got off at the right place. The bus trip cost: 200 yen

(*note: all of this interaction was performed in Japanese!)

Now that I was in the right neighborhood, you’d think it’d be easy to find my house.. Yeah right. Ya see the neighborhood is split into sections, and these sections are broken into blocks, and the streets here are NOT labeled. Should I repeat that? NOT LABELED. Not even an innocent bi-standard on the street could help me find the house. All he knew was that it was on the east side not the west side of the neighborhood. So I started searching, walking endless streets and looking at all the houses for a sign. It took about 15 minutes until I found what I thought to be my house and I checked the name: 室谷 (Murotani) YATA! As soon as the name matched up I recognized it as my house, like a key to the mind. I walked in and said with a confident holler, “TADAIMA” or “I’m home.” Kei (my host brother, 13) greeted me, along with two of his friends. He was wearing the Mariner’s tee-shirt I had gave him with “Ichiro” on it.

The Ordeal was over, I was home. I went to my room and laid there… happy I’d got home.

Pretty cool eh?

Before I go I should tell my readers I have a new cell phone now. It’s the Sanyo W33SA/SAII the advanced spec sheet could be seen here: h ttp://www.au.kddi.com/english/product/lineup/w33sa/index.html Briefly this nifty model comes equipped with:

T.V. (6 channels); FM Radio; Mp3 player; Video Player (avi); Camera w/flash; flashlight; JP-EN & EN-JP Dictionary; Calendar; Email; The Internet; and a photo-kanji recognition system (PKRS). (What’s a PKRS? It works with the camera. You see a kanji you don’t recognize or understand and you point this thing at the kanji. A box comes up and identifies the kanji and then translates it into hiragana or katakana characters which you then can put into the built in JP-EN dic and quickly understand the kanji. All of it takes about 30 sec to identify and then translate into english.

What you say? T.V.? Camera With Flash? A Photo-Kanji Recognition System?! No way! That musta cost a fortune! Nope it cost 1 yen. The charger cost more then the freak’n phone! How did I get it? Well the family started a phone family plan here that costs roughly 26 bucks US a month. They wanted me to have a phone to call them if I’m going to be late. Technology doesn’t get better then this thing! I was just surprised it had T.V. but the analog t.v. here is free so the service is free too. All I can say is SUU-GEI (that’s impressive in JP) it’s hard to put it down.

All I wanted was a cell phone and what I got was crazy Japanese tech!

Well time to finish my homework (shuu-ku-dai) it’s not much, but it’s gotta get done.

Ja mata~

~J out

The host family and Japan

2006-09-10T12:53:00.000+09:00

As if I couldn't handle it more.... More came.

Japan is "open" for your business. In fact I've probabally spent more then I should.

Things here are very colorful and bright here. This is from a curry shop which tried to replicate indian food.

Everything here is small and narrow. And cars here are small, cheap, and all hybrids here. Anything that's 5 years or older are not wanted and sell for cheap like 17,000 yen cheap that is roughly $150-170 USD.

Weather here sucks though! You can tell form the baseball picture you can tell it's very cloudy, humid, sorta cold, and rains like Oregon.

The streets are small and crowded. Check it out... this is my Street

Crowd'd eh? The houses too!

BUT.. if you think this is bad get this! None of these things are not labled either.. The rule here bring a map and mark it out and hope you can find where you're going!

Today I'm on the hunt for paper, pencils, and a Jisho (dictionary). Plus a bicycle for exploring! More pics to come... here.

So from Japan here's a cup of Coffee to start the new day...

~Ja Mata.

JAPAN!!! YOKOSO (welcome)

2006-09-08T20:38:00.000+09:00

HELLO FROM JAPAN ALL!

I've made it all the way. The flight was long and very boring. The best part was finally showing up in Nagoya where I met a lot of new friends from Hokkaido University. They were all friendly and eventually asked where I was staying and I mentioned Hokusei... Ehhhhh? they said "Hokusei is our rivals" in broken engrish. In fact, everything is in engrish..!

Coming in Nagoya.. alone was fun! No one spoke english and everyone was facinated with my blonde hair. The best part was finding my connecting flight.

Here's what I saw when I tried to find my connecting United Flight.

After getting there we were met by a friendly green bus

The fun and games didn't stop there! After arriving we were given a futon and bedding and were shoved in little dorm rooms and thus the day ended.... Ahhh YATA!

The next day we were given our first Japanese meal..

Qoo, Green Tea, Meat thingy, Potato Salad, Tempura, 2 strips of Salmon, Vegie stuff, Melon, Corn Meal, and yes Rice always rice here.

Next was a placement exam which was hard to say the least. 2 1/2 hours of pain remembering lessons learned 3-4 months ago... Funny how you forget it all and then all of a sudden it comes back.. Too bad it came back in the form of a test!

The fun part was next. Lunchie! 1 bowl of Ramen= 120 yen and good ramen too! However we (the LC Folks) got to meet new friends!

Then orientation started and we were led like a herd of cow around this twisty and small university. I should say that Hokusei isn't big at all. It's small but the people are fun. School in Japan starts in Two weeks on the Japanese schedule so this pack is known to get "packed out."

Money was given next and this school is all business! Based on your host family location you're given the exact amount for a bus pass and train pass. Mine was a lot of yen in comparison because I guess my host family lives far away.. ... we'll see! This is the richest I'll probabally be in a while.. ne?

All is well now in our little house. Tomorrow we will meet our host family. I will get my luggage finally! And all will be well... I hope. I can't say that I'm not nervous because I'm very nervous! Who knows what will happen tomorrow.. I hope someone shows up.. I'm eager to meet them .

My first impresson of Japan is that I feel totally safe and pampered here. Nothing here goes unexplained without great pictures or signs. People are facinating..! They don't run away from you they just want to talk and get to know you. If you speak a little Japanese they listen intently and thus when someone says there's a "communication gap" it's really only with words and grammer. I feel like I can communicate well here as long as I use my hands, face, and basic knowledge of Japanese. I know I'll get better later on. For now these people are very friendly and constantly check up on me. I feel good, I feel happy, and when I thought I'd get lost I didn't these people, who might not even know English, try hard to make you feel a part of their culture. Maybe I'm speaking too early.. who knows.. It's a land of unlimitless opportunity. I hope as I go along I can accomplish my goals here and come away with a pure idea of who these people are.

But until then, here's "ja-ne" from Japan.

~j-san

the day before...

2006-09-06T04:34:00.000+09:00

Today I wrapped everything up and am checking my gear for stuff I need or don't need. I cleaned my room as well and got rid of a bunch of junk I should of gotten rid of months ago.. Oh well.

This will be my last post from America in a while. The next one will be from the land of the rising sun: Japan. Who knows what'll be awaiting for me there only that I appreciate all the support everyone's given me thus far.

So time to pack this laptop up and venture off into yonder. If you're wondering if I'm excited, nervous, scared, anxious about Japan, no I'm really not. However~ I'm a little " " about the whole airport situation... I hope that I can get to Japan with little or no hastle.

~J out

The calm before the storm

2006-09-05T00:34:00.000+09:00

Today I shop for whatever I need then pack it. Ni-mh batteries, Personals, travel goods, passport, papers, etc. It all gets done today without distraction.

I can't say how this makes me a little nervous. I think i've already maxed out my camera's mem card with family pics and self pics. The cat must be blind by now with all the flash pics I took of him. All in all, most of the "farewells" have passed making today and tomorrow essentially the calm before the storm meaning that this time will be just me in waiting for the *big trip.* With all my stuff packed, papers in order, and people contacted for arrival arrangements. I sit and wait. Tomorrow I'll try to reflect on what this means to me... I've lived and traveled in North America for my entire 21 years and 10 months without leaving this giant mainland. In roughly 49 hours all this will change! What a mind trip!

~J

PS: *New Layout*

With the new settings in blogger beta, I've redone my blog a little to add more life to it. I know I need more pics and that'll come in time. For now I've added some more links and two new feeds: Google World News & Tokyo Times. Right now I'm looking for a time and date feed from Sapporo to add which would say what the time is in Japan, but till then you can use the "world clock" link in my links sidebar. I'm still editing the site and may add or delete feeds for better ones. we'll see.

the "good byes"

2006-09-04T08:06:00.000+09:00

Here on this last Sunday comes the "good byes." The Family, the GF, and the grandparents. It's not "goodbye" per-say just bye for now...

oh today was memorable... lets just say my butt was kicked by both plants and bees today!

what a day

~j

repost on blogger beta...

2006-09-04T07:37:00.000+09:00

Maintance on the blogger site:

Today I transfered the old blog to this beta.. hope its better.. here's the old posts.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

T-3days: Going to war

The time is near and war is approaching!

Packing has begone along with the many different photo shoots with members of the family, the girlfriend, and the house..

The packing has been intense! On my first tier I've packed the basics. It's like my first day of Boy Scout Backpacking trip all over again. Back when I was just a wee scout I remember packing everything (all but the kitchen sink!). I thought that now, as an Eagle Scout, packing would be easy and simple. Alas.. it is not.

Packing for a 50 miler is one thing, but packing as if you're moving is different. Questions arise like, "just what do they have in Sapporo? mmm I wonder if I should take this? This asprine will be expensive I should pack that. Ohhh what if they don't have __X__ or it's too expensive? I should pack it. Oh the misery! And then when it's all packed then I need to find space for the plethora of presents I'll bestow on this poor family who'll be my guides to this land of undersized clothing and weird food.

All shouldn't be that bad. They have to live there as well therefore be able to get basic necessities right?

I'm sure everything will work out. Time to take more pics and pack. Time is windling to the big day I hope i'm ready!

~J out

Thursday, August 31, 2006

5 days and a wake-up

Here's my first of many blog posts.

I got 5 days and one wake-up till I'm on my way to the land of the rising sun. I'm working on getting my gear ready and checking my papers twice! Life will be different to say the least.. Hopefully i'll try to be diligent enough to post my epic adventure for all to read!

So here's to a great adventure!

J out!

The Adventure in another world: Japan

いらっしゃいませ

More to say... the transistion back...

I'm back home everybody!

Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and stuff

Merry Christmas from Japan!

I'm Back!

Japan Rail Pass

The Speech

Japanese Culture (文化) Part 3: Language and the language gap

Japanese Culture (文化) Part 2: "Real intention"

Sayoonara parties and Kompai's!

Two words

Snow be a falling

The first day of December

Isogashii

Japanese Culture (文化) Part 1: Materialism

Photography Art Folder

Hmmm maybe next time

Winter Wonderland

Nippon Ham Fighter's Arigatoo parade

Japan is all business, but good business!

Nothing like a juicy steak~

EARTHQUAKE & TSUNAMI in Hokkaido

New Weather Sticker

The Akai Yakata (あかいやかた)

One Night of Incredible Snow!

Out for the count this week

Worst ride home in a long time

REDRAGON'S PHOTO ALBUM ONLINE!

"Picasa Web: Online Photo Album"

"Find Older Posts Here! <*_* /"

A Family Adventure to Niseko Onsen

A plan be a brewing!

A day in the life ~

At it again

Sapporo Winter Sports Museum & Hokkaido Jingu

Good times good times

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Won!

Fall has fell in Sapporo, Japan

Cold Weather...

Partly Cloudy

New layout

back from camp

Preparing for the International Camp.

Samurai Josh

UNSC and N.Korea Opinion

The sleepy town of Otaru

The Weekend!

False Alarm

Summary of the last post

The Domino effect: North Korea vs. Asia

Hokusei Gakuen University's Matsuri

BUNRAKU (or NINGYO JORURI)

Kendo Club

Where's the posts?

Shall we ダンス?

Cloudy and busy!

The One Day Bus Tour of Hokkaido

Hiraoka tyuo elementary school grade 3-3

Big Japanese News

Abe made prime minister

The Atsubetsu *Heated* Pool

Classes begin

KAMI-KAZE COLD!

Hippies around the world

The Starbucks of Burgers

The Big Centennial Memorial Tower

The Atsubetsu "Dream" Flea Market

Happy Otanjoobi Dad

Down and out for 3 count cont.

Down and out for the 3 count

Otaru and the fishing trip

The Sapporo Bier Museum and Bier Garden

Jozankei Onsen

Update: Comunication

Out of Touch

Meet the Shachō

Odori...

A Trip to Japan's recycle shop

"Find Older Posts Here! <_ /"

The Atsubetsu Heated Pool