japandroo

Surprise Birthday Party

2010-06-23T23:24:00.012+09:00

My girlfriend and my friends organized a surprise birthday party for me the other day. Here's some of the awesome gifts I got, plus some nice cards (including an amazing handmade job by my buddy's girlfriend)
That big red one is handmade, and has stuff on front, inside, and on back.

From a couple of Japanese girls I know, a glass for drinking and a small mesh bowl for edamame.

From the master of my local hangout, DASH, and his wife: pineapple, talking card, tie, and polo shirt.

From my buddy Tim and his fiancee Kazuko, some tequila (everytime I drink with Kazuko, she orders tequila and I end up passing out on a counter)

Some sake from Meghan and Saku, another int'l couple. Can't wait to crack this, maybe back in the States.

From Tanya and Yoshi, int'l couple #3 on this list. Pandas doing naughty things on a mug.

Rubber chicken stuff from a couple of friends of mine.

First in a set from the folks at Jalan, Ryohei and Noriko. His 2nd ramen joint is rock-themed, and he loves Pulp Fiction, so he had these made up.

The entire Jalan gift set, Wanderlei Silva action figure, One Piece shirt and some funky shorts.

From Matt, some Hokkaido ramen.

Epic Sandwich

2010-06-16T20:16:00.004+09:00

The other day I decided to make a huge sandwich, and as I went through my fridge, it just kept getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, it included:

2 small green peppers and half an onion, lightly tossed in olive oil and fried
1 egg white
Gouda cheese
3 chicken strps seasoned with salf and pepper
Half a tomato
1 pickle
2 slices of Akina's mom's homemade cheese bread
BBQ sauce
Sriracha

It was awesome.

Poor Kid

2010-04-27T15:33:00.000+09:00

So lately this kid, K-kun, has been showing up at my house. On the regular. Like 4 days in a row. He's a 6th grader at one of my schools and I believe has a learning disability, but is generally fine. He's not a part of the separate classes often held for those with more challenging situations, and regularly takes part in English as well as other subjects without drawing too much attention to himself.

That said, he's also famous around our school for a number of things. He doesn't listen to instructions. He sneaks out of class and disappears somewhere into the school. He addresses teachers as "anta," a shortened form of "anata," which basically means "you" (like saying, hey you). Those in his group in class are regularly called upon to corral him into class. He also can be incredibly stubborn.

He has always taken a shine to me, perhaps because I am one of the few people in the school who answer him earnestly and truthfully. I like the kid, he's funny, energetic, and honest. Like a great number of my kids at this school, he knows where I live. I used to have a 4th grader in my apartment complex, and now I have a 3rd grader. I see her homeroom teacher every once in a while, and I often spy children going into the stationary shop across the street. I used to play catch in our parking lot with the 4th grader, actually. It's no secret, but until this year, no child has taken it upon themselves to come up to my apartment and ring my doorbell. Well, K-kun has adopted a rather disturbing habit. He camps out in front of my door on the 3rd floor, and calls my name out. He yells at neighbors returning home, asking if they've seen me. He bangs on my door and rings the doorbell. He attempts to peek into my window.

The other day, I came home from school sick as a dog and just wanting to sleep. I could hear K-kun yelling as soon as I got out of my car, and walked up the stairs to hear him saying things like "Andrew, get out here! (Andrew, dete koi!)." I asked him what he was doing and he responded by ringing the doorbell and saying he was looking for me. He proceeded to pepper me with about 4 or 5 different questions for the next 45 minutes, during which I made and consumed 2 cups of tea and made comments about being sick.

Another time I woke up (in the afternoon) to him calling my name softly through my window. In fact, the first time he came, he didn't know my apartment number, so he was just shouting my name in our apartment complex's parking lot. On Sunday, I had told him I was headed for a baseball game early in the morning so I wouldn't be there. He showed up at 8 am and waited for me to leave my apartment with Akina. He asked me a number of things, and proceeded to inform me that the bus I was taking didn't run on the weekend and I wouldn't be able to go to the game. I would have appreciated his advice if I didn't know for a fact it was wrong.

I can't help but wonder what this kid needs right now. Does he just need a friend? I know he isn't the most popular kid in 6th grade, and he has confided in me that he likes a girl in his class. He's also said he likes me, in a way that one might misunderstand quite easily. On Saturday, when I had work all day, he apparently went to my apartment 5 or 6 times over the course of the day, waiting for me to get back.

I'm not sure what to think. If he just needs a friend, that's fine, I'll play catch with him. But it certainly doesn't seem to be normal in Japan for kids to do this to their own teachers. When I informed my school rather casually that he had shown up at my house, there were shocked gasps and I heard a TEACHER say "stalker!" Now that's weird.

Ramen in Umeda

2010-04-24T17:22:00.003+09:00

My cousin and her husband were passing through Osaka last weekend and I am always looking for a reason to make the 2-plus hour trip down from the land of cows and onsen to the hustle and bustle of the nation’s third largest city. We headed down the night before and hit a few bars to relax from the week. Anytime I’m out drinking until 3 in a city, I ALWAYS have a craving for ramen afterwards. That doesn’t mean I want a full serving with gyoza on the side to add food coma to my alcohol-induced collapse, but the steamy, salty stuff always seems to help blunt the impact of the inevitable hangover.

After the bar, we hit Yousukou (揚子江), an extremely popular place in Umeda. They’ve got a couple branches in the area, and this one was packed to the gills. It’s a tiny place, just an round-ish counter that seats maybe 15 if you pack in. On this night, it was full of red-faced salarymen, young construction workers, and feathery-haired hostess types. After a 7 or 8 minute weight, we plopped into newly opened seats and ordered the basic ramen.

Known for its assari taste, the shio broth is perfect after drinking. The chashu was nothing to write home about, and the noodles were fairly average, but that soup will clear your head and open your eyes. I’m not typically a fan of lighter soups, but it was perfect for the situation. If you ever have the chance, give it a shot. The fried rice also looked delicious, and the serving was gigantic.

The next morning around 10, we ventured into Nishimatsuya（西松家）. It’s a 24 hour joint that serves tsukemen as well as ramen, and does each in 4 flavors (shio, shoyu, miso, tonkotsu). It also allows you to choose the spice level of your miso soup, how many pieces of pork you want, and a number of other options. My companion chose the tonkotsu ramen and I got the miso tsukemen at the recommendation of the chef. Mine came first, a pile of 200 grams of cooler-than-room-temperature noodles topped generously with negi, menma, and my 2 slices of chashu. The soup was burning hot, a layer of oil preventing the steam and heat from escaping until I dipped my spoon in to taste. My first mouthful of noodles was fantastic, the springy, starchy noodles holding the flavor of the broth well from bowl to mouth. The pork was fatty, but firm, yet I was left unhappy with the flavor combination as the miso overpowered a somewhat subtle pork.

The tonkotsu ramen was just ok. A layer of tiny chunks of fat used to be a far more welcome sight, but as my tastes move in the direction of better strained bases, I don’t look forward to slurping it down as much as I used to. Nothing about it jumped out at me, a very average entry.

Spring Cleaning

2010-04-22T17:17:00.003+09:00

Just did some big spring cleaning that included moving my bed, TV, clothes, kotatsu, and chair to different spots. Also got rid of a huge rug, and tons of old stuff that had been piling up. Here's pics of Akina beating the heck out of the kotatsu quilt with a hangar, and what the room looked like as we went over every inch of wood floor with a broom, vaccuum, then wash rag.

Sansan Ramen - Sannomiya, Kobe

2010-03-24T17:18:00.000+09:00

Anyway, thanks to the Ramen Walker, I dropped by two places recently, Hakata Ramen Makoto （博多ラーメン真実）in Himeji and Ramen Dokoro Nidaime Sansan（ラーメン処二代目さんさん）near Nishinomiya Station. Seeing as I liked Sansan waaay better, I’ll talk about that one.

They had a special ramen running, meaty spicy miso tonkotsu ramen (肉みそピリ辛とんこつラーメン…couldn’t think of a better way to translate that) for 800 yen and that’s what I was there for. I ordered my ramen and a small chashu pork bowl and started salivating straight away. It was only AFTER I ordered that I noticed the free super size (大盛無料-oomori muryou) signs all over the place. Too bad, so sad.

The food came out and looked exactly like the picture in the magazine. A full half-boiled egg, chopped in half with it’s slightly runny yolk just barely staying within the wobbly confines of it’s hardened white. Rich ground beef and its accompanying oil spreading slowly throughout the broth. Large chunks of fatty white chashu

The ramen was as good as it looked, packing a bit of tantanmen like flavor into a tonkotsu miso broth that had depth and a rather pungent flavor without being overpowering. I’d definitely come back and this time bring a bigger appetite and opt for those extra noodles.

Pottery

2010-03-15T12:04:00.004+09:00

Lately I've been learning pottery from Akina's mom. Here's some progress shots, but I don't have many yet. This is going to take a while, so hopefully there'll be some more soon.

Valentine's Day chocolates

2010-02-15T22:14:00.003+09:00

These are the chocolates I got from Akina yesterday. For those unfamliar with the way things work in Japan, on Valentine's Day, women give either obligation (giri) chocolate or true (honmei) chocolate to the men in their life that they have some connection to, whether co-workers, friends, relatives, or (possible) lovers. Giri chocolate is simply meant to keep relationships smooth (though it's also a sign of how male-oriented/dominated Japan has traditionally been). Honmei chocolate is for those towards whom the woman has romantic feelings. On March 14th, "White Day," men return chocolate to the woman they want to return romantic feelings to.

New Year's Cards

2010-02-15T21:11:00.011+09:00

I know it's late, but I wanted to show off the new year's cards I made. They're called "nengajyo" and this year being the year of the tiger, I made them tiger-themed. These are all hand-done (I had time at school :D). Some teachers saw them and said "wow, they're cute...it's kind of surprising considering it's Andrew." Wasn't sure how to take that, so I just assumed it was because I was so cool and laid back, and not because I'm creepy or something.

Eating Shit

2010-02-08T14:56:00.008+09:00

Excuse the language, but there's really no other way to describe what happened Saturday night during night boarding. We went to a place called Mikata Snow Park that has a fairly decent night run with rails, jumps, and even a large quarter pipe (the crummy half pipe was tried, but it was falling apart).

The night started out ok, but the first few jumps I tried were just not happening. Couldn't stick a landing without almost stopping, and I was digging a few holes with my butt out there. The big screw up on my part, though, was my attempt to go over a barrel jump. Basically it's just a barrel that sunk into the snow with a small kicker going up to it. You're either supposed to go up and over the barrel slowly, or use the barrel's side as an extra ramp and jump even higher. I'd seen a few folks go over it and thought I could do it. It looked like this:

I rolled towards it with some decent speed, and hit the barrel going decently fast. Being an inexperienced jumper, I wasn't ready for the way the shape of the barrel was going to affect me and I apparently ended up like this:

I laneded on my left shoulder and head, though to a lesser extent, before the rest of my body hit the ground. I sort of crawled over to the side a couple of feet before collapsing. It definitely hurt, but not as much as one might think when 170 odd lbs and a snowboard plus gear falls from about 6 or 7 feet in the air onto a single shoulder. My friend found me and made sure I was ok, then I got down the mountain with my goggles and beanie in my hand and took a break before continuing til they closed, though I only managed one more jump and it was a small one. On my next trip up, I checked out the landing, and found the main indention of my body was about 9 or 10 feet beyond the barrel, meaning I was in the air the entire time. My buddy Gabe said he could see my head above the barrel and that thing was at least 3 or 4 feet high.

Suffice to say it was very scary.

Presenting Akina

2010-02-02T21:39:00.007+09:00

I finally got her permission to introduce her on the internet, so here she is, the Japanese girlfriend, Akina. Tried to pick pictures that represent her personality :)

It spreads...

2010-02-01T15:04:00.002+09:00

This sore throat has turned into a full fledged cold, complete with slight headaches, stuffy nose, sneezing/coughing, weariness, and one of my all time favorite words to write, phlegm. It's managed to get worse with increased rest (went from working out and sleeping maybe 6 hours the first couple nights to doing nothing and sleeping 13 hours yesterday) and today I barely got through 3 classes. Tomorrow is 6!

On the plus side, I have a chance to experiment with Japanese medication/remedies. I'm taking things that look like this , suppliments of about 400 mgs of Vitamin C. Also drank one of these Oronamin C drinks today, an energy drink that has another couple hundred of mgs. Add to that a ton of orange juice, mikan, and veggie soup cooked up by Akina and hopefully this thing will be gone by the time Yukigassen rolls around this weekend.

Where the hell I've been

2010-01-19T11:35:00.003+09:00

Aside from the obvious like a girlfriend and work, I've been finding my time consumed with a ton of new or renewed pursuits lately. For example:

In the 4 weeks or so that the mountains have had snow, I've been snowboarding 6 times. I've managed a couple rails, am getting better at jumping, and went through thigh-deep powder. I've even gone on a couple of back country style runs, albeit short ones, something I never would have dreamed of with my board control last year

One Piece, a manga about pirates, is my new obsession. I'm working through the manga and following it up with the anime. My girlfriend, her best friend, a buddy of mine in taiko, and a whole slew of Japanese and foriegn people LOVE this series, and it's not hard to understand why. Great stuff, but the sheer volume of it (50 books and 430+ episodes) is a bit daunting. I'm aiming to get through it in a year :)

Weight is once again an issue for me, though certainly not the extent that it used to be. By summer, I had gotten down to about 167 or so (76 kg), but am now back up at 176 lbs (80kg). This may not seem like a big deal to many, but it's a step in the wrong direction and a sign of overall laziness and lack of control of my diet. My last physical indicated my metabolism is slowing and I eat too much salt (mostly from tapatio and sriracha, I'm guessing), so I've been taking steps to correct it. It's tough in the winter because I don't want to move around as much, but taiko and basketball have both started again after a winter break, I'm boarding every weekend, and the local guys have really been pushing it at the gym lately (probably because they also gained a bit of weight this winter). My goal is the same as it was last year: 15% body fat. After getting to about 18% last summer, I'm back up over 20% apparently.

Movies. I've never been a big movie guy, but since it's cold, I've been watching more movies lately. Akina and I rent from Tsutaya or borrow from friends, so I'm finally catching up on a lot of the stuff that came out lately. Just watched the Watchmen, saw a bunch of Japanese movies, and have Sweeney Todd at home now.

I'm going to make it another New Year's resolution to try to get 5 posts up a month at least, which shouldn't be too tough considering a few of them are bound to be food posts.

What was I thinking?

2009-10-23T11:01:00.003+09:00

So I've made a horrible mistake and started playing video games again. My free time is now consumed by Mega Man 2, Tecmo Super Bowl, Super Metroid, Zelda:Ocarina of Time and the like. This re-discovered addiction has already caused me to be late to one English class, one frisbee practice, and one dinner. Throw in Bejeweled Blitz and I'm spending more time in front of my computer doing nothing than ever.

Sleeeeeeeep

2009-10-08T11:38:00.002+09:00

...is something I need to do more of. The last few weeks have been crazy busy, with stuff on the weekends requiring me to get up before noon (I know! Insanity!). Now that college football is here, I can more or less say goodbye to sleeping in on Sundays, and lately even Saturdays have seen me getting up before lunch time due to poor sleeping conditions (I pass out at a friend's house and wake up with my wallet poking me in the butt and sore eyes from sleeping with my contacts in) or activities that require my attention (shopping before doing things in the afternoon).

It used to be so easy to sleep til noon on a Saturday and still catch most of the college football I wanted to see, but now that USC games show up at 7-9 am, that's out the window. I've tried recording the games and watching them later, but I always end up getting a text or seeing a status on Facebook or something that spoils it for me.

With my now twice a week English classes, the gym, basketball, and taiko (plus normal things like laundry, cleaning, prep work blah blah blah), there's not a single weeknight I'm not busy. Time to get re-organized and re-oriented I think.

Silver Week Travels

2009-09-24T13:59:00.003+09:00

So this week Akina and I took off for Kyushu. Japan just finished a 3 day holiday M-W stretch referred to as Silver Week (Golden Week happens in May every year...Silver Week had never happened before). Amongst the highlights:

Leaving Wadayama at 11 pm, sleeping at a rest stop somewhere in Yamaguchi at around 4 am, getting up at 8 to drive down to Kumamoto and not getting to the castle until 1 pm. Traffic was a beast in Kyushu.

Kumamoto Castle was average at best, but the ramen down there was amazing. Also had horse sashimi and a horse burger before going into a volcano-powered hot spring up in the mountains.

Fukuoka was drizzly, but we made it to the Ramen Stadium at Canal City and had a couple different kinds of ramen...super packed

Also went to Mariona City for outlet shopping and I came back with 2 pairs of shoes, a jacket, a shirt and some undies for about $100...not too shabby. Also, AKB48 was doing a concert there for some reason.

Ate hormone nabe, which was actually delicious, in Fukuoka, followed by 2 bowls of ramen...all after 10 pm.

Hit up a foreigner bar called FuBar and saw my buddy Joel for the first time in 7 years.

Ordered the Ramen Walker - Kyushu Edition

Swung by Hiroshima for some okonomiyaki on the way back, got back to Asago at about 11 pm.

Names of ramen places eaten at:

Daikoku Ramen (no relation to Daikokuya in LA)

Daimaru Ramen

Murasaki Ramen (Ramen Stadium)

Ichi Ryu Ramen (yatai)

Taiho Ramen

Gensuke Ramen (Ramen Stadium)

some random rest stop in Kita Kyushu

What on earth?

2009-09-14T11:10:00.003+09:00

I was making flash cards for class and using some clip art CDs that one of my schools keeps on hand for such situations. I came across some rather questionable content, particularly since most of these pictures seem to be very childish and mainly intended for use in elementary school. As you can see, there's a couple of images of condoms included, as well as one of two people about to kiss. Just thought it was unusual for there to be sex education material.

Apparently I STILL don't know what I'm doing

2009-09-11T12:33:00.006+09:00

A couple of weeks ago I got a facebook message from my Jeremy, my USC freshman year roommate, saying that he was going to be in Japan for a bit and that we should meet up. Since I hadn't talked to or seen the kid in at least a year or two, I decided I'd do whatever was in my power to get down to where he was on any particular weeknight.

Turns out he was in Kyoto on a Tuesday, so I made plans to leave right after school. Including the drive, it's a good 2 hour trip down to Kyoto, and the special express trains that run from out here don't show up very often. If I get the 5:25, I can get to Kyoto around 7 and catch last express back at 9:30, perfect for dinner, a beer or two, and some conversation. I had about an hour to get from my apartment to Fukuchiyama after work, a drive that takes about 35-40 minutes when I'm driving at my normal rate (80 kmh, usually in a 50kmh zone). The road has a few signals, but is mostly just open road...the problem lies in the fact that it is almost entirely one lane, with no passing areas.

I got out on the road by 4:35 to make my 5:25 train, thinking 50 minutes would be plenty. Wouldn't you know it, I got stuck behind a kei-truck going about 3 km under the speed limit the WHOLE WAY. This is a kei truck

They satisfy the kei class of cars in Japan, which means they have an engine no larger than 660 CCs. They're also often loaded with fertilizer/cement/plants/animals and driven by men over the age of 70. As one can safely assume, being stuck behind one of these on a one lane, no-passing road can lead to extreme ageism and road rage.

Anyway, I'm stuck behind this guy and contemplating passing him across a double yellow, on roads that curve with the mountain we're driving next to. I could do what I've seen young folks do here, and go into the right turn lane (remember, the lanes are opposite here, so this is like a left turn lane back in the States) and just gun it when the light turns green again, but I'm thinking maybe I can still make it. So I follow grandpa all the way into Fukuchiyama and get to the city abuot 8 minutes before my train actually leaves.

He turns off the road, and I gun it. Wouldn't you know it, someone with no business entering the road comes in out of a convenience store parking lot. There's no one behind me for at least 200 meters, but this jackass decides he HAS to go now. Again, very common in Japan. I brake fairly hard and basically sidle up right behind this veeeerrrrryyyy sloooooowwwwwllllllyyy accelerating hatchback. He's only on the road for a block or two (which agains forces me to ask why he felt he had to cut me off) and then I'm approaching the station. I search for a parking lot and find one, throw my jacket and camera bag over my shoulder, and sprint into the station. The clock reads 5:26, and I gasp at the gate attendant "did the 5:25 leave already?" He looks very slightly sympathetic and says "yes, just now." By missing the train, I now have the choice of waiting for the next one, which comes in an hour (putting me in Kyoto at 8 with a 9:30 return) or driving further towards Kyoto in the hopes of finding a station that has more regular trains, and hopefully a later last train.

I take a glance at the map, and notice that a Sonobe station is where the local express into Kyoto starts. I punch that into my phone's navigation system and I'm off. It's a good 40 kms to Sonobe, and it takes me about 45 minutes with traffic. I get there, park, and wander into the station. I call my friend and let him know it's going to be an hour later, but this way I can stay out til after 10. I'm looking at the platforms and train schedule trying to figure out what to do, then get on, throw my headphones on and go to sleep.

About 20 minutes later I'm woken up by a conductor telling me I have to get off. It's the last stop, he says, and I glance outside to see a tiny station with no people in it. This is clearly not Kyoto, and when I ask how to get to Kyoto from there, I'm informed that I went the wrong way on the line. I've now got to wait 20 minutes for the next train, go back the way I came PLUS the 35 minutes to Kyoto. Dinner is now moved back from 8 to 9-ish.

Eventually I get into Kyoto and everything's fine and dandy. We have some good food, a beer, and talk about old times and new. I get on the 11:30 local back to Sonobe, get in my car and drive the 90 minutes back to Asago, getting home at about 2. I suppose it's all a lesson in not rushing when you don't have to (like I did at Sonobe) and leaving earlier than you think you should, especially when you have to deal with septugenarian farmers driving oversized power wheels on one lane roads.

Move-in On Up!

2009-09-04T14:30:00.003+09:00

For the 3rd time since I've been here, I'll be getting a new car. Since my last lease was brand new, I have to return it to the manufacturer, apparently so they can insert it back into their fleet of rentals/leases, and get a new one. I could have opted for the same exact car and paid the same, but being the foolish spender (at least with my JET money) that I am, I thought I'd upgrade. I was driving the Daihatsu Mira Custom before, a nice small kei car (kei being any car with an engine 660 CCs or smaller...no that isn't a typo) but small for lots of luggage or my main concern, snowboarding. I've put almost 16,000 kilometers on that car (a nice even 10,000 miles for those unaware of the conversion rate) in about a year, and am ready to change.

My new car will be the Daihatsu Move X Vs, the next level up in the model line. It's got more leg room, an adjustable (forwards and backwards) rear seat to accomodate luggage and best of all, a split folding rear seat back (the Mira comes down in one piece). This will be much easier to fit snowboards and gear in, as well as a possible 3rd person, for both boarding and other road trips. It also has an audio jack for an mp3 player, keyless ignition, and a bunch of other fancy features I can't wait to try out.

Just got word today that the car is ready and while I'm going to miss my Mira, I can't to make the move to the Move.

Summer's Almost Over?!?!

2009-08-18T18:20:00.032+09:00

So my summer has officially flown by. The first 3 weeks (July 19-August 9) were spent in Sapporo attending SIL Sapporo Nihongo Gakko, a Japanese study school that attracts mainly JETs and folks from Taiwan. Pretty expensive, but I did 2 great homestays, met some cool kids and ate a ton. Here's the first and most important part of the trip: the food!

Making Umeshu / 梅酒を作る

2009-07-08T19:48:00.010+09:00

A friend of mine came over the other day with a kilogram of plums and said "let's make plum wine!" You throw rock sugar, plums, and some alcohol in a jar and in 3 months you have delicious plum wine!

この間友達が梅を１キロ持ってきて「梅酒作ろう」って言った。砂糖、梅、酒をビンに入れて三ヶ月が経ったらおいし～い梅酒が完成！

Wash plums and puncture the skin with a fork so the juice will come out.

Dry them well.

Layer them in the bottle with sugar

We made one with brandy and one with Japanese sake

Adding honey to the brandy version to make it a bit sweeter

In goes the good stuff!

Me adding sake to my bottle

This is more or less how it went into the closet for 3 months :) I'll put another post up when I know how it tastes :D

Taiko Update

2009-06-29T15:13:00.005+09:00

So I just got back from playing a show at a festival at a Kyoto Temple. It was my first time playing a song called Sato no Uta, and we placed two songs that I've played before, Miyake and Kassen. I believe Kassen and Sato no Uta are original Wadayama Torafusujindaiko pieces, but Miyake is a song that's played in various forms by groups all over the world.

Miyake is played with the drum placed horizontally and struck from the side. You spread your feet, keep your back straight and bend you knees so your weight is supported by your thigh muscles. When the inside hand closest to the drum strikes the head, your weight is shifted over your outside leg. When you use your outside hand, you shift your weight over your inside leg to allow your bachi to reach the drum. Solos and the basic rhythm require a great deal of shifting back and forth, which means lots of work for your quads. A ton of fun, but for it to look really cool, you've got to get down low and stay there the whole time...tough for someone as inflexible as me.

For Kassen, I play the odaiko or large drum. It's got a drum head about 3 feet wide and is placed on a stand at about chest height. Playing is done with your elbows at shoulder level and your elbow acting as the only pivot. It kills my triceps, but is maybe the funnest one I've played so far.

The song I learned most recently is Sato no Uta, and it's got a combination of choreography and complicated sticking that took me forever to get down, but looks really cool when everyone is playing in rhythm.

I'll try to get some video up at some point, but here's some pics of our group.

Sanjinsanjin Ramen 山神山人

2009-06-29T11:04:00.004+09:00

Was in Akashi taking my written driving test last week (jeebus, 5 hours in the DMV for a test that took me less than 2 minutes) and stopped in Nishi-Akashi on my way back for lunch. One of the teachers at my base school had given me a card of a place she went to in Kobe. Sometimes it's nice when you blab the same thing about yourself (I love ramen) so much that they remember :) Anyway, I found Sanjinsanjin Ramen pretty easily.

It was fairly quiet because it was about 2 pm on a Wednesday, meaning their main clientele (you know, people with jobs) had already come and gone. I ordered a set menu that came with their normal ramen and a pork bowl.

The ramen was darn good. Some of the most addictive soup I've had in a long time, better than the stuff I had in Tokushima at Toudai, better than Ichi-ran in Tokyo and certainly on par with the stuff I get at Jaran every other week or so. It was thick, almost creamy, with none of the gross fatty bits that contaminate the sight of the soup (I don't care if it's in there, I just don't like seeing it). The pork was thick but SO soft and succulent and the noodles were very thin and firm. Great stuff and I can't wait to try and go back on the 14th after my driving test :)

Ramentary: Zundouya Ramen

2009-06-13T21:38:00.009+09:00

Feels like forever since a ramentary, dudn't it?

So my buddy Mark's co-worker suggested a spot called Zundouya Ramen in Himeji and since we were heading down there to look for gear for Taj Ultimate (the ultimate frisbee tournament next month), we stopped by for a taste.

There's 4 spots in Himeji alone, with another slated for Osaka in 2011. It's a pretty funky little spot, with reggae music in the background and all young folks working there. Our cute waitress had like 4 wristbands and a sweet blond hairdo underneath a towel. Zundouya does tonkotsu ramen, with varying degrees of thicknes (4 levels from assari to kotteri) and they also allow you to choose the kind of noodles you want (we both went thin). Mark got the chashumen with kotteri broth and I got the normal ramen with normal broth. We also sprung for fried rice and gyoza (because hey, a bowl of meat and noodles floating in fatty pork broth just isn't bad enough for you).

The table had garlic cloves and a garlic press in case you wanted to up the deliciousness at the expense of your companions' noses, but we abstained. My ramen came with negi, some absolutely melt-in-your-mouth-like-butter pork slices, a slice of nori (seaweed), a full soft boiled egg and a fair sized serving of those afore-mentioned thin noodles. It was pretty darn good. The oil in the broth kept the heat locked in the broth so when you pulled a serving of noodles, they were far hotter than the soup you'd sip from the top of the bowl. The entire bowl was fairly well put together, but I felt like the noodles were a bit too soft considering I asked for them to be firm.

The real star of this meal was the fried rice, in my opinion, which is saying something considering I liked the ramen. A little smaller than most ramen places I go to, but with some nice ingredients and without any hint of oiliness. The gyoza was average.

When did June get here?

2009-06-10T16:24:00.009+09:00

What I've been up to lately:

- Colin and Yuka's wedding party (they got married in February in Hawaii, had their Japan party a few weeks ago. Was sick, so wasn't feeling great, but had a good time :)

- Went to Yoshi's birthday party at a billiards bar called Pool Fool Cool. He's 33 now and the only Japanese guy I've ever met with a Australian accent. We made him a cake

Those are almonds we roasted, strawberries with chocolate, strawberry pocky, and whipped cream. It tasted aight, but it was a bit dry. That's what we get for buying the cake part pre-made :D

- Ran into my buddy Matt at frisbee practice (literally) and scraped up my knee. Took a while for the blood to stop, even though it wasn't that big. A lady in my taiko group laughed and said I have the same kind of injuries as my students :p

- Went to a beach party in Takeno last weekend for a little bit, then went clubbing. The highlight, other than me trying to teach my friend how to dance just a little, was RaiRaiTei ramen beforehand! The green stuff is negi, or welsh onion.

The next day, we went to a spot called Pine Needle that is pretty funkay. Cool sign

And here's the めちゃスペシャルオムライス (mecha special omurise)...mecha is kind of a Japanese word for super/hella/totally but can also mean a lot in terms of quantity. Basically they called it a super special omurice, and I agreed. Pretty good.

Stuff I Look at Everyday

2009-05-21T11:49:00.016+09:00

Stuff on the walls in my apartment...this is what happens when you're sick, I guess

A note from one of my Ookura 1st graders (now a 2nd grader), Aya. It reads: Thank you for teaching us English, Aya (Japanese often refer to themselves in the 3rd person, especially young girls) loves English!

Scroll bought in Korea featuring persimmons

Guinness poster...which is funny, because I rarely drink Guinness over here

Hanshin Tigers hat

Name tag from Non-chan's takoyaki party. Handmade, it reads "Andrew" in hiragana, one of the Japanese alphabets

Map of where the Hyogo JETs were placed with my group...imagine my disappointment when I was one of only about 10 JETs in the upper half of the prefecture. Now I love it up here.

Angels hat and Kuromi-chan mask

Note from folks at Dash, a place I hang out at fairly often. They have darts, billiards, PC games, karaoke, ping pong and a great bunch of folks. You can bring your own drinks/food in, or buy it there, and spending the night is also possible. This note reads "To Andrew, did you sleep well? Yesterday's tab comes to 5,000 yen."

Pictures of parties, Sapporo Yuki Matsuri, and my taiko group.

My shopping bag and a protection charm from Koya-san Temple in Little Tokyo, where I used to play taiko

A stocking ornament that used to have candy in it, ninja stars from the ninja trip to Mie-ken, and a name tag from my buddy Shota's BBQ...it reads Andrew in a different Japanese alphabet and is made of cardboard.

JET calendar...aiming to have one of my pictures in one these guys before I leave :)

Hospital Visit

2009-05-21T11:10:00.008+09:00

With all the craziness surrounding the swine flu in Hyogo, I was very hesitant to go to a hospital for a cold because I figured folks would overreact. Well, today I woke up, called in and was basically told to go to the doctor's for my illness and report back whatever it was. I guess my co-workers didn't appreciate me being sick in their presence.

Went to Yanase Hospital, the same place I went when I busted my finger back in August and walked up to the counter. I was sans mask, and the lady (same one who helped me back in August) actually recoiled when I told her I had a cold and didn't have a mask. She quickly provided one, and asked me if I had a fever (no), a sore throat (no), a phlegmy cough (sometimes) and a stuffy nose (hells yes). Then she poured some hand sanitizer into my hands and asked me to sit not in the waiting area, but in the genkan, the part where people take off their shoes between the entrance and the exit. Basically all that's out there are shoe cubbies that aren't being used and wheelchairs.

So I'm out here in this area by myself while old folks are walking in, and the same lady asks if she can take my temperature. I say sure, take it, and it comes out 36.6 C (around 98 F), .1 lower than it was yesterday. She takes the results and goes back inside. 4 mintues later she comes out and asks me a series of questions:

have you done traveling recently? [Korea, Osaka and Tokyo]
have you come into contact with foreigners ? [Yes, lots of them]
are you hanging out with middle schoolers? [no]
have you been to any big sporting events lately? [no]
did I come by car today? [yes]

That last one kind of caught me off guard, but I obviously answered honestly. She then asked me to wait in my car because other patients were coming in and out rather frequently. WTF?

So I'm sitting in my car reading for about 5 minutes before she comes out and tells me it's probably ok to come back inside again...ok...This time a different lady takes my temperature with the same result, and asks me the EXACT SAME questions about my symptoms. After she's done, it's another 5 minute wait before I get called into the doctor's office.

The doctor seems nice and we're talking and I'm trying to describe where I've been, who I've been with, how I feel, and what kind of checks I've been through. I'm struggling to explain the thermal camera at Kansai Airport when he says "eigo no hou ga yokereba, douzo" or if English is better, go ahead. I'm a bit taken aback, but go ahead and describe the camera in English and the guy actually understands me! Apparently he lived in Cincinatti for 6 years and his son is a student at one of my schools. This kid speaks great English (basically the only one who I can have a conversation with) and now it all makes sense. He prescribes me some anti-biotics and sends me on my merry way.

The crazy thing about Japanese medicine is the volume. They give you a LOT of medication:
One of is to stop my cough, one for my nose, one to prevent/lower fever, and I think one to stop the phlegm. In fact, it's all explained here on this handy chart:
I also got an inventory and a cute book that lists all the medication you get in Japan. This is actually a great idea, because you use it not just for one hospital, but any hospital in the country. Good for folks like me who can't remember names of medication or what they were for:

Food from Korea

2009-05-18T23:59:00.000+09:00

Pork cooking around kimchi chigae
Kimchi in a convenience store

Spicy rice fingers!

Corn dogs

Chicken n noodles

Kimchi bar

White beef soup w/ rice

Ramyun

Spicy chicken sandwich

Pork n veggies

Seafood chijimi

Waffle w/ butter and apple syrup

Spam n sausage

Sausage

"Together waffle"

Rice cakes n 5 taste tea

Bulgogi

Cold noodle soup

Current Ailments

2009-05-18T14:37:00.002+09:00

My body hates me right now...here's what's going on with me:

Sore throat, tight lungs & stuffed nose from too much clubbing in Tokyo
Scab on left knee and bruised hip from a fall during Ultimate practice
Left knee pain from wrenching it on a slide about a month ago
Sore neck, lower right area...no idea why
General lack of sleep since my Korea trip

On the good side, that horrible stomach condition I suffered from the last day or so of Korea seems to be gone and I'm pretty sure I don't have pig flu.

Quick Trip to Osaka

2009-05-18T10:40:00.000+09:00

Went down to Osaka to see my friend Shiho off at the airport (she's moving to Canada for 8 months, then possibly San Diego) and hang out with my friend Tsukasa. Before we met up, hung out in Umeda's Yodobashi Camera and picked up a new strap for my camera bag as well as some pretty darn good ramen at Chabuton. If you're from LA and have heard of Chabuya, this is the same people.

When I hung out with Tsukasa, we didn't do much, just lots of walking, talking and eating. Here's some pictures of food :)

Korea - Day 1

2009-05-11T00:46:00.012+09:00

Wow, a whirlwind 5 day trip in Korea resulted in some new clothes, some fantastic new friends, about 1000 pictures and a stomachache. Here's some highlights and some pictures

Day 1: arrived sporting the surgical mask that's all the rage in Asia because of the flu. Met up with Mark's friend Nancy at the airport and she escorted us into town and to dinner with her friend Mary (both of these girls are from Cali, btw, Nancy is someone Mark knew since HS and Mary is from Tustin, just a short drive from my parents' house). We had some damn good pork, self-serve but best eaten when thrown into a lettuce wrap, topped with some kimchi and hot sauce, and random other side dishes. We started drinking pretty much right off the bat, starting with a bottle of soju. Damn that stuff is smooth. Great food, and freakin' Nancy ended up picking up the check. Something about Korean custom to treat the first meal.

Headed back to Nancy's place to drop off our stuff and change, then it was off to the clubs. Unfortunately there were no cameras allowed in the first spotk, Q-Vo, but it was I think 10 bucks to get in, and that came with 2 drinks. Drinks were cheaper than the typical club in the western world (or Japan for that matter), with a beer available for under $5. Shots were the same price, and cocktails were maybe $6. Got fairly tipsy and danced our asses off. I'm pretty sure when we left, people were sad :)

First food stop of the night, around 3 maybe?, at a stall that served what I call "spicy rice fingers." They're basically mochi-like strips floating in a burning red sauce. One or two are good enough to get an idea of the taste, but I ended up eating way too many because I didn't want to waste them. Had a corn dog too.
Club number two, S Club, did allow cameras and that's where these shots are from. The first spot was apparently a white theme, so that's why you see everyone with white on...I didn't have white and it was hot, so I rocked the wife beater. Again, much dancing, and this time when we left, a guy actually asked if he could follow us to the next spot. Told him we were going home.

Second food stop, maybe 6 am, definitely after sunrise. Chicken noodle, which is basically exactly what it sounds like, provided something to soak up the last of the alcohol and get us ready for that drive home. There was a weird guy in there who kept saying how crazy he is, but we just chalked it up to the beer and took off.

Taxis in Korea are cheap. Less than half the price of Japan. You can get all over the place for little money, especially when you cram 5 people into one. I think the taxi ride that night was like 20 minutes and only cost about $4 total. The won is something like 1200 to 100 yen, and $1 is less than 100 yen.

I passed out in the cab. I drooled on myself. I snored. I feel like I really provided an accurate picture to Nancy and her friends of what being my friend is all about. Alcohol, food, dancing, dumb jokes, and passing out.

Lack of Updates

2009-05-02T08:59:00.002+09:00

Man, I've been busy lately. Here's a list of stuff I hope to have posts up about in the next couple of weeks

Weekend trip to Shikoku
Hanshin Tigers baseball game
My impending 5 day trip to Seoul
More food
Frisbee politics
Money

I would probably have a had another few posts in April if it weren't for my ill-advised decision to download Heroes of Might & Magic 2, a game that consumed countless hours of my youth as a teenager...and now is doing the same when I'm chilling at home after a long day. Instead of Facebook, blogs, and sports, I'm running around maps with mythical creatures, casting spells and claiming resources. Man, I haven't felt this nerdy in a while...feels kinda good :)

Anyway, I'll do my best to stay away from the swine/whatever flu and come back with pictures, stories, and a bigger belly.

Ninja Village

2009-04-06T09:48:00.006+09:00

Last weekend, 13 of us foreign doods piled into 3 cars and headed for Iga ninja village in Mie Prefecture. When we got there, we rented ninja outfits and some of us (me and Jim) bought extra swords and ninja stars. Even though JJ and Gareth were giddy and jumping all over the place early in the morning, it took the rest of us until we had those outfits on before we could fully act the part. Once we got started, though, it was on. Hiding behind traffic signs, pointing our swords at people in cars, stalking children and old women...good times.

We visited an old ninja house, and the guides pointed out hidden doors, stairwells, viewing areas and weapons storage. All in all, pretty neat. They had a museum with explanations of weapons, tactics, and outfits, and obviously had a gift shop for purchase of phone straps, stuffed animals, and other cutsey Japanese type stuff.

We caught the ninja show as well, where some guys put on a demonstration of the different weapons, blew darts, threw ninja stars, fought, made jokes, and basically entertained the hell out of us. Afterwards you could throw 5 ninja stars for 200 yen...so obviously most of us did this 2 or 3 times. They put a target on a tatami mat and leaned it against a wall...some folks couldn't even hit the tatami, with the stars flying over, under and to the side of this huge mat. That was pretty funny.

Afterwards we climbed the walls of Iga castle, took all kinds of pictures with strangers, and basically just screwed around before heading off to return our gear. One of the funnest days I've had in Japan period.

Teacher Movement/School Changes

2009-04-01T09:47:00.003+09:00

For those unfamiliar with the way things work in terms of staff in Japanese schools, here's a primer based on what was sprung on me this year.

School year ends in late March
Teachers are selected (not sure on what basis, sometimes it seems random, sometimes it seems like they asked for a transfer) to change schools or even positions (a teacher becoming a vice-principal, that sort of thing)
The teachers leaving are announced near the end of March
On April 1, the new teachers move to their new schools
Also on April 1, all teachers are officially assigned their jobs for the year

I have teachers transferring from one of my schools to another of my schools, most teachers changing grades, and an overall change of administration at my favorite school Youdo (principal and vice-principal both changing). My favorite vice-principal (Yoshimoto @ Yanase) retired, and I have yet to see what's happened at all at Ookura.

This combined with the changing of my base school from Ookura to Yanase, the switching of days from M, T from Yanase to Ookura and vise versa, and the requirement of the government this year for 5th and 6th graders to have English every week has me wondering how the year is going to turn out. Every school goes through it, and thousands of JETs have done the same thing, but it's always different when it happens to you.

Either way, all I can do is try to do my job. I never really get in tight with the teachers anyways, since I spend most of my free time playing with kids or doing personal crap in the office, and most of their conversations are either boring or beyond my Japanese comprehension. Mainly the latter.

Following a True Pioneer (Woman

2009-03-13T15:55:00.017+09:00

If you haven't heard of Ree Drummond's blog http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and enjoy self-depracating, honest and down-to-earth silly writing, check it out. I started reading it maybe a year and a half ago and still check in fairly often. The author is an LA-born (same here) USC grad (same here) who loved eating a variety of ethnic cuisines (same here) and has moved into a lifestyle that's more country than chic (again, same here). Sure, she's a white lady who moved to the midwest to get married and I moved to Japan to teach English, but there's still some weird correlations between how a person goes about adjusting to a lifestyle that's far less convenient, but somehow more fulfilling than their old one.

Anyway, I thought I'd follow one of her recipes for the hell of it. Since it's tough to get things like fresh cheese or real produce without spending an arm and a leg, I opted for a simple meat sauce recipe (here)...still had to make substitutions though. The list of ingredients is

2 15oz cans of whole tomatoes (I used one cut, one whole)

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 an onion

2 lbs of hamburger (I used about 350 grams of mixed beef and pork, or less than half of what the recipe originally calls for)Thyme
Fresh ground pepper (nope, store bought shaker stuff)SaltFresh grated parmesean cheese (I used Kraft)Rigatoni (I used fuscilli since there's only about 5 kinds of dry pasta available here)

Basically, you can see the kinds of subs I made. Part of the reason is that the ingredients are probably far more expensive here than they are in the US...the meat alone cost me over $5, whereas less than 1 lb of ground beef in the US wouldn't cost that by far. I also paid over $1.50 each for those cans of tomatoes, and a small bottle of thyme was over $2. For the hell of it, I threw in a couple of chopped green peppers because they were sitting in my fridge and I figured I might as well have something green in there. I also threw in some hot sauce for punch.

You can see the steps I took here...cooking for an hour was kind of annoying since I started after 8 and was STARVING, so I cut the total time down to 40 minutes. It turned out well, but I think real cheese, more meat, and a longer cooking time would spruce it up a bit. Also could use some red pepper flakes...it ended up far more bland than I think it should have (may have taken out too much of the fat as well as underseasoned). All in all, though, I thought it went pretty well. I also have a TON of the sauce left over since I'm cooking for one, so I can toy with the sauce bit by bit as I eat the leftovers. Tonight, it's going over pasta AND tofu :)

Fitness goals

2009-03-11T21:46:00.002+09:00

So I looked at my body fat percentage today for the first time in about a year and while it's down to 18.8 from 24.5 when I was in LA, it's still not at the sub-15 level that was my New Year's Resolution last year. I'm down to aout 74.5 kilos, which is just under 164 lbs, but that doesn't mean anything if it's all flab. This country and my lifestyle cause me to lose weight without necessarilly dropping only fat, so it's my new goal to be around 15 by the time my birthday in June rolls around. Maybe that's unrealistic, but there's a few reasons why that's my deadline:

Summer = the beach and beach parties...and girls :)
Tajima Ultimate - Ultimate Frisbee tournament in our area that I'm learning how to run as well as participating in. Our team is looking like it'll be small, which means less subs, which means more running around for me. Time to get in REAL shape.
New clothes - none of my shorts, outside of athletic ones, fit anymore. This means I need to buy new stuff, and I want to make sure I only have to do it once.
I'll be turning 27...what better time to get in the best shape of my life?

I'm sure this interests very few, but it's said that publishing your goals helps you achieve them and I'm want to make sure I have no excuses. This may mean less beer, but I'll try to make sure it doesn't mean less ramen :)

Speaking of which, the other day, JJ and I had a kaedama challenge. We basically ordered noodle refills until we couldn't eat anymore...we both stopped at 4 (5 total bowls of noodles) and declared it a draw.

Random pictures of stuff I make for dinner

2009-03-04T14:53:00.009+09:00

Peppers and tofu in some mabo tofu mix with ground pork, poured over sliced tomato and rice

Corn, tofu and veggie gyoza in beef curry over rice
Soba with raw tomato and lightly pan fried tofu and peppers
Peppers and tofu in spicy curry w/ rice (love curry :D)
Ground pork, tofu, peppers, corn over rice

I eat a lot of noodles as well. Summer was all soba and somen, now I eat udon and various shapes of Italian pasta: rigatoni, macaroni, spaghetti, etc. Most of the meat I eat is chicken breast or ground pork, but I've recently started playing with salmon. Try to avoid beef at home because I eat it out more often than other meats. I also eat most of my veggies raw.

Care Package

2009-03-04T14:15:00.004+09:00

So my mom sent me a pretty sweet care package last month and I thought I'd share it
Here's the contents:

Snowboard goggles (I bought them online and shipped them to LA...cheaper overall than buying in Japan)
1 full set of thermals
2 pairs of thick socks
1 Taco Bell Beef Bowl (eaten)
1 huge bag of mixed nuts
1 small can of nacho cheese
6 packs of 100 calorie beef jerky (eaten)
1 cup of Easy Mac (eaten)
12 corn tortillas (expired, but eaten)
5 different kinds of Spanish/Mexican rice mix (2 eaten)
Taco Bell taco seasoning (used on ground pork and eaten)
1 can Taco Bell refried beans
1 can green chiles
1 can Frito bean dip
1 package instant refried black beans

I've been working on the food while trying to not let it dominate my diet. I've managed to eat fairly fresh since getting here, and have been keeping the processed foods to a minimum. That said, those first couple of tacos (more like enchiladas since I just put spanish rice and meat into tortillas) were awesome, especially with the Tapatio I got from my co-workers and the Filipino hot sauce from my buddy Mark.

BTW, that space that everything is on is basically my cooking area. To the left are 2 offset burners that are next to a wall, and to the right is my sink which is the end of my counter.

Edit: forgot to mention the egg clock. It's behind the goggles...sorry Danielle :)

Hadaka Matsuri

2009-02-27T11:06:00.002+09:00

This past weekend, I was one of the bravely foolish (or is that foolishly brave) foreigners who decided the prospect of wrapping some cloth around my pelvis, slapping fabric wrapped cardboard on my feet and jostling with a bunch of sweaty men was my idea of a good time. Yes, I took part in Hadaka Matsuri/Naked Man/Saidaiji Eyo at Saidai Temple in Okayama City. There was a good 40 or so of us runners on the bus, representing 5 or 6 different prefectures. As far as I knew, there were only 4 JETs from Hyogo taking part, and I was hoping to uphold Tajima’s sterling reputation as the region which seems to have a bunch of pretty bad, but not life-threatening, injuries.

The bus ride to the temple was pretty uneventful. Folks are drinking, there is talk of cooperation in the event someone comes out with the main Shingi stick (rumored to be worth 500,000-1,000,000 yen), and a poll is taken of those who played “real sports” and what skills could be applied. As a guy of average height and build who played basketball, tennis, and volleyball growing up, my advice on a proper bounce pass went unheeded.

After we got to the temple and walked around a bit, I was sure of 2 things: it was cold, and I needed more beer. Okayama City is nowhere near as cold as the town I call home (Asago for those who are keeping track), but it still isn’t warm enough for a fundoshi and tabi outfit to keep the nipples from getting hard. Speaking of that fundoshi, paying someone 1,000 yen to shove the thing into your but and LIFT YOU UP by it (think ultra-wedgie) wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. It’s important that they make it tight, because the last thing you want is for it to fall/get pulled off, but man, that sucked. We taped up our tabi and got pumped up.

Few things are as noticeable as a group of foreign guys jumping around and yelling in a temple full of Japanese people. We took part in the chants of “washoi” as well as creating our own (“gaijin yuushou” was my favorite). You run around a temple with thousands of spectators, splash through cold water meant to purify you, and bound up and down stairs. I must have given 200 high-fives to people on the side of the pathway, mainly kids and young ladies of course. The other Japanese groups either welcomed us with open arms or gave us weird looks, particularly when we were chanting something outside the norm. I find it hard to believe we were the first group to come up with foreigner-specific chants, but who knows.

We managed to get up into the elevated temple area before most of the other groups. I had splashed around in the water 7 or 8 times, bounded up and down stone steps and was quite enjoying myself when we made it into the temple. This is where the madness began. Cramming a bunch of wet, semi-drunk men into a small area and telling them to wait is an interesting concept, one that really has to be experienced to be understood. I’ve stood on morning and evening rush hour trains, last trains out of Tokyo and Osaka, and been in many a mosh pit and I can’t remember ever feeling as helpless as I did at Naked Man. Initially there aren’t many people up on that platform, but as word gets out that it’s filling up, people race up there to try and secure a spot. The shingi sticks only get thrown out at midnight in this area, so if you’re not up there fighting over a stick by then, you might as well be a fully clothed spectator.

I was perhaps 3 feet back from the front wall from atop which priests regularly threw cold water down on us. I’m pretty sure I drank some on accident, not unlike what happens when you get caught under a wave at the beach. I also caught some in my eye and had to frantically adjust my contact lens. Arms were up for the entire time I was in this area, perhaps as long as 2 hours, so the shoulders definitely started to ache. The swell moved side to side, heels came down hard on toes (remember, you’re in tabi, so there’s no support), and there was a struggle to stay upright. People to the rear rested their arms against my head, shoulders, arms, whatever, and the only option is to rest mine on the guy in front of me. The push went on for what felt like forever, left and right. I caught an elbow in the ear and a skull in my eye, neither of which felt great.

There were regular announcements in Japanese about people getting kicked out, updates on the situation, whatever, but if you can understand Japanese over a loudspeaker when mean are yelling washoi in your ear, you’re a better person than I. There were arms everywhere, and I couldn’t see what was happening above me. Then the lights suddenly went out, and thus began a futile struggle for a 20 cm stick in the dark that everyone in the temple desperately wanted. I was hoping just to get my hands on one, to fight with someone over it, not even really caring if I got it.

The craziness of pushing and shoving mostly naked men in the dark was relatively short-lived, though, and soon the lights came on and people starting clearing out. There was a few small skirmishes near the entrance, since the sticks are officially up for grabs until they’re past a certain gate. Apparently the wise thing to do is hide it in your fundoshi, or have a bunch of friends carry you out. I just wanted to get the hell out of there and back into some dry shoes.

It turns out my buddy JJ came away with one of the smaller sticks. There’s apparently 2 main sticks, and a few smaller, less valuable, sticks tossed out as well. The large ones can fetch monetary prizes in excess of 50,000 yen (roughly $5,000US) and the small ones will maybe get 10,000 (about $100US).

It was a crazy event, from drinking in the cold, to getting naked in a tent with a bunch of dudes, to running around in water, to the wild fracas that was the actual goal of the night. At this point I’m against it, but I can see myself running again next year.

Nicknames

2009-02-26T12:18:00.003+09:00

Everyone remembers making nicknames up for teachers when they were kids. Whether plays on their name or simply references to physical features or behaviors, I can recall many a time a nickname felt absolutely necessary. Here's some of the ones my kids have made up for me (remember, they're only in elementary school):

Shirotama-sensei - obviously just a lazy reversal of the 2 kanji of my name, but one they find amusing nevertheless

Kintama-sensei - kintama means testicles...they use the first part of my last name, obviously.

Tamago-sensei - tamago means egg

Kurotama sensei - depending on the characters used, "shiro" can mean a number of things. One of those is "white" and "kuro" means black.

And of course, the tons of variations on my given name:
Andy
Andoyu
Anjuu
Ando

They only use the term "sensei" (teacher) when making fun of my last name, sort of an ironic respectful diss. The funny thing about these nicknames is that they're used to my face and usually in an attempt to get me to chase them. I often oblige them with a light smack on the top of the head (as is customary in manzai) or a short chase. I really don't mind the nicknames, because at least they know my name well enough to make fun of it.

Also, I've been called by my predecessor's name many times (Kaneko), as well as odd combinations of the two (kaneshiro, kanetama, etc). One time, I even was labeled as "Gordon-sensei," who is the guy who was here BEFORE my predecessor. I find myself wanting to say the same thing my teachers used to say to us; "you only have one name to remember, I have to remember 500," but I don't care all that much :)

Ramentary - Ippudo, Kobe

2009-02-17T16:47:00.006+09:00

Ippudo is a chain of ramen shops out of the Hakata area, with outposts in Tokyo and as far off as New York (I heard it's really expensive, though). We had one near Waseda when I was a student, but the lines were always long as we preferred Kokuran (RIP) anyway. It's one of the better chains in my experience, but I haven't been to one since my days as a study abroad student because there's so many other ramen joints I want to try.

This branch of Ippudo is located outside of Motomachi station in Kobe, about a 2 minute walk opposite Chinatown.

Pictured below is the Akamaru kasane aji version of their ramen. It's one of their spicy versions, but doesn't approach the spice levels offered by ramen-ya that specialize in it. You can see the pork, green onions, bamboo, seaweed, and mentaiko (spicy cod roe) floating around in a bowl that I polished off in about 4 minutes :) I'm not sure what the black oil was made with, but it tasted of burnt garlic. I love garlic in my ramen.

Some what disappointing, and not pictured, was the fried rice. Though well-seasoned and not too oily, there was no meat anywhere in the 500 yen dish. I expect more than rice and frozen veggie bits, no matter how well made the yakimeshi may be.

Snowboardng at Sapporo Kokusai Ski-jo

2009-02-13T17:16:00.018+09:00

The day before I had to go home, my friend Yolanda and I went snowboarding at one of the nearby mountains. We had originally planned to go to a resort called Niseko, the most popular destination in the area, but we were ignorant of the schedule and missed the only morning bus by about an hour. Rather than take the 2 hour bus ride starting at 11 am, we opted for a closer mountain and still had to run through the station to make it to the bus on time.

The bus fare (90 minutes each way), rental, and lift ticket were packaged for 5400 yen, or around $60US, which is ridiculously cheap. Lift tickets at my local mountains run up to 4500 yen by themselves. Needless to say, I was happy to pay it.

We were on the mountain by 11 am, but had to deal with RIDICULOUS lines for everything that first run. There were at least 5 or 6 different high schools doing "ski kyoushitsu/ski classroom" and they were clogging the runs and lifts everywhere you looked. For some reason, I expected high schoolers that live in Hokkaido to understand basic mountain etiquette, so I was surprised to see so many of the skiiers simply standing about in the middle of the mountain. The best run was perhaps 75 feet wide and fairly steep, and the kids were forming too lines and snaking their way down slowly, forcing boarders and other skiiers to ride the super thick powder on the left side and risk their board simply stopping, or braving the middle of the two lines and hoping for the best. I did each once, then resorted to waiting for them to finish.

Fell and slid on my head when I tried the black diamond run that turned into a mogul course...that was fun. Thanks to the snow, nothing hurt at the end of the day, and I managed to land my first small jump. A great time, and I'm definitely trying to get back out to Hokkaido next year.

On the busCrowded

Powder

Far off view of line for Gondola 1

Line for Gondola 2...almost all HS kids doing "ski classroom" field trip

Nothing like an empty mountain

Bundled up

The view at 5pm...slopes were pretty empty

Hokkaido Snow Festival - Food part 2

2009-02-13T16:59:00.011+09:00

2 small beers, cheese and crackers for 200 yen (a little over $2) @ Sapporo Beer Museum
Raw lamb, ready for grilling

Lamb sausage

Lamb rice bowl

Almond "Mozart" cake

Katsu Curry when snowboarding @ Kokusai

Shrimp and pork katsu teishoku @ Katsu-ya

Katsu-don teishoku @ Sapporo station

Melon/vanilla ice cream @ New Chitose Airport

Bacon wrapped hotate (scallop) @ Odori Park, Sapporo

Grilling lamb

Hokkaido Snow Festival - Food part 1

2009-02-12T23:28:00.012+09:00

Spicy soup curry - pumpkin, egg, scallop, shrimp, peppers, broccoli, etc w/ saffron rice
Chashuu ramen

Nama caramel sundae - a Hokkaido specialty, imagine caramel that melts in your mouth...amazing.

Seafood chowder while walking

Ramen, fried rice and gyoza

Pre-buttered, deep fried potato

Cheese ramen

Miso Ramen

Chinese style ramen w/pickles and a charsiu rice bowl

From left: cheese covered egg, cheese covered chicken, salt chicken skin, tare chicken skin, tare cheese covered chicken

Asparagus wrapped in bacon, then grilled

Snowboarding

2009-02-03T13:12:00.007+09:00

Just went for the 4th time in January and I'm starting to feel a lot more confident with at a decent speed. It was really icy at the top and super crowded at the bottom on Sunday, but I managed to keep myself on my feet most of the time. Did fall pretty hard on my right knee a couple of times, including once smack onto a block of ice, on my butt on ice, and on my face into powder when trying to ride places I shouldn't be. Also got run into/ran into someone on 3 occasions, only 1 of which was my fault for following too close. The worst was when a 10 year old skiier passed me, cut me off and clipped my board, sending us both tumbling. Hard to get mad at a kid, but if his dad that was giving me a hard look said anything I wasn't ready to hear that. As someone who doesn't fly down mountains but tries to respect other folks' space, it was really frustrating seeing the people sitting down in the middle of runs, 5 or 6 across, or just sitting down in the middle of their run for no reason. If someone falls, that's one thing, but if you just want a break, get over to the damn side.

Here's a couple of cell pics of the places I've been boarding. Keep forgetting my camera.

Hachi Kogen

Mikata night boarding (12 people on the whole mountain, 6 of which were friends)

Top of Hachi Kita

Knee bruise

More Pictures from Winter

2009-01-13T22:12:00.008+09:00

Winter Firsts

2009-01-13T11:47:00.002+09:00

This winter marks the first time I've done a number of things many people living outside of Southern California may consider ordinary and mundane. To me they're new and mundane :)

Thus far, this winter has been the first time I

Had to scrape frost off my windshield
Had to push snow off my windshield so my wipers could move
Drove with snow tires
Saw a guy make a u-turn on a snow-covered hill without chains...it became a 15 point turn and held up traffic for about 6 minutes
Saw my breath in my house
Saw steam rise while peeing
Had to rock my car back and forth to get it out of its parking spot (as in, drive, reverse, GUN IT)

It's only been REALLY cold for maybe 3 weeks, and it's been inconsistent during the day. I went snowboarding Saturday in conditions that weren't the best for someone as inexperienced and just plain unskilled as me. It snowed all day, the wind picked up in the afternoon, and fog settled in around 2. My friends found it easier to navigate the slopes WITHOUT goggles, but I wasn't about to let my eyes get that cold. The first day I drove in the snow happened to be the day I drove up to Hachi-kita snow park, so that was an interesting experience that thankfully ended with me and my car getting out in one piece.

I'm finding of all the things I truly lack in terms of winter clothes, socks might be number one. You can layer the other parts of your body, but I'm thinking I need to get some nice thick socks, especially for the house. Regular socks, slippers, and a space heater aren't keeping my tootsies warm enough.

Some Random Winter Break Shots

2009-01-12T15:02:00.006+09:00

Asian Glow

2009-01-12T11:36:00.003+09:00

So I originally had big dreams about introducing Japanese folks to the antacid, and the miraculous way it keeps much of the Asian glow away, but I've noticed something: most of the Japanese people I drink with don't get red! What kind of perverted reality is it where only the Asian guy from America gets red?!

Quick Update

2009-01-08T15:51:00.007+09:00

So December was busy for me...

- Played Santa on at least 8 different days, usually breaking a decent sweat as I danced and sang in class. The things you do as a gaijin clown...at least the kids (mostly) liked the candy canes I went to the trouble of bringing back from an LA Costco.

- Had my bonenkai/year end party. The kanji used actually mean you are supposed to forget the year at this party, which means you ignore all the bad, eat, drink, and remember the good. We went to Obama City in Fukui Prefecture. Obama-shi has been backing Barack Obama basically since his official nomination by the Dems, and I figured it was some kind of sign that the day I was asked to go was the day he was officially elected.

This was a lot of fun, more than I expected. Ate blowfish (for the first time) and crab, drank way too much sake and beer, did karaoke, got in a hot bath with some teachers, ran through a freezing night, and bascially had a ball.

- Christmas, Japan-style! KFC (I had to make a reservation), white cake with out-of-season strawberries, and random other items at our foreigner potluck. Had poutine for the first time...I'm sure it's better when you don't have to use cubed cheddar that costs about $3 for 5 oz.

- Final community center English class - I was so happy that this farce of a class ended. I dreaded it, the kids dreaded it, and we were all glad to bid it farewell. The community center was really nice, though, and prepped drinks and Mr. Donut for everyone, and even had gift bags.
- Mini-bonenkai with my 4-year-old English student and his family + JJ - Was invited to another crab feast the day after my school's bonenkai, and gladly accepted. Drank, ate, talked, met the dad, and played with Riku (the 4-year-old) and Ryo (the toddler...maybe 2 years?). JJ was a big hit with them, as he seems to be with all the kids I've seen him around.

- Progress on the girl front - Got her a present that she seemed to enjoy (said she was going to cry), spent a day with her, eating, shopping, and BS'ing. Now if I can just get my ass in gear...

- Bought a snowboard - Used, K2 with K2 bindings, mainly black, about $120

- Made my first Japanese kite - pics to come, played with 1st/2nd graders the day I left for Tokyo

- Japan travels begin - the afternoon of the 26th, I left for Tokyo. Met up with Clint on day 1, Ben and Mike for Days 2-11. Separate post on this later.

Progress in taiko - Finally feeling like a real part of the group, and am talking a bit more during practice...mainly because I don't need to spend every bit of brain power trying to memorize things anymore :)

English Teaching and Me

2008-11-28T15:14:00.007+09:00

This post is more or less for the cathartic effect I'm hoping expressing my feelings will have, as well as to memorialize the way I feel for when I'm deciding whether or not I'm going to extend my contract.

I have 2 different English lesson commitments outside of school; one is with the local community center teaching 11 elementary school kids ranging from 4-6th grade, and one is 1-on-1 with a 3 year old in my apartment complex. Let's try to figure out which one I like more.

Dealing with elementary kids in school is tough enough, as they often do NOT want to be learning English (not that I blame them...when I was that age, I didn't really want to do anything but read Encyclopedia Brown and play Mega Man), but when you remove the homeroom teacher who commands respect and fully wields their native language, it ups the difficulty a notch. Factor in the fact that they're from different years and different groups and that also makes it tougher. Then add in the fact that this is AFTER school, meaning it's cutting into their own time and they're often not there of their own volition. Finally, throw in my fairly easy-going and forgiving nature and you have a recipe for the biggest waste of well-intentioned parental funding I can imagine.

This class is a joke, and I am not blameless. The first day, I went in with the mentality that I was going to be teaching motivated, bright students eager to further their studies. Well, the kids are smart but they're certainly not motivated. One of my struggles is that anytime I try to introduce something REALLY new, their eyes glaze over and they develop the "why should I care, I'm never going to need English" attitude. This is the same attitude every kid gets when faced with sin curves, essays exploring the deeper points of Alfred Prufrock, or any other subject to which they are un-inclined. If kids care, they'll learn it. If not, good luck forcing them. And I have to force them.

I made the mistake of not only letting them talk, but letting them bring things to class. I've seen magazines, homework, even the occasional Nintendo DS. I make several attempts to stop them, sometimes even taking the items away, but realize it's more or less futile as I'm sure the kids can tell I am unable to truly discipline them (that's in my contract...no discipline). This means none of the head-smacking, parental conferences, or whatever other recourse there is for a normal teacher. I'm pretty much at my wits end on how to get these kids involved, and it's the single event in the week I look forward to the least. Less than getting up for work on a Monday. I find myself looking at my watch every 5 minutes, speaking English to unattentive kids.

My 3 year old lesson is almost the complete opposite. The little boy is overjoyed to see me, remember pretty much everything I teach him, and his mother is constantly making sure he's paying attention. They ask me for extra copies of the materials I bring, constantly confirm lessons, and pay well in advance. Even though we mostly play the time by ear (30mins to 1 hour depending on his behavior), the hour often flies by and I find myself hanging out longer. It's a lovely family with another toddler, though I have yet to meet the dad. Also the only family I've seen with Christmas lights in the whole city (though it IS early), hanging off an apartment veranda no less.

I understand both attitudes, which is why it's difficult for me to begrudge the children. While I don't look forward to teaching the large group, I understand WHY they're the way they are. English teaching in this country is often sporadic (1 hour a week tops for elementary), poorly organized (no set curriculum), and taught in a manner more to inspire dread than spark interest. My job is to make English fun, but if the kid is upset at the very prospect of learning English, I find it difficult to overcome that. It's not impossible, as I've seen some problematic students start to come around and participate in class, but I certainly am not holding out hope that all these kids will be passing TOEFL tests anytime in the future.

I suppose one of the reasons I like my work is the kids who DO get it. The idea that you can develop a vocabulary in a foreign language by the time you're a 6th grader astounds me, especially if you only have class for an hour a week. I didn't hit my first foreign language until HS, like most people, and though I did well, I believe it was due more to the fact that

a) I was driven to succeed and get into college
b) Spanish had a number of words that were similar in English
c) I didn't have to learn a new set of characters, meaning I could READ the Spanish, even if I didn't know the meaning.

If you've never tried learning a language with different characters than your native toungue, it can be quite daunting. I signed up for Japanese as a soph at USC and that first week of hiragana seemed impossible. Japanese is often considered one of the more difficult languages to learn to write, due in large part to 2 alphabets and something like 10,000 kanji with individual meanings and multiple readings, but I imagine it's just as difficult going from something like Chinese to Russian or Spanish to Arabic. Basically learning to attribute sounds to a picture, then internalizing that picture so that you can read/write it as fluidly as you can your own language is obviously not easy, and I often find myself questioning my choice of study.

It seems like Japanese is an illogical choice. There are very few countries in the world that use the language (I'm counting Brazil and the US since they have decent Japanese populations...otherwise it's just Japan), it's difficult with multiple verb conjugations, varying accents, dialects, levels of politeness, and specialized usage, it's not a country on the upswing like China, and with the amount of time and energy I've put into it, I probably could have become fluent at Spanish and started on French. At the same time, succeeding in a difficult task, applying myself and achieving understanding, forcing myself to adapt to a culture foreign in so many ways (countryside, foreign language, new job, new friends, new foods, blah blah blah) are methods I use to measure my growth as a person. I feel like I'm still taking the safe path a bit, since JET secures housing, work, blah blah for you, but I just wasn't ready to do it myself.

Can I do this for another 8 months? Another 20 months? I suppose we'll know in February, when I turn in my contact extension forms.

Trip to LA, highlights

2008-11-27T12:19:00.009+09:00

Day 1: Landed 30 minutes early, got through customs in about 20 minutes, and was out the door before I was supposed to arrive. Went home with the parentals, had some bomb Peruvian seafood at Mario's, did the Costco, bank, shopping thing, picked up the tux, went to a BBQ joint and had tri-tip, baby backs, excellent chili and fries. Passed out after watching a single South Park episode, probably around 9 o clock.

Day 2: Bank again to deposit that lovely re-location check from our old apartment, headed into LA to meet up with LAUSD folks for lunch at Langer's. Mmm, pastrami. Hung out for a bit, headed back to my brother's apartment, got some Gears of War 2 in, then headed to Weiland's for happy hour. Drank, ate, and fell asleep at the bar by 10. Went back to bro's place, stayed up til about 4 playing video games.

Day 3: Met up with Ben in Pasadena, played some Guitar Hero, went to Roscoe's for some chicken and waffles...and syrup...and gravy. I still can't get over how good that combo tastes, or how bad it must be for me. We went to my brother's place to watch USC eventually dominate Stanford, Kat came by, and we had Chano's. After the game, headed back to LM and Aug and Rach came over to hang out and shoot the breeze. Can't remember the last time we did that...probably since HS. Re-packing begins.

Day 4: Wedding time! David was kind enough to drive me out there, along with his gf, and I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a while. Met Eddie's baby, shot the shit with the boys, danced with the girls, ate, drank beers, sang to Journey, and had a rockin' good time. Too bad it was so short. Got home, went for more Mexican at Molcasalsa and headed back to LA. Pulled an all-nighter playing Madden, and got ready to get on a plane.

Update on my airplane situation: got a $150 voucher. I figure that kind of makes up for the extra $50 bucks, plus 3 hours, plus exacerbation of a sore throat I got from walking around Japan at 1 in the morning.

Ice to see you

2008-11-21T09:30:00.001+09:00

Yesterday I woke up, got ready for work, and walked outside. When I got into my car, I experienced something I had never experienced before: ice on my windshield. Even when I used to go to the mountains in the snow, I can't remember there being ice...and it's not even the end of November yet. Getting snow tires soon, but may have to buy one of those scrapers as well.

Another first: Masuku

2008-11-20T10:18:00.003+09:00

Or mask. I'm sure folks have seen these face masks used by celebrities like Michael Jackson and Madonna when they're traveling, or just hiding their face in public, but in countries like Japan, they're used to prevent catching a cold from others who have them, help reduce the effect of pollen related allergies, prevent others from catching your cold, or in some cases, lined with a Vicks vaprorub type solution and actually used as medication.

My throat hurt basically the first day I was in LA, thanks in no small part to the amount of smoke from the various fires. Traveling on little sleep couldn't have helped, nor could the quick temperature change from around 50 in Japan to close to 90 in LA the weekend I was there. It's gotten worse since that first day, and I probably have my own habits to blame (staying up late, drinking beer, not really eating ANY veggies or fruit in LA). In any case, on my virgin mask voyage, here's how I look at work today.

Trip to LA, initial post

2008-11-19T10:40:00.006+09:00

So before I get into all the good stuff that happened in LA, I'm going to bitch and moan about how annoying it was getting back to Japan.

I have to preface this with how I got from Japan to the US in the first place. I flew from Kansai airport to Haneda in Tokyo, then transferred via train to Narita in Chiba, from which I flew to LA. In order to get to Kansai, I drove 90 minutes to Kobe airport, parked at the ferry station, and took the ferry from Kobe to Kansai. Parking is free if you take the ferry, and since my return flight was set to land in Kansai at about 9 pm, I knew I'd need my own means to get home. The ferry stops running at about 10:30 pm, which would have given me plenty of time to grab my luggage from a domestic flight, take the bus to the ferry station, and get to my car around 10. I'd be home by midnight, with time to rest for work the next day.

Much like Hannibal from A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together. It's equally as irritating when it doesn't.

I almost missed my flight boarding. I was at the airport a good 2 and a half hours early, but didn't realize boarding for my flight FINISHED half an hour before departure. I had my headphones on at the gate, but noticed someone running so I took them off in time to hear the phrases "final boarding" and "fly standby tomorrow." I grabbed my bag and got on the plane.

My flight out of LAX was delayed 90 minutes. I was sort of sleeping during that hour and a half sitting in the airplane, but the official reason was "unscheduled maintenance." Obviously we'd rather be late than deal with something the mechanic didn't think should wait, but it was still a bad omen. I also missed ice cream sandwich time while a lady next to me had 2...made me wonder if she jacked me.

We landed about 80 minutes after the scheduled time, and I hustled to the baggage claim. I had originally given myself about 3 hours and 15 minutes to get from Narita to Haneda for my flight from Tokyo to Kansai, a trip which takes about 2 hours by train. Since I had lost 80 minutes of that buffer, it was basically I grab my bags immediately and hop on an express train leaving as I get there and run to my terminal if I was going to make it. It took 20 minutes for my bags to emerge, so I knew it was impossible.

Asked at the desk and Northwest rescheduled me for a flight out of Tokyo at 9 (originally 7:50), but it didn't end there. Since I had parked my car at Kobe airport and taken a ferry to Kansai and since the ferry stops at 10:30 and my flight landed at 10:15, I couldn't make the boat (which would have been 10 bucks). I asked around and had to hustle to get a train (16 bucks). As I was changing trains, I literally walked through the doors of the last train on my route as they were closing. At another transfer point, I misread my instructions and walked off the train, only to luckily look at a map on the platform and realize my mistake. I got to Sannomiya in Kobe around 12:45 and took a taxi the rest of the way (30 bucks). I drove exhausted for 90 minutes and got home at 3:15-3:30.

On a side note, along the way, I noticed a sign listing the temperature: 0. After 4 days in 90 degree weather, it was quite a change.

My Japanese Haircut

2008-11-09T22:48:00.003+09:00

I had been on the fence about getting a haircut here for awhile. Some folks know that when I studied abroad here for 6 months, the prospect of a feminine J-boy haircut was so repulsive that I ended up with shoulder length hair. In the summer. In a country where humidity must reach 143%. My hair has been refusing to stand in the afro pattern for a week or so now, only exacerbated by the continuous wearing of my bald cap for Halloween presentations/parties. After a week of walking around looking like I was wearing a black helmet, I stopped by one of the few places that advertised their price. I was going for a 1900 yen haircut.

The barber shop had a bunch of magazines dedicated to both men's and women's hairstyles, and I chose one that I thought looked decent. What I got didn't really match the picture, and came out as more of a faux-hawk than I wanted. Either way, I'm rocking this at least until I'm back in the States, and maybe longer.

But the real story is the haircut experience. I've never been one for salons of any kind, usually preferring to get my hair cut in places where the people don't speak great English and there's a liquor store next door, so this was a bit of a surprise. The neck shave was standard barber fare, but they shaved my FOREHEAD and my cheeks. Japanese men get their eyebrows shaved at the barber, and I had to tell him to leave mine alone. I got some kind of moisturizer or something rubbed into my face, and hot towels heaped on me about 3 times (those felt good though, especially in this 9 degree Celsius weather). I opted for no shampoo as well.

My friends and I often discuss the feminization of the Japanese men, from their large wallets to their hair to their clothes, and I feel like I experienced a certain aspect of that.

Ultimate Frisbee Tournament - Akashi

2008-11-08T18:21:00.004+09:00

A couple of weeks ago I took part in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in south Hyogo. Our team is a fairly rag tag group of foreigners and Japanese folks who just like playing the game, which I found out was not the case with most of our competition. What we ran into were university club teams with full on uniforms, warm ups, plays, and multiple squads. The disparity in skill and physical fitness was readily apparent, but I'm pretty sure our post-game cheers were the best. Our team is called Tajima Gyu (which means Tajima beef, what is known worldwide as Kobe beef) and we went 1-3. We placed second in the frisbee golf putting competition, in which I took part, and took first in the dive-and-catch, won by Ryoko and Mark. Good times, even though it took place on a rainy beach in about 65 degree weather. Lots of friendly folks, some amazing dogs and freestyle frisbee tossers, and a post-tourney trip to a sento, or public bath.

Wadayama Torafusuzindaiko

2008-11-07T15:44:00.003+09:00

I played taiko drums once a week in LA for about 8 months before I left, starting from scratch with a bunch of other beginners at a small temple in Little Tokyo. Our teacher was a resident monk who had taught for years in Norcal and brought his expertise not only in the play but the construction of taiko drums to our little group. It was me, some little kids, and a bunch of adults. Playing once a week for an hour and a half or so isn't enough to improve much, especially when our group was a bit irregular in terms of attendance. I was excited to latch onto a group once I got here.

I tagged along with one of the other teachers from one of my ES, and enjoyed the practice so much I started showing up all the time, every Tuesday and Friday evening. I didn't get to play much as they were either teaching local HS kids a song for their culture festival or preparing for performances at the summer festivals around Wadayama, but I tried to soak up as much as I could. Going from songs that were maybe 2 or 3 minutes long with 4 or 5 sections to 8-10 minute songs with 4 different kinds of drums and 10-15 sections was daunting to say the least. I usually sat in the back, just watching and hoping I could remember some of the stuff.

I'm making my debut tomorrow, at a wedding of all things. I'm only playing the simplest song in the repertoire, one that involves dancing around almost as much as the actual drumming, but I couldn't be happier. I still feel like an outsider at practice, because the conversations display an intimacy that can only be borne out of time spent together, sweating and studying and struggling at the same problem. I've managed to spend some time with some of the folks, and they're all friendly, but I still can tell I don't belong yet. Maybe getting a performance under my belt will speed that up.

Halloween Weekend

2008-11-04T23:04:00.005+09:00

Friday - enkai with the Board of Education, other ALTs, and some teachers. It was at Tsubohachi, where every drinking party seems to be these days, and costed me a cool $40 to drink and eat almost to my heart's content. Unfortunately, I talk too much and didn't manage to quite fill up the way I was hoping. Drank plenty though. Went bowling afterwards with some of the ALTs and Japanese English teachers, and while I broke triple figures, our team lost by 4 pins and we had to buy juice for the other squad. I also fell asleep in my car around 10:30 thinking I could nap and drive to a bar. Woke up around 1:30 and headed indoors.

Saturday - Spent the day doing nothing...ate ramen, worked out, then waited for Gareth's epic Halloween bash in Yabu, a party attended by what had to be 75 people. I went as an old, fat, bald man with ridiculous eyebrows. There were some fantastic handmade costumes (a full Spongebob outfit, a Godzilla outfit, and perhaps best of all, a hand-dyed and painted Joker costume. Pretty creepy. Got drunk, took shots, danced, took goofy pictures, passed out at the base of the stairs, and woke up with a sore throat. Great times.

Sunday - Woke up, helped clean Gareth's house of empties, and went to grab ramen with JJ. Dropped him off, parked, decided I couldn't move and slept in my car for a couple of hours. Was woken up by Mark and Yoko and spent the whole day goofing around with them...took bento up to Takeda Castle, did purikura, ate yakiniku, then went FINALLY got into my house around 8 pm. A couple of friends dropped by until I had to leave for a friend's birthday karaoke party. Put my costume on for the 4th day in a row and sang karaoke for a couple of hours with the owner of a ramen shop at which I am a regular, some of is family and tons of other foreigners. His daughter is this quiet little thing, but sang Japanese death metal with lyrics unfit for repeating.

Monday - Woke up at 11, headed to Jusco at 12 to pick up supplies for the Ikuno BBQ held by organized by other JETs. Drove up with JJ, Meghan, and Mark and played frisbee, ate like 2 kilos of meat, and took some nice pictures of the surroundings before night fell at like 5 pm and we ended up getting out of there.

After heading back to Wadayama, we ended up at Joyfull for some unneeded calories before doing purikura and heading home. A LONG weekend in which I spent too much money, consumed way too many calories, and had way too much fun. I wish every weekend was like this.

Handling my Busy-ness

2008-10-23T12:01:00.002+09:00

My current schedule reads like this:

Monday - 4 classes, open after work...hoping to insert Japanese classes here.
Tuesday - 4 classes, 30 minute private English lessons, 90 minute taiko practice
Wednesday - 4 classes, 1 hour group English lessons
Thursday - 4 classes, 2 hour basketball practice
Friday - 3 classes, 90 minute taiko practice

I'm also fitting in shooting around at a gym (usually Monday, Tuesday), lifting/running (usually Wednesday, Friday, sometimes Thursday) and have gone to my first 2 ultimate frisbee practices. I'm writing ramen reviews for the prefectural foreigner newsletter, am sort of involved in the prefectural charity group, and make it a point to hit a local bar and play darts 3 times a month. I've been clubbing a bit lately, though I'm going to be easing off that because a) it costs a lot of money, b) I basically waste the whole weekend, and c) my body hates me. That doesn't mean I'm stopping, by any means, but I'm going to be a bit pickier about it.

This is aside from lesson planning, which I actually have to do since there's VERY little involvement on the side of the Japanese teachers other than the sentiment that they want me to follow a curriculum that they've admitted is outdated (it's changing next year). Do 3rd graders really need to learn words like "stag beetle" or "bell-ringing cricket?" What the hell is a bell ringing cricket?

Either way, I'm actually not that bogged down, and it keeps my week moving. I've lost a good 10 lbs since I've been here, despite not eating as well as I planned, because I'm active and the food is healthier. Hopefully the gut will continue shrinking in time for beach season :)

Larger pictures

2008-10-14T13:59:00.004+09:00

I'm in the process of putting all my pictures onto my Webshots page (since Flickr wants to limit me to 3 folders...ugh). They're also going onto my facebook page. For those of you who have requested larger versions, or simply more pictures, I'll let you know when everything is up.

Edit: Link fixed...I'm retarded.

Kobe Ramen - Kobe - Motomachi Station

2008-10-13T12:31:00.006+09:00

I had visited this spot back at my orientation in September, but didn't take pictures. I was also running around in 85 degree heat in a shirt and tie, so I wasn't really relaxed and able to take in the food the way I wanted.

It's a fairly large restaurant, seating probably close to 35 people in all. Their menu is prominently displayed out front, with Ramens A, B and C only differing by the amount of pork included...A comes with no meat, B with 5 or 6 pieces, and C with about 10 pieces. They mean it when they say oomori.

The default soup base in shoyu, thinner and lighter than my typical choice, but it wasn't bad. It lacked the depth and punch of a fattier broth, but still provided a nice backdrop for the rest of the bowl. The noodles were nice and hard, just the way I ordered them, and bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and green onions topped with a nice dusting of pepper rounded out a bowl of above average, but not great ramen.

The meat, despite a large amount of fat, wasn't as tender as I had hoped. Seeing the centimeter wide strip of fat that lined each piece had me salivating at the thought of soft, juicy pork, but alas I was mistaken. It was somewhat tough, and I resorted to pulling the fat off the pieces of meat before I ate them since they were serving no purpose. The veggie toppings were nice and crisp, and the pepper gave the bowl a nice kick. I'm not usually one to add pepper, but I was glad for it here.

I also ordered a half sized fried rice, which came with shreds of pork amongst the veggies. This had to be one of the oiliest plates of fried rice I've ever had. There was visible grease moving about on the plate as I finished my serving. It was fairly decent, but the slipperiness of the dish was astounding even for a dish that relies on oil. I finished it, of course, but I felt like I should have been rubbing it down with napkins first.

One of the more interesting things I saw was a takeout menu that included the ramen. I've seen meat, fried rice, gyoza, and other side dishes available for takeout, but can't recall ever seeing the ramen included.

Kobe Ramen is pretty good, but I'd do a few things differently next time. I'd skip the meat toppings in my ramen, and probably opt for something other than fried rice as a side. The gyoza looked decent, and the ramen can stand on its own without chashu.

The Internet Age is Here!!

2008-10-09T16:58:00.007+09:00

FINALLY!! It's done! The guys from the BOE had to order a new modem from NTT ADSL and they set it up today. Now I can finally show off the 2500 or so pictures I've taken so far!

Here's the apartment:

It takes a full 10 steps for me to get from my bed, the innermost place in the apartment, to my front door. These pictures were taken from basically the same spot, just me turning around, on the first day I was here. I've got a headache from today, but am still pretty stoked about being able to upload pics!

Hyperactivity, Laziness, Apathy, Stupidity?

2008-10-09T09:19:00.002+09:00

Sometimes I wonder what the deal with some of these kids is. I've got 2nd grade classes that can do multiple sentence introductions, telling me their hobbies, their birthday, what kinds of foods they like, etc., and 6th graders that don't know how to say the word "eleven." Like any subject, you're going to have a bell curve of ability, interest, and dedication to its study, but I can't help but wonder if there's something else involved.

Then a story popped up on Japantoday about a woman who couldn't handle her child's hyperactivity, among other problems, and ended up killing him. The Japanese Ministry of Education estimates there's "1-3 moderately hyperactive children in an average elementary school classroom." That seem high to anyone?

I've seen some unusual behavior from the kids. One kid absolutely refuses to participate in any activity, climbing on desks and chairs while the homeroom teacher tries to get him to participate as I teach English games. He'll walk up behind other kids and hit them in the back of the head, grab all the cards from the table and throw them in the air, and just generally be a pain in the ass. Then one day I let him play with my computer and he was like a mouse, drawing in MS paint for 45 minutes.

Another pair will make all kinds of noise during the lesson, interferring with a lesson that at least some of the kids seem interested in. They'll play the game, but when it's their turn, they just say, "what the hell are we doing? What are you talking about?" I don't really care if they don't want to study, but if you don't pay attention to the instructions I gave 4 times, why bother playing?

It also reflects on the homeroom teacher when a kid is crazy. Some of them are in total control of the room, batting aside inane questions about genitals and generally ruling with an iron fist. Others are more laissez faire, perhaps hoping the natural order of class harmony will magically return. Either way, I have NO power to discipline a child, nor would I really want to. I don't know what's acceptable here, and in the US, it seems like all you can do to a kid who doesn't want to be in class is take away priveleges like sports, then kick them out of school. Not good options for a kid who really appears to need structure of some kind to avoid becoming a hobo.

Are they hyperactive? Lazy? Do they not see the point of English? Maybe they want to be baseball players or construction workers or something where English really doesn't come into play. I'm not going to force anyone to study the stuff, since it's a really young age and kids are apt to wanting to play all the time. I just wish my Japanese was better so I could figure out WHY they not only don't want to study, but feel the need to obstruct the learning of the other kids.

Movies

2008-10-06T14:30:00.002+09:00

I'm not sure how big it is in the States, but anyone who's been living here for the past few months has been bombarded with Ponyo ads, and that catchy catchy song in particular. "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" is Hayao Miyazaki's take on the Little Mermaid story (and if you've ever done karaoke with me, you know how much I like that movie) and was so sweet it made my teeth hurt. I tagged along with a buddy and his friends and wasn't surprised when the theatre was full of little kids. I WAS surprised that at least some movie theatres in Japan are assigned seating, which is why we bought our tickets a full 3 hours before the show. Either way, it was a cute movie, with catchy music and some typically beautiful Studio Ghibli artwork. If you're like me, you've seen a fair number of Ghibli films, and I probably wouldn't recommend this over titles like Laputa or Grave of the Fireflies, but it's good nonetheless.

Last night I stayed up past my planned bedtime to watch Nada Sousou (translated as Tears for You in the US, apparently), a story about parentless step-siblings living in Okinawa. The title translates to "never-ending tears" in the Okinawan dialect, but I couldn't figure out if this was supposed to apply to the audience as well. There's a ton of drama and some really sad parts, but the abruptness of certain events, a couple of fairly pointless scenes, and a rather unfulfilling ending left me wondering what just happened as opposed to getting anywhere near to crying. I suppose my occasional inability to understand what was happening may have helped my eyes stay dry, but I'm not particularly prone to crying from movies anyway. What normally happens is I internalize it and just kind of feel crappy for a bit, but this film fell short on that as well.

That said, I still liked it. I thought it was an interesting story, with some decent acting and a very cute lead female in Masami Nagasawa (plus she's a fine actress, and amazing compared to the acting on TV). The title song has been on my mp3 player since I studied abroad here in 2003, a remake by Rimi Natsukawa. Apparently this movie is partially inspired by the song, but I don't necessarily associate the two. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up renting it to see if I missed something from watching it on TV, but I doubt I'd buy it.

Wee-wee Tykes

2008-09-30T13:28:00.002+09:00

Just when I was thinking "man, first graders are kind of out of control and don't want to sit still for 5 minutes," I get news that made me worry even more: I'm teaching pre-school twice a month.

Pre-school kids. Learning English. They probably can barely write their own names in their native language, and I'm going to be teaching them how to introduce themselves to a foreigner. Weird right?

I started my first pre-school class with some simple color cards, thinking it'd take the whole period for them to learn 7 or 8 basic colors, and be able to say and recognize them. Imagine my surprise when they stood up and said "hello, my name is riku/momo/ryosuke/whatever." They knew every color I had without so much as me having to prompt them with the first letter, something that about half of the first graders I've had so far haven't been able to do. Hell, I'm using the same games with second graders at one of my schools.

Anyway, I ran a few games with them and by the end, pretty much all of them knew when I was trying to trick them (say by holding up a yellow card and shouting out black) and they self-governed themselves during the game. The only thing that separated them from first and second graders was their propensity to get even louder, especially when doing jan ken (paper, rock, scissors) when there was a tie. Plus, I swear the cuteness levels here could kill a lesser person.

The only thing that threw me today in that class was when a little girl starting pointing at my crotch and saying the Japanese equivalent of wee wee (chin-chin)...that was a bit odd.

Cold

2008-09-29T10:29:00.002+09:00

Good lord, it only took a week for the temperature to fall from about 24 to about 17 C, or from about 75 to just over 60. I actually have to wear pants to bed and use my blankets for once. I`m happy to have the humidity gone, but I haven`t seen the sun in a couple of days and it`s a bit odd to see your breath in September...to me anyways. This SoCal kid is going to have an interesting winter.

In other news, me and a couple of American friends spent a night in the mountains bbq`ing, drinking and goofing around with about 45 Japanese kids, all connected by this guy in my taiko group. We played cards (friend taught them Kings, a drinking game), talked, ate (not enough, for me anyways), and just generally goofed off until about 4 in the morning. My buddy was a big hit with the ladies, and I managed to get a few laughs out of people, which always makes me happy. I`m hoping the longer I`m here, the more I get to do random stuff like this with people around my age. It`s nice to just talk to young people, especially girls, since the other JETs are mainly guys and I don`t see most of them much.

I also received my self-sent care package, full of jackets, books, shoes and Tapatio. The tapatio didn`t go over too well with the Japanese folks at the BBQ, but I know I was happy to see it. The jackets are coming in handy, but my big overcoat might not get used too much. This is more of a layers country, with temperature varying wildly between rooms and floors in my school, let alone buildings and inside vs. outside.

A-noid

2008-09-18T12:15:00.003+09:00

It's funny how your life can change when you don't have internet at home. I've found myself spending a hell of a lot more money outside the house, doing things like shopping or eating out almost every single day. I've also been working out a lot more, playing basketball like 4 times a week, and traveling whenever I don't have work. The apartment is cleaner than my one in LA ever was, and I do things like hang up clothes right after I get back from the laundromat.

On a related note, here's a list of things that have been annoying me lately:

1) No internet at home. Obviously I like to be able to respond to email in a timely manner, but the biggest thing has been my inability to share pictures...at all. No uploading to websites, no attaching to email, nothing. At work, every site I use is blocked, even when I bring in my own laptop. I have this expensive camera and have taken over 2000 photos already (record is 888 in one day), and no way of showing them to anyone unless they're near my laptop.

2) Spiderwebs. I walk into a spider web at least once a day, often in the same place...my stairwell. It baffles me how a place where people walk every day has spider webs that span the width of the walkway...those are some quick-workin spiders.

3) Tiny bugs. Small enough to fit through the mesh screen that goes over my windows. I'm afraid I'm going to inhale one. Or that I already have.

4) Driving 30 minutes to the gym. I still go at least 2 or 3 times a week, but it's annoying. The gym closes at 9, so last entrance is 8:15. They're closed on Mondays. I was spoiled by the 24 hour fitness 2 minutes from my parents' house or 10 minutes from my apartment.

5) Not being able to find clothes. It's not that I can't find proper sizes...there's actually a fair amount of large clothing in my area...it's that the stuff is just silly looking. I like an Engrish shirt as much as the next guy, but I'm not paying 20 bucks for it.

6) ATM fees. Imagine going to your OWN bank at 4:30pm and having to pay $1 to pull money out of an ATM. Imagine having to pay those fees at any time on the weekend. Imagine a country that still rarely uses credit cards. Imagine your bank being open from 9-3 on weekdays, and not opening on weekends. Awesome.

That's all. It's said that every JET loves a good whining session. My life here is actually pretty good, but it's when things are mainly going well that you notice the bad more easily. I've been eating better, getting tons of exercise, getting good lessons in taiko, traveling a bit, and saving money. I just need to find something to do in town on a weekend night besides play darts and meet more young Japanese folks, and I'll be set.

Dangers of Elementary School: Kancho

2008-09-02T11:54:00.002+09:00

I assume this will be the first in a series of posts about the pitfalls of teaching young Japanese kids. The rumors I`ve heard have varied from hilarious to slightly gross, and I`m going through my days with my head on a swivel.

For those who have never heard of kancho, here`s your info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kancho
Anyone who`s been in Japan for a little while has either seen or experienced this first hand. It`s annoying, but certainly less painful than a ball tap.

Today was my first day playing with the kids, and I got one within about 5 minutes of stepping onto the field. A group of 5 boys surrounded me, asking me questions and telling me to play soccer when BAM, one slipped past my novice-level guard. I scolded him, but I doubt these kids will ever heed my reprimands.

On another note, it`s a good thing I started working out again. 15 minutes of soccer, then 10 minutes of a school dance had me sweating something fierce, and the school year is just starting. I`m sure it`ll be different when it cools down, but now I see why the younger teachers wear those dri-fit clothes that whisk moisture away from your body when exercising.

Ramentary: Dosanko Ramen

2008-08-29T14:49:00.003+09:00

When it comes to lunch, I`ve had 2 distinct "routines." One is when about 5 or 6 teachers all head out together and invite me along. The other is when I`m facebooking, turn around, and the room is empty except for people who brought lunch. On those days where I`m running solo, I end up trying the random restaurants around town. There`s actually quite a few in some areas, but like any city, quality is going to vary.

I stopped by Dosanko (there`s 2 dosanko on the same street, but they use different characters to spell their names...go figure) the other day, furthering my quest to try all the ramen spots in the city in the first few months. It`s a tiny joint, seating maybe 20 tops, with a sole woman running the place. I sat at the counter in the mostly empty restaurant (never a good sign at 12:15) and ordered a ramen gyoza "teishoku" (set lunch). Considering it was only 800 yen, I hoped I`d get a great deal. How wrong I was.

It started with a mostly mayo salad, with bits of cabbage, cold clear noodles, and what looked like a slice of nectarine. Ugh. I was then served a bowl of rice, 5 overcooked gyoza that had burst sometime between fry pan and plate, deep fried veggies (these were actually good), pickles and kimchi, and a bowl of uninspired miso ramen. It`s got to be pretty mediocre for me not to finish a bowl of ramen, and that`s what happened here. Didn`t finish the salad or rice either. It was definitely a quantity over quality place, and while I commend the proprietress for pushing out 6 separate dishes in about 6 minutes, I actually only enjoyed 2 of them (rice, deep fried veggies).

I feel like a champ

2008-08-29T14:38:00.003+09:00

Why? I just handled my business in one of these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2003.html

With legs tired from my first consecutive hard cardio workouts (stairclimber/treadmill + basketball), in slippers designed for someone with size 8.5 feet (mine are 11), without any clothes touching the floor. I`ve done it before, but I don`t know if I was sober enough to really enjoy conquering another aspect of the culture. Props to me, and sorry mom for the crude post, but you know how I am.

2 of my schools ONLY HAVE THESE. It`s been a concern of mine since I started going to work, but up until today I was able to avoid them. They also tend to be the only option in places like train stations, bars, and some restaurants. The plus side of the availability of places like McDonald`s is that they almost always have western toilets, and no one seems to care if you come in, use it, and leave. It seems apathy exists in fast food workers the world over, no matter how polite they might sound.

Internet Woes

2008-08-25T14:11:00.002+09:00

Despite my best hopes that I would be able to, at this point in my time here, surf the internet in my underwear, covered in bits of forgotten rice, lips stained with soy sauce and hair unkempt, alas, twas not to be. My home internet situation has not improved since day 1, though I do have a different user name and password that don`t work.

All those promises of pictures must wait, as there`s no way I can get them online from school (despite attempts at using proxy servers). My predecessor had to wait 4 MONTHS to get internet at home, so all I can do is hope and pray that it doesn`t reach that point.

On the positive side, I`m now reachable by phone or email via my cell. Feel free to shoot me an email at japan.droo@ezweb.ne.jp. I`ll probably be busy playing with the GPS navigation or downloading songs onto my micro SD card...I love Japanese cell phones.

Short update

2008-08-18T09:52:00.003+09:00

I`ve been holding off posting because I`m supposed to be getting broadband at home, allowing me to post pictures in these far too wordy posts...I`m a visual guy, I get it. Sometimes folks want to SEE the ramen instead of hear about how good I thought it was.

I`m also still without a foreigner registration card (necessary for ALL non-Japanese citizens...for those who are unfamiliar, we`ll later get into what makes you a Japanese citizen), and thus, without cell phone (though many have gotten around this). Both of these situations are scheduled to be remedied this week, and I`ll be getting my first paycheck as well.

What I`ve been up to: not much. Hit Himeji Castle on Friday, found a cool bar, got really drunk for the first time this trip in Toyooka, got the splint off my finger, and have been meeting cool folks. On the sched for this week: Kobe orientation Wednesday, fireworks festival tonight, prefectural beer garden Saturday, Clint visiting Fri-Sun. Should be good, hope to have pics up by Thursday.

Kossetsu

2008-08-12T14:09:00.000+09:00

Is the Japanese word for fracture. Which is what is currently plauging the first joint on my left hand`s middle finger. It`s taped to an aluminum splint, which was wrapped in an Ace bandage like gauze-ish material and taped again. It`s not particularly painful now, but when it happened...woo...

Some of you may remember when I broke the knuckle-joint of my right index finger by opening a door wrong and my finger getting caught in the handle...yes, not a sexy or even interesting story. I had a cast halfway down my forearm and with that being my strong arm, certain things were difficult. Imagine the helplessness I felt the first time I went to the bathroom or tried to open a jar. That being my first real bone break (other than a jaw injury when I was a wee lad) it really made me look at folks with disabilities differently. Hell, taking a shower was annoying as all get out.

Well, this time it`s on my left hand, and the splint only comes down to the knuckle. It`s significantly easier to do things like type or cook or shower, and I even managed to play a little taiko. Basketball practice on Thursday will be interesting, but I`m going to try to gut it out.

Ah yes, how it happened. Basically I was cherry-picking on a play (not getting back on defense and more or less waiting at half court for the other team to score so I could get an easy layup), and had a high, fast pass coming to me. I reached my hand up in a manner to allow me to bring the ball down quickly, with my wrist at a 90 degree angle and my hand set to cup the top of the ball. A defender tipped the ball, causing it to rise slightly, and it struck my middle finger at a good speed when the joints were locked in position. I immediately grabbed my finger and called for a sub. I figured it wasn`t that bad, and played the next game. I iced it that night, and though it hurt, I didn`t think much of it. The next day it was dark red at the joint, and started turning blue in mid-morning.

The hospital part can wait for later...

Tokyo Orientation

2008-08-11T11:24:00.002+09:00

After about 3 hours at the airport, 12 hours on a plane on which I wasted my time watching Big Bang Theory (terrible), the Office (great), Be Kind Rewind (also great) and Hitch (better than expected....maybe it`s just Eva Mendes) and playing backgammon, I landed in Tokyo. As soon as I hit the airplane dor, the humidity hit me like a ton of wet, sticky bricks. In all my wisdom, I was wearing black pants and a grey button down, ensuring that not only would I be sweaty, but that people would likely be able to see it from miles away.

Customs, immigration, and all that jazz were pretty easy, with almost no questions of any kind. Taking the advice of previous JET friends, I basically spent the whole time talking to anyone and everyone in hopes of not only making friends but ensuring a spot to crash if I end up traveling the length of Japan eating ramen...which if you know me, is obviously my main goal. Some cool folks, some anime freaks, some japan-o-philes, but mostly just people also looking to meet as many people as possible.

Orientation itself was kind of a drag. Lengthy lectures held in overpacked rooms with insufficient A/C and amazingly uncomfortable chairs led to a whole lot of bitching and ditching. The speakers were mostly entertaining, however, and at times the meetings would fly by. Among the more useless workshops I attended were about saving money (common sense tactics), food (I eat it all the time, and there wasnt much cooking advice), and independent Japanese study (for beginners). Since I`ll be driving here, though, that workshop was helpful, as was the one on travel. The threw us in rooms with 3 beds basically side by side in an otherwise fairly swanky hotel and provided us with vegetarian lunches consisting of bread, rice, and a soy meat substitute.

Nighttime is the right time...to party, as they say. Lots of drinking with folks that I just met led to some fairly entertaining moments, like me passing out on the ground or folks being surprised by the button used to summon a waitress. Beer, chu-hai, and lots of food.

At different points in the 3 days, we ended up eating Tenkaippin (a ramen chain) at 2 am, hitting Tokyo Tower, getting caught in crazy rain, drinking at a bar in Roppongi, wandering around Shinjuku with 40 people, looking for a bar to accomodate us, and drinking on the sidewalk, talking to every person who walked by. Good times, and a great way to jump off what promises to be an interesting year.

Food Report: Hana Udon (Asago)

2008-08-08T13:54:00.004+09:00

Thursday almost none of the teachers were at Ookura, so I ended up going to lunch with the two male PE teachers. One of them has been described to me as a person that I have to be careful around, jokingly of course. He stands out because of his speaking style. If you aren`t familiar with Japanese, there are variations on the language and the pronunciation used based on your personality, the situation, who, what, where, etc. One of the hardest styles to understand is the rough male style, especially when mixed with a local dialect that differs from standard Japanese.

For example, I might say (in my college-conditioned standard Japanese) "shiranai," he might say shitorahen, with an extreme emphasis on the r, rolling it to sound like a motorcycle...it would sound like shtrrrhn. Carrying on a conversation with him is certainly interesting, and a nice test of my listening abilities, but is also kind of tiring.

Anyway, we ended up at an udon joint. Like a lot of casual udon spots, you order a style of udon at the front, then you take a tray and add various other items to it (think cafeteria in Animal House). Items like onigiri, tempura, korokke, and salad are available at prices around $1 apiece. I went with a large niku udon (shredded beef), a potato korokke, and a piece of squid tempura. If that seems like a lot, I had been doing some stuff with the kids in the gym, and my breakfast of a piece of bread and a small banana just wasn`t holding me.

The udon was good, if a tad bland. I like flavors that punch you in the face, so udon is often the forgotten noodle dish, behind stuff like ramen, pho, and chinese noodle soups. Korokke was standard, but a bit on the mushy side without any of the nice crispiness on the outer batter. This was probably due to it being one of the last 2 on the tray. Same goes for the ika tempura; a lack of seasoning in the batter combined with sogginess kind of sunk this meal.

Break yo`self!

2008-08-08T13:54:00.000+09:00

I broke the middle finger on my left hand in my first basketball practice...taiko practice tonight will be nowhere near as fun. More on this when I`m not as annoyed.

Hittin' switches in my 6-4! Or not...

2008-08-07T11:31:00.001+09:00

I went up to Toyo-oka last week (maybe a 30 minute drive) to rent my car from a place that gives full insurance instead of the partial insurance (collision only) that`s usually included in the lease prices around here. In a place like this, gas mileage and size are the primary concerns, mainly because gas is hovering just over $6 a gallon (about 175 yen/liter) and parking spots/roads are at least 2 feet thinner than those in America. In the car I`m driving now, I can almost touch the passenger window from the driver`s seat without much effort.

This is the car I`m getting: the Daihatsu Mira Custom, in a royal blue color (like 90% of the cars around here are white, or cream, or off-white, or silver...easy to spot blue). Including insurance and rental, it`s running me something like $300/month. Gas is probably going to be another $120 or so a month, at least until it cools down and I don`t have to use the A/C all the time. I`m also now a member of JAF, Japan`s version of AAA.

The car I`ve been using the first few weeks is an 8 year old Daihatsu Move, in an odd murky magenta color. It runs, though, and that`s all that really matters I suppose.

Anyway, if and when anyone comes to visit, I`ll be ready to cart them and possibly 2 other people around in relative comfort!

Ramentary: Ton Chin Kan Ramen (Wadayama)

2008-08-07T09:03:00.004+09:00

I figured if the spot had a picture of a pig on the sign, they must have confidence in their tonkostu (pork bone) broth. I always like seeing manual laborers, truckers, and other blue collar guys in a ramen joint, because that usually means it's hearty, tasty, and reasonably priced. Ton Chin Kan sounds like a Chinese place, but they specialize in the version of ramen broth that I seem to favor: fatty, thick, and addictive.
In a nice air-conditioned, all wood restaurant (seems to be a lot of those here), a simple menu with typical ramen choices: shio, miso, shoyu, along with the signature tonkotsu, and side items like gyoza and fried rice. They also were advertising what looked like squid fries, long thin strips of squid lightly fried and served alongside your ramen for about 3 bucks. I didn't get them this time, but wouldn't be surprised if I tried them on the next trip.

The school nurse and I both ordered the tonkotsu ramen with a side dish with a name I can't remember. It's basically rice with a raw egg, leeks, tiny strips of nori (dried seaweed) and chunks of pork, with a bit of a special gyoza shoyu for good measure. It reminded me a lot of a meal I used to have as a kid. My dad would take some day old rice, plop a sunny side egg on top and drizzle shoyu on it; a hearty meal for a growing boy.

My English team teacher ordered the shoyu with small fried rice and chicken karaage. Karaage is basically a large chicken nugget, boneless chunks covered in a thin layer of batter and fried. Very similar to the Hawaiian fried chicken you find at places like the Loft in SoCal, but without any of the sweetness. They seem to like dipping them in ketchup over here, but I find the flavor fine on its own.

Anyway TonChinKan is about 3 blocks from my 2nd school, Ookura Elementary (more on the school later), and I plan on being back fairly often...obviously after I've scoped out the rest of the food. Pics to come after my next visit!

Ramentary: Jaaran Ramen (Asago)

2008-08-06T13:47:00.004+09:00

The proprietors of this joint obviously have a soft spot for Bob Marley, as his face decorates their walls and their menu. Reggae regularly comes out of the speakers, and the sign is red, green and yellow. It`s a small place, seating maybe 15, but there always seems to be a line. I`ve eaten here twice already in the first week, which isn`t a surprise to those friends of mine who know about my affection for ramen.

The first time I went with the plain ramen, an oil-rich tonkotsu broth with just a few pieces of fatty and delicious chashu (Japanese spelling) and green onions as toppings. The noodles are a bit chewy and plentiful and the soup is rich and flavorful. With it being summer and all, I also have a tendency to consume about a pitcher and a half of water with each bowl. My first time was my predecessor`s last day, and the first meal I had with the other new ALT, Matt from Canada.

The second time I went with some teachers from Yanase, and ordered the tomato ramen. While it might not sound particularly appetizing, it was actually really good. Bok choy, small pieces of chicken, and of course tomato chunks were spread through a bowl of even richer broth, a combination of the pork-bone and tomato-infused bases. Even though I was told it was thinner than normal, it certainly didn`t taste that way. I threw in some of the spicy veggies on the table and basically knocked out the entire bowl in about 7 minutes, including conversation. Again, a pitcher and a half of water. Must be all the salt and msg.

This is apparently the most popular ramen joint in the area, and I can see why. Friendly owners (Ryuhei seems like a good guy), a nice small setting, relaxing music, and some good eats.

First impressions of Asago-shi

2008-08-05T15:12:00.003+09:00

Asago-shi (the suffix -shi indicates a city) is apparently famous for leeks. I can`t tell the difference between one leek to the next, especially since they`re usually mixed in with something else. That just happened to be the first thing they mentioned when I asked what was special about Asago. Like I mentioned in my last post, it`s made up of 4 towns that got together, presumably for tax purposes: Wadayama, Santo, Asago, and Ikuno.

It`s in the northern middle area of Hyogo-ken (the suffix -ken indicates a prefecture, though other special prefectures have their own...like Tokyo-to, or Kyoto-fu), the prefecture which contains Kobe and is just west of more famous cities like Kyoto and Osaka. It`s located in the Kansai region, an area famous for a blunter, somewhat more aggressive sounding dialect. People in my area speak a variation of Kansai-ben known as Tajima-ben, with slight alterations to verb conjugations as well as altered pronunciations of nouns and different conversational particles.

Sorry for the sudden Japanese nerd outburst.

Apparently the area is pretty good for onsen, skiing/snowboarding, and so far that`s it. It`s a relatively poor area (everyone is poor compared to those in Tokyo), with a fair number of single mothers and farmers. There`s a big store called Jusco in the middle of town which has everything from bathtubs to TVs to a travel agency to strawberries.

The area also has the ruins of Takeda-jo, a castle up on a mountain which has a spectacular view of the valley. There`s also Awaga-yama, the highest mountain in the area...more on that in a later post. In any case, it`s a rather non-descript town in the middle of a prefecture that I had never heard of. There`s rice fields/paddies, lots of small individual vegetable gardens, tons of old people, and an odd odor.

It`s also full of lovely people, all too willing to smile and bow their head in greeting. The attitude of people in Tokyo wore on me for those 6 months, and I have a feeling that won`t be a problem here. Come visit sometime! We`ll probably spend most of our time at least 2 hours from my apartment, but the area is good for a couple of hours of sightseeing.

Maiden Post

2008-08-05T14:48:00.002+09:00

FINALLY got access to some internet around here, and am getting this thing up and running. The blog name is a combination of Japan and Androo, as I`m sure you figured out already. I have a thing for combining words...must be the Japanese in me. This is a country a term like gaikokujin touroku shomeisho can become gaijin torokusho though the powers of combination and abbreviation.

As this blog progresses, I hope to be putting up some pictures from my spanking new Nikon D40 with the Nikkor 18-200 VR lens (still giddy about this) as well as less pretty ones from my point n shoot Fuji F20. I also plan to have a little Youtube channel with random videos from my time here, but it looks like I left the USB cord for the F20 at home, so those may not appear for a while.

I`m also going to be talking a lot about food. From what I`ve heard, day to day life can get a bit repetitive in this area, and food can be a great way to change it up. I have some decent access to restaurants and food, but if you`re comparing it to LA or Tokyo or wherever else you know me from, I doubt you`d find everything you want.

That`s it for now. I hope you enjoy reading about life here from the perspective of a chubby, 3rd generation half Chinese/half Japanese, southern California raised, food obsessed, below average Japanese-speaking elementary school English teacher living in a prefecture of Japan known for its beef (Kobe beef actually comes from a region known as Tajima, but Kobe is a bigger city and thus, a bigger name). My town Asago-shi is actually 4 different towns that were incorporated earlier this decade, and now boasts a whopping 35,000 inhabitants.