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I went shopping today, and came home with bags and bags of sparkly things. Here's my tree:
I have tinsel everywhere, it looks like a tinsel monster exploded.
On Friday my kids asked me what I was doing for Christmas, and I said I was going to church. They said, "Why?" Well, children. It's a long story.
I have tinsel everywhere, it looks like a tinsel monster exploded.
On Friday my kids asked me what I was doing for Christmas, and I said I was going to church. They said, "Why?" Well, children. It's a long story.
A couple of things:
- apparently yesterday there was an armed robbery of a post office in the Machida area, which led to every schoolchild in Machida being sent home early, in a large escorted group, and instructed not to leave their houses when they got home. I found this an astonishing illustration of the level of public safety in Japan, that one armed robbery provoked that level of reaction.
- tomorrow children at one of my kindergartens are going to make mochi in a cermenoy called mochitsuki, where the cooked rice is pounded with mallets. Apparently if you have a pure heart you will turn the rice into gold, but an impure heart will turn it into nasty stuff. Presumably most people are in-between.
- a kindergarten classroom decoration:
- apparently yesterday there was an armed robbery of a post office in the Machida area, which led to every schoolchild in Machida being sent home early, in a large escorted group, and instructed not to leave their houses when they got home. I found this an astonishing illustration of the level of public safety in Japan, that one armed robbery provoked that level of reaction.
- tomorrow children at one of my kindergartens are going to make mochi in a cermenoy called mochitsuki, where the cooked rice is pounded with mallets. Apparently if you have a pure heart you will turn the rice into gold, but an impure heart will turn it into nasty stuff. Presumably most people are in-between.
- a kindergarten classroom decoration:
Things I did in November:
- went for a reiki massage with Diane. It really shouldn't be called a massage, it was a fairly disappointing 'laying on of hands' kind of thing, except that actually her hands just hovered like an inch above the skin, transferring energy into us. Apparently. I was not convinced. However, to get there involved walking along an incredible stretch of murals, and on the way back Diane and I took photos pretty much every step of the way. Impossible to choose the best bits, because they were all amazing, but here are some of my favourite:
- said goodbye to my Italian friend (he's going back to Italy) with yakinikku. Met loads of other Italian people, he seems to have gathered a crowd of them. :D
- had a big shabu-shabu party.
- did the Yamathon. It was utterly tipping it down, and we walked about forty kilometres-ish, I think. Miserable, but also amazing, particularly because we were singing along the way.
- went to Tsukuba to see my friend Chie perform in a modern dance show. Also saw the lovely old house it was in, and watched the modern theatre performance which came afterwards and which was amazing, even though I didn't understand anything.
And there end my flat recitation of the memorable events of November.
- went for a reiki massage with Diane. It really shouldn't be called a massage, it was a fairly disappointing 'laying on of hands' kind of thing, except that actually her hands just hovered like an inch above the skin, transferring energy into us. Apparently. I was not convinced. However, to get there involved walking along an incredible stretch of murals, and on the way back Diane and I took photos pretty much every step of the way. Impossible to choose the best bits, because they were all amazing, but here are some of my favourite:
- said goodbye to my Italian friend (he's going back to Italy) with yakinikku. Met loads of other Italian people, he seems to have gathered a crowd of them. :D
- had a big shabu-shabu party.
- did the Yamathon. It was utterly tipping it down, and we walked about forty kilometres-ish, I think. Miserable, but also amazing, particularly because we were singing along the way.
- went to Tsukuba to see my friend Chie perform in a modern dance show. Also saw the lovely old house it was in, and watched the modern theatre performance which came afterwards and which was amazing, even though I didn't understand anything.
And there end my flat recitation of the memorable events of November.
OKAY. STAND BY FOR THE MOST RIDICULOUSLY, RIDICULOUSLY BELATED ENTRY EVER.
- I mentioned the typhoon last entry, right? So I never said, it actually did hit Kanagawa, and it actually was pretty excitingly brutal - schools were all closed, flat was shaking in the wind, a house near one of my kindergartens had a tree come down on it... general stuff like that. It was the day after I got back from Ogasawara, so I had to go out to buy food, into the JAWS OF THE STORM. It wasn't that bad at the time I went out, but by the afternoon I was pretty glad to be inside.
- I found a lovely temple near a kindergarten I was observing at, which is out in the countryside. It's always nice to get these slices of storybook Japan, all bathed in sunlight and quiet and sleepy.
- I had dinner with an old partner teacher of mine, Mika, who I used to work with on Thursdays at Miyauchi, before Miyauchi closed. It was really, really lovely, unexpectedly so - I like Mika, obviously, but her English is a little spotty and I thought it might be awkward, but it was actually fantastic.
- Had to go and cover in Chiba, which is the other branch of my company in this area, and is miles and miles and miles away. Got lost en route, trying to find a train station, and got lovely help from a lovely woman, who I practised a bit of my Japanese on. Which was generally lovely.
- Went to a sports day at one of my kindergartens, which was delightful and fascinating and very different to what English people think of when we think of sports days. Much more about the choregraphed parachute performances and the sweeping the sand in between every event, much less about egg and spoon races. There were a couple of competitive races though!
Loved this event more than I can express. Grannies versus grandads (the whole family comes to these kindergarten sports days, they are a Big Deal), they all had to run with the ball, loop it around in the middle, and bring it back. No one fell over, you'll be glad to hear!
The next event was for little kids who were prospective kindergarten students. They had to run...
...go through the hoops decorated with charming cartoon characters...
...and pick up a prize.
And then dads with their nensho (youngest year, 3-4) kids:
She's one of mine, Satsuki.
And then parachutes and choreographed gymnastics:
Centrepiece of the second photo is another of mine, Jinto, who started his first lesson earnest and adorable, but revealed his true colours soon enough. He just has an earnest and adorable face, unfortunately, which makes him far less suspicious-looking than he deserves to look.
And then the nencho (oldest group, 5-6) kids dressed as participants in a traditional festival, and the sort of hilarious rush to make good use of the carefully allotted minute where parents could take pictures close-up.
A really fun-looking game, and then a really fun but potentially painful-looking game.
And it finished with an incredibly hard-fought relay race run by the nencho, in which one of my kids (Yuuto, because I'll want to remember later), pretty much single-handedly took his class almost a lap ahead of the others. Overall, a really, really fun day.
- The last notable thing I've done this month is go to a GIANT AQUARIUM, which was really kind of epically amazing, and had this in one of the tanks:
What? Also, there were seals and sea otters and walruses (OH MY GOD WALRUSES ARE THE HUGEST THINGS EVER) and shoals of fish and we saw the sea animals show with seals balancing balls on their noses and dolphins doing synchronised jumps, and it was ridiculously amazing, and I completely ignored my ethical concerns because it was so amazing.
- Finally, I am delighted to say that I actually have plans for Bonfire Night! Lat year it was so sad not to be at home, I love Bonfire Night. :( But the other teachers and I are going to try a barbecue + fireworks thing down by the river. Not sure who will do the fireworks. Maybe me? I might burn my face off, though.
- I mentioned the typhoon last entry, right? So I never said, it actually did hit Kanagawa, and it actually was pretty excitingly brutal - schools were all closed, flat was shaking in the wind, a house near one of my kindergartens had a tree come down on it... general stuff like that. It was the day after I got back from Ogasawara, so I had to go out to buy food, into the JAWS OF THE STORM. It wasn't that bad at the time I went out, but by the afternoon I was pretty glad to be inside.
- I found a lovely temple near a kindergarten I was observing at, which is out in the countryside. It's always nice to get these slices of storybook Japan, all bathed in sunlight and quiet and sleepy.
- I had dinner with an old partner teacher of mine, Mika, who I used to work with on Thursdays at Miyauchi, before Miyauchi closed. It was really, really lovely, unexpectedly so - I like Mika, obviously, but her English is a little spotty and I thought it might be awkward, but it was actually fantastic.
- Had to go and cover in Chiba, which is the other branch of my company in this area, and is miles and miles and miles away. Got lost en route, trying to find a train station, and got lovely help from a lovely woman, who I practised a bit of my Japanese on. Which was generally lovely.
- Went to a sports day at one of my kindergartens, which was delightful and fascinating and very different to what English people think of when we think of sports days. Much more about the choregraphed parachute performances and the sweeping the sand in between every event, much less about egg and spoon races. There were a couple of competitive races though!
Loved this event more than I can express. Grannies versus grandads (the whole family comes to these kindergarten sports days, they are a Big Deal), they all had to run with the ball, loop it around in the middle, and bring it back. No one fell over, you'll be glad to hear!
The next event was for little kids who were prospective kindergarten students. They had to run...
...go through the hoops decorated with charming cartoon characters...
...and pick up a prize.
And then dads with their nensho (youngest year, 3-4) kids:
She's one of mine, Satsuki.
And then parachutes and choreographed gymnastics:
Centrepiece of the second photo is another of mine, Jinto, who started his first lesson earnest and adorable, but revealed his true colours soon enough. He just has an earnest and adorable face, unfortunately, which makes him far less suspicious-looking than he deserves to look.
And then the nencho (oldest group, 5-6) kids dressed as participants in a traditional festival, and the sort of hilarious rush to make good use of the carefully allotted minute where parents could take pictures close-up.
A really fun-looking game, and then a really fun but potentially painful-looking game.
And it finished with an incredibly hard-fought relay race run by the nencho, in which one of my kids (Yuuto, because I'll want to remember later), pretty much single-handedly took his class almost a lap ahead of the others. Overall, a really, really fun day.
- The last notable thing I've done this month is go to a GIANT AQUARIUM, which was really kind of epically amazing, and had this in one of the tanks:
What? Also, there were seals and sea otters and walruses (OH MY GOD WALRUSES ARE THE HUGEST THINGS EVER) and shoals of fish and we saw the sea animals show with seals balancing balls on their noses and dolphins doing synchronised jumps, and it was ridiculously amazing, and I completely ignored my ethical concerns because it was so amazing.
- Finally, I am delighted to say that I actually have plans for Bonfire Night! Lat year it was so sad not to be at home, I love Bonfire Night. :( But the other teachers and I are going to try a barbecue + fireworks thing down by the river. Not sure who will do the fireworks. Maybe me? I might burn my face off, though.
So, Ogasawara. First things unfortunately first, I took a limited number of pictures because my camera is not that great, and also because I prefer to live rather than take pictures of living. (The first reason is more honest, the second sounds better.)
The Ogasawara archipelago is a group of islands to the far, far, far south-east of Tokyo, on the same latitude, I believe, as Okinawa. It's only reachable, unless you're part of the military base there, by a ferry from Tokyo which takes twenty-five and a half hours. Half the reason I wanted to go is simply because it is so ridiculously difficult to get there, and I was sort of entranced by the idea of its remoteness. Unfortunately, this past weekend there has been a typhoon, which adversely affected my trip in a couple of ways, but did not entirely take the shine off its excellence. The one thing it did really affect was the boat trip over, which was an absolute nightmare. I don't get seasick, as a general rule, but on this trip I got so sick that I had to throw up over the side. I spent my time stumbling around, falling onto people (okay, only once, but he was asleep and it was unbelievably embarrassing) and feeling sick and miserable and alooooooone. I only saw one other white person, and he was with his Japanese wife, so I was fairly conspicuous, which only added to the MISERY.
But eventually, and actually completely on time so it can't even have been that rough a crossing (the mind boggles at the thought of a truly rough crossing), we limped into the port on Chichijima (Father Island) the larger of the two inhabited islands, and I was picked up by the friendly, although slightly awkward, manager of the guest house I was staying. He turned out to be awkward because I was the first solo foreigner to stay at his guest house ever - he'd had people with their partners, i.e. with their own translators, but nobody who really needed him to speak the English which he thankfully could speak. He actually turned out to be absolutely lovely, and I had a really great moment with him on the day after my arrival, trying to teach the pronunciation difference between snow and snore (very difficult for Japanese speakers).
The guesthouse was great, really homey and with fantastic food - this was the longest stretch of time that I've ever eaten only Japanese food, which was fine for everything except breakfast. Japanese breakfast is fish and rice and miso soup, and it was a little psychologically challenging at seven in the morning. The guesthouse also boasted the most incredibly fantastic feature of a fellow guest who was an English teacher at a university, who I pretty much followed around for the entire weekend, and who made my entire stay work.
The afternoon of my arrival, I ate, and read in the hammock, and slept, and tried to get back on track after the twenty-five hours of feeling awful I'd just had. After dinner (which featured a little bit of sea turtle sashimi), I went with Harumi (the teacher) and Jin (another guest) on a nightwalk, with a fantastically outgoing guide who actually turned out to speak some English. The stars were spectacular, and we saw toads, a hermit crab, some guppies, one very high-up fruitbat, and glow-in-the-dark mushrooms, which were amazing.
The day after was raining (thanks, typhoon), so my planned day of sea kayaking was cancelled, and I ended up going into 'town' (literally just one street) with Harumi and another guest Takeshi. We had a brief stop at the tiny Sea Turtle Centre, and a brief stop at the also tiny aquarium. The tiny aquarium featured, at the front, the bizarrest activity I think I have ever participated in: brushing fish's teeth. There were toothbrushes attached to long sticks available, and the fish opened their mouths and stayed patiently still. I don't understand.
We ate at a really nice place with Ogasawara sushi, which is apparently unique for using mustard rather than wasabi - I couldn't get that excited about this apparently tiny change, but I think it was a bigger deal to Harumi and Takeshi. In the afternoon, we went for a forest walk, which was entirely in Japanese and involved a lot of climbing down rain-treacherous paths. I managed to have a short conversation with the guide in Japanese, though - this weekend has been great, language-wise.
The day after, we learnt that the boat was going to depart that evening (Monday evening) because of the typhoon, rather than on Tuesday afternoon as it should have done. :( Which didn't stop that days' activity from being the best thing ever in the world, because I went on a snorkelling and scuba-diving boat tour, and I cannot express how glorious it was. The water was unbelievably clear, and the fish were tropical (fish which are not grey will never stop being exciting) and scuba diving was fascinating and hanging around in the water with a snorkel mask was also fascinating and the tour leaders were lovely - one led me around by the hand on my scuba diving trip, when it became apparent that I was completely useless at maneouvreing myself around underwater. It was all just so, so beautiful, and I really wish I could have shown it to all of you.
And finally, the boat journey back was actually really lovely - didn't get sick, just slept a bit and read a bit and ate a bit. Also, at one point, saw a half-submerged submarine going past, which was surreal: it sort of exuded menace just by its very existence, kind of like seeing a tank going down a motorway, I think.
View from the snorkelling trip.
And in conclusion, I have realised something. The reason I am so awful at blogging is because it bores me deeply to write up the details of things which I've done: I've already done them, for goodness' sake. But I am certain that I will be grateful for this blog someday soon, so I need to keep plodding on.
The Ogasawara archipelago is a group of islands to the far, far, far south-east of Tokyo, on the same latitude, I believe, as Okinawa. It's only reachable, unless you're part of the military base there, by a ferry from Tokyo which takes twenty-five and a half hours. Half the reason I wanted to go is simply because it is so ridiculously difficult to get there, and I was sort of entranced by the idea of its remoteness. Unfortunately, this past weekend there has been a typhoon, which adversely affected my trip in a couple of ways, but did not entirely take the shine off its excellence. The one thing it did really affect was the boat trip over, which was an absolute nightmare. I don't get seasick, as a general rule, but on this trip I got so sick that I had to throw up over the side. I spent my time stumbling around, falling onto people (okay, only once, but he was asleep and it was unbelievably embarrassing) and feeling sick and miserable and alooooooone. I only saw one other white person, and he was with his Japanese wife, so I was fairly conspicuous, which only added to the MISERY.
But eventually, and actually completely on time so it can't even have been that rough a crossing (the mind boggles at the thought of a truly rough crossing), we limped into the port on Chichijima (Father Island) the larger of the two inhabited islands, and I was picked up by the friendly, although slightly awkward, manager of the guest house I was staying. He turned out to be awkward because I was the first solo foreigner to stay at his guest house ever - he'd had people with their partners, i.e. with their own translators, but nobody who really needed him to speak the English which he thankfully could speak. He actually turned out to be absolutely lovely, and I had a really great moment with him on the day after my arrival, trying to teach the pronunciation difference between snow and snore (very difficult for Japanese speakers).
The guesthouse was great, really homey and with fantastic food - this was the longest stretch of time that I've ever eaten only Japanese food, which was fine for everything except breakfast. Japanese breakfast is fish and rice and miso soup, and it was a little psychologically challenging at seven in the morning. The guesthouse also boasted the most incredibly fantastic feature of a fellow guest who was an English teacher at a university, who I pretty much followed around for the entire weekend, and who made my entire stay work.
The afternoon of my arrival, I ate, and read in the hammock, and slept, and tried to get back on track after the twenty-five hours of feeling awful I'd just had. After dinner (which featured a little bit of sea turtle sashimi), I went with Harumi (the teacher) and Jin (another guest) on a nightwalk, with a fantastically outgoing guide who actually turned out to speak some English. The stars were spectacular, and we saw toads, a hermit crab, some guppies, one very high-up fruitbat, and glow-in-the-dark mushrooms, which were amazing.
The day after was raining (thanks, typhoon), so my planned day of sea kayaking was cancelled, and I ended up going into 'town' (literally just one street) with Harumi and another guest Takeshi. We had a brief stop at the tiny Sea Turtle Centre, and a brief stop at the also tiny aquarium. The tiny aquarium featured, at the front, the bizarrest activity I think I have ever participated in: brushing fish's teeth. There were toothbrushes attached to long sticks available, and the fish opened their mouths and stayed patiently still. I don't understand.
We ate at a really nice place with Ogasawara sushi, which is apparently unique for using mustard rather than wasabi - I couldn't get that excited about this apparently tiny change, but I think it was a bigger deal to Harumi and Takeshi. In the afternoon, we went for a forest walk, which was entirely in Japanese and involved a lot of climbing down rain-treacherous paths. I managed to have a short conversation with the guide in Japanese, though - this weekend has been great, language-wise.
The day after, we learnt that the boat was going to depart that evening (Monday evening) because of the typhoon, rather than on Tuesday afternoon as it should have done. :( Which didn't stop that days' activity from being the best thing ever in the world, because I went on a snorkelling and scuba-diving boat tour, and I cannot express how glorious it was. The water was unbelievably clear, and the fish were tropical (fish which are not grey will never stop being exciting) and scuba diving was fascinating and hanging around in the water with a snorkel mask was also fascinating and the tour leaders were lovely - one led me around by the hand on my scuba diving trip, when it became apparent that I was completely useless at maneouvreing myself around underwater. It was all just so, so beautiful, and I really wish I could have shown it to all of you.
And finally, the boat journey back was actually really lovely - didn't get sick, just slept a bit and read a bit and ate a bit. Also, at one point, saw a half-submerged submarine going past, which was surreal: it sort of exuded menace just by its very existence, kind of like seeing a tank going down a motorway, I think.
View from the snorkelling trip.
And in conclusion, I have realised something. The reason I am so awful at blogging is because it bores me deeply to write up the details of things which I've done: I've already done them, for goodness' sake. But I am certain that I will be grateful for this blog someday soon, so I need to keep plodding on.
Oh, look, it's been a month since I updated. Wow, I am excellent at this blogging business.
It's time for ANOTHER LIST, because otherwise this update will take hours. So, highlights of the last month:
Covering at the Tokyo branch's biggest kindergarten - 26 August
Eighty-eight children in ten 25-minute lessons. Argh.
Sumidagawa fireworks - 27 August
The biggest fireworks festival, and one of the few things which hasn't been cancelled in this post-earthquake summer. Also the only festival that I've actually made it to, despite honest intentions to go to lots and little notes all over my diary telling me when events will be. Oh well - this makes me a little sad, but I won't dwell on it, because I have done lots of other lovely things. This was incredibly busy, and there were lots and lots of women wearing beautiful yukatas (summer traditional dress - lighter than kimonons) and a fair number of men in yukatas as well. A lot of this evening involved traipsing around trying to find a place to see the fireworks - I could hear them, and see them reflected off buildings, but not actually see them. I finally found a spot, though, and they were glorious fireworks. The day after, I had coffee with a friend and his friend, and learnt that they are also very old, dating back to the 18th century I think.
Holly back in town
A teacher who left because of the earthquake came back for ten days, and a few of us had a lovely meal in a submarine themed izakaya.
Birthday
Had dinner on the 9th, a picnic on the 10th, made all of my children sing Happy Birthday to me on the 12th.
Most importantly, this past weekend, I went to Ogasawara as my birthday trip, which deserves a post all of its own, coming right up.
It's time for ANOTHER LIST, because otherwise this update will take hours. So, highlights of the last month:
Covering at the Tokyo branch's biggest kindergarten - 26 August
Eighty-eight children in ten 25-minute lessons. Argh.
Sumidagawa fireworks - 27 August
The biggest fireworks festival, and one of the few things which hasn't been cancelled in this post-earthquake summer. Also the only festival that I've actually made it to, despite honest intentions to go to lots and little notes all over my diary telling me when events will be. Oh well - this makes me a little sad, but I won't dwell on it, because I have done lots of other lovely things. This was incredibly busy, and there were lots and lots of women wearing beautiful yukatas (summer traditional dress - lighter than kimonons) and a fair number of men in yukatas as well. A lot of this evening involved traipsing around trying to find a place to see the fireworks - I could hear them, and see them reflected off buildings, but not actually see them. I finally found a spot, though, and they were glorious fireworks. The day after, I had coffee with a friend and his friend, and learnt that they are also very old, dating back to the 18th century I think.
Holly back in town
A teacher who left because of the earthquake came back for ten days, and a few of us had a lovely meal in a submarine themed izakaya.
Birthday
Had dinner on the 9th, a picnic on the 10th, made all of my children sing Happy Birthday to me on the 12th.
Most importantly, this past weekend, I went to Ogasawara as my birthday trip, which deserves a post all of its own, coming right up.
Today, I have been in Japan for one year. Momentous!
I forgot, but accidentally celebrated anyway by going with partner teacher Kiyomi to the little local yakitoriya near work, had excellent food and talked to a very friendly drunk man who had lived in Calgary and bought us both a drink.
Yay for Japan!
I forgot, but accidentally celebrated anyway by going with partner teacher Kiyomi to the little local yakitoriya near work, had excellent food and talked to a very friendly drunk man who had lived in Calgary and bought us both a drink.
Yay for Japan!
Edging very close to the year mark.
Today I had a disorienting moment when I looked around a class of seven students and suddenly thought, "What a coincidence, they all have black hair." Then I remembered where I was. :)
I have undergone a strange and creeping change in my perception, a little bit of which happened while I was in Vietnam as well. The UK is obviously vastly majority white, and so for me, when I meet someone who is not white, the first aspect of their appearance that I catalogue is their race. It's the same syndrone that means that a lot of people in the UK will describe a white person with their hair colour or their eye colour or their face and body shape, while a non-white person will be foremostly described by their race, because that is the most noticeable thing about them.
That doesn't work here, obviously. White is no longer my default, and I no longer notice that people are Japanese, but rather whether they are tall or short, fat or thin, what they've done with their hair, whether they're pale or tanned.
I'm sure I will slide back to white-as-default after a while back in the UK, but it's a good experience to remind me how unconsciously biased my perception of race is.
A student showed me how to fold a paper crane. Mine is, I think obviously, the pink one. :( Poor misshapen crane.
Today I had a disorienting moment when I looked around a class of seven students and suddenly thought, "What a coincidence, they all have black hair." Then I remembered where I was. :)
I have undergone a strange and creeping change in my perception, a little bit of which happened while I was in Vietnam as well. The UK is obviously vastly majority white, and so for me, when I meet someone who is not white, the first aspect of their appearance that I catalogue is their race. It's the same syndrone that means that a lot of people in the UK will describe a white person with their hair colour or their eye colour or their face and body shape, while a non-white person will be foremostly described by their race, because that is the most noticeable thing about them.
That doesn't work here, obviously. White is no longer my default, and I no longer notice that people are Japanese, but rather whether they are tall or short, fat or thin, what they've done with their hair, whether they're pale or tanned.
I'm sure I will slide back to white-as-default after a while back in the UK, but it's a good experience to remind me how unconsciously biased my perception of race is.
A student showed me how to fold a paper crane. Mine is, I think obviously, the pink one. :( Poor misshapen crane.
Wow, it's been a long time! What's it time for? Yes, that's right, another bullet-pointed and inadequate list of the things I've done.
- After Fuji I was horrifically, hilariously sunburnt, which meant that I couldn't go with my friend Steph to the sento as I'd wanted to. :(
- I spent the whole post-Fuji week in a haze of physical and mental exhaustion. And yes, there was a long while where it hurt to walk up and down stairs.
- I went to my friend Chie's dance show on the 24th of July. Her dance was a very small part (and very good contemporary dance piece) of a much larger show, which had some really fun dancing. One of my favourite parts was the teenagers doing hip-hop dances to some really inappropriate tracks, including one which basically consisted of the uncensored lyrics 'my dick, my dick, girls like to look at it'. I laughed smugly to myself, fairly convinced that I was the only one in the audience who got the joke. I am so superior, with my ability to speak English, hahaha. Still can't speak Japanese, though. :(
- The next weekend, I went to Hakone with Chie - Hakone is a big onsen area, and also historically was on the Tokaido, which I am intrigued by. It was the route from Kyoto to Tokyo (then known as Edo), and must have been a dangerous and exciting and difficult journey. We didn't do or see anything historical, though: we went straight to Tenzan onsen, which was completely divine. Not too crowded, relaxed, beautiful - obviously, I have no idea if this is true or not, but it felt fantastically and traditionally Japanese, tatami mats everywhere and quiet and well-proportioned. It was a really great day. We had some shabu shabu (you cook the meat at the table in boiling water) and then went into the absolutely lovely baths, which were very hot and very atmospheric. One was partly covered by a cave, and they were all surrounded by rocks and fed by hot spring water.
Here's Chie cooking shabu shabu. I wish I could have taken some pictures of the baths, but taking pictures inside is obviously not acceptable.
- The weekend after that, I had two social events: Mexican lunch with Yumi and Thai lunch with Yuka. Both were really great, and with Yumi I very briefly (very briefly, we unfortunately arrived very near closing time) went to the Foreigners' Cemetery in Yokohama, which I would like to go back to, as it was both fascinating and quite beautiful. Had a chat with Yumi about the default Western way of disposing of corpses being burial while the deafult Japanese is cremation, and how that means that Western cemeteries are extremely sprawling. Also learnt that Japanese people are given a death name after they die by the priest.
- AND FINALLY, I have just had a week's holiday for Obon. I did not do anything particularly cultural. On the first day of the holiday I went with Pete and Nicola to the Studio Ghibli Museum, which was charming and quirky and lots of fun. I really admired how very much it was designed for children: exhibits were at the right height for children, and the short film was in a cinema with child-szie seats. it was possibly for adults to sit on them but not entirely comfortably, which I think is a really great thing, that the creator is saying that sure, adults can enjoy his work, but it's for children, never mind who has the spending power. Here I am with a giant Totoro that was sadly behind glass.
The main reason we went was because there was an adult-size catbus in a special exhibition. I would go into how exciting that is, but unless you have seen the film it's from, you will just be nodding and smiling politely, so I will refrain.
- The day after that, I went to Zushi beach with a collection of friends, and the day after that, already sunburnt, I went to Kugenuma beach with Chie and her boyfriend.
He's a surfer, so we went very early, and Chie brought a bodyboard, which was absolutely fantastic - Chie and I spent quite a lot of time floating in the waves and holiding on to the bodyboard. I also spent some time trying, unsuccessfully, not to get even more sunburnt.
I failed, and I'm still peeling, but I don't mind because it was a really chilled-out, lazy, relaxing, fantastic morning.
- The heat and humidity are now at the point where any time I'm out of an air-conditioned area, I'm about 80% guaranteed to be stomping around muttering angrily about how much I hate everyone and everything.
- After Fuji I was horrifically, hilariously sunburnt, which meant that I couldn't go with my friend Steph to the sento as I'd wanted to. :(
- I spent the whole post-Fuji week in a haze of physical and mental exhaustion. And yes, there was a long while where it hurt to walk up and down stairs.
- I went to my friend Chie's dance show on the 24th of July. Her dance was a very small part (and very good contemporary dance piece) of a much larger show, which had some really fun dancing. One of my favourite parts was the teenagers doing hip-hop dances to some really inappropriate tracks, including one which basically consisted of the uncensored lyrics 'my dick, my dick, girls like to look at it'. I laughed smugly to myself, fairly convinced that I was the only one in the audience who got the joke. I am so superior, with my ability to speak English, hahaha. Still can't speak Japanese, though. :(
- The next weekend, I went to Hakone with Chie - Hakone is a big onsen area, and also historically was on the Tokaido, which I am intrigued by. It was the route from Kyoto to Tokyo (then known as Edo), and must have been a dangerous and exciting and difficult journey. We didn't do or see anything historical, though: we went straight to Tenzan onsen, which was completely divine. Not too crowded, relaxed, beautiful - obviously, I have no idea if this is true or not, but it felt fantastically and traditionally Japanese, tatami mats everywhere and quiet and well-proportioned. It was a really great day. We had some shabu shabu (you cook the meat at the table in boiling water) and then went into the absolutely lovely baths, which were very hot and very atmospheric. One was partly covered by a cave, and they were all surrounded by rocks and fed by hot spring water.
Here's Chie cooking shabu shabu. I wish I could have taken some pictures of the baths, but taking pictures inside is obviously not acceptable.
- The weekend after that, I had two social events: Mexican lunch with Yumi and Thai lunch with Yuka. Both were really great, and with Yumi I very briefly (very briefly, we unfortunately arrived very near closing time) went to the Foreigners' Cemetery in Yokohama, which I would like to go back to, as it was both fascinating and quite beautiful. Had a chat with Yumi about the default Western way of disposing of corpses being burial while the deafult Japanese is cremation, and how that means that Western cemeteries are extremely sprawling. Also learnt that Japanese people are given a death name after they die by the priest.
- AND FINALLY, I have just had a week's holiday for Obon. I did not do anything particularly cultural. On the first day of the holiday I went with Pete and Nicola to the Studio Ghibli Museum, which was charming and quirky and lots of fun. I really admired how very much it was designed for children: exhibits were at the right height for children, and the short film was in a cinema with child-szie seats. it was possibly for adults to sit on them but not entirely comfortably, which I think is a really great thing, that the creator is saying that sure, adults can enjoy his work, but it's for children, never mind who has the spending power. Here I am with a giant Totoro that was sadly behind glass.
The main reason we went was because there was an adult-size catbus in a special exhibition. I would go into how exciting that is, but unless you have seen the film it's from, you will just be nodding and smiling politely, so I will refrain.
- The day after that, I went to Zushi beach with a collection of friends, and the day after that, already sunburnt, I went to Kugenuma beach with Chie and her boyfriend.
He's a surfer, so we went very early, and Chie brought a bodyboard, which was absolutely fantastic - Chie and I spent quite a lot of time floating in the waves and holiding on to the bodyboard. I also spent some time trying, unsuccessfully, not to get even more sunburnt.
I failed, and I'm still peeling, but I don't mind because it was a really chilled-out, lazy, relaxing, fantastic morning.
- The heat and humidity are now at the point where any time I'm out of an air-conditioned area, I'm about 80% guaranteed to be stomping around muttering angrily about how much I hate everyone and everything.
Some more bits and pieces about Fuji:
-We didn't reach the top before the sunrise, instead stepping over the rope that marked off the path and sitting down on the rocks at about 4am. It was freezing cold, but the sky was already starting to lighten very slightly. It was a fascinating process to watch, over the half hour until sunrise, as the sky got lighter and lighter and the mountains and clouds below us came into more and more focus. Finally, the very edge of the sun slipped over the horizon, and was greeted with cheers and a couple of shouts of "Nihon banzai!" which is basically "Long live Japan!"
- There was a period, deep in the dark of the night when we'd been climbing for hours and were nowhere near the top, when I was freezing cold and tired of not being able to see what was under my feet and nauseous from fatigue, during which I couldn't conceive of the idea that it was possible that I would reach the top. And although the climb was a great triumph and I'm so glad I did it, I think the memory of those hours of hopelessness is going to stick with me, and they were so, so awful that I think it's unlikely that I'll climb Fuji again. Still, I don't need to, do I?
- The volcanic crater at the top was fascinating and amazing, and if I'd been less tired and we hadn't had a deadline of a bus home, I would have spent a lot more time staring at it and walking around it.
- THE CLIMB DOWN: hours and hours of slipping down a steep, scree-covered trail, with pebbles shooting out from under your feet and losing you your balance, and dust getting everywhere and your knees and feet and thighs screaming. It's not as difficult as the climb up, because gravity is helping you and because there is no option but to do it (rather than the constant refrain on the way up of 'I could just choose to stop, I could just choose to stop, I could just choose to stop'), but it's pretty bad.
Advice for any readers who ever decide to climb Fuji:
- You almost certainly don't need oxygen, it's a waste of money - either you'll be sick and need to go down, or you won't.
- You really need a headtorch, don't listen to anyone who tells you that other people's headtorches will make it light enough. I'd also heavily recommend walking sticks, and you definitely need sunscreen and warm clothes and food. And something to cover your mouth on the way down.
- We climbed through the night, but I think if I was planning it again I would book to sleep in a hut. Yes, they're expensive and noisy, but there comes a point at about 1 or 2 in the morning when you just desperately, desperately need to sleep.
- It is HARD WORK. You can probably do it - I'm not exactly a mountain climber or a paragon of athleticity - but you might want to spend a month or two climbing smaller mountains to train a bit.
- I went up the Yoshida trail, which is the most popular one, and I was very glad because that's the trail which you can see the sunrise from even if you're not at the top. On the other hand, it was incredibly crowded.
- We took clean clothes and wetwipes, and left them in a a locker at the fifth station, so that when we came down we could get into a slightly fitter state for the journey home. I am so glad that we did this, we were smelly and covered with layers and layers of grime, and being able to go into the toilets and spend fifteen minutes with a pack of wet wipes and then put fresh clothes on was amazing.
-We didn't reach the top before the sunrise, instead stepping over the rope that marked off the path and sitting down on the rocks at about 4am. It was freezing cold, but the sky was already starting to lighten very slightly. It was a fascinating process to watch, over the half hour until sunrise, as the sky got lighter and lighter and the mountains and clouds below us came into more and more focus. Finally, the very edge of the sun slipped over the horizon, and was greeted with cheers and a couple of shouts of "Nihon banzai!" which is basically "Long live Japan!"
- There was a period, deep in the dark of the night when we'd been climbing for hours and were nowhere near the top, when I was freezing cold and tired of not being able to see what was under my feet and nauseous from fatigue, during which I couldn't conceive of the idea that it was possible that I would reach the top. And although the climb was a great triumph and I'm so glad I did it, I think the memory of those hours of hopelessness is going to stick with me, and they were so, so awful that I think it's unlikely that I'll climb Fuji again. Still, I don't need to, do I?
- The volcanic crater at the top was fascinating and amazing, and if I'd been less tired and we hadn't had a deadline of a bus home, I would have spent a lot more time staring at it and walking around it.
- THE CLIMB DOWN: hours and hours of slipping down a steep, scree-covered trail, with pebbles shooting out from under your feet and losing you your balance, and dust getting everywhere and your knees and feet and thighs screaming. It's not as difficult as the climb up, because gravity is helping you and because there is no option but to do it (rather than the constant refrain on the way up of 'I could just choose to stop, I could just choose to stop, I could just choose to stop'), but it's pretty bad.
Advice for any readers who ever decide to climb Fuji:
- You almost certainly don't need oxygen, it's a waste of money - either you'll be sick and need to go down, or you won't.
- You really need a headtorch, don't listen to anyone who tells you that other people's headtorches will make it light enough. I'd also heavily recommend walking sticks, and you definitely need sunscreen and warm clothes and food. And something to cover your mouth on the way down.
- We climbed through the night, but I think if I was planning it again I would book to sleep in a hut. Yes, they're expensive and noisy, but there comes a point at about 1 or 2 in the morning when you just desperately, desperately need to sleep.
- It is HARD WORK. You can probably do it - I'm not exactly a mountain climber or a paragon of athleticity - but you might want to spend a month or two climbing smaller mountains to train a bit.
- I went up the Yoshida trail, which is the most popular one, and I was very glad because that's the trail which you can see the sunrise from even if you're not at the top. On the other hand, it was incredibly crowded.
- We took clean clothes and wetwipes, and left them in a a locker at the fifth station, so that when we came down we could get into a slightly fitter state for the journey home. I am so glad that we did this, we were smelly and covered with layers and layers of grime, and being able to go into the toilets and spend fifteen minutes with a pack of wet wipes and then put fresh clothes on was amazing.
So I made it to the top of Fuji.
It was incredibly hard work, but I made it.
We caught the bus at four in the afternoon from Shinjuku on Saturday. I spent most of Saturday morning directing nervous energy onto cleaning the flat and packing things and worrying if my hamster was going to get too hot while I was out, and then I had a big plate of spaghetti and headed out. The bus journey was only two hours, and in its last stages, as it took us up the mountain towards the fifth station, we were alternately presented with an astonishingly gorgeous sunset (we were already above the cloud level) and ominous views of exactly how huge Fuji is. Because it stands alone, rather than being part of a range, it gives off far more of an impression of looming height, climbing straight up from the otherwise flat ground as it does.
We had udon noodles at Kawaguchiko fifth station, which is the most popular place for starting a Fuji climb and is at an altitude of 2305m. It was already far colder there than it had been in Tokyo, which is not difficult, admittedly, and the place was buzzing with people ready for the night ascent. After the noodles we got ready to climb - I discovered that my headtorch wasn't working, but apart from that our preparations seemed solid.
We began climbing at 8pm. The first hours were not horrendous. At the beginning, it was steep but acceptably so. The moon was extremely bright and extremely full, which meant that my lack of a headtorch was not too horrendous, and the path was wide enough for people to pass each other. We rested every half hour or so, and were doing quite well.
My memory of the exact details of the climb is vague, but there were definitely three stages of terrain: at first, steep but manageable walking, then a patch of genuine climbing, scrambling over rock and frequently needing to use my hands for balance, and finally, a long, long, endless section of really, really steep walking.
For most of the climb we were queueing, which was both horrible and helpful. It was particularly unpleasant over the rocky bits, which was also where I felt the lack of headtorch most keenly - I could see general impressions, thanks to the moon and everyone else's headtorches, but I could not see precisely what was in front of my feet. The queue was tightly packed, and frequently stopped while I was in awkward positions, feeling as though I might easily fall backwards off the mountain. The queue was also, obviously, moving incredibly slowly, and the climb took about ten hours in all.
On the other hand, it was horrendously hard work, and I think that without the queue providing me with an excuse to stop every three steps, I would have been pretty embarrassed by how frequently I would have had to stop anyway. Before the climb I had read a number of breezy assurances that it was not a particularly difficult climb, and I think they're all lies. I mean, clearly I managed it, but if I'd known what I was getting into, I would have trained a lot harder.
I will hopefully find the time to make another post tomorrow, with details about the sunrise and the top and going down and the emotions of the climb, but I wanted to get some basics and some pictures up.
It was incredibly hard work, but I made it.
We caught the bus at four in the afternoon from Shinjuku on Saturday. I spent most of Saturday morning directing nervous energy onto cleaning the flat and packing things and worrying if my hamster was going to get too hot while I was out, and then I had a big plate of spaghetti and headed out. The bus journey was only two hours, and in its last stages, as it took us up the mountain towards the fifth station, we were alternately presented with an astonishingly gorgeous sunset (we were already above the cloud level) and ominous views of exactly how huge Fuji is. Because it stands alone, rather than being part of a range, it gives off far more of an impression of looming height, climbing straight up from the otherwise flat ground as it does.
We had udon noodles at Kawaguchiko fifth station, which is the most popular place for starting a Fuji climb and is at an altitude of 2305m. It was already far colder there than it had been in Tokyo, which is not difficult, admittedly, and the place was buzzing with people ready for the night ascent. After the noodles we got ready to climb - I discovered that my headtorch wasn't working, but apart from that our preparations seemed solid.
We began climbing at 8pm. The first hours were not horrendous. At the beginning, it was steep but acceptably so. The moon was extremely bright and extremely full, which meant that my lack of a headtorch was not too horrendous, and the path was wide enough for people to pass each other. We rested every half hour or so, and were doing quite well.
My memory of the exact details of the climb is vague, but there were definitely three stages of terrain: at first, steep but manageable walking, then a patch of genuine climbing, scrambling over rock and frequently needing to use my hands for balance, and finally, a long, long, endless section of really, really steep walking.
For most of the climb we were queueing, which was both horrible and helpful. It was particularly unpleasant over the rocky bits, which was also where I felt the lack of headtorch most keenly - I could see general impressions, thanks to the moon and everyone else's headtorches, but I could not see precisely what was in front of my feet. The queue was tightly packed, and frequently stopped while I was in awkward positions, feeling as though I might easily fall backwards off the mountain. The queue was also, obviously, moving incredibly slowly, and the climb took about ten hours in all.
On the other hand, it was horrendously hard work, and I think that without the queue providing me with an excuse to stop every three steps, I would have been pretty embarrassed by how frequently I would have had to stop anyway. Before the climb I had read a number of breezy assurances that it was not a particularly difficult climb, and I think they're all lies. I mean, clearly I managed it, but if I'd known what I was getting into, I would have trained a lot harder.
I will hopefully find the time to make another post tomorrow, with details about the sunrise and the top and going down and the emotions of the climb, but I wanted to get some basics and some pictures up.
To pick up where my last post left off, the weekend before last Chie came for supper and it was lovely. We admired my hamster together, and I did not do anything disastrous food-wise (cooking for company is stressful). The following Sunday, I met up with Yuta in Machida, and we ended up talking about the difference between dating in Japan and dating in the UK, as he's just asked a foreigner out and been turned down. Things are much more clear-cut here: the man says "Will you be my girlfriend?", rather than the sideways shuffling that happens in the UK.
Last weekend, I went on a training climb with Fumiko. It wasn't a very long climb, two hours up Mount Takao, and there were good and bad things about having done it. Very good thing: Fumiko and I were climbing at about the same speed, and needing about the same amount of rest, which laid one of my major Fuji fears to rest. However the Fuji climb goes tonight, it will probably go similarly for both of us, which removes some of the stress and potential humiliation. Also good thing: we finished the climb in about the average amount of time, which means that we actually weren't climbing horrifyingly slowly, and although I was tired by the time we got to the top, I wasn't shattered. Which is good, as Fuji is going to be about four times longer - that's the bad thing. :)
I'll talk about Fuji in a sec - I'm leaving to catch the bus to get there in a couple of hours - but first to give Takao its due, because it was a really lovely day, not just a training expedition. We met up at about 9.30am, and I felt extremely grotty next to Fumiko's entirely new and entirely shiny outfit. The only thing I've bought for the climb is some cheap climbing sticks and a basball cap, while Fumiko has a pink rucksack and powder blue hiking boots and a purple hat and basically a lot of money's worth of new stuff. We decided to go up route 6, which is the second longest route, not the most popular, and passes the Biwa waterfall (which turned out to not be spectacular). It was mostly fine, hot and a bit tiring, but not crushingly so, until we came close to the top, where some magnificent sadist had installed stairs on the path. I hope whoever did it dies painfully - they were set quite far apart, and really, really, really made my legs ache. We had to stop twice, each time watching other people overtake us with disbelief at the lack of screaming agony on their features.
BUT THEN, the top. Photos had to be taken - Fumiko asked two different people to take them in two different places, in the quest for the perfect one, while I sighed and stomped around and told her that this was all very Japanese, all of this photo-taking, and could we please sit down now? - and then we sat on a wall and watched someone have happy birthday sung to them before we started down, this time on the popular route 1, which took us through Yakou-in, an absolutely beautiful temple with lots of colours and carvings and things. A little further down the mountain, we finally stopped for lunch at a counter overlooking a really gorgeous view.
And then finally, although we had absolutely been intending to walk all the way down, I suddenly realised that there was a chairlift, and could not resist. It was a gorgeous, silent, long ride down the mountain, and was a really nice end to a really nice day.
Far too many photos of Yakou-in:
Hand-washing and doing some sort of bad energy removing ritual, stepping through a stone ring and then clanging a brass ring on the pole behind.
This is actually the first temple or shrine that I've seen being generally used in a religious way - there were several people actually praying. I've seen brief bits of observance at other temples and shrines, but the man in the first photo was muttering something quite extended, and the man in the second stayed in place for longer than the momentary head-nod that I've previously seen.
Fumiko beside the five yen pieces, which are something to do with getting a relationship.
Loved these dragons.
If you buy a fortune paper and it's bad, you leave it behind here.
Fantastic amounts of colour.
Little dog statues with little knitted capes on the left.
The other thing that I did this week was have a very nice dinner on Tuesday with Kiyomi, one of my partner teachers, at a little yakitoriya just beside the kindergarten. Yakitori are meat skewers, and it looked like an extremely dingy little place from the outside, but was actually very nice, very delicious, and very very Japanese - raised eating areas that you had to take your shoes off to enter, no English menu, just a completely standard neighbourhood place that it would be extremely difficult to navigate without a Japanese speaker, and the kind of thing that I enjoy because it sort of reminds me of one of the perks of being here as an employed person rather than a traveller. I mean, yes, quite often I don't do the exciting things that travellers would do because I'm too tired or grumpy or have to clean my flat or do planning, but I also get to do some stuff that I wouldn't be brave enough to do as a traveller, just as a low-key part of my day.
And finally: in about three hours, I will be getting on a bus to Kawaguchiko and climbing Fuji. I mean, not all of Fuji, we're doing the standard thing of going from the 5th station, and it feels slightly like cheating, but on the other hand I don't care. I am very worried that I don't have the right equipment, or enough stamina, or I'm not approaching this with enough preparation, or that I'll forget something vital... Basically, I'm stressed.
I think it will be fine, though. Fingers crossed and best foot forward.
Last weekend, I went on a training climb with Fumiko. It wasn't a very long climb, two hours up Mount Takao, and there were good and bad things about having done it. Very good thing: Fumiko and I were climbing at about the same speed, and needing about the same amount of rest, which laid one of my major Fuji fears to rest. However the Fuji climb goes tonight, it will probably go similarly for both of us, which removes some of the stress and potential humiliation. Also good thing: we finished the climb in about the average amount of time, which means that we actually weren't climbing horrifyingly slowly, and although I was tired by the time we got to the top, I wasn't shattered. Which is good, as Fuji is going to be about four times longer - that's the bad thing. :)
I'll talk about Fuji in a sec - I'm leaving to catch the bus to get there in a couple of hours - but first to give Takao its due, because it was a really lovely day, not just a training expedition. We met up at about 9.30am, and I felt extremely grotty next to Fumiko's entirely new and entirely shiny outfit. The only thing I've bought for the climb is some cheap climbing sticks and a basball cap, while Fumiko has a pink rucksack and powder blue hiking boots and a purple hat and basically a lot of money's worth of new stuff. We decided to go up route 6, which is the second longest route, not the most popular, and passes the Biwa waterfall (which turned out to not be spectacular). It was mostly fine, hot and a bit tiring, but not crushingly so, until we came close to the top, where some magnificent sadist had installed stairs on the path. I hope whoever did it dies painfully - they were set quite far apart, and really, really, really made my legs ache. We had to stop twice, each time watching other people overtake us with disbelief at the lack of screaming agony on their features.
BUT THEN, the top. Photos had to be taken - Fumiko asked two different people to take them in two different places, in the quest for the perfect one, while I sighed and stomped around and told her that this was all very Japanese, all of this photo-taking, and could we please sit down now? - and then we sat on a wall and watched someone have happy birthday sung to them before we started down, this time on the popular route 1, which took us through Yakou-in, an absolutely beautiful temple with lots of colours and carvings and things. A little further down the mountain, we finally stopped for lunch at a counter overlooking a really gorgeous view.
And then finally, although we had absolutely been intending to walk all the way down, I suddenly realised that there was a chairlift, and could not resist. It was a gorgeous, silent, long ride down the mountain, and was a really nice end to a really nice day.
Far too many photos of Yakou-in:
Hand-washing and doing some sort of bad energy removing ritual, stepping through a stone ring and then clanging a brass ring on the pole behind.
This is actually the first temple or shrine that I've seen being generally used in a religious way - there were several people actually praying. I've seen brief bits of observance at other temples and shrines, but the man in the first photo was muttering something quite extended, and the man in the second stayed in place for longer than the momentary head-nod that I've previously seen.
Fumiko beside the five yen pieces, which are something to do with getting a relationship.
Loved these dragons.
If you buy a fortune paper and it's bad, you leave it behind here.
Fantastic amounts of colour.
Little dog statues with little knitted capes on the left.
The other thing that I did this week was have a very nice dinner on Tuesday with Kiyomi, one of my partner teachers, at a little yakitoriya just beside the kindergarten. Yakitori are meat skewers, and it looked like an extremely dingy little place from the outside, but was actually very nice, very delicious, and very very Japanese - raised eating areas that you had to take your shoes off to enter, no English menu, just a completely standard neighbourhood place that it would be extremely difficult to navigate without a Japanese speaker, and the kind of thing that I enjoy because it sort of reminds me of one of the perks of being here as an employed person rather than a traveller. I mean, yes, quite often I don't do the exciting things that travellers would do because I'm too tired or grumpy or have to clean my flat or do planning, but I also get to do some stuff that I wouldn't be brave enough to do as a traveller, just as a low-key part of my day.
And finally: in about three hours, I will be getting on a bus to Kawaguchiko and climbing Fuji. I mean, not all of Fuji, we're doing the standard thing of going from the 5th station, and it feels slightly like cheating, but on the other hand I don't care. I am very worried that I don't have the right equipment, or enough stamina, or I'm not approaching this with enough preparation, or that I'll forget something vital... Basically, I'm stressed.
I think it will be fine, though. Fingers crossed and best foot forward.
The rice fields which I pass through on my regular running route are now flooded and green. A few weeks ago, at dusk, they were so noisy with frogs that I could hear the mating calls even over my motivational running music, which was turned up fairly loud. This week, they have ducks in them:
I appreciate that seeing the duck in the photo might involve squinting, but trust me, it's there. Something about the idea of ducks which live in rice paddies amuses me a lot.
The weekend before last, I had an extremely busy day in Yokohama. Steph, a friend from university who is in Tokyo for a three month internship with SANA, an architecture firm, wanted to see Yokohama. We started in Chinatown, meeting up with my friend Yuka and eating gyoza and noodles, and then went to Sankei-en, which is the beautiful garden which I have mentioned before.
We then went to Osanbashi pier, which is architecturally exciting, and then to a Mexican restaurant in Minatomirai (where we met Chie), which is expensive, but has cheese and the most fantastic banana chimichangas.
Last weekend, I heard the news that my grandfather had died, which is difficult to hear when you're far from home - I took two days off this week, which actually turned out quite well as I cleared a backlog of things which needed doing. I also bought a hamster, a slightly irresponsible reaction to grief.
I'm sure there will be less blurry photos at some point, I'm confidently expecting to turn into one of those people who are a little bit overinvested in what is, at the end of the day, an extremely small and fairly disinterested pet. I'll probably hover over the cage telling her all about my day and calling her 'baby girl' and taking endless photos while she wanders around wondering where to store her delicious delicious sunflower seeds and pondering the endless mysteries of the cardboard box I've put in her cage. OH WELL.
There will be a problem when I go to leave. I'll have to either find someone to take her, someone who I trust enough to be nice to her, or I'll have to pay (probably through the nose) to ship her home, on a journey which will be extremely stressful for her and will end with her being introduced into a house which is full of predators, also a stressful experience. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I'm feeling fairly good about life at the moment. The teaching has reached a point where it seems to flow more smoothly, like I've internalised enough of it that it has become a sort of mental muscle memory. I've had a bit of a discipline triumph with one class in one of my new kindergartens - it's only taken three weeks to get them from being one of the worst classes ever to exist to being faintly annoying and requiring all of my concentration. Basically, they will now sit down consistently for the whole lesson. I mean, they may fall asleep, or sit backwards, or make annoying noises, or ignore me, or hit each other, but they will do all of that while sitting down. I'm pretty proud of myself - it can only get better from here.
Socially, I have the prospect of exciting things, which is always nice, even if they don't happen. The tickets for the bus to Fuji are booked, and the ascent will be overnight on the 16th of this month. If I die, I hope someone looks after my hamster. I've just arranged tentatively to go and watch fireflies with one friend, and another friend who has moved out of Tokyo to Izumo has said that if I come and visit I can stay with her. Tonight, Chie is coming for dinner, which will be very nice.
I'm currently wondering whether to book this for my birthday in September, on my own. Cons include money, going on my own, and my fear of commitment to plans. Pros include dolphins, an island, and definitely doing something fun for my birthday.
I appreciate that seeing the duck in the photo might involve squinting, but trust me, it's there. Something about the idea of ducks which live in rice paddies amuses me a lot.
The weekend before last, I had an extremely busy day in Yokohama. Steph, a friend from university who is in Tokyo for a three month internship with SANA, an architecture firm, wanted to see Yokohama. We started in Chinatown, meeting up with my friend Yuka and eating gyoza and noodles, and then went to Sankei-en, which is the beautiful garden which I have mentioned before.
We then went to Osanbashi pier, which is architecturally exciting, and then to a Mexican restaurant in Minatomirai (where we met Chie), which is expensive, but has cheese and the most fantastic banana chimichangas.
Last weekend, I heard the news that my grandfather had died, which is difficult to hear when you're far from home - I took two days off this week, which actually turned out quite well as I cleared a backlog of things which needed doing. I also bought a hamster, a slightly irresponsible reaction to grief.
I'm sure there will be less blurry photos at some point, I'm confidently expecting to turn into one of those people who are a little bit overinvested in what is, at the end of the day, an extremely small and fairly disinterested pet. I'll probably hover over the cage telling her all about my day and calling her 'baby girl' and taking endless photos while she wanders around wondering where to store her delicious delicious sunflower seeds and pondering the endless mysteries of the cardboard box I've put in her cage. OH WELL.
There will be a problem when I go to leave. I'll have to either find someone to take her, someone who I trust enough to be nice to her, or I'll have to pay (probably through the nose) to ship her home, on a journey which will be extremely stressful for her and will end with her being introduced into a house which is full of predators, also a stressful experience. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I'm feeling fairly good about life at the moment. The teaching has reached a point where it seems to flow more smoothly, like I've internalised enough of it that it has become a sort of mental muscle memory. I've had a bit of a discipline triumph with one class in one of my new kindergartens - it's only taken three weeks to get them from being one of the worst classes ever to exist to being faintly annoying and requiring all of my concentration. Basically, they will now sit down consistently for the whole lesson. I mean, they may fall asleep, or sit backwards, or make annoying noises, or ignore me, or hit each other, but they will do all of that while sitting down. I'm pretty proud of myself - it can only get better from here.
Socially, I have the prospect of exciting things, which is always nice, even if they don't happen. The tickets for the bus to Fuji are booked, and the ascent will be overnight on the 16th of this month. If I die, I hope someone looks after my hamster. I've just arranged tentatively to go and watch fireflies with one friend, and another friend who has moved out of Tokyo to Izumo has said that if I come and visit I can stay with her. Tonight, Chie is coming for dinner, which will be very nice.
I'm currently wondering whether to book this for my birthday in September, on my own. Cons include money, going on my own, and my fear of commitment to plans. Pros include dolphins, an island, and definitely doing something fun for my birthday.
Still alive! Now have a partner to climb Fuji with, so that is happening in a month. Rainy season has not been as apocalyptically rainy as I expected so far, although the washing I have out at the moment has been out for three days because every time I'm about to bring it in it rains again and I think, "Oh, okay, I'll just leave it out until it redries." I am incompetent.
There's this thing where boyfriends seem to be expected to carry their girlfriends' bags. This leads to my own personal amusement in the case of high school students, where a lot of the bags being toted are adorned by vast amounts of glitter and pink and sparkles.
To be entirely fair, a lot of the boys' bags also have a bit of glitter and sparkles here and there.
To be entirely fair, a lot of the boys' bags also have a bit of glitter and sparkles here and there.
I am back in Japan! I took a trip home, and let me tell you, it is a very strange idea to have gone to England for a holiday. It was lovely to be in a country where I could actually communicate casually with people, and didn't wander around my daily business like a... floating island. Or something. That simile needs some work. On the other hand, it was also very lovely to get back to a country where petty crime and vandalism and people being antisocial is almost non-existent. I'm slightly worried that by the time I leave I will be hideously sensitised to antisocial behaviour and will be too terrified to move when I get back to London.
Before I left, I did a couple of fun things:
Hanami with Yumi before work - the kindergarten I was covering was in her hometown, so we had a quick lunch under the sakura. Hanami is a very attractive phenomenon - if you don't know, it's basically a tradition of going to look at cherry blossoms, eat, and drink, and it's a really lovely way to spend some time.
Hanami with Fumiko in Shinjuku Park. After this, I met up with Holly and we went to Roppongi to watch Tangled - first time in Roppongi, and it is pretty cool but stupidly expensive.
Trip to a massive sento with Chie, Holly, Chie's friend Miare and Miare's daughter Hinako. In the second photo, Hinako is being a ninja - my suggestion for a pose, but I am still baffled about the execution. I was expecting some sort of stereotypical 'HYAH' pose (think of how you would pose if you were miming an Asian martial art), but instead the finger hidden inside the fist seems to be the Japanese way of signifying ninjaness. Holly and I are being geishas - those yukata were pretty cool. Miare's mother does kimono stuff, so Miare helped me and Holly tie our yukatas properly, and she said while she was doing it, "Not too low at the back, it's sexy." The back of the neck shouldn't be shown too much, apparently - it's like cleavage.
Since I got back, I have worked, jetlagged it up, and today (Saturday, I mean) gone to see a kabuki play with Yumi. The kabuki was fascinating, although veeeeeeery long, and contained two highlights: the most ridiculously huge straw hat I have ever seen, literally making its wearer look like a walking bell, and the comment by one of the villains of the piece to the avengers who were about to kill him that their white (the colour of DEATH, signifying that they were going to carry out their vengeance or die trying) kimonos looked very nice.
I'm being facetious, obviously there were more highlights, including the lovely bento I had for lunch, but it's difficult to remember them with the glory of the HAT in my mind.
Before I left, I did a couple of fun things:
Hanami with Yumi before work - the kindergarten I was covering was in her hometown, so we had a quick lunch under the sakura. Hanami is a very attractive phenomenon - if you don't know, it's basically a tradition of going to look at cherry blossoms, eat, and drink, and it's a really lovely way to spend some time.
Hanami with Fumiko in Shinjuku Park. After this, I met up with Holly and we went to Roppongi to watch Tangled - first time in Roppongi, and it is pretty cool but stupidly expensive.
Trip to a massive sento with Chie, Holly, Chie's friend Miare and Miare's daughter Hinako. In the second photo, Hinako is being a ninja - my suggestion for a pose, but I am still baffled about the execution. I was expecting some sort of stereotypical 'HYAH' pose (think of how you would pose if you were miming an Asian martial art), but instead the finger hidden inside the fist seems to be the Japanese way of signifying ninjaness. Holly and I are being geishas - those yukata were pretty cool. Miare's mother does kimono stuff, so Miare helped me and Holly tie our yukatas properly, and she said while she was doing it, "Not too low at the back, it's sexy." The back of the neck shouldn't be shown too much, apparently - it's like cleavage.
Since I got back, I have worked, jetlagged it up, and today (Saturday, I mean) gone to see a kabuki play with Yumi. The kabuki was fascinating, although veeeeeeery long, and contained two highlights: the most ridiculously huge straw hat I have ever seen, literally making its wearer look like a walking bell, and the comment by one of the villains of the piece to the avengers who were about to kill him that their white (the colour of DEATH, signifying that they were going to carry out their vengeance or die trying) kimonos looked very nice.
I'm being facetious, obviously there were more highlights, including the lovely bento I had for lunch, but it's difficult to remember them with the glory of the HAT in my mind.
Once again, I have been actively avoiding making a blog post, this time because there is one specific event that I want to write about and I don't think I can do justice to. Last weekend, the twenty-sixth to the twenty-eighth, I went to Sendai, the epicentre of the earthquake, to see if I could help in any way. I was in contact with a specific NGO, and they thought they had things for me to do in the office, so I got on a five-hour bus on Saturday morning and headed into the disaster zone. I was hoping that my blog post about the experience would be incredibly deep and interesting and a flawless piece of autobiographical writing, but at the end of the day I didn't actually do that much. I'm glad that I went, as it was a very good blast of reality - Tokyo is doing absolutely fine, there is nothing to be worried about, and I'm a little ashamed at the moments of panic I had during the period after the earthquake after seeing what an actual post-earthquake situation looks like - and was also an interesting if very brief glimpse inside the kind of natural disaster that I have obviously never experienced. I hope to go back during Golden Week and do some more effective volunteering.
So, the above isn't exactly the blog post that I was envisaging, but that's okay, at least I've finally posted something.
One of the things that I learnt is that apparently the rescue crews are also carrying photos and photo albums away, presumably to attempt to reunite them with owners or relatives of owners.
I absolutely don't want to give the impression that the majority of the region looks like the above: this is post-tsunami damage, and I don't think the media has been doing a good job at showing that, although the whole coast presumably looks like this and it is unimaginably horrific and obscene, if you drive twenty minutes inland this kind of apocalyptic scene disappears. Sendai city looks pretty normal, contrary to what I was expecting.
I met an ex-pat who lives in Sendai, and he was talking about the journalist presence, and how two days after the earthquake they suddenly started asking questions about the nuclear problems. To which this guy's response was absolutely incredulous: at that point in time they were still trying to get hold of food, the electricity, water and gas were still off (his gas is still off), and overall they had bigger problems than Fukushima. They still do.
So, the above isn't exactly the blog post that I was envisaging, but that's okay, at least I've finally posted something.
One of the things that I learnt is that apparently the rescue crews are also carrying photos and photo albums away, presumably to attempt to reunite them with owners or relatives of owners.
I absolutely don't want to give the impression that the majority of the region looks like the above: this is post-tsunami damage, and I don't think the media has been doing a good job at showing that, although the whole coast presumably looks like this and it is unimaginably horrific and obscene, if you drive twenty minutes inland this kind of apocalyptic scene disappears. Sendai city looks pretty normal, contrary to what I was expecting.
I met an ex-pat who lives in Sendai, and he was talking about the journalist presence, and how two days after the earthquake they suddenly started asking questions about the nuclear problems. To which this guy's response was absolutely incredulous: at that point in time they were still trying to get hold of food, the electricity, water and gas were still off (his gas is still off), and overall they had bigger problems than Fukushima. They still do.
Chris left on Friday, which was very sad, but now he's safely in Hong Kong and probably having more fun! There's bread back in the stores, and there haven't been any blackouts all weekend (today is a public holiday), so it definitely feels like things are calming down.
Yesterday I went on a quick little expedition to see some kofun, which burial grounds dating from around 200-500 AD. Wasn't really worth the trip as far as the kofun go - it's one of those sites which seems to have been pretty thoroughly excavated, and then filled up again, with one left as a display:
A nice display, but not massively illuminating. However, I'm glad I went, I've been curious about them for a while - not this specific group, the reason I went for these ones is because they are about half an hour's train ride from my flat and they were the first thing Google threw up when I looked for 'kofun in kanagawa' - mostly because I like old things, and partly because there are far less old things in Japan than one would expect. There are many, many old areas, and places with vast amounts of history, but due to, I assume, a combination of natural disasters, wars, and a tradition of building in wood, you don't get the same sort of age that you do in more geologically stable, stone-building countries. Although I'm not really in a position to make entirely fair comparisons, since I have spent a while being interested in old things in the UK, and less time being interested in old things in Japan.
Another thing about these kofun is that according to Wikipedia, "The Imperial Household Agency designates 740 kofun as the tomb of ancient imperial family members and their relatives, although the accuracy of the designation has been disputed. These kofun are not open to the public, including archaeologists." Which is just fascinating and a little disturbing. I don't know very much about the topic, but my understanding of how easy it is to link archaeology to history (hint: really, really not easy, and an extremely dubious pursuit in a lot of ways) make me insanely sceptical about the idea of designating unexcavated burial mounds as tombs of known, named individuals. Especially since I have the impression that a lot of those known, named individuals are semi-mythological anyway. I mean, we're reaching back into the mists of history. I know it's not a directly comparable situation in any way, but just to put it in perspective, there is an entire century of Welsh history, about three hundred years later than the provenance of these tombs, where all knowledge of what was going on just... disappears. And we still don't quite know how the Anglo-Saxons got to Britain. And we can't figure out what century Beowulf was originally composed or written down in. Japanese history is obviously a completely different ballgame, but I don't think that it's different enough that those tomb attributions are safe.
And even if they are, closing them to investigation? Not cool. I mean, not that I get to judge, but I think it's a fascinating glimpse into a very traditional attitude towards Japan's past and present. The Emperor is no longer officially divine, but that designation was only removed after the second world war.
As always when I'm talking about this kind of stuff, the disclaimer is that I know nothing except what the standard six-months-out-here expat knows, and that knowledge is not very much. And if you're really interested, try to talk to Japanese people rather than expats and read books by Japanese people rather than Westerners - I am trying to make that my policy, when I can. Which is not always.
Yesterday I went on a quick little expedition to see some kofun, which burial grounds dating from around 200-500 AD. Wasn't really worth the trip as far as the kofun go - it's one of those sites which seems to have been pretty thoroughly excavated, and then filled up again, with one left as a display:
A nice display, but not massively illuminating. However, I'm glad I went, I've been curious about them for a while - not this specific group, the reason I went for these ones is because they are about half an hour's train ride from my flat and they were the first thing Google threw up when I looked for 'kofun in kanagawa' - mostly because I like old things, and partly because there are far less old things in Japan than one would expect. There are many, many old areas, and places with vast amounts of history, but due to, I assume, a combination of natural disasters, wars, and a tradition of building in wood, you don't get the same sort of age that you do in more geologically stable, stone-building countries. Although I'm not really in a position to make entirely fair comparisons, since I have spent a while being interested in old things in the UK, and less time being interested in old things in Japan.
Another thing about these kofun is that according to Wikipedia, "The Imperial Household Agency designates 740 kofun as the tomb of ancient imperial family members and their relatives, although the accuracy of the designation has been disputed. These kofun are not open to the public, including archaeologists." Which is just fascinating and a little disturbing. I don't know very much about the topic, but my understanding of how easy it is to link archaeology to history (hint: really, really not easy, and an extremely dubious pursuit in a lot of ways) make me insanely sceptical about the idea of designating unexcavated burial mounds as tombs of known, named individuals. Especially since I have the impression that a lot of those known, named individuals are semi-mythological anyway. I mean, we're reaching back into the mists of history. I know it's not a directly comparable situation in any way, but just to put it in perspective, there is an entire century of Welsh history, about three hundred years later than the provenance of these tombs, where all knowledge of what was going on just... disappears. And we still don't quite know how the Anglo-Saxons got to Britain. And we can't figure out what century Beowulf was originally composed or written down in. Japanese history is obviously a completely different ballgame, but I don't think that it's different enough that those tomb attributions are safe.
And even if they are, closing them to investigation? Not cool. I mean, not that I get to judge, but I think it's a fascinating glimpse into a very traditional attitude towards Japan's past and present. The Emperor is no longer officially divine, but that designation was only removed after the second world war.
As always when I'm talking about this kind of stuff, the disclaimer is that I know nothing except what the standard six-months-out-here expat knows, and that knowledge is not very much. And if you're really interested, try to talk to Japanese people rather than expats and read books by Japanese people rather than Westerners - I am trying to make that my policy, when I can. Which is not always.
Day 206, the bit I forgot
Mar. 16th, 2011 12:02 pmPICTURES.
Here is Chris and a weird cartoon scarecrow.
Here is the 21st century aftermath of an earthquake. We knew that it had been a magnitude 6 in Shizuoka about two seconds after it happened.
Here is Chris and a weird cartoon scarecrow.
Here is the 21st century aftermath of an earthquake. We knew that it had been a magnitude 6 in Shizuoka about two seconds after it happened.
