Niigata...Japan's favorite punching bag

Niigata just has to be the most cursed, battered, back-handed and wretchedly disaster-prone prefecture in all of Japan. I don't understand why the natural forces have to be extruciatingly extreme here. The last couple days saw some of the heaviest rainfall I've ever noticed in my life. I thought it was just torrential rain, but apparently it has led to floods and landslides (nothing that I noticed around here though)...in this area and down the plains. I guess some people in Tokamachi were evacuated. Annie couldn't come into town last night because all the trains were suspended because of landslides, which were set up because the landscape was changed by the big earthquake followed by the huge snowfalls. Oh, and I forgot to mention the little 4.9 earthquake we just had on June 20...it wasn't that strong in Tokamachi but was epicentered down the river closer to Nagaoka...it damaged a few buildings and hurt a woman. Would somebody please stop beating the crap out of Niigata? Here's the link for the floods: http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050629a7.htm

Holding my very first Japanese infant...they can't get much cuter than Japanese babies...and something about them is always so calm and peaceful, in contrast to babies back home, who are usually screaming their tops off or bitching that they want everything they see. I have seen a Japanese kid crying maybe 3 times. It must be a result of their environment...the atmosphere here and the way parents are makes their kids just a lot more observant and at peace with their baby-ness. This is a 3 month old girl, and she is the daughter of Sabbath's master...His wife introduced me to the baby (her first foreigner!) and I taught her a little English too...

In Muikamachi at a bar called Lame O...

On the hike up through the mountains on Saturday, there were millions of these little kami (god) shrines. I thought they were cool...

Last week Annie and I hiked up to Matsudai Castle...Quite a dinky castle but the only one around here. The inside smelled like rats but the outside was cool.

This is my favorite shrine in Nakajo...it got really messed up in the earthquake. As I drove by the other day, I noticed that the moat was drained and the whole building was moved onto some scaffolding as they rebuild the whole foundation. Pretty cool...

My Nakajo kids cheering on their classmates at a recent track meet. Too bad they were so slow. This is Sasayama stadium which is in my Nakajo neighborhood.

Weekend

This weekend was pretty good...I got outdoors a lot. Saturday I went for a little hike up to some old castle ruins where there is a little shrine now. It was bloody hot but nice and quiet...I had heard that the trail will take you all the way along the ridgeline to Urasa if you want to, but after I got up the first part of the trail and tried to pass the shrine, the trail was pretty much destroyed from earthquake damage. There were fallen trees and little landslides that kept me from going even 5 minutes down trail. That night I went to Muikamachi for a jambalayah party at Kate Red's place with Nate, Kathryn, other Kate, and a few other people. Went out to a bar called Lame O and then I went back home to meet up with my friend Mai and her friends and some old rich guys who were buying them lots of wine at a place called Shuan. Mai is close to Shuan's mama, who was drunk enough to start grabbing my head and shaking it a lot.

Sunday I woke up early and drove 3 hours to Hakuba in the middle of Nagano prefecture for some white-water rafting with Kate D., Katie, Sonja, and Jess...it was good weather and we were up for it, but because rainy season hasn't hit here, the water was so low that it cut off a good portion of the river from rafting, and it wasn't as fast and furious as it should have been...but a good time none-the-less. It was just nice to be outside and I like that part of the country. The mountains there are huge. That's where most of the skiing events were held in the olympics and we started out in the little olympic village there.

Today will be wretchedly busy as I have 6 classes over two schools including a little elementary tucked way up in the mountains with 12 students. But then I'm back to get my AC installed!

oh my god

they're giving me an air conditioner. I'm overjoyed that main last battle with the BOE has been won...though, it hasn't been installed yet and I'll probably have to pay through my teeth to do it, but it was the principle that counts... the fact that I held strong and was able to negotiate under the intensely frustrating Japanese bureaucratic system (and do so mostly in Japanese) gives me a great deal of accomplishment.

So I'm happy! Also, I decided go for drinks less not only to save cash but to get my body back in shape, and since last week I've been jogging twice, bought an annual membership to the city gym and I even bought some fruit!

I am home for a minute on my way to Niigata City which is about 1.5 hour drive, for a meeting at the prefectural office for my volunteer Regional Advisor thing that I'm doing. It'll be just a short meeting so it's tons of driving, but I guess it's better than sitting at school...no classes today because the kids are in test central.

Oh MY GOD. I'll be able to sleep this summer...I'll be able to move around...I'll be able to relax and breathe rather than stare at the wall with my tongue hanging out...I won't be the foreigner turkey in a big concrete oven. I'm so psyched.

bum deal

I went out with my friend Ayumi last night for some Japanese conversation practice over food at one of my favorite izakayas called Kacho. The sashimi is cheap, no one speaks English, and it has an 'only in Japan' type feel to it. Plus, one of the mama-sans is kinda funny and crazy.

Anyway, Ayumi's English is perfect because she's lived in New Zealand for a long time. So after an hour or so of Japanese I got tired and reverted back to English, but the conversation got pretty good...I learned a lot about the Japanese social pressures that someone her age (she's 30) feels if she's not married or settling her life. She's essentially becoming more and more of an outcast because she doesn't want to marry - she wants to travel around more for a while and isn't in need of a family of her own quite yet. But because she's been 'tainted' by Western life, her attitude is a little too cosmopolitan and independent to be accepted by a more traditional Japanese who has never lived outside of the country. Sure it's trendy and cool to go overseas and live the Western life and speak English, but she talked about people who actually call her 'crazy' for thinking outside of the box and going beyond the superficial hip-ness that she's acquired because she's done the Western thing.

She still lives with her family, as does nearly every person I know in this town. It's pretty much customary to live with your family after college until you marry, and even then I think the oldest usually still lives at home. But once her brother marries and stays home with her mom, it is expected of her to move out and find a husband and live with him or his family.

However, she probably won't find a husband because she is considered past 'prime'. She looks like she's 16, but when she tells a date or something that she is 30, sometimes he will stop talking to her or pulls the 'let's be friends' thing.

But, she's a little stronger than the rest of the women her age in that she realized it's just pressure and is a little bit uncool for people to be determining what she should be doing with her life based on her age and gender. However, I know other 30 + year olds here who don't have the same perspective to realize they don't have to bend to expectations, and they are just oozing a frantic, desperate and alarming plea for some sort of spouse - anyone, really - before they sink lower into the 'castaway barrel'. So, it's a bum deal for them...

no pokey please!

a few strange things happened today...

It was so hot...had to use the AC in the car for the first time in a while in the morning...

I had to do a medical check through the city, which is required for all teachers within Tokamachi. I went, but being unable to understand my supervisor I went to the wrong place and waited for 45 minutes. After sorting it out, I went to a new building with little health stations all over the place along a wall...I met some male English teachers from another school who had to meet me there because I only work with female English teachers and they were too embarassed to help me with the medical translations and questioning. So after trying to awkwardly work out some English translations that ended up being like "do you have liver bad," "Is your brain OK," "how about your understomach?" and "you shit?", I had to pee in a cup and wait in line for various exams. It was filled with teachers I work with now and random teachers I've worked with at one-shot schools.

The first was blood pressure. Easy enough. Even understood all the Japanese the nurses were saying. Next, weight...got some strange looks and they said "are you always this light?" Next, eye check...through lots of pointing I got it finished, with a perfect right eye and a defective left. After that, I came to the blood test and the needle part...I sort of froze up not only because I don't deal with needles and shots so well, but because it was in front of the 20 or so people that are sitting waiting for their turn. After moving up for it to be my turn, I decided that it wasn't worth it today...it wasn't worth getting needled in front of a million people and fainting or something and giving the entire Tokamachi school system something to gawk at me and gossip about me even more. So, I politely said "Shitakunai!" - I don't want to do it. "Nigemasu!" - I'll run away. They seemed confused that I would turn down the test and after a short meeting they got it approved and I moved on to the next test while every one else got all poked up...but because I was Western enough to say I didn't want to do something, I got away with it. So no having to face my needle phobia today!

Moved on to some weird x-rays, heart tests, height check, ear test, all with really cool but also questionable medical equipment...like, no lead coverings during the x-rays? huh? But there was a really funny old doctor guy who had to do my lifestyle questioning part, who was totally tickled to be asking questions to the young foreign guy. He was funny. I tried to explain my lung surgery to him...and other things...but he just smiled and laughed and listened to my heart and patted me on the shoulder a lot. He said, "healthy boy. But over skinny"

Anyway, on the way home I turned on the car AC again to cool down...and it was BROKEN. No air whatsoever. I felt doomed cuz I have no AC at home either....but eventually the AC magically reappeared just like the disappearing/reappearing act my car heater pulled on me this winter on the way home through a snowstorm.

Went to Matsudai with Debs to see Annie, and met with Mel there...after that went to a new bar called Yamanne which is sort of young and hip and run by an overly genki happy dude who we all like. Moved on to Tanaka's where we saw some people we are all sort of getting to know a little, and met Keiko and one of Debbie's teachers too.

Tomorrow, Nakajo Junior High. And my second lesson isn't planned. Oh well. Last minute improv tomorrow!

Business and pleasure...

So, I'm back and have settled in after a week of a business trip to Tokyo followed by a trip down to tropical and SUPER NICE Okinawa. Tokyo was the ALT conference for re-contracting first-year JETs, when they put us up in one of the finest hotels in Tokyo (the Keio Plaza), with huge staircases, massive conference ballrooms, robotic toilets and chandeliers everywhere. The conference was mostly speeches and workshops by various people who are part of the three Japanese ministries that run the JET program, and also some sessions with current and former JETs...some of them useful and interesting (like "how to best learn Japanese whilst on JET", some of them gaggingly inefficient and worthless (like "how to be effective in an elementary classroom"). But being in Tokyo was a blast and we were out past 4 each morning. I just love Tokyo as a city. The first night we hung around in Shinjuku district near the hotel, and went to a few spots here and there. The next night we hit up Shibuya (the super-lively 'youth' district) which I was excited about because I wanted to check out the Japanese ultra-nightlife...but instead we ended up at some ALT party in an art gallery, which was fun but I missed out on the real Tokyo experience that I was seeking a little bit. Anyway, I never realize that I can get there in less than two hours...so I just need to do it.

The last day, the conference ended, we said our goodbyes and I hung around town until I caught my plane south. I hit up Asakusa temple, which is the main big temple in the city. I struggled for a bit trying to overcome the usual daze that this country puts you in so I could logically sort out the most insane subway/train system in the world, but eventually got the hang of it. I arrived at the shrine with a few hours to spare...looked around and then sat down to study quietly. However, in my peaceful time in front of the temple I began to be sexually harrassed by an insane 80-year-old woman with four teeth, and some Japanese guy came to my rescue and shooshed her away. After that we became friends and he showed me around...He grew up in Asakusa and spends his free time at the shrine because it reminds him of his childhood. He was obviously lonely and we spoke half in English, half in Japanese. But he gave me tons of info about the sites and was nice company for the last hour I was there. We are now emailing each other back and forth and keeping in touch.

Headed out to Haneda airport. This was such a pleasant travel experience. At domestic Japanese airports, there is no ID check...no hassle...no lines...weak security. Show up 30 minutes ahead of time and be fine. Such the opposite from the mangled, overcautious mess that American airports have become. Arrived in Okinawa late on Wednesday night and checked into my hotel (after my not-so-knowledgeable taxi driver dropped me off at the wrong hotel...not once, but twice) and walked down Kokusai street in search for a place to meet some people. Somehow I stumbled upon the only gaijin bar made for teacher/non-military type foreigners, where I met another JET and the Canadian owner. Stayed there and talked for a while about Okinawa life and Okinawa JETs...

I asked the owner why the military guys don't come in there much...he said they do sometimes, but only to escape the military scene. However, he mentioned that Marines were banned from his bar because a 20-year-old Marine was killed in his bar after rough-housing and falling down some stairs, just a few months ago. After the military investigation, they made his bar off-limits to Marines (he claims it's because he is Canadian and wouldn't fully cooperate with their every demand in the investigation). He showed me a letter from some Marine official, banning his bar due to the death of the kid. Kind of a sad story...apparently the Marines get into the most trouble down there.

The next day I met up with Aunt Susie and we went to straight to get a green chile cheeseburger on a Marine base. Entering the Marine base was one of the most surrealistic things I'd ever done. Having been in Japan for 6 months straight, and being in Japan in Okinawa, I wasn't really prepared for the fact that once you cross the security gate into the base, you are entering America: people were American, military and civilian, they spoke all in English, there were diverse people of all races, they used dollars, they had Dunkin Donuts and Taco Bell, and everything purchased in the stores is an American product sold at American prices. Even gasoline is half the price inside the gate than it is outside the gate. It's probably American gasoline too. Then, we left...back into Japan.

SO after that initial culture shock, I adjusted and we cruised around. We hit up a small beach that Susie knows...the weather was good and I got in some quick snorkeling. Didn't see what I had seen in Australia, but it was pretty good for just sticking my head in the water for a few minutes. That night, they fed me a huge, Juicy American steak with American beef. My gizzards nearly flipped out at the shock of so much meat in one day...but it was worth it.

The next day was graduation day, and after cruising around the island some more and visiting some more bases (by the end of it all, I had been on an Air Force, Marine, Navy AND Army base. As Susie said, covering all the bases). I saw where Uncle Tim works and we got set up for Project Graduation on the Navy base (it's a non-alcohol event for the high school graduates to keep them safe on graduation night). Then we went to Mia's graduation, where it was mostly American military kids graduating...most of whom are off to real America for college. Mia will end up at CalPoly, because she is nearly Einstein-robot-supercomputer smart.

Stayed up until 5 AM dealing blackjack to the graduates with Uncle Tim at the Project Graduation. It's basically tons of games and prizes to keep the kids up all night and wear them out so they don't go drinking and doing crazy things in their hyped-up state of mind (I guess). It was fun to hang out with high school kids again that I can actually speak English to...

Before I left I went snorkeling one more time where I essentially stepped off a concrete wall in the middle of the city and landed in all these great coral canyons. Good fish, though the water was rough...

Flew back to Tokyo and went straight back to Niigata... though I got on the wrong train and almost ended up on a non-stop express to Kanazawa (hundreds of miles away), realizing it only with about 2 minutes before the train took off...so I was stranded in Yuzawa for a while until the right train came. Ended up going out that night with Alex my predecessor and a few other people...

Since then, just back into the swing of classes and dealing with some paperwork stuff. Starting to really get stressed out about the Japanese driving test coming up because everyone is telling me something different and not giving me a straight answer about how to deal with this thing properly. Oh well! I just might not be able to drive anymore next year.

Pics from Tokyo and Okinawa

The main gate at Asakusa temple in Tokyo. Totally massive.

This is Asakusa shrine, which is Shinto, different from Asakusa temple, which is Buddhist.

This is my new friend Hideo. He showed me all over the shrines and temples at Asakusa. Naisu gai!

Gettin' all cleansed...

mmmmmm....Okinawa beach...

Clearest...water...ever

I FOUND TACO BELL IN JAPAN! Except, it was on an Air Force base, so it was really America.

Uncle Tim dealing cards at Project Graduation. Dat's Mia the graduate in the back.

DA BEACH! I snorkeled here my first day in Okinawa.

It's the weekend before the big conference now and everybody has left town to hit up Tokyo a little early. I considered it, but since I'll be gone all the way through next weekend I figured I'd mellow around town on my own a little bit. So, last night I went out with a girl named Mai and her friend Yuki, who I met through a guy named Atchan. Ate some okonomiyaki, went drinking at a few places. Learned a little Japanese, but they really talked alot in Tokamachi-ben (the town's local dialect). I knew that every town and area has its own funny words, but I never realized there was so much that is directly specialized in each area. I'm still looking forward to going down to Osaka to hear Kansai-ben, which is really hard to understand, sort of like going to Boston or the southeast or anywhere where the accent and language is so much different (but I think this is more extreme).

Annie tried to get me to go to Joetsu tonight for the open mic but I'm really into my town this weekend...I think just because the other ALTs aren't really around I feel like it's my opportunity to make it 'my town' for the weekend, and speak ONLY Japanese (which I rarely do), since the entirety of next week will be in English (isn't it weird how I'm planning ahead by what language I'll be speaking in?) So, in 30 minutes I'll go out again and have the same kind of night and meet up with a couple guys maybe.

Dude, listen to me!

Yesterday I was invited to a high school for the first time to help evaluate Annie's school in Matsudai and her teacher's English classes. It was pretty grammar heavy stuff, but high level. It was not interesting or fun for the students.

Afterwards we had a discussion session where he asked us, "Please be honest! I want your opinions of my teaching. I want to become a good English teacher. I want my students to be good English speakers."

Other than Annie I was the only foreigner there, and about 10 other English teachers were invited. None of them said anything...being Japanese, they are not taught how to give constructive criticism, or criticism at all really. SO, I overtook the session and told him a few things about how I felt about his classes. "OK, There was no variation between grammar and speaking activities. There were no visuals. How does this relate to giving confidence to speaking when it was all grammatical and on paper? Why wasn't Annie used to speak with the students? Why don't you start the class with English greetings? I think that it's important to tie your lesson into something where they can apply this grammar in a conversation. You should have more natural conversation as a warm-up activity."...and on and on.

Well, I got frustrated because he got a little defensive. "Well, that's just how I do it. Well, that's the way the class is" and so on. Then he said he was sort of "showing off" by doing so much grammar in his class, because he knew he was being evaluated by a lot of teachers (mostly Japanese teachers, who are grammar experts). I wasn't too impressed, and he wasn't exactly embracing the criticism like he told us he would. But oh well. It was a nice day and I got to drive to Matsudai instead of sitting at my desk or teaching a million classes.

Last night, I was cleaning my apartment when I realized it was already 9 and I hadn't eaten dinner. Nothing nearby was open so I broke into my 'creative cooking' mode, but I cooked the most questionable meal I've had in a while: I fried two packages of udon noodles in some soba sauce, with some soggy mushrooms and an expired egg. But, I ate.

My Aunt Susie asked me what American food I want at her house in Okinawa next week. I said "a BIG, JUICY CHEEEESEBURGER". I'm so excited.