Happy White Day

My White Day was rewarded with lots and lots of white. We are getting what is most likely the final, tremendous snow dump. Last night I skied but was sidelined with old man back pain, so hopefully tomorrow night will be a little better.

Was just driving home and marvelling at how overwhelming the snow here can be, and how much of a part of my life it has been over the past year and a half, to the point where if it snows 5 feet in one day, the reaction is no different than opening the door to a sunny day back in New Mexico. It has become commonplace and a part of me, and if I ever leave here I'll miss it as much as someone from NM would miss the continuous sun.

I'm drinking some hot sake now since it is winter and Mom and Susie didn't help very much to finish the 2 liter bottle of local stuff that I bought just for their visit. I was tempted to try to use the sake flask and cup that I bought on Sunday - I kid you not, it is made entirely of dried squid and smells like rotten scum. But, I bought it because, well, it was a sake flask WITH CUP, and it was made of squid, and you can eat it when you're done with it.

I bought it at the Kashiwazaki fish market when I went there with Yuko and family. Yuko's sister just had a baby boy (Gouta) and Osamu's parents came down from Akita to meet their new grandson, so we went to buy fresh fish for dinner. By the end of the night I had consumed no less than 14 different kinds of fish in raw, baked, grilled, soaked, salad, and soup form, but mostly raw.

In other random Japanese culture news, I am learning the game of Go (igo?), which is the oldest board game known and is an old Chinese strategy game that was transferred over to Japan which adopted its own rules. Very soon I will be playing it in the park, drinking tea and stroking my beard.

Also, I went to Minami's graduation last week, and although I went last year I was amazed by it again, because it truly does highlight the difference between Western and Japanese educational standards I think. The ceremony itself is so, so formal, and not at all a celebration of accomplishment. It is merely a symbolic and slightly emotional goodbye to friends and teachers, and a chance to display military-like group discipline (which the Japanese are masters at, unlike individual discipline, which is a joke). But there was no sense of accomplishment...back home graduation is your chance to celebrate the fact that you 'survived' school and met the challenge, and to let loose and smile and have people cheer for you. In Japan, this is not possible as there is little challenge related to school other than the national and high school entrance exam testing system, which is the focus of all studies here. The next day, a student at Mizusawa refused to take a speaking test with me (after destroying every worksheet I gave him for weeks) and left without even trying, reminiscent of many other students who simply don't care because there is no motivation to achieve success in anything not directly related to test scores. He will likely continue to do that for the rest of school, but he will absolutely graduate, and when he graduates he will be praised just the same as the exemplary student who put out effort and actually showed improvement in intellect and character.

In other fun news, my dad's coming for 11 days in April, and just before that I'll take a trip somewhere, maybe Hong Kong!

I swear to you I will put photos up soon. Sooooon!