Foreward to Formosa

Years ago, when youthful curiosity still fueled ambition, and ambition still burned into life-altering experience, I embarked upon a legendary quest.
Though I knew it'd be a solitary venture, I firmly decided that to struggle alone and fail would be worth more to me than dwelling in in the festive company of the multitudes of the "never tried".

To be honest, I can't recall if it was sunny, cloudy or rainy on the day when it all began. The weather brought no portents, which suited me just fine. If I was going to be working alone, it was best that others not receive any clues regarding the immense, impending change in my life. Standing sentinel across the way from the brick-walled location of the coming catalyst, I discretely darted my eyes left and right until I felt certain that no one was following.

Without allowing a moment to reflect, my left foot stepped down from the pavement to the street below. The right followed in kind. No thoughts, no emotions, no regrets. My body would see me accept this challenge whether my mind wanted to or not. I didn't realize exactly what my feet were doing until my hands had pushed open a simple glass door and the sound of bells awoke my cognitive senses. By then, it was too late to turn around.

A middle-aged Chinese man leaning in a chair in the corner looked away from the small television in front of him to see who had arrived. As I drew closer, he swiveled the chair to face me and arose so that he could match my gaze at equal height.
"Welcome, welcome," while his face was displaying a broad smile for all to see, his hands secretly slipped me a piece of paper. I glanced at the paper, then back at him, then at the paper again.

"have you decided?" the friendliness he displayed in his tone masked an impatience only I could read. I looked at his face and paused before answering. His smile did, in fact, seem genuine. Perhaps he really did have no idea what a large role he was playing in my destiny. Perhaps he didn't care.

"Yes, I've decided," I spoke to him plainly all the while attempting to hide great eagerness.


"I'd like a bubble tea, please"Bubble Tea is a dessert-like Taiwanese drink combining tea, tapioca pearls, a wide range of flavors and milk. The restaurant I frequented in my university days probably had a least 20 different flavours ranging from plain milk tea to kumquat and kiwi. I vowed to try every flavour before graduating, and, having failed in that quest, must now endure a pilgrimage to the island birthplace of my beloved beverage: Taiwan.

I'll fill you in on cultural/historical details later. In the meantime, please enjoy this video clip of Taiwan's most treasured historical cultural anthem:

Exam Over

The test is over. Now, when I sit in front of the television nibbling on soybean snacks I don't feel guilty about it.

I won't know the results until a card arrives via postal service in February. As for how I feel about my performance, I really won't know until February. Could've gone either way.

The above picture is from a big winter light show in Kobe I visited the weekend of the exam. Yeah, it looks nice, but I had to stand in line for 90 minutes to get there. Such is Japan. Once something is labeled as a nice tourist location it no longer becomes an easy, comfortable visit. The herds of human cattle inhibiting pure enjoyment of the scenery will cause even the most docile of visitors to fantasize about elbowing elderly passers-by in the jaw like a toothless Canadian hockey hooligan desperate for the winning the goal in a match no one outside of Ottawa is going to watch anyway.

October School Life

Remember a while back when I said I was going hiking at one of Japan's 3 holy mountains? I have some pictures from that trip ready to post, but I'm just not getting around to it yet.

Instead, here are some school related pictures. Last Friday I went along with the first year students on a trip to the nearby city of Katsuyama to visit a temple/shrine called Heisenji, a castle museum (castle built in the last 20 years or so) and the Fukui Dinosaur Museum (only dinosaur museum in Japan)
It was raining that day, but I really liked what the rain did for the atmosphere at Heisenji.These two pictures here are mobile phone photographs of an art project the entire school made today with the help of a famous local artist. We took big rice bags and wrote wishes, wants and desires on them. Then, we turned the bags inside-out and piled them together to make this particular art thing.
Some people wished for peace, prosperous future careers, happiness for friends, etc. As for me, my wish was in French, and that's all I'm willing to say about it public
And, finally, a Halloween greeting from your friends at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.



Speaking of Halloween, I finished the costume with a little help from a friend on the trousers, and really had a go of things this weekend at a Halloween Party that honestly was much to crowded and poorly lit for my tastes (left really early) and the International Festival at the International Center (much better lighting and atmosphere so I stayed all day for that one).

Abu really hit it off with the ladies and left me alone for a while to fend for myself with a sometimes violent little girl desperate to prove to herself whether or not I was the real Aladdin, but, save for some minor shin abrasions, the day was fun. My Fukui host family was there in the morning, and Abu really got on well with the little boy.
So, what I've learned this weekend is that if I want to get people to like me, all I really need to do is be more like a monkey.

Thomas & Tanka

In Japan, certain ages are lucky and unlucky. For children the years 7, 5 and 3 are important (in a good way). They refer to it as "shichi-go-san" (seven-five-three), and, basically, it means that families have professional photographs taken and visit a shrine when their children are 7, 5 and 3.

In Fukui, many of us signed up for "host families". We don't actually ever live with the families, but we do have dinner and go to events together. My family is a neurosurgeon, his wife, a 7 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. I had dinner with them last Monday. The girl has taken a real liking to the card game Uno, and the boy, who has only begun speaking in full sentences recently, doesn't seem like he would be sick of Thomas the Tank Engine even if it were the only programme running on television for the rest of his life. For those of you who've never played Uno with Japanese children before, here's a synopsis of the evening:

Player 1: The 7 year old - must win against at least one parent before game can end
Players 2 & 3: Parents - happy the kids aren't making a ruckus
Player 4: Me - happy that we're playing a game that won't require any instructions in Japanese
Wild Card: The 3 year old - wants desperately to be involved in spite of the fact that he has no idea what's happening.

The wild card jumped into my team (literally). In working together with him, I learned that all the trains in Thomas the Tank Engine have a number, because he would look at my cards and say, "ooh, yellow Thomas! Red Percy!" He also was very swift to notice when one of the cards didn't look like the others, "ooh, a black one!"
Then, having anounced all my cards to the other players he blurted out the sweetest little irony I've heard in a long time, "it's fun when everyone plays together!"
Yes, fun, fun fun.
^o^


In other news, the teachers in my visiting school have been writing poems to display for next week's culture festival. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the festival since it's not a day of the week when I normally visit the school, but I was asked to write something. The format was Tanka (短歌), which is similar to Haiku but longer. Haiku works in a syllable count of 5-7-5, and Tanka is 5-7-5-7-7.

Here's what I wrote:

父の庭　 chichi no niwa
かぼちゃのそばで kabocha no sobade
剣になる 　 ken ni naru
ひまわりの茎　 himawari no kuki
相手を叩く aite wo tataku

I made a rough English translation following the format too:

A sunflower stalk
that swings like a katana
strikes my opponent
next to all of the pumpkins
within my father's garden

New Season Old Pictures

You may have noticed a change in the picture atop the page. I've decided to make that seasonal. Yes, I know, Han Solo and Princess Leia being swallowed by a squid snack doesn't bring up memories of hot cider, jack 'o' lanterns and hay rides, but it reminds me of a fall 3 years ago when I first came to Japan.

I've considered making a separate page someday just for pictures of Han and Leia and their travels. I'll wait and see what the adoring public thinks about that. Speaking of the "public" that reads this, how are you doing, Grandma?If you read the previous entry, you'd have noticed that I mentioned working at a junior high school instead of a high school. That's because I changed schools after summer break. Essentially, I have become Fuji Climbing Partner (took over her job).

I now work at an academic middle school 3 days a week and a non-traditional high school 2 days a week. The middle school feeds students into the more academic high schools (there's an entrance exam for high school and university in Japan) which feed students into universities. The high school is the polar opposite of the environment in the middle school since it was designed for students who couldn't make it in a normal setting. One is academic, busy and filled with high expectations and stress, and the other is relaxed, slow-paced and not even filled at all (class sizes range from 1-20 students). So far, I really like both schools.

I'm feeling really confident this time around. The schools are new, but the work and location aren't new. I'm feeling more and more comfortable here, and learning some useful Japanese in preparation for a big proficiency test in December. I don't know my chances of passing the test, but, at least, I'm learning.

So, what are these random pictures?

The one right above with all the orange is from a shrine in the hillsides in Kyoto. I went on a final big outing to Kyoto with a few of my closest friends in June. Future Wife, Fuji Climbing Partner, The Artist and his Wife. All names that won't be appearing much anymore. This particular shrine is famous for its hundreds of Tori (the orange shrine gates) that wind all around a pathway into the hills.

The two mountain photographs are from near the city of Ono in Fukui prefecture. I went hiking with some friends late in the spring. Everything was perfectly clear on the way up, but then a couple people (Kanji Fiend & company) had to complain about how clouds always blur the peaks of mountains when they go hiking, and, lo and behold, the way back down the mountain turned out just like they expected.If all goes as planned, this weekend I'll go hiking again. This time, I'm going after Tateyama, one of Japan's three holy mountains. The other two are Fuji and Hakusan. Hakusan is actually located here in Fukui Prefecture, but I haven't had the chance to go yet.

We Can Do!

Imagine, for a moment, if you will, a place beyond reason and understanding, an existence beyond the confines of space and time and, yet, somehow, withheld in the visible universe. Imagine, if you can, the inside of a black hole turned inside out and made to rotate counter-clockwise on a 45° axis.

Now, picture a typical rice field just outside of a typical Japanese city. In the middle of this seemingly average rice field, picture a typical academic junior high school filled with several hundred typical academic junior high school students.

It is September. The now golden rice field is ready for harvest, and the entire population of this seemingly average academic junior high school are in the gymnasium awaiting the opening ceremony of their annual culture festival.

Suddenly, a volley of severed, "bloodied" baby doll heads shrieks down from the rafters, sending the 12 year old cross-dresser on the gymnasium stage fleeing in mock falsetto terror.

Does the student body run away?

Do they scream in horror?

Do they even realize what frightening danger is upon them?

NO!

No one runs away from the culture festival. Yes, the severed heads are alarming, but the students know there is a simple way to avoid calamity in trying times.

Yes, that's right. It's time to crack open the peach of happiness, for inside the peach of happiness lies Utopia.

Can the karate master crack the peach? No.

What about the master swordsman? No.

How woeful are we!

Won't somebody come and open this peach so that we all can find Utopia?

Wait a minute, I know. No one can open the peach of happiness working alone. Only by combining our efforts will we be able to reach the creamy Utopian center.

OK, everybody, let's work together and escape our troubles. Remember, direct objects need never fear abuse here, for in Japan, as the culture festival motto states, We Can Do!

PS: a bit of friendly advice, don't look up pictures of peaches while at work. typing, 桃 (the Japanese word for "peach") returned many surprising, scantily clad results. I think I've stumbled upon a euphemism.

Are You OK? FIGHT!

One idle spring morning as I was engaged in a typical post-work day "rush", I realized that it had been more than 6 months since the last time I did any form of exercise. "This is not good," I whispered to myself, so as to avoid fully arousing myself from a mid-afternoon nap. "I should do something," I muttered quietly this time fully awake but not wanting anyone around me to realize how much of my day is wasted on writing an inner monologue, "whatever shall I do?"Then, suddenly, I remembered something! Every May my school hosts a 10km (6.2 mile) marathon. I could plan to run in that marathon. This would give me incentive to work out and an opportunity to bond with my students while running together around the school.
Oh, it seemed like such a good idea.
Yes, I trained hard. Running 4 or 5km a few days a week with some students from the Kendo club. I even used Google maps to plan 5-7 km runs around Fukui City. I was getting in shape and feeling good!
The week before the race was strangely cold and dreary for May with clouds and rain, and on my last practice run before the race my new running shoes become terribly soggy. But come marathon morning all was sunny and delightful. We couldn't have planned for a better spring marathon day.
The starting pistol fired, and off I ran with a herd of more than 350 high school age boys. I kept pace as best I could, and when I felt I was nearing the end I still managed to maintain position in the top 3rd of a pack of very athletic boys in the prime of their physical health.
Unfortunately, what my body felt to be the end of the race actually turned out to be the halfway mark.
Soon, I found that my students were finally eager to speak with me in English outside of class. Conversations usually went as follows, "Oh! Hello, Zachary! How are you? Bye Bye."
At one point as I passed one of the teachers standing by the course to direct students and traffic, I was encouraged by some very typical Japanese English.
"Zachary, Are you OK?"
"Yes"
"FIGHT!"
"Fight," indeed, I did! (much to the joy of all natural Japanese red heads)
I finished the race far from that top 33% position I once held but still far from the bottom (a lot of students walked). In so doing, I came to understand the Japanese expression 足がぼうになった(ashi ga bou ni natta - "my legs have become like sticks"). Although my body felt wonderful, perhaps even euphoric, for a few hours it seemed like my feet had fallen off, leaving me to walk on sticks.
Shall this endeavor lead into greater things?
Meh, we'll see.

More Kobe Area Photographs

Now, time to post a few more pictures from my spring holiday in Kansai (the region with Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto). I should have posted these a month ago, but, well, springtime makes me feel lazy.These first few are of the temple grounds of Engyouji. Engyouji is a mountain temple complex near Himeiji Castle (pictured in the "Sadness of Spring" entry). While Himeiji is a popular tourist spot with crowds year-round, Engyouji's semi-remote terrain makes for a nice escape from the crowds. Travelers can reach the grounds via a somewhat pricey tram, or they can hike for an hour or so (provided they can find the trail). I rode the tram up and hiked down.
Engyouji's claim to fame, besides its centuries old history and beautiful mountain scenery, is its use in the film The Last Samurai. I think most of the film was shot in New Zealand given that the ubiquitous power lines and concrete embankments in Japan make it really difficult to find any place that still looks completely natural, but a few scenes actually were truly Japanese.
Engyouji has a few trails leading around the mountain. It takes a decent bit of walking to see all of it.
Finally, a bit of splendid news. On my return to Fukui, I decided to spend a day in Kyoto admiring the sakura, since Kyoto is in between Kobe and Fukui. While there, I managed to do something by myself that a friend and I only daydreamed of achieving together last fall. I found the Philosopher's Path!

For a recap of why this is significant, look back at one of my entries I wrote after my first trip to Kyoto in October. Here
Yea, though we did wander many a good hour, our efforts were in vain as the Philosopher's Path refused to show itself. This time around, large swaths of flower viewers and large markings labeled "Philosopher's Path This Way --->" made the journey all the easier.

Now, all I have to do is discover the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka and my list of painfully easy to find popular Japanese tourist destinations that have thus far eluded me will be restored to zero.

神戸: Kobe

The sakura have mostly been gone for a few weeks now. No more hanami, but at least everything here has started turning green. Now, it's high time I shared some of the pictures from my excursion into the Kobe area nearly a month ago.

Having 2 weeks of free time but not much cash, I decided to keep the traveling simple by visiting a friend in Kobe and wandering around the Kansai region (the area just south of Fukui that includes Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Kobe) for as long as the 4-day Kansai train pass would allow me to wander.Here we see the lovely port city of Kobe from above. I really liked Kobe. It offers easy access to both mountains and coastline as well as all the commodities of a major metropolitan hub.
Among the most essential commodities, of course, is Bubble Tea - the Taiwanese tapioca pearl tea sensation that is a favorite drink in China Towns the world over. You can't see it in this picture, but my friend and I bought matching Kung Fu shirts here. That same night we also watched the Stephen Chow classic Shaolin Soccer.
Not only does Kobe offer mountains, a port and bubble tea but also some of the finest creepy modern art this side of Dali's twisted time piece.
The best part of Kobe, naturally, was the colorful restrainless chair lift that takes sightseers up and down the mountain overlooking the city. Sure, the seats never rise more than a couple meters off the ground, but, still, in the States this sort of ride is a lawsuit in waiting.

That's my friend taking a picture of me in the picture. Someday, I think I may create a photobook of pictures of people taking pictures.
Some background on the friend: a few years ago we both lived in the same city outside Nagoya while exchange students at Nanzan University. Since we lived in the same city we also rode the same train to school. We even ended up testing into the same Japanese courses. He was really the first friend I made in Japan outside of my host family. Although he grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York (not the city) - a part of the world I've never seen, "Battisti" and I managed to connect through a mutual interest in the Japanese language and a love for all things Stryper.

For the sake of personal embarrassment, I shall provide links here to a couple of pictures from my old Nagoya blog: A B

漢字とかな： Japanese Writing

I've recently begun private lessons in Chinese and Japanese. A large portion of both involves writing, and my homework requires a lot of memorization - an old technique I'd almost forgotten since the atrophy of my mind began with all the wasted free time at work. Now, I'd like to share some insights into the tedious work of achieving literacy in Chinese and Japanese. Don't worry if any of this gets confusing. Japanese students spend 6 years of primary school, 3 years of middle school and some of high school learning this stuff. I'm sure it's the same in Chinese speaking countries.

漢字： Chinese Characters (read "kanji")
The Japanese had no writing system until delegates from China introduced their ideographs about a millenium and a half ago. The characters taken from Chinese are not phonetic (ie. not an alphabet), but rather represent an idea. Some resemble images, some are abstract images of the ideas they convey, but most seem rather arbitrary. A few examples:
木：　tree
森：　forest (a gathering of trees)
女：　woman, 　子：　child, 　好：　good/like (woman and child)
魔法：　magic (how could you make a picture of magic?)
凸凹：　bumpy/jagged (no, not tetris - these are actual kanji)

So, anyway, the Japanese took on this system of writing which required a knowledge of several thousand characters for complete literacy. This was great for scholars who already spoke Chinese, but did little to help anyone who spoke only Japanese since the two languages are very different in grammar and pronunciation. Thus, the debate began regarding how to properly read the characters. Characters which originally had one reading in Chinese then took on a Chinese and Japanese reading in their new island home. Some characters even developed several readings.
examples:

南： south
original Chinese reading: nán
possible Japanese readings: nan (from Chinese), minami
(this kanji is pretty standard fare - 2 common readings)

not all kanji are so simple, however:
生： life
original Chinese reading: sheng
a few possible Japanese readings: sei, i, u, nama, sho, ki, ha, o
(a bit of an extreme case, granted, but not unusual)


Generally speaking, kanji use their Japanese reading when used by themselves, but when combined with other kanji they take on their Chinese reading (which often sounds little like the actual reading used in China today). Of course, there are exceptions (no need to waste time on that here).

Kana
From the kanji Japanese scholars went on to develop two more writing systems called Hiragana and Katakana. The Kana systems together form an alphabet-like syllabary (mix of syllables) of 46 characters each (92 total).

ひらがな： Hiragana (The characters read "hi-ra-ga-na")
Used for native Japanese words not written in Kanji or any time the Kanji cannot be recalled.
カタカナ： Katakana (ka-ta-ka-na)
Used for words taken from foreign languages (not Chinese) or to draw attention to a word

Here's an example of the same word in all 3 writing systems:
残忍： atrocious/inhumane (kanji "zan-nin")
ざんにん　(hiragana "za-n-ni-n")
ザンニン (katakana "za-n-ni-n")

All three systems are used simultaneously. Thus, a typical sentence looks something like this:
ブラピの映画を見ました。 I saw a Brad Pitt film
ブラピ： "bu-ra-pi" (katakana nickname for buraddo pitto - Brad Pitt)
の： "no" (hiragana)
映画： film (kanji)
を： "o" (hiragana)
見ました： 見： kanji for "to see" / ました： hiragana "ma-shi-ta"　

Note that the above sentence has no subject. Those usually aren't necessary. It could just as easily be translated as "You saw a Brad Pitt film", or "we saw...", or "he saw...", etc.


Chinese - Japanese
A person who is fluent in Japanese can read and understand a good deal of written Chinese and vice-versa. It's possible to understand the meaning of kanji without knowing their readings. Thus, even though Chinese and Japanese cannot speak each others' languages, they can make themselves understood through kanji - usually. The Chinese write only in kanji, and many of the kanji that they use are written in a different manner or are entirely different kanji from what the Japanese would use.

Even within Chinese speaking countries different kanji are used. After WWII, the communist government on mainland China decided to simplify the Chinese writing system in order to encourage literacy, but Taiwan and Hong Kong were not under communist control and did not follow along with the PRC. This is why you'll notice "Traditional Chinese" (Hong Kong & Taiwan) and "Simplified Chinese" (the mainland) whenever you see text translated in Chinese.

Here's an example of how Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese compare:
"Hello, teacher! Are you listening?"
TC: 老師好 ! 　　　　　 您聽不聽？
SC: 老师好！　　　　　 您听不听？
J: こんにちは先生！ 聞いてますか？


Finally, a word on "inspirational" kanji. Perhaps you've read in an email forward or heard from some public speaker something about dual meanings of Chinese characters. For example,
"in Chinese 'opportunity' and 'struggle' are the same word", or "the Chinese write 'challenge' and 'opportunity' with the same character", or, perhaps, "in Chinese 'Wisconsin cheese' and 'heavenly substance delivered to man on the wings of Pegasus' are the same character" or "the Chinese say 'California cheese' and 'tasteless imitation of real food' with the same word" or any number of similar things. Well, I can't confirm or deny any of this (pretty certain on the cheese ones though), but I did discover an inspirational kanji on my own while studying this week.

介： The Chinese character for "mediate" is also the character used for "shellfish"
紹介： introduce
魚介： fish & shellfish

Knowing that made my studies feel all the more worthwhile this week.　　

The Sadness of Spring

If you come to recognize no other kanji (Chinese character) that I've ever written on this blog, at least get to know this one:
桜：sakura (cherry blossom)
Last week the cherry blossoms began blooming across Japan. I took the above picture at Himeiji castle, near Kobe. The blooming of the cherry blossom is, perhaps, the most important natural phenomenon to occur in Japan. Sakura is a proud cultural symbol that figures prominently in music, literature and artwork. Newspapers and newscasts give predictions of when the blooming should begin in various parts of the country, and people step out in droves to delight in the newfound springtime beauty.
花見： hanami (flower viewing)
A group of tourists enjoy hanami along a river in Kyoto.

The arrival of sakura marks the end to the long, cold, wet, miserable winter season. As one of the most easily recognizable symbols of Japan, it brings much happiness with its beauty, but also a tinge of sadness. The blooms only linger a couple weeks. Thus, although their arrival is a joyous occasion, those who view them do so understanding the oft clichéd phrase that all good things

must end someday.

梅花： Plum Blossom

While driving back from Sumo in Osaka, my entourage and I stopped at a shrine on Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. I thought I'd share a few of the pictures.
The plum blossoms had just begun to bloom. That's a tori, the name for a shrine gate, in the background.
The highway splits two of the tori.
Here, the two passengers of my car (oh, yeah, got a car in March - will show a picture sometime soon) sit and admire the tori. Look closely and you'll notice that it's in the lake itself.

Haven't quite given these two nicknames yet. Let's see, the guy on the left is in my calligraphy class and well-versed in various Chinese characters, so I'll call him Kanji Fiend. The girl on the right just started driving after coming to Japan and nearly killed me in October, so I'll call her New Driver.

相撲: Sumo

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to attend a Sumo tournament in Osaka. Tournaments are held in Osaka on the weekends of March and in other months in Fukuoka, Nagoya and Tokyo. This first picture is the part of the tournament when the wrestlers are introduced to the crowd.
Sumo is believed to have origins dating back a couple thousand years, but its current form developed predominantly in the past couple hundred years. The rituals at Sumo tournaments rely heavily on Shinto beliefs and traditions, and the Sumo lifestyle is strictly regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Currently there are less than 1,000 professional Sumo.
The winner is the Sumo who forces his opponent out of the ring or on the ground. Even though most matches seem to end in a brief burst of force, there are actually dozens of recognized techniques that a Sumo may use to force an opponent out.

The Sumo league is divided into an East and West division with the top wrestler from each division carrying the title of Yokuzuna. In spite of the fact that Sumo exists almost exclusively in Japan, there have been many foreigners in the league. The 2 current Yokuzuna, for example, are actually Mongolian. There is also a very successful Bulgarian who is quite popular with the ladies. Foreign sumo take on a Japanese name once they're accepted into the league.
Here you see an example of the Shinto influence on the sport's rituals. The sword is one of the three imperial emblems (the emperor, once believed to be descended from the sun goddess, is also closely tied with Shinto). Before each match the Sumo toss salt on the ring to purify it in Shinto fashion.

All in all, I'm glad I spent a day at the tournament. It's not something I'd do very often, but it was a good experience. The atmosphere for most of the day was very relaxed, but as the higher ranking Sumo began competing the audience gradually became more and more excited.

I was able to take a few videos with my digital camera. You can find them on youtube by looking up videos under my username: huancaina

Or, you could just click on these links:
Yokuzuna Hakuho
Yokuzuna Asashoryu
"Robocop"
I have a few others posted as well. Just look around if you want more Sumo.
As you can see in this photograph, Sumo are normal blokes with the same interests as anyone.
Anyone with a strange affinity for naughty cartoons is also included in that aforementioned "anyone"

白川郷: Shirakawago

A few days after the festival in Nagoya, a friend and I ventured into the mountains to experience a taste of traditional village life. Nestled in a valley in Gifu Prefecture, next to Fukui, lies Shirakawago - a collection of thatched roofed houses that have been declared a World Cultural Heritage Site by the United Nations.
Although Fukui was warming to nice spring temperatures, the mountain village still had snow and a chill in the air. There isn't much to say about the village except that it's quiet, peaceful and scenic. People who live there seem to enjoy tending to tourists' needs, managing agriculture and owning dogs. Really not a lot to do in the area for anyone with an itch for livin' la vida loca.We stayed the night in one of the houses. this is the main room where we ate. The fire pit in the middle is the traditional means of heating houses and cooking meals. We used an electric space heater in our room. Although the village experience may not sound very exciting, it was a great escape. Day after day going to a job with no work was wearing on my nerves, and the hot bath and quiet evening away re-energized me just in time to take on spring break.

NOT SAFE FOR CHILDREN festival

A few weeks ago, my favorite little former host sister from Nagoya turned 10. Conveniently, many girls here in Fukui really wanted to go to Nagoya the weekend of her birthday, so it wasn't hard to fill a car with people for the journey over. The Fukui girls, however, had no idea any birthdays were taking place. They had an ulterior motive: a 2 meter long, wooden ulterior motive.

WARNING: the pictures in this entry probably aren't so great to show the kids (even though many children were at this festival)Every year in spring a couple of shrines in Nagoya host festivals in celebration of fertility just in time for spring planting. One festival takes on a female theme and the other has a male theme. The male themed festival draws in the largest crowd, including the most packed group of foreigners I have ever seen in Japan (what does this say about the collective maturity of we non-Japanese residents, I wonder?)
There is food (pictured above) to match the theme, and a small parade. During the parade, people marching hand out many cups of free sake to onlookers and encourage some good luck pats on various wooden "structures".
The festival ends when the "structure" enters the shrine at the end of the parade. At the end of it all, the Western onlooker can't help but laugh at the large gathering of pale skinned persons and lament the great shame we've been taught to render our own bodies. Would this festival be so intriguing to us if we didn't deem it so naughty? The Japanese don't seem to find much offensive about it.
Now, to make up for the strange pictures above, I've added a nice sunset photograph from the Oasis structure in the Sakae district of Nagoya.

First Nations and Tight Accommodations

Another neat spot South of Sapporo is the Ainu museum, which, unfortunately, seems to be more of a large flea market of repetitive wood-carved souvenirs than an actual museum. They do, however, have some nice traditional huts on display and it is possible to learn a little about Hokkaido's native people, the Ainu.

The Ainu, before intermarrying and hiding their identity to avoid discrimination, were physically, linguistically and religiously completely different from the Japanese. Never great in number, estimates say that today roughly 50,000 people have two ethnically Ainu parents and several thousand more are of mixed lineage. The vast majority speak only Japanese, as Japan's rush to catch up with the Western democracies in the mid-18'th century brought in a wave of ethnocentric lawmaking. Only recently have Ainu begun to speak out about their heritage and gain rights and recognition.

Two side notes: 1) Many city names in Hokkaido derive from the Ainu language.
2) I had a really nice potato and salmon soup at the museum. I mention this because, well, I like salmon and that potato in my soup was probably the best potato I've had in Japan. The food in Hokkaido, in general, was some of the best I've had since coming here.
This hut is called, "The Next House". I've no idea why.
Changing the subject abruptly. Here are a couple pictures of the capsule hotel where I stayed during my last night in Sapporo. Each one of the capsules in the picture above is one bed for one person. Personal belongings are stored in a separate locker room. The picture below shows the inside of my capsule (the box in the corner is a television).
The capsule hotel really wasn't cheaper than staying in a youth hostel. In fact, it was a little bit more expensive. Why bother? Well, the capsule hotel also doubled as a spa with indoor/outdoor hot springs, saunas and cold springs. I spent probably at least 3 hours moving in and out of pools with Infectious Laughter, shooting the breeze about the relationships that have formed and deformed since coming here, the people who are staying another year, the people who are leaving in the summer, the people who spend too much time listening to tawdry Japanese pop-singers, the people who crack their eggs on the narrow side, the people who crack their eggs on the wide side and all things Fukui.

Turns out, most of the people who've appeared on this blog won't be on it at all next year. They're moving on with their lives, reconnecting with significant others and venturing beyond the confines of this little island we've come to call Fjet (Fukui JET).

Infectious laughter also taught me something about the US Presidential election. It seems the town where he's residing in the Fukui prefecture has a preferred candidate. Click here to read about whom the citizens of Obama, Japan would like to see elected.

One of the JETs there has made some videos and posted them on youtube. I haven't watched them yet, but, she seems much less objective than the article. "In Obama, for Obama" I believe is the catchphrase. Personally, I'm more of an "In Fukui City, for whomever won't cause the country to self-implode"

地獄谷： Hell Valley

Just look for the demons along the highway south of Sapporo to find your way into an area known as Hell Valley.
It's earned its nickname from the naturally boiling sulphuric ponds nestled in the mountains. Volcanic activity is responsible for the steam rising from the snowy hills you see in the picture below. The gases released in said activity also give the area the distinct aroma of a log cabin in Northern Wisconsin full of deer hunters shortly after Thanksgiving dinner.
In spite of the smell, the neighboring town of Noboribetsu (登別) is a bustling vacation spot for those interested in spas and hot baths.
While walking the pathways of Hell, I couldn't help but notice all the snow and ice around me calling back to all those times someone has said, "it'll be a cold day in hell before I go out with you," or "sure, I'll give up my serious relationship with Ian and marry you just as soon as Hell freezes over!"
Ahem, looks like fate has dealt me a fair hand in this one.
For all the talk of volcanic activity, however, anyone with the patience to wait until just before sundown, when all colors fade into a blue-ish gray, will see the real cause of the mix of snow and heat.