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.