Update of the month

Mm.. If there's one thing (among many) the Japanese are good at, it's making a damn good salad dressing. In general, I'm not that discriminating about dressing, but I just thought I'd mention how this one I'm eating now claims it has no oil and is 13 calories a serving... It's made with daikon, which I kind of rolled my eyes at the first time I saw it at the store, like "yeah right I'm eating a dressing made out of a radish," but taste(and health)wise, I'd rank it right up there with any of your creamy, fat-laden salad toppings. It makes me actually want to eat a bowl of leaves. I might even add sticks and pebbles as long as I could cover it with this stuff.

Anyways, I didn't mean to make this blog about dressing, I just got momentarily side tracked by food, which should come as no surprise. I haven't updated in a while, so I decided to post a quick update on what's been going on in these parts lately.

There was another earthquake, and again I was all "What earthquake?" when my relatives expressed their concern over me. So I still haven't witnessed the quintessential Japanese experience, the stuff of legends. It's a bit unfair, really. When the Great Tokai earthquake rolls around, I'm sure I'll enjoy it with relish.

This past weekend, we celebrated my friend Louise's birthday by going to Tokyo to gawk at parasites, photography, beer, and above all, Deerhoof. The parasites were courtesy of the Meguro Parasitological Museum, the only one of its kind in the world. And by "museum" I mean two floors of an unassuming building in Meguro, filled with parasites jarred and preserved, photographs of people and animals afflicted with said parasites, and a gift shop. It was revolting, and I loved every minute of it. Of the elephantiasis of the testicles, 8.8meter tapeworm, or exploded gerbil, I can't say which was my favorite, but it was grand. And you should have seen the guestbook!

After that we saw a special exhibit of Eikoh Hosoe photographs at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Mostly because my friend Amir is obsessed with Yukio Mishima, and there were some famous photos of him there. But the whole thing was pretty cool, and I hope to go back to the Museum someday, now that I know it exists. Nearby was the Yebisu Beer Museum, which was alright, but kind of uninformative as it was all in Japanese. There was a beer garden inside where you could sample Sapporo beers though.

Then dinner and then to the gig at Shinjuku Loft. Unlike the name suggests, it was in the basement. And it was non-smoking! Ah, it makes such a difference. It was my first real concert in Japan, and I noticed a couple differences. 1) The non-smoking. 2) General politeness and quietness of the crowd. 3) Not obnoxiously scene as it is at home. I probably only saw a handful of scenester looking kids, and they were white, and they were turned away at the door because tickets were sold out, hehe. Although maybe all the Japanese there were scenesters too, but just a different breed. Hmm. 4) The show started pretty much on time. My god. So it isn't too much to ask. 5) The only bands playing were the only ones advertised, Deerhoof and OOIOO. I hate sucky opening bands that get snuck into the lineup. And it finished on time as well, so we didn't miss our train. Although as we were leaving Deerhoof started up a second encore, but oh well. C'est la vie. Overall, it was awesome and worth the 5000¥.

Fast forward to 14 hours later where I was sweating bullets in a Japanese step aerobics class that I thought was only 15 minutes but ended up being 45. Three hours after that, I was stuffing my face with real homemade Indian food at Louise and Amir's. But I had to bike home in the freezing rain, which was terrible. Sigh. Mother Nature, she is a fierce and fickle mistress, isn't she?

Paper Beats All

I have a new blog up, folks :

paper beats all

This little brainchild is a showcase of random visual representations of reality filtered through my twisted imagination (ie. my doodles). I'll try to update it every day, for your bite-sized viewing pleasure.

In case anyone is curious, the title is a reference to the all powerful decision maker and tie breaker that is rock/paper/scissors, or as they say in Japanese: janken. Originally I couldn't come up with an appropriate name for the blog, so I was going to janken with someone for a random name. And here we are; janken came through for me again. I like to think of it as raising the bar for rocks and scissors.

新年おめでとうございます!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you greeted the new year with family and friends and good spirits (interpret the last one as you like). My New Year's Eve was rather low-key; I had some friends over at my house and we counted down as we watched the most bizarre television programs I've ever seen.

New Year's in Japan is a very festive affair, rather like Christmas is at home. People spend time with their families, eat, drink, and visit shrines. After Christmas, the grocery stores begin stocking up on colorful varieties of New Year's foods and decorations made of pine and ferns and bamboo. Unfortunately, most of this pomp is lost on a foreigner like me. In an attempt to understand the traditions, I asked my vice principal what one does on New Year's Eve. She recommended watching the New Year's specials on television (that have been already been recorded weeks in advance). Please watch it, she said, and experience a real Japanese tradition!

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Boy was she right. I've never seen such strange things on television (including normal Japanese programming). Most of the shows had performances by famous pop artists and groups, complete with absurd costumes: frothy creations of hot pink crushed velvet suits (and matching ties), slutty plaid hotpants, and Merlin-meets-Faberge rags/robes. But the most amusing ones were about random, shameless pranks and the unsuspecting victims. As the clock struck midnight, we were quickly distracted by a conductor falling through a trapdoor in the stage, landing on a pile of foam cubes and being mauled by five or six bronzed muscle men in Speedos. They tied him up, carried him to a diesel truck and foisted him on a chair attached to the roof of it, and tied him down. Then the truck drove through a course in the woods where he was assaulted with firecrackers, explosions and water hoses. After all that, they slid him onto the ground where he bounced into a giant pool of jelly, and then approached his crumpled, steaming body for an interview. Another channel had a guy stuffing all sorts of objects into his underpants: utensils, action figures, eggs, dish detergent.

After that we dragged ourselves from under the warm kotatsu and walked to the small shrine by my house. But nobody was there!

For the first day of the new year, today felt like a regular day. Sharla and I ate breakfast, she watched Lost in Translation while I tidied up the kitchen, and then we ate lunch before she went back to Hamamatsu. After I saw her off at the bus stop, I decided to bike to Mishima Hirokoji. I was curious to see Mishima Taisha, the huge shrine.


The mood was like a summer festival. It was crowded, like everyone told me. Food stalls lined the paths to the main part of the shrine, and a huge line reached to the entrance of people waiting to pray. Most of them were families with children or married couples. I didn't stand in line, content as I was to wander aimlessly and observe the crowds. It made me feel a little lonely though, as I had no family or loved ones to share the first day of the new year with.

That or the fact that I watched two Sofia Coppola movies in one day (downloaded Marie Antoinette yesterday) and I'm getting all self-introspective. Or I'm drinking too much wine. Meh. So what did you do on New Year's Eve?

It's the most wonderful time of the year

No posts in a long time. First off, I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season! Whether you celebrated Christmas, Hannukah, Ramadan, Boxing Day or any holiday of your choosing, I hope it was full of peace and happiness.

I ended up having a merry little Christmas as well, which I will go into later. I had an eventful weekend.

Friday night was my school's bonenkai, or end of the year party. One of my teachers told me it was a "forget the year" party, hehe. It was set in a very nice Japanese hotel/onsen in Izu Nagaoka. It was my first time at such a nice place, where they serve traditional onsen foods and set out your futon for you. It was your standard enkai, where everyone was seated in rows (on the floor) in a big private room. There was entertainment, like a "magic" show, an end of the year slideshow, bingo, and prizes. And I'm talking about nice prizes... There was a foot massager, DS Lite, and I was one "janken" away from winning a sweet bicycle! Oh, and there was dancing. By the teachers. And I was in one too....

For those of you imagining the Mean Girls Jingle Bell Rock scene, you can put those thoughts away. Replace Jingle Bell Rock with an old Japanese pop song (that still gets stuck in my head), Regina George with the PE teacher, and slutty Santa outfits with a monkey suit. Well, actually I was the only one in a monkey suit. My friend Wako-chan was a rabbit, but everyone else wore matching 100yen Santa outfits. It was probably one of the most embarrassing things I've had to do, but it marked my initiation as a teacher at Numasho. Everyone was drunk anyway, so I don't regret it.

After dinner we enjoyed the hotel onsen, which meant being naked with all the other women teachers, but I tried not to think about it. My teacher helped me put on a yukata properly. In fact, when we arrived at the hotel, one of the attendants laid out an assortment of colorful yukata for us to choose from. I initially pointed to the green one, but she was like "Eh... chotto..." and gave me the red one instead. She knew her kimono!

Even at midnight, after karaoke and more drinking, many of the teachers went out to get ramen and drink some more. I guess for a year of hard work, they really milk a party for all it's worth. I was too tired to go out, and went to bed. I didn't feel too bad though, as Hiro-chan, school nurse, had stumbled into our room and passed out shortly after dinner. Hahaha.

On Saturday, after a sumptuous Japanese breakfast, I got a ride home and headed out again. I had to take the shinkansen to Nagoya, to visit Jimi and Melissa for Christmas. I think with what we had, we made it the best damn Christmas we could. On the 24th, we headed into the city to see Nagoya Castle, which was the resident of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his family.

We then explored a little bit of downtown in a commercial area called Sakae, before checking out Osu, a covered street mall. As much as we had to remind ourselves it was Christmas Eve, it didn't feel like it at all. It looked like any bustling weekend night, except for the more-than-normal amount of young couples out on their Christmas dates.

On the way back to Melissa's house, we picked up a Christmas cake and 400yen wine from the conbini. After ordering pizza, we watched a burned DVD of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "A Christmas Story." Afterward we ate the cake and exchanged presents. A warm, cozy Christmas, almost as if we had made the whole holiday up.

The next day I made a brief visit to Nagoya Zokie University, the school Mel and Jimi are studying at, and then had to catch the train home. I felt a little bit strange and detached when I got back, though.

Kyoto

This is what happens when I don't update in a while. Things just pile and pile up. It was a whirlwind ten days last week. First a weekend trip to Kyoto, then Mid-Year Seminar in Kakegawa right after, one day at school, and then off to Korea for Thanksgiving.


Kyoto was nice. The weather wasn't on our side though.. It was cold and sometimes drizzly for most of the time we were there (which wasn't very long). And the place was crawling with tourists. Tons of them. Busloads of them. Wave upon wave of Japanese tour groups assaulted us on the bus and at the temples. It's peak autumn season and everyon in Japan has the same idea, which is to go on a pilgrimage see the leaves at the epicenter of Japanese history and culture. We were lucky to book a ryokan only a week in advance... I got about twenty "all booked" replies from most of the places I emailed. Anyway, I have to hand it to the Japanese. In Kyoto, I felt that I truly experienced suffering in silence. Shoulder to shoulder on the bus, squeezing through the crowded streets, getting pushed around by tourist obaa-san, I didn't hear anyone complaining (except me). If we were in America, there would have been a riot.


But the foliage was indeed beautiful, although just getting started really. The first place we went to was Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple. It's hard not to take a good photo of that place, but it's actually quite tacky up close. We visited Ryonji, which has a famous rock garden and clay wall. We saw geisha in bright, bustling Gion district, and we also went to Kiyomizu-dera, the big wooden temple, which has a great view of the hills. And I bought pickles at the famous Nishiki covered street market.


Our last sight was my favorite though, Fushimi Inari Taisha. If any of you have seen "Memoirs of a Geisha" (which we watched the night before going to Kyoto, and whose merits and de-merits I won't go into here) you might remember a scene of young Chiyo running through a corridor made of orange torii (gates). That's Fushimi Inari. Hundreds and hundreds of bright orange gates only inches apart from each other wind up a big hill to the temple at the top, dotted with little shrines and cemetaries on the way. "Inari" means "fox," which is a respected creature with special powers in Japanese culture. There were statues of foxes everywhere, and merchants were selling abura-age tofu, which they say is the fox's favorite food. It's about a 4km hike to the top (Chiyo-chan probably didn't know what she was getting into), so you can imagine how many gates that is. They're all donated too, and replaced every three years. Damn that's a lotta gates! Anyway, it was also the one place that wasn't packed with tourists. We got there early Sunday afternoon, and it was already drizzling. We saw families with young children all decked out in their best kimono for Shichi-Go-San, the holiday where families with children ages 7, 5, and 3 go pray at shrines. I love this about Japan... beautiful surprises when you least expect it.


The rain and silence and un-crowdedness about the gates really had an impression on me. It probably would be glorious at sunset, with dramatic shadows and blazing orange, but there was something about that drizzly, gray day, hearing nothing but birds and rain on the leaves high above our heads, the gentle swish of branches, and sparse footsteps. And those great orange torii, set against the green, green forest.

Our stay in Kyoto was so brief, it was impossible to see everything in that amazing city. I hope I can go back someday.


So, I'm too tired to write about Korea right now, so stay tuned for the next update.

In other news, it's been getting increasingly chilly in these parts. I should be thankful that autumn came late this year, and it's relatively mild for almost December. The colors of the trees are deepening, and it's nice biking to school with a backdrop of colorful hills. But my house tends to retain the cold, just like it retained the heat in summer. I read somewhere that Japanese houses are designed to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. To that, I say bullshit. Japanese houses aren't built to insulate anything (unless if it's in all the wrong ways). I'm starting a dangerous habit of sitting myself under my kotatsu and... not doing anything else for the rest of the night. : (

dust in the wind

Today was another windy day. I kept finding sand in my hair and on the back of my neck.

Despite the blusteriness, it was sunny and slightly warmer, and my house doesn't seem as cold, either. I'm dreading winter though; people have told me stories of how they practically never took off their long underwear for three whole months of winter, other than to wash them. A girl told me on Monday that last year, she stayed in japan for winter break but wished she hadn't because it was just way too cold all the time. I was thinking "um... great."

This morning I had to get an x-ray. All new teachers are required to have this health inspection, and many ALTs have to come to Numazu to get it. Really though, it was an RV parked out in front of the prefectural office, and it took all of two minutes. Still, I didn't have to go in to work until after I got it done, and I got to see a couple ALTs from Izu that I haven't seen in a while. I also got some sweet cards from the stationary store : ) I'm going to go broke on stationary and postcards because they are so adorable here. If you want to perpetuate my impulsive stationary binging and would like a postcard, please give me your address!

So I've decided not to go home for winter. It was a hard decision to make, but ultimately, probably the most practical one. I'm going to miss everyone terribly though, especially when I'm alone on Christmas day.

I've been feeling ambivalent towards the "group" here. I find myself deleting a lot of their emails without reading them, simply b/c I'm tired of the same old stuff. I really couldn't care less about how well their lesson went, or this or that about their school. I have no problem with them in person, but I think the email list gets pretty clique-y. And seeing a certain group of 2nd years at bowling on Friday (last year's ALTs were notorious for being clique-y) not really interacting with anyone else but their own little group, confirmed my distaste for this type of stupid exclusion.

I'm really excited about Kyoto.

So for the first time in... a while, I pulled an all-nighter. And what an all-nighter.


Friday night was dinner at Chukate, and then bowling with Papa-san, Mama-san, Yoshi, Rin, and a whole bunch of us ALTs. I had an all-time hi score of 42! And then an all-time record low of... 14. So I'm not a natural bowler, but that was just warming up. When everyone went home, Jeff and I got dropped off at Numazu station where we loitered around for 2 hours to catch the 2:56 (that's AM) Moonlight Nagara to Tokyo. The plan was to get to Tsukiji Fish Market by 5:30, which is when all the good action starts.

The train was very fast (too fast) and had real seats. We passed out of course, b/c we're getting too old for this staying up late business. An hour and a half later, we were in Tokyo, and by an incredible stroke of luck, I didn't have to pay for my ticket. CHEAPEST TRIP TO TOKYO EVER.

Tsukiji is amazing. At 5:30 in thhe morning, it's already busy busy. It's one of the most famous places in Japan, yet does not cater to tourists at all, b/c it is a real, live, functioning fish market and auction. It doesn't even have a main entrance (that we could make out) and it is not for the faint-hearted. We just had to weave our way through the maze of trucks, industrial buildings and crazy motor carts that the workers drive around. It's get out of the way or get run over; no exceptions, even for tourists. That's a lot to go through, especially if you've woken up/stayed up late and probably aren't at your sharpest.


Anyways, we saw where they auction off fresh and frozen tuna. Those are some big-uns! Lots of fast and spastic Japanese spoken, and oggling tourists. However, it is sad to see one of the worst examples overfishing in the world. They don't throw back the little ones to grow big, and thus there won't be any big ones (or little ones) in the future.


After walking around a little more, squeezing between motor carts, splashing through fishy puddles, we went around looking for breakfast. It was probably 6:30AM too. We found what we were looking for right around the corner in a little alley between buildings. It was called Daiwa, and already there was a line outside the door. Many people say Daiwa is the best sushi restaurant in Tokyo, and therefore quite possibly the world. Being practically in Tsukiji fish market, what more could you want? Jeff said it was the fourth best, but I say it was the best sushi I've ever eaten.

We waited for about half an hour in line with Japanese and foreigners alike. There were some jerks in the front who were holding spaces for their friends who would cut in every now and then, and I had to hold back Jeff from telling them off. We were eventually let in to one half of the restaurant... Imagine two sushi counters on opposite sides of a narrow room, with probably an arms' length of space between. Then split it in half with a wall, and you've got Daiwa. There was literally one foot between the stools and the wall, and you eat your sushi straight off the counter where the sushi chef puts it.



We ordered the omakase, or chef's recommendation, and gobbled up whatever he gave us. 12 pieces of the best fish of my life, I tell you. I can still taste the fatty o-toro (tuna), the creamy-sweet but not fishy uni (sea urchin), and my favorite, the melt-in-your-mouth anago (conger eel), which I later learned is a specialty of that restaurant. They also gave us this crispy, smoky, sweet morsel of what I think was crawfish, still in the shell. God bless Daiwa.

So, I don't remember when we left, but after eating the best sushi in the world, we found ourselves at the Starbucks in Shibuya (the most profitable branch in the world) at 8 in the morning, sipping coffee and watching the umbrella-filled interssection (the busiest one in the world) below us. In the same building, one floor down, was a Tsutaya, where people were already lining up for the release of the PS3. Not a bad day to be in Tokyo.

Needless to say, with our main goal accomplished, I was a zombie for the rest of the morning, and we went home soon around 2PM. Today wasn't too exciting. I bought a ceramic knife, which I'm very impressed with, after nearly slicing off my thumb.