さよなら and Happy Holidays

It's been a busy couple of weeks at work, but my first trip back to Canada since I came to Japan has finally arrived; needless to say, I'm looking forward to it. There will be no blog updates until I get back. Take care everyone.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

皆さん、クリスマスおめでとう！恭賀新年！
じゃ、またね。

Winter in Japan: II

Winter in Japan just plain sucks. Today I got no less than 6 emails, in the morning, on my keitai commenting on how terribly cold it was. Indeed, I think winter has definitely arrived in Fukuoka.

Some of you probably can't understand how me, being Canadian and all, can't tolerate the cold. Well, I can actually; I do it pretty well I think. Being cold doesn't really bother me but it's the constancy of it in Japan that does. Meaning, one is -always- cold. At school, or in the office and, perhaps the least pleasant, at home. Our apartments were simply not made for spoiled North Americans. Central-heating doesn't really exist in Japan and insulation is only a luxury available to those in Hokkaido and Tohoku. What that essentially boils down to is this: The only thing separating me and Jack Frost is a rather thin veil of cement (see above).

In ancient Persia, a type of structure known as a yakhchal was used for storing snow and ice during the summer months -- an early form of refrigeration, if you will. In Japan, similar structures also existed (copied from ancient China of course) and have survived in what is more commonly known as a Fukuoka JET jutaku.


Recently, a friend asked me if I could take some pictures of Japan. I thought to myself, "What the heck have I've been posting on my blog?!" After some probing, he meant just regular photos of Japan -- nothing fancy, or special or "artsy". Just, you know, Japan. Point well-taken, here you go.


The above picture is from my keitai-camera. I would like to try mobile blogging but as of this post, Blogger doesn't support mobile blogging outside of the US. I guess I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way for now.

9 days to go~

Test Time!

So, tomorrow is the day I get to offically measure my Japanese Language ability. I'll be writing the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) tomorrow and I don't have much confidence I'll pass.
But, we'll see.. 頑張ります〜！

And it begins~

I was going to hold off until December 1st to start counting down the days till I head back to Canada for Christmas but, what's one more extra day, eh? 15 Days and counting.. :)

Click on the flag to learn more about Canada!

And I thought this was over..

Another student in Yamagata Prefecture has jumped to her death in what appears to be another bullying-related suicide. However, the focus of the newspaper article wasn't about the bullying problem itself, or the conditions that led to her suicide rather, the article focused on the conduct of the school staff following the incident (they went partying).

The superintendent of the school board told reporters that the reason he didn't cancel the event was because nobody suggested it. Pretty lame if you ask me.

As a foreigner working in Japan, while I disagree with how Japanese officials handle certain situations, it is not my place to act self-righteous or arrogant and respond in a way that certain individuals or "an employer" would regard as inappropriate. No foreigner can, or should, intervene in what is, without a doubt, a domestic problem.

Ultimately, the recent string of bullying-related suicides is a Japanese problem and only the Japanese people can find a solution to it that they're comfortable with. So far, however, it seems that Japanese officials are more "comfortable" behaving the same way they always have (the media as well) and until there is enough civil response demanding otherwise, nothing will change (Japan is a democracy after all.. well, sort-of .. but that's for another post).

I sincerely hope that something meaningful will come from all this. The fact that so many students felt it was necessary to end their lives because of this specific problem is not only unsettling, but tragic. You can read the full article HERE.

Japanization

It's been awhile since I went to my Saturday morning Japanese class. While I'm thankful for all the cultural stuff they organize, waking up early on a Saturday isn't exactly something I'm gung-ho about nowadays (Saturday is usually the only day I can sleep-in because, for some reason, I've had to work on quite a few Sundays this year.. unbelievable!). That being said, I promised my Japanese language teacher that I would attend class today because he was going to lead the class in making soba noodles.


Some tools of the trade. To be honest, I didn't really make soba today. Instead, I spent the morning photographing other people making soba. I used to think to myself, "Isn't it better to actually -do- something rather than just take a picture of it?" That's a good question, eh? Somebody wanna help me out? :)


After we, or rather, my cooking-mates finished making the soba, it was promptly cooked and served, slightly chilled, with a special soba soy-sauce. I know a lot of foreigners that despise cold soba noodles but I actually like the stuff.


After class I headed to the cultural capital of Kyushu: Daizaifu. I wanted to get an early start on some Christmas shopping and my friend recommended that I check out the main street in Daizaifu for some "Japanese-y" stuff. However, that wasn't my only reason for going there. The other reason I wanted to go to Daizaifu was to check out Komyozenji temple featured on my friend Shannon's blog awhile back. I felt her photos of the place didn't do it justice so, I decided to rectify that (lol.. I'M JOKING.. I would never have known about this place if it wasn't for Shannon :)


The temple, and the zen garden, was spectacular. All my comments about Japan being one giant concrete playground I will retract -- for now.


Just testing the depth-of-field setting on my camera. Practice, practice, practice!


I received this email last week from a fellow Canadian. I think somebody has been in Japan for far too long and definitely needs to go back home for a little bit. And if you're curious about the part of the message that I blotted out, it was an inappropriate comment about "other" people and therefore, entirely inappropriate for this blog. :)


平穏無事

Sumo

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Japan. I've asked Japanese people what they do on Thanksgiving or what is the cultural significance of this day and so far, I have yet to come across a meaningful response. Most say it is just another holiday and therefore, they don't have to go to work (although some will still go!). I guess it is no different for Canadians when one mentions "Boxing Day" or "Labour Day". I bet most Canadians don't know the cultural significance of either of those days.

However, I wasn't going to let this holiday go to waste so, I had planned a trip to the yearly Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka.


Interestingly enough, most Japanese people I've talked to have never been to Sumo. Although it -is- the national sport of Japan, I think baseball is -far- more popular here (especially for the younger generation).


The matches are about 10-15 minutes each. However, the vast majority of that time is spent "posturing" or mentally preparing for the fight which, from what I've observed, last no more than a few -seconds-. Needless to say, it is not the most exciting sport in the world (well, neither is baseball but hey, that's just me. :)


I couldn't figure out what they were doing but my initial reaction was that they were preparing to play "Janken" (Rock, scissors, papers for those of you that don't know Japanese). I think I've been teaching elementary school children for far too long.


At the end of the tournament, mayhem ensued! People started throwing their seat-cushions towards the stage! It was absolute chaos! I'm joking. Actually, I was told beforehand this would occur and that it is a tradition, at least in Fukuoka, to do so.

Enjoy the videos!

文化祭 / Culture Festival

Today I went to my school's Culture Festival. Culture Festival is like a school concert in Canada; there is music, singing, plays, speeches, etc. It was a pretty standard festival: lots of group activities (individual performances?! No way~), humour (which, thankfully, is universal some of the time), choral competition (compulsory and free categories, of course), certificate-giving (lots of bowing there), crying (it seems Japanese people are allowed to cry only in two situations: during school ceremonies and at the end of sports events) and really cheesy presentations (someone cue the background piano music, please; I mentioned this observation to my JTE and she didn't look too happy.. haha~). And all of this sandwiched between layers and layers of suit-and-tie formality.

Despite all this, I still think it was worth going to. Culture Festival is another one of those "Japanese things" that every person in Japan does from elementary school to the end of high school. Although the Cultural Festival wasn't as student-led as Sports Day was, many of the presentations and whatnot were completely created and performed by the students. I'm just glad I got to experience and partake in some of the festivities today (I was interviewed on stage for a little bit and I helped judge the singing competition) despite it being a -Sunday-. Thank goodness for "compensatory days" (I'm not 100% sure of the English equivalent for 代休).

Oh yea, it's -cold- nowadays! I was literally freezing my arse off in the gym during the festival! Brr~ That's another thing I'll be looking forward to in Canada: central-heating. :)

Please be patient with the video. It is a 4-minute clip of the Taiko performance. Taiko drumming is probably one of the koolest, and definitely one of my favourite things, about Japan.

Photo Update

I haven't done a photo update in awhile so, here are some of my favourite photos of the past month or so.. well, actually, these are the photos still on my computer after burning most of them onto DVD a few weeks ago. I'll have to do some digging to showcase some more.

The photo featured above is probably the sharpest/clearest image I have of the famous JAL hotel (well, just the logo actually) in Fukuoka at night. My camera takes terrible night shots and seeing as I don't have a tripod, when I stumbled upon this photo I was pleasantly surprised it turned out so well.


This shot is of the giant Ferris wheel at Kagoshima Station.


Ever play Super Mario Bros. 2 (for the original NES .. I'm talking old-skool people) and wonder what those white turnip things were? Well, here's the answer: Giant Daikon! Everything makes sense now. The photo-effect was to simulate the desert world in the game. :)


A day at the park. This photo looked pretty chaotic in colour so, I applied the B&W-effect to try to focus it a little bit. I'm not sure if I like the end result but it'll suffice.

Kyushu: Complete

I finally did it. 1.5 years after arriving in Japan, more specifically Kyushu, I managed to visit every prefecture on -my- island. Over the weekend I headed down to Kagoshima to check out, what the local JETs call, "The Kag".


It was an awful 4-hour bus ride down but it was well worth it once we got there. Kagoshima is far more countryside than Fukuoka but it definitely has its charms. The sun felt a little bit more direct and the temperature fluctuated greatly between the night and day; but, for the most part, it was great weather all weekend.


Unexpectedly, we stumbled upon this sign while in Kagoshima. We never quite found this "Canada Place" but for a second, and I mean just a second, it felt like we were in Canada.


This building looked terrible during the day. It was old, weathered and dilapidated -- in other words, it looked like any other Japanese building (minus the obvious European architectural influence). However, by night it was somehow transformed into quite the masterpiece.


Ever see the Last Samurai? (obviously James hasn't or he'd realize what a great movie it is!) Well, this guy is the real deal. Apparently there is some dispute within Japan as to whether he is originally from Kagoshima or Kochi (on Shikoku Island) but, seeing as Kagoshima has a statue erected in his honour, I'm gonna go with Kagoshima.


No trip to Kagoshima would be complete without seeing Sakurajima Volcano -- Kagoshima's most famous landmark. This is one of the world's most active volcanoes and, despite my hoping it would spew some ash or lava to enhance this shot, it remained pretty quiet during our stay. When we got on Sakurajima we rented bikes and rode around the island for a couple of hours. The weather was, as you can see, perfect.


You can find the weirdest crap in Japan -- this being one of them. I have absolutely no idea what or why this statue is on Sakurajima. I'm sure there is a story behind the construction of this -thing- but none of us could make out the Japanese enough to understand it. Nonetheless, it was interesting. I call this photo: Rock Star. Haha~


I can explain this photo. I was trying to give the -illusion- that I was carrying the mountain (you know, like the Greek god Atlas) -- but, it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. Obviously I blame the camera-person. :) My next attempt will be at Mt. Fuji.


All in all, I had a great time in Kagoshima. It had been well over a month since I travelled somewhere in Japan and I was getting restless. Next stop: Canada. In exactly one month from today, I will be heading back to Canada for the holidays. I can't really say I miss home (I actually miss -real- Western and Chinese food more than anything else.. lol, I'm such a glutton) but I am looking forward to seeing everybody and everything again as well. :)

New Direction?

After 12 years, the Democrats have finally managed to take control of the House of Representatives; and, if things go the way they seem to be going, the Democrats might even seize control of the Senate as well. Talk about a shift in power. Let's not be naive and assume that there will be a monumental shift in policy but, this change certainly speaks volumes of Bush's second-term in office. American politics, while never boring, certainly got a lot more interesting.

Karatsu Kunchi / 唐津くんち

This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend Karatsu Kunchi -- a three-day festival in Saga Prefecture. This festival reminded me of Fukuoka/Hakata's own Yamakasa Festival except it wasn't as big. Nonetheless, the streets were still packed and there was definitely a lot of energy and excitement going around.


Surprisingly, each float takes about two or three years to complete and costs about 150 million yen each!


Each float is pulled along a parade route by about 100 people. Most of the adults pulling the floats were drunk and everybody was chanting "Enya, enya, enya!". I'm not entirely sure what it means but I guess it's just a traditional Japanese chant.

Below is a clip of all the floats in the parade.



And here is a clip of the actual parade.

Work, work, work!

My office likes to hold meetings. Lots and lots of meetings. Usually there are at least one or two (sometimes three or four!) meetings a month for us "Fukuoka Board of Education" ALTs. I'm not always sure what we're supposed to be doing or why we need to have so many but it just seems like these meetings are an integral part of Japanese business-culture. There are welcome meetings, pre-event meetings, post-event meetings, mid-term meetings, workshop meetings, monthly meetings, school meetings and, my favourite, drinking meetings. Heck, I have a meeting next week so we can discuss what we need to talk about during our next, and arguably more important, meeting! i.e., A meeting about a meeting! Who would've thought that was possible .. :)


Some of us sorting hand-out material for yesterday's meeting -- a job that could have been done by one or two people but, for some reason, required four. That was definitely a "Yep, I'm in Japan," moment. Enjoy the long weekend!

Update: Doh!

So, it appears the situation regarding some public high schools and boards of education not teaching their senior high school students basic World History/Japanese History is finally starting to show some progress. The results of the preliminary inquiry were revealed today in the Lower House and measures to ensure that affected students would be able to graduate in March were being considered. Also, a principal in Ibaraki Prefecture, in typical Japanese-style, has committed suicide because of this scandal. You can read the article HERE.

Funny Quote

I was reading a 'Wired' news feature today and came upon this quote that I found absolutely hilarious: "Atheism is like telling somebody, 'The very thing you hinge your life on, I totally dismiss.'" You can read, if you're interested in that sort of thing, the article HERE.

Happy Halloween!

Doh!

So, it seems like some of the top high schools in Japan have deprived their graduating students basic knowledge about the world around them. And I quote: "Most of the schools are the top academic performers in their regions and have told their boards of education that they focused on the subjects required for university entrance examinations, omitting those they felt were unnecessary." The "unnecessary" subject(s) being World History and/or Japanese History.

LOL. As a (former) History student, obviously I find this latest development hilarious. I'm glad the Ministry has stepped in and is seeking an explanation from the local boards as to how and why something like this could occur. I'm also hoping some sort of punishment will be handed out -- but, alas, I won't bet on it.

As always, it is the students that will suffer in the end because nobody feels the need to do anything about anything until it's too late (is this a reoccurring theme or what?). You can read the full article HERE.

In other news, newly-minted Prime Minster Abe has declared that one of the major goals during his tenure as PM is to overhaul the education system in Japan. I think this could be a good thing. His intentions are clearly right-wing but I don't necessarily consider "patriotism" or "love for the nation" harmful in of themselves.

Let's face it, Japan is not a multicultural country. 99% of the people living in Japan are Japanese so, why -shouldn't- the education system reflect the values and beliefs of its overwhelmingly homogeneous inhabitants? While I think "nationalism" can, and is often used, as a tool to manipulate citizens, it also has the potential to cultivate a genuine respect for the home country. While I think there are a lot of problems/issues that need to be examined carefully (e.g., textbook reform), I'm just glad that PM Abe is doing -something-. You can read the full article HERE.

Oh yea, my favourite part of the article: "..the current education system is responsible for everything from flagging academic and physical skills to eroding morals and even violent crime, not to mention classroom chaos." Well, at least they didn't blame us foreigners! I'm referring mostly to the violent crime part although, I admit, we do tend to cause a lot of classroom chaos! :)

In the News.

I just finished chatting with a former-JET friend over IM and she told me that one of her students recently committed suicide because he was being bullied at school. School bullying in Japan is a very common phenomenon and Japan has the highest student-suicide rate in the industrialized world. The problem is so prevalent that even children, from as young as elementary school, have committed suicide.

However, this situation is a little bit different from a typical school bullying because the main perpetrator was not another student, but his homeroom teacher. How twisted is that? I want to say that this is an unusual situation but, from what I've witnessed at school, I can't say for certain that it is. Heck, even I've been "picked" on at school occasionally by other teachers (I find it amusing when teachers talk about me, right in front of me, and assume I have no idea what's going on). But I just figured it was because I was part of the "out-group" and that's what some Japanese people do (not all, just some).

Now, imagine -being- Japanese and being cast into this same "out-group"; for a student, it must be like being labelled the ALT or local town jester (those two terms seem to be interchangeable in many cases).

Anyways, this story really hit close to home because of the situation and persons involved. My friend used to work in Chikuzen-machi and the school the student attended was Miwa Junior High School. A really tragic story. You can read the full story HERE and the editorial HERE.

Geek-worthy

Let's face it, I'm a techno-geek. I apologize in advance if this post bores most of you but, I finally -- after many months of bugging the clerks at Yodobashi Camera -- got my Nintendo DS Lite! Naturally I'm using it as a "study" tool (*coughs*) and the occasional game. :) The games are fairly cheap in Japan and it can also play older, Nintendo Advance games. Needless to say, I'm quite pleased with the purchase.

In other techno-news, I just read that the PS3 will not only support region-free movies but also, region-free -GAMES-. Well, that pretty much settles it for me. I'll probably pick one up on my way out of Japan since they are/will be cheaper here.

Anyways, that's it for now! I'll try to refrain from posting anymore geek-related news for awhile.. :)

Fire for the Soul

I had the good fortune this weekend to go to a live-music concert featuring none other than a local high school Japanese English Teacher (JTE for those in the know..). It was unfortunate I was unable to get any good shots (I blame the camera and the cameraman!) of the show but I've uploaded a clip for your enjoyment. It's pretty amazing some of the hidden talents and hobbies people, especially Japanese teachers', have. I say "especially Japanese teachers'" because I rarely see them outside of work and therefore, I don't normally associate them with anything besides teaching. It was a pleasant surprise.


While I was heading home that evening, I ran into an amateur comedy troupe in the middle of the train station. I -think- they were hired by 'Lotte Burgers' and were doing an advertising campaign for the new store in Tenjin but, after they had finished the advert, they started doing their own act. I didn't understand 90% of the jokes they were telling but, judging from the response of the crowd, it was -- apparently -- very funny.


Enjoy the show!

Try this at home.

What, you don't do this at home?

Autumn BBQ

One of the best things about living in Fukuoka is that it doesn't really get -that- cold here. Well, maybe it's because I'm used to a lot worse but even now, in the middle of October, it's still a balmy 25 degrees during the day. Granted, during the "winter" months our apartments are rather chilly (I blame that on the lack of central-air and cement exterior than the actual outside temperature) but, it's nothing compared to the -20 degree days I've experience back in Toronto.


We ate beef, steak, fish-things, veggies, hash browns, chicken and, as you can see from above, squid!


I was trying to impress my friend with my stone-skipping ability when this kid came out from nowhere and basically embarrassed me. *sigh*


This is my friend Kaori who will be going to Toronto with her boyfriend for a one-year working holiday visa at the end of October. I couldn't believe it when she told me. I hope you have a great time in Toronto and we'll meet up at xmas! :)


My favourite photo that weekend. I call it: Water-chair. Haha.

2 Months!

I got an email from Jamie on my keitai this morning that said, "two months!" Indeed, in exactly 2 months I'll be on an airplane back to Canada for a nice 3-week vacation. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody again and I can't wait to eat some real Western and Chinese food again.

Anyways, that's it for now. Enjoy the weekend!

P.S. I think I figured out how to embed video onto my blog (it was actually a lot easier than I thought .. I just have to copy and paste! haha). The video is from the Fukuoka Dance Festival I ran into last week.

Fukukoi Asia Dance Carnival / ふくこいアジア祭り

I was walking around in Hakata on Sunday, not expecting there to be anything going on when, to my surprise, a ran right into a festival! The festival was basically a dance competition where participants, from all over Japan and Asia, come to Fukuoka to "Bring it on!" (I hope I'm not infringing on any copyright there.. haha!)


It was a pretty kool festival and I'm just glad I remembered to bring my camera with me that day.


This group had an especially interesting costume and dance routine. I took a video of their dance and will try to upload it in my next post. I'm currently trying to learn how to embed video on my blog (e.g., the Jay Chou video) but it's taking some time. Gimme a week!


Even these obaasan's got into the action. It was awesome.


At the end of the competition after they had announced this year's winner, a giant group-dance, involving all the participants, proceeded to occur. It was a mix of traditional/modern music and, this part intrigued me the most, everybody seemed to know exactly what to do! Sometimes I think Japanese people are truly psychic -- at least amongst each other.