Same old, same old.

It's the last week of summer and it's the same-old, same-old. ^_-

School starts on Friday .. huzzah. -_-

I'll have a more interesting post in a few weeks -- everything I just wrote was a lie.. except the school part. ^_^

Photo Update.

I was going through my iPhoto library and found a few photos that I hadn't posted yet. I should back-up my pictures soon -- I'm starting to run out of disk-drive space!


Dead blowfish on the beach.


A friend saying goodbye to James and Shannon in her own special way.


An ingenious way to run water off the roof.

Beautiful Monday!

The 21st of the month always makes me happy. For those in the know, it was a close one! :)

New ALTs

Well, it's been a few weeks since the new ALTs arrived in our office and so far, it's been nice getting to know them. They are all from America and, surprisingly, they all have studied Japanese for at least 3 years or more. Starting from the left is Sheenae (from New York), Donte (from Chicago) and Jon (from Hawaii). They're all adjusting fairly well I think -- both Donte and Jon have lived in Japan before and Sheenae did a semester-abroad in Korea. The first year is always the most daunting I think but I'm sure they'll have a great time. Now, if only we can get through this long and painful summer "vacation". :)

Be it from me to state the obvious but our office resembles a commercial for the United Colours of Benetton than a typical JET ALT Board of Education Office. That being said, I think it's pretty kool.

In other news, Blogger is getting a face-lift so, expect some new layout changes and whatnot sometime soon! I hope it doesn't involve too much HTML or other web-programming script. Drag-and-Drop, please. :)

I've booked my trip to Canada (huzzah!) and Okinawa (huzzah minus the "!") this week. This will be my first time going to a beach-resort type vacation so, I am definitely looking forward to that. I just hope there isn't a typhoon during that week. :\

Anyhow, that's it for now -- have a good weekend.

In the News: II

Well, it looks like he finally did. Prime Minister Koizumi went to Yasukuni Shrine today and fulfilled the promise he made to supporters (one can only assume to ultra-right nationals and other nefarious characters) way back in 2001. Almost immediately there was strong reaction to the visit by both China and South Korea.

Thankfully Prime Minister Koizumi is stepping down this September and almost all his potential replacements -- even the most hawkish ones -- have agreed to show restraint in visiting the shrine in order to improve already-strained relations between China and South Korea over the visits.

There are definitely many sides to this complex issue but let's just hope that whoever replaces Prime Minister Koizumi in September will respond to the wishes of the majority of the Japanese public and not to a politically-motivated, misguided and financially-affluent group of ultra-conservative nationalists.

In the News.

I just ran into this article on the Fukuoka-JET Website. It's a little bit old but an interesting read. It is about a teacher who tormented a grade 4 boy because he had mixed blood. The teacher even went so far as to tell the grade 4 student that because he was "stained", that he should "Die immediately." Also, the teacher is still working for the Fukuoka Prefectual Board of Education -- yup, the same Board of Education that I work for. There is good and bad everywhere -- let's not forget that. Read the article here.

Also, August 15th is coming up for those "in the know". This date might not be significant to most folks but for Japan, and Asia, it is a very significant date. Prime Minister Koizumi promised during his election campaign that he was going to visit Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th (the day Japan surrendered to the Allies) at least once during his tenure. Seeing as he is stepping down this September and he has so far avoided going to Yasukuni Shrine on this particular date, it is almost guaranteed that he will go to Yasukuni Shrine this year on Tuesday, August 15th, to honour the 2.5 million or so Japanese war-dead (including 14 Class-A war criminals). Sometimes I wonder what politicians are thinking -- there will definitely be an update regarding the visit.

Party in the countryside

Harking back to the early days of my university career and the "I'll-never-forget" welcome party in a cornfield, this weekend I went to a party which was, literally, in the middle of rice paddies and a farmhouse. No, this wasn't a rave or anything -- my friend just happens to live in a _very_ rural part of Fukuoka. I have to admit that I was quite surprised when I realized where I was.. but a party is a party and people are people. It was probably one of the most "local" parties' I have ever attended -- and, subsequently, one of the most memorable. I'm looking forward to the next one!

We did a whole bunch of other stuff as well but I wanted to keep this mostly a photo-update. The above picture is from Ueno Park.


A Police-box (or koban). For the rest of my time in Japan, I will try to take more pictures of these -- especially the more interesting-looking ones! This one was also in Ueno Park in Tokyo.


Water hitting a rock.


A plant reaching for the light.


A picture of the roof at my friend's house. The symbol at the crest of the tiles is of "Fuku" or fortune.


A picture of a bike with a cross-shaped safety mirror. Kool!

The Big One.

Hmm, so where have I been? It's not that there hasn't been much happening around here lately -- in fact, it's quite the opposite! I thought summer "vacation" was going to be slow and relaxing.. jeez was I misled. There's been quite a few changes around here -- most notably the arrival of the new JETs. It's been quite the "if you were in my shoes and now I am" experience with the new JETs. I mean, just a year ago I was pretty much in the exact same situation and I can hardly believe that it is _my turn_ to take these new people around and whatnot. How only a single year changes everything, eh?

Well, wanting to show these new people a good time in "the most dynamic city" in Japan (so says Newsweek), we promptly gave them a quick tour of beautiful Fukuoka. We showed them around the city, answered questions for them, taught them how to take the train, introduced them to _real_ Japanese food, but most importantly, we got them drunk (or at least tried to). I think that is the _key_ to surviving in Japan. Whether or not one believes me or not, Japan, and the Japanese, love alcohol. What better way to spend ones' first week in Japan than being lubricated on the social grease that makes Japan Inc. go .. well, go.

Summer in Japan is all about fireworks. Last year nobody really told us new folks that so, we decided to make sure the new ALTs got to see at least one fireworks show this summer season.


Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with the new JETs this weekend because I was asked to do a 3 hour presentation in Tokyo. At first I was hesitant to do any more "extra" work, but when I heard it was going to be another all-expenses paid trip well, a free trip is a free trip, right? I packed my bags on Friday and flew to Tokyo, again, to prepare. The presentation itself went OKAY I guess. I was pretty nervous during the beginning of the presentation but relaxed some as soon as things got rolling. All in all, it was a good learning-experience and will prepare me for another demonstration lesson I will have to do in October.

However, being in Tokyo again meant I could check out some places that I never got a chance to see the previous times I visited there. My first stop: Yokohama. The second largest city in Japan, home to two of the world's largest department stores, the tallest tower in Japan, the largest Ferris wheel and, according to a local resident, home to Japan's largest and the world's cleanest, Chinatown. Yup, Yup and Yup.


The Chinatown isn't exactly like the Chinatown back in Toronto. It is definitely a fusion of Japanese and Chinese elements with some not-exactly-Chinese-but-I-can-see-why-the-Japanese-would-think-it-is-Chinese thrown in as well. The food was pretty good as well. Again, not exactly like the stuff in Hong Kong or China, but good enough.


Heading back to my hotel after spending the entire day exploring Yokohama, I stumbled upon a random street festival close to my hotel. This is where Japan really shines, I think. For no reason at all (well, there probably is but for argument sake let's just say there isn't), the Japanese like to close streets, set up Taiko drums, food stalls and tents, and then dance throughout the night. It was awesome.


One building I had failed to go to during my previous stays in Tokyo was the Tokyo Metropolitan Building in Shinjuku. This is a _massive_ building in the very heart of Tokyo. Just looking at it scares me.


The great thing about this building is that it offers spectacular views of the city -- for free. Imagine trying to find your house in that mess!


For 360 degrees, and as far as the smog permitted one to see, it was all concrete. Sure, occasionally one would see a green shrub sticking out from in between the buildings -- a weed in Tokyo's urban landscape no doubt. No wonder they call this a World City. Absolutely unbelievable.


After taking a few day shots of the city, I would have to pair it with some night shots. That meant I had to somehow kill a few hours. So, I headed to Ueno Park to see if there would be anything interesting to snap photos of. To be honest, there wasn't really anything that spectacular. There was one shrine that caught my interest but the rest of the park was pretty boring. Needless to say I didn't stay long and eventually ended up in Shibuya just people-watching.


And this is Tokyo by night. My camera isn't the greatest when it comes to night shots and the glare from the lights inside the Tokyo Metro. Building ruined a lot of shots but, hopefully you can see just how far the lights stretch. Amazing.


Another night shot. Again, I fiddled around with the settings on my camera but it was difficult to capture the image just the way I wanted. Maybe I should upgrade, eh? :)

Anyhow, that's it for this post. I'll post some more pictures of my trip as soon as I organize them and clean them up some.