Monday, June 25, 2007

Rainy season

Several days ago, the Japanese national weather service formally announced that the "tsuyu", or rainy season, had begun. Typically lots of rain falls during June and early July. BUT . . . this is apparently not a typical year. There hasn't really been that much rain, and the long-range forecast doesn't predict a lot in the coming weeks either. I heard that's what happens here in a "La Nina" year, which this is supposed to be. The down side, I'm told, is that when the tsuyu is short or otherwise not strong, it's often followed by an unusually hot summer. If you want more information about tsuyu, check this link at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiyu

On Saturday, a group from the church performed as a gospel choir at the large train station downtown. I went to watch and took some pictures and videos which I'll post later. They did great!

We have about four more weeks of school before summer vacation. School is going great, but of course it's fun to have a break. I'm looking forward to my guests that are arriving this summer and fall (see you guys soon!)

I can't remember how much I posted about my garden before; I planted vegetables in garden boxes on the deck next to my room. The kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) died recently (GRR! I think it was just too small of a space for pumpkin) but the tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini are doing pretty well. I've already eaten several cucumbers, which seems strange to someone from Oregon where we usually can't harvest much until later in the year.

Recently, I finally got hit with some culture shock. For me, it manifested only as communication frustration. I really don't have problems with cultural norms, food, etc. here, I just became discouraged from not being able to communicate as much as I wanted with people that speak only Japanese. The positive result is that it motivated me to get more serious with my Japanese language study again, so I've resumed my daily studies, and am feeling much more positive about eventually being able to communicate well.

The church is recording an all-original worship CD that will be released shortly. I was involved in the project and I'm excited to hear the final results soon. More details about that later...

Saturday, June 16, 2007

My first Japanese movie (well, Hollywood movie subtitled in Japanese)

Today I spent the day with a couple of new friends from church. We went to a multiplex theater at a large shopping mall complex on the southeast edge of Utsunomiya. Because we were going to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" which is still drawing pretty large crowds, we bought tickets a few hours before the show. Here it is apparently very common to be able to buy tickets for specific seats in the theater, just as you would for a concert in the US--surprising to me. (Maybe some movie theaters in the US do that, but none I've ever been to.)

After that we went to lunch and had okonomiyaki, which is often referred to as Japanese pizza, although I would call it a savory pancake. It usually has meat and/or seafood mixed into the batter, and is then topped with mayo and a special kind of sauce. Delicious!

At the theater, because I'm a popcorn-aholic (I made a new word like the ones we were talking about, Shouji!) I had to have some for the movie. Popcorn and soda are common snacks at the theater, as in the States, but here in addition to butter/salt and caramel flavors, you can also get curry, Japanese BBQ and beef consommé! I was in the mood for just "regular" popcorn; maybe I'll try something different next time. After getting our snacks, we found the right row and took our seats.

The movie was good, but is MUCH less kid-friendly than the first two; LOTS of violence and I can't really recommend it for young children. If you haven't seen it yet and plan to, don't leave during the credits because there's a "surprise" final scene after the credits end.

Okay, one last piece of my May Tokyo trip: two more links to videos on YouTube. They are both short clips of riding on the shinkansen (bullet train). One is travelling through the suburbs near Oyama, I believe, and the other is travelling a little further south between Oyama and Tokyo. You can see rice fields and country houses whizzing by-hopefully, even though the videos aren't the greatest quality, you can get a feel for how fast the shinkansen goes-it's very amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Y82e_7jfM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VzgxMMx-0Y

Video links

Here are more links to more videos I posted on YouTube. The first one is from my trip to Nikko a few weeks ago. Mondo starts to explain the meaning of the name of the road that goes up the mountain to Nikko then . . . The following four videos are sequential; there's an elevated train near the bay in Tokyo called the Tokyo Teleport. It's all automatic with no driver, and if you're quick (and lucky) you can sit right up front for a great view. Each video is a minute or two long and shows part of the circuit of the train. If you look carefully, you can see several of the buildings and other objects that I posted pictures of recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANZVA2h8_OA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aPYgjwr56o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPGg2nT5DoA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6wbBQYYvPo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDzXA7jo5yA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QliPJvYo_c4

Friday, June 15, 2007

Tokyo Trip Part Five


Next, I have pictures of the Tokyo Big Sight building, which is where the annual Design Festa international art show is held. I visited to surprise my friend/former student Toyo (the video from a previous post) who was exhibiting there. The giant saw is an odd work of art in front of the building, and the last picture is Toyo and his friend Yurie.



My final post about my trip will have links to YouTube videos, but that might take a while to get them all uploaded . . . More later.

Tokyo Trip Part Four

More pictures of Ueno Kouen. There is a zoo there which features pandas (giant and red), tigers, gorillas, and a white rhino. I didn't enter, but am excited to visit with future guests! My picture is just of the entrance, mainly taken as a cultural note to see all the touring school children lining up with color coordinated caps.

The other two pictures contain a short American history lesson: did you know that U. S. Grant visited Japan after his presidency? Neither did I! Again, read the picture of the accompanying sign. I have a picture of the memorial, but exactly which trees Grant and his wife planted (explained in the sign), was very difficult to determine!





Tokyo Trip Part Three

These pictures are of Ueno Toshogu. Visitors are allowed to enter the shrine, but no pictures are allowed inside, so I only have these photos of the outside. The interior isn't large, but it's quite amazing to be able to enter a 350-year-old building that's listed as a national cultural asset! I included pictures of the explanatory signs, so click on those to read information.


Tokyo Trip Part Two

On my trip to Tokyo at the end of May, I also visited Ueno Kouen (Ueno Park), a beautiful place where you could spend an entire day and not see everything. These pictures show a surprising discovery: an atomic bomb memorial in the park. I didn't see it listed in any of the information about the park, and most locals here that see the pictures don't know that it exists either. It is directly in front of the Ueno Toshogu Shrine, which I will show pictures of in the next post. It's difficult to see, even in the close-up of the dove, but in the round space there is a small glass case with a flame burning inside. It's an emotionally moving place, and I was glad I found it since Hiroshima and Nagasaki are very far away, and I might not be able to visit either of the memorials there. Click on the picture of the sign for information about the memorial's history.


Sunday, June 10, 2007

Recent Tokyo Trip Part One

I spent an hour fighting to get pictures placed
next to the right captions last time, so this time
I re-edited the pix with captions inside. We'll
see how this works . . . As always, click on the
picture for a larger view.





Monday, June 4, 2007

ANOTHER earthquake?! and Disco English Class

Yet another tremor this afternoon! I ran over to the school next door and asked the students and Shinya, "did you feel the earthquake just now?" Their response: "What earthquake?" I guess after a while, you don't even notice anymore!

The textbook for one of the high school level classes I teach featured a cultural note about the '70s in the US, with a reading about . . . DISCO, of course! So to complete the experience, and do some practice following spoken directions, the students learned "The Bus Stop" (aka "The California Hustle"). [Very silly, I know, but it's okay to have fun when you're learning!] Here's the link to the video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO-wcR-_eN8

I really am going to post pictures of my Tokyo trip soon!

Saturday, June 2, 2007

More quakin', more shakin'; and my first U.S. visitor

There was another tremor strong enough to shake the house about three days ago, and then another this afternoon. The one today freaked me out a bit because I was looking out the window at the patio, and it was strong enough that I could see the plants in my box garden shaking.

Well, I'm never going to get caught up on my blogging unless I just start with little posts, so here goes: last week Bryan and Mondo visited. Bryan took about four days in Japan on the way to Shanghai on a business trip. Mondo hosted him for much of the time at his house in Chiba, and they stayed here one night. Wednesday evening we went to karaoke-that was a first for me, and an interesting cultural experience. For those that don't know, karaoke in the US many times is performed in front of strangers in a larger group, that is, in the common area of a restaurant. Here it's more common to rent a private room with your friends so you can just be silly together (well, I suppose some people don't do it to be silly, but WE sure did).

Thursday we went to Nikko, an amazingly beautiful place. We spent much of the time looking at nature, including two waterfalls and the lake. We had planned to visit the temple at the site, but by the time we got there, it was closed. Not TOO much of a disappointment, though, because you can still walk around on the grounds outside the main area and see some wonderful structures. And for those visiting me this summer and fall that want to go to Nikko, don't worry, I will still be MORE than happy to go with you; I think it's one of those places I could go to MANY times and never get tired of it (not to mention that there are many areas there that I still haven't seen).







Before we got up to Nikko, we stopped part way up. There's a sort of rest area and gift shop at the point where the funicular railway used to end. You can see it in my picture of the picture. Also at that point, you can ride a short tram up to a viewpoint that's maybe another kilometer higher on the mountain. We decided not to take the time to do it, but I'd like to with some future visitors-who's interested?
After we got back from Nikko we went out to dinner before Bryan and Mondo headed back to Chiba (suburb of Tokyo). Yeah, it's a silly picture, but it's the only one I got . . .

Next up, the Tokyo trip.