and a Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

I decided since I couldn’t justify returning home because I was a little short of up-front cash I would spend the holidays Japanese style. And what better way to do that than with my old host family up in Sendai? So I went on what turned out to be an amazing adventure wherein I got to experience about a full half of Japan in all it’s splendor during the 12 day break I managed to obtain. I’ll try to explain how everything went down since it really turned into a miracle near the end on account of all of this kind of went without a plan.

The view of Mt. Fuji from the car. YAY clear skies!

On December 24^th, E (who lives in Beppu) and I got on a ferry that would take us to Osaka. This is the same ferry I rode with K only a few months ago, the overnight one, so I knew the drill pretty well. The sea was little rough but we passed through without any major hitches. Arrived in Osaka the next morning - Christmas morning - at around 7:30, and made the split decision to spend the day in Kyoto and took a local train, which got us in around 9AM. Went first to kinkakuji (the golden temple) since it turns out E has never been to Kyoto despite having lived in Japan for a year and a half and I decided it was most important for her to see that one. I thought we should continue on foot to the next place since the bus had taken FOREVER to get us to that side of town and since ryoanji (a famous rock garden) was the closest, we went there. Turns out the map wasn’t anywhere near to scale though and so we just walked for what seemed like forever down the cold streets of Kyoto until we finally stumbled upon it almost an hour later. The rock part wasn’t that impressive but the garden leading up to the main event was so beautiful. I took a ton of pictures of that but that was about all of the pictures I took in Kyoto. :-/

The golden temple on  my 3rd visit. LOVE Kyoto!

We tried to make it to nijojou (Nijo castle) but it closed at four and we didn’t get there until about 4:20. So, since the international manga (Japanese word for comic books) museum was nearby, we decided to visit it instead. It actually turned out to be really cool despite both of our peripheral/microscopic interest in manga and I was quite impressed with the whole experience.  You can actually just sit in there and read the whole time if you like since it is like the world’s biggest comic library but we only had an hour until closing so we spent our time looking through the exhibits.

Shrine outside of the rock garden

Earlier in the day we had actually planned to take an overnight bus back to Tokyo that evening since we didn’t have anywhere to stay and didn’t feel like finding lodging so we headed back to the station to catch the train after finishing up with dinner. Christmas dinner, by the way, turned out to be buttery pasta from a faux Italian restaurant located in mall. I guess it could have been worse? I mean Christmas morning breakfast was sandwiches and was eaten standing against a wall in the dirty subway station. No worries though, the meals I ate for the rest of the trip more than accounted for it!

The bus was uneventful but exhausting. After two days of overnight and not remotely comfortable travel, we arrived in Tokyo on the 26^th a little worse for the wear and plum exhausted. Unable to find a public bath of any kind and with all the internet cafes crowded to the max despite the early hour (6AM!), we crashed on the floor of the train station in a remote corner while we waited for a convenience store to open so we would have somewhere to eat breakfast. With food in our bellies, luggage in a locker and directions to a discount ski shop in tow, we headed back into the big city feeling at least a little brighter if not much cleaner - we dressed and washed our faces in a handicap bathroom until a group of officers came and, politely, removed us to allow an actual handicapped person into the bathroom. We spent the day in and out of stores and malls just enjoying the city and met an old friend from UF who lives in the area for lunch.

Rock garden

She hung with us for the rest of the day and we went to this amazing restaurant for dinner. Unable to find Mexican (my suggestion) we decided on an okonomiyaki (huge omelets cooked on an open grill filled with veggies and meat) restaurant instead. Unable to decide what to order because we wanted to eat everything we ordered four entrees and split them all three ways. One was traditional okonomiyaki, one was yakisoba (grilled noodles with sauces and veggies and meat) one was a green onion filled cake-like contraption made of dough and the last was a mix of the cake and okonomiyaki but soft and watery (we were told it was once a dessert course in Tokyo). Everything was superb!

Pretty lake at rock garden

Finishing dinner didn’t leave us with anywhere to stay that night since the friends S had recommended kind of forgot about us and didn’t get around to calling me back until around 10. Luckily my old UF friend offered us her place for the night and after a stressful morning (we didn’t watch the time well) I managed to get on yet another bus, this time headed to Nagoya to meet a very old friend, and E on a train back to Osaka for the ferry.

Once in Nagoya I met up with my friend, finally met her husband (she was married a year and a half ago and I had yet to meet him) and had a peaceful evening catching up and exploring a bit of Nagoya. The next morning we left early for the 10-hour drive to Sendai. On the way, I made sure to taste the famous food from every place we stopped and took pictures of the snow as we approached the Northern end of country. I actually got the see just about all of the Eastern coast of Japan - including Mt. Fuji finally! I actually really lucked out with him because it was an amazingly clear day without a cloud in the sky and I got some remarkable photos. This driving trip was really what made the vacation so special, among other things, because I felt like I got to see a side of the country few foreigners experience; like doing a cross-country road trip in America!

Pretty light through the trees

Sendai didn’t disappoint and I enjoyed a supremely relaxing vacation. In college, I often went home at least once a month just to take a break and see my family (who I missed dearly and do now as well ;-() but it made me realize I had lived the single, independent life nonstop for five months since coming to Japan. Endless days of dishes, laundry, cleaning and cooking in my lonely, cold apartment. In Sendai though, my old host mom made sure I was exempt from all of that. I tried to help her often but she would bluntly refuse saying I needed to relax. She even had a drier so I got to put my jeans and socks in it... they are so fluffy and soft now I don’t want to wear them LOL. She also way over-fed me. I put on some weight, over which I have mixed feelings but that’s neither here nor there. Guess it was bound to happen since the marathon is over - oh well. On to the next challenge!

Me and my host mom outside the Sendai light display

Some of the days were spent running errands with my host dad since mom had to work most mornings. When she got home she joined us or we sat around and watched TV together - something I also haven’t done in months as I rarely watch it at home. I arrived in Sendai on the 28^th and it doesn’t get good until the 31^st so I will skip ahead to then. The day of the 31^st was pretty uneventful except that I got to go play pachinko (Japanese slot type gambling) with my oldest host sister since we went out to dinner together and I mentioned I had never played. We didn’t actually go to the pachinko parlor because it’s really expensive and you are likely to lose but she took me to a gaming center where she sponsored me to play for an hour or so. I lost. It was interesting though, and I have noticed a lot of my colleagues often go so I am glad I tried it so at least I know what it’s about when they mention it. We also went into a pet shop, which hones in my theory that Japanese people treat animals terribly.  I know that is a vast generalization and I am sure there are a large number of people who are Japanese and love and care for their pets as much as any other person and I am sure there are other countries where they are treated the same if not worse, but I am constantly stunned by how sad these animals look. The dogs and cats in the cages were all under the age of 6 months (anything older and my host sister said they wouldn’t be adopted so they get ‘discarded’ - I wasn’t quite sure what that meant) and were in a stimulus free environment lacking everything except water and a small carpet in their little glass cages. Some of them were eating their own poop because they were so bored. I won’t address this anymore except to say I really don’t like going to Japanese zoos or pet stores because they make me really sad.

Squid!

When we got home, we watched some TV programs counting down to the New Year. Japanese TV is worth a whole nother entry so I will suffice to say that it is entertaining like a train wreck - you just can’t look away.

Once midnight struck, we ate toshikoshisoba (New Year’s buckwheat noodle soup) together - just me and my older host sister because mom and dad were sleeping. The next morning I woke up to zouni (soup with soft rice cakes, herbs, fish eggs and Japanese vegetables) which I shared with my host dad. Lunch was tempura that my host mom made when she got home from work then we went to the shrine to do hatsumode (you visit a shrine on New Years and draw a fortune [omikuji] which is suppose to predict how lucky you will be for the rest of the year). I drew the lowest of the lucky and so did mom but dad drew the most lucky. Mine is actually really bad in all the areas applicable to me like studying and love so I may go back sometime this week and draw another. I also bought a studying charm to try and help me overcome the troubles it predicted. Not that I know if I believe in this stuff but I figure I can use all the study help I can get LOL.

Setting up the table for New Years

zouni

The fish eggs on top of zouni

toshikoshisoba

hiramenonizakana

Dinner was a feast reminiscent of Christmas dinner at home in the completely Japanese way. We had chawanmushi (a type of creamy soup tasting vaguely of doughy rice and soy filled with onions and mushrooms),

hiramenonizakana (a flat fish eaten raw after being soaked in soy sauce - it is especially valued if it is female and the ovaries are filled with eggs like ours were and suffice to say I am not a fan),

lots of sashimi including sudaco (raw, sour octopus leg) which is now my favorite fish ever,

osechiryouri (a New Years style bento filled with things like grilled eggs, meat, black beans, Japanese vegetables and pickles), 

and of course mochi (a universally eaten New Year’s ‘sweet’ which is rice ground into a patty and allowed to harden over a few days then grilled, dipped in soy sauce and wrapped in seaweed - it’s awesome).

osechiryouri

chawanmushi

sudako

mochi

There was also a lot of drinking - strictly with the Japanese fashion. In fact I think every night of my visit at least one family member was drinking and toasting. I even go to try nihonshu (the Japanese version of vodka); its good but has a really strong kick.

The night of our feast, my middle host sister came to the house with her husband and their newborn. He is just about the cutest baby I have ever seen. I wanted to snuggle him until my nose fell off. Luckily his mom wanted him to become a ‘global baby’ (something about hoping he will be really skilled in English if I held him and spoke to him in English)so I got to hold him for a long time. I found out Japanese women breastfeed their babies anywhere. They carry shawls and just whip them out and plop down on a bench and unbutton their shirts when the baby is hungry. No looking for bathrooms or dark corners here! It’s possible this happens in America but I never noticed it.

hiramenonizakana in the shop

On the 2^nd with dad, middle sister and her husband we battled the crowds and went out to do some shopping. The after New Year’s sales are the equivalent of black Friday in America and everyone has huge sales. She bought some baby stuff and I just bought a pair of ‘heated’ tights since at this point I was out of space completely in my bags between the omiyage (souvenirs) I had to bring back for my coworkers (another Japanese custom) and the presents I received from my friends (a big puffy jacket for use in the house since there is no central heating). The crowds weren’t anything like the ones I have battled at 5AM in the outlet malls in America though so I wasn’t at all bothered by all the people; especially since I had just spent a few days in Tokyo being packed into every available space on the sidewalk.

My fortune

I left of the morning of the 3^rd to head back to Nagoya with my friend and her husband and the traffic was so bad we were on the road over two hours longer than our trip up. Luckily there is TV in the car though so I got to finish watching ekiden (a huge relay-type race - there are various versions but the one I was watching was 20 teams of 5 college students each running 20k of a 100k race up a mountain. They raced down the mountain on the 3^rd so I wanted to see the conclusion since I had spent all morning of the second watching the beginning). The 4^th I took a few trains back to my final destination - home.

The shrine where I drew my fortune

Overall, I saw some amazing things, ate some amazing things, and got to relax and enjoy myself at the care of loving friends and a pseudo-family. It snowed, which was awesome so I made a snowball and I even ran in the snow. Well, I was running and it started snowing but same difference. I caught up on my reading and even finished my Christmas packages to mail home (maybe today?). Doesn’t make me miss my family less or wish any less I had gone home for Christmas - but I definitely did the best I could since I chose to stay in Japan. Thanks friends and ‘family’ and LOVE.

'Tis the season to be... drunk?

Middle school drinking party in Nov.

As it’s enkai (drinking party) season now I felt like this update should be focused on one of the most intriguing aspects of Japanese business culture I have stumbled upon yet - drinking parties.

 Shall we start with a quick life update? It snowed today! I have been telling people I have never seen snow before but that’s not entirely true since I saw it in DC once on a high school field trip and I have since seen it melting on pavement in various cities and the one time I went skiing. But for all intensive purposes, I have never experienced the snow earned through short, cold days and leaves changing and seasons. I saw that snow today. It started as sleet then upgraded to light flurries. In the afternoon it snowed again for about 20 minutes and this time it stayed on the ground but when it stopped snowing it melted. The teachers keep telling me it will really snow soon but I think there were entertained by my child-like delight at the flurries falling on my clothes and in my hair and with me making video after video of the falling stuff.

Blowfish sashimi!

End of the year party with middle school

Mr. and Ms. Claus?

With that I will move into the relationship I have with the people I work with. I do have nine schools so keeping relationships straight sometimes strains my brain and I don’t often remember the names of the teachers I work with outside of school but I do put in an honest effort. On that note, I go to the same middle school every Tuesday and Thursday so I have developed substantial relationships with my colleagues there. This was aided strongly by the three enkais I have now attended with these teachers. The first was back in September (the 17^th actually) and I believe I already discussed it in detail earlier. There was one I couldn’t attend after sports day, also in September (entry coming soon) and I actually didn’t go because it was my birthday and I had other plans. The second for me occurred in November after culture festival (also an entry coming for this) and it was a much different experience than the mini one in September (only 5 of us were there) and from the BOE one (my welcome party which I believe I also discussed earlier). For one thing, I knew everyone who was there and had been seeing them on a regular basis but was curious to learn more about them outside of work. Also, by this time my Japanese had been improving steadily over the past few months and the amount of topics I could discuss confidently had dramatically increased.

Mr. party foul needed an apron

The November enkai was held in the same fish restaurant my welcome party with the BOE had been held in and thus I at least felt confident about the menu and knew how to cook the food. The night turned out to be very interesting as it continued and I learned a lot about my co-workers. Mostly life drama but that’s enough to keep me invested in their personal lives for the next while. A few major things happened that I don’t think would have been possible if I hadn’t invested the time and money in this long standing drinking tradition the Japanese hold in such high regard. One, my colleagues adopted me as a member of the Yamaga middle school family. I now have a big sister, two big brothers and a mother in my ‘work family’ and they have made it their responsibility to look after me and make sure I don’t do anything stupid (like electing to run a marathon in my first real winter?!). There were also a lot of fun events though too, like when I put the live shrimp on the grill and it jumped back into my lap... then my ‘brother’ did it and it jumped onto his head. :-)

Also, I found out Japanese people get much more open after a few drinks - to the point where they spill other people’s secrets and are very touchy (which is awesome!). I had heard rumors of this phenomenon before and saw it with the exchange students in college but it wasn’t such a big change from their normal selves. Here, these people put on such a severe front at work - even between each other not only superiors. When they drink though, the walls come crashing down. It’s a nice change but kind of makes these drinking parties necessary.

The fish grill

December came more drinking parties but these being the most extreme form since, as they are aptly titled “忘年会” forget the year, they are for the purpose of wiping your slate of all the hard work of the past year and getting completely trashed. I had two of these - one for my middle school on the 10^th and one for a select elementary school on the 22^nd. Both, surprisingly, had fugu (blowfish) which is not only a delicacy but has the chance of killing you since it’s poisonous. But oh lordy is it delicious! I told some Japanese friends I had it - twice - and they freaked out because apparently it is such a delicacy that they haven’t even eaten it. I feel so special!! Granted it did cost me a lot... enkais themselves are a lot of money but each of my bounenkais (forget the year parties) cost me a hundred bucks. :-(

Giant clams!

The middle school one was ... enlightening. Some of the younger male teachers dressed up in costumes and there were many party fouls since it is Japanese tradition to make sure no glass around you is ever empty so people were pouring drinks for each other but getting a lot on themselves. Someone even managed to spill tea all over my lap. Of course, the Japanese solution to a party foul is to take a huge shot of sake if you’re the offender so since the art teacher fouled 4 times he was very quickly the most drunk person in the room. We also played a question/trivia game with questions about events that had happened over the past year around the school - luckily none of them involved me. I did win twice though which really made me feel amazing in the Japanese department! Once the trivia was finished, we did secret Santa and I got some lottery tickets. Unfortunately, I checked the lottery yesterday and I didn’t win. Then for some reason they do a toast the person who’s birthday is nearest (the happened at both of my enkais) and it was the vice principal. Someone had to serve him his cake though and I got elected to be the victim - I mean hostess. Everyone just kept saying “feed him like he’s your dad!”

Elementary school was much the same with eating blowfish sashimi (very raw with no rice but absolutely delicious!) and a lot of drinking. We played bingo at this one and everyone won a small prize. I also managed to make some friends since they also invited the preschool teachers from next door to the school and a lot of them are young and live near me. Yay! We ate more at this one though since the restaurant also made nabe (a kind of big vegetable soup eaten communally) and tempura with the blowfish once we finished with the raw bits.

Karaoke after party

After both of the bounenkais I decided to continue onto the nijikai (it’s like the after party - usually karaoke) and had a blast. At the elementary school one some of the teachers demanded I teach them American ‘sexy dance’ (namely how to move your hips in a fashion that doesn’t resemble a seizure) so I did. Kind of embarrassing until I remembered that everyone was going to forget a majority of the night in the morning. They were good students despite the stumbling!

So I guess this all really boils down to a few key points. 1. Drink with your coworkers if you ever get a job in Japan (I actually didn’t drink alcohol at either of these parties because my stomach was still healing so don’t use that as an excuse!). 2. Get all the juicy gossip and true opinions of your job performance from these parties. 3. Enjoy yourself - you only live once right!