JIJ Vol 005. Adventures in Nou (Niigata perfecture)

Hisashiburi Minna-san! (Long time no see my friends)

Right now I am in Takamatsu, on Shikoku Island. Amazingly enough the hotel that I am staying at actually has internet in my room. So I am quite delighted to have had internet for the past two days. Tomorrow I will be leaving for Fukuoka and on Wed I will be able to move into the International Dormitory. If I don't happen to update soon again I apologize - but once I'm settled in I will be able to upload some more pictures from my trip and share them with you all.

It has been a long time and well... I will be writing a few extensive entries - one for my trip to Nou in the Niigata perfecture, one (or possibly two) for my 6 day stay in Kyoto, one for my stay in Osaka, and one for my stay in Takamatsu. This entry will be about my 4 day stay in a little country town called Nou.

Nou is located in the Niigata perfecture very close to the city of Itoigawa. It is actually located on west coast of Japan. So lucky enough I have been able to touch both sides of the ocean during my stay in Japan. I arrived on Sunday Sept 11th in the late evening.

The whole reason why I went to Nou was actually to visit my friend Fiona. Fiona is from the United States (Reno, Nevada) and is participating in the JET program (Japanese Exchange Teachers). For dinner we had ramen. I had Kani (Crab) ramen in a thick soup. Totemo oishikata! (Very tasty!) It was definately delicious. Afterwards I accompanied Fiona to a trip to the market which resulted in buying green tea ice cream and then I finally settled down at her place.

The next day (Monday Sept 12) I went with Fiona to one of the Jr. High Schools she was teaching at and had the opportunity to witness and participate with the students in what they called "Sports Field Day" (I forgot the japanese word for it). The Jr. Highschool that I was at was divided into 3 different teams and I watched these kids participate in different sport events including relay races, obstacle courses, original japanese games, and a dance cheer. Each event resulted in certain number of points and they kept track of it all day long.

Actually certain sport events seemed very dangerous... and my cried out loud, "LAWSUIT LAWSUIT!" One event which translated to "Horse Carriage" was each coloured team (broken into girls vs girls/boys vs boys) would gather into groups of 4. In a group of four 3 people would create a formation and then hoist another person on top of them making it look like... a horse carriage. The point of the game was to collect the other teams hachimaki (headbands) and the more they collected the more you won. It looked like a dangerous game. Another game they played was a type of 'capture the flag' where they had coloured flags on wooden postts and people would jump onto other people and climb up the wooden post to collect the flags.

I watched the kids participate in the sports day event - i also had the opportunity to participate in two events. One event was a strange obsticle course event which in the end the students would collect these cards and have to find someone or something and make them run to the finish line. I was collected to run with a student because I wore 'sandles'. I also participated in the PTA Tug of War (Japanese people have a strange concept of what the idea position is for tug of war).

After the whole fun filled day of participating in the Sports Day, Fiona and I were invited by the education staff out to dinner. We were picked up Yuko Okada-san one of the teachers at the school and went to a local Izakaya (japanese style pub) and met with some other teachers and the vice principle. We had assorted japanese snack dishes and many drinks. Afterwards we went to a Karaoke bar and sang a few songs and following that Fiona and I caught the last train home back to Nou.

The next day (Tue Sept 13) Fiona went to go teach at the school and I spent the day out at Benton Rock. Benton Rock is about a 25 minute walk from where Fiona resides and I spent the whole day there climbing along, taking many pictures under the hot hot sun. I had the opportunity to touch the ocean from the west side of Japan. This was definately quite an experience. Following that Fiona returned from a hard day of teaching children English and we went to Itoigawa and ate at Naojiro's Izakaya. Following that we went and sang at a Karaoke place close to the Train Station.

The last full day (Wed Sept 14) I accompanied Fiona and helped her teach and one of the middle school and elementary school located close to Nou. We had the students practice their english and had them introduce themselves to me. It was a fun experience because I was able to witness what happens at the school in Japan. It was definately an interesting experience and was glad to help Fiona out by being a guest and having students practice their english. Following a full day of teaching children english, Fiona and I had dinner at a local resturant called Saiyuki. Following dinner one of Fiona's friends picked us up from the resturant and I had the opportunity to particpate, watch, listen and experience what goes on during Fiona's Taiko practice.

Fiona is in the Benton Taiko group (with Miss Yuko Okada san) with a handful of other people. I was able to experience first hand how to play the taiko (Fiona showed me the correct way to play the Taiko... which is actually fairly difficult!). I was able to experience first hand on playing the taiko, participating in their practice and in one of their taiko drumming games. Following that I had the opportunity to watch and listen to their group practice and perform a taiko song which they called, "Wave." It was definately an amazing experience! Not only did I have the opportunity to play the taiko, learn about it, ask questions about how it all works... I also had a song played for me. Taiko is definately something that I have added to my lists of intrests and perhaps I might look further into Taiko and see if my college has a taiko club. After the practice I had the opportunity to sit with the other Taiko members and practice my japanese and converse with them - having this opportunity has helped my japanese quite a bit.

My last day in Nou I furiously packed early in the morning (Thur Sept 15) in order to catch the train to Toyama. From there I took the Shinkansen from Toyama to Kyoto. I am really glad to have spent time with my friend Fiona out in the countryside of Nou. This allowed me to experience the country side beyond the city. It was rather nice to be in the midst of other japanese people and not seeing any other foreginers besides Fiona and Myself (and again many people/students thought I was Japanese). But having this opportunity to experience a bit of school life, country life, a bit of japanese culture and time on my own I felt like my trip had been completely enriched.

Some photos I took while in Nou:

Benton Rock (with Feet!)



Typhoon/Tsunami Breakers in the Ocean



Red Tori Gate looking out towards the sea



Stairs on the Island leading towards another Red Tori



On Benton Rock looking out to the sea


Next Post: My long week in Kyoto

Some Photos Finally! From trip to Hokkaido

A Night view of Sapporo Station


Me and Lake Akan in Akan Kohan


MARIMO! at the Marimo observatory center


A night view of Hakodate city + bay from Mount Hakodate.

To See some more pictures from my Hokkaido trip please click here:
http://photobucket.com/albums/a50/jocyinjapan/Hokkaido/

JIJ Vol 004 - Leaving Hakodate back to Tokyo

It's a wonderful day today! I am at a webcafe close to Hakodate Station. Hakodate is the first largest city when entering Hokkaido by rail. It is beautiful here! My stay in Hokkaido has had its ups and downs - but like I say - try to make the best of things.

I arrived in Sapporo rather late on Monday night, and I stayed at the Sapporo House hostel very close to the station. I spent most of the night updating my previous email. Then treated myself to Sapporo's famous "Ba-ta Kon" (Butter Corn) Ramen. It was delicious and goes well with Sapporo beer. I spent the rest of the night walking around close to the station because there was a 10pm curfew at the hostel. But when I came back to the hostel I was sharing a room with two girls from Portugal (but live in Austria). So we talked for a while and where they had been and what not and what places to go, what foods to eat.

I left Sapporo early morning and made my way to the industrial port Kushiro which is east of Sapporo. From there I took a bus north to Lake Akan Kohan. The bus ride took 3 hours and on the way I ended up seeing parts of Kushiro (which is definately an industrial town), and then the farms of Hokkaido. It was interesting driving through the farm lands - it was a change of pace for once compared to the urban upbeat in all the major cities.

Arriving at Akan Kohan I spent the late evening visiting the Lake, and then going to Bokke. Bokke is a designated area close to the lake where there was hot volcanic action happening (small scale water boiling). The mud was boiling and you could see steam and the stench of sulfer. You couldn't miss it for miles. It was definately quite a site!

The next day I was supposed to go hiking - but sadly it started raining. It rained all day. Actually the rain came from the travelling Typhoon that had hit Okinawa and Kyushu earlier in the week. Now... when it comes to News I am WELL aware about the Hurricane in New Orleans. But I dont think anyone out in the US knows about how many typhoons japan gets. Actually this one that JUST past was as devistating as the hurricane katrina. a good portion of Kyushu was hit and many houses were lost, roads fell through because of all the rain water and soiling getting washed away. there were 80 - 100 people who were also killed. and this typhoon hit Okinawa, Kyushu, bits of Shikoku and was making its way up to Hokkaido. I had a really hard time sleeping when i was at Akan Kohan in fear of the typhoon. If it would have hit right through Hokkaido - all transportation would stop and I wouldnt be able to get back for quite a while... and the first point it was going to hit was Hakodate which i was heading to the next day.

Trying not to worry - instead of Hiking up Mt. Mekan Dake I ended up taking a boat out to the Marimo Observation Center. Akan Kohan is most famous for their Marimo balls and can only be found at Akan Kohan and no where else in the world. Marimo is actually an interesting alge plant build up that becomes little tiny balls and take about 200 years to grow to the size of a baseball. So After seeing the Observation center, and returning to shore, I took some time to go shopping and bought little Marimos for myself (you can buy little ones in all the gift shops). I spent the rest of the night worrying about the Typhoon.

Lucky enough the day I was to travel to Hakodate the skies had cleared up. When checking out of the hotel - i watched the news on TV and found out that the typhoon nearly missed all of Hokkaido and went further north then projected. It only ended up hitting the very tip of Hokkaido. Though when at Kushiro - the train was actually 20 minutes late... and I realized that if i were to be travelling it would have been a lot slower since most of the rail i were to be travelling on is close to shore. actually the winds were still very high and the waves were VERY rough. you could definately tell the difference in water levels. In one day we got about 200mm of water or so.

I arrived at Hakodate last night and it was a lovely evening. So I checked into the hotel and headed my way to the bus station. I took the bus up to Mount Hakodate and you could see the entire Hakodate bay from the mountain. It was BEAUTIFUL. I highly recomend anyone who visits Hakodate to take the bus up at night.

I spent earlier this morning having seafood at the morning market close to the train station. there is sea food EVERYWHERE and it is definately FRESH and DELICIOUS. Actually - this is the first time since I have arrived in Japan that I have come across "don". I was wondering when i would come across this. Actually it is called Donburi. Donburi is basically a HUGE bowl with rice on the bottom and something on top - it can range from anything like chicken and egg, or tonkatsu, or like this morning i had a seafood donburi which had raw shrimp, raw scallop and cooked crab on top. the great thing is that it came with miso soup and that had crab in it too! the morning market is definately a sight to see - they even have squid that they caught swimming in tanks!

Hakodate has been described to be much like San Francisco and I think it is. There are definate parts of the city where it just felt like San Francisco. There is a lot of history behind this city, and the trading port to other countries - so its definately something important to think about when in Hakodate. There are also cable cars here too! Which i find most amusing. I guess I find it most amusing since I live so close to San Francisco. But I really like Hakodate a lot, if i could i would say a few more days and visit the other strange amusements here. There are many foreign churchs alongside temples and a lot more seafood to taste. But alas, time is short and I will be leaving momentarily to catch the train(s) back to Tokyo. Until another time... I am thankful that Typhoon has passed and that its a bright sunny day today.

Also:
Thank you Burento Sensei (Brent Sensei) for recomending a stop in Hakodate. I love it here.
Thank you Lawrence for your Nihongo - Eigo dictionary it has helped me out so much so far!

JIJ Vol 003 - in Sapporo (Hokkaido)

Hey Everyone!

I just spend the entire day taking different trains out to Sapporo (on the island of Hokkaido). The weather is definately a lot less humid and I have managed to avoid the Typhoon that is occuring in Kyushu and Okinawa (and heading towards Tokyo!). Tomorrow I will be heading towards Kushiro, and then to Akan Ko (north east of Sapporo).

So... I actually have some internet time right now over at Doutor Coffee (a coffee chain just like starbucks. So I will catch everyone up with the past week or so of travelling.

August 27th me and my friends went up to Nikko. Nikko is somewhat close to Tokyo, better to do in an overnight trip rather than in a day. It is about 2 and a half hours away from Tokyo. We took one of the JR lines out there early in the morning and it is definately a lot cooler than Tokyo. Taking the train to Nikko you could definately see the change in landscape - the mountains, and the huge trees. Once we got to Nikko station we bought a bus pass that took us up to Nikko National Park.

The bus goes up this huge mountain side going from side to side. The name of the mountain road (which i forgot - i will find out later) is based on the ancient japanese syllable sounds marking each turn on the roadside. We arrived around civilization again and we walked to Kegon falls - it is a HUGE waterfall. We paid 500 yen and took the elevator down 100m or so to get closer to the base of the waterfall. It was really misty out there! It was beautiful.

Afterwards we headed back up and started walking to Lake Chuzenji. This lake is actually what comes before the waterfall. It is a huge lake, nice, placid, and full of fish and dragonflies! After resting our feet a bit at Lake Chuzenji - we walked down a few blocks and headed towards a hotel with an onsen. An onsen is basically a hot spring caused by natural volcanic occurances causing hot water and sulfer to come up to the earths surface. we spent quite sometime at the onsen, relaxing and having a good time. Afterwards we got softcream (ice cream? frozen yougurt? its softcream!) and then took the bus back down to Nikko Station. From there we also visited Nikkozan Rinnoji temple - which is also very beautiful and large, and then walked by this huge red bridge (which i cannot remember the name at the moment). Afterwards we took the train and spent the night over at Taka's (my japanese friend) parents house.

The next few days we spent in Tokyo again, doing a lot of shopping. There are tons of great places to go shopping and its definately nothing compared to shopping in the US. There are HUGE buildings and many multifloored stores and sometimes you can't even find the entrance to the elevator to get to those other floors. We spend a few days shopping in Harajuku, Ebisu, Shinjuku, etc.

August 30th we went to Yokohama - the Chinatown of Japan. Its huge and glitzy but definately not cheap compared to San Francisco's Chinatown. It is more like... a tourist trap really. All the Chinese food was so expensive (we didn't eat there). After that we went to see Zozoji Temple, it is very nice and very close to Tokyo Tower. We went to Tokyo Tower and it was definately expensive there too. it was about 840 yen up to the first platform and then another 600 yen to the 250m platform. We didnt go up to the other platform because the sky was a bit too hazy to see much.

August 31st First we went to a huge park in Shinjukku, afterwards we went to the Ghibli museum - the museum of the creators of the classic anime movies Princess Mononoke, My Neighboor Totoro, Spirited Away and a bunch of others. It was definately a place worth going to in terms of the place being amazing and also - it was hard getting tickets. Afterwards we went to Asakusa to visit the temple at night (which uses lighting to an awsome effect) and sushi.

Sept 2nd I spent most of the day in Ueno - famous for Ueno park and the Tokyo National Museum. Definately something to go visit if you want an all around glimpse of Japanese Culture. I also managed to go see the Tang Dynasty Exhibit (Chinese artifcats and such) and an exhibit on Copying, Pasting, and creating artwork and using original paintings and japanese calligraphy to focus on techniques and learning what techniques the original masters had.

Since then I took a break from running around Tokyo and now I am in Hokkaido - ready to embark on another journey. It will probably be a while till i get around to the internet again. I hope everyone is doing great! I shall post again perhaps after I return from Hokkaido.