The Mountians of Northern Nagano

I thought I would change this post up a little and use blue...and a new font. If any of you even noticed...hehehe...man I am otaku (the Japanese equivalent of geek) sometimes!

So here I am, on Sunday night, sitting under my new favourite appliance: the Kotatsu. Before you ask how you sit under an appliance, or start Google-ing Kotatsu, I will fully explain what it is later in the post. It has been a hectic weekend, and sitting in my chair (which I have dubbed my ‘floor Lazy-Boy’) getting warm is the best feeling in the world right now.

Friday was one of those days that just seemed to go on forever. (I am sure the late night of Karaoke and Nomihoudai the night before didn’t help…either.) I was at elementary school all day. Now the school I was at was one of my favourite schools in the city. The teachers are helpful and nice (and organized), and the kids are sweet and have great hearts. Being October it is also really easy to come up with lesson plans. One of the classes was all decked up in costumes, and I was running around in my Spiderman mask. Tonnes of fun, but it also burns a couple gazillion calories. As soon as my fifth class ended (I had 6 scheduled) I had to bolt. I flew home, and threw some clothes in a bag, and headed over to Nakano-Nishi Senior High School.

This Friday and Saturday were Nakano-Nishi’s English Camp. The English Language department at Nishi offers an intensive English course. These kids are taken on 3-4 camps every year. The camps are held in the highlands to the north east of town, known as Shiga-Kogen. In total there were about 40 kids, 2 Japanese English Teachers, and 6 of us AET’s. We all loaded into a few busses, and headed up to Shiga. The bus ride is about 40 min, and there is a significant elevation increase. As soon as we started climbing up into the mountains, I could see why ‘Autumn Leaf Viewing’ is such a popular thing to do in the fall here. The mountains are mixed deciduous and conifers. At this point of the year they are a rolling sea of reds, yellows, oranges, and greens. It is simply beautiful.

We finally reached the Hotel/Onsen that we were staying at. 10 seconds off the bus and it was easy that we had gone up a few hundred meters…the temperature had dropped significantly. We were ushered into the hotel, where we then set up a ‘customs and immigration area.’ We announced that after the last camp some parents had phoned and complained that their children had gotten into bad things during the supervised nights. We informed them that we had to do a random bag check. It was really all a rouse, as before the bus left, we hid a few packs of cigarettes, some beers, and a girlie magazine in a few bags. We knew which bags they were and after checking some of the clean bags, we cracked down on the planted ones. The kids were all freaking out, and the others were shocked, and we all hammed it up to be a big deal. They all caught on to the rouse pretty quickly, but the first few shocked moments were well worth the effort.

We all had 15 min to go unpack and settle into our rooms before the afternoons activities got under way. My room was MASSIVE! It had 2 single beds, a small table and 2 chairs, and it had an attached 10 tatami mat sitting area. It had closets full of futons and chairs. I swear it could have slept 10 people comfortably. I threw my bag on the tatami and headed down to the conference room.

We all assembled and each of the AET’s did a self introduction. Then the students, who had been organized into groups, drew a name to see which AET would be their leader for the camp. My name was drawn by the group wearing pink name tags. We decided (upon my insistence that we have a team name) that our name would be Pink Team.

The first activity that we did was a questionnaire about all of us English speakers. After that is was dinner. The food was good, and during dinner each group pulled a number out of a hat. The number determined which of the secret items (which the AET’s provided) and the filming order for a commercial that they would make about the about the product. Pink Team drew baby powder.

After dinner we convened and started to plan the commercial. I helped my team with the structure and concepts of the infomercial, and then let then do most of the dialogue themselves. We had only an hour and a half to plan this 2 min commercial. This was a little too short, but we had to press on. While one group was out filming, the remaining teams played competitive group games. Pink team did pretty well on most of them.

Then it came time to film our commercial. We of course, were the 6^th of 6 teams to go, but I think that helped my group get psyched up about the whole thing. We called the baby powder “Super Deluxe Friendship Powder.” Our film started with a product introduction, moved into a personal story, and back to the big sell of the powder. I think one of the Japanese teachers filmed for all the other groups, but I asked if I could take over the camera. We shot with different angles and had artistic shots of flying powder in between scenes. It was hilarious, and the kids were really into it. Our product slogan was “Super Deluxe Friendship Powder. Get cool. Be cool. Stay cool. Forever.”

When the filming wrapped up for the night, camp was done. That meant that the fun for us leaders was just beginning. The teachers gave us a bag full of beer and snacks, and we had brought some of our own. We chilled in one of the ridiculously large rooms, and shot the shit. Through a game of “I never ever” we learned a lot more about each other. (I never ever is played like this: you go around the circle and say something you have never done. If anyone else has done it then you need to take a drink. It usually starts out clean and simple, but soon degrades to more raunchy subjects.) We went hard till around 1 am, when some of us decided to take advantage of the onsen. The water was hot, smoking hot. But man, noting relieves stress like a nice hot soak in a natural thermal hot spring. Around 2, being fully dazed from the beer and the dizzying effects of the hot spring (and probably a combination of the two) I made my way to bed.

The next morning we woke and had a decent sized breakfast. Derek (one of the AET’s) and I got to have rather large meals, as Jen and Chris are vegetarian, and Brandon will never get up for breakfast. We were treated to espresso after breakfast and then day 2 began.

Day 2 was mostly a performance oriented day. The groups had been working on simple English plays for a few weeks. That morning they each got 90 min with their group leader to fine tune, and work on their lines. Derek, who was the head AET as Nakano Nishi is his school, told everyone that they had to memorize their scripts. This came as a shock to many of the groups, and in reality it was only meant to get them to work hard on committing some more English to memory. In the end they would be allowed to use scripts. Having sat through more rehearsals than I can count, and memorizing my own lines, I knew that I could get full potential out of the kids. We worked each of the 5 scenes individually, once on book, once with 2 chances to look, and once completely off book. My group was awesome, and were fully off book by the second reading in most scenes. We got to our feet and worked with props and costumes. They were wonderful.

When rehearsal was over Derek announced that they could use their scripts, but I pushed my group to go off book. In the end some of them were so nervous that they had to use the script in some scenes. I told them to hide their scripts in a pocket or sleeve if they needed to, that way the play would be less interrupted, and they wouldn’t fall back on to the crutch. We were the last team to perform, and all the other groups did wonderful work. We finally went up, and they were wonderful. 3 of 6 were fully off book, and the others were very inconspicuous about reading when they had to.

Immediately following the plays, we watched the infomercials. I guess commandeering the camera from the teacher was a good idea, as the rest of the products where shot straight on and in one take. Ours was last in the rotation, and was by far the best. It was funnier, more over the top, and the girls were loud and clear. I was so proud of them. After watching the plays and videos, everyone voted on best actor, best costumes, best play, and best commercial. Pink team stole a lot of the thunder with 1^st place in best actor, and also a special award for trying to go off book. We also stole over half of the votes for best commercial.

The day was wrapping up and it was time to say good bye. All of us AET’s gave a few farewell words, and then it was picture time. First group shots, then a mêlée of individual pictures with us AET’s. Each student had their cell phone out, snapping pics with all of us. They are really adorable. Brandon, veteran of 5 English Camps now, is still talked about at Nakano Nishi. Judging by the assault that he and I both got, I am sure that there are now 2 idols there.

After that it was time to grab our bags and head home. The weather up in Shiga was really chilly, close to 0. I pegged it at around 6 degrees. The ride back was gorgeous. The trees had gotten even more beautiful even with only one more days worth of fall. There were Japanese people out in hordes taking pictures left, right and centre. Finally we arrived back at the school, waved a quick good bye in the torrential downpour, and headed for home.

It was raining, and bloody cold. I got home a quickly made it to my bed. Even though it was mid afternoon, my house was too cold, and my covers too thick. I had a great nap. When I got up I was inspired by all of Brandon’s talk about how wonderful the Kotatsu is, so I made a trip to Watahan Homu Senta (Watahan ‘home center.’) I purchased the finishing touched for my Kotatsu (which had previously been serving as a coffee table.)

What is a Kotatsu? Good question! A kotatsu is s table that has a removable top. Built into the frame of the table is an electric heater. Think toaster oven with less metal. To finish off my kotatsu set I had to get a floor mat and a blanket. The floor mat is a fire retardant rug, which is designed to cover the tatami. With out it the kotatsu is a pretty dangerous appliance. Think industrial strength heater 18’ away from a rice straw floor. The blanket is also fire retardant. This is where the brilliance of this Japanese invention really shows itself. You take off the removable top drape the large blanket over the table frame, the put the top back on. The blanket traps the heat of the heat in, and you sit with your legs under the heater, and the blanket up around you. The beauty is that you still have a table! Since energy costs here are a little pricy, it works really well to heat a small space and yourself, and not the rest of your un-insulated home.

I definitely made the right decision about getting the kotatsu set up when I did. When I woke up this morning I was grabbed by my neighbour Brandon. I was told to put my shoes on, when I asked why I was ordered to put my shoes on. I did, and we went running down the street. I seriously though something bad happened. I could not have been more wrong. What Brandon revealed to me was one of the most beautiful sites I had seen since landing in Japan. The torrential rains that pelted my poor little house all last night, had more than dusted the mountain tops with snow. Not only was it a scenic wonder, but also means that just around the corner is the day that Brandon and I have been waiting for with baited breath: the first day of snowboard season.

And now, sitting in my chilly house, warm and cozy under my heated table, I am content. Another weekend has flown by. From an exciting English camp, with all the eager students and successes of my team, to the warmth that my house has lacked since the last dog days of summer passed, to the beauty and excitement ushered by the first mountain snows, I am beginning to fully realize how wonderful life in this country can be. There are times when I feel a little down, and there are times when I wish I could blink and be in Vancouver for 4 hours, but on days like today when all the celestial bodies seem to be lined up in my favour it is hard not to feel like one of the luckiest people on this planet.

With this being the 2340^th word, I bid you all adieu. (Seriously copy this into a word processor…the word ‘this’ is actually the 2340^th! Honest! You know me; I am that geeky to have figured that out!)

Zen and the Art of Using Chopsticks...

...left handed!

That's right, left handed! But I will get to that later. It has been a pretty slow week, and there isn’t a whole lot to report. This post is kinda like one of those clip episodes of a series. The crew and cast are on vacation, so the writers just slap together a buncha the old stuff. Well this post won’t be a casserole of my old posts, but it will be a ‘filler’ post. Still I hope you find it interesting.

Chopsticks. Ohashi, in Japanese. There are a few differences between the various chopsticks of Asian countries. Chinese chopsticks are probably what most people are familiar with. They are long, usually a beige plastic, and are square in the handle and round off slightly towards the tips. Chinese chopsticks are flat (blunt) nosed, and do not taper. I have been told that in China that the higher up you hold the chopsticks the more status you command. Needless to say, after hearing that I started holding my chopsticks as far up as I could. It is actually much more difficult that one would think.

The next chopsticks I will examine are Korean chopsticks. Korean’s have made some wonderful advancements in chopstick technology (and lets keep in mind this is ancient technology). As in China your chopsticks are paired with at spoon, however the Koreans use a large, long handled metal spoon that resembles a western spoon, more than the Chinese scoopy thing (yes, that is the official name. Google it if you don't believe me!). As well as the spoon being metal, the chopsticks are as well. They don't stain, and they are really easy to clean. Another interesting thing about them is that they are quite flat. Where Chinese chopsticks tend to be a square shape, Korean chopsticks are as flat as most table knives. The coolest (ok, you know how much of a geek I am when I am referring to the cool things about chopsticks) thing about Korean Chopsticks, is that they have an area near the end that is textured with a pattern. There are a few patterns of these textures, and I have personally made the assumption that they vary depending on the type of dish you are eating, be it noodles, rice, noodle soup, etc. This assumption is based on the observations I made while in Korea a few years ago.

Finally, Ohashi: Japanese Chopsticks. The O in Ohashi is actually just a polite thing. Japanese put O in front of certain words when they are being polite or honorific. In spoken Japanese you say Ohashi, in the dictionary you would find them under Hashi. Anyways, I digress. Hashi are quite unique compared to Chinese and Korean chopsticks. Hashi tend to be round from end to end. Sometimes the handle area will be a little squared off, but the majority of Hashi are completely round. Hashi also have the unique feature of being tapered. They come to a rounded point. It is not considered impolite to stab certain hard to eat dishes with the hashi (both mind you) in Japan. The smaller surface area also makes it much easier to cut your food with the Hashi. You are expected to use them to slice large pieces of food. That is an etiquette that is often neglected, but still it is made much more possible by the taper of the chopstick. The other point of note about Hashi is the material. Most household Hashi are lacquered wood. They tend to be quite beautiful, but the lacquer often peals off the tip exposing the wood. This happens even more readily if you do not soak them immediately after eating sticky rice.

Now that we have had a cross-cultural chopstick lesson, let’s get into my personal history with chopsticks.

I learned how to use chopsticks in grade 4. My teacher at Garden City Elementary was Ms. Liu. Now as the name implies she was Chinese. Every year she made it a large unit for her class to throw the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration…you know Gung Hei Fa Choi, and all that. We decorate the gym, and presented a lion dance, the one where the lion eats your lettuce then ceremonially regurgitates it back at you. The more you catch the more luck you will have in the coming year. Who knew lion puke could be so luck…I wonder if anyone bothered to tell the zoo keepers and vets around the world. They could be cashing in!

Back to the Lunar New Years fest in Grade 4…as well as having the lion dance we also had stations set up in the gym. One of them was learning to write 1-10 in Chinese characters…which low and behold, actually came in handy for me! But the real cash in was the chopstick activity. There were two large trays that contained marbles. Yes, small round slippery marbles. The point of the activity was to use the Chinese chopsticks (the slightly rounded ones made of plastic. Hmm, plastic chopsticks and round marbles…sounds worse than that water torture the Chinese are so renowned for) and move ten marbles from one tray to the other. This is a lot easier said than done, when one has never used chopsticks before and all the instruction that exists is a sheet showing the proper way to hold the chopsticks (on this note I will digress and state that the number of people that don't hold their chopsticks the ‘proper’ way far out number those who do...hmmm, maybe it should just be do it what ever way works Ms. Liu!). Well with some determination, and I’m sure a little cheating I finally had it down.

Seriously, if you can move marbles with chopsticks you have got it down. That was the meagre beginnings of my chopstick-ing career. And here I am in Japan, the land of Ohashi…or Osushi…or Osake…well all of the above I guess. Now, eating sushi, with hashi, while drinking sake, requires a certain amount of skill.

Since I plan on being a Jedi Master of chopsticks, I have recently taken on a new challenge: using chopsticks left handed (all the left handed people sit down and shut up, of course you can use them left handed!). Since I have learned to shift gears left handed, I figured that this is a good challenge to try and work on. I actually started trying this in Vancouver a year or so ago, and I got ok at it…but I wasn’t using chopsticks regularly enough to really master the technique. Everyday at school we get school lunches. They undoubtedly consist of a bowl of soup, a salad of some sort, a main dish (usually meat based), and either rice or bread. Everyday I make it a point of eating at least half my meal with my left. It is actually quite easy if you put your mind to it, and give it a little practice.

The real reason that this all came about, was that I was constantly getting complimented on how well I used my chopsticks. Seriously I think a Gaijin could throw his Ohashi at the food like a spear, and still get complimented on his prowess with chopsticks. Since I found the hollow praise slightly offensive, I decided to show up the Japanese. The first time, I casually, coolly, tossed the chopsticks into my left hand. I then proceeded to eat the rest of my rice with my left. In reality this wasn’t such a huge feat, the rice is really sticky and is the easiest part of the meal to eat that way. That’s how it all started. Since then I have changed lunch class rooms two times, and each time I have been met with the same praise. This last class room, I decided to change it up even more. I ate with my left until it was commented on (no one in Japan uses their chopsticks in their left hand…even the lefties! God forbid being different from the group!) as soon as they asked if I was left handed, I said nope, and proceeded to eat with my right. Needless to say, I am now even more of a hero in my current class!

Well I am all written out for tonight, and frankly, I don't want to think about chopsticks anymore. I hope this instalment was as fun and informative as it was for me to write. If it wasn’t, well go suck a lemon, and then try to use chopsticks left handed (right handed for you damn lefties). When you think you have it down, I am always willing to accept a challenge: 10 marbles, 2 trays, wrong handed. You name the time, I name the place (or you can pay for my plane fare!)

Enjoy the chopsticking! (hahaha, that is something you would read on a Japanese t-shirt!)

moon viewing season

Well it is now officially Moon Viewing Season. Actually it has been Moon Viewing Season for about a month now, but it finally feels like it.

As with most things in Japan, what better way to celebrate the season/something new/actually anything than cutsie little cartoon characters. Right now it is hard to go anywhere without seeing little moons and bunnies. No, the Japanese don't see the Man-in-the-Moon, they see the Rabbit in the Moon. Personally, I have to agree, the Rabbit is a little easier to see than the Man. Although I wonder if the Rabbit can survive on cheese alone? I don't thing rabbits even eat cheese…

What is Moon Viewing Season? Well it is essentially fall. As spring is the season to view cherry blossoms, fall is the time to view the Moon. Is the Moon view really wonderful right now? Well actually yes. I’m sure it helps that I am in the country side, and that my city of a modest 47,000 doesn’t create all that much light pollution (you can see 5x the number of stars as Vancouver….I know this is not really even a lot, but hey I’ll take what I can get). The other reason that I thing fall is good for Moon viewing is that the nasty humidity of the rainy/typoon season has, for the most party, passed. The air is clear and crisp…quite crisp.

That is actually the forefront of my thoughts lately. The temperature has dropped significantly. The night time temp is down to 12c. Now, being from Vancouver, 12 isn’t that low. In fact if I were at home right now, I think I would feel that 12 is still nice. However, compared to the 35 degree, super humid days of summer, these evenings and morning are definitely chilly. The day times are still warm and pleasant, when it is sunny out. When it is cloudy out it is a different story. The days are still chilly when the clouds are here, and often it rains. The rains are not like the summer squalls, which were warm and quite refreshing. These autumnal rain falls are chilly and wet…kinda like late Vancouver fall.

Apparently the winter snows will come with early December. That is here in town. Up on the hills, I have a feeling that the snows will start in late December. The winter is apparently quite cold. My house will be colder than outside, as I am already discovering with these chilly days. Luckily the Japanese have ways of dealing with this. They don't insulate houses here, for whatever reason, but they have other wonderful inventions. The first of which, I cannot wait to fire up. It is called a Kotatsu. It is a table with a heater under it. You put a blanket under the removable top and drape a fire proof blanket under it. You sit with your legs and torso under the blanket and stay warm. Other ways of staying warm are gas and kerosene heaters. The kerosene heaters are a little counter productive however, as burning kerosene creates carbon monoxide. This requires an open window or door to ensure proper ventilation. A little counter productive if you ask me.

That all being said, winters here are a snowboarder’s paradise. With town getting up to a foot of snow overnight on a regular basis, the hills can get up to 3 metres of snow in one storm. Also being inland, and sandwiched between 2 mountain ranges, we get the nice fluffy powder. Some places on the hills have chest deep snow. Mmmm, yummy!

Well that being said, I think I will have a shower and hop in the tub. That is another difference. You shower before a bath, as the water is expected to be reusable. I personally can’t bring myself to use the water more than twice, but I think I may get over that. The tub I have has some cool heating features. The tub itself is heated, and there is a pump to re-warm and recycle the water. The best part is that the tub is deep and you can sit fully submerged up to your neck, even if you are a gaijin ‘giant’ (which thankfully I am not…it would be nice to be head and shoulders above a crowd once in a while, but I don't need to wear my gaijin badge any more openly than I already do).

Cheers and adieu all. Hope that fall is treating you all well, and that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am glad that I don't need to say Canadian Thanksgiving to you all, as I do with my American friends here. If I don't they proceeded to tell me how that doesn’t really count as thanksgiving, but what do they know anyways, eh? I will be spending my Thanksgiving with another Canadian, shredding some mud up on a mountain with our bikes. No turkey, but we can have some ‘Sea Chicken’ as the Japanese refer to Tuna (or the American’s Tuna Fish, come on though, what the hell else would it be, Tuna Horse?!?). I might make some mashed potatoes though, as there is no shortage of those!

Take care and have a safe holiday!

Also for some insight in to the life of a foreigner (Gaikokujin) in Japan, I highly recommend ‘Hitching Rides with Buddah’ by Will Ferguson. He was a Canadian Assistant English Teacher, and decided to hitchhike from the southern most tip of Japan to the northern most. I have just started reading it, and it is laugh out loud hilarious, and a true insight into the life that all us Gaijin live over here.

And this time I really am finished! :p