on the rolling waves

Friday January 13th to Friday January 20th

Well it has been one hell of a week. Read it as positive, read it as negative. Either way you are right. The Wheel of Fortune (and no I am not talking about Pat Sajak and Vanna White here people) has been spinning and stopping constantly, it has doled out its fair share of ups and downs. Strange that it seems to have come out that way, but that is how it worked.

Weather:

Upside: The street in front of my house has finally been ploughed. It is quite narrow (really only 1 car wide, and it has those open gutters on either side, gaijin traps for the enlightened, that are about a foot wide and a good 18 inches deep. The only part with out the gaijin traps is the part where the road drops off a good 10 feet and then you’re on the railway tracks. This treacherous road has not been ploughed, let a lone being clear of snow, for a good month. I’m talking the better part of a foot here people.
The weather warmed up last weekend, and they sent the ploughs out in full force, and on Monday night our road was finally done. Yay! I was also able to clear a lot of over hanging snow of the roof. So I in actual fact sleep better now know that there isn’t at least a hundred kilograms of ice and snow hanging over my front door and walk way.

Downside: Remember the warm weather that enabled them to finally clear the road on Monday. That weather started Friday? It wasn’t warm and sunny though, and there’s the rub. It was what I would describe as a torrential rain fall. This was as awful as some of the worst rainy days in Vancouver. Well that pretty much started Friday. Thankfully I cleared my roof off about two hours before it started coming down. So there was a silver lining in those damn dark clouds.
So much for a powder day, eh? We hit the hill anyways and started to get a ride in. Apparently one of the gondolas, and all the charis that service the top of the mountain were closed to high wind…although most of the windsocks were no where near unfurled. Ok then, ride the groomers with the masses. It was interesting to do two things I like at the same time: snowboard and shower. But it was more like a cold shower in heavy clothes…which didn’t equal a whole lotta fun. So we call it a day early and head for home. Once I got to the little back roads that access my neighbourhood and off of the major routes I was driving on some pretty thick, pretty slushy snow. It was still snow at that point. I can’t say the same for when Brandon and I went to meet some snowboarding friends I know in Chiba prefecture.
The guys were crashing at my house for a night and I had to go meet them at the Gusto (a cheep restaurant chain). I pull my car out of my drive way and started to navigate my way around the corner. I am now pulling up to the part of the road that still has a barrier before the drop off to the train tracks, and my car starts becoming really unresponsive in the slush that has developed. I manage to control it before I bump the barrier. I straighten out and start to go again. I clear where the barrier is, and my car starts to move pretty much sideways. Now I’ve got a 4 wheel drive car with new snow tires on it, but it just starts sliding to the right (which is the side I sit on) and its getting close to the gaijin trap. I get it stopped, and under control, then I start to work the gas again. Really to no avail, since the road is about ten inch deep slush and there are still icy chunks and old frozen tire tracks in it. Even with the greatest care my tires are spinning, each revolution pulling the back end of the car closer to the gaijin trap.
B and I get out and start to dig out a little. We dig a lot. We push and rock and try to get it unstuck. We actually do get it out a few times…a few feet. Each stop another spot to dig out. Each time a little closer to the gutter. Finally we enlist the help of our buddy Devin. We joke around and call him “Devin from Heaven,” because of his dreamy blue eyes (he, he, he), but he was a god sent. All three of us dug and dug, then they rocked the car and I gave it gas. With a big push from them I was finally sliding and slipping my way through the brutal slush towards the bare pavement…a few hundred metres down the road. Sweet, sweet freedom.
We finally made it to Gusto. We meet the dudes, ate, and headed back here for a few cold ones. The roads were pretty good most of the way home…that is until we reach my neighbourhood. We pull around this corner about to do the last home stretch. Not the same rout as the way out. This is a straight shot 200m of deep as slush with gaijin traps lining either side. That was the plan at least. But what do we see? An old Japanese man (oh come on were you really expecting big foot or aliens). It’s one of the neighbourhood regulars, and he’s got his snow scoop out. Old man just doing trips from the middle of the road to the gutter. Side the snow, dump the snow, pick more up and repeat. There are three of them all doing this right in the middle of the home stretch.
Good they have some bare spots made; my car should be able to make it through no problem. We will never know. The jerk had the audacity to ignore us for about a full minute, and when he finally looked up he waved us around the block (to the route where I got stuck before), and just went back to work. Brandon explained in Japanese that our house was that way and the dude just completely ignored him. We waited and waited, and finally his stubborn old bones won over my impatience. I took the other route, and low and behold I get stuck in pretty much the same spot I did before.
This time there are six of us and two cars. We start trying to tackle the issue with the full arsenal of shovels that Brandon and I have. That gave us 5 men working and one on a rotating break. We worked for a good 15 min and got about 15 centimetres down the road. This was chunky riveted ice under slushy crap. Our irritated voices attracted our neighbour (one who had been out shovelling, but not the rude guy). He brings some kind of a garden hoe and starts hacking off huge pieces of ice, and we all start to clear. We finagled the hoe from him and he leaves us alone for a bit. When he came back he had a pick axe as well. So we tear through the ice, clear it all and get the cars parked. Time for beer…
…and some cross cultural banter. Four dudes in all came up from Chiba. Including Brandon and I, the official score sheet was 1 Canuck, 2 Yanks, 2 Brits, and a Kiwi. It was a nice change, as I am very often the lone Canadian in a group of Americans. This time there was even more cross cultural banter than before. While I was still the lone man defending the leaf, there were pot shots getting tossed at everyone as opposed to me being the sole target. The best part was that there was a big Common Wealth posse, and we could stick it to the Yanks a little more than I can on my own. All in all a good time was had.

Nozawaonsen Fire Festival:

Upside: I am privileged to say that I have not only attended, but also participated in one of the coolest festivals in Japan. Nozawaonsen is the Ski hill we attend. It is named after the village at its base, that up until recently was owned buy this small few thousand person village. Annually on January 15th the town hosts its traditional festival. Around this time in Northern Nagano many areas have some sort of festival that incorporates fire. In most there is a burning of lucky charms, many in the form of these red heads called DARUMA. From what I gather most deal with luck both good and bad. The Nozawaonsen Fire Festival isn’t a stack of hay with Daruma on it, no; it is a freaking shrine made of big ass trees and branches. Oh yeah, and it has real live people on it.
You see apparently age 42 and 25 are unlucky and Nozawaonsen has a special way of helping expel the bad luck. The 42 year olds sit on top of this giant beautiful wooden structure, the 25 year old are at the bottom holding these ropes tied to the structure. Now I know you are hoping I don't say that they pull the ropes and the shrine starts to fall. Of course not. You see those 25 year olds are actually defending the shrine and the 42 year olds. They are holding big boughs from fir trees. What on earth are they protecting the shrine from? Well the rest of the village of course! Everyone else in the village has sparked up a huge bonfire built earlier that day. Using wood that the 42 year olds toss down to them, they start to rush the 25 year olds. At first it starts nice and easy. Guys rushing to burn the shrine, 25 year olds batting away their burning staves using the boughs. A good little flow gets going, but soon people are getting whacked with branches and others whacked with burning bundles. It all sounds kinda crazy right? Well would it make more sense if everyone was drunk?
Well either way, that is the case. See the other kick ass upside to this festival is that everyone is completely liquored up on free sake. Everyone including the 42 year olds, the 25 year olds, the villagers with fire, and the audience. That’s right, there is so much free sake there that they even have guys walking around with bottles and cups tied to them…you know, just to make sure nobody needs go longer than 10 minutes with out another. This is no cheep sake either. This stuff is quality.
Free sake, fire, being a guy. It was a pretty good combo, that is until the drunk, English speaking Japanese lady (that incidentally been calling the ‘Sake-man’ back in our direction) told us that we could participate. My friend Kris convinced me to go…it didn’t really take a lot. We set off. Head for the wood being tossed off from the top and before we had even made it that far some random Japanese handed us bundles of wood. I ended up with two. We ducked into the area where the bonfire was, and loaded up for our attack wave. There were lost of other gaijin we knew in there. It was a riot. We make it a short way in and my sticks get snuffed. I was on my way back to the bonfire when I was pulled to the side. It was a reporter with a mic and a dude with a camera. Japanese guys, but asking me in English where I am from and what I think of the festival. I got out a few answers before one of the gaijin came over pulled my arm and said we have to go make another offensive. I explained that to the reporter and then ran off. Pretty cool.

Downside: I had no idea that I would be participating in the fray, and I wasn’t really dressed appropriately. I was smart enough to take off my fleece (that would have been really dumb) and I though the rest of what I was wearing was ok. I guess I should have thought again in this day and age of cotton synthetic mixes.
During our second wave I managed to tuck in behind some of those 25 years olds getting nasty with the boughs. I was in a beautiful position. I held my blazing torch high and started to get some of the prayer papers and rope going a bit. It was at about that point that I was discovered. A few quick whacks with the branches and my fire was turned to ashes. Unfortunately a lot of those ashes ended up on me, in the hood of my hoodie, and even down it. I walked away at that point. I figured I had some fun, better go before I get burnt.
I have only one tiny little burn on my hand, and I am now the owner of a beautiful hoodie with some nice burn holes and scorch marks on it. I also have a sweet t-shirt and a long underwear shirt that have holes in them as well. Still I don't regret going in and getting dirty. Next year I’m getting fire retardant clothes and I’m bringing that sucker down.
In the end no one succeeded in burning down the shrine before the wood torches ran out. That signalled the time for the 42 year olds to evacuate. The bonfire had been slowly shifted towards the shrine. Now it was right below it. Apparently no one ever succeeds in burning it with the little sticks, so they put the big bonfire under the thing. In about 10 minutes it was smoking. In 15 it was engulfed in flame. After about 25 minutes the top of the sucker just fell in. This wave of heat rolled over the crowd. After that it was just a matter of tossing on some giant good luck charms for the babies born last year.
Man do the people in Nozawaonsen know how to do it. What a killer time. I will take my losses and still call this one a win. If anyone is considering visiting Japan in the winter, may I recommend you try to make it coincide with the fire festival?


Back to the weather:

Upside: I’m at a loss here people.

Downside: It got cold again after the roads were rained on and ploughed. Cold wet roads = all out black ice. My “Ice Guard” tires lived up to their name in the ice…they just apparently suck in slush. The rest of the week brought a few small snow flurries, but mostly sunshine.


January 23, 2006

More weather:

Upside: It snowed a lot again. Last night and this morning brought probably around 15 cm of snow. Yeah, after 2 weeks of now real powder boarding it looks as if we will finally get to shred it up again.

Downside: Did someone say shovelling?

Happy New Year

I hope you all had fun on New Years, and that this year brings peace and harmony to you and your family.

As Christmas is not a holiday in Japan, the winter break does not start until closer to New Years Eve. The first day of the break was the 29^th. Students went back to school on the 10^th of January. The teachers went back on like the 4^th or 5^th. Luckily for me, my Board of Education says there is no point in us AET’s being in school if there are no classes. I say no classes as opposed to no students at school, since it seems that the majority of kids went to school over winter break to practice with their clubs. I swear sometimes I really don't understand this place.

That all being said I still had my break, and I intended to use it. While some of the dudes here in town went home for the holidays, others had people coming to visit. Since I had neither, I accepted the gracious invitation from the Yamaguchi family to come and spend some time at their house. For those of you who don't know them, they are one of the families that I tutored in Vancouver. They lived in Van for about 4 years, and I tutored them for the better part of three and a half.

They live in Tokyo Prefecture, about 40 min out of downtown. So on Dec 30^th I boarded a Bullet Train and I was levitated to Tokyo. After doing a little train hopping, I finally made it out to their station. They came to get me at the station, and I was met by two of the three kids running up to me. I cannot believe how much they have grown. Anyway, we hopped in to their minivan and sailed off to their house.

Now I am from the countryside of Japan. Well it’s still developed, but people in the city treat it like the countryside, and really in comparison it is. With that in mind, I kinda made the assumption that space would be a definite premium in The City. Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised when I saw their house. I was expecting something pretty tight for space, but it turned out to be a fairly nicely sized house.

Everyone had rooms upstairs with the two little girls sharing a room. I had a futon (not like the couch kind in North America, this is the real deal) on the floor in the only room that had tatami floor. It’s amazing how comfortable it is sleeping on a futon on tatami. I am glad I have a bed at home here in the cold cold interior of Japan…especially since I have flooring in my bed room, but it wasn’t too bad in Tokyo. As far as the weather goes, there was no snow in Tokyo, and it was quite a nice temperature, but I now understand what people from Eastern Canada say about Vancouver winters. The temp was warm compared to what I was used to, but the air was damp like it is in Vancouver. That moisture just sucks the heat right out of you. It was actually kinda nice since it reminded me of being back in Vancouver.

During my stay we did many traditional Japanese New Year things. On New Years Eve (my first full day there) we went to a city called Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture. Kamakura was the base of power for the Samurai when they ruled Japan. It has considerable history, and a very large temple. Now tradition in Japan dictates that you must go to a temple/shrine on New Years Day. Apparently the shrine in Kamakura is the third most popular in Japan. Whit that in mind we went on New Years Eve, just to sight see. I got the full low down on the history of the place, and we did some traditional Japanese prayers, etc.

The Yamaguchis and I at a shrine (I think) in Kamakura

Writing on a prayer tablet

Hanging up my lucky fortune

Aiki and I.

After the temple, we went to Daibutsu. Daibutsu is a giant Buddha. It is really neat, because you can actually go inside of it. When we where in there checking it out, the kids and I noticed people had stuck coins into the joins in the brass that makes up the statue. The funniest thing is that I noticed one didn’t look Japanese…in fact it had the picture of Queen Elizabeth on the back. Since I couldn’t see the whole thing I am a little unsure, but I am willing to bet it was a Canadian Nickel of all things!
We ended up doing a little more sightseeing and then we played on the beach. There are some beautiful beaches in Kanagawa. They have a nice southern exposure on the pacific ocean, and the sand is fine and soft.

A beautiful photo taken by Aiki (almost age 7)

That night we started the real traditional elements of New Years. Just before the change of the year we had Toshi-koshi-soba (or is it koshi-toshi-soba…) Either way, it translates as the changing of the year soba. If you have never had soba, I highly recommend it. It is delicious buckwheat noodles, and Nagano is actually a little famous for it (almost everywhere in Japan claims to be famous for it’s soba, but Nagano actually is). After the soba we waited for midnight. As the clock struck 12, large temple bells all over Japan started to toll 108 times. We watched the telecast of it. After that we were all getting ready for bed when we heard Hanabi (literally flower-fire…or fire works). We headed out to see if we could catch them. We saw some of them but we retired when it seemed as if they had stopped. Murphy apparently doesn’t take a night off, because as soon as we were back in the house, they started up again.

The next morning brought the full onslaught of Japanese New Years. For the first few mornings of the New Year, Japanese families eat Osechi-ryori…or New Years Food. It is all food that lasts a few days so it can be eaten over the next few days to give the mom a break from making everyone breakfast. It includes many different things and many of them have significance to starting off a new year. For example there are white and black beans, I don't remember exactly what they represent, but it is something to do with having the seeds of a good year. We also had a whole side of fish eggs. Now, since I have been in Japan, I have had my share of fish eggs…some I like, others I don't. I have to admit that these fit into the latter, but to credit myself I ate almost all of them.

Osechi-ryori

Later that day we took a train to a temple in Tokyo Prefecture. The temple was completely packed. There was a line up about 8 people wide, and at least 700 metres long, just to get through the temple gate. It is funny how some things are the same around the world. One either side of the line up were vendor tents, most selling what the Japanese version of ‘festival food’ is. Once we got through the gate, there was a little more of a line to get to the shrine thingy. We tossed in our coins and clapped twice, then made a new year prayer. It was really cool.

On the way home we bought a kite. Apparently it is a traditional Japanese New Year activity to fly kites. When we were back in their neighbourhood we took the kite and some traditional badminton-like game. We had fun I the school yard until it got too cold to be outside.

Taiki and I playing traditional badminton game

Traditional writing is another New Years activity we tried. The kids wrote mottos for the new year...I wrote my name.

The second of January brought a really interesting experience. It is a treat that I know not every gaijin who visits Japan gets to do. We went to the Imperial Palace. We didn’t just go to it though; we went into the court yard. On January 2^nd the Imperial Family greets the nation. We went and saw the second of about 5 public greetings. They are called public, but really it is just the Emperor, Empress, and some of the family, up on a balcony. It was a only a few minuets long, but it was really neat. The Emperor just looked like an older Japanese man in a nice suit, but the Empress was in a beautiful dress that had a gradation from copper to silver. Later that day we went to the Edo-Tokyo-museum. It was a really cool place that documented the growth of what was initially a small farming village, in to the worlds most booming metropolis.

The next day brought a less traditional side of Tokyo. We went to Odaiba. For those of you who watch the Discovery Channel often, there is a documentary about this part of Tokyo. They refer to it as “Tokyo Teleport Town” or “T3.” I guess that is the English name for it, but damned if the Japanese people know it. This part of town has some large displays from some of the largest companies in Japan. We went to a big display centre for Toyota. It was pretty cool. There were tonnes of cars and all sorts of multimedia and interactive displays. We also went to a Fuji Television centre. Apparently that is where they film some of the very popular shows in Japan. Usually you can look down into the studios, but since it was around New Years, everything was on break. There was a tonne of fun things to see and do in and around Odaiba. It is known as a local hot spot for younger Tokyoites, and it did not fail to impress.

The next day entailed a lazy morning, and then my train ride home in the afternoon. I arrived home to my car a few feet in snow. It took the better part of 2 hours to clear it all away, but that was a small price to pay for the hospitality I received in Tokyo. The Yamaguchis really are like family to me. Their kids are full of energy and are pretty much monkeys. They were some of the best students I have ever had, and at 11 years old, Taiki the oldest, has already passed the 2^nd highest level of English Proficiency tests. That is the level that one of my English Teachers at school just passed last spring.

If I had to pick the best of the best of my trip, I would still have to make a list. Some of the top things include: seeing those wonderful kids again, and seeing how much they have grown, getting to experience a traditional Japanese New Year, and most definitely more than a few wonderful home cooked Japanese meals (I try to cook Japanese, but really what do I know compared to a Japanese mother of 3?).

They May have grown, but Aiki and Mizuki are still little monkeys!

My most heartfelt thanks go out to the Yamajuchis for having me as a guest. I had a wonderful time, and I really enjoyed everything we did. It is good to know that even though I am not Japanese, that I still have a Japanese family.

To the Yamaguchis:
Ojamma shimashita

& to everyone else
akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!