This has been a pretty good week. Holiday on Tuesday, so Aroop and I chose to scheme on a grant in Shizuoka. The grant awards US$5,000 for a project or research that enriches the culture in the kids of Shizuoka. He’s proposing a music exchange with India, and I’m proposing a documentary about green tea. I send it off on Monday, and will know when I get back from my winter holiday.
in Australia. Yep, got some cheap tickets (amongst the Japanese madness - there are long waitlists generally to get a flight duing peak travel seasons), so I’ll be in Melbourne for a week and Sydney for a week, visiting swing dancing friends. Should prove to be a good time.
And this weekend Aroop’s American friend from uni was out on a business trip. We met up with her for some randomness. Karaoke, pubs, general good times. We had some pretty rare experiences - like talking with an old farmer in a place called Aobe, which is up the Oigawa valley about an hour by train. Very small place, the train station looks like the ones in Spirited Away, just a platform and nothing else.
At a bar tonight, we were bought drinks by really friendly business men. And there was a wedding party as well, so we sung some songs for the newlyweds - the Beatles and Green Day. They went nuts.
Tomorrow, I hope to see Miyazaki’s new film, Howl’s Floating Castle. hu++4h!
Monday is off because of Yaizu’s Culture Festival. It was a great Saturday. I just walked around and looked at all the work the students put into their displays.
Each class or club did something for the festival. The 3rd year fishing classes set up simulated fishing (so you can get a feel for pulling a big fish out of the water). I tried first, and they gave me the easiest fish (a 3 kilogram bean-bag fish). The diving club put a few salt water aquariums together, and displayed pictures from their last dive. Another fishing class made ‘bindama’ - glass bobs with a rope net tied around them. They are absolutely beautiful.
There were heaps of shops with food - donuts, cookies, yakisoba, chicken nuggets, and yakitori. I feasted, and the students were quite happy for the business. Also, the brass band performed, and the drama club, and the cheerleading club, and the soccer team.
The most energy was clearly in the punk band. A group of 3rd year boys put a garage punk band together and took over a classroom for the day. They covered a lot of US songs (Green Day, SUM41, et all), and towards the end there was a good sized mosh pit. Their posters were the greatest - be sure to go to the gallery (link provided above) just for those gems.
I loved it, and in the evening, I caught up with the fellas at an izakaya for some good dinner and drinks. This is a stellar weekend, and I’m in a bright mood. It’s days like this that make Japan the coolest place on earth.
A friend in NZ sent me this link. A good read for the sad or angry lefties out there.
And with regards to Holland:
“You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do.”
I lived a lot in the last week. Here are the pictures.
Wednesday was a holiday (Culture Day). So to get things started off right, I went to my local to meet a friend (Keiran from Gisborne, NZ - we met at the Yaizu Kattaa boat race). We had a couple of drinks, found the guitar, and did some live karaoke. The folks gave us a courtesy-clap, but we had fun.
Next day, he and I went to Diadogei - the International Busker World Cup - in Shizuoka. I saw many different acts from all over (Oz, USA, Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Japan) and most were quality. I saw the yo-yo world champion and he was god. Absolutely god. There were stilt walkers that did target practice (fire breathing target practice), crazy acrobats, good slight-of-hand magicians, and good performance artists (a great clown, and a lovely pantamime story).
Then, the weekend took my to Kyoto - said to be Japan’s cultural capital. And it certainly reflected in how many people were walking around with the Lonely Planet: Japan. But, despite the tourists (it’s funny how quickly you can spot a Westerner who hasn’t been in Japan for more than a month - even as arrogant as that sounds), I had a great time with the Commonwealth Crew (Aroop, Nick, Peter - UK, UK, Oz).
Friday night, we ate just west of Gion, at a traditional Korean restaurant, and then went to bed. Saturday was a guantlet. We hired bikes and toured the east part of Old Kyoto. We saw the Silver temple (Ginkakuji), the Eikando temple, the 1000 Buddha temple (Sanjusangendo), and Kiyomizudera before wandering around Gion. We tried a few restaurants, but we were told we couldn’t afford it (a polite way of saying we were out of dress code - we are certainly well enough paid to afford the once-a-year US$150 meal). So we headed back to west Gion and at a great Indian place.
Bike riding was so fun - we went everywhere. Each of us had bells on our bike, and we composed a simple tune on the bells and rang it whenever we passed by large groups. We had tourists, cool Jpop guys, and locals chuckling at our silly song. Each temple is slightly different (which is to say that they’re mostly the same), and the gardens are spectacular - especially after not seeing large green areas for the last 3 months. Absolutely peaceful.
Sunday, we breakfasted on udon noodles (one of Kyoto’s famous foods) and went to Nijo Castle, the Golden Temple (Kinkakuji), and the Ryoanji zen garden. The zen garden was quiet and the other landscape gardens used much moss. I don’t see moss that often, and I loved it. So green, soft, quiet, and everywhere. It’s like snow but in warm weather. Dinner was at Bikkuri Donkii - or Surprise Donkey. It’s a hamburger steak restaurant, even more poorly decorated than Ruby Tuesday’s. I had a hamburger steak with gnochhi and cream sauce on top. Curious, and really good.
My trip to Kyoto taught me to believe the Japanese assertion of what a place is famous for. When I say I’m going to some place, they say that Xxxx spot is good for xxxx food. I thot they were simply tyring to make conversation, but they’re right. Shizuoka is famous for green tea, and the green tea I had over in Kyoto was terrible. I’ve been ruined for tea! And fish as well, considering that Yaizu has the best fish in Japan. Crazy. Now I need to a famous spot for beer. Ah, yes! The Sapporo snow festival in February. Perfect.
Daily genki is daily indeed. During the trip in Kyoto I was excited about seeing new places and loved the jazz bar we went to. Oh yeah! The jazz bar - think a small hole in the wall and this wall is in the basement. So we went there, and an amazing woman was playing all sorts of bluesy songs, as well as some classics. I ate it up, and it made feel like I was somewhere very familar (perhaps Denver, or Melbourne, or ChCh) and I felt like I was at home. It was a tremendously romantic place and that made me happy and lonely at the same time.
And so this is why my daily energy is up and down. Oh, the throes of culture shock. A constant feeling of disconnectedness. A good way to describe it would be a fish in a small glass aquarium in a bigger aquariam.
Upon hearing from Sarah and her energetic time in Africa, I noticed how cynical or despondant I had become. Things aren’t really shiny anymore, and it feels like the international community is about to fall apart. I see no silver linings for the US or Iraq or many other places.
At the same time in Kyoto, I was feeling a bit off. i wanna say that it’s because I’ve done the sight seeing thing so much that I’m over it, or sick of it, or desensitized to it. I dunno. I think I just need a more stable social network. The lads are great, but we haven’t really connected yet (or at least I don’t feel connected yet). It’s definately partially my fault - those silly walls and great small talk aptitude. Uf.
And today we had a meeting for the English curriculum next year. Things are changing and I’m happy to help plan. I’m undcided yet as to whether or not I’m staying on another year. (This emotional limbo can only go so low, right?) But, the vice-principle said at the end of the meeting that I was one of their best ALTs. After he had hinted that I complete the re-contracting form. So who knows. I wouldn’t mind staying on, but I’m worried about growing too comfortable with the easy life (ample cash to travel, a trump card to not fully integrate into society - the big ticket of reservation for me, a simple low-stress job, not really needing to plan for the future). I mean, it’s a selfish experience. I don’t volunteer or anything like that. Uf.
K, this has got end some time, so now’s a good a time as any. Later