Tripping Far Side

It's quite too bad, Anna and I couldn't make it out to the Halloween Party last night.

So we had lunch with my neighbor Chris and his girlfriend Mariko. Chris is on his third-year as an ALT and hails from England. A real likeable guy--he calls me names like "old chap", "fellow", and "joey boy".

Never thought I would meet so many people from other countries in Japan. :) I really appreciate his sense of strong sarcastic humor--but I'm still learning to adjust to it since I'm pretty gullible when it comes to friends.

Anyway, Mariko took us to a recently opened ramen restaurant. Ok, let me just say that ramen in Japan IS NOT that crappy shit that you guys think it is back home. I'm a food lover, so I'd be offended if you thought ramen is like Top Ramen or Cup Noodles.

The picture is Anna's bowl--lined with roast pork. But you can enjoy ramen in so many ways. With a side of dumplings, kimchi, fried rice, extra garlic, extra spice, or even vinegar (Chris brings his own bottle).

This restaurant serves ramen in a tonkotsu soup, made from pork bone so it's healthy in calcium and rich in flavor. Other kinds like miso or shoyu are awesome too.

If you're visiting me, we're definitely eating ramen.

Tonight, there is a big Halloween party about a 2 hours drive north in Tajima. So, Anna and I decided to ride take the motorcycle! This is big news, because even in Seattle for 3 years, she never never rode with me. One time in Hawaii, she rode on the back of a Harley in the parking lot. I asked her many times, but now, she's finally willing to give it a try. But we need to go and get gear for her--helmet, jacket, and gloves.

So today, we drove to this store in Kobe called Cycle World. We got pretty lost getting there, but we eventually made it. In the store, they had a good selection, but the problem was, there was nothing in Anna's size. I went to someone who I thought was a store clerk and asked if they had any jackets in a small size. Turns out that this guy is the store owner! He called for an employee to help us out.

But this guy was so nice. While we were waiting, he could tell we were foreigners since I spoke to Anna in English. He was quite friendly and we started speaking English for a bit. Interesting guy--he is a four-time Japanese motorcycle trials champion! Eventually, they couldn't find any jackets in her size, so the owner offered to drive us to his other store in the next city over, Akashi.

There, we found a red RS Taichi textile jacket for her. A white OGK FF4 helmet, and some textile gloves. He took us to his office upstairs and showed us a picture of him in a competition. He said it wasn't a very good picture, because it was a really technical section and a little after the picture, he would mostly be on the back wheel. The rip in the picture is from the Great Earthquake that leveled Kobe in 1995.

We returned to Kobe, all the while discussing many things in English. For example, he told me that the motorcycle industry in Japan has declined significantly. Can't understand perfect, but I think he said something like a decline of 80%, from 3.2 million bikes to around only several hundrend thousand per year now. Crazy, but that would explain why it's rare to see sportbikes here--almost never. Mostly all scooters.

He showed me a trials bike that he sells. It's that red bike in the picture. He said he sold like 63 in Europe, and it's named after him: Kondy. We exchanged business cards, and he gave me his celly. What a nice guy!

So I finally found a big motorcycle store in Japan. For you fellas back home, let me know if you want anything by taking a look at the website. http://cycle-world.jp

Well, with Halloween approaching, Anna and I decided to go to Kobe today to look for some costumes.

We went to Tokyu Hands, which is a unique kind of store, with all kinds of knick-knacks. It takes about an hour to get to Kobe, so I'm glad we got there about 30 minutes before closing time. But, I was a little disappointed with their selection of Halloween costumes. On the other hand, only a few people celebrate here, so it's better than nothing.

Anyway, Anna got a witch's hat, and I got a wig and glasses in the like of Yon-sama, or Bae Yong Joon. He's a Korean actor in the enormously popular drama, Winter Sonata. By the time we got out, it was quite late so almost all the shopping stores were closed at 9 PM. But, Anna and I walked around Kobe anyway. We managed to get everything we needed at the last stop, fishnet stockings for her costume.

We went to a Korean restaurant that was pretty good. We ordered kalbi, lettuce, rice, and spicy soup (yook-kae-jang). But, next to us, we saw what looked like really tasty spicy chicken being grilled, so we asked the waiter to bring us an order. Take a look at the picture, what do you think it is? It was cooking for a surprisingly long time, and wouldn't get charred.... haha.... It's fat!! Umm, grilled fat!

I seem to be on a binge drinking phase lately. Not because anything is wrong, just because there isn't many fun things to do here.

So last night, Anna and I went to our favorite karaoke joint again, Dolphin. We were planning to only stay for 2 hours, but I decided we should get the all-you-can-drink option. We ended up staying for 3 whole hours, as we explored the menu of drink possibilities. We ordered chu-hi, which is sort of like a Japanese wine cooler or Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard drink. Let's see, I remember us having flavors like lemon, lime, melon, orange, calpis--they're really sweet and you can't really taste the alcohol. So I must have had 7-8 drinks, and Anna had 5-6. That was such a blast singing and drinking!

But afterwards, wow. We both managed to fall in the street twice while walking home, laughing and tripping over each other. And once I got home, I just spent the night sleeping and throwing up in front of the toilet using old laundry as a pillow. Then sometime in the night, I sort of remember Anna cramming herself into the small toilet room, and throwing up in the trashcan. Take a look at the picture, it's a really small room.

Well, this morning, there was no way I could go to work. We both had massive hangovers, and I think we learned our lessons with chu-hi. Anna was still sick until about 3 or 4 PM today. Good times good times!

This past weekend, Anna and I got a chance to play the travel version of Settlers of Catan with some of the Miki JETs. I was just talking about how I should have brought my copy, and soon after, Allison coincidentally mentioned we should play together!

You guys back home in Seattle would be proud. I really miss playing board games with you guys though. Gosh, Anna used to complain that we played too much--was it once or twice a week for a year?

Haha, everyone in the picture looks so engrossed.

...is a drinking party! We celebrated the departure of one substitute English teachers and the arrival of another. We went to a Chinese restaurant with some good food and, of course, good beer!

Enkais are generally pretty wild since once Japanese people drink, they really break out of their stoic shell. But it's too bad, all the English teachers at our school are older. The average age of teachers at Miki SHS is in the mid-40s. So even though I suggested the standard after-party, no one wanted to go.

Oh well, I guess we did have school the next morning. Also, in the countryside, where you have to drive to get anywhere, and with the zero tolerance on drinking and driving, there aren't many options.

Enkais are good fun though. It's nice to be able to socialize with coworkers on a more casual level. Making sure everyone's glass is full of beer is proper etiquette, so that's pretty fun, being the beer Nazi. And of course, your own glass will always be topped off, so if you don't want to drink, just leave your glass full.

I took the day off work today. So Anna and I took a local trip to Miki Greenpia, which is like a large park with a lot of trails, a hotel, an onsen, a go-kart track, and some small rides. I guess it was a workday, so the park felt quite abandoned. But it really did feel peaceful with hardly anyone there.

We went up to one of the observation towers, where you could see a spectacular view of the area surrounding Miki. Serene and relaxing.

Then we found a wooden maze that we walked around for a bit.

Afterwards, we headed into the hotel where they have an onsen, which is like a hot springs public bath. After washing, you can soak in private little wooden hot tubs outside. That was a nice way to end the evening.

I think after this though, we've exhausted all the things to do here in Miki....

Near my place, there is a blast of karaoke joint. The best part is the all-you-can-drink for 880 yen per person per hour ($7.62)! And that includes the room and karaoke entertainment!

So we visit this place, called Dolphin, often. Last night though, they stuck us up in the second floor in the corner since we usually get pretty rowdy. Three cheers for Miki, Yokawa, and Yashiro JETs!!!

Gareth always brings a lot of energy too--"make the world a better place! For you and for me and the entire human race! There are people dying..." (Ask me for the vid later). Then we end the night with general drunkenness and dancing. Good times good times! :D

We finally had a chance to visit the big city today. It's about an hour and a half by train to get there.

Places like Dotombori, Namba, and Shinsaibashi in the city light up at night. On a Saturday, it's especially busy along some of the shopping streets called shotengai. For a snack, we had one of Osaka's local specialty called takoyaki (grilled octopus balls).

At the Vodafone shop, this guy Ahmed spoke English and was so helpful in helping us get a second cell phone. Then afterwards, Anna and I had dinner at a pretty good Korean restaurant around the corner. And amid the crowd of shoppers, we even found Chris Hammond, a fellow JET and Seattlite! A great guy--a pleasurable coincidence.

Poor Anna, she's been cooped up in the apartment in Japan. So we took a stroll around the local park, Mikiyama. We walked on a little trail there, but there wasn't much to see or do there. In fact, it seems more of a dog park than anything. But it was a nice cool day....

Anna came by to visit Miki Senior High School for just a short while.

You won't see many students because this is around the time of midterm examinations. I think all schools in Japan tend to look the same.

While we're on the subject of beer...

Anna and I went grocery shopping recently, and saw many different sizes of beer cans. I saw the one on the left and was wondering why it was necessary to can 100 mL of beer. What the hell? Well, it must be for the little children.

The drinking age here is 20, but no one cards here. Any kid can pretty much walk in and buy beer. And if you don't want that to be a hassle, just find a beer vending machine. Actually, met some "high school students" with Gareth a long while back hanging out next to one of these things late at night. Good times :)

So my neighbor Chris brought over some awesome sake the other day for me to try. He said it was expensive, maybe $30 for this small bottle.

It's not what you would think sake is. It's opaque, milkshake thick, a little chunky, and really sweet. And I really liked it--a lot. So maybe it's hard to find, but I'm looking for another bottle....

Thanks Chris!

Maybe it was the raw chicken. Maybe it could have been the chanko nabe (uncooked meat or veggies). Maybe it could have been the raw egg on top of the bibimbap (Korean mixed veggie rice bowl). Maybe it didn't help drinking heavily on Friday night at karaoke.

In any case, I down and out for the count this whole weekend.

Anna and I had a lot of plans for the weekend, but we couldn't do anything. I stayed in bed all weekend, with diarrhea, fever, dizziness, weakness, and even double vision--seems like all the symptoms of food poisoning.

And I've been sick from a different cold as the weather has gotten much cooler. The good thing is I'm feeling better, but my stomach is still giving me cramps. Poor Anna, she was so bored. :(

We had a feast for dinner. It's called "chanko-nabe" and this is the food that sumo wrestlers eat. Sort of like a hot pot with meat, vegetebles, noodles, tofu, etc. Very filling and tasty.

Then I drove Anna around Miki a little bit, stopping off at Jusco, the local big department store. Afterwards, we went to all-you-can-drink karaoke for 3 hours. Then we passed out.

Anna's here from Seattle!

Welcome to Japan! :D

Emily and I had dinner today at a local "grilled chicken" (yakitori) restaurant.

We didn't quite understand the menu, so she whipped out her trusty electronic dictionary. Unfortunately, sasami wasn't there, so we asked the waiter what it was like. He said some Japanese word that translated to something like "ribs". Hmm, I'm thinking succulent skewers of chicken rib meat!

Well, it wasn't. The last dish was raw chicken breast! We laughed pretty hard before we gave it a try. We would be caught dead if we ate this back home. But apparently, it's safe to eat it here in Japan. Tender, and the taste wasn't soo bad, but I think I'll stick to cooked chicken.

Nice people too. They gave us a little present before we left--an attractive magnet! But I wonder why we were the only ones to get it--was it a going away present?

Had a fun day yesterday hanging out with Allison, Gareth, and Laura in Akashi.

First, Allison introduced us to an awesome all-you-can-eat meat barbeque (yakiniku) for lunch. We were so stuffed; right Gareth!?

Meat is pretty expensive here and you don't usually get to eat a lot of it, so it was a nice change. Ah, carnivores again! And it was great because it was only 1300 yen ($11.41)!! Allison made me a better and happier person not just for that day, but for every week to come. :D

Then we hit the local Starbucks, and then to bowling! Had a fun little competition for the second round when I teamed up with Laura versus Allison and Gareth. That was when Laura pushed me to get an awesome score (hahahaha): 188!

Good thing about bowling is that it's the same as the US--well, except for the fact that you get bowling shoes from a vending machine.

I went to the festival again on Sunday with the Miki Crew. Almost all of the foreign English teachers were there, so while we were walking around, we could say hi to almost every student, both junior and senior high schools.

We also went with some really nice Japanese families: the Ogawa's and the Subutani's. They let us sit in the front of their expensive reserved seats, at the top of the shrine, which has a fantastic view of the festivities away from the crowd. They are such wonderful people! They even let us wear their "happi" coats that proudly represents their local neighborhood. You can also easily distinguish them by the different colored headbands.

I missed out on some of the action apparently though. Some of the other JETs were telling me how drunk some of the 13 and 14 year old kids were at the festival. And apparently, in front of a group of cops too! One JET even took beer away from her student and explained the situation to the police, but they didn't do anything. Also, I guess fights were breaking out often too. Haha, no wonder teachers don't want to be here.

The heaviest portable shrine got dropped a bunch of times though. Twice on the way up the stairs, and then around their neighborhood as well. One time, it came dangerously close to falling on top of the crowd. But they said, don't worry though, the kids are strapped in.

I can't believe they carry these things ALL DAY, on both Saturday and Sunday from morning until late night. You can even see the lump on their shoulders!

Last night was the Miki Autumn Festival that celebrates the recent rice harvest. Natsumi, a first-year student, invited me out to join her and her friends. She is in one of pictures, wearing a pink jacket on the right.

The festival was spectacular. About 60 local people each carry these 2-ton, ornate portable shrines on their shoulders that require a lot of teamwork. And of course, a lot of alcohol. :) Children sit in the shrine too, shouting along with all the chanting. Throughout the day, they carry them around their neighborhood, and then rendezvous at Miki's Omiya Shrine. And the kicker? To get to Omiya Shrine, they have to carry it up 85 steps that has an incline of about 45 degrees. And it was wet last night (hence some had plastic covering). It was quite a sight to see.

Natsumi and I had a lot of good food at the festival. We tried Hiroshima-yaki (in the picture), kara-age (awesome fried chicken), Castella (fresh bite-sized cakes), candied apples, and ice cream. They also had frankfurters and takoyaki (fried octopus balls). They had some mini-games, so we tried a cork-shooting game, but no luck.

Around the festival, we met up with a lot of other students. I think many wondered if Natsumi and I were "going out" just because we were together. Haha well, they're at that age when love-love is important. :)

Well, I was sick last night, so I had an early night. I'm glad Natsumi invited me to come, otherwise, I would have missed out.

I went to bed early last night because I have a cold. So I woke up early this Saturday morning, still as if on routine, at 7 AM.

So I haven't had a good breakfast in Japan, so I took a stroll down to the local restaurant, Cafe Ripple. Small, cozy, and where-they-know-your-name kind of place.

The best part is the Japanese toast. Thick and covered with butter. Crunchy when you bite but moist and soft for the finish. Sooo delicious! I like it better than a bagel because it isn't so heavy.If you want to try some in Seattle, go to Uwajimaya and buy some shokupan!

They serve good coffee, scrambled eggs with mini sausages smothered in ketchup (just the way I like it), and a salad with sesame dressing. On the side is fresh strawberry yogurt to complement.

A nice way to start the day. Today, lots to do: reply to everyone's email, change spark plugs on my bike, laundry, schoolwork, and tidy up the house for Anna's big arrival.

I've been down with a cold lately, so I haven't been smoking very much. Which is, of course, a very good thing.

I need to be more earnest about quitting. But doing it in Japan is harder than in the States where it's looked down upon. Just because you can smoke everywhere here: school (in the smoking room), restaurants, train stations, karaoke, indoor malls, wherever you see an ashtray. I still don't smoke inside my home, and I try to be polite when I'm with non-smokers.

Cigarettes are also cheaper here, at 300 yen ($2.64) a pack and vending machines of them are plentiful. And they sell Marlboro Lights, and they taste the same too. Apparently, Marlboro Lights are quite strong compared to Japanese cigarettes.

Well, I need to quit sometime soon. Anna's coming in a week, so she can get on my case again. :) I agree with the ashtray, "Preferably no smoking is better than smoking."

And here is my bike. It's a Honda NSR250 (MC21).

The interesting bit though is that it is a two-stroke engine, which makes power twice as often as a four-stroke engine. Cons: more pollution due to burning oil and more maintenance required. Pros: Lightweight and powerful. This engine type is no longer in production, so it's rare, even in Japan.

Also new for me, is that the bike has a dry clutch. So when you pull in the clutch, it goes clickity-clack clickity-clack!

And the bike has a kick-starter. And a reservoir on the side where you have to constantly fill it with 2-stroke oil.

And this bike is a twin: two cylinders displacing 250cc with a powerband above 5k rpm to redline at 12k rpm. It's got two tiny exhausts on both sides.

It's really quite different than what I'm used to, and quite fun to ride! The sound of the exhaust is much higher (like a weedwacker). And the bike is small. So it's really fun to toss it around in the corners.

I hope to bring this home and take it to the track.

...I'd buy you a K-car!

Here's my Mitsubishi Minica. 0.65 liters of pure power! 3 cylinders pumping 50 hp. And this thing screams! Screaming pain at 100 kph (60 mph)--that's about as fast as this thing can go. And 4 wheel drive too!

The best thing about the car is the radio! Blasting AM tunes! And the speaker is installed conveniently next to the AM radio in the dash. You don't need FM and all those other whistles. :) A.M. is where it's A.T.

Nah, I love this car. Gets me from place to place reliably and with good gas mileage. Also not too shabby for $1000 US.

Gas is really expensive in Japan. 130 yen per liter turns out to be like $4.31 per gallon. For the cheapest stuff!

Speed limits are really low here. Most all roads have a speed limit between 25 mph to 31 mph (40-50 kph). The highways are 37 mph (60 kph) and the fastest expressways are 50 mph (80 kph).

That might give you guys back in the States some perspective.

Anyway, back to having a good time.

Met up with a bunch of fun JETs in Kobe and stayed out all night until the trains ran again at 5 am.

Drinking in public is okay here, so we hung out at Sannomiya's Concrete Park.

Also did a little bar-hopping and eventually ended up at a club called Sally's.

Lots of drinking and partying. Good times!

My blog is misleading so far. It's been almost exactly one month since I started teaching. And in this time, life has been much more difficult than enjoyable. So long rant today. Please bear with me.

I expected that beginning to live in Japan would be difficult. But not this difficult. A few days ago, I ended up just shouting out in the teachers room, "I HATE THIS SCHOOL!" I got a lot of surprised looks. As tempered and big-picture as I try to be, I still can't avoid culture shock.

A lot of things in combination drive me crazy here.

There's a lot of work and stress because Miki SHS is a "Super English Language High School" supervised by the Ministry of Education. Aside from the regular English course that all students must learn, there is a more advanced, special English course. I teach 15 classes a week: 9 classes with one lesson per week and 3 classes with two lessons per week. I teach 5 different types of classes. I teach with 7 different teachers and 3 others that we much coordinate with. Because of holidays and typhoons, some classes are one to three lessons behind. It's quite overwhelming.

But I have it easy in comparison. The Japanese teachers have way too much responsibility, and so they can't focus much on making solid, meaningful lessons that I have to teach. I've been staying at work late and working at home on the weekdays making lesson plans and grading journals/homework and helping students with their speeches. And I'm not even responsible for club activities or homeroom! I can see how it's more common in Japan for teachers to have mental breakdowns--I know of two at Miki SHS on indefinite leave.

I'm not an assistant teacher here. In fact, in a lot of my classes, "team teaching" means I run the class while the Japanese teacher provides comments in a backup role. I wouldn't mind if I had more control over what we taught. I speak very, very slowly and in simple English, and most students can understand.

Also, in most of my classes, we don't follow the textbooks because those in charge didn't do a good job of picking them. So most of the teachers, including me, make their own lesson plans, borrowing a little something from the book, just because we have to. It's helpful to have a list of old lesson plans, but it doesn't make sense from one plan to the next. What are we teaching them? No wonder so many students have to go to cram school everyday to really learn their English.

The Head English Teacher is a nice guy, but disorganized and last-minute. Often forgetful of important ideas, tasks, and meetings. The Head of the Special English Course can't handle his own stress and so doesn't deal well with other issues that need his attention. It makes it more difficult for everyone. I've voiced my concerns and suggestions, but it seems they can't even consider taking on more responsibility.

The students are great. I'm priviledged to go to one of the best high schools in the area. But even then, English is mandatory for everyone and so it's natural to have your lot of unmotivated students. Many are quite overworked, so I can understand when they'd rather sleep than struggle to understand English. The education system teaches English for many years, but for some reason, even the good students have a really hard time generating and speaking simple sentences.

It's because, I think, they don't get enough practice speaking in oral communication class. It's very difficult to get participation from students since they are naturally shy and passive--a virtue in their culture. Also, it seems difficult for them to think and have initiative on their own, so they don't like to volunteer. Always a member of a group, they seem to think more importantly of what others think over their own feelings. With any class activity, students always have to work with others (as long it isn't of the opposite sex). So, I feel they are quite afraid to make mistakes when they are unsure--better to just pretend like you don't understand than lose face speaking bad English or the wrong answer. It's not their culture to stand out--the nail that sticks out should be hammered.

And I feel hammered everyday. I'm one of the few that likes to discuss and suggest how we can improve English education here. I mean, of course I'm no expert and I just got here, but I swear my ideas are just common sense! For example, limiting the use of Japanese in oral communication classrooms and getting the kids to practice speaking English more. Doing quick reviews or quizzes of what they learned in last class. Having lesson plans with structure and continuity.

Also for the special English course students, let's not do 2 years of debate! It's difficult enough for students to just use English. On top of that, it's difficult for them, even in Japanese, to express their opinion, let alone be confrontational and logical. Besides, ALTs shouldn't be in debate class since we never teach them any English! And we haven't taught them how to debate. They just read paragraphs about the topic and eventually expect them to debate. My Japanese teaching partner said that if we throw them in the deep end of the pool, they'll learn how to swim. Yah, they are drowning as we speak. I never show my frustration to students, but they have said how difficult debate is, and I can see their lack of motivation in their work.

But there's just no way to catalyze change. So I wonder, why do I care so much? This place fosters, no forces, mediocrity. So why do I work so much? This place isn't a meritocracy. This is different from my old job, where the work was too high-level, and it was really a struggle not being good enough to make any contribution. Sigh. I've been quite depressed, losing whole weekends just because all I wanted to do was sleep.

But I'm lucky to have a lot of good JETs around me. In searching for answers, one veteran JET told me, "You can't change their culture." That slapped me just right. Although I've been fighting to do what I believe is best and what I believe is right, I am different. Their culture is not my culture. My principles might not apply here to be happy or successful. This is their way of doing things, and it works for them. Change also happens very slowly here.

So I am feeling better these days in my powerlessness. It's one way I'm choosing to cope: to learn to be more flexible and humble than I have ever been. I am new to Japan and I have no authority. Until I understand more, my criticism is lacking wisdom. Until I have more responsibility, all I can do is my best for what I have control over. Change doesn't seem to happen bottom-up in Japan anyway.

I saw a small patch of sunflowers in Japan. I feel like one of them--few in number and different in a land of homogeneity. But I guess that also makes me feel somewhat special. So here's to, what I hope, is a sunny future.... I wonder how I will change and grow as a person in Japan.