The Dropped Jaw Effect

Hokkaido

2010-04-12T13:24:00.003+09:00

On the 9th February a group of us headed to the northern island of Hokkaido. After about 20 hours travel, including a ferry, we arrived in the capital Sapporo. Every year they host the most famous snow festival in Japan; the Sapporo Snow Festival.

We spent 2 nights in Sapporo before heading to Niseko, the most famous ski resort in Japan. Niseko is popular because of its size and mainly because of the powder snow!

We rented a house there for 3 days. We spent our days snowboarding in the best snow I have ever been on. And we spent our evenings in onsens and checking out the local area. We went to an ice bar, where everything was made from ice; the walls, the bar, even the glasses!

This is a video that Todd put together from our trip!

Shizukuishi

2010-02-08T13:28:00.000+09:00

A friend of mine who lives in the neighbouring prefecture of Iwate asked me to organise a group of people to evaluate a doburoku tour that he wishes to offer as a service to tourists to the area. Doburoku (濁酒) is basically home make sake.

So on February 6th a group of 16 of us went to Shizukuishi. Some of us went up early and had time to visit the Snow Festival at Koiwai Farm, the largest private general farm in Japan. It was pretty impressive too. There were all sorts of snow sculptures.

This was a line of snow restaurants you could go into and have lunch!

We then went to Minshuku Nakagawa (民宿なかがわ) for our hands-on doburoku making experience! The owner Mr. Nakagawa everything he was doing in detail and my friends wife Miho translated for us. It seemed pretty easy. Steam rice, let it cool, add some stuff and keep it in a barrel with the temperature maintained between 10 and 20 degrees for about a week. After that you have a load of doburoku!

Before dinner started a few of us decided to go to an onsen. The closest one was Yukotan no Mori (ゆとかんの森). After showering and warming up in the inside bath, myself and Austin headed for the rotemburo (outside bath). We had to go out into the hall and down some stairs. I slipped going down the oddly shaped steps and bounced awkwardly and painfully down the last 3 or 4 steps. Embarrassed and bleeding I got up and tried to stop my elbow from bleeding. We continued into the onsen to meet the other 3 guys we were with and found that 2 of them had also slipped on the stairs! We compared injuries; my blood clinched the victory!

We headed back to the minshuku for a dinner of a huge variety of local mountain dishes. It was delicious. And we got to drink as much as we wanted, for 4 hours!

Then some of us put on our snowboarding gear and went outside for snow sumo!

The next morning after breakfast we realised first that one of the drivers had lost his car keys while playing snow sumo, and that another person had lost a camera. So we were all running around looking for keys and cameras, sifting through snow in all the places we remembered playing sumo - which turned out to have been many places! Eventually Austin randomly kicked a bank of snow on the side of the road, the one created by the snowploughs after clearing the roads, and the spot he kicked just so happened to be where the keys were buried in the snow! Lucky!!!

We finally left and headed to Shizukuishi Ski Resort for the day. It's a nice big ski jo with plenty of long runs, steep inclines, and plenty of black courses to enjoy!

Winter Holidays

2010-02-04T13:08:00.010+09:00

In Japan, Christmas day is not a national holiday. Many of the foreigners here take holidays and travel. That's what I did last year when I went to Taiwan. But this year I decided to stay in Honjo.

On Christmas Eve, Chika an myself went out for a romantic dinner at a local Indonesian restaurant. And then headed to a darts bar where we were given "Christmas" Cheese cake and hot sake from the staff. Later we were given the more traditional strawberry and cream style "Christmas" cake from random customers drinking in the bar.

Christmas day was a Friday, and it just happened to be the last day of school before before winter holidays. And after a normal day at school, all the teachers had an end of year drinking party that night. The party started at 5:30 and we had a 4 hour all-you-can-drink and more food than we could possible eat!

I brought along a small Christmas cake that my mother sent me (thanks Mam!), and we gave it to the staff at the izakaya, where the party was, to cut up for us. This is how my tiny slice was beautifully presented to me; on a long plate with icing sugar sprinkled like snow, Santa sitting in some cream, with his footprints precisely marked into the "snow" and a random thing on top of the cake (I can't remember what that was...).

After our 4 hour drinking time expired, we headed off to our second party, where we all got boob shaped chocolate on our tables. It was a karaoke bar that had, for some reason unknown to me, garments and wigs that you could dress up in before you got on stage to sing! And as our group was pretty drunk at this stage two teachers were more than happy to dress up!

The previous week I had dressed up as Santa for a kids party and as a thank you from the organiser I got a smoked turkey leg. So on St. Stephen's Day I cooked myself up as best a Christmas dinner as I could! For some reason the turkey looked and tasted like ham, so it was kindof like having turkey and ham?!

On January 2nd Patrice, a girl I shared a house with in Limerick for a few years, came to visit on her way home from Australia. I always love when people from Ireland come to visit! It's nice to hear stories about home and be able to speak about stuff that only Irish people are familiar with; the latest Gift Grub etc.

We travelled around a bit while she was here. We visited the local sights Yurihonjo has to offer; the jizo's, the buddha. Chika joined us when we travelled to the neighbouring prefecture to visit the sand onsen and a cave onsen; anayukko (穴ゆっこ).

We went to Zao in Yamagata for 3 days. We went snowboarding in Zao Liza World and rode the Zao rope-way though the weather was very bad for both. We also visited one of the best nicest onsens I've ever been to; shinzaemon onsen (新左衛門の湯).

Two days after Patrice left I went to Tazawako Ski Jo for the weekend with two other guys from Akita. The weather was good though visibility of the lake was minimal.

Fun times!

Tororo

2009-11-02T11:58:00.002+09:00

On Sunday 1st October, as part of the local townspeople festival, there was a tororo eating competition. This competition has taken place every year in Ouchi for the last 26 years.

第26回元祖とろろめし大喰い大会
Dai 26 kai Ganso Tororo meshi Oogui Taikai

Each bowl is carefully measured out to have 120g of white rice with 90cc of tororo on top. We were given a set of chopsticks, two umeboshi and a napkin. And we had 15 minutes to eat as many bowls as we could. Drinking was not allowed.

I was informed many times that participants got to keep the bowls that they eat from. And that each bowl is worth 300 yen, so I should at least eat 4 bowls to come out on top after paying the 1,000 yen entry fee!

The night before had been the Halloween party in the city, so I wasn't feeling my best for the competition. And unfortunately for me both the presenter of the competition and the local TV camera guy decided to try talk to me. I was struggling a lot with forming English sentences that morning, never mind Japanese sentences!

There were 29 participants in the competition. I managed to eat a mouthful short of 6 bowls when the final whistle blew. I tried really hard to finish the last bowl, but I physically couldn't.

The winner of the competition ate 15 bowls! One bowl every minute! When he was walking up to get presented he was walking with an understandable discomfort. The female winner ate 12 bowls. And as you can see she not exactly the biggest of women either.

This last photo appeared in a local Yurihonjo magazine called Shiseidayori　(市政便り) or Koho Yurihonjo (広報ゆりほんじょう).

Halloween Party

2009-11-01T20:24:00.002+09:00

Every year in Akita city we have a Halloween Dance Party and the proceeds go to Room to Read. This year we had a bigger turnout; due to relocating to a better venue and possible the fact that Halloween fell on a Saturday night this year.

I'm not a huge fan of getting dressed up for events. The first year I was here my costume was a Kilkenny hurling supporter; simply because I had a Kilkenny jersey and a crazy Kilkenny hat. Last year I borrowed a costume of an anime character who plays tennis - I have no idea of his name! So this year I decided to put at least a small amount of effort into my costume.

Shortly after arriving in Japan, about 2 years ago, a young student told me I looked like Lupin III; a great anime thief. So I decided to go with that look this year. Lupan III's trademark look is a red jacket with a yellow tie. And although the tie was not an issue to acquire the red jacket was. Luckily I found a Lupan III set in a local store.

I was happy with how it looked.

Me with Queen Chika.

Akita CC vs Sendai CC

2009-10-19T10:56:00.002+09:00

On October 18th Akita Cricket Team took on Sendai Cricket Team in Sendai. We played two games. Sendai clenched the first game by a single point. But Akita came back strong in the slightly longer second game to claim victory.

The following report was written by our team captain; Tapojoy Mandal.

A mere run separated us from Sendai in the first game, played over 10 overs. The highlights when bowling included a spectacular tumbling catch by Julie, who, by allowing the ball to bounce off her arms, shoulders and hands before she finally grabbed it with a face-forward dive, outdid David Thompson's similar effort (he only let it bounce once and so wasn't as spectacular). The catch gave Wil a wicket in his debut over. Julie followed that up with a wicket in her first-ever over as well, while Abby dismissed their wicket-keeper again. When batting, Paul played a spectacular debut innings - before being forced to retire on 22, he had spanked the ball all over the ground, losing the ball at least twice. Owen matched him with a good innings at the top of the order, but with both retired, the job to take us over the line, at the required rate of a run a ball, fell to debutants Robin and Todd. Very tight bowling by an experienced Sendai bowler made the task very difficult. It came down to us needing 2 runs to win off the last ball, and although Robin made a brave dive and looked to have made his crease, he was declared run out and we were denied even a tie.

Much as that loss irritated us, we now knew we had to cut out the small mistakes in the field. The next game was a longer, 12-over contest, and we bowled and fielded brilliantly to restrict Sendai to a paltry 67 runs. We had the harder job of bowling and fielding in pouring rain, but Robin and Todd picked up their maiden wickets, and Julie and both Davids chipped in with important breakthroughs. Owen showed Sendai that wicketkeeping gloves were for sissys, with two stumpings and a catch with his bare hands. Tapo got into the act with the final two balls of the innings, getting two bowleds including the opposition captain for a golden duck (out without scoring first ball), completing 3 overs conceding only 6 runs. The fielding was effective throughout, with Austin and Julie particularly sharp.

The rain receded but Akita's ballistic batting made Sendai wish it was still raining so that they could go home. Although Austin's foray as an opener ended with the first ball, he ran bravely for Wil, who had managed to tweak a muscle within a few minutes of taking the field. Wil followed Paul's lead in playing a debut innings of bravado, although he often forgot he had a runner and would set off at a hobble every time he connected. After he was dismissed for 23, we had a brief hiccup with some quick wickets, including Tapo when his foot brushed the base of the stumps and a bail dropped - quite unfortunate, considering in real cricket there is no base that sticks out half a foot either side - but then we unleashed Owen and he all but finished things off with a manic 25, retiring with just a run to get. Cue Abby to be in the middle during the winning moment as she has often done before, although it was left to Julie to clout the winning run. We had beaten them comfortably with several balls to spare and shown that the first game was just an aberration.

Kiritampo Party

2009-10-11T20:41:00.005+09:00

The nurse at one of my schools is a member of LABO and every year they have a kiritampo party at Sanbouen (三望苑) in Honjo. I went last year for the first time, and she invited me again this year.

This year 6 of the local ALTs joined the party; Paul, Austin, Abby, Todd, Jimmy and myself. When we arrived the barbeques were were already cooking sweet potatoes. We were all handed beers and told to enjoy ourselves!

Kiritampo is mashed up rice that is moulded onto sticks and then cooked over a BBQ. We helped out mashing the rice and forming it onto the sticks.

We didn't get to help out with the cooking of them, but did get given more beer and various salads. And when the kiritampo was cooked we were served kiritampo nabe; a soup with various vegetables and of course the kiritampo.

After eating we went to the park area and set up two slacklines, a kind-of not-so-tight tightrope. Most of us are still learning how to balance/walk on the line. I can balance pretty well, until I try to take a step forward. Its a whole lot of fun though, and easier than you might imagine.

We got to see an amazing sunset just before we left too!

Rice

2009-10-01T22:02:00.004+09:00

Today I was at Shimokawa elementary school (下川小学校). During a free period before lunch the principal asked me if I wanted to join the 5th grade students harvesting rice. Every year the kids get the opportunity to plant a field of rice and then help harvest it.

I was delighted to get the opportunity to try it out!

A kamada or sickle (鎌田).

A small inekariki (稲刈り機) or rice combine harvester.

We stacked the rice at the edge of the field.

I spoke to a little old Japanese woman who was working there. She explained the entire rice reaping process to me. But unfortunately about 98% of what she said to me went right over my head. One thing I did pick up on though was that the field we were working in would have a yield of about 240 kilograms; about a years supply of rice for 7 or 8 people.

Yakeyama

2009-09-22T20:45:00.001+09:00

The day after Honjo Festival myself and Paul decided to head north to hike a mountain range near Hachimantai (八幡平) in Noshiro. We planned on hiking for 3 days but due to bad weather and multiple bear warnings we cut it back to a short hike up Mt. Yake (焼山) and back.

Yakeyama translates roughly to burning mountain. And we quickly realised why, shortly after we arrived. On one side of the mountain is Tamagawa Onsen (玉川温泉), a very famous onsen because it has the highest acidic water in Japan (pH 1.1). And close to the onsen much volcanic activity can be observed like boiling steam and sulphuric gasses gushing from the rocks.

Many people bring mats and lay down on the ground, as it is believed that the area contains a significant amount of radioactive radium which is believed to cure many different ailments.

We continued up the mountain where at the top we found a crater lake full of white liquid! Gasses from under the liquid gave the impression that the water was actually boiling!

The summit, 1324m.

That evening we went to Tamagawa Onsen. They had many different baths with varying levels of acidity. I tried most of them, but the highly acidic ones were not very comfortable on sensitive areas of the body.

The next morning we went to the far side of the mountain to the more anally friendly Goshōgake Onsen (後生掛温泉).

Honjo Festival

2009-09-20T20:14:00.000+09:00

The two Japanese guys who were on our rowing team this year live in the same area as me in Honjo. They invited me and my friends to take part in the local Ōnomichi chōnai (大の道町内) festival on 20 September. We practiced twice at my local community centre (大の道公民館), which I just discovered existed!

We were practicing a simple enough beat on the taiko (太鼓). We needed to have 2 drummers at any given time, one rhythm and the other on main beat. There were also a group of fue (笛) players. And everyone shouts out the word sore (それ）, multiple times!

On our second night of practice, the day before the festival, we had plenty of free food and drinks given to us. We ate what has now become usual to us; yakitori, yakisoba and okonomiyaki. And we drank sake from square wooden cups!

And after a late night we got up and returned to the community centre for 8am the next morning for the opening ceremony of the festival. And it's customary to open any good ceremony with a shot of sake; so that was when our started drinking!

We were the first group to lead the drumming. Basically the group tours around the local area. People watch from the side of the street, and random people come out of their houses and give large bottles of sake to us! Some people even give out envelopes with money inside!

We made our first pit stop after about 15 minutes. We stopped outside a house and were ushered into an open garage. In the centre of the garage was a table with onigiris, pickled vegetables, miscellaneous meats and large bottles of beer and of course sake.

After indulging ourselves for about 15 to 20 minutes we were each given towels and told that we would be carrying the portable shrine, called a mikoshi (御輿, 神興 or 神輿) for a while. The towels were to pad our shoulders as the shrine was quite heavy.

When we picked it up and placed it on our shoulders it quickly became apparent that most of us foreigners were taller than the Japanese guys we were with. Some of the guys could not get their shoulders high enough to take any of the weight! Our chant also changed from sore to wasshoi (わっしょい).

We continued carrying the shrine and chanting for the rest of the day. We made regular stops at houses around Honjo. Eating and drinking without fail at each stop! Some people were even slamming large glasses of sake at 10am!!

I can't actually remember what time the festival ended (probably 5 or 6pm), but when it did we went to Yumiko's house for sushi and alcoholic refreshments. And after about two hours there we headed back to Jez's apt for bit of a party there.

It was one of the most enjoyable days I have had since I arrived in Japan!

Speech Contest 2009

2009-09-14T18:02:00.003+09:00

Every year there is a speech contest for all the junior high schools in my area. 2 students from each school take part in the contest. One student does a recitation and the other writes their own speech. The ALTs usually coach the students with pronunciation, intonation and body language etc.

We always start practicing with the students about a month before the contest, and it's usually an enjoyable experience as we get given more responsibility than usual from the JTEs. But it also gets kindof hectic during the last two weeks.

This year one of my kids came in second place (the tall guy). And out of the 4 students I worked with he was by far the laziest. He usually didn't even show up for practice, and twice he told the teacher that he wasn't going to take part in the competition!

Regatta 2009

2009-09-13T14:20:00.003+09:00

We had our annual rowing competition on September 13th. Unfortunately this year my team, Aburakoji Guys, had very few practices beforehand. In fact we only had one practice where we all practiced together as a team.

This year our team was made up of Kikunosuke (cox), me (stroke), Jon (3rd), Austin (2nd), and Takafumi (bow). The weather on the day of the competition wasn't the may west. It was quite windy with heavy showers at times.

In our first race there was 3 boats. We were going to go through to the next round no matter where we finished. It was really windy during the race, with the wind helping us down the river. We finished in 2nd place, posting a time of 2:01, which was actually the 3rd fastest time of the day and was a faster time the the winners of the competition last year! But of course it had a lot to do with the wind!

After an extended break, mainly due to the competition moving slower because of the weather, we were back in the boat for our second race of the day. There were 3 boats in that race too. We got off to a good start, and could clearly see that we were not going to have any problems in this race as the other boats were much slower than us. So we didn't push ourselves too hard and easily finished in 1st position.

Our next race had 4 boats and we needed to finish in the top 2 to progress to the next round. Unfortunately for us 2 of the teams in this race were very strong rowers. One had won the competition the year before, and the other had made it to the finals. So we knew we wouldn't have the luxury of taking it easy this time.

When the gun fired we started as strong as we could. But became very obvious to us that our start was our weakest point. The two good teams had great starts, and both got about a boat length of a lead within the first few seconds. We kept on their tails but never the ability to catch up to them. So we finished in 3rd place, and bowed out of the competition for another year!

Akita Mago Uta National Competition

2009-09-12T20:04:00.003+09:00

The Akita Mago Uta National Competition (秋田馬子唄全国大会) is held in the building next to my board of education every year. And this year I was given free tickets to go. I was a bit sceptical after the Honjo Oiwake competition we had been to in August but Paul and myself decided to go check it out anyway.

The concert started in the morning but we decided not to go until the afternoon. And when we arrived I was surprised to find that the venue was quite full. We had to stand in the door, and couldn't really see the stage. I spoke to a guy from Yamaguchi ken way down south. He was just after singing in the competition. He told me that Mago uta means packhorse driver song. It is a folk song. I asked if everyone was going to sing only that one song, and sure enough they were!

The brochure we had received on the way in listed close to 200 entrants! Fair play to any judge who can listen to the same song that amount of times! We stayed for only a short while, maybe 5 or 6 entrants and left!

Yamadera

2009-09-08T15:45:00.003+09:00

The day after my home county, Kilkenny, won their 4th consecutive All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, a feat that has only been achieved once before in the history of hurling, I had the day off. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch the match live with fellow Irish men and women, as I'm currently the only Irish representative in the entire prefecture of Akita. So I resorted to staying at home and listening to the match on Internet radio.

I had planned to go for a drive with my friend Chika, but we hadn't decided where we would go. I met up with her at about 9:30 in the morning and she said she knew of a nice place to go, but it was a bit of a drive. Well, it just so happened that I was in the mood for driving, and the weather happened to be fantastic too!

So we headed south to a place called Yamadera, just north of Yamagata City. This is a beautiful area is home to a famous old temple called Risshaku-ji (立石寺), which dates back to 860 AD. The monks here spent their time digging holes into the mountain, which kinda resembles Swiss cheese! And there are, apparently, 1110 steps from the entrance to the complex all the way to the Oku-no-in sanctuary at the top.

Boring facts aside though, it's a really peaceful and beautiful area to visit. There are lots of small temples, jizō's, and huge trees! From the top there is a incredible view of the surrounding area.

This was a buddha that people rub for good luck!

I don't know what these were. But there were a lot of them!

It was well worth the 4 hour drive each way!

Fuji-san

2009-08-31T16:09:00.003+09:00

On Friday 28th August I got on a night bus in Honjo and 9 hours later I got off in Tokyo. I met up with another ALT who works in Akita city. We hung around for a bit waiting for restaurants and toilets to open. Strangely many of the toilets in Tokyo station close for the night!

We were on our way to Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, standing at 3,776m (12,388 ft).

We got a bus to the 5th station, which is at an altitude of 2,305m (higher than Mt. Chōkai). After a few preparations and a light stretch we were more that ready to head off, unprepared up Mt. Fuji. It about 14:30 when we set off and the weather was a little cloudy.

There were way more people on the mountain that I expected, even though every website we had read beforehand warned of human traffic. After about a half an hour or so we could see the lines of people climbing the mountain in stop-start motion. About the same time we noticed a different path that only had people descending on it. So we decided to try that trail!

As it turned out there are 2 main routes on the side we took (Yoshida trail; 吉田ルート), one for going up and one for coming down. So we were going up the down route. And luckily for us it had no traffic what-so-ever. There were plenty of people coming down but they did not interfere with our assent nor did we interfere with their descent. It was a more difficult route however, as the trail was all loose stones.

We hiked for up and up, gradually taking breaks more regularly. We were lucky enough to only encounter one rain shower on the way up, and even that only lasted about 10 minutes.

We were making really good time. Too good in fact, as we reached the 8th station at about 6pm. Our plan was to get to the top in time to watch the sun rise. But we really hadn't researched it very well at all. We were able to buy pot noodles at the 8th station which was a welcome change to the many onigiris we were eating!

I asked in the cabins if there was space, so that we could sleep for a few hours before continuing to the top. But all the cabins were completely booked up. So we resorted to buying some hot sake, putting on all our warm clothes and trying to sleep outside one of the cabins!

We were not the only one to have not reserved a cabin. We also met a French couple who were in the same boat as ourselves. We all huddles together, kinda like emperor penguins, to try conserve body heat. But with no blankets, and lying on the cold clay, we were fighting a loosing battle. We resorted to taking regular trips to the toilets, which were surprisingly heated! We would have slept there if there wasn't a horrible stench.

At about 12:30am we gave up on trying to get sleep and decided to head for the top; as we knew climbing would warm us up. So with our headlamps on, we slowly hiked the remaining 900m to the top. Along the way people were randomly sleeping along the path, and although they were smart enough to bring sleeping pads and blankets, they still did not look warm!

By 2:30am we had reached the top of the mountain, and traversed the ridge to the summit at the opposite side of the mountain! This is us standing on the highest point of Japan!

We now had to wait another 2 and a half hours before sunrise! So we found a sheltered area and tried to sleep again. I didn't get any sleep! But looking up at the night sky from the top of Mt. Fuji is quite the sight. There was no clouds above us so we could see the stars which were amazingly bright. I also got to see many shooting stars!

Eventually the sky lost it's grip on complete darkness, and one by one the stars faded. We could then see that there was a sea of clouds (雲海) beneath us. As one part of the horizon was becoming lighter we knew where the sun was going to rise. And the crowds began to arrive. We all awaited the sunrise.

One cloud on the horizon was slightly obscuring the sunrise, but it was very impressive none the less!

The one rather strange thing that happened over this weekend was that I never actually got to see Mt. Fuji! I mean I never got to see it from a distance which was kinda strange! I will have to go again sometime.

Soba

2009-08-18T17:32:00.004+09:00

During school summer holidays, on 18th August, one of the teachers from Iwaya elementary school, Kishi sensei, decided to have a Soba workshop. He often makes soba at home and really enjoys it. So he wanted to teach his co workers how to make them!

We started out by mixing 400g of buckwheat flour (そば粉) with 100g of all-purpose flour (つなぎ or 中力粉), and measuring 4 cups of water with precise amounts of 168ml, 21ml, 15ml and 6ml. We also used uchiko flour (打ち粉) for dusting, though buckwheat flour can also be used. This makes enough for 5 people.

First we gradually added the water to the flour. The flour first became clumpy, then it formed ball. These were rolled over the smaller pieces to blend them together. And for the bits that wouldn't stick the remaining water was added. When one large ball was formed it was kneaded 100 times; turning slightly and pushing into the centre of the ball. Then to close the hole we rolled it into a snout, and then rolled that snout back into the ball, to form an almost perfect ball!

This ball was then flattened onto a floured board to a thickness of 8 CDs. Using a rolling pin we rolled it, then rotated it 45 deg, then rolled it again, until we got it to a thickness of 4 CDs. We then put flour on top of the dough with extra flour on the vertical axis of the circle. Then the dough was wrapped around the rolling pin (or pipe in this case!), and rolled 4 times. Next it was unwrapped, flour was put on the other axis and the procedure was repeated again. This process happened twice. After which we just used the rolling pin to roll the dough into a squarish shape, with a thickness of about 1 CD.

When the thickness of just 1 CD was reached, half the dough was covered in flour, and the dough was folder over itself. Then half of that was floured and again folded over itself. Then one last time!

It was now ready to be cut! So with a menkiri bocho (麺切り包丁）or soba knife we cut the noodles into strips about 1～2mm thick. Some people found this to be very difficult. Personally I though it was quite easy, it just took a bit of time.

This was my end product. It was really tasty!

Kishi sensei had made sauce beforehand which he gave to all of us. After you cook the soba in boiling water, you save the water. And after eating the noodles you take the remaining sauce and add it to the soba water and drink it. It's so good!

Kishi sensei get all his ingredients online from Takayama Seihun.

Sumo Grand Tour

2009-08-13T20:52:00.000+09:00

Every summer the top sumo division tour around northern Japan and perform exhibitions. Last year I went for the first time and was lucky enough to meet yokozuna Asashōryū (one of the greatest yokozunas ever; from Mongolia) and Baruto (from Estonia).

This years exhibition was on August 13th and although I didn't meet either yokozuna this time we did meet Baruto again! He was in the konbini getting some snacks!

This was the picture I took with him last year!

And this is when we got to meet Asashōryū

I love sumo!

4 days, 4 festivals and a Mountain

2009-08-12T22:03:00.001+09:00

The Shōbu Carnival (菖蒲カーニバル) is the first summer festival in Honjo every year. It's a small street festival where people of all ages dance to a single song, the Shōbu song I believe, played over and over again. And it draws huge local crowds every year. And there are lots of stalls selling festival food!

We went to the park to indulge in some yakisoba and beer and found that there was a band playing there. The band, Bronze, were an interesting bunch. They had bass, sax, drums and guitar/koto. Koto is a traditional Japanese instrument and usually played with the fingers and small small picks attached to your fingers. This band was using sticks to play it! I took this video.

The next day, 1st August, I met Akagawa-san to climb Mt. Gassan. He's a 56 year old guy I went hiking with last year, I think he's the head of a hiking group in Yokote city. Mt. Gassan (月山) is the highest of the three holy mountains in Dewa Sanzan, a 2 and a half hour drive south from where I live.

It was a little bit cloudy during our hike but pretty good conditions otherwise. The hike itself was not that difficult for me. But I was really surprised with the age of some people who were climbing it. There was definitely men and women over 70 years of age climbing it! And on the way up with found an old woman lying down, barely able to talk. She had decided to climb on her own, and obviously wasn't able for it. Some guys called the rescue crew to get her!

This is a statue that you can pray to for long life.

When we arrived at the summit we paid 500 yen to have a priest to say a prayer over us, and Akagawa-san was there to pray for his daughter to pass her entrance exam into high school.

We made good time coming down, and went for an onsen before we headed back home.

That sunburned evening I went to the second summer festival in Honjo, the Honjo Fireworks River Festival (本荘川まつり花火大会). Fireworks are really popular in Japan, and a lot more impressive than the shows we get at home.

The next day I headed to Amori prefecture to see the Nebuta Festival. It was a 4 hour drive north to Hirosaki where our hostel was, and then another train journey to Aomori city. Nebuta is a large scale lantern festival. Unfortunately when we were there it was lightly raining so all the floats had plastic sheets protecting them. It was very impressive none the less! In the picture you can see all the people under the float pushing it around.

The next day, Monday, we went to see rice field artistry! I had only discovered this place actually existed the week before. I had seen pictures on the Internet a long time ago but assumed that it was created using computers. The tambo art is in a place called Inakadate, close to Hirosaki city. You can climb up a castle and look down on the fields. It was really amazing!

They had a free outdoor foot onsen right beside the fields too, which was a nice little addition.

We then left Aomori and headed back to Akita city for my fourth festival in as many days, Kanto festival (竿燈まつり). This is a really cool festival where glowing lanternsin the shape of rice ears, are balanced on peoples hands, hips and heads (like the guy in this photo!).

This is a cool video I took at the end of the festival, when the guys really didn't care about damaging their lanterns!

Honjo Oiwake National Competition

2009-08-10T20:51:00.001+09:00

I recently started learning Honjo Oiwake on the shamisen. It's quite a difficult song to play, but it's known to be one of the most difficult songs to sing! And there is a National competition every year in Honjo. Myself and Paul, one of the new ALTs went to check it out. I was unsure of exactly what kind of competition it was.

We arrived at 9am just in time for the start, which opened with about 10 shamisen players playing some really cool song. And after the opening ceremony was finished the competition started.

A short version of the song was played, by the musicians who opened the ceremony, and singers came out with their numbers on and sang the song. Then the next person came out and sang, then the next...

By 11:30 we had seen nearly 70 versions of the exact same song!! We decided to leave early. The competition actually continued until 5:30. Perhaps next year I'll go to the second half of the competition and see if anything exciting happens near the end!

It seemed quite strange to have a competition with only one song. I don't think that would happen in other countries, I imagine people wouldn't have patience to sit in a room for a whole day listening to the same song.

Honjo Oiwake

2009-07-26T15:30:00.000+09:00

I recently started learning this song; Honjo Oiwake (本荘追分). It's one of my favourite shamisen songs, and I’ve been looking forward to my teacher showing me how to play it for a long time.

There is a reason he didn't show me earlier though; it's quite a difficult song! He said it usually takes people about a year or so to learn! So it's just as well I like it!

Gaijin Sumo 2009

2009-07-19T13:30:00.003+09:00

Sunday July 12th was the 5th annual Akita International Sumo Basho (秋田国際相撲大会). It took place at the Kenritsu Budokan (県立武道館) in Akita city. This charity event is in aid of Room to Read.

After arriving at 8am and meeting up with other ALTs in the prefecture that we rarely see, we got our mawashis put on. I had bought my own last year so that we could practice. Though unfortunately we didn't get any practice in this year before the competition, mostly due to my trip back home in June.

We had plenty of time (hours in fact) to practice and warm up before the competition began. I wanted to get in an much practice as possible, without wearing myself out! We began with stretches then some light practice, slowly building ourselves up. I challenged as many people as I could. Often a bout (fight) will only last a few seconds, though sometimes it can last a few minutes, and they are the ones that really tire you out.

As the various rikishi (wrestlers) practiced on the ring outside, I was looking on trying to see who the stronger people were. One fight I watched had a guy fall slightly awkwardly and he didn't get up quickly. I looked down to see what the problem was and I noticed that his left toe was pointing in the wrong direction! He was taken to hospital; luckily it had only been dislocated. But unfortunately for him he could not take part in the tournament.

I was delighted to be there though, and anxious to try to best my ranking from the previous year (joint 5th). There were going to be only 22 men competing this year, down from 32 last year. We were divided into 4 groups, and after a round-robin system the top 2 rikishi would progress into the semifinals. The draws for the groups had been announced the previous day. I was in group B which had 5 people. Unfortunately group B also had by far the biggest rikishi in the competition, James Jones. There was also another guy that was into various martial arts, and although he was smaller that me appeared a lot more muscular and fit than I!

After a 4 hour wait, and about 3 of those in a mawashi, it was time to start the proceedings. After having all the rikishi introduced to the audience, Noshiro Berabo-daiko gave an amazing taiko performance. And finally, at about 1pm, we were ready to begin sumo!

My first bout was the 4th bout of the day, and it was against the big man, Jones. I was well aware that I could not beat him head on, so I had devised a strategy to beat him. I had been watching him practice earlier and noted that he always put his right leg forward first, so my plan was simple: kick his leg from under his body, and when he is off balance push him over. That was the plan. What I had not factored into this plan, was that his legs were like that of an elephant, and with plenty of weight on his leg to keep it in position I didn't kick at all hard enough to take the leg from under him. I think I just pissed him off a bit. I went ahead with the next step in my plan anyway, which was to follow through and push him off balance. I pushed him back a few feet before he regained himself, got a hold of me, and flung me around like a rag doll out of the dohyō (ring). Landing on my left hip did me no favours and that hurt quite badly. That was one loss for me.

My next fight was against an Indian, Harsh. He is taller than me, but not as aggressive. At the tachi-ai (start of the fight) I went straight for him. I think I made contact with him before his forward motion kicked in. I pushed him back to the straw ring and over without too much effort.

In the same round James Jones took on the smallest rikishi in our group; Matt Kuehl. It was definitely one of the more funny fights of the tournament!

After getting a short rest while the other fights continued, I was called up for my next encounter. This time I was facing a Hawaiian by the name of Nakashima. Although he was a little shorter than me he was a lot more muscular! I knew that this was a really important fight for me, as the winner of it would more than likely be the one, along with Jones, to make it to the next round. So again at the tachi-ai I made sure to attack him as fast and as powerfully as I could. My initial charge stood him up and had him moving backwards! I pushed him back as far as the straw. And it was easy from there to push him over the straw for my second, but all important win!

My last fight in the opening round was against the smallest guy in the group who was still chasing his first win. I didn't charge at him as I had done in the previous two fights for two reasons. The first being that I expected him to jump of of the way, and the second being that I didn't want to hurt him either. I took my time and easily pushed him out for my 3rd win.

I didn't have to fight in the last round, but just got to watch the Jones vs Nakashima fight. This was a very important bout for me, because Jones was undefeated and Nakashima had only 1 loss, the same as me. If Nakashima won, the 3 of us would have had to had a 3-way play-off. Luckily for me, Jones destroyed his opposition. Flinging him across the dohyō in a way that had Nakashima spinning around 360 degrees before falling over!

I was through to the semi-finals!

After the men's 1st round was finished, the ladies took to the ring. This was the first year we had a women's tournament, 10 women took part. Two women from my city took part; Abby and Jez. The women's tournament was divided into 2 groups of 5 people, with the winner of each group going into the final. Unfortunately neither of two women made it to the final, they both put in a fine effort.

Next was the semi-finals of the men's division. I had though we were going to draw straws to decide who was fighting who, like last year. But a different system was in place this year. At the time I had no idea who I was going to be fighting. But I was called up first, and I was fighting Dan.

As we squared up behind our respective white lines, I stared at his forehead just between his eyes. Apparently this is a good place to look to make someone feel uneasy. An indeed he did feel uneasy, to the point where he though he'd lighten the mood by winking at me! And everyone behind me saw him doing that and started to laugh, and then I could no longer hold my straight face either. I laughed for a bit, composed myself and put my fists on the clay.

I decided to keep with my winning strategy of hitting hard and fast. And with adrenaline pumping a lot of what happens seems to happen almost automatically. About one second into the fight I was pushing Dan backwards, my right hand on his throat and my left hand on his right shoulder with my fingers under his armpit. I kept pushing and had him over the straw with more ease than I had expected. One down, two more to go.

My next fight was against Phil, the only other guy from my city to take part again this year. Out of all the people I had practiced with, I definitely practiced with Phil the most. Unfortunately my tract record was far from perfect. He had the weight advantage over me and also he wasn't shy about fighting. So I decided to change my strategy and go for a tachi-ai henka, basically jump out of the way and then try push him from the side. So I jumped diagonally forward to my left and tried to get a grip on the back of his mawashi to continue his forward motion. Unfortunately for me his right arm caught enough of me to prevent my plan from materialising and he was able to push me out for an easy enough win. I should have used this much simpler technique!

My last fight was against a guy called Chris Parkins. I decided that I would one again return to my tried and trusted winning technique, which has an official name of oshidashi. I executed it as I had done before. But this time as I pushed him to the straw and we both started falling towards the ground he resisted putting his foot out or his hand down to break the fall. And because of that I also could not do it, or I would have lost. So I braced as the two of us fell towards the ground, both of us fighting against the instinctual urge to put a hand out to break the fall. Looking back at the video now I see that I did put my hand out at the last moment, which made it pretty close. But I won!

Phil had won all his fights in the group, so he progressed to the final. In the other group the winner was a guy called Doug Heller, who is big into judo. Doug went on to with the final, with a fine oshidashi move. So the winner was Doug and runner up was Phil. James mountain Jones and myself tied for 3rd place. And considering my size and weight I am very proud of coming 3rd.

I'm looking forward to next year already!

Enda

2009-07-13T11:00:00.000+09:00

At 22:09 on 8th July 2009 my sister in law Sabrina gave birth to her 4th child; Enda Cunningham. He weighed in at 7lbs 2oz (3.23 kg).

Here he is sussing out my sister Elaine.

Ireland

2009-07-08T14:05:00.001+09:00

In the early hours of the 11th of June 2009 I arrived in my home country after being away for almost 2 years; by far my longest time away from home. I was interested to see how I would feel about Ireland and it's people. And whether or not the safety I had become so accustomed to in Akita, one of the safest places in Japan, would cause me to be robbed of at least my wallet or phone.

The day after arriving in Ireland I headed to Spanish Point in Co. Clare where a friend from college got married; Dave Hackett and Rosaleen. We rented a house near the hotel where the reception was for 3 days. It was great to meet up with all the old gang from college. I was also reminded that in September this year it will have been 10 years since I started college, and met all my friends at the wedding! It really doesn't seem like that long ago. The day after the wedding we went swimming at a local beach in ice cold water. And a dolphin, Dusty, came and swam around the people in the water! It was my first time to see a dolphin in Ireland.

Next I headed to Kilkenny, where I grew up. After my mother collected me, we went straight to see my brother Adrian's first child, Abby. She was just 6 months old. A very easy going child, who didn't seem to mind who was holding her. Unfortunately I only got to meet her the once, and didn't get a photo with her.

I hung out in Kilkenny with my mother and the rest of the family and visited my friends in Kilkenny for the next week. While at home I sorted through my old belongings and sent most of it to charity shops. Now I have my whole possessions down to about 3 shoe boxed worth of stuff and a bass guitar that I havent played in about 5 years! It was really nice to hang out at home though. A week is definitely the longest period of time I have spent at home in the last 10 years. It was great to meet up with my granny again too.

I saw many babies while in Kilkenny. My eldest brother Paul has 3 daughters; Niamh 3.5 years old, and the twins Aoife and Clodagh 2.5 years old. The last time I was home Niamh was just starting to talk. So there was a huge change! I had to try and befriend them. I think I succeeded with two of them, Clodagh remains quite weary of me. Perhaps she has a great judge of character! Their mother Sabrina is due to have another baby tomorrow, so that's going to be one busy household!

I met up with Dave and Cara, and saw their kids; Eoin and the twins. And I met my friend Laura and her new baby Isabelle. I'm not sure where the whole baby craze came from, but it sure seems to be popular in Kilkenny!

I headed next to Limerick to meet up with Russell, had a great night out in Limerick and experienced the worst hangover of my life the next day! I also got to get new music from him including the Fleet Foxes, which are my new favourite band! I got to call into my old workplace and meet up with some of the crew I used to work with, and spent a fortune on supplements not available in Japan. I went to Galway to see Listo and Camilla's new house. I called to my old bosses house in Portroe in Tipperary for a BBQ. Headed back to Limerick for one last night before heading to Sligo. I was having a pint with Eugene in the Black Swan in Limerick when I left my phone on the table and went to the bar to order a pint. A guy who was passing my table picked up my phone (Eugene was outside) and asked whose it was, I said it was mine - thinking it was ringing or something - I had totally forgotten that that is not something you can do in Ireland, or anywhere other than Akita to be more exact!

I next headed north to Sligo for Listo and Camilla's beautiful wedding. The weather for the wedding was perfect, and the company even better. I had to take it handy at the wedding though, partly due to a cold, partly due to the fact that I knew I had to make a 3.5 hour journey the next day across Ireland to Dublin airport.

I arrived just in time to meet my sister at the airport and return to her the car that she very kindly had lent me for the previous two weeks, without which I wouldn't have been able to meet half the people I did.

After catching my Aer Lingus flight to London and sleeping on the floor I continued on my way back to Japan. My head cold seemed to be a Godsent as it enabled me to sleep on the flights, which I can't normally do.

On entering Japan I got given a leaflet saying that if I had any of the outlined symptoms that I should go to the hospital to be checked out. I had all outlined symptoms! So the next day I went to get checked out for swine flu, but was given the all clear. This is not something I should be disappointed about, but having a 10 day home quarantine period would have given me plenty of opportunity to catch up before heading back to work!

Home

2009-07-06T09:14:00.002+09:00

I recently watched an amazing film called Home. It is a free documentary composed almost entirely of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet.
It's well worth watching.

Home

Cheers for the link Dan.

Kanji Kentei

2009-05-15T13:52:00.001+09:00

Last February, on Friday 13th, I took my second formal Japanese test since I arrived in Japan. My first test didn't go well, possibly because I had done absolutely no study before hand! So this time I decided to study.

I took the Kanji Kentei test (日本漢字能力検定), level 10. It tested my knowledge on the first 80 kanji's reading and writing.

I heard in March that I had passed, but I just got handed my certificate today. I got 88%. The pass mark is 80%.

I now possibly have the kanji ability of a 7 year old Japanese child! Yeah!

Golden Week

2009-05-09T10:28:00.001+09:00

Golden Week in Japan is basically a few public holidays that run consecutively, and depending on their timing with a weekend can make a nice long holiday at the start of May. Last year I went to Hiroshima for these holidays. This year a group of us went to Hirosaki (弘前) and Lake Towada (十和田湖), both in Aomori prefecture just north of Akita.

On Saturday 2nd May 5 of us departed in two cars, Phil's and mine, bound for Hirosaki Park. And after about 3 or 4 hours we arrived in the park, with food, BBQ and copious amounts of drink. We found a nice spot under a sakura tree and did like the locals, have a laugh and get drunk!

A little disappointment came when we realised that there were no fire signs up all around the park. So we had to make do with snack foods for the night. But a fantastic sunset make everything right again.

The next day we headed for the famous Apple Park (りんご公園). Aomori is famous for it's apples, and it has apple flavour everything! I had apple ramen. It was quite different to a normal ramen, but nice for a change! And for dessert we had apple ice cream cones.

We then headed for the lake Towada. We first set up out tents at Oide Campground (生出キャンプ場) right beside the lake and headed to the small town for dinner and a look around. When we returned we found that somebody had decided our tents were not pitched very well, and had actually re-pitched one of them!!

We got some drinks and had our BBQ, finally. It rained lightly, but nothing like we had expected, thankfully.

The next day we were about to go to Oirase River, but we discovered that the other driver had lost his car keys! And after searching almost everywhere, including the communal camp bins, full with stinking meat trays, we failed in locating the keys. So we contacted another guy who we knew was planning on making the trip north and managed to convince him to backtrack to pick up a spare key.

In the meantime we all got into my car and headed for the very beautiful Oirase River. This is the river that drains Lake Towada and it has many waterfalls and a walkway along it for a nice few kilometres. Below is probably the most impressive waterfall along the way; Choshi Great Falls (銚子大滝).

After returning to the camp we met up with David, who had brought us the spare key. And after a further 30 minutes Phil found the original key - in his one man tent! We went to the Towada Prince Hotel onsen, which was quite close to our campground, and it had an amazing rotemburo!

We actually met a bunch of other people we knew at the same campground and drank together that night. While we were sitting around our campfire a random, incredibly drunk, Japanese guy appeared out of nowhere, sitting down beside us! He was pretty entertaining.

The next morning we packed up tents and headed for Shingō village (新郷村), to visit the Grave of Jesus (キリストの墓). I had actually been here before, and had no interest in returning, but the others did want to visit it. Have a read of the following information if you want to know the real truth about Jesus:

After our short visit there we headed to a place that requires even more imagination to believe, the ancient Ooishigami Pyramids (大石神ピラミッド). Apparently among the oldest pyramids, it's a little difficult to understand how these could ever have been pyramids. But apparently that is because of an earthquake that knocked one of the large boulders with all the inscriptions over, burying all the evidence. Zannen (残念) as they say in Japanese; too bad.

On the way home we all stopped at Yuritori Land onsen. The we separated into cars of people who wanted to go directly home and those that were in no rush, as it was starting to get late, considering it was about a 4 hour drive home from where we were. Just Sophie and I decided to take our time on the way home.

We stopped at a place called Oyu Stone Circle (大湯環状列石) in Kazuno city. We didn't really understand what exactly this place was. The information centre was closing as we arrived. But whatever it is, it was a lot more believable that our previous two stops.

Overall it was a fantastic few days. It's always nice to get away from the norm to awaken the sense perceptions, which quietens the mind!

Showa Day

2009-05-01T16:12:00.001+09:00

In Japan April 29th is Shōwa Day; a national holiday honouring the birthday of the previous emperor, Shōwa, who holds the record of the longest reigning emperor in Japan, 63 years.

It was a beautiful day, so my neighbour Miyako and I headed for Yuzawa city, in the south-east of Akita prefecture, to visit one of the many famous onsens in the area.

On the way we stopped in yakimitsunashi (焼肉みつなし), an amazing yakiniku restaurant in Mitsunashi town (三梨町). This restaurant has a famous local beef that we cooked ourselves on the korean style stove in our table.

After lunch we continued for another while along the country roads, with the cherry blossoms still in bloom, before finally arriving at Tarobee Onsen (多郎兵衛).

I usually like to take a long time in onsens, maybe an hour or sometimes even a little more. Usually the people I go with don't want to stay for that long. So I was surprised when my friend, just before enter the female section, said that she'd meet me outside after 2.5 hours!

On entering the onsen I was a little disappointed because there appeared to only be the one bath, and no rotemburo (an outdoor onsen). There were two men present when I entered and both departed after about 5 minutes of being there, I like to think it wasn't because I entered! Surprisingly no one else came into the onsen while I was there.

After about an hour of bathing and relaxing I heard my friend call from over the wall of the female section who just found out that there were more onsens and a rotemburo! So I got dressed and headed to the other baths. After 2 hours of onsen hopping I think I can safely say that I have never been as clean as I was that day!

Five minutes down the road was another interesting spot, Oyasukyo Daifundō (小安峡大噴湯). After parking the car we descended a lot of steps into a deep valley with waterfalls on both sides. A path beside the river passes by a constantly steaming geyser, with 98°C water pouring out.

We tried to head to another famous area, Kawarage Ōyutaki (川原毛大湯滝), but the roads were still closed due to snow until the end of May. We did get to see some very cool areas on the way though and a very beautiful sunset.

We stopped in an okonomiyaki restaurant on the way back too, Dohtonbori (道とん堀). It wasn't intentional that both restaurants we went today were ones that we had to cook for ourselves!

Thank you very much emperor Shōwa.

Bridges

2009-04-13T13:52:00.001+09:00

On the way back from the sand onsen we stopped in Yokote and went to Heian no Kazewataru Park (平安の風わたる公園), located just outside the city, to see the funky dragon style bridge that they have there. It's called Sanren no Taiko Bridge (三連の太鼓橋) or Goose Bridge (雁橋). I had seen it listed on a brochure a long time ago and had asked people about it but nobody could tell me where it was. So on Sunday we went to the city hall and asked there. It always surprises me how people can not know about things like this in their local area!

The park here is actually huge! And has a load of different stuff available, including fishing, park golf, and an onsen in the centre of the park, which I plan on trying out the next time I go there.

The bridge reminded me of Kintai-kyo (錦帯橋) in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi. I went there the first time I visited Japan in 2006.

Getting buried

2009-04-13T13:12:00.001+09:00

Spring has finally arrived in Akita. All the snow is gone, the sun has arrived, heaters have been stowed away, and hats and scarves are no longer necessary when going to bed. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year, a little over 20°C, and I was able to wear a short sleeved t-shirt for the first time this year.

So to celebrate the fantastic weather I decided to go to a place called Wagagunyuda Town just inside Iwate prefecture, to visit the Sunayukko sand bath (砂ゆっこ). Hot, natural onsen water flows underneath the sand to heat it. After lying down in the shallow grave like hole, the workers there used shovels to bury all but my face in hot sand. They then wrote a number in the sand over my feet indicating what time I got buried at, presumably to avoid accidentally cooking me.

After 10 minutes the sweat was dripping down my face. A woman came over with a cold towel and mopped my face, and disappeared. Another 10 minutes passed and my friend, who had been buried 5 minutes after me asked to be dug out early. I was told my time was up and could get up; my friend was told that her time was not yet up and to stay another few minutes.

It was my first time to a sand bath, and definitely an enjoyable experience, though it was very hot in there. And the onsen that is available afterwards was probably one of the hottest onsens I have been to in Japan. But I felt fantastic afterwards! I was hoping to take my own photos while we were there but unfortunately that wasn't possible.

June

2009-04-02T09:03:00.000+09:00

I recently bought my flights back home to Ireland, again. I'm going to be leaving from Narita airport in Tokyo at 11:40 on 10th June and heading to London via Copenhagen with Scandinavian Airlines. Then catch an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin, arriving at 22:20 the same day; after 19 hours of travel.

The first wedding, Dave and Rosealeen's, is on 12th June in Clare. After which I have 2 weeks to travel around and meet up with everyone. Then the second wedding, Listo and Camilla's, is on 27th June in Sligo. The following day, hangover permitting, I'll go to Dublin for a 20:15 flight to London, spend the night on one of Heathrow's most comfortable airport seats, with my bags tied to my legs, and catch an early morning flight back to Japan. I'll arrive back in Narita at 9:35 on 30th after a nice long 30 hours of hungover travel!

Teachers

2009-03-26T14:21:00.001+09:00

In Japan the school year is from April to March. There is only a 2 week spring holiday for the students, though most will continue to come to school for club activities. For the teachers there is only a break from teaching classes, but they must still come to school as normal.

A major difference between the school system in Japan and at home is that every couple of years a teacher will be moved to a different school. Usually a teacher will be at one school for a period of around 3 to 5 years, though more is possible; two of my teachers worked at my school for 8 years. The main Board of Education decides which teachers must move, and which schools they must go to.

This system is good and bad. It's good because a school doesn't get stuck with the same bad teachers for 30 or 40 years like back home. But of course the reverse is also true; a school doesn't get to keep the great teachers for more than a few years.

On the last day of the school year (at least that's when it happens in my school), the principal get word, and then calls the teachers, one by one, into his office and tells them if they have to move or not. The teachers then emerge from his office expressionless and sit back down at their desks and continue working as if nothing had just happened. Even though the previous day all the teachers were saying how nervous they were about it!

Of course it's normal to hope that certain teachers stay, and that others leave. So I sat at my desk staring at the teachers' expressions to see if I could spot who is happy or sad glint in their eye, and connect that with my knowledge of which teachers I knew wanted to leave and which wanted to stay. But my body language reading skills are not finely tuned enough to read any of their non-expressions.

A while later, my favourite teacher, Matsuhashi sensei, the music teacher who sorted me out with shamisen lessons a few weeks after I arrived in Japan, came to get a coffee near my desk and told us that she was leaving. We all expected, like we had last year that she would be leaving as she had been at the school for an exceptional 8 years! Then other teachers also admitted whether or not they were leaving.

I was very interested to find out if Aiba sensei, one of the two English teachers at that school, would be leaving or not. I knew he wanted to leave, and I have to admit I was really hoping the same. He has a very abrupt attitude that I struggled to accommodate for. My predecessor also struggled with him, much more than I have, in fact the teacher didn't allow my predecessor into the classroom with him!

Recently in my other junior high school the English teacher took maternity, and the replacement teacher happened to be the wife of Aiba sensei, also known as Aiba sensei. And although it was easy to remember her name I saw many similarities between her and her husband. Luckily for me, she was only a temporary replacement and is now finished!

So as I was anxiously waited to see if he was leaving or not, he didn't partake in sharing with the other teachers if he would be going or staying. So as he got up to leave for club activities I asked him and his reply was "I don't say yet."

For spring holiday I work at my local BoE, and on Monday they hadn't heard yet from the main BoE which teachers were changing. But the caretaker from my school came to the office on Tuesday and my supervisor asked him, my ears perked up as I listened to him listing the names of the teachers. He listed all the names I already knew were leaving, and stopped. Then he said "oh and Aiba sensei."

Euphoria!

Nuts

2009-03-23T10:07:00.005+09:00

Last Thursday just before we left the staff room to go for lunch, the teachers gathered for a chat as they often do. I was trying to understand what they were saying because I kept hearing the word missile.

At lunch I asked the teacher I always sit with, Takahashi sensei, what they had been talking about. He told me that North Korea has announced that they are launching a satellite early next month, but the Japanese don't believe this to be the truth. Apparently North Korea is actually planning to test-fire missiles over Japan, more specifically over Aomori and Akita! It is planned for between April 4th and 8th.

The Japanese are planning on shooting down these missiles before pass over Japan. I asked how good the Japanese are at doing that, and was told that they haven't done it before, and that they are quite likely to miss!

I was wondering how concerned people actually were about this, so I asked him if he would go on a holiday away from Akita for the days that the missiles would be tested. He answered in Japanese and but said something the equivalent of "You can bet your right nut I am!"

Sushi

2009-03-11T16:27:00.000+09:00

This is a rather funny guide to correct Japanese etiquette in a Sushi restaurant. It’s a bit long, but it’s definitely worth watching!

Dewa Graduation

2009-03-09T17:55:00.000+09:00

On March 8th I woke up no feeling the may west! But it was 7am and I had to get up for graduation day #2, Dewa junior high school, my main school.

I was assigned my seat in the teacher section in the gym, and was not too excited when I saw where it was. Sitting beside the brass band was good because I was surly not going to fall asleep for too long but sitting beside the horn player as not what any person with a hangover should have to endure! This picture was taken from my seat, and I had to lean back to take it!!

The ceremony was very similar to Ouchi's graduation; this was just bigger as there are more students. We had 53 graduating students, and one of the students I saw for the very first time! I asked my teacher about it though I didn't understand her answer. Apparently that student and 3 others that I had never met also graduated!

The weather was much better so the picture session outside was much more pleasant. Although I think there were far more criers today than yesterday. I took plenty of photos today.

I will miss many of these students. Two in particular, the ones who did the speech contest with me last September, both students actually really like English and were always happy to talk with me. Most students get excited when they see the ALT but all they usually ever say is "Hello".

Ouchi Graduation

2009-03-09T17:42:00.000+09:00

On Saturday 7th March the 3rd grade students graduated from Ouchi junior high school. We all had to go to school as normal. The students and teachers had final preparations to make that morning, I had time to check my emails. Each student was presented with a picture book of all the teachers, students and various different events that happened throughout their time at the school. Some of the students came to me to get me to write a message in it. The ceremony started at 10am sharp and was held in the school gym. All students and most parents attended. The students had been rehearsing for this event for the past week or two.

The ceremony started with the brass band playing music as the 40 graduating students entered the room. Everyone applauded constantly as all the students entered the room. Once seated, everyone (bar me) sung the national anthem, the school song and one other song. The students had all trained to stand and sit down at exactly the same time, and it was quite impressive to see how in sync they all were.

A few speeches from a few random people I had never seen before were given. Then each student took turns going up onto the stage to get presented with their graduation certificate/book from the principal. Then the principal gave a speech at which point a few of the students were getting emotional. The class president then went up to make a speech. The sad music was turned on in the background as she delivered a 5 minute long speech. As she gave her speech I looked around at the students and saw many of them trying to contain the tears. Then I looked at the students who were not graduating, they were also crying. Then I looked at the parents of the graduating students and they seemed to be shedding as many tears as the rest!

The students here have a love for their school that can't be compared with the schools in Ireland, at very least not the school I attended. When I graduated everyone was delighted to be leaving the school. These students were deeply disappointed. Although their age is somewhat different, junior high school is the same as junior certificate level at home. They will go to another school for senior certificate level. We didn't have a graduation after junior certificate as we were not changing school.

After we applauded the last student back out of the gym, we had time to go to the staff room for a hot cup of green tea. The weather on Saturday was particularly bad; very windy, bitterly cold and it was starting to snow again.

Next up the students were departing the school for the last time. We put on our jackets and headed outside to see a short outdoor ceremony. The children were all taking photos of each other and giving each other gifts. I took some photos with my favourite students.

Later we went to a party for the parents in Hotel Iris. That kicked off at 5pm and there was a dinner and an all-you-can-drink for two and a half hours. It started off slow but as people started to get drunk I had many people coming to talk with me. Last year I had a parent get insulted with me because I didn't know her child by name, so this year I came prepared with a sheet with all the students faces and names so that I'd know who was who!

After that part finished we moved on to the second party at Blue Shuttle, a karaoke bar with another 2 hour all-you-can-drink. I was speaking with the parents of the class president and my other favourite student for a long time. One of them wanted me to sing a traditional Irish song on the karaoke. I told him if there was one there I would, as long as he did too. Of course I knew here wasn't going to be a traditional Irish song, but he sang the national anthem anyway! After that party ended they tried to get me to go to a third party, yet another all-you-can-drink bar, but it was close to midnight and I knew I had to be up bright and early the next day for the graduation at Dewa junior high school, my other school.

Appi

2009-03-08T21:49:00.001+09:00

The weekend before last (Feb 27th~Mar 1st) Sophie organised a charity trip to Appi Kogen Ski Resort in Hachimantai, Iwate, our neighbouring prefecture, in aid of Room to Read.

As soon as school finished on Friday we packed our snowboards, skis and gear, got some munchies for the road and began our 4 hour journey north-east. Sophie drove and took Matt and myself with her.

We stopped at a sushi restaurant in Kakunodate for dinner and randomly met two of our friends that were also on their way to Appi. We travelled in convoy from there. Before arriving we were lucky enough to see one of the snow rabbit that are on the logo of the Appi resort. We finally arrived at our pension guesthouse at called Mutti.

We met the rest of the group there. Many were ALTs from Akita, but some were from Iwate and Aomori, and some Japanese people joined us as well. We had a relaxed enough night, just sitting around and chatting having a few beers. One guy brought a load of different spirits and tried making us drinks... perhaps it was his first time, they were pretty bad!

The next morning we got up at 8 for breakfast and headed to the ski resort. We could see the mountain approaching and its long lifts stretching to the top. Sophie made a right turn at a point that looked like we were nowhere near the lifts, but as it turned out the main lift was very long, about 3.5km! By the time we had assembled and got our tickets it was close to 10am. The weather was beautiful, barely a cloud in the sky.

Appi is the largest ski area in Tohoku. It has 21 trails, 18 lifts and its summit is 1,328m. The longest trail is 5.5km long. As opposed to Yashima, our local ski-jo, which has 7 trails, 2 lifts (1 of which is usually closed as it only goes half way up the slope), an elevation of only 690m and the longest trail is 1.3km long.

We skied and boarded for the day. Before the most snowboarding I had ever done in a day was about 3 or 4 hours. That day we were on the mountain for about 6 hours! My legs were wrecked. We headed back to the pension for dinner and had a huge dinner and then went to the onsen at the ski jo. We stayed up for a while drinking and chatting that night, but were aware that we had to be up early the next morning to do it all again!

The weather the next day was beautiful again. We headed off the mountain and stayed there till just before 5. Because it was our last day we decided to ski in the out-of-bounds areas, as the consequence for being caught is having your pass taken, assuming you don't get killed. The areas we wanted to go in were directly under the gondolas as the snow there only had a few tracks in it, and it was fast and had many little jumps! We had to avoid the moving gondolas as at time they were low enough to hit your head off. It was a lot of fun though, and we didn't get caught!

Before we left for home we went to another onsen to help our aching muscles relax! I love onsens!

YouTube

2009-02-24T09:52:00.002+09:00

I recently took a video clip of an interesting looking chair in a love hotel. I posted it on YouTube 5 days ago and was surprised to see how many views it was getting!

Yesterday I realised that it is currently the 10th most viewed video in Ireland this month and the 12th most viewed in Japan this week in the education section of YouTube!

Festivals and crashes!

2009-02-19T10:35:00.001+09:00

In Akita most of the winter festivals are on around the same time, and many overlap. So it's often a choice between going to a festival this year, or waiting till next year. This year we ambitiously decided that we would visit 3 different festivals on February 15th; Inukko Matsuri (犬っ子祭り) in Yuzawa, Kamakura Matsuri (かまくら祭り) in Yokote, and the famous Takeuchi Matsuri (竹うち祭り) in Rokugō, Misato.

We left Honjo at about 13:30 in 3 cars and headed for the Inukko Matsuri. This dog festival has large snow sculptures of houses and dogs. This year the weather has been warmer and although it was snowing while we were there, it hadn't snowed in about a week and a half beforehand. So the sculptures we not as impressive as the pictures I had seen from last year. Many were broken or melting, but still it was impressive. And we got given free sake and had festival food, and spoke to random Japanese people who wanted to practice their English.

Next we headed for Yokote, to the Kamakura festival. This festival has hundreds of Kamakuras of various sizes. Some are 2 metres tall others are about a foot in height. The larger are made by piling up and compacting snow, then the inside is hollowed out. Local people relax inside the Kamakuras while drinking hot Amazake and eating grilled mochi. They welcome anyone in to share with them and to take pictures. They have large sculptures too, one was a large sumo wrestler which Phil titled Asa-snow-ryū after Asashōryū; currently the best yokozuna in sumo.

By the river there were hundreds of small kamakura that elementary children had built. We all tried our best to take nice photos of them, but night photos are difficult to take! I like this one though!

It was getting close to 19:00 so we needed to get moving. Phil's younger brother who is here on holidays here at the moment was to partake in, and hopefully not become the next death victim of the Takeuchi festival.

The Takeuchi festival is one of the more different festivals I've encountered. The small town of Rokugō divides into two teams, the north team and the south team. They are fighting for their livelihoods, and their lives! It is believed that if the south team wins, this traditional festival, the price of rice will go up. And if the north team wins, it is believed that the following season with yield a good harvest. Both outcomes are beneficial for the small town! Foreigners are allowed participate in this festival, but must be on the south team.

So armed with 20-foot bamboo poles and wearing a variety of different helmets, including motorbike, hockey, snowboard and hardhats the two teams line up. They drink some more sake, rattle their poles together to psyche themselves up, and await the bell to signal round one!

When the fight begins the bamboo poles crash down on the heads, shoulders, or backs of the opposing team members. The poles are then raised back up, if possible, and strike back down again. The poles often shatter from the impact and become even more dangerous. As the round progresses the poles are no longer used so people resort to punching and kicking each other. And as much alcohol has been consumed it often takes a while to break up the fights after the bell has been rung to end the round.

The fighters have about 10 minutes to gather their wounded members and regroup. The poles are removed from the battlefield and new poles are distributed. Again the bell is rung, more people get cracked on the head, after a while the bell signals again, and the fighting has to be broken up again.

Before the 3rd and final round there is a ceremony. And in the centre of the battlefield two huge fires are lit. The poles with flags at the top are ignited. Its then time for round 3!

I'm not sure how they decide who the winner is; it may have to do with how far the opposition is pushed back. Maybe! I think the winner is not so important to many of the people who have forgotten about the festival and just want to fight! This year the festival was not as aggressive as last year. Many people were more injured last year. Some of my friends were knocked to the ground and kicked in the head. One had broken teeth; another had large cuts under both his eyes. This year I didn't see any of that! A little disappointing! Below is a picture of one of the guys from last year.

Below is a picture of Scottish Dave after his experience of the festival last year. He got separated from his group and singled out, something he ensured didn't happen this time around!

Around 21:00 we decided to head for home. It had been snowing all day, so there was a lot of snow on the roads. I was in David's jeep and we were speaking of how recently I had been driving behind a friend on the way to a ski jo, when she lost control on a straight road, spun 180 degrees and bounced of the far side of the road. We were discussing the best way to react in such a situation; we both agreed that braking was not the way to go! Then 10 minutes later as we were going around a bend in Ouchi, a little faster that what would have been a safe speed for the conditions, we lost control of the jeep. In fairness David's reaction was very good and he avoided the initial instinct to step on the brakes. We were going around a turn to the right, but we were heading for the right barrier. David contained the jeeps slide and managed to get it to veer back to the left, unfortunately he overcompensated slightly and then we were heading for the left barrier. We braced for the inevitable impact, which was absorbed well by the barrier and the fact that we hit it on an angle. We were both fine. We pulled the car off the road to have a look. The bullbar took most of the impact, but was pushed back into the car at an angle, and one of the lights was smashed.

We drove to the nearest convenience store and took another look. Now we realised that the radiator was leaking quickly. So we thought it best to leave it there till the morning. I rang one of the other cars to let them know what happened and to get a life. So when Phil arrived David and myself packed into Phil's car that already had 4 people in it!

We had a cosy journey back to Honjo. But just about 100 metres from our destination at a traffic light, we needed to make a right. The conversation was about what Phil’s name would be if he were a superhero. It was decided he would be called Wolver-rib; he currently has a cracked rib from a snowboarding accident. As we waited for a space to go, or the green arrow I was looking out through the windscreen that had only one wiper working. In a moment of madness Wolver-rib forgot that six people were in his aging car, that there was a solid layer of snow on the road, that he wasn’t in fact a superhero, and decided to go through a small space between a car and a large truck! As our acceleration was very slow, I watched the truck approach, my eyes widening with every metre it approached. Finally the car wheels stopped spinning on the snow and managed to get some grip, we just avoided the truck, but the car wasn't completely interested in going where the wheels were pointing. Wolver-rib’s brother words were “I don’t think you’d make a very good superhero!” And with that we crashed straight into the barrier in front of us!

Two car crashes in under an hour, and I still wasn't home. I removed the thick layer of snow from my car and drove home very slowly!

Balloon Festival

2009-02-16T10:11:00.001+09:00

On 10th of February every year there is a Balloon Festival in Kamihinokinai, Nishiki, Semboku City, Akita. Huge hot air paper balloons are released. They were between 8 to 12 metres in height and about 3 metres in diameter. The balloons are first filled with hot air from gas hoses, and then a ball of material soaked in fuel is attached and ignited. The balloons can travel for kilometres or crash nearby. I don't know if they collect the balloons afterwards, to be honest I don't see how they could!

There are two festivals on the same date every year, and they are a little apart, the other festival being the Giant Tug of war in Kariwano, Daisen City. We decided to try to make it the two festivals. But the Balloon Festival was further away than we thought. We still tried to make the Tug of war, but arrived just as it ended.

We stayed at the Balloon festival for only about 30 minutes, but it was really impressive. These are some of the video clips we took while there.

Maths

2009-02-11T12:54:00.000+09:00

While studying Japanese last week I came across the word for multiplication table, 九九 (kuku) which translates into nine nine. I thought it a little strange at the time but didn't think too much about it.

Yesterday I was asked to join the 3rd grade maths class as my JTE was absent because her sick was child. My role was to go to the class and read out equations the teacher wrote on the board such as 2x + 4x = 6x and (a + b)² = a² + 2ab + b². The students were unfamiliar with how to read such equations. The goal was just to expose them to words like: multiplied by, divided by, squared, cubed, equals etc.

It was my first time attending a full class other than English since I started teaching here. An interesting thing came up. In Japan students learn the multiplication tables only up to 9 x 9, (hence the name) as opposed to 12 x 12 in Ireland and most western countries. The math teacher told me that in India the students learn up to 17 x 17!

At the end of class the teacher the asked the students to give Mr. Owen a 'challenge' question. So one smart-ass kid stands up after flicking through his maths book to find the most difficult equation he could find and reads out this:

√40 + 5√2 / √5 = ?
Read: the square root of 40 plus the 5th root of 2 divided by the square root of 5 equals ...

Yeah, you win this round kid!

Shamisen New Year Party

2009-02-11T12:32:00.000+09:00

On Sunday 8th February 2009 we had a New Year's party with my shamisen group. We were to meet at 9am, somewhere, but as usual I couldn't understand my teacher, so after collecting everyone at the pick-up point he got the bus to meet me at Honjo city hall. We then went to Kisakata Seaside Hotel, about 30 minutes south of Honjo.

We went to the same place last year also, though at the time I had no idea that it was a New Year's party, I just though it was a concert. I also found out this year that the group I play with is much bigger than I though, it has about 25 members and is called Akita shinzankai (秋田新山会). In the folk group we have shamisen, shakuhachi, and taiko players, as well as dancers and singers.

To start off the day we had a meeting about the groups finances. Then we got changed into our kimonos and hakamas, went into a room with a stage set up and took some group photos. I realised how much taller I was to everyone else! Then we began our concert.

Everyone took turns playing different songs and dancing. The age of these people is quite apparent. I reckon the youngest, besides myself, is about 50 and she is much younger than the rest which must all have about 40 years on me!

I played just one song this year, ringo bushi. I played it with my teacher, a taiko drummer, shakuhachi player and a singer. I took a video but unfortunately the singer was standing between me and the camera for most of the video.

We started our enkai, which involves much drinking, at about 1 o'clock. Beer was the first drink to arrive, and was followed quickly by wine and whiskey both of which i refused, at first. Then came tamagozake (卵酒) or egg sake, not something I reccommend, though apparently it is good for the common cold! Then the normal sake arrived, then the wine came back. At this point many of my collegues were getting drunk quickly and becomming more insistant that I should drink everythink they had to offer!

At 4pm we headed back to Honjo and went to a karaoke bar, owned by the wife of my teacher called Night in Castle. They were singing all Japanese folk songs, many dating from the 1940's! When they requested me to sing I knew I was in trouble. I looked for my only reliable song, the one all my friends must be sick of hearing, 1979, but apparently it was a much too recent song. I went with the slightly older Disarm. Nobody joined in!

Inflatable You!

2009-02-02T11:13:00.002+09:00

Your love for me is not debatable
Your sexual appetite's insatiable
You never ever make me waitable
Delectable, inflatable you.

You don't have problems with your weight at all
You never steal food off my plate at all
I never have to masturbate at all
Unstoppable, inflatable you.

You never seem to menstruate at all
So you're not angry when I'm late at all
I feel permanently felatable
Unpoppable, inflatable you.

With you in my arms I feel we could just float away
With the right kind of gas I might even try it some day
In this ocean of life I'm never afraid I might drown
We could just float forever whatever the weather
Whenever my inflatable love is around.

Your thighs and buttocks are so holdable
You always do what you are toldable
And if we argue you just foldable
Controllable consolable you.

My mates all reckon you are suitable
I took you 'round to watch the football
And Steve and Gary said you're rootable
Refutable, commutable, you.

You're never sensitive or tickly
When I rub you my skin goes prickly
It's known as static electricity
Felicity when I'm kissing you.

Your skin is so smooth I couldn't afford you with hair
You have all the holes real girls have got plus one for the air
Your problems are simple, I don't need my Masters in Psych
To know if you get down I just perk you right up
With a couple of squirts with the pump of my bike.

You never wake up when I snore at all
A trait which I find quite adorable
You have a box and you are storable
Ignorable, back-doorable you.

Any sexual position's feasible
Although you don't bend at the knees at all
Your hooters are so firm and squeezable
Increasable, un-creasable you.

Now birth control is not an issue
I clean it all off with a ...
I bet my jealous friend all wish you
Were insatiably inflatably theirs.

Don’t let me down.
Don’t let me down.
Don’t let me down.
And I won’t let you down.

Tim Minchin, 2003.

The Cove

2009-01-29T13:21:00.000+09:00

The Cove is a new documentary film that I have been awaiting the release of for a long time now. It's about the slaughter of dolphins and porpoises in Japan and the high level of mercury in the oceans which bio-accumulates in the fish that we consume regularly.

The film-makers went undercover in a small town called Taiji in Wakayama prefecture, south of Osaka, to document the slaughter. The dolphin drive, which happens every year, involves fishermen herding about 2,300 mammals into a secluded cove, which is hidden from public view, and slaughtering them. The slaughter methods used are far from humane, stabbing and spearing them, it often takes a few hours for them to die. Most Japanese people are unaware of this practice.

The Cove, produced by the Ocean Preservation Society, was nominated at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award.

The cove, an intelligent/action/adventure/Oceans's Eleven-like horror film wrapped around a tale of redemption and revenge - oh and it's a documentary.

I still haven't got a release date for the film, but I'm really hoping it won't be much longer.

For those of you interested in this subject, there is an excellent article on the Japan Times website.

Taiwan - Taroko Gorge

2009-01-21T18:59:00.001+09:00

Shortly after arriving in Hualien, Christmas Eve to be precise, we decided to visit Taroko National Park, to see Taroko Gorge, which seemed to be featured on every tourist brochure available.

We took a bus from the station, and getting on the bus, it appeared to be just an ordinary bus. We drove through the town picking people up and dropping people off; what you would expect from a public bus. And before long we were out on the highway and heading for the Park.

The entrance to the Park is a road running by the river. Very quickly the road elevated in height and danger. We driving on the edge of a cliff, through tunnels roughly drilled (or blasted!) through solid rock. The road twisted and winded, most corners were completely blind. And it was at this point that the bus driver dropped a gear and put the pedal to the metal! How this driver managed to attain a licence I will never know, driving at speeds that no bus should travel on roads of such condition, passing out trucks and lorries that were choosing to drive as reasonable speeds. And by no means was the driver choosing a point in the road where it was safe, or where we could see ahead that there were no cars coming. Any point was fine with this driver; blind corners, in tunnels, up steep hills. I believe every time he passed something out, we could have been killed, and I'm not exaggerating! After a while we were laughing at his decisions, but it was a nervous laugh!

Some of the tunnels were quite dark, so the driver put on the lights in the bus. It looked like the inside of a 70's disco, after a few too many Jägerbombs!

After we finally arrived at Tiansiang, and finished kissing the sweet earth beneath our feet, we got breakfast at a very local restaurant. It was a buffet style, like so many restaurants, with a smell that most westerners would find offensive. There was only the one restaurant though, and we had not eaten, so we ignored the smell, the dirt and the huge glass jars behind our seats that contained many, of what may have been, animal tongues.

We walked from there a little and went through a pedestrian tunnel, 380 metres long, and emerged on the Baiyang Waterfall Trail. There were many signs encouraging people not to linger due to falling rocks. The sights there were very beautiful. We were walking half way up a cliff in a gorge. We passed through 7 leaking tunnels, one of which was completely dark; we were taking photos while walking, using the flash to illuminate the way! We ended up at a place called Water Curtain.

When we returned we visited the Hsiang-te Temple, where there was a pagoda and golden Ksitigarbha (Dizang) statue. We climbed the pagoda, though we didn't stay at the top for very long as there were huge wasp-like things flying around. And recalling the signs we saw warning of killer bees, we decided to leave!

We started to hitch a lift. We joked about the fact that the first car would probably pick us up... Then the first car came and passed. Five minutes later the same car returned to collect us! They had just noticed us as they were passing, and as we were hitching a ride just before a tunnel, they had to find an area to turn around to come back for us! Taiwanese people are incredibly friendly and helpful.

Our next stop was at the Tunnel of Nine Turns. This is huge! I think is impossible to get across to you how big this place actually is. We came up with a new word, hugeosity, but even that doesn't do it!

This is a gorge that has a height of about 1000 metres. So to actually see the bottom you must bend over the rail, and to see the top you must bend your neck completely back, almost looking directly upwards! We tried to take pictures, but gave up as we realised that the beauty and hugeosity of this place will be staying there, and not be transported away inside of any camera!

While travelling back down the gorge we hitched another life and got off at Swallow's Mouth. We walked around for a few hours before hitching another lift, and returning to Hualien.

This gorge is definitly one of the most amazing placed I have ever visited. I highly recommend anyone who visits Taiwan to go there!

Kakizome

2009-01-09T15:33:00.001+09:00

Yesterday my Board of Education had kakizome (書き初め), a tradition done at the start of each year. Kakizome means First Calligraphy of the New Year. I joined the elementary school group and tried out my shuji (習字) skills, as I did this time last year as well. Last year I was given 2nd grade kanji to try (白いはと, shiroi hato - White dove), yesterday I was given 5th grade kanji (希望の春, kibou no haru - Spring hope). It was quite an increase for me as I still haven't mastered the 1st grade kanji.

Here are my 6 attempts; my first attempt is on the right and last on the left. My 2nd last effort was chosen as the best.

My study group...

A guy who actually knows what he's doing...

Our finest work!

Abby

2009-01-08T22:05:00.001+09:00

I had a vivid dream on Tuesday night about meeting my brother Declan for the first time in over 2 years. He had some surprise for me that he didn't get to share with me in the dream before I woke.

When I got up on Wednesday morning I had an email from him informing me that Vicky, my brother Adrian's wife, had successfully given birth to her first child, a baby girl.

Abby Cunningham was born at around 3pm on 6th January 2009. She weighed in at only 6 lbs 2oz, or 2.78 kg.

Abby became my 4th niece. The other 3 are all my eldest brother Paul's daughters; the eldest Niamh was born on January 1st 2006 and the twins Aoife and Clodagh were born on January 4th 2007.

Taiwan - The Hike

2009-01-07T17:46:00.001+09:00

Our main goal of going to Taiwan was to hike for 7 days across the 2nd Section of southern Cross-Island Provincial Highway in Yushan National Park.

After spending a few days in Taipei we travelled south to Hualien, where we spent Christmas. And on 26th we arose at 2:30 in the morning to catch a train to Chihshang. We arrived at 5:30am and found a small restaurant close to the station, where we ate the most horrible breakfast I've ever eaten. The restaurant was run by a strange little old lady whose vocabulary seemed to consist of only mumbled who's and ha's. After that we returned to the train station to find out where to get the bus. We ended up having to take a taxi to a bus stop a few kilometres away, and then found out that the next bus was another hours wait. So we decided to start hitching a ride.

After only 10 minutes a van with 3 local labourers picked us up. One of the guys could speak a little English. He would ask us a question about something then they would discuss it in Chinese for a while then ask us something else. They were all chewing on betel nuts, which seems to be a very popular pastime in Taiwan. The driver beeped his horn twice at every vehicle and pedestrian we encountered. We drove for about an hour and a half up winding roads, through valleys and gorges of incredible beauty and enormous size. It was a misty morning so our view was hindered for most of the journey. I saw a red faced monkey sitting on a wall.

We arrived at the visitor center and collected our permits from the police station. I quickly realised I had gotten myself into a situation I wasn't physically prepared for. Our bags which contained our equipment and 7 days worth of food weighed about 30 kgs each. I found out that this was the highest mountain range in Northeast Asia. The visitor center(2600m) was higher than Mt Chōkai(2236m), the highest mountain I had ever climbed. When we entered the park an attendant handed me a leaflet describing the dangers we faced, and how to deal with them. It included info on dealing with leeches, snakes and bear attacks; I laughed uncontrollably for while at the whole situation, and when I regained myself, we continued.

The first kilometre or so involved many stops, with many strap adjustments of my bag. Though the adjustments helped, they didn't make the bag any lighter. I reflected on the 4 times I went for a 30 minute jog in the preceding weeks and concluded that it had not been enough preparation for what I was entering. Shane on the other hand who regularly climbs mountains and bikes around the country didn't show any signs of struggle. He soon offered the second walking pole which I greatly appreciated. The first section was about 4 km, but all up hill. My legs were not impressed, nor was my heart. Eventually I made it to the first stop, a cabin. Our plan had been to continue to the second stop on the first day. But I was in no condition to continue, so we decided to stay there for the night. And we realised that the full hike was no longer an option. I felt pretty bad. Shane took a hike up a nearby mountain and returned.

We met a load of really nice people at the cabin. All were from Taiwan; we were the only foreigners there. They spoke to us in English and shard delicious food they had cooked. My bag would have to wait for another meal to get any lighter! There was one crazy guy there who was drinking whiskey and singing all night. He tried to get us to drink some, we kindly refused, I wanted to be as fresh as possible for the next day.

The next morning we arose to see the sun rise through the mountains. We had some food and were on our way again. I started slow but felt better than I had the previous day. The views today were inspiring. We were able to see over the mountains and soon we were on top of one of them! We were now well above the clouds, and could see for miles and miles! The sense of achievement dulled the fatigue. But we had to keep moving. We passed two groups out along the way, it was then I started to realised that I wasn't doing as bad as I thought; we were just moving at too fast a pace. A few kilometres later we reached the 2nd cabin.

But when we arrived we discover there was no water!! A sign had been at the first cabin informing us of this, but unfortunately it was written only in Chinese. Some guys were cleaning the water tank, and had just tipped it over, a small amount of water and a dead bird spilled out. We rested for 30 minutes, divided what water we had left, 300ml each, and set off in the scorching heat to our next point, Jiaming Lake, 4.7km away.

Being above the clouds is a very beautiful place to be, but there isn't a whole lot of shade up there. And having not thought of bringing sun cream was a bad mistake. We continued. The hiking was much easier now, as we were travelling along the top of the mountains as opposed to up them. But then we had to descend one mountain and climb back up another. The descent was fine, the climb wasn't. Shane is much faster than me so he had gone on in front. I could see him about a kilometre ahead. I was taking regular breaks, and conserving my water as best I could. Many people I passed were looking at me with great concern asking "Are you ok?" I lied and said I was fine, I could have asked for some of their water, but I knew that where they were travelling to had no water. I struggled forward. Eventually when I made it to the top of that mountain, Shane appeared in front of me walking towards me, without his backpack, and holding out his bottle of water! He had raced forward to the lake, filtered water for himself, then refilled the bottle again and came back to meet me. Man was I happy to drink that water. I felt bad for all the things I had thought about him an hour earlier when I saw him marching away 1 kilometre ahead of me!

When we got going again, it was an easy km before the lake appeared before us like an oasis in the middle of the mountains. I was hoping the lake would have clear water and I could go swimming. It probably would have been to cold anyway. The sun was beating down on our heads and we realised how burned we had gotten. We put up the tent and rested inside until it became too hot. Later, under the watchful eye of a large deer, we prepared food. After dinner we climbed up from the lake to watch the sun set behind mountains that appeared like islands in a sea of cloud. Many deer appeared as it got dark, I'm sure many other animals too, as it's to only water for miles around. We thought we saw a bear too, we could only see these blinking eyes with our lights, and no antlers! But as it came closer we could see its antlers, we breathed a sign of relief, and I changed my underwear! We watched the amazing starlit sky for a while and then retired for the night.

We were going to take a different route off the mountain, but with lack of maps and an uncertainty of water, we decided it was a better idea to head back the way we came. Going forward would have meant going the full hike with a very long days hike the next day.

We awoke the next morning at about 4:30 from the worst weather we encountered the entire trip... some wind! We though it might be a storm coming in, so we got up around 5, packed up and headed for home. We were just on time for sunrise, and the wind already had faded away. Today the sun was shining on our left side, and to avoid having the left side of my neck as red as the right, I wore my scarf all day.

We were heading for home and back to the cabin with no water went with relative ease. After that the downward slopes began to take their toll on my legs. Pretty soon I was no longer in full control of what they were doing! But we pressed on, and soon we reached the 1st cabin, and it was only about 10am! Shane arrived there about 20 minutes before me, and he met some people who were so amazed that we made it to the lake and back in one day that they took his picture!

Not too long later we were back at the visitor center, and ready to head for home. We asked about buses, but were told there were none. So we took out our hitching thumbs. Many cars slowed down, looked at us, and then drove away. Perhaps they were able to smell us, I'm not sure. But after a half hour we decided to thumb a tour bus, and to our surprise it stopped and we were heading back towards sea level.

The tour group were a very nice bunch from Taipei, who gave us water, coffee, tea and snacks. When they stopped for lunch they invited us in with them and refused to accept any money from us. After lunch the haze which earlier prevented us from seeing 50 feet ahead had lifted and we could see the gorge clearly. We were travelling much slower than the way up, and we could see we were on the edge of a cliff which dropped of for hundreds of meters, we couldn't even see the bottom most of the time! Later they turned on the karaoke machine and insisted we sing for them, and they recorded every moment of I did it my way, Danny boy, and Sailing; our song options were quite limited! It was the strangest bus journey I've ever had.

Eventually we made it back to a hotel in a place called Jiaosi, a hot spring town just south of Taipei, and had a well deserved shower. I slept like a baby that night!

Black and Tan

2008-12-15T17:30:00.003+09:00

I saw this in a supermarket this weekend. I was quite surprised when I saw it. Though not as surprised as when I realised a few months back that cans of Kilkenny were widely available in supermarkets! I enjoyed a few of those while watching the hurling final in September.

I took this brochure with these pictures in it. But there was also a video demonstrating exactly how to pour it correctly, etc.

What I haven't included is the recipes for pumpkin crockets and pork chops that were also in this brochure. Apparently they are recommended while enjoying this Kilkenny coloured drink!

Sony Suck!!

2008-12-05T11:16:00.003+09:00

After I arrived in Japan last year I quickly realised I needed to get a computer. So I decided to buy a laptop. I wanted to buy one in Japan, but most computers here only come with Japanese Windows, without the option to change to English. So I bought a Sony Vaio (AR51SU) and had it delivered to my mother's workplace in Ireland, as they wouldn't ship it directly to Japan. My mother then posted it to me in Japan.

It came with Windows Vista. So I had plenty of software problems initially. But more importantly it was over heating to the point that you could not hand your hand on the bottom of the unit for more than about 5 seconds without burning yourself. It was no longer a 'lap' top!

I contacted the support service of Sony, and they had me try various different software settings. All of which I knew were pointless, and none of which worked. So I got into the habit of just turning off the computer every hour or so to allow it to cool. And just became used to overheating. But just before the warranty expired, I decided I should really have it fixed. So I contacted Sony again. A person called me and after a few brief questions she said that it needed to be returned. I was told that once Sony had it in their possession it would take about 7 working days to repair. Sounded good to me.

So I brought it to the post office the next day (Sept 26th, 2008) and sent it to the repair centre in France, via EMS. I got a tracking number and could follow its route to France online. After 4 days it arrived at Chronopost in France and stayed there for a few days. I contacted Sony to know if there was a problem. They said they hadn't received it yet. I contacted Chronopost but nobody there spoke comprehendible English. So I passed the number on the repair centre and asked that they contact them. They tried to call them once, but no one answered. So I got a friend who speaks French to ring them. And they informed me that they had contacted Sony 4 times asking for a simple form they required before they could allow it clear customs. But Sony refused to provide this form. And after trying many different routes to solve the issue, finding different numbers and names, requesting Sony to contact the people, or give them the information they required. Sony gave me no help what so ever. And on October 18 the computer was returned to Japan, having never arrived at the repair centre.

So I needed to send the computer back to France again. But this time I wanted to avoid the problems I encountered the first time. So I asked Sony what information I needed to include with the computer to get it past customs. They suggested I contact the post office in Japan. They also didn't know. Japan Post said to contact France, so I had to get my friend to ring Chronopost again and speak with people who were among the most displeasant people we have ever encountered! After making multiple calls (they were hanging up on us!) they said to send the item again, but send it with a courier that does not use Chronopost and everything should be fine.

So that's what I did, (after eventually finding out what company does not use Chronopost). On Nov 4th I sent the computer to France again. And this time it cleared customs. However it changed shipping companies and I was given a new tracking number. And on Nov 14th the item was delivered, according to the Internet.

Having heard nothing from Sony, I asked them if they received the computer. Their answer was "We will request information for you." On Nov 21st I mailed them again asking if they had received it; "We are investigating the issue." Nov 25th: Have you received it or not? 27th "We are investigating the issue."

So I decided to call the repair centre in France as opposed to dealing with the monkeys in the Irish support centre. After 3 days ringing there, I eventually spoke with a woman who told me that they had in fact lost my computer! The next day they found it. And I was told that my case was being prioritised. 3 days later it was on it's was back to Japan.

After having become used to how shit Sony's support is, I have spent the last 3 days emailing Sony Ireland to find out what repairs where made on the computer. Their response was: The repair is complete and the unit is in transit.

Thanks Sony, your great!

I haven't recieved it yet, it may arrive today or Monday. Man it's going to suck if I have to send it back again!

Christmas Holidays

2008-11-12T11:00:00.004+09:00

I guess I had planned on coming home for Christmas for quite some time now. This is in fact the longest time I have been away from home; almost 16 months now. But just after I had definitely decided to go home I found out that a friend was getting married in late June in Ireland. So I was faced with a dilemma. Go home for Christmas and miss my friends wedding, a guy who I lived with in 3 different houses over a period of many years. Or go home twice. I decided on the latter, which meant sacrificing most of my holidays going back home to Ireland as opposed to taking advantage of traveling Asia while I am here (again). So I went and bought my ticket home; December 15th to January 6th.

About a month after buying the ticket I found out that another friend was going to get married in mid June! I knew that I didn't have enough holidays left to go for a 3 week holiday at Christmas and a 3 week holiday in June. So again I was faced with another dilemma.

I decided to cancel my trip home at Christmas and go home for a 3 week holiday next June instead, catching the first wedding just as I arrive in Ireland and the second just before I leave again.

I'm disappointed that I won't get to see many of my friends and family this Christmas. I was looking forward to some spending time in Limerick, Galway and of course Kilkenny. My eldest brothers' three daughters are growing up fast, and another sister-in-law is due to have her first baby in January. I was really hoping to see her before she gave birth. All will have to wait until next June.

On a positive note, I've decided to travel to Taiwan for the Christmas and New Year with a mad Irish man from Kerry. We're going to go hiking for a bit and then return to Taiwan for the celebrations. Hopefully it's going to be warmer there than in Akita. We are expecting it to start snowing here in a week or so.

Ringo Bushi

2008-11-05T10:39:00.004+09:00

This is my shamisen teacher, Kuroki sensei, playing ringo bushi (りんご節). This is the latest song he is teaching me. This song is an Aomori song; ringo means apple, bushi means song. Aomori is the most northern prefecture in Honshū, and it is famous for apple orchards.

The 9th Ladies Roller Hockey World Championship

2008-10-17T15:10:00.007+09:00

The what??

The rather small town of Ouchi where I work was recently catapulted into the world spotlight as the Roller Hockey World Championship took place here. Twelve countries entered in this prestigious event; Japan, South Africa, Argentina, USA, England, Macau, Spain, Portugal, Chile, France and India. The competition took place from October 5th to 11th at the main gymnasium in Ouchi, Yurihonjo.

As my main school is only 5 minutes away from the gym, I decided to go see what all the hype was about. It was the perfect way for me to figure out just what in fact roller hockey was. Many of my co-workers were asking me if I knew what it was, they also had never heard of this strange sport before.

But as a sport it is actually quite interesting to watch. It's very fast, and does seem to require a good deal of skill. Perhaps I liked it because it had many similarities to hurling... if you use your imagination!! The players were even taking the ball up on their stick before striking at goal.

Not too many people outside a few family members had come with the teams, so the gym was never full. And there wasn't even an entry fee. We went to watch the final too. Portugal were beaten by Spain in the final 3 goals to 1.

Zazen

2008-10-08T08:16:00.009+09:00

During my first visit to Japan in 2005, I visited a zendo in Hiroshima to try zazen for my first time. I enjoyed it, even though it was quite difficult. At the time, I only got the chance to go to that zendo once. Last weekend I got to go to Chokai-san International zendo (鳥海山国際禅堂), in Yashima, for my second encounter with zazen. The zendo is only about 40 minutes drive from my apt, so I really don't know why I hadn't gone sooner!

We arrived just in time to share dinner with the zazen master, Sato-san and his wife Mariko. Both these people are among the nicest you could meet. Sato-san is a peaceful, jolly man, and Mariko the caring mother type. Both also had a satisfying level of English for easy communication.

After dinner we had a rest period before the meditation was to begin. I took the time to read an English version of the instructions to refresh what I had learned in Hiroshima. Emphasis is put on how you walk in the Zendo, when and where to bow, and how you sit during the meditation, the latter being the most difficult by far. You are provided with a round cushion to sit on. The correct way to sit is to have 3 main points of contact with the ground; your butt, and both knees. Obviously having your ass touch the ground is not a problem, but having both knees is! If you can sit in the full lotus position, this will not be an issue. I, unfortunately, struggle with even the half lotus position.

So while trying to tie my legs into knots – while remaining silent! – I remembered that while in Hiroshima I had the same problem, and was given two cushions before I could get both knees to touch the ground. But... the teacher had left at this stage, so I was going to have to soldier on with just the one. I managed as best I could with two points of contact, with the other right knee refusing to touch the ground, with what resembled magnetic repulsion!

While meditating, you face a wall and are instructed to keep your eyes slightly open while looking down at a 45º angle, while not focusing on any particular point. And just concentrate on savoring every breath. The objective is to quieten the mind. But this is a very difficult thing to do. In fact, in this quite environment, the mind seems to work overtime. Thinking of everything and anything; a thought from earlier in the day, a feeling from last week, or a forgotten memory from 15 years ago!

And while the memories are flooding your mind, your legs encourage you not to forget about them. They do this in a number of ways, first are uncomfortable, then they tingle, then they throb. And your back is sore because the muscles are not used to supporting your back so straight. So it slowly curls down and down until you finally realise, and try to correct it, but each time you do correct it, you can't straighten it as much as the last time, and eventually you just give up altogether. Meanwhile you eyes have become heavy because of the relaxation, and the fact you are in a dimly lit room is not helping matters. And all this time your mind is constantly trying to guess how long you have been in this awkward position, and more importantly, how much longer you must endure it. You knew when you started that it was going to be a 30 min session, so you have been trying to keep track of the time, not an easy thing to do. Your logical mind says maybe 20 minutes, while your evil mind flashes up a clock showing only 7 minutes have past.

Finally the bell rings. And it's the sweetest sounding bell you have ever heard! You release your legs and then can fully appreciate how much pain you were actually in. And after you lift your dead legs with your hands and direct them towards the sandals you wore when walked in, the pins-and-needles party starts! You struggle to your feet, still remaining silent of course, and follow the master in a slow and mediating walk around the zendo and out. At which point your legs are back to normal, and for some reason you feel peaceful and very proud of what you just accomplished.

That night I slept on the same place as we had mediated, and dreamt dreams that were nowhere as peaceful as I had felt before going to bed. We awoke the next morning to the sound of the bell, that no longer sounded sweet, at 5:30 in the morning. We had another meditation session at 6am. I managed to get 3 points of contact for most of the session. After having breakfast with Sato-san, he left us saying he had some work to do. He told us to stay as long as we liked, just requesting we close the doors as we left. We decided to go for one more session before departing.

I do like zazen. I think once I become more competent at sitting in the correct position it will become much more enjoyable. I have practiced a few times at home since then, and am finding the sitting easier, though I'm not quite able for the full lotus position just yet. I hope to return to the zendo again soon.

Shaken

2008-10-03T15:06:00.001+09:00

When I arrived in Japan, over 14 months ago now, I bought my car from my predecessor, who in turn had bought it from his predecessor, who had bought it second hand. So for the past 7 years the same car has been going to the same schools in Ouchi every day.

I own a 1995, 2 door Subaru Impreza coupe, 1.4 . Now the image that comes to your mind when you read the words Subaru Impreza is probably the rally car, at least that's what first came to my mind. It's far from what I own however! Now being over 13 years old, and having been involved in numerous accidents while in the ownership of my predecessors, it's starting to look tired!

Last week my motor-vehicle inspection test, or shaken (車検), was due. Shaken is the equivalent of NCT in Ireland. Its purpose is also to ensure that cars on the road are safe. There are however some fundamental differences. The main one being: cost.

The cost of the NCT in Ireland is €49 (¥7,600). But this is just the cost of the actual test and does not include the cost of service or repairs in order to pass the actual test. The NCT centres do not make any repairs, they simply carry out the test, and you either pass or fail. In Japan, when you get shaken both are done together. You can however take your car there before hand and get an estimate of how much it will cost, this estimate takes a day but is free of charge. The usually cost of shaken, however, is usually between ¥100,000 and ¥150,000 (€650 and €970), and usually takes 2 days.

The following is my translation of my receipt.

Vehicle inspection	¥	13,900
Cleaning and painting the under of the car	¥	16,000
* Discount because I requested no painting	¥	-7,413
Engine oil & change	¥	4,500
Oil filter & installation	¥	1,700
Preservation verification inspection	¥	9,000
Brake oil & change	¥	2,600
Brake cleaner	¥	1,500
unspecified part replacement	¥	1,000
Exhaust pipe repair	¥	20,000
New sparkplugs & installation	¥	3,280
Fan & A/C belt & installation	¥	3,300
Thermo unit	¥	500
3 second hand tyres & installation	¥	7,500
Disposal cost of old tyres	¥	900

Weight tax	¥	37,800
Compulsory Insurance	¥	22,470
Shaken sticker	¥	1,100
A representation fee	¥	5,000
Association costs for private use	¥	1,200
General excise tax	¥	3,913
Consumer tax	¥	250
	========
Grand total	¥	150,000

Oh but I did get given a box of laundry power and a pack of tissues after paying, so I guess that evens things out!

Water

2008-09-23T09:47:00.018+09:00

As most of you know already, I worked in Dargan Healthfoods for about 4 years after I finished college. I always really enjoyed working there; the staff and my bosses were great people to work with, and have remained good friends of mine. Another thing I really liked about working there was learned about all the herbs and vitamins, and alternative ways of living. And if I were to pick the one most useful thing I learned during my time there it would have to be drink more water!

It is definitely the best information I learned for myself and was able to give to people. Unfortunately it was also the one piece of information which I think people had the least amount of belief in. Why? Well, probably because it sounds too easy, and because it doesn't cost anything! People, in my experience, put way to much value in things that cost a lot of money, and sometimes overlook the basic free things in life. Many are happier going to expensive specialists and paying huge amounts of money for a new drug that has just been released (read: you are going to be a guinea pig for this new drug!). Countless times we would speak to people in the shop who said they had tried everything for their specific condition; tried all the orthodox medicine, and gone to the most expensive specialists. But nothing had worked for them, and as a last resort they decided to try the alternative angle. Often we would talk with these people about their lifestyle and find major flaws; drinking 10 cups of coffee a day, not eating vegetables, or not moving their bowels. And with slight and simple changes we often achieved positive results with many of these people.

So my whole point here is drinking water is a simple everyday process that can lead to a much healthier life. Everybody has heard at some stage that you should drink 8 glasses of water a day. But most people have never even tried it. If you wanted to see if it actually makes a difference to you, you should try drinking 2 litres of water a day, every day, for 2 weeks. After that time you can make a valid decision, for yourself, whether it makes a difference in your life or not. An important note is not to drink over 3 litres a day for a sustained period of time, as this much water washes water soluble vitamins from the body.

But I'll have to go to the toilet more often!
Yes you will, but after a while your bladder will accustom itself to receiving the amount water, and stabilise itself. Your body will be able to detoxify itself better, and many things in your life will improve. Your concentration and sleeping patterns will improve, your mood will be lighter, and you will have more energy.

In Japan, people do not seem to drink much water!
In the offices that I work in at least, there is no water filter! There is a coffee machine and a water boiler which people use to make green tea. So I keep a bottle at work and fill it from the tap. Unfortunately however, most of my colleagues drink mostly coffee all day. One of my Japanese teachers of English (JTE), the teachers I work with, drinks 6 cups of coffee a day, no water but occasionally one cup of green tea. Many people argue that coffee is good for you. That may be so, personally I'm not convinced - and definitely when people add white sugar to each cup, they are also adding many health risks. (I’m not going to go into the known health risks of white sugar here.) Coffee is a diuretic, which means it takes water from your system. Water, on the other hand gives water to your body.

My JTE suffers from constipation, and regularly takes medicine to alleviate this. One of the primary causes of constipation is lack of water. If the stools are not moist they cannot move. I have encouraged her many times to drink water, unfortunately she didn't try for more than 2 or 3 days. Not enough to have an effect. It's a pity she didn't give it a real try.

I wonder how many people are suffering because they are dehydrated.

Regatta 2008

2008-09-16T20:33:00.017+09:00

On Monday 15th September 2008 the annual regatta for amateur rowers took place at Aquapal Boat Plaza in Honjo. Our Board of Education entered 3 mens, and 2 ladies teams. In total there were 54 mens teams and 19 ladies teams. Our team name was Aburakoji Guys. Aburakoji is just where our BoE is located. There are 5 members in a rowing team, 4 rowers and a coxswain. The coxswain sits in the back of the boat facing in the direction the boat moves and gives us instructions, all the rowers face the opposite way. I was in stroke position, which is just in front of the coxswain. On my team was Takafumi (Japanese), Jon (Canadian), David (Tasmanian) and Brett (American). We had about 6 practices before the competition, which was a 50% increase on the amount of practices we had last year!

In our first race there were 3 boats, and we needed to finish in the top 2 to qualify. Despite me getting my oar stuck in the water at the start of the race and almost dragging the boat underwater, we managed to recover and passed out a much slower boat to finish in 2nd place. So we progressed to the next round, though we were going to face much stronger teams from there. For our 2nd race we were supposed to be in a 3 boat race, but one boat did not turn up. This was a very good thing for us as we needed to finish in the top 2 again to progress. But obviously we wanted to win our race. And as the gun fired and we had a very strong start we quickly pulled into the lead. However another oar got stuck, not mine this time. But as that rower was sorting that problem out, his seat came off the rails... so we were going nowhere fast! Eventually when we did get going again, we accepted the fact that there was no way we were going to catch the other boat, and laughed and acknowledged how lucky we were that the 3rd boat hadn't turned up!

After having progressed from a awful last round we were finally in a race with 4 boats. We were also racing against another boat from our BoE. Before the race Jon and myself studied the previous race times of the boats involved in our next race. We needed to make a 6 second improvement on our first race time to be in with a real chance. I was hoping that my mistake may have lost us close to that, unfortunately I was wrong. For out final race we gave a very good performance, we beat the other BoE team, but were far from catching the much stronger 2 boats in that race. Had we finished in the top 2 we would have advanced to the semi finals, where we would have been embarrassed!

Our best time, over 500m, was 2:17. The overall best time in the competition was 2:02.

One of the ladies teams however, made it to the final! Two of the ladies, Amelie and Sophie, were on the same team as me last year when I was coxswain for them. They showed amazing strength and speed in the 2 rounds before the final, finishing in 1st position both times, and by a long way! They started strong in the final race too, but one boat gained a sizable lead. The ladies were neck and neck with 2nd/3rd position for the majority of the race, as the last boat seemed to lag way behind. But in the final stretch the last boat steamed forward and with a very tight finish between the 3 boats our ladies were robbed and finished in 4th position. Overall it was an excellent display from a very competent team, who were all very pleased with their performance.

Their best time was 2:27 with overall best time in the ladies at 2:22.

During the day the BoE had a tent by the river, and they cooked us lunch and gave us drinks. And after we took down the tents at the end of the day we all went out for dinner and more drinks.