Kristi in Japan

Moving to a new location!

2010-06-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

So, for various reasons, I've decided to bite the bullet and move to a new location:

http://amoderngirl.wordpress.com

Please update your bookmarks accordingly!

A nice feature of Wordpress is that I've been able to import all of my entries from here and from the other blog that I kept from 2006-2007, so you can switch over to the new site without missing any of the fun. Thanks!!!

Interesting tidbits from the U.S. Consulate in Osaka

2010-06-20T00:14:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, I haven't managed to get myself into any trouble (yet). Our group of language students had a scheduled "security briefing" at the U.S. Consulate General in Osaka this past Friday. The contents of this meeting were mysterious to all of us until the moment we arrived, but it turned out largely to be an information dissemination session. Consul General Ed Dong gave a few remarks encouraging us to use our time in Japan wisely, and some of the other consulate staff reminded us not to become victims of natural disasters or crime--or to commit crimes ourselves.

The most interesting part of the meeting was probably the session where the person in charge of American Citizen Services told us about the typical experiences of Americans arrested in Japan. Apparently, there are a couple of dozen American citizens currently "enjoying the hospitality of the state" (as he repeatedly termed it), most of whom are in for drug possession, mostly of marijuana. Marijuana possession (and of course, dealing) is a serious crime here in Japan, and the police don't mess around with it. If you're arrested in Japan, the police can apparently hold you for three days without letting you contact anyone. At that point, they can extend your stay for two 10-day periods. In practical terms, this means that anyone who is arrested typically stays in jail for at least 23 days. If at that time, the authorities decide to prosecute you, you spend another 2.5 months in jail awaiting your trial. That may be less or more than you'd expect, depending on the judicial system that you come from, but it does amount to quite a lot of time.

Besides drugs, there were apparently several arrests made earlier this year of Americans who had forged JR rail passes and who were also held for similar amounts of time.

In any case, the presentation lacked much gravity, mostly because Japan is such a (relatively) safe place. According to the speakers, the main threats to our security are likely to be natural disasters, rather than crime. If we lose our passports, they recommend that we wait because such things generally get returned to you--even wallets left on trains often come back to their owners, money intact.

There are definitely worse places to be.

As a side note, the security at the Consulate General seemed particularly intense, perhaps because they have been the target of a number of protests as of late, mostly over the controversial Futenma naval base issue.

Things I like about Japan #3: Fans

2010-06-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

As I think I've mentioned repeatedly, summers in Japan are hot and humid (蒸し暑い, or mushiatsui, is a phrase you'll hear countless times). There are a few things that make this bearable, however. One is the ability for both women and men to carry around fans without looking ridiculous. (And as you can see from the picture above, having a fan at a choice moment can definitely make you friends.)

There are actually two types of hand-held fans common in Japan: uchiwa and sensu. Although many people might think first of folding fans (sensu) as the Japanese cooling implement of choice, uchiwa are actually more popular for everyday use. Uchiwa are flat, non-folding Japanese fans which have been a familiar part of daily life for all classes in Japan since ancient times. They come in all shapes and sizes, from more decorative/formal ones to video game-themes versions to free uchiwas that actually have ads printed on them:

This site has some interesting background information on uchiwa.

The folding style fan is harder to make and thus also more expensive. But according to various sites, although the uchiwa was commonly used in China, the sensu was actually invented in Japan sometime around the 8th century. The earliest versions were made of thin slats of Japanese cypress hinoki wood that were stacked and bound. The production of these folding fans rapidly grew in Kyoto and sensu became popular among the nobility. Gorgeous decorations evolved with the use of elegantly painted designs and paper sprinkled with gold and silver foil. Folding fans were also made for use in Noh, Japanese classical dance, and tea ceremony. In the 13th century, sensu were exported to China and the fashion later migrated to Europe as well.

Again, a variety of styles of sensu are available, though I have yet to see a sensu with ads printed on it:

The fan I'm using above was actually procured in the Philippines, where it seems that lace styles are also popular. In any case, I'm always looking for ways to beat the heat, and these things are great!

Things I like about Japan #2: Shaved Ice

2010-06-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

Summers in Japan can be brutally hot and humid, but one thing I always look forward to is shaved ice, or kakigōri. Kakigōri (かき氷) is basically a snow cone, but it's so much better! Instead of the hard chunks of stuck-together crushed ice you typically get in American snow cones, shaved ice is light and fluffy and literally melts in your mouth. My favorite versions have fresh fruit instead of just syrup. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it. :)

The picture of me above was taken at a small restaurant along Tetsugaku no Michi (the same restaurant selling the "canned bear" shown below). That kakigōri sure hit the spot in the midst of a long day of sight-seeing!

Unintentionally Hilarious Japanese Thing #2

2010-06-14T01:39:00.000-07:00

I promise that this isn't going to become an Engrish blog, but I'm short of time and am trying really hard to keep up the practice of posting regularly, so I thought I would share this snap. It's of a menu that I encountered while walking down the Philosopher's Path (哲学の道 or Tetsugaku no Michi) with the other CLS students this past Saturday.

Canned bear. That would be something, wouldn't it?

Unintentionally Hilarious Japanese Thing #1

2010-06-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday here in Japan, and I'm getting my first chance to relax since leaving Berkeley on May 31st. The last week has been crazy busy with orientations, classes, tons of homework, and sightseeing, so it's nice to be able to catch my breath a little. (Though of course, I'm planning to spend the rest of the day doing homework!)

Anyway, I thought I'd update with a short post. Most people are familiar with the hilarity associated with Japanese advertisements (both in print and on television), but I thought I would share one of the gems that I pass every day on my walk to Doshisha University:

There's so much going on in this ad, it's kind of fascinating. Obviously, this guy is being depicted as a symbol of desirable masculinity--evoked by the bulging muscles--but the short shorts and impossibly smooth legs would have a totally different connotation in the U.S.

Anyway, as suggested by the title, I'm hoping to do a whole series of posts about random unintentionally hilarious Japanese things in the future. :) I have a few more already waiting in the queue!

Koudou: The Japanese tradition you've never heard of

2010-06-11T06:42:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of 薬師寺日記

As I mentioned before, I'm doing a homestay here in Kyoto. I have a fairly insane class/homework schedule, but I usually talk to my host parents every morning at breakfast (8 am) and every evening at dinner (7 pm). Yesterday, my host mother showed me a TV program that she'd recorded a couple of years ago about Japanese culture and parallels in French culture. Anyway, during the course of this program, I learned about kōdō (香道).

So, what is kōdō? It's actually one of the three classical Japanese arts of refinement. You're probably familiar with kadō (ikebana, or flower arrangement) and chadō (tea ceremony), but kōdō is much more obscure--it's even relatively unknown among modern Japanese people. (My host parents, for example, had never heard of it.) More concretely, kōdō translates to something like "the way of incense" or "the scent road"--essentially, it is all about appreciating scent, specifically the scent of incense. Like tea ceremony, the practice comes with a host of associated tools and customs. This picture shows an example of some of these tools. Practitioners will put a tiny amount of incense on top of the cups (censers) that look like they're filled with (patterned) sand:

Image courtesy of 東京セミナーBE

Afterward, they will bring the cup to their noses, protecting the area with their free hand (as demonstrated by the monk above). There are various parlor games (kumikō) associated with kōdō that originated in the practices of the Japanese aristocracy. For example, participants might sit near one another and take turns smelling incense from a censer as they pass it around the group. Participants comment on and make observations about the incense, and try to guess the incense material.

Genjikō is one such game, in which participants are to determine which of five prepared censers contain different scents, and which contain the same scent. Judgements are marked using genji-mon, linear patterns which designate chapters in the Tale of Genji. The picture below shows all 54 of the Genji-mon geometrical design patterns which originally symbolized the combinations of the fragrances in the game:

Image courtesy of Made With Japan

Anyway, in the television program, they explained the history of the practice in detail (in Japanese, of course) and showed various French people trying to play Genjikō. It was very interesting. You learn something new every day--particularly when you're studying abroad.

Things I like about Japan #1: Kotatsu

2010-06-08T01:09:00.000-07:00

It's only the second day of my language program here in Japan, and I'm already exhausted and drowning in work. Given that, I'd like to take the time to share one of the things that I like best about Japan: kotatsu.

A kotatsu (炬燵) is a low wooden table that is very popular in Japan but used almost nowhere else in the world (although Iran has something similar, according to Wikipedia). This alone is great. They make seats to go with them that are essentially chairs without legs. I love to sit down at a kotatsu and do my homework--I think it's super comfy. In the winter, the table has a electrical heat source built into it, and you sandwich a blanket in between the legs/frame and table top to create a (sometimes treacherously) cozy den of warmth. It looks something like this:

Picture courtesy of www.JohnHarveyPhoto.com

When you're reminded of the fact that most Japanese homes don't have central heating, the kotatsu becomes an even more wonderful device (and one that was certainly very useful when I lived in snowy Niigata). Anyway, even though it's summer time here, I've repeatedly snubbed the normal desk in my room to sit at the kotatsu instead. God knows I'll be spending countless hours studying on it!

Hello from Kyoto!

2010-06-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

It's been such a busy week! On Monday, I moved out of the house I'd been living in for the last three years, put most of my earthly possessions in storage, and got on a red-eye flight bound for Washington D.C. to start my Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) in Advanced Japanese. I was very pleased to arrive to an amazing breakfast and plush accommodations at the Embassy Suites, conveniently located closed to a number of sights in Washington D.C. After a nap, I managed to arrange impromptu get-togethers with Alice, an old friend who interned with me at the Environmental Protection Agency in 2003, and Tessa, a fellow University of Washington Political Science major who is now working as a lawyer in D.C.

Tuesday night and all of Wednesday consisted of an orientation at the American Councils headquarters. Though the State Department provides the funding, American Councils appears to handle the U.S.-side organizational responsibilities for the CLS Program. The staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful, though they were only able to give us a limited amount of information on our program, since this is the first year that CLS has included a Japanese program. Still, we used the time to meet one another--there are 14 students in the Advanced Japanese group, 5 graduate students and 9 undergraduates. Everyone seems remarkably nice and friendly, and some of the participants speak fabulous Japanese--I'm particularly impressed with the undergraduates who haven't ever been to Japan before and yet seem to have mastered an impressive level of language skill.

At 3:30 am on Friday morning, the 14 of us got on a bus bound for Dulles airport and embarked on a 16-hour plane journal (with a 2-hour stop at San Francisco International Airport) for the Kansai International Airport in Osaka. It was a surprisingly pleasant plane ride, in no small part due to the fact that I was seated in United Economy Plus, which was well worth the money to upgrade (yay for 5 extra inches of leg room!). Anyway, an hour-long bus ride found our group at the Hearton Hotel in Kyoto, where we met our Resident Director. Saturday was our orientation at the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS), which included a 2.5-hour long placement test, a campus tour, and (finally) lots of information about our classes to come (and our first homework assignments, of course!).

Today, I finally met my host family. I'm staying with a very nice couple in a house just a short walk from Doshisha University's Imadegawa campus, where KCJS is based. I'm excited, as this is my very first homestay experience, and I hope to make the most of it! And it looks like an amazingly relaxing place to live and work--I have a surprisingly spacious room all to myself, and even a separate study area:

The house is also home to a very well-behaved dog named おじゃる (Ojaru):

Overall, I've been very impressed with the coordination and effort put in by American Councils and KCJS--and the State Department has been amazingly generous in paying for pretty much every expense that we could possibly encounter. They've even set us up with temporary cell phones for our stay! (Although, as anybody who's lived in Japan knows, cell phones are basically mandatory for Japanese life.) I'm quite glad that I decided to attend this program. It's like the study abroad program that I never did as an undergraduate.

Anyway, I should unpack and get started on my homework! No rest for the weary!

A Voice from the Deep

2010-05-22T11:45:00.001-07:00

I've decided to resuscitate this blog because... I'm moving back to Japan! That's right, after an extended hiatus away from the Land of the Rising Sun, I'm going back. This summer, I will be studying doing a homestay in Kyoto and studying advanced Japanese through the Critical Language Scholarship program based at the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. Then, I'll be in the U.S. for a bit, tying up loose ends in Berkeley, visiting family in Seattle, and presenting at a conference and doing some interviews in Washington D.C., before heading back to Tokyo to start 12 months of fieldwork. Exciting stuff!

In any case, I will be updating this blog regularly with tales of productivity and adventure, and as always, a ton of pictures. I look forward to sharing them with you! For now, I'd like to get things started with a slideshow from my time at an English teacher in Niigata-ken from 2005-2006--it's a "greatest hits," of sorts. Enjoy!

Yokohama Port Opening Festival and Ocean Day

2008-07-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I attended the annual festival commemorating the port opening of Yokohama. 6,000 fireworks were released over the course of an hour and 10 minutes, which made for a pretty good show. My school hosted a party for its students, which was particularly convenient, since our school overlooks the part of the Yokohama harbor where the fireworks were set off. Snacks and drinks were plentiful, and it was a pretty good time overall, even if my teacher spent some of the party correcting my speech for tomorrow, LOL.

Today is Ocean Day, a recently introduced Japanese national holiday to celebrate the ocean. The day marks the return of Emperor Meiji from a boat trip to Hokkaido in 1876. It's a pretty uneventful holiday, all in all.

A trip to the National Diet

2008-07-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

I went on a class field trip to the National Diet building yesterday (the Japanese equivalent of Congress) and toured the Upper House (the House of Councillors). The Diet isn't currently in session, so it was something of your typical historical/national building tour, but it was definitely interesting to see where all of the action (or inaction) of the Japanese government happens. I frequently see the chambers of the Upper and Lower Houses in newspapers and on the TV. I was tempted to buy a set of Japanese sweets imprinted with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's face. But I managed to restrain myself.

One interesting fact: Everything in the National Diet building is constructed of Japanese materials except:

1. The stained glass
2. The doorknobs (which were made in the U.S.)
3. The mail chute system (also made in the U.S.)

And here's me pretending to be a genki Diet member:

Kyoto

2008-06-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

I went sightseeing in Kyoto this past weekend and saw Fushimi Inari Taisha, Ginkakuji (which I don't recommend visiting until after the construction is finished), and Kiyomizudera. I am loving my language program and living in Yokohama, by the way. For now, I have a speech to write!

Novelty gravestones: Morbid or eternally cute?

2008-06-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

I have homework to finish before this morning's first session, but I just wanted to share photos of these gravestones that I saw in a shop on the way to Sojiji the other day. The "Baseball Santa" tombstone is a a particularly strange amalgamation of concepts:

The Japanese can make anything cute...

2008-06-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

So, every day on my way to class, I walk through or past the tallest building in Japan, the Landmark Tower (and an amusement park with one of the world's largest ferris wheels, but that's not the subject of this particular entry). While I definitely think it's pretty cool, the Landmark Tower is not what I think of as "cute" - it looks more like a medieval fortress crossed with a skyscraper and tends to ring more "imposing" or "impressive" in my mind. Exhibit A, the Landmark Tower:

But of course, I was simply seeing the building with my non-cuteness-creating American eyes. The Japanese, however, know exactly how the cuteness of this building would manifest, if the latter so desired. Exhibit B, an advertisement for the Landmark Tower's 15th anniversary:

I particularly like the declaration of "I Love You!" at the top. And the way that the top section of the building so nicely imitates a mouth just where one is needed.

Second day of classes was good, but I have so much homework!

First day of language classes...

2008-06-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

It went well, but I am so so so so tired. I woke up around 4:30 am (partly because I'm not fully adjusted to Japanese time and partly because that's when the sun comes up in this crazy country), had a busy morning of classes, and then went on a class field trip to Sojiji, Yokohama's largest Buddhist temple, for a rather intense tour (all in Japanese, of course). Highlights included witnessing some type of Buddhist ceremony and experiencing zazen (which included getting whacked by a Buddhist priest with a large piece of wood - and it was a good whack). Anyway, I still have a lot of homework to do, and my brain is fading quickly, but here are some pics:

Our tour guide

One of the buildings of the temple

One of the shrines within the temple

It's been an interesting first week back in Japan. But for now I'm off to try and finish this homework before I pass out.

A much overdue conclusion

2006-09-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a long time since I updated this blog - I left Japan on July 29th, and now I'm back in the U.S.! I've moved down to California and started a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. All is well and fine. If you want to read about my new adventures in Berkeley, I am planning to set up a new blog soon. I'll post the link here as soon as it's available.

I had a few more adventures before I left though - including moving farewells at my schools and a final trip to Tokyo with Nuria and Star. Here are a few more pictures to keep things visual:

Team Yakiniku: Junko, Noriko, Kristi, & Rosalind

Yamaya-san, Julia & Kristi

Final Farewell, Tsubame-Sanjo Station

Kristi & Nuria, Tokyo

John Lennon Museum, Saitama

Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre

Star & Kristi, The Lockup, Tokyo

Kristi, Shibuya

Siblings, Reunited

Siblings, En Route To Berkeley

Anyway, in conclusion, I'd like to thank all of you for reading my blog. It was a crazy year in Japan, filled with a lot of fun and a lot of personal growth. I look forward to more adventures in the future!

Ise and Nagoya Report

2006-07-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

I think I'm in danger of not posting about my 3-day weekend in Ise and Nagoya, so I better just churn something out, eh? Friday night, I boarded the overnight bus on a 6.5 hour journey down to Nagoya, arriving at the pleasantly deserted hour of 6 am. After a quick breakfast, I went another two hours south to Ise, home of the holiest shrines in Japan. Legend has it that the Japanese imperial family is descended from a particular god - this god gave the family three sacred treasures: a sword, a mirror, and a jewel. The mirror is enshrined at Ise, although no one has seen it for hundreds of years. The shrines themselves (there are two) are overwhelming Japanese in architecture, in stark contrast to many of the other famous shrines in Japan (particularly Nikko, their apparent rival for spectacular-ness). To top it all off, the shrines are completely torn down and rebuilt every 20 years according to Shinto tradition, which necessitates two separate (albeit adjacent) locations for the buildings. It's quite the piece of Japanese culture and history. The most disappointing thing? You can't take pictures near the inner shrines, so the memories will just have to live in my mind. :)

Main Shrine Entrance, Geku
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Anyway, I decided to make a day of it by seeing some of the other things Ise had to offer, including Oharaimachi (a traditional-style shopping area where I had very yummy shaved ice), Meoto Iwa (the famous "wedding rocks") and Mikimoto Pearl Island (home of the world's first cultured pearls). All in all, it was an extremely busy, tiring, and fulfilling day. I'm very glad I went.

Shops, Oharaimachi
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Meoto Iwa, Ise
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Diving Demonstration, Mikimoto Pearl Island
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

On Sunday, I started out the day with a visit to Nagoya Castle, which was much more impressive and interesting than I expected (when you've seen one ferro-concrete Japanese castle reconstruction, you've seen them all - or so I thought). I also made a quick stop by the Nagoya Noh Theater to take a look at its small museum.

Nagoya Castle
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi, Noh Museum
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Of course, the main event of the weekend was the sumo tournament. I've gotta say, I really love sumo now. I thought it would be interesting in a cultural sense, but I really developed an affinity for the sport itself. In the morning, I squatted in the very pricey first row seats, getting an amazing view of the lower-ranked wrestlers - several actually fell about 6 inches from my feet, that's how close I was. And it was just enthralling! I mean, with matches that only last 3-5 minutes, there's no time to get bored. There was definitely some skill and strategy involved. And honestly, I didn't mind the copious amounts of man-flesh.

A few hours later, I was joined by Grace, Rosalind, and Johanna who had been living it up in Osaka for a few days. We eventually migrated up to our seats in the balcony. The higher-ranked wrestlers definitely carried themselves as such - as the day went on, the matches got progressively longer and involved more pre-match intimidation. It was hilarious to see a wrestler suddenly get worked up, beat his chest in front of the crowd and then throw a handful of salt into the ring with such drama - the spectators' folding fans would start fluttering with excitement and you knew it was going to be a good match. :) We saw several of the famous sumo stars, including Asashoryu, the only current yokozuna in the sport (who dispensed with his opponent relatively quickly and still remains undefeated during this tournament, I believe). You can read more about sumo and the July tournament here.

Sumo Tournament, Nagoya
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Sumo Tournament, Nagoya
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Ok, after that things were relatively mundane. The four of us headed to Outback Steak House in Nagoya for an extremely delayed but delicious dinner. The three musketeers went back to their capsule hotel in Osaka, while I bedded down in my Nagoya dormitory. Monday morning was spent shopping in Sakae, taking advantage of the amazing summer sales. And then I had another 6.5 hour bus ride to my home sweet home in Niigata.

And there you have it folks, the full report. Check out the full photo set here.

Sumo!!!

2006-07-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

So, I just got back from a totally awesome weekend in Ise and Nagoya. Pictures and details to come, but for now, enjoy this short video I took at the sumo tournament! It takes you through the basics of a bout - with the exception of the little victory song at the end.

Hope you're all doing well!

Busy week-end...

2006-07-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

Man, it's kind of frightening how quickly I can pack for trips now. Seriously. I got back from an enkai with the people from my Board of Education in Nagaoka about an hour ago and will be departing shortly to catch the overnight bus to Nagoya, the fourth-largest city in Japan. I'm hoping for a relaxing, culturally-enlightening weekend - it'll be my first (and likely last) major solo trip in Japan. Can't wait to tell you all about it.

Oh, and I have to tell you about my dinner with the mayor of Kamo last night, don't I? Well, it was delicious and amusing and resulted in a proposal to hire a new ALT for the city of Kamo (since I'm leaving and don't have a replacement). They also asked me to stay for another year to take on the position, which was quite flattering (but generally impossible). But I'm excited for the kids - what a great opportunity for them. They're putting forth a proposal to the Kamo city council, so we'll have to see how it goes. *crossing fingers*

Dinner with the Mayor
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

I'm really short, aren't I? Even in the land of short people, it seems...

Off to Nagoya!

And the story continues...

2006-07-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I'm not going to wax philosophical about this goodbye business because ... well, it's pretty much the running theme for the next couple of weeks, right? :)

Yesterday I parted ways with a class that was formerly my noisiest, least-behaved of all my schools (they've subsequently mellowed quite a bit though). I actually really adore these guys - I have a soft spot in my heart for the difficult ones. ;) After receiving a few declarations of love and cuteness, I was quite loathe to leave. I'll see them around for the next week or so though:

Class 2-2, Kamo Jr. High
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Last night, a yet-again-sick Aaron and I met up with Nishigata-sensei, a JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) who we both happened to work with this year, due to the wonders of the educational transfer system. We feasted on yakiniku and had a very relaxing time chatting.

Team Teachers!
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Aaron and I followed it up by hitting the late show of Mission Impossible III in Tsubame, probably the last time I'll be seeing a movie in Japan for at least a few years. It's a rather interesting process really - a weekly "Ladies Day", assigned seating, Japanese people who don't laugh or leave til the credits are completely finished... Oh, and of course, a thankfully reversed set of logic that makes the latest show of the evening also the cheapest one (+1 point, Japan!). I thought the movie itself was fairly entertaining, lots of twists and turns. It seemed very ... reasonable, as odd as that sounds.

Anyway, I just found out that I have absolutely positively NO classes today because all of my kidlings are painstakingly composing farewell letters for me. *tear* Yep yep. I guess that means I should finally plan my weekend agenda - this weekend I'm heading to the general vicinity of Nagoya to get myself into all kinds of random adventures and witness the awesomeness that will be a sumo tournament.

Oh, and I'm having dinner with the mayor of Kamo tonight. And a big enkai tomorrow night. And God knows what else. Oh, Japan.

Let the goodbyes begin...

2006-07-09T05:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend was all about goodbyes - to possessions and friends both. Spent a lot of the weekend cleaning my apartment and selling/giving furniture to various people/places around Niigata. I don't have a successor, so this place has to be emptied of all but the bare essentials (i.e. refriegerator, washing machine) by the time I leave. It doesn't sound difficult, but there have been ALTs living in this place for 15 years - so stuff tends to build up. And since I've still got some major travel plans and work obligations left, I figured I should get a timely start...

Last night I went out to Kashiwazaki for a beach barbeque. And yeah, it was kinda like things came full circle. I remember going to another (very rainy) barbeque back in August - and I'd only seen some of these people only once or twice since then. So strange to think. But I can only be happy that we shared each other's company for a little while and hope that we'll meet again in the future - perhaps in some other far-flung corner of the world. :)

The Gang
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi, Mara & Siobhan
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Sanjo Survivors
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi & Aaron
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

I have another host of goodbyes to say tomorrow at Wakamiya Jr. High - and I'm fairly dreading it, I've got to say. But time marches on - goodbyes now and reunions to come, so all is right with the world.

Happy Fourth of July!

2006-07-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

So, in celebration of the Fourth of July, Melissa, Kate, Errol, myself, and Kayvohn (our honorary American) got together for an American-style hoedown in Maki, complete with beef, (accidental) pork burgers, corn, apple pie, Coca-Cola, "Spirit of America" brownies, music, and sparklers. There were flags everywhere, and good times were had by all (lighting sparklers by the Shinto shrine was especially notable). I think it was quite possibly simultaneously the most and least American event I have ever experienced, if that makes any sense. Happy Birthday, USA!

The Americans
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Spirit of America Brownies
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Shisa & Kristi, Maki
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The days are running dreadfully short all of a sudden, and I find myself desperately penciling in appointments, errands, and get-togethers left and right. It's nice. But kinda strange, too. Am I really going home in just three weeks?

Another weekend in Niigata...

2006-07-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

Pink Girls!
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

So, it was another semi-relaxing, semi-random weekend in Niigata. This time, however, Star came up from Tokyo to join in the festivities. Persevering through the start of the rainy season (it arrived on Friday), we spent a largely chill weekend ambling through some of Niigata's attractions, including Kamoyama Park, Yahiko Shrine, the Echigo Brewery in Maki (Japan's first microbrewery), the Kamo Onsen, and Niigata City. We met up with Melissa, Kate, and Errol for parts of the weekend and mostly just had fun. It's so nice to have visitors in Niigata - I think that some of my favorite Japan memories have been simply hanging out in Kamo with good company. Here are the obligatory pictoral tidbits:

Kristi, Kamoyama Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Star, Kamoyama Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Star & Kristi, Echigo Brewery
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

By the way, today is my last day at Tagami Jr. High, and it's somewhere between awkward and tragic. I traded speeches with the teachers and students this morning, and even got a very nice bouquet of flowers which is currently looking somewhat stranded on my desk. But at the same time, I've seriously only been to this school about 15 times this entire year (with teacher transfers and student graduations in between), so I don't feel like I know them well enough to be all worked up. But maybe that's the really sad part - that I won't have the time to get to know them any better.

Anyway, enough rumination for now. After this year in Japan, I have concluded beyond all reasonable doubt that too much thinking is indeed bad for a person. Off to do!

The Wonders of Takarazuka

2006-06-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

I just reserved a ticket to see the Takarazuka Revue in Tokyo a couple of days before I blow this popsicle stand. The Takarazuka is an all-female musical theatre group; I studied it in college as an interesting example of sexuality in Japan. There are six troupes ("Flower", "Moon", "Snow", "Star", "Cosmos", and "Superior Members") which have over 80 members each and perform predominantly at their home stages in Osaka and Tokyo. In order to join, girls between the ages of 15 and 18 must go through a highly competitive audition to get into the Takarazuka Ongaku Gakkou, one of the best performing arts academies in Japan. Over 1,000 girls audition each year, but only 40-50 are accepted. After passing, girls take classes in singing, acting, dancing (Japanese, ballet, tap, and modern), music history, theatre theory, etiquette and more from 9-5 each day.

After one year at the school, each student becomes either an otokoyaku (player of men's roles) or musumeyaku (player of women's roles). The starring otokoyaku are by far the most popular of the actresses in the Revue, so there are never enough spaces for all of the girls who would like to be otokoyaku. The decision is based on height, physique, voice, etc. Otokoyaku study how to act like, talk like, and move like men, while the musumeyaku train in being a strong and graceful feminine counter to the male roles (the 1914 rationale was that the musumeyaku would learn to be the ideal women, while the otokoyaku would learn to empathize with men and thus become better wives). The students learn techniques that signify gender, including stylized movements, gestures, and speech patterns. After their training is complete the students will join one of the troupes.

Nearly all of the fans of Takarazuka are schoolgirls and middle-aged women. A lot of them enjoy the portrayal of pure romance, rather than a physical attraction between a man and woman. Many of the fans adore the Takarasiennes and will stand outside of the theatre after a show, waiting to get a glimpse of their favorite stars on their way home, and maybe a photo or autograph. There are fan clubs, three official magazines, and of course, a plethora of collectibles.

So, the show I'm seeing is a rock opera called "Rome at Dawn", based on Julius Caesar. *Awesome*. A totally bizarre, totally Japanese way to end my year-long sojourn here.

Here's an article on it.
And another.

Tales from the 中学校...

2006-06-30T04:45:00.000-07:00

So, I've been correcting compositions lately. My third-year students went on a school trip to Kyoto back in April, so each of them wrote me a letter about their most important memories. I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites, complete with student illustrations...

Student Drawing: Scary Deer
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Dear Kristi-sensei,
How are you?
I went to on school trip.
I want to tell you about this picture.
I went to Nara park.
Then there were many deer.
Some deer came to me.
Finally I was surrounded by deer.
The deer were very scary.
(Kazama Yukiko)

Student Drawing: Funny Story
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Dear Kristi-sensei,
How are you Kristi? I went to on a school trip. I had good times. The best memory is Watazen. I was talking till late at night. After that I was very surprised at talking while sleeping my friend. She said "Ouch!" She is Takahashi Kasumi. Her way of sleeping was very strange. But she was very cute!
(Tomoe)

Things are winding down fast! Here's the running count:

26 days until I leave Niigata
28 days until I leave Japan

That means just...

13.5 days of teaching
1 Board of Education meeting

Wow!

Beach-y Goodness and Other Tales of Niigata

2006-06-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

It was back to the grind this week, with lots of school business and errands to take care of. It seems that I only have about six weeks before my triumphant return to the U.S., and that comes along with all sorts of tasks that must be attended to. The weekend, however, was all about fun. Friday I did some much needed lying about, while the evening encompassed a pancake party at Nuria's and a welcome enkai for Aaron's parents at the Aqua Hotel. Saturday was Round Two of English Day at Niigata Women's College, the same affair I went to back in December but with a new batch of students. It was fun and an easy way to pick up some extra cash - but wow does it make you realize how much work conversation can really be!

June English Day, Niigata Women's College
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After the English mayhem, we were all in need of a relaxing time. Fortunately enough, Melissa and Kate invited a bunch of us down to Maki for a beach BBQ, Maki-style. There was a wealth of food and drink to be had, as well as good company. Phil in particular came prepared for a good time, with glowsticks and fireworks and some surprisingly developed bonfire-making skills. The weather held out and resulted in a very nice time for all concerned - and we didn't even get abducted by the North Koreans, whose boat lights we swore we could see on the horizon. Here are some highlights, some courtesy of Phil:

The Gang, Maki Beach
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Making S'mores, Maki Beach
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Phil on Fireworks
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

And now, it's Sunday. How does the weekend always speed by so quickly? Gotta get moving on all this stuff, before everything passes me by.

P.S. I <3 Kung Fu Hustle

Niigata, Tokyo, and Kamakura with Maria!

2006-06-13T04:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, so before this gets totally foggy in my mind, I should set down some of the whirlwind that's been engulfing my life recently. Let's pick up where we left off, shall we? After a two-day stint in Hakone, Maria came up to Niigata to spend a couple of days hanging out with me and seeing the less touristy side of Japan. On Wednesday, she accompanied me to the Kamo City sports competition, where we saw students from several of my schools playing baseball, basketball, tennis, and ping pong before heading out for a stroll in Niigata City and visiting the Sea of Japan Tower. Thursday, I taught three classes and was soundly chided for not bringing her to class as a "special guest", so poor Maria had to hang out with me at school - the kidlings were very excited. And they let me go home early. :) We walked around Kamoyama Park a little bit and had a nice time at the Kamo Onsen before getting some dessert at Gusto and calling it a night.

Maria, Sea of Japan Coast
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Friday we took the shinkansen down to Tokyo, checked into our hostel, and went straight to Asakusa's Senso-ji, one of the livelier Buddhist temples in Japan. Then we hit Ueno Park for a couple of hours in the Tokyo National Museum, managing to cover only about a fourth of its total collections. The night ended with eating ourselves silly in Shibuya and enjoying some Friday night people watching.

Saturday was all about Kamakura, one of the old capitals of Japan and a center of Buddhism. We started at Enkaku-ji, one of Kamakura's five great Zen temples and then strolled over to Tokeiji, which used to be a refuge for abused wives seeking a divorce. Then we embarked on a hike which took us to the Zeniarai Benten Shrine, a really amazing place nested in the caves where visitors wash their money in hopes that they'll attract good fortune. At last, we made it to the Great Buddha, which was everything I hoped it would be. Hase Temple capped off the day trip - it's home to countless statues of jizo, which help women, children, and travelers - they're particularly associated with aborted babies. My personal favorite was the part of the shrine hidden inside another series of caves. Anyway, we had some yakiniku before heading back to Tokyo and making stops at Akihabara (yay for massage chairs!), Shinjuku, and Roppongi. Long day!

Maria & Kristi, Daibutsu, Kamakura
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Hase-dera, Kamakura
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

On Sunday, Maria started off the day with a little aikido - we met up at Tokyo Station and took a quick look at the Imperial Palace before jumping over to Harajuku to witness the cosplay-zoku in their usual Sunday madness. Did a little bit of shopping in Harajuku and Omotesando, enjoyed some kaiten sushi and pizza, and then hopped over to Ginza where we visited the Sony Building. The highlight of the day was definitely the final stop though - we saw a kabuki show for about $8 at the Kabuki-za Theater! It was amazing, mesmerizing, hilarious - it was a blast! Like watching Japanese history come to life or being whisked back into the Edo Period. I think I would totally go every month if I lived in Tokyo. Very much a must-see.

Kristi and Maria, Imperial Palace
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Anyway, now Maria is back in Washington DC and I'm back in Kamo, readjusting to a "normal" pace of life. Back to work!

Kansai / Western Honshu Blitz

2006-06-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

I've returned safe and sound from another excellent excursion. Talk about insane - over the last four days I've spent time in Kyoto, Osaka, Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Onomichi, and Fukuyama, traveling on planes, trains, streetcars, ferries, cable cars... I'll try to keep the narrative short though. As many of you know, my friend/college roommate Maria is in Japan for two weeks, so I flew to Osaka on Thursday night and bussed out to Kyoto to meet her. We enjoyed a night-time stroll around the city, grabbed some okonomiyaki and crashed for the night.

Kyoto Tower
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Friday morning we made an early start for Osaka, heading out to the bay to check out the Tempozan area. We took a ride on the Tempozan Ferris Wheel, which was the world's largest ferris wheel until the construction of the London Eye and totally satisfied our desire for randomness. In the afternoon, we swept by Himeji, home of Himeji-jo, Japan's most spectacular castle. Maria and I also spontaneously decided to buy ourselves yukata (summer kimono), which was exciting. We crashed in a Hiroshima business hotel that night.

Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel, Osaka
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Maria & Kristi, Himeji Castle
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Saturday morning was all about Hiroshima. Maria and I wandered the Peace Memorial Park, hitting major attractions such as the A-Bomb Dome, the Cenotaph for the Bomb Victims, and the Eternal Flame before heading into the incredibly moving Peace Memorial Museum. This was my second time seeing these parts of Hiroshima, and they were even more striking the second time around, if that's even possible.

A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Statues, Hiroshima
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

In the afternoon, we took a ferry out to Miyajima to meet Eric and his girlfriend Saya. Miyajima is home to one of Japan's three most beautiful spots (again with the ranking), a vermillion "floating" torii. It is also home to a large number of temples and native deer and monkeys (the deer were much more chill than in Nara, btw). This has to be one of the most picturesque places I've seen in Japan - a real favorite.

Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Friends and Fun, Miyajima
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Torii Sunset, Miyajima
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

But no, the fun wasn't over yet - the four of us went back into Hiroshima City to catch a little of something really special at the Hiroshima Yukata Festival. People were everywhere, dressed in brightly colored summer kimono, eating food from the many vendors on the street, and generally having a good time. At some point, we ducked into Molly Malone's, an Irish pub in the city and proceeded to gorge ourselves on such delicacies as fish and chips and the ever-illusive "real" hamburger. Afterwards, we parted ways and pretty much passed out from sheer exhauston.

Sunday was the big departure day. Maria embarked on a rather extended journey out to Hakone, Saya went shopping, and Eric and I took a train bound for Onomichi, where we went up a small mountain, looked at a "castle" for sale, and had yummy Thai food at what appeared to be an abandoned hotel. (Random adventures are the best, aren't they?) Afterwards, Eric kindly shuttled me to Fukuyama Station and I began the train-bus-plane-car journey back to my comfy home in Kamo. Phew, glad that's over.

And now? Now I'm kind of shell-shocked from the busy weekend and a very busy workday - anxious to get some rest. I think I'll close with one of the funniest things I've seen in Japan, a miraculous combination of Engrish and illustration:

"We do not hope to be such a monkey."
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Click here to check out my full photo set. (There's some fun stuff!)

Nikko Roadtrip

2006-05-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend the traveling extravaganza continued with a visit to Nikko, one of Japan's major tourist attractions. The site has a long history of religious significance dating back to the 8th century, when it was a famous training center for Buddhist monks. After declining into obscurity for many years, it was chosen to become the location of the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who unified Japan and whose successors controlled the country for about 250 years. The shrine was built in the 1630s by Ieyasu's grandson and is the most splendid of all the shrines in Japan - splendid to the point of gaudiness, some say. All the same, it was intended to inspire awe for the wealth and power of the Tokugawa family, and it sure does the trick.

The weekend was a rainy one, which gave the whole experience an atmosphere of mystery and meaning. Six of us (Rosalind, Steph, Grace, Johanna, Simone, and I) set out from Niigata on Saturday morning and arrived in the town of Nikko after about four hours and some very windy mountain roads (when they post signs counting the number of switchbacks, that's a bad sign). That afternoon largely consisted of shopping, eating, and generally goofiness, in addition to a trip to Yashio-no-yu Onsen (I got a massage - yay!). Sunday we wandered the Nikko shrine complex, which included Shoyoen (a Japanese strolling garden), the Tokugawa Treasure House, Sanbutsudo (Three Buddha Hall), Rinnoji Temple, the Toshogu Shrine (including the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" monkey trio), Yakushido (it has a dragon painted on its ceiling that "roars" if you use the accoustics properly), Futarasan Shrine (built to honor mountain deities), and Taiyuinbo (where Ieyasu's grandson is enshrined). The place was fraught with history and complexity, some of which I cover in the comments to my full photo set. On the way back, we hit Kegon Falls and stopped shortly to gaze at Lake Chuzenji (where we met a very friendly fisherman). Here are some of the visual highlights (though we couldn't take pics of some of the best stuff):

Room #3, Daiyagawa Youth Hostel
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Shin-kyo Bridge, Nikko
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Pathway, Shoyoen, Nikko
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Yomei-mon, Toshogu Shrine, Nikko
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi, Kegon Falls
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Fishermen, Lake Chuzenji
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Click here to see my full photo set from Nikko.

ALTs go to the movies...

2006-05-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so after a trip to the gym and some Pizza Hut indulgence, eight of us met up at the Tsubame Warner MyCal theatre to see The Da Vinci Code last night. I enjoyed the book, so I was interested to see the film version. I thought Tautou was excellent (and beautiful), and Ian McKellen was quite entertaining. It was nice to get out and see a movie.

Anyway, we totally made fools of ourselves getting print club pictures beforehand. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

Niigata Surprise!
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Bubbly Fun
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

A Motley Crew
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Good times. Work and life have been incredibly busy lately. I finally perfected my "asking the way" lesson today - the 3rd year students (9th graders) really loved it. Only thing was, the new version was incredibly high-energy for the team teachers. I totally wanted to pass out after three straight classes. But then I had two more lessons to prep and fax for Monday, a composition workbook to write, and a million other miscellaneous things to deal with... Funny, I feel suddenly comfortable here, with the people and the way of life. And I have less than two months left.

Anyway, I think I'm going to have some tea and try to do something productive. I hope I get some down time tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday will be spent touring Nikko with the ALT crew, so small girls must get their rest.

Omi Shrine Festival

2006-05-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

So, I promised that I'd post pics from the snippet of the Omi Shrine Festival that I caught this weekend, after my triumphant return from Okinawa. There were apparently a lot of costumes and a parade, but I just saw the ceremony at the end, where they dismantled the portable shrines and had a short bout of flute/drum music and dancing. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Omi Shrine Festival, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Omi Shrine Festival, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Lanterns, Omi Shrine Festival, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Okinawa in Review

2006-05-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

So, as I mentioned before, Star and I ventured out to Japan's southernmost set of islands this weekend - and wow, what an amazing time we had. Sight-seeing, relaxing, shopping, perfect weather, quality time with a good friend - how much better could it get? Friday afternoon was spent shopping on Kokusai-dori (International Street) and trying to locate Coco Shanti, the charmingly (and affordably) hippie place we called home for the weekend. We got to know this street quite well during our stay and probably walked its length 20-30 times before our departure.

Kristi, Kokusai-dori, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to pick up our rental car from the airport and our real adventure began. We started off by heading to the southern tip of the island to check out some of the war memorials. Okinawa suffered heavy losses during the last days of WWII, both military and civilian, with many people committing suicide on its coastal cliffs. We visited Himeyuri-no-To (the Cave of Virgins), a memorial for a group of about 200 women and children who lost their lives, and the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, which contains the Cornerstone of Peace. The latter monument records the names of all who died in the Battle of Okinawa (Japanese commanders, civilians, and foreign military personnel alike), arranged in striking waves of black stone tablets.

Himeyuri-no-To, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Cornerstone of Peace, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Then we moved on to Shuri Castle, the former seat from which Ryukyu kings ruled before Okinawa was subjected to mainland rule. The architectural style was much different than that of the mainland, with the Chinese influence really shining through. The most famous gate, Shurei-no-mon, appears on the Japanese 2,000 yen note.

Star & Kristi, Shuri Castle, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Shurei-no-mon, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

With two major sites under our belt, Star and I stopped at an A&W restaurant for lunch - it was a drive-in, so you could actually pull in, order, and eat in your car (though we opted for the air-conditioned interior). Hamburgers and root beer were in order. After that, it was off to the Motobu Peninsula, where I visited the Churaumi Aquarium while Star napped on Emerald Beach. I thought the aquarium was really fascinating - and huge! I hadn't been to one in years, so it was quite a treat.

Whale Shark, Churaumi Aquarium, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Emerald Beach, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Our final mission of the day was to drive along the Okinawan coast to the northernmost tip of the island, Cape Hedo. The scenery was stunning (Star has all the pictures though, since I was driving), and it was well worth the time when we got to the rocky cliffs and saw the bird statue we'd been looking for.

Statue, Cape Hedo, Okinawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Two hours later, we were back in Naha and back on foot. We continued to sample Okinawan cuisine, which Star became quite fond of during her homestay seven years ago, and which I actually enjoyed as well. During our weekend, we had Okinawan soba (different from mainland soba), yakisoba, rafti (pork stew), zenzai (shaved ice with sweet bean), and chinsuko (yummy cookie). We also sampled Orion Beer, the local Okinawan brew. Anyway, we pretty much passed out after dinner.

Sunday morning we made time to shop along Kokusai-dori and Heiwa-dori, collecting the necessary omiyage to be able to return to our respective workplaces without losing face. Our mascot for the trip requires an introduction though - meet Goya Man (or Super Goya, as Star and I like to call him):

Goya Man
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The goya is a bitter melon that is very common in Okinawa and Okinawan dishes. Rosalind and I actually cooked goya champuru in our cooking class. Anyway, the goya memorabilia gave us no end of laughs along the way.

Sunday afternoon marked our returns to Niigata and Tokyo respectively, and I came home to find the Kamo Spring Festival winding down (which was curiously similar to coming home and finding my roommates throwing a party). I managed to see some fun stuff there, but I think it's best left to another post. This one has come to an end. :) Click here if you want to see the full set of photos from our fabulous weekend in the sun.

There and back again

2006-05-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Okinawa was incredible. So much fun. So many adventures. Details to come.

By the way, did you know that Crystal Geyser is the water of America?

Crystal Geyser, Water of America
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The mundane, the wonderful

2006-05-14T04:36:00.000-07:00

I took a drive out to Sanjo today, to go to the gym and buy some groceries. But along the way, I took the time to stop and photograph some of the sights that grace my regular errand-running. There are the things that aren't special enough to take pictures of, but I have a feeling they'll be the ones I miss most once my time here has come to an end. I love the landscapes right now - all of the rice fields are flooded for spring, and it makes Niigata seem like a surreal sort of floating world. Here are a few of the snippets from my day:

Rice Field Reflections, Sanjo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Roadside Shrine, Sanjo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Shrine in the Rice Fields, Sanjo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

That little shrine in the last shot really charmed me for some reason. Perhaps because it seemed so elegant in the water, and it was just sitting there, amidst a sea of houses and agriculture... Anyway, yay for Niigata.

I should do some writing before this weekend is over. Hope everyone is doing well. And Happy Mother's Day!

Back to Niigata (via Tokyo)

2006-05-08T00:46:00.000-07:00

I woke up at about 4:45 am this morning. Why? Because the sun came up at 4:43 am, which I consider terribly early. Still, it'll continue to inch earlier yet before hitting about a 4:25 am sunrise in mid-June. I really need to find a way to darken my room a little more in the mornings. Sitting at my desk today, it somehow seems like I never left - it's amazing how consistent the routine of the Japanese school system can be. It's comforting, actually.

I just returned from hanging out in Tokyo with Star, one of my friends from UW and a fellow Japanese major. She's living out there doing science research and kindly let me stay with her for a while. We mainly took it easy, treating ourselves to massages, shopping in Shibuya, and a rather leisurely schedule. Grace joined the fun on Saturday. I took a break from picture taking during this trip, but still managed to get one of the more amusing shots of my collection while walking through Shinjuku. A tanuki (raccoon) in a pig's mask:

Incognito Tanuki and Kristi, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The owner in back adds a lot to the picture.

Sufficeth to say that I had fun. I always enjoy Tokyo - hopefully I'll make it down there a few more times before my contract is up in July. Things are starting to fly by faster and faster. This weekend, I'm thinking of heading out to Takaoka to see their daibutsu and do the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, two weeks from now is Okinawa with Star, four weeks out is Hiroshima/Kansai with Maria, followed by Tokyo five weeks out... and then I'll have about a month left in Japan, so I imagine I'll be desperately trying to pack and squeeze things in.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now. More adventures soon!

More sakura love and urban fun

2006-04-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a little while. Things have been kinda crazy and kinda random, but then again, that's often the way life is out here in Japan. On Thursday, Aaron and I caught the sakura fever and decided to make our way up to Osakiyama Park near Sanjo to take a look at the blossoms there. The journey itself was a bit of an adventure, but the blossoms were definitely beautiful. I also loved the view from the top of the mountain - it gave a rare glimpse of Sanjo and Tsubame, with Mt. Yahiko looming in the distance.

Sanjo and Mt. Yahiko, Osakiyama Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi, Osakiyama Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Afterwards, Aaron and I decided to go to Pizza Hut for dinner. That in itself was fairly unusual, given that it was only our third time visiting the place since arriving in Japan. But lo and behold, who should we run into but Sarah and Nuria? Anyway, the four of us enjoyed our gaijin fare and then topped it off by visiting the brand new Baskin Robbins in Tsubame. (It's telling when these kinds of places are exciting, isn't it?)

Anyway, my very blustery Friday was spent down in Nagaoka at a Board of Education meeting, and Saturday I hung out with some old friends in an attempt to escape Niigata for a while. Again, yay for onsen. Saturday night I met up with Melissa, Kate, Kayvohn, and Errol for a little fun out in Niigata City. We went to a place called Hallelujah, which ended up being a lot of fun.

Kristi, Kate, & Melissa, Hallelujah
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

And now it's Monday and the day has been pure insanity. I just taught five classes in a row, something that has never happened before. And I also didn't know about any of them beforehand, so talk about starting things off with a bang. :) I'm happy though, my least favorite JTE left and has been replaced by one who seems fairly nice and very capable. Looks like tomorrow is going to be crazy too - I kinda feel like I should go straight home and just start sleeping now. ;)

Undeniably Spring

2006-04-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

You know, it just isn't springtime in Japan until the cherry blossoms have graced you with their presence. The sakura is Japan's unofficial national flower, and it's amazing how culturally important it is. Actually, when the word "flower" is used in traditional Japanese poetry, it generally refers to the sakura. Even now, people closely follow the sakura forecast for an estimation of when the flowers will come to their town. And once they appear, it's time for hanami, a tradition of eating and drinking with family and friends under the blossoming trees that has been around since the 700s. I swear, it's all any of my Japanese friends have talked about for the last couple of months.

So, this past weekend, the sakura really started coming out in Niigata (pretty late, really), and as expected, they're beautiful. I took a walk around Kamo yesterday to take in the springtime beauty and snap a few pictures. Cherry blossoms are fickle things; the slightest bit of wind or bad weather can send them away as quickly as they came. That's part of the Japanese fascination with them, of course - they symbolize the fleeting nature of life. Anyway, I'm going to be quiet now and show you the pictures.

Spring Sunset, Kamo River
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Cherry Blossoms, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

I really like that last one, but it is better appreciated at a larger size. Been shooting in RAW lately, and it makes me wonder how I ever coped without it.

Anyway, it's been an extremely busy day at school. I taught four classes in a row this morning, something that's only happened once before. And I'm basically designing a new English curriculum to be published in book form, which is a huge task. Better get back to that. ;)

Why Japan doesn't have Daylight Savings Time

2006-04-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

Sunrise, Mt. Fuji
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

So, this post is a bit late, but did you know that Japan doesn't observe daylight savings time? I was baffled when I discovered this but never really received a satisfactory explanation for its absence, other than the fact that it "used to have it". So, I decided to do a little digging to figure this thing out.

Today, more than 70 countries have adopted daylight savings time. Of the 29 OECD countries, only Japan, South Korea and Iceland don't observe the convention. In Japan, daylight savings time (sanma taimu) was introduced after World War II by the U.S. Occupation authorities imposed DST on May 1, 1948, as a means to combat coal and power shortages, explaining the regime was being installed to "promote the health and welfare of the Japanese people, conserve valuable resources and to cultivate an appreciation of time among the Japanese." (The Japan Times, Aug. 10, 2005)

Only three years later, in October 1951, the Diet passed a bill to dump the unpopular system, less than a month after the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed. It was abolished in April 1952, as soon as the GHQ packed up and departed from Tokyo's Yurakucho district. A government poll in 1951 showed 53 percent of the Japanese wanted to scrap daylight savings time, as opposed to 30 percent who wanted to keep it. There seem to be several different reasons for this opposition.

Some say that lack of prior debate and the execution of daylight savings time just three days after the bill was passed generated deep hatred of the concept. Daylight savings time suddenly became equated with the humiliation of defeat; it was seen as something the GHQ forced on the people, and this continues to hinder the movement. Bad memories of the Occupation still haunt Web sites critical of daylight savings, with messages like "Daylight-saving time is fascist!" "It is a pain to change the clock, and it's hard on people's biological clocks." "People will lose sleep, and be made to work more overtime."
This fear of over-work seems to be another explanation. Several business sectors have expressed concerns that the measure could result in workers voluntarily working longer hours. The truth of it seems to be suspect. One article in The Japan Times claims that many people opted to work after their regular workday had ended during the Occupation. But another article cites that the Japan Council of Metalworkers' Unions found that labor hours fell during daylight savings time.
According to Japan scholar John Dower, daylight savings time was opposed on the grounds that it simply extended the difficulty of "daily" life. Dower describes a condition of exhaustion and despondency in Japan immediately after the war, causing people to prefer an earlier darkening so they could escape into sleep or drink. In today's prosperous and seemingly happier Japan though, it seems like it shouldn't be very relevant.
Another reason seems to be that the Ministry of Education was concerned that lighter evenings would entice school children from their homework. (Um...)

Anyway, there are some very sound reasons to introduce daylight savings to Japan, although it's hard to "prove" them. Experts say the change would increase the amount of usable sunlight per day, cutting crude oil use by 930,000 kiloliters and greenhouse gas emissions by 40 tons. The Japan Productivity Center further estimates that 100,000 new jobs and 970 billion yen in additional economic benefits would be generated by shopping and leisure as people take advantage of the brighter evenings.

It seems like change is in the wind though. On April 22, 2005, a group of lawmakers on Friday approved a package of draft bills to introduce daylight-saving time nationwide, with an eye to submitting them to the Diet next month, members of the group said.The change would be implemented in 2007 and would be reviewed three years later, the draft bills say. Some municipalities, such as the Sapporo Municipal Government, have experimented with daylight-saving time. In June 2005, hundreds of companies and government offices launched a 42-day daylight-saving experiment in Hokkaido as part of a campaign to turn it into a national practice. Some 15,000 employees came to and left work an hour earlier than usual. Doesn't seem like anything has really happened since, at least that I could find.

Kinda random, but somehow, it seems very fitting for Japan.

Guess I wasn't quite done yet

2006-04-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, I was accepted to a seventh graduate school today - UC San Diego just came through with an offer of admission and a full four-year funding package. Wow. It's probably best that I didn't know about this last week. At least I finally got denied by the University of Michigan (where I was also initially waitlisted) - that keeps things a little more sane. :)

Final Final Grad School Results

Admitted to:
UC Berkeley
Princeton
Cornell
UC San Diego
UCLA
University of Wisconsin
University of Washington

Denied at:
Harvard
University of Chicago
Columbia
University of Michigan

Koinobori and the coming of spring

2006-04-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

Spring is cementing its hold on Niigata, slowly but surely. To celebrate, the city of Kamo holds an annual festival. Somehow, I'd been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I almost failed to notice it (it's quite impressive when you consider how close I live to Kamo River and the Omi Shrine, two of the city's cultural hot spots).

Koinobori are carp-shaped flags that play a role in many Japanese festivals; they are traditionally flown to celebrate Children's Day in May. Traditionally, the Japanese associate carp with boys because of the strength of carp that swim upstream. In Kamo, huge streamers ranging in size from one to over three meters are suspended over the river and allowed to flutter in the wind. It makes for a rather magical atmosphere - and a good place for a person to destress after a long day at work.

Koinobori, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Koinobori, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Old Downtown, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

I am quite fond of this place.

The Decision

2006-04-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that this fall I will be beginning a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. The official acceptance forms have been sent in and I'm currently in the midst of sending decline notices and thank you emails to the dozens of people who have helped me during this deliberation process. Started looking at fall courses today and felt a glimmer of excitement here and there. Maybe it will all be all right.

In other news, today was a very rainy and blustery day in Kamo. I've been holed up inside my apartment - things just don't look inviting out there. Been watching a lot of TV; I definitely get my money's worth out of my cable subscription. But they recently deprived me of my daily 1-hour Simpsons fix, which I find really distressing. That 6-7 pm time slot got me through a lot of rough times out here. The Saturday viewing was a little lacking, so I started watching the first season of Lost on DVD, something I picked up on my last jaunt through the U.S. *Highly* addictive. I look forward to spending many hours engrossed in it.

Oh, and Star and I decided to go to Okinawa for a weekend in May. Should be an islandy good time. Yay for the Niigata Airport.

U.S.A. Whirlwind Trip Report

2006-04-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

So, I made it back to Japan and am actually writing this from my desk at work. Of course, there's incredibly little to do, given that the kidlings are all on vacation. But I am fairly happy just to be sitting still and on my way to absolutely nowhere in the near future.

The last week was really too crazy to relay in detail, but I'll try to hit a few of the high points. It all started on Thursday night, when I took the shinkansen to Ueno station and was met by Star, who had ever so kindly pre-located a yakiniku restaurant for us to feast at (I'm so predictable). Our friend Richard was in town, taking a break from his busy grad student life in Syracuse, so we hung out a little that night and Friday morning. Star and I saw a few of the first cherry blossoms in Ueno Park and I would have gone back to see more, had time not run out on me.

Richard and Kristi, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After that, it was off to the U.S.! I didn't sleep much on the plane. I find the games and movies on the Northwest Airbus flight to be quite addictive, btw - highly recommended. Anyway, I took care of some business in Seattle and got to hang out with my brother and Adam for a little while, which was nice. Oh, and I got a much-needed haircut.

Chris, sporting his DMZ souvenir
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After that, it was off on the whirlwind graduate school tour. After two planes, two trains, and a lot of walking, I arrived at Princeton University and embarked on a series of appointments bookended by a lunch and a dinner with various graduate students and faculty. I really liked a few of the people I met, particularly Jennifer Widner and Lynn White. The program has hired something like 16 new faculty in the last year and a half and about 60% of the faculty has been there for 3 years or less, indicating some sweeping changes and perhaps an exciting department to come. But things could also go the other way. I'm going to refrain from saying anything that could be considered "sensitive information", so you should ask me if you have specific questions. The funding was definitely a big selling point for Princeton, one that came up again and again - not too surprising, given that Princeton is the second most well-endowed university in the U.S., but still. It's a strong, mainstream program with a lot of resources to offer. But it's not very strong in terms of Japan, and at the end of the day, is lower ranked than Berkeley. To be honest, I liked it and have a feeling I would be well-served by going there. But it was my least favorite of the three.

After my dinner, I went up to New York City and spent the night in Manhattan with a very nice Princeton grad student couple who were amazingly hospitable and accomodating - and I was amazed at the PoliSci student's job prospects! Five offers and pretty great salary choices, all of which made me feel a lot better about academia as a career choice Since I had never been to New York, Gabriel was nice enough to walk me through Times Square and a bit of that area.

Kristi, Times Square, New York
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Tuesday morning I caught a bus to La Guardia Airport, where I boarded a fairly small plane to Ithaca. You know, the kind of plane where they strategically seat passengers in order to balance weight. A short while later, I was at Cornell University, which was experiencing uncharacteristically warm weather and was truly beautiful. The campus is huge and really majestic in its scenery - waterfalls, gorges, hills... I again embarked on the marathon lunch-appointment-dinner schedule, but came away with a much better feeling than I did at Princeton. The Cornell Government Department seems really congenial and welcoming - and a place where I would feel very comfortable. I really liked Rob Wiener and Valerie Bunce in particular. I wish I could've met with Peter Katzenstein, whom every since student *raved* about, but alas he was out on travel. I also went bowling with a bunch of the grad students, which was good fun. I really liked the feel of the place and found Ithaca to be charming and quite livable. I wish it were ranked a tad higher - to be honest, I feel a pull towards it, even more so than to Berkeley. I also liked that the cohorts are so small - 12-15ish versus Berkeley's 20-something.

After a brief stopover in Detroit (which has a very nice airport, btw), I found myself in San Francisco and then in Berkeley shortly thereafter. The West Coast really does feel a lot more comfortable to me, I've gotta say, though this has its good and bad points. Anyway, Berkeley was pretty much everthing I thought it would be. Unfortunately, my visit occurred during their Spring Break, so I met with the department chair and T.J. Pempel (who was also everything I thought he would be) before heading back out to San Francisco to meet my best friend Camden. I was pretty destroyed by this time, so we stayed in, ordered pizza, and caught up on stuff. Anyway, Thursday I met with four different grad students who were all very nice and quite sharp. One girl there has interests remarkably similar to my own - something that I hadn't encountered at any of the other schools. Berkeley felt good. It felt big. Like UW on steroids, kinda. In general, I like big, but wish I could've come while classes were in session... I get the impression that I have an *amazing* funding package in the Berkeley context, which makes me very happy. And the area seemed just as exciting as I'd heard. So... yeah, probably the most logical choice, given my professed goals.

So yeah, things are still up in the air. I'll probably choose Berkeley, but was surprisingly drawn to Cornell. I'll let you know when I've made the final decision.

Alive!

2006-03-31T00:57:00.000-08:00

Sufficeth to say, I made it. After spending varying amounts of time in Seattle, Altlanta, Newark, Princeton, New York City, Ithaca, Detroit, San Francisco, and Berkeley, I've been safely deposited in Puyallup, where I will remain in a state of near-hiberation until Saturday morning. More soon, hopefully.

Where are the brakes on this thing?

2006-03-23T00:54:00.000-08:00

The past few days have been really productive, albeit not as productive as they needed to be (are they ever?). Took care of a bunch of things I've been waiting months (and even years) to do, and wow, it felt good. Now I'm leaving for Tokyo in about 8 hours, and I'm almost packed. I think I need to sneak home to finish the job. Or actually, maybe I should just ask - they'd probably send me home early.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that my Vice Principal at Kamo Jr. High is the most awesome person ever. One of these days I'm going to trap him into taking a picture with me - but alas, today is not that day. Anyway, he has semi-long (long for a Japanese man) permed hair and is the funniest guy I've met here in Japan. He doesn't speak much English at all, but he's always busting out the random nouns and phrases - and more than that, he actually *talks* to me on a regular basis (other ALTs realize what a big deal this is). Anyway, yesterday he sent me home an hour and a half early - told me to go out and have fun, drive up to Niigata City and go window-shopping or something. Of course, I just went home and got the oil changed on my car, but it was a really nice thought. ;)

This week is going to be *insane*, btw. I have to say, I'm not entirely looking forward to it. Check out my schedule for my Princeton visit (kind of for my reference):

On arrival - Monica Selinger
Noon - Lunch with graduate students
2:30 p.m. Professor Christina Davis (Intl political economy; Japan)
3:00 p.m. Professor Charles Beitz (Political theory)
3:30 p.m. Professor Gilbert Rozman (Sociology; Northeast Asia)
4:00 p.m. Professor Jennifer Widner (Development; Africa; democratic institutions)
5:30 p.m. Professor Lynn White (Political development; China; Thailand; Philippines)
6:00 p.m. Dinner with Professors White and Davis, and Daniel Kliman

After this I take the train to New York and stay with a grad student couple in Manhattan before flying out of LaGuardia the next morning. And then at Cornell:

12:30 p.m. Arrival
1:30 p.m. Lunch with Geoff Wallace and Steve Nelson
2:30 p.m. Professor Nic van de Walle (Comparative; political economy; Africa)
3:00 p.m. Professor Sherry Martin (Comparative; Japan; electoral politics; gender)
3:30 p.m. Jennifer Erickson
4:00 p.m. Professor Valerie Bunce (Comparative/IR; Eastern Europe/former USSR)
4:30 p.m. Professor Richard Bensel (American: political development/economy)
5:00 p.m. Professor Rob Wiener (Comparative; electoral politics; Japan)
6:30 p.m. Dinner with Katharine Boyle
???? p.m. Bowling with graduate students

And then I pass out and fly straight to San Francisco the next day. Wow. Berkeley is on Spring Break, so I don't get the whirlwind wine and dine (at least I haven't heard about it yet). But I'm glad - I think I'll welcome a chance to relax and talk at leisure with just a few people. I'm meeting T.J. Pempel, one of my academic idols, on Wednesday and then lunching with some grad students on Thursday.

Anyway, wish me luck - I hope I survive!

Normalcy

2006-03-19T04:40:00.000-08:00

This weekend was really nice. You know why? Because it was like a weekend I might have had at home. Friday night, I went out to see Narnia with Aaron, which was very enjoyable. True to the book, without being tedious. Saturday morning, I slept in before meeting Aaron again to take a look at Honai Park. Honai is a tiny town halfway between Kamo and Sanjo; I've driven past it a hundred times but never ventured out of the car before. The park itself was definitely not in its best shape. A long winter and quickly melting snow had turned many of the paths into faint mud trails - Aaron and I went on a few wild goose chases, but it was all in the spirit of a good adventure. The park boasted a very nice greenhouse, which gave me an opportunity to get a little more creative with my pictures. Here's a favorite:

In the Greenhouse, Honai Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Saturday night, I went out with a couple of Japanese friends for a yakiniku feast and drinks in Kamo. Wow, it was so much fun! We ate *so* much. And I got to practice my Japanese for a few hours, which was nice. That's the only thing about being an English teacher out here - you don't always get to work on the language skills. Anyway, I opted out of the karaoke in favor of an early night (trying to rest up for my hectic week to come).

Today was an even lazier day. I watched a couple of the movies that Adam lent me: Innocence and Demonlover. Loved both of them, albeit in very different ways. And now ... now I'm trying to get myself mentally prepared for another week at work. It's a light one though - Tuesday is a national holiday and Friday I'm off to the U.S.! よし、行くぞ!

Final grad school results

2006-03-15T04:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm done with the application process that has been my life for the last six months - the last two letters came in the mail yesterday. And, for posterity, here are the results in full:

Admitted to:
UC Berkeley
Princeton
Cornell
UCLA
University of Wisconsin
University of Washington

Waitlisted at:
UC San Diego
University of Michigan

Denied at:
Harvard
University of Chicago
Columbia

I have plans to visit Princeton, Cornell, and UC Berkeley in less than a week. Here's my horrible horrible itinerary:

Friday, 3/24: Tokyo --> Seattle, WA
Sunday, 3/26: Seattle, WA --> Newark, NJ (Monday, 3/27)
Tuesday, 3/28: New York City, NY --> Ithaca, NY
Wednesday, 3/29: Ithaca, NY --> San Francisco, CA
Thursday, 3/30: San Francisco, CA --> Seattle, WA
Saturday, 4/1: Seattle, WA --> Tokyo (Sunday, 4/2)

Doesn't it make you tired just looking at it? I'll need a vacation just to recover from my "vacation". :)

Winter Strikes Back

2006-03-13T20:08:00.000-08:00

I feel the need to share that it has been snowing profusely for the last two days. It was extremely spring-like three days ago. There was basically no snow anywhere. Windows were rolled down, heaters were turned off. And now it's basically winter again. Case in point, I left my apartment this morning to find this:

Kristi's Car, March 14th
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Maybe you can't really tell, but there's about a foot of snow on the roof of my car. And I drove the thing yesterday. It's still coming down, too. It does make for awfully pretty scenery though:

Kamo, from Wakamiya Jr. High
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

I guess I was expecting this - the weather had been unseasonably warm as of late, so this is really more "normal". Still, I was hoping that winter would end a month early, since it got here a month early. Ah well, it's good to know that the worst of it is over.

The teachers are feeding me chocolate again today. But not White Day chocolate, thank goodness. March 14 is White Day here, a sort of Valentine's Day Part II celebrated in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. On Valentine's Day, women give gifts to men; on White Day, men who received chocolate on Valentine's Day return the favor and give gifts to women. According to one story, the holiday began in 1965, when a marshmallow maker started telling men they should pay back the women who gave them chocolate and other gifts with marshmallows. Originally it was called Marshmallow Day, and later it was changed to White Day. Later, chocolate companies began marketing white chocolate, too. An interesting concept, even if it was manufactured.

South Korea

2006-03-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

In an effort not to think too much about impending decisions, it's time to tell you about my latest trip! This weekend, Nuria, Aaron, and I took a little jaunt over to Seoul. The trip itself was remarkably easy - we caught a plane from Niigata Airport after work on Friday, were picked up by a tour guide at Incheon airport and found ourselves in Seoul by 10 pm that night. Nuria spotted a random restaurant where we basically pointed at something on the menu and ended up with a seven-course Korean-style meal for about $15 each. Amazing.

Anyway, Saturday was the bulk of our activity. We started with a half-day tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. We had a very enthusiastic English-speaking guide who shooed us from place to place on our bus tour, starting with Imjingak "Park" (which actually has amusement park rides, strangely enough), where we saw a few monuments including the Freedom Bridge. This bridge was a focal point of worldwide attention during the Korean War and was officially opened on February 16, 1952, becoming a a major link between the truce site of Panmunjom and Seoul.

Freedom Bridge
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Then we went through an ID check and ventured over Unification Bridge to check out Dorason Station, a train station that has already been built to link together North and South Korea. We got our passports stamped, grabbed a few pictures and then headed to the 3rd Tunnel. The 3rd Tunnel was discovered in October 1978. The 1.635 kilometer-long tunnel was evidently designed for a surprise attack on Seoul and actually penetrates the southern limit line set by the truce. We actually got to go down in the tunnel - but no pictures were allowed, not surprisingly. The final major stop was Dora Observatory, where we could actually see North Korea in the distance and the two villages set up in the DMZ, Daesong and Gijong. Again, good pictures were tough to get. But this gives you an idea.

Crossing Unification Bridge
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Glimpses of North Korea
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

It was a little funny to me that such a serious place has become such a huge tourist attraction. Little cartoon militia characters decorated many of the stops on the tour and I saw more Americans there than I have since I left Seattle. But what a great experience. Anyway, we got back to Seoul and started off with lunch at Outback Steak House, of all places. Aaron and I were astonished by the number of American restaurants that Seoul boasted - far more than Tokyo, from what we could tell. After eating, we saw a couple of the royal palaces, Deoksugung (the "Palace of Virtuous Longevity") and Gyeongbokgung (the "Palace of Shining Happiness"). The architecture was reminiscent of pictures I've seen of China - quite different in feel from Japan. It was fun just walking around and soaking in the scenery.

Friends, Gyeongbokgung Palace
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Entertainment Hall, Gyeongbokgung Palace
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Zodiac Love, Gyeongbokgung Palace
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The last stop on the itinerary were the markets, Namdaemun and Dongdaemun, both of which are marked by huge gates that used to surround the Seoul fortress. Namdaemun was originally built in 1398 and has been renovated a number of times; it's designated as Korea's National Treasure No.1. The shopping was fun, although we didn't do too much of it (probably for the best).

Nandaemun Gate, Seoul
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Finally, we met up with one of Aaron's friends for some yummy Indian food and wandering around the nightlife scene of Itaewon, a district that has sprung up to cater to the American soldiers stationed at the nearby Yongsan military base. Good times.

Sunday started off with a rather ill-chosen mandatory trip to a kimchi shop (kimchi isn't particularly settling as a breakfast food). We redeemed ourselves with some Burger King at the airport though and a few too many stops at the duty-free shops (at least for me). We were back in Niigata by early evening, which was great, since I definitely needed the rest. All in all, a great trip. I only wish I had had more time to explore. There are so many things I would've liked to see. But what I saw, I totally loved.

Good news from Princeton!!!

2006-03-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, my head is going to explode. Just got the following email (highlights only):

"Dear Kristi,

I'm delighted to report that you've been admitted to Princeton's Ph.D. program in Politics with full fellowship support. Congratulations!

We had more applications this year than in any previous year and could only admit a very small portion (about 6%), so you are part of an extremely select group. My colleagues in comparative politics thought that Princeton would be an excellent match for your interests. We all look forward to meeting you and hope you will decide to join us."

This is really crazy. Plus UCLA just upgraded their previous offer with a Japan Studies fellowship (which basically translates to two additional years of support). Wow. I'm kind of bewildered at the moment. Happy. But bewildered. I have no idea how I'm going to make this decision.

Hrm.

Graduation and other news...

2006-03-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, there has been far far too much going on lately. In short, I was accepted to UCLA and the University of Washington, got some fabulous financial aid offers back, and of course, went to South Korea. But that was the weekend and this is today. Since South Korea requires more thought and time than I have the ability to give right now, let's save that for later, shall we?

Today was graduation at most of the junior highs around Niigata. In some ways, it was fairly similar to the U.S. - there were speeches made, names called, songs sung, yearbooks signed, pictures taken. But in other ways, it was totally different. Like how all of the students, teachers, PTA members, and parents were totally silent through the entire two-hour ceremony. Or the profuse amount of bowing on the part of everyone concerned. But all in all, it was fun. It was sad to see the third-years go. But I wish them the best in high school and beyond. A few mementos:

In their last minutes of junior high
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Graduation, Kamo Jr. High
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Third Grade Teachers, Kamo Jr. High
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

I feel the need to mention that both the female teachers in that last picture are wearing fake hair extensions - their real hair is actually quite short. Fun stuff.

Anyway, I'm off to the graduation nomikai (drinking party). Should be interesting. ;) More to come...

Christmas in February

2006-02-25T02:45:00.000-08:00

ALTs can be surprisingly difficult to assemble in one place. As a result, we lucky residents of the Sanjo/Tsubame area held our regional Christmas party yesterday, only two months late. Anyway, about 15 of us got together at an okonomiyaki restaurant in Sanjo. Okonomiyaki is a specialty of the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, etc) and is essentially a pancake consisting of, well, whatever one wants it to. Stable ingredients are usually cabbage, veggies, seafood (or some type of meat), and an egg to help things stick together. Anyway, a good time was had by all (except maybe the unfortunate Japanese people seated next to us). A few visual representations, some courtesy of the lovely Nuria (more here):

Because normal pictures are no fun.
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi & Grace (From Above)
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The Table
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Looks like fun, huh?

And Cornell says... Admitted!!!

2006-02-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

The verdict is in for Cornell - I'm in!!!

Dear Kristi,

Congratulations! We are pleased to announce that you have been admitted to graduate study in the Department of Government at Cornell University for the Fall 2006 academic term. You will soon receive a formal letter describing your financial award along with other details.

Wowsers. Thank God someone got back to me - I was starting to go a little bit nuts with all the waiting. *big smile* Off to work!

You know it's been a bad winter when...

2006-02-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

The government wants to give it a name. The number of snow-related deaths (134) this season is the second-highest in the post-war era. Although I personally think that "Heisei 18 (2006) Heavy Snow" isn't nearly exciting enough - how about "winter of death" or "the time when the killer snow attacked"?

Had dinner with Aaron and Nuria last night. Aaron cooked enough pasta to feed a small army, and in the end, the spaghetti defeated the three of us. We didn't go down without a fight though. Anyway, we got to talk a bit about our upcoming weekend in South Korea, which looks to be quite a good time. Can't wait - things have been so exciting lately!

Today I'm living in the land of a thousand speaking tests. Or so it seems. Kinda like it though - it's a rare chance to interact with the students on an individual basis. They're ever so much more cooperative that way, not surprisingly.

Back to the grind. My base school is switching to a new (and much better) textbook next year, so they've given me the task of basically determing the new curriculum. Kinda tough though. Ah well, I have two to three months to do it. ;)

Nagano Roadtrip

2006-02-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

So, it was another amazing weekend of sightseeing. This time the destination was Nagano, our neighbor to the west, best known as the host of the 1998 Winter Olympics. Saturday morning, I took the train out to Tokamachi to meet Ros and Grace, who had been soaking up the sights of the Tokamachi Snow Festival, reportedly Japan's second-best snow festival (after Sapporo). If Niigata is famous for snow in Japan, it really says something that Tokamachi is famous for snow within Niigata itself. Anyway, they met me at the train station and we immediately set off for Nagano-ken.

En route to Nagano
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After a relatively short drive, we found ourself in Nagano and shortly thereafter in Yudanaka, a small town famous for hot springs and monkeys (monkeys!). We stayed in a traditional Japanese-style ryokan. The owner of the place was kind enough to chaffeur us practically everywhere, starting with a fabulous onsen (hot spring) up in the mountains - which would have had a *fantastic* view if not for the four feet of snow around the outdoor baths. Still, there's something indescribably wonderful about bathing in an outdoor hot spring, surrounded by snow and a starry sky. Very Japanese. Very wonderful. The onsen was followed by dinner at a cute little establishment near our ryokan and then an early bedtime. Wonderfully relaxing.

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early and (again, accompanied by our friend the hotel owner) went to Jigokudani Monkey Park, home of the onsen-bathing snow monkeys. We trekked around an area known as "Hell's Valley" for about 20 minutes with not another person in sight, and suddenly we were in another world. It was *amazing* - monkeys roaming free, frollicking and feeding and bathing and jumping, unphased by the small number of tourists who had awoken early to observe them. I loved the place for the same reason I loved the deer in Nara - it's thrilling to be able to just wander around together with wildlife, without the bars (and rather dubious caretaking) of a zoo. You'd be taking pictures of one cute fellow and suddenly someone would whisper "Look down" and you'd see a monkey sitting on your foot. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Five stars. A must-see for Japan. I took a ridiculous number of pictures, but here are a few highlights:

Onsen time!
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Just out of the bath
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Too cute for words
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After the Monkey Park, we checked out of our hotel and proceeded on to Obuse, a cute little traditional town where we had an amazing lunch. Rosalind pretty much sums it all up for us in this one:

Food = Happiness
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

And then it was just a quick jaunt south to see Matsumoto Castle, one of only four castles in Japan to be declared a National Treasure. It's reportedly the second-best one, after Himeji Castle and the second-oldest, after Inuyama Castle (what did I tell you about all the ranking?). I visited Osaka Castle in October, but Matsumoto was *totally* different. Whereas Osaka Castle had been last rebuilt in 1931, Matsumoto dates from 1504. Visitors took off their shoes and proceeded up steep wooden stairs and dark castle halls, viewing relics from its heyday. Walking through the castle, I could totally imagine what it must have been like to fight a battle there - amazing. Another must-see.

Kristi, Matsumoto Castle
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Matsumoto Castle
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I just taught two amazing lessons at school too, so life is looking good.

UW-Madison: The verdict is in!

2006-02-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

Accepted, with five years of guaranteed financial support and a nomination for their "most prestigious and most competitive fellowship"! Not doing too bad so far.

Heading off to Nagano with Grace and Rosalind this weekend to see the famed monkey park and perhaps a few other sights. Full report to come, rest assured.

Sapporo Snow Festival

2006-02-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

So, despite a long workweek, Rosalind and I flew off to Sapporo on Friday for the 57th Annual Sapporo Snow Festival. The flight from Niigata to Hokkaido took a mere hour and after a subsequent train and bus, we met up with Johanna, Beth, and Joel at our hotel. Friday night was quiet, with a little strolling around Sapporo and a surprisingly nice Italian dinner. Sapporo seems like a really fun city, with almost 2 million people and a lot of neat attractions to its name. I'm not sure if I could deal with the cold there though. Hokkaido is colder than Niigata (but gets less snow for the same reason) - and wow does a degree or two make a difference when you're already below freezing. Brrr.

So, I'm not going to say a lot, except that it was *awesome* and *amazing* and totally worth the time/money/shivering. The snow and ice sculptures were truly astounding, both in quality and quantity. We saw giant replicas of buildings, a massive Buddha, several Totoros, Pikachu, Domo-kun, R2-D2, Wallace and Gromit, the Chronicles of Narnia, a Bailey's bar and a karaoke booth made of solid ice, fish encased in an ice palace, dragons, mermaids, phoenixes, and God knows what else. I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. I took over 200 and posted around 140, so definitely check out my Flickr set to see more, if you're interested.

Horyu-ji Temple, Odori Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Ice Sculptures, Susukino
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Fight-o!
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Happy Taiwan, Odori Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Doin' the Domo-kun
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Monkey Business
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Sapporo Smiles
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

We Heart Hokkaido
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi goes manga...

2006-02-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

So, the Japanese academic year begins in April and ends in March, which means that third-year junior high students are currently taking high school entrance exams and preparing for the exciting world of high school. They're also putting together their yearbooks, for which all of the teachers have to write a little something. I was handed a draft of my entry today to proofread, complete with a drawing of me done by one of my students:

Kristi's Yearbook Entry
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The resemblance isn't that strong, but the glasses are right on. ;) I seriously wonder what would happen if I ever stopped being lazy and actually wore my contacts to school. I'm sure some of the kids would be like "Umm... who are you?" Anyway, I thought it was cute. Sometimes they really make me feel all warm and fuzzy, those little imps...

Ok, bedtime. I managed to watch an entire DVD of The Simpsons while printing photos, doing laundry, and otherwise wasting time this evening. And no, I didn't pack for Sapporo. Argh. Ah well, that's what tomorrow afternoon is for, right? ;)

Tokyo Reunions

2006-02-06T05:09:00.000-08:00

Donning Ears
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I spent the weekend traipsing about Tokyo. Took the highway bus down on Friday afternoon and got to Tokyo around 7:30 pm on Friday night. The verdict on the highway bus? It was really nice - charter-style, generously reclining seats and a lot of leg room - but it wasn't the shinkansen (duh). I managed to located Star at Ikebukuro, the second busiest station in Tokyo, and we belatedly celebrated her arrival in Japan over yakiniku. It's been a crazy six months since graduation for both of us, so we had a lot of catching up to do! We were both pretty tired from a long week of work though, so we headed back to her apartment in Asagaya to finish chatting under the warmth of her kotatsu table.

On Saturday, we met up with Star's friend Daisuke (who was an exchange student in Seattle) for Indian food in Shinjuku (yum). Then, the three of us went to Odaiba to check out some of the exhibits that had migrated there from last year's Aichi Expo. It was so cold! The wind was really kicking up near the sea. On the train ride there, I got a chance to see a few of the Tokyo sights that had previously slipped through the cracks, such as the Rainbow Bridge and the mini Statue of Liberty. We saw the Mammoth Museum, which centered around a huge (and fairly freaky-looking) mammoth skull - pretty cool. On our way to VenusFort to check out the crazy variable-lighting, sky-like ceiling, we ran into a Toyota car show and frollicked accordingly. Odaiba is known as a place for couples, and there were quite a lot out and about, despite the chilly weather. Quite a romantic atmosphere overall.

Mammoth Museum, Odaiba, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Toyota Odaiba Showroom, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After Odaiba, we met up with Tina, Chan, and a couple of Tina's friends for sushi in Shimokitazawa. Shibuya was next on the list, with its usual Saturday night insanity. And of course, we had to make a purikura stop to commemorate the occasion - Tina is going back to Seattle in a couple of weeks, so it was the last time the four of us would be in the same place for a long while. The night finished out with some late night ramen in Shinjuku before catching the train back to the suburbs. Oddly enough, Tina, Chan and Star all live on the same line, west of Shinjuku - and Tina and Star are actually only one stop away from each other. What a small world.

Sushi, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Late Night Snackage, Shibuya, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kawaii x 2
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Sunday morning demanded some sleeping in before venturing out to Harajuku for some people-watching. I cannot express how much I adore Harajuku on Sundays. Tina and a friend of hers dressed up, so we had an extra treat - and we even ran into Drew, who I guess is quite the Harajuku regular. Btw, when/if you look at those Harajuku pics, you've gotta keep in mind that [despite the lack of Niigata-like perma-snow] it was *cold* - these people are dedicated to their cause. If I lived in Tokyo, I think I'd totally become one of the hobby photographers who hang around - what better material for practicing your photography? Anyway, much picture-taking and people-watching ensued before snacks at Harvest and some random shopping in the area. And then I took the [wonderful wonderful] shinkansen home to find that [wonderful wonderful wonderful] email from Berkeley.

Harajuku, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Tina & Em, Harajuku, Tokyo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

But yeah, it was a good time. And I'm still tired. :) Time for bed!!!

Good news from Berkeley!!!

2006-02-06T05:07:00.000-08:00

I've been accepted.

"Dear Kristi,

Please accept our warmest congratulations! This is an informal note to let you know that the our Admissions Committee is delighted to recommend you to the University of California’s Graduate Division for admittance to the Department of Political Science. Official notification of your admission will come from the Dean of the Graduate Division.

Each year, we receive a staggering number of applications from a remarkably accomplished and impressive pool of candidates. Yours was among the best of the best, and we are very excited by the prospects that you will join our community here at Berkeley. We do recognize, however, that you are likely to face a choice between universities and are eager to turn to the task of recruiting you to come to Berkeley..."

Yay!!!!!!!

JET Charity Musical

2006-01-29T04:39:00.000-08:00

Last night was the opening performance of the JET musical, "A Jungle Tale". So, pretty much all of us within reasonable commuting distance got ourselves down to the Niigata Kenmin Kaikan to support the cause. I guess that Niigata ALTs have been doing a volunteer musical every year since 1998 to raise money for good causes. Over the last two years, the proceeds have gone towards the Papua New Guinea Association, and a bunch of JETs will actually be traveling out there to build schools and housing for teachers. A pretty amazing project overall. The actual musical itself was pretty entertaining - an adaptation of "The Jungle Book", it was performed in a mixture of English and Japanese (for the benefit of the mixed audience) and incorporated musical selections ranging from "Thriller" and "We Will Rock You" to "Kung Fu Fighting" and "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better". I only had my point-and-shoot tonight, so I didn't manage to get many good pics - here's one of the monkey crew though (look for Rosalind on the far right):

Monkey Antics, JET Charity Musical
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Afterwards, we headed back to the station for a quick round of yakiniku (yay!) before heading to the after-party at the Immigrant's Cafe. A small group of us (myself, Melissa, Aaron, Nuria, Phil, and his Japanese friend) migrated over to Hot Spot and ran into one of the more bizarre crowds I've yet encountered here. The place was *packed* for some kind of hip-hop dance competition and the fashion was like a serious flashback to the early/mid 1990s (think gangsta Asian). There were also a number of [extremely large] players from the Niigata Albirex basketball team there - btw, when you're that tall, you just look weird. Seriously. Anyway, we made the best of it:

At Hot Spot (Again)
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Up Late in Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Nuria & Aaron
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Back to work tomorrow!

Let the good times roll...

2006-01-28T00:08:00.000-08:00

So, the last few days have been the happiest I've had here in Japan. Work is going *amazingly* well. I'm busy, I'm teaching a lot, planning tons of lessons, interacting with students verbally and via written diaries - it's amazing. A total 180 from where I was before the holidays. The week just flew by - and I actually felt a pang of regret when I formalized my decision to end my contract on Wednesday. I'm really astounded at how much happier it's made me, just the simple act of giving me stuff to do.

On Wednesday, Rosalind and I went to the last installment of our Japanese cooking class. It was fun - I even wore the ridiculous Hello Kitty apron she gave me for my birthday. We made mazezushi (sushi rice), shredded vegetables with meat and miso, greens and egg soup, brown sugar and sesami seed cookies, and "milk"-dipped strawberries. It was pretty tasty overall. I made the cookies, which were quite nice. And quite cute as well. They took class photos, so maybe I'll be able to get my hands on one sometime. They even had a little closing ceremony - very Japanese.

The halfway point

2006-01-24T03:21:00.000-08:00

As of today, I have officially been in Japan for six months - meaning that my contract is up in just another six months. In honor of the occasion, all Niigata ALTs spent the past two days at a mid-year conference in Niigata City. Rosalind and I drove up from Kamo together yesterday morning and managed to find the Prefectural Education Center, despite a slight detour. The conference itself mainly consisted of some speeches and a bunch of workshops - I felt like I got a lot more out of the workshops this time, now that I've actually been teaching classes for a while. When you first come to Japan with the JET Program, they really bombard you with training and preparation - which is great, except for the fact that you don't really know what you'll be doing, so you really have no context for all of the information. Anyway, I came home with a bunch of ideas for new activities and games - can't wait to try them out.

Last night a bunch of us went to dinner at a random but surprisingly pleasant Thai restaurant in Niigata City before hitting up the charity party for this year's Niigata JET musical at Shame. It was great fun, especially seeing people that I hadn't seen since the summertime. And of course, I have to do the obligatory photo blitz (making up for my recent pictoral shortcomings, you see):

Kristi, Grace, and Josie - Thai Restaurant, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Cooperative Eating - Thai Restaurant, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Aaron & Kristi - Charity Party, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi & Melissa - Charity Party, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Reunited at Shame - Charity Party, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Antics by Jon & Kristi - Charity Party, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Johanna, Ros, & Kristi - Charity Party, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

There are a few more here. Anyway, now I'm at home and glad to be here. Planning on getting a whole lot of sleep tonight - back to work tomorrow. Yarr....

Niigata as No.1–No.5 in Japan

2006-01-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

So, the Japanese are really into ranking things, whether they be the three most beautiful gardens in the country or the best parks for viewing cherry blossoms in spring. Everybody here has got something to be proud of, it seems. I recently ran across this list of some things in which Niigata makes the grade, relative to the other prefectures in Japan:

No.1
Number of Nationally Designated Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties (14)
Gross Rice Output (200 billion yen)
Cut Tulip Flower Shipment Value (26.3 million flowers)
Metal Kitchenware Shipment Value (16 billion yen)
Nitted Ware Shipment Value (38.9 billion yen)
Oil Production (460,846 kl)
Natural Gas Production (1,654,205,000 m3)
Kerosene Heater Shipment Value (31.0 billion)

No.2
Natural Park Area (316,955 ha)
Total Real Length of National and Prefectual Roads (6,632 km)
Length of National Express ways (383 km)
Number of Bathing Beaches (77 beaches)
Number of Sake Breweries (105)
Number of Designated Traditional Crafts (14)

No.3
Number of Skiing Grounds (74)
Number of Migratory Swans (7120)
Sake Shipments (60.3 billion yen)

No.4
Number of Hot Springs with Lodging Facilities (145)

No.5
Land Area (12,582 km2)

Rice, sake, hot springs, skiing and a lot of land - that's pretty much the world of scenic Niigata.

As if waking from a deep sleep...

2006-01-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

It's strange, I feel so much more lucid than I have in months. I feel like I'm really *in* Japan for the first time, now that I don't have to worry about grad school apps and things back at home. In the last two weeks, I've probably had more social activity than I did in the month previous. And I feel like I can put a lot more effort into my teaching than I have been. It feels really nice.

I spent yesterday evening at Rosalind's, eating Thai green curry, drinking wine, and watching Serendipity, the latter of which was kinda ridiculous but fun. What a nice relaxing evening in Kamo, nothing better for a cold winter night. I think I'm going to spend this weekend catching up on my home life, now that I am feeling so much better. May have to do a little shopping as well. Just a little though - gotta save money for all of these trips. :)

I forgot to mention that I saw Memoirs of a Geisha last week with Sarah and Phil. I thought it was all right, though not as good as it could have been. Still, it kept me entertained for three hours, which is about all I was really looking for. ;) I thought this review of it in the Japan Times was pretty interesting: Welcome to Kyoto, California

Japan is the place to be...

2006-01-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

Didn't you know? Seriously. I don't think I've mentioned it here, but it's kinda ridiculous how many people from Seattle are in Japan right now. Granted, I did major in Japanese in college, but some of these are totally and utterly random coincidences. Tokyo, of course, is the center of all things - Chan, Tina, Shelley, and Drew are doing the study abroad thing at Waseda and Aoyama, and Star just arrived to start a two-year research gig at Keio. Moving a little outward, I hear the other Tina is teaching somewhere in Saitama and just discovered that Andrew Enomoto is studying abroad in Chiba. Further south on Honshu, we find old friend Eric and former classmate Alexis down in Hiroshima-ken, both doing the JET Program. Honors-type and former apartment neighbor Raka is out in Hyogo-ken (also JET), along with a huge group of Seattle people that I don't really know (it's a sister-city thing). Shikoku is playing host to Yarun (JET), one of my residents from back in my RA days, and Andrew Kim (JET), a former Japanese major who is *hilarious*. And Kiley, another former resident of mine, is living it up on Kyushu, down in Fukuoka (yet another JET).

I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting and a bunch who I didn't really know well enough to keep track of - but it sure makes Japan feel more like home when you know there are so many familiar faces floating around. And of course, that doesn't even count any of the wonderful people I've met since coming to Japan - like Grace, Aaron, Melissa, Johanna, Steph, Heather, and the numerous others who haven't yet jumped on the blogging bandwagon.

I'm glad the weekend is approaching. Today was a pretty minimal day at work, although it wasn't really boring. The kids have been amazingly friendly lately. I "taught" two classes, which consisted of watching a video of Japanese horror stories (in Japanese) and listening to my English teacher recite a horror story called Yuki-Onna (Snow Woman) from memory (in English). I'm not really sure what that did for the kids. I mean, the story memorization was really impressive, but there's no way the students (1st years) understood it - it was kinda like it was for my entertainment. He actually asked me to go back to the teacher's room after he was done with his recitation. Hrm. On a side note, I'm pretty sure the [non-English-speaking] Japanese teachers were laughing at me when I left today - something about me giving too many "hai" answers and not enough elaboration. But you know, I don't really want to start a conversation when I'm trying to flee the office. :) Ah well, laughter is good... right?

One of my goals for this year in Japan was to learn to worry less. It's a tough thing to work on, but maybe I'll get it down one of these days.

Off to a running start...

2006-01-18T03:35:00.000-08:00

So, I had my mid-year teaching evaluation today. I was pretty nervous about it, considering that I hadn't been to my base school for almost a month and had no idea what classes I'd be teaching, let alone what kind of lessons. My supervisor from the prefectural board of education in Nagaoka came by, talked to my JTEs for a half hour, watched me teach a 50-minute lesson, and then critiqued the lesson afterward. All in all, it went well - and most importantly, it's over. Thank goodness. *phew*

It's felt really good to start working again and get back into the swing of things. The days have been passing quickly, which is a good sign - it means I'm enjoying myself. The things I'm most excited about right now are some unexpected travel opportunities! If all goes well, I'll be hitting up the Sapporo Snow Festival in February, South Korea and Seattle in March, and China in May! I can hardly wait. :) It's nice to have little landmarks in time to look forward to. It's so crazy that I can do some of these trips over a weekend...

Anyway, I think that's all for now. More adventures to come, I'm sure...

New Year's and nengajyou...

2006-01-12T03:05:00.000-08:00

So, I'm back in Japan, and in lieu of a more chronological update, I thought I'd take the time to tell you a little about the Japanese custom of nengajyou, or New Year's Day cards. Instead of sending Christmas cards, Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive on the 1st of January. The post office guarantees delivery on the first if they are marked "nengajyou" and are posted within a time limit, from mid-December to near the end of the month. Most of the postcards have the Chinese zodiac sign of the new year as their design - 2006 is the year of the dog.

Anyway, I came home to find several of these nengajyou in my mailbox, a couple made by my students:

New Year's Day Postcard
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

This one reads something like: "How are you? It was fun to meet you during the third semester. **This is romaji!" (Romaji is Japanese written in roman characters.)

New Year's Day Postcard
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

This one says something like: "I'm sorry this New Year's card is late. Your English class is very fun! Let's enjoy this year, too."

This one is from a Japanese friend:

New Year's Day Postcard
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

And this one is from Rosalind's supervisor:

New Year's Day Postcard
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Anyway, nengajyou are kinda fun - it was nice to have some friendly mail to welcome me back. Hope all of you are doing well!

Signs of life from the Emerald City...

2006-01-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

So, I'm alive! I've been in wonderful rainy Seattle for the last week and a half, gorging myself on all of my favorite foods and seeing all of my favorite people. Shopping with Camden, watching movies with my brother, lunching with Ran and Maria and John and lots of folk, chatting it up at the Honors Office... It's strange to think that I haven't been in the U.S. for almost six months - it doesn't feel like I've been away for a single day. Anyway, now things are dying down and people are beginning to head off to their respective corners of the globe. I've been horrible about taking pictures, but here are a couple from a get-together at Cafe Ladro out in Fremont.

Old Friends
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

What are you doing with that camera, Camden?
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

But wait wait, the truly exciting news: As of about 30 minutes ago, I'm totally finished with my graduate school applications! Granted, that doesn't mean that the schools have actually received all of the appropriate materials and it sure doesn't mean that they'll actually accept me, but ... it's a step. ;)

Anyway, that's all I want to say for now. There's too much to do to spend too much time dinking around on the computer! Hope all of you are well!

Unquestionably Winter

2005-12-15T21:23:00.000-08:00

Snow has settled in to stay here in Kamo as of late - I ventured out for a little bit today to take a couple of shots:

Snowy Omi Shrine, Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Also, I don't think I've mentioned it before, but Japan has an interesting method of melting the snow on the roads. Instead of using salt, they've equipped many streets with a kind of built-in sprinkler system that turns everything to mush:

Keeping Roads Safe, Japanese-Style
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

On Monday night, Rosalind and I ventured out to Niigata City to see a jazz concert being sponsored by the U.S. embassy. Apparently, Niigata-ken was one of the top two prefectures that donated money to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, so the concert was a "thank you" for that generosity. Only three were scheduled around Japan - in Tokyo, Kobe, and Niigata, surprisingly enough. Anyway, it was very lively and provided ample opportunity to chuckle at the gigantic differences in African-American and Japanese culture as the two tried to interact on stage. But yeah, it was great fun. Everyone got really into it. Good times were had.

Doreen's Jazz (and Japanese Guests) - Niigata Thank You Concert
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Work has been really incredible busy, with lots of special things to plan for here and there. Taught my first English elective class on Tuesday, doing a bit of a murder mystery game for the kids. Next Monday I'm teaching my first handicapped class. The students have been extremely friendly lately, very much in the holiday spirit. I finished my apps for University of Michigan, University of Chicago, and University of Wisconsin in the past few days. Columbia is my next project, since the deadline was extended until December 19.

And to close, a summary of what's going through my mind these days:

Grad School Apps Left: 6
Days Until I Fly Home: 7
Number of Classes Left in 2005: 8
Days of Work Left in 2005: 4

It's raining, it's pouring...

2005-12-09T22:54:00.000-08:00

Niigata has been a very rainy place as of late. Snow has been falling in the more western parts of the prefecture, but in the middle (or chuetsu) region, it has been nothing but gray skies and steady rain. Even now, I hear the drops steadily pelting my windows... I went into Nagaoka for my monthly Board of Education meeting today and took a quick snapshot to capture the very typical weather:

Rainy Nagaoka
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

I just returned from my first bon-enkai or "forget the year" party out there. It was fun hanging out with the other prefectural ALTs and generally having a good time, particularly since I rarely see that set of folks.

I got my second completed app under the belt today - after much deliberation, UCLA went into the mail this morning. Supplementary materials and writing samples are also winging their way to Columbia, Chicago, Michigan, and Wisconsin. (The rest of their apps are my project for this weekend, oh joy of joys). Seriously, this whole process is like a second full-time job.

Ohisashiburi!

2005-12-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a while! And of course, lots and lots has happened. You know what that means - time for a list!

1. Berkeley Application: Submitted!
That's right, that's right! 1 down, 10 to go!

2. Upcoming Clarinet Solo - Date TBA
The music teachers at my base school recently walked up to me and handed me a copy of the solo clarinet part for Sing Sing Sing. Oh God.

3. Haircut at a Japanese Salon!
So, despite my initial reluctance, this it turned out to be an *amazing* experience. A Japanese friend recommended a salon in Kamo. It started out with a consultation (per usual). And then there was the shampooing. I think I know how it feels to be a car going through an automatic car wash - that's how practiced and quick this guy's movements were. It was wonderful. And it lasted like 5 minutes or so. And then he rinsed. And then he shampooed my hair for another 5 minutes. And then there was the conditioner. And then there was a head, neck, and shoulder massage. And then my hair was cut. And then there was another shampoo. And then it was time to blowdry and flat-iron. Two hours and 4800 yen later, Kristi was finally able to wear her hair down again. *smile* A girl from the salon even walked me to my car in the rain so my hair wouldn't get wet...

4. English Day at Niigata Women's College
I spent the majority of my Saturday talking to Japanese college girls. They're all studying English, so their school lured in a whole slew of ALTs with promises of free food and about $100 in compensation. It was a *lot* of fun. I met a lot of nice girls and got a lot of cell phone numbers. It was also exhausting beyond all belief though. They rotated through in half-hour sessions, so every thirty minutes you had to start a new conversation with two or three girls. It's hard to be on for that long... Afterwards, one of the girls slipped me a little note, complete with pictures of cats, the Space Needle, and a little self-portrait - and her contact information, of course...

English Day at Niigata Women's College
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

5. Fun in Niigata City
Melissa, Aaron, Kate, JP, Nuria, and I decided to have ourselves a good time out on the town:

Outside the Immigrant's Cafe, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

At the Hot Spot, Niigata City
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Niigata ALTs Love Purikura
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

6. Winter Shopping!
So, I mentioned that I got paid $100 to talk to Japanese students, right? Well, guess what I did with it. :) Seriously though, people are saying it's going to snow any day now, so I went on a little shopping excursion. I bought the most amazing pair of boots ever. And a down coat that's very much in the Japanese fashion (fur-trimmed hood and all). But very warm, of course. Fun stuff.

Ok, that's enough for now - it's past my 10 pm bedtime, as sad as that is. :) Back to work tomorrow... Hrm...

Kanazawa Weekend

2005-11-28T02:20:00.000-08:00

Hey folks. So, Kanazawa was amazingly wonderful. The city has the reputation of being like a more manageable version of Kyoto, and you know, it's kinda true. It really is a fantastic place to go, even for just a weekend. Highlights included:

Kenrokuen, one of Japan's most famous parks and a *perfect* place for picture-taking
Ninja-dera, Edo-era hideout for the Maeda clan, complete with 23 rooms, 29 staircases, pitfalls, trap stairs, and a well that is rumoured to contain a secret tunnel to Kanazawa Castle
Yasue Gold Leaf Musem, an informative place to learn about Kanazawa's most famous craft (and drink tea with real gold leaf in it!)
Yakiniku *three times* in three days
The new Harry Potter movie
Renaiss Aqua Park, home to spas, pools, food, and amazing massages (and a perfect place to end a great weekend)

Anyway, Chan and I had a lot of fun. Despite my desire to see as many different places as possible, I wouldn't mind going back again. Highly recommended. Here are some of the pictoral highlights:

Yakiniku in Kanazawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kanazawa Station
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Ishikawa-mon Gate, Kenrokuen
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Japanese Wedding, Kenrokuen
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kotojitoro Lantern, Kenrokuen
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kenrokuen, Kanazawa
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Demonstration at the Yasue Gold Leaf Museum
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Yasue Gold Leaf Museum
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Click here to check out the full set if you have time. I had lots of fun with my camera. Anyway, it's time for me to get some dinner and figure out how I'm going to teach "does/does not" tomorrow morning. Oh, and shore up those Berkeley essays, which are finally coming along. Why does the first app have to be simultaneously the most difficult and the most important? Figures. Take care, people.

Another Monday, Monday...

2005-11-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

Went to Tagami Jr. High today, one of the "one-shot" schools that I only visit every two weeks. I generally enjoy this school. The two female teachers are great; one of them is a complete sweetheart. And I got to see some of the posters the kids made about me last time:

Kristi's Profile
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Kristi's Profile
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

That last one cracks me up, too. "She looks like Japanese." The "We like her" is sweet though. Sweet kids. I should mention that the "facts" listed on the above posters are not necessarily true though. You've gotta give answers the kids can understand, ya know?

Anyway, did a chunk of work on my Berkeley personal statement this afternoon. And I just finished eating what turned out to be a pretty tasty beef and tomato stew. I'll get the hand of this dish yet. Off to maybe do some more work. Time is passing so quickly today...

2005-11-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

Had a rather nice day at school today. Taught three fairly successful third-year classes, with activities primarily prepared by myself. Even the petulant ones warmed up a little (I have a feeling they appreciate me not crucifying them on their last speaking test). Also got a fair amount of Japanese studying done. It's nice to remember how much of this language I already know. I'm taking the advanced level of the JET correspondence course and have yet to come across any new grammar. New (or forgotten) kanji? Of course. But not grammar. And not too much vocab. Granted, it's not really that legitimate a course. But it's still gratifying. ;)

Oh, I forgot to mention that yesterday my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) at Kamo Jr. High brought my back some omiyage from Kamo Norin, the city agricultural high school: cucumbers, mushrooms, and pears grown by the students themselves and eggs from the chickens they raised. And some cake things that they evidently made, too. Nice, huh?

Omiyage from Kamo Norin High School
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Feeling cheerful and happy to be in Japan (still wish they had central heating though).

Grad app extravaganza...

2005-11-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

I finally made myself settle on a grad school list. The lucky contenders are: UC Berkeley, Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, UC San Diego, UCLA, University of Michigan, Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of Washington, and University of Wisconsin. The heartbreakers were Stanford and GWU. But after finally wrenching out a decision, I went for it and sent out all my transcripts and GRE score reports. And I got the informational packets sent out to my letter writers, with a month's notice til the first deadline. At least I can concentrate on writing now.

Just for fun, I thought I'd post my teaching "stats" for last month. My Board of Education makes me compile a report every month, so I might as well put it to some use, right? ;)

October 2005 Teaching Stats
Number of days visiting schools: 18
Number of days actually teaching: 14
Number of classes taught: 37
- 1st year: 14
- 2nd year: 9
- 3rd year: 14
Vaction time: 1 day, 4 hours

Back to Japan (mentally)

2005-11-12T05:43:00.001-08:00

So, I'm pretty much back to my normal living-in-Japan routine--no more visitors for a while. Feels a little weird, but it's also quite nice not to have to spend hours and hours on the shinkansen every weekend. Spent most of today lying in bed, watching mindless TV and working on the new website for the Northwest Film Forum. No better way to numb the brain. Also had lunch with Grace and Rosalind at Pinokio's.

Anyway, I think I'll share some school pictures with you. The first is from a [very belated] welcome enkai that Grace and I went to with our Osaki Jr. High teachers on Thursday night. It was quite fun. And I got to experience daiko for the first time with Grace; daiko is a service that will drive your car home for you after you've gone out drinking, since Japan has zero tolerance for drinking and driving.

Osaki Welcome Enkai
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The next ones are from the big research presentation festival at Wakamiya Jr. High. The students have been working on various projects for the last couple of months, resulting in my sometimes getting interviewed about everything from traffic laws in America to anime to cold prevention strategies. Tuesday was their chance to show off their research via poster presentations and speeches. The latter gave me the first opportunity to experience the truly Japanese phenomenon of adherence to a program. Normally, what happens when part of an event finishes early? You move on to the next part, right? Well, not in Japan. In Japan, you sit quietly until the assigned time for the next activity comes along and then proceed. During the last part of the day, third-year students were supposed to give 20 minutes speeches that really only lasted 5-10 minutes, resulting in a lot of this waiting. I thought I was going to die. But except for that, it was a good time.

Wakamiya Research Day
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Wakamiya Research Day
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

The girl in the last picture is one of my favorite students. I recently discovered that her mother works at one of our local karaoke haunts--I totally see the resemblance now.

I think that's all, folks. More to come.

Traipsing around Tokyo and Niigata

2005-11-09T16:57:00.000-08:00

It's been so busy lately that I haven't had time to post at all! But it's been tremendous fun. There's too much to tell to compress into one little entry, but long story short? Adam came to Japan for eight days and we had an amazing time sightseeing in Tokyo and around Niigata. We had crazy adventures and made random Japanese friends at almost every turn. Some of the pictoral highlights are below.

Classic gothic lolitas in Harajuku

Studio Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

Sensoji, Asakusa, Tokyo

Gotokuji, Setagaya: The origin of the maneki-neko

Click here to see more photos from Tokyo

Kamo Jr. High Choir Contest

Approaching Yahiko Village

Kristi at the Yahiko Chrysanthemum Festival

Little girl at Yahiko Shrine

Yahiko Mountain

Morning at the Omi Shrine, Kamo

Kamoyama Squirrel Park, Kamo

Click here to see more photos from Niigata

There's a lot more to tell, but I think I'll just leave it at that for now. More stories to come!

Signs of the season

2005-10-25T05:07:00.000-07:00

Work has been really hectic lately; classes have been fun but *draining*. We did Halloween lessons today. The kids listened to me talk about Halloween for a while, then made origami pumpkins and napkin ghosts. I collected the origami afterward and made poster decorations for the class:

Halloween Origami
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Cute, huh? It has gotten noticeably colder in the last few days. I can already tell that this "no centralized heating" business is going to be interesting. I'm so glad that I have an electric heater now. Most people here seem to use kerosene, but you have to leave the window open because of the fumes... seems kinda questionable to me, although it seems to work just fine for the majority of the Japanese population.

Btw, Niigata made the front page of the Japan Times today, though not for a happy reason:
Niigata marks one year since big quake

Date with destiny

2005-10-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe that's being a little over the top, but I took the GRE yesterday. Left Niigata at about 9:30 on a two-hour shinkansen ride to Tokyo, managed to find the appropriate building in the appropriate sector of the city, and did the deed. First of all, I have to say that taking the GRE in a foreign country is kind of bizarre. Secondly, I thought the test was difficult. I seriously felt like I guessed on 3/4 of the math section. Thirdly, I *by far* exceeded my expectations and got 710 verbal, 720 quantitative. That puts me in the right range for the majority of my desired schools and renders it such that they can't disqualify me solely on the basis of the GRE. ;) It's also better than I ever did on any of my practice tests.

I'm so relieved.

Afterward, I met up with Tina, Shelley, and Drew for dinner and dessert out in Harajuku, which was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see some familiar Seattle faces and hear about their adventures in Tokyo. For my part, I was grilled on the application process for the JET Program and had to fill them in on the details of that last painful quarter of Japanese. ;) But yeah, a lot of fun. I'll have to go down there a few more times before they leave in February. And I definitely have to spend some more time in Harajuku in the future; I went there last year to check out the gothic lolita types, but I think it seems like a fun place just to hang out. I also killed about an hour in "Snoopytown", this huge Peanuts store there. Got a couple of things for my classes. :) Managed to hop on the last train back to Niigata--it's nice living in a place that's relatively accessible to/from Tokyo.

Speaking of classes, this is going to be one heck of a week at work. I have to do a full set of self-introductions tomorrow, so I think I'm going to spend some of today revamping my visuals (now that I have my nifty laminator). And I need to finalize the Halloween activities I'm doing with my first-years on Tuesday. We're going to make origami jack-o-lanterns and napkin ghosts. What fun.

School

2005-10-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've had some really great lessons lately, something I'm always thankful for. It seems like the kids are getting friendlier by the day. Highlights of the week so far? Being told I was really cute by two first-years (the amount of English they struggled with was even more endearing than the sentiment) and having a rather long conversation about what Japanese celebrities I like with another first-year student today (again, I appreciated the epic battle with English). I know that everyone emphasizes using only English in the classroom, but I've gotta say that I think that the Japanese is really helpful. Even though I generally use English, I can help the kids with their questions after they've exhausted their rather limited set of vocab to communicate with me. And I think that tends to make them want to talk to me more--because they don't have to be as afraid that we'll just hit a dead-end and start blinking at one another after a sentence or two. I switch back to English when I can, and I think it makes at least some of them try harder to communicate with me. I've noticed that the students I occasionally help in Japanese are the ones who race to spout their latest English lesson whenever they see me.

Let's see, what else... Oh, I was interviewed about anime and low birthrates in America and ran into Rosalind at a rather scary English teachers' conference at my base school today. Anyway, I'm going to try and do a few more GRE practice sets--they tend to make me want to go to sleep ridiculously early though, so we'll see how far I get.

Kansai and more adventures!

2005-10-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been busy. I need to hurry up and post this before it all gets terribly out of date and/or I forget everything. So, Friday was the fabulous Mexican fiesta at my apartment. Oh my God, the food was so good. We cooked up a tempest of tacos, burritos, chicken/shrimp fajitas, and more, and the JETs really came out in force. Anyway, it was a good time, followed by drinks and karaoke (of course). I also got some cute presents, including a very Kristi-like Hello Kitty apron--red with pink bows. ;)

Mexican Fiesta in Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Saturday, my mom and I made the six hour shinkansen trip out to Osaka and checked into our hotel, immediately after which we passed out, waking up only to eat dinner and pass out again. Sunday, we went to the park out in Nara, which I absolutely *loved*. Seeing so many deer just wandering around kinda blew my mind. They're pretty determined when it comes to their biscuits though, I've gotta say--one ripped a whole stack out of my hand still in the wrapper. :) Anyway, we saw Kofukuji and Todaiji, two shrines that have been declared World Heritage sites. The latter of the two has the largest wooden building in the world, which houses the largest Buddha statue in Japan.

At Nara Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Daibutsu
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After doing a little shopping in Nara, we took a train out to Kyoto and hit two more shrines: Sanjusangen-do and Fushimi-Inari Taisha. Sanjusangen-do is famous for containing 1001 statues of Kannon, while Fushimi-Inari involves a *lot* of red tori.

Inside Sanjusangen-do
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

At Fushimi-Inari Taisha
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

On Monday, we spent the day leisurely strolling around the grounds of Osaka Castle, the city's most famous landmark. We also did a litle bit of shopping around the city before embarking on the long shinkansen ride back to Niigata.

Osaka Castle
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

All in all, a good weekend. And now? Now I'm 23. Time to end a long post and get back to living. Hope all of you are doing well. Oh, before I forget, taiko concert pictures from the other day are up now:

Tsubame Taiko Concert
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Subarashii...

2005-10-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

I had my most fun day of teaching yet today! It was my first official visit to Tagami Junior High, so the day started off with the standard bilingual self-introductions to the staff and to all of the students (via school assembly). But then I had four very awesome lessons with two very awesome teachers and two slightly less awesome ones. Great students, too. I sustained casual non-teaching related conversations with teachers for a total of maybe three hours today! And got presents and sightseeing invites! Too bad I don't go back again for another three weeks. :)

After that, I had an amazing hour-long massage at the house of this very nice blind fellow who lives a couple of miles from my apartment. Oh, it was wonderful. I was quite amused by the fact that just about every muscle he touched prompted the comment, "Hm, this probably hurts, huh?" hehe... My neck, my shoulders, my back, my shins, my feet... all of them a mess. (My shins even prompted a "What the..?) By the time he got to my right foot, we both had to laugh at how my bones were cracking all over the place. I swear, I'm held together largely by stress. And maybe gumption. :) Anyway, I may have to make this a semi-regular occurence. A good use of $30, to my mind...

I better get some rest. I have three early lessons at Wakamiya tomorrow, then it's off to Tokyo and Narita Airport to retrieve my mom and bring her back to Kamo. That means 6+ hours on trains and about $200 in fares, roundtrip. But hey, the last thing I want is for her to get lost and end up on the other side of Honshu. ;)

Take care, all. If you happen to be in Japan, I'm having a Mexican food party this Friday at 7:00 pm. It's also nominally to celebrate my 23rd birthday, which is next Wednesday. If you're reading this, you're invited. Comment and I'll send you details.

Taiko

2005-10-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

I went to a taiko drum concert today out in Tsubame with the usual suspects. It was quite fun, and since it was free, the price was right. Afterward we grabbed some food at a ramen shop and chatted for a while about everything and nothing... Then I came back to Kamo for another dinner date with some of the folks here. Good stuff. I took a bunch of pictures but don't have the energy to sort/upload them right now.

Anyway, I have a big day of teaching tomorrow--gotta think of stuff to do. Wish me luck. ;)

Major redecorating

2005-10-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

What a productive day. I spent almost all of it cleaning house, doing laundry, and shopping for furniture (or moving it, with Rosalind's help), and now my apartment is a much more pleasant place to be. Seriously, I feel *so* much happier. And I think I've spent more time in my living room today than I have in the last two months, so that really says something. Just to think, a sofa, an armchair, and another bookshelf were the key to happiness all along. I still have to do the finishing touches (sofa pillows, colorful things, and perhaps a houseplant), but I think I'll try to pace my spending a bit--anyway, this is a definite improvement. That means we can have a party at my place soon, perhaps with all that Mexican food I've been hoarding from theflyingpig.com. Yum.

I've been burning CDs this evening, trying to recreate a bit of my old collection in Seattle. I have to admit, despite the convenience of mp3s and mp3 players, I find buying/burning/using CDs to be somehow more satisfying at times. Maybe it's cause I just like stuff; I'm such a packrat. Anyway, Modest Mouse, Air, Pinback, and Hot Hot Heat have rejoined the fold so far... More to come, I'm sure.

I think I'm going to shut down the computer for the night, maybe study for the GRE. That would be good. Tomorrow may end up being busy--gotta prep for a big day of teaching on Monday and it looks like I'm going to a taiko drum concert out in Sanjo in the afternoon. That's life in Japan for ya...

Busy busy

2005-09-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been busy since my last post--time for a list!

1. I submitted my Rhodes and Marshall applications today! So glad that's out of my hair. Hopefully my eight letter writers will all come through and there won't be any last minute things to deal with. On to studying for the GRE!

2. Rosalind and I joined a gym in Sanjo on Thursday! I'm way excited. We're going to try and make it a regular routine. Maybe do some of the classes as well.

3. I never realized how many muscles it takes to play the clarinet. After my power session on Wednesday, my face muscles were seriously sore. It was kinda cool though--I could feel exactly what muscles I used, something I could never do when I built up endurance slowly over seven years. Interesting pain is good.... right?

4. Playing Jeopardy with junior high kids for four straight hours takes an astonishing amount of energy.

That is all.

Adventures in clarinet-ing

2005-09-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

So, today I picked up a clarinet for the first time in five years. I played fairly seriously back in high school but hadn't touched a horn since I toured Europe with a state band after graduation. However, despite that, today I was handed an instrument and asked to sit down and play with our junior high's group. We played together for a couple of hours--and then we went to a different school and practiced the same songs with kids from four other junior highs in the area for another couple of hours. It was a trip, let me tell you. It felt so natural. And I even remembered the vast majority of stuff--the only thing that really got me was my total lack of embochure muscles. Four hours of continuous playing was a little rough. But yeah, it was great, and the kids were very excited to have me participate. I guess they're practicing for a festival in early November. I may be playing with them, we shall see... It's the first time I've felt really comfortable at school--I should've known band would do the trick. ;) The experience did make me feel a bit old though... How on earth did five years go by so quickly?

And tonight? Tonight was another installment of cooking class with Rosalind and Saito-san. We made beef steak, sweet potato rice, a radish soup, and a seaweed salad. Yum. We asked Saito-san to hook us up with a massage place--apparently there's one in Kamo, complete with the blind masseuse that's standard in this country. I can't wait.

Anyway, I think I'm going to get to bed. I have three early lessons in a row tomorrow, and sleep definitely helps things along. :) Take care, all.

Another weekend

2005-09-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday night in Sanjo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Met up with Grace, Errol, and Johanna for a little random fun out in Sanjo last night. Apparently, Johanna came down from Niigata to lease a car from a fellow named Mr. Fujita, and he very graciously offered to take all of us out to dinner. After a few hours of feasting and drinking, there was a veritable collison of JETs as people simultaneously left concerts, returned from Thailand, and similarly converged upon a small cafe for some hanging out. It was a good time, and I even managed to catch the last train home and get a good night's sleep.

And today? Today was spent working on various projects, buying tickets for the Studio Ghibli Museum, getting pictures taken for my Rhodes application, and shopping with Grace (who also happened to be nice enough to take my pictures for me). Yay.

Tomorrow is yet another "first" day--you'd think I'd be done with those by now, huh? I'm going to Sanjo to visit Osaki Junior High, which I only visit every two weeks or so. That means I need to do my self-introduction again (bleh). Speaking of which, I should go make sure that I have everything ready...

I think my computer may be on the verge of death. The screen has been flickering alarmingly for the last couple of days. I've been starting to research new ones lately, but I hope this one can hold out at least til after grad apps are done... Hrm.

Signs of autumn...

2005-09-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here I am, on the eve of another three-day weekend, this time due to the Autumn Equinox, which happens to be a Japanese national holiday. For those of you who don't know, the equinox marks the first day of fall, when night and day are nearly the same length. I can really feel the changes around here. Darkness has already begun to set in by the time I get home. The weather is noticeably cooler, too; air conditioner use has decreased dramatically, both at school and at home. How strange to think that October is just around the corner. Classes will be starting back at UW soon.

I taught my first wild group of kids today, a third-year class. There was an interesting guy who talked through probably 70 percent of the class--often very loudly. He'd done the classic trick of drawing eyes on his eyelids so that it looked like his eyes were open when he was spacing out. Anyway, it was interesting to see. They don't kick kids like that out of class here, they just proceed as normal. But while the rebelliousness is much more overt on one level, it's much less threatening in that there isn't as much bite to it... Anyway, the primary teacher had things pretty well in control, despite contrary appearances.

My other two classes of the day were quite sweet and very attentive--first years, the both of them. The kids were excited to raise their hands and even more excited to play janken (aka rock paper scissors) with me to decide who would go first during their practice dialogues. My JTE got a kick out of having me speak Italian for them. Good times.

So, how am I going to spend my three-day weekend? Studying. Writing. Reading. It's like I'm still in school, huh? I registered for the GRE the other day--October 22nd is my day of reckoning. It also means that I'll be going to Tokyo at least four times in the next month or so, which should be quite an adventure.

Time for some pointless TV.

Bits and pieces

2005-09-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today a junior high student interviewed me about American traffic laws as part of an "international" research project. We're talking everything from "How many different kinds of road signs are there in America?" to "Is it legal for two people to ride a motorbike on a highway?", from "How much is the fine for driving without a driver's license?" to "What happens if you refuse to take a breathalizer test?" You know, all the questions you try to avoid knowing the answers to. I did my best, but geez. It was pretty amusing though.

I also encountered my first instance of a teacher getting halfway through a class and being like, "Well, I'm out of stuff, did you bring anything to do?" without any prior mention of activity-planning. That was fun--thank goodness for hangman.

Aaron and I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Sunday. It was enjoyable, but I found the visuals a little overwhelming. It was a bit like sensory overload--I actually left the theater with a bit of a headache. Still, I enjoyed it. I loved all Roald Dahl's books as a kid... The movie theatre was an interesting snapshot of Japanese culture. The place was pretty full (we even had assigned seats), but it was completely silent the entire time. Aaron and I involuntarily chuckled a few times and felt totally out of place. I guess this is a pretty common thing--rumor has it that Japanese people don't like to laugh at movies in public. But I haven't verified that, so it could be incorrect. Another thing--they sit in their seats until all of the credits are finished. Interesting, huh?

You learn something new every day.

I ♥ Books

2005-09-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

My books finally arrived in the mail today! I shipped them out the day I left Seattle, and here they are, "only" eight weeks after the fact. I really shouldn't complain though; it only cost me $16 to ship about 16 pounds of books across the Pacific Ocean. My small box of winter clothes cost twice that. Anyway, it feels like a bunch of old friends have come to join me from Seattle. The loot? The Sound and the Fury, Catch-22, Learning to Bow, To the Lighthouse, Snow Country, Closer, I, Claudis, Point Counter Point, Jude the Obscure, Atlas Shrugged, Beyond Bilateralism, and afterdark (in Japanese). This should keep me busy for a while, especially since I have less time to read as of late.

Speaking of books, I finished The Blind Assassin last night, and I *really* loved it. It's definitely going on my list of favorite books.

I can't believe September is more than half over. Time flows so strangely here at times. Big work day today. Off I go.

More random adventures...

2005-09-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

Pottery Class
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Pottery class last night was amusing. It's always interesting, venturing into these little pockets of Japanese society and finding out what the real people are up to. In our case, they were throwing/pinching clay in a studio which seemed to be located on the grounds of the Omi Shrine, quite near my apartment. Aaron and Rosalind, my two companions in crime, were both art majors in college, so they totally impressed all the Japanese people--although one fellow seemed bent on giving advice, no matter what. As for me, I hung out with Rosalind's Japanese tutor and fashioned the beginnings of a mug. :) Good times...

While I was spacing out at school the other day, one of the Japanese English teachers showed me a scrapbook of autographed pictures that he's been keeping. Apparently, the kids occasionally write fan letters to various celebrities and occasionally get responses. The two most recent additions were Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) and Johnny Depp. Makes sense, right? However, there were also a number of signed pictures of Peter Falk. Apparently, good ol' Columbo was quite popular with the kiddies a few years back. Hm.

Now, I have a three and a half day weekend--whoo hoo! Fridays are my standard half-days, so I only had to work for three hours this morning, and Monday is Respect for the Aged Day. After that, I came home and worked on miscellaneous computer and application stuff. I also *finally* decorated the front room of my apartment. Now all I need to do is clean and buy a sofa and the place will almost look presentable. Maybe after my next paycheck.

Keitai fun

2005-09-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

Click here to see more pictures

Welcome to the wonderful world of taking pictures with your cell phone. For those of you who weren't aware, Japanese cell phones are truly things of beauty. Even the cheapest ones have some pretty nifty features. I accidentally bought a Japanese-only phone, instead of a bilingual one like all the other kids got, so I'm still discovering many of those features. :)

Anyway, this picture is of Grace and I hamming it up last night. I drove out to Tsubame to celebrate Paul's birthday with the usual suspects. We discovered that the izakaya (Japanese restaurant/bar) we wanted to go to closes on Wednesdays for some unknown reason, so we relocated to a yakiniku place elsewhere. It was *so* good. Yakiniku is my favorite Japanese food--I mean, what's not to like about self-grilled meat? Yum, simplicity at its tastiest.

We have two national holidays coming up next week (Monday and Friday), so most people are going on excursions around Japan or elsewhere. Grace is off to Kyoto, Nuria to Malaysia, Paul and Sarah to Kanazawa... ALTs are total jetsetters, let me tell you. After a few aborted plans to go to Osaka and Tokyo, I decided to buckle down and spend the two weekends studying for the GRE and working on my UK apps. I think life will be much better if I get this stuff done and save up some cash for my October travel plans; plus, it sounds like I may get a chance to do a few other things later on in the year. Maybe South Korea in November, maybe China in August.

Anyway, I just taught my last lesson til next Tuesday, which I'm quite happy about. I can't wait to relax... I mean, um, study. :) Going to a pottery class tonight with Rosalind and Aaron. We'll see how that goes.

Productivity

2005-09-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, if all of my days were as productive as this one, I'd be set. Taught three pretty good lessons today (involving real English instruction and no long-winded self-introductions), read the latest Japanese news, made about 200 GRE vocabulary flashcards to add to my collection, went for a run by the Kamo River, and did my grocery shopping. On top of that, they're showing my favorite episode of The Simpsons tonight, Homer's Barbershop Quartet. Nice day.

Sports Day!

2005-09-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Click here to see more photos
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

So, yesterday was the big Sports Day at Kamo Junior High. The kids had been preparing for the event for at least the last month or so, so it was exciting to finally see the fruits of their labors. Some of the other ALTs I've talked to have joked about this event being like the Olympics, with all the accompanying pomp and circumstance, and I can really see why. There were opening ceremonies (with a torch that shot out fireworks!), team cheers, speeches, relays of all kinds, parent/teacher competitions, team dance routines, and so much more!

It was an all day extravaganza (and a scheduled work day for me), so I passed the time by sitting in a covered seating area, taking pictures, and being served cold tea by junior high girls. It was very nice, although I felt a little guilty that I couldn't help out more. I participated in one of the PTA relays, which involved tossing a huge ball down a line of people. Quite fun.

So, Sports Day also marked the end of my very first week of teaching. It was pretty intense. Junior high is a really challenging age, just in terms of knowing what interests the kids and how best to hold their attention. Japanese kids seem much better behaved than their American counterparts overall, but it's a really different atmosphere. For example, kids can just "pass" on questions and choose not to answer when a teacher calls on them--something that would have been unheard of when I went to school. At the moment, most of my lessons consist on giving a 20-30 minute talk about myself and my home country/city. It's tough for me to talk about myself for that long--I usually splice in a game or two to help the kids (and myself) pass the time a little more quickly. Anyway, I hope it will get easier as I get used to the job and actually start teaching a little more English...

Anyway, since Sports Day required me to work on a Saturday, I get tomorrow off. I'm going to Niigata City with a couple of other ALTs to get my reentry permit--I need it to get back into the country when I leave to go home or to another country. I'm planning to go back to Seattle in December and then maybe head somewhere else in Asia in the spring--China, South Korea, or Thailand would be nice. We'll see how it goes.

For tonight, I think I'll work on personal statements, read a little more of The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, and maybe try to clean/decorate my apartment (an ongoing mission). Off I go...

Mount Fuji

2005-09-05T04:16:00.000-07:00

Click here to see more photos
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

This weekend's adventure was the infamous Mount Fuji. The Niigata ALT crowd left around noon and drove for about six hours through the Niigata and Nagano prefectures to reach the town of Kawaguchiko. After a brief dinner stop at a Skylark (which is kind of like a Japanese Denny's), we drove up to the fifth station of Mount Fuji, an elevation of about 2305 of Fuji's total 3,776 meters. At 10:00 pm, the Niigata JETs and my friend Eric from Seattle (who is a Hiroshima JET) started up the mountain. I didn't make it all the way up, but it was still a lot of fun. I napped at one of the mountain huts and caught the 5:00 am sunrise before hiking back down the mountain. Took some fun pictures before the long drive back. Yay for Mount Fuji.

Let the introductions begin... again!

2005-09-01T02:17:00.000-07:00

So, today marked the first official day of classes. By 8:10, the teachers had started their morning meeting and by 9:10 I was on the gymnasium stage facing a crowd of maybe 200 students and the rest of the teachers. I gave my introduction in English and in Japanese, I bowed, and then I fled to the staff room, where I essentially remained until 5:20 pm or so this evening, with the exception of a short run home for lunch. The staff room was very lively today with lots of laughter--the teachers sounded happy to be back in the swing of things. They're throwing a welcome enkai for myself and the other new teacher tomorrow--they even made a flyer for it, complete with tiny cartoon spectacled Kristi on the right-hand side:

Cute, huh? I'm totally wiped out. Getting to bed early tonight, that's for sure. I seem to remember having a list of things to do, but it all seems rather irrelevant at the moment. Gotta space out, ttyl.

Anticipation

2005-08-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

So, school starts tomorrow, and I have to actually start doing stuff. My God, how frightening. I spent the latter half of today making visuals for my self-introduction lessons and writing out short/simple speeches in both English and Japanese. I'll have to let you know how it goes. *looking skeptical* I also visited my mysterious fourth (and final) school, Tagami Jr. High. I'm not scheduled to actually teach there until October, but it's nice to at least know where it is.

Went to the Japanese cooking class again today. We made four dishes this time around (excuse the rough English translation of dish names): sardine fry rice (rice, pickeled Japanese apricot, leaves of perilla, and sardine fry), bracken mochi (sugar, soybean flour, water, and bracken powder), horse mackerel marinade (mackerel, garlic, onion, cucumber, and tomato), and this boiled squash dish. On the whole, I liked this meal much better - I really liked the mackerel marinade and the bracken mochi. I sliced all of the fish for the former dish, which I was rather proud of. I should also note that sardine fry are really disturbing looking. Anyway, the class as fun, but I think I might not go again for a while, at least until I get into the routine of school.

September, here we go.

Shinkansen...?

2005-08-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Up-and-down day today--the spectre of teaching is looming every closer. Yikes.

One of the many adventures of the day involved a 100-yen store in Sanjo, where I stumbled upon this:

For those of you who aren't Japan-heads, "shinkansen" means "bullet train." So, this thing is a bag. But is it also an advertisement? An expression of pride in an efficient, convenient, comfortable, and fast public service? An excuse to make something cute? Probably all of the above.

Oh, Japan.

The Big Snake Festival

2005-08-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Click here to view more photos
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Yesterday, the JET crowd hit up yet another local summer festival. This time it was the "big snake" festival out in Shitada, a fairly small city about 40 minutes away from Kamo. Rosalind and I drove out to Sanjo to retrieve Paul and also met up with Errol and Joel, two JETs from Niigata City. It was your typical festival - food, drink, dancing, fireworks... And lots of fun. :) I think the small festivals are sometimes more fun, simply because they're small. You can really experience things, versus just spectating.

Afterwards, we dropped off Paul in Sanjo and the rest of us came back to Kamo for some late night karaoke at Pinokio. All in all, a very good Saturday.

Friday was a pretty active day as well. I didn't have to go to school in the morning - instead, I took the train out to Nagaoka for a meeting with my Board of Education out there. We had a welcome enkai (party) for all of the new ALTs at a place close to the station, another one of the many all-you-can-eat-all-you-can-drink deals that Japan seems to be so fond of. I had to leave early to go to yet another party back in Kamo. Julia and Yamaya-san were throwing a party for a visiting German family at Pinokio and coerced me into playing the piano while Julia sang - an interesting performance indeed. But it's always in good fun.

It just never slows down here. I'm hoping for a relaxing day today though - back to "work" tomorrow.

Kristi in Japan

Moving to a new location!

Interesting tidbits from the U.S. Consulate in Osaka

Things I like about Japan #3: Fans

Things I like about Japan #2: Shaved Ice

Unintentionally Hilarious Japanese Thing #2

Unintentionally Hilarious Japanese Thing #1

Koudou: The Japanese tradition you've never heard of

Things I like about Japan #1: Kotatsu

Hello from Kyoto!

A Voice from the Deep

Yokohama Port Opening Festival and Ocean Day

A trip to the National Diet

Kyoto

Novelty gravestones: Morbid or eternally cute?

The Japanese can make anything cute...

First day of language classes...

A much overdue conclusion

Ise and Nagoya Report

Sumo!!!

Busy week-end...

And the story continues...

Let the goodbyes begin...

Happy Fourth of July!

Another weekend in Niigata...

The Wonders of Takarazuka

Tales from the 中学校...

Beach-y Goodness and Other Tales of Niigata

Niigata, Tokyo, and Kamakura with Maria!

Kansai / Western Honshu Blitz

Nikko Roadtrip

ALTs go to the movies...

Omi Shrine Festival

Okinawa in Review

There and back again

The mundane, the wonderful

Back to Niigata (via Tokyo)

More sakura love and urban fun

Undeniably Spring

Why Japan doesn't have Daylight Savings Time

Guess I wasn't quite done yet

Koinobori and the coming of spring

The Decision

U.S.A. Whirlwind Trip Report

Alive!

Where are the brakes on this thing?

Normalcy

Final grad school results

Winter Strikes Back

South Korea

Good news from Princeton!!!

Graduation and other news...

Christmas in February

And Cornell says... Admitted!!!

You know it's been a bad winter when...

Nagano Roadtrip

UW-Madison: The verdict is in!

Sapporo Snow Festival

Kristi goes manga...

Tokyo Reunions

Good news from Berkeley!!!

JET Charity Musical

Let the good times roll...

The halfway point

Niigata as No.1–No.5 in Japan

As if waking from a deep sleep...

Japan is *the* place to be...

Off to a running start...

New Year's and nengajyou...

Signs of life from the Emerald City...

Unquestionably Winter

It's raining, it's pouring...

Ohisashiburi!

Kanazawa Weekend

Another Monday, Monday...

Grad app extravaganza...

Back to Japan (mentally)

Traipsing around Tokyo and Niigata

Signs of the season

Date with destiny

Japan is the place to be...