Another change in location!

New new blog at

miriaminjapan.com

Please continue to follow as you can!
m.

Moving Blogs!

Hello Friends, Family and world!

I am moving my blog to a new site! You can find it a

http://miriaminjapan.wordpress.com

Sorry if this causes any troubles! But I hope you can all find it/follow me here! I really appreciate all you comments/reading ;) So please keep me updated on what you think and how you are by following me there!

Peace.
m.

Japan! The Land of Winter Fun!

Snowy Japan!

Hello from the New Year!
I have yet to write about my trip over Christmas and New Years (coming soon) to Thailand, but I thought I'd update you quickly on the life in Japan that I returned to after a 3 week semi-tropical country-hoppingtrip ;)

1. Snowboarding!
I live about an hour a a half from Hachikita, the tallest skiing mountain in Hyogo ;) Luckily, this has meant that I've been able to go almost every weekend snowboarding! There are a few things that are different about the snowboarding in Japan as opposed to home;
1. There are no blue/black/greenclassifications. Everything is just "difficult" or "easy."
2. No ski lodge at the bottom ;) You have to ski up to find rather modest lodges with the essential Ramen, Curry Rice, and Ton-Katsu ;) And beer ;)
3. The men at the chair lifts don't hold the chairs for you ;) Which means you have to quickly jump on or..you fall under it ;) I won't say I haven't done it ;)
4. Onsens ;) After a day of skiing, everyone goes to a public onsen and bathes in water that is either inside or outside and is a steamy 41-43 degrees C. Amazing :) AND, you can sit outside, look at the stars, and be surrounded by snow without being cold.

2. Snow!

Again, as I said I've been snowboarding! However, this year has been one of the best for it because the incredible amount of snow we got!
We've even had a snow day! I woke up one morning to 30+ centimeters of snow. Luckily, I worked at the school that is

only 3 minutes walking from my house, so I trekked over only to find all the teachers shoveling snow! Howe

ver, even though it was a snow day, we teachers st

ill had to be at school all day! A little different (and a little sad for me), but just another example of how dedicated Japanese teachers are to their work.

3. Decisions

I had to decide recently (last Monday) whether or not to stay for another year in Japan. This decision was very difficult--trying to decide after 6 months whether to stay another 18 months was a daunting prospect.
In the end, I handed in my paperwork, saying that I will be here another year (come visit!). Here are a few of the reasons for it ;)

a. Travel: Being in Japan gives me much easier access to a lot of countries (Thailand, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia)

b. The People: Many of the people in Japan that I've met (coworkers, friends) are wonderful and have been very kind. I decided to stay another year because I've found them really amazing.

c. Students: I really want to see a group of students through a whole school year, which starts in April. Going home in 6 months would mean I would see 2 groups of students for 6 months each.

d. The Mountains: I live in the mountains here--and they're beautiful ;) I can hike and snowboard. I think I want to be able to do that one more year.

e. ALTS: many of my friends are leaving this year (other ALTs). However, I've met people from all over the world here and can call many of them good friends (hope you guys agree! ;) Just a few nationalities represented? Scottish, English, Australian, Kiwi, and Canadian. Its a little bit more diverse and therefore a little bit more attractive right now than Sioux Falls ;)

f. Pottery, Taiko, Japanese: I've only just started some of these things, which I really enjoy! I wanted to continue them another year to perhaps have some skill in them when I do return home.

I hope to update you all soon with more pictures ;) For now, this is what I have! I hope this gives you a small glimpse into my life recently! Until next time!

m.

Pictures ;)

Just thought I'd post some pictures from recent events in my life ;)

Takeda Ruins in the fall!

Visited the north sea! And bought crabs ;) Which were really sad to see die but Oishi ;)

AND THE Momiji (Japanese Maple) are changing colors :)

Cheers :)

SAMUI!

The title of this blog has become my new most favorite Japanese word.

寒=さむ=Samui!= cold!

As you may have heard from me already, Japan has no central heating. So, although the temperature here is only a fraction of the temperature that is at home right now--it feels much colder.

Following is the most common uses of this word.

In the morning-- "It can't be time to get up, it's too samui to get out of bed."

After showering-- "My skin only steams this much when it's so freaking samui" or "the tile floor is so samui I think I'll get frostbite," or "it's so samui, I think I'll get dressed without leaving the shower."

When walking to school-- "I wish I had brought another blanket. It's samui today"

Or when leaving the teacher's room as both I and the students huddle in the hallway with open windows-- "I can't believe it's so samui and we leave the windows open!"

Or when coming home--" I'm going to sit on my kitchen floor all night because that's where the heater is. Everywhere else is much too samui"

Although this is probably not the wittiest of posts--you get the picture! Living without central heating--while not the worst thing in the world, get's quite cold.

The Japanese, however, have come up with a number of solutions to the cold which are very different than the ones we use in the US.

1. Kotatsu (also known as the table I never want to leave)
Kotatsus are heating tables. You plug it in, and get under the blanket that lays over it and it keeps your whole body warm. However, the danger is that it's completely impossible to get out from under them.

2. Onsens, or in the mini version, tubs.
Most houses are equipped with mini-tubs that go quite deep and you can sit in for quite awhile. Onsens, hot springs, are big versions of these tubs and are found in almost every Japanese town.

(This is a nicer version than mine).

3. Heating pads, kerosene heater, and hot water bottles.
You can get heating pads that go on your body or in your pockets. You can hold them to keep your hands arm. Hot water bottles you can fill up and put in your bed at night ;) Wondeful wonderful things ;)

<

Other than that. It's a cold cold place ;)

Sinking into the Ordinary

Things have been quite busy in Japan!

In the past month since my last post I've been diligently working away as a teacher, taking 3 day weekends due to national holidays, eating Thanksgiving dinners, baking like a madwoman for Halloween lessons, studying Japanese, and eating bowls of ramen.

Things, although quick, are also starting to become more routine and home is finally seeming to be my little town here ;)

For starters though--

I took part in a festival in my town. Known as the Acki Matsuri (Fall Festival) it's a harvest festival where people carry around huge shrines all day, collect money, and hoist it above their heads ;) Lucky for me, I was fortunateto be included by the wonderful people of a nearby neighborhood, and took part in a full days worth of carrying the shrine, lifting it up when donations were made, and dancing a little back and forth with it on my shoulder. All I can say is, sweet, but "ouch." Although the first day was quite neat, I passed on the second day of strenuous carrying and opted to watch the finale in the Elementary School playing field.

While this was simply really impressive to watch (everyone cheers and the men yell "Yasai!" to attract attention as they hoist this megaheavy shrine above their heads,) it was also really cool to get my whole town together in one area, to do one thing. Reminded me of being home in SD a bit!

However as it's festival season, I also got to a couple of other bigger festivals in the area. For instance, Himeji does a similar fall festival to ours. However, in this festival (the Nada Fighting Festival) men crash the shrines into each other. One of the most dangerous festivals in Japan (one man died last year) it's quite a sight. Lucky for me, when I went, a group of us were invited to sit in the private booth ofthe Kobe Shinbun (Newspaper) andwatch from a very close spot on the field! I got a couple of videos of this as well!

The next day I was off to a MASSIVE Canadian thanksgiving dinner with others from Canada, the US, Australia, Scotland, and New Zealand. The dinner turned into a potluck, with equally matching international dishes. Although when I came, I thought I would be meeting Japanese people, and probably other Americans, I never guessed that I would alsobe meeting people from so many countries! Anyways, my first Canadian thanksgiving experience was great!

For traveling, I've done a bit this month, but not two much! I did however, make two trips to Osaka (one for shopping, one for a concert recently) which introduced me to the big-city life of Japan. Osaka, the second biggest city in Japan, is a bit crazier than my town of Ikuno. Although only two hours away, it's a completely different world. The big city not only has a ton of people, but also has things like live music, major shopping districts, and a few too many Starbucks and McDonalds. I made one trek down to see John Butler Trio play a concert in a small venue.

In other news, nothing too much has changed in Ikuno! However, there are a few interesting changes before I leave you.

It's gotten cold! Last week it was down to 6 degrees celsius which makes it freezing in the classroom.

There are bears about. The summer was so hot that many bears are coming down from the mountains surrounding my house. One man was attacked a few weeks ago (eek). Buying a bear bell.

Happy reading ;)

Miriam

Japanese!

So we all know that Japanese is hard(むずかし) ;) But enjoyable (たのし). I thought I would share with you some small quirks that I've encountered on my not very extensive diving into the Japanese language.

First, the order of the sentence is opposite in every way you could imagine from English.
For example.
In English, you might say....... ...................................The pen is in the bag.
In Japanese, however, it becomes literally..................Pen (particle that we dont have in english) bag in is.
or..............................................................................Borupen wa kaban no naka desu.
ぼるぺんはかばんおなかです.

Second, the writing is way way way different.
So there are 3 ways of writing things.

A. Hiragana= a phonetic alphabet of around 50 characters that you use for spelling Japanese words.
B. Katakana= a non-phonetic alphabet of around 50 characters that you use for spelling FOREIGN words.
C.Kanji= Chinese writing system. Non-phonetic, semi-logical but really not. And a bout a bajillion characters. :)

I can now read Hiragana and Katakana. I can also read a few Kanji which is really helpful ;) But advice, if you're going to choose one for survival in Japan, Katakana should probably be it. With Katakana, you can read things like

Hamburger (literally, Hanbuga) ハンバーガー
and
Toast (tosutu) トースト
and
Cheese (chisu) チーズ

This is especially helpful for ordering food, although sometimes its a bit tricky to interpret ;)

Third, there are a million ways to count in Japanese, which matter when you're trying to communicate.

For example, here is a list of the categories of objects that there are and a few counting words.

Categories:

Numbers; 1=ichi, 2=ni, 3=san etc.

Normal Shaped Things; 1= Hitotsu, 2= futatsu, 3= mittsu etc.

Persons; 1=hitori, 2=futari, 3=san-nin

Machines and vehicles; 1=ichi-dai, 2=ni-dai; 3=san-dai

Age; 1= is-sai, 2=ni-sai, 3=san-sai

Books; 1=is-satsu, 2=ni-satsu, 3=san-satsu

Thin and Flat things; 1=ichi-mai, 2=ni-mai, 3=san-mai

Clothes; 1=it-chaku, 2= ni-chaku, 3=san-chaku

Small things; 1=ik-ko, 2=ni-ko, 3=san-ko

You get the point ;)

Lastly I'll leave you with a list of kanji that I like and/or know and can read so far.

山= Yama or San= Mountain

人= Hito or Ko= Person

実= Mi= Beautiful (Also it's in my name ;)

上= Ue or Kami= the upper part, a higher place, the top

田= Ta/Da= A rice field
水= Mizu or Sui= Water (Wednesday is Water Day, Sui-yobi, 水)

Welcome to my infinite confusion and never being understood :)

Peace.

Hiroshima

We had a 3 day weekend a few weeks back, and so a group of us went to Hiroshima! It was great (its a beautiful city) but quite sad (obviously) because the city had formerly been flattened by, you guessed it, the atomic bomb that was dropped on its head by, yours truly, America.

Here is a few places we went and a few facts about the grueling event.

Hiroshima is located in the south of Japan.
It was targeted in the war for the bombing because it had become a center for industrial production for the war (war ships etc were built here by Mitsubisihi). It had been this center not only in World War II, but also had taken this role in the previous Sino-Japanese war that was occurring leading up to WWII.

Because of the threat to bombing during WWII, many children had been evacuated from the city, but also, many Jr. High Schools and High Schools had been turned into work-schools. Kids would go to school and work on clearing fire paths etc through the city.

On the day the bomb dropped, many children etc were working outside, as well as many other civilians. Although the US had previously offered a treaty to Japan for its surrender, this bomb was dropped without warning, much to the protest of many people who had worked to create it. Partially, this was done in order to justify the money that had been spent on developing it. It also was thought that this would be a quick and definitive ending to the war, which might carry on for ages given the Japanese dedication to the war effort.

So, on August 6, in the morning, the bomb was dropped and the city flattened within a 3km radius. People were burned very badly, some were completely destroyed if they were towards the very middle of the bomb. For instance, one man had been sitting on the steps of the bank. All that was left of him was a shadow against the wall.

Needless to say, after seeing this museum, and the city that was completely destroyed against the background of the beautiful modern city or Hiroshima now, we were a bit exhausted from the magnitude of what had happened here (I was at least) and I found it a bit hard to believe that this had happened not only here, but in Nagasaki as well. 300,000 victims is no small number in a morning's work.

The second half of the museum is now dedicated to promoting peace and nuclear disarmement. I find it really fascinating that, despite there being real players in this scenario (aka the United States) Japan seems now to look only to prevent any sort of similar disaster from happening around the world. The museum does little to point fingers and instead points towards the future as an opportunity to preserve peace.

Hiroshima is now a beautiful city with the Peace Park that stand adjacent to the Peace Museum. It was wonderful to sit in this park (complete with free wifi) and draw, talk, and bask in what is now a very peaceful city. The park is filled with small dedications to various victims, the most pronounced perhaps being the monument for the children. Many chidren, as I said, were killed by the immediate effects of the bomb. Many others were affected by the radiation and got diseases like leukemia. The most famous child, Sadako Sasaki, is known for trying to fold a Thousand Paper Cranes in order to be cured from this deadly after-effect from the bomb.

A Moving Weekend.

Ill leave you with some images from the statues that around Hiroshima ;) They perhaps convey it the best.

Prisons, poison, practice!

Heya everybody :)

So a little update on what I've been up to ;)

Last week, I worked only 2 days, then was off to the infamous "Yashiro Prison" for training. Yashiro is a town about an hour from here, and they rounded us all up for 3 days and brought us here to teach us some things, read our contracts to us (riveting) and remind us that apparently they OWN us ;) Although there are plenty of beer vending machines (one of the upsides) we had a curfew and a lights out time (a good reminder of Jr. High School). At Yashiro, however, we also had a great group of Jets, both seasoned and new years, and one mad guitar player in the kitchen (played us Beatles covers every night). Although perhaps this place doesn't live up to its "prison" reputation, I think we were all a little ready to get out on Friday when we headed for Kobe.

A friend in Kobe graciously let all 10 or so of us stay in her 3 room apartment, and we hit the town Friday and Saturday ;) Kobe, the largest city in Hyogo, has a number of both Japanese and foreign-style bars, restaurants, and beer gardens :) Not to mention karaoke ;)

During the day, we trekked down to the sea, stopped at a few earthquake memorial monuments, and went to port tower. Kobe was heavily damaged in 1995, and around 6400 people were killed, when the "Great Hanshin Earthquake" hit the city. It was a whopping 6.8 on the richter scale (out of 7.2). Needless to say, there are countless monuments around the city, as well as a memorial museum. The monuments I saw were beautiful, and use water extensively. In one, you climb underground to a room with the names of all the victims carved on the walls. Above you, an above ground fountain pounds on glass, creating both a rumble similar to waves, and beautiful lights across the room. Powerful.

Port tower was very cool as well ;) From it, you can see not only the sea, but also the beautiful mountains that lie directly on the other side of Kobe. This includes Mt. Rokko.

Since Kobe, we were returned to our various schools, and started teaching!

This past Monday, I began by teaching a cheery group of 3rd year students about, lucky them, myself :) After a full week of teaching, ESS club, and getting up at 7 am ;) I was exhausted.

So, we headed this weekend to the lovely Takeno Beach to relax a bit.
Takeno is a small town along the sea of Japan that has a lovely beach and was just the cure for a week of work ;) The only downside was the jellyfish that infest the waters around now. About 3 stings later, we were on our way back to Yoka, a nearby town.


The next day, we visited the Sanctuary of Nagusa Shrine near Yoka. Around 1000 meters up into the mountains, it was a beautiful drive and then peaceful, spiritual experience to visit the Shinto shrine that houses seven shinto Kami (gods) and some buddhist figures. Speaking with a wonderful old couple who told us of the shrine, their journeys to Europe, and their history with this shrine made the afternoon even better, and further illustrated the kind nature of many Japanese.

Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, holds a close tie with the Kami (gods) present in all things and with nature. This ideology was reflected deeply in the shrine that we visited. Surrounded by massive sugi (cedars) the shrine was incorporated into the mountainous surrounding. Although my knowledge at this point is I'm sorry to say a bit limited, I'm looking forward to learning more about this and the other religious traditions of Japan, which have many ties with the way that society and traditional culture is carried out ;)

Now, its back to school tomorrow, studying Japanese, and other business for the week! Thanks for reading, and Ill be posting again soon!

Killing time..Or time is killing me ;)

Hello!

So, this week has been my first full week of school:)
While I'd like to say it's been exciting (which it has in some ways) most of it has consisted of me killing time at my desk until I'm up for time at work :) I have spent a little time studying Japanese and meeting some students, but since school isn't in session it's pretty dead around school.

The one saving grace is that the teachers and students are really great! Yesterday, the Principal took me to the Ikuno Silver Mine, which is 1200 years old! Now closed, the mine has been opened as a museum. We walked through 500 meters of cold tunnels, looking at demonstration puppets that were set up imitating the miners. (Better than Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean I might say). At the end, he bought me ice cream (so so so nice!).

There's also a sweet water fall in Ikuno! In one place, you can jump off a 7 or 8 foot ledge into a very deep cavern in the rock! Although I was a bit scared--I finally worked up my courage and jumped into the water! It was great to go swimming however, as the temperature here has been from 30-35 every day (around 90-95).


Today I hung out with the badminton club (many of them shy to speak with me --they tend to try to hide when I come their direction :)) It was great fun! I think my new plan is just to play as many sports and hang out with as many of the kids as I can. They're super fun---and it makes my day go a bit quicker!

This past weekend has been filled with going away parties ;) My wonderful predecessor, Trevor, left the country, as did a few others. The good news is that these going away parties are great chances to meet people! I met a ton of Jets, as well as some community members which all seem really great! Definitely feeling a bit more connected!

On Saturday, I traveled down to Himeji and met up with a few friends! It was the Himeji Castle Festival, and so we were lucky enough to see dancers, musicians, taiko drummers, and even some Kendo demos (see last week's post if you need to as a reference for kend0!) It was great! Of course, we didn't get out of the city without some karaoke :) In Himeji, the karaoke is not only dirt cheap, you can rent rooms with dinosaurs on the wall!

On other notes, I've also hooked some tickets for the Hanshin Tigers Game on Friday in Osaka (yippeee) and will come back for the Oban festival this weekend here! Their festival for the dead, there'll be dancing, drinking, and they'll put lanterns that represent the dead in the river to escort them out of town! Exciting things to come!

First Week!

Konnichiwa :)

Just thought I'd update everyone on the first week :)

July 24- Woke up at 4:30 am in order to jump on a shuttle that took us to Denver airport. We got there about an hour early, being shepherded through security and the long baggage checking process. We stopped for a short layover in LA, long enough to get some last-minute Mexican food however!


After another 12 hours, we were safely landed in Tokyo at Narita airport. Another standing in line/baggage madness followed :) However, it wasn't all bad--it went very quickly! We boarded a bus and were shepherded over to our hotel. The hotel, known as the Keio Plaza Hotel, was mighty fancy. Our room was on the 24th floor! However, the view of the Tokyo night sky was pretty impressive :) The hotel went up to 45 floors--quite a sight at night!


For two jet-lagged filled days, we were bombarded with information about life as a JET, met many people that were also going to our region, and got a few freebies :) Although I ventured a bit out into Tokyo to do a little karaoke (a huge deal in Japan), much of the time was simply spent sleeping or chatting with other JETS :) Then, Wednesday, we were all separated out and taken to our various locations around Japan! Ikuno was only a short, bus, then train, then bus, then car ride away! I quickly met my supervisors and some of the other school teachers before being taken out to the local okonomiaki place for some tasty food with a couple of the teachers.

The teachers are very nice! We shared a few laughs and I got a few Japanese lessons about the meaning of Japanese names! Thursday and Friday were filled then with my first days of work. Thursday was "open High School," which meant that a couple hundred Junior High School students came to the school to experience what it would be like for them to start! I got a tour of the school, and participated in a few activities such as flower arrangement, tea ceremony, and pudding cooking :) It's a great day to be a foreigner :)

Yesterday (Friday) I worked some in the morning, then went to a few club activities until it was time for me to leave work! I played a little volleyball, then watched Kendo! Quite the experience! If you're not familiar, you may want to watch a clip here!

The object of the sport is to get 3 points by hitting the opponent on the head, side, or wrist. The yelling is for intimidation!

The rest of my time here has been filled mostly with cleaning my house and trying to explore a bit around the town. Ikuno was a silver mining town whose heritage goes back about 1200 years! There are also a number of shrines and temples in the surrounding forests! I've only had a chance to see a few!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from my house! It's not too big:) But I'm working at making it homey!





Sayonaura:) Arigato gozaimasu!