Happy Holidays, Friends

It's cold, there's no central heating or insulation here (cold rant coming sometime soon, I promise), rain/snow comes down without warning, but I had a great Christmas nonetheless.

Christmas in Japan is more a holiday for couples, interestingly.  Kids do get presents sometimes (although only one, on Christmas morning) but it's not a family/spiritual holiday in any way.  That's New Year's here.
 

One of my students poses with the Santa hat in front of the red, white, and green paper chain that was a class activity for Christmas.  Kids had to write three nice things about people in class on the pieces before attaching them to the chain.

 

Still, everyone knows about Christmas, there are Japanese versions of many Christmas carols, and "Santa-san" is well-known.  (PS, regardless of your religious affiliation, read this again and try to keep the goosebumps away)  I came in with a Santa hat to work on Christmas and the kids went nuts.  Still, I had to make my own celebration for the most part.  I had a good nabe dinner with some friends still around (this is a big time to travel or go home for JETs) and then Skyped Christmas morning with my parents at 10 PM sitting next to my little origami tree.  Definitely the most unique and in some ways the most touching Christmas I've had.

 

 

 Looking fairly ghoulish, the Colonel Sanders statue outside my nearby KFC/Pizza Hut combination dressed as Santa-san.  KFC has in fact been a Japanese Christmas tradition since the mid 70's.  Lines form and they frequently sell out. 

 

While junior highs went until the 25th, I don't have to work again until January 7th.  My friend Jonathan from college and his friend Carrie will be coming into Tokyo on Monday, and I'll meet him there before we go to Kyoto for New Year's.  It will be packed with people and I've heard it's an unforgettable experience to be in Japan's spiritual center for the holiday.  I'm sure I'll have lots of stories and pictures to relate after that.

For now, I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  I think of you often and miss you all.

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OOIOO

Saw this Japanese band tonight in concert:



Not for everyone, but completely insane and delightful.  The music and arts scene in Kanazawa continues to impress me.

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Big Blog Changes, Big Life News

Yes, this is still Creighton's Japan blog.  I'd been kind of frustrated with the last template and wanted to try something new.  I also was never completely happy with the title, and I think this is much better and funnier.  Of course, my declaring its humor value will almost certainly make it spectacularly unfunny.  Let me know if it looks ok, I'm still tweaking it a bit.

This was a pretty average week for me, with a couple nights at karate and fast-moving weekdays of classes.  Last night a bunch of JETs did some Christmas caroling for charity at the Kanazawa train station, and it was a blast.  I'll try to get some pictures up of that when I get them from other people.

The big piece of news is this:

I wrestled with the re-contracting decision for a while, but in the end it was a simple choice, and the sense of relief I felt when I circled that statement made me even more sure.  I signed it a couple weeks ago, but I won't turn it in for a while (deadline's in February) just in case something earth-shattering happens.

I have been learning so much here, meeting people, exploring my surroundings.  It's already been almost 5 months, and I know I wouldn't be satisfied if I went home in July.  The sightseeing is one thing, but I think there is still a lot this place and this experience can teach me if I allow it to and if I make a strong effort to seek it out.

I wasn't expecting to do this at all when I left; when saying goodbye, it was always accompanied by some version of the sentence "See you in a year!"  Well, I will probably come back for a visit at some point, but that sentence may have to be amended.

To be clear, I don't think Japan is "the country for me".  I don't see myself here long term, and I don't have a particularly strong affinity for the people or culture more than those in the US.  However, the opportunity I have here to examine myself and the world around me is unparalleled, and I think I can use the country and culture as a sounding board to figure out what it is I really want to pursue and dedicate myself to doing and being after I leave. 

There are frustrations and joys by turns here.  I am sometimes deeply impressed with things like the Japanese focus, dedication, observance of community, and patience, and sometimes infuriated by the darker side of all of those traits.  I guess that's "culture shock", but it just feels more like the same process we all go through in learning to live with one another in this insane, beautiful world, no matter where we live or who we live with.

I know I feel better here than I have in a while, physically and mentally.  I see myself more clearly, I've lost 15 pounds I needed to lose, and I'm always excited about the future.  I attribute that not necessarily just to Japan but to the experience of jolting myself into a new, unfamiliar, but rewarding place.

While you must believe me when I say I miss you all dearly, and often find myself wistful for the United States--especially during the holiday season--this has become home for me, at least until July 2011.

And I'm damn excited about that.

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Holiday Spirit in Japan

They often don't know that Christmas is related to Christianity, and almost never know that it's supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but Christmas is everywhere in Japan.  Lights, trees, decorations, and most importantly, clothing sales. 

It's more or less a completely secular holiday here, even though there's a not insignificant number of Christians in Japan.  I've heard it's big for couples to get a hotel room and exchange gifts, kind of Valentine's Day and Prom wrapped up with Christmas.  And it's not a national holiday, in fact I'll be working hard all day on December 25th.

However, there's something about the holiday season that's undeniable and infectious.  This group of caroling children (they even managed to pronounce "We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year") made me about as homesick as I've been so far.

I'll try to get some more pictures of the holiday spirit downtown, but for now I'll leave you with an awesome interaction between me and my supervisor at my second school.

It's nearing the end of the day, and my supervisor (a smiley woman in her 40's with big bright eyes) sidles up to my desk.

"Creighton...do you like to drink milk?"
"Uhh...uh, yes. Yes?"
"There is a lot of milk left over from lunch. I can give it to you to take home, maybe?"
"Oh, sure, that'd be--"
"But please don't tell...it is illegal...if people know...I will be punished."
"...(open mouth)..."

The free milk was delicious.

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Tokyo! Tokyo! Tokyo!

I didn't get much sleep, but I did have a fantastic time.

My first time really exploring the world's biggest metropolitan area started and ended with a nightbus trip.  It takes around 8 hours on the highway to get to Tokyo from Kanazawa, and the cheapest way by far is the nightbus.  Travel in Japan is incredibly expensive relative to everywhere else I've been.  The four-hour train ride costs 12,000 yen each way ($130), and even the daytime highway bus costs about $80 each way.

I had been advised to get some sleeping pills for the night, which have only been legal in Japan since 2003.  I got a box of the unlikely-named Drewell pills (seriously--they named their sleeping pills Drool) and they did a reasonable job of getting me through the night.  Our group of 10 arrived blurry-eyed and excited at 6 AM in the heart of Tokyo at the Shinjuku station.  Shinjuku, incidentally, is the most heavily-trafficked train station on earth; according to Wikipedia, it serviced 3.64 million people a day in 2007.

One of many Shinjuku platforms.  At 7:00 AM on a Saturday.

We spent Saturday seeing some sights, like the temple area near Harajuku, and then going down to Yokohama for a special art exhibit we'd heard about.  We got lucky with some amazing weather the whole weekend, and the Yokohama skyline was pretty glorious and bizzarely futuristic in clear sunlight.

This billboard really got to the heart of feelings I have every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Inside one of the art exhibit areas.

 

Saturday night, after a quick nap at our hostel, we had a good dinner at a Mexican restaurant (where I accidentally ordered a $20 glass of mezcal...) and then went out in the area of Roppongi.  I think one time in Roppongi is enough for me--it was chock full of foreigners and felt pretty fake and forced.  We managed to have a pretty good time, though. 

In the category of Frustratingly Illogical Stuff In Japan, all the trains in Tokyo stop soon after midnight.  I was shocked at this--I can understand that in Denver, or even on some lines in Chicago, but in Tokyo?  That meant that we had to wait around until 5:00 for the next trains to start running or take an expensive cab all the way back.  Blergh...

Sunday we spent a long time in the Harajuku neighborhood, eating and shopping and moving through the crush of people.

 

I didn't get any pictures of them, but there are a bunch of heavily-costumed people in Harajuku, often referenced shorthand as "Harajuku girls", even though it's not just girls.  The detail and complexity of the costumes was kind of stunning.  I'll be poor at attempting to talk about who does the dressing-up and why, so you should dive into this Wiki article if you're interested.

Monday was the "Labor Thanksgiving Day" national holiday, so Sunday night we all went out to a club called Ageha on the outskirts of the city.  For those who care/know, Armin Van Buuren, Glen Morrison, and DJ Yoda were playing.  It was one of the best clubs I've ever seen, and convinced me that Tokyo really does know how to party.

 Mr. Jones adorns what seems like half of the vending machines in Japan, so this isn't a new discovery.  Just seemed funnier at the time and I finally decided to take a picture.

 

The cartoonish love hotel near our hostel.  Japan is full of love hotels, essentially dedicated to serving the romantic needs of long-term couples or one-night stands (a lot of them have privacy safeguards for people having affairs).  A little odd to be sure, but better than America's solution of seedy roadside motels, yes?

On Monday, after sleeping far too short a time, we all headed out of the hostel.  We spent some time recuperating in a park, then me and a friend went down to Akihabara to hang out for a little while.  Akihabara is the big electronics district of Tokyo, and my pictures don't do any kind of justice to how enormous these stores were.

 

 

 Papa, how much does this remind you of Riven?

 

 Love love love the image this gives me.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Some people were heading back early on the train or a day bus, but I wanted to see as much of city as I could while I was there, so I headed out to Asakusa, the biggest temple area of Tokyo.  It was another beautiful day, and I picked out my fortune from a temple.  You shake a box of sticks for a while, then pull out one that corresponds to a drawer in front of you.

This is the full English translation of my fortune:

No. 67 BAD FORTUNE

Weak-ned tree has lost leaves, branches, they have to wait long until go get recovered. Having excessive desire to clumb up the ladder to clouds, your mind get confused. At last you may be out of peace and safety, you should be more careful at your way. Stay alone, being uknown to the other people you have to hold problem inside.

Your request will not be granted. The patient keeps bed long. The lost article will not be found. The person you wait for will not come over. You had better to stop build a new house and the removal. You should stop to start a trip. Marriage of any kind and new employment are both bad.

So...grim.  Of course, that fortune was offset by how stupidly happy and lucky I felt at the time to be reading my fortune at a Tokyo temple at all.

 

 

 The Asakusa temples show a heavy Chinese influence in their red color.  Contrast that with the black or dark wood of Kanazawa temples I've shown.

 

 

 

 

 

I met up with a friend and had a great Thai-style dinner in the Ueno Park neighborhood.  While a lot of Tokyo is crazy and huge and full of people, there are some really nice neighborhoods that aren't crowded or tightly-packed at all.

Then it was time to get back to Shinjuku, catch the nightbus, toss back some Drewell, and prepare to go to class Tuesday morning.  Not bad for a first trip, but I'm excited to go back sometime soon.

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Delinquent Gaijin

I know I've missed my regular(ish) weekend update for two weeks running--the insane insane weekend in Tokyo and an upcoming two-day JET conference have taken up all my time.  I should, however, have lots of time to update this weekend, so expect one or two hearty posts to take that winter chill away.  Happy Thanksgiving!

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Fall Comes To Kanazawa

Just a bit of blabbing to start it off today, then a lot of pictures.  This past Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous, and I spent most of it riding around, eating and then taking a nap by the river, meeting up with friends, and playing with some random kids at a park (the part where me and my friend Martine would have been arrested if we had been doing the same thing in the States...).

I've also started leading/tutoring an "eikaiwa", or English club.  I'm taking over for another JET, and in fact the founding members started the club more than a decade ago.  It's two times a month on Saturday mornings, and don't tell anyone, because I'm getting paid a bit for it which is another technically fireable offense.

I am incredibly impressed with the group and had a really enlightening morning.  It's mostly middle-aged women who are homemakers and looking to branch out and one older retired man who learned English so he could read news from other viewpoints and to prevent senility.  They are extremely open and culturally interested, which means I don't have to do much work to get them talking and learning.  This is a refreshing change from my often recalcitrant students.  It also helps me believe I am perhaps planting seeds at school that I will never see sprout but may do so nonetheless.

Before I left America, I often made the point that I wasn't going to get my students to any particularly proficient level of English in my limited time with them, but that more importantly I could maybe get them excited about learning the language and exploring other cultures.  None of these kids are ever going to really learn English if they aren't excited about it, no matter how many textbooks are shoved in front of them.  In the daily grind of school, however, it can be easy to forget that and get bogged down with frustrations over students constantly forgetting to pluralize or conjugate properly.  Again, it was nice to see another side of the teaching gig.

Enough blabbing!  On to the pretty pictures!

 Spent some time in the samurai district to start with.

 

 

 

 

 

Right after a brilliant nap in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

All of the best trees in the city are bound up like this now to guard against the heavy, wet winter snows.

  

 

 

Bonus for those who made it to the bottom: today in class we were trying to get the third years to debate various topics, one being snacks in school.  In arguing against them, one group wrote "If students eat snacks there will be many rappers in the school."  Full marks.

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