Thomas Daily in the Land of the Rising Sun

Nova News

2007-09-25T18:39:00.000+09:00

Long time, no post!

But here's a good (or bad) news item for you, if you're wondering what's been going on in Japan since I left: Nova is in serious financial trouble. Yep, the company that brought me over to Japan, gave me a job speaking my native language, and provided my first tatami-floored apartment may be on the verge of bankruptcy. It doesn't sound good.

Is it all over for Nova? - from The Japan Times Online
The End of Nova thread - from LetsJapan.org (it's a long one, so maybe read the first page and then skip closer to the end. Things sound a bit hopeless as of time of writing)

Long and short: teachers and staff haven't been paid, Nova hasn't paid the rent for teachers' apartments and they are starting to get evicted, Nova is closing branches (including Imaike, my old branch) left and right and are no longer advertising. Things do not look good for the ol' Usagi.

To my friends, former coworkers, and former students: take care and kick a pink bunny for me!

Around The World / New News-New Site

2007-02-09T04:19:00.000+09:00

Well, I've finally achieved my dream of traveling around the world: landed in the tundra that is Newark last night, setting foot on US soil for the first time since last July, and completing my journey around the world Westward. Back to Minnesota next.

In other news, since I'm no longer in Japan I figured I needed a new blog to keep people updated on my various exploits (well, that, and I get 60+ nerd points). So for post-Japan news on Thom, direct your browsers (it looks nice in Firefox) to Thom Abroad: The Journals of a Minnesota Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It's guaranteed to be updated at least as often as this ill-fated diary, and even possibly entertaining. Stories about my time in the U.K., updates on my grad school applications, and photos will all prominently be displayed, along with witty comments from my various fans, friends, and family members (although the first category may not actually exist). Yes, I know; my narcissism disgusts me, too.

Thom In Japan will still exist, and even be updated occasionally as I finish posts and start others that I've been too lazy to start, so check back every now and again to see what else I did in/to Japan, and impressions that it made (some literally) on me.

Till then, I am faithfully yours,
T--> ny

Abroad

2007-01-31T18:02:00.000+09:00

I am no longer in Japan. After a wonderful 19-month stint in the Land of the Rising Sun, I've decided to move on.

Current location: Durham, England. :)

Spent three days in London last week, following a day of sight-seeing in Cambridge. Off for a whistle-stop tour of Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, and back to Leeds, before landing again in St. Neots, Jo's home town. Good tea, good times, good friends.

Hoping to have photos up sometime, but it'll be a little difficult without a computer.

Talk to you again soon,
Thom-not-in-Japan

Why would A-list stars appear in Japanese commercials?

2007-01-20T00:50:00.000+09:00

Good question. ABC News answers here. (Verdict: money.)

Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz are both mentioned in this story, but other stars have done the ol' "Lost in Translation" shuffle-to-the-bank as well; including Tommy Lee Jones (my personal favorite), Bruce Willis, and even Ahhhnold (who was apparently in Japan hawking crack).

Okay, back to packing.

First post of 2007

2007-01-04T15:02:00.000+09:00

Happy 2007! Hope your New Year is looking well. I'm back from Tokyo, where me, my beautiful better half, and a few others spent New Year's Eve, Day, and beyond. I've got a bunch of stories to share, but they'll have to wait until after I get my Nagoya-stuffs organized a little more (i.e. get some underwear washed).

Until then,
T.i.J.

Jo and I in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Happy Holidays

2006-12-27T23:11:00.000+09:00

Well, I missed Christmas and Boxing Day (which I'm learning to enjoy), and New Year's isn't till next week; but here's a little mid-Holiday-week post about what's been going on.

Had a long six-day work week ending on Christmas, but things went well and I'm now hanging out on vacation till January 5th.

Spent Christmas Eve in Konan, about 25 minutes' ride north of Nagoya, at a restaurant about a three-hour's walk from the station. It may or may not have been in Nagano. Fortunately, it was worth the walk: we ended up sat in a kasbah-like room complete with canopy, noshing on teriyaki chicken pizza and pasta carbonara with a great group of friends from literally all over (above, from left: Iain, Elaine, Francis, Glenn, Wong, Lisa, Louise, Sian, me, Jo, Fi, and Rob). The staff spoke pretty decent English and was half-way mad, which worked out as we ended up supplying the other half. "I just wish I could remember the name of the place," is becoming a recurring theme in my life.

Ended up back at Konan station in plenty of time for the last train, which left Iain and I with just enough time to annoy the crew with some song. (Guitars just seem to appear here; it's weird.) Sang a little Belle & Sebastian and Green Day to an "appreciating" crowd of friends and fellow passengers.

Had an early shift on Monday/Christmas, which turned out to be pretty painless: no more than two students to a class and a "Special Voice" class for lower-level students that was attended by only high-level students. Oh well; one of the students is a writer, so we started out talking about her books. It's nice to know that wherever you go, you can always find a struggling artist to relate to. Moved the conversation on to Christmas carols and definitions of words in the carols. (Is there a standard list for the twelve days of Christmas? I know there are lords a-leaping, but I can't remember how many and when. Reports conflict.)

Came home straight after work to help Rob prepare for dinner. Rob did a fantastic job of cleaning out the flat, which I can take no credit for; with Francis moved out, we opened up Rob's old bedroom as a bigger living room, which just about doubles the size of the place. Took the doors off my room as well to make it even bigger. Haven't seen an apartment this big since the ghetto-house solarium/parlour/second livingroom at Gusty's in NMpls. Anyway, dinner: Rob had picked up not only the three chickens we had planned on, but half a turkey as well (oh turkey!). Jo made enough mashed potatoes to feed a small army and brought some mince pies. Francis also brought some mince pies, jello, and more potatoes "just to be safe". With all the meats, vegetables, stuffing, desserts, and drinks, we didn't need to be safe - we needed new belts and spots to lie down on! Good times with good friends: Francis brought his "bride-to-be" Ayaka and her friend Akiko, Jo brought her flatmate Junko, Rob brought his coworker Sam, and Fi left dinner early to pick up her friend Lisa from the airport (luckily, they returned to help us dent the mashed potatoes). Too much food was consumed, but at least we got to share the Christmas message with our Japanese friends: gorge yourself until you can't move.

People scampered off around midnight to catch last trains, as we started to try to clean up - this has been a good left-over week. Fell asleep watching "A Prairie Home Companion" on DVD that I got from my Grandma in Minnesota, who knows how much I like Garrison Keillor. Also got a Lonely Planet British phrase book from Jo, so now I know how to talk when I get to England. Cheeky girl. :)

Had a lazy Boxing Day lie-in ("British" for "sleep in"), then up for the first-of-many leftovers and the last-of-many Christmas music, then out with Iain, et al. for drinks at the Hub and a friendly debate over the nature of certain "non-PC" words (is it okay for social groups to use derogatory terms for themselves within the context of their own group, and how, if these words are merely contextual, can this arguing be even remotely constructive to anything important?), followed by crimes against music at karaoke, till about 1. Still. Karaoke is definitely going to be one of the things I'm going to miss about Japan: the cramped, sweaty rooms with bad lighting and weird selections of songs(i.e. everything ever thought about by The Carpenters, but nothing by Johnny Cash); it holds a piece of my heart.

I am a karaoke junky.

Quiet last day and a half, which has been good, and getting ready for four days in Tokyo for New Years. Not exactly sure what we'll see, but Iain is confident we'll find a pub where we can commandeer a guitar and play our second (or possibly third) "show" in Japan. Rock and roll. Found out today that old high-school friends Long Since Forgotten will be playing in the Tokyo area...about a week after I depart. Thanks guys; I'll book you a table at Yamachan.

Anyways, I hope your holidays were good ones, love was shared and food was consumed in large quantities, and that your New Year is looking bright and shiny and ready to be unwrapped. It's gonna be a good'un.

Much love,
Thom in Japan

Thanks to Jo for not making me look too baka in photos 1, 2, 6, 9, and 11.

And Then There Were Four...

2006-12-21T00:30:00.000+09:00

Ach, tired today. Was up till around 4 this morning hanging out with Mitchell and co. Mitchell left this morning to go back to Australia. Mitchell got to Japan about a week after I did, the same time as Francis. He was in OJT with Francis and Iain, and in FUT training with me. And he's been one of the constant players in our various adventures. He's really gonna be missed...

Two weeks ago saw Darius' departure back to New Zealand; apparently there's a south hemispheric call that I'm not attuned to. Darius came out last January to help occupy Iain's flat in Inuyama (Seriously, the bum had a beautiful two-bedroom flat all to himself for seven months - for $500 a month). His first 24 hours in Japan were legend, and subsequent outings were just as wild.

I have a feeling the next five weeks are going to be pretty tame without them here.

Back Again and News

2006-12-15T19:11:00.000+09:00

Okay, talk about out-of-date blogs. I have indeed returned from Sendai, and there's a post 90% done waiting to be posted, after I add pictures. In fact, here's some to tide you over:

And not only am I back from Sendai, but I'm back from Hiroshima as well: spent three days earlier this week in Hiroshima and Miyajima with Jo, before coming back to the cold, harsh reality that is work. Bah.

The first day in Hiroshima was amazing; we had great weather, and started off by visiting the stunningly autumnal Shukkei-en (park). After a couple of hours there (it was that nice) we walked around the city, saw Hiroshima Castle, the A-Bomb Dome, the Cenotaph (the record of everyone killed by the bomb and related effects), and the Peace Museum. Sobering to say the least. Not so lucky the next day; it rained almost all day, but we managed to see the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum which was displaying works by Salvador Dali and the Bauhaus school, as well as various childrens books illustrations. Weird.

Miyajima, or Itsuku-shima as it's actually named (for some reason), is the home of the floating torii of Itsukushima-jinja. It's famous as one of the three most beautiful (read: "popular") sights in Japan. Also took the ropeway/cable car to the top of the mountain, saw the Japanese Inland Sea, and watched it get patrolled by submarine. Just like Red October.

They also have crazy rickshaw drivers who feed deer.

Ate more than our bodyweights at dinner: Hiroshima's famous hiroshima-yaki (okonomiyaki with fried noodles), basashi (horse sashimi), and a big caesar salad. Ate lots of oysters on Miyajima as well. Oh, food.

A good trip, all in all. The shinkansen trip there and back was fun; like flying, but on the ground. I was wondering why we don't have something like it in the U.S., but then remembered that it would still take two days to get across the country. Anyway, I'll write more about the trip soonish.

Other news: I suppose it had to happen; my Lonely Planet Japan is out of date. So I figure there's only two possible courses of action: buy a new edition, or choose a new country.

I went with the latter.

It's official: Jo and I have booked a flight to England for January 23rd, and I turned in my notice at Nova last week. I have about fifteen working days left, excluding a week in Tokyo around New Years and a week off at the end for paid holidays. The plan right now is to spend a couple of weeks in England with Jo, checking out the country and potential schools, then coming back to the States to work for a few months before heading back to England. Lots of travel, but lots of adventures too. Good times.

Sorry this is so disjointed; I'll write more soon, when I'm feeling less sick...

Sendai

2006-11-21T01:04:00.000+09:00

Will be in Sendai, north of Tokyo, for the next couple of days. Hope everything goes well, and that everyone has a good mid-week. Photos and stories forthcoming, when and where they happen.

Rock and Roll.
t.i.j.

Not Waving Nor Drowning

2006-11-16T11:06:00.000+09:00

Exciting news. Jo got a text message last night from a friend in Thailand saying that a tsunami was on it's way to Japan. Which is, naturally, a disturbing thought. Though not so much after two beers. And knowing that you're on the second floor. And Yaba-cho is a down-hill walk.

But according to the BBC, the tsunami was a baby - only 16 inches high in northern Hokkaido - and did little or no appreciable damage. The Japanese Meteorological Agency caught it quick and issued warnings. Oh, the joys of living in a seismically-unstable country!

Other news recently, courtesy of CNN and my English-enabled TV, was of a new island springing up in the Pacific. Reports by a mysterious sailor named "Haken" via blog (yay!) noted "pumice rafts" ("very small rocks") floating between Tonga and Fiji. (This is a very cool blog with some very cool pictures. Check it out.)

**In a completely unrelated tangent, I shall now attempt to "cut down" on my use of "quotation marks" and (possibly) parenthetical asides. Sorry; it was annoying me, too.**

Anyway, back to the...point? Okay, Point 1: So there's this new island in the Pacific, which probably indicates some very "interesting" (damn!) [double damn!] seismic activity happening, both north and south of Japan. Better restock the earthquake kit... Good thing we're not staying here very much longer.

Point 2: How cool is it that a new island is announced to the world via blog? And from a yacht! While sailing to Fiji from Tonga! Victory to the new journalism. A big arigato gozaimasu to the crew of the Maiken for sharing some amazing photos. You rock the blogosphere.

Point 3: I want an island. Maybe not to keep, but discovering one would be sweet as. Anne, what are you and Mark doing next summer? Alwyn, bro, you ever read this? Fancy a little nautical exploration? You'll be in charge of the rum.

I'm gonna have to run this by the girl first...

That is all.
thom-in-the-clouds

Belated Post

2006-10-31T20:43:00.000+09:00

Takakura-Jingu
~ or ~
The Case of the Missing Shrine

Pretty fun day today, despite starting to feel a little sick. (Colds are rough.)

When executed properly, poorly-planned days become grand adventures.

After a (really) late (illness-related) start, I went out to find Atsuta-jingu with Iain; we were unsuccessful and it was brilliant. A gorgeous, picture-taking day.

Found Iain as I walked down a side street taking photos of a building which is either an Eastern Orthodox Church or a mosque, though the designs on the side throw some doubt on any monotheistic affiliation. Seems he'd gone in before and found, after a brief tour and gift-giving, that it was not, if fact, Atsuta-jingu. So we took a little walk through southern Kanayama, towards Nishi Takakura. Eventually we found something that looked promising; tree tops poking above suburbs are usually one of two things: shrines (or temples) or parks. In our case, it turned out to be the former; and a cool shrine it was.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of it, because I was too busy being taken on a personal tour by the monk-on-duty to take any. Iain and I walked into the shrine grounds, washed our hands at the spring, and then were flagged down by the approaching monk. He talked to us in Japanese far too fast for my contextual-Japanese-listening-ability to process, then switched to some basic English. Cool guy. Cool guy, even though he mocked my Japanese ability, my taiko drumming, my lack of golf knowledge, and told me I smelled the wrong end of a broken leaf. Still.

He seemed a little surprised that an American and a Scotsman were visiting a shrine in the suburbs in Nagoya. We didn't tell him we thought it was Atsuta-jingu. Anyway. He showed us the proper way to wash your hands before entering a shrine: first you dip the wooden ladle in the spring and tip it up to pour the water down the handle, purifying the ladle. Then you dip it in again and pour some water over your left hand, then switch hands and pour the rest of the water over your right hand. Then take another ladleful of water and rinse out your mouth. And finally, take another ladleful of water, tip it back, and pour it over the handle again. Hands and mouth (and ladle) clean, and you're ready to enter the shrine.

So we did, after being handed gifts of hashi (chopsticks), sweets, and tea. In the shrine, the monk asked us if we knew taiko. Well, not personally, but yeah, we've heard of taiko. Taiko, drumming, involves a person - usually a monk or priest - hitting a drum. Very, very hard. Apparently I don't hit it hard enough. "No! Battle! Battle!" Great advice for drumming. A few more demostrations and we were good to go.

Next step was a blessing; which, from what I could gather, went like this: "Oh great Takakura Kiyomi, I humbly ask you to bless this American guy and this...you're Scottish right? this Scottish guy too. Please give them good luck and good health, and help that American guy hit the drum harder next time. And sorry for waking you up; it was their idea."

After that we headed out to see a "two hundred and one thousand year"-old tree. He had us lean up against the tree to feel "the old spirit" that was supposed to "refresh your heart". I was missing my apple and book - it would have been perfect. As a gift, another gift I guess, the monk broke off leaves for Iain and I; "Smell" he said, so we did. I was holding the wrong end of the leaf. He growled a "Bah" at me and turned the leaf around so I could smell the broken end, where it had until recently been attached to the tree. It smelled like Life.

As we were walking back across the courtyard, the monk told us his children were in the U.K. "at the famous golf course in England." Nani? (what?) He yelled to the woman monk manning the souvenir stand something that I can only guess was "Hey ____-san, what's that famous golf course in England; the one near where my kids go to University? These guys want to know." The "famous golf course in England" is St. Andrews, actually in Scotland, actually 45 minutes from Iain's home. His kids went/go to St. Andrews University. "My children English para para." Random.

Iain and I left amid much bowing and "arigato gozaimasu"s and went to see if we could find the actual Atsuta-jingu. We did manage to find Atsuta Jingu Koen (the Park), which is quite nice and a ten-minute walk from Jo's flat. It's also the home of the Nagoya Congressional Hall (or something like that), which looks like it dropped out of future and landed in a field without disturbing the homeless population too much.

After walking around for a bit, becoming frustrated with our lack of shrine-finding ability and getting rather hungry, we wandered back towards Nishi Takakura. On the way, we found an interesting possibility: the "Sherlock Holmes Beer and Restaurant". Sandwiches and coffee later, we decided to call it a day. Came home, forgetting to book tickets to Sendai, and spent the evening wondering how, exactly, one human head can produce so much snot.

Thank goodness for the five million Nova tissues I got from the staff.

Get Ur Travel On

2006-10-29T00:28:00.000+09:00

I despise it when people spell 'your' 'ur'. For those of you who don't know, 'Ur' was an ancient Sumerian city located near what is now Basrah, Iraq. Gah.

Rant over.

The natives are on the move. Make that the foreigners; the foreigners are on the move. Ooooh yeah.

Jo departed on Tuesday for two weeks in Thailand. From the emails, it sounds like she's having a great time! Perhaps we could have a little "Jo in Thailand" foreign correspondent segment for the ol' TIJ.com

I miss her. Lots. :(

Rob left early Friday morning for his first trip home in almost a year and a half; I certainly hope he has eaten his own bodyweight in pizza by now - anything less is utter failure. ;)

As for yours truly, the limit on travel right now seems to be set by how much money I can make and how many days off I can get. The plans right now include Tokyo for New Year and Hiroshima either before or after, and - I hope I hope I hope - Sendai and maybe even Kyoto again too next month. We'll see how the "fundraising" goes.

Add the Mogwai show on the ninth, which I still need to get a shift-swap for, and we get a very busy month. Maybe I should get some sleep...

Gambatte.
t.i.j.

Autumn

2006-10-19T23:46:00.000+09:00

What a great country. I woke up at 10 this morning (not having to be at work til 5 tonight), and the temperature was in the low 70s. The sun was shining. I walked to the store in a t-shirt, jeans, and sandals. Today was the 19th of October.

It's currently 34 degrees in Minneapolis.

What a great country.

Went out for Mexican last night with Jo, Fi, Jo's housemate Junko, and Junko's coworker Sayaka. Probably the best Mexican I've had in Japan; amazing corn tortillas, good mole sauce,
guacamole, and tortilla chips. Even won a Dos Equis bottle opener! Fi ordered something "con queso" and ended up with the biggest bowl of melted cheese anyone had ever seen - and she did a damn good job eating it too! It came with an oven-mitt full of tortillas, which almost did the job containing the cheese. Good times. Fi also won a bright red beer coaster which provided us with an evening full of "million uses for beer coasters" entertainment. More good times.

In other travel news, Iain's back from Hokkaido tonight; so there should be some good stories from him soon. Francis is scheduled to return, him and a cold, from England via China tomorrow, so I suppose I should clean up the mess from the party in his room. Getting the jello shots off the ceiling should be a doozy. I love you, Francis.

Well, off to bed; work starts in about 9 hours, and I really should sleep some before then.

Say goodnight Gracie.

Ise-jingu

2006-10-18T12:54:00.000+09:00

Ahh. Another good day.

Went to Ise-jingu (Ise shrine) in Mie Prefecture with Jo yesterday. After a rough start, including jumping off the right train at the last minute due to confusion over price, we finally got started on our way around 11am. And it was a great day for a trip: mostly sunny, around 70 degrees, and dry.

Ise-jingu is amazing for many reasons; one, it's Japan's most holy Shinto shrine, housing the "sacred mirror of the emperor"; which hasn't been viewed in 1700 years. According to Lonely Planet's Japan guide, "since being enshrined here in the 3rd century, this mirror has not been seen by human eyes. Members of the Imperial family technically have the right to see it, but apparently none of them have ever tried to exercise this right. It stands on a wooden pedistal wrapped in a brocade bag. As each bag wears thin, the bag with the mirror inside is simply placed inside another bag. This ensures that the mirror is never sullied by the gaze of a human and has resulted in what one writer has suggested must be the world's best collection of Japanese brocade weaving." Cool.

Another cool thing about O-Ise-san (as it's "affectionately" called) is the shrine's impermanence. Jingu is torn down every twenty years, only to be rebuilt alongside the original site - as it has been for the last 1700 years, making it one of the best - if not the best - example of pre-Buddhist architecture in Japan. Depending on who you believe, it's rebuilt - down to the last peg - either to keep the carpentry skills alive, or because Shinto tradition holds that when the Emperor dies, his possessions (and hence, his shrines) are defiled, and each new Emperor needs clean new shrines, a tradition which has become embedded in shrine-building. Ise was last rebuilt in 1993 at a cost of over 5 billion yen.

And so we went to Ise and walked through the grounds, through trees that are as big around as cars, through buildings that are the same as those built 1000 years before Europeans discovered America. And what a perfect autumnal day for it! The sun fell down through trees older than systems of government, and priests walked along trails groomed in the same way they'd been for millennia.

Jo really wanted to take pictures of the amazing scenery, but I thought that might not be such a good idea: every report I'd read said that Ise is sacred, and there's no photography anywhere on the grounds. Apparently I was wrong though; literally dozens of people were walking around with cameras big enough to hold sake bottles. So, after asking some official-looking people whether or not it was okay to take photos, we started to snap away.

(Me [holding my camera]: Sumimasen, photo okay?
Official-looking security guard, while monitoring eight video cameras [laughing]: Hai, okay.)

One thing I wish I'd done, was ask for permission to photograph earlier in the day; we watched a procession of about 25 priests walk by - most in plain white robes, but some in beautifully bright colors - and I don't have any photos of it. Apparently it happens at least twice a day; priests deliver food to the main temple as an offering to Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess.

After walking through the grounds for a few hours, we decided to check out the town outside. So we walked off the front bridge of the shrine grounds and just about right into a parade. Unbeknownst to us, there was a matsuri, a local festival, going on that day. I'm not sure exactly what festival it was, but WikiTravel suggests - along with many other interesting facts - that it might have been one of three days of the Kagurasai Ceremony.

While we were watching the festivities, Jo was finagled into participating in the matsuri: a very nice woman saw us, came over and grabbed Jo (who hates to be the center of attention), gave Jo her coat, and pushed her into the line to help carry a mikoshi, a small poratable shrine, "that holds a god". But it was loud, and we were trying to understand a mix of Japanese and English, and some confusions arose.

"Oh," Jo said, "I thought you said it holds a goat!"

After the parade ended, we met some random towns-folk who very kindly served us some sake. They seemed thrilled to meet a Brit and an American in one go! Very nice folks; wanted to know what we thought of Japan, what we did, where we went, everything. Did I mention we got free sake?

Halfway between Jo's festival initiation and our final cups of sake with the our new friends, we stopped at a small stand on the side of the street for some local specialties: fried oysters on a stick and oyster croquets. Oh, so delicious; Ise, located on a peninsula in Mie, is "famous" (as everywhere in Japan is for something) for it's seafood.

After some food and some shopping, we decided to call it a day; we caught the train back to Nagoya, bought some french bread, cheese and olives, and watched some English-language TV. Good times.

The "Home" Photo Issue

2006-10-06T01:25:00.000+09:00

Various shots in and around the ol' homestead.

More stories below...

View from the "courtyard": Nagoya Station.

View from the roof: The Wrong Side of the Tracks.

"You Should Go If You've Never Been"

View from my balcony: "The Cage"

Plants on a nearby cafe.

A street near my apartment.

My apartment. Kinda.

The Remains of the Yakisoba: Nijyu Maru.

And Again

2006-10-06T01:13:00.000+09:00

Profound apologies to all of you who felt abandoned by my long absence. Due to popular demand (Iain, Lindsey), I AM back and writing. Took you long enough to complain. *smirk*

Francis is back home in England right now. All of us here at Thom In Japan (mainly me) hope that he has an absolutely great time, and that he remembers to bring back some chocolate and tea for us. Rob and I promise not burn the place down in your absence.

I had an August post in the works, but September ended before I could get it up, so I'm hoping to have that up at some point. September itself was both good and bad, with many adventures taking place and a really difficult three days with my ever-patient girlfriend.

September is was actually pretty quiet following the busy August. Did a lot of walking around with my camera, taking pictures of random stuff that I know I'd wish I'd taken pictures of while I was here, as you've probably seen. Spent the 20th getting my ears lowered, then basking in a perfect late-summer afternoon in Noritake Gardens. Noritake, as some of you may know, is known for beautiful, delicate china; and, as I didn't know, was originally based here in Nagoya, about a ten-minute walk from my flat. They moved in the late Seventies, but the original site has been turned into a museum/gift shop/restaurant/visitor center/park (the Japanese are very good at multi-tasking). And the park is beautiful. It's amazing what a year and a half of little grass can make do to lower your standards and make you think an open area with actual green grass is beautiful, but that's where I am and I think it is. And it was a perfect day, so all was right with the world. The "Garden" features six "trimmed" smokestacks, originally used with the tunnel kilns where they fired the ceramics; a donors wall, listing the names of all the people who helped support the building of the park; and some bizarre artwork on poles, apparently designed by schoolchildren. Nice though.

Late September, Iain and I went to see the Chunichi Dragons, Nagoya's home team, play ball at the Nagoya Dome; which was an absolute blast. I haven't been to a pro ballgame since the Twins game (go Twins!) in June, and seeing the Dragons play was high on my list of things to do in Japan. And I good game it was: the Dragons took an early lead over the opposing Yokohama Baystars, who eventually caught up, and ended up taking the Dragons into nail-biting extra innings before leaving two men stranded in the tenth, thereby setting up a game winning double by Kosuke Fukudome to give the Dragons a much-needed victory. Ace time all around. More photos of the game here.

Okay kids, it's bed time two hours ago. The work week has begun again, and I just haven't adjusted my sleep schedule for it. Again. More news/photos forthcoming, which, I know, you'll believe when you see it. Patience, my friends.

-thom (still) in japan

Utsume Beach

2006-08-24T14:03:00.000+09:00

Spent my Wednesday off with Jo at Utsume beach. Early concerns about weather ended up being being just concerns as the weather was absolutely fantastic: hot and sunny, with a good breeze coming off the sea. Sure, it was hot, but it is Japan in the summer. The previous night had just pissed down rain, so Jo and I were talking about what we could do of the indoor sort; but Wednesday morning at 8am was bright and sunny, so the beach it was. I was really glad we went to the beach too, it was my first time in the ocean in four years...which is fairly depressing since I've been living on this island for 14 months now. Anyway.

Started out at Kanayama, where we ate a little lunch and watched a bizarre man capture a pigeon and give it a pedicure (picture 1). Weird.

Made it to Utsume, about an hour from Nagoya, and went to the beach. Utsume is a cool little beachtown, complete with the townie/tourist vibe and a twentysomething parking lot attendant with a gas-powered skateboard. Also weird, but in a good way. Passed some really cool old-style Japanese houses and businesses (picture 2) on the way through town, and saw some crabs in a tidal gutter outside the town's (luckily) only highschool band practice (picture 3). At the beach, I smeared myself with sunscreen, not so much to keep from burning but as to try to keep the glare off my pasty white Minnesotan skin to a minimum. It worked for the most part, except for where I sweated it off and on my shoulders, thus leaving me with the ugliest piebald sunburn since Iain's trip to the beach last week. Jo managed to get pretty toasted herself, and was looking a little lobster-esque by the end (picture 4).

We stayed till sundown and watched the sunset, which was absolutely beautiful (pictures 5 and 6), then headed back to the station to try to change out of our sand-, salt-, and sweat-encrusted clothes for the train-ride back to Nagoya. Jo says she can't understand people who go to the beach to look glamorous - it's just not possible. And she's right.

Got back to Kanayama and decided it was time to eat, so we went to perrenial favorite Yama-chan for more food than I thought was possible for two of us to eat. We looked like two Murakami characters before the end of the world. Oh, it was good. I like the beach.

When it all comes down to it...

2006-08-17T01:25:00.000+09:00

Um, okay.

Anyway, spent the day out and about; went to the British Consulate in Nagoya to ask about visas for moving to England (!!!), only to be told - through the intercom - that the Nagoya office doesn't handle visas, and that I'd need to talk to the British Embassy in Tokyo. Right. That helps. Thank you little black intercom box on the wall on the fifteenth floor; you're so much better than a real, live human being. I hate people. *sigh*

Next, called Iain to see if he wanted to hang out, which he did, and so I went to Dotour Coffee to wait for him. Advice: if you are going to spend a considerable amount of time reading Murakami in a coffee shop, drinking a considerable amount of coffee, eat some lunch first: walking back out into the veritable soup that is Nagoya summer becomes a strange, disconnected fantasy. The slight paranoia and unease at the sight of the people around you, yeah, that's the coffee and Murakami interacting in your brain...

"Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" is a fabulous read though.

Met Iain at Maruzen bookstore, which is wonderful. (The bookstore, not Iain; though Iain is really a very nice guy.) Bought CMYK, a advertising and design magazine, and David Mitchell's "Number 9 Dream" which was very highly recommended by Iain and which I'm very looking forward to reading.

After that, it was time for the Hub, a local "British Pub"-style restaurant that has very cheap g&t's until 7. Yay. We were chatted at (rather than to) by a local thespian who apparently suffers from an acute case of the Lake Wobegon effect. Wikipedia it. We also chatted, Iain and I, about different universities in the UK for me to go to for my Masters. (Have I mentioned this yet? I'm thinking not. I'm thinking of moving to England to get my Masters. That England. With Jo.) Edinburgh (which isn't technically in England, being in Scotland) and Leeds are topping the list right now, with Sheffield and Galsgow (also not England) coming in close behind. Iain's the man.

Met up with Fi and Jo and went to Outback (yes, that Outback. The Aussie-themed American Steakhouse.) for dinner. After having about a dozen bastard Japanese people cut in line (they line up for everything, from toilets to tea, but they can't see us waiting for a table?), followed by a 45-minute wait, Iain finally got his wish: a steak as big as his head. Even though it wasn't as big as his head. It was good sized though, so he wasn't complaining. It did make me long for a tipping society though; our waitress was definitely headed for a two-cent tip.

Dinner was good though, Bloomin' Onion (right) and all, and we followed it up by hitting up the most awesome, under-populated bar in Nagoya: Heaven's Door. I like this place a lot: quiet atmosphere, great music from the huge selection of vinyl behind the bar, and the best (albeit smallest) tacos I've had to date in this country. Good White Russians too.

Then caught the subway home, popped on the air-con, and am sitting in front of the 'puter. Good day off. Did I mention that I was up till 3 this morning watching "Shaun of the Dead" with Francis and Mitchell? And that I didn't get up till 11? Good times.

When it all comes down to it, weekends are good things. Even when they're not the weekend.

Okay, all to bed.

t.i.j.

Happy Birthday to...me.

2006-08-07T02:20:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm back. ¥18,000 (~$175) in for the new hard drive, ¥19,800 (~$190) for the old drive "repair", and I'm back in the saddle again. The good news is my new hard drive is almost three times as big (80Gb compared to 30Gb) as the last one. I also bought a 40Gb external drive, for a back-up, from former upstairs neighbor and all-around cool guy Conrad (mad props. yo.) who so kindly left about 17 million songs on it for me to peruse. Sweet as.

Anyway, yes, today is/was my birthday; the second of such anniversaries I have spent here. Man, the time flies! It's hard to believe I've been here just about 14 months already! Well, today was pretty non-eventful for the most part; even forgot it was my birthday until I was doing a lesson on talking about news reports, and when prompted a student replied that today was the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. *sigh* Right. Same day. That's how I remember.

BUT, work was over quickly - surprisingly so - and I was off like a light, came back home, chilled a bit, took a shower, then headed off to the hospital to see my friend Elaine...

...but that story is getting ahead of itself.

After the hospital, I met up with the wonderful Jo for drinks at a rooftop restaurant in Kanayama. She is such a sweet thing; she got me Murakami's "Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" and a card (which far outshines my own meager offering of Austin Powers on VHS for her birthday), and also delivered a card from her mother, who had somehow remembered me. Bless. To Jo's mum, Mrs. H--, you've raised a wonderful young woman. Thank you.

My computer has just informed me that it has just passed 'late' and moved into 'ungodly', so I'll draw this to a close. Take care and be blessed in this next year; I'll write more soon, it's been a busy month.

-the older, wiser Thom In Japan

New updates will include:

SUMO: Rock You Like A Hurricane

FUJI-SAN: The Roof of the (Japanese) World

AND MANY OTHERS...

Bad News and...more bad news

2006-07-12T19:13:00.000+09:00

According to the Twelve o'clock news, it was 29.7 degrees C at noon, with 63% humidity. At that temperature, the humidity feels like a truck hitting you very, very slowly. You don't walk so much as swim.

Also, not long after I finished the last blog entry, my hard drive fried. Luckily I have all my photos backed up, but my writing and about 11 gigs of music, all the CDs I couldn't fit into a suitcase to bring with me, yeah, they're all hiding somewhere in digital oblivion. At least I have SOME CDs still; and Iain says he might know a way to fix the hard drive. I hope I hope I hope I hope.

Bah.

thom in frickin' japan

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

2006-07-08T06:14:00.000+09:00

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
- Mark Twain

I am home, safe and sound for the most part; as safe and as sound as one can possibly be in a land of 200 degree days and 90 percent humidity.

Being at home - my other two "homes," the ones in the States, both east of the Pacific, one east of the Mississippi - was great; so much was experienced, seen, felt, done, that it's hard to know where to begin.

So in the impossible hope of trying to document every single thing I did while at home in the States, I decided to make a list. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and if you were involved and I forgot to mention something, please let me know so I can add it. This is a list for me to go back to later and fill in the details; I'm getting old, and my memory isn't what it used to be. (Though some may argue it never was in the first place.)

And without further ado, this is what I did on my summer vacation (in roughly chronological order):

- I survived an intercontinental flight from Nagoya to Syracuse, despite the best efforts of a cranky Northwest Airlines stewardess, and a toxic-nut-laced "green curry".

- I ate unadon, grilled eel on a bed of rice, in the Detroit airport as my first meal on U.S soil. Sorry guys, you can't quite compare to the authentic thing; though it was quite good, and the service was great compared to that of Northwest Airlines.
- I got to surprise my sister, who didn't know I was coming and who I hadn't seen in two years. And because she was graduating from highschool.
- I got to see the rest of my immediate family, who I also hadn't seen in two years.

- I got to see my paternal grandmother, who also didn't know I was coming and who I hadn't seen in at least six years. And because it was her 80th birthday.
- I got to pick up my maternal grandmother, who also didn't know I was coming and who I hadn't seen in over a year, from the airport. And because she misses me more than anyone in the world.
- I got to attend my sister's graduation party.
- I got to see my sister graduate from high school.
- I got to meet some of my sister's friends, who have been influential in my sister's developement and growth.
- I took over a hundred pictures of my family.
- I got to see my family's cats, who, despite my allergy to them, generally accepted me into "their" household.
- I got to see my mom's friend Joy, who is one of the funniest, smartest people I've ever met; and who generally accepted me into "her" household.
- I got to use an actual, working, cleaning washing machine! And then I got to use a dryer! My jeans were clean, not stiff from being out on the line, and even smelled nice!

- I got to go on a drive (and actually DRIVE!) with both my brother and sister, a feat I don't think we'd accomplished since they came with my mother to the train station when I moved to Minnesota in 2002. And we had a blast. Yay for country driving!
- We found "where the sidewalk ends." (Not the book, the actual place. It's at a bridge, if you're interested.)
- I ate more food than I would have ever thought possible. I think I gained about 5 pounds! Supermarkets in America are amazing; there's so much variety, and I can even read the labels! And I've never seen so many brands of bottled water.

- I survived a much better Northwest Airlines flight from Syracuse to Minneapolis.

- My cousin Matt met me at the airport. Then We took the light rail to downtown Minneapolis. I think we discussed philosophy and World Cup news. The train smelled like Minnesota.

- I watched the Brazil-Ghana football match (soccer game) with Matt at an Irish pub in downtown, where I ate Irish lamb stew, drank a pint, and talked with two Aussies who sat behind us. It was almost like still being in Japan.

- I went to Mayslacks, my old local. Tuesday nights will never die. Saw a lot of the old crew, found out a few more of them are married or getting that way. But it's comforting that they're still there.

- I ate beer-battered cheese curds and deep dish pizza with Becca. The pizza was pepperoni and mushroom, and the company was great.

- I stayed at my old apartment again, albeit in Eric's place in the basement.

- I got to sit on the porch again and read and think and eat and look out over the park at the cityscape at night. It's one of the things I'd missed most of all; and I still do.
- I got to see my Grandpa and Grandma when they came down to drop off a car for me. It was great to see them, and great to have a non-bus way to get around the city.

- I went to the Walker Art Center with Lindsey and saw (part of) the Diane Arbus exhibit. Then we walked around the Sculpture Garden and took pictures of Spoonbridge and Cherry. It was a good night.
- I sat outside at the DML house and roasted marshmellows over a semi-legal firepit. Several times. DDR was also played on one occasion.

- I went to a Twins game. I ate a Dome Dog, cheesy nachos, and crackerjacks, and somehow managed to sit in nacho cheese. We also frightened the girl sitting next to me when Danika announced that it was absolutely imperative that I kiss someone if I was spotlighted on the "Kiss Cam". Luckily that didn't happen.
- My old roommate Kyle came to the game, too. I hope he gets the job in Hawaii, so I can go visit him.
-My other old roommate, Dan, met up with us at the DML house after the game. It was good to see him again too. Dan, just kiss the girl already!
- I went to Target. On quite a few occasions. And it was good. :)

- I went to Cub Foods on quite a few occasions, which is the mythical home of Cheez-its and chewy granola bars. And I was amazed that such variety of breakfast cereals exist.

- I watched movies that haven't even come out in Japan yet (that I know of). I didn't, however, get to see A Prairie Home Companion, which I kind of regret.

- I spent the day at my Aunt Anne's house, visiting with my Aunt, Grandma, and cousins Libby and Drew. And they fed me. A lot.

- Drew and I worked out how to make Paul Anka's cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" my ring tone. Mad props to the boy wonder. He also made me a mix CD to listen to on the plane-ride home, and it is amazing.
- I got to see my Grandma, Aunts Anne and Becky, and cousins, Dan and Em, at my Grandma's apartment. Either I'm shrinking, or the cousins are getting HUGE. Em, you can make honor roll too. ;)
- I (finally) got to see Eric, who nearly scared the crap out of me while I was taking a nap. His beard is huge; just like his heart.

- I got to see a dozen good friends, who were kind enough to attend a Fourth of July party/barbecue at the house. 3pm to 3am. Good friends, good food, good times. Not enough time. Fonzy, I think we still have that ice cream.

See more photos from the Fourth here.

- I stayed up late every night. It was awesome. Lindsey is absolutely right: Losing sleep to spend quality time with friends is always worth it.

- I caught my 13- or 29-hour (depending on the clock you use) flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo to Nagoya. On Northwest Airlines, who were actually decent to me this time. Maybe it was just that one woman...

It was such an amazing trip; I saw so many people I wanted to see, I got to do a lot of things I wanted to do, I saw a lot of things I wanted to see. I still can't believe how much I did in such a relatively short time. I got to see what I left behind, how life has changed, and why I miss everything (and everyone) at home. Both of them.

Help me. Help me remember more. Tell me stories. Did I see you at home? Did we do something fun or memorable? Leave a comment or write me an email, and I'll try to compile them.

Thank you for such an amazing time.

thom in japan again.

At home, part 1

2006-06-26T09:08:00.000+09:00

Well, things are going well at home; the sister graduated without incident, other than the graduation being indoors due to rain. It's quite peaceful here, I spent yesterday afternoon in the "backyard" - all six feet of it - reading Hemingway and trying to get myself unpale. The former was great, finished "Fiesta", and the latter was successful - I went from translucent white to painful pink.

I do not tan.

"Home" is truly wonderful. Flying into my hometown, I was amazed by how green everything was. The air smells like soil. There's a small stream that runs behind my parents' house. Even sitting on the back porch reading, with the cat sitting on the railing, while it drizzles down rain, is peaceful. "Home" is what Japan is not: natural, green, cool.

And I miss Minensota. I miss my friends and family there; I miss coffee and books at Anodyne; I miss sunshine on Minneapolis and the food market on Nicollet Mall on Thursdays.

And I will be there on Tuesday!

But I still miss Japan; I miss being at the river with Jo and Iain and Fi; I miss playing darts at Ele's Nest with Francis; I miss the amazing strangers at Misfits every night of the week.

And I will be back in just over a week.

It's hard being homeless.

Away Home

2006-06-22T11:19:00.002+09:00

Well, it's been a long three weeks past; it's included working almost nonstop for two weeks, packing, and then finally flying back to the U.S. That's right, I'm back in the States right now, sitting at my parents' kitchen table surrounded by various condiments to be used for my sister's graduation party the day after tomorrow. I'll be here in New York for about another week before heading off to Minnesota to visit family and friends. The reason I didn't mentioned it before was so it would be a surprise for my sister; she graduates on Friday, and I hadn't seen her in two years, so I had the perfect excuse to take a couple of weeks off work and come see the family!

I've spent most of my first day back home in bed; I'd been running almost two and a half days (my June 20th was 35 hours long, my 19th was about 18) on just four hours of sleep and I was fit to drop. Woke up several times, first at about 7am local time, then 9am, then around noon, then a few minutes later at 5pm. My sister's baccalaureate service was tonight; fun with poetry, music and humor, and lots of people I've never met or met only once. Thus is life in a small town. One grandmother is here already from Arizona, the other is currently trapped in Detroit by inclement weather and should arrive tomorrow. She still doesn't know I'm here; the surprise is going well.

Ate at Fresno's, a Tex-Mex restaurant about four blocks from my first house in Syracuse. It was good: had Buffalo chicken wings first time in a year - other than the ones Timmy made from scratch at Misfits about 10 months ago. It was still a shock to eat American food again; drinks (real iced tea!) came in 4-gallon glasses - with free refills - and the food came on plates the size of a tatami mat. God bless the home of the original Denny's - no more noodles in my Grand Slam!

Wrote this "yesterday morning" (Japan time), talking about the first leg of my trip - Nagoya to Tokyo:
"A long couple of days; work yesterday was largely uneventful with spells of blase: met up Joanna, bless, who held out like a trooper for over an hour before crying. Poor girl, Nova's been pretty shite for her; and the heat, job searching, and my leaving sure haven't helped. Bless. Left her in time to catch the last train, but ended up staying up till after 4, writing emails, packing, re-packing, checking blogs "one more time" before shutting the laptop down, and re-re-un-re-packing, etc. Then set the alarm for 7:30.

I should get my head checked.

It was starting to get light when I finally went to bed, and it was definitely light when the alarm went off. Half-seven is a God-awful hour; the sun is up and it's hot, but no sane person is yet awake. Got up eventually, chased a ghost down the hallway, drank some coffee to get rid of said ghost, showered, re-re-etc-packed, and left at nine. Caught the 9:36 Meitetsu to Centrair Airport without too much trouble, short of walking through Nagoya Station twice. Head check, seriously. Got to the airport around 10:10, then proceeded through ticket pick-up, check-in, and customs with nary a problem. I love this country; if it weren't for the fact I speak zero Japanese and the whole place could fall into the ocean at any moment, I'd move here in a second. Oh wait...

Still hadn't had breakfast at that point, so after changing 50,000yen I went for eats. I'm so damn American; I ate a cheeseburger and fries because it was one of two things on the menu I could recognize - the other being foie gras on rice. So. The burger ended up being rather soft and mushy, the fries were the same. I wish I'd known beforehand that they had miso katsu and soybeans, like the guys behind me got."

So that was Centrair airport in Nagoya. The flight to Tokyo wasn't too bad: only an hour long, and a window seat, but directly in front of two screaming ADD-afflicted children with the most inept parents/babysitters (I couldn't tell which) I've ever seen. Said the mother/female babysitter of the daughter: "Wow, she's so subtle. Sometimes I forgot she's another person." *sigh* I've sworn off having children. The positive side of it was I had a CD player, Hemingway to read, and bottle of sake; if worse came to worse I was prepared to get very drunk and sick The Mars Volta on the hell-spawn.

But that flight didn't even compare to my flight between Tokyo and Detroit; I'd forgotten I'd flown Business Class when I came to Japan, so visions of comfortable seats and friendly staff were floating in my head. How wrong I was! This flight on Northwest Airlines (I shall refer to this poor excuse for a shipping company in bold, in hopes that it'll come up on a google search) saw me crammed into an economy box near the rear of the plane, and "attended" by a middle-aged woman who apparently had lost the will to live. Maybe it's because I've been living in Japan for the past year, where the desire to please the customer borders on overkill, but is it too much to ask for Northwest Airlines cabin staff to at least make the pretense of caring about their customers? I felt like I was troubling her when she asked if I wanted anything to drink.
Northwest Airlines "representative": Would you like something to drink?
Me: Yes, can I have some water please?
Northwest Airlines wench: [sigh] Sure.
Me: Sorry.
Now, I can understand having a bad day, and even not wanting to deal with customers, but please woman! you're a freaking stewardess!
On top of that, when "dinner"-time rolled around they were out of the main entree, a Japanese-style "dish". Instead, they had a vegetarian "green curry" which bore a strong resemblance to a street after St. Patricks day in Japan - green viscuous on rice. Green viscuous that contained some form of nut. For those readers unfamiliar with my dietary requirements, I am severely allergic to tree nuts - so severe, in fact, that I've been sent to the emergency room after eating them. And emergency rooms are pretty rare at 37,000 feet. So I asked another staff for a glass of ice (ice-water keeps the swelling in my throat from closing off my ability to breathe); which they did...after 15 minutes. Northwest Airlines, you are a disgrace to the people you represent, the people you serve, the country in which you are based, and you entire industry. Do us all a favor and go out of business. Soon.

But they did get me home. And on time too. And they're fairly cheap, though a near-monopoly in Japan-American flights from Nagoya probably helps.

Anyway, it's nearly midnight here, 1pm Nagoya time, and my body is screaming for sleep and any semblance of a "normal" time. No more whining, I'm off to bed.

Thom-in-Japan-in-America

PS - pictures when I take them.

One Year

2006-06-10T01:17:00.000+09:00

Can you believe it?!?! It's now officially been one year since I first arrived in Osaka. It started with a fifty-year-old man wearing a hat that said "Bitchslap" in the Kansai airport on 9 June, 2005, and continued today with a Big Box o' "Placenta: For Your Good Health" in a local drugstore. What a long and crazy adventure it's been, and what prospects it still holds!

It still amazes me how fast a year can slip by, and yet how much can happen and how much things can change in such a short time. I'm excited to see what adventures will arise and what friends will accompany me on journeys; but still I'll miss the friends who won't be with me on these journeys. For all of the latter: you need to come out, I miss you and you won't regret it.

Tokyo: you and I need a rematch, our last meeting was much too short. Kyushu, don't think you'll escape unvisited. Sendai, I still need to come hang out. Shanghai, I'm comin' for you, too - by slow boat!

Okay, I'm exhausted, I'm going to bed. It's been a full year.

Peace.

This is my good side.

** Keep your eyes open for a "Japan1: The Best Of", coming soonish. **

Mission(s) Accomplished...and then some.

2006-05-25T12:34:00.000+09:00

Pretty productive week so far; got my immigration postcard on Saturday, went in on Tuesday, and walked out with a three-year visa! Not that I'm going to stay for three years, another year is about all I think I can handle without getting permanently Novafied. But still, it's nice to have that piece out of the way.

That night (being still Tuesday) I went out with Jo for the Big Night: meeting her parents. Jo's parents have been in Japan for about a week and a half, spending the first week with Jo in Kyoto where it absolutely poured. Then they spent some time in Tokyo seeing the sights, before coming back to Nagoya to visit their daughter again, and to meet her incredibly handsome boyfriend.

We met up at Nagoya Station, Jo and I at the clock tower and then with her parents at the information Desk - Jo was quite smart and decided that she would meet me first and then introduce me to her folks. After some introductions we headed out to Yagya for dinner. Conversation was light and easy, which made me very happy; I'd been pretty nervous about a potential interrogation when we met. But my fears were completely unfounded: Jo's folks are incredibly nice, and I had a wonderful time with them. Dinner at Yagya was good too; Jo's folks weren't nearly as frightened by takoyaki (octopus in fried dough balls) as I'd thought they might be. We also had some delicious crab croquettes and prawns in a spicy Vietnamese sauce, among other things. Score two points for the home team.

The next day went well too: Jo invited me out to Nagoya Castle with her and her parents; which was great, considering I've been here a year and still haven't been to see the Castle. It ended up being a perfect summer's day, temps in the low 80s F and sunshine with a nice breeze. We ate miso katsu (breaded pork-on-a-stick with miso sauce) and walked around the grounds, saw the various gardens, walls, and moat; and then went into the Castle for a tour. The inside of the Castle is quite nice since it was rebuilt about 40 years ago, and they're in the process of rebuilding the Hommaru Palace that stood at the base of Castle. There's a lot of history in and around Nagoya Castle; three of the most prominent shoguns were born or battled in the area to move Japan out of the feudal era and create a unified Japan.

After the tour of the Castle, we all settled down on benches for an ice cream break. I got set to order a chocolate cone, when the woman at the counter told me it was actually miso soup-flavor. I got it anyway. Not too bad, but I think it'll stay on my "Things I've Tried In Japan, But Probably Never Again" list. Jo, being intelligent, got strawberry.

After THAT, we decided that there was still time in the afternoon to check out Tokugawaen - the Tokugawa Gardens. Originally built over 300 years ago as a retirement home for the head of the Tokugawa family, this park is still an oasis in the middle of busy Ozone. It includes Ryusenko (Ryusen Lake) stocked with koi, several bridges of various design, a giant restaurant/banquet hall, and at least three waterfalls; all along some gorgeous pathways. Jo laughed at me while her father and I tried to plot the best way to see all the sights around the garden, and even took a picture of us with our maps (which I will try to obtain). Boys will be boys, I guess. But it was a lovely park, and I'll have to go back again. We missed out on the museum, which closes annoyingly early, but does house 'The Tale of Genji' - the world's first true novel.

All the walking left us pretty knackered, so we headed back to the station, Jo's parent bound for their hotel and Jo and I for Tsurumai Park. The evening was wonderful, so we stopped for some snacks, then took a leisurely stroll through the park. Tsurumai-koen is great: it has a beautiful rose garden, which was in full bloom; a nice little pond, unfortunately koi-less, on one end of the park; and two or three monument-like fountains. And in spring it's the home of one of Nagoya's biggest Hanami hot-spots. Nice.

Other than that, not a whole lot has been going on; there's a going-away party tonight for some friends, which will be both fun and sad; and then work again on Friday. And so the weekend flies...

peace.

Nagoya Castle and Donjon (left).

One of the "Golden Fish" - the symbol of the City of Nagoya.

Ryumon no Taki (Ryumon Waterfall), Tokugawaen.

Base of Ozone no Taki (Ozone Waterfall), Tokugawaen.

Pond at Tsurumai-koen.

Jo and rose beds, Tsurumai-koen at sunset.

May thus far

2006-05-17T21:41:00.000+09:00

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post; how the time flies! It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since I arrived in Japan; so much has happened, I've seen and experienced so much, and my cultural horizons have practically exploded. My world has gotten very big and very small at the same time. It's been by far the most amazing experience of my life. My advice to you, gentle reader, is that if you ever get the opportunity to live abroad, take it - it's the most unbelievably eye-opening thing you can do.

So much news, so much news...
Well, it's official, I've decided to stay in Japan for another six months to a year. I've filled out all the paperwork for both the new contract and the visa renewal, which will hopefully all work out quickly. Y'know, so I don't get deported and all. My contract renewal is in, all the paperwork filled out and pending the visa renewal, which is also all filled out and in process. Hopefully all will be resolved within the next 2-3 weeks...

So yes, another year in Japan. It was really a tough decision to make; I really miss friends and family at home, and not seeing them for another six months will be really difficult, but hopefully I'll be able to head home for a visit. The main reason for the stay I guess is because I just haven't seen and done everything that I want to see and do: I still haven't been to Sendai, I haven't visited an onsen, and I haven't been south of Osaka, which means no Kyushu trip. And I haven't traveled outside of Japan; China, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand are high on the list. So I'm sticking around and hopefully meeting some of these goals.

And recent life has been pretty good in it's own right; Nagoya is ramping up for summer with some pretty nice days - temps in the 70's F and sunshine galore have been great for a few day-trips to nearby towns. But it isn't all sunshine: it's been pissing down rain for the past couple of weeks. But watching CNN and seeing how the Northeast US is underwater makes me feel a little better, and I live on the 8th floor so chances of my belongings washing away are pretty slim. But rainy season doesn't officially begin till mid-June, which means there could still be a lot of days of damp clothes and smelly tatami. But that just makes the nice days all the better for spending time outdoors in the sun and raising any flagging spirits.

Well, mostly. One of the downsides to having been here a year is that most of my original friends have left or are leaving shortly. Out of the staff and teachers at my home branch, only my supervisor and I are left. Original roommates Alwyn and Devin (above) left in January and February respectively. Jen and Lorri left within three days of each other in late March. Jen's roommates Kristy and Sarah (also above) are leaving in three weeks; Kristy and I arrived in Osaka the same day, Sarah came with Jen, Francis, Mitchell, and Lorri a week later. Kasey is leaving Tokyo and Japan in just two weeks. Change is in the air. It's sad sometimes; like we are merely minor characters walking through scenes in each others' lives. But I also know that if I ever travel anywhere in the world, I'll have a place to stay and friends to see; everywhere I go will be a homecoming of sorts.

For these friends I write. I love you all, and hope to see you again.

But I won't be all alone here in Nagoya, the friends that remain are growing tighter: I'm still living with Francis and Rob, who are both staying for at least the next six months, and Mitchell who lives just upstairs is staying as well. So is Iain and his newly-arrived girlfriend Fiona, as well as Iain's flatmate Darius. And so is my "newly-arrived" girlfriend, Jo. (All four of whom are pictured here, albeit blurrily.) It's beginning to feel like a family whose members are just discovering each other around a very strange dinner table; we all bring something and we all remember those who have moved on to other parts of the world. It's like a rotational Thanksgiving dinner. The meal has been a good one and will hopefully last a long time.

And yes, I did mention a girlfriend: some of you have already heard about Jo, or Joanna for long. We met, ironically enough, on Valentines Day when Francis invited the cute new girl from his branch to come back to our flat for a not-Valentines/Housewarming party. Jo and I really hit it off and started hanging out quite a bit, and then started dating "officially" about a month and a half ago. Jo is a wonderful girl and things are going quite swimmingly; I'm meeting her parents when they come to visit via Kyoto. Yikes!

Work has been pretty busy this spring; Imaike, my home branch, had a Kids room built to accomadate the Kids classes we're absorbing due to the closure of about three branches in the Nagoya area. We're not absorbing ALL the kids, just the ones from the branch just down the road that closed. I actually like teaching kids, it's pretty fun and a good break from being in a 7'x7' room with up to four adults for 40 minutes. Plus they can draw pictures of me on the whiteboard and that's considered an acceptable form of learning. The downside is they had to knock out three of our seven classrooms to build the Kids room, which makes it difficult to teach in the smaller classrooms because of the proximity to other teachers and students.

And I've been pretty busy teaching as well; I've been to five different branches in the last six work days, and have now worked at 12 of the 15 branches in my "district" - which will hopefully stay my record.

On the leisure front, I've been reading quite a bit recently; mostly on rainy days, to and from work, when the girl is otherwise occupied, and when I can't be bothered to go out (i.e. "saving money"). I've talked a bit about Haruki Murakami, who I have become a huge fan of, and I'm still reading my way through his works: I finished "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" and "South of the Border, West of the Sun" and started on "Norwegian Wood". Good stuff, I recommend all of it. Also reading/read Chuck Palahnuik's "Diary", Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure", and the first Harry Potter book. Iain let me borrow Hemingway's "Fiesta", which he highly recommends and I can't wait to dig into.

No news on performing, I still haven't had a chance to talk to a couple of bands about playing, but hopefully soon. I've been playing around a bit on guitar, but I'm still pretty rusty. I have been listening to a lot of music though, as usual. And it's been quite a mixed bag: Johnny Cash, Ben Folds, Sigur Ros, Jimmy Eat World, and Counting Crows, just to name a few. To quote Drew, "Good times...good times."

And good times on the social front as well: I've spent so many good nights out with friends, good for so many reasons, that I can't hardly pick a good place to start. But I will: about two weeks ago I went out with Francis to a local "English" pub for a pint. I was pretty tired and wasn't going to go, but Rob had wimped out, so I decided not to leave Francis hanging. And it ended up being such a perfectly quiet night: the pub was mostly empty so we played darts and talked for almost three hours; not since Mayslacks in Minneapolis have I had such a great night with my boys. (The exception being Misfits nights with Alwyn, of course.)

Jo and I have spent quite a few nights in good conversation as well and we've discovered some really good places to eat in the process. She and I went up to Gifu a couple of weeks ago for a walk-around; we didn't quite make it up to the Castle, which we've both seen already, but we did get to see some really cool temples and shrines and we hiked up Kinka-zan (Mt. Kinka). We went to Inaba-jinja (shrine, right) just as it was starting to get dark, which was amazingly tranquil; they had just lit the torches/streetlights and everything carried a mysterious air. A student told me in class that Basho, a poet famous for haiku, had written about the tranquility of shrines, how the stillness is so complete that the buzz of cicadas seems to penetrate the very rocks with their sound. It was absolutely amazing; the peacefulness was so deep that we barely talked as we walked through the grounds.

We also spent a day in Inuyama walking along Kiso-gawa, the Kiso river (right), also known as the Japanese Rhine for it's beauty. Jo and I went to Momotaru shrine, then a semi-hidden waterfall, and lounged on a jetty sticking out into the river. It was a nice day, sunny and warm with a good breeze, and I really couldn't ask for better company. =)

More recently a bunch of us decended on Inuyama for a night at the river, complete with talking, singing and playing guitar. Got home around 3 this morning. Good times. Kiso-gawa has definitely become one of my favorite places in central Honshu, probably because of the usual company that comes with my visits there.

Okay, well this post has gotten out of control yet again; I'll leave you with this: I am coming home, eventually. Life is an amazing gift, and where I am now is incredibly wonderful; I wish you could all be here to experience it with me.

Blessings,
thom

Mad Weekend

2006-04-26T01:28:00.000+09:00

Just a couple of photos from today, to show you some of what I like to do on my days off. It was sunny and warm, and Iain and Francis and I met up in Fushimi to take advantage of the weather.

Iain and Francis, soaking up sunlight. Miracle Gro not included.

Iain, ice cream, Francis, and a Japanese F86 in front of the Nagoya Art Museum. Go figure.

Kyoto

2006-04-16T13:15:00.000+09:00

Well, it's taken me a while, but here's the story on Kyoto - and it's a long one!

April 5th opened cool and rainy, but Francis, Jen, Kristy and I decided to risk potential colds and hopped on the local train to Kyoto. Francis and I had considered taking the Shinkansen down, saving about two and a half hours, but it would have cost about $50 each way so we scrapped the idea. I've been here ten months and I still haven't ridden the Shinkansen, that'll have to be a goal for the upcoming term, but I really do like riding the locals; especially with friends. It's like the old road-trips back home - minus the hassle of driving, bathroom breaks, and annoying states like Nebraska and Iowa; it's being able to sit and talk and look out the window at a constantly-changing landscape and being able to read and write and sometimes even sleep, all at a really relaxed pace. And three hours later, we arrive in Kyoto.

We caught the bus from Kyoto Station (which is a sight in itself, and I highly recommend) to near Kiyomizu-dera (temple), then walked up the hill towards the temple in a light rain. Kyoto is known for its traditional stylings, the streets we walked up were narrow by most Western standards - barely a Japanese car and a half wide, and the shops on both sides were filled with small shops selling touristy souvenirs, toys, overpriced playing cards, and sweets. (If one should need another reason to visit Kyoto, beyond the beautiful temples, gardens, shops, and general atmosphere, Kyoto has reknowned okashi, or sweets. The Japanese love food [i.e. TV's "Iron Chef"], and Kyoto is famous for it's sweets. Come visit, enjoy the sights, and eat.) We browsed through a few shops on the way up, and then toured the temple.

Kiyomizu-dera ("Kiyomizu" literally means "pure water") is a sprawling layout of beautiful buildings, and a functioning Hosso Buddhist temple; about twenty pilgrims were there that day despite the rain, and while I have some pictures of some of the outer buildings, I didn't want to show any disrespect by taking pictures of either the pilgrims or the golden buddha inside. Besides, the pirgrims, when they were finished praying, were kind enough to take a few picutures of us! The contrast between sacred and tourist here is strange, to say the least.

After walking through the temple grounds we walked down Kiyomizu-machi, the main road leading to the temple, and browsed through some more shops. Shop owners have come up with an ingenious way of getting you to buy their wares - free samples. We must have each bought at least two kinds of okashi.

But man cannot live by okashi alone, so we walked back to the bus stop, crammed our gaijin selves onto (or, more appropriately, into) a Japanese sardine can, headed off to Gion to wine and dine under the cherry blossoms. The rain had pretty much stopped, which was both good and bad: we could eat without too much discomfort, but we'd have to contend for a chunk of ground with an ever-incresing number of Japanese tourists. We managed to find a deserted bench under some beautiful blossoms, spread out a tarpauline, and ate a delicious lunch packed by Kristy and Jen. When you are a culinarily-challenged bachelor, it is beyond nice to have friends who can actually cook; much appreciation goes out to these lovely young ladies.

While we were eating, we noticed several large eagles, eagles, circling around. The park has healthy communities of both pigeons (which tourists feed) and crows (which tourists don't feed but they do pretty well anyways); and the pigeons, being avian squirrels, attract the eagles. The pigeons and crows have worked out an ingenious little deal: the pigeons will look "cute" and get the tourists to drop food, which the crows can also eat, if the crows will keep the eagles away. Brilliant. For ten months out of the year. The other two months are sakura/hanami parties and autumn leaf parties, when the eagles have another target: small children. Like the one holding some form of food who was standing not far from Francis. An eagle with a wingspan of no less than two meters swooped down, missed the pigeon/squirrel-looking child, and then missed Francis by about four feet. To be honest, I like nature a lot more when it's not trying to eat my friends.

After lunch/dinner (it was midafternoon), we wandered around the park/temple grounds admiring the magnificent trees. There were tons of food stalls along the road; one of which served an amazing beef stew-like dish with green onions. I ate most of it, and I wasn't even hungry to begin with.

We ended up walking quite a ways back to Kyoto station; which was more than okay, since it gave me time to burn off some of my gluttony and to talk with Kristy about writing and life and future plans. I think we'll both end up writing books someday; me because I need some way to put all these adventures down on paper to remember them, and Kristy because she's a helluva lot smarter than I am.

We caught the train back to Nagoya right about the same time everyone on the south end of Honshu did - it was quite packed, and Francis and I stood about halfway back to Maibara. (I think it was Maibara; it could have been Ogaki, but I'm leaning towards the former. It's a terrible thing to get old, kids; don't do it.) But we ended up talking about the war in Iraq and it's effects. It was really nice to be able to have an intellegent conversation on a relevant topic, especially after months of teaching "Do you know how to get to the supermarket?" to highschoolers and housewives.

I can't remember what time we got back into Nagoya; there may have been more to the story, more adventures; but frankly I can't remember. I'll consult my fellow adventurers and see what they remember, for they are all younger and their memories are much stronger than mine. I really need to start keeping a journal; but then, wasn't that what this was supposed to be?

Maybe someday...

Love from here,
thom in japan

PS - Good photos here; enjoy them! If you want more, leave me comments; otherwise I'll just assume I'm boring you. Nah.

Road to Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto. The blend of old and new, with a curry shop on the right and the ubiquitous delivery vans lining the streets overshadowed by temples and misty mountains.
Japan is amazing.

Gate outside Kiyomizu-dera.

Rain on sakura equals tranquility.

Francis, Jen, and Kristy outside Kiyomizu-dera.

Another part of Kiyomizu-dera, with sakura.

This, right here, is why I love Japan.

Temples rise from the mist like ancient ghosts, to guard mountains older than time.

Kiyomizu-dera - At least Kristy's looking. sigh.

Japan in a glance: beautiful gardens, tranquil ponds, awe-inspiring mountains, mysterious temples, tourists.

Hanami #1 - Beneath the Sakura.
Kristy and Jen.

Hanami #2 - Diners Club.
Francis, Kristy, and Jen.

Sakura and pines.

Perspective.

Torii.

River in Kyoto.

Hanami

2006-04-05T02:03:00.000+09:00

Imagine, a warm spring day, about 65 degrees F, mostly cloudy but no real threat of rain; the perfect day for a ball game or a picnic lunch.

The Japanese have a perfect answer for these kind of days: Hanami - party under the blossoms.

Hanami are hugely popular in Japan; the opportunity to join friends for a picnic lunch or dinner and a traditional bottle of sake under the delicate canopy of sakura (cherry blossoms), to relax and bask in the majesty of Spring with friends and family, is the perfect way to spend a beautiful spring evening. And according to a recent article I found on Yahoo News, predicting the exact days of peak viewing is becoming more and more important as business people try to pick the best days to take off from work.

And today was a great day to take off. It is no wonder why the Japanese have adopted the sakura as a national symbol.

I only spent a couple of hours in Tsurumai Park in Nagoya today, but it was more than enough to gather the feeling of relaxation and festivity that filled the park along with the crowd. Stretched out under the trees everywhere were blue plastic tarpaulines to stake a claim on prime viewing/dining spots for those coming later. Children played baseball and soccer in a nearby field, or threw stones into a fountain. Older kids played frisbee. Adults lounged under the trees talking and joking and eating. Dozens of food stands lined the pathways, selling delicious takoyaki, okonomiyaki, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and squid-on-a-stick.

And above them were the beautiful white blossoms, clumped together like snow in winter, from literally hundreds of trees. It was a unbelievable sight. The closest thing I can relate it to, the whole experience I mean, is maybe a spring picnic, or maybe a cool Fourth of July, minus the blaring music. These three pictures are just a representation of the sixty I took today. "Amazing" doesn't even begin to describe it.

The best part: I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow to do the same thing again. Rock on.

Today

2006-03-27T00:58:00.000+09:00

Illness, illusions, delusions, and random stories.

I'm still sick, but I'm beginning to feel a little better. The cold in my chest is migrating north to my head, where it is quite happily taking up residence. But I have better meds for that, so... Slowly but surely. A nice girl called me today to check on my health, even offered to come over for a visit, but I said I was still too sick to receive visitors. Sad; she's such a sweetheart. We decided to make plans for a little later in the week, when the threat of contamination is lower.

Last night was to be the second of Welcome Camel's Japanese Tour '06, but alas, 'twas not to be. Luckily, the murkiness of mind that accompanies a disease helped to dull the disappointment. It sounds, from a few sources, that a lot of people ended up going anyway, to see the band we we supposed to open for. Rock and roll. Anyway, I need to go talk to the bar owner later this week to see if there's a chance of us playing there sometime in April. April would be cool; sakura (cherry blossoms) and all.

I really need to get out of the flat.

Still torn over whether to go home in June, or to stick around for another six months. My Japanese is still crap; thanks in large to my personal laziness. If I stick around, I can up my Nihongo and, hopefully, my savings account. Sounds good, but it means not seeing the kids at home for that much longer. 'Torn' is such a good word to describe what I feel. 'Riven' works well too.

Been reading Murakami's "Wind-up Bird Chronicle" in between bouts of coughing; despite being sick, I'm really enjoying it. The style took a little getting used to at first, but once in, it's really good. It blends so many stories together (which I like, since that's what I want to do with my Japan experience book), and has a sort of existential mystery tying them together: a every-man middle-achiever tries to sort through and make sense of strange circumstances that arise in his life. A good read.

Last Tuesday I woke up around 9:30 and decided that I would do much better if there was fresh coffee ready for when I got out of the shower. So I got out my bag of precious Caribou Coffee beans, Fireside Blend, dumped some into my handy-dandy coffee grinder, and took it into the bathroom. I did this (the last part at least) because my handy-dandy coffee grinder is from the States and has a polarized plug (i.e. one prong is wider than the other to prevent electocution) and the only polarized outlet in the flat is in the bathroom. So I went into the bathroom, ground the beans nicely, and proceeded to drop the container into the sink - spilling the nicely ground coffee all over the inside of the freshly-cleaned sink. So I did what any perfectly logical young man would do in my situation: I vacuumed out the sink. (Then I cleaned it properly, of course.)

Now, whenever I vacuum my bedroom, it smells like the Caribou shop I worked in in Minneapolis. Nice.

Okay, that's it for today; I've done quite a bit: read, cleaned up a bit, tried to kill germs with mind-bullets (the jury is still out on this), and even cooked dinner. Now I'm going to go to bed; I must must must go to work tomorrow, and I'm dreading it already.

Peace,
thom

Holy Mochi! Me holding mochi (pounded rice cake the size, shape, and consistancy of a hockey puck). Tagata-jinja, 15 March, 2006.

On War, Creativity, and the Nature of Literature.

2006-03-27T00:50:00.000+09:00

Wednesday, 22 March, 2006.

**NOTE: This is a fragment; I haven't finished fleshing this out all the way.**

I'm currently reading Haruki Murakami's "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" and was struck by how literature, especially good literature, boths draws us in and shows us our own world through new eyes. For example, this passage about the Japanese Army's advance into Manchuria (China) in the late 1930s:

"'I don't mind fighting,' he told me. 'I'm a soldier. And I don't mind dying in battle for my country, because that's my job. But this war we're fighting now, Lieutentant - well, it's just not right. It's not a real war, with a battle line where you face the enemy and fight to the end. We advance, and the enemy runs away without fighting. Then the Chinese soldiers take their uniforms off and mix with the civilian population, and we don't even know who the enemy is. So we kill a lot of innocent people in the name of flushing out 'renegades' or 'remnant troops', and we commandeer provisions. We have to steal their food, because the line moves forward so fast our supplies can't catch up with us. And we have to kill our prisoners, because we don't have anywhere to keep them or any food to feed them. It's wrong, Lieutenant. We did some terrible things in Nanking. My own unit did. We threw dozens of people into a well and dropped hand grenades in after them. Some things we did I can't even bring myself to talk about. I'm telling you, Lieutenant, this is one war that doesn't haveany Righteous Cause. It's just two sides killing each other. And the ones who get stepped on are the poor farmers, the ones without politics or ideology. For them, there's no Nationalist Party, no Young Marshal Zhang, no Eighth Route Army. If they can eat, they're happy. I know how these people feel: I'm the son of a poor fisherman myself. The little people slave away from morning to night, and the best they can do is keep themselves alive - barely. I can't believe that killing these people for no reason at all is going to do Japan one bit of good.'" ("The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" pg 143.)

And again, describing the Mongolian steppes:
"...When I thought about Japan, I began to feel as if I had been abandoned at the edge of the world. Why did we have to risk our lives to fight for this barren piece of earth devoid of military or industrial value, this vast land where nothing lived but wispy grass and biting insects? To protect my homeland, I too would fight and die. But it made no sense at all to sacrifice my one and only life for the sake of this desolate patch of soil from which no shaft of grain would ever spring." (Wind-up Bird, pg 146.)

(And, just for the record, Murakami's masterful description of this landscape and the characters' feeling is just that: masterful. Utterly beautiful and brutal.)

This is why I love literture; because someone of a different age, a different time, a different culture, a completely different set of circumstances, can speak directly to a feeling or situation or time that you, yourself, are feeling/in currently.

It makes you, forces you, to realize that history, people's stories, are cyclical; that there is nothing new under the sun.

And, in one aspect, that is extremely comforting: someone has gone through the same thing(s) that you yourself are going through, with minor variation. On the other hand (what a deliciously bizarre cliche), it also makes you realize that all of your original creative thoughts aren't all that original or creative.

Which really isn't all that bad; there is still a reason to say/write what you think/feel/experience: there is always someone somewhere who needs to hear that they are not alone; that somewhere in this crazy, broken, confused, painful world of ours, there is another soul who feels the same way.

To end on a Chestertonian note, as I'm known to do, I'll leave you with this:

"Not only are we all in the same boat, but we are all seasick." -from "Wisdom and the Weather"

Amen and amen.

New Writings, part the first

2006-03-27T00:39:00.000+09:00

Okay.

I haven't updated in a long time. A lot of things have happened. Good things and bad things. But here's a partial update taken from writing that I haven't gotten around to uploading. More coming soon, hopefully.

Here goes:

Tuesday, 21 March 2006.

Welcome Camel, or How To Fail and Then Recover From That Failure By Eating At Denny's

Hmm...okay, a story by request. For Becca. Here goes:

Well, my "band" - Iain and I - played our first gig as Welcome Camel last Tuesday in the little city of Inuyama. To put it mildly, we sucked. I sucked into a microphone, so all the more suck for me. And it was mostly me; I was crazily nervous, which made me forget words in almost every song. The friends who made the 45-minute trip for this 40-minute mistake said that we did well, minus a few mistakes.

But then isn't that what friends are supposed to say? [sigh]

So needless to say, I'm not too happy how it went; which makes me all the more worried for the next show this Saturday - it'll be bigger and more of my friends/acquaintances will be there. I'm practicing every day, but I'm getting more and more nervous. I'm afraid I'm going to freeze up or have a nervous breakdown!

Anyway, after the debut-debacle, I proceeded to the bar:
Thom: Kei, whiskey kudasai (please).
Kei: What kind?
Thom: BIG.
Kei: Jack Daniels?
Thom: If it's a double, it's fine!

So after a rather generous serving of Mr. Daniels, I started to calm down a little. Fifteen minutes later, I was feeling decent again. Iain got back up and played a few covers, which I could finally sing along with pretty well. After that we played some drinking games, which I handled pretty well by knowing an inordinate amount of famous people's names, with the kids who stayed around.

[Moral of the story: Drink the whiskey first, rock the house second.]

I met a cute English girl (not the vampire one) named Megan and we started talking. Things were going really well, I somehow managed to say funny things and she laughed at them and kept touching my hand. I was golden. Then she asked me where in the States I was from. So I told her Minnesota. She said, "Oh, my boyfriend is from Texas. Is that near Minnesota?" Double dog damn.

We finally left around 4am, Megan decided to head home with Iain's flatmate Darius, and Iain, our friend Mitchell, and I went to Denny's...

Yes, Denny's. Across the road from Iain's flat is the Home of the All-American Grand Slam. Note though: Japanese All-American Grand Slams are not the same as American All-American Grand Slams. The Japanese kind contains noodles. Don't ask me how, like many things in Japan, it defies all logic. I didn't get the All-American Grand Slam.

So we sit down, order, start talking. Twenty minutes later, while we're eating, Iain's phone rings:
Iain: Hello?
Darius: Where are you?
Iain: At Denny's. Where are you?
Darius: What are you doing at Denny's?
Iain: Umm...eating?
Darius: Okay, I'm coming over.
Iain: Wait, what? What're yo-
[Three minutes later Darius literally stumbles in, looks around the nearly deserted restaurant twice, and totters over.]
Iain: Are you okay? What happened to Megan?
Darius: Who?
Iain: Megan! The girl you went home with! What happened man?!
Darius: I fell down.
All of us: WHAT?!?!
Darius: I fell down. Feel my head. [starts to show Iain his head through the BLT Iain's trying to eat]
Iain: Where did you fall? Where's Megan? Is she still in the flat? Did you get INTO the flat?
Darius: I don't know. Feel my head.

To make a long story shorter, Darius apparently became a victim of alcohol-induced gravity somewhere in the vicinity of his apartment, the lovely Megan decided that she DID love her boyfriend and went home, I ate french toast in Denny's at 4:30am, and we crashed at Iain's sometime after the sun came up.

The End?

Next Post: Hounen-sai Festival - AKA, Penis Fest 2006.

I'm okay

2006-03-17T00:10:00.000+09:00

Hey all,

Don't know if you've heard reports yet, but indeed there was a small earthquake earlier this morning. Actually, it was at about 6:30 am and it woke me up just long enough to think, "Is this an earthquake, or am I still dreaming? Maybe it'll be gone when I wake up." Then I fell back asleep, it wasn't the Big One, the building didn't collapse, and I am fine.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Big post coming, whenever I have the time. I promise.

-t.i.j.

Music Update

2006-03-09T01:39:00.000+09:00

Spent most of the afternoon in Inuyama with Iain again, working on yet more music. The good news is that Iain's newest song pretty much rocks the earth. Which is pretty dangerous in Japan.

Anyway, yeah, we're still in the "working" stage; though we need to be in the "gigging" stage by next Tuesday, so that we can play our first gig. Should be fun, at Kei's bar, La Kalavera, in Inuyama. A bunch of folks will be coming up to watch us play, and hopefully they won't be disappointed. We've got a good blend of covers and originals, and some of the covers are obscure enough that we'll need to tell folks that they're not ours. So. Yeah, I need to go work on lyrics some more. My song, "And The Horse You Rode In On", is sounding a lot like something like Wes Burdine might write if he were stuck in Japan, or something I would write if I listened to more Johnny Cash than I do. Oh well. Maybe I'll include something about pirates, that should help; or maybe Chesterton references. Or Palahniuk references. Could be good. But I digress.

My weekends have been recently expanded, due to shift adjustments by the higher-ups. My boss called me about three weeks ago while I was working one of my "help shifts" (classes at another branch). He asked what I was doing, since that day was my day off. I told him no, that was NOT my day off; and in fact, he'd obviously tracked me down, since I wasn't at my usual branch. Odd. Anyway, he was wondering if I could slide my Thursday classes from 1:20-5:40 to 5-9pm. In return, they'd offer me an extra 5000 yen/month.

Um, so what you're offering is to expand my weekend to two and a half days, and pay me more for it? Well, gee, yeah, I think that might work. Possibly. Since the paperwork's already in. Whatever.

So tomorrow is practice/clean/shopping/then off to work day. Should be interesting.

In weather news - don't hate me - it's been in the upper 50s/low 60s for the last few days, and I have been loving it. I'm still planning to get out on some photo expeditions, but recent musical endeavors have been occupying most of my free weekends. I wish I had my camera just about every time I come up out of the subway station near my flat: from the outer steps, one can see the JR Towers, the new Toyota headquarters building, and sometimes even the Shinkansen bulleting by in the foreground. Either day or night, it's a pretty cool view; very Nagoya.

Anyway, it's getting late and I need my beauty sleep. Being a rockstar is hard.

right,
t

New 'update'

2006-02-26T19:31:00.000+09:00

Hey all,

Just a quickie: I'm still alive, and currently buzzing on half a pot of coffee - the real, honest-to-goodness American stuff! Yay!

Anyway, I'm conflicted again as to what I'm going to be doing next year: there are too many options, and I'm too apathetic for my own good. My AT (supervisor) talked to me a couple of weeks ago about staying at my current branch, which actually sounds pretty good: I like my students.

I still don't have internet, which has significantly reduced my ability to look at/for grad schools, both American and abroad. Hopefully internet will be available in the next couple of weeks. Grr. Stupid Japanese beaurocracy.

I've been battling a cold/sore throat for the past week or so. It's not too fun.

On the music front, Iain and I have been practicing quite a bit, so hopefully we'll be playing at Misfits sometime towards the end of March. We decided on 'Corduroy' for a band name so as to forewarn all of the fact that what they'll be seeing is two indie-looking guys with acoustic guitars. 'Flames for Gommorah' didn't quite have that effect. =)

I was up in Inuyama last week for practice, and afterwards Iain and I decided to take a little hike to see the countryside. To make a short story long, we ended up walking about four miles to try to find a bridge across a river so that we could explore a castle-like building that we'd never seen before, and ended up lost an hour's hike inside a forest, on our way to somewhere we thought we might be able to catch a train. As the sun was setting. Hahaha. It was a blast. The plan for next 'weekend' is to set out earlier with proper supplies and see just where the hell the 'trail' leads. =)

I believe that is all of the news that's fit to print. If you want more details, email me - I should be back online in about a week.

Peace to all,

Explanation

2006-02-16T18:58:00.000+09:00

Okay, so I feel I owe you all an explanation for my long absense: the internet is not happy with me or my collected group of apathy. Or,

About a week before I moved to my new apartment, NTT suddenly cut off my internet. And VERY suddenly: I finished downloading MSN messenger to keep in touch with a friend of mine in Tokyo, and when I went to launch it - nothing. No internet. So I waited for my computer genius roommate to get home, when we discovered that it was, in fact, dead. So we called up NTT in the morning, were given the run-around in two different languages, and decided to try the next day. Long story short: NTT holds that we failed to pay our September bill on time, and, instead of sending us, say, warnings, they just cut off our 'net.

So. Devin finally got them to reconnect our internet, which requires them to: give us a new number (which he finally talked them out of), give us a new address (maybe portal address?), and send a new modem. Y'know, to replace THE PERFECTLY FINE ONE ALREADY CONNECTED TO THE PHONE JACK! Seriously, for a nation lauded for technological advancements, Japanese companies have the flexibilty of Lake Superior freighter.

So then I moved to my wonderful new cellbloc- er, apartment, and we still don't have internet. Rob has promised that it should be arriving within the next two weeks or so, so I shouldn't be out-of-touch for too much longer.

Apparently there is some form of Olympic event going on. So I hear.

Anyway, news is forthcoming, including new photos, band info, and Osaka stories. Stay tuned.

Peace,
t-i-j

First Post of 2006

2006-01-04T14:40:00.000+09:00

Wow, it's gonna be hard to remember to write "06" on all my forms at Nova! Especially since I still have trouble remembering what day it is.

Anyway, yeah, Happy New Year! It's taken me a while to get a new post up, partially because I was in Tokyo until very late on the 2nd, and partially because I've just been trying to process all of what went on. I spent about three hours in a coffee shop yesterday just writing down the things that happened there; not in any real detail, just enough to remind myself for later expounding.

Tokyo, and the day/night in Yokohama first, was so jammed full of sights, sounds, feelings, and emotion that it's almost impossible to begin to describe.

I will tell you this mini-adventure story about the night before we left:
I went over to the new apartment and turned in the necessary documents to reserve my spot in the apartment, and then decided to go to BIC Camera, Japan's Best Buy/four-story shopping extravaganza (seriously, who buys mp3 players, cell phones, wine, and ski equipment at the same store?) to look for a bigger memory card for my camera. The one I had came with the camera, and was a rather puny 16MB, so I decided to pick up a 512MB card for 8900yen($89). Feeling pretty good for not spending $145 on a 1GB card, I went to go look for a cheap mp3 player. Deciding that not spending the extra $50 did not justify a new toy, I went to the register to pay.

I waited in line, went to the counter, pulled out my money, put the money on the little money tray they have so no physical contact can accidentally happen, and the clerk rang up the order. Then he paused, hit another button, said something to a coworker, then picked up a big brass bell and rang it loudly for about five seconds. I was stunned. What do you do; grab him and make him stop, or just run away? I still don't speak enough Japanese to have any clue what they were doing. The guy put down the bell, looked at me and said, "It's all free."

What?

"It's all free. It's okay. No money." And hands me my 10,000yen note back.

So I spluttered "domo arigato," signed the receipt that apparently shows that I was the 3000th customer in that line that day, took my freshly sealed bag containing my apparently free memory card, and walked out of the store, half-expecting to hear alarms go off.

But no, I am now the proud owner of a FREE 512MB memory card, which I used to take almost 1oo pictures while in Tokyo. And I would've taken more, but my battery died just as I was going to take a picture of the Emperor.

Yeah, the Emperor of Japan. He and I are tight, he says to stop by sometime and he'll make tea. Right.

-thom in japan

Current Events

2005-12-28T01:02:00.000+09:00

All the news that's fit to print.
And remember: everyone's innocent until proven guilty. Or exposed to media scrutiny.

Okay, this'll be kinda brief 'cause I'm really tired. Here's (some of) what's happened since I last wrote:

Christmas Eve: Earthquake. Almost died.

Hahaha, no, kiddin'. Not about the earthquake, we did have one of those - between 3.0 and 4.8 according to various second- and third-hand sources - and I did feel it. In fact, I was sitting in my second class of the day when it happened! At first I thought it was just a big truck driving by (we're located next to a busy street), but the shaking just got stronger and stronger. It lasted all of ten seconds - long enough for students' eyes to get to about dinner plate size - before fading away. The guy I was teaching, yeah, he's cool as a cucumber: the shaking stops, he looks around, says, "Not so bad. I think a level 3. What did you say before?" and we go on with the lesson.

That night, I went to Christmas Eve mass with Alwyn. It was in Japanese. I didn't get it and I didn't get it. Nice service though; we sang "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - me in English, everyone else in Japanese. At least, I think we were singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"... that's what I was singing...

Christmas Day: Worked 10 - 5:30, then went home and cooked Christmas dinner for ten people.

Me. Who can't cook for myself. Christmas dinner. Yeah.

It was a huge success, too; all but in the totally-forgetting-to-take-any-sort-of-pictures department. I am the amateur.

The menu included Brazilian chicken (my new favorite food), cranberry stuffing, mashed potatos and gravy, carrots, boiled cabbage (because Francis said so), and cream puffs and candy canes for dessert, provided by the lovely and talented ladies of Temma-cho. A fine time was had by all. Either that, or everyone faked it.

Today: Got up early and went to Kyoto! FINALLY! Kyoto was a total blast, and freakin' COLD, too. Visited 5 different temples/shrines, bought "delicious foods" (their words, not mine), and walked about 37.5 million miles. Roughly.

Kyoto is one of the cultural highlights of Japan; I'd highly recommend going if you get the chance, and your train doesn't get stuck in chest-high snow for 25 minutes. TRT: 18 hours. Now that's a day-trip!

And I finally got to see Kana and Andy too! We got to meet up for dinner in downtown Kyoto and catch up a bit. It's always nice to see friendly faces, and especially when you haven't seen them in quite a while; I think we're going to make this more than an annual event. And again with the being photographically-challenged: I forgot to take pictures with them, too. I guess the Bethel Focus (c) will just have to wait for a Japan "Alumni News" article.

Oh, and PS - I DID take lots of pictures; I'm just too lazy to down/up-load them tonight. So pbbt.

Love you,
thom

Aftermath

2005-12-23T16:46:00.000+09:00

Well, today turned out to be a nice, pleasant March day; the temps were in the mid-30s, and the six inches of snow we got have melted into three inches of slush. I woke this morning to the machine-gun sound of snow chains on pavement and the frantic packing sounds of my roommate as he prepared to head back to the States for Christmas. (Devin, you lucky bum, I hope you have a good time. If you could bring me back some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I'll owe you big time.)

In addition to being an unofficial spring day, today was also a national holiday - Japanese Emperor Akihito's birthday. The Emperor, while no longer looked at as diety nor having any real governing power, is still considered "not like the rest of us, more special than us" by at least one of the students at Imaike. So today was slow - I had two empty classes out of the five I teach on Fridays. And because it was a holiday, my trip to Freebell to turn in the required documents for our move-in was entirely unsuccessful.

BUT, I got to take a little walk through Nagoya, eat a cinnamon roll, and take a nap this afternoon; so it wasn't a complete waste. It's amazing how a nap can improve a day.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve.
-t

Let It Snow 2, and etc.

2005-12-22T19:26:00.000+09:00

Well, it's on again: it appears we might have a white Christmas in Nagoya after all!

Most of the snow that fell on Sunday, the most since 1947, had melted by midafternoon on Monday, much to my dismay. A student came into Nova that afternoon after calling his school, telling them that the roads were probably too dangerous for him to get there. We spent a good portion of the evening telling "bad weather" stories in the Voice Room (used for general English-language conversation). Good times.

At least it lasted long enough to let me see a mother and her daughter - probably about three - building a snowman in a parking lot. The snowman, complete with hat, scarf, and mittens on stick arms, stood about the same two-and-a-half feet as the little girl. Seriously one of the most beautiful things I've seen in Japan. Japanese kids are the cutest.

But, it's snowing again! And hard too. It started snowing earlier this afternoon and we've already gotten a good 2-3 inches; and it's not showing any signs of stopping soon. I'm probably the only person in Nagoya who is thrilled about this. =)
**Update: when it stopped falling around 10:30 tonight, we had around 6 inches. In Nagoya, where it doesn't snow.**

The beginning of this week has been pretty busy: I've put up the Christmas decoration my mother sent and decorated my little eight-inch Christmas tree. I've also been trying to find time to finish up the Italo Calvino book I'm reading; though the going has been slow, since Francis and I spent Tuesday evening in Inuyama with Iain. Inuyama is a bit colder than "the dirty Nag", and we spent the evening in Kei's bar. There is little more entertaining than spending an evening discussing Clintonian foreign policy over a pint with a Scot, an Englishman, and a Yugoslavian, in the Yugoslavian's bar, in Japan. I, as Iain so aptly put it, "Feel I have fully integrated into this society."

Not that I want to, really. I mean, seriously, check this "chick" out: this is reason enough to excercise temperence in any bar. That'd be a mistake you wouldn't want to live to regret! Misfits, my new local (but only in Japan. Mayslacks, I love you baby), tends to bring in some really interesting people; so far I've been propositioned by a 65-year-old woman and chatted up by a man in his seventies who told me that I should learn the "world's big three languages: English, Japanese, and Polish." Among others.
But Misfits also attracts a lot of truly interesting people as well: university professors (I'm holding out for a job offer come spring), other writers (including two editors of 'Nagoya Writes' magazine and a screenplay writer), musicians of various denominations, and even a beautiful German PhD student visiting from Tokyo. If you ever stop by, be sure to ask for Dave, he's the bartender/Jedi Master.

On the moving front, the apartment at Freebell is starting to look like a reality; Francis has already set up a move-in date, and our paperwork is going in sometime tomorrow. All I need to do now is get a copy of my vital papers, and get my butt down there. After work of course.

Well kids, I'm outta here; I need to haul it down to Temma-Cho for a takoyaki party at Jen, Sarah, and Christy's. Hopefully it won't be too cold/wet/snowy that the trains stop running - especially with work tomorrow. Hope everything's cool as ice for you all, and that the Christmas season finds you hale and hearty.

Happy Birthday to Eric, who turns the big 2-4 on Friday. Bro, your present is on the way. Have a Woodchuck for me, and say hello to all the kids.

I'm out.

Thom and the "Charlie Brown Christmas tree".

Let It Snow

2005-12-18T23:17:00.000+09:00

The completely unthinkable has happened in Nagoya. That's right:

It's snowing.

As we speak (ahem), Nagoyans are out spending millions of yen on snow-related products: shovels, ice scrapers, more D&G scarves, rock salt, and Army- (excuse me, Self Defense Force-) issue parkas.

Snow, all 5 cm we've had, is completely unknown in Nagoya at this time of year, where it usually only gets white once or twice a season. Ski slopes have been forced to open early, people are beginning to rethink the lyrics to "White Christmas", and "big dump-cars with pushers on the front" have been seen roaming the streets. Apparently Old Man Winter has decided to pay central Honshu a little visit, and Nagoyans are a little confused with what to do with him; in typical Japanese fashion they're too polite to ask him to leave, but they're beginning to get worried about what to make for dinner. So far, I've seen about five times as much news coverage about our whitening as for the last three typhoons - combined.

As for me, I'm reveling in the new seasonal coloring; after months of green followed by the uber-gaudy Christmas decorations that only an uber-consumerist culture can provide, things are actually beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Yay! (Hopefully some certain people I could mention are rejoicing with me.)

Meanwhile...

When in the course of human events, some realizations about the prices of certain apartments that certain Nova instructors happen to be living in, and some some rather undesirable roommate situations (not mine) that certain instructors happen to be suffering through currently, and it becomes necessary for three Nova instructors to dissolve the housing bands which have connected them with a monstrous corporate entity, and so on and so forth, et cetera...well, we will.

This version of "Home" will hopefully be a wonderful little place called Freebell, and among other things, "the Gaijin Ghetto". It's not the homeliest place on earth, but it is a good $200 a month cheaper than the place I'm in now, and closer to other foreign teachers of various persuasions. Plus Alwyn is gone in three weeks, and Devin two months beyond that, so the getting is starting to get good. Hopefully the savings will be able to be put towards something good: a trip to Thailand, Australia, or Korea (the friendly one), or maybe even to that whole paying-down of debts thing. Oh, the possibilities!

Other than that, not a whole lot going on; spent the past couple of weekends apartment shopping, Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, etc.
Missed Mae in Nagoya and writers' group at Misfits tonight; starting to seriously reconsider this whole "teaching" thing. =)
Working on getting more sleep, blogging more consistantly, and trying to cook.
Considering grad schools and emailing my friends, to whom I apologize for being a horrible bastard who doesn't write - I think of you more than you know, and even that isn't as much as you deserve. Forgive me.
Reading "If On A Winter's Night A Traveler" by Italo Calvino - it's so deliciously post-modern that I have no idea what it's about! Next up is Murikami, Buechner, or Chesterton. We'll see.
Listening to "The End Of Heartache" by Killswitch Engage. Yes Eric, that's yours.

Yep, that's about it. I'll try to update soon. May all your Christmases be white.

Rumbles

2005-12-04T03:07:00.000+09:00

There's a whole lot of shakin' in Shinguku. Tokyo is definitely the center of Japanese culture AND earthquake activity! We've had two good-sized earthquakes in the past day, 5.4 and 6.3 on the Richter Scale respectively, and even a few aftershocks.

But don't worry, I'm safe and sound; I found out about said quakes from the TV, which not only offers information about the quakes (in Japanese, of course), but will even display it over "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (which is what we were watching at the time).

In other, semi-related news:
I saw "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" on Tuesday. Now, I've still never read any of the books, claiming literary pretention, but I really did enjoy the movie. Maybe it's because I've now seen a whole TWO movies while in Japan, but I thought this one was really good! Up next: "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". Any takers?

In other, completely non-related news:
I bought a Christmas tree today. It's approximately eight inches tall and of unknown type, though I'm thinking there's probably a family connection to the tree purchased by Charlie Brown in "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown". Now all I need to find is a foot-long string of lights and a wooden 'x' for the base.

Also:
I've started a little project yesterday: I'm helping a student edit a brochure for his business. He owns a guitar amplifier repair shop here in Nagoya and wants to be able to exchange information with international clients, so he needs a brochure in English. Enter the rusty copywriter.
This might just become my side job. Hopefully.

There has been lots of talk among students recently of Year-End parties, which, combined with the impending Christmas and New Year holidays, is of course is getting me into the contempletive/reflective mood, and some of you know that that usually involves some depression, but usually ends up with a deep realization and appreciation that, hey, it could be worse: I could be in Nebraska. This year has definitely been an interesting one, and the real trick will be trying to make fit into a "nutshell".
Keep an eye out for the e-version of "The Christmas/New Year's/Presidents Day Letter". It should be out by June.

2005-11-25T02:47:00.000+09:00

May I be the first to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving.

I'm off to a Thanksgiving dinner, which, rumour has it, may or may not include fried octopus balls. Mmm!

Response to Iain's Comment

2005-11-23T19:25:00.000+09:00

(For those of you not in the know, Iain posted a comment on my last post. I thank him very much for it. You, too, can leave comments there; I appreciate all the feedback I can get.)

Tonight, on an invitation from Iain, I headed up to Inuyama for what will hopefully be the beginning of a musical endeavor, the likes of which the Japanese have never seen. More likely, what the Japanese will see will be two gaijin with guitars in a bar in Imaike, once. But hopefully not. (Timmy: do you think you could use your wonderful post-ownership influence to "suggest" a "showcase" of an "up-and-coming new band" to Joe? After we write songs of course.)

Anyway, tonight was kind of a precursing (ahem) to some songwriting; with various influences tried and tunes tested. Good times. We played until our fingers were sore. Afterwards, we decided to try a local remedy for sore guitar fingers: beer. We headed out to Iain's local for a round, and a game of darts. It worked: sore soon fingers were forgotten, and Kei's wall had a few new holes in it. [I also won the game, barely, and in large part to great generosity on my Scottish comrade's part.] I'd brought my guitar with me to facilitate an easier departure, so we took turns playing a few more songs at the bar. (Well, Iain played most of the songs, since he can actually play the guitar; I mostly just looked sidekick-y and sang a bit.)

This actually may have counted as our first bar gig, as we were each given an orange by an appreciative young woman at the bar. Or maybe she thought that we'd be quiet for a bit if we ate oranges. Either way, she filmed a little of our performance on her cameraphone for posterity (yay for cameraphones). You should be able to find it online soon: just Google "crazy gaijin music video".

-

Seriously though, for all of my "smartness", I really am excited to be working on some music again. Iain's a great musician, and hopefully we can get a few songs written soon, and maybe even a show or two in. And, as the Scot said earlier, "We'll be huge on the Indie scene. Hell, we'll BE the Indie scene!" Nagoya - nay, Japan - will never know what hit it.

Rock and roll.

Update, Part 2

2005-11-22T08:28:00.000+09:00

Regarding my last post: yes, I've acquired a guitar. And yes, I play it while watching sumo on TV.

The guitar was my big purchase of Oct/Nov, since I hadn't done much traveling; went to Osu Kannon and found it in a used music shop for 3800 yen. Not a bad little acoustic guitar, fun to jam around on, and re-pick up all those songs I used to know, and even a few new ones! Suddenly, the old dream of becoming a Rock Star is reborn...

I made the mistake of telling a guy at my local that I'd picked it up, so now he's hounding me to write some songs and PLAY there ("C'mon man, I used to OWN this place! You can play here no problem!"). I told him I need to practice a bit first.

My other purchase that night in Osu was an old copy of "Fletch Lives" on Japanese VHS. I figured, heck, we've got a VCR, and Alwyn really needs to experience more American culture before he heads back to New Zealand. My other justification was it only cost 100 yen, or 90 cents US. Ahh, cheap entertainment.

"Fletch Lives" reminds me of my friend Rebecca back home, who is a big fan of the Fletch movies. And who, if she reads this, NEEDS TO COME VISIT. Playing old songs on the guitar reminds me a bit of Melissa.

Hmm, the differences a year makes. "Discuss amongst yourselves. Not too seriously."

More to come, stay tuned...

Update, Part 1

2005-11-18T19:35:00.000+09:00

Discovery: My new favorite activity is playing guitar while watching sumo wrestling with the sound turned down. Good times.

Well, enough has happened in the past few weeks that I haven’t written about that I think it’ll take more than one post to fix. So much has happened…

Anyway, here we go:
HALLOWEEN - October 30^th found me heading out to an izakaya in a black trench coat, black t-shirt, black pants, black shoes, and two plastic pistols shoved in my belt. The plan was to look like Neo from The Matrix. People told me I looked “tall”. But anyway, it was fun; lots of great people, lots of great costumes. Devin was Hunter S. Thompson, and looked pretty much dead-on. The izakaya was great; we had an entire room to ourselves, “ourselves” being 35 Nova and Aeon teachers, and three hours of nomihoudai and tabehoudai – all you and eat and drink. Which, with 35 people, is a LOT.

The best part of the night, I have to say, was Yukiko: she’s an Aeon teacher, twenty-eight, gorgeous, speaks great English, and just so happens to know my good friend Luke Scripter. It turns out she lives in the same town outside of Nagoya as Luke lived in, and met him on the train when he was going to Korea. I met up with Luke on his way back from Korea, about a week later. Cue “It’s a Small World”. Yukiko was thrilled that I knew where Nakatsugawa was, and I, in turn, was thrilled that she was thrilled (I’m all about the small victories). We ended up talking about Luke for a while, the differences between Nova and Aeon for a while, and the origins of Halloween for a while. Good times.

After all the eating and most of the drinking we could do, Sean, organizer of our little soirée and ringleader extraordinaire, decided it must be time for us to hit a club. So we all ran to catch the last subway to Sakae and find the club, which Sean knew more ABOUT than WHERE it was exactly. Along the way we either amused or frightened the Japanese we happened to meet; Rob especially frightened them. When you’re a head taller and twice the size of the average Japanese man, it’s not too difficult to do; add black clothes and a clear plastic mask, and you’ve got a pretty frightening sight. Well, we finally found the club, which really wasn’t too hard; all we had to do is follow the guys in tennis outfits. The club offered free admission with a costume, and there were a LOT of costumes.

We stayed at the club for a few hours, chatting with some costumed and enthusiastic locals and listening to Japanese hip-hop. The strange thing about Japanese music is that it throws random English (or, more commonly, Japanglish) into songs; so you get, “[something something something] flying the sky, [something something] baby, [something]”. So after a couple of hours of listening to bad English in bad hip-hop inside a third-floor club with a low ceiling, we decided to take the party somewhere a little quieter. So karaoke it was.

But before that, we needed to FIND a karaoke bar. There are plenty in Sakae, but the trick is finding a cheap one open at 3:30am. And despite the fact he didn’t know where to go, our fearless leader Sean kept us moving until we found a place that would admit 15 costumed gaijin. Note: It helps if you flash money.

Karaoke, as always, was a blast. There’s nothing quite like sitting in a dark room with a bunch of people you’ve just met, and belting out tunes that everyone seems to know. Karaoke – bringing the world together. Well, the English-speaking world at least. I, as always, sang the one and only Jimmy Eat World song in Japan – “The Middle” – to much applause and many jeers. I think I’ll keep my day job, y’know, just to be safe. We all had fun singing, or croaking, along with everything from Chuck Berry to the Beatles to Men At Work to something Japanese that someone accidentally punched in. Japanese karaoke songs are like Japanese TV: you can make up your own words, and it’s funnier that way.

By 5:30 we were all pretty knackered (tired); and rightfully so, since we’d been going since 8pm! Fortunately, the first trains started running around then, so we hopped on the first one heading our way, and beat it home. After a healthy breakfast of microwave teriyaki burgers, I hit the sack. Woke up at 2pm, got ready for work, and taught five classes. Piece o’ cake.

And that was Halloween! I’ve got a lot more coming, so stay tuned. I’m Audi 5000.

Osu

2005-11-08T21:18:00.000+09:00

Hmm...

Well, I spent a good portion of this evening in a part of town called Osu Kannon; an area known for its large temple (which shares the name) and discount electronics shops. That, and the numerous other shops, parks, and shrines that neighbor each other on Osu's narrow streets.

Osu is a really cool area, one that I like to frequent on my days off to read in cafes, mainly for atmosphere and pretty decent coffee (which is pathetically rare here). Osu is home of the first public park in Nagoya: one big tree atop a burial mound, three wooden benches, and a sign in four different languages declaring that it is the "first park in Nagoya"; all nestled between a bakery and a shoe store.

Another fun thing to do is checking out the used clothing stores, which I've had mild success in, scoring a pretty kickin' jacket for less than ¥1700 (about $16). Today was more of a wandering day: I checked out a couple new coffee shops, jammed out to The Mars Volta, almost bought a couple CDs, REALLY almost bought a pretty beat-up acoustic guitar (which I may go back and pick up tomorrow), and checked out some awesome "Engrish" shirts. My favorite so far was on a handbag: "The Seven Wonders of the World: It's a mystery why such phenomena happen now and then." To which I reply, "A mystery indeed", and laugh. Every time.

The variety of shops in Osu never ceases to amaze me; so far in addition to "Smash Head Cafe", I've found "Oops Hair and Make [up]", "Jonson's Head Shop" (there's truth in advertising), and today's favorite, "Samson and Delilah Hair Salon". There was even a used American clothing store which proudly proclaimed "Old store since 1978". Makes you wonder what it was before then - a "new store since 1976"?

Americana is amazingly popular here, even the most mundane things - like Coca-Cola bottle openers and old Saturday Evening Post pages - are for sale, which makes me wonder about how the Japanese interpret American culture.

And everything is done to the Nth degree: tonight I saw a guy walk by in a black leather jacket, tight jeans, sunglasses (at 8pm), and the most impeccably greased pompadour known to man. He, apparently, had just walked off the set of Grease. At least that's what I'm telling myself. But it seems that everyone here is the same way: if you're going to dress a certain way, you're going to do it 1000% - if you're hip-hop, you're going to buy Nelly's old underwear; if you're 50's rock, you're going to put John Travolta to shame; and if you're a goth girl, you're going to wear neon pink Little Bo Peep costumes with your bright pink hair. Wait...what? Yep.

All this to say, even after five months in Japan, in the same city, I'm still perplexed and bewildered at Japanese culture every time I leave the house. I talk to my roommates about this, and they agree: we are bound together by this surreal experience because it's SO surreal that it will be impossible for anyone at home to actually believe it. Perhaps the memories will one day fade for me to the point that I'll begin to think the whole thing has been an extremely strange dream, and a reason to not eat spicy food before bed.

Meanwhile, I'm kicking myself for not bringing a camera along to document these strange, local adventures. Tomorrow perhaps...

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..."

Peace,
thom

Two Quotes

2005-10-18T06:52:00.000+09:00

The following are two views of Japanese cities (specifically Nagoya), cited in an article on the effects of the World Expo on Nagoya:

"Japanese habitually shun long-term and large-scale planning; things tend to develop spontaneously, in the on-going course of events. ...Japanese cities embrace many parts, each with its own internal order, and it is the collective character of these parts that distinguishes the Japanese urban scene from its counterpart in the West."
- Yoshinobu Ashihara

"Somebody stole the blueprint for hell, and with it they built Nagoya."
- Angela Carter

(from "Nagoya: The Expo Effect?" by Richard Harris, printed in the Autumn issue of 'Avenues' magazine)

Japanese TV

2005-10-15T15:40:00.000+09:00

I've just finished watching the "Friday Night Movie" which, since this is the highly nationalistic Japan, was obviously "Charlie's Angels".

Now, I'm watching an "evening comedy". I really don't know what else to call it, and I really have no idea what it is: a man was getting on an elevator (I think he's a "famous" comedian), when he was abducted by a half dozen men in police uniforms. He was tied up, and forced to ride a donkey out into the country, where a well-dressed young woman with a microphone directed him to a summer ski jump, where, I guess, ski jumpers train in the summer. (I've seen one of these in Lake Placid, about 8 years ago.) Somehow, somewhere, three schoolgirls were added to the mix. I'm not sure why. They may by ski jumpers themselves; I'm not sure. Meanwhile, other "famous celebrities" watch this poor fellow's exploits from the safety of a TV studio. I'm watching celebrities watching schoolgirls watching a kidnapped and humiliated comedian as he attempts to not die while going down a ski jump. Three times.

TV here is madness, and not in a good way.

Photos

2005-10-11T05:50:00.000+09:00

For those of you interested, I've started a photo site. It's not too impressive so far, but I've uploaded a few photos of the last time I was in Inuyama, and a couple other random shots, just to tide you over.

In other news, I've just received word that the Nagoya Players English-language acting troupe will be presenting "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" this November! For all of you not in the know, R&GaD is one of my favorite plays, combining Shakespeare and dry, witty humor.

Who's psyched? This guy!

Rosencrantz: Do you think Death could possibly be a boat?
Guildenstern: No, no, no... Death is "not." Death isn't. Take my meaning? Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't not be on a boat.
Rosencrantz: I've frequently not been on boats.
Guildenstern: No, no... What you've been is not on boats.

The World Has Turned And Left Me Here.

2005-10-08T18:43:00.000+09:00

Greetings all,

Yes, it's true, this blog is rapidly (cough cough) becoming a bi-monthly post about my experiences in Japan. As it stands, I'm in the midst of a pretty bad block on my writing; and, like the fog, I'm not exactly sure when I'll be out of it. A friend of mine from high school described writers block as "mental constipation - it's all in there, it just won't come out." Lovely.

ANYWAY, there hasn't been a whole ton to write about in the past few weeks. Actually there has, I just need to remember what all has transpired, since I haven't written any of it down. So here goes; please pardon any misspellings, exaggerations, gross inaccuracies, gerrymandering, blatant libel, and references to constipation...

[Open Scene: Calender and notebook out, Thom sits on the couch and tries to remember what all he's done in the past month. Sigur Ros' new album 'Takk...' plays at a medium-to-quiet volume, coming from the TV, as he has no stereo. The wet sound of cars rushing by in the rain comes from the open sliding doors, bringing with it the cool outdoor breeze.]

About three weeks ago, Iain called down and invited me and some others out to the town of Inuyama, his home, to see the sights. Being adventuresome, exploratory types, Francis, Jen, Sarah, and I decided to take him up on the offer, and went out in mid-afternoon on Monday. Through a stroke of incredible luck - and Nova scheduling - we all have the same days off (Tues & Wed), so the possibility of a nice long weekend outside of Nagoya seemed too good to be true. The plan was to see the cormorant fishing on the river that night, spend the night, and then head up and see Inuyama Castle by daylight. (The last time we were in Inuyama, we “saw” the castle at night – which is much less exciting, as you can’t actually get in to see the castle at night.) So we arrived in time to catch the boat out to see the cormorant fishing masters ply their trade.

Cormorant fishing, or ukai, works thus: a long wooden boat sets off from shore after dark, manned by the fishing master (wearing a heavy shirt, chest protector, and traditional grass skirt), his assistant (distinguishable by lack of grass skirt), the pilot (smoking a cigarette), and about ten cormorants (medium-sized black birds who catch and eat fish and are naked and non-smoking). When they reach a good fishing spot, the master lights a large fire in a metal basket hanging from the front of the boat, used to attract the fish and also to help the master see which birds have caught fish. (How exactly it seems like a good idea to light a fire while wearing a pretty flammable skirt is beyond me, but who am I to argue with tradition?) After the fire is lit, the master takes each bird individually and ties piece of string around it’s neck. This is to allow the bird to catch and partially swallow fish. What makes him the master (and not the skirtless assistant) is knowing how tight to tie the string: too loose, and bird eats all of the fish and becomes a pretty worthless pet; too tight, and the bird dies and become a pretty worthless anchor. After tying these “fish-blocks” (for lack of a better term, and a lack of knowledge of the actual term), the master attaches a “leash” (also for lack of better/actual term) to the birds, so they can be “reeled” back in to “deliver” the fish. After this is done, the master launches the cormorants into the river to dive for fish. When one of the birds has caught its fill of fish (they have rather long necks and can hold several), the master pulls it back to the boat, “disengages” the bird of its catch, and throws it back in, hopefully to catch more. And while this seems like a pretty easy task – leash some birds, toss ‘em in, and sit back and collect the fish – it is actually a whole lot more challenging. For anyone who has ever been fishing, and had the opportunity to battle with a reasonably intelligent fish - say, a pike - you know how difficult it is when the wily thing takes a dive under the boat – you need to spin and take the pole around the front/back of the boat, while trying to dodge the other fisherpersons, chairs, equipment, etc. and try to fight it on the other side. Now try doing that with ten fairly intelligent, fish laden birds. Or, more precisely, eight fairly intelligent, fish laden birds, and two novice birds whose only thought at the moment is “Hey, now’s a good time to make a break for it!”. Anyway, the master is the master for a reason – anyone who can keep ten birds-on-strings untangled, dislodge fish from said birds’ throats, and making sure the fire stays well-stoked, while simultaneously preventing his grass skirt from catching fire is, well, he IS the master!

From the bird’s point of view, however, the whole operation is rather sketchy.

Meanwhile, back on planet tourist, there are three boats of “birdwatchers” happily enjoying this night-time scene, and placing large bets on which bird can catch most fish. Just kidding; no bets (that I know of) were placed on the birds. Instead, we all crowded to one side of the boat to watch all the avian fishing action, and rather distracted bird, master, and fish alike with the bright flashes from our eager cameras.

About an hour of piscatorial prowess is all the excitement that can generally be handled by bird and tourist; so all four boats headed back to shore. After “catching” our own dinner at a local late-night izakaya, we headed back to Iain’s apartment to watch a movie, talk, and crash out.

We got an early start the next day (1pm), and headed out to the castle. Inuyama Castle is one of the oldest original castles in Japan. (Note: munitions storage during a World War and frequent earthquakes can be detrimental to castle longevity.) Iain had already visited the castle several times, so he took the opportunity to check out some other local museums while the rest of us went in to it check out. The castle is amazing! The top floor of the castle is about sixty feet high, and all three floors have different displays on the various “owners”, the history of the castle and its defensive importance, and what function each of the rooms had. If anyone is to come out for a visit, definitely ask me to take you there; it’s beautiful, commands a great view of Inuyama, the river, and the surrounding countryside, and only costs ¥500 admission.

While the castle was definitely a blast, the weather was definitely hot; so we were all pretty exhausted after the castle. We decided that the other museums and shrines in town could wait for another trip, and headed back to Iain’s for dinner. We couldn’t make up our minds about which restaurant to hit for dinner, so Iain suggested we stay in and make spaghetti for dinner. It didn’t take much mental effort, so we agreed. Luckily for us, Iain just happens to be a fantabulous cook. He prepared an exquisite spaghetti dinner, complete with wine and garlic bread so garlicky that my arteries are still clear. After dinner, we took the opportunity to relax around the apartment, listen to a wonderful selection of music, and read our various books. (Iain was a writing major at the U of Glasgow, so he and I get together pretty regularly to exchange books and talk about different authors. And to go shopping for books. Man, I’m gonna have a library on two continents soon!) Hanging out in Inuyama with Iain was one of the most perfect weekend trips I’ve had so far: good friends, delicious food, and very relaxing. I think I might like it here. =)

Iain came into town last week to check out a café I’d discovered, but hadn’t tried yet. The “Smash Head Café” caught my eye one day, partially because of the name, and partially because it has “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” written above the door. And partially because they serve Guinness. “Why,” you ask, “didn’t you immediately go in? Are you daft?” Well, y’know, I really don’t know. Anyway, I went there with Iain last week, and discovered that they serve the best hamburger in town. Most hamburgers in Japan are roughly the size of nothing, and are served with a side of mayonnaise. Not at Smash Head. At Smash Head, the burger was so big that it was literally difficult to hold with both hands. So what if it cost nearly ¥1000, it was a nice, big, delicious hamburger, with tomato, lettuce, onions, and pickles on it. Oh, and egg too – everything in Japan has either egg or mayonnaise on/in it. Smash Head also serves some of the best dark roast coffee I’ve had in Japan, and they’ll even help you fix your scooter if it should break down nearby. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a keeper.

Right now, future travel is kind of up-in-the-air; early plans to go to Bali were cancelled (for me, the American, at least) when a group of cowardly terrorists decided that tourists dining in outdoor cafes make a pretty easy target. Some others are still planning to go in mid-November, so prayers for their safety would be greatly appreciated. As for me, I have some tentative plans this autumn to go to Kyoto and Tokyo (which contain the same letters in different order, which still, after four months in-country and I-don’t-know-how-many years out-of-country, makes me chuckle every time I write them together) to visit friends. I should be pretty safe terror-wise – I’d be going to Kyoto with a Japanese friend from Nagoya, and Tokyo is pretty safe for foreigners, especially when you have friends there. I’ll also hopefully be going to Osaka next week with Iain to pick up a friend of his from the airport, and to do general touristy things like shopping and sight-seeing. I really want to see more of Japan while I’m here, and will hopefully have lots of opportunities to do so!

In other, non-travel news, Nova thinks I’m doing well enough to send me to work “help shifts” at other schools. I’ve now had two different schools where I work on a semi-consistent, monthly basis, and a four-schools-in-one-week week in mid September. My current (re)assignment is in a little town northeast of Nagoya, called Seto. It’s famous (in Japan) for ceramics; and I’m hoping to take one of my days off to do a little exploring around town. All in all, my help shifts have been a good experience: I’ve met other Nova teachers, made new friends, and had good experience doing more Kids classes and a TOEIC/TOEFL class. My marketability has definitely improved, and, hopefully, Nova thinks higher of me as well. (If anyone knows of any TOEIC/TOEFL or ESL teaching jobs in/around the United States area, please leave me a note. Also, if you know of any good reading/writing jobs, DEFINITELY leave me a note!)

In the more distant future are opportunities for travel in Southeast Asia, and post-Nova/Japan travel/living possibilities in Europe, and grad school options in Scotland. The future is looking as bright as the Sakae skyline at night, and I’m excited to see what it will hold.

I’m currently reading “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams and “Underworld” by Don Delillo; and listening to “Takk…” by Sigur Ros.

This post hasn’t covered nearly everything, but I hope it gives you all some idea of what has gone on for me in this past month. I’m working on a photo-hosting site, and will hopefully have a URL for you to see more photos of my expeditions soon.

Blessings and peace for you all, and I hope to write again soon!

-Thom in Japan

Hair cut

2005-09-14T18:43:00.000+09:00

Well kids, it finally had to happen: I went and got my ears lowered today. And, as always, it was a dramatic change. For those of you who have not had the opportunity, nay honor (cough cough), of meeting me on the outernet, I get my hair cut about three or four times a year; I swing from really short hair to really long emo hair (see my profile pic). It saves a lot of money, and I get to be two different kinds of sexy.

The challenge/fear this time was I had never had my hair cut in Japan. And my continued lack of knowledge of the Japanese language made this more of a potentially hazardous adventure.

I started out by going to barber not far from my apartment: I walked in and coughed to get the shop owner's attention, he spun around, shocked (probably at my lack of Asian-ness) and yelled that they were closed. At three o'clock in the afternoon. I decided that I need to learn how to say "What are you? A HAIR nazi?" in Japanese, and then went home and called my friend Francis to see if he wanted to go see if we could find another, less enthno-centric, barber. He'd found one at a shopping center a few days ago, so we headed out in the mid-90 degree afternoon heat and walked to the center about 25 minutes away.

Now, due to a lack of space in their country, the Japanese have found a way to streamline just about everything; there really isn't a whole lot of wasted room. The barbershop/salon/folicular specialist we went to was about twenty feet wide and fifty feet long, had four "stations" with computerized vacuums, a tray for styling accoutrements with a UV sterilizer, and TV monitors with constantly updated news. Not only that, our shop has this particular sales tactic: you walk in, pay ¥1000 ($10), and get a ticket for one, ten-minute haircut. Yes, a ten-minute haircut. You pay $1 per minute. This is possibly the coolest/craziest thing I've ever heard of. So somehow, despite the fact I don't speak much Japanese, despite the fact I haven't been shorn in three and a half months, despite the fact they have ten minutes to make me look years younger, somehow I get a really decent-looking haircut! I have a newfound respect for Japanese hairstylists!

Except racist ones, they can go get earthquaked.

Hopefully I'll have a new pic up in a couple of days...

Expo 2005

2005-09-14T15:35:00.000+09:00

Okay, so this post has been a long time in coming - I should have posted it about two and a half weeks ago! Well, on the 24th of August I went to the World Exposition 2005 here in Aichi. Francis (right), a co-would-be-Fuji-climber and good friend, and I decided to take this time to catch the Expo before it ends at the end of September. This year's theme is "Nature's Wisdom" and the national pavilions (buildings/stands/shops) are supposed to take this theme and expand upon it in their displays.

Here's the thing about the Expo: while it's set over several acres of beautifully landscaped walkways and structures in the open air, it's summertime in Aichi - you need to walk everywhere. Temps were in the mid-30s C, or approximately 90-100F. I was carrying a backpack containing my camera, some notebooks, room for souvenirs, and plenty of space after my 2-liter bottle of water was confiscated (you can't blame a brother for trying); and about ten minutes into our excursion my shirt was plastered to my back by sweat. Also about ten minutes into our excursion, we decided that the Canadian pavilion was probably a good bet for air conditioning, so we aimed ourselves at the giant red maple leaf for first stop.

Here's something else about the Expo: many pavilions, both national and corporate, have huge queues - lines that stretch for thousands of miles, out of Japan, across the ocean on specially designed floating bridges, through China, and back again. The most heavily packed queues are usually "The World of Tomorrow"-esque corporate pavilions like Toyota, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi, and cultural giants like the U.S., England, and Australia. Pavilions serving beer are also very popular ("You want to wait how long to see Belgium?").

Canada's pavilion, however, did not have a time-devouring monstrous queue; making it a perfect candidate for "first pavilion of the day". And not only did they have a wonderful little presentation on the natural and cultural diversity in Canada AND air conditioning for the full twenty minutess, they also spoke English. Sweet!

After Canada, we decided to hit up the Asian end of the park, including China, Bhutan (left), Sri Lanka, The Stans and Mongolia, followed by the Middle East (most notably Iran, for Andy), and India, before heading off for lunch. The "temporary" building that we found restaurants in was three stories tall, contained a wine-tasting center and a fully-air conditioned bank with ATMs. Francis got some dangerously good looking curry, while I had a pretty decent kebab.

We did NOT taste any wine. I blame Francis.

Next stop: Europe. Remember those horrible, multinational. multilane queues I was telling you about? Well Europe has them. So after walking through the area, stopping to see the U.K. (for Francis, who got a little misty-eyed :P), Ukraine (for me), and Belgium (for beer), we decided that Europe really wasn't that big of a priority at that point, and decided to go check out the African pavilions nearby. On the way we stopped at the Scandinavian pavilion, which was pretty neat, but looked strangely like an Ikea ad with extra culture added. After that, we decided that we really needed to eat more, so I got some green tea-flavored soft serve and Francis picked up grilled lamb. Wow, nothing says "international gathering" like green tea ice cream and meat on a stick.

Anyway, we went to the African pavilions - three large buildings with many nations represented inside. Francis decided he STILL wasn't full, so he stopped to grab another bite, and I wandered through the buildings, checked out the Gabon pavilion (for Joy), and stopped to see "Lucy" - purportedly the oldest humanoid skeleton in existence. She looked very dead.

Another pavilion I wanted to see, but didn't/couldn't wait in line for was Egypt. Egypt somehow managed to get it's own building, which was decorated to look like a restored ancient temple, complete with hieroglyphics mythological dieties, and pretty colors. I did get some pictures though; this one's for Mel.

After that, we decided that we really did, indeed want to see some of the western European contries, if at all possible. Italy, Spain, France and Germany all met at one point, and were all surrounded by 30-60 minute lines. We decided to take a bet with France, which appeared to have the shortest/fastest-moving line; which it did for all we could tell. The French pavilion contained many really cool innovations which I would tell you about in great detail if I had any idea what they were. I remember walking across an open area and noticing a red light following my movements on the wall. Apparently I was being tracked by some state-of-the-art French light tracking system. Not that I'm paranoid. (YOU HEAR THAT INTERWEB? I'M NOT PARANOID!!!) There was also a prototypical insulation for homes that bore a strong resemblance to plastic tubes; but I'm no French innovator, so I can't tell you for certain. France did have a fabulous presentation of the deteriorating state of the environment - both natural and cultural - that was projected onto all four walls and ceiling of a special room.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to see the other three pavilions. Instead, we pressed on to see Oceania and Southeast Asia. While there were a few really great pavilions, like Thailand (right), many were kind of disappointing...though that could have been because we'd been on our feet for seven hours in the hot sun.

So after these last few pavilions, we stumbled through another ten-minute line to get to the linimo - a linear motion transportation device - which bore a striking resemblance to every other subway in Nagoya, except that it was made of space-age polymers. A half-hour later we were home and stumbled inside and fell asleep, content with our non-Fuji-in-the-rain adventure.

The End.

September!

2005-09-03T18:25:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm back again. Sorry about the lack of updates; I'm half too-busy, half too-boring-to-talk-about!

Anyway, I guess you could say I've been saving up things to post...well, here goes:

Yesterday was full of firsts:
I worked at a different branch for the first time since training ended; it was in Kurokawa, another eastern suburb of Nagoya, about 20 minutes by subway away. Nice place, nice staff, small school.
I taught my first group Kids class - and survived! Five kids x 6-9 years old x 40 minutes = miraculous survival. But the kids were really good, and the only troublemaker was kept in check by his older sister. I might just be able to handle this.
I found out that September 1st is Japanese National Disaster Prevention Day. I don't know what that means, or what to do, or when, but it's nice to know that we had one. I feel safer already.
Researching (or trying to) NDPD, I came across a website by a woman named Sara Ursin who was in Japan about two years ago. Here's her entry about earthquakes:

Monday, August 25, 2003
The Earthquake. Every 150 years there is a major earthquake in Shizuoka Prefecture. Right now we're in year 147 since the last major one. People in Shizuoka don't talk about what will happen 'if' there's an earthquake, they talk about 'when' then earthquake happens. 'When' the earthquake strikes in Shizuoka there will be a huge tsunami that will wipe out the entire coast and the Izu Penninsula. 'When' the earthquake strikes Mt. Fuji will probably errupt. 'When' the earthquake strikes the nuclear powerplant 25 miles down the road will probably blow up. 'When' the earthquake strikes my house will fall down. Etc. It freaks the foreigners out but the Japanese seem to be fine with their major earthquake destiny. We're having earthquake safety day on September 1st. This past weekend when we made 2 trips to the beach in one day we kept commenting on how we were testing the earthquake Gods.

My students keep telling me the same thing about Nagoya - it's not IF we'll get an earthquake, it's WHEN. But, as I've repeatedly told my mother, Japan is on the forefront of earthquake response and technology: they design their buildings with them in mind, they have drills, they even make their children wear brightly colored hats to school so they are readily visible in case on an earthquake. So c'mon, a nation that makes its children wear fire-retardant hoods must know something about geological seismic activity, right?

Oh yeah, and I found out this week that NOVA has an almost one hundred percent brand recognition in Japan. Translation: literally EVERYONE knows NOVA, we are everywhere. I think that also makes me the new Coke. Rock on.

In other news, I'm sick. Yeah, I've somehow managed to make it through three months in Japan without any major illness/injury, and now I'm feeling like Death's nuked leftovers. I spent all day trying not to cough too hard at my students, who all expressed sympathy and concern for me - probably for their own health as well. There have been a few instructors who've been sick recently, so maybe it's just the flu du jour. The late-night going-away party for a co-worker held in a smoky basement bar combined with walking in the rain the next day probably didn't help either. Either way, I'm probably calling in sick tomorrow; no need to share this with the kids.

So it's probably good I didn't try to tackle Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji): my friends spent Tuesday night and Wednesday in pouring rain and cold wind climbing the cultural landmark. According to my friend Francis, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences - he'll never do it again. There's a famous Japanese proverb that says, "A wise man climbs Fuji once in his life. A fool climbs it twice." Francis has stories of his group sneaking into shelters on the mountain, and trying to wring out their clothes before they could be discovered and charged to use the shelter; trying to sleep in the only cave on the mountain; sharing said cave with Swedish tourists; and paying 1500yen ($15) for a walking stick which, according to him, was actually the thing that got him to the top. I'm still up for it eventually, but maybe when the weather is a little better!

I had to say goodbye to a friend and coworker earlier this week; Kasey, one of the first people that I got to know at work, transferred to Tokyo on Tuesday. It's strange to have been here for almost three months and already be watching friends go. While Nova is a good program, it's constantly turning over staff, and chances are the friends you make now are going to be gone in six months. It makes it kind of tough to make close friends; but it does give you time to form what Anne Lamott calls "those strange families we make from those who are around." Kasey was the crazy sister in the family, and now she's in Tokyo. Sad.

Okay kids, that's it for now; check back soon for stories and pictures from the World Expo and other random musings from an insomniac expatriate. Good times.

The Weather 2

2005-08-24T18:09:00.000+09:00

Well, the latest from Nagoya is my trip to climb Mt. Fuji has been cancelled. Sad. The REASON for the cancellation is pretty funny: there are not one, but TWO typhoons heading for Japan. Yes, my mountain-climbing expedition has been called on account of hurricanes. I bet Sir Edmund Hillary never had this problem. =)

So instead of heading towards Tokyo, I'll be heading to the World Expo 2005 about 25 minutes away. The Expo has been the topic of many conversations with students all summer long; and I've been wanting to go, but haven't had a chance. So hopefully the rain will hold off for a bit tomorrow, so I can see all the latest in Japanese technology, and maybe even foreign pavilions as well!

Sweet, more pics on the way!

Peace,
thom

PS - Anyone know of a good photo hosting site? I'm hoping to be able to put up a bunch of photos, and as cool as Blogger is, it's not the best for large amounts of photos. But here's one anyway, just to tide you over. =)

The Weather

2005-08-21T18:04:00.000+09:00

Hey all,

Well, I think I'm going to sleep well tonight: according to the thermometer on my alarm clock (yes, that IS weird) it's finally below 80 degrees F. For about the first time in over a month. And even before 2am! It's been a long hot spell: over 30C/88F every day for the past 25 days! But it looks like that is going to end soon. Probably because we have two typhoons (i.e. hurricanes) on the way.

And because of these impending typhoons, my trip to climb Mt. Fuji on Tuesday is almost certainly cancelled. I'm pretty bummed about this; I was to go with some good mates, and the "climbing season" for Fuji is only July and August. So unless I stay beyond the end of my one-year contract, it doesn't look like I'm going to able to climb Mt. Fuji. Boo.

The rain has started already: I left my window open Friday night in order to get the nice cool breeze in my room, and woke up Saturday morning to rain blowing through the window onto my face. Oh, what a wake-up. And on a Saturday too. Brilliant.

Hope your weekend was a blast; I'll update again soon.

Gifu Rock City

2005-08-18T20:24:00.000+09:00

Spent another good day off, considering the fact I got up three hours after I originally intended to. “What’s the first thing you did this morning?” asks the internet survey, Well I turned off my alarm, magnanimously gave myself another 15 minutes, and went back to sleep.

When I finally got up at 10, I threw in a load of laundry, made some peanut butter toast, forgot to call Kasey AGAIN, and grabbed my Lonely Planet to decide whether today would be Gifu or the beach. Gifu won, mostly because it has trees, and I’ve been meaning to go there since I got here. So I packed up my backpack with the Lonely Planet, a bottle of ice, my CD player, and Don Delillo’s “Underworld” to read. By 1:30pm I was on the train to Gifu.

I arrived around 2pm, got some maps from Visitor Information, went to Mr. Donuts to plan my trip and an iced coffee, walked out of the train station, and immediately walked 20 minutes in the wrong direction. Usually my sense of direction is impeccable, but apparently I failed to notice that the sun was on my right, which is not a good thing when you want to head northeast. I noticed my mistake when I realized that the mountain with the castle on top was behind me; and started back the way I came. But that little snafu gave me a chance to get in the wandering mood, and to finally get the sun in the right position.

Gifu is a wonderful city, about the size of Syracuse (population-wise), and very peaceful and friendly. By which I mean the locals don’t just stare at you, they say konnichi wa too. It’s famous for paper lanterns, sweets (candy), and cormorant fishing. Oh, and a castle that sits on top of a mountain that once guarded the area during the unification period, too.

So I walked towards Mount Kinka and the Castle, partially because I really wanted to see the city and partially because I still can’t read Japanese well enough to figure out whether or not there was a bus I could take to get there. But that ended up being okay: I got to see some really cool shops, get some great shots of the mountains, a beautiful set of shrines set back in a canyon, and Japan’s largest lacquered Buddha statue. I wandered more than walked the approximately 3 kilometers to Gifu Park, where the cable car to the top of Mt. Kinka starts, often stops made the trip take around 3 hours.

I chilled out in Gifu Park for a while, taking pictures, soaking in the tranquility of some beautifully cultured gardens and ponds, and soaking out more sweat than one person could possibly produce in a summer (Japan is such an amazing country, but for goodness sake, how can people live here?!?). But it was so nice to be able to sit in an actually green park, and just revel in natural beauty and peace. The sky started looking pretty grey after a while, so I went off to find the cable car to the top.

My round-trip pass on the “Ropeway” set me back 1050 yen (about $10), but I figured it would be worth not having to walk all the way up the mountain and then back down again an hour later. While I waited for the next car, the rain decided to stop holding off. And holding back, apparently: it poured to rival the flood for about fifteen minutes, thundered both on the roof and in the sky, and made me wonder if, by chance, anyone there knew a good way to get back to the station without getting washed away. But we still took the cable car up the mountain on schedule, through the rain, mist, wind, and air. While it only took about 3 minutes to get to the top, we ascended at better than a 45 degree angle, so it was quite a hike. And it was pouring and blowing, so an exciting hike. After getting to the top, I was treated to a complimentary umbrella to use while walking…on the top of the mountain in a thunderstorm; but it’s the thought that counts, right? The top of the mountain was amazing; the path literally followed the ridge between peaks, with steep drops on both sides – the military advantages of this place were definitely clear. You’d have to fight your way up a steep slope, through thick forest, to get to the castle and your foes. But right then I had two foes of my own, the rain and gravity, which really wanted me to fall flat on my face or fall face-first of the mountain. I managed to avoid both. I got to the actual Castle relatively dry and still in one piece, and paid the additional 200 yen ($2) to get inside. Since the original castle has been destroyed several times in “it’s” 800-year history, the inside isn’t quite the “medieval castle” that you’d expect; it’s actually a museum, with different artifacts from the various ages through which is stood. There’s also an observation deck around the top level, good for shooting arrows at advancing enemies or for watching the sky over Gifu get darker and rain clouds swoop in below you. I got some good shots of Gifu and the surrounding areas/mountains, but the few shots of the cable cars going up and down didn’t manage to turn out. The fact that I was being buffeted by wind at the time of taking may have something to do with it.

I stuck around on top of the castle long enough to attempt to take those photos, and then decided to head back towards to city and home. I got to the cable car “dock” (for lack of a better term) just in time to see the “attendant” (again, for lack of a better term) put up a sign outside the “stall” (you get it). I tried to ask, with a mixture of Japanese, English, and sign language, when the next car would be descending. He replied – in perfect Japanese – what I think was “There aren’t any more cars going down. There’s a thunder storm coming, and it’s being shut down.” Which was a wise move on their part, except for one thing: I’m still on TOP of the mountain. He is too. What’s the plan here? So I asked, in my multi-lingual format, if there is some sort of path down the mountain; to which he replied (I think), “Yes, follow that path there.” So I did.

Problem number two: it was now 6:30, the sun was setting, and it’s darkly cloudy. I was going to have to walk down I-don’t-know-how-far for I-don’t-know-how-long to get to I-don’t-know-where. Cool. More adventure. That could kill me. So I started down the path as quickly and safely as possible, thankful that at least I didn’t have to walk up the path. Eventually I got to a sign that indicated that, not only was I on the right path, but that I was about half-way down. So, armed with this promising bit of information, I continued heading down the mountain, still hoping to get to some sort of civilization before I had to resort to using my half-dead flashlight which is still stuck in my backpack – product of a moment of unknowing forethought. [Note to self: pick up AAA batteries on the way home from work tomorrow.]

I managed to make it all the way back down the mountain without becoming another victim, and also managed to find my way back to the street I’d come in on. I decided that I’d let bygones be bygones and not go back and ask for a 500Y refund on the unused half of my ticket, and instead just head back towards the station. The walk was quicker on the way back; partially because I actually knew where I was going, and partially because it was going to rain any second and I really didn’t want to get any wetter than I already was.

It did start raining on the way back, but only gently at first; holding out the heavier stuff until I was actually in the city and there were canopies to walk under. I got back to the station, bought some green tea and a ticket, and sat on the platform waiting for my train to come. While sitting there, getting my CD player out of my backpack, I discovered that the bottle of ice/water had melted quite a bit, and had sweated down into the bottom on the bag – and into my new copy of “Underworld”. Double dog damn. But I resorted everything out before the train arrived, and it’s doing quite well now, despite some pretty vicious war-wounds on the top, near the end of the book. Oh well.

So I got back to Nagoya, hardly had to wait for a subway at all, got home, turned down a party invitation from a friend, took a shower, made some dinner, and just about collapsed. I’m shattered. I’m going to bed. The good news is, it’s cooler tonight than it’s been in about forever; which is still…82 degrees F. Go figure; it’s all relative here. =)

G’night all,
Thom

PS - Pictures forthcoming - still need to download 'em!

PPS - Oh yeah, and I had TOEIC/TOEFL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) training yesterday. Training was a joke; I didn't get it, and I wouldn't repeat it even if I had.

Earthquake

2005-08-16T17:37:00.000+09:00

Hey all,

My mother informed me that "now would be a good time for a 'I'm-okay-the-earthquake-in-Sendai-was-well-north-of-me' post", so here it is: The earthquake today, which measured over 6 on the Richter scale, was centered off the coast near Sendai, and I've suffered no ill effects. There was also, as far as I know, no tsunamis reported after the quake. Sendai is located north of Tokyo, which is, in turn, located north of Nagoya; for some idea of distance, it takes about an hour and a half to get to Tokyo by Shinkansen, i.e. bullet train. And Sendai is north of there.

One of my roommates reported feeling a minor tremble this morning around the time of the quake, but personally I think he's just full of it, and was joking around.

Sendai, as some of you know, was actually the city that I was originally thinking of going to, and was my second choice on my application for Nova. Fortunately, the need for Nova teachers in Nagoya was much greater (and still is), so I was placed here. Though I WOULD like to go visit Sendai at some point, maybe in the "off season"... =)

All of the teachers I've talked to, who have been here longer than 8 months have been through some level of earthquake; the vast majority have been "Oh, so that's my Japanese earthquake. Cool" experiences. No big deal; life goes on. Though my students tell me that Nagoya is overdue for a little seismic shakin'...

On another note, I might go surfing next week! G'night!

-thom

The coolest thing about Japan...

2005-08-01T18:27:00.000+09:00

…is definitely not the cicadas.

For a city with so little green space, Nagoya sure has a lot of animal life. And by “animal life,” I mean “cicadas.” It seems that every day, when I wake up, I wake up to the cheerful chirp of about a gazillion of these buggers.

Cicadas, for those less entomologically-inclined, are large, green insects that look like someone forgot to tell to follow the dinosaurs into extinction. Sometimes you can find their empty carapaces clinging to tree trunks or park benches or very slow dogs like some troupe of clawed amber alien émigrés who have all decided to give up the ghost together. Sometimes you can see the adult stage buzzing through the air like some discombobulated prehistoric bomber; a two-inch reptilian-looking bumblebee.

An interesting thing to note is – as I learned after much research during my formative years (read, “I was a dork”) – the cicada population peaks every seven years. Apparently it takes cicadas thirteen to seventeen years to mature from egg to adult, at which point they return to the sky in search of some insectoid lovin’, then lay their eggs, and die. And apparently I picked the summer when Japanese cicadas, commemorating an exceptionally “productive” year some thousands of generations back, give the local population an all-out audio barrage.

Now, usually a cicada buzzing harkens me back to my childhood, with images of running through fields and lazy summer afternoons with Kool-Aid and backyard swimming pools. Not these cicadas. These cicadas buzz like a fleet of delivery trucks with cold engines make on a Minneapolis morning in mid-December when the temperature is hovering around “sub-arctic”.

Which is disturbing enough without the fact that I don’t get the feel of Minneapolis-morning-in-mid-December cool air to accompany the squeal. What I do get with the roaring cold-engine squeal is about 75 tons of hot, stale, humid air – the maximum amount that my bedroom can contain without exploding – pressing down on me and making me sweat more sweat than my body can possibly hold. Oh yeah, and it’s now 5:30am, the sun is shining directly into my eyes through the curtains, and temperature is pushing 90. I wake up more tired than I was the night before. And glued to my pillow with drool. Yum.

I know I should stop being so whiny; after all, I’m living in a foreign country, surrounded by new sights, sounds, tastes, smells, adventures. I’m meeting all sorts of new people from all walks of life and most of the English-speaking nations in the world. I’ve grabbed onto an opportunity that few get the chance to take.

But please, please, for the love of all things good, understand: I’ve had six hours of sleep in the past two and a half days, and I just want these things to die. In a good way. Maybe I'll go start a fight club...

I’m done now.
kthanxbye.

Typhoon 7

2005-07-30T17:36:00.000+09:00

Some of you know that a typhoon (or "hurricane" as they are known east of the International Date Line) hit Japan earlier this week. I'll just say that, for my first real "typhoon experience", it really didn't quite match the hype. I think it may have been produced by George Lucas.

Anyway, after a few sprinkles of rain, the air cleared, there was a rainbow, and then a glorious sunset. The next day was the clearest and driest that it's been in over a month. That was it. Hmm, not to be cocky, but I'd kind of like a few more typhoons this season. It was 95 degrees F today, and a brief walk to the bank and grocery store left me too tired to visit a highly-recommended coffee shop in Nagoya. It rained today too...just long enough to raise the humidity to DEATH. I'll take cooler, drier typhoon weather any day of the week.

Um, okay, rant over; here's apictures of the typhoon "aftermath"...

I saw me some Sumo...

2005-07-23T19:10:00.000+09:00

Hey all,

Sorry about the lack of posts lately; the heat and humidity have kept me pretty close to home, and thus, rather boring.

BUT, today was AWESOME! After a short 4-hour shift at work, a friend and I went to the Sumo Tournament here in Nagoya. And WOW, was it a great experience! Definitely an "only in Japan" day.

Sumo, for those who don't know, is a traditional Japanese sport where two extremely large men in very try to defeat their opponent by either knocking him to the floor or sending him flying somewhere into the stratosphere. Or into the judges sitting outside the ring. And while you'd think that 350-pound men would move pretty slowly, they really do - the bouts don't usually last more than ten or fifteen seconds. The bouts are accompanied by lots of pageantry and sybolism, from the brightly-colored aprons (kesho-mawashi) that the sumos (rikishis) wear when they first enter the area, to the elaborate cleansing and preparation for each bout. All in all, it makes American football look like a fast-paced sport! But the bright colors and the crowd's anticipation made the whole thing sooo exciting!

So, without further ado, here's some of the things I saw today at the tourney. I hope you enjoy them...

-Thom

The dohyo, or ring, where the bouts are held. There are no supports or poles, so all the spectators can have a good view of the bouts.

If your opponent manages to knock (or carry) you out of the ring, you lose.

"My mawashi has tassles." "Yeah? Well, so does mine!"
"Okay, cut it out you two."

On your marks, get set...

Two referees, or goyji, in traditional garb.

Before: Primed.

After: Victory belongs to the guy in the red.
Defeat belongs to the guy in the white.

Please return to your seat, sir.

"Charge of the Light Brigade" this is not.

The Georgian (frmr. Soviet state) who was tied for first place at the beginning of the match.

Nagoya's own son.

Japan's other Self Defense Force.

Yokozuna (grand champion) displays. Note the belt; it comes in one size: huge.

Muttonchop POWER!

Either the Jedi Council or a judges conference; I forget which.

Figure 1. Potential energy

Figure 2. Kinetic energy.

This match lasted over a minute!

An object at rest will remain at rest...

...unless acted upon by an outside force.
The guy in blue was tied for first place, but was defeated in this round.

And now, a word from our sponsors...

Preparing for the last bout of the day. The highest-ranked rikishi is on the left.

In the end, the hero remained victorious.

Ending the day with the traditional bow-twirling display called Yumitori-shiki.
Just don't call it "girly".

Let me know what you think! Leave comments through the link at the bottom of the post.

Trip to Nagoya Port

2005-07-08T21:38:00.000+09:00

Hey all,

Here's some pictures from my trip to Nagoya Port on Wednesday. It was an absolutely beautiful day, high around 83 and sunny - the perfect summer "weekend" day! I had a blast, and can't wait to start traveling around Japan some more! Next stop(s): Gifu City and Nagoya Castle. Let the day-tripping commence!

Blessings,
Thom

See? I told you it was nice here! This one's for my Dad.

The Golden Dolphins - the symbols of Nagoya.

The first time I'd seen the Pacific (kinda) since I was about 12.

A view of the park, with the Italian Village tower in the background.

The Villagio Italia, or "Italian Village" as the Japanese call it, in Nagoyako.

Another shot of Italian Village. No, it's not Pisa; I just can't stand up straight.

Anne, if the boys ever end up sailing out this way, at least know that they can buy any sailing equipment they might need.

The QQ, my home-away-from-home-away-from-home. ("Kyu kyu" is 99 in Japanese; the QQ is the 99 yen store and has lots of goodies, food, drinks, etc. for very, very cheap. The phrase "Dinner is served" is often compliments of QQ.)

Thanks for checking out my trip!

Happy Fourth of July!

2005-07-04T19:09:00.000+09:00

Hope your day is enjoyable and memorable,
'cause I know mine will be!

Long overdue

2005-07-03T16:26:00.000+09:00

Well folks, I'm back.

After a too-long hiatus, I finally have internet access and time to update the blog. Well, somewhat. Anyway, yes; here's the skinny:
I'm here in Nagoya, and teaching conversational English five days a week.

I'm sharing a flat with two other guys: Devin, an American originally from the Cities, and who attended Hamline College, just down the road from Bethel; and Alwyn, a Kiwi from Auckland, who knows approximately every single foreigner and crazy Japanese person in Nagoya. They keep life pretty exciting, and make for good company out on the balcony.

Our flat is pretty small...but then again, so is everything in Japan! We've got everything we need though: a PS2, a refridgerator, and an air conditioner. =)

Teaching is pretty easy; I'm definitely getting into the swing of things, and the staff - the teachers and the Japanese staff - are really nice.

I've recently acquired a suit and a cellphone, thus making me the epitome of everything I stood against in the US - a Suit. I try to make up for it by promising myself to go to every overpriced rock concert in the Nagoya area for the next year. =)

Well, back to the grind; I need to hit the sack so I can actually get some sleep before work tomorrow morning!

Blessings all,
Thom

Nagoya Update

2005-06-12T08:35:00.000+09:00

Greetings all!

My sincere apologies at not getting back to you all sooner; but I've seen more of Japan in the last 24 hours than I did by airplane. Yesterday was very busy: I woke up in Osaka, had breakfast and walked around the city a bit, then got on the train and traveled about 2 hours to Nagoya with 4 other people (including a guy who lives upstairs from me), and moved into my apartment! I even met one of my roommates before I got inside! He was on his way to the store to get some groceries.

My room in the apartment is one of the larger ones, 6 tatami mats (about 9x12), but doesn't have a closet. It makes up for it by having a window on one wall, and a sliding glass door to the balcony on another. So for the summertime at least, that will be very nice. My apt is on the 5th floor (hence the #503) of 8, located right along a main road, two blocks from the subway station, two blocks from the local gov't building, and about 6 blocks from Seiyu - the Japanese Wal-Mart (literally). So we definitely have a good location! The only downside is that the traffic goes 24 hours a day, and is pretty noisy. My roommates, Alwen and Devon, are both pretty cool; Alwen is from New Zealand and has been here since January, and Devon is from Chicago and had been here since March. Devon is actually originally from the Cities (Wayzata, I think) and graduated from Macalaster last year.

I'm doing pretty well settling in; I took a *nap* last evening - 6:30pm to 1am - but slept again from 3am to 8am. Hopefully I'll be adjusted by the time I start orientation on Monday!

I have more stories to tell, but I'm paying 400 yen an hour at the International centre, and hopefully I'll have internet in about a week. But no worries Mom, I'm writing it all down! ("No worries is something that Alwen says a lot, along with "Good on ya!")

I love you all, and I'll write again as soon as I can!

Always,
Thom

Crunch Time

2005-06-07T03:21:00.000+09:00

Well folks, it's about that time again; I'm down below 36 hours, and I think the coffee-maker is going to be running non-stop for all 36 of those hours.

Here's a brief overview of recent events, before I lose internet connection later today:

I spent Thursday and Friday in lovely downtown Chicago, where I was getting my worker's visa from the Japanese consulate. The process was remarkably smooth! I also got to spend time at the Art Institute of Chicago, which was amazing!

My house is mostly packed (mostly), and I'm moving things to various points for storage (thanks Anne and Eric!). Please pray that I get all the clean-up packing done and get some sleep tonight.

I've finally received my webcam in the mail, so hopefully some of you will actually be able to "see" me while I'm abroad. For those of you who can't, I'll be purchasing a digital camera (hopefully today), and taking copious amounts of pictures; which I will then upload and make viewable to my adoring public.

Well, back to work...

-t

T-Minus 10 Days and counting...

2005-05-29T02:11:00.000+09:00

Well, it's been a long while since my last post! I'm already not doing as well on the "daily"-ness of the upsdates, so without any further ado, here's the latest:

My Certificate of Eligibility (COE) has FINALLY been issued in Tokyo, and should be here by mid-week next week. It's actually being sent to the Chicago Nova office, where I will meet up with it (finally!) and take the COE, my passport, and myself to the Chicago Japanese consulate to get the necessary stamps that will not only allow me to get into Japan, but actually stay there for the length of my tenure. I'll be flying to Chicago on Thursday morning and returning the next evening, with some business and Stateside sight-seeing in between.

My tickets are in! I've got the paper tickets for the second and third legs of my trip; and I'll get the first at the airport here in town.
D-Day is June 7th, starting off a three-legged trip:
Later June 7th - I'm flying out of Minneapolis/St. Paul for Los Angeles
Early June 8th - I leave LAX for Vancouver; then leave Vancouver noonish for Osaka
June 9th - I'll be arriving at Osaka-Kansai airport around 3pm, local time.

Got Yen? I do! I ordered 45,000 yen from my bank earlier this week, and they arrived yesterday! I'll tell ya though, four 10,000 yen notes and five 1,000 yen notes isn't quite the moneyroll I was expecting...

So things are getting very busy and not a little stressful! Luckily, I was an English major: deadlines breed creativity!

Everything will work out in the end.

More soon,
-Thom

Aeroplane

2005-05-17T09:05:00.000+09:00

Well, the pieces are falling into place! I purchased my tickets to Osaka today. The new departure date is Tuesday, June 7th: first to Los Angeles, and from there to Vancouver and Osaka, finally arriving in the afternoon on the 9th.
Whew! That makes me tired...and it's still 3 weeks away! 3 weeks from tomorrow...

More info soon (I hope)...

Start Your Engines!

2005-05-16T12:20:00.000+09:00

Well folks, it looks like this might actually be for real! I've received my confirmation, and I'm making plans to fly out of Minneapolis/St. Paul on June 7th or 8th, depending on flights from Los Angeles to Osaka.

I'm still not sure exactly where in Japan I'll be; but I'm leaning towards Nagoya, which is about halfway between Osaka and Tokyo, in the middle of the main island.

For all of you nearby, I'm having a going-away party at my house this Friday, May 20th, starting around 5pm. I'd love it if you could come!

Well, that's about it for now; hope to have more info soon!

Thanks all,
Thom