Vacation!!!

After three weeks of free time in the teachers office, it was about time I had a vacation. I spent lots of time planning two alternate vacations I bailed on once I did my research into Nagano prefecture. Thus..

Day 1
After a long day of traveling by train, I arrive in Hakuba, a small ski town nestled in "the Japanese Alps". The place only partly fits the Alpine image. Giant yellow and black spiders' webs glisten under the awnings of kitsch Deutschland roofs. It's been raining intermittently since I arrived but now appears to have calmed down. Anxious to breathe in the mountain air and do some exploring, I grab a mountain bike and head out on a route recommended by the hostel manager. The trail winds through a distinctive forest: tall conifers, branchless until the canopy and little undergrowth.

Shinto, Japan's native religion, posits that all living and nonliving things have a spirit/soul, or kami. Any thing that particularly inspires a sense of awe is often given a kami stone or even a shrine. Here on the trail, it seems every fifty yards theres a small mossy kami-stone, paying honor to particular trees or a distinctive rock. I make it to the other side of a giant lake, with hints of turquoise even in the overcast conditions. It is here, at the furthest point from the hostel, the rain switch turns back on. I accept there's no chance of getting back dry, so embrace the torrential weather. I try to come back through the cross country skiing course used in the '98 Nagano Olympics. Poor directions on a map literally decaying from rain and folding makes that option a little too daring. I stick to the highway, speeding downhill alongside bus-fulls of Japanese tourists staring out their windows at this 'crazy'. I, like most people, are averse to getting wet or dirty, but once accepted, its pure revelry. I laugh and even sing the whole way back


Day 2
I spend the morning waiting for the sky to clear in the spacious, large windowed lounge of the hostel, chatting with a very Swiss man. A train, bus, gondola, and air-tram later, I'm at 6000 feet altitude walking on a boardwalk through a flooded alpine plateau. In a word: pleasant. All sorts of flowers and butterflies abound. There's still snow in the crevasses of the mountain scenery. Everyone I pass gives me a kind Japanese greeting. I watch a trout swimming against a small river current, stationary directly under a footbridge. Occasionally, cloud masses swell against the ridge and then flow through the valley, refreshingly cool and damp, kinetic and wonderful.


Day 3
I'm up and at 'em early. From the train station I head north towards the massive Olympic Distance Ski jump looming over the town at the bottom of Happo-one Ski Resort. Gondola. Lift. Lift. Then I'm off. I had missed the first lift by about 45 minutes so have hundreds of hikers in front of me. Not exxagerating, 90% were old people. Getting trapped behind a group of slow old people on a narrow trail is never fun. I fly through the first part in 1/3rd the time it was supposed to take, undoubtedly leaving a large wake of feelings of inadequacy in the other climbers.

After reaching the mountain lake, the main attraction, I finally was on the real trail. I gain a temporary hiking partner who was the only guy less prepared looking than I was: purple plastic imitation Reebok Pumps, suspenders, thick glasses, supplies carried in a plastic grocery bag, and one goofy smile.

I reach a/the peak way faster than the time it was suggested it would take. I couldn't already be at the goal of my day's hike. I figure this tall peak in the distance must be the one I want. I decide to follow the route of three XC skiing competitors in training who say the peak is Mt. Goryu. I go along an erratic ridge which makes ample use of chains and ropes as it was very up and down. I even get to do a little rappeling.

if you look in the picture, the tallest peak is the one I got to too quickly. The treacherous ridge is just to the left, with the tooth-like projection. And if you're paying attention, you'll remember my camera broke. I took lots of good pictures with my high tech cell phone which I'll eventually post somewhere.

I finally meet someone with a map and realize that first peak was my original goal and I am exactly halfway between peaks. I must choose between heading back the same way I came guaranteeing to make the last lift down OR continuing onwards to a different ski slope and take a lift down there. Obviously the latter. The way back was through a jungle of bamboo that must die every winter than try to make up for lost ground in the warmer months. I had to be careful not to get dragonflies in my mouth or eyes as scores took to the air as I disturbed their path. I made it to the lift down of the other ski slope with half an hour to spare.


Onsen
Due to all the underground activity, hot springs (or onsen) pervade Japan, especially in mountainous areas. Their ubiquitous-ness seem to assure their becoming a part of their culture, extremely popular whether its for vacation or as a daily routine. And what better time to give onsen's a try then after a loong hike in the "alps".

Right when I got there, 20 high school boys showed up so it was packed, certainly not making things easier for myself. The washing ritual is intense and complicated, new standards in cleanliness. Onsen's are mostly gender-separate, thus definitely nakedness presides. Of course as a clueless and rare foreigner, I was the total center of attention. All in all, it was a complicated and very new experience for the young Evan.


Day 4 and 5
Matsumoto: a small city that's existed since the 800's.

The tourist highlight is one of the few original castles in Japan. Built in the 1590's, Crow Castle, with is alternating black and white wooden exterior, and carp-filled moat is really bad ass. During the day I went inside and had not one, but TWO free goodwill tour guides accompany me, the only tour guides I saw. At dusk, I drank beer on a bench with an open panoramic view of the castle, the moat, the mountains and the sunset. Then a looong walk to an all-u-can-eat Thai curry restaurant in North Matsumoto. And a final visit to my castle bench at night.

Also in Matsumoto, a long walk checking out beautiful and deserted shrines hidden in alleys. And staying in an eighty year old Ryokan, or traditional Japanese hotel. Tatami floors, rice paper walls, and an elaborate Japanese tea set and table ready when I arrive.

So that was my vacation. Pretty long post, hope its not too boring. I already have another exciting trip planned, climbing Mt. Fuji this Saturday with some other English-speaking JET's.

Welcome to the Ring of Fire

Before coming to Japan, I remember telling a few people how it was lame I never felt a single earthquake in California and I hope I get to feel a little one in Japan. Well my wish was answered quite quickly. In less than three weeks to be precise. A 5.3, the epicenter off Chiba, probably 40 miles south of me.

Last night, right before dawn, I awoke to the room shaking with an immediate infusion of adrenaline into my bloodstream. It lasted maybe 10 seconds then a smaller aftershock 10 seconds later. It wasn’t too violent, nothing fell over or anything, but the items in my room were shaking as to produce sound. After an aftershock, I sprang to action, naively considering two doomsday scenarios:
a)the chance of the epicenter being offshore resulting in a tidal wave which could easily reach my low elevation apartment about a km from the ocean.
And
b) I remember hearing the aftershocks can be even worse so I stayed awake half-expecting another earth shaking
After a little time spent reasoning I realized everything was alright. Though it took me a fair bit of time to get my body back into sleeping mode.

Think of all the tribal people of ancient history who must have woke to the earth shaking with similar reactions to myself. It's easy to recognize how ancient myths and religions were born. Huge forces of nature, I think especially an earthquake, really makes one feel small. The discrepency between our perceived powerfulness of an earthquake and how miniscule a small earthquake is relative to the earth as a whole, (just a tiny slip of a tectonic plate) is pretty staggering.



New Cell Phone
Japanese cell phones make America look like a technologically backwards country. I got one of the free phones that come with a plan, a white slide phone with a giant, high-def screen. The manual is in Japanese so itll take me a while to figure out all the features but ive checked out the weather and GPS features. Its an mp3 player and a 3.2 megapixel camera, and a bar code reader. Here in Japan, square bar codes can often be found on advertisements or sometimes just stuck in public areas. Reading them brings you to a special cellphone website. Additionally, every cellphone has an email address and generally this is how people email each other. I also chose a killer whale as my friendly helpful creature which swims around the screen and lets me know when I have mail or whatever.
Now all I need is some friends to call, hah.


Surfing Part III and Problem Solving

It has been a very mixed week for surfing in the life of Evan Schumann. In addition to the conditions not coming together to make it any good I’ve also had a few frustrating experiences. Monday afternoon, I cut my foot up mounting the bike with the longboard and while surfing, I rode a wave a little too close to shore and got thrown onto the shell and rock encrusted sand leaving me with quite a bit of cuts.
The next day I saw so many cars with surfboards that I figured it must be really good. It wasn’t. Like Monday, it was once again abnormally crowded but at least I discovered the reason why. Mon/Tues/Wed is a national holiday in Japan, Obon. During these three days, the souls of deceased relatives come down from heaven and chill with their families, eat some food, and whatnot.
The week wasn’t all bad for surfing. I did manage to get my craft skills on and build a wind vane which I mounted in a mini field in front of my apartment. As per normal, I did a pretty bare minimum job on it, both aesthetically and functionally, but it'll do. I also came up with an idea for giving English lessons during and in exchange for surf sessions.

I also have decided on where to take my vacation, but it is neither of the aforementioned places. I leave next Wednesday for 5 days. Pretty exciting. The location? a surprise.

Family BBQ/More Fireworks/First Karaoke experience

Last week I went to the massive Tokyo city fireworks. This Friday I went to the local town fireworks. Here, each 1-2 minute set of fireworks was brought to you by a certain company or sponsor. The sponsors likely compete with each other leading to more variation and a great number of finales. There are many stands with local food and games. Once again ill luck struck as my simple noodle dish was flavored with fishiness taste. I just can’t trust these festivals anymore.

Saturday, I went to a real family BBQ, where we had our own firework show lasting well over an hour. Needless to say fireworks are a big deal over here. Of course I got a little mischievous (the sa-ke the grandfather pushed on me probably helped) and would covertly light the fuse of these loud ones and toss them next to the unexpected. It brought back memories of launching bottle-rockets at a certain group of people, leading to the disgruntled victim on the hood of my car, grabbing my hair through the open window. I closed the power window on his arm and drove with sharp arcs to throw them off the chalky hood of the Passat. It was right out of a movie.

There were plenty of cute kids who were more awe struck at simple sparklers than the air fireworks. One failed to get my attention once and couldn’t fathom the fact that I didn’t understand Japanese. The food was great: lots of meat, grilled eggplant, shrimp yakisoba noodles, shave ices, and giant grapes, among other things. I have leftovers in my fridge. The women do the grilling here, unlike in America. The setting was a small but nicely landscaped backyard complete with Japanese paper candles.

Afterwards I had my first karaoke (NOT kah-ree-oh-kee, you gaijin). I was sober and shy by this point, but eventually did a decent rendition of the Beatles ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’. I’ll get ‘em next time. The place greatly differed from the Tokyo karaoke booth on the corner of a building that Bill Murray and friends use in Lost in Translation except that it was its own room. I think this sort of karaoke, which serves food and drinks as well, could definitely succeed in an American city.


Surfing Part II and a few rudimentary observations on Japanese surfers.

-They like wearing wetsuits even though the water is very warm.
-I figured they’d strictly follow the rules of the water but they don’t seem to mind dropping in on each other.
-They prefer the first wave in the set, which I use to my advantage.
-They’re quite the rippers.
-It appears to be a virtual requirement of fulfilling the surfer identity to bring gallons, (or shall I say liters), of fresh water to meticulously rinse yourself and all the gear down post-session.
-Even though the waves are generally waist high, pretty clean, mushy, and long, Japanese surfers love their shortboards. Most surfers seem to be in their 30’s, likely products of the late 80’s shortboard revolution. They struggle just to get pushed by the waves, pumping like mad. Meanwhile, I caught some of the best longboard waves of my life, including my first legit hang five.

This Sunday I finally crossed Japan’s widest river into Chiba, the prefecture that has all the waves. My only local friends tend to be fifty-year old ladies, so one introduced me to one of her windsurfing friends and we spent the day hitting the surf. It was smaller than I expected but I had a lot of fun in the tropical feeling water. Unlike the plains-like Ibaraki prefecture, Chiba has densely forested mountains and a rocky coastline. From the water, you could even hear the whining of cicadas in Morse code (long, a burst of shorts, then another long) from the trees on the cliff. The spot was at the sand-filled right angle of a jetty and a seawall.


Sea Creatures
Besides the whale blob and decapitated sea turtle I’ve found on the beach, there are plenty of other creatures of the sea. The shoreline is littered with sand dollars and beautifully colored clam shells. In the water there are these hilarious fish that occasionally make an appearance. I thought they were a pack of some bizarre aquatic mammal at first because they like to swim with their heads just out of the water. They also will ride the waves in a school like you’ll see dolphins do. There are also two types of jellyfish, only one of which packs a moderate sting, nothing like the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish which fill the bays of EH in late summer.


Planning a Trip

I’m currently deciding between

- Aomori (Blue Forest) Prefecture, the far north of the main island of Honshu. (6-8 days) There I would climb the sulfurous volcanic “Mount Fear”, Shinto-Buddhist hell. See some cool coastline. Visit a historical castle/samurai city. And climb one of two other mountains and/or spend some time on this giant crystal clear caldera lake.

- Yamagata Prefecture (5-6 days). I would likely spend two days on a tiny island in the Sea of Japan and two days climbing the three sacred mountains of Denwa Za, which to this day remain a pilgrimage within a sect of Buddhism. Maybe a brief stopover in an old feudal town.


Japanese TV

I haven’t caught too much live Japanese TV yet but I found these great links on youtube though. I suspect these prank / game shows wouldn’t last too long in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq_tPCUx9ds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm7aX3QfOG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bK63uSTTNs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guZda7nku8

Week 2

My Quarters
So my apartment is pretty sweet besides the bathroom looking like it came directly off the coach section of a budget airline and into my apartment. The apartment came furnished already. I get to start my life in Japan with all the essentials: plenty of Japanese tea sets, a few Pikachu’s lying around the house, a badminton racket, a bunch of mediocre books, and a hand full of Japanese fans, which yes, I do use at school to cool myself down. The apartment also came with a washer, but no dryer. I’m hang-drying clothes for the first time in my life right now, with yet unforeseen results.
Two main rooms. One is a kitchen/surfboard storage/dining room. The other is my sleeping and computer room. It has a floor covered in new tatami straw mats, giving it a delicate barn smell. I sleep on a futon which when not in use should be folded up and put away in a closet. I tend to just throw it on the other side of the room. See, leaving the futon in the same place all the time apparently leads to a mold problem. I’m doubtful. I plan on discovering the exact limits of laziness one can be with moving the futon. However, just today I hung my futon out in the sun as one should do weekly which was good of me. My sleeping room also has air conditioning, which is much needed.

Talk of the Weather will do.
It’s so hot here, every day. I’m pretty sick of it. I’m even planning a vacation to northern Honshu or the mountains to get away from it. The teacher’s office I spend my time in is on the second floor and has no air conditioning. I watch the inside thermometer hit 30, 31, 32 degrees Celsius, which is right around 90. Sweating through a shirt is no fun at all.

The World’s Largest City
I got my first glimpse of Tokyo this weekend. By 12:30 Saturday, Mike, Steven, and I had already set up a tarp to claim prime seating near the river. The Edogawa fireworks are one of the largest fireworks events in the world with over 1.3 million people watching so getting there early is recommended. We bought a 2nd hand cooler, stocked it with beers, tea, sushi, and meat. I spent the day drinking, basking in the sun, and meeting the rest of our tarp crew as they showed up. The fireworks were pretty awesome, lasting the length of a movie. The next day I bailed on coming back to Hasaki for the drinking BBQ. Instead I went to Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum, which had some of the most cherished artifacts and artwork in Japanese history arranged in an informative, chronological order. Next was Akihabara, the electronics district of Tokyo. The streets were barred from cars and instead overflowing with pedestrians, consumers, advertisers and solicitors.

The Food
Hitting Mt. Fuji restaurant occasionally is great, having real Japanese food (which is quite a bit different) every day is quite another thing. Here in semi-rural Hasaki, there’s no way around becoming accustomed to eating traditional Japanese food. I haven’t gotten sick of it yet, in part because I keep trying different styles, but the day is approaching when I’ll be craving any food not Japanese. Luckily, they do appreciate international cuisine, though in its Japan-ified form, like tuna, corn, and mayo pizza.
Most of my breakfasts and lunches are from 7-11, actually called 7 and I Holdings here. I don’t know what most things are, so I tend to go by sight couple with trial & error. Some of the weirder things I’ve had so far are Aloe flavored yogurt (with real chunks of aloe plant), raw egg over rice, the egg/dried shrimp/dried albacore/cabbage thing-y, weird radishes are popular, really sour pickled plums, raw meat one cooks themselves over a mini-grill, and lots of fish I wouldn’t normally eat. Pork cutlet over Japanese beef curry has become my new staple. I had it tonight at the local restaurant and two nights ago.

Volleyball
My contract has started so I have to go to work everyyy day. However, there’s nothing for me to do, so I study Japanese or read most of the time. The other afternoon I went to girl’s volleyball practice as a helper/participant. When I arrived, the team captain made a signal and the whole team made a semi-circle around me, bowed completely horizontally and out came a stream of unintelligible sentences. Then they waited for my reply. This was repeated when I left.
I selectively participated in the drills and still sweated through my shirt. For refreshment, they drink green tea exclusively, no Powerade or water here. I was always personally served mine in a cute, yellow Hello Kitty mug. One drill I did join in was the spike-u drill. Imagine a bunch of 5-foot tall pre-teens and me, at 6’1”, getting perfect passes from the coach on a low net. I felt ridiculous, more so because the team captain was practically hitting as well as I was.
There is no I in team. Unlike America, here the saying is for real. There is no room for self expression of any kind. If a terrible hit happens to go in, ‘Nice-u Hittu’ and only ‘Nice Hittu’, unless it’s a serve, then its ‘Nice serb-u’. If an awesome hit just misses, silence. Besides these compliments, ich-ni-san’s, (1,2,3’s) and Hai’s (yes coach) there isn’t really any talking. It was so different from my Jr. High volleyball experience, in which there was constant joking, making fun of the coach, competitive games, aiming for teammates with the ball. Clubs are a big deal in Japan. You join only one and it becomes your life, your teammates become your group of friends. They practice three hours a day, largely every day, all for a handful of tournaments a year. I haven’t figured out their appeal yet.

Bureaucracy
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday were all spent, at least in part, dealing with the Japanese bureaucracy: getting the necessary documents, long lines, numerous stops. It’s tough to describe, but trust me the DMV is a breeze compared to getting things done here in Japan. The biggest trip was a full day spent heading to Mito, the prefecture capital, to get my working visa, which wasn’t processed in time before my departure to Japan.
I spent the drive trying to read signs. I can read hiragana, but it means nothing to me. Even though katakana spells English words, it isn’t much better. For instance, in front of me is a can with the symbols spelling, Maa-kusu kohee, which actually translates as Max Coffee. Ah-su-to, is auto. O-ou-tsu-leh-lee-ah is Australia. Arriving at 11:25 at the capital office, with four office attendants, and being fourth in line, we were excited with the prospect we would be in and out quickly. However, by noon we still weren’t up yet, and then the office closes until 1. Typical.
Another example, banks are only open when the populace is at work. In fact, I haven’t been able to open a bank account until today because I needed an ink-stamp for official documents. Signatures don’t cut it in Japan, a largely random choice of two easily counterfeited symbols are preferred. My stamp consists of the symbols for picture (E) and evening (Ban, because there are no V’s here)

Quirks
There are lots of funny quirks about Japanese society. Here are just a few.
Traffic lights are horizontal while words and sentences are written vertically
There’s a good chance of a public vending machine being directly outside your house
I need to bring separate indoor shoes to work each day. My outdoor shoes are left near the main entrance.
A serious recycling program in which trash is divided into five categories requiring special bags for each: recyclable, burnable, unburnable, oversized, and hazardous. Likely responsible for the quantity and diversity of garbage on the beach.

Surfing
My first surf was early Wednesday morning, and I mean early. The sun rises around 4:30 AM and that’s when I tend to get up with the jet lag. I was the only one on the beach and I was spooked most of the time. However, I didn’t have to worry about being alone for the afternoon session as there were about 12 people out at my jetty spot. The swell picked up to a little overhead, the water blue-green, and the wind offshore. A large rip pulls sand away from the jetty and creates a bowl-y A-frame. The lefts break into the rip, so their deceptively bad. It was tricky at first but after two more sessions, I think I’m getting the hang of the spot.
The wind has been side-offshore for days. In fact, you can check if you’re sitting in the right spot if you get the stench of rotting beached whale being blown at you. At least I think that's what it is, its more like a giant blob. I also found a decapitated sea turtle on the beach.

Riding a bike to go surf is a new experience for me. Taking the longboard was painful and full of expletives. Bluedorns, I need you to ship out you’re surfboard bike trailer. Riding with the 6’9’’ shortboard, Mr. Magic, is much easier. I carry it like a weapon under one arm, ready to do battle. It’s pretty bad ass.
Driving is done on the left and the roads are narrow making for dangerous riding conditions. Even the major roads will be just wide enough for two larger vehicles to pass each other and shoulders do not exist. Let’s hope I don’t get hit. However, it is inevitable that I’ll take a spill riding one-handed while carrying the surfboard.

My First Real Weekend
Tomorrow I head to Tokyo for the first time, though not to really check out the city. I am going with the two ALT’s here to a giant fireworks festival. Over a million people attend. I’m coming back Sunday for a drinking BBQ Sunday afternoon here in Hasaki. All in all, things are really good here. Steven says I’m in the honeymoon period in which everything is new and interesting. This makes sense, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.