Typhoons, Nuclear Reactors, Drivers Licences, Dainenbutsu, Dinner and Drinks with Some Students!

I wanted to continue reflecting on the visit from my family in April, this time looking at my Aunt's pictures, but there are a few stray topics hanging around that I wanted to address.

Weather and Nuclear power: Last week some nasty weather blew through the region. It actually started on Thursday- before the typhoon hit we had a nasty dumping of rain that seemed to coincide exactly with my class finishing and my entire drive home. The rain was so hard that on the dark road I could barely make anything out. The picture above is a fairly accurate view of what I could see while driving home. Just nasty. The rain seemed to be a little reminder that one of the biggest typhoons in recent memory was paying a visit soon to Japan. Man-yi when it hit Okinawa was a category 4 typhoon and was cutting a direct path through mainland Japan up through Hamamatsu and up to Tokyo. Thankfully by the time it hit here it was category 1 and the winds were a manageable 100 km/hour. Honestly the damage looked minimal in the area- I cleared a few branches that fell off the big tree across the street, but it actually seemed a little anti-climactic.

The next day came news of the big earthquake in Niigata. There were a few concerned e-mails to me as the news characterized it as being central Japan- but it is actually northern central Japan- while I am in Southern Central Japan. The point of interest to me actually is the Nuclear power facility. Japan largely relies on nuclear power- I am sure that you can imagine with such a large population and such small land, the need for efficient cheap power is extreme. Well we aren't too far from a nuclear power plant here in Hamakita- okay it is probably about 40-50kms away, but sometimes that doesn't seem far enough. With the spillage into the sea and the knocking over of the nuclear waste barrels, it seems to me that we haven't heard the last of the damage caused by such a disaster. Well it just strikes a chord with me and I hope that the power plant is better setup to withstand the big earthquake that is overdue to hit here.

Drivers Licence: I went to renew my drivers license on Tuesday with my trusty translator Ritsy (and apparently my wife...). The process includes sitting down for a 2 hour video and lecture. The video is pretty good, at least through the campy acting I can get the point it is trying to make. If I drink with my colleagues they will convince me to drink more than I wanted then I will drive home and fall asleep at the wheel, then hit and inevitably kill a girl riding her bike. I will then be sent to prison and my wife will be forced to work so she will eventually lose the baby that she is carrying due to the extra stress. Okay- all sarcasm aside- I actually like the idea of the video it is presented as a drama which is quite popular in Japan so it will hold people's attention and the message it carries is a good one- don't drink and drive. I hope that it has made some people re-evaluate their habits and saved a life or two! The rest of the session is a throw away- even if I could understand what the man was talking about for the last hour and a half he would have put me to sleep. He was not an interesting public speaker and indeed, looking around I could see some people nodding off. After that was completed, I had my new license- I am now no longer a beginner in Japan (yes, despite my 10 years driving in Canada, I had to start as a beginner).
Dainenbutsu: On Sunday, at the tail end of my class, my students and I went over to the Cultural center in Hamakita and checked out the museum. As we had talked about the Dainenbutsu, they wanted to show it to me as there is a lot of information about the ceremony there. Pictured above are two masks that are used in the ceremony- the characters Hyotoko and Okame. The museum was small but surprisingly nice- I wish a few more foreigners might come out to Hamakita, as there was no English materials made at all! Incidentally about Dainenbutsu, the ceremony was actually last weekend, and that would have meant that the people doing the cermony that night would have had to be out in the typhoon conditions! I hope that they were able to cut the evening short!
Dinner: That night (after my usual Sunday basketball session with Chris and Peter) I met up with the same students again and we went out for a nice night of drinks and food! Kazuo and Atsuko are a couple of real nice people that tried out one of my group lessons and asked me to teach them privately as the class was too hard for them. They both have a great energy and we always have a great chat every class. For dinner we chose a local Izakaya called Iso de Raku that featured some amazing fish dishes.
After some great food, some beer and some laughs, we of course had to have the typical capper- a trip to karaoke!
It was a great night and they were both very generous and very fun to hang out with!