Mobiles, thank yous and a vid

What?

Just a quiet day today. We went by Entetsu department store, we had received a few gift certificates to use there- we were able to find a cute mobile for hanging on his crib or maybe bouncer. Did I mention how incredibly generous have been since Ken's arrival?

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for coming to my blog in 2007! I really wanted to use this as a way to extend a branch of communication to my family and friends back home, but it has grown into something more with many students and just coincidental visitors (like Marc who happened across my blog topic about his buddy Warwick) and it has been greatly successful. I am a little disappointed that my writing dropped off in the last quarter of the year- but in the end I have about 131 posts so I don't think I did too bad. Well, thanks so much for reading- I hope to keep it interesting for 2008!

Here is a little video of Santa lying like the fool he is and Ken swinging his head around a bit.

That's Japan! Volume 5

What's that you ask? A country that has a population about 3.8 times that of Canada's, squeezed into roughly 1/26th the space? The country that invented Pocky and Godzilla and Ultraman? Yes folks- That is Japan!

Yeni and I at the ESL college summer Hanabi party

1. Jinbei - Most people when they think of Japan's unique clothing styles, readily come up with an image of a kimono, or maybe a pair of wooden sandals (geta). One of the lesser known players is the jinbei a light weight easy to slip on clothing that is great for the summer time. While the tradition is to go through the time consuming process of putting on a kimono, or slightly quicker yukata - it is quite popular for men to opt for a jinbei when attending summer festivals. And gosh, don't I look sharp in one?

Some guy eating basashi in Kumamoto(stolen from this blog- sorry!)

2. Food tourism - What did you do last holiday? Did you travel to Kentucky to eat baby back ribs at a popular restaurant? Did you travel to a number of different cities sampling Roll Cake from the many local restaurants? Chance are if you are in North America you said no. But it is actually quite a popular travel activity for some people in Japan. I think this speaks of one of the charms of the Japanese culture, to be perfectly honest- each region has a unique culture point or a food specialty that has grown and improved as time passes. While I get annoyed with the TV for always showing people eating- it is a great way to keep people informed of some of the unique tastes and spots around Japan. So if it is the food motivating to travel around, at least they are happy with doing it. After all, I'm sure they do end up doing some sight seeing between all the eating.... right...?

Again gleaned from a google search HERE

3. Pub - Are you new in Japan and want to settle in for a pint at a local pub? Be careful what you choose. Most likely what you would expect in a pub, here is called an Izakaya. That's a place to sit down for a laugh with your friends, eat some (surprisingly) good food and of course have some drinks. If you end up heading into a Pub- you will find a very different kind of establishment. A Pub here is usually a hostess bar, where you pay an incredibly high price for drinks and you (maybe) get flirted with by the hostesses at the bar. Similarly, Snacks have a very similar scheme and the best I can figure out the big difference is that an older clientèle frequent Snacks.

Yep, you can order this here.

4. Loli-Goth - One of the great fashion statements you will run across when walking around (more so in a bigger city than Hamamatsu though) is the Loligoth trend. Yes they have taken all the best elements of Lolitas (yes that is the sick love of younger girls?!) and the remarkably beautiful voice of the Goth underground and made just a... well... creepy image. Actually the image is cuter and cleaner than some of the other trends- but there is just some sort of odd undertones to the whole thing- I can't really put my finger on it, but it gives me the shivers.
5. Traffic Signals- I haven't been able to figure it out in almost 4 years living in this country. They call the green light on the traffic signal- the Ao Shingo- meaning the Blue signal. The light looks green to me and most of my students agree with me it is an odd thing, why blue? Well I formed a theory. Maybe the first guy that brought the traffic light over to Japan was colour blind and called it the Blue light. Maybe he was so revered and respected that all those around him just kind of went along with him and agreed that it was indeed blue. They probably took pity on him that he did not see his error and continued the tradition in his honour after he passed on... Well, it's a working theory, anyway.

Well that's my blog for today, and that's Japan for a lifetime!

Mac and Me

Last week, Mak made the trek out with his new girlfriend, Shizuka to Hamamatsu. He actually had planned on coming around the last week of August, but we kept bumping the date as we couldn't co-ordinate our schedules. As they were coming to Hamamatsu for the first time, we thought it might be a good idea to partake in Unajuu. Unajuu is a lot like Unagi donburi (broiled eel rice bowl) but instead of being served in a bowl, it comes in a square box (called ojuu). Ritsy did a little research and found Fujita - a nice little restaurant in Hamamatsu located oddly enough next to a hotel called Canada Hotel. It didn't really look Canadian to me....
I was surprised to hear that Mak had a lady in his life as when I saw him back in April he was a single man. Apparently he and Shizuka had gone to the same Junior High School but didn't really know each other back then. He was surprised to see that he was invited to his Junior high school reunion as he attended for a short time before moving to Canada and the U.S. Well he met Shizuka at the reunion and the impression was that they seem to hit it off pretty well. They have many things in common, they like sleeping in, they both aren't working anymore and... well they live in Tokyo...?

Who the heck is this attractive couple?

It seemed that time burned up and next thing I knew we were parting ways. They wanted to retire in a romantic setting near Hamanako ( I guess) so didn't take us up on our offer to stay over. It was a great night and very delicious dinner- I hope they come out again soon!

After all was said and done...

After all was said and done, I actually had a pretty nice last few days.
Going back a few days I finally managed to get in touch with my old buddy Alex. I was glad I finally got about to doing that and I am reminded that I should definitely take some more time and call some more of my old friends!
Last year in November I went to visit Alex and take part in his wedding celebration in Chihuahua Mexico. I managed to sandwich the Mexico trip with a couple of brief stints in Vancouver, so I was able to visit everyone but it was quite a tight schedule. The day I took off to Mexico, I got up at 6 am and took a bus to Seattle where I caught a plane to Dallas Fort Worth Airport then I waited a bit and flew to "Dog town" as I like to call it. It was a total of 12 hours travel time. But the times there were really fun and well worth all the traveling.
A few other guys came out to celebrate with us, so it was cool to have some familiar faces to chat with. Pictured here are Me, Alex, Mike Ko and Jesse. Our pal Raf and his wife Yvonne also came. Jesse and I capped the night by walking to Denny's about 20 minutes away. Good idea walking in the middle of night in Mexico on your own! Naturally, we survived to talk about it so there is no harm done! It was all a fun time considering this was the location of the wedding...
Actually, not really- I just wanted to throw that picture in there. Alex's new wife is living with him in Vancouver (Richmond) now and they are struggling through the waiting game of getting her Permanent Residence. Gosh, that reminds me of 3.5 years ago (can you believe it's been 3.5 years already?) when we had to do the same for Ritsy's permanent residence- it's a tough time to wait it out, but it sounds like there has been no complications, so that is a good sign! Anyway it was great to chat with Al and I felt bad I had to cut the conversation short because the Skype connection was crappy. Next time I won't be so cheap and I will use a real phone!
My birthday actually was pretty good. I was surprised to find the Mailman at my door when I came home from my class. I had received a birthday gift from my sister- good timing! I got all sorts of little goodies for me and Ritsy- so I was very pleasantly surprised. When I came home from another class, there was another delivery person leaving, we had received a response to my application for Permanent Residence in Japan. They had rejected my application- with the reason that I my reason wasn't good enough. Later Ritsy researched and we basically have to be married for 3 years before it becomes easy to get the PR. Yes, we have been married for 3 years- but I remembered I made a mistake when filling out the application ( I said it was 2 years) - what a dunderhead I am! I have a 3 year Visa right now anyway, so might as well let that ride out before applying again. When we have the baby it should be easier, too, I think. The day before, Chris and Hisano and Akemi had chipped in to buy us some Hokkaido fresh crab. So that night when my classes were done, we had a nice Crab hotpot. It was delicious! In the end it was a productive and fun day! (except for the immigration thing....)
In the end it was all Lifetime Happy Everyday Thank you!

Happy Birthday to me... Happy birthd.... ah to hell with it!

Yep it's my birthday- well, precisely, by the time I publish this it will be my birthday. 35 years old now! Yowza! It's actually going to be such a busy day I won't really have time to sit back and enjoy the day, but I guess at 35 years old I should be sort of over the birthday thing... (sadly I am not!)

This week is actually a special week as August the 7th is the date of my wedding anniversary. It's been 3 years now since we tied the knot back on Saturna Island. Hmm, I might not have put that in the blog yet- I will get to it.
Ritsy and I had to fit celebration into our busy schedules so we actually went out for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate. We chose a restaurant that is owned by her sister's boss' wife- a newer restaurant called Lenri - it is located very near to Miyakoda techno road. (sorry for the blurry photos- the one above and the following one...)
The place looks quite nice from the outside and inside as well. There is actually a lot of outdoor tables, so it would be nice to come back here one afternoon. Unfortunately due to a case of it's someone's fault but noone wants to take the blame ( I choose the restaurant) we could not have a course meal because we had to pre-book it when we made a reservation. We weren't going to allow that to spoil our time- the fact that they had left out little crowns for us to wear helped a lot!
Once the food started coming, it was quite delicious, though apparently we had ordered mouse portions! I was so into eating the food that I forgot to take a picture of it until we were almost finished.
It was quite a pleasant meal all in all and the 10% discount coupon helped! We will go back in the future and try out the course menu one day as we still have a couple of coupons left.
I got an interesting gift from my friends at the Time Life office in Nagoya today, they dressed up a couple of oranges -one as a man and one as a woman (Ritsy and I- I would guess) with a nice message on each one for our wedding and birthday celebrations! It was truly unexpected and quite a sweet gesture, thanks guys!

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!

Heat Madness!

Last post I posted a picture of Bob and Doug McKenzie- who were quite popular back in the days of SCTV. I realized from my conversations with my Aussie buddy, Chris that not a lot of people have seen SCTV, so I thought I might throw a Youtube link here so that you can follow the trails of related videos to see the hilarity in it's fullest! HERE.

Well it is starting to feel a lot like summer here. The heat is creeping in and even worse, the humidity. There isn't really a day that goes by that I don't find myself sweating uncontrollably, and it just isn't pleasant. The other day, the heat was visibly getting to all members of our household. Lanma was passed out on the couch as shown above.
Santa seemed to think taking refuge in the corner near the dining table would help him out. But when you walk around with that much fur, there is no escaping it!

Of course Ritsy and I were suffering and even Junior was shifting around in his womb restlessly. There was only one thing to do in such circumstances...

...go for Yakiniku!
Those who haven't tried yakiniku, it's a must, it's like all the best things about BBQing with a quick line from the grill, to the sauce, to your belly! Of course the one set back is the price, but an indulgence from time to time is a must!
In the above picture, we see Ritsy forgetting all her discomfort and troubles while contemplating the enjoyment of a mushroom! Saved from a day of suffering, we made our way home contented and ready to face the challenge of a new day!

Happy Canada Day (Oh! Canada! issue 1)

Okay this is almost late as there is about 10 minutes left in Canada Day in Vancouver, but late is better than never. Well as Canada likes to do things just a little bit better than our neighbours to the south, we beat them by 3 days to celebrate our great country- picking the 1st of July for the event. In honour of my great countries birthday I will do a special entry in the style of my "That's Japan" Posts- I like to call Oh! Canada! (meant to be said while rolling your eyes into the back of your head)

Whether you imagine Canada as a vast land covered in a thick sheet of ice, or populated towns filled with people wearing Roots and drinking Maple Syrup lattes, chances are you have never been there. Let's get right down to it!
1. Donuts; While for most of my life I had thought that the love of donuts was more of an East Coast of Canada characteristic, it seems that recently Canada's biggest food chain, a donut shop named after a former Defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs has finally managed to get a foothold in Vancouver as well. Tim Hortons is a national staple, probably more Canadians eat their donuts and drink their delicious coffee than people use Maple Syrup or eat spring salmon.
2. We do say 'eh?' a lot. I never noticed this living back home, but the word 'eh?' tends to escape from my mouth at a rate of once per every 2-3 sentences. There is nothing to be ashamed about, most cultures have a version of it, Aussies (and sometimes Americans) say "hey?", in Japan the say 'ne?', well you get the idea. so give us a break already, eh?
3. Mounties. The National Police force in Canada is called the RCMP- short for Royal Canadian Mounted Police. So often when depicted in movies, the usually bumbling police officers show up riding their horses (Untouchables...). Well I have only ever seen a cop on a horse on special occasions or in select areas like parks and beaches. While their history is on horses, they do in fact have cars now.

I wanted to get to my usual 5 points, but time constraints ( I have to go to work now) mean that I can only post 3 at this time. I will get back to my beautiful country in the not too distant future. Happy Birthday Canada!

The weekend

Yesterday Ritsy and I had a nice little get together with Ritsy's girlhood friend and her family. Manami and Ritsuko have been good friends since they were quite young and went to school together through high school .
Her husband actually went to school with them as well- though he was a couple of years older. "Tet-chan", has always been a great host to me, enjoying beers with me and chatting in English!
Their family were the first people I met in Hamamatsu on my first trip out here 4 years back and they have always graciously hosted us making tonnes of great food and, of course, drinking until late with me! Actually here is a picture from my earliest visit...
Their two kids are great too! Shogo ( center in the picture with the orange shirt) and Eiho (strapped to Manami's back in the picture), have grown a tonne and are not only really friendly and fun, but they have a great memory! They really remember me well and they always want me to stay over the night and play with them! Very cute.
Shogo is 8 years old now and he is a soccer star. He showed me his MVP trophy from his soccer team and he is just an all around good kid. Except he wants to take a bath with me for some reason...
Eiho is 6 now ( he was but a year old the first time I met him) and he is also a soccer maniac. He has some championship trophies and he was showing me pictures of him 'owning' his classmates in the Sports Day for his Kindergarten. He also is really quite funny- he was teaching me kanji when I took the above picture.

We, as usual, had a lot of great food and some great laughs together. Unfortunately this morning my head was in pain, but it was worth it! I hope that we have more opportunities to visit with them!

That's Japan (volume 4)

Ahhh- Japan. A land rich with cultural history and a promise of a bright future. The past and future meet in Japan and it shows itself in the most unexpected of places. As westernized as the culture is becoming we are constantly faced with traditional elements of Japan that make this place so unique, so lovable and so confusing all at the same time. Well.... that's Japan!
1.The Inkan - How do we authenticate documents and personal checks back home? With archaic, easily forged signatures. Well the Japanese have the best solution to this problem- forensically pure and virtually un-forgeable rubber stamps. The Hanko or Inkan has the earliest documented use in 67 A.D. a gold seal used by the emperor. The heritage of this system probably links back to China as my old friends at Wikipedia explain here. Honestly in this day and age with comprehensive scanning technology it is pretty apparent that both the inkan and signatures can be reproduced- what will be the next generation marker?
2. The commonly asked questions. - As an English teacher I get a pretty comprehensive read on some misconceptions that seem to be quite widespread here in Japan. Here are the top three that come to my mind:
- Only Japan has 4 seasons. To be honest I am not really sure what is in people's minds when they ask this question to me. In my humble opinion (IMHO to you internet geeks out there) in Canada the seasons are more clearly defined than they are here in Japan- anyway Chris had a great take on the 4 season thing in his blog- funny guy!
- People in other countries don't have allergies like they do here in Japan. - I can understand where this feeling comes from- there is a lot of pollution here and the air pollution intensifies the concentration of pollen in the air. But it doesn't change the fact that we have a lot of the same trees and grasses (like Cedar) in and around Vancouver and I have been suffering since I was 11 or 12.
- The chopstick thing. - Especially in western culture, international food is quite popular. In most countries everyone has been to a Chinese or Japanese restaurants more than a couple of times. So, yes most of us can eat with chopsticks.
3. Breakfast - I never picked up on it back in Canada that my wife never craved sweet food for breakfast. I mean how many hangovers have I tried to kill at IHOP over a plate of waffles- or what kid didn't enjoy a big bowl of sugar coated Frosted Flakes or Count Chocula? The truth is that people here in Japan think that it's weird that we eat sweets - they are used to their traditional morning meal of Salad (I mean salad for breakfast? That is weird), Miso Soup, Rice (of course), and a grilled piece of fish. Of course sometimes you can throw Natto into that mix- which I will talk about in a second.
4. Natto - When I first smelled the wonder that is natto- my stomach did about 3 back flips. The smell I would liken to how your toes smell after a long day of playing sports, or belly-button lint. When you get past the smell, the taste is actually acceptable- but I ask this simple question- why would you want to get used to such a horrible smell. I usually take a pass on this. What is it? It is fermented soy beans usually mixed with mustard and green onions- it is incredibly healthy for you and it is quite popular among the Japanese.
5. Holidays - While it is no secret that the Japanese work harder than people in most cultures- most of the workers I know start at 8 am and usually head home anywhere from 7pm- 10pm (sometimes later) just about everyday. Lately companies have introduced a 'No Overtime" day- to encourage employees to reclaim some of their lives (or more accurately cut down on the costs of paying overtime). Even though most employees are allowed some personal days off in the year, it is generally frowned upon to use these days. Well, the government is a saviour- most people are guaranteed 3 weeks off a year. There is one national holiday in April (Golden Week), one in August (Obon) and one in December/January (winter holiday). This alone has probably saved a number of people from just 'losing it' altogether. I know for me it always helps to recharge the batteries.

That's all for this installment of "that's Japan". Tune in next time as we delve deeper into the little details about Samurai life!

Ritsy's birthday (getting caught up)

Almost caught up to real time again! (huzzah!)

The Sunday before last was the day before my lovely wife (and expectant mother) Ritsuko's birthday. It was her 26th birthday yet again. The plan was dinner out, but one of my nice students had given me tickets for a Japan League soccer game Iwata Jubilo vs. Niigata Albilekusu (or something like that). We headed off the Yamaha stadium which is located conveniently right next to Yamaha motors HQ where I sometimes teach English.
The game was actually a lot faster moving that I thought it might be and pretty exciting to watch. The visiting team from Niigata had a player that came from Hamamatsu and went to school with the lady that had given me the tickets so I was happy that he scored a goal (National team member Yano), but I was cheering for the home team Iwata who lost 4-2. Iwata should have been strong in goal with National team goalkeeper Kawaguchi, but he looked average in the game.
Ritsy and I still managed to have a good time at the game and I bumped into a couple of my ESL College student's mom's at the game. On the way out, we had to avoid the smorking place- I hate it when people smork.
Next target was dinner. We had planned to return to a place called Barkley's that we had eaten at before, but upon arriving in the area and checking for it, we could not find it at all. Looked like it was closed down, I heard later that it was just moved. Well, that was trouble for me because I told her I didn't think we needed a reservation... We decided on the crab restaurant Kora. Basically everything you can eat there is crab. It was all delicious but it always costs a fair coin to eat there.
All in all it was a fun day and I think Ritsy had a nice birthday!