My Raccoon Dog

I saw my first Tanuki (狸 or タヌキ). It  ran in front of the car on the way to the beach. I am glad I got to see one, even if it was just briefly, because the Tanuki has been part of Japanese folklore for centuries. One of the dances at the Fox Festival had the children dressed up as Tanuki with saki gourdes. In the legends they are mischievous and masters of disguise and shape shifting. Though they are also gullible and absent minded.

Saffer things that I miss

1. Raith Gourmet bretzel and roast beef roll

2. Tabard

3. Cupcakes

4. 7de Laan

5. Cheap movies

6. Being able to read

7. Winter rain

My Full Moon

On Friday night I attended the second year teacher enkai that was held in Beppu. I was really grateful to be included and the party was being held at one of  most famous restaurants in Oita.

The restaurant is renowned for its yakiniku, which means grilled meat. Bite sized meat is brought to the table where you cook it yourself on grill built into the table and dip the meat into a variety of sauces called tare. Asides from vegetables there was a rather interesting variety of meat which included beef, tongue, liver – also eaten raw – and pig intestine called horumon (which means “throw away”).  I tried it all, even the raw liver and intestine. And now I know why I usually avoid such things. The pig intestine was incredibly tough and chewy regardless of the amount of cooking.  The actual meat was mouth-watering. Beef in Japan is truly special and there is pretty good meat on Kyushu.

The meal also included kimchi. I had this dish on my first night in Oita and it is delicious. It originates from Korea and is a dish made of vegetables with various seasonings. According to Wikipedia the Koreans developed a version for space for their first astronaut that went to the Russian space ship Soyuz.

On Saturday I spent the day in Oita City doing some quick shopping and organising my train tickets to Osaka for Silver week. Silver week is from the 19 – 23 September and is the result of 3 public holidays following the weekend. As it is public holidays people don’t have to take leave and used by most ALTs to travel. I will be meeting up with some fellow Saffers in Osaka.

Once again I had to use my very best charade skills to get myself understood at the ticket office. Luckily I had thought ahead and printed out the exact trains that I wanted to take. It will be my first trip on the bullet train so just getting there should be fun. Trains really are fantastic and the easiest way to get places in Japan. The only problem is that my town is so rural that the train station was shut down.

As it was full moon on Saturday my close teachers organised a picnic on the beach. Once again it was loads of fun. And sadly my photos do not convey the beauty of the evening. I got there a bit late as I missed my initial train and had to wait – but I am still getting better at reading the timetables and at least know where I have to go.

So its good to know that after my first month I still haven’t got lost and can get around in a country that is entirely unlike my own!

My Weekend

Food

I started off my weekend pretty well. Friday I tried my hand at cooking my first Japanese style meal. I made Yakisoba, which is fried noodles with meat and veg. My version went as so:

1x punnet of thinly sliced beef

¼ of a cabbage – sliced

1x onion

1x packet of soy sprouts (at least that is what I think they are)

1x packet of yakisoba

Method: Fry onion, meat, cabbage and sprouts. Once veg are soft add noodles. Once cooked add seasoning (including with noodles). Eat.

And it wasn’t bad. Granted it was easy, but it does mean I have lunch for school and it makes quite a bit. I am learning to be more experimental with my eating. I have tried loads of different kinds of Kit Kat, including: strawberry, apple, McDonald’s (Makudonudaro in kanaglish) Caramel Macchiato McFlurry, Jasmine tea, something that tastes like bubblegum and my personal favourite apple and carrot. On Saturday I had grape drinking jelly, which is literally that. Grape jelly in a can, and you drink it. It was really good.

Sushi here is very different. Not the avocado laden, California rolls that we are used to. I have mostly had sashimi and it is not just salmon and tuna either. A sashimi or nagiri platter will consist of a couple of different types of fish. You can pick out the squid because it is shiny and white. I have no idea what kinds of fish it is, though I am guessing some must be horse mackerel (あじ aji) as my town is famous for it. It is still very tasty but I haven’t seen a rainbow roll since Cape Town. I still haven’t had the courage to go near the octopus (たこ tako) – I think I have innate fear of all things with 8 long legs or suckers.

The spider

Typing of things with 8 long legs – I had my first giant spider. I have mentioned the untamed wildlife but this is getting ridiculous. I was pretty sure I was doing well and keeping the vile beasties at bay, but apparently not. And the worst part is that I am still not sure how the blasted thing got in. The current area of popular thought is the toilet fan, which is open to the outside except for a piece of material stuck down with drawing pins by the previous tenant. Needless to say I have since taped the switch to the ‘on’ position.

I was, at the time, of the incident sitting on my floor, as I do, quite happily enjoying my ice cream (brick sized vanilla ice cream in a waffle coated with chocolate) and watching The Mentalist when the giant mutant beast emerged from my cupboard to briefly taunt me before running back inside.

Now I am living alone. I have no one to deal with this for me and I don’t think it is on my supervisor’s list of responsibilities. It is so far, the biggest spider I have ever had to deal with Han style (ie. Solo).  I proceeded to finish my ice cream and consider my options, which were not great – remove the offending arachnid or move out permanently – preferably to the Antarctic. Unfortunately B is not really an option. Decision made, I dug through my kitchen cupboards and pulled out all the bug spray I had. Armed with a can in each hand I headed for the engagement zone.

I was at this point still hoping that I had seen things or that if I left it alone it would vanish, but I won’t be able to spend a year not sleeping. So I gathered all my courage and I opened the cupboard door and it really was lion king big. The size of a teacup saucer and all legs. And the buggers are fast. I blasted it with both cans and chased it from one side of the cupboard to the other. It was not deterred. Then it suddenly disappeared.

This is the last thing you want to happen during an arachnid elimination. The problem being, that you have an angry, giant spider, who currently holds all the power, lurking about waiting to take its revenge. I tried to look into the cupboard but I was all my courage was being used to keep me from screaming like a baby girl.

Suddenly I noticed movement out the corner of my eye. It was in retreat and making its way across the floor to the next room and heading straight for my clothing cupboard. I could have tried at this point to smack it with a shoe, but this means leaving the 6 foot safety zone. I apparently made the wrong choice and tried the spray again which resulted in it entering my clothing cupboard. NOT GOOD.

The bug spray was useless, I was useless, and now it could be climbing inside all of my clothes waiting to make a sneak attack. The last thing left in my arsenal was the mukade spray.  It was all I had and it would just have to do.

Luckily it was in full retreat and exited the cupboard in a bid for freedom. It  was then that it received the full wrath of my mukade can. And thanks to the bunny of luck it worked!

I am leaving the next bit out, as the arachnid lovers tend to whine and complain at this point. Which is hilarious because of have seen what happens to their kind when they are in my position – and there are no glasses with pieces of paper.

Finally I managed to end my suffering with a shoe. Even though it was dead it took some strength to get near it. And for the spider lovers out there I promise it only felt the full strength of my wrath (repeatedly) once it was dead. It did exact its revenge though when later one of its legs fell out the rubbish bin and onto my foot.  And that was when I freaked out and the screaming started.

Usuki

I decided at the last minute on Saturday to take the train to Usuki to see the Fire Festival held at the site of the Usuki Stone Buddhas. The area is a World Heritage site and contains a large collection of carved stone Buddhas dating back to the 12^th and 14^th century. Some of them are free standing but most are carved into the rock. One of them is the largest in Japan. They are quite fantastic and worth a visit – if by some chance you find yourself in this part of the world. During the festival hundreds of fires are lit in bamboo across the field and entertainment included taiko drumming and dancing.

A couple of other ALTs and myself attempted to join in the dancing. I managed to get the first dance right but the second one was a little bit tricky and I ended up just attempting hula moves. It was great fun and Eric, an ALT from Nagasaki, managed to get in an show off his taiko skills.

One of the best things about festivals, I am learning, is the food. I could eat my way around Japan by hitting a festival every week. The food is usually the same – toriten (とりてん　Oita fried chicken, tempura style), kushiyaki (くしや き　 grilled meat skewers which can be anything from beef, chicken or pork to chicken skin or gristle), yakisoba (やきそば), and of course the usual festival fair of chips and corn dogs. I had a delicious omelette-like thing with a yakisoba and ginger filling.

Usuki’s claim to fame - besides big Buddhas – are its kabosu. A lime-like citrus fruit that is too sour to eat on its own (so Roland may enjoy them) and used in cooking and other odds and ends. And they make delicious ice-lollies. They were also giving out samples of kabosu alcohol, which I never got to taste, as I had to drive later.

Trains are really the best option when travelling around Japan. I am just stuck as my town doesn’t have a train station and I have to drive for 30 minutes to get to the closest one. Having a car is great but not for long distances. Buses are also of some use but they are slow and again Kunisaki is not part of the main route.

Find the pics here

Other odds ‘n ends

I have managed to organise weekly Japanese classes. I am really enjoying them so far. My teacher mainly speaks in Japanese, which is great because I usually understand after many repeats and she only explains if it is dire. This week I learnt to tell time and the names of my family members. My hiragana and katakana is a bit slow but I am sure it will improve the more I have to write in it. The kids in class always get excited when I attempt to write in kana.

I am trying to get used to the rice fields in the middle of the towns. The South African equivalent would be corn fields in stead of every 3rd block.

My quick kanji lesson of the week:

Monday – getsuyōbi　月曜日　

月 is also the kanji for month. The symbol means moon.

Tuesday – kayōbi 火曜日

火 is the kanji for fire.

Wedneday – suiyōbi 水曜日

水 is the kanji for water.

Thursday – mokuyōbi 木曜日

木 is the kanji for wood.

Friday – kinyōbi 金曜日

金 is the kanji for gold.

Saturday – doyōbi 土曜日

土 is kanji for earth.

Sunday – nichiyōbi 日曜日

日 is kanji for sun. It also means day.

The days of the week are usually abbreviated to 月、火、水、木、金、土　and 日。 The date is written 9月　 1日。

So the days of the week are easily remembered as the various elements, proving that yet again Friday is the best day of the week.

My First Day of Teaching

This in itself has been an adventure. I am on day 2 and my feet are killing me and all I want to do is apologise to some of my school teachers. I have started with the traditional introduction lesson of “this is me and this is my country”.

The classes are all completely different. Some are interested because their English is bigger, some just sleep, others ask questions, some are dead silent. I have learnt quickly not to judge their interest by the response in class but rather by what happens after when they get to talk to me individually or in smaller groups, which makes things much easier to handle and avoids potential depression. So far I have received a sketch from one student, had my eyelashes touched and examined and the best yet was when on student came to find me afterwards to show me some of her Bleach toys. This was made all the sleeping kids worthwhile as this student particularly hates English and shows no interest in anyway. So never underestimate the power of popular culture.

I am also learning about what they are interested in. One class was intrigued to learn Xhosa. Jacob Zuma more useful than I ever imagined. They love the fact that he has more than one wife and laugh when I say he is Zulu – this particularly funny too me because Zulu in Japanese means “cheat”. And swimming pools. They are amazed that I have a swimming pool at home. Also Hudson’s blazer and crazy uniform is of great interest. They can’t seem to understand why SA doesn’t have sensible summer and winter uniforms like Japan. I am not sure either. In fact I am sure that was a yearly topic of debate. Though I can’t say the new Hudson High uniforms are much better.

Though it seems as though things are looking interesting at least for the next year and hopefully I will get to engage the students as I learn more about them. Jong Steyn still receives smiles of delight and is not a permanent school desk fixture.

After class I took a trip with my supervisor to my second school. I teach there on Tuesdays. It turns out that at a school the size of Hudson, I have 2 classes. One has 6 students that other has 8. When I say the school is the size of Hudson I mean the buildings are. There are 3 classes in the entire school and they only use 3 classrooms. It is somewhat disturbing to see a huge empty building that would usually been filled with voices in noise. The worst part was thinking about the how we in South Africa don’t have enough schools, teachers or facilities. In Japan they have too many schools and not enough students. I would like to propose a student exchange programme where they ship in kids to Japan to study in classes where they have textbooks and teachers that care.

In fact SA could learn some important lessons from the Japanese Education department in honour of Jacob Zuma’s surprise school visits. Here are a few:
Being a teacher is one of the most respected positions in Japan, it is up there with doctors.
Teachers are government employees, paid with tax payers money and therefore have an obligation to earn the money they are paid by the people by working hard and being dedicated to their jobs.
As government employees, teachers have to set an example to others. *
Teachers (and in most jobs) do not take all their paid leave, and usually only take about half. It is considered important to show you dedication to work by spending as much time at school as possible. **

* I do believe in holidays but I think that there are problems with teacher dedication in SA.
** This can be tricky when you can’t j-walk and have to walk half way down the road to get to a zebra crossing.

My First Adventure

The JET programme seems to be obsessed with orientations. I have now had 3, well 2 and a half. The second one for the Oita JET’s was held on Monday and Tuesday in Oita and so in honour of my newfound vechicler freedom I decided to head down on the Sunday and explore Oita City. As much as I love Kunisaki it is nice to get into the real world. And it was great.

It was the first time since arriving in Japan that I felt as though I was in the country I had imagined from TV and movies. Small towns are always different and Oita City had the hustle and movement of a big city full of shoppers. This was not something that I felt in Tokyo where we had spent most of the time in the hotel – only venturing out in groups of newbies to a small area of Shinjuku.

After I had booked into my box at the hotel I headed out to the shopping district of Oita, with its 3 main department stores – Parko, Fores and Tokiwa. Having spent the last few weeks shopping at ¥100 stores I could have closed my eyes and sniffed my way to Louis Vuitton.

Tokiwa department store was pretty amazing, and I shudder to imagine what such stores are like in Tokyo and Osaka. There was at least 8 stories of stuff to buy – including all the brand names like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry. And the best bit was finding out I could buy a Gucci handbag without forfeiting food and rent for 3 months. The only problem was that I was now in real world prices instead of the warm fuzzy feeling of things only costing R10. But this didn’t stop me from spending a whack at Clinique (I feel that this was a just investment as many face products here contain bleach).

I tried the whole “waterfall” effect and headed to the top and just sauntered down from floor to floor. Department stores are truly wonderful things and much better than malls. Well, SA malls anyway. Also I could walk into Gucci and get greeted by enthusiastic employees rather than with the usual “do you really think you can affording anything here” look sported by minimum wage earning teenagers.

One of fun parts was the parking at Parko. I ended up there accidently and I ended up driving my car onto a Ferris wheel contraption. My car was then whisked away into the gloom above. When I collected it they rotated the parking bays until my car appeared again. Not something I would try in South Africa.

I at one point came across a pet store. And now I understand why there aren’t that many pets around – they are ridiculously expensive. The only animal in the store under ¥100 000 was a cat for ¥85 000 (R8500). The puppies – which were adorable – were anything from ¥120 000 – 150 000 (for the most gorgeous miniature yorkies). That’s half a month’s salary. Even with all my cats hyperchondriatic hospital visits she has not come near that. The store also sold the most amazing paraphernalia – including dog nappies to keep your pooch hygienic when wearing its designer outfits.

And then there was some work stuff.

My First Festival

This weekend I finally ventured out of the house and into real world Japan. This weekend was Obon, a traditional holiday where the spirits of the ancestors return to their homes. The shops were full of this moulded sugar sweets that are left out as a meal for the ancestors. I had tried some earlier in the week only to find out later that I had been eating dead people food. Most of the teachers took time off from Thursday to visit their families’. As a result things were very quite during the week and I spent most of my time studying Japanese and doing some research and work.

On Saturday I joined the other two Kunisaki JETs and 2 other folk and we headed to the tiny island of Himeshima（ひめしま） to watch the traditional Shinto Fox Dance Festival or Kitsune matsuri （狐まつり）. Himeshima is a small island off the north east coast of Kyushu. The name means “Princess Island” and has a population of roughly 2,640 for the entire 6,85km2. It is known for two things - the afore mentioned festival and its tiger prawns.

The tiger prawns or kuruma ebi (車えび) are best eaten in season, which is October and eaten in the traditional island or odori (おどり) style ie. alive and ‘dancing’. To do so you are have to grab a live, wriggling tiger prawn out of the bowl placed in front of you and rip of its head. While is still squirming you peel it, dip it in soy sauce and proceed to eat it raw. They are farmed on the island but if you can they say your should opt for the wild ones. They are incredibly beautiful for bottom feeders, with dark stripes and rainbow tails.

However the reason for our visit was the Fox Dance Festival. We took the ferry from Kunimi port and spent the ride to the island spotting jelly fish in the water. I am not too fond of boats – especially ferries as they have a tendency to overload and sink, a situation not improved by the abundance of jellies. The island does not look like much from afar, in fact the initial view dominated by a cement factory and other commercial enterprises. But, once on land this all changes.

The island was in festival mode so there were a multitude of stalls selling a verity of street food from kushiyaki (くしやき grilled meat skewers) to squid on a stick. There were also French dogs (i.e. corn dogs I am not sure why they were French unless it was poodle?!?).

We followed the main road to the Kannonzaki Peninsula on the north of the island where we climbed the hill to reach the Sennin-do. It was spectacular – a tiny temple built on a rock over the sea. As you descend to read the temple you just see this small building surrounded by rocks, sea and secluded (but sadly not very clean) beaches. The walk there was also interesting with lots of little shrines along the path. With the amazing scenery of blue oceans and green islands it was the first time I felt I really was in Asia.

There is a lot more on the island that I missed and I would like to go back and hire a bicycle for the day to see the rest. The island also has come great onsen and in November and June it is the stop over for millions of butterflies as they make their way between Okinawa and Gifu.

After a lunch of the speciality fried chicken, squid on a stick for the more adventurous and shaved ichigo (いちぎ) ice we spent an hour having a long conversation in Japanese with 3 other visitors. I didn’t understand much of it expect to say World Cup and Soccer when mentioning my nationality. Sayaka, was our translator and the rest of us mostly spent our time laughing and grinning like baka (ばか idiots).

The main event was held at various spots on the island with the dancers moving from stage to stage. All in all there were about 20 different dances. They took place on a circular stage with a taiko drum in the centre. There was one song that was sung repeatedly and the music did not stop for the full 2 hours of the show. The drummer and the singers were replaced regularly. The dances and costumes were beautiful and the performers ranged from tiny children to adults. The kids were the highlight though just from their outfits. The main dance was the last one, with school kids dressed in white jumpsuits, with umbrellas and lanterns and their faces made up as foxes. They must have been completely exhausted by the time they were done, and certainly sick of all the photos.

Just as it all finished we had to rush to make our ferry back to the mainland. I started to panic a bit when they loaded is like cattle into the car hold, as that would be last place I want to be when it sinks, but we were allowed to ascend to the deck.

My rest of my photos from the festival can be found at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=144019&id=514335750&l=66846d84db

Unfortunately I was unable to get many of the dances, as my camera is not very good at capturing motion at night.

A note on the banks:

I was finally able to obtain a bank account today. I arrived early with my support – Hirakawa-sensei – and when the bank opened I was met by all the staff (over 20 of them) who were standing to great the awaiting customers. It was completely surreal and it felt as though they might salute. I know am the proud owner of a bank book where they register all my transactions made at the bank – it feels very archaic after spending the last 8 years doing internet banking. As far as I know there is no Internet banking and my cash card will be POSTED (it will take a while to get used to the security here) to me. ATM’s are only open between certain hours and the fees are dependant on the time you use them. So 8:00 – 8:45 weekdays is ¥105 (+/- R10), 8:45 – 18:30 is free and so on. My bank is purely prefectural so should I leave Oita I may struggle to find a place to withdraw money in other cities. In which case I will have to get a post office account, which is accessible throughout Japan.

So there really is very little to complain about when using South African banking services – technology wise. Though I do appreciate the service here. In fact they even spent 30 minutes helping me to fill out my various gas and electricity forms so that the amounts would get debited directly from my account. They even posted it for me. However, Hirakawa-sensei said that it took far to long and that they didn’t know what they were doing when it should be part of the job. I was amazed that they were even willing to help me with something that was pretty much non-bank related - this is one of the intercultural service delivery mysteries.