Just Another JET Blog

Arigata meiwaku is my new favorite Japanese word. It means “thank you” (think: Arigatou) “trouble / bother / annoying” (meiwaku). A better translation of the two words together comes out as: unwelcome favor or mixed blessing. Today I was on Japanese TV. The experience was an “arigata meiwaku”.

My old (I mean “old” as in “used to be” and also in terms of age since he’s over 90 years old and served as a naval officer in WWII) kendo instructor was having a 6 minute documentary made about him for a TV station based out of Nagoya. I haven’t been to kendo in months, but he wanted me to be practicing with him on camera because “it makes the story more interesting”. I was going to be used. When I realized this, I felt something cold and sickly pass through me. I don’t like being used. I don’t like it when people take pictures with me so that they can prove they have a foreigner friend (even though we just met that night at a bar and I’ll never see them again afterwards). It makes you feel soiled. Now, for every single time I get this feeling, I probably reap about ten benefits from being foreign (free food, drinks, rides, information… and forgiveness for my ignorance or rudeness). So I remembered my benefits, swallowed my pride, and agreed (after trying to refuse a few times! Hahaha) to go on camera.

Miserable. That’s how the whole experience probably would have been, except that the interviewer turned out to have studied English in university. Over supper, we spoke in both languages (my favorite way of talking!) and I thought that things were going to be okay. Then we went to the kendo gym. Suddenly, I was being dressed in a kendo outfit (that did NOT at all fit) by three men around me. “We know he hasn’t done kendo in awhile” said one of the men to my instructor. The instructor looked at me and said in English, “I will train you like you are a child. Like a child.” Fantastic.

The outfit didn’t fit. And if the clothes moved just right (or wrong, really) you could see a large portion of my upper leg leading up to my boxers. “Don’t worry,” said the cameraman to me, “we’re only filming you from the front”. So, we practiced kendo in front of a camera. Then, we were interviewed. This was the most shocking part of it all, because the nice interviewer girl that I had talked to over supper suddenly became the stereotypical over-the-top interviewer that I always see on TV and am completely terrified of. Over-acting and over-reacting. While watching her interview my instructor I tried my hardest not to laugh at this sudden facade that she felt the need to create. She interviewed me too. In Japanese. My language level (which isn’t that great to begin with) dropped a little lower the moment the camera light went red. I stammered out a few answers (luckily, they only used one in the final cut). When it was all over the camera pulled me aside and said, “we shot you from the side sometimes after all”. Awesome.

I watched it today, and I’m only in about 15 seconds of the final version (much to my relief). I asked several people to record the event for me so that you all can enjoy it too. I’ll figure out so some way to put it up once I have a copy.

Arigata meiwaku.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Interviewers interviewing without gigantic fake smiles on their faces.

Thing I love most about Japan today: 24-hour self-serve gas stations. I finally found one. I no longer have to remember to go to my local pump before 7pm!

For a final exam my students had to write out a minute and a half long conversation, memorize and present it. I helped them with grammar and vocabulary, but if what they originally wrote made sense then I left it alone. This, of course, means that they came up with many interesting statements. Here are a few of my favorite moments from the exam:

B: Nothing in the world will change my mind.

A: As might be expected. I respect you.

B: That’s right. I am a prodigy.

A: Oh! …see you.

B: See you.

A: Oh, I watched a basketball game on TV because there was the All-Stars Games. They were considerably bigger than me.

(these girls were talking about what kind of boy they like)

A: What is your priority; appearance or character?

B: When you say it that way, “it is character.” How about you?

A: I should say that appearance is my choice.

A: By the way, have you gotten fat lately?

B: Rude!! And so I walk everyday.

A: No kidding! Impossible! Don’t continue!

B: We are walking and talking now! Together let’s lose weight! By the way are you hungry?

A: I… well… have some patience. Shall we go to my favorite cake shop?

B: I want to go to that cake shop!

A: Let’s go. Anyway, you are on a diet, aren’t you?

B: Yes, I am. I have a poor memory because I love delicious food.

A: That’s right! Young people don’t need to diet!

(talking about the class they’re in. OC = oral communication)

A: OC test is very difficult.

B: I can’t memorize many sentences.

A: I am going to fail.

B: Teachers need not have given us such an assignemnt.

A: Do our best to pass the exam.

A: Is w-inds your favorite singer?

B: Yes I love w-inds.

A: They are not very good.

A: Do you have anything to do today?
B: I will study Swahili language hard.

A: Really? I study Ketyua language everyday.

(I like to think this was a clever shot by two of the students about how useful learning English is to them. But, knowing the guys, it was probably just them being very random and trying to be funny. Actually, one of these two guys (while they were writing the script) suddenly took out his wallet and showed me that he carries a condom. I was so shocked at this random action that all I could say was, “it’s important to be safe”. And he smiled and said “yes, safe.”)

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Knowing what to expect when from the seasons.

Thing I love most about Japan today: It’s getting warm. It was like 12 degrees this afternoon!

Feb. 21

I’ve decided to write an entire post about just paperwork in Japan, since it’s been dominating my thoughts for a while now.

In order to enter and leave Japan, you must have a “re-entry permit”. On the application for it, I found one of my new favorite Japanese to English translations: “If it is found that you have misrepresented the facts in an application, you will be unfavorably treated in the process.”

Unfavorably.

Does that mean that it will take a little longer to process? That would be unfavorable. Or maybe they’d stick me in prison cell with a condemned rapist. That would also be unfavorable. Most likely though, unfavorable means that you will have to do another mountain of paperwork. This mountain would be very similar to the mountain you already had to do the first time around. That, would be very unfavorable. I wouldn’t favor that choice, at all. The thing I would favor least about that choice would be that I’d have to drive to another city to file it again. And, I’d even have to use one of my vacation days in the process. This is turning out to be very unfavorable. It might be one of my most unfavorite things!

The very idea of a “re-entry permit” astounds me. Essentially, you are applying to be able to leave the country and come back. If you did something bad, they will not allow you to do this. That means that they force you to stay here. You did something bad in Japan and now you have to stay in Japan. Shouldn’t they be glad to get rid of the bad people, if only for a few days?

Feb. 25

On the brighter side, getting a visa to enter Australia was incredibly easy. The ticket turned out to be more expensive than expected, but at least that was easy to do to. Both of these things were done in only English, and I find myself with a new philosophy. If it can be done in English then it’s easy.

I’m still waiting for my driver’s license translation to come back to me. After that, I get to go down to Gifu city (twice!) to get my official Japanese license. How nice! How lucky! I wonder if I can convince someone to come with me to make the trip a hundred times less dull… and also possibly help with translation.

Feb. 26
Translation arrived! Hooray!

March 3

Yesterday was my Gifu City adventure. I got a “morning ticket” on a train to Gifu City (thanks for the advice Aiko!) and when I arrived at the station I immediately found the immigration building where I had to submit my re-entry permit. I showed up, handed it in and was then in store for my first surprise of the day. He showed me how much it cost (6000 yen or about 60 bucks) and I pulled out money to pay him… and he refused it. “No”, he said in Japanese, “we can only be paid in stamps.” Stamps??

But it wasn’t a big deal. On the first floor of the building was a post office, so I bought 60 dollars worth of stamps and got my re-entry permit. On the way out, a Brazilian man asked me if I was “Americano”. Another highlight.

I grabbed one of Mos Burger’s delicious Teriyaki Burgers and killed a few minutes reading before getting on a bus and heading to the building where I could change my driver’s. Two wrong buildings later, I found the place (and was still early), but they started my application process already anyways. The guy paged through my passport, and was shocked to find only a visa for Japan in it. He started laughing and asked me in Japanese, “really? None? You haven’t traveled anywhere?” I smiled and replied in the negative. Then, with an even bigger laugh he said, “not even Mexico?” I replied with something about how I had only been to America and Canada and held back from asking him how many countries he had been to by the age of 23. He then directed me to wait in the lobby. And so I did. After about an hour, another JET named Chris joined me. We griped about the process for awhile and caught up on recent events. I looked at the clock, it was now past my last bus back to the station. Fantastic.

Finally, another man came down to the lobby and called me over. We had a lively exchange, and their was clearly something wrong with my application. He took out a beginner’s sticker (all first year driver’s in Japan must have them on their cars) and showed it to me. I told him that the sticker was fine and I understood. I’d put it on when I’d my license. Then he went back to my Manitoba’s license and just kept pointing at “2001” over and over again. 2001 is the year that I first passed the test and got my license. Then he went up and down the lobby looking for a Japanese person who spoke English. I became worried and called up my school’s clerk, Okinaka-san (who has saved me from several catastrophe’s before and I’ll forever be in debt to). He explained to her, she explained to me: I need an exact date for when I first started driving. THIS, was not mentioned on any of the 5 websites I had read about getting a license in Japan OR on any of the 3 different required documents sheets that I had received from them. I was, a little upset. I asked Okinaka-san to explain to them again that I clearly had received my most recent license 3 months before I came to Japan. She did. The phone was passed back and forth for a while… until finally, laughing, she told me: “oh, he’s just saying that because they don’t have an exact date for when you first started driving you’ll have to have a beginner’s mark for the first year.” I was so happy about the fact I could move on to the next stage of these license games that I decided NOT to murder the man in front of me. He gave me a date to come back for my eye exam and we parted ways.

Afterwards, I went back to Chris to tell him what happened, and he offered to give me a ride back to the station (nice guy that he is) after it was his turn to be processed. So we waited awhile longer, and then another (different) man came down for him. This time, the problem was something about how he had a Spanish Visa in his passport. Heaven forbid! After departure and arrival dates were conversed about for a while, the employee reluctantly gave him a date for his driving test (because he’s American) and eye exam. But not before telling Chris that he’ll probably fail a few times. We triumphantly walked to his car, overjoyed that we had somehow made it halfway through the process. He dropped me off at the train station, where I was overjoyed to see that I had miss the last express train back to Takayama and would have the fun of taking the local train all the way there! My two hour trip back turned into a nearly four hour one… but at least it meant my arrival time was the same as George’s (who had been in Tokyo), so we had a 10 pm supper at Gusto in Takayama together. After griping about the day to him I felt infinitely better and managed to get back to my apartment by only shortly after midnight.

The date for my eye test? March 27^th at 8:30 in the morning. The day after the closing ceremony at my school and the day before I leave for Australia. What timing! I was also assured that I would be leaving the office on that day at 11:30… at the earliest.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Not having to translate by passing a phone back and forth.

Thing I love most about Japan today: Okinaka-san, who helps me out with the infinite train of paperwork that I battle and also teaches me Japanese once a week. Thank-you!

I was throwing out my can drink when I heard a shout from down the hallway, “Thomas! Thomas!” I pretended not to hear it, until the student recalled my actual name. I turned and then noticed that it was one of the students that I never saw in class. At least it wasn’t one of my students that had forgotten my name… I have been here for 7 months now. Anyways, turns out the student just wanted to inform me that she saw me in Takayama this weekend with my girlfriend. How nice of her. I occasionally forget about the ripples I cause everywhere I go. Yesterday it happened too, now that I think about it. Will and I went into the convenience store together, and it was quiet while we were in there… but as we passed through the door on the way out there was resounding thunder of people whispering to each. Actually, I like going to places with Will for this reason. Suddenly, it’s not about how tall I am… it’s about how tall all westerners are. A stereotype that’s just plain fun for me.

Not very many events to report… Aiko’s farewell party was on Saturday. She leaves for Australia today. I guess she’s probably in Nagoya now as I type this, and on her plane by the time this thing gets posted. With her out of the country, I now need to find new ways to occupy my time. I need some DS recommendations (I’m talking to you Nathan)! And, a few good book recommendations would be appreciated too. I’m currently reading “Great Expectations”. It was Thomas’ old copy, and I found it in the back of a closet. I wonder, if I buy a Wii out here can I play North American games on it?

I do have a small piece of advice for any incoming JETs who are coming out here this July / August. In my first month here, I watched The Life Aquatic, and at the end of it there’s a line that has haunted me for my entire stay in Japan. “It’s an adventure.” Everytime that something good, or bad or unexpected happens, these words pop into my head. It dampens the harsh blows and accentuates the good times. I’m not sure why it works, or if it would work for anyone else, but I’m putting it out there for you to try.

Oh, and one last thing! I have to do a presentation for one class on Michael J. Fox on Thursday, and while researching it a little I discovered that the Back to the Future rides in Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida have been closed to create a “Simpsons Ride”. Universal Studios Osaka is the last place where you can ride it! I’m not sure entirely why, but I’m actually a little outraged that Back to the Future would be closed for a Simpsons ride. One, a classic trilogy, the other, a show that should have died a decade ago. Back to the Future was always one of my favorite rides at Universal Studios… and it’s sad to see that only us in Japan can enjoy it now.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Mike singing Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love” while driving in the car to places.

Thing I love most about Japan today: Going to karaoke!

Feb. 14, 10:00 am.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Assuming this actually gets posted on today.

Last night, I washing my hands when the water came to a stop. That’s odd. Since the last few “incidents” of showers and toilets freezing, I had left some water running all the time to keep it from happening again. I checked on all my taps… nothing. Uh oh. I set my alarm for a little earlier in the morning and hoped that the same thing didn’t happen to the school.

Woke up early, checked on my water. Nothing. As I was clearing off the car I asked the school nurse (who was doing the same) if she had any water. None. Another morning of getting ready at school. At school I asked my Kyoto-sensei if he had any water. None. Yappari, (as they say here (it means, “as I thought!”)). The entire apartment had no water. I think the entire water pipe to our apartment froze this time. Fantastic. This wouldn’t be that big of a problem… except that it’s Valentine’s Day and Aiko is suppose to come to my apartment where we were going to cook together. We’re also in the middle of a 3-day snowfall (blizzard just isn’t the right word for it). Stay tuned… updates are coming…

10:45 am.

Talked to the office workers at my school. They said it was probably a larger problem and that I shouldn’t worry about it because that means somebody is doing something to fix it. I had to wonder if that’s true… I wonder… I wah wah wah wah wonder….

12:40 pm.

Went to the apartment and back with several of the teachers. No water. I turned off the water to my apartment, because I’m pretty sure that’s what the Kyoto-sensei told me to do. Kassai-sensei told me that somebody should be coming this afternoon to fix it. But, when I asked him about it again to make sure I understood (this was all in Japanese), he replied that it would happen this afternoon “or sometime”. Sometime. Can you guess what I miss most about Canada today? Yeah, you’re right. It’s root beer. I’m not even kidding you. A glass of Barq’s would taste so good right now. I’ll keep you informed about my Valentine’s Day Crisis story as it develops.

1:20 pm.

Told Aiko about the situation. She responded that she’ll bring a bottle of water. What a trooper! Also, in case you’re wondering why I’m at my desk all day today giving updates, it’s because I have no classes today. It’s high school entrance exam day! Or, leave Warren at his desk to study Japanese day!

2:45 pm.

Well, the office handyman went up to the apartment and decided that either the water pump is broken or frozen. Fan-didly-astic. I’m suppose to meet Aiko at 4:15 in Furukawa. That means we’ll be back at my apartment around 5 (after picking up a few supplies at the grocery store).

3:00 pm.

School handyman returned again. The water is fixed! The pump is still broken. Kinda. It just doesn’t automatically refill the water basin thing at the top of the apartment anymore. So, all we have to do is push a button when the water stops working now. At some point someone will fix this. Crisis adverted. You can relax now too. You know, I’m never really sure about what will happen to me next in this country. Most likely, it will be another problem that somehow concerns me being able to shower first thing in the morning.

Feb. 15, 9:11 am.

Well, I had forgotten about that last sentence I wrote. So, I went home after school and the water worked. I drove down to Furukawa, picked up Aiko, returned and found the water not working. We then drove down to Valor, picked up 4 liters of water, and made due. She was okay with the lack of water at my house. Which really, just makes her awesome. She brought me chocolates, which is traditional in Japanese culture on Valentine’s Day. I knew that she had never dated a westerner before so I had gone all out with the gifts. A box of chocolates, a dozen roses (which were shockingly cheap! They don’t raise the prices of roses on Valentine’s Day here because most guys don’t give any to the girls!!) and a simple necklace (white gold and three small blue topaz stones) (that’s right, my Mother raised me right). I think it floored her. She continued to bring up the flowers and necklace in the conversation all night. Nice. Supper, however, was her plan. She brought white Hokkaido wine (sweet, like German wine), cheese, pizza sauce and the crusts and we had gone to the grocery store together to pick out the toppings (bacon, sausage, tobasco sauce, corn, green vegetable who’s name I can’t remember, mushrooms and tomatoes). So we made pizzas in my little toaster oven and she also made a little salad with the leftover toppings. The apartment was cold (even with the heater going) but the pizzas were delicious and the company was of the highest grade. I’ve got one more weekend with her until she leaves (on Tuesday). Ganbarimasu.

Oh yeah. And I had to shower at school again today. It’s starting to get a little old.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Root beer.

Thing I love most about Japan today: How much slower gossip about me spreads than I thought! I thought everyone was always talking about me, but, I guess I’m less the center of attention than I suspected. I talked to a few teachers on Valentine’s Day about my plans and some still hadn’t heard about me dating Aiko. Sugei!

Busy weekend! On Friday, Aiko and I took a bus to Nagoya. Once there, we met up with her friend Emiko at Red Rock. Which is an Australian burger joint. The place had fantastic burgers and (more importantly) Australian beer. It tasted almost too good. From there we went to an English style pub which was so full that we had to stand at the bar for an hour before we got a table. Both places were full of interesting people, many of whom were foreigners.

On Saturday, Aiko and I pressed on to Osaka. Once there we went Doutonbori, which is the exciting street in Osaka. I finally tried Takoyaki, which I had heard about almost since the first day I came to Japan. It really was good. Essentially, it’s dumplings with octopus in the middle and covered in various sauces. We spent the afternoon and a part of the evening at Osaka castle, which was very cool. It was by far the biggest castle I’ve seen in Japan so far. The inside of the castle is a museum, and on a few of the floors you’re not allowed to take pictures. I made accidental use of my foreigner powers and took a picture where I wasn’t suppose to… of a samurai mask with a mustache already on it. (Pictures from the whole weekend will go up when I have time.) For supper we headed back to Doutonbori and had kushikatsu (various fried things on sticks, the cheese mochi was my favorite!) and sushi. It was rainy all day, and after supper we wandered around Doutonbori for a long time looking for a good place to relax in. We found a really atmospheric small bar with some great cheap sparkling white wine and a chatty bartender.

Sunday, we went up to Universal Studios Osaka. Aiko’s favorite ride was Jurassic Park, but I liked the “Live the Hollywood Dream Ride” that they have there. Essentially, it’s a roller coaster where you get to pick the music (you could choose either Bon Jovi, Eminem, The Beattles, or one of two J-Pop bands). I’ve been to Universal Studios twice before, but it was interesting to see it all in Japanese this time. The monster rock show was especially interesting, as Japanese Beetlejuice (using Kansai-ben) tried to get some crowd participation… with precious little result. At 4 we caught a bus back to Takayama. The bus was full of university students returning to Takayama because it’s semester break in Japan right now. We arrived back in Takayama at 9:30 and found it covered in ice, making it impossible for me to safely complete my trip back to Kamioka. So, instead we met up with Fiona and George at an izakaya for supper, before I finally crashed at George’s place for the night. …unfortunately this meant a 6 am wake up call this morning, after a long weekend. I won’t lie… it was pretty rough. And I was almost late for work because everyone was driving so slow… but, my apartment’s shower was NOT frozen, which was a pleasant surprise. Now, if only I didn’t have to leave water running all the time in my house in order to prevent things from freezing.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Not leaving the water on all the time when I go out for a weekend.

Thing I love most about Japan today: Osaka and Nagoya! Osaka had a lot of interesting things to do, and Nagoya felt like the perfect size for a city. Both had enough neon lights to remind me of what I thought every city in Japan would look like before I came here.

January 30^th, 2008.

My shower had been occasionally freezing for the last 3 weeks. I turned off all my water and spent a weekend in Furukawa and Takayama (at Greg and George’s places respectively), only to return to find both my toilet and shower still frozen. This time my technique for unfreezing my shower failed utterly and instead broke the hot water system in it. The price to fix this? About 300 bucks. Unfortunate, but that’s why they pay us well. My toilet remained frozen for 2 days, with me unable to figure out how to warm it. I finally called in my school’s handyman, but when he came it was working. The solution to these problems is actually quite simple (according to him). Just leave all your taps running while you’re gone! I asked him if this was expensive… and he replied that it was cheaper than breaking your shower again. Touche. The shower remains broken now, and I’m currently showering at school in the morning. Which, isn’t that bad actually. Also, I now use a kerosene (toyu) heater in my apartment. Apparently even though I could handle the cold using only an electric heater (and my kotatsu), my apartment could not.

I had left my apartment for 3 days, since I spent Thursday night at George’s (we had a big JET conference in Gifu city that Friday). So Friday, I woke up at 5:20 and expected an absolutely miserable day. I was surprised by how wrong I was. My JTE gave me a ride down to the conference and I spent a lot of the day with him as well. I also got a ride back with him. We left snowy Hida for seemingly summery Gifu city. It happened after one tunnel, and was the strangest thing ever. On one side of the tunnel was winter and on the other was a cool summer day. The conference itself was a lot of fun. At one point, my JTE and I had to show an example of our lesson plan to 5 other pairs of JTEs and ALTs. Each pair had to give a presentation, and after it was over, my JTE pulled me aside and said, “our’s was way better wasn’t it?” I enthusiastically agreed. I remembered once again how awesome my JTE is. He also bought me breakfast because we arrived in Gifu a little early.

I had spent a large portion of the weekend with Aiko, and on Monday the relationship was made official to those that we both know. She was very cool about it too. She showed up at my apartment on Monday, and while I plugged in my laptop to have it charge up, a profile page fell out of my backpack. The page was for a yearbook the 3D class at my school was making. On it were a bunch of questions about me (in Japanese). She went through it with me and at the question: “do you have a girlfriend?” She said, “you can answer yes to that one if you want to.” The only downside is that she’s leaving for Australia in about 3 weeks, so it feels like I’m in a relationship with an expiry date. Next weekend we’re going to Nagoya and then Osaka together. She also showed me a great little coffee shop on the weekend called the “yamaneko” or “mountain cat”. It was very relaxing. I think my mother should add a coffee bar to her shop. They have these in all the coffee shops here, and they’re very cool. Greg apparently often goes to that place and just reads a book at the bar while drinking coffee. In Canada, I would never go to a restaurant or coffee shop by myself, but here in Japan, there’s always these bars where there are a bunch of people reading while they eat and drink and it’s considered normal. Often there’s even a TV on that you can watch.

Being in Japan changes you emotionally. Maybe it’s just being abroad in general. But, when I’m happy I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. And when I’m sad, it approaches depression. When you go out to a party, you party harder than ever before. When you sit with a book in a coffee shop, or on the balcony overlooking a river and mountains, your soul and mind become quieter than ever before. One day you feel like everyone you meet is already a friend. But on others, you believe that no one really gets you like people did back in your country and you’re alone. I told Will about this and he agreed. “We’re all bipolar now”, is the way he put it. Much like many bipolar people, you find yourself unwilling to do anything to change it because you love the highs so much that you are willing to put up with the lows.

Oh, and although my English Media Club is going to be on hold until the next school year begins, Mr. Suzuki and I tried out our pilot lesson on one of his classes and it seems to be working brilliantly!

Thing I miss most about Canada today: An apartment that doesn’t smell like toyu (kerosene).

Thing I love most about Japan today: I’d better answer “Aiko” or I might get in trouble.

Woke up this morning and looked outside… it was snowing again. I noticed this while literally running from the warmth of my bed to the warmth of my shower. Between these two points lay a frozen wasteland of an apartment. This, is winter in the mountains.

Last week I bragged about how warm it is here (outside I mean, because inside it is and will continue to be, freezing), but, it’s taken a turn for the worse now. It dipped down to -10 the other day. This is good weather if you live in Manitoba with central heating… but bad news if you live in Japan with none. There are 3 places of comfort in my house. The TV room (under my kotatsu), the bedroom (in my bed), and the shower (with water set to as hot as possible). Between these points important things need to be done, like laundry, going to the bathroom and cooking. These are activities I now loathe. Especially laundry. My last set of laundry took two weeks to dry. I think I’m going to try doing it in the laundromat in Furukawa from now on. Also, two days ago, when I got up in the morning the shower was frozen. I got lucky that the pipes didn’t burst.

On to happier news! Last weekend was my birthday and I want to thank everyone who wished me a good one, especially those who sent cards! It was a non-stop party weekend that took 2 days to recover from. On Friday I finally returned to my favorite bar in Furukawa with Greg. Saturday involved being at Will’s with his girlfriend and her friend. This was followed by a trip to the old El Sol, another place I haven’t been to in awhile. Sunday, George was kind enough to host a birthday party for me and Aiko was sweet enough to bake me a birthday cake. She let me write on it with icing and I wrote “nihon ga ii”. Literally translated, this means “Japan is good”. I even used some kanji! A lot of people came to it and we had a bucket drink. This is literally a bucket that is filled with various things throughout the night to keep on changing the drink. Think of it as a punch bowl where you can keep adding things. The highlight of the night for me was definitely when George knighted me. I am now Sir Warren of Winkler. You can all address me as simply Sir Warren from this point forward.

Monday was “Coming of Age Day” here in Japan and a holiday to boot. So George, Dan and I went to check out the cult building. Yup, you read it right, there’s a cult in Takayama and we checked out their massively huge church/temple/shrine/building/ thing. It’s a bizarre place, but it’s also the coolest building I’ve seen in Japan yet. It’s called the Takayama World Shrine, I think, if you want to check it out for yourselves.

The rest of the week was less interesting and I also am running out of time here at my desk so we won’t go into it!

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Central heating. Have I done that one already? I REALLY miss it. I wear my winter coat when I’m cooking.

Thing I love most about Japan today: Only 2 more weeks and then I only have half as many classes to teach!

I just turned all of the history of Canada into 7 pictures. I’m trying to figure out how I feel about this. I tried to keep it interesting, so the pictures are of a pre-European discovery of Canada First Nation camp, the death of General Wolf (from the battle on the Abraham Plains), the Taking of Washington by the British, the Fathers of the Confederation, railriders from the Great Depression, The invasion of Holland (WW2), and the “Goal heard around the World” from the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series. Do these accurately present the history as well as any 7 pictures can? I’m not sure… BUT, they are 7 interesting moments from it! If you have a better picture as a suggestion, go ahead and e-mail me and I’ll consider putting it in instead (or if if it comes too late, I’ll use it next year).

That aside, I should probably update you on the comings and goings of my life. However, there is nothing important to tell really… there was a massive 3 day snowstorm that prevented me from leaving my apartment on New Year’s. It was the first time I’ve ever seen so much snow fall… and the temperature remain ABOVE zero degrees. Mountains are strange places. I also spent 2 day’s worth of afternoons digging my car out… only for all to melt now… just under 2 weeks later.

I’ve driven through a few snowstorms here now and my conclusion is that my car can do anything. Those tires I bought were worth every last yen… as they tore up some snow and ice on some really narrow mountain roads.

I spent a lot of time hanging out in Takayama during the break… since almost everyone I knew had left the country. However, I did manage to make a new Japanese friend named Aiko who I’ve spent almost every other evening with since getting her phone number. The only problem is that she’s moving to Australia (for a year) next month.

I also want to thank everyone who has sent me Birthday and Christmas cards! Real mail is awesome in a way I never imagined before. When I see a letter with roman characters on it in my mailbox I can’t even take the 5 steps to my door before opening it and finding out who it came from and what he/she/they said. Thank you! I guess since I agreed to spending a second year here I often worry about what will happen when I return to Canada… who will still be around and who will be gone? Who’s actually going to bite the financial bullet and come out to Japan? And how many of my holidays should I use on coming back to Canada? It seems to me that if I returned to Canada today it would be like I never left almost immediately. How long will it stay this way? Questions, questions. Another reason I’ve started thinking about this is because one of my friend’s here suggested that we move out to Korea for a year after the second year in Japan. It’s awfully tempting… and it’s an idea that’s making my Korean friend Jun very excited. We’ll see how I feel a long time from now. On the one hand I want to travel when I’m young, and on the other I want to go back to university to get my education degree before I get too old. I wish I would’ve started traveling long before when I did! I’d like to see some of Europe too… and I’ll probably visit Aiko in Australia at some point while she’s out there… I should have gone to a different country for a month every summer while I was in university…. oh well. C’est la vie.

Also I’ve gotten thinner apparently. Every once in a while some Japanese person who hasn’t seen me for a while will comment on this. The undertone in the conversation is that the food in Japan must be a lot healthier than that in Canada. It might be more correct to say that I eat healthier in Japan than I did in Canada. This is partially because I’m not eating on as limited a budget as I was when I was in university and partially because the foods I like here are often the healthier ones… with exception to my obsession with Center 4 Hamburgers. …an egg on a burger! Ingenious!

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Understanding what people are saying around me without having to concentrate with all my effort (and even then often getting it wrong).

Thing I love most about Japan today: It’s plus 5 here right now!!

Christmas was really a week long event for me in Japan. On the 19^th I went to my adult class’s Christmas party, which involved supper at a French restaurant, nice wine, and a gift exchange. I got some books to help with my Japanese and maple pies… straight from Canada. The pies are delicious, by the way. On the 20^th was the school’s dorm’s Christmas party, which involved a really nice meal (and an actual chicken leg!!) and a bingo game. I won a lock. The 21^st was my school’s teacher’s year end party (or boun-enkai) up at Hirayu (which was beautiful with all the snow). Many of the teachers got ridiculously drunk, as is to be expected as these things, and some performed on stage nearly naked. There was also a group attempt at trying to do some exercises from Billy’s Boot Camp.

The next day I went down to Takayama and found out that at George’s boun-enkai worse events had taken place. Several of the teachers, after much drinking, decided to start breaking chopsticks… using only their buttocks. This was done by stripping to underwear only, then placing the chopsticks between the underwear and skin and then flexing. George, was (rather unwillingly) brought up onto the stage to participate. He was surprised to find out that when the chopsticks break… they break INTO the buttocks. Anyways, we went down to King (I think it’s called) and shot pool, bowled, played air hockey and ping pong. I ended up driving back to my town at 3 in the morning, or something ridiculous like that.

I returned to Takayama on the 23^rd again, to do some karaoke with some JETs and associates. I spent the night at George’s so that I could help Fiona prepare for the Christmas party on the 24^th. Everyone had to bring some food to the party, and I chose to give up some of my Mac and Cheese… which after initially being mocked by Andrew (another JET) while I was cooking it, was received at the dinner table with shouts of joy. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who missed the stuff. The party went from noon until about ten, and was followed by a watching of “Love Actually”, which is what is the classic Christmas movie for my generation, I suppose.

The next day was Christmas itself and I woke up to a phone call from my family. George, and the rest of the people had already left for work… but I had taken the day off so I wandered Takayama for awhile (and had lunch at the Center 4 Burgers ((AMAZING))) before heading back up to Kamioka. …where I spent Christmas afternoon doing laundry. I went out to my local restaurant for supper and the owner gave me free Christmas cake to eat with a side of free coffee. She also gave me a free sandwich (for lunch today) and two Christmas oranges when I left. I returned home and brought little Christmas presents to the teachers in my apartment building. Then I watched some hockey highlights and “It’s a Wonderful Life”… and so ended my first Christmas in Japan.

How did others spend Christmas Day? Well, a lot of people I know went to work. A Japanese friend of mine happened to have the day off because she has every Tuesday off… and she cleaned all day. This is apparently really popular… like spring cleaning back in Canada. Another just played tennis all day. People in relationships went on dates, …but I didn’t see any of them out and about in my town (not surprisingly).

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Obviously, Christmas with the family.

Thing I love most about Japan today: Center 4 Hamburgers. Sugoi Oishii! Hamburgers that rival the best in Canada. That’s right, the gloves have been thrown down…. Center 4 Hamburgers is comparable to Original George’s!! …although they’re also very different from each other!