Nara

Hi guys! Sorry this post was postponed for so long. I got pwned by the postponed post. Postponed post-pwned. I just wanted to give one last highlight from my trip - the post from Brigg and my trip to Nara during spring break, as promised. Better late than never. It being spring, the sakura were in bloom, and we hit Nara just about at the ideal time. There were a LOT of tourists there, so while we didn't exactly blend in, at least we weren't the only ones wandering around with sparkles in our eyes. There will be many Wiki links in this post, as I try to outline everything we did. Here's a basic one of the city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nara%2C_Nara

Let's go to the photos!

Like I say, we went at a great time of year. This is Nara park, just entering the historical district. One of the main things about Nara is the deer. There are tame deer that walk all over the place in the historic area. Well, I say tame, but there are vendors that sell shika sembei - deer crackers - that you can buy and feed to the deer, and that promptly turns the deer into aggressive, ravenous lunatics. This photo was taken just at the entrance to the park, so no deer yet, but they soon show their face.

This is a warning sign - don't piss the deer off, man.

Feeding frenzy for shika-sembei.

This is me, feeding the deer. Brigg is recording. Yay, my first video!

The first thing we saw was this temple, I guess it was famous or something, but it wasn't one of the bigger ones in Nara, so it wasn't in the guidebook. It did have this really nice draping sakura tree, though. Most sakura are just of the puffball variety, but some form streamers that hang down, which is considered special and especially beautiful.

Closeup of the stone dog and the draping sakura. People tied fortunes from that temple to the sakura streamers like they do at other temples on wires and strings usually provided near the place to buy fortunes. Those are the little pieces of paper tied to the bottom of the strands.

The first big thing we hit was Toudai-ji, or "Great Eastern Temple," which is reputedly the largest entirely wooden building in the world. Here's the wiki link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Ddai-ji

There was a long walkway up to the temple, along which we were assaulted by several more deer. It contained this gate, which is gigantic. Look at the people passing through it to give some sense of scale. It contained two guardians off to the left and right side.

Here is the actual temple. It was pretty massive. Again for scale, those are people walking through the doors.

The reason that the building is so big is that it houses the Daibutsu - an enourmous statue of a seated Buddha. This is a photo - one of its fingers is human-sized. Sometimes they have to dust it, so a priest goes out onto the statue, and stands on its outstretched hand. It's pretty phenomenal.

One more cool thing about Toudai-ji was that there was a pillar in the back that had a hole drilled through the bottom of it, and story goes that if you can get through the hole, you will be blessed in your next life. So, I gave it a shot.

I was successful. Woot. ^_^ Next life is gonna be a blast.

Next thing we did was the Kasuga Shrine, which is the most famous Shinto shrine in Nara. Shinto shrines are not as common as Buddhist shrines - Nara is the ancient seat of Buddhism in Japan. Here's the Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasuga_Shrine

It doesn't say in the entry, but Princes of the Imperial family were also tutored here. Fun fact!

The avenues leading to the Kasuga shrine are lined with thousands of stone lanterns. We were looking forward to seeing them, and they were breathtaking.

Yay! At one point, we saw a small child playing hide-and-seek with a deer among the stone lanterns - the deer would wander slowly away, and the kid would follow, peeking between the lanterns. I really wish I had gotten a video.

Last thing we saw that day was Koufuku-ji, another Buddhist temple of many in Nara. It was a big enclosure, which contained this huge five-story pagoda. Nice peaceful way to round out the day, and just chill and rest our aching feet for a while. Here's the wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dfuku-ji

Well, that's about it. If you've been reading this, thanks for your patronage! I have further adventures in Osaka and Takasaki, but odds are, you've been reading this because we can't talk in person, and most of the people I wanted to keep in touch with are actually talking with me these days. So, I probably won't continue this blog unless I get specific requests for stuff. If you WOULD like to see something, please post a comment, and I'll hook you up. Otherwise,

AbediabadiaThat's All, Folks!

And that's the way it is.

You stay classy, San Diego.

And knowing is half the battle. (Yo Joe!)

Good night, John Boy!

Help control the pet population, have your pet spayed or neutered.

I am Mr. Ed.

Sit Ubu, sit.

Grrooowl! Rowl!

（おわり）

He's BAAAAaaaaack...

Yo everybody!! Well, I have returned to the land of civilized people, who cook their meat and know about things like carpeting and central air and sofas. I'm ready and rarin for action, except for the fact that now I'm gonna go sleep for about 20 hours. See you on the morrow. Look for new postings when I get my act together. Feels good to be home.

Signing off for a bit

Hey guys,

Well, school ended last Friday, with a nice little goodbye ceremony in the gym. I gave a little speech and got letters from all the students and some flowers. I also got a lot of little and not-so-little presents from the teachers, it was all a bit too much, and I will be living with guilt until my folks get here in a couple of weeks with some souvenirs from America to distribute among the teachers. But the last couple of days, I have been moving from my place in Shibukawa to a new apartment in Takasaki, where I will be living for about a month. Because my contract was over, I couldn't stay in my old place. And in my new place, I will not have internet, nor will I be able to access the net from school as I did before my internet was up in the place in Shibukawa, last year. So, this may be the last post until I get back to America. Just wanted to thank you all for reading my stupid little posts, and for your comments and everything. It was great keeping in touch with everyone, this has kind of been a lifeline for me. I intend to have some adventures in the next month as well, including (hopefully) Tokyo Disneyland, camping, Fuji-kyu Highlands rollercoaster park, and a few other things. I'll post about those when I get back to the States. But for now, Sayonara! Thanks for reading my blog!

(Pic of me and some deer under sakura in Nara during spring vacation. I never really got to posting about my trip to Osaka and Nara with Brigg, maybe I'll do that when I get back home, too.)

Murphy's Law in Action

Is is a bad idea to climb a tall mountain right in the path of a Category 4 typhoon?

So I guess Fuji's out for this weekend.

Even when I leave Florida, I can't get away from Hurricane troubles. I'm working on a theory that I am the reason that hurricanes hit Florida, and also the reason that the Gators don't win championships. Counterexamples are welcome.

Kanashima JHS Sports, Various

Hey again y'all! This episode of "Inspector Gaijin," we'll take a look at the sports teams of Kanashima Junior High School. Most kids at school are a member of some after-school activity or other, more often than not some kind of sport. Well, I guess a fair number of them are on the table tennis team, if you want to call that a "sport." On a usual day, they play sports from 4:20 to about 6:20, and on Saturdays they have games with other local junior high schools. Yes, the kids play for more than 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, and on Saturdays the practices last from morning until about 4:00. About 7 hours. They get pretty good with all this practice. This is ON TOP OF the really rough quantity of homework that they get. Man, Japanese people work their kids hard.

So, recently I had a chance to see the girl's volleyball team and the boy's baseball team play. Both teams did pretty well, the baseball team won both games I saw them play. Here's some photos, and nicknames I thought of for some of the kids. They're corny, but the pursuit entertained me for 15 minutes or so, so it was well worth it.

"Tank" Tanaka - Definitely Kanashima's BMOC

"Iggie" Igarashi

"Outta Here" Outa

"Slugger" Sugumoto

"Go-To Guy" Gotou

"Murderer" Miura

Like I say, these kids were very professional, since they'd been playing for so long every day. They were playing against Showa JHS, and they creamed those guys. Our fielders showed some real skill out there, and Tanaka and Gotou were both very cool on the mound, they got out of some tight situations. It was a fun couple of games to watch.

The lineup before and after the games - the teams bow to each other and the ref.

Final score of the second game: Kanashima 7, Showa 1. It's hard to argue with 4 runs in an inning.

So, that was fun. Also, I recently had a chance to see a game of the girl's volleyball team. Here's a pic.

Again, both teams were amazingly proficient. Kanashima was about evenly matched that time.

Other things going on lately: There was a big 'sayonara' get-together of all the JETs in Gunma, at a beer garden in Takasaki. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, this is just a place on the roof of a building where you pay about $25 at the start of the evening, and it's all you can eat and all the beer and soda you can drink from 5:00 to 9:00. This is another concept I think would do well in America. Or at least, if it didn't go bankrupt. Here's some pics.

There was live music as well. Good times were had by all.

There was another, more local BBQ as well, at a friend of mine's house. Japanese-style BBQ is a different mentality than America-style, but still filling, and still tasty. Pics:

Matt's the grill-master there. The girls are shy.

Later on, we had fireworks, to celebrate American independence day. Or just to celebrate the fact that they had fireworks at the store. All the fireworks you can actually shoot yourselves in Japan are pretty tiny. We essentially just had sparklers. Leah and Matt posed for 'dragon' shots.

Matt actually burned a hole in his shirt for this one. ^_^

So, it's Summertime in Gunma, which means rain and overcast skies (I haven't seen the sun in over a week, I swear), but it also means lots of flowers. There are some nice ones called 'ajisai' that are very common, and characteristic of the season. Some pics:

There are also these odd-shaped flowers I call UFO's because I don't know their real name, but they look nice. These are some in my neighbor's yard.

They have quite a few.

Some blue ones, too.

These are views in a little park right next to Kanashima JHS.

Another cool thing that happened recently was Tanabata. It's a traditional holiday in Japan. Here's the wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata

As usual, it's a pretty thorough run-down. Long story short, Tanabata is a festival that celebrates the two stars Vega and Altair, and their embodiments as the Weaver, Orihime, and the Sheperd, Hikoboshi. It's a legend that the two lovers are seperated in heaven by the Milky Way (River of Heaven), and can only meet once a year on July 7. On that day, people decorate bamboo stalks with paper streamers and wishes for the two lovers and for themselves. There was a little celebration at Toyoaki Elementary.

The crowd. The students shared their wishes, and sang the traditional song.

The decorated bamboo.

We also got this little flavored ice treat at lunchtime.

Well, that was about 4 posts in one, so you can forgive me my almost 3 week absence, right? Also, I will be making a trip to Mt. Fuji this weekend with a friend of mine, which is why this blog was kinda hastily done. I didn't have time this week, and next blog will hopefully be my experiences there. So, while this was unpolished, next time I might be able to show pics of a Fuji sunrise.

(It's like a tequila sunrise, except instead of a shot of tequila, there's 2 billion tons of rock.)

P.S. I was saddened to hear of the passing of TV's "Mister Wizard." That was an important figure from my childhood, and undoubtedly helped me find my interest in Science, such as it is. May he rest in peace, and may the many "Little Timmies" he inadvertently blew up never track him down in the afterlife.

Cute Stuff

Hey all! New happenings of the past week - last Wednesday, I had my last teaching class at the elementary schoolers, and one class of third graders all gave me thank-you notes. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to discuss what big business "cute" is in Japan.

To begin with, there's the stationary. Kids buy stationery and school supplies with cute as the only factor considered in their purchasing decision. I guess it's the same in America, but it's just all that much more prolific over here. I just happen to have some prime examples of this.

Love Bambini - Small fawn was born!

Happy elephant - soursour brand stationery

Marie from the Aristocats and Bunny from Bambi are pretty big figures

Happy food - a pretty common theme. Personally, if I saw my ice cream cone smiling at me, I'd be pretty weirded out.

Says it all, really.

Awesome Engrish - "CHEERFUL DAYS - The first step toward happiness. Footloose and fancy free. Make your daily life pleasant! - I am full of play mind! A wonderful presentiment. I like what is like you. - I feel comfortable with my heart exhilirated."

Kid drawings of Jeff-sensei (I just kinda get all happy when they call me Jeff-sensei)

A game we'd play sometimes where I'd swing a stuffed soccer ball on a string, and call out "high" or "low" and they'd have to jump or duck, and if it hit them they'd be out. From the picture, apparently I've totally KO'd two small children with that thing.

Me towering over the crowd

Me on the playground - I used to play with them during recess. It was great. Japanese tag games are fun, and dodgeball is slightly different but more interesting. The Incan temple with a clock at the top is supposed to be the school, I think.

The coup de grace - one of the kids slipped me a tiny, tiny gum eraser, with a picture of a hamster, with a peach for a head, holding a small, smiling green ball. Overkill, in my opinion. Exasperated sigh.

I have a lot more of that stuff, with origami cranes and paper airplanes and everything. Third graders are really nice. ^_^

Anyway, other cute stuff. Student drawings of themselves is often fun to see - it's usually anime style, with either huge eyes and spike hair or chubby faces, button noses and the like. Capsule machines are VERY common over here, you can get all kinds of small accessories, pins, and danglies for about 100 yen each, in all your favorite popular themes of the moment. Danglies are huge, I swear there's something hard-wired into the Japanese female brain. If it's got a loop, it'll have a danglie attatched within 8 hours. Yes, I have one on my cell phone too.

I don't have a picture of this, and it's a shame, but the most ingenious danglies I've ever seen in Japan was Winnie the Pooh characters... dressed up... as OTHER Winnie the Pooh characters. For example, they had the base characters, and they were all basically the same shape - Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger - and they also had costumes of those four characters that would slip over the base characters. They were interchangeable, too. It looked like a costume party where everyone dressed up as their friends. Of course, you could make them look like they were wearing a costume of themselves, too. Darn cute stuff. Hmm, now that I think about it, a "dress up as your friends" or "dress up as yourself" theme might be pretty fun for Halloween some year...

So, that's cute stuff. Serious business.

Last week, I also went to a volleyball match at Kanashima-chu, and saw the Taiko show as promised. I will update with images of those soon. For now, I'm'a call it a night. Take care!