Buildings bright

Buildings thin

Pigeons are grey doves

Snow and neon

Two floors of plants

Adventures in Banking

I've been mising my bank book for a few weeks now, and so today I decided to get a replacement, before the New Year's break. After filling out the forms came the time to sign, or rather stamp, and I realized that I didn't have my hanko with me; I told them that I'd be right back and rushed home. Upon my return home, I began searching and tore my whole room apart several times looking for it, and on the thrid go round I stumbled across my bank book. Book in hand, I rushed back to the bank and explained what had happened, but he still wanted me to stamp the forms that he had prepared for getting a new bank book. It seems the the act of carryiing out a transaction supersedes the relevance of it. But, I explained that I wasn't able to find my hanko, and we expressed various amounts of dismay at the fact after which he asked me to tell him if I wasn't able to find it. I'll be looking, but I'm not holding out much hope.
In other news I'm going to Osaka tomorrow for New Year's break, going to visit some friends and friends of friends. I'm really looking forward to getting out of Ube.
To explain my desire to get out, let me relate a story. One of our students is moving to America, to do research at a university. The University of Alabama. In Tuscaloosa. Now, imagine you met this person, and he said, "I'm moving to America", to which, naturally, you would reply, "Oh? Where?" And, upon hearing his answer, your recation would most likely be the same as that of a Japanese person who heard "I've been living in Ube, Yamaguchi." I am looking forward to a change of scenery.
But, speaking of Alabama, I had a doctor in my class recently and we were doing a lesson on health advice. In part of the lesson, he had to pretend to give advice to people, and I asked, "What would you say to this woman, who can't seem to find time to relax." His reply was, "I would tell her to try to drink a little alcohol after work."

Play time

Christmas Sunrise

The lighter side of identity theft

Have you ever had to pretend to be someone else to solve a problem?
The internet at my place went out recently after a power outage; the account is in the name of a person who hasn't lived here in two years. In order to get anything out of the customer serviced center I've had to pretend to be "Samuel Bawden", and they believe me without question. All I needed to supply was the account number off the bill, my address and his phone number. The phone number was the tricky part, as he hasn't lived here in two years it took some serious digging to come up with. But, thanks to an English tech support number a helpful staff, I have been able to wrangle a solution to this problem, but it'll still take three or four days to get my internet back. The scary thing is that while, with this little information I was able to solve this problem by convincing them that I was Sam, that's all it took to convince them. A name, an address and a phone number; with these one could cause an immense amount of trouble for someone else.
Also, it was interesting being on the other side of the call center. That is, I believe these people that were answering the phone in English were based in America. Although it's not terribly surprising, it was interesting to encounter this outsourcing from the other side of the globe, not American calls to Asia (India), but Asian (Japanese) calls to America. Globalization and outsourcing work in all directions.

View of the top

The view from the top

Graffiti is universal

Temples in Hagi outside . . .

. . .and in

A visit to Hagi

Last Friday I went to Hagi with Lindsay; we've ben planning this trip for a while now, originally Jim, my roomate and other coworker, was going to come too, but his upcoming trip back to America unfortunately overoccupied him. We set out at the ungodly hour of eight-thirty in the morning so we could get there by noon. This was not very enjoyable, nor easy, as we had had a nicely boisterous bounenkai the night before. Upon arrival in Yamaguchi city we changed from the uncomfortable and reasonably crowded local train to being the only passengers on a richly upholstered bus. After a pleasant and nap-filled journey through the beautiful countryside we arrived in Hagi. I was immediately taken with the city, aside from its pottery, historical significance and abundance of temples, it had forest covered hills. I felt like I was back in Bellingham, it was beautiful. If there was a Nova branch in Hagi, I wouldn't have to think about transferring. We had ramen for lunch, then struck out for the castle, pausing at temples along the way. Walking down the beach we found ourselves observing rugby practice in the bitter cold and wind. I admire the teams dedication, but envy them none.
After collecting some seashells, we reached the end of the beach and the castle wall - all that's now left after the castle was destroyed as a symbol of feudalism at the start of the Meiji Restoration. I was amazed though, that they had a photograph of the castle before it was torn down in 1874. I suppose we all know that photography has been around much longer than the turn of the twentieth century, but it never seems to click until you see really old photos. Even with just walls and a moat (two acually), the castle was still quite impressive, and the walls were good for looking out from. From there it was a look at the castle shrine and a hike to the top of the mountain (read hill) where there was a view and more ruins. The climb, while short (the hill is 730m high), proved good exercise. It was worth it though, the view from the top was amazing.
After leaving the castle we went into the old samurai neighborhood and saw some medieval walls and bought some pottery. Hagi is known across Japan for its pottery, hagi-yaki, and thus has, it seems, more pottery stores than bathrooms. The one we chose was a nice little corner store which also contained the owners residence on the upper floor. It was a nice balance between the giant tourist oriented stores by the castle and the gallery style stores in the shopping district. As we walked in the owner served us tea and candy and made some small talk. I think that's one of the best sales tactics if you own a small shop: serve your customers food and thereby guilt them into buying. It worked.
We walked back into town and had an hour to kill before we met our friend for dinner, so we had a cup of coffee and wandered while talking about how cold and tired and hungry we were. When our friend finally got ahold of us we meandered to an upscal izakaya where we had, of course, a great variety of food. Among the things I'd never tried beofre were raw fish liver (great texture. terrible taste) and freshly made, still bubbling tofu (tofu texture, no taste). After this, our day was over. We were tired and full and it was time to go home.

I don't want to bike to work today

Urban decay doesn't have to be ugly

A big, writhing bin of . . .?

Learning life skills through observation

Fresh Fish = Live Fish

I went to a fish market today with Lindsay, one of my coworkers today. We're going to Hagi tomorrow so it was a stop on the way back from checkign the bus schedule. Quite an interesting market, all the people with small boats would unload their catch directly and put it live into bins and sel directly to the public; the men were unloading the boats while the women would sell, gut and tend to the fish. There was almost every conceivable type of sea creature for sale, octopi, squid and cuttlfish, crawfish and shrimp, crabs, eels, lots of halibut, one or two types of rays and some things I couldn't identify. You would walk along and the women would point at various fish anouncing their edibility and price. It's been a unseasonably cool here, so I was amazed at their resistance to cold, sitting there, no gloves, hands soaking wet with sea water, filleting and sorting fish. The prices were quite reasonable too, ¥500 for a small halibut, but I think it was gut it yourself. That's fine of course for regular fish, but I would have no idea what to do with a shrimp or octopus. I think that sometime though I should like to go down there and get the fixings for a seafood dinner, but perhaps I should find someone who could help first. Someone who knows their way around a fillet knife. On the way home we stopped at a French (seeming) bakery, Quatre Saisons. I got a curry donut. Tonight is the bounenkai (end of the year party) with karaoke of course. Tomorrow, a trip to Hagi, which I'm quite looking forward to.

The most succint phrasing doesn't always turn out to be the best

I believe I put my foot in my mouth to some small extent today. I was in conversation with one of the students at Nova and she asked me what I liked about teaching. To which my reply was that "I find the opportunity to speak personally to Japanese people fascinating, it's like being able to conduct a miniature anthropological study." To which her resonse was, predictably along the lines of, "So, we're like lab rats?" I managed to clear myself of the role of disinterested researcher, but not without some (continuing to this moment) embarassment.
I realize something along the lines of "It's fascinating to be able to learn so much about the cultural differences between Japan and America" would have been more appropriate. However, in truth, I do consider every conversation I have to be a kind of anthropological research. This, of course, is not on any conscious level, but in the sense that all human interaction leads to a greater understanding of societal function, cultural norms and behavior. I consider this to be on a much lower level than the enjoyment to be derived from the purely social aspect of conversation; an ancillary consideration. I do believe though that rational, analytical thought and, yes, even conversational exegesis are important tools for daily life. But, I think I shall cut this entry short before it gets so pretentious that it devolves into a critical essay on Leonard Cohen.

Ascending?

Stone and steel

Mining museum and some general observations

I visited the mining museum on Thursday. (Thank you fishy business for pointing it out to me [see comments, "Public sculpture beautifies cities]) I noticed their mannequins were pale, almost to the point of diseased looking, perhaps it's from staying underground and acting like miners constantly. On the whole though, the museum was quite interesting with lots of old tools - if there's one thing I'm a sucker for it's esoteric mechanica. Moreover, as I suppose would be expected, there are many displays of mining history. I found all of this very nice, and entertaining even, particularly the part where it attempts to simulate being underground in one of the mines. However, the informational aspect was slightly lacking, at least from my point of view; if one has a limited grasp of the written Japanese language and does not enjoy looking at old gadgets, tools and contraptions, this museum would most likely be of little interest. The tower, unfortunately, was closed. I shall keep trying to ascend as, there is more than one thing I am a sucker for.
Here are some things that have struck me recently, comments overheard and reactions noted, that sort of thing:
-When I ask my students "What could be some status symbols for high school students?" Invariably, the first answer is "A good school uniform."
-Overheard in class (a young woman talking to a settled man): "I don't want to be a housewife." "You hate dishes?"
-Japanese women are nearly always floored when I tell them that I can cook.
I realize it's a short list, but hopefully that doesn't mean I've exhausted all of these minor cultural differences or that I won't be able to notice more.

Birdwatching in the City

I saw a hawk, or someother such raptor, yesterday. I was standing on top of the Fuji Grand and looking out towards the city, when I spotted what looked like hawk, nigh 10 meters away. He was flying in large slow circles, each one overlapping the last slightly, so he covered some new ground with each circle. A beautiful bird, dark brown on top, a dusty red brown underneath and long finger-like feathers on his wingtips; big too, a wingspan of probably 60cm or more. I watched him for probably five or six minutes before he got too small to see. I can't imagine what he was hunting, there are really no green or even spaces near the Fuji (that I'm aware of), perhaps though, there are enough pigeons, sparrows, and rats to keep him feed. I couldn't help but think about all of the tiny dogs I see around though.

Hazards of absentmindedness. Guess whose passport went through the wash?

Some local history

Today, I had a fascinating conversation with a student in the Voice room (that being the place that students can go fi they don't want a lesson, but just want to practice their English skillis in an informal, conversational environment). It started with being asked what I had done in Ube during my stay here. As part of my answer I mentioned my trip to Tokiwa, and I commentend on the mining museum I had heard about (see comment on "Public sculpture beautifies cities"). I told the two students in the room at the time that I was clueless about the existence and location of this museum. They replied that, they two were unaware of it, but one of them proceeded to tell me about the mining history of Ube. Apparently Ube was once a great coal mining town, however this was sixty or so years ago and the mining was accomplished through the imported forced labor of Koreans living in cramped conditions near the beach. Living near the beach was a requirement, as most of the mining was done in tunnels dug underneath the ocean; it was very dangerous work, especially because of the breathing tubes. Because of the lack of oxygen in these underwater tunnels, gigantic tubes were constructed, running from the mine to above the surface of the water. However the construction of these tubes was poor, and from time to time they would leak, neither did they extend far above the water's surface so the winds could kick up the waves over the tops of the tubes. Water would rush down into the tunnels and drown many Koreans, but more would be brought over soon. She then told me that in recent years "a Japanese man felt pity for the Koreans" and made a trip over to Korea to speak with the surviving laborers and their families and now once a year a delegation comes from Korea to hold a memorial Buddhist prayer service. She continued on to tell me from the train, between the stops of Kusae and Tokiwa, one can still see the tops of two of these breathing shafts rising out of the water.
Both students then commented on how no compensation has been paid by Japan to any of the countries from which it culled laborers. This woman who was born in Seoul to a Japanese soldier during the occupation then insisted on telling me about the rainbows she had seen yesterday, and about how difficult it can be to teach singing to children from the countryside.

Public sculpture beautifies cities

The mall where I work is a healthy environment

In Japan the police are your friends

Last night one of my coworkers friends was in town, visiting from England, so we all went out for drinks at an izakaya after work. Nice place, a couple blocks from the apartment called Haikali Dori. A little expensive, but they have a bottle keep system that makes it quite economical for drinking. Fo about ¥1000 you can buy a bottle of liquor and put your name on it, and they keep it on the shelf for you to use wheneve you come. Quite a few people came out, including one of our neighbors, a cameraman for the local TV station, KRY TV. The food was good and the company was entertaining, but I had to excuse myself early (about 2:00) because I had work the next morning. I found out later that the core of the group stayed out until six, going to karaoke, etc., so I'm glad I left when I did.
I found myself biking home alone, in the dark, and, of course, I soon got lost. I asked a taxi driver which way the 190 (one of the two local highways) was, and he pointed. But, after a few mintes of cycling I found myself still lost, and I pulled into a 7-11 and asked the clerk, he helped some, and one of the customers stepped in and drew a small, and frankly quite useless map.When it became clear that he was being of little help to me he decided to follow me outside and walk with me. He was in his mid-twenties, wearing a shiny red track suit, and, I think a visor. In the short conversation we had, he told me he was an iindependent fashion designer and travelled to Korea, Hong Kong, etc. However, instead of taking me to the highway, as I had hoped, he walked me and my bike to the local koban, or police box/mini-station. Inside he helped explain the situation to the four officers there, who all clustered around up to the counter to see what was up. I added that I was lost (in Japanese) to which one officer replied, "I'm lost", he may have been correcting my pronunciation, or makiing a joke, but either way I was confused. I wrote down my address for the officers and three of them came outside with me, the man in the track suit left, saying (in Japanese) not to worry, and that Japanese police were kind. Nice of him to say so, but not really necessary. The polic then held my bike and parked it by the police station, because I had been drinking, saying I could get it tomorrow. Oddly, they didn't check the registration. Then three of them hopped in a police car with me and gave me a ride home, taking my phone number on the way and made some general small talk. I told them that I had left my passport in my apartment, and could go get it, but they shrugged it off. They dropped me off at my door and told me to have a good night. Not an unpleasant experience, but, still an inconvenience; I had to spend a bunch of money on a taxi to work today, and tomorrow I need to go find my bike.
I got home around 2:30, went to bed, woke up at eight and hopped in the shower, only to realize once I was wet and soapy, that I had work at 11:40, not ten. Thus, I went back to sleep and went to work later with crazy bed hair and a wicked hangover. I've gotta learn my way around town.

Before I forget

Two days ago I was in the bathrrom and I saw a guy in a wheelchair use a handicapped urinal. It has bars on the sides to hoist oneself up. I just thought I'd mention it because I found it pretty impressive. Also, for you Google Earth types, my phone's GPS told me my exact coordinates, so I thought I'd shoot 'em at you in case you wanted to sattelite stalk me. Lat. +33.94991, Long. +131.25232.

Tokiwa-ike

Went to lake Tokiwa and the adjoining park today with Lindsay, one of my coworkers. We biked out there and then around the lake. It's very beautiful out there. It's a fairly large lake and park, the land was donated by the local chemical company, I think it's man made, but I'm not positive. The grounds around the lake are littered with scultptures and picnic areas, and there are also paddleboats for rent, but only during the summer, so we could not paddle around the lake. Also included in the lake are a shinto shrine, suspension bridge and a small amusement park. Or, as the city website puts it, "various riding excitement", this includes a flume ride, roller coaster, ferris wheel and I think one or two other things. Seems interesting enough to do once, when it gets nicer out; they didn't appear to be running right now anyway. The city website also mentions "small zoo", I didn't see it while I was there, but I asked my coworkers, and apparently it's some monkeys. And goats. On an island living in a concrete pirate ship. Very small, depressing zoo. Also included in the park are huge pelicans (that choose to live there). They are in fact disturbingly large. I was afraid of them.However, shortly after this picture was taken I observed a man bring his baby over to the pelicans, to "say hello" or some such apparently. Speaking of saying hello, the school kids well always yell "Harro!" at me or my coworkers (collectively, "them white folks" or gaijin) and "Shi yuu!" as we leave. Unless they are younger, then it is a coin toss between "Harro!" and running away.

Tokiwa's suspension bridge

Magical pond-type garden at Tokiwa

Sculpture at Tokiwa Park

My apartment building

Work and the grocery store

Work, well work is easeir than I thought, and goes by faster than I thought. These are both good things, however I fear I may become bored. But, we shall see.
After work today, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a couple of things for dinner, and lingered a while over the seafood seletion. They had a tank (or two) of live fish to be plucked out and given to the customers, crab and halibut even. I didn't know until today, eeing them laying on the bottom of the tank and drifting up now and then, how flat flatfish were. On the way out of the store, the lady behind me in line, attached a bunch of 5% off stickers to my groceries. She had a whole sheet of them. I said thank you (in Japanese) and she said "No problem" (in English). It was wierd but nice.
On the ride home I got a little lost, as I had never rode home by myself before, much less in the dark. I tried to ask two passersby for help, but all I could get out was an "Um, excuse me, but . . ." (in Japanese), before they mumbled something inoffensive sounding, raised their hand, ducked their head a little andk ept on walking. Didn't even break stride.
But, anyway, on a lighter note. I'm never taking eggs home in my bicycle basket again. Well, unless it's a short ride.

View from my front door

Training done, first day of work done

Training in Hiroshima went well, boring parts and other parts too. Met some cool people, inluding, of course, a bunch of Australians. I think I've been hanging out with Australians so much lately that my accent might be begining to change. Although, I hear that people develop what's known as the NOVA accent; sort of a combination of all of the English speaking countries, plus a slow rate of speach and precise diction from speaking with Japanese people.
While in Hiroshima I went to the Peace Park and adjoining museum. Very well done, very beautiful, very depressing. One of the fellows I was traveling with, Daniel, took some pcitures, which I will post as soon as I recieve them. There were lots of people there, many school groups and many foriegners.
But soon! I shall be posting my own pictures as I got my keitai (w/ camera) and a digital camera. I'm quite impressed by my phone, but I shan't go rambling off all the features here, suffice to say, if the one were available in the states, it could easily cost three to four times as much as the roughly ¥5500 I paid for it. But to start with, I suppose I'll post a picture of my room here:And there we are. First of many I suppose. But, I digress. The requisite steps to get the phone were certainly interesting, if not simultaneously boring. First was getting there certificate that says that I'm registered to get an alien registration card; while sitting in the poorly ventilated city office waiting for some of the paperwork to go through, an elderly man with a limp and one foot wrapped in a plastic bag came up to me and said some unintelligible things, then wandered over and sat down next to my roomate and spoke at him for a while. After he left, I asked what was up and my roomate told me that apparently he had fought the Americans in the Philipines in World War II. It's amazing to think of meeting war vetrans in another country that fought against our parents generation. The rest of the story is the boring part. I waited in the bank for forty five minutes for my account to be processed. Although the clerk did point to the appropriate prhases in his phrase book, so that I would know what he was talking about.
That was yesterday. Today was my first day of work. It went by a lot faster than I thought it would. Four lessons and three lesson preiods in the voice room. The voice room is where the students, for cheaper than a lesson, can come in and sepdn as much time as they want, chatting in English with an instructor moderating or directing the conversation. The most interesting part of the day happened in the voice room, during my last forty minute period. A fellow from my previous lesson came in and sat down. It turned out he was a cardiologist from the local hospital and was going to Dallas in a week and a half to present a paper on the difference in the angles LV torsion in the endo and epi something, and he wanted me to listen to hm read his presentation and help with his pronunciation, diction and cadence. I thought it was a real treat, to which the other instructors said that there were glad that I got to field that one. Well, second day of work tomorrow at 11:40, so I'd better hit the hay.

A short addendum

I almost forgot, yesterday I ran into an English fellow on my way from Hakata to Ube. He's an engineer for the Ube chemical company and was coming into town to do some stuff with spectrometers. I couldn't tell if he worked for them directly or was consulting; he'd been living in otkyo for about eight years, traveled all around Japan, and to Taiwan and Korea. He gave me some beer reccommendations based on his personal, extensive research and expressed sympathy from his Tokyo viewpoint that I was living in Ube. Nice fellow. Also, I was pretty dissapointed by the train ride from here to Hakata, because I had thought that the Shinkansen went over the bridge and I would get to see Shimonoseki straight from the window, but unfortunately, it was a tunnel. Which is cool too I guess, but not so much from inside the train. But now it's time to try and figure out my recycling and get ready to go to Hiroshima today.

Hakata today, Hiroshima tomorrow

I had orientation today in Hakata, and my coworkers certainly did not lie to me. It was very boring. An example: As part of our information packet, we were given a Q&A sheet, with a list of questions about information provided in our employee handbook. The presenters divided the seven of us into small groups and assigned each group a few of the questions and we were to research them in the handbook and present back to the group. While a fairly aggravating waste of time, there were some useful things presented, like more detailed information on getting bank accounts and tax procedures, as well as a brief introduction to the teaching format. I got my schedule as well, Thursday and Friday off.
I found out there that I'm training in Hiroshima and being put up in a hotel there for the three days. Perhaps it'll be nice, but right now it seems more of an inconvenience than anything else. I don't know anyone in Hiroshima, the travel time prevents me from getting a bank account, alien registration certificate and mobile phone until Friday and I have to pack three days of business clothes. But I supose I have to make the best of it. Although, I won't have too much time for sightseeing or going out, I'll try and do some of both; I'd love to see the Peace Park. Speaking of Hiroshima, and the Peace Park, I met a Japanese guy at a bar a couple nights ago smoking Lucky Strikes. And he said that he heard they were named that because the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a 'Lucky Strike'. I think foreign urban legends are much more fascinating than the homegrown variety, but maybe only because we haven't heard them thousands of times.
In other news, I bought a bike. Blue, kind of looks like the old Schwinn Cruisers, but not quite, and lighter. A lot lighter. It's got a basket, three speeds, wheel lock and light. ¥12,000 used with new seat, brakes, shifters, grips and tires. A steal. I was waiting to write about this until I got a camera so I could include a picture, but that can wait I guess. What can wait though is an explanation of my shower. Details coming.

First Day in Ube

Landed in Osaka yesterday. The flight was as terrible, as expected. delayed about an hour, then eleven in the air with a small, loud child sitting behind me, kicking my seat. customs and immigration were no problem, not even a word said to me nor a question asked. After a forty minute bus ride to the hotel about five of us got together and did a little night wandering around Osaka and found a restaurant/bar that seemed nice for a midnight snack. We went down the stairs into the basement, found a seat and looked at the menu options, only to be informed that we had to go up to the seventh floor to get food and were escorted to the elevator by a pleasant fellow. We ate and then returned to the hotel to sleep poorly. I woke up around five-thirty and tried for about twenty minutes to figure out how to use the phone card that NOVA had given me to no avail.
After breakfast it was five hours on the train to Ube. At the last juncture I had conversation of mangled Japanese and English with a nice, if overly friendly, middle-aged Japanese lady. she told me about Soka Gakkai (a Buddhist sect and political party) and her daughter and son and how she wanted to go to America and China but couldn't, etc. She must have said the words 'handsome-boy' about three, maybe four, hundred times. I was met at the train station by my roommates they gave me the lowdown on Ube. Small, really industrial. We've got a good view of the factories from the apartment. It smelled like Kool-Aid tonight because said factories were making some kind of food additive. We went out for hundred yen sushi for dinner. Most of it was pretty good, except for this one pale brown lumpy stuff that I believe may have been if not the third, at least the second worst tasting thing I've ever put in my mouth. it was all I could do to keep it from ending up back on the plate. I'm going to meet up with the rest of the coworkers in about two hours or so and get some drinks and do the getting to know you thing. Orientation on Monday and training the rest of the week, tomorrow, buying a digital camera. Hopefully I can get a bank account and my alien registration card soon so that I can get a cell phone.