Ube-Kosan at night

Ube-Kosan at sunset

One man's public art is another's only hope of fixing his Gremlin

I still don't care much for swans

This way!

Fallow fields in Winter

Cabbies and Cursing, Beamers and Buddha

The other night, I was out having a drink, at one of my favorite shot bars in Ube, "Healing Box Bigi". Whilst chatting with some of the other patrons I discovered that the fellow sitting next to me enjoying a beer and a smoke happened to be a monk, I took down his temple and number, told him I would visit the next day and exitied the bar. I flagged down the nearest cab and told him to take me to the 7-11 (or, as it's now known in Japan, 7 & i-Holdings) nearest my house. I was a little curious when he asked if I was a university student, but I payed it no heed. However, either he wasn't listening well or I was not speaking well but he took him quite far out of the way to a 7 & i near the local university. I corrected him and exited the cab some minutes later at the correct convenience store, grumbling to myself about a cab fare just a thousand yen short of my bar tab.
The next day, awaking at the crack of noon I set out to take some fresh pictures of Tokiwa. Only to realize that even though I had taken a cab home, I had rode my bike out to the bar the previous night. Thus, I had to walk downtown to retrive it before making my way to the lake. Eventualy though I was able to accomplish my picture taking mission to my statisfaction, so I decided to call my new friend and man of the cloth, Yoshi. As the temple was hard to find he arranged to pick me up nearby. He arrived some minutes later in his BMW, explaining, when I complimented him, that "I like cars." We arrived at the temple, which his grandfather built and where he lives with his parents and grandmother. He was kind enough to give me a tour and show me the tombstones he'd built, the kimono he wears when he prays, and even to identify the statuary for me. After this I joined him and his parents for a cup of tea and an hour or so of pleasant conversation. Unfortunately the conversation was limited to the scope of my Japanese, however they seemed to be lovely people. Early in the conversation his father asked me if I liked nihonshu, and when I replied in the affirmative he handed me a giant bottle of said fluid, from Niigata Prefecture. I'm saving it for hanami, when I will be surrounded by sake, barbecues and cherry blossoms. His mother, as I was leaving, told me to come again, I hope to be able to take her up on that. I shall just need to remember how to get there.

Only use your heating devices for their intended purpose

I had just made a cup of coffee and then decided to run out to the vending machine; I thought to myself, "I can just set this cup of coffee on top of my space heater and it will keep warm warm while I am out." No such luck. I returned and I picked up my mug, expecting a pleasantly warm cup of coffee. But, the space heater had heated only the handle. I was forced to drink my lukewarm coffee while wearing a leather glove to protect my hand. Let this be a warning to everyone.

It's easier to fast and meditate when you're warm

The biggest ice machine I've ever seen

Downtown Kottoi

The middle of nowhere reveals its secrets (or lack thereof)

About two weeks ago I was talking with some students about Japanese history; I mentioned my interested in seeing Kofun and asked if there were any in Yamaguchi. He told me that there were some near Kottoi, I took down the name and planned a trip. Thursday last I set out with Beth, and after two and a half hours of train travel and our transfers we arrived. As we disembarked we found all the locals sitting around the front of the station waiting for a bus, and, as the vibe was not a friendly one, I demured from asking if they knew where as kofun around there was. Moreover, knowing nothing of the local area, we decided that taking a bus would not be in our best interest as we could end up up a creek sans paddle. So we chose a direction and set out on foot; we soon saw a sign saying that there was civilization a mere three kilometers down the way.
After a pleasant walk, in pleasant weather, circled by pleasant hawks we arrived in Kottoi-mura. I was quite hungry and we set out upon a search for resturants and found all three of them to be closed. After purchasing our food at a supermarket, I left and went outside to wait for Beth. She took an inordinate amount of time inside and when I questioned her on this she said, "As soon as you left the cashier started speaking to me in English." (Naturally I was confused by this, was I that intimidating, or did I merely leave too soon?) The cashier told her that the resturants, for some inexplicable reason, were closed until school got out for the day. Mustering what remained of my courage, and hope, I entered the post office and asked there about kofun. Nothing. We then walked back to the train station and took the train home. I have questions I need to ask the student that directed us to Kottoi.

Update (2/14):
So, I related my misadventure to some students in class today and after some initial confusion ("I went to Kottoi." "Eeeh? Why?"), it came out that the kofun and history museum I was promised in fact were located some twenty kilomenters south at Doigahama, which is also apparently a famous and incredibly beautiful beach town.

Fixin' a box

Bowling for factories

The JGSDF springs into action

Last week, Jim (my roomate) and Beth (the new teacher) took a spur of the moment trip to Yamaguchi city. It was already late in the day and we arrived after dark; whlist looking for Rurikoji we became slightly lost. But, to our pleasant surprise, we happened across a Japanese Army (the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force) base. It was decided that, as the person least afraid of the military, I should ask for directions. The gate was about the size of a two lane road, with a spiked portable barricade in the center. The gate guard, and all the other soldiers I could see, was wearing camoflauge fatigues and a helmet. I walked up to the gate, waited for a bicycle and car to exit, then walked toward the guard. He saluted, I nodded back, and walked toward the office - at this point everyone became very surprised and alarmed. The exact thoughts running through their minds are, of course, a mystery to me; however I would suppose they were approximate to: "He walked past the guard! What'd we do? People aren't supposed to do that!" His CO ran over, to asses the threat I assume, and so I just asked directions from him. As we walked off I could hear them laughing at me.
I learned two lessons today, the first, as Jim so eloquently put it, is, "ALWAYS TALK TO THE GUY AT THE GATE!", the second, and aphorism of my own devising, "Where courage won't take you, obliviousness will."

Rurikoji, reflecting pool

Country roads

It was all I could do not to ring that bell

Prosthesis

Those clouds aren't going to make themselves

Say that you'll work for free and you can do anything

I just got back from the local radio station KiRaRa FM; I had stopped in a week and a half previously to ask about volunteer opportunities; we discussed various things that I could do, promos, working the board or helping with their sattelite broadcasts at Fuji Grand, the mall where I work. In the end, I left my name and phone number and they said they'd call me. Yesterday, I was just about to stop by the office to see how things were progressing and whether or not there would be any opportunities when they called me. It was an inopportune time as I was just getting my pants on in preparation for work (I've learned that pants are key to business success). But, with some difficulty, we arranged for a meeting today; I say with some difficulty because I struggle with business Japanese anyway, and trying to communicate over the phone while getting dressed just makes it more difficult.
I showed up at the station's office today thinking that we would just be doing more discussion about when I could volunteer and what I could do, but they tossed me in the studio to record a promo: "Rider's Cafe II, Speakeasy. Presented by Ube Bike." I was thrilled, but a little confused. Ms. Coppola must have done her resarch well; I felt like I was in Lost in Translation. After I would read it once, they would say something along the lines of "High tension! Low voice!" or "High tension! Tanoshiku (having fun)!" Eventually, we got it all sorted out, they were happy with the work and called it a wrap. On my way out, to my surprise, they presented me with a music gift certificate. I hope I can figure out what store it's for.

There is no nicotine in Japanese engergy drinks

I'd like to begin with an apology to all of those I (and Dansen, I'm dragging you into this as you pointed it out to me originally) may have mislead about the presence of nicotine in Japanese energy drinks or gums. On the back of the drink, the label reads nikochin san amido (ニコチン酸アミド), which translates as niacinamide, a variant of nicotinic acid, which in turn is the chemical name for Vitamin B3. So, as it turns out, these drinks (aside from the occasional presenc of caffeine), are non addictive and fortified with vitamins. I decided to do this research when after glancing at the amounts of "nicotine" contained in each bottle I realized that it would half to equal at least three cigarrettes, and in some cases upwards of half a pack, clearly dangerous doses. Couple this with no age restrictions on their purchase and it just didn't smell right. So, I hope to have set the record straight, and I apologize again to anyone who I may have confused.

Some general occurences

The new teacher came in on Friday. Her name is Beth - from near Chicago. After teaching social studies there for nine years, she said she wanted to see the world instead of teaching it. It's good to have a new face around. We don't know much about her yet, but she's got that "Midwestern friendliness" about her. We'll see how it pans out.
In other news, my boss is taking vacation next week and, thus, I'm working nine days straight next week. I get two four day weeks in a row after that as tradeoff, but I'm not sure if it's worth it, based on the severity of the cold I came down with yesterday.
I'd like to end this unfortunately telegraphic post with a quote from a student. I was doing a lesson on social porblems and asked about the causes of homelessness. His response: "In the United States, homelessness has many causes, unemployment and economic problems, drugs, alcohol, language barriers, and so on, but, in Japan, I think people are just lazy."

Civil servants are an exercise in confusion

The gas man came today. Rang the bell and got me out of bed, as is wont to happen when the Japanese world needs me to sign something or recieve something. He was so polite that I couldn't understand that he wanted in the house at first, so I tried to nod my way out of it and see if he would go away and let me go back to sleep. That didn't work. Eventually we figured out what was going on and he came in and tested all the gas appliances. After he ensured that they all worked he handed me a sheet with pictures of the types of apliances that might be powered by gas with the ones present checked off. "You have a stove, a heater and a water heater." I indicated that I was happy to be informed of this and he asked for my number because they didn't have one recorded on the form. I mentioned that I had a cell phone and he lept at the opportunity to record a number, I was a little hesitant because I dont know how long I'm going to be in Ube and I don't want Yamaguci gas calling me for the next several years. But, I couldn't really talk my way out of it, so perhaps I'm due to become the next Sam Bawden. Hoping (against hope I might add) that maybe additional information could get him to change the form, I offered him the number of the Osaka Nova head office. Showing him a sheet of paper with the information on it, he surprised me by taking out the company camera and asking if he could take a picture of it. After snapping that picture, he asked what time I started work at Nova, I directed him to my schedule which I keep on the wall (gotta have the memory failsafe device), and he again asked to take a picture. Having completed his bureaucratic tourism, he thanked me and left.

Lavratorial separation

Volunteering is an amazing way to gain experience

Well, after asking around I found out where the community radio station in Ube is, and today I marched down there and talked to them. I told them I used to work at a radio station in America and was interested in learning about radio in Japan; they gave me a tour and we chatted some and I asked about volunteering here. It seems now that I might be able to get a volunteer position running the board there at KiRaRa 80.4 FM, and maybe even doing remote broadcasts at Fuji Grand. I gave them my phone number and e-mail address and they said they'll call, it's looking good, but we'll see how this pans out. I'm realizing that if I want to do this tough, I'm really going to have to work on my Japanese, so I'm going to try and find some radio vocabulary online.

Sunset over Fuji

Accented Graffiti

Muraltastic!

Discoveries Abound

If you'll forgive me a slightly prosaic topic, but I have a story about my toothbrush I'd like to relate. I've owned this particular toothbrush for nigh on three months now and it wasn't until recently that I found out it was electric. This happened when I dropped it and it started buzzing. After I finally figured out how to turn it off, I was quite taken with the novelty, and needless to say, since then my teeth have been getting twice the brushing. In half the time!

I'd probably eat here

Lit fountains are just plain awesome

Osaka-jo, imposing . . .

. . .and accessible

The main streets of Osaka . . .

. . .and its tiny back alleys - there's always room for a shrine.

Osaka

After what proved to be a quite irritating (nine hour I might add) bus trip some days ago I arrived in Osaka at the - usually unknown to me hour - of seven. I met up with Ed, whom I met in the airport on my arrival two-ish months ago. It was at his apartment that I would be staying; we made our way there and, after a restorative nap of seven or so hours, I was recharged and ready to take on the day. Having made a key for me, we went to Kyoto for lunch, er, rather dinner at this point. We went to the Gyoen, where I took some fairly unsatisfactory pictures in the failing light. After enjoying a light dinner at a Mom 'n Pop tendon joint (excuse the pun), we adjourned to the Very Berry Cafe, for a much needed hot cup of coffee and cold pint of beer. We returned to Osaka and engaged in a night out, Japanese style. By which I mean, staying out past when the trains quit running, which necessitates staying out until they start running, usually around five. But, as there's no real closing time in Japan, it's quite easy to do this. In fact it's even easier for those of us on vacation, viz. me and Ed; what I don't understand is the ability of the salaryman to accomplish this, and go to work the next day. The Japanese have a fortitude of spirit that is beyond my comprehension.
One of the goals of this trip was to meet up with an old friend of a friend by the name of Masanori. He had done a homestay with the Clarks, some friends of ours in Olympia, some twenty-six years ago. So, the next day we met up with him for dinner. A dinner of the most amazing variety at, according to Masanori, the best seafood restaurant in Osaka - Totoya. I have never before seen, let alone eaten, that many kinds of fish at one restaurant. We had fish fried, raw, boiled, deep fried, mixed with rice, and even staring at us while eating. It was the best meal I've eaten since coming to Japan, perhaps even all year (2005 that is). It was good to see Masanori, and we had a nice chat, half Japanese/half English; I even brought him some ubekama (sorry dudes, but local fishcake specialty company websites are gonna be 日本語 only).
The next day, being New Year's, we went out again, intending on staying out all night. Were we successful? I should say so. But first, I spent the afternoon checking out Osaka castle and wandering around Umeda (one of Osaka's two downtowns), I then met up with Ed, his girlfriend and a friend of hers and we struck out. After hitting a couple of places in preparation, we joined Ed's coworkers at Le (something French, can't remember) Jardin, a fancy-esque place on the top floor of a building in Namba (the other of Osaka's downtowns). It was a nice New Year's set up, chandeliers on the floor, outdoor seating surrounded by a moat, cheap bar, buffet, and another room with karaoke, DJs and, at the stroke of midnight, indoor fireworks. Returning home at five the next morning, it was successful.
I embarked home the next day, traveling this time by shinkansen (taking only two hours to Shin-Yamaguchi, thank god). Travel was good, but it's good to be back home - howevermuch I want to move. I went out for a few with Jim (my roommate) and came back home, glad to sleep on my own futon.

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.