Voyage Junkie

On 3/19, we hopped a few trains and a little more than an hour and 1,000 yen later we were in Nagahama, or long beach, visiting some friends from Colorado.  The town is on the coast of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan.  It was a cloudy day, so unfortunately I didn't get the most wonderful pictures, but it was incredibly warm.  We picnicked by the lake (below is one of my guerrilla pictures of the group), and then enjoyed a long walk along the side of the lake until we decided to stroll through the historic district.   From R-L: Matt, Nik, Krista, Alan. Krista is one of Matt's former CU Japanese students, and Alan is her husband.  They are all sorts of awesome. I did not get to go into Nagayama castle (eh, who cares) but I did get a picture.  Every town in Japan has a castle, I think.  Alan did tell me about a castle nearby, Hikone , that is an original like Inuyama, so perhaps we'll visit that at some point.  The gardens...

A few days after the earthquake catastrophe, our friend Nik (featured on this blog in many previous posts) came to visit.  He escaped the rolling blackouts and possible heightened radiation of Yokohama by visiting first Osaka and then Gifu.  The next few posts will be dedicated to our many travels, but first, here are just a few Engrish signs we happened upon. On 3/17 we headed to Inuyama.  On the way to the train, we saw "Bakery Cannon."  Nik and Matt decided to go in and get lots of bread-centered brunch food.  It was unbelievable food, very French in style.  Matt had a small baguette with salami, then a foccacia pizza, then a melon pan.  Nik had a bacon and cheese croissant sandwich and a apple fritter-esque croissant-based pastry.  The name did indeed reference cannons, and purposely: the baker's name is Taihou , which can mean cannon in Japanese. In a few blocks from Bakery Cannon, we happened upon SPIC salon.  I may...

On 3/17, Matt, Nik and I journeyed to Inuyama (dog mountain).  The castle there is one of twelve castles still in its original state, aka not destroyed by WWII bombings or the Japanese themselves.  It was built in 1537 by Oda Yojirou Nobuyasu, an uncle of Gifu's own warlord, Oda Nobunaga.  It changed hands many times over the centuries, and was crucial in the fight against Tokugawa Ieyasu, who if you'll remember was from Okazaki, and won the fight to unify Japan.  In 1871, during the Meiji period, the government took control of the castle.  Most of the surrounding buildings were torn down, so the gate and watch towers are newer recreations completed in 1965.  However, the central building is original, and the oldest standing castle in Japan.  The authenticity of the building can't be reproduced; I had such a different feeling when exploring this castle as compared to any castle previous.  It is scary, awe-inspiring, and flawed in ways the others a...

About two days ago, an 8.9 earthquake struck 80 miles off the coast of Japan, causing a tsunami to strike the northeast coast.  Gifu is very far away from this event, and as yet has seen none of the suffering.  There of course is concern over the nuclear power plants and their possible meltdown; if this comes to pass Matt and I might be faced with the daunting task of leaving.  So far, people are calm and going about their daily lives.  Stores are stocked, there are no shortages of food, water, essentials, or gas.  Our water, electricity, and gas are fully functioning.  I imagine this country will do a good job responding to the tragedy and that response will contain the suffering to those directly affected.  Matt and I are, of course, keeping ourselves tuned to all news we can get.  At the earliest warning signal, we are prepared to do whatever is necessary.  Otherwise, we will continue to live just like everyone else.  One exceptio...

As our first year (6 months, really) draws to a close, I think it's important to display the winners of this year's worst (as in best) English sentences. Coming in third place is a very silly dialoge written by some third-years at my school.  Another ALT discovered this and thankfully showed me.  It's obvious what they're trying for but they really miss the mark: A: Hello. B: Hello.  This is H.  May I speak to T please? A: This is T. B: Great!  I'm going to prikura (sic).  Can you come to porice (sic) office at midnight? A: Yes!  Of course!  That sounds fun!  Do you want me to bring anything? B: Sure.  Could you bring some monneys (sic)? A: Yes.  Thank you for inviting me.  I'm so bad!  See you! B: You're welcome.  Fuck you! Second place is two sentences that can be taken as a pair or as stand-alone awesomeness.  These were written by one of my third year students when we had a unit on debates: A: ...

This post will deal with contentious issues of the way race is perceived  and how that perception directly impacts the treatment of various ethnic groups, specifically as I have experienced it in Japan.  Please understand that the following is my way of looking at such topics, and I understand it is not the way of everyone.  My education is comprised primarily of evolutionary biology, behavior studies, and neurobiology, so I am in no way able to look through a sociological or anthropological lens.  If you are qualified (like one of my sisters), please feel free to comment for the benefit of everyone reading this blog. First, I think it's necessary to state that I believe bigotry and racism exist everywhere, in everyone, to greater or lesser degrees.  According to The American Heritage Dictionary online at answers.com, a bigot is someone "who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intol...

I've been remiss in my blog duties as of late.  In the past month, there have been many new developments in my life in Japan, most notably an introduction to a marvelous company.  My adventure started on February 5th, when Matt and I went to see another dance concert.  Most of it was the average recital fair.  An even mix of ballet, modern, and contemporary, the evening did not fail to represent a dance form, which I admit was nice.  However, the ballet choreography ranked among the most boring I have ever seen, and the modern dance music gave melodrama an expanded definition.  One company in particular stood out to me by creating a work titled "War and the End of the World" that displayed a playful group of women maneuvering around each other with long bands.  Their innovative, physical movement called up modern, classical Japanese dance, and contact improvisation throughout the dance, as they formed ultima...