10/15/07 Harvest Time

The rice fields were a bright green color when I arrived, since then they have all turned a shade of yellow. Men ride around on miniature tractors doing whatever one does to ripe rice. It is starting to get a bit cooler as well, if I go out after dark I usually throw on a sweatshirt. I am actually a bit excited about the season changing. While this is my fourth trip to Japan, I have always come during the summer, so this is my first chance to experience the other times of year. Food in particular is very seasonal here, so I imagine there are all sorts of cold weather dishes that I will soon be discovering.

Some rice harvesting in progress.

This is another school lunch that needs to be noted. A single mandarin orange, milk box, a weird grayish colored cold sausage, two slices of bread with bits of juicy carrot pieces inside, a bowl of noodles with mushrooms and some other random veggies, and then the kicker. A bag of small, dried, whole fish. Eyes, tails, skin: its all there for my enjoyment. They were crunchy and foul tasting.

10/11/07 Drum Lesson

Monday was Physical Fitness Day, so no work for me. One interesting thing that I did in my government-given free time was go to an introductory taiko class. Taiko is a Japanese art form involving people pounding various sizes of drums. We practiced various little beats until we eventually put them all together to make a whole song. My favorite part was when the instructors put on a little show of their own.

This show was specifically aimed at foreigners, and I was surprised to meet several working in town that I hadn't met yet, some Canadians and an Australian. Nice way to make a few more acquaintances.

My favorite is the guy in the back doing a little rain dance while he played. His drumstick was the size of a baseball bat. He was pretty lively.

10/9/07 Demonstration Lesson

Friday, on top of all of the other stuff I had to do last week, I was tasked with giving a demonstration lesson. It was only a bit more complicated than the usual classes though, so it didn`t end up being so bad. Several head english teachers from other schools and their accompanying non-Japanese english teachers all stood in the back of class and observed. I was sure of my own ability to perform, but I was uncertain what affect our guests would have on the students. Nothing would be worse than the students turning shy and refusing to answer any questions. Luckily everything turned out ok.

Afterwards we all had a little meeting about the class and exchanged comments. The response was mostly positive.

I`m making kind of a weird Hulk face and pose here, but this is a good picture of the class anyway.

One of the games we played in class involved the students wispering their answers to me.

After all of the excitement last week, I really needed a rest. I took it pretty easy, forgoing another trip to Tokyo that my friends had decided to take. I did have one interesting thing happen though. I was checking craigslist one day and I found someone who was looking for a Japanese license plate. I figured that this would be an easy order to fill, so I decided I should keep my eyes open. Two houses down from my apartment is a taxi place/car garage, and I figured that would be a good place to ask. So I just wander in there one day after work and ask the first oil covered guy I see if I can possibly purchase some useless license plate that they might have lying around. After a very long, barely understandable conversation about how old license plates must be turned in to the government for destruction, I realized that this particular quest had come to an end. This slightly over friendly mechanic though, then wanted a short summary of my life story, which culminated in him realizing that his nephew is one of my students. So he proceeds to whip out his cell phone and call said student, who comes by on his bike in short order. So the three of us sit and chat in the garage`s office for a time about all sorts of random things. By the time I could return home the whole thing had ballooned much farther than could possibly be expected.

Of course, this guy works everyday in the open right on my daily path to work, so I consistantly see him. Eventually I stop to chat again and he invites me to a local eatery hole in the wall for dinner. This was a nice opportunity, because the place we went to was a particularly insular looking neighborhood place that I wouldn`t want to enter by myself. It was a nice establishment, and the head cook guy behind the counter was very entertaining. An avid Elvis fan, he had songs like Return to Sender playing in the backround... what song goes better with raw octopus I do not know.

I commented on the owner`s cool headband, called a hachimaki, and of course he gave me one.

One of my friends had a couple of questions about the sports festival video in the previous post, so I think maybe I left out a few important details. My school has over 800 kids, so everyone featured in that little clip were all my students. I have just under 25 classes a week, which means I see each students once a week. The field itself is pretty rough. Its a fine gravel, which means if you slip while running you are going to come back up bloody. There was a little medical station at the festival for those occasions. Due to the playing surface, they play something called soft tennis instead of the tennis that I am familiar with. The ball and even the racket is a bit different I believe. So there you have it.

10/7/07 Sports Day

The big day-long sports festival had arrived. I had pictured the students running around outside, with maybe a couple of parents with nothing better to do hanging around. It was definitely a bit more than that. There were maybe a few hundred guests. Several large tents were set up along with sound equipment on one end of the field, where the opening ceremonies occurred and announcers bellowed whatever random information. The whole thing lasted from a little after 8 in the morning until after 4 at night. Pretty serious.



My coverage of the sports festival.


There were maybe ten different events over the course of the day. I took a few pictures of the interesting ones. I skipped covering the more familiar events such as relays and whatnot.

A fierce war of tugs being waged.

More tugging.

I thought to myself how horrible this could go if someone wasn't paying attention.


Leader boards were updated after every event. The overall winners from each grade were presented with certificates at the closing ceremony.


Closing ceremony. The students' colored headbands corresponded to their grade and class number.

10/4/07 Sports Day Preparation

I've been so busy the last couple of days... things are very hectic at school this week. A big reason for the disruption was the upcoming day-long sports festival. Monday and Tuesday were also both half days as a result.

Monday afternoon's exercises were a bit scary. Everyone lined up in a huge mass and practiced their marching and whatnot. They are pretty hardcore.



We should probably be worried about this.


Tuesday was for setting up lots of tents, tables, and chairs. Quite a lot of work went into this thing. I was pretty surprised, I didn't initially realize how important this was to everyone.

Many of the students were tasked with picking up rocks from the playing field. This reminded me a bit of a prison yard scene.

Maybe even more than a week ago the students started practicing group jump-rope incessantly: in the morning before school, at lunch break, many times a few groups were still doing it when I left to return home after work. About 12 students all line up and attempt to stay in line as they jump their little cares away. More on this sporty business next time.

On a related note, here is an average school lunch. Little bowl of fruit with some chunks of gelatin stuff, a bowl of mixed meat, tofu, and vegetables, a couple of little chinese dumpling things, and a little milk box. The little metal box keeps the rice warm. Yummy.

Ok, now for something fun. I'd like you to look at the following picture and try to guess what it is describing and where it is located. No cheating!

think... think... why would a person put a bag over their own head?

No, its not Abu Ghraib. It's a fitting room at a Japanese clothing store! I can only read a couple of the words on this sign, but I can with out a doubt read "face cover". It seems that trying on a sweater with your dirty little face uncovered is unacceptable. Who knows where your faces have been. Oh man. I had a good laugh at this one. Thoroughly ridiculous.

Here's the basket of honorable face covers.