Grandpa On Fuji-San

While looking through some old photos, my father came across this one of my grandfather on Mt. Fuji. The caption on the back of the photo — in my grandmother’s handwriting — reads: “Paul V. Gerhard on the summit of Fuji San Jan. 1, 1934.” I’m not sure of the accuracy of that date, since in her memoirs my grandmother mentions that my grandfather climbed Fuji “with two friends on December 31, 1935.”

The weather on the mountain in this photo looks beautiful, though cold, of course. I could’ve used a jacket with that kind of hood on my hike last fall.

I’ve added this photo to my Four Generations On Fuji-San entry.

1910 Hokusai Calendar

When I was up in Alaska last week, my father showed me an old calendar that must have belonged to my great-grandparents. The calendar is a collection of prints by the Japanese artist, Hokusai. It’s from 1910, the year of my grandmother’s birth, and it has her birth date circled in August.

See the entire calendar…

Me, Here And There, Online

I sound stiff as a board in this interview, conducted by Yukiko Kojima, who is an English student at Mie University in Japan. Ms. Kojima did a bang-up job putting the interview together — perhaps I can blame the lack of much life in my answers on the fact that I responded to her e-mail questions in a jet-lagged haze the first few days after returning to Seattle. Or maybe I just need to loosen up a bit. Regardless, thanks so much to Yukiko for thinking of me for her interview, and for being such a professional.

Also featured online is a collection of some of my Japan photos over at Menstream, a publication out of Singapore.

A Night In Tokyo

Speaking of group shots, here’s one of a collection of amazing friends that I miss so very much already. Shibuya, 11pm on a Saturday night. One last coming together before half of us scattered to different parts of the world. Miss you all. And I promise to get the rest of the photos posted online soon.

Leaving Japan

I’m at Narita airport, waiting for my plane to take me back to Seattle. Somehow, one year of my life has passed by in the blink of an eye.

I can’t remember how long I’ve just assumed I’d live in Japan one day. It seems like something I’ve always planned on doing. This country has been in my conscious since a very early age, when I’d hear stories from my grandparents of their lives here in the early 20th century. I grew up having scraps of Japanese culture, language and cuisine weaving a cord between me and an exotic country across the sea.

My first visit to Japan was in 1981, when I was 13 years old. Nortoriously unadventurous at that time when it came to food, I suvived on rice, seaweed and two trips to McDonalds. Despite my lack of culinary adventure, the trip left a huge impression on me and I’ve wanted to return every since.

And now here I am at the end of a year of my life lived in Japan. Despite being excited about returning to the States to see family and friends, I have mixed feelings about leaving after only one year. It seems too short a time, really, to come to any fair conclusions as to what type of place Japan really is.

And as I write this, I’m having trouble coming up with anything like a neat summary of my time and of my experiences here. My mind is kind of mush now after three weeks of being uprooted — traveling, as well as leaving one life behind and returning to another I haven’t occupied for a year.

So, no deep thoughts at this point. Only a mention that I know I’ll be back one day.

Okinawa

Today is our final day in Okinawa. The visit has been all about beaches — not much cultural touring. Three nights of camping, two on a beautiful stretch of beach with no other campers. The north part of the main island is beautiful, once you get away from the ugly sprawl of Naha and Okinawa City. Unfortunately, the architecture here is even uglier than in the rest of Japan — everything is built to look like a concrete bunker. The American military presence is impossible to miss, even on the more remote beaches as military planes and helicopters fly overhead at regular intervals. But it is still possible to find more secluded beach areas on the main island. Wish we’d had more time to get to some of the more remote islands. I could easily spend another week or two here.

Back to Tokyo this afternoon.

Three Weeks Of Travel

Monday morning I hit the road. I’ll be traveling for three weeks, mostly in Japan with a quick trip over to South Korea.

05/26 — 05/30 : in Seoul, South Korea
05/30 — 05/30 : Arai, Japan, to see the Kodo drummers
05/31 — 06/02 : back to Sado Island
06/03 — 06/07 : in Okinawa, beach vacation!
06/08 — 06/12 : in Tokyo and surrounding areas

Antipixel Captures The Radish Dance

Jeremy’s coverage of the giant radish dance is a must-see.

Boom

There’s nothing like riding your bike on a hot day with a backpack crammed full of explosives.

Picked up enough fireworks earlier today for plenty of fun by the riverside tonight. I have no idea what I bought, but the two big bags look like they’re made for Pyro Barbie.

Streets Of Danger

I wrote this entry a while back, but never posted it because I’ve tried to stay away from making sweeping generalizations about people and culture during my stay in Japan.

But then during a bike ride through town today, my feelings on this issue were only further confirmed. So, here it is…

I realized the other day that I’ve become accustomed to the near-miss while riding my bicycle. The frequent brushes with death no longer faze me while trying to get from point A to point B on the streets — it’s all just part of the trip. It’s like riding through a giant video game, with mad cars and crazy bikers popping out with dizzying regularity.

During my first few months in Japan, I wasn’t so at ease with the game. I was slightly appalled at the erratic and dangerous driving I’d often see here in Nagano. Pedestrians, bicyclists and cars often seemed just a hair away from catastrophe.

Many drivers in Japan seem to drive with an air of confusion and surprise, as if they’re constantly taken aback when they encounter anything out of the ordinary. This leads to cars roaring out of alleys with no thought that pedestrians or bikes might suddenly cross their path, drivers who seem confused to find pedestrians in crosswalks, maneuvers that make no sense at all, and agonizingly-long disentanglements when two cars find themselves facing each other in a street big enough for only one car.

But the most amazing thing is that I’ve never seen an actual accident. Just more close calls than I can ever begin to recount.

Let me step out on a limb and make some generalizations, comparing road experiences here and in the U.S. It’s not that drivers in the U.S. are particularly skilled or safe. I’d say that drivers in the U.S. are intentionally unsafe. There’s anger, rage and aggression behind the wheel in America. Here in Japan, my take is that many drivers are unintentionally dangerous.

Which is worse? I can’t quite say.

Revenue Stamp For Re-Entry Permit

I went to the local immigration office this morning to get my re-entry permit, required with my visa if I leave the country and plan to return.

The office was staffed by your run-of-the-mill, grumpy, low-level bureaucrats. No additional information is given unless specifically asked for, including the fact that you have to pay for the permit with a special revenue stamp (seen above) that must be purchased at a building across the street — a major thoroughfare with no convenient crosswalks, meaning a game of live Frogger is necessary.

It was refreshing to see some diversity at the immigration office. There was a huge family from China, some Brazilians, and assorted other foreigners, creating a buzz of languages other than Japanese. Although Tokyo has a decent mix of people, finding ethnic diversity in the outlying areas of Japan is largely limited to the handful of Thai, Filipino and Russian bar hostesses and to the western English teachers. A melting pot it’s not. I’m looking forward to getting back to a more multi-cultural society. And I’m so looking forward to a break from the sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb syndrome.

Ready To Go Roaming

My internet connection gets switched off this Sunday, as I leave my apartment here in Nagano for three weeks of travel before I head back to Seattle.

Despite the fact that my phone forces me to change each and every character I type from uppercase to lowercase, making an already tedious method of text entry almost unbearable, I plan to post occasional (short) entries during those three weeks of travel (thanks to Kevin Cameron’s Mobloging For Other People).

So, I’ve been sitting here trying to think of an appropriate icon or tag line for use with entries posted from my mobile. But then I realized that labeling the entries as such is really more of a “gee-whiz” reaction to new technology. In the end, it doesn’t really matter how the entry is posted.

However, if you’re interested, entries during the next few weeks that are only one or two sentences are likely posted from my mobile. Either that or I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. A longer entry probably means I’ve found an internet cafe.

Gym Freaks

My gym has a campaign going (“campaigns” are big in Japan — big marketing pushes to get people to buy something). The artwork in one of the campaign brochures features an array of freakishly developed humanoids exercising, relaxing and socializing at the gym. Workout trends change so quickly. When did the rack become a popular exercise machine?

Thanks For The Memories

Wednesday was my last day of teaching English in Japan. And I couldn’t have spent the evening with a better group of people.

At Least It Isn't Dark Like Seaweed

You know you’ve become fairly acclimated to life in Japan when you come home from a night of drinking with friends and realize you’ve got a piece of squid stuck between your teeth.

No SARS Cases Reported In Japan

There’s currently a SARS scare in Japan, following the discovery that a Taiwanese doctor who visited the country was diagnosed with the disease upon his return to Taiwan. However, it appears no one who came into contact with the doctor has contracted the disease.

I hesitate to post this information for fear of alarming some, but I figure any news of this back home will just make it sound worse than it is anyway.

There are still no cases of SARS in Japan. And an incident like this continues to be a threat not only here in Asia, but in any other part of the world where people travel.

My personal risk-assessment level (on a scale of 1-10, with ten being the worst) remains around three.

Is It Really That Time Already?

I’m off to my work farewell party, my mind reeling with the thought of a year which suddenly seems to have gone by so quickly.

Pana Wave Laboratory Photos

The Mainichi Daily News has a photo gallery of the Pana Wave Laboratory cult in Japan. What’s missing from these photos is the spectacle of the media hordes that are following the group around, recording its every move. (You can catch a glimpse of a pack of cameramen in a mirror in one of the shots).

Foot Onsen

At a foot onsen (hot spring) in Suwa last month.

"It's Difficult To Say How I Feel"

Who says the Japanese aren’t emotional? A friend sent me an e-mail tonight with the following string of “emoticons” included in his message:

The message itself seemed sane, but judging from the emoticons, I’d say medication is called for.

(For help deciphering these symbols, consult this deconstruction of Japanese emoticons.)

Paper Cranes

Strands of paper cranes hanging at a shrine in the hills near Nagano.

iPana Wave Laboratory

A caravan of all-white vehicles has been making its way through central Japan in recent days, causing alarm and concern among communities and government authorities. The vehicles carry members of a religious sect who believe the world will end this Thursday.

Pana Wave Laboratory members wear white clothing, which they believe protects them from electromagnetic waves. With the all-white clothing and vehicles, I’m imagining them quite at home in the current Apple universe — spokesmodels for iPods and iBooks, perhaps?

Roppongi Spider

Louise Bourgeois’ spider sculpture at the new Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo.

Brrr

Um…okay. I’m sorry I complained. Tonight it’s so cold it feels like winter again.

Hot and Sticky, Again

It’s late evening and I’m sitting in my apartment with the windows wide open. But there’s no breeze and I’m drenched in sweat even though I’m wearing nothing more than shorts. It’s the first evening this spring that I’ve not been able to cool down, and I’m considering turning on the air conditioner for the first time this year just to get my body temperature down before going to sleep.

After a long, cold winter and a short spring, I’m reminded of how much I hated the weather here in Japan last summer. It’s not that it’s terrible hot right now, but the humidity is back and my body is again having a hard time adjusting to the excessive moisture in the air.

Weather-wise, I won’t be sorry to leave Japan. My Alaskan-grown body just can’t handle the humidity.

The Monkey Onsen

One of the great things about having overseas visitors is the chance it offers for hitting some of the obvious tourist destinations that I might otherwise leave unexplored. I’ve been here in Nagano for almost a year now and have never made the trip up to Jigokudani Monkey Park to see the famous “snow” monkeys.

Yesterday, while my step-mom, Sheri, was off lunching and shopping with a group of hung over young ladies, the guys (myself, Geoff and my father) drove to the narrow valley an hour north of Nagano to see the “Monkey Onsen.”

The monkeys live in the hills around the area, but now spend most of their time in the valley where they are kept well-fed. In the winter, they bathe in man-made pools full of warm hot spring water. Turns out they also bathe in the summer, as well, but mostly to grab the seeds that are occasionally scattered into the pool.

Since it was a national holiday, I was expecting more people. But the hundreds of monkeys easily outnumbered the fifty or so visitors. The monkeys pretty much ignore human visitors, wandering right past people. The only warnings are no touching, no eye contact and no feeding.

There is also a human hot springs and lodge about 300 meters down the valley, and on the day we visited half a dozen men were lounging in the outdoor pool in the buff, pretty much directly under the viewing platform for the monkeys. Not surprisingly, the monkeys were getting all the attention — cute, fuzzy animals are much more charming than wrinkled old men sitting in a tub.

By the way, it’s worth taking a look at the park’s website, if only to see amazingly garbled translations that end up like this:

The excrements of the monkey on the snow are figured a spit dumpling, which like adulterate sawdust and fiber, because of the monkey eats some kinds of rind and bud mainly.

There’s also a live web cam, which the little guy below was keen to appear on.

Kodomo No Hi

Today is Children’s Day, a national holiday in Japan. Although the current name of the holiday is not gender-specific, the holiday has traditionally been a festival for boys (there is a girls’ festival in March that isn’t a national holiday). On Children’s Day, carp flags — symbolizing strength, determination and long life — fly outside many homes.

Driving through the hills near Japan’s northern alps yesterday, we came across several long collections with dozens of the carp flags stretched across valley and rivers. The flags above were just outside of Hakuba.

Infiorata In Nagano

Last Monday and Tuesday a block of Chuo-dori street was decorated with various flower petals, wood chips, and white and black stones. I went on Tuesday with my mother and, it being a holiday, the place was jam packed with sightseers. This is the second year Nagano has held what they’ve called Infiorata. In order to keep all the petals in place, a team of workers wandered throughout the design spraying what I hope was just water. And a few of them had giant tongs to return to their proper place those petals that were blown in the wind.

Grumpy Goes To A Wedding

As part of the Go-kai-chyou ceremony here in Nagano, there are flowers everywhere along Chuo-dori, the main street that leads to Zenkoji Temple. A handful of the arrangements include little miniature scenes of everyday life, like a wedding party made up of the seven dwarfs. Who knew Grumpy was such a ham?

Visit To Sado Island

Sado Island (Sado-ga-shima) is a bit off the map in Japan — just the way I like it. Situated about 40 km off the western coast of Japan, Sado is an island where for centuries people — including an ex-emperor — were sent into exile. These days it’s known for its scenery, for views of an older and slower style of Japanese life, and for the famous Kodo drummers.

My mother and I took the train from Nagano to Naoestu on the coast, then a ferry into the small port of Ogi on the southern tip of the island. We stayed for three nights in three different minshuku (Japanese inns), ate loads of fresh seafood for both dinner and breakfast, and drove almost 400km in our rented car while circumnavigating and crossing the island.

The weather was rainy the first day, but cleared into perfect, warm, sunny days after that. Tourists were almost non-existent (too early in the season), so the roads, beaches, mountains and trails seemed relatively deserted. I did my first swim in the Sea of Japan off an empty beach that stretched for several kilometers.

A visit to Sado is highly recommended for those of you here in Japan, and this is the perfect time of year to go.

More pictures are here…

Lanterns

A New Visitor

My mother arrived here in Japan tonight for a week-long visit. We’re planning to travel to Sado Island for four days. Also in the good news department: tomorrow is my last day of work before an 11-day vacation. You could say I’m excited. And it would be an understatement.

Nothing Butt Options

Now that spring has arrived, it’s time to turn off the heated toilet seat that served me so well during the cold winter months. Mine is just a simple model, with a small temperature control knob for the heated seat. Other toilets in Japan offer many more options, like the one above with its handy remote console panel.

Let’s see, looks like there’s the butt-washing option, and then a breast-washing option? Huh? Okay, at least the off button is really obvious. But what are those squiggly arrows that make it look like some sort of exchange of fluids is involved? I was unable to get the live video technical support (on the right) to work.

Quality Television

While your television is gathering dust during TV Turnoff Week, you can ease the withdrawals by watching these clips of a Japanese television show featuring bar hostesses settling old scores on the mat.

In a dark room, a crowd of hostesses (the women who entertain clients at certain kinds of bars) crowd around a mat, where two of them wrestle, punch, pull hair and constantly have to pull down their mini skirts. The winner gets to shove a pie in the face of the loser.

Clip One: The Fight (QuickTime Movie 2MB)
Clip Two: The Pie (QuickTime Movie 1.5MB)

The show continued with a segment that included women in bikinis reading off their body measurements and jump roping (in heels, by the sound of it).

Clip Three: Bikini Jump Roping (QuickTime Movie 3MB)

Viewing The Apricot Blossoms

Temperatures in the Nagano area broke into the 20s (Celsius) yesterday, and suddenly it feels like winter is really gone. Today felt more like what I’d think of as a Seattle summer day. The flowering trees are blooming, and the cherry trees should be in full bloom this weekend, perfect timing for the parties that will crowd beneath the trees in parks throughout the city.

Plum and apricot trees bloom earlier than the cherry trees, and this morning I went with a friend to see apricot orchards the small town of Mori, south of Nagano.

The photo above is the idealized version of this season — all flowers, beauty and nature. Unfortunately, beauty and nature in Japan are usually accompanied by hordes of sightseers, tour buses, traffic jams, parking lots with uniformed attendants, old men with big cameras, souvenir shops, food vendors, and a healthy dose of concrete.

Since my friend and I arrived early in the day, we missed the big crowds. Less than a hundred other people were milling around, taking in the view and buying plenty of dried apricots and apricot-flavored ice cream.

The three photos below show the less picturesque side of the outing: the parking attendant giving my friend, Kinuko, an area map; one of the parking lots with the Japanese equivalent of a double-wide trailer serving as a souvenir/ice cream shop; a red and white stripped blossom-viewing platform.

Remembering The Occupation

Over at Chanpon.org, Mizuko Ito has shared a story of her family’s encounter with American occupation forces in the aftermath of World War II.

Shoes And Skirt At A Sunday BBQ

Four Generations On Fuji-san

My grandmother, Isabel Alexander Gerhard, was born in 1910 at the foot of Mt. Fuji, in Gotemba. The photo above (larger version) shows her on the mountain when she was six years old — likely in late August, just after her sixth birthday. She is the one in the background, fourth from the right. The rest of the party includes my great-grandmother, great-grandfather, a great-aunt, my grandmother’s older brother, Bob, and her sisters, Frankie and Mary.

In my grandmother’s memoirs, she quotes the story of the climb as written by her mother:

During the summer of 1916 we all climbed Fuji. Sister Bessie went with us. As we plodded on, we often stopped to rest, and many Japanese climbers offered to carry little six-year-old Isabel, but she refused all help. The night was spent at the eighth station, where Bob got mountain-sick, and Frankie, although tied up in a cotton bag, was nearly eaten up by fleas. Wrapped up in our bedding we went outside to see a wonderful sunrise which tinted the fleecy clouds all the colors of the rainbow. Here and there through rifts in the clouds we had glimpses of the blue lakes around the base of the mountain. It was bitterly cold, but we were protected somewhat from the wind by wrapping pieces of matting around us. Here and there were vents in the side of the mountain from which issued hot air, where we could warm our hands.

On the way down, the children enjoyed running and sliding in the scoria. Isabel and I were all in by the time we reached the third station, so we hired a horse, Isabel riding in front of me. The path was so steep that we kept slipping forward on to the horse’s neck, so we finally decided that it took more energy to keep on the horse than to walk. It was a tired crowd who arrived at the house in Ninooka the evening of the second day.

This, of course, was in the days before a road was built to the Fifth Station, which effectively cut the climb in half for most climbers. My grandmother, from her memoirs:

I’m not sure how many times I climbed Fuji. Maybe something like six and two halves. The Japanese have a saying, “If you don’t climb Fuji, you are a fool. If you climb more than once, you’re a fool.” So I guess I’m hopeless. The climbing season is strictly July and August. But Paul (PVG) climbed it with two friends on December 31, 1935. Bob Alexander climbed in the winter, and in April 1981, Bob and Sharon climbed from Station Five to the top using crampons and ice axes. We are unhappy with the road built up to the Fifth Station. It opens the climb up to too many people and litterbugs. There used to be so many pilgrims dressed in white with their Fuji poles. When Paul, Marilyn and I climbed in 1967, we didn’t see one single pilgrim on the mountain.

Paul (PVG) is my grandfather, Paul V. Gerhard. Marilyn is one of my three aunts who were born in Tokyo before the family moved from Japan to the United States in 1941.

The photo below is of my grandfather on Fuji. The caption on the back of the photo, in my grandmother’s handwriting, reads: “Paul V. Gerhard on the summit of Fuji San Jan. 1, 1934.” That date seems to conflict with the 1935 climb she mentioned in her memoirs — I imagine it’s the same climb and the date on either the photo or in the memoirs is wrong.

As my grandmother mentioned, my parents — Bob and Sharon — climbed Fuji in April 1981 during a family visit to Japan with my grandparents. The photo below is of them at the summit — no sunrise for them. During their climb, my two sisters and I stayed at a hut near the Fifth Station. I was 13 at the time.

I made the summit of Fuji last September, but the weather at the top was so miserably cold, windy and wet that I didn’t take a summit photo. This shot is on the way down, after dropping below the clouds that encircled the top of the mountain. I wrote about the climb last September.

I’d like to climb Fuji again, just for the chance of seeing the sunrise and the view from the summit. But next time, I think I’d better start from the bottom rather than from the Fifth Station. After all, if my grandmother could do it at age six…

Loud, Loud, Loud

I can’t wait for the local elections to be over. The political sound trucks are out all day, broadcasting speeches by politicians or, even worse, just driving around downtown repeating the candidates’ names over and over and over and over. The voices from the loudspeakers are at full volume, and bounce from building to building in the downtown area. I have to keep my window closed at work because the noise from the loudspeakers with the window open makes it too difficult for my students to hear.

The amount of noise pollution in urban Japan is almost beyond description — you really have to experience it to appreciate the scope of the problem. Booming voices are everywhere, music comes from the strangest places, announcements and warnings are ubiquitous, shouts of welcome greet you at stores and restaurants, and giant television screens broadcast everything from news and commercials to music videos and travelogues.

A crosswalk in downtown Nagano has two separate visual clues alerting pedestrians when to walk, accompanied by a chime, a melody and a voice announcement — all playing simultaneously. This crosswalk is in front of the Nagano train station, where the top of the hour is marked by both an extraordinarily loud chime and a multimedia presentation on the jumbo screen. Try crossing the crosswalk at the top of the hour and you find yourself in an audio typhoon.

As much as I’ve grown fairly accustomed (though not happily) to all this aural clutter, I just can’t handle the political sound trucks. At least in America when you’re sick of the worst aspects of political campaigning you can just keep the television turned off. Here, you’d have to live on the top of a mountain, where only the faint, distant echo of a politician’s name would reach you.

Suwa Mirror

Suwa is a small city — or a large town — nestled in the mountains of central Nagano Prefecture. It encircles Suwa Lake, upon which giant swans and turtles ferry passengers. This shot captures the mountains, lake and one of the giant swan boats in the mirrored surface of a lakeside sculpture.

A Simple Request

I was in the small town of Suwa on Sunday, and had lunch with friends at a cafe owned by an Iranian man. The coffee was good and the chicken curry with flat bread was excellent. We lingered over our coffees, visiting and occasionally chatting with the owner who of course asked where we were from because that’s just what you do here when you see other non-Japanese. Three of us are from America, one is Canadian. When it came time to leave, we each paid individually and I was the last to pay. As he said goodbye, the owner added — quietly and with a pleasant smile on his face — “Please kill Saddam Hussein.” It was so unexpected I wanted to double-check to see if I’d heard correctly. But it really wasn’t something I wanted to hear again, so I just smiled, waved and left. I’m still wondering if it’s what he actually said or something I imagined.

Zenkoji Go-kai-chyou Receiving Ceremony

Last Sunday saw the unofficial start of Nagano’s most important festival — the Zenkoji Go-kai-chyou. This festival is held only once every seven years at Zenkoji Temple, when a sacred statue of Buddha is revealed to the public. I’m still trying to put together background information on the festival and on Zenkoji, so I’m going to save that for a later post.

The event on Sunday was to celebrate the delivery of a wooden pillar from Matsushiro (a neighboring city) to Zenkoji. The pillar plays a central role in the Go-kai-chyou festival.

I’ve posted photos of the procession and the subsequent ceremony at Zenkoji, along with some videos and sound clips. The video clips will be up on the Photos & Flicks page for a limited time.

The photos are here.

Hirosaki Trip

I had a four-day break from work last weekend, so I took a trip up to Hirosaki, a medium-sized city near the northern tip of Honshu, the main island of Japan.

To get there, I bought a special ticket called the seishun juuhachi kippu, which is only offered during periods that coincide with student holidays. For about US$100, the ticket gives you five nonconsecutive days of unlimited travel on local trains. Cheap, but slow. Travel between Nagano and Hirosaki took 15 hours each way. But I had time to spare, I love riding trains, and the scenery was great.

I rode on six different trains, taking me through many cities and towns along the way:
Nagano --> Arai
Arai --> Niigata
Niigata --> Murakami
Murakami --> Sakata
Sakata --> Akita
Akita --> Hirosaki

Much of the trip between Niigata and Akita was right along the coast of the Sea of Japan. The weather was spectacular and the views were great as the trains traveled through small coastal villages.

Through the mountains between Nagano and Arai, and then again between Akita and Hirosaki, there was still a lot of snow. In Hirosaki, banks of snow remained, but it was melting quickly in the warm, spring sunshine.

I visited Hirosaki because it’s where my great-grandfather lived in the last years of the 1800s. There is a museum in Hirosaki that contains family photos, letters, diaries and more. My grandmother visited the city in 1991 along with her four children for the dedication of the museum. I’ll be posting more about this part of my visit to Hirosaki soon.

I’ve added two photo albums of the trip:

Local trains to Hirosaki:
I love trains.

Nagano to Hirosaki:
Scenery as seen from many trains, and photos of Hirosaki.

I’ve also added nine video clips taken during the trip.

Stern Man

An extreme close-up of a photo I took of a politician speaking from his soundtruck near the station. Typically, Japanese politicians will stand on top of a large van — with huge speakers pointing in all directions — and disrupt the peace with campaign speeches that no one pays attention to.

The man in this photo is not the politician, but one of his entourage who saw me taking the picture and evidently didn’t like what he saw.

Teaching The Kids About War

While flipping through the channels last Saturday night trying to pick up news on the war, I came across a show that was teaching kids about the conflict. It looks like the show (or segment) is called Kodomo Nyusu (Kid’s News). They were using toy props and cartoons to show a trio of very glum-looking kids what was happening in Iraq. It was too bizzare to pass up, so I grabbed my camera and started snapping photos.

Here’s my report…

Sunset Near Myoko

Had a great trip last weekend. I’ll be posting some words and pictures about my travels in the next couple days. In the meantime, here’s a photo I took from the train on my way back to Nagano on Monday. The sun is setting over the mountains between Arai and Myoko-Kogen, about an hour north of Nagano. This was taken while riding the Shinetsu Line (local), the last leg of my 12 hours on local trains. More soon.

Chopsticks Or A Fork?

I got confused tonight about the appropriate utensil(s) for eating salad. (I haven’t really been eating western-style salads over here in Japan, so this hasn’t come up before.) I automatically grabbed some chopsticks, but after a few bites I thought to myself, “This just isn’t right, is it?” So I got a fork, which I’ve always used to eat salad. But it didn’t feel quite right either. I went back to the chopsticks, but now I have no idea which feels more natural in this situation.

Matsumoto Party

Went to Matsumoto last night for a party at a small bar near the station. DJs, dancing and drinking. Caught the 8:40pm local train from Nagano with Rachel. Angelique came north from Shio Jiri, and we met up with Dean in Matsumoto.

Matsumoto Party photos here.

Smoking Girls

This image was on a flyer at the local Japan Railways ticket office. It looks like it’s advertising a gallery exhibit sponsored by JR. Here’s the website. The exhibit is the one called “Kokuren Shonen (UN Boy).”

Hana Anticipation

Spring is just around the corner, and that means the cherry blossoms will soon be spreading across Japan like a pink tide. Starting from the southernmost tip of the country, the progression of blossoms will move steadily northward, followed with rapt attention by the media and a population ready for the annual cherry-blossom viewing parties (a chance to have fun and get drunk outside after the cold, winter season).

Like the ever-lengthening creep of the Christmas season (soon to begin right after Labor Day weekend in America), marketers in Japan appear to be starting the sakura season early.

Suntory has introduced a special flavor to its Super Chi-Hi line of alcoholic drinks called Hana, the Japanese word for flower. Flavored with cherry blossoms (I’m guessing artificial cherry flavor) and lemon, it’s packaged in the lovely pink cans you see above.

Although the cherry blossoms won’t “arrive” here in Nagano for at least another month, the eager folks at the Midori department store just couldn’t wait that long. Earlier this week, they planted two trees in front of the store which were meticulously grafted with plastic cherry blossoms. They looked a little out of place in the falling snow the other day.

All That Excitement About Work?

Abandoned Pachinko Parlor

Kurt Easterwood took some great photos of an abandoned pachinko parlor.

(Kurt’s blog is here.)

Mobile Pics

One of my regrets from this past year is that I didn’t buy a better mobile phone when I arrived in Japan. Instead of going for the latest and greatest, I decided to be frugal (somewhat unusual for me when it comes to gadgets). So I’ve been stuck with a phone that takes kind of crappy pictures. As such, I rarely use the phone’s camera and almost never post pictures from the phone on this site. Wish I’d gotten that fancy, expensive one I was ogling last summer.

The images of Sam on the left and right above were taken on the Nagano Dentetsu line, a small private train line that runs locally in Nagano and the nearby suburb cities. It’s a train line that’s seen better days, and everyone complains about it because it’s so expensive. When riding on it in the late evening, it reminds me of Haruhiko Shono’s beautiful, lonely, haunting game/experience, Gadget.

Two Shades Of Blue From Shiga Kogen

After the mountain clouds blew off around noon, we had spectacular weather for a day of boarding at Shiga Kogen. The above photo was taken from the top of Yakebitai Yama (2000m), looking across a valley to another of the 21 resorts that make up Shiga Kogen. Even though we could see all the way down to Nagano in the distance, I wasn’t able to get a good photo of that view because the sun was shining so brightly from that direction.

By the time we left around 5pm, the sun was just setting behind the resort mountains. The photo below was taken in the parking lot, looking west.

Heading to Shiga Kogen

What a beautiful day. Sunshine and plenty of fresh snow in the mountains. Off to try out a new ski area, Shiga Kogen.

Loud Boys On Bikes

So, we have these motorcycle gangs in Nagano. They’re not dangerous, just obnoxious. These gangs consist of skinny teenage boys who ride around on souped-up noisemakers wearing surgical masks. To prove their outlaw status, they rev their motors to ear-splitting levels, run red lights and impolitely weave as they casually motor through downtown streets. They also ignore mandatory helmet laws. They’re universally detested for the noise and anti-harmony they create. But almost every night of the week, they’re out hoping to scare a little old lady or two.

Where are the police, you might ask? Word on the street is that they are under orders from national law enforcement not to chase these malcontents because to do so would be too dangerous (considering the damage caused during the LAPD’s numerous and infamous high-speed chases, this policy might have some merit). But instead of finding other creative ways to tame the boys and their bikes (talk to their mothers? grab them while they’re having a group smoke outside the convenience store?), the police merely circle the downtown area with their lights flashing (Japanese police cars always seem to have their lights flashing) in what seems to be a slow-motion and never-ending dance.

Well, tonight something changed. Along with the familiar oncoming roar of one of the bikes, a siren filled the air. Then, at relatively low speed, a bike passed, followed by a police car in lukewarm pursuit. Normally, everyone pretends to ignore the boys on bikes. But tonight, everyone turned to look at the “chase.” And the crowd reaction? Everyone laughed.

I wonder why the change? Did word come down from on high that it was finally time to start cracking down? Or did some local cop finally snap and decide he’d had enough?

The Siren Call

Nagano is abuzz with talk about the Starbucks that will be opening this summer near the station. Poor Tully’s (already established here) just doesn’t have the sexy brand power of the green and white siren.

An article in a local paper last week told of a woman who collected 3,000 signatures on a petition asking Starbucks to come to Nagano. Turns out, according to a Starbucks rep, the company already had plans to do so. Hurry up, the impatient fans cried! Hosting the Winter Olympics was so last millennium; in order to be a truly important city, Nagano must have a Starbucks.

Governor Domoto In A Poppy Garden

I really like this photo, which was taken by Joi Ito. I had to crop the original photo to work in this context; unfortunately, the crop doesn’t look as good as the original, full-sized photo (which you can find here).

The woman in the photo is Chiba Governor Akiko Domoto, one of a rare breed of independent, reformist leaders in Japan. Chiba Prefecture borders Tokyo, and appears to have a relationship to that famous city similar to the one between New York City and New Jersey (at least in terms of popular perception).

I like her pose (and poise), and the camera dangling from her neck. And I like that even though I can’t see her face, I can imagine a smile.

Shibuya Photographer

Shibuya. Moments earlier, this famous intersection was packed with people. A man lay on his back amidst the hordes, his legs kicking wildly in the air — Kafka’s Gregor Samsa channeled through a Japanese photographer. He was photographing… what? The sky? His legs? Bits of pedestrians from below? The lights changed and the horns started honking. As he climbed to his feet, his two assistants rushed out of the intersection. I snapped this shot and ran the other way.

Shima Onsen

It took another 48 hours — all of Saturday and Sunday — to emerge from the haze and misery of the sickness. I spent most of both days in the hotel room in Tokyo. And what a waste of a beautiful, warm weekend it was. At least the view from our room on the 30th floor of the Century Southern Tower Hotel in Shinjuku was fabulous.

On Monday morning, the fever broke and my energy returned, though the cough and sinus blockage remain even now.

Okay. Enough about personal health, or lack thereof.

On Monday, Sam and I traveled to Shima Onsen, a small hot springs resort village in the mountains in Gumma Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. We stayed at a great ryokan (traditional inn). The outdoor baths were beautiful and the food was very good.

Long Weekend

Heading into Tokyo tonight after work for a long weekend with a good friend who’s visiting from home. We’ll also be spending a night at the Kashiwaya Ryokan in Gunma on Monday before returning to Nagano. I’ve got ten hours to shake this lingering sickness.

Not What I Needed

I ventured out briefly this afternoon to see if I could find something that would soothe my throat and tame the nasty, hacking cough I’ve got. In particular, I was hoping for something that would help knock me out tonight so I could get a decent sleep.

Unfortunately, the friendly, English-speaking grandma sensei wasn’t working today at the drug store. I tried to pantomime some of my symptoms in hopes of getting what I was looking for, and was recommended a box of tablets. I should have looked more closely at the label before I left the store.

The cold remedy I came home with turns out to have caffeine in it, not so great for helping put one to sleep. On top of that, the woman who helped me gave me a freebie that she said would be good for me — an energy drink. Basically a Red Bull. The main ingredient is taurine, and it also contains caffeine and nicotine.

These are not proper ingredients to help a sick person. It seems more like a way to keep the walking dead propped up for another day of work.

Miserable

For my birthday this year, I got the flu. I barely made it through the workday yesterday. And after a night of fitful sleep, I’m still lying in bed with aches, pains and chills racking my body. Needless to say, I’m not having a happy day.

Flu seasons hits Japan with surge in outbreaks

TOKYO (AP) - Flu season has hit Japan hard this year, with seven times more people coming down with the sickness than last year, an official said Tuesday.

According to the National Institute for Infectious Diseases, 514,801 people contracted influenza between Nov. 1 and Jan. 26.

That compares with 68,641 cases for the same period the year before.

Snowboarding Pics

New photos and movies of a day of snowboarding at Myoko Suginohara have been posted in the Photos & Flicks section.

Snow On Trees

Playing In The Snow At Midnight

A Good Night

Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) is on TV, and The West Wing will be on next. Then I’m off for some midnight sledding in the heaps of new snow we got today. I’m happy.

Yuki

Big, heavy, wet flakes of snow are falling. It’s so damp that it looks more like rain coming down rather than the lazy, gentle descent of light snow.

We had almost a foot of snow yesterday morning. It came down quickly, starting around 7:30am and then tapering off around noon. I rode my bike to the gym before work, and had trouble seeing through the thick flakes flying into my eyes. When I headed to work, legions of people were out shoveling snow. Little old ladies hardly taller than the shovels they wielded were clearing snow from in front of their houses.

It’s just after midnight now and the snow started to come down again about 45 minutes ago, covering once again the recently-cleared streets and paths.

Japanese Clone?

The Raelian cult recently announced the impending arrival of yet another cloned baby, this one a Japanese boy.

Raelians’ latest claim: Japanese clone is next
Japan Times Online

Neither the Raelians nor Clonaid — their scientific partner — has offered any proof of this or the two previous cloned baby claims.

The Japanese baby is supposedly a clone of a boy who died 18 months ago in a traffic accident.

Although the baby will be born outside of Japan to a surrogate mother, the soon-to-be parents say they plan to live in Japan. This raises some interesting questions, to say the least.

Human cloning brings such an overwhelming raft of questions and quandaries — ethical, moral and practical. The first thing that came to mind when I read about this latest claim was the relatively pedestrian question of citizenship.

What will be the baby’s citizenship? He comes from a deceased Japanese citizen, and will be born outside Japan to a non-Japanese surrogate mother. What kind of paperwork will the parents have to show when they bring the child to Japan? There’s no way they’re going to be able to sneak him back into the country considering the advance warning. And then the Japanese media will be all over this like… well, like the Japanese media.

Human cloning is banned in Japan. But there is no law covering cloning of or for Japanese citizens outside of Japan.

What kind of birth papers are created when a cloned baby is born? Are the Raelians resorting to forged documents to make the baby appear to have come into existence through traditional means? Or will there be some kind of special birth records for cloned babies, whether they were born legally or not?

If these claims turn out to be true, it’s going to be the beginning of a very strange and fascinating time. It will be interesting to watch the attempts to put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak. It’s going to become more and more difficult to control science through law, for better or worse.

White Weddings

Caucasians are apparently in high-demand to perform Christian-style wedding ceremonies in Japan. The key word here is “perform” since being an actual priest isn’t really necessary for the job.

Christian-nuptial fad calls on fake pastors

In a country where Christians account for just 0.8 percent of the population, the huge prevalence of Christian-style weddings can only be explained as vogue. This has led to especially high demand for Caucasians to perform the rites, leading many noncleric foreigners to work as “part-time pastors” or “weekend pastors.”

“It is of course not a religious experience that people seek in a Christian-style wedding, but to make a fashion statement,” said a spokeswoman for a Tokyo-based wedding service company that dispatches nonclergy foreigners to hotels and wedding halls to perform nuptials.

Last fall in Tokyo, I met an actor from New York who was in Japan for three months performing sappy love songs at western-style weddings. Here in Nagano, there’s a little white steeple church down by the river that’s used exclusively as a wedding chapel. Some might call this religiously offensive. I’d be more of the mind to call it just-desserts for a relentlessly proselytizing religion. They tried to sell Jesus and salvation, but all the locals bought was the fabulous wedding ceremony.

Something Fishy

We had finished an amazing day of snowboarding and were coming home. Five of us crammed into a car the size of a shoebox, with as many snowboards and skis strapped to the top. As we careened down the road, a 7-11 beckoned with promises of good food and drink.

(A side note for those from the U.S. The 7-11 chain is also ubiquitous here in Japan—to the point that many Japanese think it’s a Japanese rather than an American-based business (UPDATE: oops—so much for fact-checking). But unlike at 7-11’s found in the States, you can actually find decent food at a 7-11 in Japan. Convenience stores here offer so much more than junk food and slurpees.)

We piled, or rather exploded, out of the car in search of sustenance. Along with a generous helping of snacks, all but the driver chose alcoholic beverages to top off a great day and to make the hour-long, cramped drive home a little more enjoyable.

I was in the mood for something hot — and sake sounded just right. I found the sake shelf and grabbed a self-heating can. Peel a plastic lid off the bottom of the can and press the bottom inwards until it pops. Three minutes later, the can and the sake have magically heated to an acceptably warm temperature.

I was happy, but not for long. After we were back on the road, I opened the top of the sake can to enjoy my beverage. The first problem was that, unlike most soda cans, the entire top was to be opened. I could see right away this was going to be a challenge in the cramped quarters and on a bumpy, windy road. Then the smell hit me. Dead fish was my first instinct — and, unhappily, it was accurate. I tried a sip and the taste was just as bad as the smell. As my stinky sake sloshed out of the can, I noticed the special added ingredient that was the source of the foul smell and taste. A small piece of dried fish floating in the can.

A comedy of sorts ensued as we tried to pass the can to the front so the contents could be tossed out the window as soon as possible.

I love sake, but make mine without fish.

(UPDATE: I’ve subsequently found that the odiferous item was squid.)

Bitch Board

There was the young guy on the slopes today who, like many others, looked as if he was just learning to snowboard. After a fall and a tumble, he lay on the ground and the bottom of his snowboard was visible to those of us below. In big, big letters, it said, “bitch.”

Is this particular board only marketed in Japan, or are there bitch boards throughout the world?

The Ladies

I lost both my arms recently, and these dear, kind ladies — Emiko, Hiroe, Noriko and Miyuki — took me in and fed me when no one else would. They even sent me home with leftovers.

Japan Travel Map

I’ve made a small update to the neglected Life in Japan section of my site, adding a travel map showing most of the places I’ve visited during my stay in Japan.

A Snowy Day

It’s been snowing pretty heavily here since late last night, so there’s a good amount of snow on the ground. I’ve been ensconced in the comfort of my warm apartment all day, relaxing, writing and reading. I was supposed to have returned some DVDs today, but the thought of riding my bicycle a considerable distance on snow-covered sidewalks hasn’t sounded appealing. I’ll deal with the late fees.

I watched Le Grande Blue last night for the first time. I was a bit disappointed — too much buildup, I suppose. Rosanna Arquette was terrible. I read somewhere that the best way to watch the movie is to turn off the dialogue and enjoy the music and images. Good suggestion.

New Year

Happy New Year everyone.

I just got back from two days up at Hakuba resort, about an hour away from Nagano. Went boarding both days, and spent New Year’s Eve at a small house party in nearby Omachi. At midnight, we went to a small shrine in the woods, surrounded by huge, towering trees. As we approached on the snowy path, a huge bonfire glowed and flickered from within the forest, and the sounds of a shrine gong rang out. We were among several dozen people — children, parents, grandparents — who lit incense at the temple, drank proffered sake, accepted a mikan (mandarin orange) and then stood around the bonfire visiting. The colors of the shrine were bright, and the bonfire warm, creating a cozy enclave in the midst of the silent forest, white with snow and black with night.

Chopstick Fiasco

The above picture was taken in 1981 during a family trip to Japan. Though my Grandpa and I shared impeccable taste in fashion, we definitely did not share skills with the chopsticks. Having lived the first thirty years of his life in Japan, he was a pro. I, on the other hand, can be seen using a crude scrape and shovel method. And look at the hand position! The chopsticks look like they’re upside-down.

After my embarrassing display of ineptness during that trip to Japan, I was promptly enrolled at the International Academy for the Development of Gifted Foreign Chopstick Users where, after years of stern tutelage that pushed me to my physical and emotional limits, I became the celebrated and much-honored chopstick master that I am today.

Merry Christmas

It’s a working holiday here in Japan. I’ve opened my presents, talked with family back home, and now I’m hauling my hungover ass off to work.

Christmas Eve Karaoke Photos

What to do on Christmas Eve in Japan? Why, sing karaoke, of course.

The One I Didn't Eat

I had a Christmas Eve feast of raw fish.

A student of mine took me out to a sushi restaurant for dinner. It was a good restaurant, and they served an enormous and well-prepared meal of serious sashimi. I’ve been enjoying sushi during my time in Japan, but it’s been fairly tame as far as raw fish goes — mostly salmon and tuna. Last night I took the plunge and braved what seemed like a never ending parade of creatures from the deep.

The dinner was an extreme exercise in will power — I was determined to eat it all. And I did, except for the creature pictured above.

A little background. When I first visited Japan, I was thirteen years old and a very picky eater. I survived mostly on rice during the weeks my family traveled around the county. Although I’ve become much more willing to try new foods, I still don’t venture too far afield when it comes to edibles that once were alive. But last night I wanted to give it my all.

I tried octopus, squid, various types of fish, clams in miso soup, sea urchin and still more that I didn’t get the names of. I even ate the shrimp that was still moving (I’m not kidding) when I put it in my mouth. And when they presented the flash-fried head of that very same moving shrimp, I was going to eat it to. No, I wasn’t. Yes, I was. No, I wasn’t. Yes, I was.

In the end, I just couldn’t. So I left one little critter behind and apologized profusely. Even with that one failure, though, I’m fairly impressed with what I managed to put down last night.

Snow Day

Hakuba 47 area, boarding down a gully with Al and Scott.

I Went To Phuket

This is my second “funny language” post this week. I really don’t want to come across as mocking my students and others who are speaking a second language. It’s not an easy process, and mistakes and difficulties are a part of that process. But sometimes you just have to laugh (politely, behind their backs).

Someone in the educational resources department decided our students needed to learn how to say, “I went to Phuket.” Right, it’s not really pronounced that way, but how’s a beginning student to know that? I spent some time in class tonight correcting one student who just couldn’t manage to get the pronunciation right. And spent a lot of time trying not to laugh.

Bread And Celery

I just got home from having a drink with a friend whose ability to communicate is greater than his English proficiency. He’s the type who isn’t afraid to have a conversation, even if most of it isn’t grammatically correct. Contrast that with others who have a tremendous grasp of English grammar, but who can’t carry a conversation beyond a few hesitant sentences. The latter is the type who is paralyzed by the rules of grammar.

Communication is what it’s all about, so those who are willing to butcher another language are always more interesting than those who are not. And in order to encourage this communication, you learn not to correct every mistake. It’s a bit of an art picking and choosing what’s important to subtly correct and what’s best left alone. This leads to some entertaining and inadvertently humorous conversations.

My friend and I were discussing blood types. In Japan, blood type is a popular determiner of personality, in much the same way zodiac signs are in other parts of the world. First, the subject came up as “bread” types. Then there was the constant use of the phrase which I heard as, “It’s all because of celery.” I was kind of curious as to what he meant by “celery”, but I was more interested in hearing what each blood type signified, so I let it pass.

Christmas Spoiler

Customs declarations can sure spoil the gift-giving season. All overseas packages are required to have the contents listed on a customs form, thus giving away the surprise. I’ve been trying to rip off the customs forms on the packages I’ve been receiving (thanks everyone!) before I see what’s listed.

Making Mochi

A student took me to a mochi-making gathering in her neighborhood this morning. Mochi is a rice treat made by pounding rice until it is sticky and smooth. Flavorings, including sweet red bean paste, are then added.

About five dozen people met on the grounds of a neighborhood shrine to make mochi and to roast sweet potatoes in a bonfire. I’ve posted a few photos.

I’ve also posted photos of a bike trip I took yesterday.

Eyebrows Begone

Please enjoy Tokyo resident Jeremy Hedley’s observations on the recent trend of male eyebrow plucking in Japan. Hilarious.

Besides being a well-designed site, Hedley’s Antipixel is a consistently good read, full of compelling observations and peppered with fabulous photos (be sure to check out the photos illustrating his series on neighborhood houses, in the Architecture category).

Slopes And Soaks

Saturday morning, I woke up early, grabbed my snowboard and jumped on the train to Matsumoto. Met some friends and we drove north to Goryu ski area in Hakuba.

Snow conditions were a bit disappointing, but it felt great to be back on the slopes. At the end of the day, snow started to fall, and it doesn’t seem to have stopped since.

We left Hakuba around 5pm and headed back towards Matsumoto, with a stop at an onsen. There’s nothing quite like soaking in a hot outdoor pool with snow falling.

It's Snowing

This Is Not Progress

Adam Greenfield of v-2.org offers his observations on the state of Japanese design and aesthetic:

The Japan That Should Say No

Where Japanese culture used to be expert at finding the one element in a situation that bore psychological meaning, at manipulating the tension between what is made explicit and what is left unsaid, it now contents itself with wallowing in the banal.

This is as true of technology (and associated domains like information design) as it is of, say, J-pop. As recently as the 1960s, Japan produced as a matter of course train schedules, tourist maps, and newspaper weather reports so carefully devised that master information designer Edward Tufte chose them as particularly exquisite examples of the use of line and color to carry data.

Similarly, up until the 1980s, Japanese technology led the world in simplification, miniaturization - refinement. More recently, manufacturers seem engaged in a race to bombard the user with the most extraneous features. It’s trumpeted as innovative when the new model keitai comes with interchangeable faceplates.

Like I say: banal.

During my brief time in Japan, I haven’t seen a lot to dispute his observations. Take my mobile phone, for example…

Ebisuko Fireworks

There was a huge fireworks display last night in Nagano. It lasted for two hours. Two hours!

This is something of an anomaly in Japan, where most fireworks displays are held in the summer or autumn. This annual, late-November display has developed into something of a showcase for fireworks artisans, allowing them to preview next season’s displays and new techniques.

Crowds of people huddled in the cold near the large river that runs through Nagano, watching the fireworks and enjoying food and warm sake provided by the scores of vendors.

Fall Pics

I’ve posted some new photos, from a bike ride and hike I did last Sunday. They show some of the nice fall colors we have now in Nagano.

My Bank Is Sooooooo Cute

This, dear friends, is my bank card. Let me emphatically state that I did not specifically request this design. Believe it or not, this is a general issue card design. And it’s from the largest bank in Nagano Prefecture. Only in Japan. I feel self-conscious every time I take it out to get cash from an ATM.

That said, my favorite character is the cross-eyed owl in the background (not so clearly seen in this photo). Obviously, he’s been shunned by the group and is no longer allowed to join in their silly reindeer games and shameless mugging. He’ll just have to learn to get along with the happy homosexual fish back in his neck of the woods.

Mustle-Bound, Yet Refined

Here it is, spelled out (not entirely accurately) on a farmer’s Toyota in rural Japan—what every gay man in an expensive SUV is really trying to say.

Featured Food - Yogurt

It’s always an adventure trying to figure out exactly what you’re buying in Japan. Modern packaging provides many visual clues, which is what I rely on most of the time.

Case in point: yogurt. Take a look at the picture above and tell me the yogurt on the left doesn’t look like the healthy version. This is no heavily-sweetened, high-fat “dessert” yogurt. That would have pastel berry colors and cute little animals buzzed up on sugar.

Plus, I can actually read the large katakana word here—it says “na-chu-re” (that would be “natural”). And there’s a little icon of a human jumping into the air, full of vim and vigor. Finally, there are some unknown additives presented in a style which says to me, “Good for you!”, and which I can only hope remain in the “nachure” realm.

Do you like how I’ve art directed this shot? I arranged all the healthiest foods in my fridge for a snapshot of wholesome eating. Let’s just hope I use that broccoli before it goes bad.

Let's Look At Engrish!

Mangled English provides many an entertaining moment here in Japan, as noted recently. I’ve lost count of the t-shirts I’ve wanted to photograph (but never do for fear of the reputation I’d get as the foreigner who takes pictures of the backsides of young girls).

Tonight I stumbled upon a site that lets you enjoy “Engrish” from afar. Let’s enjoy the spirited feeling that rises from seeing Engrish.com.

I can only hope to mangle Japanese in such an unintentionally fabulous way some day.

Teaching English to the Undead

It was horrible. Three young, female zombies trooped into my classroom tonight and sat down, expecting me to teach them English. They couldn’t have been more than sixteen. By all outward appearances, they looked like a trio of Japanese pixies. Only their dead silence and eyelids that drooped to their knees exposed them for what they were.

Horrified though I was, I took a deep breath and decided to give it a try.

Today’s lesson: Give a speech about your morning. “I get up around 6:00.” (That’s something these zombies can relate to, I thought.) “I brush my teeth. After that, I eat breakfast.” Simple stuff. Or so I thought.

Thirty minutes in and we’re still on drills. Their insidious droning was a narcotic, and I had to fight to stay awake.

Me: “Repeat after me. ‘I get up around 6:00.’”

Them: “I.….….. get.….….. up.….…. around.….….. 6:00.”

Me: “Great! Excellent! Okay, again. Repeat after me: ‘I get up around 6:00.’”

Them: “I.….….. get.….….. up.….…. around.….….. 6:00.”

This went on and on and on and—you get the picture. Teaching English can be so exciting!

Butchered English 01

I saw this printed on an ashtray:

Ashtraies are coming up in a more fashionable and characteristic style now many different shapes—full of ideas it’s a spice to make your life more fashionable with good sense of living.

Wandering

I spent last weekend in Tokyo, with a side-trip down to Yokohama on Sunday to inspect and photograph a sailboat as a favor for a friend. I left Nagano Saturday mid-day as it was starting to snow. The weather in Tokyo, on the other hand, was excellent.

Saturday afternoon I wandered around Aoyama, where my grandparents lived in the 1930s. I found the neighborhood where they lived and tried to find their address (the house would have been long gone by now), but their actual address no longer exists.

Japanese addresses are notoriously hard to find. Cities are sub-divided into wards, then districts, then neighborhoods, then blocks, then non-sequential houses. There are no street addresses. Finding a specific place usually takes some wandering.

Bah Humbug

It’s early November, and Japan is already gearing up to celebrate the birth of Christ.

No, wait—that’s not right.

Try again.

It’s early November, and Japan is already gearing up to pray at the church of rampant consumerism.

Christian missionaries—my great-grandparents included—failed to sell Christ here (Japan’s Christians make up only one percent of the total population—good for them, I say), but the Japanese sure converted to capitalism with mind-boggling zeal. Even in the midst of a decade-long recession, shopping remains a favorite pastime, almost a religion unto itself. And modern-day Christmas fits right into the shop-till-you-drop ethos found here.

In Tokyo this past weekend, I saw a tree-lighting ceremony in Ginza. It was November 9! This is insane. Something needs to be done to stop the shopping juggernaut that is Christmas. At this rate, it’ll only be a decade or so before this increasingly inane holiday gobbles up the whole year.

I Love Grapefruit Super Chu-Hi

For the Morning After

While standing in line at the grocery today, I noticed a new display of supplements with cool graphics. Each supplement is meant for boosting the body under different conditions, illustrated with the stick figures on the front of the packaging. Then my eye caught one in particular (above in the foreground). It seems there’s help for those who like to smoke and drink to excess. I don’t know what he’s saying, but I’m sure if he had a face there’d be a big smile on it.

P.S. Certain friends (who will remain nameless) should expect a case of these as a Christmas present this year.

Hot Mama

I really wanted to take a picture of the old woman who came to the gym today wearing a maroon velour shirt and tastefully matched maroon leather pants.

Teaching... HTML?

This week at my school there are no regular classes. Instead, we’re teaching a combination of demonstration classes and special interest classes.

The demonstration classes are part of our fall “Self-Study Campaign,” which encourages students to purchase additional materials to study at home. This helps make money for the company and assists students in their studies. It’s not such a bad thing; I’m lucky to work at a school that doesn’t really push a lot of the business and hard-sell responsibility on teachers. The self-study materials end up selling themselves to those students who are interested in doing more studying outside of class, which is always important.

We’re also teaching special interest classes this week, which is really just a way of saying we can teach whatever the hell we want. “Come up with something interesting,” they told us. I must not have heard the “interesting” part, because I decided to teach HTML. “Building a Web Page,” I called it. “HTML is a language like English or Japanese, but it communicates with web browsers.”

Surprisingly, people signed up.

First Snow?

There has already been snow at higher elevations, but we haven’t seen any in Nagano yet. Maybe tonight?

Whoa!

It’s still a bit of a shock to see little old ladies wandering through men’s bathrooms and locker rooms on cleaning duty. I came face-to-face with one in full monty mode (me, not her) in the locker room at my gym the other day. I had to work to be nonchalant about it.

I'm No Steve Perry

This was my attempt to sing Journey’s Separate Ways. I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. The other song I was coerced into singing is far too embarrassing to name. (It was a Disney duet.)

The evening of karaoke was last week, when a group of teachers from my school went out after work for drinks and pub food. We had a small, private room with a karaoke setup. The head teacher took this photo with her mobile phone. The other guy in the picture is Jason, one of the other two foreign teachers at the school. He was trying to provide backup.

Sunday Night On The Town

Went to a club tonight for a night of DJs and bands. It was a small hole-in-the-wall, like so many local clubs. Cover charge was ¥1500 (about $12), and included one drink, which the bartender made into a quadruple. As he was pouring, he lost his balance and fell, luckily, onto the chair behind the small bar. Exuberance or inebriation? It was hard to tell.

Seiyu Jingle

The closest grocery is just a block away from my apartment here in Nagano. Although it’s part of the large Seiyu chain, this particular store is kind of crummy. It’s small and the selection isn’t great. The atmosphere is just this side of seedy. I go there often because it’s convenient, but I’m never entirely happy about the experience.

Tops on my list of complaints is the aural cacophony one is assaulted with while shopping. There are at least three different soundtracks playing at once, on top of the constant refrains of “Irasshai mase!” (roughly translated: “welcome to our establishment”) any time you pass an employee. One soundtrack in particular—the loudest of them all—drives me crazy, and I’m including it here so you can decide for yourself whether I’m justifiably irritated or just a crank:

Seiyu Jingle (350k MP3)

Two days a week at Seiyu—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—the store has ¥100 days, where select merchandise is marked down to the low, low price of ¥100. On these days, the store turns into a sort of video game, where the object is to negotiate one’s way through swarms of tiny grandmothers erratically and veeeerrrrrry slowly pushing their carts down the isles. On these days, the Seiyu Jingle turns into a an apt accompaniment to a cousin of that classic vid game, Frogger.

Mechanical Menaces

More than a decade ago, while I was visiting Prague in what was then still Czechoslovakia, I was thrilled to find escalators that whisked people along at speeds at least twice as fast as those found in the U.S. Shooting up from the depths of the subway system, I always visualized riders being launched into the air at the top, like human cannonballs. That’s my kind of escalator.

Of course, high speed escalators don’t fly in safety-conscious (and litigious) America. Nor are they found in Japan. But other mechanized dangers do lurk in the land of the rising sun.

Take automatic sliding doors and elevator doors. In this country, the former petulantly refuse to open until you’ve come full stop about two inches from the door. The latter, on the other hand, should be nicknamed the “jaws of death.”

No elevator I’ve ever ridden on here has had an electric eye to stop the closing of the doors if a person steps between them. So the only thing stopping the doors once they’ve started closing is a warm body (or, if you’re lucky, a quick button-pusher who’s already made it safely inside).

Automatic sliding doors are a danger of another sort. There’s no walking into a building without breaking your pace, no Starship Enterprise “whooosh” as a door slides quickly open. It’s more like a border crossing where you have to stop and show your passport. I remember an incident in Japan when my family (including my grandparents) visited in 1981. My grandfather walked right into a glass door, mashing his nose in the process. Whether it was because he expected it to open or because he didn’t see the door I don’t remember. But I think of that incident every time I find my nose bushing against a door that should have opened five seconds earlier. I’ve taken to waving my hand in front of me in an effort to trigger the door just a moment earlier, which must make me look slightly batty—another crazy foreigner.

Seasons Change

Not so long ago ago, I did a fair amount of complaining about how hot and muggy it was here in Nagano.

Different season — different complaint. It’s cold!

The temperate fall season here was tragically short-lived. This past week has brought temperatures not normally seen in this area for another couple weeks. Snow fell in towns not far from Nagano the other day, and one ski resort between here and Tokyo is optimistically pumping out artificial snow.

Speaking of snow, I just entered my name in a lottery for a cheap season snow pass to all ski areas in Nagano Prefecture (that’s a lot of options). Two hundred lucky people will be allowed to purchase this pass for ¥30,000 (about $250). I’m not holding my breath, but I am practicing a few basic Japanese phrases that might come in handy should I get a call.

In the meantime, the air conditioning unit in my apartment has been switched over to heating duty, and my favorite knit wool socks (thanks Tama!) have been pulled out of summer hibernation.

I Love My Hot Seat

Speaking of temperatures…

When I arrived here, in the sweltering heat of June, I scoffed at the heated toilet seat. “What a silly, useless thing,” I thought.

Like the seasons of the year, how things change. I flipped that switch back on for the first time the other day and it won’t go back off until next summer.

The Noose

Today is one of those days when I unhappily realize I’ve been working for the past five months at a job where I have to wear a suit and tie.

Five days a week I tuck in a starched shirt and tie that silly strip of cloth around my neck. And I actually leave the apartment wearing this get-up.

Suits are for special occasions and death (someone else’s, not one’s own — don’t put one on me when I go), not for everyday wear. And when I realize how normal it’s become for me to don this garb every morning, I’m slightly horrified.

Camping on the Noto Peninsula

Sean and I rented a car last weekend and traveled to the Noto Peninsula for two nights of camping on the beach. Noto Peninsula is the large finger of land that juts out into the Sea of Japan to the west of Nagano. Because it’s so expensive to travel on expressways here (there are no “free”ways), we made the trip on secondary highways, over the mountains and then up to the upper-west coast of Noto.

Pictures from the trip are here.

The drive there took about eight hours, which was most of the day Saturday. We arrived after dark, and set up the tent on Kotogahama beach, near the small town of Monzen. The weather was cloudy, and we saw lots of rain during the drive. But when we arrived, there was no rain and the temperature was fairly mild.

The Way To Travel

One of the best things about traveling by trains in Japan is the ease of use. It’s 11:25pm now — half an hour before our train bound for Osaka is scheduled to leave. We’ll leave the apartment in ten minutes and make the ten minute walk to the station. With ten minutes left, we’ll board the train, which will leave at exactly 11:55. No lines. No security check. Just walk onto the train and go. Who needs airplanes anyway?

Kyoto/Osaka Tour

Sean and I leave tonight for five days in the Kansai region. We’ll be traveling overnight to Osaka, where we’ll stay Saturday night. On Sunday, we head to Kyoto for two nights and three days. After that, we’ll spend one night in Nara before returning to Nagano. Two days later, we’ll be heading to the Noto peninsula (on the western coast) for a couple nights of beach camping. I’ll try to post some pictures next week after the Kansai trip.

A Temple And A Castle

We visited Zenkoji yesterday morning, and then did a hike up a hill near the city to see a reconstructed castle with a great view of Nagano.

Zenkoji, Nagano’s 1300-year-old temple, is believed to house the first image of Buddha to come to Japan. At the temple, there is a subterranean passageway containing “the key to paradise.” In order to find this key (which is more like a heavy door handle), one needs to join a line of pilgrims groping their way through the pitch-dark passageway. This is definitely an attraction that wouldn’t survive liability laws in the U.S.

Japan's Toilet Wars

I’ve been meaning to post a picture of one of the better toilet seat control systems from Japan. In the meantime, enjoy this article:

Japanese Masters Get Closer to the Toilet Nirvana

Japan’s toilet wars started in February, when Matsushita engineers here unveiled a toilet seat equipped with electrodes that send a mild electric charge through the user’s buttocks, yielding a digital measurement of body-fat ratio.

Unimpressed, engineers from a rival company, Inax, counterattacked in April with a toilet that glows in the dark and whirs up its lid after an infrared sensor detects a human being. When in use, the toilet plays any of six soundtracks, including chirping birds, rushing water, tinkling wind chimes, or the strumming of a traditional Japanese harp.

(NOTE: New York Times articles require free registration).

Tokyo Weekend, New Arrival

Sean arrives in Tokyo later this afternoon. I’ll be taking the Shinkansen down to Tokyo to meet him after work tonight, and we’ll be spending a three-day weekend in the city. The typhoon seems to have cleared a path for good weather, and the forecast is for sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. And in contrast to the oppressively hot and muggy summer temperatures in Tokyo, the air is crisp and dry this time of year. (The smog is still present, of course.)

I’m looking forward to taking some extra time off this month. We’ll be traveling to the Kyoto/Osaka/Nara area next weekend, and then likely doing a camping/kayak trip on the Sea of Japan coast the weekend after that.

Laundry Day

It’s a beautiful, sunny morning. As I have coffee, I’m watching my neighbor across the street hang her bedding out in the fresh air. This is a routine for many here on nice mornings. Futons (which are much thinner and lighter than the futons in the U.S.) and quilts are hung over balconies and on laundry lines.

It’s a little strange to see so much laundry hung out to dry in Japan. At least for me, I connect this sort of image with developing countries, where dryers (and even washers) are a luxury. But although almost everyone has a washing machine here, many people still choose not to use dryers, opting instead for a natural dry. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for me. Not only does it add some more time to the laundry routine, but the clothes end up feeling not quite as soft as I’m used to (from the use of dryer sheets back home). But that slightly-starchy feeling goes away quickly once the clothes are worn. Since I don’t have access to a balcony or clothes line outside, on laundry days my tiny apartment is packed with hanging clothes and sheets, creating something of a cave environment.

Strong Winds

Japan is currently being buffeted by the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in the past 50 years. But here in Nagano, it’s been relatively calm. We’ve had a lot of rain, but that’s about it. Most typhoons seem to track a path along the east coast of the country, and the mountains surrounding Nagano protect the area from the worst of the strong winds.

By tomorrow, the typhoon will have passed and the dry, warm air that follows will be covering most of the country.

Long Drive For A Hot Bath

Sunday night I went with friends to Kusatsu, a small, famous hot springs town about two and a half hours from Nagano by car. We left Nagano at 9pm and arrived at half past eleven. Many of the public baths are open all night, and we wanted to be there when the crowds weren’t.

In the center of town, there is a huge spring where much of the hot water gushes out of the ground and is piped to baths in various sections of town. The area has been tastefully built up with boardwalks and waterfalls, so it looks very picturesque.

The public bath we went to was small, but the water was steaming hot and it felt great — not a fancy bath, just utilitarian. We arrived back in Nagano around 3am.

Loud Loud Loud

Yes, it’s true. Americans are loud. And nowhere is that more noticeable than in Japan.

I spent a summer in Germany during high school, and I can clearly remember my first moment of shame at being in any way connected to America. It was on a bus that was filled with the inane booming of an older American couple who were oblivious to their surroundings and to the effect they were having on every other passenger on the bus. And Germans aren’t shrinking violets.

Here in Japan, I’m constantly amazed at how loud Westerners can be, and in the most inappropriate situations. (To be fair, it’s not only Americans — many Canadians, Brits and Aussies can crank up the volume, especially after a few drinks.) Several other foreign teachers live nearby, and there are many nights were I can hear one or more approaching from more than a block away. The neighbors can’t be happy.

Featured Food — Protein & Aminos

It’s a bit of a stretch to call either of these food; they belong more in the “probably-not-necessary-sustenance” category. But somehow I’ve gotten hooked, especially on the protein supplement shown on the left above.

I’ve been worrying about getting enough protein. I’m not really eating any meat or chicken, so my protein intake comes mostly from fish and beans (not a bad thing, I’m just concerned that I’m not getting enough). So one day last summer before going swimming, I tried the Protein In Body Make (or whatever it’s called). To say it’s strange is putting it mildly. The container is soft with a built-in straw, through which you suck the “liquid” protein. The texture is a mixture of not-quite-jelled Jell-O and tapioca pudding. Yum!

The Amino Supli is a Gatorade-style drink — basically lightly sweetened water. And it includes 1000mg of eight essential amino acids. Wow! It’s much better than one of it’s competitors, the tantalizingly-named “Pocari Sweat.”

Learning English Is Fun

A couple clips from classroom CDs:

“Why don’t you try tamago-zake…” (128k MP3)
“I’m sorry, but he’s taken…” (152k MP3)

Danger Season

In a country as outwardly obsessive about safety as Japan, it’s interesting to hear stories of life on the edge. In recent weeks students have described festivals with elements of danger.

One such festival took place a couple weeks ago in Kishiwada-shi, near Osaka. The highlight of the Danjiri Festival is a high-speed “parade” of intricately-carved, incredibly beautiful wooden floats, which are pulled through the streets by dozens of men via long ropes. At intersections, the teams must execute 90 degree turns, while still racing along at high speed. All the while, a man is balancing on top of the float as if riding a surfboard. This is the honored position of daiku-gata. Every year, my students tell me, people are killed during this parade, usually during a crash or when the daiku-gata is flung from the top of the float during a turn. And this year, with two deaths, was no exception.

Closer to Nagano, a festival last Saturday featured almost two hours of low-level fireworks. One student who attended described two hours of rushing from one viewing location to another to escape burning embers falling from the sky. Local fire authorities were on hand to extinguish the many trees that caught on fire. I’m sorry to have missed this one.

Danger, as with so many other things here, is acceptable in the appropriate situation and circumstance.

Two Days in the Mountains

I had an amazing two days in the Northern Alps. I’d planned to stay for two nights and three days, but the forecast called for rain Sunday night and Monday, so I returned a day early. And sure enough, as I write this (Sunday evening), it’s just started to rain here in Nagano.

I’ve posted pictures from the trip — lots of beautiful fall colors starting to emerge in the mountains.

I left early Saturday morning, catching an 8:30 bus from Nagano station for the hour and a half trip to Ougisawa. The weather was perfect.

Heading For The Hills

Another glorious three-day weekend, and I’m getting out of town. I’ll be hiking and camping for all three days in the mountains northwest of Nagano.

For some fun, try running this page through the AltaVista translation engine. Sample translation:

You will securely take moisture replenishment. The dehydration and the thermal spasm et cetera it is seen. It is the carelessness powerful enemy.

Don't Worry, Everything's Fine

Nothing like hearing that a small country prone to earthquakes can’t maintain nuclear reactors correctly. What happens when the big earthquake hits?

Things are not good these days when it comes to safety at Japan’s nuclear power plants:

The reports of safety lapses, fraudulent repairs and cover-ups at Japan’s largest nuclear power company began with a trickle but have resounded into an industry nightmare.

The details, filled in over the last two weeks by one alarming report after another, show a potentially catastrophic pattern of cost-cutting along with 16 years of cover-ups of serious flaws, apparently in an effort to preserve public trust. The pattern includes the systematic falsification of inspection and repair records at 13 reactors at the company, Tokyo Electric, the world’s largest private electrical utility.

(From Antipixel, my favorite blog.)

Kidnapped Japanese

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a historic visit to North Korea today. During his one-day visit, North Korea finally admitted that it had abducted at least 11 Japanese nationals, and reported that only four of the 11 are still alive.

North Korea has also been accused of kidnapping thousands of South Koreans over the years.

Mt. Fuji

My luck with volcano visibility here in Japan hasn’t been good. First I climbed Asahi-dake in Hokkaido (tallest mountain on Hokkaido) without seeing anything through the clouds and rain. Now I’ve made it to the top of Mt. Fuji without seeing the famous view from the top (let alone much of anything along the way).

But the trip was still an adventure, including a 38-hour day with no sleep, law-breaking, beers for breakfast and a day at an amusement park directly after descending from the mountain. Needless to say, I needed a good night’s sleep when I finally returned to Nagano.

Strange Sightings

It’s strange enough to see foreigners here in Nagano. For the past two days, I’ve noticed a lot of gay men from abroad around town. Now I know why: Disney on Ice is in Nagano for a week.

Featured Food - Onigiri

Today’s featured food is a staple of fast-food life here. But this ain’t no greasy hamburger. For only ¥100, you get a tasty, healthy snack. Onigiri is a rice ball, usually filled with one ingredient and wrapped in seaweed. All convenience stores offer a large selection, ranging from ¥100 to ¥150 (one U.S. dollar is currently about ¥117). My favorite is the one with smoked salmon in the middle. The convenience store (“conbini”) versions are cleverly wrapped to prevent the seaweed from touching the rice until you unwrap it. This keeps the seaweed crisp and fresh.

I’ll be eating the one in the picture as soon as I post this.

Bad Hair Night

I had a dream last night of a hair cut gone bad. Somehow, I ended up with longer hair than when I started, and was a dead ringer for Dale Bozzio. I think it must be anxiety about going back to a salon here, where prices are high and communication is difficult. My last cut was decent, though, and on the bright side the scalp massage went on forever.

Modern Wheels

My faithful granny bike (given to me by the outgoing teacher) has been relegated to shopping duty only. I bought a used mountain bike this past week from a friend who is leaving the country. The frame is a bit small for me, but I can live with it. The bike was a bargain at ¥10,000 (about $85). This is my first bike with suspension. After all the bouncing and shaking on the old bucket of bolts, I now feel like I’m riding on air.

Roasting

Not a cloud in the sky. Current temperature—99 degrees. That’s 10 degrees hotter than it is in Tokyo, which is unusual. Time to head to the pool.

Perversely, there is a ban on the use of sunscreen products at swimming pools here. Part of the effort to keep the water pristine, I would imagine (clean water now—skin cancer later). It just means having to apply in advance.

Austin Powers Doesn't Translate

I paid $15 Saturday night to see Austin Powers at a local cinema. And the only laughter came from our group of English-speakers.

Seeing a movie at a theater is pretty expensive in Japan, and the venue quality here in Nagano leaves something to be desired. The theater looked something like a high school auditorium, and I’ve seen bigger screens in home entertainment systems. On the bright side, I was able to buy a beer at the snack counter.

How well does this sort of humor translate into Japanese? It doesn’t, judging by the audience response. No wonder there are no comedy sections at the local video stores.

Beyonce Knowles should get some kind of award for Leading Character with Zero Character. You can dress her up, but…

Mountains and Hospitals

Had a day of mountain biking in Hakuba on Saturday with Ben and Peter that ended with Peter in the hospital.

Hakuba is a small village at the base of the Japanese Alps, where ski jumping events were held during the 1998 Winter Olympics. It’s about 45 minutes from Nagano by car. There is some spectacular mountain scenery—it’s easy to see why the area was nicknamed the Japanese Alps. At one ski area, you can pay to take gondolas up a mountain with bikes, then ride down the trails.

Late in the afternoon, Peter took a bad jump and landed on his head, leaving him in a state of shock. He had to be taken by ambulance to a hospital in a town about 20 miles away. He wasn’t coherent until about three hours after the accident. There were no broken bones and a CAT scan showed no serious damage. But he’s staying at the hospital overnight for observation.

Trying to deal with language barriers in medical emergencies isn’t much fun, but everyone was very patient and helpful.

Dam Issues

A special election is scheduled for Sept. 1 in Nagano Prefecture (Nagano city is the seat of the regional government). Voters will elect a governor, and the likely winner will be the man who resigned just last month. The election is drawing interest from all over Japan, and is seen as a harbinger of the battle between reformers and the entrenched political establishment in this country.

The picture here is of Yasuo Tanaka, the reform governor who resigned last month after a no-confidence vote by the prefectural assembly. One of the main points of conflict between the governor and the assembly was whether a new dam should be built near Nagano city. The dam seems to have been one of the many pork-barrel construction projects for which Japan is infamous, and Tanaka angered many entrenched interests by blocking construction of the dam.

Tanaka was a famous writer in Japan before entering politics, and is something of a maverick. He is expected to be re-elected next week, thus gaining more leverage against his opponents in the assembly.

As the campaign draws to a close, the candidates and their supporters rely on bullhorns to help get their messages out. I’m woken up each morning by political speeches which sound like they’re coming from a loudspeaker right outside my window. In the evenings, during the after-work rush, I often have to speak louder in my classes to be heard above the noise.

Update (Sept. 04) — Tanaka won the election by a large margin.

Cooling Off

I’ve been getting exercise recently at a nice, 50-meter outdoor pool. It’s about a 15-minute bicycle ride from my apartment, and is rarely busy in the late mornings when I go. It’s usually a collection of young and old men. The old guys swim a couple laps, then get out to smoke a cigarette or two before jumping back in.

Nagano Weather

I’ve added a weather link on the side, with Yahoo Weather information for Nagano (sorry for the annoying pop-up ad). The latest weather info on Nagano seems to be at 4pm each day so it’s not updated very often. I’m still looking for a better source of local weather.

It continues to be hot and sunny every day. Whenever I look at the weather info on Yahoo, it seems cooler than it actually feels here. I arrive at work every day drenched in sweat. Having to wear the dress shirt and tie doesn’t help matters. I stopped wearing a suit jacket a long time ago. Considering the summer weather, it’s strange to think we’ll have lots of snow during the winter.

Quick Trip to the Big City

I took a work-related trip to Tokyo yesterday, just for the day. Travel time from Nagano is about an hour-and-a-half by Shinkansen (bullet train). Once in Tokyo, I took a local train to Shinjuku, and promptly lost my bearings upon exiting the station. I pride myself on having a good natural sense of direction, but Shinjuku is one of those places that doesn’t make any sense until you’ve experienced it repeatedly. I wished I’d had the compass I bought recently for hiking, just to figure out which way was north.

In Japan, maps posted in public aren’t oriented with the top facing north. They reflect whichever direction the viewer is facing while looking at the map. At first, this can be a bit confusing when you’re used to another standard. But when you don’t know which direction is which, it’s a big help. After some wandering and staring at maps, I found the way to my destination.

Heading home, I missed my scheduled Shinkansen, and my reserved seat. So I had to take the next train (only half-an-hour later), but without a reserved seat. This involved standing in a long line waiting to board, and relief at just barely getting a seat. Then came the horror of a hundred flicking lighters and billowing clouds of cigarette smoke. I’ve never seen visibility disappear so quickly. I grabbed my bag and fled the smoking car, barely able to see the door at the end of the car. So I was stuck standing in the reasonably clear air in the compartment between cars for half the trip home.

I arrived back in Nagano at 7:30, in time to teach one more class.

I’ll be returning to Tokyo tomorrow — work on Saturday and then some fun for the rest of the weekend.