Blog

Last days in Kakamigahara

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 23:42:12 +0900

Actually, we have already moved. We arrived in Shizuoka yesterday. But I was going through some pictures and saw photos I took on the second last day in Gifu... the sunset was especially spectacular.

Actually, in Japan, there are many bats everywhere - at least out in the countryside. They come out around sunset and scoop up the insects. I see them coming out every night, so I brought my video camera to catch them feeding over the rice fields. I got some really great shots, so when I have time I will post them here on YouTube and on this website..!

We’re both really sad to be leaving Gifu so fast, but I do look forward to experiencing a different prefecture and all it has to offer...

Rainy season’s for real!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:20:28 +0900

I read all about Japan before I came here. I read things that I just couldn’t believe. Like... “Yeah, it was so humid, I was wet within minutes after taking a shower” , or, “During rainy season it rained for a month straight” , or, “I washed the dishes last night, and more than 24 hours later, they are still on the dish rack, wet” , or, “I can only use each bath towel once, because things don’t get dry here and they start smelling”.

I didn’t believe any of it. I was wrong.

Yes it is so humid that, literally, after I take a shower and dry off, I start sweating while getting dressed. And yes, it has been raining for a month straight (with just a handful exceptions). And yes, humidity is about 80%, and it’s usually warmer than 30 degrees, including night. Yes, I have witnessed 37 degrees (104 degrees F) in my apartment. Yes, I did the dishes last night, and 24 hours later everything is still wet. And yes, my bath towel is permanently soaked so I can only use it once before it starts smelling moldy.

This is rainy season, and somehow I didn’t really believe it would be like this, even I had heard and read all about it. I love Japan, but man, I hope it will stop raining soon. I want dry dishes, dry towels, and I don’t want to sweat while I’m teaching my students!

Weekend Trip to Fuji

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:24:32 +0900

Some photos from my recent trip to Fuji: Fuji with Satoshi and Johnny

Cherry Blossoms

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:32:02 +0900

All of Japan gets massively excited every year, when the Cherry Blossoms arrive. By now , they are gone around our neighbourhood, but still just beginning to bloom further north.

We went to festivals in our neighbourhood, had a Sakura party in the park, drove through the mountains, and did a 5-day trip through southern Honshu. March-April have been one of my best and by far the busiest months in Japan...

Here are some pictures: Cherry Blossom Time

It’s almost time for cherry blossoms

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:17:25 +0900

The cherry blossoms are already peeking out... and on April 3/4th are the spring festivals here in Kakamigahara. I want to organize a BBQ to get together and celebrate the arrival of spring, Japanese style.

Burning the mountain

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 18:20:30 +0900

It is said that the burning of the mountain is in memory of the wars that ravaged these regions in the past. Back then, the people decided to set an entire mountain on fire to remember these wars.

For this purpose, a large section of a rather small mountain is tended to all-year round to produce a dry yield that can be set on fire during the cold winter month of February.

We left Gifu around 11 in the morning and boarded our bus at the train station. This is our first bus tour in Japan!

We arrived three hours later in Nara, a city near Kyoto, which is very famous for its temples. We already visited ‘the world’s largest wooden structure’ and the ‘big buddah’ it contains two years ago, so we opted to explore the surrounding temples.

Nara is also famous for the deers which live on the temple grounds. There were monks praying to the deer - we weren’t sure what they were doing. Perhaps thanking the deer and wishing them a happy new year.

We also came across this bell - Ayano read that it weights 60,000 tons, although she may have not translated correctly. 6,000 sounds more likely. Either way, it’s friggin enormous.

I bought Ayano a mini-lantern from the temple store - it represents good luck.

Some nice roof shingles...

After going to a restaurant with many, many, many, MANY other people from what seemed to be many, many, MANY bus tours, we walked to the park to watch the mountain light up. It was freezing, and we were hoping the fire would help warm us up, but we were way too far away. The plum wine did help a bit, though.

I love Cash

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:33:50 +0900

Cash is most definitely one of the reasons I love Japan. Not because I have lots of it, but because paying for things using paper is soooo easy.

I usually carry 40,000 in my pocket most days. That’s about $400. Crazy? No... it’s really normal. People in Japan don use credit cards, and even if they use credit cards these are set up to withdraw from your bank account immediately. So, everyone has a certain amount of cash in their pockets all the time to pay for things unexpected. You wouldn’t want to be caught with too little money in your pocket when your boss asks you to go drinking after work. Most banks close at 5pm here, and usually bank machines close when the bank closes. That would be 5pm also.

Anyway, back to why I love cash in Japan. It is because cash is so widely used, that I can use my 10,000 yen bills ($100 bills) to pay for anything. Today was my payday, and I went to get some cash from the machine - of course the machine dispensed all 10,000 yen bills. On the way home I dropped by the Convenience store to buy a coke - about 120 yen ($1.20) and paid with the large bill straight up. It’s perfectly normal here - no weird looks, no confused sales clerk, no sign saying “We do not accept 10,000 yen bills. Sorry for the inconvenience”.

Can you imagine paying with a $100 bill in Canada? I cannot remember the last time I’ve seen a $100 bill. Not even Futureshop will accept $100 bills to pay for products worth hundreds of dollars. Sure, counterfeit bills exist here, but it’s still a cash society.

Cash is so... easy and uncomplicated. That’s why I love cash here.

Himeji...

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 16:48:29 +0900

... is arguably the most famous castle in Japan. It is like the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany (you know.. the one in the Disney logo).

During the holidays there is a special train ticket called the 18 Kippu (ju-hachi-kippu), which gives you one full day of unlimited local and express rail travel through Japan. It’s not valid for the bullet train - just the local JR rail, which means you can take the commuter-type trains rather than the airplane-like Shinkansen. But - going as far as you want with any number of stops along the way for 24 hours for about $25 is quite the deal. So the trip from Gifu to Himeji took about 3 and a half hours, which is quite reasonable. We slept through most of it anyways, especially on the way back.

Can you see Himeji in the background?? It’s definitely the largest Japanese castle I have ever seen.
Looks close, doesn’t it? From this point it takes about an hour to make it to the top of the keep. At least!

It takes quite a long time to walk there - because
of its size it seems fairly close, but looks are
deceiving.

After crossing the moat, there are
various levels of courtyards, gardens, walls,
walkways and many many many gates.

The whole castle is designed to be particularly
difficult to attack on foot. The main tower is surrounded
by all kinds of mazes and walks, which were
designed to make the attackers as vulnerable as
possible on their way to the keep. For example,
these stairs on the right are all of different size, and
are spaced at irregular intervals to force any
attackers to look at their feet while running up, all while
being attacked from above.
There were crazy gates which, once forced open,
were actually hallways with defenders hidden in the
ceiling to cut any intruders from the top as they
pass. Cruel. We made it through alright though.

Because the castle is a symbol of power, and a defensive structure, it was never inhabited. So.. the inside is pretty lacking. Other than some old samurai armour and rifles, it’s all stairs and wood. Beware - it’s pretty cold in the winter and you can’t wear your shoes inside the castle. The wooden floor is coooold, and with only plastic splippers on your feet, it won’t be long until you cannot feel your toes any more. Trust me, bring thick socks.

On the way back, we stopped in Osaka and had some of my favourite Japanese food - yes, Okonomiyaki! Yummie.

It's finally starting to feel like fall

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 18:58:37 +0900

Yes... it’s getting cold. The air feels crisp in the morning and at night, and it’s chilly inside the apartment. Thankfully we have the Kotatsu table. Without it, I would... ah, I don’t want to think about it. It’s cold.

The humidity does weird things here. Our windows are constantly wet from the inside, only when the sun shines do things dry off. Every day we have to turn around our futon, because moisture has accumulated over night. The other morning, condensation in the bedroom window had formed small puddles of water in the window frame.

Stay tuned for more coldness..!

Hiroshima trip (Michael’s birthday)

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:47:12 +0900

I bought myself a new camera which was on sale - down from about 1,200 to less than 400 dollars. The model is already a year and half old, but still very recent, especially when it comes to high-end cameras. Thanks to mom and dad for their birthday $$’s which I used to buy a part of this camera. And along with the camera theme, Ayano gave me a camera bag for my birthday, so I was perfectly outfitted for our surprise trip to Hiroshima.

Ayano couldn’t decide on the birthday cake, so she bought five slices of five different cakes... how typical! All of them tasted great, although we didn’t finish the last piece until two days later... it was a lot of cake to eat!

It was a long weekend, so we took the Nozomi Shinkansen from Nagoya to Hiroshima. It’s about 8 hours, or 560km by car. But on the Nozomi, it took us just two and a half hours. We were in Hiroshima by 10am... :)

We tried to check in early, and somehow at the check-in counter we were offered to stay in the $700 ‘suite’ for an extra $60. Of course, we said yes! The hotel room was amazing!

We visited the A-bomb dome and a park for memorial of the atomic bomb victims. It was a weird start to the trip, somehow we felt a bit down, but it was great to see this part of history!

For lunch we had Okonomiyaki - my favourite Japanese food - which Hiroshima is famous for. There are a few buildings in downtown that contain ONLY Okonomiyaki restaurants from top to bottom, four or five floors high with 7 or 8 restaurants (or more) per floor! We went to one which was recommended to us by the hotel staff. The food was amazing, and the atmosphere even better. We sat at a long counter; in front of us the staff were cooking Okonomiyaki, and we ate directly from the stove. I can’t get enough of this food..... yummmiie!

We made it back to the hotel to enjoy the sunset, and spent the rest of the night at a nearby Izakaya to have some local seafood and drinks

On Tuesday, clouds started rolling in, and we visited Miyajima island bright and early. Miyajima is famous its temple which has a huge gate built is in the sea a few hundred meters from the shoreline. During low tide you can walk to the gate, and during high tide the temple essentially stands on water (think, Venice). We arrived near high tide, I am happy we did as I wanted to see the gate surrounded by water.

On the way off the island, we stopped to eat some local Oysters which were being farmed in the straight between Miyajima Island and the mainland. They were soooo fresh, and delicious...