I stayed local for my Golden Weekend. The farthest I could get was a midnight dash to the prefectural capitol for a barbecue that had already finished. I also made it out for a quick hike, but besides that it was a lot of sitting around with the other ALT types who didn't manage to get out of town. We watched movies. We drank beer. We went to the same old bar. Saw the same old folks.
Part of it is just simply a lack of planning, part of it is wanting to save money, but mainly I didn't want to lave town because we have a good friend who is leaving Japan on Friday for a working holiday in Australia. Nearly every person under 25 whom I've met in this town is preparing to leave this town. Mami already left for Canada (to be fair she's over 25). Mayumi is leaving for Australia. Misa is leaving for the UK. Maki may be leaving Australia later this year. For young people, especially the female types, the thing to do in Ise is leave Ise.
So anyway, I wanted to stay around to hang out with Mayumi. We're trying to put together her farewell dinner tonight.
At work now -- this week I only work today and tomorrow. Taking Friday off since my once-a-week school doesn't need me this week.
Bells are ringing -- time for class.
For some truly more interesting reading, check out friend Andrew's new travel blog:
http://sevenseparation.typepad.com/
He bought and fixed up a VW bus and he's driving it across the country; some zigging, a bit of zagging, and complete with a future-wife at the end of the road. Good stuff. Be sure to go back and read from the beginning. You'll be hooked.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
That's gold Jerry, gold!
Coming up in May is Golden Week, when Japan takes a collective break after the hectic fiscal year change-over period. Then, all at once, the Japanese people take to the trains, highways and airplanes.
Golden Week is not really a week off. And this year, it's just a four-day weekend, because one of the national holidays involved falls on a Saturday, which gets no make-up during the week because it's not technically a day off here (they used to go to school six days a week here, as we often heard about when the test score gap came up).
So we'll get a four-day weekend beginning Saturday, May 3. I haven't formed any big plans yet, which seems to be a theme for me and days off. I really would like to see some other areas of Japan. A visit to Hiroshima would be interesting. A trip to the northern island of Hokkaido, featuring Portland's sister city Sapporo, would be fun. Or I could pick an old standard like Kyoto, or try to see friends in Tokyo, or, failing to plan anything, I could wait around and hope the Ise crowd decides to do something.
It might actually be smarter to avoid major traveling during the Golden Four-day Weekend, since transport lines and hotels and things will probably be busy or booked. I can always save my own traveling for a less popular period, in the summer, when I can use paid holidays and take off when most people are still working.
For the record, in case you're interested, the holidays of Golden Week are the following:
Saturday, May 3 -- Constitution Memorial Day
Sunday, May 4 -- Green Day
Monday, May 5 -- Children's Day
Tuesday, May 6 -- Substitute holiday (because Children's Day falls on a Sunday
Originally I was imagining a six-day weekend for some lucky years, but it seems the most you can get out of Golden Week is a five-day weekend ... looking ahead at calendars for the next couple years, the dates of the holidays change, perhaps to avoid the six-day weekend I was imagining. Not sure.
Golden Week is not really a week off. And this year, it's just a four-day weekend, because one of the national holidays involved falls on a Saturday, which gets no make-up during the week because it's not technically a day off here (they used to go to school six days a week here, as we often heard about when the test score gap came up).
So we'll get a four-day weekend beginning Saturday, May 3. I haven't formed any big plans yet, which seems to be a theme for me and days off. I really would like to see some other areas of Japan. A visit to Hiroshima would be interesting. A trip to the northern island of Hokkaido, featuring Portland's sister city Sapporo, would be fun. Or I could pick an old standard like Kyoto, or try to see friends in Tokyo, or, failing to plan anything, I could wait around and hope the Ise crowd decides to do something.
It might actually be smarter to avoid major traveling during the Golden Four-day Weekend, since transport lines and hotels and things will probably be busy or booked. I can always save my own traveling for a less popular period, in the summer, when I can use paid holidays and take off when most people are still working.
For the record, in case you're interested, the holidays of Golden Week are the following:
Saturday, May 3 -- Constitution Memorial Day
Sunday, May 4 -- Green Day
Monday, May 5 -- Children's Day
Tuesday, May 6 -- Substitute holiday (because Children's Day falls on a Sunday
Originally I was imagining a six-day weekend for some lucky years, but it seems the most you can get out of Golden Week is a five-day weekend ... looking ahead at calendars for the next couple years, the dates of the holidays change, perhaps to avoid the six-day weekend I was imagining. Not sure.
A LAN-faced lie
Last summer, just after we arrived in Japan, we asked our then supervisor if we could hook up our laptop computers to the Internet, so we wouldn't tie up the public use computers as we tried to get through long days with no work to do.
I already knew the answer was yes, because our predecessors had mentioned in casual e-mails before we arrived that they had used computers with the Internet at their desk. So my query was less about a yes/no answer and more about starting the process of getting hooked up.
But my lawyerly approach backfired when the attorney for the defense opted to lie, telling us that we simply were not allowed to connect our own computers. That was that. I could have challenged him, but I had been warned that he could be difficult and I wanted to choose my battles.
Come the new year, our supervisor is transfered, a new one comes in. "Can we connect our computers to the Internet?"
"Yes, I think so. Let me ask the computer guy."
Two days later LAN cables are waiting on our desks.
New school year, new supervisor, hopefully less lying to our faces.
I already knew the answer was yes, because our predecessors had mentioned in casual e-mails before we arrived that they had used computers with the Internet at their desk. So my query was less about a yes/no answer and more about starting the process of getting hooked up.
But my lawyerly approach backfired when the attorney for the defense opted to lie, telling us that we simply were not allowed to connect our own computers. That was that. I could have challenged him, but I had been warned that he could be difficult and I wanted to choose my battles.
Come the new year, our supervisor is transfered, a new one comes in. "Can we connect our computers to the Internet?"
"Yes, I think so. Let me ask the computer guy."
Two days later LAN cables are waiting on our desks.
New school year, new supervisor, hopefully less lying to our faces.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
bbq photos
Here is a round of photos from our "hanami" cherry-blossom viewing bbq. It's hosted via Facebook but anyone can look even without a Facebook account.
Link
Friday, April 4, 2008
Oh Yeah, The Baseball Thing ... Drinking Under A Cherry Tree ... Octopus Balls, on a Sunday?
Perhaps you guessed based on my lack of a follow-up post on Koshien, but we lost the second game, 2-1 in extra innings, after a hard-fought contest that featured the same starting pitcher from Yamasho's previous outing going the distance. But all that is over now. Perhaps we can win the prefectural tourney this summer and return to the big stage.
But now, as I noted in previous posts, it's all about change. For me, that means a slightly more complicated schedule. Once a week (Fridays), instead of cycling to Yamasho, I'll cycle to Ise-shi station, park the bike, and ride a bus for half an hour to tiny little cove of a town called Watarai. I'll spend the day there team-teaching in four lessons before catching the bus home to start my weekend.
This is part of a mini-shake-up of Ise area ALTs. Previously, one ALT went to Watarai twice a week. Now, that ALT will be at Yamasho four days a week. A third ALT, who like me previously spent all his time at one school, will also pick up a day at Watarai.
So now the ALT line-up at Yamasho includes me, Sam and Nick, of Australia, who like us has been here since summer.
For now, the students are still on spring break, but the teachers (not so much the ALTs) are busily preparing for the start of a new school year next week.
I do have a few things to do, but since it amounts to only a couple hours worth of work, I do not plan to start it until, you know, I have a couple hours left.
Outside of school (in this case literally), it's cherry blossom time. Tomorrow I will embark on my first "hanami," or cherry-blossom-viewing party. Here, the tradition dictates that you go near some cheery blossoms (called "sakura") and drink a bunch of sake. Not sure if tomorrow's thing, which includes a couple ALTs and a teacher with his wife, will include drinking. On Sunday, the Nanaimo crowd is doing another hanami on a river-front park. That one will certainly involve drinking. Then, to keep the festive spirit alive, we will fall back on Nanaimo and eat octopus balls.
Don't fear. I do not mean octopus testicles, I mean taco-yaki. These are batter-based fried balls with octopus meat and other ingredients inside. Trust me. They're tasty.
But now, as I noted in previous posts, it's all about change. For me, that means a slightly more complicated schedule. Once a week (Fridays), instead of cycling to Yamasho, I'll cycle to Ise-shi station, park the bike, and ride a bus for half an hour to tiny little cove of a town called Watarai. I'll spend the day there team-teaching in four lessons before catching the bus home to start my weekend.
This is part of a mini-shake-up of Ise area ALTs. Previously, one ALT went to Watarai twice a week. Now, that ALT will be at Yamasho four days a week. A third ALT, who like me previously spent all his time at one school, will also pick up a day at Watarai.
So now the ALT line-up at Yamasho includes me, Sam and Nick, of Australia, who like us has been here since summer.
For now, the students are still on spring break, but the teachers (not so much the ALTs) are busily preparing for the start of a new school year next week.
I do have a few things to do, but since it amounts to only a couple hours worth of work, I do not plan to start it until, you know, I have a couple hours left.
Outside of school (in this case literally), it's cherry blossom time. Tomorrow I will embark on my first "hanami," or cherry-blossom-viewing party. Here, the tradition dictates that you go near some cheery blossoms (called "sakura") and drink a bunch of sake. Not sure if tomorrow's thing, which includes a couple ALTs and a teacher with his wife, will include drinking. On Sunday, the Nanaimo crowd is doing another hanami on a river-front park. That one will certainly involve drinking. Then, to keep the festive spirit alive, we will fall back on Nanaimo and eat octopus balls.
Don't fear. I do not mean octopus testicles, I mean taco-yaki. These are batter-based fried balls with octopus meat and other ingredients inside. Trust me. They're tasty.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Koshien: Take Two
It is 8 p.m. Saturday and I'm about to head up to Yamasho to get ready to head into Osaka/Kobe for our second game in the tourney. Sounds like we drive part way to a massive rest area (rest areas in Japan are full fledged operations with stores and stuff). We'll "sleep" on the buses while parked, until heading off again in the early morning. The game is set for 9. Rain is threatening. It will be a severe disappointment if after all this weird scheduling the game is delayed. Let's hope the rain takes it easy.
I'm off!
I'm off!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Nice Catch!
Video of the awesome bottom-half of the ninth inning:
click
The announcer guy is confused at the end ... he thought it was a nice catch ... but it was only almost a nice catch.
click
The announcer guy is confused at the end ... he thought it was a nice catch ... but it was only almost a nice catch.
Color me Green
From the beginning, they had us beat in terms of who was more purple.
Our opponents, the Purple Squad from Chiba Prefecture, also started things out right with a solo shot over the left field fence to go up 1-0 on the second pitch.
They quickly added two more in the following frames, and things looked bleak for Yamasho in the single-elimination tournament.
But then in the bottom of the eighth inning we managed a score, 3-1, Yamasho rallying.
Only one, though.
But ever since those three early runs, Yamsho's defense and pitching was stellar. The Purple Fighters' early hitting surge leveled off. Their defense, meanwhile, chimed in with four errors.
Then came the bottom of the ninth. Base hit. Base hit. Base hit. Tie game. One out. Base hit. Game over.
Sorry for the lack of dramatics, but that was how it went. And being me, without a roster, so far away in the cheering section with the obstructed view, I couldn't tell you right now who hit that final shot that made it 3-4 in favor of Yamasho.
But I do know the pitcher:
He was in one of my once-a-week classes during the school-year. One of the lower-level English-speaking classes. But in every class, without fail, his voice carried over all the rest. Always smiling, if not nodding off. But clearly today he was on, smiling, and throwing some serious stuff at the Purple Peddlers.
Thank goodness we were in Hot Green.
(a note about the colors: for some reasons, the cheering sections of school clubs in Japan do not match the actual colors of the teams on the field or court or whatever ... our "school color" is neon/hot green, but the players uniforms are white with blue writing. The other team's cheering section was purple, but so was the writing on their jerseys.)
Our opponents, the Purple Squad from Chiba Prefecture, also started things out right with a solo shot over the left field fence to go up 1-0 on the second pitch.
They quickly added two more in the following frames, and things looked bleak for Yamasho in the single-elimination tournament.
But then in the bottom of the eighth inning we managed a score, 3-1, Yamasho rallying.
Only one, though.
But ever since those three early runs, Yamsho's defense and pitching was stellar. The Purple Fighters' early hitting surge leveled off. Their defense, meanwhile, chimed in with four errors.
Then came the bottom of the ninth. Base hit. Base hit. Base hit. Tie game. One out. Base hit. Game over.
Sorry for the lack of dramatics, but that was how it went. And being me, without a roster, so far away in the cheering section with the obstructed view, I couldn't tell you right now who hit that final shot that made it 3-4 in favor of Yamasho.
But I do know the pitcher:
He was in one of my once-a-week classes during the school-year. One of the lower-level English-speaking classes. But in every class, without fail, his voice carried over all the rest. Always smiling, if not nodding off. But clearly today he was on, smiling, and throwing some serious stuff at the Purple Peddlers.
Thank goodness we were in Hot Green.
(a note about the colors: for some reasons, the cheering sections of school clubs in Japan do not match the actual colors of the teams on the field or court or whatever ... our "school color" is neon/hot green, but the players uniforms are white with blue writing. The other team's cheering section was purple, but so was the writing on their jerseys.)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
He's not a pitcher, he's a ... wait, yes, in fact, he is a pitcher. Excuse me.
Yesterday, before the school-year-ending ceremony, students and staff gathered in the gym to practice the pre-planned set of cheers to be dispatched during Yamasho's opening game tomorrow at the spring national high school baseball tournament, known generally as "Koshien."
Koshien, which has a summer version as well, is a major deal, with national media attention and live television broadcast.
In what was perhaps a bit of accidental foreshadowing, I attended a day of the Koshien tournament in 2003 when I was just visiting Japan. That summer, as it happened, Yamasho was in the tournament, though at the time I was unaware of any alleged "Mie Prefecture."
So in the summer of 2003, and again in the summer of 2007 just after I arrived in Ise, I was able to experience the organized craze that is high school baseball in Japan.
What struck me most originally was the organized and civil nature of the cheering sections. For an American, cheering on your team is about making noise, shouting insults, or in high school student sections, coming up with clever cheers or personal attacks.
In Japan, by contrast, the cheering routine is rehearsed and polite. When our team comes up to bat tomorrow, our student section will rise and offer a cheer song, backed up by the school band, a group of "cheer girls" in the usual cheerleader uniforms and a unit of "cheer guys." The guys seem to be the leaders while the girls focus on dancing and pom-pom control. I should also point out that these guys and gals have rehearsed dance moves to go along with the cheers, which they do without any apparent embarrassment (I have not found a Japanese person who cannot dance, if pressed; it seems to be a highly respectable thing to be able to do).
When the other team is up to bat, despite better logic, we sit quietly, showing respect to the other team. Meanwhile, that team's cheering section, located across the big league ballpark, stands at attention.
There is no unfounded but widely accepted belief that the opposing team's pitcher may be, in fact, a belly itcher. In addition, no one, at any time, asserts that the umpire should submit to a previously unscheduled eye examination. (Or perhaps in deference to maintaining the harmony of social relations, such suspicions go unsaid.) To the American baseball fan, these facts are difficult to understand.
So here I am, the day before the big game, and I am not, despite instincts, coming up with a clever ESPN acronym to try to get on TV. Instead, I'll have to hop that the camera men take a liking to our cheer girls or our neon green trucker hats with the school name across the top. Or, in an attempt at internationalization, I could probably get on TV by introducing to Japan the U.S. sports tradition of streaking through the outfield.
Koshien, which has a summer version as well, is a major deal, with national media attention and live television broadcast.
In what was perhaps a bit of accidental foreshadowing, I attended a day of the Koshien tournament in 2003 when I was just visiting Japan. That summer, as it happened, Yamasho was in the tournament, though at the time I was unaware of any alleged "Mie Prefecture."
So in the summer of 2003, and again in the summer of 2007 just after I arrived in Ise, I was able to experience the organized craze that is high school baseball in Japan.
What struck me most originally was the organized and civil nature of the cheering sections. For an American, cheering on your team is about making noise, shouting insults, or in high school student sections, coming up with clever cheers or personal attacks.
In Japan, by contrast, the cheering routine is rehearsed and polite. When our team comes up to bat tomorrow, our student section will rise and offer a cheer song, backed up by the school band, a group of "cheer girls" in the usual cheerleader uniforms and a unit of "cheer guys." The guys seem to be the leaders while the girls focus on dancing and pom-pom control. I should also point out that these guys and gals have rehearsed dance moves to go along with the cheers, which they do without any apparent embarrassment (I have not found a Japanese person who cannot dance, if pressed; it seems to be a highly respectable thing to be able to do).
When the other team is up to bat, despite better logic, we sit quietly, showing respect to the other team. Meanwhile, that team's cheering section, located across the big league ballpark, stands at attention.
There is no unfounded but widely accepted belief that the opposing team's pitcher may be, in fact, a belly itcher. In addition, no one, at any time, asserts that the umpire should submit to a previously unscheduled eye examination. (Or perhaps in deference to maintaining the harmony of social relations, such suspicions go unsaid.) To the American baseball fan, these facts are difficult to understand.
So here I am, the day before the big game, and I am not, despite instincts, coming up with a clever ESPN acronym to try to get on TV. Instead, I'll have to hop that the camera men take a liking to our cheer girls or our neon green trucker hats with the school name across the top. Or, in an attempt at internationalization, I could probably get on TV by introducing to Japan the U.S. sports tradition of streaking through the outfield.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
some words
This has been a Sunday afternoon of nothing-ness. I cycled to the convenience store for a snack. I download-rented "Michael Clayton" via iTunes (haven't watched it yet). Back to workless work tomorrow -- the students have already stopped regular school for the term. Final tests are over. Closing ceremony this week, then spring break for the students. Unlike in the U.S., spring break is not so break-y for staff. We still must report to work or use paid holiday ... which I'd prefer to save for a time when I have some kind of plan. So I go to work with nothing to do and do nothing. It's painful. But at least we can sneak out a little early and enjoy our free time with the weather turning nice (minus the rain, but I'm kinda used to that). That is all.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Here we gooooo
Shortly, I shall leave my apartment in Ise, eventually getting to the airport, boarding a plane and, strangely, on this Friday morning, flying into Friday half-way around the world.
See you there.
See you there.
Soap Box
So in Times Square a bomb goes off at a military recruiting station. A small one. Anyway, the word is that they think it was not an act of terrorism.
What?
A bomb is not "terrorism" ?
What they mean is that it wasn't an extremist Muslim, right?
Can't we agree that terrorism is terrorism regardless of reason or race or religion?
What?
A bomb is not "terrorism" ?
What they mean is that it wasn't an extremist Muslim, right?
Can't we agree that terrorism is terrorism regardless of reason or race or religion?
Monday, March 3, 2008
snapshot
This tiny, grainy picture, courtesy of Yamasho's home page, shows the students filing in for graduation on Saturday. You may be able to spot a few people featuring non-black hair. That would be me in the middle with Sam on my right and former Yamasho ALT Pam on my left. That is the chair in which I sat for the ceremony, except for the parts when I stood and bowed.
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