An update

The Osaka trip redeemed itself, mainly in the form of Mexican food at Osaka's El Pancho restaurant the day after the USJ adventure.

Oh, I should also mention that we went to Costco. There are a few Costco outlets scattered around Japan, and they look exactly like their U.S. counterparts, down to the products and store layout.

When we arrived by train and taxi in the early afternoon, there was a 20 minute wait to sign up for membership (roughly $40 for a year). We then were set loose in a jam packed store -- think holiday weekend at peak hours -- for about an hour and a half.

We didn't have a car, so we couldn't fill a cart full of wonderfulness. Also we couldn't really do things that needed to stay cool.

I bought a huge container of Picante sauce, a 20-pack of flour tortillas, a small pack of beef jerky, and a some onion and cheese bagels. It all fit nicely into my backpack, but that meant for a heavy bag to heave around train stations.

Hopefully we can head back to Costco again some other month, but this time by car, so we can load up on more items and perhaps even take orders from friends.

I gave away half the bagels, and my half is long gone. We used 10 of the tortillas at a bbq/burrito party, and the other 10 are nearly gone from my fridge. The jerky went fast during a night out at the bar.

Meanwhile, the winter holiday season approaches, and I need to start thinking about plans now. I was in Oregon as recently as June, though I was busy with the Canfield-Nealon wedding. Then I hit Hawaii in August. So I'm strongly leaning toward staying out of the U.S. this Christmas.

I might instead hit the slopes of Nagano. There are a few others already talking about putting together a trip, and it would be nice to see if I can still ski after a several-year break.

Other options include an even wintry-er destination: Japan's northern-most island of Hokkaido.

Still undecided. And I guess it's possible the U.S. could slip in there. Oregon? New York? Money?

Hollywood Dreaming

I report this morning from Osaka, in fact, in the middle of Osaka. Yesterday I went to Universal Studios Japan, referred to here as USJ.

I should note that it is the middle of a 5-day weekend. Three national holidays aligned themselves to make a mini-vacation in the summer-heads-toward-fall period of late September.

Needless to say, USJ wasp packed.

We managed to ride only one real attraction, a rollar coaster called Hollywood Dreams. The wait was more than 2 hours.

Meanwhile, the mass of people walking around the park, in the still-summer heat and Osaka humidity, were naturally thirsty. But vending machines at USJ are scarce. Seems they'd rather have you wait in line for an hour to get a drink and why-not-a-meal at one of the theme park restaurants.

This next (last for now) picture might not mean much to those outside Japan, but this country is loaded with vending machines. They usually look like the one in this picture, except for the red light shining beneath every beverage. That means that all the drinks are gone. Yes. All of them. This was at 6 p.m. Four hours to closing time. It was never re-filled.

The Earliar In The Night Show with Jay Leno

Thanks to the Internet and its pirates, I watched the first episode of the new Jay Leno show, NBC's consolation prize/cheaper-than-a-drama 10 p.m. hour of something allegedly "new."

Instead it was the same old Jay. The trappings of The Tonight Show morphed into something that felt 1990s. The musical backupled by the same laughing leader, renamed "The Prime Time Band." The same burst of energy from back stage flowing into the same handshake affair the faux host Larry Sanders once comically tried in an effort to boost his ratings.

As for the conent, its much the same too, with an opening monolouge that was as strong as you'd expect when it draws from three months of material. Leno himself was energetic and appeared in his element. But the comedy bits fell flat. Kanye was there, too, apologizing again, and garnaring more headlines and angles for Jay's debut. Jerry Seinfeld, in a tux, was funny as you'd expect, and his bit-within-a-bit featuring Oprah was perhaps the comedic climax of the program.

But judging from Day 1, the new show hardly deserves the "new" designation. As he expands his roster of guest comedians in skits, and perhaps follows up on stated plans to give the mic to up and coming stand-ups, maybe the show can find a niche. But I imagine the Leno niche -- already established from his days with The Tonight Show -- won't be seeing a major shift at all.

The Swine and the Surgical Mask

Swine Flu is making its way through my school this week, with one 40-student homeroom on a 3-day leave because the virus was spreading rapidly. A few other cases from other classes, all second-years (juniors), have been reported.

I came down with a bug last week, manifesting as a sore throat early in the week. Out of an abundance of caution (haha) I stayed home on Wednesday. It didn't get any worse so I returned to a normal schedule. As usual the sore throat shifted to sinus pressure and then some sneezing (this time only about three sneezes in total) and then it faded to nothing in time for the weekend.

Not Swine Flu.

But I guess there is a fair chance I will catch it, working in a school. Many students and staff around here are wearing what we call surgical masks as a preventive measure. Fortunately they also pressing more logical prevention techniques such as thorough hand-washing and sneeze-etiquette, as well as keeping the known sick kids at home.

I am trying to remember to wash my hands more often, and I need to get in the habit of bringing my own hand towel.There are no paper towels and hand-dryers in the bathrooms here, just a single towel than I guess they think everyone should use. On top of that there isn't always soap in Japanese bathrooms, even at schools.

The Swine Flu fear has changed this a bit, in the form of more readily available soap.

A rather flat post, but I wanted to try to keep blogging after that rush of posts the other week. I will try to keep it up from now on as well.

I want my money back

Here now, is a weekend wrap-up:

On Friday, mainly I lost money.

Well that wasn't the plan, but a post barbecue trip to the bar led to an impromptu 3-person poker game, a tournament-style hold-em bout that I failed to win.

Here is the money (roughly $30) in the original pot.


I lost. Then I tried to buy back in. Then, I lost again ... to this guy, on the left, who informs me his winning on Friday led to more winning in a much larger Saturday-night game.


The barbecue was a nice little get together at Sean's place (Sean being the Guy On The Left Who Took My Money). Nice burgers, made nicer with the kick from some Huy Fong Sriracha. Now that I think about it, I left my Sriracha at Sean's too. He takes everything.

On Saturday I headed for Nagoya. I picked up an application for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which I plan to take in December to prove that I am kinda OK at Japanese but not as good as I probably should be after 2.5 years.

Then I went with a friend to the Port of Nagoya, where we toured an old scientific-explorer ship-converted-into-a-museum. More on that in a later post, perhaps.

After looking around the port area, it was time for a dinner of Indian curry.



Overall, a nice weekend. Some stats:

Money lost: $20
Mannequins of Japanese scientists on a ship-museum posed with: 3
Spiciness level: moderate to high

That's all for now.

sketched

Many of our students are talented artists. Often, as English Club winds down, these students flock to the white board and begin sketching. Popular choices are sometimes interesting takes on characters like Doraemon, Hello Kitty or others. Occasionally we ALTs become the targets as well.

Here is a caricature done by a second-year student we call Oku-Rina. I think it captures me well.

Map My Run

As noted a few posts back, before all that food and sight-seeing stuff, I'm attempting to put some more exercise into my routine. Last week was solid, but it didn't take off beyond the 6-mile run and the single gym trip.

Needless to say the weekend went by without any further exercise besides plenty of walking around the tourist spots of Ise.

This evening Annette and I headed out for a run after dark, so we headed through the city instead of out toward the bay like last week. We also planned to cut the distance in roughly half.

We followed a path I've taken before, along the Seta River toward the city center, and then back again. I like the route because there's not much traffic and it's expandable if you feel like going farther up the river.

I signed up for a website -- www.mapmyrun.com -- which does just that. Below is a look at today's run (let me know if you can't see it). We actually stopped running right at the 3-mile mark, though we didn't know that at the time. A quick cool-down walk and we were home again.

A nice, quick, and mostly painless run. New goal: repeat or build upon the effort tomorrow.

Foodstuffs

Lots of Japanese women have blogs on which they mainly write about to post photos of what they've been eating or making. Am I turning into a Japanese woman?

Last night, our usual bar Nanaimo hosted a takoyaki party. Takoyaki is another dish most famous for being Osaka fare, but like okonomiyaki it's popular throughout the country. In this case, there's a similar batter base and the same put-in-what-you-like process for ingredients.

The main difference is the shape -- in this case little balls. The tako in takoyaki means octopus, as this is the most prevalent filler. But you could really add anything. Last night we used quail egg, cheese, pork, kimchee in addition to the octopus.

The picture above shows me helping prepare the takoyaki. I was perched there for a couple hours straight trying my hardest not to screw up the food that paying customers would attempt to enjoy.

The key is a fast spinning motion around the outside of the forging ball. Attacking too soon can mess things up. Or being a silly a foreigner. I had moments of glory, but there were those other moments too.

And also, I had beer.

Today I opted for a lighter dinner, leading to a salad. I had only tomato, cucumber and some bacon to work with. I got the bacon to ultra-crispy mode and chopped it up into bits, then threw this in with the chopped veggies and added an onion-flavored dressing. It was pretty good.


But a couple hours later I was hungry again. So I made up some pasta with a spicy meat sauce to serve as a second course for dinner and also as tomorrow's lunch at work.

To spice up the regular store-bought tomato pasta sauce, I added a mixture of sirracha chili sauce and the aforementioned onion dressing. Very tasty. Perfect amount of spice. In fact I might have to break into the fridge and have a litttttle bit more.

Okonomiyaki

The previous post mentioned the pancake-like dish called okonomiyaki.

A little background. Okonomi means "what you like" and "yaki" means to cook or grill. So the idea is you add whatever ingredients you like to a basic pancake-like batter, top it with a sauce, mayonaise and more and then eat. This is one of the signature dishes of Osaka, but it's available and popular all over Japan. (Wikipedia for the hard facts.)

In Osaka city, there are many okonomiyaki shops around. In Ise, there's a nice little shop just down the road from my place. At this shop, like at many, you can have the staff do the prep and cooking or you can do it yourself at your table/grill.

In the past, eating with fellow foreigners who often forge a collective aversion to culture, I have opted to let the professionals do the dirty work. But on this occasion, with a Japanese friend, it was a chance to try for myself.

Here is where it all begins for the customer. The big bowl has the batter and some toppings, including the pork. My kimchee is off to the side.

The Mom (appears to be a Mom and Pop operation) told us to mix up the contents of the big bowl, pour half onto the grill, add the main ingredient(s), pour on the rest of the mix, and then begin the grilling.

Here is mine in the early stages of grilling. It may be hard to gauge how big it is, but picture it as a two-spatula situation.

After a few minutes, when the underside begins to solidify, it's time to flip. First I watched Mai handle hers with the grace expected of a local. She slid in the two metal spatulas and sent the unit up and over itself, landing it perfectly in the same right-center spot it had been before.

My turn. What I lack in grace I make up for instincts, so when my flip went awry, sending the disc of goodness onto the rear quadrant of the grill, I tried to use the spatulas to pull it back to the center. Oops. Some of the ingredients came out, but the disc stayed put. The result -- the salvage, really -- was the birth of what I call the okonomi-baby.

But all in all my cooking experience was good. The final product looked decent, though not as good as its natively-engineered counterpart.

If you want to try this at home, which could be fun, try an online recipie. Here's one from About.com, although I of course cannot personally vouch for it. You can probably subsitute or omit a lot of the topping ideas (fish flakses, for example). One could have of fun trying different fillings and toppings (sirracha!).

Ise, toured

On Saturday, a friend from Nagoya came down to Ise to visit. Ise's a small town but a big tourist draw because of the Ise Grand Shrines, which are very important to the Shinto faith. Near the main shrine there's a traditional shopping district called Okage-yokocho. There you can buy gifts both cheap and not, eat a variety of foods and snacks, and mainly, you can enjoy a bustling atmosphere that Ise cannot offer anywhere else.

My friend, Mai, had been to the shrine once as a child but she didn't remember at all. So that meant I got to play host and show her around. The first stop was lunch. The Okage-yokocho area has a wealth of restaurants. We opted for one with reasonable prices and a short wait. Many shops in the area offer "Ise-udon" as a local specialty. This video explains, roughly, what makes Ise udon different from regular udon.

This picture shows my dish, curry-Ise-udon. The challenge is not getting curry-colored stains on your shirt.


And here's me posing for a photo in the restaurant.


And now that The Hair is on display here, let's take a closer look.


After lunch we went to walk through the shrine area. The idea is to go up to the shrine and pray, but the payoff at this shrine is the surroundings. Namely, trees. Big ones. And some other stuff. Take a look.


There's also a river flowing through the shrine grounds. As the Oregon Trail computer game might inform you, it's looking rather tranquil.


And here is the visitor herself.


And some more scenery.



After heading up to the alter at the shrine (photos forbidden) and praying, we headed back out to Okage-yokocho for a bit more looking around.

The first thing to catch our eyes was a cat who was zonked out. We think maybe the beer is to blame.


Then we decided to join the throngs of people all seeking to enjoy the soothing refreshment of Akafuku company shave ice with sweet bean paste inside. Right.

Akafuku is a local company founded in 1707 that is famous for its mochi (rice cake) snack. In the summer, they have a green-tea flavored shave ice with a sweet-bean-paste filling. It's ... pretty good. But you have to re-wire your conception of shave ice a little bit to enjoy the tea flavor. It's wildly popular. We had to wait about 10 minutes to get ours, and they were cycling through the customer number cards at top speed.


When showing a new person around Ise, the next stop after the shrine and Okage-yokocho is the Futami Wedded Rocks, known in Japanese as Meotoiwa. From the shrine, it's about 15 to 20 minutes away by bus. The rocks, said to be husband and wife, sit just off the shore in the Ise Bay. It really isn't much to see, and the rocks themselves aren't that impressive. I'm way more impressed by the variety of frog statues.

Here's a couple shots from there.


We then lucked out and caught a bus back to town with a minute to spare (they only head out once an hour). For dinner we went for okonomi-yaki. The Japanese like to call this "Japanese pizza" but it's really more comparable to a pancake into which you put in all kinds of delicious fillings. I had kimichee and pork while Mai had mochi-cheese. Hers was way better.

(photos to come ... technical difficulties)

And that's the story. It can be fun to be a tourist in your own town. Perhaps you can relate. Back in Pendleton I always though I should try that Underground Tours thing, but I never did. What home town touristy thing do you like? And which ones suck?

Have beer will jog

I was decent, as a basketball player, on that freshman team at Mac-Hi. Voted most improved player. Best defensive player. Averaged 2 points a game. Never mind that last part.

But in those days I was kinda quick and athletic.

This was before I met beer.

I turned 17 one day, and beer has been with me ever since. It stays with me, in the form of a belly, which I keep under wraps at all times, hidden behind the concealing powers of collared shirts.

Four -- OK, five -- years of college later, and it's evident that I spent more time in the pub than the gym. After two years in Japan, where people like me love pointing out that drinking is "part of the culture," I haven't done much to change my ways.

To be fair, the amount of physical activity in my daily routine has increased significantly in Japan, where I get around on a used bicycle instead of behind of the wheel of a used car. And now that I no longer live out of Snell Hall and the nearby fast food eateries, my food habits have mostly improved.

I have lost some weight -- you can see it in the lines of my face, but I don't actually measure -- since coming to Japan. But nothing substantial.

And it goes back and forth here. I don't have to weigh myself, I just encounter Japanese friends. Here it's routine for friends and acquaintances to casually comment on another person's weight status. This isn't considered rude or a taboo subject, but almost like a greeting.

"Oh, hey Steve, it's been a while, have you lost weight?" Maybe we can relate, but only when we're buttering people up (Steve, to be fair, has been laying off the butter). In Japan, they're serious. They say that if they think you've lost weight. Or if things look like they've been going the other way, they're equally blunt: "Steve, did you gain weight?" Their tone is sometimes grave, as in, "Steve, whoa buddy, you've put on some pounds there, don't you realize we're all paying for your health care collectively? Lay off the bear claws or the appropriate cultural substitute in this context."

This week has been a high point, though, in my physical activity lifespan. Yesterday I hit the gym and did some moderate lifting and 30 minutes of cardio. Today, along with the two other Yamasho ALTs, I went for a run along the river, about 6 miles in all, perhaps twice as long as my most recent attempts at running.

And it felt good, aside from the sudden seize-up of my right calf muscle as soon as walked in the door to my apartment. More stretching, check.

So now the goal is to keep up a routine. Yeah, I've said it all before. But I might have the edge this time. The new ALTs, Conrad and Annette, are both avid runners. I can join the team as the rusty, out-of-shape guy with significant experience in the gut area.

Now, all I've gotta do is find Steve, and find out where he keeps the bear claws.

Hawaii Part One: The Only Part

I can picture it. Friends, family, random Web surfers, strewn across the globe, waiting, impatient, furious. Where is the promised follow-up Hawaii blog post? You know, the one with the pictures?

It is here, finally.

...

From my window seat toward the back of the plane, I scanned Oahu for anything familiar. Vaguely I knew that the urban center of Honolulu was on the southeast side of the island. On the north, there was North Shore. Somewhere down there was the Nakahara home. Also, plausibly, a runway.

After the airport pickup, I showered and dressed down. No more socks. Just flip-flops for the week. (Also shorts and a shirt. They aren't that casual.) After a day or two, I realized I was the only person on the island wearing an undershirt.

No worries. My first meal was the Big City Diner in Waipahu. After a detailed appraisal of the menu I went with the turkey club (Kyle had the kimchee fried rice, which came in a quantity fit for a family of five). And while our waitress forgot our drinks, the food was good enough to make up for it.

After lunch we headed toward the North Shore, making a stop in historic Haleiwa town for some Matumoto Shave Ice. You can tell it's good because people are waiting in line for it. That's all you need to have a successful business.

Mixed in among mainland and Japanese tourists, we considered what flavor(s) we fancied as we waited in line. Behind me, a young man asked his mom whether the guidebook said what kind to get. Ha! I laughed to myself, and then to Kyle, he needs a guidebook to decide the flavor! Then the panic set it. Ahh! What should I get? I broke down and ordered the combo at the top of the menu.

We followed this with a drive around the North Shore area, which in winter features famous waves and is host to various surfing events. We stopped at a viewpoint for photos (I only had my phone at this point).

I slept late on Day 2, Friday, hoping to be ready to Be Active for the remainder of the trip. On the slate was a hike followed by a dip in the ocean to cool down.

We headed toward Lanikai, home to what's said to be the most beautiful beach around. First, we did what the Internet tells me is the Lanikai Pali hike, a quick, only sometimes strenuous venture up a hillside offering nice views. To give you an idea of the level, you can do the whole thing in flip-flops. Shoes with traction would make certain parts easier, such as the opening stanza, which is a bit steep and littered with loose rock and dirt.

Here is a view part-way up the hike:


There are two little huts along the trail, one at a false summit and the other a the top. The Internet informs me that these are World War II bunkers. For this reason, the hike itself is often called Pillboxes.

On the way down, we assured a group of struggling, rotund mainlanders that it does get easier. May they rest in peace.

A couple more photos:

From near the top.

Toward the start of the trail

After our descent, we took a quick dip and a short walk along what was indeed a beautiful beach. My aversion to the sun meant we didn't lay out, so we quickly made for a shower at a nearby park to de-sand and return home.

That's the end of part one. Part two may not ever materialize. In brief, we saw a movie and went shopping and had a lot of good food.

Now, here at the office with nothing to do, I must eat my convenience store sandwich for lunch. But I'll be picturing that turkey club as I do.

You'd have eaten a can too

At this hour, the tropical depression formerly known as Hurricane Felicia is still a couple hundred miles East of Honolulu, and she's only packing sustained winds of just over 30 miles an hour.

My Korean Air plane (do not try to get up when the fasten seat belt light is on -- they will chase you) was safely in the air as Felicia's weakened outer edges moved along the island chain. And tonight I've landed in a calm and clear Japan, one day shy of twin typhoon threats and a major metropolitan earthquake.

My six pack of fun-size cans of Mauna Loa brand Maui Onion & Garlic Macadamias has been reduced to five. Souvenirs, sure, but I get some too.

Dirty clothes, peppered with unworn socks and jeans, rest in piles near the bed. The little bag from Korean Air has a toothbrush in there. And socks. Really.

Down to my boxers. It's bed time.

Back on Oahu, Kyle and her mom and dad and brother and dog are probably sleeping in their soon-to-be-renovated house. Although the dog, Coal, may well be patrolling the house to keep the family safe from ever-present threat of neighborhood cats.

Although the five-day trip had lots of down time (Law & Order, CSI: New York and other dramas that TV offers late at night), it went by in a flash. Now, yes, I've been to Hawaii. There was a hike, a dip in the ocean, nice views, more than one serving of shaved ice, and food. A lot of food.

After some sleep, sometime tomorrow, I'll get some pictures ready and post a more detailed account of the touristy things I did around Oahu.

For now, just take it easy. That's how they do it in Hawaii. Mainly because Coal is patrolling for cats.

Seasons Greetings

It rained much of the day. It will almost surely rain a bit tomorrow. Also, the next day.

And while June kicks off this region's Rainy Season, ask a local if this three-day streak of precipitation is Rainy Season rain and they'll laugh you off. "It's not June!" they'll say by way of a soft, judging chuckle. "Rainy Season starts in June."

"Haha!" you'll say, until you realize it's not a joke.

I've said it many times, but I would stress here that I am not a weather scientist. However, I am willing to wager that the Rainy Season sometimes starts a bit earlier or later depending on, you know, patterns and models and Russian intervention.

Everything has an assigned season here. Last night, after a dinner of Indian curry and nan, a small group of us went down by the sea and lit off some fireworks. This is a summer activity no matter where in the world, but in Japan it's narrowed down to August.

When I told a Japanese friend via online chat what I had been up to, she admonished that it was a little early for fireworks. "We usually do it in August," she said, using "we" to mean "Japanese people." Of course we had a Japanese person in our group, and she actually was the one who suggested it.

It may not come as a surprise though that this person just got back from living a year in Australia. It's pretty clear that her season recognition abilities have been affected by her trip overseas.

Either that, or it was the Russians.

Swine

After a long vacation from the blog I though I'd try a post.

How could I not start with the Top Breaking Urgent Panic Bulletin item of the day:

Swine Flu!

In Japan, it's called shin-gata influena, with "shin" meaning "new," "gata" meaning "type," and "influenza" meaning "panic."

Japan's first reaction was to try to keep the new flu out, despite conventional wisdom among public health experts that it was too late to contain the disease.

The general murmur here was to avoid travel to infected countries, screen incoming passengers from said countries, and prepare just in case it somehow gets in.

Of course, it got in. Not long ago a some students who had been on a homestay program in Canada were found to have the new flu (since they changed planes in Detroit, however, the Japanese media decided they had come from the United States).

Since the only cases among Japanese people were those who contracted the disease overseas, Japan continued to operate under the inside outsie mentality. Xenophobia prevailed. One ALT colleage had a Japanese teacher come up to him and ask if he was going to get checked out for the swine flu, despite the fact the he hadn't been overseas or exposed to anyone else who had.

Over the weekend, a explosion of cases in two western prefectures, Osaka and Hyogo, has renewed -- and perhaps recasted -- the panic. Now there are at least 130 cases in Japan, most in Osaka and Hyogo, where more than 3,000 educational institutions have shut down for at least week.

The public schools in Mie have restricted out of prefecture travel and are strongly suggestion personal travel be put on hold unless it's absolutely necessary. A friend who recently went back to the states for a wedding is barred from going to work this week.

My question -- especially since I'm planning to go to Oregon for a friend's wedding next month -- is how the new developments might change the attitudes of panic-happy Japanese.

Logic says that since it's already here and spreading, efforts to keep Japan sealed have failed. Why restrict travel when it's already here and spreading?

But I'm not sure it works that way here. They increased panic might just inspire even stronger reactions out of ignorance or an effort to appear to be doing something about the threat.

Anyway. I'm watching developments closely.

Wow ... I set out thikning I'd try a light-hearted post on swine flu in Japan but looking back it's not very light.

More later!

Misleading headline of the day: Edge of Space Found

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090409/sc_space/edgeofspacefound

Watarai

Today I went to my once-a-week school, in a tiny town in the topograhically diverse Watarai. The road from the bus stop to the school is lined with cherry blossom trees, which are holding onto their pink display as of today.

After a quick meeting I have learned that my class size at that school has been cut in half. Good news, that is.

On the way out, I stopped for a phone picture:

Fire!

In the middle of a time-kill workday, it was easy to get excited when sirens came whaling upon the school grounds. Nobody -- from the principal on down -- seemed to know why firetrucks and ambulances were zipping around building number 2 heading toward the the far side of campus. Had a student been injured? Did a student's errant smoke light the nearby brush?

The vice principal got on the PA and asked any nearby teachers to check out what was going on. Then he and and few others rushed toward the scene themselves.

Eventually Nick and I decided to venture out as well. We joined a growing group of students watching a light plume of smoke rise above the bamboo trees just off campus. A fire! It didn't look to big, and with almost no wind it didn't appear to threaten school.

I joked with some students about whether they started it, as bamboo trees exploded with occasional muted pops and bangs. The firefighters scrambled to get into position. As the smoke thickened, teachers sent the students back to their classrooms as we all continued to watch.

It was impossible to tell what caused the fire, or what was burning, at least from our vantage point. After a few minutes the smoke cleared and the fire appeared to be under control.

Now, I'm back at my desk, killing time, waiting out the next mini-adventure.

In Brief

SUNDAY was the Nanaimo Hanami BBQ party at the Isuzugawa Park area. This is always an entertaining afternoon involving meat, beer and playing catch with a football. A nice crowd turned up after a slow start ... the first hour was just the owner, another bartender and myself. As noted before, this kicks off the barbecue season. Photos to come.

...

TODAY we had school-year opening ceremony in the morning. As usual, plenty of standing and bowing and boilerplate specchifying. More interesting was the entrance ceremony for new students in the afternoon. Since high school is not complusory in Japan, it's considered an acheivement to be accepted into one. So parents (mostly moms) show up for this formal ceremony of standing and bowing and boilerplate speechifying. All day long we ALTs dispense with a normal casual wear for suits. I'm sporting a brand new red tie.

...

JUNE is fast approaching, meaning I'll spend a week in Oregon for the wedding of Andrew and Ellyn. While I'd like to have a chance to see everyone, I'm afraid I'll be stuck mostly on the west side, much of that spent down the valley. My next trip to Oregon might not be for a while, since I'd really like to put some travel dollars toward new places. No friends or family have made it to Japan so far, and my second year is almost over. Anyone?

Pushing Softly

It's the middle of spring break for Japanese students. They get about two weeks off before their new school year kicks in. But teachers and staff get nothing off. You'd think maybe just one week, or even a long weekend. But no. Every day.

I guess in Japan, it almost makes sense. They only get two weeks to get ready for a new school year, a crop of new students, changes to the curriculum, new responsibilities. For the most part, we ALTs do not have anything to do. We could clean our desks (will do this week) plan lessons (tricky because we don't know our schedule) or come up with games for the occasional free day (not a bad idea). But overall there is very little to do.

Usually, to kill time we sit at our desks and browse the Web or study Japanese. Often we do this with our own laptops brought from home. But I have grown tired of bringing it, and today I am starting a spring break experiment.

After checking in down at the staff room and stamping the attendance book, I quietly moved to the third floor of the international building, a computer lab. Here, I can study or surf in peace and quiet and relative freedom.

I have done this without asking, because I feel in this case asking would only shift responsibility to someone else, who would in turn have to ask someone else, and pretty soon there would be a mini-conference about whether or not I can be here.

If someone comes to use this room, I'll leave. If someone needs me for something, I'll find out as I check in occasionally throughout the day.

This is the plan.

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Another plan was to visit the gym for a workout after school, but I have been thrown a curve ball. My main bike has a flat tire which I have yet to fix, so I am using our Backup Auxiliary Bike, which is old and crappy and falling apart.

Well this morning, the Backup Auxiliary Bike decided to make a tremendous whaling sound for each revolution of the pedals. This means anyone from rice farmers to toddlers playing in the front yard can here me coming from meters away.

I am not sure I can handle the 20-minute ride to the gym with the bike making all this noise. I could try another experiment -- seeking out the use of the school's workout equipment ... but can I really break that much new ground in one day?