A Southern Boy in Sado

The End of the Journey

2010-08-03T08:35:00.003+09:00

Well...it's finally over. I am officially done with my 1 year teaching experience on Sado Island. This last year has truly been amazing. As this blog will show, I have had many amazing experiences that have enriched my life in more ways that I can even begin to write about. Hopefully you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed keeping it. I wish you all good luck in your own adventures. This is the Southern Boy in Sado signing off.

Things I Will Not Miss About Japan

2010-07-19T15:11:00.006+09:00

In connection with my post "Things I Will Miss about Japan" I thought it only right to express both sides of my feelings about my home for the past year. As I said before, there are somethings in the day to day that are simply perfect, but there are other things in the day to day that make me wonder what they heck I got myself in to! Here are a few of those things.

My Kitchen! Let's just say we had our disagreements and I won few of them!

Peanut Butter should come in a dump truck size in every country!

Smoking never looks cooler or weirder than it is does in Japan. Gross either way!

My Car. This Daihatsu Move served its purpose, but I honestly believe I have Tonka Trucks with more horsepower than this thing.

Over the top fashion. I've been seeing Lady Gaga-esk fashion since I studied abroad in Tokyo 3 years ago and I'm still not used to it.

The Week Long Special Flavors of Soda. Why does any thing beside sweet red bean need to taste like sweet red bean? Not that this Coke drinker would ever blame Pepsi for tying to make there "soda" taste better.

Number 1: Winter! Niigata prefecture got more snow this year than it has in the last 26 years! This Georgia boy never quite got used to trekking through snow on his way to work.

Again, as I said in my prior and admittedly more positive post, I could post a few more little peeves here but I think I've sufficiently cover my major grievances. No place is perfect but this place was still my home and without these imperfections I can't promise that I would have enjoyed the perfections in the same manner.

Water Sumo Revisited

2010-07-19T14:54:00.011+09:00

As one of my most popular post, I thought that Water Sumo needed a "redux" of sorts. Thanks to a good friend who doubles as a photographer, I have a play by play photos to share with you. Enjoy revisiting the Akadomari Water Sumo Bout of 2009.
Has a grown man ever look more proud....wearing a diaper in public? Probably not!

First, the proud warrior takes his stance. Never mind the dumb look on his face. That is to confuse his enemy.
The struggle begins! The warrior grapples with his foe like a boa on a panther!

Nearing the edge of the 2 foot precipice, the warrior confidently prepares to push his foe into the murky depths!

The warrior has managed to get his opponent off balance by jerking his man diaper.
A wise move.

The battle lasted moments, my victory will last forever, and I have no idea where my pride and sense of fashion went but I suppose they left before the end of the fist round.

Things I WILL Miss About Japan

2010-07-19T14:26:00.018+09:00

After living in a place for an entire year, you begin to realize that there are some things about your situation that are nearly perfect. Somethings about the day to day are just great. Life would almost be unthinkable without these things. Here are some of those things I have found while living in Japan.

First and foremost , the kindness of my students. Over the last week I have said goodbye to over 200 sweet young children who have made such an impact on me. From games to letters to speeches to flowers to chorus songs, they have truly made my last week here one to remember.
I am still not allowed to post pictures of my students due to Japanese law. (Insert angry shake of the fist here).

Living 5 minutes from the beach.

Japan has been called by some pop commentators "The Nation of Cute". If a 5 foot stuffed panda isn't enough evidence to support that claim then I don't know what you are looking for!

Being able to order raw beef dipped in a raw egg and not get stared at. Yes, this is on the "What I Will Miss" side : )

Being able to buy a plank of fresh salmon for less then $5.00!

Hiroshima Okonomiyaki. Gastronomic HEAVEN!!!

Living right around the corner from pieces of ancient history. History is a great part of what attracted me to Japan in the first place. Its richness and its depth still astound me to this day.

Nature is in such abundance here it almost baffles me.

Friends. Self-explanatory.
There are more things that I could post here but as another blogger once told me, "I am torn between spending my time living a blog worthy life and actually blogging about it".

Mt Fuji

2010-07-17T13:35:00.013+09:00

I climbed Japan's highest mountain, Mt Fuji, last weekend. Standing at 3,776m (12,388ft), the summit is over 2 miles high. This has been my highest trek to date. Here are some pictures from my last great adventure in Japan.

Fuji from the 5th station camp. About 2,300m.
Kitty is ready for a climb.
Path from 5th to 6th station.
Seeing clouds climb up towards you, amazing!
Tori gate at the 7th station.
Sunrise on the top of Mt Fuji. 4:18am. The cloud cover obstructed our view a bit, but the colors that were cast on the sky shortly before sunrise more than compensated for that.
The reflective band was so that I could be seen by other hikers as we were hiking in the dark in order to reach the summit by sunrise.
This one speaks for itself.
Fuji was a really different experience. With a terrain similar to what I would imagine Mars to be like, it is not the most exciting of hikes but the sunrise is certainly something. Hiking at night also offers some interesting perks. I got to see the Milky Way, look far out into Japan and see these little plumes of light I knew to be cities. Despite the freezing temperatures, the gale force winds and the natural stress of climbing any mountain, I had a wonderful time ascending Mt Fuji.

Hamochi Festival

2010-06-26T08:26:00.016+09:00

On a recent Japanese TV program detailing the 20 Most Famous Festivals in all of Japan, Hamochi Matsuri (festival) was the only one chosen from Niigata prefecture.
We're kind of a big deal! Here are some images from my first Hamochi Festival.
This is an Ojishi (lion). 8 or so guys climb under the cloth covering and one holds the huge, wooden lion head as they snake their way across town. I actually go to go inside it and participate for a bit. It was really fun and totally unexpected.
They barrel into the shops and homes in town and clap the mouth of the huge wooden lion head to scare away evil spirits.

This is tsuburosashi! It is a central feature of Hamochi Festival. It is a fertility dance (I bet you were wondering) that is famous even within Japan. Having just completed rice planting, it is very timely dance for a community that is constituted largely of farmers. Ok, not one joke about the...the...next picture please!

The Sado Okesa is a traditional folk dance that is done ALL THE TIME on Sado. It is quite graceful and it looks very "Japanese". Even my youngest students can do this start to finish.

An Omikoshi (portable shrine) They lift this huge wooden shrine on long planks with their shoulders and carry it around town. And yes, that person is standing on top of it. I've done this once before in Tokyo, and I can tell you that it's really fun but not for anyone with stiff shoulders.

This is one of the actors in the Noh (pronounced 'No') that was performed the night of the festival. Noh is a masked stage performance that has a rich history on Sado.
This is the traditional Noh Stage.

Beauty in Sado

2010-06-20T11:13:00.006+09:00

I liked how this picture looked flipped.

Ohnogame - A massive rock that looks kind of like a turtle (kame, changed to game here, means turtle)
From the side
Futatsugame (literally 2 turtles) - 2 Really big rocks that kind of look like turtles.
Looking down from Ohnogame onto the Kozan Festival

Just give me one more Tokyo

2010-06-14T20:34:00.015+09:00

It’s never hard to get me to go to Tokyo. While anyone who has spent a great amount of time in the city can tell you that it can get a little ‘much’ after awhile, it is always nice to drop in for a few days and enjoy all that the city has to offer. Well, all that you can manage to get in a few days that is. Since most of my readers have read about Tokyo before, I’ll just stick to the basics. My dear friend Laura Page and her sister Olivia decided to come to Japan for a few weeks and seeing as how they were ‘in the neighborhood’, I decided to go visit them. Here are some pictures of our time together in Tokyo. (Above: Free Hugs? What a deal!)
Hanging out with Laura in a Cat Cafe in Shibuya

Some old Waseda friends of mine decided to join the fun

Laura and Olivia battling on some Super Tetris

People Viewing in Harajuku

Just amazing!

Tsukigi Fish Market

Could someone call Jessica Simpson and confirm the chicken or fish thing for me?

Rice Planting

2010-05-24T18:52:00.007+09:00

Having been on Sado for all of 10 months now, I have seen a great deal of rice paddies, rice farmers, and of course rice itself. However, last weekend was the first time I was able to take part in the process that ultimately ends up feeding me nearly every day. The previous ALT for my region of Sado still resides on the island and has taken up rice farming. His associated farm, Daruma An Farms, has over 20 fields that produce some of the most delicious rice I have ever tasted
(http://www.facebook.com/DarumaAnFarms) . This year, they decided to test organic rice planting, no pesticides or fertilizers whatsoever, on one of their paddies. In order to keep weeds from overtaking their crop, they found a biodegradable sheet to lie over the paddy. This sheet, however, required them to forgo the usual means of plating, a tractor/planting machine of sorts, and switch to traditional planting by hand. Rice planting involves grabbing a slab of the infant rice seedlings, called nae(pictured), separating one to three of the little seedlings and placing them in the muddy paddy. This is done through the very technical process of bending down and sticking your hand in the mud. The trick is to place the seedling deep enough in the mud so that the wind won’t carry it off without making too much of a hole in the process. Having no experience with this whatsoever, we were pretty slow at first, but by the end of the day we seemed to have found our rhythm. I greatly enjoyed my little rice planting experience. Working outside, standing barefoot in almost a food of mud and getting to do a real, honest day’s labor was good for me in many ways. While I don’t think I am about to switch my nameplate from Phillip Sensei to Farmer Phil, I am thoroughly glad that I got to experience this vitally important piece of Japanese culture.

Hanami

2010-05-03T10:12:00.005+09:00

In Japan, spring means cherry blossoms (sakura in Japanese). Although these blossoms usually only live for a few weeks, during their short lifespan they are the object of total obsession of their surrounding community. Hanami, flower viewing, is an exercise in both adoration and relaxation. Hanami usually consists of a family or group of friends heading to a local park known to be rich with blooming cherry blossoms, spreading out a tarp and enjoying drinks, food and good company under the pink petals. Popular weekends for hanami are often paired with festivals to increase the fun factor. Families take pictures under these sacred trees, admire their short lived beauty and simply enjoy the fact that winter is over. Being quite fond of the outdoors I naturally enjoyed this little outing, but I’ve never been able to appreciate these flowering trees quite like the Japanese. It reminds me a bit of the leaf watches who drive down to the Appalachian Mountains to see the fall foliage in its glory. While we usually don’t make such a social commitment to it as the Japanese do, I was glad to see that the act of simply enjoying one of nature’s most beautiful seasons was not confined to a single culture.

Oiran Photos

2010-04-24T12:32:00.006+09:00

Tradition in Slow Motion

2010-04-24T12:24:00.007+09:00

Oiran Dochu, roughly translated as courtesan procession, is a practice that dates back to the Edo Period (1600- 1868). Oiran were prostitutes of the highest class – the ancient Eliot Spitzer variety – and they could choose their lovers from the richest of men. They could only operate inside walled pleasure districts inside major cities. Tokyo housed the most famous one known as Yoshiwara. While they were trained in the arts, music, conversation, etc, they did not receive the kind of training a geisha did. I know many of you read ‘Japanese courtesan’ and go right to your cinematic or literary memories of Memoirs of a Geisha, and you would not be the only one to do so, but you would also not be the only one to be mistaken. Oiran came about before geisha and to oversimplify it a bit, geisha were more artists than prostitutes and the opposite is true of oiran. This parade of sorts was done when they were escorting their honored guests. The oiran would wear 6 inch geta, wooden clogs, place 8 or more pins in their hair, and were up to 60 pound of ornate clothing for these walks! To make it even harder, they walked VERY slowly and moved their feet in a slow figure-eight pattern. The pictures do more than I ever could to describe the ancient beauty being reenacted here. So the next time you start complaining about wearing heals or that your clothes feel uncomfortable, just imagine putting on 60 pounds of priceless robes, 5 inch wooden-heals and placing enough metal in your hair to pick up XM Radio.

A Fantastic Trip

2010-04-20T07:08:00.006+09:00

We rarely use the term fantastic outside of Disney movies. I chose to use the term in my title for its basic meaning: imaginative, fanciful and remote from reality. If you had told me during my freshman year at Furman that I would one day meet up with the guy from 2 doors down in Tokyo, I would have considered that pure fantasy, remote from reality. And I would have been wrong!
Michael Clemens, a fellow Furman-ite and dear friend of mine recently flew to Tokyo to visit his brother who is serving in the US Navy. Being that he was now 14 hours closer to me, I thought a reunion was simply necessary. We met up in Tokyo near the end of his trip to take in the some of Japan’s wonderful capital. Traditional shrines, sprawling metropolitan areas, first class museums and great local restaurants were all thoroughly enjoyed. Being as we had not seen each other in almost a year, we were never left lacking conversation and even if we had been, Tokyo offers ample talking points at every turn. While I certainly enjoyed all of our time together, I would have to say that our final night out on the town that was brought to an end with drinks on the top of the Shinagawa Prince Hotel was simply epic. Very little beats sipping drinks 39 stories high while gazing out a panoramic window at the tallest building in Tokyo. Add a good friend in the mix and simply nothing beats that.

Reggae Show

2010-03-28T17:24:00.000+09:00

Now, I know the words “Japan” and “Reggae” might not seem to mix but give this post a shot. Japan does indeed have a reggae scene and a few Buffalo Soldiers call Sado their home. I guess it’s an island thing. The show I went to was staged at a very nice hotel in the north of Sado. The room was small but so was the crowd. My friend and I were 2 of 12 for over an hour, but the crowd finally started to grow and the night ended up being pretty fun. The most amusing part of the first show was when the dj spliced some western pop into the reggae he was spinning. All of the dj’s music was western reggae, but these artists have no place in any reggae show: Backstreet Boys – Celine Dion – Enrique Iglesias– Dolly Parton. I really don’t have the vocabulary to fully explain my reaction so let’s move on. The latter shows included a few dancers and some Japanese rappers from the mainland. Most of them were pretty good, but I don’t think I’m Japanese enough or Jamaican enough to comment intelligently on the subject. My favorite was a big guy who called himself Large Rice. Despite his size, this Marley in the making could really move and rap reasonable well. Although you won’t find much reggae on my Ipod, this show was certainly worth cover charge.
Also, let me apologize for the lack of pictures. My camera was in my car, my car was at Charles’ place and Charles’s place was 30 minutes away. Problem!

End of an Era

2010-03-22T09:07:00.002+09:00

The Japanese school year is in its last weeks and my schools are holding graduation ceremonies. I teach mostly elementary schools so it’s no big show by any means, but it’s not the show I wish to blog about today. 2 of my elementary schools are closing this year due to budget constraints and their extremely small size. I’ve heard talk that Sado’s government is set to close almost half of the island’s schools over the next 10 years due to such factors. These 2 schools have only 12 and 24 kids total from grades 1 -6. It is not hard to see why employing 9 staff members to teach 12 kids is a bit troubling to a budget committee, but I can’t help but lament the loss of these 100 + year old institutions. These schools pair the classes of 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, 5th/6th so they never risk having a class of 1. One of my schools has 1 1st grader and 1 2nd grader (that’s right, a class of 2!) so when the 2nd grader has to take 2nd year math, the 1st grader has another class separate from her. You could say this seems quite lonely, but think of the personal interaction. They are basically getting private tutoring and coming to know their teachers on a much deeper level than most students ever will. These kids know each teacher and each student intimately. They eat lunch in one room and clean the school together each day. Both of these schools were such happy places that almost seemed like large multigenerational homes. The 6th graders played with the 1st graders, the schools did group activities across grade levels, and they simply had a quaint atmosphere to them. The kids will probably be happier going to a larger school with more friends and more opportunities to interact, but something is being lost here. I wonder what kind of perspective is being lost as the modern world herds us to bigger cities with larger schools and bigger offices. I wonder how these kids will be different in the future thanks to the very personal nature of their primary education. Will they value personal interaction more? Will they wonder why some people only look inside their set group for friends? As these schools close, so does the opportunity to be a part of something very special and very personal. I’m just glad that all the kids and teachers seem to realize that.

Graduation

2010-03-05T20:48:00.003+09:00

As with almost anything that is found in both the US and Japan, school in Japan is almost totally different from school in the US as I experienced it. I recently attended a local elementary school graduation and found it to be a wonderful microcosm in which we can observer this truth.
Japan is a nation of groups. So much of Japanese culture revolves around and can be witnessed through defined social groups. As such, entering in to or exiting from such a group requires great ceremony. I will be focusing on one of the exiting ceremonies.
The ceremony started with the 6th graders, the most senior members of the group, being led in to the gym by the 1st graders, the youngest generation. The young helping the old. The 1st – 5th graders sat facing the 6th graders, their elders. The younger looking to the older as examples. The 6th grade performed the school song and the 5th grade performed the same song directly after they finished. Every other grade had prepared a musical skit to thank the 6th graders for their time at the school. Showing respect for senior members of a group. The 6th graders then thanked each grade below them with small gifts for each student. Expressing gratitude to younger group members for their assistance. Finally, the principal thanked the 6th graders and told them how wonderful the 5th grade performance was. You may be asking yourself, “Why not tell the 6th graders how well they did”. The answer lies in the fact that it was the 6th graders’ job to teach the 5th grade this performance as they had done it last year for the 6th grade class above them. By recognizing that the 5th graders’ had performed well the principle was saying that the 6th graders had obviously done their job well. The old shepherding the young. I hope that my readers can enjoy this little slice of Japanese culture. Should any of my old professors be reading this, I only ask that you not email me grades.

More Drawings from the Kids

2010-03-05T16:35:00.006+09:00

Through a Child’s Eyes

2010-03-05T16:25:00.012+09:00

The budding young artists at one of the local kindergartens provided the following images. To express their gratitude for my monthly English lessons they presented me with a small book of personal messages and portraits. I have to say, it was the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

The Putter has become the Pimp Cane

2010-02-16T12:41:00.004+09:00

Poor Tiger Woods. It seems as if he has all but fully transformed into the cheating husband who used to golf. My classroom proves it week after week. After talking about verbs associated with the Winter Olympics, my teacher asked me if I knew any Japanese Olympians. I knew only 2 so he asked if I knew any other Japanese sports stars. Anyone in Japan with the gift of site has seen Ishikawa Ryo`s picture no less than 1253 times. (see link for Wiki page) Dubbed the Bashful Prince, this young Japanese golfer is the youngest to ever reach the world`s top 50 golfers list. They naturally asked if this God of the Greens had made his way to American TV. I have seen him mentioned a time or two on ESPN but it was never more than a passing comment. The teacher quickly followed with, “I guess Tiger is always on TV for…many things.” The class then asked me to translate a few less than favorable terms that might apply to Tiger`s recent behavior. I`ll spare you the Japanese lesson and just tell you that in favor my brute translations I ended up giving a short vocabulary lesson on the verb ‘To Cheat’, ‘Homewrecker’, and ‘Player’. I am planning to expand on this lesson next week by showing the American classic Super Fly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryo_Ishikawa

SNOW!!!

2010-02-07T10:35:00.006+09:00

While visiting a local restaurant in Hamochi last December I was told by the owner that Sado has not received much snow in the past few years. This made me, a born and raised Georgia Boy not accustomed to snow in any great magnitude, quite happy. Well, Japan celebrated "setsubun", the beginning of spring, on February 3rd. Despite it being "spring" it was - 5 degrees that night, my kitchen was 2 degrees at 7:00am the next morning and it was snowing like crazy. By Friday we had what is called "nan nen buri yuki", which is best described as "Snow I don't know when we last had" or in Southern-speak "Snow I ain't seen since I was knee high to a pig's eye". Later, the news confirmed that Niigata has received more snow than it has in the last 26 years! As my friends on the east coast go through "Snowmageddon" I am doing my part to feel for you as I dig my car out of the snow. All the best to all of ya'll freezing your butts off down South.

How the Mighty Have Fallen

2010-01-28T20:06:00.004+09:00

One of my classes was studying relative pronouns such as "Kobe Bryant is a person who plays basketball" where "who" connects the subject a descriptive clause . Who plays basketball? Kobe. So therefore Kobe is a person who plays basketball. BRILLIANT! I gave them a sheet that required them to make up similar phrases for well known sports stars, writers, actors etc. In trying to spread some American culture, I added Tiger Woods and Brad Pitt to the list of Japanese stars figuring that they would all know enough about these 2 men to say something resembling a correct answer. Little did I know that Tiger was all too well known even on Sado. "Who is Tiger Woods" I asked group number 3. "Tiger Woods is a man who has many girlfriends" they answered. That hilarious comment was shortly followed by group number 6's "Tiger Woods is an American who likes many women". Oh...yeah....He golfed at one point too, right?

More pictures from my Winter Vacation

2010-01-17T17:58:00.017+09:00

A painting on a wall in Seoul. Ummm, I know art often represents something far deeper than the artist's words can express, but let me try some: I AM A TWISTED FREAK!
A coffee shop that keeps sheep. Ok...I...you...sheep...coffee...sure, I get it!
Oh, YEAH!
This statue was so fabulous.
This is supposed to say Happy New Year, but I believe it looks like a far darker tiding. A lower case N and an upper case W did them in I believe.

The Bird's Nest was HUGE! Practically the biggest "thing" I ever seen.Gotta know where to eat when you come to Beijing.
Speaking of eating!Come on! Like you wouldn't eat some scorpions if they flash fried them.
New Years in Beijing. An Australian decided to befriend us for the rest of 2009. He'd been "riding kangaroos" and decided to come visit Beijing. A great time all around

It's been too Long

2010-01-17T17:29:00.011+09:00

Dear readers, please forgive me for not writing for so long. I hope that none of you lost faith in this blog or its author. I assure you, during my break I was actively collecting many blog worthy tales and items on during my hiatus. That said, if a picture is worth 1000 words, I'd have to write 302,000 words to explain all of my adventures so I'll spare you that. Rather, I'll let the pictures, and a few witty captions, tell the story on their own. So, with no further delay...

Aya, Travis and Erika met me in NYC last year over spring break, so getting to repeat our meeting in Tokyo was a real treat.

As an American, should I be offended?

Chairman Mao should really do a MTV Cribs Episode.

Marketing is very important
Temple of Heaven - UNESCO World Heritage Site. AMAZING!

Christmas?

2009-12-09T23:00:00.011+09:00

(Read the text below the Christmas Tree in the picture above before reading)
I found this little paper sign hanging all over a local market in Sado. Let me try to explain what may have happened here. The word 元気 (Genki) is used a lot in Japanese and it is most often used in the question, 元気ですか Genki desuka or “How are you/Are you well?” The main issue here is most likely meaning vs definition. The meaning of Genki in context is “well” but the direct translation is more like “lively” or “full of life”. If you poorly cross referenced “full of life” in a Japanese-English dictionary you might just find something about a strong beating heart or lively motions. Take that and look for synonyms that sound fun and “English’y” and you might finally arrive at throbbing. Therefore, the sign would/should have read something like “The Wonderful Lively Christmas”. Not perfect but not quite as blog worthy as throbbing. While this poster is no doubt miles away from inspiring proper Christmas cheer, if you are willing to see where they might have started from, you can laugh without poking too much fun at the creators. Then again, I teach English at a school less than 100 yards from these signs and no one ever thought to ask me if Christmas throbs. So here is this blogger's wish that all of my faithful readers have a Very Merry Throbbing Christmas!

Hiroshima

2009-11-30T16:55:00.003+09:00

After my day in Osaka I made my way to Hiroshima to visit my old roommate and sensei Toru Ishizawa and his girlfriend Tomomi. They showed me a fabulous time from beginning to end. Our first day included a visit to Miyajima to visit a famous shrine and see the Japanese maple leaves. The leaves had fallen awhile ago, but thankfully the temple was still as beautiful as ever. Local oysters were the treat of the afternoon. We then headed to a famous sake brewery for a lesson in brewing and of course tasting. I don’t think I have to mention that I greatly enjoyed that part of the trip. For our evening meal, we elected to have a yakiniku (literally, grilled meat). At yakiniku, you buy meat in small trays of varying kinds and cook them on a small grill at your table. My grand finale was yukke, raw beef dipped in a raw egg. I know many of you have to stop reading and go get that taste out of your mouth, but I loved this stuff. Japan has this amazing talent for making raw meat and fish tasty. It may not be the next California roll but whatever. The next day included a trip to the mall for shopping, a movie, a wonderful lunch, and finally OKONOMIYAKI. This is a local special not to be missed if you are within any distance of Hiroshima. Imagine thin grilled pasta, a thin layer of batter, squid, cabbage, shrimp, pork, green onions, kimchi, mayonnaise, cheese, an egg all put in one giant omelet looking mound and topped with shallots and bbq sauce. It may not sound great when described ingredient by ingredient, but this is a taste tsunami. I was sad to have to leave my friends and what could be my favorite city in Japan, but alas, there is English to teach and this Southern Boy is currently the man for the job.

Osaka and Hiroshima: Osaka

2009-11-27T21:49:00.005+09:00

Let me start out by admitting that I will never be able to totally convey what a great time I had on my last trip. My 4 day weekend entailed enough fun to count for weeks of good times. From seeing one of the greatest symbols of feudal Japan to reuniting with old friends to eating foods that some would consider toxic, it was well worth the trip. I have decided to break this article in two to make for easier reading. Osaka will be posted first. As usual, enjoy!
I started out on a night bus headed for Osaka on my way to Hiroshima the following day. Little did I know that my night bus had been exchanged for a sweat-box on wheels. My hopes of catching 7 hours of comfortable sleep were quickly dashed. After arriving at Osaka and finding some breakfast, I will admit to succumbing to the unholy glow of the golden arches and indulging in McDonalds’ breakfast, I headed to Osaka Castle. Being a student of Japanese history I had long heard of the spectacle that is Osaka-jyo. Built in 1583 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a “maverick” (curse you Palin for ruining that word) in Japanese history so to say, the castle was finally conquered by the ultimate unifier of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1615. The castle itself is simply superb, and the sloping outer walls are a marvel of martial engineering. I guess what I am trying to say is “If you are even in Osaka, drop by for a visit.” I managed to kill the next few hours just roaming around Osaka. From what I saw, it might just turn in to a trip all to itself quite soon. More fodder for the hungry blog.

Ekiden

2009-11-15T13:36:00.005+09:00

Ekiden
There seems to be no shortage of endurance races on Sado. Over the past 2 weekends,I've taken part in 2 ekidens; distance relay events of varying distances normally composed of 5 or 6 man teams. I was able to run the All Sado and the Boka Ekiden. Ekidens are held all over Japan and Sado has several itself. The Sado Ekiden drew 24 5 man teams. The distances for each of the 5 legs were: 6k, 10k, 8k, 8k, and 10k. I ran the second leg with the Sado Triathlon Club A team. I was able to post a decent time of 36 minutes but the real show was the high school senior and the 51 year old triathlon champion that ran the 10k in 32 minutes. Amazing show!
The Boka Ekiden, sponsored by the Firefighters of Southern Sado, was held last Sunday. In a bit of meteorological irony it rained throughout, so the brave men in the red trucks had little chance of being called back to work. I only had to run 4k this time as this was more of a “sprint ekiden”. Since the course was very close to my home town of Hamochi, a few people on the sides cheered for me by name! Never expected that would happen in Japan. I thankfully did not hear anyone cheer "Go Whitey!" My team finished 2nd overall and we each got a 6-pack of beer for our prize. Don't worry, the high school team got sports drinks and coffee. I’m sad to see this racing season go but I’m sure the rest will be easy to get used to. (The picture is one of my friend Ito passing the relay band off for our team)

A Nice Find at the Supermarket

2009-11-03T16:03:00.006+09:00

I found these at the supermarket today and I just had to share. That's right, Beef Kebab Pringles. Truth be told, they're actually really tasty. This may be the start of a regular blog column. Let me know what you think.

Niigata Half Marathon

2009-11-03T15:58:00.003+09:00

Last Sunday marked my biggest and longest race in Japan, the Niigata Half Marathon. I signed up for this race only 2 weeks after I got to Japan, so I was really excited to finally see it come around. However, I was not happy when an odd pain in my right foot that had me limping came around just 3 days before the race. Despite my best efforts to alleviate this mysterious ache, it persisted right up to race day. Although the pain had gotten steadily more bearable it was still noticeable when I walked. After a 20 minute warm-up jog I surmised that racing was not going to hurt it any worse. However, in convincing myself of that statement, I had to remember the subtleties contained in its meaning: Not hurting it any worse did not mean it was not going to hurt. I could only smile and say, “No one ever said 13 miles was going to be painless.” I was quite strong for the first half of the race, but as my body began to wear from the effort it became harder for my mind to overcome the pain in my foot. My pace dropped precipitously over the last 5 kilometers. I finished in a time of 1.30.23, a full 10 minutes off my goal, but I was proud of my effort considering that I had contemplated not even running the race only hours before starting it. I will be taking place in a 2 distance relay events this month, so I should be able to supply my wonderful readers with more running stories very soon. Hopefully they will not include prefaces about hobbling.

Just a tid bit

2009-10-29T17:55:00.007+09:00

Due to my taking part in the Niigata Half Marathon next Sunday I will be unable to provide you dear readers with a worthwhile story for this week. To hold you over until my upcoming entry arrives, here are a few little details of my week that should entertain you until my next entry that will detail my first major race in Japan. Wish me luck and enjoy these tidbits.

• A 5th grader had this on his shirt "Blood Regular 77 Do You Want to Die".

• As the clock struck noon at my school today, I realized that I knew the bell chime for this week. The Titanic theme "My Hear Will Go On". What a joy that was.

• Warning: To anyone who is on a diet or attempting to lose weight, this next entry may induce the following effects: Crying, Computer Smashing, and a Exorcist-esk Spinning of the Head.
A student asked me how much I weigh (a pretty usual question) and then he asked the teacher his weight. After telling the student that he was what I considered to be quite slim he told me, and I painfully quote "I am so busy with work that I cannot increase my weight" Please don't take your anger out on this innocent blogger.

My International Running Debut

2009-10-19T06:55:00.001+09:00

Last Saturday I took part in the Kawaharada Seaside Marathon. For clarification, all running competitions in Japan are called “marathon” (pronounced Ma Ra So N), and this “marathon” was actually a 6 kilometer race. The majority of the competitors were actually kids from my Jr High Track team. Several of the men with numbers signifying them as “Male Open” competitors looked like they had been around a race before, so I did not know what to expect.
The course was beautiful; the majority of the race was right by the ocean. I was in close second to a man who I had met briefly though the Jr High track coach for the majority of the race. He had a 10k personal record 2 min faster than mine so I knew I’d have to be careful. We kept it easy for most of the race, but with 1 kilometer to go we started testing each other. Over the last 200 meters or so I made my move and took advantage of being the tallest guy in the race by taking my stride out. I finished in 23.34. I later found out that several of the open male competitors will be members of my distance relay team next month. My win made me the fastest member of our team, and I thus inherited the longest portion of the upcoming relay. I received a really nice Nike running bag for my winnings. Great gift! What did I take away from all this you might ask? I learned that victory tastes sweet even when you eat it with chopsticks.

Halloween Lessons

2009-10-15T18:51:00.000+09:00

Most of my schools started to ask me to prepare Halloween lessons at the beginning of this month. Because I only meet with most schools twice a month, several of them are getting Halloween a bit early. One was this week in fact.
The kids were really excited to get to learn about Halloween. Some of the vocabulary (Jack-o-Lantern, Witch, Vampire) was a little hard for them to do at first (I got Bampire a lot that day) but most of them got a hold of it. It also became school policy for the day to jump out from corners and try to scare me. Some of these little guys are about 2 feet below my eye line so this was not hard to pull off. My favorite part was the one class that dressed up. Black Cat was the most popular with black paper tails and cat ears being the costume of choice. A few kids draped black garbage bags over themselves to complete the look. The one that confused me the most was the kid who was only wearing a garbage bag. He was simply wearing a black garbage bag with eye slits cut out in the front. I asked him what he was and he informed me he was a vampire. I will proudly admit that I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in the day (Who else missed the WB?) and I never saw Buffy take on the Glad-Bag Vampire. All in all, the day was pretty fun. I am sure getting them back on their regular lessons will be near impossible after this.

I have been brainwashed

2009-10-06T18:44:00.000+09:00

I was watching the movie Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas yesterday, and I had a bit of an awakening. I will admit, as will anyone who has seen the film, that this movie is not a good place to find any kind of enlightenment, but nevertheless, I did.
As Johnny Depp`s character was speeding down a Nevada highway while on massive amounts of drugs I decided to have a chuckle over the fact that he was driving on the right side of the road. “MAN! He is so blitzed out he is driving on the wrong side of the road” I thought. Then the awakening happened. I slowly remembered that in the US of A people are still legally encouraged to drive on the right side of the road. It seems that driving on the left side of the road in Japan these past 2 months has helped me forget that little legal fact that I spent 6 years abiding by back home. Further, I sadly realized that although Mr.Depp`s character had taken enough cocaine to kill a small horse, he was still in a better position to judge which side of the road to drive on than I was. A bit of advice: If you are feeling like you need to be taken down a peg, let a stoned out lunatic wearing a Hawaiian shirt and aviators correct you about basic driving safety. It`ll do the trick for sure. ; )

New Top Image: A Disclaimer

2009-09-27T17:35:00.000+09:00

I don't care who you are or what your political stance is, but in the words of my favorite philosopher, Larry the Cable Guy, "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

Silver Week in Tokyo : A Pretty Jazzy Time

2009-09-27T17:28:00.000+09:00

I had Monday through Wednesday off work for what is known in Japan as Silver Week last week. I chose to go to Tokyo with 4 friends from Niigata for a hodgepodge of good times. There is far too much to write about everything, so I will be giving some bulleted highlights and focusing on one bit of Japanese culture that I have already had some experience with: SUMO! First, the bullets.
• Pendulum and Prodigy Concert Sunday night. Maybe the best concert I have ever seen and certainly the loudest
• Asakusa Shrine and Meiji Shine (where I saw a beautiful Japanese wedding taking place)
• Ueno Zoo, Akihabara Electrical District, Roppongi Hills, Harajuku and Shibuya for shopping, and Ikebukoro’s Sunshine City
• Lots of other randomness including karaoke, dinner with Furman friends, and Denny’s at 4 am
Ok, the sumo. Prior to last week I have never seen live sumo before, but most of my Japanese friends and co-workers had not either. They only hold 6 sumo tournaments a year, but the wrestling goes on for 15 days at a time. The stadium was huge; something along the lines of a D-1 College Basketball Stadium. The ring is itself is not that large, unlike the wrestlers. There are 6 different skill levels in sumo that determines who fights who, but no weight classes. A sumo wrestler wins by forcing his opponent out of the ring or tossing him to the ground. If any part of his body other than his feet touches the ground, it’s over.
Now, everyone is fixed on how big these guys are, and yes there are some big, BIG boys out there, but if you look at them in relation to American football players, they’re about the same for the most part. These guys stare each other down, stomp around, throw salt (to purify the ring), and really know how to wrestle. One guy was facing a much bigger opponent and basically just let him charge right out of the ring. He barely touched him. I had a good laugh there. The grand champions, yokozuna, were really good. They hold these bouts till the end and everyone gets in to it. Ok, enough here. If you want any specific info on Sumo, Tokyo, or anything else that happened on my trip, feel free to email me. I know my blog readers are endlessly entertained by my digital scribblings, but I try not to test your patience.

Bambi

2009-09-17T20:40:00.000+09:00

Call the Fab 5, this place needs a makeover! I was walking upstairs on my way to class at one of my locals schools and found a glass case standing about 4 or so feet high with a light wooden frame sitting in the hallway. The case was by no means placed as to draw copious amounts of attention, but it was not hidden either. What was in the case you ask; a full sized stuffed deer! I have no idea who killed it, when, where, with what (being as it is nearly impossible to get a gun in Japan), or why they put it in the top floor of a school, but it was quite a shock. I began to wonder what other dead animals had been stuffed, mounted, and put on display at civic buildings around Sado. I’m not really an expert on this sort of thing, but I highly doubt that Bambi in glass case fits in with the idea of feng shui.

DO YOU LIKE PANTS?

2009-09-10T21:18:00.000+09:00

I knew my kids would be interesting, but I did not expect a blog-worthy article this soon. To begin, I had noticed that during one of my 6th grade classes 1 or 2 of the boys would randomly say “Do you like pants?” I thought nothing of it as we had been working with “I like” phrases and pants is an easy noun. Later, I was invited to play dodgeball with that class. Yeah…great start right? While trying my hardest to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge, I witnessed one of the boys hurl his melon shaped projectile at the closest unsuspecting classmate after violently yelling “DO YOU LIKE PANTS?” As an isolated incident that would be strange enough to warrant a blog entry, but it was not too long before nearly ever rubber ball that was chucked into the air was preceded by a rather violent clothing oriented question.
After carefully examining the event, I can only assume that the students have long pondered how they could express their undying affection for trousers in a foreign language whilst simultaneously taking part in a physical activity based on violence and degradation. Then I come along with a bag full of “I like” phrase and a dodgeball. Thanks to me they no longer have to wonder. Goal # 1 – Change a student’s life - Check!

My First Week!

2009-09-10T20:44:00.001+09:00

My first week of school has passed, and I’m still alive. I have visited all of my 6 schools at least once now, so I have a decent picture of what I will be getting in to this year.
I learned that 2 of my elementary schools are being closed in April, when the Japanese school year starts, because they are too small; 18 and 24 kids total. So, as you can imagine I have very small classes. Most of my classes at other schools are about a dozen kids, but one of my small schools handed me a 1st and 2nd grade class of 2 kids and the other school gave me a 3rd and 4th grade class of 3 kids. This makes things interesting. I have to be very energetic and plan lots of activities because they fly through games. However, they are all really sweet. I eat school lunch with one class every time I visit, and they love that. I must say though, eating lunch off a tray, sipping milk from a carton made to look like a bird, and sitting in a desk designed for someone ½ my size does take me down a notch. The meal is generally quite delicious so it balances out. My pride and my stomach are at war daily around 12:15.
My co-workers find me quite entertaining. As is custom in a small town, they naturally ask if I have a wife/girlfriend. This information is hurriedly funneled into the gossip chain so that the local sewing circle can begin plotting which Japanese daughter they can set me up with. I am sure there will be a “Random Blind Date” blog entry in the future. (Insert awkward situation here)
I also got to witness Sado’s International Ironman and Half Ironman triathlon last weekend. I missed the registration by about a month so no tri for me this time. My friend Yuki (2nd picture), an auto-mechanic and Sado native, competes every year and generally does very well. This year he placed about 15th in the half Ironman and 4th place among Sado-ites. His first question after crossing the line was “Phillip, next year, we do?” Yeah, maybe…
Indeed, the most amazing site was the one pictured above; the smoking area just outside the finish line. No comment, EVER!

Earth Celebration

2009-08-29T12:07:00.000+09:00

Earth Celebration

Ok, hold on to your kimono’s, this might be my most excited update yet! Sado holds one of Japan’s biggest and most popular festivals every summer called Earth Celebration. The festivals centers around a 3 day concert featuring the internationally famous taiko drumming group Kodo. Taiko drumming was born on Sado, and Kodo is the band to see if you want to hear good taiko. Let me tell you…well, not let’s talk about the festival first, then Kodo.

The festival is your typical Sado festival turned up to 11 (Spinal Tap reference, anyone…?). More food stalls of greater variety, more music from all over Japan and the world, more people, and lots of hippies. Yeah, hippies love them some Earth Celebration. Japanese hippies are serious too. The whole get up head to toe and some of them actually pull it off quite well. I saw a few good fringe performances held around the concert grounds; a fire dancer, a trio with a pianist from Atlanta, and a very skilled guitar player. Mostly I just walked around to the different stalls, met people, and hung out until the concert later that night.

Let me first explain how you get to the concert. First, you buy a ticket in the weeks before the show. Next, on the day of your concert you go to the bottom of the “mountain” that the concert is held on top of and get your “color”. This allows them to seat people in waves. This concert is a big deal so we got there at 6:30am and the lines opened at 9:00am. There were about 150 people lined up by 9:00. Then, 2 hours before the show, you show up at the place you got your “color” and go up the mountain when your color is called. Finally, you set up your tarp, chill out, and wait for the show.

I love live music, I love the outdoors, and I love seeing people having a good time. This concert gave me all of that and more! Kodo played first and MAN! No words do them justice. We were really close and actually feeling, literally, every beat of these taiko drums was amazing. Listening to it on Itunes or YouTube just does not inspire the feeling I got from their live show. The entire group gives it there all and it shows!

They had drums of all sizes, from hand held to some at least 4 feet across that require a baseball bat size ‘drum-club’ to play. They dance around, play games, play off each other, everything! It’s a real show. Blof was the visiting band this year. A pretty big deal in Holland, this Dutch band really impressed me. I am used to not understanding song lyrics from Japanese music so maybe that makes me more tolerant. Seeing Kodo and Blof play together was a real treat. Both bands were having such a good time, and their collaboration was really well done in my opinion. I’m no music expert, but you are reading my blog and are therefore entitled to my opinion.

I have no idea what this song is about, but I do know that it was AMAZING to watch live. I love to see people with nearly nothing in common on the surface come together and make something beautiful. Give it a listen. Oh, my concert had about 10 more drums than the set up in the video. Well, and an open air stadium at the top of a mountain. Jealousy is the natural response.
Here is the Kodo/Blof collaboration song - Click HERE

This is the “About Kodo” page in English - Kodo in English

Enjoy. Sorry for the long article.

The Ryotsu Festival and Oni-daiko

2009-08-22T15:58:00.000+09:00

After an amazing BBQ on the beach, where we all ate more red meat than we will probably even seen this year, my friends and I headed down the road to a town in the north of Sado called Ryotsu for their summer festival. The main attraction at this festival, as is common on Sado, is Oni-Daiko.

Sado is famous for this drum driven dance where men dressed as Oni, mythical figures most common translated as goblins or demons, dance to the beat of huge taiko drums, a large barrel shaped drum that was invented on Sado. The purpose of this dance, and the festival, is to drive away evil spirits and to bring fortune on the town. Generally, Oni are not thought to bring fortune, but in Sado they are considered divine. Each prefecture in Sado used to be separate from the others, but Sado recently incorporated into one prefecture and the old provinces are now towns. Each old prefecture, now town, had its own Oni so now there are many Oni at each festival. Each Oni has its own special mask and its own special Oni-daiko dance. It is an amazing performance, almost like a ballet or a scene from an opera. The Oni flip their hair up with their drum sticks, strike fierce poses at the crowd, chase dragons, and in general manage to look pretty serious. If you are even in Japan in the summer, I highly recommend coming to Sado for a festival. You won’t regret it.

The video actually comes from the Sawata Matsuri and is a little dark because the festival was at night. The picture is from the Ryotsu Matsuri. I hope they both turn out alright.

I got this info from 2 of my friends that have lived on Sado for the majority of their lives. One actually taught at Xavier University for 5 years, and the other is boss triathlete (puts me to shame). The information is what they believe to be true, so if the text books say something different, well... I'm going to believe the natives

Water Sumo

2009-08-22T15:42:00.000+09:00

WATER SUMO
Yes, I, Phillip Martin, the self proclaimed “Skinny White Boy” has competed in sumo. And not just any sumo, Water Sumo (Japanese – Ume sumo). The town next to mine, Akadomari, held a festival where water sumo was the main attraction. My team of 5 was made up of 5 Asst. Language Teachers all from the US. We were pitted against the Post Office Team. Now, I’m not calling BS here, but no letter pusher I’ve ever seen was that jacked! Our team pretty much got rocked, and the other team went on to get second! Oh with the exception of ME! Yes, this Skinny White Boy won a sumo match! My opponent was about my size and gave me a good struggle for about 15 seconds, but once I had his leg, I spun him and tossed him into the sea! YEAH! I’d like to say thanks to WWE! All of the wasted hours I spent glued to the TV to watch Wrestlemania in Jr High suddenly seem worth it. I also entered the open match and got rocked by the guy who was the first to win 3 in a row. Some of the other ALT’s I went with won a match in the open round. It was great fun. Enjoy the pictures!

The First Entry from Japan!

2009-08-22T15:40:00.000+09:00

Ok, so far I have finished with 3 days of Orientation in Tokyo and have reached my final destination, the town of Hamochihongo on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture.
The orientation was pretty much just meetings and seminars about the JET program, but we were pretty much free to sleep or walk around Tokyo after 3:00 each day. I did a little bit of both. There were actually a few people at the orientation that I knew from Waseda. Small world.
I left Tokyo by bullet train and ended up in Niigata City where my supervisor, Mr. Otsuka, a very kind and helpful man, showed me and the other Sado ALT(Asst. Language Teacher), Charles, to the jetfoil so we could get to Sado. After a 1 hour ride, I arrived at Ryotsu Port and met the other JET teachers on Sado, all of whom have been very welcoming. I was then carried off to meet the superintendant, my Board of Education director, and I was finally taken to my apartment/house. (Pictures are coming soon in a MTV Cribs: Sado Style Blog Update).
Sado has just about as much green on it as Tokyo has steel and glass. There are rice fields all over the place! The sea is as blue as it can be, the forests are a rich green, and they are packed full of trees. Being as there is so much nature here, there is little else. Don’t get me wrong, Sado has pretty much everything we need, but it’s no metropolis. My own town, Hamochihongo, is very small, but it has all of the things I need to live within walking distance. It has a “This is ‘town’ “ (Enter Joe Dirt accent here) type of feel to it. All of the Southerners reading this know what I’m talk’n about.
So far I have really just been meeting with teachers, filling out forms, and preparing to live here for the next year. There are going to be several festivals, about 5 or so, on the island within the next month so lots of pictures and good stories are sure to come. I’ll try to keep these entries shorter so they are easier to read. Thanks for being interested guys ; )

I've Made it to Tokyo

2009-07-26T22:32:00.001+09:00

So after an 11 1/2 hour flight I've made it to Tokyo where I will go through 2 days of orientation, and then I will be off to Niigata Prefecture. Over the next 2 days I will be meeting with other JET's and officials from my area, taking workshops on teaching and living in Japan, and doing lots of other official stuff. Not all of my time will be taken up however. I plan to enjoy my old Tokyo haunts while I still can. Thanks to all of you who prayed for my safe travels. More to come soon (hopefully with pictures)

Wikipedia for Sado Island

2009-06-24T04:39:00.000+09:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sado_Island

Facts about Sado (That's Where I'll be Living)

2009-06-17T11:48:00.001+09:00

Sado Facts
Since you probably don’t know anything about Sado, here are some facts so you can know a little bit about where I will be living.
- Sado, AKA Sadogashima, is an island off the west coast of Niigata Prefecture. (Picture Above). It used to be used as an exile island. (I thought it was a joke at first when I found out they sent me there. EXILE! Really?)
- It is 330 sq. miles in area and it sits about 30 miles off mainland Japan. By ferry, the only way to get on the island, it is around 2 ½ hours.
- It has a population of around 66,000 people. The island is rather rural; a noticeable portion of the island fishes or farms for their main source of income.
- The winter in Sado is known to be quite bleak, but the mainland gets far more snow than Sado. Despite the rough winters, spring, summer, and fall are supposed to be amazing.
- Sado is famous for taiko drumming, sake brewing, Noh plays (traditional Japanese masked performances), and being a good place to see a bit of traditional Japan.
- Sado sports beaches, 2 mountain chains, and plenty of lush landscape.
- Important to me personally, they have a very active community that is quite involved in sports. The island has quite a good number of local races throughout the year. Oh, and the crown jewel of all the races: A Yearly Triathlon held every September. Thank you God!
- My town, called Hamochi, only has about 4000 people in it so I’m probably going to stick out.

Oh well, I posted the Wikipedia page as a link above so you can go to that as well. Enjoy!

The Beginning

2009-06-09T06:29:00.000+09:00

This is the first of what I hope will be many interesting blog posts over the next year.
Starting July 25th, I will be living and teaching English in Japan. I will be stationed on the island of Sado off the coast of Niigata. I will be posting some info about it soon.
If you are reading this, I'd just like to say, Hey Friend/Family Member, and I hope you enjoy this blog.