Day of Fantastic Adventures!!!!

Storms' a brewin

Today, I had a brilliant and completely unexpected adventure. It all started at noon when I set out on a two hour drive to Kanazawa for the JET beach party. When I was only an hour away I received the news that it had been canceled due to storms from the imminent typhoon (scheduled to hit Saturday night through Monday). I was very close to Nanao, so I decided I would just go shopping for a bit and then head home, that way my trip would not be a total loss. So I drove into Nanao and went to Uniqlo, a popular clothing store in Japan, which was having a fantastic sale today! I also messaged one of my JET friends in Nanao to see if anybody in the area had made alternate plans for the night since the beach party was canceled. She said they had and would start with dinner at 6. I still had an hour and a half to kill, so I pulled out my handy Ishikawa sightseeing app and looked for places nearby I could go see. 

One of the recommendations was a street called Ipponsugi, famous for having many shops dating back to the Taisho and early Showa periods. That sounded interesting, so I headed that way.

I found Ipponsugi street and a little spot to park and then set out to wander in and out of shops. There are several interesting shops there, offering very traditional Japanese goods. I found a really neat Shoyu (soy sauce) shop that sells difference sauces and beautiful dispenser cups as well. I talked to the owner for a bit, and learned a new word from her, "beppin," which is another way to say beautiful girl/woman, a word she used to describe me. :)

Soy Sauce dishes!

Toconomas

Next I went across the street to a shop full of beautiful golden toconamas. Toconamas are the little shrines that Japanese families often keep inside the home. While there I met the couple who own the shop and they were very interested in learning about me, and also showed me pictures of foreign students that had come to visit their store while on trips to Japan. During our conversation the topic of cooking came up, and I showed them pictures of bento that I made, and they thought it is great that I love Japanese food. Then they got all excited and asked if I would try some of her cooking, an offer that I of course accepted! They scurried off to the back and then brought out iced tea

My treat from the kind lady

and a dish of rice for me to eat. It was very similar to inari sushi, except the outside had a more spongy texture. I told them it was my first time to eat it and that it was delicious, and the lady informed me that she was happy too since it was her first time to serve that dish to a foreigner. While we were talking, the man asked me if I had visited the matcha shop down the street, which I had not. So then he offered to take me there. It was raining heavily so he pulled the car around, I jumped in the backseat, and down the street we went!

We parked in front of the tea shop and went in to meet an old man grinding tea with a handmill. He showed me how you put tea leaves on top and then grind and matcha powder comes out of the bottom. While I tried my hand at it he explained more about it and told me that it takes twenty minutes of grinding to get 20 milligrams of powder, enough to serve tea to just ten people! After grinding tea for a bit he let me sample it. First he had me prepare a traditional sweet, you put matcha powder onto a little sugar-log-type of soft candy and then cut it into pieces to eat. Then he told me how to properly prepare a cup of tea. While I drank it he explained to me some parts of traditional tea ceremony. For example, turning the cup three times before you drink it to avoid the front. I think because the front of the cup is ornamental...? Anyway, it was a very interesting experience and I am so glad I decided to go walking down that street!

By then it was time to go meet my friends for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We had a great little dinner and I got to catch up with people I had not seen since orientation two weeks ago. After we finished I decided to head home early in case the storms worsened through the night. 

On the way home, I failed to follow my GPS' instructions fully and missed an exit. Its punishment was to lead me down the SCARIEST back road I have ever seen in my life. It was an extremely narrow road, just wide enough for one car to pass, and shrubs were encroaching on it from either side, which leads me to believe it is not an often traveled road either. The road was lined with either gaijin traps or sheer drop offs the entire way. The 6 km I spent on that road I was in constant fear of meeting a car from the opposite direction. You might think 6 km is not a long distance, but due to the conditions (night and rain) I was only able to travel at 30 km per hour, a very slow pace on this dark winding road. Finally I made it back into town and was back on my way home!

And this was not even a scary part....

Sweets Deliveries

Another pleasant surprise about working in Japan- sweets deliveries! Last week at one of my schools a lady came by with baskets of various drinks and ice creams for everyone who wanted to buy one. And today a lady from the local bakery came by with trays of delicious baked goods we could purchase from. They bring the goods right into the teacher's room! Japan- the land of conveniences.

Health Check Up

In Japan, the majority of people are diligent about getting their annual health check-ups, and if you are a government employee like myself your employer will provide yours for you. So today I had that done. It started with the pre-physical evaluation form. This form featured the normal questions like "do you smoke?" "Do you have family illnesses?" etc. but some of the more interesting questions included:

How often do you poop?

How often do you pee?

Do you ever have to pee in the middle of the night?

Do you ever skip breakfast?

Do you ever go to sleep within two hours of eating dinner?

Do you exercise for 30 minutes every day?

Do you eat every day?

If you eat and exercise regularly, did you learn this behavior from a class?

And more.

After some confusion about why I was being asked seemingly bizarre questions, the two page, 11 pt form was finally complete.

Next was the actual hospital portion. We checked with the reception desk, they gave us a folder with our charts to carry and ushered us over to the first station. There we had our height, weight, blood pressure, and waist measurements taken. Apparently they measure your waist in order to calculate your BMI. After finishing this preliminary step, we went to the next station in another area of the hospital where we were given open paper cups for our urine samples. After obtaining your sample you leave it in a tray in the bathroom, from where they pick it up after you leave. Next we went to another station where we gave blood samples. Also, the nurses from the first station (in another area of the hospital!) popped up here as well to guide us along. After that we went to the radiology department to get our chest x-rays. All during the visit we carried our own chart with us to each station and handed it to the nurses there who added paperwork/results or filled in the proper areas and handed it back to us to carry to the next station. After the chest x-rays, we walked upstairs for our hearing test. This is not something I have ever had to do in the US!

You walk into a soundproof room with the doctor and he places a set of headphones on your head and then plays a series of beeps, and as soon as they are audible you press a button. Now when we started this I was slightly confused on when they wanted me to press the button and waited too long the first time, but I quickly figured out the routine to finish the test. Bear in mind, this is a rural hospital- no English! After that we went to have our eyes checked. This test was very similar to American eye exams, however just different enough to cause complete confusion for me. You sit in a chair and they put a strange glasses-lense contraption on you and you are supposed to read the characters on a chart on a wall in front of you. Sounds simple, we are all used to this right? No. In America, you choose the smallest line you can read or so and read all the way across. In Japan, there is a chart of characters that look like circles with cuts in either the top, bottom, left, or right. During the test they light up random characters and expect you to tell them which direction the cut is in. However when we started I kept saying down, because I could read the next and smaller lines below. But the doctor kept going to random larger, characters for me to read. We all quickly realized there was some mis-communication, so they explained to me how it works, and after much laughter from everyone, I started over. I was able to read all the way until the second to smallest character, so my eyes are good.

After all this, we came to the last station. There you meet with a doctor who goes over your results from all the tests, listens to your heart and lung sounds, and feels your thyroid. The doctor informed me that my thyroid is a bit swollen, however I have not been nor am I getting sick. So maybe he is just used to feeling smaller Japanese thyroids? Also he showed me the x-ray of my chest which was cool cause you can see the shadow of your lungs and heart. The doctor also told me my cardio thorastic ratio was good/normal.

So, I'm officially declared healthy until next year....

Matsuri!

This weekend was full of festivals and awesome sightseeing around the Noto!

On Friday evening I went to Wajima for their famous Taisai festival. Taisai is a lot of fun, and very exciting well into the night with kurriko teams carrying their huge lanterns up and down the streets while drinking, chanting, and talking to people. The other JETs I was with and myself even got to help carry a kurriko for a little while which was very cool. 

On Saturday we did some excellent sightseeing of different spots around Wajima. First we went to a great little beach spot that features awesome rock formations right on the coast and a little "natural" swimming pool.

Next we went in search of waterfalls. The first one we went to was gorgeous and hidden in the woods. It was really off the beaten path, you must have someone with you that has been there before to be able to find it. While there we climbed the slippery rocks to the top and halfway slid down on our return to ground level. After leaving that gorgeous waterfall we drove on and went to another very pretty and very huge one that was right by the road.  

鵜川祭り

Sashimi

Whale meat

On Saturday evening I returned to my village for our niwaka festival. The other ALT here and myself had invitations to pre-festival dinners so at 5:15 off we went. First, we went to the house of one of our co-workers. We were led into the party room which was a traditional tatami (bamboo mat floor) room that housed the toconama (family shrine) and a long low table where everyone sat to eat, drink, and socialize. Then we went to another house we had an invitation to, from someone who formerly worked at our office. Three of the other guests were university students doing a home-stay visit. There was a German, a Tanzanian, and a Taiwanese person all studying at a university in Tokyo. At each dinner party we attended the hosts and other guests were so welcoming and excited to talk to us and have a great time even though some had never met us before.

After spending some time there we went to the house of an elementary school teacher I work with. At 8:30 we stepped outside to see the fireworks which were awesome. Watching them pop over the lined up niwakas was a sight to see.
Niwakas are two-story tall lanterns that are hand-built every year for the festival, and feature huge ink drawn depictions of samurai. During the festival the niwakas are pushed up and down the streets by teams of people in order to honor the gods. After they started the parade of niwakas, the teacher I know (whose husband is a leader for one of the niwaka teams) rushed back into the house excitedly exclaiming that they started and said "Let's join!" So she ran to the back of her house and came out with two hapi coats that she dressed the other ALT and me in and then led us out to find her husband's team. When we found them she asked permission from an elder to let us join which he granted, so for the next 4 hours we helped the team push the niwaka through the streets of our village. All the while there were children piled on top and riding the niwaka, chanting, and beating the taiko drums as we pushed.

The energy of that festival was magnificent. There were 9 niwakas in the procession and everyone was having a blast! We would push the niwakas sometimes at a walk, sometimes at a flat out run! At one large intersection each niwaka team took turns going to the middle to spin their niwaka as fast as possible!!! It was AWESOME. So much fun and it was so incredible to really feel like I am a part of the community. The exhilaration from the energy of the people around, the sounds of the drums and flutes the kids were playing, and the atmosphere of being part of something great in your own village is indescribable. It is rare and special for foreigners to have this kind of experience in Japan because it would only ever happen in a community small like mine. This festival has truly made me feel glad to be living where I am.

Blessing at the Shinto Shrine

Later on I met a gentleman who has been doing ink drawings for the festival for 45 years. We were discussing different festivals and he told me that ours is special because of the community involvement. Entire families participate, from grandmothers all the way down to the toddlers riding on the niwakas. And he was adamant that everyone puts their whole heart into the festival. After having experienced it, I am sure he is correct. It is so evident that everyone there was completely excited to be partaking with sheer pleasure in the event.

My Car (^o^)/

I finally got my car! I am so happy to have it; now I have the freedom to drive myself around and explore the area. It is a 2003 Mitsubishi Minica, and it is tiny! It is a Japanese "kei car," which are very small, much more efficient, and have a less powerful engine than regular full size cars. I am quickly getting used to the differences between American and Japanese driving. Driving on the opposite side of the road was an easy switch to me, however in Japanese cars the blinker and the windshield wipers are reversed from American cars so that has been harder to become accustomed to. So sometimes, when I am going to turn, I automatically reach for the "blinker" and the wipers come on out of nowhere! Also they roads here are very narrow, many places especially in neighborhoods there is only enough room for one car to pass, so I'm not sure what happens when a car is coming from each direction! Another thing you have to be careful of here are the "Gaijin (foreigner) traps." Along most of the roads there are deep uncovered gutters, for some inexplicable reason. If you happen to pull too close to one your car can fall right into the gutter and take some considerable damage. In a lot of places there is even grass and weeds grown over it to carefully conceal the gaijin traps so unsuspecting drivers are unaware of their existence. Take away- do not pull over unless it is specifically a pull over spot! Luckily, these are found frequently along Japanese roadways in my experience.

This week I had the opportunity to try many interesting foods and see some new places. I spent two nights in Kanazawa which is the "big city" of our prefecture where we had a prefectural job orientation. Each night we went out in groups of JETs to try different restaurants and bars in the city. The second night I went with an awesome group of people who started at a bar called Jigger St. Louis. This is a very classy "host" bar that specialized in cocktails and attractive waiters to attract the female clientele. Also, if someone is having a birthday they put on a special bar show. Since my birthday was recent our leader decided we would tell the bar staff we were celebrating my birthday. So two of the bartenders put on a great show for us. They turned up the music and turned down the lights and had the strobe lights going while a bartender danced and juggled bottles while making a drink for the birthday person. Afterward when we were leaving many people wanted to congratulate me or give me a high five on my way out. It was a lot of fun.

Next our group went to a traditional Japanese ezakaya where we ordered a bunch of different dishes for everyone to share such as grilled octopus, whole grilled shishamo smelt fishes, grilled mackerel, horse sashimi, yakisoba, chicken skewers, and more. It was all delicious!

Horse Sashimi (Raw)

Grilled Octopus

Grilled Mackerel

Our last stop for the night was a karaoke place, where we sang for four hours! Everyone joined in for almost every song anyone chose; we were all singing and playing the tambourines and having an obnoxiously great time.

On Sunday, I met up with some other northerner JETs and we hung out at a beach up here. Swimming in the Sea of Japan was wonderful- the water was so warm! We spent a lot of time out in the waves and even found a random eggplant on the beach which we then used as a toy to play keep away. After spending several hours on the beach getting sunburns, we showered and readied ourselves to find dinner. We walked around town in search of a restaurant and the first three restaurants we tried were full for the night- probably due to the O-bon holidays which people may have been finishing up their celebrations for. We kept walking, determined to find dinner, and stumbled upon a little place that could have been a snack bar or restaurant. After another and myself peering in the window for a minute we decided it probably was a restaurant since they seemed to have a menu, so we decided to try it. Our party of six filed in and filled the front bar of the tiny restaurant and we were promptly served our drinks and snails. After eating those we started ordering different dishes for dinner. The owner would prepare and serve us one dish at a time so we could keep ordering different things until we were satisfied. The food was delicious! That little restaurant was a gem of a find. We ate sashimi, katsu skewers and chicken wings, stir fried vegetables, and baked potatoes. All of the food was fantastic. When we were finished and started paying our bill, each person threw in money to pay for it and somehow we came up with 600 extra yen. Everyone insisted that we had paid our exact amount and we could not figure out where the extra money came from, so we decided to go to the store and buy ice cream for dessert. So off we walked to the supermarket where we bought two boxes of ice cream and then took it and ate it while sitting down by the river. By that time it was getting late and we all headed home to sleep before work in the morning. 

Snails.

Eating a snail.

Delicious sashimi

家ー　My House

I live on the first floor of a building comprised of six apartments. My apartment is pretty large, considering Japanese standards for people living alone. Of course, I am out in the country so houses and apartments tend to be much bigger here since there is more room available. My place has three rooms and a separate kitchen and bathroom. Also the room with the toilet is completely separate from the room with the shower, it is very common in Japan to separate these two functions of the "bathroom area." Also there is no dryer, all the clothes are hung out to dry in a little room on the balcony area. Here in Japan they are very particular about sorting the trash, everywhere. At home, the office, in public areas- you just sort your trash. And if you put something in the wrong bin, you will be kindly corrected and shown where to put trash correctly. Taking your trash out to the road is also serious business. If you sort your trash wrong and/or take it out on the wrong day(?) the trashman will leave it there and stick a yellow tag on it explaining what you did wrong. And it will be left there until you solve the problem.

Kitchen

Trash- burnable, non-burnable, steel cans, plastic bottles, and the fifth I am not sure what it is for...

Clothes drying room

My bedroom/all-purpose room since it is the only one with AC/heat

Bento I took to work one day

I have also been cooking a lot now that I have my own kitchen again. I am excited to learn more about Japanese foods and how to prepare them. I even make my own bento (Japanese lunchbox) to take to work. The other day when the boss saw that I had made my own bento he was impressed and later brought me three goya fruits, known in the Western world as "bitter melons." He explained how I needed to cook them and remove the seeds and that chanpuru is a popular Okinawan dish that features goya. He asked if I would like to try cooking them and of course I accepted his gift! Here are the results of my cooking experiments:

Chanpuru- the Okinawan dish

Onigiri (rice balls)- salmon, seaweed, and green tea/plum flavored

Ramen- Classic.

Tofu, vegetable tenpura (I bought that already made though), salted salmon and somen noodles

Breakfast- cut fruit and rice porridge. Added WAY too much dashi stock the first time I made it, man was that salty!

Chicken teriyaki, sauteed spinach and mushrooms, tangerine, and somen

観光ー Sightseeing!

This weekend I did some great sightseeing around Noto and met a lot of great people!

Saturday night I met up with other JET teachers and we explored the Anamizu area. We started at Senmaida, which is a place by the sea that has hundreds of rice paddies growing on it. Next we went and saw the local Daibutsu (huge Buddha statue). And we finished our night with dinner at a ramen shop and ice cream from a nearby stand. 

Today I had another awesome day of exploration mostly in the Wajima area with two girls that work for the Board of Education. We went to Asaichi, the morning market which is a long street lined with shops and vendors selling fresh fish, knick knacks, and other goods. We had lunch at a well known soba restaurant, then went to see the Sojiji temple which is one of the most famous Buddhist temples in this area. Sojiji teaches Soto-zen and are part of a network of Buddhist temples around Japan. One of the sister temples (the main one I believe) is located in Tsurumi, where I lived last year. And I visited that Sojiji temple during a festival last summer. After seeing Sojiji, we went to Gannon, a scenic viewpoint of the sea. It was a gorgeous coast area and we also took a bumpy ride on the sea around the area.

Dried squid stand at the Morning Market

Lunch!

Sojiji Temple Grand Gateway

Inside the main temple building

Gannon

Dried squid we snacked on