Sayonara

I'm not sure if anyone still reads this, but in case you do...

I've been saying goodbye to Japan. Lots of parties, dinners, and whatnot. Also packing and other errands. This will be my last post from the Land of the Rising Sun. Tomorrow I'm getting rid of my internet connection, and on Thursday I'm moving out. I'll be heading on a trip to Thailand, before returning to the States on August 14th.

Perhaps when I get back, I'll write some sort of profound post. Or maybe I'll just put up some pictures from Thailand. In any case, since I'll be home, you can call me instead. :)

Fancy Dinner

As I mentioned in my last post, the English teachers at my junior high took me out to dinner on Friday. Originally they wanted to go to a yakiniku (Korean bbq) restaurant, but I had been to three barbecues the previous weekend and had another one planned for the following day. So we ended up at a Japanese-style restaurant. Although I've been here a year there were still exciting, new dishes I hadn't tried yet.

There was a soup that involved a contraption that you had to squeeze jellied seaweed out of. That was quite entertaining, and pretty tasty.

I finally tried whale. I'm surprised I hadn't encountered it yet. The waitress as well as my dinner companions got a little worried about my reaction to the whale (since foreigners tend to be ethically opposed to whale meat). I rather liked it, although it took a long time to chew a piece and I would get tired of the flavor by the time I was done.

We also had sea urchin. I tried this once before, but it was not in its shell that time. Although mine was sufficiently dead, a few of the sea urchins on our table were still moving a few of their spines. One of them was quite active. Also pretty entertaining (but not very tasty in my opinion.)

Owarimashita!

It is now summer vacation at Taiwa Chuu (although the students will of course be at the school every day). It is also the end of my time there. Friday was the last day of the term and the school had the end of term ceremony. The end of that ceremony was a farewell ceremony for me. The principal gave a speech about me. Then I gave a speech to the students, which I did in both English and Japanese (and I was told that the Japanese was comprehensible). A student gave me a speech, also in English and Japanese, and another student presented me with flowers.
Then all the students made two rows for me to walk through as a send-off. (A gauntlet if you will, but a friendly gauntlet). I walked through, saying goodbye, shaking hands, giving high fives, a few hugs, a few students shouted "I love Rita". This all took quite a long time.
Later, I had to give another speech to all the teachers. I also baked brownies as a goodbye gift for the staff, so I passed those out. In the evening the English teachers took me out for dinner.

Bonus cute story. I put up a "Goodbye" bulletin board, with a letter to the students and teachers and a sign saying "Keep in touch with Ms. Rita" and my email address. A couple of my students read the sign, and not understanding the idiom "keep in touch" they touched the paper.

Don't Go to a Bald Barber

Today I did something worse. I got my hair cut by a man with a mullet. And of course, he was the father of one of my students. It's actually not too bad (not too good either). Nevertheless, it was a rather worrisome experience.

Fujisan

3776 meters. Japan’s tallest mountain. Tall enough to make breathing difficult. Tall enough for altitude sickness to be a concern. We were going to conquer this beast. We would stand atop of Japan.

The typical way to climb Fuji is to start at the fifth station and spend the night at the 8^th or 9^th. Then to wake up in the middle of the night in order to reach the summit by sunrise. As the book I have about hiking in Japan phrased it, “To see one symbol of Japan from atop another symbol of Japan.” This was the plan.

Originally, we had assembled a decent sized group for this adventure. However, as the level of challenge and the high probability of bad weather set in, people began dropping out one by one (or rather two by two it seemed), until by Thursday night it was down to just Colin and me. Unfavorable weather was practically a guarantee at this point. But we were determined. This was our only chance to climb Fuji and we would bring lots of warm clothing and rain gear and take precautions and hope for the best.

We went down to Tokyo on Friday night and took a bus to Fuji 5^th station on Saturday morning. The weather was looking to be on our side. It was overcast but not too cold. Saturday’s climb was surprisingly short. We made it to the 8^th station in slightly over 3 hours, and that included many stops to rest and catch our breath. At this point we were over 3000 meters and we could see above the clouds.

We ate an early dinner at the mountain hut and were in bed by 7 pm. Slightly before 1 am, most people in the hut woke up for the pre-dawn trek to the peak. Laying in our sleeping bags, we could hear the wind howling and occasionally when the wind died down, we could hear the rain falling. Colin and I looked at each other with some hesitation, but decided that we had come all this way and we would brave the storm.

Thus, we got up, got dressed an insane number of layers, exchanged a hug for good luck and stepped outside. With flashlights and headlamps we bared down against the elements and began the slow ascent of the last 600 meters or so. On and on we walked in the darkness, eventually the predawn light was enough that we could see a bit around us. However, the clouds were so thick that we would often lose each other in the mist. Eventually, it grew overwhelming. Approximately 5 minutes away from the summit, drenched to the bone, upon finding out that there would be no place for rest or a warm drink at the top, and seeing that there was no sunrise to be seen, I turned us around. I figured without anything to see, we were close enough.

On the walk back down, we stopped in a mountain hut to rest. From the altitude, the weather, the exertion, Colin had become somewhat ill and didn’t want to go on. We decided to stay there and nap. It was 5:30 am when we got to the hut, and approximately noon when we put our mostly wet clothes back on and headed out into the howling wind again.

The descent took much longer than I thought it would, partially because we walked very slowly, partially because we walked down the ascending route. We returned just in time to catch the last bus back to Tokyo. And much later, still somewhat wet and exhausted, we safely made it home.

There’s a Japanese expression “He who climbs Fuji once is a wise man. He who climbs Fuji twice is a fool”. This gets thrown around a lot. And after this weekend, I finally understand it. I’m glad that I went on this hike. However, it was not exactly a pleasant hiking experience (well, Saturday was, but it was greatly overshadowed by Sundays misfortunes). And I think I’d probably be a damn fool if I were to do it again.

Holy Trekking Through Snow

A week ago, I went to Yamagata prefecture (west of Miyagi) to hike Dewa Sanzan, one of the holiest places in Northern Japan. Dewa Sanzan consists of 3 mountains especially sacred to a particular religious sect. The three mountains represent birth, death, and rebirth.

We started on Saturday with Gassan, by far the largest of the three at approximately 1800 meters. (Of course, in Japan usually you drive halfway up the mountain to get to the trailhead). The day was very hot and humid, but Gassan still has quite a bit of snow in many places. Our first encounter with a patch of snow coincided with heavy fog drifting over us so that it seemed like we were walking around in a great void, in an abyss surrounded by nothingness. The contrast in temperatures between the snowy spots and the non-snowy spots was stark and provided a nice relief from the normal balmy conditions of June.

As we were taking a group photo in front of the shrine at the top of the mountain, we heard several loud thunderclaps. Suddenly it began to rain. Painful, icy rain. We put on our rain gear and began to run/slide down the snowy mountainside. We must have looked insane to the people we passed—a dozen foreigners barreling down a mountain. The rain abated after about 10 minutes and the sun came back out in full force. The snowy patches still provided great opportunities to slide down the mountain, throw a few snowballs, and generally have the kind of fun that doesn’t normally happen in June.

We spent the night in the temple complex on top of Hagurosan. In the morning, we walked down the mountain and back up again. The trail is made of 2446 stone steps and is lined with huge trees.

In the afternoon we drove over to Yudonosan. On the way, we stopped at a temple that houses a mummified monk. He apparently took steps to mummify himself while still alive. We listened to a speech about him, but since my Japanese skills are rudimentary at best, I still don’t understand much about it. On top of Yudonosan we went to a special temple where we got blessed and walked barefoot to a spot with a good view. After the blessing we put our feet into a nice foot onsen, which in itself was a blessing after two days of hiking.

Yamagata is famous for cherries, so after a stop for some cherry flavored ice cream we drove back home to Miyagi.

This is the largest thatched roof in Japan.

The Big One

This morning we had a 7.0 (6.9 according to some sources) earthquake here in northern Japan. It was pretty intense shaking. Some things fell. Some of my friends have a few broken dishes. There were aftershocks for quite a while afterwards that got annoying after a while (in fact there's one as I'm typing this).

Just wanted to let everyone know (if they happen to hear about the earthquake by other means) that I'm okay.

Hiking Nanatsumori

Apologies for being a slacker about updating the blog.

You may recall the 7 small peaks located in my town and the legend I heard climbing about them and praying to the spirits that live on each peak. Last weekend my friends, Liz and Colin, and I set out to achieve the eternal good fortune (or happiness or luck—I don’t quite remember).

Although it was raining on Saturday morning (it’s the rainy season this month), we decided to set out anyway. With rain coats and hiking boots started on what would be a very wet, muddy, slippery, but fun hike. On Saturday we hiked up and down six peaks, taking pictures on each summit.

The seventh and tallest mountain is separated from the others and is a short drive away. After completing a big loop (with combined ups and downs of about 1500m) and with not much more daylight left, we decided to tackle Sasakurayama on Sunday.

We returned to my house soaking wet, cold, and tired. After recouping with hot showers, hot tea, and then bibimbop at a nearby restaurant, we headed out for two fantastic hours of karaoke.

Sunday morning turned out to be sunny and warm. Unfortunately our boots were still disgustingly wet. With such nice weather, there were several other hikers on the mountain. Well rested, we walked up the mountain in about 40 minutes and spent about the same amount of time at the top attempting to take fun pictures with camera timers.

Now we ought to be blessed, but even if we don’t get eternal good fortune, the weekend was still a blast.

Onikobe

I couple weekends ago, I was in Onikoube, an area near Naruko.

A large group of JETs spent Saturday learning to paraglide. Because it was our first time, the instructors didn’t give us much opportunity to get off the ground. There were other people around who were flying quite long and high. Paragliding involves wearing a very large and awkward harness and running in a rather odd manner. Needless to say, the whole day was fairly amusing.

That night, we went camping nearby. Other friends joined us for camping. Although it rained (have I mentioned it’s the rainy season) that night, we had a shelter where we cooked. Barbeque, s’mores, people with guitars, campfire, all added up to a very good night.

In the morning, some of us set off on an attempt to find a nearby onsen that has a waterfall. What we originally thought was the path to the onsen turned out to be a very nice short nature walk with several geysers and a stream. I’d never seen a geyser before. Eventually we hopped back in our cars and found the place. There was an outdoor pool, and indeed another natural pool underneath a waterfall. We were warned that there was no point in going in the waterfall due to the heavy rain the night before. Of course we went anyway. The water was pretty cold but invigorating.

Funny Translations

Today I came across this and felt the need to share. It has a list of bad English translations of Japanese "Adult Video" titles. If this kind of thing might offend you, perhaps you shouldn't click the link. For everyone else...it's quite funny.

Kabuki

On Saturday I went to a performance of a type of traditional Japanese theater. From what I could tell, the main act was about a down-and-out sumo wrestler who goes on some sort of mission and fights off some other guys. Basically, I watched a play that I didn’t understand a single word of. (The physical comedy parts of it were quite fun). Attending theater productions in languages I don’t understand are not a usual hobby of mine. In this case I went entirely for the opening act.

The opening act was a short kabuki production done by five foreigners. A few of these guys are my friends, so I came out to cheer them on/laugh at them. Their performance was fantastic. They all wore pretty purple kimono, geta (traditional wooden shoes that are very hard to walk in, tons of make-up, and wigs. After the show, they posed for funny/scary pictures.

And just for fun, you can watch a couple minutes of the main play. I don't understand a word of it except when the little girl cries "Mother Mother". Also, her mother is played by a man.

Lanterns and a Happy Buddha Birthday

I lucked out because I happened to be in Seoul while the city was having festivities in honor of Buddha’s birthday, which I guess is this week. The celebrations involve thousands, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of lanterns all over the city. The lanterns are in the shape of lotus flowers. In the afternoon I participated in an event where they taught foreigners how to make lanterns. It was lots of fun and I won a prize because my lantern rocked. In the evening there was a parade of lotus lanterns. It was possibly the longest parade I have ever seen. It consisted almost entirely of people carrying lanterns. People in traditional Korean dress carrying lanterns. Buddhist monks carrying lanterns. Small children carrying lanterns. College students carrying lanterns. Elderly people being pushed in wheelchairs carrying lanterns. Very small children being pushed in strollers carrying lanterns. More people in traditional dress. More monks. You get the idea. Occasionally a cool lit up statue of Buddha or a dragon or something similar would come by. I watched the parade for 2 hours and there were still lanterns as far back as the eye could see. There was no sign that it would end any time soon. People also passed out little lanterns to the people watching the parade, so that even the sidelines had a neat effect of lots of lights. I took lots of parade pictures, so here are a few of them, along with my own lantern and other lanterns around town.

Random Mountains with Random Friends

In Seoul I set out to have a little walking tour recommended by Lonely Planet. While trying to figure out where to go from the subway station, I made friends with a random guy who was clearly also attempting the same walking tour, so we set out together. After a few wrong turns, we finally made it up the spiritual mountain we were trying to see. However, we took some back trail because we only saw the temple, which should have been the first sight, on the way down. In South Korea they have random parks with exercise equipment set up on the mountainsides (because hiking up a steep mountain isn’t enough exercise). In addition to scrambling up some rocks, seeing cool carvings, and taking funny photos, we goofed around on this exercise equipment.

In Busan I set out for a more serious hike with another random traveler. We were aiming to see a famous mountain temple. However, we probably took the wrong path because there was no temple. And we were told there would be people selling food and drinks along the way. But there weren’t any of them either. (Except the woman selling kale juice—but we decided to pass on that). Despite the lack of a temple, I think we had a very successful hike. The peak was 615 m—there was a large marker saying so. And the views were amazing. We also took random breaks to play on the exercise equipment we encountered. When we returned from the trail and into town, we stopped at the first shop we saw and bought a bucket of oranges. We sat down and immediately devoured 3 each. Then we went out for bibimbap.

When I returned to Seoul, I walked up Mt. Namsan, which was quite small and not too nature-y, but it gave great views of the city.