Doug's Birthday "Surprise"

I wish that I had more time to write. At the same time, I enjoy being busy. Maybe I spend too much time writing when I should be making the most of this experience in Japan. Maybe writing is how I experience. I cannot imagine what this time in Japan would have been like 25 years ago, before the widespread use/existence of email, Facebook, Skype, and blogging. There are several other forms of online media that I rely heavily on almost every day. I do not know what it would be like to hand write letters to all of you as my form of correspondence. Needless to say, each update would be fewer and farther between.

Despite these massive communication networks that I take advantage of daily, the world grew slightly smaller the other day when I received a phone call from a friend in Japan. I knew it was his birthday and that we were going to have a surprise gathering at the bar that night. I also knew that he knew about this surprise engagement and that he had more or less taken over the responsibility of inviting people. The first thing he asked me though, was “do you know a guy named Vlad?” When I told him that I went to high school with a guy named Vlad, he told me that “he is sitting in his car.”

In celebration of Doug’s surprise birthday, which he knew about, I spent the night playing foosball with Vlad. He was pretty good too. I also ran into him again the next day in a ramen shop in Yumoto, where he was heading off to travel other parts of Japan. Vlad’s got a new apartment in Vancouver, so when I return, I’ve got a date to go drinking at his apartment.

Also, in keeping with the theme of Doug’s birthday and mass communications, Doug’s real birthday was yesterday and he is from New Orleans, which is also home to the New Orleans Saints. He also has access to watching football games online, so we spent last night watching New Orleans play Detroit.

This was my first time watching football with Americans and I learned that they know how to throw a football party. About 12 of us managed to fit ourselves into a room not much bigger than my kitchen area and we had munchies that surpassed any football party that I’ve ever been to – or thrown. I also learned that I did not know what guacamole should taste like until last night. We even got to watch a few football highlights where surprise, surprise, I saw Brett Favre throwing for the Minnesota Vikings! I’ve been in Japan for more than six weeks and that’s the most absurd thing that I’ve seen so far.

Anyway, I need to wrap this up, as I have a welcoming party that I need to go to – and I use the word ‘need’ in the sense that it is a social obligation, not in the sense that I ‘need’ any more alcohol to enter my poor bloodstream, because I don’t.

Storefront Photos

I received a care package from home the other day – sort of a life boat/get out of jail free card for me. The main item in the parcel was my backup camera, which it looks like I will be needing in the near future as my main camera decided to abandon one of its buttons unto the city of Iwaki like a surgically removed wart. The camera has the scar to prove it. Sometimes I worry about the button, out there all alone in downtown Iwaki with no camera in which to belong. I’m sure that it’ll find its way. In any event, my camera needs fixing, which in Canada, I know takes at least a couple of weeks for just a diagnostic and a cleaning.
Another teacher gave me a ride home because balancing the box on my bike would have been… maybe not impossible, but at least damnedly difficult. This also gave me an excuse to walk back to the school in the dark and to take some photos of downtown Iwaki.
These photos are of some wares in a shop window. I’m glad I took them because the lights were off on my way home.

Got Rice?

I had my first day at Midori no Mori – which I think translates to “forest green”, school today. This means that me and everyone around me were walking on eggshells for most of the afternoon. I had prepared my tentative greetings in Japanese: “Hajimemashite,” “watashi wa Bryce des,” “Kanata no Vancouver kata kimashita,” “dozo yoroshiku onnegaishimasu,” and they had their awkward greetings in English: “Hello,” “Nice to meet you,” “How do you like Japan so far,” and so on. And there were also several bows at every meeting – and then more bowing after the meetings… and now that I think about it, during the meetings as well.

The other day, I finished my first 5kg bad of rice. Japanese rice is of a short grain variety and is much stickier than other types of rice. It is used exclusively when making sushi. Most Japanese people only eat Japanese rice – part of this comes from a sense of pride in their rice, if not all things Japanese; also Japan has a lot of heavy tariffs on imported rice, so it is not so practical to eat other kinds. Still, whenever I’m asked how I like Japanese rice, I am sure to respond quite positively and very enthusiastically.

I tend to eat a lot of rice. Cereal is rare and expensive over here, and bread isn’t the same as it is at home, so I asked several Japanese people what they eat for breakfast. Amongst answers of fish and omelets, the answer always seemed to include miso soup and rice. I don’t have a proper kettle yet, so I don’t eat as much miso soup as I probably should (I’ve been told many times that it is very good for you), so I generally have rice in the morning with some tofu – and kimchi for flavour. On occasion I will have fish or an omelet. I also have rice with lunch or dinner quite often. In any given day, I usually eat one or two bowls of rice.

A 5kg bag of rice goes for about 1800 yen. This time I opted for the 10kg bag, which was about 3200 yen. I'm hoping that this will last me a couple of months. I’m not too sure how this compares to prices at home.

Photographing rice for this post was more difficult than I imagined. It is very shiny – and white, so it blows out easily. Also, a large light source will wash out any kind of texture. It took me a while to fashion a small enough light source, but eventually I thought these images turned out decent (make sure to click on the image for better resolution).

Ms. Green and Me

The other day, I was reading through one of my textbooks and i came across an example dialogue between two characters: Ms. Green and Megumi. The details of the dialogue aren't really important, but what i did notice was that Ms. Green was from Vancouver, she bikes to school, and she is a Leo. She also thinks Vancouver is a beautiful city. I couldn't help but think that Ms. Green and myself have a lot in common.

Our horoscope for tomorrow is as follows:

You can feel the energy shifting as a wave of positive vibrations heading your way looms out on the horizon. Your anticipation grows, but is tempered with the reality of obligations that won't go away just because things are looking up. Finding the right balance now can be tricky, so don't inflate your expectations to the point of assuring disappointment.

I don't know about you Ms. Green, but it all sounds like it could be a promising day.

Fukushima-Maru

I spent my second day at Kaisai High School (Kaisai Koko in Japanese) today. Last week I got a ride from another teacher both to and from the school (which was very much appreciated). Today was my first day taking the bus to the school – and the first time using a public bus in Japan. The ride is about 50 minutes, which is a bit long for me, but I enjoy visiting a different area of Iwaki. Also, the school, being of a marine studies focus, is located right on the water and is quite beautiful.

In Japan, bus patrons board from the rear doors, where they grab a ticket with a number on it. At the front of the bus is a board that is lit with numbers that range from about 1-40. Under each number is an amount that is calculated based on the distance traveled. This gets paid when disembarking. I didn’t want to be late and so I think I freaked the 15-year old student beside me when at every stop, for the last 15 minutes of the right, I would ask repeatedly, “Kaisai Koko? Kaisai Koko?”





It was a shortened teaching day as the third year students were given time to practice their interviewing skills for the last hour of school. This worked out well in that not only did I get to leave early, but a couple of teachers had time to take me on a tour of Fukushima Maru, the school’s fishing boat. I was originally just going to ‘see’ the boat, but just before we left, another teacher who is more involved with the goings-on of the ship, asked one of the crew members to show us around. The following is an excerpt from a handout the school gave to me (type-o’s and all).

The new training vessel “FUKUSHIMA-MARU” was built as the fifth one operated by IWAKI KAISEI HIGH SCHOOL located in IWAKI CITY, FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE and as a international voyage training vessel for the purpose of train and research the following matters;

1. Actual Training on Long Line Fishing for Tuna
2. Practical Studies for Navigation, Engineering and Radio Communication
3. Oceanographic Studies and Research on Oceanographic Life
4. Sailing for Actual Experiences

The new “FUKUSHIMA-MARU” was built with attaching importance to studies and life circumstances on board and safey of actual training on sea for students as the VESSEL FOR STUDY (DYNAMIC CLASSROOM) of basic concept for building the vessel.






Twice each school year, the ship carries about 80 students and staff on a three month fishing trip to Hawaii. The journey takes about 2 weeks and they fish mostly north of the Hawaiian Islands. At sometime during this trip, I think that they spend some time in Waikiki.

The ship itself can carry a load of tuna weighing 40 tons and is equipped with its own freezing hold. On deck, I could see the boom that they use to lift the fish out of the water and then eventually into the holds. The tuna themselves are often 200-300lbs. Before they are stored here, they are cleaned and gutted on the wooden planks of the ship’s deck. The holds themselves are over 4m deep and require a ladder to be assembled in order to get down into them. Once a week, the ship’s crew is allowed to eat tuna for dinner.

After seeing the ship’s deck, we got to go up to the bridge. Like any other room in Japan, we removed our shoes as we stepped in.. I saw my first sonar image of the ship’s harbour; we read a weather report from the weather imaging system that showed an incoming typhoon – which is why the boat was tied down to the extent that it was; I spent some time at the helm, which I remember has a turning radius of 70 degrees (not sure how this compares to other fishing boats, but the crewmember seemed to be boasting at this). I also sported some impressive Nikon binoculars, checked the emergency S.O.S system, and was shown a map of the journey that the boat makes during its fishing voyages.

Below decks, we explored the crew’s cabins, mess hall, kitchen, engine room, and storage areas. There wasn’t as much crew down here to show us the details of the equipment, but it was interesting all the same. Overall, I think that this ship and the program that it operates within must be a fascinating experience for the students who partake in it.

I wish I could think of a fascinating or at least witty closing to this, but really, this is just a post about a boat.

Festival Day at Iwaki High School

Thursdays are the day that I go to my other high school, Midori Nomordi, but they have exams today so I spent the day at my main school. Because I didn’t have any classes to teach, I left my glasses at home. I figured that I would be sitting in front of the computer screen all day doing lesson planning and hopefully studying a ton of Japanese (my studies have been pretty weak lately). It turned out to be festival day today as I learned when in the main entrance to the school, the flower arrangement club had put on a display next the photography club’s exhibition, which was next to the drawing and painting show. I soon found out that several student clubs would be putting on presentations in the gym and that we would eventually go to the city theatre to watch a play. There has been a lot to look at today and my eyes are damn sore from squinting all day.

A colleague of mine recently stated his opinion that Japan is basically a country that is devoid of any real art. His argument was that in such a repressive country as Japan, it is impossible for artists to thrive. I didn’t know what to say at the time, but after seeing the work of these young teens today, I must disagree strongly. To support his argument, my colleague mentioned the names of famous Japanese artists who had to work abroad because Japan was too much of a repressive environment for them. Maybe the art he was referring to is of a higher, more mature, more impactual art. It wouldn’t be fair me to assume his argument because it was a bit of a brief discussion, but I am inclined to believe that if Japan is in fact a repressive society (however we may want to define this), that this is in fact the ideal climate for fostering some amazing art – or at least incredible artistic ability.

I thought today was going to be fairly boring, so I considered bringing my camera to school today. I thought it might be weird for other teachers and staff to see me walking around the school taking photos while they were all hard at work, so I left it at home. Hence, I have no visual proof of these visual wonders that I am devoting this post to.

I think I’ve mentioned, or at least implied a bit about my interest in photography before. And I quite enjoyed seeing the photography club’s presentation of work. There were definitely some great photos – portraits of siblings, interesting architecture, creative use of light and shadow, some good macro. When I saw the drawing and painting exhibit, it struck how easy it is to find an interesting image, or to even consider an image interesting enough to take a photo of, only to find out later that this image was in fact amazing. Photographers really just push buttons and turn knobs. There is a significant amount of knowledge that is very useful in creating great images – and a lot of finesse in handling the camera as well, but really, when it comes down to it, we just push the button.

Compare this to the painter or the sketch artist or the sculptor, who spends hours, days, weeks, working on their masterpiece. Not only do they consider composition just as much as a photographer – maybe even more, but they go through the arduous task of creating this image one stroke at a time. I can’t imagine the amount of time that some of these artists put into their images. The textures and perspectives put into these still-life images were incredible. One of my favorites was sort of a butterfly wall-paper painting with a person that occupied about a quarter of the image. The painting was turned upside-down and the words “Where are you” were placed throughout the butterflies. The effect put the person in an odd area of the painting and was actually difficult to see from this perspective. I thought it was pretty ingenious the way the composition played with the interpretation of the image. There was also a piece that was a collage of almost Neil Gaimen-type horror sketches of frogs with human legs, and a cow with a mermaid’s tail, and two legs that prodrude from a lobster, and bunny in a jester’s uniform chewing on a thorny rose stem. To sum up, I saw a lot of talent and creativity in many of these images.

Apparently, Iwaki High School also has the best high school brass band in Japan – and they have won all of the competitions to prove it. Although, one teacher informed me more modestly that they haven’t won them all… yet – and that technically, they should be considered to be only within the top 5 so far. In any event, I got to see a full 50 minute performance by a pretty incredible brass band.

The high school band program is a little bit different in Japan than it is in Canada. In Canada, students sign up for band as part of their course selection and it counts as credit towards graduation. In Japan, students sign up for band as a club activity, so it’s not for credit and they only practice after school. In a school of about 1100 students, I think there were almost 90 members in this band.

The selection of instruments alone was impressive. There were a couple of instruments that I didn’t even recognize. The conductor described one as a “sarusophone,” I think is what he said – it was a tall slender brass instrument that only got used for a few songs. They also had a couple of English horns, two stand-up basses that added good articulation to the low end, and I also saw my first contra-bass clarinet. This instrument stands at least 5 feet tall and was played by a girl that barely weighs 90 lbs. It comes in a case that is about the size of two full-sized beer coolers and takes two people to assemble.

One of the big highlights of the night was when the lead alto saxophone player somehow snuck out of the gymnasium, and there was a big instrument change that involved a drum kit and electric bass. It was a real smooth kind of jazzy song that led up to the sax player entering with a killer solo from the back of the gym. Heads turned, I had to stand from where I was sitting, and they guy, cool as river water, strolled down the centre isle to the front of the band where the rest of the section – soprano, alto, tenor, and baritones, joined him and they featured several solos, duets, and sectional ‘solis’ throughout the song. There was also a song that featured the bassoon player, who was incredible – the band also deserves credit as the entire group managed to play under the unmic’d bassoon. The clarinet section also had a feature song – no contra bass, but they did have what looked like a soprano clarinet maybe? They ended with a couple of crazy numbers where the entire band stood up and went through some pretty intricate dance choreography and still managed to stay tight. The last one featured a group of all males who put together a dance performance in front of the band without any instruments, which was fantastically gay in all meanings of the word.

There are many great things about Japan, but I imagine that much of this is due to the novelty of everything for me. There is no doubt however, that these kids were good. It was also refreshing to be able to hear something in a language that I understand.

I was going to put some random photos up with this post, but I think that they wouldn’t do any justice.

Sushi Day

I haven’t written since posting photos from the night out at Shine. I only drank two beers that night, but I’ve felt like I’ve had a hangover for the last three days. I think I caught a bit of a cold on Monday during my first day at Kaisai High School. There was a typhoon warning that day and the school is right on the water; somehow this resulted in the school being very cold and I didn’t have a jacket. The next day I woke up with my head throbbing and my sinuses blocked up. The headache would stay with me for the whole day. We also started conversation club that day, so I was at the school until almost 6. I did the best I could do for my ailment: I bought 4 oranges, a carton of grapefruit juice, and slept for about 9 hours that night. This morning I felt great.

A few years ago, I watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico, a film by Robert Rodriguez. In the bonus features, the director shows us how to cook a dish that in the film, Johnny Depp’s character is of a self-proclaimed connoisseur. According to Robert, the reason for including this cooking segment with the film is that human beings, throughout the course of their lifetime, have three basic physical needs: eating, sleeping, and making love. Sleeping comes naturally to most of us, and making love is maybe a topic best left for a different kind of website, which leaves us with our appetites. Robert believes that because it is important that we eat, and that we will always be eating, learning to cook is a skill worth investing in. Tonight, I thought that I would try to cook some sushi.

Janice once treated us both to a sushi making course, which taught us everything from the history of sushi to the various kinds that can be made. We haven’t made sushi since the day of the course and I have since forgotten most of it, but the main essentials seemed to come back somewhat easily.

I decided on tuna rolls and California rolls – I figured that something easy would be best. After buying ingredients: tuna, crab, cucumber, avacadoes, rice vinegar, sugar, and seaweed, I made about five full-sized rolls out of the first batch of rice. I still had plenty of ingredients left over so I made another batch of rice and made another 6 full rolls. There was no way that I could eat all of this, so Cathy came over to help me eat some. After the both of us were stuffed, I still have enough sushi for tomorrow’s lunch and dinner.

I’ve included a few photos of my first attempt at sushi. I don’t have a good knife, so I butchered them a bit as I cut them up. Overall, they were pretty good.

Here are a few sites that might be useful for any sushi enthusiast.

http://sushiday.com/
http://japanesefood.about.com/od/sushiforbeginner/r/sushirice.htm
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Appetizers/CaliforniaRoll.htm