Olympics

Today I am Beijing, running the men’s marathon step by step. The Japanese TV station I am watching is showing the entire race, uninterrupted by a single ad. As the men pound their way though the Forbidden City, I not only get to see each one run his race but also I get to see this famous Chinese landmark. The pace is incredible! The leaders have been doing about 3 minutes kilometers and have how many more to do? A pack of ten men are leading. Spain in the only non-African country represented in the group. During the last few weeks I have watched more hours of TV than in my entire life till now! There has been so much Olympics coverage and here it’s more like being there, they show lots of the events real time, live, without interruptions. Yesterday I saw some amazing synchronized swimming performances by teams from China, Korea, Japan, America, Spain and Russia. I’m not sure who got what medal but they were all incredible. I have never even seen this sport before, let alone had an opportunity to see the entire routine of numbers teams. I’ve also seen entire soccer games. The Japanese women’s team has done very well. Oh, the lead pack is down to 5 men, two from Eritrea, two from Kenya, and one from Morocco. Beijing, (Peikin, they call it in Japanese) is filled with flowers and tree lined boulevards. But I bet it’s hot. I used to run and I can’t imagine having to do this many kilometers on hot pavement! My knees hurt just watching these guys. I think of all my friends who also run, or used to run. Perhaps you are watching the same race on your TV sets right now, thinking the same thing.


Luckily lots of sports words in Japanese are just English words, so I hear things like “chioto haiyai pace desu ne” , meaning it’s a bit of a fast pace isn’t it and “ Corsu no speedo de…” , which means “about the course speed”. It’s fun trying to figure out what the announcers are saying, as there is a running dialogue talking about the runners, (no pun intended) their previous records, their ages, and other stuff I totally don’t catch, but it’s good practice listening to it all in Japanese.


On Friday night I went with a couple of fellow students to a kaiten-zushi restaurant. You may have heard about these sushi restaurants where the offerings are circulating around on a conveyor belt and one just picks up the plates you want to eat as they go by. This was cheap sushi, a 100 yen (less than a $1) a plate, with usually two pieces of sushi or three pieces of a roll per plate. There were also desserts and drinks going by. We sat in a booth and the belt passed by at the end of table. There was also a second layer belt for special orders on which a little shikansen train (bullet train) went by. To order something that you didn’t see going by on the regular belt, you used a touch screen at the booth and could order different sushi, tempura, even noodle dishes, drinks and desserts. When your order was ready the train would stop at your booth. You took the plates off, pressed a button to say you had them and the train moved “out of the station”. It was all so cute. While the conveyor constantly circled with new offering, the little bullet train continually zoomed by with other people’s orders and we would ooo and ahh as they went by. Lucky Amelia was with us and could read the menu. I would have been lost. In all, I spent about $5 and was full. It wasn’t top quality, but it wasn’t bad and the price was right. Also, it was fun. I liked the free green tea that you made at your table where a hot water spout and cups were right at your fingertips. I have yet to go to a real sushi bar and get the really good stuff. Sorry I don’t have pictures of the restaurant, maybe next time and there will definitely be a next time!

Nagoya

Nagoya is Japan’s 4th largest city and only half an hour, or an hour, by train (depending on which train you get) from Okazaki. On my first trip into this busy metropolis I went with a classmate to attend a delightful “lunch break concert” in a lovely little concert hall. We got tickets at the door, had seats in the third row from the front and heard violin and piano music performed by two beautify young ladies in evening gowns. The program included a Brahms Sonata, Schumann Op.15 and, my favorite, a work by W.G Still. I can’t read the names of the pieces, but I enjoyed them very much. The concert lasted about an hour and a half and cost less then $10.

On my second trip to Nagoya, I went alone to the Tokugawa Art Museum, which exhibits the family treasures of the Owari Tokugawa from the Edo period (1603 – 1867). For Japanese history buffs and samurai “wan-a-bes” this was a great place. There were lots of swords with long names and lacquered armor sets, as well as unbelievably delicate costumes worn by Noh performers. There were a reconstructed tea house, Noh theater, and several reception rooms. A famous scroll of the Tale of Genji is housed here but too delicate for viewing, so a video and slide show fill the gap.

After the quite halls of the museum I went to the formal garden next door, the Tokugawaen. It was charming and had some interesting rockwork. I think that the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon, is more impressive. Granted, this wasn’t one of the peak times, like May when the irises are blooming or March when there are peonies, but it was fun to see the kids feeding the fish in the pond and sit in the shade near a waterfall.

I have to say that big cities are in some ways the same everywhere, and I was glad to come “home” to my “small town” of Okazaki and the quiet coolness of my room. I enjoy visiting, but I am not really a big city person. At the train station I got on my “new bike” and rode home. I feel very Japanese going and coming from the station on a bicycle because judging by the number of bikes at the station, about 4000 other people do that too. You park the bike in a huge bicycle lot and hope that you will find it when you get back. Not that anyone will steal it, but there are so many that look just like yours that forgetting where you parked it would be a pretty serious problem! Having a bicycle is great. I got mine for about $30 from a student and am just getting used to it. I’m still a bit wobbly and haven’t gotten used to some of the narrow bike paths I have to negotiate. The benefits are many: 1) getting there faster, 2) getting there cooler, 3) being able to go farther 4) being able to carry heavier things in the basket on front or the rack on back and 5) getting some real exercise. Since I haven’t found a dojo yet and only do yoga in my room once a week, I can use something aerobic and the bike sure is that when I push myself up hills with not gears to help out! Well, it’s “back to the grind”. Sayonara.

Catching Up

It’s been two weeks since I last blogged and quite frankly I don’t know where to start! In the last two weeks I’ve been to Nagoya twice, danced in the bonodori, 盆踊り、 (festival), worn a yukata for the first time ever and bought a bicycle. It’s been busy, but now I am on a little break as we have a few days of for the National Holiday, O-bon.

Last week I was asked if I wouldn’t like to go to a bondori dance lesson with a classmate. Hardly knowing what to expect, I went along. The Kimono-clad dance instructor was a sprightly grandmother who taught the group a few traditional dances and kept us moving for most of the two hour class. Most of the girls had taken a lesson before, so I had some catching up to do. Describing the dances is difficult, but generally they were all done in a circle. Each dancer moves around the circle or into and out of it. We clapped and waved our arms about in certain ways. One dance was done with a fan in one hand. It was fun, even if I hardly knew what to do. (See the short video of the festival below)

That evening, I was invited to go with some others on the following Sunday to the dance instructor's house to be suited up in a yukata (summer kimono) and attend the festival that night. (I didn’t know that I was expected to dance in public as well, but that turned out to be the case!) Before going I had to buy a yukata and some shoes to go with it. Catherine, a classmate, and I went to a near by shopping center on our bicycles and went to ever shop there looking for a good price. I eventually picked one out that came with the obi and ties. I had to go elsewhere for shoes and ended up getting rather formal looking geta, but they were reduced to $10 and fit, which is a challenge here where feet tend to be very small.

On Sunday I and 3 other students were picked up by the instructor and driven to her home, which was a lovely Japanese style house, complete with tiny formal garden and tatami rooms. We were served cold tea and then each of us was helped into our outfits by the teacher and her daughter, while the granddaughter looked on in delight. As soon as that was done, we posed for pictures and trotted off to the festival where the dancing had already begun.

At first I hung back and just watched, but after a few dances the instructor came and got me moving in one of the sequences she had taught us. Soon I was getting more comfortable with the dancing and a little less self-conscious. Everywhere I go, I am the only older foreigner and am looked at by children with surprise. Adults are too polite to stare, but kids know a freak when they see one! Still, by the end of the night I had received enough appreciative and encouraging looks to feel ok about being out there dancing in a rather clinging and hot outfit. In general, I think the Japanese appreciate it when a foreigner is interested enough in their culture to join in like that. I’m the one who has to get over being shy about it! Overall, it was great fun. I love seeing everyone out in their traditional garb dancing and eating and being so Japanese! The little children are just TOO cute!

Okazaki Matsuri

Pictures from July 20 trip to Gifu

These are some pictures from the trip to Gifu, two weeks ago. I've only just got them up on Picasa and I thought you might like to see more than the few I posted with the entry on that trip.

Last night I participated in the Okazaki Matsuri (Festival) and will post those pictures also. It was a wonderful, thought very hot and sweaty, experience. Getting to meet Japanese people outside the school setting was the best part. As a group of "gai-jin", foreigners, we stood out and got lots of surprised looks, but also many offers of free tea and beer. Before we got started in the parade, a few of us were invited to see the float from another group. We talked in our halting Japanese with the group members and they gave us something delicious to eat and something cool to drink. It was a godsend, as our group had only beer to drink and no food. My participation was totally a last minute, spur of the moment, thing and I had not eaten since noon.

The parade started at night fall, about 7:30 and went on until about 9:00. We were carrying Yamasa's new shrine, dedicated to the god of learning Japanese, through the streets, following the shrine builders big and impressive shrine. Our job was to look genki (lively, happy, energetic) and to shake and spin the shrine around as it was making it's way down the parade path. Behind our little shrine we were pulling a rolling bar serving beer. The bar was left from a St. Patrick's day celebration and was certainly Declan Murphy's idea. (Declan, if I haven't mention this before, is the director of the Discovery program and various other things. I've heard he is from Australia originally, but has left that all behind. He's lived here in Japan for over 10 years, however, he clings to his Irish roots or heritage, or something, and keeps strict hours in the local pub, the Zig Zag.) The bar rolled easily but it was still a lot of work for the "horses", me and several other students, to look genki and make the progress look interesting. For those who have been asking for pictures of me or complaining that the ones I publish are uncomplimentary (he he), there are several of me in the Picasa album, below, so check it out.

Tonight I will go to see the famous fireworks that are put on every year for this festival, some of the best in Japan I am told, and will report on that in the future. I still haven't gotten around to writing a piece on my classes and teachers, but this is definitely coming. Stay posted. Ja mata.

Okazaki Matsuri