Spring changing to summer

It's been a busy couple of months since I last posted. Of course, we had a huge earthquake, tsunami, and (continuing) nuclear disaster. I am not in danger here and plan to move to Tokyo when my contract expires at the end of July (I'm job hunting now).

In April, the new school year started meaning new classes and a new group of first years. April is also cherry blossom season, which meant beautiful (but brief) cherry trees in full bloom.

Right now is Golden Week, when there are three national holidays in a row (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). I'll be back to work tomorrow, though. We have our school festival coming up, which means a lot of extra work for the English Club. The festival is a three-day event -- the first day is a talent show; the second day is an open school event, in which visitors can come and see displays, performances, food booths, etc., from the students; the third day is an athletic meet with all the homerooms divided into three competing teams. On the second day the English Club has its own room, where we have to put up displays and have games and such. Very excited that it's the last time I have be in charge of it!

Finally, in food, here is a kind of traditional Japanese meal. It's grilled dried fish (himono) with plain rice and tamago yaki. Tamago yaki is an egg dish. You mix eggs with some sugar and soy sauce, then pour a little bit into a pan. Once it's cooked, you roll it up to one side of the pan and pour in some more egg. You keep doing this until you have a layered, rolled-up egg. I haven't made it very much (even though I love it), so my tamago yaki isn't as beautiful as it's supposed to be. I'll have to keep at it.

End video:
After the disaster, companies wanted to pull their TV ads because they didn't think it was appropriate to being running commercials. This meant the channels had to replace them with non-profit ads. Unfortunately, they only had, like, five of these in stock, so we had to see the same commercials over and over (sometimes back to back). This is one of them. It's about using the "magic words" ("thank you," "good morning," etc.). The animal names are used for puns. Example: "Sayonaraion" is sayonara (goodbye) + raion (lion). Anyway. It's cuter when you only see it once, instead of five times in an hour.

Graduation (salmon and mushroom soup)

Tonight I made a creamy salmon/mushroom/garlic soup. It was pretty good! I bought a new cookbook and was a little worried because it doesn't have step-by-step photos like my old cookbook, but this soup came out pretty well. (The ground chicken with boiled quail eggs I made yesterday didn't go so well, though. Win some, lose some.)

The school year has basically ended (since Japan is on an April - March school schedule). It will be my last graduation at this high school, and these were the students who were first years when I arrived here, so they are the first (and will be the only) students who I have taught through all three years of their high school experience.

No time to dwell on that, however, since at the beginning of April there will be a new crop of first years, in addition to a lot of new teachers. Japanese high school teachers generally work for the prefectural government, and they must move among different schools every few years. I'm not sure which teachers are leaving, but since the teachers rotate among the grades, the ones I teach with will change regardless. One more term left in Ito!

I close with this video. I wish I could provide some kind of cultural explanation, but I really don't know what's behind this. It's a commercial for thick instant noodles. That's all I've got. Does it make you want to buy them?

Adventures in fish butchering, part one

Sorry there isn't a better picture. I wanted to make it look nice, but... I'm not a magician, okay?

Today, bravely (if I do say so myself), I decided to try cooking fish that didn't come pre-cut. Some fish here come pre-butchered (like the dishes I made before) and some don't. I finally bought some sanma.

My dictionary tells me this is "Pacific saury" in English. However,  I think all the fish I had back in America either came pre-battered and fried in stick form or was canned tuna. So "saury" means nothing more to me than "sanma," but if it helps you imagine the story better, there you go.

I've eaten fish with the head and tail still on it plenty of times in Japan, and when they (I got two) were in the package, it didn't bother me. But when I actually broke the plastic and pulled them onto the cutting board, I just kept thinking, "Those are dead fish. Yep. Dead fish. Touching dead fish. I would not touch dead fish I found them on the beach." But I carried on!

I'll admit I panicked a little, and cut the heads off right away. That seems to have been a mistake. I think I severed something that I should have used to pull the guts out, so removing the guts was pretty difficult. There seemed to be way fewer guts in the pictures in my cookbook.

Finally, I got to the cooking stage, and just kept thinking, "Why does it smell so bad?!" But it looked like the pictures in the book, so I didn't worry too much.

I added some grated giant raddish (that blob that looks like... slightly green applesauce in the picture) and some boiled eggs (that's not traditional, but I had forgotten that I was low on rice).

When I actually ate the fish, it was pretty tasty, although it has a lot of annoying little bones.

And! I realized why it smelled so bad. I apparently hadn't gotten all the guts out. When I was pulling open the second piece, there were some not-so-great-smelling cooked guts. Luckily, cooked guts gross me out way less than raw guts, so I just flicked them to the side and made a note not to chop the heads off so early next time.

End verdict: edible, but slightly incorrectly butchered. Not too bad. I am, however, curious whether the second fish, which I packed as my lunch for tomorrow, will have any guts in it. I guess it will be a nice lunch hour surprise!

Bonus video:

I'll close with a commercial. I like this one because it features Japanese high school cheer boys (it's traditionally boys, not girls, who cheer in Japan).

Tokyo Sky Tree

Tokyo Sky Tree is a new broadcasting tower being built in Tokyo -- because there are so many skyscrapers around Tokyo Tower that it can't give total digital broadcasting coverage. The Sky Tree will be the highest structure in Japan when it's finished at the end of this year.

There's a nice time-lapse video I found on Youtube of the construction so far:


I went to the closest station to take pictures of the Sky Tree. When you first step out, you actually can't see it -- you can only see the building at the bottom because you're too close. But once you back up enough, you can look up at the tower. I think they're developing the surrounding area, but when I was there, the only things to see were the Sky Tree and... people taking pictures of the Sky Tree.

 I also took some pictures of it from Asu Kannon, a famous temple in Tokyo.

You can tell it's popular, because the partially-constructed Sky Tree is starting to appear a lot on TV -- like the ridiculous crime sitcom above.


I also made some fish. I don't know how to stay what's it's called in English, but I like it because it has pretty red scales. And it was tasty.

Good / Annoying Commercials (and Fish)

This is the fish I made for supper. I thought it would be a disaster, but it was shockingly edible! And I don't care what the judges on Top Chef say, I think the bloodline is the most delicious part.

Anyway, with little introduction, a few Japanese commercials I love and/or hate. (No, that's not a mistake -- it's possible to both love AND hate these commercials.)

LOVE:

One of the less-weird Meiji commercials. I want to play a chocolate bar.


This was a year-end advertisement (hence the praying). That bear should be creepy, but I love it.


HATE:

The jingle is actually kind of catchy, but sometimes this actress's voice sets my teeth on edge (wait for the end for full effect). If they changed the spokesperson, it could move to the "love" category.


It doesn't seem to fit, since it's not a jingle, but I hate this.



LOVE / HATE:

This is a famous singer, but lately it seems like she only makes music intended to be used for cell phone commercials. If you can't tell, this song's lyrics are, "A winter fairy is melting a snow man. A winter fairy is melting a snowman. A winter fairy is melting a snowman. It's a melting snowman."


I loved/hated the same singer for a summer cell phone ad. The lyrics, you can probably figure out are, "Ring a ding dong ring a ding ding dong. Ring a ding dong ring a ding ding dong."

Well, it's 2011

Well, it's 2011. I haven't posted anything in this blog since 2009. Oops!

Well, I'm going to try again, but instead of just spending a lot of time posting about my life, I'll probably be writing more about Japan in general.

... I don't really have much for this post, so... here's what I'm eating right now:

It's nikujaga (肉じゃが). What you see there is pork, potatoes, onions, carrots, and green beans.

I've decided to become a better cook, in case I some day have to make food for more than myself. I've managed to build up a repertoire of about five dishes that I ate on a rotating basis, but at the new year I actually went out and bought a Japanese-language cook book so I can try to stretch my abilities.

So far, so good.

Summer Vacation Part 1 -- Anjinsai and Mt. Omura

August is the one month of school vacation in Japan. Teachers still have to go to work, but unlike during the rest of the year, there's flexibility to use some time off.

Here are a few pictures of things I did in Ito during August -- going to Anjin Festival and Mt. Omura.

Anjin Festival (Anjinsai) has all the Japanese festival basics -- lots of people wearing yukata (summer kimono), food stalls with many variations of "meat on stick," and fireworks. So I used it as an excuse to wear my yukata (which otherwise just sits prettily in my closet), ate a hot dog on a stick and two churros, and sat on the rocks by the river to watch the fireworks.

^ Lanterns (designed by local school children, I think?) lining the walk by the river.


^Fireworks!


^A blurry shot of the crowd. It was actually really packed.


^Fireworks reflected on the water.


^ My feet, waiting for the fireworks to start.

Mt. Omuro is a mountain (inactive volcano?) in Ito. There are two mountains with chair lifts in Ito -- Mt. Omuro and Mt. Komuro (O=big, Ko=small), but I'd only been to the top of Mt. Komuro, so I decided I'd try the big one. It's... grassy. And you can hike around the rim. In the inside dip is apparently an archery range. I had not been aware.


^Mt. Omuro from the parking lot. It doesn't really look that big, does it?


^ The lift going up. They kindly mow a path of grass so you aren't kicking it as you go.


^ A slightly hazy view from the top.


^ People practicing archery in the middle.


^ Some statues along the path around the rim.

Part 2 to come later, with a couple of non-Izu destinations.

Random Japanese Pop Culture Videos

EDIT: It's better to watch the SMAP and Goemon trailer videos in a larger size -- they're small here to fit inside the blog template.

I haven't done very well on my updating schedule . . . . I guess I haven't done much that was very post-worthy recently. August is summer break (for the students, not the teachers), so I've been taking a little time off here and there. It's very hot. Very, very hot. I'll try to take some pictures during the break of local sites.

Anyway, in the meantime, here are some Youtube videos I enjoy, if you happen to be bored.

I was in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo last weekend, and this video was played on a big outdoor TV screen. Everybody was mesmerized. I think it's because most of the video is in one cut. If you don't know (there's a good chance you don't), SMAP is an unusually long-lasting, popular group in Japan. They're basically a boy band (but are no longer boys). SoftBank (English words are cool! Let's put some together!) is a popular cell phone company.

The guy with the stupid hair (second from the right) is my favorite (because he has stupid hair). Here's the video:



My favorite Japanese musician is Eguchi Yosuke, though. Actually, he's primarily an actor, and hasn't made music since the 90's. But as a foreigner, I think I'm allowed to ignore those facts, and pretend his music is still cool (if it ever was to anyone else). Here's a 90's-tastic clip of him singing on Japanese TV.



Eguchi Yosuke no longer has girl hair, though. I think he's gotten handsomer with age. He was recently in a big-budget movie called "Goemon" (based on a video game). I saw it in the movie theater. My verdict on the movie? Well... the trailer is pretty exciting! How 'bout that trailer? Good trailer, Yosuke!



After a year of not having any Japanese TV (because for some reason our apartment building can't receive over-the-air signals), I finally signed up for cable (although the "cable" we pay for just gives us the channels that are normally available with an antennae, nothing extra).

There are some creepy kids' programs and weird variety shows, but I've yet to see anything I like as much as the batsu game, or "Don't laugh" game that I've seen on Youtube. Basically, comedians/tv personalities are put into a confined environment, usually for 24 hours, and have to try not to laugh, despite weird traps that are set up for them. In the clip below, they're in a fake high school. The video is out of context, but you can see that the punishment for laughing is... probably not something American TV stars would put up with.


Okay, new real post and photos coming soon... I promise.

School Sports Festival 2009

Oops! Long break without an update, but I'll try to make up for it by posting lots of pictures in this one.

On May 16, 17, and 18, we had our big school festival.

The first day was performance day (with some preparation for the second day as well). It was sort of a long, two-part talent show (staff and students only), but I think "performance" part of the title might be kind of misleading... Like the talent shows back at my high school, there were plenty of drag acts, a little dancing, a few instrumental pieces, but a lot of it was skits and weird (parody?) pre-recorded videos.

One of the videos had a student briefly playing me, although I was too confused to know if it was actually funny. She was wearing a weird half-mask and said, "Okay, okay, okay. I am an ALT." That was probably the only ten seconds I understood of any of their videos, but the students seemed to like them, and that's what counts.

On the second day, the school was opened to the community. Students set up food stands and game rooms inside the school and charged for tickets. I ate some ice cream, Chinese dumplings, a hot dog on a stick, and more, because the students kept harassing me to go to their rooms. It was loud and crowded, but nice to see non-students in the school. The clubs also set up display rooms -- the English Club (with many assists from me!) made displays on holidays celebrated in English-speaking companies. Like most club rooms, it wasn't as lively as the rest of the school, but it still looked nice. Near the end of the day, I walked in and saw that all the otaku first-year boys were sitting on the floor reading comic books, though. Maybe try to do something more exciting next year?

The third day was my favorite, because I got to put my new camera to good use! This was the school sports day. I'll run through it.

But first! I finally got good pictures of Japanese cheerleader boys. They wear their school uniform, plus a headband that hangs down in the back and streamers around their shoulders. They're a big part of the sports day.


Opening ceremony on the school grounds, overlooking Ito and and ocean. The homerooms were divided into three groups (A=red, B=blue, C=yellow), mixed up by grade. They were competing in the events (and in other competitions during the festival).



There was even an Olympic-style flame that was run around the track. They take their opening ceremonies seriously!



And so no one pulled a muscle, everyone got to do morning exercises together. I just took photos, because I don't know the routine. And because it's funny to watch.



There were traditional running relays, but also weird races, involving classic events, such as:

Spinning around baseball bats to get dizzy,



and potato sack racing.



There were also some gender-segregated tug of wars. The girls' were pretty exciting, but all the boys' games seemed to end within 30 seconds.



This event was done by girls only, I think. It involved opposing teams running into the field and trying to capture bamboo poles. If boys did it, it might turn into a fist fight.


The big event after lunch was team routines. Each team had 15 minutes to go out onto the field, do an opening cheer, and then a cheer/dance routine that involved making shapes, like in marching band (but with no instruments).

This is Team A. They made a nice flower as their big shape.



I was impressed with Team B's giant B, but I think they got third place in this.



The elected cheer boys and cheer girls for the day did more complicated dancing in the front (and they didn't have to wear their awful gym uniforms).


Team C had the loudest cheerboys, I think. That should count for something!



Their routine culminated in this star.


Later was the ever-popular (in Japan) team jump roping! Everyone in the homeroom tries to see how many jumps they can get. There's around 35 people on each rope, so it's pretty difficult.




Scores were kept throughout the day.


The last non-running relay was the weirdest. It included, among other things:

the box crawl,


running with a basketball balanced on a tennis racket,


flipping on to a mat,


a tire drag,


the always-hilarious run-though-a-net,


and the inexplicable "flour face dip."


That last part seemed unpleasant.


In the end, third place went to Team B (their bird-themed flag is below).


Second place was Team C (their lion-themed flag is shown below).


And first place went to Team A! (Their... demon-lion themed?... flag is shown below.)


I think they won because of their inspirational, Obama-inspired team motto: "Yes, A can!"
(That motto would've worked better with Team B, though, huh?)

Touring around slightly in winter...

During the winter, I've done a little bit of tourist-y stuff with my new beau, so here are some highlights:

We went to the Jogosaki Coast, which is located right here in the Ito area. It involves some big cliffs, rock outcroppings and a bridge...

^ Some cliffs ^


^ Me on the bridge ^


^Ken on the bridge ^

After walking around at the coast for a little while, we went on a boat ride. It was a nice view, but just about 5 minutes too long -- just long enough for me to get a little bit boat sick. Unfortunately, it was just a normal, white boat, and not one of the colorful cartoon-decorated boats that, as my dad has seen online, often sail around Ito.


^ Jogosaki Coast from the boat ^

We also swung by what's really a fairly large zoo in Ito. It's called a "cactus park." I'm not sure why, but instead of just being a normal zoo, they also have some rooms with cacti on display, occasional Mayan-inspired statues scattered around, mariachi music blasting, and some of the poor staff members have to wear colorful ponchos and sombreros. (I didn't photograph them because I felt kind of sorry for them.)


^ Bad llama impression ^

In January, I made another trip to Nagoya and got to see crazy New Year's shopping crowds. Apparently, Japanese are crazy for clothing grab bags -- they're sold in high end department stores around New Year's, and people will literally line up outside the stores for a chance to buy one.

Later in the month, we went to Yokohama China town for some delicious niku-man and also dropped by Tokyo to eat at Outback Steakhouse and meet up with one of Ken's friends.


^ A temple in China town ^

The third semester is very short, so I've found that classes wound down really rapidly after the New Year holiday. Next week I have just one class, my last of this school year, on Tuesday. Then it's test time, and the new students will start classes in April. This also means that many of my co-workers will be transferred to new schools, although we still don't know who will stay and who will go.


^ A last picture of my graduating night school students. Note: these students are not exactly representative of my uniform-wearing regular students. ^

On to February!

I was able to take a day off this week and make a very, very short trip up to Nagoya. However, we managed to squeeze in some nice sightseeing. Ken and I finally went to Inuyama Castle, which is in a little town right by Nagoya. It's the oldest original (not completely re-built) castle in Japan, I think? Maybe? It's also the only one that's individually owned.


^ What a cute castle! ^


^ The view from the top of the castle ^

We then went to "Little World," also in Inuyama. It consists of a bunch of buildings meant to represent traditional buildings from cultures all over the world. It was pretty interesting to see the German architecture and such, although, like many outdoor museums and the like, a lot of it seemed a bit dusty and shabby. Still, though, they had some foreign foods for sale -- we bought a taco kit! It's nice to get to eat some Mexican food....


^I'm not entirely sure which culture the sheep were supposed to represent. ^


^It's... Italy! I realized I apparently don't know what traditional Italian architecture looks like....^


^Northern Japan^



That's all for now. I'm hoping to get my hands on a new camera in March, so perhaps posts will increase. I may also get a little time off to see something new....