東京

Tokyo

The nation’s capital. This crazy town is home to 12 million, and the metropolitan area houses more than 35 million people! We went down for the weekend – the 160 odd km trip takes only about 90 minutes by shinkansen (bullet train).

People are crammed into Tokyo, but it also covers a massive area. The place is H U G E, and the subway map is freaky and intimidating.

On Saturday, after wandering around Ueno park, and observing some of the homeless guys that most Japanese people will tell you don’t exist, we went to Harajuku – a funky place that kinda reminds me of Camden markets in the UK, but with a little less of the gothic look and a bit more self-conscious style. Right nearby is the Meiji shrine with a tall torii gate at its entrance. We didn’t go in, but it looks amazing.

That night we stumbled around looking for somewhere to drink in Roppongi – supposedly a foreigners area – and failed. It didn’t seem to have much appeal to us. We headed back to Shibuya, and found a bar, where they told us that we could come in, but only if we stayed for a minimum of two hours, in a small room that was something like a broom closet. We agreed, and then found out that we were also required to order food, and had to pay a table charge. Despite this, it was quite an atmospheric place.

We stayed the night at a capsule hotel. This weird, Japanese invention is primarily intended for salarymen who stay out too late and miss the last train home. You dump all your stuff in a locker and after having a communal bath, you sleep in a “capsule”, which is essentially a coffin sized plastic box with a mattress in it. Its also equipped with a TV, radio and a handy blind that you can pull down to give you a little privacy from your neighbours. It was an interesting experience, but I think I’d be fine if I never stayed in another capsule hotel again.

On Sunday, after visiting Akihabara (“electric town”) with its thousands of electrical shops, I headed to the Imperial Palace gardens. It was such a beautiful day, and the open space was fantastic after the crush of the crowds. It probably seems strange to visit the world's largest metropolis from a country town and then spend time in a park, but even in Shirakawa, with its open spaces, there are very few parks.

Watch out Tokyo - I'll be back...

More enkai madness

At first I had no idea what this guy was doing at the enkai. I suppose I still don't, as he apparently doesn't drink, and was therefore sober, but I now know that he is one of the cheerleading teachers. It seems that, in Japan, cheerleading is left to the males.

Karaoke after enkai

A fun, wholesome night out for the whole family... or the Shirakawa Board of Education!

Karaoke after enkai

Enkais, Karaoke and other excuses to get drunk

The Japanese L O V E an excuse to drink. When we travelled to Aizu Wakamatsu a few weeks ago for our homestay, it seemed that the most commonly asked question (apart from “Can you eat raw fish?”, and “Can you use chopsticks?”) was “Can you drink alcohol?”

And with the price of alcohol being sooooo low, its not surprising that the consumption of alcohol is the national past time. A six pack of beer sets you back about 16 Aussie dollars, but you can get a litre of vodka (decent stuff too) for about $12, and a couple of litres of sho chu (dodgy sake) for 8 bucks!

Needless to say we’ve had quite a few large nights since we’ve arrived. As you may (or may not) know, despite my non existent karaoke “skills” I am quite the microphone hog. We’ve had a few good nights at the karaoke place…

Since we’ve arrived, we have been to a number of enkais (“drinking parties” that are work related). They usually follow a strange kind of ritual. Everybody sits down, usually in an assigned place, and waits for the “kanpai” (Japanese version of “cheers”) before they can start eating and drinking. The MC usually says a few words as a toast. Often something along the lines of: “We will now open the opening ceremony for this enkai. The enkai is open. Cheers!”

Then the party starts. There is always heaps of food and drink. In Japan, its considered rude to pour your own drink, so what you do is pour somebody else’s, even if they’ve only taken the tiniest sip, and then they will fill your glass. It makes it difficult to work out how much you’ve drunk, so it’s just as well that the blood alcohol limit for driving is 0.00%.

Often, to close the party, they will “Open the closing ceremony”, and then do a group clap. This is a weird phenomenon, where everybody does a single clap in unison, which is then celebrated with rounds of applause and lots of back slapping.

Then the second party begins. In Shirakawa, this usually means a trip to the karaoke place… and then to somebody’s house where the drinking continues… repeat ad nauseum.

The good thing about the enkai is that you can get away with saying all kinds of stuff to virtually anyone, and it tends to be “forgotten” when you next see the person. This is particularly handy for some people.

Shirakawa Chochin Matsuri

Shirakawa lantern festival September 2006.

Nikko

This weekend, four of us went to visit Nikko – an old temple town and UN World Heritage site. The 90 km drive took about three hours, not because of particularly heavy traffic, but just because of the ridiculously low speed limits in this country. Unless you are on a toll road, the speed limit is generally 50 kmh, but sometimes 40 or even 30. And some drivers (usually elderly people in kei cars) don’t even make it to these heady speeds, choosing instead to travel at a stately 20 or 25 kmh.

Anyway, Nikko was really interesting. For the first time in a while, I actually felt like I was in Japan. The settings of the temples are amazing, in wooded valleys, surrounded by tall, mossy tree trunks. One of the storehouses at the site features a depiction of elephants, apparently carved by an artist who had not actually ever seen an elephant. Despite this, I think they seemed relatively lifelike.

One of the other buildings features some carvings of the lifecycle of the monkey, including the famous “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” – the three wise monkeys. I think our impersonation was almost as good…

The site area is also home to the shrine of Tokugawa Ieyasu, a famous Shogun (warlord) who took control of all of Japan. The Shogunate founded by him reigned for 250 years from the 1600s until the Meiji restoration – the founding of modern Japan.

I’m an English teacher?

Apparently I am…

Yesterday I was asked to teach poetry to the 3^rd year Junior High School students (ie 9^th Grade). After about 20 minutes of admin type stuff, the class teacher turns to me.

Sensei: So, today we will be learning about English poetry. You will write your own poems. Damien will demonstrate. Damien, please…

Me: Yes? (Hoping I have misheard)

Sensei: Please write a poem on the board.

Me: Now?

Sensei: Yes.

Me: Um…

Sensei: Please write a poem on the board so that the students will know what to do.

Me: Uh…

I managed to come up with some drivel about wonderful Autumn colours, which was subsequently copied by about 50% of students, substituting Autumn with Spring, Summer or Winter.

Some of the poems were really good though. I guess not speaking a language isn’t really a barrier to writing poetry using it.

The topics chosen by some students were a little strange though.

- One student wrote about faeces, and how they were all disgusting and smelly, except one, his “magnum opus”.

- Another student wrote a gushy poem about her boyfriend, including the lines “beautiful golden hair” (on a Japanese guy?), and “love him forever.” At 15 years of age??

I have posted some photos I took of some of the students’ poems with my mobile phone while I was marking them. I would have taken more, but I was getting some strange looks from some of the other teachers, so I stopped.

Shirakawa

The awesome town of Shirakawa is my home town in Japan. It has a population of 65,000, with 90 ramen (Chinese style noodle soup) shops and approximately 4000 hairdressers. I guess those Japanese hair styles do require a certain amount of maintenance. And that’s just the boys…

Shirakawa is also home to Komine castle, which I can see from my place. It looks awesome lit up at night.

On those rare days when the weather isn’t hazy, there is also a great view of the mountains. In the month that I’ve been here I think I’ve seen them about 3 times.

Gloria
There is a new woman in my life: Gloria. She is a big lass, built for comfort, but incredibly stylish and sophisticated.

Unlike me...

I think that in a past life Gloria was a yakuza (japanese gangster) ride. As you can see, she has adequate trunk space for bodies. She also has a fantastic gunsight style hood ornament, so you can line up those pesky pedestrians with ease. She also has mood lighting in the back seat at night - how classy is that? Sadly, the Barry white cassette is an optional extra that my Gloria does not have.