Japan! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
Way #2
Today during class, we were talking about careers. I was giving my 2nd year students a listening comprehension exercise when I came across a few interesting career options. The first question was:
“I put out fires. Who am I?” The Answer was a firefighter. One of my students says fireman instead. I mention that fireman was correct, however we say Firefighters because these days there are many women in the profession as well.
So what’s the next question to come up? “I catch fish all day. Who am I?” No one knew the answer. So I tell them that a fisherman was the term we usually use. Then, one of my more lively student corrects me. “fishfighter”, he says. At which point I play out a scene where a man is beating a fish with his fists. The class erupts in laughter. Oh fishfighter, where have you gone?
Japan! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
Way #1
My god! On the plus side, it won’t make you sneeze. On the down side, I now believe in demons!!!! Animatronic demons that go, “Meow!” But sure to check out the video to see what I mean.
Whoops! I missed Japan’s largest fireworks festival in Akita. How did I manage to do this? Well, in thinking that is was just a regular fireworks festival, I declined an invitation from my girlfriend to go see it. I had already been to 5 fireworks festivals this year and was not looking forward to mingling with the crowds yet again. However today my friend Erica tells me it’s the biggest in Japan and one of the best in the world. Doh! Well, it’s on my list for next year, that’s for certain. So, I’m just stuck here with my good friends, Mr.Typhoon and Mr.Earthquake. If you ever wanted to know what level of terror I’m experiencing, feel free to check those pages.
In other news, Wikipedia is the best online Encyclopedia ever. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then search for something. Can’t find it? Then create an article on it. Not an expert on whatever it is? You are now. Also, looking for a good place to publish your pictures and meet people? Crazy as it seems, you now can. Go to flickr! While I have an account, I don’t have any pictures loaded yet. Le sigh!
Finally, cars in Japan are expensive. I started my search for one today. There are two types of cars in Japan. The yellow plate cars and the white plate cars. Yellow plate cars are called K-cars because well, they Kan’t do very much![/forced laughter!] And a strong wind will blow them right off the road.
And here they are. The pictures from Senmaya Matsuri 2004.
Bang those drums!
Bang em!
Astro boy is watching you in your sleep!
I am now one with the drum!
Large Taikos are fun to smash!
After Party!
Some of the Senmaya folk!
Tomorrow is the Senmaya Matsuri(festival). It’s an annual tradition in my town, where people get together, drink a lot of alcohol and then throw it up. There is also a parade and some really cool music. I got the chance this year to be a taiko Drummer for the festival. I just finished my last practice this evening, and I perform in front of the entire town tomorrow. Yikes! I also get a chance to meet the new JET’s that are in the area. It’s about time. They’ve been here for close to a week already. I’ve got some pictures here of the practice sessions for my taiko performance. I was banging on my taiko like a chimpanzee.
Bang those drums!
George W. Bush is on the center of mine!
I have many updates today. So let’s get going.
First, I went to the beach on Sunday with my girlfriend, her sister and her sisters boyfriend. It was a good ol’ fashioned barbecue. We also swam in the ocean and tossed around a ball. Then when I got home I realized that I had been in the sun a little too long and I had a nasty sunburn on the shoulders and arms. Ouch! What I found to be cool was the surfing contest going on at the beach next to ours. I’ve never seen live surfing before. I was quite impressed. Might have to try that at some point.
Then on Monday, went to my offices annual end of term party. For 3000yen I get all the beer I want and the food is some of the best Senmaya has to offer. As an added bonus this year, I participated in a beer tasting contest. And I won! What was my prize? 4000yen worth of fireworks. Oh the fun I’m going to have with those.
This week is rather busy as I will be practicing for my Taiko performance on Saturday. Then the on the following week I’m off to Tokyo to participate in Comiket, The Largest manga convention in the world. I’m going in costume as well, so it should be all good fun. If I can get some pictures of my costume, I will place them on here. I still haven’t decided if I will be coming back to Canada or not this year, but if the price is right, I will find a way. I’ll see if I can get some beach pictures up tonight. Other than that, it’s pretty slow going around here. Now that I’ve settle in I will also be getting my drivers license and hopefully getting to drive around during my remaining two years in Japan. Yay!
