Archive for October, 2005

This one is for you, mom

Published
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jasohill
on October 31, 2005
in Other
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Well, as many of you may recall from an earlier post, my mother got remarried a couple of years ago. I was against this at the start, because I didn’t even know who she was marrying. And it all happened so fast, that I didn’t even have time to process it. But she was happy and in love and that was good enough for me.

Well, I got a very tragic phone call from my mother last night. It appears my mother’s new husband passed away a couple of days ago from a heart attack at the age of 58. And just like her marriage, it has all happened so fast. She was being incredibly strong about the entire ordeal from what I could tell on the phone , but I know that she is heart broken. She was so happy with Dave. I could tell from every single phone conversation that she finally had something good going. You see, this had not always been the case for my mother.

My mother had a pretty nasty marriage to my father. After a while, the love disappeared and all that was left was fighting and stupidity. Eventually, my father started gambling and we lost our house, and my mother decided that it was time to get out of that situation. They divorced and we moved into a new house. Eventually, my family moved to the U.S. and I moved here to Japan. Well, she met Dave when she was traveling on a visit to my siblings in Vermont. They hit it off and decided to get married. My mother had never been happier. And that is why that phone call hit me harder than anything in a long time.

I only met Dave once. And that was at the airport shortly after they had just met. I would have liked to have gotten to know him more. He gave my mother something that she had not had in a long time. Peace.

Well, that peace has been disrupted, and it is out of any of our control. No one can predict these things and no one can plan for them. My siblings flew out this morning to be with her. Due to my great distance, I am unable to be with her physically at the moment, but I am there with her. And I always will be. I am going to try and get out to be with my family as soon as I can. For now I hope my voice will be enough. The very odd thing about this entire situation is that the people that I cherish the most are still safe, but there is much sadness and sorrow for them. And once again, there is little I can do to alleviate it. Our lives have changed so much in just two years. And now they change again.

My Mother deserves to be happy. She has been a source of strength for me and my siblings for the last 29 years. Tonight she is not happy. She is grieving and she is heart broken. My heart goes out to her tonight. My biggest fear is that I will never receive a happy sounding phone call from her again. If that does indeed happen, then it is my heart that will be broken. I am not a religious man, but if you believe in a spiritual entity of some kind, I would be very grateful in you could pray for my mother and rest of Dave’s family tonight. I do wish that they will be able to find peace again in this life. And this message is for you Dave, whereever you might be at this moment: Thank you for making my mother happy. Even if it was for just a short time. You’ve earned your ticket. Now get some rest.

雷の音

Published
by
jasohill
on October 23, 2005
in Senmaya
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昨日の朝、突然の雷で私はめを覚ました。　本当にびっくりしました。　カナダで、こういう季節に嵐が全然起こらないのです。寝坊できませんでした！その上、一日中雨を降っていました。　うちに帰るとき、本当に寒かったので、火燵をつけました。

September Flowers Bring October Showers?

Published
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jasohill
on October 23, 2005
in Senmaya
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Do September flowers bring October showers? If you are living in Japan, they certainly do. Having grown up in Northern Canada, I am not familiar with the concepts of flowers in September or thunderstorms in late October. Yet, that is exactly what happened this morning as I was woken up by a nasty thunderstorm at 6am, and it persisted until around 8am. I believe Edmonton has a nice layer of snow down at this point. And as far as I know, snow is not known for its noise.

In other news, I made a visit to my High School to watch their annual culture festival(藤高祭.） I witnessed a live rock performance, a traditional Yoksakoi dance, and a number of great displays that outlined their previous year at the school. Sadly, there was no mention of their humble, yet energetic English teacher, Jason. Check out the photos link for a complete summary of the day, minus the thunderstorm.

School Culture Festivals

Published
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jasohill
on October 22, 2005
in Culture and Education
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Working on the School Festival
Originally uploaded by jasohill.

It’s Bunkasai(文化祭）season again. Japanese schools usually hold these festivals on weekends, and go through a lot of work to put them together. The junior high schools usually have choral performances on Saturdays, and theatrical performances on Sundays. You can also visit their classrooms and view some of the projects and artwork that they’ve put together throughout the year. They spend many weeks practicing for this major event.

Tomorrow, I am also going to be attending a High School festival. They are a little different than the typical junior high festival. The classrooms are all theme based, and in the gym there are various performances. These festivals are an interesting part of Japanese culture, as most students these days are participating in them. If you teach in Japan, you will eventually end up at one of these.

Taiko, and drinks that don’t mix very well

Published
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jasohill
on October 18, 2005
in Culture and Senmaya
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I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Rikunzen Takata National Taiko Festival(陸前高田全国太鼓フェシタバル） this past weekend. I was witness to awesome performances from some great taiko groups around the country. I especially loved it when they brought out the large cylindrical drums. Those things can reverberate like you would not believe. Twelve minutes of pounding drums can put you in an intense trance.

I have one word of warning for those who might wish to attend a taiko festival of this caliber, and expect to do so following a long night of debauchery. Never, and I mean never drink both beer and Korean shochu in the same evening. The effects of this will cause you to vomit profusely the following morning. To add to this misery, you’ll also have a pounding headache that intensifies with each drum beat. Seriously, don’t do that shit. I would have taken picture, but they were being photo Nazis. The performance itself was 3500 yen, but they’ll sell you a DVD of the performance for 7000 yen. How can you possibly lose?

鬱病の意味

Published
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jasohill
on October 14, 2005
in Culture, Education and Senmaya
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今日、私は日本語で自分の気持ちを表現してみます。頑張ろう！　中学校では、女性の生徒が私に　『うつびょう』という単語を知っているかように尋ねました。私は『意味、全然分からない』と言いました。彼女は『鬱病は, 非常に気持ちが優れない状態の病気』と説明しました。そして、現代の気持ちが鬱病だと言いました。 ストレスと悪いうちの状態ですから。私はこの話を聞いた時に、悲しくなりました。新しい単語と表現をな習うことが好きですけど、こういう方法は好きではな いんです。大変でしたね。

Today, I’m going to try to express myself in Japanese.Here goes! At Junior high today, a student of mine asked me if I knew the meaning of the word “utsubyou?” I said that I had no idea what it meant. She explained to me that it had the general meaning of “depression or meloncholy”, and this is how she currently felt. She said that because of a lot of negative things in her life that she had become depressed. Upon hearing this, I became a little sad myself. I enjoy learning new Japanese words, but not like this. What a terrible sentiment.

Apple does it again, but…

Published
by
jasohill
on October 13, 2005
in Technology
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Apple has unleashed a new ipod on the world. This “fifth” generation ipod will allow you to play videos in addition to music, pictures and podcasts. This would be all good if it weren’t for the fact that the video seem to be 320X240. In other words, those videos are produced to play only on the ipod and won’t look so hot on a television or even your PC’s screen. Also, it seems that they won’t play any ripped DVD content. To put this into perspective, it will be the same quality as a 70’s episode of “Chips”, as shown on television.

What is the Japanese connection to all of this? Well, if you live in Japan and wish to buy music using the itunes music store, you have a very limited selection. Since Apple hasn’t been able to bring Sony music onboard (Sony doesn’t like the way Apple prices its music), the music calalogue is smaller than a record store that sells only Milli Vanilli CD’s. In other words it sucks.

So now Apple wants to add Video to this bare cupboard? What are we going to end up watching? Enka music videos? Videos of local politicians pleading for your votes? Apple needs to get the ball rolling with the major Japanese players before it decides to release anymore media formats in this country. Only once that is done will I decide if a video ipod will work for me.

Oh, the battery only handles about two hours of video. Not so hot. 8-10 would have been preferable.

China goes into space again

Published
by
jasohill
on October 12, 2005
in National and Technology
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So what does the recent launch of the Shenzhou 6 manned space craft in China have to do with my life in Japan? Well for one thing , since we are neighbors to China, it always makes big news here. My Japanese co-workers talk about China’s bold space plans with a hint of Jealousy in their voices. I mention to them that Japan also has a strong space program; but they are quick to point out that they have no manned launch vehicles of their own. Well, I guess if Japan wants it so badly, they could do it themselves. Those jealous co-workers of mine could go out and start their own space agency. Why not, I say.

In other news, I need to decide what I’m going to do after JET next year. Do I want to work in translation, or do I want another English gig? I’d say my Japanese is nearing the point where I could go out there and translate all day(if this is something I actually want to do.) I also need to decide where I want to live. Do I move to another prefecture, or do I remain in Iwate. Questions, questions.

Finally, it looks like Japan has gone ahead with its plans to privatize the post office. There are many things to consider when privatizing a massive institution such as a post office. But with all the issues at hand, the one that has me the most concerned is what will happen to all the excess staff they will downsize? Every small town (including my own) has their own post office. Layoffs are almost guaranteed at this point, and Japan always chooses the employer over any employee grievances. If you think Japanese people have rights in the work places, you’d better think again. Also, I seriously doubt the government will come to the aid of these poor people. I have a bad feeling we are going to see a spike in suicides in the coming months, and that saddens me.

Flowers in the Fall

Published
by
jasohill
on October 8, 2005
in Photography and Senmaya
. 0 Comments

Fall Flowers
Originally uploaded by jasohill.

I’m going to apologize in advance for all these flower pictures. Living in Japan in the fall is really great because of all the flowers that you can find growing around. I think in Edmonton there is usually snow on the ground at this time. I honestly don’t know how I am ever going to leave this country. What can I say? I love flowers and I love fall colours.

First shades of fall in Senmaya

Published
by
jasohill
on October 5, 2005
in Photography and Senmaya
. 0 Comments

First shades of fall in Senmaya
Originally uploaded by jasohill.

The first vestiges of fall are apparent here in Senmaya, so I decided to capture this colourful little picture. I also based the new colour scheme of this blog on the very same picture. I really hope you enjoy it. If it should cause you to vomit or go into seizures, please let me know and I will correct it.

“Kouyou”(said “kohyoh” or autumn colour viewing is a very popular activity in Japan. People will take trips to popular viewing spots in order to take pictures of all the beautiful fall colours.

Since I was born and Raised in Alberta, I had never really seen such a variety of leaf colours until I came to Senmaya. Usually our trees turn yellow. Kouyou is also a good time for eating apples, taking boat trips and participating in marathons.

On October 1st it’s also “Koromogae”, the official day for changing into fall clothing. You would not be caught dead in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, regardless of the temperature. It’s all sweaters and turtles necks until late spring.