Archive for the 'Iwate' Category

Page 2 of 5

For those times

Published on October 17, 2007 in Anime - Manga, Culture, Iwate and Language. 0 Comments

  I was at one of my elementary schools, having my self a nice little chat with one of the teachers.  She asked me if I had a problem with doing two classes on the 24th, instead of the one I was scheduled for.  I expressed that it wasn’t a problem at all. In fact it was a pleasure to enlighten and educate those sweet little faces.  She was very pleased with this and happy that I never had a problem with any requests.  I did mention that I would only have a problem if I were to be double booked.  She laughed and said, “その時のため、分身の術(sonotokinotame, bunjin no jutsu.)

Basically, in English it means “For those times, you’d need the special body splitting techinique(used by ninjas)” She was so shocked that I understood what she was talking about, she almost fell over.  I told her I learned it in a book.  I will never reveal the true source of my information.

Shitty Japanese animated show about pansy, teenage ninjas never make good reference material.

The Great Tohoku Flood of 2007

Published on September 18, 2007 in Iwate and Natural Disasters. 1 Comment

   What started out as a pleasant trip to Sendai,  almost turned into a nightmare in my sleepy little prefecture.  This all steamed from an email we received from a friend living in Morioka,  advising us to come home as soon as possible. We only got a taste of what was to come when the bus driver told us the highway was closed and we would be late by over an hour.

     It appears that Typhoon 11 left more damage than anyone could have anticipated. Many of Iwate’s rivers,  already near overflowing from the storm, unleashed their fury yesterday, forcing evacuations all over the prefecture. My former home, Ichinoseki was under about fivefeet of water, and many parts of Hanamaki and Morioka were almost evacuated due to rising waters levels.  I was very lucky to be living on higher ground. My home wasn’t damaged.

      The secondary effects of this flooding weren’t even noticable to me until today.  It appears many parts of the rail between Hachimantai-Matsuo and Hanawa were washed out completely.  If I didn’t already have a car or the ability to drive, I would been unable to get to most of the schools I teach at.  Even the road I use to jog is lying under water. Many of the rice fields in my town are now submerged as well.

   I’m sure there will be more to tell about this story. I will will update you as information becomes available. I am attempting to get information of people that were evacuated and casualties.

 Update 1: This article tell of two people carried away by flood waters in Morioka.  The search is continuing for them today.

 Update 2: An article from the Asahi shinbum gives a quick summary of the people involved so far.

Hot Jazz in the City

Published on July 10, 2007 in Art, Culture, Iwate and Music. 1 Comment

Powerful

I thought I’d kick off my first blog post in a while with a smoking hot review of the Jazz concert I attended the other day. The name of the band is Olive and they are based out of Morioka and Senmaya. Yes, for those of you who read this blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that I used to live in Senmaya.  I got a chance to take do a photo shoot of the concert. I was also quite impressed with what I heard.

Bass by the light

The band is made up of Mai on drums, Emi on keyboards and vocals, and Oi on the electric stand up bass. What they lack in members, they make up for in raw ability. The band focuses on a style of acid jazz infused with pop style rolling bass lines. They performed a set of three songs; each more more upbeat and grooving than the previous. I have yet to actually get the names of the tunes they played; however, they are working on a CD for release later this year, so when I get my hands on it, you’ll be the first to know. For now I have placed the pictures I took in a flickr set. Enjoy.

More from the Drummer

どんど晴れ（Dondohare)

Published on April 2, 2007 in Iwate and T.V. / Movies. 6 Comments

My calm and unexciting Iwate life just got mildly more exciting. It appears NHK is airing a new television drama called ‘dondohare’ or ‘どんど晴れ’ The show follows the life of Yokohama native Natsumi Higa as she struggles to start up her own traditional Japanese Ryokan. This show is a type of morning drama call a ‘asadora’, or ‘Morning Drama.’

The reason I find this sort of exciting is because it takes place in Iwate Prefecture. Yes, for those of you not keeping track, that is the prefecture I live in. In fact, the show is based in Morioka, which is only 30 minutes from my door. I might tune in just to see if I can spot any of the locales. There is a ton of info on the show over at D-addicts. If you can read Japanese check out the Official Page.

Update: Ouch! The wonderful people over at J!-Ent news have revealed the opening broadcast of Dondobare brought NHK’s lowest reviews ever. It’s probably as I feared. No one outside or inside of Japan cares about Iwate.

JR’s Annual Train Schedule Change

Published on February 23, 2007 in Hachimantai and Iwate. 5 Comments

If you happen to be a fan of the Japanese railways, then you should  know about what is coming up on March 18, 2007. This is what they call the ダイヤ改正（daiya kaisei), or “The Annual Schedule Change” as it is known in English. It appears to be the day when JR changes their train schedules. This year, they are also making all of the shinkansen cars non smoking. This is pretty ground breaking for Japan and something I welcome.  There is nothing worse than walking through a smokey shinkansen car on the way to your seat. It’s akin to being in a narrow bingo hall.

March 18th also has some local ramifications in my area. My local line, the Hanawa line, is changing the train it uses.  Up until the change, I had the luxury of riding on the Kiha 52 and Kiha 58 trains; both of which have their origins in the late 50′s to 60′s.  They are big and loud, but when you ride on them, you can feel the history. I’m a little saddened to announce that JR is switching to the Kiha 110. This puke green wonder has it’s origins in the early 90′s and was the train I used to ride when I lived in Senmaya. I’m sure JR has it’s reasons for the change. I can bet those older models are getting really expensive to maintain.  Still, I feel privileged to have been able to ride those classic engines.

On a final note, if you are living in Japan, and want to see what March 18th has in store for you, be sure to head to your local train station and ask. They have all the information on the change.

The Dreary Doldrumes of January

Published on January 12, 2007 in Iwate and Personal. 3 Comments

Well, I’m now back in Japan. After a 14 hour trip that, coincidently, had me on the same plane as a friend of mine. I arrived back in Tokyo and got myself a bullet train up to the frozen north of Iwate. It’s amazing how the weather goes from warm and raining, to cold and blizzardy all in the space of 400km. Within a day of returning, I was back at work and back to routine. My trusty kerosene heater decided it didn’t want to work, and is now in the shop, leaving me chilled to the bone.

I’m not sure what it is about 2007 that already has me in a bit of a funk. It could be the rather cold reception I got when I came back(Oh! you’re back. Whoop de doo), or possibly the army of friends and acquaintances I know that seem to have found true love in the last six months. I always know about how happy they are, because they never stop reminding me. This wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren’t for the fact that I can’t seem to locate a woman that shares anything in common with me. I have been in three rocky relationships in the last three years, and I have spelunked my way out of them. I do want to relax a little and enjoy my freedom, but, as some of my younger friends remind me, “Wow, you’re 30? Why don’t you have like three kids by now?” It’s hard to shake that artificial pressure that at this age that I need to be with someone. But I’ll do my best to fight it.

I think I’ll just chalk it up to SAD again this year and try to move on with my life. There should be plenty of interesting things to blog about here in Iwate. Overall, I’m sure I’m just a little tired from a long flight across the pacific. I really enjoyed my trip back to Edmonton, and I can take away a lot of positive memories from it. I also took some great pictures and will be sharing them with all of you as well. So here is a preemptive “cheers” to 2007!

Wacky weather and the coming winter

Published on November 9, 2006 in Iwate. 0 Comments

Northern Japan has been a mess these days, as far as the weather is concerned. I’m sure most of you have heard about the tornado that touched down on an Island off of Hokkaido, killing eight people. I want to clarify that I was near that area of Japan at the time, so if you were worried about me, there is no need to be. I just want to emphasize that Japan does not get many tornadoes. I think they get a major one every forty years, so for them this was pretty big news.

That very next day a massive storm pushed itself down Japan and caused all of the morning trains on the Hanwa line to be cancelled. This left me stranded in Ashiro all morning, unable to get to my Junior High School in Tayama. Lucky for me, classes were all cancelled. That very same storm also dumped a pile of snow on any mountain over 900 meters. Iwate mountain went from brown to snow white in a little over six hours. I am definately in a part of Japan that sees more crazy weather.

That leads me to the coming winter. In what had been long overdue, I have to decided to return to North America for a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to visiting with friends and family during this time. I also hope to get out and push tiltyhouse a little while I am away as well. If you are an avid lisenter of Dai-Cast and are interested sharnig any ideas about the show with me while I am away,　please feel free to get in contact with me at the tiltyhouse website. while I am in North America, I will be in Burlington Vermont from December 23rd to December 30th, and Edmonton Alberta from December 31st to January 7th. Also, if you are just someone that hasn’t seen me in a while and want to get in contact with me again, please do so.

Fall in Hachimantai

Published on October 20, 2006 in Hachimantai, Iwate and Photography. 0 Comments
   
Fall in Hachimantai 

Originally uploaded by jasohill.

Fall has made it’s way to northern Japan. I was just out yesterday and noticed the veritable rainbow of leaves around me. Fall in Japan is more impressive than spring is. I took this photo from near the top of Hachimantai Mountain. I’m hoping to get out again on the weekend and shoot some more fall images. There are entire mountains full of color. The temperature has also dipped under th 10 degree mark. It’s time to start thinking about the ski season.

In other news, some of my Canadian friends made their way up here for a little one on one time with Jason. I would say most of them were a little surprised to see the lack of anything other than rice fields. I did warn them about this beforehand. Overall I think everyone had a good time. I only wish I had a car large enough to take them to some of the really cool spots. We did hit up an onsen and a few local toursits spots, however.

   One place in particular was called, “Taki no Yuu”, or “The waterfall bath.” We didn’t notice any waterfalls, but we did feel the 40+ degree temperature in the bath. You really being to appreciate which body parts are more sensitive to scalding hot water when you foolishly place them it in. My friend Chris remarked that he could see what parts of me were in the bath by the massive red line that formed on my back. Perhaps that bath was a little too hot.

Taki no yuu Hotel

There are still a few more visits in store before everyone makes there way back to Canada. I’m hoping to show them all the Japan that I have come to love. Sadly, there is just too much to see, and they are only in Iwate for a small period of time. Still, it’s better than them not coming at all. Have a good weekend!

Watch your step! 注意！

Published on September 13, 2006 in Administation, Iwate and National. 0 Comments

Hey there everyone. This is Jason Hill, the owner and author “jasohill.com” and “Jason’s Launching over Japan.” First of all, I want to apologize for all the construction that has been going on around here. I decided that the site needed to be moved to a more scalable technology, so I  purchased some webspace and moved everything over to wordpress.

You might notice a few things are different. First of all, I delete many of the posts that I made before coming to Japan. There really wasn’t any need for them. You can, however, now search the entire blog with the built in search feature. I have also added a number of categories. This will make finding an article much easier. All you need to do is search by the category tag.

I still intend to carry on in the same way I did before. Although, this time I hope to be a little more hard hitting, and digg up some great social and cultural information about Japan and Iwate. Please be patient while I categorize the 300 some articles that I have written up to this point. Thanks.

Why I love Iwate

Published on July 11, 2006 in Iwate, National, Nature and Travel. 0 Comments

Monday was a special day for me. I was invited along with the other prefectural JETs to a sayonara and thank you lunch. We received our thank you certificates and we got a nice speech from the superintendent of the Iwate Board of Education. After receiving our speeches, a number of us got Iwate Friendship ambassador plaques. I guess a small number of JETs are chosen every year to represent Iwate when they go back to their home countries. I think it is a nice sentiment. However, I am not going back to my home country right away. But that doesn’t mean I can’t offer all of you some good reasons to come here and visit Iwate. Let me start with some of the reasons I chose to stay here for at least another year:

1. Iwate is simply one of the most beautiful prefectures in Japan. You have jaw dropping scenery and amazingly lush forests. Winters are a frozen wonderland, and spring and fall are simply some of the best times to see colours; more colours than you’ve seen in your life. Also, don’t get me started about temples and shrines. Iwate contains some of the most beautiful Shinto shrines in all of Japan. Not to mention Chusonji temple, which is currently being considered for World heritage status.

2. Nature not good enough for you? Well, Iwate is very affordable. Apartments in the cities aren’t as expensive as they would be in Tokyo or Osaka, and I’ve found that I can get to know all my neighbours. That is something that would be hard to do in a big city. So if you want to visit Japan and save some money, then come to Iwate.

3. Culture anyone? Iwate is full of traditional Japanese festivals and ceremonies. Each town or city has their own respective festivals, and there are the big ones like the Morioka Sansa festival. We are also close to Japan’s largest fireworks festival in Akita, and just above Sendai’s Famous Tanabata festival. Iwate is also a great place to learn Japanese. You actually won’t have much of a choice in the matter. There aren’t as many English speakers here, so you’ll get a chance to flex you Japanese muscle. You will also have plenty of opportunity to live in rural Japan and partake in things the way they were before everything went all industrial.

4. But aren’t you way out there in the middle of nowhere? Not at all. Iwate is connected all major cities by a Shinkansen Bullet Train that runs straight through the prefecture. If bullet trains are too rich for your blood, than we also have buses and local trains going all over the place. Hanamaki airport also offers connector flights and some direct flights to places like Korea and Hong Kong. Seriously, you can’t go wrong.

5. But what is there to eat in Iwate? Well, Morioka has it’s famous Wonko Soba, and I’ve eaten the best Katsudon I’ve ever eaten at Yorimichi in Fujisawa-town(it’s so good I’m planning a future article on it.) I also think the fish is fresher here than it is in other prefectures. But don’t take my word for it. Come and check it out yourself.

If those five points aren’t enough to get you here, I don’t know what is. I am being totally honest here folks. If you are in Japan and want to check out something awesome that many tourists will never see, then get yourselves over here as soon as possible. If you are looking to carve out a unique experience for your trip, I cannot think of a better place than Iwate Prefecture.