The Traveller's Typewriter

One of my many joys of being here in Japan to live and work includes food. Japanese food. Food of whatever sort, in fact!
I love convenience store food, food from vendor-stalls, markets, restaurants. All of it! I don’t consider it odd that I can find gourmet tastes in every variet of food I eat. Even a rice ball from the convenience store. Meals, for me, are a joy.

I do also have the great pleasure of enjoying the at-school lunches with the students.
In the latter half of my week I am working and teaching-assisting at the local Elementary school. And, oh yes, it is such a joy to eat lunch with those little learners!
I would have to say that it is a highlight of my days!

Today’s lunch was spaghetti with meat sauce. I love meat sauce. There was also a cucumber tuna and cabbage-pickle salad (it was better-tasting than it sounds), and a fried-pudding tart for dessert.
Now, do keep in mind that all of these meals are apportioned for the school aged child. We teachers, myself, including the local staff, are apportioned slightly more.
But to my surprise -or not entirely to my surprise- I am hungry about an hour or two after lunch. Nevertheless, it all just tastes so good !

Yesterday’s lunch has a picture. And that picture is below.
Cold ramen noodles with some mixings. Three shrimp and green onion gyozas, two tomatoes of the finger-picking size, AND a glorious container of Hokkaido milk.
The milk just tastes so good out here. And I get a carton of it every day. And by carton I mean tetra-pak.
It could just be tasting so good because it’s something like whole milk and I used to drink skim. I can just feel all those necessary fats entering my body making me healthy. Haha.

Do enjoy the picture while I enjoy my lunch.
Here’s hoping you have either bought or made your own lunch.
You ARE eating lunches aren’t you?
If you’re not, you’re welcome to come and join me for lunch anytime. I am more than happy to share my extra milk with you..

More on school meals next time!
(Oh, and today I am on my way to buy a few more keychain mame-shibas. If you don’t know what those are, have a look for yourself here at mame-shiba.jp)

Many a thing continues to surprise me while I’ve been here in Japan. I am slowly realizing that my perfectionist personality can be both a help. . and a hinderance.
Anything from blowing my nose in the restroom, to trying to walk the corridors here at work quiety, I am trying not to send too man ‘ripples through the water’.

I am being effortful to respect the many workings of life and society here in Japan. Here in town, however, I really am the only Canadian and foreigner. Unless there is someone else living under a rock that I am keenly unaware of. Another foreigner, that is.

Back to work, then.
Here in the office at the Board of Education all employees work in one large open office space. And our office space is located here inside town hall. The ‘bigger chairs’ residing upstairs, of course (mayor, etc.).

But this talk is about the office.
In this large and open office space our desks and departments respectively, are grouped in sixes. I sit at a desk with what I believe to be the healthcare bureau. Directly behind me sit the other members of the board of education. Not that I have all my titles and departments down pat yet but at least that gives you a ball park figure.

And now, the way we work.
Let me put it this way: everything is dead silent. There is no music. There is nothing. Aside from the odd firehall vehicle that drives around town at a designated time and with a little jingle plays a public service announcement to keep speeds down and to drive safe, etc.
Aside from these mild disturbances, if you will, everything is silent. And that means if you get a phone call, everyone can hear it. If you are discussing a plan or calendar schedule everyone can hear it. If you maybe -I dunno, don’t hate me for this- have a habit of uncontrollably tooting at your desk.. well, let’s just say that people will know.

The good news is that people are rather nice and amicable here in my department. People are people. And these people are nice. Nice and friendly.
But at peak production times in the day, say, right before lunch and such everyone is quiet.
And just before our lunch bell clattered away at noontime today, I swear, the phone rang at the desk just next me and startled any productivity right out of my system!
But I love it.

Today is a good day. It is raining outside and we apparently have a second typhoon (or ‘great wind’) headed our way.
THat just means a little less sleep, if you’re a light sleeper, and a whole lot of rain plus wind.
And I am still, of course, dearly hoping for the safety of people in affected areas where winds and rains are a little more than unpredictable.

How is the weather where you are today?
Is it raining?
And speaking of life, I sure hope it isn’t raining in your world. I hope that you are otherwise bright and sunny on the inside. If you happen not to be so, those rains too shall pass unto sunnier days.

Sun-bright.

Well, I was in for quite the weekend just this last week!

Here in Japan we were forewarned about a typhoon coming up and around our way. Even to Hokkaido.

Had I more time and if I knew which resources to check, aside from television and the odd web page, I would have been better informed about what this coming typhoon would mean.

I only hope that the more heavily affected areas of Japan are doing well and okay ! Every now and again I catch a glimpse of people being evacuated from their homes due to the rising waters -due rain!

But, with that being said, I had a plan to travel to Sapporo this last weekend. I had booked my bus ticket ahead of time and even showed up at the bus ‘tei’ or bus stop early to make sure everything went as planned. Well, everything went as planned alright -that being that you usually go to a bus stop to wait. And I waited.

More than three hours, in fact.

It would seem that due to the typhoon and heavy rains part of the roadway was closed and therefore I could not board the morning bus! So, I’m guessing that bus did not quite make it up to my part of town.

I did however catch the next bus, much to my relief, and didn’t have to cancel or change any of my travel plans. Again, thoughts sent out to all affected by the weather here!

Okay. Good and fun shopping weekends aside, this post is centered not quite on ‘mice’ but on money. Have you heard that story, ‘If you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll want a glass of milk..’

Well, in Canada I have always been happy to stop, drop and pick up most if not all of the pennies I see. Maybe I’m just thrifty like that. BUT..

On the way home at one of our rest stops along the highway something was up.

I was standing in line hoping to buy some form of dinner. But there was none outside of the three dollar takoyaki octopus balls you could buy from the nearest vending machine. Yes, I said vending machine. And yes, they taste just fine.

While I was standing in line looking for something to buy aside from cookies and cheese (meant to be sold as gifts) I saw one of the most beautiful things. Five dollars. Okay, well, five hundred yen.

It was laying right there on the floor between the cracker and crisp ailes looking at me. And I was looking back at the five hundred yen coin.

At this point I might add, yes, money is money. But in Japan there are certain unsaid rules about some things. How, for example, when you visit a coffee shop its perfectly, if not mostly, normal to leave your wallet or purse at the table you wish to use and then wander off to buy your coffee before coming back to sit.

No worries, no hassel, no theft. All this given my understanding of things.

But in this line up of about fifteen of us, and mind you these five hundred yen coins are pretty big, not one single person touched the coin.

You can imagine my frusteration at this point. If I have no problem picking up pennies in Canada -in bathrooms (okay, maybe not in bathrooms), stores, outside- surely I would have just died to go and pick up this coin.

But nobody moved. And nobody touched the coin.

I followed suit. I didn’t touch the coin either.

The moral of the story is if you let me pick up pennies in Canada, you should let me pick up coins in Japan.

This isn’t the first time this has happened to me.

Luckily however, I boarded the bus on time and made it home safe. I wonder about the coin though. Did it make it home? Did someone use it to buy some takoyaki from the nearest vending machine so as to curb their hunger?

I guess I’ll never know.

Have you found any coins, change, or bills lately? If so, great! If not, happy hunting. .

You see, I’m not actually sure if I need to apologize for not posting on Monday. But then all of a sudden I remember that for you it may still be Monday where you are. Monday night, anyways. So I’m not really that far off from keeping my posting promise.

Are you confused? Please, don’t be. Let’s just keep things rolling along..

WELL!

When I was meaning to post last Friday I was suddenly whisked away to an afore-promised event. I was about to hit the ‘post’ button when our vehicle was purring outside and our mini-volleyball memebers were piling in.

No, I wasn’t late. Nor was I unorganized and caught off guard -but I’m guessing being a little slack and not such a perfectionist sometimes could be a good thing for me.

But you want details, don’t you?

Here in Embetsu (to the best of my present knowledge) we have something called mini volleyball. This means that we play volleyball on a badminton-sized court. And we play with a ball that is, well, not a volleyball but a dodgeball. One of those nice, big round dodgeballs that were it to whap you in the face, you’d probably sport a nice red cheek for the remainder of the day.

But lo! Nobody was whapped.

We did however play a round of volleyball with all the teachers here in Embetsu (or the better part/most of them). Every sensei (that is, teacher) from the Elementary school, to Middle school, High school and such played rounds against each other.

Bottled and delightfully unsweetened green tea and sports drink (something like Aquarius, it is called. And no, nothing compares to it in Canada in my opinion -it’s nice!) were available for our consumption.

We played, we sweat, we laughed at each other.

Slowly I am learning that my perception of Japan is widening. That there is fun, loads of fun, in fact to be had with co-workers, colleagues and friends here. It is not all the business tolly of rush-and-push Tokyo that many of us see. Or maybe you never had that perception at all.

You see, before I came to Japan I knew that I wanted a non-city experience. And so here I am in a small town of just a few thousand with all the rice and grain fields I can stand.

On a side note I must add:

The crows here sound completely different. There has been many a day already where I have been walking to work and strolling in the evening, and I fib you not, when a crow HAWs at me it honest to goodness sounds like a grown man saying HAW, or HEY in a deep-ish voice.

Yes, I might add, I did miss the crows when I was not in Japan -before I came here. They are a friendly bunch. And they are big, too!

All this and that aside I have been busy. BUT,

And a big BUT, I might add- my classes thus far have been fun. Some taxing and busy but not difficult. And that is because I am working so far with a great and nice bunch of Japanese teachers of foreign languages here. I won’t forget the students. They make the cake, so to say.

Finally, I had a date last Friday.

At the kindergarten I was taken by surprise last week at how sweet and cute all the kids are.

I will say this, in the purest and happiest sense, my heart melted last Friday. When a little girl in my kindergarten class of about four came up to me after the lesson and held my finger and asked me in Japanese, ‘sensei, you’ll sit and eat lunch with me today, won’t you?’

Need I say more?

A flood of lights -lanterns, bulbs and all the like. The cover of darkness descended upon us and so began the year’s obon (or festival of ancestors) here in Japan.

The last few weeks I have had the schplendid opportunity to join some taiko (Japanese drumming) practices here in town. It is really a nice thing. I have been drumming at home in Canada too for just about a year now.

But these practices in Japan offer something sweet. Something refreshing and so very Japanese. When you subtract the English, flop yourself into a city and a setting that you have literally no familiarity with you get something special. Something unique.

These taiko experiences have been just that.

And little did I know, and to my surprise, that the beats and drumming we were practicing would have a requirement. And that requirement would be my presence at the annual bon-odori festival.

This town in which I live is quait and small. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t break out the fireworks to signal the commencement of the parade on the last day of celebration.

I won’t get into details. That is what your imagination is for. Or, is that what this blog is for? Hmm. Don’t hate me for that.

There was a festival tower in the middle of the square. A crude scaffolding covered in a festive red and white. Our taiko drums circled this monumnet. The first two days of this event included music blaring over old foghorn speakers. Think 1950’s, but hey, it worked.

First the children danced a traditional dance circling the stand. I too danced with them. But this last day was the real event.

Dressed in costume, some like One Piece, others like temple servants and following when it was at last dark and they finished tarrying the large floats (again including a One Piece-like ship) around town, the adults came and danced.

We played a new beat on the drums this time. On of my favourites. Unique, repetitive, but it melted into the night. The orchestrated dance and the hilarity of some of the costumes is something I won’t understand -without more study of course.

And our series of events went something like this:

After our short rest before the parade showed up at our location the taiko group enjoyed dried fish snacks, pepporoni and some enjoyed beer and sake. It was festive indeed.

From there we drummed for what seemed like an hour -continuously. Switching crude and tired arms for a fresh pair -where beside us waited the next member of the drumming team.

The evening ended late. We made our separate ways, participants and our drumming group. We ended up at a small karaoke bar where over fried fish, a few more beverages, and some classic Japanese songs (okay, some English for me) we sang, we danced, and ate our way well into the night. And one final night cap, our taiko group went next door for a bite before heading home. Nothing like shoyu ramen at one-thiry in the morning.

Here we are then, back on the train. Well, not that I was ever really on it. Not since way back sooo very many years when we had dial-up at home. Yup, perhaps you guessed it. It’s the no internet train.

I feel a little bit like a criminal sitting here using my office time to write this. But alas, I finish work at five pm. Everyone else follows the buzzer and when the whirring analog chime clinks and rings at five fifteen pm, the rest of the office -nay, the rest of town hall is done work, too. Unless they have a holiday or a day off or something like that.

In fact, that’s something that I’m moderately curious about. Some people in the office periodically disappear. OH! Like the matrix, in fact! As if they’re suddenly ‘unplugged’ from the program, a few people say, this person or that person isn’t at their desk one day or the next. Guess they do take holiday here in Japan. Or. . or, let me clarify, perhaps they are just working outside the office. Geez, I sure saved that one.

But I’m going to post on now about a little quibble. An event of today. At some time after lunch -after having rush and bike home to meet the post man between noon and noon-ten pm, I went to visit two of my schools I’ll be teaching at.

Both meetings were swell. Formal yet somehow. . informal? When we sit down in the principal’s office -at least I think it is- where we conduct these meetings, we are always -always served a cup of cool roasted barley tea. Then we conduct business. The jist and most of it in Japanese of course.

That being said I feel like a child that is watching Sesame Street every morning. As that child watches and listens to the same show day after day, their listening skills no doubt increase. Sooner or later they begin to babble about the same things they have heard sputtered on the show.

That’s me.

Through all of these meetings and get-to’s I’ve been listening to a lot of Japanese. No doubt my listening skills are getting better. Yeah! Hey, I have to give myself some credit, right?

Anyways -tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to come to the office early. Today in fact is the last day of summer break here. Tomorrow I attend -with suit and tie donned- the welcome and start of second semester at my Elementary and Middle school respectively. All that being said, there’s one more thing.

I get to make a short and bubbly speech infront of each school, while sweating secretly due to nerves and the little bit of heat left here in Hokkaido at the tail end of summer, and deliver my speech.

Don’t worry for me. It will be fine. And if it doesn’t go great, then I may not eat for a week. Haha.

Here’s hoping that you are enjoying this tail end of August. If you are, then that’s good news! If you’re not. . well, do something about it -circumstance hopefully allowing!

Oh, and the most interesting thing that I ate recently. . hmm, that would be salmon or some kind of flying fish roe topped with grated daikon. All of it was clumped together in a healthy-looking fashion. And it tasted about the same. Yes, I would eat it again. And I won’t mention the high-grade sake I may have sipped-

(forgive any spelling mistakes -these are often made on the fly!)

Good evening. Are you in the rain? Is it raining on you? Is it raining outside your window?

Well, it sure is raining outside mine.

Today’s rain here in Sapporo is something of a curious nature. It will rain for a few minutes and then stop -like it can’t make up it’s mind. Let me say now that, no, the rain doesn’t bother me.

You know how when for example, you are walking outside in a crowded city -and Sapporo is just that, a city of nearly two million people- as you walk amongst all these neat little bodies you have more in common than you think.

Even if you don’t want to think that you do! You are all walking around in the sweet big mixing pot that is the city itself. All of us scrambling around, stealing glances out of the corners of our eyes, or maybe trying to balance an umbrella on our fingertip. And then. . it rains.

Suddenly, in some sort of orchestrated slow motion kind of charade everyone swings up their umbrellas and pops them open.

And just like that you have taken part in your own categorized dance sequence.

What am I trying to get at here? Well, nothing really.

It’s just that when it rains, and if you pay attention all the umbrellas come to life by the hands of their beholders and you are suddenly connected to everyone else by a closer degree. And that is sharing the rain outside together.

Okay, enough of my silly thoughts.

This afternoon I had the gracious pleasure of taking off from my home town up in Japan northern, down to Sapporo. And here I am. Two days worth of orientation-ing ahead of me. Funny how the life of a young professional -and yes, we can all call ourselves that even if we are working a part time job or passing a career by as we work- takes on without waiting for you. Just that other day I was enjoying the makings of a hot summer in a nice western Canadian town. And now here I am about to snug on a dress shirt and pants, shave and head on out for a day of seminars. Life waits for no one. Best you go and make the most of it!

At least I’ll keep telling myself that. Telling myself that until I continue to make it happen!

It was rather fun on the way down on the bus. So many peoples and families camping. Right on the beach! Little coleman-like barbecue appliances all set up and lawn chairs all sprawled out. Kids splashing in the ocean water and yelling out into the wind. Not that I heard any of this I saw only about a second of it flash by and then I was falling asleep on the bus again.

BUT! Here is the point of the day. ラーメン。 If you can’t read that, don’t worry you don’t have to. It’s ramen. A few months ago Anthony Bourdain did a gracious special on his No Reservations show about Hokkaido. Long in short, I found the restaurant in Sapporo he ate noodles at. The only difference is that my bowl of king crab leg, Japanese scallop, sweet corn noodle soup had no butter on it. Unless it melted too fast because it was too hot outside..

I was the last person in. They were tidying up shop inside the small space awaiting what looked to be like a tour group of people. I ate. I died a little inside for it was so good. And then I got up and left -as a new man.

Today I embarked on a new journey. Well, one of many in fact. Today’s journey is one of Hokkaido’s ramen. I found out it’s more than just miso up here.

Tomorrow, I’ll be someone else. Scribbling notes and listening to advice about my new life in Japan brought to you by Hokkaido Association for JET.

What are you up to these days? Scribbling away at work, school? Are you busy making new friends? I ask again, is it raining where you are?

Either way, just remember it’s still summer. I still need to remember that just because I’m in a new town beginning a new life, and just because I might be very nearly the only Canadian where I’m now living -I’m still me.

Go find a nice cool drink and enjoy. I’m doing the same right now. Oh, and. . good night!

(Photo: ramen alley, Sapporo)

Well, here we are. Having arrived at last. At a new post? At our new workplace posting? Well, I’m just not too sure. You’ll have to wait and see, you see?

Haha.

I suppose I could merit a quick and peppy little post. Mostly for myself. Not simply for others. But, okay, I am thinking of you all, too. This is a fantastic way to keep in touch.

At present, I am doing okay. Sitting at my desk at my new workplace. Finishing up another day -a Friday, in fact. I have made some new friends -one of which is my home. My house is one of my new friends. It is a small and rather quaint place. A place where all the windows rattle when it winds (is windy) and it is a place that is welcome. I have a bed, bath, fridge, and even an ice tray. All the necessities.

As I am at work now, though I am past the working normal hours of five pm, I post. I post now for you. But until I have internet at home, which at the present I do not, you will have to wait.

I remember when I was following another fellow’s blog. A bloke who, too, was on JET. He never posted as he promised. It made me sad. For I had wanted to read all about what was going on in his daily spats.

Well for now I can leave you with this. The other day for breakfast (and yes, this is about Japan) sigh* (okay, and yes, I have several restaurants in my town that all serve ramen: shio/salt, shoyu/soy sauce flavor, and right. . even miso -in case you were wondering) breakfast. . for breakfast I topped my fresh pot of rice with a very sticky, fiberous concoction of flying fish eggs, marinated seaweed, a few other strands of hairy-looking vegetables and such. Yup. I plopped it right on my rice not knowing what it was and I ate it.

I almost didn’t want to, but I did. And I was surprised! If you’re lucky, and if you wait, I’ll have more to tell.

In the meantime thank you for your patience. I really do want to post!

But I’m overdue for a date with my bicycle -today, this evening, now I am going to see the ocean and watch the sunset.

And to you all, goodnight and good morning.

(The photo is to remind us, okay, well, to remind me that there are people out there who work hard. People who are dedicated to their work. I can learn from them, you can too? But that’s not up to me. Okay here, let this picture be a reminder to you to enjoy your weekend. Photo: bryc ewords)

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to fly into a megalopolis ? Well, how about Tokyo ? This city never sleeps -or so they say. But really I must admit that after the ten hour flight and the organization undertook at the airport and bus trip IN-to Shinjuku I was knackered. But in THE best way possible.
A few announcements on the bus ride in, a flood of pinky-pink shirts, no, that’s not really a colour but it’s certainly the colour of the T-shirts worn by our guides at the airport and hotel, and then we were dropped off. Sent to our rooms in the hotel !
And what is the first thing that you want to do when you arrive in such a splendid and marvellous city ? Well, it’s not sleep, I can tell you that. I think on the airplane I managed a few hours but we up and awake were up for hours on the flight.
With the time change, having arrived in Japan just after three p.m. local time I went out and hit the city.
Called up a good friend, plans pre-arranged, and we hit foot-to-pavement. Beautiful city, hot, humid, looming towers, people flocking -yes, even at night- left and right in and out of convenience stores and about restaurants.
Let me keep it short: enjoyed a great deep and black coffee which was MUCH needed. And then we stumbled around the hearty-sized Shinjuku station. Poking up and down lanes looking for the right place to grab a quick bite. The options ? Well, I would tell all about it if you paid me a hundred dollars and had a whole hour but fresh, fresh, food.
Ended up eating at a fish-style izakaya. Pictures attached.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I have a suit to don, hair to arrange Patrick Bateman-style, and seminars to indulge in all day. And hey, if you’re wondering, I’m in Japan. Having a great time, and I’m not going anywhere. Oh, yeah, I’m stuck here for a while.
Updates to follow.
Good luck to you, good evening, and good night.
CIAO !

(Oh, yeah. . and the picture: fresh squid teppan-yaki (seared-like) with squid liver, miso and all the fixin’s. Now it’s swimming in my belly and it’s oh, so good)

There was a lot of commotion today. Things going this way and that. Travel preparations and just last minute check-ups. But that’s pretty normal then, no ?
There was one final meeting and pre-departure seminar today. It was just that. A brief, concise and pat-on information deluge. The assigned JETs were gathered up. We were fed the facts about travel, transit, and tenure in our new destination country, Japan. And you know what, my eyes changed today. . Okay well, no, they didn’t change colour or anything but I began to see things in a different light. All this time up until preparation for departure I’d been so caught up and baffled. I couldn’t really think straight about it all. I’m coming, I’m going. Preparing, departing. Sure, these were my thoughts but I noticed something today. I’ve never done Japan like this.
The trip itself has been full of patient waiting -well, the preparation. And then today seeing all of these fantastic faces and hearing snapshot stories of Japan, I noticed something more. People that have gone on this program and done this before me -they all loved it so much. I mean, sure they probably had their share of shocking and awkward moments but that’s all part of it ! Now hang on, I don’t want you to think that I’m just realizing this all now -that things are going to be ‘this and that’. I mean hearing from real people, hey, I’d love to crawl inside your suitcase and go back to Japan, wow. This really is a great program and a great opportunity. The pinhole-prick of my understanding just grew a little today. I stepped back a bit and saw a bit more of the picture. Of JET and of Japan.
So I’ve really, now really-really finished up all my suitcase stuff. But you never really finish all that, do you ? No. Not until your standing there staring into the loving eyes of an airport check-in agent and you’re nervously watching the weight calculator of your check-in luggage like a slot machine reel finally landing on a winning digit below fifty pounds. You never really finish your packing until your on the plane. But, that’s just another part of it.
I’ve pulled the trekking pants near and I’ve allotted myself an assortment of hanky-things to blot, well, sweat (come on, I’m just talking about human water droplets. It’s nothing x-rated). Some ear plugs, the makings of an eye mask -well, no. A bandana. I told you about that already a few posts back -or, ahem, a short novel’s worth of words back. Done. All that and some chocolate-covered cherries for the plane. If a friendly, not-afraid-of-food-sharing person sits beside me in-flight tomorrow, they’ll be welcome to have some.

On and on we write. Well, this is just a spot post. Since I’ll be in the air tomorrow for the better part of the day and then in transit at the airport and experiencing all the amazing check-in/processing for JET that I’ve only seen in photos on the JET website. I might not be able to post so very soon. Some of you might be sighing a breath of relief. Don’t ! Please, I like it when you read what I write. Haw, haw.
Shortly after all that waiting and processing is. . TOKYO. 東京　←yes, that other one says Tokyo, too. Since that fabulous city has had my heart in-hold ever since I first set foot there, you can imagine I might be a little busy that evening. Running around town, sweating, eating food, and gawking at the towers and people. And, if you, yes, you happen to be in Tokyo tomorrow evening (is that including the time change ?), we could always share a simmering pot of boiled loach from a bang-on Tokyo eatery, Komagata Dozeu. But that would be entirely up to you.