The other weekend, I joined Soeng and Ryo for a late birthday BBQ at our mutual friend Ohira-san’s house. The three of us have all worked on his chrysanthemum farm once or twice and have also gotten to know him too. He’s a genuine guy who laughs a lot and bears every trait of a good host. We were at his place because there was a bit of drizzle and he could offer us a covered patio.
We had an abundance of meat thanks to Ryo and slathered the massive hunks of pork with some ‘kato sauce’. These tender nuggets of meat were the highlight for sure, but the chicken and other veggies were good too. We had some whale steaks that we completely forgot about, which was a shame, but were soon satisfied all the same.
Ryo’s Vietnam style squat with some ‘sexy’ pieces of meat.
After the air cooled off a bit, we moved the shindig inside his incredible house. By incredible I don’t mean lavish, bit rather just old and Japanese. His abode is loaded up with tatami floors, sliding doors, and long passageways around the rooms. We eventually took a seat at one of his knee-high tables to chat, sip some cognac, and also sing a bit of YouTube karaoke. When we started getting tired, we spread a few futons and then slept in preparation for the following day.
We woke up a bit earlier than my norm and then set out of Manno Park. We stopped along the way from some food at a conbini and also to meet a few people at the train station. Once the team was assembled, we drove towards out final destination, waited in a long queue of cars, and then met some others setting up our camp. The plan for the day was to run a 88km relay marathon with a team of mostly foreigners. Suitably, out team name was registered as Los Embajadores. Some of us set ourselves further apart from the plebs by donning costumes. For this I selected a Doraemon suit, which while unrecognizable to the people back home, is known by 100% of the people here.
We also had Spiderman and Human themed runners as well
After a short warm up that consisted only of standing in a circle and picking who would run first, we moved to the stating line to see our lead man off. Looking at all the other people made it very obvious who was actually there to run, and they looked nothing like our jeans clad runner. The race was afoot at precisely 9:30.
We returned to the tent to relax, but it wasn’t long before runners were finishing their 1.3 km loop and making the pass to the next runner. After a few runners it was my turn to give it a go. As I ran, I was encouraged by the cheers of the spectators on account of my costume. There were a lot of people who smiled and took photos as well. I completed the course in 5 minutes and something, but because we weren’t yet paying attention to seconds I wasn’t sure just how awesome I was. I was sweating and on fire thanks to the thermodynamics of the costume, but indeed I was physically sound. About five days before the event, I decided to get out for a nice little training run. Now the better part of a week later my legs were just forgetting about that hellish torture, which probably meant that I had attained ‘in shape’ status.
After my loop, the rest of the 16 member team took their turns as well. While I waited for my next run to come around, I had to contend with a number of children incessant on following me and grabbing my tail. These kids were unshakable throughout the day. When we asked about where their parents were, they responded with uncertainty but postulated that their dad was in the car.
The day carried on, and I ran a couple more times. I also slept for a good while in the tent, except for when these same kids came to bother me. As we were coming up on the end of the 67 lap campaign, we started to realize that the 7 hour time limit was going to be a problem. The team last year was not able to finish in time, so were were determined to attain greatness. In order to accomplish the feat, we needed to boot anyone incapable of a 6 minute loop from the roster and stick to our running starters. I guess I was good enough to be included, though my previous two laps certainly weren’t. With this added pressure, I was able to manage my best time of the day with a 5:24, which if extrapolated would equate to about a 6:25 mile – right in line with my middle school gym class time. This feels a bit disappointing actually, since only being on par with a 14 year old me feels pretty pathetic. I am however more of a Clydesdale, the Cadillac of runners.
Towards the end of the event, the number of runners on the course had grown a bit sparse
Then, for whatever reason I was selected to represent the team as the runner of the last lap. Though I had already divorced the idea of further physical effort that day, I decided I needed to step up. Spurred on by all the random Japanese people rooting for my costume, the cushy 8 minute limit was doable. When I rounded the bend towards where we had our team staging area, my peers joined me so that we could cross the finish line as a team. We managed to finish about two minutes before the start of the seventh hour, so that’s something to be proud of, I guess. Despite a couple weather scares, things stayed nice enough and we all had a great time. As an added bonus, my training regimen completely prevented any and all soreness in my legs. We went on to celebrate with sushi.
Spring in any country is generally a pleasant season, but I would dare make the claim that Japan’s is the best. Before leaves return to the trees, an incredible number of them bloom with thick flowers. The cherry trees are particularly renown and are deeply woven into the fabric of Japanese culture, and also permeating the likes of music, and female names. In fact, the Washington D.C cherry trees that line the Potomac were gifts from the Japanese government that started way back in 1910
Obligatory close up shot of said blossoms
For one of the most exciting times of the year, people of all ages gather in parks and other public places to admire the blossoms with friends and relatives. This is called hanami and literally means looking at flowers. More than simply viewing, everyone uses the warming weather as an opportunity to picnic and drink beneath them as well. Myself and the rest of the Takamatsu foreigner contingent were no exception to this and gathered at our famous Ritsurin Garden. A number of us spent the afternoon in the sun chatting and playing Uno until things cooled down and the wind picked up.
Beers, bentos, and blooms: how much better could this even be?
This year, I also decided to take advantage of some of the earlier blooming flowers. Of course the cherry blossoms are most famous because they come out last, but the peach and plum flowers are no less worthy of admiration. All three types of trees have an incredible number of species within them, each with a slightly varying shade of flower. Both the Konan Agream and Ritsurin Garden offered a grove filled with around 40 variants.
This was my third and final spring while a member of the JET Program, but I believe that I was able to make the most of it. Whenever I make my return to Japan, I’ll be sure to time it out so that I can be around for this again.
One of the duties that I have in addition to teaching English is to act as a cultural ambassador to all the Japanese people around me. I do generally try to strike a balance somewhere between bringing it to them and thrusting it in their faces, though in this instance I was most definitely the latter…
Around the beginning of March, I notice a patch of construction on some corner down the road from my house. Lo and behold, the 28th of that month was going to be the grand opening of a new McDonald’s! Oh, what wondrous news! This would cut my drive time to the nearest location by half, and also have me pass two of them on every trip into or out of the city.
Isn’t she beautiful?
As our excitement for the grand opening grew, Saad and I decided to go over there to celebrate on the day of. Friend and retired teacher Iain joined the two of us, along with my couchsurfer from Hong Kong to indulge in the savory burgers. I couldn’t of course just eat as a patron, I also had to welcome the locals by hauling a certain Uncle Sam costume out of storage. Saad and I had joked about me unearthing it for the big day, but I think there were doubts as to whether I would actually go through with it.
I forgot my bow tie
I did. And there were a lot of people leaning over, taking photos, and laughing as I swaggered on in and nonchalantly placed my order. Most of the students were Saad’s, else Iain’s from when he held that position, but as far as I could tell none of them were mine. I will be teaching at Saad’s school soon, where I find it very hard to imagine that they wont remember me. In general, I always enjoy when I can succeed to educate the Japanese public on American culture. Putting the oddity and spectacle of the situation aside, the food and our conversation was all great.
There was another hiking event scheduled in my town that invited some friends over for. This time around we did some BBQ the night before setting out on our adventure. In addition to my group of friends, I also invited one of my Japanese coworkers that I had enjoyed teaching with for the last year. He was not quite awful at English, and definitely excited about joining in the festivities. As people started to arrive, nine in all, it was starting to shape up to be quite a good night. We bestowed command of my rusted out grill to Ryan, while the rest of us took care of things indoors. The smell of burning charcoal that was outside billowing into the house all night was sub par, and only now a couple weeks later has the smell dissipated. In order to contend with the guests’ appetites, I also set up a table top burner as well.
Bellows are for bell-ends
This was a BYOB/BYOM situation, so I was plenty pleased since I had a stockpile of meat I was keeping in the freezer for just such an occasion. After cooking it up and digging in, people began to question if that was such a good idea. I can generally eat most things, but 18 month old brown turned meat was not likely fit for consumption by any living thing. I gave it another shot by dipping it in some yakiniku sauce, but alas, I could mask neither its freezer burnt taste nor the cardboard texture so we had to stick to some alternative options. No one fell ill in the end, so I’d say no harm no foul. At the end of the night, people sprawled out on my stash of futons and crashed until morning.
The crew. By this time Ryan was made an honorary American
When everyone was roused from their slumber, I boiled up a big pot of mediocre sausages and burnt pan a eggs for everyone. They all said they would throw in for breakfast, but they didn’t. Not sure if that’s because I did such a poor job preparing it or not, but I at least didn’t have to feel bad for ruining it. After another joined the group and another couple left, we got ready and set out towards the hiking meeting spot, except there was no one around. A short drive down to the town tourism office, confirmed that they had misprinted the dates in the catalog which meaning that we would have to fashion our own outing. The first place on the new plan was the Fujikawa Dairy Farm, though we stopped at Kaminishi Elementary to have some photo fun first.
People often come here with their young kids to see both cows and a number of other farm animals. There are a lot of other activities people can enjoy here too, like making cheese, enjoying playground equipment and eating their home made ice cream. After supplementing our breakfast with the ice cream, we hung around a bit and took more photos.
This was our ‘boy band’ pose
To my delight, there were banana bikes like what I recall renting at the Holland State Park during the days of my youth. My friend would argue that I nabbed one from one of they children that they were intended for, but I’m no so sure that I agree with that assessment. I was just excited to get back in the seat of one of these things. These contraptions are steered by leaning and compared to the weak kids I was pretty awesome. I was definitely invoking awe and perhaps jealousy in the eyes of the parents.
Things were going great. I was zipping around, contending with the gravel and the grade, cool as a cucumber. Though it all took a turn for the worse when my endeavors surpassed the realm of physics. In the blink of an eye, I was catapulted from the seat and across the harsh gravel, but by the time my friends had responded to the commotion I was already up on my feet. I opened up the palm of my hand and also replaced a good chunk skin of my massive rear flank with an increasingly moist wound that oozed through pants and underwear for several days. Cool, very cool indeed.
Not bad at this point, but the bleeding and location made it awful within a short while
It was time to move on, so we hopped in the car and I drove us up to the peak of Mt. Otaki. This thing is just shy of 1000 meters and one of the larger rock piles around me. I had been up to check out the shrine long ago, but further inspection revealed that there was also a temple from the 88 temple pilgrimage up there. This wasn’t the finest temple I’ve ever seen, but I do want to see as many on he circuit as possible, without going too far out of my way.
From there we satisfied the hiking portion of the outing by walking about 10 minutes along the ridge of the mountain. The view was mostly blocked by trees, but we had a nice time anyway throwing sticks and rocks and quoting The Truman Show.
Serious hikers
We decided to bring our day of trekking to a close by popping into Ikoi Shokudo. This little restaurant offers a few different options, but the reason to go is certainly the chukasoba. The five guests all ordered in line with my recommendation and all were very satisfied. Chukasoba is a Chinese noodle dish not unlike ramen, but these noodles are a tad different. There are also some really flavorful bits of chicken cartilage that add a lot.
The last stop of the day before heading home was to the foot bath near the hot springs village. My town is quite famous for the hot spring resorts and just outside of the most famous one is spot for people to soak their weary feet. After spending so much time on the trails, this was just what we all needed. It was really relaxing and punctuated the end of a great day. The intended hiking plans had completely fallen through, but I was able come up with a Plan B that eclipsed those. We all had a great time and will look forward to giving people a reason to hang out in my neck of the woods.
Studying Google Maps as I so frequently do, it was beginning to appear as if I would be unable journey over to Taiwan during my teaching stint in Japan. Though I was indeed saddened by this, I shrugged it off, reasoning that I would certainly get there some day. Then along came Peach Airlines with a direct flight priced cheaply enough to justify even a short trip, and then Soeng’s well timed birthday to provide the impetus.
We had to drive through the night to get to the airport for our 7am flight, as paying for a hotel made no sense at all. We got there with time to spare, and also happened across Thomas gearing up for a trip of his own. We made our way over to the separate Terminal 2 building that houses Peach Airlines, passed through immigration, and finally enjoyed the short flight over to Taipei. I tried sleeping, and though managing a few winks, the phalanx of seats were so rigid and tightly arranged that I could only pine for my misery to end.
Once we arrived I drew some ire of my companion by booking that night’s lodging with the airport Wi-Fi. I suppose those feelings were understandable. After getting off the bus at the main station, we both marveled at how many Japanese shops there were, convenience stores especially. Convenience store culture runs deep in Japan, so after reading that Taiwan has the highest number of stores per capita, I had my my doubts. I was however blown away at not only the number of these stores, but also the branded kiosks that dotted the stations and set Taiwan an entire business model ahead of Japan!
The first order of business was to curtail our hunger pangs by seeking out some food. We had traveled far and wide, so the obvious choice was McDonald’s. One of my guilty pleasures while abroad is to always try out a country’s differing menu options. Sometimes the offerings are completely different, such as the McArabia or McD Chicken Porridge, but these were fairly basic. I can’t read what was written on the food boxes so I can’t tell you exactly what we ate, but it was some sort of grilled chicken sandwich, a sweet bean pie, and an American sized Sprite to wash it all down. Our initial thought was to just have a little bit and leave room for some local food, but the language barrier earned us a combo meal from which we left woefully sated.
Once we booked our train tickets using the most frustrating automated machines ever conceived and then stashed our bags in a locker, we set out to cram as much of Taipei into a single day as possible. We didn’t really have much of an itinerary planned, just a few points of interest circled on a tourist map. The first stop was to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. When we arrived at the large public square, the memorial was having some maintenance work done that detracted from it a bit, though it was at least worth the train fare.
The memorial, and myself with a nearby gate
Our next stop was at the National History Museum. I like to learn a thing or two about whichever country I go to, but I was a little disappointed here. The museum was mostly just a collection of old pots and Buddhist statues from as far back as 8000 BCE, which while impressive wasn’t at all what I was hoping for. I have seen more Buddhist statues and relics than you can imagine… Learning about the founding of Taiwan, its military history, and also the current political situation with China would have been far more interesting, though I probably just picked the wrong museum.
The outside of the museum…Huh?!
What was unexpected, though much appreciated was a special exhibit on Michelangelo. The exhibit grouped his areas of expertise – sculpting, painting, and architecture – into different rooms and also explained a lot about his personality and life while we passed through them. Scattered throughout the exhibits were a number of studies he did in preparation for his greatest works. As a perfectionist, he needed to get his depictions of the human form just right. Though the whole place felt out of place for Taiwan, it was very fulfilling to admire such works. I’m no art buff and can scarcely appreciate these drawings and sculptures on the level of a collector or historian, but looking at a world renown masterpiece certainly offers a sense of satisfaction.
”The true work of art is but a shadow of divine perfection” – Michelangelo
From the museum we enjoyed a stroll through the nearby botanical garden and then relaxed for a bit. We plopped down on a bench to take part in some people watching before evaluating our energy levels and heading over to the Taipei 101.
The jackfruits have a sweet aroma.
This building was once the tallest in the world and is still the most impressive on this side of Asia. Though at 509 meters it still sits at #4 in the world, my initial impression was ‘meh’ since compared to Dubai’s colossal 838m Burj Kalifa, it looks significantly smaller. We did decide to pay the big bucks to go up to the top and peer out at the rest of the city.
The Taipei 101 is surrounded by no other buildings that might obscure the fantastic view, though the haze and waning light did diminished what we could see. There were some overpriced shops at the top and also a place to see one of the tower’s three steel dampeners. These massive spheres absorb the lateral motion of the structure during wind and seismic activity.
Posing near the Damper Baby, one of the tower mascots
Following a quick bite at some random roadside restaurant completely devoid English, we returned to the station for our evening train down to the east coast city of Hualien. Though our failure at the ticketing machines had us sitting in separate carriages, Soeng enjoyed her sleep and I a nice chat with the guy next to me. In addition to eating some snacks, I was also thrilled to find that they sold Busch, not that I could understand way. I always find it amusing when I discover America’s worst beers being sold in any other part of the world.
My Japanese lets me make educated guesses about the menu items, but I can’t know for sure
We arrived around 10pm at the station from which a very confused taxi driver took us to our nearby hostel. The guy seemed to have no idea where the place was, but did manage the feat eventually. As always, the hostel staff and patrons included some interesting people with varying opinions and viewpoints and another in particular had a whole lot to say. After my much needed shower, a thought provoking discussion on politics, religion, and whatever else ensued. Our discussions was accompanied by Bar Beer and raged on into the wee hours of the morning.
The heart of the Surfing Formosa Hostel
On the next morning, Soeng’s birthday, we walked down to get a simple breakfast made of dough and egg before seeking out a motorcycle rental. Every time I’ve been in a country where people can rent some sort of motorized, two-wheeled craft, I’ve been in the presence of people too docile to take advantage of it. This was always a source of great frustration and is certainly support for my preference to travel in small groups or alone. With no one to hold us back I decided to pay a whole 15 dollars to get us the most powerful option, and then after selecting our helmets we were off. Not very far though, since I really had no idea how to ride the thing and also because my time in Japan had me quite unaccustomed to driving on the opposite side of the road. After a few more minutes of acclimatization and learning how not to kill us, we were off…for real.
Soeng clearly has her reservations, which is reasonable.
Things started out in one of the busier areas of the city, but as soon as we were able to escape the traffic and cruise through the countryside, the joys of independent travel on two wheels became incredibly apparent. Watching locals farming, driving, and simply carrying about their ordinary lives was fantastic. After about 45 minutes on the road and hitting a top speed of 101 kph, we arrived at the Taroko Gorge National Park. We met a couple girls from the hostel en route and decided to form a biker gang and explore the narrow, twisting roads together.
At the entrance of the park. Things only got better from here.
The stunning topographical features made this one of the more breathtaking places I’ve been, and the added ability to enjoy it at my own pace made it all the more incredible. The unencumbered sense freedom that came from steering down such inconsistent roads and dodging traffic, all the while taking in our surroundings was fantastic. The near vertical rock faces were obviously made all the better with wind coursing through my long, elegant hair.
Clip of us riding towards the entrance, the interior, and near some farm
The first place that we stopped was the Eternal Shrine. This was built in honor of those that lost their lives constructing this East-West highway that we were currently tracing. I did doubt the authenticity of the running water, but everything did look really cool sitting on the side the mountain as it was.
Though Soeng and I would have been content to continue further on into the gorge, one of the other girls was intent on climbing about 800m of steep steps to a small tower. We reluctantly agreed to go along but were rewarded with some nice views and sweat stains. I, for whatever reason, did no research into the climate of Taiwan before I came and was now stuck doing in jeans something I could have been quite comfortable doing in nothing. At the top was a tower to climb and bell to be rung and after catching our breath we returned to the bikes to hit the road.
Just teetering on the edge
Though there were plenty of photo worthy spots along the way, we wanted to get much further along to where a waterfall was marked on the map before it started getting dark . The next hour or so had us stopping occasionally, but we were mostly weaving through the hoards of slow moving tourist buses. Again, the freedom to move at one’s own pace, rather than being at the mercy of traffic and the congestion Chinese mainlanders was a blessing.
They must be having an incredible time
When we finally did arrive to the spot on the map, we realized that getting to the waterfall and back required an additional two hour hike. Neither of us were particularly interested in riding back home in either the dark or impending rain, so it was here that we parted ways with our South African companions. On the way we were able to stop to take in a few of the sights we missed.
Much of the road was carved though the rock
Having only had a late breakfast, we were feeling famished and decided to enjoy some dinner at a travel stop. We were planning on getting to the night market for food that night, but agreed that we needed some sustenance before the longish ride home. We went halfsies on a plate of noodles, a pineapple beer, and also tried a succulent Taiwanese sausage which Soeng claimed was reminiscent of her childhood.
Choices choices
On the way back we decided to get a little adventurous and explored any temples or side roads that caught our eye. The ability to go wherever we wanted makes me want to go back to more thoroughly explore some of the Southeast Asian countries I visited in the last couple years. We also managed to get lost once we reached Hualien and wound up navigating on intuition alone, failing miserably of course. We justified the time sink by doing some shopping for footwear and trinkets along the way.
Buddhist temples have a different look and feel in each country
Thanks to the unlikely help of some stranger, we were able to get back to the hostel and start thinking about dinner. Many cities in Asia have night markets that pop up after the business day is over and sell food and goods to both tourists and locals alike. The low cost and innumerable options make these sorts of places the best for trying a plethora of authentic cooking.
One of the markets
I stepped into one of the many convenience stores to pick us up a couple drinks, including the mango beer we had overlooked earlier, and then we collected any food options we could, palatable or not. In the end we sat down to enjoy the feast that included another variety of Taiwanese sausage, blood cakes, skewered meat & veggies, and noodles. We were both stuffed by the end and agreed that though not particularly glamorous, it made for a wonderful birthday dinner. We didn’t really shoot for anything else that night, since the next morning was supposed to include an earlier departure from the hostel.
We weren’t particularly expedient about getting up, so by the time we had eaten lunch there was only an hour or so before we needed to return the bike and catch our train back to Taipei. We also faffed about searching for a bank where I could acquire the seldom circulated 200 TWD note. We had hoped to cruise down Highway 11, which offers a great view of Taiwan’s eastern coastline and mountains that seem to rise right out of the ocean, but had to cut this from the itinerary. Fortunately, the train back to Taipei did offer some decent views of the shore.
Back in Taipei, we walked around trying to make sense of some useless directions but did eventually get to the bus terminal. There we were directed to a bus based on the airline we were flying. We didn’t have a clue which terminal we actually needed, but thank goodness he knew which where Peach Airlines were located at…or not! Searching around for our check-in kiosk, we realized that he had sent us to the wrong place…aaaannd cue panic.
With only 40 minutes before the flight, and the information desk telling that it was neigh hopeless, we rushed to the taxi stand and were brought over to the correct departure hall. From there we sprinted to the Peach desk where they informed us that it had already been closed for 10 minutes and that there was nothing I could do. I’m not sure if it was our shameless begging, the desperation in our faces, or me dropping to my knees, but as soon as I saw a chink in their armor I urged them to issue the ticket and if we made it great, if not, it was our own fault. They eventually gave in, and after a moment, the two of us were dashing off. We made it through security and immigration and even arrived at the gate all within 10 minutes, undoubtedly setting a new air travel world record. I was panting, wheezing, sweating, and on the verge of death by the time we got there, but we did at least make the flight home. Moral of the story is, never let an airline worker tell you what is and isn’t possible.
At our last meal, the waitress tried so many times to talk to Soeng….no comprendo senorita
Overall it was a great trip which though short left us both with a wonderful experience. There are not a lot of countries I would seriously consider making a return to any time soon, but the combination of having seen so little, and also how wonderful the people were make Taiwan an unlikely candidate. I don’t know why this is the case, but despite a degree of development equivalent to much of Asia, I was never once accosted by touts or made to feel like people were taking advantage of me. These things, paired with the reasonable prices, and also the ability to check my Facebook gives me the confidence to say this: Taiwan is a much better travel destination than China. Though attractions like the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors can’t be matched, Taiwan offers one of the most tourist friendly and worthwhile travel experiences on this side of the world.
I was down in Kochi with Seong the other day and while driving around we decided to stop and make Tosa Paper. The paper made in these parts is famous across Japan and has been produced for over 1000 years. A few minutes of research online has also informed me that the techniques and tools developed here are credited with laying the foundation of the paper industry. Though its fame hadn’t made it to my ears, it has been designated as a cultural asset by the government and so we both figured that it was worth trying once.
After paying a small sum of money, we rolled up our sleeves and scooped a wire mesh through pulpy water. The pulp that they use is made from the bark of a couple different plants, which after being being boiled, bleached and beaten eventually takes on the the consistency necessary to make paper. After we sifted the water from the mesh, we removed the divider and then transferred it face down onto a drying table.
Soeng sifting and myself draining
While it was all drying, we were free to add snips of flowers and leaves to our paper. This was an extra 200 yen, but well worth it for the chance to display my artistic skills. I had eight squares to work with, and I made each one different. I worked hard to produce something respectable, but surely nothing could be done to accomplish that. I was a little strapped for time and in the end had to just make a few hasty decisions. Once all of them were finished, we had to apply a thin layer of pulp to seal it all inside. This is where mine began to look even worse.
Here is how everything looked before adding that last layer
Once we were both finished they pressed and dried our pulp squares on another machine while we walked around the gift shop. After about fifteen or twenty minutes we returned to see how they all turned out. Most of mine looked questionable before the final pressing, but at the end there was only one, perhaps two that I would dare put my name on and give to someone. The whole process only took an hour and wasn’t such a big deal, but definitely a nice something to say I’ve done while here.
Around the time of graduation, the faculty picture shows up on my desk. These generally serve as a reminder to how different I am from the average Japanese employee, though I think I get a bit more ambitious each year. Nice as my cowrkers may be, they never wear emotion on their faces or do anything remotely interesting in these photos, so I just try to offset that. This year, in addition to sporting a stylish bow tie I also decided to wear only athletic pants for my bottoms, knowing full well that it wouldn’t be visible in the final piece. They scoffed just a bit at that, but I’d say things turned out fine.
Like a Boss
I’ve mentioned before the way that teachers here are moved around to different schools every couple of years. Because mine are rather small, they can often serve as a sort of training opportunity for people to come and get the feel for things before moving on to a more challenging role. Factoring in the switch that took place just recently, there is only a single member of the teaching staff left from when I first arrived here. Not that this grants me the power of ego, but it does leave me with a bit of freedom because anything I do will be pereceived as something I’ve been doing. I’m crossing my fingers for a young, interesting, and perhaps male teacher to come to the school this next year. At least someone with a bit of personality to help me fight miasma of those here currently.
There is a lady in my town who has long been inviting me to join in on one of the hikes that takes place a few times each year. Along the way she talks about some of the history of the area so I put off my participation in the event until I could make better sense of it. In the end, language skills didn’t really factor into my enjoyment and appreciation of our outing, but some of what she said was interesting. I thought that perhaps some of my city based friends might like to get in on the fun so I made a little event of it. In total, six of them joined with some locals and I.
On a beautiful Sunday morning, we all met at the designated spot before departing as a group. After a quick stop at a nearby convenience store, and a round of introductions we were off and on our way. With five countries represented, it was about as diverse as my small town gets.
Pictures of pictures rarely turn out. But alas…
We turned onto a nearby back road and followed it along for a while, chatting happily under the blue sky. I was talking with someone about a dog cafe that was just a ways up the road we were walking, and then by chance it was announced that we would be stopping there for coffee. When we got there, there was a very stinky though undeniably cute St. Bernard waiting happily for us. When I discovered this little shop almost two years ago, I never expected that I would actually find a reason to go.
After a group photo we were back on the road. We soon split off it and went up a steep path into the mountains. Our guide was huffing and puffing and even taking breaks after difficult sections. In between breaths she offered up a few tidbits about wild boars rooting around for worms and the practical uses of some of the plants. That path that we were walking on was actually paved long ago, but the lack of use over many, many years meant that the leaves and brush had reclaimed all but a few spots of tarmac. A more obvious sign of human involvement was an abandoned house which looked pretty cool, all nestled into the encroaching wood.
We paused there only briefly before carrying onward and upward. At points there would be a clearing in the trees and our guide would explain what we were looking at. Eventually we came to and climbed up some stone steps until we reached an old Shinto shrine. Despite being far from the reaches of ordinary human involvement, festivals are still held here every so often, and it did seem surprisingly well maintained. This was where we would be breaking for lunch.
We took a seat behind the main hall at a spot with an incredible view out over Takamatsu. It would have been better, but a dark wall of weather was approaching on the stiff wind and swallowing everything along the way. Hoping to get as much of our hike in before yielding to the weather we cleaned up and got ready to go. During this time, at least one of our party utilized the chic poop sacks provided at the beginning. Their purpose was explained to me as something for ”dirty garbage”.
Ask Ben about how to use it…
Back on the path, we were going up and down some rather formidable slopes that were littered with logs and brush. It wouldn’t quite be accurate to call it difficult, but it was definitely more of a hike than any of us were expecting. It didn’t take much longer for the weather to catch up and begin dumping sleet on us. With nothing but my t-shirt and jeans, I was well prepared for the elements. We were all soaked in no time.
Shortly before the torrent.
We took refuge in a small greenhouse shrine that housed a Jizo statue. Our leader was insultingly incessant about us not touching it. I wouldn’t have minded if it were just a casual warning, but I had already heard it from her so many times in the days leading up to the event. Twice she had traveled to my school with the sole purpose of telling me to neither touch the shrines or cut the course ropes, as if those were likely concerns. It came up again when I happened across her at a recent festival as well. If she does it again before the hike this weekend, I intend to politely remind her that even as foreigners we are all adults and such repeated instruction is a bit insulting.
We carried on through the cold rain and along the increasingly challenging path. The weather was worsening our footings and making the loose gravel even more difficult to navigate. There were a few slips and falls but in the end we all made it to another random house, this time occupied. After talking with the guy there for just little bit, we carried on just a bit further where we reached one final cottage that had hot tea and sweet bean soup waiting for us.
By this time my uncontrollable shivering was drawing the attention of the guide and some other ladies. And despite my stating that I was alright, they insisted that I wear whatever clothing that they could find. Some combination of towels and old lady vests draped over me simply getting out of the rain caused my tremors to abate.
The rain was really coming down so our leader decided that we would finish out the trip by car. It took some time for us to send the drivers down the mountain to the parking lot and then for them to return, so we just kept on enjoying our hot soup. When we at last arrived at our starting point, we hurried off to my house the change out of our freezing clothes and warm up. We did agree that despite the unfortunate turn of the weather, the outing was well worth the memory. There will be one more of these events and hopefully the sky will be blue and the foliage lush.
Following our weekend in Nagano, Soeng and I continued on to Yokohama to take part in the After JET Conference. The purpose of the three day conference is to help participants of the JET Programme transition into the next chapter of their lives. My participation in such an event does in fact mean that *GASP* my time in Japan will be coming to an end. My contract is good until August 1st though, so I’m still left with a decent chunk of time with which to enjoy myself and tie up any loose ends before I go and continue my adventures someplace else.
Pacifico Yokohama Conference Center
In the meantime though, I’m here in Yokohama with plans to meet a couple of friends for dinner and drinks. After getting settled at the hotel, the two of us went down to the station to meet up with Kei. We were fraternity brothers back at Hope but our living on opposite sides of Japan had kept our paths uncrossed for at least a year. Being able to meet with friends during days off work, was a great side effect of our participation in this conference.
We also joined up with mutual friend John and then walked over to a nearby American BBQ restaurant and microbrew. While the size of the city was certainly reflected in the menu prices, the luxury of a good craft beer and proper food dismissed those issues. The place was packed when we arrived but they were able to offer us the top floor, which was intended for larger events. They had a couple of couches up there which made kicking back and relaxing pretty nice. Despite my self-confessed bogarting of the conversation, it was nice to catch up.
Awkward/Awful Picture
The next morning the two of us walked to Mister Doughnut and then down a trendy pedestrian street where we grabbed a rather bad lunch before heading over to the conference. We arrived, registered, met with the others from Kagawa and then took a seat towards the back of the room. A delightfully British guy took the podium to deliver an eloquently orated keynote address. The other speakers talked about re-entry preparation & reverse culture shock, resumes & interview techniques, and there was also a panel of professionals that talked about how to go about finding that next job. A lot of the information was very good and will hopefully be something that I can incorporate into my search.
Following the first day of seminars, we all decided to go to Chinatown for dinner. We ended up at some generic buffet but were sure to make the most of it. The food was basically the same as a Chinese buffet in America, but since I actually prefer that to authentic Chinese food I was very pleased. We ordered and ordered and eventually had our fill, but also a lot of entertaining conversation along the way. Once Soeng arrived the troupe was complete and things carried on a bit longer. From there they kept the good times rolling by hitting karaoke, while Kei and I returned to his domicile for the night.
Not a good shot by any means.
I had never met his parents before, but because of our travel and school filled pasts. they knew plenty about me. We talked about our time at Hope, our trips together, and whatever else before they called it a night. Eventually I took a bath and the two of us retired to the den to eat mikans and watch Japanese TV. We had arrived to his house quite late so there wasn’t a whole lot of time before bed, but it was nice to catch up. The next morning we got ready, I for day two of my conference and he for his work trip to Kenya. After a quick breakfast and some final words of appreciation, we were whisked away to the station to begin the day.
Day two offered a number of presentations on myriad topics amd people were free to check out whichever piqued their interests. I opted for Finding your Path, Careers with Japanese Firms, NGO/NPOs, Finance, and Cross-Cultural Consulting. I found about half of them to be quite informative and they even gave me some confidence moving forward. That said, it also became clear that getting to that next step of my professional life was going to take a bit of effort. The song sung throughout the conference by almost every speaker was the importance of networking, and also the potential of Linkedin. I’ve since tidied up my profile and reached out to some people, but it feels like it’ll take a whole lot more than just that to get my foot in the door. I did also learn a few things about some new and potential careers paths.
The only plan that evening was for Soeng and I to join a number of other people at some Hawaiian restaurant. There were about 40 people in total, mostly friends of NAJET members, and especially those of our treasurer Ami who planned it all. There were a lot of really genuine people present, but because we were all situated around a long table we had a hard time fraternizing with more than those in our immediate vicinity. Watching a guy order tons of mango juice and another conquer a Man v. Food worthy burger were highlights of the evening.
I’ll be damned if he didn’t finish it right there in front of me.
Overall just meeting some fresh faces was nice. There wasn’t so much inclination to make conversation at the conference itself because most of us have gotten over collecting empty friendships by that point. We all settled up an impressive 1500 dollar tab and returned home.
For that last day there was talk from various embassies and foreign dignitaries about joining the state department as a foreign service officer. This was also really interesting, and certainly a path that I may take a hard look at. I do worry that some of my travels might stand to hinder my background check and security clearance. Things wrapped up around noon and before long I had met up with the rest of the Kagawa folks to plot how we would spend the remainder of our day.
Because we were returning home by overnight bus, we had about 10 hours to kill before the departure. We first walked over to the Red Brick Warehouse just to see it but along the way we came across the Yokohama Port Customs Museum. We couldn’t deprive ourselves of that treasure trove of knowledge and excitement. The exhibit mostly showcased their efforts to curb the imports of drugs and illegal goods. We were soon back on our way to our intended destination. The structure looked exactly as its name would suggest, but the inside of it has been converted into a number shops and restaurants. It was satisfying enough to say we saw the landmark, but our excitement only went that far.
We took the party over to what we assumed to be the shining star of Yokohama, the Cup Noodle Museum. We weren’t really sure what to expect at all from it, but boy did this place deliver. We arrived to a cavernous room filled with nothing but a lone novelty sized cup of noodles.
After some obligatory pictures, we bought our tickets and proceeded on into the exhibit. The first hall had everything you would expect from a museum such as this: history of Cup Noodles from conception to modern day, an exhibit that included every variety produced to date, and a larger than life statue of the man behind it all. It was interesting to walk around everything, though we couldn’t really be bothered to read it all. There was another exhibit that seemed to be more of a novelty and was used to demonstrate the effects of angles and perspective. After we had had our fun, we continued on upstairs to create our very own cup of noodles.
The Man. The Myth. The Legend. Momofuku Ando: Creator God of Cup Noodles
We got up there, bought our Cup Noodle blank from a vending machine and then got going on decorating the cup. For us, this sort of thing was great but we were all legitimately amazed at the number of Japanese people our age also engrossed in this activity. We got right to it and after about 20 minutes had them all looking how we wanted them. From there, they added the noodles and four of whichever flavors we wanted. Beyond the standard offerings were a number of museum exclusives such as heart shapes. When everything was completed, they shrink wrapped it and returned it to us. Lastly, we placed them inside an inflatable plastic pillow and pumped it up to ensconce our treasure for safe keeping. The whole experience was a bit bizarre but far more than we could have hoped for.
Yes, I realize that this is upside down…
By now it was getting a little bit late, so we made it over to the station to eat at the nearby Shakeys Pizza. These are only found in Japan’s larger cities, so I try to take advantage of the cheap pizza buffet every chance I get. We had plenty of time, so we spent about 3 hours here just eating and talking. I managed to glut 24 pieces, easily surpassing my goal of 20, but that was largely on account of the ample time we spent there. One of the highlights of mealtime entertainment was watching a lady sitting next to us devour absolutely everything. The petite woman was alone and went though about 20 pieces of pizza, which she then followed with at least 3 heaping plates of pasta. She was still eating when we left, but her two trips to the bathroom all but confirmed our suspicions. We were in awe.
Nothing like a little squid ink pizza
With the time of our departure drawing near, we waddled on down to the bus terminal. We decided to stock up on snacks and such for the ride home and rewarded John for guarding our bags with a Soy Joy and can of Beer Taste. He was elated at our generosity. The ride home was fine and after arriving in the early morning, it was life as usual. The pain of going directly to work after 10 hours on a bus was mitigated by us starting the week on a Thursday.
The long weekend as a whole was fantastic. In addition to crossing some longstanding Nagano items off my bucket list, and also visiting with friends in Yokohama, this conference really served as the starting point for my transition out of Japan. By embracing the closing of this chapter, I can focus on leaving with no regrets and heading into the next stage of life, wherever that may be. Hopefully come August I can pare it all down down and paint a clearer picture of what everything will actually look like.
