So, Remember Golden Week?



A few months back, J and I (mostly him) drove to the Ise/Wakayama area and did some stuff. We walked along portions of the Kumano Kodo, saw the Great Shrine at Ise, as well as the wedded rocks, climbed more stairs than I care to count, saw beautiful scenery the whole time, played in the river, and well... just look below.

Drippy copper frog. Frogs are particularly important at the Ise Jinja for some reason...

Josh loves trees, especially holy ones.

We couldn't take photos of the actual shrine, so this is the outer area. It's still gorgeous.

Slide!

Our "shortcut".

Right before our quick hike.

View from the mountain top.

Proof we had a mini-hike.

Dragonfly.

Tree fungus?

Broccoli trees!

One view down the river.

The other direction.

We.

Carp streamers down the beach.

He.

She.

Buoys and streamers.

That's the day, more later!

Back and melting.... (this one's for you, Anne)


Summer has descended, and the rainy season is coming to an end. Temp's in the 30s and thunderstorms pull he humidity out of the clouds and cool things off for about 10 mins a pop. Things have been running their usual pace (crazy) here. This past weekend imparticular was a blur and memory was a bit fuzzy in the wee hours on Saturday into Sunday morning. Saucypants was in town for the night, so we went to Jonna's art show under Takaoka eki, which was awesome! Check out her online gallery Then went to hang out with Ayumi an Yacchin (oh yeah, and eat dinner).

On Saturday, we had the Kid's Sports Day meeting in Toyama, then J and I drove up to Toga to see everyone off for the Leaver's Weekend we throw every year.




Honestly, after all the talking and galavanting, I just needed a sando. The two Js and I went to our tent and we made delicious cheese sandwiches, after we were finished slapping each other with the slices of cheese.


J and I woke up around 8am, since I wussed out early on the night before. I managed to pull a muscle in my neck, and couldn't move it around to the left until today. We went down to the river, next to where we set up camp, for an hour or more. J threw rocks in the water next to me, splashing me continuously, and channeling his inner 5 year old. Then we ate watermelon and played "green or pink". It turns out, the green side of the melon is more buoyant, so all money on green.

Many of us were devoured by evil mountain vampire bugs, despite having a thick layer of DEET on our legs. I had to buy a itch remedy called mu-hi to stop from scratching through my ankle. To quote my amazing supervisor, "Mountain bug are very strong!"

Aside from all that. The Charity Show recently ended, and here are a few pictures of my performance as the most over-utilized pokemon of all...


The show was Snow White and the Seven (err... 6) Otaku. My #1 highlight has to be the most stirring bear performance of the century. It was good fun, and I have the added benefit of working one day a week with children who will benefit from one of the charities we donated to. My kindergarten enrolled 4-5 kids from the local orphanage and provided tuition for them! A few of them are developmentally delayed, and one has Down syndrome, they are incredible kids, and it's giving me a unique insight to the Japanese orphanage system.

And I am rambling on. J and I leave for Yakushima in (let me check my nerdy counter...) 15 days 1 hour and someodd minutes! Can't wait to be alone in the mountains with my boy for a while. It seems insane that we live together now, yet still get to see one another so little. No time for complaining, though. It's time to go camping soon!!! Wooo (see below picture to understand the fullness of my joy!)

Mogura Monday



Perhaps the happiest news of the past week can be broken down into two chunks. First, my sister and brother-in-law have purchased their tickets, and will be coming to Japan for the first time in August! Hurrah! Now is just a matter of organizing where they want to go over their 2 week visit. My thoughts are Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Toyama, Sado, Tokyo. A lot of city, a little inaka, a little island, and sending them off with a bang.

The other happy news is also concerning inaka and airline tickets. The Yakushima trip has finally been booked! Next month, we will be flying to Kagoshima and ferrying across to climb Miyanouradake. Just need to put our heads together and come up with a plan of action. I look forward to visiting these fine fellows.



On my list of things to pack... salt to kill the leeches I will most likely encounter. Yum.

Other fun random fact I learned this week. Mogura (Japanese moles) have started a northward assault on Nihon farms, as the weather gets warmer each year. Grrr... global warming. My sensei's friend has recently had a plague of mogura descend upon her hatake. But they're so cute and tiny!

It's back...

Being faced with a few days of office confinement, and having spent the entire day Thursday studying my hypothetical nards off, I am posting a blog. Oh my, desperation? No, not only that. You see, some of my dear friends from all over the damn world are quite difficult to keep in contact with on a regular basis. So, I am making an effort to update more (we'll see how long this lasts) and perhaps provide a clue as to what is happening on the shores of Nippon.

Life isn't necessarily glamorous, but it's fun as hell. My personal contemplations of late are revolving around ways to cut my nutty schedule down. The following runs through my head repeatedly: "I am really busy right now, but if I just make it through till .... (next month, next week, etc.) then I will have more time to relax, see my friends, spend with Josh..."

Perhaps I need to get rid of one of my eikaiwas? I love both of them for different reasons, but as 2kyuu comes creeping up ready to devour me in December (I know it's a LONG time away, but it's a scary test!), I desperately want more time to devote to studying. This inevitably leads to me pondering if I would actually use that time I would have opened up in my schedule to study. Honest evaluation of my slacker psyche mostly sounds like giggling. I have been doing well on my weekly quizzes, but I'm afraid it's solely due to my short-term memorization prowess. The words, you see... they leak out of my brain at night. I think that's what causes the pillows to have those creepy yellow stains on them when you take the pillowcases off to wash. Eeew... dirty kanji.

In happy domestic news, I have been on a cooking experimentation spree. Thus far, J appears to be happy with the majority of the concoctions. Either that, or he is so hungry by the time I finally finish cooking (sorry!) that he'd eat dog poo with relish. This week's crowning glory was a cooperative effort of J's secret red sauce, and my attempts at Italian cooking... calzones! Mmmm... too bad my oven is slow as molasses. Oh man, does that make me southern? I blame you for making that phrase a part of my vernacular, Dad!

Sweet lord... is it time to go home??? FREEDOM, I can taste it!

Join us tomorrow for the WHY DO I HAVE TO WORK ON SATURDAY edition.

A blur



No, sadly, not the "wooo hoooo!" Blur that was probably called to mind. But nonetheless, I have provided dancing milk for you. The past week and 1/2 has flown by. J is here now, and finally getting settled in with work etc. My schedule has calmed down and straightend out a bit as well. My two eikaiwa are both on for this week, and my lessons are in place also. I just need to buckle down and study the two-weeks worth of material I promised my sensei I would have under control for Thursday's lesson.

My new camera arrived last week as well, yet I have had no time to fiddle with it. The ume and sakura are starting to bloom in Kanazawa already. Hanami will soon be upon us, with the grad return of the Baron, and a multitude of boozed up games in Kojo Koen. Just hope I have shook this damn cold before then. Also I require 2 bicycles of decent build, so that we can enjoy the warmth and inevitable sunlight that it will bring. Oh, and perhaps car tires to lock them to, to prevent theft...

Onward to the depths of kanji memorization hell I go. Pray for my soul...

um·brel·la /ʌmˈbrɛlə/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[uhm-brel-uh] –noun

I have been wanting to start this documentation of collection project for a while. Seemed like after/during a big windy messy day was a good a time as any. On the way to Kanazawa, I began collecting evidence. Let's learn of our oft neglected and unappreciated friend.

1. a light, small, portable, usually circular cover for protection from rain or sun, consisting of a fabric held on a collapsible frame of thin ribs radiating from the top of a carrying stick or handle.

2. one of the top two most stolen or "borrowed" items in Japan, the other being bicycles.

3. as cheap as 100yen a pop

4. the most common variety is a conbini purchased clear vinyl model.

5. every umbrella I have ever bought or was given to me over the past 3 years has been stolen, with the exception of a tiny magenta one I don't know the origin of

6. in a more esoteric vein, umbrellas remind me of the status of older people in many societies. once their usefulness has expended, they are unceremoniously discarded and ignored

pictures to come...

Of Books

I haven't had a whole lot of time to read in the past few months, but I recently managed to finish a few books that have been neglected on my shelf.

First was started a LONG time ago. It's a book that nearly all JETs have heard of, or have read a passage from at the very least. Hokkaido Highway Blues by Will Ferguson, took me forever to finish. It's not a difficult read at all. It's easy to swallow, suited well to chunk reading (some would say "toilet reading") as he hops from city to city, driver to driver. I suppose the book is a bit dated now, since it was published 10 years ago. Things have changed in both the JET programme and Japan. It was entertaining, but often struck me as a tinge racist. Nothing flagrant, but you could sense a deeper vibe of the author being disenchanted with Japan as a whole, that just increased as you went on. Some of his interactions were rather embarassing, and really frustrated me, as a foreigner living in Japan. It's the same reaction I have when I see a foreigner behaving in a particularly obnoxious manner. In North America, or Europe there is more of a blend of races to meld into and the average caucasian isn't particularly noticeable. In Japan, however, the group is judged based on the actions of the few. It's an issue of culture and perspective, but I like to see travelers take consideration of how their actions effect their nationality (or assumed nationality, since the author routinely passed himself off as American) as a whole.

All in all, meh... Some of the authors descriptions of Japan were poetic, and it was interesting to hear about the Japan of recent past. In the end, I really didn't gain anything from the book. I was not as enthralled as I had anticipated being. Zannen.

In more enjoyable book news, I also finished The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. I have heard whinging about de Botton's snobbish attitude coming across in his books, looking down on the intellectually inferior and dumbing down the teachings of famous philosophers into pithy platitudes (the alliteration was completely unintentional). I didn't feel any of that in this book, though. Perhaps I am just not intelligent enough to have been offended by his philosophic handholding. I will be the first to admit I need it! There is no shame in reading a book with your dictionary at hand. I want to understand, I am trying to understand, and if someone out there is willing to lend assistance, then who am I to complain?

Some of the ideas mentioned about traveling and appreciating detail through drawing were really interesting, and helped nudge me a bit into focus again. I have been looking for creative outlets lately. My schedule is fairly brutal, but I need some way to get the crazy out of my head and on paper or at least in some form of media.

In irrelevant news. We have a load of homestay students coming this afternoon, and it seems I have lost a pivotal battle. Tomorrow, we are supposed to hold a cooking class with them, and introducing a Japanese recipe. So what are we making? Curry rice. Sigh... seems the lengthy discussion I had with a co-worker about the origin of curry and the international adoration of sushi did nothing.

Sometimes I really wonder...

Irrational Fears

Living in Japan has become quite comfortable. I can carry on basic conversations, run errands, have a laugh with my student who works at the local supermarket, order my coffee like a pro, fill up my tank with their wacky machines or at full service (makes you feel like a superstar for yennies more!), buy tickets on all forms of transportation, and find my way when/if I get hopelessly lost in the countryside. With all of these previous worries under my belt, one would think I was confident.

Well, today I will share with you some fears that I still have about living in Japan.

Fear 1. The dry cleaners. J thinks this one is quite funny, and I agree it is silly. It stems from my lack of experience in dry cleaning ever, no matter what country I was living in. I realize all I have to do is walk there, drop my suits/futons/etc. on the counter, give them my address and name, then skeedaddle out of there. But, for some inexplicable reason, I haven't done it. Maybe it's not fear, I think it's just laziness.

Fear 2. Japanese vegetables. Often, I feel a bit brave and purchase some mystery veg at the supermarket. I bring it home, ponder over it's origins, and attempt to cook it in a way I think would suit it. Sometimes I succeed, but more often than not, I fail miserably. I eat dinner at my sensei's home every Wednesday, and routinely quiz his wife on her recipes, making mental notes of which veg to use where, and what spices and oils they are intended to marinate in. My experiments have become slightly more successful. Huzzah!


note: this photo is of another ken's gomi instructions

Fear 3. Crazy gomi day. Japan has an elaborate garbage/recycling system. It is divided by neighborhood, where the obaasan mafia get together and decide what insane rules will be instituted so as to drive the other residents mad. Also, it gives them something to do a few times a month, where they can yell at all their neighbors and feel self-righteous. Ahh... to be old and insane. My neighborhood uses the 3 bag system. Stay with me here.

Blue bags are used for anything burnable. This sounds simple, right? Well and good until you consider that at a high enough temperature EVERYTHING is burnable. To simplify, food waste, plant waste (as long as it is in small quantities), discarded clothing or cloth (as long as it is cut into small pieces and distributed throughout the rest of the trash), paper, plastics that are too dirty to clean off (they get pissy about this one, though), and things that don't make sense to throw into the other bags (but you have to wrap them in thick layers of paper, so that the gomi ladies don't find out that you sinned). Also, you must purchase the blue bags from a local store, and they must be the official blue gomi bags, or they won't accept them. I made the mistake of buying opaque blue bags by accident once. That was an ugly incident. I still have nightmares.

Now pink bags. This one is still perplexing to me. I was babbled at by a little old man this morning, as he rifled through my bag and told me it was wrong wrong wrong. I just smiled brightly and said "I have no clue what you are saying!" In Japanese of course. What I gathered from watching was styrofoam is not legit pink bag content afterall. It gets put in a clear bag (where does one acquire such a thing?) and on a different pile. So, in the future, I will have to separate all the styrofoam and either bring it to the local foreign food store, or cross my fingers and hope that same little old man doesn't break them for disobeying him. Soft (grocery bag) plastic seems to go in it's own bag, and hard plastics, like a bento package, in another.

On to yellow bags. I don't have to buy these or the pink, they are delivered several times throughout the year, and I have actually accumulated enough to build an inflatable couch. I should get on that project soon... Yellow bags can contain glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans, and tin cans. Wow, you think, this one sounds easy! No no no. Each different type of material requires its own bag. Glass bottles and jars in one, but not the lids or caps. Also, large glass bottles, like sake bottles get placed in a row alongside the other trash. I think that's just an aesthetic preference on the part of the gomi collectors. Or, they are performing a social experiment and seeing how much alcohol our neighborhood consumes bi-weekly. If the glass is broken, you must wrap it in paper and place it in the burnable garbage, kinda like a bomb (I am not being sarcastic here, that one is 100% according to the written regulations). The tin cans must be rinsed, labels removed (ha ha, nope), and put into their own bag. The aluminum cans share a similar fate. At least the last two are simple. Instead of dealing with that nonsense, I took all the aluminum cans out and will deposit them in the recycle container at the conbini late at night instead. Mwaa ha ha. Oh no! I nearly forgot PET bottles! This is the name for your average plastic beverage container. There are two sizes of PET bottles that must be separated. The really big ones, that you would take camping, or that (if you are an old or superstitious Nihonjin) you fill up at "holy" or particularly "oishii" water sites around the ken. Mine were from Kamiichi's infamous delicious AND holy water. Beat that! The big bottles get their own bag. Then the normal to small sizes are put in a separate one as well. I didn't even mention the hard plastics like household cleaner bottles, dishsoap bottles, etc. Those likely get their own bag, too.

If you are keeping count, I would have had to have 8-9 different bags in 3 colors, and still am not sure if I am correct. In addition to all that...

Cardboard. It must be cut up to a B3 approximate size (not specific, but small enough to carry comfortably, think briefcase size), and bound together in a stack with twine. All lables and tape must be removed.

Oversized gomi. Today this included my old broken vaccuum. Blessedly, this seems to be the simplest section because it has the least amount of stuff for the gomi-folk to sort through.

All of this information came through 3 years of trying to decipher the illustrated instructions, screams of dismay from gomi-folk, and whispers in the garbage scented wind. This morning, I managed to learn a lot, as I brought my gomi 5 minutes late to the drop-off site, and thusly had 6 gomi men (we are lucky that we have men instead of crazy ladies!) rooting through my trash. If I had been earlier, others would have stolen away their attention and they would have been none the wiser to my evil sorting ways. Alas, I was alone with a LOT of gomi to unload. The men were really sweet, and knew exactly where I lived. Apparently, I am now the only foreigner in my neighborhood, so they were really kind and tried to help me understand the proper gomi techniques that have been passed down through the generations.

I must do them proud. Next time, I am going to sort like they've never seen a gaijin sort before! I will amaze them with my separation. Wow them with my twine bundling! They shall fall at my feet praising my prowess. Or maybe the ojisan just won't babble at me angrily anymore.

Abandoning Doraemon



Notably, this week, we lost a friend. J sent a package a few weeks ago from Bangkok to Japan. He and his kuroneko-ed (yeah, I verbed the romajified noun) a rucksak to my address from Fukuoka a few days later. I received the rucksack about 2 days later, and we anticipated the usual tardiness of Thai post to take it's toll on the package.

On Tuesday, I found a slip from the post office in my door, saying that I needed to come pick up something. I assumed this was the package. Nope. I was instead handed a letter from customs in Yokohama. Why they didn't just put the damn thing in my mailbox is beyond me. The letter stated that hey were holding the package due to import restriction violations. ? The package contained some suits J had made in Thailand, and possibly a few knicknacks from his students. Upon further reading (with my dictionary in hand) I came across an odd mix of katakana and hiragana. ドラえもん Doraemon? Yup. Turns out, customs opened the package and found a knockoff copy of a stuffed Doraemon, which had been a gift from one of J's students. I was sent an official document asking if I would... hold on, they say it better than I ever could

I hereby swear that I have complete and full authority and legal capacity to dispose of the article(s) given bellow, and also declare that based on my authority I voluntarily abandon the said article(s).

I left in the misspelling of "below" as well. Good to know there are still jobs available for translation over at the customs department.

So, after killing trees to send me this letter (and a lovely color pamphlet on illegal imports), I have to sign, hanko, fill-in, and mail off the Declaration for Abandonment of Articles for a stuffed animal before they will send the rest of the package to me. They had already (get this) sent Doraemon to the official Doraemon manufacturers, to have it evaluated for authenticity. Yes. That is where the government is spending the nation's money. They should have received my response by now, and hopefully sent the package on its way to me. I hope I hanko-ed in all the right places, or who knows, they may send the form back to me!

A break, for my poor finger


I suppose that sounds a bit filthy, maybe not... maybe that is just me. I am in the weekly process of making between 50-90 kanji flashcards. After writing so much, my finger KILLS. My new book is prep for 2kyuu (Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 2), and that is about 1000 kanji if I remember correctly. Remembering the little bastards is one thing, but learning all the vocab that comes along with is the real killer. Wooo 78 this week, all including じ　ず　そ　た　good times. I admit, I am bit concerned about retaining a lot of the vocab, but if I somehow manage to review continuously, there is a chance. It has been done before. Plus, I will have J here to beat me with the old hockey stick if I slack off.



My kiddies had graduation this week. It was tearful at times, but I was more proud than sad. I have some photos to post as soon as I get around to uploading them. I really need to get a new camera, sigh. Mine is being held together with packing tape. No lie.

The Toyama JETs Team Teaching Handbook of doom is finally finished. I went in on Monday to get the damn thing completed, and after pasting 165 tiny numbers onto individual pages (hurrah for numbering the old-fashioned way!) finally filed it in the finished file. Just for clarification, the finished file is a recycled cardboard box. Stay classy GEC.

Rounding out the week was downloading some fantastic music I have been meaning to for a while. I have Caribou's The Milk of Human Kindness on repeat, currently. I could listen to "Pelican Narrows" for 3 days straight and never tire of it.

Last, but not least, I have a few hidden Saipan photos that J posted on Facebook, and I have the privilege of putting up here! (the opening photo, and the one below) I love seeing old photos that I forgot were taken. They always make me happy.

Here it comes again

Bubbling up inside, the ever present wanderlust. I am getting the urge to get the hell out of dodge again. I just started contemplating when I will next be able to leave Japan, and it's looking tough. I may head home to the states at the end of this year for a visit, but I am not sure if I will have time to go anywhere between now and then.

Spending the past hour looking at train and river transport in China, Vietnam, and Laos is probably just exacerbating the problem. I don't think J will be in a position to travel during Golden Week, which is really expensive anyways. And the education centre has made it extremely difficult for me to skip the country this summer as per usual, by moving up the new ALT orientation an entire month. So... I could probably pull off some inner-Japan travel. I still have a burning desire to get to Yakushima. Looks like it might happen finally. There might be a few 3 day weekends to hop around and get South Korea under my belt, but who knows.

I realize that I am not thinking like an adult, but I want to go EVERYWHERE. I feel like, living in Asia, I am required to visit as many countries as possible, and will regret it if I do not. The saving for grad school, or just my future in general, is starting to creep up as a priority, however. Can someone please pay me to travel? Then all this will be settled.

Another random note. I studied so much yesterday, I managed to hurt my finger. Finally, after years of writing incorrectly, I have had the negative physical reaction all my elementary teachers warned me about. You are right. Fine. Are you happy now? How did this not happen in college when I was drawing for hours on end?

Gratuitous monkey and some other creatures



I had to rifle through my 1000s of photos to hunt down some endearing shots of my students to accompany an article I wrote last month for the prefectural education magazine (it's probably more like a newsletter, so it's not likely to be as cool as it sounds). During my search I came across these photos from my visit to Thailand back in August. Please enjoy.

I bring you the monkey with the softest hands ever. He did pull my hair a bit, though.



These animals were all living on a crocodile farm outside of Bangkok. It was... interesting to say the least.






Scary Panda says "Sweet Dreams!"

it's all about positive thinking , or is it?

I have been in a bit of a poo mood the past few days. I blame my pulled muscle, or perhaps hormones. So, instead of being an obnoxious complainer, I am going to jot down some happy things. (it's your call if you find it obnoxious as well)

Laurac and I got to play in the snow in Kojo on Sunday. It was quiet, peaceful, empty, and beautiful! Pictures were finally taken of the incredible amount of snow we had.

They had the purple stuff in the onigiri today. Purple is the best flavor.

The bread recipe I have been tweaking came out better than expected.

I managed to cook Japanese vegetables that have confused me for a long time. And they taste good. No, really!

The countdown is practically at one month till J is back in Japan! (I figured I had to give you an exclamation point, so you didn't feel inferior to pringles)

Japanese class went really well tonight. Finally managing to infuse my speech with new vocab.

We talked about poopies and other words for shit in my eikaiwa tonight. ha ha

Been reconnecting with a lot of old friends as of late.

Might be able to go boarding this weekend afterall...

That's it for now. There are other happy things, but I don't wanna go jinx myself into sadness or anything. Time to learn more Nihongo!

News, diet, and fishy guilt



On a near daily basis, I have access to the internet and use it as a between class mental recess. I like to check various news sites both international and local, to get a broader idea of what is happening in the world. When I am finished reading reputable sources, I go slumming.

Some things I have noticed lately:

CNN's IQ has dropped appallingly in the past few years. I am sure it has been a gradual decline, but having the time to check regularly has given me a front row seat to the perversion of news.

American media in general is completely obsessed with weight loss. I suppose all the other countries finally poked us in our flab enough times that we became ashamed. They try to sound "hip" and make dealing with obesity sound more like a trip to the circus rather than an actual SERIOUS matter. I offer you this article title I stumbled across this morning "How to Eat Like a Hot Chick". What? The article seems to realize it sounds like a twat when the first paragraph tries to dig it's way out of the hole it's firmly planted in. (just saw that this is taken from a book of the same title. It makes me sad for American women.)

We know that you're already hot and that you have the potential to be and feel even hotter.

It sounds more like "oh, shit... we called you ugly didn't we? Um... you are sexy? Yeah, and you don't need this article really, but you could be sexier maybe?"

Let's delve further. Upon reading anything along these lines, which I mostly do to amuse myself, wondering if something of value is hidden between the lines, I am instead met with repetitive Sex in the City references, and reminders that are completely unnecessary if one would just look at an ingredient or nutrition label. This particular article also manages to insult vegans, and all they really accomplish is saying condiments will make you a fatty.

My bastion of sanity for news comes from the BBC.



Why all this talk of food? What does ocean conservation have to do with this? Well, let me provide some cohesion. I haven't eaten meat for nearly 12 years now, and feel guilty calling myself a vegetarian. This is because I have eaten fish for the past 3 years. Before that, it was 8 years clear. It's still not a regular food for me, perhaps 3 times a week or so. Living in Japan as a strict vegetarian is possible, but you become a bit of a social pariah. I couldn't, for instance, go to a Japanese friend's home for dinner, without causing them dismay over what they could possibly serve me. I admit I have grown to enjoy a few types of fish. Shrimp are delicious, and I have a serious weakness for salmon onion mayo sushi.



My only problem is the guilt. I have been contemplating for a long time, what I will do when I eventually leave Japan. Will I stop eating fish again? Will I go back to my real vegetarian lifestyle? I always say that you should only be veg if you truly don't like eating meat/fish. I don't hold anyone's diet against them. Fish isn't that important to me, I could easily go without again. Plus, the above photo is a view of man's impact on the world's oceans. I live in a country that is renowned for it's fishy needs and whaling prowess. The demand for maguro (tuna) alone is astounding and since the stock in Japan has been pludered, we import from Mediterranean waters. National Geographic explains it far better than I could.

I realize that I am just one person, but really don't feel very good about myself if I order that plate of maguro.

It also makes me want to slap the hell out of Gal Sone. (they start wolfing down the Otoro, or fatty tuna in the middle of this clip.)

Instant Happiness!



I have about a million things to be happy about right now, but this just caused an eruption of glee. I hope you enjoy. I found it via this amazing and beautiful online comic Dresden Codak. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

The band is called Rock Plaza Central, and if you are a fan of Neutral Milk Hotel or Grandaddy, you will surely appreciate!

The video is from a kid's show called Nanalan, which looks to be fantastic. One of my dreams is to be able to one day work for Jim Henson's workshop. I actually had an application sitting on my desk when my JET acceptance call came through. Hell, a show like this would be awesome to work for! Maybe one day...

Howl's Malay Moving Castle
(eat your heart out, Baron!)



This is the less than beautiful, yet awesome dive platform that we stayed at for 4 days off the coast of Borneo in Sipadan.

I wanted somewhere with lush reefs, and variety of sea life, but without costing a million dollars. Sipadan has been on my list for a while now, and tickets from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur weren't going to cost me an appendage, so things were looking up. Seaventures used to be an old ocean drill unit. Looks quite a bit like an oil rig. The humor of it is, it's a horrible eyesore on the skyline. If you are staying at the fancypants resort connected to the island, you have this giant rusty multi-colored mess marring the view. But, if you are on the platform, all you can see are beautiful islands, open ocean, and the sweet architecture of the nearby resort. ha ha! It really does remind me of Howl's Moving Castle. What do you think?




Bunny and I left Joshie to fend for himself in Aonang for the day, and headed to the airport on the morning of the 21st. We flew out to Kuala Lumpur and hopped a flight from there to Tawau. I will provide a map for clarification.



Tawau is an intriguing little town. I didn't quite know what to anticipate, because it is considered a "business centre" in Malaysia, but is also in the middle of nowhere Borneo. Many conferences go on there, for some reason. The city was about 20 minutes away from the airport, and kinda reminded me of the seedy outskirts of Miami. Not the kind of place you would want to take a late night stroll alone in. It is famous for it's cocoa, strangely enough, and on the way back through, Bunny and I hit up the factory for a personal tour! More on that momentarily.

The next morning, we headed back to the airport to catch our minivan to Sipadan (bonus: that rhymed). The drive was somewhere around 2 hours long, and we amused ourselves by trying to figure out what all the palm planations were about (palm oil!) and looking for monkeys. We arrived at the coast with a view of this...


(borrowed this picture from picasaweb)

Looks pretty, ne? I only wish you could see the massive amount of garbage floating in the water. It was revolting and quite sad. The trash disappated as we went out in the boat towards the platform, but it's impossible to forget. So, the boat. We were taken out the 30min boatride to the platform by our captain and his two sons. They were gorgeous kids. The youngest had grabbed my rucksack and slung it on his back to help us to the boat. I am never again allowed to bitch about it being heavy. He was about 9 years old and had no problem. We headed into open water with the horrid pollution disappearing behind us. I promised myself, that if I ever have the means, I will attempt to fund a pollution cleanup near Sipadan.

The platform came into site, and I was downright giddy. We hopped onto the lift and were greeted at the top with mango juice and our keys. Mango juice is always exciting, but I couldn't wait to get upstairs to see our digs. It was quaint, comfortable enough, air conditioning, and a mostly functioning toilet (that I managed to break the handle off of, since I am a beast). My only qualm was our "roommates". Seems the platform has fought a war, a nuclear holocaust, if you will... against a plague of roaches. The humans lost. I asked Evie (the happiest divemaster you will ever meet) about it, and she said they bombed multiple times, but the bastards refused to fully die. It took me a day of squeamishness and sleeping with the bathroom light on, to get used to the idea, but the next few days were fine. Like Evie said, "you dive all day and all you do on the platform is sleep and eat, so you don't even notice so much." Also, she hooked us up with a courtesy roachspray!

We stayed the 22nd-26th, and got about 8 dives in. Nothing the first day, because we didn't arrive in time to catch the afternoon boat, nor did we have our equipment sorted out. So, our first morning, we woke up early and headed out to Sipadan for 2 dives. The first one was as Barracuda Point. Hell of a way to start us off. The barracuda formed a massive school and were practically a wall of shining teeth. It was amazing to see. We also came across a fair number of white tip reef sharks, and hawksbill turtles lazing about. Visibility was magnificent, and it was easily one of the best dives of the trip.


(another borrowed image, sorry I didn't have a camera for these dives!)

The 2nd dive was Turtle Tomb. Disturbing name, I know. It's a cave system, that many a turtle has headed into to rest, and then when it was time to surface for air, they had managed to get too deep into the cave, attempted to go up, and hit the ceiling instead. The floor is littered with bones from many a pineapppular turtle. We didn't go any further than the entrance, because we didn't have the gear, some of us didn't have the experience, and a few diver's have gotten lost in there before. Nice. Evie was great at pointing out the microlife along the walls, for the rest of that dive. Many tiny shrimp, nudibranch, and crazy looking creatures that the untrained eye would have mistaken for coral or seaplants. We turned a corner and entered a small cove where jackfish had formed a spiral stemming from the ocean floor, nearly to the surface of the water. They just coned continuously, as we swam around them.



We headed back to the platform that afternoon, feeling pretty damn accomplished, and (at least I was, as you can see above, me looking smug) overwhelmed by the sheer number of turtles we saw. We were just about within site of our monstrous base, when one of our divemasters spotted a whale. He dove off the side of the boat and within minutes had surfaced again, was climbing back in, and gushing about the humpback he had just seen underwater. Our boat ambled around for 1/2 an hour or more trying to get close enough that we could swim near the whale, but it wasn't to be. Several of us were 1/2 geared up, perched on the prow of the boat, which you could see below on one of my previous posts. (all photos of me are stolen from Bunny)

Ok, that was rather long... so I will save the next day's dives for another post. Preferably when I have access at home to my own stash of photos. I am going to go back to studying kanji and staring out the window at the pretty snow.

The Year of the Rat



is kicking ass so far. (Laurac was correct) Despite the whole being sick for the past two days, I have been in a pretty damn good mood. Why, you ask? (I am gonna tell you, so you might as well ask)

1. J is coming to Toyama! I was holding my breath and trying not to get my hopes up, in case he was placed in the mountainous wilds of Niigata. It seems, however, that Interac saw it fit to place him where he actually requested to be. Hurrah!

2. I passed! Hurrr? Yeah, guess I was neglectful in saying much about it, but the JLPT or Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I took it in December, 3kyuu (3rd level) for the second year in a row. Last year, I was definitely ill-prepared for it, and was anticipating that big "FAIL". This year, was quite a bit harder than I remembered, and they threw in a bunch of random vocabulary. But, it helped me to see where I need more practice, and it's vocabulary vocabulary vocabulary. I did get the little postcard that says "PASS" this year, though, and a good kick in the ass to study more for my first attempt at 2kyuu this December. Once again, I am not really positive of passing the first time around, but you never know. If they decide to up the kanji section, I might just stand a chance. Seems kanji is the only damn part of Japanese I find easy. I am now the proud owner of a piece of paper that says I don't suck at Japanese as much as I used to. Wooo hooo! Grad school qualifications are getting better!

3. Today, I have no classes, and am facing a 3 day weekend ahead. Tomorrow I am hitting up beautiful Toga with Laurac and "gotta want it" Macaskill. Sunday, Kazuto and I are waking up at the butt-crack of dawn and heading to Hakuba. His friend works out there, most likely at an onsen/ski resort, and we are gonna meet up and get some boarding lessons, I think. Weee! I hope I learn how to jump or do something else relatively fancy. Then, Monday, I am taking Bunny out to Toga (again, yes, but I LOVE Toga) to teach her how to board. Should be low impact for me, but I have a feeling she is gonna get it pretty quick. Will we make it up to the mildly terrifying (for your first time) intermediate course? You will have to wait to find out. Also, since my camera has become a piece of poop, I will be bringing it along for photo fun!

4. Did I mention it's snowing? A lot? And sticking, which is the most important part of the process. It's supposed to keep up for 2 days straight, and I am very much looking forward to snowball fight and (soy) cocoa party on my roof.

I do love snow, but I wish I were back in the warm for a few days... (above photo blatently stolen from Bunny) I will explain the picture soon... I just wanted some snow contrast! Pics of snow later this afternoon, btw. For now, please enjoy this adorable map of Toyama I just found.