The Shi

After spending about two and half weeks in the greater Gobo area, I was starting to get cabin fever. Shirahama was great and I was enjoying meeting all of the ALTs but I wanted to go shopping, have a Starbucks and hang out. So, I grabbed fellow ALT Sarah and we went off to explore the big city, Wakayama one evening. I had checked the Starbucks website and found that there was a store out in a mall called Garden Park. After checking their website, it looked like I hit pay dirt because one of my favourite Japanese chains, Muji, has a location there, too! The local train costs about 1000 yen and takes an hour to get up to the shi. Then, we had to navigate the bus system and eventually we found ourselves at Garden Park. Unfortunately for Sarah, there were no stores for clothes and swimsuit shopping but we both enjoyed our Starbucks and browsing Muji's food section. On our way back to the train, we stopped for food at this great little Indian restaurant run by a family from Pakistan. It is in a really convenient location and I definitely glad to see that I could still enjoy some international cuisine in Wakayama. Even as we get more settled into our rural lifestyles, it's nice to know there is a city to escape to every once in a while.

One of my favourite Japanese chain stores
Always smart to get yourself 'stranded' on an island with a Starbucks! according to my friend, C.
Sarah and her Pakistani new friend; Delicious South Asian cuisine

Shirahama

I feel lucky to have been placed in Wakayama. Although at Tokyo Orientation, 9 out of 10 people I met said they had no idea where it was located, we do have a lot of great sights here. There are two UNESCO world heritage sights here, Koyasan and Kumano Kodo. Koyasan is where the Shingon esoteric sect of Buddhism was founded and Kumano Kodo is a famous pilgrimage. Beyond that the Kii Peninsula boasts a warm climate and some of Japan's best mikans(oranges) and umes (plums). But, one of our best claims to fame is the beautiful white sand beaches of Shirahama. So, this was the perfect setting to welcome the 25 or so new ALTs in the area.

Nanki Shirahama
In the Kansai area, this is definitely the resort for the summer. There was a tonne of traffic on the drive down here and many an Osaka and Nara plate were spotted. Shirahama used to have to import the white sand from Hawaii but now it is brought in from Australia. The area does have a lot of attractions such as a fish market, Adventure World that is home to twin pandas and a famous onsen (hot spring) overlooking the beach. All of which I will have to explore on a return visit. With 12 new JETs and lots of returning ones to meet, there was no time for sightseeing. The new JETs are brought over in two groups. Since I was in the Group B Orientation, I still had to meet all of Group A. It was great to finally meet all of the newbies.
WAJET on the beach!
One special treat for us JETs was a Subway that had recently opened in Shirahama. I had an excellent bulgogi wrap there. That is definitely NOT on the Canadian subway menu. I hung out there with the fellow Vancouverites in the ken, Wynne and Rei and Wynne's friend, Miki. These second year JETs taught me the most important thing about using cell phones in Japan which is how to send data between the phones using infrared technology. すごい！The ALTs have termed it 'phone sex'. Ahem. After socializing with them for a bit, it was back to the beach to chill out.

Rei, Miki and Wynne in front of Shirahama's subwayRei and Wynne fooling around with the keitais
In the evening, we headed to a nearby town for a BBQ and more socializing. Of course, more crazy party photos were taken. And as a special treat, the town of Kamitonda's summer hanabi taikai (fireworks display) coincided with our welcome party. Another interesting thing for me was that I finally got to meet my predecessor Lauren. She had provided me with lots of information about my placement and kindly answered all of my questions so it was great to finally see her in person. She had decided to stay in Asia for a bit longer and was back visiting Wakayama. With my predecessor, Lauren
Me with the Kushimoto crew (Justin, Wynne and Tony (l to r)Most towns in Japan have fireworks displays during the summer

First Cooking Attempt

For those of you who know me in Japan, you know that I don`t cook much. My standard line is that it is easier and cheaper to eat out. For those of you who knew me pre-Japan, you know that I rarely cooked because of living at home and going out to dine at Vancouver`s great selection of restaurants. But upon arrival, I did try my hand at cooking. My first attempt at cooking in the hallway that doubles as a kitchen in my apartment is pictured above. It was inspired by a trip to Evergreen Supermarket in Gobo because it was there that I spotted a green thai curry mix. So, I threw in some chicken and eggplants and then fired up the rice cooker. In less than an hour, I had a dinner!

Susami

On the first full weekend we had free in Japan, my orientation group, Group B, decided to get together at Sara`s place in Susami. Susami was a very central meeting point between our placements that ranged from Arida to Nachi-Katsura. I met up with Parry and Quinn on the train and we headed south. We were greeted by a summer downpour but it was really exciting to be reunited with all of our new friends. We headed to a nice little restaurant just outside of the station and got a chance to catch up on the first two weeks at our placements.

Tony, me, Lily, Ryan, Justin, Kate, Sara, Quinn, Parry in Susami(l to r)

After catching up, we went to Sara`s apartment which is really a house! She is very lucky to have a nice big place to spread out and make herself comfortable. Plus, she had enough room to house us for the night. After checking out her place, we wandered over to the grocery store to collect snacks and finally it was time to hit the beach! For some of us (ahem, Parry!), it was our first time to ever go to the beach. Too bad none of us were scuba diving since Susami`s claim to fame seems to be an underwater mailbox.
I decided to wander around a bit snapping photos of this ocean side town. Here are a few of my favourite shots from this fishing village.

Party in Minabe!

During the summer vacation, JETs are often at their BOE postings as schools are out for the summer. Lessons are prepared, Japanese is studied and paperwork is filed. But, often times, we end up chatting with one another in our office. One chat centred around Mac was saying how he was going to a party in town about half an hour south of Gobo called Minabe at a fellow JETs house. Boldly, I begged my way into the party seeing as how I am new and it is good to meet people in the area. I managed to get Mac to drive the other newbies in Hidaka-gun, Sarah and Parry as well. The meeting point was good 'ol Roman City (the central point between Hidaka, Mihama and Hidakagawa). On the drive down, I got to see more of Gobo and drive south on the highway here for the first time.

We ended up in a pretty little town famous for umeboshi (plums) and at Chris' cute apartment in Minabegawa. Turns out he was hosting a 25th Birthday Party for one of his local friends, Daisuke. Aside from Chris, the only JETs I met were on their way out of Japan. We met Melissa and Mark, a departing JET couple and Andrew, an honourary JET. As is usual in summer parties here, there is a lot of BBQ and Beverages to go around resulting in some crazy party photos. And now, crazy party photos for you to enjoy!

We are the Champions (for now!)

At the Obon festival, Emi and a few other locals mentioned that the town would soon challenge the World Record for the longestyakitori stick. The town was planning to make an 11 meter long yakitori at the Hidakagawa Summer Festival and Hanabi (Fireworks) Taikai(Competition) in Nakatsu. I was told it was less about getting the record and more about promoting some of the local products which just happen to be a special type of charcoal and horo horo, a type of game foul. Well regardless of the motivation behind it, I was like "I have to see that!" So, on Monday we left work a little bit early and got dropped off at the dome in the village of Nakatsu which is now part of Hidakagawa-cho. The drive up there took us through the mountains and past three of the schools I will be teaching at come September. It was especially misty that day up in the mountains and I was awestruck by the beauty of this area.

When we arrived at 4 pm, the grill was going and there was a lot of local and regional media around the cooking area. In fact, it was quite a large media scrum for the event but heck, it is a world record after all! There were a good mix of young and old participants for the preparation and cooking of the yakitori stick. I did not envy their position as it was already super hot and humid that day and standing by those hot coals made it even hotter. While waiting for the cooking to begin, I looked at the power ranger children's show, wandered around the festival stalls and bought a kakigori (crushed ice with syrup) to cool down. I met Emi's uncle who kindly gave me some of the special charcoal and one of her good friends . Also, the mayor, deputy mayor, and many of the BOE staff members were there to watch the record be smashed. Tamaki-san, the tourism dept. head, was there as he was part of the organizing team. I also learned about a chainsaw craving festival in Ryujin this November from one of the organizers. Sounds interesting...

Back to the yakitori stick. First they helpers had to load the horo horo onto the 11 ft. long bamboo stick. That took about 45 minutes then it was time to lift it up and put it on the coals which had to be fanned first. As it was cooking, it was turned and then finally after another 45 minutes or so, it was time to prove that the longest yakitori stick in the world had been cooked. So, all 30 or so cooks lifted it up and the judges ruled that Hidakagawa-cho was the world champion complete wtih a crystal yakitori trophy as proof. The media attention was huge and as you can see many of the cooks were hamming it up for their benefit! So for at least the next two weeks, the people of Hidakagawa-cho can say that "We are the Champions of yakitori!"
Heat from the coals;Loading up the Horo HoroMeasuring the yakitori; Checking to see if holds upHamming it up for the media; The crystal yakitori trophy.

SOUL'd OUT

I must admit that I was a little disappointed with the enthusiasm showed by the Japanese fans for the Cardigans and Daniel Powter at Summer Sonic. Admittedly, they would probably not get a huge response from North American fans either but I am sure that it would not be like pulling teeth to get a response as it often was at Summer Sonic. So, I was very happy to get a chance to see how the fans reacted to a Japanese group. I decided to check out a hip-hop group,SOUL`d OUT, from Japan in Keane`s place. A strange switch but time-wise it worked out well.

In the last six years, hip-hop must have become extremely popular in Japan because the venue was packed and the crowd was live. When SOUL`d OUT hit the stage, they reminded me a lot of Swollen Members, a Vancouver hip-hop group who are not too slick and are a little rough around the edges. That is not a compliment. I was surprised at home much English was used by the lead rapper. Examples included the old hip-hop standbys such as:
"Make some noise!"
"Put your hands up!"
"How you doing tonight?!"
"Don`t think you are feeling this music"
"Give it up for ..."
"Rock on everybody!"
and my favourite, "We are out, Peace!"

There was even a cry in Japanese, "なんでもいい!" That translates to "Everything Good!"
I was taken by surprise at the crowds enthusiasm and language is definitely not a barrier here. Almost all of the directions to the crowd were also in English as were half of the lyrics. The rappers had pretty flawless English, too. At one point, they told the crowd to kneel down and then we all got up slowly and jumped around. The beats and rhymes sounded pretty much like a lot of the hip-hop coming out of North America but if definitely had more of a pop feel a la Black Eyed Peas than say a more hard-core rapper like DMX. By the end of the concert, I was waving my hand from side to side in unison with the Japanese fans. I spotted a few other gaikokujin bopping their heads to the beat, too.

Summer Sonic

I an avid fan of Pollstar and often check it to get my concert listings around the world. A few months before coming to Japan, I found out about this great festival called Summer Sonic with lots of international and Japanese bands. I was especially excited to see that Keane and Nelly Furtado would be playing. Summer Sonic is held in both Tokyo and Osaka and all the bands play both cities in the same weekend. I didn't until the day before to go but I figured that it was a good way to get up to Osaka, hear some good music and enjoy my first full Sunday in Japan.

I managed to navigate the train system with little difficulty and soon it was bye, bye Gobo and hello Osaka.

Ironically, with a sign that says "Welcome to Gobo"; Osaka Loop Line where I had to transfer trains
For JETs in my area, Osaka is our closest big city and it is the mecca for us Wakayama JETs of all things entertainment, fun and food. In under 2 hours via the express train, I was up in Osaka and now navigating the subway station at JR Namba. JR Namba has its own little underground city and their are hip-hop dancers who break and pop and lock all day long.
Breakdancer at Namba Station
I had to take one subway line out to a new tram line which would take me past the port area and out to the INTEX conference centre and Zepp Osaka which were the two venues I needed for the Festival. After a short walk from the tram stop, I went to buy my ticket and was anxious to see Keane as I am a big fan of their music. I listened almost non-stop to their new album, "Under the Iron Sea" during my stay this summer in Buenos Aires so for me that album reminds me of my time there. So, you can imagine my slight disappointment when I saw that Keane had cancelled their appearance. Well, I was there already so I made the best of it and see some other bands. Ms Promiscuous, Nelly Furtado, had played on Saturday so I saw the Cardigans and Daniel Powter instead. The Cardigans rocked their hits and Daniel Powter surprised me with his songs. He actually has some better ones than "Bad Day" which has been played to death at home due to CanCon and American Idol send-offs.Nina Pearson of the Cardigans; Daniel Powter on the keys
I wandered around the merchandise, vendors and food stalls that were also part of Summer Sonic. I saw many strange and wonderful things.

Strange things included:Wahaha, a comical musical group; the "moving rubber" promotion. still not sure what it is; exhausted fans napping at INTEX
Wonderful things included: Organized graffiti chaos on the message boardI-pod listening station at the HMV booth
After wandering around the festival, I went over to Zepp Osaka to catch a Japanese hip-hop group called Soul'd Out. It was such an interesting experience that they deserve a post all on their own. After their performance, I hopped back on the tram and had a great chat in Japanese with an older couple who were curious about the big screens showing Metallica's performance in the Open Air Stadium which were visible from the tram's windows. All in all, it was a pretty awesome, international event. All three groups I saw spoke or tried to speak in Japanese and English and I saw/heard sound checks in three languages: Swedish,English and Japanese.

へのへのもへじ

Did you know that if you draw the hiragana characters for he no he no mo he ji (へのへのもへじ) that you can form a face? Well, I did not know until a couple of weeks ago when I saw this sign for an izakaya in Gobo and started asking around about it. Pretty cool. Check out the
wikipedia article on it.

O-Bon

JETs are lucky to arrive in August as this is the time when most people celebrate O-Bon. So, we get to experience this right off the bat. O-Bon is a Buddhist tradition where most people believe that their ancestors come home to visit. So, they too return to home to prepare the welcome for their ancestors and meet with their relatives. At my BOE, some days it appeared like we had a skeletal staff due to O-Bon. Other BOE staff stayed at home to prepare their homes by making food and cleaning (osoji) while others took time off to travel to their ancestral homes around the prefecture or in Japan.

Another o-bon tradition is the bon odori (obon dance). Emi took Sarah and I to Dojoji Temple for the bon odori. We had to walk up a darkened path and in the centre of the temple grounds, the only light was coming from the stage in the middle.

Stage with drums at the Bon Odori
Little kids were playing janken (rock, paper, scissors) and then after a while they started the dance lesson. Two dance teachers led the participants around in a circle and taught us some of the dances. Then, a lady who teaches in my town invited us to join in the BBQ which we gladly did. The yakitori was delicious. Around the BBQ, I met a couple of people with Richmond connections including one who may be related to one of my friends. I was really excited to talk to him. Small world and his name is also Tamaki-san but a different family than the 'first person' I think. BBQ at the bon odori; Tamaki-san and I at the fesival
With our new found energy from the drinks and yakitori, we attempted the dancing. It was so much fun and I felt at peace while dancing around this beautiful temple in the dark. Later on, the bunraku music started and the men started signing a song about Hidakagawa. The music sounded wonderful in this traditional sitting. The whole atmosphere was hauntingly beautiful.
Dancing at the Bon OdoriAn elementary school teacher wearing the traditional Hidakagawa-cho yukata and I
On Monday, Kumashiro-san, a lovely lady who works for my BOE, invited me to her home to meet her family and have a BBQ. She has a traditional-style home up in the mountains of my town. She explained that a lantern is hung outside the home to guide the spirits back home and a window is kept open. At her window, an offering of fruit and rice were there. The lantern lights the way home
There is a small temple, that I ride past every day to work. During Obon, the temple was decorated with lanterns and many people went there to pray and visit graves. At night, it was a beautiful sight to see the lanterns all glowing. Personally, I find this to be on of the loveliest traditions since it brings together the whole family and people come back from the cities to the more rural areas like where I am living. Read more about it here.