End of Summer Bonfire Party

In late September, Parry hosted the first party in our area since he was entertaining some of his friends from the Nagoya area. It got a late start but turned out to be really fun. Since he lives in an apartment complex and things could get a bit loud with twenty people in a small space, we ended walking over to a nearby beach. It was really relaxing to just hang out by the beach, make a fire and roast marshmallows. Hopefully, there will be more bonfires next summer!

Tony stokes the bonfireEnjoying the late summer fun: beach, s`mores and bonfires

Confessions in Osaka

Imagine my good timing. I find out that I am moving to Japan and that Madonna will play a show in Osaka of her Confessions tour on the first long weekend here! The bad news was that the tickets sold out in like 5 minutes flat. I even asked my friend living in Tokyo to try to get tickets but no luck. Oh well! Thankfully, Madonna announces a second show for Osaka and I am in luck and get two tickets for the show. I also was able to get Leilani to come with me to the show at the last minute. So, I was lucky on all counts.

Anyways, I was pretty excited as the concert got closer. People were also excited for me. Especially my friend Ritchie back home. He worships Madonna and she's never graced Vancouver with her presence so this was a pretty big concert coup for me.
It had been more than 10 years since she had even played Japan. When I was at Tower Records earlier in the day, I felt compelled to take some photos of and with her concert poster!
The dome resembles takoyaki
As we approached the Kyocera Dome, affectionately known as the Takoyaki Dome after Osaka's famous contribution to Japanese cuisine, many fans were filing in. We found our seats pretty quickly and then started plotting on how to take some photos and improve our seats. After all this was Madonna. We managed to get a few shots of the stage without attracting any attention from security and successfully move closer in the stands.I love the colours of her staging. So pretty!

At the surprisingly undiva-like hour of 5:30, Madonna appears! Throughout the set, she's dancing and singing up a storm. Her back-up dancers are amazing especially during the song 'Jump'. They turned the Kyocera Dome into their own jungle gym. Madonna had some interesting on-stage dialogue such as "Off with the his head!" referring to the Emperor's head. へえええ？何？ I really enjoyed her performance, especially when she sang with the Arabic singer. I loved her reinvention of Erotica, a song I really used to hate. It was a good mix of past hits and the recent album, Confessions on a Dancefloor.
The gold balloons which alluded me
At the end of the show, she unleased thousands of gold balloons but I was not lucky recepient of one. Thankfully, I was able to grab my own special souvenir on the way out, a poster for the Osaka show! Theo and Shogo had also attended the show but were sitting in a different area so we met up for a photo post-show! All in all, one of my best concert experiences.

Chilling in Osaka

This is the Osaka subway and train system. It`s fun to navigate.
Because of the Madonna concert and the long weekend, I decided to spend some time exploring Osaka. It's the second largest city in Japan and is known for its food, down-to-earth citizens and its unique dialect called Kansai-ben. Leilani and I had originally booked into a cheap hotel near Tennoji but after hearing some not so savoury things about it, we quickly changed plans and decided to stay closer to America Mura and Shinsaibashi. Before the concert, we were able to explore some of the sights like ths shopping arcade in Shinsaibashi and Dotonburi, the entertainment district along the river. It was nice to just do some window shopping and get a Starbucks or two. We went into one of my favourite stores called Tokyu Hands. It's a great department store that stocks everything you need that you don't think you need.The crowds of Osaka near Dotonburi.Note the Glico ManA symbol of Osaka, Glico ManWith Hello Kitty at the Sanrio StoreThe shopping arcade in the dayShinsaibashi Shopping Arcade at night
After the concert, we set out to find El Pancho's which is a well-known Mexican restaurant in Osaka. My predecessor even left their business card for me. It was a little hard to find but we found it and had some margaritas and mexican food. It was really nice to get some international cuisine again.At El Pancho`s
How am I going to carry this all home?
The next day, we did more shopping and end up going past Rinku Town Premium outlets on the way back. It's very close to the airport and was a great place to pick up some items in hard to find sizes. I need to go back to Osaka and do some more exploring, there are not a lot of sights there but it's a big city and I've hardly reached the tip of the iceberg.

Tabehodai in Iwade

Theo`s jumping for joy! Tabehodai wa oishii yo!Theo, Shogo, Me and Leilani(l to r)
On Saturday, I met up with Leilani, Theo and Shogo for all-you-can-eat food in Iwade. All of us are making our way to Osaka to watch Madonna on Sunday but thought it might be fun to just hang out in Wakayama City before hitting the metropolis of Osaka. Shogo who grew up in the Wakayama City area was able to take us to really great all-you-can-eat restaurant. You were free to choose your own meat and vegetables to grill and to cook your own food a la yakiniku.

For the equivalent of $15 Canadian dollars or 1400 yen, you could have a variety of sushi, yakiniku, salads, rice, soup, drinks and dessert in a two-hour window. Amazing deal if you ask me. All this overeating though resulted in some pretty silly pictures though.

Aaaahh!! Scary!

Today, I had the biggest scare at the train station. I entered Gobo station and went up to buy my ticket to go to Wakayama at the machine. I literally jumped back from the machine when I saw this huge, black bug staring back at me. Thankfully, there is a manned ticket booth in times like these.

Scary!What is this?!

Tennon Daiko

Ususally most JET Programme participants get involved with some aspect of Japanese culture. Whether it be through sports, cooking, language or arts, most participants will at least attempt to find a hobby here. I was most interested in joining a taiko group. So, I asked around to see if there was a group in Gobo. At first, I was told there is none but I got a lead from another ALT in Tanabe. He put me in touch with Tennon Daiko and was able to attend one of their practices. This group has been practicing together for 20 years but a few of the members were born after the group was founded. At least 4 of the members are still in high school.

Tennon Daiko playing a Kobo piece
The drummers were fairly welcoming and wanted me to do a short self-introduction. They even had me start practicing right away. It was really challenging to play the taiko drums as you need a lot of strength and excellent hand-eye coordination to hit the drum in time and then have enough restraint so that you control the sound. A lot of athleticism is involved as well since you have to squat sometimes as you play the drum. I think this will be a challenging hobby especially since the practices are Saturday mornings! After watching the group tackle a piece by Kodo which is the most famous taiko group in all of Japan, I felt really motivated to give this a fair try.

Keitais!

AU Shop in Gobo
One of things I was most excited to get was my cell phone or keitai as they are called in Japanese. From what I can tell, the population is glued to their cell phones. Everyone seems to be playing with them on the trains and why not? The cell phones her are all fairly technologically advanced. People can send e-mails from them to regular PCs. The designs range from sleek to clunky. Everyone decks out their phone with charms and a variety of decorations. It`s an expression of your personality to some for sure. I still think the coolest function is the infared data exchange between the phones. It makes it so easy to give your number to someone and to share photos and videos between phones.
Anyways, I couldn`t get a cell phone immediately since I needed to have some ID like the foreign registration card or national health insurance card and my banking information. As soon as I got the national health insurance card at the end of August, Mac kindly took me to the local AU shop. There are three major cell phone companies here: AU, DoCoMo and Vodafone. In my area, I had a choice between AU and DoCoMo as they have the best reception. I had heard good things about AU so that was the clear choice. Ok, so now I just had to choose my phone. I decided to get one that has a music function, camera, video camera and an english menu. So, I ended up getting the Sony Ericsson Walkman phone in white. I really like it so far. Also, I ran into Sarah A. and her JTE at the store and wouldn`t you know but she also got the same phone in pink.
Sarah loves eating ice cream while texting on her keitai
Many ALTs said they would go with out a cell phone. Impossible I said. It`s a top priority in my opinion to stay connected. Especially since a lot of us are hardly ever at home. A few people like Parry eventually caved after two months and got one. But, I still know of a few people who have gone two or three years with out one. I still think the coolest function is the infared data exchange between the phones. It makes it so easy to give your number to someone and to share photos and videos between phones.Mesmerized by the infared functionExchanging data with Parry over dinner. He`s equally mesmerized.

Sports Day Fever

One day at an elementary school, the kids tell me that they are going to play a game at lunch. The way one of the fifth grade students explained it was that it was red, yellow, blue. etc. I was like "OK" sure we can play that. Not realizing that the colours refer to a baton. Before I knew it, almost all of the school came out and in an organized fashion, they got into their pre-made teams and started to run what resembled a relay. Well, I finally put two and two together and it looks like the kids were practicing for their Sports Day relay. That is commitment isn`t it? Even on their lunch break, they want to practice for the upcoming Sports Day.

Getting ready for the exchangeIn motionPeace out

I love Yakiniku!

One of my favourite Japanese restaurant experiences ever was eating shabu-shabu with my host family in Shizuoka. When I got back to Vancouver, I found a shabu-shabu restaurant that also seved yakiniku which is grilling meat Korean BBQ-style. I grew to like yakiniku as well. So, I was very happy to find a yakiniku restaurant here in Gobo called Sakai Yakiniku. At a yakiniku restaurant, you cook the food yourself. The staff bring you a bucket with coals and then you order what ever cut of meat you want. Once the meat is cooked, you can then dip it in your choice of tare sauces. There are probably close to 100 varieties of beef, seafood or chicken there. Then, you grill them right at the table but watch out for fire, it can get kind of hot!

All you need to enjoy yakinikuHmm, karubi and toriniku
Grilling
Don`t forget about the other food groups!Yummy matcha parfait!

Time to Harvest

While riding my bike through the rice fields to work one morning, I noticed that one of the fields had been cleared. I thought "aha" it`s now getting into fall so it`s time to start the harvest. Around mid-September, the rice has matured to a golden brown and is ready to be reaped. After the fields have been cleared, the rice is then put into sheaves which bundles of the crop. Once the sheaves have been left in the field to dry, they are then stacked and burnt. Since I live in an area surrounded by rice fields, it is very interesting to monitor the progress of the harvest. I see the farmers out there working from early morning til late in the evening clearing their fields. Every farmer around here has a white truck to use to transport the crop. After the harvest has finished, most of the neighbourhoods will have festivals to thank the gods for this year`s bounty.

Rice fields behind my apartment. Notice the white farm trucks.
Ready to be clearedIn progressNewly made sheaves. Don`t they look like little teepees?Drying in the late summer sun

A few favourite Mihama pictures

I do like riding my bike over to Mihama and Enjukuhama beach (especially when the bike is in good working order!). It`s a really nice town on the Kii peninsula. Here are a few shots I took on the weekend. Enjoy!

EastNautical Ropes on the beachView from MioJizo statue on the roadsideHibiscus