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hello everyone!! i finally have the internet back, after all this time. i feel like i regained a limb previously lost. a sad but try case of my dependance to the web. so, i have been up to quite a lot, and learning a lot about japanese culture.
first, i would like to wish myself a happy birthday! i am now 25, and was feeling a little blue, not so much for getting older, but i think more for the passing of time; it was somehow quite sad to me. then i went to work this morning and was showered with gifts by all my beloved students. this may be a slight exageration, but i did get a few gifts from the students. i got a plant, some flowers, wine, a homemade cd with music i like, a cake (yum yum), a cookie gift basket thing wrapped in typical japanese perfection (they wrap everything here like a gift for royalty-it was also the first time i felt guilty even thinking about ripping the gift open, so i gingerly spent a few minutes undoing the ribbon etc...). and from graham, i arrived home to a lovely toilet paper banner, what a
guy. actually, he took me to kusatsu this past weekend. you may be wondering what kusatsu is, and i shall tell you...
Kusatsu is an onsen town hidden in the mountains on the border between gunma (where i live) and nagano. nestled amongst the trees and hidden from the cities lies a town of natural spring water (known as onsen). this water is enriched with minerals, such as sulfur, from the earth. instead of adding cold water to the boiling hot spring water, natural cooling is performed. they cool the water by stirring it and passing it through buckets, to maintain the natural sulfur in the water.
that was my sales pitch, but what really happens is men and women seperate different areas, you get naked and shower, then sit in a large hot bath with a bunch of other naked women (in my case, men in grahams). once you get over being naked with a bunch of strangers, its actually quite nice. for anyone wondering about germs, because of the natural sulfur the water is very acidic, killing any bacteria or microbs instantly. this acidic water also makes your skin quite soft afterwards. the only downside to
the sulfur
the yellow sulfur pool that stinks of rotten eggsthese hot baths is that afterwards you are very tired. me and graham had an onsen after dinner, then lay down to take a nap. 3 hours later we decided to just go to bed. i had a great sleep that night though.
that was my birthday weekend from graham, which was very nice and relaxing. we also walked around a lot. there were 'parks' and temples to look at. the parks were like gravel paths that weaved past temples had bathrooms every few minutes, and lots of small hot springs were people threw in coins to make wishes. me and graham made enough money from the pools to buy a few beers. it was great. at the top of one such park (i think there were only 2) there was a public onsen.
the onsen is in a beautiful location, trees all around, fresh air, birds cherping, and a path that went right by the mens bath, giving hikers a full view of the naked men. me and graham did not know we would have such a view, and were quite surprised when some frolicking men came into view. they were a ways away, but we saw
the park
an overall view of said park-ha, small rock garden perhaps. many a bum, but just one frontal view, b/c then the man saw us, and ducked down, alerting all the other men i can only assume, as there was a scurry to get under the water. they didn't even want to show their heads. every so often a head would pop up over a rock to check if we were still on the trail. we had no other choice but to keep our heads down and walk fast. it now makes sense why no one else was on that trail.
me and graham have become friends with an older couple. the man is from england and the women is japanese. they have a daughter our age, but have not met her yet for she is away at university. so the man does an ancient japanese sport called yabusame. yabusame (for those who don't know-i'm assuming everyone actually) is archery on horse back. its an ancient japanese sport that is not in practice much these days. very few people still do it in japan, and i think our friend may be the only foreigner who practices it. me and graham went to the horse stables to watch him practice yabusame,
the park
a small sulfur pool, it was quiet green in colour. and we also got to ride some horses.
we did a little bit of trail riding, which was nice. we went along a little river, and through some thicket style trees. the scenery was nothing compared to vancouver, but for japan, it was very nice. there were also free puppies at the riding club/stables, so i got to play with the last puppy. i really wanted to take the puppy, but knew i couldn't. while i was there, however, a family came and took the puppy. i did manage to get a few photos of the puppy before the family came though.
speaking of photos, for my birthday i bought myself a nice digital slr camera. in japan its the canon eos kiss, i think its the rebel in canada. its fabulous. 8.0 mpx, about 3-4 photos a second. flash, 2 lenses. its a great camera all around. so, i think all the photos you see were taken with that camera (maybe).
travelling back another weekend, i went to tokyo with graham for the night. it was very nice. we spent the day in akihabara (the electronic area in tokyo) where i bought my camera. man, there
the park
temple stairs to a very small shrine were so many stores, it was nuts. they also had some main streets closed off to cars, only pedestrains during the day. in the evening we went to odaiba. this is near the tokyo harbour. we took the new monorail over the rainbow bridge to odaiba, a very romantic place in the evenings (so we were told). it was quite nice, there were lots of lights and boats in the ocean, and the rainbow bridge was lit up.
we had dinner at a very nice traditional japanese restaurant. we got one of the best tables in the place, right by a full length window with a view of the bridge and harbour, and the fake miniature statue of liberty. dinner was fabulous, and afterwards we needed a place to stay.
some of you may know of the infamous japanese love hotels, so we took off to find one of these as they are very cheap, with big beds (big by japanese standards, pretty small for north amaerica though) large tvs, and mood lighting/music. we found a cute little love hotel, but you had to speak japanese to stay there, so its a good thing graham can speak japanese.
the park
small waterfall. we had a huge tv, and watched a very cheasy movie in english, about an art robbery. we were surprised when we discovered it was a vibrating bed, i've never actually seen one of those before. all in all, it was a good trip to tokyo.
so, now for the cultural leanrings. everything i have discovered will share has been bad. first i mentioned the love hotels. cheating is very common in japan, fueled by the abundance and discretion of love hotels, as well as hostess bars. (on a side note, i found out there's a fat fetish bar downtown here, you pay by the pound-dear god). cheating is common among not only men and women, and is fact almost expecting by many people. wtf?
driving in japan is also horrible. there are some really bad drivers, and most of them know they are bad. many housewives that come by the school tell me that they only drive to 2 places: their kids; cram schools and a personal activity place, such as pottery or what not. cram schools are also horrible. children not only go to school all day, they then go to more sschool all evening. everyone
temple
a larger temple with a view of the city. its a small city wants their kid to be a 'genius', so they are cramming them full of lessons. but, even if the kids did have time to play outside, most houses don't have any lawns to play on b/c japan is so cramped. the stress of life has led to a new phenomenon (i forget the japanese name-there is no name for this in enligsh) similar to extreme nerdiness, where people don't leave their bedrooms. they stop speaking, stop exersizing, stop living in the real world basically. some of them are enabled by their parents. they live with their parents, who leave food outside their bedroom doors. and this is aparently common in japan. sadly, therapy is very hush hush, japan is a country more concerned with image than happiness (apparenly through smiling-even when sad-one will eventually become happy). nobody talks about their problems to anyone, because weakness is seen as inferior and unacceptable.
because of these problems suicide is also very common in japan. the system, as far as i can tell, is that every prominent business man (i would say person, but that isn't the case here) has a minion, or an inferior subordinate working under them. if the business
temple
heres the city man makes a mistake, it is the subordinate who commonly commits suicide because they cannot live with the shame. all i'm thinking is 'shame of what? you have done nothing wrong'. but that is not the case in japan. recently an architect made a bunch of houses that were not earthquake safe. this reduced the cost, awarding him many contracts for houses/apartment buildings. however, when the truth came out and was all over the news, his wife commited suicide. aparently she coudln't live with the shame should people think she knew about the situation not said anything.
i was also surprised to learn that many people jump onto the train tracks to kill themselves. the first sign is if someone is leaning close to the tracks looking over the edge. you then look to see if they are wearing shoes. if they are not, they are going to kill themselves. in japan, people take of ftheir shoes before entering a new space (which is why you always take off your shoes when entering your house), and so follows for entering into the afterlife. so, they will take off their shoes and leave a note in them, thus concluding a
temple
it is copmlete with graveyard suicide.
however, there are 2 types of train jumpers, ones that hate their families, and ones that don't. aparently it costs the family money to clean up the mess, and from lost sales due to shutting down the train. if you hate your family, you choose the busiest train, the most expense cost incurred. however, there is a line that is the cheapest, also known as the suicide line. who f*cked up is this? i was totally shocked to learn this, but i was more shocked about the driving situation.
the most common driving incidents are hit and runs. since people are bad drivers out here, they frequently hit pedestrians and bicyclists. not wanting to deal with the police (aparenlty they are bad out here) people drive away. injurred people are left in the street to die. but that is better than dealing with the police. less on the conscience i suppose.
due to this information, i have become overly paranoid about crossing the streets, especially the side streets. i am taking preventative measures to protect myself.
also, drugs are very bad in japan. a foriegner in a town nearby was arrested for marijuanna possesion. apparntly
temple
with an offering of coca cola weed is as bad as herroine out here. he was placed in jail for 10 days in isolation, and after that awaits trail. he could end up in jail for years out here, after which he will be deported and sent back to his country.
now i will say good bye. i had a lovely birthday in japan, am one year older, and am enjoying my time out here. one student, a little girl about 5 years old, has taken a liking to me, so i was called back to work today because she brought me some flowers and wanted to give them to me, along with a card she made. it had a picture of us cut into a heart, covered in stickers, drawings of us (all made by her), it was so cute.
can someone tell me if lost is being cancelled? thank you
love anni!
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