SaRaHinJAPAN

As you know Japan is known for its famous festivals which you can find just about in any town in this country and nearly every weekend! Morioka is host to a few major festivals every year. The latest matsuri had women, men and children all dressed up in colourful outfits, parading down the streets with portable shrines and colourful floats all to the sounds of taiko (Japanese drums). The floats we’re so big and you could see that so much detail went into each one. It was hosted down Morioka’s main street Odori. Afterwards we made our way to the local shrine where they had a small fair, where you could buy all sorts of traditional Japanese foods and play games like “Kinyo Sukui” where you win as many gold fish as you can catch! (It’s ... read more

I decided before coming to Japan that the one thing I was definitely going to do while I was here was climb that mountain! I had talked about it so much and the reality of actually climbing it seemed like years away. Yet here we were getting off the tour bus on the 5th station of the mountain. Looking up I knew the next couple of days were going to be tough! Megan, Renee and my self decided it would be better to go with a tour guide as appose to doing it ourselves. Manly because organizing transport to the mountain, a hut and getting home again just wasn’t worth the hassle. This way we had an English speaking guide who knew what they were doing and knew we could pick their brains about any questions ... read more

This is Morioka’s most famous ‘Matsuri’ (festival) and it has to been seen to be believed. Hundreds of locals and gaigin alike form groups and parade down Morioka’s main street - Odori. It runs over 4 nights of singing, dancing and playing a memorizing tune to the sound of banging drums. My best-friend Renee arrived in Morioka on the 2nd of August and stayed with me for nearly 3 weeks. The night we went to the festival was on the 4th. That morning we all woke up packed a bag and headed to Okasans. (My extended family) Megan came with us that day too. We arrived at Okasans at 2pm where she filled us up with her famous cooking and got started on getting us ready for the festival. She was going to dress us in ... read more

My first day teaching at my new school in Daishin had me on the doorstep of probably the most generous and hospitable families I have ever met. As I was 5 hours early for my classes that day (I was only new so that’s to be expected) I met my Japanese Teacher Chikako for the first time and she was telling about the family who lived next door to the school. After preparing my lessons she offered to take me over and introduce me. We rang the door bell and this lovely older man came to the door with a very fluffy poodle names Iffi. “Konichiwa” he said and bowed politely my name is Junichi. I said hello and he pointed to the garden where his wife was so we walked over. I saw this humble ... read more

One of the first Japanese words I learnt when I first moved to Morioka was Nomihodai! It means all you can drink! It’s very important for a gaigin for know this word if they want to survive. It’ll save you a lot of money if you ask any place you go to for Nomihodai. You’re looking at spending about 1800yen ($18aud) for 2 hours or more. Usually you need to order a meal as well but you can order anything you want even a side salad. Our first night out was spent at the Kitchen Bar, a loud busy place where it seems a lot of locals end up after work. Its not rude here to catch the attention of the wait staff by yelling ‘sumimsen’ it basically translates to ‘excuse me’ and you raise your ... read more