Fujisan, Green Tea, Street performers, Sukiyaki and private english lessons...

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How much more Japanese can you get????

Oh goodness where do I start? What a crazy two weeks it has been in Japan for Nova teachers! I am currently unemployed and broke as a joke. Two weeks ago on October 26th Nova "temporarily closed all of its schools" and filed for corporate rehabilitation after about 3 months of not paying employee salaries, rent on buildings, rent on employee apartments etc etc etc. Prepare for a lengthy blog because as I said a moment ago, I have no job and no money to go travel and therefore LOTS and LOTS of time 😊.

I won't get into all of the details of the business side of things at Nova because frankly they are quite depressing and well really, while it is a horrible situation and there are thousands of people who are owed thousands of dollars and are now out of work as a result, there is also a lot of good that can be taken away from the situation -- ie: life lessons, friendships, travel experiences etc etc etc and I would rather focus on those things than all the negative stuff going on at the moment.

So yes, for the past few weeks I have been unemployed and I guess in a way on a mini vacation. It's a bit challenging to feel like you are truly on a vacation when you have no money to spend but I have been pleasantly surprised with the opportunities being poor has afforded me. Since I don't have the money to go on any exotic trips to Hokkaido or Kyushu or South Korea, I have really just been able to focus on relaxing and enjoying Shizuoka and the connections and relationships I have developed here in the past 10 months and I am really grateful for that.

I am especially grateful for the opportunity I have had since Nova closed to connect with some of the students I have been teaching in more casual settings and to get to know them and to let them get to know me outside of a Nova English Lesson setting. Although Nova was never really a sterling example of ethical business practices, it was Nova that allowed me to connect with so many native Japanese people. I have thought many times during the course of my lessons about how lucky I have been to be working with a population of Japanese citizens who are so interested in improving their English Language skills and communicating with foreigners. If it were not for these students I would not have been able to engage in so much cultural exchange seeing as how I speak very, very minimal Japanese.

I have spent a lot of time with one student in particular who I really connected with and who I share a Japanese name with -- Mariko 😊. Mariko is a design professor at a local vocational school, she teaches furniture and flower design and is a very interesting women. I could write an entire blog on all the interesting things she does in her life. Two weekends ago she invited me to one of her student's floral exhibitions in Fuji. We drove out together (it was so nice to travel by car and not by train---it's been a long time!!!) saw the exhibition and then went to maybe one of the most beautiful places I have been to since I arrived in Japan---Lake Tanukiko---I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. We were really lucky to have wonderful weather and to have such incredible views of Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji is a really popular symbol of Japan and it was awesome to get to see it in all it's glory...if you ever get the chance to see it, you will without a doubt fully understand why it is so near and dear to the heart's of the Japanese people. It's beauty is overwhelming.

After viewing Mt. Fuji, Mariko took me to Fujinomiya, a city just south of Mt.Fuji which is famous for yakisoba. We went to a very small restaurant owned by two sisters who had been cooking yakisoba for 30 years and enjoyed a delicious meal and funny half Japanese-English conversation with the sisters.

Last weekend I hit up two different events (luckily both were free 😊 in Shizuoka; The International Green Tea Festival and Daidogei (The World Cup of Street Performers). Mariko's students had a display at the Tea Festival and we went together to see her student's work and to check out what else was going on. We got to see all kinds of interesting tea sets from around the world as well as an interesting display on the history of Green Tea in Japan. We even got to help get some green tea ready for packaging! The Shizuoka prefecture, where I have been living is one of the bigger producers of Green Tea in Japan and in the world so it was really neat to be able to see the community of green tea producers and enjoyers all together in one spot.

On Sunday Emi and I went to Daidogei together---I have never been to an event quite like it before and it was all happening literally five minutes away from my front door step. There were about 20 different stages set up on the streets and in the Parks of downtown Shizuoka. For four days the streets were full of crazy jugglers, acrobats, clowns, mimes, stilt walkers etc etc. It was like circus all over town.

Emi is another person I could dedicate an entire blog to. She has been one of my closest friends while I have been here in Japan and have been really lucky to meet someone like her! A couple of nights ago her family had me over for dinner and her mother made a very popular winter dish in Japan---Sukiyaki---it is basically Meat, Green onions, tofu, konyaku noodles, udon, shoyu, sake and sugar all mixed together and heated at the table and then dipped in raw egg and eaten over rice. I definitely hope to make this for everyone when I get home! It was DELICIOUS and it was so wonderful to spend time with Emi and her family.

The last little bit that I want to add is something a little unrelated to all this talk about Shizuoka events but something that has been incredibly enjoyable for me recently...teaching a few private lessons. Since Nova closed down, a few former students have contacted me and expressed interest in meeting with me for English lessons and conversation and I have happily agreed to meet with them. I cannot express what a source of joy these lessons have been in the past few weeks.

Right now I have 5 private students---Emiko (a 56 year old housewife), Chihiro (28 year old bakery worker), Miyuki (33 year old office worker), Ayumi (30 year old counselor for battered women and Kiyomi (35 year old music teacher). They are all really fantastic people and so eager to learn and practice their english conversation skills. I have been constantly amazed during my time here with the general motivation and dedication that many Japanese people have to study and learn foreign languages. I hope to take this back with me when I return to the states and pursue some language studying on my own as well.

I don't mean to be biased but Emiko is my favorite. She is a very educated woman and very interested in American and World History. She is quite the character as well, her husband is a professor at a university in Osaka and her 3 sons are all into academic research and when they get together she says the drink very heavily and talk about world history and politics until the wee hours of the morning and then go to sleep and forget everything they talked about the night before because they were so inebriated. We have had some really wonderful talks comparing American and Japanese History and culture and it has been fascinating to get to hear a Japanese person's opinion about world history and American history. It's interesting because the more I think about the more I realize that the kind of conversations I have been able to have with Emiko are maybe the biggest thrill for me in traveling. I think that after I leave this country, the conversations that we have been able to have exchanging our ideas and cultural perspectives will be one of the experiences from Japan that I will hold most closely to my heart. For me, those kinds of conversations are truly what traveling is all about. What gets me even more about our conversations is how well she is able to express herself in a foreign language. It's challenging sometimes for me to have these kinds of conversations in my native language, it really takes a lot of studying to converse at the level she does in a foreign language. All the site seeing and city hopping pales in comparison to being able to communicate openly with someone who has lived and grown up in a country and has as a result many different perspectives on the world but simultaneously a very similar heart and strong desire to learn from others.

When I return to the states I hope to seek out people with whom I can have the same kinds of conversations with and I dream of being able to build a career and living around talking to and learning from and sharing with people from different cultures. I hope, I hope, I hope I can somehow make that happen.

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Photos

Notice of School Closure
This is the Japanese memo that was posted on the front doors of Nova schools nationwide on October 26th

My Favorite Things--Wedding Boquet Exhibition
Me, Mariko and Mariko's student with one of her floral arrangements--Kide da ne!

Fuji San
I feel so lucky to get to live so close to this mountain!

Mariko drinking water from Mt.Fuji
There is a special place at the foot of Mt.Fuji where there is a trough like area with water flowing from melting ice on Mt. Fuji and many people come and drink and fill up water bottles with it.

Akai (red) Mt. Fuji
At sunset you can see Akai Mt. Fuji for just about 5 minutes.

Ocha (Tea) Festival
Tea Ceremony Master, Me, Mariko and Kendra

Mariko and I
This is the shelf and tea ceremony set that Mariko's student designed. My favorite part of the actual tea set was a special slot designed to allow the lid to sit in, if you look closely you might be able to see what I am trying to explain. Mariko studies Finnish furniture design and so a lot of her work and her student's work has a bit of a finnish influence (think Ikea) ;).

The Granship
This is where the Tea Festival was held. It's a really beautiful building and many different special events happen here in Shizuoka.

Emi, Me and Emi's Dad
Emi's Dad works for the Shizuoka Tea Associaion....he gave me that really cool green tea mug. It has a strainer inside so I can drink green tea anywhere in the world and always think of Shizuoka :)

Special Daidogei Vending Machine
Shizuoka even brought in special vending machines just to advertise Daidogei!

Well prepared Daidogei Watchers
Stores all over the main shopping street started selling these mini ladders for Daidogei

Oishi (delicious) Sukiyaki
In the bowl: meat, tofu, negi (green onion), konyaku (a type of jelly like potatoe) noodles, udon noodles

The Sato family and I
Me, Takuya, Takako, Emi's father and Happy(pet bird)

Comments

[DantheMan]

Unfortunately, when I visited Japan, I didn't get a chance to try some of the dishes that you describe in your blog. I really enjoy your entries. I hope you keep 'em coming.