Kyoto and the four seasons

We took a day out to visit Kyoto and view the famed Autumn leaves. We opted for the cheapest option possible: a bus tour. This involved early starts, four hour journeys and only 5 hours in Kyoto, but it was wonderful. Many students tell us that their favourite thing about Japan is that it has four seasons... Ummm... I generally don't take the time to point out that Japan is not unique in this but Japanese people do take the seasons very seriously. The supermarket selection is extremely seasonal, including beer. The winter beers are definitely superior to the summer choices. It seems that in summer the only requirement for the beer and happoshu is that they must be cold and wet.... Hold on a sec.. I was writing about Kyoto wasn't I?? The temples and gardens are extremely impressive and really do show off the beauty of Japanese architecture. The weather wasn't great for photo's but we managed to avoid the rain. We will probably head back in the spring to enjoy the cherry blossoms.
A photo or two will follow on Sunday....

Hello Miles

We have just received great news that our friends Matt and Hils have had a healthy baby boy named Miles.
Congratulations!!! おめでとうございます

Goodbye Gary!

Last Saturday one of the teachers left to return to Vancouver. He has been with the school for over two years and he will be sorely missed by all of us.
He is heading to Vancouver with his wife Yoshie. It will be quite an adventure because Yoshie is pregnant and Gary has yet to secure employment. However, they are two wonderful people and we know that they will have no problems!!!!
Best of luck to the Loucks!

Ohgiya - an Izakaya

I have decided to try a different post style. Occasionally I am going to write a post that helps to understand some regular part of our lives here in Hamamatsu. They may seem a little boring but it is as much a diary entry for us as info for the readers.
I'll start with an average trip to Ohgiya.

Ohgiya is an izakaya. An informal drinking and eating establishment. It is conveniently placed between our flat (I am making a conscious effort to stop using the word apartment) and our place of work. This makes it a very tempting way point on our journey home after a long day. It has an area without permanent walls on two sides. In the summer this area is open to the street and in the winter it is protected by a heavy-duty shower curtain. The tables are small solid wood lumps surrounded by simple stools. As you enter staff shout 'Irashaimase!' (something like 'welcome') and one staff member will approach you to find out how many people are in your group. If seating space is available you are shown to it. The clientele at this particular venue is unusually varied. It is not unusual to see a mixture of Japanese (young and old) and gaikokujin (teachers, factory workers and professional drinkers). The atmosphere is relaxed and certainly not a place that salarymen would take important clients. It is cheap, one of the biggest draws. The beer is about one pound fifty for a glass that contains approximately 350ml of draught beer (varies massively though, the head can be anything from 2% to 50% of the glass). Other drinks that are popular with us are nihon shu (sake), sho chu (paint thinner), appuru saua (apple sour- an interesting collection of colourings and flavourings that produces mild intoxication), and ume shu soda (previously mentioned- the plum drink).
Although we usually order the same food every time, we often ask for eigo no menyu at ohgiya. Not many places have such a useful bit of paper. It's the menu in english and it is interesting to read the translations and be tempted by the dishes such as burnt gristle and bottom meat.
Our standard dishes are edamame (salted green soy beans - a great beer snack), daikon sarada (giant radish salad), yakitori (barbecued/grilled chicken on a stick), yaki onigiri, (barbecued rice ball). Something like a single stick of grilled chicken costs less than 50p. The service is polite and quite speedy. You pay at the till and it is worth checking the bill if you have been part of a large group because they have been known to make mistakes (not insignificant ones). We have had very few bad nights at Ohgiya which, considering the number of times we have been there, is surprising. I think they are a national chain and when looking for something cheap and cheerful we are both happy to call in at other Ohgiya venues. If anyone is in Hamamatsu and wants a no-frills evening then you could do a lot worse than this place!

Tubby-tustard

Silla burial mounds and no sign of Lala. 

Cotton wool

The beauty of Gyongju -land of the telly tubbies 

An intimidating figure

Some Korean men are extremely tall. 

My wifey now Dave

On the left you can see a picture from a traditional Korean Nobleman's house. The unusual item in the centre is a bamboo wife. Yep 'wife'... Men would sleep holding them fondly. They keep the sleeper cool allowing air to circulate. They really were thought of as part of the family and could not be shared with other people. When the owner died the inanimate wife would be buried with them. 

Woohoooo!

We are settled back in Japan!!!!!!
It has been stupidly long but the whole visa saga is now over. We have official permission from Japanese Immigration to work in Japan for up to three years.
Now, here as promised are some photo's.

The end may be in sight...

We have finally received our certificates!!!!!!! We are heading to the Embassy in Seoul tomorrow morning.......
If everything goes well then we will be back in Japan on Wednesday.
Fingers crossed!

Things could be worse....

Sitting in the hostel on the PC next to me was an Irish girl who had been quite excited about a job she had found in Korea. She was crying because she had just visited Korean immigration to get her Visa extended. They told her that she had overstayed by six weeks already (she had read the wrong line on her visa). There is a fine of up to 50 quid a day, deportation and a ban on re-entry. I suddenly felt like our problems were nothing in comparison.
Anyway to lighten the mood.... on the right you can see a Korean delicacy- silkworm pupae. I can't describe the taste but it is almost as bad as it smells. It is famed for its nutritional values... definitely not for taste reasons.

Still in the land of Kimchi - Thanks for all your support!

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch.
Wow... what a time to be in South Korea... Nuclear tests, North Korean incursions, shots fired... As you can tell we are still here. Japanese immigration are still looking into our documentation supposedly. As neither of us has done anything remotely dodgy (apart from growing my beard) we know they are just being complete a**e-ho*es.
We cannot deny that we have had some great times in Korea but the lack of control and the open-ended situation has left us feeling exhausted and looking forward to a bit of normality.
In the meantime we have plenty of time on our hands so I will be doing some monster posts...

Reset my account...

Ok so we can post again!
We are in Korea. In a lovely town called Gyeongju. It is a crazy mix of tellytubby land and a big graveyard. Photos will follow to help to explain what I mean. Old Silla dynasty kings were laid to rest in a thing similar to a pyramid (except rounded and covered in grass) and this town is full of them.
We are staying in Korea for a few more days then going by ferry back to Japan (For a nice holiday with Rob and Fumi). Then we are coming back to seoul to complete the misery of Visa cr*p.
Sorry for the lack of posts but it has been extremely manic recently. Hopefully immigration in Fukuoka wont give us any trouble when we come back into Japan as tourists but who knows....

Living.... NOT IN JAPAN

Unfortunately our employers made a mistake with our visa applications and this means that we can only stay in Japan for two more weeks........ No joke.
This will mean that most of the money we have saved this year will have to be spent on a trip out of Japan while they sort it all out. We think we are going to Korea but going by our recent luck we will probably end up in North Korea rather than South. I'm going to scream a few more times and bang my head on a brick wall until everything is magically better.

What are they drinking at the Pepsi marketing dept?

Whatever it is... it isn't Pepsi.
These are the ads being shown on TV for the latest diet drink from Pepsi - NEX.
click here

Pepsi Carnival / Pepushi Kaanibaru

The camp-est cola in town. PePuShi KaaNiBaRu. Good ol' Pepushi with the taste of tropical fruits. Could you ever see this bottle design catching on in the UK? I'm a fairly easy sell on new soft drink flavours but it really isn't bad (not as good as Pepsi Red though).

Regular readers may recall....

... the new year departure of a filling. Well... after the initial pain it didn't hurt so much and due to my strong dislike of dentists I kind of ignored it.... This decision has come back and bitten me (so to speak). The pain is now incredible, making one side of my face feel slightly numb and my whole head feel like a facehugger's spawn has taken temporary residence in my jaw and is looking to move on soon. I had previously posted that paracetomol was not available in Japan. The pain made me search a little harder and I discovered that acetomenophen is what it is called in the USA and it's sold under the brand name Tylenol. I found tylenol in my local pharmacy. Five quid for 20 300mg tablets!!!!! I bought them anyway. I have the number for a local english speaking dentist and I will be visiting him in the near future. AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!
Here are some pics from our recent trip to Takayama and Hida.....

The thatched roof of a Hida village house.

Hida village in the rain. A beautiful museum village. People don't live here but there are a number of traditional craft workshops.

The rickshaw guys were discussing latest footwear fashions.

Everything you need in one little shop. Beef, beer and icecream.

Why is this cheeky young chappy so happy?

...Because he is riding a huge fish. Wouldn't you be cheery if you had transportation like this?

It sounds like you've nicked our heat!

I was checking the BBC and I saw temps of up to 38 degrees in the UK!! What's going on?!
It's cooled down a little this week (20-28) but flooding has kicked in across the country, landslides and mass evacuations. Today or tomorrow I'll put up some of our Takayama/Hida pictures. We had a great weekend (despite the torrential rain).

Very quick post...

Just posting to say that the temperature hit 35 degrees C today... Whew! It's hot!

Another tough one

Ok... so it seems that having one less teacher means very long days.... We taught 22 lessons each on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday I was in the office from 9:30am to 9:30pm. Luckily today is a little easier for me (working from 3:15 to 10) but Sarah has a normal 1-10 day. Next week should be a little easier without a couple of intensive students. I have taught a few TOEFL lessons this week and find them to be a bit of a minefield for potentially embarrasing language. I certainly don't want to teach a lesson involving Uranus again.
This weekend we are heading to Takayama and Hida Village. It should hopefully be a nice break!!

A tough week

This week has been tough and next week looks to be similar. One of the other teachers is moving to greener pastures and it will be interesting to see how the teaching schedules will change to take it into account. We have had a few intensive students recently (50 lessons a week!!) and it really does make the working day considerably busier. It has, however, changed my appreciation of my free time and sleep. Sunday is my only day completely free of lessons and will be wonderful!!!
Tristram Shandy was an unusual film. It really felt like an extended BBC2 comedy special rather than a movie. It was funny but not in a laugh-out-loud way. I would recommend it to Steve Coogan/Rob Brydon fans only.
Everything is Illuminated was a great film. I was expecting a quirky comedy but it is actually a fairly moving story about Ukranian Jews in WW2 and the effects still being felt by their families. So... I was really off the mark with the comedy genre. It has many humorous characters but it is definitely not a film to watch if you are feeling in need of some belly laughs...

Bonjour - A random blabbering today

Last night was a Berlitz summer party for staff and students.
We went to a French restaurant called Deuxieme. It was nice although French restaurants are not known for their veggie options... It was a little strange eating 'French' food with chopsticks! Afterwards we headed to an Australian bar where we witnessed the destruction of Englands world cup dreams and I spoke to a local Brazilian guy about repairing engines. I was completely in my element - football and cars ;)

This morning I tried a new Fanta flavour, Melon Cream Soda, and it wasn't bad. It doesn't beat Pepsi Red, my latest favourite non-alcoholic beverage. The combination of Pepsi and Cinammon works for me! I also purchased some shochu made with a herb called perilla giving it a nice taste and a crazy name, "Tantakatan". Our fruit liqueur hasn't gone mouldy yet and is already looking quite appetising..........

This week we watched Chronicles of Narnia (or Narunia as it is known in these parts) and it was a fairly bland but watchable film. We also watched Troy which was a bit pants but again passed the time. I think I should be a film reviewer... Tonight we will either watch Tristram Shandy or Everything is Illuminated. Keep visiting for my insightful and entertaining opinions on the world of cinema...

This is a great picture that my bro took. I have exaggerated the colour saturation a bit and now have this as my wallpaper.

A unappetising picture of fruit in a jar... Actually it is our attempt at fruit chu. It contains lime, lemon, kiwi and grapefruit. I am keeping an eye on it... We have to leave it for six months (meaning we can crack it open on Christmas day) but I am a little worried about it going bad. Oh well, I am sure mouldy fruit will add extra nutritional value....

This chap was caught napping near the temple. I couldn't wake him. He probably drank a few too many beers.

Seeing lights...

We went on a lovely evening visit into the countryside the other night. Our friends Akira and Reiko took us to a little spot popular with an insect with a particular talent. It was not quite an aurora borealis but it was pretty. I have never seen fireflies before and they are fascinating to watch. The light show was backed by a frog chorus. It was great! After spending time tormenting them for while we wandered in the darkness to a nearby temple where we provided the local mosquitos with a slap up dinner.

Matsuri video

Maybe this will bring back memories of swollen feet bro.... (link in the post title)

This is a float for Sakana machi. Lots of children get inside during the parade.

This was a kite for the team/town we supported during the festival.

We joined Hamamatsu matsuri... The chou we joined requires these particular outfits. Fetching dontcha fink?

Two of the insanely friendly locals of Gujo Hachiman.

So that we could experience a different side of Japan we both got sex changes and travelled back in time.

Gujo Hachiman jo. It overlooks a town shaped like a fish...

We tried to stop it but we were too late.... the mutant apple ate him completely. It was horrible to see.

Korean-style barbecue, so I'm told.

Meeeeeeeeat!

We found this man sleeping in our apartment. We were not sure how he got there but he eventually left without needing to resort to police intervention.

Happoshu

While my brother was staying I decided to find out whether happoshu was as bad as I thought. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was mainly psychological so we did some blind tasting.
We had ten drinks (3 real beers and 7 fakes). Two were black (one beer, one happoshu) and we ranked them separately.
We gave marks out of five and I had some surprises......
I rated one happoshu above my favourite afterwork beer Asahi Superdry. The good-tasting fake is over 25p a can cheaper so I have since switched!! The happoshu in question was Enjuku, a new happoshu on the market. Since the tasting I have been drinking this 6% brew regularly and can safely say that it wasn't a fluke.
Another surprise was that one of the beers came out as the worst (Suntory Malts). This didn't surprise me too much though as I think it's a beer on a par with Fosters.
I was glad that we easily identified the black beer and the black happoshu and rated them accordingly. The black beer 'Asahi Black' beat all others in its overall score and the happoshu 'NamaKuro' rated the lowest.
The one happoshu I used to drink regularly was Asahi Gold.... I rated Asahi Red and Blue with better scores so I must have been influenced by the pretty gold colour of the can.....
Anyway..... The next post will have some piccys.... Mata ne...

Ok... I know it's been a while...

The next post will be a biggy.....
Apologies to anyone who has been checking out the site regularly.... With my bro's visit I didn't feel so motivated to post but there are plenty of great pics coming.... So please check back in a couple of days..
Hugs and best wishes to all!

So pretty!

They've been there since Autumn to ensure the best view of the cherry blossoms

A Classic spring-view of Hamamatsu Castle

It's blooming lovely!

Much to our longly anticipated delight Spring is upon us and the Sakura (cherry blossoms) are just as beautiful we imagined. For Japanese people it's a worthy reason to celebrate, so groups gather in scenic spots with plenty of cherry trees to view the Sakura and indulge in a few glasses of sake and maybe even a bit of karaoke. For some, particularly a party of office workers, this is a highly organised affair and viewing spots are "nabbed" well in advance! We discovered just how seriously the event is taken when we strolled to Hamamatsu Castle park after lunch to take some photos of the cherry blossoms. Tents, plastic sheeting, food, crates of beer, barbeques were being set up in preparation for a long evening of sakura viewing and drinking.
S

Lost, Found and Retranslated

Some of our students try very hard to communicate in English, but it isn't always easy...

Just a couple of days ago I was reading the English diary of a high school student whose enthusiasm and efforts to express herself are quite a marvel. Having just graduated from Junior High, and about to start High School, she's feeling very aware of the transition to adulthood. So, she decided to commemorate the occasion by putting holes in her eyes! I was a tad confused and disturbed by this proclaimation until she realised her error and explained she meant ears! After a few moments of embarrassed giggling I managed to explain that the term used in English is usually "to have your ears pierced"!
Another example of a real keeness to communicate came from a little 4-year old student. He was colouring away during the craft activity when all of a sudden I heard him utter "Bob" "Bob". I looked at him blankly and repeated "Bob?" He then managed to muster a "Bob Builder" and all became clear. The following week he came to class clad in denim dungerees and a chequered shirt, and proudly pointed to his attire saying "Bob Builder"! Since then, I've come to know him just as Bob.
-S

Synchronised air guitar has been reviewed and refined in Hamamatsu.

Where did the pirates come from???

Drowning sorrows after a disappointing semi-final.

It was windy....

A dance festival

The other weekend saw the arrival of a dance festival/competition in Hamamatsu. Hundreds of competitors in faux traditional costumes competed for some unknown (to me) prize. Hamamatsu seems to need little excuse for a festival and this particular excuse was invented six years ago. At first we thought it might be some ancient celebration but it seems that it is a new competition and that might explain some of the lacklustre performances... I don't want to sound harsh but some of the dance groups would probably have benefited from six more years to practice. What was lacking in timing was more than made up for with incredible enthusiasm. The groups varied in age, costume, musical preferences degrees of inebriation. Having spoken to a few of our students about the event shows that there are very mixed opinions on new celebrations. Tradition is incredibly important here and new celebrations can sometimes be seen as diverting attentions from older, more 'important' events. Any way.... on to the pictures....

Some jokes

A bad one-
Q: What's the difference between a duck?
A: One leg is both the same.

I like this one -
After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes" replies Watson.
"And what do you deduce from that?"
Watson ponders for a minute.
"Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes is silent for a moment. "Watson, you idiot!" he says. "Someone has stolen our tent!"

Hammer time

Kimono and camera.

An unsual way to prevent fires

Most of the castles in Japan use large quantities of wood. It can seem strange to Europeans used to their big stone-walled fortresses. This meant that in times of war the castles were vulnerable to fire. If you check back in the archives for our visit to Kakegawa castle (Click the January archive link somewhere on the left of this screen) you should be able to make out curling shapes on the roof. See below for a closeup of this unique defense system.

Forget asbestos! This is the only way to protect your wooden castle from fire! This fish is designed to ward off all fire-bearing arrows and kids with a penchant for arson.

My bad day got worse...

So... No official complaint came in after the bad lesson but one of the students did make a passing comment to the office manager. Luckily I had already discussed the lesson with my boss so it wasn't a huge shock for them to hear the comment. I had a meeting to figure out how to resolve the problem. The suggestion was that I teach them again while my boss listens in on the lesson. Sounded like a good idea to me, but I was wrong... The first half of the lesson was ok considering how nervous I was but the second half.... I don't know what happened in the 5 minute break but when I went back in the smiles had disappeared and I was faced with two unhappy looking students. I obviously became even more nervous and really start to rush my instructions. It wasn't as bad as the first muckup but the students were clearly not happy at the end.... I'll update the tale after the customer comment forms have come in on Saturday.

Bad Day!

I had a very bad day yesterday. VERY! I completely screwed up the first half of a lesson and the students were not happy. I managed to prepare for the wrong page in the text book and when I had realised that the two students were giving me very strange looks because I had been talking rubbish I tried to seamlessly move to the correct topic by spouting more gibberish. It was about as cringe-worthy as you can possibly imagine.... I am waiting for the official complaint to come in... Bum!
Anyway..... I have a new toy to cheer me up. I will write about it in a future post. It's a PSP addon called Talkman. It is another way for me to practice my Japanese.
I know plenty of you are having bad days over in the UK, some much worse than mine. I hope that you all have a good weekend and stay happy.

The mincing machine pictured, reminds me of using playdough and pushing it through the little holes to make 'playdough hair' for little playdough people! There I am rolling a ball for the head, Shiho (just visible on the left) is making the body!

Moe and I are enjoying getting our hands dirty combining cooked soybeans with rice-yeast and salt.

Let's make miso!

I've finally decided that it is about time that I contribute to the blog, so that said, here's a post about a Sunday, a couple of weeks ago when Dave and I rolled up our sleeves to make miso; a fermented soy bean paste used to flavour soups and stews in Japanese cooking. Our friends (with the impressive collection of Japanese dolls below) have a family tradition of preparing homemade miso once a year at the end of February, and this year we were lucky enough to be invited to join them. So, after a timely but fun process of mixing, mincing and molding a thick paste of soybeans, rice-yeast, salt and vinegar, the mixture was then put to bed to ferment for 6-12months. By that time, it should have darkened somewhat and developed an alcoholic aroma (nice!).
Hopefully, a year from now we'll be able to sample our miso, and of course (with our humble inexperienced taste buds) give it the thumbs up/down.

This is a dolls festival being taken seriously!

A new post...

Sorry for the long delay but we have been very busy at work this week. We will continue to be VERY busy this week but it should start to ease off next week.
The 3rd of March is Hinamatsuri 雛祭 - Girls day or the dolls festival. It is very important for families with girls. Intricately decorated dolls sets are displayed. We have been given a small set which is incredibly pretty. I will try to put a photo of our set up on the blog sometime soon. The picture you should be able to see on this page now is an impressive display from our friends house (they have a daughter).
Families with boys wait until May 5th for the Boys festival (Tango no sekku) which, unfairly in my opinion, has degenerated into a general childrens festival... If girls get their own day why don't the boys?!

Mein Schloss .... UPDATE!

A long overdue picture of Mein Schloss (the German beerhall we visited a while back)

You can buy some unusual stuff at our local Uniqlo... Get your feminine sweat here!

If you know what I'm talking about it might be useful to you....

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Really great mp3's for people studying japanese

I just found these mp3's. They are great if you want to top up your textbook studies with some real-world examples.
Gambatte!

In Japan they make standing lamps that look just like people.

A vending machine selling tea, juice, vitamin enriched energy drinks, Pepsi.... and beer! Yay!

Valentines day was very expensive this year.

Big!

We saw this wedding taking place in one of the temples. What you can't see is the huge crowd of official photographers and wedding organisers.