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So, the decision has been made. I submitted the forms today to recontract. Another eighteen months of badly written japan-o-entries await. Be afraid.
Posted by Emarrific at 11:33 PM | Comments (1)
It was cold and rainy in the mountain I hiked up. I hiked in an area known as Tanzawa. There are many mountains and forests in this area. I left around 10:30 am and got to Hadano station at around noon. The next number 21 bus didn't leave for another 30 minutes, so I went to a bookstore in the station and bought a fold-out map of the area I was going. Otherwise, the station was pretty sleepy, although not quite as rural as I had imagined. There were actually a fair number of chains like Mister Donuts, Souzai bentos, Tsutatya Video Rentals, and so forth. Still, it was a bit sparse considering this was the center of town.
I caught the next bus and got off at an isolated bus stop at the end of the line called Minoge. I looked at the map and it said it took an hour to climb up to another bus stop (that is currently out of service because of the season) called Yabitsu Touge. (Touge means ridge or pass.) I figured that these times were probably made for old people so that they wouldn't underestimate how much time it would take.
There was hardly anyone on the path. At first I passed a group of six hikers but after that, I only ran into approximately 6 hikers the whole day! It gave the hike a haunting quality... there were no human sounds, so I was keenly aware of the sound of the trees swaying in the wind, the rustling of the bamboo and later, the sound of snow crunching underfoot, the few neat piles of deer feces, the sound of snow falling off branches, the misty clouds all around...
By the time I huffed my way up to Yabitsu Touge, I was sweaty, a bit wet and one hour down. It was now 1:40. The thing is, the times on the map were written for the old people I was seeing along the way, and those old people were hauling ass! I ate an onigiri (rice ball), filled out a hiker's card (so if I didn't return that night, they'd know where to look for my body), and decided to keep on going. There was a decent amount of snow and rain on the ground, so I thought that I might not be able to go very far. I had already come up to 761 meters but now I was going up to the summit at 1251 meters. There was sure to be even more rain, snow and cold as I went up.
But, as I got farther and farther away from where I started, I decided it made more sense to complete the loop then go back. The snow was definitely slippery at times, but going up it wasn't so bad. Meanwhile, I felt like I was in the cover of Snow Falling on Cedars. There was mist all about, there was wild bamboo growing out of the ground, the pine trees swayed in the wind like in typhoon reports on TV. I passed a few rest stops and restrooms which were completely closed. It was so quiet except for the wind and the trees.
By the time I got to the top, there were little white tendrils of snowflakes growing on my bag. The last ascent was very slippery because the temperature was going up and the snow was melting, not to mention the rain from earlier in the was falling off the trees. At the bottom of the last ascent there was a sign in Japanese that said, "Keep up the good work! You're almost there! Only 200 more meters (10 minutes) and you'll get to a rest stop with food, drinks and bathrooms." This was completely untrue of course, since it was the dead of winter and nobody in their right mind would try to run a business in these conditions. But it gave me a little laugh.
Anyway, I got to the top. The upper shrine and everything else was boarded up and abandoned for the winter. I felt rather like I was at some abandoned shrine in Tibet or something, even though I'm sure it's much colder there! It was already 2:50, so I only spent about five minutes there reading over the map and eating my onigiri (rice ball). I was starting to run out of water, but it didn't matter, since I wouldn't be getting to any bathrooms for another hour and a half. I rested under the eaves of a small shrine at the summit of Ooyama (Big Mountain) and then headed down to the mountain as a big hard chunk of snow-ice fell of a tree along the path. I thought that if I were a bird and that hit me, I would surely be dead.
I took a different way down the mountain to a different station. I had to use my feet as a slide, at first, to get down the slippery upper slopes, but luckily this new path started having non-snowy patches sooner than the path I had taken up. There were more signs of civilization on this path too. Signs, abandoned but cool looking rest stops (can't wait till they open), and benches. I tried to go as fast as possible, but the supposedly 1 hour trip downhill took about an hour and a half. I actually ran where possible because I was worried that if I took my time, I wouldn't be able to get off the mountain before it got dark.
I finally got to the lower shrine and temple around 4:30. I stopped at a rest area to get some odango (three rice cakes on a stick with sweet miso brushed onto it) and a bottle of water, expensive at 350 yen and 200 yen respectively. I guess you're paying a premium for the inconvenience of getting all that merchandise up the mountain. The old man at the store was nice and even told me the faster way to go down (called onna-zaka or woman's slope) and that if I didn't hurry the ghosts would come out. I jokingly asked back whether the ghosts were the fun or scary type, to which he replied mysteriously, "sounanoka," which roughly translates to, "so that's the case, eh?" Of course, it could be a huge misunderstanding on my part.
I almost didn't go down the women's slope because I was against the sexism of it all, but I was running short on time and the light was already getting dim. It gets dark so early here because there is no daylight savings time here. Anyway, I resolved to go up the supposed "male" slope next time. As it was, the female slope seemed steep enough and long enough. I had to haul some serious butt to get down to the bus stop by 5:00. Then, of course, I had to wait 20 minutes for the next bus, hot, sweaty, wet and tired, BUT very happy to have done the hike. I can't wait to go again. I might wait until the temperatures are better in a couple of months, though. I'll have to find mountains without snow to climb until then. But I'm still quite entranced and might go back again before the weather improves and the crowds thicken.
Posted by Emarrific at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
Last night, I got my donkey whooped by some teachers at one of my visit schools. There were four of us, including one fairly serious amatuer bowler. He had his own ball, wrist protector, shoes... the whole get-up! He also had beefy arms, which I think kept him from feeling exhausted by the end of the night. Lucky! The other teachers were decent too, both managing to get close to or break 100.
After two rounds, I was exhausted, I hadn't even come close to reaching 100 points, and my ball had strayed into the gutter quite a few times. I think I got one spare. The one strike I almost managed to get was foiled by the trigger-happy lane sensors that disqualified me for going one microscopic molecule too far into the lane. Not that I'm bitter. Anyways, I've posted some pictures (including a picture of my sad sad score sheet) on the photo part of the site.
Anyway, the teachers were really cool and said they'd like to do it more in the future. Woo hoo! I've already started working out in the gym and doing long hikes in preparation. Heck, I might even stray into a bowling alley before the next visit. Well, wonders never cease...
Posted by Emarrific at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)
I got my hair cut like Kyoko Yamaguchi, famous daughter of Animal Hamaguchi. Animal Hamaguchi is that lovable judo coach who yells really loud as a way of intimidating his daughters opponents, building up moral and also getting a few laughs. He's bald. But she'sn not. She's got short hair.
In any case, I asked the lady to cut it like her hair, but she didn't quite believe me and so she cut my hair in the style of a female mullet... a fashion trend in Japanese hairstyles these days. Maybe if I were anorexic I could get away with the rat tail look, but no, not I. So, after a bit of emotional shock and anger, I went back and got the back shortened. Here is a picture of the rattails. You can see my current haircut in the bowling pictures.
Posted by Emarrific at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)
Once, when I was in high school, I remember going down to the natural food store near my house and standing for about 45 minutes in front of the natural foods candy section. I scrutinized the ingredients of each one and argued with myself about whether I should prioritize taste over fat/nutrition, which would mean I should get the heavy tahini layered Halva, or nutrition over taste, which would dictate my buying the not so appetizing looking but healthy green mineral glop bar. I remember being very uncomfortable standing and squatting. The indecision made me almost immobile. The minutes creaped by and the store people gave me funny looks.
Decisions. For over-thinkers such as myself, they are both tantalizing and torturous. They waste my time. They sometimes can cause me to lie down and squeeze little pearl drops out of my eyes. And sometimes, they cause me to stand for 45 minutes in a store, or cause me to get my dinner later than everyone else. Nonetheless, they are captivating.
I have gotten a little better since high school. I don't spend 45 mintues in front of the candy section anymore, although an occasional lapse might cuase me to dally for about 15 minutes. No, I've graduated to bigger decisions such as, "What is my purpose in life?" "What should I do in the future?" "Why am I on earth?" and most importantly,
"Should I recontract for one more year in Japan?"
Yes, it's recontracting time. It's time to decide if I want to spend two years in Japan in a not so high-powered job with scant responsibilities and time requirements, one Pacific ocean removed from my family, friends and boyfriend. I'm pretty sure I will stay, but part of me is bringing up all the if's and but's...
Well, IF you were going to do a career other than teaching, you should be going back now to start working towards that career. (Nevermind that I don't even know what I want my career to be!) BUT if you don't go back, you'll have to suffer through two years of long-distance relationship loneliness! (Nevermind that we can visit each other a lot and keep in good touch.) BUT IF you want to go to school (a big IF), then you should be taking courses in the States and getting ready for that. You can'd do that in Japan. BUT what about a career and a family? Aren't you rapidly getting too old for that? If you want to have a good career or accomplish something in life, shouldn't you be starting that now instead of trapaizing around Japan?
And so forth...
Anyway, I think that I won't get an opportunity like this again where I have so much free time to explore Japan, improve my Japanese, really try my hand at teaching, and get to know my relatives. And, I don't really have a career plan, so there's no rush to get back to something that doesn't exist. Right?
Posted by Emarrific at 03:10 PM | Comments (2)
Six floors of woman heroine themed karaoke rooms that aren't smokey... what more could a woman ask for? I ask you!
I've discovered a most wonderful karaoke shrine in Shibuya, a rather large Shidax karaoke palace. There are five or six floors, each assigned a female "heroine" such as Cinderella, kaguya hime (moon princess) and so forth. Me and my friend, Sh--, got the Cinderella floor.
When we stepped out of the elevator, we were greeted by a whole theme floor filled with Cinderella interior decoration: wallpaper, dresses, sequined shoes, drapes... In our particular room, there was a glass case with a Cinderella shoe in it. The "dumb" room (I guess there are other rooms with better acoustics and interior decoration) was huge, with enough room to seat about 10 people.
And the air was clean! Wooppeee! My biggest reservation about going to a karaoke joint in Japan is knowing that I will leave with lungs and clothes suffused with smoke.
Unfortunately, it's about two hours from my house. If only I could find a similarly ideal karaoke place 30 minutes or less from my house. Sigh... If anyone happens to know of a karaoke place like this in Yokohama, I'm all ears and eyes.
Posted by Emarrific at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
(Just so you know, this is a boring entry about what I am reading. Ignore it if you despise thses boring sorts of writing. See, I already loathe myself for writing it. But it's written, so I'll post it anyways!)
For the past couple of weeks, I've been literally absorbing through my skin all children's fantasy literature and other no-brainers available in my local bookstores. Which isn't a lot, granted. But still, I spent most of the vacation in a reading daze... hunched over a book while waiting for trains, in trains, in hotel rooms, while eating, and even while blow-drying my hair. (I have finally found a way to make the 15 minutes it takes to completely dry my hair bearable!)
To start with, I read the first of the Pendragon series, written by the TV screenwriter D.J. MacHale. It's alright. Then I read, don't laugh, Catwoman. It's actually decent... I'm sure it is lightyears better than the movie with Halle Berry, which I haven't seen.
In addition, I read Eragon, a children's fantasy novel that was written when the author, Christopher Paolini, was 15 years old! It's actually quite a fast read. It has a lot of influence from Tolkein, I think, and I don't just mean the title.
Yes, it finally dawned on me today that the main character's name, Eragon, is suspiciously close to Aragon, one of the main characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There are elves, dwarves, and humans, as well as grotesque monsters that remind me a lot of orcs. OK, so it is really quite similar! But, this story features dragon lore more than elf/human lore, unlike LOR. Also, it's for teens not adults.
I also finished reading the first of the Chrestomanci series books, by Diana Wynne Jones. Did you know her book, Howl's Moving Castle was made into an animated movie by Miyazaki Hayao? It's been released in Japan, but I'm sure it will make it's way to the states in a short while.
In between, I've been catching stories from Tokyo Confidential, a collection of articles translated from Japan's trashy weeklies, the U.S. equivilent of The Enquirer. They don't have as many aliens in the Japanese weeklies, though. I wonder why Americans are so obsessed with aliens?
So, basically I've had my nose stuck in a book for every second I could possibly spare. My brain is in a book haze, and I laze about doing nothing. Without a book now I wander about aimlessly, writing endlessly...
Next on the block are Sophie's World, a novel about a young girl's encounter with philosophy, and Body of Evidence, an award winning murder mystery. I would read more children's fantasy novels, but I'm fast running out of tempting ones. I have one more Chrestomanci novel that I can read and after that it looks like I will have to wait for some sequels. This year looks promising: Harry Potter 6, Eragon sequel, and some other stuff I forgot already. I also need to catch up to the current novel in the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next series. Has anyone read the fifth book?
Posted by Emarrific at 10:17 AM | Comments (1)
or... I'm not a shopaholic, really!
As I mentioned in an earlier entry, fukubukuro (fortune bags) are an annual Japanese New Year's tradition. Stores put a bunch of junk that they haven't been able to sell into a bag and sell them for depply discounted prices. The catch is that you don't know exactly what you are going to get.
Or... that's the way it used to be. Now-a-days, convenience is the rule. At almost every store there are samples of what will be in the bag (with a bit of variation.) The bags are also marked with sizes if they are full of clothes. So, the only "surprise" now is in finding out what color or flavor the contents will be.
They can be a great deal, however. For instance, I got a bag full of Nike breathable winter sports wear for about 10,000 yen (approx. 100 USD); normally it would cost nearly 25,000 yen (approx. 250 USD). True, some of the colors are funky, but then again, I don't really care how I look when I work out. I'm not a jogging fashion show, afterall.
I also got a fukubukuro at Body Shop, filled with body shampoos, refreshing sprays, foot refreshers, and a loofa stick all for about 2100 yen. The only catch is that most of the stuff is in strange flavors: brazil nut, melon seed, peppermint and vanilla. Luckily I don't know anyone who will be sniffing or licking my feet anytime soon. At least, I don't think so....
In addition, a lot of stores were having sales; most of last year's goods were 50% off. The first few days of the new yaer is an awesome time to shop in Japan and get deals. For a stingy lass like myself, it was time to go crazy. I'm just bummed that the bookstores I frequent didn't seem to be having the same tremendous sales that the rest of the shopping world were having. Sigh. Bad news for the book-o-phile.
I'll be posting some pictures of the fukubukuro booty whenever I stop being so lazy. Don't hold your breath.
Posted by Emarrific at 02:49 PM | Comments (2)
In the past three days, I got all my partying, clubbing, late-nighting, cigarette-smoke-inhaling and drinking done for last year and this year combined!
12/31: I went to a fairly chill (for a club) raggae night at a club in Tokyo. I went with some fellow English teachers and their friends; every single person in our group was the best! One girl was a dancing maniac, even getting on the stage at one point to egg on the crowd. Then there was the guy who didn't drink at all and still seemed to enjoy hanging out with us drunkies, which is really quite impressive. By the way, have you ever had "Forbidden Love"? Apparently one of my fellow English teachers has been asked this question by her students, with no further explanation after she gave an answer. I think the most memorable thing of all though, was joking around with the drunk chef who was cooking toshi-koshi soba (some kind of end-of-the-year soba) who took like 30 minutes to make a batch of soba. That's a long time, if you're wondering. I kept on asking, "Where is my friends' toshi-koshi soba?" and I think he got a kick out of it. He kept on calling me BEEPU BEEPU, which I finally figured out meant VIP... or Very Intensely (scary) Person. He he.
Anyway, I left the club around 3am and didn't get home until 5am. This is really quite unusual for an Emarrific-ster.
1/1: This day was supposed to be a relaxing day where I was to recover from my new year's eve revelry BUT it was not to be. My co-worker, A--, had a 20 person party at his huge but slightly dilapidated house featuring lots of snacks, alcohol and GYOZA! This is A--'s second stuff-your-face-with-gyoza party. This time it was chicken gyoza and vegie gyozas; I helped make the filling, wrapped the gyoza and cooked them up with a cool new friend who has dubbed herself as a potato queen. Between stuffing huge amounts of not so healthy snacks into my gullet, I downed copious amount of sake. As A--'s party neared it's end, I was doing D--'s famous crotch dance (some of you know it's origins) and was participating in jelly-belly and dried blueberry shooting wars. Uh, sorry A--...
Afterwards, in my fairly buzzed state, I decided to go to THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE to sing karaoke until 3am with two expert karaoke singers. The karaoke selection was sad, so we were forced to sing "Take me Home, Country Roads", "Luka" and Spice Girls. Ah, gotta love alcohol!
1/2: This day was really not slated to be an "alcohol" day since we were visiting my mom's restaurant friends to eat osechi ryori (traditional Japanese new year's food)... but silly me, I forgot that they regularly imbibe more wine, champagne, beer and sake than most of my younger friends COMBINED. OK, that may be a bit of hyperbole... Anyways, when presented with expensive and delicious Don Perignon, red wine and sake, it was hard to resist. However, in my sleep deprived, karaoke-exhausted state, the alochol quickly took action and reduced me to a sleepy state. However, before this happened, I got to enjoy a most wonderous selection of osechi that came from not one but TWO fancy restaurants. Especially delicious was the kazu no ko (not exactly sure what it is, but I think it is a bunch of super crunchy fish eggs clumped together), ozouni (clear broth soup with mochi and chicken... this one was unusual because it has daikon), and the sweet egg squares. Yum!
Afterwards, we snuck off to Yokohama to try to score a nice fuku-bukuro (hodge-podge bag full of unknown things) at a department store, but couldn't find on that seemed really promising. It is a yearly tradition that stores put together this bag of goodies ranging in price from 2000 yen to 20000 yen or more (20 USD to 200 USD+). They have bags full of unknown stuffed animals, stationary, clothes, shoes, miscellaneous, etc. It's kind of fun, even though you risk getting a bunch of crap you don't want and have to palm off as gifts to other people. I WANT ONE! I will get one today!
Then, last night, I decided, stupidly, to stay up late, in my freezing cold room, to finish Eragon, a children's fantasy novel that I have been glued to for the last few days. It was written when the author was 15! Wow! Anyway, I gave up around 2:30am.
New Year's Resolution: Don't stay up late, don't eat too much, don't drink too much alcohol, don't inhale lots of cigarettes, don't spend too much money and don't read in bed. Do go outside a lot to exercise and explore, do eat healthy and in moderation, and do study lots of things about teaching English and materials in Japanese. He he. Basically, don't do as I did the first couple days of the new year. I guess we'll find out soon whether this resolution is worth it's space on the web. :D
Posted by Emarrific at 10:10 AM | Comments (2)