All Change Please

Sumo wrestling is probably the most quintessentially Japanese sport imaginable and last weekend my town hosted a national championship. I was lucky enough to finish early at the elementary school I was teaching on Monday and I even managed to get a lift to the venue from one of my colleges, so I was treated to a good few hours of Sumo. All the prefectures were competing against each other and it must have been fairly early in the competition, as they hadn’t got to the knock out stage of the tournament. I was warned by a friend that had been to a Sumo in Tokyo, that it can be quite a slow sport to watch; it takes each competitor ages to get ready and then the match is over in seconds. However, because this was a national event and there were so many people competing (teams of three from each of the 47 prefectures) they had a lot of matches to get through, so it was actually quite fast paced. It was a nice and simple sport to become a spectator of. There seem to be very few rules other than no punching and whoever’s opponent hits the floor or is pushed out of the ring first wins. I just feel really lucky that I had it on my doorstep, and not only that but it was free! Usually you’d have to pay a lot of money and see a lot less action. I really enjoyed it and feel it’s another tick on the list of ‘things I have to do in Japan’.

I’ve had a few final days at some of my schools over the last couple of weeks. I’ve been really overwhelmed by the effort that’s been put in to see me off properly. At Iwane Nishi I was given a leaving ceremony that included a couple of speeches and the presentation of huge signed cards and some presents, all done in English purely for my benefit! Then I was taken to staffroom, where I was presented with flowers and a new hoodie for winter. I was utterly unprepared for all the fuss and was asked to give several speeches, which were a bit of a joke. So the next day I prepared a speech and brought some presents to give to the teachers in return and I was neither asked to give a speech, nor was given any presents. So it probably was right for me not to expect any fuss. It’s strange how different the two days were.

Every six months the Board of Education moves the ALTs around to new schools, which explains why I’ve had some final days recently. I’ll be off to a new school tomorrow, which I’m excited about. I’m quite optimistic about having a better time at the new schools because I think first impressions are very important, and I think now that I’ve learnt so much more Japanese (language and culture), I should be able to give a much better first impression and build a better relationship with the students and teachers. The change is also an indication that I’m halfway through my year here and after dreading that I’d either love Japan so much I’d never return home or hate it so much I’d leave early, feeling I failed, it would seem that neither happened. I’m happy here for the time being and am enjoying it but am also looking forward to returning to the UK. What more could I ask for.

The Heat Has Finally Broken

After months and months of stifling heat, the winds have eventually changed and the temperature has dropped dramatically. Japan feels like a totally different country. I’m beginning to get nostalgic flashbacks of the month I moved here for no other reason but the fact that the weather is reminiscent of that time. The last two days, we’ve had fantastic weather; just the perfect temperature and glorious sunshine. I managed to get out and go on a long bike ride and a long run and it really has been the perfect conditions for both. Mount Fuji has also just poked its head out above the skyline of Yokohama, again. It's such a beautiful view, looking out over the bay on a clear day.

I've been doing a fair bit of recording on my guitar recently. There's been a couple of rainy days off work and so I’ve ceased the moment to do something a little constructive. It can be a little frustrating record with so little equipment but I’m slowly learning to maximise the potential of the software on my laptop.

I entered myself for the JLPT level 5 exam, the other day, which ill be taking in December. It’s giving me a good motivation to study harder and should hopefully mean that I come away from Japan with some sort of qualification.

In other news my sister was proposed to on a weekend in Cumbria, this weekend and is now engaged to Mr John Ashforth. So a big congratulations to them.

The Peninsula of Dreams

So its official, I live on the ‘peninsula of dreams’, or so the merchandise that’s advertising the Chiba games states. Its funny because it was also this week that I had a conversation with a friend that was arguing that Chiba is the ugliest prefecture in Japan, and what with it being one of the flattest, most suburbanised and industrialised, one can see his point. Nonetheless I do live on the ‘peninsula of dreams’, so I’m not complaining, and we’re hosting the national games this year, and my town will be hosting the sumo contest. I’m currently trying to figure how and when I can go but fret not, if I do manage to get to a sumo contest, I’ll tell you on here. Watch this space.

I’m currently reading Orwell’s ‘Burmese Days’, which is a lot to do with struggling to cope with the stifling heat and alienation of living abroad, which all seems quite familiar. It really reminds me of Forster’s “A Passage to India” unsurprisingly; the old Victorian’s clinging onto what is to the younger generation, a crumbling empire. I’ve also been able to take up running again, since the heats began to subside, and was thinking about entering a half marathon, although the one I was thinking off appears to be full up now. It’s really nice to be getting decent exercise again (not that I don’t cycle to school several hours a week but its not really the same). Now all I need to do is find a good swimming pool.

There’ve been several trips that have emerged in the last week that I’m really looking forward to. I should be going camping with a fairly big group of ALTs in Chiba, many that I’ve not met, at the beginning of October. I’ll be heading back down to Kyoto for the third time with Lois and Alessi (who’s come to Japan to play a gig there). Even though it’s my third trip down there are still countless shrines and temples that I still haven’t seen. I’d love to tie it into a trip to Osaka, somewhere I’ve only changed trains at but I very much doubt I’ll have the time. And in November there’s a potential trip to Hokkaido that I’d really love to do but we’ll see. Yes indeed lots to look forward to.

My First Week Back

It was really nice to be welcomed back by such a large group of fellow foreigners. Although everyone was out to welcome two new female ALTs, it was good to see so many familiar faces and I even managed to meet a few others that have managed to avoid me for the last six months. It seems quite strange to me, considering how small the gaijin community is, how so many people could be living on my doorstep that I was yet to have met. On Friday there were probably the largest number of gaijin I’d ever seen in my town. Many heads turned on our way to the Indian. I hope it's the way of things to come.

I had anticipated that I would return to some pretty hot and uncomfortable conditions but I still didn’t seem to be prepared for the weather I had in the first week back. All the schools are preparing for their sports festival, and one of my schools is teaming up with the local elementary school. During my first week back I’ve been asked to observe the preparations and rehearsals of these ceremonies. During one two hour session of the schools that have teamed up, I watched no less than three elementary school children get carried off the sports field after collapsing in the heat. Another fifteen or so were led away before this was necessary. Nonetheless, the show went on and kids continued to rehearse for the opening ceremony that was over a week away. They seem to take this event extremely seriously. Even I, who was not running around like the students, felt the initial symptoms of heat stroke for the rest of the day. It seemed to me to be an extremely Japanese moment. Although its not usually this hot this time of year, they’ve always been outside rehearsing for the ceremony at this time and so it's a tradition and traditions are incredibly hard to break in Japan.

Last weekend I had a really great time in Tokyo meeting up with some of the guys that I arrived here with. I also met some more new ALTs working for my company and enjoyed going to a Brazilian festival in Yoyogi park. Brazil is a country that has strangely close ties with Japan. The two societies seem quite at odds, one I imagine to be one of the most dangerous in the world, the other the safest, one has a huge gap between rich and poor, the other is has one of the smallest gaps in the world, one is really quite reserved, the other likes to party in speedos and flip flops. Anyhow, there was a lot of rum being served out by some very friendly, Brazilian/Japanese people, which can never be a bad thing.