I apologise for not keeping up with this. My poor excuses are a mixture of being less enthused by exciting new things in Japan as I become increasingly acclimatised but also because I’ve been trying to pursue other goals, such as running more often, reading more and keeping in better touch with people at home.
December didn’t get a look in on here. There wasn’t an awful lot of exciting new territory to write about in Japan and much of the month was overshadowed by mounting distress about my trip home, due to the chaos that occurred across Britain because of snow, which eventually caused my flight to be cancelled. Needless to say I made it home, a day late but so much more grateful to be back. It was great to see people once again but a shame I didn’t get to see everyone. I enjoyed the homeliness of cosy centrally heated pubs more than ever and really appreciated a greater variety of beer, far more fresh fruit and veg and the ability to speak English to anyone I wanted. The family spent Xmas day around my sister's for the first time, which was a welcome change for everyone. The food was fab (Thanks once again Anne).
January went off to a good start in London and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get back into the swing of things in the capital. On returning to Japan, I’ve been blessed with extremely sunny but rather chilly weather, which I’ve really enjoyed. This month I visited my first Japanese castle (a small local one that Will and I had to ourselves) and the first visit of a helicopter to my school (a truly surreal experience). I had a fabulous night out seeing the Mystery Jets DJ and even had a brief chance to catch up with Blaine. I enjoyed attending a German party this weekend, in Chiba shi, where we were all serenaded by the charming Herr Alex Zeck. But on the whole January has been a fairly frugal, as I’m really trying to save for my trip to China. I’ve also bought some flights to Kyushu, where I intend to travel to Hiroshima from, just before I leave for China. Travelling around Japan isn’t cheap and so this really isn’t conducive to my saving but I don’t feel I can leave Japan without seeing Hiroshima.
I promise I will keep you better updated for the following final months.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Sunday, 28 November 2010
November
November has flown by incredibly quickly. I can’t believe I’ll be in England this time next month. It has been the mildest November I have ever known, which seems ironic in light of the unusually cold November England is suffering from at the moment. One weekend I was cycling into the heart of Chiba prefecture in only my shorts and T-shirt and even now I haven’t yet turned the heating on.
So what have I been up to over the last few weeks? Well as I mentioned I went on a longish bike ride inland towards to the Pacific with Sam. I was surprised at quite how nice the Chiba countryside is beyond my concrete town. And with autumn in its full bloom (as it were) the shades and colours of the woodland were stunning. We cycled half way across the peninsula, without realising it and have agreed to attempt to cycle the whole thing in the New Year.
I recently went on my furthest excursion in Japan and spent a weekend in Hokkaido, visiting a friend I met at training. I managed to get a window seat on the plane there and back and had an amazing view of the Tokyo night sky on the way up plus a perfect view of Kimitsu (the town next to mine) on returning. Hokkaido was interesting. It the most unjapanese place I’ve been to in Japan. It was only settled a couple of hundred years ago and so there are no ancient shrines, castles or temples, that you’d usually find in most Japanese cities. It was also settled during a time when Japan was really opening up to western ideas and so they invited western architects and city planners to help create the cities there. So there are often very western-looking buildings that seem out of place but more often than not the architecture is very experimental. Because there is no tradition that needed to be kept on the island, it seems architects often tried something totally new and different.
Jenn lives a short drive from the airport but we went into Sapporo for a day and stayed around one of her friends in the city. I had fun exploring the city during the daytime, and did a little xmas shopping and in the evening we went to a restaurant called ‘Cheese Cheese’, which was one of the highlights of the trip.
This weekend was my Birthday weekend, so on Friday I went out for a meal with friends that live in the area and on Saturday I went out to Tokyo, to meet up with friends from further afield. The second night involved excessive drinking, which meant today was a bit of a write-off. I received some nice little gifts and cards, for which I’m very grateful.
So what have I been up to over the last few weeks? Well as I mentioned I went on a longish bike ride inland towards to the Pacific with Sam. I was surprised at quite how nice the Chiba countryside is beyond my concrete town. And with autumn in its full bloom (as it were) the shades and colours of the woodland were stunning. We cycled half way across the peninsula, without realising it and have agreed to attempt to cycle the whole thing in the New Year.
I recently went on my furthest excursion in Japan and spent a weekend in Hokkaido, visiting a friend I met at training. I managed to get a window seat on the plane there and back and had an amazing view of the Tokyo night sky on the way up plus a perfect view of Kimitsu (the town next to mine) on returning. Hokkaido was interesting. It the most unjapanese place I’ve been to in Japan. It was only settled a couple of hundred years ago and so there are no ancient shrines, castles or temples, that you’d usually find in most Japanese cities. It was also settled during a time when Japan was really opening up to western ideas and so they invited western architects and city planners to help create the cities there. So there are often very western-looking buildings that seem out of place but more often than not the architecture is very experimental. Because there is no tradition that needed to be kept on the island, it seems architects often tried something totally new and different.
Jenn lives a short drive from the airport but we went into Sapporo for a day and stayed around one of her friends in the city. I had fun exploring the city during the daytime, and did a little xmas shopping and in the evening we went to a restaurant called ‘Cheese Cheese’, which was one of the highlights of the trip.
This weekend was my Birthday weekend, so on Friday I went out for a meal with friends that live in the area and on Saturday I went out to Tokyo, to meet up with friends from further afield. The second night involved excessive drinking, which meant today was a bit of a write-off. I received some nice little gifts and cards, for which I’m very grateful.
Friday, 5 November 2010
This doesn't feel like November
I’m really enjoying the weather at the moment, despite many of the natives constantly commenting on the temperature being cold. I cycled to work and spent the entire day in a T-shirt earlier this week. Something I could only dream of doing in an English November. For the most part I’ve still only been wearing one layer unless it’s raining, however this was the first week that I put a jumper on. Above all its just been really nice to get so much sunlight, something I’m going to miss when I get back to the UK.
As many may already know, I recently received news from Teach First that I’ve been placed in the North West region of the programme, which is good news because it was my first preference. I won’t know exactly where my school is for a good few months yet so I could be potentially teaching in Manchester, Liverpool or Burnley next year but given the ratio of schools, more likely, and hopefully, the former.
I’m just about to head off to the Design Festival, which a huge event that incorporates hundreds of Japanese artists and designers descending on a large conference centre in Odaiba. There are countless stalls where you can buy all kinds of arty artefacts. Meanwhile there’s also music, comedy, performance art and dance going on. I’ve been looking forward to it for a while and hope to come home with a couple of T-shirts.
As many may already know, I recently received news from Teach First that I’ve been placed in the North West region of the programme, which is good news because it was my first preference. I won’t know exactly where my school is for a good few months yet so I could be potentially teaching in Manchester, Liverpool or Burnley next year but given the ratio of schools, more likely, and hopefully, the former.
I’m just about to head off to the Design Festival, which a huge event that incorporates hundreds of Japanese artists and designers descending on a large conference centre in Odaiba. There are countless stalls where you can buy all kinds of arty artefacts. Meanwhile there’s also music, comedy, performance art and dance going on. I’ve been looking forward to it for a while and hope to come home with a couple of T-shirts.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Kabuki, More Temples and the Largest Buddha in Japan. A very Japanese few weeks
For the last three weeks I’ve been attending 5 new schools, one of which I am still yet to visit. On the whole the transition to the new schools has been very positive. Now that I’ve been in Japan and working as an ALT for half a year, I’m much better prepared to know what to expect. My level of Japanese is so much better, which really helps for making good first impressions and getting on well with both the staff and the students. My two new Junior High schools are about the same distance as the last ones, about 20-30mins away by bike but a couple of the Elementary schools are miles out into the sticks. Although I must be grateful that my new schools in the sticks are in slightly more picturesque settings.
Some of the schools that now attending are really rather small. Nakago, one of my Junior High schools has an average of 15 students per grade. The students there do seems to have above average English proficiency. You can really see the difference that the student to teacher ratio makes. I have to say that on the whole the smaller schools are a lot friendlier. There’s some social psychological reason that causes groups of 50 adolescent boys and girls behave quite differently to groups of 12. I’ve also begun to play football with the 3rd grade boys, at lunchtime, at that school. I must be becoming quite fit, what with the half an hour cycle there too.
Two of the last three weekends I’ve been hanging around with Lois, an old friend from University and Alessi, her international singer songwriter friend, that I befriended about a year ago. Lois being a journalist that reviews theatre and music on top of her 9 to 5 suggested we saw some traditional Japanese theatre. And so we all attended a Kabuki at the National Theatre, next to the imperial palace. I refused to get a translation headset in order to improve my Japanese listening skill and as a consequence didn’t exactly understand all that was going on. Occasionally Lois would whisper an update of what was going on, which was helpful. I could understand a lot of the words. However, putting them together in a sentence where I seem not to be able to hear the most valuable information and process everything so quickly, I was at a bit of a loss. Nonetheless it was a really enjoyable experience and the sets were spectacular. I also feel its another Japanese cultural experience that I can tick off the list.
The second weekend we met up was in Kyoto, where Alessi was playing a concert. I arrived from a rainy day in Osaka with Anne’s old housemate Jamie and his girlfriend Helen (who it was delightful to see). And the first night we went out for Lois’s birthday; first to my favourite vegetarian restaurant/ cat café and then I took Lois and Alessi to an all you can eat cake restaurant, which they were over the moon about. Then on Sunday we spent the day being guided around Kyoto, by the promoter of the evening’s entertainment and met up with one of Alessi’s old touring partners, who’s recently moved to Japan. The concert was very intimate and at a really quaint little venue by the confluence of the river. A good evening was had by all and we were all sad to have to go our separate ways.
It was good to be back in Kyoto and early on the morning before I left I went to Sanjusangendo Temple, one that's been recommended to me by a friend. It has to be the best temple I've visited so far. It's a fair bit older than many of them and contains a series of over 1000 life-size statues, which are unbelievable. I strongly recommend it to anyone that visits Kyoto.
And for the last few weekends I’ve been meeting up with a New Yorker girl that I seem to be dating. Last weekend she came over to the ‘wrong side of the bay’ or ‘the peninsula of dreams’ (depending on how you view Chiba) and we headed down to Nokogiriyama, somewhere I’ve been meaning to visit since I got here. Just a few stops down the train line there’s a large park up in the mountains above the coast, with spectacular views and the largest Buddha in Japan carved into a cliff face. It really is quite spectacular. It was such beautiful weather when we were out there too and there’s a lot more to see in the park, including a trail with over 1000 Buddha statues on it and various other carvings into cliff faces that make you feel like you’re on an Indiana Jones set. It was really nice to get out into the country again. I had a really good weekend, good company, good weather and a spectacular day out.
Some of the schools that now attending are really rather small. Nakago, one of my Junior High schools has an average of 15 students per grade. The students there do seems to have above average English proficiency. You can really see the difference that the student to teacher ratio makes. I have to say that on the whole the smaller schools are a lot friendlier. There’s some social psychological reason that causes groups of 50 adolescent boys and girls behave quite differently to groups of 12. I’ve also begun to play football with the 3rd grade boys, at lunchtime, at that school. I must be becoming quite fit, what with the half an hour cycle there too.
Two of the last three weekends I’ve been hanging around with Lois, an old friend from University and Alessi, her international singer songwriter friend, that I befriended about a year ago. Lois being a journalist that reviews theatre and music on top of her 9 to 5 suggested we saw some traditional Japanese theatre. And so we all attended a Kabuki at the National Theatre, next to the imperial palace. I refused to get a translation headset in order to improve my Japanese listening skill and as a consequence didn’t exactly understand all that was going on. Occasionally Lois would whisper an update of what was going on, which was helpful. I could understand a lot of the words. However, putting them together in a sentence where I seem not to be able to hear the most valuable information and process everything so quickly, I was at a bit of a loss. Nonetheless it was a really enjoyable experience and the sets were spectacular. I also feel its another Japanese cultural experience that I can tick off the list.
The second weekend we met up was in Kyoto, where Alessi was playing a concert. I arrived from a rainy day in Osaka with Anne’s old housemate Jamie and his girlfriend Helen (who it was delightful to see). And the first night we went out for Lois’s birthday; first to my favourite vegetarian restaurant/ cat café and then I took Lois and Alessi to an all you can eat cake restaurant, which they were over the moon about. Then on Sunday we spent the day being guided around Kyoto, by the promoter of the evening’s entertainment and met up with one of Alessi’s old touring partners, who’s recently moved to Japan. The concert was very intimate and at a really quaint little venue by the confluence of the river. A good evening was had by all and we were all sad to have to go our separate ways.
It was good to be back in Kyoto and early on the morning before I left I went to Sanjusangendo Temple, one that's been recommended to me by a friend. It has to be the best temple I've visited so far. It's a fair bit older than many of them and contains a series of over 1000 life-size statues, which are unbelievable. I strongly recommend it to anyone that visits Kyoto.
And for the last few weekends I’ve been meeting up with a New Yorker girl that I seem to be dating. Last weekend she came over to the ‘wrong side of the bay’ or ‘the peninsula of dreams’ (depending on how you view Chiba) and we headed down to Nokogiriyama, somewhere I’ve been meaning to visit since I got here. Just a few stops down the train line there’s a large park up in the mountains above the coast, with spectacular views and the largest Buddha in Japan carved into a cliff face. It really is quite spectacular. It was such beautiful weather when we were out there too and there’s a lot more to see in the park, including a trail with over 1000 Buddha statues on it and various other carvings into cliff faces that make you feel like you’re on an Indiana Jones set. It was really nice to get out into the country again. I had a really good weekend, good company, good weather and a spectacular day out.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 13 September 2010
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.
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.
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