tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74138897307692988272024-02-19T12:58:47.082+09:00If life were easy, it would be sooo boring!GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-20106953141523913002012-03-31T00:09:00.001+09:002012-03-31T00:09:22.104+09:00My new blog! 新たなブログHello my friends. I just realized there are a dozen people following this blog, so I'm sorry for not saying so sooner, but I have a new blog since moving to New York called, Hisashi Burrito!<br />
Please check it out and keep following me there if you like!<br />
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<a href="http://yellowdart.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://yellowdart.blogspot.com/</a>
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上のリンクは僕の新しいブログ。日本に戻ったら、またこのブログを使うつもりですが、アメリカの冒険に興味あれば、ぜひ上記のをフォローして4649お願いしま~す。<br />
おまけにニューヨークの写真一枚!<br />
Here's a taste of what I'm up to now!<br />
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<br />GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-15277483033060820712011-07-06T17:00:00.001+09:002011-07-06T17:30:28.126+09:00Catching Up. Poll Result, Australia, Japan, and My Triumphant Return to USA!So first, THANK YOU to the 38 people who took part in my poll. Out of the 4 choices, an overwhelming 50% voted I ought to move to Canada and become a farmer, so I decided to go with option #5, and get a job in NYC working for the international arm of a Japanese television channel. <br />
I say "I decided", but I was also very fortunate that they agreed with my decision to work there :D That, btw, will be starting September 1st, so I hope the Big Apple is ready for Greg Beck!<br />
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So... Australia! I went there at the end of April and visited my sister, who was coaching the Adelaide Roller Derby (ADRD, but please read that as "Ad-Rad") and the ladies showed us a simply amazing time! Not only did this happen:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6PFVLYYQ6uMGdcuaSCIhOhyphenhyphenbG4aCjTqU-PTojDd-62v-69H-WfsXpvfUAJaaoeojf4tOnkZV_WbRxrr2Y1c2QqABsiTxlhrhSb6EAczgS7gCw_h5AnIpnt7WlNPZdabDJIdTFsp_kuLw/s1600/greg1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6PFVLYYQ6uMGdcuaSCIhOhyphenhyphenbG4aCjTqU-PTojDd-62v-69H-WfsXpvfUAJaaoeojf4tOnkZV_WbRxrr2Y1c2QqABsiTxlhrhSb6EAczgS7gCw_h5AnIpnt7WlNPZdabDJIdTFsp_kuLw/s640/greg1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hold a Koala? Check!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHvNK-mRkQoaZyFVBKMXDzNGH5DI1-tocNIyQqqYW3KUlAgdB0hib7wTJ3Xa2ww6P0u0eNaTJ-MmXy4oDF7xW3rJENLTzKOJXSea0X0R4LTMaM2HqiIlojGqKD9EGyvjLff_O6oNkzk8/s1600/greg0.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHvNK-mRkQoaZyFVBKMXDzNGH5DI1-tocNIyQqqYW3KUlAgdB0hib7wTJ3Xa2ww6P0u0eNaTJ-MmXy4oDF7xW3rJENLTzKOJXSea0X0R4LTMaM2HqiIlojGqKD9EGyvjLff_O6oNkzk8/s640/greg0.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pet wallabies, kangaroos, dingo, and capybaras? Check!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7LMh0OZiOR_WhBbcmwFEHJJDY9h7HOjW04n5JMbVXlMYlNL6mUOU415AQHmbo6jO-EnZ6BIwihO7Dh64YfyxdWn1a5YRm9VQ6yMPMuiwEwH0llgiN4ws7D7ZmS08LrSQVgTia_x07ec/s1600/grega.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7LMh0OZiOR_WhBbcmwFEHJJDY9h7HOjW04n5JMbVXlMYlNL6mUOU415AQHmbo6jO-EnZ6BIwihO7Dh64YfyxdWn1a5YRm9VQ6yMPMuiwEwH0llgiN4ws7D7ZmS08LrSQVgTia_x07ec/s640/grega.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River Dolphin-watching Cruise. Cheeerk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our hosts also planned a bajillion other amazing things for us. We went strawberry picking, saw an Aussie-rules football game, went on a wine-tasting trip, and sampled the the large selection of delicious food and beer that Australia had to offer! It was great fun hangin with my sis as well. She is my hero, and you may notice I have a link to her roller derby blog (which does much better than mine, no surprise) at the bottom of my page.<br />
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After that I spent a couple days in Melbourne with my friends Kathleen and Jude! They also did an amazing job playing host, putting me up, and taking me all around town, even to the school Kathleen works at, and the restaurant her sister works at (Clay Pots, i think it's called...it's a great live jazz bar, and seafood restaurant! Check it out in St. Kilda!) Here are some photos you can click to view full sized: <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwT-V8AOm4-OWFdtbOmCvET5L0J2yZAzlLTl35pFJjliBdm-Ngt8JGiZMmsFeC_GDSVv00zoh30i0yk-wCpO5FSNXMf2nYzDp2UPRjsRV28akSg6SCtV903YoWDZS66RPhlcospUPyC0/s1600/melb5.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwT-V8AOm4-OWFdtbOmCvET5L0J2yZAzlLTl35pFJjliBdm-Ngt8JGiZMmsFeC_GDSVv00zoh30i0yk-wCpO5FSNXMf2nYzDp2UPRjsRV28akSg6SCtV903YoWDZS66RPhlcospUPyC0/s200/melb5.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdiys_7Pn7bFo3K6F4z8uuJrsk5BY-Z2MV_qvQHAbqy7YraopSUPge-NlSxhZxWaZhiJOVWFmlNwQfPwOtd0qEEjpYfdUb9bl6VrMicue1M1noP_ARPo5_Ee6pXwKZw9dWFXWs-FkN9MU/s1600/melb6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdiys_7Pn7bFo3K6F4z8uuJrsk5BY-Z2MV_qvQHAbqy7YraopSUPge-NlSxhZxWaZhiJOVWFmlNwQfPwOtd0qEEjpYfdUb9bl6VrMicue1M1noP_ARPo5_Ee6pXwKZw9dWFXWs-FkN9MU/s400/melb6.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>And to wrap it all up I saw my old friend Anni from back in my study abroad days in Japan! Stellar!<br />
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Then it was time to fly back to Japan, but not home! I bot picked up by my Hiroshima friends, Yamaguchi pals, and Ehime girlfriend in Fukuoka for another... RAMEN TOUR! If I've never explained ramen tours before, shame on me. I'll check later and post a link if I have.<br />
Here's what you need to know about that:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinC5wtL6eZTZ5Cwov45PnFbRDK5ZBtjmo4t0BTL8xa22thge0FugfcV_g1Gr7Y0Z1muHFSA0wk1fPZ3xKxEu5TedtIpKMzNFaiVEaqUJ1dKrJWfvQMdANw6iZka2bfPWTApaz_rYU9NJY/s1600/greg3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinC5wtL6eZTZ5Cwov45PnFbRDK5ZBtjmo4t0BTL8xa22thge0FugfcV_g1Gr7Y0Z1muHFSA0wk1fPZ3xKxEu5TedtIpKMzNFaiVEaqUJ1dKrJWfvQMdANw6iZka2bfPWTApaz_rYU9NJY/s640/greg3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IT WAS FUN! (You can see Steve and his wife on his motorcycle behind us!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After that, Wendy and I split off from the group to sight see in Nagasaki and visit some of my CIR friends who took us out our second night there. Again, awesome, awesome, awesome. Here's the abridged version:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqsOR6_kpvyUSN9v_2hAtzW7YCSxm-cBHbdj8EqdGWqJGeByOZWqVMJ-dLfstvNaHxj_YcFlk_RbZ0b0XWpLZyGtQdD8lL57M_mxZaRRVjEZp9xd0Gg55kWoahLnADap9Viyvxp9dDYc/s1600/greg4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqsOR6_kpvyUSN9v_2hAtzW7YCSxm-cBHbdj8EqdGWqJGeByOZWqVMJ-dLfstvNaHxj_YcFlk_RbZ0b0XWpLZyGtQdD8lL57M_mxZaRRVjEZp9xd0Gg55kWoahLnADap9Viyvxp9dDYc/s640/greg4.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>But we were by no means done. On the way back to Hiroshima we spent a day in Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-fashioned city in the northern cape of Nagasaki Prefecture, complete with gorgeous fields of flowers, a One-Piece (anime) themed harbor, real, working windmills, and a slew of attractions and restaurants. It was cool, overcast, and a wonderful day. Definitely a great place for couples!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-05OGGJv3HmsmjuQz0g8dqTYx0OOZy9e0erYHhwAA-TWX15vpXJstTiK639hkT5F7lSoJ95CkK_D386LMbLg8BtQiai39py8cuxA5JTEN89ZGKgj13eAfu2IyMDHcqMjunyhJDnvjn4/s1600/greg2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-05OGGJv3HmsmjuQz0g8dqTYx0OOZy9e0erYHhwAA-TWX15vpXJstTiK639hkT5F7lSoJ95CkK_D386LMbLg8BtQiai39py8cuxA5JTEN89ZGKgj13eAfu2IyMDHcqMjunyhJDnvjn4/s640/greg2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wendy brought her SLR so we got some very crisp shots of one another!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Since then, I turned 27, but worked everyday that week (and weekend). And in June we went to our annual touch rugby tournament in Tokushima, Shikoku. Wendy met me up there too, along with her prefecture's team...grrr ;D<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJnXeVFPnqrYzuzWzzar3OYBYnCme4MKBm_aVztDEi2QBSoHneOo_ok8MSPP_S_5gM5-Ffe9ioqZuBDaKBkN29GH5mlaqFmkC8WK57fag2KpojJQWh6kifznUH1VBZcKeR8Wly1A6sXM/s1600/greg5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJnXeVFPnqrYzuzWzzar3OYBYnCme4MKBm_aVztDEi2QBSoHneOo_ok8MSPP_S_5gM5-Ffe9ioqZuBDaKBkN29GH5mlaqFmkC8WK57fag2KpojJQWh6kifznUH1VBZcKeR8Wly1A6sXM/s640/greg5.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
Most recently, I had another solid date-weekend with my Wendy! <3<br />
We saw the new film Super8, spent a day at Kintaikyo and Iwakuni Castle, and spent the next day traveling out to Okunojima, the notorious "Bunny Island" that was over-run by escaped lab rabbits after the Japaense abandoned their illegal, top-secret poison gas facilities during WWII! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKvC1cLwpgfCSMuCsOjeRpLJK-i5Cl7uZPuzGvSHbP8sMBlrQb6vGYje8Uid-fawxFezXaOnmzsHBDEJI3pzcx0W-Rh7Y0snDhqqTjtROsB827LCBEk88cUvZgSqsmvqhIDrHkZeXjCk/s1600/greg6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKvC1cLwpgfCSMuCsOjeRpLJK-i5Cl7uZPuzGvSHbP8sMBlrQb6vGYje8Uid-fawxFezXaOnmzsHBDEJI3pzcx0W-Rh7Y0snDhqqTjtROsB827LCBEk88cUvZgSqsmvqhIDrHkZeXjCk/s640/greg6.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For some reason Kintaikyo is also famous for selling 100 different flavors of soft-serve! These were our second, EACH!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJfszSdLf-btBFKU-3isUG3WS-HCxysQVcNn3CJaomGvFjB9VhJIlQyV81boRZcHZANGVva5EhBwrqeljuFA-HpN4nFhgYXbYVn77w1OUJNH1PyOBgLUfylfHzP0gxKajNyhQbSLPe9g/s1600/greg7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJfszSdLf-btBFKU-3isUG3WS-HCxysQVcNn3CJaomGvFjB9VhJIlQyV81boRZcHZANGVva5EhBwrqeljuFA-HpN4nFhgYXbYVn77w1OUJNH1PyOBgLUfylfHzP0gxKajNyhQbSLPe9g/s640/greg7.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not only did Wendy get these wild bunnies to hop upon the bench for some snacks, look how well they behaved!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>So this has been my life these past couple months. Of course I'm leaving out my new venture in to the world of MMA, but that will wait for the next post!<br />
With all this stuff, I hope you understand why I haven't been updating my blog so often.<br />
July 30th will be my last day as a CIR and PA on the JET Programme, and after a couple more weeks with my girl, we must part for awhile as I fly home via Seattle on the 17th to visit my relatives and then fly down to Tucson and re-organize my American life while catching up with friends and family there as well! So busy! And to top it all off, I have to fly to NYC at the end of August and find an apartment by my first day at the new job!<br />
PHEW!GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-90118028883500424452011-06-23T19:14:00.003+09:002011-06-25T10:59:51.075+09:00Good Idea: Volunteer InterpreterAs promised, the other side of my week in Ishigaki, Okinawa:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZr38IlEUBFhvXOEsNxIlAjRjqXCYr3shaNrmxxruVOgZ9wR2TCoHHT8nvCa8zE9KeDs91sZtHfTEfShahoP8bCwbkwFbVLEzboUziqVTWKP7tUXQEf3NlhrZY_DYNqqBIyscFSWDoX4/s1600/P4142853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZr38IlEUBFhvXOEsNxIlAjRjqXCYr3shaNrmxxruVOgZ9wR2TCoHHT8nvCa8zE9KeDs91sZtHfTEfShahoP8bCwbkwFbVLEzboUziqVTWKP7tUXQEf3NlhrZY_DYNqqBIyscFSWDoX4/s320/P4142853.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mayor's thoughts: "I see you takin' my picture"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>So, I mentioned previously that day one I met some triathletes from the same flight to Ishigaki. What I didn't mention however was that the nice woman from Chile I met went on to win 1st place in her division (the highest womens' division, that is)! How did day two start? After the Spatan-style madness that was breakfast with my host family (<a href="http://cirbeck.blogspot.com/2011/06/ishigaki-okinawa.html">see prior post</a>), the other interpreters and I headed to the City hall and met the mayor! At the meeting, Stephanie, the local CIR who was in charge of organizing us (along with a million other aspects of the triathlon), explained what we were doing there to the governor.<br />
<br />
After that we had several hours of orientation, including a tour of the facilities on the island that would be used by the international competitors, as well as the hotels they would stay at. These became the places we were posted throughout the week to help them in shifts. We also received our schedule for the week, and everyone had several free days and half days to spend with our host families and sight see.<br />
Once orientation was over, we volunteers decided to grab lunch together and we followed Clayton, the only volunteer doing it for the second time, to Indian, but since it was packed, the four of us who had to work later split off to find local food and see the shopping arcade. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYpIRDQo85pnia6hlsmbetdKdkcQo3A7oAs-rRR6hqoz51-bk_busjoD1U0G1p0_BCHiiApgVn3vTNhix-G1-D9yAPkoowzIxWInbVRqa16MwstLtz_feQuHO2PYaXh70EiB2_ZUQk6r4/s1600/P4142867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYpIRDQo85pnia6hlsmbetdKdkcQo3A7oAs-rRR6hqoz51-bk_busjoD1U0G1p0_BCHiiApgVn3vTNhix-G1-D9yAPkoowzIxWInbVRqa16MwstLtz_feQuHO2PYaXh70EiB2_ZUQk6r4/s640/P4142867.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orion, brewed in Okinawa released a special can commemorating the Triathlon</td></tr>
</tbody></table> After getting to know each other over lunch, we shopped around and discussed our host families while enjoying the local color. Everyone in Ishigaki seemed to be not just friendly and approachable, but more tolerant (read: less gawky) of us foreigners and rarely made a big deal about us speaking Japanese (a point I really appreciate since I'd rather use Japanese to communicate the same things I would in English, not just discuss how, where, and how long I've studied Japanese). Basically, I was loving everything about this island!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6XYwHsSydZjR_rCBTVBGGhx67c8zgc_iixzubMGqVBQRE-7qoNH2OjMJmIEKly86vE5lmae7Qzq9B8CSD997n5HXS2xvCUOpEG5b0ONwnagCu61c9G-uRVLaCVMwXEu6xUNJYlMsreE/s1600/P4142869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6XYwHsSydZjR_rCBTVBGGhx67c8zgc_iixzubMGqVBQRE-7qoNH2OjMJmIEKly86vE5lmae7Qzq9B8CSD997n5HXS2xvCUOpEG5b0ONwnagCu61c9G-uRVLaCVMwXEu6xUNJYlMsreE/s640/P4142869.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This fishing shop sells the most ridiculously big and beautiful, old shells you've ever seen!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBg7bSMQaZkFN-kMcEnQNyJS2f849B-RbS-QrpOak8ZAOmv6dWqnnx2EjLtOtqqbsdoRlXJvZDnkl6VNUzxMc1k8Y7oFkliD9RIqWwGIzjJkYV0eQXZ9112I8QFBcSmjhfJSYX6umutPI/s1600/P4152943.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBg7bSMQaZkFN-kMcEnQNyJS2f849B-RbS-QrpOak8ZAOmv6dWqnnx2EjLtOtqqbsdoRlXJvZDnkl6VNUzxMc1k8Y7oFkliD9RIqWwGIzjJkYV0eQXZ9112I8QFBcSmjhfJSYX6umutPI/s320/P4152943.JPG" width="320" /></a>Tom's host father was actually the owner of a <i>minshuku</i>, a family-operated Japanese lodge, so not only did he have a hotel room for his room, his host, who had nothing better to do (thanks to the international panic after the March earthquake and tsunami, closer to MONGOLIA than Ishigaki), took us out for a tour of the island the next morning and snorkeling after lunch! We visited a recently discovered, ancient cave, and stopped all over the island to take photos of breathtaking panoramas and picturesque beaches with absolutely no one taking advantage of them!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2C0h_L3bGJn6T7h_jqfMNdv36Kl2KTF63ahRBOPjuY3kp6I-g9TzAzYYq8BM8E9QnqDbasK-jgbA7nS8oDL5tsDQpgIZabqLpQbGmMlG0ZN5pVEO45ieE9hncWClh5m3yuMqzceuwX1E/s1600/P4152971.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2C0h_L3bGJn6T7h_jqfMNdv36Kl2KTF63ahRBOPjuY3kp6I-g9TzAzYYq8BM8E9QnqDbasK-jgbA7nS8oDL5tsDQpgIZabqLpQbGmMlG0ZN5pVEO45ieE9hncWClh5m3yuMqzceuwX1E/s640/P4152971.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See what I mean?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqHFE3_1jXAbKa5Jbn5YzPVN24ChEBiSWNMw2tzz1qhcSYUWKkFpTsqIRmVhlzSFaWgS67IbujQbUgn3MxFlMFuptKsHoGCV2SecDOOYmTrGN3O4Wy446IB0Qwr6f1thYJQursEkQ0UM/s1600/P4153020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqHFE3_1jXAbKa5Jbn5YzPVN24ChEBiSWNMw2tzz1qhcSYUWKkFpTsqIRmVhlzSFaWgS67IbujQbUgn3MxFlMFuptKsHoGCV2SecDOOYmTrGN3O4Wy446IB0Qwr6f1thYJQursEkQ0UM/s640/P4153020.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>After sightseeing and lunch, I went snorkeling for the second time in my life, and let me tell you, it could not have been MORE different than my first time. The biggest difference was Ishigaki is covered in reefs, which might as well be the underwater nations' capitals they are so busy and crowded with every kind of fish and coral going their way and not caring one bit that you're there! I even saw 4 sea-snakes, which look like 6 foot long air-conditioning ducts painted with snake patters and a face like mollusk from outer space! Apparently they are one of the most poisonous things on the planet as well, but because they have tiny mouths, and are happy to creep along the ocean floor, we didn't have to call in the national guard.<br />
Up to this point though, it had really only been the 4 of us hanging out, even though I already knew 3 of the other volunteers from conferences in Tokyo and online forums, and I was worried that everyone would be happy to go to bed at 9 every night and hardly hang out with each other. Luckily, that was not the case AT ALL!<br />
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That evening I was invited by a local English teacher, Sean, to a house party of mostly older Japanese people who volunteer every year to help the triathlon as well. He had stopped by my evening shift Day 2 at the hotel, to say hello and see this year's batch of volunteers. That whole week, he and Alex, a cool dude from England, also teaching English on the island, extended these warm welcomes, and this, the first of many such nights, turned out to be some volunteers who had also used their network to invite pretty much all of the other volunteer interpreters. What started as a quiet get together and drinks with a half-dozen older, but very pleasant folks, turned into an all ages party with 30 people spread throughout the kitchen, living room and front porch, with children and and dogs running around between everyone's legs, good food on the bbq, more coming from the kitchen, and the older men urging the volunteers to drink more Orion and <i>shima</i>, the local term for their long-grain rice alcohol, Awamori, that is famous all over Okinawa. <br />
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The next evening as well, we were invited to yet another host's <i>minshuku</i> and Jeff, the Taiwanese-American volunteer made ginger-chicken soup along a pot-luck of other food brought and/or made there in the kitchen by other guests. We stuffed ourselves on hamburgers, taco-salad and snacks, and talked with owner, who also ran a dive shop, and a couple other Japanese families who showed up late. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgcVZeJzNizyCs4f7F0KKJCOLq6cSGXkLjdTQyia_pPLzfPQ_OeSoPmEkWy8QL770wirKwTCf-n4IWaCezgr2FnMYCenw7P1hEk8ZNhIbTfRb04UQ63uBm8sG8fxJ_Z2ZN7Hs4TnP7Uw/s1600/P4183040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgcVZeJzNizyCs4f7F0KKJCOLq6cSGXkLjdTQyia_pPLzfPQ_OeSoPmEkWy8QL770wirKwTCf-n4IWaCezgr2FnMYCenw7P1hEk8ZNhIbTfRb04UQ63uBm8sG8fxJ_Z2ZN7Hs4TnP7Uw/s640/P4183040.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
When I say "showed up late" it's because I didn't realize until about the 6th of 7 days there, that even though Ishigaki is very much a part of Japan, it was the first place in Japan I'd ever been where the entire island really didn't care about being punctual. Japan is right to pride themselves on how punctual their trains, planes, and subways are, but this town where everyone drove themselves, and liked to relax, had really embraced the island lifestyle and given up on worrying about being a couple minutes late. It was almost like culture shock when it finally dawned on me.<br />
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Finally, after a few more shifts sitting at help desks, and a couple trips to pizza and karaoke with my fellow volunteers and local English teachers, the big day had arrived:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiqRay9QA1wWKeFJ2Yr4LJyg01xLYkYlUg0xb7uABUW0K_D4uW1DtbqkXebTUOT_9yLwRuwo5lnAbceUP3bX5e1pQ5FiHXFmpp97IYmsafERD9cQUXtSZBaiA3U7uNz0wKF-AA-rjyKs/s1600/SH3B0839.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiqRay9QA1wWKeFJ2Yr4LJyg01xLYkYlUg0xb7uABUW0K_D4uW1DtbqkXebTUOT_9yLwRuwo5lnAbceUP3bX5e1pQ5FiHXFmpp97IYmsafERD9cQUXtSZBaiA3U7uNz0wKF-AA-rjyKs/s640/SH3B0839.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mass of white water is about 100 professional triathletes paddling the water like viciously fine-tuned machines</td></tr>
</tbody></table> After the morning of local and amateur participants, the pro women and men had their go at tearing all over the island! The swam two big laps in the bay before exiting, grabbing their bikes and tearing up laps, including both ways across that huge bridge in the photo above, before finally running a MARATHON. INSANE!!! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhutnoCDktUww0h_tiC0RRH0RHN0jJcOOmMyehmk2FMaRkjpUZcR8rkzxPSYEYh_MplUPxg2q2j36hMjPOKq8rcR0QwPsGXTbd4jAD9d5vhH6nacGPznmG8SQf9RCV_0emVAbELASU47pM/s1600/SH3B0848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhutnoCDktUww0h_tiC0RRH0RHN0jJcOOmMyehmk2FMaRkjpUZcR8rkzxPSYEYh_MplUPxg2q2j36hMjPOKq8rcR0QwPsGXTbd4jAD9d5vhH6nacGPznmG8SQf9RCV_0emVAbELASU47pM/s640/SH3B0848.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some more of the local color, out cheering for his Kiwi countrymen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Jeff, Tom and I were chosen to be on the anti-doping committee. So our job was to watch the athletes we were told to after the race and make sure the didn't drink, eat, or take anything shading between finishing the race and being taken for the doping test. We got to wear cool head sets and communicate with the people back at the test facility, and my guy, who placed 3rd was extremely cooperative and just happy as hell to have placed so well since coming back from an injury.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdx3Hb5-neKYpwnLk5NjGxlaKXG0CZwvJSZTjt19TqJYm8zc-S0yA-q9rjMuGstkCIrpH5pPPzjcJCEbHo5PjQ1Fv6syoAUZNI_jItroBCf9bpM2iWg8NEU9Oq1H1t41qXHCj7HQURQs/s1600/SH3B0849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdx3Hb5-neKYpwnLk5NjGxlaKXG0CZwvJSZTjt19TqJYm8zc-S0yA-q9rjMuGstkCIrpH5pPPzjcJCEbHo5PjQ1Fv6syoAUZNI_jItroBCf9bpM2iWg8NEU9Oq1H1t41qXHCj7HQURQs/s640/SH3B0849.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're officially DOPE</td></tr>
</tbody></table> That night, at least half the island met out in park for a celebration with live music, and food stalls from various local organizations and school clubs. My host family took me there and After looking around, I joined the other interpreters. Not only was everyone and there brother there that night (including the athletes from that day), the mayor stopped by our little group sitting in the grass and started pulling beer after beer out from his jacket pockets, thank us each personally. What a great guy! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirp6FIYgBKc35LmBWMxP3WSYySmgm2S_-aqDT8jqPQ5tvoJPidnsROCIkO5aUTwBQdBkX_HAjYt_XH2HCvAQ4wB1xo-YySTeUL4Wmt4CQLtP8LoJBNis8nH-PEV_xPZLT5BdGCplbxij4/s1600/SH3B0850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirp6FIYgBKc35LmBWMxP3WSYySmgm2S_-aqDT8jqPQ5tvoJPidnsROCIkO5aUTwBQdBkX_HAjYt_XH2HCvAQ4wB1xo-YySTeUL4Wmt4CQLtP8LoJBNis8nH-PEV_xPZLT5BdGCplbxij4/s640/SH3B0850.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I took this on my cell phone, but that's the mayor giving the thumbs up!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Meanwhile on stage, Stephanie was busy helping with the English <i>and</i> Japanese emceeing, so when she finally finished and the concert ended, we all marched back downtown, past the main area of the triathlon, for more drinks and karaoke, celebrating late into the evening. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6SDFVg-YZBAE6hLc_zJzxN0bFI1JAecCCnPs8Org9H5zcGXTvvG0QMphJTqgsv9NyaIZNP-ZVdjt7c1Gc0aHAFkiXqPGJO3yrmDkOVplLNYNZIjeYrx_wTpGD4v4SmHSoxHXQ2Ccby4/s1600/221993_10150160944384827_550279826_6534803_3724871_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6SDFVg-YZBAE6hLc_zJzxN0bFI1JAecCCnPs8Org9H5zcGXTvvG0QMphJTqgsv9NyaIZNP-ZVdjt7c1Gc0aHAFkiXqPGJO3yrmDkOVplLNYNZIjeYrx_wTpGD4v4SmHSoxHXQ2Ccby4/s640/221993_10150160944384827_550279826_6534803_3724871_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most of our merry gang, with Jeff brandishing the case of cola he got from Olga at the park!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgInvygUQTQWoe3PR3N7PNtMz8J8be6P-lB6jGF4w66jLa-Ic_T-s5zQRvvQURvODuf0sIMDg3z0_f2a94P4O4W3uX1FreuiisKWyWY-UW0oTUE9Gkeb1jizKuRkrOTcAr3E7PYHfSIYro/s1600/SH3B0852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgInvygUQTQWoe3PR3N7PNtMz8J8be6P-lB6jGF4w66jLa-Ic_T-s5zQRvvQURvODuf0sIMDg3z0_f2a94P4O4W3uX1FreuiisKWyWY-UW0oTUE9Gkeb1jizKuRkrOTcAr3E7PYHfSIYro/s640/SH3B0852.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ben, Sean, and me (holding some <i>shima</i>) at karaoke</td></tr>
</tbody></table> The next day we took some of the different triathlete teams form their hotels to elementary schools to talk to the children about what they do and their impression of Ishigaki. Ben and I got the Austrian team and I got to dust off my veeery rusty 'ol German language skills!<br />
<br />
The next, and final full day on the island was the first time all the volunteers had the day off at the same time so we all grabbed a ferry that morning to Hateruma, the southernmost island in all of Japan; it's so far south that they boast being able to see the Southern Cross constellation! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrzras2Kf6XfOuImpYSSA-CGN7abT3ZAvYveKIZXRDxT4tIyaNUpfwWJtMCHScY4Gfy3d2yGc7EgKMM2qUeGM45ZTV7wqUi0G_QYn8bEGNY9-naiDjs3FWl61i3To2gBJnHNpp-MWL8I/s1600/P4193048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrzras2Kf6XfOuImpYSSA-CGN7abT3ZAvYveKIZXRDxT4tIyaNUpfwWJtMCHScY4Gfy3d2yGc7EgKMM2qUeGM45ZTV7wqUi0G_QYn8bEGNY9-naiDjs3FWl61i3To2gBJnHNpp-MWL8I/s640/P4193048.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">seriously, they're proud</td></tr>
</tbody></table> We rented bikes, and rode all the way to the southern tip of this southernmost island, and after many photos on the wave-battered, volcanic cliffs, we returned to our bikes, pedaling back around to a place for lunch, and then the beach for more snorkeling!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzF9yYAE6ao6uGrkXfDYUgSk6TCqk7dJaWZevALqssyU_aJOPXk90X4Ny8w5-xJOuMxFjvszUHHriGIOI5VRiPU3HSZMuw4FbNXhhhUNWNKAPKRAow7HltjAIhWhPz2Y9uvM2qTiEWPIA/s1600/P4193054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzF9yYAE6ao6uGrkXfDYUgSk6TCqk7dJaWZevALqssyU_aJOPXk90X4Ny8w5-xJOuMxFjvszUHHriGIOI5VRiPU3HSZMuw4FbNXhhhUNWNKAPKRAow7HltjAIhWhPz2Y9uvM2qTiEWPIA/s640/P4193054.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh and did I mention we looked incredibly intimidating? That's cuz we didn't.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Then we barely returned our bikes in time to catch a bus back to the port and the last ferry of the day to Ishigaki. We all snoozed for those 2 hours, which was perfect because we had our own thank you/farewell ceremony and dinner to attend at a hotel conference room, and the City Hall <br />
(Stephanie included) did a cute, silly, magic show for us, but mostly for the children of all the host families who attended that night as well. Knowing this was our last night together, guess what? That's right! We went out for more drinks and karaoke. I think I got to go to karaoke four times that week, and since it's one of my favorite things to do, yet sometimes so difficult to find people in the mood to go with you, it was one more thing about my time there that I absolutely loved!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtItghsE-M9H7HmKPVGzi-eVAIWBIrqHGv_sBcaPXGivhp4_5DxwJQJB7FODfoymUfzBz39R3tG_woYpGchf0ZPV7DM5GseyQGWWFK8t7bT4OMvy_pEFh1n5RQaiad6psst4sNtTqPRbk/s1600/P4193174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtItghsE-M9H7HmKPVGzi-eVAIWBIrqHGv_sBcaPXGivhp4_5DxwJQJB7FODfoymUfzBz39R3tG_woYpGchf0ZPV7DM5GseyQGWWFK8t7bT4OMvy_pEFh1n5RQaiad6psst4sNtTqPRbk/s640/P4193174.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was a wild bar where all the staff, surprised by a sudden audience, got up and started playing us rock covers!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFr87IMlgEMaqqrwYYyMRuxlX2Ls_J982Cz1F9VBJySDJ40gZxf6rdbORYqXrh9uUGBgkuSEC5-z_S2x-1oxNBFLj1ZEY6Uz-K0ldZ5smqSPKJ-YAWstBEu1XlvhYniv4D_m2MfdMp4mQ/s1600/P4203213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFr87IMlgEMaqqrwYYyMRuxlX2Ls_J982Cz1F9VBJySDJ40gZxf6rdbORYqXrh9uUGBgkuSEC5-z_S2x-1oxNBFLj1ZEY6Uz-K0ldZ5smqSPKJ-YAWstBEu1XlvhYniv4D_m2MfdMp4mQ/s320/P4203213.JPG" width="320" /></a> The final day we had to say good bye to our host families and each other. After going through security, I sat with a few of the other volunteers, in an odd limbo where nobody spoke, lost in our thoughts of all the memories this week on Ishigaki provided. Then my cell phone rang, and it was Stephanie. with less than 10 minutes before our plane started boarding she called me back out to receive a thank you gift from the city hall staff, a few of whom also came to wave goodbye. Thus making this trip excellent, right down to the final moments before takeoff. But I don't say "flying home", because I didn't fly back to Hiroshima. I flew to Fukuoka for my flight the next day...to AUSTRALIA....<br />
To...<br />
Be...<br />
Continued!!!GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-62167934880410636662011-06-11T13:25:00.000+09:002011-06-11T13:25:48.380+09:00石垣と書く。愛と読もう。 Ishigaki, OkinawaOkay, so I am ripping off some Radwimps lyrics in my title there, but basically it's just a cool way to say I LOVED ISHIGAKI!<br />
<br />
This has been a long time coming so let's jump right in:<br />
I stepped off the plane in Ishigaki, and island of Okinawa so far south that it is closer to THE PHILIPPINES than it is to the southern tip of Kyushu!<br />
I went there as one of about 10 volunteers for a week-long home-stay while interpreting for their world-class triathlon. <br />
A smartly dressed, young Englishman, named Alex, was standing outside checking in Triathletes who were on the same plane as me. One of the other volunteers, a friend of mine named Erica who was also on the same plane, was quickly greeted by her host mother and two children, and she introduced herself to me as well and offered me a ride to my host-family's house!<br />
Half-an-hour later I am being shown to my own room and sitting down to dinner with my host-family of 6!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPtgajDnVhOVC-6aazlORbjvp7fPOrvd-es2cZrTzdcVRTcrOObN5OjTpwAxFcWtJ0i3lK-mjeSzruNGYBt8eC9uLzKOhH8n1aTvArlwfNdE3QoKcafB3vaFrxngi-KRfqXwxY_vpTMQ/s1600/masuda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPtgajDnVhOVC-6aazlORbjvp7fPOrvd-es2cZrTzdcVRTcrOObN5OjTpwAxFcWtJ0i3lK-mjeSzruNGYBt8eC9uLzKOhH8n1aTvArlwfNdE3QoKcafB3vaFrxngi-KRfqXwxY_vpTMQ/s640/masuda.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast the next morning with the Masuda Family :D</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Over the week, I got to know my host family really well and they were SUCH amazing people! The mother, Nodoka, spoke English really well, and it turns out she had spent two years in Tonga with JICA (the Japanese Peace Corp.) Her Husband, Yoshi, had quit his job and moved to Ishigaki quite simply "to be happy." And he worked very hard at two jobs, one being his own <i>juku</i>, a Japanese night-time cram school where he taught English, science and math.<br />
Their house was big and beautiful and infested by the noisiest, craziest, best 4 kids in the world!<br />
At 7, 5, 2, and 1 years-old, there was almost never a quiet moment, but at the same time the dynamic between them was fascinating. Sometimes it was all-out every-man-for-himself war, although Ryuki, the eldest, was pretty good keeping out of it. Still, other times, though rare, the four of them would work and play together so sweetly you'd think you were watching The Japanese Brady Bunch.<br />
The second oldest, Takeru, was the star of the show and demanded constant attention. Every morning I would laugh as he piled have of the bread on the table onto his plate, even though he only ate maybe 2 pieces. But even though he liked to talk and act like a bully, he was really very sensitive and sweet; quick to laugh, quick to cry; this kid wore a heart of gold on his sleeve.<br />
Himari, their only daughter, was a darling example and sharp contrast to the boys. That first night she walked right up to me (I was sitting on the floor), handed me a hair clip, turned around and sat on my lap like "Ok, now you're going to play with my hair". She would sneak attack her mom with a hair brush. Without saying a word, she'd pull out Nodoka's hair band and start combing! My favorite thing about her though was that she would sneak off by herself and run little experiments. I found her in the bathroom one morning washing off rocks in the bathroom hand sink and getting water all over the floor, but I just laughed and gave her a towel and left her to it and when I came back later everything was clean.<br />
Maybe it was actually Nodoka who cleaned it, but I couldn't even fathom the amount of energy those children must take. She and Yoshi both were excellent parents, and they always seemed to say exactly what I hope I'd say to my kids. They were infinitely patient, they'd speak English to their kids, have other families and children over, take Ryuki to baseball practice, catch bugs with Takeru, and all the while, keep an ever-vigilant eye on Kazu, The Vacuuming Fascist.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibT1UCkPV1JaQSmmGA2qQiV-l-V_dDbFGCErIZYLnMYdPDyra4VJl6UmOITxusRfIjcVrSRTd9pH0PK6sCrAuoaLMpPHlh277fOEM_UvSI98Tkh7yAIgzTfwz03qlJlFX42eX-xZDWm-U/s1600/224962_10100288490908802_10118973_54136681_1971733_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibT1UCkPV1JaQSmmGA2qQiV-l-V_dDbFGCErIZYLnMYdPDyra4VJl6UmOITxusRfIjcVrSRTd9pH0PK6sCrAuoaLMpPHlh277fOEM_UvSI98Tkh7yAIgzTfwz03qlJlFX42eX-xZDWm-U/s640/224962_10100288490908802_10118973_54136681_1971733_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Maybe it was because he is always at home watching him mom clean, but at 1 year old, Kazu seemed to love sweeping and vacuuming more than walking. Seriously, his favorite toys were a small broom and the vacuum cleaner. Even turned off, he would pull it out of the closet by himself and push it around the floor contentedly. I liked to call him "Kazu the Fascist" because he always sat back and purveyed - not "look" or "gaze" - he would purvey the house and everyone and everything in it with a confidence that said "All of this is mine". <br />
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I spent the week traveling, sight-seeing, partying, and interpreting with the other volunteers and we had such a great time together, but my host family made the time there so unique and I loved coming home and seeing them, waking up and having the boys peeking in my bedroom, whispering to each other, and eating meals and playing with them. I'll talk more about the other stuff next time, but when I think of Ishigaki, the fondest memories and warmest emotions are of the generous and beautiful Masuda Family. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxmOoEYtcXtrlntiSf5veuVY1wrFdXcdxA88I4KqXydpkKzUkmlfsVrAh4Sy46gOKhu0l7_RsZ5ca-VD9jqapqCEIwjwz3McBtcUF3yrrO9bMKfxSgwkDjF7_lQqZr8pH2hEnSgVFsGk/s1600/grh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxmOoEYtcXtrlntiSf5veuVY1wrFdXcdxA88I4KqXydpkKzUkmlfsVrAh4Sy46gOKhu0l7_RsZ5ca-VD9jqapqCEIwjwz3McBtcUF3yrrO9bMKfxSgwkDjF7_lQqZr8pH2hEnSgVFsGk/s640/grh.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-23718722857843296022011-06-08T18:25:00.000+09:002011-06-08T18:25:30.814+09:00Oh the times♪ They are a'changin'!Okay, I swear, last non sequitur post before I write about my April/May Travels. There's just so much to do in life that pulls me away from blogging, but I guess that's a good thing and keeps these interesting!<br />
<br />
FIRST! I've been reading the Japanese newspapers a bit more and here's some of the buzz:<br />
Miyajima, home of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site <b>ITSUKUSHIMA SHRINE</b> was voted the best tourist location in Japan according to tripadvisor.com (which is according to the newspaper article I wrote :P)<br />
YAY! I already knew that though. It is awesome. My friend Mike is here visiting Japan for the first time right now, and I took him there for the hiking, nature, temples, shrines, and food last Monday and we had a great time!<br />
<br />
NEXT! Wifi is finally coming to Japan!<br />
What a minute, wtf? Japan is technology central right? What do I mean "coming to"? Well, lots of people have wifi in their homes here, and even in the 90s Japanese people were the first to use their cell phone to connect to the internet on their laptops. But the concept of a WiFi hot spot never really caught on here like in the U.S.<br />
...until now.<br />
The reason is smart phones. After the success of the iPhone, iPhone3/3G/and 4, a growing minority of Japanese people are using smart phones and learning about apps, twitter, and facebook (yeah, now, finally!). Even though every mom in America is clambering to post their baby photos on facebook, the majority of Japanese people are shyly creating, and quickly deleting their scary facebook accounts.<br />
Japan, as you can imagine, likes its privacy and being reserved, but the internet culture of voyeuristic friend-stalking is just too appealing to our monkey-brains, and nature is slowly winning out over nurture (i.e. Japanese Culture). I am basing this on my own suppositions btw, there's probably 5 different Master's thesis topics in there just waiting to happen.<br />
But since Japanese people are buying unlimited internet packages on their shiny, new smart phones, <i>and using them</i>, they are clogging the cellphone networks and leading to the complaints Americans are all too familiar with. Japan's solution: make more WiFi spots so they can get their phone content faster without burdening the phone lines. Simplicity is beautiful eh?<br />
So what are they actually doing? Well, NTT the phone tower company is planning to install 50,000 new Wifi spots in popular businesses such as cafes by March 2013, and competitor KDDI says they will be installing <b>100,000 </b>of their own! This will probably destroy the 3G and 4G internet dongle (what a disgusting word btw) USB business targeting the previous netbook (cheap, light, and little laptops) boom, but it all spells PROGRESS to me!<br />
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Last: You may have read this in western media, but Mazda is axing their cooperative efforts with Ford in the US by 2013. You might see see this as weakness or desperate restructuring on Mazda's part, and even now, their main plant in Hiroshima is only operating at 70% due to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, but they plan to be back at 100% by October and have plenty of other plans in the pipeline for Thailand, India, and China, so I think it says more (or less) about Ford and the American economy.<br />
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Interesting? Bullshit? Whaddya think? Notice any stories I haven't? Or, if you've read something about Japan and thought "Wtf?", lemme know under "Comments" and I'll get back to ya! GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-32774999823646701942011-05-17T19:54:00.005+09:002011-05-17T20:22:06.418+09:00Crazy, Educational, Bizarre, Japanese Commercials - Mame-shiba!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.kanshin.com/free/img_40/406589/k1896537737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://storage.kanshin.com/free/img_40/406589/k1896537737.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><br />
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This will teach you so much! Mame-shiba literally means Bean-Shiba (as in shiba, the Japanese breed of dog), and the commercials are a series of characters that were invented simply to popularize themselves! This happens a lot in Japan, and another of my favorite examples is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh_Ahjcj-g4&NR=1">Relakuma</a> (relax-bear). Once popular, the creators can make money off selling themed snacks, pencils, pillows, and kids accessories, so in that sense they are like their own 30 second cartoon shows designed purely for soulless consumerism, but I DON'T CARE! In these commercials the "dogs" are awesome because they are both cute and give off-colored trivia that make people lose their appetite! HILARIOUS!<br />
<br />
Please enjoy! Oh, and keep clicking on the links that appear to see the next in the series (they're conveniently numbered). There are about 20 "episodes" that some kind people made English subtitles for! Number 10 is in English, and 12 is in Spanish, and both are horrible stereotypes of America and Mexico, but that makes them even better! Thank Wendy for showing me these!<br />
<br />
<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ss6d3ogxfXc?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ss6d3ogxfXc?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-64066675817207142962011-04-30T00:12:00.004+09:002011-05-10T20:50:30.877+09:00Super quick!Okay, a picture is worth 1,000 words and this is almost 200 photos:<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10100288407276402.2742924.10118973&l=b2549a5f84">http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10100288407276402.2742924.10118973&l=b2549a5f84</a><br />
ENJOY!<br />
I am busy loving life on vacation!<br />
P.S. This all took place in Okinawa Prefecture and the last few pics were in Fukuoka, Japan and Hong Kong on my way <i>to </i>Australia, so MUCH MUCH MORE to come...GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-51878245226679170792011-04-25T23:25:00.002+09:002011-05-10T20:46:29.503+09:00Random Australia Update!**UPDATE: Back home safe in Japan and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100299318814592.2749047.10118973&l=2a3bff9c5d">here are my pics from Adelaide!</a> **<br />
<br />
Okay, so I am in Australia now and even though i owe you a big juicy blog about my week in Okinawa, I wanted to paraphrase an email about these last two rdays in Adelaide, Australia...AKA "RADELAIDE" !!<br />
<br />
Yesterday I woke up after one late night of drinking home brewed beers. I'm staying with an amazing artistic and culinary couple involved in roller derby here. I hopped in a large passenger van (driven by the father of one of the roller derby members) and 12 of us drove an hour north to Adelaide's famous wine country, Barossa. The scenery was GORGEOUS and I took lots of photos...until my camera battery died! But I'm sure as I slowly friend them on facebook more photos will pop up. ANYWAY. After grabbing some delicious bacon and eggs for breakfast, we did wine tastings at 3 vineyards, but the guys brought an entire cooler (called an "eskie" in Australia - "chilly bin" in New Zealand, btw) of beers and since we had our designated, dad driver, we all got really drunk by the time it was dark.<br />
<br />
<br />
For lunch we had an amazing picnic-style lunch at a lake, with food provided by a nearby restaurant run by a famous Australian cook (like Julia Child-style famous). I ate pheasant for the first time ever! It was baked into a flaky pie crust, and it was delish! <br />
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At the end of the night we were dropped off at Bonnie's "homestay" and we had an almost equally amazing dinner cooked by Paul, Kit Cat Krunch's fiance. Then we played drunken Rock Band on PS3 (I played drums of course), and then they busted out an ukulele for me to play! By the time I got home I was so sapped, I passed out immediately! <br />
<br />
This morning I awoke to the sound of my sister and others arriving. I got dressed and went out to coffee and croissant sandwich (BACON for breakfast: DAY 3!!! <3) - everyone cooks here and eats such amazing food, and today was no exception. In the morning a ref/roller girl couple "Brain and Foxy) drove my sister, another San Diego coach "Ringer", and me to a wildlife park were we got to PET kangaroos, wallaby, wombat, dingo, (okay, technically we shouldn't have tried to pet these last two through the bars, but WE DID! heh heh!), and even held a Koala!!!! <br />
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It was so magical! <br />
After another oranic health food shop-supplied picnic, we went strawberry picking! After all this I was exhausted so I passed out for the last three hours after we got home, woke up, took a shower, and just ate a power bar and some left over potato chips for dinner. Good night world! Adelaide RULES!GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-2055114295529697742011-04-09T14:09:00.003+09:002011-04-12T19:15:18.103+09:00人事異動 AKA Do the Office Shuffle!I've been at this "Blog" thing for almost a year now, so I forget if I've posted about this before. Hope you enjoy! BTW - apparently the word "blog" came from "Web log", when a guy moved the "b" over to make "We blog", thus turning blog into a verb. That's one of those things you've probably learned 5 times and forgotten 5 times.<br />
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Every new fiscal year in Japan (April-March) most organizations go through <i>jinji-ido</i> or "personnel transfers". For a government organization like mine, this gets even more complicated by elections, which bring about changes in policy that restructure the entire government. So it is not only "who works where" but entire divisions that are collapsed, reorganized, expanded, renamed, and shuffled around. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigQK152rYDY5ed3Eq9vfZrOnYpJiRi-GnxTFF9f-kjvlzNXl3t1G2BNIUgeVp3ROUmwnnf8B9G6_I6MDol4HR9NX2pOgp7-hWE43_5o1y5Q8RCXtZ51TOKA9xJ6EmKJDxyiN6v91xz93I/s1600/yuzaki.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigQK152rYDY5ed3Eq9vfZrOnYpJiRi-GnxTFF9f-kjvlzNXl3t1G2BNIUgeVp3ROUmwnnf8B9G6_I6MDol4HR9NX2pOgp7-hWE43_5o1y5Q8RCXtZ51TOKA9xJ6EmKJDxyiN6v91xz93I/s400/yuzaki.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Governor of Hiroshima, Yuzaki, was elected last September. He is a Stanford Graduate and fluent in English! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>Halfway through my second year at the Prefectural Government Foreign Affairs Division, they not only changed several of our members, including my supervisor, and group leader, they also added a wall partition making our office physically smaller, to expand the neighboring room where some new chief of staff was moving his office. Everything had to be rearranged to accommodate this, which meant rolling up our shirt sleeves and moving huge desks and lockers full of over a decade-worth of paper files, all by ourselves.<br />
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Along with the transfers come office parties. By office parties, I mean everyone in the office goes to a restaurant and pays between 30 and 50 dollars for some version of an all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner. This gives everyone a chance to get to know each other in a slightly structured, but less formal setting, and they can be really fun!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSAImMjRmQQuK0BAZACoYgJl8VPxPWKS23cBFugf77X5iac6JXV086avHHRcveJNEZw0p5PDeAktir-9wyi3qBU9F1xzLv8qCmJjb7aqIXFfw-mfxF-sUSrMrKjBFki49_a7_e2BtlVE/s1600/hanbei.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSAImMjRmQQuK0BAZACoYgJl8VPxPWKS23cBFugf77X5iac6JXV086avHHRcveJNEZw0p5PDeAktir-9wyi3qBU9F1xzLv8qCmJjb7aqIXFfw-mfxF-sUSrMrKjBFki49_a7_e2BtlVE/s640/hanbei.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One such party, a year ago. This photo was taken by our Director, who was promoted to Chief this month. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>Quick side note: The restaurant pictured above is a fried-skewer cuisine place called Hanbei. It is post-war era themed, so instead of a pitcher of beer, you get a tea kettle full! Our oldest member, and atomic bomb survivor, Mr. Tabuchi had never been there before, but since everything there reminded him of his early twenties (including the music, which he seemed to know all the words to!), he probably enjoyed it more than anyone!<br />
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The funny thing about these restructures is that they are not application based. They don't even decide based on what subjects you excel in! Basically, no one knows what will happen until the final weeks of March, and since many organizations have buildings in different cities (even different islands, and prefectures!), you can suddenly find yourself with less than three weeks to move to, for example, Tokyo! One of my co-workers announced just a couple weeks ago that he was being transferred to MAZDA to work in their PR department as part of a professional cross-training arrangement, so he won't be back working in the government offices for the next two years! We were all quite surprised.<br />
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This year, they also decided to reorganize my Foreign Affairs Division into the Regional Strategy Bureau. That alone didn't affect our office, but it meant adding a fourth, related group to our office, and expanding the physical size. To do this, they moved OUT the neighboring chief of staff, and took out last years wall partition. Since they had also knocked out the old wall behind that the previous year, it meant our office became LARGER than when I first arrived! Here are some pics of that:<br />
One year ago:<br />
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And a few more from this year:<br />
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The number of people in my office has grown by 7, and luckily for me, two of the new additions were regular members of my weekly English Lunch, so I know them well. My group has two new women, and a former member of another group in the same office last year, and my new group leader last year was promoted to deputy director! Here is a picture from the end of our office party last week, with some new incoming and outgoing members in attendance:<br />
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It is unbelievable to me that this happens EVERY YEAR, but another reason for it is to accommodate new hires. The Japanese school year is on the same schedule as the fiscal one, and for many organizations, gaps of even one month in your scholastic and work record can disqualify you from the next higher pay-scale, so Japanese undergraduates spend the majority of their senior (4th) year job hunting, sometimes even starting during their junior (3rd) year! I would not be the first person to hypothesize that this has something to do with why Japanese Universities are considered notoriously easy to graduate from, once enrolled.<br />
It is also noteworthy that while all of this is going on, people are still working on projects, balancing budgets, and undergoing end-of-the-fiscal-year audits. The whole thing is extremely stressful, and I am VERY glad my position is not subject to these transfers.<br />
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<b>Did I mention</b>... because I also split my time working at the Hiroshima International Center, I have to go through this twice as much as everyone else! He's a pic of me saying goodbye to our old director, Mr Kawakita, who has been transferred back to the Government offices after three years here. He has also been a good friend to me, and I hope he comes to visit sometime.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YAq3sY0fuVtjxb3xWB_LusWQ4Tgz4BZnZe73NzrS9qTI4uCh_eDR_WlCjou9WcnaWHpb-nJ7k87u3VpqYVQZR5GkCHzKYL1yhyphenhyphen5D6M4N2s_Cb3vXUtcwhyqCym0kehhv3eA1Ki2mkOk/s1600/IMG_4973.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YAq3sY0fuVtjxb3xWB_LusWQ4Tgz4BZnZe73NzrS9qTI4uCh_eDR_WlCjou9WcnaWHpb-nJ7k87u3VpqYVQZR5GkCHzKYL1yhyphenhyphen5D6M4N2s_Cb3vXUtcwhyqCym0kehhv3eA1Ki2mkOk/s640/IMG_4973.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He joked that since it was me (a foreigner), we should hug, and when I actually did, everyone laughed, but then decided that since I did it, they would too. It was a nice way for everyone to say goodbye to those leaving.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
That's all for now! I have an insanely busy schedule stating tomorrow, so i will be taking about a month off from blogging. Please fill your time by leaving me feedback and questions for me to work on new stuff when I get back! Muah!GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-70878848788237473032011-04-06T20:38:00.000+09:002011-04-06T20:38:27.244+09:00Quick UpdateSo last Sunday, at my Wendy's invitation, I participated in my first EVER official marathon!<br />
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weeeell, the 10k (6 mile) division anyway. ^^<br />
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But look how good I did! I don't know if I am proud or ashamed that I didn't train, but I am DEFINITELY GLAD I finished in under an hour. I guess the next step is to start running 10k all the time and go for the half-marathon eh?<br />
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In other news:<br />
I got SO MUCH DONE yesterday!<br />
Yesterday was my late shift so before work, I got up, got clean, ate breakfast, did laundry, went to the dentist (I had to get my new filling replaced because a piece came out the night before while I was flossing), went to the Immigration Bureau and had my Japanese visa and re-entry permit transferred to my new passport, went shopping, came home, and made lunch and packed a meal for dinner, ALL BEFORE getting to work at 1pm! That's what Charlie Sheen calls WINNING!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sure buddy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Had a great, productive day at work too, and afterward, came home and prepared the questions for tonight's quiz night which I am hosting with my good buddy Warren! (see previous posts for pictures and references to both!)<br />
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Bye for now!<br />
gregGB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-51363766936899455102011-03-26T17:57:00.003+09:002011-03-26T20:15:54.548+09:00Shameless PromotingAlright Internet. Let's make sweet open-source love.<br />
If I promise not to abuse you, will you help me promote a great program?<br />
Most of my readers know me, and know I work for the Hiroshima Prefectural (State) Office, in the International Affairs Division. That's right. I am a JAPANESE Government employee. The only white guy in my building, actually. My point is, in case you stumbled upon this, my job is to promote international exchange and understanding in Hiroshima.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVzCZ8TQjW6ckPGsw69auCUAiIdakyaeoMVXqzidaXZWZRttq9f5vhH3Df1uNeJWIK5fULBs9R5RifLSbXR3Y9lzRiNnD9Rf4gwGkKVDg7zqbz1abq2B4q8Ykw4vLnGtUw3a_rcuskgQ/s1600/%25E9%259B%25AA%25E4%25BD%2593%25E9%25A8%25931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVzCZ8TQjW6ckPGsw69auCUAiIdakyaeoMVXqzidaXZWZRttq9f5vhH3Df1uNeJWIK5fULBs9R5RifLSbXR3Y9lzRiNnD9Rf4gwGkKVDg7zqbz1abq2B4q8Ykw4vLnGtUw3a_rcuskgQ/s640/%25E9%259B%25AA%25E4%25BD%2593%25E9%25A8%25931.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm in the middle somewhere...</td></tr>
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I worked with a team of extremely skilled and experienced professionals at the Hiroshima International Plaza to develop a 2-week, summer program for intermediate-to-advanced level Japanese speakers to try out, and further develop their abilities here in Japan, while learning about the culture and history of Hiroshima.<br />
<br />
Despite the short term of the program, it manages to include Japanese lessons, field trips, a weekend home stay, and even dinner parties and cultural activities. Other than the home-stay, participants stay at the gorgeous facility, which includes a dormitory with individual rooms, baths, toilets and internet connection; a rec center, full-sized, multi-purpose gymnasium, library, computer lab, classrooms, cafeteria serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and even free bicycle rentals.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCc4SjiAr7ipp3m_h7VvsCzhDIHDX4vVJ2BysSwvn-F3fMPhw5dQtbsqW-QpygPDMKOoypBYRkBSpH0uEWhjU_NPmM1UjJWovjeBChpIehj_lkdLNhCCRx7l_4WB004mbYZOItqiZkzw/s1600/46022_920398821322_10118973_50737311_6920137_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCc4SjiAr7ipp3m_h7VvsCzhDIHDX4vVJ2BysSwvn-F3fMPhw5dQtbsqW-QpygPDMKOoypBYRkBSpH0uEWhjU_NPmM1UjJWovjeBChpIehj_lkdLNhCCRx7l_4WB004mbYZOItqiZkzw/s640/46022_920398821322_10118973_50737311_6920137_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken from the third floor veranda: Foreground is reflection of behind me, background is the city through the glass </td></tr>
</tbody></table> The program is open to basically anyone with a strong drive to improve their Japanese knowledge and understanding, and because it starts and ends at the facility, participants are free to plan their own personal trip around Japan before, after, or around the program dates. It really is just a pocket full of awesome.<br />
<br />
Here's where I need your help: I've run into a few problems promoting it.<br />
<b>1) Universities aren't interested in helping.</b><br />
Even though this is an incredible learning opportunity, we cannot offer college credit flat out, and even if we could, it would be up to each individual university, and I just can't contact every Japanese department, or study abroad office in the world. My own alma mater, the University of Arizona told me: We already offer enough programs to Japan.<br />
<b>2) It is hard to make people realize the full extent of the opportunity.</b><br />
This is more than just two-weeks of study Japanese all day, every day. Besides the sight seeing field trips to Miyajima and the Hiroshima Peace Park (each home to a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site), participants also get to visit businesses and/or the University of Hiroshima, and ask questions about studying or working in Japan. We also want to invite participants from all over the world, giving them the added opportunity of creating bonds with people from Japan and other countries as well. <b> </b> <br />
<b>3) People are scared of coming to Japan.</b><br />
Sadly, as I've touched on in <a href="http://cirbeck.blogspot.com/2011/03/most-dangerous-place-in-world-sitting.html">a previous post</a>, the news has been working almost 24-7 to confuse and misinform the world on the state of affairs in Japan, and the consequences will be devastating and long lasting.<br />
As if a giant earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor crises weren't enough, the unwarranted bad press has caused tourists, businesses, students, and even governments, to cancel plans, visits, deals, and opportunities all across Japan. That is their decision to make, and I can recognize the wisdom in erring on the side of caution, but <i>HIROSHIMA IS FINE</i>.<b> </b>No tainted water supplies, irradiated milk or vegetables; no damaged train lines or rolling blackouts: we are fine.<br />
<br />
Better than fine, in fact. Hiroshima has an amazing effect on everyone who visits here. The same way those who come here are inevitably surprised by the level of revitalization and recovery Hiroshima City has achieved since the atomic bombing almost 67 years ago, we need people to participate in programs like this, not just for our economy, but to show the world that Japan is <i>not</i> the ruined picture of a country the mainstream media is so eager to portray.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLymU4-hPDzOnGioFnZPclbgl1sxbmVZrHPWtemobrAEnRvzZtEtjflnum1DdDZ6hDzAg06WOulZJ0FrSuN4rhoDURD0mN3ovNHKrDtUw4OPLgZepBGOFTGdDuuElRUYv94zUrxnZfP9k/s1600/abomb.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLymU4-hPDzOnGioFnZPclbgl1sxbmVZrHPWtemobrAEnRvzZtEtjflnum1DdDZ6hDzAg06WOulZJ0FrSuN4rhoDURD0mN3ovNHKrDtUw4OPLgZepBGOFTGdDuuElRUYv94zUrxnZfP9k/s640/abomb.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken on my cell-phone camera, also made in Hiroshima, on the anniversary of the bombing, Aug. 6th 2010.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Finally, this program needs at least ten participants in order for the Hiroshima International Plaza, to make back the cost of holding it. Reversely, this means if you have or know of a group of 10 or more people who would like to study there, you can contact me and the HIP will help you <i>set up your own, private, custom program</i> for anything from a week to a month!<br />
<br />
PLEASE feel free to share this with anyone you know who might be interested or know people who are interested. If you have ideas on how to help spread the word about my program or want more information, such as dates and prices, for yourself, please leave me a comment or message here, -OR- you can message me on Facebook at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/yogafire">http://www.facebook.com/yogafire</a>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-1424856775879638682011-03-24T18:19:00.005+09:002011-03-24T18:26:44.828+09:00Drinking on a WeekdayI moved to Hiroshima straight out of University and had already experienced four years of rowdy fun and parties on random days when school and work allowed. But I settled in to my island home of Ondo and grew into my role as an ALT.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhIanSNTNlU0yJWGWALOxCb6_PIXhgRJ_LVwKJ1t5kldGVohj7eSGCbvPt6t05HfM_eyRfZQDf6-82DpWyZMn2MltKC5ParoYeZjeuXyqvIZq4ayz0-PHHS9eGpgEshs5J4zQFpUNVMI/s1600/brekkers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhIanSNTNlU0yJWGWALOxCb6_PIXhgRJ_LVwKJ1t5kldGVohj7eSGCbvPt6t05HfM_eyRfZQDf6-82DpWyZMn2MltKC5ParoYeZjeuXyqvIZq4ayz0-PHHS9eGpgEshs5J4zQFpUNVMI/s640/brekkers.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first breakfast at my new apartment in Ondo (August 2006)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As a teacher, on a small island where everything closes at 8pm, I quickly associated drinking with the city (Kure City) and I only went there on weekends. Also, being a social creature, buying beer at drinking at my house never occurred to me, and I think I had a total of one beer by myself the entire year I lived in that apartment, which hardly qualifies for "drinking alone". <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBWj-Ij7XXjdL11obScRepKookQKt7a3wuDRPzL24WgnJ4XT9cC1W_TpwLBH2W1QzFAJSXTWJ60yunRcqOX9NiEpnjKQaXI2hoL_sVrLRhN-fmSgKTeOHb5eGbkqqigvAazQZ2Ob7FwA/s1600/kure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBWj-Ij7XXjdL11obScRepKookQKt7a3wuDRPzL24WgnJ4XT9cC1W_TpwLBH2W1QzFAJSXTWJ60yunRcqOX9NiEpnjKQaXI2hoL_sVrLRhN-fmSgKTeOHb5eGbkqqigvAazQZ2Ob7FwA/s320/kure.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drinks on the pier in Kure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Anyway, my point is, drinking was a "weekends only" thing for me, and has been, with few exceptions, for the my first three and a half years here. Once, I even recall hearing of "Hump Day Drinks" and <i>chuckling! </i>Oh! The immaturity! <br />
<br />
What happened to make this clean-living boy crack? A violent break-up? Death in the family? Intolerable STRESS?!?<br />
NOPE!<br />
<i>My friends opened a new bar.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-00EAfh1mEvzDc4Elfkt97PKpUezkMjoLkZNwF_UNUcuJYccNXBUhzaY2HK_c2_Zk4JE-wDVeifZodDxULbcnkGzN8NEErE9M9xJArJ3NNm925AACDBBP-0hIVnMSIamb0zIA9-Ut_w/s1600/24874_105149652852470_100000723084239_92443_5489723_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-00EAfh1mEvzDc4Elfkt97PKpUezkMjoLkZNwF_UNUcuJYccNXBUhzaY2HK_c2_Zk4JE-wDVeifZodDxULbcnkGzN8NEErE9M9xJArJ3NNm925AACDBBP-0hIVnMSIamb0zIA9-Ut_w/s640/24874_105149652852470_100000723084239_92443_5489723_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>When I say "friends", I mean, they are my friends now. back then one of the guys just owned a smaller bar I would go to maybe once a month on a weekend, and when it first opened, things were the same for Southern Cross. But being a new bar, they wanted to get a clientele and steady business, so one of the things they did was start a Wednesday night Pub Quiz. This is something I HAD NEVER DONE BEFORE, and had only seen ONE reference, in an episode of the cartoon Aqua Teen Hunger Force.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://stagevu.com/img/thumbnail/rxhvclflqdbsbig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://stagevu.com/img/thumbnail/rxhvclflqdbsbig.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Not only was the quiz free to play, everyone got 100 yen off all drinks, and the winning team gets FREE DRINKS at the next quiz! That's how they sucked me in. This has been going on for almost one year now, and of course, I don't go <i>every</i> week, but even when I don't go I think about it, and every once in a while I volunteer to host the quiz (think of the questions, MC, and score the answer sheets), a task which also comes with free drinks and is a lot of fun.<br />
<br />
Normally I don't get drunk or anything, it's just a fun night out. The "problem", if you choose to call it that, is that there are a few <b>very</b> intelligent ex-pats who usually win, so I have won a total of maybe 2 or 3 times, but <b>1</b> of those times was last week! So last night I went to play the quiz again, and enjoyed my free drinks, perhaps a little too thoroughly, and waking up this morning was... not so easy. No big deal, but next week some Japanese people will be hosting the quiz for the first time and on top of being curious as to what kind of questions they ask, etc., it is <i>also</i> a charity benefiting the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, so weekday or not:<br />
<i>I will drink to that</i>.GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-88051788582438373702011-03-16T18:03:00.000+09:002011-03-16T18:03:09.826+09:00Elsewhere in Japan...While the World news reported basically the worst of everything they could find, and tried their best to make the world think all of Japan had sunk into the Pacific, my region was blessed with nice weather and a whopping zero catastrophes.<br />
<br />
While tsunamis swept the north-east coast and destroyed tens of thousands of homes, boats, cars, and most tragically, lives; I was sitting on a ferry crossing the placid Seto Inland Sea to Matsuyama, Ehime on the island of Shikoku, staring in disbelief at the awful footage streaming through the television on board.<br />
<br />
But this is not about that.<br />
After another 2 hours on a train, I was finally in my girlfriend Wendy's city of Uwajima, and we spent four glorious days together in which we celebrated St. Patrick's Day, visited Ehime Castle, saw Plum AND Cherry blossoms, made Hawaiian food, and I even got to go to the high school she teaches at and help her in two classes!<br />
Here are a few pictures from this time.<br />
I don't expect you to forget the horrible disaster going on in the northern region of Japan, but I also want to say we didn't forget either, and there were donation drives going on the entire time in both Ehime AND Hiroshima.<br />
<br />
That said: Please Enjoy.<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2720606&id=10118973&l=7d1a25d81b">http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2720606&id=10118973&l=7d1a25d81b</a>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-47155542984052684092011-03-15T18:31:00.003+09:002011-03-16T13:55:38.127+09:00As if the Tragedy in Japan wasn't Big Enough...I would like to keep this brief since I am so busy trying to keep everyone up to date on the events North-east Japan. <br />
First: I am not surprised, but none-the-less displeased with the lack of accurate information from foreign media sources. It is sensational, overly-general (The affected area is not "JAPAN") and focuses almost exclusively on what the WORST CASE SCENARIO <i><b>could</b></i> be, rather than what we know and what can be done to help/prepare for the worst. <br />
<br />
Second: ALL of us here in Hiroshima are safe and sound. <br />
<br />
Third: If you want useful information I have two sources for you: one is a scientific community giving up to date, thoughtful, and detailed answers. It is in depth and in English.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://smc-japan.sakura.ne.jp/?p=982">http://smc-japan.sakura.ne.jp/?p=982</a><br />
<a href="http://runjumpplay.blogspot.com/2011/03/recent-earthquake-tsunami-and-nuclear.html"></a><br />
<br />
The next link is to NHK World, the multi-language Japanese News site with streaming news similar to C-Span, but for Japan:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html">http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html"></a><br />
<br />
I recommend you use GOOGLE MAPS if you want to see WHERE in Japan things being discussed are happening, but keep in mind: Even if 3 nuclear reactors melt down and the wind blows it in my direction, radioactivity dissipates! Simply put, the worst case scenario would be awful for MILLIONS of people, but it still NO WHERE NEAR as bad as the foreign media has been claiming. <br />
<br />
FINALLY: <br />
If you want to donate money, please check this site and take note of their rating system for how much you can trust the charity organization: <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1221">http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1221</a>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-34945167184961122882011-03-05T18:09:00.004+09:002011-03-07T13:31:59.865+09:00Run for your life! *Updated*Before I get started, lemme ask: Do YOU have a blog? If you do, please leave me a link in the comments section, or "follow" mine and I'll follow yours back. I like this means of keeping in touch! <br />
<br />
You may or may not know, but Hiroshima City is the headquarters for MAZDA (zoom zoom).<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JO1vBSyN6fs" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
Did you watch the whole video?!? I actually understand what they're saying, and I couldn't bring myself to. SO CORNY!<br />
But seriously, Mazda and companies that supply them, make up 30% of Hiroshima City's job market (not an exact number). They have their own hospital, and enormous manufacturing plant, and they even sponsored the building of Hiroshima's spiffy new Ball park!<br />
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Their compound is amazing and huge and no outsider is allowed in, Chocolate Factory style...EXCEPT for the first Sunday of March every year. What happens on that day? The MAZDA 駅伝 (Ekiden). Translated as "Relay Race" this is a short race (less than a half marathon) and divided into 6 legs that are run by different team members, who pass off a sash (not a baton) to the next person at the end of each leg.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimslwoAnH9TTleJjNqpBlDE1O9rmEl0MmJV67yKg5wSXl81WU6WELA9nmy8-1XLJ6cj_NO-BLo0i2Xuz5XKRJwgFRzqSvaO8AGKWGGI9RHyCgMPIGI6rwypx33oy-JyxE0nzIaUNK-J00/s1600/P3062508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimslwoAnH9TTleJjNqpBlDE1O9rmEl0MmJV67yKg5wSXl81WU6WELA9nmy8-1XLJ6cj_NO-BLo0i2Xuz5XKRJwgFRzqSvaO8AGKWGGI9RHyCgMPIGI6rwypx33oy-JyxE0nzIaUNK-J00/s640/P3062508.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A river runs through it...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
There are two divisions: Mazda employees, and everybody else. Anyone can register a team, or just come watch, and my workplace, the Hiroshima International Center, has entered a team every year, partly because 3 of our members are dispatched FROM Mazda. In fact one of those three, the president of the International Center, is the CEO of Mazda himself! But his title as President of the HIC is in name only, as far as I can tell.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> Since coming here I have been volun-told, as my brother Bill says, to join the team, and both times I've run as anchor. It's only 2.2km, but it definitely comes with a lot of pressure, since everyone who passes me is guaranteed to directly affect our final score, and everyone I manage to pass improves it!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/201003/07/44/c0152844_21101847.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/201003/07/44/c0152844_21101847.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Full Course (I run the highlighter-yellow portion)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>My first year i was pretty nervous. I had never run competitively for any distance, and had no idea what was expected of me. I asked what our team's score was the year before and when they said 100-something-eth I was a little relieved.<br />
<br />
We ended up coming in 67th! I think mostly because we had a marathon runner on our team doing the longest portion, but we have also had a 70-something man named Mr. Tanimura doing the shortest bit (1.2km) every year, but I did manage to pass about 6 more people myself, and was only passed by one person who I made sprint for it at the end! I felt even better about our score when we went in the auditorium for the closing ceremony and it turned out the winners were the Yamaguchi University track team. I remember thinking "Are they even allowed?!?" It seemed unfair at the time. But last year, even though I personally only got to pass 3 people during the final leg, we came in 39th place! (Out of 160+ teams)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-rTu16Rj3rxcEBb_Jupe7RbzAI8a_V8gjkOoeKUzKDKz_aVQmRTZbCYyODfuMFjThZSpXe6Usm8sBRNCQjNj5JTQJZOVEe2Bei_eYON5RJfYH8PK5zKVb3w6m7mR0HRYNNZonhqkv9OQ/s1600/P3062523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-rTu16Rj3rxcEBb_Jupe7RbzAI8a_V8gjkOoeKUzKDKz_aVQmRTZbCYyODfuMFjThZSpXe6Usm8sBRNCQjNj5JTQJZOVEe2Bei_eYON5RJfYH8PK5zKVb3w6m7mR0HRYNNZonhqkv9OQ/s320/P3062523.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to enlarge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Afterwards, we always go to yakiniku - grill-it-yourself indoor bbq restaurants made popular by Korea, but loved by all Japanese people - and undo what little health benefits we might have gotten from it, but last year, while we ate, the table next ours' smoke-intake lit on fire (it was also covered in grease after all), everyone had to leave the restaurant, and we wound up walking 30 minutes before we found a new place to start over! This year, we went to a Hiroshima-teppanyaki restaurant, which was fine with me, because I just ate yakiniku with my friends Kelly, Joe, and his father visiting Japan, last Thursday!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4pU24Wq6RNfRdj4eLd_zaPL0b3lxjbc4VC4mzf_xrZrO5bNMaavtLo0QiWANrlm5szPshnPn5k66qQawr9RhxesWb7-jxmuhffWvEdZGYXoYUvucSEHchgLbLXP11JKmZDP_cuyes1aw/s1600/P3032487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4pU24Wq6RNfRdj4eLd_zaPL0b3lxjbc4VC4mzf_xrZrO5bNMaavtLo0QiWANrlm5szPshnPn5k66qQawr9RhxesWb7-jxmuhffWvEdZGYXoYUvucSEHchgLbLXP11JKmZDP_cuyes1aw/s400/P3032487.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joe and dad and glorious, glorious yakiniku</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
So I showed up at 8:45am on the dot, even though the race didn't start until 10:30, and waking up early was easily the biggest struggle of the day for me! :P I did have a good breakfast though (Bananas and some pork and potatoes). We got dressed out, and put on our blue Happi; the runners pinned numbers to them, and after the opening ceremony in the auditorium, we walked to our positions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHHmeV7CislV5Uh7A9pFNqFadierPh0iGfmPykpSO5n0qAjo7AnRtOaA5QK51aQx5PynvY_C6nq8bK5vgIaUlRGav0KFv5X4fiEDcplo5-Ik5FMJzwPeTcT72J-o8wM7V4aUPRwKWKRY/s1600/P3062512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHHmeV7CislV5Uh7A9pFNqFadierPh0iGfmPykpSO5n0qAjo7AnRtOaA5QK51aQx5PynvY_C6nq8bK5vgIaUlRGav0KFv5X4fiEDcplo5-Ik5FMJzwPeTcT72J-o8wM7V4aUPRwKWKRY/s640/P3062512.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice I am rocking my Vibrams this year! ↑</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Judging by our fastest runner (a marathoner we had run the 5km portion first) and our 5th runner, my higher-up Mr. Maekawa, who passed the sash to me for the final leg, we were around 60th place (out of 160 non-Mazda teams) for the entire race.<br />
Greg time.<br />
By the time I got the sash it had started drizzling. I had no idea how that would affect me since I've NEVER run in the rain EVER, but once I got the sash, and saw people with yellow tags in front of me, I started running hard. Harder than I thought I would be able to keep up actually. I kept second-guessing my breathing. Was I breathing too hard to keep up for the full 2.2km (That is almost 1.5 miles btw)? I didn't want to pass a bunch of people just to have them all pass me at the finish line, but I couldn't help myself. My competitiveness had kicked in, and I started reeling them in. In the first few minutes I had passed four people easily. Then a high school boy blew past me and I thought "that's okay, you're still up by 3" and kept my eyes on the next group of "marks" further down the road. They were clearly only ahead because their teammates before were faster than mine, but my team was better balanced. I passed them around the halfway point of my leg, and could see a few more ahead of them, so I pressed on. I had become oblivious to the rain, and as I passed the next two, I saw three more in the distance. I first thought that I they were too far to catch up with, but I could see the incline on the way to the bridge over the river was slowing them down, so I decided to run <i>faster</i> up the incline. I was on their heels as we reached the final straightaway, so I hit my final burners, charged all the way to finish line and improved my team's score by 11 positions to finish at....<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikv4Ps8wKnw8mLK92tGM3LPEIsaz6PFK9Nj8YCxe-WM19PAguR_pNurCF14nAJ1Ym6V3cExT-OFuNzS61phRUYk7f4xTpMxnfNuYzhJqSbTC6ktzh7pz5t0LMEGIFBdCj7fsZPmvh4Q9s/s1600/SH3B0758.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikv4Ps8wKnw8mLK92tGM3LPEIsaz6PFK9Nj8YCxe-WM19PAguR_pNurCF14nAJ1Ym6V3cExT-OFuNzS61phRUYk7f4xTpMxnfNuYzhJqSbTC6ktzh7pz5t0LMEGIFBdCj7fsZPmvh4Q9s/s640/SH3B0758.JPG" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">49th</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I was gasping for breath as one of my bosses (one of those who was actually dispatched to work at the HIC from Mazda) found me at the finish line, congratulated me and we went back in the auditorium to change and wait for the closing ceremony. That was my day yesterday. March, 6th, 2011.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxUQ7LF5LikhBZucwRBAI_CIFKaU5FMDoYc5rkegbFDBv0Gmyy6ivETOyzxbr14Fad7hAUzwWMAYoIO15NrTvR11kyloGufyrJjGpxM__L-EmIhMP4NOSYfeCey11dBihupvnMaZgAkY/s1600/P3062521.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxUQ7LF5LikhBZucwRBAI_CIFKaU5FMDoYc5rkegbFDBv0Gmyy6ivETOyzxbr14Fad7hAUzwWMAYoIO15NrTvR11kyloGufyrJjGpxM__L-EmIhMP4NOSYfeCey11dBihupvnMaZgAkY/s640/P3062521.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This year's runners and support team (All Hiroshima International Center employees)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-28368083990952742732011-03-02T03:09:00.002+09:002011-03-24T02:04:47.299+09:00Givin' Me Something to Blog About<div align="LEFT"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">yeah, so...</span></div><div align="LEFT"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">I've been going on some epic rants but only because <b>so much has happened </b>last month, for the shortest month of the year, it sure was crazy busy!</span></div><div align="LEFT"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Most importantly, I now have a girlfriend!</span></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z04r_tlWdRs" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe><br />
<div align="LEFT"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><br />
I wasn't sure how to type about her in a way that wouldn't sound braggy or like I'm objectifying her, but my friend Hozumi asked me to describe her (via online chat), and this is pretty much all taken from that conversation (ありがとうズミ).<br />
Her name is Wendy. We're both 5th years on the JET Programme, but it took us until this year to start hanging out! We crossed paths like 4 times since I became a Prefectural Adviser (PA) as part of my CIR duties, but for whatever reason I was always spreading myself too thin and never got to really know her until we had lunch together last October at a work conference.<br />
She lives in Ehime, which is kinda far, but she's worth it because she is SO the girl for me!<br />
Why? Well, for example, every nerdy thing I have never talked to girls about (at least successfully or enjoyably) SHE knows all about! She even quoted YODA to me...*YODA*!!!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.f150online.com/forums/members/dsq3973-albums-misc-pictures-picture48687-yoda-do-do-not-there-no-try.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://www.f150online.com/forums/members/dsq3973-albums-misc-pictures-picture48687-yoda-do-do-not-there-no-try.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span id="goog_1172832650"></span><span id="goog_1172832651"></span><br />
SO, we finally started dating when I invited her out for snowboarding, and we decided we wanted to go on another, but were busy in February, so we actually set a date for mid-MARCH!</span></div><div align="LEFT"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Luckily, after spending the weekend together and talking over Skype nearly every night, we couldn't wait and she was able to stop by for an official date (I got her a rose and took her to dinner, purikura, etc.) on her way back from yet another conference. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFY5yjLztOynRsGrR8v9Wq_bGAMHlqq-TR6nnC84TIkPXzw8SJdDPQif-j9eFhLzQ_Loe_TnSsc1PC1hcV6UrX65ZxS32POp9dhTmVok1_lE7tgT0wmz-r2BQTmIf4NuuNTNjcRH6Coak/s1600/GRP_0000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFY5yjLztOynRsGrR8v9Wq_bGAMHlqq-TR6nnC84TIkPXzw8SJdDPQif-j9eFhLzQ_Loe_TnSsc1PC1hcV6UrX65ZxS32POp9dhTmVok1_lE7tgT0wmz-r2BQTmIf4NuuNTNjcRH6Coak/s320/GRP_0000.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is PURIKURA (short for Print Club)</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div align="LEFT"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">The next morning I had to ask “So how many more dates do we need before you're my girlfriend?” to which she replied “You just have to ask”. So I took her rose away from her and holding it for her ransom, asked her “Would you be my girlfriend?” And the rest, as Wendy says, is history. ^^</span></div>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-41913790444524852122011-02-28T20:48:00.000+09:002011-02-28T20:48:07.761+09:00Naked Woman, Naked Man, Where Did You Get That Nice Suntan?Okay, first I want to say thank you to everyone who visits my blog. I have really been trying to step up the appearance and interface and even made some small design changes since yesterday, so I hope there are a few people out there enjoying my efforts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.marshallfoundation.org/images/3057-21-TanksLG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.marshallfoundation.org/images/3057-21-TanksLG.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's like "Thanks", with a Jamaican accent.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
And I want to tell you that I've started using this RSS business I always see on other people's blogs and websites, and I really like it. Specifically, I am using "Google Reader" because I figure they already have so much of my private info, I might as well just let them know what I read online too. Anywho, it is a really cool and easy way to keep up with news, and people's updates to their statuses and blogs. Like Twitter for people who can decide for themselves whether they'd like to commit to more than 140 characters worth of input. It is also a nice way to bypass filters on your work computer if they block "blog sites" like mine does. >=D<br />
You can now, also subscribe to my blog on the right hand side of the page. Or if you have your own "blogger/blogspot" than you can just "follow" me. The numbers aren't important, but keeping people (who want to be) informed on my life is very important. <br />
<br />
One selfish request I have is that you vote on my poll honestly (if you already did ↑TANKS again!) with whatever knowledge you have of my ability and personality. You guys are my lifeline, and I am "polling the audience" before my <i>"Final Ansa'"</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kahnmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/wiredbrain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.kahnmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/wiredbrain.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cerebral Side Rant OVER.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Also, please let me know what you think of my writing, or the content, or improvements, or requests for what you'd like to hear more about. I've added a bunch of simple choices you can choose from to the bottom of every post, or you can comment in detail. Because my favorite hobby is finding new challenges and life experiences, maybe you've already tried something you can recommend to me and I will get back to you with a post on my experience once I've picked up your gauntlet. You can do that here, or by email, or on fb, but I would like to know what you like and don't like or just your reaction to reading these entries. It matters to me.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8rL5Ygxz8pXduKZEamCecJpjWkHHP8qszBzL7BWrfaJDyF0bnOt3xlneZuMff-sQskEUuX8H8BtgSFsF_yT4FebcGfbJyv5JADLBEVaf2vrHEgtJWuBUDzRBnHqhGYto5o4tQy75Xly0/s1600/wuska.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8rL5Ygxz8pXduKZEamCecJpjWkHHP8qszBzL7BWrfaJDyF0bnOt3xlneZuMff-sQskEUuX8H8BtgSFsF_yT4FebcGfbJyv5JADLBEVaf2vrHEgtJWuBUDzRBnHqhGYto5o4tQy75Xly0/s200/wuska.png" width="110" /></a></div><br />
So... anyone recognize the song I stole my entry title from? It's by a little band called "The Specials". And I thought of it because of the words "NAKED MAN".<br />
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Yes, after 5 years in Hiroshima, I finally went to the 裸祭り or "Naked Festival". This could also easily qualify as "Crazy Japanese Stuff", although if you're familiar with Shinto beliefs it actually all made plenty of sense. Still, it was that typical half-ceremony/half-competition that you commonly see in Shinto Festivals that purposely creates chaos for the joy of spectators and entertainment of the gods. So I feel "purposely insane" is an accurate description.<br />
So I hopped a Hiroshima AJET bus to Okayama Saturday afternoon, Feb. 19th. and started drinking. The reasons for drinking were two-fold. One, I'm surrounded by other JETs drinking, on a chartered bus, so what better time to drink? And two, I knew by the time we reached the temple in the evening, the majority of the Japanese people there would already be drunk. So four drinks and several hours in, we were quite late getting there, probably because of traffic, and I was feeling drunk and a little bored, so when we pulled into a rest stop I decided to strip down to the cheap fundoshi (loincloth) I had bought last Halloween as a goof with my friend and run a lap around the parking lot. Brace yourselves; it looked like this:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEe-Hxe3ox82vxLJNpZ3IyW9gDd9oNaZcAingKsFZzOlmpZCRmyXzbO3hI9WpH9Jfbbjy0az6Gh93mR_SS5LpmY8Z3u5c3mzsztvhff5AkJJQctXSRNM2YkDC3m1pdbt1YeZuFnsuTs-g/s1600/rungreg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEe-Hxe3ox82vxLJNpZ3IyW9gDd9oNaZcAingKsFZzOlmpZCRmyXzbO3hI9WpH9Jfbbjy0az6Gh93mR_SS5LpmY8Z3u5c3mzsztvhff5AkJJQctXSRNM2YkDC3m1pdbt1YeZuFnsuTs-g/s1600/rungreg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But at least I was recycling!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>There was a big tour bus of old Japanese people who had a good laugh and a few even applauded my scantly clad jog in the cold night air. Getting back on the bus our driver said "You're early! We haven't gotten there yet!" and laughed.<br />
Looking back it was the closest thing I've ever done to streaking, but I wasn't really worried because Japanese people are much less sensitive to nudity as communal baths, hot springs, and the festival we headed toward had already made abundantly clear.<br />
Keep in mind, at this point, I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to participate in the festival itself because I needed to have a team of at least 4 people and I was the only one on our bus even remotely interested, so I reasoned this was my insurance that at least I could say I wasn't too shy, even if the festival didn't work out.<br />
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Back, dressed, and on the bus to Okayama, the traffic made us later still and i was sobering up, which always makes me feel tired. By the time we got to the shrine, I wasn't really feeling "in the mood" to get naked in the cold. We walked around the grounds and went up to the alter and prayed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were TONS of cops there!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-q47BqYNv4MhptpBywpQa_ihuZCvq4ISIW_wexTKB_eU6JTfpBeS7gHKTaTKP7Q0RSQbM8yfgHZhtt03uy25Uv0iuAP5BK0q7W_y8EUfwiCz5KJqfEsXsJAQIhFKAkeVnBodQL2sPmo/s1600/P2192350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-q47BqYNv4MhptpBywpQa_ihuZCvq4ISIW_wexTKB_eU6JTfpBeS7gHKTaTKP7Q0RSQbM8yfgHZhtt03uy25Uv0iuAP5BK0q7W_y8EUfwiCz5KJqfEsXsJAQIhFKAkeVnBodQL2sPmo/s320/P2192350.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Flash</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhlLBhxD7VfKY6724Hq49aP3mkEdNW0UZlarfhwX2R8mjmqpTpwybZ4OGxpj9DS5EHfQsoP5PomjEbV1JfPpElceRAnK828JZCUbXhALNJADiWDyHG0HSi8eaW3kVJ6_nuSjS-2NUurA/s1600/P2192345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhlLBhxD7VfKY6724Hq49aP3mkEdNW0UZlarfhwX2R8mjmqpTpwybZ4OGxpj9DS5EHfQsoP5PomjEbV1JfPpElceRAnK828JZCUbXhALNJADiWDyHG0HSi8eaW3kVJ6_nuSjS-2NUurA/s320/P2192345.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flash</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Every once in awhile groups of "naked" dudes would appear running around in their <i>fundoshi</i>. Why and from where to where were they running? It was seemingly arbitrary.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORwpfGdne4D82IAXAjSXfHEWISIHDVXJMmFjVGg5Xbmocct5YYliIKDfN8uiMIOdJLzKdYEEBqTz9nFbudQMB9l-cEKuGfT9zlKFOFOoQyHdr0aYPjl4tr1cwhSKS6VayZAAVp4t3kDs/s1600/P2192343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORwpfGdne4D82IAXAjSXfHEWISIHDVXJMmFjVGg5Xbmocct5YYliIKDfN8uiMIOdJLzKdYEEBqTz9nFbudQMB9l-cEKuGfT9zlKFOFOoQyHdr0aYPjl4tr1cwhSKS6VayZAAVp4t3kDs/s640/P2192343.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This group was carrying the winner's of the "naked boy" portion. Calm down, you can see they aren't really naked.</td></tr>
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I lost my group in the crowds and while I ate a doner kebab (my favorite Euro-food; for whatever reason you can always find at a Japanese <i>matsuri</i> (festival),<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyT6FMnR2Aalo71HjsQANgs28oD0yQSwfr-6WKCFFa7PJakGE9kRJw_JJXA6CB3MfLiDDSLWlHdgPRhuO7jqaWbPicAwCoOPYYgTw_w1mYPStGkN91u12OoSIzCXyfMKgq3HafddmaL-k/s1600/P2192357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyT6FMnR2Aalo71HjsQANgs28oD0yQSwfr-6WKCFFa7PJakGE9kRJw_JJXA6CB3MfLiDDSLWlHdgPRhuO7jqaWbPicAwCoOPYYgTw_w1mYPStGkN91u12OoSIzCXyfMKgq3HafddmaL-k/s320/P2192357.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This sign advertises Turkish cuisine as one of the world's "Top 3"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4X6-0rbl0BVE6WGKxiNALVknv9-GzL18zeajGAlPVeuHKGOXjB2E0j5AEB6ztyt9x45t0L398EGrky6L4AXjOUH6YShLjvQcYDaIVXQTtgbfMMSzq1mxcQthNHgXUm-NWNcl1FvNLjVo/s1600/P2192356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4X6-0rbl0BVE6WGKxiNALVknv9-GzL18zeajGAlPVeuHKGOXjB2E0j5AEB6ztyt9x45t0L398EGrky6L4AXjOUH6YShLjvQcYDaIVXQTtgbfMMSzq1mxcQthNHgXUm-NWNcl1FvNLjVo/s320/P2192356.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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I called some other friends who i knew would be there that evening. Finally getting a hold of one he said, "Come to the changing room, you can hold my shit for me". Okay, I thought, why not? I started asking around and as I got closer and closer to the changing room I began to think, "Why would I sit on the sidelines and hold stuff for someone else doing it?!? No, I want to be a part of this!!"So when I found the place and was looking for him, i ran into more friends and said "Hey, um, can I be on your team?" to which they responded "HELL YEAH!" and it was all good times from there! I bought my fundoshi and tabi (split-toe shoes) for 1000 yen (12USD) and paid another 1000 for the participation fee, and before I knew it an old Japanese man was wrapping me in the longest piece of cloth I'd ever seen, and friends were handing me large bottles of sake!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYu2H9E754VrbjBdsJ8fxwktAK6YKJsUQXJhBAiWY4DaE_-WlXBy1W86qEQGsn4bdOair5ec2s3K5T02dh-XyFx7HykgASaHDgV1c6tzRnJbYDfu6AB_9nNf4RbtJJgDr36fTcsgK3BA/s1600/SH3B0749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYu2H9E754VrbjBdsJ8fxwktAK6YKJsUQXJhBAiWY4DaE_-WlXBy1W86qEQGsn4bdOair5ec2s3K5T02dh-XyFx7HykgASaHDgV1c6tzRnJbYDfu6AB_9nNf4RbtJJgDr36fTcsgK3BA/s320/SH3B0749.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haha John, thanks for that.</td></tr>
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Not so bad yeah? You can't see it, but my but is hanging out with a thick white cloth covering my crack like a Kurosawa samurai film! The funny thing is, I wasn't the least bit embarrassed, despite my bare ass!<br />
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No pictures after that point, sadly. I left my pockets in my clothing and we commenced running laps around the temple like the groups of men we'd seen before. We probably shouted "<i>Washoi, Washoi!</i>" a phrase meant to to liven up our spirits and the atmosphere of the <i>matsuri</i>. We fell into a huge line of fundoshi-clad men, all still shouting. as we approached the temple. Even inside the temple, we were locked in on a path of follow-the-leader and followed them onto a detour into a small and ancient pool of waist deep water which we then sloshed and splashed around in. Keep in mind, this is February and after 9PM, so the water was freezing!<br />
The procession continued to a Buddhist temple on the same grounds of as the Shinto shrine (this is common for Japan where they don't feel the need to choose <i>just one</i> religion), and broke into single file to pray at the alter before reforming and running up into the main shrine's covered (for lack of a better word) porch! It was so strange because less than an hour before I had been to all these same places, fully dressed and snapping photos: look!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvXBtBweSUeRBznks8kNur7CZLcoVMIdFz2tlNJdxC4AlbS_ar8hfrqw7-ohnXVoCjoFWxX2AmiXGp_DAQkBuF5bL35JnOSDKSPXu4SbBrK852sF3BCwimyuS_88BqWz57qpvuIBTwog/s1600/P2192354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvXBtBweSUeRBznks8kNur7CZLcoVMIdFz2tlNJdxC4AlbS_ar8hfrqw7-ohnXVoCjoFWxX2AmiXGp_DAQkBuF5bL35JnOSDKSPXu4SbBrK852sF3BCwimyuS_88BqWz57qpvuIBTwog/s320/P2192354.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the Temple pre-being full of naked men and spectators!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTaErJWAMfO8RIW5raEdemw8R8JdqJIbaode57xfhFxGq8HA63v-7bmvkUDMDCR97SzBIgFPiHdNSM5qIkTdIouO5cD46b81ca5dL-5Qqk35D-m0hGzNbD6Ud95cNI6b5ML64KGGNkBmk/s1600/P2192352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTaErJWAMfO8RIW5raEdemw8R8JdqJIbaode57xfhFxGq8HA63v-7bmvkUDMDCR97SzBIgFPiHdNSM5qIkTdIouO5cD46b81ca5dL-5Qqk35D-m0hGzNbD6Ud95cNI6b5ML64KGGNkBmk/s320/P2192352.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the "patio" area's second floor.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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But the patio area was now jammed in tight with similarly naked men, and it took only a few minutes of being jammed together to make us dream of that cold pool of water we so foolishly hurried through before! After 40 minutes of feeling like we were at the front of a U2 concert, the waves of people pushing us to and fro, and watching out sweat evaporate and rise visibly to the second floor, they turned off all the lights and under a strobe of photographers flashes, everyone tried frantically to grab the 神木, basically many sticks like what you saw young boy carrying in the photo of "naked men" above. If your group secures one and makes it out of the temple grounds, you win a large sum of cash! But that alone would not entertain anyone, let alone GODS, so being an all-male festival, anyone still within the grounds is allowed to try and take the sticks from you by any means necessary! So this is what it looked like when the sticks were thrown out:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkB6SuxpCn4xBXe6inu4u3Up8fJk8HQVBxOnmaSS17p0A7l9wOrPbxV_VTk7VkbibzwyXhb6yHGL6ZcZUUt7jg3MqpW2OfkJqz5WDZPEXhSFf_CByFBQ0jbN-bkKc6Gf-V3oqeO4UaLg/s1600/nakedgreg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkB6SuxpCn4xBXe6inu4u3Up8fJk8HQVBxOnmaSS17p0A7l9wOrPbxV_VTk7VkbibzwyXhb6yHGL6ZcZUUt7jg3MqpW2OfkJqz5WDZPEXhSFf_CByFBQ0jbN-bkKc6Gf-V3oqeO4UaLg/s640/nakedgreg.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's me in the red circle!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>In the end, I never even SAW a stick, only swarms of people already fighting over them. So once things died down, I changed back into my normal clothing, said good night to the friends I had met there, and walked back to the bus with my Hiroshima crew, stopping to buy a few celebratory drinks for the long bus ride home. I got home at 3 AM with work the next day, so my head crashed hard onto my pillow and I slept blissfully unaware, that as awesome a week I had just experienced, the next week (this last week, as I type this) would be. I really want to tell you about that now, but I will save it til my next post...GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-72740281044985149892011-02-27T15:36:00.008+09:002011-03-24T02:08:48.126+09:00Cruise Ships, Oysters, and Pro-SnowboardersSunday, February 13th, was going to be your standard day working at a reception for a cruise ship. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNG99By9HMUulviD2iOKoee0vz2iRPVJOMjsB6kGrN53DeS2cEYPOA02sbZO8XqzP6wwHmabKTqfVBRG94s-kZv7PHsfuehfm_f8pclV6fYk4QhsTExfp1ijhcpWO1r0uMmPnSsVP00Ls/s1600/P2132267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNG99By9HMUulviD2iOKoee0vz2iRPVJOMjsB6kGrN53DeS2cEYPOA02sbZO8XqzP6wwHmabKTqfVBRG94s-kZv7PHsfuehfm_f8pclV6fYk4QhsTExfp1ijhcpWO1r0uMmPnSsVP00Ls/s640/P2132267.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I was not excited to wake up before 6:30 a.m.<br />
I had to meet up with the Port Promotion Bureau folks and welcome the 1,200 British passengers off a 45,000 ton cruise ship called "Artemis" at 7:45, in a suit. Since I took the last week off to go to Hokkaido, I was too exhausted Saturday to go to the Snowboard World Cup in Hiroshima I had been anxiously anticipating, and spent the day sleeping and doing laundry instead. This meant that Sunday morning, after donning my suit, I rode my bicycle to the International Center (which was still closed), and let myself in to the dark and lonely office to print out the speeches I'd be giving at the welcome ceremony that afternoon.<br />
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I managed to catch a street car from there to the port, on time, and say good morning. It had been almost a year since the last time I had gone there for a job like this, but I have done it so many times that I was very relaxed, almost to the point of being nonplussed. All of my co-workers (from various different government divisions) were all first-timers though, and so between changing money and helping directions into town and the occasional computer problem (there were a few PCs set up with the ever-coveted internet access), there was a whole lot to do in the A.M. so we got to know one another and shared small talk as tour buses shuttled the passengers to and fro by the dozens.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>As I started to walk away I was greeted by who else, but Morikawa-san, my supervisor at the <i>kencho</i>, and her husband whom in two and a half years of working together I had still never met. Not only that, her sister and sister's husband where also there! They came to grill some fresh oysters for lunch and invited me to join them, <i>their treat</i>! We had a great time, talking, admiring the enormous cruise ship berthed behind us, and grilling and eating Hiroshima's famed oysters, along with scallops, turban shells, and some fried rice. I felt bad about being treated to all this great food so I ran back to the food stalls and picked up a pack of strawberries to share for dessert. Then I said my farewell and went back to the information center.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morikawa-san's sister and her husband</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turban Shells (サザエ) look awful, it's true, but they are good!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a great set-up, no?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scallops (ホタテ)</td></tr>
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After a couple more hours helping out passengers, it was time to gather everyone who was going on board for the welcome ceremony. We lined up at the security desk at the base of the gangway and i translated while everyone traded their I.D.s for passes to get on-board. There were also 10 young women from the Hiroshima municipal firefighter's band with us who would be performing for the passengers at the ceremony, but apparently everyone EXCEPT security knew about this, and we were severely delayed getting on board. By the time everyone was in the performance room, set up, and ready to go, we were half an hour behind, which was terrible because we also had to be OFF the ship in time for them to begin their departure prep for their next leg to Korea.<br />
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"Okay, we'll just cut the Japanese MC"... said THE JAPANESE MC. He's a laid back dude, I had done this with many times the previous year and he always joked that I should do it myself. This time though, he wasn't joking. So right then and there, I had to grab a mic, pretending like we had planned for this all along, and set in front of a standing-room-only theater of about 500 passengers, and MC the entire thing, based off the script I had prepared that morning as a translation of what <i>he</i> was meant to have said in Japanese first. In terms of the words coming out of my mouth, this was not much different, I just didn't have to wait for him to say it in Japanese, but the reality of the situation was I was no longer standing off to one side speaking calmly into a mic, but stood front and center and engage the crowd. And may I just say: <i>*Nailed it!*</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGToLfB2K1HZFcjYNhfeVkjIwoiK640o92dC6CU2FrueAsREExbOGXXHBWLilWB7JHtwBIxBKMLdu3Jp-S2k6vVSJE7A4yqsW7F5JcTnvBxhxcnN3VAS8uSeZUMtQ8Osghvlb7oTuoS84/s1600/P2132284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGToLfB2K1HZFcjYNhfeVkjIwoiK640o92dC6CU2FrueAsREExbOGXXHBWLilWB7JHtwBIxBKMLdu3Jp-S2k6vVSJE7A4yqsW7F5JcTnvBxhxcnN3VAS8uSeZUMtQ8Osghvlb7oTuoS84/s400/P2132284.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the only photo I had time to take, because I was busy MCing!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjXpA6jDL0kovdc7xccN1wZfBUG1YHTdOINcDCcErAvmE_AhXX7AtQF04J1a3PiQfDmLFWteCp5DjNDj-CuVGMn3_jNXaZJjti6ddRVozG3PtI5iKmkUl2DzOsO2gnwhQFzB8Uvr92f0/s1600/P2132285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjXpA6jDL0kovdc7xccN1wZfBUG1YHTdOINcDCcErAvmE_AhXX7AtQF04J1a3PiQfDmLFWteCp5DjNDj-CuVGMn3_jNXaZJjti6ddRVozG3PtI5iKmkUl2DzOsO2gnwhQFzB8Uvr92f0/s640/P2132285.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful, right?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
After the band finished performing the ceremony was over and we all got off the ship and waved goodbye. An awesome end to a day's work, I thought...but it didn't end there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzx8RY5uAdRYq8P_DZD8npKhf9Ac7uvnC7_Qrxoudw8lGMpT7fyd0JjGVOJvg1-CW6wShMK3HD6u_8NAePLq3_2w26sbqsiAhyGpdReWuf8nmC2nEEya2FSQVMpOlUephyphenhyphensx0vGMKVzzo/s1600/P2132287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzx8RY5uAdRYq8P_DZD8npKhf9Ac7uvnC7_Qrxoudw8lGMpT7fyd0JjGVOJvg1-CW6wShMK3HD6u_8NAePLq3_2w26sbqsiAhyGpdReWuf8nmC2nEEya2FSQVMpOlUephyphenhyphensx0vGMKVzzo/s200/P2132287.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baked mac&cheese = Heaven</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I decided to treat myself to dinner at my regular bar, Southern Cross, and as I ate from their menu (baked macaroni and cheese and a BLT) I got a call from Warren, a friend I hadn't seen for awhile, who basically said to wait up, and he'd join me for a couple drinks and discuss our mutual, recently non-existent love lives. As we did this, a crowd of about 14 of the whitest most obviously European looking people you'd ever imagine seeing, poured in with one Japanese family. The bar had been pretty quiet until then, but these guys were there to party, and as calls of "Prost!" rose through the air, I had to ask them, "What brings you to Hiroshima?" in my horrid, rusty German.<br />
<br />
<br />
"We were part of yesterdays tournament" said the girl who turned out to be <span class="oly-cColResultsMedals resultwidgetmedalcolumn"><span class="oly-medalBronze" style="height: 42px; line-height: 13px;" title="Austria">Marion Kreiner - </span></span><b>Austrian Vancouver Winter Olympics bronze medalist</b>. What?!? Wait... no... I thought, and as the reality of the situation sunk in around me... "So she's (pointing to the only young Japanese woman in the room) Takeuchi-san??" I asked slowly. "Yeah, Tomokaaaa"Marion called and the next thing I knew I was chatting with ANOTHER Olympic medalist and the spokeswoman for the event I had missed the day before, and of course, getting our picture taken!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB23kc15AN5QRHaCQaZVhQvLLyiP4F93IFtidr8ERj0EXOKP4JfIBHSg_ev8owE0KfNuWuNgj2T_8-D8lY25OHSxChnVpXfNqwDilUTuPmr4xNfsBKPAcxc7iEGHTSbsEYL5HntiQWsEA/s1600/P2132290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB23kc15AN5QRHaCQaZVhQvLLyiP4F93IFtidr8ERj0EXOKP4JfIBHSg_ev8owE0KfNuWuNgj2T_8-D8lY25OHSxChnVpXfNqwDilUTuPmr4xNfsBKPAcxc7iEGHTSbsEYL5HntiQWsEA/s640/P2132290.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warren, Tomoka, and her uncle, a long-time resident of Hiroshima and cool dude.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I had the next day off (thank god) so i stuck around for a few more hours, drinking and chatting with all of them, including Swiss snowboarding Gold medalist and all-around nice guy Simon Schoch, and got all of them to sign a post card from the Artemis which I then mailed (in an envelope, duh) to my brother. It was truly a day AND night to remember.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLVWOdP8X2hyphenhyphenSILzHsyjSFEAHXcFRWoxSb_xRfRyKEI8BLKEpC1VUIEB-qxfp8v5Iw0FhUOuqhRbYmuLAayGcVzURoGdxKbb2VSUs4KqnRR24yIfC6FWBUcpLNMU7qoGz2F_99ehRbXw/s1600/P2132291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLVWOdP8X2hyphenhyphenSILzHsyjSFEAHXcFRWoxSb_xRfRyKEI8BLKEpC1VUIEB-qxfp8v5Iw0FhUOuqhRbYmuLAayGcVzURoGdxKbb2VSUs4KqnRR24yIfC6FWBUcpLNMU7qoGz2F_99ehRbXw/s640/P2132291.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://doris-guenther.com/bilder/best_of_press_14.jpg"><b>Everything you need to know about Doris Günther</b></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-6046539278744796492011-02-26T16:43:00.003+09:002011-03-09T14:25:57.588+09:00Hokkaido Part 2: AKA Some Crazy Japan Shit You've Never Heard of Of!Ever heard of Moxibustion? I HADN'T!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/A_Dose_of_Moxa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/A_Dose_of_Moxa.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><br />
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I went in to the doctor's with my fucked up foot hoping for a massage, MAYBE some acupuncture (which as you know I got!) and somehow or another the doctor and I started chatting about it. I think he seemed impressed at my complete readiness to let him stab me with needles and he said "So you're familiar with はり and きゅう?" <i>Hari</i> - literally "needles" is how Japanese refers to acupuncture. I guess it seems self-evident that you'd need to be accurate when stabbing yourself so they didn't feel the need to dress up the term? Who knows, but I was in my zone and my Japanese listening skills were peaked so when he said <i>kyuu</i> I thought "Scanning databases. . .kyuu not detected!" so I asked "What's kyuu"? The doctor, Dr. Hosokawa, was very patient without being condescending (a rare trait when Japanese people speak to me - they either accept I speak fluently and flip out or ignore me when i ask what a word I don't know means, or immediately act like I am a 6 year-old Japanese child and cease any adult level conversation - but not him!), "Kyuu is where we burn dried grass on you pressure points to relieve muscle tension."<br />
"<i>Really?</i>", I asked in mild disbelief and genuine interest.<br />
"Oh yes, it's been a tradition healing method in Japan for over a thousand years." he answered. <br />
"I've only ever tried acupuncture in Japan and wrote a blog about it for my friends to read, but we still have it in the U.S. I've NEVER heard of burning people..." and he nodded and watched me pull out my cell phone to consult my JPN-ENG dictionary (yes it came standard on my phone) while he prepared my needles. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJ7om41lQY39z1UMYJWE4BNWbD3mb5BwAlNQJwwvuDQMRd7O1dqjntm1FniokYPrhpHAG08v37LmSgZykaxtrWqqLiz36VgNb9AO-iXqR3pZWgE9lqWBI7eoJi-PBsywywbfPq-5HSC0/s1600/SH3B0644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJ7om41lQY39z1UMYJWE4BNWbD3mb5BwAlNQJwwvuDQMRd7O1dqjntm1FniokYPrhpHAG08v37LmSgZykaxtrWqqLiz36VgNb9AO-iXqR3pZWgE9lqWBI7eoJi-PBsywywbfPq-5HSC0/s640/SH3B0644.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Acupuncture Reeeeemiiiiiix!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>"'<b>Moxibustion</b>'. Huh, there it is, ever heard that?" I asked. He hadn't. "Oh well" I said thinking that was the end of it. He stuck my with about 6 needles, hooked them to leads and left me to nap for about 20 minutes while a machine electrically pulsed massaging waves through my foot. When he came back and removed them, we continued talking while he gave my foot a rub down.<br />
"So you do O-Kyuu (the "O" is an "honorific" in Japanese), here?"<br />
"No it's too smokey, so some people would complain, and we'd have to pay more for our building's fire insurance" <br />
"Oh I see," I said, but did he detect some disappointment? The next thing i knew he vanished and returned a minute later with a box of small spit-ball shaped balls of - you guessed it - dried grass! "See, these are what they look like", he explained, "You can burn them like this or roll them tighter so they burn hotter". "Oh, but you have them here even though you don't offer it?" i asked and that was all it took to push him over the edge. Clearly the guy had a subtle sadistic undertone and had been itching to burn someone with these, because he told me to sit up and he would show me how it works (He wasn't asking either, his determination was clear, and I was in full New-Japan-Adventure mode so I smiled and asked if I could snap pics on my cell phone! In the end the pics didn't come out that great, but he explained, as he demonstrated:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>First you burn a small amount on the nearest pressure point of the affected area, and pinch it out before it burns down to the skin. Then you set another wad on top of the smoldered one and let this one burn a little lower before pinching it out. You repeat this three or four times and then finally, you let one burn all the way into your tiny bird's nest of grass and yes, by golly it fuckin BURNS! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnqznzam-BsOu0KYiEC2Q2p2CP_K0f4qakrUhyphenhyphenCYu2Gn24hrCAD6tyHbeWOXRjjpPTRMAFDZ4xTcQefRitu0JZr1ji8jUkkZnD3G6zF_5GmigIhPAdSI_XKTMB-u3gXjdEGWBVJOqbw7U/s1600/SH3B0647.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnqznzam-BsOu0KYiEC2Q2p2CP_K0f4qakrUhyphenhyphenCYu2Gn24hrCAD6tyHbeWOXRjjpPTRMAFDZ4xTcQefRitu0JZr1ji8jUkkZnD3G6zF_5GmigIhPAdSI_XKTMB-u3gXjdEGWBVJOqbw7U/s400/SH3B0647.JPG" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before (lines are from taping)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhND7hIiUtVOqUHmaVk6wv7KQ-Eb0F-LxP1AIIeeBRexVVDnWNd9mQ2CtkS0AMLQp-UHpF1TwLo1EBewUN-ihHnTFglXJ5FX6NR1u4lIrsCsLmIZRtPj8FEv9P_JmKDTkVOOzFfmLYndoo/s1600/SH3B0648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhND7hIiUtVOqUHmaVk6wv7KQ-Eb0F-LxP1AIIeeBRexVVDnWNd9mQ2CtkS0AMLQp-UHpF1TwLo1EBewUN-ihHnTFglXJ5FX6NR1u4lIrsCsLmIZRtPj8FEv9P_JmKDTkVOOzFfmLYndoo/s400/SH3B0648.JPG" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After (actually...DURING!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
He sat there contentedly and offered to do it once more. Naturally, I accepted and as he calmly lit my foot on fire he talked more about moxibustion. He told me that he was giving me the real deal, and that it would leave me with a small blister on my skin, but, and I quote "You won't care about that". Oh? Luckily he was talking to the right person. I didn't care!<br />
"Really, you can do it yourself", he said.<br />
"To yourself? How do you know where the pressure points are?"<br />
"Doesn't matter", he answered nonchalantly. "Anywhere that hurts is fair game"<br />
"And people still do this?" <br />
"Old people do it a lot, some young people do it, but they use store bought kits"<br />
"There are store bought kits?!?"<br />
"Yeah, they are called sen-nen kyuu (千年灸) and you can buy them at any drug store. You should try it out when you go home to Hiroshima. They have different heats you can choose from. The hotter the more therapeutic, but even the weaker ones feel nice."<br />
"I will! <i><b>Sen-nen</b></i> kyuu right? Like..."<br />
"Like 1000-years kyuu, yeah, just ask at the store. The clerk will probably be surprised someone looking like you is asking!" and we both laughed. <br />
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<br />
I thanked him and went on my way. I ended up going back the next day, but he was much busier, gave me the acupuncture only, and we talked about soup-curry. (SOUP-CURRY! SO GOOD!)<br />
But when I came home, I remembered to buy the sen-nen kyuu.<br />
The lady at the shop wasn't too openly surprised by my inquiry, but complemented my Japanese and urged me to try the second weakest one before going straight to buying the hottest one. Looking back, I regret listening to her. The 2nd weakest one was still advertised as being "normal" but it only really felt good when I tried it on my neck. I still intend to go back, maybe tell her "I told you so", and buy the strong stuff, which the chart suggests, is infused with garlic, so maybe I'll be protected from vampires too! <br />
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So here's how Sennenkyuu work: they are a little tube of the same grass, but affixed to a tiny cushion with a hole in the middle that supposedly channels the heat done onto the precise area you want, and an adhesive bottom, so you remove the paper from the bottom, light the tip of the tube (the same way as incense), and then stick it on whatever hurts! This kit cost 840 yen (10 USD) and came with a TON. Each one takes about 4 minutes to burn out, then you're supposed to leave it for another minute. The instructions included some very cutely animated warnings not to put too many on yourself at one time, but I think it's mainly because they are on fire and can burn other things if you brush against something during your five minute session. Best just to stay still and focus on letting the healing heat in to your muscles. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUW8o30wgFSNHxXvG5GIXB-M0UHxob2JpY80P2i-dlSUTUkRJgbUDYDKJ23zNm8OW5aSqyhP4BBvz7VuKSFEY_ClDlz2KLg8XG9XMX4Iax4Mjri7MDnSTrYGij2qDH_EFN3GjNyvkERQI/s1600/P2142303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUW8o30wgFSNHxXvG5GIXB-M0UHxob2JpY80P2i-dlSUTUkRJgbUDYDKJ23zNm8OW5aSqyhP4BBvz7VuKSFEY_ClDlz2KLg8XG9XMX4Iax4Mjri7MDnSTrYGij2qDH_EFN3GjNyvkERQI/s320/P2142303.JPG" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sennenkyuu, try them anywhere!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9iBdhE6ADCFq73TS9ObOkwVYXRaoVLRpzWtXRbaXM_U3lcg_c1poqUcXpiFL_6LjxBmO3ixeX0dhem3uQQqrlV9fPI4C6LbOYbir2y5n8KSdJlaz8iD4YkyPDt-r-tB6IzOPlzrbAo4/s1600/P2142298.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9iBdhE6ADCFq73TS9ObOkwVYXRaoVLRpzWtXRbaXM_U3lcg_c1poqUcXpiFL_6LjxBmO3ixeX0dhem3uQQqrlV9fPI4C6LbOYbir2y5n8KSdJlaz8iD4YkyPDt-r-tB6IzOPlzrbAo4/s320/P2142298.JPG" width="320" /></a>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-72694605306449566412011-02-15T17:47:00.002+09:002011-02-18T01:13:40.094+09:00Hokkaido Snow Festival AKA Ryan is a great host.Okay, I have one hour to blog the world to you! Then I have to get back to finishing my correspondence course! ん。<br />
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First off, THANK YOU to everyone who participated in my first ever POLL! There will be more. The results are in and surprise surprise: NO ONE wants me to write short fiction :P That's fine, I just thought I'd throw it out there, I didn't have any ideas anyway. What I WILL be writing about is....<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBT8VKVmPm9z-chhtg3s8-AT4Tg3LWeoPjjzC3ZDKagMksVus6rscAVFENjzfHDOafW3BGfrH-aOPcEez0DGD7JQl4qUpMvoqBlUwAdK6VW43mgvj2I1oNTKggLcjq9Zd98mrqfmhrTFh0/s1600/frontcover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBT8VKVmPm9z-chhtg3s8-AT4Tg3LWeoPjjzC3ZDKagMksVus6rscAVFENjzfHDOafW3BGfrH-aOPcEez0DGD7JQl4qUpMvoqBlUwAdK6VW43mgvj2I1oNTKggLcjq9Zd98mrqfmhrTFh0/s320/frontcover.JPG" width="270" /></a><br />
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CRAZY JAPAN SHIT YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF...probably.<br />
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First I have a two stories that will lead into that, so I will write them in chronological order.<br />
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Then, in true blog format, they will be arranged in "Most Recent" to "Oldest" order and you'll end up reading it all Tarentino style anyway. OH WELL!<br />
So story #1 of 2 that leads into Crazy Shit You've Never Heard Of starts ...now:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah... That's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Click for full screen!</td></tr>
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Last week I went to the Hokkaido Snow Festival in Sapporo, not the beer, but the city the beer is named for. As it turns out, Sapporo is famous for a lot of great food: Scallops, Crab, Miso Ramen, anything dairy related (Hokkaido is Japan's number one source for dairy products, so everything from butter to ice cream is fresher and more delicious there), and my new love: "Soup Curry". More on that in a bit.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYkehmFBBtKKP0hNgnnjmASZc_s1613yTyvddJ6V7d1flpyFIjCZTuzsXTB_hgNC6wb25351aja8TOtU8QqyN4y97FiT3Ox-hT4Axjnxjwj3OL-vOqEYqCnXvDhKEDNUeCGiDeUgUTUUE/s1600/175051_10100124467817392_10118973_53200117_7485402_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYkehmFBBtKKP0hNgnnjmASZc_s1613yTyvddJ6V7d1flpyFIjCZTuzsXTB_hgNC6wb25351aja8TOtU8QqyN4y97FiT3Ox-hT4Axjnxjwj3OL-vOqEYqCnXvDhKEDNUeCGiDeUgUTUUE/s200/175051_10100124467817392_10118973_53200117_7485402_o.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not cold for Hokkaido, PLENTY cold for me!</td></tr>
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So I arrived at the airport and ran from the plane where a baby two rows behind me had been wailing nonstop for the last 30 minutes (I cannot stress how much I hate the sound of crying children, but I guess no one *likes* it), and quickly found my way to the bus which took me all the way to my friend Ryan's house.<br />
He was at work, but left his apartment open for me, and I went in, got settled, and played with his cats. After a nap I tried to figure out his shower, but it was impossible. I should have taken a photo, because it was basically a gas-powered hot water heater complete with pilot-light lighter built INSIDE the shower. In stead of blowing his house and myself top smithereens, I used some body spray and wandered around his neighborhood, ducking into the first ramen joint I found for lunch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_ABCiHynYibGYVvWUm_b88mTipRBB1gJlZk58yKBJ4U9GQe65MsPI5h5sW8s3Zb2ePsABkYOPfA-Bdet7zfmnbVeH1dba6c08ORycnq4pALBMYe8Jgkv5icHmHmV1k9BLlZe5xbeZIQ/s1600/175311_10100124467992042_10118973_53200122_5876298_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_ABCiHynYibGYVvWUm_b88mTipRBB1gJlZk58yKBJ4U9GQe65MsPI5h5sW8s3Zb2ePsABkYOPfA-Bdet7zfmnbVeH1dba6c08ORycnq4pALBMYe8Jgkv5icHmHmV1k9BLlZe5xbeZIQ/s320/175311_10100124467992042_10118973_53200122_5876298_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The portion was huge, but this was clearly not the gourmet Miso Ramen I was looking for...</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXVWKBMzKVH-vjT-sryIvugAKO1L7N_QLCyYXnNEqWBngWvNS67L2DbPGOIQp6LThcya9IhZXPUGb-HVzmTYwF8hJpesbBQTTEJGuxg7FJH3ch83_HcuFybQWjYmdDroMaj-N9bdN6gbY/s1600/170574_10100124468021982_10118973_53200123_5246844_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXVWKBMzKVH-vjT-sryIvugAKO1L7N_QLCyYXnNEqWBngWvNS67L2DbPGOIQp6LThcya9IhZXPUGb-HVzmTYwF8hJpesbBQTTEJGuxg7FJH3ch83_HcuFybQWjYmdDroMaj-N9bdN6gbY/s320/170574_10100124468021982_10118973_53200123_5246844_o.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Hattchan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I went back to the house and played with Ryan's cats more, eventually getting up the nerve to turn on his intimidatingly huge gas heater and taking a nap with the kitties in the living room. Why so home bound? I was also getting over a a bad stomach-flu and had messed my foot up playing Ultimate frisbee the Sunday before, so walking hurt, I had zero energy, and I wanted to take it easy so I would get well enough to enjoy my trip, but surprisingly (or not), despite all of this, I was quite happy and enjoying just being on vacation and having the OPTION to take it slow.<br />
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OH! looking at this photo, I realize that I am skipping the story of renewing my passport in Osaka the day before, which was a story in itself, but I guess that can wait until I get my passport back.<br />
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So that evening Ryan came home, we caught up on each other's lives since we hadn't seen each other in person since we MET at Tokyo Orientation for new JETs a year and a half before, played some Tekken 5, then went upstairs to his neighbor's for a small laid back Nabe (hot-pot) dinner party. For all my pains and ailments, this was a PERFECT first day.<br />
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Day 2, I woke up feeling MUCH better! Ryan got off work and took me to his favorite Indian restaurant. Why Indian food? Some connection to Hokkaido? No, because Indian food is fucking delicious. 'Nuff said!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Uw7Kd23YnGokmKpFZt5TkYLZ6p15TQhJAu2_t0srFM6l_-JE5GiIWMY-FQf2b3nV_nfxqojDR3t7w_akaTc6gGsKIkCTXvYq4yfg-2rX-rlw5kstu0GG54-YLC3q39CnYr4bhgMhB2s/s1600/172436_10100124467857312_10118973_53200118_7955744_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Uw7Kd23YnGokmKpFZt5TkYLZ6p15TQhJAu2_t0srFM6l_-JE5GiIWMY-FQf2b3nV_nfxqojDR3t7w_akaTc6gGsKIkCTXvYq4yfg-2rX-rlw5kstu0GG54-YLC3q39CnYr4bhgMhB2s/s320/172436_10100124467857312_10118973_53200118_7955744_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are what the streets looked like outside downtown.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUcHPzz0cfD2D8kVgkTUhwTTGk34mrZz9jvOR84I2Npdl8U4mD6lBjDzyuPPKSZQPRY5jdBKiig2W_ydyJ1pPhbO7ShueoAL_jDdWqc_Axrycv24mymYatj_HwV7-iOlAcof9R_aNS-R0/s1600/171497_10100124468151722_10118973_53200127_5745130_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUcHPzz0cfD2D8kVgkTUhwTTGk34mrZz9jvOR84I2Npdl8U4mD6lBjDzyuPPKSZQPRY5jdBKiig2W_ydyJ1pPhbO7ShueoAL_jDdWqc_Axrycv24mymYatj_HwV7-iOlAcof9R_aNS-R0/s320/171497_10100124468151722_10118973_53200127_5745130_o.jpg" width="320" /></a>Ryan went back to work I walked around downtown Sapporo. My goal was to visit the Ainu Museum. The Ainu, for those who don't know were an indigenous people to northern Japan who have all but been wiped out by the modern "Japanese" people, so in many ways their history is similar to America and our native tribes. Along the way, I visited this amazing park where their Prefectural office and their historic "Old Prefectural Office" is. You might not care about this, but since I work every day at an old dilapidated Prefectural office, it was interesting, and the old building was super cool and reminded me of "Old Main" at the U of A, but with a frozen lake and an adorable, giant, Japanese-style snowman STRAIGHT out of Mario 64! Check it out:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSt3jFbKgcb0uGcBlFmjyz2m9nEJMv4NcEjNpuOXEF6HKgw4gNSoCupi0OR164msemLvTd_cLj4lJ6rVcCdckJ38CYiZDUN8_LUz3-TmjzrMecZZns-sAMBMlbewBxGDkuy01kFmobnc/s1600/171780_10100124467892242_10118973_53200119_1831946_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSt3jFbKgcb0uGcBlFmjyz2m9nEJMv4NcEjNpuOXEF6HKgw4gNSoCupi0OR164msemLvTd_cLj4lJ6rVcCdckJ38CYiZDUN8_LUz3-TmjzrMecZZns-sAMBMlbewBxGDkuy01kFmobnc/s640/171780_10100124467892242_10118973_53200119_1831946_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panorama WIN!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Afterward I wandered around trying to find the Ainu Museum. I KNEW I was close, but for some reason all roads kept leading me back to the great, big, CLOSED, botanical garden. Eventually I started asking strangers on the street until I got the answer I feared: The museum was INSIDE the botanical garden, and therefore closed for the winter. Damn. After three-plus hours walking around my foot was killing me as well. That evening I knew I would meet up with Ryan and his girlfriend and their friends, so I ducked into a promising looking sports doctor's office and wound up getting electro-massage acupuncture! (If that sounds like some crazy Japan shit you've never heard of, <a href="http://cirbeck.blogspot.com/2010/10/acupuncture-works.html">read my older blog about it!</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoPLjOJ-RX0Q_Z4IbU32lxRI7G6EccH6lUopsGQ5NB_TYLv8B6Xeqv2edkGXbsxBUAZ6NUcwDRz1rCvMy81lM9_vS_ewSPQ7YpwRqkOou0a6H1AkdX8Lim7KTtaNEEtTq3PtG17PnxZE/s1600/176445_10100124468426172_10118973_53200141_6409771_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoPLjOJ-RX0Q_Z4IbU32lxRI7G6EccH6lUopsGQ5NB_TYLv8B6Xeqv2edkGXbsxBUAZ6NUcwDRz1rCvMy81lM9_vS_ewSPQ7YpwRqkOou0a6H1AkdX8Lim7KTtaNEEtTq3PtG17PnxZE/s400/176445_10100124468426172_10118973_53200141_6409771_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this pic cuz it looks like he's DJing my foot :P</td></tr>
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Feeling MUCH better ALL OVER, and with my foot taped up, I met up with everyone, we went to an izakaya for dinner and drinks, and afterword starting getting into the snow festival area, specifically, the ICE SCULPTURES! I will just show you this one, but there were SO MANY amazing ones and just the sheer size of each one and how many of them there were, all in the same place was very impressive! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHEHA7pKi6RtOyCqH8uFJ9cpVTGjN2N7tc3ojCnJJos6oU2581TzyAbsl_kgCbAKbMek2DuNVT6ryOV8r5t2zgjhX3-yDbxE37rCJr1v-aFUrCTiOdUUQ-mQFYINWAsHl0wHQ3AjeGFJ4/s1600/176234_10100124469044932_10118973_53200161_2464763_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHEHA7pKi6RtOyCqH8uFJ9cpVTGjN2N7tc3ojCnJJos6oU2581TzyAbsl_kgCbAKbMek2DuNVT6ryOV8r5t2zgjhX3-yDbxE37rCJr1v-aFUrCTiOdUUQ-mQFYINWAsHl0wHQ3AjeGFJ4/s400/176234_10100124469044932_10118973_53200161_2464763_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Day three I met up with some friends from Hiroshima after finally going to a famous Miso Ramen restaurant for lunch:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah, THAT's the good stuff. けやき</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuiow7W6OJftgtqpvTmh-kW93SjxhNbu3za0t7vBWZ9U7NzS8VyMSabYCisjrjeAh1L62jy5LmaOez9TMWty5tbymHKKKgoQJBICgGqPwaEzyQAbnf_yt7xoXMx_fMZ0FkTAU1kwZXL0/s1600/171620_10100124470022972_10118973_53200189_7176323_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuiow7W6OJftgtqpvTmh-kW93SjxhNbu3za0t7vBWZ9U7NzS8VyMSabYCisjrjeAh1L62jy5LmaOez9TMWty5tbymHKKKgoQJBICgGqPwaEzyQAbnf_yt7xoXMx_fMZ0FkTAU1kwZXL0/s400/171620_10100124470022972_10118973_53200189_7176323_o.jpg" width="225" /></a><br />
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We walked all over the main snow festival area, got lots of great photos and saw tons of snow sculptures! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3u9kDfwCiKsxVbbeNQ7PWBaFyYHMZg318gtKwvsXByoC9PPGco-P4e_Zupm585TtE5NEv3PIQE8Z7rw5JY74B6R1_X2VGwYqpekq_NvVTvpxGszwF0X0pAunx0w_r0EKsq8ry3EAS6b0/s1600/176310_10100124471694622_10118973_53200222_2289445_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3u9kDfwCiKsxVbbeNQ7PWBaFyYHMZg318gtKwvsXByoC9PPGco-P4e_Zupm585TtE5NEv3PIQE8Z7rw5JY74B6R1_X2VGwYqpekq_NvVTvpxGszwF0X0pAunx0w_r0EKsq8ry3EAS6b0/s640/176310_10100124471694622_10118973_53200222_2289445_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was just one small section...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMM_B0wbRv4YKMJ1CswEx66ZpYX_jz0uRImTHItNlk-KtlOZt0KN1WqKYPL-V2UDlUq8vtf5u52NS6z5YWrtzPoJlpINjLijk2BdAAPX24mzb7-xYpJ-VfesiYmZ48wAHb2dPLHm9cW14/s1600/173055_10100124491619692_10118973_53200522_2519016_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijHI2z-pRh3wGwqfE1ehhjddFqT3-iy-Y7IXRXI3bzbrKNtUelheWB9X8oYwdhUO2PoX9BbDI9wzue8FGd5OXPBZTti0hkD8jn1XDha-dAoqL61cscKlM0eRsvb811c3re9XUE2hTQ_Zw/s1600/172819_10100124491689552_10118973_53200526_2744114_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijHI2z-pRh3wGwqfE1ehhjddFqT3-iy-Y7IXRXI3bzbrKNtUelheWB9X8oYwdhUO2PoX9BbDI9wzue8FGd5OXPBZTti0hkD8jn1XDha-dAoqL61cscKlM0eRsvb811c3re9XUE2hTQ_Zw/s640/172819_10100124491689552_10118973_53200526_2744114_o.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibls03Ys9a0C6lLYqWATPGtP51w52Xs5QpRhGOPdm-IQwbnVOpzSRwu-v4kl1nMwRVQQxhzPM8h8FQQ4fX1Wow7k_Nlrz4Hg0nAQCThe3E_1EWyUucJIFrzTJDq7JHi605qU3MBv469eA/s1600/171629_10100124471400212_10118973_53200212_1390183_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibls03Ys9a0C6lLYqWATPGtP51w52Xs5QpRhGOPdm-IQwbnVOpzSRwu-v4kl1nMwRVQQxhzPM8h8FQQ4fX1Wow7k_Nlrz4Hg0nAQCThe3E_1EWyUucJIFrzTJDq7JHi605qU3MBv469eA/s640/171629_10100124471400212_10118973_53200212_1390183_o.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwSry2HamY4KOuo1ygRapaKcYzwpC12-bBbuX-m9MF9ojZnOAjJqO9xJOUTcmTF3MsNaLuFj3UI53mH_JfkpkCyLmeWyyGQQPvWi7c0F1t5Q9EBevv_sxo7-zBZW2bJ5-jU51HlNGF3QI/s1600/176351_10100124491644642_10118973_53200523_6616592_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwSry2HamY4KOuo1ygRapaKcYzwpC12-bBbuX-m9MF9ojZnOAjJqO9xJOUTcmTF3MsNaLuFj3UI53mH_JfkpkCyLmeWyyGQQPvWi7c0F1t5Q9EBevv_sxo7-zBZW2bJ5-jU51HlNGF3QI/s640/176351_10100124491644642_10118973_53200523_6616592_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We had a great couple hours hanging out and looking at all the incredible designs, but my foot was once again killing me, so we parted ways and I went back for another round of acupuncture. It was there I found out about some crazy Japan shit I had never heard of, but that will be a story for another time (Mwuhuhahahaha!)...<br />
<br />
So I invited all my friends to meet me afterward for dinner at a Soup Curry (Calyi?) restaurant. Everyone bailed and Ryan said "What do you wanna do?"<br />
"EAT SOUP CURRY!" was my response and it was the best decision I made that day!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2784Ke3Lxvvsb2FUeSwc-3dq2QWk_eOjvfSuPanOSpyz3KaZkoeIz1akVJxEetu6zMa4-v3bn9pLJH6yU66P3ECNfUPIx3iiJJvuQevSck0FTEWB4CmjFAQ3HaOr0qvpBIJDs3uSI7T8/s1600/SH3B0719.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2784Ke3Lxvvsb2FUeSwc-3dq2QWk_eOjvfSuPanOSpyz3KaZkoeIz1akVJxEetu6zMa4-v3bn9pLJH6yU66P3ECNfUPIx3iiJJvuQevSck0FTEWB4CmjFAQ3HaOr0qvpBIJDs3uSI7T8/s640/SH3B0719.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After a snowball filled walk, we were ready, but I had no idea what glory was about to ensue...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeuMtA74G0RRFKmQvsD-utFUWeWxVOjWRmnOaf7YGTiHPehyPw1njrHqVSk2QimOVQAYCgl0S6Pn6BOU_pFQbjNLxp6Ryn98OLv6jYSrJis7PU29uKaBmqaxlIZR5W21URWqt0Cg9sE4/s1600/SH3B0720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeuMtA74G0RRFKmQvsD-utFUWeWxVOjWRmnOaf7YGTiHPehyPw1njrHqVSk2QimOVQAYCgl0S6Pn6BOU_pFQbjNLxp6Ryn98OLv6jYSrJis7PU29uKaBmqaxlIZR5W21URWqt0Cg9sE4/s400/SH3B0720.JPG" width="400" /></a>I couldn't know the treat I was in store for, but Ryan clearly knew he was granting a wish I was too naive to dare dream. Soup Curry is a delicious soup broth fill a mountain of delicious ingredients and Indian curry spices. I have no idea if such a thing exists in India, but this should be served EVERYWHERE (same goes for Doner Kebab...) Ryan got the broccoli and Maitake mushrooms, which were as succulent as Fillet Mignon. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LvneupTbASKZQjlsHo8DeNzsNOziZojBMm7AczhRTyETpXu59vjS4pUzB9HmJFhLtOL_3BBfKBVhKe0onZOFgCAlCUvY0ug058-yILeIQLLEfjjr0jaxRbORXbB6vfBihf1pvl7jF2E/s1600/SH3B0721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LvneupTbASKZQjlsHo8DeNzsNOziZojBMm7AczhRTyETpXu59vjS4pUzB9HmJFhLtOL_3BBfKBVhKe0onZOFgCAlCUvY0ug058-yILeIQLLEfjjr0jaxRbORXbB6vfBihf1pvl7jF2E/s640/SH3B0721.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behold....</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Isn't it glorious? This was recommended to me by both Ryan and his S.African ALT neighbors, so I had to order the "Crispy chicken". It included a quail egg, pumpkin, eggplant, potato, bell pepper, carrot and gobo (burdock) root. I was in heaven.<br />
After that we THOUGHT we'd meet my friends in town for drinks so we headed downtown. Turns out, no one has even STARTED eating dinner (at 9P.M.) so Ryan and I go to the bar to drink while we wait. Not to whine, but everyone flaked pretty hardcore on us, and only one person bothered to apologize, but i guess they were all in vacation mode, but so was I, and Ryan and I made the best of our time at this cool game and entertainment-themed bar before going back home.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZ-dUYoG3JzkFIWMugcfhArMJaStvzQYDjwyhVWXZvN9aWAUCgW_8_rJkN39GBv3tNpeqnvi7G3D65m_xx_S_5fNLGYuY-MU7iSoF0CzIg3cJjwOcpqBCroZcVR9HJIKETFh34zAgFtI/s1600/SH3B0724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZ-dUYoG3JzkFIWMugcfhArMJaStvzQYDjwyhVWXZvN9aWAUCgW_8_rJkN39GBv3tNpeqnvi7G3D65m_xx_S_5fNLGYuY-MU7iSoF0CzIg3cJjwOcpqBCroZcVR9HJIKETFh34zAgFtI/s640/SH3B0724.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
As luck had it, we chose the exact right moment to go home, because we ran into four of Ryan's friends on the train and ended up going to karaoke until 3am! Basically, this trip was a series of unfortunate disasters (sick, maimed, locked out of a museum, and deserted) that led to great things making all of the bad shit mean nothing.<br />
<br />
We spent the next morning sleeping off that night and headed back into town to enjoy the remaining bits of the Snow Festival I hadn't seen already. We had some delicious "hot cherry beer", German flavored almonds, more food, and laughed at people slipping and tripping on the ice. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggGIhvqDhGeNPcznrnylQcy4bSNTJ4hyphenhyphenSvTxgli75WiVJsqbnDqolnk2Zcwrl9siPhS-dYYjCiLcTbIerE461but46kG2m-y9iiUBGTqDhra4G-gNlAmALbNgBKDTuj1hAzlg1c9jc8Zs/s1600/SH3B0735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggGIhvqDhGeNPcznrnylQcy4bSNTJ4hyphenhyphenSvTxgli75WiVJsqbnDqolnk2Zcwrl9siPhS-dYYjCiLcTbIerE461but46kG2m-y9iiUBGTqDhra4G-gNlAmALbNgBKDTuj1hAzlg1c9jc8Zs/s400/SH3B0735.JPG" width="222" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpcZajFmNqen79BvbEBWNHopGV6oVW1aKL6IdJshL8r_BpimKaL9DiEsW43BM0BcfDJzJF-YQsG4DtR2EvSo1dE9M0w5UuFiI7z3G2g-aHVmcgbel-eHC0UEhQ0F5ttxsScYsyLz6FK8/s1600/SH3B0737.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpcZajFmNqen79BvbEBWNHopGV6oVW1aKL6IdJshL8r_BpimKaL9DiEsW43BM0BcfDJzJF-YQsG4DtR2EvSo1dE9M0w5UuFiI7z3G2g-aHVmcgbel-eHC0UEhQ0F5ttxsScYsyLz6FK8/s400/SH3B0737.JPG" width="223" /></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN8PLIHZYi3ISXYt5KNbevlC1Ww7wf33h0fukt5qFa7SV7d9n9pQiFeJHtBM68wE9L5ra3hC_Myuwe3SLAC_OK2rAbTMeXHQ_9ilqRGvYt_gMi7zLDsV9Fi464P9BSd2tiiH-l79m_xFk/s1600/SH3B0741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN8PLIHZYi3ISXYt5KNbevlC1Ww7wf33h0fukt5qFa7SV7d9n9pQiFeJHtBM68wE9L5ra3hC_Myuwe3SLAC_OK2rAbTMeXHQ_9ilqRGvYt_gMi7zLDsV9Fi464P9BSd2tiiH-l79m_xFk/s320/SH3B0741.JPG" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah...wait, what?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>All in all and incredible journey right? But Hokkaido had one last surprise for me. As I waited for my plane to arrive, who should i see getting OFF the same plane but NINJA from Die Antwoord!!!<br />
I talk about this guy so much, seeing him made me think of that book/movie "The Secret", like maybe I had attracted him to Japan. He smiled and said "Hey" and that was about all I could ask for since he was in the flow of people going toward the baggage claim on the other side of security. Seeing a rapper you like in the airport is just about the coolest way to end a trip. I guess I would have like to be sitting next to him on a flight, but I'd also constantly wonder if I was just bothering him, so this was perfect. If you don't know Ninja, watch this, and watch out for my next blog, where I meet more random famous people and really DO wonder if it's alright to schmooze with them so long! Until next time,<br />
Ziegevergewaltiger!<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_wv-SJm0kRA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-27143710073062886462011-02-03T17:19:00.001+09:002011-02-03T17:29:18.157+09:00Rated G for the Masses<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Here is a preview (two months early!) of the article I just wrote for the Hiroshima International Center's quarterly newsletter. That's right! I'm leakin' ME! Because the publication is made using our tax yennies, it has to be tame, but I still mean everything I wrote, even if it comes off as sappy. Enjoy!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I LOVE EXCHANGE </span><span style="font-family: "MS 明朝";">国際交流最高!-</span><span lang="EN-US"> 1</span><span style="font-family: "MS 明朝";">月末行われた雪生活体験の楽しい一日について</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">By Greg Beck</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Working at the </span><span lang="EN-US">Hiroshima</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">International</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Center</span><span lang="EN-US"> for the three years has truly been a blessing. As the resident English translator it can be hard. With a lot of last minute translation requests, long hours, and a constantly changing schedule it is impossible to commit to anything in my “free time”, because my free time is different every week! But, would I trade my experience for a “normal” Monday – Friday 9am to 5pm job? <b><i><u>NO!</u></i></b></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUaNK68iC0CF7-DvPwkXY07YxuQEs0Ue1yQzxJ8dY0EMy0o5ITptc381o6x0g3gl1GwoCPQFgPmgFkXDxjlU_Bu7XTfFwvZ2img0nyYEDz5QNNXu1TG7VuZsbvPuSFtXjv7e6ccbPvW0/s1600/mj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUaNK68iC0CF7-DvPwkXY07YxuQEs0Ue1yQzxJ8dY0EMy0o5ITptc381o6x0g3gl1GwoCPQFgPmgFkXDxjlU_Bu7XTfFwvZ2img0nyYEDz5QNNXu1TG7VuZsbvPuSFtXjv7e6ccbPvW0/s400/mj.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This photo won't be in the article, but apparently some Chinese people are equally clueless about what they wear!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6LaHjpYageATlUSWEr6VKIKiQIeXRe2LIT91ZTRIvNcakYwufVlqZPNwmOlhF5boNG0d3TAGr6K1wU_3PMzSJnV4N9rq1AfgEVvYCYqyPGokc80UxFs9VlM3Ll9nnPGrGbmeXfyk9uQ/s1600/P1302201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6LaHjpYageATlUSWEr6VKIKiQIeXRe2LIT91ZTRIvNcakYwufVlqZPNwmOlhF5boNG0d3TAGr6K1wU_3PMzSJnV4N9rq1AfgEVvYCYqyPGokc80UxFs9VlM3Ll9nnPGrGbmeXfyk9uQ/s200/P1302201.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old dudes chillin' with hot sake</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Most recently, I had the honor of working at the Life in the Snow Experience event for my third consecutive year. Even though I always have a wonderful time working at every exchange event, this was quite possibly the best event I have ever experienced! Here is what happened:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After driving two hours into the snowy north of Mizokuchi, located in </span><span lang="EN-US">Kita-hiroshima</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Town</span><span lang="EN-US">, we arrived at the </span><span lang="EN-US">Miwa-higashi</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Culture</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Center</span><span lang="EN-US"> with participants from all over the world chatting excitedly in at least eight different languages. Outside more than one meter of beautiful, pure snow, had fallen on a hill with big, black inter-tubes, waiting to be used as sleds. After the opening ceremony inside, we split into two groups. A quarter of the participants went to the kitchen to make dishes from their home countries to share at lunch. Everyone else went outside to play in the snow. Also outside, some of the senior citizens had set up around the same rusty wood stove they do every year, heating sake in freshly cut, hollowed-out bamboo, and pouring the hot sake for anyone nearby into more fresh-cut, bamboo cups. This year however, they had outdone themselves, passing out fresh-stewed wild boar ribs for everyone to snack on in the hours before lunch.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kPWkBar-njdg1AuaaeXL1Pgpa-Ys0rILv_CLekDLgRhmUpw49yRD50Mx24V9oFuZwkwwcs5qYc0HToiGhuqi8kR9oXKvHvI9K9XBoxev73_76M9288aS1BSLMcCvvRLEQ7GUR6OK2os/s1600/P1302197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kPWkBar-njdg1AuaaeXL1Pgpa-Ys0rILv_CLekDLgRhmUpw49yRD50Mx24V9oFuZwkwwcs5qYc0HToiGhuqi8kR9oXKvHvI9K9XBoxev73_76M9288aS1BSLMcCvvRLEQ7GUR6OK2os/s400/P1302197.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's one of my bosses with sake and wild boar ribs</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Our participants from 15 countries went wild playing in the snow, and sliding down the hill. This year an quiet old gentleman had made his own sled out of skis, and everyone had a turn on it. “Can two people sit on it?” asked two girls, “Yes, two people is best”, he said sitting down and beckoning the closest one to ride with him, completely oblivious to the thought they may have wanted to go together! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xRV0hMgkg7SE0SpLfJrIgWrrEL9a4k1Bu3lB6EILE0VFgK78ejdwSbS7269NydYJdr68KIfaJ3cEJW3ESE0LVZJTDcUPPLzA57wacLn2PjOJIOef2iKKRGb2NuhvI6wqpKrJnHeXfW4/s1600/P1302198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xRV0hMgkg7SE0SpLfJrIgWrrEL9a4k1Bu3lB6EILE0VFgK78ejdwSbS7269NydYJdr68KIfaJ3cEJW3ESE0LVZJTDcUPPLzA57wacLn2PjOJIOef2iKKRGb2NuhvI6wqpKrJnHeXfW4/s400/P1302198.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously...HILARIOUS!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Time passed quickly and at </span><span lang="EN-US">noon</span><span lang="EN-US"> we all went inside for lunch and some amazing performances. The spread of Japanese food was amazing, with Indian curry, Chinese shrimp in chili sauce, Vietnamese fried spring rolls, and New Zealand no-bake cheesecake mix in among the dishes. </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq5BgbpYBrwP0yqPdZg2MeKWa_y7EbjCbjF7op19sOadSxtpcC_n9mDqWXNuDhaDYePTilYJsxeKTL1hliLSeNCBMa6hKcsVto1CgvPPKTE8WFS1jOZ5F-KXUueeQu7Py_Cgr8nEVwo0/s1600/spread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq5BgbpYBrwP0yqPdZg2MeKWa_y7EbjCbjF7op19sOadSxtpcC_n9mDqWXNuDhaDYePTilYJsxeKTL1hliLSeNCBMa6hKcsVto1CgvPPKTE8WFS1jOZ5F-KXUueeQu7Py_Cgr8nEVwo0/s320/spread.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As you can see, the locals did NOT ask for my help translating these (Kabocha = Pumpkin)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century; font-size: 10.5pt;">While we all ate, I took several breaks to translate in between performances. After watching a traditional, Japanese, artistic dance, a Chinese participant played the Hulusi (a traditional flute), two, young, Korean ladies sang and danced, everyone did a Japanese folk dance, followed by a Scottish country dance, and for a finale, the local Kagura group performed an incredible play about a demon spider! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9_NYC1s4QwU3nFPZCeLFHclyCVJrrUSsB6Ivny_Q1Og2nWNbzGKjizYz71S4_oQtR1Gw2TIhxTD4Gzck_Hhg8gW7tfS2kqpCpCGxwZPCuVOAuEqq8e62CIUyLmtD6M6u-NS1oXaDpSY/s1600/yukiseikatsu.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9_NYC1s4QwU3nFPZCeLFHclyCVJrrUSsB6Ivny_Q1Og2nWNbzGKjizYz71S4_oQtR1Gw2TIhxTD4Gzck_Hhg8gW7tfS2kqpCpCGxwZPCuVOAuEqq8e62CIUyLmtD6M6u-NS1oXaDpSY/s400/yukiseikatsu.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to Right - Japan, Korea, China</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5g3orDgBCUwG8QhmkzAe8NVjCll0UQnCncKRtwnJ5-mGwaJij8F8KA6FJabwU1OGbHhrzG1yUooV4Mz6x3hScDG87GrUN3yQFua68ZXC4tO5zKuWw0gMQrw65u7z5brGxa1_nrEUtufE/s1600/P1302225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5g3orDgBCUwG8QhmkzAe8NVjCll0UQnCncKRtwnJ5-mGwaJij8F8KA6FJabwU1OGbHhrzG1yUooV4Mz6x3hScDG87GrUN3yQFua68ZXC4tO5zKuWw0gMQrw65u7z5brGxa1_nrEUtufE/s640/P1302225.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I fucking LOVE Kagura! Also, possibly the best-timed photo I've ever taken!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">All day I kept pausing and thinking to myself, “I am so lucky”, and “This is my job? Amazing!” Everyone did a wonderful job of teaching each other about their cultures. Not just foreigner-to-Japanese, but every one learned something about the different nations represented that day. I know people sometimes fear the unfamiliar, but this job has taught me that nothing is more fun than sharing and learning about different cultures.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2qHkzzL54QsDgMPFhvHU4-DDfs9PpbG0gk-KRMOOZZ1hzBtzpECMP7uot1FDhCKELD1HeO8S4owp_xg6E2kNhON406Wht03gUhGA-QSKqqI-FXwulUByWQbYD6s3GGje9PdmzhAwQgo/s1600/P1302202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2qHkzzL54QsDgMPFhvHU4-DDfs9PpbG0gk-KRMOOZZ1hzBtzpECMP7uot1FDhCKELD1HeO8S4owp_xg6E2kNhON406Wht03gUhGA-QSKqqI-FXwulUByWQbYD6s3GGje9PdmzhAwQgo/s640/P1302202.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Later Skaters!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-84050742456919865042011-02-02T17:28:00.001+09:002011-02-03T02:01:55.851+09:00My Lovely Friend DaikyuOkay, <i>daikyu</i> is not a person, it is Japanese - 代休 - for "substitute leave".<br />
Although I may rant and ramble sometimes on how busy my weeks can get, and sometimes I DO work 14 days straight. Every hour I am<i> scheduled</i> to work beyond my normally scheduled 40-hour work week, I get substitute leave. I have to use this <i>daikyu</i> within 4 weeks of getting it, so I can't save it up and take a month off, but I also can't let myself burn out for too long before it forces me to "use it or lose it".<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.freefitguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/if-you-dont-use-it-you-lose-it-1024x574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://www.freefitguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/if-you-dont-use-it-you-lose-it-1024x574.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, it's true.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In the last 2 weeks, I have worked the equivalent of almost 3 full days of work when I was supposed to be at home playing video games or on a mountain snowboarding. But let's be honest here, some times when I work on a "day off" it takes place at an event where I get to participate, eat, sometimes drink, and MC/flex my interpretation chops in English and Japanese; I love that, and on top of it all, I get<i> daikyu</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-u3Dk736Valt99dgm9OthPXLYYLK6za9UwmFZqgch_L8DKk8OQuj6mgAUzarqICSg5TaYb2WHWuq9wGeX1CVYvfeaD_AsPN55WD1Rm2uIEzWwW-S9HGArqGVxgTksNqIUrizdT3wOjm0/s1600/P1302202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-u3Dk736Valt99dgm9OthPXLYYLK6za9UwmFZqgch_L8DKk8OQuj6mgAUzarqICSg5TaYb2WHWuq9wGeX1CVYvfeaD_AsPN55WD1Rm2uIEzWwW-S9HGArqGVxgTksNqIUrizdT3wOjm0/s400/P1302202.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken "at work" last Sunday</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
So what am I doing with this substitute leave? I am going to HOKKAIDO!<br />
Well, to be specific, I am taking a week off work, and only using one day and 2 hours worth of actual, paid leave for the following three reasons:<br />
1)I need to go to Osaka to renew my passport.<br />
2)There are DIRT cheap airline tickets from Kobe (a quick train from Osaka), with direct service to Sapporo, the largest city in Hokkaido (and YOU thought it was just a random name for BEER!).<br />
3)When I get back, Hiroshima is hosting the first annual "World Snowboarding Competition in Hiroshima", so I will probably have a lot to blog about when I get back.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix849LMwY-Ru1ww_NZ3PIkRImEdfkYp14f59_wYfjGmh4SSFz99J3rWwLfApD_lMoTOyodHjFEvVf9W9vqmsxyBjGt62bpXmjRUU9loW0zdNFMwWwgEziJhI42luyWjQR9HrdFWbmqvRM/s1600/P2022242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix849LMwY-Ru1ww_NZ3PIkRImEdfkYp14f59_wYfjGmh4SSFz99J3rWwLfApD_lMoTOyodHjFEvVf9W9vqmsxyBjGt62bpXmjRUU9loW0zdNFMwWwgEziJhI42luyWjQR9HrdFWbmqvRM/s320/P2022242.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah...that's not gonna cut it anymore.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Hope you enjoy the blogs to come, and don't forget to vote on my poll (top-right).<br />
Kthxbye!GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-1631535252082544812011-01-28T17:23:00.003+09:002011-02-01T20:33:23.704+09:00The Quickening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJcftZ9l8kkzMBEVJ29DjKVDrY_hKREb9SfA5fxIH-iI-HaSsVzh-HyMHLFu_WU758UYtRXco7ToIakTJ39ibvOWFUr-OBt3umWpKXl7nXvPbkdWm8IhBoBq3bRThjsIDp3kjt73OZeCnr/s1600/quickening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJcftZ9l8kkzMBEVJ29DjKVDrY_hKREb9SfA5fxIH-iI-HaSsVzh-HyMHLFu_WU758UYtRXco7ToIakTJ39ibvOWFUr-OBt3umWpKXl7nXvPbkdWm8IhBoBq3bRThjsIDp3kjt73OZeCnr/s320/quickening.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It may not be THIS dramatic, but I am definitely <i>much</i> busier than prior years.<br />
Although this is my LAST year on JET, month by month I've slowly expanded the range of responsibilities my bosses entrust me with, and with that comes the joy of being over-worked. It really is exhausting to run around helping some many different groups, but my feeling of achievement and overall sense that I am gaining valuable work experience makes it incredibly rewarding. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHTgTBHaZVaK2coVf79_TFko_UuegzgMUoiVANrpnARZUcvtQ7p_22kyi4wWTaaCXuIQEPY5LkWgSJjELFQevEZJau1cuUtbfSygk2PQCAjP3Pse0GNsi43Oe5dNDIW9Q_nuKyWxARJg/s1600/level+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHTgTBHaZVaK2coVf79_TFko_UuegzgMUoiVANrpnARZUcvtQ7p_22kyi4wWTaaCXuIQEPY5LkWgSJjELFQevEZJau1cuUtbfSygk2PQCAjP3Pse0GNsi43Oe5dNDIW9Q_nuKyWxARJg/s320/level+up.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This week was no exception. My days off this week are Monday and Saturday, and by that I mean I worked last Saturday AND Sunday, translating, helping people, and standard mundane work at the Hiroshima International Center (by now I can just write HIC and you'll get it, right?!?). Monday being my first day off in eight days meant it was a quarter-past-laundry-time. I washed hung, and put away three loads, and consequently, have a fourth load that still needs putting away! I also cleaned my kitchen and bathroom sinks, washed dishes, vacuumed, and emptied two weeks worth of garbage! Whew! Not much of a day off? WRONG! I woke up at 11:30! That alone makes having a day off worth it to me. I hate waking up before nine, and I think I always will. I also went jogging and watched a couple movies, so it wasn't all chores! </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.christianlouboutinfrench2012.com/images/vibram/Vibram-Five-Finger-Mens-Kso-Gray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.christianlouboutinfrench2012.com/images/vibram/Vibram-Five-Finger-Mens-Kso-Gray.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are what I jog in! <3</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
Tuesday and Wednesday i was swamped with written translations at both offices, and I was even asked to compose, not translate, a cover letter from <i>my boss</i> to the secretary for a Former S.African President! Heavy! (for regular readers this would be the same former president I shared a cruise through Hiroshima Bay with!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJq_2Z8tp8-CDLKNyDVJzOhnk1Od1YGSG4alrbzaak1suh_JFgusXFyCy6vZ7eZudhqWnJip5aTQWw733D4_EJ0cE_nMhaTafsOUQsoA7fEzU7yMTH-06xt_bu1wVCxn2Uif9RNm5nP_c/s1600/P1272172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJq_2Z8tp8-CDLKNyDVJzOhnk1Od1YGSG4alrbzaak1suh_JFgusXFyCy6vZ7eZudhqWnJip5aTQWw733D4_EJ0cE_nMhaTafsOUQsoA7fEzU7yMTH-06xt_bu1wVCxn2Uif9RNm5nP_c/s320/P1272172.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vice-Governor Jono and the Anna University delegation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Yesterday i showed 8 University professors from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India around the Peace Park and Miyajima, and today I took notes on the conversation between Australian Osaka Consul General Rees and Hiroshima Governor Yuzaki! DOUBLE whew! But I am all done now and tomorrow being my day off I will... SNOWBOARD!<br />
Much love!<br />
Until next time.GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-31095734467504950972011-01-22T14:13:00.001+09:002011-01-22T17:08:28.455+09:005 days in Shiga<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0_Q2RVNCScho_sjVHOb4DhTk35fYD3P8-4KVFXO0T7EWmflsR4VDnNJBsiQ7dp3eqv0q_C12hLXQ6ygSepx-BJ4sw10a0OLTAWgNVz7eR3LnBIMG0Ya6E61dGCRyod_jYwenZjQmtLA/s1600/karasak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0_Q2RVNCScho_sjVHOb4DhTk35fYD3P8-4KVFXO0T7EWmflsR4VDnNJBsiQ7dp3eqv0q_C12hLXQ6ygSepx-BJ4sw10a0OLTAWgNVz7eR3LnBIMG0Ya6E61dGCRyod_jYwenZjQmtLA/s320/karasak.jpg" width="320" /></a>This past week I spent four nights, five days at a training camp in Shiga Prefecture, on the shore of Japan's largest lake, Biwako in Karasaki. I took this photo (click to enlarge) on Monday, and as you can see it was snowing and below-freezing that day. The training camp, called JIAM is on the middle-left above the tree line, and for some reason the middle school directly across the street had "YES WE CAN!" written on it.<br />
<br />
<br />
This was not my first time here though. In fact, 13 months prior I had a similar stay for a translation and interpretation camp as part of a six-month correspondence course I took. This time I am studying Japanese Linguistics and Pedagogy, but the format is the same.<br />
<br />
Day one was the standard check-in, opening ceremony and lectures, followed by a welcome dinner, but unlike last year's camp of about 200 students, this course had only 60 students, so we shared out welcome dinner with a group of Japanese civil servants who, like us, arrived that day from all across Japan to attend a two-day course as part of their own English correspondence studies. It was fun and interesting to chat with people both, Japanese and foreign, from all parts of Japan.<br />
<br />
The next three days we were divided into five classes of nine or ten students and each prepared and presented our own mock Japanese lessons to the other members. Our teacher, Nagasaki Sensei, was a very interesting woman who used to teach Japanese in Kenya, and gave us lots of sharp and insightful advice. I ended up going last in our group, and even though I had the benefit of the nine people who presented before me and saw their mistakes, part of me thought teaching Japanese would be no harder than when I taught English, but it was incredibly more difficult! I am very forgetful and much more improvisational, so trying to stick to a textbook and lesson plan proved to be awkward, but the experience was definitely interesting.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEfTTavWt4UmUJC5BB4OXhRcTH2wsBG0uW75PdpxTuLs1POeuI6aAgwxmXDLvgjEsmLfeVApUAHTQN5x-muYmOlrugGVCJsykyLODevUtLr_RcMH5FaGNQIYSooKzlj64gO_5AuZ8K2k/s1600/groupc3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEfTTavWt4UmUJC5BB4OXhRcTH2wsBG0uW75PdpxTuLs1POeuI6aAgwxmXDLvgjEsmLfeVApUAHTQN5x-muYmOlrugGVCJsykyLODevUtLr_RcMH5FaGNQIYSooKzlj64gO_5AuZ8K2k/s320/groupc3.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, that's right. I rocked my Vibrams everyday!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhzsNQljXSB0-U0JSJ63uI4vAmTkiFc-QECIFJZG0Twv7T8H8429H75VML3gUmfQUDtwWv2qU_rQ5frQvtfVTWaDdSZBaUcsgPBQd_ATbEj1WWSkOLB7MKEcKeVzzyoYmbPgVoWqnYJJU/s1600/groupc2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhzsNQljXSB0-U0JSJ63uI4vAmTkiFc-QECIFJZG0Twv7T8H8429H75VML3gUmfQUDtwWv2qU_rQ5frQvtfVTWaDdSZBaUcsgPBQd_ATbEj1WWSkOLB7MKEcKeVzzyoYmbPgVoWqnYJJU/s320/groupc2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>But wait, there's more.<br />
After we finished, we needed to create a presentation to give to other classes about what we learned from our experience, and what to remember when preparing a lesson. Two girls, Shannon and Halley, came up with an idea to do an Alice in Wonderland themed skit. I wanted to be the Cheshire Cat, but they made me the Caterpillar. Oh well. So we prepared for that until around 6pm and then I went to Kyoto City and had dinner with my buddy Sebastian (who btw, put my mom and me up for the night and made us Canadian breakfast when she came to Japan), which was great. The next morning our class met early and rehearsed some more (we had to go first!) but we nailed it and everyone seemed to like it. There were a lot of other good performances that day as well.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjpGCw6ZBnHTdrHfjRL0mIpao9_jPmzH9YxJqSHGs3gIaeixw9K7bubFANWaHPuLvDlHzJt-saKT9nCrPtkG-WW8nR55ae3jHwwjT0X3tAjUJ1G4MnRj-o_8w1p7XA8ATAMxQ-2N-ux0/s1600/groupc.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjpGCw6ZBnHTdrHfjRL0mIpao9_jPmzH9YxJqSHGs3gIaeixw9K7bubFANWaHPuLvDlHzJt-saKT9nCrPtkG-WW8nR55ae3jHwwjT0X3tAjUJ1G4MnRj-o_8w1p7XA8ATAMxQ-2N-ux0/s400/groupc.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjduNLJ9fm8wMEXhye4u6hUsizD9cP2kIpxi1-iNqAVPz-5PY7GAlh_qZ32H9ToKUKDvDL8qEmdhW_PCgsJBKymNzxkFZAq45nuIX35zvuEym4WILI4kiA1kWkm7rbiREwpj36PvMBrghk/s1600/beckbaek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjduNLJ9fm8wMEXhye4u6hUsizD9cP2kIpxi1-iNqAVPz-5PY7GAlh_qZ32H9ToKUKDvDL8qEmdhW_PCgsJBKymNzxkFZAq45nuIX35zvuEym4WILI4kiA1kWkm7rbiREwpj36PvMBrghk/s200/beckbaek.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>We had our closing ceremony after that and I took the train to Kyoto with Baek (my Korean brother-from-another-mother-country), and had lunch with Caleb (another kindred CIR) and after a couple rounds on the electric store massage chairs, grabbed a shinkansen home.<br />
GOOD TIMES! I don't know if I will ever actually teach Japanese, but now I have a slight advantage over other people, not to mention it was great practice for my own Japanese and provided me with many useful resources if I do.<br />
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Now I am home in Hiroshima, but I have to work today and Sunday, so my one day off (Monday) I will be at home doing laundry all day!<br />
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Real quick, since I know my description was vague and weak on content:<br />
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Here's what I did well in my lesson:<br />
I engaged the students directly and asked them to listen to my questions and answers all in Japanese (didn't use any English), and discussed topics the class would be interested in.<br />
I got through review, and moved into explaining the new grammar points and lesson goals quickly, using colored markers to emphasize new words and structures.<br />
I used to pair work and calling on students to drill and confirm they understood the new content.<br />
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Here's what <i>I did poorly:</i><br />
I made lots of small mistakes such as giving instructions using Japanese that was too difficult.<br />
I was a little nervous and messed up the order, forgot to cover, or repeated unnecessarily certain portions of the content.<br />
I gave two or three examples in class where <i>my</i> Japanese was just plain incorrect.<br />
I didn't have enough time at the end of my lesson to let students be creative with the new grammar, which was the main point I was hoping to use so they would leave the lesson feeling satisfied.GB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7413889730769298827.post-42905466519671681872011-01-14T17:24:00.002+09:002011-02-18T00:05:27.112+09:00Humanity, Struggle, and the Fallacy of Peace?When I started this blog seven months ago, I was already quietly starting to question whether "World Peace" is impossible, or even an unreasonable, ideal.<br />
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Back in my high school days I read this comic called Johnny the Homicidal Maniac:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tbns.net/georgis./jthm/scans/powers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.tbns.net/georgis./jthm/scans/powers.jpg" /></a></div>This specific issue dealt with the concept of heaven, and in the authors imagination, heaven was a place without conflict, and free from want, which meant everyone sat around, completely still, and utterly content. At the time I did not think critically about society, but was getting deeply interested in religion and the content it espouses. If you were free from sadness, I thought, would joy even exist in its absence? Would you be moved from pure bliss to sing God's praises as so many paintings and stories of angels suggest, or would you, freed from all desire, just... sit there? I decided I do not wish to be free of desire. I want motivation to move, to act, to improve my situation and surroundings. After life ends, I may be faced with choosing between this world or contented perfection, but I doubt it, and I will put that aside for the rest of this conversation. But still, I think of this comic often, because now as I ponder the living world, I have to conclude that, my blog title still holding: If life were easy, it would be sooo boring!<br />
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I will not entertain the concept that you cannot improve your situation without putting someone else at a disadvantage. Most such modern philosophy quickly devolves into hyperbole-rich, hypothetical, meaningless pontification. What I do look to for the big-"T"-Truth, is the natural world, especially animals.<br />
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From the biological viewpoint, if humans had no new challenges, we would cease to evolve right? My logic for this comes from crocodiles. Basically the most successful dinosaur ever. It's a giant lizard, that swims, walks, and kills, and does it all with a smile. They have always lived in the same place, had plenty of food available to them, and reproduced unchallenged. So even after hundreds of millenniums passed, they stayed the same. I know that as a human, I will not do or see much human evolution in my lifetime (indeed, sometimes it seems like I can see the <i>opposite!</i>), but the thought of humans staying the same in physical and mental limitations and ability for another million years is a depressing one.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZfHOXIeT8HlrIpuOXzuj0DBV7Toi0Ew5z-REmHD4coyl7xIL0BHcKgCgviNSoZjMihMVCF1yukogvERfC4cPkZJz-TgRra7es7qw5TewwCChp7EKc0W65_3cmUqjQeRhA04frKpEo3t0/s1600/Devo.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZfHOXIeT8HlrIpuOXzuj0DBV7Toi0Ew5z-REmHD4coyl7xIL0BHcKgCgviNSoZjMihMVCF1yukogvERfC4cPkZJz-TgRra7es7qw5TewwCChp7EKc0W65_3cmUqjQeRhA04frKpEo3t0/s1600/Devo.bmp" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not too late. To whip it. Whip it good.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://network.nature.com/system/group/000/000/305/original.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
I thought about this, on a very personal scale, for years. Challenge, goals, mile posts, and even set-backs can all be good things for learning and growing. Then about three years ago, I moved to just outside the Peace Park in Hiroshima City, formerly Ground Zero for the first atomic bombing on an actual target, and began my current job, including lots of reading and translating regarding that subject.<br />
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I want to make something crystal clear before continuing: I am absolutely, and unabashedly against the very existence of nuclear weapons, their proliferation, and the absurd thought that by having them, you are any safer. Living here, learning about every aspect of atomic weapons, from scientific creation and application, to resulting devastation and lasting turmoil; and above all meeting and working with actual atomic bomb survivors, has taught me beyond a shadow of a doubt that no space in humanity exists for ANY weapon with such lasting and wide spread repercussions.<br />
<a href="http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/japan/sap/411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/japan/sap/411.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
One thing I never hear anyone say as a reason for why we should abolish nuclear weapons: human conflicts don't last long enough to justify their use. Every last soul in country A and country B could hate each others' guts, and feel it justified in their hatred, but 56 years later, where are the first two foreign countries this American visits, the first international friends I make, and the best time of my life experienced? Germany and Japan. The "Krauts" and "Nips" that Popeye cartoons stereotyped in prime, racist fashion during the war. Even in the '80s I remember watching these cartoons repeated on television, although I didn't understand fully what I was watching. Despite Hiroshima proving to be more resilient in its recovery than any scientists estimated, it is still not fair to your own offspring to inflict such lasting damage on a people, since decades later when you are dead and gone, the children who survived your atrocities are now having to cope with being around your children, who also had absolutely zero say in the matter, and just want to get along in peace.<br />
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<a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/25/article-0-02D9B63600000578-916_468x313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/25/article-0-02D9B63600000578-916_468x313.jpg" width="320" /></a>But WMDs aside, is it <b><i>natural</i></b> to wage war? "<i>Huh! Good god!</i>" Is it really good for <i>"absolutely nothin!</i>"? Obviously not; human evolution, technological development, and history, have come from fighting a series of wars. The first tools, fire, and shelter, can be thought of as developments from war with our environment for to survive. Castles, jets, satellites, and and many advances in medicine came out of necessity from being at war with other countries. Even in the business world, we call competition that leads to lower prices, "Price Wars".<br />
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But back to nature. Plenty of examples of war exist in nature. Chimpanzees, and dolphins are thought to be some of the closest to humans in terms of intelligence. Perhaps that is why dolphins will play with and even save humans they find in the ocean, the same way we coddle and care for other species which we find cute. Yet that same pod of dolphins may willfully go scouting and attack other clans of dolphins. Recently, videos of Japanese bees and wasps waging war against each other have become viral videos on YouTube and you can see there and on National Geographic videos about ants, that even very low-intelligence, hive-minded insects wage war.<br />
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I am not condoning war, but my current working philosophy is that war is at least natural. Possibly at the core of the heavy losses and devastation to life, nature, and humanity that have accompanied wars over the last century, is our own foolish pride and attempts, through complicated treaties, embargoes, and alliances, to avoid small wars between specific groups. Instead we strain both sides and threaten their sovereignty for merely acting in the best interests of their people. We always refer to small waring regions as "unstable", but what if they are unstable before fighting breaks out, and war is their way of stabilizing?<br />
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A microcosm of our current predicament can be seen if we look at the history of North American Plains Indians. For centuries many had a tradition of counting coup. Despite constant tribal wars, casualties were low, because prestige, or making your enemy look like a fool, was prized higher than killing. The introduction of deadlier weapons from European settlers escalated the scale of tribal wars, and because of a gun's obvious advantage the Plains Indians began using them and conflict resolution went from making the enemy look bad, to outright kill-or-be-killed.<br />
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Some may argue that the progression of technology is to blame. Now that guns and nuclear weapons exist, there is "no going back". Again, I disagree. I don't see any need to go backwards technologically, but most of society has to change their unrealistic expectation that there is never a need for violence. Physical violence may be brutal and animal, but to deny ourselves that part of our evolution is denying we too are animals. If you look at the proportionate strength of wild animals to modern man, we are a pretty pathetic lot. This was probably not the case before, but physically, each new generation seems less able to perform manual labor, and mentally less able to express their problems, resolve them, and move on.<br />
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Ultimately, I believe the only way to fix society's problem with war and conflict in general, requires a mental shift, and that starts with how we ourselves think and what lessons we pass on to the next generation. Religious holy war-waging lunatics have the advantage, since their dogma also includes a doctrine to have as many children as possible, but if they are forced to interact with sounder, more well-rounded children in their schools and playgrounds, maybe the notion that "it's okay to fight through something" will return to society, along with something much closer to actual peace than what we have today.<br />
<a href="http://www.curatedmag.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/sieban-book-front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="http://www.curatedmag.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/sieban-book-front.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
Not a whole lot to speak of in my personal life, so I will rant next about Japan's English education and American political shortcomings next. It will hopefully be a little more stimulating than how that just sounded though :P<br />
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In the meantime, leave a comment and let me know what you think. Am I totally off my rocker, or does this make sense? <br />
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Love, Peace, and War!<br />
gregGB Sakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245491685089437150noreply@blogger.com3