On Freedom

Bonsoir!
Laziness gets the better of us all. As you can see I was utterly defeated by it this year. In reality I have been writing a little Japanese diary that I carry with me for the past few months, but even with that I stopped. I'm considering starting up an online Japanese diary as well as starting this one again to keep in contact with students (maybe) but mostly to release my unimportant internal monologue.

The most difficult thing in writing a journal or diary, I find, is finding the proper timing. Right now I'm sitting in my work clothes and still have my jacket on, having come in the door over an hour ago. Normally I'm so tired from my (easy) job I just cook, watch TV, take a bath and then waste my hours on youtube. BUT THAT IS ALL GOING TO CHANGE. RIGHT HERE. RIGHT NOW. LET'S DO THIS!!! LET'S WRITE THIS BLOG!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!! YEAH!!!

Okay.
Recently I've been dreaming about my final day of work: March 31st. It has been burning inside me ever since Fumi and I decided to return to Canada next year. My plan is to move to Fukuoka and do some intense Japanese study and then go with Fumi on an incredible bicycle journey.
Currently we're looking at touring Shikoku and then returning to Yakushima again. I bought pair cameras for our use on this journey - Holga cameras! Yes, we're going to be the worst kind of hipsters: Matching couple hipsters.
I recently took a Black and White test roll to see what sort of light leaks were in my camera and to get a feel for it. It looks like I overestimated the exposure time as many are too light. But here is the surprise: It cost 3717 YEN to develop one roll! That is roughly 40 Canadian dollars. Absolutely ridiculous! So tomorrow I'm off to get materials to develop myself. We'll see how that goes.

Anyways, I'll be back to post again sometime with pictures. Perhaps of some photos taken with my Holga.

On Yeah

Yeah.

This has turned into one of "those" blogs. Nothing posted in a while, so readership has been lost.
Thanks a lot Mom and Dad!

On Bicycles and... Bicycles.

Why hello there.
You seem to be very interested in me, bicycle. It's okay. You can stare, I won't bite. I'm used to it.


So, are you from around here? You look like you enjoy riding. Yes, I can see it in your eyes, so beautiful so- wait wait don't leave, look! Look, we have this terrain to ride together

and this gorgeous rainy view.

What's that you say? You say you want to stop? But baby, I will never stop, I will never sto-

Oh okay I did. Well, at least let me show you my... "panorama shot"

wait, no, please! Please don't go! Please...
Oh I'm so lonely.

To track my bike routes and to see photos from different spots on the Miyazaki coast I've taken, check out my Google Map here.

On Gangsters, Money and the Fattest Woman in the World

Today something noteworthy happened.
I went to the bank to transfer funds back home to pay off my parents and credit card bills. This (for my Father) is definitely noteworthy, but not the subject of this entry.
What was interesting today happened as I stood in line to use the automatic teller. There were six machines in a row at this particular branch, and at the very last machine a fashionable young man was using the teller with another fashionable young man standing directly behind him.
Their fashion wasn't so unique, the usual expensive suit accompanied by designer watches and slicked back black hair. What was unique was their posture and mannerisms.
The man at the teller had his briefcase propped up blocking the view of his hands, and the man behind who I assumed was just a friend, was fidgeting, looking about, and generally staring at those waiting (mainly me).
He was being the lookout.

I smiled at the lookout just to be a cocky asshole, and he just continued to look around the area stone faced but obviously a little nervous.
My eyes then gravitated to the man at the teller. He had this briefcase propped up, but what for? Unfortunately for him, he wasn't being as discreet as he thought and with a little subtle positioning I saw what he had in his hands... a stack of one hundred dollar bills the size of a novel standing upright on its spine. I very loose estimate for that amount of money would be five thousand dollars? Sure not much, but keep in mind this is cash. Also he was taking out more, and turning and handing his lackey his payment for the day.

As I went to make my own transaction, I noticed the lackey was watching me. Perhaps it was in revenge for watching them, so I made sure to turn my back to them so they couldn't see my pin etc. That's when he stabbed me in my shoulder.
I quickly snapped around, pulled the knife from my back and said "You just cashed your last cheque" his eyes went wide in disbelief as I said this and I sliced him across the chest. Turning to the head man I whipped out my pistol, promptly shooting him between the eyes before he could draw on me.
A tumbleweed lazily floated across the bank's linoleum floor.
I mozied up to the now vacant automatic teller and slowly packed the money into my bag. Another victory for justice.

No, that didn't happen. Everything else is true though. I thought I needed a wild-western ending to reward you all for that babbling.

An addition:
Yesterday I did some overtime work on my precious, precious Sunday to be one of three judges at a speech contest. It wasn't so much a speech contest as a "see who can pronounce and remember the template speech assigned to us", but the kids tried their hardest and in my opinion were absolutely wonderful. Some got into what is basically not their words with gestures and the like.
Anyways, the reason for my addition:
One of these templates was called "The Fastest Woman in the World", a speech about Wilma Rudolph. One of the students had the unfortunate mistake of forgetting the first "s" every time.
This was really hard for me as I had to pinch myself from not bursting out into laughter as the student said gems such as "I'd like to tell you about the fattest woman in the world" and "She overcame her handicap to become the fattest woman in the world."
I couldn't bring myself to correct her in front of parents, teachers and classmates so just let it slide.

On Beaches and Beers

I've been keeping pretty busy lately, let me tell youz guyz.
Abdul visited (as I mentioned earlier) and I've been spending my weekends either cleaning, in concert, or heading down to the Nichinan coast.
Which is what this post is primarily about.

I'm trying to take up surfing, since all my buddies down here do it religiously. I went two weeks ago and stood up quite a few times! The hard part I find is actually catching the good waves and then timing your ride to grab the crest of the wave. I headed out last weekend because a typhoon was coming, but the waves were junk (surfer lingo for "crap") everywhere we went. So instead we drove to some tourist spots and then Mash and I went bodysurfing instead.

So here are a few photos from last weekend:

From right to left: Hassy (Ha see), Dala and Dala's friend who is wonderful but I've forgotten her name.

From left to right: washboard rocks and beach, my arm, my ridiculous face.

From right to left: Mash, Hassy.

Udo-jingu, a beautiful shrine dedicated to lord knows what. I was there for the rocks and sea.

See what I mean?

A lone bird perched on the left rock there, unfortunately the fspeed I was at made it too dark when I took the photo. Nuts.

Here you can see on the bottom right, a rock with a ring in the center. If you throw a little clay ball into the water-well within the ring, you will have lots of luck! Girls throw with their right arm, boys with their left. So sexist! (I'm just bitter because I didn't get any clay balls in).

Clay balls out to dry on the rocks, with the crashing sea behind. A typhoon was a-brewing off the coast.

After the trip to Udo-jingu we went to the beach, where Mash attempted to teach me how to body-surf. I'm crap at it, but the man can ride a wave from its beginnings all the way to the beach! When he surfed past me the top-half of his body was sticking out of the wave and he just turned and smiled at me, quickly passing by. It was a surreal moment, and I wish I had waterproof casing for my camera. I'll have to save up a good 1k for that though. One-a-dees-days!

On Visitations

"Bonsoir!", as they say in Japanese.

I have had a wonderful Golden Week (National Japanese Holiday), visiting Fumi's family in Fukuoka and then taking a trip with her to Kagoshima.
Upon arriving home, Abdul came to visit and he will be here tomorrow. This results in my not posting recently (I swear, it's legit this time!).

However I have uploaded my photos to Flickr, where you can view them without captions... or you can wait for me to post in a day or two with a little story to go along with them.
Click here for the Flickr photos

On Having Little to Write About

Since my last post I have had very little to write about, as the title of this post explains.
Coupled with being lazy and conflictingly very busy with work, this journal has been put on the backburner.

However I have a few things to pass on.
The first is my most recent encounter with the person who lives beside me.

Yesterday, as I was leaving for work I opened my door and stepped out to see this neighbour, a woman around 65ish exiting at the same time as me, and heading to the elevator. I greeted her with a happy "こんにちは！" (hello!) expecting to receive one back. Instead I got a murmured and very scared hello back. She stood near the elevator, and as I approached (the elevator, not her), she would take steps back to keep away from me.
Thankfully the elevator door opened in only a few seconds, at which I politely offered her entry ahead of myself. She hurriedly walked in, not pressing the button and I followed, pressing for the ground floor and then immediately facing the door.
What followed was a short, but confusingly-awkward ride down. I was trying to figure out what the hell was running through this woman's mind. I was wearing a suit and was freshly shaved. What was threatening about me of all people, was a mystery.
We exited the elevator and she just stood under the overhang, staring, staring, staring at me as I unlocked my bicycle and rode off.
It was pretty weird.

On a completely different subject, rainy season is approaching, and that means one thing. Rain? No. Cockroaches.
Lots of them.
So I've been slowly cleaning my apartment, corner by corner, in an attempt to avoid hosting these fairly large, disgusting pests. An interesting guide for those of you living in Japan, or living anywhere really can be found here.

As for work, my new schedule is hectic. Busy, busy, busy. Wednesday is especially strenuous, with four of my seven specialized classes! I originally was very bothered with this setup due to reasons I won't get into... but now I've decided to take it like a man and just live with it. I've made my bed, and now I have to weasel my way out of it-

But all is not lost! Golden week is in t-minus 4 days for me!
I have planned a trip to the beautiful area of Kagoshima to visit one of the most active volcanoes in Japan - SakuraJima, which I will be hiking up with my even more beautiful girlfriend, Fumi.
Afterwards we're visiting the local Aquarium and then returning to Fukuoka 2 days later. I can't wait. It will also be the virgin voyage for my new camera- a digital SLR I got for 200 dollars under the list price, including a 5 year warranty and lens kit. Go Kitamura camera!

So expect lots of photos coming up soon- I might be buying a flickr account so that I can just unload them there, depending on the price and what Pat says about their service.


And a quick addendum for my father:
Not to worry Dad, the camera was nowhere near the price of Greg's camera. In fact it was less than a half - perhaps a third of what it was. I figured I'd put this so you don't have to worry.

On Owing You One

I suppose I owe you all some pictures with all my past crap text-only entries now that I have the internet at home.
I'm just going to post a load of photos to give you, my dear reader, an idea of what I have been up to.

These are photos I took on one of my sporadic bike rides down to the beach in November and December:





It isn't very cold here in those months, dipping at the lowest to 5 degrees Celsius at night, and usually 13-15 during the day. Recently it's gotten cold enough to warrant the purchase of a heater in my apartment, which I just leave on constantly. I'm not looking forward to my electricity bill.

This next group of photos is from the Christmas party held at the Sakata manor, where I made spaghetti with meatballs (following the traditional Christmas tradition) and afterwards got very drunk:

Fumi and I are great in couple photos... we're idiots.

The party group! Michael was my only real drinking buddy. In fact he and I polished off at least two wine bottles, various other drinks and this bottle of Shochu set in a Tanuki bottle:


Finally, here is my best friend Pu. He smells pretty bad and barks all the damn time, but inside his furry, brittle old body lies a heart of gold or some other precious metal. Maybe silver. Or Emeralds.

Then there was Hawaii:



The sunglass trio.


This is a solidified lava pool. The entire thing! Greg is asking what you're waiting for.




After Hawaii, which was absolutely amazing, came New Year's which I spent with the Sakata's once again. Here I am ringing in the New Year, literally, at the local shrine.

And here is Fumi doing the same:

To my extreme happiness it snowed on New Year's day! Here is the mountain behind Fumi's house:


Now I'm just about into February and have no pictures from the past month to show. My next vacation is in May, so hopefully something worthy to write about happens to me! This Sunday I've sacrificed a day off to work for ECC Junior again, which is a pretty good way to earn some extra money. It's a lot of work though, quite tiring.

Also I have started to moderate my comments, so when you post it won't show on the website until I have approved it! I'm looking at you, gramps.

On Not Having the Internet... Still.

I'm unsure whether not having the internet still is a blessing or a curse. On the one hand I have plenty of time to do other things, but on the other I have very little connection with friends and family back home (I miss y'all).
Why don't I have it?
Money, time, etc.
So: I plan on signing up on friday! We'll see how it goes. Companies like to mess with us foreigners. . . well not really, it's really my fault for lack of my Japanese abilities.

Anyways some new things with me: I'm learning to ride a trial bike (a type of dirt bike) and it's so fun. I already destroyed a rice field when I forgot how to stop. It was awesome.
I also am considering getting an open-water certificate (fancy words for Scuba Diving 101), if I save enough money for it. I'm still looking into prices and locations in Kyushu as I type this.

So how are you all doing? Do you still stop by to read this blog despite its 3000 year dormancy?

Drop me a line, hun.

On Arriving in Miyazaki, Teaching and Being Sexually Molested

First the good news.

I'm alive and fine in Miyazaki! It's a beautiful city (yes, city. Not backwoods town with a general store) populated with non-native palm trees and a generally humid climate. Right now it's raining outside (pathetic fallacy for what is to come), and something like 18 degrees Celsius.
My apartment is large, cheap and with no central-air. This comes as no surprise to me, but maybe it would be for people who don't know about Japan and its complete lack of housing insulation. But it gets down to a cool 5C at the worst here, so I'm not too worried.
My job is wonderful so far. That's all I'm going to say. The coworkers are great and the students are enthusiastic and friendly.

Now the bad news.
This article has no pictures to go along with it, so it'll be boring for some. Sorry about that.
Also, I was sexually molested by a 75 year old man today. I bet you thought that was a joke. It's not.
When I first arrived at my apartment I was greeted after my day of shopping for groceries by this elderly man in the elevator. He was very friendly (surprise), and outright invited me to the Onsen location nearby. This is actually very common of people, so I wasn't disturbed or bothered. He asked the general questions about me and when finding out that I lived alone, said "Oh, I do too. Let me cook for you tonight!" Again, this really isn't much out of the ordinary, but that makes me uncomfortable no matter where I am so politely declined saying "I would love to some other time, thank you so much". Mind you, this is all in Japanese, so for when I speak picture a newborn babe trying to do small talk.
I hadn't seen him for a good week or so and was feeling comfortable again, but lo and behold; there he was getting out of the elevator after I returned home from grocery shopping again. This time he asked me when I work, to which I lied saying "from 1 until 10pm", hoping he would give up and realize I'm too busy. "Oh, well it's only 10am, come on up to my apartment for toast and coffee! Do you like toast and coffee?"
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
I was trapped. I wasn't aware of the creepiness of the man, just only a sense of desperation in his being lonely and wanting a foreign friend. Again, this isn't out of the ordinary. So I walked up to his apartment, as we were going I mentioned that yes, I was free friday and wouoldn't mind going to an Onsen with him (I love Onsens and he just seemed eager to be friends).
Upon entering his small apartment I saw that he indeed live alone, indicated by the shrine to his wife tucked in the corner of the living room. I wanted to get out of there so told him "I have to go... these groceries must be put in the refridgerator!" To which he replied "Oh yes, of course! Go do it then come right back. I'll have the coffee and toast ready when you get here."
I shouldn't have returned.
When I entered I saw that he had already made one cup of tea. One piece of toast. For me. My stomach was turning already. I sat down and we made small talk. I sipped the tea as slow as possible just in case he drugged the tea. The toast was dry in my mouth and I could barely swallow it. Especially when he started touching my shoulder and telling me how hard it was. I would have gotten out of there quickly, but "Oh! I took massage lessons, you look tense. Give me your hand." I gave him my hand. He kneaded it with his wrinkled fingers and it did indeed feel very good. He wasn't lying.
"Do you like to drink?" There's no way I'm drinking with this man. "Oh no, I don't drink at all."
"Oh..." I could see his disappointment "so are you a Mormon?"
"No, my grandfather drank too much and died, so I don't." Nice. He can't touch that one.
I change the subject.
"Do you have a DVD player?" he asks. "Oh no, but I'm going to buy one soon." "Let me show you my classic American movies, you can borrow them." He stands up and brings them back in. There are a whole 5 of them. "Oh I haven't seen these. But it's okay, I won't borrow them." He doesn't react, but then drops the bomb that makes me realize my situation:
"Oh so do you watch pornography?"
"... what?"
"You have to keep your penis 'genki'" He points at his crotch.
I change the subject to the television.
He then starts to try and massage my leg, saying he's showing me how to do it. He grabs my calf and starts breathing heavily... I look at the time and finally say "I have to go, I have to get ready for work!"
"Oh, well please come back tonight. We can go to the Onsen after your work or I can give you a massage." He motions to the massage table... which is right beside his bed that has a tiger-print bedsheet.

This man lives one floor below me. I'm still figuring out what to do.
Other than that though, I'm having a great time in Miyazaki, no sarcasm whatsoever! I don't have the internet so I'll be back in a week or so. Hope everyone is well back home and abroad.

On Copulation and Castles

I haven't had much time recently(to my surprise) as the training I'm going through is quite busy. Lots of information is handed to us and I furiously take notes ... sort of. Either way it seems to be going smoothly so far, and I have two very friendly and lovely ladies who are also sharing the training session with me. So things are going well. Today I'm prepping myself for a demo teaching lesson on Monday that I hope will go over well. Who knows with me though.

Anyways, what have I done leading up to my training?
First I decided to visit the authentic(rebuilt like all castles due to fire damage) Nagoya Jou:I toured inside and felt a little nostalgic, as I visited this place 2 years ago with Pat and Marc. This time however, I spent a long time walking around the grounds and relaxing in the park. Absolutely no one except for two other people decided to do this, so it was a really tranquil time. I had my watercolours with me, but I'm still a little apprehensive in trying a plein aire painting.
Here is an example of part of the rock garden area of the park:

A mid-autumn Sakura tree all by its lonesome:

Three cats who decided to make an awesome composition for a photo:

Here is the outside of Kanayama station, where I spent most of my time just sitting and listening to various amatuer acoustic musicians. Staying there forced me to buy a baby guitar for 6000 yen (60 dollars canadian). It doesn't sound very nice, but that's 60 bucks for you:


I also attempted to visit the Nagoya aquarium where Marc and I had an awesome time, but I forgot it costs an ungodly 2000 yen, and it was a national holiday so the line just to buy tickets was roughly a 20 minute wait. I skipped that and walked around the port:
I kept on walking around until I found myself in Italy! I was so surprised. Did I accidentally walk through a magical portal of magic!? No! I just walked into the "Italian Village" which looks exactly like real Italy. Not really, but the prices were insanely expensive for everything so I sort of felt like I was there.

I also found the "Chelan Project". I think that's what it's called. It's basically a program where conservationists breed sea turtles in little tubs and then release them into the wild when fully matured. I wonder if it's very effective.

I also saw a Thunderbird just sitting outside a pachinko parlour(Mom, click on the link to find out what it is).

Also, two nights ago I went out with one of my fellow trainees who I will call "V" to McDonalds when we both realized we hadn't been yet. After we finished our meals I looked down to get punched in the face with this advertising gem on the placemat:
All I can say is that MOTESTO is a lucky guy.

On Arriving in Nagoya

I have left my beautiful family behind. My parents saw me off at the airport what seems like yesterday, but I think it's technically 2 days ago thanks to the horrific 19 hour travel with Northwest Airlines. Do not fly with Northwest Airlines. I don't care how much money you save.

I was met at the airport by a very wonderful man by the name of Scott. He helped me to the hotel I'll be living at for the next 2 weeks or more. On the train over I had the sweetest "hello!" from an elderly salaryman who right before getting off at his stop, looked Scott and I in the eyes and said "うるさい、お前は！" (You're f*cking noisy!), or something to that very effect. It made me feel so welcome.
Occasions like that are something I'll have to get used to. The staring, crude comments, stupid comments etc. That's life for a foreigner anywhere really.

So without further ado, my beautiful and surprisingly roomy... room at the Kanayama hotel:

The bathroom with the traditional deep, deep tub (I love Japanese tubs. You can cover yourself up to your neck with scalding hot water):
The cloudy view outside:

So today I plan on just wandering about and picking up an iron and lint roller for my suits. Nothing special really.

Also, I'm going to try and include this little section whenever relevant: "What I have learned from Japanese television" in which I watch the travesty that is Japanese television and spread my learnings on to you.
What I have learned from Japanese television today:
When listening to your dead parents' voices on a tape and it stops playing, do not rip it out of the tape player, causing the tape to tear. If you do so, you will fall sick from depression, be bed-ridden and unconscious for at least a day and almost die.