Hisashiburi ne?

Hisashiburi ne? (It’s been a while, eh?)

September has come, meaning that I have been in Japan for 13 months. I have been meaning to start this blog back up again, so why not now. Let’s Blogging!

Summarizing the past 9 months will be a bit hard, so instead I will write a quick review of the months since I have been absent.

December: Lived my own version of “Desperate Housewives: Japanese Edition”. Went on a daytrip to Hikone castle (a world heritage site) in Shiga with the Board of Education. Had a Christmas dinner with friends in Sasayama. Went to Niseko in Hokkaido for some wintery fun.

January: Took a ferry back from Hokkaido. Recommended. In late January, the snow began piling in Sasayama. Didn’t stop until March. Wild Boar festival held in Sasayama. Boars were put in a cage and ran through for some sort of weird gambling purpose.

Feburary: Finally figured out how to use the propane heater. Took a road trip with Mackenzie to the Naked Man festival in Okayama City. The festival itself was less than impressive, but the atmosphere was amazing. Met so many colourful people and a girl with an incredibly offensive nickname. I love Japan.

March: The 3rd year junior high school students graduated in a boring ceremony to being their life of more boring ceremonies. They all started crying and all I could remember was crying out of joy for leaving Antioch Middle School, the 3rd circle of hell. (preceded by Shawnee Mission North, the 2nd circle). How kids can actually enjoy junior high is one of those cultural differences I will never understand. I started the paper work to apply for a Japanese driver’s license.

April: The first weekend was a flower viewing party at Himeji castle (another world heritage site). This was mostly just people sitting on hideously tacky blue tarps and drinking sake from huge barrels. All in all, it is a pretty normal spring activity. April is the beginning of the school year in Japan and that means the entrance ceremony for the first year students. It is a lot like the graduation only with younger looking kids. Actually come to think of it, all of the ceremonies are pretty similar with the only difference being who/what is being celebrated.

May: The first part of May was golden week in Tokyo. Went to the sites in Tokyo. Went to Yokohama to meet up with a friend of mine from my time at university in Tokyo. Good times all around. Went to Kansas in the middle of May to see Patsy graduate high school. ‘Merica was about the same.

June: Finally passed the stupid driver’s test and got my license after three tries. The test has absolutely nothing to do with your skills driving, but is only a test about how polite you can be to the man who marks the test. I know that I made more mistakes the last time, but I ended up passing because I said all the write polite phrases. And he was in a good mood. Oh, and the actual driving course looks like no road I have ever seen in Japan.

July: This was the month of goodbye parties since the JET contract ends about the last week of July. There was a Tamba/Sasayama sayonara party at our local Indian restaurant that ended with a visit to Sasayama’s newest bar, “Club Bar Shake”. It is this hip hop club in the middle of Sasayama, insert your own joke. Classes ended for the summer vacation in the last week of July and so began the month+ long vacation for the kids. Went to Universal Studios in Japan for some way too hot summer fun.

August: August began with a health check. I found out that my heart barely moves and I have diabetes. Two new JETs came to Sasyama in that first week. Went to a beach in Fukui prefecture up north. Got really sunburnt. Returned to the beach at Amanohashidate in Kyoto prefecture. It is a natural land bridge that looks like a bridge to heaven if you bend over and look at it through your legs. It is one of Japan’s “Three Must-Sees”. I have seen two of them now. The Dekansho festival was held in Sasayama. Lots of dancing and festival food. Another JET came to Sasyama. Quickly went to a Brazilian festival and then Nagoya.

That is the basic outline of what happened the past 9 months. Hopefully I can be more detailed if I keep up with this.

To end, here are some haikus I have written while hard at work. They are pretty esoteric but c’est la vie.

Squat toilets in Japan
Flushable hole in the ground
First world used loosely

Tracksuit and blazer
Not exactly to the nines
Unless you teach gym