Japan Loves Obama!

(...thanks for the pic, natalie!)

Obama is a small coastal hotspring town near where I used to live in Nagaski, Japan. Who would have thought it isn't the Champon that has made them famous?

Obama-san is cute in the tub, isn't he?

The Sexy Dynamic Duo's $10 or Less Adventures

It's unfortunate I discovered the beauty of hiking in Japan only a few months before leaving. My partner in crime, Kimiko (who is a bigger cheapskate than me) and I have a new hobby: planning athletic excursions for ourselves for less than $10 a day.

Sunday we drove 2 1/2 hours to Mt. Fugen volcano. Our buddy, Takashi, came along with us. Takashi is Gino's best guy friend here, and consequently will be giving the best man speech at our wedding in 27 days. He too, has the only car among the three of us that travels more than 45 mph. The other great thing about Takashi is that he always seems to bring sunny weather.

The hike up was hot, but we found frost covered trees on the top. That frost quickly turned my little limbs into frost, which lasted the entire time down. I thawed, though, in a hot spring afterwards.

Total cost of trip: $2.00 toll $1.50 hot spring $3.00 sandwich $3.00 snacks a drinks for a sum of $9.50. It ain't easy being cheap!

Driving to the hike:

Hands in, Let's Start! Ganbare!

This mountain was our destination

It's getting chilly

...and chillier


Alas, the top!

A Reflection: Saying Goodbye After 5 Years in Japan

Today I finished my finals and said goodbye to my career as a University professor. (No, really guys, that's what my visa says...) Probably the first and last time I will be one. I had a quaint sayonara lunch with my coworkers. So far so good: Exiting smoothly with little attention being brought to the fact that I'm am leaving. The school year ended Monday and I actually think I got away with not telling the students.

Can't explain it. Just trying to avoid the emotion drama of leaving. On the drive home I was thinking about previous strike through word (which by the way I am NOT experiencing any of...)

Since I became of age to enter the work force I have never lived in The States. It's not that I am anti-living there, rather, today (in the car) I realized that I am nervous to do something ordinary.

When I come home in May I will enter my uncle's nonprofit company. This is the first time, since becoming of working age, that I will do something that isn't completely off-the-wall.

In uni I googled a tropical island job, then got one and moved across the world to Guam. I actually accepted the job, then ran downstairs on my world map to check where it was located. There I became a windsurfing instructor and life guard (at the time, all I knew was the doggie paddle).

Besides that and Japan (which has become, with no intentions, a sort of career) the only other job I have held has been a taxi driver (I'll save that entry for a slow day.)

So yes, truth be told, I am scared. I am scared that I won't be satisfied with the ordinary.

I was relaxing in a foot hot spring yesterday, when a Japanese man paid me a compliment. "You look like Kotooshu." (He's a famous bulgarian sumo wrestler.) Well, at least I wasn't called pregnant. And he is the most handsome sumo.

My Adventure

I hate long posts but I just gotta share. OMG...what a day. Now that I think about it, what a "Japanese" day. Actually, the biggest "Japanese" day that I have ever had since I've been here.

Tuesday night I texted my jobless buddy Kimiko to see if she wanted to go hiking with half-jobless me the following morning. I wrote PS, "Ask your mom to pack lunch boxes for us." If you know Japanese mothers at all, you know not to expect the run-of-the-mill sandwich, juice box and fruit. No school lunch here. I am talking about fresh fried fish, layered eggs, pumpkin and meat salad, pickled somethings, a burdock salad and a crisp apple slice to clean the palette. Woohoo! A day of walking in the sunshine with the award of good eats at the top.

Well, not all things go as planned. I'm an "ame onna" or "rainy weather girl." Unfortunately, Kimiko is too. But the rain didn't stop us!! Instead, it was everything else that got in the way.

The hike started at a water well that was the foreground to a backdrop of stepping rice fields in the town of KAWATANA. It then graduated into a thick evergreen forest and at the top surprised us with a 360 view of the sea on all sides. All that happened in a short 40 minutes. The way down took a little longer. 60 minutes later, 35 minutes after realizing we were in no way going down the same way we came up, we finished our hike among fields of stepping tea bushes (not rice), and ended up on the outskirts URESHINO, a tea town about 35 driving miles away from our origin. Eeeek!!

We then hitch hiked -- which means standing in front of a car driving down a road to force them to stop -- to a bus station. A pleasant OLD country-side farmer was our chauffeur. We took the bus 20 miles, so we were only 15 away from our starting point.

Then we hopped a train. In transit I was on my cell arranging a pickup from a friend of a friend. Now only 10 miles to go. The pick up lady, who is in her 60s, shows up at the arrival with a pimping new Benz and a fright of narrow roads and sense of direction. Grrr... urrr...enters my mind. We have a case of typical rich Japanese housewife afraid to leave her house syndrome here...damn. Three miles later we are dropped off. B*&#H! 7 miles to go.

10 minutes later we hitchhiked the final 6 from a down-to-earth country grandma and walked in glory the last mile. FREEEEEEDOM!!! Let's award ourselves with a naked hot spring.

"Something is different about my car," I said to Kimiko as we were pulling in the hot spring parking lot, "Do you smell smoke."

"No, but I see it," she replied, looking at the front hood. PANIC!! I thought. WATER...QUICK!! I said. OH NO, WHERE DO I POUR IT INTO.

WAIT... I KNOW A GUY.. I dialed my American mechanic who is always there to save the day. He tells me to look for the radiator cap. But, a homeless looking grungily toothless dirt-clad man strolls over in practically bare feet and already begins to save the day.

After my car was hydrated and seemingly fixed, I enjoyed a hot spring--offered the homeless guy one too but he said nah he didn't need one-- and came out to find a puddle below my car where I HAD poured a ton of water. "OK, my radiator is leaking." Called my mechanic friend (which I now believe everyone should have in their lives.) He said if the leak was a drip I could make it back to Sasebo by stopping every 10 mins to refill the water, if it was a gush no chance. So I drove 5 mins and stopped with a smoking hood.

AHH... PANIC AGAIN!! Quickly poured water into the radiator and watched it gush out at the bottom. oh no! Then an american guy in a suit with a broken arm stopped to help, jumped right in and under there to tell me he may have found that the leak is just a tube. We all look up and across the street in bright, welcoming, flashing letters is a shop that says "Car Service." Woohoo! I putt-putt "Zoomie" over there, but look down and realize I have 20 mins until my English lesson. The service tells me I can take a loan car, free of charge, and only asks my name and number (completely trusting me.) He also tells me the tube should only cost $20 - 30. Then I'm on my way and make it to class on time.


Why so Japanesey? For every time that I have been asked, "What is Japan like?" This post is my answer: It's food to die for, stepping fields of tea and rice, dense forests, stunning roundabout views, active kind old people, an impeccable public transit system, snotty sheltered housewives, stooped-over grandma farmers, fancy cell phones, kind people with no expectations of being paid back, healing hot springs, an above and beyond friendly expat community and dreamy customer service.


Above are the many reasons why Japan is one of the best places on Earth. Do you agree?

The mountain in the back is our destination




water spring in the beginning





dense forest




round about view




Not fair-weather partners




hiking down among tea leaves



backdrop of tea

It's Funny...

It's funny how my Google ad on the sidebar always reads "Streamline International Criminal Records." It's like google knows me personally. Does it say this for everyone, or just me?? Google's eerie like that. So the handsome-for-an-older-man monk asked via email if he could contact Television Sasebo for our ceremony. He thinks it's so unique for foreigners to marry shinto style and maybe thinks it would be good PR for his shrine. I don't know if you've ever seen tidbits of Japanese television, but if it's an interview style usually the announcer is a young whiney woman making a lot of noisy sounds. No thank you, I'll pass on being paraded around because I look different. I would feel like a zoo animal, no television-sent high-pitched chick will be gawking around here. It's weird though, I usually like the spotlight. I think through all this wedding gobblygook and my Japan exodus I realized that I have become a bit shier.

Wedding No. 1 The Japan One

That's bad English for "Happy Monday." I'm planning a Japanese wedding ceremony for Feb. 24.

"EEK!! SHRIEK!! OMG!!" the girl who's getting married yells out loud just a second ago. That's exactly one month away.

It's pretty remarkable that I will have an 85 person wedding and have done very little planning. Even more amazing is my first freak out came just a short while ago.

Step by step I'm learning what goes into a Japanese wedding, even though I actually won't be married legally. Why am I going through all this for a "faux" wedding?

I always like to "go out with a bang" and thought what would be more appropriate than a sayonara of all sayonaras?? Plus, it'll be a unique cultural experience as well. I hope to mix a bit of American style with a clump of Japanese.

First, we will be having a Buddhist ceremony at a temple on the seaside. Really, not sure at all what this entails, I imagine chanting will be involved and a blessing of good fortune. It sounds like an exceptional chance. I'll be wearing a formal white kimono and I think Gino will be wearing a mens' kimono.

Then I'll change the white overcoat to a colorful intricate one and will greet guests at the reception locale. Following cocktail hour is a handful of speeches by people close to us. Then comes the dinner, wedding cake, DVD of us growing up and that's it. Usually Japanese weddings are short and sweet, around two hours.

Two hours seems kind of a waste. I'd like to incorporate some western influence. Japanese weddings are very formal, from the speeches to the dresses. Any ideas to loosen the mood?? I'm going to leave the dancing factor up in the air. It would be something for Gino and I to start breaking it down and the guests looking at us like we were nuts.

Any advice from my married audience? Need an idea for table centerpieces too.

Gunman in Sasebo 3 Hours Ago

update: The man was found dead, after having shot himself, on the grounds of a nearby church. One person he shot was his good friend. The other was his high school classmate. He was a member of the sports gym and invited his friend to meet him there that night. Here is the link: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/

Japan is a safe country. Hello Captain Obvious. Once in awhile freak out of the ordinary things happen in small places.

Tonight, in my small city of Sasebo, a gunman entered the city's only large scale sports gym and opened fire. a 26-year old female swimming instructor died, a 30-year old man is in critical condition and two kids were injured along with three others.

The gunman -- disguised in a motorbike helmet -- escaped in a camouflage suit. It's 10:30 pm Friday night now, this just happened three hours ago. I phoned the five (YES FIVE) people I know that regularly go there on friday nights (two of which are kids) and they are ok. My one kid student left her tennis lesson just 30 mins before.

But still, that poor woman. She was doing her job in a safe place and gunned down. May she, her family, the man in critical condition and his family be in our prayers.

info: the Mainichi

The Bottom Biting Bug Mania!! (Oshiri Kajiri Mushi)

Introducing "The Bottom Biting Bug." A recent character craze among the old and young in Japan.


It's a bug's life: The Bottom Biting Bug is a fairy who is 18th in a long line of butt biters. The family line began in ancient Assyria (Iraq). In The Age of Geographical Discovery Bottom Biting Bug's parents traveled to The Golden Country, Zipang, to bite gold butts.

He speaks in a Osaka dialect because that's where his parents were when he was born.

The idea was simple, if a little unusual: The writers feel that people in Japan these days just aren't nosy enough, and wanted to do something about it.


His bites bring people together. When he bites people they feel the same sort of excitement as when they strike up a conversation with someone they don't know.

By reminding folks of the fun of spontaneously butting into others' business, the Bottom Biting Bug does his part to help people connect.



A husband-and-wife team dreamed up the helpful little critter and produced his debut song.

In their opinion, people keep to themselves so much that nobody butts into the business of others anymore. They feel that encouraging people to be more nosy--and thus more connected to those around them--will do the world some good.

Because of this, the Bottom Biting Bug was born. The character is "kimo-kawaii" (icky-cute), the melody is simple and horribly catchy, and the plan seems to be working.

As soon as it first aired in June, the song spread like wildfire among kindergarten and young elementary school students. Then their moms started noticing, and before long it was everywhere.

A CD and DVD has been released, picture books are in the works, and there's talk of producing character goods.


(note that the lines that really don't make sense are Japanese puns)

Allergies in December? Those Buggers!

Forgive me for the following unseasonable posting. I've never needed braces, have eyes like a hawk and can't sympathize with yearly sneezers. I am a genetic blessing.

Until now. This past spring I would wake up, sneeze ten times, and need to excessively water my eyes with eye drops. Medicine? nah.. don't need it. Do you have allergies?? Who me?? No, I don't get allergies.

About a month ago I would wake up in the middle of the night, dying of thirst, with a scratchy throat. My eyes would itch. That same week my student described his allergic symptoms to be: thirst, itchy eyes, dry thoat. Some sort of pollen allergy.

Doh! After a year and a half of denying it, I threw in the towel.

Me too! I proclaimed. I have allergies!! It's miserable.

Apparently, my Japanese acquaintances told me that each body has its own limit for allergies. And once that limit is reached, your body starts exhibiting symptoms. At the age of 25 I started showing mine.

This fact seems common knowledge in Japan, but it was my first time to discover it. I will have to google further into this. Did anyone else know this?

I'm hoping that my body reached its limit on Japanese pollen, not American pollen. If it didn't, then maybe I need to tone down the "genetic blessing" rants.

BTW, how's everyone digg'n this template?? Not yet the right one??

The People that Surround Me: Enjoying the Little Things

My time is eventually winding down here, so I am trying to scoop up every morsel of fun that my taste buds can handle. This includes Mt Moi (make the most of it) with my little kids I teach. Had to capture the photo above on camera after our warm-up song.

"Who's this?" D Monster asks. The rats answer, "It's you!"

Is this what they really think of me?? Odd thing is is that it does look like me. My reply, "I'm happy, not angry!" Then I charged them. The culprits - Tomoe and Haruki.




Just as I *finally* {hmph} settled them, Haruki apologized for passing gas. "That's stinky isn't it?" he says. Then he proceeded to tell us that his "chin chin" aka "pee pee" was itchy. geeeez, manners please.

They topped of the hour with a popular TV thing going on here. Click to see the "urusai" (noisy) performance.

Hibachi

I went to a bazaar--Japanese for flea market-- today. Things aren't so cheap, but sometimes you can find some treasures and good deals. That is why I jumped on buying this Hibachi today. Hibachi (火鉢) literally means fire bowl. I've always had my eye out for a good one. Slates of charcoal are laid over ash to be burned inside to warm the house and body. It also can be used as a fish / water plant tank. SWEEEEET !! Heater in the winter, fish tank in the summer. Now how am I going to get this one back with me?!

update: Advice for all, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SHIP A HIBACHI IN THE MAIL... it ended up broken when it arrived in America (just like my heart... )

'Do you Like it?

My new 'do. Last week I was bored of my hair and the fact that its only style was pulled back, scrunched and hidden. I decided to take action with my first perm. The result: six hours after exiting the hair salon my locks were flat, broken and frayed. Good decision Danielle.

One week later it was time to repair the damage done. The result: If this isn't curly, I don't know what is. It definitely has a "puff factor" to it that is not accurately depicted in the above picture.

This is one of ten pics I attempted with the cell phone camera. Talk about bad lighting. If you ever want to look bad, just whip out your cell phone.

In other news, I am proud to announce I made my first home cooked meal since my man's emigration. The lucky bird - breaded mustard chicken. I couldn't really enjoy the taste because I was stressed during the making.

Speaking of my hot, shirtless man, here is a pic:

By the way, here was the "artificial crab meat / squid / hard noodle surprise" of a couple entries ago (click to enlarge).

Rice planting

I have been slow to write these past two weeks. When rainy season is over, I will blog. It has rained everyday for the past six weeks. I'm sorry all you people out there basking in the sun these summer months, I am wishing July away this year.

I welcome Japan's August sun. I want to leave this rain behind. One good thing that has come about from all the rain is that the rice is really growing. A few weeks ago Gino and I planted rice in our town. Here are pictures.

A line was strung out, then everyone would take their place along the line. Then you would tear a chunk of green and jam it in the shin-deep mud. It was a "muddy" good time!

The last picture is our finished product. Just joking, this is the work clearly of a machine.

The Weekend

A peaceful day at home. I realized today that I live in one of the most pleasant set-ups that I've ever lived in. Here is a pic taken from my cell phone at dusk. The green is rice fields.



Not much is new, except, bought a washer for $39 bucks at a second-hand store and so far it actually works! I have become a bargain shop-a-holic and Japan is my nemesis. No exaggeration. Bought this dress for $3, ring for $1, bag for $18 and shoes for $15. The only reason I bought the shoes is because they said "Mac Hoppers" on them. How cool is that?? PLEASE... Help me!! I need Bargain-addict Anonymous!!






Dear me, what gives? There are people starving in Rwanda and I'm feeding my habit. Terrible, simply terrible.

Speaking of hunger in Africa, Gino turned me on to something interesting yesterday, food aid to Africa.

Highlights: the American government had only 23 staff members monitoring $1.7 billion in food programs across 55 countries. Only 1/3 of food aid actually reaches the source, due to politicking, a shortage of people, and tribal tensions.





Here are some excerpts, quoted from Time magazine:

The United Nations World Food Programme coordinates roughly half of global food aid, E.U.- and U.S.- donated sacks of grain and tubs of refined vegetable oil. The two are mixed together to form a nutritious blend designed to bolster childrens' diets in a country such as Ethopia where half the children are malnourished.

Last year, WFP coordinated emergency food aid for 73 million people worldwide, with the U.S. contributing 60% of that total. Yet this donated bounty may not be the panacea we imagine. A January report by the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) put the question bluntly: Can food aid do more harm than good?

"There's no question that food aid saves millions of lives," says FAO senior economist and report editor Terri Raney. "But we're concerned that it's being asked to do too much, too inefficiently, and that by over-relying on food aid we ignore other solutions that could be more effective."

Nearly a quarter-century after the famine that prompted Live Aid, Ethiopia is still a desperately hungry place. It receives more food aid than any other nation save Sudan.

"Other countries like India have graduated from food dependency and are now food donors, so it's fair to ask why Ethiopia is still so food dependent," says Paulette Jones, spokesperson for WFP in Ethiopia. "But when you see a hungry child, it's very hard to say, no, we're not going to give any more."

Still, in a country like Ethiopia, where corruption and tribal tensions are rife, how much food aid actually reaches the neediest? International agencies and donor governments try to monitor the thousands of tons of grain flowing in, and millions of Ethiopians survive thanks to foreign charity.

But last year, usaid, the American government arm that coordinates emergency food aid, had just 23 staff members monitoring $1.7 billion in food programs across 55 countries. "I've been to places where starving villagers say they have never received food aid, but then you go to the village chief's house and you see bags of foreign grain stacked up," says the director of a Western aid agency operating in Ethiopia. "In too many cases, we're allowing food aid to strengthen a corrupt politician's power."

One-third of food-aid budgets, or roughly $600 million, never reaches the intended recipients and is instead swallowed up by costs in donor countries, according to the oecd.

That's because only 15% of donated food is sourced locally, even though plentiful grains may be harvested just over the mountain from famine-stricken areas. Almost all U.S. food aid, by law, must be grown and processed at home. U.S. agribusiness, which receives subsidies for growing such crops, and the U.S. shipping industry profit from the arrangement. But transporting California rice to a rice-growing country like Cambodia makes little sense. When the food finally arrives — often too late to feed those most vulnerable — the influx of foreign products can wreak havoc on the local market, depressing prices just when farmers need income to feed themselves.

As an alternative, economists like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen suggest rich countries send cash, which in many cases may flow into needy economies more quickly and efficiently than food aid.


You can find the full article in Time Web site.

Umi Biraki

It's the best beach time of the year, because no one's there. In Japan, there's a festival for everything. Now we're in the heart of firefly season, where an influx of lightning bugs congregate near water and people go to see them.

When I was little I would run outside to catch the buggers, it never crossed my mind to celebrate them. Here, their glow is magical. You can even drink canned beer, eat corn and sausage sticks and devour saucy noodles as you take in the spectacle.

It's bliss created. It seems like there are many instances like this in Japan; there is always something to celebrate.



As I'm sitting here on this white sandy beach basking in the summer sun, swimming in the light blue sea, writing this esoteric entry and frolicking along the embankments of rocks, I think: Is it weird to be doing this alone?

But then I remember that the start of the swimming season festival has yet to come upon us. That's why no one is here. When I asked my Japanese friend if she'd come to the beach with me, she said, "It's still cold for me to swim."

Apparently, it becomes "uncold" precisely on "Umi Biraki", meaning opening of the sea. It is the day when the local governments declare and newspapers publish that, yes, the sea is officially open and it is deemed safe to swim.

At this time the foursomes of families and inflatable inner tubes start hording towards the beaches. That is when the fun can begin. Anything before that and you're just plain crazy.

As for me, I'm enjoying the day at the sea alone. Pushing forward "Opening of the Sea Day," and coupling it with firefly season may not be such a bad idea after all. Wait, then would that mean the fireworks festival would also have to be moved? Nah, that's good right where it is.

(For a brief summary of some of the reasons to celebrate click here )

I'm Back!

About a month ago we moved into the country side. Our apartment overlooks tiers of rice paddies and let's just say our cat thinks she is in heaven with the amount of bugs that lay to be found.

The best part of the move, however, is the edge-of-death slide we found at a nearby playground. We celebrated my best buds Ayako and Chie's birthday there over the weekend. When you view the video make sure you absorb Gino's terror-ridden face as he is the first to plunge at the bottom of the slide.

After, we had a pizza party. Here Ayako and Chie are blowing out their respective cakes:

It's Long but Worth it. Kind of like my time here...

I'm solid, solid as a rock. My voice rarely quavers in front of others, it is rare that you will find me crying, and I almost never get emotional.

It is when events are laid out in a timeline that one allows him or herself to assess their accomplishments and personal contentment.

I came to Japan roughly four years ago. I was set on working in this country for only one year. I prepared myself to bid goodbye to my new friends, thinking I would stay in touch with a chunk forever. Thinking that the ties we had established after one year were strong enough to stand the test of time. Well at least at that time I thought so.

After four years I have never left this career in which I choose on a whim. "Teaching in Japan? Sure, I'll give it a go," I mulled over in my head for all two hours before accepting a job in a place I didn't even know existed. Heck, the only city I knew of in Japan was Tokyo.

I never replay a decision in my head, but I do reflect many times on this over-haul of a 4-year stay and question, "How in the world did I ever allow this to happen?" Up until now I have spent almost my entire twenties here, something that I vowed I would never do.

So how did this happen? First, I let my fate in this country rely on a go-with-the-flow mentality. I opened up the small school, thinking given enough time that I'd manage to either drive it in the ground or it wouldn't even get off the ground. Well, that never happened.

So I was left making these useless yearly finishing dates of when I wanted to be done in Japan. But as every date approached I gave myself one reason or another why I needed to stay just a little bit longer. I needed to enjoy what I worked so hard to create.

This winter I made my final ending date: October. No ifs ands or buts about it. I will never get tired of living here. I will never be a failure. The longer you stay in a place the more like home it becomes. So months ago the executive decision was made. I want out.

Well, I really don't want out, but I will make myself get out. I know this career and location is not a lifer for me. Simply because, professionally this is the only thing so far in my life that I really know. I made this decision with little conviction, similar to the lackadaisical way I first made the decision to come here. In a way, it all seems fitting.

This morning in college I made such a corny Japanese joke that I had all the kids laughing. Through out the day I walked downtown and was stopped by 5 acquaintances. One was a Japanese man who was walking like he was on a mission. He saw me and stopped:

"Do you know how you know me?"

"Wait a minute," I said as my mind started searching all its tiny shelves trying to place the face that was on the tip of my tongue.

"Takamasa!" The 60-plus year old man shouted, trailing it with a jolly laugh.

"I knew it!," I said as I realized he was the master (owner) at a delicious cheap Japanese restaurant. The kind of restaurant you enter and hear the staff shouting their welcomes and five minutes later you have a plate of food on sticks waiting to be eaten.

"Hey, I do know you," I said, "You are some sort of Buddhist priest too, right?" I fished for a random fact that I remember him telling me.

"Oh, you do remember me," the Takamasa restaurant owner said. He then continued hurriedly on his way.



Tonight, in class, I cracked up my 12-year olds. We were so silly that we took a time-out from class to play dress up. They made themselves look goofy in their school uniforms while I matched their behavior with a silly display of my recent purchase.

Simply put, it feels nice when people take to you.

It was today that, for the first time since creating the leaving day, the unemotional rock-solid side of me crumbled and the reality of leaving this place really set in.

I have made a home here. It may not be my true home with my family, but it is a home. It's a life.

I treasure my time here, the people that I have grown to know and the relationships that I have cultivated. To think, I thought just one year was enough.