The Summer

I made a video about my summer! Check it out! DO IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITcZpHRFY54

woo!

Islands

(Sadogashima. a.k.a Sado Island)

Last weekend I went to the beautiful and remote island of Sado off the west coast of Japan. It's a very small island with only about 66,000 people but with over a third of the population being over 65 it's quite ... I guess antiquated? Everyone is very calm and peaceful and the lifestyle seems to be one of simple joys. The only way to access the island is by a ferry which takes 2.5 hours from the mainland so the residents don't leave very often. A long time ago it was a place to banish people who were considered 'difficult' or 'inconvenient' by the Japanese emperor of the time. A place where supposed criminals were sent to colonise? Sound familiar?

Sado is probably most famous for being the home of a famous taiko group called Kodo. Taiko means Japanese drumming and this group is considered to be the best in the world. It's not easy to become a Kodo member though, mind you! There is a two year apprenticeship which is extremely strenuous to say the least. I found a brief documentary on Youtube about the group here, but it is about 15 minutes to watch. Recommended though! Suffice it to say, being a part of the best taiko group in the world is not an easy task. The final result however is a mind-blowing performance of drumming, flutes, cymbals, dancing and many other forms of Japanese culture. Here's an example of the kind of drumming they do.

I should point out though that the video can't really show you how you can feel each drum beat resonate throughout your body. It really is quite a stunning experience. I'll elaborate on it later though ... so look forward to that.

I went to Sado with my friend Hayley whom some of you might remember from previous trips around Japan. We left at 11pm at night from my apartment to drive to the other side of the country and catch the ferry from Niigata. The drive took us 5 hours in entirely dark/night conditions and the ferry took 2.5 hours but EVENTUALLY we reached the island of Sado. I have friends that live in Sado so that was some of the reason to go. The other reason was for a big festival called 'Earth Celebration'. It's a big festival put on by Kodo to maintain and emphasise the importance of cultural exchanges and what not, so it was very international.

(Miyake Taiko. A style of taiko played sideways)

Hayley and I opted to camp so we went to the nearby beach to set up our crap. We bought a tent but absolutely nothing to sleep on. Our reasoning was that we would be too drunk to care or realise the pain of sleeping on nothing, which makes perfect sense right? Fortunately that was pretty much the case! Each night there was a party on the beach so it was fun to meet some new people and get really drunk. Good times had by all for the most part. Each day there were several performances done throughout the town. These ranged from amateur taiko performances to dancing, fire works and light shows, improvisational performances or just people performing on the street. The whole festival had a really friendly, wordly sort of vibe to it which was really refreshing for me.

(Capoeira. just 'cause they can)

(Kids playing around)

As Kodo was sort of the main drawing attraction they performed each night (3 nights) but for the second and third night they were joined by a Corsican Acapella group. Each year Kodo chooses an international act from around the world to perform with them. So the program over the three nights is usually; just Kodo on the first night; then an individual performances of Kodo and the new act; finally both Kodo and the act perform a combination performance with songs using both styles. The tickets for each individual night were about 5000yen ($66AUD) so Hayley and I only went on the first night. It was a 2 hour performance of taiko and it was absolutely amazing.

The man in the documentary/video above states that the first thing we hear is the beating of our mother's heart. These drummers believe, therefore, that the sound of the drums recreates our connection to life. They incorporate this concept into all of their performances. Beginning with a dance piece they had the audience excited from the very start. The joy of the drummers was immediately obvious and infectious as they had the audience do a small dance to the drum beats. The extremely dynamic and catchy drum beats were followed by a beautiful and serene performance a kin to (what I think) the leaves falling in Autumn. Every performance was interesting and unique in it's own aspect and the two hours absolutely flew by as if no time had passed at all. They absolutely exceeded all of my expectations.

After the Kodo we spent the rest of the time enjoying the market, the glorious international foods and the other performances. Right from the get-go everyone was just really laid back and easy going. I guess island life just makes you a more peaceful person because literally everyone was just enjoying themselves and having a good time.

(Peaceful guy enjoying a peaceful burger)

(Fire dancer. Apparently normal dancing isn't good enough for some people)

Hayley and I met some really interesting people too! On the ferry ride over there was a man, his baby and his wife in the same room as us. Turns out he was running a stall to sell clothing made of hemp and it was really good stuff! I bought this weird poncho/cardigan thing which looked super cool and as I'm sure you'll see in the future, IS cool. I also bought some shorts which tie up juuust in case I become super obese and regular shorts don't fit anymore. The last thing I bought was a t-shirt that looks like it has been tie-dyed in coffee but is in fact made from persimmon ... extract? It was cheap so why not?

(mmm... Coffee-persimmony goodness)

This trip to Sado pretty much marks the end of my summer vacation here in Japan unfortunately. Whilst I can't say I did a whole lot, I can say that I did at least one interesting thing each day. Even if that one thing was have lunch/dinner with a friend, or clean my car, or clean my apartment, or clean my dishes or clean... something that needs cleaning (hint. everything.). Still I'm happy with my vacation and I'm looking forward to going back to school.

I hope to go back and visit Sado again one day. I really only saw one portion of the island and I still want to see it's mountains, it's towns and all the secret places in between. I love these small little places around Japan and it's always a pleasure to explore all the little nooks and crannies on the off chance you'll find something amazing. Kodo are performing in Tokyo around September and December so I would love to go see them again, too.

(Happy campers)

C'mon N' Ride It

Yesterday I went to Nasu Highlands Park. I'm pretty sure for most people only two of those words actually made sense (unless highlands is two words?) so I'll relieve your ignorance with the knowledge that Nasu is the name of a place. In the mountains. Very mountainous. Mountaneity. For those craving MORE information then it is an amusement park set in the mountains. Catching on?

I went there with 3 people who I will refer to as Hayley, Honda and Megumi because those are their real names. Every year the conversation school next door has a summer event and this year it's going to be in a theme park. Pretty much the coolest summer event I could think of. Camping? Yuck. Fishing? Gross. Something other than a theme park? No, thank you. So we were doing some preliminary research for a quiz that would be administered to the children upon entering the park in a matter not to dissimilar to what teachers in Australia give students to make excursions less fun.

Driving to the theme park, I was expecting some kind of shitty carousel and broken down rides with chipped paint and lot's of chairs to compensate the lack of rides. A desolate, wasteland of dashed hopes of fun and enjoyment. But as we turned that curved road along the mountain what awaited us was a brightly coloured FUN LAND OF JOY AND BLISS. Muuuuch bigger than I was anticipating and the sheer amount of roller-coaster rails had me wetting my pants with premature excitement.

(Honda on the ferris-wheel. It wasn't pretty.)

Let me break it down for you. I love rides. I practically exist in this human form so as to have something to do until the next roller-coaster appears before me. Disneyland has 2 decent roller coasters. Nasu Highlands Park has FIVE roller-coasters and then heaps of awesome other rides that are scary and not sickeningly cutesy and covered in Mickey. One of them was even called 'Top Gun' and did all kinds of crazy things. There was a Pirate ship, tower-of-terror-esque ride, spinny things, upy-downy things and more. My organs practically secured themselves in preparation of the beating they would receive.

On top of the plethora of rides there were several other bonuses. The weather was overcast all day which meant we didn't melt into a pile of sludge in the hot sun. Beer is allowed in the park (obviously not very compatible with rides) and there was also like no one there! The most we had to wait for a ride was about 4 minutes!

(Going at the speed of AWESOME)

We ended up going on about 18 rides. Some were amazing and awesome, others were just confusing. One ride, called 'Shinpi' was supposed to be a 45 minute wait (if there had been people in the park) and was just a strange ride in darkness followed by strange sculptures and then it finished. If I had of waited 45 minutes (and not the 3 minutes we actually waited) I would have been quite disappointed I think! If you watch the link and understand it - please let me know!

All in all we thought of some good questions for the quiz, went on heaps of rides, got some free chips because Honda taught the waitress Italian, and had a fantastic day. I didn't. even. get. sunburnt. What a wonderful day. I also managed to fulfill a dream of riding at the very front of a legitimately scary roller coaster! Amazing.

(Hayley after said roller-coaster)

Today I saw 'Salt' at the movies. Yeah it's good! Go see it. Good pacing.

Cruel Summer

Webster's dictionary defines summer as "The season between spring and autumn comprising in the northern hemisphere usually the months of June, July, and August or as reckoned astronomically extending from the June solstice to the September equinox"

or more simply "the warmer half of the year".

Those are the actual definitions from the website. It also has
the meaning of a 'year', as in the phrase "A girl of seventeen summers" and the final use is that of "a period of maturing powers". Language classes with Kris. You are just like my students.

As the first definition so eloquently explained I am now in the midst of my second summer in Japan. Last summer I had visits from Sally and David so I was thankfully kept fairly busy. This year however I have no visitors and about 5 weeks spanning out ahead of me. For those of you playing at home I will not be returning to see you this vacation as much as I want to. I decided that the cost was bit too much, but more importantly I thought that this might be my last summer in Japan so I want to experience it properly.

Also let's face it, Melbourne's weather is undesirable right now.

Summer in Japan is humid due to a rainy season towards the beginning of summer. This means it's gross and sticky and very difficult to actually cool down. It's like the sweat is on the skin but the air around you doesn't want it because it's already got enough of it's own. Fortunately I don't have to go to school which means I can sit in front of a fan or something. This kind of heat just saps the energy from my bones. It's hard to ride my bike, walk, or even get in my car.

(This is what rainy season does to fun. Note the man on the float and his amazing hairstyle.)

Regardless of my lack of energy I have managed to keep myself fairly busy so far. I hope to maintain a consistent balance of relaxing and activities so as to avoid boredom creeping in. I may have to keep you updated about how I actually do going about this but...
I thought I'd fill y'all in with what one would normally do in summer in Japan. I'd like to do them if I already haven't so consider this a checklist.

- Beach
- Going to the beach is a little tricky when the prefecture I live in doesn't have a coast line. We have to high tail it to the next prefecture and abuse their beaches. I actually went last week. It took about 2 hours but it was so worth it. Japanese people go all out when it comes to having things like sun tents, parasols, floaty things, chairs to sit in, coolers of stuff and other fun things to play with. It's very Japanese to take a watermelon and smash it with a baseball bat (pinata style... minus pinata). I'm sure it would be more prevalent if watermelons weren't so expensive here but what can ya do.

- Festivals
- Japanese festivals are always lots of fun. I've been to plenty in my time here but I still love them. It's mostly the food I think. Delicious, delicious festival food. I went to a festival last weekend that had outdoor kabuki performances. Kabuki is a kind of traditional Japanese theatre (lots of twanging and strange voices). In two weeks the big festival in Otawara will be happening. It's gonna be awesome. It rained last year which sucked so here's hoping it comes good this year!

- Garden
- The small garden (if you can call it that) has mutated into a forest of weeds. I did a bangin' job and weeded but then the rainy season came and pretty much destroyed all of my hard work. I have a pine tree to trim, a new path to reinforce, spider webs to ... walk into, and obviously weeds to pull out. Lot's to do. This isn't very high on my list but I'll keep it in reserve for when I get bored.

- Travel
- I've got a few ideas for what I want to do regarding travel around Japan. I want to keep it cheap so I might just go for one decent sized journey and hang around here for the most part. I can't decide whether I want to go north or south though. I've got a friend to the south (Osaka) which would be heaps of fun to visit but I've been there before. Alternatively, When I was in a semi-local bar recently there was an Australian guy who actually owns a house on the northern-most island of Japan (Hokkaido) and has offered that up. I want to keep things cheap so I'm thinking camping.

- Onsen
- A.K.A. hot springs. Personally I'm not too keen on the concept of going from hot weather into very hot pools of water. Some people are keen though so... great?

- Barbeques
- Grab a bunch of people and have a Japanese style barbeque. Why not? Before you all start thinking of snags in bread and sauce then THINK AGAIN! Instead there is thinly sliced meat on a grill that is then dipped into a special barbeque sauce. It's good but you gotta hold chopsticks and the dipping bowl so it's really a whole hand affair. I'd buy some sausages to recreate home but they're just so embarrassingly awful here.

(A Japanese man made us stand here for photos with these miniature Kabuki peeps)

There are more things but then my list could go on for a long time and I can't be bothered! Blame the heat! I want to do at least one of all of these and hopefully much, much more. So don't get angry that I won't be visiting you all, it'll be all the sweeter when I do eventually return. Which is looking to be around February....... Don't get angry about that either.

Until next time!!

kris.

On Dancefloors

The other night I was invited by some friends to go down to Tokyo to visit a nightclub. How's that for foreshadowing?

I wanted to go because I haven't really experienced a Japanese night club in the traditional sense of the word so later that night I was on the bullet train with some pals drinking next to a 6 year old strange American girl playing her DS. It seems the only people that will sit next to foreigners on the bullet train is other foreigners. I don't think the girl could read the Japanese on my can so I maintained it was soft drink.

The nightclub in question was a nightspot called 'Ageha' and a brief perusal of the website prior to arrival for the dress code (can I wear shorts? Yes I can!) revealed that the night was some kind of special event with a DJ I had never heard of playing songs I had never heard of. This 'special event' carried the hefty price tag of 4000yen entry which translates to ... wait for it ... no I can't even tell you how much that is in Australian dollars. It disgusts me.

Ageha is one of Tokyo's biggest nightclubs with a 3,000 person capacity and is separated out into a main hall and various other spaces around the place. Upon getting inside it seemed that despite the amount of people it still seemed quite spacious, almost like a warehouse, and the main hall was being DJ'd my an astronaut. The astronaut was playing the Japanese version of dance music described as 'candy trance'. I'll give you a key example soon.

Japanese people can't dance. They either break it down with ridiculous over the top performances or awkwardly sway from side to side. This is why the astronaut was playing music that never had a stable point and instead was always constantly leading up to some point to cause everyone to jump around. Jumping, it seems, is a valid form of dance for Japanese people.
Not being satisfied 'dancing' with the douchebags at the back some of us forced our way as close to the front as possible. We got about 5 metres from the front but from then on there was some kind of people-lattice to stop any kind of free movement beyond that point. We were happy enough dancing away to sickeningly poppy music until the astronaut was finished and all of sudden we were crushed to about 2 metres from the stage.

Cue Meg.

Meg was some lady who came on stage that suddenly caused the predominantly male crowd to surge forward in order to see her. Meg appeared to be somewhat famous. Meg was the reason my entry was 4000yen. Dancing to Meg was difficult with no room to move. Meg Meg Meg.
This is Meg and this is the sound she was producing.



For the rest of the night we mostly spent outside around the pool area. The pool was more for show and wasn't really meant to be swum in... and it wasn't! Because this is Japan and in Japan people do the right thing (that's why they can have beer vending machines). The DJ outside was playing some good music too. We mulled around the venue losing each other, finding each other and then losing each other again until the sky had turned a light grey colour and from there we each made our way homes on the first train.

All in all I would say it was a lot of fun but it was also quite expensive - not something I could do very often. I would also say that nightclubs in Australia are a lot better in terms of music and prices. On the other hand, the people in Melbourne nightclubs are often just awful so I'm afraid Tokyo trumps Melbourne in that respect.

So that was my night in Tokyo.

Run

Actual sports day post. The day before the sports day I asked a student how the weather was going to be (typical question for students) to which he responded with 'cloud and rainy... but sunny in our hearts' which is a good outlook for the day I think. Turns out it did not rain but stayed consistently cloudy all day. The teachers all said that it was a good thing it was cloudy because it wasn't so hot but let's face it - sunny weather is the best kind of weather. So mediocre weather aside the day went off without a hitch. Last year it was a first for me so this year didn't hold the same level of thrill but this year I felt more at home with everything. I had absolutely no responsibilities but this year I felt more comfortable with that. I now know most of the students' names, I can speak more Japanese and I've done it all before so this time around I knew what to expect - meaning I could enjoy the day a lot more than I could last year.

(kids trying to grab sweet bread with their mouths. unsuccessfully.)

Watching the kids participate was fun because it looked like they were having a great time. It was great to watch them run in the races with huge smiles on their face. A far cry from the sports days at Beaconhills. 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m in sprints, hurdles, and relays; long jump, high jump, triple jump; discus, shotput and javelin. I don't remember having a smile on my face during any of these ... does anyone else? No.

(Wait, he's not at a Beaconhills sports day - why does he look dead?)

I ran in the relay like I did last year against the third year students. There were three teams, class 1 + class 2 + teachers/parents. This year I was the second runner. Upon starting the race it became immediately obvious we would lose as our first runner handed me the baton about half a field behind the students. Meaning from the second runner we were already half a lap behind. So we lost hideously as expected but it was still fun. Tell you what wasn't fun? The pain in my legs the next day.

(It's not a very flattering picture of me but I thought you might want to see it)

So I'll leave you with some pictures of the day and you can fill in the blanks yourself.

(Fatty Magoo wrestling a pipe from two lesser females)

( The leader of the winning team, the trophy is almost as big as he is!)

(tug of war)

(throwing balls into a basket. Just 'cause)

You Spin Me 'Round

Today was the practice for the sports festival on Saturday. I was at the sports festival last year for those reading my drivel so today's spectacularities weren't as amazing this time around. Still enjoyable mind.

I've noticed in my time in Japan that Japanese people don't particularly like to wear sunglasses. I asked a teacher why this is and my suspicions were confirmed - it's because Japanese people usually have darker eyes so the sun isn't as much of an issue.

Which means I can't wear glasses because it's against the social norm.

Which means that I am suffering a slight because of who I am!

Which MEANS I am being discriminated against!!

Outrageous.

We spent the better half of the morning sponging the ground of moisture. I recall I used to do this when I played tennis as a youngster. Well... this used to happen when I was a teenager... I don't actually recall doing it myself. Needless to say using a sponge to rid the ground of water isn't a very effective way to go about things - so it was fortunate that the sun came out.

The events/games were all slightly tweaked from last year and again made so that literally anyone could win the race. Obese? Mentally disabled? Lacking legs? You can STILL WIN!! I think it's a lot of fun to watch though and it least it gets the students active. I wish I could have helped a little more and be useful but it seems there was nothing for me to do. They were big on the whole student initiative thing so I sat around and cheered when appropriate. Great.

So on Saturday I'm going to fulfill my role of awkward mandatory attendee and run in the teachers relay, get in on the tug-of-war, throw some balls into a basket and then do the dance at the end. Full itinerary. How will I ever find time to sit around and do nothing? I'll find the time somehow.

I will have to find some headbands.