Goodbye, My Friend

From earlier this week ...

Teachers in Japan are forced to switch schools every seven to eight years, sometimes when they desperately don’t want to move, and sometimes at their own request. So it was my bad luck (although in the end, probably their good fortune) that two of the teachers I’m most friendly with were transferred, including my fabulously sweet and easy-going supervisor, Sasaki-sensei. She most definitely did not want to leave. Her school is probably one of the more difficult around. The students can get pretty wild and the atmosphere in the teachers room is surprisingly tense. Yet, I guess she’d gotten used to it. Also, the school’s five minutes from her house. Her new school is about 40 minutes away, just one example of the sudden change that is thrust upon teachers. They don’t find out until late March that they’re moving. Two weeks later, they’re gone. Like I said, this is bad for me because we got along great. As the baseball coach observed one day, “Sasaki sensei, she’s the only one who talks to you.”

Her replacement is fine, although she seems a bit overwhelmed. One day she was sitting at the public computer, which is right next to my desk. I noticed she hadn’t moved in awhile. I looked over, and she was asleep. At the end of the first week, I asked her if she had any plans. She told me, “I want to sleep all weekend.”

As it’s the new school year here, we reintroduce ourselves to all the students in all the schools. Here were some of the better questions I received:

May I have some comments about human right violations in China?
Who do you support, Mr. Clinton or Mr. Obama?
What do you think about my beauty?
Do you own any guns?
What is the current trend in U.S.?

And finally, my favorite:

What are your thoughts on the sub-prime loan program?

Finally, if you haven’t, read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Its stunning. Unlike anything I’ve ever read. I cant stop thinking about it.

If you don’t trust me …

“Trenchant and terrifying, written with stripped-down urgency and fueled by the force of a universal nightmare. The Road [has] stunning, savage beauty. This is an exquisitely bleak incantation–pure poetic brimstone . . . [Cormac McCarthy] gives voice to the unspeakable . . . Yet this narrative is also illuminated by extraordinary tenderness . . . This is art that both frightens and inspires . . . Its fearless wisdom is more indelible than reassurance could ever be.”
–Janet Maslin, New York Times

… even if it is an Oprah Book of the Month selection.

Sakura

Since we first moved to Japan I have heard a lot of talk about the infamous sakura (cherry blossoms). Sakura is a common girl's name here in Japan. On Friday one of my students asked me if anybody is named Sakura in the United States. The idea of someone named Cherry Blossom made me laugh and we then discussed the differences between names in Japan vs the US. Later at home, Jason reminded me that there are people named Blossom (I can only remember Punky Brewster's friend or is that a separate show?) and he named many people with the last name Cherry, so I guess it isn't that funny after all.

Recently I read hundreds of introduction essays and many students wrote that they love spring, because of the cherry blossoms. I also have learned that not only does the school year begin in the spring, but springtime and the blooming of cherry blossoms is considered a time of new beginnings in Japan. This weekend they are out full force and there is a cherry blossom festival at the main park in Akita City, Senshu Park. Yesterday we drove to Kakunodate to see the cherry blossoms and decided they are prettier in Akita City. Yesterday was gloomy, but today the weather is sunny and warm. Probably the prettiest day of the year so far.

Some people asked me about cherry blossom festivals and picnics in the states and I said we don't have any. Well, it turns out that there is a cherry blossom festival in DC. The trees were a gift from Japan in 1912.

Here are some pictures of us enjoying hanami. Yesterday in Kakunodate--


Jonas decided he liked these women and snuggled right up to them. This picture was taken a few seconds after the snuggle.



Jonas likes ice cream as much as I do.



Notice how Jonas is trying to escape my hold near a drop off above a river. This was the theme of the day yesterday. He wanted to just go, go, go without any help from me or Jason.



Here are some pictures from today (Sunday) at Senshu Park. First Jonas checking out the crowd.



The people picnicing next to us.



People had some serious picnic set-ups. This was group was friendly and invited me to take a picture.



Here is an action shot. You can see Jason trying to catch up to Jonas. Jonas had just knocked into this woman trying to get to the flowers. He is fast.



Jason and Jonas talking with a new friend.



Jason and Jonas eating yakisoba, a common festival food in Japan.

Kansai Vacation -- Bonus Coverage!

Jonas and his My Two Dads moment. As I said, he wasn't sure who was who, so he decided to latch onto both of us.

As if everyone hadn’t already seen and heard enough of our travels through southern Japan, we’re back with even more coverage thanks to semi-pro photographers Mer and Abe. The first picture below is one of my favorites from our entire time here. There is no question that the only reason this woman approached me to chat was because of Jonas. He really has opened up a unique side of Japan for us that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Supposedly the most photographed image in all of Japan. Abe added to the pile.



Kansas and its ball of twine have nothing on Japan. How about a giant rice spoon?

Tasting some sake.


This is a pretty good picture of what the typical small-time hotel bath looks like in Japan. For those of you who haven't seen Mr. Baseball, you sit on the stool and shower before climbing into the bath. It doesn't seem odd at all to me any more.

Yes, that's a monkey grooming a deer. Not pictured: the monkey later came over and did Tricia's hair.

The monkeys … these photos are as close as I came to them. This was not a zoo situation. The monkeys were roaming around wild, and as many a sign warned us, if eye contact was made, the monkeys were absolutely not responsible for what followed, such as them gnawing off your nose. To be absolutely clear, large pictures of monkeys on the attack were prominently displayed throughout the grounds. There was no doubt in my mind that Jonas not only would make eye contact, he would do everything in his power to make actual physical contact with the monkeys. He has a stuffed Curious George at home, and if he can't tell the difference between me and Abe, I wasn't betting on him telling those two apart.

So, after enjoying not one but two gondola rides to the top of this mountain (where, let me tell you, I sweat bullets from start to finish. I’ve always had this idea that Jonas would manage to jump off my lap and leap out the window in these situations. This is why I stayed on the ground months ago in Hokkaido when Tricia and Jonas gondoled up a mountain. I would have done the same here, but it didn’t seem to be going along with the overall spirit of that day’s group activity) Jonas was sequestered in the visitors center. And that meant I was sequestered, too, because he flipped out every time I left the room on this trip (which you think would make me feel good, but in fact just made me feel tired). So, I was forced to sit with him while the others, as the Japanese would say, enjoyed the beautiful nature. At least I can enjoy the pictures.

Only the first of two gondola rides. I still have nightmares.

Some geisha in Kyoto that Mer for some reason thought were phonies. I wasn't even there, so I don't know the story behind that.

Here I am recreating Tricia's panicked expression when she thought I was heading to the wrong booth to buy chocolate ice cream. Even though I had seen a couple walk out of said booth with chocolate moments before, she insisted we go somewhere else, where it turned out, they only sold vanilla and green tea ice cream. Notice I'm eating chocolate. Tricia, vanilla. Jonas didn't seem to mind what flavor he ate.

Me, lighting a candle praying for familial harmony and happiness.

Wish granted.

Part 3: Himeji, Hiroshima and Miyajima

After leaving Kyoto, we headed to Himeji, to visit a 400 year old castle. It was originally built even earlier, but the existing structure is 400 years old. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can see how old it is and low the ceilings are in this picture.

Again, Mer and Abe boarded the super fast train (shinkansen) and Jason, Jonas and drove our car. Again, we experienced some difficulties navigating the Japanese signs and highways thus it took us much longer to get to Himeji than we anticipated. Mer and Abe arrived in Himeji well before the 4 PM cut off to enter the castle; we barely made it and had a Chevy Chase moment. Japanese towns can be confusing to navigate, because the roads are not laid out in a grid format. One of my co-workers claims this is the case in cities with castles, because this made it more difficult for enemies to approach the castle. Well, now, after Himeji, I can see his point. We could see this huge castle, we approached it from many angles, and it took us awhile to actually find it, even though we could see it in the distance. We drove up at 3:59, I jumped out the car, ran breathlessly up to the front gate and asked for tickets. Both of the gatekeepers looked at their watches, indicated that we barely made it and told us we would have one hour to make it through the castle grounds. I yelled back to Jason that we were in, the guard at the gate let us park in some random spot that wasn’t really a parking spot and they shut the front gate behind us. The gate keepers followed us and shut doors and gates behind us. Jonas was happy to be free from the car seat and spent some time twirling in circles in front of the castle.

Here is the view from the top of the castle.

Jonas checking out the view.

That night we ate a delicious dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant that Mer found in the Lonely Planet, Len. Our nicest accommodation was the hotel we stayed at that night and we enjoyed the public bath. The public bath included these massage chairs that were unlike any massage chairs I have ever experienced. At times, I felt like a person was massaging me instead of a machine.

Jason and I somehow scored a room with an incredibly big bathroom, which is highly unusual in Japan. The bathroom was so big that we set up Jonas’s pack n’ play in the bathroom. It also included an awesome steam shower.

The next morning we left Himeji to drive to Hiroshima. We met Abe and Mer at the Hiroshima Peace Park. Seeing the remains of the structure that was bombed was powerful and incredibly sad. The day and the weather were perfect, sunny and warm, and the park is beautiful. Even though it is a memorial to a sad moment in history, and it is overwhelming to be there and reflect on what happened, the park is peaceful and pretty.

There were many men playing a Japanese board game, Go.

I am ringing the bell at the Children's Memorial which was surrounded by thousands of origami cranes.

Here are some of the cranes.

The A-bomb dome

From there we boarded a ferry to the island of Miyajima which has one of the top three views in Japan, the Itsukushima Shrine (the orange tori below). I am not sure how exactly the top trhee views were determined, but if I mention a Japanese person that I visited this shrine, they always tell me it is one of the top three views. Lonely Planet says this too. This shrine is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. This is the only group picture we had taken the whole trip.

This place was different than the cities we had visited and was a nice way to end our trip with Mer and Abe. The island is small and we never even saw a grocery store. We stayed at an old minshuku and had a decent dinner of udon and curry. Like Nara, there were deer all over the island.

Mer and Jonas trying to figure something out.

Abe was great at making up games with Jonas. This game consisted of putting rocks in a juice can.

Dekita! We did it! We did it!

On Saturday, we took a cable car up to the top of Mt. Misen. We had to walk up some hills to get to the cable car. Jonas wanted to walk by himself and we were afraid he was going to roll down the hill.

Here is Mer with the tickets for the cable car in front of the 'ticket booth.'

Mer, excited by the view in the cable car.

Here is one of the many monkeys that were at the top of Mt. Misen. We had to keep Jonas away form the monkeys. He does not understand that he should stay away from some animals.

After returning from the top of Mt. Misen, Jason, Jonas and I returned to our car to start our long drive back to Akita City (it took two days). Mer and Abe had one more night in Miyajima and then spent their last couple of nights in Tokyo.

The trip was great fun, and we are lucky that Mer and Abe traveled all the way to Japan. We enjoyed seeing southern Japan with them. We miss them...