Paul Eats Sushi in Japan!

さよなら - Goodbye

2008-10-10T03:55:00.004+09:00

Matt Bryant, does his point-dance-fight.

I think sometimes the chapters of our lives must be forced closed. I've been longing for some kind of closure, some way to neatly package my time in Japan. I wanted a symmetrical way to store it in my memory.

I've recently realized this kind of packaging of memories comes much later, through the revisiting of events that make up a span of time.

My parents have been unbelievably supportive of me. Not so unbelievably, actually, they've always been that way. I know I'd have lost it, gone nuts, foaming at the mouth and what not, had it not been for them.

My hammock fell from the top of my closet and onto my head the other day. I set it up in the backyard, next to a fence and between two trees gently stretched by the hurricane. I missed my friends in Japan, but realized things are ok here.

To anyone who read this blog, viewed the pictures and commented, thank you. Wish me PMA.

Midnight in Suburbia.

Reconnect

2008-08-27T04:38:00.003+09:00

As time passes and the wounds of leaving Japan scab over I find myself reconnecting with my family and most importantly my fiancee. Most people have made this transition easier, and a few have made it nearly unbearably difficult, but I'm thankful for both. The passive or active reinvention of oneself can be painful and rewarding, but what really makes it complete is seeing what sticks when transplanted back to an old place. The way I view myself, my family, my friends and the faceless crowd in the street have changed. The way I interact, or rather the way I want to interact with all of these people has changed as well. What I want to give and receive from these interactions has changed as well. The fallout from all this is still settling. But I left Japan with a goal to deal with things better, to try to be more thoughtful in my own words and decisions and to remain positive in all things. Some will think I've blown this goal, but I'm not answering to them. For me, I'm starting a new life, not continuing an old one.

Growing closer to my fiancee has led me to feel more in tune with the rhythm of this new life and is helping me to reintegrate with my family. I am thankful for everyone's patience as I mourn what feels like the loss of my friends in Japan, and for lifestyle I'd grown accustomed.

Back home

2008-08-15T04:31:00.003+09:00

I'm finally back home and received a wonderful welcome from my family. Currently I am in the painful throes of 'reverse' culture shock. I want to leave and go back to Japan. I feel uncomfortable here, like I was made for Japanese culture and I had to wait this long to find out. I'm back to the slovenly American culture and I'm just uncomfortable. I know this is silly to my family and friends, they are quite ready for me to just accept things and settle down. It just isn't easy. My fiancee is hurt and confused by it. Seems like I've been hurting the people I love lately. I'm not sure if I'm being a selfish jerk or just trying to be honest, the former is more likely I reckon.

I'm not sure who I feel more like, the confused foreigner or the sacred alien thing. I miss my brother.

Like Death

2008-08-12T19:09:00.002+09:00

Leaving Japan is extremely hard for me. Saying goodbye to the people I love, people I've only known for a year, but I grew closer to them than I care to admit. I find myself angry, sad, excited and numb. It seems like I'm moving between these emotions in short intervals. Standing in line at the Northwest Airlines counter, I felt my face get hot as the blood rushed around in anger. The people in line, the americans, were rude, strange and felt foreign to me in some way. We focus completely on ourselves in America, no one else matters, it's an undeniable part of our culture.

I know I am wholly guilty of this but I'd like to think I've changed in some small way.

The people I've met in Japan, both foreign and Japanese, allowed me to look at myself in a new way. I feel like an adult, like I was able to take hold of who I am, take ownership of my own actions and thoughts. I suppose it comes with have an untethered past, at least to these folks. All they know is myself at its current incarnation. I felt loved and interesting and happy. It was a validation I think all people need at some point. I was honest and open, I sought real connections with people and my experience was overwhelmingly positive and beautiful.

I feel like I am at a funeral. There is a coldness and a sadness in me I just can't shake. An undirected anger I can't focus. And a dull anxiety poisoning my thoughts.

But in the end, if I've learned anything in Japan, a positive mind is a powerful thing. And although I'll allow myself a little time to grieve the death of my Japanese life, I am ultimately looking forward to the future.

Marine Festa!

2008-07-23T23:27:00.004+09:00

This weekend was a great festival in Kuchinotsu. We spent the day at the beach and I caught some skim-boarders doing their thing. Then at night, we watched students perform Taiko drumming and some dancers. They capped the night off with a big fireworks display. I recently read an article about shooting photographs of fireworks so I tried it.

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残り物　(のこりもの) - Leftovers

2008-07-07T22:28:00.003+09:00

I was looking through my photos and found a few leftovers I wanted to put up. The timeline is really scattered, but the jumbled timeline exists like that in my mind anyway.

After I told the students I was engaged the girls got really interested and drew this on the board after lunch.

They also wrote my name in Katakana. It is pronounced like "Po - ru" And that has been my name for the past year.

My tiny town of Kazusa is so beautiful. There is a moist lump forming in my throat right now as I realize I'll be leaving in a few weeks. I took these next couple of pictures a month or two after I got here. I drove up the mountain and stood in between a cabbage patch and a field of potatoes and watched the sunset.

The wall in front of my school has this tag on it. I thought I had already posted this, but I can't find it on the blog now. If there was a rock nearby, this would be incredible. Instead it's in a parking lot.

At the Seaside park, which I've posted about before there is this little monkey.

Also a shot of the Seaside park. The Sakura were absolutely beautiful. I sent this to my mother for Mother's Day. I think she would really get into 'Hanami' (花見) or 'Cherry Blossom Viewing'.

What a year.

Beaches

2008-07-06T23:07:00.004+09:00

I spent this weekend relaxing around the beach enjoying the scenery and my friends. I was recovering from ANOTHER cold so I kept it all low key.
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How to Rock

2008-06-27T16:13:00.001+09:00

This is about the extent of my musical talent. But we had a great time playing.

Weekends

2008-06-18T23:45:00.007+09:00

As my time here whittles down, I am trying to burn the images of this place in my mind. I want the beauty of the Japanese countryside burned into the back of my eyelids. I've heard that it's painful and that you can't really see anything on the back of your eyelids anyway. Maybe I'll just take pictures.

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Things To Do At Work

2008-06-12T23:15:00.005+09:00

I tricked my teacher into reading this while I recorded it. She realized what she was reading about halfway through but played along anyway! Give a second to load.

boomp3.com

Read the Transcript

Create

2008-06-08T22:38:00.004+09:00

Sometimes I get this crazy urge to create something. I am almost always walled by the fact that everything I create is mediocre at best. I have to take a step back and ask, do I really want to add to the enormous body of mediocrity? I don't just want to create something for creativity's sake. I want something great and beautiful. Something that inspires like the stuff that inspires me. I need to learn to be content with just absorbing the art that's already out there. There is some point where I've got to settle with the idea that it's enough to just consume. But right now that idea is filthy to me, makes me feel bloated, old and mortal.

I sat on the beach this weekend and watched this tenacious surfer paddling around. There were literally NO WAVES on the beach. It wasn't even a nice day out. But there she was. Practicing in protest of the ocean's serenity. It made me a little sad actually.

Sick Again

2008-05-27T12:08:00.002+09:00

Yesterday, I was feeling pretty bad. Had a rough cough, tired, couldn't breathe so well. At the end of the day I felt alright. This morning I woke up not feeling nearly as good. Since I skipped work yesterday, I decided to "gambate" and go to work. Everyone at school, mentioned how I looked like crap. One by one everyone walked in the room, "Daijoubu desu ka?" (Are you ok?) and I would say "Yes" in english, sort of to spite them. They were just trying to be nice but I was annoyed.

I put my head down to rest for about 10 minutes. Sudden I woke up, my stomach was angry, or maybe my other organs were mad at my stomach and decided to beat it up. I shuffled to the bathroom, hacking the whole way and puked in the bathroom. Ewwww.

I told the nurse, "Daijoubu ja nai" (I'm not ok...). We went to talk to the vice principle. He was a nice guy and since he told me to go home as soon as I walked in this morning, I figured he'd be all right if I went home. He said to go to my base school and tell them the deal. He then picked up the phone and called my base school to tell them what's up. I thought, why should I go over there if you are calling them right now? But I did it anyway.

My VP at my base school is a weasel sort of guy and I'm not a big fan of him. He said all kinds of stuff to me which I didn't understand. I just wanted him out of my face so I said "Ok, ok, hai! Wakarimasu!" (Yes, i understand) and walked out.

At the ATM a creepy L shaped obaachan (old lady / grandma) stared at me like I was a strange talking monkey, walking up right. I stumbed into the hospital with 2 jackets on, I was freezing. The nurse does the intake thing on me and I just gave her my notebook I'd written my symptoms in japanese in. My fever was 38.8 or just under 102. They laid me in bed. After 15 or 20 minutes I saw the doctor. He speaks a bit of English so I told me the story. He told me what I had, even wrote it down, but I can't remember it now.

They IV'd me for a hour and a half and I still had a fever, 39.0, by the end. I got a handful medicine and they sent me on my way.

My fever is coming down now and I'm about to go to sleep. This sucks!

CCR Updated

2008-05-26T14:35:00.004+09:00

I stayed in bed sick today. Nothing serious, probably just a cold. But I had time to work on the Catholic Community Radio website.

So family, go over to Catholic Community Radio Podcast and download EVERYTHING!

After spending several hours last night trying to fix some assorted problems with the server, I found a possible hacker attempt. I slept (poorly) on it and looked at it all with fresh eyes. It looks like someone was able to inject some code into the website php. Luckily they weren't able to do anything, thanks to our hosts. I deleted the code and was able to update the blog's code and database as well. I fixed a small problem that we had. Wordpress wouldn't recognize our files as audio files. They were m4a's. I added a few lines to the htaccess file and bam. Still, just in case I re-uploaded the Our Father's House shows as mp3s.

So please go and download them. You can also subscribe to the podcast so that iTunes automatically downloads them. Please enjoy!

Mt. Aso Festival

2008-05-16T16:53:00.006+09:00

Although I botched my trip to Korea, I was able to enjoy japanese hippie time. Normally hippies are stinky, offensive and annoying, but Japanese hippies were quite tolerable. They somehow got their kids not to stare at foreigners like we were aliens. +1 Hippies!

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How to ruin everything

2008-05-02T22:16:00.003+09:00

I've been looking forward to going to Korea for almost two weeks. As I was walking out of the door with Chris, I asked him "Do you have your re-entry permit?"

The japanese government in all its wisdom, requires foreigners to purchase a re-entry permit from the japanese government in order to return to Japan. This is a requirement for all foreigners living in Japan. In addition, like all foreigners who come to Japan, when we re-enter, we are photographed and finger printed. This is done under the guise of protecting the japanese from "terrorists".

Chris said "yea, I think so, do you?" I checked my bag and realized that I had never gotten one. The place to get these ridiculous permits is in Nagasaki City or Fukuoka city, both hours away from me. And they are only open about 5 inconvenient hours on week days. My plans were shot and I sat there on the couch mentally beating myself into oblivion. My sieve like memory is something I can never get used to. It helps complicate all my relationships, all my plans, every aspect of my life. I can never view myself as intelligent or clear thinking. The reason I'm so mad about this, isn't just because I can't go, but that I was told to get this permit many MANY times but many different people. I was in the building where they are issued and just didn't bother. I believed I would never be leaving Japan, or that I'd have other opportunities to get it. I've heard there are exercises you can do to strengthen your memory, but I keep forgetting what they are...

Enough wallowing! I shall not be defeated, even by my own brain. I used my friend Eric's wacom pad to trace / draw these pictures. Please enjoy.

Dinner Party

2008-04-10T22:39:00.002+09:00

Hanging out with strange foreigners is always a blast. They are so free and wild. I enjoy!

We had a dinner party at Tim's house and ate and ate and ate. We had everything from curry and rice to omelets. Tim really out did himself. At the end of the night, Tim brought out his costume box he'd borrowed from school.

The japanese guy is Ryuta. He's the new office guy at my school. He said he really enjoyed it. He's only 19 so he's not in robot mode yet. He doesn't speak much English, but enough to understand some words I don't know in Japanese. He's an easy going guy and I hope we can hang out with him more.

The ladies used the japanese words that means, characteristically girlish, more or less, too describe me in these pictures. It had something to do with how I was standing and holding my hands, not my ridiculous face. It's so great that we don't have to travel for hours to a big city to have a good time. I feel so lucky to be near such great people.

Osaka

2008-04-07T21:38:00.005+09:00

I went to Osaka a couple weeks ago and stayed with Mike. I met long ago through Adam. Mike is the guy that introduced me to the JET Program and told me Japan is the place to be. After 3 years in Osaka, his sole ambition is to leave Japan for South Korea. Apparently South Korea is more forward and in your face than Japan. But literally EVERY other country is. As they say : Let's enjoying pictures from now!

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99 Islands

2008-03-17T21:46:00.006+09:00

I understand that I'm no great photographer, and that Sasebo's 99 Islands (くじゅうくしま - in kanji i think its 九十九島) are heavily photoraphed, but I'll share a few any way.

Tim and I stopped in a Navy bar after being kicked out of a "Japanese Only" bar. We chatted with the bartender, who told us to check out the 99 Islands. It was a hot tip!

Tim's getting quite good at japanese and asked how to get to dock via bus. After hopping on the bus, he asked these old ladies if they were going to the same place, turns out they were, so we followed them around. They showed us where to buy tickets and held a place in the line for us, but weren't too chatty.
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妹　ー　いもうと (Little Sister)

2008-03-12T23:03:00.005+09:00

I have been without a computer for two weeks. This weekend I finally got it back. It needed a new CD/DVD drive and apple replaced it for free. They also cleaned it so it looks like new! I should be able to keep it that way too, Leah gave me some cleaning stuff.

I've been pretty sedentary lately, but I went to Fukuoka a couple times and one of the nearby waterfalls despite my lazy mood. Our supervisor also exposed us to some traditional japanese culture. Without further ado ...
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Go Parlor

2008-02-14T21:51:00.008+09:00

Go is an ancient game. It's most likely a chinese game but the Japanese and Koreans both play it and have taken the game as their own. Chris started playing Go back in the states and when he heard there was a Go Parlor in a town near us his mouth started watering. I had a lot of fun even without playing. I took a ton of pictures and talked with people. Mostly I just nodded and smiled.

Also, because of my ridiculous sinus infection I have been having nose bleeds. Just before I walked in the door my nose exploded and dripped on my pants. Eventually it quit bleeding and I went in.
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Kumamoto Two

2008-02-04T21:55:00.000+09:00

We had a quick trip into Kumamoto, a city I like more everytime I go. I bought a new camera lens, which I haven't used yet! I only took a few pictures and none of them have turned out. So desu ne...

Also I was super sick last week. I had to go to the hospital, which is basically like the Dr.'s office in the states, to get my fever down. The hospital was only about 50 feet from my door so no big. Turns out I had a 104 fahrenheit fever. After about 2 hours I was better and went home to sleep. People brought all sorts of blankets and food to cheer and warm me up. Everyone was super nice.

On to the pictures!

Seaside Park

2008-01-24T20:45:00.000+09:00

I've come to this park twice before this, but never noticed that just a little way up the hill, a playground waited to be explored. The interesting thing was that adjacent to the playground was a tiny buddhist temple, surrounded by japanese shrines. There is even a Tori gate in the back.

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Free Shoes

2008-01-16T22:31:00.000+09:00

Well, today I mentioned that I was thinking of buying some soccer shoes. A teacher over heard me and everyone started asking each other if they had some shoes to give me. Next thing I know, these shoes are shoved into my hand. They are actually a little too small. I don't think I can use them all, but they are LSU colors. Go tigers!

Tokyo Visit

2008-01-06T22:23:00.000+09:00

The first few days Leah was in Japan we stayed in Tokyo. Please take enjoy the pictures.

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Engaged!

2007-12-29T08:35:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I took Leah up to the Cave Shrine and asked her to marry me. The cave shrine is an interesting place. It was a secret place for christians to worship, and then after they were killed it reverted to a Japanese shrine. The Christians were fighting the rulers of the area and used old shrines to defend themselves. They chopped off the stone heads of shrines to throw and shoot at the samurai ordered to kill them. So many of the statues in this area are missing their heads.

So this cave has an important historical significance and the people worshipped in secret here trusting that God would protect them. I'm sure they became very close, those handful of worshippers. I think the cave has a spiritual significance as well.

So I got Leah to hike up to the cave (roughly 400 meters). She sort of knew was was going on, but didn't say anything. When we got there...

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Internet Cafe

2007-12-22T22:44:00.000+09:00

Leah is coming tomorrow! I'm extremely excited! Right now I'm in an Internet Cafe in Fukuoka city. Tomorrow morning I'll hop on the subway an ride to airport. I'll spend most of the day waiting around the airport. But Narita airport is pretty huge, basically a city within itself.

Tonight I'm sleeping on a mat on the floor of a booth in the internet cafe and I wanted to share why this is so great. For about 1/3 the cost of a hotel, I get a place to sleep thats almost as comfortable. The beds at most hotels are pretty crappy. So this pad on the floor will get the job down without much sacrifice. Plus I get access to DVDs, television, a computer and tons of books. I also get free drinks, a tooth brush, a razor and shaving creme and even a shower here. The free drinks are nothing to scoff at either. Cola, tea, slushies, coffee, pretty much any liquid you need. 10 hours costs about 2,600 yen or about 22 bucks.

The downside of these places is that you have to sleep in a cubicle so the light and sound are never blocked out, but its a relatively dark and quite place. Also, they provide a pillow and a blanket but the pillow is rubbish, its a square sitting pillow.

Perhaps the best thing about these places is that you can walk in at any time, any day, and get a booth. I've heard they book up sometimes, but here I am, saturday night, just after school finished for the term and there are plenty of booths.

Please keep Leah and I in your prayers and thoughts because we're both traveling and prefer to arrive at our destinations completely intact.

Welcome to Rock Night

2007-12-19T18:15:00.000+09:00

Last weekend, some of the JETs from my prefecture gathered in Nagasaki City to jam. We had a few bands play covers and even a few originals.

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Phonetography

2007-12-14T22:00:00.000+09:00

Acknowledging today that I've been seriously lacking in the photography department, I decided to upload some pics from my phone. These are rubbish pictures.

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How to Brighten Your Day In 1 Minute

2007-12-11T19:09:00.000+09:00

Sometimes the subtle, low intensity stress that comes with living abroad can really get to you. I woke up this morning feeling stupid and alone and mostly angry. Normally I count on the few friends I have here to lift my spirits but last night I just felt like an outsider to them. My best and most important support person is a million miles away and we only get to talk a couple times a week at best. I kept holding on to these things today so it was all around negative.

Watch the Video...

Please Take Relax

2007-12-10T17:58:00.000+09:00

UPDATE: Sorry about the repeating paragraphs, I have since proof read this entry and tried to correct the mistakes.

This weekend was uneventful. Chris and I both decided to stay home and relax, try and save a few dollars. Last week Tim’s dad came to town and has been soaking up Japan. He lived in Japan 30 years ago, in Hokkaido. He notices that Japan has become much more western in the years of his absence.

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I asked him directly, “How has Japan changed since you were here?”
He answered, “Well, there is KFC, McDonalds and Starbucks all over the place.” I think it’s interesting that we often equate the soulless fast food and coffee chains as western. Is it progress to see these places creep up in Japanese cities? They certainly haven’t made their way to the smaller towns in Japan. It’s also interesting to see the change of menu these places have. For instance the theoretically disgusting yet shamefully delicious McGriddle is served here at McDonalds. My favorite menu item, the breakfast burrito is sadly absent. I think in general, the menus are slimmer, offering fewer but more popular choices.

Thursday, we drove up to Unzen, the city on the mountain. The city is known for their Hotels and Spas. It is by all means a small town, and the large hotels seem out of place there. But it turns out people drive in from all over the peninsula to retreat at the spas. We were guided to one spa by one of Tim’s coworkers. The spa was beautiful. It was an outdoor pool, beautifully landscaped and reasonably priced at about 500 yen. It sat uncomfortably below a hotel whose lobby we walked through to get to the spa. The water was cloudy with healthy minerals and was hot enough to sap away tension and frustration. I loved that the spa was outside. When I got too hot, I just sat with my torso out of the water to cool down.

Random photo of your photographer.

We drove back down the mountain to forage for food in Tim’s town. We found a small ramen place with two tables and a bar. One table was occupied by 3 older Japanese men. One of the men was apparently in the Yakuza, which we had seen before. Another man was wholly uninterested in us. But the last man spoke English quite well and grilled us about everything. He tried to convince us to go to another bar then karaoke to sing songs in English. We politely refused but the man was a bit drunk and kept asking. Eventually we just got up and left with a pleasant goodbye.

On Friday, Chris and I spent an exciting night watching ridiculous movies on YouTube. As it turns out there is a vast, worldwide conspiracy perpetrated by non-human shapeshifters in conjunction with the illuminati to impose their will on the unsuspecting idiot masses. Fortunately shapeshifting requires concentration and focus and if you film one of these things you can slow the video down and actually see them slip up. We watched and read about these creatures for nearly a solid hour.

If I turn up dead, it’s because I’ve helped to expose these wretched creatures and their plan to gain control of us. Please inform yourself, and don't forget to build as many Holy Hand Grenades as possible to keep these things at bay.

Kagoshima Trip

2007-11-27T22:23:00.000+09:00

We set off for Kagoshima this weekend. We went to the island of, Sakurajima which is just a 10 minute ferry ride from the Kagoshima City.

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Score!

2007-11-19T21:56:00.001+09:00

Today, this chap I was talking to at a volleyball, and also bought insurance from, came by the school today and dropped off this:

He said "Please enjoy your hobby!" I was so amazed that'd he just come by and drop that off. Its old and not autofocus but beggers can't be choosers. And some awkward conversation in half english one quarter japanese and one quarter uncomfortable silence he told me to "enjoy" and went on his way! Such kindness! This is the second time someone in this town has given me something for nothing! When my bike was stolen, the local bike shop owner gave me a bike. Just like that.

I want

2007-11-12T23:42:00.000+09:00

I want meaning and beauty. I want to live without regret and guilt. I want to give something that lastingly adds to the world. I want to know that something I'm doing is important. I want to give more than I take from the people I love. I want to shed the falseness from my life and be true and honest. I want to feel fulfilled and satisfied with the things I've done and the things I am doing. I don't want to feel the need to post cheesy stuff like this.

I think I'm number 7?

Some Pictures...

Somen Fest

2007-11-08T21:37:00.000+09:00

Somen is a type of noodle that is often eaten cold. The people a couple towns away have a festival celebrating these delicious noodles and we ALTs stopped in to enjoy the festivities.

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Buddhist Temple

2007-10-29T23:36:00.000+09:00

Sunday, Tim and I had a picnic and went to check out a local temple. We fully expected the temple to be empty and to have free reign to shoot photographs. But by happy luck, there was a service/blessing going on!

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Local Festival!

2007-10-28T00:03:00.001+09:00

A couple weeks ago, my town had a little festival. It was wonderful! The festival was celebrating the shrine that is just down the street from me.

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Blog Scare

2007-10-24T22:18:00.000+09:00

It has recently come to my attention that some people have gotten in trouble because of their blogs. I'm trying to keep mine under the radar so to speak, even though nothing offensive will be posted. I'd say this blog is rated G. Still, I am nervous about posting. There are no clear indications about what is acceptable and what isn't. If I ask anyone about it, I'll be inviting inquiry into this blog, and subsequently, scrutiny of my photos and word choice. I'll have to think on this.

Tuesdays

2007-10-16T22:43:00.000+09:00

My job is amazing. Tuesdays are my favorite. I teach at an elementary school. The teachers literally do all the work. They plan the lesson, show me when I walk in the door and I just go nuts. The more shamelessly foolish I act, the more the kids enjoy it. Today, we were teaching "shopping". The vocabulary was things like "Fried Chicken", "Apple Pie", "Orange Juice" and "French Fries". As I stood in front of the students, their eyes wide, trying to take in the strange looking american man, their preconceptions about foreigners is still a tofu like consistency. They haven't quite decided foreigners are awesome yet, or like their grandparents might have decided, a menace to the beautiful Japanese culture. I am the American people at this moment, I represent the whole.... So what do I do?

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You Eat That?

2007-10-13T00:57:00.000+09:00

In Japan, meal time is just as much about social activity as it is nourishment. In fact, having 3 proper meals accounts for the entirety of your health, mental and physical. This idea is common in western societies as well, but if someone seems sad, they may be asked if they've had a proper breakfast. If its known that someone in the office has missed breakfast, their coworkers might produce some candy or bread that they've stashed away. One day, when I admitted I had forgotten breakfast, someone in the office gave me hershey's chocolate kisses and some milk along with the this statement: "For your good mental health, please eat."

I've collected a few photos to show what I've been eating and the environment I eat in.
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Sports Day!

2007-10-07T12:49:00.000+09:00

A couple weeks ago the students at the elementary school had a sports day. This is pretty similar to American school's "Relay Day" or May day... with a few differences.

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Relaxation in Nature

2007-09-26T23:27:00.000+09:00

After a long night of partying we decided to hit up the waterfall nearby. It was absolutely beautiful.

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Party in the City

2007-09-25T18:42:00.001+09:00

This weekend we journeyed to the biggest little city on the Hanto (peninsula) to see our friend DJ and to live it up. We had a great time, here is a photo tour.

Some embarrassing photos of myself follow so please be warned.
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Kumamoto Capsule

2007-09-18T23:01:00.000+09:00

We had a long weekend last weekend so some of us headed to Kumamoto. Kumamoto City is a really happenin place. It draws people from all around. For us, its a little bit of a haul, but by no means difficult. This is a photo log of the journey.

::Waring:: This is a long post with a bunch of pictures!
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Lunchtime!

2007-09-10T23:12:00.000+09:00

In japan, most smaller schools have the students serve the food to each other. They also have to wear an apron, head scarf sort of deal and a mouth cover so's you don't get ya stanky breaf on the food.

The boys certainly helped out by carrying the food up the stairs to the class room, but i think girls usually serve the food.

Lunch was soup, rice, pickles and NATO, blech. Nato is some kind of gross bean stuff. Smells awful.

So the students sit in their classrooms and arrange their desks in groups according to their social groups and munch on their rice and nato.

This is my lunch uniform.

I love this setup for school lunch. Even if the food is bad, you don't have to smell that disgusting cafeteria smell I'm so familiar with. Cafeterias in general are gross, and this way, a teacher only has his or her own class to deal with.

Tokyo

2007-09-08T22:46:00.000+09:00

The first few hours in Japan were surreal really. We were ushered through the airport to a huge immigration/customs area. August is a big tourist season for most of the world and Asia is no different. So we waited along with a huge group of Chinese and Korean tourists. Customs was a breeze, the agents were polite and helpful.

After working our way through customs we were greeted and welcomed by JET people from all over Japan. We were then bused from Narita (where the Tokyo Airport is) into Tokyo, specifically Shinjuku, a really famous part of Tokyo. We were put up in a huge hotel called the Keiko Plaza. It was quite swanky. So immediately after settling into the hotel, I noticed that the building in general was pretty warm. It turns out that in general, japanese businesses and buildings are a little warmer than american buildings. The halls of the hotel were not air conditioned. With over 45 floors, the hotel would have trouble trying to cool all those hallways, also, what's the point really?

So after some seminars we were let loose on the city. We stopped into a conveyor belt sushi place for dinner.

The food was really good and it was quite cheap. After that we walked around a bit and eventually ended up in Shibuya, which really impressed me. Shibuya is a really hip area of Tokyo, lots of shops and cool stuff. I tried to stay awake to help my body adjust to the new times. Jet lag got the best of me at around 11:30 or midnight and I crashed.

The second night we had a night out with the people from our prefecture. We went to a Karaoke place. Japanese karaoke is much more comfortable than the american karaoke that I am familiar with. You pay a fee for a certain number of hours and you get a private room where you can act a fool and not worry about anyone but your friends watching you. The american karaoke that I know is in front of everyone at a bar or something.

This is where we sang our hearts out. Well, not me, but some people did.

This is Allan, he is a riot.

The next night we met up with Marc's friends and ate at an all-you-can-eat-and-drink place. It was like 3000 yen for tons of food and alcohol. This is where the picture from the previous post comes from.

So when we finally departed Tokyo, I was left with a sense that the city never really slowed. Every night of the week. Sunday through Saturday, people were partying and running around. The city is incredibly crowded and has grown upward to compensate for lack of space. In the end, it was a fun city to hang out in for a bit, in fact I wish I had a few more days, but I was eager to settle into my new place in Kazusa.

CONNECTED.....FINALLY

2007-09-07T16:43:00.000+09:00

Hello, internet, my name is paul, we haven't spoken in a while, I have missed you.

So finally I have returned to the internet and I will be posting semi-regularly with pictures and such. For now I have an Enkai, a drinking and eating party, with my teachers from Kazusa Junior High. So I'll leave you with a photo.

The Maehama (Mae Beach)

Tokyo Restaurant, ALL YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK FOR LIKE 30 BUCKS!

The Quiet America

2007-07-28T10:15:00.000+09:00

As I prepare myself for immersion into another culture, I thought I'd reflect on my tiny insight into the American Deaf Culture and share a story. As a hearing person I can only imagine what its like to be deaf. I consider ASL [amercan sign language] a separate langauge from English and I think many deaf people, CoDA's [children of deaf adults] and audiologists agree. This alone is enough to separate deaf people from hearing people culturally.
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I took one "Manual Communication" class in college. We learned Signed English and studied a few different forms of sign language. ONe assignment had us pretend to be deaf in a public situation that required some kind of interaction with hearing people. I took my friend, a CoDA, to CVS Pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions. As my hands jogged around in broken ASL to my friend, an employee behind the counter blatantly stared at us. I walked up to the counter and smiled, the pharmacy tech looked at me and sort of started to speak. I just kept smiling politely and pointed to my ear and shook my head in an attempt to communicate my fake deafness. The employee who continued staring at us yelled "Ooo he deaf!" The tech looked slightly agitated and I handed over my license. She took it and began to locate the prescription. It was going too easy, I decided to mix it up a little. When it came time to pay I tried sliding my debit card the wrong way. The tech who had given me the prescription saw I putting the card in the wrong way and leaned over the counter and jerked the card out of my had and slid the card the correct way. I looked up at her, smiling, but less politely, and she sighed and stared down at her computer. I took my bag of medicine and waved in reluctant appreciation and walked out.

I thought, what the hell, if I had been a spanish speaker or some none native english speaker, the tech would have at least made some attempt to communicate with me. I felt like I was just written off by the tech, I felt like I was being treated like a child, incapable and stupid.

I also work with a deaf man. The other people in my office are just now attempting to learn sign. Since I started working with him my sign has improved unbelievably. I can now carry on simple conversations with him and talk to him about work and his life. Often I had to relay details of what he was saying to the hearing people in the office. For the most part they communicate by writing but the nuances of conversation are lost on paper. I started noticing that in situations where everyone in the office was talking in an impromptu meeting the deaf man just stood or sat around, not uncomfortably but definitely isolated from us. I wanted to remember what it was like for me and him in that group. When I am in Japan, I am going to be somewhat like him in that meeting. I don't speak japanese enough to participate in any kind of conversation so I'll be pretty isolated in Japan. I think I'll find out what those meetings were like for him as an American in Japan.

Hide this.

Contract

2007-07-08T03:20:00.000+09:00

My contract was recently sent to me. I'm starting to get nervous now, I'm realizing the language will be a big problem. I don't know what the top of this says....

Nerdness

2007-07-07T12:15:00.001+09:00

I might disappoint the Japanese I meet because I'm pretty geeky, though not quite wapanese...

I just took this quiz, my uncle is 79% geek.

81% GeekMingle² - Free Online Dating

Mission

2007-07-04T16:11:00.000+09:00

I'm leaving for Japan soon, and I thought I'd start a blog to document my adventure in the land of the rising sun. I will attempt to share my small insights about Japanese culture and I guess as a result of the cultural juxtaposition, my own culture.

I hope to show my family and friends what it's like for me to live day to day as a gaijin [foreigner] in Japan. I hope this is a small way I can feel connected to my loved ones when I'm on the other side of the world. I will use this blog in conjunction with a Flickr account to share photos.

But to be honest, this blog will mostly be a way for me to remember my experience in Japan.