Buddhist Temple

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!

We stopped at the local grocery store and loaded up on food. I ate like a king, a french king. I bought a loaf of french bread and some half decent cheese. I was really excited about the cheese, tasty dairy is hard to come by here for some reason. We sat at the foot of a mountain stream that flowed into bay.


Next we started up the mountain to look at some of the shrines and to check out the temple. At the entrance to the ascending stairs, this shrine greets you. It apparently can heal you if you pray here, and an offering of yen wouldn't hurt I suppose.


I think in Japan people are generally more tolerant of spiders. The webs are everywhere and people only knock them down if they are a major hinderance. This spider caught more than he could handle I think. Its an entire praying mantis.


After climbing the steps up, we round the corner to the temple and spy that its pretty packed with elderly people. I was peeking my head around when someone started yelling for us to come in. The priest, was saying prayers over some of the people and it seemed to be a reverent moment. So Tim and I were sort of shocked when this big guy jumps up and starts yelling at us and beckoning us in. So we clamored in, Tim and I trying to keep our heads down and remain respectful of the situation. The guy started making jokes loudly and flipping off the priest. I think he was trying to explain that we shouldn't flip off the priest. In Japan, the middle finger carries no negative connotation but he knew it would crack us up. Eventually everyone ignored the priest and started laughing at this guy and at the two foreigners who looked vaguely dazed.

To kick it off, I was pretty sure the guy teasing us had been drunk. So the priest was going around mumbling some prayers and fanning people with his book. He would then slam the book onto the backs of the people. He hit 3 times, once on the shoulders and once in the middle of the back. With the encouragement of the crowd he came and prayed over us and smacked us with the book. It was hearty smack! He was pounding on the elderly and feeble with the same force! It turns out that he was knocked the evil spirits out of us.

After the beatings the ceremony was ended and everyone gathered around some tables for sake, tea and rice balls.


Can you imagine drinking wine at church? What do they think they are, Catholic? Seriously though, they weren't shy with the sake. Anyway, we both said we were driving, and politely refused the drinks. And having eaten so much on minutes before I barely stuffed a rice ball down. As always, the crowd of people had endless questions for us, but we enjoyed their company, though we were pretty sure they were cracking some jokes at our expense. Tim was good enough to entertain them long enough for me to grab my camera. Interestingly, the men and women sat at different tables. We were warmly welcomed to sit with men.


After finishing up we picked up the tea and plates and such and headed out. We were taught how to pray on the way out though. This big bowl is full of sand. You kneel down in front and light two sticks of incense, place them into the big bowl, say a quick prayer and ring this little bell twice.


As we left, the priest saw everyone off by thanking them, blessing them, and inviting them back again. The sign here just says "Please watch your step."


After it was all finished the same chap who was jeering us and teaching us how to pray properly walked around with us. He showed us the fire saint and now knowing the proper motions, Tim and I offered up some incense to the fire saint. To explain that this statue was the fire saint our guide said "SANTA MARIA!" then made a motion with his hands that we had to assume meant fire.


Next he showed up some of the (apparently) oldest trees still standing in Kazusa. This is no small feat considering the area is home to an active volcano, earthquakes and severely limited space. Also the building that was next to the trees burned to the ground years ago but left the trees unscarred.


Afterward, Tim, Eric and I went to our guides house where his wife made us coffee tea and some deserts! We attempted chatting a bit and watched some TV. He invited other people over to see the crazy foreigners and we visited with them a bit. As we left, he gave us a huge bag of mikan, or japanese oranges. They are delicious and i think I've eaten over 20 in 2 days!

Local Festival!

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.

Shop owners came and set up some little tents. To the left, outside the shot, is the Family Mart, a convenience store, but so much more than a convenience store. In japan, you can pay bills, buy a few essential clothing items, grab some good lunch/dinner, make copies, buy manga and even buy concert tickets for local shows. Most nights I end up hanging around there. My students and their parents usually stop in too, so I get to see them outside of school.


Each of these tent shops sells some deliciously unhealthy food item. Usually on a stick and dipped in something.


This guy is skillfully turning Tako Yaki. These are little balls of really scrumptious breading with a piece of octopus stuffed inside. I'm actually not a huge fan, the texture of octopus tentacles really throws me off. But I have had some that were amazing. The kids love them!


I didn't get to try these things, but I really wanted to. They were basically a homemade sort of tortilla with some veggies and maybe some kind of meat tossed inside. Then she rolls them up around a stick. After cooling a bit, she drizzles some kind of sauce and I think a little mayo on it.


They also had a couple straight up candy shops. Japanese candy is, I think in general, a little less sweet than American candy. Consequently I LOVE japanese candy. Its just enough to tickle your tongue but not so sweet you feel guilty.


For 500 yen, I got a huge bag of these sweet fries. Basically they were cold french fries that were sautéed, so to speak, in sugar. The taste was really pretty interesting, but I could only eat a handful from the bag. I could feel my teeth rotting!


There were also game tents. This was a game where you paid a couple hundred yen and you got a small ring with a thin piece of paper to use as a net. Your objective is to scoop the fish into a bowl, you get to keep what you can catch before the paper soaks through and tears.


In the back of the strip were a few tents selling farming equipment and knives and such.


There were some really cool knives and stuff there, some looked to have been handmade! This mama was working these guys over to buy some kind of scythe thing.


I never actually got to see what has happening with the shrine, but it no doubt involved a bunch of guys carrying a heavy portable shrine and singing and what not. I love that the japanese, young and old, are very aware of their culture and history!

Blog Scare

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

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?

Act like an idiot of course. For each word on the board, I quickly thought of a ridiculous gesture. Like tiny robots that will someday take over Japan, the kids mirrored me exactly, stupid gesture and all. Most of the gestures didn't make sense but it definitely helped them remember the word. I found out later that most ALTs do this. We all have a reservoir of idiot gestures to help the elementary school kids remember the english word. Hysterical laughing would not do their reaction justice.

I walked into the elementary school one tuesday, camera in hand. These girls were showing me where to go, well as soon as I raised my camera the took off running as fast as they could.


The boys were slightly more warm to the camera. This kid is REALLY good at dodgeball.


Finally they all warmed up and were all ready for a few pictures. I kept telling that kid to be careful in japanese. He didn't listen. Luckily he didn't fall.


They started enjoying being photographed.


Then when I squatted to take this pic, they all did the same!


The kid all the way to right is Kento, he is so incredible at dodgeball. I'm pretty sure he can throw harder than me... And he comes up to my knee.


On one of the first days I worked at an elementary school, they had an assembly teaching the kids to march. It was basically a military sort of march. This is obviously in preparation to fight the impending robot war.


After that, I "teach" class, which means play games in english. This is a slap game, they class says "What fruit do you like?!" and i said "I LIKE (some fruit)!!!" and they have to slap it. The cheers were deafening from these tiny people.


Another brick biter lives school. They are so cute in their little hats.


At the end of the day, I sat in the office and sipped tea. I was reviewing the pictures I had taken that day on my camera when I heard muffled laughter, stifled in the way a "sneaky" child tries to do. I turned around and saw this:


Most of the Japanese male teachers I work with have a different idea of masculinity that the american ideal. They can safely act "feminine" to get a laugh or to help prove a point. No one would call them gay or girly. I think the japanese idea of masculinity is refreshingly lacking in macho idiot. At least as far as I can tell. This sort of generality is difficult to make.

You Eat That?

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.

First, lunch at school.

This kid reminds me of myself when I was a kid. He looks a bit like this painting thats eerily hiding in Adam's old closet. He is a student at one of the elementary schools. Notice he is using a spoon. For certain meals, we use knives, forks and spoons.


Here is a close-up of what he was eating. I was lucky enough to have my own plate of food, so I snapped a picture. The milk here smells rotten, or rather like its just about to go rotten. It has to do with the cows diet. They have strict rules about how they treat cows and what they eat in Japan, and the Japanese often believe their cows are the best in the world. They cite the 2003 american outbreak of mad cow disease as definitive proof. I haven't had Kobe beef yet, but I hear its excellent.

The main vegetable was corn and beans. I think they were edemame peas, but I'm not sure. It was really good. The meat was chicken, including some disgusting gristle and the skin. The soup was alphabet soup with added cabbage, onions and carrots. It was quite delicious! Notice too that have no rice! Schools usually have a bread day, once or twice a week. They get piece of bread and either some chocolate in a pouch (top right of the tray) or some jam, maybe strawberry. So I looked around and saw the kids smothering chocolate on to the bread and had my doubts. But it turns out the chocolate is not nearly as sweet as american chocolate so it goes well with the bread.


At the junior high we had a strange meal that I really liked. The main dish was chickpeas (more or less) and what I thought was roasted green beans. It turns out that greenish stuff with the beans are tiny fish. They taste like razor blades. Sharp points stick into your mouth and it takes getting used to, but its not so bad. By the end I wanted more actually. And of course the stinky milk, vegetable soup and rice! At the bottom left of the rice bowl is a purplish sphere. This is a plum... I kid you not. They magically shrink it with crazy Japanese futureology, (pickling) and slap it in your rice. The japanese word for this thing is Umeboshi, its not exactly a plum, but thats what they tell foreigners. Its amazingly sweet, to an unbearable degree. I am told its very healthy but I just don't like it.


Japanese students eat in the classroom. I explained this a bit before. But I wanted to reiterate that this is a time for kids to relax and talk with each other and with the teacher. This is where the teachers try to catch up on student gossip and give the students some attention on a personal level. The devision between "Sensei" and "Seito"(student) is still very much a gulf, even at these times, and the boundaries are clear but students still relate to their teacher and each other in this slightly more relaxed atmosphere. The teacher always sits with the students. I've never seen a teacher sit at a separate desk.


The elementary school kids are more relaxed and crazy in general. I absolutely love teaching and eating with the kids.


I think in recent years, the japanese started paying closer attention to dental hygiene. They brush 3 times a day, everyday. Every student and teacher has a toothbrush and toothpaste at school. After lunch they brush their teeth, straightaway. This kids just finished brushing their teeth. There is a girl in the background with the toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. Also, everyone has to wash out their milk carton so that it can be torn open, stacked and packed away for the trash man, who later, burns it.


Adult food:

This is karage. If you see japanese fat people, this is part of the reason. This is basically deep fried chicken pieces and its delicious. Very delicious. It's the sort of thing you go for when you've had a few beers and are starving in the middle of the night. Not unlike the disgusting hamburgers at jackinthebox. Delicious! This bowl of food you've seen before, but I thought I'd explain it. You can get this at restaurants as an appetizer and often at Karaoke places. The bed of shredded lettuce is clutch, there are only a few pieces of chicken so the lettuce is a consolation to the people who were too slow with their chopsticks.


Chris snapped this picture in Fukuoka. It's a Ramen stand. The streets were lined with these. They are open almost all night and you get a big bowl of ramen noodles cooked with a some meat or fish and a few veggies. I know what you're thinking, "ew ramen?!". This is legit ramen, its absolutely delicious. People sit around and chat with the other patrons and the chef. I think they get to know the chef and become a regular to certain stands. During the winter, they let down those curtain and everyone is warmed by the boiling water. Steam fills the area and the more people pack around the stand, the warmer it stays.


Tonight was my second Enkai (Drinking Party). Enkai's are are usually done to welcome someone or see someone off. In this case, it was both. One teacher was leaving to have her baby and the other was replacing her. Enkai's start of slow and boring but get better as everyone loosens up. It all starts with some boring speeches, then a toast, then we begin. This is the aftermath of the food. I forgot to take a pic before we started eating...


There were plates of sushi, a couple kinds of fish, some octopus and a conch I think. All of it was raw!


There were plates of fried food too. Shrimp, chicken, squid tentacles, whole small fish and also, some egg (the yellow thing) and some boiled chestnuts.


As the Enkai wears on people talk and drink and become relaxed.


At the end someone gives a (apparently) hilarious speech.


And we go home happy.

I think in much the same way as south Louisiana, Japan likes to center events around food also. There is always something new to try, something strange that someone is particularly proud of or a special dish originating in the area that you just HAVE to try. I'm never hungry!