Mary Newton

New Movie Coming!

Actually, maybe more than one.

The Omura team (Meg, Zara, and I) are at it again. You may remember us from the movie Let's Go Shopping. =)  We are in the process of editing our latest video -- "Let's Enjoy Cooking." I'll have it posted by this evening, so please make sure to check it out!

On Monday I went to Isahaya to watch Track and Field. I really enjoyed sitting in a stadium among the mountains and trees and watching all the events. I managed to stay sun burn free (!!!) EXCEPT on my knees. I'm not sure how one manages just to get sunburned on their knees, but I pulled that one off pretty nicely.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a day off. The people that I sent my computer battery through called me to tell me that they are sending my battery BACK TO ME because it's "too dangerous" to ship. This spoiled my mood. I am having the worst luck trying to ship anything home. Luckily, however, things started working in my favor. Dell wants less than half the price of the battery if you can't ship it back to them, which actually turns out being less than shipping it home and then to Dell. Woohoo!!

To cheer myself up, I went to the park to read. I've been doing this a lot lately. I think that the park is my favorite place in Omura, for sure. =)

I'll have pictures and the VIDEO up later today. For now, I have my last class of the day. Time to give a speaking test! Ganbare kiddos!

Meg's birthday weekend, taiko, and a whole lot of fun!

Somehow a week has slipped by without me writing, but I will catch you up on all the crazy adventures I have had since then!

First and foremost, a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Meg!! We have been through SO much these past 10 months and I seriously don't know what I would do without you (go crazy?). I hope you had as much fun as I did this past weekend! :)

That said, I will tell you what we did this weekend because it led us to yet another potential weekly experience.

On Saturday, Meg and I went to a taiko workshop at Seibold University in Nagayo (about 45 minutes from Omura on the slow train). Now, if you know me, you know that it is one of my dreams to play the drums, so I was really excited that I would finally get a chance to learn a little! We got there and had an AMAZING time. We saw and got to try three different types of Taiko -- standing up straight, standing on a slant, and sitting (used for festivals on floats when there is little room -- great for the abs!) on the big drums (wadaiko) -- and we got to play two other sized drums, too. There's something about the drums that excites me. Melodie, the coordinator for this, wrote this in an email to me:

"By the way, you should have seen your face when Kazuo-sensei started playing sitting style! Your eyes lit up like a Christmas tree!! I wish I'd had my camera..."

haha! :) Check out the pics!

The playing field.

Our sensei for the afternoon!

Playing the medium sized drums (I'm on the left)

So happy!

Meg and I enjoyed this so much that on Monday, I finally sat down and did some research. Took me all of 2 minutes to find the Omura taiko group. I really should have done this MONTHS ago, but better late than never, right? They had a 2 1/2 hour practice Monday night and we went to "watch" but ended up staying the whole time because we were THAT impressed and hooked. This group, made mostly out of young kids (one of them is my student!) is AMAZING!! After class we introduced ourselves and ended up being offered a ride to the practice on Sunday nights. How are Meg and I filled with so much luck? I can't wait until Sunday night!! Taiko class! A dream come true -- playing the drums!!! :D

Sunday was Meg's birthday and we had a full day of fun planned out! Zara picked up some delicious bentos from Agri (a restaurant here that we like) and we surprised Meg and took her up to the waterfall for a real picnic! It was still a bit too cold to jump in (although that didn't stop another ALT that we ran into while we were there), but we had a nice time enjoying the beautiful weather, sun, and each other's company.

Miss Ana drove and Zara and I were being silly in the back seat -- we switched shades (shortly before mine broke...).

Made it to the waterfall...but now we have to climb down the hill for the next 5 minutes. haha.

Birthday girl!!! <3 And the banana bread (cake?) I made for the occasion! :D

Z and Shawna looking sekushii. See Lana in the background? Yes, she jumped in. She said it wasn't as cold as it was back in March. ...

There's a purpose for this picture...I just wasn't at the right angle -- but they look silly. =)

This was the purpose -- to look like you are drinking the waterfall. "Ana, you're good. Mary...do something else..." "fine fine...CHOP" [Which, all of a sudden reminded me of something. Lauren, this is for you.... "Jeff, chop chop!" hahahahahaha]

Next we went up to ShuShu on the mountain to indulge in some special ice cream. Zara got some red bean and green tea ice cream (she said she didn't think it was very good) and the other two ladies got some MINT ice cream (as in real mint flavored vanilla ice cream -- very refreshing).

I, on the other hand, got...

TOMATO ice cream! It was tomato-y and very good. Goodness...I have WAY too many pictures of me with ice cream...

Following ShuShu, we rushed off to KARAOKE! Finally, we got to have some Sun Spa (aka CHEAP and a free drink bar) karaoke fun. Plus, we got a HUGE room all to ourselves (for less than 5 bucks each for 4 hours!!!).

Check out the size of this room!!

AND a disco ball, oh my!!

Craziness ensues (for the next three hours)...

uh hum...

We took some birthday purikura (of course) and went to Meg's and my favorite izakaya that's up the road from our house. I got this delicious lettuce sushi roll -- wow! :D

What a weekend -- what great friends! :)

On Tuesday we had our brutal but very rewarding 2 hour dance class -- why don't they air condition the dance rooms? We were soaked after both of them (I'm sure you needed to know that, too). Good times :)

I Got To Campaign in Japan!!!

"MURASAKI, MuraSaki de gozaimasu! 27 sai degozaimasu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

If you live in Japan (or, at least in Omura), you probably woke up with a smile on your face because the sound of a squeaky woman's voice over a loud moving speaker didn't startle you out of bed. I know I did! I am talking about campaigning for the elections of the local candidates that will be happening today.

For those of you who do not know how campaigning happens here in Japan, allow me to enlighten you a little. I really don't know anything about local government in Japan, but I do know how they get their name out to their constituents. Maybe a little too well...

In my town, there are 36 people running for different seats across town. They are probably running for some sort of councilman position within their precinct or "neighborhood." They print and distribute pamphlets -- putting them in people's mailboxes. I've gotten several over the last couple of weeks. They have posters that they paste up all over town. There are also big boards all over town that show all the people running. I think this is a fantastic idea because it allows you to at least KNOW who is running (as seen below...thank you ZARA for the pictures*!!).
*
Our favorite guy (Murasaki Hiroshi) is smack dab in the middle and the only one with a horizontal poster.

Some of them stand on the side of the street with their banners and campaign. Murasaki does this and this picture is the from the first time we spotted him!
*
(We stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture...which turned out blurry...but this is the first time we came into contact with him!)

And, the most popular way to campaign in Japan is to get into a big car or van with HUGE load speakers on top, drive around town and through neighborhoods, and yell your name and "THANK YOU" into them over and over...and over and over... Yes, it's annoying! Especially when it wakes you up every single weekend. Here's what the vans look like:

(a picture from Z's car) They are EVERYWHERE during election time. I can even hear them during class time...

Ok, so now onto the story of how I got to CAMPAIGN in Japan! How many JETs can say they've done such a thing? Somehow I think that if we aren't the first, then we are pretty close to being the first.

Our favorite guy is Murasaki. He's 27 years old -- and he sells himself that way. Zara got a pamphlet about him a while back and got as far as seeing he was only 26 (before the elections started) and thought that was really cool. She googled "Omura" and "26" and found the guy! She let us know about him and we thought it was neat, but didn't think much of it because we can't vote. However, from the time we saw him on the road, we began to have interest in him and the campaigns around Omura. It wasn't until about a week and a half ago that Meg and I were riding our bikes down the main road in Omura after enjoying dinner in the park that I spotted him on the corner by Jusco and Starbucks. We turned around, crossed the street, and talked to him!!! I asked him, "Do you remember me? I took your picture from the car by Sun Spa!" He started laughing as the light bulb went off...YES! He remembered us! As we were standing there talking to him, both Meg's and my students kept going by on their bikes on their way home. One of mine drove right past us and said my name. Murasaki picked up on it right away, "Oh, your name is Mary!" He asked Meg's name and he remembered our names. We also showed up in his blog (half way down the page) the next day. Since that day, we were determined to talk to him again and get a picture. We looked unsuccessfully for days...until yesterday.

Meg and I had just gotten back from a nice lunch in the park (we are taking advantage of the weather and the BEAUTIFUL Omura park) and Jusco when we got messages from Zara. She had seen Murasaki's team on the street campaigning! She got to my place in about 5 minutes and we were out of there as quick as you can say "Murasaki, Murasaki degozaimasu!" We were going to find him this time!

We went back to where she first spotted him, but they had moved on. We didn't give up, though. We drove around and in about 5 minutes all three of us jumped with joy (literally) when we spotted his van. WE FOUND HIM!

Now, a couple of days earlier, the three of us wanted to know what it feels like to be a politician campaigning on the corner. Meg and Zara made this sign (read: 27 Murasaki):

We went out to the corner across the street and waved/bowed at the passing cars. We decided not to use the sign just in case it would inflict negative consequence on his campaign (because we aren't really involved with his campaign). But, we had a blast waving, smiling, and bowing at people. We even got quite a few smiles, waves, and bows back in return! The best part was when Meg and I went to our favorite restaurant up the street the next day and got asked about it. Ha ha, they had seen us! They were wondering WHY we were doing that and I told them that we just wanted to do give GENKI (energetic) greetings to people. Yes, we were ready for the real thing...even if it had only been a joke among ourselves.

(SEI NO!)

(Hello citizens of Omura! We hope you have a fabulous day!)

Ok, back to the story. So, when we spotted the car, we busted our Murasaki sign out and hung it out the window. They stopped and the guy came out and probably figured out who we were (because of the mention of Meg and me on his blog). He allowed us to follow them back to the headquarters, which turned out to be RIGHT NEAR THE EKI (train station). Wow...we really haven't used the train in a while. Who knew it was so close all that time? ANYWAYS! We spotted the van at 4pm. Let's start this adventure.

We arrive at the headquarters and are taken upstairs (a big room on top of a salon).

We walk in and Murasaki is there. He sees us and just about falls over in laughter and happiness. He remembers Meg and me (including our names!) and is happy to meet Zara. They offer us tea and mounds (really) of omiyage sweets. We have a few chats here and there, but then Murasaki sits down and somehow our conversation turns into him asking us if we want to ride around in the van.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've been joking about getting to ride around in a van for about a week at this point. It was about to happen! And hey, we had practiced, so we are more than ready! Let's GOOOO!

Murasaki on the left, Taka on the right next to me, and 21 year old friend on the far right. Taka is single, but Zara and Meg have already jankened over him...sorry girls! hahaha.

Are we really going to get to ride in the van?!?!?!? I am in disbelieve!!

He's always smiling!! And it's a genuine smile, too -- that's the best part!

We get in the van (ok, his is only a car, but VAN is more fun to say), roll down the windows, and for the next 3 1/2 hours (not kidding you) we wave and greet people on the road with genki "arigatou gozaimaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasu!" Murasaki was so ecstatic about us being there, saying how it was something that's never been done before (foreigners campaigning in the van). Personally I think we were great assets to him on this run. We got a lot of double takes and when we saw our students they went wild (or stared in disbelieve). During the car ride, we stopped a total of three times to get out and wave while Murasaki said things of substance. Meaning, in the car, all they say (over and over) is their name and THANK YOU! We were still so excited! We got out and waved on the street near Max Value, Jusco, and the eki.

Meg was wearing the correct color for the day! Because Murasaki (different kanji) also means PURPLE, his colors are naturally different shades of purple.

Outside the eki.

In THE VAN!

We also stopped a few times for him to talk to some people. I have never seen someone bow SO deep and long. Check out this 90 degree action (WITH a handshake!)!

A little bit before 8, we were taken to the community center in the neighborhood of Suwa (where he is running). He was giving a lecture on his campaign and we got to attend! Not including the rest of the Murasaki crew, there were probably 25-30 people attending. We were attentive and we even understood some of it! One of his funny stories had to do with Omura Beef. There's beef in Omura? Apparently so...and it's comparable to Kobe beef. He talked about how he went to a restaurant with some people and they had Omura beef...and it cost about 200 dollars for all of them (without drinking sake). We were wondering the same thing as he was...there are COWS in Omura? Where do they keep them? His point was that the city has to promote the things that we have. Apparently we have pretty good beef. Who knew?

He spoke VERY solidly and with a lot of enthusiasm, energy, and PASSION. To be honest, I haven't ever followed a candidate this closely (even though I technically don't know his whole platform or even what he's really running for), but you don't have to understand any words in order to see his passion for what he's doing. This has impacted me. If I ever hold office in something political and someone asks me where/when I became interested in politics, I will have to smile and reply with, "Well, when I was living in Japan..." :)

After the speech was over (about an hour and a half later), we helped clean up (and were being silly) and got invited back for dinner!

Zara had two large containers for macaroni salad, which they loved. After dinner, we had some very interesting, fun, and genuine conversations. Zara told them that they (Z and M) have a "mondai" (problem) -- no boyfriends! I told them to help the girls out. They said that they don't have girlfriends either...and Z and M paper-rock-scissored over them (that's how Japanese people settle disputes). They just about died laughing. I don't have that problem though, heehee. (*smiles*) Zara told them the story on how we found Murasaki and how it's quite hard to make friends our age around here. I think that last night solved our problem. After, we were talking about how from the very beginning (when Meg and I talked to him on the street and even when Take came out of the car and told us to follow them to the headquarters) there was no awkward tension whatsoever. They absolutely embraced us from the very beginning. We are invited to go to the party tonight after the elections are over -- we are SO going. I hope that we can meet up with these people again, they are really neat...not to mention a future Omura politician! Oh...connections! :)

Could you say we are leaving our mark on this small town? Oh, I think so... I've done so many more cool things here than I ever thought was possible. I have some amazing friends! I want to make a video of all of this once it's over. Hopefully I will get that done this week sometime. Until then, VOTE MURASAKI!! :)

Spring is HERE!!!

And in Japan, the best indicator of that is the multitude of sakura (cherry blossoms). I'm so excited for spring and I finally understand the reasoning behind hanami (flower viewing) -- you really do just want to sit under the trees and gaze! It's that beautiful!! Meg and I did that twice yesterday, but first a little bit about last weekend.

Zara, Jesse (Zara's friend in for a visit), Meg, and I went to Nodake park up in the hills of Omura. We played on the playground and took a long walk around the whole park (which included a small lake). It was a gorgeous day, especially on the shaded path (from Cedar, no less):

Fun with my shadow:

Ok, now on to yesterday! Omura Park is THE place to come to enjoy sakura in these parts. Our park has some 2,000 cherry blossom trees!! Since Meg and I are leaving today for our trip, we had to make sure to experience the festivities. We went to the store, bought a bento (packed lunch), and went to the park to eat it under the trees. When we got there, we witnesses all kinds of vendors (food, trinkets, pottery, etc) and lots of people everywhere! We found a table and sat down to enjoy our lunch and talk about our trip. A couple of older ladies ended sitting on the other side of the table and they gave us some of their food. We were already stuffed, so they insisted that we take it home and "share it with our friends." That was very nice of them! Time to show you some of the beauty of the park!

A line of trees down the main entrance to the castle.

Meg enjoying Hanami near some of the vendors.

Want a mask? :)

Me by the water! I saw a lady wearing my exact same outfit as me...what are the odds?!

Me and some of my students who were there to eat lunch after their basketball practice (yes, on a Saturday). They were SO excited to see me, haha.

More sakura! :D

SO excited!!

Then, we went back last night and did the very Japanese thing to go -- drank a chuhai (although we will make sure to try some sake at some point), and walked around to see the trees at  night. I got some really cool shots:

A group of friends enjoying the sakura late into the night.

We had to go back last night because people were out and about doing stuff past 6pm...were we really still in Omura? Amazing!! :) Oh, and it was free, so it was even better! Now that it's warm, I want to start spending more time outside (especially with the sakura!)

In about an hour, I will be leaving to go to Nagasaki for YOSAKOI!! I've been practicing with the Omura group since the end of January, but only learned this dance in the past few weeks. I'm so excited and will definitely have pictures to post later! Later tonight Meg and I will begin our long (yet comfortable ride because we are taking the shinkansen - bullet train) trip to Kyoto! We will be there and Hiroshima for a whole week! I couldn't be more excited!! Forgive the lack of posts for this coming week, but I will have more than enough to post when I get back! :)

Everyone have a great week! And, HAPPY SPRING!!! :)

Enjoying the Weather!

This week's weather has been so pleasant (60s and sunny) and Meg and I took a walk just about everyday. On Monday we were gone for over an hour exploring a part of town that we hadn't been to before. I brought my camera along and was glad I did. Enjoy!!

UME (Plum) blossoms!!!

I LEAVE FOR OKINAWA TOMORROW (Saturday)!!!! YAY!!! I will come back with plenty of pictures and stories I am sure! :) Until then, friends. Enjoy the coming of spring! :D

[Catch Up Time! +minus.the.ketchup]

Guess who? M.I.T., backwards.

---

December 31st:

Today is the Lord's day. Mary and I got a ride (in a car, mind you) to church. Church was held in a small, two-story building that might be a real estate business. This morning was definitely special for several reasons. First of all, I got to experience Mary's worship experience in Japan. The church is a protestant congregation, part of the Nagasaki International Church. The small service takes part with about 15 people every Sunday. Typically, the service is given by Hiroshi in Japanese and translated by Precious into English; however, on this day the roles were reversed, with Precious giving a message about setting resolutions. Worldly resolutions, such as losing weight or quitting smoking, are doomed to eventually fail and have no eternal value. However, an agreement with God lasts forever.

The other reason I enjoyed this experience was because I got to see first hand how God is working through the lives of those in a nation foreign to Christianity and the Gospel. Precious stressed that it is important to not be committed to the gods of your fathers but to have trust in the one true God. In America, Christianity is not just a religion; it is a subculture. But in Japan, home of the Shinto religion as well as Buddhism, it is very obvious that the Spirit moves through certain people.

After the service we rearranged the chairs and set out tables to eat lunch. Several individuals brought food and we ate a curry rice meal (not the Indian curry, the Japanese curry). It was muy delicioso, totemo oishii, and very delicious. After lunch and chitchat time, Hiroshi kindly offered us a ride back to Mary's apartment.

That afternoon Mary and I experienced/endured/enjoyed FOUR hours of karaoke at Sound Beach. Needless to say, it was pure singing madness and ensuing laughter.

For dinner, the two of us biked to Jusco (Jusco is a "rare" treat) and ate at an in-store restaurant. Mary ordered the katsudon (fried pork and egg on a bowl of rice) while I enjoyed a "Japanese" meal of fried chicken, french fries, and Caesar salad. OK, anyone notice the obvious sarcasm? Apparently, the Japanese wouldn't. They are a very literal culture (however, it doesn't take much from gaijin/foreigners to make them laugh - I'm sure we are very strange to them).

For dessert, Mary and I enjoyed some Starbuck(aneer)/Starbuck(aroo)/Staba/Starbuck(istan) frap. Oh, I must be specific - I got a vanilla bean frappaccino... it's like a vanilla milkshake with no ice cream (and, for that matter, no coffee). Then, we biked to several shrines to see the New Year preparations. Finally, we arrived back at the apartment and parked ourselves under the kotatsu (the freakin' heated table!) and rang in the New Year by watching silly Japanese variety shows.

January 1st:

Happy New Year / Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu

New Year's Day equals fun day. Mary and I tried to meet with a fellow teacher to partake in tea ceremony, but they did not answer the door (after knocks and doorbell rings). So... instead, we went on our merry way. We went shopping at a couple stores, including UniQlo, where I bought a cheap fleece jacket. This was followed by a myriad of games, including bowling, ping-pong (a certain Mary Newton got owned), and the pitching cages. In the evening Mary and I finally found the coat we were looking for, and now I look spiffy cool! Then, we ate dinner at Skylark Gusto (Mary ate a rice and mushroom soup while I treated myself to an ebifurai (fried shrimp) and baked chicken). We biked home in a misty, cold rain and enjoyed a pleasant evening watching my Christmas present Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

January 2nd:

Mary and I began the morning off with a nice, leisurely bike ride along the waters of Omura Bay. This one was much better than the previous death-march-ride (does that even make sense?). Let's be enjoying pictures (original engrish [TM])...

Once to the other side of Omura (the flat, weaker half) Mary and I invested in 100 yen foot massages, browsed through Sega World (did someone say purikura?), rented a movie from Tsutaya, bought Mary a 100 yen mirror from Bulldog, frequented Jusco yet again for another round of taiko, and finally arrived at Nikubana, a Yakiniku restaurant. Let me tell you what... this place has something called Tabehoudai. That is all-you-can-eat for 90 whole minutes. There's a grill and flame in the middle of the table, and the basic premise is that you order a specific plate (beef, chicken, pork, and so forth), the waiter gets that meat/food from the chef and brings it to you, cut thinly and ready to be cooked. **Tastesanity began.** Between the two of us, Mary and I got three beef plates, two chicken plates, one vegetable plate, two different salads, kimchee, a kimchee-flavored daikon dish, strawberry sherbet, and four different kinds of cake - chocolate, tiramisu, maron, and rare cheese.

After the dinner we rolled out of the restaurant and loaded our bodies onto a forklift.

Omura explorations / take two

Welcome to the land of Tim! (In other words, I bring to you an entry by Tim - enjoy! )

---

December 29th:

To start the day Mary and I biked to her school and place of work, Jonan High School. Even though classes are out there were students at the school. What's more - they were cleaning. I promise you, you never would have caught me cleaning McNeil High School back in the day. Later on we found out that they were cleaning in preparation for New Year's celebration. In fact, it was a cleaning day for more than just the students - it was for everyone. The students just got the short end of the stick by having to clean the entire school.

Mary showed me around the school grounds (a fairly large area up on a hill). It included the main academic building, many farms and nurseries (as it is the "agricultural" high school, not the "academic" one), playing field, archery range, and gymnasiums. There were various groups of girls here and there (the school gender breakdown is 80% girls / 20% boys) cleaning. Mary went up to some and introduced me. Each time they expressed many "ooooos" and "aaaahs", which might have to do with my race (a foreigner in a very homogeneous land), my height (that's 183 cm, apparently), or just because they are teenage girls gawking over me (haha, maybe not). Especially exciting (and strange) was when we went into the gym. Apparently, my presence interrupted the practice of 30-something volleyball players, as they stopped their drills and circled around me in the corner of the room. Then, they offered me anko (a sweet bean paste in bread) and asked me some questions.

From Mary's school, the playing field, houses, and the bay beyond.

From left to right, the dirt playing field, the covered bike parking area, and the many plants grown here.

After that Mary and I took a stroll in the local Omura park. The sites included ponds and bridges as well as trees and short plants. We ascended a castle-like structure into an area that had yet another shrine. Overall, the park was a very pleasant experience.

If only the path in life was this obvious...

The cut bamboo and the lightning-bolt-shaped paper hanging from the doorway are in preparation for New Year's, which is a religious holiday (for the Shinto religion).

After a nice visit, Mary took me on this ridiculously long, death-march-like bike ride to the other side of town. Once there, we ate conveyor belt sushi. I tried one item of sushi, but the seaweed and other unidentifiable stuff in it didn't sit well with me, so refrained the rest of my meal to fried chicken and fries. There's a lot more to Japanese cuisine than sushi, most of it pretty good, but sushi is still a definite no. After lunch we went to Sega World (yes, like Sonic the Hedgehog) to play taiko drums and take purikura, an outside booth called Shu Shu to get ice cream, briefly looked at Sun Spa (an onsen), and then headed to Omura Dome for bowling and the batting cages. The first game of bowling Mary took care of business, winning 137 to 110, including a double and three spares. Mary improved to 166 the second game with four strikes (including a turkey) and two spares, but not to be outdone I scored a personal best 200, including five strikes (a turkey and a double) along with three spares. And, I barely edged her for the two-game total 310 to 303. Bowling is always fun, no matter where it is. After that, Mary and I got owned by the 90 km/h (50 mph) cages. Those animated SoftBank Hawk pitchers are outstanding!

That evening Mary and I were invited to eat at the house of Hiroshi and Mamiko. Hiroshi is the pastor of a small Christian (Protestant) congregation in Omura that Mary attends. Mamiko prepared a wonderful meal for us that included tempura (fried vegetables and shrimp), a meat and vegetable dish, tofu (which I didn't eat, haha, but Mary claims it was delicious), sweet bean bread, and green tea. During and after the meal we enjoyed delightful conversation in Japanese and English (with Mary, on occasion, again serving as a wonderful translator). Dinner was served on a traditional Japanese table (to sit at the table, you must either kneel or sit on the ground). Once the night wound down, Hiroshi kindly offered us a ride back to Mary's apartment, and thereafter we prepared the next day's trip to Nagasaki and then quickly fell asleep, exhausted.

Omura explorations / take one

Another entry by Tim, have fun!

---

December 28th:

Omura is civilization as it should be. The people live and coexist with the land. Streets and houses conform to the contours of the land, trusting the hillside instead of dominating or erasing it. Never mind that the roads are insanely dangerous with their narrowness and many blind turns; the road leaves a message for all who walk it now. Its path is memory of what once in addition to what is now. Each turn, each irregular nuance tells a story of who lived beside it and how they conducted their affairs in a time now forgotten.

Mary and I woke up and walked to Joyfull, a local restaurant. I personally enjoyed their menu: the pictures of all the food were larger than IHOP and Denny's! At this restaurant (and this seems to be true of many places to eat) the hostess seats you lets you know that you can press a button to inform the waitress that you are ready to order. The button, on the table, sounds and alerts the server - all electronically. Also, the order is written into an electronic pad as well - a lot less room for error there. I ordered an entree Mary translated as "Chicken Italian Steak", which was basically chicken with marinara sauce. It came with small portions of potatoes, corn, salad, cheese soup, and a roll. I also tried (several times) Mary's order, which was a soup of tofu, pork, and onion. She is proud of me as I continue to try new Japanese cuisine. Also, I have apparently "mastered" the chopsticks in one day, which is no small feat. Mary had a coupon for the soup bar, so I also had a Pepsi and tried an orange soda and a melon soda. The view from the table was also nice, as i from time to time gazed out of the window onto the bay and the mountains beyond.

Our journey of Omura next visited the exotic... and by that, I mean the grocery store. The biggest difference between that store and an American store was the large amount of fish on display, still wholly intact with eyes and all (yum?). But besides that, everything else was fairly typical.

Next, we went to the house of Kusumoto Masataka, a well-known and well-respected governmental official of the late nineteenth century. A friendly and knowledgeable elderly man gave Mary and I a tour of the residence for about an hour. Mary served as an excellent and proficient translator! His house consisted of two main structures, the greeting portion and the living quarters. The entrance (in the greeting portion) opens onto a genkan, an entryway where guests traditionally remove their shoes. In addition, the floor boards of the genkan in this particular house were intentionally made to be loud and squeaky so that those at home would know a visitor (either welcomed or not welcome) had arrived. The house was picture-perfect traditional Japanese architecture, from the tatami mats in the sitting rooms to the sliding paper walls/doors that create the unique interstitial spaces. In the main sitting room there were walls of delicate and intricate wooden latticework. The house was filled with official documents of the era as well as a few artifacts, such as pottery, cooking area, rice paddles, hair accessories, and clothes. In the backyard there was a small garden area with pond, stone bridge, trees, statues, and a well.

After the tour (which only cost 100 yen each, amazingly) Mary and I continued to explore Omura. First, we stumbled onto a cemetery with large gravestones littered with offerings in small pots and vases. Then, we crossed the Super Steep Street of Death to visit a small local shrine. All religious buildings are approached through a gate called a torii, which is essentially two curved beams across two posts. So far I have seen the torii made out of wood, concrete, and hollow metal, and they are in their natural hues as well as painted red. All of the shrines also have cut bamboo in preparation for the celebration of New Year's.

As the sun set the first round of shopping began. First, we went to Yamada, an electronics store. Here we enjoyed sitting in 350,000 yen massage chairs while watching 450,000 big screen, high definition Japanese TVs. For some reason, the show playing on the screens was of a computer-generated T-Rex eating a triceratops followed by a lizard eating the newly laid eggs of a sea turtle. Go figure. The store was cool (Fry's cool) except for the annoying jingle always playing over the speaker system. ...something something Yamada Denki. And, why that high-pitched girl's voice? In the words of Mary Newton, "Oh Japan..." But the rest of the store was "Sweeto!"

We also visited Daiso, the 100 yen store. (For those who don't know, the current exchange rate is about 118 yen to the dollar, so 100 yen would be about 85 cents.) There I bought the first basketful of souvenirs (which must not be revealed at the present time in case, ya know, they are gifts for certain people that could be reading this). Also, I made my first set of purikura here. Making purikura (small stickers) involves taking photos in a booth and then moving to a side booth to design and decorate the madness... I mean photo... as one sees fit. Color and insanity is a must.

Our last stop of the evening was Jusco, a "department store". I'm not convinced, though. It is large enough to be a mall, and the stores are separated (although ambiguously). We met Meg, Mary's good friend and fellow ALT, and went to dinner inside Jusco at a restaurant named Shoya. I ordered a meal that included rice, miso soup, grilled pork on a bed of cabbage, egg, and daikon/carrot (Japanese radish). Afterward Meg parted ways to prepare for her trip to Taipei and we browsed the mall/department store a little bit, going into a Spencer's-type store, an arcade, and a pet store. At the arcade Mary and I did purikura, round two, and also played the first round of the taiko drum game. At the pet store we saw a monkey, a fox, crazy dogs and birds, and a poor turtle that was surrounded by dogs.

And thus concluded the first full wonderful day of Omura and Japan!

One of the many large nurseries.

As you can tell, there are power lines everywhere. The streets are old (although the asphalt is new). They were probably laid before the implementation of underground wiring, sewage, sidewalks, and wide cars. (Although, the cars are still tiny for the most part.) There are many moats or canals alongside of the road, and most are covered. I suspect that this is how Japan (or Omura) deals with water drainage.

Spiffy mirrors at one of the many blind turns.

Stairs can be outside too.

 

Happy!

In the Land of the Rising Sun!

Tim arrived in Omura late December 26th and he will be writing a series of entries for this blog. I think it will be good to see his perspective on Japan as a first time visitor. He will be here for 2 weeks and I couldn't be happier! I hope you enjoy his writings. :)  ENJOY!

---

December 26th/27th:

I arrived at the Nagasaki airport through San Francisco and Nagoya. The journey over here was long but well worth it. First of all, I was very "smart" and only slept for two hours before waking up to depart for ABIA. The night before I went with my sister to her boyfriend's friend's boss' house to play a home game of Texas Hold 'em, something I had never done before. But, it was all good, despite the lack of sleep, as my sister walked out $40 richer and I $110.

The wait to check in inside Austin took a long while, probably because of the holiday crowd. However, I finally made it up to the front of the line and checked in. There I felt very foolish. Why? Because I wasn't checking any bags and neglected to notice the United kiosks. Oops. But regardless, wasted time standing turned into less wasted time sitting at the gate.

We arrived into San Francisco a whole hour late solely because of wind currents. Weak. Once there, I had to exit the domestic terminal and go back through security into the international terminal. Complicated, but necessary. The 11 and a half hours it took to get to Nagoya, Japan were perfectly content ones. First of all, I was quite comfortable in my window seat, especially compared to most of the other seats - the 777 has a 2-5-2 arrangement across with two isles, so I was very glad I wasn't a central seat. At times I would gaze out of the window to see the the land below. As I left San Francisco I believe I saw the Stanford campus (although it could have been Cal). Sorry Mom, I couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge from my seat. We flew over the Pacific for awhile until we
entered Alaskan airspace (and thus duty-free sales ended). The small rivers and streams flowing through the snow-covered mountains were magnificent (although "flowing" may not be the correct term this time of year, but you can't tell if it is frozen or not from 36000 feet in the air). Then, low clouds covered the earth for the remainder of the flight until I landed in Japan. Over Japan in the darkness I could see the intriguing patterns of life as cities and villages were outlined by a wide variety of lights. As I landed in Nagoya there was a picture-perfect view of the city and its lights on the horizon with a layer of silhouette mountains above and capped by a remarkable orange sky at dusk above that.

I watched 3-7/8ths worth of movies on the long flight. First I watched Talladega Nights. People had said Will Farrell and the movie were funnier than the previews led to believe. However, these people were sorely mistaken. The plot was weak. The jokes were not funny (even the ones used in the commercials). The characters were not at all charming. In short, I regret watching this one. Second I watched Invincible. This is the story of a Philadelphia native, Vince Papale, who attends open tryouts and makes the squad for the Eagles. Basically, it is a Rocky-type story in my mind, but not as good (and without the sweet montages). Then I watched Lady in the Water, which is a "bedtime story" and almost made me fall asleep with its weak and seemingly unconnected/non-continuous plotline. It is like a story that was made up off the top of someone's head and just keeps going with no clear direction. Finally I watched The Night Listener by Robin Williams. Basically, he looks deeper into a story written by a 14-year-old boy that has been sexually abused. Easily, it was the best film of the four (although Invincible might have been the most enjoyable).

Finally I arrived in Nagoya, Japan... late again. I entered semi-hectic mode as I needed to reach my new gate in a short amount of time. I exited the international terminal, which required me going through customs. At customs I was suddenly bombarded with questions. Why are you here? Where are you going? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Then I needed to find the domestic terminal, which was no small task. There was no obvious signage that told me I needed to go down the hall, find the elevator, go up a floor, enter the main area, and walk all the way down the corridor from the international area to the domestic flights. I waited for a good while again at security and, right as I tried to enter, they turned me around to check in and get my boarding pass. I already had a boarding pass that I printed off my computer from online check-in, but apparently that just wasn't good enough. After trying two check-in lines, the third finally got me the piece of paper I needed, and I went back to security and successfully passed take two. I hustled down to gate four and arrived with little time to spare. On a side note, the Nagoya airport was interesting because the many lights and ambient sounds reminded me of a casino. Ah, the marvelous post-modern world.

Finally I arrived in the Nagasaki airport. After a little searching I eventually found the beautiful Mary, strikingly dressed in all black from head to toe. We rode a taxi through Omura back to her apartment where she gave me the "grand tour". Then, the jet-lagged me, who spend all day (or was it two days?) chasing the sun around the earth got a full night's rest.

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Meg and I went around Omura today and took some shots of Santa....stopping traffic on 34, climbing into store windows, among others. I think the pictures will explain it pretty well.

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS, HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS, RIGHT DOWN SANTA CLAUS LANE!

An deflated Santa Claus right smack dab in the center of Route 34 in Omura. I think the construction workers put him up. He was lit up last night...but see what I mean when I say his bag of toys looks like a bag of trash? Doh! haha! Btw, don't you love the palm trees in the back? It was in the mid 60s today and even though not sunny, it was quite nice!

Alright, so in Japan there are no fireplaces...Santa has to get in somehow, right!? He has to climb in the window...and this one looks pretty real -- almost scary! Watch out little flower shop! Santa is trying to get in!

A close up.

Here's the best one! YES! The Colonel himself, dressed as Santa Claus! And we got to say Merry Christmas!!!! Hahahahaha! It is rumored that Kentucky was sold out of chickens for tonight. Apparently, everyone likes to eat Kentucky (as KFC is called here) because roasted and fried chicken is a very Western dish...for a western holiday! Hahahaha! Shiyes!

A close up of Colonel Sanders.

The multitude of Christmas cake at Elena. Yes, Christmas cake is all the rage. I told my students about Fruit Cake and how it is more of a joke than anything else. Ha!

Tonight I learned where all Santa's helpers come from. They grow on trees...with (plastic) apples. Wow...who knew Santa grew on trees? :D

See what I mean?

At the same place with the Santa tree. Except if I am not mistaken, I think this Santa hangs around all year long.

Meg and Wheelchair Santa. This poor Santa...his eyes were little purple squares and he looked quite pale...but at least he has a blanket to keep his legs warm!

Well friends, that's all. I hope you had fun seeing Santa in Omura! :D

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!