Fun fun

Look! Rip-off Hula-Hoops! They're called 'Poteko,' which sounds as if it was derived from 'cute potato.'
They tasted just like the English ones.


Oh, if only I could have got myself into this t-shirt.
There were plenty of t-shirts featuring characters I remember from my childhood in this store. In another nearby shop, I saw Magilla Gorilla t-shirts, but I didn't take a picture of them.

The Pirate of Konoura

Every week after my evening English class, my friend Atsuko drives me home. We then sit in her car and gossip for a while. There are several reasons for this. One; Atsuko's car is very comfortable. Two; we can look at the weirdos that come out at night. There are plenty of late night power-walkers, of course. One of my neighbours gets home at 9.30pm and then always leaves again two minutes later. Why? But the strangest sight of all has to be Mr. Yamada. He is the caretaker of the community centre where my English class is held. After he locks up, he must go home for a while and then set out on his evening stroll. Every Wednesday we see him walk past at about 10pm. With a BIRD on his shoulder. Yes, he takes his pet bird for a walk.

Last night for some I reason felt like going for a walk too. I saw Mr. Yamada by the fitness gym, squatting on the ground. He was picking his bird up off the ground and putting it back on his shoulder. Of course, I immediately thought of the Dead Norwegian Parrot. Is Mr. Yamada's parrot alive, and it for some reason hopped of his shoulder and onto the ground? If so, why doesn't it fly away? Or maybe it's a dead parrot, and the whole situation is even more bizarre that it seems at first.

Lack of thinking

I was just told that while I was at the elementary school yesterday, another foreigner came to the Jr. High, to help or watch a P.E. class or something. The people telling me said, "She was so beautifully foreign, and everyone thought 'Wow!' and kept looking at her."

Seems as if they didn't stop to think about how that makes me feel. What, I'm not beautiful enough? I'm somehow second rate? It was probably just that she was a new face while they have seen me many times before, but it was not phrased that way. Japanese people can be so thoughtless sometimes.

Akita Yaatose Matsuri

Yesterday I performed in the Akita Yaatose festival with Kafumai, the Kisakata dance team. It was our first performance with our new costumes, and our second performance of this years dance.

It was sunny yesterday and therefore hot, but it wasn't humid so it could have been a lot worse. But I did get burnt even though I was wearing sunscreen, which was unfortunate.

We only performed our dance four times, so after Sapporo the schedule felt very easy. Because we only danced four times I tried my very best and didn't hold back at all. Seems as if I should have held back a little bit because today my right knee is sore from overwork.

One problem with performing in festivals is the lack of a lunch time. Everyone ends up quickly stuffing some easy-to-eat food that was on sale nearby down their throats before heading off to dance again. The Yaatose festival area happens to be very close to Mister Donuts, so yesterday I had a very unhealthy lunch.

While walking about I saw several shops I'd like to go back and see at some time. One of them was a 'cheese and wine' shop. I wonder if it has real cheese? I also saw some cheap clothes stores I would like to examine. They had some 'Engrish' t-shirts. Usually, womens 'Engrish' t-shirts are far too small for me to fit into, and the mens ones are far too long. There is always the chance I will get lucky one day and find one that actually fits.

Quick post

Just a quick post, because I have a lot of classes today. Actually, I have had a lot of classes since this term started. No longer am I sitting in the staff room all day with nothing to do. But of course, this also explains why I no longer blog on a regular basis.

I never got to take pictures of the fog because (of course) it cleared up an hour before I left work. Just like that. There was fog during the night last night, but it burned off before I got up. The sun rises really early in the morning here. Even though it is the Summer Solstice, the sun is still setting before half past seven in the evening (and starts to get dark well before seven), yet it rises before four o'clock in the morning. Why???? Why is there no daylight savings??? I would prefer light evenings, because I am never up early enough to enjoy the morning sunlight. It is not just the lack of daylight savings: Japanese time is, I reckon, a good two hours out. The Sun doesn't really have to rise before 6 am, does it? 6-9.30 would be just right.

I went shopping in Akita City on Tuesday (I had Mon/Tues off because I worked on Sat/Sun). I bought a new wallet. It is really cool, but I bought it from a department store so it was kind of expensive. I haven't bought a new wallet for (counting, counting) about five years? So I think it is okay for me to splurge a little. I didn't buy any shoes, which is a good thing. This had less to do with my self control and more to do with Japanese summer sandals being so impractical, gaudy and hideous that I wouldn't wear them if someone paid me. I will take a picture next time I am in a shoe shop, to show you I am not exaggerating.

Got to go teach, bye.

BBQ

This weekend is the inter-school sports exchange, so I am having to turn up to work in the mornings (and do nothing). Yesterday morning I was just surfing the internet.

About 10am yesterday, a fog suddenly rolled in from the sea. We don't usually see fog here in Konoura, and if we do we only see it for a short while as it moves to join the fog that likes to sit on the hills behind the city. But the fog that rolled in (initially looking like ghost sheep) didn't leave. Very strange weather.

In the afternoon I went with Atsuko and Toshi from the evening English class to a barbeque at Atsuko's friend's house. We were initially going to go to the beach, but it was still foggy so the barbeque was held in a small garden. Apart from us, there was a group of strange guys that always hang out there, and a group of girls that Atsuko had invited because she knew one from her computer class. The girls didn't mix with the guys much. It was like watching school kids, but these people were actually adults.

Some of the guys had to leave early, and then the party moved inside. Not long after that the girls left. One guy fell asleep on the sofa, so that left five people still participating in the party. Another person had been bugging me all evening: he looked like someone but I couldn't figure out who. It came to me all of a sudden, and I burst out in the middle of another conversation with "You look like Paul McCartney!" He really did. A Japanese Paul McCartney. He was so happy I said that that he wanted to shake my hand.

Anyway 'Paul' fell asleep too, and that left Atsuko, Toshi, myself and a very sleepy host who was staying awake for our sake to participate in the party for the last hour. It wasn't as if it was late or anything; we left shortly after midnight.

This morning the fog is still hanging around. In fact, it has become much thicker. I am thinking about going to take pictures after I finish work because I am unlikely to see weather like this again while I am staying here.

The Sapporo Yosakoi Soran Matsuri

After months of practice, tens of thousands of yen and many hours of muscle aches it was finally time for me to go to Sapporo to perform in the Yosakoi Soran Matsuri. It was a trip filled with fun times and difficult times, but all in all it was an experience I would repeat again in an instant.

I am a member of two yosakoi soran teams; the Kisakata team Kafumai and Saihoku Repputai, a team from Wakkanai City at the most northern point in Hokkaido. It was Saihoku Repputai that went to Sapporo. Although the core of the team and most of the members live in Wakkanai, there are also members in Sapporo, Honjo, Nikaho (who are members of Kafumai too) and there are a few members in Yuza machi (Yamagata ken). We study the year’s dance by video in three separate groups, Wakkanai, Sapporo and Tohoku, and only join together as one team for the big festivals.

On the morning of Friday, 9th of June, the Tohoku members who were going to Sapporo met at Akita airport. There were two people from Yuza, ten from Nikaho City (mostly from Kisakata) and two people from Honjo. We flew to New Chitose Airport, took the train into Sapporo and then took another train clear out the other side of Sapporo to meet the rest of the team and to practice in a small town hall somewhere. Afterwards we all went back to Sapporo together and checked into our hotel. I ate Sapporo ramen that evening. I think I am going to have to wait until I forget the delicious taste of Sapporo ramen before I can enjoy any ramen here.

On Saturday we began our two days of performances. We all met in the hotel lobby in our costumes and makeup, received our subway passes and then set out to Oodori in the city centre. Of course it was raining in the morning when we had our most difficult performance; the Oodori parade, which is where teams perform their dance five times in a row without a rest. That was twenty minutes of strenuous exercise in the rain while wearing a costume. The person with the hardest job was the flag waving guy. That flag had to have been nearly three metres long, and when soaked in rain it must have weighed a ton. The male members of the team had to quickly wring the flag out between the third and fourth dances while moving into position for the fourth dance.

After we had finished at Oodori, we got on the subway and headed out to a suburb of Sapporo to dance twice down a narrow road. We had twenty minutes to stuff bentos down our throats and then we were on the subway again going to another area of Sapporo to dance three times in a row down a wide road. By this time the rain had stopped and the wind had picked up so our costumes dried. I received a medal from a festival staff member, apparently because I am a gaijin. The medal said ‘suki desu’(I like you) on it. Actually, a few other people in the team received medals. They were all young people too.

We headed to a stadium somewhere for our last dance of the day. Although the venue was a stadium, the performance was on the road curving around the outside of the stadium, and therefore was another parade. We were all very tired by this stage because parade dances are very hard and we had already done ten of them, but we did our best. The wind picked up some more as we went to dance which caused the skirts of our costumes to blow up around our ears. We were wearing white shorts just in case we had that problem, but they were kind of transparent so effectively all us women were showing our knickers to the audience for the duration of the dance. To tell you the truth, I was too exhausted to care at that point.

We only danced once at the stadium, brining the total of the day to eleven dances, all of them parade versions. And the day wasn’t over yet. After a quick dinner, we all went back to the city centre, many people in strange and amusing costumes, to dance simple dances with all the other teams. There were thousands of us just having a good time. It was wonderful.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny. Also, the day’s schedule was much easier than Saturday’s had been. First, we went to Sapporo JR Station to perform a stage dance. When performing on stage we only had to dance once, and we didn’t have to go anywhere so it was quite easy. Next we went to the big stage in the city centre. That was the dance that (I assume) had TV coverage within Hokkaido. Unfortunately, some people in the team made a big mistake at the end (not me though). Twenty minutes for lunch, and then we were on our way to our last parade performance; three times in a row down a narrowish street lined with coffee shops. After that there was but one more stage performance and we were done, bringing the total of the day to six dances, and the total of the weekend seventeen dances, fourteen of which were parades.

That evening we had an enkai. Everyone let loose and had a good time, but it didn’t last long because the Wakkanai people had to catch their charter bus back to Wakkanai at ten o’clock. It was very sad to say good bye to everyone, as we may not meet again for a whole year. We made a bit of a scene on the side of the road, with cheers and tears and all that. Afterwards, the Tohoku and Sapporo people went out to find a place to have a second party.

We left the hotel late on Monday morning, did a bit of shopping at the station, and then caught a train out to New Chitose Airport. Some of the Sapporo people came to see us off. I can’t believe how many souvenirs some people bought at the airport. Some people spent tens of thousands of yen and had to buy suitcase-sized transport bags with wheels to get it all back to Akita. Who were they giving it all to?

We caught our flight back to Akita and then I got home at eight in the evening. I found myself wishing ‘If only I had talked to that person more,’ and ‘If only Wakkanai wasn’t so far away, I’d want to be friends with that person.’ That was hard, and I am still feeling that as I write this. I am also sad that, since I will be going into my third year on JET soon, I may only meet those people one more time. Even so, I had an excellent time.

O_o

While researching material for next weeks English conversation class, I came accross this:

These Horoscopes are for Thursday 05/32/2006

(Hit refresh or reload if the date is wrong.)

Since when has there been 32 days in May? I hit the reload button, but it didn't help any.