Tyler takes on Japan

A thought on the costs of global warming

2008-04-23T03:43:00.003-07:00

Today I opened up the paper as I usually do every morning and began reading an opinion article by Washington Post writer Steven Mufson entitled “Is This Green Enough? We Can Clean Up Our Act, But It’ll Cost Us.” The first line of it, for some reason at present unknown to me, made me think of a couple things.

He writes, “How much are we willing to spend to save the planet? And just how much does saving a planet cost these days anyways?”

Now, the first line of this sentence is what threw me off. He is basically asking the question: What is the value of Earth?

Well we all know that the environmental challenge has been going around in circles for the last 15 years and very little has been done. Many countries have failed to meet Kyoto Protocol standards with a number of them increasing their gross greenhouse gas outputs.

So how much will it cost to save our planet? Well according to the Environmental Defense Fund, the figure is STARKLY less than you probably would think. According to them, the annual median projected impact on annual growth if the “greener” path was chosen would be three-hundredths of a percentage point, meaning GDP in 2030 would reach $23 trillion in April, instead of January. This amounts to hardly anything for the worlds largest economy which continues to refuse international treaties on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

Sure in the short term it’s going to be expensive but think of the spin off industries that can be developed by this. Smart, forward thinking companies should be investing in subsidiaries that can specialize in green technology so that the vertical integration that has become the business plan of so many companies can begin to integrate the technology of these new companies into their own development.

The problem with asking “how much” is knowing that if we don’t make these investments now, or at maximum in the next 10-15 years, we are going to be sending our planet down a perilous course that we are unsure we’ll be able to fix. Sure it’s going to cost a lot of money, but in the long run, it’s going to be necessary.

These companies that today hark at the thought of investing a couple hundred million in upgrading their facilities to improve environmental efficiency will have no one to sell their products to in 100 years if things are changed quickly.

Industry and government need to stop looking at the short term bottom line and instead look at whether they will be able to continue growing over the next century with the environmental and societal impacts that global climate change is having, and will continue to have on our planet.

love

2008-04-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

someone loves me... yes, as hard as it is to believe, it's true.... that person also happens to be my board of education superintendent as he told me SEVERAL times tonight at the new teachers welcome party! ahhh good times when you're loved by the big boss man :D

haha you've gotta appreciate a drunk japanese man/senior! they're just too funny. anyone who has met him is sure to know exactly how he sounded as he said it! haha

meetings

2008-04-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

today there was a meeting with all the schools in bandai to decide on observation class dates and stuff for the next year. the meeting i was a part of was small, about 8 people, and made me realise how much i miss going to meetings at my job and being an active contributer.

bouncing ideas off each other, discussing ways to improve and problems that exist are some of my favorite parts about working... i cant wait to be in a job where i can do lots of this :D soon, very soon... maybe parliament hill :)

april 14, 2008

2008-04-14T05:06:00.000-07:00

the last couple weeks have been some of the most difficult for me since coming here. i was tired of japanese custom and tradition, job satisfaction was at an all time low, i miss my loved ones in canada and the loneliness that is the japanese countryside was getting to me. i seriously considered leaving and even applied for jobs back in canada. the last couple weeks have seen a profound improvement though.

normally drab and ugly japan has been decorated with cherry blossoms in a way i have never seen before. although i had a slightly cynical obsession with them early on, i feel i now appreciate their beauty much more and am excited for this weekend when they will finally bloom in aizu (cherry blossom season is planned here with frightening accuracy!!).

school was really starting to get on my nerves. after two weeks off for spring break i was back to the routine, and what a routine it is. schools here are absolutely obsessed with ceremony. a ceremony in japan is not like a ceremony anywhere else simply because of the rigid formalities the students, teachers, parents and spectators must endure. bow, sing, introduction, speech, introduction, bow, sing, bow, sit, stand, bow, repeat... ive had enough!!! as a foreigner not properly introduced to this and having no idea what's going on most of the time i found these to be incredibly draining. it seems like ceremony season has ended for a little while now so that huge aspect of my dissatisfaction is over!

today was also the first time i have been the central topic of discussion at school lunch since my arrival. most of the time while we're eating lunch i sit there in silence while everyone else converses in japanese and i have no idea whats going on. but today, with the help of my vice-principal (who is quite worldly, even living in thailand) and tomoko sensei (who learnt english at a private school as an adult and is quite good at it) all that changed. we had hamburgers and everyone became quite interested in what i and other canadians eat! it's always really funny when you tell them that you eat cereal or toast for breakfast since a typical japanese breakfast is filled with rice, miso soup and other hot dishes! it was really nice to be included and for the other teachers who dont speak english to communicate with me with all the english they know and even laugh at my jokes!

japan is a place of extreme highs and lows and you just roll with the punches and move along. i'm glad to have such good friends here and such supportive people back home. thanks everyone :)

Umm that's my internet cable

2008-04-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

When the new school year starts everyone seems to move desks... Before I sat next to one of my English teachers, Nozomi, and she couldn't use the internet on her comp so I had it all the time. I went into school yesterday and noticed that the teacher that now sits next to me has already taken my internet connection! THIS IS THE WORST NEWS EVER!! How am I going to pass my hours of boredom now? I am hoping to god they get a new connection set up when I'm there on Monday!! :-S

Sorry, it's been a while!

2008-04-01T04:33:00.001-07:00

Well I dont think that I've written here in about 5 months so I figured I'd try to maintain it a bit better for the rest of my 4 months here.

First off, my winter was amazing. December - March were my favorites months since I'd been to Japan.

1) Went to Thailand and Cambodia for Christmas holidays. The beaches and history were amazing, so it was really awesome to see... especially with the group of people I was with!

2) I finally got to ski regularly again! Having lived in S. Ontario for the past 4 years I wasnt able to get out much... Living here, 10 minutes from my door to the ski hill, made me go usually 4 times a week! It was awesome... I'll miss ALTS!

3) Phil came over to Japan and we had an incredible time together. Traveled most of Japan, and saw most of the major Japanese sites from Hiroshima to Kyoto/Osaka and then up north to Aizu and Bandai. It was really awesome having him here... cant wait to do it again!!

4) Went to China for 5 days over a Japanese long weekend! It was SOOOO good! Check out the video on Facebook to better understand ;)

5) Amy was in Japan and took 2 days out of her schedule to come up and visit! It was awesome to be able to show her Aizu!

So that's what I've done.

At this point I'm over Japan and would really like to move on. I dont really like the job... it's boring and a lot of the time I feel completely useless just sitting there in a staff room not knowing what's going on. I started reading The Global Me the other day and it talks about problems with homogeneous populations taking Japan as a case study arguing that their aversion to immigration has impacted their global competitiveness. I find this becoming more obvious the longer I'm here and its making me disenfranchised with Japan.

Well that's my rant for now.. I'll write on here more often... promise! ;)

Driving

2007-11-17T17:41:00.001-08:00

Yesterday a couple of us went to Nikko - a historic site about 120 KM from Aizu Wakamatsu. I thought it would be a good idea to drive (and it was) but you will never guess how long the 120 KM trip took us. In Canada, it would probably take about 1 hour to drive this distance - maybe 1.15 hours. In Japan it took us over three hours! INSANITY!

This happens for a couple reasons
1) The roads are TWISTY and TURNY as you make your way through the mountains
2) The roads are ALL one lane, so passing someone is hard
3) There are no lights on the roads
4) The Japanese LOVE to drive slow

Oh well, it was a fun road trip!

It's beginning to look a lot like ski season!

2007-11-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

This morning I got a phone call from Beth telling me it was snowing on Mt Bandai and sure enough it was!!! Cant wait to start skiing.... You better believe I'm gonna be making up for lost time while in Southern Ontario.

Uhh - You got that?

2007-11-15T04:06:00.000-08:00

Every Thursday night I have adult conversation class from 7-815. My students in this class are mostly women (there is one guy) aged from 14~60. They are a pretty wild bunch and Im starting to get the impression they come because they 1. want to learn english, or 2. find me entertaining for an hour!

Tonight we were talking about sports so I asked the question, "What is your favorite Olympic sport?" The first girl answered swimming, and the second girl followed by saying "Oh me too, I love Ian Thorpe."

Ian Thorpe is a famous Australian swimmer well known for his enormous feet so I said, "Oh, you know he has size 15 feet (not sure if this is the actual size, but who cares)" and they were all like WHOAAA! Then I randomly say "You know what they say about guys with big feet...?" All the women were kinda staring not knowing what I just said, and then I'm like "oh it's an English joke" and they all BURSTTTTTT out laughing! I have never seen them laugh so hard! I'm still confused as to whether they understood the joke (big feet = big socks ;) haha NOT!) or were just overcompensating and pretending to understand!

Haircuto, kudasai

2007-11-14T05:20:00.000-08:00

Today I got my second haircut in Japan and it was another interesting experience.

First, there was no cashier. You just walked in, put your money in (1ooo Y) what is essentially a vending machine and out pops your ticket - talk about efficiency!

The haircut turned out better than the last one, but I did miss getting my entire face shaved like last time (the woman straight edge shaved my beard, my eyebrows, my forehead, my ears, and my nose)! The added bonus to this place was getting your head vacuumed afterwards! I can honestly say that my hair has never been vacuumed, but it was interesting and there were no small left over hairs! Uncle and auntie, you should look into this!!

Taiko

2007-11-01T07:24:00.001-07:00

Tonight a bunch of the Aizu people went to Koriyama to check out a show put on by this famous taiko group called Kodo.

Taiko is essentially drumming but in very rhythmic patterns and very precisely! It looks INCREDIBLY hard, and from mine and Beth's abysmal performace on Taiko Master (an arcade game) I can say without doubt it probably is!

Check out this vid from their performance in Toronto. The show went on pretty much non stop for 1h40mins

Tokyo

2007-10-30T07:11:00.001-07:00

As you have probably seen on facebook, last weekend I went to Tokyo by myself and had an amazing time! The trip was full of randomness and a lot of me not knowing what the hell was going on, but luckily my infectious smile spread throughout Tokyo and they all loved me (or so I will like to think!! Why I will think this I do not know, since the most interaction I had with anyone was in stores where they basically asked me if i needed help, to which i stood blankly until they went away JK!).

Anyways, I boarded the Sakura bus (about 20$ to Tokyo) in Aizu Wakamatsu at 845 Saturday morning after a full out sprint to the train station in Bandai thinking I was going to be late but made it there with a bunch of time to spare. I saw a couple of my students at the station and was a little embarrassed by my winded state! Well from this point until arriving to Tokyo was extremely uneventful. I sat next to some old woman who might have been mute/deaf/or something else because sometimes she would talk, sometimes she would grunt and sometimes she would flail while talking to the woman across the aisle who I assume may have been her daughter... A rather uneventful time, until you start climbing the multi story highways, and start to feel slightly overwhelmed by the megalopolis that you know is right around the corner.

Getting off the bus, I realised it was raining but figured it was nothing for my trusty rain coat couldn't handle and headed down to the underground to Tokyo station to catch a subway to my hotel. Still no problems! Can you believe it! I got to my station in Shinjuku and exited only to realise it was no longer raining, but was TYPHOONING right over my head! I'm pretty sure my "waterproof" jacket was designed for rain, and not typhoons, so I got a little bit wet while walking well past my hotel, only to realise it was 6 streets back... oh well, the rain was - er - refreshing?

Got to the hotel finally and found out that check in wasn't until 4 PM, and they strictly followed this rule so they sent me out, into the typhoon, to fend for myself! Ahh well, with my trusty rain coat, 3 umbrellas (2 of them were a sacrifice to the typhoon) and my phrase book I was off to pound the streets of Tokyo in search of whatever the city has to offer (and it has everything). Something weird I noticed while in the typhoon is that every time you enter a store you have to put your umbrella in a bag, and then proceed to throw it out once you leave the store! Very wasteful if you ask me. The rain was really discouraging, and I found myself really not in the mood for anything other than chilling in my hotel room, watching shows I had downloaded... So after my dinner at WENDYS (God best hamburger I have had in 3 months) I headed back to the room and chilled.

The typhoon finally cleared up a bit for the night time, so I headed out again to see Tokyo at night. It is a completely different place at night than in the day. There are BRIGHT light, crowded, drunken streets, hostess bars, all you can drink bars, and lights! (I mentioned it twice on purpose because there are so freakin many!) Stayed out for a bit and then came back, gave a drunk dial and headed to bed.

One thing I noticed while walking around the streets is the cars in Tokyo are quite different than up here in Aizu! In Aizu you see plenty of very small cars and hatchbacks while in Tokyo you see Mercedes, BMW 7-series, Maybachs, and other luxury cars! A very different driving atmosphere than up here!

Sunday was my day to do some sight seeing and shopping. I woke up pretty early and took the subway over to Asakusa, Tokyo's oldest and biggest shrine. The street leading up to it is FULL of tourist shops that were all busy, making me think that the Japanese are the world's favorite tourists! I then looked around the area since it was only 12 PM and found a pretty nice park along the river, right across from the giant sperm! :p

After that I headed to the Imperial Palace. It's kinda a cool place, but everything is behind a giant brick wall so you can only see the giant gates inside. It is open 2 days a year - the emperor's bday and new years day but both times I will be out of the country :( There was also a really huge park right in front of the palace, but it was PURELY for looking at and had a barrier the whole way around it!

Well the rest of the day involved walking around Harajuku and Shibuya looking for some stuff to buy. Frankly, I was overwhelmed with it all and only managed to buy 2 tshirts, which are going to be way too small for us! Meh, they're still cool and can make good decoration or something.

So to summarize, Tokyo is awesome! I loved it, and cant wait to go back soon! My next trip will be to Osaka at the end of November for a long overdue reunion with Amy Baker and the rest of the Toronto Jets. I'm very excited about that!

A decent post... I hope

2007-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I know it's been a while since I wrote something interesting on here, but not too many random/crazy things have been happening in this neck of the woods lately... One thing that has happened, was the crazy halloween party in Wakamatsu last weekend. It was probably in the top 5 of best halloween parties I have ever been to! Everyone was in such awesome costumes and DRRRUNK! It was a 6 hour namihodai (all you can drink -- and this all you can drink including shots, beer, mixed drinks, anything you could want) for only 1500 Yen.. thats about 10$! Yea, crazy, I know! This is one of the best things about Japan though, especially if youre in a group because you can get a set price, everyone pays in, and drinks as much as they want. Its a pretty awesome system if you ask me! So for the party we went as the teenage mutant ninja turtles, which I thought was pretty cool!

What else has happened... Well not much in the way of exciting activities, but school is progressing nicely. I usually dont have very many classes (avg about 10/week of 50 minute classes) which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It has been good lately because I have been prepping applications for grad schools and it has given me the time to concentrate on my statement's of interest and finding schools that will be good for what I'm interested in. This no class business is bad, because it gives me SO much free time! I have become rediculously good at Gold Miner (props to Cara for the introduction) and am excited to go back on Tuesday and play some SCRABULOUS on facebook (if you dont have it add the app and play with me!!).

I have definitely developed some favoritism in class... I dont know how teachers can say they dont have favorites, when it is insanely hard to like all students the same! The first and third graders in my school are hilarious! The first graders are so excited to learn and actually talk to me even though they dont know what theyre saying... This one kid, Daichi, has learned some new words and they have quickly become popular in the male first graders... these exciting new words are "sexperience", "penis", "sex", "hijack, or high jock (not too sure what theyre saying and neither are they)" and "American jock (?????)." How they come up with this stuff, I may never know, but it's pretty funny when they come up to you and ask do you have a high jack/jock? I'm like a WHAT? But theyre fun, I do daily cleaning with them so we've got a pretty good relationship!

Last weekend was also the school festival at Bandai chugaco (middle school)! At 7:30 AM I hauled my hung over ass out of Amber's place and headed back to Bandai with a massive hangover.... I was running a bit late so I had a quick shower and something to eat and headed to school expecting to be greeted by a carnival like atmosphere... What did I get? No commotion outside, and nothing going on inside... So i'm like, where is everyone, whats going on? Then one of the teachers comes in and is like Tyler-sensei, good! Come. I followed her into the gym where I was just in time for a very exciting part of Japanese culture... THE SPEECH. Ohhhh the speech. The speeches always last way too long and are so freakin boring partly because I dont understand and partly because everyone else looks bored out of their minds! So these speeches lasted a whopping THREE hours... in which time my head was throbbing, i passed out for about 10 minutes, and some inspirational speaker asked the entire school what their dream was... TOTALLY unnecessary...

Then it was lunch time and since I hadnt preordered a lunch, I went home for about 45 minutes to eat something and chill... When I headed back it was time for classroom exhibitions where each class had set something different up... It was cool for about 30 minutes, but lasted for TWO FREAKIN HOURS! arrrghh... this was followed by a pretty entertaining talent/air band show which was cool to see bc the kids were out of their school shells.

The day ended outside in the COLD and drizzle with the announcing of prizes and picutres (i swear I probably look like a demon in them because by this point i REALLLLLY wanted to get outta there). One of the funniest things was after the prizes were announced all the third graders were bursting into tears one after another. One of them would look at the other and then start bawling, then someone else would notice and start crying too - GUYS EVEN! My Japanese English Teacher explained that its because they are overwhelmed with their accomplishment and proud of what they've done... So it was pretty funny/cute to see...

Anyways, I'm off to Tokyo alone tomorrow, so this should be interesting... Tyler, the guy who stil speaks no Japanese, off to the BIGGGGG city by himself... Wish me luck and email my phone if you like!! :)

FB.A

2007-10-23T05:49:00.001-07:00

Japan has made me crazy addicted... to facebook. I dont know if I should be ashamed of it... do you think that is a sign of addiction?? Maybe.

I dont know whether its the boredom at work, my interest in other people's lives or an uncontrollable desire, but facebook is always there, and open it seems.

I see notifications faster on facebook than I do in my gmail, which is also open 24/7, because I refresh my mini feed so often!

Maybe I shouldnt be telling you this... haha, you will all think I am some crazy creeper!

Anyways, the real reason for this post (which I'm also going to put on our rad forums page - www.fujet.net) is I'm wondering how you creep on Facebook. What do you check first? What is your creeping order? What inspires you to post? Lemme know!

I OBVIOUSLY check out notifications first.. then go on to mini-feed... then the 3 status updates on my homepage... then my wall... then who's online... then status updates... then who knows! Random I know, but if Japan has REALLY given me one thing, its the time to check facebook!

Haha, peace!

The canyoning documentary

2007-10-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

Thank you Brian Adler!!

A little rant on Japan

2007-10-14T06:07:00.001-07:00

Camping in luxury

2007-10-14T05:59:00.001-07:00

This weekend I went camping for my friend Vicky's birthday at URRRRRRRRABANDAI and it was really cool. We got smashed, we got in trouble, and we got some pukage in the morning (an awesome sound to wake up to).

This was, however, not typical camping... we were in the luxury of a TRAILER! it was so sweet... i dont think I could count how many times someone said "I'd rather this caravan (ya, thats what they call it in England -- wtf???) than my house!" Whenever I hear these things I think about how lucky I was to score my brand new house!!!

In our highly intoxicated states we managed to have conversations about British politics, accents, the princes, the typical non-British question of "Did you know the prince?!", and a bunch of other stuff... when i say highly intoxicated i mean VERY VERY haha! We drank so much, and such a variety... no wonder we were climbing the trailer and having our own private party on the roof... not so good for the neighbors who came aknockin at around 1 AM (Clearly after I had passed out, thus no recollection of these events).

Anyways, I didnt take very many good pics, so I'll wait for Grant Vicky and Alexa to post theirs!

Another good weekend in Japan... looking forward to Tokyo (by myself it seems :( at the end of the month

It's beginning to get cold :(

2007-10-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

It's beginning to get very cold in Japan and that means winter is coming! I am really excited for winter since I live 10 minutes from one of the biggest ski resorts in Fukushima-ken, ALTS Bandai (google it), I will be traveling to Thailand in December and I will be getting a visitor from Canada in February (wOOOOOOOOOOOt!). So all in all, winter looks to be shaping up to something awesome. The thing that WONT be awesome, is living in Japan during the winter. The houses here have NO insulation so it basically feels the same inside as it does outside. I was talking to my neighbor Arthur about this yesterday and asking him what I can expect to pay for heating. He smirked at me and said, I pay about 3man a month for kerosene (how we heat the house). 3 man = about 300$.... A MONTH!!!! I personally think that's insane. Apparently my pred lived in his bedroom for the entire winter, and Im starting to think that isnt such a bad idea... Im currently lying in bed and my fingers are freezing from typing!!! Oh well, I guess all that body hair will finally pay off for something hahahaha :p.

This weekend I'm going camping at Lake Hibara for Vicky's bday. Thankfully we're staying in a cabin, which should mean a little more heat, I hope! I'm not too sure who will be going, but I think it will be fun!

Also, last weekend we went canyoning (www.canyons.jp) and it was a crazy time! It was about 20 degrees out so the water was pretty cold. We had 4 layers of wet suit so we were all able to stay relatively warm.... well at least I thought so, most others didnt :)! It was crazy sliding down 20 m waterfalls, getting banged up, jumping off smaller waterfalls and going down streams... a lot of fun!!! That day was followed by a full moon party where Beth and I just went crazy on energy drinks and vodka! She ended up loosing her scarf and shirt near the end of the night and then went on a mission to find it again... it was pretty funny watching her be sooooo determined to find these things! In the end, she found her shirt and her scarf is being mailed to her (in Japan they NEVER steal, its awesome!).

Some funny things from school this week. Apparently some kids learned some new words and were trying to practice them! They came up to me and said "do you like p/tennis?" I was like "ohh yea, I do like tennis!" They then repeated do you like PENnis? I was like urgh youre bad! haha. Then they said "this has been a great sexperience" and continued it through the rest of the week! Where do they learn these words!? ahaha so random.

Well this was a long, incoherent at times post, but its cold. Im going to put my hands back under the covers and try to finish the Bourne Ultimatum which I was watching until I passed out last night.

61 days in this strange strange land!

2007-10-04T05:37:00.000-07:00

As of today, the group B Jet's (the one's that arrived on Aug 5) have been in Japan for 61 days. Its strange to think that I have been in a country where I have pretty much no idea what's going on most of the time and have not run into any troubles. Hell, last night I dreamed of going through a red light in KINGSTON! Not Aizu Wakamatsu, not Bandai Machi, but freaking KINGSTON! Sure there are the inherent language differences, IE: i have absolutely no idea what you're saying and you have no idea what I am saying, but I think that people with the right personality are able to get by. You laugh, you smile, you gesture and you TRY to use all the words you know. It works, surprisingly.

On Tuesday night a lost in translation moment happened for the Three Musketeers (me, beth and katie). We went out to our favorite restaurant (i have no idea what its called) where they make katsu. Katsu is the most oiishi thing in Japan... I love it. I could eat it EVERY day (we usually go there once a week).... not to mention the unlimited rice and cabbage you get with it! mmmm mmmm good! So beth decided that she could not finish her meal and wanted it to go... so i pushed the button on the table to call the waitress over and beth says in some weird low-accented voice "tuu go"... the waitress looks at her like she has 3 heads. Then our Japanese master, Katie tries to think of how its said in Japanese and is sitting there "uh, um, uhhh, mmmm" and the waitress STILL has no idea what we're trying to get at. Then I pop in. Tyler, the person who still BARELY knows how to say it's a nice day today says "take out...o". No accent, no change in tone, no change in voice. Simply take out...o. The waitress goes crazy "OHHHHHH HI HI HI HI HI HI!!!" (Hi=yes) so luckily, we got that sorted out, beth got her stuff to go, and we left.

So what have i learned in 61 days in Japan?
- it's true, Jets really don't do a hell of a lot... i have between 4-10 classes a week, which i have to do all of 30 minutes of planning for...from time to time its boring, but i think we do play a useful role in internationalizing the Japanese. coming from Canada, i sometimes find it SO strange to look around and only see one race. anyone not Japanese stands out like a sore thumb, so even if we aren't in the class room as much as we'd like, we are still playing an important role in showing students, teachers and community members that other people exist outside of the television.
- First graders (grade 7) ROCK. Second graders (grade 8) SUCK (i nearly lost it on one class the other day... that would've been funny). Third graders (grade 9) are smart... it is very competitive to get into high school, so third graders are required to get very good marks so they can get into the schools
- driving on the left hand side is a novelty... for the first week. it's so normal now. i think when i get back to Canada its gonna be like WHOAAAA you drive on the right hand side here?!!
- the japanese know how to do ice cream! THE.BEST.ICE.CREAM(softu creamu).I.HAVE.EVER.HAD.PERIOD. and the flavours! you could have a different softu creamu every day and never get bored! personal addictions --> coolish (ice cream in a bag) and papriko (iced cappuccino flavoured stuff in a tube). if you're in japan and haven't tried it, what the hell are you waiting for!?
- environmentalism is a myth. i think people in Canada and elsewhere think japan is this oh so environmentally friendly country. sure they have smaller cars, but they drive EVERYWHERE! they wrap everything in at least TWO bags! they BURN everything (no room for landfills)... and they are the worlds largest importer of wood because they throw out 130,000,000 pairs of chop sticks A DAY! sure they do a lot in regards to recycling, but i think its out of necessity, rather than want.
- Japanese politics is wack.
- smiling helps a lot
- I "am similar to" Tom Cruise
- some things change back home over night
- I do not see Amy Baker enough
- the internet is your best friend. thank GOD for MSN/SKYPE/Facebook/Bittorrents/webcams ;)/online news
- getting things in the mail is the HIGHLIGHT of my day/week/month! so far only two people have sent me things. one of them was my mother so that doesn't really count... thanks to Phil for keeping my mailbox full from time to time...PLEASE mail me if you really love me :(
- alcohol in japan is CHEAP. a 60 of Canadian club... about 18$
- they really do pronounce r's as l's and vice versa
- Japan is not as beautiful as i thought it would be... earthquakes, wars and economic bubbles have paid a price on some of cities, especially in the north (but the landscape is awesome)
- Japan is big! It's not as small as it looks on the map..
- kindergarten is probably the best moment of my week! every Friday i mosey on over to the kindergartens and just throw them around for 3 hours then get the rest of the day off. its amazing how rough you can be with them, and how much they love it!

You probably stopped reading this entry about half way up this page, so I will stop for now. Thanks to Nikki and others who read my blog and consider it boring compared to amys. WELL IM SORRY! my life is just not as interesting as hers! ;) And thanks to those, who read it with interest! Domo arigato gozaimasu. In the end, I think this is a good experience so far.

Live Free or Die Hard

2007-09-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched Live Free or Die Hard and it was really good! You should download it.

It's basically about cyber terrorism and makes you wonder if what happens in the movie could actually happen! Kinda freaky if it could.

Anyways, check it out.

Also, check out 1408... I saw that in the theatres in July and it is probably one of the best horror/suspense movies I have ever seen (or didn't see because my eyes were closed half of it!). It's soooo trippy so prepare yourself.

One last thing - if you're not already addicted to LOST, please get into it. You wont be disappointed.

It's hard to keep up with the Japanes

2007-09-27T04:35:00.001-07:00

It's 8:35 PM and I just got home from my adult conversation class. It went pretty well considering there was no translator there (a woman named Mari who attends the class has good enough English that she can translate for me) and I speak no Japanese. So I basically relied on one of my students who attends the class to read my Japanese phrasebook (thanks Phil, most useful thing EVER) and translate what I was trying to say into Japanese.

~BUT~

To put this in perspective, I left my junior high school at 5:20 PM, 5 minutes later than usual (I was writing my Carleton statement of interest) and chilled at home until about 6:55 PM. I then went to my adult class for 1 hour and 15 mins, so until 8:15. I rushed out of class to prepare for a phone call to a former prof and went to the lobby of the BOE. Who do I run into?? like 10 of my students!! I look at them and I say "what the hell are you guys still doing here!? Arent you sleepy!?!??!" Theyre like "yes, oh, very sleepy". So I'm thinking... GO HOME!

I then proceeded to walk through my school yard home (since its the fastest way) and notice there are no less than SIX cars still there. My school only has like 12 teachers, so that means HALF the teachers were still there at 8:30!!! This kind of work ethic completely boggles my mind. I always tell my Japanese English teachers that teachers in Canada watch the clock count down, stay 15 minutes after the final bell then get the heck out of there! They get a good laugh at it.

Well to summarize, Japanese people work their asses off, especially the teachers. Teachers can not get enough respect in this country for the crazyness they go through! Most of them are there before I wake up at 7 AM and most stay past 7 PM.. 12 hour days.... EVERY DAY (including Saturday and Sunday...) They also have to lead a certain club, so there are additional responsibilities everyday they must attend to.

Side note - Tomorrow is my enkai (welcome party) with my school! I asked Mr Takagi today (one of my JTE's) if everyone would be drinking and he laughed at me and said YES! So you know what I'm gonna whip out? A little flip cup action! Yes that's right my fellow Canadians... flip cup is about to enter a completely Japanese realm. I hope they love it as much as we do.

John Tory tries to speak French, por favor!

2007-09-24T21:30:00.001-07:00

Can this guy (John Tory, leader of the Ontario PCs) really lead a province where he would represent a Franco Ontarian population of 485,000!? HELL NO!

This is probably the most pathetic attempt at French I've ever seen! Who even knows what he says before he lets the por favor go!?

Shameless Plug

2007-09-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

In an effort to get more mail that isn't bills, I will offer up my address in hopes you will mail me something!!!

So here it goes:

Tyler Andrews
Michiwaridou, 260-2-A
Bandai Machi, Yama Gun
Fukushima-ken
969-3301
JAPAN

Send me something!

Post University

2007-09-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

So it seems that I developed quite an interesting group of friends while at university (if I even needed to say that).

The reason I bring it up is because I'm posting links on the side bar to some people's blogs who have also gone overseas.

Amy's is already there, and she is in Japan.

Rodney is doing a similar thing as me, in South Korea.

And Gill is doing something absolutely amazing in GHANA, Africa!!! Amazing

So, if you're interested, check out what other parts of the world are like from the Mac grad's perspective.

Enjoy, and gonbate kudasai (good luck) to those who are living abroad now.

The land of my name

2007-09-19T06:15:00.001-07:00

Yes, it is true. I will be venturing to the land that has borrowed my great name... THAILAND THAT IS! (get it, Ty - Thai? eh eh ;)) I booked my tickets today and just need to run up to 7/11 (that was not a misread, I said 7/11 aka the convenience store - they seriously are convenient here) to pay for it now! The flight will be around 575-600$ CDN round trip so it is damn cheap.

I will be flying out of Tokyo on Dec 20, at 5:30 PM and coming back from Bangkok on Jan 2 at 11:55 PM. I'll be going with my traveling partner extraordinaire, Ms Amy Baker, and some of our friends. We are planning on doing 2 full moon parties (google it to find out some more) which should be amazing! Thats where I'll be spending my Christmas Eve/Day... IN PHUKET (I'm gonna miss you loved ones, but needless to say, some of you will be on my mind :))! I'm a little nervous since this is where the tsunami was a couple years ago, but what are the chances eh?

I have already been looking at flights to Phuket/Cambodia (we will see Angor Wat) and stuff there is DIRT cheap. TO fly round trip from Bangkok to Phuket will cost us a whopping 50$ haha! its awesome.

Just thought I'd up date you on this exciting info! More to come as the plans are set into place!

Its true what they say... they really do write funny shit!

2007-09-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple examples of things kids wrote in their notebooks:

- "Fire is used carefully, so we played very excited." (talking about playing with fireworks)

- "My hunger was filled by the foods."

- "A pre emptive attack carries out by two points, and it doesn't move there." (A huh!?!?! pre emptive attack!? kid watches too much GI Joe i think! to give context, he was talking about a basketball game "comeback")

"The Process" gets thrown off

2007-09-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

So, if you've been reading this blog regularly, you would have noticed me talking about the Process... EVERYTHING in Japan has a process, and you seriously dont fuck with it. You follow it, and if you step out of line then all hell breaks loose, some people might commit suicide, look at you like you have 3 heads or take their sweet ass time doing whatever you need.

SOOOOOOOO Today... OH MAN the process was out of WACK! So, I was sitting in the teacher's office doing my thing (which is usually creeping on facebook, practice makes perfect, you wanna know what's up in your life? ask me! ahahah jk) when this guy Kouhe runs in and starts spitting out words in VERY fast Japanese. Obviously something is up bc of the looks on people's faces and the "EHHHHHH, HUH, WAAAAAAAAAA" that are flying around the room (youd only get that last " " if you have heard Japanese people speak..."). THEN, all the teachers frantically run out of the room... So i'm like what the hell?! EARTHQUAKE!!!!!! To my dismay, there was no earthquake, but instead, a fight!

Apparently this one guy, Hirotome, was picking on this other guy, Yuu, because of his name... Yuu had enough and started to fight back, and when he realised he was the smaller of the two, grabbed has sculpting knife and slashed Hiro! hahah, the guy had to go to the hospital and get stitches in his shoulder!!! (he prolly deserved it, making fun of kids is no good!

So needless to say, in a pacifist country like Japan, everyone was up in arms with their heads cut off! OH NO, poor hirotome's arm has a slight wound to it! lets all freak out! hahaha it was so funny. and the process got really wacked out for lunch... So lunch here works on a rationing basis with everyone getting a certain portion. usually 6-8 people eat lunch in the teachers room, but today only 4 showed up... presumably the others had to deal with this incident. So people kept coming and going with trays of food, looking all confused who should get what! it was way funnier in life, and i thought it would turn out funny on a post... but its just too complicated to say.

Anyways, we ended up having an afternoon full of assemblies and meetings to try to figure out what happened and talk to the kids about being bad! all in all, an exciting day in BM

Bilingualism

2007-09-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

I think being bilingual is one of the most enduring characteristics one can have. Phil is bilingual, Alex is bilingual, Sarah, Gemma, and Monic are all bilingual. Moe is fluently trilingual. Yet so many people actively reject the notion of bilingualism both in school and later on as adults. Its so hard to get people to want to learn another language, especially when its forced upon them. I saw it in Canada, and I see it in Japan.

Thats one of the reasons I think that JET is a good program. We are in the class to motivate students to want to learn English, make it fun, and take away some of the more serious aspects of education. If you're having fun, then you are more likely to learn, right? Well at least I think so.

That's why I think JET is a very unique policy instrument. Having natural language speakers come into local classrooms provides an awesome degree of internationalisation and exposure to cultures you're trying to learn about. For example, tomorrow I will be talking about the differences between Japanese and Canadian houses. Do I know all the differences? Hell no! But at least I can give the students my POV about what some of the more noticeable differences are (on a side note, the kids were absolutely flabbergasted that I had a pool in my backyard and two bathrooms in my house).

This is why I think Canada should also initiate some sort of exchange between English and French speaking Canada. For communities outside the larger cities, it has GOT to be difficult to attract qualified French/English teachers, yet students are still educated in that language. Is education in a second language even useful if the teacher teaching it isn't qualified, doesnt know how actual communication takes place or can only speak very basic French or English? By providing a 6 month or year long exchange between French speakers to English Canada, and vice versa, I think we would be able to greatly increase national unity and a common understand between our great cultures. Pay the teachers well, to attract them. Give them subsidized yet nice housing. Give them vacation time. These are all easy incentives to attract people recently out of university or in mid career who want to: A) explore their own country, B) take a bit of a break before starting on a career/refining their career or C) wish to spread bilingualism across Canada and make our country into what it claims to be - bilingual.

I'm interested in your comments on this... leave one on this post so I can see what you're thinking about the state of bilingualism in Canada.

If it can be done in Japan, then IT CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE!!

Typhoon

2007-09-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

Btw - There is a typhoon rolling through Bandai right now! The wind just freaked me out a little... thought my roof could blow off or something!

Now I wanna see torrential rain or something! Wind without rain is no fun!

Hairy Arms

2007-09-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

As many of you will know, I have very hairy arms. It isn't entirely noticeable since it's red/blonde but it's there, and there's a lot of it. Anyways, In Japan, they don't really have hairy arms... This becomes especially apparent at Kindergarten or whenever I met kids.

They say hey, say some random stuff in Japanese while I stand there and smile at them, and then BAM, notice my arm hair. They are literally mesmerized by it, and MUST touch it! LoL, it's hilarious, random and slightly creepy, but I guess thats part of the cultural exchange aspect... the introduction to hairy westerners! haha

What a weekend

2007-09-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

Holy. Shit. I am SOOOOOOOOO tired!!!

This has been one crazy busy weekend. There was so much to do, and so little time for sleeping! haha, ill tell you a bit about it now!

Friday - So on Friday I left school around 12:30... I was at kindergarten for the day and the kids were absolutely amazing! They all seemed to have a lot of fun with me since my job is basically to play with them! pretty easy if you ask me! After kindergarten I went for a drive since I figured I'd get bored if I just sat around and did nothing... So I drove up to Bandai-san... aka the mountain that I will be skiing on every day come winter! It's actually really huge so I'm pumped to have a good sized ski hill about 10 minutes from my door (they also have night skiing!!!). Then I went over to Katie's and we had pasta and garlic bread.. It was AWESOME! We also tried watching Lost in Translation but everyone was so tired from the first week at school.

Saturday - This is nomihodai day!!! Freakin shiza man.... This shit is crazy! If you havent already picked realised, this is a thing in Japan where you pay for a certain amount of time, and get unlimited alcohol. Its awesome! Needless to say we got pretty trashed and then headed off to Red Ink (Wakamatsu's 1 "club"). The bar actually had food in it, so I think I spent half the night eating curry rice, and the other half drinking and dancing! It was hella fun! When we left the bar (there was a group of about 10 of us or so) one of our guys flipped his finger at a car driving by. The guys pulled over, jumped out of the car and tried to start shit with us! They were pushing us around (not me, I was like fuck that) kicking ppl's shins and just being pricks. That was all settled and we moved on... No harm done, apart from some bruised egos.

Sunday - Sunday I was up at 6:30 to head back to Bandai for SPORTS DAY! I was dreading this because I couldnt sleep in, but it turned out to be an amazing time! I was part of team 1 and our team coach actually spoke relatively good english! I was the guest of honour at this sports day and had to give the "opening speech". I basically said thank you very much for including me in your community, i really feel at home already! blah bla blah, let the games begin!!!! I got loud cheers and stuff, so it felt pretty rewarding!

I was then a member of the team for the 1000m relay race, and was given the longest leg of the race at 200m. Now, to put into perspective, I was pretty freakin hung over... So this was one challenging race! We ended up finishing first though, and we got some random price... An egg boiler, I think!? Lol... The cherry on the cake was, however, about 10 minutes after the race was over... Having walked around for a bit and begun to feel a bit quesy I was like, I need to get the hell out of here.... So I told my team leader that I was gonna go home for a bit and come back and while I'm walking through my school's parking lot, I BEGIN TO BARF!!!! Sooooo embarrassing, not to mention my students that could see me doing it! Oh well... then we were a part of the tug-of-war and lost pretty badly! This was one giant tug of war too - pretty fun! The day was then over and our team came in 12/16... Not great, but hey, it was fun!

I was then asked to come to an afterparty and did so happily! They were SO hospitible and loved everything I did! Hahah, they gave me this soup called ------- i cant remember... and they were ALL watching me eat it like it was poisonous or something! Anyways, it was really awesome that I was invited into a traditional Japanese setting.... The towns people here are really friendly and welcoming and definently made me feel at home!

Good weekend I'd say!

Btw - I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE being able to send emails from my cell phone!! I'm able to keep people updated on what I'm doing by sending emails, pics and even movies!!! It's awesome and SOOOO useful! ;)

Feeling a bit like a celebrity

2007-08-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Apparently Tom Cruise, aka Tyler Andrews, has strolled into the small town of Bandai and everyone is itching to hear him speak! Haha, I kid you not! This week shall now be known as speech week... On Tuesday, I was herded like a lost sheep to give THREE introductory speeches... I'll briefly talk about them

1 - The first one was at 810 AM to the teachers/principal of Bandai Machi Junior High School (BMJHS)... I was basically asked to sit in on the teacher's meeting and go up to the front when they mentioned "Tydah-sensei"... I go up, talk for about 2 minutes in English when my Kyoto sensei (vice principal) asks one of my English teachers to translate my speech into Japanese.... clearly NO ONE was listening to the words coming out of my mouth because he could hardly stumble through my name! Ahhh well, i get bored at speeches too, so I dont blame him

2 - THE BIG ONE! This one had me brought in front of the 111 students of BMJHS! I figured I would be super keen and do the speech bilingually, in English and Japanese! Hahaha, so I stumbled through my probably incoherent Japanese followed by the EXACT same text in English... After the english text, however, my other Japanese English Teacher (Nozomi) literally stands there and translates it again!!! Like, cmon, was it THAT bad!?

3 - The cool one! For this one I was brought to city hall to meet the "city staff"... Although I had already met them, they insisted I give an introductory speech... no doubt my picture will appear in the community newspaper... hell, it'll probably be the headline! haha... i love this place!

Oh, I actually forgot one! I had to give a brief question and answer period to the board of trustees.... unfortunately, only 2 of the 7 members showed up, so it was slightly awkward.

And dont think my week of speeches is over yet! I am honorable in this town you know... like the big deal... in fact, so big... THAT IM OPENING THE TRACK AND FIELD DAY! Yes! That's correct. I am the celebrity guest speaker at the opening ceremonies. As part of my gracing the event (totally hung over after a night of nomihodai) I am to run in the 200m relay race... anyone that has seen me run will know this is not going to be a pretty sight... i'll probably make the front page as "white man runs funny"

Japan is one hella random place... It grows on you and you start to embrace its RANDOMNESS!

First 2 days at school

2007-08-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

So it seems what everyone was saying is true - this is possibly the easiest job in the world (so far). I went to school for the first time yesterday for about 1 hour to get a tour (where we ran into the school choir and they sang me a song) and meet my kocko-sensei (vice principal), and one english teacher, Nozomi (who is pretty coool). They then said that I could go clean my desk, which I did, then go home, which I did.

Day 2 has been equally easy. I went in at 830 (left my house at 825) and helped with the speech contest for about an hour. Basically, I sat there and listened to their speeches, helping them with pronunciation. They are actually pretty good, with one girl even writing her own speech about her dad being a doctor and her wanting to help people when she is older! Well done!

I then had a "meeting" with my english teacher where we talked about what they expect of my self introduction and what not. I think I will make a powerpoint presentation to help pass the time. They then said that I was allowed to leave if I wanted. I told them I wanted to go to Koriyama to get my reentry permit and they said cool! ahha

So the first 2 days have been pretty easy... Not to mention, the first week of classes I HAVE NO CLASSES! They are doing tests or something, so I just get to sit in the teachers lounge and do nothign... I can feel boredom setting in already! But all in all, so far so good! cant wait to meet the other little minions.

Contactable 24/7! The beauty of the keitai

2007-08-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

W000t! Today I got my fancy Japanese cell phone (here they call them keitai because, well theyre way more than a cell phone!). It's a pretty sick phone... im not really sure who it's made by but its a slider and has an ENORMOUS HD screen on it! Some phones play TV, this one, sadly, does not... i figured i wouldnt be watching too much japanese tv since i cannot understand a WORD of it!!! ahha

So the convinient thing about these phones is that they are not texting devices, but emailing devices!!! So you can use your hotmail, gmail, mcmaster email, any kind of email you want to contact me and i'll be able to respond right back to your inbox!!!! Super convinient for long rides on the train if you ask me!

anyways, to contact me on this super sweet keitai all you have to do is send an email to:

tylerandrews@docomo.ne.jp

its that easy! hope to see some msgs from you soon!

The Beach Bomb

2007-08-18T19:45:00.001-07:00

First off - WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO! I am finally connected to the internet at home!!! I dont think you realise how dependent you are on it until you are unconnected for so long. The worst part about it was that I couldnt talk to the people I love and wanted to talk to! It was literally driving me insane (see previous post). I was restless, losing sleep, mildly depressed, and just all around not a great person to be around! Luckily, that has all changed now that this little baby is here! W00t! Oh... and internet here is almost double as fast as in Canada! I'm downloading a movie right now at 200+kb/s! w000000t! a gamers paradise i tell you ... wink wink, alex haha

So the Iwaki Beach Bomb was yesterday (Saturday, August 18) and it was pretty fun! I spent most of the day in the pacific ocean which was INCREDIBLE!!! It really chaffed my legs which kinda sucked (fuck you salt water!) but was completely worth it! The day was super overcast so I was like "oh yea, i dont need sunscreen there is no sun!" WRONG!!!! LoL, around 5PM people started looking at me funny and im like, what? haha theyre like you have a SUNBURN!!! and are super super red! yikes! im like i didnt know sun could get you through CLOUDS! damn i was wrong! Oh well! definently worth the sun burn!

The Beach Bomb was a bit of a let down though. I had a GREAT time, but I was expecting 10,000 people to be there.. I think the weather deterred a lot of people from coming out, but I'd say at most there were 1,000 people there... We got a little drunk during the day, but then at night we had pretty much been partied out and decided that instead of camping on the beach, we'd take rides back to Aizu. The train would've taken like 3-4 hours and a drive was 2 or so. Thanks to Paul for driving me home... AGAIN! I really owe this guy since he drives me around all the time! And thanks to Kessler for picking me up! Made for a really hassle free drive!

I'm getting a cell phone tomorrow! woooo people will finally be able to call m with plans!! I think my car should also be ready at some point next week!!! Some people are gonna come over and use my oven (since i apparently have the only one in japan haha) and bake cookies for our classes or teachers or something!

C'yall!

Bored, Frustrated, and Isolated – August 14, 2007

2007-08-17T02:52:00.001-07:00

The last couple of days have been really taxing on me. I STILL have no fucking means of communicating with anyone, ie: no phone, no cell phone, no internet, NOTHING, and it’s really starting to get aggravating. I literally wake up, make some food, do nothing, make some food, do nothing for a bit longer, make dinner, watch a movie and go to bed. I have contact with Arthur and his family, but that’s about it. Now don’t get me wrong, Arthur is a great guy, but it would be nice to be able to communicate with SOMEONE other than them. It’s really been a tough time so far and I cant even begin to count the number of times I’ve thought to myself, I’ve had enough of this, it’s time to go back to Canada. Obviously I’m going to tough this out and ride the wave, but being alone is really killing me inside. I’ve never been an introvert and this experience has taught me how much of an extrovert I am. I have no way of making friends here because A) No one in my town speaks English (which I’ll talk about in a bit), and B) Anyone I DO meet, I have no way of keeping in contact with them or suggesting to hang out since I have no fucking way of talking to them! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH I think I’ve pushed the refresh button on my “Wireless Network Connection” about 10,000 times hoping that SOMETHING would come through to allow me to connect, but nothing ever does… I’m supposed to get internet on the 16^th, which is in 2 days, but now apparently it may take longer. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY EXPECT FROM ME! Am I supposed to be content sitting around all day doing nothing? Beats the fuck out of me! I’m getting emails from Amy and stuff saying they’re having so much fun and there is so much to do… I wish I could say the same. My mountain village has nice vistas, and is close to a big city, but there is not a fucking thing to do… oh well. I suppose this is the whole “every situation is different.” I cant help but think about Suzanne, who is up in Hokkaido in a remote village, and how she is doing.

The frustration part of the title comes from what I have been calling The Process. EVERYTHING in this country has a process. Apply here, pay here, wait a month, ect ect ect. Yesterday I tried to get a cell phone with my passport, my visa, and my application form for my gaijin card (foreigner card). They wouldn’t let me apply because I didn’t have the fucking card itself even though I had proof that I had applied for the card and been approved. In Japan the process is STRONG, and if there is ever anything outside the box, they cannot comprehend what to do, or it takes double the amount of time it normally would. What baffles me, however, is that some of the other new JETs have been able to get cell phones. Its really pissing me off how things aren’t uniformed even though Japan seems to pride itself, and run itself around uniformity. SO what this basically means is that I wont be able to get a cell until mid September for some WEIRD reason. Who the fuck knows. Today has not been a good day…

Sunday, August 12, 2007

2007-08-17T02:51:00.000-07:00

Today has been another VERY boring day. Not having any way of communicating with people (no phone, cell phone, or internet) really limits the amount of stuff that you can do! A bunch of people were heading down to Lake Inawashiro today and I said I would go thinking there was only one beach on the lake. Little did I know until looking at the map that there are tons of them! Needless to say, I didn’t make it down to the lake. L I did, however, take my little car for a spin and drove on the LEFT HAND SIDE! Although I was committing a crime (no insurance, car isn’t in my name, ect.) it was nice to be able to finally see what driving in Japan would be like – and it’s not that hard, apart from everything in the car being backwards! But ya, that’s my day so far. Arthur mentioned something about going to get food later and then hitting up an onsen, so we’ll see if that happens. BTW – IF ANYONE WANTS TO COME VISIT PLEASE FEEL FREE!!! THERE IS A ROOM ALREADY WAITING FOR YOU! ;)

Candle Lighting Festival – Saturday, August 11, 2007

2007-08-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday night was the big night out for the Aizu kids. We hit up a candle festival that was taking place around an old shogun castle called Tsuraga or something like that. It was a good experience because we got to meet all the JETs from this area and get to know each other a bit better. After the fireworks we headed down to an izikaya (Japanese type pub) for a namehodai, the all you can drink in a certain time period thing. It was a good time.

After the namehodai we decided to go to some random dance club in Wakamatsu and club it up for a bit. Apparently there was cover, but before anyone mentioned it I had already made my way to the bar and got a drink! Lol, saved 1000 yen there! w00t. People stayed there for a bit but I was getting tired so flagged a taxi and said “Bandai” lol… Not speaking Japanese here is a bit limiting. The cab was ok, but he took the LONG way home and ended up costing me 4200 yen… Oh well, it was a good night and well worth it!

A Comment on Japanese Money

2007-08-17T02:48:00.002-07:00

Japanese money is kinda funny. First off, their bills are in the thousands, so 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000 and they have a bunch of coins below 1000. But what makes it a bit strange is that 1000 actually equals about 10.00, 2000 equals 20.00 and so on. What baffles me is why they don’t just make them into 10.00 and make everyone’s lives easier! Well maybe not everyone’s, but AT LEAST MINE! The other funny thing is that they have a 2000YEN note but NEVER use it! A couple days ago I paid for something that was about 1500YEN with a 10,000YEN note and I got back all my change in 1000 YENs! I asked Arthur why I hadn’t gotten any 2000YEN notes back and he said they have trouble counting them! Hahah, what the hell? 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 10,000. A bit random but a real observant observation if you ask meJ!

Hot Water Throwing Festival

2007-08-17T02:48:00.001-07:00

Friday night me, Arthur and Paul went to the water throwing festival in Aizu Wakamatsu which is basically a trek up the mountain with a huge shrine on your shoulders and 2 girls on the shrine throwing money at people. The catch of this event is, that while we’re throwing money, the other people are throwing HOT WATER!!! Not boiling hot water but onsen water, or basically naturally heated spring water. The route goes through a number of onsen hotels where each one has gathered their guests outside to throw water at us. The trade off is… THEY PROVIDE FREE BEER AND SAKE! Haha, so while we’re marching up this mountain with girls dancing on this shrine (on our shoulders) we get drunk for free! So yea, it was a pretty fun 2.5 hours, but by the end I had to pee so badly I thought my bladder was gonna burst and my toes and fingers had shriveled into the pruniest things I had ever seen! After we got back we headed to our own onsen, which was awesome. The thing about onsens is, that you go in them naked! Haha… By the time we got there I was already dead tired, and after sitting in this HOT bath I was pretty much knocked out for the night! All in all, this made for a pretty good Friday night!

A recap on the first 5 days - August 10, 2007

2007-08-17T02:45:00.000-07:00

So it has been 1 week since I left Canada and so far this experience has lived up to all my expectations. To begin, I think it is important to recap the last 7 days of this “work” (I think I’d call it vacation) experience.

The flight to Tokyo was probably one of the worst parts so far. A full 13 hours later we landed in Tokyo, only to be met with another 1.5 hour bus ride from Narita airport to downtown Tokyo. Who builds an airport that far outside a city!? C’mon now! The plane ride was made bearable with a fancy new plane that had its very own seat back entertainment! We had choices like Rome (the tv show), Desperate Housewives, and everyone’s favorite “Le Job” (the French version of the office!). Besides that we had a number of movies and full cds at our disposal. The flight crew was also really good, to the point of giving us 2 free bottles of sake (which me and Emerald downed one afternoon before heading to a conference) and a bunch of gin and whiskey shots. I guess we were the wildest things on the plane… or the flight crew had crushes on us… My guess is the second ;).

Arriving in Tokyo was something I had never imagined could happen. Tokyo is one HUGE sprawling metropolis that goes for as far as the eye can see. Literally, you cannot see anything beyond the city from downtown. It baffles my mind how anyone would want to live in something like that…. The conference was the same old shit that we had already gone over a number of times through the Toronto orientation and farewell reception which was really awesome since we were able to skip the sessions and instead explore Tokyo. Me and Emerald (who is possibly the greatest and most hilarious world traveler I have ever met) jumped on the “JR Line” and headed from Shinjuku (a business district) to Shibuya (a crazy place near Harajuku with the wildest fashions you may ever see!). This was a cool experience since I got to see the famous intersection that is the classic view of Tokyo… people going every which direction they can! It was intense. But ya, Tokyo is definitely one crazy place… So many people, huge buildings and population as far as the eye can see.

Partying in Tokyo is equally as intense as the city itself. The first night we didn’t really know what to do, and were so jet lagged that we went to a restaurant, ate chicken’s ass and then went to bed. The following night was nowhere near as tame as the first, however. It was “prefecture night” (prefecture = province) and we went out with the people who live in the same area as us. We went to something called an izikaya, which is basically a flat fee rate for 1-2-3 hours of unlimited drinking and eating. This is probably the greatest thing about Japan LOL! They literally just keep bringing whatever you want – whiskey, gin, sake, beer… it was nonstop! So we got sloppy here first and then decided to head over to a karaoke bar, which in Japan are, again, unlimited drinking for a certain time. In all I spent about 4500 yen (45$) that night and was downright shit faced. After the karaoke a bunch of the Fukushima people went to a hostess bar which is essentially a place where you pay to have a girl serve you drinks and talk to you for the night. I made the good decision of not going and instead went back to the Keio Plaza Hotel and decided to go online. BAD DECISION! Lol, the internet room is a public space and I ended up passing out on a keyboard! Hhahaha, I still have no idea how I made it up to my room, but all in all it was a good night. As a side note, one of the other guys ended up going to the hostess bar, and on the way home jumped out of the taxi, wandered off, got lost AND PASSED OUT ON THE STREET! Haha he woke up to the sound of people walking over him on their way to work in the morning! We all nursed some pretty major hangovers the next day, so I missed going to Harajuku with a bunch of peeps. Oh well, the night was good! The third night Amy, Christian, Suzanne, Daryl and myself went to a small bar called Tokyo Loose where we ran into the most ridiculous old Japanese guy who was tearing up the dance floor (a la old woman from Studio 54 movie). It was a good place and I had fun, but I really wanted to be on my top game for Weds since we were going to be meeting our supervisors after a 5 hour journey from Tokyo-Fukushima.

On Wednesday we were up bright and early to get onto the bus. It was an awesome bus ride. I sat with a Scot, an Aussie, a Kiwi, 4 Brits, and 2 Americans. It was a good chance to get to know people better and talk about our countries, expectations and significant cultural differences (I.e. MEDICARE!!! Poor poor poor Americans…). It was also a good chance to see Japanese landscape. It was amazing to me that as we drove from Tokyo north; there was virtually no where without development. When they say this country is populated, they are NOT lying! Houses, factories, farms, they’re everywhere! We made a couple stops along the way and I felt bad for this one girl, Casey, who was SERIOUSLY hung over… like hands shaking, green in the face hungover! Lol, it was probably the worst one I have ever seen! The drive ended in Fukushima Prefecture’s largest city, Koriyama. We got off the buses and were herded into a room where our supervisors were sitting. My supe, Mr. Igarwashi noticed me as soon as I entered the room and was waving frantically! Haha, it was a great introduction to Bandai Machi and my board of education.

The ceremony was completely ridiculous. They went through everyone, said their prefecture, and then instructed us to go sit with our new bosses. They then announced it was “chatting time” and we were supposed to talk with our supes. This would’ve been one of the most awkward experiences if you spoke no Japanese, or your supe didn’t speak English! This was my case, but thank god Arthur, my neighbor came along to help translate and tell me a couple more things about BM that I didn’t already know. We then jumped into a van and drove about 45 minutes back to BM. It was a great ride through mountains and past Japan’s third largest lake, Iniwashiro. This area is absolutely phenomenal. The mountains are some of the biggest I have ever seen (being from Ontario, there isn’t a hell of a lot of variety) and I can’t wait to be skiing down them!

Driving into BM was SCAREY. I was thinking the whole time, “uhhhh where is the rest of the town?” Luckily I found the rest and this place actually isn’t that small. It’s about a 10 minute drive from Wakamatsu, which is a city of 250,000. So I’m basically right next to a significant city and all the amenities it offers! BM is awesome. The people are so friendly and the staff at the Board of Education (BOE) is really really nice, even though they probably have no idea what I’m saying! That day I met with the superintendant of the board, and also the MAYOR! That was weird, since he just kinda stared at me like I had two heads… Oh well, at least I got to meet him, and he has been a driving force in bringing people and English to this area.

This morning I was up at 6 AM (AGAIN!!!) so figured I would get my day started early. I unpacked some more, tidied up a bit and made some eggs for breakfast. Then I walked over to the post office to mail some postcards, only to hear it doesn’t open until 9 AM. Looking confused outside, I just stood there looking through my handy dictionary when a woman came running over to make sure I was ok. She was from the kindergarten and then invited me in for “morning tea”. I said sure and went into the kindergarten to be greeted by 3 more woman who prepared tea for me! It was great to sit down with some people and try to communicate through broken English/Japanese, and language convertors! Haha, it was pretty funny but we got our points across. They even ended up giving me their lunches to take home and eat today!!! Japanese hospitality is INCREDIBLE!

My house is phenomenal. I have an entrance way, 2 huge storage rooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, toilet room, laundry room, shower room and bedroom! It’s HUGE! I’m gonna attach a video of it, so check it out! PS – If you wanna visit, I have a ton of room!! Haha.

I guess that’s enough for now. I’ll keep you posted of the ups and downs of Japan on here, so check back often. Tyler