Just add Santa

On December 23rd, we walked around Hekinan, Mandy and me, because there were thousands of people out for a street festival.  The attempt to create Christmas was pretty amusing.  They sing Christian carols in Japanese, dress up like Santa, but it's not a sacred thing.  We ate banana chocolate crepes and candy apples.  My impression of Japanese people is that they love festivals, and don't need much excuse to throw a party.  
This is a sort of Japanese biathlon, guitar-playing and chainsaw woodcarving.  Skiing and shooting, same thing.  Someone was doing woodcarving demonstrations for the people.  It was comforting to hear the festive sound of a chainsaw meowing through wood chunks.  
The crowds gathered to watch an intense break-dancing showdown between two rival groups.  Maybe some day we in Canada will adopt the Japanese tradition of break-dancing in the Christmas season.  

Represent-in' artsy folk around the world: pony-tail guy!  Some things, it seems, are universal.

It's fun to be able to walk around town in the 'dead' of winter and not freeze.  People are out a lot, and there are several times during the season in which it is possible to find street vendors and festival activities.  I wonder whether people spend any time at home sometimes.  

Christmas wish item

If anyone is lost for ideas as to what to get me for Christmas, here it is!  The skyray turns ordinary freefalling into freeFLYING.  And everybody knows i'm just sick to death of boring old freefalling.  A guy crossed the English channel with one of these babies in 14 minutes.  He was going 250km/h.  That's faster than a peregrine falcon dives for prey.  Please help my commute to be a whole lot faster and more fun!

I may or may not have mentioned on here that i was rear-ended as i drove back home from a neighbouring town about two months ago.  My neck was sore for a few days, but nothing major. Well, the other day as i was stretching, i tweaked my neck muscle, which drastically reduced my range of motion.  I was a bit worried, and asked a friend at work to book me a massage appointment.  

I rode out on thursday afternoon in the sunshine, and, following a map, went down a skinny little street, barely wide enough for one car to go down, and ended up at a dumpy little warehouse with all kinds of rusty junk in the yard.  On the window was a small sticker that said, "manual therapy".  I surmised that this was the place, and went to knock on the door.  The guy turned out to be a professional chiropractor and massage therapist, but since he didn't speak a word of english, i couldn't ask him about his humble workplace. 

The massage felt excellent and very remedial; my neck popped and my back cracked, and in the end, i felt limber and happy.  It was a very interesting, distinctly 'japanese' experience.  I think i'll go every couple of weeks to get this knot in my back sorted out. 

I was perusing an online art gallery today and came across this nice El Greco painting of St. John the Evangelist.  He doesn't really appear as i imagine him to be, but then, who does?  I don't know who he's looking at, but i would guess that the chalice represents the eucharist, and his left hand is inviting one and all to partake.  It's been a while since art history class.  This painting is strange to me.  Every time i look at it, his head seems smaller and smaller in proportion to his body.  Plus, when i read the words above his head (the blog words), his hair appears to move a little in my peripheral vision.  El Greco has a very interesting style.  The hands are almost grotesque!    

Tonight i went out for sushi with some students.  They picked me up at our apartment, (Mandy was in Nagoya with some of her own students--end of the year gatherings are common here) and we went to a restaurant in which the huge variety of sushi dishes drift past the tables on little conveyers.  One going left and the other going right.  I couldn't stop watching these little platefuls of eel and raw tuna and shrimp (with eyes staring out at me) and other goodies, for about 5 minutes.  My hosts thought it was hilarious.  I tried the eel and some shrimp, but couldn't do the raw fish.  Not just yet.  Call me a menno, but it's just a little much for me at this point.  Eel was shockingly mild.  
My miniature room is growing, and is starting to look a bit unkempt and crowded.  I don't have any skill with feng shui, especially for miniatures.  Maybe i could hire a designer to spruce it up a bit, make it look more inviting.  

If you feel like being musically charmed, try searching for a video on youtube called "chinese translation" by M. Ward.  Very cute and it's a good song.

Flowers and my injured uncle

The nearby river goes up and down drastically, along with the tide of the pacific.  when it's low, all these sand bars appear, and yesterday there was a massive tree root on one of them.  it looked to be in mid-crawl, trying to get back to the weightlessness of floating in the water.  

My dear uncle Bob fell off a roof in Barkerville and fractured his back, so i'm sad and distracted.  However, i do want to put some photos on here of a Japanese flower arranging show we saw yesterday.  My uncle Bob is a tough guy and i think he'll heal up and maybe even work again.  I know that work is a big part of life for him and it would be difficult to be unable to work.  At the same time though, we're given difficulties and hard times for the best reasons.  But you don't say that to a guy who's going through the hard times.  Seeing the photo of him with the neck brace made me realize that any hard times i go through, i need to regard them as for the highest good.  God lets his saints suffer for their good.  
A student of Mandy's is an Ikebana instructor, and she also teaches tea ceremony.  She invited us to a flower arranging and tea ceremony exhibition in Nishio.  So off we went yesterday, riding bike through the town, over the bridge, through the next town to the cultural center.  It's a big, brick building, and we went there once before to see a Noh play.  Ok, over to Mandy:
Within the big brick building we found about 20 different rooms that were lined wall to wall with a variety of Japanese flower arrangements.  These flower arrangements can be divided into 5 different schools.  Each school teaches a very specific style, technique, and philosophy of how to gather and display flowers.  We could definitely see the range of schools from one vase to the next and we could sense the depth this art form has within the culture.  The style would change from one of simplicity and tranquility (like those above and below) to a more garish and loud arrangement.  
I myself (Mandy) have always preferred the clean lines of simplicity, but I did appreciate the sense of dynamics and movement that some of the bolder arrangements possessed.  While walking around to each art work we could instantly travel from the peaceful atmosphere of a traditional garden to the center of a wind storm where everything appears to be in flux.  It was a joy to be transported and to have the chance to admire an art form that is very new to me.  We saw combinations of colours, flowers, tree branches, fruits and vegetables that were unexpected.  I never would have thought that broccoli would make a nice complement to orchids, but it did.  There were colours of deep plum and rich apricot and the very darkest of greens.  
We also enjoyed the sweet smells of lilies (my favorite), roses, eucalyptus, citrus, pine, and many many more that co-mingled in the air into a bonanza of olfactory delights.  

This particular arrangement appeared to be an interpretation of unknown life forms, perhaps those inhabiting the planets of Jupiter or Saturn.  A very interesting vase choice.
...Isn't Mandy a good writer?  she doesn't think so, but she is.  I saw this guy basking/napping, and i thought that if my dad was here with us, he might like to replace this guy on the couch.  Room after room of flowers combined with sunlight makes a guy schlopiche.  

Everyday People

well, today is a nice, sunny relief from the clouds and rain of yesterday.  i can't believe that it's december 10th and we're airing out the apartment with fresh, warm air from outside.  i like that part of not being in Canada at this time of year.  but i sure will miss family Christmases when we sit down to the traditional Japanese Christmas meal: a bucket of KFC.  deeelicious!

Mandy's been perfecting the art of soup-making, and she makes a nice big pot of it usually every week, and then we eat it for a couple days.  it's a heartwarming routine and a nice break from my specialty of pasta.  but we try to eat Japanese food too, which is delicious, but still relatively unknown, at least to cook.  

today i vacuumed the apartment and scrubbed under the cooker, and it was a mess under there!  but i try to think about CS Lewis's wise words about housework.  what were they again?...

i forget the quote verbatim, but he says that housework is a good way to ward off idleness and is a good alternative to grumbling.  or something like that.  i don't often grumble, but still.  it's nice to do something that has a tangible result, unlike teaching.  i find that teaching is a lot of process and not a lot of product.  we're supposed to embrace that reality, but it doesn't always feel very fulfilling.  but getting the cockroach bait out of the kitchen, now that's fulfilling!

anyway, just wanted to write a quick note.  i wonder how people are doing back in N.A.  

if you like, leave a comment.  it's easy and fun!  

You May As Well Buy Postcards

There are only a few photos in this lot that are personal.  But to be honest, Kyoto is so beautiful at this time of year that you just have to take these postcard shots.  We saw this huge solar panel out the windows of the Shinkansen bullet train as it shot by.  Actually, Mandy feels woozy when she looks out the window, so she probably missed it.  I have never dreamed of such a huge solar panel.  It probably powers all of central Japan.
We ate at this restaurant at the foot of Daimon-jiyama, near the Silver Pavillion.  I thought of my mother when i saw the colourful ivy crawling around the wall.
This was a typical sight in Kyoto: beautiful coloured leaves.  We decided to take saturday and hike up a mountain called Daimonjiyama.  Once a year they light up these enormous fires in the shapes of Japanese written characters.  There are three or four mountains around the city that these fires are lit and you can see them from all over Kyoto.  We want to return for this festival.  Check it out here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gozan_Okuribi
These fire pits are in the shape of 'Dai', meaning large.  It was amazing to see these huge shapes even when they weren't lit up.
It was refreshing to get out into nature and see some Japanese trees and plants.  
It did rain quite a lot on our climb up and we got chilled, but luckily, at the summit, the sun peaked out and warmed us nicely.  Mandy's like a Meerkat, she's a friend of the sun. 
This is Kyoto from the summit of Daimonji-yama.  It's not a huge mountain (466m), but in flat-bottomed sneakers, in the rain, it was big enough.  The hike took us about 4 hours.  I'm pretty sure it's usually misty like this, and the city is quite obscured.
Mandy thought of her own mum when she saw these ferns.  This is the end of November!  

When we had nearly reached the bottom, near Nanzen-ji temple, we saw a sub-temple, and there were some structures, this bridge, and a little waterfall, where there was a guy having a ritual shower in the freezing water, during which time he is supposed to be saying a prayer.  I would be too distracted to pray at a time like that.  

This is Nanzen-ji temple.  I liked the mix of coloured trees, and the little family of grotesque creatures at the foot of the tree.  They're often seen outside restaurants, and are supposed to be good luck.  

A very rare sight in Japan:  an aquaduct!  Built in the style of the Roman aquaducts by an emperor to uh, well, you know... transport um...
Hey look!  A Japanese wedding procession!  The bride and groom dressed in traditional wedding kimonos were slightly bashful, and who wouldn't be bashful, getting married in the middle of a tourist trap at high tourist season!  


This is Mandy and me, having lunch at Kyoto station, a huge monstrosity that got us lost a few times trying to find our way through.  

Mittens and Miniatures!

I discovered a new hobby!  There are dollar store-type shops here called 100 yen shops, and recently i found a really good one, and in it were these miniature Japanese furniture items and tatami mats and everything.  Japanese people think i'm weird for liking this stuff, but i don't mind.  So far i've built up a little room, and i hope to expand it bit by bit.  I'd like to take it home when we go back to Canada, but the pieces would likely not survive the trip intact.  
Meanwhile, Mandy's doing something entirely useful (in Japanese: yakunitatsu - a new word for me) by knitting us some warm mittens for the chilly days when we ride bike to work.  She's already finished two pairs.  Mine are the blue-yellow-greeny ones and Mandy's are the beige ones.  Notice the lovely cable pattern.  I have no idea how she does it; it may as well be magic.  All i know is, my hands are warmer now and i like it.  

Japanese Gardening is EASY

These are highlights of a garden i saw recently in Nishio.  It's blurred out on Google Earth, otherwise i'd put in the coordinates.  It'a a beautiful example of a traditional Japanese garden.  
The maple trees are turning from yellow to red this time of year, and this weekend in Kyoto we will see a good example of a Japanese autumn.  Hopefully i'll get a few worthwhile photos.
This bridge amazed me.  All stone, and looked very natural.

Good inspiration for anyone looking to create a Japanese garden for themselves.  No sweat.

The foliage here grows all year, and many ditches are tangles of deep green plants and probably thousands of spiders and things.  The tangled vines are evocative for the imagination.

Uh oh, I'm starting to feel boring right now, it must be time to say goodnight.  Stay tuned.

Jan ken POI!

One thing we've learned as teachers of Japanese children is that, if ever a dispute should arise, even as minor as who should go first in a game, or who should get the leftover cookie, but even one as serious as who wins the championship title of the 'memory game' (if two children end up with the same amount of cards), the solution is inevitably and invariably and necessarily JANKEN.  We call it 'rock, paper, scissors' back home, and it's played for fun sometimes, but here it's a widely used, slick fix-all, and it's amazing to watch three hyperactive 6-year olds go to this game.  They're really good at it, and whoever comes out on top is the indisputable champion of the moment.  No arguments ever arise from the results of this game.  It's tops!

On our quite recent trip to Fuji Safari Park, we were playing bingo on the bus (duh, of course we were.) and as people got double lines on their cards, they yelled bingo and claimed a prize from the prize bag.  There were many prizes, but naturally, they did run out, and when the last, lonely prize was left in the bag, two people happened to yell bingo on the same turn.  Naturally, a janken battle ensued, which tidied up the game nicely.  Works for adults too!

It's kind of hard to explain, and with all the variations, inadequate.  Youtube has a few samples that might help more.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=1v-qxAM8TtA

Sleepy Sunday Evening

A month ago we took a trip to the venerable Mt. Fuji, and although the top was shrouded in cloudy mystery, it was a breath-taking sight to behold.  We have joined the Nishio Cultural Association, and as members we get to go on fun trips.  This one was to the Fuji Safari Park!  You get to drive around and look out your car windows at all the interesting animals.  I took this shot of Mandy and i at Lake Hamana, Japan's 10th largest lake by area.  By mer-people population it's slightly larger.

The animals at Fuji Safari Park are wild and ferocious beasts, starkly untamed and extremely dangerous.  They will attack anything, just like this mountain sheep is attacking the ranger truck in quest for tasty tid-bits.  Somebody's been playing too much Grand Theft Auto: Safari Nights.
No matter how far away Fuji-san is, it is amazing.  This town probably would be shaking in its boots back in the day when the mountain was an active volcano.  But now it's perfectly safe, except for the ravenous mountain sheep attacks.  They say that Mt. Fuji is nice to climb, but that the view is rather drab, mostly being clouded over by...er, clouds.

Shizuoka is Japan's most famous tea producing area.  These nice hedge-rows are tea shrubs.  They are quite pretty and very well trimmed.  They are interspersed with solar-powered fans to keep them cool.  

ha ha, just jokes.  But the fans help to collect wind to power lights that keep the plants warm, honest.
Another beast ready to attack!

I'll post more recent stuff tomorrow.  Now it's chill-time.