Japanese Cultural experience

Here is a great video (i think) of a Japanese Taiko drumming performance we saw on Sunday.  It was part of the fire festival i described in the last post.  Sorry i don't have time to write more now, i have to go to work!  I'm riding to work in the hot hot heat today.  It's May and already the temperature creeps towards the 30's .  I'm scared about the summer.  Enjoy the video!

Goin' to the old Fire Festival

On Sunday we went to Gamagori, about an hour by car/train, to a festival!  There are festivals all summer, in different places.  This one is called Gamagori Tezutsu Hanabi Matsuri, which means, "Gamagori Hand-held Fireworks Festival".  There was nice festival foods: yaki-soba, curry rice, chicken on a stick, and ice cream!  Then, when it became dark, they began the fireworks.  These are not the shoot-them-off-into-the-sky kind of fireworks.  As you can see from the video (yay, i got a video to work!) they hold onto these bamboo cannons wrapped in rope, which are presumably packed with gunpowder or something, and they hold onto them until they finally pop and go out.  It seems dangerous to the ears especially, but i also marveled at how their hair didn't catch fire.  

A bit more of Hokkaido

We took a boat ride out toward Russia a little way, and the seagulls chased us closely.  It reminded me of "All the Diamonds" by Bruce Cockburn.  I sang it to myself on the boat.  

Hokkaido is a very different Japan than where we currently live.  There is a lot of space, wilderness, varied geography, and not many people.  The villages and towns are generally quiet and peaceful.  From our reactions, i think we're country folk after all.  
We were closer to Russia than to Tokyo, and i found it interesting that the signs were sometimes in Cyrillic and English letters.  There is tension between Russia and Japan over 4 little rocky outcrops in the ocean somewhere.  Big island dispute.  
We visited a botanical garden in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido.  Remember "Sapporo Ichiban" noodles?  Well, this is the home of those.  They cheapened ramen noodles and sold them to the world, and there were many imitators.   

The above photo is taken at the "Canadian Rock Garden".  Doesn't it look like everybody's back yard in Canada?  There were lots of rocks and scrub trees and pines.  I'm not sure how representative of Canadian flora this selection is, but i didn't really feel at home.  ...well, a little.  I thought that maybe a giant, freshly planted cutblock would make me feel more at home.
Hokkaido is famous for its flowers and red fields and lavender and such.  We were a couple months too early to catch the majority of the flowers, but we did manage to see a beautiful magnolia tree in bloom.  It was breathtaking!  You can't really tell by the photos, but it was quite amazing to see these giant, stark blooms all reaching for the sun.  
Here's something i never thought i would lay eyes on.  Actually, i never knew they existed.  They're not in my version of the Bible, anyway.  But there they are, plain as day.  

The Ainu people hold a place in Japanese society similar to that held by the Indigenous people of Canada.  They have been oppressed by the general population, and now marketed as a kind of novelty.  There are Ainu villages, restored to look original, and 'God's Chopsticks' were in an Ainu museum that we visited in the botanical garden.  

Please remember my family these days, we are mourning the loss of my Uncle Mel.  We are mourning from afar, and the rest of my family are up close.  

Joy and Sadness

Today is Wednesday, May 6th, and it was our first day back at work after the second major Japanese holiday we've had since we moved here.  We decided to go northward to the island of Hokkaido (which the guidebooks say that many Japanese people regard as the best destination, and the best bit of nature in the country).  It's 1/5th the size of Japan, but only 5% of the Japanese population lives there.  The areas we visited involved ocean views, seagulls, steam-venting, snow-covered mountains, sun-baked forest roads, and broad, rolling fields.  The first photo here was taken at the end of Tenninkyo gorge, which took us about 20 minutes to hike through along a rushing river from the small cluster of hotels.  There's a beautiful set of waterfalls at the end.  We saw a few people, but not many.  It's still early in the season for crowd problems, and we were very thankful for our timing on this trip.  We never waited in line for anything!
One of the great joys of traveling is, once in a while, to risk putting yourself into the hands of chance and opportunity.  We got a bus ride to Tenninkyo Onsen, where the waterfall was, and i had planned a forest walk up about 4 miles to the next town.  The guidebook said it's a nice walk.  

Well, it turned out that the trail was still under many feet of snow, and would be impossible to hike it at this time of year.  So what could we do but walk on the highway to the next town?  If Mandy's shoes were in a lineup of random shoes, and we asked anyone to pick out the least likely to be used on an extensive walk in the mountains, anyone would have picked the queen's lace slippers first, but next, they would have picked Mandy's tiny shoes.  But she was up for the walk, and we felt good.  It was a beautiful day, and we set out, thinking it would be one or two hours.  See, we HAD to get to that next town by a certain time to catch the bus back to the town where our hotel was.  

Long story short, we walked 10 kilometres, and realizing that we wouldn't make it to the town in time if we walked all the way, we finally started to stick our thumbs out to the sparse passing cars, and within a few minutes, we had a ride with a nice Japanese couple in a Land Cruiser.  
The successful hitch allowed us time for a cable car ride up the volcano to the snowy regions, where there were steam vents coming out of the rock.  Again, Mandy's hiking shoes came through for her in style.
Hokkaido has varied terrain, like Canada.  We explored an agricultural region by mountain bike.  The fields here reminded me of Italy, rolling over hills topped with big farm houses... it was beautiful.  
On the morning of our last day in Hokkaido, we received news that my dear Uncle Mel had suddenly died.  It created a whirlwind of happiness and sadness for me, and i still feel that mixture, unable to fully let the reality sink in.  I have been thinking a lot about him with sadness and joy since i heard.  I really liked him a lot.  Still do, actually.  It's been good to reflect on my memories of him, and it makes me happy to see him laughing in almost every one.  He is a joyful, permanent fixture in my memories since i was old enough to have memories.  Despite our infrequent visits, i will miss him a lot.  My thoughts and prayers are with my Dad and all the Peters family.  

This giant poplar is one of the 'famous' trees of the Biei region in Hokkaido.  It has grown at an angle, evoking the image of someone deep in thought, and so they call it the "philosopher's tree".  It is beautiful, even without its leaves.

A few pics for a beautiful day.

There we are at the famous Do Jin bar having some snacks after a rigorous evening of badminton.  It's been a long time since we played badminton, but it was a lot of fun.  I think it would be great to play badminton or tennis regularly.  Now that spring is here we will have more fun outdoors...until summer, that is.  Summer summer summer.  it's going to be a long, hot, sweaty time out here, and i'm not especially looking forward to the weather conditions.  the japanese word for hot and humid is  "mushiatsui".  they have one word that means both hot AND humid, which means that it's hot enough and humid enough to want to save one's words.  or something.  right?  how would you understand that?
Obama is a sensation out here.  His books and speeches are bestsellers, and almost every day i hear a student say "Yes We Can" as we try to teach them how to answer in the affirmative.  instead of "yes i can", they say "yes we can" with the appropriate enthusiasm and conviction, just like Obama himself.  it's weird.  i wonder how he is thought of in North America.  is he still the hope of the nation, or what?  i should just read some  newspapers, but i haven't, and in this moment, it seems ok to ask anyone reading this what North America thinks of Obama.  because obviously you know, and obviously you're in North America.
Our town is locally renowned for its onions and carrots.  here is an onion patch, growing tall and green.  Mandy can't understand why nobody picks them.  they've been growing all winter, and still nobody picks them.  do they sweeten the more they stay underground?  obviously, it's a strong temptation to snag a few, but that would upset the delicate culture of trust that still exists in Japan.  we wouldn't want to ruin anything like that.  
Here we are, in Nagoya, and the overhead road there is an expressway.  when the surface of the earth becomes too congested to drive fast, they elevate the roads.  simple.  just lift it up and drive ABOVE the city rather than crawl around down below with all the traffic lights and other rat racers.  seeing all the high expressways around this city and the obvious pains that have been taken in building them, i mean, they seem impossible, especially at major intersections, it's like the Jetsons or something, spaceships going every which way, swooping around curves and up over stuff, i don't mind paying a toll once in a while.  

and yes, that sentence is a dumb.  but this explains why we don't pay tolls in Saskatchewan.  of course, they might start setting up toll booths and collect money to 'someday' maintain the highways.  that sounds very Sask actually.  in Japan, they don't have to deal with all the frost heaves and such.  
it's like a big claw holding it all up.  doesn't it look like it will tip if a heavy truck goes on one side and a mini is going on the other?  or some other combination?  like a tank on one side and a harley on the other... or like Andre the Giant on one side and Webster on the other...or...
 

Springtime

Here are some photos of our cherry blossom party last saturday.  A teacher from our company organized it, and although it rained ALL day, it was fun, and the trees were beautiful against the grey sky.  Our party was the one at the very farthest point along the left side of the river, but when i took this picture, i had no idea of that.  We spent a while trying to find them, and on the way, we got some delicious festival food.
People have been sitting beneath the blossoms like this since they came out last week, and it seems that any time of day, there they are, eating and drinking and chatting.  The trees are often hung with lanterns for night time parties.  It's a beautiful time of year here.
View from under my umbrella.

Here are a few ACC teachers (Mandy among them) and one student (on the right).  
The trees were so full of blossoms that they seemed burdened and weighed down by them.  The one branch is actually dipped into the water i think.  I always like umbrellas in photos too, so i waited until a couple came bobbing along the bridge to catch them.  It didn't take too long, don't worry.
This is our party from a little distance.  The slightly inebriated crew somehow put up a tarp to shelter the people.  The barbeques, however, became flooded and refused to cook anything at all.  

THE PRETTIEST FLOWER OF THEM ALL!  (Mandy)
Here are some of the ACC crew.  Mandy, James, Tilly, Miya, Jacey, and making the face is Rob Lowe, a great man from England who married a Japanese woman and just had a baby!  We got to meet the little man at this party.  He hung out in the tent with his mother.  

Well, there ya go!  I'm slowly realizing that we're well past our half-way point here in Japan.  We only have 4.78 or so months left!  It's going very fast, and now we have to brace ourselves for a long, hot, humid, rainy summer.  I'm not too excited about the extreme heat, but each season has beauty and good things.  

Mandy is diligently watering her balcony garden every day, and her lettuce and carrots are coming up well.  Things grow well here, and now our balcony is full of potted flowers and vegetables.  We even bought a lattice for some sweet peas to climb around on.  They love it.  

A Trip to Kanazawa

The trees in Japan are provided with good support systems when the situation calls for it.  I have noticed that a major factor contributing to Japanese culture is importing ideas and products from other places and then improving drastically upon them and selling them back to the rest of the world.  They have done this with cars, toilets, poetry, electronics, and NATURE!

i never thought of trying to improve upon nature, but Japanese gardens have shown me that no tree or plant is left to its own natural ways.  there is no chance!  chance is for pachinko players to deal with.  the gardens aren't necessarily imported from other places, but the painstaking efforts involved in manipulating all of the life in such a large garden as the one we saw truly is one of the things that makes a trip to Japan worthwhile (among many other things).  some things are so ordered, and other things are so random that it makes one's head spin.   

Jim and Rose Odling at Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa. 

the Odlings (my parents in-law) put up with plane rides, long bus rides, long walks, long train rides, long bike rides, and even long boat rides as we toured what places we could during their time here. we had a great time with them, and from what they say, they had fun too.  if they had taken a rickshaw and ridden rollerskates, their collection of transportation modes would have been complete.  ...oh, and don't forget pogo sticks.  
some incredibly well-wrought, lifelike statues we saw in Kanazawa.  they evoke the wisdom of ages, and the advancement of human intellect in Japan and the world.  or SOMEthing. 
this kid is easy to please.  i love Crazy English!
Mandy found fulfillment in life, and i captured it in this photo.  probably the perfect moment for my dear wife.  a cat (that lets her hold it) in one arm, a delicious ice cream cone in the other hand, and the sun warming her face to the perfect temperature.  just looking at her in this state is pure bliss!  a highlight of every trip we take, wherever we are, is the sighting of a cat.  petting a cat is a bonus, and the picking up of a cat is double bonus.  i'm pretty sure we're going to be animal people when we get a place of our own.