---Exchange Student Welcome Party---
A couple weeks ago, some students
came in from Belgium as part of the sister city exchange program.
They learned how to make futomaki and
listened to speeches from the mayor, the head of the Board of
Education, and some others. Afterwards we had a sort of picnic (for
lack of a better word), and everyone ate nagashi soumen.
Nagashi soumen is basically when
you run a bunch of soumen noodles down a bamboo pipe river and catch
it with your chopsticks as it runs by (this must be how Japanese kids
become so talented with chopsticks!). Then you
dip it in sauce, eat, and catch some more!
Later, the kids split some
watermelons. This is usually done by blindfolding a kid and having
him spin in circles and then trying to direct him to where the
watermelon is located so he can smack it with a bamboo stick. In
Japan this is fun because you can lie to your friends and make them
swing at open air, or random peoples heads. The Belgian kids just
mostly thought it was fun because they got to smash things.
Hmmm...cultural differences?
---Best Ramen Everrrrr----
So lately I've found this delicious
ramen shop called, kitakata hana no kura （喜多方花の蔵）. So I'm fairly obsessed with ramen, and I'm
always trying out new places, but this one is my favorite by far.
(I'm including any ramen I've eaten in Asahi and Togane in this. This
place is definitely the most delicious). Anyway I usually get their
miso ramen and add an egg into it...
They always use fresh local ingredients
and even keep a sign up on the wall saying what day of the week they
bought which ingredients and from what part of town. I'm not a huge
fan of salt, and the broth for the miso has just the right amount of
saltiness (aka almost none). However, my favorite part of this ramen
is the fact that the pork isn't just floating off to the side like in
most ramen, it's actually cut up into little tiny pieces that float
around in the broth. Delicious. And if I remember correctly, it was
only about 750 yen! This place is definitely worth checking out if
you're in the area. In the month I've lived here I've already eaten
here three times.
It's located off of the 127 in Tateyama. This
location is actually a sort of branch location of the original
restaurant which is located in Chikura, on the other side of
Minamiboso. I heard that the original store is basically located in
the owner's house and the interior decorations are better, but I
haven't been yet so I can't say for sure.
---Houchou-shiki---
Two weeks ago I attended a Knife
Ceremony at Takabe shrine in Chikura (eastern side of Minamiboso).
During this ceremony, the priest gives an offering to the shrine's
god, which happens to be the god of cooking! Apparently this shrine
is the only one in Japan dedicated to the cooking god. Whenever the
shrine inducts a new priest, the priest must complete the ceremony,
and it generally takes place three times a year. This tradition has
actually been continued since the Heian period (my favorite period of
Japan btw) (794-1185 a.d.). Not only that, but in addition, the
shrine itself can be dated back to the writing of the Nihon Shoki
(The Chronicles of Japan
completed 720 a.d.), the second oldest historical book in Japan. The
ceremony itself has the priest purifying the table with salt, and
cutting up a fish without ever touching it with his hands.
The completed fish
There was a group
of elementary school students who came to see the event as well.
After the ceremony they gave us a chance to take close-up photos.
Just as I was wondering what happens to the fish after the ceremony
is finished, I heard one of the children ask a priest whether or not
he eats the fish after the ceremony. To this he replied, “we feed
it to the shrine's cat.”
---Awa Art Exhibit for Peace---
Last
week I went to an art gallery that had been set up at the Genki club.
It was called The Awa Art Exhibit for Peace, and was supposed to
display works of art that represent peace and saving the environment.
All of the works were for sale, in addition to smaller goods
(handmade necklaces, postcards, etc.), the proceeds of both of which
went towards underprivileged children in Uganda. They had photos of
the children up on the walls and letters from some of the people in
Uganda (written in Japanese!? Impressive). I was really pleased by
this event though, because along with the professional Japanese
works, they displayed crayon drawings done by the children in Uganda.
It was so interesting to see the difference in the subject focus
between the two very different cultures. Many of the Japanese works
focused on the ocean, trees, and nature in general, whereas the works
from the children in Uganda all focused on family, home, and farming.
There were two drawings that I really liked in particular. The first
was like a dissected view of a house, as if you could see right
through the front wall of it. Inside there were women sewing and
cooking and children playing, and outside the house was a man doing
field work. The colors were so brilliant too. They were all oranges,
reds, and yellows. I particularly liked this one because I felt like
I was looking right into the house of their family, and getting a
glimpse at another culture. The second one I really liked was a woman
with a sickle cutting crops in a field. This one was impressive
because the relief was drawn really well in general, let alone for
being a drawing that was done by a child with probably zero art
education. I got a few shots inside the gallery, but didn't want to
wear out my welcome by taking too many, so I didn't take any photos
of the individual works.
---Greenroom Camp!---
Over the weekend,
one of the Asahi ALTs and I attended an event called Greenroom camp.
This event is held every year in order to teach people about beach
culture and support beach cleanup efforts. Greenroom was a freakin'
blast. First off, there were tons of people in their 20's and 30's
there, which was an automatic win. But also, they had food stands set
up with all kinds of junk (including crazy delicious chili fries, and
some saucy chicken thing on rice with chips and salsa on top. No idea
what it was but yum). There were tons of drink stands as well where
you cold order anything from beer and canned chu-hi to sangria,
mojitos, rum and chai tea, and shots of tequila. --on a side note--
something everyone should know about Japan: bars do not have shot
glasses here. Most bars don't even serve shots because of this, but
if you ask for a shot, or you see shots on a drink menu, be prepared
to receive 3-4 shots worth of alcohol in a regular glass. Drink up my
friends, drink up.
There were also
little shops available that were selling island gear (shell
necklaces, hawaiian t-shirts, flip-flops). Event wise I honestly
expected it to be bigger when I first arrived at the beach, but in
actuality there was never a moment where I didn't have something to
do. There were two stages, one on each end of the beach, where they
alternated having either a band or a DJ play an hour at a time. In
between these two stages were people body boarding, swimming,
hardcore tight rope walking (legit these people were doing back-flips
and all kinds of craziness. They had to have been in pain the next
day...), yoga and generally wandering around eating and drinking. At
first I was surprised at the number of people that would come up and
start a conversation in English with us, but later after talking to a
bunch of people it turned out that a lot of people that come to the
event are from Chiba city and Tokyo/Saitama areas. I even met
someone up from Narita. But honestly even when I go to Tokyo I don't
have that many people strike up a conversation with me, let alone in
English. I have to attribute it to the booze giving people courage
haha.
The event was
actually two days long, and most of the people that came had brought
tents that they set up on the beach to stay over night in, but I had
a horse show the next day, so I headed out for the evening. Next
year, I'll definitely plan for the whole two days though. One problem
with the event though is lack of transportation to the area. If you
go and you're drinking, obviously you can't drive back, but the last
bus back to Tateyama station is around 7:55—a little early to leave
the festival, huh. I guess even taxis don't come out that late, so if
you go to the event, either plan for the two days (the ticket price
covers both days anyway), or leave early on the first day. In any
case I highly recommend people come to this event next year! It was
probably one of the most fun events I've been to in Japan.
---September Horseshow---
The
following day was the September horse show! It was my first time
doing the 90cm division, and let me tell you it could have been
better :o I was a bit exhausted from all the festivities the day
before, and I had two lessons before the show started...anyway it
seems there's a pattern here. I need to plan better so I actually
have energy when it's show time. Ok so the class itself went
something like this... better than last time, but still weak into the
first line with an add. Coming in to the diagonal line was all
right, but the diagonal single after that I still shoot myself over.
I saw that spot. I freakin saw the spot. Omg. And then for some
reason in my head I just didn't have the confidence to take it, and
told パルコ
to wait for a
short spot--Thinking, “why the hell did I just do
that..?” as we hit the rail :'( The final outside line had the
highest jumps, and was ironically the best part of the whole course.
We went in with the right energy that we should have started with
from the get go, and had no problems.
After the class I
watched a video of my ride, and finally saw what my trainer has been
talking about. I've been ducking over the jumps (in comparison to
Japanese riders anyway) and I need to start using an auto-release
more often. Aka I've been pretty much useless when in the air...fml
that's such a hard problem to fix once you get in the habit. Luckily,
the Japanese style of riding doesn't ever allow for people to develop
such a problem so it's like insanely obvious to my trainer when I do
it. But I did notice that my position is WAY better than what it's
been in the last.... probably since I was in middle school, so I
could potentially tear some people apart at equitation right now haha. Too bad there's no such thing in Japan.
The
next show is October 8th,
so I'm just going to have to practice harder until then. gah.
I feel so stupid sometimes.
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