October 3rd, 2012
--- kyuushoku center---
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| L to R Rice, hijiki, fish, milk, tonjiru |
This past Tuesday I made a visit to the School Lunch Center! They were
so nice to invite me to come try out the school lunches (even though
I think they're technically not allowed to invite people...)! Anyway,
I got to see inside the building and test out what the kids in the
area are eating. Lunch that day consisted of some fried fish, hijiki
(seaweed) with some meat
crumbles in it (may have been chicken?), rice, tonjiru
(a kind of soup), milk, and acerola jello for desert. The hijiki
was particularly delicious. I was told that the whole meal tallies up
to a little over 800 calories, but if you don't drink the milk it's
only about 600. Um milk is delicious. Totally not skipping that. I'm
not aiming for osteoporosis.
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| Where they make the lunches |
---Delegation from Taiwan---
Then on Sunday I
met up with a group of teachers from Taiwan who were visiting the
Minamiboso area. I met up with them at a local bed and breakfast in
Iwai, and we made Boshuu Uchiwa fans, which this area is
famous for. After that we had a dinner banquet with fresh local
foods, and the spread was incredible.
---My Birthday!!---
This Thursday was
my birthday, so yay. Now I'm old. On Wednesday I went out with some
people from work to celebrate my birthday and the birthday of one of
the guys from a different division who I work with a lot. We went to
this super, ritzy french restaurant called Yamaguchi. The food was
exquisite, the wine was great, and the service was superb. They even
made special birthday deserts for us.
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| So fancy! |
I have to say that it is what
you would expect from an expensive French restaurant, though. There
wasn't a whole lot of food, and it was quite pricey. But I recommend
it for an expensive date or once a year celebration or something.
On my actual
birthday I went to judge the high school English speech contest for
the Awa area. Some of the kids were really good, surprisingly, and
there was even a half girl who got 4th at Nationals the
year before. Seriously if I had gone against this girl I probably
would have lost. She was just plain good at giving speeches-perfect
English or no. Afterward, I met up with some of the ALTs for some
birthday yakiniku. We went to Gyukaku in Tateyama. It tasted
decent and the food was cheap (I ate a ton, and didn't drink and it
was about 1700 yen)
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| Madoka, the main character, and two Homura-chans?? |
---Madoka---
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| The art is so awesome and random |
On Saturday I had
my usual riding lessons, and then I met up with a friend to go see
part I of the Madoka movie that just came out! There will be three
parts coming out, but the first two are just a re-cap of the series.
And, the first two parts of the movie will be coming out to select
theatres in the U.S. on October 20th. So it was a re-cap
and I already know what happens, but it was still amazing. My friend
who went with me had already read the plot online, but even so she
really enjoyed watching the movie. For those of you who don't know
anything about the series, it basically is set up as a traditional
“magical girl” themed anime, with a pretty much worthless main
character who is quite whiny and has pink hair. But then shit goes
down. What you expect to be just another pointless show turns out to
be quite dark, and you realize that the show is actually poking a bit
of fun at the magical girl theme. (My friend noticed a super corny
scene where the characters talk about friendship, and the background
is literally a bunch of pills floating in the sky). In addition to
the show not being what you expect, the art is absolutely superb. I
love the slightly sketchy way that the artist drew the characters
eyes, and how lines that should have been erased were left in. But,
my favorite part is the scenes where the girls have to fight the
witches, and the art medium completely changes and the background
becomes sickly-cute to the point of sinister, perfectly drawing
together the theme of the show. If you are in the U.S. or in Japan
definitely check out the movies, and if there isn't a location near
you that's screening them, stream the series online for sure.
---Chikura Herb Garden Cello Concert---
On Sunday I went
to a cello concert at the Chikura Herb Garden. They venue was really
well designed architecturally, and I'm thinking about using it for a
Thanksgiving party for the Minamiboso International Society in
November. For snacks during the intermission, they offered their own
chai as well as herb tea in addition to various breads and cookies
made with the herbs grown at the garden. Also, this is the first
place I've been to in Japan where smoking is strictly prohibited
inside and outside the building, in contrast to being in Columbus
where you literally have to be so many feet from a building before
you're allowed to smoke. The cellist was a Japanese girl by the name
of Sachiho Otsuka, who looked to be only a few years older than
myself. Apparently she grew up in the United States, and I was told
her English is better than her Japanese. Her playing was really good,
and she definitely likes my kind of Classical music. I even found a
new song that I'd never heard before as it originated in Japan. It
was called Moon Over Ruined Castle by Rentaro Taki. It ended up being
my favorite that evening. At the end of the concert everyone sang
together, and then we did the Japanese traditional paparazzi-style
photo shoot.
---October Horse Show---
On Monday I had a
horse show! This time wasn't the usual circuit that I do, but the
bigger Chiba-hai show. It started in the morning, but by the time my division started it was already dark, so unfortunately no pictures this month either :(
I entered in the 70/80cm division and the 90cm
division. When the sun went down it got a bit chilly out, so Parco
was pretty up, which was good news for me since I'm way better at
riding horses that are a bit strong. The first class went decently
and almost all of my distances were spot on, but my pace was a bit
irregular so I think my time ended up being a bit off. We did a
strong gallop to the first diagonal single, and then came to the
first line. My distance here was a bit long, so when I asked her to
take it she took that as the go-ahead to try to leave out in the
line, but I pulled her back for the 5 just fine. We jumped out of it
going a bit fast so I settled her pace and we headed to the second
line. We jumped in and out fine there and when we came to the last
line I knew she was going to be strong as it was headed home, so I
came in slow, and it ended up being the perfect distance when she
picked up the pace within the line. The 90cm class went really well!
By this time she'd settled down a little so when I got on I had to
ask her to gallop a little to the first jump. The first line was
dead-on, but I accidentally let her slow a little on the turn to the
second line so we had a chip :/ fuck. We jumped out of the line with
a good distance, and out of the last line with a clear round. The
goal was 42 seconds and I got 42.25! Unfortunately (or miraculously)
there was a rider who was spot on at 42 seconds, so I came in second
place. But I'm still really happy for the second because there were a
lot of entries this time around, and this was the first time I've
placed since starting Jumpers, and since beginning riding in Japan!
Afterward, one of the really good riders, whom I've never met before,
came up to me and said that she was going to suggest to the trainers
that I enter the riding school. Up to this point I wasn't really sure
what that meant, but I guess it's like declaring that you are in
training to be a professional, and if you're in the school you're
allowed to go to outside shows! So I'm really excited for that. I
talked to one of my trainers about it, and it seems that the entry
exam isn't until December, so we'll see what happens then!
---Knife Ceremony---
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| Omiyage booths and the seating for our stage |
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| Lobby from above. The stage is in the top right corner. |
On Tuesday, I went
with the Tourism Promotion Division to Tokyo to interpret at the IMF
for a presentation on the Houchou shiki or, Knife Ceremony, that they hold at Takabe
Shrine (see third entry). However, on the way there, there was an
accident 1km ahead of us on the aqualine and the freeway was shut
down! We ended up just sitting there for about an hour, and even
though our presentation was to start at 2 o'clock, we didn't arrive
until 1:30! With having to set up, and everyone having to put on
their traditional Heian period ceremonial dress, we began the
presentation about 10 minutes late. I could see all the Japanese
people in the audience checking their watches at 1:54, wondering why
it hadn't started yet. (You're still 6 minutes early people!) The
presentation took place in Yokohama in the Marunouchi building (the
same set of buildings where the art aquarium was! coincidences.) in
the main lobby. There was a Japan tourism area set up with booths
from various famous areas in Japan where they sold souvenirs and
famous foods from each area. Off to the side of this, they set up a
stage where various cultural presentations took place, including our
Knife Ceremony presentation. So they had me interpret the
introduction to the Knife Ceremony which included the history of the
ceremony, the history of Takabe Shrine, and even the ancestry of the
guys performing the ceremony. It was really interesting to learn that
the man performing the ceremony that day is actually the 12th
descendant of the man who invented the ceremony during the Heian
period, and who also had connections with three different emperors.
The guy who I have pictures of performing the ceremony in September,
Yoichi-san, performed the table purification this time around. I also
learned some new stuff about the ceremony that's kind of interesting.
First, they place
five clam shells on the table that are wrapped in colored paper.
These represent the expression “five flavors, five colors,” which
is a reference to when Iwamatusukuri brought clams to Emporer Keiko,
and the food was highly praised. Next, the table is purified with
salt and water. The salt is poured in the four corners of the table
and swept across it. Then paper is placed on the table, on top of
which water is poured. The paper is then swept across the table in a
zig-zag pattern. Then, the fish is “offered” by holding it aloft.
Finally, the “presentation of flowers and knife” takes place,
where flower petals are shaken over the fish to represent the
cleansing of the spirit, and then the blade of the knife is checked
before the ceremony begins. The ceremony itself varies based on the
type of fish being offered, as there are different methods based on
the fish.
After interpreting
this information I did notice that the method of cutting the fish was
different than the time before.
Tonight I'm headed
to this potluck in Tateyama. Let's see how I can get out of
cooking...
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