At the camping party a couple weeks ago. Jay Duffy (from Hawaii via the New England area) and I got our grove on after a few beers. Oh yeah. 

Here's my favorite uncle Ray and my best cousin Matt. We're at the cigar bar at the Marriott in St. Kitts. These two, cards, rum....what more could you want? 

This is s shot of a mukade. It's a centipede that is poisonous and can give you a nasty bite from what I understand. This one was about four or five inches long and dropped off the wall behind my tv a couple months ago. Amy freaked out but brought me the container while I kept an eye on it. I captured it to Amy's shrieking, "Throw it out, throw it off the balcony." But rather than waste this photo oppourtunity I told her to bring the camera. This is the result. Little fuzzy but you get the idea. 

Here's a picture of me and me brotha'. A couple of good looking guys, don't ya think? 

Hmmmm......I was supposed to be at Shizen Gakuen today, but here I find myself in the Kencho, yet again! How did this happen?
Last night Yamanashi, or the western and central parts of it, were hit with a typhoon. Not a direct hit, but a glancing blow. Enough to upset the delicate balance that makes up any mass transit system. Throw one train out of whack the rest are too.
The typhoon wasn't as bad as I was hoping for. Not that I like the destruction of lives and homes, but I do like bad weather. I like the excitement it brings, the unpredictablilty, the break from monotony, the feeling that tomorrow you'll wake up and things might not go according to plan. And that's pretty much what happened in spite of the fact that nothing more than my satillite reception seemed affected last night.
This morning I rose at six and got ready to go to 'the little school that could', aka. Shizen Gakuen. You might remember this school from past tales like 'It takes me two hours to get there' and 'Hello.....two students'. Yes, this is the small school up the hills where even the crows don't go.
Anyway, I got on my bike at 655am and made my way to the train station. My train leaves at 721 and I was there with 5 minutes to spare. So I bought my ticket, noticed a man in a JR (Japanese Railroads) uniform making some announcement and went down to the platform. It did cross my mind that the announcement man might have been informing patrons of delays, but as it seemed like a nice morning with only wet pavement to show for the storm, I didn't think too much of it.
Well, at 721 I was still standing on the platform with no train in sight. So I figured it would be a minute or two but no more. But my optmism soon left as 725 came and went. You see, the bus at the end of my train ride leaves at 740 and the train ride to get there is about 15 minutes. But while all these time tables were running through my head so was the one that said, 'Well, if the trains are late perhaps the busses are too.'
At 732 my train arrived and at 735 we left the station. I wasn't too sure what would or wouldn't be awaiting me on the other end but as there was nothing I could do about it, I wasn't too worried about what might happen.
We got to Nirasaki at 750 and I went down to see if the bus was waiting. But it wasn't. So I waited thinking that maybe it was late. But after ten minutes I knew it wasn't coming cause it had already been there. So I checked the train schedule for a ride back to Kofu and found that one was leaving in ten minutes, if they were on schedule yet.
There is no taking the next bus because the next bus doesn't leave for until 920. And even if I did take it I'd probably still be screwed because I have another bus to catch about 45 minutes up the mountain. And I have no idea about the times for those busses (really large vans) as I always catch the same one and the town up there is nothing more than a few buildings next to a dam.
I had thought about taking a taxi like I did that time I forgot my wallet, but as this wasn't my doing and I wasn't sure if I'd be reimbursed the 80 bucks I decided that I'd just go back to the Kencho and tell them what happened. So I did.
I got to the Kencho at 835, just five minutes after my usual Kencho arrival time, unfortunately, and told them what happened. Goto-san called the school and told them what happened and that was that. Here I am. Kind of a drag, but what can you do? At least we had some wind and rain last night.

Tomoko has backed out of our Fuji trip. I'll get her yet. She's the same girl that didn't come to the Ichikawa fireworks festival a few weeks ago. Her number is up.
But the rest of us are still going. Have to take a bus instead, but we are going. You'll see pictures here next week.

Kaio and Taka are doing fine. They definitely have different 'personalities' (animalalities?). Kaio tends to freeze hoping I won't see him when I come close and tends to stay up on the rock. He's the couch potato of the two. Taka is all over the place and although braver about exploring his roughly 18 by 10 inch home, he has no qualms about diving into the water and trying to swim away when I approach.
I have begun to think about the winter though. When I got them I hadn't even considered cold-blooded creatures in my apartment and how winter might affect them. Dobe and Ares, as warm blooded mammals, seemed capable of maintaining their core temperatures throughout the winters without too much outside help. But, then again, they never had to contend with inside apartment temperatures where you could see your breath. I'm afraid that Kaio and Taka have no system for maintaining core temperatures and that this winter might freeze them.
So I've decided that I'll have to hit a pet store and get some sort of heating device for them. I remember that fish aquariums have heaters so I assume the same sort of thing exists for turtle aquariums. Can't let the boys (not sure if they are, in fact, boys) freeze.
I've also decided that cleaning their water every 24 hours is going to get old very fast. I did it Sunday, I did it yesterday, and I expect to have to do it tonight as well. Turtles need land and water so you tend to keep the water level quite low which means less water gets dirty very fast. So a filtering system it is.
Also might have to upgrade the food quality. Who wants to eat pellets everyday? Perhaps some nice shrimp meal or something of that nature is in order.
Anyway, I didn't have much to spend money on. Just loans and a credit card bill and a little rent and some bills and travel and food and drink and sometimes Amy and now.....two turtles. But boy are they good-looking little buggers!

Some of you that know me might know that I like pets. I've had all sorts of pets throughout the years: dogs, cats, hamsters, fish, tree frogs, a turtle, a snake, and probably a few others that I am forgetting. There is something about a pet that makes me happy. I am sure many of you can relate to this. I remember hearing once that some lady, a poet, I think, when asked why she liked pets, answered, "Sometimes it's just nice to have another heartbeat around the house." Perhaps a bit sappy but true nonetheless.
Well, I now have two more heartbeats in my apartment. I've named them Kaio and Takamisakari after two of the sumo wrestlers that I like. What are the new Kaio and Taka? Scroll down and see......

This is Takamisakari. He's the more adventurous of the two. 

Kaio up on his rock. I like the back legs stretchy thing he does. 

The dime is for reference. I thought about using a 100yen coin but the reference might be a little lost on some of you.This is Kaio. He seems to like hanging out on the rock more than Takamisakari does. 

Cute little guy, aye? 

Well, I didn't have to go to school today. Got a call from Goto-san at home the other evening and through a difficult-to-understand conversation he informed me that my Friday school had called and said to make my first day out there a week from today. So yesterday was it for this week. Oh well. No big deal. Monday I will be here, at the Kencho, again and then Tuesday I start a run of school days that should last a while.

I am still undecided as to whether I want to do a third year here. I like living here but the seven school thing had gotten to me by May and I imagine that it will not be as fun this year as it was last year due to the newness of it all not being a factor (I am speaking only about the job here). I am really beginning to think that seven schools is a bit much. Hard to keep up with. And I still don't really know any of my students. It's a bit tough coming in every time and feeling out of touch with what is going on.
But anyway, I don't bring this up to complain (that ain't my style). I bring this up cause today I had a short conversation at lunch with Dilek about grad school. She said she just applied. And I thought, "Damn. I guess I should start looking into that." So I looked at Washington and Oregon residency requirements (for an example) and it looks as though it takes a year to establish yourself in order to be able to pay in-state fees. And since I recently gave up my California residency I imagine that is the case there too. Is this the case for all states? I don't know.
It is going to be tough finding a job from here, also, I imagine. Not that I want one. Heh heh. But in all honesty I have no idea what I am qualified to do. Very little, I imagine. Pretty sure I don't want to teach although teaching my own students on a more frequent basis might be much different and more enjoyable than my current situation. Again, don't know.
Anyway, if this is my last year here, I need to get started on all this. Would still like to be a pirate though. How does one go about that?

This weekend I haven't got much planned. Yamashita night tomorrow but other than that I guess I'll leave it to Amy to entertain me. She'll like that.

Yesterday I ran into Mashi on my way through his driveway and to my place. We stopped and exchanged greetings and I asked how he was doing. Now, his English is very broken but he did manage to tell me that his cousin had died a few days before and that yesterday was the funeral. "Oh," I said, "Sorry to hear that." Then he went on to tell me that his cousin was only 48. At this I was a bit shocked and tried to ask how he had died but couldn't get my question across. I asked if it was a heart attack and he said, "Yes, my heart is broken." This, of course, doesn't quite mean what you and I would have it mean but I got his point, though, I never did find out what had caused his cousin's death.
So I might never know. That is just the way it goes sometimes over here. But hell, man, 48! That's rather young.

Ok, not much to say really. Just trying to make it through this Friday and into Friday night when I can go home, have a beer, listen to some tunes, and wait around for Amy. Have only 25 minutes to go. Have a good weekend.

This, my loyal readers, is my 101st post to this journal. But I'll spare you the cheesy greatest outtakes review and just get on with things.

I lost a shirt the other day. Heh heh, I can hear you now, "What's that? You lost a shirt?!" Yup, that's right--I lost a shirt. How did I lose a shirt, you ask? Did one of my many female fans rip it off me during one of my stand-up comedy routines that we call "teaching English"? Nope. Neither did I lose it in a drunken brawl with some Bruce Lee looking teenager outside a kareoke club. No, the sad truth is I lost it off my balcony as it was supposed to be drying.
I had done the laundry on a weeknight last week and had left it to dry overnight. My balcony has a metal bar for a clothesline and after I do the wash, in the warmer months, I hang things up there to dry. We don't have dryers over here for those of you new around here. We only have washers that get things about half clean.
So I had hung it up around 6pm and figured it might be dry by the morning but figured if it wasn't I'd just leave it out there the next day. Ok, actually I didn't actually think all this. This whole routine has just become second nature to me so there is no thinking involved, just doing. But anyway, I hung it up and left it there along with other shirts, pants, socks, and undies.
The next morning I went outside to check on the status of these freshly washed clothes to find that they were nearly dry but not quite complete. So, I left them there and went to work.
When I got home I was walking my bike up the path behind the apartments (and under my fourth floor balcony) and noticed that one of my shirts was lying on the ground out there, an apparent suicide. But I picked it up, brushed it off, and took it back upstairs.
After I hung it in the closet (it was clean) I went out to the balcony to collect the rest of my clothes. I then noticed that some of my socks were still attached to the clothespins but had been blown around so that they were wrapped around the pole and also that one of my other shirts was on the floor of the balcony. "Hmmm," I confirmed in my mind, "Guess we did have some wind today." So I grabbed them all, brought them in and hung them up in a wind-free zone.
It was about this point that I noticed something amiss. Seemed that one of my work shirts was missing. So I looked around, back on the balcony, over the balcony, in the closet, and even in the dirty clothes basket. But nope, it seemed to be missing. So I went downstaris and looked around outside and up into the trees, but no dice. I then tried to bring in America's Most Wanted but was reminded that I am no longer living under their jurisdiction. So apparently I did indeed lose a shirt. Guess I'll have to go buy another.
Ok, not much of a story, I'll admit, but this wouldn't have happened if we had dryers over here.

Are you people watching the Olympics? I'm not. I've found out that the coverage in this country is crap.
Now first, I will admit that most of the good stuff at the Olympics seems to be happening during the evening hours, in Athens. This is usually the case, I presume, because those are the prime tv viewing hours. And unfortunately those hours in Athens make it about 2 or 3am here. Not exactly convenient hours for viewing. Yes, NHK is showing stuff at those hours and I could record it but that would involve getting up at the proper time and hitting the record button because I still can't figure out how to program a Kanji only VCR.
But anyway, my main point is this--and herein lies the true reason I am not getting up at 2am to hit the record button--nearly all events shown over here that I have seen focus 95% on Japan only. On the weekends I can watch the late afternoon coverage for a few hours, which makes it the mid-morning events in Athens if it's being shown live. And so far all I've seen are events which feature a Japanese athlete or Japanese team. Now, I have nothing against Japan. I rather like the country. And I have nothing against NHK as they bring me sumo every 6 weeks. But c'mon, let's see something other than Japan only coverage.
In America I have watched the Olympics and whoever is doing the coverage, while perhaps focusing a little more on Americans, does make an effort to show athletes and teams of other countries. Now, I will admit that the language barrier doesn't help and that that is not NHK's fault, but I will tell you that in every team sport competition I have seen over here, one of the teams has been from Japan. And of all the individual sports I have seen there is usually a Japanese athlete either in that particular race or perhaps in the next heat. Gets a little old after a while when you want to see how humans in general are doing.
But I guess this shouldn't be new or shocking to me. I've seen American baseball over here a few times in the mornings and each and every time it has been either the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mariners, or the Mets. "Why those teams?" you non-baseball watching folk ask? They all have a famous Japanese ballplayer on the team. And what's more is that during the game while you may be watching and seeing the next pitch or a score or the next batter making his way to the plate, I am over here staring at Matsui cleaning his glove in right field or Ichiro sitting in the dugout waiting for his next at-bat. It seems a bit strange to me but then, I come from America where many different people make up the population and we don't really give a damn where a guy's from as long as he's good. Yeah, these Japanese players are good but I have a feeling that the feed I am getting isn't showing me them because of that.
Anyway, these Olympics are a wash for me. Bummer that.

On a brighter note Yamashita and I have scheduled an evening together at his house with his wife, two sons, his parents, Amy and, of course, the two of us. I haven't seen him in a while and am really looking forward to it. When I told him that if his parents were visiting that we could do it another time he answered, and I quote, "My parents do not mind your visiting at all, because they don't understand what we are saying at all. Our talk will sound like a kind of music." Now that shit's funny, man.

One more thing....I have fixed it so you people can comment on what I write. I am, of course, only looking for praise and accolades so if you have any negative feedback, keep it to yourself. No no, if you have anything to say at all you may now click on the comments at the bottom of each post and work it out from there. Just keep in mind that I know where most of you live.

Ok, over and out.

Well, the end of my summer 'vacation' is fast (like a snail) approaching. I guess in some ways it did go by pretty quickly, but in other ways it moved by with all the speed of the Fujikyu train line (that's pretty slow for those of you who've never had the pleasure of riding those particular rails). Hard to believe that Rigel's wedding is over, but those 10 days of fun were followed up by three solid weeks of Kencho time, during which time I became familiar with the internet in a way I had not before. But anyway, this week I start school. Unless something changes I have three days here at the Kencho and then on Thursday go to the aviation academy and on Friday make an appearance at Yamanashi Gakuen. Will be nice to see the teachers and students again. And next week I have school everyday.

Speaking of the schools, one of mine did quite well in the national high school baseball tournament. Everyone over here refers to the tournament as Koshien, which is the name of the stadium it is played at over in Osaka. The tournament consists of 49 high school teams. Each prefecture in this country, of which there are 47, sends one team; the exceptions being Hokkaido and Tokyo due to the high population of each area. These prefectures send two teams each.
I am not exactly sure how each prefecture decides which team to send but it makes sense to me that there must be some kind of a prefectural tournament with the winner earning the right to represent its prefecture. In Yamanashi the four baseball teams I always hear about just happen to be three of my schools and Amy's. I am sure there are others though.
So somehow one of my schools ended up being the school to represent Yamanashi. I didn't know this as schools are not in session and I can't understand the local news, but one evening last week Amy and I were sitting around watching some of the Olympics. The coverage ended and the local news came on and what should I see but some highlights from Koshien and guys with baseball uniforms that said Tokai running around the bases. 'Hey,' I said to Amy, 'Unless there is another Tokai, that's my school.' Or one of them anyway. So sure enough I recognized a few faces (although this was hard as they are usually sleeping in class) and figured out that this was, in fact, the Tokai in Kofu, Yamanashi, at which your humble narrator expounds English lessons on a fortnightly basis. And what was better was that they had won that game.
Then at the seminar (which I will tell you a little about later) during lunch time, the big screen downstairs was showing a live game featuring Tokai. So I and a few of the Japanese teachers gathered around and watched an inning or two. At the point I began watching Tokai was down 7-2 , it was the 5th inning and I figured they'd loose the thing. But later on I found out that they had come back in the bottom of the 8th and 9th innings to win the thing on a sayonara homerun. I was sorry I had missed it but was happy they'd managed to pull it off.
Then this last Friday I was sitting here in the Kencho (like I do) when one of the guys gets up and turns on the small tv we have in here. I had no idea why he did this as the tv is used only during the lunch hour but it soon became clear. At 10am Tokai took the field at Koshien. So we were all doing our work (except me because I don't have any!) and were keeping one eye on the game. During this time one of the girls asked me if I knew of Tokai to which I told her that I did and that some of those boys on the screen were my students. In Japanese, "Oh, that's wonderful! What are their names?" I had to admit that I didn't know. Hey, you try coming over here and learning 500 students names! I'm lucky I can remember the teachers' names.
But she did inform me that Tokai was into the final eight and if they won this game they'd play on Saturday in the final four and a shot at the championship game.
Anyway, about this time, bottom of the first, one of the boys nails a shot to left-center that clears the wall and scores two. We had the sound down so none of us heard the announcer but I had been watching and said, "Oh, hey, a home run," to which my friend looked up and said, "Ah! Homerun desu!" and the rest of the office went into a small buzz about it. This was looking good. But.....
What happens next will never be forgiven in my book. And I have not had one moment over here in which I was truly pissed off at a Japanese person but this broke that streak.
One of the older ladies in the office got up, went to the tv, and turned it off! I would cuss here but I told mom I'd clean up my language on this journal, so let me just say "Fornication, lady! Are you stupid?!" That is what I felt like saying. But I didn't and neither did anyone else. In fact, no one said a word. They just all went back to their work. I couldn't believe it. Here it was a Friday, with a Yamanashi team in the final eight of the national high school baseball tournament and she goes and clicks the damn tv off. What the hell?! Had I been in America I would have said something. I'm not sure what and I would have tried to make it repectful, but I would have said something. But over here, what can I do?
So that was that and I never got to see another pitch in that game. Tokai did win though, 10-8.
Saturday I was rather busy and couldn't watch the game but Tokai ended up loosing anyway. A team from Hokkaido ended up winning the tournament in yesterday's game. First time a team from the north island has won the thing. But hey, Tokai did quite well to win Yamanashi and then be one of 49 teams in the final four. When I see those boys in two weeks I will have to congratulate them. If I can wake them up, that is.

The seminar last week was good. Amy and I had a room of eleven Japanese teachers and four other foreign teachers (two Canadians, one Brit, and one other Californian). It was good group and I'm pretty sure that everyone enjoyed themselves.
Amy did most of the work and I have to say that she did a good job. She is definitely a teacher by nature. She did pretty much all the prep work and led the group activities. We talked about ideas for the next day in the evenings and between activities and put our heads together to come up with plans but she did most of the concrete stuff. I think she likes it. She may say to me, on occasion, "Ok, you can lead the next thing," but then she just tends to take over. I didn't mind. I'd rather be the room jester anyway. I was much better at that.
The high point of the seminar for me came on day three. The day before we foreigners had had to give country presentations which consisted of the six of us talking about our countries and aspects of living in them, working in them, etc. But on this day, the Japanese teachers had to give their country presentations. Of course, they were all doing Japan, so Matt (the head JET, if you will) had told us to give them ideas about what we would like to learn more about with regards to Japan. During this small brainstorm I blurted out that I wanted to learn more about sumo and sake. One of the guys immediately picked up on the sumo and said he'd do the presentation to which I said, "Eggs-cellent."
So the next day he got up there first and told us about sumo and some of the finer details involved in the sport. I already know a lot so he just sort of filled in a few areas for me, but it was great to hear about sumo from his point of view.
Then, and I kid you not, he said, "Now we will do a demontration of sumo." Yes, that's right, he and a few of the others did a demonstration. First, three of the ladies got out small cushions and then kneeled down on them around the imaginary dohyo (the ring). Then, the two 'fighters' got out there and threw make believe salt and did some stretching while our presentor took out a fan and began to literally sing the pre-bout announcements. At this I couldn't help but laugh and nearly cry with joy. Here were six Japanese English teachers putting on a demonstration of a sumo bout. It was great.
So he sang the praises to the east and west and then moved over to take the roll of referee. The referee at a basho is responsible for announcing the fighters' names, where they are from, and which stable they are a member of and he does this is a half-singing, half-chanting sort of way. So our friend did this and after a few more salt throws and stretches, the fight got underway. It was a good fight with two Japanese men in shirts and ties giving all they had, each trying to force the other down or off the dohyo. In the end the smaller of the two forced his opponent to the ground and the three ladies sent their cushions flying.
But it wasn't over yet. During his talk our presentor had mentioned the envelopes that the bigger fights' winners always receive. These are donations to the fight, not the wrestlers as the winner takes all, which come from rich individuals or supporters, or from certain corporations (if I understood all this correctly) and can contain a few thousand dollars in yen at a time. So they mimed like the winner was getting this donation and he did the three motions with his hand over the envelopes and that was that.
It was one of the most memorable moments in my Japanese experience.
The other talks featured a lady talking about Okinawa, a small group telling us about some Japanese fables and even reading one of them to us, one guy talking about the faces we see on the money over here, and another guy telling us a little about sake.
The guy that did the sake thing used to work with Amy at Ichikawa but got moved in April to Kofu First High School. He is a very nice guy and liked to joke around with me. Apparently I have a reputation in Amy's office as having a taste for Japanese alcohol. Her supervisor met me once and a few weeks later Amy showed up at my place with a bottle of sake from him to me. So during his talk this guy told us that he doesn't drink too much and that if we wanted to know more about the subject to ask two of the other male teachers in the room and he pointed to them. Then he mentioned shochu and said that he didn't know too much about it either but that if the room wanted to learn more about it "you should ask Marcus" to which the entire room broke out in laughter, as did I. Anyway, it was a nice little talk and he even gave me the small bottle of sake he'd brought from his hometown.
So the seminar eventually ended and we sadly said goodbye to our new friends. They thanked Amy and me a few times, telling us what a great time they'd had and we thanked them for the same. If that was my job, I'd have no question about staying a third year.

Ok, that's all for today.

Well, my friends, this is my last day at the Kencho for a whole week. And let me be the first to say "Ya Hooo!"
Next week we have a seminar which will consist of JETs and JTEs. Those almost look alike, don't they? JET stands for Japanese Exchange Teaching. JTE stands for Japanese Teacher of English. Now you know.
So we have a four day seminar and I can honestly say that I have never looked forward to a seminar so much in my life. After three weeks of sitting here and trying to entertain myself without the luxuries of beer, video games, tv, and/or music, I think I will enjoy having to 'work' for a change.
This seminar is really for the Japanese teachers to practice their English and to perhaps learn a little about team teaching but I'll also take what I can get from it. Last year was the seminar's first year in Yamanashi and I felt kinda lucky in that I got to meet some Japanese teachers (none of them mine) and kind of experience a classroom environment (without students) before I actually had to do it all for real. It was just a good way to meet some people and learn a few language activities and have some fun.
This year Amy and I are leading our room for the four days. Apparently we'll have about 25 people or so, half Japanese teachers, half foreigners. The four day schedule of events has already been put together so we really don't have to plan anything, we just have to make it go. Should be fairly painless.
All the JET ALTs (assistant language teachers) of Yamanashi will be there, or are supposed to be, and there will be roughly the same amount of JTEs. So I imagine the number of participants will be around 200 or so, maybe a little less. At our little meeting for this thing they asked for volunteers to be room leaders. Of course, Amy, the nerd, signed up immediately. I didn't. But then they needed more people so Amy talked me into it. They then take all the group leaders and pair them up. Amy and I got each other because, shall I say, there were certain others that we wished not to be paired up with. I won't mention any names here as there might be a chance in hell one of you knows one of them, though I doubt it. So for four days Amy and I will do a little comedy routine and assign activities to our group. Might not sound like much fun to you, but trust me, if I don't get out of this Kencho soon I might be deported.

The Olympics start today and I hope I get coverage. I don't need to see it all, if that is possible, but I would like to see some of it. I will be rooting for the Japanese baseball team; the USA team did not qualify-ha ha ha. I will also be rooting for Kim Collins in the 100m as I just visited his country and liked it very much. Also saw an interview with him on tv and he seemed like a good guy.
Other than that, I always enjoy the diving events, the swimming events, track and field, and some of the gymnastics.
I also hope the Games are not the scene of some damn attack. They are not about politics, they are about international sporting competition. So here's to a great three weeks of peaceful and friendly sporting.

Amy gets back today. Friday the 13th-heh heh. Her plane should have landed by now. I hope she brought me a gift. But I'm not sure what I'd want from Oklahoma. Though I do know she's bringing me a video game, except that I paid for it so it's not really a gift. Anyway, be nice to have blondie back around as I need someone to pick on. First it was my dog, then my cat, and now I have Amy.

I ran into Mashi the other day. First time in a couple months. He told me that Tokoji is having its Obon festival this weekend. Saturday night at 7pm. I think the Obon festival is about dead ancestors.
Anyway, he mentioned that there would be dancing (and not the freaking with some girl kind), taiko drumming, some games, and beer. When he mentioned the beer I said I'd be there.
I think that this festival is the one I remember from my first time in Japan; we used to call them Bon-Odori. Said in an American accent, though, and the Japanese have no idea what you are talking about. I should know cause I've asked about 'bon-odoris' a few times and each time they look at me like I am speaking babble. I think the confusion happens when I say 'bon' with the o sound of 'on'. It really should sound like the o in 'own'. But even when I try to say it this way they still give me that look that says 'why are you here?'
These fesitivals are fun though. Or I remember them being fun in my younger days. Every neighborhood has one and it's like a big community party. I am sure Tokoji's will be a small affair but the ones I remember from the Navy days seemed big. There were so many in all the surounding communities that my family and/or friends and I used to go to a few every year. Even the base had one.
I rememeber all the ladies in yukatas (summer kimonos) dancing around in a circle that was sometimes up to five people deep (my mother learned how to dance too). And in the middle would be a stage upon which would be a couple of LARGE drums and a couple of guys beating them in a great, trance-inducing rhythm. That was where I first saw taiko (the style of drumming) and have loved it ever since. There would also be booths set up with foods of many types, games of all kinds, and of course, things you could buy.
So I am looking forward to this. Not to mention hanging out with Mashi again.

Ok, not much to say really. I should have more by the end of next week. Until then, keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the beer.

Well, let's see. I have about 2 hours left to kill. What can I tell you about?

Yesterday I gave the 'attitude' speech. I whipped those little freaks into shape, I did. Actually it went well, I think. They laughed at the proper parts and I saw a few people nodding their heads in agreement with some of my points. That, plus a couple people told me it was good after I was finished. So hey, maybe public speaking is in my future. Or not.
It was fun, though. Like I told them, it's all about perspective and taking pleasure in the little things.

Speaking of little things....I wish they'd turn up the damn air conditioner in this building! For the love of god, why must we suffer?!

Mom called the other night (she'll love it that I am writing this-ha ha). Said she was watching the news in the morning before work and that there was a report about an accident at a nulcear plant here in Japan. She called at 6am her time, 10pm my time. She said, and I quote her exact words as well as I can remember, "Marcus, there was an accident there in Japan and you need to have the announcements translated for you so you'll know what to do."
At this I said, "Umm, what are you talking about?" I was thinking, "What accident and what announcements is this loony lady refering to?"
So then she proceeded to tell me what she had just seen on the news. I had heard on the news earlier about the accident at the nuclear plant but it said that the people killed were killed by escaping steam (ouch!) and that there was no danger of a radiation leak. That, and it was hundreds of kilometers away from me. Granted she didn't know all this but I found it all rather amusing nonetheless.
I also found it funny that she remembered the public announcements and that she was urging me to go bother one of my Japanese speaking friends to translate it for me. Only thing was there were no announcements! Kofu was safe from the steam.
Have I told you about the public announcements over here? I think I've mentioned them but in case not....yes, we have loudspeakers throughout our neighborhoods over here and perhaps two or three times a week they are used. They are attached to poles and are LOUD! What do they say when they make announcements? Well, I've asked that very question to certain friends of mine and apparently they say things like (please hear all of the following in your head in a loud, slow and deep voice), "People of Kofu, there is a typhoon on the way. Be prepared. Stock up on water and batteries and bring in any small pets you may have." Or "People of Tokoji (that's my area of Kofu), tonight there will be a meeting regarding your garbage collection days. Please attend if you wish to have your voice heard. Oh, and also, there is an elderly man missing. His name is Yasuo Katayama and he is 87. He was last seen at the beer vending machine buying an Asahi Super Dry tall can. His family is worried about him. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts please notify the police." Or "People of Ichikawa (Amy's town), we have just planted the rice. Rest assured that this year's rice crop is now underway and that your bowls will remain full throughout the following year. If you are hard pressed for entertainment in this god forsakken town, as many of us are, you can meet down at Yamada's rice field, across from the smallest of our 67 shrines, and talk to others while you watch the rice grow. Spots are going fast, though, so book yours in advance."
Ok, I may have gotten off the topic there, but you get the idea. They make announcements regarding many different things. I think it's a great idea cause I remember living in Ohio as a youngster and if you didn't have the tv or radio going you might miss the fact that your area was having a tornado watch/warning and before you knew it you might be swept away. Here, there is no way in hell you'd miss an announcement because not only are they loud, but they come and go in waves.
First I will hear the loudspeakers down the street give the announcement. This would be sufficient but just in case I didn't hear them the first time they do it again. Only this time it's over the speakers mounted to my futon, I mean, outside on a pole much closer to my apartment. This is the announcement that interupts my sleep, my tv viewing, my music listening, and/or any conversations I might be having. It's like someone is at my screen yelling into my place, "MARCUS! Just in case you missed it the first time we'll say it again....PEOPLE OF TOKOJI, WE ARE NOW AT WAR WITH ICHIKAWA!"
Then after the man has left the window, he quickly runs down the street and makes the announcement over some loudspeakers that I can still hear but are not nearly as close. And then after that I have to hold still to hear a fourth announcement from somewhere over yonder.
All in all it is a good way to inform us all of some impending doom (or a misplaced old person), or rather it would be a good way if I could understand one word of it beside the city/town name.
Perhaps I'll just rely on mom. She speaks English most of the time.

I will be climbing Fuji soon. My appointment with the fifth station (where you stop driving and start walking) is set for 10pm, August 28th. Why a night climb? In order to be able to watch the sun rise, of course. Should be fun.
It will be me, Amy, Tomoko and perhaps Yuki. Tomoko and I have done it before so we know what we are getting into. Not sure about Yuki and I know Amy has never done it. I'm not sure if she knows how long the climb is. I remember from my first time here that it ain't no short jaunt up a hill. It isn't remotely technical in that you don't need ropes, a helmet, or a net, but it is a long, long walk up a steep trail. And it seems to go on and on and on. This time I won't be fooled by those fake tops, aka. areas where you look up and see the trail end and think, "Oh look! My suffering is nearly over!" only to get to that point and see the trail continue up to another fake top that you think must be real. Nope, not this time. I'll just keep climbing and when I can't go up anymore, I'll assume I've reached my goal: 3775.63 meters above sea level (12,387.2 feet for those of you metrically challenged).
Sun rises around here around 4:30am so we can't be too much longer than six hours. I know I can do it. No problem. Just hope Amy does ok. She's not much into running around in the mountains. I know she can get to the top. I just don't know how fast or slow she'll be. But if I have to, I'll bring rope and tie her to me and pull her up. Or on second thought, maybe not. Then I'd have to listen to her telling me to slow down the whole time. Hell, maybe I'll just see her at the top. Don't tell her I said all this though, as she might push me into the crater when we get there.

Until next time.....

I don't wish to be melodramtic here but I almost died the other evening. Or I think I did. Hell, I don't know, maybe it would have just hurt real bad. Or maybe I would have been in a coma for a few days. Or maybe I would have just lost my memory. Or maybe.....I would have attained supernatural powers and could then dress up in tights and be called Electricman.
Ok ok, here's what happened.
I have a new neighbor named Matt. He's from England. He has just moved into my building because he has taken Robin's job and is now our prefectural advisor (so far he hasn't advised me about anything). Anyway, he and I were attempting to put up his satellite dish after work on Friday.
During our endevour which included powertools, taking measurements, and generally all the things that real men enjoy (yes, we had beer too) the clouds started to thicken and the sky got darker. To the south of us we then noticed that lightning was coming in. Of course, I like these sorts of things; good weather all the time, like what you get in Bakersfield, CA , is quite boring. In fact, if it rains, I feel a much higher desire to go running than I do in sunny weather. Call me crazy.
Anyway, we were working on getting the satellite dish to work for us as this thunderstorm was rolling towards us. I was doing the counting of the seconds between flash and sound (5 seconds to a mile if memory serves) and thereby gauging the riskiness of our project. At first the thing was way off and I judged there to be no risk at all--15 to 20 seconds at this point. But it was getting closer and our task was one of those where you are constatnly thinking that you are just about done. We couldn't get reception for some reason and just kept trying different angles, different settings, etc.
So eventually I got the bright idea of moving his dish clear of the trees and wires, which, I thought, might be causing some interference. Matt lives on the second floor. Ben and I live up on the fourth. So my idea was to mount his dish up on Ben's railing and run the wire down to his place (wire wouldn't reach my railing), thereby clearing any potential obstructions. So we go up there and are mounting this thing as the storm moves closer--10 to 15 seconds--risk factor very low.
Eventually we get thing mounted and Matt runs down to his place as I stand on Ben's balcony adjusting the thing to see if we could reception. But for some reason it just wasn't working. We tried many many things and could not get it to work. This, for me, was very frustrating as last year I mounted my own, Amy's and Dilek's and, up to this date, had a 100% success rate. So we start troubleshooting as the storm moves closer--5 to 10 seconds--risk factor getting there but still low.
We then attached his wire to my system to make sure it worked, we attched his system to Ben's dish to see if that worked, and through it all we couldn't figure out which part of it wasn't working....and the storm moved closer--4 to 8 seconds--risk factor rising.
After making sure the wire worked we were then going to see if we could somehow attach my dish, without moving it, to his system to see if that would work. The wire was long and perhaps it might just reach. So I pulled the wire tight trying to get every possible inch out of it but it was about two and half feet too short. So Matt and I were contemplating our next move with the storm 2 to 4 seconds off--risk factor very high!--and I was out on my balcony with wire in one hand, beer behind me, and BANG! There were no seconds between the flash and the sound. And I felt a shock in my left hand (the free hand which was close to, but not on, the metal railing). It wasn't all that strong a shock, perhaps only about 3 times the force you feel when your friend rubs his feet on a new carpet and then touches you, but between the flash, the noise and the little shock I felt, I yelled out to Matt, "That's it! I'm done out here!" And we met at Ben's place to have a beer and watch the storm.
I'm not sure what the lightning hit; could have been the building, the ground near us, a telephone pole, a tree, I don't know. But I do that some little part of it got me. Granted it was a very small part of it but I know what I felt and I'd prefer not to get so close again. I think next time a lightning storm comes around I'll stay inside.
And no, I didn't receive any superpowers until later in the night after a few more beers.

Saturday night was the Ichikawa (Amy's town) fireworks festival. Trust me when I say you've never seen fireworks like these. The show went on for and hour and a half. All kinds of fireworks of all colors in a show that puts every other fireworks display I've seen in my life (including on tv) to shame. I can never watch fireworks again.
Unfortunately, it was raining the entire time. But through a series of events that I won't describe here (my Japanese harem of three stood me up), I was wet anyway and the rain really never bothered me. I just stayed soaked the whole time and actually enjoyed not being burdened with having to hold an umbrella.
Many of the new JETs were there and I met a few of them, plus got to see a few that I met the weekend before, and there were also a few of us more experienced JETs. It was fun but probably would have been better without all the rain (and getting so rudely stood up).

Ok, I'm done here for the day.

Still trudging through these days at the Kencho. But yesterday something fun and lively happened. Allow me to tell you of the adventures of a man who does not speak Japanese.

You might remember that I don't speak Japanese, right? In fact, if I remember correctly some of you that were in St. Kitts may have asked me something like, "Have you learned Japanese yet?" And I answered something along the lines of, "No." Well, apparently a few people here at the Kencho are unaware of this fact; this, despite the point that I only speak to them in English and give them strange looks when they speak to me in their native tongue.
It all started at about 11:40am when I was at the computer desk (like I have been every day here) and was writing an email to my beloved Amy. Well, that's redundant; did you know that Amy means "beloved"? There's a little trivia for ya. Anyway, Amy is in Oklahoma and I miss her so. She's been gone so long and I write to her every chance I get. Long letters filled with emotion and longing. Ok, enough of that.
Anyway, I was writing and up walks Goto-san. He's the guy that took Watanabe's place when Watanabe took my supervisor's, Yamaki's, place. With me? So he says something to me in Japanese. And I don't mean slow, broken, "you're not from the parts" Japanese. I mean straight up, normal, conversational, slightly-slower-than-an-auctioneer's Japanese. At this I looked up and at him with that same look your cat gives you when you tell him to "sit" forgetting that he's a cat and not a dog. So he tried again and received the same results.
Then he showed me the paper he was holding and told me something again, only this time with two English words thrown in. I think they were "boss" and "read" and the paper he was holding was the short report I'd had to write about our recontracting conference in Tokyo a couple months ago. So I looked around for a little help cause although they don't like to admit it there are others in this office who can speak some English. But no help was forthcoming. Then, through a series of gestures, a few words, and the few papers he flipped through I was pretty sure I was understanding what he was trying tell me. It went something like this, "Marcus, o' great and noble teacher of the quite confusing language from across the wide sea, our most excellent boss and leader of this section of the governmental center of the great prefecture of Yamanashi would like to read what you have written about the gathering of the people from lands afar and the assemblage they held in our great city of Tokyo, but unfortunately he had not the opportunity to study, much less master, the English language in his younger days and is therefore unable to read what you so graciously wrote, so would you please take on the task and magnanimous duty of translating this to our mother tongue for us, your most humble employers?"
To which I said, "Huh?" and looked around for help, only to find my office neighbors looking at us and quietly laughing to themselves. I was pretty much at a loss about what to do. Although the boss seems like a very nice man and has more than once poured me a glass of beer at our various parties, I was not willing to spend the 3+ years it would take me to translate this report for him. In Spanish you can pretty much translate word for word and get the gist of what is being said; not so with Japanese, not to mention the fact that the writing system is just a tad different.
So we looked at each other for a while, me thinking, "Hmmm. Wonder what's going to happen now?" And him thinking, "Enter Japanese for 'Hmmm. Wonder what's going to happen now?'."
So we stood like that for a while trying to think of a way to solve this linguistic problem when he pointed to the computer and said, "translate". "Hmmm," I thought, "not a bad idea," except that then I remembered that Ono-san used to translate going the other way, from Japanese to English, and things always came out, shall we say, less than perfect. Words and phrases would come out in an English that even high schoolers in the States don't speak. Document give day after day's tomorrow in other country and electric apartment begin presently are two examples of what one might get in English after putting Japanese into one of these so-called translators. They tend to do literal translations and you and I know that terms like "killing two birds with one stone" probably shouldn't be translated literally. And I'm not just speaking about slang when I say these translators really don't work well. It could be proper English and the thing will come out in a mangled Japanese, or visa versa.
But, what was I to do? A literal translation would be far better, not to mention would be finished far more quickly, than I could do on my own. So he explained to me with the help of the two ladies sitting nearby, who had by now stopped laughing and really wanted to help (up to a point), that since I had written the report by hand in order for the computer to be able to translate I would need to type it out and then paste it into the translater. "Yes," I thought, "I'm pretty sure I could have figured that out." Then he told me I had one week to get this done to which I said, "No. I'll do it today." Perhaps they think I'm busy here at the Kencho. I don't know.
But first, instead of me going through all the trouble of needlessly typing the whole report out, in case it wouldn't work, all of us agreed that I should write a couple sentences, put those into the translator, and see how things would turn out. So I did. And they didn't. If you want to know why, back up a paragraph. So they read what the computer had written and laughed a bit and told me, "It's ok. I can understand. But not right." This they said while looking quizzically at the paper and me, in that manner that says, "I'm not sure this is going to work." But the girls then told me that they'd look at it all after I was finished and that they'd fix any part in need.
So feeling that I had no other choice I wrote the entire thing out during which time the two girls watched my typing and told me how good I was. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Oh, very fast, very fast," they answered, which I laughed at because if you must know, I am not a fast typer. But they seemed impressed and I typed on with my small audience.
Soon I was done and then proceeded to copy sections, paste them onto the translator, copy the Japense translation, and then paste that into a seperate word document. Eventually I was done and copied it out. The entire process took me no more than half an hour.
When I handed the girls the copies they looked at me as if I had just unveiled a replica of Michelangelo's David (full-scale, of course) that I'd been sculpting in the other room in my free time. "Oh, very fast, very fast." I held my eyes from rolling.
So at this point I went back to the computer and resumed my extensive research of football, formula one, and jazz in Tokyo. Every so often I'd hear the Japanese equivalent of "Ha ha, look at this" or "What the hell does that mean?!" At these points I'd look over at them and think about trying to help and then think better of it. But what I did do was to print out an English copy for them thinking that they might be able to better make it out. They do know some English, afterall.
Well, eventually half the office was looking over their shoulders (some called over but most not) trying to make out the strange Japanese that me and the computer had managed to put together. I imagine some really difficult areas were found when they got to the translations of "food for thought," "super-genki (which means "happy, healthy and up-beat" and as I had written it just like that, the computer could find no translation for it--haha), and, when reporting on a speech given by a pretty good speaker I said that hope his speech did not "fall on deaf ears." See, from what I understand, the Japanese language doesn't have nearly the amount of slang that we have in English. Think about the slang you use in everyday life. I bet you do it without even noticing it. Well, all that stuff....not translatable. At least not by a non-thinking entity.
So after the group formed and exchanged gasps and moans of confusion, they eventually dispersed and went back to their seats leaving the two girls alone with my and the computer's words. They then talked a little to each other, turned to me, and said, "The boss. He is very smart man. This Japanese....not right. But he is smart so maybe he can understand." And that was that. The man is going to have to read it as I and my not-so-trusty computer translator did it. And all I can say to him is ganbatte (Japanese for "good luck" and "try hard").

Perhaps this is made a little funnier to me because I often get asked questions about the meanings of words and phrases by various Japanese people. True, it wouldn't be terribly funny if you were one of the other passengers or a crew member on board the plane, but be that as it may, there is some humor here.

From the Chicago Tribune.......
A 60-year-old Japanese passenger on a flight leaving O'Hare International Airport caused a bomb scare late Sunday afternoon when a passenger saw him write the words "suicide bomb" on a piece of paper and alerted authorities, police said.
United Airlines Flight 1184, scheduled to leave the airport for Columbus, Ohio, was on the runway around 5:30 p.m. when the pilot learned of the note, turned the plane around and taxied to a nearby gate, city aviation spokeswoman Annette Martinez said.
All 120 passengers were taken off the plane while the Japanese passenger was initially arrested for making an inappropriate remark, Martinez said.
But authorities soon learned that the Japanese national, who was on the plane on business, was only writing words he didn't understand so he could look them up later with a dictionary, O'Hare police Sgt. Philip Deerig said.
"He happened to be reading [a magazine] that said suicide bomb, " Deerig said. "He didn't understand these two words. He wrote them down and the passenger next to him got a little scared."
The man was released, police said, and allowed to re-board the flight, which left three hours late.
"It was just an honest mistake," Deerig said

I guess it happened yesterday. Like I say, it wouldn't be funny at the time if you were on board the plane, but since I was not and since no one got hurt, I had to laugh a little when I read it. I will also copy here the article from CNN.com but for a different reason.

From CNN.com...
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A Japanese man flying to Ohio was arrested after he was seen writing down the words "suicide bomb," but he was released without charge after explaining that it was an impromptu English exercise.
The 60-year-old man told investigators he came across the words in a newspaper and wanted to look up their meaning, police spokeswoman Alice Casanova said.
"He teaches himself English by reading newspapers," she said. "It was all just a miscommunication."
The man was aboard United Airlines flight 1184 en route to Dayton, Ohio, on a business trip Sunday when a fellow passenger spotted the words and alerted an attendant, Casanova said.
The flight returned to O'Hare International Airport, where the man was taken into custody and all of the other 120 passengers were taken off the plane and rescreened.
Investigators also searched the plane. "Nothing panned out and he was released," Casanova said.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said travelers need to be mindful of how they behave on airplanes because potential security threats are treated very seriously.
"We caution people not to write about bombs because if they're going on vacation, their travel plans will be disrupted," she said.

Now, is it just me or does that last line seems a bit strange? Business trips are ok to disrupt? Or how about that fact that we shouldn't write about bombs on airplanes because in this day and age it's just plain wrong?
I'm perhaps being a little nitpicky here but I thought that a strange thing to say.
Anyway, enough about all that.

I have just about finished putting together my little speech on attitude. I've decided that speaking on such a subject is risky in that I could easily come off as sounding preachy. So instead of saying "do this," "don't do that," I will only mention aspects of Japan as they relate to us foreigners in Yamanashi and I will tell a few of the stories from my first year. I will tell a couple of the fun stories, a couple of the strange stories, and perhaps one or two things that might fall under the "negative" light. I am doing it this way because at the mid-year seminar in Tokyo that we, who have just finished our first year, were required to attend there was a great talk I attended on the last day. The guy's name was Robert Juppe and his talk was called "Making the Most of Life in Japan." He has lived over here for 18 years and was a JET when the whole programme began. Not only was he an entertaining speaker but I never had the feeling of "this guy thinks he knows everything about this place." He was pretty laid back in his approach, obviously has had to work hard over the years, and did it all with a sense of humor. His stories were good and interesting and I thought that rather than telling us "this is how you should be" he illustrated to us, through his own past actions and attitudes, the way to approach life over here.
There are those people, amongst us foreigners, who seem to think if they are having some difficulty with a situation or an individual it is because they are living in Japan and dealing with the Japanese people. But I think that what these people forget is that you can have a bad day anywhere, you can have a jerk for a co-worker at any job and in any country. I'm not sure why it is but a few of the foreigners, when they are having trouble with some person at work over here, tend to lay the blame on that person being Japanese as the root of the problem. I have yet to figure this out. I had many jobs in the States and worked with both great individuals and some real idiots. I never laid the blame on them being American so why would I do the equivalent over here?
But I digress, what I really want to share with these new teachers is the fact that Japan is an interesting, fun, sometimes unpredictable, and quite often enjoyable place to live if you can approach it in the right way. And rather than tell them how to do it, I feel I can only show them how I've taken things over the last year. I hope it works.

Ok, nearly lunch time.