Becoming fat and watching fat guys wrestle

Hello! It was a nice four-day weekend for Shawn and I. Coincidentally, last Thursday was also Thanksgiving in Japan, Labour Thanksgiving, that is. In any case it was a day off work and we took Friday off so it turned into a mini-vacation. Here's a run down of what we did.

Thursday: Ate an enormous amount of food as only Americans can on Thanksgiving Day. I think I gained at least 2 kilos. Our British friend, Tom, hosted a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. All the essentials. Shawn and I were suprised that when we showed up at his place we were the ONLY Americans out of 8 people. More came later in fashionably-late American style, but I guess that goes to show that the little part in my job description that says "promote internationalization" really is true. We celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with people from Mexico, Ireland, the UK, Portugal, Canada and Japan. Good times and good food, but don't worry family - I missed ya'll immensly. Thanksgiving is never the same without you.

Shawn and I at Thanksgiving:



Friday-Saturday: We headed to the largest city in Kyushu - Fukuoka. A city of about 2 million people, it was a major step up from Oita (half a million people).

Our mission in Fukuoka: eat the famous ramen by the river in booths, watch a sumo match, explore the extensive shopping district, purchase boots.

Ramen booths in Fukuoka. They are set up everynight and taken down every morning. Choose one and cozy on up to the bar:



~~We did everything we set out to do and even stumbled upon an amazing Christmas light display (which, by the way, are extremely expensive in Japan - we just bought some today, a string of 30 lights cost about $8.00! Needless to say we are rethinking putting lights in our windows...).




~~I bought some fabulous boots I am going to wear - my first step into the endless possibilities that make up Japanese Fashion.

~~We saw some very very large, yet very very strong, fat guys push each other around a ring. Ok, that's a crude description. It was actually very exciting and awe-inspiring.







~~Spent hours wandering through a maze of an undergound mall that spans the length of about 4 city blocks, and innumerable department stores with 7 floors each. Department stores in Japan are unlike anything you've ever seen.

~~Saw a famous Japanese singer give a free concert in the middle of a giant mall.

~~Saw a not-so-famous boy-band wannabe group perform on the sidewalk.

~~Spent lots of time in Canal City - a major mall/entertainment/dining/theatre complex. You could probably live there and never have to leave. Canal City from one angle (sorry for the crappy quality of this picture). You can see there is an actual 'canal' that runs through it:



~~Saw a water show inside Canal City (think Las Vegas)

~~Shawn made a new friend with the robot information system at Canal City.



~~Saw "War of the Worlds" in dubbed Japanese on the bus ride there. Looked pretty cheesy, I'm almost glad I didn't see it in English. On the way back we saw an anime also in Japanese.

All this in less than two days! Fabuloso. If anyone EVER comes to visit me I'm taking them to Fukuoka. It's amazin' fruit.

In other news. I FOUND AN ADULT SPANISH CONVERSATION CLASS! I am so lucky to have found it! At first, when I enter I have to sit there for a minute and mentally switch my brain from Japanese to Spanish. It's really weird being in a room with people where our common language is neither of our native languages. Our teacher is a doctor here on research from the Dominican Republic. Everyone has pretty much lived in a foreign country, so its right at my level. We do some grammar stuff which is always a nice review. I'm just happy to get the opportunity to speak Spanish, I have been afraid I'm losing it.

I finally read the Da Vinci Code! It took me all of two days. Crazy, huh. I can't remember the last time I read a book that fast. I chalk it up to the fact that lots of my classes at school have been canceled due to tests, vacations, etc. So I've had all day at work to read. It was fun.

Speaking of work - it's freezing! They don't turn on the heaters until December 1. A very strict rule. No matter if teachers are running around with down coats on (as I was all day today), Dec. 1 is the magic day. If I haven't said this before...buildings aren't centrally heated or air conditioned in Japan. The ACs have been installed and of course work well if you sit right next to them.... each classroom has them as does the teachers room. The halls, however, don't. The heaters are sort of like space heaters, but more powerful kerosene heaters. They drug them out yesterday as if to tease me. The possibility of heat is there...just can't use it yet! It's comical to walk through the teachers room and see what people are doing to cope - lots of women teachers have mini fleece blankets they keep at their desks and wrap around their legs while they are sitting there, some have gloves, jackets, and everyone has cup after cup of hot tea or coffee. It's hilarious. Yesterday I bought a pair of nylons and was actually EXCITED to wear them because I knew they would keep me warmer. That has never happened, that I enjoyed wearing nylons!

I'll leave you with some pictures of Shawn and I enjoying our complimentary pajamas at the hotel we stayed at this weekend.

And the winner is...

Well, no one guessed correctly why the girl at my school was suspended. Actually, only one person even guessed! :) It's ok, I'm sure you all wondered quietly. To ease your anxiety I'll just tell you. She was suspended for working at her part time job. One of the teachers at my school saw her working and that was that. Apparently in Japan, if an academic high-school student wants to work part-time they must first clear it with the school. A fellow teacher assured me that Tsurusaki High School rarely grants such priveleges. This was the second time she had been caught working, and so her punishment is 3 weeks suspension.

Harsh. I guess that would explain why students have time to spend 3 hours a day, 7 days a week at their club activities.

In other education news around Japan... the Minister of Education in Tokyo has recently been receiving letters from anonymous students threatening to commit suicide because they have been bullied. Bullying in Japan has been a major problem in schools for years. The Ministry of Education reports there have been no reports of bullying for the last seven years, but apparently this is not the case. School officials and parents turn a blind eye to it and tell the students to 'endure, endure.'

This was the advice given to one poor student who wrote such a letter to the Ministry of Education last week. Ministry officials were able to trace this letter to one of 21 or so prefectures from around Japan because, although the kanji on the postmark was unreadable, they were able to deduce it partially. It may have come from Oita and so in one of our meetings last week, the principal alerted the staff and asked them to be on guard and try to figure out if it was one of our students. As far as we know, it wasn't any of our students...but it makes me wonder if any of this goes on in my classes? I often miss a lot of the side chatter because it's in Japanese, and I don't spend much time in the classrooms. It makes me sick to think someone could be treated so horribly in school.

Here are some links to newspaper articles in the last few days about this subject. It looks as though that one letter may have been from Kyushu after all, the girl that jumped to her death was just in the neighboring prefecture.

Suicide threats boosts school patrols and Girl jumps to death

Five more kids threaten suicide; minister says don't write

Classmates shake down girl for 100,000 yen

Perhaps the most quoted metaphor when describing Japanese culture is "The nail that sticks up gets pounded down." Bullying is the perfect example of this. I intend to do more research on this.

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Today I went to the soccer game and Tsurusaki High School won in overtime! They will now travel to Tokyo to Nationals. I'm really proud of them. It was a beautiful day for soccer and they got to play in the World Cup Stadium. I took some photos.










Another week begins. じゃあ、またね。

Pictures of the US

A girl at my high school has been suspended for 3 weeks! I’ll give you $100 if you can guess what she did...
to be continued...


I taught a lesson a while ago about Cultural Images. I told them that lots of people don’t know much about Japan except, of course, for the famous cultural images such as sumo, giesha, sushi, manga, etc. I wanted them to think about the cultural images of the United States. This was a selfish lesson - I really just wanted to know what they think of when they think of the US. Later I’ll use it to build a stereotypes/assumptions lesson. I really liked a lot of their answers and I wanted to share it with you. Pictures of the US:










In other Tsurusaki High School News... our soccer team (yes, there is only one and it’s a boy’s team) has advanced to the final round of the Oita High School Tournament! They have the championships next weekend in the big dome stadium that hosted the World Cup Tournament a few years ago. Exciting! If they win they will advance to the national tournament in Tokyo. Go Tsurusaki!

Usuki Bamboo Festival

It has been a weekend of exploration for Shawn and I. Yesterday we went to a bamboo festival in Usuki, a town about 40 min to the southeast of us. Usuki is a place with lots of historical significance, there are castle ruins, stone buddhas carved into mountains and a historic street that reminds me of the Japan in Memoirs of a Geisha. Long narrow streets bordered by beautiful traditional Japanese houses. It was awesome.

For the bamboo festival the people had carved designs into huge bamboo reeds and then placed candels inside to create a lantern effect. They lined the streets and winding through these historic homes there were various displays of amazing creativity and art. The lighting was beautiful.

We bought at tripod for the trip so we could photograph the illumination in all it's splendor. Shawn has amazing pics of lots of the displays. I could only catch a handfull of non-blurry pictures. Here they are:

To give you an idea of the construction:













Festivals are an excuse to people to celebrate their traditions and some take the opportunity to wear their kimono. Here are a few girls I wanted to scoop up and take home with me. How adorable are they!?




We also saw women playing the koto, which is a long instrument with strings you pluck...sorry I can't describe it better than that.



It was a really great experience.
We were also able to explore a little around the castle ruins and hang out. I'll leave you with some photos from the rest of the day.






Despite all the festivities and lovely photo-ops, I think I captured the best moments on the train ride home.








Have a great week!