Ni nen kudasai!

"Two years please!"
Yup, we are staying in Japan for a 2nd year. Sorry we told this little girl before any of you :) Today I finally signed the contract, after months of feeling 50/50 about it. I had just finished teaching a class that went really well, and after sitting down at my desk, the head of the English department and the Vice principal presented me with the contract, asking if I could turn it in by tomorrow. They had good things to say, hoping I would stay. I assured Fujii-sensei that Mike and I are happy living in Japan, and I had no problem signing it.

How can I be so sure while I'm missing friends, family, and familiarity?
Well, here are some reasons to stay in Japan:

President Bush. It's good to be far away, although he still finds ways to haunt us.
Every day is an adventure!
I'm (maybe) learning a foreign language.
Sushi, sashimi, any kind of nabe, soba, udon, somen, mochi, and azuki bean sweets!
I'm finding that I really like teaching; High school is a lot more fun as a teacher, this 2nd time around.
Mountains, mountains everywhere! (but where are the trails? someone out there, please help with this part!)
Ancient history and cultural heritage
Spiritual inspiration
Cherry-blossom flavored KitKat! (I think they taste like Froot Loops, though)
Tons of free time with *Mike*!

Live at Cafe Ease

So as I mentioned before I played my first show this week in Himeji. Didn't go exactly as smooth as I'd hoped, but considering my last show was five months and 7000 miles ago, I guess it wasn't so bad. Just quieter & shorter than I'd have liked. It was all fine, but I'm sure next time will be much better. After I played Shinsuke Michishita and Makoto Kawabata decided to perform as a duo instead of doing solo sets. They were pretty great considering it was their first time collaborating and they didn't even bother soundchecking.

Awesome to have a guy like Shinsuke living so close. He's making great things happen around here. I also found out at the show that a recent Japanese favorite of mine, the husband/wife (I think?) duo Eddie Markon also live in Himeji & not up north like I'd previously thought. Very cool musical community around Himeji even if it isn't necessarily electronics-focused. Look forward to seeing, performing with and just hanging out with all of them more in the next couple months.

Hiking to Haga-jo

For weeks I have wanted to go on a decent hike. Today, a lazy Saturday allowed us the time to take off for a drive, searching for a mountain to climb.
While driving through Haga, we saw the sign for Haga-jo(castle) and since we'd heard how beautiful the views were, thought it should be a great hike.
We parked the car near the bottom of a steep, hilly road and started walking.

After going up the hill, down, and around, we were getting farther and farther away from the castle. So we had to turn around. But on this detour we came across great sounds (melting snow), smells (wood-burning stoves), and sights...
Check this picture below; any guesses what this is?



So we got back in the car and followed some signs we couldn't read. But hey, we had plenty of time to kill! The arrows did lead us to the right road, and Mike put the car in 2nd gear as we headed up an even steeper, hillier road. Problem was, this road kept most of the snow and slush from the night before! We hit a point that we couldn't get up; wheels spinnin, Kcar refusing to move. So Mike threw it into reverse . Dude, Kudos to Mike! Reversing backwards down twisty roads is nervewracking (well, I was scared anyway). When he tried to turn the car around, it was like that infamous scene in Austin Powers when the golf cart was stuck sideways in the hallway. Except we were on a mountain road without a guard rail! To make matters worse, a car came up behind us, as we were totally blocking the road!!!
What can you do? Mike decided to try the hill again; we slipped and swayed, but managed to get up past where we were stuck before. The car behind us wimped out though, cause we didn't seem them when we found a little berm to pull over and park.

We walked the rest of the way up, of course ;) Enough danger for one day, and I really wanted to hike, even if on a road. As we started up, we noticed another guy with the same idea. As he was passing us, we exchanged a "konnichiwa" and I attempted, with my bad Japanese ability, to say our car just wouldn't make it up the hill. He was friendly, so he chatted with us a little on and off as we all walked up. I couldn't understand most of what he said exactly, but I understood some. After a while longer, he got our attention and showed us a little footpath off the road. I asked him if it led to the castle and he assured us it did. So, we followed him through the forest. It was much more fun (and much harder ;) than hiking up the road, so I was happy. Even if it wasn't exactly a trail.
We followed him all the way up to the castle, and WOW! what great views! The guy told us to be careful about the clifside and said goodbye. What a cool guy. I love how kind people are to strangers!
Here's a coulple more pictures of our time at the castle...



have a great day!
-Colleen

Anti-Update

Hate to say nothing's going on, but also hate to exaggerate minute details. We just had a really chill week. Colleen spent two days at a teaching seminar & I spent most of the working hours recording. We did haul it down to Himeji yesterday for some shopping & a concert though. I shelled out for some non-Coke sodas ($1 a can, but worth it) and the Haruki Marukami book "Kafka on the Shore" which I guess has some talking cats in it. Should be appropriately surreal.



We also "discovered" a Middle Eastern restaurant that we've probably walked by 15 times without really noticing. Great falafel. I'm playing my first show in Japan this week. Very excited.

Birchville Cat Motel

Yesterday Colleen & I headed back to Osaka to see my friend Campbell Kneale perform. Campbell's from that tiny but awesome corner of the earth known as New Zealand and he put out a recording of mine last year on his Celebrate Psi Phenomena label. He also played a small show in our living room last January that was the best performance I saw/heard all year. And he was just as great last night, as were the other performers - including his fellow New Zealander Antony Milton. The added bonus yesterday (on top of getting to see a friend) was that this particular show was held in a beautiful Buddhist temple. Very exciting to hear such amazing sound in such an ancient, peaceful place. (No offense to all the warehouses, art galleries, basements, bars, etc. out there.)



The temple is called Zenkoji and the reason they host shows is that the head monk there is also a sound artist who uses stones as source. He didn't perform last night, but I'm just about to listen to pop in his CD. Trying to end the evening on as a great a note as last night.

A Fish With Legs

Well, would you look at that disgusting thing? Pretty gross, eh? Saw it in a pet store in Osaka yesterday. And what is the common name for this freakish pet? Oompa Loompa. If you can make the connection you are for more advanced than I.

Ugh. This is up there with the most bizzare things I've ever seen. Even if you discount the fact that it has legs, it's still one of the ugliest creatures on the planet. Don't look at the pics for too long. They only get creepier.

On Japanese Winter...

New York Times is even talking about it:

Japan's Hardy Snow Country Now Faces a Test of Time

I am glad we don't live near the area mentioned in the article (it's up parallel to Tokyo, far west), but we did get a glimpse* of the harsher snowfall this weekend as we journeyed north almost up to the Sea of Japan, cruising at 10 kilometers per hour - about 6 mph - through curvy,snow-covered mountains for a good chunk of the drive. It seems we're just a hair south of the major snowfall and I can't say I mind that. It's cold, but it could be worse.

*Should be noted that even the snow we saw was only 2-3 feet in most places. Not even close to the stuff in the article.

How Cold Is It?

That's our icy hall window. Thing is the ice is on the INSIDE. That's how cold it is. See Japanese homes don't have central heating & most older houses - like ours - don't have any insulation either. Winter is fun! At least we've got these guys to keep our main room (aka "The Lodge") above freezing:

Konichiwa Year of the Dog

So after our jaunt to Nara we rang in the new year quite (literally on a giant bell) by spending the evening with our Japanese sensei Osaki's family & having a traditional Japanese new year. After a feast of a dinner & some relaxing time - I watched an Ultimate Fighting type tournament with Osaki's son, but I can't imagine that's too traditional - we headed off to visit the Iwa Shrine. We bypassed the long (and getting longer) line to pray & just took in the festivities. And it was much more festive than "visiting a shrine to pray" makes it sound. There were beer cans a plenty, food vendors, and of course canines.

We stayed for 20 minutes or so after midnight & then decided to go check out the Buddhist temple's celebration too. It was as festive in spirit, but much smaller & more intimate. This is where we got to ring the bell (so large it is struck with a mini battering ram) as the Buddhist tradition is to ring the bell108 times to ward off the 108 human desires/sins. It was definitely more mellow than the last few years, but an amazing experience all around.

We didn't take our camera because I didn't want to be gaijin gawker (for once), so these images are all New Year's cards we received. They are insanely popular here, maybe even more so than Christmas cards in the States.

Nara

We visited Nara's star, the Great Buddha "Daibutsu". He lives in the largest wooden building in the world, and is made of 437 tons of bronze/130kg of gold. A very impressive, imposing, and beautiful sight. A place you could stand peacefully in awe for 5 minutes, or 5 hours.

Here's the outside of the Daibutsu-den hall. This temple is surrounded by Nara park, which makes it a really fun walk to the temple. Why? Cause Nara park is famous for the hundreds of free-roaming tame deer that live there (see below). The deer are considered sacred, so they are well taken care of... you can buy deer food if you want to draw a herd to your hands. We had fun watching children eagerly hold out a handful of food, then run screaming to their mothers when deer by the dozen came running. At least they get exersize when running for the food :) The deer seem to be just as much a tourist attraction as the ancient temples are. They definately create a fun atmosphere.

A peaceful ancient city. My favorite part was the morning of our 2nd day. Before looking for breakfast, we wandered through an old neighborhood. Dark wooden slats along doors, circular ceramic tile roofs, tiny alley blocks; really showed how old Nara is. This quiet area away from the lights of the shops was dotted with dozens of small temples and shrines. We stopped to see Gangoji, the first Buddhist temple to come to Japan (originally built in Asuka, Nara in 588 ad, it was moved to Nara city in 710ad). Maybe because it was Dec. 30, so close to New Years, or because it was only 10 am, Mike & I were the sole toursts at this World heritage site.

Shifflebear, the Deer wisperer

This guy had just been playing tug-O-war with my map. Really.