Stomping Through The Rain

You’re not always aware of how much you’ve missed people until you see them again after a long time apart. Two good friends of mine came to visit me in Okayama yesterday and it was such a dramatically awesome day that I’m faintly dreading my return home to an empty apartment tonight.

It’s starting to heat up. Rainy season is just around the corner and it won’t be long until I’m wearing shorts on a regular basis. I really hate the way that shorts look on me. There has never been a tall person who looked good in shorts-it’s a karma thing to make up for our being able to see the stage at gigs. But anyway, shorts will be worn and sweat will be wiped. I’m even thinking that I might invest in one of those towels that old Japanese men sling round their neck all day in the staff room. I think they’re very becoming.

Meanwhile, this month is all about islands. Rabbit island last week, Shiraishi island this weekend and Naoshima the following weekend. Shiraishi is a reasonably pretty sunbathing spot in the Seto Inland Sea. We’re looking forward to some chilled reading time and a balmy evening stay at the International Villa there. Fingers crossed that the rainy season holds off for another weekend.

It will be our third visit to Naoshima, one of my favourite places in Japan. I have fond memories of wandering the island in torrential rain and being hugely impressed by the Tadao Ando architecture and random bits of art. But this time we are camping in a yurt by the beach. Hopefully there’ll be sunshine, relaxed times and tasty picnics. In practice, it may not turn out that way.

Inspired by my recent ill health, I went out for a run on Monday and I’m probably going to do the same again tonight. It felt good to explore the area round my house and the surprised faces of the elementary school children at a gaijin running directly towards them made me giggle. I cut a fairly ludicrous figure when I run, but that’s part of my supposed charm I guess.

With Your Incessant Talking

Rabbit, rabbit, rab­­bit. If you can’t make a Chas n Dave reference after visiting an island populated almost entirely by rabbits, then what’s the point of having a blog at all?

As well as having some of the most beautiful and interesting tourist attractions in the world, Japan also has some of the tackiest. Recreations of European cities, The Island Where The Fictional Momotoro Slayed A Fictional Demon complete with ACTUAL DEMONS, Dejima, anything that involves a “local specialty” etc.  I’ve taken great pleasure in visiting some of these less worthy destinations. They are sometimes quite charming, with a bit of luck involve figurine recreations of past events and you can usually buy a funny gift or two.

Okunoshima or “Bunny Island” sits somewhere on the borderline between “tacky destination” and being a genuine place of interest.

During the Sino-Japanese war, the government began using the island to research and manufacture chemical weapons. These weapons were used during the following decades to obviously tragic effect. The island was removed from maps of Japan and the work was hushed up. Apparently, train conductors would draw the curtains of carriages as they passed the island so that it could not be seen by passengers. Not sure how effective that would have been. The manufacturing processes were primitive. Many workers and residents of the island became ill, suffered or died as a result of the work.

Industrial Remains

At the end of WW2, the factories were closed and the chemicals destroyed. Rabbits were introduced to the island. They multiplied prodigiously (tame joke avoided) and nowadays the island is known primarily for the large population of tame rabbits who you can feed, pet and generally make a fuss of. My students love the place and quite a few of their “What I did during Golden Week?” presentations involved a trip to the island.

The journey over was pretty painless and we saw rabbits almost as soon as we stepped off the boat. I had a steady supply of carrots that I used to basically buy cuddles. I also had a stick that I carried round with me for a hilarious metaphor-based joke. That didn’t actually happen. I liked how many different types of rabbits we came across. They were all shapes and sizes, ranging from mangy and wild looking to Disney-cute.

Bunny Party!

I’ll maybe admit that I did get a bit bored of the rabbits after a while. But the island itself was quite pretty. We did a pleasant hike up and around the centre of the island. We even saw Japan’s Tallest Pylon (official). It really was very tall!

Japan's tallest pylon!

We also checked out a museum about gas production on the island. Japan’s issues about openly discussing its own history are too complex for me to cover adequately here. But in the 1980s, a museum was opened on the island to show the history of the chemical production. Like the Hiroshima Peace Museum, it has a strong anti-war bias. And like the Peace Museum it is not merely inward looking. In addition to illustrating how gas was made on the island, the museum looks at the effect of the gas in war and makes strong statements against its use, with some unpleasant pictures of its effects during the Iran-Iraq war.

I’ve seen so many museums about war-not just in Japan but in the UK of course, where my favourite museum remains the Imperial War Museum. Japan’s museums on the subject vary tremendously-I have still not visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine and seen the “alternative” viewpoints about the war there. The war is a subject that I avoid as much as possible with my friends here. But anyway, this particular museum was very impressive for its thoroughness and outward perspective.

Now then. Here are some cute pictures of rabbits:

The mysterious and enigmatic K Chan tempts a rabbit.

Unwell Ramblings

Apologies for the lack of updates recently but I’ve been a little under the weather. Last week I started to feel a little strange during my special needs school visit and I haven’t been able to shake it off since. Nothing too serious, but enough to put a dampener on things.

I’m really excited for next week because two of my oldest friends are coming to visit. I haven’t seen them for ages and, well, I miss them. So it will be great to catch up and amuse ourselves with embarrassing teenage memories of kissing the wrong people and suchlike. Also, it will be good to show some friends around my patch as I haven’t really been able to do that yet. Doubtless this will take in yet another trip to the beautiful Korakuen. I must have been there 8 or 9 times now. I always enjoy it but each time I go am irritated that I never bought myself an annual pass as I:d have saved about 20 quid by now.

I was at my special needs school again today and it reminded me of what I meant to say in my last post. Going to the special needs schools has been in many ways a happy experience. But it has also been a little depressing and saddening at times. Many of the students will lead very limited lives in which there will be constant boundaries on what they are able to do. You get a huge outpouring of happiness from them. But speaking to the teachers, they tend to focus on the long term. One teacher commented that she finds it sad because so many of the students will grow up frustrated and irritated by the things they are unable to do. She also said that she finds it difficult knowing that a fair number of the students she teaches may not live that long. Dipping into the school is fine and the nature of my visits means that the students are generally happy because they are pleased to see me. But in many of the ways that matter, they can sometimes be deeply unhappy. When I think about my own circumstances and the things in my life that make me happy-the truth is that many of those things won’t be open to these kids as they develop into adults. It’s desperately sad, when you think about the reality of it.

I’m trying hard not to generalize too much here and I know the above does go slightly against the grain of what we are encouraged to think about disabled/differently abled people having as much potential for achievement and happiness as anyone else, so I hope I don’t sound like an arse in the above paragraph.

In other news, I’m heading to a rabbit-filled island on Sunday. It used to be a research and manufacturing centre for chemical weapons-now it is marketed like a petting zoo. Japan is strange sometimes.

Why don't you like Justin Bieber? Look at him.

Yesterday I was at one of my special needs schools. Of all the unexpected things that I’ve done here, this is the furthest outside my comfort zone. As I’ve said before, teaching was not the reason I came to Japan. It was merely the means by which I could live abroad and see an interesting country. I’d never spent any sustained time around special needs kids and I didn’t know what to expect really.

This particular school is massive. It has elementary, junior and senior high kids. It has the biggest staff room I have seen since arriving here-it’s like an aircraft hangar. There are often as many staff members as students in the lessons, particularly where the students require a lot of help and attention.

In some of the lessons, I have been introducing myself with my well worn self introduction materials that I have probably used about 30 or 40 times now. I’ve had to change them in order to keep it interesting for myself and I recently added AKB48 to my list of “Dislikes”, not because I especially dislike them but just because it always gets a reaction and I enjoy that. Previously, I used Justin Bieber for this purpose but sometimes younger students wouldn’t know who he was. In saying that, one of my students at my base school is always coming up to me with pictures of Justin Bieber and thrusting them under my face with a “why don’t you like him. Look at him Ben-senseii! Look at him!”

We also played some games in which I had to sing. I can’t sing. Not at all. I was okay at singing when I was very little but ever since my voice broke it’s been a fairly dreadful noise. But it was fun. None of the students or teachers could sing either and it was all about just trying to be enthusiastic and not being “above” it or letting on that you’re tired/embarrassed/whatever. I think they appreciate that. So much of being an ALT in Japan is about just doing exactly what you’re told to do but doing it with the right attitude and going out of your way to please people (whilst at the same time not showing too much initiative). In the end, people on youtube/forums/whatever go on and on about what this job is really about but I don’t think it’s all that different to any job back home. Regardless of your level of ability, just being professional, co-operative and calm goes 80% of the way to doing the job well. There’s a 20% which is natural teaching ability which, frankly, I don’t have. But there are other ways you can make up for this and if you are self-critical you can definitely improve over time, like in any job.

Anyway, it was a pleasure to play games with friendly kids all day. I’m really going to miss these random, testing experiences that I come across on a regular basis in my Japan life. I’m constantly having to stretch myself and that’s a really healthy thing. The other thing that I like about the special needs school is that it’s in a really beautiful part of Okayama and surrounded by the greenest rice fields and hills that you’ve ever seen. Every time I go there I get a huge buzz just from looking out the window.

In case it isn’t obvious from the above and from recent posts, I’m starting to freak out about leaving.

Tokyo - Part 3 - The Comedown

Tokyo raises your blood pressure. There are so many endless possibilities that you always feel as if you are running out of time. By the time I left, I felt like I wanted another week in the city to get to grips with it. When I was 21, I went to Barcelona for a week. It was my first time in what subsequently became my favourite European city. That was the only time I have stayed in a foreign city on holiday for anything more than 3-4 days. It makes such a difference to have a big block of time that you can put aside to see everything and mix in some time idling in cafes. I haven’t seen a fraction of what Tokyo has to offer.

It’s absurd that, after living in Japan for a year and having travelled extensively, I will leave the country sick that there wasn’t time to do all the things I wanted to do. I’m starting to see why people freak out on return to their home lives and end up running away abroad again. It will be very strange to go back to my UK day-job less than a week after finishing my contract in Okayama. To suddenly not have the possibility of visiting Tokyo for the weekend will feel very odd indeed.

So we had one day left in Tokyo. I felt slightly sick on the Sunday morning as I had made the bold decision to mix meishu, sake and beer with karupis and shochu. A schoolboy error. Nonetheless, after stuffing a pastry down my neck I felt a little better and we headed to Akihabara. Akihabara is a sort of playground for all your most childish impulses. Some of them not healthy. We headed to the arcades and quickly tracked down the retro-gaming section, my favourite part. I love the simplicity of some of those older games and their relative cheapness.

My friend and I got slightly addicted to Bomberman and an epic tournament began. It was much like being 14 but with marginally more facial hair and a new range of TV comedy in-jokes. After a while, I started getting quite competitive. We almost had to be dragged away from the machines.

So next was purikura. It was fun to show it to our friends and let them design the photos themselves. It’s novelty Japan, but in a good way. Spending so much time with K’s friends from the UK made me wish that my best mate and his wife from back home had been able to visit Japan whilst we were over here. Unfortunately (well maybe unfortunately isn't the right word) he happened to have a kid not long after I arrived, so he never made it out here and I will always be a bit sad about that. The kid’s pretty cool though-he’s only 9 months old but he likes Idlewild and everything.

We took the slow train back to Okayama and I was excited to get my first ever glimpse of Mt. Fuji, which was shockingly beautiful. It’s sometimes called “Fuji-san” here as mountains are often referred to in this way. That means that the direct translation is Mr. Fuji. As in, “don’t the clouds about Mr. Fuji look beautiful today.” This strange non-translation always makes me smile.

The tiger umbrella was lost. Somewhere on the Japan public transport system someone picked up a bright orange umbrella that makes growling noises at uncontrollable intervals. It was truly a sad day. I used my last 1000 yen note to get a taxi home, safe in the knowledge that I could survive on rice for the rest of the week. I spent almost all this month’s pay-check in Tokyo. It was worth it though.

Tokyo - Part 2 - Is this cool or not cool?

Oh Tokyo, I love you. Osaka and Hiroshima have their charms. Okayama feels like home. Kyoto is patchily beautiful. But Tokyo…I want to live there so much. I want to live there to the extent that I would happily commute to Westminster each day if I had the money. I love big cities and I love the sense of overwhelming possibility and fun that you get from somewhere like Tokyo. It really feels like whatever you want and whatever your interests, you can pursue them there. It felt so good to be surrounded by a real mix of people without the homogeny of styles that you see in Okayama. I like the feel of it, the way people are more relaxed when you go out at night, the little communities, the patches of green space inbetween the ugly boxes and the feel of being in a real city with all its faults and problems.

By Saturday, I really needed some time to explore things at my own pace. I love my friends who I was with, but I was desperate to spend some time being selfish. In that vein, I split off from the group and headed to Shibuya to meet my Internet Friend. I’ve never met up with an Internet Friend in real life, but they quickly became a Real Friend and made me envious at their life working in Tokyo. I got introduced to a cool little café near Shibuya and we ended up heading to Shimokitazawa. It was a great little neighbourhood, which felt a bit East London. Lots of little independent shops, plenty of vintage clothes and records on sale. Also plenty of posers of course, but I was in a good mood and had actually missed posers slightly. Besides, I was wearing the scruffy tie look so I’m slightly culpable of posing a little too, albeit rather ineptly.

It was fun to hang out, drink coffee and talk about the perils of Tokyo nightlife. I was a little sad to leave but felt refreshed and more sociable by the time I caught up with everyone at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku. It’s a cool little place, full of oddness and pretty things with a shop that would have stolen all my money if I had had any.

The night started with conveyor belt sushi, progressed to a cheap but crappy gaijin bar, took in a posh high rise look-out spot and ended messily jumping around on the furniture in a karaoke box. We even did Anarchy in the UK for the first time since coming to Japan in a full on Lost In Translation homage. I sort of hate myself for that a bit but it was so much fun.

Tokyo - Part 1 - Adventures In The Rain

Monkeys in the rain.

When I was learning Japanese back in the UK, we used the “Japanese for Busy People” textbook. The book is primarily aimed at business people which meant that, stupidly, I knew how to say “I am a lawyer” before I knew how to say “I’m from England” or “I’m 30 years old”. Anyway, in the style of all classic language text books, there is a chapter about going on vacation, in this case, to Nikko. Ever since reading it, I’ve wanted to go to Nikko. I have a similar wish to visit La Rochelle as described in 5 years of the Encore Tricolore French textbooks at secondary school, but anyway.

Nikko is about 2 hours outside Tokyo and getting there was a big hassle. It was Golden Week, which meant that half the population of Japan was either leaving or arriving in Tokyo. The situation wasn’t helped by torrential rain and signal failures which caused big delays on the trains. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon, pouring with rain and we were irritable with hunger. But we managed to track down some awesome deep fried azuki bun things and jump on a bus to a sightseeing area not far from the centre of town.

We decided to go for a hike. This was what is technically known as a “mistake”. The rain continued at a frightening rate. After about 5 minutes of walking, it became clear that my umbrella was somewhat faulty. Rain trickled down my neck and soaked my arms and legs. Clearly, the T-shirt and suit jacket look was not appropriate today. Still, we continued. Nikko is so green. There’s moss everywhere and the other tourists had (wisely?) stayed away due to the awful weather. We crossed over a terrifyingly strong river and made our way onwards, with a forest to our left and a cute, deserted park on our right. I was squelching by this point-Converse shoes are not built to withstand a puddle, let alone a thunderstorm. But we traipsed on.

(By the way-sorry the photos are such low quality- the iphone pics didn't upload in the correct definition - but hopefully they give the general idea - that we were very wet!)

Hopefully you can make out the torrential rain here.

The further we went, the more it felt like a brilliant act of folly. Yes, we were wet, but man, Nikko is beautiful. Yes, it was probably a mistake but it was also a little adventure and the rain made it more private and satisfying. We cowered under doorways and jumped over huge puddles before eventually making it to a row of monkey statues, all dressed in red bibs, worn down but looking perfect in the rain. Many photos were taken and I continue to be impressed by my friend’s tiger umbrella, pictured here. It even makes growling noises when you press a button (and sometimes by malfunction when you don’t-tiger social faux pas alert!). That umbrella would be an ever present right until the very end of our trip.

The tiger umbrella!

By the time we made it to the hostel we were exhilarated but a little grumpy. The hostel is run by an American guy called Scout who made us feel really welcome. And thank god, for the kotatsu, Japan’s greatest invention of all. My feet were toasty warm within half an hour.

No swimming for us...

My favourite thing about this hostel was that it was located right next to a huge river. We had hoped to go swimming, but as you can see from the photos, the storm had made that impossible. It was cool to sit outside by the water though, having to shout over it as it battered against the rocks. Even better, the men’s shower area overlooked it, so you got to expose yourself to it the following day.

In fact, the following day was mostly spent sitting in onsen and being extremely lazy. Being lazy is one of my favourite things. This was also nice because it meant that K got to spend some quality time with her friend who was visiting as I was starting to feel a bit guilty that they weren’t getting enough time together just the two of them. Maybe this splitting down the ranks by gender is part of the appeal of onsen, like a gentlemen’s club or a hen weekend. One of the guys in the onsen had a huge tattoo covering almost his entire back which no-one seemed to react to in a bad way. Tattoos are generally not welcomed in onsen and those with them are sometimes prohibited. It’s reasonably likely that the guy was yakuza but you can’t exactly ask in that situation. “Excuse me, I can’t help but notice that you have an incredibly intricate tattoo covering your entire back-is that because you are a member of an organised crime organization or do you just like snakes a lot?” Anyway, it was nice to hang out with my mate from back home. We probably should have talked about sport, guns and women. I don’t think we talked about any of those things.  I’m rubbish at being male, I really am.

I loved all the moss in the forest.

Cowering from the rain.