Tuesday 30 October 2012

Halloween in Japan

Halloween just feels different in Japan. Sure there is candy and Halloween decorations everywhere, but no one trick or treats nor do they understand Halloween. Also, there few orange pumpkins. So sad! Many of my lessons deal with the historical meaning and significance of Halloween, but not the cultural experience. At my school the other ALT and I have tried to teach a little bit of Halloween culture.

On Monday October 29 we held a Halloween party in one of our classes. First we told them some scary (not really) stories - do you remember "the Girl with the Green Ribbon" and "the Ghostly Hitchhiker" ? They're children's versions of scaryish folk tales. The girls weren't too impressed. I'm not sure they quite understood. We also told them the origin of the Jack o'lantern - Stingy Jack. They didn't seem too thrilled with that either. Any way, with the mandatory lesson out of the way, the girls performed their Halloween skits. I have them on film but I don't think I'm allowed to post it for safety reasons. They were great though. There was a dance from Rocky Horror Picture Show and the other group recited 5 little pumpkins and performed the Trick or Treat sing we taught them. Hahaha. Corrupting young minds. After that we broke out the candy, there was lots of that, the teacher made pumpkin pudding ( sooo delicious) and then we carved pumpkins!!

The pumpkins we carved were Japanese pumpkins, green in color with bright orange insides. Very tough. We had to microwave them first to make it easier to carve. It was so cute, everyone planned a pumpkin face and then we voted on the best two. They were then carved into the pumpkins.

They pumpkins turned out marvelously. We lit them up and then ate our candy and pumpkin pudding. It was a good cultural experience for the girls, perhaps next year they will celebrate Halloween, the proper way. Hahaha.

The pumpkin on the right, with the glasses is modeled after one of the science teachers. Everyone has a crush on him. The other ALT and I can't figure out why... Maybe he's particularly charming in Japanese, but he hardly says a word to us. Too shy I suppose.

I took the pumpkin guts home and saved the seeds. That was what I just finished doing. Cleaning and roasting pumpkin seeds. My apartment now smells like pumpkin seeds and it makes me nostalgic for home (natsukashi in Japanese). *sigh*

Now, I don't have an oven. I have a microwave (no oven function) and a gas stove with a broiler. Not without fear, I cooked the seeds in the microwave! There was no need to worry though, they turned out perfect!

First I cleaned and separated the seeds. Next I seasoned the seeds. I used season salt and pepper for most of them, but I also tried cinnamon and sugar for a few. After that I stuck them in the microwave. I cooked them for 2 minutes at a time. Each plate took about 4 minutes in all. They are delicious, though not as good as mom's. They'll have to do though.

This evening, before I undertook the pumpkin seed roasting, I went to get candy for tomorrow and some groceries, it smelled like jack o'lanterns outside!! That made me really miss home. I hope everyone is having a good Halloween season at home.

Also, yesterday I had another ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) class. It was Halloween themed. This time we didn't do traditional arrangement but we made a festive Halloween decoration instead.

Tomorrow is actual Halloween, we will have trick or treating in the ALT office, it's bound to be fun :)

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Saturday 27 October 2012

Bugs in Japan

One thing I wasn't prepared for when I first moved here is the size and weirdness of the bugs I see.

Mosquitos on the one hand are small but very annoying. Moths are very large and intricate. Butterflies are beautiful. The spiders here are worrying.

I have no pictures of Mosquitos. I should have taken photos of all the bites I got when I went to a park and sat on a bench after a bike ride. I was sweaty, it was hot and the Mosquitos seemed to like that combo. My poor legs were itchy for days. Unfortunately I was too green in Japan. I didn't yet know about Muhi, a miracle cream. It takes the itch away almost instantly. It also can be used on acne.

The next type of bug I encountered was a moth. Moths don't really scare me, except I worry that they'll eat my clothes. I've seen a giant moth and I've also seen a moth whose wings were folded in such a way that it looked like a dead leaf. Pictures are below.

These aren't bugs, but they eat them. One day at practice, I noticed I was being watched... By frogs! Tiny cute green frogs!

The next critter isn't a bug either. Here in the city we have some very noisy birds. There are small birds that migrate en masse to different trees every day around 5 pm. They make quite the noise. There are owls that always spook me while I'm riding or walking at night (bats too!). Then there are the ravens. These guys are huge! They like to make noise in the morning when you're trying to have a sleep-in... There is a picture of a raven I met in Omiya park below. This particular guy looks battle-worn. I think he's had an interesting life, or so his twisted beak would lead me to believe.

The next bug I encountered was the praying mantis! Interestingly enough, I saw two of them right after the typhoon. One was huge and dead, the other was small and alive. I've included a pictures of the dead one. At first I thought it was a stick bug. But then my neighbour told me it was a praying mantis.

The next bug I will mention is the spider. There are some nasty spiders here... Luckily most of them live elsewhere in the country. However I have come into contact with some jumping spiders (so creepy) and a spider that looked like a bee (picture below). I saw the bee spider just the other day. It's really big (small by Japanese standards) and it set up its web right next to a wasp's nest! So scary. It was behind the bench I was going to eat my lunch on... I chose another bench instead.

There have been some beautiful butterflies in Japan too. I like to encounter butterflies. The picture I've included does not give any justice to this butterfly. When it opened its wings, it had indigo patches on the back. Gorgeous.

When I volunteered at the international festival, there was a very large and scary-looking hornet type bug flying around. I'm not sure what they're called but I've heard that people have to go to the hospital if they get stung. Very scary! This particular hornet thing also seemed to like me. Luckily I fought the urge try and kill it and came through the ordeal without being stung or having to visit the hospital.


Other animals that I've seen are cats, dogs, a tanooki and a rabbit on a leash. People here love their daschunds. There are so many people with weiner dogs... I always ask why, but no one seems to know. Japanese people just prefer long dogs. There are lots of dogs and cats, the vast majority of them are not spayed or neutered. There is no stray dog problem but there certainly are a lot of stray or even feral cats around. The tanooki is a raccoon dog. I got to see one when I went to Gunma. It was very special. I have also seen a man carrying his leashed rabbit. It was a little odd and I felt sorry for the rabbit. It didn't look too healthy. I hope I don't see that again.

In Nikko park there are wild monkeys. They are dangerous because they could attack you... Scary. For this reason and for the reason that all of the worst transmissible diseases seem to start with monkeys, I don't like monkeys and I am afraid of them. Apparently black bears also live in Nikko. The day before I went to Nikko there was a bear attack and an unfortunate hiker ended up with a bear bite on his head. The hiker survived and the bear took off. I believe the Japanese police are still looking for it. Seriously. Good luck. Hahahaha.

Of course I cannot neglect to mention cockroaches. Ugh. I'm afraid of these disgusting creatures, and allergic too. Whenever I saw them running around, I would experience allergy symptoms the next morning. Ugh. Luckily I haven't seen any inside my apartment for awhile. I have seen them outside though. Yuck.

Of worthy mention is the famous mukade. I haven't seen this centipede like bug in person. I think you have to go south for that. Many people seem to be scared of this bug. I think bites from the mukade are quite severe as it is poisonous. If you are brave enough, you can look it up... It looks quite threatening.

So there you have it. Those are my experiences with bugs and animals in Japan. One of these days I will go to the zoo and I'll have a lot more animals to talk about.

Saturday 20 October 2012

Nikko

One of Japan's national treasures is Nikko National Park. This park is beautiful and it contains world heritage sites as well as historically and culturally significant sites as well. Nikko is famous for its red bridge, koyo (autumn foliage) and the tomb of the third shogun samurai.

Nikko also has Kegon waterfall, one of the three largest in Japan and chuzenji (chuzenjiko) lake. To get to chuzenji, it's a drive up a very windy (kunekune) mountain road. Chuzenjiko was formed by a volcanic eruption and sits about 1200 m above sea level.

The tomb of the third shogun samurai and accompanying shrine (Tosho-gu shrine) is very ornate and richly decorated with color, gold and carvings. This is unusual for Japanese tombs and shrines. Usually they are not so garish. Not to say that Nikko is garish, it's just decorated in more of a Chinese way than Japanese. In the shrine and courtyard dedicated to the third shogun, you can find the famous three monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. It is said that there are wild monkeys in nikko, I didn't see any, thank goodness. Another memorable animal carving is the sleeping cat (nemuri neko). It's a famous symbol of the Tosho-gu shrine and it was believed to be the incarnate form of the Buddha of healing.

I love Nikko. It's gorgeous and full of nature. It's a nice change from the city. I'll be back for sure, especially to get my fill of snow in the winter...

Friday 19 October 2012

Japan...

Japan keeps me on my feet. There's always something that surprises me and I'm constantly on my toes.

Today I ran out of toilet paper. Instead of stealing some from school, I did the grown up thing and went and bought my own. In the stores there is usually not too much toilet paper selection. The other day I contemplated buying some Hello Kitty toilet paper, but chickened out because it seemed wrong. Well... Today I ended up with Tom and Jerry TP.

Not only is it Tom and Jerry, it's special for Halloween. Yes. Japan has special Halloween toilet paper. What better way to celebrate than with Halloween TP. I know what I'm going to be doing on Halloween. ;p

I wish I could say that the toilet paper was amazing just because it's Halloween themed... It's not the only thing going on. This toilet paper is also scented. It has a lovely scent that is supposed to be melon... How does that relate to Halloween you ask? Not sure. As with most things in Japan, you just have to accept it.

I know I said I did the grown up thing, but I'm not so sure any more... Oh well, at least by the time I need toilet paper it will be Christmas and I can indulge the season with some more themed toilet paper. Perhaps I could even make garlands out of it!

Wednesday 17 October 2012

It's been awhile.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in so long. Truly nothing much is happening. Just regular life. I do continue to be amazed by Japan though. My students make me laugh and you can't help but be happy around them.

They always seem to come up with gems of statements like, "we would like to travel to Seoul. At 10:00 in the morning we will get breast enlargement surgery. After we will have lunch. Then at 1 pm we will go shopping. At 5 pm we will have dinner ..." Hmmm. I really don't think you'll be in any shape to go shopping or eat after surgery... I tried to explain this to them. Alas, the point was lost on them. I settled for telling them that they don't need to change at all. That was lost too, I fear.

In other news my supervisor is trying to make it so that I never taste again. It started with an innocent challenge to try some spicy yakisoba. I accepted the challenge and ate it, spice and all. It was quite spicy, almost uncomfortably so. A few days ago he brought in the next challenge... See the picture below. He wants me to eat this very spicy curry. It's 30 x or 45 x if you add the extra stuff, spicier than something. It looks worryingly spicy. Luckily I can't eat this at school. It requires actual preparation. I'm a little worried.

I have also attached a picture of some of the guys I've been dancing with. These guys are hilarious. It's very interesting to see how they interact with each other. It's never a dull moment.

That's all for now. :)

Love you and miss you all!