A Valentine's Post

Yes, I know, Valentine's Day was quite a while ago, 4 days I suppose, but bear with me. Valentine's Day in Japan is a special thing, just like all western holidays that get adopted here. I think the biggest difference about it is that the roles are reversed, it's the women giving the chocolate and the men receiving it. The jury is out on whether the boys actually like it or appreciate it. I'll explain that in a later post.

In the stores, on the lead up to Valentine's Day, there are lots of hearts and the usual flowery, romantic decorations. It's all to attract the women, who will be buying pre-made chocolates or chocolate-making supplies in large quantities. So the holiday is also a commercial enterprise in Japan, as it is back in North America. Luckily it seems to have been contained to mostly the candy companies, baking and confection supply companies, and the cute food-packaging industry. Flowers, stuffed animals, jewelry and cards are not important on this day (their time to shine is Christmas!).

The Chocolate:

There are four types of chocolate gifts on Valentine's Day: giri choco, tomo choco, honmei choco, and gyaku choco (I just learned about this last type!). The mind boggles at this well organized gift giving system. 

Giri choco:

This is obligation or duty chocolate (giri = duty). This is typically the cheapest chocolate, and it isn't handmade. This chocolate gift is reserved for the men that are in your life, but you don't necessarily have anything to do with them. For example, coworkers, bosses, office workers that help you out, the mail man, etc. I think this type of chocolate gift is kind of dying out as more and more women are becoming disenchanted with their male coworkers, especially those who aren't very nice. 

Tomo choco:

This type of chocolate is probably the most popular these days. It is friend chocolate (tomo is short for tomodachi, which means friend). Full disclaimer: I work in a girls' highschool, so my views and experiences are completely affected and probably biased because of this. Tomo choco, at least in a girls' highschool, seems to typically be handmade. Some inexpensive chocolate or candy is given, but the majority of it seems to be homemade. Of course, highschool students don't have money, so only those with money-giving parents can buy chocolate for their friends. Among adult women, I think probably more women buy their tomo choco, and spend more on it than they would with giri choco. 

My students are arranged in classes of about 40, so everyone brings every classmate something. The result is something close to Halloween. Many of my students gave me chocolate and homemade goods, it felt like Halloween, but with hearts and flowers galore. See the pictures below. 

That bag is full of gifts from students. The next Monday, I got even more! Crazy. (Edit. Even today, Tuesday, I got more. Nuts!)

Honmei choco:

This is love chocolate. Honmei means favourite or "one's desire". So you can see that this level of chocolate is the highest and only reserved for those you treasure. In a girls' highschool, this gift is rather rare, and while one girl may give honmei choco to her girlfriend, I think it's generally a secret. Japanese society, while not openly against homosexuality, doesn't like things that stray from the norm, so same-sex couples are mostly secret. Honmei choco is the most expensive or the most caringly made and decorated chocolate that you give to your partner (romantic one, that is), children, or father. I'm sure sisters give their brothers chocolate, but it probably is more like giri choco. Honmei choco can also be used to declare your love for someone. So if you have a crush on a boy, you can show him you like him by giving him chocolate. After elementary school, it's most likely that any chocolate given from girl to guy (who is not taken) on Valentine's Day, is a honmei choco. Of course coworkers and bosses (and other typical giri choco recipients) don't count. 

Gyaku choco:

Gyaku means reverse or opposite, so you can guess that gyaku choco is chocolate given in the reverse way, from guy to girl. I think this is quite rare. But if a guy has a girl that he really likes, he can make a declaration of his affection for her on Valentine's Day with gyaku choco. I've never seen it happen except in cases involving foreigners, of course, as this is the usual way. I just learned of this phenomenon this year, and I badly wanted to witness it, but the opportunities in a girls' highschool are truly limited for this kind of experience :( 

Now I know you're wondering about the chocolate I gave and received... Hehehe.

Last year, a few might know, I went all out, as the experience was so shiny and new. This year... Ehhhh not so much. I was too busy and tired to think of making my own chocolate this year. Last year I made banana loaf, truffles, chocolates, no-bake cookies, etc. This year I bought chocolate. I was lazy. 

But that doesn't answer your question does it? Nothing exciting here folks. The only honmei choco I gave was sent in the mail, the rest was giri or tomo choco. My coworker and I bought a massive bag of Hershey's kisses and gave them out to students and teachers. We even hid them in one of the classrooms. I made a little extra effort for the teachers I work with, and the vice principals. 

What kind of chocolate did I receive? No gyaku choco, that's for sure!  :( But I did receive lots of tomo and/or giri choco from the students and it was delicious!!

And that is the madness that is Valentine's Day in Japan. Stay tuned for the sequel... In a month.

Ikebana Update!

It's been awhile since I've posted some ikebana photos. Unfortunately there wasn't too many meetings in the 2nd term of school. So many holidays and disruptions on ikebana club days!

The following isn't ikebana, but it is plant-related!

The giant Christmas tree returns!

Kōyō (こうよう 紅葉) in Kasukabe. Look at those beautiful fall colours!

A pomegranate! 

End of the year. It was a goodie.

My first post of 2014! At the moment I've been busy with various things: dance, debate, futsal, etc. I haven't had any new adventures though. Well, scratch that. I've had some.

This post will cover things I did before flying back for Christmas.

First, Freestyle Sessions World Finals 2013 at Studio Coast:

I didn't battle, I just cyphered and watched. Many of my friends were battling though!

Cypher Adikts (FSSWF Pre-event):

This was a cypher party the night before freestyle sessions. It was soooo fun. I think I credit this weekend with reviving my inspiration in dance!

Ice Skating at Toshimaen for a friend's birthday:

You can see the chain in the background. Hahaha. The Japanese people were very amused. The kids really wanted in on the licorice whip! 

Creepy Santa Claus at toshimaen... 

A ride-on panda. You put money in and it rolls around. You can steer it and everything. So fun.

Breakdance the ride! Unfortunately it was not in use. I did a little freeze in front of it though, for posterity.

Beautiful winter skies:

Next post will cover what's been going on in the new year. The sky pictures were taken around Kasukabe. The moon ones were near my apartment. It was so cool because the light of the moon on the clouds or jet stream made a shadow! I've never seen anything like it.

Can you spot Mt. Fuji?

Glen's Visit

Glen's trip was short so we had to do as much as possible in the time he was given and also around my schedule. He arrived Saturday evening, on Sunday we went to Tokyo, Monday we went to my school and then Tuesday we went to Nikko. I love Nikko, it is an escape from the concrete and rice paddies of Saitama and Tokyo. 

Nikko is the end of Japan's version of the Romantic road. Nikko is a national park (日光国立公園) that houses some UNESCO world heritage sights: Nikko Tosho-gu (a Shinto shrine built in honour of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and Rinno-ji (a Buddhist temple under repairs right now). At Tosho-gu, there are the famous monkeys: hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, and the sleeping cat. It's beautiful and I love going to Nikko. It's too bad that we didn't get to go up to Chuzenjiko via Irohazaka. Maybe another time.

On Wednesday we went canyoning at Okutama! Okutama is a mountainous area in Tokyo prefecture. It was my first time going there, but definitely not my last. Since we were the only two people who went canyoning, we got to do things that others don't. We jumped lots, did flips and abseiled. At the end of it all, the owner of the company gave Glen the pictures and movies they took for free! Nice deal. After getting back, we carved pumpkins with my neighbours, one of which had never carved one before! That was fun. We had bought tiny orange pumpkins from Costco.

On Thursday we went surfing in Onjuku. It was pretty chilly and the surf was small, but I caught a lot of waves. I don't think Glen was so successful, but hopefully he had fun. After surfing we chatted a bit with the owner of Flying Sumo Surf shop and shared a pumpkin beer. This beer was soooo delicious! It has something ridiculous like 7 kg or 7 lb of pumpkin per barrel, it tasted like pumpkin pie! 

On Friday we met up with Cory and his wife Yuko in Tokyo. We went to Shinjuku Gyoen park, the Imperial Palace Gardens (which were closed) and Asakusa. 

That evening we had Shabu Shabu to eat with my coworker and her husband. I ate way too much, which is par for the Shabu Shabu course.

On Saturday I had to work all day at a debate tournament, so Glen went to Tokyo by himself. My students finished 8th out of over 25 teams! I was very proud of them and in awe of their abilitiy to keep doing debate.

The next day Glen had to leave stupid early, like 5:30 am or something, to get to the airport. I accompanied him part way and we said our good byes. At which point he continued on his way to Korea.

Mount Akagi Hike (October 19, 2013)

Last weekend, I went to Gunma prefecture with a former coworker and my friend Michelle. We left home around 7:30 am and drove to Mt. Akagi (赤城山), arriving at around 10 am. My coworker, a retired chemistry teacher who works part time, drove us. The weather was not so good and rain was threatening us all day. Luckily, it didn't rain until we got back!

The drive up was rather perilous. Mountain roads are extremely narrow and curvy, meaning that you can't see much and cars/trucks/cyclists/people pop out from seemingly nowhere... The ride up the mountain was so curvy that my friend was car sick. I was fine, just a little nervous. 

The hike was about 3 hours, it was more of a walk than a hike. The colours hadn't changed yet but it felt like winter on the mountain. There are a bunch of mountains in the area as well as a pond and lake. Apparently there are bears and deer. I saw signs warning to beware of bears and every hiker was wearing a bear  bell. Not that it means much. Everyone seems to wear bear bells, regardless of bears existing or not. We saw physical evidence of deer but didn't see any real animals.

At the end of the hike, we went to Akagi Jinjya (shrine). To get to it, we crossed a remarkable red bridge (You can see it in the pictures). The city where this park is located is called "Maebashi" or　前橋, which means in front of bridge. Perhaps it is referring to this bridge. The shrine was on a peninsula in lake Onuma. Onuma lake is a crater lake and apparently in the spring, you can find skunk cabbage there! Ha ha. It's rare and special in Japan. It was really pretty and picturesque. Before entering the shrine, it is customary to cleanse yourself: First you wash your left hand, followed by your right hand, next you wash your mouth and finally you rinse the ladle. The decoration for the "cleansing water" was a cool dragon (you can also see that in the pictures). Outside of the shrine there was a place where people write their wishes on wood blocks, a lot of them were asking for cute babies. I don't believe this shrine is a fertility shrine. In Shintoism, it is believed that gods live in the mountains, so the shrines in the mountains are built for the gods of the mountain.

Here are some pictures from hike:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100942110@N04/sets/72157636714546346/

 

ALT Soccer Tournament, round 2

This past weekend I participated in another ALT soccer tournament. This time I went by Shinkansen instead of by car. It was really quick, but expensive. The train took only 1 hour, but the cost was ¥5000! Despite the cost, it's still fun to travel by Shink. I met my team, the Saitama Saiborgs (men and women), beforehand and we travelled down together on the Friday night. 

Our hotel is nestled in the mountains at the base of a very small ski hill. This year we got the same hotel room as last time and I even slept in the same bed! The room is really big- it slept 9 girls with lots of room for more. There were four beds and a large tatami mat area for futons. Friday night passed by tamely and everyone woke up excited for the day of soccer before us. Breakfast was included, but it wasn't very good. Powdered eggs, slices of pressed ham, buns, cabbage salad, and rice. Bleh.

The girls tournament had 7 teams participating in it, we played on half fields with 6 players a side (including goalies). This is a much different game than traditional soccer. I think it was way more running! Because Saitama had so many girls signed up, we entered two teams: the Saiborgs and the Psychoborgs. I was team captain of the Psychoborgs. Mostly the girls had never played soccer before. I wasn't sure how we would do...

The tournament was planned such that each team would play the other teams once. So 7 teams = 6 games guaranteed. This meant That on Saturday we played 4 games and Sunday we played at least 2. Living up to our name, the Psychoborgs were fantastic! (Saiko = best in Japanese, a clever name :p). We played four games, won 3 and tied 1. We ended the day in first place!!! I was really impressed with my team, we kind of came together throughout the day and we got better as the day progressed. I was a crazy yelly person... I hope no one took offense! 

On Sunday we played our last two games, one of which was against the other Saitama team, the Saiborgs. That was a fun game. At one point everyone was laying on the field laughing because the goalie dove into some animal (probably monkey or dog) poo. Hehehehe.

It was hilarious. We lost one game and beat the Saiborgs. Honestly though, everyone was hungover and sore from the previous day. We weren't in very good shape. We even started a black toenail club. 

At the end of the 6 games, we were in 2nd place, so we went to the final!

In the final we played the team we tied in our very first game. Unfortunately we really didn't have any steam left. People were injured and just too tired and sore to run. I was very frustrated. Still we managed to tie and bring the game to a shoot out end :( We lost in the shoot out and finished 2nd place.

My team gave me the trophy to take home. I guess they didn't take my yelling too personally.

This is everyone from Saitama, including the boys. The boys had to team up with Tochigi because there weren't enough guys for a team.

The winning (2nd place) team! Very tired and relieved to stop playing!

Our cheer: "Heeeeeeeeeerrrrrreeee's Psychoborgs!" Followed by screaming and pyscho faces. Hahaha.