Yatsugatake （八ヶ岳）Mountain Climbing Trip (August 13-15)

During Obon, my school's mountain climbing club was scheduled to go on a trip to Yatsugatake (8 peaks) in between Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures. It's a range of mountains that used to be volcanoes. Now, all the volcanoes in the range are extinct except for Mount Kitayoko (北横山). According to local legend, Yatsugatake used to be the highest mountain in Japan, higher even than Mt. Fuji. The goddess of Mt. Fuji was jealous of Yatsugatake, so she broke the mountain into pieces, forming the 8 peaks of Yatsugatake that are all lower than Mt. Fuji.

I was very excited to go on this trip, because this time we would be camping rather than staying in yamagoya, or huts. Camping seems more genuine. In preparation I had to buy a tent, a sleeping bag, a mat, and some other equipment necessary for camping. Somehow, I managed to stuff everything in my 33 L backpack. It was very full and very heavy...

Early in the morning of August 13, I left my apartment and headed to Shinjuku, to meet everyone on the platform. We took the "Super Azusa" train that travels between Matsumoto City in Nagano and Shinjuku. The train we took wasn't the bullet train, but it was a high speed train. It took about two hours to get to our destination. We left on the first day of Obon, a VERY busy travelling day, so we had to get to the platform to line up for the train super early. We all got on and got seats. I basically slept the whole way, and I missed the beautiful scenery. After arriving at Chino (茅野) station, we caught a bus that would take us to the trail start. Little did we know, we took the wrong bus! Oops! Luckily once we realized we were able to catch another bus that went to the trail head.

Once we got off the bus it was time to start walking. We walked for about 3 hours to get to our campsite for the night. On the way there were ponds and creeks. It was all very scenic (naturally!). Recently, Nagano prefecture has been getting lots of rain, so the trails were quite wet and filled with puddles or little streams. Luckily the weather was perfect, sunny and cloudy.

After about an hour (maybe?) we reached a pond. It was really neat because the shore was littered with lava rock. However, you could tell by looking at how worn down the rocks had become that the mountain's past as a volcano was a very long time ago.

There were dragonflies everywhere! After resting at the pond for a bit, we continued on our way to our eventual destination, Twin Ponds (双子池). 

This is one pond.

And this is the other pond! 

There was a mountain hut between the two ponds. Interestingly enough, there was no camping allowed in the hut area or near the second pond. I suppose the reason is so that the water stayed clean. The second pond's water was so clean that you could drink the water straight. And that's what we did. We filled up our water bottles in the second pond and hiked back to the first pond where we could set up camp.

We camped on the beach of the first pond. We had two tents plus my one man tent. In this picture, the students are cooking breakfast. They made pancakes.

This is the pond at around 5:30 in the morning. We woke up at 4:30 am, ate breakfast and packed up so we could be on the trails by 6:30 am.

During the night, it rained a bit and it was windy, but my little tent held up. I stayed dry and warm :) The second day started off sprinkling and being cloudy, but overall the weather seemed like it would be okay. Boy was that wrong. By the time we began our first ascent to a peak, it was misty, damp, and cold, with intermittent periods of rain. 

The sign post reads, Kitayokodake 2480 m.

We reached the first peak at about 9:30 am. The elevation of Kitayokodake is 2480 m, and on the exposed peak it was cold, wet and windy! The students were already tuckered out at this point. We had just climbed about 400 m in elevation. From here we descended about to a mountain hut, where it began to pour with rain. The rest of the day the weather was cloudy, misty, with periods of heavy rain. The trails turned into rivers and by the end of the day it was really quite slippery and dangerous. At all the observation points, you couldn't see anything, just mist. So the fun of reaching a peak was lost because there were no beautiful views. Everyone was soaked and freezing cold, not to mention tired. About 1 hour before our arrival at our camp for the night, our group split into two. The head teacher and 3 of the students were able to keep up a good pace. My group could not. I was kept at the back of the group with another teacher, and with us were two very slow students. They were dragging their feet so badly... A 30 minute trek turned into an hour or longer... It was very frustrating, but what can you do? When we finally reached the mountain hut and campsite, the other half of the group was waiting and eating ice cream they purchased from the hut. One of the slow girls was feeling ill, so at first we planned to stay in the hut with her. In the end, however, the man who was running the hut convinced us all to camp. It was still pouring with rain and I was afraid to set up my tent because I had no ground sheet. So I bunked in one of the group tents instead of risking a wet and cold night. 

Once the tents were set up, I was able to change out of my wet clothes and I finally warmed up. Then it was time for dinner. The two slow students had fallen asleep, so the remaining three students cooked up spaghetti for everyone. We talked about whether we would be able to continue the next day, as the two sleeping students were having a very hard time. Also, the weather was supposed to be worse the next day. After dinner, the two slow girls woke up and one of them declared she could not go on the next day. So the trip was cut short by two days. I was pretty disappointed, but oh well. I think all the students were very pleased, because they were all very tired and sore. 

The students packing up in the morning.

The sky from our campsite. I was trying to capture some rare glimpses of blue sky. Our campsite was at Shirouma Ike (White Horse Pond; 白馬池）

Our bags all packed and ready to go. Mine`s the purple and grey one.

At night, it finally stopped raining. We went to bed pretty early, about 7:30 or 8 pm. During the night the wind picked up. It howled like crazy! The gusts were so strong I could feel the tent lifting beneath me. I had a very uncomfortable sleep, but it didn`t matter because we were leaving the next morning. Instead of continuing on, we had a short walk (about 50 minutes) to the bus stop. And so ended the trip. I plan to go back and see the peaks I didn`t get to see. 

In the morning it was cold; I wore pants, two shirts, a fleece and my rain jacket and I was still cold. When I returned to Kasukabe... It was SOOOOO hot! My poor body had a bit of a temperature shock!

2 years - August 5, 2012 - August 5, 2014 - Japanniversary

Today marks the two year anniversary of my arrival in Japan. It's crazy how time flies. I remember feeling like I made the wrong choice when I said good bye and got on the plane to Tokyo. Those thoughts are long gone, but new questions and fears have replaced them, mainly concerning the next step. I'm not sure what's next. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I do know that my Japanese must improve though. This summer I will study study study. Maybe I'll be able to string a sensible sentence together soon. Next Japanesey thing to try is Kyudo, or Japanese archery. After trying it and hitting 3 of 4 arrows on target, the teacher encouraged me to join. Soon I will hopefully learn a new skill.

Japan has changed me and made me grow in so many ways. I've had a lot of new experiences, some good and some not, but all educational.

I've had run-ins with all manner of bugs and animals. Off the top of my head, giant moths, horrifying bright orange-striped wasps with powerful stings, praying mantises (?), cockroaches, tanuki, deer, ducks, various waterfowl, a burgeoning stray cat problem, too many daschunds, corgis, and chihuahuas to count, large spiders, hopping spiders, bunnies on leashes, cats in strollers, jelly fish, flying fish, raw fish, raw chicken, raw whale, raw horse, raw beef, and other raw things, and of course cicadas!

I've climbed many mountains including the beast that is Mt. Fuji. And for sure, my future involves many more mountains. I've fallen in love with nature here in Japan. I enjoyed, loved, and bragged about Canada's nature, but it seems more precious in Japan because the concrete, the trains, the noise, the light and the crowds get to you. 

I've had surgery and turned into a major hypochondriac! Japan gifted me with a week long hospital stay complete with surgical battle scars. This is a unique experience not too many temporary residents get to have. It was character building. I'd much rather have surgery in English, though. Since everything is strange and I'm alone here, every little thing worries me. I should learn to trust that my body is healthy and very sturdy, so I don't really have to worry so much. But every ache, fever and stomach ache still stresses me out. I think it's more worrying about how to explain it in Japanese to the doctor. Haha. 

I got hit by a car and survived! This is not unique. Drivers here in Japan are terrible and the roads are narrow with tonnes of blind corners and intersections. Bike and pedestrian collisions with cars are a very common occurrence here. Less common, is the hit and run. While I survived my inevitable meeting with the front end of a car, it still plagues me to this day, almost one year later. It was also the cause of my second MRI in Japan. It's the reason I go to a hospital weekly, even though I'm perfectly healthy. At least my Japanese has improved greatly because of this... Or at least my listening comprehension has.

In the past two years I've become a surfer! And I live in a land locked prefecture! Ha! I loved surfing before Japan, but here I have the opportunity to go surfing way more often than I would be able to in Canada, and I've been able to improve. I love surfing. I love my board. I love the feeling of catching a wave. I love falling off my board. I love the soothing movement of the waves. I love the mountains, but I'm still a water baby at the core.

I've reconnected with soccer and I've been introduced to futsal here. I love playing futsal. I love playing soccer. I've been able to continue dancing as well. Through both activities I've met great people! 

I've collected so many cards. Seriously. Everyone and their dog has a card. First, there are name cards or business cards, which you receive at first meetings with people. Second, there are membership cards for things like the gym, the pool, the futsal court. Third, my necessary cards: foreign residency card, health insurance card, bank cards, credit cards, etc. Fourth, my hospital cards. Each clinic or hospital you visit gives you a card. You must use it whenever you go to that clinic or hospital. I've got quite a collection. And fifth, point cards. Oh my goodness! Grocery stores, clothing stores, malls, restaurants, coffee shops, massage places, movie theaters... Everyone has a point card or loyalty card. It's nuts. I thought I had a lot of cards in Canada, but it doesn't come close to what I've accumulated here...

Thankfully and finally as well, I collected another degree. It only took 4.5 years, 3 or 4 leaves of absence, 130-something pages of rambling and countless hours of torture, guilt, and depression. I'm a Master of Science now. Not any better for it though.

I've had some run-ins with the cops. Don't worry, nothing too serious ;p I've had some run-ins with yakuza. The former not being related to the latter, of course. Really though, what Japan experience is complete without stories of cops and gangsters? 

It's been a wild two years full of new experiences, new people and lots of cards. Happy 2nd anniversary to us, Japan!

上園 💝 日本

Updates

It has been awhile. A lot has changed. I'm older and more educated. Funny how one day changes a lot.

So what have I been doing recently? Nothing much. Or I guess I should say, I've been doing the usual: futsal, dancing and surfing.

I played futsal with this group of people, but they're not my usual groups. It was fun to play with them. Directly after this, I went to Tokyo to meet up with my Yamathon group.  Yamathon is Yamanote line (a circular train line that goes around Tokyo) and Marathon squished together. So as you might be able to guess, we walked around the Yamanote line and visited each station in less than 12 hours. My group finished 60th out of 131, with a time of 11 hours.

Here we are at the finish. We started at 7:15 am and finished at 6:15 pm. It was a long day. We got massages after. You can view the photos here: https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/100942110@N04/sets/72157645355126377/

I've been surfing as much as I can. Above is a shot of Onjuku, where I surf most of the time, because it's nice and convenient.

Onjuku has some weird symbols, due to its history; one is camels because of a famous song and the fact that the beach looks a little like desert (maybe), and the other is a shrimp with a sombrero and surfboard named Amigo. The latter is because of Onjuku's shared history with Mexico and the fact that Onjuku is a sister city to Acapulco.

This is Hebara beach, right next to Onjuku. It's a nice beach, but harder to get to as you need a bike or car.

My board, ready to go! 

A view of Onjuku from above.

As for dance, mostly I've just been practicing, but I did take part in an all styles battle recently. One of the groups I practice with is Odoriman. So I went to the battle with them. It was really fun, and it was an all-you-can-eat tuna battle. The food was delicious! On the day of the battle, partners were randomly assigned, so I didn't know who I was battling with. It turns out I was battling with a sexy burlesque style hip hop dancer... A little strange. We didn't get by the first round, but it was fun, nevertheless. 

My friend Nin-nin dressed as a ninja for battle. The event was very relaxed and fun. Other events are usually much more stressful and less fun because of the competitiveness of the entrants.

I will continue the update in another post, but I'll leave you with some photos of other things I've been doing lately:

Puppies!!!!!!

The last board sport to do.

Yummmmm! But I can't find it anymore :(

Canadians far from home at Onjuku beach. You can tell we're Canadian  because of our swimming costumes. Hahaha. Delicate white skin and Japanese sunscreen don't mix well, especially when there's water involved.

The Tokyo Color Run - March 15, 2014

This past Saturday I ran my first race in a very long while. It was the Tokyo color run, which is in fact, not a race. Beforehand I was worried about being able to run the distance at any sort of speed. I was worried about embarrassing myself. It turns out all my worrying was for naught. I'll get to that later.

The color run is a fun run with two rules:

1. Start the race wearing white

2. Finish the race covered in color

I did just that:

It's a really bad picture, but I was clean before I started.

Then I ran the race. We didn't actually start at the start line, because we didn't get there in time. Instead, we joined in about 100 m later. 

The first colour station we reached was blue. Before we got there I had fun stag leaping and cart wheeling my way. I also did some running. Most people were just walking.

At the blue station, I twirled around and got blue everywhere, including in my mouth. Bleh.

By this time a group of us had broken away from the original group, they were too slow for us. I wanted to stay together, but it was difficult to do so.

The next colour station was yellow. On our my way down to the yellow station, I was running and slapping high fives the whole way. It was really fun. And very un-Japanese. Why do I say that? Usually everyone is really quiet and they stay in their own little worlds. There is no talking, yelling at or touching strangers, at least not without a healthy dose of alcohol. But the color run is fun, and it brought out the fun in others :)

After yellow, the next colour station was green. I think this was a very poor colour selection. Blue + yellow = green and the next colour station was green. After green, I was decidedly green.

The final colour station, right before the finish, was pink! My favourite! I think it was a great way to end the race. I would have preferred purple or red, but I was just happy to get colourful. After the pink station, we raced to the end. It was really fun. 

At the finish line they gave us wet wipes, water and more colour powder! I wondered about the colour powder, but then I realized there was pretty much a rave going on past the finish line. There was a stage set up, a DJ playing dub step music and hundreds of people dancing/jumping. The music would build up and build up and then finally explode and everyone would cheer, start jumping, and throwing their colour powder into the air. It was amazing to see. 

After the dancing I was incredibly colourful. It was gross, and everything was kind of melting together and turning green. So, rule 2? I followed it to a T.

You can see the colour in my teeth!

Surprisingly, a lot of Japanese people asked to take photos with us. I looked like a monster, maybe that's why.

So why didn't I have to worry? Well hardly anyone ran, and the people I ran with were not faster than me. And I'm faster than I was before. Maybe thanks to futsal. And of course, most importantly it was a fun run, so there were no time chips or race clocks. Also, cheating was allowed and many people cut corners or hopped fences.

It was fun, but transportation was poorly organized. They didn't organize any shuttles and recommended taking a taxi to the running place as a viable option... Sigh. I wouldn't do it again, but I had fun doing it this time.

White Day - The Sequel to Valentine's Day

So White Day has come and gone. It was March 14, and it occurs exactly one month after Valentine's Day. White Day was a new concept for me, as we don't have it in North America. This year marks my second White Day in Japan, and it was basically the same as last year.

The very next day after Valentine's Day, White Day ads go up in stores. Where Valentine's Day colours are red and white, White Day colours seem to be largely white (go figure...), with accents of blue. This "holiday" was invented in 1978 by the National Confectionary Industry Association, who recognized a retail opportunity. Not wanting to leave the Valentine's gifts from women to men unreturned, they saw a need to found White Day. This need is based on the notion of "giri", or duty. It seems that it is impossible to just give a gift in Japan, it will always be returned, somehow, some way. When you just "give a gift", the recipient makes a mental note of it, and will very likely attempt to pay you back in the near future, with a gift of equal or greater value. This aspect of the culture is hard to get used to for someone like me, who just likes to give gifts. I hesitate to do it now, because I know the other person will feel obligated (probably obligated x 10, because I'm foreign!) to return the gift. Any way, Valentine's Day/White Day is a perfect example of this. On Valentine's Day, giri choco (duty chocolate) is given from girls to boys, and then on White Day, those boys have to return the favour in form of sweet confections. In addition, it's expected that the boy gives a nicer chocolate in return. This is the rule of sanbai gaeshi, a rule that dictates the return gift on White Day should be worth 2-3 times the value of the original gift.

So as you can see, the candy makers have capitalized on the social obligation the Japanese have to always return a gift. This day is so pointless it makes me laugh. It is clearly not as popular as Valentine's Day, because the target of the ads are all male, so there are no "make your own candy" supplies and all the White Day gifts come pre-wrapped. There is no genuine feeling here, just obligation. Sigh.

That being said, this day can also be the start of a new love. A boy in love may make his move on White Day. On Valentine's Day, a girl might've let it be known that she is interested in a special boy by giving him honmei choco. If this boy is really shy, he might wait the whole month to show his interest by returning the gift to the girl. Crazy right? I don't know how often this really happens, or if it is just legend, but it still amazes me. Also on this day, a boy might declare his feelings with chocolate for a girl. This is what all my students hope for, secretly. Again, I'm not really sure how often this happens in real life.

White Day is celebrated in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. In Korea, they also have black day, April 14, where single people get together and eat white noodles with black bean sauce. The people who celebrate black day, are the people who did not receive or give any chocolates on White Day or Valentine's Day. To my knowledge, there is no equivalent day in Japan, although I wouldn't doubt that it could be become popular in the future.

At a girls' school, White Day isn't really a big thing, for one thing, it falls at the end of the school year. So students may not be at school or they are busy studying for final exams. The other big reason is that there are no boys. The students mainly exchange chocolates with their friends and teachers. If the students are lucky, their male teachers may return the chocolate gifts to the students. At my school it seems to depend on the teacher, some of the guys have nothing to do with it, whereas others are good sports about it. Naturally, I don't expect much action on White Day. In fact, this year I forgot it was White Day until I received some chocolates from teachers. On Valentine's Day, the other ALT and I spread lots of Valentine's love by passing out chocolate kisses to students and all the teachers. So, on White Day, some of the teachers returned the favour. I received things from our school nurses, a few English teachers and two Japanese teachers. I was very surprised. I ended up with a surprisingly big White Day haul.

But still no honmei chocolate. No love declarations for me. Sigh. Maybe next year?

Happy Girls' Day!

Today, March 3, is Girls' Day, or Hina Matsuri (doll festival), in Japan. This day is not a national holiday (why not??), but it is commonly celebrated by all families with girls. 

About a month before Hina Matsuri, families with girls begin to display their Hina Ningyō (a set of dolls) in the genkan (front hall of their home) or front windows. The dolls represent the emperor, the empress, their attendants and the court musicians, all dressed in traditional Heian period costumes. This tradition started in the Heian era, after all. It was traditionally believed that dolls could capture and contain bad spirits. In the old days, straw Hina Ningyō were sailed down a river and out to sea, taking the bad spirits with them. 

This is a very traditional and fancy set of Hina Ningyō. Tiny sets of these dolls usually cost over $150, the set in the picture would be worth thousands. So most homes don't have an extravagant setup, unless they are rich.

As with all Japanese events, there is a seasonal drink and food associated with the festival. The drink of Hina matsuri is shirozake, a sweet low alcohol drink made from fermented rice. 

This is shirozake, in peach flavour (momo), the flavour of Hina matsuri. The blossom attached to the picture is a peach blossom. 

There are lots of snacks associated with Hina matsuri. Usually parents will buy their daughters some special girly-looking snacks and they will eat a special dinner. 

One snack is arare, little ball-shaped rice crackers flavoured with soy sauce, or (especially for Hina matsuri) sugar in white, green, and pink. The colourful sweet arare are special for Hina matsuri. 

Another Hina matsuri snack is sweetened rice cakes, layered and cut into a diamond shape. They are called hishimochi.

Depending on the region, they may have more layers and different colours. Here in Kantō, hishimochi have 3 layers, with pink, white, and green layers from top to bottom.

There are other snacks, usually in the same colour theme, or the peach theme. The main course for a Hina matsuri dinner is chirashizushi. Chirashizushi means scattered sushi, and it is a bowl of sushi rice topped with sushi fillings of various raw fish and vegetables. 

I think in these modern times, families also eat a sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries (this is the go to cake for any event: birthday, Christmas, hina matsuri, etc).

As I said before, the dolls are displayed for about a month before hina matsuri. If they are not taken down on March 4, the day after, the daughter will either have a late marriage or never get married at all. Serious consequences...

Around this time, stores display their Hina  Ningyō, and some stores have very fancy sets of dolls. So it is interesting to see them everywhere. Come tomorrow though, they'll all be gone :(