Top 11 Things I Miss About Japan

Having been away from Japan for nearly six months now, I've found myself really missing it lately and can't wait till I can go back next year.  Then I got to thinking...what is it that I actually miss?  Because, like anywhere, including Canada, there's things I love and hate....so I came up with this list. Some are things you don't even realize you'll miss until you don't have them anymore ( like my students, Engrish, and toilets that clean your butt!)

1. Shinkansen - by far the thing I probably loved the most was the shinkansen.  How can you not?  It's fast, clean, punctual, spacious, futuristic, and uber convenient, dropping you and picking you up in the city centre, unlike flying.  I'm an advocate for having bullet trains in every country of the world, even though other bullet trains I've ridden in different countries aren't nearly as awesome.  I lived in Japan nearly a year before I took the shink...I don't know why....part of it was definitely the fact that a night bus to Kyoto is cheaper, but it made me really nervous for some crazy reason...the same reason perhaps that I lived in the UK a year before hitting up London because it made me nervous (but I had no issue with Rome, Prague, Istanbul, Paris, or Athens?).  Either way, after that first ride in style up to Nagoya, I haven't looked back...it's one of the few expensive comforts I allow myself when travelling in Japan and my God is it worth it!

2. Purikura - this was again another thing I didn't do for a long time, but after awhile, every newbie I'd show around town or everyone who came to visit, got dragged into one of these booths.  Who doesn't want to be airbrushed, have the perfect amount of blush, creepily huge eyes with rainbow falsies, and accessorize themselves to look like a whorish tranny bunny?  Just don't wear green or you'll be one with the background.

3. Karaoke - I'm the first person to admit I have an absolutely horrid voice.  And a lot of the time I go to karaoke I don't sing a whole lot (there's much better singers out there, don't want to steal their thunder!) but it's nice to just sit back and relax and watch everyone have at 'er.  The original karaoke in Japan is so much better than it is in Canada because you just rent your own little room with your friends, rather than stand in a bar full of strangers!  I don't know about you, but it takes me awhile to get comfortable enough with someone to hold a conversation, never mind sing!  That being said, I have graduated from having to be incredibly drunk to sing anything to being able to sing Barbie Girl by Aqua sober with my boss on a Monday at noon.

4. Konbinis - I don't live in the urban part of Japan, at least by Japanese standards.  In fact, when I'm travelling out of my prefecture and tell Japanese people where I live, the response is always the same: laughter and Why?? Why??? My first apartment in Japan had a vending machine literally at the bottom of the stairs and when I moved I was devastated I had to walk ACROSS THE STREET to the nearest one.  (Also note: THE VENDING MACHINES GET CHANGED IN THE FALL SO SOME DRINKS ARE HOT IN THE WINTER). There was another one around back of the apartment and 3 konbinis (convenience stores) practically within arms reach.  And this is is in the inaka (countryside).  Now, convenience stores in Japan truly put to shame those in any other country.  You can do anything you want: fax, copy, buy decent semi-nutritious food, heat up your food, buy booze, buy concert tickets, tickets to sporting events, pay bills, use the ATM (7-11 banks even allow you to transfer money home through the ATM), buy bus tickets, drop off or pick up luggage from the airport, send or pick up parcels, buy stamps, print digital photos, use the toilet, some have free Wi-Fi (surprisingly uncommon in Japan), buy dish detergent at 3am.  The list is literally endless.  However, I try to avoid my local 7-11 at certain times of the night when the annoying yankee kids (the wannabe yakuza teenage boys with rhinestone Hello Kitty track suits and matching sandals) have nothing better to do than hang out outside 7-11.  This video does an excellent job of summing up both the awesomeness of konbinis and life in the inaka for teenagers (sorry it's only in Japanese, but still super catchy)

5. Kawaii-ness - No other country in the world probably loves cute things as much as Japan.  After being in Japan a year and taking a short trip to Korea, I wasn't expecting to notice the lack of cuteness quite so much.  Nearly every person in Japan, regardless of age or sex, including foreigners, has at least one favourite character.  My first was the stereotypical Hello Kitty.  I didn't even realize I loved her - my first set of chopsticks my second day in Tokyo were Hello Kitty and my first Halloween in Japan I made a zombie Hello Kitty papier mache costume.  Next came Choruru (my prefectures mascot with green mountains for hair) and Nameko (a phallic looking mushroom which is just plain wrong for little girls to be obsessed with - yes, I said it).  In Japan, it's perfectly acceptable for a 30 year old woman in a business suit to be riding the subway and pull out her iPhone rhinestone studded Hello Kitty case, complete with at least 5 keitai charms (these are yet another thing I miss...no one decorates their phone enough here!).  It's so hard coming back to Canada and having no one get as excited about my cute things as I do. (or not doing the peace sign in photos!)

Okonomiyaki

6. Tabemono -  When most people outside Japan think of Japanese food, they think of sushi. However, because of my allergies to shellfish and some other fish, I never actually ate sushi in the two plus years I was in Japan (well not sushi proper, but I ate non-fish sushi).  But there's so many other amazing foods, my favourite being okonomiyaki, meaning 'whatever you like'.  It's basically a savoury pancake with an amazing sauce, usually with a lot of cabbage, and I like mine with pork, mochi (pounded rice cakes), and cheese.  Another standard, eaten almost every day are onigiri (rice balls).  They're good either just plain, or with a filling inside, one of my favourite fillings being umeboshi (pickled plum) or kombu (a type of seaweed).  There's an awesome restaurant near where I live with HUGE onigiri with 3 fillings in each (*note: if you ever find yourself in Yamaguchi-ken, hit up Sanzoku!).  The list of awesome Japanese food goes on and on, but I'll finish with one more: yakisoba, a staple food at festivals of fried soba noodles, veggies, pork, and a yummy sauce.  Then theres udon, ramen, nabe, tonkatsu, shabu shabu, yakiniku...and don't even get me started on all the amazing mochi and anko sweet treats or the booze or flavoured Kit Kats!  And while we're on the topic food, I'm just going to quickly throw in how amazing it is that there's a button at your restaurant table to ring the waitress/waiter whenever you need something (I HATE yelling 'SUMIMASEN!'...no one ever hears me!)

7. Kotatsu - Winter hasn't hit yet in Canada, and although we have central heating and insulated houses, I know I'll be missing my kotatsu.  I wrote a blog last year on how to survive winter in Japan, so I won't go into much detail here, but there's more to a kotatsu than just being an amazing heated table with a fleecy blanket keeping it all in. It's a place to socialize, make nabe, eat Christmas dinner and watch the Grinch and pass out for a whole afternoon after surviving an overnight ferry from Korea (WARNING: You're NOT supposed to sleep under them)

Celebrities to the locals at hanami!

8. Being special - OK, this sounds a bit narcissistic, but let's face it: all travellers love being the center of attention, perhaps that's part of the reason we like to travel? But especially in a country like Japan, where the population is largely homogenous, and especially if you have blonde hair, green eyes, and more than a flat chest, you're basically an instant celebrity.  Although I still have yet to feel completely comfortable in Japan (I'm always going to be considered a giant and I still despise the little old obaa-chans peering into my shopping basket to see what gaijins eat), but I have learned to let it run off my back...I'm still dealing with the occasional blatant racism, but I think that's something one can never truly feel comfortable with...

9. Cleanliness - Pretty much the first thing I noticed when I got to Tokyo was how clean it was.  It's one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, metropolitan areas in the world and yet you would probably literally have to search high and low for a piece of litter anywhere.  When I first got to Japan, I was a smoker and I was walking down the streets of Tokyo smoking, wondering why no one else was and thinking 'Wow, they really are so healthy!'  And then I looked down and saw a sign literally painted onto the side walk saying no smoking while walking and to use the designated areas for smokers on nearly every street corner.  Now this is nice because it keeps it clean (there's no butts ANYWHERE), but I was surprised that in a busy Japanese world, they didn't walk and smoke (or eat or drink or often even talk on their phone)...way to lose time by not multi-tasking!

10. Friendliness and Politeness - This has been a bit of a double edged sword for me, because I don't ever feel like anyone is being truly sincere.  So in a way it's nice to come back to a country where people show their feelings and say what they're thinking, but at other times it drives me insane.  Both my bosses in Japan told me I'm Japanese in this respect, because it's hard to see how I feel about something, so I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing (if you want to read a bit more on this subject, google 'honne and tatemae or this cartoon describes it pretty well in a nutshell).  My second day in Japan I was looking for the Working Holiday Office in Tokyo (which promised to assist me in job hunting, finding an apartment, setting up a bank account, etc.) and I couldn't find it so the woman in the post office I asked literally walked down the street with me about two blocks to take me right to it - turns out it no longer existed and so my plans for starting life in a new country were screwed but that's beside the point.  That would NEVER happen here.  Nor would two 20 year olds working in a 7-11 photo copy a map and spend ten minutes comparing it their smart phones and explaining where we should go because we didn't have a smart phone or GPS.  That shit don't happen in Canada, no matter how nice we think we are.

11. Hyaku yen Shops - 100 yen shops are basically like dollar stores here in North America or the pound shops in the UK with one vital difference: they're awesome.  Of course there's the usual crap you expect for so cheap but then there's the actual decent quality stuff that's amazing.  I've got some really cute dishes there, cheap spices, onigiri molds, nori stamps for putting kawaii faces on my onigiri, all my shodo supplies before I committed and invested in the good stuff...the list goes on and on.  And for someone like me who had to furnish their apartment from scratch, unlike a lot of foreigners I know, this place (Daiso in particular), literally saved my bank account.  There are even 100 yen grocery stores.  Also on my favourite stores list that i MUST mention is Tokyu Hands, but nowhere near as cheap!

And there you have it!  I could go on and on the more I think about it.  Let me know if I missed anything!

Sanzoku Onigiri!

Surviving Winter in Nippon

Contrary to popular belief, Japan is NOT futuristic in many ways.  From fax machines to giant cell phones, trains that stop running at midnight (not just here in the inaka but also in Tokyo) to no insulation\central heating.  Coming from Canada, I think this last one was the biggest shock.  Sure, I come from the prairies where the temperature can easily reach -60 with the windchill, but one of my favourite things about winter is coming from the refreshing, invigorating cold air into a steamy warm house.  It's quite the opposite in Japan; usually walking into my apartment at 10:30pm after working all day, the temperature is colder inside than the air outside.  My apartment this year seems to have some insulation as it doesn't seem as bad as last year, thank God.  I actually saw inside the wall of my apartment last year (don't ask why!) and there was NOTHING in it.  I remember walking out of the only heated room in my apartment and being able to write my name on the condensation on my fridge door.  However last year my bed was raised up and because hot air rises and cold air sinks it wasn't too bad.  This year, however, I sleep on the floor in true Japanese fashion and am freezing the majority of the time.  I've asked several Japanese people why they live like this and have gotten a variety of answers: money (to install, plus Japanese houses aren't made of stone and those don't last several hundred years), they like to 'wait out' the winter, it's not that bad (stop starting every conversation with 'Samui desune?' then!), the summer is too humid for insulation (it would get mouldy), etc., etc.  Instead of getting with the times and installing central heating and insulation, Japan has come up with a few ingenious and not so genius solutions to the answer, my favourite being the kotatsu.

I just got my first kotatsu last weekend and as anyone who is familiar with them knows, nothing has been done in my apartment since.  It's definitely something I'll consider sending to wherever I head next.  A kotatsu is really a pretty awesome invention and I'm surprised it hasn't come to Canada.  Wait a minute, no I'm not because I can move freely and warmly aboot my house all winter!  A kotatsu is basically a low table you sit on the floor at with a heater underneath.  You place a think futon between the two panels of the tabletop and BOOM!  Ridiculously cozy warmth that you never want to leave....the perfect setting for eating mikans, drinking hot sake, and watching anime. The newer ones have a cage around the heater so you don't have to worry about burning your legs, but it's still not recommended to sleep under one.  Plus it can be used as a regular table in the summer and I did need another table, only problem is, my tiny apartment is now full. The original idea of a kotatsu (the kind built into houses wear you sit and hang your feet over burning coals) was that the heat enters at the bottom of the traditional Japanese robe everyone used to wear, travels up the body, and exits at the top of the robe, warming the whole body.  I also like to stick my pet fish Ponyo chan under the kotatsu every now and then to warm him up...talk about multipurpose! I hope I don't forget about him and kick the bowl over or have him fry to death sometime...

Before my kotatsu, the only way I warmed my apartment was through my air conditioning unit which can be set to a heater as well.  Luckily every apartment I've lived in in Japan has been new and had one of these bad boys so I didn't have to buy one.  It cools the room down well in the summer but in the winter, all the heat tends to stay at the top of the room which is pointless in Japan, considering I spend 90% of my time on the floor.  To get it warm enough on the floor, I had to turn it up as high as it would go and leave it on all night, but then the electricity bill is ridiculous, especially considering costs were just raised another 8% in the fall, 'due to Fukushima'.  Plus the kanji on the remote is ridiculously hard to read, even for Nihonjin.
Another extremely popular method of space heating in Japan is a kerosene heater.  I really can't wrap my head around WHY anyone would use this.  Sure, it's cheap, but you have to constantly buy kerosene (which sucks if like most foreigners you don't have a car to go buy it), isn't exactly safe (fire wise or fume wise), and is a bit pointless considering you have to open a window to let the fumes out (considering there are no vents in the houses) so they don't kill you, thus letting cold air in.  Can you say oxymoron? Why not spend the little bit of extra money on an electric heater, be warmer and safer....surely your life is worth the extra $50?

And then there are the heated blankets, carpets, foot warmers, underwear and what not....basically electrically heated anything you can think of.  Other methods of temporary warmth include a ton of blankets, more layers of clothing than you would wear in a Siberian winter, cute panda humidifiers (Japanese winter is extremely dry and the Kitty chan one was too expensive!) to try and hold more heat in the air, hot baths or showers, hot water bottles, kairo (little heaty uppy packs you can put in your pocket that generate more heat than you would expect and for a surprisingly long time!  Or the adhesive type to stick all over your body.  Plus you can get cute kairo carriers, they are extremely cheap for the disposable kind, or you can get the kind you use over and over.  I have a reusable one in Canada and never thought to bring it...however it was from a Passion Party!), weather stripping, or winter proofing your windows (unless the only windows you have are your doors to your balcony and you need to open them periodically....or you're one of those with a kerosene heater who has to open your windows), moving to Hokkaido (land of heated sidewalks and insulation), or hanging out on the overly warm trains as much as you can (preferably local lines rather than shinkansen to keep the costs down).

Basically, Japanese winter, especially here in the Guch where it rarely goes below 0 isn't that bad, but it HAS turned me into a giant wuss.  Stay warm and be happy you have double paned windows! I'm also glad I'm not at a public school and turning on the heating in the rooms is my responsibility!

There's a name for it!

Every now and then, I think of 'settling down'.  Having spent a little more than half my 20's outside of Canada and no plans of stopping anytime soon, this is probably one of my worst nightmares.  Maybe I should rephrase that to settling down in Canada is a nightmare of mine, considering I've pretty much settled down in Japan.  This is the longest I've ever stayed in a foreign country, job, or apartment.  Besides getting knocked up, I literally cannot think of something worse than getting a stamp in my passport that would cause me to not be able to leave Canada ever again (I apparently wasn't worried about this while working in multiple countries in Europe with no visa).  I had originally given myself until I was 30 to travel and then I would 'grow up'.  Well, 30 is fast approaching, in fact it's a mere 32 days away :O, so about a year ago, I decided 35 would be a better number.  Hey, a lot of working holiday/youth visas have the age limit of 35 so why not?  I'm obviously not the only one wasting my life away!

So, I wonder (and wander) a lot...what makes me different from other people?  Why are the majority of people in the 'developed' world content with the high school - university - career - marriage - babies - SUV - 3 bedroom house - 1.5 kids - family dog - 1 week vacation to Mexico every winter - lifestyle...something I dread?  Are they really content or are they just scared to live differently?  So many people have told me they wish they could live their life like I do, and I always have to ask, 'Why can't you?' There's more out there like me and I'm not talking the 22 year olds - fresh out of college - doing a gap year - calling themselves a traveler type.  What makes us tick?  And is there a point where it's gone too far?  Should there be 'traveler rehab'?  I'm sure my family would like to put me in it if there is!  

A few months ago, when I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with me, I Googled 'addicted to traveling'. There were a few (but not many) results and is it turns out, there is such a thing as being addicted to travel.  In fact, there's even a name for it: dromomania! I'm sure I've Googled this before (I love Google and Googling everything) but I've never come across this word before.  It comes from the Greek dromos (running) and mania (insanity) and is also referred to as a Fugue state.  It is used to describe a person who has sudden uncontrollable urges to wander, but these bouts come with temporary amnesia. The traditional cases were almost all in France, where people would suddenly set out on foot, reaching cities as far away as Prague and Vienna.  Oftentimes, they remembered nothing of their travels, had different personalities/names/occupations and also had some other mental disorders, such as Borderline personality disorder.  There's an interesting story found here about perhaps the first ever documented pathological traveller.  In a more modern, broader sense, dromomania refers to someone who can't stop travelling, at the expense of careers, school, family, and their social life.  It can also be called 'mad travelers disease'. 

Now, I don't think I have a mental disorder (some may beg to differ), but I do find I change depending on where I am.  Simple, obvious things change, such as fashion (for example in Australia I was a hippie, here in Japan I am literally OBSESSED with Hello Kitty), but there are deeper changes.  In my younger days, I was the life of the party and now as I get older I'm more content with who I am and satisfied with my own company or just being in the background of parties. This is of course not a result of a mental disorder, but of how travelling changes a person, and helps them get to know themselves better (as cliche as that may sound, it's true).  

So I'm pretty sure I'm a dromomaniac: I get itchy feet if I'm somewhere to long, I yearn for the excitement and hustle and bustle of an airport, I've never had the same job twice, I act differently when I'm abroad, I've broken off almost every relationship to go travel, I barely ever go the same place twice, and I've definitely drank enough on many, many nights to induce temporary amnesia.  There is a certain comfort though, to returning some place you've been before, and for a traveler, sometimes going to a city you've been once or twice is almost the same as a 'regular' person coming home.  You understand the public transport, know the currency, maybe have a favourite food or someone to visit.  

 

One night while I was living in a small hostel on the shores of Loch Ness I remember having a drunken conversation about what drives a person to make a career of travelling.  My companion believed he travelled because he felt he wasn't interesting enough living back in Brea, CA, and being just like everyone else.  He travelled so he would have stories and be an interesting person.  In his own words 'It boosts my self esteem and makes me feel cool.  Plus, it's easier to get laid in a foreign country.' Ah, words of the wise.  So, to you travellers or wanna be travellers out there:  Why do YOU do it?  Why aren't you satisfied with a regular life?  Do you think you will ever stop?  If so, what would make you want to stop?  I'm still searching for my answers to these questions, perhaps that's why this blog has a billion question marks...

 

Footloose??!!

Countries are often stereotyped around the world, some good and some bad.  Canadians are stereotyped as being friendly and saying 'eh' a lot, Americans as being loud, the Australians for maybe partying just a little too much.  Japan is known for really loving cute things, Godzilla, and being a bit weird.  I've maybe gotten used to seeing strange things in the year and a half I've been here.  I barely even bat an eyelid  when I see a Harajuku girl or someone walking around in a Pikachu jumpsuit, and I especially don't take pictures of these things like I did at first!  This past weekend, I have to admit I was a bit shocked when I found out a law I never knew about in Japan: 'late night' dancing is apparently illegal!  We've all heard strange laws: apparently it's illegal to catch a fish with your bare hands in Saskatoon, or to pay for a 50 cent item with only pennies, but NO DANCING!!??  Maybe I was so shocked because I HAVE been out clubbing since coming to Japan, so how is it against the law?  But then I learned the police have been cracking down on it a lot more in the last year or so (maybe they're bored because of the low crime rates here and have nothing to do?).  Even when I've asked a lot of Japanese friends about it, they had no idea this is against the law.  Trust a foreigner to know more about another country! (I say this because I know nothing about Canada)

The way I found out was this: It was a friend's birthday and we were planning on renting a beach hut on Nokonoshima (an island just off Fukuoka). We cancelled due to the threat of a typhoon coming through that night and maybe becoming stranded with no food the next day with no ferry to bring us back to the mainland (or in Japan, basically, the bigger island). Because Big Bang (a K-pop group) was in town for a concert, we could not find a hotel or hostel or anywhere for us to stay in (not even the Hilton had a free room, yes we checked), especially considering there were a dozen of us. So we discussed our options for the night: party on the beach till dawn and take the first shinkansen home (what if it rains??!!), rent a karaoke room and eventually sleep in it when we're all karaoke'd out (no shower, blankets, etc.), a love hotel for a few hours (not enough guys to go around, apparently they only accept heterosexual couples, so no same sex couples, no group orgies and no singles), manga cafe (basically sleeping in a wank cubicle, ew), capsule hotel (usually prejudice against women), calling every Japanese person we know in the city to see if they'll take us (no one wanted all of us :( ), clubbing till dawn (can't anymore, late night dancing is illegal in Japan now)....the options are literally endless in Japan....wait, WHAT!!?? How is dancing illegal in Japan??!! This must be some kind of joke! But, nope, it sure isn't.

So I thought I would do some internet research to find out why. It turns out the law is called the Entertainment Business Control Law (Fūzoku Eigyō Torishimari Hō) and it was made after the end of World War II in 1948 when Japan was basically going crazy with their 'hostess' clubs and gambling.  The no dancing addition was added in 1984. Businesses can allow dancing but they have to spend a lot of money getting permission and meet a lot of criteria, such as having a big enough space (66 square feet or more to be exact) which can be difficult in a country where space is limited and very expensive.  So most little 'hole in the wall' live music venues cannot even apply for the permit.  Along with a permit for dancing and serving liquor, they also need one for serving food...so because Tokyo is such a huge city, clubs do still but exist, but in smaller cities (even big cities like Osaka and Fukuoka) it's now less common than it was a year ago and clubs have closed down and owners been arrested for 'non-licensed dancing'.  Which maybe explains why I have gone clubbing in the likes of Fukuoka, Tokyo, Kyoto, and smaller cities in the time I've been here but now it's all changing and the cops are tired of turning a blind eye! Can you say Footloose???  So why suddenly start cracking down after ignoring it for 60 years?  Apparently the cops are using it as an excuse to get to more serious problems of underage drinking, drug use and the like, by sending in undercover cops and all.  But really...none of these things are a huge threat to society like they are in other parts of the world, which leads me to believe they are just bored with their nearly crimeless society....so along with all the other things I enjoy (they shall remain nameless) and can't do in Japan, I can add clubbing all night.

And in case you're wondering, four of us found a tiny hotel room at 1am that let us sleep on the floor in it, some went home for the night, some stayed up all night karaokeing, and all were safe and sound...this IS Japan you know, not exactly crime central!  Happy birthday Kris, it was one to remember if nothing else! :)

Hockey Morning in Japan

Having grown up in Canada, I developed a love for hockey.  This is very stereotypical of me, I know!  Many Canadians don't love hockey, as everyone thinks we do.  However, when certain games come around, such as the Olympic gold medal game, or the NHL Stanley Cup finals, everyone tends to gather around the TV with family and friends.  A big part of culture is defined by sport, such as many countries around the world and their love for cricket or football.  As Canadians, we have very long, cold winters where communities often gather by frozen ponds or skating rinks.  Growing up on a farm beside a lake, I was lucky enough to have my own outdoor skating rink for my friends to come over and skate on.  My dad would clear the lake off with the tractor once the ice was thick enough.  We even went skating at school for P.E. every week, rather than learning to swim (my town was too small for a pool till I was in high school).  I was a half decent skater as a kid even though I never played hockey or ringette, but when I went home a few winters ago and went skating I was horrible!  Every town, no matter how small has a skating rink.  I know of villages with a population of 50 with no post office but they have a skating rink!  There's nothing better than spending a crisp winter afternoon outside skating and coming in to a cup of steaming hot chocolate.

Now, to those outside of North America, this may seem like a weird topic to write about at the start of summer, but the professional hockey season actually runs from September to June - providing hockey for enthusiasts for almost the whole calendar year!  This past Tuesday morning was the final game of the season (Monday night in Canadian time), so I spent my morning watching the game on my computer, thanks to the help of my nifty little illegal program that changes my IP address to a Canadian one so I can stream Canadian channels on my computer.  Now, I'm not a super obsessed fan; I know a few players and some rules but I would by no means claim to be an expert.  I simply just love cheering with a beer in my hand and enjoying Don Cherry's obscure outfits.  When I was back in Canada in March, I went to my first NHL game in Edmonton and I've never felt more proud to be Canadian as when I stood in the cold rink, Molson in hand, hearing the national anthem on the speakers.  My team (the Edmonton Oilers) is not a very good team so they are not in the finals and I normally wouldn't be watching.  What made these finals exciting enough for me to watch is that one of the players for the L.A. Kings, Dwight King, #74, is a kid I rode the big yellow school bus with everyday!  To see a family's dreams come true after all the years of travelling and all the money spent is amazing.  It's such an inspiration to see someone you knew as a kid, who worked so hard and grew up in such a small place with big dreams, to have them come true. The town we're from is small - maybe 5,000 people at most - and over the years, there's been 6 professional players come out of it, including my second cousin. This is a lesson for all of us, you can do anything you put your mind to if you want it bad enough!  It's pretty cool to think the Stanley Cup will be making it to lil old Meadow Lake this summer, and even better yet, to Bear Creek.  It's one of those rare times I would have liked to have been back in Canada.

Mother's Day

  Because I'm so busy lately and never blog, I've decided to start re-posting my blogs I have to write on my work website (http://ecm-japan.jugem.jp/?month=201205) every week, unless they're super boring and school related.  Please note they are G rated :( This one is from about a month ago and has been slightly altered...

This past Sunday in Japan, as well as many other countries around the world, was Mother's Day.  When I've been asking students what they will do to thank their mother for all her hard work, some have said they will give her flowers (specifically carnations), some have said cook dinner for her (most often meal when asked what is curry rice), or give other types of presents, and some have said they will do nothing.

In Canada, there is no 'traditional' gift for Mother's Day.  Most people in Canada are originally from another country and usually follow in the traditions of their heritage.  As children, we often do some sort of craft in school to give as a gift.  As we get older, we give cards, chocolate, or flowers, or do something such as cook dinner, clean the house, or give a back massage.  The list goes on and on. 

Now that I'm older, I can truly appreciate all my mother did for me.  She was a teacher and vice-principal for over 30 years and was up early everyday and often didn't go to bed till late at night.  She always had a spotless house, healthy homecooked food on the table (we virtually never ate at a restaurant), a huge garden and beautiful yard (no easy feat on a big farm).  Besides being a dedicated teacher, she was also the best mother I could hope for.  She helped with my homework, taught me responsibility, the value of hard work and being unselfish, how to make strudel and sauerkraut, was a shoulder to cry on, and a stern hand when I needed it.  As I got older, she helped me learn my own limits by allowing me to go out on the weekend with my friends, but I still got no special treatment the next day and had to be up early the next morning to do my part on the farm.  My mother was more than a mother; she was a role model, a mentor, a confidant, my best friend, and encouraged me to be all I can be.  I miss her everyday since she passed away nearly five years ago and wish I had the chance to tell her how much she really meant to me.  I can only hope she's proud of me and the choices I've made without her to guide me in the right direction.  Being a teacher, even if it's not something I do my entire life, is special to me because it's how my mother chose to spend her life.  It makes me feel closer to her in a way, even if it's sometimes hard when I want to call her to ask her advice on what to do about something.

I can't wait to have you tell me all about your mothers, why they're special to you, and what you did for them.  And if you didn't do anything special on Sunday, don't worry, it's not too late!  You can thank your mother every day of the year, not just on one designated day, I know she'll appreciate it.  Mother's Day is not just for your mothers, but for anyone who has nurtured and supported you in some way along your path, whether it be a grandmother, babysitter, friend's mother, aunt, boss, etc. Have a good week and remember to give your mum a hug the next time you see her!  I would give up anything to spend just one more minute with her; you don't know what you've got till it's gone!

Ziggy 

When in Rome...

Read at your own risk: the following post is going to be more of a rant about something that has been bothering me so if you claim you're a traveller and are of a sensitive nature, I suggest you stop reading now.  I don't really know where to start so I'll just delve right into it by saying: A country is made for its people, not for the tourists who come for a few weeks, and not for ex-pats like myself who come for a few years.  Japan is built for Japanese people, Brazil for Brazilians, Nigeria for Nigerians, and so on.  English has/is becoming the 'global language' but that doesn't mean every single person on Earth is going to be fluent.  When I first moved to Japan, I prepared myself for the worst.  I expected every single thing to be in Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji.  So when I saw words spelled out in Romaji and even better yet, English words, I was beyond excited.  Maybe it's because when I went to Greece, I was so shocked that everything was in, well, Greek (silly naive me).  So now I'm ecstatic when I'm able to find Skippy peanut butter or Heinz ketchup here, or better yet, sauerkraut!  I'm grateful I can flip a McDonalds menu over and find English (even though I hate McDonalds, I find it somewhat comforting at times while travelling because of the familiarity...but that's a whole other blog...).  I'm grateful that something like 11% of Japanese words are imported from other languages, so I can instantly say things like coffee, banana, mansion, and consent (even though the meaning is ever so slightly different).  I'm grateful for these little quirks, but I've not come to take them for granted, nor do I expect it.  When you set out on an adventure somewhere as a backpacker or expat, you should expect things to not make sense, to feel uncomfortable at times, to not understand, for it to be a challenge, you mentally and physically prepare yourself for it.  If it's not different from your home country, then where is the fun and learning experience in it?

We've all met that tourist, whether at a hostel, in a tour group, or *gasp* someone we are travelling with.  That person who loudly complains that nobody speaks English, there's no English signage, there's no ketchup, they can't read the train schedule, the bus schedule is shite.  Guess what?  It works for the people who live here.  And in this day and age of smart phones, Hyperdia, GPS, Google Maps, etc. there's really no excuse for this kind of ignorant behaviour.  We've also all seen that person speaking to someone who obviously doesn't understand and saying things louder and more slowly as though they're speaking to a deaf child, thinking they're magically going to suddenly understand English. Maybe we've even done it ourselves. Granted, my Japanese is absolute shite but I at least try and I never travel anywhere without my trusty dictionary, phrasebook, or Kanji app.  In a real pinch, I use my call-a-Japanese-friend lifeline.  But thank goodness, most Japanese people speak much better English than I expect my Japanese to ever be and if they don't, in this crowded country, someone who can help is sure to be nearby.  A Japanese person will never walk away, letting us get lost; they will get everyone on the street involved to help before that happens! When I travel around Japan, the majority of people I meet at hostels and on tours and at bus stops are tourists - from Japan.  They have a beautiful country and they are seeing it, which is more than I can say for myself - I've basically never travelled in Canada, except to Toronto or Vancouver airport to exit or enter the country.  So it makes sense to have everything in Japanese, besides the fact that WE'RE IN JAPAN!  Whenever I've seen Japanese tourists abroad, they're always trying to speak English, or they're in a Japanese tour group, and guess what?  They never come up to me speaking Japanese, so why can't we do the same?  All I'm asking is that you try.

So to those (and this is mainly expats, tourists can be slightly forgiven for not understanding the country so well) who constantly complain and compare and do not want to take advice from those who have been here longer than a few months: If you really feel the need to complain so much, maybe you're not happy here and should leave, you're taking a great opportunity away from someone who really wants it and will benefit from it.  Language is a huge part of learning about a culture and a country, and not just for communication.

Peace out yo, I promise my next blog will be more upbeat...Happy end of Golden Week and back to work!

A Typical Day for Jiggy Sensei

*Please note I began this blog in December while preparing for Christmas and before Sashimi died :( Yes, thats how busy I've been that it takes me over a month to write a blog...I've not been keeping up with any of my New Years Resolutions at all.*

I've been teaching at an Eikaiwa (private English conversation school) in rural Japan for nearly a year now. Admittedly, I didn't like it at first but now that my contract is coming to an end, I can't bear the thought of leaving some of the students I've become so attached to. My first few months I remember being really frustrated I couldn't communicate with them and understand their stories, answer their questions, or discipline them. But as the year goes on, I've come to realize just how non-verbal a language skill really is. I've discovered their personalities, their pecking orders in class, what sections of the class they like and don't like, have developed favourites (I know I shouldn't) and not so favourites. Sure, the ALT's have better hours and holidays, an easier job and more money, but they don't have the connection I have with my small intimate classes. Let me give you an insight into my day yesterday.

7:30am - I wake up even though my alarms set for 8:30am. This is probably because up until last Sunday I was waking up early in the morning to study for my geography class because I'm too tired when I come home at night. I turn on my heater so the room is not so cold when I do get up eventually. Japanese heating and insulation sucks. In fact, there is no insulation.
8:10ish am - I get up and feed Sashimi (my fish), turn on the kettle and hop in the shower
8:30AM - sit on FB while drinking multiple cups of coffee, eating brekkie (yogurt and banana) and thinking I should do something productive with my morning seeing as I don't have to be at the office till 12:10pm
9:00AM - I throw some laundry in the washing machine. Clean the toilet. Decide to make okinomiyaki to take for lunch the next few days because I know I'll be too busy to again till Sunday, if I'm lucky. ADD kicks in and I decide I should wrap presents but can't decide what to give to who (I bought a bunch of foreign goodies in Hiroshima last Sunday after I wrote my exam to give to some students). Scrap that idea. Decide to sit and watch Misfits while I make goodie bags for the kids.
10:30AM - Should probably hang my laundry out to dry. Keep forgetting about my okinomiyaki sizzling away.
11:00AM - Should probably start getting ready for work
12:00PM - That's me running out the door, late, coffee in hand. How do I always end up rushing to work when I get up so early?
12:10PM - Just on time. I'm greeted at the door in a flurry. Always in a hurry as usual, but with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Oh Japan...I get my schedule and get my files together. I'm going to Yanai today and Tomas is driving me. Ugh. I hate driving with Tomas. I'd much rather take the train and stare out the window or read or write. Tomas is the other foreign teacher at my school He's American and he's an arrogant, pompous, conceited, self-righteous, anti-social twat. Our car rides usually consist of silence and the sound of the buttons on my phone while I e-mail someone. If I do say anything it's more often than not met with silence or a sarcastic remark. How he's a conversation teacher I really don't know. He also had the nerve to ask me when I'll be out of my childish phase because I was excited about Halloween. I really wish he would have quit so I could work with someone cool. But unfortunately he's a loner who likes to hike so Shitari is perfect for him. I especially like the train ride to Iwakuni. After Yanai, I can just sit and stare at the sea. I often think one day I'd like to just get off in one of the little towns I always stop in and have a look around but of course it's probably never going to happen. It reminds me of the Jack Johnson lyrics 'I hope this old train breaks down, then I could take a walk around, and see what there is to see, and time is just a melody, all the people in the street, walk as fast as their feet can take them, I just roll through town, and though my windows got a view, the frame I'm looking through, seems to have no concern for now...'
12:50pm - Arrive in Yanai and I'm supposed to prepare for my 6 classes from now until 2pm. The classes are all the same and I can do it in my sleep by now. Plus they're mainly just working on their skits for the Christmas drama day so no real learning. From 2pm to 2:20pm I'm supposed to be having my first 20 minutes of break time, so I wander over to 7-11 to buy something to eat when I get my next 40 minutes. Im so sick of 7-11 bentos, onigiri, and convenience food by now, but I don't ever have the time to cook real food. It should be a New Years Resolution not to eat at 7-11 everyday. I never ate there this much even in Canada as a uni student!
2:20PM - my first class of the day is with a cute little old man who's about 72. Kazuo's English is pretty good, even if he thinks it's not. I don't prepare much for his class anymore as we usually don't do any of it, and just sit and chat instead. Some of the adult students are like this and some are shy and you have to prepare a lot for the lesson. Sometimes Kazuo picks me up from the station and we listen to NHK and I spend the class explaining what the news was talking about in English.
3:20PM - I'm supposed to have my next 40 minutes of break time now. I hate when she breaks the schedule up like this, it's so ridiculous because it doesn't have to be done and it always means we don't get our full actual break time. One of the many reasons I'm leaving in February.
4:00PM - 15 minutes of cleaning time and then a kindergarten student is supposed to come to practice his speech for 10 minutes but he doesn't….why couldn't I just have my full hour of break time here???
4:25PM - kindergarten class. It's only 2 little boys but they are little hellions and some days they make me want to cry, they're so frustrating. The mother of one always stays but it doesn't help at all, she just sits there and yells his name (JUNKO!) or talks to them in Japanese. Today she brings me a Christmas gift of an Astro Boy mug, notebook and calendar because I once told her I like Astro Boy. I think she always feels sorry for me having to teach this class all the time. Her little 3 year old that is always with her is super cute too. The boys are actually relatively good today.
5:10PM - 2nd class of 5 in a row with no break. Its an elementary class of 5 boys, a girl, and 3 different learning levels. But of course the boss doesn't care about that, so no one in the class is actually learning anything. Sometimes they can be bratty but they've been good the last few months since I made the mistake of complaining about them to the boss and she had a talk with them and made them cry and stripped them of their youthful spirit :(. We're mainly practicing for drama day today so its an easy class. They've found the picture in their books of my introduction a year ago when I had black hair and hard core tranny bangs and have decided I look like Lady Gaga so at the end of the class when I say 'Attention! Goodbye everyone!' Instead of saying 'Goodbye Jiggy Sensei!' They say 'Goodbye Lady Gaga!' Thank goodness Daiki's mother didn't sit in today…I never know what to think of her, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me since August when she saw me at a beer garden with piercings and tattoos out for all the world to see lol
6:10PM - Next class is one of my favourites, 3 girls in the 6th grade and 1 boy in the 5th grade. Admittedly, when I first started I dreaded teaching this class because they were so noisy, but I've got used to them, plus there used to be twice as many of them. I remember talking in class all the time at that age, and I was ridiculously shy then. They're studying for Eiken 4 now so there English isn't great but we still somehow find a way to communicate and they're one of the classes I'll miss the most. They're also the only class who can say my name and calls me 'Tzigane Teacher' instead of 'Ziggy Teacher'. I think we've bonded over a mutual dislike for the boss ever since they told me their nickname for her is 'GO' (short for Gedai o kure meaning old fashioned or out of date). Today they're asking me if I have a boyfriend and if its Tomas, at which point I scream NO! and we start teasing Chikara about his girlfriend who's in the grade above him (so I of course give him a high five). Chikara also does an amazing impression of Kazushige (aka Captain Fruitloops), a Japanese teacher when I first started who was ridiculously polite. He also tries to make me say unko (poo in Japanese). When I tell them it's sometimes -50C in Canada, they tell me they would die, by first doing a sleeping gesture and then flying to the sky.
7:10PM - This class is a private class with a girl who is painfully shy. I think she's about 11 or 12 and her English is good (she's studying for Eiken Pre-2) but it's so difficult to get a word out of her. She reminds me a bit of myself at that age. Tomas once described her as a paraplegic puppy….I told you he's a jerk.
8:10PM - Last class of the day is with Yuina. She's been studying English since she was pretty much a baby and is practically fluent. She's 12 now and one of my favourite students, ever since I met her. She's so cute, I wish she was my little sister and could just give her a giant hug. She always has the cutest clothes and talks about Hannah Montana and High School Musical and Zack Effron. She's studying Eiken 2 now, but most of our class I end up just talking with her. Today I teach her to say 'for shizzle my nizzle'.
9:10PM - Our class is over and Yuina's mother gives me a ride to Yanai eki because the school is about a 30-40 minute walk away. I've walked it before but most of the time I get a ride. I usually get there just in time for the train to Hikari at 9:24PM. It's about a 20 minute train ride and I have to stop at the office to drop off the files and give the boss my schedule for the day before I can get home, usually around 10PM. I cook some noodles for my dinner, check out Facebook, chat to some friends, and watch some crappy TV before doing dishes and heading to bed around 11:30PM…I used to stay up late and get up late but now I try to keep a semi regular schedule.

And that's my day in a nutshell.Its not for everyone, but I've grown to love it :)

Easter

As another non-eventful Easter has come and gone, I'm reminded of Easters past. Easter as a child was always filled with good, but chaotic memories. Good Friday always consisted of colouring the Easter eggs with food colouring and then attending mass for hours on end, while our purple and blue dyed hands looked as though we had just had a dance with death. Loving to cook and bake, my mother always had different, interesting things on the table. Every year she made a bunny cake, which I would happily draw the ears for. She even made a braided Easter bread basket one year; it was amazing. And then there were the freshly baked home made hot cross buns. In grade five we made Ukranian easter eggs with Ms. Greschner which are still sitting in the China cabinet at my father's. It was also usually the one time every year I would see 'Anna' (my mother's mother).

In high school, my aunt gave me a beautiful hand made wool sweater from somewhere in South America, that had shrunk when she washed it. It's the most beautiful combination of deep teals, fushias and navy blues. It's incredibly warm and itchy, but I've always called it my 'Easter sweater' due to the gorgeous colours and because it is perfect for a Canadian winter, in which there is usually still some snow on the ground.

I don't think I've spent an Easter at home since my last year of high school. In university, Easter always fell right when I was busy studying for final exams. I do remember one year however, when my parents drove to the city for the day to bring my brother and I some much needed home made sustenance and had to leave early due to a bad snow storm.

I've spent four Easter's out of Canada, the first being when I was 21 in Australia. I don't remember too much, except that I was at my boyfriend's house with his younger brother and sister and that it involved staying up very late with a bottle of Canadian Club rye whiskey and a bong shaped like Yoda's head.

When I was 25 I spent Easter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I had just arrived and found a job at Arnie's Backpacker's and it was my first Easter after my mother had passed away the previous fall. I honestly don't remember alot of this Easter, but I'm sure it involved alot of drinks.

At 26, I spent Easter in Brighton. This Easter is surely the most memorable so far. I had to work at the pasty shop that day and was greeted with a smile by my Polish co-worker. He loved to cook and had brought me a Polish home made soup which his mother always made for Easter. I can't remember what it was called but i remember it had hard boiled eggs floating in it, and was salty and very tasty. I wish I could have returned the favour but the flat I was staying in had no kitchen in which I could cook. I'll save that story for a whole other blog. The day went by ridiculously slow as the shopping mall our shop was directly outside of was closed for the holiday and save for a few hungry window washers, we had no customers. I arrived home with my gifts of chocolate (from the poundshop) for my flatmates and a bottle of some cheap alcohol. It was about 5pm but the alcoholic was already passed out on the couch, beer can in one hand, burnt down cigarette in the other, the new Dr. Who blaring on the TV at a deafening volume. I joined the other flatmate in his room for a night of drinking and horror flicks.

This year, it did not feel like Easter at all. In the week leading up to it, I coloured Easter eggs with all the students. I was invited to go up to the Iwakuni castle (hiking, not by cable car) and politely declined, as hiking up a mountain in 30 degree weather and 65% humidity with an irritating, know-it-all, arrogant American and his racist , homophobic sidekick is not my idea of a good time.

Who knows where I'll be next Easter, who I'll be with, or what I'll be doing. Perhaps somewhere in South America where everyone goes all out with celebrations. Or perhaps still in Japan where it's just another day for most of the population. All I know is, none will ever compare to the memories I have of Easter as a child.