Studying in Japan 2005

other Yamasa Blogs

2007-01-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Another Blogger compiled a list of folks who went to Yamasa and had Blogs. If you read through these Blogs, you can found out a lot about going to Yamasa and what it is like to live in Japan. To see the list, go to http://www.okazakijapan.com/securitee-au-japon.

Another Yamasan's Blog

2006-04-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

One of the guys who was at the school at the same time I was has a Blog at http://www.xanga.com/global_being12112. His posts from October through the beginning of this year are related to Yamasa. I didn't make it in any of the photos, but I know many of the people in his photos and was on the first soccer game trip with him.

They have a video they made at Thanksgiving. Seemed to be a bit alcohol induced, but humorous none-the-less. From Google Videos - click to watch: Thanksgiving 2005 Okazaki, Japan.

One last post - video from Nara

2005-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

I was reviewing my photos and find myself watching one video clip over and over again. It is of a pair of guys making mochi at a streetside store in Nara. They are so fast. And it looks so dangerous.
最後の日記だ。　写真を見た時、奈良の店でお餅を作っているビデオは何回も見た。すごい速い、ね。そして危なそうだ。
http://www.singlespeed.org/Blog/MakingMochi.MOV　（3.5 megabytes Quicktime movie)

Edit: here's the video on Youtube...

My last week in Japan

2005-11-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

{Edited on Nov. 21 - added Japanese version to end}
日本語は英語の日記の後だ：

I am home now. Spent the last week in Japan without computer access, so wasn't able to make any updates. So will make one large update here covering the entire week.

I met my girlfriend at the Nagoya airport on Thursday, then headed to Kyoto. Was all a bit rushed - I even had to rush out right after classes ended and didn't have a chance to say good bye to many of the other students (sorry everyone).

First day was Kyoto. Kiomizudera, Kinkakuji (golden pavilion), kaiseki ryouri (multi course meal) for lunch at a tea house in Gion, drinks and finger foods at a Izakaya in Pontocho. Both of the meals were great - the kaiseki ryouri was very tasty, presentation was amazing (they used leaves as part of the presentation), and wasn't all that expensive (about US$35 per person). At the Pontocho bar, the food and drink) was good and we had fun talking with one guy behind the bar - he was very friendly and wanted to practice his English, so we chatted a bit and tried many different foods and drinks (some of which he didn't charge us for).

Second day we went down to Nara, visited the major sites, fed the deer, and ate some kakinoha zushi, chagayu (tea and rice gruel), and narazuke pickles (all local specialties). We made it back early, so went to the Arashiyama part of Kyoto and walked around the Momiji (fall leaf color) festival and went up to a monkey park.

Third day was Himeji castle, where we met up with a friend of mine (I met him at Yamasa 3 years ago, and he now works in Kobe). This was his first time to see the castle, even though he lives about a half hour away. After that, we headed back to Kobe for a Kobe Beef dinner. Expensive (about US$50 per person), but very tasty.

Next day was Osaka. Visited America Mura, which felt like a Japanese version of Haight Ashbury because there were lots of funky stores and interestingly-dressed people walking around. We also rode the Ferris Wheel above Osaka Station, but unfortunately the sky was a little hazy so the view wasn't that great.

After this, we headed down to Hiroshima. The train took a little while, so we only got there in time for a late lunch and then some sightseeing. Visited the A-bomb museum and dome (very touching), Shukkeien Garden (which was Ok - guess the fall is not the best time to visit Japanese gardens), and walked around the Hiroshima Castle at night. Had kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) for dinner in the basement of the Sogo department store - very tasty, yet also very affordable (less than US$30 for the two of us, and we weren't holding back on what we ordered).

Next day was Miyajima, which is where the gate in the water is located (pictures of this gate are used in just about every visit Japan advertisement made). Started with a walk through the shrine and then a hike to the top of the mountain for a view of the area. Back down to the shrine and out to the torii in the water (tide was out, so we could walk out to it at that point). Then lunch and a bit of shopping before heading back. That evening, the woman who ran the Ryokan we stayed at arranged for us to do a tea ceremony. Very interesting.　Then we had Hiroshima style okonomiyaki for dinner.

The rest of the trip was in Nagoya. Visited Sakae at night. Then had a soy-themed meal (11 courses - all based on soy or tofu) for dinner at the restaurant floors above the train station. Then the Tokugawa Museum and park the next day, before heading to the airport.

This is likely the last post on this Blog. After this, it is more likely that I will be posting on my regular Blog.

日本語：

もう帰った。先週インターネット・アクセスがなかった。だからブログに書けなかった。今大きい日記を書く。

セントレア空港に彼女に会って、京都へ行った。　忙しかった。　授業の後、今すぐ出てしまった。

まず京都に行った。氷魚水寺へ行って、祇園で会席料理を食べて、金閣寺へ行って、買い物して、先斗町の居酒屋で食べた。りょうほうの食事はすごいよかった。会席料理は美味しくて高くなかった　（一人３５００円ごらい）。居酒屋で美味しい食べ物を食べて、面白いバーテンダーに会いました。

２日目に奈良へ行って、奈良公園を散歩して、かきのはずしと茶粥とならずけを食べた。早く戻ったので、京都の嵐山へ行った。もみじともみじ祭りを見て、猿の公園へ行った。

３日目に姫路城へ行った。姫路に３年前に一緒に勉強した友だちに会った。今、その友だちは神戸に働いている。彼は姫路城へ見たことがない。その後、神戸へ神戸ビーフを食べに行った。高かった（一人５５００円ごらい）、でもとても美味しかった。

次の日、大阪へ行った。アメリカ村へ行った。ヘイト・アシュベリーみたいと思った。大阪駅の近くの観覧車に乗った。でも天気はちょっとので、よく見えなかった。

次の日広島へ行った。昼に着いた。原爆ドームと広島平和記念資料館としゅっけいえん公園を見て、夜に広島城を散歩した。　晩ご飯はそごデパートの地階の回転寿司を食べた。美味しくて安かった　（たくさん食べたのに二人３０００円以下）。

次宮島へ行った。神社を散歩して、山登って、神社へ戻った。その時引き潮ので海に朱塗りの鳥居まで歩いた。昼ご飯を食べて、買い物して、旅館へ戻った。道の実演した。面白かった。その後広島のお好み焼きを食べた。

最後名古屋へ行った。夜さかえに行った。晩ご飯は名古屋駅のデパートの大豆のレストランで食べた。次の日徳川博物館と徳川公園へ行って、空港へ行って、帰った。

多分この日記は最後のStudying in Japan 2005の日記だ。その後、他のブログで書く。

Advice for future Yamasa students

2005-11-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

英語だけ。すみません。　

Class is over now. Chances are I will not be going back to Yamasa for any more schooling - the 18 weeks I have done there is probably enough.

Some advice to anyone else who may be going to Yamasa in the future:

- if you can, get a homestay. You will miss out on some of the social life related to meeting other students, but will gain a lot towards learning about Japan and Japanese customs.

- If you live in the Student Village dorms - don't spend all your free time there. The dorms are good in that there are so many other foreigners for you to meet, and this has its benefits (I have made some very good friends of various dorm mates from when I was there). One bad thing is that it is way too easy to hang with other foreigners and not meet Japanese people. So get out and meet Japanese people.

- Even if you are not in the dorms, meeting Japanese people can be a major challenge. One place I found that was good to meet Japanese people was a western style bar called Izakaya Ja Nai, located on the other side of town. For the price of a beer (or three), you can hang out there. Generally the Japanese people who go there are open to talking to foreigners (and often they go there just for that). Note - if you do go with other students from Yamasa, make sure you are willing to split off from them. You won't practice your Japanese much if you sit at a table of 4 foreigners...

- Don't worry about if you don't do well in class - I have found that the grades on your tests are not really an indication of how good you are at communicating. One of the downsides to any Japanese language program I have seen (not just Yamasa) is that they often are looking for specific grammar forms in answers, and even if you communicated the answer Ok, you get points off. What matters is how you do on the street when you talk to regular Japanese people, and this should be how you judge your skills. Each time I have gone to study at Yamasa, I also allowed a few days for some travel after the classes, and during these times I found out how well my skills has improved.

- If you are going for just a few weeks, and have a choice on when to go, try to avoid the summer. Because colleges are out in the west, and many students use this as a time to go for a short term study in Japan, the program at Yamasa fills up. This makes for crowded dorms and classes. Summer classes are often like 15 students per class, where the times I was there often had numbers of less than half of this.

Pizza / ピザ

2005-11-08T01:51:00.000-08:00

英語だけで書いてすみません。

A Canadian guy and a Taiwanese girl in the dorms wanted to get pizza for dinner tonight, so I joined them. I was wondering what was popular on Japanese pizza, so decided to ask the people at the Pizza Store what the most popular pizza was, and get that. I figured it would be something interesting - for example, when I lived in Korea, it seemed that most pizzas came with slices of potatoes on them.

When I asked what the most popular pizza was, he said teriyaki chicken. So I ordered a small of that one for dinner. No tomato sauce on it - just teriyaki sauce, chicken, lettuce, etc. on a pizza dough. Kind of sweet tasting.

The others ordered a curry pizza - came with a crust on the bottom and top, with a curry between the two. Interesting.

Both came with little tubs of mayonnaise which you could dunk you pizza in to.

They did have many other flavors, such as corn and sausage (whole little finger sausages). And you could get sausage or cheese rolled into the crust (kind of like stuffed crust in America).

These are my last few days at the school. On Thursday, my girlfriend comes and we travel around Japan for a week. It is likely I won;t have a chance to post any updates then, but will post a lot when I get back to America.

Hacho Miso

2005-11-05T02:21:00.000-08:00

I went to the Hacho Miso factory today to do a tour. When I arrived there, there wasn't anyone else to do the tour with me, so it was just me and a very nice tour guide (pictured). He spoke very little English, so we did it in Japanese. I guess my skills have improved some, as I was able to understand most of what was said (though we did use a dictionary more than once).

Hacho is a very old factory. He said the year they started, but I didn't catch the exact date. But it was something like 1350, so they have been in business some 700 years. Wow!

The picture below shows the process they use. Basically, they take either rice, barley, or soy beans (Hacho uses soybeans) with some water, sea salt, and koji (aspergillus oryzae), process it (grinding, cooking, etc.) and then let it ferment for over 3 years.

The name Hacho comes from the factory's location in relation to Okazaki Castle. Written in Kanji, the name means 8 blocks, which comes from the factory being 8 blocks from the castle.

日本語：
今朝ハ丁味噌の会社のツアーへ行った。着いたとき、私だけツアーが行きたかった。だから私だけツアーした。　とても親切なガイドだった。ガイドは少しい英語が話せると、日本語でした。たいていの言葉が分かったので、日本語がだんだん上手になっている。

ハ丁味噌はとても古い。彼はいつ始まったと言った（ごめん）、でも忘れた。１３５０年ごらいと思う。すぐい！

作り方の写真だ。３年以上掛かるよ。

名前は所の意味だ。岡崎城から８丁だ。

Yuyaonsen (part 2)

2005-11-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

When I studied in Okazaki 3 years ago, I went with some friends for a hike starting at the town of Yuyaonsen, a 2 hour train ride from Okazaki (Blog entry from that hike is here). I went back again with a friend today. We hoped to see the trees Turning colors, but turned out to be a little early. We did find a few trees that had changed colors, but these were rather rare.

We did have a good hike. Started at town, and climbed to Horaiji temple (though it seems to have the same name as the one in nara, it is not the same temple). This time we climbed past the temple and up to the ridge, for an extra 5 kilometers or so. Then went back to the town, had lunch, and found an onsen we could go into (but for some reason, decided not to - we really should have).

Did find an interesting vending machine on our way back. Japan is know for having vending machines for most everything. Close to our school is a liquor store that has 3 vending machines outside that sell beer and sake. Hotels often have machines that sell underwear, ties, and various toiletries. Today we found one that sells onsen water for about a dollar per 100 liters (bring your own container).

日本語：

岡崎で３年前の勉強のとき、友だちと湯谷温泉町から山歩きした。(この経験の日記を書いた-英語だけ)。　今日ほかの友だちとそこに行った。紅葉狩りしたい、けどちょっと早いだ。少ない木を見つけた。もう少し２、３週間と思う。

山歩きはよかった。町からほらじのお寺まで行った。そしてお寺から山の頂まで行った。　今年は１０キロメートルごらいだ（３年前は１０キロメートルごらいだけ）。その後、湯谷温泉町へ行って、昼ごはんを食べて、温泉を見つれた。でもはっきりしない理由で入らなかった。　どうしてか、分からない。馬鹿だったと思う。

帰りとき、面白いじど自動販売器を見た。アメリカにはコーラとか自動販売器がある。日本には色々のがある。今日温泉のお湯の自動販売器を見た。１００リットルは１００円だ。

Razor Ramon HG

2005-11-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

One of the most famous actors in Japan is Razor Ramon HG. The HG stands for Hard Gay. He wears leather on stage (perhaps a tamed down version of what you might see at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco), does this trademark pelvic thrust, and screams "whoo". I saw him on TV when I was here in July, and after 15 minutes was already bored. Unfortunately, he seems to be more famous now than then, so is on TV even more now. And now it seems that now he is coming out with a book.

He is one of the things I will not miss when I leave Japan.

日本語：
今レイザーラモンＨＧは一番有名なアクターと思う。人の服はサンフランシスコのFolsom Street Fairのスタイルだ。腰を振りながら「ヲオオオ」と言っている。

７月の旅行にテレビで見た。１５分の後、厭き厭きした。あいにく今にのほうが有名だ。

帰る時の後、人の事を忘れたいよ。

Living in the Dorms

2005-10-31T05:51:00.000-08:00

日本語は英語の日記の後だ：

I live in the dorms at school. Very international, but not very Japanese. Tonight, I heard Italian, Chinese, German, Swedish, Japanese, and French at one time or another. As international as this is, the only Japanese is when students practice (so often is limited Japanese and with a heavy accent) or on TV. I guess this makes sense, as the only thing the school teaches is Japanese to foreign students.

The dorms are probably good for the younger students, as they get a chance to meet people from many other countries. For many of these kids (and they seem like kids to me - I am old enough to be the father of some) this is their first trip abroad.

The dorm has 2 kitchen-lounges to use to cook, eat, study, relax, etc. One of them is primarily used by the students from Taiwan. The other lounge is primarily used by English speakers. Of course, there are other students than Taiwanese and English-speakers who use each lounge, and students from each side do venture to the other side at times, but this is what the majority seems like on any given day.

I use the Taiwanese lounge, both because that is where I was assigned a box to keep my food, but also because the Taiwanese are much better are trying to speak in Japanese than the folks on the English speaking side.

日本語：
学校のドーミトリーに住んでいる。　国際だ、けど日本式じゃない。今晩、イタリア語と中国語とドイツ語とスウェーデン語と日本語とフランス語を聞いた。国際でも、少ない日本語が使う。　外国人の練習とテレビで日本語で使う。　その学校は外人に日本語を教えるクラスがあるから。

若い学生にはドーミトリーに住んでいるのがいいだろう。ほかの国から来た学生に会えるから。　沢山若い学生は始めの外国へ旅行だ。

ドーミトリーは二つキッチンがある。一つは台湾人が使う。ほかのは英語が話せる人が使う。勿論、色々な人は何方も使う、でも多数派はそうだろう。

私は台湾人のキッチンを使う。そのキッチンに自分の蓄えがあるから。そして台湾人は英語が話せる人よりよく日本語でれんしゅうする。

Japanese Soccer

2005-10-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a soccer game. I went with some other students to watch the Nagoya Grampus 8 team play the Shimizu S-Pulse team. These are J-League teams, the top teams within Japan. Grampus is an interesting name for a team. It is an English word, but I had to look it up. It is the name of a legendary killer whale.

The stadium was very nice, but is rarely used. It is located in the city of Toyota, which is where the company of the same name is also based. The stadium was made for the Japan-Korea World Cup matches a few years ago, but in the end none of the matches were played there. So Toyota bought the Nagoya team and plays about half the home matches there as a way to make sure the stadium gets some use.

We sat at one end (the Nagoya end). Everyone there was dressed in the red team jerseys and there was a cheering squad with loud speakers, flags, and drums.

The other end was where the Shimuzu team was at, all dressed in orange, and with a similar cheering squad. I think their cheering squad was better than the Nagoya squad. And, as it turns out, their team was also better, as the Nagoya team lost. I heard from a friend who went to a prior home game that they lost that game also. He said they are not that good a team.

I was surprised when the teams first came on the field, and the people on our side booed the other team. This is very different than the baseball game I had been to in Japan　(click here for the write up), where the fans were very civilized. Maybe this is the norm for soccer? Or maybe because soccer is very popular in Brazil and many Brazilians have moved to Japan, it is the Brazilian culture coming out?

I have never been to a soccer match in the States or Europe, so can't compare to see what is different between Japanese style soccer and elsewhere.

日本語：

今日他の学生と名古屋グランパスエイト対清水エスパルスのサッカー試合を見に行った。面白かった。

トヨタドームはいいスタジアムだが、あまり使わない。日本と韓国のワールドカップのために建てたが、ワールドカップの試合がしなかった。それからトヨタは名古屋グランパスエイトをスポンサした。今半分の試合はトヨタドームでしている。

あいにく清水エスパルスは勝った。さっきの試合を見た友だちによると、２週間前の試合も勝った。名古屋はあまり上手じゃないチームだと言った。

清水エスパルスはサッカー競技場に入ると、名古屋のファンから非難の声が上がった。びっくりした。　３年前に名古屋の野球試合を見た。ファンは礼儀正しいやり方だった。この経験の日記を書いた(英語だけ）。

Mos Burger

2005-10-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

Foods seem to come up reasonably often in conversations here. And for some reason, it always comes around to the question of "what are American foods?" I don't know the answer, as America seems to be filled with foods from other countries, but not really have any of our own.

The Japanese people seem to think that hamburgers and fries are our national food. Given that McDs has popularized the burger so well, perhaps it is. But hamburger isn't actually American (we wouldn't have named it HAM-burger if it was), but instead a German name (I think based on the city of Hamburg). And French Fries have another country right in the name... (ok, the French part doesn't refer to the country, but the way they are cut, so maybe french fries are American).

Japan has their own home grown chain called Mos Burger. I had been to one once many years ago, so figured I'd give it another try. In the States, I don't eat hamburgers all that often, but when I do, it is usually at In-n-Out Burger. I wanted to see how they would compare.

I ordered the mosu che-zu-ba-ga-se-to (what we would call a Cheese Burger combo meal). Or maybe I should say, tried to order. The girl at the counter spit something out in rapid fire Japanese that I couldn't for the life of me understand. Maybe my head cold is slowing my head down, but she sure seemed to be talking super-fast. I guess when you work that job and say the exact same thing over and over again 100 times an hour, you start saying it real fast...

After a couple of tries, I realized she was asking if I was eating here or not. After that, I said "mosu che-zu-ba-ga-se-to", figuring all she would need to ask after that was what drink I wanted. Next, some more rapid fire Japanese that had nothing to do with drinks. What? With the help of pictures, I eventually understood was which type of set (she showed pictures of fries and some chili looking thing - I went fries). Then finally my drink option, which I figured out pretty quick. Then a last question which I never figured out what she asked, but cost me an extra 30 yen ($0.25), so I guess they added something. Maybe she saw the movie SuperSize Me and was asking if I wanted larger portions...

The presentation was pretty good. The food is brought out to you by a server. The drink comes in a real glass (no paper cups here) and sits on a plastic coaster. Food comes in a tray (similar to In-n-Out).

The burger was interesting. It had many different things on it, which was unexpected for something that is supposed to be a basic burger. The layers of the burger are (top to bottom): bun, tomato, meat sauce, onions, mayo, cheese, hamburger patty, mustard, and bun. Meat sauce? That is different. Kind of like a non-spicy chili sauce.

On the whole, it was Ok, but I am not ready to give up In-n-Out just yet. Much better than McDonalds, of course.

They do have some Japanese original, um, for lack of a better name, burgers, such as their rice burgers (patties of rice instead of bread buns) with pork (gyuudon that you can carry?), a seafood salad, or chopped veggies between these rice buns. I think I had the chopped veggie one in the past, but wasn't impressed.

日本語：
日本人と話すときよく私に「アメリカの料理は何だ？」と聞いた。何だか分からない。日本人は「ハンバーガーとフレンチ・フライだ？」と言った。　英語でハンはハム(豚のもも肉)だ、でもハンバーガーはハムじゃない。　ハンバーガーの名前はハンバーガーはドイツのハンブルクから来た。でもマクドナルドは世界中に一番有名なハンバーガーのレストランなので、ハンバーガーはアメリカから来たと思っている。

英語の「フレンチ・フライ」はフランスじゃない。「French」はポテトの切り方です。多分フレンチ・フライはアメリカの食べ物だろう。

今日Mos Burgerへ食べに行った。前に食べたことがある、でも一回だけ。そのときモスライスバーガーを食べた。今回はハンバーガーを食べてみたかった。

レストランで注文することはとても難しかった。Mos Burger員の話すことはとても速かったので私は分からなかった。ついに注文した、でも一つの質問はぜんぜん分からなかった。その質問は３０円掛かった。何を買ったかまだ分からない。

Mos Burgerは美味しいだろう。勿論マクドナルドよりいい、でもアメリカのIn-n-Outのほうがいいよ。

Ise Shrine

2005-10-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

After the night in the ryokan (see prior post), we headed out to Ise Shrine. This is supposed to be the 'parent' shrine to all the others in the country. It is important enough that whenever a new prime minister is elected in Japan, he comes here to pray right after taking office. The property the shrine is on is huge, but I was surprised that the actually shrine was rather small. And for some reason, they don't allow photos to be taken there, so no pictures to show of it. I joined the throngs of Japanese there and threw a few coins in, clapped twice, and bowed my head in prayer.

Found out that a prior emperor (Emperor Tenmu) declared that the shrine would be moved on the property every 20 years. I was told he did this to force the Japanese craftsmen to stay skilled in the craft. They have started building the next one already (foundation and all), but it won't open for 8 more years. I didn't know if I also wasn't supposed to take photos of this, but there wasn't anyone around to stop me, so the attached photo shows the current construction.

It rained on us as we were walking around the property. The business manager said something like "kokorogake ga warui ame ga fu-tara", which means "when it rains on you when you are doing something you want to enjoy outdoors, it means you did something bad in the past". I wonder what I did (or maybe more appropriately, which bad thing I did) that caused the rain to hit us.

After this, a quick udon lunch (the local style - no broth, but a sauce instead). Walked around Ise a little bit while the business manager reminisced, as this was the town he was born in. Interesting to hear him tell how the town had changed over 50 years.

日本語：
旅館の後、伊勢神宮へ行った。伊勢神宮の不動産は大きいが、神社はちょっと小さいだろう。多くの人々と神社でおさい銭を上げて、参詣した。

20年に一度神社を動かす。掲示を読んで。だから８年後、新しい神社がある。どうして天武天皇は命令した？　社長にやると天武天皇は職人技術をを保持したかったそうです。

歩きとき、雨が降った。社長は「こころがけが悪い、雨が降ったら」と言った。英語で”when it rains on you when you are doing something you want to enjoy outdoors, it means you did something bad in the past”だ。　どれ悪い方だろう？

その後、伊勢の有名なうどんを食べた。社長は伊勢で生まれたので、懐かしかった。もう昔とは違っていると言った。

What is a ryokan?

2005-10-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

I have been assisting a company that is trying to import Japanese soaking tubs into the States. The head person from Japan offered to put me up at a ryokan in Toba, Mie-ken that uses these tubs, so I can experience them (along with experience Japanese hospitality).

We arranged to meet up Friday, so I headed down after class. Arrived at the area after dark, so I didn't have a feel for what it is like. He said that we were right on the ocean.

My expectation of a ryokan is probably something like a Japanese style bed and breakfast. Probably smaller buildings (so only a handful of rooms at most) and Japanese style architecture. When we arrived, I was surprised to see a modern entrance, large lounge, restaurants and karaoke rooms on site, etc., more like I expected for a hotel instead of a ryokan. Place also has 9 stories (though it is on a hill, so only 5 stories stick above the ground), which made it feel more like a hotel.

But once we got into the room, it was all Japanese style, including tatami floors, shoji screens, and sleeping on futons (Japanese style ones, not those couch-things we call futons in the States). We were on the top floor, which had the rooms with the individual tubs. Suite would be more appropriate term than room, as it was 2 rooms with tatami floors, a toilet room, a makeup/changing room, a hall, and the soaking tub on a partially enclosed deck outside. Even sitting on the floor was reasonably comfortable, as they had thick pillows and nice arm rests.

Dinner was a bit later, so we had time to soak. I used the tub that was part of the suite (one of the ones which is the same as what they are trying to import into the States), and he went down to the public onsen. The tub in the suite was made for one person, so we would have had to take turns if we both used it. The tub was comfy and a nice size.

From this point until when we left the next day, we wore yukata (cotton robes). We had dinner in the room. I guess this is standard for this type and level of ryokan. Multiple courses, including sashimi (tai, ebi, tuna, ikura, etc.), various small plates of food, etc. And this wasn't some American-style room service where they roll in a cart of so-so food. Our meal even included having live abalone cooked on a hibachi grill right in front of us, and both a soup and rice being cooked on little burners on the table. The service was spectacular. Even when the woman who was serving us entered our room, she would kneel on the other side of the shoji door to open it, then get up and enter the room.

The business manager was going to go home after dinner, but then he wouldn't be able to drink (drinking and driving is a very big deal in Japan). So I offered for him to stay the night, which he accepted. Figured I had 2 rooms, so we could have our own rooms. Was surprised when they hotel people laid out the futons in the same room, but figured it wasn't a big deal. But I never figured out why there was a second room, as we never used it.

I woke up early (about 6), so went to the onsen downstairs (the tub in our room is not actually onsen water, and I wanted to try the onsen). Then had more spectacular service during our breakfast. Japanese style foods, so miso soup (with about a third of a crab in it), rice, fish, etc. Not something Americans would probably like, but very tasty and filling. The picture of food is actually breakfast - dinner was much more extravagant (and breakfast was already about 12 levels about what I am used to).

We hung out in the room for a while and enjoyed the view of the bay (we had an excellent view from the room). Pretty area, except for the open pit mine on an island across the bay. Many of the rafts in the pictures are part of a oyster farm, similar to what we have in Tomales Bay in California. Local oysters were part of our dinner.

So, I guess a ryokan is not so much the building, but instead the type of room and the excellent service.

日本語：
浴槽をアメリカへ輸入する会社を手伝っている。　社長は鳥羽の旅館に泊まってくださる。その旅館は会社の浴槽がある。

金曜日に会った。着いたときはもう日が暮れたので、何も見られなかった。海のすぐそばにいるといった。

旅館は日本のやり方の朝食付きのホテルだと思った。多分大きくない建物で、日本式の建築だろう。着いたとき大きい休息所やカラオケの部屋やがあるのに驚いた。９階もあるのでホテルのようと思った。

でも部屋は和室だ。畳敷きの部屋や戸障子や布団があった。一番上の階に泊まったので、部屋は社長の会社の浴槽があった。多分部屋じゃなかったが、スイートルームだった。畳敷きの部屋が２部屋あった。私は外人の足なので普通は床に座ることは居心地が悪い。でもその部屋は肘掛けもあったし、厚い枕もあったし、居心地がよかった。

暇だったので、浴槽に入る時間があった。私は部屋の浴槽に入った。社長はホテルの湯屋に入った。よかった。

そのから、浴衣を着た。部屋で晩ご飯を食べた。いい食べ物だった。鯛と海老の刺身や部屋でを焼くアワビなどだった。とても美味しかった。素晴らしいサービスにとても感心した。アメリカにはルーム・サービスはあまり上手じゃない。旅館のはすばらしい。

晩ご飯の後、社長は帰るつもりだった。帰るなら、飲めなかった。だから「部屋に泊まらない」と聞いた。２部屋があったので、別々の部屋に寝ると思った。でも旅館員は両方の布団を同じ部屋で布団を敷いた。　少しいびっくりした。大丈夫だった、でも１部屋だけを泊まったので、どうして２部屋があったか分からない。

早く起きたのでホテルの湯屋に入った。その後いい朝ご飯を食べた。和食だった。多分たいていのアメリカ人は和食の朝ご飯を好きじゃない、ね。でも美味しかった。上の写真は朝ご飯に取った。

朝ご飯の後、部屋でリラックスした。喋ったり、港を見たり、した。景勝をよく見える。

旅館は建物じゃないが、和室とサービスだろう。

Very Busy

2005-10-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy. Weekdays, because I have been studying a lot, I have not had time to write in my Blog here. Nor time to have experiences to write about. Or to translate the posts I have already written. Study, study, study... Sorry about that.
私はとても急がしいんだ。ワイークデーにたくさん勉強しているのでブログで書く時間がない。経験する時間もがないんだ。日記の翻訳する時間もがないんだ。勉強、勉強、勉強．．．ごめんね。

Gamagori Matsuri

2005-10-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

英語だけ、すみません。　多分後で翻訳する。

Sometimes you think the day will be boring but you get surprised. Well this was one of those days. I didn't expect I'd be turning down sake and beer in the middle of the afternoon in order to keep from getting too drunk. Nor have I ever entered an onsen while drunk before. Nor until now had I realized that Japanese people can't speak Japanese well when they are drunk...

I started the day expecting to have a quiet day. A bit of studying, do some laundry, etc. After lunch, I headed to Gamagori, a place I had been to a few times before. My plan was to walk around, visit Takeshima (the island in the picture), and then soak in the local onsen.

When I arrived in Gamagori, I was surprised to hear a lot of music and see people dancing. On closer inspection, it was a matsuri. Seems like it had started much earlier in the day, as there were many drunk men around. I started checking it out and bumped into Patrick, a German student from my school.

We wandered together some, and before long were offered a beer. And then another, And then some sake in a cup. Then more beer. And more sake. And before long, we were doing our best to stop them. Had a few shots of sake right from the 1.8 liter bottles they were serving from. And many cups worth. Lots of chatting with people, but it seems to be hard to understand people when they get drunk (and probably my getting drunk had something to do with it also). Alcohol was definitely a big part of this event. One cart had a smaller cart that followed it carrying a cooler (presumably full of booze). Another cart had a keg built right into the float.

During this time, there were lots of drunk people trying to dance and play drums and flutes. And people shooting off fireworks. Some of the dancing and music was good, and some was powered by a little too much sake (and the guy in the picture with the red staff - if you look closely you can tell that the staff is in an interesting shape...). Most of the people were wearing happi coats to show their affiliation with some group or another (each group had their own cart). Here's a 2mb QuickTime Video clip of some music making.

There was also a group of 20 or so men running around in white loin clothes, white clothes wrapped around their stomachs, white socks, and slippers (and nothing else). They were getting more drunk than the others. Turns out they were all 42 years old, which is a special year, as one way of saying 4 and 2 is "shi ni", which could also mean "die". So they were trying to get special blessing to help them survive the year (or at least have one last big party). At one point, hey carried a float (maybe a portable shrine?) with one guy riding on the top to a local shrine, where I think the blessing occured. Here's a 9mb QuickTime Video clip of these guys as they headed to the shrine - note the guy running around and getting people to take slugs of the sake....

The matsuri ended with the 42 year olds going on a stage and throwing sweets to the crowd. I got my share.

After that, Patrick headed home and I went to the onsen. I could feel my heart beating more than normal - perhaps getting in hot water while buzzed is not the best thing to do. But if felt good to soak for a bit, even though I am not all that relaxed right now, as bumping into the matsuri was such a pleasant surprise that I am still a bit psyched out. Definitely was a fun day. Much better than I expected. Probably a more enjoyable matsuri than the one I went to yesterday...

Doburoku Matsuri

2005-10-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

英語だけ、すみません。　多分後で翻訳する。

I took a trip that the school sponsored today to Doburoko Matsuri. We left early in the morning and drove north to Shirakawa, which is in a valley in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture. It was raining a bit as we headed north (and stayed on and off rain for the rest of the day).

From the (Doburoku Matsuri web site), the festival is for the following:
People pray to the mountain god for safety and a good harvest and offer doburoku (unrefined sake) to the shrine to express their gratitude. While private alcoholic beverage production is banned in Japan, people in Shirakawa are given special permission to produce doburoku for a limited quantity for this festival. Doburoku looks like rice porridge. It is thick and slightly sweet.

We arrived early enough that we had plenty of time to explore and get a feel for the town, as the matsuri didn't really start in full until 2 or so. Also stopped at the location of the matsuri to get a souvenir sake cup. With that, we also got a cup of last year's sake. Had that at maybe 11am.

The town has Gassho houses, which are A-frame houses with thatched roof. Pretty interesting. Shaped like a-frame houses up in the Lake Tahoe area, but with thatch for roofs. Toured the inside of a couple of them.

Had soba for lunch, plus lots of festival food at the stands around the matsuri area. William (classmate of mine) and I stuck together through much of the time - he is much more open about just going up to someone and talking than I, which was good to get us more practice speaking. We connected with a couple from Nagoya at the time we bought the sake cups. Then again at the soba restaurant. We agreed that the 4 of us would reconnect at the matsuri for drinks.

After soba, went back to the Matsuri area and watched various dances, including a lion dance (similar, but in many ways different, than the Chinese version - I have put a 5mb QuickTime Video clip of it on my web site).

Then they cleared out the area and set things up for the drinking. By this time, William had disappeared, but I reconnected with the couple. Had a ceremony where the new sake (this year's) was blessed. Then arranged seating under a big tent by laying out tatami mats (and a big scramble, like musician chairs, for people to get seated on them - here's a 4mb QuickTime Video clip of this). This seemed rather unusual, given that Japanese people are usually super polite and defer to other's needs before their own.

Then they started serving sake. I had well more than 10 of the souvenir sake cups worth before it was time to leave. Could have had much more if I wanted to get drunk, as it was very free flowing (all the people standing in white in the picture are servers). And no charge for the sake or even entering the festival (but they made up for it on the cost of the foods...).

The sake had a much more sour/vinegar taste than what we normally drink (last year's was much more vinegar tasting than this years - maybe that was just how it was made or maybe it doesn't age well). Had the consistancy of porridge or maybe a wet oatmeal (lots of chunks of white stuff in it - click on the picture to see a higher resolution version, which perhaps is good enough for you to see). But good, none the less. While this was going on, there was more traditional music and dancing on the stage set up at the end of the area. Here's a 2mb QuickTime Video clip of the dancing).

Overall, good fun.

A day off

2005-10-10T04:42:00.000-07:00

Today (Monday) was a holiday. In Japan, the school's have "sports days" twice a yea r　on Saturdays, and when they do, the make the Monday a holiday (for many companies also). So today was a day off.

I had planned to go to a Matsuri in Takayama today, which is about 2.5 hours north by train. But it was raining in the morning, and I didn't know for sure if the weather would be different in the mountains. So after that, I figured I'd go to an onsen for a relaxing soak. But now it is night, and I haven't even left the building once today. I just hung out and studied and made dinner. This was probably good, as I have a test on Wednesday.

日本語：
今日は休みだ。高山祭りへ行くつもりだった、でも今朝雨だった。高山の天気をどうか分からないので、行かなかった。学校の近くに温泉に入ると思っていた、でもどこでも行かなかった。水曜日の試験のためによく勉強していた。

Kaiten Zushi

2005-10-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

I went for sushi tonight with the Tanakas (my host family from 3 years ago). We went to a conveyor belt sushi place (kaiten zushi). There were 5 of us (3 adults and 2 kids) and we finished 49 plates of sushi. We sure ate a lot.

There were many types which we don't normally see in America, but but not some exotic raw fish like you would probably think. But more American style foods made into sushi. For example, they had nigiri sushi with cooked pork on it. Also some with cooked chicken on it. And this interesting one shown in the picture called sakura niku (cherry blossom meat). I guess that is a better name for it than what it really is, raw horse meat.

I didnt have the pork or chicken, but did try a piece of the horse. Tasted like I think raw beef would taste, I guess.

日本語：
田中さん（３年前のホストファミリー）と回転寿司に食べに行った。　大人が３人と子供が２人いった。　皿４９枚を食べた。すごい食べた、ね。

たくさんアメリカがない寿司を見た。アメリカに豚肉と鳥肉の握りがない。そして桜肉がない。桜肉と言う名前は馬肉と言うのよりいいだろう。

豚肉と鳥肉を食べなかったのに、豚肉を食べて見た。

A small matsuri (festival)

2005-10-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

The Tanakas (my host family from 3 years ago) had invited me to a small local matsuri (festival) that was taking place near their house, so I met them there this morning. They had converted a community center building into a shinto shrine for the day. Inside the building, they had offerings of food and sake for the gods (plural) and a shinto priest (dressed like you see on the drama Yoshitsune, if you happen to watch Japanese dramas) on hand. Kids and the parents involved with the ceremony were all wearing Happi coats and milling around. Then they had a small ceremony where they purified the spirits and then there was a lot of picture taking.

After that, the kids split up into groups (with a few parents of course) and were supposed to carry these little portable shrines around the neighborhood. Unfortunately, it had started to rain, so they just walked around the town without the shrines for an hour or so and chanting. From time to time, an older person (younger people didn't seem to do this) would go to their front door and make an offering of money. A couple of kids had a lion's mask and a tail, would go to the person and accept the money in the lion's mouth. Then one of the parents would light off some fire crackers to celebrate the offering or something. The lion and firecrackers reminded me a lot of the Chinese parades.

Was interesting, though I wish it wasn't raining.

日本語：
（日本語が読める人は多分祭りのことを知っているので少しいだけ翻訳した。知らない人があったら、ごめんなさい！）

今朝、神主がお祓いをして、はっぴを着ている子どもたちが神輿を担んで、町を歩く予定だった。あいにく雨なので、神輿を担んで行かなかった。

獅子と花火のことは中国の祭りを思い出させた。似ていると思う。

面白かった、でも雨が降らないのはいいだろう。

Prices are Relative

2005-10-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting how relative prices are. I last traveled a lot around 5 years ago, visiting many contries. Since then, exchange rates have changed.

I realized this last night when I was at the　schoool bar having a pint of Guinness. I thought the 750 yen (about US$7) was bit expensive, as I would pay about $4-5 for this at a pub in the States. But the Europeans in the group were happy because this was a bit less expensive than they would pay (even at the Guinness brewery in Ireland).

It was also interesting to hear a clasmate from mainland China talking about prices. She said the meats and vegetables were about the same price here as in China, and was surprised when I told her that they are a lot less expensive in the States.

Sorry I haven't been writing too much. I am focusing on studying during the week, but hopefully will get out for some sightseeing on the weekends.

日本語：
物価が比較的のことを忘れている。５年前に沢山国へ旅行した。その後為替相場は変更した。

昨日の晩バーに行ったときそのことを悟った。　ベールの７５０円の値段は高いと思った．でもヨーロッパから来た人は安いと思った。

中国人のクラスメートが物価を喋ったことは面白かった。中国と日本の肉の値段は大体同じだ。野菜も同じだ。私は「アメリカの肉と野菜のほうが安い」と言って、彼女はびっくりした。

あまり書かなかった－すみません。平日に沢山勉強している。でも週末に経験したい。

Trash and Recycling

2005-10-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

英語だけーすみません。

Trash and recycling is much more difficult to do here, than in America. But presumably they also recycle more materials.

There are 6 different bins for trash and recycling - cans, PET bottles, other plastic, papers, burnable, and unburnable. So if I drink a beer from a can, it goes into the can bin - easy enough, eh?

But if I drink a bottle of water, the bottle goes into the PET bottle container, AFTER you remove the outer label and the plastic top - both of which go into the plastic bin. They do make this somewhat easier, by perforating the label so it can be easily removed and labeling each piece with what bin it would go into.

A few days ago, I made some udon which came in a container that came with an aluminum pie plate for a bottom. In America, we would put this with cans - an aluminum tray will recycle perfectly with an aluminum can. But here, it goes into the unburnable bin, which presumably goes off to the landfill. Oh, well.

So, as you can imagine, it is very common to see a student standing above the bins and trying to figure out which each piece of trash goes in...

I have a bike again

2005-09-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

There　seems to be a trend with people coming here once, and then returning　again at a later point. This is my third time here. The couple I　visited at 10,000 Waves spa in Sante Fe have been here at least 4　times. My friend Alex in Kobe was here at least twice. There is another　student who started the same day as I who is on his second time here.　Lots of repeaters.

That reminds me - the second time I was here, some　of the teachers called me "Peter Repeater". I guess they liked how they　could make it rhyme.

When I arrived in the dorms, I walked down the hall and bumped into a　guy from Korea who I had met when I was first here and has also　returned for some more studying.

Unfortunately, he was just finishing　his session, and is leaving today. But, this also helps me in that he　has given me the bicycle he was using.

This bike looks like it is a better bike than the prior Grandma's bike's I have had. For example, this one has 10 or 12 gears, where the prior ones were at most 3.　And it is a Bridgestone - my friend Glenn really likes Bridgestone bikes.

Japan is a safe country, but these bikes do have locks on them. These locks would do nothing in America, as all they do is keep the wheel from spinning. But I guess they do well at stopping the average drunk Salary Man who is returning from a night of drinking and can't find his bike.

日本語：
勉強した人がもう一度来る流行のようだよ。この旅行は３回目だ。２年前に10,000 Wavesと言うスパーに会った二人は４回目も来た。神戸に住んでいる友達は２回目も来た。いっしょに同じ日に始める学生は前にここで勉強した。沢山もう一度勉強する学生がいる。

このことを思い出す。先生は私がここで２回目の勉強中に「ピーターレピート」と呼んだ。　脚韻のことが好きだろう。

先週寮に着く時、玄関を歩いて、３年前にここでいた会った韓国人を見た。彼ももう一度ここで勉強している。

あいにく、かれは勉強を終わっていて、今日帰る。　でも彼のママチャリをくれた。

このママチャリは３年前にママチャリよりよさそうだ。例えば、このママチャリは１０のギアがついている。３年前のは３のギアだけがついていた。そしてBridgestoneだ。Glennと言う友達はBridgestoneの自転車が大好きだ。

日本は安全な国だ、でも自転車はロックがある。そのロックはアメリカで役に立たないと思う。でも酔っぱらいサラリーマンが自転車を借りられることを核に立つ。

First day of class

2005-09-30T00:43:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of class. There are 12 students in the class. They are Americans, Israelis, Chinese, British, etc. 　

The subject level seems appropriate for me. I am quite a bit higher than when I first arrived and was learning words like "cat" and "dog".

Friday is the short day. We only had 3 hours of class today. On Monday through Thursday, we have 5 hours of class per day.

After class, I ate lunch with one of the Chinese students at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.　The food is Ok, but is inexpensive.

ps - sorry, no photos in this posting

pps - I just fixed a setting on this Blog so now anyone can write me a comment. I didn't mean to restrict it to Blogger members only. Sorry about that.

日本語：
今日は初めのクラスだった。　学生が１２人です。　アメリカ人やイスラエル人や中国人や英国人です。

主題は適切なようだ。３年前にここで勉強する時は「猫」や「犬」と勉強した。今もっと難しい言葉と文法を学んでいる。

金曜日は短い日だ。３時間しか掛からない。月曜日から木曜日まで１日に５時間クラスにいる。

クラスの後中国人と回転寿司屋で昼ご飯を食べた。食べ物はまあまあだった、でも安かった。

On my way

2005-09-28T03:09:00.000-07:00

英語だけーすみません。

I am writing this on my flight. It feels a bit weird to be headed to Japan again. Learning Japanese has been important to me for the last few years (and proving to be more difficult than I expected). But being away from the States and the opportunity to find consulting business or a "real" job worries me some. Am I making the right choice? I guess only time will tell.

Added to this, I jut moved out of my apartment in the States. So what I will do, where I will live, etc. when I return is all up in the air. This adds to the question as to whether I am making the right decision.

But I guess now I should focus on making this as useful a trip as possible. So time to start enjoying the trip - watch here for updates every few days.

Guest Book / 足跡著

2005-09-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

You can use this posting as a guest book. Please leave a comment (by clicking on the "comments" word below) to say hi. I particularly love to hear from people who I don't know yet and just found there way to this site.

Of course, on all posts, feel free to leave comments.

そこで足跡著する。　ここの下に「comment」でクリックする。　特に知らない人が書いて下さい。

勿論他の日記でコメントを書いてもいいよ。

A Blog for my upcoming Japanese language education

2005-08-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

This Blog is for my next trip to Japan. I will be going to Japan between September 28 and November 18. For the first 6 weeks, I will be studying Japanese at a Japanese language school called Yamasa. And the last week, my girlfriend and I will be travelling together around Japan to places like Kyoto and Hiroshima.

Once I arrive, I will start posting here.

日本語：
は日本に旅行のためにブログです。　９月２８日から１１月１８日までです。　６週間はヤマサと言う日本語学校で勉強します。その後があるフレンドは日本へ来て、いっしょに京都や広島に観光します。

行ったら、ここで書く。