Ack ack!… I took a week off work and went off hiking back in September over my birthday. Spent my birthday in a small tent by myself, wondering if the typhoon will soon pass as little droplets of moisture builds up in my tent. Once the typhoon passed the next few days were hot and sunny. You might imagine it to to be quite wonderful, but when you’re constantly over 2300metres and above the cloud line, it’s amazing how much stronger the UV rays are. Even after slip-slop-slap‘n myself, I ended up totally burnt. Even with long sleeves on, I ended up with plenty of water blisters and now I’ve got a very distinct light & dark tan-line right across my forehead. It’s been 3 weeks, and there’s no sign of my forehead beacon letting up. The back of my hand was tingling all the time, and as the photos shows, I’m flaking as though I’m going though a process of Ecdysis. You can tell from my middle finger that underneath my ring, lies my true colour. Pasty white, or should I have said pasty yellow?

In anycase, I spend 6 days hiking, a total of 7 days living out of my backpack as I had to spend an entire day from the car park (end of the trail) to the beginning of the trail. Quite a scenic trip if you’re going via the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. (a bit expensive too) If you have the time, I definitely recommend the hike from Murodo to Kamikochi. I pretty much followed the LP - Hiking in Japan Guide, which was good as a guide. Though, I get the feeling that the author didn’t camp along the way, but spent nights in the various mountain huts/lodges that scattered along the trail. A much easier way of travelling, as one no longer needs to carry a tent, sleeping bag, mattress, stove, cooking gear, food for 7-8 days etc. Heck, you could go around in a day pack if you have the money. But spending over 5000yen for just a floor to sleep on, or over 8000yen for 2 meals I was not ready for. Especially as this trek was done before payday. In comparison, 500yen a night for camping is a huge difference. Up high, conveniences cost a lot of money.

Well, back in the end of July I recieved a Health Check which is included as part of the deal with working with the City Office (City Hall). During my first year here on the JET programme, I was offered it but neglected it simply because I figured that I was still young and also because I was actually busy with work.

I realise that it’s already August, and I have no difficulty remembering which month it is, and I have the ability to recall what part of the month we are currently in. But, ask me which year it is, and I find myself totally confused. Especially since in Japan there’s another way of counting the years. For most nations the gregorian calendar is used, as it is also used in Japan. But “Common era” year numbers are not always used in Japan. The Japanese year numbers are dated according to what reigning emperor decides to name it.

The current emperor, Emperor Akihito named his reigning era as Heisei (平成) which holds the meaning of “peace everywhere”. As Emperor Akihito took the throne in 1989, 2007 is known as Heisei 19. Now that’s where the confusion begins for me. As I translate and work on many documentation, I’m updating past Heissi 17 & 18 documents but also working on Heisei 19 and preparing Heisei 20 documents, as the budget for the next fiscal year must be prepared the year before. To make mattters worse… well, for me that is. The fiscal year here, also employment year here in Japan (for most jobs, you start working in April, and the end of the financial/fiscal year is March) doesn’t exactly conform with the actual year.

So the Heisei 19 fiscal year actually runs from April 1st, 2007 to March 31, 2008… or as they say here, the 19th year of the Heisei era, 4th month, 1st day to the 20th year of the Heisei era, 3rd month, 31st day. Argh! And as I travel, each country also has their own unique way of using the date format. In the US the date format mm/dd/yy is used, same as in Canada, but the official ISO 8601 yyyy-mm-dd is used for official documents. Which is what Japan used. But when using the Japanese era year, it’s actually yy-mm-dd… not yyyy blah blah blah. Heck, I recall much of Europe using the dd-mm-yyyy date format.

Anyways… when you’re checking out the expiry date of products in Japan, they can be in either in western year or Japanese era year format. Which can simply be annoying. 07-08-03 or 19-08-03 both mean the same… Can you see why I’m getting confused? Heck, maybe I’m just losing it.

May be I’m just getting old and also getting forgetful along with my age. May be I’m just getting old and also getting forgetful along with my age. May be I’m just getting forgetful of what I wrote along with my age.

I came across a couple of interesting new words for me at work yesterday.
U-turn, J-turn and I-turn… The UJI-turn phenomenon. They wanted me to translate it for a small button for their webpage and as you can imagine, I had no idea what this was all about. The thing about Japan, and the Japanese language is that this country is very happy with adapting certain foreign ideas for their own, and then claiming that they are originally Japanese. Very proud if it in fact. And sometimes, they’d take a Japanese idea or process, give it a foreign word or name and after a while, many just simply believe that it was originally a foreign idea. Trust me, it’s not just confusing for you and me. It gets most of the locals here in Japan as well.

Well for starters, lets begin with where this whole UJI-turn thing came from. Back in 1957… naw,.. I’m just making that up. In anycase, the term U-turn… or actually yet, U-turn people, or U-turn citizen is a term that was created to decribe the movement of people within the urban/rural population. A big concern for rural areas where the general population has been dwindling for a over a decade, but the remaining population is getting older and older.
*By the way, the examples will be based on Canada.

U-turn = A person whom grew up in the countryside, but after highschool, (or whatever age) left for the big city. Tried life inthe big city, but after a while returns home to where they originally grew up. Reasons being many things like, couldn’t make it in the big cheese, or keep up with the rat race, taking on the family business, wanting to be closer to home, family friends to family sorta forcing you home. A great phenomenon for the countryside as the person tends to return with valuable city life experience and the small & medium sized businesses of the rural area have less to worry about going out of business or not having to worry about the next generation of farmers/fishermen etc.
ie: A person from Mabou, NS goes to Halifax, NS but returns back to Mabou.

J-turn = A person whom grew up in the countryside, went off to the big city and once again similar to a U-turn person… after a while leaves the big city. But instead of heading back home, they end up settling down somewhere else. Reasons being transfered due to work, settling down where the person’s spouse grew up etc, or settling down in the region of their childhood home but not exactly home.
ie1: A person from St. Catherines, ON heads off to Toronto but ends up settling down in Niagara.
ie2: A person from Tofino (Vancouver Island), BC heads off to Vancouver but settles down in Victoria (Vancouver Island)

I-turn = A person whom moves to an area which is unrelated to their childhood home. Reasons being anything from work placement, drawn to the city/countryside, nature, citylife, etc. Most reasons is due to employment and financial reward. A harsh reality for the rural area as many do not find farming, forestry, fishing and other agricultural work very appealing.
ie: A person from Hamilton, ON moves to Montreal, PQ.

I wonder what I should classify myself as. A W-turn phenomenon? Since I move about everywhere?

Just a few more image of the earthquake aftermath in Kashiwazaki, Niigata. I believe that this tall structure is the chimney to the incineration plant. But as you can see, the chimney is slightly tilting, and there’s a huge crack by the base of the chimney. I wonder if they are able to repair this, or is it coming down with a crash? Man-made structures in a earthquake don’t really stand a chance do they?

In anycase, there are plenty of flattened homes in Kashiwazaki, Kariya, and a few in Nishiyama. Most of the damage are to older wooden structures. Some of them even spreading off on to the street. And the streets themselves are full of cracks, and waves. Even today there was a small earthquake 4.2 rippling through while Iwas having breakfast. No longer an aftershock… The people of Japan can only keep their fingers crossed and hope that the BIG one doesn’t hit during our lifetime… heck, in any life time…

A slightly toppled over home.

Older buildings aren’t doing well.

A shop that has spilled on to the street.

Wavy roads, what can they do?

Well, I took a week off work to go hiking out in the northern Alps of Nagano prefecture. But unfortunately the weather was not really cooperating with my needs. Cloudy, foggy, and rain…. . My original plan was to hike from Shirouma-take to Oogisawa, the eastern range of the northern Alps,… just east of Tateyama. But, after a halfday hike up, I could no longer see the point in continuing. As I could pretty much see, nothing… After consulting past weather patterns, I was told that the Japanese “tsuyu” (East Asian rainy season) should be over in the Nagano region by the beginning of July. But unfortunately due to adverse weather patterns which seem to be synonymous with today, the tsuyu season has reached Japan quite late this year. Oh well,… I guess that I’ll have to wait until autumn for my next hiking trek.

Anyways, on the way back I stopped by the Hokusai museum. Know who Hokusai is? Have you ever seen those famous traditional Japanese wood print blocks of mount Fuji, a huge wave… etc? The “Red Fuji”, “Great wave off Kanagawa”? Then they’re probably Hokusai prints. Hokusai spent the later part of his life in Obuse, Nagano and instead of wood block prints, he worked on his calligraphy and painting skills. I’ve always been a fan of his work, and sorta spoiled myself by purchasing a framed print. Of course, it’s not an original but a copy. Still, in anycase I’m proud of it… still a bit costy. Also, I was impressed with a two other images which I’ve never seen before. Two paintings he made for the ceiling of a local festival float. Two waves, one representing a male, and the other a female wave. I just love the expression of the waves.

Oonami - Masculine Waves

After visiting the Hokusai museum, I took myself to Zenkoji temple which is Nagano’s main temple. Unfortunately, the main gates to the temple, “Sanmon” was under repairs… well, it’ll remain under reconstruction for the 5 years, and should be completed by the end of the year, Dec 31st 2007. The main strip was quite busy due to the bank holiday weekend. A bit touristy, but the slightly older look of the main drag was quite nice for a change. Unfortunately much of the items being sold were a bit cheesy and plastic looking. Not much quite different from what you can find on the main path, on your way to the Asakusa main temple. What you can get here is pretty much the same as anywhere else in Japan…

main strip in front of the temple

Well, while on my turn back to Niigata, as the weather wasn’t holding up in the mountains. Back down in the lower elevation things looked alright, mind you the cloud cover. In anycase, the expressway open for much of the drive back, except for a small portion. From Kakizaki to Yoneyama. Honestly, I was quite impressed at how quickly the road construction folks were out there, fixing up as much as possible. I was on the expressway less than 24 hours after the quake, and much of the cracks and roads were being paved to make it a level drive. The drive over bridges were surprising as, the difference in elevation between the road and bridge surface was quite obvious.

There were plenty of road works going on, plenty of military disaster support vehicles around doing their thing. In anycase, here’s just a few things I saw on the road. The worst parts where closed off.

Earthquake, 50km/h restriction

cracks everywhere

crieky!

hmmm, that’ll do a number on your suspension

disaster military support coming in

can you see how the road is slightly wavy and it slopes?

Sanjo region has entered the “Tsuyu” season. The rainy season before mid-summer. Also known as the beginning of the typhoon season. And as someone whom has to cycle to work every weekday, cycling through rain isn’t the most pleasant experience. I don’t mind if it’s on a weekend, and you know… you’ve got some great musical movie tune playing in the background and you’re with a beautiful gal… Rolling around a grassy hill in the rain,… kissing, yaddi yaddi yah… But I’m not…

In anycase, my Saturday was spent hiking Mt. Shirane down in the Shitada valley, which is part of the City of Sanjo. There was not a soul in sight, except for countless number of cobwebs that were spun across the trail. As it was late June, much of the trail was covered by much greenery which gave it a wild look. Also the recent rain helped out with a slightly muddy trail and for all the moisture in the air. The air was very heavy and eventhough to get to the summit of Mt. Shirane only took 2.5 hours, the constant battle of going up a steep slope and the heat had me empty my 2L bottle of water before I got back down. And I didn’t even have to go to the loo once… Boy did I taste salty by the end. And to make things a bit more interesting, there were plenty of little leeches stuck to my leg by the time I was sitting in my air conditioned car. Well, at least they don’t carry any diseases, don’t hurt (as they also inject a local anesthetic)

Well, in the evening I made my way to the south of the city, to the Shirasagi Forest Park. As the lilies are in full bloom. And I read that flowers will be lit up during the night. To be honest, I was expecting beautiful colourful lights lighting up the flowers from down below. But the lights were simply street lamps… In anycase, it was still quite nice to see. Though, what took place after the lights went down was even better.

First, you would see a little glow, just flying in the shadows of the trees. But once a few minutes have passed since the garden lights have been turned off, your eyes have begun to adjust to the darkness and the shy critters were soon out in full force. Good ‘ol fireflies. Or 蛍、ほたる “Hotaru” as they’re called in Japan. All I can say is that, they’re really difficult to take pictures of.

Well, on June 12th (Tues) a weird product was found on the shelves of Japanese shops. A new drink called Pepsi Ice Cucumber… Uhhh…. just like you can expect. It tastes like crap. Well, for me it does. But then again, I guess there are plenty of people in Japan with a different taste pallete. Heck, for many of the Japanese, they can’t stand Dr. Peppers or Root Beer for, for them it tastes like medicine. I guess it sorta does, since the flavour IS root extract.

So what does it taste like?… Uhhh, well it does have a slight cucumber flavour to it, but I’d be honest with that after a single swig, the after taste sorta swirls around and puts a frown on my face. I bought two 500ml bottles, and that was a mistake. I haven’t been able to finish the rest of it off.

Hmmm, may be it’ll be better recieved by the locals?…

Not really the best office etiquette, but I’ve begun to take my socks off a work because of the temperature. The location where I’ve been moved to in the office is closer to the windows… That part, I really appreciate since before I was pretty close to the center of the building, and would only recieve natural light when I was outdoors. Though, during the winter period, that would mean never since it’s dark when I get to work, and already dark when I leave as well. The view from the 3rd floor is definitely much better than the basement or 1st floot… Though, at least the temperature in the basement doesn’t fluctuate at all throughout the year.

Anyways, I find myself near the corner of the cityhall (or city office which the locals call it by here, when speaking in English) building and air circulation is horrible. Down on the first floor, or by the elevators/stairs the temperatue is 2-3°C different. Because of the Cool Biz campaign which was implemented in the summer of 2005, (the summer I arrived) air conditioners only switch on if the temperature goes over 28°C. Fine with me, but unfortunately due to the old structure of a building which is called the Sanjo City Office, the whole building is wired as a whole unit. The 3rd floor is hovering around 30°C before the air conditionor kicks in, since the 1st floor is always a few degrees cooler than the top floors. The 1st floor windows are pretty much covered by the outdoor trees, and heat rises.

Not only that, now that I’m by the windows… the windows and walls radiate with heat. Hence, just yesterday I bought a USB powered small fan, which I have stationed underneath my desk. Placing it on my desk would be too obvious. So it’s no socks and for me at the moment. Hmmm, I wonder if I could go as far as going trouserless…

Anyways, another day to go and then it’s Koromogae. The seasonal change of clothes. From June 1st to Sept 30th, students change to summer clothing and Cool Biz officially begins. It’s off with ties and jackets! Yeah! 4 months of wearing a polo/golf shirts…

…even then, it’s still too hot…

Well, I’ve never been one to do much programming, for I reckoned that it’d be bad for me health. Spending all that time in front of a computer monitor, trying to figure out what you’re doing and troubleshooting all those little bugs. Eck! bugs! Ack, ack!

Anyways, for the past month I’ve been doing plenty of translations along with learning a bit about CSS. I really haven’t done much web stuff for a few years, and it’s amazing how quickly things change out there in the computer realm. With graphics, I’m still happy playing with Adobe Photoshop 6.0… developed way back in 2000. To be honset, I think that my problem is with my attitude, personality with things. My job is to act as the “Coordinator for International Relations”, but to be honest I don’t coordinate anything. I have to do it myself. Sure, there are plenty of foreigners in Japan on the JET Programme whom have quite a bit of time to do what they please. I guess that I get to do what I please as in I constantly start up new projects for me to do. If I see something that that’s not there that I think would benefit others, I get it started and finished. But, as I’m the only one actually working on any given project, that’s a lot of work. Before, I never had to take my work home, but now I’m constantly working 3-4 hours at home. Especially because my computer at work is SO bloody slow.

Anyways, I digress. It stucks that to have ambition, work ethics, drive, a slight workaholic tendency, and willingness to get things done, even if it’s on your own. I find myself sacrificing my own personal time, (I miss doing my hobbies!) for really random things. Though, I must admit that I’m learning a lot because of my drive… sucks at the same time too.

Anyways, at the moment I’m translating, and redesigning the cityhalls “Tourism page“. I find the current page slightly lacking in navigation, and design. A bit too simple, with not much balance. Anyways, I shouldn’t complain too much since it’s work. Anyways, my need to make a slight better English version is leading me much pain and time. Well, mostly time. Never say that you’ll get a whole website translated and redesigned in about a months time… While learning a new computer language. It may be possible if you had at least 3 people working on it. A designer, programmer and translator. At the moment I’m all three.

By the way, here’s a comparison of what both sites looks like. I’m especially proud of the CSS rollover menu bar which I was able to program. Compared to the image rollover system which the Japanese link uses. With the Japanese page, once you’re reading a page, you need to constantly hit the “back” button to get anywhere. Not really a naviational friendly site. But hey, what do you expect? It’s a small city website…