Well, as you can see my blog comes in spurts. To the untrained mind, my previous comment can be taken as something filthy, but it’s not.

Well, much has happened since my last entry… Heck, it’s been almost 1/2 a year. I flew back to Canada for a little bit back in March, (I know that a few of you are still awaiting me to upload those photos on my my non-existent flickr account) I performed at a concert in Feb, and my office structure has completely changed.

Well, (3rd paragraph beginning with the word “well”) at the beginning of April, my desk was magically moved to the Regional Promotions Division from the Policy Management Division… and my supervisor (of 12 years of Int’l Affairs experience) was swapped for a rookie whom has never been overseas. At least my desk is closer to a window, and I have much more privacy with my laptop. Not to say that I’ll be looking at un-worksafe material, but I can now squeeze in a couple of emails and blogs now… I guess.

I’d update more, but somehow my work load is aways staring down at me. Argh! Why am I so bloody ambitious when it comes to work!? I think that I’m chewing off more than I can swallow. (and once agian… my blog ends on a questionalble sentence… oh you dirty mind you…)

Another slightly lazy morning, but the air was full of moisture and rain clouds occasionally dumping their allotment of wetness onto the whole island. Within the Haha-jima youth hostel, most of the guests were busy packing their bags for their long trip back to Tokyo, or to Chichi-jima. At the ferry terminal, much of the village was there to thank all of the tourists for spending their holidays on the wee island. A wonderful farewell to a fabulous stay. While the Hahajima maru ferry was pulling away from the docks, a number of people dove into the water to show their sign of appreciation. Once the view of the harbour front was lost, I retracted into the ship and tried to sleep through the whole seasickening ordeal. The arrival into Futami bay was unremarkable, but the welcoming party awaiting us by the harbour front was another rush of islanders ready to pick out their guests. Sorta reminds me of the long-distance bus pickup/dropoff times at Byron Bay in Australia. My accommodation for the next 6 nights on Chichi-jima was the Ogasawara Youth Hostel.

Compared to Haha island, Chichi island is definitely an island of plenty. Grocery stores with plenty of products and choices, shops opened later, restaurants, gift shops, plenty of accommodations and a variety of activities to try out. Swimming with the dolphins, going out on a bunker/war ruins/jungle walking tour, SCUBA diving, etc…

Unfortuantely, compared to Haha-jima the ruins of war, and bunkers are not well posted nor are there any signs that describe what you can see. If you’re the adventurous type and am happy with wandering around the bush with a compass and a “not to scale map” you can find many interesting artifacts. Plenty of bunkers, tunnels, trentches, artillery remains and even a downed American fighter.

A quick swim from the island you can find yourself surrounded by plenty of tropical fish, and coral… and also sunken ships from the Second World War. If you venture further out by boat, a wonderfully tiny by beautiful island “Minami-jima” has beautifully white sands which are covered in fossils of tiny shells and is the home to hundreds of green sea turtles and a cove full of sharks. From the numerous boats that take you out to sea, there many opportunites to catch a whale or two or three in a single hour and the opportunity to swim within pods of dolphin. If swimming with wild dolphins is something for you, this is also a great time to test your “Sumoguri” (free-diving) skills. Holding your breath and diving to 15m+ depths to follow the dolphins. All I can say is that, those are darn fast mammals to swim with. They certainly don’t move very slowly. And if you’re lucky like I was… you can may be swim with a green sea turtle. Though, as soon as you try to go on its back, it spins around to shake you off. Obviously not wanting any of us to bother it. (totally understandable)

For the last night at the Youth Hostel, a farewell party was held with plenty of local treats. Turtle stew, local fish for sushi with mustard and other wonderful dishes. A couple of Ukulele performances, songs and story telling. And a wonderful send off at the ferry terminal at our departure. A ferry send off has become a traditional event for much of the locals. Boats following the ferry out to see, and many of the boaters jumping off into the cold waters to show their appreciation of your visit to the island, with plenty of calls to return again.

All in all, Haha-jima is definitely a much more laid back, and slow moving island. And Chichi-jima definitely shows its wealth in physical size and options for things to do. If you require a bit more modern amenities then Chichi-jima is for you. If a much more remote and small island is what you wish, Haha-jima is for you. No matter the island, you’re definitely in for a wonderful experience if you get down there. Islands which are a part of the Metropolis of Tokyo, but not many actually get to venture that far.

P.S. The Ogasawaras is also the location where marine biologists were successfully able to capture video images of deep sea giant squids.

I barely had enough time to snap a photo before they swam by.
And along came a big green sea turtle

a fallen American fighter plane

a great big send off at the ferry port

A very Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you were able to celebrate it in style, with family or friends. I myself had a pretty good time on the island of Haha-jima with the locals and other travellers. My 4 nights were spent at the Anna Beach Youth Hostel, a very picturesque and homey hostel. More like a B&B in fact. New Years Eve was pretty much quiet and mundane. Everybody at the hostel went to bed by 9pmish since at 4:30am the next morning, people were meant to gather under the big tree with the fairy lights for a group walk to the most eastern point of Japan to view the first sunrise of Japan. Hence I was pretty much left alone in the hostel lounge on my own, until a couple of other hostellers came by a few minutes before midnight. After congratulating each other a Happy New Year I was left alone once again. Hmmm, what is it with me and my lack of sleep?

Anyways, after barely a couple of hours of Zzzs’ I was awaken with the sound of people bustling about getting ready for the 4:30am gathering. For frick sake, I set my alarm for 4am, but people were already stomping around by 3:15am… Hmph… anyways, I was up so I joined the masses out in downtown Okimura and grabbed a shuttle ride down to the south part of the island, where after an hour long walk in the dark, we ended up on the most eastern shore of Japan. And low and behold, by around 6:17am, the first sunrise of Japan. A time to make a prayer and wish. Just when people were finished making their wishes and prayers and ready to start taking photos of the glowing redish-orange sun, as quickly the sun came out, the sun hid itself behind the clouds and was no to be seen until later on the day.

On the way back from the most eastern point of Japan, a few hostellers and I took a wee detour to a location which isn’t marked on any tourist maps, or widely announced to travellers. A bit of local inside information we received earlier, a look into one of the underground tunnels and bunkers which were outfitted with artillery canons. Plenty of derelict canons and bunkers on the island, but this location had the longest tunnel, and once you’re in it your mind starts to drift off into the past and your imagination starts to run amuck with regards to how things were in the past. I’ve yet to watch the film, Flags of our fathers or Letters from Iwo-jima, both films directed by Clint Eastwood about the battle between the Americans whom were undertaking an amphibious assault whereas the Japanese were hunkered down in their bunkers. I can only guess that battles on Haha-jima and the various islands in the Ogawasaras were as fearsome.

Back at the hostel by 8am, and a traditional Japanese New Years breakfast awaited for consumption. 御節料理 Osechi Cooking. Little bits of various things which are meant to bring good fortune. As always, the Japanese have many things which bring good luck and fortune which are all derived from play on words. Beans, because in Japanese they’re called “mame” and it’s so that you become “mame” (conscientious), Konbu, Yorokobu, Kurikinton (Kagayaku – from the colour). Also, a wee goodie bag as a New Years gift. Eventhough it was a tad kitsch, possibly a freebie from the local tourist bureau, but in anycase it’s the thought that counts. So far, I can say that my stay at this hostel has gone really well. A great location, very homey, very clean and a great variation and style of meals for breakfast and dinner. Very impressive. A great representative of the kinda style of hostel I’d possibly like to open, if I ever go that route.

After breakfast, it was a visit to the local beach where New Years celebrations were taking place. Local students performing a version of a Hula dance, shishimai Odori (dragon dance), childrens games, and plenty of free food and booze. Free booze in the forms of local rum, passionfruit liqueur, sake. And also free food, if not very VERY cheap. Turtle stew, pork stew, buntan, isobemochi, and frankfurts wrapped in banana leaves. And finally the beach activities ended with a canoe race. And yours truly got 2^nd place as a visitor racer. A team of 3 members, people whom I met at the hostel. One older gentleman whom never been in a canoe, and another fella who is a deaf lifeguard. Amazingly, eventhough I don’t understand Japnaese sign language, we were able to converse quite a bit.

All in all, a very busy day. It’s been a long time in the making, but I actually crashed right after diner by about 8pm a rare one for me indeed. Then again, I’ve also been trying to rid of a nagging cough and wee temperature.

On top of Mt. ChibusayamaArtillery Storage Bunker
Local version of the hula dance during the festival for “Opening of the ocean for the New Year”
Releasing baby green turtles out to sea
When the grow big enough, you catch’em and eat’em. Turtle stew style.
Vines, vines, vines!
A panoramic view from the summit of Mt. Chibusayama

Soon after my last day of work I ventured off to my 忘年会 (Bonenkai – End of year work party) with my whole department. Wasn’t really in the mood to do a do with my colleagues but what can you do? Last years gathering felt a bit stiff, and I really wasn’t in the mood for another tight lipped, tight arsed gathering. Sooo many customs and drunken Japanese office men to deal with. . I was more there for the food than anything else, but I could clearly see it in the office workers eyes that they were all about the drink. Drunken Japanese men, how exciting, and all the freak’n smoking. One thing I can’t stand, or ever understand is the need to smoke heaps in such a confined space. Puff puff puff…

In anycase, I made my quick exit and prepped myself for a nice long overnight bus ride to Tokyo and a 25.5 hour ferry ride over semi-rough seas (a typhoon went by a couple of days ago) to Chichi-jima and another 2 hours of fun ferry riding over to Haha-jima. The ferry ride itself was pretty miserable for me… The rocking back and forth and I was pretty much seasick. Never quite had to throw up, though I can pretty much assure you that I was pretty blue in the face. During the entire ride from Sanjo to Haha-jima I pretty much had only a cup of yoghurt and an apple. Anything else, I simply felt very bloated or too sick to keep down. Let’s just say that it wasn’t a very easy 25.5 hour ferry ride for me at all. Just when I thought that I was good enough to get up, a few minutes later it was another quick trek over to the loo to check to see if I can hold whatever I had left in my stomach. The 2^nd class berth was totally full, and I was blow away with the fact that there weren’t seat available for the passengers. Well, I’m lying a bit. There are seats, but just less than a dozen for close to a thousand people. Plenty of people heading down south during the New Years Eve break, and I got to join in the fun. At times I wanted fresh air, but anywhere out of the berth, the place was full of smokers and smoke. So bad that at times so that I was wondering if they were testing a new way of preserving smoked meat. I will never be able to understand the whole smoking culture here in Japan.

According to the ferry captain, accommodation on Haha-jima was all booked up. I was a bit worried since I made my booking waaay back in October. Well, once on Haha-jima I made my way over to the youth hostel where things seemed to be quite mellow. A preview of what the seems to be like. Downtown Haha-jima is pretty much two small shops and the police box. Nothing much, but the whole village seemed to be there, well at least much of the ferry passengers. People were lined up around the entire shop to buy their groceries, and the fresh shipment which just came off the ferry. I guess that you can be quite limited with your choice of groceries when the ferry from Tokyo only gets down to Ogasawara Islands once a week.

Even after an hour on the island, I could tell that I was gonna enjoy my time relaxing here on the island. Plans to go hiking on the 31^st, enjoy some of the New Years festivities on the 1^st and may be go diving on the 2^nd. Since at the moment I don’t feel as though I’m 100 percent because of the ferry ride. Also being trapped in a very small space with heaps of people, and a few people coughing away for 25+ hours didn’t quite help with things as well. Anyways, time to enjoy my time off… had a great meal at a local restaurant (which looked more like home, but the inside was pretty much like a snack bar) and I sure hope that this feeling of swaying goes away. It’s been hours since I got off the ferry, but my body still seems to be swaying a bit and carrying around a headache. Well, anyways… I’ll do my best to enjoy my time here.

As one could probably imagine, Christmas in Japan is not an event which is followed by in the traditional western Xmas sense. Here in Japan, Xmas is viewed more like a reason to date a girl than to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. (or as Kevin Smith would put it, Buddy Christ) Here are some of the common things that people in Japan think and do during Christmas.

- eat Christmas cake, which is in fact a strawberry & vanilla sponge cake. Why strawberry? I don’t know, but the shops are full of them just before Xmas. Ask them about Xmas pudding, and they have no idea what you’re talking about. Bring some over to Japan, and offer it to them… then see them squirm around in their seat while they struggle to get a single mouthful down their throat. Something about being too spicy, not liking cinnamon and currants.

- What? JC was born on Xmas day? I thought that Xmas was a time when kids got presents from Santa and their parents? What do you mean about kids actually give presents to their parents and to other siblings? That’s weird.

- Huh? spend time with the family? Isn’t Christmas about going out on dates with your girl/boy friend and spending the night at a classy hotel or love hotel?

- Oh? They’re actually edible? I though candy canes were just tree decorations. Oh that’s interesting since it has the word “candy” in it. (and yes, in Japan they say キャンディー Kandi as well)

On the 21st of December (Thurs), as always I held evening “Language Salon” gathering. But this time around, we had a nice potluck to celebrate the holidays. Last year, I did a wee cooking class, but this time around I couldn’t be bothered with it all. We had a good number of people turn out, all of the local and neighbouring ALTs (whom were still around) and regular LS members. A good 30+ people turned out to share some Xmas diner delight, and as a closure, similar to last year, I pulled out my violin (minus ex-ALT Nathan) and we sang some Xmas tunes with me accompanying. To be honest, since there was no snow this year in Sanjo, compared to last years hell of dump, I’m not really in the Xmas spirit.

In anycase, I worked Xmas day. It was just like any other work day. But, thanks to a number of foreigners in my area whom failed to get out of here, on Xmas Eve we enjoyed an early diner at a local smoky 焼き肉　(yakiniku) parlour. Yakiniku is a cuisine where you simply order crap loads of meat and BBQ’em on a communal hotplate and stuff yourself silly. Vegetables can be order too if you like. If you like your BBQ’d meat, I really recommend heading over to Korea for the real thing. After a smoking ourselves in various parts of cattle meat and juices, we cleared our eyes from further tears by hitting the local karaoke joint. Nothing quite special for a Xmas Eve, but since Xmas day being a Monday was a normal work day. Hence the whole night ended before 10pm. Eventhough it was an early night, we still had our fun.

Karaoke fun after a belly full of dead fleshmore pics of the Language Salon Xmas potluck (making sausage-yaki)
waiting for more tucka!

A while back, I had the opportunity to work as an interpreter for the biannual (not biennial) 削ろう会(Kezuro-kai) . Now, when you hear planing, I’m sure that you’re first thinking that I said “planning” or something to do with “planes”. The “plane” I mean is the woodworkers tool which has a blade set in a flat surface, and is used to make the surface of an area smooth by shaving very thin layers of wood off it.

Hmm, doesn’t sound exciting does it? But you’d be surprised if you came to this event. I must admit that in the beginning I didn’t know what to expect, and one I was there, I could clearly say that this has been probably the most culturally and historically (in a being in Japan sense) interesting thing I’ve done since I’ve been here in Japan. A competition between carpenters and woodworkers, to see how refined they are with their planes. The main competition is to see how thin and long of a wood shaving you could create. I can’t remember the exact length of the wood, but each wood shaving is on average over 1.5 meters, possibly even 2 meters. And the top level planners can get their wood shaving as thin as 4/1000mm. That’s frick’n thin. So thin that you can pretty much see through’em and the whole thing feels like silk. And if you pull it parallel to the grain, it’s still pretty tough.

It was pretty amazing to see the carpenters at work. I must admit that pretty much everybody was a bloke. There was a small American contingent of students from Palomar College in California whom are studying Japanese carpentry and have come to this event to take part and also observe the architecture along with the actual construction of Japanese carpentry tools. The precision required to create such a thin layer of wood shavings is an art form in itself. The need to maintain a sharp blade, the need to keep it smooth, flat and straight. The physical need be able to pull and give enough pressure to maintain a consistent wood shaving. The various kinds of planes, and techniques used to create traditional Japanese wood work.

Japanese wood saw being sharpened
making sure that the plane flat. Yup, you even shave the actual plane once in a while to keep it flat and smooth. The important piece is the blade. You can always make a new block.
Old method: Used after an adze for more details

Difference kind of woodshavings created by the spear plane. 槍鉋(yari-kanna)Making a flower out of the wood shavings
Using an adze to shape lumber
The blade is an important aspect of a carpenter
You can only shapen a blade up to how good your natural whetstone isMost planes are smal, but there are pretty funky big ones as well
I also had the opportunity to make my own traditional Japanese nail 和釘(wakugi)
Decorations created by an adze

Back in the first weekend of September I took a quick trip down to Kagoshima to a surprise visit to my grandmother’s. My mother and sister were there for quite a while, and my father was also visiting for a week. I had some days in lieu so I popped over for a few days without announcing. I must say that my parents were pleasantly surprised when I called them, and at the same time walked through the front door. tee hee. In all honesty, I wanted to be there for my grandmother since our entire family has never been to meet her together. In the past decade, I’ve always visited my grandmother on my own, and my mother and sister together. Heck, I never even really meet my whole family together much either, since during those rare moments I’m actually back in Canada, one of my family members would usually be missing. (*the first photo of our whole family together with my grandmother, mother’s mother since my sister’s been born.)

On the way down, I also stopped by Kobe to meet up with a friendly face. Christina whom used to live in the outskirts of Sanjo, but left for greener (though in actual fact, more concerte) pastures. She seems to be doing well, but is longing for New York which is a city one can not recreate in Japan. I was happy to be able to catch up with her on my way down and back to Kagoshima. Me being the cheap bastard that I am, opted out to take an overnighter bus ride to Osaka and then fly down to Kagoshima than to fly from Niigata airport. (*Check out Christina’s new dog in her basket, tee hee)

Anyways, back in Kagoshima. Instead of relaxing at my grandmothers, I was once again busy by trimming and pruning the trees in the garden and other agricultural work. Actually quite a bit of work since my father or I would only come around to my grandmothers once every 5 years or so to overhaul the garden. Plenty of house work to do. Fix the screen windows, take out a lot of accumulated trash etc. (*Japan’s biggest Camphor tree is actually from my mothers home town of Kamou, trunk diameter is 24.2metres!)

Many usually presume that one’s relative lives in a high-tech home in Japan, but my grandmother is really out in the sticks. The toilet is a long drop (no flushing, plumbing), to get hot water in the tub, you collect the pre-chopped wood and start a fire, or drain some of the water which was pumped up onto a roof top container which was heated via the sun, no airconditioning… What can I say,.. it was bloody hot and my entire family slept under a huge 蚊帳　kaya (mosquito net). Also in Japanese, they would say that we slept in the form of the kanji, “River”. 川の字に寝る Since the kanji for river is written as 川, when people sleep side-by-side head to toe, it looks like the “River” kanji. Three lines. Though, in reality you can have more than 3 people and still say that you’re sleeping like the kanji “River”. I can’t recall the last time my whole family sleep together in the same room. Probably a first. (*my folks enjoying a bit of fireworks, with my sister blurred at the side.)

Anyways, I’m keeping all of these blogs short so I can catch up with the other blogs…

Argh, have been busy the last couple of months, so instead of a long and deep update, I’m just gonna quickly blurt out,… write what I’ve done during the months of August to October.

Well, during the month of August, I was quite busy meeting, greeting and showing around the new ALTs to Sanjo. On top of that, since students were on summer holidays I was also quite busy running around like a headless chicken visiting local community centres giving presentations, seminars and hosting events and activities.

There were plenty of festivals which I visited such as the Sanjo Summer festival 三条夏まつり and the Shitada Giant Rainy Snake festival 下田ふるさと雨生の大蛇まつり which were the few moments new ALTs were able to experience a bit of Japanese traditional culture. The first ALTs that made it to Sanjo for the summer fest got to experience the joy of wearing a yukata and bon odori dancing. Also at Japanese traditional festival grounds, one can experiences different kinds of festive foods. Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, Kakigori, and a Chuetsu (central Niigata prefecture) local favourite, Poppoyaki.

I realise that I haven’t updated my blog in a while, and I have no excuse. But, one of the excuses I’ll use is that back in October I worked 20 consecutive days (without a day off of course)… so was a bit busy. And before that, I was preparing myself for the long run and before that I was busy entertaining and so-called babysitting some of the new ALTs. And fortunately they now all grown up and no longer need my assistance all the time.

I’ve also kept myself busy by taking on the role as the new Niigata Outdoor and Hiking Special Interest Group host… leader, organizer… whatever. So far I’ve hosted a BBQ and Mt. Yahiko climb, and climb up Mt. Fuji, Mt. Awagatake and Mt. Myoko.

Summit of Mt. Fuji

On top of all of this, I’m still hosting a English Conversation gathering every Thursday evening, and volunteer teaching photography every other Friday at a neighbouring community youth centre. Oh yeah.. and working too…

And last but not least… I turn mighty 30 years old in September. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this so-called socially pressured turn of a decade. In the western world, turning 30 seems to mark a rite of passage of some sort… but I don’t feel any different. Heck, I recall that during my youth, well a few years ago I thought that things would be different and that I’d be more “so-called” grown up. Well, I’m still freak’n short, and I don’t think that I’ve matured at all since turning 16. May be I’ve got more hair in places I didn’t think could grow hair. Also spotting more grey hairs poking out of my nose, chest, and nether regions. Is this what being old is suppose to mean? Is it all about hair growth? Are you considered old when your butt hair starts to go grey as well?

In anycase, I actually turned 30 while climbing Mt. Fuji, for the upteenth time. And as usual, when climbing Mt. Fuji I felt like scheit. How could someone who loves mountains fall so easily under the spell of altitude sickness, motion sickness, sea sickness, air sickness. Man I suck. Sure the climb up Fuji wasn’t pretty, but at least once we got back to Sanjo, I was given a nice B-day gathering. Plenty of food to go at the Okonomiyaki shop where we held me b-day; Monja. Hmmm, how do I explain this meal? Heck, just click the link find out on wikipedia. A quick and easy explanation of Okonomiyaki is, either a Japanese pizza/pancake with meaty bits to it, or pan-fried puke. Mmmmm…

Pics from my 30th bash…

America has it’s Lollapalooza Canada has Edgefest, Australia has Big Day Out, England has Glastonbury, Scotland has T in The Park, and Japan has FujiRock. I was fortunate enough to be living in Niigata Japan, where the biggest Japanese & international 3 day music festival takes place.

The day started nice and early with me rushing around, trying to pack my bags and catching a shink to Echigo Yuzawa station.　(One must remember that not all trains stop at Echigo-Yuzawa, in which I learnt the hard way) At the station, hundreds of people were already in line waiting for the shuttle bus up to Naeba which is an area known for it’s ski resort. Even though I got there by 9am on Friday morining, from afar the side of the ski slope was already covered in thousands of tents. I must say that overnight music festivals in Japan seem to be a bit more civilized than N. American & Europeans music fests. This is not to state that they’re dull here in Japan. Just cleaner and very organized. Trash is collected, almost everything is recycled, no fighting, people not claiming each other person’s picnic space, and hardly any illegal activities. (I didn’t say none… just hardly) Plenty of great acts to see here. And also, plenty of great international cuisine to try out as well. It’s a nice change from the cuisine you find at a small Japanese city. Plenty of asian, european, and other ethnic foods. There were also a great number of Niigata JETs here as well, and we created our own little tent city. And I must thank Sam for keeping a spot for me and the two Phils.

The day started nice and early with me rushing around, trying to pack my bags and catching a shink to Echigo Yuzawa station.　(One must remember that not all trains stop at Echigo-Yuzawa, in which I learnt the hard way) At the station, hundreds of people were already in line waiting for the shuttle bus up to Naeba which is an area known for it’s ski resort. Even though I got there by 9am on Friday morining, from afar the side of the ski slope was already covered in thousands of tents.

I must say that overnight music festivals in Japan seem to be a bit more civilized than N. American & Europeans music fests. This is not to state that they’re dull here in Japan. Just cleaner and very organized. Trash is collected, almost everything is recycled, no fighting, people not claiming each other person’s picnic space, and hardly any illegal activities. (I didn’t say none… just hardly)

Plenty of great acts to see here. And also, plenty of great international cuisine to try out as well. It’s a nice change from the cuisine you find at a small Japanese city. Plenty of asian, european, and other ethnic foods. There were also a great number of Niigata JETs here as well, and we created our own little tent city. And I must thank Sam for keeping a spot for me and the two Phils.

Well, here’s a wee list of the few acts I was able to catch:

Akiko Yano
Anaïs
Asian Kung-Fu Generation
Blackalicious
Broken Social Scene
DJ Papa-Q
Flogging Molly
Franz Ferdinand
The Hives
JET
Junior Senior
KODO
KT Tunstall
Kula Shaker
Mogwai
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone
Saigenji
Shuya Okino (Kyoto Jazz Massive)
Scissor Sisters
Snow Patrol
Sonic Youth
The String Cheese Incident
電気グルーヴ

and much much more… I can’t remember the names of all of the acts. Let’s just say that it was a busy and long 3 days weekend. We got rain, sunshine, fog, cloud cover, cold days and even hot days. We pretty much had it all.

I really didn’t know what to expect, but amazingly the act which I enjoyed the most was Scissor Sisters. It was totally unexpected, and I wasn’t even planning to catch the act, but I was going by the venue, they were on, and I must say that they were probably the most energetic act I saw during the 3 days. I was especially impressed with Ana Matronic the female vocalist, with her witty comments and her amount of knowledge of Japanese phrases.

All in all, a great weekend. We had all kinds of weather out there as well. Sunshine, hot, cold, rainy, wet… makes for an interesting weekend.

At times, the paths bewteen the various stages got pretty crowded. And since it’s japan, you don’t have to worry about people pushing and shoving you.

Some nifty illumination during the nights. Mirror balls in the forest!
Yep, you got it. Crap loads of campers
What the freak’n hell are you?
Even the riverbed rocks are smiling at me.

In a few weeks time, many ALTs whom won’t be re-contracting will be departing to different parts of the world. Before they all disappear, Warrick and I opted to go off on a last bit of adventure. Warrick, being the world traveler, we took off on Saturday for Yamagata (山形). A neighbouring prefecture to Niigata. After a few hours of driving, and just when our legs were starting to feel a bit stiff, we were off climbing up some steps up to Yamadera (山寺). Yamadera is located just outside of Yamagata City, and Yamadera which literally means, “mountain temple” is a tourist spot where a few temples are built high up on a hill/mountain and offers a great view down to the valley below. Eventhough this is Japan, my mind wandered off at times, recalled cheesy films and telly shows about Shaolin temples (China) and how pupils had to make their way up to a temple up high. Yeah, I know… I’ve been watching too many old cheesy kung-fu flicks, but hey… you need cheese once in a while.

As we were leaving, rain started to fall, so instead of heading outdoors, we opted to check out 天童 (Tendo), a town just north of Yamagata City. This town/city of 62,000 is famous for producing 95% of all “shogi” (Japanese Chess) pieces in Japan. Amazingly, Warrick and I spend quite a bit of time there, whereas most tourists would simply walk in and walk out in a few minutes. In most touristy shops in Yamagata, you’ll mostly likely find some kinda 将棋 “shogi” or こけし “kokeshi” gift. Wood, being the keep word here.

Before the sun fell, we made a quick stop at the 秋保大滝(Akiu-Otaki) waterfall. A waterfall with the height of 55m, and width of 6m and also apparently in Japan’s top 10 most beautiful waterfall.

The next day, we took off bright and early to check out the Okama crater, which we’ve seen in many photographs. And alas, how were we rewarded with our visit? Check out the photos down below for a view of what we saw of the Okama crater and a post card of what it should’ve actually looked like for us.

A few more photos of the weekend:

The view of Okama which Warrick & I got

A postcard view of what it should’ve looked like
A wooden 5-stories pagoda by Mt. Haguro-san
The many prayer sticks around the temples…

Plenty of stairs to climb
Weird little symbols carved into the steps along the way