Yabusame

I went to a yabusame, or archery competition recently. Yabusame, originating in 1192, is done on horseback. The shogun encouraged yabusame as a necessary accomplishment for samurai.


First, the participants paraded through the grounds accompanied by other costumed people.

While riding at top speed, the archers shot their arrows at this small piece of wood, pictured below.
According to the brochure, today's yabusame is held by the Ogasawara family, which has inherited the shogunate in this area since the Kamakura Era, beginning in 1192. At least one of the archers was a woman, although I didn't get a picture of her.

Sumida Park

I recently saw a homeless man and a homeless cat enjoying each other's company in Sumida Park, Tokyo.

The man is wearing a mask, probably due to a pollen allergy, and drinking cheap sake while waiting for his laundry to dry. In Tokyo it's legal to drink in parks and public places. The man noticed me just after I took his picture, and gave me a smile and a friendly wave.

Teaching English in the Mountains

I just got back from a two-week shift at my English teaching job. Usually I work for seven days, and then get seven days off, but this time I had a long shift due to a busy holiday season. Last week was Golden Week, during which there are three national holidays in a row and most Japanese people take vacations. Some use their vacation time to study English in the highlands.
I teach in an immersion language program. I stay in a log cabin in the mountains, and four students join me for five days or for a two-day weekend course. I teach English conversation, grammar, telephone calls, speech and debate. And we speak English all day and all evening, during meals and free time. The "free time" is for the students - I don't really get any free time when I'm at work - but it's fun and worth it because I get lots of time off between work weeks.
The cabin, pictured above in winter although it's beautiful spring now, is set up like an American cabin, with board games and books in English and lots of American food and snacks.



The students are amazed at the size of American products. Parmesan cheese is about 1/8 this size in Japan, and the same is true for shampoo and shower products. I like to introduce peanut butter and apples as a traditional American snack, but the students don't usually like it. Peanut butter is a uniquely American taste!

My boss provides delicious meals for lunch and dinner. Shabu shabu is a special Japanese meal that most people only eat twice a year (maybe like turkey for Americans) but I get to eat it twice during every week that I work.

To eat shabu shabu, we swish fresh vegetables and meat in boiling water at the table. Of course we cook the pork fully, but the beef is eaten rare. We dip everything in a tasty sauce. I love Japanese mushrooms!

Two nights a week, the students cook using recipes in English. This is fun for them and requires them to cooperate to complete a task using English. I help with vocabulary, but other than that the students do the cooking.

Japan has a type of sweet potato that is really slimy when grated! I think that Americans, including me, don't usually like slimy food but Japanese people don't mind it. This potato is really slimy when grated and raw, but it becomes a part of the batter for okonomiyake and when cooked it's a delicious eggy pancake-type food.

Here, the students made gyoza, or Chinese dumplings. Mmmmm.
In the evenings we either watch movies in English or play games like Scrabble and Monopoly. Since Monopoly is about life, it's a great game for learning English.

Outside the cabin is a beautiful bamboo forest, and behind the forest are rice paddies. Now that it's spring, I can hear the frogs in the rice paddies every evening. It's now warm enough that I can sleep with my bedroom window open, and I hear the frogs all night and the birds in the morning.

Now you know a little about my job in Japan!

Sakura snow

It's the end of cherry blossom season, and riding my bicycle through the falling blossoms feels like a surreal snowstorm!

Engrish Part 2

Here's another one from Engrish.com. Love those Japanese Ls and Rs. I've had several requests for Texas "The Love Star State" T-shirts, but I'm sorry, I haven't seen them in a store! I just saw a guy with a jacket saying that in a park recently. Enjoy the erection party!

Sorry I haven't answered emails lately. I just came off a week-long shift at work. I'll catch up soon!

Meanwhile, it's 69 degrees in Tokyo and I'm looking forward to the Earth Day celebration in Yoyogi Park!

Engrish

In Japan, people think it's cool to have English lettering on things. They often can't read it, but think of it as a fashionable decoration, just as Americans like to have Chinese characters on things, but many of us don't know what the lettering on our karate uniform says, for example.

High school style letterman's jackets are in style here, and they are always decorated with lots of English writing. Yesterday I saw one that had a picture of Texas, and said "The Love Star State." Personally, I would like to start thinking of Texas as the Love Star State. It could help its reputation after the Bush years.

In a store I saw a woman's shirt that said "I am a dog."

I never seem to have my camera handy when I see a funny T-shirt, but fortunately lots of other people do and you can see their pictures at http://engrish.com/

Lest you think Americans don't make the same mistakes, a Japanese friend told me that while in the U.S. he saw a man with the Chinese character for "kitchen" tattooed on his arm. The man had no idea what it meant, but it sure looked cool!

Hanami

It's cherry blossom season in Tokyo, and that means that everyone is engaging in hanami, or flower viewing. People line up to enter parks with cherry trees! Below, people line up to enter Rikugien Garden, a quiet and non-party hanami atmosphere.


Other parks are full of hanami picnickers: families, groups of friends and co-workers picnicking and drinking on plastic tarps beneath the blossoms. Below is Hikarigaoka Park, within walking distance of where Itsumi and I live.

The crowds of people in parks remind Itsumi of Fourth of July fireworks viewing crowds in the U.S. In the evening, lights shine on the cherry trees and the party continues.

These guys seem to be co-workers. The man in the front is wearing a head cloth that is traditional for construction workers.


Most people bring bento (boxed lunch) boxes and sake, wine or beer, but a few people bring McDonalds or KFC fast food.

Kids enjoy climbing trees, playing badminton and doing all the things kids do in parks.

Itsumi and I had a hanami picnic with friends at Yoyogi Park in conjunction with a peace festival.

Later in the evening we went to an Izakaya, or traditional Japanese bar. Japanese people don't like to drink without eating, so an Izakaya is really more like a restaurant.

Cherry blossoms are beautiful, some very pink and some more whitish, and they are everywhere. We can see some from the balcony of our apartment. It's too bad that hanami season only lasts for a couple of weeks, as I would enjoy going to a party like this every weekend!