Japanese Techno-Craziness even on Ojika

So Ojika has avoided most of the wierd gadgetry and flashing neon lights that has overwhelmed the more populated areas of Japan. That is why I was so astonished when an office worker from the school here handed me a can of warm soup that he had just bought for me from the entryway vending machine! I mean, I have bought a drink or two from that machine, but its usually an orange juice or some tea. I had no idea it would spit out hot cans of soup or coffee. Maybe this isn't so crazy as it seems to me, but I have never seen such a thing.



Unfortunately the vending machine is coca-cola, so everything in there is coke products. They seem to have just as tight a grip on asia as they do on North America (if not more so). So yes, this was indeed a can of coca-cola corn soup(refer to my last post on the quality of bread and apply it to seemingly just about any other food you dont make or grow yourself). I am astounded by the amounts of preserved and refined foods people eat over here. I would not be surprised to see life expectancies decrease in Japan over the coming years, It just doesnt seem that people are getting good nutrition from this stuff.

Bad Bread

So I have had an ongoing cold for close to two weeks now, and it is really starting to get old. Every time I think it is getting better, it comes right back. Im quite tired of it.

On another note, I made sugar cookies the other day. I wanted some sort of christmas cookie, and sugar cookies are about the only thing that I can easily find the ingredients for. Gingerbread cookies seems to be well know around here, but the food shop didnt have molasses or cinnamon. I guess people just eat the factory baked ones, especially since most folks dont have an oven to bake things.

I cant believe what passes for "bread" over here. It is disgusting stuff. Everything comes individually wrapped, is loaded with processed sugars, fats, creams, artificial flavors...basically the least healthy and nutritious baked goods you could imagine.
It seems like people would buy real bread if it was available, in fact, a woman from my conversation class used to sell it. Unfortunately, she was baking it in her kitchen and the health department shut her down when some shop owners complained about it. They complained because she was selling so much bread, she was taking the sales of their crappy "bread" away from them. I think she said she was baking something like a hundred loaves a week, which I think is pretty incredible for a small island like this. Especially when you are operating out of your household kitchen and have a small child to raise!
What I am getting at is this island needs a bakery in a serious way. Especially if they are wanting tourists to come to town... there needs to be a good place to get tasty baked goods for breakfast. A shrink wrapped weiner roll(a hotdog buried inside something that is supposed to be a roll) just wont cut it.

Long time, no see.

Long time since my last post. The time has been flying by in the last month. I'm not even sure exactly what I have done.
I made a trip to Nagasaki about a week ago, and although being in the city can be fun for a while, It always feels good to come back out to the island. It is much quieter and peaceful here. The people are so much more friendly and personal too.

The latest project I have started on is developing an English website for the students on Ojika. I've got some test posts up at ojikaenglish.blogspot.com
I havent let any of the students know the address yet, I'm hoping to get it a little bit more polished up first. I would really like to get a real domain and webhosting for it, because it would let me do so much more with it, including expanding it as a tourism resource for english speakers visiting the island. I dont really want to spend the money for that myself though, so I am hoping that the school will chip in for it.


It has actually been very cold on the island. Definately not as cold as back in Minnesota, but unfortunately the buildings here are not insulated. That makes for a very cold day when it is 48 degrees outside and there is no heat and no insulation inside. Most teachers sit in the staff room with insulated coats on and maybe 4 layers of clothes. As I type the vice principal is continuously blowing on his hands to keep them warm! It has been very windy too, and raining now and then. Im sure its really not so bad, I'm just losing my Minnesota thick skin too quickly.

Another video of Nozaki

Nozaki Island

Im just going to quickly mention that I went to Nozaki island last weekend with a few people.  Its a 10 minute boat ride from my island, and it is abandoned except for an old school that has been converted to a campground area.  There are a couple workers there and that is it.  I went bouldering on the white sand beach that is on the east side of the island.  We also hiked to a shrine high up on the side of an old volcano, and behind the shrine is an incredible rock formation that doesnt seem to belong in that place at all.  Anyways, check out the pictures in the slideshow on the right side of the page, the place is amazing.  Anyone who comes out to visit me will absolutely have to go here!

Busy thinking of winter

The last few weeks have been really busy for me. We have had one sports day after another... First high school and junior high, then preschool, and then Ojika town sports day. Our staff softball team has begun playing in the softball league, but for some reason they decide to cram the season in to a span of 2 1/2 weeks. That means we have 3 games a week. I don't understand it at all.

Ojika also had some visitors from other pacific island nations who were here to exchange ideas on building economies and maintaining populations on the islands. There was one visitor from Fiji, one from Samoa, and one from Tonga. I had tea with the Fijian and a Japanese woman from my English conversation class. It was interesting to hear his ideas for helping bring tourism to these Japanese islands. The next night I went to hear the three of them give their final presentation to the Ojika community. They presented both on ideas that they had for Ojika, as well as things that they had learned from being here that they wanted to bring back to their islands.

Two common threads were community involvement in government and initiatives, and ecological sustainability. They also were very impressed with the incredible kindness of the residents on these islands.

It is true that the people of Ojika seem to be the key to their own prosperity in the future. Their initiative and ability to work together will determine whether they will be able to adapt to the changes they have recently seen. The fishing and agriculture based economy here is no longer able to sustain its population level, hence the decline from 10,000 to just 3,000 in 10 short years.

Tourism seems to be the direction the island needs to go if it wants to create more jobs and retain its population. They have begun to transition that way, but they still have a long way to go.

I hope to be able to help with some projects to encourage tourism while I am here. I have offered to make them a basic english language website, and update their visitor brochure. I'd also like to help them add English to places where tourists might like to visit... restaurants, shops, parks, beaches, etc.
The important thing, I think, is for the local community to spearhead the revitalization of their town. They should start with focusing on the rich history that exists here, as well as the natural beauty. Encouraging tourism in a place like this is not about creating artificial attrations for mass-amounts of your stereotypical tourists, it is about allowing people to experience traditional Japanese life, building on the history and beauty that is already here. There is a great deal of opportunity for that, it will just take some restoration work on the part of the island's residents.

Anyways, as you can see, I haven't had a great deal of free time lately. It has been enjoyable and tiring at the same time.

The weather is finally starting to change, fall seems to be making its way to the island. The temperature has been lower, and it is getting less humid as well. I am so glad to feel the cool breezes blowing out of the north, they make the days and nights so much more comfortable.
The main downside to this is that I find myself wanting to go for a walk through the woods, see the leaves changing color, and smell winter approaching on the air.

It is becoming clear to me that it will not be easy for me to not have winter. I love winter. I love the snow. There may be nothing better in the world than standing outside in the woods as huge white flakes fall silently all around. It ignites a spark in my soul, and always makes me happy.
It will be hard for me, but I will make it through. I'll need to visit northern Japan at least once, of course. Nagano, or Hokkaido when the snow is nice and deep.
This is one reason I've come to Japan, to discover and learn about myself. And one thing that I am realizing already is how important the seasons are to me, and how lucky I am to have lived in the places I have.

My voice sounds weird on video

Here's a quick video tour of my apartment...

Video of the Ferry

Sinlaku

Ok, I'm back to it.  The internet was hooked up in my apartment on Monday night, but I have been very busy the last week or two.  My community English conversation classes started last week and today was the first advanced class.  I am really enjoying teaching these, it gives me a chance to talk with people from the island about many different things.  It helps me to feel more like a part of the community.

The big news as far as I am concerned is Typhoon Sinlaku...  it seems as though it might head over this way sometime early next week.  I have never been in a typhoon before so it should be quite the experience.  When I was on Ooshima this week to teach at the elementary school, the farmers on the island were lashing down the coverings on the greenhouses in preparation of the storm.

The people here seem to be relatively used to this sort of thing happening.  They are not panicking or worried about it as far as I can tell.  In fact, people only talk about it if I ask them questions.  It definitely explains the elaborate drainage systems and reinforcements that are constructed all over the island.  I'm preparing for it, but not overly concerned.  I'll be updating and documenting what I can if this thing does head this way.

Thats all for now... more again soon.

Today's excitement is...

I am now officially an Alien!

(I blocked out some info that I didnt think was a great idea to have posted on the web...)

Finally some pics

Here, at long last are a few pictures from Ojika. These are just a couple that I took this past weekend on a bike ride around the island. You might be able to click on the images to make them bigger. Give it a try and see what happens!

Most of the farmers are doing a rice harvest right now, so the roads are lined with the drying stems. Many people just use the roadside barriers for drying racks, while others have thier own wooden racks set up in the fields.

Not sure if this picture will show up very clear, but it is a beautiful farmhouse right on a little bay. They get to watch the sunset over the ocean every night. This is a really great spot for a house!
Standing in a small park looking out over one of the neighboring islands. I'm not sure what the name of this one is, there are many small islands all around the one I am on.

Same park looking at the beach below and the island in the background. Unfortunately this park is not used very much at all (most of the parks on the island seems to not be used). The beach has a lot of trash collected on it. The students at the school do beach cleaning days, but I dont think this one is on the circuit anymore. Because of the decline in population on the island, many of these nice little spots have fallen out of care. There are not enough people using them, and not enough money to keep them maintained, I guess. It is a shame, because there are some areas that look like they used to be really nice.

Hopefully I'll be able to post more pictures soon, these few dont do the island justice at all. Even despite the lack of upkeep in some areas, it is a very beautiful island.

Japanese OS

For all the computer nerds out there (Richard) ... here is a screenshot of my computer in Japanese. It can be difficult at times!

Brett Bucks

I decided to make up some fake money at work today. I think I am going to use it to give to my students when they use spontanious english with me outside of the classroom. The more difficult the english, the more bucks they get. They can then use the "Brett Bucks" to get something... I haven't decided what yet, maybe candy or small items I have from the US. I'll figure that part out later.

I figure that this scheme might encourage them to use their english skills outside of the classroom a bit more. We'll see.

Here are pictures of my $1 and $5 amounts so far:

Incidently, it can be a bit laborious to do difficult tasks on my japanese laptop. Most of the menus are written in Kanji (difficult to read much of the time) so either i am choosing options based on memory from using the english version, or it is trial and error until i click the right one.

Ahh, sodesu. I am getting the hang of it anyways!
むずかしですね!

Skype number

Right, so they overcharged my for my skype number and now that it is sorted out any voicemails that were left for me in the last week or so might have been lost... just a heads up. I still have the same number and it is working just fine now, so leave all the messages you want from here on out. I still will not be able to listen to them until I get internet access in my apartment though...

Might as well update as long as I am on here, I suppose!

I had a great dinner last night with the women from the community English conversation class that I will be teaching, and also the JET who I am replacing. We had dinner on a wide open grassy field on the North side of the island. It was a stunning view, as the land drops down to a rocky ocean shoreline below. There was a nice breeze blowing, and it was early evening so the temperature was perfect. We had a great dinner of Korean rice (sort of a rice with thick stew over the top) and salad, with almost all of the ingredients coming from one of the members' organic garden. We then had some dessert followed by fresh home-grown watermelon! By that time it was pretty dark so we sat around and talked and lit sparklers with one woman's three little kids.

I then dazzled them with my limitless (sure) knowledge of constellations and we called it a night.

I seem to have aquired a nickname already too. When I was introducing myself I was asked what my least favorite food was.... so I told them the first thing that came to mind. Beets.
They knew what they were but lucky for me they don't have them in Japan. Anyways a short time later when we were all dishing up food one of the women tried to call my name.... Hey Beets! This plate is for you. (This was in Japanese) Everyone broke out laughing and for the rest of the night it kept popping back up here and there.

I am also very often mistaken for Brad when I say my name(oh, like Brad Pitt?) or bread, which leads people to call me Pan san, or Pan sensei, since that is the Japanese word for bread.

I am sure I am doing the same thing to some of their names though... so its only fair.

First post from Ojika-Cho

Hey all, quick post here!

I am in Ojika now, I have been here since the night of July 30th. The only access I have to the internet at the moment is from this computer at work, so no skype or chat access really. It seems like it might be at least another two weeks before I am able to have all of that set up.

I have to tell you, this island is beautiful! It is so incredibly green, with amazing plants growing everywhere, including very large bamboo which I am amazed by.

The insects here are supersized as well. I haven't seen any yet, but I am told there are huge spiders (harmless ones) several inches across, and poisonous centipedes that grow up to 6 inches long. I have already seen HUGE cicadas, the size of small birds, and they are freaky when running through the woods and they scream out and buzz right by my head. They obviously are harmless, but it is surprising when it happens... especially since I am not used to it yet.

I have been going for long runs to orient myself to the island, and it is great to run down the winding, narrow roads past all of the rice paddies, looking out over the ocean and the surrounding islands. It is incredible.

Many of the houses on the island are built in traditional Japanese style, and most have very well landscaped areas in front or back of their houses. I love to see the care and thought that they put in to each individual plant or tree. Literally each tree is hand shaped and cared for.

Well, that is it for today, posts may be spread apart a bit until I have access to internet from my apartment.

Take care,

Brett

The night before

Well here I sit at the hotel in Chicago, pre-departure orientation is over.  All that is left is to do is get some sleep, wake up in the morning, get on the plane and fly to Tokyo!  

The orientation today was nice and all, but basically just covered all of the information we had all read and re-read in our email updates and handbooks.  Nothing new other than getting back our passports, visas, and tickets for tomorrow.

We had dinner up in the penthouse at the end of the shindig.  Pretty standard boring american food... chicken, beans, sausage and potatoes, that sort of thing.  We had a speech from the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago, a few others and the rest of the time was Q&A and meeting your fellow JETs from your prefecture.  

Everything is arranged for us tomorrow... 6:30 am breakfast, load bags in the cargo truck, hop on the chartered bus and leave for the airport at 9:15 am sharp.  That should leave us with three hours to check in and get through security before our plane departs.  Somehow I am thinking it will take us most of that time to get through things...there are a lot of us flying out tomorrow, and everyone has multiple large bags to check.  There is guaranteed to be lots of standing around in line.

After talking with the other JETs who are going to Nagasaki prefecture, I think I got a pretty sweet placement. First of all, many of them had only been contacted by their predecessors very recently... a day ago for one guy!   I have been in contact with both my predecessor as well as my main supervisor for over a month.   I also know my address, most of the others do not.

As far as the Nagasaki folks leaving from Chicago go, I am the only one heading off to an island. In fact, I am the only one at the hotel I've found so far who is placed on an island. I am sure there are more, but it seems to be a fairly rare placement.   I am pretty excited about that, I really think I am going to get some authentic Japanese experience out there. I know there will be drawbacks to it of course, but it is very much what I had hoped for when applying to this position. I didn't want go to Japan to live in the city and just hit up the bars after work every night... I could do that at home. That's not what this trip is about for me. 

Thats not to say I won't sample my share of sake when I have the chance...

Or make a winter visit to Sapporo for some beer... I'm looking your way on this one Dawkins if you are reading this!

Next post from Tokyo, take care everyone!

Ninja

Skyp'in it

Hey all,

I set up a skype account for calling to and from Japan.  I set up a US phone number that you can dial to get ahold of me in Japan.  It is: (763) 219-1980.

Basically you dial this number and it rings through on my laptop as long as I am connected to the internet.  If I am not connected or just don't answer the phone, you will get my voicemail and can leave me a message.

This will be a really nice thing to have because anyone calling me from the US does not have to pay international rates, and I can call any land line or cell phone in the US with it also.  Pretty sweet.

Later, Brett

Back in the midwest

I made it back to my parent's house today.  It has been a great trip, with awesome experiences along the way.  I have driven just over 4,000 miles in the last two weeks.  I'll be updating with more pictures and stories as soon as I get them sorted out on my computer.  

Also... just looked at the calendar.  11 days and I am flying to Japan!

Here is my address over there for those of you who'd like it:

Brett Rasmussen
1977-1-102 Fuefuki-go
Ojika-cho
Kitamatsuura-gun
Nagasaki-ken 857-4701
JAPAN

I'll probably be at that address starting around Aug. 1st

My trip out west

I am making this post from Missoula Montana!  Ill start with Photos of my bike before the drive down to the cities:

I was also wearing a stuffed-to-the-brim backpack

Here are some photos of the drive across Dakota and Montana:

Entering ND in Fargo

Yellow Flowers

Blue/Purple Flowers

Enchanted Highway

T. Roosevelt Nat. Park

This guy was bluff charging some idiot tourists that were trying to take pictures right up close to him.

Crossing into Montana

Cloudy skies over the Beartooth Mountains

More clouds over the Crazy Mountains

I drove through some intense thunderstorms in both mountain passes.  There was some amazingly intense and beautiful lightning, especially a cool double strike over the Paradise Valley with the bolts crisscrossing in mid air!

Now I am off to bike around Missoula a bit and then it sounds like we are going to an Osprey baseball game tonight.  They are the local minor league team.  I'll update again soon!

-Brett

Enjoying Duluth

Here are a couple of shots I took on one beautiful afternoon on one of my last days of work.  I biked down to the beach across the lift bridge after work and went for a swim.  These photos are from near the lakewalk on my way home.

Grandma's Weekend

OK, I am going to start this off with last weekend.  It was Grandma's Marathon weekend, so was busy as usual.  My friends Katie and Heidi and two of Katie's friends stayed at my house for the weekend.  Katie ran the full marathon, and the rest were up to cheer her on.

I got up early on Saturday morning to see the half, and it was a beautiful day right from the start.  I met up with Kate, April and Chris down near the Dunn Bros, and we watched most of the race from there.  After the half wrapped up, we went down to catch Ben at the finish.  From there we walked up to Nodin's shop and watched the full from there.  In Both the mens and womens the winner was clearly separated from the rest of the group.  Here are some shots from the morning:

Looking towards Lake Ave on Superior Street

Too much energy, should have run the full!

Kate and Me

Chris and Ben (Chris is flexing)

Kate is way more in to this than Ben...

Leader of the Men's Race going by

2nd and 3rd place Men

1st Place Woman

I think this might be the 2nd Place Woman

It ended up being a nice day for running... at least I thought so as I was standing on the sidewalk!

In the afternoon the crew of folks staying at my house and I went up to Gooseberry Falls.  I dont have any photos of this because I forgot my camera.   We got some quality rock skipping in though, trust me.  Also had some birch bark boat races.

I can hear bats

Wow, apparently I fell off the wagon again...  I have been so busy lately I havent been able to set aside time to update this blog.  That will change tomorrow.  I am going to do a big update of recent happenings tomorrow am, and will then continue to post regularly during the course of my trip out west.  Stay tuned!

Starting the Process

Well,

I have decided to take Molly's advice and start clearing things out for my move ASAP.  I did some cleaning up in the kitchen today, and threw a few things away.  

I think job number one is to get together all of the clothes I don't wear anymore and bring them to goodwill.  Then there is the basement... lots of unnecessary stuff down there, old electronics, papers from coaching, tools.  Getting that done would go a long way towards clearing things out.

There is painting to be done, lots of gardening, more cleaning, not to mention finding someone to housesit.

It is definitely time to get on top of all of this.

My Goal: be totally done and free by July 1.

Then I go wherever I want.

Television Ad

Here is the copy of the TV ad that has been showing.  It turned out pretty well I think.

Saturday. Night.

Ok, here's the big one.  Saturday Night.  It all starts with a chilly bike ride down to RT Quinlans at about 9:30.  The streets are strangely empty of cars as I have free reign along Superior, cruising along with the both lanes to myself.  

I walk down into the crowded basement bar to be greeted by a very jovial (read: drunk) Bryn.  He is in fine form tonight and can be seen making cracks to the mayor and giggling to himself about just about everything.  He is hanging out with Dusty who has a thin, dirty mustache inked on his upper lip.  Fitting.

On stage Jake Willis is doing the drumming for Taconite, Don Lisdahl on the bass.  

I headed down to the stage only to immediately be hit in the face by a mumbling drunk man's sweatshirt.  He of course is totally unaware, although several other people see it.  The man continues to be a source of amusement throughout the first two bands.  I meet up with Michelle, Richard, and some others that I don't know so well, including a girl who is REALLY excited about a bike she bought at the swap.  Kind of fun to hear that.

So after Taconite's fairly long set, which was good, Circa AM was up.  Don plays the bass in this one too.  Kind of hardcore/death stuff.  Check out the crazy headgear on these guys.  Don wears a full-on metallic elk rack, and the other guy has a big shiny unicorn horn (which continually slips down over his eyes while he plays)!  It was pretty hilarious to see!

Drunk man from earlier spends the first part of the set putting his ear directly up to the speaker, then joins a girl up front who has acquired the unicorn horn and the two of them have a great time stroking the metallic fallice for the rest of the set.

I get a call from April, who is at Twins bar with Hasty, E-Morris, Mo, and Gator.  I head out, leaving my bike at relative safety of the brewhouse before walking up to 4th.

The Very People are playing when I get there, but finish up shortly after.

Mo and I play a quick game of foos before Canine Heart Sounds comes on.

Nothing too eventful here, just some good music!

After Canine Heart Sounds, we decide to head to Luce.  On the way out the door we see someone talking to the police... her rear bike wheel was stolen!  Shitty situation to be in, and I feel bad for her.  That's exactly why I left my bike down at the Brewhouse.

We start to walk towards Luce, with April complaining about not being able to walk well because her legs were hitting each other??  I don't know.

Anyways, April's walking difficulties leads her to flag down a random van driving down the street.  He agrees to give us a ride and we all pile into his van.

April finds a weird deer head in the back seat that she thinks looks like her dog, it does!

So we find out that the guy giving us a ride is in a band that played earlier in the night, he gives us some CDs, then drops us off at Luce after making a stop at the Orpheum to pick up some money.  I don't know what was up with that.  I think Erin was very happy to get out of the van, she was definitely getting creeped out in there!

After a short wait in the line outside we are in!  Somehow we get good position right up front and wait for Crew Jones to start.  This is when more craziness starts.  First of all, there is some dude in dark glasses smoking a cig right up front.  Who is it? Matt Livingston, bass player for Crew Jones.  Somebody tells him to put it out, and he does, but it is clear to those of us around him that he is messed up!  He staggers his way up on stage while the rest of the group is setting up, and obviously cannot function.  He fumbles around with the plugs and dials, screwing with everyone else's settings.  Eventually he totally falls over backwards:

Hasty is all worked up at this point, asking me: Did you see him? He's fucking up the whole thing! Nobody wants him up there! Nobody is saying anything to him! They need to step up and take care of this shit!  Did you get a picture of that?

They eventually get Matt upright and start the show, but he just stands there doing basically nothing with his bass, he is to wasted to even follow the music!  After maybe two songs, Burly steps behind Matt and tells the sound guys in the back to turn off his bass.  They make it through one more before Burly tells Matt to get of the stage.  Someone else steps in for him and the show can finally get under way properly!  

Here are Hasty and April gettin' crazy:

Some pics of Crew Jones action:

The rest of the show is fun and things wrap up sometime around 3 am.

I bike home, passing by a group of probably 5-6  police cars, with more sirens on the way, just past Walgreens on Superior Street.  I didn't stick around to see what was up.  It can't have been good.  My chain falls off halfway up the hill, but after a quick fix I am back on and no more problems the rest of the way home.

It has been a long, fun night.

In bed at 4 am.  Good night.

Saturday's Trail Run

This is exactly what I needed.  I was WAY to caught up in my head the last couple days.  The sun was shining, the weather was sweet, made me want to move my runnin' feet! (thanks Bob Marley).

I headed in to Hartley and ran the guardrail loop.  The trails were muddy, deep standing water everywhere.  Awesome.  I passed up a group of runners gingerly picking their way through the woods, trying their best to bypass the mud and water.  As I streaked past them, mud caked on my legs, water from the last puddle dripping from my face, huge grin on my face, they probably thought I was slightly insane.

8, maybe 9 miles in the woods, and I feel like myself again.