ALT Invasion

Tomorrow 3 ALTs from the Sasebo area are coming out for a trip to my island. We are going to fire up some brats on my new chrome polished (it wouldnt be japan if it wasnt over-the-top shiny!) grill. They are bringing me out more Ebisu Black too, just about the only mass-made beer over here that I consider decent (at least from the stuff I have tried).

Wednesday, a 4th will join us and we'll catch the boat to Nozaki and spend the night.

Thursday we'll have a sunset oceanside dinner with several of my Eikaiwa students. That night I am envisioning wall-to-wall futons as there will be five people staying in my place.

Then they all hop the boat back to Sasebo on Friday.

Solar Eclipse

Today there was a solar eclipse in Asia. Here in Ojika, the sun was about 95% covered. It was cloudy, but we were able to catch glimpses of it as it broke through the clouds. This was the first solar eclipse I had ever seen, it was pretty amazing!

Family Visit

Here is a slideshow of the pictures I took in Kyoto. My mom, dad, and brother were visiting me in Japan. I met them at the airport in Tokyo and we took the train all the way down to Kyushu and then ferried to my island. On the way down, we stopped in Yokohama, Kyoto, and Nagasaki City.

Kyoto was amazing, the ryokan(Japanese Inn) we stayed at was in the Gion/Higashiyama area. We had a room that was much larger than I expected and was very comfortable for the four of us. The meals there were fantastic as well. We had all sorts of interestic dishes during our multi-course meals which were served to us in our rooms. I hope to get some of the photos of the meals from Eric, because he took some good shots of the different foods we had. It was definitely a unique experience, and I think it was a good way to start off my families introduction to Japan.

After 2 nights in Kyoto, we went to the Atomic Bomb/Peace Museum in Nagasaki City and were given a private tour by the Deputy Director of the Nagasaki Foundation for the Promotion of Peace. I had met him several weeks earlier while he was visiting Ojika, and he offered to meet us when we arrived. After the tour, we were taken to the offices and introduced to the director and former mayor of Nagasaki, as well as an American intern doing some work with the foundation.

From there we continued on to Ojika and spent the rest of the time here. We made a trip to Nozaki, had dinner with several families, toured around the island, ate good food, relaxed, taught a lesson at Ooshima elementary, and overall just had a really good time!

Take a look at the photos of Kyoto... Sagano bamboo forest and Fushimi Inari shrine, and I'll try to add more pictures as I get them!

Rice planting

I'm posting the link to the Japanese blog that talks about our rice planting day from a few weeks ago.

You can check out a couple of pictures there.

Follow this link and click the pictures to make them bigger....

http://ameblo.jp/shigeshigemaron/entry-10260398072.html

What've I been doing?

Wow, I have really been letting this blog slide, huh? Let's see... what have I been up to???

• Saw a Flogging Molly concert in Fukuoka.
• Missed the last train home from Fukuoka and had to stay in a hotel because I was eating ice cream.
• Planted tomatoes, a storm came the next day and blew down 4 of them.
• Planted peppers, eggplants, Japanese pumpkin, watermelon, one unknown vegetable, and a couple of flowers.
• Started replacing the paper on my shoji doors... 2 down, 8 to go!
• Hung noren up in the house and some at the entrance to my future flower garden.
• Got calf deep in mud for a day helping the Takasago family plant their rice paddy by hand.
• More or less finished trimming the trees at my house.
• Aquired several large pieces of pottery to use for plants and my "deer-chaser" water garden, and started clearing the yard to plant flowers.
• Ate dinner with several families around the island during Golden Week.
• Started running with the track club, and then decided that my tolerance for running in circles has become nearly nonexistant.
• Ate black rice for the first time.
• Listened to some great live shakuhachi and koto music, and played some maracca type instrument in front of the audience.
• Enjoyed the beautiful weather and the recent full moon.

Tonight, I'm having a barbecue at my house with the high school teachers. I hope to get more pictures up, but my broken camera is a hindrance at the moment.

Birthday Photos

I spent my birthday with a few friends from the island at the bar/restaurant down the street from my old apartment. It was a great time with lots of good food! After eating, we all walked over to the "Melody Box" and sang karaoke!

On the Wednesday after, there was another small gathering at my place... supposedly for an english class that had to be rescheduled... but it was actually a surprise party. Unfortunately for them the surprise was leaked and I found out about it!

Finally, a few pictures!

Here is a slideshow from the photo album showing some of the pictures I took of the new house. You can see that they start out with the floor removed and the old tatami pulled out. The house sat like this for about three days while things dried out. Then the new tatami went in and you should be able to see a little bit of how things looked after that process was done. Unfortunately I only have three "after" photos of the place so far. I guess I need to take a few more. The next step for the house is to replace the paper on the sliding shoji doors and get some Japanese style curtains to separate the rooms and add some color. I'm also working on the garden outside.

New Address

My new address... basically the same as the old one with the numbers changed:

Ojika-cho Fuefuki-go 811-1
Kitamatsuura-gun
Nagasaki-ken 857-4701
JAPAN

Movin on in

Today I am meeting with the owners of the house I am moving into. The school approved the move, so I'll be able to bring over the things that the school owns too. It is actually very good timing I think, because the new teachers will be coming in and looking for apartments to move into on April 1st.

So now begins the task of moving everything from the apartment to the house and changing over the utilities. I'm going to have to rely on Naoko and others to help me, because I have no way of getting the big stuff over there by myself. It would be a long bike ride with a refrigerator strapped to my back...and then a washing machine...then a TV...you get the idea.

The owners are going to share the cost of putting new tatami mats in the house. They will be swapped out when we get a nice day or two in a row. They are made from rush and rice stalks, and when new they are still slightly green. That means that they need to be installed on a dry day, and I'll have to keep wiping them down as the moisture escapes from them. Eventually they will turn from green to a tan color.

Other than the tatami mats there are a few other things I want to fix up around the place, but nothing too major as far as I can tell. The main task will be the garden outside. There is a very nice space for it, and it obviously has been used in the past, but it will need some work to get it into shape.
These little projects will be nice to have, it will help to make me feel more at home I think.

So, I look forward to getting comfortable in my new place over the next few weeks. I'll post pictures and video when I get a chance. I took some pictures of it a week or two back, but I havent uploaded them yet. I'll get on it!

春一番 (First Winds of Spring)

Today Haru-Ichiban, the first winds of spring, seem to have arrived. The temperature is in the mid 60's and the wind is blowing fiercly. We have had some days with strong winds like this throughout the "winter", but up until now they had arrived accompanying a cold front, usually marking the coldest days. This is the first warm wind that has swept through.

It's quite a different feeling from Minnesota in February. While Northlanders are still in prime blizzard season, Ojika's plum trees are breaking in to bloom. The daffodils have been up for a month now, filling the open areas with a wonderful fragrance. Even a few of the early blooming cherry trees are showing flowers, although I'm told the majority wait until April.

As far as I am concerned, Ojika had one day of winter this year. Snow fell and stayed on the ground for that one day, and to me, that marks the sole appearance of old man Frost.

I am looking forward now to planting a garden and hopefully moving into a small, more traditional style house instead of my concrete and plastic apartment. I'm just waiting on the OK from the school. More on that soon. And hopefully pictures of the place as well.

Re-contracting

So I have decided to re-contract here on Ojika. That means I`ll now be here until July 27th, 2010. It has taken a lot of thought to come to that decision, and honestly, it's not something I imagined myself doing. Unfortunately, the program makes us decide at the halfway point in the year. That makes it tough to picture how you will feel about your choice 6 months from now.

I guess there are several reasons why I chose to stay. The first is that I dont feel like I will have accomplished everything that I wanted when I came here. One year is just not enough time for me. I feel like I am just getting settled in to things here, and probably have more settling yet to do. I am also working on the language, and the more I understand, the more opportunities can come my way. Being on the island here, my ability to visit some of the places I want to see is also hindered. It takes some time, effort, and money to get places from here, and pretty much requires taking a vacation day or two. That means I have to spread those things out a bit. The positive aspect of that is making strong connections with the people on the island, which leads me to the next reason for staying....

Ojika has been getting a fair amount of attention lately for it's eco/cultural tourism efforts. The island is in the midst of making this type of tourism an important part of the economy. Recently, visiting American high school students voted Ojika the number 1 destination in Japan for the second year in a row. The Asahi beer corporation is also recognizing it as a leading eco-destination, and donated money to the island from beer sold in Kyushu during January. There is also the restoration of an old, traditional style home to be used for long-stay tourists. This project is being supported by Ojika's Island Tourism and author Alex Kerr and his Iori Co. which currently restores and operates traditional style homes for stays in Kyoto.
I feel as though there is a possibility for me to get involved in some of these changes on Ojika, and I want to stick around and see if it is something I am interested in.

There are also any number of volunteer opportunities I'd like to do in nearby countries. Building homes with dalit in India, raising money and helping with community projects while cycling across Cambodia, reading books with children in Nepal... I'd like to do some of these before I leave, and it can be relatively easy to do while in the JET program.

And a final reason, although least important in my eyes, is that I am making pretty good money over here with a very low cost of living. I could return and go to grad school without worrying about loans or trying to scrape by while working myself ragged.

It has been a difficult time weighing these things and considering back and forth, but I think I am making the right decision for myself.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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