Goto Block Rep

I have been made the new Goto Block Representative. Seems like nearly the entirety of the Goto ALTs changed this year, including the old block rep, Joe. Therefore it's now my job to welcome the newcomers, and just be a source of info for all the JETs out here.

So... I'm planning to do some travelling around to the other islands over the coming weeks and months, meeting all the new folks and seing some new places. It should be pretty exciting, and I plan to do as much of it as possible on bike. My plan is to get outfitted with some panniers and hopefully pick up a tent and sleeping bag, that way I can tour around and crash for the night in a park somewhere.

I have also begun toying around with the idea of a North to South bike traverse of Japan to wrap up my experience here next year. There is an organized ride that stops in different cities and meets with different groups to make presentations on environmental issues and such, and sounds like a really interesting opportunity. I'll be looking into that as the year goes by.

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.