Nikko and Sumo

Nikko is one of the most popular places in Japan for nature and outdoorsy stuff. Nikko is Nippon. Very traditional, lots of history, a mountain town. It's about an hour and a half away from Koga. Lots of hiking and scenery. It's really cold and snowed a bit while I was up there this time. Took a bus from the train station up to the area where the waterfall is. When we got up there six Japanese Santa Clauses greeted us and passed out presents. It was just before Christmas. They didn't know the words to Jingle Bells, but they knew the tune, so they "La La'd" their way through it.

Shrine in Utsunomiya - a city on the way to Nikko.

Same shrine in Utsunomiya.

Nikko - Kegon Waterfall

Nikko - Lake Chuzenji

Went to a Sumo match this past week. They're only held about every other month and the location moves around Japan each time, so I figured I should seize this opportunity while it's in Tokyo in January. I went because I know I won't be in Japan very long and it's probably the only time in my life I'd be able to go. After going, I know that if I lived the rest of my life in Japan, I would feel no urge to go again. The tickets are expensive, the individual matches last on average less than 10 seconds and the entire show is over in about two hours. They have some freshman and JV matches throughout the day, but the real heavyweights go from 4 - 6pm. It's a somewhat enthusiastic crowd towards the end, but not as exciting as the baseball crowds. They explained a lot of the tradition and the customs observed during the matches - kind of interesting - not noteworthy. I'd rather go to a bullfight or a Suns game.

Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo

The athletes

Warming up

Ready position

Battle

Pride and shame

Celebration

A visit from my brother

Elliot arrived on Friday night, 12/28, much thinner than the last time I saw him. Sleek. I've used that word only two other times in my life to describe men. The first instance was referring to Iceman in Top Gun (can you blame me?), and the other was uttered after a 1994 matchup between the Suns and the Pistons in which this then 12 year old was very impressed by a certain #33's ability to get to the rack. Yes my friends, I speak of the 1993 Henry Iba Corinthian Award Winner, the 1993-94 ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year, the 1994-95 NBA Co-Rookie of the Year, the 2004-05 NBA Sportsmanship Award Winner, an Olympic Gold Medal Winner and current #33 on your Phoenix Suns - Grant Hill. So Elliot, keep doing the Crossfit thing - you're in good company.

Saturday we went to the two parks that we have in Koga and then out for dinner and karaoke with Akira, Kazumi and Asuka, my best boozing buddies and subsequently my best buddies. Most notable karaoke selections of late include, but are not limited to: Elton John - The Circle of Life; Backstreet Boyzzz - I want it that way; Aerosmith - I don't wanna miss a thing; Weezer - Say it aint so; and a newcomer to the rotation, your favorite - DeAndre Cortez Way - better known as Soulja Boy - Crankdat. There was also a solo performance by Elliot of Queen's - Don't Stop Me Now. I have some footage of this performance, but am holding onto it should I need it some day in the future for incentive/collateral/blackmail.

On Sunday, the 30th, we went to my friend Toshio's house for a mochi party. I know Toshio from the gym, and it started out as one of those gym acquaintanceships where you see the same person there every time you go and say hi or in this case "thank you for working with me." Then it grew into one of those gym friendships where actual conversations occurred. This is the stage where most gym produced relationships plateau, but not in this case. I told him my brother was coming to Japan for the winter break and he invited us to his house for this party - which, in my book, makes the jump from gym friendship to the oh-so-sought-after: friendship. Real nice guy. I had no idea what to expect.

Mochi is a sticky, mostly tasteless food that is made by putting a big ball of hot rice in a bowl carved into an old tree stump, then smashing said ball of rice with a wooden club, into the pasty product known as mochi. It is then doctored up slightly and served with complimentary foods such as bacon or anko. Anko is a bean paste that is common in many Japanese pastries and represented on the big screen and in comic books as Anpanman - one of the country's most revered heroes.

We were at his house from 9:30am to 9:30pm. Four generations of his family lived in there - and it was the definition of a Japanese farm house: Lots of animals, farming equipent, clutter, kids and activity. There were probably 20 - 30 people there throughout the day. All really nice: The sober alcoholic uncle who smoked and wouldn't stop feeding us - Bathroom breaks and trips to examine the rest of the property were extended and strategic time-outs for our digestive tracts. The big cousin who loves Jackass and the Jonny Knoxville crew - Pain, stupidity and humor - the holy trinity transcends cultures and breaks down language barriers. The grandpa who got us hammered off the house sake. The little niece who knocked over my full glass of sake soaking the table, carpet and my pants - I tried to play it off, but once the people of the house noticed and reacted to the spill, the little girl went nuts, wouldn't stop crying, I buried my face in my hands as she was escorted out of the room to calm down. This happened (by some coincidence) about 30 minutes before we were driven home. Terror and unrest to remember us by.
Japanese people don't often open themselves up to strangers, much less foreigners, but when they do, they go all in. 100% submersion on Elliot's second day.

New Year's is celebrated a bit differently here. It's more of a family holiday than the huge party it is back in the states. The family that I went on the hiking trip to Oze with invited us to their house for a new year's eve sleepover. I'd been to their house once before and knew what to expect. It'd be nothing like the marathon we ran the day before at the farm house. This would be much more relaxed, but not without some suffering. It wouldn't be Japan without some suffering. We ate a good full dinner and went to a temple at midnight, as did a lot of other people in the town, to ring a bell and make a prayer. Nothing very remarkable or spectacular, but very Japanese. We got back home around 1am and it was time for bed. This is when the suffering comes in to play. The suffering I speak of is the temperature of the guest bedroom at their house. It's a newer, but fairly traditional Japanese house. The bedroom we slept in was adjacent to the front garden. The walls of this bedroom are constructed of literally thin wood and thinner paper. They're those sliding door/walls that you may have seen in movies. It was the same temperature inside this room as it was outside. It was freezing outside. Fortunately I knew what the conditions would be going in, packed accordingly and we made it through the night.

The next day we drove to Mt. Fuji. We had a crappy folding map of Japan and a few instructions from Wikipedia on how to get there from Tokyo and hit the road at about 11. A word for the wise: don't drive anywhere on a Japanese holiday. It took us 6 hours to get there when it would have taken 3 by train. We heard the same AP news reports on the Armed Forces Network all day. Fortunately P. Harvey Sr. had the day off and we were only somewhat bludgeoned with the rest of the story by Gill Gross and P. Harvey Jr. Since we left so late, we just barely got down there before the sun set and this picture is what we got to show. The guy who took our picture asked if we wanted him to get Mt. Fuji in the background.

We went to Kamakura the day after - one of my favorite places in Japan. Saw the sights, ate curry, missed the sunset on the beach and went back to Koga. There's supposed to be a very famous train that you can take in Kamakura that gives you a nice view of the ocean and other attractions. I've been there twice and have yet to take it or even inquire about it. I think I'm subconsciously waiting for Carlos, my step-dad who's somewhat of a train nut.

The ladies of Kamakura.

The Buddha of Kamakura.

The boardwalk at the beach in Kamakura. Be careful if you decide to stop and eat. The hawks are bullies and will swoop down and snatch whatever you're eating out of your hand. They almost got Elliot's hot pockett-type lunch. Ruined the guy in the picture's day. He sat down with his girlfriend and a nice little picnic pack and they swarmed on him. He left five minutes later - poured out his beer.



We had a date to pong it out on Friday afternoon with the table tennis club at Sowa JHS. Our standard matches are the first one of us to win 6 games wins. This time it was a little different. Instead of mom coming out and messing up one of Elliot's "comebacks" it was Ebihara-sensei coming over to talk to us in between points. Instead of having to stop play to wait for Rusty (R.I.P.) to get out from under the table, we had to wait for one of the kids to clear the way. I was up 5 games to 3 when we had to clean up and help put all the tables away. So in the books it's a draw, but between the lines my empire still reigns supreme.

Class 1-1 at SOWA Junior High School.

Sowa JHS table tennis club - the boys.

The all to rare sucker serve stance.

After our visit at Sowa JHS, we went down to Tokyo for the night and the next day, Saturday.

Capsule hotel in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. $30 gets you a locker, a kimono and the space you see here. The cheapest and easiest hotel I've stayed at in Japan. No curfew and very few questions asked. Also, no girls allowed - it's kind of like a fort I built in 6th grade.

Aahhnfahhnzel.
Elephants making out at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.

We caught the sunset from the Tokyo Government Towers in Shinjuku. If you squint you can see the top of Mt. Fuji to the right of the sun.

Sunday, Akira, Kazumi and Asuka drove us to the airport. On the way we stopped to see the world's largest statue (Guinness approved) - the Buddha in Ushiku. Yeah, it was pretty big. We got to the airport early and killed time eating in the airport restaurants, watching other planes take off and land, drudging through broken Japanenglish conversations and sweating out those minutes before saying goodbye to someone you really don't want to go.

Dang doo. Love you.

Bad Santa, Happy Hanukkah, Textbook Ranting, I Hate Paul Harvey and Miss You All

One of the supporters that I know from my trips to the elementary schools asked me to play Santa at a Christmas party. I was pumped. Of course the party was bright and early on a Sunday morning following a lantern festival that I thoroughly enjoyed and in the process got slightly drunk at. I didn't know what was going on half the time, had no script and just kind of went in the direction they pointed me. Made it through the party and my friend, the supporter lady who invited me, had me over to her house for lunch. She has three little kids who are fun, but really loud and the party and activity continued back at their house. I got to take off the Santa suit before I ate. After lunch I sat down on the couch (a rarity in Japanese houses) and ended up passing out for two hours. The mom loved it though, cause the kids finally shut up while I was sleeping so as not to disturb the guest.


I was also tasked with giving a lesson about Hanukkah for the students at my Junior High School. At this point I've figured out that these lessons are more about satisfying my boss than teaching the students. I wish I had some pictures of the lessons cause I'm sure Baba and Zayda would've gotten a kick out of some of the flashcards and chalk-board-work. I taught them about the temple and how it was destroyed and how there was only enough oil for one day but.......OH MY GOD.....A MIRACLE...... the oil lasted for eight days!!! This was a tough sell to 30+ Japanese 13 year olds who were waiting for the lunch bell to ring. I introduced them to latkes, the Star of David and dreidels and feel confident that not one of them retained one bit of the lesson. I, and more importantly, my boss, enjoyed it though.


In a related story - I've got to share with you how awful the English textbooks at my school are. I believe they are sanctioned statewide, so the Board of Educations decides on a textbook and every school in the state (prefecture) must abide. It is asinine. I can't imagine what English teacher would have A: formulated such lesson plans and B: given this book the green light. With as much emphasis as they put on the importance of learning English here, they sure don't put much thought into it. I'm going to attempt to quote one of the most recent lessons we had to teach to our second graders (12 and 13 year-olds). It was about a blind half-Japanese, half-Mexican-American opera singer. The way these lessons go is there is a story in the text that we are to teach the students. We teach them by practicing the select vocabulary words out loud together using flashcards and then read and repeat the passage from the book in the same manner. Teacher (me) first and students repeat. For this lesson the passage began with something like this: "Why did my grandmother die? I hate my mother and father. I want to die too." Keep in mind that my role is to be energetic and read these passages as a model and keep the students interested in learning English. So I had a little bit of trouble keeping the smile on for this one. Also keep in mind that teenage suicide is a huge problem in Japan due to the pressures put on kids at such a young age. Junior High is like high school in the states where they have to take entrance exams and apply to get into the high school of their choice - the high schools vary in educational quality and prestige and if one wants to get into a good college (which translates into getting a good job), one must be in a good high school and if one wants to get into a good high school, one must score high on these tests and be accepted. In addition to all of this, they have club activities (basketball, orchestra, brass band, tennis, baseball, ping-pong...etc.) which they practice 7-days a week, before school and after school, all year round. On top of that, some students, after they finish up with their club activity at about 7pm, they go straight to their "Cram Schools" which are private tutors or specialized classes that usually take them to about 10 or 11pm. So they've got a lot on their plates. And with the increasing levels of Japanese teenage suicide rates these days, I don't know who in their right mind would think: "Hmmm, how should we start lesson #14? Oh, I know, 'Why did my grandmother die? I hate my mother and father. I want to die too.' Ok, next line." Fortunately half the class was sleeping during this lesson so hopefully we won't have any fall out. It's ridiculous - the other teachers think it's crazy too - flashcards for words like "die" and "cancer." "Urinary Tract Infection", "overdose" and "rheumatism" must be high-school level vocab. Cancer was one from the third grade class - these kids can barely answer the question, 'How are you?' but they're getting fed the seven deadly sins cause it's in the textbook.


Every day I hear the rest of the story from Paul Harvey on the Armed Forces Network and his voice agitates my insides as if I were to shower in honey, take a dip in a pool of pollen and then jump on a bee hive. I fight the urge to puke in my mouth about once a week as a result of his trademark stammering and emphatic beat-you-over-the-head alliterations. Every now and then he gets the day off for his routine resuscitations or maybe scrabble contests. On these days he is substituted by Paul Harvey Jr. (apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and the reflux subsides a bit, but the taste remains. I can give a nice "Good day...?" impersonation, but it causes me to hock up some phlegm and keel over at the waist. Not a pretty sight, but accurate if I do say so myself.

A Message from my brother

Not entirely gaijin related content - but felt the need to forward. These videos gave me nightmares for three days and subdued the little holiday cheer I had in the tank. So, if you decide to view them, please be conscious of the timing in which you do so. They are very tough to stomach.

Hi everyone,

I don't often write politically or morally-motivated e-mails, and especially don't often (if ever) send them out in bulk. I respect people for the choices they make and respect their right to make those choices and am never really one to try to change people's minds or habits. But every now and again the activist in me wins out and I feel like a message is important enough to at least spread awareness on. I leave it to you to consider/evaluate/judge what you read or watch, although I still think it's important that people know about certain things.
Most of you probably know that last year I went vegetarian both as a way to get in better shape and because I had some moral qualms with eating meat - more importantly with how mainstream society goes about GETTING its meat. I'm not some psychopath PETA activist by any stretch of the imagination, but there is a lot to be said about common sense and common decency.
There are a lot of things that I strongly object to; the rise of radical Islam, the excess of corn in our diets, the lack of logical political activism in large societies, factory farming, and so on. I write this not to change anyone's mind, but again, to just increase awareness on something that really does mean a lot to me. So what is this all about, you ask?

The fur industry.

It's about to make headlines again (it happens about once every year or so) with PETA's new attacks on Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen for their fur-wearing habits. But like most of you probably would agree, things don't suddenly become important just because Fox News decides it's a slow news day. These are matters of human decency, if there is such a thing, or matters of humanity in and of itself, even, that have existed for centuries. Bad press, stupid activists and a general sense of indifference usually sweep these things under the rug until, as I mentioned, it's a slow news day, or until something big happens to keep it in the spotlight until something bigger happens to take its place (I know I used the word 'until' a lot in that sentence. Deal with it!)

I've spent more time than some would consider healthy, scouring Google for information on the fur industry. What have I found? It's really not as bad as some might make it out to be. Does this mean it's not bad? I'll let you decide. One should always keep in mind that for videos like the ones I'm about to show, there is a definite, biased, political purpose behind them. While the "good side" of the fur industry may be overlooked in such videos, you have to ask yourself "What good is a 'good side' when the 'bad side' is really this bad?"

PETA is famous for its shock publicity, and who can blame them? Shock publicity works at grabbing attention. Shock publicity sometimes means bad publicity, but some would argue that bad publicity is better than no publicity. At the expense of being labeled crackpots by 75% of the country, such shock advertising has the effect of at least snaring 25% of the remainder towards a cause that PETA believes in.
So I leave it to you to label PETA however you choose -- I know I'm not too fond of them or their tactics, myself. But factual video speaks for itself, regardless of underlying circumstance or political motivation.
Some decide to argue: "Well sure, they're showing you all of these terrible things... but they're not showing you all of the other stuff. It's propaganda; politically motivated."
When you watch a video of an American contractor being beheaded on Al-Jazeera, you are not being shown the decades of Palestinian/Islamic oppression. You are not being given the story behind the Israeli struggle with its neighbors, or the United States' involvement in the middle-east. All you are watching is a man having his head sawed off by a blunt blade, and spending 30+ seconds breathing through a halfway-opened neck. This speaks for itself in its savagery.
To that same degree, while I feel compassion for all creatures, I find it very difficult to reconcile the difference between clubbing and slowly skinning an animal alive, completely capable of feeling and expressing pain and terror, and the slow torture and beheading of Americans by the followers of radical Islam.

These humans and animals aren't crickets, whose nervous systems are governed by subtle, and largely instinctive reflex responses. These aren't amoebas, whose "desire" to stay alive stems from a vague chemical fingerprint that differentiates between bad and good chemicals. These are vertebrates, with complex central nervous systems. They are, with the exception of brain capacity, in every way shape and form on par with human beings.
I would not skin my dogs any sooner than I would skin one of my family or friends. There is nothing that sets a rabbit apart from a human being on this scale.

With that said, I'm going to link to two VERY upsetting videos which I have had the misfortune of watching over the last year or two. One represents the annual Harp Seal hunt in Canada. The other is more of a stock compilation of a fur farm in what I believe is Southeast Asia. Generally if you watch a video on the fur industry, it will include scenes from this second video. It's shocking and disturbing to say the very least.

I'm not sure how recent the scenes from the second video are, however you'd have to torture me and skin me alive to convince me that these are trends that no longer occur on a massive and nearly global scale.

The video of the Harp Seal hunt is as recent as 2006, and possibly 2007. These are things that happen every day. When I've shown people these videos, they usually stop watching them very quickly. Unseen and unheard, I don't think they have the impact that they should. We seem to often find ourselves in the position to choose to ignore such things -- whether it's about something like the fur industry, or something more important. If we ignore it or don't read about it, it's not our problem. I tend to disagree, though.

So... I'm going to link to these videos and leave it to your best judgment whether to watch them or not. They are incredibly graphic, incredibly disturbing, and they contain pictures and imagery that just may stay with you for the rest of your life. I think they are very important videos, because they match images to the hype, slogans and other propaganda. If it were up to me, every humane person with some semblance of a conscience would watch these videos. But I also understand that this is not a subject matter that most people ever associate (or want to associate) themselves with, and are truthfully not prepared to watch, so I very respectfully understand anyone's choice not to watch them, period. I simply hope that you do not fall into the pool of people who believe that by not watching something, it does not exist. The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes. Since you are all family and friends, I know that this isn't the case, and know that none of you are the kinds of pawns that I'm describing here. Anyways...

Do not watch them with children around. Do not share what happens in them with children. Watch them with a strong constitution and be open-minded. If 10 seconds from these videos is not enough to somehow impact what you think of the fur industry, then I think we may need to have words :)

Before I link them, I'll close with just a little bit more. I know there are bigger fish to fry in the world: Sudan, Iraq, Al Gore, etc. This is by no means the most important thing. But as a society if we only tackled the most important thing at any given time, nothing would ever get done, as we'd probably all be stuck, still trying to cure AIDS while children starve to death, wars are waged, and the rest of civilization crumbles. This happens to be something that holds personal value to me, as an animal lover and lover of life in general. And it's something that I think I can at least make some sort of impact on. Asking people to stop wearing fur is a lot easier than asking them to change what they eat, stop eating meat, petition factory farms, starve themselves, etc. This is something that I feel everyone can easily embrace, so I've chosen to write about it. Lastly, please don't make the mistake of thinking that I'm just on some bandwagon for cute and furry creatures. I think every animal deserves respect and compassion, whether they're sitting next to you reading this, bred for food, or swimming in the wrong place at the wrong time when a boat propeller hits them.

If you're still reading ... I'm impressed!

So here are the videos, courtesy of PETA. Pay no attention to the other PETA fluff that's on the sites, if there is any... this just happens to be where I could find the videos online. I'm happy to discuss stuff like this, so feel free to write back with thoughts, criticisms, opt-outs, and so on.

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/trollsen_twins_peta2?qp_source=p2advgametroll&c=p22549
- Very graphic, very upsetting. Rated M for Mature

http://www.hsus.org/protect_seals.html
- Very graphic, but among the more mild of the Seal Hunt videos. More of a documentary, but still upsetting.

- Elliot
Disclaimer: Any spelling or grammatical mistakes were made intentionally to keep the readers on their toes.
Disclaimer 2: Unless you want to reply to everyone that I've sent this to, click "Reply" instead of "Reply to All" :)
Disclaimer 3: I've spent too much time writing these disclaimers and refuse to write any more.
Disclaimer 4: Except for this one.

The KC and Konrad Treatment

Konrad got here a couple days ahead of the Caseman, and was able to enjoy the Sowa JHS Chorus Competition. Here he is enjoying some of the second grade boys.

Here we are in Tsukiji market enjoying a wonderful lunch of sushi and sake.

Here we are at the Imperial Palace and Gardens in Tokyo with some fellow sightseers. Please see the videos link on the right portion of this page for these lovely young ladies in action.

"Man and the city"

Yeeeooowwweeeeeee!!!!

Here we are enjoying a lovely Japanese dinner in Tokyo, Japan with some Japanese friends that KC new from his time in New Zealand. They showed us how to enjoy the wonderful Japanese tradition of putting a towel on the top of your head.

Here KC and Konrad are enjoying karaoke, another wonderfully fun Japanese custom of singing the words of a song through a microphone as it is played over loud speakers for all to enjoy. It's really great. It appears KC might have muffed the words to this particular song - OOPS!!! - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - a definite "no,no" here in Japan.



Our enjoyable weekend in Aizu:

The quaint street lined with historic thatch-roofed huts in the Old Village of Aizu.

We were lucky enough to enjoy the fall Japanese tradition of the leaves changing colors. Every year, in Japan, for about two-three weeks, the leaves on ALL of the trees change from green to red, yellow, orange and yes, sometimes brown!
They call this Koyo. I call it wonderful!
But now all the leaves have fallen off the trees and died.

We enjoyed taking pictures of Aizu's castle and the park and shrines surrounding it.

Here we are posing in front of three large things of sake after we enjoyed a tour of the Sake factory. We didn't understand most of the 30 minute tour, but one of the first things the guide pointed out and one of the only things we understood, was that every year a "stirrer" dies in the factory from inhaling fumes while stirring during the Sake making process.

Here we are with Emi, my friend in Aizu and our guide to all of its wonderful attractions. We are enjoying a lovely Japanese dinner at a Japanese bar - these are called Izakaya's.

Here is Aizu's castle at night time.

Konrad left two days before KC - missed his flight - came back from the airport - enjoyed another night in Koga - then left a day before KC. On KC's last night we thought it'd be a super idea if we tried to partake in the ancient Japanese tradition of Wasabing: the practice and art of enjoying wasabi, through one's nose. Fortunately Toshi - KC's friend from ASU (KC knows more people in Japan than I do) - and his friends are experts in this craft. So, we went out for a superbly fantastic lovely and enjoyable night of Wasabing in Tokyo, for mr. Kruger's last night.

Wasabing 101:

Step 1: Grind yourself up nice little glob of fresh wasabi

Step 2: Place a dallop of freshly ground wasabi on the end of a chopstick

Step 3: Take a nice big whiff through one of your nostrils until all of the wasabi has left the chopstick and flown up your nasal cavity

Step 4: Brace yourself for the post nasal prick, also known as "the bing"

Step 5 (optional): If you are a true Wasabing master you will enjoy a nice swig of soy sauce to complement the sweet tingle of the Wasabi


Step 6: Enjoy


These kids get that Wasabi in em, they get all antsy in the pantsy

Wasabing can also be enjoyed manually:

So whenever, wherever and however you decide to enjoy Wasabing, please remember to respect the traditions, values and customs in which the art is practiced by partaking in this activity with humility and reverence. Please do not attempt to drive or operate heavy machinery after Wasabing more than 6 times in one hour and under no circumstances should one attempt to care for children or provide guidance of any kind after a heavy night of Wasabing.
Please enjoy Wasabing responsibly.

Here is a construction worker in Tokyo, enjoying a little nap between shifts.
Even when they're sleeping, they're working.

But hey...

So long my brave warriors - and thank you...for everything.

I cover the pain of their absence with intense sarcasm and wordy humor.