Christmas has come and gone in Japan just like any other day. I spent my Christmas morning at school participating in the year end volunteer clean up. I was partially wrong about what I said before about it not actually being a volunteer event, but rather mandatory. For those who didn't have sports club practice it was voluntary, but for the students who were here practicing for sports, their participation was pretty much mandatory. I guess technically you could say you didn't want to do it, but your entire team would look down on your for it most likely.
I ended up on garbage duty with the baseball team. A couple 2nd year students and I walked about the small residential area behind the school for about an hour picking trash up. Halfway through we me the younger brother of another 2nd year student who was outside playing. With nothing else really to do, and probably wanting to look cool with the older kids, he decided to help us out. He was actually really into it as well, and was diving into narrow spaces trying to find any piece of trash he could.
The principal let me go home at 12:30 so I met up with Keiko and we went to an electronics store to get her Christmas present (DS Lite). Imagine that, shopping for a Christmas present, on Christmas! After we went for dinner to this really nice buffet style place. The shape of the buffet and style of plates is very American country buffet style, but the foods themselves are all very Japanese so it was pretty interesting, and delicious. Most of the ingredients and foods are all locally grown and handmade as well so it seemed very healthy.
Even though it didn't feel like Christmas at all, all in all it was a pretty decent day. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas as well. All the best for you and yours this holiday season.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
男のユーモア
Yesterday I made my last visit to elementary school for the year. This week's school was the closest of the four I visit so I can take my normal bus and it drops me relatively close to the school. Actually, 3 students from that school ride the same bus with me during the morning, so when I get to visit their school I also get the chance to walk with them to school from the bus stop.
Yesterday, the youngest of the three (a second grader 7 years old) started asking me about what certain words were in English. He started out with the normal stuff (foods, animals, etc.) but quickly moved into the territory of bodily functions. None of his questions were bad words, so in hopes to continue to foster interest in the English language among the youth of Japan I taught him how to say burp, pee, and poop. Then he asked about fart. and actually having to fart at the time I knew this was one of those moments where the timing is so perfect you've have no other choice, you've just gotta do it. Young boys, hell even grown men enjoy toilet humor, and nothing gets a group of young boys laughing like a majestic fart. I knew this the perfect chance. I told him first what the word was then held my hand up motioning for silence and proceeded to rip one. It was a pretty beastly one at that too if I do say so myself. Nice and deep with a classic fart ripple effect that carried for a couple of seconds. Being the young boys they are they ate it up and died laughing.
After a couple more minutes of walking we ran into one of their friends who joined us for the rest of the trip. The young kid who was questioning me started to tell his friend about all the new English words he had just learned, and of course eventually he came to fart. I must be blessed by the gods, because just as this boy was telling his friend how I taught him the word and then actually farted, I felt another one coming and held my hand up again asking for silence and blasted another one. Naturally, once again they all died laughing.
Then it hit me, this one kid is pretty talkative and before the day is over it's quite possible that everyone in the school will have heard of my farting exploits, which although interesting, is not the image I want to convey, especially if these kids decide then to go and tell their parents about what the English teacher is teaching their kids.
Luckily, I was yet again blessed by the gods and the kid asked me how I managed to fart with such perfect timing on two consecutive occasions. Without any hesitation I puffed out my coat pocket and told him I had actually had a whoopee cushion in my pocket. Having the whoopee cushion also explained why the first fart was more powerful than the second, since I had no chance to blow the cushion back up. Since he's seven he bought the story hook, line, and sinker, no questions asked leaving T-Mac to walk away scot-free with his image as the good English teacher intact.
Yesterday, the youngest of the three (a second grader 7 years old) started asking me about what certain words were in English. He started out with the normal stuff (foods, animals, etc.) but quickly moved into the territory of bodily functions. None of his questions were bad words, so in hopes to continue to foster interest in the English language among the youth of Japan I taught him how to say burp, pee, and poop. Then he asked about fart. and actually having to fart at the time I knew this was one of those moments where the timing is so perfect you've have no other choice, you've just gotta do it. Young boys, hell even grown men enjoy toilet humor, and nothing gets a group of young boys laughing like a majestic fart. I knew this the perfect chance. I told him first what the word was then held my hand up motioning for silence and proceeded to rip one. It was a pretty beastly one at that too if I do say so myself. Nice and deep with a classic fart ripple effect that carried for a couple of seconds. Being the young boys they are they ate it up and died laughing.
After a couple more minutes of walking we ran into one of their friends who joined us for the rest of the trip. The young kid who was questioning me started to tell his friend about all the new English words he had just learned, and of course eventually he came to fart. I must be blessed by the gods, because just as this boy was telling his friend how I taught him the word and then actually farted, I felt another one coming and held my hand up again asking for silence and blasted another one. Naturally, once again they all died laughing.
Then it hit me, this one kid is pretty talkative and before the day is over it's quite possible that everyone in the school will have heard of my farting exploits, which although interesting, is not the image I want to convey, especially if these kids decide then to go and tell their parents about what the English teacher is teaching their kids.
Luckily, I was yet again blessed by the gods and the kid asked me how I managed to fart with such perfect timing on two consecutive occasions. Without any hesitation I puffed out my coat pocket and told him I had actually had a whoopee cushion in my pocket. Having the whoopee cushion also explained why the first fart was more powerful than the second, since I had no chance to blow the cushion back up. Since he's seven he bought the story hook, line, and sinker, no questions asked leaving T-Mac to walk away scot-free with his image as the good English teacher intact.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
運転免許
Four months after arriving in Japan and two months since my last appointment at the DMV, I finally received my Japanese driver's license on Tuesday.
When I went Tuesday morning I handed over all the forms I had ordered from Ontario and translated as well as a a little paper I prepared on the Ontario licensing system. I was told to wait in the same room I did last time. This time however, there were no questions though. The lady (the one I wrote about last time that I wished I would have had then) told me she just had to confirm the forms. After that I signed a paper saying I had no illnesses that should preclude me from operating a car/bike. I had my picture taken, took my eye test and paid my fees. 45 minutes later I had my license in hand. If only it could have been so easy last time.
The design of the Japanese license is pretty nice, but it's made with fairly thin plastic. I was playing the newest Initial D game in the arcade the same day, and got a "license" with my saved info on it from the game and it was considerably thicker and sturdier than my actual license which was a little surprising.
When I went Tuesday morning I handed over all the forms I had ordered from Ontario and translated as well as a a little paper I prepared on the Ontario licensing system. I was told to wait in the same room I did last time. This time however, there were no questions though. The lady (the one I wrote about last time that I wished I would have had then) told me she just had to confirm the forms. After that I signed a paper saying I had no illnesses that should preclude me from operating a car/bike. I had my picture taken, took my eye test and paid my fees. 45 minutes later I had my license in hand. If only it could have been so easy last time.
The design of the Japanese license is pretty nice, but it's made with fairly thin plastic. I was playing the newest Initial D game in the arcade the same day, and got a "license" with my saved info on it from the game and it was considerably thicker and sturdier than my actual license which was a little surprising.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
変なの
Strangest thing I've seen in Japan since I've been here happened last weekend. I was in the bathroom at the train station and a guy came up beside me to take a pee as well. He pressed the button to flush as soon as he got there, once more during the middle of his pee, and then yet again at the very end.
3 times for one pee!
The flush at the end is a given, even the one before urinating is understandable, but a flush mid-pee is just crazy.
3 times for one pee!
The flush at the end is a given, even the one before urinating is understandable, but a flush mid-pee is just crazy.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Dir en Grey
This past weekend I headed to Kyoto with my friend to see Dir en Grey play at KBS Hall in Kyoto. The show was all standing and KBS Hall isn't really that huge. There were probably about 1300 people and even though I had ticket 1253, being a foot taller than everyone else standing at the back was no problem. By the time Dir en Grey came on stage the crowd had packed so tight up front I could move halfway up no problem as well.
I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but I think this is the first Japanese tour they've done where they had an opening band. In Toronto, they had 2, neither which were really anything special. Interestingly enough, the opening act was an American band called 10 Years, and they were actually decent. Best song they played was called Actions & Motives, but it turns out it's from a new upcoming, unreleased album, so there are no samples to be found anywhere yet.
The concert itself was fantastic, mostly new stuff, but they threw in a pretty old song in there as well and it threw off the Japanese fans. See they have this thing, where basically everyone in the audience is co-ordinated. Everyone knows exactly when and how to move at each part of each song. This is also a little strange for me, but standing at the back I can just do my own thing and not attract evil eyes from the synchronised fans, not that I would really care, but whatever. So, when they threw in this really old song no one knew what to do. Many had probably never been to a show where they played the song, and for the few who had it had been to long ago for them to remember what to do. So I'm standing at the back, doing my own thing, and everyone else is standing completely still, just watching.
The encore was crazy. Non-stop rocking with everything cranked up to 11. It was during this part that I was hit on the forehead by a pick thrown by Die, on of the guitarists. I couldn't catch it, but I knew where it landed on the floor and quickly managed to step on it and drag it closer so I could retrieve it.
A couple of other random things:
I was surprised at the number of older women (40+) fans in the crowd. There was actually a lady standing right next to me who could be 50 and was wearing this crazy short, tight, leather dress. It was actually quite off-putting and threw off my mojo for a little bit.
After the show as we were waiting in line to get our coat check stuff back there were two girls who must have been boiling or just trying to draw some eyes, because they proceeded to take off their shirts, and wait in the line, wearing only their bras and short mini-skirts. Very nice, but also very strange. Completely throwing that shy, Japanese girl stereotype out the window.
All in all, an excellent night.
I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but I think this is the first Japanese tour they've done where they had an opening band. In Toronto, they had 2, neither which were really anything special. Interestingly enough, the opening act was an American band called 10 Years, and they were actually decent. Best song they played was called Actions & Motives, but it turns out it's from a new upcoming, unreleased album, so there are no samples to be found anywhere yet.
The concert itself was fantastic, mostly new stuff, but they threw in a pretty old song in there as well and it threw off the Japanese fans. See they have this thing, where basically everyone in the audience is co-ordinated. Everyone knows exactly when and how to move at each part of each song. This is also a little strange for me, but standing at the back I can just do my own thing and not attract evil eyes from the synchronised fans, not that I would really care, but whatever. So, when they threw in this really old song no one knew what to do. Many had probably never been to a show where they played the song, and for the few who had it had been to long ago for them to remember what to do. So I'm standing at the back, doing my own thing, and everyone else is standing completely still, just watching.
The encore was crazy. Non-stop rocking with everything cranked up to 11. It was during this part that I was hit on the forehead by a pick thrown by Die, on of the guitarists. I couldn't catch it, but I knew where it landed on the floor and quickly managed to step on it and drag it closer so I could retrieve it.
A couple of other random things:
I was surprised at the number of older women (40+) fans in the crowd. There was actually a lady standing right next to me who could be 50 and was wearing this crazy short, tight, leather dress. It was actually quite off-putting and threw off my mojo for a little bit.
After the show as we were waiting in line to get our coat check stuff back there were two girls who must have been boiling or just trying to draw some eyes, because they proceeded to take off their shirts, and wait in the line, wearing only their bras and short mini-skirts. Very nice, but also very strange. Completely throwing that shy, Japanese girl stereotype out the window.
All in all, an excellent night.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
違う雰囲気
In my town there is a main road that runs from West to East basically splitting the town in half. In the main part of town most of the shops, the train station, and schools lie north of the road. Once you get past that main section of town the north and south sides of that road are like two different towns.
Normally, I am heading to the main section of the town so I ride there on a street a couple of blocks north of the main road. Riding this road all you will see is small patches of houses in between blocks of fields. There's an electric substation on the way as well, but that's about it. It's a pretty quiet road and you can ride it straight into the city though so it's very convenient and easy for me to use. As a result, I had never really ventured into the area south of the main road until about a month ago.
Riding a road about an equal distance south of the main road as the one I ride on the north side I was very surprised to find that the south side of the town is like a completely different world. There are no fields, houses both new and old dominate the landscape. There are also a bunch of small shops, restaurants, and little bars all along the way. There are a couple of factories on the south side as well. It just generally has a much busier feel to it. The first time I was riding back home down the south side I was just blown away by how the atmosphere was completely different from the north side. It was if I had discovered a whole new town in the town I thought I had pretty much seen everything in.
Normally, I am heading to the main section of the town so I ride there on a street a couple of blocks north of the main road. Riding this road all you will see is small patches of houses in between blocks of fields. There's an electric substation on the way as well, but that's about it. It's a pretty quiet road and you can ride it straight into the city though so it's very convenient and easy for me to use. As a result, I had never really ventured into the area south of the main road until about a month ago.
Riding a road about an equal distance south of the main road as the one I ride on the north side I was very surprised to find that the south side of the town is like a completely different world. There are no fields, houses both new and old dominate the landscape. There are also a bunch of small shops, restaurants, and little bars all along the way. There are a couple of factories on the south side as well. It just generally has a much busier feel to it. The first time I was riding back home down the south side I was just blown away by how the atmosphere was completely different from the north side. It was if I had discovered a whole new town in the town I thought I had pretty much seen everything in.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Winter is Just Around the Corner
Within the past week it's become noticeably colder rather quickly. Monday I woke up to find the mountains snow-capped. While it had only rained where I lived, the difference due to altitude must have been large enough that there was snow up there. Even the smaller mountains closer to my school were fairly covered which depressed me a little. Fortunately, by the afternoon the sun had melted all the snow except for some on the peaks of the taller (1000m+) mountains off in the distance. So while it's not quite winter yet, it's clearly just around the corner.
Winter in Shiga is generally warmer than in Toronto, but it feels much colder. This is because all houses in Japan are built without insulation or central heating (although some newer houses now have one, the other, or both). Apartments like mine are also generally made with a large amount of concrete which makes is quite cold in the winter. Single pane glass on all the doors and windows doesn't help either. My space heater works fairly well if I close the door to my room, but once I turn it off the heat goes away generally in 30 minutes or less. It also sucks power like a beast and if I were to constantly have it on I can't even imagine what my bill for the month would be.
Winter does signal the coming of something good though. As the seasons change Japanese breweries release seasonal beers. The various winter brews are some of the best around, and really do seem to capture the essence of the season in a beer. How exactly they manage to do it I'm not quite sure, but it's lovely.
I've also recently be afflicted with what (according to some quick research on Wikpedia) I believe to be a stye on my right eye. It seems that they tend to go away over time by themselves and cause no harm. They just make it hurt to blink which is a bit unfortunate for me seeing as I tend to blink somewhere upwards of 1000 times on any given day.
Winter in Shiga is generally warmer than in Toronto, but it feels much colder. This is because all houses in Japan are built without insulation or central heating (although some newer houses now have one, the other, or both). Apartments like mine are also generally made with a large amount of concrete which makes is quite cold in the winter. Single pane glass on all the doors and windows doesn't help either. My space heater works fairly well if I close the door to my room, but once I turn it off the heat goes away generally in 30 minutes or less. It also sucks power like a beast and if I were to constantly have it on I can't even imagine what my bill for the month would be.
Winter does signal the coming of something good though. As the seasons change Japanese breweries release seasonal beers. The various winter brews are some of the best around, and really do seem to capture the essence of the season in a beer. How exactly they manage to do it I'm not quite sure, but it's lovely.
I've also recently be afflicted with what (according to some quick research on Wikpedia) I believe to be a stye on my right eye. It seems that they tend to go away over time by themselves and cause no harm. They just make it hurt to blink which is a bit unfortunate for me seeing as I tend to blink somewhere upwards of 1000 times on any given day.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
紅葉
Today I headed up to the elementary school in the mountains. This time I took my camera as well. It's not quite the prime season yet, but a good deal of the trees have changed colour and are in their full autumn glory. On the way home since I have to wait 40 minutes for the bus I decided to walk down to the nearby temple and take some pictures there. It's actually quite famous throughout the Kansai region and draws tourists from all around. There was even a tour bus there from Tochigi (maybe 700km away). Quite a haul just to look at the foliage if I do say so myself. I'm glad it's only a 15 minute bus ride for me.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
ソウル
Last Friday Keiko and I headed to Seoul for a little 4 day, fall vacation. My main motivation in planning this trip at this particular time was to give myself the chance to see the World Taekwondo Hanmadang, being held in Suwon, just south of Seoul from the 2nd until the 4th. At the same time it would give me the chance to experience Korea, a place I've wanted to go for some time, but never had a great opportunity to make the trip a reality. For Keiko, it was also her first trip to Korea, and it also gave her the chance to meet with some old friends she met in Toronto at English school, as well as do a bit of shopping in the extremely cheap (compared to Japan/Canada) stores of Seoul.
For me this was the first time I had ever been to a country where I had basically no knowledge of the native language. I thought it might make me feel a little uncomfortable like I had this little bubble around me, but I think it just opened up all my other senses to take it all in since I was paying no attention at all to the language and trying to translate things in my head. I'm thankful though that most transportation signs have English on them as well so getting around wasn't a problem at all.
Friday, we arrived at the airport late in the afternoon, and by the time we had taken the bus to Seoul and reached the hotel it was getting dark. We headed to a nearby restaurant located in a back alley for a huge pot or spicy chicken stew. The meal comes in one of those old style hand laundry tin tubs filled with vegetables, spicy soup, and a whole chicken. Fantastic meal for two. After that we headed did a bit of walking around and headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we went to an area called Itaewon which apparently is a foreigner paradise, as probably 75% of the people I saw while there weren't Korean. It also happens to be home to a number of leather clothing and jacket stores. Korean leathers are a hot item in Japan and Keiko was in the market for something distinctive, but unfortunately, unlike everything else in Korea, the leathers weren't cheap and she was left empty handed.
After a bit of walking around and some lunch we went to Gyeongbukgong, the old palace of the Korean Emperor. The buildings were destroyed by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea, but the Korean government has made it a priority to restore the palace to its former glory, and I must say what they've done so far is fantastic. The palace grounds are massive, and the first thing I noticed after experiencing a number of Japanese castles, which are surrounded by greenery and gardens, is that the grounds of Gyeongbukgong are predominantly stone-covered. The architecture is also quite different and seems to have a greater Chinese influence than buildings of similar age in Japan. Following the tour of the palace was dinner where we had an incredibly spicy stew. I also started to feel the symptoms of my uncoming cold around this time.
The next day we headed to Suwon to take in the last day of the Hanmadang. I had seen some on tv the previous morning and was pumped to see it first hand. The Hanmadang is a little different than a normal tournament in that there is no sparring. The focus is on patterns, breaking, and team demonstrations which combine, patterns, breaking, and pre-planned demonstration fights with flashy techniques. It took a fair bit of time to reach Suwon, and being the last day the tournament finished in the afternoon, but I still managed to see quite a bit and a number of impressive things. I was a bit surprised at the crowd (or lack thereof) which was mostly made up of other competitors. The tournament was free to watch, located in a largely populated area, and they had free drinks and snacks so the lack of a crowd was pretty surprising to me. I don't think it was because it was the final day either, because when I saw the tv broadcast from the day before the crowd was looking just as thin.
Most of the competitors were (surprise!) Korean, coming from various universities around the country. By far the most impressive was the team from Yong-In University. After doing a bit of research afterwards I found out Yong-In University is one of the premier martial arts schools in the world. One of their faculties is the College of Martial Arts where it's possible to take a 4-year university degree in Taekwondo! Students who complete the program graduate with a sport instructor's license, the 2nd level playing instructors license (not really sure what this is), and a 4th degree black belt. Anyway one of their team members managed to break 49 boards that were only being held by one hand in 30 seconds with consecutive reverse turning kicks to take a breaking title. Another girl from the team won the jumping front-snap kick breaking with a break at 225cm. I didn't get to see their team performance, but I did see team performances from India, Mexico, and Taiwan. The Taiwanese were by far the best of those three and Keiko commented on how they seemed to be much better showmen, and far more entertaining than the other two teams.
Another reason for coming to the tournament was to see level of competition of other countries and whether or not the Toronto level (particularly the black belt team, Team One, that my brother and I are/were are part of) is up to par. I've gotta say hands down that their is easily enough talent on Team One to compete at next year's Hanmadang if they wanted to. While I don't think we could win or place top three, the team would most likely be better than the Mexican and Indian teams I saw, and very close to the Taiwanese team's level I think.
Since the tournament ended rather early we did a bit of sightseeing in Suwon, home to Hwaseong Fortress, Korea's only walled city. I came to Suwon to see Taekwondo, but Hwaseong fortress for me was easily the highlight of the entire trip, attraction-wise. A 5.74km wall circles what use to be the entirety of Suwon city before urban sprawl took over. Four main gates at the cardinal directions along with other guard towers, observation posts and the like make up the wall. Inside, a castle and archery range among other historical things, as well a large number of modern buildings make up the fortress city. I can not adequately describe what a site Hwaseong fortress is. I can only say that is the most magnificent man-made structures I have seen in either Korea, Japan, or any other place I've ever been, and even some of those I haven't. If you are ever in Seoul and have a day you can take to go to Suwon and experience Hwaseong Fortress DO IT! You will not be disappointed.
That night we headed back to Seoul and met up with three of Keiko's friends from English school in Toronto. One of them couldn't stay around long, but the other two took us on a whirlwind night tour of Seoul where we visited Seoul Tower, the Han River, a 24 hour grocery store popular with Korean music and TV stars where we picked up kimchi and other food stuffs to bring home, and Dongdaemun, the famous shopping district home to a number of department stores which never close so Koreans and tourists alike can get their shopping done any time of day, any day of the year. It's really kinda crazy when you think about it.
Monday we met up with Keiko's friends again and since our flight was later in the afternoon we had time to have a group lunch and do a last little bit of touring around the popular shopping district for young people. While Keiko and her female friend were in some girly store, her other male friend and I waited outside. While we were standing outside the store we were approached by some workers from a Christian TV station who asked if we wouldn't mind giving our opinions on gays and lesbians. It was pretty uneventful, but all the people walking by were giving us looks, probably wondering why the cameras were focused on the one white guy in the area.
After lunch we headed to the airport and the two friends who took us out on the night tour escorted us all the way to the airport. Riding the train to the airport were interviewed yet again, this time by what Keiko's friend told us is a fairly large and popular national business news network, about what we thought of the airport train we were riding on. I'll tell you the same thing I told them. It's fantastic. Spotlessly clean, fast (but not Shinkansen fast), and is mindblowingly cheap. The total fare for the express train is 3100 won ($3 CAD, 360 yen) for a trip that distance wise would cost you at least 2000 yen in Japan (more if you took the Shinkansen) and probably $10 CAD on the not nearly as nice GO Train. Keiko's friend said the clip will most likely be up on the internet soon, so she'll try and find it and send us the link. So if I get it I will put it up here as well. Maybe if all else fails there a job for me on Korean TV with all this recent exposure???
Finally, I'd just like to share a few random observations I made during the trip.
- Seoul has to be one of the most hilly cities I've ever visited, and I was surprised considering how big the city is. I thought it would be more flat like Tokyo, but there are hills everywhere and they are aren't just tiny little things either. More often then not they are fairly steep and long. There are a number of residential areas in these steep hills throughout the city and they are fantastic to walk through to see the beautiful terraced houses and experience the "real Seoul."
- No matter where we were in the city there were always an incredibly diverse group of people: young, old, couples, all guy/girl groups, families etc. In Japan many place you go to tend to be frequented by a certain group of people. You don't see girl only groups in ramen shops, or young people in snack bars, but it seemed like wherever we were or went there was always a healthy mix of different groups of people and I found it very refreshing.
- Before I came to Japan and went to Tokyo first hand, the image I had in my mind of what Tokyo was (outside of famous areas who's appearance I already knew) is basically what Seoul is.
- Seoul, unlike any other big city I've ever been in is CHEAP! The subway costs 1000 won ($1 CAD, 120 yen), you can get a great meal basically anywhere for 5-6000 won, and even a huge baller-style meal is at most about 10000 won a person. If you want to drink as well a bottle of soju (350ml) is 3000 won and beer (750ml bottle) is 4000. The hotel (which was actually like a little apartment) cost about 50000 won a night and was right in the heart of the city with easy access to everything.
- Driving in Seoul seems a lot easier than in Japan. Despite the volume of cars the roads are a lot wider. There are actually a number of roads that run throughout the city that are 10 lanes or wider. There is a ton of horn honking though and taxi drivers at night seem to go colourblind and run red lights like crazy.
- Unlike Tokyo, which I get sick of after 2 or 3 days, spending 4 days in Seoul I only wished my trip had been longer. It seems like Seoul is a very easy city to live in. Of course, I really have no idea about daily life there, as a tourist, but I was thinking about all the English teachers here who lost there jobs when Nova closed down and I got the impression that if you were just coming to either Japan or Korea just for the hell of it as an English teacher with no knowledge of the country's native language or customs, Seoul would be much easier to get used to than Tokyo or Osaka and Japanese life.
- We travelled out of Nagoya airport rather than Osaka because it's much closer to Shiga and Keiko had never been there and was probably the best decision we madeaside from actually going to Korea. The place is deserted compared to Osaka airport. Leaving we made it through check-in, security, and to the gate in probably 30 minutes. Coming back we cleared immigration, got our bags and made it through the final security to the train in a similar time. From now on, all my trips will be from Nagoya unless it's impossible to do so. Easily the most hassle-free airport experience of my life since I have been old enough to travel on my own.
For me this was the first time I had ever been to a country where I had basically no knowledge of the native language. I thought it might make me feel a little uncomfortable like I had this little bubble around me, but I think it just opened up all my other senses to take it all in since I was paying no attention at all to the language and trying to translate things in my head. I'm thankful though that most transportation signs have English on them as well so getting around wasn't a problem at all.
Friday, we arrived at the airport late in the afternoon, and by the time we had taken the bus to Seoul and reached the hotel it was getting dark. We headed to a nearby restaurant located in a back alley for a huge pot or spicy chicken stew. The meal comes in one of those old style hand laundry tin tubs filled with vegetables, spicy soup, and a whole chicken. Fantastic meal for two. After that we headed did a bit of walking around and headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we went to an area called Itaewon which apparently is a foreigner paradise, as probably 75% of the people I saw while there weren't Korean. It also happens to be home to a number of leather clothing and jacket stores. Korean leathers are a hot item in Japan and Keiko was in the market for something distinctive, but unfortunately, unlike everything else in Korea, the leathers weren't cheap and she was left empty handed.
After a bit of walking around and some lunch we went to Gyeongbukgong, the old palace of the Korean Emperor. The buildings were destroyed by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea, but the Korean government has made it a priority to restore the palace to its former glory, and I must say what they've done so far is fantastic. The palace grounds are massive, and the first thing I noticed after experiencing a number of Japanese castles, which are surrounded by greenery and gardens, is that the grounds of Gyeongbukgong are predominantly stone-covered. The architecture is also quite different and seems to have a greater Chinese influence than buildings of similar age in Japan. Following the tour of the palace was dinner where we had an incredibly spicy stew. I also started to feel the symptoms of my uncoming cold around this time.
The next day we headed to Suwon to take in the last day of the Hanmadang. I had seen some on tv the previous morning and was pumped to see it first hand. The Hanmadang is a little different than a normal tournament in that there is no sparring. The focus is on patterns, breaking, and team demonstrations which combine, patterns, breaking, and pre-planned demonstration fights with flashy techniques. It took a fair bit of time to reach Suwon, and being the last day the tournament finished in the afternoon, but I still managed to see quite a bit and a number of impressive things. I was a bit surprised at the crowd (or lack thereof) which was mostly made up of other competitors. The tournament was free to watch, located in a largely populated area, and they had free drinks and snacks so the lack of a crowd was pretty surprising to me. I don't think it was because it was the final day either, because when I saw the tv broadcast from the day before the crowd was looking just as thin.
Most of the competitors were (surprise!) Korean, coming from various universities around the country. By far the most impressive was the team from Yong-In University. After doing a bit of research afterwards I found out Yong-In University is one of the premier martial arts schools in the world. One of their faculties is the College of Martial Arts where it's possible to take a 4-year university degree in Taekwondo! Students who complete the program graduate with a sport instructor's license, the 2nd level playing instructors license (not really sure what this is), and a 4th degree black belt. Anyway one of their team members managed to break 49 boards that were only being held by one hand in 30 seconds with consecutive reverse turning kicks to take a breaking title. Another girl from the team won the jumping front-snap kick breaking with a break at 225cm. I didn't get to see their team performance, but I did see team performances from India, Mexico, and Taiwan. The Taiwanese were by far the best of those three and Keiko commented on how they seemed to be much better showmen, and far more entertaining than the other two teams.
Another reason for coming to the tournament was to see level of competition of other countries and whether or not the Toronto level (particularly the black belt team, Team One, that my brother and I are/were are part of) is up to par. I've gotta say hands down that their is easily enough talent on Team One to compete at next year's Hanmadang if they wanted to. While I don't think we could win or place top three, the team would most likely be better than the Mexican and Indian teams I saw, and very close to the Taiwanese team's level I think.
Since the tournament ended rather early we did a bit of sightseeing in Suwon, home to Hwaseong Fortress, Korea's only walled city. I came to Suwon to see Taekwondo, but Hwaseong fortress for me was easily the highlight of the entire trip, attraction-wise. A 5.74km wall circles what use to be the entirety of Suwon city before urban sprawl took over. Four main gates at the cardinal directions along with other guard towers, observation posts and the like make up the wall. Inside, a castle and archery range among other historical things, as well a large number of modern buildings make up the fortress city. I can not adequately describe what a site Hwaseong fortress is. I can only say that is the most magnificent man-made structures I have seen in either Korea, Japan, or any other place I've ever been, and even some of those I haven't. If you are ever in Seoul and have a day you can take to go to Suwon and experience Hwaseong Fortress DO IT! You will not be disappointed.
That night we headed back to Seoul and met up with three of Keiko's friends from English school in Toronto. One of them couldn't stay around long, but the other two took us on a whirlwind night tour of Seoul where we visited Seoul Tower, the Han River, a 24 hour grocery store popular with Korean music and TV stars where we picked up kimchi and other food stuffs to bring home, and Dongdaemun, the famous shopping district home to a number of department stores which never close so Koreans and tourists alike can get their shopping done any time of day, any day of the year. It's really kinda crazy when you think about it.
Monday we met up with Keiko's friends again and since our flight was later in the afternoon we had time to have a group lunch and do a last little bit of touring around the popular shopping district for young people. While Keiko and her female friend were in some girly store, her other male friend and I waited outside. While we were standing outside the store we were approached by some workers from a Christian TV station who asked if we wouldn't mind giving our opinions on gays and lesbians. It was pretty uneventful, but all the people walking by were giving us looks, probably wondering why the cameras were focused on the one white guy in the area.
After lunch we headed to the airport and the two friends who took us out on the night tour escorted us all the way to the airport. Riding the train to the airport were interviewed yet again, this time by what Keiko's friend told us is a fairly large and popular national business news network, about what we thought of the airport train we were riding on. I'll tell you the same thing I told them. It's fantastic. Spotlessly clean, fast (but not Shinkansen fast), and is mindblowingly cheap. The total fare for the express train is 3100 won ($3 CAD, 360 yen) for a trip that distance wise would cost you at least 2000 yen in Japan (more if you took the Shinkansen) and probably $10 CAD on the not nearly as nice GO Train. Keiko's friend said the clip will most likely be up on the internet soon, so she'll try and find it and send us the link. So if I get it I will put it up here as well. Maybe if all else fails there a job for me on Korean TV with all this recent exposure???
Finally, I'd just like to share a few random observations I made during the trip.
- Seoul has to be one of the most hilly cities I've ever visited, and I was surprised considering how big the city is. I thought it would be more flat like Tokyo, but there are hills everywhere and they are aren't just tiny little things either. More often then not they are fairly steep and long. There are a number of residential areas in these steep hills throughout the city and they are fantastic to walk through to see the beautiful terraced houses and experience the "real Seoul."
- No matter where we were in the city there were always an incredibly diverse group of people: young, old, couples, all guy/girl groups, families etc. In Japan many place you go to tend to be frequented by a certain group of people. You don't see girl only groups in ramen shops, or young people in snack bars, but it seemed like wherever we were or went there was always a healthy mix of different groups of people and I found it very refreshing.
- Before I came to Japan and went to Tokyo first hand, the image I had in my mind of what Tokyo was (outside of famous areas who's appearance I already knew) is basically what Seoul is.
- Seoul, unlike any other big city I've ever been in is CHEAP! The subway costs 1000 won ($1 CAD, 120 yen), you can get a great meal basically anywhere for 5-6000 won, and even a huge baller-style meal is at most about 10000 won a person. If you want to drink as well a bottle of soju (350ml) is 3000 won and beer (750ml bottle) is 4000. The hotel (which was actually like a little apartment) cost about 50000 won a night and was right in the heart of the city with easy access to everything.
- Driving in Seoul seems a lot easier than in Japan. Despite the volume of cars the roads are a lot wider. There are actually a number of roads that run throughout the city that are 10 lanes or wider. There is a ton of horn honking though and taxi drivers at night seem to go colourblind and run red lights like crazy.
- Unlike Tokyo, which I get sick of after 2 or 3 days, spending 4 days in Seoul I only wished my trip had been longer. It seems like Seoul is a very easy city to live in. Of course, I really have no idea about daily life there, as a tourist, but I was thinking about all the English teachers here who lost there jobs when Nova closed down and I got the impression that if you were just coming to either Japan or Korea just for the hell of it as an English teacher with no knowledge of the country's native language or customs, Seoul would be much easier to get used to than Tokyo or Osaka and Japanese life.
- We travelled out of Nagoya airport rather than Osaka because it's much closer to Shiga and Keiko had never been there and was probably the best decision we madeaside from actually going to Korea. The place is deserted compared to Osaka airport. Leaving we made it through check-in, security, and to the gate in probably 30 minutes. Coming back we cleared immigration, got our bags and made it through the final security to the train in a similar time. From now on, all my trips will be from Nagoya unless it's impossible to do so. Easily the most hassle-free airport experience of my life since I have been old enough to travel on my own.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
My Kingdom
Today was a gorgeous day. Abnormally warm, with plenty of sunshine. A couple of farmers were busy plowing up the field behind my house since about 8 o'clock so even though I would have loved to, the sound of their tractors prevented me from sleeping in. It was probably for the best though. After taking care of some laundry and hanging it out to dry, I set off on a bike ride. Today's ride was different from most. Usually, I head west towards the city, because I have some shopping to do or some place I'd like to go. Today with nothing to do I went east, camera in hand, to where my school and the other elementary schools are for a leisurely afternoon ride.
Some kids were practicing baseball at one elementary school. Some seniors were getting ready to play a game of ground golf at my school. A couple of 3rd year girls were hanging out in the shade near the school ground, hanging out and eating bento lunches they bought at the local classic Japanese-style restaurant. After chatting with them a little I kept riding, heading for a nearby river though the main village where most of my students live. When I reached the river I found my way down to the riverside and ate the lunch I had purchased just before at the convenience store.
After lunch, I headed towards the local temple, Eigenji. It's famous around Kansai (maybe Japan?) for it's fall foliage, and even though most of the trees are still quite green, there was a fairly decent crowd around there. I didn't bother going to look though, as I plan on heading back in a few weeks when it's peak season. I turned around and headed back at a relaxed pace taking it all in.
I made this image in paint by pieceing together 5 or 6 other pictures I had taken from the same spot. There's some discrepancies in the alignment, but I wasn't planning on making a panorama, and have no idea how you actually do it right, so all things considered I think it's decent. It's about a 180 degree view of the area where all of my schools are which I have titled "My Kingdom"
Some kids were practicing baseball at one elementary school. Some seniors were getting ready to play a game of ground golf at my school. A couple of 3rd year girls were hanging out in the shade near the school ground, hanging out and eating bento lunches they bought at the local classic Japanese-style restaurant. After chatting with them a little I kept riding, heading for a nearby river though the main village where most of my students live. When I reached the river I found my way down to the riverside and ate the lunch I had purchased just before at the convenience store.
After lunch, I headed towards the local temple, Eigenji. It's famous around Kansai (maybe Japan?) for it's fall foliage, and even though most of the trees are still quite green, there was a fairly decent crowd around there. I didn't bother going to look though, as I plan on heading back in a few weeks when it's peak season. I turned around and headed back at a relaxed pace taking it all in.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
太郎防宮アンド瓦屋寺
This is ridiculously old, but one weekend maybe a month ago I decided to take in some of the local shrines and temples. I'm not particularly religious, but hands down one of my favorite things about being in Japan is being able to go and visit temples and shrines wherever you are. I recently read somewhere that even though there are convenience stores EVERYWHERE in Japan, there are still more Buddhist temples in the country. I found this to be quite reassuring to me, but I'm not exactly sure in what way it was.
On this weekend I decided to head west to Tarobogu, a shrine built on the side of a local mountain. The shrine guardian is a tengu called Tarobo, and the shrine god is the god of victory, so when I was there I saw many wooden prayer cards with things like "Let me pass the high school/university entrance exams" or "Help me find true love" written on them. I always enjoy reading a few of the prayers written down by previous visitors. There's usually a couple of really unique ones, but this time most were pretty casual and nothing really stood out. Another attraction of the shrine is what is known as the "wedded rock," Two large rocks with a split between them just wide enough for a person to pass through. It's said that if you have evil in your heart the rocks will come together and crush you as you pass through which leads to a lot of children running through trying to avoid being crushed. I managed to make it through walking at a leisurely pace unscathed.
After visiting Tarobogu, it was still rather early so I headed around to the other side of the mountain where there was a Buddhist temple called Kawarayaji. When I got there I was the only one there and felt a little like an interloper who had discovered a hidden hideaway meant only for a select group of people. The temple and it's surroundings are all covered by a canopy of tall trees and moss covered the majority of the stone walkways around the temple. Around the rear there is an old stone staircase which stretches for what seems about 2 kilometers and takes you down through a forest down the mountain and back into the town. I couldn't make it all the way because I had left my bike on the opposite side of the mountain near the bottom of Tarobogu and had to turn around before I had gone too far, but I have to say that Kawarayaji and its environs have to be some of the most etherally serene I've experienced. It reminded me a lot of my time in Shikoku in the mountains doing the temple tour.
On this weekend I decided to head west to Tarobogu, a shrine built on the side of a local mountain. The shrine guardian is a tengu called Tarobo, and the shrine god is the god of victory, so when I was there I saw many wooden prayer cards with things like "Let me pass the high school/university entrance exams" or "Help me find true love" written on them. I always enjoy reading a few of the prayers written down by previous visitors. There's usually a couple of really unique ones, but this time most were pretty casual and nothing really stood out. Another attraction of the shrine is what is known as the "wedded rock," Two large rocks with a split between them just wide enough for a person to pass through. It's said that if you have evil in your heart the rocks will come together and crush you as you pass through which leads to a lot of children running through trying to avoid being crushed. I managed to make it through walking at a leisurely pace unscathed.
After visiting Tarobogu, it was still rather early so I headed around to the other side of the mountain where there was a Buddhist temple called Kawarayaji. When I got there I was the only one there and felt a little like an interloper who had discovered a hidden hideaway meant only for a select group of people. The temple and it's surroundings are all covered by a canopy of tall trees and moss covered the majority of the stone walkways around the temple. Around the rear there is an old stone staircase which stretches for what seems about 2 kilometers and takes you down through a forest down the mountain and back into the town. I couldn't make it all the way because I had left my bike on the opposite side of the mountain near the bottom of Tarobogu and had to turn around before I had gone too far, but I have to say that Kawarayaji and its environs have to be some of the most etherally serene I've experienced. It reminded me a lot of my time in Shikoku in the mountains doing the temple tour.
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