MY FIRST CHRISTMAS IN jAPAN

As Christmas was fast approaching, I was exuberant to share the news that my son and his girlfriend were coming for a two week visit.  My friends and students, my teachers, and the office personnel were well aware of this major event, and no doubt noted my improved spirits.  I did not notice their attention to the matter so much, because I was pretty busy making preparations, but also busy with a new lifestyle.

Through October and November I found that almost every weekend was filled with plans for a party with ALTs or with students from Nancy’s adult classes or the Japanese friends I had made on my own.  Soon outings to restaurants, karaoke, (which will have its own blog post eventually), and parties in some of  the Japanese friends' homes were on the calendar. In addition there were parties with my office, weekends spent out of town with other ALTs and corresponding visits from them so I could show off my apartment and the lovely little town of Kaseda.

Sharing weekends with the other ALTs who hosted parties or just had  me over to tour their town were so much fun and so interesting.  We shared strategies about work, clothes, shopping, including ordering from catalogs and places in Tokyo with goods from home (remember, Internet  was not readily available then).  Despite the fact most of the other ALTs were considerably younger, we had a lot of the same problems, and as we approached December the problems were being resolved, and most of us were happily settling into a lifestyle.   I was still very much unaware of the metamorphosis; but I was emerging as a social butterfly.

 
Jason and Debbie arrived from the U.S. via Northwest Airlines which flew into Fukuoka, a few hours by overnight bus from Kaseda.  The arrival would not be uneventful, but blog readers, that will be left for another post, a blog worthy unto itself, so I will not dwell on that now.  For reasons to  be revealed later, I took the shorter day bus up and met them.  We arrived back in Kaseda in fairly good shape to spend their first day resting, then taking in the town and eating at Southern Cross for their first  evening.

It seemed that everyone I knew was waiting for them, too. They got a chance to meet both Brian and Nancy before they left town over the coming holiday.  From the first day they learned to bow, and the smiles from everyone came naturally.  More importantly, and so surprising and memorable, my new friends wanted to share with us their town and their time and their holiday of the New Year.  We were overwhelmed by offers of dinner, lunch, and many different trips to see things, many that I had not yet seen myself.

 We started at my education office on Monday. One of the head members volunteered to take us to see Sakurajima, the volcano in the city on the last day of the year.  I started checking off the calendar dates like the most popular girl at an old formal dance where the dance card gets filled up.  The offers were numerous, but all different.  If I had sat down with a tour guide with a private car and tried to chart the days to the fullest, I could not have done as well as all the friends who were stepping forward with ideas of how they would entertain us and take us to all the best places. 

A principal at Kaseda High School started us off on Tuesday with a trip to the top of ChoyaSan, a nearby mountain with a million dollar view of Kaseda and the sea in the other direction.  We did that over the lunch hour.  When we returned, my head English teacher accompanied  us to a small separate building with traditional tatami floors used for formal Tea Ceremonies.  We were served the tea and small cakes in a formal and traditional manner.  If you ever have the chance to visit Japan, there are ample opportunities to experience this cultural art, and it should not be missed.

The adult class Nancy taught invited us to  a dinner party, a catered affair in a private room where we ate all the best foods, talked and took turns at the microphone trying to embarrass each other.  My son started it by not understanding that karaoke and singing acapella are very different things.  He said I wanted to sing them a song, which I very ardently did not.  I was on the spot!  What could I do?  I regressed to childhood and sang a very short version of "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?"  It's still embarrassing!

Some of the many members of the Adult English Class from Kawanabe.

It was a true feast, though some of us were not as excited about sushi.

I got back at Debbie and Jason by making them waltz to "Moon River", which I did sing later because after we went to the dinner party we went to the "nikai", the second party which is usually karaoke.  We had the grandest time and got back after midnight.  The Japanese party hearty!  I often found it hard to keep up and stay up as long as the partying went on, and I was glad to see it was not just because of my age.  Jason and Debbie begged me to leave one day on the calendar completely blank and I promised that I would.

Yes, we do not wear shoes in the karaoke room!  It's so much easier to let loose without your shoes.  A little wine or beer helps, too.  It especially helped me.  I waited for them to relax and drink a little in hopes my singing would sound better.

One member of the adult class signed up to take us out on their fishing boat to help pull in the day's catch.  Iffy!  It's cold in Kaseda in December, and my queasy stomach predicted possibly dire consequences.  But the crew of 3 took us out carefully, early in the morning, to give us an overview of their work every day.   

The haul included belt fish, meter long, very skinny fish that they kept, and a nasty skate with a wicked tail that they immediately closed in around and shouted "Abunai"  danger - to us to keep us away from it.   We got the message and stayed on our seats, watching as they gingerly got hold of it and threw it back.The three of us and the best of the catch for the two hours we were out in somewhat choppy seas were bundled into a warm car and then whisked back to our apartment.  Our gifts of the day were two small lobster tails and some delicious white fish that led to a wonderful and easy dinner.

Typical village fishing fleet.  I saw almost no pleasure  craft of any kind except in the cities.

Photo op with Koze San at scenic Nomaike after the fishing expedition.

Nothing tastes better for dinner than what you caught yourself, or at least you were there when it was pulled in.

Arimura San and his wife, my dearest friends, were delighted whenever we stopped by their optometry shop, and he chose a morning before the shop opened to take us on the scenic route because he "had a plan".  We started out before daylight to head south to Kaimondake, where we would view the "Rising Sun".

Magical moments in the Land of the Rising Sun.

We would follow the coastal road north around the mountains' edge to Akime,  looking down at the beautiful sea to visit one of the the most famous spots in south Kyushu.  This would be where "You Only Live Twice" was filmed in 1967.  Sakurajima was the volcano that was also used as a backdrop as a helicopter flew over the city of Kagoshima for the movie.  Another volcano was used for other scenes where the plot was coming to a climax inside a volcano.

Arimura San with Jason and Debbie in Akime.  Maybe we all get to live twice if we stay open to adventures!

This was Arimura San's favorite place, one of many places in nature.  Bonotsu's bay was clear and protected.  He would often snorkel here to see the coral and fishes below.  But it's way too cold in December for snorkeling!

 We finished at KinpoSan, my favorite mountain.  Rather than walk from the bottom, a real climb, we drove to the shrine near the top.  Jason and Debbie joined Arimura San and I as we rang the bell and clapped twice and took a moment for silent prayer. Then the four of us climbed up to the incredible views unfolding before us in all directions, views of mountains and seas.  To the South we could see Kaimondake, a most perfect dormant volcano in the image (shape) of Mt. Fuji, the same mountain we had visited to see the "Rising Sun".  North we could see beautiful Sakurajima, a live and smoking volcano, and nearest to the southwest, my other local favorite Nomadake.  

A small shrine at the very top of the mountain.  A full shrine was based in the parking lot below.

Arimura San had brought hot drinks and buns and we rested and talked.  He thought Jason, with a walking cane and long hair and beard looked like Jesus on the Mount.   For years Jason would later joke that the Japanese thought he was God.  But it was his way of saying how well he was treated by so many there.  It was also a great relief to him because make no mistake.  His intentions in coming here were not just to have an exotic vacation with his girlfriend.  He was here to make darn sure his mother was safe and well.  And he was delighted to see what fun I was having, like no other time in my life. 

Before we left the mountain top the the kids took the bags with our trash and picked up the other trash left by those who had come before us.  As clean as the people of Japan were and as proud of their heritage, I was often struck by the litter many chose to leave behind them.  Arimura San was surprised that two foreigners cared enough to pick up others' trash.  Perhaps, as often happens, it seemed normal for the trash to be there, and was somewhat invisible to him. But to us it marred the natural beauty, and the cleanup took only minutes. 

On another day Arimura San took us and a British couple from neighboring Kinpo to lunch at an old favorite diner type hole in the wall very close to my apartment.  It was to sample a Japanese favorite, okonomiaki, which is a pancake batter poured over your choice of grilled shrimp, pork or squid, and the batter has a healthy helping of chopped cabbage in it.  A bit of mayonnaise, a sprinkling of nori, dried seaweed, and katsuobushi, shavings of smoked tuna are added as toppings along with a spoon or two of a sweet soy sauce.  

The platters are filling and fun, a favorite of both old and young.  But Debbie's platter was just a little different for when she moved it, a rather large cockroach darted out.  It was the first I had ever seen in Japan, but not the first for the owner.  She promptly whacked it with a dishrag and slid it very unceremoniously to the floor.  Well, with our best poker faces but with pretty wide eyes, we continued to eat away and delayed laughter and all other expressions until later.  The others down to the side hadn't seen what happened but we continue to laugh about it to this day.  ( I never did go back there to eat again, though.)

Friday evening after work we had a party at our house.  It was a  sit down affair meaning that a few students, the office girls and several friends joined us for a party seated on cushions around my kotatsu, the quilt covered table with an electric heated globe underneath to keep legs warm in the cold weather.  I always felt that those rumors of the Japanese who are a bit cool and not friendly was completely dispelled by sitting down on the floor with each other.  I have never found anything more equalizing and friendly.  Add a warm blanket with everyone gathered around and it's not just warm on the legs, it's heart warming. 

Students, friends and office workers come to the party in my apartment.  I loved my cozy apartment!

Beautiful Tazuko San, a real friend, and her daughter

On the weekend, our friends, the Yoshinagas, from Kawanabe and the adult class, took us to a full day of activities in Ibusuki, to the south and on the water.  We went past fields of drying daikon, large white radish, and stopped for photos.  

Ibusuki is at the southeast end of Kyushu Island's Satsuma Peninsula, and it's a semi-tropical vacation destination.

 Then we went to the featured attraction, a sand bath in the lava sands that are heated by pockets of thermal heat from the volcanic action in the area.  Hot springs and baths are a huge part of Japanese culture, and we would sample those as well, but Ibusuki is known for the hot sands.  We put on yukata and walked out and lay down.  Workers gently shoveled hot black sand over us. We lay there in the heat until it seemed unbearable, then stood up and  shook ourselves off.  I only lasted 10 minutes, Debbie about 15 and Jason a full twenty.  After then washing off inside, we were whisked off to a lunch at Tousenkyo, a restaurant famous for somennagashi (cold noodles served with  a special moving water bath).  

The somen noodles are picked up with chopsticks dipped into a circular rotating water bath centered in the table, so all can dip into the water at the same time.  The water rotates counter clockwise, so guess what that means?  If you are a lefty, and I am, the noodles get pulled out of the chopsticks by the fast moving water and you have to try again.  It was frustrating but very funny.

(I have heard that they have some tables set up just for those who are left-handed.  But I would have been eating all by myself!) The taste of the noodles was excellent as they get dipped into a sauce, but I think I left hungry.  Chalk up another memorable day! We were again chauffeured back home where we could crawl into bed and peacefully enjoy a good night's sleep before the next day!

A typical feast of somen with additional dishes.

I think Christmas Day would fall under the "Your wish is my command" category.  I had mentioned we have baked turkey for dinner in explanations that mesmerized all of my students and teachers about how we celebrate Christmas.  My Oura Jr. High school teacher surprised me by saying all of us and his family were going to his neighbors' house for Christmas.  Taeko San and her English husband, Graham, were going to host the feast, and she had ordered a turkey that would be fixed English style for all of us.  Truly, the surprises of this Christmas vacation did not stop.  They were hosting the teachers' family of 3 and the 3 of us, so we could have turkey! 

  Taeko San was the perfect Christmas hostess.  Bring on the turkey!

We had the most marvelous time, and the food and the company were wonderful.  But yet another surprise came after dinner.  We were talking about Japanese onsen, (baths) and I had not been to one since the summer in the mountains.  And, of course, Jason and Debbie had never been.  Immediately upon hearing that, Taeko San suggested we would go to the onsen not far from my apartment.  My teacher was embarrassed, thinking we might harbor Western inhibitions.  But Taeko San insisted and chided, "Of course, they will love the onsen.  We must go."  And she quickly gathered towels together for all of us, and off we went.

This onsen was divided as most are, women to one side and men to the other.  We undressed and washed at an outside onsen, the air brisk and the hot water inviting.  Some older women came to touch my skin, a little strange, but Taeko San chattered at them and waved them off.  They meant no harm, and were actually admiring me;  they had never seen a foreigner at the onsen before.  We became absorbed in the beauty and serenity of the natural stone and quiet in the night.  We had had a relaxing time after a big holiday meal,  The onsen guaranteed a good night's sleep, and it had been a Christmas like no other.

Another day the Yoshinagas, from the adult class in Kawanabe took us to nearby Chiran to see a kamikaze museum and the streets of the samurai homes that are centuries old.  The museum and garden with hundreds of cherry trees and stone lanterns commemorates what had been a training and departure site for kamikaze bombers to fly south to target U.S. ships in WWII.  This place is beautiful, but very somber; and we tried to absorb yet another side of this far away place that was now home. We were on a whirlwind sightseeing tour of the entire area, and the scenery, as well as the history, was amazing.

Chiran's somber kamikaze museum is preserved for visitors with a garden, hundreds of lanterns and many cherry trees to remember so many young pilots that took off in WWII but never returned.

On the last day of the year, Iwamoto Sensei, from the Education Office was taking us on a tour around the park of lava and rocks from a major eruption in the 1940's of Sakurajima, the active volcano across the bay from the city of Kagoshima.   

After the hour's drive to the city, we all had lunch at  one of his favorites, and mine, too - Kentucky Fried Chicken!  I may not eat it often here, but to me, for those 4 years, any stops at McDonald's and the Colonel's were like gourmet food to me.  Truly, we didn't have it in Kaseda, so I didn't often have the opportunity to sample what became comfort food in a far away place.

I found I had misunderstood Iwamoto Sensei when he said that he and his wife would take us to his family home.  Instead, we went to the cemetery where they would take the time to clean the family grave site, put fresh flowers on the memorial, and say prayers for the ancestors for the New year starting the next day.  This is very traditional, and they took their time and swept, scrubbed and polished the monument that was built to hold the remains of their family members from recent to very old times.  It was personal and we stood to the side and remained very quiet, appreciating that we had been allowed to witness what most tourists do not get to experience.  I was touched they allowed us to share this.

Out of respect I did not even think of taking any photos but saved  that for the next part of the tour, the well-known Sakurajima, smoking, steaming, and beautiful but a very active live volcano.  On the way to the fields of lava, I took some photos of something they said was biwa.  Later, my dictionary would inform me a biwa is a loquat, but I still didn't know what that fruit is. While I could see the trees were filled with them, each fruit was neatly wrapped in white paper, to keep the ash from ruining them.  When I finally tasted one months later, it was a luscious, soft-pitted fruit, perhaps similar to apricot.  It grows in California but is too delicate for shipping.

Sakurajima was amazing.  First we saw a torii, the large T-shaped supports that we would normally walk under to enter the area around a shrine.  But because of the explosion of the eruption, it was buried up to the top few inches, so instead we looked down on it.  Rocks the size of my house were all around the park area, laying where they had for the last 50 years or so, after exploding into the air and falling into the spots we found them in now.  There were some buildings with maps, brochures and souvenirs.  We read and learned what we could about how a beautiful active volcano could turn violent and endanger so many living in the area. 

Impressive Sakurajima

We also observed that people still lived in areas below the immediate park area. Young school children here wear helmets in various class colors instead of the the typical baseball caps worn by others in elementary schools around Japan.  And we saw many three-sided, open concrete bunkers where anyone could run for shelter if Sakurajima decided to erupt again.  This volcano is still very active, with smoke and ash blowing out almost all the time.  I have mentioned the ash falls on laundry, flowers, gardens etc. and that if it is a bad day, an umbrella helps keep it off you when you are outside.

Lava rocks the size of houses erupted out of the volcano in 1949.

We had seen so much in one day, and we were grateful again for how generous this couple had been with their holiday time.  Our glimpse into the present at Kentucky Fried Chicken contrasted with the somber visit to cleanse the family grave, and then visit the dramatic volcano.  

We were filled with thoughts, including some of exasperation, when I found what  every photographer, no matter how amateur, never wants to admit.  Some of the day had not been captured; I had not put film in the camera!
 
The first day of the New Year dawned, and we got up and dressed  for another adventure.  My landlady, a graceful, white-haired widow had extended an invitation to join her family and two couples who turned out to be our neighbors for the feast that would be held at her home which was right behind my apartment.  New Year's day is the equivalent of Christmas day in the U.S.  Families travel long distances to celebrate together, and serve traditional favorites in a half day period of feasting, i.e. overeating.

It was an honor and a privilege to be included, yet again, to a huge family celebration and we tried to be really good guests, to try everything though we often didn't recognize what it was and to give our best smiles in thanks for their generosity.  Again, as customary to what I had seen in my first six months, we were all seated on the floor and many, many various dishes were displayed before us, everything from ozoni to kazunoko -soup to fish roe.  (I would have preferred soup to nuts.)

The hostess' son and daughter-in-law could speak a bit of English, and when her son asked if I would mind if he smoked, I said no.  But would he mind if a didn't finish the fish roe?  It was gray in color and very bitter.  I believe it came from herring.  I just could not handle it.  He smiled and said that would be o.k. not to eat it.  Whew!

New Year's Day family dinner with Kariatsumari San and her family and friends.

But as had happened throughout the course of my months of adventure in Japan, and as even Jason and Debbie had discovered in just a two week vacation, the best was to be a surprise to all of us, and totally spontaneous.  I think it would come under Debbie's "my wish was their command".  She mentioned she loved kimono patterns, and would love to learn more about them and how they are worn.  Hey, Presto.  "We will arrange to meet you at a friend's tomorrow.  She has many kimono and is an expert at dressing people in them."  And, so there we were.  Plans were made for the time to meet,  directions to the friend's house given, and we made our best bows and repeated arrigatoes as we left a feast given by such a gracious hostess.  

The next day all three of us were "dressed" in kimono.  This is actually quite a prolonged activity because of all the unseen under-trappings that are involved with making the kimono straight around the bottom and the correct length.  Strips of lace and material are wrapped around the kimono which is really  quite long, to shorten it and pull it up in the right places.  Then it is draped down over and tied around you again, and finally, the large silk belt called an obi is tied around all of that and given a perfect bow in the back.  One needs a lot of patience to dress another person in this way, and our friends from the day before and their friends were both patient and full of fun.  

After about 2 hours the three of us were declared ready to go about town.  Since most businesses were closed for the New Year's holiday, and families were still at home visiting with distant relatives and eating yet again, we were almost "all dressed up with no place to go".  But not to worry, we went for a fabulous dinner at Southern Cross.  So fitting, our last dinner on the town, and ever my favorite place.  The master chef/owner was shocked and smiling widely when he saw us enter.  Seeing 3 foreigners together in one day in a small out of the way town is enough of a sight, without them being dressed up in kimono.

We were dressed up and ate at my favorite, Southern Cross.  This was the master chef and owner.  It is the only time I ever saw him sit down.

We ate our fill and went home for the kids to start thinking about packing up and heading home.  There were things to sort through and their next day was their "free" day.  I had kept my promise and no plans had been made.  The knock on our door the next morning changed that, however.  Kawahara San, an office worker in Kaseda High School, came in bowing and asking in excellent English, which was his hobby, "Won't you come to dinner at my apartment tonight?.  My wife would be honored to cook for all of you.  And she is a wonderful cook."  I was speechless, and looked at Jason who was looking at Debbie.  He spoke rather like a robot, but he got the words out.  "Sure, we would really like that."  Sometimes, you do what's right, and who could say no to such a kind gesture?  All I could say was,  "O.K., now you can see why we had such a busy schedule since you arrived!"

The next day they toured town and picked up the last of the souvenirs they wanted, including a nice kimono style quilted jacket to thank me and keep me warm in the coming cold months.  They took a last walk around Takeda Jinja, ancient, reverent, with those huge trees that had lived for hundreds of years.  In the evening, we went to the Kawaharas and had a great time.  Again the offerings of good food was enchanced by the warmth of both their friendship and the kotatsu while sitting on the floor.

And then we went home to sleep for the last night of their wild and wonderful, hardly planned vacation that had included so many different experiences with so many different people that took us all to wonderful places.  We could never say enough to thank them all and we remain very appreciative of the kindnesses we received. 

                           "Mountains, fire, water
                            Ten thousand kindnesses
                             ALTs love Japan!" 

As a note to my regular readers, I am so sorry that it took so long to get this post out on my blog.  I wish you all a very Happy New Year.  As always, please feel free to leave a comment. 

DANCING IN THE STREETS - KAGOSHIMA'S OHARA MATSURI

Kagoshima sponsors the Ohara Matsuri (festival) in early November, and it has been holding this festival for over 60 years.  It is famous nationally for the sheer numbers involved as well as for the colorful dancing.  The long course runs through the main street on a wide boulevard down one direction, then turning around and coming back to the start repeating the process for a few hours, over and over on the same street.   Twenty thousand, yes, that is 20,000, dancers belonging to groups from all over Japan come to dance in kimono, hapi coats or costumes.  (Think Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena California for comparison).  The music for this festival is a very old folk song or two about old time activities when the rice planting was harvested or the miners' day was done.  Performers, over 20,000 dancers and some taiko drum teams, parade down the wide picturesque boulevard which is planted with many flowers, and keep dancing from about 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  

The ALTs were invited to participate in a group for the event, along with any other interested gaijin (foreigners) in the ken. Shawn, an ALT then based north of the city in the Kirishima Mountains, was going to teach the ALT's the routine and lead them through the parade.  She had spent her first two years on Tanegashima, an island close to southern Kagoshima and the location of Japan's space program. 

Never one to pass up a dance, I decided to join in.  Nancy also wanted to join in, and we had Richard come along from a neighboring town,Chiran, where he taught in a private school.  Shawn gave us a practice session, the steps and arm movements imitated the volcano, growing plants and digging rice fields, or something to that effect, and she performed them quite gracefully.  We did our best but we all took turns flailing the wrong arm or turning the wrong direction at times.  Eventually,  we came together most of the time, but never quite got near the grace we would see in the other groups, who had, of course, practiced for years.  But again, our prowess was not going to be judged here.  We simply had to show up and show that we cared about their event, and that we were interested in this culture that was new to us.  For that small gift to them and a few hours of dancing tirelessly and not necessarily gracefully, we were loved.

Gungho Gaijin ready to hit the streets dancing!  The group represented the U.S., Canada and England.

This is how the dance begins.....

Many groups came from all over Japan to perform, and they wore beautiful kimono and elaborate obi (waistbands) or wonderful hats, or some sort of coordinated costumes, and the men usually wore hapi coats with their groups name across the back.  Our ALT group would also wear hapi coats in blue with dark pants.  The Japanese performers would wear tabi (socks with toes).  Other than Shawn who also wore the tabi, the rest of us ALT's would mostly wear our standards, something by which I could always identify an ALT, tennis shoes with shoestrings. 

Japanese rightly wear slip-ons, or loafer type shoes as they step out of them gracefully whenever they enter their homes or someone else's home.  The ALT's bend over, butt up, trying to get their shoes untied to remove them, and then take an extra couple of minutes, butt up, trying to get them back on.  Yet we ALT's resisted the easier shoes, and stuck with those shoestrings.

So, I mentioned there would be 20,000 dancers, didn't I?  Well, that's more than ten times as many people in my hometown in the U.S.  And if there were 20,000 dancers, there must have been 500,000 there to watch us.  (I looked up this festival and these are the true figures, no exaggeration.)  It was a big, big day for Kagoshima. ( Kagoshima City's population is over 600,000.)

Groups are lining up.  The matsuri is about to begin.

The dancing groups were in rows of 6 or more abreast as we lined up that day and started dancing.  We, about 10 or 12 of us,  looked a little, well, foreign, in our hapi coats, some gangly guys, some women with a bit of color on our cheeks,  some of us short or tall or blond or dark.  Yes, definitely the foreigners.  But we came to have fun and we did.  I have no idea how many times we went around the long oval course of about 1 mile over those few hours.  We went around many times, and sometimes out of the crowd someone would step forward with a tray of sake in little cups.  I really wanted WATER.  And I understand that now they offer water, but this was in the old days, 20 years ago.  I simply had to endure.

A colorful group gets lots of attention.

I just love the hats!

In addition to the crowd and volunteers occasionally offering sake, one man jumped out to take pictures, right in front of ME!  He was smiling and saying something, but I couldn't make out a single word.  Between the music, noise of the crowd, and just trying to follow Shawn's actions in front of me, I could not have understood him if I did speak the language.  We went around the course again, and the same man jumped out at me again.  It was almost funny, but after the 3rd, 4th and 5th time I was getting somewhere between annoyed and paranoid.  Finally, he must have left, and I forgot all about him.

Until I returned to my assigned day at Kaseda High School, and the man suddenly appeared in front of me again in the teachers' room.  So, after all that, he was a teacher at my base high school.  I sat at desks in a row with the English teachers, while he sat somewhere behind in other rows of desks for a total of about 35 to 40 teachers.  I could see why I had not recognized him.  

He had gone to the Ohara Matsuri, then was suddenly surprised to see his school's ALT dancing there.  He must have been pretty shocked, but he happily preserved that day and handed me a packet of the photos he took.  I am pretty sure he had shown them to all the teachers before I came to the school that week.  Because as I looked around the teachers' room, all I saw were approving smiles.  Now I understood why he had kept jumping out at me!  What a nice surprise, and I have the pictures to remember that day even now. 

Only four more hours to go!

I learned a couple of important things during these early days.  One is that what we did was seen by others, and, like a small town, our actions were reported on and shared.  The impressions we made would stand us in good stead if we acted responsibly and courteously to others.  Also, although I didn't understand the photographer, he turned out to be a very kind person.  I would find more and more goodness in my life in Japan like this, and I learned to apply that to the rest of my life.  Simple kindness, one on one, led me along my journey in Japan, and I discovered a belief to live by.  Kindness is the same in any culture.  It doesn't require translation.

 

This photo is copied from this link which contains a brief description and history of the festival. It shows the width of the boulevard, the city of Kagoshima, and some of the dancers.  One side of the street is coming toward the photographer and the other side is going in the opposite direction.   https://ohmatsuri.com/en/articles/kagoshima-ohara-matsuri

You can find more of the Ohara Matsuri from various years at these websites.

wonderful youtube clip: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz6sSpqaH_k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiV19xDSi2k

 with Taiko drummers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNy6IgJaNjQ  

Also, to all readers, please consider leaving me a comment.  Do you like reading this?  Have you read the other posts, or are you a first time reader?  I would love to hear from you.  Also, since there is a Google translator, please leave your comment in your native language, if you feel you can express yourself better that way.  Thank you!

FESTIVALS IN KASEDA

Previously, I mentioned a Kaseda Matsuri or festival, with much food and dancing and all the local families coming out to celebrate and meet their friends, just like a fireman's carnival in the states.  The festivals were held on the street right below my apartment so I was always aware that something would be going on, and I would be right in the middle of it.

On this early Saturday morning in September the hammering woke me up before 8.  I looked outside, and it appeared they were building a large, shallow rectangular pool.  I assumed they were making a wading area for the children.  I had early on observed the Japanese loved their children and grandchildren.  I went about my chores and didn't pay much attention outside.  I had wash to do and cleaning, and the usual weekend tasks.  Suddenly I heard shrieking and screaming and had to run to the windows to peek outside.  

Well, it was a shallow wading pool, but its purpose was not just for the kiddies.  Instead, farm-raised sea eels had been released into the pool.  Then the kids went in and caught them.  Their catch could be taken home and eaten.  Silly me!  I really had to remember that in Japan I was truly a tabla rosa, a blank slate and I knew nothing even when I thought I had it all figured out.  The eel pool was a great big success, and parents and kids were happy about it.  I was glad I had observed it from a distance, as I am not a big fan of live eels.  But I have eaten unagi, the eel that is served with a thick, heavy teriyaki sauce, and I am a fan of that.  If you put sugar and soy sauce on just about anything, it becomes edible.
 
Once school started,, some of the students were not so shy.  They knew where may apartment was and they had met me in their classes.  A friendly student named Tomomi came up the steps and got me to go downstairs an hour or so after all the fun in the pool had ended.  

We got in line with another student, her friend, Shian, and I got my first matsuri  (festival) dancing lessons.  Everyone was joining into the groups of practiced dancers and having fun.  I didn't feel like a foreigner doing this.  I had to remind myself again that this was a unique experience and to keep it for my memory bank.  But I fit in to a group of people of all ages having fun in the sun.  

If little kids can do the dance, I should be able to learn it, too.

"We start out like this....." ( My apartment is right behind me.)

Tomomi and another student, the fellow in the white pants, Shian, taught me the basics.  Tomomi lent me her hapi coat.

We then checked out the food booths.  No funnel cakes here, but something like them though not sweet called takoyaki were available.  They bake little muffins in small pans and inside each little muffin is a piece of tako (octopus).  They are a little chewy and can be found at festivals and roadside stands, similar to  hot dog stands.

But we went to a Tako on a Stick booth and ordered that instead.  They were cooked in teriyaki sauce and put on a stick.  Look out corn dogs!   Chewy, but like I said, sugar and soy sauce and I could eat it.  It wasn't bad at all.  If you go to live in a foreign place, you need to try to rid yourself of the "ick" factor.  You will have a much better time, although everyone has their limits.  One of the Kagoshima specialties was tori sashimi, raw chicken.  Even though I lived there for 4 years, I would never try it.

Tomomi and I eat Tako on a stick.  It's chewy, but quite good!

A tip on learning to read Japanese.  The top 4 symbols say Ka Se Da Shi  which means Kaseda City.  The symbols are written in hiragana characters.  The characters below are written in kanji.  It is very difficult to read Japanese because you need about 2,000 kanji characters to read the newspaper.  Highly educated academics need to be able to read 4,000 kanji.   Hiragana is an easier way to write all the separate sounds in Japanese, without using the pictorial like symbols taken from the Chinese characters.  Hiragana has over 200 symbols, which I learned to read while I was there, although I still didn't know the meanings of most words after I put the sounds together.  I only ever conquered a little over 200 kanji and remained basically illiterate the entire 4 years I was there.  

The six symbols in red say Ka se da Ma tsu ri in hiragana.

I studied the hiragana not only from books but by going to karaoke and reading the words while the others sang.  TV news and maps for weather helped with kanji, which then enabled me to use the bus and train system, as I could identify the cities names.  Of course, reading labels at the store finally helped me understand why the beef did not taste like beef in the US.  Half the time I was buying a pork and beef mix.

Some words use a mix of hiragana and kanji, so I could only read some of the syllables.  It was a huge challenge and while it was a barrier, I loved when I read something!  My first attempts were signs hanging in front of stores.  I don't know how many times I read ta ba ko (tobacco) to some disgust, since I have never used it.  But soon I could read un a gi, unagi (eel), so I was learning if ever so slowly.  There are also another set of symbols called kana, also over 200 in number.  I could also read all of these.  They are used to express foreign words, like ar bei to, from arbeit meaning work in German and arbeito was used for part time work.  If this sounds confusing, good!  It totally was.  Especially when the Japanese would know the word was a foreign one and they would expect me to recognize/translate it even though it could have been French or German, as in the case of arbeito.

From then on, if I was in town and there was a festival on the street below, I made it a habit to attend.  I was meeting enough people through school and at the restaurants and through the original friends, and Nancy and Brian that I could run into people and exchange greetings and have a reasonably good time even though I went out on my own.

My apartment was on the corner, second floor, of the building on the left, which gave me a bird's eye view of the street activities.

This is actually at a later matsuri.  I have my own hapi coat now.  I look happier because  I have confidence from dancing in the huge Ohara Matsuri in Kagoshima, which will be my very next blog post, and coming very soon.

Around this same time Nancy had started taking me to some of her adult evening classes that were in her list of duties.  These were women and a few men who were closer to my age and we could share conversation about  a lot of things we had in common.

Nancy was fluent in Japanese, but I could still add some ideas and lots of laughs with my hand motions if nothing else.  Some of these people became our best friends and would have us over to their houses often throughout our stay, to meet friends, enjoy a holiday, or to pass a cold winter's night with a hot pot of wonderfully cooked foods.  

I have never taken to a lot of the sashimi or raw foods, and one of my favorite memories was at one of these home parties, when I mentioned I wouldn't eat the raw oysters.  But I said I liked them fried.  I was sorry I mentioned that, in one way.  The hostess, Junko, couldn't move to the kitchen fast enough, while with another 10 or more guests coming, she quickly made some of the best fried oysters I ever ate, just for me.  I really had not meant that she should do that, and I still feel guilty that she went to the trouble.

However, I started getting used to a pattern here.  I might feel like I fit in; but I was different and I would always be a foreigner, especially in this rural area.  However, they wanted me to like them, their culture and their country, and, therefore, they would jump over hoops even though I didn't need them to do that to make me happy.  Sooner or later, a lot of us ALTs really liked this celebrity status they gave us so happily.   We did not realize at that time that we  would have reverse culture shock when we returned home.  In our own countries we would not really be that special any more.