* Harajuku *

My all time favorite area of Tokyo is Harajuku. That's were all the goths and punks hang out. It's also were you can find shops that sell goth, punk, lolita, and cyber style clothes- as well as music, accessories, and other cool stuff.

That's a pic from a street over pass of the bridge towards Meiji Shrine. That bridge is were all the "freaks" hang out. You can see them there from early in the mornings till the afternoons. Sundays are the best days to go, but you could usually spot some gothy kids on any day. The Japanese goth style is a bit different that of back home, but it's still cool. I love Harajuku!
Some of the Harajuku goths. Bronwen and I asked them for info about a goth club but they didn't seem to know any. Looks like their goth outings are limited to hanging on the bridge. Rather sad if you ask me. Oh well, they were really sweet- so it's all good.
I thought these three chicks looked cute in their traditional Japanese outfits turned goth.
As for shops, there's tons in the area, for lots of great buys-- unfortunantly at high prices. The shop workers are really cool,too-- and if you're interested in goth clubs, ask in the shops. We had no luck getting info on the bridge, but a cool chick at Stigmata gave us info about an event and she even drew us a map. Too bad, Bronwen and I still didn't find the club. Oh well-- maybe next time.

Yasakuni Shrine

I visited Yasakuni Shrine back in 1999, when I first visited Tokyo. At the time, I didn't know much about Japanese WWII history. So this time, I was very eager to go back. The shrine is where the souls of those that fought and died for Japan are enshrined.

There is a big controversy over the shrine, since some of the enshrined souls are recognized war criminals that took part in the atrocities that Japan commited during the war years. Countries that suffered at the hand of the Japanese army or navy (such as China and Korea) are greatly troubled by the Japanese ignorance of what really happened during the war years, the lack of an apology and remorse from the Japanese for what was done, and mostly for the honor and praise to those enshrined war criminals enshrined at Yasakuni shrine and the Prime Ministers repeated visits to the shrine.

People paying their respects to the souls at Yasakuni.

The main building of Yasakuni shrine.

This is called an Uma. People write their prayers or wishes on the board and then they hand it in the designated area of the shrine. This is not unique to Yasakuni Shine, most shrines in Japan sell umas. Sometimes you can stumble across an uma filled out in English. I once read one that prayed for the Yankees to win the next word series.

That's me in front of Yasakuni shrine

After studying about Japan's WWII history in grad school, I found my second visit to Yasakuni much more interesting. It's true that each country writes history in their perspective, so there will aways be differences between what one side and another said had happened. The muesum at Yasakuni shrine does it's best to twist the truth without making blunt lies. There is definantly room for interpritation.

Since I've been there last the muesum has been renovated and there are new wings that are entirely new. Over they years, I think Yasakuni shrine toned down their version of history. There remains lots of information that is not mentioned or down played at the muesum. I also found it interesting that 3 paragraphes of Japanese text were reflected in only about 2 sentences of English. I wish I could read Japanese better so that I can see if the translations match up. I'm sure there's some information that was not translated into English- and it makes me wonder why?

Shibuya

One of my favorite areas in Tokyo is Shibuya. Shibuya has lots of cool shops and tons of people. Actually it's got the most populated intersection in Japan, and possibly the world. The intersection in front of Shibuya station (if you take the Hachiko exit) is a six (?) way intersection. If you ever watched Lost in Translation you saw the intersection in the movie.

Anyway, besides loads of people, big city lites, lots of night clubs, love hotels, shops, and atmophere- Shibuya is home of my favorite resturant in all of Japan, the Christon Cafe.The Christon Cafe is theme resturant, with lots of christian paintings and statues but done in a gothy way. They have awesome food and for Tokyo the prices are rather good. There's actually a few of the resturants, one in Osaka city, one in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, and then there's the one in Shibuya. As far as I know the one in Shibuya is the biggest and in my opinion the best of the three. Check it out if you can.http://http://www.ug-gu.co.jp/restaurant/shop/christon-tokyo.htm



You might wonder why there's a statue and even an exit of Shibuya station named after a dog, Hachiko. So here it is the story of Hachiko. Years ago, Mr. Ueno, a university professor, got a puppy that he named Hachiko. Hachiko would walk with his master to Shibuya station daily, to see his owner off on his morning commute to the university. The walk became routine and

Hachiko would always walk to the station in the morning and then meet his master in the evening when he returned from work. When the professor died, Hachiko did not break the routine. Everyday he would walk to the station in the morning and from the station in the evening. Perhaps he was waiting for his master's return. The other commuters would see Hachiko daily and they began to feed him after the dog's owner died. The community in Shibuya was so touched by Hachiko's loyaltity. After the dog died, a statue of the dog was erected in front of Shibuya station so he could be remembered always.That's me next to the statue of the famous dog.

Tokyo!

In June each year the 1st year JETs that will be re-contracting have a big confrence. Although I'm not a 1st year JET, I still went up the weekend before with some other Fukui JETs. Since I've been to Tokyo numberous times, I decided tohit my favorite spots in Tokyo, and if there was time one place that I hadn't been before
That's me, Tina, and her friend, sorry I forgot his name.. again, at Bar Fur in Roppongi. At this point it was really late, or early- depending on how you look at it.

There's Colin with his champagne in one hand and showing off the time on his other hand. The time-- 4:42 AM.
We had gone out on our first night back in Tokyo. Rather than calling it an early night we stayed all night. This was the tail end of the night as we waited for the subways to start running again.
Our first night started with our check in at the new K's House in the Asakusa area of the city. I always stayed at K's in Kyoto so I was super excited when they openned on in Tokyo. The backpackers place had only opened the night before we arrived. Everything there is brand new and the staff are super friendly-- just like the other K's. I know where I'll be staying every time I visit Tokyo from now on. =)


We had a group of Fukui JETs so we booked a 6 person dorm room. There's Bronwen in her bottom bunk.



After we were all checked in, we had a hard time deciding what to do next. We settled on going to a beer garden in Asakusa. Unfortunantly, it wasn't open or there, or something. I don't really remember what the problem was, but Asakusa was lame (it's actually not bad- if you go in the day time. Check out Sennoji Temple and all the shops along the way between the temple gate and temple itself. Asakusa's other attraction-- the golden flame, although everyone just thinks it's a golden poo onto of a weird black building. So we headed over to Roppongi instead. Roppongi is full of bars, clubs, karaoke bars, and arcades. It's were lots of foreigners (non-Japanese peps) hang out. So our first night was spend walking around and hitting a few bars. I spent the rest of my time in Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. I also made a trip out to Yasukuni Shrine and to Roppongi Hills so I could check out the Mori building and the view from the top.

FJET Play!

After lots anf lots of practice we performed the "Mega Monogatari Mix-up" at the FIA on the last weekend in May. We had two show times, one on Saturday night and the other on Sunday afternoon. There was a good turn out and everyone loved the play. Personally, I was really worried about the play till about a day beforehand. I really didn't think we'd pull off a good job like last year. As it turned out, this year was better than the last. Everyone raved about how wonderful the play was, how great the story was, how well everyone acted, how colorful and nice the set and costumes were-- and everyone understood the story. No they didn't all understand the English, but everyone was able to follow the story. The best part however, was that we raised a lot of money for an orphange/school in Thailand.
I couldn't wait for the play to be over, but I have to say that that Sunday after the show I was a bit sad it was all over. I'm still not definant if I'll do the play next year-- but knowing myself-- I'm sure I will-- when have I ever passed up on theatre stuff?

Each year in May, Harue JHS students go on a school trip. The 3 nen sei students (equivalent to American high school freshmen) go to Tokyo. They go away for about three days, stay in a nice hotel, go signtseeing around the city, and of course visit Tokyo Disneyland. The 1 and 2 nen sei (American 7th/ 8th graders) also get to go on a school trip, but only for one day.

In Japanese schools the staff is also divided into 1, 2, and 3 nen sei teachers. This does not reflect at all how many years they have been at the school. The teachers are assigned a grade each year at the start of the year. Homeroom teachers are obviously placed in the same grade as their homeroom's year. During assemblies, enkais (work parties), and school trips the teachers sit in their grade group. For whatever reason, the ALT at my school is always assigned to the 1 nen sei group. So each year I go on the school trip with the 7th graders, and never with the 9th graders that go to Tokyo.

This May, the 3 nen sei teachers and students went to Tokyo as always. The 2 nen sei group went someplace (I don't even know where) and had a BBQ. While the 1 nen seis and I went to a park in Ishikawa (ken) Prefecture.

Ishikawa ken is just north of Fukui ken, and since I live in the north of Fukui it's not a very far. For our trip we went up to Matto Coast Seaside Park just outside of Kanazawa City. The drive was about an hour long, but the students entertained themselves on the buses. They sing songs, play cards, read books, talk to their friend, or sleep. Each homeroom had a separate bus. In my school there are 273 1 nen sei students, that brakes down into 9 homerooms- each with about 30 students. The homeroom teachers ride with on the bus with their class and the other teachers get assigned a class. I was placed with homeroom 1-2, definantly because the homeroom teacher is an English teacher.

Some 1 nen sei students eatting their bentos (box lunches).

After lunch, we played a few group games. The first game was a bit strange, so I'll do my best to explain. Everyone (students and teachers) recieved colored (different color per class) strips of plastic that they tucked in their pants to look like tails. 3 teams (classes) would spread out at different parts of the park. When a whisle was blown the teams out on the field had to get the tails of other players (students/teachers) and they had to try to keep theirs. After another whistle, the 3 teams returned and counted how many tails they had. Then the next 3 teams went out. After that there were finals for the the worst three teams, then those that came in 2nd in their group, and then the finals to determine the 1st,2nd, and 3rd place teams. My team didn't do so hot and we finished 8th (only one away from last place).

After this we played soccer, although again it was in groups of three teams. There were three goals on each field and a number of balls in play. I had alot more fun playing soccer cause I knew the rules and what to do-- although only the kids that liked soccer ran around the rest huddled in front of their goal to defend it.After the soccer game the students were free to run around and play, while the teachers just sat around and talked-- or snuck off to the beach for a smoke. I wandered around, talked with some students, played frisbee with one lonely student, and then volleyball with a few girls. I also wandered around a bit and took some pictures of the beach area.

As you can see the students have to wear a school uniform on the trip. They don't wear their regular uniforms. They were their gym uniforms. These are the same uniforms they were in Phys. Ed class and for cleaning time. Yes, everyday the students have "cleaning time," and they have to clean the school-- or pretend that they're cleaning.

Some of my 1 nen sei girls posing for a pic. =)

You probably also noticed that almost every kid or teacher in every picture is holdin up a peace sign. This is the "in thing" in Japan, and everyone does it in pics. I don't know why, nor do I know why I find myself doing it.

Students from class 1-2 on the bus.

The park we spent the entire school trip at had this big windmill (just for show, it doesn't work). Anyway, each class posed for a pic in front of it. That's homeroom 1-3 with their teacher, Mr. Kondo.

All the kids packed small tarps to sit on, a lunch, some snacks, and stuff to do.

Back at the school, after the trip we had to have a "closing the school trip ceremony." We also had one of these at the start of the day. The Japanese are very big on formal beginings of all non-daily events. We have an opening and closing cermony for the start and end of each semester, school trips, work parties, sports day, culture day, and everything else that you can think of. It was a bit strange at first, but I got used to it.

This year's school trip wasn't so interesting. Last year in May, we also went up to Ishikawa-ken but we went bowling and competed against each other and then we drove over to a big park for lunch and free time. Well, there will be another school trip in October-- maybe that one will be more interesting.

Ikebana Show

One of my co-workers studies ikebana, the japanese art of flower arrangement. Each year there is an Ikebana show in Sabae. This year, she invited me to see the show. She's a really nice teacher and she invites me to lots of stuff, but I usually can't make it. So this time, even though i'm not crazy about flowers, I figured I'd go. I didn't want her to think that I didn't like her, cause she's actually a really sweet Japanese lady. It turned out to be alot of fun, and the ikebana displays were really cool. Some were a bit strange but that was fine by me. I was expecting a bunch of similar looking flower arrangements and it was nothing like that. Here are pics of some of the ikebana arrangements fromt the show:

May and the FJET play

Every year FJET puts on a play and donates all the money earned to charity. This year is no exception, and since March some of us Fukui JETs have been practicing the play. As with most everything, no one really works till the last minute. So the entire month of May I was busy with play rehearsals. Here are some pics of what my May was like:The ultimate one piece! What can it be?

Kitty chan setting Gundam up for the "Kancho Fisto!"

Kancho means enima in Japanese. One of the many pastimes young boys in Japan have it to kancho their friends or even teacher. So how exactly do you kancho someone? Well you put your hands together and and fold down all your fingers except your two index fingers. You then try to sneak up on someone and stick your index fingers as your attack weapon. The target? Someone's ass. Why would someone wanna stick their finger up or even poke another person in the ass??? I don't know. Anyway.. we decided to include this Japanese "custom" in our play-- but FJET style-- with the Fukui fist.

Fong da Hmong and the rest of the Asian Nation

It may be difficult to tell, but Ariel is trying to convey suprise.

The pirate hook initiation: I swear never to eat the last piece of sushi, etc.

Did Doraemon forget his line again??? Just kidding

Since Mac and I had 2 of the smallest parts, we'd have tons of free time sitting around at practice waiting for our scene. Here's Mac getting everyone's attention, cause our "big scene" was coming up.

Time Freeze as the pigs dig into some DokoChoco.

"Revenge shall be mine!"

MomoPotters famous line--could it be cause it's what he said whenever he forgot his next line??

Everyone taking a break and listening to Brandon playing ...

the theme from the Zelda video game.

Time Stopu! Doraemon freezing time with his nifty gadget.

A little dance to get the three pigs to come out.

The "Asian Nation" as the three pigs.

Our producer, Hudson, fills in as Gundum and shows Kitty-chan his cool moves.

Team Goth and the Blow Out

Back in April, the fine folks in Southern Fukui organized and ran the annual Reinan Krazy Kar Rally. I couldn't take part in the team-based-scavenger-hunt- driving-all-over-the-south-of-Fukui last year, so this year I was excited about it. I didn't know what to excpet, and neither did my team. None of us on Team Goth had taken part in the rally before but we were determined to take first place. Well, things didn't work out as planned-- but we had a killer time. Here are some highlights from the rally:

Re-enacting Sports Day Goth Style

Adding a goth touch.

I scream for ice cream-- or in Bronwen's case-- I like the side of an abandoned ice cream stand for ice cream-- or for Kar Rally points!

Me and James leaving the freezing water of the Sea of Japan, as we finish our last photo change--"Take a picture ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-level or shoulder-level in water with hanako (bag of flour)." What did Team Goth do? What else shoulder-level. We want those points!