Ah... New Year's Eve

The past few months haven't been all fun and games.  A nagging sore throat turned into a cold in early November, healed a bit, and then came back for another round.  It was late December, almost Christmas, before I got over most of the effects of the cold.  Thanks to the steady colder weather we've had for the past two weeks, there are times where I've felt it coming back a bit.  Luckily I've managed to hold it off.

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This past year has been okay.  Nothing much happened in the early part of the year other than being woken up early often by the noise of the construction going on next door.  I went back to Canada in the early summer to pay a visit to relative whose health wasn't that good.  If I go back in late February it may be the last time we meet.  Summer this year wasn't typical.  Not as humid or hot as I had hoped for.  The fall was quite nice.  I had the pleasure of showing the local sites to a friend who came to visit in late October.  And in the past week, winter has struck with a bit of vengeance.  One snowfall in mid-December (which was washed out by rain just prior to Christmas) and a couple of days of snow since last Thursday.

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On Wednesday last week, which was Boxing Day, I travelled up to Tendo to do some substitute teaching.  One of the teachers at our school there had taken time off and gone on a holiday to Osaka.  The day started off with an element of panic though as we got a phone call from our school in Yamagata asking if I could teach there too.  A teacher there had come down with a heavy cold.  I looked at the clock and said there wouldn't be time for me to get there on a local train.  Would they pay for me to get there on the Yamagata Shinkansen?  Yes.  So I started off to get my car keys.  A few steps from my apartment door, I got a phone call.  At first I didn't realize it was my phone.  I had gotten a new phone the previous week and that was the first incoming call I had received.  Turned out they had fished up a Japanese teacher who could fill in.  That was a good thing because if I had taught at Yamagata then they would've been on the hook to get me to Tendo...there were no trains which could get me there on time for my first class.

The classes in Tendo went quite well.  I did laugh when a kid purposely switched some words in a verse he was reading.  The look in his eyes gave away his ploy.  He was trying to annoy me; the other teacher at the school scolds him when he does that - she has him on a merit system where he has to earn the James dollar he expects for finishing his lesson.  When I pointed out that I saw what he had done, told him that it was good, and praised him; it was he who was left feeling annoyed.  He wasn't expecting that. 

The foot in mouth problem of the day came during the last class; two girls and a boy.  There was one girl who is years younger than the other two students.  She's a bit of an over-actor but not disruptive. 

That day's lesson included a song which contains the lyric "It's my birthday today".  For the first time ever I had a kid tell me that it actually was their birthday that very day we were singing that song.  In this case it was the older girl.  I checked, "Your birthday is today?".  She answered, "Yes".  Whoa!  I wasn't expecting that.  So I had the kids go through the song with some changes; the name of the child and the count of her age.

The next to last item in the lesson was a test.  The younger girl reminded me of a girl who I teach in Yonezawa...perhaps a bit too much.  When I handed out the tests I instructed the kids to write their names on the test sheets.  The younger girl asked me how to spell her name...which wasn't what I had been calling her for the past half hour.  Oops!  Birthday girl got a laugh out of that at my expense.

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Nothing more to add here...so if you happen to read this post, have a happy New Year and all the best in 2019!

November's Kids...and Rice, too

Last Friday I went to teach a lesson at a preschool/nursery school.  I usually go there twice a month though it's not always the same Fridays.  This is on account of holidays that fall on Fridays.  I've been teaching there on a regular basis since April of this year.  Up until that time I hadn't been assigned a regular teaching gig at a preschool since I had been tied up teaching at a company two days a week (and sometimes three days).

Teaching a class of 20 "nen-cho" (oldest group) children isn't a super difficult task at this particular preschool.  The kids are well behaved and they genuinely enjoy their English lessons.  One just has to make sure that you have plenty of material to work with and to keep the pace of the lesson moving at a pretty good clip.  Accidents will happen though and I did forget to take along the CD of songs which I use in the lesson.  That time I managed to pull off the lesson by singing the tunes accompanied only by the kids.

There was one class in late August where I was completely caught off guard.  That was the time there was a local cable TV crew there to video my lesson.  No one had given me any notice of their being there so I just did my best to ignore the cameras and teach a standard lesson.  A few weeks later folks started mentioning they had seen me on TV.  The most peculiar incident being the one when one elementary school girl who is a student at our school decided to ask if that was indeed me she saw on TV.  How she went about it...well...I was seated in our teachers' area and she came walking up to me with a somewhat serious look on her face.  I didn't pay any attention to her until she whacked me on the shoulder and said "...Hoiku-en...NCV".  "Yes..." was my reply, which apparently was all that was necessary as she turned on her heel and walked off to her classroom.  I see....

Going back to last Friday.  I taught the lesson and after the usual "Goodbyes" headed to the exit to put away the slippers I had been wearing and slip into my street shoes.  Just as I finished putting my shoes on, the teacher was there, with all the kids in tow, to present me with a "daikon" (giant radish).  I thanked her and the kids quite profusely and did a round of high-fives with all the kids.

I wasn't sure why I had received that daikon but once I had it unwrapped at home I kind of had it sussed out.  It definitely looked like it was fresh picked.  So I assume it was grown at the preschool.  It was really quite charming.

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Late last Saturday night I got a phone call from a friend..."What are you doing?".  I went out to meet her at a bar and near the end of our "nomi hodai" (all you can drink) round we got onto the topic of the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody".  She had seen it a few days before and I had seen it the previous week.  Both of us had enjoyed the movie quite a bit.  Needless to say, when we shifted operations over to a karaoke box, we proceeded to select and sing a stream of Queen tunes.  I think we managed eight or nine in total.

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Last night I went over to Oirase, the scene of the Halloween event I had taken a Canadian friend who had taken the time to make the trek up to Yonezawa.  While the place had been fully decked out with Halloween decorations back then, it was back to its normal appearances now.  Except for group of small packages of rice sitting on the piano.  As I was getting ready to leave I asked Mayumi, Oirase's proprietress, about the rice.  "They're for sale.  Why don't you buy one as a gift?", she said.  There were two varieties of rice there.  One was Tsuyahime.  It's a well known brand which has made its way to Canada according to my sister, although with a considerable mark up in price.  The other one I had never seen before..."Mi ru ki- Ku i- n"..."Milky Queen".  Okay, I'd never set eyes on that variety before.  Mami, Mayumi's friend and part-timer at Oirase, then went on about how it was really tasty and "mochi mochi" (or something to that effect).  I was sold...made the purchase and then headed home.  As I did so I thought to myself, "Where else in the world would one go to bar for drinks and end up walking home with rice purchased at the same bar?".....

Behold! (Quite Possibly) The Only Jar of Vegemite in Town

Yes, that is a jar of Vegemite.  Pay no attention to the TimTams!

About ten days ago I received a package from Australia.  A friend from "down under" had most generously sent me some Aussie goodies featuring a jar of Vegemite.  Yes, that's right.  Vegemite.  I'd hazard to say that for most North Americans the stuff is looked upon aghast or with scorn.  I have a friend in Canada who was originally born in Australia, though you wouldn't be able to suss that out today given his flat North American English accent, and his comment about Vegemite was, "I can't believe I once liked that stuff!".  Or something to that effect....

I remember the circumstances when I first tasted Vegemite during my visit to Australia back in 2011.  I was cautioned against putting a thick layer of it on a cracker and so went with a much thinner application.  My initial reaction was interesting.  I immediately noticed how salty and bitter its taste was.  Having had a taste, that was the last of it I had until after the arrival of the above package.

The day after the package arrived, I made toast, cut it into six pieces, and packed it in a plastic container.  I took the toast and the jar of Vegemite to work.  Heck, if I was going to crack open that jar then I wanted company...or at least witnesses.

The reactions to the sight of the jar were along the lines of the expected "What IS that?" kind of looks and questions.  One student had been in England on a home stay so she was familiar with Marmite.  She was kind of excited to see the jar of Vegemite.  The others were decidedly more reserved and cautious.

The tasting session was interesting.  The first two tasters included the "veteran".  She was reasonably happy with the taste.  The other was somewhat bemused and quickly remarked about the salty taste.  The next student tried to jam out by tearing a piece of toast and asking for just a dab on a half.  I didn't let him get away with that.  He got a full piece.  The last student...whoa!  I really wish I had caught her reaction in a photograph.  Her mouth puckered up and she squinted really hard.  The taste was obviously something far out of her realm of appealing food tastes.

Since that day I've been working my way through the jar at a not quite slow but certainly not fast pace.  The "OMG" reaction to the taste of Vegemite is gone.  Yes, it is salty and a touch bitter, too.  But what lingers is a taste I couldn't quite put my finger on.  Then I checked the Wikipedia entry for Vegemite.  Aw!  There it was.  Umami.  That's the taste which makes me go back for more Vegemite....

Tidbits

Just came back from the nearby coin laundromat.  While I was there I took notice of the music being played over the PA.  It was a kind of catchy R&B fused dance/lounge tune, the type which one would catch by chance whilst dining or shopping in Tokyo.  I thought to myself "This kind of music is so far from Yonezawa".  Then it struck, "Yes, of course...if the coin laundromat is about the only place in town where one would hear something like that".  Given that this particular coin laundromat just opened a month and half ago, it's decor, equipment, furnishings, and style is very much up to date.  This is in comparison to the place I used to go to which someone I know labelled as "Showa", meaning it's at least thirty years behind the times in looks.

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Over the last seven years I have on a number of times caught myself thinking "I'm washing my garbage".  Well, not exactly garbage.  Recyclable plastic items.  But it's something which never crossed my mind back in Canada.

Oh, yes.  I remember reading about an issue with recycling on the CBC website last year.  The article was looking at the problem with plastic labels left on recyclable PET bottles.  It was being made out as an issue since people don't remove the labels before tossing the bottles into a recycling bin.  If I recall correctly there was a fuss being made about manufacturers not coming up with a solution.  I find that a bit odd.  Over here, plastic labels can be quickly removed from PET bottles.  There's usually a tab of some sort which can be pulled on to peel off the label.  For the type which are snug on the bottle, such as those for Coca Cola or Pepsi, there is perforated tear-off strip.  Tear off the strip and the label falls off easily.  There.  Done.

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The manager at a cafe I frequent, mentioned that she had seen pickled crickets/grass hoppers on sale at a local shop.  She wondered out loud who would purchase any.  "Probably some grannies", she said.  Then the conversation with her daughter, who also works at the cafe, went off on a tangent to their experiences with eating "inago"(sic).  Her daughter mentioned that her son was introduced to them by her grandma.  At first her son wouldn't go for them but later on seemed to like them.  The cafe manager recalled when she was a kid and her mom told that "chawan mushi" contained "mushi", insects.  She refused to eat it for some time.  "Yes, grannie is like that", she said....

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I still had more than half a bag of agetofu left from my "akebi" cooking experiment of the previous week.  So I decided to make a quick stir fry dish.  When I was at the supermarket I decided to purchase sliced bamboo shoots as a substitute for water chestnuts.  The verdict on that experiment: No.  It doesn't work.  Oh well.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't.

あけび...Akebi

On Thursday night a student mentioned at the start of class that she had brought some "akebi".  I didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about but one other student's face lit up to show that he knew.  After class, we all stepped out to check out a woven basket lid filled with akebi.  It was then that I recalled seeing them back in 2012 or so.

"Akebi" is a somewhat odd looking fruit.  The exterior of the ones my student had brought were covered with a brown skin that gave the fruit a resemblance to potatoes.  All of these particular examples had split open to reveal their payload of white fruit flesh and a whole lot of black seeds.   To the uninitiated, the contents are a bit challenging looking.  I didn't tackle one because of that.  The fuzzy white coat of the fruit "sack" is what made me pause and decide not to sample any.

As it turned out, there were seven unclaimed akebi on Saturday evening when we were closing up shop.  Our office manager didn't want to lay claim to the fruit and neither did my teaching co-worker.  So I ended up being the one who took the remaining akebi home.

While some people mentioned that they didn't quite like the bitter taste of akebi, the ones I had had no such taste at all.  If anything they were very mildly sweet.  The taste vaguely reminded me of lycees...but not quite as distinct.

Having consumed all the fruit, tonight I will go about cooking the fruit rind following the method described by our office manager.  I remember hearing in the past that people will stuff the rinds with meat and miso.  I'm not sure if they're baked, steamed, or broiled.

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I did check online to see if I could find some information about akebi.  I came upon a page on a site called kyotofoodie.com (http://kyotofoodie.com/japanese-fruit-akebi/) which suggested eating the fruit whole with the seeds.  The bitter taste comes from biting on the seeds.  Also, the ones mentioned on that site had purple skin.  Because their examples were cultivated, the pods don't split open naturally.

Okay... So September Has Come and Gone

Random thoughts and recollections:

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I went to the McDonald's up in Kanaike to grab a quick bite to eat between lessons.  I took a seat "galley seating" area and looked over towards the windows.  What caught my eye immediately was a "chonmage", a topknot, being sported by a young fellow.  There were three youths sitting at that table; two looked like high school students and the last one, the one sporting the chonmage, was wearing a heavy yukata/light kimono.  He obviously was a sumo wrestler.  Given his looks, his somewhat slim build for a sumo wrestler, and his company I figured he probably would've been in one of the lower divisions, perhaps Sandanme or Jonidan.

When I got back to work and mentioned who I had seen to my co-worker, he immediately said "Wow! I would've chatted him up right away".  I pointed out that the young wrestler was with friends and I wasn't about to intrude on the group.  My co-worker agreed with "Yeah, I see what you mean"....

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One of my kids classes consists of four sixth graders and one fifth grader.  They've just completed a text and to my surprise they were able to pass the final test on their first attempt.  Thus I'm going to spend a working on their English phonics skills and review the text before moving them along to the next level textbook.  In order to add a little variety to the class I decided it would be a good time to teach them a song to sing in English.  My choice was The Beatles "Yellow Submarine".  I distinctly remember learning Beatles tunes when I was back in fourth grade so I figured "Why not?".

After a first reading of the lyrics I went back to see how much the kids understood.  I picked a few phrases which I figured the kids probably wouldn't be able to suss out and gave them rough translations.  One student is quite bright and he made inquiries as to the meanings of some other words and phrases.  I sang the tune to them once, where the kids snickered a bit, and then had them go at it.  First they read it with some semblance of the song's melody.  Then I pulled out a CD and played the track for them.  Finally I had them sing along with the CD.

At the end of all that the fifth grader looked at me and asked "What's the purpose of this?".  "It's just for fun", was my reply.   I told one of my co-workers about that exchange and he laughed and said "That's just like him!".

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Mid-August Report

A new Starbucks coffee shop opened up in Yonezawa recently.  Don't remember exactly when.  Perhaps it was the end of July or the first Monday of August.  I first set foot in the shop on August 6th after navigating the seemingly oddball parking lot.

The essence of the store's parking lot design derives from the store's main focus; it essentially is a drive through coffee shop with a seating area attached to it.  Yes, there is room inside for a fair number of patrons, perhaps 30 altogether.  But the location of the drive through order pick-up window is in a location designed to maximize the length of the drive through lane without completely marring the aesthetics of the store's road facing facade.

When I approached the store in my car on my first visit I first passed the drive through entrance and started to make a left turn into what I suddenly noticed was an exit out of the parking lot.  A security guard/traffic guide waved his baton at me as I realized my mistake and I quickly pulled back onto the main road and then made a left at the next immediate corner.  I drove to what I thought was the rear entrance for vehicles...and found out it was another exit.  So I carried on a bit further and found there was no other entrance into the store's parking lot.  I made another left turn, drove up a small side road, made a left back onto the main road; and then entered the parking lot via the lane intended for customers who wish to park their cars and walk into the store.

So the gist of the parking lot is this: if there is a long lineup of cars for the drive through window, and that line up backs onto the main road, the line up will block the entrance then to the lane that leads to the parking spots because its location is to the left of the drive through entrance lane.  Brilliant, as my Brit friends would say.

Nonetheless, in spite of my parking lot adventure, I was able to enjoy a coffee and a slice of matcha pound cake...

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I know back home people have a few words when stores put up displays for holidays way too soon for their liking.  Christmas displays popping up the day after Halloween fit that bill.  One doesn't notice the too early displays for Japanese holidays because, well, that's just the way things are.  Typically the displays are a few signs saying something to the effect of "Now is the time to put in your order for (your special holiday or seasonal food goes here)".  The displays for the imported holidays, Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Christmas are much more prominent.  After all, those days are about propping up the economy and getting people to buy more stuff aren't they?  Of course I wrote that tongue planted firmly in cheek...though it probably is quite close to the truth of the matter here in Japan.

Having said that, I made sure I got a photo of what greeted me as I went shopping for an album to store my growing collection of telephone cards.  Yes, it's Obon and there's a Halloween goods display in a local department store...

'Nuff said....

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Last bit...an oddball 3D image from a computer game I've been wasting some time on....

...Don't ask....

Short Items

Earlier this month I made my way back to Vancouver to visit an ailing relative.  Not exactly the best of circumstances but it was the best thing to do.

While I was back in Vancouver I had a bit of time to spare to touch base with friends.  One of them is a former co-worker who shares an interest with me in anime and military topics related to the model kits each of us enjoys building.  I met up with him at a Denny's restaurant in Vancouver.  The primary reason for the selection is that it's a convenient location for the two of us.  The secondary reason was so that I take photos of what I ordered.  The photos would be used to tease and torture an expat American co-worker.

At our little get together, my friend very graciously gave me two volumes of a work documenting WWII German naval camouflage.  The books are extremely well researched and a joy to look at.

As luck would have it, upon my return to Japan, I happened upon two relatively rare 1/700 scale kits of German WWII era torpedo boats.  The boats in question are listed in the books my friend gave me.  The kits were featured on a Japanese online auction site.  Needless to say I placed bids on of them.

I was going to attend a concert the night the auctions closed off so I set my smartphone up so that I was logged on to the auction site.  Then I slipped my phone into my pocket and went off to enjoy Yamada Koshi in concert.

After the concert ended I checked my smartphone and the auction website.  I had a notifier advising me I had been outbid.  I checked the auction, saw there was a minute left, and quickly placed a counter bid.  A second later, a little red message indicator went on.  I had placed the winning bid.  I had somewhat precipitously placed my winning bid with a literal second to spare.  I was certainly pleased about my good fortune but I'm quite sure there is someone else out there who doesn't share my opinion.

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The cab driver who took me home after I had returned to town mistakenly took the wrong route.  I'm not sure why but I guess he was on some sort of auto-pilot mode.  Aside from that slip up, he mentioned that even though it is "tsuyu", the rainy season, we hadn't had much rain.  It would be another two weeks before we would get any rain.

As such, when it rained it poured.  Over a period of four days we experienced three sudden late afternoon thundershowers.  The last one was quite spectacular as it dumped 110mm of rain in Fukushima prefecture as it made its way through the mid Tohoku region.

My experience with that thunderstorm was a bit more quaint:  I had done a load of laundry, hung out it out to dry, washed my car, and then headed off to go shopping.  As I returned to my car after finishing shopping, the first raindrops came down.  That rainfall soon turned into a torrential downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning.  I then recalled that my laundry was hanging outside...soaking up water.  I guess I had tempted fate by doing both my wash and washing my car.....

Spring? What Spring? & Game Log #1

A friend was in Tokyo yesterday.  She's over to Japan for a short visit from Vancouver.  Of course, she sent a photo of cherry blossoms along with her query on when I'd be free for lunch on the weekend.  This is after I had received a photo from my sister of cherry trees in full bloom in Washington state.  I mentioned those cherry blossoms and then added I had seen a few snowflakes drifting down today.  It's early evening now and they're still drifting down but there's a bit of rain too.  As for dinner this evening, it's a meal that would do Yozan-san proud; a modest piece of fish with some string beans.  I ordered an "oo-mori" (extra size) dish of cream mentaiko pasta for lunch so I think I got my day's requirement of carbs there.

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As I now have a desktop computer, I've revisited a few games which ran on my Macbook Pro but tended to send the fans into overdrive.  They don't cause the same issues on the iMac, which has less memory and a slightly older (and slower) CPU than the portable machine, but one has the peculiar habit of crashing.

The one which doesn't crash is the slightly old title, Civilization V.  I don't so much play the game as much as I just fiddle around with it in multiplayer hot seat mode.  It's a fun little time waster but only recently did I notice an odd feature; the Great Wall of China is not a stationary.  The following screen shots demonstrate its every changing shape.

Here it is in one game while in its construction phase;

Here it is a number of turns after its completion.  Note that it has expanded to grab more territory;

And here it is a few hundred years later in game time;

I'm not sure if this is the way it's supposed to work or if it's a strange form of commentary on the real world...

Winter is more or less over...

The continuation being "...depending on where in the northern hemisphere you are".  My sister sent me a photo a few days ago of cherry trees in full bloom in Washington state.  Where I am, that's something we'll see somewhere around the end of April.

This past winter was short and brutish.  We hardly had any snow during the Christmas holidays.  Actually, there was next to none.  Temperatures were cold but not much precipitation.  Then came mid-January.  By the time of the Snow Lantern Festival in early February there was enough to ensure that snow didn't have to be trucked down from the mountains.  Needless to say, I spent many winter nights cuddled up next to my kotatsu.

So what's with the title of this little blog post?  Well it has to do with the following photograph.  I had just paid my March installment on my city taxes and thought I'd take the little path through the back of Nishijo Tenmangu Park...until I was confronted with the fact the path was mostly buried under a meter or so of snow.  To add insult to injury, the snow had melted off the part of the path which goes over a bridge.  I had seen the clear bridge first and had thought to myself, "I'll just take this shortcut", when I noticed there was no easy way of getting to the bridge.  Such is life....