Oh how the Japanese love to soak!

温泉

This is the Kanji for "onsen" (pronounced "own-sen") , a Japanese hot spring. It is important to distinguish between an onsen and a regular public bath. Many people use the words interchangeably, but I have it on authority from onsen afficionados that only a natural hot spring can be called an onsen. I have no pictures to show, as I really don't relish the thought of having my ass turned into a convenient place for naked Japanese feet because I snapped a photo inside an onsen. Suffice it to say that you can easily imagine this without living color. Anyway, as hinted at above, onsen are naked public soaking baths. Lisa and I have been to the onsen a total of 5 times since we arrived in Japan. Now, before your dirty little minds get working, remember that it is highly illegal for members of the opposite sex to enter an Onsen together(unless you pay 1000 Yen per hour for a "family" room, or it's a REALLY remote place, I've heard). So there are two sides for boys and girls, respectively.

People make a big deal about how ritualized it is to get ready for onsen, but I haven't had a problem with it. I think there is something very relaxing about scrubbing every inch of my body and getting squeaky clean. Lots of men bring their whole grooming kit in and shave, brush teeth, etc. in the onsen's shower area. When I say shower area, it's important to remember that I don't mean stalls with standing room. There is a shower nozzle on the wall, but in onsen, you sit (or squat) to shower. They provide little stools, and so you bring all your stuff in and sit there and scrub up. In order to avoid offending anyone's sensibilities, follow three rules:
1. Do not swing your stuff around when you walk in--cover with a small towel.
2. Scrub completely, but don't be freakish. A good ten minute shower with soap all over you will do
3. Do not get soap or your wash cloth in the onsen.

So, basically, you just wash thoroughly, rinse thoroughly, and then walk modestly into the VERY HOT water of the onsen. It's a LOT hotter than any jacuzzi back home, so if you visit, be ready. It took me a few tries to get used to it, and I still feel a bit like I am boiling in the water. But what's fun is to get out and shower off with cold water until I feel normal again, then hop back in. I guess the longest I have soaked is 10 minutes, but I repeat the process of soak-cold shower-soak a few times in an hour. After an hour of this, I come out of the onsen cleaner than I have ever been before, and every muscle in my body is relaxed. The level of relaxation I get from an onsen soak is unparalleled by anything else I have seen that costs less than 5 Dollars. A massage is better, but costlier. The onsen Lisa and I go to is 200 Yen for an unlimited amount of soak time, and there's a massage chair (Like the ones at Brookstone) in the locker room! The hot water also has minerals in it so many skin blemishes tend to fade after a good soak. Anyway, it's really great to go to the onsen at about 8 or 9 at night, soak till about 10 and then go home for a really great sleep. So that's the blurb about the onsen. When are you folks coming to visit?!

Komouro Yama

Last weekend we went to a place called Komouro Yama, which means "Little Omouro Mountain." The mountain itself is only about 500 meters above sea level, but it has a beautiful park surrounding it to which we will return in Springtime because all of the plants will be in full bloom. There were some wonderful flower arrangements at the top of the mountain as you can see here:

The park is a favorite place for soccer games and picnicking. On our way up, we saw several Japanese families sitting in the grassy areas reading and playing with the children. It was quite tranquil. One of the great attractions of Komouro Yama is the cable lift that takes you to the top. A ticket for round-trip is 400 Yen. The cable lift is a one-person ski-lift-type-basket that never rises more than 4 or 5 feet above the ground as it climbs the mountain. This is great for anyone who may have difficulty with heights. It takes about 3 minutes to reach the top, and the view of Ito is wonderful from the lift, but spectacular from the top. Here you see Lisa about to board the lift, and then up she goes! It was very peaceful here, as I said, and on clear days, you can see Mt. Fuji quite well. We are only about 50 miles from the mountain. Check it out on Goodle Earth if you haven't already. I believe I have sent most of our contacts the placemark for our house. Many of you said that Ito looks all fuzzyin Google Earth. If you want more clarity, tell Google Earth to use 3-D buildings so that you can see more clearly where we live, and then let it sit on that loction for a few minutes so that it can download all the pertinent information on the roads and such. Then, use the tilt/zoom option to position it so you can see where Fuji is (a little north and west of us). Anyway, I took some pictures of Fuji San (Fuji is so great a mountain that a simple "Yama" won't do, so they give it an honorific "San" title, litterally, "Honorable Mr. Fuji" UPDATE--Check the comments, as my Friend Aura has helped explain this anomaly in mountain nomenclature). In the picture I have here, Fuji is the dark smudge covered in clouds in the center of the focal area. Lastly, I have a picture, that I will attempt to retake in the Spring, as it should be dazzling. It may prove difficult, as I took this view while on the way down the lift. As you can see if you click on the photo, the lift path is lined with azalea bushes, and the fields down below that look so green will one day be on fire with the colors of spring. Can't wait! After we got off the lift, Lisa and I shared an ice cream cone. Another blog entry will have to recount the various odd flavorings the Japanese like in in ice cream. This one was flavored from some kind of red flower, but I don't know the name. It was tasty, but different. I will go back and take a picture of the flowers on the sign and maybe put them in a blog entry about ice cream flavors. That about wraps it up for this entry. Please feel free to email me with questions or ideas of what you'd like to see in the blog.

Usami Kannon

Just north of Ito is a small suburb named Usami. When you are on the beachfront road in Ito (route 135), you can see a huge statue way up on a mountain that stands out as it is surrounded by forest. Today, I drove up there with Blaise, a guy who is in town visiting his girlfriend, Aura, who is a JET in Usami. The road to the statue is curvy and goes all the way up the mountain.

Presently, we arrived at the temple of Usami Kannon, who I learned is a Buddhist/Hindu hybrid of the Goddess of compassion and mercy. The temple was not enormous, but the grounds were. The whole place was filled with thousands of statues lined up all over. Each statue has a number on it. I can only assume that families buy a statue as a tribute to the dead or as a prayer for good fortune, and they decorate them. Addorning the trees and pretty much any small twig or wire are little pieces of paper tied in an overhand knot. I learned later that these are wishes for good fortune tied by the many Japanese people who visit this temple.
There are bas reliefs inside the temple buildings that have a very Indian/Thai look to them, as do many of the statues on the grounds. Apparently, the Buddhist and Hindu religions merged when they left India, and then commingled with the local religions of East Asia, making the modern product in Japan dificult to discern from where each symbol comes. The tour cost 300 Yen (about $3 US) and took about 20 minutes.

Here are some pictures:

This is the front of the temple complex after you come out of the entrance and exit the gift shop. there are about 7 buildings like these.

Here is one of the many sculptures at the temple. I'm not sure whether it represents a person or a god, but there were four of them on each of the corners of this building, each with something diferent in his hands, a sword, a quill and paper, etc. I couldn't see the other two up close because they were on the outer edge of the building. UPDATE--These guys are four kings who guard the cardinal directions and are protectors of Buddhist Law (Dharma). They are called Shitenno, and are part of the Deva class (the Japanese call them Tenbu--celestial beings)--Hindu gods and creatures who were enlightened by Buddhism. You can see here that the warriors stand atop demons called Jyaki.

Here is the First look you get at the thousands of little Buddha statues. You can see that some of them have been decorated. UPDATE--these are statues of Jizo, a very common manifestation of a Bodhisatva (not yet Buddha--they achieve enlightenment, but postpone their change to Buddha until all can be saved). He is a friend to all, and these statues can be found all over japan, but especially in temples and graveyards. His name in Japanese (Jizo) means either "womb of the earth" or "treasure repository of the earth."

This is a shot of a large bell like the ones you always see in those kung fu movies. Up on the top of the mountain is a smaller version, which I will hopefully link a video file at some point so you can hear its clear ringing tone.

This image shows a large Buddha surounded by some of the thousands of miniatures. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a photo that shows how overwhelming it was to be surrounded by these.

This fellow looks very jolly. I wonder if that's a barrel for beer in his hand. Note that many of the statues have enormous earlobes. I'm not sure what that symbolizes. UPDATE--This is most likely Hotei, god of contentment and happiness. The bag over his shoulder never empties as he feeds the poor with it. He is commonly known in the West as the fat Buddha or the laughing Buddha.

This is the view from the top of the mountain of Usami and the bay on which Ito and Usami sit. Breathtaking.

These are the Shichifukujin--the 7 gods of good fortune in Japan. More on them at http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/seven.shtml. There are smaller versions of these down in the Ito marketplace, and each has a fountain with a ladle so that you may pour water on their heads for a blessing.

Here is a view of the 150+ foot tall Usami Kannon. I was impressed with the way they captured the look of serenity in stone. Looking up from below, you really do start to feel as if everything is going to be ok. The whole place really tickled my Joseph Campbell bone, as I was noticing virgin birth themes all over the place, and there were many statues that resembled the many different images we have of the Virgin Mary. UPDATE--apparently, Kannon is more often represented as male, but in this and many other cases, is seen as a female. I have learned that this is fairly common in the Buddhist/Hindu tradition.

Finally, up on the top of the mountain, I found a very strange, but oddly familiar statue (of the Tenbu Pauli Gamobon) that I thought would be pleasing to your eyes as well. It would appear that even the Buddhists are Browns fans!

Part-Time Work--Not Too Shabby!

Lately, I have been home most of the day, except Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays I have a 4 year old little girl named Riko for a playmate. Last week was my first day. I met her mother, Noriko, at Izukogen Station, which is about 20 minutes south of Ito on Route 135 (its like Phillips Hwy or Pearl Road). She took me to what she called an "accomodation" which is like a restaurant/hotel for business people staying in the area. Her husband manages the restaurant, so the whole family has a small apartment within the accomodation. She took Riko and me inside and we settled into our 90 minute playtime. Noriko wants me to play with Riko and talk to her in English so that she will become as used to it as a native speaker. So we started with animal noises, and then Riko wanted to throw, kick, and hit a ball back and forth. It is such a relief to be able to just enjoy a child's company without having to worry about discipline or saying, "Pay attention" all the time. Noriko pays me 2500 Yen every week for playing with Riko. This week, I will meet one of Riko's playmates and we will all play together. It is a wonderful experience, and I am glad to be gainfully employed.
After plytime is over, I go home for a little bit and then at 6:00 I meet three ladies from the Board of Education in Ito. They each pay me 3000 Yen for 90 minutes of English lessons. Last week, we talked about restaurants and how to order food. This week, I think I will do business introductions and such. At 7 pm, Miyuki gets out a tea set and we all have tea. It's really enjoyable.
On the 2nd and fourth wednesday of each month, I meet with another lady from the Board of Ed. who has two middle schoolers. She wants them to improve with English, so I will start Wednesday tutoring them for 3000 Yen each per session.
On Thursdays, I try to go to free Japanese lessons offered by the Ito International Relations Committee. I go at 10 am and 1 pm, and I feel like i am learning a lot. I have learned a bunch of greetings and niceties, and am begining to learn how to use verbs. This Thursday, I have to have all of the Hiragana alphabet memorized in order. I have already doen a little it, and the letters on the signs are beginning to make sense. It won't be long before I can read a large number of signs in Japanese.
Hopefully, soon, I will start to fill up the other days of the week, but for now, I am glad to have something to do one day a week. Please feel free to email me, write, or call any time, as the times I am not working, it would be great to be in contact with my peeps back home.
Ja ne!

Shimoda and Higashiizu

Last weekend, we drove down the coast of the Izu Peninsula with a few of the other JETs in our area. The coast is truly beautiful, as it is mountains that plunge into the ocean. On the way down, it was dark, but the next day we got some great shots of the Shimoda coast. Lisa's colleague from Ft. Lauderdale, Katie, was kind enough to let us crash at her apartment on Saturday night. Shimoda is a lovely beach town, and there is a surprizing number of Gaijin there. Aprently, there was a famous diplomat from the West who had his residence there, and the town has grown to be a place for foreigners to live. The festival was to celebrate the end of summer, and was very much like a fair or festival in the US, with booths selling all kinds of festival food, and trinkets for the kids. People were lighting off fireworks most of the night, and there was an air of cheerfulness to the entire place. I had eaten before we got there, so I didn't totally pig out, but our friend Melody, a tiny little Chinese-Cambodian from Long Beach, CA, ate enough for all of us. It was amazing. The girl weighs all of 99 pounds soaking wet, but ate her weight in festival food. I got away with a pan of okinomiyaki, which I think is Japanese for "kitchen sink" as it contains noodles, ginger, onions, peppers, fish, and a bunch of other stuff. Melody taught me a useful little phrase in Japanese: "Hai, dozo!" Which means something like "yes, after you." You say it when you open a door for someone or let them pass in front of you, but you also say dozo when you give someone a gift. So, we spent the night shouting "Haaaai, doooozooo!" to each other from across the fairgrounds.
Here are some pics from the festival:
This guy seems to be considering whether to have snails or a corn dog...


Here's Melody and Katie having a Yakitori swordfight
Here we have the gang: Lisa (jumping up on our favorite Brit), Tom, Stacy, and Melody.

And here I am with a plate full of okinomiyaki.

Here are a few pictures we took the next day (Sunday) on the Shimoda Coast:

The views from the highway were amazing, and we really enjoyed the drive. I imagine it is what the PCH is like in California, except the ocean is on the other side of the road. We drove home and spent Sunday afternoon relaxing and getting ready for the work week.

Shizuoka and Atami

Ok, so let's talk about our first trips away from the apartment. Two days after I arrived in Japan, Lisa had to go to the capital of our prefecture, Shizuoka City, to meet with some of the other JETs who are similarly assigned to boards of education. We took the local JR (Japan Rail) to Atami, and then boarded the Tokaido line train to Shizuoka. It took about an hour and a half. Shizuoka is a lot bigger than Ito, so there was a lot more to see. Shizuoka is also much closer to Mt. Fuji, which is climb-able in the summer in case you're planning a trip to visit us. So, anyway, Shizuoka has a fantastic view of the mountain which we can only see on really clear days in Ito.

This is a picture of the capital building in Shizuoka where Lisa had her meetings. There is an a amazing observation deck on the 21st floor. I took the picture with Sumpu Castle in the foreground so that I could highlight the juxtaposition of the ancient with the new that is common all over Japan. While Lisa was in her meetings, I walked around the corner and found Sumpu Castle, a replica of the 15th century castle that was burned down in 1635. Here are a few pictures of the interior:



Here we have the main gate entering into the gardens and the view of a different gate from inside the structure.

Here are a few images of things inside the castle. First is a likeness of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who ordered Sumpu castle built. Also included are the armor and weapons of a samurai warrior.
The streets of Shizuoka are lined with shops, most of which sell food, but there are a few good toy stores there as well. I took a few pictures for you action figure fans:


These are a few of the toys I saw in a shop in Shizuoka. There are Gundams and Transformers everywhere. The Holy Grail of Transformers right now is something called "Binal Tech" which is an original line of Transformers redone in metal instead of plastic. If you see anything in these pics you'd like me to nab for you, send money and postage, and I'll do my best.

The next thing we did was the weekend after Shizuoka. We took a trip on the JR to Atami to take in a festival celebrating the end of summer. Japanese people take their fireworks VERY seriously. While we in the States have a nice 30 minute show on Independence Day, the Japanese tend to have fireworks at every major festival and the show can last up to 2.5 hours. Here is a pic of Atami beach, where we watched fireworks. Unfortunately, none of my pics of the fireworks themselves came out.



The water in Atami was a bit chilly, but once you got used to it, it was quite nice. We were the whitest people for miles around. Fortunately, about 30 JETs showed up to this festival to represent the pale set, so we didn't feel so completely out of place.

I will leave you with an image from inside a famous 100 Yen store (it's like our dollar store) where they have all kinds of things for dirt cheap. Sayonara for now!

First Days in Ito

My first Few days in Ito went quickly, as I had many things to take care of. I accompanied Lisa to the board of education in City Hall, where I met all the great people in the office where she works. Toshi is her immediate supervisor, then there are Miyuki, Naomi, Katsato, and a couple others. These people are really kind and helpful, and have made settling in to work life in Ito much more pleasant. Toshi took me down to the first floor of City Hall to fill out an alien registration card, or "Gaijin Card." this will serve as my identification while I am in Japan. Later in the week, I had an interview with the folks at Higashi elementary, where I will work part time teaching English starting later this month. The interview was strange, as Toshi and I were the only ones who spoke English. The interview was more of an overview of my obligations as a worker than a chance to get to know me better.
Another thing I had to take care of was to get a Han-ko. Han-ko are stamps or seals that all Japanese people use in conducting business. Mine and Lisa's look like this:
Any bank account you open, or contact you sign in Japan is not valid without a Han-ko stamped on it. Notice that names with Ls do not quite translate into the Japanese Language. Another peculiarity is that any foreigner will be immediately recognized on the Han-ko because they use Katakana to write the letters of your name. Katakana are the alphabet used in Japanese for words that come from another language like Ma-ko-do-na-ru-do マクドナルド(McDonalds). In Hiragana, McDonald's would look like:

Which you can see is distinctly different, but the presence of Katakana lets Japanese people know that this word is from another language. Anyway, we got our Han-ko and can now sign up for internet, cable, bank accounts, etc. That and a short day trip to Shizuoka to upgrade my Visa to a part time worker status was all I needed to be ready for work in Japan. Next up, you'll be seeing some work about our first tours to Atami and Shizuoka, along with, get ready, Japan BUGS! Sayonara for now!