PUNK IN OSAKA

I have made a friend in Japan. His name is Yoshi, yes like the video game. Yoshi is the lead singer in a really ripping punk band named IQTWENTY. Last month he took us to see his show.
So Yoshi and another car high fived on the ride to the venue, Yoshi's car is only a week old, this was my second car accident in Japan in one month!

Yoshi and crew gearing up pre-show
These were the first tattoo bearers we saw in Japan, pretty cool that they are traditional Japanese style, apparently most are done through bamboo needles! OUCH.
A very hard hardcore band opener, scary stuff.
IQTWENTY was great, apparently their last performance for a long time; kids, work, life and all that wholesome stuff that gets in the way of good bands.

The mosh pit was precarious with a camera!
Yoshi feeling sore after a ripping set, off to work at 5am painting again tomorrow for him. It was real nice to such a good punk performance in Japan so early in my time here. I never once saw a good concert in Korea by Koreans, and I looked hard. I hope Japan has more of this type of scene as the hello kitty J-Pop is quite scary to me.

Christmas in Sanda

Sorry for not posting on this earlier, but our keyboard did not work back then....
Christmas was an interesting and sad time here in Japan as being away from family, friends and snow was hard, it seems I am never around for Christmas anymore. However, we made the best of it had a school Christmas party at the community centre and organized a few happenings of our own.

Firstly let me note that Japan is a very strange place in that they are not Christian but do celebrate the festivities, but there is a twist! Christmas is considered a "couples day" here in Japan and most people want to be out on dates or paired off in their respective couples. What really gets me though is the odd food choices. Most Japanese feel they must eat KFC buckets and "Christmas strawberry cake" as though these were two essential ingredients to Christmas time. I have Jewish friends that make sushi their family Christmas dinner as the Japanese are often the only ones in Toronto still open (now I know what the sushi chef is eating behind the counter!!).

We were invited over to our friend's Seiji and Yayoi's house for dinner (and strawberry cake) although they break tradition and have a family night with snow crab shabu shabu! This was comparable to Turkey's deliciousness indeed. They were excellent hosts and we spent the evening talking and playing with their children Cou and Nana. As Cou is only five he confuses Christmas with his birthday in that he gets gifts and cake so we had candles for him to blow out on our "Christmas cake". All around Seiji and Yayoi are great people and we hope to do many more interesting things together.











We then held a fireside boxing day party with our farm volunteer friends from Sasayama at our house. This was really melancholy as we know it would be a long time or maybe the last to see many of these people. They introduced us to Japan, showed us the ropes and key phrases and for that we are eternally grateful, thank you Yoshimi, Lawson, Nick, and Louie it was nice knowing all of you. Well all you back home, take care of yours and enjoy the New Year, more on what we did for that occassion tomorrow!

Greeting Jackie Teacher at Asahi Kindergarden

Today I went for my first day at the high end kindergarten that my school farms me out to. Believe it or not this kindergarten for three to five years olds charges the equivalent of $10000.00 American for one student. I am their token foreign teacher which apparently leads prestige to the organization. The children are incredibly cute and somewhat confused. I teach each class for twenty-five minutes once a week and I have three classes that consist of their mothers. There apparently are no fathers.... or none to be seen, plus the school only employs female teachers (not that a male could be a primary teacher as the system requires a grade eight in piano, Japanese boys are not taught to play the piano). Josh is not to come to the school either (it would probably be okay; only extremely awkward). So, the end of this rant is that I am their new English teacher.
I just took a small pause to replace my nose ring which I am not to wear because it might scare the children.
Today the head teacher, the only old lady at the kindergarten. This requires explanation... Japanese women usually go into retirement at about age thirty (and even that is quite old) Japanese women do not usually work after they are married which you better be by age thirty. The government fosters this by taxing very heavily any family with a dual income. So the kids never see their dads and their all the mothers are house wives.
So back to the point; the older head teacher sits me in the big hall of the school and all the kidders parade in, each class separately, boys in one line and girls in another. Each class stops at an appointed spot each child puts their arms out in front of them (to have perfect spacing). They say something in Japanese then slap the arms down to their sides. They then all sit at the same time in their perfect little rows ( I will remind you that these children are between three and five years old).
One of the teachers acts as the MC, after a lot of bowing and greetings all said together she introduces the head teacher, I stand and smile trying to act like I understand something of what she is saying. Then all of the children are directed to look at me, I smile and wave. The MC says 'Jackie Teacher' and the entire kindergarten repeats, 'Jackie Teacher'. At this point I am instructed up to the mic to say a few words. I say 'Hello' followed by a hundred little echos. I say, 'nice to meet you' followed by my chorus of repeaters. Then I am at a loss, I say 'English is FUN and thank-you (arigato gozimas)' and sit down. They then play a song on the piano and all the students sing along. At this point they all file out in the most organized fashion; no child breaks the line in perfect swirly, snaking paths the children go back to their classrooms.
I am informed that, 'Jackie Teacher your time finish' and I go home..... cutest school ever with the organizational level that would make any business or army for that matter proud.

We have arrived we're blogging again!!

Welcome to Nippon, you might know this place as Japan. This will be our home for the next bit and we are happy to share our experiences here in the land of the rising sun with all of you, hope you enjoy.
We arrived here in the first week of December and have now been here for one month, we have our very own house and language school in a small but growing city named Sanda in Hyogo prefecture. Japan has been very kind to us thus far, none of the foreigner flagging we experienced in Korea and much cleaner to boot.
This prefecture we are living in, Hyogo, is located in the heart of Japan's soulful, and very central, Kansai region. Kansai is home to Japan's second largest city Osaka; Japan's true capital (according to any anti-Meiji Kansainese) Kyoto; The first capital and cultural heart of Japanese buddhism, Nara, along with a vast amount of mountains and rice paddies. Needless to say, we are happily distant from Tokyo's crowds and filthy air and within arms reach to the traditional Japan of postcards and Akira Kurosawa films.

Our first three weeks were spent in a 150 yr old traditional Japanese thatched house called a Minka (民家, literally house of the people) in a small farming village called Kasugae-Sasayama. This was an interesting and chilly experience given the unheated condition of the drafty old home. Japanese homes are designed for coolness and breathability during the excruciating summers and bundling up (and hot water bottling your bed) is de rigeur for winter as heating the whole house would be wasteful. But more on houses later.

We have arrived, settled, eaten well, started gardening (yes in the middle of winter this can be done in southern Kansai) and slowly began learning the minute and fine details of the Japanese language. So for now we shall say Sayounara, keep you posted!