Halloween Party!

Today we had a little Halloween party in elementary school. The two other ALTs and I combined all the classes into one (usually I teach 5th and 6th grades, one ALT teaches 1st and 2nd, and the other teaches 3rd and 4th - fascinating tidbit, I know), and had the kids wrap each other up as mummies. The kids had a lot of fun, and I took some pictures. So… I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Overdoing it a Bit

The Japanese seem to overdo everything – and approach everything super carefully. On Sunday, I finally went to get my haircut. I happened to be in Kofu, and there’s a haircut place right near the station that came recommended by another JET. So, I went. They were able to fit me in (though not with the guy who speaks English). I showed the guy a picture of me when my hair was shorter, he seemed to get the idea, and we went along our merry way. The first thing (obviously) is to get the hair shampooed. This was a big of an ordeal. First, he put a small towel around my neck (very carefully), then a large towel on my lap, and then a smock tied at the neck. When I leaned back to get my head wet, he put this face shaped piece of paper on my face – I have no idea why. (Maybe Japanese people get embarrassed when someone washes their hair, and they don’t want the person doing it to see their face – and vice versa.) So, he finally sits me down and starts cutting my hair. But, he seemed sort of afraid to actually cut it. He would cut a few millimeters at a time, and then I would say, “a little shorter”, and he would cut a few more millimeters, and I would say, “a little shorter”, and so on… I’m sure he didn’t want to cut it too short for me (only to enrage me), but the picture I had shown him was of my hair (literally) moments after it was cut, and it was really short. He seemed really really tentative to take it to that level though – you know, the level where he cuts my hair. Once it was satisfactorily short (after a lot of coaxing), he took me back to the sink to rinse my hair (actually a good idea) – complete with two towels, a smock, and a face cover. Then he blow-dried it. By the time I got out of there, I had been getting my haircut for over an hour. A bit much…

In a similar vein, I started going to a gym that’s not too far from my apartment. When you go to a gym in Japan (or, at least this gym), you can’t just pay a fee, and go work out. First, you need to buy a key. They program the key to tell you what workout you should do. You go to the tell-you-what-to-do machine, it tells you what to do. Then you go to the treadmill, bike, or weight machine, put your key in, and the machine you’re working on only lets you do what the key says you can do. If you try to change the level on the bike, for instance, the machine changes it back. Naturally, I resisted this system – I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, after a whole song and dance with the staff there (many of whom actually speak English surprisingly well), they had me take a strength test that would determine whether or not I was capable enough to determine my own workout (a test, they told me, that “everyone passes” – right… what’s the point then?). I passed, and they let me go about my business.

Actually the key idea is really good. I just don’t like to be told what to do.

Festivals!

[Hey everyone (at least I assume more than one person reads this...). Sorry its been so long. I guess as I settle in a routine there becomes less and less stuff that's worth reporting. I'll try to update more though. Anyway...]

Japan is balls deep in festivals. There’s a festival (certainly) every weekend, and practically every day – and that’s just in Yamanashi. I shutter to think of the number of festivals in all of Japan. So, two weekends ago I went to a festival in Nirasaki which is about an hour north of me. One of my friends who lives up there was invited by his town to participate in it. The festival consisted of a bunch of different performance groups marching around the town, occasionally stopping to do a performance. For example, there were student marching bands (in incredibly silly outfits), traditional Japanese dance groups, and a traditional royal procession (complete with people in Samurai costumes, and other Edo period attire). Dave was part of the later group. He was a banner-bearer in the procession – complete with armor, a big black circular hat, and a giant 15-foot banner.

It turns out, that same day, there was another festival right near my house. I would have gone, but no one bothered to mention its existence to me. For that festival (so I’ve heard), the men get very drunk (par for the course for festivals) and walk around carrying a mikoshi (a large shrine resting on two long poles). The mikoshi is really heavy, and everyone who was involved in carrying it (about four at a time) complained of sore, bruised shoulders for a couple days following the event. The carriers of the mikoshi also pretend that there’s a spirit inside the shrine that is coming to life (or something), so they carry it erratically, swaying from side to side. It doesn’t help things that many of the carriers are drunk, and naturally stagger. Not surprisingly, I heard that a bystander was clocked in the head and had to be taken to the hospital.

Last Friday night I went to another festival – this one, in Minobu. It’s a pretty big deal, and many of the residence from neighboring towns come to see it. The festival takes place at Minobu-san (the mountain in Minobu with a big elaborate temple at the top). Groups, dressed in matching outfits and armed with drums, march up the moutain (its not very steep – and the marching takes place on a street lined with shops that leads to the foot of the temple). When a group reaches a participating shop (which is practically all of them) they put on a little performance. The drummers play one of two simple songs, while these guys with lantern-like things atop long poles perform a dance. If the shop owners like the performance (which they invariably do), they give the group a bottle of sake.

Kae invited me to come with her. Her father was leading a group that consisted of her family and a bunch of her neighbors (maybe 20 people in all). They put me in a happi (a robe type thing), gave me a drum, taught me the beats, and we walked up the mountain. Not surprisingly, a lot of alcohol is involved in this event. The people in my group kept handing me cans of beer, flasks of whiskey, and juice-boxes (or cups) of sake. I didn’t have one, but most people in the group were wearing alcohol pouches, so they could stow away their drinks while banging on their drums. Partway up the mountain, some other JETs stopped by and joined in. It was a pretty great festival.

[I don’t really have any pictures of the Minobu festival, as I had a drum in one hand and a drumstick in the other. Some other people managed to take some pictures, so I’ll try to dig some of those up.]