Days 42-56 in Summary

I’ve done a lot here during my stay in Japan, and it has taken me time to realize this. The significance of this realization is that I cannot possibly keep up with describing everyday with any sort of efficiency, especially considering my long hours mostly devoted to school. So the following, and from here on out will be a summary of events with the occasional recreation on those days more interesting. I’m hoping this format will be both more concise and enjoyable to read and easier for me to write.

APU Barbeque (Day 42) 11/06/2009

A number of us went to the APU ( Asian Pacific University) Barbeque. APu is a large international University in the town of Beppu, right next to Oita City. The point of the BBQ was to plant sakura trees in the morning along the coast, then enjoy BBQ and entertainment afterward. We from the Kaikan and Oita University opted for later arrival and ended up enjoying the BBQ and the finished product. We were not inclined to wake up at 7am or earlier on a Sunday to plant trees. This seemed somehow not…. Fun. But we got to the BBQ and paid our dues and ate delicious BBQ and rice balls. After we left the BBQ at 3ish we went to Beppu and wandered around a bit, ending up in the red light district with its conveniently located shrine. To quote Zack and Mike “ Go enjoy your sins on this side of the street and pray for your eternal soul on the other”. A little unsettling but we had fun. When we returned to the kaikan we watched Zombie Land, which I have got to say, is a pretty kick ass zombie film; just the right mix of scary/gore and comedy.

Field Trip to: Sapporo Forest Brewery, Mameta-Machi for lunch, The “Old Town” section of Hita and Sarayama for Ontayaki Pottery (Day 43)

The bus left at 8:55 and arrived a full ten minutes earlier than planned. Regardless the teachers acted as if it were the last chopper out of Saigon, and stressed us out with “ Were leaving soon, Hurry! We will leave without you if you don’t hurry!”. Complete Bullshit. I managed to break my skull candy ear buds on a seat as I rushed to grab a jacket. That was the shittiest start to a field trip I can remember. We left 5 minutes late. Damn Kumamoto and her lies to hell. We arrived at the brewery on time and after a short tour were allowed to drink up to 3 beers on the house ( non-alcoholic beverages were also available). So we had 25 minutes to enjoy the beer, and me along with many of the foreigners decided to utilize our time and drink a shit load. I ended up having 4 ½ because two of the girls didn’t like their beer. Their loss, and my gain. Even the teachers drank. It was hands down the coolest field trip ever by this point. So , rather liquered up, we took a short ride over to a buffet style restaurant with delicious food and drinks. We ate and were merry, slowly coming down from our beer euphoria. After lunch we headed to Old Hita for a short walk, where I got a local flavor of Ramune, Fuji Apple, which was really good. From Hita we tarveled for a half an hour or so up the near by mountain to Sarayama for pottery. This tiny village, famous for its pottery is gorgeous and absolutely pristine. The pottery was only a distraction compared to the gorgeous nature as far as I was concerned. After Sarayama we returned to the Kaikan bys bus, most people falling asleep on the way. That night while eating chicken nuggets and fries ( me and Eva cooked them ourselves) we watched my new TV. A cheap steal at 60$ and shaped like a box of French fries, complete with realistic feeling fries. I found it at the local electronics store while in pursuit of new earphones. Life is funny sometimes…


Joyfull (Day 46)

After class our Intercultural Communication Teacher, Nagaike Sensei took us to Joyfull. Joyfull is famous in Oita and is most similar to an American Denny’s except the food is higher quality, its half Japanese style of food and for 2$ you can get as many free refills as you want. Nagaike sensei treated us and paid for our dinners; all 13 or of us. It was fun and a little unusual to be on such and even level with a teacher, but we all enjoyed it as we listened to her unique perspective of Japanese behaviors over our warm plates of food.

Monkey Mountain and Sea Egg ( Day 47)

A group of us left in the late Morning for Beppu with two places in mind to see; Mt. Takasaki and Umi-tamago. The reason is because some of us had to do research for our upcoming presentations in class, so we needed pictures and info. So we got on a Bus in Beppu and arrived at Mt. Takasaki in about 15 minutes. At the entrance to the Mountain Park, you have the option to pay a dollar more to ride the monorail up the mountain to the monkeys. Assuming it would be toward the top, this seemed very cheap and a good deal indeed. What a rip off, it was only a 5 minute walk from the entrance to the “top” where the monkeys were. LAME! Anyway, the monkeys were really cute and adorable (most of the time, if they weren’t Shitting, Fighting or Fucking). We got to even see feeding time and watched the 700 some odd monkeys of the 1700 on the mountain that frequent the human visiting area feed en masse. It was really fun! After ward we walked down from the mountain and took an extra 5 minutes upon reaching the gate to reach Umi-tamago ( they are on opposite sides of the street from one another). Umi-tamago is a large, egg-shaped Aquarium in Beppu that’s right on the bay. It has a huge selection of fish and animals including; 10+ types of sharks, giant manta rays, Twilight zone fish, otters, dolphins, penguins, pelicans, sloths etc. I have only touched the surface of this very large catalog the Aquarium possesses. There also extremely well trained walruses that can blow kisses, do sit up and give you a high five among other things. It was a lot of fun to see all the fish and sea life and I plan on going back again, but with a charged camera battery and video camera. After Umi-tamago we stopped in a Department store quickly for an amazing ice cream flavor (Fuji Apple) and then went off to Meiji sushi to celebrate our friend, Nora, and her performance downtown that day.

由布院、Totoro’s Home Town ( Day 48)

We went with the Ando’s for what we thought was a day of hot springs and food. It turned out to be a bit different than we thought. We drove to the woody town of Yufuin, nestled between mountains on all sides. Its gorgeous and as me Eva and I found out, the town the inspired the setting for Tonari no Totoro. They even had a large Ghibli shop where many cool things from all the Ghibli movies were. I got a kodama key chain, after years of searching I finally found one ^_^ . For lunch we went to a nice restaurant and had amazing omu rice*. After lunch and wandering around a bit, the Ando’s brought us to a small Tea house tucked in the back of Yufuin and we enjoyed a very rare tea ceremony that is only practiced in THAT tea house; no where else. Its famous in Beppu and definitely unique. I liked it, even having to eat the tea leaves at the end with soy sauce. Eva and Chiemi found it to bitter, but I liked. After tea we got in the car and drove to Beppu. We drove up to a little onsen on one of the nearby mountains and enjoyed the hot springs. I was able to experience, an outdoor onsen, a Japanese sauna, which uses bamboo as floor boards to create a healing aroma, and the indoor natural bath, which was about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a little hot at first but I felt so much better after the bath. Having finished the onsen, we drove to a Udon shop for dinner where I ate Kim-chi Udon with a side of Steak over rice. I ate it all and it was absolutely delicious. It was a little unexpected but a very fun day.

*Omu Rice is short for “Omelet Rice”. Its when you cook an omelet to the point its semi solid, throw cooked rice in the center and flip it cooking the rice and omelet together. Its simple to make and really good



Always Sunny in Japan (Day 50)

In the afternoon our friend Jesse, and one of the tutors, Erika Yamamoto came back to the Kaikan. Jesse worked on our joint Grammar and discourse presentation for awhile and then we met up again with Erika, who was hanging out with mike at the time. Erika is a really outgoing and friendly person. She is well versed in English and thrives with people from other places. Some us decided that when she came over, we would share with her an American Cultural experience not to be missed; Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It was her first time watching, and we decided we would give Erika the gift of laughter for helping us out. She really seemed to enjoy it, despite the colloquial slang (she said she could only understand half of it, but loved it anyway). For those that know the show we showed her “The Gang Gets Invincible” and then “Hundred Dollar Baby”.

SPICE (Day 54)

After class we went looking for winter clothes and found some at Uniqlo. Eva, Matt, Mike and I were hungry after though, so we went to go have food and decided on SPICE. SPICE is a restaurant the specializes in Omu Rice and Curry. So we all sat down and looked around, taking it in. The music played was Jazz (refreshing I must say) and the décor was subdued and mostly woody and dark colors. It was a very chill atmosphere. We all ordered and enjoyed the food, which only took about 15 minutes or so. I got the Mozzarella Cheese Omu Rice, Eva got the Tomato Sauce Omu Rice and Matt got the Cheese Curry. All wee excellent and only 500-800 yen for a large plate. It was Super good and Eva and I will definitely return!

Hips Don’t Lie (Day 56) 11/20/2009

After school we purchased our bus tickets for Fukuoka and the upcoming Sumo match and went home to prepare for the evening. That evening, there would be Latin dance, and I would see myself vicariously dragged into it. We all left together at 8:30 in front of the Kaikan and walked to the small club in the back of the local shopping arcade. Before we arrived Eva broke her heel walking on flat ground, right in front of a Walgreens-type of store. How strange to break your shoe right in front of a store that may have the glue to fix it. It didn’t however and luckily for Eva, Mina brought an extra pair of shoes which Eva borrowed and the night was still on. When we arrived, the DJ for the club was the salsa teacher from the Latin dance classes offered to International students. The reason for the ‘Latin Night’ made a little more sense now. So as we wee the first to arrive, we cashed in our free drink tickets and started to drink and prepare for the dancing. I stuck with coke, feeling I would need all my dexterity for this evening, Eva had that “ I REALLY wanna dance!” look in her eye. So I prepared for the coming storm. The other started to arrive by 9:30 and in a half hour the place was full. It took awhile but Eva eventually got me on the dance floor where I put all I had in trying to keep in time with the beat and move my feet. I somehow managed. I even danced with some of our other friends who seemed to have a lot of fun, despite my inexperience. It was actually pretty fun, Eva was proud, and I felt a bit strange but happy I had pushed myself to do it. Whatever, I can get my hips to move now, say the girls, so I’m happy about that. Abiding a few detours, we made it back home in one piece and went to sleep.

Bamboo Lanterns before the Ruins (Day 57)

We gather around 1:30pm and picked up snacks and drinks at the local Conbini for our trip. We were going to Takeda-Machi to view the Bamboo Lantern Festival. When we got on the train at the station it was only an hour and a half trip. During the train ride we munched on our snacks and talked, meanwhile enjoying the breath taking fall colors of the local flora. When we arrived we could see the unlit bamboo lanterns littering the streets and shops windows, in preparation for the evenings festivities. The first thing we wanted to do before the festival was head up to The Ruins of Oka Castle and take in the view. Along the way we passed a candle shop with both beer and coffee candles. I was tempted to buy either one or both but resisted the urge. We also got to participate in lighting some of the bamboo lanterns near the edge of town, part of a large display leading to the castle. We started to light them just fine when an older gentlemen toward the center of the display, winding its way up the stairs, knocked over a couple and like dominos, many fell in kind down the steps. Amid the great crescendo of hollow wood on stone we got out of the way of the deluge. After they had settled down, we offered our help and got the lanterns at least standing back up. We walked through a few tunnels and then up the mountain gradually as it got darker. We got to the castle at dusk and walked up and around through it as the lights dimmed. It was gorgeous, with large stone parapets and towers over grown with moss and standing as sentinels of a long ago past. Around and inside the castle ruins is a large and beautiful collection of Maple leaves all colors of Orange and red seemed to be represented. From the top of the ruins, you can see all of Takeda and beyond and at sunset it will take your breath away. Went it got dark we trudged back down the mountain and walked around the town, enjoying the numerous large and small lantern displays as we searched for food. We came upon a large open area crammed with shops and tables under canopies. Here we had dinner and we employed a little trick to ensure we could taste a little of everything. We each took turns going out and buying two servings of something delicious and bringing it back to share. We ended up having hot dogs on a sticks, roasted pork on a stick, rolled cabbage, karage, grilled rice balls, yakitori, yakisoba, sweet sugar bread, French fries, takoyaki and a lot of Tea. The tea was all free and I had many warm cups of Kabosu* tea. Having eaten our fill, we got out into the town on the way back to the station. Along the way, a number of us, myself included bought our own bamboo lanterns. A real authentic piece of the festival, and only 500 yen! At the train station we left for home, with half of us falling asleep on the way back. When we got back to the Kaikan we separated and slept. It had been a long and wonderful day.

*Kabosu is a locally grown lime, its bitter like lemon, but not as intense. It is renowned for its uses in tea, sweet food and as an ingredient in many local dishes. When its green it is sour and used in tea and food, but when it ripens to yellow it is used in candy and cakes and can be eaten also. Its sour but not to sour and also sweet. In other words its really delicious!