Week 12

This week started off a little rocky but ended up being pretty fun in the end.

Although I really wanted to go see sumo wrestling on Tuesday the cold from the weekend reared it's ugly head and I ended up staying in bed and watching TV all day instead. In the evening I managed to drag myself out of the house to meet up with a friend for a while but that was it for the day's activity.

Wednesday afternoon was the graduation ceremony for the high-school I teach at on Fridays. It was in the same hotel as last year and went along pretty much the same. After the ceremony part where the students got their diplomas we adjourned to another big room where we had a really nice buffet-style lunch and mingled. None of "my" students were graduating this year but I did get to say "congratulations" to a few kids I had known for the past three years I've been doing that shift. In the evening I had some friends over to play games and chat before turning in early.

Thursday morning I was up at the crack of dawn again for day two of my new-assignment training. After that I had a short break for lunch then my usual Thursday shift. I was pretty worn out by the time I got home and zonked out while watching my favorite TV show (a walking tour of Tokyo presented by a famous Japanese comedian.)

Friday I had to go in earlier than usual to cover a shift for another teacher but mis-heard my start time and was almost late. Fortunately the rest of the day was pretty stress free as the teacher I was covering for was actually there so we each only had to do half a day's work load.

Saturday was the first day of the last week of kids classes so I said goodbye to all my little ones at work. In the evening I played a new game at a friend's house for a while before heading out for St. Patrick's day. The original plan was to go see one co-worker play a show at an Irish pub but when we got there it was beyond S.R.O. so we went with plan-b and headed over to an Australian pub to see a different co-worker's show. (Evidently English teachers tend to the musical type.) It seemed as if everyone from work was out and about and having a good time.

Yesterday was extremely busy at work and I once again came home in the evening and zoned out.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the Nipponbashi Festa (a.k.a. The Nerd Parade.) I won't be dressing up this year but instead plan on taking as many pictures as I can. Aside from that, spring seems to be around the corner. I can't wait.

Week 11

After I updated my blog last Thursday I headed into work and started a blessedly quick work week. I was busy but that really made it zoom by.

Friday morning I lounged around the house before going into my "sub shift" that I've got until April. I kind of like the place I usually get sent as there are a lot of other teachers there so I can get caught up on on the news and goings on in the teacher community. Unfortunately news isn't the only thing I "caught" this week.

I awoke Saturday morning with a throbbing headache and a sore throat. I've never called into work before and didn't really know what to do (headquarters opens at 10:00 and I usually leave home at 9:25.) I figured I could at least drag myself to the office which I did then promptly called for a sub. The substitute teacher took a while to arrive so I had to teach my first lesson, but then went home after that. I arrived home to find next year's schedule and contract in my mail box which was nice. Then, after a long nap, I was feeling well enough by the late evening to meet some friends going to see the latest zombie movie (which was awful in a good way).

Still not at 100%, I had a very busy day yesterday followed up by meeting with friends again in the evening. I'm not sure when I became such a social butterfly but it's really digging into my anti-social life.

Work today promises to be busy but at least tomorrow is the weekend. And what busy weekend; with Sumo on Tuesday and high school graduation on Wednesday (followed by another early start on Thursday.) No rest for the wicked at the end of the school year I guess.

Week 10

Yes, yes, this week's post is a bit late again. The end of the fiscal and educational year is (one might think, "understandably") busy for me. This past Monday (the 5th), just as with the last (Feb. 27th), I got a message from a friend wanting to meet up before work which kind of threw off my usual schedule. Now, let's see, what else happened last week...

So, two Mondays ago (the aforementioned 27th of February) I met up with a friend before work and chatted a while before heading in together (on bikes as it was almost warm enough to do so.) Work was busy and I had a full schedule which is pretty standard issue for this time of year. At the end of work some co-workers and I decided to meet up the next day and hang out.

Tuesday (the 28th) I met one friend at our favorite burrito place for lunch before heading over to a second friends house for the afternoon.

Wednesday (the 29th) I got up at a reasonable hour and did some housework and the week's shopping (a day earlier than usual) in the morning. I ended up hanging out with the same two friends from the day before again in the evening.

Thursday (March 1st) I got up at the crack of dawn to get ready and head into my company's headquarters for training in a new (to me) program I'll be starting from April. I don't usually go out or ride the train quite so early in the morning and was surprised at the number of people out and about in my neighborhood at that hour. The training secession was informational and ended in just enough time to give me a little lunch break before I had to head over to work in a different part of town. I was pretty dog tired when I got home that night.

Last Friday I had a "sub day" as my high school class is over until April. This meant I had the morning to sort things out at home before heading into work at a different school than usual. I happened to be assigned to work in the building next to where the friend I've been hanging out with a lot recently was working and actually ended up hanging out with him after work for a while.

Saturday at work was busy as usual and was followed up in the evening by another friend's birthday party. A collection was taken up a few weeks ago during our usual Wednesday night meet-up at the local watering hole and we were able to buy her an X-box 360, which she really liked.

Sunday was unusually slow at web school which let me get some more of the book I'm reading read. In the evening I invited some friends over to my place for another game night. It was a light turnout but I think we all had a good time.

Monday (the 5th) and Tuesday were basically repeats of the previous week's activities. Same friends, same times, same burrito joint.

Yesterday (the 7th) I was planning a relaxing day at home so I could get some personal work done but was messaged by yet another friend wanting to go out for lunch. Not being one to turn down a social call without a good reason I obliged and ended up having Mexican for the third time in two weeks (and a second time in as many days. I think I need to take a break.) After lunch I helped my friend "fix" her video game system. I was the first time I had worked with that particular system but it was pretty easy and went well. I zonked out in the evening and ended up watching tho original "Alien" trilogy.

Alright, all caught up to now. Looking forward: this weekend's looking pretty busy as I've got plans to see the new movie "Zombie Ass" (a zombie spoof movie featuring the lead singer from The 50 Kaitenz) with some friends on Saturday night. Next week Tuesday I'm slotted in to go see Sumo wrestling for the first time and next Wednesday is my high school's graduation ceremony. Let's hope I can find a spare moment to update - closer to "on time" next week.

Week 9

Picking up from where I left off on Wednesday; it turns out I didn't have much free time this past week after all.

Thursday morning was spent doing my usual beginning of the work-week routine of getting my room in order and doing the week's grocery shopping. This was followed by a busy day at work which left me pretty exhausted. Luckily there are only a few weeks of kids classes left in the semester then we get to change things up for the next school year. A fresh start should bring some renewed vigor.

Friday was my last high-school shift for this school year so I said "see you later" to all my students (as I'm really hoping that I'll get that shift again starting in April.) Friday evening was spent doing some initial spring cleaning; things like sorting out books I've already read to take into the office book exchange.

Saturday morning was another busy shift with lots of students. This was followed by an evening of rock-n-roll at a small venue in my neighborhood. Along with two friends I saw a total of five bands (3 good, 2 so-so.) The only down-side to the evening was that it was a "smoking" venue and the smoke clogged up my sinuses.

Sunday morning it was back to the grind-stone for another full day, this time at "web-school." I suppose one thing about a full schedule is that it does tend to make the day go by faster. Yesterday evening I went to one of my friends' birthday events at my favorite local watering hole. The party started off slow (even the birthday-boy was late for his own party) but in the end it was standing room only with people pouring out the door and onto the stairs up to the street. It was a good chance to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while.

Looking forward: There's nothing on my schedule for this "weekend" (or this weekend) but that's bound to change as we're heading into "year-end" mode here in Japan (the academic year ends at the end of March) and there are a lot of "sayonara" parties popping up for people leaving at the end of this contract.

Oh, and I've finally added pictures to last week's post!

Week 8

Okay, so this week got pretty busy and I didn't get a chance to make last week's update after all so this weeks update will be rather long.

Tuesday (the 7th) was my only day off that "weekend" but I ended up hanging out with friends instead of doing chores like I should have. That came back to bite me on Wednesday when I went to do laundry right before my overtime shift and all of the dryers at the laundromat were taken up so I had to leave my soggy clothes hanging in my apartment until I came home that night. That shift was fun though because I got to go back to a school I taught at three years ago and haven't been back to since. It was nice to catch up with the staff after such a long time.

Fast forward to Friday where I got lucky with an early shift in the morning which meant I was free in the evening to go see my favorite band (the 50 Kaitenz) play a store re-opening concert at the Tower Records uptown. They only ended up playing three songs (off their new album) and one encore but as it was a free concert it was well worth it (oh and I got a free autographed poster too!)  After the concert the usual group of "50" fans headed outside in search of a place to drink and chat. Unfortunately, Friday night in the uptown area, all the bars and restaurants were full and we had to make do with having "street beers" in front of a convenience store (this being much more legal in Japan than it is in the States.) After the main party broke up about half of us walked way across town to a radio station where the band was playing a show on the air. We waited outside in the blistering cold but were rewarded when the band came out we all headed to a local pub and got to spend some quality time with the members (a first for me.) Having missed the last train by a couple of hours I had to walk the two miles home and finally dropped into bed like a ton of bricks.

Saturday (the 11th): Awakening surprisingly refreshed from my short night's sleep I made my way to Shin-Osaka station where I caught the "Sakura" super-express shinkansen for Fukuoka. Fukuoka is a rather large city in the Northern part of Kyushu (Japan's main Southern island.) I arrived around noon and started off with a long walk around the center of the city. I stopped for lunch in a small restaurant called "L.A. Hamburger" and had a "hot chili dog" (which, it turns out, was not a typo as the chili was actually very spicy.) After lunch I wandered around a bit more until I came to Hakata Port Tower (Hakata being an old name for Fukuoka.) Unfortunately the tower was closed for renovation so I hopped on the subway and headed over to a rather large park I had seen on a guide map. "Ohori park" turned out to be a very large Chinese style lake with a chain of islands and bridges in the middle. The day was bright but a bit chilly, not too bad for walking though. After crossing the lake I wound up near the entrance to the remains of Fukuoka castle. I spent a while climbing over the old castle walls (no buildings remained) before moseying back to the station to catch a train to my next stop, Nagasaki. There isn't a shinkansen line to Nagasaki so I had to take a limited express instead but it got there quick enough. One thing I hadn't counted on was that Saturday being a national holiday, all the hotels were either booked up or had jacked up their rates. Luckily in the end I found a nice business hotel that not only had rooms but had actually lowered their rates for the night.

 A shrine decorated for some sort of odd festival

 One of the waterways that split the former cities of Fukuoka and Hakata (Now Fukuoka)

 Hakata Port Tower

 The lake in Ohori Park

 The ruins of Fukuoka Castle

The sign on the pillow says, "please don't smoke in bed."

Does that make this a no-smoking room?

Sunday (the 12th): I woke up fairly early and made a stop in the convenience store in the lobby of the hotel for some breakfast. I then took my food and walked across the street to the waterfront and ate while I gazed out over Nagasaki bay. My first stop of the day was Dejima. Dejima was Japan's only point of contact with the outside world for several hundred years before Matthew Perry opened Japan to the West in the mid 1800's. It was originally constructed in 1634 to hold Portuguese missionaries. This lasted a short time until the Japanese expelled all Christian missionaries in 1639.  It sat vacant until it was re-opened at a Dutch port in 1641. I was wandering around on my own when a very nice tour guide came up and started chatting with me. She ended up giving me a pretty thorough private tour which was very nice of her. From Dejima I walked around the old foreign community (which sprang up quickly after Japan re-opened itself to the world economy again in the 1800's.) After lunch I took a street car way across town to the Atomic Bomb Memorial Park. On the street car I met the tour guide from Dejima again (on her way home) and she game me some more advice on things to see in the area. After I arrived and looked around I took a while to sit and think in the memorial park (as that's what it was designed for.) I think the Nagasaki peace park felt more uplifting than the Hiroshima one but maybe that was just a side effect of the weather (Nagasaki was fine while in Hiroshima it was raining when I went.) After the memorial park I walked to the Atomic Bomb Memorial Museum and had a walk through. I ended up crying by the end (as I did in Hiroshima) but felt the Nagasaki museum had more technical information and fewer personal stories which I found more... interesting but impersonal(?) than the Hiroshima museum. My last stop was a park close to the museum marking the epicenter of the atomic blast. From there I caught a street car back to the station and then a train across the Nagasaki peninsula to the Shimabara peninsula where I was supposed to catch a ferry to Kumamoto. Unfortunately after getting off the train one station too early and walking to the next station I ended up missing the last ferry and was forced to stay overnight in Shimabara city.

 Nagasaki Harbor

 A scale model of Dejima island

 Oura Catholic Church in the foreign section of Nagasaki

 Nagasaki Peace Park

 Urakami Cathedral

 Epicenter of the Nagasaki atomic bombing

A little bigger than the previous night's room but not by much

Monday (the 13th): Getting stuck in Shimabara ended up being a small blessing in disguise as it turned out to be home to some interesting history. Unfortunately it was pouring buckets of rain which made walking around a bit less enjoyable. I did, however, make it to Shimabara castle. I normally don't like modern reconstructs of castles (like Osaka castle) but Shimabara castle (remade for the Tokyo Olympics in the '70's) did have a nice museum detailing the history of the region. Normally one can see the massive (and scarily close) Mt. Unzen from the top floor but the low rain clouds obscured all but the base of the volcano. Not having much else to see (mostly due to the rain) I headed back to the ferry port and caught a boat across a small piece of the East China Sea to Kumamoto. From Kumamoto port it was another hour on bus to the inland city center. From the bus stop at Kumamoto station I had to take a street car to get to Kumamoro castle which is at the actual center of the city. Despite continued heavy rain I made my way into the castle grounds. It was actually quite interesting to see the castle's several hundred year old drainage system handle the amount of rain that was falling. I ducked in one of the castle turrets to escape the downpour and was greeted my a very kind docent who showed me around and even let my go to the top floor of the tower (which is usually off-limits to guests.) The docent recommended seeing the turret on the opposite side of the castle, which was the original building on which the one we were standing in was re-created (quite recently.) I braved the rain once again and went off to find the other tower. I was greeted by an equally nice decent at the top of the other tower who showed me some secret rooms hidden in the ceiling. The rain let up at this point and I went to check out the central castle tower. Here I was greeted yet again by a third docent who filled me in on a great deal of the history of the castle (defending his pride after I said it was, so far, my second favorite castle after Himeji.) After quite a bit of walking around (Kumamoto castle is twice the size of Osaka castle and three times that of Himeji castle!) I wandered through a massive shopping arcade on my way back to the station. From Kumamoto station I caught the last leg of the "Sakura" super-express shinkansen down to Kagoshima in the South of Kyushu. My first stop in Kagoshima was the electronics store to buy a new eye-piece for my camera, having lost the old one in the rain. Then, because I had arrived pretty early in the evening, I found a movie theater and watched the latest animated feature and had popcorn for dinner. After the movie I found a cheap hotel near the station and crashed for the night.

 Shimabara Castle in the rain

 "Stature of Buddha entering nirvana" is what it said

 The sound of rushing water was deafening

 The main tower and walls of Kumamoto Castle in the rain

 The dual main towers of Kumamoto Castle

The largest (and most expensive by $5) room I had

Tuesday (the 14th): Most of my time in Kagoshima was spent wandering around the city. I mis-judged the distance from my hotel to the waterfront and it took quite a while to walk down (in a continuing light rain.) I was rewarded at the waterfront, however, as the low clouds that had pervaded the whole morning suddenly lifted a bit and revealed all but the top of Sakurajima (the active volcano in Kagoshima harbor.) After taking a few pictures I continued my walkabout in the city. The rain had all but let up and the 60deg. F weather felt good after walking around in the 40's for three days. When I got back to the station area I decided to ride the ferris wheel on the top floor. This seemed like a good idea until about a quarter of the way around when a squall opened up and the ferris wheel was sent rocking and swaying in the wind and rain. I've been more afraid in my life but that was not a particularly enjoyable experience. Of course by the time I got off and back to the first floor the rain had stopped again. Having some, but not a lot, of time before I had to head to the airport to catch my plane home I decided to take a cheap one hour bus tour of the city. The bus went by many of the interesting sites and even had audio commentary in Japanese and English. Back at the station's bus circle I got on the airport shuttle to Kagoshima airport (about an hour North of the city.) I was very early for my flight and the airline kindly offered to bump me up to the next flight which cut down on my sitting around time and even got me back in Osaka in time for dinner. A friend wanted to hang out that evening and I agreed, so long as it was at my place. I had the mental energy to make conversation but walking across town at that point might have killed me. Needless to say it was nice to sleep in my own bed.

 The remains of historic gun battery near Kagoshima harbor

 Sakurajima Island (an active volcano) in Kagoshima bay

 The southern terminus of the shinkansen line.

Taken from the Kagoshima station ferris wheel moments before the heavens opened.

View from the observation deck at Kagoshima airport

A pretty  normal work week followed. I went out for all-you-can-eat Indian with some of the guys Saturday night. and Sunday night was another game night. I didn't have the biggest turnout but we ordered pizzas and had fun anyways.

Monday morning (the 20th) I attempted to wake up early and churn this blog post out (I mis-judged the time for this too) before I went in for some special training on new part of my job I'll be starting in April (teaching part-time in kindergartens.) I then had to work my usual shift in the evening.

I slept in yesterday and just as I was thinking of getting some work done a friend called and wanted to hang out before going to a movie we had agreed to see that evening. We played video games with another friend most of the afternoon before meeting another friend for the movie. The movie (Phoenix Wright) was based on a courtroom video games that's very popular both in Japan and the U.S.. I was surprised at how much courtroom vocabulary I had learned from watching the evening news (things like 'suspect', 'judge', and 'courtroom'.)

Today (Wednesday the 22nd) was spent getting my hair cut and cleaning up my apartment (with a short break for lunch at my favorite burrito place.)

Hopefully I'll be able to salvage a few minutes this week to put some pictures with this post but it's not looking good as I've got work during the day and a concert and a birthday party by night on the schedule.

Week 7

This week's post will be late as I just got back from 4 days in Kyushu and need some time to recover and sort through my photos before making a post about the trip.

Week 6

Sheesh, and I though LAST WEEK was bad. Well, I guess like last week I got the hard part out of the way first and the rest of the week wan't that bad.

Tuesday night I met with my girlfriend and had a long conversation trying to remedy the fight which we'd had the week before. Unfortunately in the end it was decided that we couldn't rectify the base problem and broke up. After a good cry and a call to mom I called up some of the guys and headed down to the local watering hole to commiserate.

I didn't stay out too late however, as I had an overtime shift on Wednesday. It turns out I was covering a shift for a friend and had a really good time meeting new students at a school I hadn't been to before.

Thursday I got up earlier than usual and went into my company's headquarters to interview for a teaching position in one of the company's other branches. This branch sells franchises to housewives who run small schools in their homes for kids. In addition this branch sends teachers out to kindergartens and elementary schools to interact with the kids there. As I;ve been teaching kids at this company for four years now the interview was quite easy and I'll start getting additional work from this branch in April.

At Friday's shift I ended up working with another of my friends and we went out to play video games after work.

Saturday's shift was smooth and followed up with a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe Osaka for ribs. As always the ribs were expensive but well worth it. This was followed up with more of my Bond marathon.

Sunday was busy but went by fairly quickly. After work I met up with yet another of my friends and we played card games late into the evening.

Looking forward; this week I've got more overtime on Wednesday then a short work week of Thursday and Friday followed by a national holiday on Saturday. I've taken vacation days on Sunday and Monday to give myself a little 5-day "spring break" next week. The current plan is to head down to Kyushu (Japan's Southern main island) for a few days but we'll see what happens.