This weekend Mike came and visited from Singapore and we managed to time it up with a snow trip with Tokyo Snow club.
We went to a mountain called Kagura about 3-4 hrs drive from Tokyo. They had a nice dusting overnight and it was excellent conditions for this early in the season.
Great day, great weekend, plenty of good times.
Youtube Video
Arts, Crafts, Culture and Recreation Day
Only about 20 years ago, school in Japan used to run on Saturdays as a regular schedule.
The 2-day weekend concept came in, but the psychology remained - weekends are not strictly school-free time.
Saturday and Sunday school activities are the norm. Teachers will come to help out or help prepare lessons, work with colleagues or just simply go to school to help out as part of the running of it. Most teachers start work at 6 or 7am and finish on average at about 8pm, work on Saturday and maybe do a club activity sports tournament game on Sunday. School holidays are short, and club activities usually continue or require 'supervising' teachers to stay at school and manage students that come in for various reasons like homework marking or studying. Taking a holiday for the entire period really inconveniences your colleagues - or really makes a pile of marking to do when you get back.
It's probably one of the hardest things for me to comprehend, understand let alone adopt with respect to the Japanese culture.
Anyways, on topic - This last Saturday we had an 'Arts, Crafts, and Recreation Activities day'.
The students got to pick out of about 35 different activities to do for the day.
From playing a round of golf, to making bonsai trees - there was a lot of traditional Japanese crafts to do and was really interesting seeing all the students doing them.
There was also a couple of performances at the end of the day by an Opera singer and a Taiko drumming group. Fantastic entertainment.
Instead of a huge number of pics - I made a video slideshow instead - should be easier - it's only about 2 minutes. Opera and Taiko included. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfQaPuEJY1k
The 2-day weekend concept came in, but the psychology remained - weekends are not strictly school-free time.
Saturday and Sunday school activities are the norm. Teachers will come to help out or help prepare lessons, work with colleagues or just simply go to school to help out as part of the running of it. Most teachers start work at 6 or 7am and finish on average at about 8pm, work on Saturday and maybe do a club activity sports tournament game on Sunday. School holidays are short, and club activities usually continue or require 'supervising' teachers to stay at school and manage students that come in for various reasons like homework marking or studying. Taking a holiday for the entire period really inconveniences your colleagues - or really makes a pile of marking to do when you get back.
It's probably one of the hardest things for me to comprehend, understand let alone adopt with respect to the Japanese culture.
Anyways, on topic - This last Saturday we had an 'Arts, Crafts, and Recreation Activities day'.
The students got to pick out of about 35 different activities to do for the day.
From playing a round of golf, to making bonsai trees - there was a lot of traditional Japanese crafts to do and was really interesting seeing all the students doing them.
There was also a couple of performances at the end of the day by an Opera singer and a Taiko drumming group. Fantastic entertainment.
Instead of a huge number of pics - I made a video slideshow instead - should be easier - it's only about 2 minutes. Opera and Taiko included. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfQaPuEJY1k
Japanese Advertisements
This month's batch of Japanese TV ads were particularly funny. The first one is about how there's nothing covering their sushi. The second one is just chewing gum. Oh man there are so many funny ones haha.
Funny Tv Ads - Japan
Funny Tv Ads - Japan
5 Things In Japan That Surprise You
1. People Sleep Everywhere
The Japanese have some innate ability to fall asleep whenever and wherever suitable. Most commonly you'll see business men and women snoozing on the trains and somehow they always seem to stir and wake-up just before their stop. The other day our school had a visiting former astronaut come and give a speech! It was amazing the training and the photos she showed. Despite this however, about 70% of all the students (and teachers) had a snooze. Give a guy 10 minutes of free time and a reasonable location he'll just close his eyes and be out like a light.2. Japanese People Work Hard
Maybe cause and effect for #1? The Japanese dedicate their lives to their work. I recommend a documentary called 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi' which is about the first Sushi chef to be awarded 3 Michelin Stars. His ethos of working his utmost hardest every day for the entirety of his life is a litmus paper that nearly all Japanese seem to strive for over here. Teachers often don't finish working until 8pm if they're lucky. Businessmen and women even later. It's not the norm to change careers and it is a part of the fabric of the culture here to stick around work to avoid being the first one to leave. A complex game of 'chicken'. Mind you though, a lot of the hours that the Japanese put in are actually just sitting around socializing. Colleagues become your friends and in some cases closer than your family. Still though, I'm glad I can bugger off home at 4:30 -5:00 with my contract!3. Vending Machines Are Actually Everywhere
While Japan has this strange global reputation of having vending machines everywhere, the truth is somewhat of a skewed representation of that opinion. Vending machines can be found on nearly every block, however, it is quite rare to find any that contain food or clothing or sex toys. Still though, nearly every vending machine will offer hot or cold drinks, some even offer warmed canned soups! You do come across some amazing ones though. I have seen a rental bike vending machine. A hot-food vending machine which would pretty much microwave a full plate of food for you. Oh, and the coffee vending machine which had fully transparent window where you could see the fresh beans being picked up, ground, perculated and self-cleaned. Not quite as common as you'd think, but still damn convenient.4. Technology is Surprisingly Behind
Japan has some of the most amazing technological R&D in the world. They're a global powerhouse of electronics and invent some amazing and creative uses for technology that the rest of the world just seems to lag behind (heated toilet seats please!). Despite this, Japan is really set in it's ways with old technology. One day you can visit a restaurant and be handed a fancy ipod to make your menu selections, the next you have to go into the post office to get cash out because the ATM's don't work with your card on Sundays, and nearly no where accepts anything but cash. Offices are notorious for being 'stuck in tradition' and still use old fax machines from the 90s and a visit to any Japanese website heralds memories of the old 90's web pages with animated flashing .gif banners and gaudy colors everywhere. Australia is really ahead with how online it is. Nearly 50% of my students don't even have a home computer!5. Convenience Stores are Actually Convenient
You may have heard of it already, but Japanese Convenience Stores are actually amazing. In western countries they're akin to a gas/petrol station's selection of some dried out meat pies and some soft drinks that are exhorbitantly overpriced. In Japan, they stock a huge range and at prices equivalent to any major store. They stock fresh fruits and vegetables, alcohol, they have freshly made bento boxes(lunch boxes) of all sorts of delicious Japanese food everyday and a selection of hot-in the oven chicken skewers or even Japanese oden. Despite the food, they also let you pay for tickets, bills, postages/mail, airline tickets, fines. They really are convenient!
A great little TED talk
Today I stumbled upon a TED talk which I wanted to post here because I thought it was really interesting. Japan with a (severely) declining population is seeing a massive urbanization trend which is leaving many remote and rural villages veritable ghost towns. I can see this even in Gotemba with so many large bits of infrastructure and buildings all closed up with no business. This guy basically started out restoring really old abandoned houses and modernizing them and found that there was actually a market for getting back to the old Japan with the creature comforts of today.
His catch phrase is "The appeal of "Nothing Special"". Very cool.
His catch phrase is "The appeal of "Nothing Special"". Very cool.
Autumn is in the Air
This year hasn't been the most amazing for leaves due to late tsunamis and a very long summer. But just now we can start to see some color changes. Here's a couple of pics.
Halloween In Tokyo
Halloween in Tokyo has rapidly gained popularity in the last 5 years. As a culture which loves dressing up and the whole anime cosplay culture, dressing up for halloween seems intelligibly suited. Halloween is now big business and walking around Tokyo in the week leading up to Halloween you can see a transformation of the thousands of drab business suits into various costumes of all shapes and sizes.
We went to one of the biggest clubs in Tokyo which is out in the industrial district in an open warehouse overlooking the bay. Lots of dance floors and lots of space and it was a blast. The best part of the evening though was walking around with my friend and his costume. It is Kaonashi (literally no-face) which is a (very) famous character from a (very) popular movie here. The self-made costume struck a chord of nostalgia and amazement with everyone and just walking around Tokyo seeing everyone's reactions was priceless. Here's a video we made for it:
We went to one of the biggest clubs in Tokyo which is out in the industrial district in an open warehouse overlooking the bay. Lots of dance floors and lots of space and it was a blast. The best part of the evening though was walking around with my friend and his costume. It is Kaonashi (literally no-face) which is a (very) famous character from a (very) popular movie here. The self-made costume struck a chord of nostalgia and amazement with everyone and just walking around Tokyo seeing everyone's reactions was priceless. Here's a video we made for it:
Autumn Hiking in Kamikochi
Kamikochi is about 6 hours drive out of Tokyo nestled right in the middle of the Japanese Alps. A stunning collection of mountain ranges which sees Koyo (or Autumn) a bit earlier. Quite often, this place is noted as "THE most beautiful autumn viewing place in Japan" by locals although I am sure that claim to fame would vary depending on who you asked.
This year we had a typhoon come the week prior to our visiting so many of the leaves had fallen already, or turned brown by the influx of hot weather, but regardless it is still one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
This is a photo-of-a-photo of what it was 10 days before we got there :P Next time maybe. There are so many hiking path options.
This year we had a typhoon come the week prior to our visiting so many of the leaves had fallen already, or turned brown by the influx of hot weather, but regardless it is still one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
This is a photo-of-a-photo of what it was 10 days before we got there :P Next time maybe. There are so many hiking path options.
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