Sunday, November 29, 2009

Cult Museums and Other Things

This weekend was relatively eventful! Saturday I decided to go visit the Miho Museum in Koka, Shiga. I was amazed at this place since it was literally in the middle of NOWHERE! Besides the exhibits being about average for most museums, the architecture was just amazing! The place was designed by the same arcitect who created the pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.



Miho Museum


You walk through a tunnel to the museum.

The more interesting thing about this museum is that it is run by a cult! How else could you make something so amazing in the middle of nowhere right? The religion is something associated with the Church of World Messianity. The sect that the Miho Museum belongs to is Shinji Shumeikai. The religion basically believes that you can channel divine light to heal people.


Apparently that bulding is the Shumei temple, non-members not allowed to check it out.

But it isn't just because of this religion that the museum could have been built. The museum was the dream of a woman named Mihoko Koyama, founder of Shinji Shumeikai, and one of the richest women in Japan.

After checking out this place it was off to Kyoto for some Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) with some other JETs. It was delicious and I esspecially liked the Caipirinha (Brazilian National Cocktail). All you could eat meat and salad for two hours! Amazing!

Sunday I decided to go on a bike ride out to a place called Eigenji (temple) to look at more fall colors.


Beautiful Japanese Autumn


Stone Buddhas


Eigenji

After this we stopped at a pretty impressive onsen. Unfortunately when we left it was raining, but luckly not very hard.

After arriving in Yokaichi city (half hour train ride from Hino) I decided to stop at a McDonald's and ended up running into some of my students. When I asked them what they were up two, they responded "nanpa" which means picking up girls. So after a small chat with these students I headed back to the station to go home and end my weekend.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Autumn Change

Coming from Montana, a state covered by mostly evergreens, being in Japan is a treat. The trees during Autumn are so beautiful. This weekend I went on a hike with two of my English teacher co-workers up the tallest mountain in my town. Unfortunately since I live in a very mountainous part of Japan, it is rather alpine, much like Montana.


My English teachers half way up the mountain!


My small town in the valley below. Can you even see it?


So in order to catch the beauty of the changing landscape I took a 2 hour train ride north to a town called Kinomoto with about four other ALTs.


Beauty


Zen

It is these moments in my life when I am surrounded by such beauty that I know I am blessed. Even though I feel my life is far from ideal and wish many times I could go back and change decisions in my life, where I am in the moment can sometimes be amazing and knowing that my current path has lead me there brings me a small amount of satisfaction. In the end we can't change our past, but we can definitely change our future. Although we will never know if we ever did, since the future only happens in the present.

I remember hearing once, "Change with the seasons." If seasons are for change, then Autumn must be the time to change your colors and how people see you. I am still reaching for my goals in life, to become the person I want to be. To find complete happiness in knowing that I have experienced the many aspects of life. This is why I wander.

Soon I will be wandering again. In less than four weeks I will be in Thailand! I still can't believe it and have not done any further preparations. I need to buy a large backpack and get my gears in motion so this trip doesn't sneak up on me.

I am definitely looking forward to it, but for some reason traveling just doesn't seem the same anymore. It seems like a lot of work. My real freedom is bound by my job. I can't really go get lost, because I have to be somewhere. I can't be as spontaneous because I have responsibility. One of my friends gave me a philosophical article about how "No One Should Ever Work" and would definitely say it is worth the read if you are interested in such things, it definitely made me think about the idea of "free time." It is crazy how most societies downplay play and deem work as noble. A hard worker is good! While I agree, I feel some of this logic is twisted. Do we become slaves to our work? How much can it change us?


One step closer.

If Autumn is a time for slow change and the New Year to start a new...

The moment is for skateboarding samurai gangstas!! Wait...what?


Remember to wear safety gear.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Philosophical Picnic #1

True enlightenment is never self proclaimed or sold.

Remember this for when dealing with those that believe they have more 'advanced' and 'evolved' information than the rest, or bold enough to call themselves a higher advanced life form. When true enlightenment is obtained, it is realized that what we know is very little and that absolute truth can never be explained and only experienced internally.

Before enlightenment, humility is learned.

This is not to say those that share their experiences towards the path of enlightenment are false, there are many teachers in the world. But those with actual understanding can only offer assistance, never a method, and never attach a price to wisdom.

The greatest philosophers and teachers of our time have been poor, simple and kind. They did not rely on money, but on their own knowledge and the compassion of those who loved them for their knowledge.

Books in the modern day are an exception. It is a company that usually publishes a book, not the author. If the teacher wants to distribute his wisdom to others, he will write. If he wants many others to read he will publish. If it is to be published, the publisher will want profits. So do not be fooled by the smoke and mirrors of modern society to find some truth. Just be aware, that those who consider themselves enlightened still have much more to learn.

Finally, enlightenment can only happen to those who seek it. Fear of knowing that what we know is nearly nothing, is the largest obstacle to face.

The ego is ultimate, the truth is infinite. To face both with all eyes open is undefinable.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Cultural Cognition #1

This will be the first of many entries that will be entitled "Cultural Cognition." It is an attempt to reflect back on things I have noticed in Japan over a period of time which seems to be standard in society and culture. I hope to shed some light on misunderstandings about Japan and also question based upon my observations. Since this is the introductory entry, it will be rather introductory...rather than specific.

First lets talk about Japan as a country. It is a country of rapid change. Japan was late in coming out from it's feudal era, compared to the rest of the world, which is said to have ended in the late 1860s. The time before this was the time of legends, ninjas, samurai, martial arts, geisha and an overall culture of mystery. Most fiction of Japan takes place before the 1860s. The rest is remembered in history. Most history isn't internationally well known until after 1941 with the bombing of pearl harbor by the Japanese. The most unforgettable being that the first (and only) atomic bombs were dropped and detonated on a live population in Japan during 1945. Then the country of samurai became the country of salary men. Bamboo forests replaced with neon. Fields of rice to fields of concrete. Or well, this is what many people think. In all reality, Japan is still somewhere in between. Where the salary man is in many ways still the loyal samurai, working hard for their company instead of their fief.


Trading in the Katana for tie.

A highly developed nation with huge concrete metropolises like Tokyo and Osaka but also having lush bamboo forests, rice fields that meet the mountains, and no central heating. I live in the later. My neon is the stars, my apartment so freezing in winter that I have to put my vegetables in the refrigerator so they don't freeze, my crowds the migratory birds. It seems when people think of Japan, they think Tokyo. Although Tokyo is part of Japan, I would say it is the least like the rest of Japan. I myself misunderstood Japan to be the robot wielding cybernetic ninja capital of the world, that is before I came here and saw differently. Las Vegas still puts the lights of most Japanese cities to shame, and a 10 year old American probably has more electronics than a 10 year old Japanese!

The Japanese people, considered honorable and polite. This is true for the majority, but honor and respect are declining in popularity as those younger than 30 don't care about these traditional values anymore. There are punks everywhere in the world, and Japan is no exception. With this uprooting, it is harder for older generations to respect the younger generation and thus the vicious cycle is in full swing.


Rockabilly anyone?

Japanese people have weird concepts of race. Being a country that is basically 99 percent Japanese with most foreigners being from other Asian countries or Japanese-Brazilians, xenophobia and racism are everywhere. Being white in Japan is the major minority. Unless your in Tokyo which just looks like if you replaced New York's white population with Japanese and the Asian with white, but still yielding a pretty decent mix. In my town of 23,000 people, I think there is one other white guy that I see out of the corner of my eye when I am walking the narrow streets. Otherwise most are Japanese, although my prefecture is a special case in having many Brazilians. On many government signs in Shiga prefecture, the second language is Portuguese. I can walk down the hall at my school, and I normally hear Japanese, but it isn't unheard of to hear some Brazilian kids going at it in Portuguese. Overall, a pretty cool experience although I know that many Brazilians are highly discriminated against by the Japanese police.

Teaching English I always come across, "I can't learn English because I am Japanese." Which is strange. Why not? I know many Japanese that speak English well. How do you explain Japanese-Americans? But the same goes if you are foreign (not Asian), you can't understand Japanese (which you can play to your advantage) or know how to use chop sticks. If you say "Hello" in Japanese you speak very well and then get flooded with a language you are only just learning, and if you can use chop sticks, you are "amazing."


Blendy: Japanese coffee company.

The food, is amazing! Half the reason why I came back. But honestly, Japanese people don't eat sushi very often, but white rice everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some foods also like to play with my gage reflex, but it's all apart of the experience! The modern Japanese diet isn't more healthy than the American one, although the obesity rate is much lower. 5% compared to 35%. Unfortunately this is slowly changing, both due to the convenience of Japanese junk food and American influences such as McDonald's. Will Japan continue to claim the worlds longest life expectancy with the amount of cigarettes the majority smoke and binge drinking from societal stress combined with Micky D's?

Where will Japan be in the next 100 years? The last 100 years have changed so much that I could technically talk to a 90 year old man who's father was a samurai, remembers the bombs being dropped on Japan, the U.S. occupation, the rise of Japan being the strongest economy in the world, to the present day that we live in now. That is more change than most current 1st world countries see in 200 years! It surprises me that the slogan used by Obama, "Change," is so popular in a country that has been anything but the same for the last few decades.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Pure

So last week it seems like I finally got over a cold that I seemed to have longer than two weeks! It is great to be able to breathe again. Unfortunately after the weekend I feel like I might be coming down with something again. Working with kids and riding public transportation isn't the best way to keep colds away. Not to mention Japan seems to have a fear of soap, so in almost all public bathrooms there is no soap! No wonder swine flu became a pandemic here. Glad I brought that small bottle of hand sanitizer from America with me.

Anyway the last few weekends haven't been too bad. Last weekend I went to Hikone to take a quick look at a candle festival where a street was lined with a bunch of different candle configurations.

Hiko-nyan (Hikone Cat) Hikone's Mascot

Overall a pretty relaxing weekend with a lot of time sitting in my apartment doing who knows what. Just relaxing, which was a pretty good idea since the following week was pretty busy.

Most of the time at work I feel pretty useless but this week I was super busy, which was a great change of pace but nothing I would want to do every week. I actually helped plan a class and make a worksheet which I rarely do for my junior high school classes. Not to mention during this class people from my town came to watch it. Afterwards my Japanese Teacher of English said to me that they enjoyed the class because it looked like the students had fun! Which is great, and hopefully will help keep my reputation up since I am not too involved with my local community. Thursday was a super busy day because a bunch of classes were added so I had the maximum amount of classes, which is 6, and taught seventh through 9th grade all in one day!

Although the weekend is only half over, I have nothing else planned for this weekend. Yesterday I went to Osaka to party with some other JETs that live on the west side of the lake and who I rarely ever see. So in order to put myself more out there, I decided to tag along since it was an open invitation event. The plan was to go to a couple bars and then to a club called PURE.

After going to a normal style pub we went to a place called Cafe Absinthe, where they obviously sell Absinthe and where you can try shisha. I am not a smoker, but I do like to indulge in new experiences and I would have to say this experience was very pleasant. I both tried a cherry flavored tobacco that was filtered through alcohol and a apple/mint tobacco filtered through water.

Our hookah.

After this we decided to head to the club called PURE. Honestly, at first I had my doubts about this place. It is known as a foreign hangout that can be pretty sleazy which really makes the club's name, Pure, ironic. Probably not a place I would go to by myself, but since I was with people I gave it a shot. Also since you only have to pay about $40 to get into the club and can drink all you want it didn't seem like a bad deal, especially considering I couldn't go home until after 6AM when my first train left Osaka.

Overall the music was good and although it was pretty crowded everyone seemed friendly, except for some other foreign guys who were obviously only there for one reason. Thankfully my height intimidates people, so I had no issues. Overall I think the night was a good learning experience, especially on how to be more social in a situation that I am not 100% completely comfortable with.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

National Culture Day

In Japan on November 3rd there is a holiday called National Culture Day. It basically is suppose to be a day where culture is displayed in museums and other venues. But most importantly it is a day off of work! Instead of going to a museum, which I think always will be displaying some sort of culture, I decided to take my day off and go to the city of Moriyama where the famous winter sports store called Moriyama Sports was having a huge sale!

Now I was lucky that I knew about this sale. On Monday at work someone left a flier next to my desk that showed some snowboard gear and that had huge 50% numbers written all over it. I am guessing it was my supervisor at school, and although nothing was explained I guess he figured I would take a look at it and hopefully understand what it meant, and understand I did!

So a 1 hour train ride to Moriyama and it was well worth it! I have been looking for a jacket in Japan for about 3 weeks now. Everywhere I go it is too short for my height or my arms. I figured, this snowboard store must have brands like Burton and 686 that carry normal sizes right? RIGHT!

Now normally a Burton or name brand coat can cost about $600 if you want it insulated and about $150 if you are just looking for a shell. Unfortunately my brand new Burton shell went missing before I left for Japan, so good Karma had to come into play this time around right? TOTALLY RIGHT!

Japan is a very fashion conscious country. Actually, basically everywhere I go I almost feel under dressed. This worked out in my favor largely today. I walked around and found a coat that was about $50. It was apparently waterproof and was just a shell. Before I decided on purchasing it though I took a look upstairs, and so very glad I did. At first I saw the normal fare, bright colored geometrical patters that are becoming very popular with the "hey look at how awesome I am" group of kids. I myself like a more subdued solid color like military greens, tans, browns, etc. Looking at the price tags of about $500 on most coats or $250 on a nice neon green and purple coat with pink squiggles and triangles all over it, I was about to give up and buy my somewhat poorly made coat I found on the first floor. Then I turned the corner...

A sign saying, "Last year." So I figured, OK, lets look. EVERYTHING on the rack was $100. Jackets that were once $500 are $100, once $250 now $100. I figured it was a strange way to mark down items, but what the hell. Also another score, they were American sized with all the specs in every language including my own, English! Now the hard choice to pick which jacket. Since almost all the left over sizes were XL, because I am guessing there isn't many XL sized people in Japan, I was very excited.

I narrowed it down to two jackets. A Volcom Thinsulate jacket or a 686 Down jacket. I am generally not a huge fan of down since it seems to like falling out and leaving a feather trail everywhere, but when asking the girl at the store which jacket she recommended she said the 686 Down jacket. Which basically meant, it looks cooler. I kind of agreed since the coat seemed a bit longer all the way around. Plus the shell material is thick and if it is waterproof I shouldn't have to worry too much about wet feathers. Not to mention wearing a down coat always reminds me that I am in the military for some reason (the smell?), and I guess that is good when I want to be kicking ass on the mountain.


New coat and pants.


Inside of my coat, it's apparently an artist edition. Sweet!


I wonder if the Gortex pants can double as rain pants. Useful!

Next was to find some snow pants. After looking around, some blond hair Japanese dude that definitely looked like he belonged on a skateboard or snowboard said in Japanese, "Look at this one over here, if it your size I would get it. See it says Gortex, so you will stay dry. That's my recommendation anyway." So Burton Gortex snowpants, $100.

All in all I got a $500 686 coat for $100 and $600 Burton snow pants for $100. Nothing like getting over $1000 worth in gear for $200. I was very impressed! Both in the prices and that I found stuff that fit me in Japan, and fit me well nonetheless! One thing I learned from this is, Japan might have some of the best pre-season sales that I have ever seen, as long as you go for last years fashion.

If I had more cash I might have considered getting a board while I was here, could probably have gotten a board and binding set for about $400. Now I am kind of wishing I brought my gear from the U.S. to Japan. I am not sure if it is even possible to ship that stuff here or how much it would cost. Most likely I can get away with renting gear this year, except I will have to purchase some snowboard boots from zappos.com along with some warm socks and maybe a few more pieces of footwear. Apparently zappos has started shipping internationally, but it costs around $60 to ship a package.

If you are wondering how good the snow can be in Japan I am only about 3 or 4 hours away from what are known as the Japanese Alps and about 1 and a half hours from a smaller mountain in my prefecture.


This is not Switzerland. Japanese Alps.

Amazing there is that and then beautiful beaches only 2 hours away in the summer time.


Wakasa Wada Beach. The Japan Sea.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Japanese Halloween

So Halloween is technically not a Japanese holiday, but since there are about 30 foreigners in Shiga we decided to have a JET Halloween Party at a bar/club in Kyoto.

In an attempt to find a costume, I left for Kyoto earlier. While browsing though various costumes that were for people much shorter than me, I decided to purchase a large rainbow afro wig. Granted it wasn't a great costume and it made me $17 poorer, but at least it was SOMETHING! Especially in a country that doesn't traditionally celebrate Halloween, although it is becoming more and more popular amongst University students due to American influences on youth pop culture.

Now that I was dressed as a man wearing a large afro, I was hoping to grab some lunch with some other JETs before the party. Unfortunately I had a little mishap and got lost, so I couldn't meet up with them.

So I went to the club and ordered some food there and a beer. I am not a big club person, unless there is something worth listening to. Since it was just an ipod plugged into the speaker system, I didn't really want to dance. I need a band or DJ that can actually get the crowd moving. It basically reminded me of a High School/College Halloween dance. I don't really like dancing, but I do like music that makes you dance or at least go a little crazy once and a while.

Rainbow Psychedelic and Japanese Potter.

Anyway, since I was unimpressed by the environment and couldn't get into it I think I started to get a little bummed out. I don't know why exactly, maybe because I am just getting over a cold. I had a choice to stay in Kyoto and find some actual DJs and maybe hang out with some other JETs but I just wasn't in the mood.

I was hoping for an awesome Halloween, but unfortunately it was bust.