Monday, November 30, 2009

Rock, Paper, Scissors

From my travels around the world, I have learned that every country has their own hand gestures. The best example of how one thing could mean something good in one country and something terrible in another is crossing your fingers. In America, crossing your fingers is something people do for good luck. In Vietnam, crossing your fingers at someone is by far the rudest hand gesture one can make especially at a woman.

Three hand gestures that are universal though are those played in Rock, Paper, Scissors. I've found that everywhere I go, people know how to play this game. However, people in Japan play this game ALL THE TIME. Rock, Paper, Scissors in Japan is seemingly how every decision is made for non important decisions. I can't tell you how many times my students have played Janken (one of the official names for the game besides rochambeau) to decide who gets to do what in class.

I never thought there was much skill to this game but after being trounced by a few students, I'm starting to become a believer. After a little more time abroad, I met enter the USA Rock Paper Scissors League.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Cycling Trail

(PICTURE FLASHBACK: Jessica and Chi-Na in Beijing.)

A few weeks ago I had my first visitor. My friend Jessica -- who I had met in China while she was traveling with her friend/ahoy hanoi reader Chi-Na -- was doing a tour of Japan and swung by Koryama.

I had met Jessica at the Great Wall of China. For her visit, I took her on the slightly less famous great bike ride of Koryama. Along the local river here is a bike path called the Michinoku Cycling Trail. I had only ridden a little bit of the trail before Jessica's visit and decided she would be a great person to explore the rest with.

I borrowed Katie's bicycle for the weekend and Jessica and I headed out along the trail. After about fifteen minutes the trail leaves Koryama and begins to wind through the countryside. The reason I asked to be in a small city was so I could be around Japanese nature. Well, this trail had everything I could want: rice fields, orchards, a river, huge open areas, tree lined forests and even a little waterfall and shrine at the end.
(PICTURE: Jessica on the bike trail.)

(PICTURE: Me, Iain and Mikka.)

The trail was so good that I took Mikka and Iain on it the day after the fire festival.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

My Student

On the way out of the fire festival, we passed a tent with some extremely energetic vendors who were pounding mochi. Mikka took out here camera to get some pictures and one of the vendors came up to her and Iain. I immediately recognized a familiar face -- my student.

I was really proud of my student because he was using English to talk to my friends. I stepped up and said hi and he absolutely lit up...and sold me a piece of grilled pork from his tent.

(PICTURE: Me and my student. Mikka took this great picture. My favorite part is the random girl trying to sneak into the shot at the end.)

Now I need to flash back into earlier in this night when I was talking about my students with Mikka and Iain. We were comparing our classes and I was saying how my students are extremely shy and introverted. As soon as we walked away from my student, Iain turns to me and says, "That was one of your shy students?"

On Monday my student came in and turned bright red. He was really embarrassed about seeing me and thought he had acted inappropriately by being so friendly. I smiled at my student and assured him that it was great seeing him and there was nothing to be embarrassed about. That said, every time he comes into class now he turns bright red.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Sukagawa Fire Festival

I recently had a fantastic weekend with my friends Mikka and Iain from Hanoi, who are also teaching in Japan through the same company I am. Mikka and Iain are living and working in Tokyo and decided to come out and visit me and the country side.

The three of us had met up my first weekend in Japan at our company conference. While at the conference we heard great things about the Sukagawa Fire Festival from my coworker Katie. Her sales pitch worked on us and we all decided to hit up the festival when it came around. Well, Katie done us well. The Sukagawa Fire Festival was freaking fantastic.

Kensuke and Masumi came along and explained to us that the festival was in honor of a King who had lost a battle on the same ground the festival was being held. Every year they light a castle and giant pilars of straw on fire to appease his spirit.

(PICTURE: Masumi and Kensuke watching the Fire Festival.)

When the fires began I started to take some pictures and quickly realized that any photo I took wouldn't look half as good as Mikka's. Mikka is an extremely talented photographer and was snapping away photos like she was the papparzi and the pillars were Brad Pitt. You can check out Mikka's photos on her blog: www.mikkarose.blogspot.com All of the pictures in this post were taken by Mikka.

Here is my favorite photo Mikka took that night. This fireman is epic:

Here's some pretty cool video from the night:



Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

(PICTURE: My early Thanksgiving dinner.)

Few things make me sadder about being away from home then when Thanksgiving rolls around. Nothing can replace being around my family and eating a ridiculous amount of delicious food. I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing for Thanksgiving today but in my head I've already convinced myself that Thanksgiving came early for me this year. Let me explain:

A few weeks ago I was eating at my favorite sushi restaurant and began making small talk with four "salary men" ("salary men" is the term people use for businessmen). Nobody spoke English well but after a few sake drinks one of the men told me that he makes soba noodles as a hobby. It wasn't long before the man declared that he wanted to have a "Soba Festival." The sushi chef said we should have the party at his restaurant and that he would make some special food too. We set a date and BAM, it was one of the greatest culinary nights of my life.

I showed up at the restaurant thinking that that it would just be the four men I had met and the sushi chef. Well, I was wrong. There were about thirty people in the small restaurant and I was more or less the guest of honor. I was told to sit at a table with about 20 people who I had never seen before. It turns out that I was sitting with the heads of the Koryama Rotary Club. But forget about them, it was all about their wives. Each wife had made their "special dish". I was surrounded by plates upon plates of food including a ton of sashimi and at least 10-20 pounds of the greatest soba I have ever eaten. At the end of the night I felt like I usually do after Thanksgiving -- completely stuffed.

It's gonna be hard to top this meal in Japan.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Wishes II

I've been to quite a few temples and shrines already and seen lots of different wishing posts. However, this one takes the cake:
This one wishing place was just for people hoping for love. We're only a few months away from Valentine's Day and it seems to me that people are really starting to think about their February 14th plans.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Wishes

At nearly every shrine in Japan are places for people to put their personal wishes. I think this tradition is really cool versus silent prayer. I think when you have to write something down and display it, it kind of makes wish making more real. It's like when you write down your new year's resolution every year instead of just saying it in your head. Maybe that is just me but I've always failed on my resolutions that I think to myself versus the ones I've posted above my desk.

While we were at Nikko, Masumi and Kensuke pointed out a wish that was hanging up. This wish, if you can't tell from the picture, was done by a little boy who wants to be a major league baseball player:

Monday, November 23, 2009

Nikko

(PICTURE: Temples located in the forests at Nikko.)

A couple of weekends ago I wanted to get out of Koryama and see a little more of Japan. I emailed Masumi (1/2 of my new Japanese best friends) and asked her how to get to Nikko. Masumi emailed me back that she and Kensuke (the other 1/2 of my new Japanese best friends) wanted to go to Nikko too and would drive. Can you say road trip!

Nikko is one of the most famous tourist sites in Japan. It is a bunch of temples and shrines scattered among beautiful forrests. One of the most recognizable images in the world is located in Nikko -- the "Hear No Evil, See No Evil" monkeys.

Tons of Japanese tourists visit Nikko on the weekend, including this adorable little girl wearing a kimono.

Everywhere around Nikko you will see three-leaf clover symbols. The symbol is for the Tokugawa Dynasty that ruled Japan for over 250 years.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!!

(PICTURE: Even as a little kid, Hannah was able to fill big shoes.)

Minus a couple years in my teens, I have always been immensely proud of my sister. She is without a doubt the smartest, kindest, funniest person I have ever known. One of the things I hold to be unshakable in this world is that if my sister puts her mind to something, it will get done.*

Today is Hannah's birthday and I'm trying to pinpoint the exact moment when she went from being the most adorable little kid ever, to a beautiful, hard working, HOME OWNING woman. I made a video to help me wrap my head around it.

Love you, Hannah!

* The rare exception was when Hannah took kickboxing lessons to try and fight me (hence the line about a few years in my teens) and only proceeded to embarrass herself every time I would catch her leg and then give her a taste of her own medicine (if her medicine was stronger and swifter and actually hurt).

Saturday, November 21, 2009

My Japanese Best Friends

(PICTURE: Masumi and Kensuke.)

I consider myself to be really really really lucky. I've made some good friends out here in a short period of time who have made my Japanese experience countless times better than it would be without them. A few weeks ago I went out to a bar with Paula, her friend Lydia and some friends of Lydia and some friends of friends of Lydia. While out that night I befriended Masumi, the one Japanese person there.

Since that night I have become very good friends with Masumi and her husband Kensuke who happen to live about a five minute walk from my house. To say that Masumi and Kensuke are awesome would be a huge understatement. I feel like I have gotten to see another side of Japan since hanging out with them. In the upcoming days I'll talk about a few of the things I've done with them but first I thought I would point something funny out:

The first time I met Kensuke AND the first time I met Yuya (Paula's amazing husband) I saw them naked rougly within the first hour of shaking their hands. Hold on, hold on, Japan isn't some bizzare swinging culture. No, we went to an onsen together.

I've mentioned in a prior blog, at the Japanese baths the sexes are seperated and everyone is in the buff minus a tiny little wash-cloth-esque towel. Upon meeting both Kensuke and Yuya we headed straight to an onsen to take a bath. To me, this is truly a unique Japanese experience. Could you imagine meeting your friend's significant other in America and then immediately getting naked with them to have your first chat? Both times this has happened to me, I've felt like I was on a very strange first date where my friend's husbands got to size me up.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Okonomiyaki

(PICTURE: Okonomiyaki.)

As everyone knows, I'm a pretty big eater. One of my favorite things about living abroad is that I get to eat so much good food. As I've said to Paula a few times, "When I'm living in Japan I don't want to eat anything except Japanese food."

One Japanese food that I never ate prior to coming here is okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a savoury "pancake" with a variety of ingredients. To be honest, taste wise, this is probably my least favorite dish I've had in Japan so far. That's not to say I think it is bad, I just think it is okay. The experience of going to an okonomiyaki place is worth trying it at least once though. As you can see from the picture, you get to cook your own pancake at your table. Generally I'm not a fan of cooking for myself because a) if I wanted to cook for myself I would have stayed home and cooked b) I'm scared that I'll mess up what I'm cooking.

My one okonomiyaki experience was perfect because the owner stood at our table and cooked for us. This meant a) someone was cooking besides me b) I'm assuming it was not messed up.

I should also mention that this is the closest thing I've seen to a "Japanese Hibachi" like the Benihana chain in the states. From what I've gathered there are no hibachis in Japan where a chef flips shrimp into his hat. Yes, I'm as sad at this as you are.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Someone is watching you...

I was at my university on a weekend and decided to check out the view from the tallest building on my campus. The view was really gorgeous because Koryama is surrounded by mountains on all sides with rice fields at the base of the mountains. However, this post isn't about that view. While I was up top I looked down and saw two girls practicing some kind of dance moves. Clearly they thought nobody was watching...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Older Japanese Hikers

(PICTURE: Some standard Japanese hikers.)

Paula has commented to me a couple of times that older Japanese people are in ridiculously good shape. Well, that is putting it lightly.

As Paula and I hiked Bondai, every person who would pass us on the trail was roughly 20-40 years older than us. I would guesstimate that the average person climbing the mountain was 60-65 years old.

Not only were the people older than us, but they were also carrying decent size bags. As you may recall from a couple of blogs ago, I met two professors on top of the mountain. I would bet the both professors are in their mid 70s. One of the professors had literally carried a small cooler with beers up the mountain so he could enjoy a frosty brew at the end of his hike while the other had carried two large plastic jugs to take air samples.

As I hiked, I kept trying to picture my parents or their friends doing the hike we were doing. My parents and their friends are around 60 and I can say with total confidence that not one of them could possibly have climbed that mountain without having to be picked up by a helicopter once they reached the top. I don't mean any offense to my parents or their friends but these older Japanese people are bionic. Frankly they are even in much better shape than I am because I was sore as hell for a solid five days after the hike.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Bubbling Water

How many times have you seen a puddle on the ground that was bubbling?



This was a pretty cool site to see but also a reminder that I was walking on a volcano! I'm fairly/moronically cocky that given a head start I could potentially outrun a bear, but outrunning an explosive volcano is probably not gonna happen.

Monday, November 16, 2009

BEAR!!!!!!!!!

On the drive towards Bondai, I noticed that the little bell in Paula's car was missing. Apparently Yuya had forgotten to put the bell back after our hike the previous week. I started to make half jokes about being mauled by a bear and decided to buy any noise-making apparatus at a road-side 7-11. The best thing I could find was a little trinket that had a bell in it. The trinket made the slightest noise but at least it was something. I tied it to my shoe for our hike and added an extra little kick to my step so that the bell would toll. This bell made more of a peep though.

(PICTURE: My original "bear bell" on the right and a real bear bell that I now own on the left.)

At the beginning of the trail was a LARGE sign warning about bears. This got my heart rate going a little bit anytime I'd hear a twig break or a bird in a bush. As we hiked and passed fellow mountain climbers, Paula would ask people if they saw a bear. The response was always the same: a shake of the head and a laugh. Nobody had seen a bear...EVER.

After meeting Tom and Tom (see yesterday's post) we stopped at a random shack/restaurant on the mountain:

(PICTURE: You can see the shack/restaurant in the middle of this picture if you look close.)

While at the restaurant, we asked the woman who worked there if she ever saw a bear in all her years of working on the mountain. The woman told us that she had seen a bear only once. Tom #1 asked her what she did and she said, "I turned around and ran as fast as I could." Tom #1 said, "That's not what you are supposed to do if you see a bear." The woman replied, "I know but I was scared and wanted to run!"

This isn't the advised approach to survive a bear encounter but the woman was in one piece to tell the story so clearly it can't be that bad to run from a bear. Anyway, the woman not-so-coincidentally sold bear bells at her shack/restaurant. I bought the largest bear bell they had which was probably the smartest purchase of my life. The noise my new bell made was a good ten times louder than the trinket tied to my shoe. The piece of mind I got from the bell was priceless. As we hiked back down the mountain Paula made some comment about being disappointed that we didn't see any wildlife. I told her to shush it because we still had 20 minutes to go and talk like that would surely get us mauled.

Well, after a long hike back, Paula and I got to the parking lot where her car was. We saw no bears. We pulled out of the parking lot and started to drive down the mountain road. We had driven for about thirty seconds when I saw a bush start rustling ahead of us. Paula slowed down the car and sure enough A BEAR WALKED ON TO THE ROAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(REENACTMENT PICTURE: The picture I was too slow to take myelf and thus had to steal from the internet.)

I quickly tried to find my camera but I was too slow. The bear, having been scared by us, darted back into the woods. Paula and I looked at each other and both started to scream like little school girls, "A bear! We saw a bear!!!!" As strange as it may sound, seeing the bear has probably been my favorite highlight in Japan. Every Japanese person that I tell the story too looks shocked, "You saw a bear? No way. I've never seen a bear."

I can't really tell you how happy I was to see a bear. But I can tell you that I was even happier that I saw the bear while in Paula's car.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

New Friends

(PICTURE: Having a beer with Tom and Tom. Actually, technically that is me having Tom's beer which he insisted I drink.)

Paula and I met two men at the top of Bondai. After a few words we realized that we all worked at the same university. The two men, who introduced themselves as Tom and Tom, are professors at the university. Tom #1 teaches Chemistry and Tom #2 teaches Electrical Engineering.

Since meeting Tom and Tom I have become friends with them. Tom #1 and I often eat lunch together in the cafeteria and Tom #2 recently brought over photos for me from the day we hiked Bondai. The men are extremely nice and not only gave Paula and I candy, but also insisted that I drink their beer that they had brought and lugged up the mountain in a little cooler.

Tom #1 worked in the United States for a number of years and speaks English extremely well. There is something extremely grandfatherly about him that reminds me of my Grandpa Leo. Tom, like my grandpa Leo, gets really excited about talking about little things. With my Grandpa Leo it was plants, with Tom it is chemistry. It is Tom's grandpa-esque qualities that make the following story so hilarious to me:

As you can see in the picture below, Tom #1 is carring two large plastic containers:

Tom #1 hiked all the way to the top of Bondai with these containers to take air samples that he could analyze back at the university (he told me that the air quality has been going downhill recently because of pollution from China).

Apparently Tom #1 likes to take air samples so much that the last time he went to the states he took two jugs with him. Tom flew to America with them and when he was in Washington, D.C. attempted to get an air sample in front of some government building. Well, that didn't last long. Tom #1 said he was quickly scooped up by the FBI and detained in a hotel for twelve hours of questioning. Apparently Tom #1 didn't get the memo not to carry mysterious jugs into the heart of America's capital. In the end, with the help of the Japanese embassy, Tom was let go. The FBI kept his equipment though.

Tom has told me this story twice and each time laughs at the experience. Frankly, if the same thing happened to me in a foreign country I'm pretty sure I would have pissed myself. Oh, wait it did sort of happen to me in Vietnam: http://ahoyhanoi.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-scariest-experience-in-vietnam.html

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Bondai

(PICTURE: The start of the trail.)

(PICTURE: The end of the trail.)


Once and a while I get a tad behind on posting things. This is one of those times. A few weeks ago Paula and I had a day off and decided to hike Bondai mountain. The hike was absolutely gorgeous. There is something about the forests in Japan that are like nowhere else I've ever been. Between the trees, the changing foliage and the way light trickles through the canopy, the forests appear almost mystical. I read a Murakami book last year called, "Kafka on the Shore." In the book one of the characters continually wanders through a dark forest despite warnings that he could easily lose himself in it and never make it back. If it wasn't for the well-marked path, I could see that happening quite often out here.

As with most hikes, the payoff at Bondai was at the top. The view was gorgeous.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Happy Birthday, Katie!

(PICTURE: Katie waiting for the bullet train. The only thing quicker than the Shinkansen is how fast one's 30th birthday comes after turning 29.)

Today is my coworker/friend/next-door-neighbor Katie's 29th birthday. Last night I went out and bought her some socks that happen to be really funny and warm. It is getting cold here and the floors in our apartments are sort of freezing. Katie also likes leg warmer type stuff so I thought they were a good gift.

After buying the gift I went to the gym. At the gym I bumped into one of Katie's students and told him that I had just bought Katie a birthday gift since her birthday was the next day. The student was surprised and asked what I bought her. I told him and then he said to me, "That's a good gift. I'm gonna go buy her socks too after the gym." I couldn't believe that kid was gonna steal my gift so I told him to just buy chocolates. I thought I trumped him until he showed up today with a beautiful scarf.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Japan Is Not An Island















I was having a conversation with two students today and learned an interesting -- and very disputable -- fact. Apparently Japan is not an island.

One of my students is from a very small island off the southeast coast of the main land. I was asking him questions about his island and he told me it was the third or fifth largest island in Japan. I was shocked because he had just told me that there are only about 50,000 people living on his island. I then asked him, which islands are bigger. He rattled off two random islands and I said, "What about Hokkaido?" not even thinking about the island we were having our class on. Both students in my classroom at the time laughed at me and said, "Hokkaido is not an island!" I said, "Really? Is it attached to the main island?" They said it wasn't. I asked if it was surrounded by water. They said it was. I said, "So its an island." And well, they disagreed.

Am I crazy or is Japan not considered an island? Is Australia considered an Island? Is New Zealand considered an island? Is Iceland considered an island? I would say that I have a little island fever these days but if I'm not on an island then maybe I just have a fever (hit the symbol sound for my bad joke).

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Crickets

(PICTURE: A jar of marinated crickets.)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You can take the boy out of Fear Factor, but you can't take Fear Factor out of the boy.

As I've mentioned once or twice, I worked for the television show Fear Factor for a number of years. Every once in a while the show would pay me $100 to taste test something revolting. Well, old habits are hard to break. As class was ending on Friday I heard Katie next door talking with her students about crickets. One of her student's mother had marinated a jar full of crickets and the student had brought them in for Katie to try. I walked into the classroom, approached the table and was the first one to gobble one down. Unlike the stuff I would eat at Fear Factor, the crickets were actually delicious.

(PICTURE: The cricket is in my hands and soon to be in my belly.)

Katie -- after bugging out for a few seconds -- eventually ate a cricket too. Paula then walked into the room and matched my bravery as she ate a cricket without flinching.


(PICTURE: Katie in her moments up to eating her snack.)

Monday, November 9, 2009

Super Flu

I got an email the other day from the company I work for saying that a couple of students had "Super Flu." Super Flu is the rough translation for Swine Flue/H1N1; at least that is what my company is calling it.

There have been a few students out sick recently and an escalating rate of kids wearing masks. For Halloween two weeks ago we had a party and we had all of the students decorate their own surgical masks to wear as costumes. Mine was straight to the point...

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Parking

If you look at this not-so-great picture I took you'll notice something. Take a moment and see if you can figure it out....

Okay, time's up. All of the cars are parked facing outward. To me, this is just one of those little things that makes Japan so very different than Vietnam. In Vietnam you park wherever and however you can.

In the states we usually park our cars in head first. We pull up to a spot and go right into it. In Japan, it is never that quick. If you stand around a parking lot you can always watch people lining up their car to fit in a spot perfectly. I live around the corner from a big shopping area with a huge parking lot. There are always tons of spots available yet everyone takes their time making sure they are parked as perfectly as if they work at a car dealership.

I can guarantee you that if I had a car in Japan I would be the only one pulling in head first.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Platte, South Dakota

As some of you may have noticed on Thursday, my mother made a blog comment that she was going to email the Governor of South Dakota since that was the only state which had never read my blog. I thought she was kidding but, well, she emailed the Governor. Perhaps it is just a coincidence but...

...someone from Platte, South Dakota logged on the site on Thursday! Thank you random kind stranger from Platte. With your log in, Ahoy Hanoi has now been read in all 50 states!!!

And they said it couldn't be done.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Bowing


One thing that I have not gotten used to yet is the bowing. Frankly it makes me feel uncomfortable.

I would say on average I only bow my head once a day and I usually do it with a slight smirk. I know it's the culture but I want to yell at the senior citizen security man at the university not to bow to me every morning when I ask him for the key to the teacher's room. In fact, today I even told my bow-crazy-only-female student to stop bowing to me...and of course she said "okay" as she bowed.

To me the weirdest thing about the bowing though is when people do it on the phone. Recently I had to go to the office for my apartment complex and sat a guy's desk for fifteen minutes. The guy made a couple of phone calls while I was waiting and literally bowed about 30 times in five minutes on the phone. Yes, he was bowing while talking on the phone!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

600

Just typing the title gave me chills. Yesterday's blog was my 600th post. Yes, Ahoy Hanoi has hit 600. As excited as I am about this milestone, I can't help but think how much other stuff I could have done with my time!

It has been a while since I posted some Ahoy Hanoi facts and stats so here they are:

- Ahoy Hanoi has officially past the century mark for countries. The site has now been read in 103 countries including non traditionally Jewish friendly nations like: the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Jordan, Yemen and Iraq!!!

- Ahoy Hanoi has had over 66,000 page views.

- 64% of the people who have visited my site have come back at least 9 times.

- The oddest google search words (non sex related) that directed someone to my site were: "Joe Biden's Bible." I have no idea how that got someone to by blog.

- The average viewer spends 2 minutes and 27 seconds on the site.

- All that said, Ahoy Hanoi has still not been read in South Dakota! I don't know what is crazier: the fact that nobody has stumbled on to my site there or that nobody who reads my site has traveled there and logged in!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Snow

On Monday night it snowed here. Yes, it snowed on November 2nd. Yes, I froze my ass ass. Yes, I have become a giant wuss in cold weather. Yes, I graduated from Syracuse University where it snows a hell of a lot. Yes, I left my bike at school so I wouldn't have to ride home in the snow. Yes, I slept with two thick blankets. Yes, I'm worried that it is gonna get much much colder before I leave Japan.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

If Pete Cullen was Japanese...

I recently learned that Japanese students can only play one sport in high school. The Japanese mentality is that people can only focus on one thing if they want to be great at it. This includes giving up other sports you love to concentrate on the one you are best at.

This got me thinking: what if LHS legend Pete Cullen was only allowed to play basketball in high school. Even with playing football in the fall, Pete still became the LHS all-time basketball scoring leader. But what if he had an extra two seasons to hone his skills. My gosh, it would have been scary.

That said, playing one sport all year would have sucked in high school. I'm glad us Americans believe that variety is the spice of life.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Japanese Baseball


There is a heck of a lot I could write about baseball in Japan. As anyone who knows anything about baseball knows, the Japanese love America's past time. It seems that it is a law here that citizens must be fans of Matsui and Ichiro. I swear, every time I'm at the gym one of the five stations on TV has either a profile on Matsui or Ichiro or at least two commercials with them in a span of ten minutes. But that isn't the point of this entry.

It is baseball playoffs in America as well as here in Japan. One big difference between the two playoff systems is that in Japan, the conference champion is spotted a 1-0 lead in the conference championship series. To put this in American terms: The Yankees would have been up one game on the Angels before the first pitch in the first game. That would have meant the series would have ended when the Yankees won their third game in Anaheim and thus wouldn't have won the series in the Bronx. To me, I don't like this idea. It makes it extremely hard for an underdog to win a series since they already start in a hole -- and as anyone who knows which sports teams I like, my teams are almost always the underdogs.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Onsen

(PICTURE: An outdoor onsen.)

I've always said that my favorite thing about getting a massage in the states was the sauna/spa before the actual massage. Well, in Japan they have just that -- Onsens.

Onsens are Japanese hot spring baths. Since this country is basically sitting on top of a volcano there is a ton of naturally heated water below the surface. All over the country are these bath houses where people go for the water which is supposed to be good for your health.

Usually at the onsen there are a few set things. First, you can take a hot bath outside (like the picture). After the bath you can go into a sauna/steam room. These rooms are really hot so I have been staying in them for about five minutes max. After the sauna you're supposed to take a quick bath in FREEZING COLD water. The first onsen I went to had pretty cold water but I was able to plunge my head. The second onsen I went to had the coldest water I've ever felt. I got in up to my knees. After the cold plunge you can sit in an indoor bath with the natural hot water. If you'd like you can rinse and repeat the process.

Men and women are seperated at the onsens because everyone is butt ass naked. Yes, totally naked. I don't consider myself a shy person but this took a little getting used to...especially since I've been the only foreigner in the onsens and I've definitely gotten some stares of curiousity.