Elections and Mountain Spirits

Once again it's weekend in Shiojiri. Especially this one I was looking forward to with ever growing anticipation, because the elections were scheduled for this Sunday. I don't know too much about Japanese politics to really care, and I couldn't read the slogans anyway, to have even the faintest idea about who was running for what. It might have been the position of Grand Prefect of the Nagano prefecture the candidates were scrambling over, or maybe even the office of the Head Executioner of Shiojiri. It's all the same to me. There was one thing, however, that made me seriously await election day, and that was the hope that after the ballots had been cast, I would not be awoken by loud campaigning any more.

Especially towards the end it was completely getting out of hand! Vans full of cheerful campaigners, mostly young women, would drive up and down the road, blasting their slogans, waving to everyone, and generally spreading smiles, bows, and an atmosphere of friendly happiness.... not to mention noise! Admittedly, it was all very polite, lots of "shimasu" and "gozaimasu" every two seconds, but amplified to extreme proportions. Something I thought was funny and exciting at first turned to be more and more annoying, especially since each party sent out their cheerleaders to cover every street. I don't know how many parties there are, but judging from the intensity of the campaigns, there must be at least a dozen major parties, and probably more than thirty minor ones. Thank god it's all over now!

The candidates' faces were posted up on a long board at strategically placed locations, which we all got to know and love. My favorite candidate, the one I would vote for even if his platform might mean immediate deportation of my kind, is the last one on the list. I have no idea who he is, or what he stands for, but I like his raised fist. Onward, comrade!


So while the whole town was in a frenzy of elections, we Active School Teachers decided to escape somewhere far far away from this madness. Since Japan is known for its many spirits of mountains, forests and people's ancestors, we decided to pay them a visit instead. On Saturday we drove out to Hiraide, one of the only three villages in Japan remaining from the Jomon era, the first historical time period in Japan.

The huts were round shaped with thick straw roofs that came down to the floor, and a door that was not taller than maybe a meter. Inside, the floor was dug deep into the ground and we could observe Jomon burlap clothing decorated with spray paint, bows and arrows, and the famous hoe that king Kazula used to slay his father with, to claim the throne for himself... according to current theory.

All in all the village was not quite what I had expected, still it was interesting to wander around the huts and lay hands on the authentic replicas. Typically for Japanese sites, there was neither a guard nor an entry fee, and nobody would even think of stealing an artifact. As I am a great supporter of replicas, I must recommend Hiraide to anyone who wishes to go back to 1000 B.C. , when the brave Jomon people roamed this valley.


On Sunday the plan was to finally conquer that mountain that keeps staring at me through my window every day, so I set out with two other teachers to hike up to the top. The weather was nice and sunny, although a strong wind kept driving more and more clouds into the valley. First we walked to the edge of the woods, which I had already explored on my second day here. From then on we had to find the path ourselves. The only map we had was a copy of a map I had made at city hall a few days before, where five office employees helped out to find just the right map to lead me up to Takabochi, as they referred to it. The copy was excellent quality, high resolution color, and the only distinguishing feature from the original was the thickness of the paper. However, as everything was written in Japanese, it was cause for more confusion than actual help. Nevertheless we found our way up to the top.

On our way we encountered something like a place of worship, with beautiful toris, thick straw ropes, carved rocks, and an obviously ancient wooden structure with magnificent carvings, all behind a more recent, but not less beautiful fence. All in all the site had the impression of a church. There was a gate in the back, the main altar in front, and a side chapel to both sides. Only that this shrine was under an open sky, and majestically tall pine trees. After taking in the atmosphere of the place, we continued on our climb. By the time we got to the top thick clouds were gathering, so we did not linger too long to enjoy the view.





Hunger, and the fear of becoming victims of a surprise shower drove us back towards the valley. On our way down we passed by a building that looked like it could be a perfect curry restaurant or a ramen-shop, but whatever it was, it was closed. The only vending machine was behind two lines of barbed-wire, and looked like it had not been turned on for years. Thick fog was moving all around the building, and the wind carried the strangest noises from somewhere. It sounded like a donkey in heat, or maybe a hand pump that was badly in need for oil. Never before had this feeling of eeriness struck me in Japan. The only thing that would top this weird setting was the unopened can of ice-coffee lying under the vending machine. It tasted refreshing, and made me forget the hunger.

On our way down we immersed ourselves in deep discussions about politics and literature, and before we knew it, we were walking on a path none of us recognized. As it was leading downhill, we were not too worried about it. It would lead us somewhere, we thought, and so it did. Behind a bend we stumbled upon a tori, with the steepest set of stairs behind it. At that point even the threat of the rain would not deter us from exploring it... just to see what's on top!

It was no short climb, and once we reached the pine covered hilltop, we were rewarded with the most amazing experience. A feeling of peace, calmness, and balance surrounded us. Above us the whispering trees, under us the floor, covered with layers of pine-needles. Just in front, between the trees, was another tori, and still further a little house. It was actually too small to be called a house, even for tiny Japanese people. This was clearly the dwelling place of a mountain spirit. We walked up and after asking permission we were granted entry. Inside the house the spirit kept a few coins and a religious artifact, made of paper. We decided to offer a five-yen coin each, as our tribute to the spirit, since go-en (5 yen) is a Japanese symbol for good luck. For a while we set in silence, enjoying the magic of the place.

As we continued on we came by other smaller shrines. They each had the typical straw ropes, paper weavings, and stone carvings. Some of them had offerings of carrots and radishes from the local worshipers. It is amazing how alive the hills are. Behind every tree, every stream, and every rock seems to be a guardian spirit, or a legend of some sort. It was dark by the time we arrived back in Shiojiri, but our hearts were filled with wondrous joy of getting to know our area. Truly, we have visited the spirits, and they seem to have accepted us in their world.

Hanami in Manami

How lucky I am! It's only my third week in Japan, but it happens to be just that special time of the year when the cherry-trees are in full bloom. What an experience, not because of their sheer beauty, but also because Japanese people attach such a signifficance to these short-lived flowers. The trees are no ordinary cherry-trees, by the way. I have heard many strange and contradictory things about them, and I don't know what to believe, but here in Japan everything is plausible.

Supposedly, these flowers don't produce any fruit at all. Hard to imagine and kinda dissapointing, when you picture all the cherries that would be hanging everywhere in June.... hmmm, delicious! But I can see the Japanese planting thousands of these trees simply for their flowers, which last about a whole week in the year, and have no other purpose at all. During that week, however, everyone gets out to take a look at them, enjoy the scenic beauty of the pinkish-white fluffy hillsides, sit under the cherry-blossoms, have a picnic of sushi with green tea, and get drunk on sake. This traditional once-in-a-year event is called hanami (flower-watching), and I was lucky to participate.

As we were planning the weekend, it almost seemed like the entire event was gonna be washed away, as we saw a gloomy cloud formation over Korea coming our way. Fortunately it changed its path towards Hokkaido, and we could enjoy the most perfect weather possible. On a clear and sunny Saturday morning, the teachers of Active English met up outside the school to go on a little trip. The destination was the famous wasabi farm nearby, which just happened to have a Geocache hidden somewhere. Wasabi, by the way, is the green horse-raddish that you put on your sushi, and that has brought many tears to the eyes and noses of quite a few inexperienced gaijins, myself inclued, who tried to eat too much of it at once.

To our surprise, the wasabi farm was much more than a farm. There were beautiful bridges and old buildings, a water-mill, ponds with cute Japanese fish, a Shinto gate called tori, a bell to make a wish with, lovely stone carvings everywhere, and a cave with a special sort of thing burried inside. And since it was the season, there were gorgeous sakura (cherry blossoms) everywhere. What is more, there was no entry fee, so I felt good about buying fresh wasabi with a grinder, so now I can grind my own wasabi at home.

We took our time walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying the scenery. Of course there was Wasabi growing everywhere, with streamlets of clear water flowing through the fields. There was a drinking fountain as well, where we could taste the purest water, which was just good enough for this delicate plant. We passed through the tori and made a wish with the bell, we walked across the bridge, petted the fish, and explored the cave that was not very deep. Outside our friend Takashi read the sign and told us the story of this unusual little cave:

Back in the old days, there was once a fierce, big man, spreading terror throughout the land. He was so strong and so powerful that everyone feared him, and there was nobody who could bring him own. Finally, when he was eventually killed in a strange an obscure manner (about which there was unfortunately no information), the people decided to cut up his body, just in case he might come back to life. Each part was burried in a different cave as far apart as possible. This cave was just one of them. However, which part of his body had been hidden in this cave, the sign didn't say. For us, though, there was no doubt in our minds that it could only be the most important one.

Next, we walked up the spot where the Geocache was supposed to be hidden. It was not burried in the cave, only behind a rock, but it was one of the best organized caches I have uncovered. It was in excelent shape, very well organized, with lots of interesting trading goods. The website
for Geocaching and this cache in particular can be visited here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=7a4a90cd-2668-4999-917b-d6adee4e03d0
We made our exchanges, and I left a travel bug behind that came with me from Germany. After hiding the cache behind the same rock, we tried some of the delicious wasabi ice-cream they were selling there. It was not quite as spicy as you would think.

Afterwards, we went out for lunch. Instead of going to a ramen noodle shop as first intended, we bought some packed lunch and went up to the hill Koboyama in the town of Manami. Koboyama is hill on the edge of town, covered with so many cherry trees that from far away it looks like a piece of cotton candy during sakura season. What would be a more ideal place for flower-watching? There were quite a few people there for the hanami, but their disciplined culture did not disturb the tranquility. We sat down on the hill, enjoying the view over the town, and the cherry trees all around us, unpacked our sushi and ate it with fresh wasabi. How wonderful. What a perfect day.

Sakura Pictures

 
Cherry Blossoms
 
Shiojiri Center
 
Wasabi
 
Holy People
 
Water Mill
 
Tori
 
Wasabi Farm
 
Cave
 
Geocache
 
Sakura
 
Manami
 
Hanami

Puting your name on your trash, and other peculiraities

Two weeks after arriving in Japan, and one week after I started teaching, my boss finally managed to organize an orientation session for the new teachers. It was not as pointless as I thought it would be. After all I found out where they kept the folder with those essential forms I had been looking for all week, such as attendence sheets, progress reports, and so on. Now that some light was shed into this dimmly illuminated organization, I can actually prepare my classes the way I'm expected to. No need to improvise everything any longer, only what I really want to. In fact, I should probably go back and update the paperwork for my classes this past week. What better opportunity could there be for this than tomorrow (Monday) my day off? I'll show my face, shining with eagernes to do my job well, and give my company more than what's expected. That's the Japanese way! Plus, since I won't be seeing students, it'll be nice to hang out at the office in my T-shirt and combat-pants.

At the belated orientation we also recieved useful information about things pertaining to everyday life. We learned, for example, how to organize our trash. As it is with most ecological things, recycling is quite big in Japan. As it is with most recycling systems, however, it is utterly mindless in this country too. Similarly to the "green dot" system in Germany, you have to buy special trashbags. But unlike in Germany, there is a special bag for each kind of waste: There is the RED bag for "burnable", which constitutes paper, plastic, all sorts of organic kitchen waste, wooden chopsticks, etc... So essentially it's just regular trash. Next, there is the BLUE bag for "non-burnable", that is cups and glasses, light bulbs and dishes. Then, there is the GREEN bag for "recyclable", meaning plastic bottles, tin and aluminum cans, and glass containers. All of these have to be separated by color, cleaned inside and out, and any paper or plastic wrappers as well as bottle caps must be removed. Newspapers and cardboard boxes also belong into this category, but it is enough to stack and bundle them tightly. Should there be anything else that does not fit into the regular size trashbags (about the size of a plastic bag you get at your average grocery store), it counts as "oversized". That menas that we have to call Nagahara-san, so she can tell our landlord to contact the local trash authorities, who will dispose of our wastes for fee, depeding on the size of the item.

It is reccomendable to follow these trash-rules, not because they make sense or because it might help the environment, but simply because they are rules. And being in Japan, rules have an inflated importance. Of course nobody is going to say anything if someone disregards these rules, but neither will they answer his greeting the next time he says "ohayo gozaimasu". In fact, if someone's car gets scratched, someone's window smashed, or someone's daughter raped, then there won't be a doubt in anyone's mind that the only potential suspect is the foreigner who does not separate his trash. To avoid this, and to provide additional control, it is also advisable to put your name on your trash bags.

From all these special bags, however, it is the "burnable" red bag that keeps filling up the fastest. No doubt, most of its contents are empty bags from the supermarket, which I clearly can't use as trashbags. However, as ecologically concerned as they are in Japan, there is way too much unneccessary packaging material. Everything is sold under so many layers of plastic that it's not even funny. It is impossible to buy fruit or vegetables that are not shrink-wrapped or vacuum sealed, even at the vegetable store. You buy a stack of plastic cards for school, and while the box itself is sealed in plastic, inside, the whole stack of cards is packed into its own plastic wrapper, and each card is again individually packaged into a thin plastic baggie. Simply ridiculous! Altogether I am producing about as much trash in a day as in a whole week elsewhere.

Other than the trash rules, the orientation provided us with other useful information about cars, cell-phones, bank accounts, and other things I won't be able to use until I get a "gaijin-card" which makes me fully legal. Until then I'll be a shaddow of a person, working under the table, unnoticed and unrecognized, who can't even rent a DVD. So hopefully my paperwork goes through soon, and I'll get to go to Korea to pick up my visa.

We were also told about what not to do, specifically drugs. To give us a shocking example, we were told about a former teacher at Active, who was friendly and polite, an excelent teacher and a pleasant coworker. Kids loved him because his classes were fun, and adults respected him because he challenged them well. So all in all he was a perfect employee, except for one thing: One day he was arrested, because there was a letter in the mail addressed to him, containing parts of a certain illegal plant. So we could read his own description of being detaind by the cops for days and weeks until his lawyer in Canada settled the case. He describes very vividly how he had to share a cell with a member of the yakuza (Japanese mafia), and a man who'd been arested for sleeping in a dumpster (aparently another illegal activity in Japan). The latter one had a skin disease, constantly scratching himslef. They had to share the same toilet, without a tap to wash their hands or get a drink, and the only time he was allowed to leave the cell was for questioning, which was more like mind-terror. During that time he had to wear shackles, and was led around the room like a dog. I don't know how much truth is in that story, but it is scarry enough to keep me from using any kind of drugs. Okay, the sheer unavailability thereof has something to do with it as well. The cost of alcohol has already made me give up drinking, so I will have to look for other sorts of leisure activities. I'm not exactly sure what it's going to be, but I've heared whores and gambling are pretty big in Japan.

After the orientation we had our pictures taken, and we went downstairs to the Nagaharas for a teachers' party. It was a potluck, so everyone was expected to bring some food. I made my famous "lecsó", this time with Japanese instead of Mexican peppers, and my own seasoning, as I could not find anything similar to the sausage I usually put in it. Drinks were on the house. After all, what is a liquor store good for? It was a lovely evening. We sat on soft cushions on the carpet around the short table in the livingroom, giving little speeches of welcome and gratitude, then eating and drinking, and playing bowling and golf on the Nagaharas' Nintendo Wii. I enjoyed it greatly, especially the familiar atmosphere, which would be unthinkable at IH-Mexico, or any bigger school for that matter. As for right now, I am extremely comfortable here. The working at living atmosphere is really appealing to me.

Teaching and the Teachers at Active English School

After being in this strange land for a week, I finally got to do some work too. I am pleasantly excited, as it is going to lead to some money eventually, which seems to vanish quite rapidly in this country.

As it turns out, due to my exceptional visa situation I won't be teaching at a junior high school, as I had expected. Instead, I will be a full time teacher at Active English School, right above the liquor store. First I was going to write all sorts of horribe things about bureucracy, discrimination, and the disavantages of having studied in one country, while being the citizen of another.... but now I must admit that everything is working out to my advantage. The school is just a ten-minute walk from my house, and I can teach the way I see is best for the students (and for myself of course, but that is not something I like to propagate).

My students range from kindergarten age to adults, though they are mostly kids. That means I get to play games and I'm even getting payed for it! Of course everything has its challenges. The other day I could observe one of my colleagues during a more challenging lesson. The new student he was teaching, a twelve year old girl, was too shy to say anything. But she obviously knew the answers, from the things she wrote down on paper. Is this another Japanese trait that I should get used to? Maybe... In any case, I set up a strategy to cope with this kind of problem, in case I get such a student. One that will motivate them to say something, and at the same time discourages me from losing my patiente. But more about that when such a thing arrises.

Most kids are very active, however. (Hence Active-English?) They are full of energy, and to find an outlet for this you really have to play games with them involving physical activity. In the end you find yourself also jumping up and down, touching your knees and toes, and miming out all sorts of actions. Exhausting, but fun. I don't feel like I am teaching as much English, but we all have a great time. And there is hardly any Japanese spoken, or understood, at least not on my side. So I guess it is useful. Especially if the kids go home with a feeling that English class was fun, and they want to come again.



There are seven teachers at our school, five of which are about as new as me. (Some ofthem still have to go to Korea to pick up their visas, but more about that later.) The people you can see in the picture are (from right to left) Yanek from Montreal, Abbie from Vermont, behind her Dana from Pennsylvania, Ross from Schotland, Wendy from Austalia (though originally Argentinian),
Nick from Indiana, and finally Yours Truly. The atmosphere at the teachers office is very pleasant and comfortable. We are very much of the same mindset, quite international, love nature, and like to joke around.

Most of us teach primarily at public schools, with some additional hours at Active in the evening. From what they had told me, I feel kinda happy that I don't qualify to teach there. As a native speaker, what they have to do is the so called "tandem teaching", meaning they share the workload with a Japanese teacher. In other words, the Japanese teacher is responsible for explaining the grammar, maintaining the discipline in the classroom, and generally conducting the lesson. The native teacher takes up the role of a human tape-player, to "teach pronunciation" as they say. From what I've heared, it is about as much fun as it sounds. :-(

The only disadvantage of not going out to the public schools is the different schedule I have, compared to most other teachers. While they have to get up early, I get to stay up late and sleep in until noon or so. The afternoons and evenings are loaded with classes until nine or ten, even on Saturday. Of course I get Monday off, but I'm not sure how much fun that will be while everyone else has to work. Alltogether though, this job seems phantastic. It is exactly what I had wished for while commuting back and forth accross Mexico City, rushing from one busy company executive to the other. Finally I am teaching in a place with clean air, quiet streets, and disciplined, friendly students. I love it!