This week was mostly work as usual, until yesterday, when I got to take an unexpected sightseeing trip! One of my coworkers was taking our Chinese guest to see a few places around Chiba City, Hirata-san suggested that I go with them. Since I only had one translation to work on at the time, my supervisor said it was okay, and I got to tag along! You can read it about it on my travel blog, here. It was the same people that I went to LaLaport with a few weeks ago, and like I said all three of us are very quiet, but again, I had a good time! I also managed to get my coworker to put his face in one of those cardboard cutouts you take pictures of, shaped like a samurai, which was pretty awesome. :P
Then later that night we had a farewell party for our guest, as it was the end of her training and she was going back to Wujiang the next day. It was at a pretty nice restaurant, that had little ponds full of koi that you had to cross over, but which was also a little alarming because if you stood by the water the koi would rush over and open their mouths and thrash around hoping for food. O_o Anyway, it was a yaki-shabu place, which just meant that it was a combination of yakiniku (Japanese barbecue) and shabu-shabu (Japanese hot pot) on the same table, which was pretty cool. We also had chosen to do tabehoudai, or all-you-can-eat (but sadly not nomihoudai, all-you-can-drink, this time) for two hours. It was pretty fun because everything cooked really quickly, so there was a constant scramble to eat things before they burned and to put on new things to cook, and of course it was delicious! We were all full before our time even ran out, which I think is unusual, haha.
Today I had no plans for the first Saturday in weeks, so it was a pretty low-key day (not a bad thing). I'd stayed up a lot later than I expected to, so I slept in a little bit and then did laundry/some cleaning before heading out to frisbee practice. Saturday practices are nice because it's usually a small group and pretty chill - it's the first once I've been to since my first ever practice with them (feels like such a long time ago but I guess it was only a month!), and I really enjoyed it. I'm hoping Monday's practice doesn't get cancelled (which seems likely at this point due to imminent typhoon), because Cory and another WI-ALT are planning to come, which is super exciting!
Tomorrow I'm planning to take a trip to Otaki for a festival (even though it's Sunday), so look forward to a post about that soon!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
chiba city sights
Yesterday I got to tag along as my coworker took our office's guest to a couple of places in Chiba City, which was great (even more so because it was totally unexpected!). We went to the Kasori Shell Mounds Museum, Shimoda Agricultural Fureai Center, and the Chiba City Folk Museum, none of which I'd been to before.
Our first stop was the Kasori Shell Mounds Museum, whose name I am sure to remember in both Japanese and English because it came up in my first interpreting job but all I could say was 'shell mounds' instead of its proper name. The shell mounds there are the biggest ones in Japan, and I think some of the biggest in the world, too. They are split into the north and south shell mounds, and actually the area where they are is open to the public all the time (only the museum has hours), which I think is pretty cool. When we got there, we got to go on a guided tour led by a volunteer, who explained a lot about the shell mounds for us.
I was a little bit surprised because the majority of the shell mounds are actually left exactly as they are without any excavation, which means that when you look at it you mostly just see the grass and plants that have grown up on top of them, with the slight elevation being the only indication that the mounds are there. Apparently they have decided not to excavate any further than they did in the 1950s, in the interest of preserving them. There are several places where you can see where they did excavate, though! They're basically cross-sections of the mounds behind glass, and it's really interesting to see just how many shells are piled up there. In the southern mounds, you can also see animal and fish bones mixed in, as well as ashes from (cooking?) fires.
After looking at the mounds from both the outside and the inside, we went into the museum, which I found pretty interesting. There was a lot of information about shell mounds in Japan and the people who lived around the Kasori Shell Mounds (and created them, I suppose), including things like their jewelry, pottery, living spaces, etc. As our tour guide was explaining things to us as we walked through, I was too busy trying to pay attention to what he was mentioning at the time to really take a full look at everything on display, so I'll have to go back some time and take my time! Admission is only 60 yen for adults, so I think it's definitely worth it.
Our next stop was the Shimoda Agricultural Fureai Center, which was established to give citizens of the city a chance to get closer to the local agriculture. There's a little market where you can buy local produce, as well as a restaurant that uses all local produce in its dishes. We learned about a program they did with elementary school students, where the kids went on field trips to farms in the area and then created a map that included the places they went and things they saw. It was a really impressively well-made map, considering it was done by 10 sixth-graders, and I thought that having that kind of program was a really good idea.
We had lunch in the restaurant there, which was really tasty! It was buffet-style and there were a lot of different options, so naturally I had to try them all. It seemed like it was the kind of food that you would normally eat in a Japanese home (as opposed to a restaurant), which was a nice change from everywhere else that I've been eating lately.
Our final stop was the Chiba City Folk Museum, which is in a building that looks like a traditional Japanese castle. Despite what a lot of people may think, though, it isn't a real castle that people lived in (like all of the other castles you can visit in cities like Nagoya, Osaka, everywhere) - apparently it was constructed in 1967 on the site of the original Chiba Castle (not sure what happened to it) to be a symbol of the city (or something). I was pretty amused that this wasn't a real castle (though it does look impressive), just like I was amused by all the various works featuring Chibanosuke Tsunetane, the leader of the Chiba clan and apparently a pretty big deal, that all looked different because nobody knows what he actually looked like. The museum is all about the history of Chiba City, and their current special exhibit is of the clothes that people wore when delivering things from or working at certain shops, which were kind of like their brands and so unique to every place (from what I understood of our guide's explanation, at least). My favorite was one for a sushi place, where the logo looks like a shrimp but is actually made up of the characters for 'sushi'.
As with all castles in Japan (or at least all the ones I've been to), we were able to go up to the top and go outside on a little veranda that went all around the castle, to see a view of all of Chiba City. Unfortunately it was a rainy day and not very clear, but it was still cool to look around and try to find the places that I knew (which is admittedly not many, haha).
Apparently the folk museum also has a monthly event when you can try on traditional clothes and armor, which sounds like a lot of fun. You do have to apply for it, but really it's just submitting your name/address/phone number to their email (kyodo.EDL@city.chiba.lg.jp) so that they can do a lottery in case there are more people who show up than they have outfits for. Admission is only 60 yen here too, so I might want to come back and try on some armor sometime!
All in all, I had a great day going from place to place - it was definitely more exciting than sitting at my desk translating all day! :)
Our first stop was the Kasori Shell Mounds Museum, whose name I am sure to remember in both Japanese and English because it came up in my first interpreting job but all I could say was 'shell mounds' instead of its proper name. The shell mounds there are the biggest ones in Japan, and I think some of the biggest in the world, too. They are split into the north and south shell mounds, and actually the area where they are is open to the public all the time (only the museum has hours), which I think is pretty cool. When we got there, we got to go on a guided tour led by a volunteer, who explained a lot about the shell mounds for us.
I was a little bit surprised because the majority of the shell mounds are actually left exactly as they are without any excavation, which means that when you look at it you mostly just see the grass and plants that have grown up on top of them, with the slight elevation being the only indication that the mounds are there. Apparently they have decided not to excavate any further than they did in the 1950s, in the interest of preserving them. There are several places where you can see where they did excavate, though! They're basically cross-sections of the mounds behind glass, and it's really interesting to see just how many shells are piled up there. In the southern mounds, you can also see animal and fish bones mixed in, as well as ashes from (cooking?) fires.
After looking at the mounds from both the outside and the inside, we went into the museum, which I found pretty interesting. There was a lot of information about shell mounds in Japan and the people who lived around the Kasori Shell Mounds (and created them, I suppose), including things like their jewelry, pottery, living spaces, etc. As our tour guide was explaining things to us as we walked through, I was too busy trying to pay attention to what he was mentioning at the time to really take a full look at everything on display, so I'll have to go back some time and take my time! Admission is only 60 yen for adults, so I think it's definitely worth it.
 |
| Shells and some ashes in the mounds |
Our next stop was the Shimoda Agricultural Fureai Center, which was established to give citizens of the city a chance to get closer to the local agriculture. There's a little market where you can buy local produce, as well as a restaurant that uses all local produce in its dishes. We learned about a program they did with elementary school students, where the kids went on field trips to farms in the area and then created a map that included the places they went and things they saw. It was a really impressively well-made map, considering it was done by 10 sixth-graders, and I thought that having that kind of program was a really good idea.
We had lunch in the restaurant there, which was really tasty! It was buffet-style and there were a lot of different options, so naturally I had to try them all. It seemed like it was the kind of food that you would normally eat in a Japanese home (as opposed to a restaurant), which was a nice change from everywhere else that I've been eating lately.
Our final stop was the Chiba City Folk Museum, which is in a building that looks like a traditional Japanese castle. Despite what a lot of people may think, though, it isn't a real castle that people lived in (like all of the other castles you can visit in cities like Nagoya, Osaka, everywhere) - apparently it was constructed in 1967 on the site of the original Chiba Castle (not sure what happened to it) to be a symbol of the city (or something). I was pretty amused that this wasn't a real castle (though it does look impressive), just like I was amused by all the various works featuring Chibanosuke Tsunetane, the leader of the Chiba clan and apparently a pretty big deal, that all looked different because nobody knows what he actually looked like. The museum is all about the history of Chiba City, and their current special exhibit is of the clothes that people wore when delivering things from or working at certain shops, which were kind of like their brands and so unique to every place (from what I understood of our guide's explanation, at least). My favorite was one for a sushi place, where the logo looks like a shrimp but is actually made up of the characters for 'sushi'.
As with all castles in Japan (or at least all the ones I've been to), we were able to go up to the top and go outside on a little veranda that went all around the castle, to see a view of all of Chiba City. Unfortunately it was a rainy day and not very clear, but it was still cool to look around and try to find the places that I knew (which is admittedly not many, haha).
Apparently the folk museum also has a monthly event when you can try on traditional clothes and armor, which sounds like a lot of fun. You do have to apply for it, but really it's just submitting your name/address/phone number to their email (kyodo.EDL@city.chiba.lg.jp) so that they can do a lottery in case there are more people who show up than they have outfits for. Admission is only 60 yen here too, so I might want to come back and try on some armor sometime!
All in all, I had a great day going from place to place - it was definitely more exciting than sitting at my desk translating all day! :)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
takigi noh
So yesterday I went to a Takigi-Noh performance (sort of - more on that later) at Makuhari Messe - I seem to be going to Makuhari a lot recently, though I suspect that it's one of the places I'll end up going to a lot. Also, it turns out it's actually cheaper for me to take the 10-minute train ride from my station to Kaihin-Makuhari station than it is to take the bus from my apartment to Chiba Station, or to go one stop on the monorail. Weird.
Anyway, I had gotten two tickets for this performance from work, or rather from the economic planning section, since at the welcome party I went to a few weeks ago somebody had mentioned that they could get me tickets if I was interested (and who I found out today was apparently sitting right behind me? I had no idea, haha). I must admit I don't have an active interest in Noh (still don't really know much about it either), but it's one of those things that I figure I should experience at least once, like kabuki, since it's such a traditional Japanese art.
Originally Hirata-san said she was planning to go with me, but she didn't think she could make it because of work, so I invited my WI-ALT friend James to come with me instead. We met up at a Badass Coffee (yep, that's it's name!) for a little bit and then headed over to Makuhari Messe, where we found out that the performance, which was supposed to be outside, was moved inside, presumably for fear of rain (though it was nice and cool out and didn't rain at all. T_T). So we went inside the event hall, which is really huge! According to their website it holds 9000 people, and I had fun imagining what it would be like to go to a concert there.
When we got there most of the seats had already been taken, so we ended up near the back (but in the middle, at least). Neither James or I had any idea of what to expect, and even though there was a synopsis in the program and they explained it in both Japanese and Chinese (since this performance was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Chinese-Japanese diplomatic relations, a little bit ironic in light of current events), I still didn't understand any of it, haha. The show started off with a kyougen, or a short comedy sketch, about two guards (I think?) who got caught and tied up by their master for drinking his alcohol after he left, but who still managed to drink his alcohol even while tied up once he left them again. I only managed to understand a few words, but I managed to get the basic gist of it, at least.
And then the actual Noh performance started! I had tried to read the synopsis in the program and managed to get something about Buddhism, crossing a bridge, and a performance, which I mentioned to James, who doesn't speak Japanese. So we thought we had an idea of what to expect, but as it turns out even so we both had no idea what was going on, haha. The performance was very slow-paced and involved more music than movement, and most of the performers spent their time on stage behind two trees, which James and I found very perplexing. We both came out of the performance a little bit unsure of what exactly we had just seen and clearly didn't get any of it, haha. Still, I think it was definitely a good experience and we were both glad that we had gone to see it!
On the way out a reporter from the Yomiuri Shinbun (one of the biggest newspapers in Japan) heard us speaking English and turned around to ask us some questions! Although really he just asked if we were there as students (nope) and then our impressions, to which I said something about it being interesting and a good experience though not really what we were expecting, not that I knew what we were expecting (it was about that coherent, too, haha) and scribbled down about one word before leaving. So I don't think we'll be showing up in the newspaper at all, but it was kind of cool to have a newspaper person talk to us.
After that we got a late dinner in Makuhari before heading home. When I got back, I was determined to find out a little bit more about the performance and what it was about (because really, it was totally beyond me), and some internet research revealed that the performance we'd seen was about a Buddhist priest who saw lions dancing on a stone bridge across a deep ravine. So I had gotten the general idea right, at least. Also, it turns out that the most unique part about Takigi-Noh is that it's performed outside by firelight (by bonfires), but because they had moved the performance inside, we didn't get to see any fire. It's a shame because I think that would have changed the experience, and also because apparently there aren't that many opportunities to see Takigi-Noh (with the fire and everything). Sad. But I can still say I have seen a Noh performance, and it was definitely more exciting than my usual Tuesday night, so really I can't complain!
Anyway, I had gotten two tickets for this performance from work, or rather from the economic planning section, since at the welcome party I went to a few weeks ago somebody had mentioned that they could get me tickets if I was interested (and who I found out today was apparently sitting right behind me? I had no idea, haha). I must admit I don't have an active interest in Noh (still don't really know much about it either), but it's one of those things that I figure I should experience at least once, like kabuki, since it's such a traditional Japanese art.
Originally Hirata-san said she was planning to go with me, but she didn't think she could make it because of work, so I invited my WI-ALT friend James to come with me instead. We met up at a Badass Coffee (yep, that's it's name!) for a little bit and then headed over to Makuhari Messe, where we found out that the performance, which was supposed to be outside, was moved inside, presumably for fear of rain (though it was nice and cool out and didn't rain at all. T_T). So we went inside the event hall, which is really huge! According to their website it holds 9000 people, and I had fun imagining what it would be like to go to a concert there.
When we got there most of the seats had already been taken, so we ended up near the back (but in the middle, at least). Neither James or I had any idea of what to expect, and even though there was a synopsis in the program and they explained it in both Japanese and Chinese (since this performance was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Chinese-Japanese diplomatic relations, a little bit ironic in light of current events), I still didn't understand any of it, haha. The show started off with a kyougen, or a short comedy sketch, about two guards (I think?) who got caught and tied up by their master for drinking his alcohol after he left, but who still managed to drink his alcohol even while tied up once he left them again. I only managed to understand a few words, but I managed to get the basic gist of it, at least.
And then the actual Noh performance started! I had tried to read the synopsis in the program and managed to get something about Buddhism, crossing a bridge, and a performance, which I mentioned to James, who doesn't speak Japanese. So we thought we had an idea of what to expect, but as it turns out even so we both had no idea what was going on, haha. The performance was very slow-paced and involved more music than movement, and most of the performers spent their time on stage behind two trees, which James and I found very perplexing. We both came out of the performance a little bit unsure of what exactly we had just seen and clearly didn't get any of it, haha. Still, I think it was definitely a good experience and we were both glad that we had gone to see it!
On the way out a reporter from the Yomiuri Shinbun (one of the biggest newspapers in Japan) heard us speaking English and turned around to ask us some questions! Although really he just asked if we were there as students (nope) and then our impressions, to which I said something about it being interesting and a good experience though not really what we were expecting, not that I knew what we were expecting (it was about that coherent, too, haha) and scribbled down about one word before leaving. So I don't think we'll be showing up in the newspaper at all, but it was kind of cool to have a newspaper person talk to us.
After that we got a late dinner in Makuhari before heading home. When I got back, I was determined to find out a little bit more about the performance and what it was about (because really, it was totally beyond me), and some internet research revealed that the performance we'd seen was about a Buddhist priest who saw lions dancing on a stone bridge across a deep ravine. So I had gotten the general idea right, at least. Also, it turns out that the most unique part about Takigi-Noh is that it's performed outside by firelight (by bonfires), but because they had moved the performance inside, we didn't get to see any fire. It's a shame because I think that would have changed the experience, and also because apparently there aren't that many opportunities to see Takigi-Noh (with the fire and everything). Sad. But I can still say I have seen a Noh performance, and it was definitely more exciting than my usual Tuesday night, so really I can't complain!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
feels like fall!
And another busy weekend has come and gone! I wonder how long having things to do all weekend will last - I keep thinking that eventually things will slow down, but so far new things just keep coming up! Which is not a bad thing. :)
On Friday I went to the planetarium at Qiball with a couple of first-year WI-ALTs, for Aroma Night! I wrote a full-length post about it here on my travel blog if you want to know all about it. It was exciting to finally go to the planetarium (since we tried at Chiba orientation but couldn't go in), and also to get to know the people I went with a little better. After the show ended, we wandered around for a while before finding a place to eat a late dinner, then wandered a little more before splitting up to head home. I haven't really explored much around downtown Chiba because I haven't really feel like wandering around by myself (especially at night), so it was nice to have some other people to wander with! I think I'm starting to get to know the city a little better, bit by bit.
And then on Saturday I got up and went to the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri! You can read about it in (more) detail here! It was really fun to meet and spent time with JETs/WI-ALTs, in an alarmingly large group of foreigners, and they did some things I'd never seen at a festival before, so I'm definitely glad I went. Afterward, a big group of us decided to take a train to Mobara to go karaoke! Mobara was on my way home, which meant that my last train was later, so I went along and had a good time (highlight: My Heart Will Go On using the Japanese katakana pronunciation).
Sunday I got up and got all ready to go to another Marines game, and because it was raining I took the bus. It didn't occur to me that rain also meant the possibility of the baseball game being cancelled, and right after I got on the bus I found out that it did get cancelled. -.-' What followed after that was a harrowing series of events that involved me making lots of poor decisions and traveling extra distances, but the end result was that I went to Makuhari (where the baseball game was supposed to be) anyway and met up with Cory and some other JETs/WI-ALTs for lunch. I'm still pretty sad that the game got cancelled (I was really excited to be in the cheering section with a big group of friends), but there's a make-up game in a couple of weeks that I'll be going to instead, and hopefully just as many people will come this time too!
Also, the fall equinox was on Saturday, and with it suddenly Chiba became much cooler! Sunday was rainy and actually chilly, which I didn't appreciate too much at the time because I was in a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops (having totally forgotten that I brought my rain boots with me to Japan -.-'), but it's finally starting to feel like fall (at the end of September!), which is awesome. Fall is my favorite seasons, so I'm looking forward to cool weather and beautiful leaves. :D
On Friday I went to the planetarium at Qiball with a couple of first-year WI-ALTs, for Aroma Night! I wrote a full-length post about it here on my travel blog if you want to know all about it. It was exciting to finally go to the planetarium (since we tried at Chiba orientation but couldn't go in), and also to get to know the people I went with a little better. After the show ended, we wandered around for a while before finding a place to eat a late dinner, then wandered a little more before splitting up to head home. I haven't really explored much around downtown Chiba because I haven't really feel like wandering around by myself (especially at night), so it was nice to have some other people to wander with! I think I'm starting to get to know the city a little better, bit by bit.
And then on Saturday I got up and went to the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri! You can read about it in (more) detail here! It was really fun to meet and spent time with JETs/WI-ALTs, in an alarmingly large group of foreigners, and they did some things I'd never seen at a festival before, so I'm definitely glad I went. Afterward, a big group of us decided to take a train to Mobara to go karaoke! Mobara was on my way home, which meant that my last train was later, so I went along and had a good time (highlight: My Heart Will Go On using the Japanese katakana pronunciation).
Sunday I got up and got all ready to go to another Marines game, and because it was raining I took the bus. It didn't occur to me that rain also meant the possibility of the baseball game being cancelled, and right after I got on the bus I found out that it did get cancelled. -.-' What followed after that was a harrowing series of events that involved me making lots of poor decisions and traveling extra distances, but the end result was that I went to Makuhari (where the baseball game was supposed to be) anyway and met up with Cory and some other JETs/WI-ALTs for lunch. I'm still pretty sad that the game got cancelled (I was really excited to be in the cheering section with a big group of friends), but there's a make-up game in a couple of weeks that I'll be going to instead, and hopefully just as many people will come this time too!
Also, the fall equinox was on Saturday, and with it suddenly Chiba became much cooler! Sunday was rainy and actually chilly, which I didn't appreciate too much at the time because I was in a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops (having totally forgotten that I brought my rain boots with me to Japan -.-'), but it's finally starting to feel like fall (at the end of September!), which is awesome. Fall is my favorite seasons, so I'm looking forward to cool weather and beautiful leaves. :D
ohara hadaka matsuri
And then on Saturday, I went down to Ohara, which is further south along the coast, for the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri! It's apparently one of the biggest events of the year, and it was pretty exciting. For those of you that don't speak Japanese, 'hadaka' means 'naked', and while I didn't actually see anybody celebrating naked (for which I am thankful), all the male participants were shirtless, which is definitely unique among the festivals that I've been to, at least.
So Saturday morning I hopped onto a train, and one transfer and an hour and a half later, I was in Ohara! (Trains are one of my favorite things about Japan. So great.) There were a lot of JETs/WI-ALTs who were planning to go (I think it was like 15-20 people, which is a huge group, especially of foreigners), so we met up at the station (after waiting half an hour for the person who invited us all to show up, haha) and then spent some time at his apartment for a little bit before heading to the festival. I always love seeing the rows of food stands that are always set up at the festivals, even though it's always the same kinds of stands and they repeat every few feet, since seeing them means I'm at a festival!
After getting some festival food - I tried something called buta-tama (I think) which was kind of like okonomiyaki in a more compact, pancake form (and tasty) - we went to the beach for the main event! At almost all festivals, carrying mikoshi, or portable shrines, is a major event, but at the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri, they carry the mikoshi all the way into the water! It was pretty crowded and so it was kind of hard to see, but I did manage to see them, and it was pretty cool. While they were waiting to go in the water, other groups with mikoshi would also toss them up in the air a few times, which I thought was really impressive!
After that we wandered around eating more festival food and just kind of hanging out along the street for a little bit until the parade started. It was pretty impressive to see all the shirtless men carry the mikoshi (though there were some women too!), since that meant they were basically carrying these really heavy wooden shrines on their bare shoulders (whereas usually people have at least sleeves and maybe even extra padding) - there were even a few people with humps that I presume came from years of carrying mikoshi.
The parade ended at the elementary school, where they then all ran in a huge circle, while still carrying the mikoshi! It was definitely too crowded for me to really see anything this time, but I could kind of see the tops of the mikoshi go past at a surprisingly fast pace. They continued running for about ten minutes or so (I think), which again was just plain impressive.
So I'd say the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri was definitely unique among the festivals I've been to, and it was lots of fun! I also got to meet a lot of other JETs/WI-ALTs (and see the ones I already knew again), which is always great. :)
So Saturday morning I hopped onto a train, and one transfer and an hour and a half later, I was in Ohara! (Trains are one of my favorite things about Japan. So great.) There were a lot of JETs/WI-ALTs who were planning to go (I think it was like 15-20 people, which is a huge group, especially of foreigners), so we met up at the station (after waiting half an hour for the person who invited us all to show up, haha) and then spent some time at his apartment for a little bit before heading to the festival. I always love seeing the rows of food stands that are always set up at the festivals, even though it's always the same kinds of stands and they repeat every few feet, since seeing them means I'm at a festival!
After getting some festival food - I tried something called buta-tama (I think) which was kind of like okonomiyaki in a more compact, pancake form (and tasty) - we went to the beach for the main event! At almost all festivals, carrying mikoshi, or portable shrines, is a major event, but at the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri, they carry the mikoshi all the way into the water! It was pretty crowded and so it was kind of hard to see, but I did manage to see them, and it was pretty cool. While they were waiting to go in the water, other groups with mikoshi would also toss them up in the air a few times, which I thought was really impressive!
After that we wandered around eating more festival food and just kind of hanging out along the street for a little bit until the parade started. It was pretty impressive to see all the shirtless men carry the mikoshi (though there were some women too!), since that meant they were basically carrying these really heavy wooden shrines on their bare shoulders (whereas usually people have at least sleeves and maybe even extra padding) - there were even a few people with humps that I presume came from years of carrying mikoshi.
The parade ended at the elementary school, where they then all ran in a huge circle, while still carrying the mikoshi! It was definitely too crowded for me to really see anything this time, but I could kind of see the tops of the mikoshi go past at a surprisingly fast pace. They continued running for about ten minutes or so (I think), which again was just plain impressive.
So I'd say the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri was definitely unique among the festivals I've been to, and it was lots of fun! I also got to meet a lot of other JETs/WI-ALTs (and see the ones I already knew again), which is always great. :)
Monday, September 24, 2012
qiball planetarium
This weekend I went to some new places both inside and outside of Chiba City, which is pretty exciting! For the sake of not having one super-long post, I'll be splitting up the weekend into a couple of posts instead.
On Friday, I went to Qiball for Aroma Night at the planetarium! I'm not sure if I can describe Qiball in one term, but it's a place that has a planetarium, science museum, business support center, child raising support center, and a children's exchange center (or something like that; sorry for the awkward translation). It's also where we had out Chiba orientation right after coming to Chiba! We tried to go to the planetarium after orientation, but the last showing for the day had already ended, so when I found out the planetarium was having Aroma Night, I definitely wanted to go. Aroma Night is basically a show at the planetarium that is also accompanied by various scents - it's a monthly event, and every month they use a different aroma for the show. September's blend was grapefruit herb, or something like that.
So I met up with two friends, and none of us had been to the planetarium before so we were all really excited! I wasn't sure how crowded the event would be so we showed up a bit early, got tickets, and wandered around the museum shop for a bit before going in. When you're in the atrium of Qiball, you see the bottom half of this big globe way up in the air, which is actually the planetarium (which is on the 7th floor), and it's really cool to think that you were just in it.
When you walk in, the part of the planetarium that you watch is the top half of that giant globe, and all the seats even recline! We were all just sitting in our seats getting excited until the show started, and then it did! The lights dimmed and the stars and the scent came out, which was very relaxing. The show lasted 45 minutes, and it was basically 45 minutes of somebody with a very soothing voice explaining things to us about constellations and the moon. I thought it was cool because I could tell that it was a real person reading to us and pointing things out live, instead of a recording, which I thought was impressive.
Anyway, it was definitely an experience and I'm glad I went! I still haven't seen the science museum at all, which I want to (and probably won't be able to resist going to the the planetarium at the same time, haha), so I'm sure I'll be back at Qiball again sometime. :)
On Friday, I went to Qiball for Aroma Night at the planetarium! I'm not sure if I can describe Qiball in one term, but it's a place that has a planetarium, science museum, business support center, child raising support center, and a children's exchange center (or something like that; sorry for the awkward translation). It's also where we had out Chiba orientation right after coming to Chiba! We tried to go to the planetarium after orientation, but the last showing for the day had already ended, so when I found out the planetarium was having Aroma Night, I definitely wanted to go. Aroma Night is basically a show at the planetarium that is also accompanied by various scents - it's a monthly event, and every month they use a different aroma for the show. September's blend was grapefruit herb, or something like that.
So I met up with two friends, and none of us had been to the planetarium before so we were all really excited! I wasn't sure how crowded the event would be so we showed up a bit early, got tickets, and wandered around the museum shop for a bit before going in. When you're in the atrium of Qiball, you see the bottom half of this big globe way up in the air, which is actually the planetarium (which is on the 7th floor), and it's really cool to think that you were just in it.
When you walk in, the part of the planetarium that you watch is the top half of that giant globe, and all the seats even recline! We were all just sitting in our seats getting excited until the show started, and then it did! The lights dimmed and the stars and the scent came out, which was very relaxing. The show lasted 45 minutes, and it was basically 45 minutes of somebody with a very soothing voice explaining things to us about constellations and the moon. I thought it was cool because I could tell that it was a real person reading to us and pointing things out live, instead of a recording, which I thought was impressive.
Anyway, it was definitely an experience and I'm glad I went! I still haven't seen the science museum at all, which I want to (and probably won't be able to resist going to the the planetarium at the same time, haha), so I'm sure I'll be back at Qiball again sometime. :)
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
school visit!
Today I had my first school visit! I'm not sure if this was a one-time thing or if there will be more in the future, but we were invited to an elementary school to give the kids some first-hand experience with English and foreigners. It was pretty fun, so hopefully I'll get to do it again sometime.
So we were meeting with 3rd and 4th graders, and they had given us an explanation of what class would be like: after a short introduction, we would split into small groups and talk about our countries (in English) for about 20 minutes, before getting a short presentation on Japan from the students. So yesterday I spent half the day (I even stayed late for the first time, haha) trying to figure out what to tell them about America (the sheet suggested including things like traditional clothing, food, dances, etc, which I guess we probably have but the country is just too big to generalize), and settled on preparing some pictures of Georgia (on a map), Southern food, a school bus, and a school lunch. In an effort to make things slightly more interesting, I also made little sheets with the English lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (and a Japanese pronunciation guide in katakana), since they all know the song in Japanese. I also decided to bring my photo album, to show them pictures of my family/house/room (even though you can't see the bed in any of them, oops) and some little American flags I brought with me.
So I had this all prepared this morning and met up with all the other foreigners who were coming, from the Philippines, Nepal, Taiwan, China, and Chile. (When we walked into the first classroom I heard one of the students say 'But they all just look like Japanese people!' because almost all of us were Asian, haha.) When we got to the school they gave us a quick overview of what we'd be doing: for the third graders, we would actually only spend 15 minutes with each class before rotating to the next one, and then for the fourth graders we would just do our introductions and let them ask questions.
As it happened, I didn't use any of the stuff I brought with the third graders. They were just learning English, so all we really did was introduce ourselves with 'Hi, my name is ___' and then we spent the rest of the time playing with toys (like, actually). It was pretty cute because the kids would go get toys (like tops, juggling balls, string for cat's cradle, those things where you try to balance the ball on top) and then demonstrate/teach me how to play with them.
Then we went to the 4th grade class (two of my third grade group members each took one of my hands and escorted me to the next classroom, which was super cute), and they all played us a welcome song on recorders after we came in, which was pretty awesome. Then we split into our groups, and I found out how much of a difference one year can make! While we had really just been playing with the 3rd graders, the 4th graders were actually really interested in us and our countries, which was cool. One little boy asked if I had a boyfriend (haha) and when I said no, a few minutes later he asked if there was anybody I liked, which I thought was adorable. I brought out my pictures and they all crowded around and seemed pretty excited. When I asked if they wanted to learn the English words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the teacher happened to be nearby and got them to play it on their recorders, though then they all ended up playing instead of singing, haha. But then we did it again so they could sing and they seemed to enjoy it. At the end they gave me the sign they had made with my name on it (so I would know which group to go to), and so I asked if they wanted the pictures I had printed out and they all did, so I gave them to them and then asked them to sign my sign, which they did. :D
And then we split up again for lunch, so that every class could have a visitor. Lunch in Japanese schools is pretty different from what I remember about lunch at my elementary school (though admittedly I remember almost nothing about what lunch was like then, haha). First off, everybody eats the same thing, in the classroom (according to the internet, school lunch is mandatory at most schools). Second, the kids do everything themselves - they have people who are charge of serving the food (who rotate every week or month or something), who wear adorable white jackets and chef hats (and masks, since it's Japan). They wait until everybody has food, then they all say 'Itadakimasu' (thank you for the food) and then start eating. At one point near the end, an announcement came on that I think was something to the effect of 'it's almost the end of lunch, so stop talking and finish eating', and everybody did actually stop talking and just finish eating. Then they put away their trays and dishes all at the back of the classroom, nicely sorted and stacked, and then they all brushed their teeth! Although when I say that they really just kind of halfheartedly scrubbed at their teeth with toothbrushes without toothpaste, but still - they all did it, and for like two minutes (following the announcements again), so I was impressed.
When we left after lunch (after saying lots and lots of byebyes to adorable kids - one of them gave me a handmade bookmark and another one escorted us to the door while holding our hands), they were all in the midst of cleaning the school, which all the students do every day. Definitely different from American schools.
All in all, I had a really good time! I still think little kids make me nervous, and I definitely couldn't do it every day (so much respect for elementary school teachers), but it was a really good experience and I hope I get the chance to do it again sometime. :D
Also, here's a picture of me talking to the 4th graders! Although somebody was taking pictures basically the whole time, apparently they weren't allowed to share pictures with the kid's faces so this is only one I got of today.
So we were meeting with 3rd and 4th graders, and they had given us an explanation of what class would be like: after a short introduction, we would split into small groups and talk about our countries (in English) for about 20 minutes, before getting a short presentation on Japan from the students. So yesterday I spent half the day (I even stayed late for the first time, haha) trying to figure out what to tell them about America (the sheet suggested including things like traditional clothing, food, dances, etc, which I guess we probably have but the country is just too big to generalize), and settled on preparing some pictures of Georgia (on a map), Southern food, a school bus, and a school lunch. In an effort to make things slightly more interesting, I also made little sheets with the English lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (and a Japanese pronunciation guide in katakana), since they all know the song in Japanese. I also decided to bring my photo album, to show them pictures of my family/house/room (even though you can't see the bed in any of them, oops) and some little American flags I brought with me.
So I had this all prepared this morning and met up with all the other foreigners who were coming, from the Philippines, Nepal, Taiwan, China, and Chile. (When we walked into the first classroom I heard one of the students say 'But they all just look like Japanese people!' because almost all of us were Asian, haha.) When we got to the school they gave us a quick overview of what we'd be doing: for the third graders, we would actually only spend 15 minutes with each class before rotating to the next one, and then for the fourth graders we would just do our introductions and let them ask questions.
As it happened, I didn't use any of the stuff I brought with the third graders. They were just learning English, so all we really did was introduce ourselves with 'Hi, my name is ___' and then we spent the rest of the time playing with toys (like, actually). It was pretty cute because the kids would go get toys (like tops, juggling balls, string for cat's cradle, those things where you try to balance the ball on top) and then demonstrate/teach me how to play with them.
Then we went to the 4th grade class (two of my third grade group members each took one of my hands and escorted me to the next classroom, which was super cute), and they all played us a welcome song on recorders after we came in, which was pretty awesome. Then we split into our groups, and I found out how much of a difference one year can make! While we had really just been playing with the 3rd graders, the 4th graders were actually really interested in us and our countries, which was cool. One little boy asked if I had a boyfriend (haha) and when I said no, a few minutes later he asked if there was anybody I liked, which I thought was adorable. I brought out my pictures and they all crowded around and seemed pretty excited. When I asked if they wanted to learn the English words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the teacher happened to be nearby and got them to play it on their recorders, though then they all ended up playing instead of singing, haha. But then we did it again so they could sing and they seemed to enjoy it. At the end they gave me the sign they had made with my name on it (so I would know which group to go to), and so I asked if they wanted the pictures I had printed out and they all did, so I gave them to them and then asked them to sign my sign, which they did. :D
And then we split up again for lunch, so that every class could have a visitor. Lunch in Japanese schools is pretty different from what I remember about lunch at my elementary school (though admittedly I remember almost nothing about what lunch was like then, haha). First off, everybody eats the same thing, in the classroom (according to the internet, school lunch is mandatory at most schools). Second, the kids do everything themselves - they have people who are charge of serving the food (who rotate every week or month or something), who wear adorable white jackets and chef hats (and masks, since it's Japan). They wait until everybody has food, then they all say 'Itadakimasu' (thank you for the food) and then start eating. At one point near the end, an announcement came on that I think was something to the effect of 'it's almost the end of lunch, so stop talking and finish eating', and everybody did actually stop talking and just finish eating. Then they put away their trays and dishes all at the back of the classroom, nicely sorted and stacked, and then they all brushed their teeth! Although when I say that they really just kind of halfheartedly scrubbed at their teeth with toothbrushes without toothpaste, but still - they all did it, and for like two minutes (following the announcements again), so I was impressed.
When we left after lunch (after saying lots and lots of byebyes to adorable kids - one of them gave me a handmade bookmark and another one escorted us to the door while holding our hands), they were all in the midst of cleaning the school, which all the students do every day. Definitely different from American schools.
All in all, I had a really good time! I still think little kids make me nervous, and I definitely couldn't do it every day (so much respect for elementary school teachers), but it was a really good experience and I hope I get the chance to do it again sometime. :D
Also, here's a picture of me talking to the 4th graders! Although somebody was taking pictures basically the whole time, apparently they weren't allowed to share pictures with the kid's faces so this is only one I got of today.
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| Probably trying to explain what grits and collard greens are in Japanese and failing miserably. |
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
umi hotaru, nokogiri-yama
So this weekend one of my friends invited me to go for a drive in Chiba (Prefecture), because a couple of her old friends from France were in Japan and she wanted to show them around. I haven't been anywhere other than Chiba City since I got here, so I gladly accepted her invitation and we were off!
After some deliberation, we picked Nokogiri-yama as our destination, which is about two and a half hours away from Chiba City by car. I'm not going to pretend to know as much about it as I did for the BIB and Chiba City Museum of Art (who I thoroughly researched for work) - in fact I hadn't even heard of it until we decided to go there, though it's probably quite well-known.
We started out from Soga and decided to drive there using regular roads, instead of the highway, so we could see more of Chiba. Halfway to our destination, the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line came up in conversation, so we decided to swing by and take a look. The Aqua Line connects Kisarazu, Chiba to Kawasaki, Kanagawa, across Tokyo Bay. There's a bridge that goes until a service area called Umi Hotaru (sea firefly) about halfway across, and then the rest of it is an underwater tunnel. We only went as far as Umi Hotaru, but it was really cool to cross the bridge and be surrounded by beautiful water as we drove. When we got to Umi Hotaru, we spent some time admiring the view (I've included a picture below) and trying to find notable sites like the Tokyo Sky Tree (which we did find!). There are also restaurants and game centers there, along with lots of little vendor stalls, which was cool.
Then we stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant near to Nokogiriyama, called Kanaya. Apparently it's been featured on TV before, so when we got there there was a bit of a line, even though it was around 2:00 in the afternoon. Since it's right by the seaside (we were lucky enough to sit at a table right by a huge window by the sea), obviously the seafood there is very fresh. but I was told that in fact they keep their seafood live in basins until it's ordered, making it even fresher! I ordered a dish that involved eggs and various shellfish and shrimp over rice, which was quite tasty. :)
And then we were finally at our destination, Nokogiri-yama! We decided to take the cable car, the Nokogiriyama Ropeway, which gave us a really great view (though it was a bit crowded, haha). The view where the cable car left us off was also really amazing, and we spent a few minutes admiring it before deciding to go see the giant Buddha at Nihon-ji, which was on the mountain. Unbeknownst to most of us, who had never been there before, this was the start of what ended up seeming like a never-ending series of stairs! On the way there we saw a lot of stone figures, but many of them were missing their heads, which is apparently the result of an anti-Buddhist movement that happened in the Meiji Era.
When we reached the giant Buddha, it was really quite impressive - it's the largest stone Buddha in Japan, at 31.05 meters (or almost 102 feet) tall. I'd seen the Buddha in Nara when I studied abroad two years ago, which is apparently only 18.18 meters (60 feet) tall, so this one wins! After that we climbed up a little bit more to see the view from the Ruriko Observatory at the top of the mountain (amazing) and the Hundred-shaku Kwan-non before heading back down on the cable car. All in all it was a little bit tiring to hike up and down stairs to go from place to place, but the views were gorgeous and it was definitely worth it! I would definitely recommend it to anybody interested in going.
After that we stopped by the beach for a little bit, to admire the sunset and relax a little bit after all our exercise. Even though where I live in Chiba City is actually very near the ocean, I haven't gone by the water at all (I'm not sure if there are beaches, really), and it was really nice to just relax by the waves for a little bit. It really made me realize how I'm now living on an island country, with lots of beautiful beaches that I'll have to try and visit during my stay!
On the drive home we took the highway this time, and stopped by a very tasty ramen shop (Menba Kuradashi Miso Kikuya) near Soga station for dinner. This was the first time I've had ramen since coming to Japan this time, and it was delicious (of course)! It was a shop that specialized in miso ramen, so I had their most popular Hokkaido miso ramen, and I can see why it was the most popular.
I came home very full and very tired, but also very happy from all that I saw that day. It was definitely a good first foray into Chiba Prefecture, and hopefully the beginning of many more! :D
After some deliberation, we picked Nokogiri-yama as our destination, which is about two and a half hours away from Chiba City by car. I'm not going to pretend to know as much about it as I did for the BIB and Chiba City Museum of Art (who I thoroughly researched for work) - in fact I hadn't even heard of it until we decided to go there, though it's probably quite well-known.
We started out from Soga and decided to drive there using regular roads, instead of the highway, so we could see more of Chiba. Halfway to our destination, the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line came up in conversation, so we decided to swing by and take a look. The Aqua Line connects Kisarazu, Chiba to Kawasaki, Kanagawa, across Tokyo Bay. There's a bridge that goes until a service area called Umi Hotaru (sea firefly) about halfway across, and then the rest of it is an underwater tunnel. We only went as far as Umi Hotaru, but it was really cool to cross the bridge and be surrounded by beautiful water as we drove. When we got to Umi Hotaru, we spent some time admiring the view (I've included a picture below) and trying to find notable sites like the Tokyo Sky Tree (which we did find!). There are also restaurants and game centers there, along with lots of little vendor stalls, which was cool.
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| The view from Umi Hotaru, facing Chiba! |
Then we stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant near to Nokogiriyama, called Kanaya. Apparently it's been featured on TV before, so when we got there there was a bit of a line, even though it was around 2:00 in the afternoon. Since it's right by the seaside (we were lucky enough to sit at a table right by a huge window by the sea), obviously the seafood there is very fresh. but I was told that in fact they keep their seafood live in basins until it's ordered, making it even fresher! I ordered a dish that involved eggs and various shellfish and shrimp over rice, which was quite tasty. :)
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| The view from the Nokogiriyama Ropeway |
And then we were finally at our destination, Nokogiri-yama! We decided to take the cable car, the Nokogiriyama Ropeway, which gave us a really great view (though it was a bit crowded, haha). The view where the cable car left us off was also really amazing, and we spent a few minutes admiring it before deciding to go see the giant Buddha at Nihon-ji, which was on the mountain. Unbeknownst to most of us, who had never been there before, this was the start of what ended up seeming like a never-ending series of stairs! On the way there we saw a lot of stone figures, but many of them were missing their heads, which is apparently the result of an anti-Buddhist movement that happened in the Meiji Era.
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| Headless figures |
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| The largest stone Buddha in Japan |
After that we stopped by the beach for a little bit, to admire the sunset and relax a little bit after all our exercise. Even though where I live in Chiba City is actually very near the ocean, I haven't gone by the water at all (I'm not sure if there are beaches, really), and it was really nice to just relax by the waves for a little bit. It really made me realize how I'm now living on an island country, with lots of beautiful beaches that I'll have to try and visit during my stay!
On the drive home we took the highway this time, and stopped by a very tasty ramen shop (Menba Kuradashi Miso Kikuya) near Soga station for dinner. This was the first time I've had ramen since coming to Japan this time, and it was delicious (of course)! It was a shop that specialized in miso ramen, so I had their most popular Hokkaido miso ramen, and I can see why it was the most popular.
I came home very full and very tired, but also very happy from all that I saw that day. It was definitely a good first foray into Chiba Prefecture, and hopefully the beginning of many more! :D
Monday, September 17, 2012
three-day weekend!
Alas, it is now almost the end of my first three-day weekend, aka my first day off since coming to Japan! Today was 敬老の日, or Respect for the Aged Day, and there's actually another national holiday (the spring equinox) at the end of the week, but because it's on Saturday we don't actually get a day off (apparently we only get a replacement day off if the holiday is on Sunday, according to Wikipedia).
Anyway, on Friday I went to my first Japanese baseball game! I'm not a baseball fan, by any means, but I was told that Japanese baseball games are better and so I should definitely go to one. Well, to be honest this game was pretty similar to the ones I saw in America (except for cool things like fireworks, driving the player out in a convertible every time they switched pitchers, and setting free tons of balloons at the 7th inning), but I think that's because we weren't sitting in the cheering section, which seemed much more lively. But Cory (who let me use one the free tickets he got as a fan club member!) knew most of the cheers and songs and participated too, so it was probably pretty close. And next week we're actually going again, with a few more people, this time to actually cheer in the cheering section, which should be exciting!
On Saturday I went to the 21st Tokyo International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival! I'd heard about it from another JET who was planning to go, and since Tokyo is so close I figured it was worth it to go even for just one day. The festival didn't seem very big to me (they only showed one movie at a time, in one room for 350 people), but it's also run entirely by volunteers, which I thought was impressive. I was worried the tickets would sell out before I got there, but the other JET I went with had accidentally ended up in Tokyo an hour earlier than he meant to and managed to be almost at the front of the ticket line, so we were able to get our tickets without any problems. The first movie we watched was called Weekend, which some of my Carleton friends kept telling me was really good (and it was)!
After the movie we went to Yoyogi Park to meet with the Stonewall AJET group and have some pizza and hang out until the next movie. It was my first time in Yoyogi Park, and I think it's pretty amazing that there's such a big park in the middle of Tokyo - when you're inside it definitely doesn't feel like it at all! It was nice to relax in the park and meet some new people before heading off to my next movie, though I went to this one alone because I was more interested in it than the documentary everybody else was planning to see. It was a Canadian film called Cloudburst, and I really liked it. I would definitely recommend both movies - they were very different from each other, but very good! After the movie I took a look around the little gallery that was set up in conjunction the festival and then got ready to head back to Chiba. On the way back I went to LaLaport again (yeah, I know), to finally buy a real bento box and some other kitchen stuff (I'm a sucker for kitchen stuff, as it happens). The bento box is pink, which is not my favorite color, but I really like the size and shape of it so I'm excited to use it!
I had originally intended for Sunday to be my lazy day at home doing boring things like cleaning, but Gina invited me to go for a drive around Chiba (Prefecture!) with her and two of her French friends who were visiting Japan, so I did that instead! I met up with Gina at 10 and because her friends were running pretty late, we went shopping for a little bit before meeting up with them and heading off to our destination, Nokogiri-yama down near the coast (though I guess Chiba is a peninsula so almost everywhere is the coast, haha). In the interest of saving some space here, I'm going to save describing the day for my new travel blog, which has now been made and is here: http://rochelle-ryokou.blogspot.jp/ (Can you tell I like alliteration?) I realize it's probably a pain for people to read both, but it'll keep my posts from getting as horrendously long as they probably would and will also hopefully help my chances in being a Chiba-kun Ambassador next year, so check it out if you're interested! :)
Then today I went to Eco Messe 2012! It's an annual event that is all about being green/environmentally-friendly, with booths, demonstrations, and even seminars and workshops. I met up with Cory there, with plans to meet another JET a little bit later, and we wandered around looking at all the booths, which had stuff from vegetables to stuff made using old kimonos (I bought a cat-shaped coaster!) to chopstick-making demonstrations (which was unfortunately over by the time I decided I wanted to make my own chopsticks). There was also a can-crushing competition, which Cory seemed to really enjoy participating in, haha.
After looking around for a bit we got lunch and then managed to find out JET friend Mike before checking out the solar cooking demonstration, which I though was pretty cool. After that we went back inside and ended up participating in energy-saving bingo, which I'm pretty sure was meant for kids but ended up being one of the most fun parts of the day. There was a mascot from the gas company who has hosting it, and the emcee was a very lively lady who saw the two I was with and tried to include English in her performance, with some pretty adorable results. Then we got Mike to try the can-crushing competition, which he was actually quite successful at. Afterward we headed back outside to make mini pizzas with a grill, where we found our bingo emcee again! She was pretty happy to see us again and chatted with us, while encouraging us to participate in the ring toss (I won an eraser) and the mini pizza-making (at some point we also tasted some solar-cooked curry, which apparently took a few hours to make). We found out that she was actually a former talent, who had apparently been popular about 7 years ago. When she told us about her blog, Mike asked whether if he took a picture with her, she'd put it on her blog, which she agreed to. Somehow Cory and I got roped into it as well, so I guess later I might be on a former talent's blog. Cool.
So that was my long weekend, and tomorrow is back to work as usual. Ho hum. :)
Anyway, on Friday I went to my first Japanese baseball game! I'm not a baseball fan, by any means, but I was told that Japanese baseball games are better and so I should definitely go to one. Well, to be honest this game was pretty similar to the ones I saw in America (except for cool things like fireworks, driving the player out in a convertible every time they switched pitchers, and setting free tons of balloons at the 7th inning), but I think that's because we weren't sitting in the cheering section, which seemed much more lively. But Cory (who let me use one the free tickets he got as a fan club member!) knew most of the cheers and songs and participated too, so it was probably pretty close. And next week we're actually going again, with a few more people, this time to actually cheer in the cheering section, which should be exciting!
On Saturday I went to the 21st Tokyo International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival! I'd heard about it from another JET who was planning to go, and since Tokyo is so close I figured it was worth it to go even for just one day. The festival didn't seem very big to me (they only showed one movie at a time, in one room for 350 people), but it's also run entirely by volunteers, which I thought was impressive. I was worried the tickets would sell out before I got there, but the other JET I went with had accidentally ended up in Tokyo an hour earlier than he meant to and managed to be almost at the front of the ticket line, so we were able to get our tickets without any problems. The first movie we watched was called Weekend, which some of my Carleton friends kept telling me was really good (and it was)!
After the movie we went to Yoyogi Park to meet with the Stonewall AJET group and have some pizza and hang out until the next movie. It was my first time in Yoyogi Park, and I think it's pretty amazing that there's such a big park in the middle of Tokyo - when you're inside it definitely doesn't feel like it at all! It was nice to relax in the park and meet some new people before heading off to my next movie, though I went to this one alone because I was more interested in it than the documentary everybody else was planning to see. It was a Canadian film called Cloudburst, and I really liked it. I would definitely recommend both movies - they were very different from each other, but very good! After the movie I took a look around the little gallery that was set up in conjunction the festival and then got ready to head back to Chiba. On the way back I went to LaLaport again (yeah, I know), to finally buy a real bento box and some other kitchen stuff (I'm a sucker for kitchen stuff, as it happens). The bento box is pink, which is not my favorite color, but I really like the size and shape of it so I'm excited to use it!
I had originally intended for Sunday to be my lazy day at home doing boring things like cleaning, but Gina invited me to go for a drive around Chiba (Prefecture!) with her and two of her French friends who were visiting Japan, so I did that instead! I met up with Gina at 10 and because her friends were running pretty late, we went shopping for a little bit before meeting up with them and heading off to our destination, Nokogiri-yama down near the coast (though I guess Chiba is a peninsula so almost everywhere is the coast, haha). In the interest of saving some space here, I'm going to save describing the day for my new travel blog, which has now been made and is here: http://rochelle-ryokou.blogspot.jp/ (Can you tell I like alliteration?) I realize it's probably a pain for people to read both, but it'll keep my posts from getting as horrendously long as they probably would and will also hopefully help my chances in being a Chiba-kun Ambassador next year, so check it out if you're interested! :)
Then today I went to Eco Messe 2012! It's an annual event that is all about being green/environmentally-friendly, with booths, demonstrations, and even seminars and workshops. I met up with Cory there, with plans to meet another JET a little bit later, and we wandered around looking at all the booths, which had stuff from vegetables to stuff made using old kimonos (I bought a cat-shaped coaster!) to chopstick-making demonstrations (which was unfortunately over by the time I decided I wanted to make my own chopsticks). There was also a can-crushing competition, which Cory seemed to really enjoy participating in, haha.
After looking around for a bit we got lunch and then managed to find out JET friend Mike before checking out the solar cooking demonstration, which I though was pretty cool. After that we went back inside and ended up participating in energy-saving bingo, which I'm pretty sure was meant for kids but ended up being one of the most fun parts of the day. There was a mascot from the gas company who has hosting it, and the emcee was a very lively lady who saw the two I was with and tried to include English in her performance, with some pretty adorable results. Then we got Mike to try the can-crushing competition, which he was actually quite successful at. Afterward we headed back outside to make mini pizzas with a grill, where we found our bingo emcee again! She was pretty happy to see us again and chatted with us, while encouraging us to participate in the ring toss (I won an eraser) and the mini pizza-making (at some point we also tasted some solar-cooked curry, which apparently took a few hours to make). We found out that she was actually a former talent, who had apparently been popular about 7 years ago. When she told us about her blog, Mike asked whether if he took a picture with her, she'd put it on her blog, which she agreed to. Somehow Cory and I got roped into it as well, so I guess later I might be on a former talent's blog. Cool.
So that was my long weekend, and tomorrow is back to work as usual. Ho hum. :)
chiba city museum of art + BIB
So like I said in my last post, I only moved to Chiba City about six weeks ago, but I have managed to visit a fair amount of interesting places already. In the interest of doing every place justice on the blog, though, I'm just going to start posting from the ones I've visited most recently, since I'll be able to recall/describe them better. So I'll start with my recent trip to the Chiba City Museum of Art, to see the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava exhibit!
This was actually my second time at the Chiba City Museum of Art, and both times have also been work-related. The first time, I got to meet the Vice Director of the museum, who told me a little bit about the museum and the building that it's in. The museum opened in 1995, which means it's still relatively new. It's also actually in the same building as the Chuo Ward Office, which is actually a Neo-Renaissance style building built in the 1920s (plus the additional parts they added on top of it that actually house most of the museum and the ward office). I was really surprised to see that style of architecture in Japan, since with its marble and columns it looks very Western to me (apparently nowadays it's a popular place for cosplay photoshoots, probably for that reason!), but apparently they were pretty common before World War II, when most of them were destroyed (by bombs, I think). The part that was most surprising though, was when the vice director told me that the original building was somewhere else, and the entire building was moved to where it is now! I'm not really sure how you move an entire building from one place to another, but it certainly doesn't look any worse for wear. :D
So the exhibit I went to see was a collection of works from the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava, which is one of the world's oldest and largest juried competitions for picture book illustrations. Picture book illustrators from all over the world submit their works to be judged at the event held every two years in Bratislava, Slovakia. The BIB awards 12 honors: a Grand Prix, five Golden Apples, five Plaques, and an Honorary Mention to a Publisher. There's also a children's choice award (which is pretty self-explanatory). It began in 1967, and actually the very first Grand Prix winner was an illustrator from Japan! This is in fact the fourth time that the Chiba City Museum of Art has hosted an exhibition of works from the BIB, which I think is really cool.
The current exhibit at the CCMoA involves works from the 2011 BIB: the winners, the Japanese entries, illustrations from Slovakia, and a special exhibit on rare Japanese pop-up books. It was really cool to see the original works that become the pages of a picture book; I don't think I (or most people, probably) had ever really considered picture book illustrations to be art like we usually see in museums. But looking at the pieces, I realized that they really are art - before they get resized and replicated and reprinted into books, the illustrator has to actually make the pictures that go in them, which are very much art. The Grand Prix winner, Eun Young Cho, makes this especially clear in her winning work, 'Run, Toto!' Almost every page uses a different medium, including a page using thumbprints in black ink, which I thought was really cool. They also had the actual published picture books available for people to read, which made me spend a lot longer in the exhibit than I had planned, because I just wanted to read them all (even though they weren't all in languages I could read, haha)!
The special exhibit on pop-up books was also pretty cool (though I'm not sure if pop-up books is really the right translation). They had works dating from as old as the Meiji period, centering around the three main themes of 'moving', 'understanding', and 'jumping'. There were works that looked more like traditional pop-up books but also some where you had to look through them from the front to see a scene (they had a name but I forgot what it was, oops), and more.
The Biennial of Bratislava exhibit at the Chiba City Museum of Art is going on until October 21, so if you get a chance I highly recommend you check it out! Apparently there is also a very small collection of traditional Slovakian corn dolls, crystal, and ceramics borrowed from the Embassy of the Slovak Republic located in front of the entrance to the exhibit. It wasn't set up when I saw the exhibit (since I went on the second day after it opened), but I'm sure it's definitely worth seeing too. :)
Here's the link to the museum's webpage (Japanese only, even though there is a link saying 'English' - it doesn't work): http://www.ccma-net.jp/index.html
This was actually my second time at the Chiba City Museum of Art, and both times have also been work-related. The first time, I got to meet the Vice Director of the museum, who told me a little bit about the museum and the building that it's in. The museum opened in 1995, which means it's still relatively new. It's also actually in the same building as the Chuo Ward Office, which is actually a Neo-Renaissance style building built in the 1920s (plus the additional parts they added on top of it that actually house most of the museum and the ward office). I was really surprised to see that style of architecture in Japan, since with its marble and columns it looks very Western to me (apparently nowadays it's a popular place for cosplay photoshoots, probably for that reason!), but apparently they were pretty common before World War II, when most of them were destroyed (by bombs, I think). The part that was most surprising though, was when the vice director told me that the original building was somewhere else, and the entire building was moved to where it is now! I'm not really sure how you move an entire building from one place to another, but it certainly doesn't look any worse for wear. :D
So the exhibit I went to see was a collection of works from the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava, which is one of the world's oldest and largest juried competitions for picture book illustrations. Picture book illustrators from all over the world submit their works to be judged at the event held every two years in Bratislava, Slovakia. The BIB awards 12 honors: a Grand Prix, five Golden Apples, five Plaques, and an Honorary Mention to a Publisher. There's also a children's choice award (which is pretty self-explanatory). It began in 1967, and actually the very first Grand Prix winner was an illustrator from Japan! This is in fact the fourth time that the Chiba City Museum of Art has hosted an exhibition of works from the BIB, which I think is really cool.
The current exhibit at the CCMoA involves works from the 2011 BIB: the winners, the Japanese entries, illustrations from Slovakia, and a special exhibit on rare Japanese pop-up books. It was really cool to see the original works that become the pages of a picture book; I don't think I (or most people, probably) had ever really considered picture book illustrations to be art like we usually see in museums. But looking at the pieces, I realized that they really are art - before they get resized and replicated and reprinted into books, the illustrator has to actually make the pictures that go in them, which are very much art. The Grand Prix winner, Eun Young Cho, makes this especially clear in her winning work, 'Run, Toto!' Almost every page uses a different medium, including a page using thumbprints in black ink, which I thought was really cool. They also had the actual published picture books available for people to read, which made me spend a lot longer in the exhibit than I had planned, because I just wanted to read them all (even though they weren't all in languages I could read, haha)!
The special exhibit on pop-up books was also pretty cool (though I'm not sure if pop-up books is really the right translation). They had works dating from as old as the Meiji period, centering around the three main themes of 'moving', 'understanding', and 'jumping'. There were works that looked more like traditional pop-up books but also some where you had to look through them from the front to see a scene (they had a name but I forgot what it was, oops), and more.
The Biennial of Bratislava exhibit at the Chiba City Museum of Art is going on until October 21, so if you get a chance I highly recommend you check it out! Apparently there is also a very small collection of traditional Slovakian corn dolls, crystal, and ceramics borrowed from the Embassy of the Slovak Republic located in front of the entrance to the exhibit. It wasn't set up when I saw the exhibit (since I went on the second day after it opened), but I'm sure it's definitely worth seeing too. :)
Here's the link to the museum's webpage (Japanese only, even though there is a link saying 'English' - it doesn't work): http://www.ccma-net.jp/index.html
Sunday, September 16, 2012
self-introduction
Hello! My name is Rochelle, and I'm a first year Coordinator of International Relations (CIR) for the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program. I currently live and work in Chiba City, Japan!
My plan for this blog is to post about all the travel and events I go to during my stay in Japan, both as a way for me to remember what I've done (because my memory is pretty awful, haha) and to hopefully introduce anybody else following along to the fun and interesting places in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, and Japan in general!
I came to Japan and Chiba City about six weeks ago, so everything for me is still pretty new and unexplored - I hope you'll follow along as I get to know what my new home has to offer. :)
My plan for this blog is to post about all the travel and events I go to during my stay in Japan, both as a way for me to remember what I've done (because my memory is pretty awful, haha) and to hopefully introduce anybody else following along to the fun and interesting places in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, and Japan in general!
I came to Japan and Chiba City about six weeks ago, so everything for me is still pretty new and unexplored - I hope you'll follow along as I get to know what my new home has to offer. :)
Thursday, September 13, 2012
first interpreting job!
I really need to remember to update this more often, because otherwise these posts will just get way too long! Though I guess having a lot to post about is a good thing. :)
So like I said in my last post, on Saturday I went to LaLaport with one of my coworkers and our Chinese visitor. I had just been there a week ago and I wasn't shopping for anything in particular, but I figured I might as well go since they invited me (though it did mean skipping frisbee practice). Our visitor had a whole list of things to bring back to China (presumable as gifts), so we just went around trying to find everything. I think all three of us are pretty quiet, so it wasn't a super lively time (haha), but I enjoyed myself and I got to know my co-worker a little better, which is definitely a plus. He was nice enough to treat us both to yakiniku, too!
After LaLaport I headed straight to Tokyo, to celebrate another JET's birthday. It was my first time going back to Tokyo since orientation, so that was exciting. The birthday girl was running a bit late, so I spent around 20 minutes just people-watching at Shibuya station, which is super interesting (although then I found out somebody else I'd been waiting for had also been there the whole time, haha). When everybody arrived we found a place to eat and hung out there for a while before heading to our final destination, a club called Atom! I thought it was cool because they had sections that were ladies only in case you didn't want to bothered (though maybe they do this in the US too and I just don't know because I haven't gone clubbing there, haha), and I had a good time dancing. When we left we were planning to find a manga cafe to stay in for a few hours, but they were all full and it was only an hour until the first train, so we ended up just going to McDonalds and waiting it out (which I think happens a lot).
So I took the first train home and napped for a few hours (though I had to try and find a new space for my futon because my half-assembled IKEA dresser was taking up my usual spot), before heading out to meet another Carleton alum to go the Chiba City Museum of Art! We decided to get lunch at an Indian restaurant (which was really tasty) before heading to the museum. I hadn't seen her since she graduated two years ago, so it was nice to catch up! Then we went to the museum to see the exhibit, which was pretty awesome. Afterward we also stopped by the Chiba Shrine, which I had no idea was there before (oops). For now I'll leave it at that, but I plan to write about these in more detail in another blog post - in order to increase my chances of being picked as a Chiba-kun Ambassador next year (which I want to apply for), I plan to start a separate travel blog that doesn't include all the mundane and personal details of my everyday life. I just need to come up with a name first. :P
And finally we come to today, the day of my first big job as a CIR! The Slovakian ambassador came to pay a courtesy visit to the mayor, because the Chiba City Museum of Art is hosting the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (which is the capital of Slovakia, in case you didn't know), and we decided to make it my interpreting debut. I've spent most of the week preparing for the visit, which mostly means translating the scenario (or outline/schedule), program/seating chart, mayor's speech, etc and also researching and learning a lot more about the BIB and Slovakia than I ever imagined I would. Satou-san has also been helping me to practice a little every day, by reading through the scenario/speech with me and coming up with random things for me to interpret, which I'm really really grateful for.
And then it was time for the courtesy visit! I was really nervous (in fact I woke up this morning and instantly felt nervous, even though the courtesy visit wasn't until 2pm), and it didn't help that right before the ambassador came in they gave me another sheet of information about something that might come up in conversation. The beginning was a little nerve-wracking because Hirata-san kept telling me to stand nearby if they needed me to interpret when they exchanged business cards, but I'm pretty sure that when I went to stand near them the guests had no idea who I was and so I just kind of stood there awkwardly. I also wasn't brave enough to go talk to the other interpreter before the meeting started about who was doing what and to ask the proper pronunciation of the ambassador's name, so there was also a little bit in the beginning where the other side's interpreter did both the ambassador and the mayor's sides of the conversation, even though I was supposed to do the mayor's side.
I said earlier that we had a scenario for the courtesy visit, which is actually something they usually only make for courtesy visits that are more like ceremonies, like when the youth exchange programs visit the mayor. For normal courtesy visits like this one, that aren't a regularly occurring thing, the visitors and the mayor just chat for half an hour. But since this was my first time interpreting, the International Relations Section figured it would be easier if we made a scenario to follow and had the mayor's speech written ahead of time, which was really considerate. Except nobody bothered to tell the Slovakian ambassador that this would be happening, so we didn't really end up following the scenario at all. The mayor also cut out whole sections of his speech, but at least he didn't improvise, so I'm grateful for that (probably because they made sure to tell him that this was my interpreting debut).
Then we went straight on to the open conversation part, where they just talk about anything, aka the scariest part of any courtesy visit. I sat a little bit behind the mayor with my newly bought little notebook at the ready, and we were off! The mayor didn't say anything that came up in my practice with Satou-san (where we tried to guess what kind of things he'd say), and there were definitely times when I didn't understand what he was saying, but for the most part I think I managed to do all right! At one point he mentioned the Kasori Shell Mounds Site Museum, which I still don't have any idea how to say in Japanese, but luckily I read a bunch of sightseeing brochures when I first came to Chiba and knew enough to figure out that what he said had something to do with shell mounds, which was apparently good enough! The mayor also corrected me once when I said that Chiba City had the longest beaches in Japan, when in fact we have the longest man-made beaches in Japan, and at the end they suddenly started talking about business/economic things, which was totally random and so I'm pretty sure I messed up some interpretation there, but nobody said anything so whatever. :D And then they exchanged gifts and took some pictures and it was over! People kept telling me later that it didn't seem like it was my first time interpreting, which is either a good sign or just them being really nice (or both). :)
And then afterward Hirata-san and I went to a reception at the museum, where they had invited the ambassador and a lot of other people I didn't know, presumably from the museum. I got to listen to some rambly long-winded speeches by the museum director and the ambassador and eat some really tasty food, not to mention some sort of Slovakian alcohol that involved herbs, which actually tasted better than I expected. I also met a lot of other people, most of whom I'll probably never see again, but at the very least it was good practice in how to mingle at a reception! The best part of the night, though, was that I got to talk to the Slovakian ambassador, and even exchanged business cards (though I'm pretty sure everybody who was there did that) and shook his hand (which I don't think everybody did, so that's cool)! As he was leaving he said something to the extent of 'call me if you ever want to know more about Slovakia', and while I'm 99.9% certain he only said it to be polite, it's definitely still pretty cool to be told that by the ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Japan.
So all in all I think today was a great success! I was super super nervous about the courtesy visit, and obviously I still have a long way to go before I can really call myself an interpreter, but I didn't make any horrible mistakes and I do feel a little bit more confident. Hoping this is a good sign for the future! :D
So like I said in my last post, on Saturday I went to LaLaport with one of my coworkers and our Chinese visitor. I had just been there a week ago and I wasn't shopping for anything in particular, but I figured I might as well go since they invited me (though it did mean skipping frisbee practice). Our visitor had a whole list of things to bring back to China (presumable as gifts), so we just went around trying to find everything. I think all three of us are pretty quiet, so it wasn't a super lively time (haha), but I enjoyed myself and I got to know my co-worker a little better, which is definitely a plus. He was nice enough to treat us both to yakiniku, too!
After LaLaport I headed straight to Tokyo, to celebrate another JET's birthday. It was my first time going back to Tokyo since orientation, so that was exciting. The birthday girl was running a bit late, so I spent around 20 minutes just people-watching at Shibuya station, which is super interesting (although then I found out somebody else I'd been waiting for had also been there the whole time, haha). When everybody arrived we found a place to eat and hung out there for a while before heading to our final destination, a club called Atom! I thought it was cool because they had sections that were ladies only in case you didn't want to bothered (though maybe they do this in the US too and I just don't know because I haven't gone clubbing there, haha), and I had a good time dancing. When we left we were planning to find a manga cafe to stay in for a few hours, but they were all full and it was only an hour until the first train, so we ended up just going to McDonalds and waiting it out (which I think happens a lot).
So I took the first train home and napped for a few hours (though I had to try and find a new space for my futon because my half-assembled IKEA dresser was taking up my usual spot), before heading out to meet another Carleton alum to go the Chiba City Museum of Art! We decided to get lunch at an Indian restaurant (which was really tasty) before heading to the museum. I hadn't seen her since she graduated two years ago, so it was nice to catch up! Then we went to the museum to see the exhibit, which was pretty awesome. Afterward we also stopped by the Chiba Shrine, which I had no idea was there before (oops). For now I'll leave it at that, but I plan to write about these in more detail in another blog post - in order to increase my chances of being picked as a Chiba-kun Ambassador next year (which I want to apply for), I plan to start a separate travel blog that doesn't include all the mundane and personal details of my everyday life. I just need to come up with a name first. :P
And finally we come to today, the day of my first big job as a CIR! The Slovakian ambassador came to pay a courtesy visit to the mayor, because the Chiba City Museum of Art is hosting the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (which is the capital of Slovakia, in case you didn't know), and we decided to make it my interpreting debut. I've spent most of the week preparing for the visit, which mostly means translating the scenario (or outline/schedule), program/seating chart, mayor's speech, etc and also researching and learning a lot more about the BIB and Slovakia than I ever imagined I would. Satou-san has also been helping me to practice a little every day, by reading through the scenario/speech with me and coming up with random things for me to interpret, which I'm really really grateful for.
And then it was time for the courtesy visit! I was really nervous (in fact I woke up this morning and instantly felt nervous, even though the courtesy visit wasn't until 2pm), and it didn't help that right before the ambassador came in they gave me another sheet of information about something that might come up in conversation. The beginning was a little nerve-wracking because Hirata-san kept telling me to stand nearby if they needed me to interpret when they exchanged business cards, but I'm pretty sure that when I went to stand near them the guests had no idea who I was and so I just kind of stood there awkwardly. I also wasn't brave enough to go talk to the other interpreter before the meeting started about who was doing what and to ask the proper pronunciation of the ambassador's name, so there was also a little bit in the beginning where the other side's interpreter did both the ambassador and the mayor's sides of the conversation, even though I was supposed to do the mayor's side.
I said earlier that we had a scenario for the courtesy visit, which is actually something they usually only make for courtesy visits that are more like ceremonies, like when the youth exchange programs visit the mayor. For normal courtesy visits like this one, that aren't a regularly occurring thing, the visitors and the mayor just chat for half an hour. But since this was my first time interpreting, the International Relations Section figured it would be easier if we made a scenario to follow and had the mayor's speech written ahead of time, which was really considerate. Except nobody bothered to tell the Slovakian ambassador that this would be happening, so we didn't really end up following the scenario at all. The mayor also cut out whole sections of his speech, but at least he didn't improvise, so I'm grateful for that (probably because they made sure to tell him that this was my interpreting debut).
Then we went straight on to the open conversation part, where they just talk about anything, aka the scariest part of any courtesy visit. I sat a little bit behind the mayor with my newly bought little notebook at the ready, and we were off! The mayor didn't say anything that came up in my practice with Satou-san (where we tried to guess what kind of things he'd say), and there were definitely times when I didn't understand what he was saying, but for the most part I think I managed to do all right! At one point he mentioned the Kasori Shell Mounds Site Museum, which I still don't have any idea how to say in Japanese, but luckily I read a bunch of sightseeing brochures when I first came to Chiba and knew enough to figure out that what he said had something to do with shell mounds, which was apparently good enough! The mayor also corrected me once when I said that Chiba City had the longest beaches in Japan, when in fact we have the longest man-made beaches in Japan, and at the end they suddenly started talking about business/economic things, which was totally random and so I'm pretty sure I messed up some interpretation there, but nobody said anything so whatever. :D And then they exchanged gifts and took some pictures and it was over! People kept telling me later that it didn't seem like it was my first time interpreting, which is either a good sign or just them being really nice (or both). :)
And then afterward Hirata-san and I went to a reception at the museum, where they had invited the ambassador and a lot of other people I didn't know, presumably from the museum. I got to listen to some rambly long-winded speeches by the museum director and the ambassador and eat some really tasty food, not to mention some sort of Slovakian alcohol that involved herbs, which actually tasted better than I expected. I also met a lot of other people, most of whom I'll probably never see again, but at the very least it was good practice in how to mingle at a reception! The best part of the night, though, was that I got to talk to the Slovakian ambassador, and even exchanged business cards (though I'm pretty sure everybody who was there did that) and shook his hand (which I don't think everybody did, so that's cool)! As he was leaving he said something to the extent of 'call me if you ever want to know more about Slovakia', and while I'm 99.9% certain he only said it to be polite, it's definitely still pretty cool to be told that by the ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Japan.
So all in all I think today was a great success! I was super super nervous about the courtesy visit, and obviously I still have a long way to go before I can really call myself an interpreter, but I didn't make any horrible mistakes and I do feel a little bit more confident. Hoping this is a good sign for the future! :D
Saturday, September 8, 2012
dinner dinner dinner
This week seems to have mostly been characterized by going out for dinner and meeting people, which is pretty cool. Also, the title of this post should be read like the Mario noises. (You can thank my college roommate for that.)
On Monday I went out for dinner with Gina and met one of her friends from Japanese school, who is from Korea. He's currently trying to get into a Japanese university (though since he did his military service he's actually older than I am), which I think is pretty impressive. We went to a place called Ninnikuya, which roughly translates to something like 'The Garlic Store'. We tried their garlic spaghetti, which included whole cloves of garlic, and it was pretty good! I was also amused because in the bathroom provided mouthwash, toothpicks, and those tongue-scraper things, presumably to combat garlic breath.
On Tuesday I found out that the Slovakian ambassador would be paying a courtesy visit to the mayor next week, since the Chiba City Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit of works from the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (a really big contest for picture book authors), which happens in Bratislava, Slovakia every two years. Even though it was really short notice and it's not really related to the International Relations Section, they asked if I wanted to try interpreting at the courtesy visit. At first I was really intimidated by the thought of it, since I haven't done any interpreting before and usually we have at least a month's notice before courtesy visits, but after thinking about it and talking to another CIR, I decided that I should challenge myself and try it. While I'm still terrified at the thought of interpreting, for an ambassador, no less, I'm sure it will be a good experience. Plus I got free tickets to the museum so I could go check out the exhibit before the courtesy visit, yay! So my first big job will be next week - hopefully I'll be nice and prepared by then.
Then on Wednesday, we had a welcome party for a Chinese lady who has come to Chiba City for a couple of weeks for training (or something, to be honest I'm not really sure), who will be spending time with both our office and the economic planning section. At first I wasn't planning to go, because that was the day my dresser was supposed to be delivered and I didn't know when, but it came a lot earlier than I expected so I was able to go after all! I got to meet some people from the economic planning section and enjoy food and drinks with them and some of my coworkers, so I'm definitely glad I managed to make it - it's nice to be able to relax and get to know people better outside of work.
Today I went to the nearby town of Yachiyo, to hang out with Cory and some of his friends for a little bit to celebrate his birthday tomorrow! It was pretty chill and mostly consisted of us playing some Pokemon game on his Wii (which was really easy but also pretty fun). I had to leave early to be able to catch the last bus home, but I discovered that there's another train station in walking distance from my apartment that I didn't know about, so maybe in the future I'll be able to stay later.
Tomorrow one of my co-workers is taking our Chinese guest to Lalaport for the day, so I'm going to join them (exactly a week after being there, haha) before heading to Tokyo to celebrate some more birthdays! And then on Sunday I plan on seeing the BIB art exhibit, so it should be an exciting weekend. :D
On Monday I went out for dinner with Gina and met one of her friends from Japanese school, who is from Korea. He's currently trying to get into a Japanese university (though since he did his military service he's actually older than I am), which I think is pretty impressive. We went to a place called Ninnikuya, which roughly translates to something like 'The Garlic Store'. We tried their garlic spaghetti, which included whole cloves of garlic, and it was pretty good! I was also amused because in the bathroom provided mouthwash, toothpicks, and those tongue-scraper things, presumably to combat garlic breath.
On Tuesday I found out that the Slovakian ambassador would be paying a courtesy visit to the mayor next week, since the Chiba City Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit of works from the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (a really big contest for picture book authors), which happens in Bratislava, Slovakia every two years. Even though it was really short notice and it's not really related to the International Relations Section, they asked if I wanted to try interpreting at the courtesy visit. At first I was really intimidated by the thought of it, since I haven't done any interpreting before and usually we have at least a month's notice before courtesy visits, but after thinking about it and talking to another CIR, I decided that I should challenge myself and try it. While I'm still terrified at the thought of interpreting, for an ambassador, no less, I'm sure it will be a good experience. Plus I got free tickets to the museum so I could go check out the exhibit before the courtesy visit, yay! So my first big job will be next week - hopefully I'll be nice and prepared by then.
Then on Wednesday, we had a welcome party for a Chinese lady who has come to Chiba City for a couple of weeks for training (or something, to be honest I'm not really sure), who will be spending time with both our office and the economic planning section. At first I wasn't planning to go, because that was the day my dresser was supposed to be delivered and I didn't know when, but it came a lot earlier than I expected so I was able to go after all! I got to meet some people from the economic planning section and enjoy food and drinks with them and some of my coworkers, so I'm definitely glad I managed to make it - it's nice to be able to relax and get to know people better outside of work.
Today I went to the nearby town of Yachiyo, to hang out with Cory and some of his friends for a little bit to celebrate his birthday tomorrow! It was pretty chill and mostly consisted of us playing some Pokemon game on his Wii (which was really easy but also pretty fun). I had to leave early to be able to catch the last bus home, but I discovered that there's another train station in walking distance from my apartment that I didn't know about, so maybe in the future I'll be able to stay later.
Tomorrow one of my co-workers is taking our Chinese guest to Lalaport for the day, so I'm going to join them (exactly a week after being there, haha) before heading to Tokyo to celebrate some more birthdays! And then on Sunday I plan on seeing the BIB art exhibit, so it should be an exciting weekend. :D
Sunday, September 2, 2012
friends and furniture
It's the end of a good weekend! I think it was both fun and productive, which is always a good thing. :)
On Friday, I went to a social dance circle (club) at the community center. There are apparently several groups that meet in the community center, but since this one meets on Fridays I figured it was a good time to actually try going to one! I went hoping that it was like the social dance club at Carleton, which is basically just open dance, but it turns out that it was actually more of a lesson-type thing. There were about 5 people, all probably past retirement age and their teacher, who were nice enough to let me observe/participate for free, even though they have monthly membership dues. I danced a little bit of waltz and tango and also learned some new things, which was cool. Since I mostly just want to dance for fun and don't really care too much about proper ballroom technique anymore (...oops), I don't think I will be back, but it was definitely worth going once! Now I just have to figure out how to very politely inform somebody that I won't be joining their group, in Japanese. -.-'
The next day I went to IKEA! As you know, I've been in Chiba for more than a month now but still have all my clothes in suitcases, so it was high time I went out and got a dresser. I went with my friend from Carleton and a couple of people I'd met at Chiba orientation, and we had a good time eating meatballs (naturally) and trying to identify various products. I also picked and bought a dresser, hurray (though it won't be delivered until Wednesday)!
After IKEA we went over to LaLaport, which I think is the biggest shopping mall in Chiba. We wandered for a while before stopping by a little arcade that was in there. I watched two of them play Taiko before the four of us played some game that was basically just us throwing plastic balls at a screen for ten minutes. It was awesome. :D Then we had a quick dinner before parting ways. I'll definitely have to go back to LaLaport sometime, if only because they have a Tokyu Hands (one of my favorite Japanese stores)!
Finally, today I went to the Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, on the last day of their exhibit of stuff involving light. I was originally planning to go with my friend from high school who lives in Yokohama, but she got sick right before the weekend, which also meant right before her trip back to Atlanta! So I headed to the museum alone, which was still definitely worth it. I think it was mainly targeted for children (and there were plenty of them there), but there were lots of really cool pieces, and a lot of them were also interactive. My favorite involved a little vehicle with a light traveling on a track through a city made of everyday objects, like colanders and pencils. The light on the vehicle cast really awesome shadows on the walls as it moved, which at some points were like a first-person view from the vehicle itself. I don't think I'm doing a good job explaining it, but basically, it was awesome. I liked it so much I stayed and watched it twice in a row, from different angles. :)
All in all, it was a good weekend! I even cleaned my apartment, so that it's fit to be seen when the IKEA people come to deliver my dresser, haha. Let's hope it lasts until then. :P
On Friday, I went to a social dance circle (club) at the community center. There are apparently several groups that meet in the community center, but since this one meets on Fridays I figured it was a good time to actually try going to one! I went hoping that it was like the social dance club at Carleton, which is basically just open dance, but it turns out that it was actually more of a lesson-type thing. There were about 5 people, all probably past retirement age and their teacher, who were nice enough to let me observe/participate for free, even though they have monthly membership dues. I danced a little bit of waltz and tango and also learned some new things, which was cool. Since I mostly just want to dance for fun and don't really care too much about proper ballroom technique anymore (...oops), I don't think I will be back, but it was definitely worth going once! Now I just have to figure out how to very politely inform somebody that I won't be joining their group, in Japanese. -.-'
The next day I went to IKEA! As you know, I've been in Chiba for more than a month now but still have all my clothes in suitcases, so it was high time I went out and got a dresser. I went with my friend from Carleton and a couple of people I'd met at Chiba orientation, and we had a good time eating meatballs (naturally) and trying to identify various products. I also picked and bought a dresser, hurray (though it won't be delivered until Wednesday)!
After IKEA we went over to LaLaport, which I think is the biggest shopping mall in Chiba. We wandered for a while before stopping by a little arcade that was in there. I watched two of them play Taiko before the four of us played some game that was basically just us throwing plastic balls at a screen for ten minutes. It was awesome. :D Then we had a quick dinner before parting ways. I'll definitely have to go back to LaLaport sometime, if only because they have a Tokyu Hands (one of my favorite Japanese stores)!
Finally, today I went to the Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, on the last day of their exhibit of stuff involving light. I was originally planning to go with my friend from high school who lives in Yokohama, but she got sick right before the weekend, which also meant right before her trip back to Atlanta! So I headed to the museum alone, which was still definitely worth it. I think it was mainly targeted for children (and there were plenty of them there), but there were lots of really cool pieces, and a lot of them were also interactive. My favorite involved a little vehicle with a light traveling on a track through a city made of everyday objects, like colanders and pencils. The light on the vehicle cast really awesome shadows on the walls as it moved, which at some points were like a first-person view from the vehicle itself. I don't think I'm doing a good job explaining it, but basically, it was awesome. I liked it so much I stayed and watched it twice in a row, from different angles. :)
All in all, it was a good weekend! I even cleaned my apartment, so that it's fit to be seen when the IKEA people come to deliver my dresser, haha. Let's hope it lasts until then. :P
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