wrapping up 2014

All right, before I (presumably) make a post to reflect about 2014 as a whole, I feel like I need to fill in all the blanks of the past three months, where so much has happened that I just haven't been able to post more than the bare minimum.

Notable events of the past 3 months (super summary version)
 - went to FujiQ, a famous amusement park in Shizuoka, with some people from my yosakoi team
 - started the interpreting course at Simul Academy, the school associated with one of Japan's leading translation/interpreting companies. Actually I can't believe I haven't written about this at all yet - just another sign of how crazy these few months have been, I guess. I have class twice a week in Tokyo, and I'm the only non-native Japanese speaker and probably the youngest in the class. I'm also the only one who hasn't had formal training before now (I tested into a course that people usually reach after a year or two of study), so it's been challenging, but also very interesting!
 - lots of yosakoi events, including the biggest yosakoi festival in Chiba and our
 - went back home for the second wedding of the year and had a fantastic time with family and friends
 - took the BJT (Business Japanese Proficiency Test) but am not really looking forward to the results...at least it's not pass-fail
 - was invited by a Chinese lady to her house to have lunch and play with her kid - the whole family speaks Chinese, Japanese, and English to varying degrees and they were really nice
 - was in charge of Chiba AJET Thanksgiving
 - interpreted when the mayor of Montreux came to visit our mayor and his family and couldn't get over how adorable the mayor's kids are
 - went to Kamakura with a couple of friends from my yosakoi team, which was super chill but super fun
 - had a good time seeing people again at CIR mid-year
 - held my first ever event, making graham cracker gingerbread houses with elementary school students. The kids seemed to enjoy it and made some pretty creative houses, so I'd consider it a success!
 - finished the AJET report and presented it at our annual opinion exchange (this involved so much time and energy I don't even want to think about it anymore. So glad it's over, but scared to think about how I have to do it all again in a few months)
 - went to the Tokyo Career Forum and met up with a friend from Niigata
 - went to our yosakoi team's end-of-the-year party and stayed out later than I probably ever have in Chiba
 - had a Christmas shabu-shabu dinner with my coworkers and exchanged gifts - I got a nano blocks Tokyo Tower set that I should try to put together sometime during this winter break
 - went to see a gorgeous Christmas illumination in Nakameguro
 - went swing dancing and wandering around Yokohama and Roppongi with a friend from Carleton, which was nice because I don't often just explore Tokyo (and every time I go to Yokohama I just can't get over how nice it is)

If I were to go into detail about everything it would probably takes pages and hours to write...so I won't, even though I kind of wish I would (but am too lazy). And now that that's all written, time for a general post about the year!

kicks in kamogawa and katsuura

So the third Chiba-kun Ambassador's tour was the day after my last blog post, but it's taken me a month to write about it...oops. >_<

Anyway, both years I've participated the third tour has been the one overnight tour of the year, but this year unfortunately I only came for the first day. I'm sad to have missed the second day (particularly the tour of the sake brewery), but I chose to go to my last big yosakoi event of the year instead so I can't really complain, haha.

We started out in Kamogawa, way down on the southern end of the peninsula. I've been there before to visit Kamogawa Seaworld, but it's right by the ocean and really beautiful so it's always nice to go back. Our first stop was to try maiwaizome, a traditional type of dyeing that the area is famous for. I say dyeing, but the part that we did was much more like painting, so it was totally different from the dyeing we did on our last tour last year. Maiwai is apparently the name of the type of kimonos that were worn to celebrate a good catch, and the designs are really colorful and elaborate.

Since obviously we wouldn't have time to design, paint/dye, and complete entire kimonos, we each picked one out of three pre-stenciled designs to color in ourselves with the dye and paintbrushes. Since they said just painting it would be too easy, they also showed us how to make gradients and encouraged us to try it, so I did! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially since it was kind of hard to tell when we were actually doing the painting, since the stencil (which was apparently made out of the same stuff that senbei is) was surrounding all the colors and I could only see the finished product after soaking the dried cloth in water for 24+ hours and washing it out. I love doing this sort of taiken (experience) activity, especially when you end up with something you can keep, so I really enjoyed this. :D

Kamogawa Maiwaizome: Suzusen
Address: 211 Maebara, Kamogawa-shi
Access: 10-minute walk from JR Awa-Kamogawa Station
Hours: 7:00AM - 7:00PM (closed Wednesdays)
Cost: 1500 yen for adults
Website (Japanese only): http://www.awa.or.jp/home/suzusen/

Next it was time for lunch, at a place called Minna no Sato (literally translated: everybody's village), which had places to eat, souvenirs and goods from all over Chiba, a little art gallery, and more. The lunch we had was centered on local ingredients, mainly vegetables, with onigiri and tempura, and it was great. Normally I only have onigiri from convenience stores, so it was nice to have some that didn't come in a plastic wrapper, haha.


After lunch we heard an explanation of the facility in the little gallery, which happened to be full of pictures of the Oga lotus, Chiba City's flower! I was surprised to see them there in Kamogawa but also happy that I identified it correctly, haha. Also, in the souvenir section I discovered a gigantic plush version of one of my favorite yurukyara (mascots): Piinyattsu, a combination kitty-peanut which is super adorable and from Kamogawa. I actually already owned a smaller plush and a little bag, but I've never seen the big version before so I had to get it, and it was definitely the best decision I made that day. So cute and so huggable! <3

Minna no Sato
Address: 1696 Miyayama, Kamogawa-shi
Access: Nitto bus from JR Awa-Kamogawa Station for Tokyo-wan Ferry or Hiratsuka-hongou, get off at Minna no Sato
Hours: 9:00AM - 6:00PM (until 5:00PM from November - January), closed on New Year's Day
Website (Japanese only): http://minnami.com/

Originally after that we were supposed to go ride a boat somewhere, but unfortunately this was cancelled due to the weather...I also missed the boat ride on our first tour (because I overslept -.-') so maybe boats and I are just not meant to be this year. Even though I love boats. T_T So instead we just moved onto our next location, Tanjoh-ji, a shrine of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism. We listened to an explanation of the very elaborate carvings that we found there and also visited a small exhibition about the creator of the sect, and though I will admit that I understood very little of it all, it was pretty cool to look at. Even better, just as we left, the sun finally came out and everything looked a million times more gorgeous.

Tanjoh-ji
Address: 183 Kominato, Kamogawa-shi
Access: 23-minute walk/5-minute drive from JR Awa-Kominato Station
Website: http://www.tanjoh-ji.jp/e_index.html

Our next stop was one of my favorite parts of this tour (tied with the dyeing), a spa in the Hotel Mikazuki (in Katsuura) called Aqua Palace! Unlike onsens, this was a spa, which means that everybody went in with bathing suits and therefore all genders could enjoy it together. There was both an outdoor section and an indoor section, and we went right around the sunset, so the view looking out over the ocean was spectacular! The outdoor section had several different baths, including one that maybe included sake (?), but my favorite was a section where the pool was formed into a little path, with little alcoves periodically set along the circle. I assume they're mostly meant for couples (this place would actually be a really great place to go on a date), but I enjoyed them just the same. The section indoors was also pretty cool, with even more types of baths and falling water, jacuzzi areas, and more. There were a few people who didn't go to the spa and I think they really missed out! Would definitely recommend this as a fun place to go in Katsuura.

Aqua Palace (Hotel Mikazuki)
Address: 830 Tona, Katsuura-shi
Hours: 10:00AM - 10:00PM (last entrance at 9:00PM)
Cost: 1000 on weekdays, 1500 yen on weekends, 700 yen after 6:00PM (prices slightly higher in summer)
Access: 1-minute by free shuttle bus (reservation required)/less than 10-minute walk from JR Katsuura Station
Website (Japanese only): http://www.mikazuki.co.jp/katuura/aqua/index.html

And then the last part of the day was dinner at the minshuku where everybody was staying, Kanda. Needless to say, it was amaazing. One of the first things to come out was an enormous plate of sashimi, complete with (decorative) fish head and tail. One of the best things about going places near the ocean is, obviously, the fantastic seafood, and this menu did not disappoint.  Nomnomnom.

Kanda
Address: 818-19 Tona, Katsuura-shi
Access: 5-minute walk from JR Katsuura Station
Website (Japanese only): http://kandamaru.com/

I went home after that, but apparently the next day they visited the morning market, a sake brewery, and an underwater sea museum! A shame to have missed it, but I guess that's just another excuse for me to go back to Katsuura someday - maybe next time in the summer. :D

monorail mania

Yikes, it's been over a month since my last post! There's just been so much going on that I haven't had the time to report, but today I'll write about one of my favorite Chiba City things: the monorail!

So I know I've written about the monorail before (when I went to the monorail matsuri last year), but I'll just say it all again because I love talking about the monorail.  :D

The Chiba Urban Monorail first opened in 1988, and when all the sections were completed a few years later (construction was done in segments), it became the world's longest suspended monorail at 15.2km total (it's actually in the Guiness Book of World Records; I checked). A year or two ago, the newest model of monorail car, the Urban Flyer, which includes a small section of glass flooring in the driver's room, won a Good Design Award. These are all the major facts that I knew about the monorail until recently, which I proudly boast to everybody who I talk about the monorail with, haha. 

Well, a few weeks ago, a delegation from Mersin, Turkey came to Chiba City to observe that monorail, because they are considering building one of their own. (Actually I'm pretty sure they're planning to build one longer than ours and steal the claim to fame as the world's longest suspended monorail, but...) So I spent the day accompanying them through their courtesy visit to the mayor, lunch, trip to the monorail company, and the Chiba Zoological Park (which for some reason they requested to visit). Except this time they hired a Turkish-Japanese interpreter, which means I hardly had to do anything! 

So obviously the highlight of my day was when we went to visit the headquarters of the monorail, not far from the Zoological Park. Since this was the main purpose of their visit, the delegation had a lot of questions for the monorail officials and took the

discussion very seriously, so by being there I learned a lot more about the monorail, which was pretty cool. For example, I learned that there are generally two types of monorail, suspended (where the rail is above the cars) and overlapping (with the rail below, like a normal train), and that one of the first suspended monorails was built in Wuppertal, Germany, which the delegation had also visited before coming here. And I learned that they considered both types of monorail and also a subway system when deciding what king of new public transportation system to build, but chose the current type because it fit best with the numbers and needs of passengers. Also that the monorail can run with 4 cars at a time, but with current needs it only uses 2. Also a bunch more technical stuff I can't trait remember but was very impressed that the interpreter could translate just like that (because I'd have had trouble; I guess that's the difference between amateurs like me and professionals).

Last lifeline!

Anyway, after lots and lots of talking, we went to tour the facilities! I'd actually been there before during the monorail matsuri, but this time they made us put on hard hats and I got to see a few things that most people probably never have the chance to see. Like the control room, where they monitor the lines that are running, keep track of time schedules, etc. I totally geeked out while watching the monorail moving real time on the screens and seeing the special phone they use to call conductors. So cool! We also went to look at the cars that were in the depot and they explained more technical things I mostly don't remember, other than when they pointed out the thick metal cord that is the last lifeline in case the monorail ever falls... oh and also when they showed the different ways people can evacuate in case of emergency, which includes a cloth chute in a corner of the floor that people can slide down to safety in! I'd love to try that someday, haha.

So basically I had the chance to fangirl all day over the monorail, which was really awesome and informative (have I mentioned how cool my job can be?). Also the other day in doing some research I learned that you can buy both a stapler and a flashlight that are in the shape of the monorail, and went and bought the stapler today... anyway, this ends my rambling about the monorail. If you ever come to Chiba City, be sure to check it out! :)

Chiba Urban Monorail
http://chiba-monorail.co.jp/

a near-perfect day

A couple of weekends ago I had one of those days where pretty much everything went well and I just felt happy, so I thought I should write about it! Plus it involves a new place in Chiba City, all the more reason to write a blog post.

The day started out with a yosakoi performance for a 敬老会, or a gathering to celebrate those who have lived to over a certain age - I'm not sure what the exact age was. This performance was fun because it was on a big indoor stage, the likes of which I haven't performed on since I did Chinese dance in high school (very nostalgic), and also because the mayor was there! There have actually been a couple of times where I have the same schedule as the mayor on a weekend, through a combination of yosakoi and work, but until now he's never actually been around during our performance, even if he was at the same event. But this time I actually saw him in the front row, which was pretty cool. I doubt he noticed me (not sure if I'd want him to, really), but the manager of the Secretarial Division, who always accompanies the mayor on weekend work trips, knows I do yosakoi (because we ran into each other the last time the mayor and I had similar schedules) and even joked about it once, so maybe he saw me. I also finally got the chance to talk to someone on the team about getting all of us who are the same age together for dinner or something, which was exciting.

After the performance, which was in the art/culture hall of Aoba-no-Mori Park, I decided to wander around, because it was my first time there, despite having done translations about it at work. It's a really huge park (for a big city, Chiba has a lot of these), and it's the venue for athletic events like international cross-country races, which is pretty cool.

I was first intrigued by some signs pointing toward a 'sculpture plaza', so I went to investigate and discovered a big open area with various sculptures, trees, steps, and what looked like a Greek temple! There was a group of cosplayers taking photos in between the columns, if that gives a sense of how it looked.

After that I just wandered for a bit in the gorgeous cool autumn air, through a flower garden, by a lake, around an open field, and into a little orchard. I also saw several people feeding stay cats, which were everywhere, and even ran into a couple of kittens! I also passed by a Chiba-kun cafe, which was unfortunately closing but very intriguing.

I didn't want to wander too far or long for fear of getting lost if it got dark, but as I went back through the sculpture garden, I noticed how gorgeous the sky was - blue with lots of wispy clouds, and it was the widest view of the sky I've seen since coming to Chiba. This park is in the middle of the city, but when I looked up I couldn't see any buildings, just pure open sky.

I couldn't help but just stare up at it for a while, and then I heard the sounds of a guitar. A random singer-guitarist started performing nearby, so I lay down on a nearby bench and enjoyed the music while gazing at the sky. It was so peaceful and beautiful and basically just bliss.

I stayed until it got colder and darker and the guitarist wandered away, before slowly heading back to the station. I was in the middle of shopping for some necessities when I remembered that my favorite west coast swing event was that day, and I still had time to make it!

So I hopped on a train to Tokyo and went to west coast swing for a few hours. I hadn't been to this particular event in months, and west coast is my favorite, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

And then I had a good LINE conversation on the train ride home and made it back with 3% battery life on my phone - and that was the end of my almost-perfect day! Yosakoi, nature, kitties, swing dance, and good conversations - what more could I ask for? :)

second chiba-kun ambassador tour

Last month was this year's second Chiba-kun Ambassadors tour, and I didn't oversleep this time! ...-.-'

This tour included several places I've been to before, but luckily that didn't mean it was boring or anything. I was very excited for our first stop, pear-picking in Kamagaya!

I'd actually been to Kamagaya for the first time earlier that month (for a yosakoi festival) and tasted their nashi (Asian pears), so I knew what to look forward to. If you've never had nashi, you should fix that right away because they're delicious and far superior to normal (American) pears (in my of-course totally unbiased opinion, haha). Chiba is also famous for nashi (the hyper-popular unofficial mascot Funassyi - yes, that's how it's officially spelled - is from Funabashi, which is known for nashi, hence the name), and I think Kamagaya is one of the places better-known for it.

To be entirely honest I'm not exactly sure which pear-picking place we went to, but as it happens there are at least 9 gardens with pears and even more with things like grapes and peaches, so if you go to Kamagaya I'm sure you could find somewhere easily. The place we went to had trees with very low branches, which I think were grown that way to make it easier for people to pick. As a short person, I was very happy to be able to pick pears without needing a ladder of any sort, but I also couldn't help giggling at my very tall Ambassador friend Calvin, who was struggling to find a place to stand up. The pears were also all individually wrapped in little paper bags, which was apparently to protect the skin as that type of pear bruises easily. Which made it a little harder to decide which ones to pick, but I still managed to find two big pears to take home. And they had free samples for us to try that they kept replenishing as we devoured them. :D

Our next stop was Boso-no-Mura, which I've been to and written about before. I think it's a great tourist spot for those who want something very Japanese and I was happy to go there again. This time I spent most of the time we had making my very own pair of chopsticks! We were given a long and thin piece of wood whose ends we had to shave into chopstick shape, before sawing it in half, sanding them, and finishing them up with some nut oil. I haven't used them yet, but I was pretty happy to have made my own chopsticks (I think I just like making things). My favorite thing about Boso-no-Mura is how they offer so many activities you can try yourself - making things, tasting things, harvesting vegetables, etc.


Boso-no-Mura Experience Museum
Address: 1028 Ryukakuji, Sakae-machi, Imba-gun, Chiba Prefecture, 270-1506
Admission: 300 yen for adults, 150 yen for high school/college students
Hours: 9:00-16:30, closed Mondays
Access: 20 minutes by bus from JR Narita Station on the JR Narita Line (headed for "Ryukakuji-dai-shako", get off at "Ryukakuji-dai-2-chome", followed by an 8-minute walk)
Website: http://www.chiba-muse.or.jp/MURA/e/ 

And then it was finally time for lunch! We went to a restaurant called Kanetaya and had unagi-don, or eel over rice, which was delicious. Eel is a bit on the pricey side (especially now that the Japanese eel has been declared endangered...I did feel slightly guilty for eating it), so it's not something I eat often, but it was just as delicious as I remembered. For dessert, there was black bean castella, which I think won an award of some sort - it was also very tasty.

Kanetaya
Address: 3692 Ajiki, Sakae-cho, Inba-gun, Chiba
Access: 12-minute walk from JR Ajiki Station (they also have a free shuttle bus for groups of 10 or more)
Website (Japanese only): http://kanetaya.main.jp/

Finally, our last stop was Narita Airport. I have to admit I was a little skeptical when I first heard of the plan, since pretty much all of the Ambassadors are sure to have used Narita at least once, if not many times, but actually I saw some places I'd never seen and learned some new things about it, which was cool. The airport is putting a lot of effort into making it welcoming to non-Japanese speakers, with multilingual guides/tourist info, free wifi, a prayer room, and a brand-new capsule hotel. The day we went they were also having an event/fair in a plaza I didn't know existed, and it was very well-attended - I bet there were just as many locals as airport guests, which I thought was pretty cool. I also learned that there's a scale you can use to test your luggage before going to the counter (which in all my trips to Narita I've never noticed), and an outdoor deck where you can sit and watch planes take off. Very cool.

And that was our second tour! Like I said, not as many new places for me this time, but nonetheless fun and enjoyable. :D

chiba sand art

At my workplace, there are always posters up everywhere advertising all sorts of things: tax payments, business support, but also for events, and last month on of them happened to catch my eye - Chiba Sand Art 2014. It was taking place in Inage Seaside Park, which is a huge park not far from my house that I'd actually never properly visited, and looked pretty cool, so I made it a block event and went with some other Chiba City folks!

Our first stop in the park was a quick visit to the Inage Civil Aviation Memorial Museum, which I've translated stuff about for work but never actually visited. Inage is actually 'the birthplace of civil aviation in Japan', because the country's first civil aviation practice field in Japan was established here back in the day. The museum has some replicas of early biplanes and some exhibits, and they have regular events where kids can make different types of paper planes.

Next we headed off to see the sand art! The first thing we saw was tons of little sculptures all over the plaza, which were made by families. Some of them were really cute, and I bet they were fun to make. And then we saw the main sand sculptures, which were pretty impressive! I think the artist(s?) spent about a week making them, if that's any indication of the scale. The theme was the sea, and I liked how the smaller sculptures involved different animals that blended pretty seamlessly all the way around.

After looking at all the sculptures, we set off to explore more of the park, and we watched some groups performing eisa, a type of dance with drums from Okinawa, before making a quick stop by Inage Beach. Chiba City has the longest artificial seashore in Japan, which includes Inage Beach. I keep telling myself I need to go to a Chiba City beach (after translating things about them over and over again), so it was glad to have finally done so, even if only for a few minutes.

Our next stop (after indulging in some Dippin' Dots outside) was at the Sanyo Media Flower Museum (formerly known as the Chiba City Floral Museum), which is yet another thing I've written about for work and never gone to. It looks pretty small from the outside, but actually it's quite large - with several floors and different areas/galleries. I particularly liked the vegetable garden on the roof, and the giant hollow (fake) strawberry that we had to keep waiting for little kids to leave it alone so we could go in it, haha. For 300 yen admission, it was quite a good deal and well worth it.

Sanyo Media Flower Museum
Admission: 300 yen for adults
Address: 7-2-4 Takahama, Mihama-ku, Chiba City
Hours: 9:30 - 17:00 (closed Mondays and year-end/New Year)
Website: http://cga.or.jp/flower/index.html (Japanese only) 

Finally, we had lunch at Mother Moon Cafe, a cafe that my senpai CIR took me to when I first got to Chiba. It's quite close to my apartment but pretty well-hidden amidst a lot of factory buildings, so I'm surprised people can find it, but when we went it was actually pretty crowded, despite being past 2PM. It's got a lovely atmosphere and delicious food, so it made a nice wrap-up to the afternoon.

Mother Moon Cafe
Address: 117 Shinminato, Mihama-ku, Chiba City 261-0002
Website: http://www.mothermoon.jp/

dokidoki domatsuri

At the end of last month, my yosakoi team went to Nagoya to participate in the Nippon Domannaka Matsuri (often shortened to just Domatsuri), a big yosakoi festival on the same scale as the Yosakoi Soran Matsuri in Hokkaido - over 200 teams from all over the country, over the course of three days.

I was excited to go back to Nagoya, almost exactly a year after my last trip there, and it was pretty cool going to places I knew from studying abroad with my yosakoi team - past meets the present kind of thing. My host mother came to see us, and even managed to find me right before one of our parade performances! I also told a friend from study abroad about it and apparently she came to see us too, though I didn't manage to meet up with her. And my friend Jon was there too, since he had a Japan Rail Pass, and followed us around the whole day taking pictures.

What made this festival so memorable (and worth its own post) though, is that - to everybody's surprise - on the second day we found out that not only had our team won a special judge's award, but but we had placed 1st in our block and were therefore going to the finals! Although all our team emails about the tournament had included provisions for if we made it to the finals, I don't think any of us were expecting to actually make it there, since there were other really good teams in our block with even more members. I was hoping that maaaybe we could make the semifinals, or 2nd place in the block, so hearing that it was the actual finals was a huge surprise. Some people started crying right then and there after hearing the news, and even I got a bit teary.

Going to the finals meant that we would perform our dance one more time on the main stage, in the evening with bright stage lights. Apparently it was also broadcast on local television (in the middle of the night), and we had a TV crew come up to our team before and after the performances, which was pretty cool.

The teams drew lots for the performance order, and we ended up performing 8th, which out of 11 teams was pretty ideal. While we waited for our turn, we sat with the other finalist teams in an area behind the main stage, with a big screen showing us a live stream of the performances. The feeling of nerves and anticipation from all the dancers as everybody waited for their turn, in the dark illuminated only by the screen, was something else. But nothing compared to the feeling of actually dancing on that stage, with the whole team dancing for all their worth. I hadn't been placed in the group solo part for our parade performances in Nagoya, but I was in it for stage performances, so I got to dance it in the finals, and the feeling of dancing without anybody directly in front or behind me, seeing the crowd and the bright lights, in the city where I first experienced life in Japan, is something I will not forget any time soon. Definitely one of the most memorable experiences I've had in Japan so far, and I've done some pretty cool stuff (if I say so myself).

The end of our dance is pretty intense and always leaves everybody out of breath, but this time I think I really danced with all that I had and after the performance I was pretty much exhausted and crying and generally overwhelmed, but it was great. We went back to the waiting area to watch the last performances and wait for the judging results. We didn't win or anything, but I don't think anybody had anything to complain about for the rest of the night, even though we had to go straight back onto the bus and drive back to Chiba, and didn't get back until past 3AM. I had work as usual (because I had assumed we wouldn't make the finals and would be back at a more reasonable time), but I managed to get a few hours of sleep, so it was all good.

And that was my experience at the Nagoya Domannaka Matsuri! :)

august adventures

So until just a few days ago, my friend Jon from Carleton came to Japan to visit! We hadn't seen each other since we graduated, so it's been a while - so long that I almost didn't recognize him at the airport, haha.

Here's a quick recap of our adventures:
 - Dinner with my friend Chris and lunch/karaoke with my friend Jane for her birthday (my first time in Saitama!)

 - The Chiba Three Generations Festival! This year was a little different for me from in the past, because instead of dancing in the bon-odori dance that takes place at the end of the festival, I danced in our yosakoi performance! I think I knew that there were yosakoi performances in the festival, but somehow never managed to see any of them...anyway, one thing that made this performance special to me was that I was picked to dance in a part where there is essentially a group solo, despite the fact that I'd only just learned and danced that part for the first time literally the week before. The first performance was a bit of a mess, but I was really happy to have been picked. I was also happy because not only did my friend Jon come to see me, but also my coworkers (including my boss) and my roommate from when I was a TOA, who came to Chiba the day before leaving Japan just to see my team dance. It was a little bittersweet to think that this might very well have been my last Three Generations Festival, but at least it was a good one!

- A Carleton get-together! I felt like it was such a coincidence to have a Carleton gathering in Japan while my friend from Carleton happened to be visiting, and since it wasn't one of the usual events but rather last-minute, it really was. An alum who just happened to be in Japan set it up, and so we had dinner with him and a couple of current students, which was much smaller (and younger) than our usual events, and pretty fun.

- Post-Chiba Orientation dinner! Like last year, I presented at orientation as a block coordinator, but this year, as the president of Chiba AJET,  I also organized the annual dinner afterwards. Despite some hiccups with some no-shows, I think it was a success (and I am definitely grateful to have had our new council people there to help collect money; would have been so much more stressful on my own).

- Climbing Mt. Fuji. Oh man. So AJET was organizing a group to go climb Mt. Fuji, and since my friend was here I figured it'd be the perfect opportunity. But I didn't want to buy hiking boots just to wear them once, so instead I found a pair of sturdy-looking boots at a recycle shop. Long story short, the key word was 'looking' and the shoes completely fell apart during the climb, first with the top of the soles coming off (temporarily saved by zip ties from a man in the office), to completely detaching during the descent. But aside from that (and completely overestimating how much water we'd need and having much too heavy packs and no walking sticks), the ascent wasn't so bad. It didn't get too cold until we neared the top, the nighttime scenery was pretty cool, and climbing up the rocky parts was actually pretty fun.

And then we got to the top (around 3:30AM) and after waiting in the windy cold in a little niche we found, we saw the sunrise! It was, needless to say, gorgeous, and also pretty much directly in front of where we were. Pretty cool. And then after a quick stop at the post office at the summit, we started our descent, which I will gloss over because it was easily the worst part of the trip- After our first night in Kyoto, which mostly involved dinner, buying new shoes, and passing out on our beds, the next day we went to the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, Nijo Castle, and the International Manga Museum. This was my fourth time in Kyoto and Jon said he didn't mind missing the big tourist spots if I had already been, so we went to new places (except for Nijo Castle, but that had been one of my favorite places when I went with my family) - and they were both great! And then we met up with some of my friends in the Kyoto area, and had dinner at a Showa era-themed izakaya, which I thought was pretty interesting. The next day, we visited Arashiyama, another super famous part of Kyoto I'd never been to. We visited a famous temple, Tenryuuji and then a bamboo forest, followed by a scenic train ride up the mountain. We wanted to take a boat down the river but apparently it was closed because of typhoons. :( Still, it was all very nature-y and pretty, so still worth it. We spent the evening wandering around Gion, and then the next morning we went up Kyoto Tower,  which was pretty similar to most scenic towers but still cool.

And that was the end of our trip! Jon and I split ways agreed that, with me going back to Chiba and him continuing on to other parts of Japan. But we would soon meet again in Nagoya, which I'll talk about in my next post!
(mostly gravel, heavy packs, shoes that were essentially just thick socks at that point, etc. etc.), after which we boarded a bus (the first one I've ever been in that asked passengers to sit on the floor when seats ran out) and headed to Kyoto!

- After our first night in Kyoto, which mostly involved dinner, buying new shoes, and passing out on our beds, the next day we went to the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, Nijo Castle, and the International Manga Museum. This was my fourth time in Kyoto and Jon said he didn't mind missing the big tourist spots if I had already been, so we went to new places (except for Nijo Castle, but that had been one of my favorite places when I went with my family) - and they were both great! And then we met up with some of my friends in the Kyoto area, and had dinner at a Showa era-themed izakaya, which I thought was pretty interesting. The next day, we visited Arashiyama, another super famous part of Kyoto I'd never been to. We visited a famous temple, Tenryuuji and then a bamboo forest, followed by a scenic train ride up the mountain. We wanted to take a boat down the river but apparently it was closed because of typhoons. :( Still, it was all very nature-y and pretty, so still worth it. We spent the evening wandering around Gion, and then the next morning we went up Kyoto Tower,  which was pretty similar to most scenic towers but still cool.

And that was the end of our trip! Jon and I split ways agreed that, with me going back to Chiba and him continuing on to other parts of Japan. But we would soon meet again in Nagoya, which I'll talk about in my next post!

out with a bang

So somehow before I realized it, I've become a third-year JET! (Weird...still not used to introducing myself that way at all.) I think that's mostly due to the fact that July was probably the busiest month I've had so far (or at least, it's the month in my planner that has the most writing on it).

In July, I...:
 - went and saw takarazuka for the first time ever with a friend, who happens to be a takarazuka expert! Takarazuka is a type of musical theater where all the performers are women, and the show (Rose of Versailles: Oscar Edition) was dramatic and sparkly and confusing and awesome.  :D
 - went to another Analogfish concert, but this time also with Asian Kung-Fu Generation, who is much more famous by far. Consequently I spent the first half (their half) being totally crushed in the midst of happy dancing AKFG fans, but I managed to be near the front for both them and Analogfish, so it was great. Technically I went with my friend but we didn't actually end up finding each other until after, oops.
 - had catchup/goodbye meals with friends/coworkers/predecessor
 - interpreted for a presentation/courtesy visit for the representatives of the Red Bull Air Race, which will be taking place in Chiba City. Managed to do most of the presentation interpreting on-the-fly, which was pretty cool.
 - met up with my parent's friends who were visiting Tokyo and watched them buy lots of brand name stuff (apparently it's much much cheaper in Japan)
 - interpreted for the mayor at a museum event/reception for Kiwanis International, who had their annual convention at Makuhari Messe (a big deal)
 - was the emcee for the first time at our discussion for foreign residents instead of just an interpreter (and got to tour the Chiba City Zoological Park again)
 - performed in two yosakoi events (as detailed in my last post)
 - had lots of meetings for various types of AJET

But the peak of the month was definitely at the end, when my crazy schedule went something like this:
 - Friday evening: interpreting at a dinner hosted for the mayor of our sister city, Montreux (being the only interpreter at a dinner party is always a challenge...)
 - Saturday: accompanying the mayor to the new AEON mall in Makuhari, a sushi lunch, and then the poolside BBQ Swiss National Day event hosted by the Swiss Embassy in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Switzerland, where I interpreted for the mayor, met the Ambassador of Switzerland to Japan, and saw our sister city's mayor swim in a pool shaped like Lake Geneva (which borders Montreux)
 - Sunday: yosakoi event all day
 - Monday: being a bus guide, emcee, and interpreter for a group of diplomats who came to visit Chiba City for a study tour! My group visited Kanda University of International Studies, which had a really cool campus (I would probably have loved being a student there), before going to a presentation by the Economic Affairs Bureau/lunch reception, the Institute of Radiological Sciences, and the Chiba City Museum of Art. It was a reaaally long day but I had a pretty good time telling people where we'd go, etc. on the bus and then going around the different places with them. Afterward the Ambassador of Malawi to Japan personally thanked me and asked for my business card, which was pretty awesome. And so after arriving back in Tokyo with everybody in the evening (after some intense traffic and a slight fiasco involving peanuts)...
 - ...I headed to Shinjuku to meet some fellow CIRs who were around for Tokyo Orientation (sad I couldn't be a part of it this year), but only had time for one drink before...
 - ...heading straight to the airport to head to America for a week to be a bridesmaid in my high school best friend's wedding! Since that wasn't really Japan-related I won't go into too much detail here, but it was a wonderful (almost) week of seeing my college friend/sister during layovers, meeting my friend's relatives, seeing my high school friends again, and even managing to spend a night at home with my parents. And seeing my high school best friend happily married, of course. :)

And that's how I actually spent the day of my third anniversary in Japan flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I think my second year of JET far exceeded the standard of awesomeness set by the previous year, and even though I can't really imagine how, I can only hope that my third and probably final year will do the same!

chiba yosakoi

As I may have mentioned before, summer is yosakoi season, and now we're in full swing! Starting with a few events last month, now we'll have performances almost every weekend until the end of September (plus a few more in October and November).

Our events in July were both in Chiba, first a festival called Boso Daisakusen (or as I like to translate it, Operation Boso), and then the Funabashi Festival. In keeping with the team's goal of promoting yosakoi in Chiba, Operation Boso took us up and down the Boso peninsula, which makes up most of the prefecture. 

Our first stop was a small rest area (?) in Nagara, where (if I remember correctly) a local yosakoi team is trying to get more people involved. We only had a few teams performing and a pretty small audience, but it was a fun way to start out the day and I enjoyed seeing the other teams - there was one dance involving teruterubouzu, or little white figures with faces that people hang up as charms for good weather, and some adorable kids singing and dancing with them.

Next we went down to Shirahama, where I went last year for a Chiba-kun Ambassador's tour  , which also happens to be southernmost tip of the peninsula. They were having a festival called Maruguru, complete with a karaoke competition and lots of food stalls. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to go up the hill to see the gorgeous view of the ocean there, but this time there were lots of people watching all the yosakoi performances and they seemed to enjoy it. :D

Our last stop was a shopping mall in Tateyama, where my friends from Sosa and Kamogawa came to see us perform! This was the first time I got to perform for people I know, so that was pretty exciting. :)

And then the next weekend, we performed in Funabashi's festival, despite some rain. My camera ran out of batteries so I don't have any pictures, but it was a big crowded event complete with floats/portable shrines, and lots of fun. I remember being really impressed because one of the teams that performed with us was actually a high school band, who even performed a few songs (with harmony and everything) - talk about multi-talented!

It's a lot of fun to travel to yosakoi events all around the country (we have another big tournament coming up in Nagoya at the end of the month), but it's also pretty great to be able to perform in familiar local places, too. :D

chiba-kun ambassadors year two, tour one!

A few weeks ago was the first Chiba-kun Ambassadors tour of the year... and I slept through the first half of it. -.-' I have no recollection whatsoever if my alarm going off, just waking up at 8, looking at my watch,  and thinking,  '...wait, 8?!' Luckily somebody else was due to join the group at lunchtime, so I just met up with her. Hopefully this will be the first and last time I oversleep for a tour!

In the morning the ambassadors visited the Iris Festival at the Suigo Sawara Aquatic Botanical Garden and also got to ride boats, which I was really looking forward to and was sad to have missed. :( But at least I still managed to make it in time for lunch, which was in Sawara, at a restaurant called Chiyofuku. My first impression of the restaurant (besides being viciously attacked by mosquitoes in the two minutes I spent waiting outside the entrance) was that it was very classy/fancy (for lack of better words), though not in an intimidating way. The outside looks very traditional, but the inside is pretty modern. Of course, the food was delicious, too! Tempura, sashimi, pickles - all very traditional food.

Chiyofuku
Address: 1720-1 Sawara, Katori-shi
Access: 12-minute walk from JR Sawara Station
Closed Mondays

Our next stop was the Suigo Sawara Dashi Kaikan/Float Hall, where you can learn about the dashi (floats) that are used in the Sawara Festival, which is one of three great festivals of the Kanto region (for some reason in Japan they always list top things in threes). It's also apparently an Important Intangible Cultural Property (says their flier). Though I will say these floats are different from any others I've seen, as they have giant figures on them. The Float Hall had several of the actual floats on display, where you could see them up-close and also try on happi, the traditional coats. To be honest some were a little intimidating, but they were still pretty impressive. The floor above also had some exhibitions with musical instruments and wooden sculptures. Pretty cool. I can only imagine what it must be like to see them all lit up at night in the parades, complete with music and crowds of people!


Suigo Sawara Dashi Kaikan (Float Hall) 
Website: http://www.city.katori.lg.jp/dashikaikan/index.html (Japanese only)
Address: 3368I Sawara, Katori-shi (inside Yasaka Shrine grounds)
Access: 15-minute walk from JR Sawara Station
Admission: 400 yen for adults, 200 yen for elementary/junior high schoolers
Closed Mondays


Next we had some free time to explore the town, which is famous for its traditional-style streets. I've heard you can also rent kimonos to explore with, which is something I'd like to try sometime. There's a little river that flows in between some of the historic streets downtown, and it's very picturesque. You can even ride boats here too! There are also lots of souvenir shops with cute/traditional items, which I had fun exploring - I also found one that sold high-quality earpicks (aka made of fancy wood and costing hundreds of dollars), haha. And of course there are places to eat, traditional/historical buildings, and also a museum (that I didn't go to) dedicated to Ino Tadataka, who made a map of Japan in the 1800s that is almost identical to maps nowadays (in other words, incredibly accurate for the time).

Finally, we went to Katori Jingu Shrine, which is famous enough for me to have heard of it before this tour, for what that's worth. I will admit (again) that I don't know much about Shintoism or shrines, but it was a really beautiful and quiet place - the road leading up to it was lined with trees that were big and green and shady, and after we went into the temple and were given a brief introduction by somebody who worked there, I wandered around the back by myself and it was very peaceful. 

Katori Jingu Shrine
Website: http://www.katori-jingu.or.jp/ (Japanese only)
Address: 1697-1 Katori, Katori-shi
Access: 10-minute walk from JR Sawara Station
Admission: 300 yen for adults, 100 yen for elementary/junior high schoolers
Closed Mondays

And so ended our first tour! I'm still sad that I missed the first half (though I guess it's my own fault, or rather my alarm clock's), especially since I'm sure everybody did self-introductions on the bus, but there are still three more tours for us to do as a group, including an overnight one, so hopefully I'll get to know everybody soon anyway!

national professional stuff

So I may have mentioned that June was incredibly busy and that I spent three out of four weekends essentially away from home (though looking back, apparently I thought my Shikoku trip was in June instead of the end of May -.-'). I wrote about the (actual) first weekend (my yosakoi trip to Hokkaido), so here's what I did for those other two weekends!

The first one was National AJET changeover. I'm sure I mentioned here that I was elected onto the AJET (Association of JETs) National Council as the CIR representative, so we all met up in Narita to meet each other and the outgoing council and learn about our new positions. I was actually scheduled to take the Business Japanese Proficiency Test during the second day of changeover, but I decided to attend both days since it's pretty much the only chance for us all to meet (since we're all over the country). So I spent the weekend learning about National AJET and being the CIR rep and Project Manager (which is my secondary position on the council), which was a lot to absorb at once but also pretty fun! Most of us spent the night in the same hotel and we had dinner at the hotel buffet (including all-you-can-eat crab legs!) and hung out afterwards. Being on the council is definitely going to be a lot of work (it's already keeping me pretty busy) and involve lots of new experiences, but I think I'll enjoy it. :) I also took part in the AJET opinion exchange with CLAIR and the three Ministries that run the JET Program the next day, which was official but informative.

And then the next weekend was IJET 25, or the 25th International Japan-English Translation conference! I actually heard about it from a fellow JET who was going, and since it was in Tokyo for the first time ever I thought it'd be a good opportunity for some professional development and signed up. And it was! I'm pretty horrible at networking so I'm not sure how much of that I managed (I did come back with lots of business cards though), but I met a lot of professional translators/interpreters and got to attend some interesting and informative sessions, so I think it was definitely worth it. I even met some other JETs (besides my friend) from other prefectures, which was pretty cool. The next one will be in Edinburgh, though, so I doubt I'll have the time/budget to attend. Oh well!

The last weekend of June was spent at the Chiba City Museum of Art with my friend Chris, and also on the first Chiba-kun Ambassador's tour! But more about that in my next post. :)

chiba-kun ambassador, year two!

So as you may know, I spent much of last year visiting different places in Chiba Prefecture and writing blog posts, posting pictures, and more as a Chiba-kun Ambassador. I'm happy to announce that as of earlier this month, I was reselected as part of the program and will be continuing on for my second year!

Fun facts about this year's ambassadors:
 - Out of 20 ambassadors, only 2 are boys! Last year it was pretty even, so this is a pretty dramatic change. I happen to know both of them already though, and they're both great so that's great. :)
 - We come from countries like the US, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Korea, Burma, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. I think this is more countries than last year, which is pretty cool.

Anyway, earlier this month we had our induction ceremony, which was much the same as last year, complete with a photoshoot with Chiba-kun!

On the occasion of starting my second year, I've merged my previous travel/Chiba-kun Ambassador blog with this one, and I'll be posting from here from now on. よろしくお願いします〜！

yosakoi in hokkaido

At the beginning of the month, I went to Hokkaido with my yosakoi team for the Yosakoi Soran Matsuri, which I think is probably one of the biggest yosakoi festivals in Japan (at the very least, it's the biggest one we go to)! It was my first time in Hokkaido, which was pretty exciting, and only my second time performing with my yosakoi team, which was also exciting (and nerve-wracking).

We had 85+ people go, including staff, etc., but since everybody had different schedules we split among several different flights, and I landed on Friday night. We got there a bit later than intended and after checking in and meeting up with everybody who had arrived earlier, a few of us ventured off for some Sapporo ramen. There was a pretty long line even though it was past 10, but it was definitely worth the wait. :D

And then it was up bright and early for our first day at the festival! Basically, we spent the whole day going from performance to performance in different places all over Sapporo, starting with a parade where we performed 5 times in a row. Not only was it pretty exhausting, our second performance was also the judging that would determine whether or not we would go onto the finals, so we definitely started out the weekend with a bang. Then we performed near JR Hokkaido Station, at the Sapporo Beer Garden (which also included a giant screen in the background), in front of Mitsukoshi, and then near Susukino Station, lit up by lots of lights - we even won some beer for being energetic! I think my favorite places to perform were the Beer Garden and the road near Susukino Station. And then we all headed to a restaurant to stuff ourselves on all-you-can-eat Ghengis Khan (a type of dish involving mutton that's famous in Hokkaido)! I'm not really a fan of mutton, but it was pretty tasty.

Then we were up bright and early the next day to repeat the process. Except that the second day it was raining, which put a bit of a dampener (pun intended) on things. After two more stage performances and one parade performance, we finished up day two with another 5-in-a-row parade performance, which was physically and emotionally the peak of the trip. A great ending to the two days. Which was followed immediately by a big dinner with everybody, after which one of my group members and I walked back towards where the finals were taking place on a huge stage. Tickets for the finals had been sold out for ages, but the area around the stage was cleared for walkways. Stopping was forbidden, so we just walked around the stage in circles for a few teams' performances. And then we rounded up the night with another party with everybody.

The last day was just sightseeing! I got up early to help clean up our float (is that what you call it? A giant decorated truck), and then we went to the Asahiyama Zoo, where we saw polar bears and seals and penguins and more. After that was a barbecue with lots of fresh Hokkaido vegetables, including tons of asparagus (another food I'm not so fond of but ate tons of because it was a specialty of Hokkaido and actually tasty). And then it was a rush back to the airport and back on the plane to Chiba.

This is the biggest event of the year for my team and while we didn't make the finals or semi-finals (the top two teams in each block get to go), we did get what was essentially 4th place in our block, which was not bad, I think. A lot of the team seemed dissatisfied with it though, so maybe next year we'll try harder! I should still be able to go one last time before my JET experience ends, so I'm looking forward to it. :)