kanazawa take 2

Okay, so I'm slowly catching up on posting about events of the past few months! As I mentioned in an early post, October was pretty busy after my business trip, with going back home for my friend Nicky's wedding (which was so so great as a mini-reunion with my Carleton friends, who I hadn't seen since graduation, but I won't go into too much detail here) and our big yosakoi festival, Chiba Yosakoi right after (which ended without any judging because crazy wind almost destroyed the event venue the night before the second day...O_O).

And then at the beginning of November my friends and I took a trip to Kanazawa/Ishikawa! My family and I went shortly after I first came to Japan, so I was interested to see how my impressions might change after living in Japan for three years instead of just three months.

I took a night bus there and arrived bright and early on Halloween morning, where I met up with my friend from Shizuoka to take the train to our friend's station in Tsubatacho, where we met up with everybody and had Mcdonald's breakfast while waiting for our last friend to arrive. Then we hopped on the train to Nanao, a city on the Japan Sea coast with a fish market that one friend wanted to visit and castle ruins for another. The market had lots of fresh fish but also restaurants, so we had lunch there first while admiring the view from the restaurant. As expected of a place right by the sea, the seafood was delicious (and the miso soup came out in a gigantic bowl)!

Then we took a bus to the ruins of a castle on the list of Japan's 100 castles (one of my friends' projects is to visit as many of them as she can), though as it turns out we greatly underestimated the time/effort it would take to get there, as it was 2 kilometers up a mountain with muddy trails, haha. We also didn't have much time to go up as the last bus back from where we were was at like 4:30, so after panting and hurrying up a trail (none of us in appropriate footwear), we only spent about 10-15 minutes at the top. But the view was absolutely gorgeous, and totally worth it!

After managing to catch the last bus, we headed to an onsen (apparently the 11st best in Japan?) and soaked for a bit before finally heading back to my friend's place for the night, where we had some drinks and chats and also for some reason started playing Hatoful Boyfriend, which is a dating game involving pigeons...?? Also since it was Halloween I had on my Pooh bear onesie and my friend also had on his (not Pooh bear) onesie, with various Halloweeny headgear as well. Good times.

The next morning we slept in and then had a (mostly) traditional Scottish breakfast! My friend had brought haggis/black pudding/bacon from Scotland and I provided dried hash browns, so after a grocery run we all cooked together a mess of scrambled eggs (with and without haggis), haggis, black pudding, sausages, bacon, and hash browns. I was a bit skeptical as to whether or not I would like haggis and black pudding, but they were both very tasty!

Then we got on a train and went into Kanazawa proper, to see all the touristy stuff. First we went to the Kanazawa Castle Park, which I hadn't been to, then Kenrokuen, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (where I finally got to see the pool exhibit that was closed last time we went). After some wandering, we then decided to get curry, at a store that would give people free curry if they managed to eat like 2 pounds of it in 30 minutes. Or something ridiculous like that - needless to say none of us did, but anyway it was tasty. And then we went to a local bathhouse before it was back to my friend's and more revelry in the form of a Pokemon drinking game where somehow everybody except me managed to skip half the board...

The next day we slept in (again) and maybe went to the bathhouse again? before making a very late start to tour the "ninja" temple (that I had been to before), wander around Kanazawa, have curry (of a different kind) again, stop by an Irish pub, and then hang out at an izakaya until the wee hours. On our final morning, we went to the Shinrin Park, apparently the largest forest park in mainland Japan. We had a very nice lunch and walked around outside, saw the most depressing free zoo ever, and then headed back to go on our respective ways. It was really nice to be out in (semi) nature, especially because Ishikawa has some really beautiful clouds.

All in all, it was a really fun trip and I'm definitely glad I went! Yet another successful CIRHP meetup. :)

quezon city

Well, as expected, October went by in a flash! Right off the bat was my business trip to Quezon City, Chiba City's sister city in the Philippines. The occasion was to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the city, as it had been over 20 years since a mayor of Chiba City had visited, to visit some places and learn about those studying to be nursing care workers (a very relevant issue for Japan), and also to encourage them to come to Chiba City in two years for our 45th sister-city anniversary.

I went as an interpreter, the only female and the youngest in an official delegation that included the mayor, the assembly chairperson, other city assembly members, and several division chiefs, and my boss/coworker. I think my coworker was pretty glad to have me along as somebody else who was just a (lowly) staff member without any particular titles or anything, since we could help each other prepare each night and also complain to each other, haha.

The trip was four days and three nights overall, and the first day was just traveling. After an early flight we arrived in the afternoon, took a bus to our hotel, had a meeting with the staff members from Quezon City Hall,  had dinner together at the hotel, and went to bed.

The next day we got up (very very) early to attend the flag-raising ceremony at City Hall, which apparently happens at 7AM every Monday morning, with all of the employees. This morning there were also Boy Scouts, teachers, and city council members, so it was quite a crowd that greeted us as the two mayors "walked the line" of policemen before coming to the stage. I definitely think this was the biggest crowd of people I've ever interpreted in front of (thank goodness the speech was scripted and the mayor stuck to it), and it was definitely pretty cool to be there.

Then we went in for a long meeting in which I did very little (there was a professional interpreter) and we had breakfast and listened to presentations about Chiba City and its sewerage system (something they asked to learn about). Next we got on a bus and went to see a housing project supported by the city and the Quezon Memorial (dedicated to the first president of the Philippines), had lunch at the former villa of the president, and then we went to observe the City Council. Apparently the day we went was one where they usually hold proceedings in Tagalog, but because we were there they voted to change to English, which was very nice, and also for some reason they gave us fried chicken? (I appreciated this later though when I didn't get to eat any of the delicious-looking food at the reception.)



After that we went back to the hotel to freshen up before the welcome reception hosted by Quezon City. There was a bit of a wait involved as the mayor of Quezon City got stuck in traffic, but overall it was a very nice reception, with a live band in the background, videos about Quezon City, and performances of traditional dance by high-schoolers. I was interpreting for the two mayors all through dinner so I didn't get to eat, but at the end of the night when our mayor threw out his prepared speech and just talked of the cuff I totally nailed the interpreting, which felt pretty great. Afterward I helped my coworker prep for the next day and then finally went to bed.

Day three in the Philippines also started bright and early. Our first stop was a Japanese language school, where we heard about students who hope to work in Japan and also observed a class for a bit. Then we went to the Japanese Embassy, where all but a few of us waited while the mayor and other VIPs met with (presumably) the ambassador, then we all listened to a presentation about encouraging nursing care workers and the like to come to Japan. We had a bento lunch on the bus before going to a school that trains nursing care workers, where we listened to some presentations and also sat in on a class.

Finally, we went back to our hotel, which was also where we would be holding our return reception. Which ended up being an utter disaster in many ways, which for the sake of my city and myself I won't elaborate on here. Definitely not the best night.  But after it was all over I helped my coworker write notes about our meeting time for the next day and do some other prep and I think being able to commiserate helped me feel at least a little better before going to bed.

The next day was just stopping at a mall to do some souvenir shopping before going to the airport, so I bought some things and tried Jollibee, a fried chicken fast food chain I had kept seeing from the bus. The staff from Quezon City actually treated me and my coworker, which was very kind of them. Then we went to the airport and got to spend the wait time in a fancy VIP lounge, which I've never done before. And then it was back on the plane and back to Japan!

So the return reception on our last full day kind of spoiled the memory of everything that went well before it, but overall I think my first overseas business trip went off all right. I'm definitely grateful to even have had an overseas business trip, as well as the chance to visit a new country and one of our sister cities. That's one down, four more to go!

year four?!

As expected, it has been a while since my last post. Things have been a little quieter, especially now that it's September, but they will go straight back to full speed in October: my first (and last?) ever overseas business trip (!), yet another wedding (even in Pittsburgh again, no less), and then our own big yosakoi festival in Chiba.

But anyway, back to what I've been doing since my last blog post. I feel like I haven't done as much as in the past, but what I have done has been pretty interesting/cool!

- I got to accompany the youth exchange students from Montreux and North Vancouver on two separate occasions, which is cool because 1) they were here at the same time, which usually doesn't happen and 2) since the program is run by the international association, I usually don't get to do anything with them other than interpreting for their courtesy visits to the mayor. This time though, since they overlapped and altogether made for a sizeable group, I got to go with them to the science museum/planetarium, lunch, Japanese garden, and a dinosaur exhibit (not all in one day)!

 - I also met and interpreted for the Irish ambassador to Japan. She was quite nice and friendly and didn't bring her own interpreter like ambassadors usually do, which means I did interpreting for both sides. But the content was actually much simpler than what we had been covering in interpreting class so I felt pretty good about it, haha.

 - Then I spent a day judging at a speech contest/presentation day for high-schoolers. I only judged the English speeches (not the Japanese ones) and may or may not have fallen asleep during one of the presentations (I wasn't a judge or anything though). I was impressed by the overall level of English, but it was the national level of the tournament so I guess that makes sense!

- August is the peak of yosakoi season, so there was only one weekend that I didn't spend dancing. The last one was the Nippon Domannaka Matsuri in Nagoya (the one where we made it to the finals last year), and while we didn't make it to the finals, we did make it to the semi-finals! Also a whole bunch (5 over the course of two days) of my friends from the CIRHP agreed to volunteer as staff, which was pretty awesome. I think they had a good time and I think having a group of Japanese-speaking non-Japanese volunteers around was good for the team, haha. (Fulfilling the goals of the international committee, yeahh)

 - And then - this is the highlight of my summer so far - I got to meet the US Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy! I received an official invitation from CLAIR to accompany a CLAIR official to his courtesy visit to the ambassador, as a representative of current JET Programme participants. Altogether they picked one ALT, one CIR, and two alums, so I felt pretty special. It was also very cool to go into the embassy and be on the visiting side of a courtesy call (for the second time ever). I was tickled to see the US seal on the coffee cups and napkins. But more importantly, it was an honor to be able to meet and introduce myself to Ambassador Kennedy, and she even asked me a couple questions about what I liked most about my job/my plans for the future (-.-'). Definitely yet another example of the amazing opportunities JET has given me.

 - And just this weekend I went on the monorail beer train with my old supervisor and some of my coworkers! I had been on the wine train before but they didn't seem to be doing the beer train - until this year, where I noticed just a few days before the application period ended. And in fact I didn't make the lottery the first time, but we were able to go because somebody cancelled last-minute! Apparently 6 times as many people applied as got in, which makes it even more amazing. Basically we got to spend two hours on a private monorail car, eating delicious bento lunch and drinking lots of beer (and cider and sangria). I was really amused because everybody was quite boisterous and drunk, which was definitely not what it was like on the wine train. At any rate, it was a good time, and I even won some goods in the lottery!

As I mentioned earlier, September is going to be my one quiet month for a while, because we don't have many yosakoi events and it's also the break in between interpreting classes. I actually wasn't planning to continue after finishing my last class (level 4, the last of the consecutive interpreting classes), because it takes a lot of time/money and I don't really plan on becoming a professional interpreter, so I didn't see the point in continuing to simultaneous interpreting, even if I got permission to move on. But then I got permission to move on, and after lots of thinking, I decided that this was an opportunity that I should just take while I can, since it can't hurt (anything but my wallet) and will surely help both my Japanese and hopefully my future career prospects. To be honest I wasn't even sure I could pay for it this time around but I remembered that I have a US credit card, and that the exchange rate would actually work in my favor for once! So I feel like I have managed to get a good deal despite having to dip into my American savings, especially considering how much the exchange rate cost me the last time I sent money to the US. I am excited to try simultaneous interpreting (though it will be hard), and even though I will have to skip two classes almost immediately after it starts.

For the moment though, I am enjoying my month of having relatively little to do and have actually been fairly productive in terms of things around the house or things I have just never had the time to get around to. I'm sure by the end of the month I'll be ready for some excitement again though, and luckily my business trip will be the first weekend of October! Until then, I plan to be as lazy as I can and give myself a chance to recuperate from the busyness of the first half of the year. :)

update dump (end of year three)

Oohh boy. It's been over three months since my last update and there has been so much going on, I could write for hours and only just barely catch up. (Does anybody even read this anymore?)

I don't think I'll be able to do everything justice, especially so long after everything has happened, so this will have to be a big summary info dump, and then maybe I'll get back to updating regularly, though things should be much quieter/less exciting in my life after this month (... is what I've said to myself every month since May -.-').

Anyway, since my last post I have:

- Visited my GHP friend Tomas in Thailand for Golden Week! I wanted to go to Thailand and he has been doing a research Fulbright there for the past year and was kind enough to take me all around (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Khon Kaen) and interpret for me for almost a week! I saw so many beautiful temples, ate so much delicious food, took a million different types of public transportation (including an overnight train!), and rode an elephant! A fantastic trip.

- Done some cool things at work like interpreting for the daughter of Peter Drucker (the "father of modern management") as her parents' at collection was on exhibit at the Chiba City Museum of Art and also helping interview candidates for the new basic interpreting course run by the city.

- Met up with three different friends/acquaintances from college and also some other alums/current students who were here on an of-campus program. It's always really nice to keep up the Carleton collection and there's always such great intellectual conversation, haha. Sometimes I miss being surrounded by nerds. :)

- Participated in the Yosakoi Soran Festival in Hokkaido for the second time, except this time as the head of a committee and therefore the leader of a fairly large group as we went from venue to venue over the course of the weekend. Actually it was super stressful and we didn't place, like we hoped we might, but it was still fun and a good experience overall. Best parts: two of my friends in Sapporo volunteering as staff for us and seeing the finals live from quite close.

- Officially ending my terms as Chiba AJET President, National AJET CIR Representative/Project Manager, Chiba-kun Ambassador, Chiba block coordinator, and API AJET block representative. I'm still the head of the international committee for my yosakoi team and taking interpreting classes, but finally having less responsibility and the pressure to be constantly doing something productive is feeling pretty nice. I'll be taking it easy this year and trying to plan more for the post-JET future.

- Gone home for the wedding of our dear family friend Faye (the first of two weddings I'll be going back for this year). It was a very short trip (just a few days for the wedding since I am actually running low on vacation days for once) but full of family and friends and love and I enjoyed every single minute of it.  <3


- Taken my friend Michael around Chiba and Tokyo as he visited Japan for the first time on his way to Australia! We've been talking about him visiting ever since I came and now he finally has, and it was super fun. He actually came back on the same flight from the US as me and we managed to get seats beside each other, yayy. We spent five days walking all over Tokyo (over 20 miles one day!) and just seeing the sights, eating all sorts of Japanese food, and generally having a good time. Next it'll be my turn to go to Australia, maybe.  :)

- Spent every weekend so far in July at a CIRHP meetup! The CIRHP is an online forum for CIRs where I spend far too much time and have made many of my good friends in Japan, and this year we've started actually hanging out in person too. So the first weekend I had (delicious deep dish) pizza with people in Kanto, last weekend I went to Ehime Prefecture for castles and mikans, and I just came back from an epic trip to Okinawa that involved renting a little house by the beach, Cards Against Humanity, and lots of good conversation and just chilling out (also cats).

So the end of my third year on JET has been pretty action-packed so far, which is all I can really all for, anyway. It's weird to think that after this I still have a whole year left before things might change, but I have high hopes for what's to come. :)

ramen and long lines for food & alcohol (a summary of my mother's trip to japan)

As the title suggests, last month my mother came to visit me in Japan! She stopped by for almost a week on her way back from a college reunion, in which we spent hours waiting in lines for food/alcohol and probably ate more ramen than I usually eat in six months, haha. <3

She came in on Thursday evening but still offered to cook us dinner (so of course I accepted, haha), and on Friday, we got up early-ish to head to the Tsukiji Fish Market! I'd never been and thought maybe she would like it, and it seems like she did! After wandering around and trying not to get in the way amongst giant crabs and tuna heads and all sorts of other marine delicacies, she insisted that we find the longest line to stand and wait in for lunch, with the logic that longest line = most delicious (even though I warned her that sometimes in Japan people just get in lines without knowing what they're for). Luckily, the logic was sound this time and the lunch we had was absolutely delicious!

Next we headed over to Yokohama, to wander by the Red Brick Warehouse and the pier, which are pretty much the only places I ever go in Yokohama but I always enjoy it anyway because it's so pretty. On the pier we saw what we thought was one lone tree blooming with sakura, but when we approached and tried to take pictures it turns out it was fake and they were shooting some sort of drama around it (no pictures allowed). I wonder who it was... Anyway, after that we went to our actual destination, the Yokohama Ramen Museum! (Not to be confused with the Cup Noodle Museum.) Because I know my mom loves ramen, and basically all there is to do there is eat ramen (it's more ramen shop than actual museum). But it was also decorated in this great Showa-style way (we came in through a part that was decorated like a bathhouse and I thought we were lost), which was a nice atmosphere. And they have smaller bowls of ramen so you can taste a few if you want (though we only had one little bowl each).

The next morning we got up bright and early to take the shinkansen to Niigata! My friend who lives there was performing in a musical, on a weekend that also had a huge sake festival, and since I wanted to go I essentially just dragged my mom along with me, haha. So we boarded my first ever two-story shinkansen (!) and wandered around a little after dropping of our luggage. Then we headed to the sake festival, but upon seeing the line (which we could see from across the bridge) we decided to go have lunch (ramen again) for sustenance first. And then we waited in line for over an hour before entering the craziness that was Niigata's Sake no Jin! Tickets were 2000 yen and with it we each got a little sake cup, with which we could then taste as many types of sake we wanted, in a giant room full of sake brewers. We decided to try drinking every sake that had 雪 in its name (since it's in my name), and then some. We also ended up meeting with the friend I came to see, a friend who's sake lover group was selling their original sake (Connect! Which my mother decided was the best she had tasted and came back to buy later), two National AJET friends, and another friend who I volunteered in Okinawa with two years ago. :D And then we had dinner with my friend and some of his friends, before going back to our hotel early and just going to bed.

Day 2 in Niigata was spent wandering around for a bit and having a seafood lunch before video chatting with my dad for a few minutes before seeing my friend's musical, The Frog Prince, by Niigata AJET. It was an original musical (apparently written by the cast of last year's musical) about a princess who wanted to be a pop star and a prince who thought he was a frog, and it was really entertaining! I was very impressed by the guy playing the prince, who had to hop around stage for like two hours. After the musical we visited a nearby temple and then took a walk/train ride to wait in line for another hour or so for the ramen place where my friend said he had the best ramen ever. Yes, ramen again, but I'd say it was worth it! Apparently on weekends they do thick noodles and on weekdays thin ones, so I'm glad we went on a weekend because thick noodles are my favorite and it was really delicious!

Our final day in the prefecture was spent visiting Yahiko Shrine, a little shrine way up top of a mountain, which we took a cable car up to. After admiring the nature and buying some sweets, we headed to Tsubame to catch the shinkansen, but not before spending an hour or so shopping at an industrial goods center (apparently what the place is famous for). My mom finally bought a Japanese knife, and we had a very tasty semi-fancy lunch made of local ingredients before finally taking the shinkansen and train back to Chiba.

On Tuesday I went back to work and my mom spent the day packing and making me lots of delicious food, for both lunch and dinner and to freeze for the future. <3 And then on Wednesday it was time for her to go back to the US! She wanted to try Japanese tea ceremony so we dragged her giant suitcase (no big lockers available at the station) all the way to the Japanese garden in Makuhari, but the teahouse was being rented out for the day so no tea for us. :( After that we just went to the airport and had ramen one final time and did some shopping before it was time for her to leave.

And then she left. Sigh. But it was a great trip and I was really happy to spend almost a week together! Hoping she and the rest of my family will make it back here at least one more time before I leave. :)

katsuura hina matsuri

So recently I made my way back to Katsuura, where part of our third Chiba-kun Ambassadors tour took place, for their hina matsuri, or doll festival! Hina matsuri is actually something that is celebrated all over Japan and is also called Girl's Day (it's on March 3). Apparently the dolls represent the emperor, empress, court musicians, and attendants in Heian-era clothing, and I think it's traditional to buy a set of dolls for girls to display in their houses.

Anyway, I'm not sure how famous the hina matsuri in Katsuura is, but I think it definitely deserves attention, because there are so many dolls everywhere! When we started walking to the main areas, suddenly we noticed little displays of dolls in bamboo pipes all around the streets. I tried to see what they were made of and it looked like some were made of plastic while others were wood and maybe a few of porcelain? I thought it was cool that they weren't all girls/women (which is what I was expecting) - there were a lot of little old men, too.


Our first stop was actually to eat tantan-men (a type of spicy noodle which I think is from China), because Katsuura's tantan-men is actually famous as a "B-grade gourmet" food - food that isn't expensive but is very tasty. And it was! I was very happy with my bowl, which I ordered with menma (bamboo shoots) as a topping.

The rest of the day was spent just wandering around and looking at ask the dolls, which were in almost every store and along the streets, but also in giant displays with probably hundreds of dolls in each one. The biggest one was at a temple w

here dolls filled a whole staircase, which was pretty impressive to look at. Somebody told us that all the dolls have souls and so they take care to put them all away if it rains, which must be a big undertaking.

All in all it was a pretty neat thing to see, so I'm glad that I went! I still didn't make it to the places I missed on the Chiba-kun Ambassadors tour though - maybe next time!

last official chiba-kun ambassadors event: second opinion exchange

Earlier this week was our last official event of the year for the Chiba-kun Ambassadors, and my last event ever. That's right, after two years and much deliberation, I've decided not to apply for the program again next year. The main reason is so that I can have more time to focus on myself and the future (I'll also be quitting my National AJET, API AJET, and block coordinator roles), but I'm very glad to have been chosen as an ambassador for these part two years, because it's been a lot of fun and I've learned a lot about Chiba Prefecture, which was my original motivation for applying.

Anyway, so on a Monday we had our second opinion exchange, which was a chance for us to present to various tourism related organizations about our recommendations for attracting tourists from our home countries, for them to ask us questions, and also an awards ceremony.

Unlike last year, this time we had a morning rehearsal and opinion exchanges with people from Narita Airport, which I was late to and almost missed because I thought it just started in the afternoon. Fail. Anyway, after going into work and asking to leave an hour later, I made it just after the opinion exchange began and all was well.

For lunch, we had bentos at a place called Plaza Nanohana, right by the prefectural office. Apparently it's just (re?)opened as a hotel, which also offers meals. The bento was entirely made of local products, as part of a "local production for local consumption" initiative, which I thought was pretty cool, and it was of course very tasty!

And then in the afternoon it was time for us to present. The America group chose to recommend Nokogiriyama, as a place we thought Americans would like for being close to Tokyo, with cultural aspects such as the largest stone Buddha in Japan and also hiking and great views. We also cautioned then about the accuracy of the English in their advertising, since we figured we might as well take the opportunity to say how we felt about it honestly. And apparently they liked it, because as a result of voting from both the attendees and ambassadors, our group won an award for Best Presentation! It was unexpected and great to win, but the best part was that for a prize, we each got giant Chiba-kun plushies! So now I have a big one and a little one, just like I have a big and a little ぴーにゃっつ plushie. :)

After the opinion exchange was over, we had a dinner together to celebrate, at a place called Bellini that I've been to before. It was very yummy and fun, though maybe a little bittersweet since I am still s little sad not to be doing another year. But it's time to move on to other things, so I'm glad to have ended our last event with good memories of the day. :)

snow and ice and more snow: sapporo snow festival

A couple of weeks ago I finally managed to do something I've been wanting to do since I came to Japan: go to the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival) in Hokkaido! I first learned about it during my first year and every year I said I'd go, but you have to book hotels so far in advance that I never managed to do it in time. But this year, since I thought it might be my last year, I decided I absolutely had to go and it was awesome! :D

I left on Friday and after my flight and a bus ride that was much longer than I expected, I finally arrived in Sapporo! I checked into my hotel, which happened to be my first ever capsule hotel, which also had a really nice spa, and while I admit I was a little bit disappointed to not have a capsule that was on top of another, it was a very cozy space with its own little TV inside so I was pretty happy with it. :)

My next excursion was to find a ramen place, while also checking out the ice sculptures at the Susukino venue of the snow festival, which was just one street down from my hotel. After much wandering I finally found ramen-doori (ramen street), which was a very little alley crammed with ramen shops, and had a delicious bowl of miso ramen, which I think Sapporo is famous for.

And then I went to look at the ice sculptures, which were very pretty and delicate and filled me with the sudden urge to smash them (I didn't). I was a little surprised at how many were commercial (i.e. giant sculptures of Suntory whiskey bottles, a boat race sculpture, Kirin/Sapporo beer mugs), but there were also cool things like sculptures that had real fish frozen in them and a little bar (like for drinks) built entirely with blocks of ice.

And then I decided that while I was at it (since it was still pretty early in the evening), I might as well just go see the main venue with all the snow sculptures. It was at the same place where we performed for the Yosakoi Soran Festival in June (and actually so was the area around my hotel) so it was weird to see everything again covered with snow and almost recognize it (after this trip I feel like I have a decent grasp of those areas of Sapporo, which I'm sure will come in handy when we come again this year).

Anyway, the snow sculptures were really cool! I started out right by the main piece, a giant Star Wars sculpture to celebrate the new movie. I'm not a Star Wars fan so I admit I probably didn't appreciate it as much as others, but right when I got there it was lit up with colored lights and they were playing music from the soundtrack, which was pretty cool. And then when I went to the next sculpture, which had something to do with an Alice in Wonderland movie (?), there was a mini musical performance around/on top of it, with crazy costumes and an orchestra and a projection of live sand art!

In addition to the main giant sculptures (I remember looking at one from behind and being amazed at
just how much snow it was made of), there was also a sculpture contest involving different countries (most were still working on them when I went) and lots of smaller sculptures by the citizens of Sapporo. Including one built by Hokkaido AJET, featuring National AJET's major character, Tsuru-chan! :D

And then I just went home and enjoyed the outdoor bath and strawberry bath and jacuzzi baths and the other fun stuff at my soda capsule hotel and called it a night. :)

The next day I went to Otaru, a nearby town that was having a light festival at the same time. I spent the day wandering around the touristy areas filled with little shops, watched some more glass-making (Otaru is famous for its glassware), ate a delicious seafood donburi, and found a temple looking over the city that was completely free of people. It was beautiful and serene and reminded me that moments like that are some of the best things as about traveling alone.

In the afternoon I took a free tour of the Otaru beer brewery (you'll see that this was kind of a theme during my trip) and tried some smoked beer while waiting for it to get dark. When it finally did, I went to see the main attraction of the festival: lights along the canal! There were lighted floats in the water and little candles set along sculptures by the road, and although it still wasn't that dark, it was really beautiful. There was another main venue a few streets down, which included a miniature maze of sorts, which I enjoyed a lot.

And then I rushed back to Sapporo for a dinner with AJET blocks 1 and 6 at one of the famous beer halls! It was all-you-can-eat genghis khan (a dish that is pretty much yakiniku with lamb meat) and all-you-can-drink, and there were over 100 people there! I was a little worried because I thought I would only know a couple of people there, but as it turns out a quarter of the AJET National Council and some other people I knew were there too, plus I met some new people, so it was actually pretty fun! The rest of the night involved more shenanigans with council people and some dancing. :)

Despite a slight hangover, the next day I got up early to meet some friends from Chiba to take a tour of the Sapporo beer factory! Unfortunately since it was Sunday none of the machines were running, but the tour was free and included a beer tasting and some tasty cheese and snacks! After lunch with everyone I left to meet up with some CIR friends from the forums - actually some of them I had never met in person before but felt like I knew already from all our interactions online, haha. We had a long and fun 女子会 of talking and pancakes, and then I met up with some friends again to try and find a soup curry restaurant, on my friend's recommendation.

I was curious as to whether soup curry would be any different than just watered down normal curry, but it was different and delicious! Exactly what we needed after wandering around in the cold rain (it was warm enough to rain, which had an unfortunate effect on many of the snow and ice sculptures, especially the ones with real fish in them). And then in our quest for dessert, we happened across a place where you could pick different kind of liqueurs to put on top of vanilla ice cream. Since there were five of us and we could pick two each, we got to try 11 flavors (they gave us one extra for free) and it was amazingg. :D

The next day was my last in Sapporo, so I decided to first go to the last venue I hadn't been to before, the Tsudomu venue. When I got there it was full of elementary school students with their teachers, because this place had snow slides and play areas, which I decided not to line up for, but also a little zipline, which I did try! It was short but fun and also ask of the volunteers were cute young men so I was glad I tried it, haha. After that I went to the Sapporo Beer Museum (which we had danced in front of during the yosakoi festival), which was not the same as the factory and focused more on the history than production. Also there was not a free tasting, though I decided to try another type they didn't have at the factory anyway. I then had lunch at another beer garden nearby, only instead of the typical genghis khan instead I had a crab doria, completing my list of typical Hokkaido/Sapporo foods to eat.

I still had a couple of hours until my flight, so I decided to visit the Ainu Center, because one of my fellow linguistics majors had been very interested in the Ainu language and it's also interesting to learn about different peoples in Japan, which seems like such a homogenous country. The center was very small and mostly empty, but there were some exhibits of traditional clothing and artwork, which were cool.

I still had some extra time, so then I stopped by the red brick prefectural office (which was yet another place we had performed in June), to look through even more exhibits.

And then it was time to say goodbye to Sapporo! My flight on the way back was delayed for an hour so I didn't get back home until almost midnight, but I felt very satisfied with my trip and glad to be home again. :)

tour four: fruits and flowers and fine craftsmanship

A few weeks ago was our last Chiba-kun Ambassadors tour of the year! It's always sad to think that something is the last, but at least we ended everything on a good note - lots of people were commenting that this was one of the best tours.

Our first stop was strawberry-picking at a place called Koyama Farm in Sammu (Sanmu?)! Last year we did the same thing in Tohnosho, but I'm definitely not complaining about getting another chance to eat as many strawberries as I can in a limited amount of time! This time we even had 40 minutes (rather than 30), which meant even more strawberry goodness. This strawberry garden had several different types of strawberries, including one that had just been developed and didn't have a real name yet (it was labeled something like "experiment #6", haha), and they told us they don't provide condensed milk so that people can focus on the different sweet tastes of the strawberries themselves. Pretty cool, I thought. They also told us which order we should try the first two types of strawberries in, so that we could tell the difference in taste more clearly. It was fun trying all the different types and picking a favorite, though just like last time I got full much faster than expected...


Koyama Farm
Address: 1912 Shimoyokoji, Sanmu, Chiba 289-1314
Hours: 9:30AM - 3:30PM
Cost: 1,100 - 2,000 yen from January to May (varies by month)
Website (Japanese only): http://koyama-farm.jp/

Our next stop was a different kind of picking: Gerbera flowers! Apparently Gerbera is a genus of flowers in the daisy family (says Wikipedia), but anyway they're really beautiful! The owner of the garden gave us a (rather long) talk about the history of their garden and how they actually get their plants (not just seeds) from the Netherlands, and then we were free to pick 8 flowers to take home! I ended up picking them based on how they looked individually so I don't think they made a very good bouquet (somebody else picked ones that went very well together and I was impressed), but they were still very pretty. I'm currently trying to dry them in my apartment, despite the fact that I suspect they may be giving me allergies... but they're just too pretty to throw away!

And then it was time for lunch! The restaurant we went to specialized in (or at least or choices were limited to) iwashi, or sardines. I picked the sashimi option (though the tempura also looked great), which I think was a good choice because I hardly ever have sashimi of that type (I tend to go for things like tuna or salmon) and it was delicious! The rest of the meal also involved different kinds of iwashi dishes, like iwashi with sesame seeds and a fish meatball in the miso soup.

Maruni
Address: 6928-235 Katakai, Kujukuri, Sanbu-gun
Hours: 9:00AM - 9:00PM
Website (Japanese only): http://maru2-99.com/shokuji-maruni/

After lunch we headed to the nearby Sadako Mochizuki Museum, featuring oil paintings by Sadako Mochizuki, who was the current museum director's mother. The paintings were mostly of local scenes by the ocean, and I was really impressed by the colors and textures. Even more impressive though, is that apparently she only started painting after retirement and keep doing it until she passed away.

And then we got to watch a local group perform a dance for us! Apparently it was a dance from the area, but they used naruko and it was very like yosakoi (actually maybe it was, I don't even know), so I really enjoyed watching it. :D

Sadako Mochizuki Museum
Address: 6928-235 Katakai, Kujukuri, Sanbu-gun
Hours: 10:00AM - 7:00PM, Thursdays - Sundays
Cost: 300 yen
Access: 5-minute walk from Katakai Station Iriguchi bus stop, on the bus headed for Motosuka from JR Togane Station (Kujukuri Bus, west exit bus stop 1)
Website (Japanese only): http://www.mochi-museum.com/

Next, we went to what was the highlight of the day for me: a glass-making experience! We got to pick a color and shape, so I chose a plate, as it seemed most useful. Because we could only go one at a time, there was a lot of time for us to watch the artisans at work. Apparently on Sundays they don't make things to sell, but rather spend the day trying new things and practicing their skills, and watching them work was pretty mesmerizing. My favorite was watching the guy blowing glass balls, which I realized much later became the bases for the vases everybody else was making. Pretty cool.

And then it was my turn to make my plate! They brought over a giant hunk of glowing red glass, and I worked with one of the workers to spread it out and shape the sides. I was surprised at how much heat it was giving off, though I guess it should have been obvious since it was literally molten glass. Anyway it was all over very quickly, but I made a plate! :)

Sugahara Glass Mini School
Address: 797 Fujishita, Kujukuri-machi, Sanbu-gun 283-0112
Hours: 9:00-18:00, closed only during year-end and New Year holidays
Cost: 2500 - 4000 yen for adults
Website: http://www.sugahara.com/english/

Our final stop for the day was Minori no Sato, a little market by the road where they sold local vegetables and souvenirs. I think the intent was for us to get souvenirs, but I was amused by how many people just bought groceries, because they were so cheap! I had a good time looking around at everything they had (no giant plushies to tempt me this time, luckily), and then it was time to go home.

Minori no Sato Togane
Address: 1300-3 Tama, Togane
Hours: 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Access: 1 5-minute walk from JR Gumyo Station
Website (Japanese only): http://minorinosato-togane.com/

All in all, it was a fun day and a good wrap-up to this year's tours. Lots of good pictures and memories and experiences! :)

restaurant recommendations in chiba city

So earlier this week I helped out at the ALT Skills Development Conference, and during our block meeting we had everybody go through and share something they had discovered in our area. I prepared a list of some of my favorite eating establishments in Chiba City, so I figured I should share it here as well! They're all places that I've either stumbled across on my own or been introduced to, and while I've only visited some of them once (and don't have pictures of all of them), they're the first places that come to mind when I think about places I'd like to tell people about. Of course, there are lots of good places in Chiba City, but these are the ones I like for being unique and slightly off the beaten path.

Perrito

This is a place I've actually already written about, in my post about my wander-bike to Makuhari, but it's worth mentioning again. The second time I went back, almost a year after my first trip, both the chef and the server lady remembered me, which was pretty impressive. I had a nice conversation with them and learned that most of their customers are regulars who just let the chef decide what to make them (instead of ordering off the menu). Pretty cool.  

Selling point: The chef will make you whatever you feel like eating that day (provided he has the ingredients), based on your budget

Address: 1-1-4 Takahama, Mihama-ku, Chiba City

Hours: 11:00 – 15:00, 17:30 – 22:00

Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/chiba/A1201/A120103/12027289/

Mother Moon

It turns out this restaurant is actually just one of a few locations all around Japan, which surprised me because it's tucked away in an area surrounded by factories and office buildings. My friend introduced me to it because it was apparently listed in a book of recommended cafes/restaurants in Chiba, and even though I've only been twice, I'm always impressed by how nice it is.

Selling point: Delicious food and dessert in a great atmosphere

Address: 117 Shinminato, Mihama-ku, Chiba City

Hours: 11:30 – 22:00

Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/chiba/A1201/A120103/12000148/

Necoman's Bar

I've only been here once, but this is a place that had caught my eye many times before, partly because cats are a motif of the design. I actually wasn't able to find a website for it, and since it's only open on weekdays I suppose a lot of the people who go there are regulars (since I imagine it'd be hard to stay open otherwise). I really liked the decor and the owner/chef seemed nice, though I didn't talk to him much. 

Selling point: A cozy little restaurant/bar with menu items that are hard to find other places (like spare ribs)

Address: ? Behind the Doutor in Chiba Ginza, next to Lava Cafe

Hours: 17:00 - ?

Closed: Weekends

Petit Gourmand

I came across this place with a few other new JETs/Wisconsin ALTs after Chiba Orientation, just a month after coming to Japan. I like it because it has a very casual, cozy atmosphere and I tend to take people there whenever they want a place that isn't a typical bar/pub/izakaya.

Selling point: A small, low-key place to grab drinks/food at a reasonable price

Address: 2-12-6 Fujimi, Chuo-ku, Chiba City

Hours: 16:30 – 24:00

Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/chiba/A1201/A120101/12027036/

Syu's Garden Deli

This was another store that I'd been wanting to try for a while before actually going in, and it was exactly what I'd hoped it would be. The first time I went I had a really tasty lunch set with salmon/vegetables that was very well-priced for the amount of food that came out. I think they try to use seasonal and local vegetables, which is great, and the last time I was there I saw the owner hand-writing the menus, which was pretty cool. 

Selling point: Earthy décor and tasty, healthy food involving lots of vegetables

Address: 1-7-8 Chuo, Chuo-ku, Chiba City

Hours: 11:30 – 15:00, 17:30 – 24:00

Closed: Sundays

Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/chiba/A1201/A120101/12029472/

Beer O'Clock

This is a place that somebody introduced to me recently and I couldn't believe I had never found it sooner! I really liked the design of the shop, but they also had a ton of craft beers and everything on the menu sounded delicious.

Selling point: Craft beers (including a mini sampler set) and yummy food in a stylish setting

Address: 1-4 Shindencho, Chuo-ku, Chiba City

Hours: Mon. - 17:00 – 24:00

Tue. - Fri. - 12:00 – 15:00, 17:00 – 24:00

Sat. - 12:00 – 24:00

Sun., holidays – 12:00 – 22:00

Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/chiba/A1201/A120101/12032448/

Pantry Coyote

This was another place I was introduced to when I first got here, during lunch at Chiba Orientation. It's a very small shop that's decorated in an American Western style, and the burgers are amazing. I remember also being pleasantly surprised because they were playing Cat Power once and had a nice short conversation with the owner about it. 

Selling point: Delicious burgers and beer from all over the world in a cozy rustic location

Address: 3-11-11 Chuo, Chuo-ku, Chiba City

Hours: 11:30 – 22:30

Closed: Third Tuesday/Wednesday each month

Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/chiba/A1201/A120101/12020222/

Tapo's Coffee

I can't remember exactly how I discovered this cafe, but it was probably because it stuck out to me as the only interesting shop on the road it's on. It's a very small place but I find it very relaxing since there are usually not many other people in the cafe (though a lot of people come and buy things to take out), and the owner seems very nice.
Selling point: A simple but stylish cafe, with tasty desserts and latte art. 

Address: 1-4-10 Shinjuku, Chuo-ku, Chiba City

Hours: 8:00 – 19:00

Closed: Mondays

Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/chiba/A1201/A120101/12020222/

hello 2015

Well, it's 2015! I'm sure I say this every year, but 2014 really just disappeared - it was April and then suddenly it was December (and now it's January, what).

It's been a year of change, which honestly I didn't expect, given that my circumstances were pretty much the same as in 2013 - still on the JET Programme, living and working in Chiba City. But there are a few big things that made 2014 very different.

First and foremost, in April I joined my yosakoi team, CHIよREN北天魁 (Chiyoren Hokutenkai). I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into, because I most definitely did not expect for it to become such a big part of my life in Japan. There's so much I could say about what I like about the team and why I'm glad I joined it, but for now I'll just say that it's probably the first time that I've truly felt like part of a team (and I've been in lots of teams) and the first time in a long time (probably since karate in high school) that I've been able to really throw myself into an activity and give it my all. They've actually asked me to be the chair of a new international committee they're making this year, and while I really don't know what that entails or how much responsibility it is, I'm really flattered to be asked and am looking forward to getting more involved and learning more about how things work behind the scenes. Though I suspect this is also the one thing that's going to make it really hard for me to eventually leave Japan...

Then in June, I began my position as the CIR Representative/Project Manager for the AJET National Council, after running and being elected in February/March. This has been another brand new experience of working with council members all over the country and learning about how to organize people around a project from start to finish, which I've never done in quite the same way before. It's a lot of time and quite a commitment, but it's great to be involved and feel like I'm helping contribute to the JET community as a whole. Our terms last until June, so there's still a ways to go, but I feel like we've accomplished a lot in six months so hopefully this'll continue in the future!

Around the same time, I also organized elections and was elected president of the first Chiba AJET council (in recent memory at least). Although I helped out a lot with Chiba AJET before, it's been really nice having a group of people to work with to organize events and the like, and I feel like we've been doing a good job so far. I enjoy running the meetings and being able to delegate tasks, and I think we're setting a good foundation for Chiba AJET in the future as well, so I'm pretty happy with this.

Finally, the last big change was enrolling in Simul Academy and starting their interpreting course. One of my friends had taken a course there in the past, and since I realized if I didn't stay in Japan that this could be my last chance to take it, I decided to sign up (for the sake of professional development). As I mentioned in my last post, I tested into the class that usually takes a year or two to get to if you start from scratch (I was hoping for the introductory course, so getting into one level above - which is also just one level below simultaneous interpreting - was a big surprise) and am the youngest/only non-native Japanese speaker, so in the beginning I was pretty intimidated and thought it was pretty hard, but after a few months I feel like I've settled into the course. I'm too busy to really take advantage of everything and study/review for class like I should, which is a shame, but the material we use is really interesting and I do feel like I'm getting good practice/training. It's really made me realize how my Japanese could still use a lot of work, especially in terms of being able to express things smoothly in a register that is not conversational, so that's something I hope to improve in the future. I've started actually watching/reading the news and am actively trying to read more books in Japanese, so that's something.

So even though a lot of other things happened in 2014 (trip to Taiwan, two! weddings back in the States, lots of big events at work, visits to/from friends, etc etc.), these were the main things that really changed the way my everyday life plays out - now I'm on a pretty set schedule where I have class twice a week, practice once a week, meetings on the other two weekdays, and then the weekends (which are all over the place), which is much busier than before but worth it.

Probably most significantly, though, at least two of these have given me a reason to want to stay in Japan for at least one more year, even though up until now I've considered 3 years the perfect amount of time. I want to be able to keep dancing with my yosakoi team, so I can experience all the different festivals and tournaments at least one more time, and I also want to be able to continue my interpreting course until the end, which requires another 6 months past March.

Ever since I came to Chiba City I've been told that I should consider 3 years the longest I can stay, since technically the JET Programme states that the limit is 3 years in principle, with 5 years being allowed for those with exceptional performance (though most places I know simply take this to mean that the max is 5 years). There's also never been a CIR in Chiba City who has stayed for longer than 3 years, so I was planning to apply to be a Programme Coordinator at CLAIR (the organization that runs the JET Programme) or look for another job (hence participating in the Tokyo Career Forum a few weeks ago).

But, on my last day of work, I was officially asked to recontract for a fourth year! Through some previous conversations with my supervisor and boss, I had begun to think that maybe the possibility existed, but I didn't actually dare to think that they would, because as far as I know it's never happened before. I think the reason they want me to stay is because there will be several big events happening next year (an international wheelchair basketball tournament, 40th anniversary events with two sister cities, etc.) and they'd prefer to have somebody with experience rather than a brand new person, but that works out perfectly because those are also reasons why I would want to stay another year. I've always told myself that I shouldn't recontract if my main motivation behind it were just to stay in Japan, since I believe that work should be meaningful and not just work, but I don't think that this is the case, and so I do think I will recontract. It may just be delaying the inevitable, and I do think I will have to work to find more ways to keep growing at my current job, but it also means that I can definitely stay for one more year and continue both yosakoi and my interpreting course without interruption.

So I think I can say with relative confidence that 2015 will not be my last year in Japan, despite what I thought for most of 2014, but other than that I'm not sure what the year will bring! Since I'm starting off on a path that I hadn't visualized before, I honestly can't say how I'll feel or what I'll be thinking at this time next year in terms of staying in Japan or the future in general, but for now I feel pretty content to let the future stay hazy and just take the present as it comes. Maybe after I turn 25 I'll feel a little more pressure to think about my life after JET, but luckily there's still a good 7 months until then. :)

一年間大変お世話になりました。今年もよろしくお願いいたします。
Happy New Year!