Last Post from Japan

Last night I met my Friday discussion class (along with Yuji and Kotaro) one more time at Chat Noir for zenzai, cafe au lait, and tea. I was beat from a day of closing up my apartment, hauling my luggage to AEON, trying to get some of said luggage shipped home, and saying goodbyes - which is amazingly draining. As we left last night, Emiko said she'd like to see me off at the Maronie bus station. Then Yuji said he'd like to come. Then Mayu said she'd like to come. So we met down by the JR station for a quick breakfast and last hugs goodbye. Mr. Donut was closed, so McDonalds had to do. As we sat there, it was hard for any of us to believe that I was leaving Utsunomiya for good (apart from future visits).

When we left, we were surprised to meet Kotaro outside - he'd also decided to see me off. I was very touched by the gesture of these four. Here they are (Kotaro, Emiko, Mayu, and Yuji) waving goodbye to me just before my bus pulled out of the station:

On the ride to Narita I read more Basho and found a nice haiku of his that fit the themes of spring and departure. So I dedicate this poem to the four above:

行春や
鳥啼魚の
目は泪

I hope I got the kanji right. Here's the Romanization:

Yuku haru ya
tori naki uo no
me wa namida

And a translation:

Loath to let spring go,
Birds cry, and even fishes'
Eyes are wet with tears.

A Busy Last Two Days

I was planning on going to Tokyo to visit my friend Pat who'd recently returned to Japan, but I quickly realized that with everything I had to do, a train ride would be impossible. What with packing, and shipping off boxes and meeting with students one last time, there was just no time (my apologies, Pat).

Yesterday, after taking care of some bills, Mieko and Tomoko met me at AEON to take me to lunch - they surprised me by inviting Megumi along - I hadn't seen Megumi in the last month or two, so it was great that she could come along. We went to this excellent Japanese restaurant that, as it turns out, was quite close to my apartment (Would that I had known!). Here are the four of us - you can see the confusion that occurs when two cameras are taking timed pictures at the same time: no one knows where to look:

Here's a shot of my meal - vegetarian, with the exception of a soft boiled egg that was served with a small salad. Lots of roots (lotus and burdock) and veggies and miso soup:

After lunch, I met Anthony, Yasuko and Dayne - they had lunch while I had coffee and dessert. Then I had a little time to stop in at AEON before meeting Emiko and Masae for dinner at a conveyer belt sushi shop - my first experience at one. It was loads of fun. Then we went to a coffee shop that one of my students, Saki, had suggested before. This place was great, so we took great photos there:


I think if Masae was a writer, this would be her book jacket photo (Although, admittedly, it did look sharper when I first viewed it on my camera in a smaller frame):




Now I am safely set up in my small hotel room. I took a nap and a bath and now feel much better. Here I am in the yukata the hotel provided for me. They also provided me with a hair dryer (the blue/green in the foreground of the below picture), and thank goodness for that! My hair is so unmanageable if I'm unable to use a dryer:

Tomorrow I leave Utsunomiya at 7 am and head for Narita airport!

Sayonara!

I have been reading Basho's Haiku prose/poetry travel diary, "Narrow Road to a Far Province." It was a gift (one of three books) from Yoko, who is brilliant, and has been taking my short story reading course. This book describes the poet's journey from Tokyo (then called Edo) to the remote upper areas of Honshu. As I was reading, I got this brilliant idea of composing some haiku to put in this blog entry, but all I could come up with was:

A lonely gyoza
Left uneaten on a plate.
A fly heard buzzing.

The gyoza was an obvious (if you live or have lived in Japan) nod to Utsunomiya (宇都宮), which has over 30 gyoza restaurants. But then I couldn't make the rest of the poem work in any meaningful way, and anyway, I'm pretty sure, if I were in a room with a plate upon which a lonely gyoza sat, I'd eat it before the fly ever got near it. So I have abandoned the idea of writing anything of poetic value in this entry (I do have some pics below of sakura, or cherry blossoms, so perhaps I'll be inspired further down).

I'm including pictures here from the last week or so - it's been a busy time, getting ready to leave Japan. And I've been lucky to be able to spend time, between packing and getting things organized, with a lot of the people I've grown to care a great deal for. A week ago, I played tennis with Tomoko, Isao, Motoki, and Anthony. Soon after we arrived, Anthony and Isao went off to play doubles with some other players on another court which left me, Tomoko, and Motoki free to play tennis and pose for silly pictures:
Isao and Anthony joined us after a bit and I was able to get this cool shot of tennis balls (and Anthony in the background):
After tennis, we had a great lunch spread out for us at Tomoko and Isao's. I love spending time with Tomoko and Isao: one is always certain to be well fed, to never have an empty glass, and to always have great conversations. After spending the afternoon there, Anthony and I had to head out to a small party at Aiichiro and Fumi's. Michel, Seiko, and Kohei were also there. Aiichiro did himself proud by cooking up a great Chinese dinner. Seiko brought her violin so that Fumi and I could play part of Bach's double concerto in D minor. This was a surprise I found out about only a day or two before going over there, so I practiced with Fumi a bit and then we had a concert where we played only the intro part of the first movement - I have never played that piece well, and after such a long time of not practicing, my playing was pretty rusty, nevertheless, it was a lot of fun:
Aiichiro and Fumi had also invited a candidate for city office over for dinner and he made a short speech which Aiichiro translated for us - this was amazing, as it was the first time, I'd eaten dinner where a political speech was made. I found this much more agreeable than what most politicians here do, which is to drive around in vans with loud speakers and yell about how everyone should vote for them. One of the things he talked about was the issue of a memorial that the local Korean community wants to erect near a mine where several Chinese and Koreans, forced into labor there, died. If you check out Michel's blog, he does a fine job outlining the history of this controversy (unfortunately when I use Blogger in my browser, I'm not given the option to create hyperlinks). Here we all are minus Fumi (who was the photographer):
This next group of pictures was taken at my farewell party last night. Madoka booked us a large tatami room at a restaurant near the school and it was perfect. The atmosphere was much better than the last couple places we'd had such parties at. Here I am with Isao and Tomoko:
It was great. Everytime a camera came out (and there were many), people would dive over tables, squash together, make peace signs with their hands. Here I am in a couple such group shots:
Scott was able to come up from Nagoya to spend the evening with us, which was a great surprise to many of the students at the party:
It was also the last time to see Michel and Yoshiko on this side of the world, so I was happy they could be there. I'll miss you guys - come to Minnesota soon!
I was humbled by the many gifts students gave me: pictures, flowers, sake, books, a soroban (Japanese abacus), furoshiki (traditional Japanese wrapping clothes for gifts, lunches, etc.), picture albums and frames, and lots of cards with warm messages. Yet none of these made me laugh as much as the shirt my Friday night discussion class presented me with. The front had a picture of me with the class - taken a couple Fridays ago. The picture on the back made me jump and let out what may have been as close to a scream as you will ever hear come out of my mouth. Here 'tis:
After Anthony led a Matt trivia game (won by a student who I've never taught before, but talked to in the lobby many times), Yasuko made a toast, Stacy gave a speech, and the staff and teachers presented me with a really nice fountain pen. Then I got up and gave a short speech - I had to keep it short because it was like the third time that week that I was worried that I'd start crying in front of my students. But I made them promise to visit me in the Land of 10,000 lakes as well as e-mail me from time to time, so I hope to be able to continue the many friendships that have begun here.

Earlier in the week, I took some pictures of the cherry blossoms, and as my kid sis asked me to post them, I am doing so here. But first, another fat lady sculpture - I like this one a lot:
The last four pictures were taken in Hachimanyama, the park where we had our hanami last year:

Okay, let's try a haiku again for the picture below:

The cherry tree's limbs
Droop and claw above my head.
Attacked by shades of pink.

(I think I'm channelling a bored student in a seventh grade English class during a poetry unit, rather than the spirit of Basho)



Tomorrow Anthony and I will meet the new teacher, Dayne, who is fresh from training in Omiya. Then two days left of work and a ton of things to do before leaving for Seoul on Saturday.

なんだこれや! ~or~ Nanda Koreya! (If the Hiragana doesn't show up on your computer)

I'd been seeing these statues around town for weeks. The first one I saw was in a frame shop window. I was biking along on my way to work when suddenly, I was arrested by this enormous sculpture of a rather corpulent woman clad only in red heels with a mud pack on her face. I was shocked as I'd never seen it in the shop before. I just stared and said, "What the hell is that?" If you've read a couple entries ago, you'll remember a smaller statue I took a picture of with Kanako at Cafe Praktica. Last time I went to Praktica, Ako-san told me a bit about the artist, whose picture was on the cover of a magazine sitting next to the sculpture. I told her I thought it would be fun to visit his studio and see his work.

The very next day, I was returning to work from break and got up to the office and as I set down my bag, Stacy said, "Did you see the car down in the back of the building?"
I replied, "No. Which car?"
"The one filled with the naked fat lady sculptures you've been talking about. I think the artist is here."
So I walked back out of the office and ran down to see if I could catch the artist. When I got to the lobby, I found a guy putting a fat naked lady in the back of a car, so I pointed to the sculpture and asked if he was the artist. He said no and gestured around the corner. I walked around the corner and now recognized the artist from his picture. We chatted for a bit. He showed me the poster for the exhibition and then he told me what Nanda Koreya means. It turns out my initial reaction to his sculpture was rather apt because it was the way he translated the exhibition title: "What the hell is it?" He gave me a poster with his number and name on it and invited me to come to see his studio.

Later in the week when I was telling my excellent Odyssey ladies on Wednesday afternoon about it, Mieko and Tomoko mentioned they'd like to come along (after I hinted a bit that it would be nice to have someone there to translate). So after a couple calls to the artist, Jin Nariyoshi, we settled upon this afternoon for a visit.

I biked down to City Hall and met Tomoko and Mieko at 11 for lunch. They took me to this excellent organic foods restaurant on the east side of Utsunomiya. This place was really great - set in a rural area, it was part house, part restaurant. We came in and were happy to see a woodburning stove burning away cheerfully in the corner (it was a bit drizzly and cold today). I hopped up the stairs to the loft seating and took a couple of pictures of my daytrip companions:
Here's Tomoko and Mieko again, but in sepia - the restaurant seemed very well suited to taking sepia tone photographs (which is why I took this snap):
Here's a shot of my excellent meal. I had a chicken and green onion quiche with onion soup and a plate full of lightly steamed assorted root vegetables and a homemade mustard mayo. There was also a side dish with a tofu mousse which was delicious! Doesn't it just ooze organicness?:
Next we headed to Mashiko to meet Nariyoshi-san at his house. After another call to get specific instructions, we found the house/studio which was set back in a small forest. We wondered at first whether or not we had the right place until we saw one of his large women sitting on the porch. Just as Ako had said, Mr. Nariyoshi was really nice - he invited us into his large, high ceilinged living room in which almost every spot on the floor was filled with stacks of Japanese style pottery - bowls, cups, vases, plates, and sculptures. Then he began to show us some of his works as well as some photographs. It turns out that our host is quite well-respected in the world of Japanese ceramics. One of his pieces sits in the BRITISH MUSEUM and according to the small placard under the photo of this piece, Mr. Nariyoshi is an exponent of a particular style of Korean pottery glazing that dates from the 14th and 15th centuries (if I remember right). After his wife brought in tea for each of us and went back to her studio (she's also a potter, though they both have separate work spaces), we talked more and took some pictures. Here I am with Nariyoshi and Mieko:
And here we are again, this time with Tomoko:
I also snapped a couple shots of some of his large ladies:

He explained that beauty was not just restricted to thin, super model types - he thought that large women were sexy and beautiful and wanted to showcase that sexiness. Then he looked at me and asked if I liked large women (owing I guess to all of my questions about the sculptures) - I smiled and explained that I had so many questions because what intrigued me was that a Japanese artist should choose a large caucasian woman as his subject (he mentioned that she is not based on any particular woman - tho' I thought she looked a bit like Dawn French from BBC comedy fame - but came from his imagination). We had a great visit and at the end, he brought out a small cell phone charm with the exhibition title on it, but even more important, he took out a calligraphy brush and on the back of an exhibition card, he artfully wrote the exhibition name and stamped it with his hanko - we all marveled at his beautiful calligraphic style:
Here's one more shot of Tomoko and Mieko in Mr. Nariyoshi's living room:
After a great visit, and an invitation to go out for drinks in Utsunomiya together, we bid farewell and headed back to the main street of Mashiko where Mieko looked (without result) for a matching green tea cup to replace one that had been chipped. Here's a shot of one of the stores we looked around in:
We stopped at a coffee shop for dessert and tea and coffee. This cafe was located in the same building where I'd made pottery nearly a year ago with Saki, Masaki, and Wasim. But between that and all the tea offered us at nearly every place we went, I had to keep going to the bathroom (even making a stop on our way back to Utsunomiya - I wonder what the kanji is for "He with the little bladder"?) Mieko dropped off Tomoko and I and I walked to City Hall where I'd left my bicycle this morning only to find that my bicycle was missing - I looked and looked and e-mailed Tomoko who met me and took me to the Police station nearby to report it stolen, but without the serial number, there wasn't much they could do about it - they did, however, suggest that perhaps the City Hall security people may have moved it if it was in a restricted place, so tomorrow I'll go look for it. Anyway, I walked home tonight and as I walked past the frame shop, I snapped this picture of the sculpture that resulted in today's great adventure (even if my bike was stolen):

Nearing the End

I've been meaning to post something lately, but haven't really known what to write about. In some ways the last couple of weeks have been harder than I'd expected. This is primarily due to the fact that I have had so many nice messages from students since they've heard I'm leaving Japan. In spite of some of the problems on the administrative levels of this company, I've really come to care for and respect many of my students - so many of them have become good friends, and it's hard to leave good friends. I don't really know what more to say about this except that I hope many of the people I've encountered here in Japan will come visit me back in Minnesota.

I'm also very excited about returning to the States next month and seeing friends and family whom I've been away from for too long. I am a little nervous about the return - I've had no real nibbles from the applications I've submitted for work, and am not quite sure what it will be like to be back in the US after living in a place as different from it as Japan. Anyway, these last too paragraphs have taken far too long to write for as wordy and uninteresting as they are, so I will move on to pictures taken recently.

After tennis a couple weeks ago, Stacy, Anthony, and I were invited to the Suda's for dinner. We had a lot of fun playing with their new toy: Wii. Here's Stacy and Anthony boxing:
And Stacy, Motoki, and Tomoko in the kitchen whipping up some paella:
Here's the gang after the meal:
Later that week, Michel's family stopped in Utsunomiya with Michel and Yoshiko for a visit. Here we all are at AEON:
I went to Tokyo and Yokohama this weekend. Here's a shot of Tokyo Station:
Chinatown in Yokohama:
A temple in Chinatown:
I walked around Yokohama bay and saw this nice looking ship:
I really enjoyed my afternoon/evening in Yokohama - the architecture was really interesting, and in spite of the drizzly weather, it was fun to walk around and take some shots of the buildings and amusement park:



I tried taking some night time sakura pictures, but the cherry blossoms, while beautiful, didn't really look the way I wanted them to with a flash on them and I didn't have my tripod to take a good evening exposure. Ah, well...

A Great Weekend and Only Six Weeks to Go

Well my last weeks in Japan are speeding by much more quickly than I thought they would - I have so many things to do before i go, but it will all get done eventually. My last day at AEON is April 19th. On the 21st I will leave for Seoul and then Beijing to visit my folks who are teaching English there. I'll spend a couple weeks in Beijing before heading back to the U.S. via Seoul and Tokyo. If all goes according to plan, I should be back in Minnesota on May 9th or 10th.

I've had a great time in Japan and made many new friends who I hope to keep in contact with and have visits from. My experiences here have ranged from the odd to the beautiful, from the noble to the ridiculous - in other words, pretty much the variety you experience any place in the world. I'm anxious to return to many of the people and things that I've been away from for the last year and two months, but in coming home, I will be leaving so many new friends and will miss a lot of cultural things I've come to appreciate.

This weekend was nice because two sets of students invited me to spend time with them. On Sunday, Fumi and Aiichiro invited Anthony and I over for lunch - they called it Anthony's welcome and my graduation from AEON party. Here's a rather staged photo of Aiichiro offering Anthony a natto roll (Anthony did try one - just before this picture was taken, and vowed never to eat natto again - wise choice, Anthony):

Today, Mieko picked up Tomoko, Stacy, and I in front of city hall to take us to Karasuyama. Our first stop was at some falls - we had a bit of time before our tours started. Unfortunately the river and the falls contain a pretty foul stench - for those of you Mankato people reading this, it's the same smell you get when you pass that farm on 169 just north of Le Sueur. But the reason for it here is because this is the country and some of the smaller country towns do not have proper sewage systems in place. Therefore, waste is dumped in the river. Here I am with Mieko and Tomoko in front of the smelly falls:

Next, we toured a cave where sake is stored. This cave was built by students and was used in WWII to store munitions I think. Here I am at the entrance:

And here're the four of us next lots of sake, being aged in an environment which offers a constant temperature:

After we sampled a variety of sake and bought a few bottles, we decided to go to lunch before visiting a washi (Japanese handmade paper) workshop. We had this kind of rice dish that people have told me the name of several times throughout the day, but for the life of me, I can't remember at the moment. Anyway, it was good and this is what it looked like:

After lunch, we went to the paper place, but the workshop was closed so we just looked around a bit. Then we stopped at an onsen on our way back and relaxed a bit before heading back to Utsunomiya. Once back, i made some amazake (sweet, hot sake, with some of the sake cake that I bought. In the evening, I headed over to AEON to write my farewell message and to meet Kanako, Yasuko, and Anthony for a snack at Cafe Praktica. Yuki - who is moving to Nagano next week - also came. Here's Kanako posing with a sculpture in the cafe. The artist who sculpted this corpulent figure has made several around town and they are to be found in various shops about the city - kind of like the Charlie Brown statues, but a bit more odd and shocking the first time you see one:

For the last three Mondays, I've been making Praktica my evening hangout - I go, get a pot of Irish malt tea and a small dessert, and either read or write or surf the net. I've known Ako-san and Kin-chan all year, but have been getting to know them better in the last few months. Ako loves classical and jazz music and has a pretty discerning taste, so I made her and her husband a disc of the Boswell Sisters, which they loved. Here I am at Praktica with Ako-san:

And here's the gang (from left to right): Kanako, Yuki, Me, Yasuko, and Anthony. It was fun to hang out with this group tonight.

That's it from my neck of the woods; what's happening where you are?