A New Project

Lately, I find myself remembering things I thought I had completely forgotten. Perfumes, flavors and sometimes voices trigger memories I didn't know were there. These images of my past dance vividly before my eyes before fading back slowly in the oblivion from whence they came. Some of them are happy memories, other sad or even upsetting. Yet, it saddens me to see them go away for they are who I am.

After toying with the idea for a few days, I have decided to create a new blog. I had planned to call in "I Remember" but the URL was already taken. I'm glad it was because I came up with a much better idea. My new blog is entitled "A Box of Raisins." It might sound like a silly name, but a short visit and you'll understand where the name sprung from.

A Box of Raisin is a repository for my memories, shared with simplicity. Please drop by and have a box of raisins.

--------->A Box of Raisins

2009 Retrospective

Maybe I'm a bit early for this but since I'll be busy in the weeks to come, I better do it right now. I got the idea from Jonna at S.H.E. in China. Make sure to visit her blog, she's a great storyteller!

2009 was a long and short year at the same time. Let's take a look at this year's highlights.

January

Celebrating New Year's Day in the Australian Outback

Climbing Mount Cradle in Tasmania

Visiting Sydney

February

Koiwai Snow Festival

March

Dolls' Festival in Ohasama

Visiting Macau

April

Visiting Hong Kong

Making Miso

Flower Viewing in Hirosaki

JSDF Open Camp

May

Visiting Matsushima

Sumo in Tokyo

June

Strangely, nothing special happened in June.

July

My sister in Japan

August

Mr. kanmuri moved in at last!

Climbing Mount Iwate

Climbing Mount Fuji (Still can't believe I managed that)

September

Climbing Mount Hayachine

Visiting South Korea

October

Climbing Mount Himekami

Rice Harvest in Inakadate

Fusshi's Wedding in Hokkaido

Eiji and Ellie's Wedding

November

Nanowrimo

December

And this month? Well the best is yet to come! The holidays should be a lot of fun since we'll be spending them in South East Asia.

Looking back I realize I had a very busy year and I think it was a good one! Next year should also be very busy and filled with changes for both me and Mr. kanmuri. Can't wait to see what 2010 has in store!

What about you? What are your 2009 highlights?

Because bad driving is the road to Hell

Yesterday I had to go to Morioka to renew my Japanese driver's license. It's hard to believe I've already been driving in Japan for three years! Anyway, so I went to the city to do the paper work. I wasn't really happy about having to waste my Sunday afternoon in the government's offices and became a whole lot less happy when I realized that I had to take a two hour class upon renewing my license. I understand that for the Japanese government, it was my first renewal but I've been driving for twelve years already; I don't need to be taught how to drive all over again.

Now the class wasn't that bad and it was a good refresher for those "paper drivers" and even I learned a few things I didn't know (mainly trivia.) Two hours was too much, tho. One hour would have been more than enough.

During our little course (in which I pretended to know zero Japanese so they would leave alone) we were shown two videos. One was your average safe driving video but the other was pure gold. And when I say pure gold, I actually mean utter crap. I had never seen so many Japanese clichés used in such a short production.

The main character, a 25 year old male father to a 5 year old cute little girl, wakes up late for his baseball practice. He's so busy with baseball that he never has time for his family. He makes empty promises to his little girl and leave in a rush. On the way he almost hits a woman riding a bike, a biker and an old man. He drives fast without paying attention. He picks up his cellphone while driving and doesn't seen the stop sign. He hits another car in an intersection. So far the story is full of cliché (busy dad, baseball loving, bad driving) but still ok. However it takes a turn for the worst when the main character wakes up in limbo. There, God (or something like it) says he will get to go to hell or heaven depending on how he review his bad driving. The main character, instantly accepting the fact that he's dead, goes along with it without even shedding a tear or panicking. At first he thinks that he was not at fault and God gets angry. So they go back to the world of the living (Christmas Carol style) and the main character gets to see the pain he's caused. He gets all emotional and realizes that he was wrong all along. He is then allowed to go to heaven but begs God to give him another chance. And now, for the best part: he finally wakes up in bed (it was all a dream!) a changed man and goes to the amusement park with his family instead of going to his baseball game. He is now the perfect father AND the perfect driving. Isn't this wonderful?

The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes and made me cringe. The message was totally wasted on me; all I could see was the horrible, horrible story. It looked like it was made for small children and it made me wonder if that's how the state sees the Japanese people.

Anyway, I now have my new license and won't have to deal with them anymore; I'm going back to Canada where renewing your license is easy: you just pay.

How I Named my Blog

Turning Iwatean was born about a year ago (December 4th!) and was the brainchild of an excited mind. I had just finished my Nanowrimo novel - my first experience with Nano- and I really didn't want to stop writing. I had had other blogs in the past, but I was tired with them and wanted something new.

When I started Turning Iwatean, I had been living in Japan for two years and a half. I had a the strange feeling that I wasn't just a Canadian anymore. Japan had changed me in many ways and I was starting to turn Japanese (an hybrid of both is probably more correct, actually.) I thought about calling the blog Turning Japanese but I knew there was a song about that, so I decided against it. Now Iwate (pronounced e-wa-tay) is the Japanese prefecture in which I live and had been living for all these years. In the end, I decided to make the name Turning Iwatean. I doubt Iwatean is a real word.

Actually, Turning Iwatean will only be around for a few more months. Once I go back to Canada, I intend to change the name to something more general. The name, however, will survive in the URL.

Thanks to Ruth at Synch-ro-ni-zing for the opportunity to share my blog's name's origins with everyone else on December 1st!