Turning Iwatean

New Posts!

2010-03-15T17:51:00.000+09:00

Two new post at In a Thousand Directions.

Jungle Cooking

Tedious Work

Don't forget to update your RSS feeds and bookmarks.

About TI and New Post!

2010-03-11T11:21:00.001+09:00

New post at In a Thousand Directions!

Make sure you update your RSS feeds and bookmarks.

As I am having problems with the blogger's blog merging tool, I have decided to give up on importing Turning Iwatean's posts to In a Thousand Directions. I will thus leave TI online, but there will be no more updates starting in April.

New Post

2010-03-08T18:55:00.001+09:00

New post at In a Thousand Direction!

Make sure you update your RSS feeds and bookmarks. Turning Iwatean will go offline in April.

Change!

2010-03-07T20:55:00.003+09:00

Some of you may remember this post in which I gave a detailed list of all the great things that were to happen in the months to come. Well I have finally come to the end of this list; I am going back to Canada in 24 days.

This partially explain why I haven't posted much lately, as we are getting ready for the big move. However the main reason for my lack of posts is that I don't feel like Turning Iwatean is an appropriate title for my ramblings anymore. Last year, I experienced many different types of posts and I think I've finally understood the kind of blog I want to write. I want to write about a broader range of topics, not only about Japan.

And so I have decided to put an end to Turning Iwatean. But don't worry, I'm not going offline. I would like to introduce you to my latest baby: In a Thousand Direction.

I was trying to find a name that represented me well, and I think this is it. My mind is always going in a thousand directions, craving knowledge and wanting to try everything new. You will notice that the layout remained the same and that I have transferred all the posts from Turning Iwatean. There seems to be a small problem with the old comments but you should be able to post new ones without problem. If you experience any problem please let me know through Turning Iwatean.

Turning Iwatean will remain online until I go back to Canada and then I will delete it. Make sure to update your RSS feeds and or bookmarks.

I thank you all for reading Turning Iwatean and I hope to see you on In a Thousand Directions.

Thank You!

2010-02-19T14:58:00.004+09:00

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who made my wedding one of the best days of my life. I won't name you, but you know who you are. I also want to thank Mr. kanmuri for putting up with Bridezilla and making this day unforgettable.

Thank you all!!

More pictures to come...

Post Vacation Blues

2010-02-02T08:55:00.004+09:00

Typical Canadian House (according to the rest of the world)

When I left Singapore on the morning of January 17th I was ready to go home. I just had had the longest and most eventful vacation of my life (more on that later.) I was happy when my plane landed in Tokyo and I didn't even mind having to kill time until the arrival of the night bus (7 hours, more or less.) Japan was great. Sushi tasted like rainbows of happiness after all that Indian, Chinese and Thai food.

Things started to loose their shine when I finally stepped off the bus in Morioka and the thermometer showed minus 11 (Celsius.) I was starting to miss the sun and the beach. We took the train to Hachimantai and, lo and behold, the thermometer now showed minus 17!!! Yes, we were coming home on the COLDEST DAY OF THE WHOLE WINTER.

Yeah, I know, I'm Canadian. Shouldn't I like the cold? Was I not living in an igloo back home? Well my igloo back home had was we call insulation. My tiny wooden house in Japan has none. Minus 17 outside means at least minus 10 INSIDE. I was ready to give up my house and live in the fridge. When we turned on the heaters the only thing we could see on the display was the letter "L." L as in "Lord! It's freezing down here" L? Well apparently, that's what our pipes thought, because they all decided to go on strike. No toilet, no laundry and, oh yeah, no shower. Our shower water distributor burst. Time to go to work and stink the whole place up!

The cold eventually went away, and we came to an agreement with our pipes. I went back to work and it was all business as usual again. I had promised myself to start training and studying again but I have yet to get my bums off the sofa. I have no will power right now and the reason is quite simple: I know now, more than ever, that I'm really going back home soon. Which means that I don't want to start a new routine because I know it'll be disturbed again soon. It also means that I don't feel like working anymore, because I know that soon, a new life will start for me. Yet, the prospect of starting over keeps we awake at night when Mr. kanmuri is snoring away.

I have the blues and I'm excited at the same time. Is that even possible??

I wish you a...

2010-01-01T02:18:00.002+09:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

First Day in Singapore

2009-12-29T22:43:00.000+09:00

Here are some pictures I took on our first evening in Singapore!

Hostel Rant

2009-12-25T23:03:00.001+09:00

I pride myself to be able to find good deals when travelling. I like to surf the net for hours until I find the perfect deal. That's why I always choose hostels over hotels; why pay more for a place you'll only use at night? As long as you have a clean bed, everything a A-ok, right?

Let me share a secret with you: I hate hostels. I love their low cost but I hate sleeping at hostel. The reason is quite simple: I can't sleep unless the room is completely dark and quiet. Hostels don't have these requirements. Most people who sleep at hostels seem to think that it's perfectly fine to barge in the room at 2am, completely drunk, turn on the light and talk in a loud voice until collapsing on their bed to snore the night away. In the meantime, some other people, like me, can't sleep anymore. I know what you're going to say: if you want peace and quiet rent a real hotel room. Well I think you're wrong. There are lounges to party and I think some people need to learn respect (I sound so OLD when I say that, ahaha!) A hostel room is a public space that is shared by 4, 6, 8 or even more people; shouldn't people show a little more respect?

Here is my classification of hostels patrons.

Normal people
The normal people come in at a decent time, put their bags away and either go to bed or go party. You'll probably hear them come in if you're a light sleeper but most of the time they go in and out like ninjas. You rarely see them which is kinda sad because you would probably enjoy their company.

The Packers
The Packers look like normal people and act like them until about midnight. At that time, they suddenly realize that they have forgotten to repack their whole suitcase for tomorrow's flight. The Packers then proceed to turn the lights on and unpack all their stuff to repack it in a neat way. More than often they have a friend with them and will spend the next hour or two packing while chatting. Some Packers have the decency to whisper, but most end up talking loud and laughing over all their memories now spread in front of them. The worst things about the Packers is their unconditional love for plastic bags which they will handle countless times to make sure the noise is driving you nuts.

The Drunkards
These guys are, well, drunkards. Their main goal is to get drunk and collapse in alcoholic coma on their beds every night. They tend to talk before they go to bed but they usually they fall asleep pretty quickly which lead to the following problem: the snoring. If my husband snores, I can always kick him awake; a little harder to do with my neighbour on bunk number six.

The Tractors
Tractors are not necessarily drunk, but they snore as if they had eaten the engine of an old tractor. They will slowly drive you insane. Each time you think they've finally gone quiet, the concerto starts anew.

The Quarellers
This category usually applies to female friends travelling together. Two girls will usually start fighting about something (often in a language you don't understand, which is even more irritating since you'd like to know what's going on) and will keep bickering for about half an hour before one leaves or someone in the room tells them to shut up. Which brings us to the next category.

The Whiners
The Whiners are the pros of complaint. They will complain about their beds, the room, the shower, you name it. The whiners also are the ones who'll end up yelling at other people for disturbing the peace. I must say that I'm a bit of a whiner myself (no way!) although I don't often have the courage to yell at people. Each room needs a whiner, because they say out loud what we think.

Last night at our hostel was a nightmare. It all started when I dropped orange juice in the middle or my bed (totally my fault, I'm a retard. Who brings orange juice in their beds?) I wasn't able to find a good spot so I tossed and turned for a while. Then, when I finally found a comfortable position ( I must say the mattress was surprisingly comfy,) the room turned into a real boiler. The heater was on full blast and I was not even a meter away from it (I always take the top bunk because I rule, ahaha!) Luckily there was a window right next to me and I was able to open it. The cold air was delicious. I was almost asleep when I started to have troubles breathing again. I looked at the window and it was closed. Apparently, Mr. kanmuri, in the lower bunk, was cold. I opened the window again only to see him close it again. This went on a few more times until I asked him to stop. He insisted on keeping the window closed. I thought that was very selfish of him until I realized that I was being as selfish by insisting on keeping the window open. Once again, I was almost asleep when two drunkards came in. I was seriously starting to give up all hope. I drifted again only to be awaken by snores. I got up, hoping it was Mr. kanmuri and it actually was. Before I could touch him he turned around and stopped. I climbed back into my bed and was happy to see that one of the drunkards had opened HIS window. I finally fell asleep at around 3am.

Hopefully I will get more sleep tonight... Oh, wait. Our hostel's dorm room has 20 beds... No, I don't think sleep will be happening tonight either!!

False Start

2009-12-24T22:06:00.008+09:00

Mr. kanmuri looking at pictures of Malaysia

I write tonight from our hostel in Tokyo. It was a hell of a ride getting here! Actually, we were really lucky to make it.

Let me explain.

Mr. kanmuri and I got ourselves ready for the 17:03 train and left the home in time to catch it. We arrived at the station with about three minutes to spare. While we were waiting, Mr. kanmuri realized he hadn't taken his driver's license with him. Since we had planned on renting vespas in Thailand he was really disappointed. After a moment of reflection, he decided to go back home to get it and meet me later in Tokyo. He left me waiting for the train which was running strangely late.

Mr. kanmuri came back not even 5 minutes later, having decided that it was not worth paying another 130$ for the bullet train he was going to miss. By then, the train was REALLY late, something uncommon in Japan. After checking the schedules, we realized that the train we were expecting was never going to come. The schedule we had at home was simply too old. Now waiting for the next train (an hour and a half later) was not an option since it would make us miss our bullet train connection. I tried and phoned my friend Jason to see if he could take us to Morioka but he was not picking up. We started walking back home to get Mr. kamuri's license and maybe a taxi to Morioka when Jason called me back. He was in his car on the way to Morioka. Luckily, he was close to the interchange and accepted to come back to pick us up. He truly was our saviour.

We arrived in Morioka with 20 minutes to spare, just enough to buy ourself lunch boxes and get on the train. We gave Jason the money we would have paid for the train and also gave him a bottle of win we had at home. We owe him, big time. Let's just say that he's now on the top of my souvenir list.

Tonight we're staying at the Khaosan Annex hostel in Asakusa and we'll leave for the airport early tomorrow.

Tokyo's famous "Golden Turd"

Train lights on the Sumida RiverOur Hostel

Oh, and before I forget. I probably won't be able to post tomorrow so I wish you all a Merry Christmas!!

It's time to leave when...

2009-12-18T14:34:00.004+09:00

It's time to leave when you can't keep it all together anymore.

I did it again. I lost it, and this time, it was with one of the staff I work with.

Here goes.

Last August, I started to partake in the English club activities of one of my elementary schools. I wasn't too enchanted about the extra work but I wasn't really given a chance to refuse or accept. The Japanese lady who usually takes care of the club (let's call her Mrs K) is a pushy woman in her late forties. She's the type of Japanese person who's a total slave to the system and loves it. She always tries to get everyone in her boat. In other words, she's a great source of annoyance. I know she has the kids interests at heart but she's still very annoying. She sometimes comes to my English classes and totally confuses the children with her zealous English no one understands.

Anyway, I had to work with her for about 9 sessions of the English club. When we made the curriculum, I suggested the kids do a short English play; she accepted the idea. So each week the kids practiced. To be honest, they were really bad and it would never have crossed my mind to have them actually show the play. Mrs K., however was adamant: the plays had to be presented to the rest of the school. I said yes, ok, whatever. I didn't think I would have to get involved in this. I was wrong. Mrs K decided that the kids would show the play during lunchtime and that I had to be there. Now I don't care how much Japanese people are devoted to their work but MY lunchtime is MINE. I don't work on my time off. Unfortunately, Mrs K. did not even think of asking me if I was ok with the idea and just decided everything without telling me. For the sake of the kids, I just couldn't say no. I was NOT a happy trooper.

So on Wednesday I went to school during my lunchtime and helped the kids with their play. They sucked as always but I was still excited to see them on the stage. Once they were done, came the time to play games. The kids, Mrs K and I had discussed the games we were planning on doing and I was just starting to play one of them with my students when Mrs K. came and interrupted me.

You have to play Red light, Green light first!

True, that game was the first on the brainstorming list but did the order really matter? I mean, the kids were screaming and laughing. Anyone who would have walked in at that moment would have thought these kids were having the time of their life. I gently shooed her away.

It's ok, don't worry. Leave it to me.

I went back to the game. After a moment she interrupted me. Again.

This will not do. We won't be able to play Green light, Red light after this game. It won't work.

Now the game we were playing was simple; I would call a number and the kids had to group up with their friends until the number of people holding hands matched the one I had called. How would that game make playing Red light, Green light impossible? I started to be really annoyed and raised my voice.

Listen, it doesn't matter ok? We can play it after. Leave it to me. The kids are having fun.

I tried to continue the game but she wouldn't let me. She kept on saying that the order was important. She raised her voice, I raised mine. Eventually I just lost it. I had been enduring her for two years and a half without a word but that was the last straw.

You know what? If you're not happy, just do it yourself. I'm fed up!

I left the gymnasium without a glance. She tried to hold me back but I just wouldn't listen. I passed the Principal, apologized to him and went straight to the teachers' room. I was furious. You ask me to do extra work, on my lunchtime without asking me if I agree and then you complain because it's not what you wanted? Screw you! My mind was filled with such thoughts and worse ones.

I ended up going to class without seeing her again. I presume she continued the activities alone but I'm not sure. As I was cooling down I started to feel bad for the kids. This is not something I had wanted them to see. Then, when I finally went back to the teacher's room, Mrs K. spoke to be as if nothing had happened but by the sound of her voice, I had the feeling I had made her cry. I kinda felt sorry but it was too late.

I guess I could have given in and go along with he plans but it just made no sense to interrupt the game the students were enjoying. I just can't understand why the order was so important. In my opinion, what is important is the kids. As a teacher I always try to find games my students will enjoy. If they're having fun, they're probably learning something. I often change my lessons plans half through lessons because what I'm doing just doesn't work. I improvise a lot. Unfortunately, this is something most Japanese people seem unable to do. If there's a plan, they stick to it, no matter what.

When I told M. kanmuri about the whole thing he told me that it is likely that Mrs K. had had to present a written proposition for the activity and have it approved by the Principal. That means that the plan needed to be followed because any changes would have needed the Principal's approval. Knowing the Japanese society, it makes a lot of sense. Still, I think it's ridiculous and I refuse to be bound by silly lesson plans...

And that's why it's time I leave this country!!

A New Project

2009-12-11T19:58:00.003+09:00

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

2009-12-10T13:32:00.004+09:00

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

2009-12-07T09:03:00.006+09:00

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

2009-12-01T14:38:00.003+09:00

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!

Back on Track

2009-11-30T09:23:00.003+09:00

Today is the last day of the Nanowrimo. I'm lucky because, well, I have already finished my novel and I exceed the required word count by 20k.

Title: Bergamoth
Word Count: 71111
Pages: 150

My goal was to make 100k words this year but in the end, I had to settle for a shorter novel. When I first started writing, my idea was to make this story a two book series. Then, about halfway, I changed my mind because I felt like I would be able to fit the whole thing in one book. As I was writing a really important part of my plot on Friday night I realized I still had way too much stuff waiting to happen and to be explained so I had to go back to my original idea. In the end, this works well for me, since it gives me a topic for next year's Nanowrimo and one year to brainstorm (ahah, yeah, right.) My friend Gene, who read me every single time I wrote something new (THANK YOU!!!!,) says she can't (and doesn't want to) wait until next year to read the second part! That's the best compliment she could have made :D She still has to wait, tho.

So once again, Nanowrimo was a lot of fun but now it's time for me to get back on track. I've been slacking up; my study and work out routines have suffered a lot. I intend to modify them a little before I start again, tho, since they were a bit too demanding.

I should start blogging regularly soon, as writing 50k words in one month has stopped being the only thing I think about.

See you all pretty soon!

Japanese Men Should be Afraid

2009-11-19T10:59:00.005+09:00

Yesterday Mr. kanmuri showed me something really interesting and I thought I would share it with you. You know how when you enter a word, Google will give you a list of suggestion based on the most popular searches? Well some Japanese person decided to do a test and entered the words "wife" and "husband" to see what suggestions would come up.

First let's take a look at the "wife" results.

So here is what the list says:

1. Wife birthday present ranking
2. Wife birthday present
3. Wife present
4. Wife hysteric
5. Wife how to call
6. Wife depression
7. Wife present ranking
8. Wife bereavement
9. Wife humble language
10. Wife shochu (Japanese vodka)

Looks like those men are trying to please their wives either because they love them or because they cheated on them and got caught. Still, the list looks pretty normal.

Let's take a look at what you get with the word "husband."

So here goes the translation:

1. Husband I want him to die
2. Husband I hate him
3. Husband average pocket money
4. Husband verbal abuse
5. Husband pocket money
6. Husband how to call
7. Husband death paper work
8. Husband lose job
9. Husband depression
10. Husband birthday present

Ahem, is it just me or do I feel a little tension in the air? Interesting to see how what ranked as the number one search item for men (birthday present) ranks last for women's search.

This is all funny to look at but when you think about it, it reflects the traditional Japanese society very well. Man work outside do long hours and often cheat on their wifes; a present is the best to keep the storm from breaking loose. Wives stay at home, raise the children and wish their husbands didn't take them for granted; the frustration is strong enough to want them dead. Of course the Japanese society is changing everyday and it would be incorrect to overgeneralized and say that all Japanese men and women feel like this. Still, this is an interesting window on some Japanese people's inner feelings towards their partners in life.

An Army of Typing Monkeys

2009-11-17T15:00:00.000+09:00

Ok, maybe not an army. There was only three of us after all. But still, we worked as hard as one.

Writing a 50k word novel in one month is a strange adventure. I've personally been through many different phases regarding my novel. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes I love it. Sometimes I want to marry my main character and sometimes I want to beat the crap out of him for being such a sissy. The important thing, though, is to keep on writing, no matter what, and to never, NEVER reread yourself and edit. Claire, I'm saying this for you!

Last Saturday I decided to hold my own little write in event. A write in is basically a gathering with writing as the sole purpose (in theory...) Having people writing next to you is a good incentive. Plus when they're at your house, you can't just stop and watch TV. Unless, of course, you have no pride.

Our goal for the day was 8000 words, no small feat. I made us a little chart thingy to record each time we completed a thousand. We also did word races to see who could write the most word in a given period of time (I lost... )

Including our breaks, we managed to reach our goal within eight hours. We might have done it earlier, but we're girls, we have a certain minimum of words to say everyday... The chatting actually helped a lot. We talked about our plots, the problems that had arisen, what we liked in the books we read, etc. It was like a big brain storming.

Here we are, all lost in our little world...

...well except maybe for Keira, who posed for the camera.

I look really surprised, for some reason.

I really enjoyed the experience and will make sure to organize or a least attend a write in in Montreal next year. Maybe, if I have enough money, I'll try to go to the official Nanowrimo write-a-thon in San Francisco!

Now back to my novel...

Saturday Picture Post: Cute Overload in Yoriki

2009-11-14T15:00:00.000+09:00

These are snapshots I took of my students last week while they were hosting their School Festival. They're just too cute!

Would You Care for Some Salt?

2009-11-13T11:06:00.006+09:00

Today I give you my participation to the 25th Blog This challenge: OLD. This new challenge is a photographic one. I went through my pictures and, as I like ancient stuff,I had many photos of old things; it was kinda hard to decide which one to choose. In the end, I decided to go with the strangest one. Voilà!

This is not ice. This wooden cartwheel is stuck in salt. I took this picture last year in South Australia where they have gigantic salt lakes, remnants of ancient inland seas. This wheel was at least a hundred meters away from the "shore" and was found as is, covered in salt. I wonder what it is doing there. We looked around and could find no traces of the cart itself. The only thing we found was the salty remains of an old wooden pier.

What happened? I have no idea.

What do you think?

Zauo: a place where you can have your fish and eat it!

2009-11-12T09:13:00.000+09:00

My birthday was on Monday and since I'm still a child I requested from Mr. kanmuri a birthday present and a dinner at a fancy restaurant. As a present, I got a long awaited Nintendo Wii Fit (more on that later, I still have to try all the games) and for dinner, my dear husband took me to Zauo.

My friend Ellie had told me once about this great restaurant where people ate in a gigantic boat. I had found the idea interesting and had suggested that we go together sometime. Just like most plans we make, this one was forgotten and we never ended up going. Then two weeks ago, Mr. kanmuri told me about this great restaurant where you could fish your dinner while sitting in a boat. Remembering Ellie's story, I decided that, this time, I wouldn't let the opportunity pass and so I requested that he take me there for my birthday dinner on Saturday.

Apparently, Zauo is really popular in Tokyo and so they request that their customers make reservations online. They then contact them by phone to confirm. That's what Mr. kanmuri did but after three days (the delay given by Zauo) we still hadn't heard from them When I called them, they told me that they were sorry but that they hadn't received anything. Luckily, there was still a spot for us.

On Saturday, we drove to Morioka, my head pounding with a small headache due to my excitement level. Once we got there, I knew the pain had been worth it. A huge wooden boat throned in the middle of the room and it smelled of the sea. The boat was partially immersed in the water that surrounded it on all sides and we had to cross a little bridge to get to our table. In the water all kinds of fish swam around and around at a crazy speed.

Once we sat down, the waiter brought us a small fishing rod and some bait. Mr. kanmuri was the first to give a try at fishing but he had no luck and his bait was taken away by a hungry fish. So he gave me the rod and I tried fishing for the first time of my life.

Within ten minutes I caught a big fish. I don't really remember what it was called (I have zero interest for fish) but what I know is that the sashimi they made out of it was probably the freshest that I have ever had. When they brought it to our table, our catch's fins were still wiggling! Needless to say, it was a real treat!

Now as you can see on the picture, that was a lot of fish for two people and when we were done eating it, we had had our share of raw fish already. So we order from the regular menu which offers all kinds of dishes ranging from friend chicken to spring rolls. I also ordered a few drinks and Mr. kanmuri had alcohol free beer.

All in all this was an amazing dinner and experience but if you feel tempted to go, I recommend you go with a group, so you can try different fish. For those of you of don't eat raw fish, Zauo also offers the option of frying or grilling your catch. Finally, if you intend to go to the Morioka location, make the reservation by phone or just go; the place was literally empty, even though it was a Saturday.

50k Words in 30 days

2009-11-06T13:22:00.004+09:00

As you may have noticed on my widget bar on the left, I am an official participant of Nanowrimo 2009. For those of you who don't know, Nanowrimo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Each year in November, people from around the world sit in front of their computers and type away in order to meet the Nanowrimo's goal: writing a 50 000 word novel in 30 days.

I discovered Nanowrimo in December 2007 and was really sad to see that the event was already over. Last year, I was ready to give the challenge a try. I had the names of my characters but no plot and absolutely no idea where the story would lead. I ended up thirty days later with a 70 000 word novel.

I've been writing stories ever since I was in elementary school and even had a 160 pages manuscript going on when I was in junior high school. Unfortunately, whenever I wrote, I would never finish my stories; I always knew how to start and finish the tale but never how to get from A to B. Last year, the pressure from the deadline forced me to write at a madman's speed and thanks to that, I was able to finish my first story, ever.

Of course the final result is nothing I would even dare to send to a publisher but with a lot of editing, I think it has potential. My friend Gen, who keeps me going by reading my new updates daily, surely seems to think so. I must say, tho, that I prefer the novel I'm currently writing.

So far I have 17600 words. I plan to rocket that to 25k this weekend. If you are doing the Nanowrimo, I would love to become your writing buddy. I go by the name of kanmuri and this is my profile page.

To learn more about nanowrimo, please take a look at their excellent website.

Because I like biting bread off a stick

2009-11-04T16:07:00.001+09:00

November came and suddenly it's as if the Gods have realized they had left the heater's switch on; they turned it off. It is coooold! Since our house has no insulation (Yay! for Japanese houses) we have the joy of waking up to a nice 10 degrees Celsius... It makes getting out of bed even harder.

We got our first snowfall on Monday night continuing through Tuesday morning but it all melted away. It'll be a while before it stays. I saw pictures of that crazy snowfall in the US and it makes me glad to be sitting at my heated table, inside.

Last Saturday, Mr. kanmuri and I braved the early morning cold and drove to Morioka to take part in the Lalala's International Sports Festival. Lalala is a small international group which organizes numerous activities to promote cultural exchange. You can learn more about them here.

During my career as a teacher in Japan I have seen many Sports Festival but up until last Sunday, I had never taken part into one. This sports event was modelled after the ones taking place in elementary schools. It was tons of fun.

Here are some pictures. I will try to explain the different competitions. If you want to know more about the origin of sports festivals in Japan take a look at this post I wrote a while ago.

Our team, the White team.

Bread Eating Competition

In this activity we had to walk in hoops to reach the pole with dangling bags of bread. Then, we had to bite off the bags with our teeth.

Victory is mine

Caterpillar Walk

For this activity we had to walk in a huge cardboard caterpillar and then push a ball around with a stick.

Pop the Balloon

This game was really simple. We all tied balloons to our legs and then had to pop the balloons of the opposite team.

Throw the balls in the basket

The title pretty much says it all. The first team to finish wins. We won twice because our team had all the tall people :D I don't have pictures of us in action because everyone took part in the game.

Boot Camp

I don't know what this one was called but it reminded be of a military exercise with the net thing. Simple game, we had to crawl under the net, and then take down paper baskets with a ball attached to a string.

Race

I'm sure this game has a name but I don't know it. Ten people of each team tied their feet to two parallel ropes and raced across the gym. We won, two times :D

In the end, our team won by two points and Mr. kanmuri was chosen as the MVP of the event.

Both Red and White teams

And lastly...

I got the sliced bread... oh yeah!

Wedding Favors: A poll!!

2009-10-29T11:10:00.000+09:00

It seems like all I post about lately is weddings... I hope my male readers will forgive me. Today I want your opinion on wedding favours. I'm trying to figure out what I should give my guests and would like to know what you would like to receive, were you to come to my wedding. My wedding will be held in February so I decided to use a winter/snow theme.

Snowflake wine bottle stopper

Snowflake coasters

Snowflake ornament

Tiffany blue sugared almond set

Fancy chocolates

What favours would you like to receive (select two)?

I also intend to buy a few goodies in South East Asia to complete the gift bags and I'm thinking about making cookies, too. If you have any good ideas, please share them with me!!

Hybrid Wedding

2009-10-27T21:46:00.000+09:00

In my post about the Japanese wedding, I mentioned that I also had been to another wedding during the same weekend. Today, I want to tell you more about that one.

I must say that I had really high expectations for that second wedding because I knew it was going different; my friend Ellie, an American girl, was getting married to Eiji, a Japanese guy. I just couldn't wait to see how they would reconcile two wedding traditions. I was not to be disappointed.

Once again I could go about the party for ages but I'll stick to the things that were interesting. Although quinn has assured me that no one can be electrocuted by the low voltage of a keyboard, I still don't want to take a chance!!

1. Exchange of the rings

Not only did the two exchange the usual rings, but they also exchanged bracelets that one of their friends had made especially for them. I thought it was a nice that they included the bracelets, too. Plus, it was a beautiful display of friendship.

2. Sake drinking

In Japanese traditional wedding ceremonies, the groom and the bride usually drink sake. They share the same cup and drink the alcohol in three sips. Although Ellie and Eiji decided against a formal ceremony, they still decided to keep this element and performed this little ritual during the reception. Mr. kanmuri told me that it was only water, not real sake. I need to ask Ellie about that. Anyway, it was really interesting and I was glad I could see it.

3. Sake barrel

Not long after the sake drinking ritual, the groom and the bride were joined by their parents on the stage for another ritual: breaking a sake barrel open. With wooden mallets in hand, they all stood around the barrel and broke it open at the wedding stalker's signal. The barrel wasn't actually full; only a small part at the top contained alcohol. They then poured the liquid in little square lacquered wooden boxes called masu. I'm pretty sure they drank from them but I don't remember...

4. Changing

This usually happens in most Asian weddings and it did happen at the other wedding I talked about, although I didn't mention it. About half way through the reception, Ellie and Eiji went away and changed from their Japanese traditional outfits into the traditional western white dress and tuxedo. Ellie's dress was really simple but she looked stunning. As for Eiji, he was dashing.

5. The Cake

This time, we were treated to real cake, not paper cake! After the lovebirds did the traditional cutting of the cake, they fed each other a big bite of it and it was then taken away to be cut into portions for everyone. Ellie actually told me that she had to fight with the wedding planners to make sure that they would serve the cake to the guests: apparently, they wanted us to take it home! The cake was served outside and the whole reception started looking like a big BBQ.

6. Games

When she was planning her wedding, Ellie told me that she would try to have some dancing at the reception. For me, dancing is an integral part of the western wedding reception; I just love it. Unfortunately, this is a fight Ellie didn't win. There isn't any dancing at Japanese wedding receptions. In fact, the bride even told me that some of her friends had seemed appalled at the idea and were considering whether to go to the wedding or not on these grounds. I guess that the idea of looking awkward on the dance floor was a big turn off for them. Luckily, Ellie and Eiji managed to have some games during the reception. It was all very cute and amusing.

7. Bouquet and Balloons

On our way out after the reception was over, Ellie and Eiji gave us helium balloons. Once everyone had a balloon, Ellie threw her bouquet and my friend Claire (from the Mount Fuji excursion) caught it. According to Mr. kanmuri, she jumped a meter high... at least! After the bouquet, we we all released our balloons and watched them fly away. It was really beautiful, yet it had me concerned about the environment: where would these balloon fall and who would pick them up?

8. Napkins

This I learned after the wedding was over and thought was really funny. Ellie told be that they had to buy all the napkins (that's about 140 of them) because apparently, Japanese people like to take the dirty napkins home after the reception! Guess what? Yeah, I didn't take mine home...

All in all it was beautiful wedding with a good balance of laughs and tears. It was grand, but not lavish. It was perfect and I'm glad Ellie did me the honour of inviting me.

Finally, maybe you have noticed Ellie's round belly on the pictures; actually, the newlyweds are awaiting the arrival of their first child; a sweet baby boy! Congratulations to both of them!

Award!

2009-10-25T19:40:00.004+09:00

I was reading Elizabeth Bond's latest entry on her blog, I Can't Believe It's Not Dead!, and was surprised to see that she had nominated Turning Iwatean for the Over the Top Award! First I want to thank her and second I want you to go take a look at her blog, a great resource for vegan recipes.

And now, I shall pass the award along!

1. Where is your cell phone? Probably in my bag.
2. Your hair? On my head, thank you.
3. Your mother? In Canada.
4. Your father? In Canada, too.
5. Your favorite food? Cheese curds. Only available in Quebec.
6. Your dream last night? Crazy story. I was in a water slide competition. The goal was to pick up the stuff people would put on the slide (ice cream, DVDs...) then climb the slide back up....
7. Your favorite drink? Homemade smoothies
8. Your dream/goal? Publish a book. Travel the world.
9. What room are you in? My living room.
10. Your hobby? Reading, hiking, traveling, studying, writing.
11. Your fear? Dying before having done all the things I want to do.
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? In Europe or Canada
13. Where were you last night? Home.
14. Something you aren’t? Skinny.
15. Muffins? Muffin tops.
16. Wish list item? A calorie counting scale
17. Where did you grow up? Montreal's North Shore.
18. Last thing you did? Dinner. We had Japanese curry and rice.
19. What are you wearing? Jeans and a top.
20. Your TV? Tetsuwan Dash.
21. Your pets? My husband. Oh and Dandy, our stray cat.
22. Your friends? Caroline and Genevieve. Many more, of course, but these two have known me for a long time.
23. Your life? Making it up as I go.
24. Your mood? Full but wondering if I should cave in and have some green tea ice cream.
25. Missing someone? My dad.
27. Something you’re not wearing? Make up.
28. Your favorite store? Jupiter. It's an imports shop in Morioka. It has all the goodies I miss from home.
29. Your favorite color? I don't have one.
30. When was the last time you laughed? A few moments ago.
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday
32. Best Friend? Genevieve
33. One place that I go over and over again? Home
34. One person who emails me regularly? My dad.
35. Favorite place to eat? At home.

Now here are 5 blogs that I really like and that I read regularly. I follow a whole lot so don't be sad if I don't nominate you!

Tracey's Culinary Adventures
Ex Hot Girl
Finnegan Begin Again
Kitchen Stewardship
No Telling

Japanese Wedding Bells

2009-10-22T20:12:00.000+09:00

Taken from the ferry, on our way to Hokkaido.

I love weddings. Even though they cost a lot, I just love them because they give me the opportunity to dress up and that's one of my pleasures in life. I know it sounds selfish but saying that I love wedding because of the beauty of two people swearing eternal love to each other would just be a lie; I like dressing up. So I was very excited two weeks ago when I not only had one, but two weddings in the same weekend! (My bank account was wailing.)

I like to pose...

I won't talk about both weddings today because the post would be really long. Today, I'll just cover the one in Hokkaido.

Enter the newlyweds...

Up until two weeks ago, I had never been to a Japanese wedding. The only thing I knew about them was they they were expensive. Oh! And boring. Very, very boring. If I had a dollar for each time I was told they are boring, I would be... well not rich, but I would have enough money to go eat out! However, since I believed I was going to be utterly bored, the wedding turned out to be quite enjoyable; my low expectations saved me from disappointment.

A toast

We didn't get to go to the actual ceremony (we hadn't been invited) but the reception was really nice. Now I won't go through the whole thing because I don't want you guys to fall asleep on your keyboard and die from electrocution because of the drool that fell in between the keys; I will only cover the stuff I thought was interesting/strange/unexpected.

1. The Groom and the Bride don't get to eat.

As a general rule, Japanese people like to have a schedule. They like to know what takes place when and how. It is the same thing for wedding receptions. There were so many different events keeping the groom and bride busy that they never even got around to eat. I don't think they even got to sit more than 5 minutes at a time. Nothing, absolutely, nothing was left to chance. We, the guest, were entertained on a tight schedule, even while we ate. I personally think it is sad that the newlyweds don't get the time to sit down, relax and enjoy their meal. Worse, they don't even have time to chat with their guests!

2. Wedding Stalkers

Since the newlyweds are on such a tight schedule, they are always followed by what I like to call the Wedding Stalkers. These people (usually one for the groom and one for the bride) follow the couple around all evening, telling them when to bow, what to say and all sorts of random cues. They even kneel behind them when they're sitting. There really is no space for spontaneity.

3. The parents of the newlywed have to work.

Usually, in Japanese wedding receptions, the parents of the couple gets to sit in the far back of the room while people from work sit the closest to the newlywed. I personally think this is preposterous but that's the way it works here. Luckily, at this wedding, they were sitting at the front. Once everyone started eating, the parents of both the groom and the bride got up and went around the reception hall pouring beer to every. single. guest. That just blew my mind. I surely wouldn't want my dad to have to go around and serve beer to 200 people. While pouring the beer, the parents would thank the guests for coming to the wedding. Personally, I prefer thank you cards.

4. Paper cake.

Cutting the cake together is something newlyweds also do in Canada. It's a cute custom and there is always a lot of cake to face "accidents." The cake for this wedding was HUGE. I was amazed that the whole thing did not topple over until my friend told me it was actually made of paper. In fact, they only insert whipped cream at the base so that when the couple "cuts" the cake something sticks on the knife. How sad is that?! I was looking forward to eating that delicious looking cake! Apparently, the cutting the cake tradition made it here but the eating part got lost on the way!

You can't have your cake and eat it.

5.Candle lighting ceremony.

I thought this was really romantic. After we were mostly done eating, the lights were turned off and the bride and groom walked around the hall, lighting the candles on each tables. Then, they would ask everyone to stand with them for a picture. It was really cute to see them come and go and really funny to watch one of our friends go to each table to be in each picture. My guess is that the tradition comes from the actual Christian wedding ceremony during which the couple light up candles at the church.

6. Wedding favors

In Canada, I have never been to a wedding where the guests got to bring bags of goodies home. I don't know if it's not part of our customs of if I was just never lucky. The bags we got were really nice; we got cake, sausages and bacon! This was all really new and exciting to me. I love receiving gifts!

7. Underwear Men Dance

Since the groom is a snowboard addict (he's really good and has been in many competitions, according to Mr. kanmuri,) many of his snowboarder friends were present at the reception. And since their snowboarding group likes having a good time, we had the chance to see their trademark dance; the underwear dance. This was the highlight of the whole reception and I now strongly believe that no wedding reception is complete without guys dancing in their underwear! I'm sure the parents and older folks were appalled but I surely did enjoy the show!

My heroes

They were amazing!

All in all, it was a nice wedding reception and I really enjoyed myself. I still think, however, that I have yet to see a real Japanese wedding.

Mr.kanmuri and I are totally dwarfing them.

Saturday Picture Post: White

2009-10-17T15:00:00.000+09:00

Today, since I didn't have anything special to post for the Saturday Picture Post, I decided to go through my pictures and do a colour theme. Today is white! Enjoy!

So many different whites!!

On Rubber Boots and Rice

2009-10-16T13:10:00.002+09:00

A little more than a week ago (the Sunday after I climbed Mount Himekami,) I woke up at 6am, cooked breakfast then put on my rubber boots before jumping in the car with Mr. kanmuri and one of my friends. What was I doing with rubber boots on on an early Sunday morning? I was on my way to harvest rice! Yup, I got up at 6am on my day off to go do volunteer manual work in a rice field. I know, I know; I need to sort out my priorities!

This, obviously, was not something I did on the spur of the moment. No, this rice harvesting thing is actually a big event held every year by the town of Inakadate in Aomori Prefecture. Now this is not just regular harvesting; the fields people get to play farm in are actually two big pieces of art. By using different types of rice plants, the rice field artists of Inakadate create huge pictures in the fields. Thus, this event not only offers a good opportunity to learn about Japanese tradition but it also works as a big publicity stunt for the small community. Volunteers come from all over the country to work the fields and are rewarded with a hot meal after their hard work.

Last year's field art

I first learned about this event last year when a friend of mine invited me to participate. I had a great time and decided that I wanted to do it again this year. I decided to share the experience and organized a little event around the activity. Of last year's group, no one except me showed up, but many newcomers participated and we really had a blast! Unfortunately, the event was a little smaller this year and we didn't get to buy yummy rice ice cream nor to climb up the tower to observe the rice field art.

Here are a few pictures of our "hard work." I must confess that I worked a whole lot less this year; the novelty had worn off. Plus I had a good excuse: I had to make sure my peeps were having fun!

Dana playing Miss Harvest 2009

He looks unhappy, but by the end, Mr. kanmuri was a pro.

Murder at the harvest party

Tying up the stocks

Peace!!

Farmers of the year

My peeps :D

A random Japanese man came to us and asked if he could take pictures of us with the hat!

These old ladies knew what they were doing. They worked a lot faster than us!!

Rice is stacked to dry on these posts.

Up to no good

If you are interested in participating next year, contact Inakadate's Sangyouka around mid-September. Their phone number is 0172-58-2111. Take note that they don't speak English. The town also offers a traditional rice planting experience in May. For more information call the number above or consult their website.

Dum dum da dum, dum dum da dum...

2009-10-15T09:42:00.012+09:00

Last weekend Mr. kanmuri and I went to Hokkaido for the wedding of one of his friends (I will tell you more about the wedding soon!!) Since we were going to be in Sapporo anyway, I decided to arrange a meeting with our wedding planner. Why meet with a wedding planner if you're already married, you ask? Well the thing is that although we have been married for more than a year, we've actually never had a wedding ceremony. Now this might sound strange, but it is common in Japan to have the actual ceremony a few months or even years after the couple is officially married. Of course, a lot of people also get officially married on the day of the ceremony, too.

I had always wanted a nice wedding, like most girls do, but when I saw the price for a Japanese wedding I decided that I didn't want to spend that much money for one day; I have better uses for 25, 000$. And so I had given up, telling myself that pictures would be more than enough. Then, one night, I was watching TV and saw an interesting report on a wedding business called Petit Wedding. According to the show, Petit Wedding offered weddings for about 1,000$. I looked them up immediately and soon after I was signing our contract. I was going to have my wedding after all!!

So last Sunday we headed for the Petit Wedding Sapporo office to discuss our wedding ceremony's details and try on our outfits. As we discussed with our wedding planner, I found myself on the verge of tears several times; I was so excited. I don't even want to think about the wedding ceremony itself; I'll probably be crying for most of it. I hope they have waterproof mascara!!

I tried on about four or five dresses but I knew which one I wanted as soon as I put it on. Here are pictures of two of the dresses I tried on. I won't tell you which one I chose, so please try to guess and vote in the poll. Oh and don't let my facial expression fool you; after an hour of trying dresses, I was starting to get tired.

Which dress will kanmuri wear to the wedding?

Blog This Challenge 20: 10 things you want to do in your lifetime

2009-10-14T10:07:00.020+09:00

My schedule has been so hectic lately that I just couldn't find any time to blog. I still have many stories to tell you but today I will take a break and use a little help from Blog This for inspiration.

This week's challenge is to write about 10 things you want to do in your lifetime. Let's roll!

1. Master at least 5 languages
I think I first became interested in languages at around the age of eleven. I was reading a Jules Verne novel ( A Journey to the Centre of the Earth) and came across a word I had never seen before: polyglot. Luckily, my book was a young reader's edition and included a glossary at the end. After looking up the word, I was really surprised to discover that some people could speak so many languages; at the time, I only spoke French. Impressed, I continued reading my book and the word "polyglot" found itself a nice little corner in my mind before falling asleep. In junior high school, I had to study English and Spanish; I really hated it, especially the Spanish. I wanted to be able to speak these languages, but the classes were a bore. In high school, I continued with English but quit studying Spanish as it was not mandatory anymore. I still didn't like my English class but I found it useful for it helped me understand the shows on YTV and the Backstreet boys' songs. In the meantime, however, I had a strong interest for my own language, French, and enjoyed my literature and grammar classes at lot. I finally got seriously hooked on foreign languages once I started studying Japanese in college. I dreamt of going to Japan and I knew I needed to speak Japanese to live there; I had found what I had been lacking all along: a goal. Since then I have tried to learn many languages (German, Cantonese, Korean) and I've perfected the ones I already knew. I can now easily switch back and forth between Japanese, French and English. Lately, I've been working really hard on getting back the Spanish I dreaded so much. Once I'm fluent in it, I want to tackle another language. I love talking to people and getting to know different cultures and I find that learning a new language is a good way to do so.

2. Backpack around Europe
I've only been to Europe once, but what I saw during those three weeks in June 2005 gave me enough reasons to become infatuated with the old world. History is one of my biggest passions and Europe has enough of it to last me a lifetime. There are so many places and stories to discover! When I was in France, I was so excited to see the streets that had been mentioned in all the French literature classics I had read! Lately I'm really into Ancient Rome and I'm dying to walk in the steps of the Caesar! I really want to see more!!! For the moment I can only plan a one month trip to Italy, but one day, I will do it! I will backpack around Europe!

3. Live and work in Europe
Since I want to see Europe so bad, I figured that living and working there would offer me the best opportunity to travel around at a low cost. I'm not sure yet how this will fit in my future plans, but we'll see. I especially would love living in Spain, France or the Czech Republic.

4. Buy a house in Tuscany
The book "Under the Tuscan Sun" has everything to do with this. The idea of buying an old house in Italy, renovating it and living in it after retirement just strongly appeals to me. I'm pretty sure my husband would be against this, but I still have a lot of time left to convince him.

5. Backpack around South East Asia for a year
It was in college that I first heard of people taking entire years off to travel. At the time, I thought that the idea was preposterous. I must say that I had a pretty narrow view of life and that I couldn't quite see how such a thing was possible. It was just way too off the beaten track for me; plus, it sounded really expensive. No thank you. However, now that I've been to more than 10 countries, the idea really sounds appealing. After having lived in Japan for so long, I realize that I'm already living off the beaten track and that I don't think I will ever be to go back to the ordinary way of live I used enjoy. Just like the Europe backpacking tour, I'm not sure when I will take this year off, but we'll see. I usually get what I want.

6. Publish a book
If I remember correctly, I wrote my first short story when I was in fourth grade. It was a "horror story" and my teacher (or was it my mom?) had been kind enough to type it. I had then shared it with my friends. After that I was almost always writing something. Back then, we didn't have a computer and I still have folders filled with loose leaves covered in my scribblings. Writing was great for me because I could do it everywhere; when bored in class, I would take a piece of paper and start writing. I never got caught because no one could really tell if I was taking notes or not. Most of the stories of that period have potential but are full of plot holes so big they could contain Canada! My sister likes to read them out loud to me just to embarrass me. Unfortunately, my passion for writing cooled down with college; I had no time to write. Even now, I rarely sit down to write. I still think of thousands of plot lines in my head, but sitting down to write them just feels like a pain. Luckily, last year, I found the National Novel Writing Month website and decided to participate. Even though 50 000 words in 30 days sounded preposterous, I still managed. And the best part? It felt soooooo good! So this year I will participate again. In the meantime, I'm editing last year's novel. Hopefully, one day, I will see it on the shelves of a big bookstore.

7. See a cinematographic adaptation of one of my novels
When I write my novels, I always use background music; it inspires me a lot and helps me to see the scene. It sometimes takes me a long time to find the best track, but once I do, my fingers fly on the keyboard. I also tend to mimic my characters' facial expressions with my own face (and this is one of the reasons I can't write well around people.) In other words, my novels are built around a lot of visual, and I would love to be able to turn one of my novel into a movie. That way, I would be able to show people what I had in mind when I wrote a specific scene. I know I probably wouldn't have much to say if it actually happened, but one can always dream.

8. Own a big house with a big kitchen
I looooooooove cooking and the kitchen I have right now is terrible (just another 5 months to go!!!) I wish I could have a big house in the countryside with a huge kitchen. I would, of course, design the kitchen myself and make sure I had space for everything. Unfortunately, the big house dream does not reconcile with the travelling the world dream; I will have to make choices...or become really rich.

9. Have a daughter

Lately my hormones have been telling me that I need to have children. It's probably just my biological clock ticking but I now found myself looking at babies all the time. I actually think I have almost decided to have one when I turn 30... We'll see. Anyway, if I have a child, I really, really want to have a daughter. I want to dress her up, teach her what I know and become the best mom this universe has ever seen. Now this dream conflicts many of the travelling ones but I'm sure I'll find a way to reconcile all of them... or become rich.

10. Become a vampire
Finally, becoming a vampire seems to be the best way to be able to do #1 to 9. You see, with all these projects, what I lack the most is time. If I was a vampire, I would have all the time (and money!!) I need to accomplish everything I dream of. Mind you, I don't want to become a "Twilight" vampire. No, sir! I'm a hardcore Anne Rice fan! So if any of you happen to cross Lestat's path, can you tell him to give me a call?

Saturday Picture Post: Shizukuishi Fureai Talk

2009-10-10T15:00:00.001+09:00

On September 26th I took part in an international exchange event in Shizukuishi. It was called Fureai talk. Including myself, thirteen foreigners participated in the event. We had the chance to go to a local hot spring, make Japanese sweets and meet with the children living in the area. That night, we were taken to our host family's house and had a great time (My host mom was the same age as me... ). The next day we had a two hour discussion about mangas and the chance to do calligraphy. I personally skipped that and went home, as I was not feeling so well. Here are the pictures!

Kunimi Onsen, a 200 year old hot spring.

Around the hot spring

Our lunch... we had to pay 500yen for that!

Making sweets

These little girls had me run around a lot.

Mixing the dough

Here are the sweets!!

CANADA!!!!!

Playing the koto

My fan club (minus the boy)

Sansa Dance

My host parents... About my age o.O

Mount Iwate's little sister: Mount Himekami

2009-10-09T09:36:00.007+09:00

Last Saturday, the weather was strange. It would rain one moment, and be super sunny the next. We had decided to climb Mount Himekami and although I was having second thoughts about it, Mr. kanmuri was adamant: we were going to climb that mountain no matter what. Once he sets his mind on doing something, there nothing I can do to stop him; all that was left to do was to follow.

Funny sign. I think the bunny is trying to put out the fire, but it still looks like a maniac.

Compare to the other mountains in the area, Mount Himekami, with it's 1123 meters, is not really high. That doesn't mean it wasn't rough, tho. At the foot of the mountain, the path winds in a forest of tall straight cryptomeria japonicas. Mr. kanmuri explained to me that this was not a natural forest and that the tree had been planted there because their straight trunks make perfect lumber. Unfortunately, most Japanese people now suffer from allergies due to the trees' pollen.

The path we chose was the Ipponsugi trail (One cryptomeria tree trail) and we soon came to understand the meaning of the name when we stumbled upon a gigantic cryptomeria. I didn't find any signs saying how old it was but it must have been at least 4 or 5 hundred years old.

One cryptomeria tree trail sign.

Dude! It's huuuuge!!

After that, the path did stay in the cover of the treeｓ but we were soon out of the cryptomeria forest. That was the beginning of my suffering; from that point on, it was going to be stairs only. It did make sense to have them there, since the clay soil was really slippery but it still made the hike a whole lot more difficult for me. Mr. kanmuri, of course, was flying up ahead of me... He has the bad habit of forgetting that I am there when we hike; I always have to yell at him to make sure he waits for me.

Hell's Stairway

Wait for me!!!

Once we finally reached the top of the last flight of stairs, a path becoming ever more encumbered with boulders lied ahead of us. At that point, the trees were significantly shorter and had lost more of their foliage. It smelled of autumn and kinda reminded me of home. I actually really enjoyed that part of the hike. A few meters before the summit, the path disappeared under hundreds of boulder and we had to skip from one to the other to make our way. That was a lot of fun, too.

Mr. kanmuri likes to do dangerous things to see me worry.

I swear, I didn't mean to push him off the cliff...

The view at the top was beautiful. We had a perfect 360 view of the land surrounding us. Mount Himekami is just high enough that we can clearly see everything below. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy for my camera to take a good shot. We were lucky enough to find other people at the summit and so we asked them to take a picture of us. Once again, my camera threatened to die but it survived just long enough for us to get a nice shot.

The whole hike took us about three hours and a half (including our stop at the top.) It is a nice hike, in spite of the stairs, and I recommend you give it a try if you're in the Morioka area.

Unless we climb any mountains in South East Asia, this was our last hike for this year.

In Front of Them All - A Glimpse at North Korea

2009-10-07T17:13:00.003+09:00

First I want to apologize; it seems like I hadn't answered your comments since last week. I'm sorry about that, but now the problem is fixed. All set? Good.

As I promised, today I want to talk about my visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ is the no-man's land that separates North and South Korea. I'm sure you've all heard of the "38th parallel," it's an expression often used in the media to refer to the area. Actually, the DMZ does not follow the 38th parallel; in fact, it has nothing to do with it. The only reason it is used is that when the cease-fire was agreed on in 1953, both Northern and Southern armies had roughly stopped at around that line. It is funny for the DMZ to be called the "Demilitarized Zone" because this 4km wide no-man's land strip of land that cuts the country in two is actually the most militarized area of the whole peninsula.

The Korean war (1950-1953) is a really complex war and I do not want to go in depth here but to make a long story short, not long after the Korean peninsula was liberated from the Japanese occupation, the North, with communist allies, launched an attack on the capitalist South. Using the effect of surprise, the North managed to invade most of the South until it was pushed back to the borders of China by the joint Korean and UN forces. Unfortunately, China joined forces with the North and managed to push the South again. The war was waged for many more months, the North and the South both pushing each other back and forth across the 38th parallel until a cease-fire was agreed on. Thus, the DMZ was created.

They make if look like a theme park...

Our visit started at the Imjingak Park, a park just outside the DMZ. The place was really weird because it also had an amusement park. According to our guide, many families go there on the weekend to picnic. I personally found the idea of going for a family day out right next to the DMZ a little disturbing... In the park, we were able to see the Freedom bridge which is an important place for many Korean people as it was this bridge that was used in 1953 to exchange POW. Unfortunately, the bridge is now closed and thousands of South Korean are still waiting for their loved ones to return home from the North. Many North Koreans now living in the South also are dying without being able to see there hometown one more time. Now the bridge is covered in colourful strips of fabric each one a wish for the reunification.

Freedom Bridge

Hopes and Wishes

Next we entered the DMZ through the Reunification Bridge, where our passports were checked, and we were taken to the Dora observatory. From there, we could clearly see the North Korean propaganda village and its gigantic flagpole. We were only allowed to take pictures within a yellow rectangle traced on the concrete. UN soldiers, mainly Korean personnels, we're keeping a close eye on us.

Dora Observatory

A glimpse of North Korea

We then moved on to go see Dorasan Station, which is the last train station on the South Korean side. The Korean people hope that someday, trains to Pyongyang will run from there. For the time being, Dorasan is a ghost station and the only trains that go through it are freight trains which bring supplies to the Hyundai plants in North Korea.

Maybe one day...

Our next stop was the 3rd tunnel. In 1974, the South made an alarming discovery: a North Korean tunnel that stretched far under the DMZ and facing Seoul. They immediately started to search for other ones. They discovered others in 1975, 1978 and 1990 and believe that there are probably a total of 20 of them. All tunnels are facing Seoul. Two meter square, the tunnels, if they had been completed, would have allowed about 10 000 armed foot soldiers to cross to South Korea within an hour. North Korea however, denies those claims and says the tunnels are abandoned coal mines. Unfortunately, there is no coal to be found for miles in that area. Still North Korea maintains its claims and the tunnels were even "painted" with coal powder. The 3rd tunnel is the only one open to public and only the South Korean part can be accessed as North Korea promptly made sure the tunnels collapsed on themselves after they were discovered.

Happy to be out of the tunnel

Now this attraction is not for the claustrophobic. To get to the tunnel, which is 73 meters under the ground, we rode a monorail for 250m. That part managed to make some people sick. Then, we got off and got to walk in the 25 or so meters of the tunnel. The ceiling was low and water was dripping everywhere. I was glad our guide kept on talking, because I could easily picture myself giving way to panic in such a confined area. As we were not allowed to bring anything with us, I wasn't able to take pictures of the inside of the tunnel.

Blue buldings are UN and grey ones North Korean. The UN soldiers like to call the grey building the monkey house, as North Korean soldiers have a tendency to pull the curtains and give the finger to tourists.

After a quick lunch, we headed for Panmunjom or the Joint-Security Area (JSA). Now that area is a hot spot. Many of Panmunjom's buildings are set right on the line dividing North and South. This is where all conjoint talks between North and South are held. However, it is not where the original cease-fire was signed; the first Panmunjom was at a different place is is now on North Korean ground. To go into the high security area, we first had our passports checked then we were asked to change buses. We used a military bus; nothing is left to chance there. Before we got to the JSA, we crossed Camp Bonifas, where the UN soldiers working in the DMZ live. Camp Boniface was named after Captain Bonifas who was murdered during the Axe Murder Incident of 1976.

Standing on the border

Say "Kimchiiii!"

Keeping an eye on the North

When we finally got to Panmunjom, we were asked to walk in two lines and to follow instructions. Pictures could only be taken at certain places and with the authorization of our guide. We got to go in the UN building on the frontier and were also allowed to cross over to the North Korean side (the doors were locked.) Outside, UN soldiers were keeping an eye on the North for us. They actually only do that when there are tourists around. Then, we were taken to a small belvedere where we were able to see a North Korean soldier looking at us with binoculars from the other side. We were allowed to take pictures but warned that we should never point or make gestures at them for they take pictures of tourists and use them as propaganda. I managed to get a few close-ups.

I can seeeeee you :D Look at the window on his right. There is a camera lens.

On the way back, we stopped at a souvenir shop in Camp Bonifas (gotta love tours...) and Mr. kanmuri bought the same sunglasses the serious UN soldiers wear. Silliness ensued.

This tour was an amazing experience and even though I was nervous most of the time we were at the JSA, I must say that I am happy I did it. If you visit South Korea, make sure you go to the DMZ. For more info, check out the Service Club website.

Who knows, maybe one day, we'll be able to visit the DMZ from the Northern side...

A Korean Tale, Part 2

2009-10-05T14:55:00.001+09:00

I had a really busy weekend and I have so many things to tell you but first, I must tell you about the rest of my trip to Korea. It'll soon be two weeks that we're back and I'm pretty sure I'll start forgetting stuff soon. If you haven't read the first part, take a look at part 1.

On Sunday (September 20,) we woke up a little late and decided to go for a small hike on Namsan, a small mountain in the centre of the city. It was sunny and the temperature was just perfect. It was an easy hike, even though some parts were a bit steep, and once we reached the top, we bought tickets to go up the Seoul N Tower. Since the tower is built on high ground, the view is magnificent. I have this weird obsession that makes me go up the towers of each city I go to. The funny part is that once I'm up there, I take a few shots and go down within five to ten minutes. I wonder what my brain is craving...

When we got down, we found out that a group of Korean martial arts professionals were about to give a demonstration next to the tower. We sat down and watch the amazing moves and great costumes. I think Mr. kanmuri was a bit bored, but he didn't say anything. I think this demonstration is held every Sunday afternoon.

After that we headed for Itaewon, an international area of Seoul, and grabbed some gyros for dinner. Then, we walked around the area to check the local mosque, the giant spiders at the museum of art and a strange shopping centre - the Hamilton Hotel Shopping Centre- that looked as if it had stopped restocking in the 80s; it was, to say the least, eerie.

The next day, we had planned a little day trip outside Seoul but we woke up to the sound of rain hitting the pavement so we had to change our itinerary. This proved to be really difficult because most tourist attractions and Museums are closed on Mondays. Luckily there were still a few places open. We first went to the Namsangol Hanok village which is a small village with restored traditional Korean houses. The rain stopped just long enough for us to go around and see what the place had to offer. I'm a big fan of traditional architecture (I like old buildings, regardless of the country) and so I was in heaven. I must say, however, that the best part was that I got to wear a hanbok (traditional Korean wear) for less than a dollar! I even got to take pictures in it! Traditional costumes are another of my passions. Mr. kanmuri doesn't like to dress up so he kindly acted as my photographer.

After that, we headed for another part of the city and climbed another of the many mountains of Seoul to go see a temple. I unfortunately forgot the names of the mountain and temple; I will look them up later and update the information. On that mountain, we also got a close look at the old city walls. Halfway through our hike, we got caught by heavy rain and we were soaked through and through when we finally got down. The meal we had a the tiny local restaurant (it looked like someone's kitchen) warmed us back to life! My shoes were still very wet, tho...

That night we didn't do much; we had dinner with my sister and went back to our hostel.

Watch out for the next post; it should cover the demilitarized zone!

Nice exercisers, in the park, for free!

Mr kanmuri, going for the gold

Seoul N Tower

Seoul, a sea of white buildings

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHG

Mosque in Itaewon

Spiders. I have seen the same in Roppongi and apparently we have them in Ottawa as well.

Being silly, take 2

Traditional Korean House (for the rich)

Serious Korean nobleman (you can see Mr kanmuri's ear on the right...)

Pure happiness!

Seoul's old city walls

Saturday Picture Post: Korean Food!!!

2009-10-03T15:00:00.002+09:00

One of the things I like the most about traveling is tasting the local cuisine and discovering new flavors. As I have mentioned here, I rarely go to the fancy restaurants; it can be an adventure just to order something. I think that a third of our time in South Korea was spent eating! Enjoy the pictures but make sure you don't drool on you keyboard!

Bibimbap

Ice cream and silk worms... apparently the kids love it. We didn't try.

Toppogi: rice cake with spicy sauce. Sold on the street.

Dried squid and octopus

Dumpling soup

The different items on the platter are to be rolled in the rice crepes in the middle. I loved it, Mr. kanmuri hated it.

This is the foods the kings used to eat. It was peculiar and expensive but totally worth it; don't ask Mr. Kanmuri, tho, he'll tell you it was cr*p!

You know you're in trouble when...

2009-10-02T14:10:00.004+09:00

Just look at him, you know you're in trouble

...you hear: "We're gonna have to make some changes around here." Actually, I'm not looking for trouble, but I do want to "make some changes around here." In fact, I have already started and you're probably blind if you haven't noticed the new template. I was getting tired of the other one and I wanted something a little bit more autumnish. So here we are. Funny thing is that this is a Canadian themed template :D

I've also started cleaning up the tags; with over 600 of them, it was starting to get hard to find something. I'm currently in the process of erasing all the previous tags in order to start anew so it should be a little harder to find stuff around here in the days to come. But don't worry, the new version will be fa-bu-lous!

Lastly, I've been thinking about this for a while now but I'm wondering if I should soon change the name of the blog. Well, I say soon but in fact I intend to wait until I go back to Canada. Once I'm back for good, the blog will start having less and less to do with Japan and so I want to find something more general. I was thinking about changing the URL but after doing my homework I realized that it would be a lot of trouble for me and my followers so I decided against it.

Anyhoo, that's all for today. I wish you all a nice weekend (yeah, it's already Friday afternoon for me) and I'll see you all on Monday!

A Korean Tale, Part1

2009-10-01T11:04:00.008+09:00

It's already October! Am I the only one wondering where September went? I'm not too sad tho, because autumn is my favourite season. I just love the changing colours, the golden light of the sun in the late afternoon and the rainy days. These days, I find myself longing for a rainy afternoon to spend reading, sitting comfortably on the couch with a blanket! Ahhh, autumn! How I love thee!

Today I thought that I had procrastinated long enough and that it was time I started sharing my Korean adventure with you. I must say that the whole trip was amazing and that I enjoyed myself very much. It wasn't my first time in South Korea, but it was my first time one my own; last time, my sister had been taking me everywhere, so I hadn't needed to think about much. This time was also great because it was Mr. kanmuri's first time abroad. I was worried that he was going to get bored, or would complain that everything was expensive. In the months before the trip, he had gone back and forth between going and not going and so I was tiptoeing around him not to cause negative vibes. In the end, my worries proved to be groundless as he really enjoyed the trip. Actually, he really surprised me on the last day, when he said, without me prompting him, that he had had a great time. I think he's actually looking forward to our next trip!

We landed in Incheon on September 25th and took the bus for Seoul. I was excited, but soon felt sick thinking to myself that the driver had probably found his license in a box of cracker jack. When we finally got off, my sister was there to great us and helped us find our hostel. After everything was settled we went out for dinner. The next day, we woke up early and went to the War Museum. That was, Mr. kanmuri's idea. We then went to the Dongdaemun market, where most of the stalls were unfortunately closed, and order our first Korean meal. Now when I travel, I never go eat at all the fancy places, I usually choose the small local restaurants. That usually means that the menu is only written on the walls. We struggled a bit at first but managed to order something delicious. We spent the rest of the day walking around in different areas of Seoul and finished the day with a drink at the Con bar. The name was funny, but the drinks were good.

Mr kanmuri's new lover

Wanna go to the Ho bar?

Happiness is piece of grilled pork!

Sculpture in front of the War Museum

The is a wedding hall in the War Museum grounds... o.O

Being silly.

Dongdaemun or Great Gate of the East. Seoul used to be a walled city.

Eating street food

Myeong Dong, the new tourist trap. This could have been Tokyo.

Recovering

2009-09-28T20:29:00.004+09:00

Life is finally getting back to normal. Mr. kanmuri and I arrived from South Korea last Thursday and spent most of the day waiting for the night bus in Tokyo. We "slept" on the night on the bus and arrived home at around 7am; I changed and went to work directly. I don't know if it's because I was tired, but I managed to catch a small virus that put me out for the whole weekend. I still went to the international exchange event I had signed up for but felt like crap the whole time.

So tonight I'm taking the night off from my usual working out and studying to watch TV with Mr. kanmuri. I even took out the kotatsu (Japanese heating table) for more comfort! So I hope you will forgive me if I don't talk about my trip tonight; I found an interesting topic on blog this and want to blog about it first.

Challenge 18 - Pearls of Wisdom

I have been blessed with good friends and a great family who have supported me through many hardships. I've received many advices, but sometimes, it's the simplest things that opened my eyes.

I was 20 when I first moved out to live with my boyfriend. I was young, too young. I still believed in love fairy tales and had high expectations. The relationship proved to be a destructive one. My boyfriend was a control freak and would barely let me go to the restroom alone. We fought a lot and I cried a lot. My family didn't like him, but they respected my choice. I wouldn't have listened anyway. Still, I believed I was the problem and said yes when he proposed. The whole thing was a train wreck waiting to happen. One night, my dad was driving me back home from work and was listening to my problems. Then he said something really simple:

It's not like the two of you are married with children. You can always walk away.

It was so obvious yet I had never seen it like that. Soon after, I followed my dad's advice and walked away. I'm glad I did.

I soon got involved in another relationship. That one lasted longer, and had many good times, but in the end, it proved to be as destructive. We had a codependent relationship, and it was slowly but surely getting worse with the passing of time. We considered breaking up several times, but each time we stayed together. I didn't want to be alone and the shame of having to tell my family and friends that I was leaving the man they all loved was just overwhelming. So every time, I managed to keep it all together regardless of how humiliating it was.

One night, I was talking with my sister on msn messenger; I was telling her about our troubles and she popped this simple sentence:

We will still love you, even if you leave him.

At a time when my sister and I weren't really close, this brought tears to my eyes. That was what my heart had been longing to hear. I didn't leave my boyfriend right away but when I did, I was confident that I was going to make it; I wasn't alone.

My last pearl of wisdom is not love related and was given to me by a coworker. At the time, I was working as a customer service agent for a Canadian cellphone company and had been promoted to a new position. I had applied for it and was happy that I had gotten it, but at the same time I was sad to leave all the friends I had. We had been trained together and I liked everyone very much. One night, we were all going home after a late shift. I was talking to one of my colleagues about my mixed feeling towards the new position. He listened to me and said:

When you can move forward, don't stop to wait for those who stayed behind because when they have the opportunity to go forward they may not stop to wait for you. Real friends won't hold you back.

That was the last time I saw him. I believe that his advice had a great impact on my life and still does. I took my new position and made new friends. As for my former colleagues, I'm still in touch with some of them.

So that's it! These are the three pearls of wisdom that changed my life!

I love travelling but...

2009-09-16T15:00:00.005+09:00

I WANT this!!! But I refuse to pay 20$ of shipping for a 7$ notepad T_T

I hate packing. Actually, I think I hate packing as much as I love travelling. I always wait at the last minute and thanks to that bad habit, I always end up forgetting something. I sometimes even manage to forget my camera! Luckily, I've never forgotten my passport (I'm probably jinxing myself as I speak.)

Friday, Mr kanmuri and I will be flying to South Korea. It's the second time for me but the first time for him. Actually, he's never been abroad but I think I'm actually more excited about it being his first trip than he is. Anyway, we're only going for a week and we don't need that much stuff. With that positive thought in mind, I've been trying to convince myself to pack my stuff since Monday. Putting our passports, insurance papers and plane tickets in a small pouch is as far as I got. I have a feeling I will start packing tomorrow night, in a hurry, before we leave for Morioka to take our night bus to Tokyo.

I think I hate packing so much because I try to travel light and usually fail. I usually start with the minimum and then start thinking about the "what ifs." What if I go to a fancy place? What if we go to the beach? What if I do some hiking? What if, what if, what if? After considering all the options, I end up with 5kilos of extra and that makes a huge difference when backpacking. I'm not a mule but sometimes sure feel like it! The other problem is that I tend to forget that I like to buy clothes. I often bring clothes of all occasions and end up wearing that new cute dress I just bought at bargain price. The dress I brought never gets to see the light of day.

In order to make the task easier, I usually annoy my best friend by asking her to help me over msn messenger. She's kind enough to spend about half an hour asking me if I have enough underwear and if I have packed my squeaky duck. She has saved me from disaster many time*. This is the best way for me to pack my bag but it still often (read: always) happens the night before I leave. I hate packing.

How about you? How do you feel about packing? Do you have a secret weapon that prevents you from forgetting anything?

EDIT: I'm leaving in less than 12 hours. I still haven't packed o.O

*My best friend and I actually got to know each other over suitcase packing stories. It dawned on us that we were cosmic twins when we discovered that we both rolled up our clothes when packing.

Gotta Love Mountains

2009-09-14T10:30:00.006+09:00

Last Saturday, Mr kanmuri and I decided to climb Mount Hayachine in Hanamaki. Sure, with its 1913 meters, this mountain was nothing compared to Mount Fuji but it was still a challenging, yet fun hike.

We started climbing the Kawara no bo trail at around 11am. This course is probably the most challenging of the mountain because of its steepness. It is also the shortest. Although it was a demanding hike, it was actually quite enjoyable; Mr kanmuri and I were in good spirits. However, I think it would have been even more fun if it hadn't been raining on and off and if the wind hadn't been so strong. Nonetheless, we made it to the the top in about 3 hours. At that point, my camera decided that the batteries were not strong enough anymore and died on me before I could take pictures of the summit. I did take a few with my cellphone but I haven't uploaded them yet.

We didn't waste much time at the top and started our descent right away. Instead of going down the Kawara no Bo trail (which would probably have been a nightmare) we took the Odagoe course, which is longer but not as steep. There were some demanding sections but for the most part, it was an easy descent. To make things even better, the rain and the wind stopped. It took us about two hours to go down and about 40 minutes to walk back to the parking lot.

I would definitely climb Mount Hayachine again but our next adventure is going to be Mount Himekami!

Mount Hayachine

This could be Mount Fuji; I'm wearing the SAME THING!!

These little signs were everywhere.

The enemy

That was fun!

Mr kanmuri pretending to be in Resident Evil 5

Beautiful Scenery

Obstacle Race!

Last picture before my camera died

Camera revived! More obstacles!

For more information on Mount Hayachine, consult Hanamaki city's webpage.

To reach Mount Hayachine from Morioka take route 396 South and take a left on route 25 (at the Lawson). The parking lot is about 40 minutes away.

Conquering the Beast!

2009-09-10T15:20:00.004+09:00

Look at me! All smiles and confidence! You almost can't tell that the guide is currently talking about the silly climbers who fell off the mountain and died this month!

Three months ago a crazy idea popped in my mind: "I have to climb Mount Fuji." Instead of dismissing the silly thought like a sane person would have done, I started thinking about it seriously. I had been in Japan for almost four years now. I was going back home next year. It only made sense, I had to climb the sacred pile of rocks before I left. Should I fail to do so, my honour as a foreigner in Japan would be forever tarnished. I could already hear my detractors speak: "You didn't climb Mount Fuji??? Shame on you!"

Luckily, my sanity beat the crazy part of my brain back into its box when I saw the price for such an expedition. With the guide, the cabin and the transportation to and from Tokyo, the little adventure would come up to way over 500$. Thanks, but no thanks. And so, sanity triumphed over craziness.

But craziness wasn't ready to give up just yet.

About a month later, a friend of mine (to whom I had talked about climbing the mountain,) asked me about the plans to climb Mount Fuji. Sanity told her that I had pretty much given up on it because it was kinda expensive and that I didn't want to do it alone. My friend assured me that she really wanted to climb the mountain and that she would go with me, 100%. Craziness pushed up the lid of his box and I swear I saw him smirk.

And so sanity had to declare defeat when she saw me make plans, look for deals and finally make reservations and payments. Luckily, she didn't go to far and I ended up finding good deals.

On August 28th, off to Tokyo we went and on August 29th, we reached (by bus) Mount Fuji's 5th station. My friend was scared but I was excited. Craziness was laughing maniacally.

The first leg of the climb - from the 5th Station to the 8th (where our cabin was) - took us about 6 hours and a half. We went at a slow pace and compared to Mount Iwate, Mount Fuji was a walk in the park. I never really felt out of breath and didn't feel any pain in my legs. Yes, it was a long climb, but it was bearable. After a while, oxygen started thinning and some people started to feel sick and or tired. I didn't experience any severe symptoms of height sickness but I did experience the climber's high. The last two hours of that part of the trip were a happy happening for me as I gave candies to fellow climbers I didn't know and talked happily to the members of my group. As for my friend, she was in her own private circle of hell.

Our first break. Chillin'

Thanks, I feel so much better now that I know...

Climbing up the Babel tower

The 7th Station.

Big smile. Crazy eyes. Climber's high.

Above the Clouds

Unfortunately, the sunset was on the other side of the mountain.

My high ended when we got to our cabin and saw our sleeping arrangements: I think sardines cans are roomier than our beds were. We all had to line up neatly, each futon shared by two people. For those of you who aren't familiar with futons, picture two adults sharing a single bed and you should have a fairly good idea of what if felt like. With about a hundred people in one room, you can imagine the concert of snores, the people coming and going, the chatting... We had about four hours to rest, but I didn't sleep at all. Somewhere in my head, sanity was beating craziness up with a stick: what was the idea to come to such a crazy place!?

Sardines

At eleven thirty, I had had enough and got up. I woke up my friend who had been dozing on and off and we got ready for the last leg of the climb. We were out and ready by midnight. There was a surprising big number of climbers outside. We followed after them on the tracks, thankful for their headlights. Without the group and our guide, we were able to go at our own pace and made frequents stops along the way to rest, get my walking stick branded and eat bananas. At some points, the Yamanashi and Shizuoka trails met. I witnessed the biggest human traffic jam of my life. From that moment on, we moved really, really slowly. It was nice, tho, to see the neat line of headlights flickering down and up the mountain.

Midnight at the 8th station

I look soooo sleepy

At about three thirty, I was fed up with the waiting and decided to take the fast lane. Ditching my friend (I felt bad about it afterwards, but at that moment, I just wanted to be at the top,) I started to climb as fast as the human mass would allow me and finally reached the top at 4:15am. Quickly, I grabbed a good spot to watch the sunrise and sat, looking down the path for my friend.

Only one hour to sunrise.

I didn't see my friend come up but, without knowing where I was, she miraculously managed to come and stand within one meter of me. In the cold, we waited for the sun to poke its head off the horizon.

Slowly but surely, the sky became lighter, painting the sky with beautiful colours. The cloud below looked like the see and the city lights were beautiful in the darkness of the lingering night. I heard sanity make peace with craziness, saying this was one of the most beautiful sunrise she had seen since Australia.

Breathtaking

Sea of clouds

Out at last

The summit. Always make sure you have proofs.

The sun out, we warmed our freezing bodies with some warm hot chocolate and soup. Then we started what would turn out to be four hours of nightmarish descent. Sanity broke the truce with craziness as soon as she saw the long gravel path winding down the mountain. To be honest, this descent is the worst of my personal history of going down mountains. I hated every minute of it.

When we finally got down, my friend paid for us to take a horse-cart ride back to the 5th station's meeting area. I was glad. And so against all odds, I had done it. I had conquered the beast and that, without a moment of sleep for a total of 36 hours.

I usually can't sleep while sitting up; on our way back, I slept in the bus. After our stop at a local hot spring to wash up (we were covered with grime,) I slept in the bus. On the bullet-train, I slept, too.

I don't regret having listened to the voice of craziness. Climbing Mount Fuji might have been a crazy idea, but it was a crazily amazing one!

Saturday Picture Post: Hachimantai City Summer Festival

2009-09-05T15:00:00.006+09:00

Wow! It's been ages since my last Saturday Picture Post!! This week I bring you pictures of my city's natsu matsuri (summer festival.) Apparently this was the fourth edition but I had never heard of it!!

Living the Life

2009-09-03T15:00:00.006+09:00

With summer keeping me busy (and my usual laziness) I haven't really updated often lately. Please forgive me, I promise that.... No, I can't promise; it will probably happen again. That having been said, let's roll.

At the end of August, my sister came to Japan to visit me. It wasn't her first time in Japan so we hadn't really planned anything touristy. Except for one thing. Although my sister had come to Japan several times in the past, she had never had the chance to enjoy real hot springs. So I decided that I would take her to a really cool one I had been to with work.

The hot spring we went to is in Ashiro and is called Shikikan Saito. Recently renovated, the place is decorated in a simple traditional Japanese style. Everything is clean and the rooms still smell of tatami. The room I chose for ourselves was huge. We had our own bathroom, a tatami room and a nice veranda with our very own foot hot spring! It was beautiful.

As soon as we were done unpacking, we went to the baths and soaked for about two hours while chatting of this and that. For those who don't know, bathing suits aren't worn in Japanese hot springs. Yup, everyone is naked! I'm so used to it now that I don't really mind anymore but it still made me happy that we had the place to ourselves. The marinating done, we went back to our room and passed out until dinner.

Dinner, yes, that was quite an experience. Starving, we were really excited about the food (well, I was at least.) In our yukata (similar to a bathrobe) we sat at the table in the veranda and waited patiently for the waitress to set the food in front of us. The presentation was beautiful and the flavours exquisite; some of the dishes I had never tried before. This is when it started to get ugly for me, tho. My sister didn't like most of the dishes and so, I started to eat her serving. I would have felt too bad to let such a good meal go to waste. The second service came and the third, and the fourth... The food just kept coming and since I had been eating my portion and part of my sister's all along, I felt like my stomach was about to explode. My sister, who's not a big eater, felt the same. Every time we were done with something, we feared that the waitress would come back with more. She did. Finally, the last service came and we, sadly, barely touched it.

After that endless feast, we managed to survive the massages we had ordered and went to the baths one last time before going to bed. We had planned to go to the baths in the morning but in the end, we didn't. After breakfast, we reluctantly said goodbye to our beautiful room.

If you ever are in the Morioka area, make sure to make a small trip to Shikikan Saito. Even on a day trip, the place is worth it!

Needles and Other Niceties

2009-08-26T15:29:00.008+09:00

If only getting shots was as easy as buying those cute syringe pens!

So now that our flights are set and that I have made reservations for most of our hostels (I'm waiting for my Thailand Lonely Planet guide to finish the preparations for that leg of the trip) I need to start working on getting all the vaccines one needs to go to South East Asia. Japan being an industrialized country, this should not be a problem, right?

Wrong. Utterly, completely, entirely wrong.

It seems that Japan doesn't recognize many vaccines that are regularly received by travelers in the West. The most problematic is the typhoid vaccine: it needs to be IMPORTED under the request of the patient. Apparently, they think this shot is so bad that they even make you sign a form stating that you understand that they can't be held responsible if something goes wrong... How scary does that sound? Now how do you explain that in Canada, this shot is 30$ and given regularly?

Of course, living in Japan means I have to play by the rules. After many, many researches and a friend's help, I managed to find the website of the Tokyo International clinic. They offer the typhoid fever vaccine for 100$ and the DT vaccine (I need a booster) for 50$. Real expensive, but hey, what can I do? Now I live about 600km away from Tokyo and going to the capital usually means at least a 200$ expense. On top of that, I have no days off to spare. Luckily, I will be in Tokyo next month when we come back from South Korea. If everything goes according to plans, I'll get my shots and malaria pills. Oh, yeah. Did I forget to tell you? I also need malaria pills. What's great about those pills is that they are 12 tablets for 100$ I need about 36. I think I can hear my wallet cry.

This being settled, I started to look in the area for a clinic that would be able to perform Hepatitis A and B shots for me. That again, took a while. I sometimes have the feeling this country is making it hard for its citizen to get out... Big Brother?

In my search of a clinic, I got to talk to the staff of many hospitals in the Morioka area and I heard some funny, bordering stupid, things. One nurse actually told me that vaccines were never necessary for traveling. I thought this was totally ridiculous but then I remembered that the people in this area usually go abroad with guided tours and stick to the touristic areas. I doubt you can get the typhoid fever in a Luis Vutton store...

I finally found the Uchimaru clinic in downtown Morioka. I was surprised to see that they didn't even carry twinrix vaccines (a combined shot for Hepatitis A and B). At first I decided to get two shots of each vaccine (A and B) but in the end, after talking with the International clinic in Tokyo, I decided to ask the Uchimaru Clinic to perform an immunity test first; If I only need a booster, I won't spend all that money on unnecessary vaccines. I think what was the strangest about the doctor with whom I spoke on the phone, was that he assured me that only two shots of each would be enough for a month in South East Asia; all my sources clearly state that three shots are required to acquire immunity. Are their sources from the sixties or what??

So now I'm waiting for the results of my immunity test and I pray that I'll only need a booster. I might also be able to get the typhoid shot in South Korea for about 3$ (I haven't made my decision about this one yet; it sound too cheap to be true.) I really wanted to go to South East Asia because I knew it would be cheap. Right now, I'm wondering if I'll really end up saving!

Plane Ticket Odyssey

2009-08-14T20:00:00.007+09:00

Yesterday, after hours of going back and forth on whether Mr. Kanmuri would accompany to South East Asia this Christmas, he finally decided that he would go with me. That being set, I decided to proceed and buy our tickets online with Malaysia Airlines. I had found a reasonable deal (about 700$) on Tokyo-Singapore round trip flights. So I logged on the website, filled all the information required and hit enter.

"Your payment did not go through. Please call customer service at..."
"Credit card details invalid"

I was pretty sure I had entered everything properly, but hey, maybe I had made a mistake. I reentered all the information and hit send again.

"Your payment did not go through. Please call customer service at..."
"Credit card details invalid"

Now I was sure I had entered everything properly. Mr.kanmuri had even checked. So I decided to call Malaysia Airlines (in Malaysia) to find out what was wrong.

After I had been waiting on the line for about 10 minutes, cringing at the thought of next month's telephone bill, someone answered me. I couldn't hear very well so I made her repeat countless times. Finally, after I had told her all the info she needed, she came to this conclusion:

"Your payment didn't go through."

Wow! Thank you, Captain obvious. I'm pretty sure that this was the first thing I had told her. Anyway, she assured me that there was nothing wrong with the website and told me to try again. Sure, thank you.

We tried again, and since the session had expired, we had to fill all the spaces again. To no one's surprise, it didn't work. I started to think that something was wrong with Mr. kanmuri's card so I decided to call my dad and ask him if I could use his credit card instead. I didn't like the idea, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I wanted my deal!!

So I phoned my dad, at work. In my head, I could see the telephone bill getting higher. He didn't seem to like the idea but still said yes. I entered his credit card info and clicked enter.

"Your session has expired."

I wanted to yell. My dad gave me his card number again and I told him I would call him back to tell him if it had worked or not. So I started over, filled everything and clicked enter.

"Your payment did not go through. Please call customer service at..."
"Credit card details invalid"

I was getting really upset. We tried two other times, but to no avail. So I called Malaysia Airlines, in Malaysia, again. I didn't care about the phone bill anymore at that point. T

hat time I didn't wait as long on the line but I'm pretty sure I got the same girl because I still couldn't hear anything. I explained the situation, telling her that there must have been some problem with the website. Half way through the conversation, she finally started speaking IN her microphone; I could hear, at last! In the end, she gave me a temporary confirmation number and told me to call Malaysia Airline's Tokyo office the next day, to pay by phone. I wish she had told me that earlier!

I called my dad and explained everything. I was actually glad I hadn't needed his credit card. I went to bed late, with my flight deal in mind, hoping I wouldn't waste such a good deal because of a stupid website problem. I don't like to sleep on problems, I like to resolve them right away; I didn't sleep really well.

Today I went to work and Mr. kanmuri promised to call Malaysia Airlines. I was nervous until he called me at work to tell me that he had spoken with them, but that they would call him back because the payment department was abnormally busy. I figured we hadn't been the only ones unable to book flights. So we waited.

By eleven thirty, we still hadn't heard from them; I decided to call them myself. The phone rang for what seemed like forever and when someone finally picked up, I was told that they would look in the situation and call me back. That was all nice, but how did they intend to call me back without asking my confirmation number, phone number nor my name. I was fed up with them. I decided I would use All Nippon Airways instead, even though I would lose about 250$.

So I surfed the H.I.S. website, checking the fares and then realized that the ANA flight was 500$ for the round trip, not one way. This was even less expensive than Malaysia Airlines!!! As it was lunch time, I all but ran home to tell Mr. kanmuri about the deal. We didn't wait and booked the flights right away. Then, I phoned Malaysia Airlines and told them to cancel whatever they had in their system. I don't think I'll ever try to do business with them in the future.

So much ado about nothing!!!

Canadian Immigration Process: Getting your marriage officialized in Canada

2009-08-11T13:26:00.008+09:00

Since we only have seven months left in Japan (Yikes!) we need to start the immigration process. When I first looked at all the forms and guides, I felt totally overwhelmed; this was going to be hell. Yesterday, I sought advice from my friend Adam who has done the whole thing for his wife and finally started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Since this whole business is really complicated, I intend to document all the steps so it may help other people going through the Canadian immigration process. Here goes!

If you are married to a Japanese national and intend to sponsor them for immigration, you will need to have a copy of your marriage certificate (婚姻届の受理証明書) translated and authenticate by the Canadian Embassy. In order to do so, you'll need to prepare the necessary forms and take an appointment with them. For more information and the necessary documents, please check their website.

However, this will not make your marriage official in Canada and thus your marital status will remain the same as it was before you left Canada. In most provinces and territories, the marital status can only be modified if a person actually lives in Canada. It is the case for the province of Quebec where I'm from. Once back in Canada, one may change their marital status by doing a "insertion d'actes etrangers" request. In order to do so, an original of the foreign spouse's birth certificate as well as a translation (must be done by the Ordre des Traducteurs, Terminologues et Interpretes agrees du Quebec) have to be sent to the Directeur de l'etat civil with a proof of residence (utility bill, driver's license or correspondence with the Canadian government.) That's it! Now Japanese people don't have birth certificates but they all have a family registry; this document is also valid.

So one mystery solved: you cannot change your marital status while living abroad. Moving on!

Crossroads

2009-08-10T11:20:00.007+09:00

Last month was really hectic. I busied myself with getting ready for my sister's arrival while anticipating Mr. kanmuri' move. Then, things all happened one after another, as if they had been rehearsed countless time. My sister came and we enjoyed ourselves; Mr. kanmuri stopped working and moved in and finally, a nice surprise, friends from France came over to spend the weekend with us. After all the action, all I wanted was a break. However, life with Mr. kanmuri required some adjustments and getting used to our new routine came with its lot of stress. After one week of common life, though, I feel like we're slowly finding our places. Surely now, my mind can take a break, right? Actually, no. It seems like my mind loves racing and always jumps readily on the next issue. This time the issue is really complex: our new life in Canada.

It would be great if I could just go back to Canada and continue in my field, which is, for the moment, teaching English. But to teach in Canada, you must have a Bachelor's degree in education, which I don't. I could obviously go back to school, but lately, I'm not sure if teaching really is my calling. I've become insecure about my level of English and my pronunciation; I fear that I'm not good enough anymore. But that's not the only reason for my doubts. I see many people around me doing the things they love for a living and I wonder what I really want to do. Do I really want to teach for the rest of my life? I'm so confused that it's getting annoying.

So here are the things I would like to do:

Travel
Live in Europe
Use my Japanese
Master Spanish
Live in sSouth East Asia
Publish a book

Now here are the options I'm contemplating for the future (whether they're realistic or not I don't know.)

Go back to University and get my Bachelor's degree in Education. I already have a degree so I could probably transfer some units. Plus, with my work experience, I wouldn't have to do as many internships (discussed with Concordia University already.) Then, after that, I'm free to go teach where ever I want. Europe, for example. The advantage of doing this is that if I ever want to come back to Canada, I can get a job in education.
Go to a technical school specialized in tourism. The formation is usually short and they help you find a job. I just love traveling. I could work in Vancouver as a guide for Japanese tourists or accompany Canadian tourists to Japan. Or, even better, I could live in another country and welcome the Canadian tourists that go there. This option is really appealing but I'm just afraid that I would end up with a desk job. That would be a real nightmare. If I choose this option, I can't live in Europe, tho.
Live for a while in Canada (getting a degree in one of the above mentioned things,) then move to France (or somewhere else in Europe) to teach English. The friends we had over a week ago said there was a need for English teachers in France. I could either pass the actual test to become a certified teacher in France or take an online TEFL course. This option is interesting, because I would get to live in Europe, but I'm not sure if teaching is really what I want.
Study to become a French teacher and go live in Australia. This one isn't uppermost in my mind, but it's there, nevertheless.

As for Spanish and the books, these are things I can work on anywhere, so they're not exactly a problem. For the moment, the immediate plan is to go work in the Cree community as a teacher. This, for me, will only be a temporary measure (for about a year) and I only intend to do it to be able to make enough money for the both of us until Mr.kanmuri gets his visa.

I just feel so confused right now. I really don't know what to do. My dad and Mr.kanmuri surprised me by saying the exact same thing: "You're lucky. Some people don't even have the choice." Yes, in a sense I am, but the clock is ticking and I have to make a choice soon.

Mr. kanmuri

2009-08-07T09:35:00.005+09:00

Mr. kanmuri has finally started his blog!

You can take a look here. Unfortunately he only writes in Japanese but there are many pictures!

Go take a look! :D

Say No!

2009-08-06T21:13:00.004+09:00

A few months ago a man from the Hachimantai International group came to my house and asked me if I wanted to participate in a volunteer program to teach English to the hotel staff of the area. At first, the project wasn't really clear and so I accepted without really knowing what I was getting into. I don't think the man knew himself. Anyway, time went by and he came to my house several times, asking me for personal information such as my phone number and the like. I didn't really pay attention to it, as it didn't really seem to lead anywhere.

In June, if I remember correctly, a meeting was held to decide of the format and content of the class. I ended up not going because I was sick and had fallen asleep as soon as I had gotten back from work. I was getting less and less involved.

Last month, I met the man from the organisation at the supermarket. He insisted on giving me a copy of the textbook they were planning on using. I accepted to review it, but honestly, I wanted to say no. I had other things to take care of.

On Tuesday, the man came to my place again. This time he wanted me to write a short profile so they could make the pamphlets for the classes. I said I would do it. I really wanted to say no, but I felt bad. I was upset. With Mr. kanmuri having moved in, our routine changed, extra work just sounded like a hassle. I spent all of yesterday and today thinking about it. I tried convincing myself that it would be a good experience.

Today I discussed with Jordan, my new co-worker, and realized that if I kept saying yes, I would only be more and more upset. I would be upset about my choice, upset every time I taught... So I decided I would refuse. I would say no. I felt really bad I had waited so long, but I had to do it.

I spent the afternoon dreading the moment I would have to put my foot down and say no. I kept imagining weird scenarios. In the end, he just showed up and I said I couldn't do it. He said he understood and just went away. It was kinda easy. Too easy. I still feel bad.

I really need to start thinking before I take decisions like this. And I really need to learn to say NO!

Feel the Burn

2009-08-05T21:36:00.004+09:00

Last Sunday was my city's annual "Let's Climb Mount Iwate" day. For those of you who don't know, Mount Iwate is a huge 2038 meter mountain in the North of Iwate prefecture. I had already climbed Mount Iwate twice so when my school said they were climbing it this year, too, I decided to join. Bad, bad miｓtake. You see, this mountain has a special power; it makes you forget how hard it is to climb it. So I had a vague idea that it had been a little difficult the two previous times but I figured that it couldn't be that bad. Second mistake.

We started the climb at 6:30 am. Everything was cool; Mr. Kanmuri was even climbing with me. After about two hours of relatively easy terrain, we were above the clouds and the sun showed up; it was beautiful. Of course, like last year, my students were far ahead but I didn't really care. The previous year　I had made the big mistake of trying to go at their pace; I had turned into a walking corpse quite fast. This year, though, the rest of the city staff was staying behind us, to make sure that everyone was ok; that annoyed me a lot. I felt a lot of pressure and could not go at my pace, so after the first long break, I got angry and told them to let me be, that I would be ok (I was starting to get grumpy because the hike was getting harder.) Eventually they listened to me and went ahead. I was left with only one problem; a really chatty female student that insisted on climbing and sharing her candies with me. Don't get me wrong, I think she's a really sweet girl but talking while climbing is the best way to stay out of breath.

After about another hour or so, we were out of the forest and on to the gravel path that goes on for at least one kilometer. I like to call this part "Hell's Road." This path is the worst part of the climb; each step made forward brings you back a little as the gravel literally rolls under your feet. Totally exposed to the sun, this is also sunburn paradise. I knew about that part of the climb and was dreading it, but I was just too proud to turn around. So on we went.　When we finally got back under the cover of the trees, I was feeling a little better but my patience was thinning. We continued up under the sound of Miss Chatty's voice who couldn't help but talk about everything that crossed her mind. When we finally reached the wooden cabin, my feet were so happy to feel flat ground that I almost ran. I sat in the first spot I found and devoured my sandwich. I tried not to look at the peak that loomed over our heads.

After lunch we started climbing the last leg. My belly was full and we had lost Miss Chatty;I was, in spite of the pain in my legs, in high spirits. Mr.Kanmuri and I chatted as we slowly climbed up (it was an English day, so he was fine. Climbing during a French day would have sucked.) When we finally reached the top, I was so happy I wanted to keep walking around the crater (Mount Iwate is a dormant volcano.) Luckily, Mr. kanmuri stopped me; I'm sure my legs are grateful for that now.

We spent a few moments up there, taking pictures, enjoying the coolness of the air and eating. Then, it was time to go down. That's when hell broke loose. I hadn't actually forgotten how hard it was to climb the mountain: I had forgotten how hard it was to go down the mountain. From the peak to the cabin, the descent wasn't so bad. When the kids stopped to take a break, I decided to continue down; I didn't want to go home too late. I also wanted to get away from Miss Chatty. 　After an hour, my legs started hurting from having to fight gravity which pushed my body ever forward. Then, we got to Hell's Road and the real torture began. My feet kept slipping forward in my boots, crushing my toes with each steps. My legs were soon shaky and I started complaining; never a good thing. The last tree kilometers of the descent could be summarized as me whining about the mountain and my pain while Mr. kanmuri tried to make me forget about it by talking about random stuff.

When we finally got out of the mountain path, it was 4:30. I was barely able to move my feet forward. I was so exhausted that I actually asked Mr. kanmuri to drive the car to the vending machines, which were less than 50 meters away. As a reward for my efforts, I got a drink from the machine and a sweet pat on the head. Oh, and of course, the right to brag that I had now climbed Mount Iwate tree times (not that I was really thinking about that at that moment.)

The next day when I woke up, my legs were made of pain and my face was red as a lobster. My sunburn has now almost completely gone away, but the pain in my leg remains. Mr. kanmuri, with his usual kindness, told me that I was now past my prime. How kind of him!

And Mr. kanmuri? Well the climb was rather easy for him and although he did suffer a sunburn, the pain in his leg was minimal. Pays up to be in the army for seven years...

Obviously joking, yet...

2009-08-04T14:01:00.011+09:00

This conversation took place during lunch today. We were getting ready to eat corn on the cob.

Me: Can you get the butter out of the fridge?

Mr. kanmuri: Butter? With corn on the cob?

Me: Of course! I always eat it with butter and salt. That's how we eat it in Canada. It's the best way. I don't like the Japanese style grilled corn on the cob.

Mr. kanmuri (making a serious face): You really think the Canadian way is the best?

Me (with a big smile): Of course, the Canadian is always the best. Canada beats Japan, all the way!

Mr. kanmuri (still serious bordering on upset): I think there is no "better" way. Both are fine.

Me: Come on! Can't you see I'm joking?

Apparently not. This kind of conversation is quite frequent between Mr. kanmuri and I and it kinda worries me. All members of my family seem to have the sarcastic gene; we use it ad nauseum. Naturally, I use sarcasm to joke a lot but the problem is that it doesn't seem to really exist in Japan (at least, not in the way we use it.) So most of the times I use it, Mr. kanmuri takes whatever I say literally which can often lead to an argument if I don't explain quickly. Worst, Mr. kanmuri doesn't seem to want to learn to play with sarcasm which could be a problem when we move to Canada...

Anyway, maybe this is just a Japanese thing. Maybe he'll learn to use sarcasm as he learns to speak French. Hopefully... because life without sarcasm is like heaven, right?

Real Married life

2009-08-03T21:23:00.009+09:00

As you probably know, until last Friday, Mr kanmuri and I had been living separately due to work. Finally, on Friday, Mr kanmuri quit his job and moved in with me. Since we had guests over (my sister, then friends from France) I didn't get to enjoy our new common life until today.

So today I woke up and for the first time in probably more than 15 years, breakfast was ready, waiting for me on the table. I usually don't eat breakfast because I'm too lazy to get up early so this is a nice change. My coworkers probably are happy too since they don't have to hear my stomach growl all morning anymore.

As you can see, it was nothing elaborate (eggs, seaweed and rice,) but it still made me happy. Hopefully, he'll get better.

Having Mr. kanmuri at home also means that I don't have to take care of dinner either; the idea makes me want to dance. I love cooking, but after work, I'm usually too tired to make anything special. Tonight, I helped a little, but he mostly cooked everything. Surprisingly, it was quite good. I mean, I know he can cook, but the kitchen usually was my kingdom.... or queendom.

I don't know the name of the recipe, but it was basically pork chops with onions and mushrooms in a mustard and cream sauce. If you close your eyes on the fact that I was served dinner in a pie plate and had enough to feed three people in it, it was delicious! Even more so because I didn't have to cook it myself. I'm afraid I'll gain weight in the months to come.

Aside from the cooking, Mr kanmuri is now also in charge of all the house chores (more happy dancing: picture Snoopie.) Which means that when I come back from work, I'm completely free to do whatever I feel like. It's like living with my parents again, but without all the rules. In other words, it rocks. However, I know that if I listened to my brain, I would slouch in front of the computer and stay there until it's time to go to bed; I don't think my spine would enjoy that very much. So I've decided to use this great opportunity to start studying Japanese and Spanish again. Hopefully, I won't stop after three days...

An other thing that has changed since Mr. kanmuri moved in is the language we speak. We usually mostly speak Japanese with a little English, but since we'll be moving to Quebec in less than a year, Mr. kanmuri needs to learn French and perfect his English. Thus we've decided that we'd speak a different language everyday. Saturday was Japanese; the usual, no problem there. Sunday was English; we used almost no Japanese. Today was French; Mr. kanmuri spent the day repeating the few words he knows (Bonjour, Ça va?, oui, non, etc) and we both used gestures a lot. Needless to say, I can't wait for tomorrow; I want to have a real conversation!!

Anyway, all I can say is "so far, so good." It's only the start and I'm sure the road will be bumpy but we'll make it. Somehow... As long as Mr. kanmuri learns more French!!!

PS: More to come about my vacation soon. I'm still going through all the blogs I haven't read while I was away. There are so many entries that I don't even have time to blog! Bear with me, please!

Not Dead

2009-07-30T23:24:00.004+09:00

Just on Vacation ;)

Should be back on Monday :D

A Great Deal

2009-07-18T20:04:00.006+09:00

This post is for all of you who live in Tohoku and have an easy access to the Tohoku Shinkansen line. Until September 30th, View (the JR travel agencies that can be found in most big JR stations) offers special deals on shinkansen tickets. For about 20000yen (if leaving from Morioka,) you can buy a round trip shinkansen ticket package that also includes your hotel for one night in Tokyo. The number of days in Tokyo is not limited and you can also make reservations for more nights at your hotel (at extra cost.) The hotels are usually well-known and close to the local train station. There are numerous departure times.

I used this package when I went to Tokyo to see Sumo in May and our hotel was the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. It was pretty cool and the room was big. I will also be using this package on August 28th when leaving for Tokyo to climb Mount Fuji.

The only downside to this package is that for it to remain cheap, you have to use the YAMABIKO which stops at ever station and is kinda slow. The package is also available with the HAYATE, but it's a bit more expensive.

This deal is called Tokimeki Tokyo. For more information and reservations make sure to check the View nearest to you.

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal opinion. I'm not affiliated to View and cannot be held liable for any problem encountered while using their services.

Japan + Harry Potter = ?

2009-07-17T22:30:00.001+09:00

Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Harry Potter!

I can honestly say that I'm not someone you can call a fan of the Harry Potter franchise. At least, not yet. I have read only the first two books, and I've only seen the first two movies. So I am not one of the avid fans who went to see the new Harry Potter movie in theaters on Tuesday night. I am curious, however, about the fandom here in Japan.

Harry Potter is quite the worldwide phenomenon. I suppose that justifies the worldwide release of the film. It has many elements that are appealing to a very wide audience. It has witchcraft and wizardry, for those interested in fantasy. It has conflicts between good and evil for those who need tension. It has battles of wit as well as the occasional fist fight and magic contests. It questions morals and identity. It even has romance. What isn't there to like?

The fact that Harry Potter has such broad appeal may have more to do with the movies than the books themselves. The movies seem to attempt to stitch together the characters and conflicts presented in the books in an easy to follow and seamless fashion. Oftentimes it may skim over details in order to save on time and to keep things flowing. And this is all I know from watching the the first two films and reading the first two books.

The actors and actresses portraying the children have done a spectacularly superb job. And they've attracted quite the fan base the world over, with both children and adults. I fear that these actors will be identified by their Harry Potter roles for the rest of their lives. But it may not be a bad thing!

In 2007 Daniel Radcliffe made an appearance at a Japanese girls high school. It was part of his promotion tour of the latest Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The screaming high school girls are deafening, and one girl practically falls over after Daniel Radcliffe shakes her hand! To see the video, click here.

It's been two years since the release of the last film, but it doesn't seem like people are any less excited to see it in Japan. A news article from Reuters indicates that box office sales for the fifth movie had waned from when the franchise first started, yet still thousands of people were waiting in lines to see the sixth movie.Japanese fans have a tradition of cosplay, dressing up as their favorite characters and attending events. The sixth movie premiere brought out the witches and wizards in full regalia. Even book releases were honored with costumed fans waiting in lines.

So how popular is Harry Potter in Japan? I guess it depends on who you ask. There are still millions of people in Japan who probably have never heard of Harry Potter or are even curious about it. IMAX executives are hoping to use the popularity of the Harry Potter franchise to help put IMAX theaters all over the world. Harry Potter is the second blockbuster IMAX film to hit Japan, which only has three screens in the country so far. So if you went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in Japan, chances are you didn't see it in 3D IMAX.

Back in 2004, before the second Harry Potter movie came out, the main cast put out a very cute commercial promoting the film in Japan. These sort of tv spots for movies are fairly common on Japanese television, so I am not sure how much it helped to popularize the films in Japan.

What I can say is that with the release of the sixth installment, my local video rental shop is now completely out of every copy of every Harry Potter movie available on DVD.

For a series that may be waning in popularity, there still seems to be quite a bit of interest left!

Some Hatin' in the Mornin'

2009-07-16T08:12:00.004+09:00

This morning I found a very offensive comment on my blog. Usually I dismiss them, but this one made me laugh so hard that I had to share it with the world not as a comment but as a post.

***** VULGAR LANGUAGE AHEAD *****

Here starts the comment by our dear anonymous reader:

"The fucking ALT and foreign English Teachers in Japan are only pedophilic assholes who want to fuck fuck poor Japanese children and destroy Japanese culture! Japanese kids need to learn right Japanese, they don't need trash like English. If I could do it, I would kill every fucking US American citizens and all other native English speakers, including you! Your fucking language destroys the culture of the master races e.g. Japan."

Funny thing is that the comment is written in English. You would think that given the content, the author would write in in Japanese. Or maybe it's just that he didn't think my inferior brain could handle Japanese (lol)!!

Obviously someone has had a really upsetting experience with a foreigner and thought he or she should let me know. There is not much to say about this, only that it's sad that someone could feel that way. Anyway, I have to go, I have many, many children's culture to go destroy this morning. I'm a busy pedophilic foreigner, you know! (LOL)

Dinner is Served

2009-07-15T19:44:00.005+09:00

Tried this General Tao Chicken recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. It was fantastic. It didn't require any deep frying and took me max 20 minutes to cook. I modified the recipe by adding onions.

Give it a try, it's delicious!

Shameless Bragging... or something like it

2009-07-15T08:46:00.010+09:00

Last night as I lay in bed, I was so excited about all the good things to come this year that I just couldn't sleep. I tried reading, but I was too tired and almost fell asleep on the pages. Yet, as soon as I closed the book, my mind started racing again. I tossed and turned for many hours. Actually, I'm not too sure of the time I finally fell asleep. I must say that even now, I feel like there is a ball of excitement in my stomach. So please humour me while I tell you everything about my upcoming plans! Hopefully, I will get them off my mind and be able to sleep tonight!

July 20th 2009: My sister arrives in Japan.
I haven't seen my sister for a year and a half now and I'm really excited about seeing her! We have many things planned (don't worry, I'll show you the pictures) and, most likely, many other unplanned nice activities. I just can't wait!

August 1st 2009: Mr kanmuri starts living with me.

Image by kamome via Flickr

We've been married for over a year now, yet we've never spent more than one week living together. Mr kanmuri is finally moving in. I know it won't be all fun and games but at least, we'll be able to sort our problems face to face, not over the phone.

August 2nd 2009: Climbing Mount Iwate with my students.
Mount Iwate is a 2038m dormant volcano. I've climbed it twice already and am looking forward to doing it again this year. My students are usually really fast, so I'll probably be far behind them the whole time...

August 29th 2009 Climbing Mount Fuji.
Ever since I came to Japan and started torturing myself with the climbing of huge piles of rock, I swore to myself that I would climb Mount Fuji before I left. As this year will be my last summer in Japan (for the time being) I figured it was now or never. I got my friend and I an amazing deal and I will give you all the details once I have made all the reservations.

Image via Wikipedia

September 18th 2009: Leaving for South Korea
I've been to South Korea before but this trip will be Mr kanmuri's first overseas trip. He actually doesn't sound really excited about it but I hope that'll change once we get there. At least, he does seem to be looking forward to eating Korean food.

October 9th 2009: Wedding in Hokkaido
Mr kanmuri's friend is getting married and we've been invited. I've never been to a Japanese wedding so I'm looking forward to it. Buying a new dress and dressing up also represents a big part of the excitement...

December 26th 2009: Leaving for South East Asia

Image via Wikipedia

So far I plan to go for 20 days. I've never been to South East Asia, so I'm really excited. Mr kanmuri says he wants to go, because he thinks it's a dangerous area, but we'll see how he behaves in South Korea; I don't want to spent 20 days around someone who complains that everything is too expensive all the time...

February 5th 2010: My high school best friend Caroline arrives in Japan.
For three years, Caroline has been telling me she would come to visit me. Each time, something came up and she couldn't make it. But this time, it's for real! She's got her ticket and we'll be spending a nice weekend in Tokyo when she arrives.

February 12th 2010: My wedding in Sapporo
When we got married, we decided against doing a ceremony because they're so expensive in Japan. Luckily, I found a great company that will do our whole wedding for a more than reasonable price. I'm excited about the marriage thing, but even more so now that I know that Caroline will be with me to share the excitement. Having someone who speaks French around will be great.

April 2010: China
I want to go to China before we go back to Canada. At that point, however, it will depend on our budget.

Mid-April 2010: Flying back to Canada
Going home after four years in Japan. I will have spent half my twenties in Japan ( if I include the time I was a university student in Tokyo.)

So there you go! That's what's keeping me awake at night. Hopefully, now that I've told you, I'll sleep better tonight!

Impromptu Afternoon Trekking

2009-07-12T18:55:00.002+09:00

I woke up late today and thought we would spend a lazy afternoon at home surfing the net. I was wrong. Mr. kanmuri bought new hiking boots yesterday and was dying to try them out. So we both put on our trekking shoes (mine are old) and got on the car. Destination: Mount Hachimantai. We did two different trails and had a lot of fun. I even got to hear some stories about Mr. kanmuri's childhood. What a nice way to spent a Sunday afternoon!

Mr. kanmuri's new lovers: Italian made Calza boots

Not too sure what this bell is for...

Small stream

We found a cobbalt blue lake. Apparently it only takes this colour in summer.

Mr. kanmuri

A nice couple took a picture of us.

A small pond on the second trail.

Foggy Lake

The top of Hachimantai

Eerie Forest

Thunder Dolphin! Ready? Launch!

2009-07-10T18:00:00.002+09:00

Back when I was studying abroad in 2003, I had heard about an exciting roller coaster at the Tokyo Dome. I was intrigued, but was too caught up in my studies and extracurricular activities to check it out.When a friend came to visit during spring break, in 2004, I finally decided it was time to check out this roller coaster and judge it for myself. I went to the Tokyo Dome city and easily spotted the massive roller coaster. My friend and I went to the ticket booth to find it sealed off and no one at the stand. On the automated ticket machines a sign had been posted, "Ride closed due to strong winds."

So my attempt to ride the roller coaster ended in failure. Now, 5 years later, I finally managed to bring myself back to that same spot, and rode the Thunder Dolphin for the first time.The Thunder Dolphin is an impressive roller coaster to look at. It is 3,500 ft (1,100 m) long, 262 ft (80 m) at it's highest reach, and drops 218 ft (66 m) at an 80 degree angle. It passes through a hole in a building as well as through the Big-O, a center-less ferris wheel. It reaches a maximum speed of 80.8 mph (130 kmh) and a complete circuit runs about a minute and a half.I actually had forgotten about this roller coaster completely until a friend invited me out for some drinks and the bar she picked out was right underneath the roller coaster. Once I was that close, I couldn't resist! I can't say I'm a crazy roller coaster enthusiast but I do enjoy a good roller coaster when I can find one. I haven't exactly traveled the world in search of roller coasters, but I can't say the idea hasn't crossed my mind from time to time.
The ride was really fun! I was a little concerned at first because I had noticed while waiting in line that the cars used a lap bar restraint instead of an over-the-shoulder type restraint. But when I was thinking about it, I decided that since the ride doesn't have any inversions, the shoulder restraints weren't necessary. My heart was really pumping just to get on, and when we finally lined up for the cars, the two people in front of me insisted on taking the second car, so my friend and I ended up in the front car. Perfect!
As the car began to move, a photograph was taken which was really easy to pose for. Then it began a steep ascent. I'm used to roller coasters clacking loudly when making this kind of ascent, but surprisingly, the coaster was very quiet and smooth going up. I could hear the people around me talking and laughing nervously. As the coaster topped the hill, I felt a sudden calm come over me, and I let go of the bar on my lap and held my hands high over my head as the car plummeted down. The ride twisted, turned, and went over several more hills, including the one through the ferris wheel very quickly and smoothly. Overall, I thought it was very enjoyable. Another photo was taken in the middle of a drop (I'm not sure which one) and at the end of the ride you can get a print of your take off/mid drop photo. I was amused by the take off picture because while I was posing, my friend was freaking out! And in the mid drop photo my face is pushed back by the g-force but I look very happy, while my friend is holding on to the lap bar for dear life!To experience the Thunder Dolphin from your home computer, check out this video! And tell me what you think of it. I am hoping to have the chance to ride more roller coasters in Japan, outside of Disney World and Disney Sea.

Raspberries!!!!!

2009-07-09T10:05:00.005+09:00

This morning I came to school and found this HUGE crate of raspberries on my desk!!! Raspberries are not sold in supermarkets in Japan so even thought they're my favourite, I can never have them! Mrs Tamura, whose desk is across mine, grows these delicious berries in her garden. She had promised to bring me some but I hadn't expected that many! She always gives me goodies. I'll have to think of something to repay her kindness.

15 Things About Me and Japan

2009-07-08T11:00:00.002+09:00

Image via Wikipedia

Answering to the Blog This challenge number 7, I give you "15 things about me." However, to make it more interesting and more pertinent to the blog, I've decided to choose things that have to do with Japan, too. Enjoy!

1. I bow to people even when I'm on the phone. Since bowing is such an important element of politeness in Japan, and since we do it quite often, it has now become a habit of mine to bow while talking on the phone. It looks quite silly.

2. I never leave the house without my cellphone. In Canada, I never used to have a cellphone; I felt I didn't need one what with all the pay phones. In Japan, however, I never leave the house without it. If I forget it, I usually go back to get it.

3. I use false modesty when given a compliment. It's not usually well seen to boast around here. (is it anywhere?) Japanese people don't usually accept compliments, they just deny whatever the compliment is. So if someone tells me my Japanese is good, I tell them that of course it's not; it's terrible.

4. I apologize when people help me or give me something. The Japanese language and culture is so that when you receive a gift or a service, you are supposed to apologize for the trouble it caused your benefactor. So when people give me a present, I say "I'm sorry" instead of "Thank you."

5. I like seaweed, raw fish, octopus and squid. Japanese cuisine is delicious!

6. The word "kawaii" is now an English and French word for me. "Kawaii" is the Japanese word for "cute" but the concept is a little different. Hello Kitty, kittens, tiny carrots, pink bags and little kids (only to name a few things in the realm of kawaiiness) are kawaii. It's so hard to explain sometimes that it's better just to use the word as is in the other languages I speak. My family understands anyway.

7. I mix Chinese characters with English and or French when I take notes. Chinese characters (kanji, in Japanese) are really convenient because although most of them are sounds, a lot of them also carry meanings. Writing a simple kanji is faster than writing the English word. My notes, with their mix of Japanese, English and French, are incomprehensible to others.

8. I teach at 4 elementary schools and 2 junior high schools. I have over 700 students.

9. I live about 600km away from Tokyo. The place I live is so far from the big city that some Japanese people even think my prefecture is a city in another prefecture...

10. I'm famous in my city. What did I do to get the fame? Nothing special. I just happen to be the only white girl around. I can't go to the supermarket without having people stare at me as if I am some kind of strange creature.

11. I'm married to a tall (1m87cm) Japanese man. Not all Japanese people are small. We've just celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary.

12. Even when I'm alone, I cook and eat with chopsticks. I just love them. They're so convenient!

13. Ever since I came to Japan in 2006, I've never celebrated New Year's here. New year is a big thing in Japan, more important than Christmas which is just a commercial holiday. Yet, I've managed to spend New Year's Eve outside the country for three years in a row. I intend to keep with my tradition this year, too.

14. I've seen several geisha and have even taken pictures with two of them. Every time I go to Kyoto, I get lucky and spot some. The first time I went, I even managed to get a snapshot with two of them. Unfortunately, that was before I owned a digital camera.

15. In total, I have been in Japan for 4 years. By the time I go back to Canada, I will have been here for almost 5 years. (Cue Michael Bubblé's song.)

The Story of Orihime and Hikoboshi

2009-07-07T10:45:00.007+09:00

Orihime was the daughter of Tentei, the king of the sky. She was a young and beautiful girl and her father loved her very much. She spent all her days weaving celestial cloth by the milky way (in Japanese, the milky way is a river.) Her weaving was one of the best in the universe but yet, Orihime wasn't happy. She feared that she would never fall in love; it made her terribly sad. Seeing his daughter in such a state was heart breaking for Tentei. He decided he must do something about it.

One day, Tentei introduced his daughter to a young handsome man called Hikoboshi. He was a celestial cow herder and lived on the other side of the milky way. The two young people were immediately taken with each other and soon fell in love. To see them so happy rejoiced the king and he soon allowed them to wed. Orihime was the happiest woman in the universe.

The two lovers spent all their time together; they were oblivious to the world around them. Soon, Orihime stopped weaving and Hikoboshi's celestial cows stranded all over the sky. Seing this, the king of the sky got so upset that he sent Hikoboshi back to his side of the milky way and forbidded the lovers to ever see each other again.

Orihime was heartbroken. Now that her love was gone, she spent her days and nights crying. Seeing his daughter grieve all day broke Tentei's hard. Since he had a soft spot for his lovely Orihime (and since no work was getting done anyway) he decided to allow her and Hikoboshi to meet once a year, on the 7th of the 7th month. There was, however, one condition: Orihime had to finish her weaving first. Grateful, Orihime got back to work immediately.

On the night of the 7th, Orihime was ready. She went to the side of the the milky way and saw Hikoboshi on the other side. She would be in his arms soon! Unfortunately there were no bridge over the milky way, and the princess could not cross over. Orihime started to cry again. She cried and cried. She cried so much tears that a flock of magpies flew up to the milky way and promised to make a bridge for the lovers to cross overs each year. Only, they would not be able to come on cloudy nights. The lovers accepted and the magpies created a bridge with their wings. Orihime crossed over to Hikoboshi.

Since that day, every year on the night of the 7th day of the 7th month, Hikoboshi and Orihime are reunited.

Look at the sky tonight, and if it is clear, maybe you will see the two lovers reunited.

Happy Tanabata!!

Rice Bread

2009-07-06T09:28:00.009+09:00

I think I have mentioned (somewhere in a previous post...) that I try to avoid wheat products. If I haven't, well, you know now. I usually use spelt flour (a grain similar to wheat but that contains no gluten,) and, since I like cooking, I bake my own cookies, muffins, etc. At first, I must say that I had to experiment a little but now I'm happy with spelt flour. The only problem I encountered was bread. Although I don't eat bread everyday, I must confess I have a soft spot for French toasts, garlic toast and fresh from the oven bread. I tried making croissants and bread with spelt flour but, because it doesn't contain gluten, it doesn't rise much; I ended up with tiny croissants and heavy, compact bread. I tried several times, kneading the dough by hand, using a bread machine, etc. In the end, I just gave up on the idea.

Later, I discovered that you can make bread with rice flour. I tried and failed again. The bread maker I own just isn't made for non-wheat bread.

Back in Canada, the food market is more diversified than in my little Japanese town and so, I started dreaming about the bread I would be able to eat when I went back home. I had almost completely given up on bread when I found two bakeries that make 100% rice bread. I was really excited and ordered loafs of rice bread from each one. Here is my appreciation.

Aoi Mugi

Aoi Mugi is brand by Fukumori Pan which is based in Osaka. The rice flour they use is called shidoki farine (farine is French for flour; when it comes to bread, Japanese people like to throw in something French.) Not only do they make bread, they also makes doughnuts, cakes and all other types of sweets. I ordered their regular rice bread loaf.

The bread was really heavy and moist. I tried eating it "raw" and although it wasn't bad, it wasn't really like regular bread. It was kinda sticky. I would not consider it for a sandwich.

Next, I made toast with it. The bread became really crispy while keeping its moisture at the center; it was delicious and really close to regular bread. Once toasted, the bread would be ok for sandwiches.

Finally, I tried making French toast with it. Surprisingly, the bread absorbed the egg mix really well. I fried it and served it with syrup. The result was a very delicious dish... that had little to do with French toasts. The bread became really compact and it felt more like a Chinese rice cake than bread. It was great, but it wasn't French toasts.

Nakamuraya

Nakamuraya's rice bread was featured on the local news and that's how I got to know about them. They are based in Yamagata. I'm not sure how they make their rice flour or if they use a different type of rice but their results are different from Fukumori Pan's. They mainly make bread, but also make cookies. However, the cookies can't be ordered online. I ordered two of their regular loafs and one of their cinnamon raisin loafs.

So far, I've only tried the regular rice bread. Compared to the Aoi Mugi rice bread, this one was a lot smaller. The packaging, though, was better, as the bread was sealed in an airtight plastic wrapping. It was lighter than the Aoi Mugi bread but still as soft.

I first tried to eat it "raw." It was delicious. Its texture was close to regular bread texture. I had a few slices; just couldn't stop. I would recommend it for sandwiches.

Next I toasted it. It was very good, really close to regular bread. I can see garlic toasts in the near future. Oh, and bread crumbs for salads, and onion soup and...

I have yet to make French toast with it, but I have a feeling it would turn out nicely. I'll update the post once I do.

In the end, I recommend Nakamuraya's bread over Fukumori Pan's. Although the loafs are smaller, the texture and taste are closer to regular wheat bread.

Saturday Picture Post: FOOD!!!

2009-07-04T10:43:00.002+09:00

I'm back on my main computer!! I finally got my AC adapter!

Light post today, as usual. I didn't have much time to think about this so I browsed through my pictures to find food pictures. Some are blurry, sorry!!!

Curry and Rice

Home party with Sushi

Hotel dinner

Soup Curry

Hotel Dinner part 2

Indoor BBQ

Treasure Hunting in Tokyo

2009-06-26T21:40:00.002+09:00

I'm not sure who said it, or even if this is the actual quote, but it is sometimes said that "One man's garbage is another man's treasure."

In Japan, due to the influence of the Shinto religion, second hand items are sometimes viewed as "unclean" or "impure." Therefore, there is an aversion to buying second hand items or reusing things. I think this is slowly changing, though I still have a tough time finding thrift stores in Tokyo. (They all seem to be centered in certain districts of the city.)

Recently a friend of mine came to Tokyo, not to visit, but to shop. He runs a somewhat unique store in the US, that sells rare second hand items from Japan. The focus of his shop is on anime and anime related merchandise, but he doesn't only sell items from the newest and most popular current series running in Japan and America. He enjoys going out "treasure hunting" to find unique items from older series.

He only comes to Japan a handful of times every year, to stock up on merchandise and to prepare for the American anime convention season. I had run across him in March, pulling a handcart overladden with boxes and bags, as I was heading home from Ikebukuro. That meeting was wholly unexpected, as neither of us knew the other was in Japan at the time, but then we got to talking and decided to hang out the next time he was in Tokyo.

So this time, I knew he was going to be around, but we still couldn't spend much time together, as his trip was unusually short, and a delay in his flight made him lose some valuable shopping time. When we finally did get together, he showed me some of the stuff he had picked up, fantastic cels from classic anime series and movies, plushies, posters, and a lot of other random merchandise.

He remarked about how amazing it was to go to a shop where they had a "grab bag" for an old series for only 5,000 yen (~$50) and then he could turn around and selll it at a convention for ten times as much. Plus, since what he buys in Japan is all second hand, it doesn't get taxed when he goes back into the states.

It's hard to imagine the market for the stuff that he finds in Japan. Keychains, collectible cards, pillows, bedsheets, mugs, and animation cels. But since he travels all over the US to anime conventions, it seems that there is always someone around to pick up an item and say, "Wow! I loved this series so much! I've never seen anything like this before!" and be willing to pay whatever the cost to put it into a personal collection.

I'm also surprised at the number of stores dedicated to this market in Japan. If anyone were to wander over to Akihabara, the electronics district of Tokyo, beyond the flashing lights and the electronics stores, another district of Tokyo is revealed. The otaku realm. There are stores in Akihabara dedicated to video games, anime, manga, and all the related merchandise. If you want the latest figure for a popular anime series, you will be able to find it in Akihabara.

But on a side street, away from the main area of Akihabara, you will also find an 8 story store dedicated to second hand merchandise. Here you can find rare collectibles that were sold several years past, and classic video games that you were sure no longer existed. You can get a deal on second hand dvds and soundtracks for your favorite anime series. And the best part is that this store is not the only one out there. Each store has its own unique collection of items, dependent upon what the customers bring in to sell. For a dedicated treasure hunter, you have to visit each and every one of them, to have the best chance of finding the most rare, and the most unique.

The thickest collection of second hand anime, manga, and video games' merchandise stores has to be in the Nakano Broadway shopping plaza. In the upper stories there are a variety of stores, each dedicated to something different. This one is old movie and video game posters, that one is figures, and over here is one for fan comics. Nakano has its own otaku presence, made even more popular by the Nakano Fujoshi Sisters a band of otaku idols who all have geeky hobbies and interests. If you have an interest in dressing up as your favorite anime or video game character, there are also several stores dedicated to cosplay, or costumed play.

I know that I have spent hours browsing the second and third floors of the shopping center, looking at the massive collections of stuff. Maybe you will too. There are things lining the shelves of these stores that some people only dream about, while others don't even know they wanted it until their eyes fell on to the shiney treasures. I have been asked many times by my friends overseas to keep an eye out for this or that, and a good place to start is usually Nakano.

Good News

2009-06-25T18:18:00.001+09:00

My AC Adapter is on the way. Posting will resume soon :D

Father's Day from Japan

2009-06-22T15:00:00.002+09:00

I've now been living in Iwate for three years. During these years, I've seen my father on Christmas 2007 (I went back home for the Holidays) and in September 2008 (my dad came to Japan.) Soon it'll be one year I haven't seen him. Actually, I will only see him again next year, in April.

Having been raised by my dad, I often find it really hard to live so far away from him. I think he does miss us, too (my only sister lives in South Korea.) Living here means that I can't be around for his birthday, Christmas and Father's day. This year, for many different reasons, I wasn't able to send him a birthday present, let alone a Father's Day present. I know he doesn't mind, but still, I wish I could have sent him something.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I did give him something. Actually, a small incident that happened on Saturday, might have turned out to be the best (and weirdest) Father's Day present ever.

On Saturday, Mr kanmuri was home and so I decided to cook something special. Since I can't access the data of my computer, I phoned my dad, hoping that he would be able to give me the list of ingredients I needed. He picked up, we chatted a little and he gave me what I needed. I was trying to tell him about our plans for the day but Mr kanmuri was putting away some plastics bags and was really loud (my phone is broken, I can't use it unless I put it on the speaker phone.)

All of a sudden, the line went dead and I lost connection. Thanks to Mr kanmuri and his plastic bags, I had no idea if my dad had said goodbye, dropped the phone, etc. I tried to phone him again, but I got a busy tone. I tried several times after that, but got the same result. I started to worry. I looked at my computer, but my dad was not on msn messenger. I called a few more times, and really started to panic when I got no answer. Mr kanmuri told me that, surely, my dad must be ok, but I couldn't calm down. My father's health is good, but you never know what can happen. Finally, Mr kanmuri told me that if I was so worried, I should call the police and ask them to go check.

Without losing time, I looked up the police department of my father's city and gave them a call. For some reason, I started to cry and had to work really hard to speak clearly. As first they didn't seemed convinced, and even told me that because the line had cut, it didn't mean my dad had collapsed. It was so infuriating! If it had been his own parents, wouldn't he have wanted someone to go check? I don't know my father's neighbours; the only option for me was the police. The policeman finally agreed to send someone.

I spent the next half hour crying, Mr kanmuri telling me that everything would be all right. I called my mother, telling her that the police might call her if something had happened to my dad. She told me I was overreacting. Maybe I was, but how could I know if my father was safe. The distance was really frustrating!

In the end, my dad, who had gone to bed, was woken up by the cops. He called me on his cellphone as soon as they left. I was so happy to know he was safe. Such a sense of relief!

The next day, my dad sent me an email with one of his friend's phone number, telling me to call him if anything were to happen to him. At least, if I worry I won't have to call the cops again.

We spoke on the phone again yesterday. He told me that as soon as he saw the cops, he made the connection. I had expected him to be angry at me, but he was grateful. He said it proved that I cared a lot about him. I think he was moved. One of his female friends, to whom he had told of my antics, even told him that she admired me and that she would have done the same thing.

So, what happened with the phone? My dad has an IP phone and his modem went down. No Internet: no phone.

I glad it was nothing important, but I hope I'll never have to live through this.

Happy Father's Day, Dad :D