Cal Gal Goes Gaijin

Change of Blog!

2006-01-22T05:50:00.000-08:00

So my blog address has changed...www.travelblog.org/bloggers/casey-lary/ check out my travels there!!!

Hitch Hiking

2005-09-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

A New Hobby in Japan

A disclaimer to my parents: do not read if you do not want to know!

Now everyone knows that hitch hiking is not safe anymore. My mom has told me stories about how she hitch hiked in Europe and had a great time. Deep down I was always a little envious. Now I can say I have experienced the thrill of hitch hiking.
This was not my original idea. My friend Jonathan, stationed down in Nagasaki Ken (kyushu) told me he was going to hitch hike to Kyoto. He thought it was going to take him 3 days. It took him less than a day. When he got there he wrote me"Faster than a speeding bullet. Faster than the shinkansen...well, a lot cheaper anyways. I made it to Kyoto before dark: in 10 hours from when I held up the first sign in Fukuoka. Number of rides = 4. Longest ride = 8 hours. Shortest wait= 1minute. Longest wait = 25 minutes. Cool guy = pachinko salesman who used to play minor leauge basebal in cali. Total price = 2 iced coffees and 3 mixed cds that I gave as omiyage." I thought to myself, how fucking cool. You can hitch hike in Japan!!!! As most people know if you attempt this in America you are doomed to be raped, robbed or murdered. Never would I think to hitch hike in Japan, yet Jonathan inspired me....
The next day I met up with Lisa and we were going to go watch fireworks over this damn. We were given the wrong directions and found ourslef at the Yoshida bus stop with the workers laughing at us. The said there was no bus that went to the dam. We figured we could then hitch hike, both inspired by Jonathan's trip. We had the bus people write 'Hagi Dam' in kanji for us on a piece of paper.

This is Lisa with our hitch-hiking sign. Lisa is one of my closest friends in Japan. She is always down for a good time and will do anything once. I think we feed off each other in that sense. For example, we would never hitch hike alone, but together what the hell! She has some crazy stories from Canada. I never knew Canada could be so much fun until I met Lisa!

The next bus that left so kindly dropped us off at the closest stop to where we needed to go. We could walk up the hill to get there, but we thought, lets give this hitch hiking thing a try. Along the side of this tiny rode we ran into this old man who literally came up to my shoulders harvesting rice. We showed him our sign and he tried to flag down cars for us. So far I was not a good hitch hiker. You have to be confident...where I am not and feel bad as the car drives by and want to apologize for even asking.

My coworkers call him Yachiyo man. He was the rice farmer that tried to help me and Lisa flag down a friendly car.

Lisa and I said screw it after 10 minutes and started to walk up the road. A little ways up the road a black car with 2 young guys is hanging out. They ask us if we want a ride. We assumed they felt sorry for us and wanted to give us a ride. This was a tricked out black car with curtains. These guys were 20 and 21. Lisa and i figured that if they tried to hurt us we could break them in two, so we hopped in. Turns out they saw our sign and were waiting for us! Once at our destination we thought we were going to have to hang out. Nope, they left us! Then we enjoyed the not-so-good fireworks and more squid on a stick.
When it came time to go home we were going to have to walk a far ass distance. We did not want to hitch hike at night (i have some sense don't I!!!). Along the road we saw this old man named Segawa and asked him if we were going in the right direction (fyi, Lisa speaks Japanese). He looks at us and asks where are car was. We said we didn't have one. He said wait two minutes and he would be back. We were out in the country, this car could have been anything from a farming truck to a tractor. It turned out to be a white van. He knew exactly where Lisa lived and dropped us off at her doorstep. It sure as hell beat walking that's for sure!

Alas our arrival! This is Lisa and I at Hagi Dam.

The next experience was after the Hawks baseball game. Again, we are highly overpaid and can afford a simple bus fare, but waiting in the long line to get on the bus was so boring. So, we hitch hiked! We had 3 teams and we were running around the stop-and-go traffic looking for a car to jump in. Good thing i was with Jonathan who has no shame in asking a car for a ride. A young j-couple picked us up, ages 20 and 19.

The front seat of the car in Fukuoka. Turns out her Grandma lives in Kabe. I told her to visit me next time she is there.

Also, (on a side note) Doug was also inspired by Jonathan's hitch hiking and hitch hiked to Fukuoka. He was picked up by a yougn Japanese nursing student. Talk about a dilemna because he wanted a ride from her yet at the same time wanted to tell her not to pick up single guy hitch hikers! Back to the story. The car we were in got a kick out of us and drove us back to Tenjin. We were the first group back. Victory was ours!

The backseat of the car. Jonathan, me, and Stirling.

2 days later Stirling and I were hiking Hiko-san. It was a terential downpour on the way down. At the end of the hike it stopped raining, yet we were wet and covered in mud. Instead of waiting for the bus to drop us off at the train station, we decided, let's hitch hike. The car that pulled over was this brand new Toyota SUV. It was a family and the dad driving the car made the kids jump in the tiny 3rd seat. Out of all the cars that could have stopped, the newest, cleanest one stopped for us. They put cushions down for us to sit on and trays for our muddy shoes. Stirling and I just kinda looked at each other and thought "what is going on."
Since then I have layed off the hith hiking rage. Some of the shocker crew might hithc hike up here for the sake festival....that is, if they can make it.

BEST PART EVER: (IF SKIP EVERYTHING READ THIS ALONE) Once you leave the car you are hitching in you never assume to see that person again. Oh contrar my friend. At my school sports day I definitely ran into one of the boys that picked me and Lisa up on the way to Hagi Dam! HAH!!!

I told myself I would try new things in Japan. Never thought it would be hitch hiking! If you ever come to Japan try it sometime, its quite the rush. Apparently an SF JET went hitching all over Japan after his teaching experience. It is not the safest thing anymore, but one look at a lonely gaijin and the j-folk can't resist us :-).

So here we have the hitchhiking guru that got us all started. Jonathan hitched form
Fukuoka area to Hiroshima. Next day he left Hiroshima and went to Kyoto....crazy i tell ya.

Crazy Fukuoka

2005-09-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Casey's Perfect Weekend: drinking, dancing, hiking, history, and so much more.....

For my four-day weekend I decided to take off down to Kyushu. The original intention was to hike some more (possibly Aso-san, the largest caldera in the world) and meet up with my friend Jonathan. It quickly involved meeting up with many other people and turning into a fabulous trip...although I think I needed another vacation after my first one. It included, hiking, shrines, boat cruises, drinking, dancing, street performers, hitching, a baseball game, and complete chaos....just the way I like it. Those random trips are the best.
I hit up Shimonoseki and had some incredible sushi. Then I headed down to Fukuoka to get lost amongst the shopping malls with the clothes I could not afford and meander along until I found some cool shrines to check out. I did see the largest wooden buddha in Japan.

Wooden pannels outside Fukuoka temple

Looks like I beat the crowds too as I was the only one there ;-). I thought it was pretty cool. That night I went to a festival at some shrine and saw some incredible taiko drums. All the festivals are the same with tasty food stands and women in beautiful yukatas (summer kimonos). I still get interested/grossed out when i see a squid on a stick.

This is a food stand at a local festival. Got some nice squid on a stick waiting for you! Tentacles, head, and all that good stuff.

Later I met up with Stirling and some other Yamaguchi JETs for some quality drinking and all out dancing. An interesting part of the night was when I was dancing on this little platform next to this japanese girl. She was timid at first and I was trying to motion "come on, get into it." FYI most Japanese women cannot dance. This woman took me very seriously. Next thing I knew she whipped off her shirt and is dancing around in her bra. All I have to say is at least she loosened up a little bit. I started to have a dance off with some j-boys only to get my ass kicked. It was great to dance like that. I had not done that for a while. Stirling and I woke up at this Japanese girls house very hungover and went to the city center to meet up with Jonathan, part of our original Tokyo crew. This is where things just got a little more fun. We met up with 4 others: Revital, Aaron, Doug, and Brody. 6 of the 7 were from Cali, and 3 of the 6 graduated from Berkeley. I am not gonna lie, cali people just know how to do it. We all went to a baseball game and caused havic...HAVIC. Doug did a great job of of summing up the rest of the evening:

word up people. hope this email finds you well.

> good times on Saturday: for the record we: managed
> to do a 7-way mass introduction at
Cafe Halle Berry
> where we all, stereotypically,
stood up, shook
> hands, said "hello, it's nice to
meet you....how are
> you?....I'm fine thanks, and
you...? " and by doing
> that, we've only helped exposed
others to our fine,
> fine culture. THEN we got drunk on the bus to the
> game (at least I did) THEN we whored Revitals body
> to get tickets into the sold-out game THEN we got
> MORE drunk-er, THEN we chanted "lick, lick, lick my   This is Doug.  It is the 7th Inning Stretch
> chode" and I yelled "womens oppression, REVERSE!!!"    In Japan they let off balloons.
> and I told a mean gaijin-hating man "your mom can't
> see" when he told me people behind me couldn't see.
>
> we THEN decided to HITCH-HIKE from the game, 6
> minutes west to Tenjin--best move ever. I THEN tried
> to make out with random manicure-student-J-girl,
> since I was so inspired by Jonathans game, I though,
surely,
> everyone can just make out in Tenjin. I was wrong.
>
> THEN we jammed blues and jazz with the sent from
> Allah/Buddha/God/John Stewart/Stephen Hawkings
> powers from above, on the corner.  THEN we found the
> best, cool, low-key-but-bumpin club in Tenjin
> (thanks Aaron..) THEN we got Drunk-er.  THEN we went
> our seperate ways, I ate a raw egg in my ramen,
> Casey rode a mechanical horse at Cybac in the
> morning, Brody and I cackled at the site of
> cum-drooling J-porn and I, admittedly, bought a
> shirt from The Gap.




Shockers in action: top: Brody, Jonathan, Stirling, Doug
Bottom: Casey, Revital, Aaron







So Doug sums it up sooo nicely, yet forgets a few solid points of the evening.  We ended up up sitting in the expensive
seats because we decided we did not want to sit in the cheap seats.  So, when someone said we were i their seat,
we played musical chairs.  At first we royally pissed off the j-folk.  Then we became the star attractions with such
cheers as "like my chode" and made Japanese people think 'the shocker' was the equivalent to a thumbs up.  I swear
we are all going to hell for what we did at the baseball game.
I would like to point out that baseball games in Japan are not like the ones in America.  They are more like football
games.  People stand up and cheer the whole game.  The entire stadium would chant the same cheers and have special
clappers.  They all wore jerseys.  There were flags going...even cheerleaders.  In our drunkenness, we fit right in.  At the
game they have beer girls that go around with a keg strapped to their backs.  It would be a dream come true to to have a
keg backpack at a Cal football game.  Stirling had the idea for me to try the pack on.  So, next time a beer girl came around
I put the keg on my back along with the neon hat.  What an experience!

A dream come true! Keg backpack!

Another great story from the baseball game: Even though we are highly overpaid we decided to bring in our own alcohol and
avoid the overpriced beer found at any baseball game whichever country you are in. While sitting there with our cans of beer,
a stadium worker comes to us with paper cups. She tells us we are not allowed to have our own drinks in the stadium so we should
pour our drinks into these cups to hide our alcohol. We all look at each other and go "is this really happening" and then thought
"I can't wait to put this on my blog" since we all have one. Only in Japan would that happen. It was fabulous.
So by the end of the game we had won over the hearts of the Japanese around us and brainwashed them with the shocker.
We did not want to wait in the long line to get back to Tenjin so we hitch hiked in. it turned into a competition and my car won!
More on hitch-hiking later. After playing music with some street performers and dancing at a club we slept at an internet cafe. They
are the hostels of big cities. In japan you think capsule hotels....well the internet cafe is cheaper. for 15 bucks you can crash on a couch
for 7 hours, plus free drinks, massage chairs (hence the mechanical horse) and cheap showers. What an experience!
Not to waste a day, I got up and headed to Daiszafu to see the original capital of Kyushu. There were some neat shrines and old buildings.
I thought Hiroshima was humid. Kyushu was by far more humid than Hiroshima!
I finished the afternoon in a town called
Yanagawa where I went on a river canal
cruise, similar to the stuff in venice
italy, yet I was in Japan. I called
today my "Japanese Tourist Day"
because I did stuff that Japanese
people do, not foreigners visiting
Japan. I was the only gaijin for
miles in Yanagawa. I thought it
was so fun. I live for moments like
the Yanagawa canal cruise.

Monday, my last day, Stirling and I hiked Hiko-san. It is a giant mountain in one of Kyushu's national parks. At first we hesitated because
of the rain, yet forged ahead. The moutain is very sacred and has shrines all over the place.

Stirling and I are standing at the base of the stairs
monks would take to the top. Those steps are pretty old.

There are forests of old trees and huge sequoias.
You know me and hiking....I was in absolute Heaven. Hiking in such beautiful places gives me the ultimate high. I could not have been
happier. I would like to mention that the Lonely Planet book called this an 'easy' hike, yet it was as hard as any hike I have done in america.
Toward the end of the hike I was scaling rocks
holding onto chains. On the way down it poured on us.
What an experience. We arrived
back in Shimonoseki where I parted ways with
Stirling and headed
back to Kabe. I pulled into my house at 1 am.
Talk about using
my nennkyu (paid vacation) to the fullest.
My weekend in Kyushu gave me the biggest
rush and reinvigorated
why I am here...to travel and just go all out.
I loved the people I
met and the stuff I saw. We all might meet
again for the Sake festival
just outside of Hiroshima. What debauchery
will come of that no one
knows....

On a side note I just signed up for a 10 km Peace Marathon...what was I thinking! At least I will be fit for my sister's wedding!!

The Hiroshima Crew

2005-09-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

I would like to introduce you to the new JETs of Hiroshima-Ken:

We come from far an wide to take on the grueling task of teaching J-kids of all ages to speak English. We also have a kick-ass time doing such things as enkais, hiking mt fuji, karaoke, salsa, and group dodgeball. There are people from America (cali represent!!), Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. Talk about a permanent couch to sleep on in any english speaking country!
We had 2 orientations, one for the whole ken (about double the people there) and a week long language course in Saijo at an International Center.

Here we have one of my new Canadian friends (a new appreciation for Canada!!), Heather. During our language training we had a karate demonstration. Now Heather, what a girl. Best story ever. She won Prom Queen her senior year. Now that is every girls' secret dream....to be the Prom Queen. Good thing Heather was getting drunk in a hotel room so she missed the crowning! Best story ever.

Here are a bunch of girls all happy and in picture-worthy condition before we head out for Fuji-san. from left to right, Stacey, Heather, Lisa, Nikki, Mercedes, Bill, Ellie, Helen, Jen, Alexis, and Julie. All of us are new JETs. We all successfully made it to the top. How freakin cool are we. I love these people.

Here we have my dearest Jeff. My safety blanket, my berkeley boy...and quite possibly the greatest guy ever. We only met last May and what fun we have had since then. From island hopping, sleepovers, karaoke, fuji-san, to future trips to Thailand and Sapporo for the ice festival, jeff and I seem to know how to cruise..... ;-). JUST FRIENDS...I just have a lot of respect for this guy

This is British Ellie. Here we are at 'work.' Earlier that day we stood in lines in a hot room, walked like robots, and bowed a lot. The point? We received a certificate allowing us to teach in Hiroshima Ken. All of us teach at high schools. Jen (not pictured) actually fainted it was so hot. I am know as the girl with the camera, she is known as the girl that fainted....good times. Ellie spent a year in Berkeley. We have the most random connections. We both miss smoothies and Top Dog.

Again another Fuji-san photos. We have back row: mark, matt, ellie, Jason, heather. Front row: Jenn, Nikki, Me, and Lisa. Us brave souls made it to the summit! Jason is a fukushima JET from b-town. It was great hiking with him and Jeff...Berkeley takes on the Fuj!!! Lisa has been my partner in crime numerous times... more on her later when we get to the hitch-hiking chapter ;-).

Again at the Board of Education Enkai (BOE) we have Russ, Hans, and England. Russ is a great guy...good at salsa (well we are both trying!), rugby, and is always seen with the token fan. Hans come from England and between naps and sometimes teaching, we email back and forth all day. Alun lives way up in the Inaka. There have been some good times karaoking and bumming around with that guy.

Here we have my dear friend Brian who is not a ken jet, but a shi (city) jet, yet he lives closest to me out of any JETs. We met at an orientation in SF and from that a blossoming friendship has emerged. Whether it be boy/girl talk over dinner, salsa, or browsing through the Fuji-Grand, Brian and have a great time. Here we are karaoking to Bon Jovi...we both have a deep affection toward living on a prayer. We are a few Chu-His deep.

So as you can tell, the people living with me are pretty cool. I have also connected with JETS in other areas that are super fun, aka stirling, pete, jonathan...and a few other crazy people. As much as I miss everyone from home, it is great to make new friends and make this place feel a little more like home.

FUJI-SAN!!!

2005-09-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

Fulfilling the Dream....

Before I cam to Japan I knew there was certain things I wanted to

do.  The first thing was to hike Mt. Fuji, referred to as Fuji-san.  I
was planning a trip and discovered it was going to be very very
expensive just to get to the mountain.  My hopes of climbing Fuji were
dwindling.  Then I found out that the ken was planning a trip for us all to go
on.  I was elated!!!!

This is Stacey, Heather, Lisa (My canada girls) and I in front of Fuji-san at the 5th Station

 It is tradition to hike at night so that you are at the top of Fuji
to watch the sunrise.  It is good luck to watch the sunrise from the the top.

Hiroshima Ken takes on Fuji-san!!!!!

 Last year`s group hiked in the middle of a taifun.
Afraid that weather conditions could be just as bad, we all came prepared
with rainsuits and numerous layers.  Nothing was going to keep me from
the top of this mountain.  We started at the 5th station Yoshida trail
(there are 3 or 4 trails up the mountain), which put us half way up the
mountain already.  There are 10 different stations up the mountain.  At
all the different stations there is food and mountain huts you can
sleep in.  Before we started the hike we all bought walking sticks.  At the
different stations you can get various brands on your stick to show
where you have been.  In total you can pick up 15 different stamps.  At
200 yen each, I opted for the ones I really liked :-).

Getting my walking stick branded at the 7th Station

THE CLIMB
A saying on Fuji-san is `He who climbs Mount Fuji once is a wise
man, he who climbs it twice is a fool."  Being an experienced hiker I must
admit I was pretty sure of my ability to climb the mountain.  By the
time I was at the top and at finally at the bottom, I am now a true
believer in the above statement.  To put it bluntly, it was fucking hard.It
was the clearest nigh ever. We could see all the lights from
thesurrounding towns. We started to get so hot because we had on so
many layers.  All of us, about 45, made it to the 7th station.  We were hot, we were
 sweaty, we were amped to be there.  After that people started to

dwindle. As I said their are stations on the mountain. There are 10 total.
You would think that meant 4 huts scattered up the mountain. Turns out that each station has about 5 different huts between 10 different

switchbacks.  Talk about a false sense of progression.  You start to think
you are hiking for a long time and are reaching the next station, only
to find out you are still at station 7, hut number 5.
It was pitch black and all you could see were little headlamps
scurrying up the mountain.  I definitely got to spend some quality time getting
to know some cool people living in my ken.  We started at 7:30/8 and
got to the 8th station by 12:30 am.  The 9th station was closed because
we were a weekend outside of the actual climbing season so some huts
were gone.  As we reached the top and were wet from sweating, it started
to get pretty cold.  We were told not to go to the top too early
because it was so cold and we would be miserable.  a few of us decided to try
to sleep for a few hours in one of the mountain huts.  Oh what an
experience!  best quoted from Jen `i feel like mold!`

Inside the moutain hut: cold and gross!

Definitely not the most comfortable experience but it something we will remember. When we
woke up to hike the rest of the way we were dumbfounded. When we went
to bed we were at the head of the pack. The mountain now looked like
christmas. There was a huge line of hikers along the trail headed for the
summit. From a distance Fuji-san must have looked like a big
Christmas Tree. Only on Mt Fuji will you be able to find gridlock at 3 am.
As my friend jason (fellow cal bear)put it, `it was like we were
somalian refugees.` A hike that probably could have taken us 45 minutes to an
hour took an hour and half because of the line.

THE SUMMIT
Finally, at 4:45 we reached the summit! It was so crowded! There
were people everywhere! It was funny because many people had oxygen
cans that are normally reserved for mountains much taller than Fuji-san.
Many of the j-hikers were decked out in full-body windbreakers, hiking
sticks, backpacks...they were dressed to the t. Many of us looked
rather unprepared/disheveled in comparison to the j-peeps. I had enough
layers until the wind picked up. The sun rose around 5 am and it was
absolutely glorious. I appreciate it more now looking back at it when I
am not tired and exhausted and cold. We lucked out with the weather for
sure! As the sun rose over the clouds and showered us with warm light,
all the hikers cheered.

The sun rising over the clouds. It was absolutely amazing....

The original plan was to hike around the rim of the crater. That
lasted for all of 10 minutes.

Jason in front of the crater,
welcome to Middle Earth

We headed down shortly after. This trail was pure pebbles and sand. Past hikers
have run down this trail. Let`s
be honest, I am not that coordinated. Being as careful as I could be I
ended up falling numerous times. Finally I reached the bottom, exhausted from hiking and lack of sleep.
We finished the afternoon with a shitty "japanese style" lunch and an onsen, aka a large bath.
Despite the poor quality of lunch and onsen, it was really nice to be clean and fed after the large hike.
We arrived back in Hiroshima by 10 pm and I was passed out in Kabe by 11:15.
Hiking Fuji-san was everything I expected it to be and more. At the summit I was a little bitter
and dreaded the hike down saying I would never hike the mountain again. Looking back I realize
how amazing everything was and how much fun I had. Would I do it again, say if I stay a second year and the
Ken trip to Fuji comes up again? Call me a fool...coming from the hiker at heart...yes I think I would do it
again!

*disclaimer: lack of photos of myself are due to how awful I looked. Also, would put more photos p
but they limit the photos you can post. The nerve! Will post more on clubphoto as always.

Previous | Next | Back to Messages

Island Hopping In the Inland Sea

2005-09-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

I am very very behind in this hold blog thing. You all would think I would update it religously, but somehow I find ways to waste my time and not blog. So muc to say! A bunch of my friends have blogs, and when something cool happens we all go "that's a blog moment." Yes yes, a bunch of computer dorks over in Japan!!!
So, way back in August we first had a 2 day orientation of all the Hiroshima JETs. It was a lot of fun. We learned how to take care of the tatami mats, avoid cockroaches, and why the heck there is a huge raised yellow line in the middle of the sidewalk (its for the blind people!! All along I thought it separated the bike path and walking path!!).

Here is a photo of some of the SF crew: Me, Allison, Brian, and Geraldine. SF people, I don't know man, we are the cool of the cool. This was our Ken Enkai. Enkai= drinking party. The party continued to a place called Jamaice that I vaguely remember for finding my way back to the hotel! Other nights included massive salsa dancing and of course, my favorite, karaoke :-).

After the orientation I went to Jeff's apartment to stay for the weekend and go "island hopping." On Saturday we headed to Etajima. It is one of the big islands off of Hiroshima Port. Now, Jeff and I had spent most of our time in the city doing orientations or at our schools withour supervisors, meaning we were around people that spoke english. Out on the islands it was a different story. We were lost souls. Konnichiwa and hajimemashite were going to help us get to the beach we intended to swim at or help us buy food. Good thing Jeff and I both did an emphasis in Spanish for PEIS. No one spoke Spanish either :-). Fortunately this Japanese guy from Tokyo helped us out. We also ran into fellow JETs, Jody and Jason. We headed for a quick swim to get out of the humid weather.

This is the beach we swam at. No other gaijin in sight. We scared some of the kids when we tried to talk to them!

After the swim we headed to the onsen next door. An onsen is a natural spring bath, similar to the ones in Hungary (those are the ones I went to). There are separate baths for girls and guys. I was with 3 guys, meaning I was going into the girls side by myself....dun dun dun!!! When there is a lack of communication and a bit of confusion, I just tend to follow what everyone else is doing. I tried to ask a lady where to get a towel, and she thought I was telling her to go back to the bath and dry off more because she was getting me wet. Man I felt bad. I stripped down to nothing and made my way into the communal area. I just had this feeling that all their eyes were on me thinking "so that's what they look like!!" Because at the same time, I was thinking "so that's what they look like." There were hot pools, cold pools, baths with jets...it was pretty darn nice. part of the bath was outside and you could peak out into the sea (of course they could not see you!). Afterward the boys and I met up for a fabulous dinner where you can point at a fish in the center of the restaurant and they can cook it for you. Talk about fresh fish.

This is Jody, Jason, Jeff and me at the great Japanese restaurant. Dinner was so pretty I did not want to eat it at first.

Sunday Jeff and I headed to the famous Miyajima. It is one of the 3 most scenic spots in all of Japan. With all the temples and the floating red torii, I can see why so many people want to come here. That night was the annual fireworks show. We decided to get there early and check out the island. It was so freakin humid it was hard to move. We did go see some stuff, but decided we would come back when it was less humid. The last time I felt that gross was in third grade at Mt Vernon (family you will remember that awful feeling). The island is full of deer that will eat anything. You never want to leave your stuff sitting around because the deer will eat it. At the festival many women and men (and some pets) were wearing yukatas, summer kimonos. I have decided I really want one. The fireworks were amazing! The best I have ever seen! I will try to put a photo up but it will not do it justice! All in all it was an incredible weekend.
Here I am in front of the red torii. It was originally contsructed in 600 AD. It is basically big tree trunks in water. The tide was low enough that I went and touched it!

Attack of the deers! Run for your life little boy!

This is Jeff, Heather, Stacey, and Alexis posing with some cool statues

This is for you mom....a dog wearing a yukata. How fabulous! Maybe I can find one for our dog Max. I am sure it would last 2 seconds!

A bunch of Japenese dressed in Yukatas throwing up the typical japanese gang sign.

Beautiful sunset

And last, the incredible incredible fireworks!

Jealous Yet? :-)

Atomic Bomb Memorial 60th Anniversary

2005-08-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

August 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima city. Right before I left for Japan there was a cover article on the upcoming 60th anniversary the following week. I feel very fortunate that I got to be there for the event and witness it first hand. In the morning there was a serious ceremony where the government got up and spoke and there were survivors from the a-bomb dropping as well. Due to the time of the serious ceremony and not to forget to mention the whole thing in Japanese, I opted out of going to it. In addition, it was pretty damn hot and humid. The humidity I experienced later that day was enough. During the afternoon my English club met up wtih me. Kabe Senior High School made 1,000 paper cranes to be hung in Peace Park. Before coming to Japan I heard about the story of the girl who made 1,000 paper cranes and how it was now a symbol for cancer. I did not know the story originated in Hiroshima. THE STORY: A young girl survived the a-bomb. A few years down the road she got cancer due to the radiation. She said that if she made 1,000 paper cranes, she would live. The crane is a symbol of long life. Unfortunately, the young girl died of cancer before finishing. Her friends, family, and classmates finished making the 1,000 paper cranes. Ever since then cranes have been associated with cancer survival. There is a big bell dedicated to the young girl and many many strands of 1,000 paper cranes.
Here I am with Will (a guy travelling around japan by teaching at schools. Was teaching at Kabe SHS for the week), Miho, Yuko, and I in front of the crane memorial with the 1,000 paper cranes.
This is a photo of Miho hanging the cranes. Notice how there are soooo many cranes in that one little compartment from people all over Japan, and I think the world.

Later that night with my English group we decorated candles that illuminated the bomb memorial building. I found it interesting that none of the Japanese knew what a peace sign was. I thought that was the universal sign for peace, but I guess not. After that, at sunset, Lanterns were sent down the river, each representing a victim of the atomic bomb. Peace Park itself is a constant reminder of the damage of Hiroshima City and what nuclear power can do. There is a flame in the park and it will not be out until there is no nuclear warefare in the world. This is a photo of the Atomic Bomb Memorial building. This was all that was left of the building after the explosion.
Here is art of the memorial. They had all types of expressive art and ways to comemorate lives lost.
Here is a photo (sorry, bad lighting, have to get photos from friend Russ) of the lanterns floating down the river. It was a very peaceful moment and I will never forget it. Hiroshima is the way it is today because of what happened 60 years ago. The entire city was rebuilt to its modern state. A swedish lady commented that she felt people were nicer in Hiroshima Ken than other parts of Japan and she thinks it is because of the a-bomb and people realizing how important peace is in the world. It is indeed something to ponder.

I will have better photos later...my camera ran out of batteries (you know I started to panic!!) we ended the night by going to a street party where we listened to brazilian/Japanese djs and danced like crazy. it was pretty cool. All in all a wondeful day.

OHH!!! Later that night my friend ellie and I were talking on the bus ont he way home. an old man told us that it was rude to talk on a bus. Who knew! I felt awful. I wonder how many people I have unintentionally offended since I have been in Japan, probably a lot! whoops!

Hello Japan!!!

2005-08-28T03:52:00.000-07:00

Konnichiwa!!!

FINALLY!!! I have started my blog like I promised!!! Now instead of me writing the same thing 100 times or sending out a mass email (because I know everyone loves those impersonal things), I have this blog where I can update everyone on what is going on in Japan. I have been here officially for a month. It seems like forever and yet not so long at the same time. I start teaching this week. All of August the students are on break, yet I still have to go to school and sit there...doing nothing. I have also had many orientations on living in Japan (ie how to avoid cockroaches and tatami bugs) and I got to connect with many of th 130 JETs in Hiroshima Ken. There have also been some interesting differences in food, traditions, and getting lost here and there. It has been a physical and mental roller coaster the past month. In general I am FINALLY settling in and really enjoying my time. It is starting to feel a little like home. So, I will do a brief recap of what has happened, mainly with photos.

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

July 30 at SF international airport I left for Japan. This is my dad, me, mom and boyfriend Jason. The photo was taken by the Japanese flight attendant. Notice the precision of the photo and how centered it is, and how he made sure to get the ANA and Tokyo information above us. I am entering the land of the best photo takers in the world. Finally! No more shitty photos taken of the ground by other tourists!

BERKELEY TAKES ON JAPAN!! Here we have Jason, Casey and Jeff. 3 of the numerous Berkeley kids headed to Japan. Jason is located in Fukushima Ken in the sticks (Northern Honshu) and Jeff and I both got placed in Hiroshima Ken. Lucky him to get placed with me ;-). (kidding)

We said our good byes to the loved ones and off we went.

TOKYO

Sunday afternoon we arrived in Tokyo. All of us were in our semi-warm clothes that were suitable for SF. The humidity was unbearable when we got off the airplane. I felt like I was on the east coast. After a long customs line, Jason almost losing his ipod and glasses, a LONG line of current JETs navigating us through the airport, we got on the buses headed to the Keio Plaza. That night a group of us decided to hit up the town. We only had 3 days in Tokyo and we wanted to make the best of it. We went into the metro station and wanted to go to the Shibuya district.....

LOST IN TRANSLATION

We all basically looked at it an our mouths dropped. Fortunately we had Chris who has lived in Japan and been to Tokyo numerous times....the night could continue. Bring on Tokyo.

Here we are in the Shibuya District. If anyone has seen Lost in Translation they film part of the movie here. My favorite comment of the night as hundreds of Japanese people crossed the street "Hey look all Asians, must be a Berkeley Econ Class." Yes, I am crude and I am sorry.

Here was the group for the night

Chris: Our lifeline to Japan
Stirling: From San Diego who I met on the plane. Turns out his friend from high school is my boyfriend Jason's new roommate. Small world....
Jonathan: A Berkeley grad who lived in South America for 2 years before coming to Japan
Jason: Berkeley dude
Meredith: Again more weird contacts. Was friends with friend Justin from SLO and studied with Hannah in Cambridge.
Jeff: Berkeley dude.

So we went out, got food, went to a Gaijin bar, and headed home. While checking my email I found out some very interesting news...MY SISTER IS ENGAGED!!! Guess I will be coming home sooner than expected for the wedding. FYI, Gaijin means foreigner and that is what we call ourselves.

As well as having fun we had to go to numerous orienations. This was round 2 of incoming JETs. There were 1,000 of us from 44 different countries. There are 6,000 JETs total in Japan. It is a pretty big program.

I went to a food workshop and learned that I could be served raw horse meat, this thing called natto which is fermented soy beans (it smells like vomit i kid you not!!!), fried whale, pickled plub (I let Jeff try that one, it was not pretty), live shrimp that is killed on the table and eaten raw...the list is endless. Slowly but surely I am trying new things. Okonomiyaki is a local dish and it is FABULOUS. I am going to learn how to make it and make it for all you guys when I come home. My favoritie is Katin Sushi-conveyor belt sushi...hhmmmm good :-).

Everynight included going out. A japanese bar/pub is called an Izukaya. They serve lots of beer and small portions of beer food. We went to one as the Hiroshima Ken. The Japanese are also fond of one price and all you can drink. So, for 3 hours we could drink as much as we want (plus food) for 28 bucks. I thinkI got my fair share of birru (beer). They also have these things called Enkais which are drinking parties. Whoever thought drinking was such a big part of japanese culture? Not I!!! The night was topped off with a great Japanese pasttime....KARAOKE!!! It was all about Bon Jovi....there are no other questions.

This is me and Kiwi Pete Singing Karaoke

Jonathon and I snuck away to see Tokyo

instead of workshops, whoops!

This is one of my favorite photos ever. Here are a bunch of Japanese business people singing karaoke. They had the tamborines going and everything

Here is another one of my favorite photos. I do not think thig guy can read his shirt and might have been a little confused to why I was taking his photo, but I didn't care. ROLL ON YOU BEARS!!!

So this concludes Tokyo. I wish I had more time to explore Tokyo because it is an AWESOME city. I do not know if I will make it back. It is pretty far from Hiroshima...we will see what the next year brings.

HIROSHIMA

So Tokyo was a blast. The true test was when we all split up to our prefectures, then even further to our respective cities, towns, villages, inaka (inaka is japanese for countryside).
I arrived at Kabe Senior High School to a huge welcome sign. EVERYTHING said Cathleen. Guess they did not get the memo i go by Casey. My name is actually pronounced "Keishi Rari" in Katakana. My supervisor Yumi and Sensei Nishida picked me up. It was the hottest day of my life. I moved into my aparment which is huge (I think) and well located next to school, a department store, the bus stop and a 15 minute walk from the train station. This is the first time I have lived alone and the most space I have ever had YIKES!

This Kabe Senior High School and the girls on the second floor are my English Club: Miho, Aiko, Yuko, and Saki. I am dead tired in this photo and all I want to do is go home.

Kabe

Population: 22,000
Location: North of Hiroshima City.
Gaijin: Was 3, now down to 2
Italian Restaurants: 1
McDonalds: 1
Kaitain Sushi: 1

Above: Inside one of my Tatami Rooms. I store my futons in the closet and sleep in the air-conditioned room next-door. That is right, no real bed!!!

Right: My apartment Sejuru 202. I am the top right apartment. My neighbors include an old lady, a family of 4 (that means babies!!!), and then I do not know. I have never seen them.

View from my balcony. The best way to describe Kabe is that is is the edge of suburbia and the verge of the inaka. I think many people that work at the Mazda factory by Hiroshima Port live here.

Everyone has been soooo incredibly nice. My supervisor is sooo essential to me because she translates everything for me. Without her I would be soooo lost and more confused than I already am. As I said, it has been a rollercoaster of emotions the past month. I have excited to be in a new country, exploring a new culture, and trying new things. Frustrated because I can't speak the language and get around by myself when I am used to being independent. Lonely: You try living in in a country where you can't speak to anyone and did not know how to use the phone or anyone else's numbers! Confused: I hate not being able to read Kanji...i mean, everyone should be able to read the 5,000 characters, right? :-). And basically every other emotion at one point or another.

This is the beginning of my blog. When I have time tomorrow I will post more. Look forward to Atomic Bomb Memorial, Island hopping in Miyajima and Etajima, hitchikingin Japan, friends and the cool people I have met....it is going to be a crazy year!!!