Two weeks ago we had an opening ceremony for the new school year with all the current students except for the youngest, newest class. A lot of bowing and a few speeches took place. Overall it took less than 30 minutes, but I still had to come to school all day and wear a suit. The day after that was almost exactly the same except that it was called the entrance ceremony. The new classes filed in and their mothers watched from the back of the gym. There were speeches and more bowing of course. All the teachers were introduced including myself. Again, less than 30 minutes and I had no classes for the rest of the day. In the afternoon the kids cleaned the school. Easiest money I ever made.
Many of my classes have been shortened lately because the homeroom teachers need time in the afternoon to have parent teacher conferences. They drive to every single student's house and meet their parents for about 10 minutes and move on to the next student's house.
There is such a thing as a PTA in Japan, and what I find really amusing is that it's actually called the PTA despite the words parent and teacher starting with completely different letters in Japanese. I wonder how that got started.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Elections
The local elections were held on Sunday. I haven't been able to ask many people about them, but from what I can tell candidates were allowed to campaign for about 3 or 4 weeks in very restricted ways. There were boards with grids on them posted on major streets where each candidate was allowed to put one square poster. I didn't see any political ads on tv. However, for the past two weeks I've heard nothing but loud, shrill, annoying recordings being played at top volume from slow driving campaign vans. I have no idea how anyone could understand what was actually being said, and even if they did, how they could really evaluate a candidate's agenda and values based on the 15 seconds that the van screamed through their neighborhood.
In the local elections, citizens vote for individuals. However, in the national election for Prime Minister, citizens vote for a party and the party chooses the actual Prime Minister.
As a side note, I found out a couple days ago that Japan doesn't have juries in its judicial system!
In the local elections, citizens vote for individuals. However, in the national election for Prime Minister, citizens vote for a party and the party chooses the actual Prime Minister.
As a side note, I found out a couple days ago that Japan doesn't have juries in its judicial system!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Mom's Entry
Many apologies to the faithful readers of Jane’s Blog for this late entry. Jet lag from our trip to Japan took us much longer to recover from than anticipated before jumping back into our work schedules and travel schedules.
Our tour guide in Japan was the BEST! We would never have seen as much as we did if it had not been for Jane and her Japanese skills. She has already highlighted many of the places we visited, so I will share some stories as requested.
I was impressed with the uniforms, white gloves and professional/courteous train, bus, and taxi drivers. All forms of transportation were efficient and clean. However, if you ever board a crowed city bus in Kyoto, be aware of the mighty little old ladies that board the back of the bus. They transform into a football-charge stance and plow through people to get to the front of the bus in order to get off at their destinations. I almost landed on the floor as one of these women shoved me. Jane said something in Japanese to her and she stopped her charging.
Most people have washing machines, but no dryers. Laundry is hung out to dry on balconies. Dirk and I found a western-style Laundromat in Kyoto to wash/dry our clothes. The washing machines automatically dispensed detergent. We met 2 chatty young men from Australia who were staying in a hostel and touring Japan for a month. It is interesting how much people like to visit when they meet someone who speaks their native language. We saw lots of people from Australia visiting Japan.
We did a lot of eating out due to our touring schedule. I craved fresh vegetables and salads. They were usually nowhere to be found. Jane whipped-up her soon-to-be-famous rice/veg/chicken recipe twice. It was delicious and satisfying. I have not been able to reproduce it yet. Jane, I will need a lesson in August. We have been putting ground roasted sesame seeds on everything since returning. My favorite restaurant dish was the okonomiyaki lunch in Hiroshima. Entertaining and delicious!!!
The junior high students at one of Jane’s assigned schools were a delight! The second class was especially enthusiastic about participating in interviewing us and playing Jeopardy. It was especially fun to see Jane’s interaction with them. We were asked what our favorite sport was and how old we were! One girl asked me if I loved my husband and later asked me “how much do you love your husband?” Ha ha
Three of my favorite and lasting memories were seeing the beautiful Gold Pavilion in Kyoto and the peaceful surrounding gardens, relaxing/rejuvenating in the onsen at Nishi-iya followed by dinner with Justin and Mailena at a Japanese restaurant, and the awesome pottery shops in Naruto.
Our tour guide in Japan was the BEST! We would never have seen as much as we did if it had not been for Jane and her Japanese skills. She has already highlighted many of the places we visited, so I will share some stories as requested.
I was impressed with the uniforms, white gloves and professional/courteous train, bus, and taxi drivers. All forms of transportation were efficient and clean. However, if you ever board a crowed city bus in Kyoto, be aware of the mighty little old ladies that board the back of the bus. They transform into a football-charge stance and plow through people to get to the front of the bus in order to get off at their destinations. I almost landed on the floor as one of these women shoved me. Jane said something in Japanese to her and she stopped her charging.
Most people have washing machines, but no dryers. Laundry is hung out to dry on balconies. Dirk and I found a western-style Laundromat in Kyoto to wash/dry our clothes. The washing machines automatically dispensed detergent. We met 2 chatty young men from Australia who were staying in a hostel and touring Japan for a month. It is interesting how much people like to visit when they meet someone who speaks their native language. We saw lots of people from Australia visiting Japan.
We did a lot of eating out due to our touring schedule. I craved fresh vegetables and salads. They were usually nowhere to be found. Jane whipped-up her soon-to-be-famous rice/veg/chicken recipe twice. It was delicious and satisfying. I have not been able to reproduce it yet. Jane, I will need a lesson in August. We have been putting ground roasted sesame seeds on everything since returning. My favorite restaurant dish was the okonomiyaki lunch in Hiroshima. Entertaining and delicious!!!
The junior high students at one of Jane’s assigned schools were a delight! The second class was especially enthusiastic about participating in interviewing us and playing Jeopardy. It was especially fun to see Jane’s interaction with them. We were asked what our favorite sport was and how old we were! One girl asked me if I loved my husband and later asked me “how much do you love your husband?” Ha ha
Three of my favorite and lasting memories were seeing the beautiful Gold Pavilion in Kyoto and the peaceful surrounding gardens, relaxing/rejuvenating in the onsen at Nishi-iya followed by dinner with Justin and Mailena at a Japanese restaurant, and the awesome pottery shops in Naruto.
Dad's Entry
We really enjoyed our visit to Japan. It contains some of the most beautiful landscape sites I have ever seen. I’ve always preferred to capture photographic images that combine natural beauty and beautiful man-made structures. The Japanese have understood how to create locations that have that exact combination for centuries and it shows in their castles and temples. Jane took us on a tour of many of those sites in Himeji, Kyoto, Hiroshima, the mountains of Shikoku and Naruto. Between the three of us we took over 900 pictures (before thinning). Of course, many of the best images were captured by all three of us so that will probably boil down to several hundred good shots—a very successful vacation in my view.
My favorite image is that of the temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. You aren't allowed to go inside the pavilion. However, the point of going there is the unbelievably beautiful visual scene of the temple building reflecting in the glassy pond that is dotted with tiny “islands” of stone and trees pruned to perfection. The place was also arranged nicely to allow lots of people to visit without destroying the beauty. I think that’s an art in itself.
Another favorite was the Himeji Castle, a huge compound with an amazing investment in stonework, woodwork and defensive design. I loved the moat at this and other castles and palaces. I was struck by how similar the castle in Naruto looked to the Himeji castle, although tiny in comparison. We didn’t visit the Naruto castle but we could see it up on a very steep and pointy hill in the center of the community. That hill would have been a great defensive element for a fort/castle. Castle in Himeji:
We all thoroughly enjoyed the shinkansen (bullet train) visit to Hiroshima. The Peace Memorial was very interesting and to stand and stare at the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, the domed building that has been preserved in its destroyed state, makes real the horror that was experienced there when the first atomic bomb was dropped at the end of World War II.
We found the people to be very friendly and almost always willing to help. However, there were few signs in English so we were very fortunate that Jane can read and speak enough Japanese to get around smoothly. We’re very proud of her! (side note - Dad actually took a video of me ordering shinkansen tickets!)
The food was good, for the most part. We had some very delicious meals, but I must admit that Japanese is not my favorite ethnic food. Here we are eating a full tempura meal while sitting on the floor.
My favorite snack was “Giant Corn” sold at the Lawson’s convenience store. They are very similar to Corn Nuts in the US but even larger and they have only salt and pepper on them which makes them taste great. I also found that I could buy Mountain Dew in the some of the Coffee Boss (Pepsi) vending machines that were everywhere, although most of those machines didn’t have it. Put the Giant Corn together with a Mountain Dew and I was in heaven.
In all we had a great visit. We’ll remember it for the rest of our lives. Thanks for making it possible Jane!
My favorite image is that of the temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. You aren't allowed to go inside the pavilion. However, the point of going there is the unbelievably beautiful visual scene of the temple building reflecting in the glassy pond that is dotted with tiny “islands” of stone and trees pruned to perfection. The place was also arranged nicely to allow lots of people to visit without destroying the beauty. I think that’s an art in itself.
Another favorite was the Himeji Castle, a huge compound with an amazing investment in stonework, woodwork and defensive design. I loved the moat at this and other castles and palaces. I was struck by how similar the castle in Naruto looked to the Himeji castle, although tiny in comparison. We didn’t visit the Naruto castle but we could see it up on a very steep and pointy hill in the center of the community. That hill would have been a great defensive element for a fort/castle. Castle in Himeji:
We all thoroughly enjoyed the shinkansen (bullet train) visit to Hiroshima. The Peace Memorial was very interesting and to stand and stare at the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, the domed building that has been preserved in its destroyed state, makes real the horror that was experienced there when the first atomic bomb was dropped at the end of World War II.
We found the people to be very friendly and almost always willing to help. However, there were few signs in English so we were very fortunate that Jane can read and speak enough Japanese to get around smoothly. We’re very proud of her! (side note - Dad actually took a video of me ordering shinkansen tickets!)
The food was good, for the most part. We had some very delicious meals, but I must admit that Japanese is not my favorite ethnic food. Here we are eating a full tempura meal while sitting on the floor.
My favorite snack was “Giant Corn” sold at the Lawson’s convenience store. They are very similar to Corn Nuts in the US but even larger and they have only salt and pepper on them which makes them taste great. I also found that I could buy Mountain Dew in the some of the Coffee Boss (Pepsi) vending machines that were everywhere, although most of those machines didn’t have it. Put the Giant Corn together with a Mountain Dew and I was in heaven.
In all we had a great visit. We’ll remember it for the rest of our lives. Thanks for making it possible Jane!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Parents' Visit
My parents came to visit for about 12 days and we were able to cover a lot of ground! They came to school and taught with me on the last day of classes of this school year. Here they are sipping their juice boxes in the teachers' room. hehe
The next school year doesn't start until next week, so I was able to take lots of time off while my parents visited. We spent about four days in Kyoto. It was my first time in Kyoto, so I wanted to see lots of the famous sites. This is Kinkakuji, the temple of the Golden Pavilion. It was originally built by the shogun Yoshimitsu in 1397 as a retirement house, but an obsessed monk burned it down in 1950. It was rebuilt a few years later.
Nearby the Golden Temple is Ryoanji, a temple famous for it's rock garden. The garden is meticulously raked around 15 boulders. It was originally built in 1499 (years after the temple was built), but the designer is somehow unknown. No matter how you look at the garden you can only see 14 of the boulders at one time. There are several myseteries surrounding the garden.
This is Ginkakuji, the temple of the Silver Pavilion, and it was built in 1474 but was never finished because the Onin War began and they couldn't afford to put silver on the structure.
Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1000 years. We signed up for the English tour through the Imperial Palace. The original palace was built in 794, but it burned down several times. The buildings that we saw were built in 1855. That's the throne behind my dad.
One of my favorite sites in Kyoto was the Nijo Castle because we were able to see the inside of it. The castle was home to the Tokugawa shoguns from 1626 until 1867 when shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned power to the imperial court. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but we were able to see beautiful murals and experience the creaking floor. We were told that the builders built the floors creaky on purpose so that they would be able to hear intruders.
The grounds have two impressive moats. This is one of the gates and wall from inside the grounds.
This is another Buddhist temple called Sanjusangendo. Inside there are 1000 statues and one large statue of the deity called Thousand Armed Kannon.
This is Kiyomizudera, a Buddhist temple on the side of a mountain in Kyoto. I'm sure we were there in the wrong season or a week too early at least, but I don't understand what the big deal is about this one. It's the only place in Japan that's up for being voted in as one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World." It was traditionally believed that if you jumped off the side of it and survived, that your wish would come true. They've since banned any attempts. There are also two love stones here that guarantees love if you walk with your eyes closed from one to the other. Normally there's a beautiful view of Kyoto from the temple, but we were there on a hazy day.
I thought the Shinto shrine Fushimi Inari Taisha was one of the more amazing places in Kyoto. All shrines have tori gates at the entrance, but this one has thousands of wooden tori gates lining a path that hikes up and down a mountain. This shrine has a fox twist to it because foxes are believed to be the messenger of the harvest deity Inari, to whom the shrine is dedicated. There were lots of fox statues around the shrine.
I think we were a week too early because most of the cherry blossoms looked like they were on the verge of blooming. We still saw a few. Here are a few random pictures I took. Some were from the Kyoto Botanical Garden.
My dad had his heart set on riding the fastest train in the world, so we took the shinkansen/bullet train to Hiroshima for one day while we were staying in Kyoto. It didn't feel like it was going very fast, but it's able to go 186mph. The ride was amazingly smooth. By the way Dad, I think there's a faster train in Shanghai.
I already posted quite a bit about Hiroshima (October), but I think these pictures are worth posting. This is a sunset view of the A-bomb Dome.
And this is the tori gate of Itsukushima shrine at sunset.
I still have a little more to post once I transfer pictures from my brand new camera! Plus I asked my parents to write a little about their experience, so hopefully they'll get those written and I can post them. I'll let them tell the stories.
The next school year doesn't start until next week, so I was able to take lots of time off while my parents visited. We spent about four days in Kyoto. It was my first time in Kyoto, so I wanted to see lots of the famous sites. This is Kinkakuji, the temple of the Golden Pavilion. It was originally built by the shogun Yoshimitsu in 1397 as a retirement house, but an obsessed monk burned it down in 1950. It was rebuilt a few years later.
Nearby the Golden Temple is Ryoanji, a temple famous for it's rock garden. The garden is meticulously raked around 15 boulders. It was originally built in 1499 (years after the temple was built), but the designer is somehow unknown. No matter how you look at the garden you can only see 14 of the boulders at one time. There are several myseteries surrounding the garden.
This is Ginkakuji, the temple of the Silver Pavilion, and it was built in 1474 but was never finished because the Onin War began and they couldn't afford to put silver on the structure.
Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1000 years. We signed up for the English tour through the Imperial Palace. The original palace was built in 794, but it burned down several times. The buildings that we saw were built in 1855. That's the throne behind my dad.
One of my favorite sites in Kyoto was the Nijo Castle because we were able to see the inside of it. The castle was home to the Tokugawa shoguns from 1626 until 1867 when shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned power to the imperial court. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but we were able to see beautiful murals and experience the creaking floor. We were told that the builders built the floors creaky on purpose so that they would be able to hear intruders.
The grounds have two impressive moats. This is one of the gates and wall from inside the grounds.
This is another Buddhist temple called Sanjusangendo. Inside there are 1000 statues and one large statue of the deity called Thousand Armed Kannon.
This is Kiyomizudera, a Buddhist temple on the side of a mountain in Kyoto. I'm sure we were there in the wrong season or a week too early at least, but I don't understand what the big deal is about this one. It's the only place in Japan that's up for being voted in as one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World." It was traditionally believed that if you jumped off the side of it and survived, that your wish would come true. They've since banned any attempts. There are also two love stones here that guarantees love if you walk with your eyes closed from one to the other. Normally there's a beautiful view of Kyoto from the temple, but we were there on a hazy day.
I thought the Shinto shrine Fushimi Inari Taisha was one of the more amazing places in Kyoto. All shrines have tori gates at the entrance, but this one has thousands of wooden tori gates lining a path that hikes up and down a mountain. This shrine has a fox twist to it because foxes are believed to be the messenger of the harvest deity Inari, to whom the shrine is dedicated. There were lots of fox statues around the shrine.
I think we were a week too early because most of the cherry blossoms looked like they were on the verge of blooming. We still saw a few. Here are a few random pictures I took. Some were from the Kyoto Botanical Garden.
My dad had his heart set on riding the fastest train in the world, so we took the shinkansen/bullet train to Hiroshima for one day while we were staying in Kyoto. It didn't feel like it was going very fast, but it's able to go 186mph. The ride was amazingly smooth. By the way Dad, I think there's a faster train in Shanghai.
I already posted quite a bit about Hiroshima (October), but I think these pictures are worth posting. This is a sunset view of the A-bomb Dome.
And this is the tori gate of Itsukushima shrine at sunset.
I still have a little more to post once I transfer pictures from my brand new camera! Plus I asked my parents to write a little about their experience, so hopefully they'll get those written and I can post them. I'll let them tell the stories.
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