Mon. Oct. 6 – Let me see the Chochin Matsuri in Nihonmatsu

I was still pretty tuckered out from the weekend, but I still wanted to see the huge lantern festival held in Nihonmatsu. I made plans to meet everyone after school in Nihonmatsu, but I was a tad late.

I falsely believed I could take the “easy” way back home. Route 4 is the main arterial road here. So, I jumped in my car and hopped onto Route 4. I made a right turn one stop too early, and quickly realized that I was getting onto the Tohoku Expressway. That was such a bad idea! First, my little kei-car doesn’t seem to like reaching high speeds. And second, I was really hoping that there was a nearby exit. Otherwise, I might end up in Sendai, a city located in another ken. Bad news bears!

Oh, I failed to mention that it was also only my first day working at my new elementary school. So, that’s why I didn’t have my bearings!

Anyways, I was able to gas up at a rest stop on the Tohoku Expressway. And when I exited at Nihonmatsu, I played the “Gomen nasai, nihongo ga wakarimasen” card. They still let me pay, but at least the toll wasn’t an exorbitant amount. And the kindly toll booth man sent me in the right direction. Phew!

I finally made it to the Chochin Matsuri. It is the 3rd largest lantern festival in all of Japan! (Everything in Fukushima is all about being placed third. We’re never number one!)

These lantern floats were huge! They were several feet high, with each lantern lit up with a candle. Some dudes were perched on the tops of these structures, and pumped the crowd up with energetic cheers. Young people dressed in traditional attire followed each lantern float, and yelled out: “Washoy! Washoy!” (I have no idea what that means). And of course, there was amazing festival food. Takoyaki, yakisoba, those cute fish-shaped pancakes filled with delicious red bean paste… oh, my!

At times, the lanterns caught on fire. So, the dudes would scramble to extinguish it quickly, or else their whole structure would be over. Good times!

Fri. Oct. 3 to Sun. Oct. 5 – Sober up! (Soccer in Nagano)

When you hear the word “Nagano,” visions of skiing and the Winter Olympics should enter your mind. But for me, Nagano-ken now reminds me of an amazing and hilarious weekend spent with my fellow FuJETs.

About 25ish FuJETs boarded a chartered bus on a Friday night. From Koriyama, the trip to Nagano takes about seven hours. We were heading there to play in an all-ALT(assistant language teacher) soccer tournament, which is held every year in Nagano. As you know, I’m not into playing sports… I was on the sidelines providing moral support for my fellow Fukushima Akabekos (that is, Red Cows. (The akabeko is a mascot from Aizu Wakamatsu, one of the bigger regions in my prefecture).

The ride there was pretty chill; everyone was having a good time. There were too many awkward conversations to remember! I tried to sleep off my cold.

When we got to the hotel, the girls claimed our room. Sadly, we chose a small six-person tatami room. The dudes took over two spacious rooms, which included beds. Oh, how I miss sleeping on a bed! (I sleep on a futon. The novelty has worn off… you’re supposed to store it away every morning, but I’m always short on time in the morning).

We’re here for soccer

So, we hit up the soccer pitches bright and early on Saturday morning. The view was spectacular. Immaculate soccer pitches dotted the landscape, while huge mountains surrounded us. We played a few games… and lost all of them on both days. We were the team that got excited whenever we actually touched the ball. Actually, I don’t think we were terrible… if we squeezed in a couple practices, I’m sure we would’ve fared well. The players were enthusiastic and such ☺ And I think we had the best cheerleaders, especially since the other teams were lame… and didn’t have any.

Some of my favourite cheers from the weekend include: “Don’t shake hands with the goalie!” (He totally took a leak on the field); “Sober up!”; “He hits girls!”; “You can be on our team!” (if our opponents were not-so-hot at soccer).

Off the field

We also had a lot of fun times off the field. The girl talk in the genkan (the front entrance of every room), everyone disappearing, “No!!! I gave him my number!”, the “random” dude who was lost and so on. Oh, and who can forget our theme songs? We kept playing them over and over and over. And over.

Fukushima – we certainly know how to bring the party. I think out of all the kens, we were the last ones still on the dance floor. (There was a big party thrown on the Saturday night in the hotel lobby). Loves it.

Boring, yet delicious: We stopped by a curry restaurant on the way home. (By the way, Japanese curry is the bomb). Mmm, oishi.

Thurs. Oct. 2 – Japanese Class

Nanna saved the day, and drove all the way to my place to fix my car. It turns out that the light bulb was a little loose, so my problem was easily solved. I also asked him to show me how to check my oil, seeing as how I didn’t know how to do it. (I really don’t know anything about cars). All in all, he rocks.

I went to Japanese class, as per usual. I still have no idea what is going on. Good times! We do get a lovely snack during class, so that’s cool. And it’s nice to meet other people who live in my community. Surprisingly, there are a handful of Filipinos who live in Motomiya. One mother brings her three sons to Japanese class. The eldest was most likely born in the Philippines, so he’s learning. And the younger two were probably born here, so they seem fluent. Their names are even Japanese!

Tues. Sept. 30 – Kuruma!! SUGOI! (Car! Excellent!)

On Tuesday, I headed to my board of education (BoE),and waited for my car to be delivered. I wasn’t allowed to drive it, seeing as how it still didn’t have its nihoken (optional insurance on top of the mandatory one – very important!) I was allowed to leave it in the BoE parking lot.

Wed. Sept. 31 – Driving in Japan

I was once again beckoned to my BoE, and told that I was allowed to drive my car back home. I was a little nervous, seeing as how I had never driven in Japan. (They drive on the left side, and the driver’s seat is on the right side of the car. Awkward!)

It was decided that Muto-san would sit in my passenger seat while I drove. And Sanpei-san drove ahead of me, so that I could learn the way back home. Muto-san even took off his tie, and wiped down my front windshield. Dude goes above and beyond for me, eh. Bless his heart, as I believe Heather-sensei would say.

We took a lot of back roads (aka no lights or street names… so it all looked the same to me!) Driving isn’t bad at all! But we noticed my front headlight was weak, so we’ll need to get that checked out.

Sun. Sept. 28 – Being creepy at McDonald’s

After sleeping in, we slowly made our way to the train station. We sat down at McDonald’s, where I had my first Mickey D's meal in Japan. (They put way too much mayonnaise on their bacon cheeseburgers. And when you ask for iced tea, they hand you over some tasteless iced tea and you add the sugary syrup).

We ran into a familiar face – a JET from another prefecture, but who shares a mutual friend with us. We sat at McDonald’s for almost two hours, gawking at people walking past our window… It was funny at the time?! I don’t even know.

Sat. Sept. 27 – Penelope... Penny

Ah, the long-awaited Koriyama Welcome Party. About 50-60 JETs headed to the big city to party it up at a local beer garden. The drinks were flowing, as it was nomihodai again. And it was nice to see a lot of people who live pretty far from me.

We all split up, with some people going to Round One (aka Chucky Cheese, but cooler). I wanted to go clubbing, so Sophea took us out. We ended up at some club where we thought the dance floor would be all about hip hop. Well, we got in… but it was actually a hip hop showcase. Japanese b-boys and b-girls owned the dance floor and stage, but that meant like the remaining 85 per cent of people in the club were simply spectators. We hung out a lot with one of the DJs who also worked the front door, and ended up staying until 4 a.m. to catch his last set.

Towards the end of the night, we did a late-night kombini (convenience store) run. There was a little stairwell that led to an underground walkway; it looked pretty comfortable, so I decided to drink my coffee and chill there. I totally looked like a hobo (what a running trend), and obviously John (Hot Legs) walks by with his camera. Sugoi. (Excellent).

Hmm... also had some hilarious late-night conversation when we got back to Sophea's.

Fri. Sept. 26 – Still sick… but I now have a phone

I was let out of school a tad early, so that I could get my landline installed at home. This may seem like an unimportant task… but a new phone means I am a step closer to getting the Internet.

Hello, world!

Thurs. Sept. 25 – They’re playing basketball…

On Thursday, I showed up at 6:30 a.m. to make sure I scooped up a seat on the basketball bus. I was sick and tired, but noticed that the little student-athletes were up and ‘em in the gym. They were doing their warm-ups and drills in our school gym – without complaint! Their coach (one of my fave teachers here!) asked the kids to greet me with a bow, and they made me feel really welcome at their games.

The games were held in a really big auditorium, with seating up in the balconies on the second floor. When we first got there, some of the other schools were doing their drills. My kids had to go to the front of the gym, and sing their school song as requested by their coach. It was so cute! I started learning my students' names - it's tough trying to remember all 279 of them, but I think I've almost got it! One thing to note: the rookies call add the word "-senpai" when they talk about their older counterparts. It's a sign of mad respect, which I think is kind of cool.

I stood up and cheered for the kids. Some of their mothers brought snacks along, and kept feeding me. And when they found out that I was the new ALT, lots of bowing happened. Good times. (My boys made it to the finals, but got skooled in the end).

At the end of the tournament, all of the students stood in orderly lines in the gym. There was more bowing, followed by the awards ceremony. After all of these festivities, we had to stay and clean the gym. Students were ripping the tape lines off the gym floor, while others were storing away the hoops or sweeping. I didn’t really know what I could do, so I took photos of my kids.

The ni-nensei boys (second-years) were tickled when I would holler “Mina sama, photo!!” (I’m hoping that means something like “Photo, everybody!” Man, I’m totally screwed for the JLPT).

Wed. Sept. 24 – Ping pongin' all day long

I hustled over to my junior high school bright and early on Wednesday morning, seeing as how I needed to catch my bus at 7 a.m. The first- and second-year students were going to compete in their respective sports club activities during the Shinjinsen Games. I believe kids from across the Adachi District are invited to play in this tournament, so I saw the students of my nearby ALT friends. (I was tempted to ask some of the Nihonmatsu girls the whereabouts of “Feather-sensei!” Kawaii).

Anyways, I strolled in at 6:50 a.m., thinking I had plenty of time to board the bus with the basketball teams. In fact, I was greeted by a disheveled-looking kyoto-sensei. With clipboard in hand, he ran over to me from across the parking lot and said “Gemma-sensei! Gemma-sensei!!” followed by something in Japanese. Basically, he was telling me that the basketball teams had left, as they had been scheduled to leave at 6:45 a.m. I was not surprised that I had been told the wrong time. It was sort of a blessing in disguise, though, because I got to meet the table tennis students.

The actual sport got a little monotous, but it was cool hanging out with the students. We took lots of pictures, since most of them didn’t get the chance to actually play. I think it was this day that I started coming down with a fever, sore throat and cold; so I ended up “resting my eyes” a lot that day.

Mon. Sept. 22 – Hiroshi’s party, “Sumimasen!!! Sumimasen!!!” &

Heather-sensei, Mari (Yuuka?) and I hopped on a train bound for Aizu Wakamatsu. We were off to party at Hiroshi’s house, complete with his family’s own ramen noodles (oishi!) The girls and I broke out the sake we bought from our trip to Aizu Wakamatsu during our home stay in August. When you mix it with cider, sake actually tastes great! It was really nice to sit down with JETs from across the prefecture. I even saw Sarah again, who is friends with my ol’ Filipino sidekick from childhood. (Side note: Another “Whoa! I’m in Japan” moment – we all filed into a large tatami room to sleep. I think the head count was about 15 people).

The next day, we groggily got up and headed to the Samurai Festival. Basically, these different groups parade down the main street dressed as impressive samurai. Some of the more prestigious samurais sat on horses that were also led down the street. At times, canons blared and sword demonstrations wowed the crowds. One of the parade participants is apparently kind of a big deal as a television star, so lots of people were busy snapping photos of him.

Dressed in elaborate samurai robes, they paraded down the main street in orderly lines. Some of the men wore awkward black hairpieces, to make it look like they had small faux-hawks a la samurai. At the end of the day, all of the samurais congregated in front of the Aizu Wakamatsu castle for one last hurrah. It was pretty cool to see that even some samurai groups included old folks. Represent, senior citizens. Represent!

Sat. Sept. 20 – Car shopping and Koriyama’s Round One

I headed back to Fukushima City with Heather-sensei. We got picked up at the train station in a ballin’ Audi… Nana was taking us back to the parking lot of his used cars. I got to see my car (I decided on the older model of the Daihatsu Move; Dad talked me out of getting the prettier, but more expensive 2000 model with nice interior and CD player). And Miss Feather chose a car of her own. Good times!

That night, we met up with some of the Koriyama and Aizu Wakamatsu peeps to enjoy dinner together. It was yakiniku, which is now one of my favourite things. Basically, there’s a communal pot of boiling water placed in the middle of the dining table. You dip your meat and veggies until they’re done, and BAAAM! Oishi! (Delicious). Our server was so thoughtful, and wrote out in English what the different bottles of sauce each held! Ah, to be a gaijin.
We eventually ended up at Round One, which is a huge entertainment complex. (Think Playdium). There was taiko, darts and roller skating (I chickened out… Haven’t been on skates since 1994! Haha). This was also the night Danielle-sensei proved to be quite the shoulder to lean on. どもありがとう!

Sun. Sept. 14, Mon. Sept. 15 – Galileo’s guesthouse and Monday afternoon karaoke

On Sunday, I really wanted to check out Vitamin G’s (aka my Filipino brother from another mother) matsuri (“festival”) in Ishikawa. I randomly texted H. for a ride there, and mentioned that we had some JET friends in common. (H. has been dubbed the “King of Fukushima” lol). He kindly drove myself and some other JETs, so that was grrrrrreat!

G’s lovely abode is tucked away from plain view, so we first saw his gravel driveway with a small trailer on the left. We kept joking that it was his guesthouse, and I think I have a picture of it somewhere…
The matsuri itself was a lot of fun. We first sat with a bunch of his townsfolk who were sitting on blue tarps. They offered us food like miso soup, and beverages of choice. Everyone was dressed up for the occasion, with men wearing dark blue coats, and white bottoms. (Some of them made it into a no-pants party. Awkward?) The high school girls were in all-white attire with a pink scarf, while the dudes For most of the matsuri, we followed G. and his group who were busy carrying a mikoshi. (Mikoshi)…. A sumptuous dinner capped off the festivities. We sat around low tables, and feasted over sushi. Mmm.
That night, I think we crammed six people into G’s little living room. I had one of those “Whoa, I’m in Japan!” moments as we squished several futons into place.
The next morning, we were supposed to start heading back home after banana pancakes. But we ended up getting lunch at a nearby restaurant. As we were homeward-bound, we all decided to join Heather-sensei and Grant for mid-afternoon drinks in Nihonmatsu. This brilliant idea led to two-hour karaoke, which then extended to three hours. Yet another hilarious experience I could not fathom back home.

Sat. Sept. 13 – Hurly-burly-curly’s birthday!

Walking through tall grasses in the middle of nowhere in Fukushima City, I looked at used car after used car in Nana’s (an amazingly helpful dude who sells cars) grassy parking area. I was looking for an automatic kei-car with at least two years’ worth of shaken. (Shaken is some sort of biannual vehicle inspection deal).
He had tons of cars, but most of them were standard. So, my decision was pretty easy. I settled on a small silver k-car with a bright blue interior. It also has a cassette deck, which will let me play my iPod. Sweet! The price was a little steep given my salary, but my parents spoiled me with extra cash money before I got here… thanks a million, Mom and Dad!! I’ll pay you back some how ☺ I’ll need to find another job when I get home, though…
That night, we had a little dinner at a quaint Italian restaurant in Fukushima to celebrate S’s birthday. (S. is an English teacher from nearby Otama Village. She’s hilarious, and always says very English things such as: “That’s ace!” I love it). Anyways, the view overlooked the eki-mae (front of the train station), making it interesting to watch people go about their business. We then moved onto karaoke, which as you know… I love karaoke!! Hitting up nomihodai (all-you-can drink) at both the restaurant and karaoke proved to be a swell idea.

Mon. Sept. 8 to Fri. Sept. 12 – What it’s like to be a human tape recorder

Back home, I stumbled into tons of people who told me the cons of being an assistant language teacher.
In essence, I sometimes feel like a mascot of all things foreign. I am used in many classes only for my natural Canadian accent, in that the English class mantra often involves: “Please repeat after Gemma-sensei…” Oh, and I’m also allowed to do greetings and warm-up games. In a 50-minute class, I talk for about 10-15 minutes on a good day. Well, one of my JTEs does give me a greater talking role in class. We like doing skits with the day’s language target! That's always fun.
I’m so glad that I didn’t invest hundreds of dollars in taking that intensive TESOL course before coming here, because I don’t really have to prepare anything. There have been a couple instances where I’ve had to come up with worksheets for my students. But other than that, I can come into class unprepared. I’ve offered to create activities and games, but I’m often greeted with a “Oh, maybe?!” I’ll become more assertive as time goes on. And seriously, isn't there an 80-20 rule? That's totally out of the window. I’d like to get some actual teaching experience before I leave Japan…
Although I’m outlining the boring parts of this job, I really do enjoy my city and school life. The kids always greet me with a friendly “Hello!” in the hallways. And during recess, I make an effort to hang out with them. They are super kawaii (cute) and genki, so that’s what helps get me excited every morning. Even on my daily seven-minute walk to work, I see many of my students hurriedly making their way to school on their bikes. One of my outgoing san-nensei boys (third-year student) likes beaming with pride as he shouts a hearty “GOOD MORNING!” to me.
There was one day this weekend we had a pantomime theater crew perform in our gymnasium. It was pretty hilarious when they asked for students and one teacher (who looks like a bear! But he’s actually quite nice) to come up on stage. They had to act our “Romeo and Juliet,” which ripped the kids into pieces.

Sat. Sept. 6 – Under the bridge

So, I crashed at about 7 a.m. I got a phone call from home pretty early that morning, too. It was really nice to hear from my parents, but I was mad tired.
That night, I ended up hitching a ride from B. He drove me and L. to Aizu Wakamatsu, a picturesque city located about two hours away from my place. It was pouring rain, so it made the drive a little tricky for B.
The all-night, outdoor techno party was being held under a bridge. (Imagine partying under a Queensway underpass. Hobo-chic? I think so.) Our tents were scattered amidst the tall grassy field right underneath it. A DJ booth was set up, with people spinning tunes throughout the evening and following morning. A nearby convenience store was ideal for bathroom breaks, plus buying more drinks and midnight snacks. The store clerk was an old dude with a really bad comb-over, ha.
I remember brushing my teeth, and simply spitting into the field the next day. (I am not an outdoorsy-person, so this was pretty foreign to me). And it was the first time I tried eating a heated breakfast burrito from the combini (convenience store). Mmm… breakfast of champions. And interestingly enough, a herd of Boy Scouts also decided that morning to clean up the area underneath the bridge – they looked a little surprised to see a bunch of people puttering around, too! Stay classy, Japan.

Fri. Sept. 5 – “This is too strenuous” – Sports festival and all-night karaoke

When I was a kid, I remember we had a big bookcase full of encyclopedias and educational children’s books. In one of those books, I was introduced to the Japanese custom of holding sports festivals at school. I don’t quite remember the story, but it was something along the lines of a kid finishing a race after he fell down. I remember the colour illustrations showed a Japanese boy wearing a bright headband.
On Friday, my school held its own sports festival. It kicked off with opening ceremonies, where the students filed into the gym as per usual. This time, they were wearing their school gym uniforms, which include navy blue basketball shorts paired with a navy blue or white t-shirt emblazoned with the school logo. Once again, I had no idea what was going on. It was one of my third-years who motioned me to join the teachers seated on stage, ha.
Each student ties a coloured band around their head, corresponding to their homeroom. It seems like they all compete in at least one sport that day. So, I was able to watch them try their hands at: basketball, volleyball, baseball and soccer!
Sitting on the sidelines, the kids fully cheer on their fellow classmates. They yell things, such as: “Ganbarre!” (Let’s go!) One student was perched on chair, and was enthusiastically cheering on the girls during their volleyball game. He looked over at me, and sighed, “This is too strenuous!!” First of all, where did he learn the word “strenuous”? And could he BE any cuter? I have dubbed him Munchkin #1, because he is one of my favourite pint-sized third-years. He also has a buddy who is also the same size – he shall be Munchkin #2.
I was reminded to wear gym clothes to school, so I opted for my blingin’ Adidas track jacket with the golden sequins. The school gym teacher used his limited English to express his fascination that Adidas is popular in both Japan and Canada, lol. And one of my JTEs said I looked like I stepped out of a magazine, hahaha.
Being different at school does have its perks. Every day, I feel like I get showered in compliments solely due to my inherent uniqueness. The girls often tell me that I’m “kawaii” (cute), or even say, “You look very beautiful today.” And I guess my perfume has drawn some added attention, which could be a good or bad thing. One of the rather macho-looking boys said that I smelled nice. He also asked where I bought it… awkward! The third-year girls even think it’s funny to stop what they’re doing, and smell me.
That night, I went out for coffee with D. We ran into one of our BoE dudes at the same café, which was a little weird. I guess that is what happens when you live in a small “city” of 30,000. He offered to get us pizza, but we politely declined. (He’s the one that I called “cute” by accident.)
I jumped back on the train, hoping to unwind after a long week at work. But I ran into my fellow JET girls from England, who invited me to party with them in Koriyama. I was easily convinced, and stayed on the train. The plan was to stay out all night – the last train back home takes off pretty early. We ended up at a reggae night with other JETs, (Japanese reggae – who knew?). And we gracefully ended the evening with karaoke from about 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Our group of gaijin (foreigners) slowly trudged back to the train station for the first train back. I’m guessing we looked pretty haggard, because we got a lot of stares from the junior high students. (Kids in Japan are, literally, always at school. You can tell, because they need to wear their uniforms to enter the premises. I’m guessing they are studying, doing their club activities or hanging out. But I was quite surprised to see that they even go into school on the weekends! I only started doing that in university, when I’d roll out of bed and sometimes head to the library or use the editing suites.) I also forgot to set aside money for cab fare, so I had to walk home from my train station.

Thurs. Sept. 4 – Nihongo ga wakarimasen (I don’t understand Japanese!!)

My supervisor carefully penned my address in kanji (Chinese characters for me), as I wanted to send off my application for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I will be writing some tests in December, which will measure my Japanese abilities. I’m a little overwhelmed by the test content, seeing as how I currently can’t speak, read nor write in Japanese. Right now, I know how to say some of the important greetings. Oh, and I can order beer and three apples. (Ringo mittsu o kudasai!)
I had my first Thursday evening Japanese classes this evening. Basically, each student is matched up with a tutor. I feel like I’m in the remedial class, because I was graced with the presence of three tutors. (I am definitely the token beginner in my mixed-level class). I am pretty stoked to have some structure in my Japanese studies.

Tues. Sept. 2 – Domo arigatou, Mr. Roboto

Lining up in front of kyoto-sensei’s desk, the speech contest girls said their ritualistic good-byes which were capped off with the greeting “Ittekimasu.” (ie.
I am leaving right now, but I’ll be back). It was merely 7:30 a.m. when we all had to meet in the teacher’s room for this deal.

The girls, my JTE and I then went outside, where kocho-sensei said something meaningful in Japanese; then the girls bowed to him. A big nine-seater taxi van then picked us up. Before we piled into the cab, the students dropped their school bags, and bowed while saying some Japanese greeting. I can’t remember if it was “Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu” or something to that effect. I’ve seriously got to learn how to bow, ha ha.

The actual speech contest ran the entire day. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t opted for a seat near the front row. I definitely had to stifle my giggles when some kid performed his speech in this hilarious robotic voice. His speech was about some robot, so the intonation and everything fit the story… but it was just too funny, I had a very hard time keeping myself composed.