Hey y’all~ yet another cool gadget!

I know it might be a little late, but I found a cool weather tick from weatherunderground.com. If you look at the very bottom of the blog you find it has the temp and weather condition. As the weather gets worse or better… y’all can check in to see how the weather is doing. It’s not a “banner” or ad or anything. I try to keep this blog “ad free” with the exception of the blogger banner and the counter.

ok…

~J out

By the way… the foot’s doing better.

Welcome to the Akai Yakata

Off the beaten path is a special place that the three of us (Rob, Nick, and I) go frequently “The Akai Yakata.” It was found by mistake but, this place is somehow is one of those places that you love because of its ambiance and character. If you’ve never been here before you’re in for either a culture shock or a delightful treat. Simply put, this coffee shop is one of those rare places that time forgot after 1970. You can see how years of smoking has “seasoned” this place. The walls, the curtains, and ceilings are a light brown from years of tobacco smoke (as well as other kinds of smoke). We all wonder what this place was like 30-40 years ago. It must have been rock’n at one time like one of those coffee shop joints in New York back in the 50′s. I think its a real Bob Dylan kind of place (whatever that means to you). The people that come and go, I assume, are time travelers just making their way to where ever they’re from. It’s new and old, dated and current all in one. It’s how you appreciate it when you’re there that makes it great or makes it drab.

For me, I think the atmosphere is great! Come in and sit down at anyone of the old table top video game tables. There’s an old horse racing game, an old pong game, and Tetris (but Tetris is the only one that works). While you’re sitting there (assumably playing Tetris) you’re greeted by Yuko, a nice waitress that serves you a glass of water and patiently waits for you to order. There are many specialties here at the Akai Yakata. Most people order coffee and the Mikku Fry (which is a deep fried dish of tempura, oyster, potato, and cod). The Mikku Fry comes with Salad, Mizo Soup, Rice, and an apple slice. Also if you order coffee (ko~hi~) they usually include it in the order. Prices are pretty reasonable as Japanese coffee shops (ki-sa-ten) go: Coffee is 350 yen and the Mikku Fry is 880 yen. The other option is to order the excellent spaghetti. At the Akai Yakata they have all sorts of spaghetti from Nato Speghetti to Meat Spaghetti, you name it. Great stuff too if you ask me. A better review of the Menu (especially the HAMBAAGU) can be read at

http://navy.ap.teacup.com/applet/sugasuga/200607/archive

just search for the「『赤い館』のハンバーグ♪」. Beware its all in Japanese!

Anyway pretty much everyday I make my way down the Shiroshi Bicycling Path to the first street intersection where I turn left and head down the street to the barber sign where I hang another left and there it is “the red café.” You won’t find it in a travel guide or from any English travel guides like Lonely Planet, but this is the place! Its retro, but nobody is trying to keep it retro… it is what it is and that’s why I recommend it.

~J out

Last night was a beautiful sight to see. It was if everything I’d been accustomed to had changed into a magical wonderland of snow. Snow, of course, is hardly rare this time of the month so to see it was nothing special for the family. For me it was so awesome that I had to go out and play around. The forecast was for snow that evening, but the next day it simply melted away.

The snow last night, however, was actually different from the snowflake snow. Last night’s snow was like round pellets, not hard or soft, just pellet snow. It was too cold and too dark to catch any really grand shots of the scenery, but I managed to get a before and after shot of the front of our house.

This first was one I took when I got here in September:

It is pretty cool to see the snow beginning to fall here. Today the snow didn’t fall, but I’m sure it’ll fall later this week and when it does, you better believe I’ll get some groovy snow shots. Like this one that I took last night as a train passed by.

~J out

I posted a deal about my foot before. The status now is that I believe I injured it in a Kendo practice. I did talk to the nurse and I think she said to chill it and take a break from Kendo. So yesterday and today I think I’ll just take a break “Yasumi” and give my foot a chance to rest.

In other news, registration for spring 2007 is going on at Lewis and Clark. Trying to register has been challenging, but in the end it is working out. My *estimated graduation time is roughly Fall of ’07.

Other then that… everything is working out well!

goodtimes
~J out

EDIT Monday, November 13th, 2006:

Foot is doing better. I think I’ll go back to practicing Kendo tomorrow night.

~J out

Thought I’d tell you all that today it rained hard. This morning started out pretty confortable at 17 degrees celcius, but as the day wore on the rain, thunder, and lightning made for a pretty miserable day.

The worst part of it was riding home from Shin-Sapporo Station home. I thought I was strong, I thought I was brave, but no… the weather beat me into submission. Something about that ３．５km ride home in the blistering rain and wind nearly broke me down.

I had a large jean jacket and a wool flannel, jeans & a tee shirt, Doc martins, and my grey had with the brim and I got soaked down to my underwear and tee shirt. The only I could say to my host mom was, “シャワーあびたいおにがいします。”　（I want to take a shower please)

The Ofuro was warm so I soaked until I was back to normal and then my host mom make me a heaping bowl of hot steaming Kimchi and mongolian beef which was fantastic. So at least it ended well.

~J out

What you say? Amazing!

If y’all would look to the nav bar on the right, you’ll see a pic of me with a camera and a sign that says,

“Picasa Web: Online Photo Album”

Click on “me” and it’ll take you to my online photo album where you can browse pics that I didn’t post on previous blog posts. The album name should corespond with the post I made. A good tactic *could be* to read the post again by scrolling on the

“Find Older Posts Here! <*_* /"

Tab and then look at the pics that I took of that event.

Sorry I didn’t do this earlier, but better late then never right?

~J out

This past weekend I was invited to come with my host family and the other families to Niseko Onsen. The whole trip was awesome and well worth it if anyone gets a chance to travel Hokkaido. Admittedly, Niseko is best visited in the middle of winter during the snow fall, visiting this glorious place when we did offered just as much beauty. Spelled ニセコ (ni-se-ko) in Katakana, it’s origins come from the Native Hokkaido Ainu language. Ainu names are a lot like Northwest Native American names in that even major cities like Sapporo (for example) come from Ainu Origins just like “Seattle” is named after Chief Seattle.

The method of travel was carpool. All of us and our gear fit in three cars. Off to Niseko we went like a SUV Caravan. We didn’t go directly there; instead we stopped at a couple of spots to enjoy the wonders of Hokkaido’s natural wonders.

Our first stop was an Ice Cream stand called the Aisu House or Ice Cream House. Aisu is Japanese for Ice Cream, but it’s usually spelled in Hiragana “あいす”。After filling ourselves with Hokkaido’s best ice cream we headed out towards Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The trip was long and somewhat boring. Hokkaido (outside the city) first reminded me of Tillamook. Then as we got into the deeper countryside, it reminded me of East Oregon on the 395 highway. I mean… the hills and mountains and small farm towns really made me feel like I was back in Oregon on that road trip home. I suppose if I had to pick a small town to live in, I’d choose this area between Niseko and Otaru, because it has beauty, it reminds me of Oregon, and it’s still 100% Japan. Oh and don’t forget it’s plenty volcanic here, in fact, the volcano’s in the area are still pretty active making the area a Geologist’s (or geology lovers) dream! =)

The scenery changed as we entered the boundaries of Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The lake here was absolutely beautiful. The landscape is simple amazing! Where we were was an old pier that leaned to the side and had an old rustic look that married with the lake and the mountains, made for a good shot. That wasn’t all, from the lake you could see the volcanos (and steam coming out of each peak!). According to the Lonely Planet Guide, The volcanoes are still making headlines: Usuzan erupted quite violently in 2000, sending boulders thousands of feet into the air. Apparently, in 1943, after a series of earthquakes, Showa Shin-Zan emerged as an upstart bump in some vegetable fields southeast of Toya-ko Onsen, it then surged upwards for two more years to reach its present height of 407m (1335.3’ ft.). The guide mentions that at the time, Japanese officials were keen to hush it up as they thought it was a bad omen and might portend an inauspicious end to WWII. Local officials were urged to douse the volcanic flames (they didn’t) so that Allied aircraft couldn’t use them for orientation. Showa-Shin-Zan is still belching sulphurous fumes, creating an awesome spectacle for visitors. I can tell you all that it truly was pretty amazing to see all that coming out of a big hill.

After messing around at the lake we all piled back in and headed for this place simple known as “Forest 276 Otaki.” I can’t really tell you why other then it was a cool farmer’s market and there were plenty of trees around. This place had that “logger jack” feel to it. It also had a restaurant that had big log beams holding the roof up. I also don’t really know why we stopped other then it being a good pit stop and a good stretch point.

The next placed we stopped at was this little tofu place, but the tofu wasn’t the attraction. In front of us was a very large mountain and out of the ground were springs that apparently were fresh and clean enough to drink from. I was encouraged to drink from one of 6 or 7 spouts spurting water all over. I wasn’t alone either, there must have been nearly 20 people filling up bottles, jugs, and 5 & 10 gallon barrels. The tofu shop was pretty neat too. They had all sorts of tofu samples and tofu doughnuts that were tasty and different. I can’t say I’m a tofu nut, all the tofu samples tasted similar, but I’ll try anything once.

Finally we reached Niseko and checked into the “Yodel” B&B. We dropped a couple of bucks at the local Max Value (Supermarket) for some beer and munchies. Once we settled in we all decided to hit the Onsen. The Onsen access was actually in a Hotel (as most are). All you do is pay an access fee (500y) and bring a towel (important!) to save the rental fee. The Spa was really large and plenty deep to soak in. I don’t know why America doesn’t capitalize on this Onsen idea. I mean you could make bank with a Mt. Hood Onsen or a Bachelor Onsen back at home. Good deal… The onsen we went to was also co-ed.

Ok… so back at the hotel was dinner waiting for us. I think we did the “s
habbu shabbu” meal, if it’s called something else then my apologies. It’s basically this: You get a one burner stove in the middle of the table and then you get a tray of veggies and meat. On the stove is a big half dome cooking pan (cast iron perhaps) that you then cook and eat as you feel like. One burner/pan is good for about 4 people. It was like a personal Mongolian grill that you prepared for yourself. Good food! Plenty of meat and veggies with a fish platter on the side.

That night the kids went off one place and the adults went in another and drank. We drank all night and told stories and talked about stuff. I got a good Japanese culture lesson out of it (besides the headache the next morning).

The next morning we woke and was served Japanese breakfast. Breakfast IS different from a typical US breakfast. Really that’s all I’ll say for now. This down time provided for some picture time, so off I went taking pics of this and that.

Finally the time came to head home. We headed to some train station that apparently had a steam engine ride to some resort town, but we missed the train and the next one was due in an hour so we decided to roll instead. I guess even Japanese people can be late for the train! Just kidding.

Next stop was Otamoi Coast. From the look on the outside you’d only see a shrine thingy and a lot of rocks, but that is only because the access to a large theme park was knocked out a couple of years ago. The beach however has a story behind it. The placard at the head of the trail read this:

Otamoi Coast Story

Otamoi Coast is located in the in the north of Otaru city. It is part of 10km coastline between Cape Takashima and Shioya Bay.

The coast consists of a range of sheer cliffs of approximately 200m above the sea and strange shaped rocks. This area was designated as a Niseko, Shakotan, Otaru Coast Quasi-National Park in 1963 and it has always attracted people because of it spectacular vies together with the adjoining Shukutsu and Akiwa coasts.

There was once a marvelous amusement park in this picturesque place. At eh beginning of Showa period (1930’s), there was a prosperous Japanese restaurant “Janome” in Hanasono-cho. In those days, the owner of the restaurant (Kato Akitoro) was keen to find a place of natural beauty and interest stirred by his acquaintance’s comment that there were no sight-seeing spots in Otaru. Then, at last, he found a place which was called “White Snake Vallet” and then completed the “Otamoi Dream Land” in 1936.

The placard says further that it was first class and people came from all over to see it. Unfortunately, the park was brunt down in May of 1952. The only reminders of the resort are on the cliff and tunnels in the promenade.

So that was that… Coast line was cool, but it was some hike to get there.

Shortly after getting there, we left for Otaru for some lunch and then headed home where I finished some Japanese homework. Oh and it rain just as we got home… Other then that it was good weather all around.

That’s it! That was my weekend… pretty cool!

~J out

Arrr~

My apologies for not blogging more frequently I’ve been busy planning for an “after semester” travel itinerary. You see, I have an opportunity to travel around Japan for a few weeks, because school at Lewis and Clark College doesn’t start until mid January.

To plan my trip efficiently I went out and bought the Lonely Planet guide to Japan and started a route. My girlfriend, Christina is also going to meet me in Tokyo and together we’re going to explore the wonders of Honshu (main island), Japan. According to friends from school, Honshu is way different then Hokkaido. It’s like the “old Japan” where history happened. Some of the places on our itinerary include: Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and Mount Fuji. We also are going to visit a variety of temples and shrines like “Ise Shrine” as well as “Todai-ji Temple.” So when we have a solid itinerary, I plan to post it.

~J out

Some of you have been wondering about what a regular day is like for me. I’ve been trying to think how to post this one, because everyday seems different. So here’s my best shot at a day in the life of Josh:

The day typically begins with waking up and getting dressed, then I head downstairs for the first round of “Ohayoo’s.” I usually boot up the old laptop to check emails and blog posts (if any). Afterwards, I’ve served breakfast and coffee then after cleaning up I leave the house. Of course, before I leave I call out “Itekimasu” which means “I’m leaving” and usually I get a response like, “Iterashai” which means “come back.”

At this point I need to decide how I want to get to school. I could either:

1. Ride the bus to the Subway station (eki) and then catch the subway to school, (30-40min, 400Yen )
2. Ride my bike to the subway station, (40 min, 200Yen)
3. Ride my bike all the way into to school. (40-50, Free, but I’m cold and tired)

So that’s the options I have. Most of them are about the same amount of time so my choice is usually based on, whether or not, it is raining or if I really want to ride my bike. While I should ride my bike in everyday, that biting 2.7 degree’s Celsius sometimes is pretty tough to get warmed up in.

Once at school I take a break and wait for class to start. My first class is Japanese which is three hours long and runs four days a week. It actually can be fun at times, but usually everyone is dragging when it starts at 8:50am and typically dragging when it ends at 12am.

Lunch is usually from 12-1pm. For lunch I can go to the cafeteria, or I can eat out at various restaurants around town. Sometimes my host mom makes me some Onigari or rice balls which tide me over for a little bit. Some days, however, a small group of us gaijin go to the “red coffee shop” which is a coffee house that the 70’s literally forgot about. We’re sure that it was a happening place 30 years ago when the walls were white and the curtains were fresh, but now after 30+ years of cigarette and cigar smoke the place is just a mere shell of its former self. It’s probably the aesthetic of the place that draws our regular attendance. Tables are no more then old arcade tables with games like Tetris, Mahjong, and old horse racing games. The walls are brown and tan and we’re convinced that if you licked the wall you’d get a hearty buzz on nicotine. Some day I’ll blog on just this place, because it’s just so unique.

Ok, so on Tuesday I have a 1pm class called film and Japanese society. Some days go faster then others. Watching movies and then discussing them sometimes is fun and sometimes is pointless. Like discussing the deep hidden values in My Friend Totoro… yeah.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays I have Shinto Traditions class, taught by a Jason Borrows. It’s one of those classes, I think, that you need some prior knowledge about Japanese history and religious practices to fully appreciate his lessons. My opinion is always changing about that class, I either like it or I don’t. Anyway, the class starts at 4:20 officially and usually ends at 6pm.

After that I have kendo on Tuesdays (and Fridays) at 4-6pm and Thursdays from 6-8pm. After all that, I’m usually exhausted and head home the way I came. Dinner is usually cooked and sitting on the stove and usually that’s when I blog and do homework.

That’s my day in a nutshell… pretty much anything outside of that is special.

TTYL Y’all

~J

Happy Halloween Y’all.

Halloween is an American holiday. The reason is because Japanese don’t exactly go door to door and say “trick or treat.” In fact, most of the Japanese people I met didn’t quite know the meaning of trick or treat. So really, it’s one of those holidays that happened here in Japan, but was bigger in America. For halloween an American teacher held a halloween party at a local karaoke parlor “the Cat’s Eye” we were to show up in costume and then *refreshments* would be served. We were also told that there would be food, but it was mostly snacks. It was a good party, I showed up in my Kendo “Samurai Josh” outfit. Some people said it wasn’t a “real” costume until I told them that I paid over a hundred dollars for the whole outfit. Of course that all didn’t matter because almost everyone who showed up was having a good time.

That day, however, I actually had kendo practice before the party so I went to kendo practice first and then to the party afterwards. In kendo we practiced pretty hard and I must of pulled a mustle or something, because this morning the top of my left foot really is hurting. I’m able to get around, but not without feeling some pain. So I’m limping again, but don’t worry! The College has a nurse that happens to be in tomorrow. I took a look at the sick-bay schedule and, like all school nurses, everyday except tomorrow and another day this month they’re open.

Some of you have asked back channel for a blog about a “day in the life of Josh.” Basically, what a normal day is like so next blog post I’ll try my best.

~J out