Sightseeing with Koren-sensei

Nishiwaki's sister city is the town of Renton, Washington. As part of their sisterhood, the two cities partake in a student exchange of sorts. For a little bit more than a week, some jr high students from Nishiwaki visit Renton and live with a host family. This year, this happened in August, when the Nishiwaki students were on summer break. Then, in October, the Renton host students came to Nishiwaki and stayed with the student they had hosted. I don't know how the students are chosen, but a total of 15 students who represent the four jr high schools in Nishiwaki took part in this program.

In October, when it was Nishiwaki's turn to host, the city and board of education had a bunch of tours and activities planned for the visiting Rentonites (Rentoners? Rentonians?). Each of these tours and activites included an ALT to help with language barriers and to just be a representative of the Nishiwaki Board of Education. On the day that I hung out with the Rentons, we went to Himeji Castle.

Himeji Castle is the most popular castle in Japan and is located pretty close to Nishiwaki. To give you an idea of how popular this castle is, we went on a Tuesday afternoon in October and we had to wait in lines while moving through the castle. Not only were there students visiting the castle as part of a field trip, but we saw multiple foreign visitors: Austrialias, British, and I think I might have ran into some Germans.

This six-storey castle was built in 1333 and has been restored many times since then, but they make sure to keep all the details. Like the wodden frame and white plaster walls. It's because of these white walls that the castle has been given the nickname of White Heron Castle (Shirasagijō).

If you think this castle looks familiar, chances are you've seen it before. The castle has been featured in many movies including James Bond: You Only Live Twice and The Last Samurai.

Engrish

This is something I wanted to stay away from, but after seeing this sign today, I decided that I couldn't ignore it anymore.Okay, so, from now on I will do some Engrish updates. There's just too many examples of it in this country to ignore it any longer. Plus, it is pretty funny.

New Years in Japan

I love Christmas time. The sights, the sounds, the feeling of peace and joy on Earth. The love and merriment, and even the craziness. I love it all. Sadly, Christmas is not a big holiday in Japan. The Japanese are so in love with western culture that they try to copy our big holidays, but they seem to only copy the decorating part and miss the true joy of the holidays.


So, needless to say, my Christmas in Japan was quite tame. I was lucky enough to have the day off, and I spent the time talking with family in Canada. I also went shopping to get a few last minute things for the Christmas dinner Kris and I had with our friends. It wasn't a bad Christmas, just not a Christmas I'm used too. There wasn't even any snow!

But don't think just because there wasn't a grand Christmas that Japan is lacking on holidays. They have more than enough of their own. For starters, they have two four-day holidays; one in the spring called Golden week, and one in the fall called Silver week. They also have a whole slew of holidays thrown into their year. So many that it seems like I have a stat-holiday at least once a month. But the big Japanese holiday is New Years.

Unlike us, the Japanese aren't big on staying up till midnight to watch a glittering ball drop. If they do decide to stay up late, they'll stay up all night to watch the sun-rise. Many temples accommodate this tradition by having a festival all night that offers food, beer and other sundries to visitors. Then, on January 1st, thousands of people gather to the shrines and temples (don't ask me the difference between the two cause I have no idea).

While they do enjoy the festival, the big thing is to make an offering at the temple, ring the bell, and pray for good fortune for the upcoming year. After the prayer, you can purchase a multitude of charms and horoscopes. If you have a horoscope that predicts misfortune, you tie it to a tree (or any spot that has been dedicated to this custom). Some shrines (like the one we went to) also offer other mini-shrines you can make offerings to and pray to. These shrines are dedicated to a certain cause. For example, if you are a student preparing for your entrance exams for high school or university, you might make an offering to a shrine for education.

The shrine that we went to is pretty popular because, apparently, it specializes in car blessings. The cars line up at the front of one of the shrines and then everyone gets out of their car and goes inside. I have no idea what happens in there, but after a very long time, they come out and enter their cars. The monks from the shrine come outside and stand on the balcony and do a special car chant, complete with gongs and bells. Once the chant is done, a few of the monks walk amongst the cars with large poles that have a bunch of papers attached to them. I don't fully understand the papers, but they are folded a certain way to make them good luck charms. Anyways, the monks wave the poles around the cars while chanting. Once they are done, the cars leave the parking area, and the next group comes in.

Visiting the shrine is only one of the new years traditions. The other main tradition is the family time. Children (no matter what their age) return to their parents' home. They usually stay from the first until at least the third. During this time, no cooking or cleaning is supposed to be done. Which means that the poor mother is cooking like a mad woman on the thirty-first so that everything is ready for the upcoming feasts. I don't know a lot about these feasts, but I do know a bit about the food. One common new years food is zoni, which is a special vegetable and chicken soup. This soup is made with toasted mochi (rice cakes). We made it for our new years dinner and it was really yummy. Definitely something we'll make again.

Other foods that are common to new years are these boxes filled with different types of vegetables and seafood, like whole shrimp. The boxes should be assembled at home, but you can buy them from stores in advanced and have them delivered to your home either on new years or just in time for new years. But these boxes don't come cheap. The grocery store in the mall was selling them for about $100. I think I saw even some at 7-11 for $35. I don't know the full story, but each food has a special meaning, like long life or prosperity or something else depending on the food. Each thing is supposed to help bring good luck in the new year, and chase off evil spirits.

Since all this time is being spent with the family, a lot of places are closed until the 3rd or 4th. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. My bank's ATMs are open, but I've noticed a few that are closed. The big chain stores are open, but a lot of the smaller, family owned places are closed. The buses and trains are running, but a lot of them are running on a holiday schedule. Even some of the tourist destinations are closed.

The stores that are open offer "Happy Bags." Depending on the store and the items, a happy bag can go for $5-$100. They are filled with items from the store. Each store has signs and pictures of what is in the happy bag. I've seen happy bags filled with candy, clothes, picnic supplies and even stuff for the kitchen. Its a pretty cool idea, and one that works really well with another new years tradition: money envelopes.

I guess its okay that they don't have Christmas, because they have this tradition instead. On New Years day, parents give their children, under the age of 20, envelopes filled with money. From what I've been told, the older you are, the more money you receive. Many of my jr high school students will get $30-$50. The envelopes here are really cute, too. They have many different designs, from flowers, to the animals of the Chinese zodiac, to popular characters like Disney Princesses and Thomas the train engine.

The last tradition that I know about is New Years cards. The idea behind them is similar to Christmas cards. You buy, or make, cards that wish the people in your life good luck in the upcoming year. These cards are such a big deal that the post office guarantees delivery of your cards in time for new years as long as you drop them off by a certain time. The only major difference between these cards and our Christmas cards is that they don't sell them in bulk. Of course, in North America, you can go to almost any store and buy a box of Christmas cards for a few dollars. In Japan, you can buy new years cards from most stores or the post office, but they all go for 50¢ a card. Which can get really expensive really fast. I know the teachers I work with are buying them not only for their friends and family, but also for their homeroom students and students that are in the clubs that they supervise.

Japanese New Years might not be as awesome as Christmas is, but its still really interesting to experience this culture and enjoy their holidays and traditions.

Welcome to 2010

Hello blog-verse and Happy New Year!

My resolutions for the new year is to post a new blog once a week. Starting with this Sunday. So hold onto your hat, dear readers, 2010 promises to be one heck of a ride!

English Playtime with Koren-sensei

Whenever my junior high school students have exams, I’m shipped off to one of my elementary schools to teach Grade 1-4.

No, wait, “teach” is too strong a word. I do teach them a small handful of English words, but for the most part, we just play games. Which is probably why I’m so popular, but popularity has its price to pay. For example: when I’m not in class, I’m in the teacher’s office, when it’s time for class someone escorts me to the classroom. The other day, when the grade one teacher told her students she was going to get me, they decided she wasn’t allowed to go alone. As soon as I crossed the threshold of the teacher’s office, I was tackled by 15 grade one students who all wanted the chance to greet me with a hug. Then, after lunch, two little girls came to the teacher’s office, meekly called out my name, and asked me to go play with them (in Japanese). Oh, and a big thank you to my mom for giving me a name that perfectly translates into Japanese. I’m still not used to people saying my name right on the first try.

So about now you’re probably wondering how I communicate with these children who don’t speack English, since I don’t speak Japanese. In the classroom, it’s really easy. If I want them to move their desks, I point to their desks and say, “this is a desk,” and then point or gesture to where I want them to move it to while saying, “move them (direction/place).” Teaching is just as easy, because the students are trained to repeat whatever I say when I’m holding up a flashcard, and they understand that this word I’m saying means whatever is on the flashcard.

Giving directions to a game or activity is just as easy. I simply act out what I want them to do and they do it. If the game is a little more complicated, like Simon Says, their homeroom teacher will jump in and help with some translations, but for the most part, it’s not necessary.

And that’s what it’s like to teach the younger students. One day I’ll remember to bring runners with me so I can keep up with them on the playground.