Are there elevators in Canada??

That's what one of my first graders asked me today during our introductory Q&A time...

CUTE!!!

I also got:

What bugs do you like?
What bugs do you hate?
Do you eat raw bugs in Canada?
Do you like snakes?
What are some famous animals in Canada?
What's your favorite color?
What color don't you like?
Why don't you like purple?
How many pets do you have?
Why don' t you have pets?
How many people in your family?
Do you have any famous foods in Canada?
How tall are you?
Do you have any friends?
What character do you like?
What's your favorite cake?

Inquiring minds wanted to know!

Holy Typhoon!! Holy Mountain.

Japan is notorious for enumerating itself. It started in 1643 when scholar Hayashi Razan listed 'The Three Views of Japan". Since then there have be various other
'Top 3" lists and recently I've learned that there is a list of the 100 most famous roads in Japan.

Well, as of this past weekend I have completed a hat trick of the 3 Famous/Sacred/Holy Moutains of Japan. I climbed Mt. Fuji 4 years ago (in a typhoon), I've climbed Mt. Tate (pronounced ta-tay) and now I've been to the to of Mt. Haku (or Hakusan as it's called here). This time, I and 7 others narrowly averted another typhoon episode on a holy mountain (my ame-ona powers can be annoying...).

In two teams of four, we started out for Ishikawa prefecture Saturday evening hoping to make camp, get up early and conquer Holy Mountain #3 on Sunday. We arrived at our destination- in the rain - to a closed campsite. We took one look at the ryokan (Japanese style inn) nearby, had Chika-chan negotiate a price we couldn't resist, and before we knew it we were snug in our sleeping bags in a nicely heated tatami room.

When we woke up in the morning we had to catch a bus to the trailhead which was still farther up the mountain. We were geared up for at least one night on the mountain, but we knew our plans could easily change with the impending typhoon scheduled to hit around noon on Monday.


















We met some hikers who were heading down and they warned us that tenting at the top was not recommended. Apparently the typhoon was coming faster than first expected.

We made it to the emergency shelter and decided to drop most of our gear off there, head to the summit and then come back for our gear and head back down to the trail head.
















It was great to drop all that weight for the last couple of hours up. We stopped for lunch just before the quick 40 minute sprint to the peak where we took some photos, prayed at the shrine, and then headed down again. It had been a beautiful day (the typical calm before the storm) but the wind was picking up and we certainly didn’t want to be clinging to a rock somewhere when the typhoon blew over.









The climb up was tough, hot at the beginning with lots of slippery spots and some scrambling. But it was nothing compared to the climb down on those same slippery spots and scrambling down. Not long after we left the emergency shelter with our gear, we heard a helicopter overhead.

It was circling Hakusan and telling people to get off the mountain! We paused long enough to get a couple of photos then kept moving so that they’d know we were heading in the right direction -down.








By this time the wind was strong enough to shake us around a bit. We were happy to finally get off the exposed ridge and out of it’s way!

We made it back to the bus stop/shelter around 6:00 p.m., where two of our team mates had already arrived. We had missed the last bus down, so they had negotiated with the guy at the shelter to allow us to stay there for the night. It was a large community room with 3 tatami style benches and 3 wooden benches.

Needless to say, we were tired and hungry. Owen was in charge of dinner and he had all the goods for tom yum soup with thai curry and rice. And to top it all off, we shared a bottle of red wine. Dessert was chocolate and Bailey’s. We were really roughing it!














By the time we were in our sleeping bags the typhoon was on it’s way –about 12 hours early! It hit hard in the middle of the night and kept the big sliding doors rattling nonstop. Some of us didn’t get much sleep and before we knew it it was morning and the mountain patrol was banging on the door asking us when we’d be ready to take the bus down!

We packed up, and said goodbye and thanks to my now favorite of the 3 Holy Mountains. It was just challenging enough, with great weather for the climb, sufficient facilities and astounding views.

My team was great and I would climb with them again any day! Thanks for another weekend of wonderful memories!

Not much to say

Well, work is keeping me busy, and tired...I don't have much energy at the moment and I'm hoping that changes soon 'cause I've got a whole year of this!! The consolation is that I have great people to work with and the students are so cute I just want to eat them for lunch! Speaking of lunch, I had a carb overload today at Maezawa (my little school). Spagetti AND 2 slices of bread is a little much. I don't know how the kids eat all of it, I can hardly finish mine.

I went to a car show on the weekend, got to be a staff memeber, you can see my pics on my VW blog. It was fun, but we had a ton of rain on Sunday that kind of put a damper on the day (pardon the pun). I didn't win any awards this time (haha, surprise surprise - I didn't even wash my car before the show). But I got to greet the entrants and present awards during the day.

Nothing of huge significance happening on this side of the world...summer is officially over...there's finally a male heir to the throne again...the Sept Sumo tourney is on, but I won't get a chance to go as all my weekends are booked this month. Speaking of being booked...I've put the down payment on my tickets home for Christmas. That's right, I'm going to be home for the holidays for the first time in 5 years...crazy. So the countdown is officially on. Less than 100 days until I'm home!

Amy Brings Fun Wherever She Goes

Here are some vids from the game center fun:

Crazy Ball Fun (click to view)



Watch out for Dinosaurs!! (clickity click)

Cake

In our happy little Niikawa family we love to celebrate birthdays! And if you read mine or Kirsten's blog regularly, you have probably come to realize that Birthday Cakes have become a integral part of the celebrations. We still occasionally splurge on a store-bought cake (but they're obscenely expensive) so the real fun has come by trying to create the most suitable cake for the birthday boy or girl.
The latest birthday was Amy-Chan's and we got the opportunity to 'surprise' her on her way through Toyama on the BEE Ride. Chika-chan and I both made cakes we thought she would appreciate...


The face says it all!




















They both LOOKED great, but Chika's included her favorite ingredient:



See the resemblance?









Have a safe trip Amy-chan!!!

Surviving my first week.

I've got one more day to go in my first full week as an elementary English teacher. So far so good - including school lunch! The strangest thing I've had so far is a battered slice of ham with 2 slices of bread...that also included milk and veggie salad and stew. Not bad at all.

This week has been non-stop introductions. Each new class I visit (I have 24 in all) gets to listen to me say my name and where I'm from, and then it's a free-for-all Q&A time where I answer questions like, "How old are you?", "What's your favorite color?", and "Are you married?". It's fun every time as the kids all react differently to my answers. Then each of the students get to introduce themselves to me! They say their name and what they like and then we shake hands (some of them don't know how to shake hands yet...) Some of the kids are super confident and others freak out! And they're all sooooooo cute!

Today has been my busiest day so far - I teach all 6 classes on Thursdays. It was a challenge getting through 4 classes before lunch, but with the help if great homeroom teachers and a fabulous classroom aid (who's fully bilingual) the classes were a ton of fun.

Tomorrow's Friday, the last of my self introductions and the first of my lunchtime talks over the school intercom...yeah, the principal at Chuo Elementary has asked me to do a short 2 or 3 minute blurb on the differences between Canada and Japan each week! Nice, idea, but he wants me to do it in English AND Japanese -sheesh, these people are going to make me speak their language whether I like it or not...JUST KIDDING, it's a great way to get me to practice the language I should already have a handle on, but don't.


In other news, Amy's has come and gone through the now rainy Toyama Prefecture. She had another BEE RIDE charity dinner in Toyama city last night with the half of the group that has come down the Japan Sea side (the other half is riding through Tokyo). It was a great time, and the last time we'll see her for a looooong time. Good luck Amy-chan. Keep up the cell phone updates! We miss you already.

I missed my cousin Dana's wedding on the weekend. Congratulations Dana, my parents said they had a great time. Wish I could have been there.

This weekend is the VW Event. Can't wait. Gotta get through tomorrow first though...

9:30, I'm beat, time for bed!

First Day of School

For those who know me well, you know that the first day of school rates up there as one of my favorite days of the year. There haven't been very many years out of my life where I haven't had a first day of school. I know deep down somewhere that becoming a teacher was a way of ensuring I will always have a first day of school to look forward to.

Last Friday was no exception. I had to make a small speech at the opening ceremony at Chuo Elementary School. This is my BIG school -you're going to have to try to keep track now, because I have 3 schools that I will be teaching at. KazzA coached me through my speech on Thursday night so that I'd be ready Firday morning to make a good first impression to 500+ elementary school students. Thanks Kazz, I think I did OK!!

After that, I went back to the staff room, where I tried to look busy (with nothing to do). You see, there aren't any classes on the first day of school. Instead the students had an intro class with their homeroom teachers and then they practiced for sports day!

And the highlight of the day was eating the school lunch! All students get a school lunch made and delivered to their classrooms (or at Mikkachi Elementary School, in the cafeteria) and the staff eats it too. It's a well balanced meal consisting of some kind of meat, starch, veggie and dairy product. On Friday it was rice, stew, 2 sausages and a noodle salad -oh, and of course, milk! It was tastey, but much more than I'm used to eating for lunch! The teachers made a big deal of it, since they knew it was my first time. They thankfully restrained from commenting on my chopstick skills, but did make sure that I know that I have to pay for this lunch service. It's not free. It's a whopping 270yen per meal (that's about $2.60 CDN). A pretty good deal, and it saves me from having to my my own lunch everyday! And if ever don't like the lunch I can always go to grocery store that stands across the street! Yay.

Tomorrow will by my first teaching day. Thanks to everyone who's sent me words of encouragement, they were definitely appreciated! I'll be teaching grade 2 tomorrow -seems a lot more scary than teaching grade 11 at the moment...

More Pics from Mike's Visit

A Quick Rant

Everyone who know me knows that I'm in love with this country. But that doesn't mean that I like EVERYTHING about it.

There are 3 particular things that rile me up:

SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES (trains, restaurants, etc.)

CHILDREN NOT PLACED IN CHILD SAFETY SEATS (I see this on a daily basis, it's ludicrous)

and

RUNNING RED LIGHTS -especially big trucks. This is the reason for the rant...

I live along a main road called Route 8. It's the alternative to the expressway (which you have to pay for) and so it's always packed with big trucks. There is a intersection with signal lights near my apartment which I have to go through on a daily basis. I'm not sure why it seems worse than others, but I see more trucks run red lights at this particular intersection than any other. 2 years ago there was a terrible accident and due to a vehicle running a red light, a truck smashed into the house that sits on one of the corners of the intersection. Yikes!!! And even though police cars sit at this intersection on a regular basis, it has not prevented people from running the red.

So, tonight I was coming home from studying and was approaching this particular light on the road perpendicular to Route 8. I was a few meters from the stop line and saw the light turn yellow for the people along Rt8. I saw a big truck drive through. I then watched the light turn red for the people along Rt8. I saw a big truck drive through. Of course the light then turned green for me. I saw a big truck drive through. ARGH!!! If I had actually proceeded when the light turned green for me I would have been squished like a bug!

The Rain Room at the Nizayama Forest Art Museum

There is an old hydro-electric station up towards the mountains about a 15 minute drive from where I live. There are three buildings on the compound that have been converted into a tea room, an exhibition hall and an art gallery. There is also a small tower you can climb to get a great view of Nyuzen as it spills out to the Japan sea.

The largest building is the gallery, where local artists use the huge warehouse space to display work that wouldn't fit a conventional sized display room. I found out about it through friends here in Nyuzen and first visited it when one of the students in my English converstation class had an show there.

When Mike was here we decided to check out the latest exhibition. I had seen an ad for it on TV and thought I'd show him that we're cultured out here in the boonies of Japan. I think he was impressed.

Check out the link:

遠藤利克展 Trieb-振動 (Rain Room)

It's called 遠藤利克展 Trieb-振動 (Rain Room) and you can actually walk through the rain! They have rubber boots and umbrellas for those who require them, but we were allowed to walk through in just our flip flops and play in the rain!

For me, the sound was what was most impressive. Water is my favorite sound. Trickling water, gushing water, the sound of bubbles, or that splooshing sound you get when you enter water -hand, head or whole body.

There was also a small tank set up in the loft of the warehouse. At first it just looks like a big ugly tank of water with a plastic pipe at the bottom pumping H20 into it. But then you notice something very strange...you can see the water flowing up to the top of the tank, making ripples at the surface...but there are no bubbles!! The illusion is that the top is open (you can't actually see into the top of the tank from a standing position), but actually there is a piece of glass on top which prevents the water from bubbling up, so instead it creates a rippling effect at the 'surface' which is directed inward. Very cool.


Check it out if you've got the time, then go for tea/coffee and cake in the tea room!

I would post photos, but we weren't allowed to take any while we were there, so you have to scroll down the linked page and take a look for yourself. There is also a map of how to get there and a photo gallery of past exhibits.

A busy busy week.

It started on Monday. I picked up Adam, Dan and Paul in Uozu and we headed to Minami High School for a 3 day English camp in the mountains. It's not as outdoorsy as it sounds. English camps are held by schools to give their students opportunities to interact with native English speakers outside of the classroom. Some of the camps are only a day long, but Minami High School hosts 2 one and a half day camps. The first day and a half is for the first grade students (grade 10). The second half of the first day and the 3rd day is for the 2nd grade students (grade 11).
ALTs from other schools (that'd be me) are invited to participate and plan fun, interesting, unique lessons and/or activities to present to small groups of students over the course of the camp. This year we had a range of activites from juggling to dancing to a Clue game using the ALTs as the characters. I taught the students how to play cards in English, there was a scavenger hunt, commercial making and improv story telling. A great variety for the students.
In the evening the students got together with the ALTs and had a BBQ, then it was off to bed -well at least for the teachers...the students, like any other group of teenagers stayed up all night. So you can imagine how successful the first class in the morning was...
This is my fourth Minami Engish High School Camp! This particular high school has been designated a SEL (Super Engish Language) School. That means that most of the students want to study English and international studies at a higher level than what is offered at regular high schools. The students at MHS are very enthusiastic about English and the lessons are always fun to teach. A lot of the students return for a second year at the camp and I love seeing their progress over the 2 years. I hope to do it again next year!



This is Shunsuke, a second year student whom I taught last year.


Immediately after finishing the camp and dropping the boys off in Uozu I went straight to Kurobe station to pick up Mike who came to visit for the remainder of the week! We had a great visit and managed to cram shopping, an Okinawan concert, an art exhibit, a beach BBQ, a trip to Takayama and lots of good good food into just 3 days. He brought me chocolate and shoes, needless to say I was willing to take him anywhere and do anything while he was here!!!

click here for video

English Camp

I'm off to English Camp until Wednesday!

HAPPY B-DAY JOHNNY P!!

Saturday was my John's b-day. Not my brother Johhny P, but my neighbor Johnny P!
We celebrated the occasion in royal fashion. First we dressed in Yukatta (summer kimono) and had dinner at the best restaurant in the city: Sakura Sweets.



Then, by the order of Princess Chika, we invited the local townspeople to join us for a fireworks show down by the sea. And a very fine show it was. The grand finale was a 3 song medley: The Mission Impossible Theme, Amazing Grace (as sung by Charlotte Church), and the William Tell Overture!


click here to get a taste of the musical version
here too

To end the night we went back to Nyuzen's very own 'Koshi' - a local drinking establishment that provides us with endless entertainment on any given night. If it's not the wacky bartenders with stuffed reindeer and money hats, then it's the patrons who bring their 6 and 10 year old daughters and let them dance with the wacky foreigners (that'd be us).

Princess Chika even made a special cake for the birthday boy, made with a secret ingredient...NATTO!! It's become a tradition among us isolated country folk to make cakes for each other with obscure ingredients in an attempt to get the best 'SHOCK-U' value (and keep ourselves entertained). Natto, in one word, is 'gross'. It looks terrible and smells even worse (and now that I'll be eating school lunches, I'll have the pleasure of consuming this super heathly food once in a while, joy oh joy). ANYWAY, like I said, Princess Cheeky was going for shock value (and I'm sure she was secretly hoping for gag value too). So when she brought the cake out and it looked like and ordinary cheesecake, we had to endure the song and the cutting and the handing out of pieces before we could get the reaction we were anticipating. And the reaction was....

"MMMM!!! IT'S GOOD!"

dang.

will post photos when blogger stops being retarded...

Beer, Mutton, Gaijin Traps and Night Skies

I went to Toyama tonight for dinner with Kaz and Ai-chan, two good friends I met through NOVA 4 years ago. We went to a restaurant near the station that serves lamb yakiniku (grilled meet). We don't get together that often, so whenever we can, we try to catch up on each other's lives over a beer or two after we've all finished work for the day (or we go snowboarding...). These two are getting married in December and have asked me to make a speech because I am one of few friends that know both of them equally well. It's a big honor!

Anyway, before the mutton even came we had all started in on the nama (draught) beer like it was water -come to think of it, we were never even served water tonight, hm. It's still above 30 everyday here and beer tastes sooooo good on nights like tonight. Then the lamb came. Served raw in bite sized slices, ready to grill on the mini grill placed in front of us. By the time the actual food came we were all on our second beer. I'm not sure which tasted better...

After a while Kaz's brother and sister-in-law joined us. They live in Kanazawa, the neighboring prefecture, where they own a Jamaican restaurant!! Neither has actually been to Jamaica...but what does that matter. They were in town to see a reggae show at Mairo, a local club. Kaz hadn't told them that I was going to be at dinner so they were a little shocked at first to see me sitting at the table with Ai and Kaz, full lamb bib on (think lobster bib), chowing down while using chopsticks like I was born with them in my hand.... Ahem, however once the beer started flowing on their side of the table, they were much more at ease, and I have to say, I held my own in Japanese. Ok, I answered like, 4 questions, but I'm pretty sure I laughed in all the right places...

I was half way through my third beer (I'm telling you, it must have been water, really) when it was already time for me to catch the last train home. YIKES, I WAS DRUNK!! 2.5 beers is a definite record for me! Kirsten kept me company from Hiroshima via k-tai (cell phone) on the almost hour-long train ride home (hurry up and get back here Sista!!) and then I had the pleasure of riding a bicycle home in the dark.

Now, in most other countries, I'm sure this would not pose the same kind of threat as it does in this fine land. For you see, Japan has gaijin (foreigner) traps. These are the 3 foot deep, 2 foot wide water canals that run along almost every rural road -and lucky me, I live in rural Japan!! They have a nasty way of drawing unsuspecting folk like ALTs into their clutches -especially if said folk are on bicycles, and almost certainly if they have been consuming beverages of an alcoholic nature...

But, tonight I returned to my apartment victorious! Unscathed! I used the force and it guided me safely down the middle of the road -ok, I used my ears and made sure the sound of flowing water didn't get too loud -nonetheless there was much swerving involved, especially when I was facing oncoming traffic. They could see me, but I was momentarily blinded each time. Concentrating all my efforts on forward movement, there were times when the sound of the car engines drowned out the sound of the water and I would find myself in the tractor beam -legs brushing the vegetation that lines the banks of these bone breaking, bicycle mangling, montrosities -cranking the handlebars just in time to wobble safely back onto the pavement.

And if the cars weren't enough, I was totally distracted by the night sky tonight. While being in inaka (the countryside) means harrowing, streetlightless night wandering, it does make for amazing star gazing! All the regulars were out tonight, including the Milky Way, which I must say, is a lot easier to see in Japan than Northern Alberta. No moon, however, which compounded the blind biking scenario...

So, it's now 2:00 a.m., the beer has worn off, Burle Ives is singing Ol'Dan Tucker from my computer and I'm hungry again. I think I'll grab and snack and my astronomy book and sit by the rice paddy outside my apartment and gaze a bit more.

What am I talking about??? I'm going to bed!

Congratulations Dave & Sheri

My roommate from university got married on Saturday, I wanted to go to the wedding, but couldn't make it home this summer. Fortunately I got to meet Sheri when I was home last summer and I wholeheartedly approved!!! She's wonderful, and very lucky to have a guy like Dave at her side!

Best wishes for your future together!!!

On being happy.

My mom sent me a cd a while back and there was a song on it called Happy Baby, by Shaye. It struck a chord with me.

Since I've lived on my own in Japan I've finally stopped looking for what will make me happy, and I live in the moment instead. I never did that before. I was always searching for something I didn't have. I dont' feel the need to do that now. I'm HAPPY! The happiest I've ever been.

My happiness comes from finally making choices for myself, being healthly, having amazing friends and understanding family, and just enough money to eat, and keep my car on the road. Anything after that is just gravy.

Yes, I still go after things I want (travel, sports gear, new hair color) but I know they are not what will define my happiness. It's the idea that I can actually choose to go after these things if I want to -it's the choice that leaves me content.

So, if this is it for me, that's just fine, I'm not looking anymore.

Here are the lyrics:

Standing in line at the grocery store
Reading magazines that say i should want more
There's an old boyfriend, he looks my way
I can't help but smile, I feel great today
Last night's clothes, no make-up, drinking my coffee from a paper cup

If this is it for me baby, that's just fine, I'm not looking anymore
For what will make me happy baby, that's just fine, I'm not looking anymore
Anymore

So many places I'll never see
But here and now is where I'd rather be
Too many people searching so hard
But they never look right in their backyard
I've made mistakes, that's for sure, ain't that what your life is for?

If this is it for me baby, that's just fine, I'm not looking anymore
For what will make me happy baby, that's just fine, I'm not looking anymore

(More clothes, more cash, more things, more rings)
These lines upon my face, I'd be a fool to erase cause they show my place in this world

If this is it for me baby, that's just fine, I'm not looking anymore
For what will make me happy baby, that's just fine, I'm not looking anymore

Blogger is ruining my thought processes

How do I explain this...

It seems that when something is happening to me and/or I'm trying to figure out a way to deal with a specific moment in time, my thoughts immediately turn to "how would I post this as a blog entry". So instead of actually focussing on what's going on, or even just having an experience, regardless of how minor, I'm formulating a catchy title I'm going to use to post it on my blog.

I need to go back no further than this morning to find multiples examples:

First, cleaning my apartment -I'm in the process of what I hope will be a major overhaul, but in the mean time there's a lot of simple things to be done like VACUUMING (which I loathe). So I pulled out my brand-spanking new vacuum which compared to my old one is like putting a Porsche beside a Lada.

As I turned it on and started sucking up the bunny sized dust bunnies, I was thinking, "wow, this thing really sucks hard" and before I knew it I was thinking how how that would make a good pun on my blog -"my new vacuum really sucks", haha, nudge nudge, wink, wink, get it?? Sigh, yeah.

Finally lunchtime rolled around and started thinking about what I had to eat in my apartment (nothing I was in the mood for), so I decided I should go to the little sushi shop near Nyuzen High School and immediately I began to formulate another blog entry about the couple that run the shop and how friendly they are and how they love chatting me up and giving me freebees all the time. The deserve a blog entry too...

And one of the reasons I chose the sushi shop for lunch is because it's near the post office, and I had parcels to send home. I was 100% unsuccessful there today, I had two boxes, one was recycled from a parcel sent from Canada and one from here with Japanese writing on the side. They refused to take either. Seems that Canada Post is extremely picky about what's on the side of the boxes that enter the country. So I had to be shown what was aceptable and what wasn't, and they gave me new boxes and told me I could transfer everything into these boxes and it would cost this much to send that box if I send it sea mail vs surface mail and blah blah blah...so as I stood there, smiling and nodding and understanding about 75% of what they were saying, the other 25% of my thoughts were on to how I would bitch about this on my blog when I got home and how absolutely ridiculous Canada Post has gotten about recieving parcels from overseas. It never used to be this way. I finally gave the post office staff a polite bow and told them I'd come back again later with the proper boxes. Sigh, it took me 3 months to finally transfer the boxes from my apartment to my car, maybe they'll be sent in time for Christmas now...

After hitting that wall, I was in no mood to start up on cleaning again. Besides it's insanely hot here at the moment and I was starting to feel guilty about being inside under the air conditioner all day. So I convinced myself that I should get my swim in early today, but I ws thinking I should also take advantage of the sun while I could, so a quick trip to the beach would be in order first. Bike or drive? Bike or drive? I had enough time to bike, but it was a really quite hot and maybe a little dangerous to be biking in the middle of the afternoon. I decided to risk it and transfered all the necessary gear into a backpack and hopped on my bike.

I got no further than a kilometer down the road when all of a sudden I heard a 'pfssst' and then a clunk clunk clunk. ARGH, my first flat! This in itself was already going on my workout blog before I had even gotten off my bike, but began to deserve real blog status for the sheer comedy factor that I provided for the guys who saw me.

I was cruising down Rt3 when it happened. I could see 2 guys standing on the sidewalk ahead of me and I knew I had to slow down to get by them. It was the EXACT moment that I was riding by them that I heard the aforementioned 'pfssst'. I stopped directly in front of them. Got off my bike, took one look at the tire, took one look at them, said 'punk-u, zannen desu ne' (flat tire, that sucks eh?), picked up my bike and started walking back in the direction I'd come from. They were busting a gut as I walked away. All the while, I'm thinking, great I can post this on my blog too!

I think I need to be unplugged for a while.

Let's enjoying summer fireworks!!!

I went to the Namerikawa Fireworks Festival last Friday, managed to get a few photos.

Summer Reading

For those who know me well, you know that I'm a bit of a book freak. And summer time has always been a particularly prolific reading time for me.

When I was young, the public library used to host reading contests for kids -for you Grande Prairians, that would be where the Toy and Hobby store is on downtown mainstreet (or has it changed again?). I can't remember the full details, but I think you got stamps or stickers for each book you read, and once you read a certain amount you got a prize or something, like 5 was a little prize, then at 10 you got someting bigger...We were pretty regular visitors (thanks Mom) and the kids section, which was in the basement if I remember correctly, was always a great little escape from the summer heat.

Comic books didn't count for these contests, so I tried to limit Tin Tin and Asterix as much as I could, but always ended up taking at least one of each home every time… I went through the typical phases; the Little House on the Prairie series, the Choose your own Adventure series, lots of mystery series...I used to read them every night in bed, sometimes under the covers with a flashlight - not only because I wasn't supposed to be reading so late at night, but also because it was just more fun that way!

Although I don't always have to have my nose in a book, I do like a good afternoon in a bookshop and I rarely come away empty handed. Here in Japan, the 7th floor of Tower Records in Shibuya, Tokyo is my most favorite place in the whole country. I've spent hours and hours and lots and lots of yen there, totally guilt free! When my friend Kathleen (a kindred spirit when it comes to books) came to visit, I knew I'd have no problem convincing her to indulge me in a trip to Tower Records. After about 3 hours we both decided we should actually go out and see some other things that the city has to offer, but I know we still both left reluctanly.

While non-fiction and is usually reserved for the cold, dark winter months, summer for me is spent escaping. I've got one non-fiction book on the go right now, but it's slow going. At the same time, I'm plowing through paper backs and short stories like a fireman’s going to knock on my door at any moment. I still prefer a good historical fiction book to most others, but recently I’ve taken a liking to Roald Dahl and have stumbled upon a trilogy by a Japanese writer (Koji Suzuki) that has me hooked. Extremely well translated, fast paced and just far enough from the edge to make me squirm a little. I like that.

Although hectic in many ways, this summer has given me time to read a somewhat eclectic list of books. From the beginning of last month I’ve read the following:.

Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang (non-fiction)
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (fiction, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker)
The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa (fiction, translated by Adrianna Hunter)
Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl (fiction, short stories)
Ring by Koji Suzuki (fiction, as in the movie, translated by Robert B. Rohmer & Glynne Walley )
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (fiction, based during the Medici era)
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (fiction, I think…)

Currently reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (non-fiction) and the sequel to Ring, it’s called Spiral –opened it yesterday and I’m already half way through…hopefully I’ll have my hands on the 3rd in the series by the end of the month.

**If you’d like my opinion about any of the above books, please don’t hesitate to ask, I’m just not in the mood at the moment to formulate concise reviews for this blog post.

I’ve been thinking of writing about this for a while, but it wasn’t until I read Ms. World’s blog that I felt truly inspired. There are lots of beach days ahead, I'm sure my list will grow by the time school starts again. There won't be any stickers for me at the end, but I'll be just as satisfied, nonetheless.

Tatemon Festival

click here to see what i was up to last night


Sista K has written a great discription of the night, feel free to click on her blog and check it out.