First day of school

Yes, I have not been doing any "proper" work until today. For the past 3 weeks, I have been going in to school but surfing the internet or trying to study Japanese during working hours. Today was D-day.

I had to give a short self-introduction during the school assembly this morning. It was a little intimidating, getting up on stage and looking down at the few hundred pairs of eyes. But anyway, that went smoothly without a hitch. A sweet Japanese teacher complimented me on my "nice speech" (but they'll never say bad stuff to you anyway) and I got some friendly hellos from students. In case you're wondering, yes, I did my self-introduction in English.

My school is supposed to be one of the top schools in Niigata prefecture and the students are supposed to have a better command of the English language than compared to other Japanese high school students. The girls at my school wear the longest skirts I've seen on Japanese high school girls ever! Their skirts actually reach their knees!! But being geeks doesn't mean that they do not leave their long hair untied and wear make-up like other Japanese high schoolgirls.

Then I had 2 classes in the afternoon. They were both with year 1 (15 year old) students. I had to conduct them solo because the Japanese English teacher, whom I was supposed to team-teach with, was attending some seminar. Anyway, the classes went ok. I enjoyed the first class coz the students were a lively, responsive bunch. The second class was a bit more dull coz the students were less interactive.

Oh, and its quite funny to see students bowing (actually bowing! Upper body almost 90 deg bent! The last time I properly bowed to teachers was probably in primary school) to me as I was cycling to leave school. And they were polite enough to cross the road before overtaking me on their bikes so it isn't so obvious that I was being overtaken by hordes of students. Really sensitive of them...

An ode to my granddad

So I returned from the Tokamachi matsuri this afternoon and learnt that my granddad passed away on Friday. The funeral is today. Too late for me to fly back.

My granddad was bedridden for the last 2 years. But before that, he was a hale and hearty old man. He used to be a body builder. He took walks at least twice a day. When I was a kid, he would sometimes bring me to the playground nearby. Once he asked if I wanted to go out with him. I said sure! We ended up walking all the way from Spottiswoode Park (opposite Singapore General Hospital) to OCBC Bank at Raffles Place! I was damned tired by the walk man! I was a small girl then (before I even went to school ok) so my legs were shorter then and I needed to take more steps. I think I complained along the way, so we stopped at a ma ma shop to buy some chewing gum to keep my mouth shut. Anyway, at the bank, he gamely took a piece of chewing gum I offered and ended up having to remove his dentures at the bank to extract the gum! Haha, I always thought that was funny.

He was a curious old man. I would sometimes see him stopping along the road peering at god-knows-what. Things that we would never notice. He had a toothy grin, when he chose to smile. But he was also a man of few words (preferring to grunt rather than talk) and had a fiery temper. He once called some TV repairmen robbers when they quoted him an exorbitant price for his TV repairs.

Yeah, I think that pretty much sums up my granddad, who rests in peace now. Au revoir, gong gong.

Tokamachi Matsuri (Summer Festival)

Went to the Tokamachi Matsuri (Summer festival) in the evening with Dean (from Muikamachi). Tokamachi is a town on the other side of the mountain that my town is on. There are little stalls set up along the streets and lanterns strung up to create the celebratory mood (and there were fireworks of course). The highlight of the matsuri celebrations is the parading of portable shrines (mikoshi) around town all day. Each mikoshi weighs about 500kg (or so I was told) and is carried by around 30 men (some females too, but very few). They are elaborate gold shrines, probably made of solid gold which explains the weight. Not everyone can carry the mikoshi. You actually have to be "well-connected" in a way to sign up to carry the mikoshi. Each "shift" is about 2 hours long and I hear it's a back-breaking affair. One of the Tokamachi JETs, who carried the shrine in the afternoon, said it was heavy and even more difficult for him because he was taller than the average Japanese man. The climax of the festival is when the main mikoshi is carried into this temple on top of this hill which happens around 12 midnight.

Since we had some time, we went for dinner at a yakitori (skewered meat ala satay) restaurant, because most restaurants were closed for the celebrations or fully occupied. There, we met a friendly yakuza (Japanese mafia) guy who could speak English and recommended dishes for us to try. Well, I was told by the other JET that he was yakuza because his pinky was chopped off. We never asked him to confirm. Anyway, he sure acted like one. Dressed in a jacket on a hot Saturday evening when everyone was wearing yukatas or hapi coats and acted in a very flamboyant manner. But, he was very friendly. Poured us some "good" Australian white wine he had...so drink up lor!

Then we set off for the temple and met the whole gang of Tokamachi JETs! They were all dressed in yukatas and looked splendid! I wish I had a yukata to wear! We headed off with them and saw a number of mikoshi. The smaller ones were carried on the shoulders, like the ancient Chinese sedan chair. And the bigger ones were on wheels and pulled along with ropes. The bigger ones were usually accompanied by flute players and taiko drum beaters. Everyone was drunk and no one was walking straight, as early as 8pm! The men carrying the mikoshi were all definitely drunk judging by the way the mikoshi veered dangerously from the left to the right and almost toppling over at several points. It was like Wong Fei Hung's drunken fist fighting skill. I almost got ran down a number of times. Those who were not so agile ended up being trampled upon. I was told by one of the Japanese ladies that half of the men carrying the mikoshi want to bring it up to the temple to put an end to their agony and the other half wanted to continue having fun. So the mikoshi went up and down the streets near the temple in completely random directions until nearly midnight when the carriers were probably told to stop their nonsense and carry it up the temple.

Then the mikoshi proceeded in a very sedate manner up the hill and into the temple complex. There were cheers and hoisting of the mikoshi in a jubilant way. Then the Shinto priests took over and carried the mikoshi into the temple building. There was a solemn prayer ritual. And then the fun began. Free sake and food (nut snacks and huge pears), blessed rice and chalk were given out. You're supposed to put a grain of the blessed rice into every pot of rice you cook, which will then bless the entire pot of rice! Don't ask about the chalk...no one could explain that to me. And now for the photos:

One of the bigger mikoshi (on wheels and being pulled by rope). There were kids standing on one half of the mikoshi and taiko drummers and flute players on the other half.

The mikoshi stopped for a while and these men started swivelling it around the wheel base so you can see the taiko drummers and flute players on the other side. The walk up to the templeThat's not all! It actually snakes further upwards and you get a great view of the town from above. This is the view from the top where you can see the path going up.The crazy men carrying the mikoshi. You can see a bit of the street decorations from the photo too. This was when they were still playing on the streets before carrying it up the temple. Mikoshi almost toppling over
Close shave! This was taken when I pushed my way up the pavement just before they came crashing through in front of meThe typical outfit worn by a mikoshi-carrier (i forgot the name of the outfit...starts with s)

When the shrine is finally brought into the temple compound

No photos of the freebies giveaway...I was too busy eating and drinking! ;P

Japanese hospitality & my matching ATM card

Home Economics teacher stopped by my desk to introduce herself to me and give me a tupperware of yaki soba (fried noodles) that her students made during class! So nice of her…my dinner tonight is settled then! I volunteered to attend her home econs classes in future. Can get more free food and maybe learn to cook. Patrick, the other JET at my school, is pissed off that he wasn’t given any food.

Collected my ATM card today. Matches with my cute bank book. Patrick got even more pissed off coz he got a boring white & green bank book and ATM card although we’re both with the same bank. Heh.

I have blocked off my card no. for security reasons but the Japanese characters you see at the bottom is my name "Low Cindy" spelt in Japanese.

Departure from Sado

Took the morning ferry out of Sado. Tons of people were leaving as well. Kodo actually came down to the port to play in front of the ferry to see us off. Even when the ferry was sailing off, the band members ran alongside beating their drums until they could go no further.


Check out the amount of people on the ferry...like a refugee camp! Everyone was just sprawled out on the carpets and this is only one of the four Class-2 halls on the ferry. Every hall was packed!

Final Day of Earth Celebration

Went for tub boat ride in the morning. Most uncomfortable perching on the edge of the glass bottom and trying to crane your neck to look through the glass. I tried rowing the boat, but couldn’t get it right. The stupid tub kept turning round and round instead of going forward!


Then we went for a sightseeing ferry ride (yes, its water day. Actually we were just trying to stay out of the sun since we were burnt from the day before. It hurt just to go out in the sun!) But the ferry ride was really good!


My Japanophile uncle gazing intently at the Japanese landscape in the air-conditioned comfort of the ferry cabin.

See how red uncle's face is

Tub boats waiting for the ferry to berth

The route of the sightseeing ferry we took (It’s only a tiny part of the island we saw)

Hajijo taiko drummers from Hajijo island in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Small boy with drumsticks but refused to play

Demon drumming performance

Went for the final concert where Kodo shared the stage with their foreign guest. The concert was just amazing! At the beginning Kodo and Carlos Nunez & his band did separate performances. Then they played together and it was marvellous how such different musical sounds could complement each other so well. The Celtic tunes of the Spanish bagpipes got a lot of people up on their feet and jumping around. The music was great and the atmosphere was just incredible! It was a completely different experience altogether!

Finale

Earth Celebration Day 2!

Breakfast spread prepared by inn-lady:

After breakfast, took a walk around the area of our inn (Yajima). It’s a craggy volcanic islet; very pretty and scenic. There are also glass-bottom tub boat rides available. The wooden tub boats are a traditional mode of transportation for the Sado island people. Its basically like rowing a bathtub. Very inefficient, I think!

Photos of Yajima area:



Our inn is just behind the houses in this photo:

Check out the wooden tub boats:

Even the manhole covers feature the tub boats (there, right at the centre, u can see a lady wearing a hat rowing the tub boat):

Then, we went for all these free fringe performances, some of which were very good! Only problem was the sun was scorching that day and all the performances were outdoors, so we all ended up sunburnt (especially my uncle’s poor over-exposed head). There was also a flea market selling hippy clothes, knick-knacks, food, etc. The amount of people at the event was unbelievable!

Masahiro Mizuno, who can hit 2 drums with one hand while twirling a drumstick in the other!

Miyake Taiko group, which was so good, we went back on the final day to watch them again! Recorded short movie clips of them too (but can't post the movie clips here). Yes, I know you see more heads than drummers in the pic. They were so good that the crowd just rushed forward to watch and take pictures.

Kodo youth group performance

Demon drummers

Also visited the Hokusetsu Sake Brewery in the next town, Akadomari for free sake tasting!

Check out this spider we saw on the street! It was BIG I tell you. And brightly coloured too! Must be poisonous!

Did not go to the concert tonight coz it was only the invited foreign artiste performing. Kodo invites a different foreign artiste to perform with them every year. This year, its Carlos Nunez who plays Spanish bagpipes.

Aunty & Uncle arrive! Earth Celebration!

After slightly more than a week of persistent rain, the skies turned a clear blue for my aunty and uncle’s arrival from Tokyo. The weather bodes well for our weekend at Sado Island where we will attend the Earth Celebration, a 3-day series of concerts and performances featuring Kodo (a famous taiko drumming group from the island that spends more than half of the year on world tours).

We took a 1-hr train ride to Naoetsu, a port in the south of Niigata prefecture, to catch the ferry to Sado island. Along the train ride, we saw vast stretches of rice fields and some sunflower plantations. Everytime the train entered a tunnel, the lights in the train would dim and lights were projected on the ceiling of the train cabin to simulate an underwater scene, including sound effects. There were whales, sharks, stingrays and even mermaids swimming around overhead! Fancy that! I thought it was a very interesting way of keeping commuters entertained. This is the best shot I've got, although you can't see the fish clearly (difficult to take a clear shot lah…camera flash completely whites out the ceiling and shots turn out blurry without flash):

Here’s my aunty with cute Japanese buns purchased from the bakery in my town:

Then we took a 2.5-hr ferry ride to get to Sado island. (Yes, the island is actually quite far from mainland. The ferry was a big fast one that could take cars as well.) How did we pass time on the ferry? The seagulls kept us entertained. They flew alongside the ferry pecking off food that was offered by passengers. Check out this seagull that just made off with a piece of cake held out by this lady:

And we found a comfortable spot in our second-class cabin, which was essentially a large carpeted hall that you can sit or even lie down in. The first class suites were like hotel bedrooms with proper beds and TVs. And we tried the Niigata speciality – sasa dango (sweet glutinous rice cakes with red bean inside). They’re wrapped like sweets with the leaves we use for making bak chang.

Finally, Sado island comes into sight!

It is Japan’s 6th largest island. It used to be a place of exile for intellectuals who fell out of favour with the government, until gold was discovered in the 1600s and gold mining took off in a big way on the island. Today, it’s a popular tourist destination for Japanese who want a break from city life.

We found our way to the inn I booked. It’s a Japanese style family-run inn. In the visitors’ wing, there’re about 9 ryokan rooms (i.e. tatami floor), shared baths and toilets, a dining hall and the innkeeper’s residence is a separate wing. Check out the dinner spread prepared by the inn-lady!

My uncle & aunt looking very contented with the food:

After dinner, the inn-lady drove us to the concert venue – an open air park, somewhat like our Fort Canning, that can take about 2,500 people. Tonight’s concert features only the Kodo drummers. They were so awesome! I can’t describe it. The sound of the drums was so solid the ground reverberated with every drum beat. During the finale, they wheeled out this huge drum (Odaiko) and when the drummer, who was dressed only in a loincloth, first hit it *BOOM*, the sound was so solid that the Japanese lady in front of me actually jumped!

Us at the concert venue drinking chu-hi (some Japanese alcohol that is usually mixed with fruit juice) and of course fanning ourselves (damned hot!).

Photography during the concert was not allowed, but I managed to sneak a shot of the Odaiko performance:

Not everyone in the group can play the Odaiko. Must be senior enough. This Odaiko guy was playing non-stop for like 10-15 mins. You can hear him panting and shouting ala Maria Sharapova (yes, I think I spelt her name wrongly, but you get the point). Towards the end, you can see his entire body glistening with sweat!

The concert was so good! I’m so inspired to take up taiko drumming now!