Clothes, Pizza and Rugby

Hey everyone,
I know it's been quite a while since I've posted anything.
I've been a bit busy with school lately.
But some blog-able things have happened within the past week or so.

I went shopping with my host mother and her son.
I didn't buy anything but I did see some interesting clothes.

While on this shopping trip I thought that I might buy a knit cap if I could find an affordable one. This one caught my eye for obvious reasons, not my style though.



This Obama T-shirt was $54.00. When I picked it up it felt like they only used 1/3 the amount of materials they use to make a standard t-shirt.


That same weekend I got another opportunity to walk around the city a bit. First I went back to the lake in Ohori Kouen (below) before getting a bit lost for a while, but eventually finding my way back home.



This past Wednesday I made pizza with my host mother. She must not bake very much because I ended up doing most of the work. We ran into a few problems, one being that we couldn't seem to move the pizza from the cutting board to the oven without it falling apart. But it was a lot of fun and it turned out surprisingly well for my first time making ebi (shrimp), onion, pepper and bacon pizza.






This past Friday we had a special farewell party for one of the teachers. All most all the students and a few teachers went out for Yakiniku and ShabuShabu. Afterwards a group of us went to a big arcade/activity center called Round 1.
There were some very interesting games.
This was a game where you virtually walk a dog...I don't recommend it.


Here's one where you get to drive a bus around Tokyo, while obeying all traffic laws of course. Once I remembered to drive on the left side of the road, it wasn't so bad.


Just last night while my host mother and son were at a big concert, I went to a jazz bar very close to the apartment with my host father. I soon found out he was very good friends with the owners, one of whom is a jazz pianist. They were interested in hearing about what I was doing in Japan and where I came from. I showed them Lopez Island on Google Earth and when they found out that I played music and liked the Beatles, I ended up playing drums on three songs: Let It Be, Get Back and Day Tripper. It was a bit embarrassing but quite fun and I had a good time.
[EDIT]
Answers the questions in the comments:
Ok, first off,
The club was small, and I mean VERY SMALL.
Besides myself, my host father and the two owners, one of whom played piano on all the songs, ther was a group of maybe 8 people at one table. That's it.
The "band" for two songs was a piano player and myself, and for one song we had a woman singing as well. The piano players wife took video of the songs with her camera. I gave them my email so they could send me the footage but I haven't gotten anything from them yet. When/if I do, I might post it here.

[2nd EDIT]
I forgot that I put Rugby in the title...
I went to a Rugby game last weekend. I went because my friend's host father is the coach of one of the teams.
I took a bunch pictures but none of them were that great.
Here are a few though:







By the way, the team in the pink jerseys is the host father's team, and they won the match.

That's about all that's going on here, I'll try and post more often (no really, I will..)

As always, if you have anything to say/ask leave a comment!
じゃあまった

Sumo Tournament

Hello everyone.
So here are some of the pictures/videos I took of the Sumo tournament this Tuesday, along with a little explanation of what it's all about.

The sumo ring or dohyo in Japanese is 18 feet (5.4m) square and 2 feet (0.6m) high. Suspended above it is a roof resembling a Shinto shrine. The four giant tassles in each corner signify the seasons of the year.

The sumo wrestlers, or rikishi, are divided into several different classes based on skill level. When we arrived, the matches of the second best sumo class had just ended. Before the top class (Maku-uchi) matches began, the rikishi enter and encircle the dohyo wearing their ceremonial aprons, which can cost about $4,000-$5,000 each.




For the second half of the dohyo-iri, or "entering the ring" ceremony, the top ranked rikishi called the yokozuna enters the dohyo wearing a ceremonial apron with a massive 25-35 pound hemp rope with paper cut in a zigzag pattern haning from it. These hemp ropes are an ancient religious symbol and are found hanging in Shinto shrines and in some Japanese households. The yokozuna begins the ceremonial dance by clapping his hands together, to attract the attention of the gods.

The yokozuna then lifts each leg high in the air and brings it down with a loud stomp to symbolically drive evil from the dohyo.




This is one of the gyoji or referee. The rank of a gyoji can be determined by the color of the fan he carries.



Now the matches finally begin, well, kind of.

Before each match can actually happen, the rikishi go through what is called shikiri. During this time the rikishi squat down in a "ready" position several times and glare at eachother before standing up, returning to their corner and scattering a handful of salt to purify the dohyo and protect themselves from injury. The length of the shikiri usually increases according to the ranks of the rikishi in the match, as it also helps build suspense and excitement among the spectators.

Once the match does begin, the rules are pretty straightforward. A rikishi loses a match when an body part aside from their feet touches the dohyo, or they are forced out of the dohyo by the other rikishi. Each matches usually last about 30 seconds or less.
Below are some photos, along with a video shot by a fellow student, of the very first of the maku-chu matches which was by far the shortest and, in my opinion, the most humorous match we saw.







This next match was one of the most interesting. Both rikishi ended up falling out of the dohyo and one of them took a sizeable chunk of clay out of one of the steps.



Some of the higher ranked matches are sponsored by certain companies. If this is the case, before the match men circle the dohyo carrying banners with the company name or logo on it. Each banner costs the company about $600USD, $300 of which goes to the winning rikishi. Below is a picture of the banners that were displayed before the final yokozuna match along with a video of the match itself. The yokozuna, named Hakuho, is the rikishi on the left. Right after the match, I attempt to zoom in on a couple groups of school children who were shouting and cheering quite a bit before the match began. When I focus on the dohyo once again, you can see Hakuho receiving his prize money from the gyoji. And soon afterwards you can see a rikishi beginning the yumitori-shiki, the closing ceremonial "bow dance".





Well I hope I didn't bore you all to death with that "little" explanation. I must admit I did have a bit of help from an informational pamphlet I got at the door.
Leave a comment if you have time, as I said before I love hearing from you guys.
じゃあまった

SUMO COMING SOON!!

I had a great time at the sumo tournament yesterday.
Took plenty of pictures and a few videos.
I'll post some here by tomorrow, so check back.
じゃまった。

Weekend Adventures

Hey everyone,
I had a pretty eventful weekend. Took LOTS of pictures.
This post may be the first that actually has more pictures than words...well probably, not but here it goes.

Yesterday I went out walking for most of the day with my host mother.
We started off by heading to a discount clothes store near the language school.
Although the clothes were discount, they were still quite expensive. There were button up shirts normally priced at about 150.00 each that were knocked down to the bargain price of 50.00 each.

Next, we were planning on going to a sumo match but when we got to the arena all the reasonably priced tickets for the day were sold out. So I bought a ticket for Tuesday afternoon and I'll be sure to bring my camera when I go. Here are some pictures of the Sumo stadium.





We then walked to a nearby dock and saw this man selling some very very fresh fish.



We stopped by a small aquarium that was nearby. It was hard to get good photos of the fish through the glass, but a I managed to get a few decent shots.




Afterward we went to Canal City, a very big shopping area. The whole place was already covered in Christmas decorations. such as this large hanging sculpture.


Lion King the Musical was also being performed in this shopping mall's theatre. I was unaware of this when I saw these Chia pet-esque sculptures of Timon and Poombah. So I was a bit confused and was trying to figure out what exactly they had to do with Christmas.


Here's another example of how expensive things are here. While walking through Canal City, this "coat" caught my eye.

Just for laughs, I decided to check the price, turns out it was 30450円, just over $300.00. I figured it might be cheaper to buy a normal leather jacket and shrink it myself.

That's all for now. Check back for photos of the Sumo tournament, I should have them up by Wednesday.
I really enjoy reading the comments on the blog, so if you have time please write me one. I hope everyone is doing well.

じゃまった。

End of Second Week

Yesterday was the last day of my second week at the school.
This week was a bit more difficult, as there was a lot more vocabulary to study along with some new verb tenses and grammar.
Last night I finally got the chance to see the city a bit more.
I borrowed my homestay family's bike and rode/walked around for about 3 and a half hours. As it was a Friday night, the sidewalks in certain parts of town were even more crowded than usual, so biking was pretty slow at times.
But I managed to get to Ohori Koen, the big park in town that I visited on my first day.
I rode around the track that circles the big lake a couple times (partially because I missed my exit the first time around). This was about 6-7PM so all the lights from the surrounding buildings were reflected off the water. It was an awesome sight.
It was nice to be on a bike again and it felt good to escape the buildings and crowded streets of the rest of the city. I traced my bike route with google maps so if you're interested in seeing it click HERE.

I then left the bike near a book store close to my homestay and walked around Tenjin a bit. Most of the cheaper restaurants were closed but I eventually found a tempura ticket restaurant that was open. A ticket restaurant is just what it sounds like.
There is a machine outside where you purchase a ticket for whatever food you what, then you go inside and put the ticket on the counter and you are served. The Tempura was quite good but because I was so hungry, I burned my mouth a bit.

Next week I start my two week long WWOOF preparation course. I feel like I'm starting to get a better grasp of the language every school day, so that's a good sign.
I promise I will take some pictures this weekend. But for now, here's a picture of my homestay family's dog "Pudding".

Some Pics of the Language School

Genki JACS

No Shoes Allowed

Hallway (there's only one)

Break/Lunch/Study Area

Start of Second Week

Hey everyone,
It's been a while since I last posted anything, but I've been a bit busy lately.
A few days ago it rained for the first time since I've been here. Luckily the language school has umbrellas the students can borrow.
A week long Sumo tournament in Fukuoka just started yesterday.
I wanted to get some tickets but the only ones I found were equivalent to about $280.
While out walking with my host mother, we saw a group of the Sumo wrestlers dressed in their robes and carrying very manly purses.
I tried to get a few pictures, but it was difficult seeing as I was trying to be sneaky about it.
I'll post the only semi-decent pic below along with a more blurry stealth-shot.
I start my second week of language school today.
So far It's been quite interesting.
The six person class I was in will now most likely be a three person class since a few people have left or dropped back.
Right now my list of things to do, besides learning Japanese, is seeing the city a bit more, and getting a cell phone.
The language school has said it can be hard to get a phone since there has been a rise in crime using prepaid cellphones. And the fact that I'm a foreigner who isn't 20 years old doesn't help me much.
I think I've said this before but, I hope to take more pictures and post them as regularly as I can. I especially plan to post all the funny engrish I've seen, as there has been quite a bunch. (below is one example)
If I don't have time to write a full blog post I may just post a pic instead.

じゃあまった!

Back to school

みんなさん　こんにちは！
The last few days of school have been quite fun.
After taking a placement test on the first day I was placed in an elementary level class.
I go to school everyday from 9:30 to 2:30 with two ten minute breaks and a one hour lunch break.
Many students at the school are from non-english speaking countries.
Im my class alone there are students from Holland, France Italy and Kenya.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the results of the presidential election.
The news tonight said that the results would be in about noon Japan time. So I'll be sure to get online during my lunch break.
じゃまった

First full day in the city

Yesterday was pretty packed.
In the morning, my host mother took me for a walk around the city. As it turns out, the apartment isn't to farm from the city's Apple store.
As we walked around she pointed out various stores and buildings and said what they were.
On our walk we came to the Fukuoka Castle Ruins where there was some kind of ceremony going on. As we approached we were given a small bag with two Mochi balls inside and a program of the event that was taking place. There were about 12 men in a line doing some sort of intricate walk/dance whilst doing a loud call and response chant and holding, passing and spinning sticks that each had what looked like Cousin Itt nailed to the top.
Needless to say I had no idea what was going on.
And I kicked myself for forgetting to bring my camera.
Soon the twirling of wig-sticks ended and three men came out carrying antique muzzle-loading Japanese rifles.
They shot them off at the sky a few times. When they were done four men decked out in samurai armor came out out and to my surprise and dismay didn't do anything spectacular.
Then everything seemed to be over.
We left the castle and went to the park, Ohori Kouen, in the center of the city.
There was a long distance race going on and there appeared to be many kids from different schools there to compete.
We then headed back to the apartment and my host mother made sure I remembered the way back.
I then studied Japanese for a few hours and watched a Japanese sing-along TV show until my host mother took me out again.
First went to the book/video store and I found out she is a big fan of the OC.
She then took me to the food floor of one of the large department stores in the city to get some Takoyaki.
After that meal I was ready to go to study a bit more and then go to bed.
But shortly after we got back to the apartment the son and father came home and had not eaten yet. And there was no way I was going to turn down sushi.
We walked to a restaurant close by and had what was probably at least an 8 course meal. They were surprised that I liked all of the dishes, and that I was willing to try things I wasn't familiar with.
They had me try something I then found out was paste of sea urchin eggs, apparently a delicacy.
Still a bit jet lagged, I promptly passed out when we returned home.

I'm looking forward to starting school tomorrow.
I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update my blog once my schedule gets busier, but I'll try and to it at least a few times a week.

じゃまった
Talk to you later