Changing Seasons

The fall is officially here. It arrived in a rush with a dusting of orange and red and a whole lot of cold. My school has become an ice box already, and in Japan the heat is not put on until December 1st. No matter the shivering and shaking that occurs. Sigh.
In other news I am beginning to plan my future(warm)  travels! At the end of JET I am planning to travel South East Asia with a friend here. We are thinking about Thailand and...that is as far as we have gotten. I guess that means I need to focus on saving $$ but now it feels so far off. I can't believe that as November draws nearer so does the eventual end of this whole experience loom. There is a part of me that is ecstatic to be returning home, and also a small feeling deep down telling me that I am really, really go to miss this. The comfort and security of a great job with good pay and subsidized housing. The fantastic cultural experiences. The opportunity to be immersed in the Japanese language...I will not be staying another year here, for any reason, but I am trying to take advantage of everything that comes my way this next year. I want to look back on these two years and see a beautiful chapter that will help me transition between recent college grad to working woman. 

In other news our school has the fall excursion recently. We were supposed to be headed to Uradame beach for a boat ride but due to a typhoon (as usual) we had to re locate to the Sand Dunes. I am a fan of the Dunes, but they get boring. The students really enjoyed themselves though and the teachers were able to relax and chat. It was kind of odd for me. Since I can't speak enough Japanese to have a proper conversation it left me standing around sort of awkwardly  I love talking, a lot. I also consider myself to be a friendly person, so having to stand on the outside of a conversation feels lonely and unfortunate. I wish I could contribute to conversations because I think it only perpetuates the whole stigma here of the untouchable foreigner. I think some of the staff might be a little...afraid of foreigners. Not in an actual afraid of me way, but in the kind of way where they are not sure what to make of us. I want to break the ice but I just can't. I regret not pushing my Japanese studies more last year, but as I continue cramming for N5 I have begun to make small improvements and that is the best I can hope for. 

The School Excursion 

Enjoying the walk

Tokyo DisneyLand and DisneySea

So last weekend I headed to Tokyo for the long weekend. I added one extra day of nennkyu and met up with my bf on the Thursday night at Narita. We stayed at someones apartment through Air BnB. It was an awesome choice! The place got a great review and it was incredible. Located minutes walk from Kasai station - which is about a 15 minute bus ride directly to Disney Land and Disney Sea. The apartment was owned by a really chill guy who works at a hotel as his career - so our room came with a travelling guide, water, towels, toothbrushed etc. It was awesome! Super convenient and cheap too. A win win for what could have otherwise been expensive or inconvenient. We had planned to go to Disneyland for a long time, even though we heard horror stories about endless crowds and lineups. One of my worst days in Japan was at Universal Studios where I got on two rides in 10 hours and the highlight was eating at TGI Fridays outside of the park (although I did meet Elmo!)
Still we figured it would be a really fun memory and fun no matter what. On a scale of 1-10 I would rank USJ as a 3 and I would rank Disney as a 10!! We got to the park right when the doors opened and had printed off our tickets so we could breeze in. We managed to hit around 14 rides the first day, we ate a fancy dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant and we watched some fireworks. It was fantastic. The longest lineup was just over an hour and the shortest was around 10 minutes - not unlike the California Disney I am used to. One really cute aspect of Tokyo Disney is that everyone carries around the Disney bear, Duffy. Duffy is so popular that there are spots marked around the park where visitors are encouraged to photograph themselves with their Duffy bear. Duffy was originally introduced in California Disney and was a total flop, so was sold off to Tokyo where, of course, the kawaii factor of a fluffy bear took over and became an instant sensation. Around 50% of the park had a Duffy something hanging off themselves, including lots of adults! It was pretty adorable. Another quirk of the Tokyo parks is the popcorn. There are tons of flavors and most people carry it around their necks in character containers. The lineups were atrocious but Dan and I gave in when we saw the milk tea flavor!

                                       

Our second day we headed to DisneySea which is a separate  park. It was a different vibe with more thrill rides, and beer!! We noticed the difference right away when the gates opened with people literally running to get fast passes for rides. The  lineups at DisneySea were slightly longer than DisneyLand, however we took advantage of fastpasses and we also chose to do single rider a few times. That meant whizzing through the line and then just, of course, riding alone. It was a small price to pay to ensure we had time to enjoy doing other things together. One of the highlights was watching a cirque de soleil type show with a jungle theme. It was in a giant theater and was a nice relaxing change to the crazyness that is Disney. We found Mexican food to eat too, and enjoyed beer which was great. It was a fabulous day. My favorite ride was Journey to the Center of the Earth because it has a fun twist at the end, but the Tower of Terror was equally exciting and we started and ended our day with it! 

 
 

After our two days at Disney we decided to spend our last full day just enjoying Tokyo. We headed to Shinjuku first and enjoyed walking around, getting purikura and playing taiko. We also stumbled across Menchies! I absolutely love Menchies and was pretty stoked to introduce Dan to the magical wonders of Menchies! I was shocked to see it but super stoked as it has been about 1 and a half years since my last Menchies experience. We shopped a bit and went down a busy street in Harajuku, and then we came to Ometesando Koffee, which is the most famed coffee shop in Tokyo. It is a bit out of the way and is literally just a tatami room, a coffee bar and one barista. Dan really enjoyed his machiatto though and thinks it was one of the best coffee's he has had. For lunch we found a legit German restaurant and enjoyed sauerkraut, sausage, beer and even Black Forest cake. It was great! We tried to go and see a film but Tokyo was packed due to the long weekend so we ended our night chatting and drinking at an izakaya. It was a fantastic weekend. A major typhoon was headed our way but we both managed to fly home safely the next morning which was a relief. Although it was a tad expensive it was a really fun experience and we both agreed that Disney might happen again before our contracts expire :)
          

Yukata!

Last spring I joined a choir with my friend Sarah and one of my JTE's, Yoko. Yoko and I are pretty good friends outside of work, even though she is nearing 60 and I am only 26. Age is totally just a number when it comes to friendship! She is a gem, who loves Korean dramas, drinking beer and performing. So Sarah and I had a blast practicing two songs in Japanese, with dance moves, and then performing at an all Japanese event. Afterwards we even got to wear Kimonos that another lady from the choir lent us and we ate  fresh sushi. It was one of the happiest memories I have had here. A truly Japanese experience that made me feel really at home.
Anyways this past weekend Yoko told me she would be performing a solo, so the school nurse and I decided to go check it out. She is the sweetest woman who is also in my conversation class. For months now she has made an effort to greet me every morning and chat. Even though my Japanese is weak and her English is a bit lower we always end up laughing. She decided to bring along her daughter too, who I had met before at a drinking party we held. Back in August I purchased a Yukata, which is a light summer Kimono, and was aching to wear it, her daughter and I both wore our Yukata! We had a ton of fun in our beautiful outfits and I enjoyed the whole Japanese feeling.

The performance was a few hours, with 30 singers performing unique numbers, from power ballads to the classic Japanese anthem "let it go". It was an afternoon of 久しぶり as about 6 members of my old choir unexpectedly performed as well! I was blown away by the talent, and while most of the acts were local there were a few professional singers from Tokyo. 

The performers! 

Now that I have been here over a year I can really say I feel so connected to many wonderful Japanese people. There are so many beautiful people here who really want to get to know foreigners, and it is so special to be able to make memories with them. I have been so blessed to share in their unique culture with them. 

久しぶり - That time my famjam came to Japan!

My parents came for the two week spring vacation here. Teachers in Japan work during holidays, so I would have been stuck in the office but I took some of my paid leave and enjoyed travelling around my prefecture and in Kyoto and Tokyo with them. My older brother Kyle was able to join us in Tokyo and then came back to Tottori with me for a few days after my parents had left. So that was a really great transition back to reality too! It was lovely to be with family for over two weeks. I am so thankful that even an ocean away I have people that love me and are continually praying for me. It is awesome. 
The trip was really long but I will highlight a few of the best moments. 
On the first Saturday I went to the airport to pick up the parentals. It was so exciting! My heart was bursting, I really missed them. We came back to my flat so I could show them around and then headed out to a nearby castle. Kawaharajo was built only about 15 years ago but it is pretty beautiful and boasts a stunning view. It is one of my favorite spots in Tottori because it is so relaxing and beautiful, it may be modern but it still feels like traditional Japan. 
That weekend we took in quite a few other lovely sights. In Tottori we have a very cool "tourist taxi" which is basically a taxi that takes you anywhere you want to go for 1000Yen. That is 10$ for 3 hours! It is a ridiculous price and the cabbies always make a point of getting out at the different spots and taking pictures for you! It is a lovely thing the prefecture offers and I have used it for a ton of guests!

 

We used the taxi to see the Tottori Sand Dunes as well as to take a boat ride along the Uradame coast. It was lovely! In Tottori we spent a lot of time just relaxing and catching up. Eating out at funky cafes, visiting the local cat cafe and shopping at my favorite store, Jupiter!
On one of the days in Tottori two of my friends from church took my parents out for the day. We drove to the crab museum and fish market that is on the other side of the city. Afterwards we visited the Kanon in gardens and enjoyed some green tea and sweets. It was a really amazing day. I am so thankful to have met such lovely friends through my church.
One night my parents also went out for dinner with my tutor. She is the sweetest little lady and it was fun for my parents to see me interact with my Japanese teacher!
One of our funniest dinners out was when we went to a Mexican place. I was craving Mexican food and had spotted what I thought was a Spanish place, so we managed (after much confusion) to get a cab to the place I pictured. It was not Spanish at all, but rather Italian. We stayed anyways and ordered some weird food that showed up in German beer mugs. It was a bizarre experience that left us laughing hysterically. The poor staff must have though we were out of our minds but when you get bread sticks in German beer mugs and pasta with what looks like witches fingers sticking out it is too funny not to enjoy!

After Tottori we had the fun of travelling through Kyoto and Tokyo. We took the shinkansen to Kyoto and checked into our hotel. Hanami, or cherry blossom viewing, was in full swing and we took full chance to walk through the Philosophers walk, which is a long path along a river that hits a bunch of fabulous temples and shrines in Kyoto. We also had the fun of meeting up with my Mom's cousin who lives between Osaka and Kobe. She took us to a three pillared tori shrine. For Japan that is amazing! A three pillar shrine is very rare, and it was built back in the 16th century as a Christian monument. Veronica know a lot about the Christian roots in Japan and it was fun to share that with my parents. 

 Finally we finished up our two weeks with a long weekend in Tokyo - and Kyle joined us! Nothing compares to the excitement of Tokyo and it was a great end to the visit. The rain was in full force on one or two of the days which really sucked, but when the sun was shining we really enjoyed all that the city had to offer. Our hotel was gorgeous and overlooked the Shibuya scramble, but we were up quite high so the noise and lights were totally dulled at night. We enjoyed drinks in teeny tiny bars, including one British pub! We saw the Tokyo SkyTree but didn't bother waiting the 3-4 hours to ride it. We even went to go see "Frozen" which has now become one of the most successful movies in Japan, ever.  One of the funniest memories was when my dad and I decided to order parfaits. Japan does sweets pretty well and they love crazy parfaits. I ordered a strawberry parfait, straightforward and guaranteed to be normal(well, with cornflakes, but that is normal here!) but dad decided that he wanted the green tea one. Right away I warned him that it would have anko (red bean paste) but he didn't believe me and said he wanted it anyway. We laughed so hard when it arrived and he was utterly shocked at the red beans sitting on top of his parfait!! I have definietly grown accustomed to this odd 'dessert' but it is weird for most foreigners the first time. He was a good sport though and I think he enjoyed the parfait! 

Thanks Tokyo!

Those parfaits!!! Hahah

 My parents left that weekend but Kyle stayed for a few more nights with me. We spent one last day and night in Tokyo and we decided to head to Disneyland. Well we were in for a brutal surprise when we got there and the park was full to capacity! That is like 70,000 people in Japan!!! We were super bummed but decided to enjoy our day anyways and headed for Odaiba park and island. It was so awesome! We ate a Hawaiian meal at lunch, wandered the island and shopped a bit. Back in Tottori I had to work but Kyle rented a bike and had fun riding out to the dunes and sandboarding. When I wasn't at work we enjoyed taking purikura, seeing the cat cafe and laughing hysterically watching Silent Library videos. It was an awesome catch up! 

Having my family here was such a blessing and a blast. I could share this experience with them and get that feeling of home that my heart was missing. 

Speech Contest

This past Friday I had the chance to judge the Tottori East Junior High School Speech contest. The winner will head to Tokyo to compete nationally in the next month or so. It was a really fun reprieve from the office life. The speeches themselves were either recitations or self written speeches, so of course the ones that were written by the students touched my heart the most. Some of the kids wrote about being bullied, saving animals or their relationships with their families. It is so hard to choose one winner from a group of really awesome students. To have the courage to stand up in front of your peers and a bunch of foreigners and express yourself in a second language is amazing! I still find forming sentences in Japanese tough, so a speech seems way off! At the end of the day the judges were gifted with some delicious German cake, which was totally unexpected and fun! I will definitely miss these fun random days here in Japan. 

Sarah managed to capture me giving my closing comments. It looks like an empty room but actually those seats had been filled by the contestants but at that point the students had moved back to sit with their teachers. I was actually a bit nervous and shaking voice but it was a good challenge. Gotta stretch myself sometimes :) 

Hokkaido round three

One of the best parts of Japan is the steady stream of bank holidays. Although Japanese people are hesitant to ever leave work early or actually relax on the traditional weekend, they have a ton of long weekends where many people actually take time off to travel within Japan. Last weekend I headed to Kobe, but this weekend I was back in Hokkaido. I have been there in both winter (February) and in early summer(June), but I think that this visit was the best weather wise. すぞし is what they call it in Japan, when the weather is nice but there is a crisp breeze.

Arriving in Sapporo the first thing I checked off my list was to drink a caramel machiatto and go to Costco. Costco in Japan totally beats North American Costco. It is quieter, the prices are good and it is quieter. Although it is  still crowded(it is Japan after all) people are polite and there is less of a sense of urgency then what is often found among shoppers at discount stores at home. I stocked up on bagels, peanut butter and coffee. Well worth it!

After Costco we walked through the park in downtown Sapporo and enjoyed people watching at the Autumn festival. We ate some okonomiyaki in downtown Sapporo before heading back for an early night.

The next day Dan took me to some of the most famous spots in Hokkaido to celebrate our anniversary(yay!). To start we drove to the Furano Lavender fields. Along the way we pulled off to check out a local waterfall, and it was gorgeous! We arrived in Furano after about two hours and although we missed the prime of the lavender the fields were glowing in the sunshine and I was astounded at how beautiful the location was. Japan loves to highlight the features of prefectures, so in Tottori station there is a giant poster of the Lavender Fields, and after seeing it in person I can definitely say it lives up to the poster! Rows upon rows of coloured flowers, and some really cute restaurants and gift shops sprinkled throughout the property. It is free to visit and totally worth the drive. It seems a little out of the way though if you didn't have access to a car.

 

After the fields Dan took me to a Michelin rated restaurant called Ausperges. It was so amazing!! The restaurant was in a modern, white walled, open room. We had the beef course dinner and it was incredible. It started with a vegetable salad using twenty fresh vegetables, followed by a corn soup, broccoli and carrots, mashed potatoes, the main course, a melon soup and then chocolate anko beans and coffee for dessert. It was definitely a 4-star restaurant for the taste and the experience. So cute! A really romantic place, and a nice follow up to the Lavender fields.

        

                Enjoying my 20 vegetable salad!! #delic

restaurant selfie

                   
Next we drove to the famous blue pond, which has been used as an image for Apple.  The pond is in Biei and is a little out of the way, especially without a car. The pond is absolutely stunning! It was a perfect backdrop for some surreal looking pictures and we arrived around 4pm which gave us some perfect lighting. Overall it is an enchanting spot to see.

We finished our night with 100 Yen revolving sushi in Iwamizawa. It was really delicious and there was even a Philly roll on the menu which I have not seen since being home! I will definitely miss the fun (and cheap cost) of revolving sushi when I leave Japan next year.

On Monday we decided to go into Sapporo for a day in the city (since Dan lives in a village with a population of about 20 people). We decided to check out the Sapporo art park and it was fantastic! We arrived and it was raining so we started by eating at the lunch buffet that overlooks the park. The food was delicious (ohmy Hokkaido softcream. much wow) and then we headed into the park. It cost about 700 Yen a person to just wander through the park so we opted out of the upgrade which would have given us access to a small museum. The park itself is a nice leisurly walk with some really cool installations. One in particular featured haunting music that played when you walked through a section of forest, it was both creepy and intriguing. I have been wanting to visit the art island Naoshima for a while but I think that Sapporo art park did the trick for me - it was just enough art, and a shorter trip!
                   
Next we headed into Sapporo but made a stop off at Mt. Moiwa. Although it is possible to hike up, or take a cable car, we parked and walked about 700m to the top. It has a  beautiful view and a spot to 'lock up your love'. Japan loves 'lock up your love' places, and the view at this one was spectacular. 

After soaking up the amazing view of the city and mountains we walked down and headed back into the city. Originally we planned to go to the cinema since Tottori never plays English films, but then because the weather was so nice we decided to just relax downtown instead. We drank coffee, shopped, rode the ferris wheel and then ate dinner at Jacksonville Burger. The feel of the restaurant was completely American and the burger was outstanding. I was shocked to find out an old JET who lived nearby used to eat there so often he had a tab!! It was so delicious though, I would definitely go back to Jacksonville Burger.
 <<- Sooooo good! 

I plan on heading back to Hokkaido again in November when winter is in full force, so I will experience the true Hokkaido winter. I really hope to snow shoe or maybe take on a small hike in a less snowy area. Hokkaido is definitely one of the best travel spots in all of Japan, but it becomes much more difficult to access without a car. If you are OK with staying within the city you are fine, but otherwise it might be a tricky venture to enjoy all the things I got to experience this weekend.