Doughnuts, I've got doughnuts!

Doughnuts in Japan!

This guy was so cute I felt guilty eating him.

       So, this is a really quick update about Japan, and I want to discuss the doughnut culture in this country. Believe it or not, Japan has a thriving doughnut culture. I'm not talking about anything like we have in Canada, because quite frankly the doughnuts you can find out here are in my humble opinion far superior.

 Kudamatsu's local Mr. Donut

Let's start with Japan's answer to Tim Hortons or Dunkin' Donuts, Mr. Donut. Mr.Donut can be found in pretty much any city in Japan. Even smaller cities enjoy the delicious doughnuts and coffee they bring. They offer a lot of traditional Japanese foods to go along with the doughnuts, such as ramen.

A Woodstock doughnut!

The doughnuts at Mr. Donut can be disgusting cute. This is one of the two Peanuts themed doughnuts. Not pictured is the Snoopy doughnut. I was in a lemony mood that day though.

A fine doughnut for Christmas!

Here, we have a special doughnut just for Christmas. These is a two-tiered doughnut. The top layer has cream filling in memory serves with the lower tier is a normal doughnut. This seems like the perfect alternative to a traditional wedding cake if you ask me. These picture will be kept in my files for that very purpose. 

Now, I don't have many pictures aside from the one I have above, but there are many artisan doughnut shops in Japan which is something we really don't have much of in Canada. I regret not taking a picture of it, but in the mall that is close to my house there is an awesome little artisan doughnut shop that uses only organic ingredients. The picture above shows the cute doughnut I bought at a little doughnut shop at the Nishiki Market in Kyoto. It was as delicious as it was cute. 

All right folks, that's it for today. The next post will be about my trip to Kyoto and Osaka. I don't want to make it a boring slide show, so I'll try to focus on some of the more interesting photos are make it short. 

At last, the Fox Festival

The Fox Festival

It's been a while since I have actually made a post. I am only now getting to write about the Fox Festival that Kudamatsu has every November. This year I actually participated in the Fox Festival. This involves getting dressed up in something very like a kimono and carrying around a bloody heavy portable shrine of sorts to celebrate the Foxes' Wedding. It more or less works like a parade with different community groups carrying around their team's shrine. 

Don't feel too bad though. There were many stops where all those carrying the shrine stopped to have liberal swigs of beer or sake. Though, that is not how the day starts.

Foxes are revered in southern Japan and The Foxes' Wedding Festival has a lot of significance in this area too. A local community member of with whom I have the pleasure of having the odd conversation gave me this explanation:

The guests of honour... so to speak.

“The Origin of Fox Wedding”

Once upon a time, a Buddhistic priest lived at the Hosho Temple in Hanaoka, Kudamatsu-city.He practiced ascetism to get a higher spirit of Buddhism, and he was virtuous and longed to be like the older, more experienced priests.One day, he went to Tokuyama [[city next to Kudamatsu]] and it was evening when he had finished his errands.After the sun set he was heading for his temple, but he wasn’t anxious about walking in the dark, because it was a familiar road. After he had passed the hills, he could see his temple. Suddenly he noticed that he had lost his Buddhist rosary.He looked for it everywhere, but he could not find it. He was obliged to return to his temple, but he could not fall asleep all night becuase of worrying about the rosary.He was dozing off for a moment, when something appeared to him, vaguely, because of his half-awake, half-asleep state.The spirits that appeared said, ‘We are the spirits of the white fox mates from Shiamuga forest. We have brought your rosary tonight. In return for it you must bury our dead bodies like human beings at this temple.If you grant our request, we will promise to protect the temple and the people who live in the nearby village from disasters.’After hearing the voices, the priest awoke. To his surprise there was the rosary, which he had lost somewhere, laying near his head, neatly coiled.The priest immediately took the dead bodies of the white foxs and buried them the same way as human beings. He then held a memorial service for them.Thereafter people increasingly came and visited the temple hoping for the miraculous recovery of things which had been lost. The temple had become famou for finding ‘lost things.’ The white fox mates have been enshrined in the precincts of the Hosho Temple since then.The Inari Matsuri (festival) is held annually on Novembr 3rd here at Hanaoka, Kudamatsu-cit. The pageant claled F”Fox Wedding” is very famous in this area.Every year on November 3rd, visitors come and see the pageant. Usually more than 40000 people attend.

The day starts with our group sitting down and eating and drinking while everyone waits to get their face painted. This was probably the most fun part as the day. They did their best to speak English to me as I tried to use my pitiful Japanese. After about two hours of good food and drink and some quite able face-painting, we were off. Everyone was having a blast despite the rainy weather. 

This is the lady that painted my face! I had a few interested onlookers. 

We went to carry our shrine for about 15 blocks at most. It wasn't terribly far, but like I said, the shrine is very heavy, even with many people carrying it. Every two blocks or so, we would stop and spin the shrine around really quickly to amuse the onlookers. The whole time my team was shouting and chanting and having a good time. The only time we were quiet was when the Buddhist monk blessed on shrine.

My team is the team in the foreground with our shrine. 

All in all, this was possibly my favourite event in Japan which is a big deal given that I've been here for five months now. I'll leave you guys with two shots of some of the other floats! My next post is coming tomorrow! Have fun!

Hiroshima: Day 3 (Miajima)

Day three started with a trip to Hiroshima station. First I went to Starbucks for a coffee then off to get some Okinomiyaki. It's like a pancake made off noodles, cabbage, batter and pork. It's most delicious and the dish for which Hiroshima is famous. This meal only ran me 700 yen. Not bad for a big meal like this. 

MIAJIMA

Next I took the Sanyo Line down to Miajima. I took the ferry over to the island and it was absolutely amazing.

 This is the famous Tori of Miajima. It's a large shinto gate that sits very close to the shore. In fact, during low tide you can actually walk right up to the gate. The tori is only one of many amazing this that you can find at Miajima. There dozens of shrines and many temples that you can visit as well as a very cool pagoda.

There are many shops and restaurants on the island as well. For some reason oysters cooked on a brazier were served at at least half a dozen different restaurants. I was tempted to sit down and enjoy the local cuisine, but after two days including Sake Fest, being packed down with luggage and souvenirs, I was more than happy to head home a little early.  

Make no mistake, this is a must see sight for anyone visiting this end of Japan.

One more picture for good measure shows the scale of this bloody big shrine.

Hiroshima: Day 2

This is very similar to the
Toulouse-Lautrec piece in
the Gallery. 

The Hiroshima Museum of Art: 

After a breakfast at Molly Malone's and a coffee at Starbucks, it was a morning of checking out local shops in the main Hiroshima shopping district.

After checking out some stores I went on the Hiroshima Museum of Art. They had pieces from Toulouse-Lautrec, Chagall, Gaugin, Manet, Monet, Picasso and many more. I have never been to an art gallery showing impressionist art before, and I never thought I would see it in Hiroshima Japan. There were some beautiful pieces there.

Hiroshima Castle:

Next I walked over to the Hiroshima Castle. It is definitely worth the very reasonable price of admission. There is a lot of information on the history of Hiroshima and on the castle itself. The original castle was built back in the early 17th century. The completion was delayed by restrictions from the new Tokugawa Shogunate that stipulated Daimyo's needed approval from the Shogunate before building any castles. It was burned down at least once and was subsequently destroyed in 1945 by the H-Bomb. I managed to snap a couple of nice pictures.

The Peace Park:


The Peace Park is both beautiful and serene. It is a park meant to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima. You can also find the Atomic Bomb Museum here. I chose to forgo it because I wasn't in the mood for horribly depressing reminders or man's inhumanity to man. I did see the only building to survive the blast though. It was kind of eerie in a way.

The only building in downtown Hiroshima to survive the
bombing. 

Below is the children's memorial. It is meant to remind us of the children who were killed in war. As I get older, these sorts of memorials tend to have much more of an effect on me. I won't get too maudlin on the blog, but suffice it to say the memorial is thought-provoking...as it's meant to me.

How James Clavell is How I learned to stop worrying and love Japan.

Most of you know where this is going already.

So, after two months, things are going pretty well. There are daily challenges to living in any foreign country though. While Japan is very hospitable to gai-jin, there are cultural differences that you need to be prepared for when living and working here. If you don't adapt to those differences, you are almost certainly going to make yourself miserable.

I think the key to living happily is remembering that you are a guest in this country. While you get certain privileges as a guest (and JET ALT's get many privileges), being a guest also entails certain responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is learning to see the world as they see the world. Their sense of decorum now has to become your sense of decorum. You need to follow their etiquette. You should follow their etiquette as a common courtesy, but if not that as a way to make your time here far more agreeable.

It took two things to help me learn this.

I know it sounds a little strange, but after my experience living in Korea, the biggest help to me was reading James Clavell's Shogun. The novel isn't just an incredibly immersive and compelling story, but it also delves deeply into Japanese culture. It taught me the importance of politeness, ceremony and the etiquette that make Japan what it is and such an interesting country. Shogun is the story of the first Englishman who washes up on the shores of Japan in 1600 after he is thrown from his ship after a storm. Blackthorn (or Anjin San) is in Japan, and no one speaks his language and the culture is completely foreign to him. In other words he is a character with whom any visitor to a foreign country can empathize.

I want to preface this part by saying how nice everyone here in Japan has been. The teachers are incredibly nice to me and the Board of Education workers are incredibly kind (when I told them about my bike's flat tire, Hamada-Sensei was at my apartment within ninety minutes to take me to a bicycle repair shop). They have extended many courtesies to me that go well beyond the call of duty as well.

That said, on days where I have felt challenged by a cultural difference, I channel the spirit of John Blackthorn. I honestly ask myself what Anjin-San would do and it was led me to having a copacetic relationship with my employers and co-workers.

For example, when you want to schedule a vacation, you need to learn that the work culture in Japan is defined by hard work and dedication. The focus is not the person, but the team. If you leaving means the team will suffer, then you will not leave. I understand and appreciate that. You also need to learn patience when awaiting your answer. The answers will come in time. If your vacation doesn't work out, it's karma, desu ne?

If they question the fact that you said goodbye in the wrong way, don't take offence and realize that the word you used in that situation could have been quite rude (it's apparently quite rude to say Sayonara to a superior). Accept the constructive criticism and move on.

Anyway, I am feeling quite genki (happy), and I was reflecting on the book that most helped me.

Peace out.

Hiroshima Day 1: The Saijo Sake Festival Hiroshima at Night

Here is a picture of my programme, ticket
and sake festival cup.

Saijo Sake Festival.

This past weekend I visited Hiroshima. The impetus for this visit was the annual Saijo Sake Festival. In this festival you have the opportunity to try over 600 different types of Sake from all around Japan. The trip to Hiroshima from Kudamatsu took just over an hour vis Shinkansen (bullet train) and after a coffee at Hiroshima station I took the 35 minute to Saijo.

The festival was huge and very crowded. There was a great atmosphere throughout the day. The day was filled with good sake, interesting conversations and great times.

Interesting news, there is a huge range of sweetness levels in sake. The levels vary from about +25 to -20. The lower the level, the sweeter the sake. It seemed the more bitter the sake, the more popular it was.

Long lines of attendants eagerly
served festival-goers all day. 

It was crowded!

Hiroshima...at night!

After about five hours I went to check into my hotel in Hiroshima. I later went on for some drinks with some of the other JET teachers from the Sake Festival. We went to Molly Malone's near Modori station. They serve relative traditional Irish cuisine and they have a very decent selection of beer as well. For anyone who visits Hiroshima and it looking for Western food, I highly recommend it.

Calligraphy Classes

Me in action!

I have started calligraphy classes with Sarah, another ALT here in Kudamatsu. We are in the beginner class taught by perhaps the kindest and sweetest woman I have ever met. She teaches the beginner class and often teaches elementary school children. It's no surprise either, since her warm personality really lends itself to educating kids.

In the picture to your left, I am trying to write the kanji symbol for atmosphere, or air. It usually makes the sound "ki". You'll often see it in the word "元気" which sounds like "genki". It means healthy or well.

Me with Sarah, our beautiful works of art are displayed behind us. 

 Like I mentioned earlier, I took the class with Sarah, who by any  objective analysis is far, far better at writing kanji than me. Her kanji looked better even though the instructor was literally holding my hand.

The important thing is that I had a blast and I am really looking forward to taking more classes. This is also a great way to learn Kanji, which is a must in Japan.