Sports Festival Weekend

The Sports Day is a national holiday set aside for improving the health of the body. The official holiday is next Monday, but each school has its own Sports Day festival. If you haven't been to one of these, it can be hard to imagine what it's like, so I'll try to paint a picture.

The students have been practicing dance moves, marching formations, and general fitness exercises for weeks now to prepare for the festival.

Yesterday(Friday) and today, we, the teachers and students and I, spent the day doing a sort of dress rehearsal. I'm on the 'props and preparation' team, and that means my team is running around setting up obstacle courses, games, and cleaning up after events. It is a fun job.

The students have been split into three teams, red, white, and blue. They complete against each other for points in games throughout the day. There are relay races, combined with three-legged races, in which one of the 'three-legs' is picked spontaneously, for example, my name could get picked, and I'd suddenly have to join the race. There is an event where red, white and blue balls are scattered in the center of the track, and the teams have to scurry and get them and try to throw them into different high baskets for points. There's team jump-roping, and team pole-running(yes, um, I'll have to post a picture of that). Between events, there are kiddie races, PTA member competitions, and dances. I'll be wearing a yukata(summer kimono) for one. The whole thing is a huge production, and it can be pretty amazing to witness and be a part of at times.

Tomorrow's the real thing, when the parents, brothers, sisters, PTA members, and community members come to watch. So the teachers have been working overtime--Friday night and tonight. After the festival, we'll have a teacher's drinking party, and we all get off Monday, hopefully for a job well done.

I had a lot of free time this week at school because practice often replaced class time. It's nice to have a low-stress time at the beginning of the second term. I think it's been good for everyone to break from the strict schedule for a while.

My prediction is the red team will take the title this year. Challengers??

Koizumi Steps Down

Big news in Japan.

wash the blankets

Two nights ago it started getting cold here, so I climbed on top of my bed, and pulled out the storage container with the winter blankets. And man, am I allergic to them. In fact, I can't even sleep because my nose gets stuffy and I keep sneezing. So I figure it's time to wash the blankets.

I wasn't here for the typhoon that hit Kyushu last Sunday, because the plane back from Kansai/Osaka to Fukuoka(Kyushu) was cancelled. It left a day later, so I had a day layover, you might say. I was freaked out for a couple minutes, because I thought I was going to have to not only sleep on an airport bench(as the service woman suggested) but also spend the next day until the evening in the airport. This was after 15 hours of restless sleep on planes from Philly to Chicago to Japan...
I can't imagine how it would be to be a Katrina victim, and be completely displaced. Just having to deal with finding a place to stay for one night was hard for me. But there was one person I sort of knew...

Yoshimi, who sometimes comments here, called her mother for me, and I scurried onto a bus and met her in the city of Wakayama, 1/2 hour south of Osaka. She took me to her home and fed me, and let me stay in Yoshimi's old room. She really came to my rescue in short notice, and she was very graceful about it. Here's a picture of her house and garden in Wakayama:




But when I did get back home, I found things scattered all over my yard, and potted tree tipped over, and the washing machine door opened and the tiny machine filled with dirt and leaves. Luckily, this was the only damage done to my place. The school wasn't as lucky as I was. This is the wall of the gym:




Finally, the annual Tawara Festival was yesterday. That's the one where teams pull oversized-hay barrels in a race against time to pop balloons. The prize for the fastest team is a year's supply of rice and about $5000. I watched a half hour, and I snapped this photo of a taiko group:

Then, I went to the marathon set of rehearsals. It was 5 1/2 hours total practice time. I found out it was because the conductor was only going to be in town for this time, so we didn't have any other practice times he could make it before the November concert. All the music is going fine--the Mozart is a flurry of 16th notes: it's challenging to keep up. And btw, it's not the 4th Symphony, it's the Symphony in E-flat major, KV543, but I don't know what # symphony. If someone is looking for 350 bonus points, they are up for grabs with the answer to that question.

Enjoy your weekend!!

1 big black, 1 big white, 3 big gold, 2 tiny pipsqueaks

Hi. Back. Thanks for the well-wishes for the trip, everyone. It was really fun to see the whole family dressed so nicely. My cousin's wedding was quite beautiful, and her husband is such a kind man. He's always put me at ease whenever I'm around him. And the best thing is that they seem to be happy to know and be with each other.

Two days now--tired. Today, I feel like I sat all day. The students are practicing for the sports festival next week and so I only have one or two classes to teach every day. So I've been reading a lot. This is great for me. But when I feel so tired, I think I'd rather get some exercise somehow.

Tonight was an orchestra rehearsal of our pieces for the concert following the October 8th one. October 8th we're playing 3 pieces written by a Kumamoto man, about Kumamoto's famous places. It doesn't use the pentatonic scale or anything. It sounds like Rodeo or something.

Tonight's rehearsal was Mozart's 4th Symphony, the Overture to the Magic Flute(score!!!), and Beethoven's 5th. Tonight, the first rehearsal on these pieces, we played everything at full speed. It kicked my butt hard, as first rehearsals tend to do.
I've never played the Mozarts, but I've played the Beethoven a few times. And the bowings are different every time. I stink at bowings--that is one of my weaknesses as on orchestral player. So I decided to pay very, very close attention to all the bowings this time around, and make them as important as the notes themselves, so as to be in sync, even in rehearsals. We'll see how that goes.

The orchestra I used to play in in the US used to play a lot of Strauss, and Mahler, and I dunno, uh, Debussy, or such. But this orchestra seems to do basic works and crowd pleasers. Kind of like how in Aikido here we do so much kihonwaza, basic technique. Maybe as a volunteer orchestra, they believe we are only up to the basics(which is certainly not true, in my opinion) or, more likely, classical music is not all that well-known down here in East-Jabip, Kyushu.

We have another rehearsal tomorrow. Strings from 2:30-5, and full orchestra from 6:30-9:00. The concert is more than a month away, so I don't know why we have 5 hours of practice tomorrow. I'll be missing Aikido(now two weeks in a row) and because of the hour commute, will sort of give up the Saturday for the rehearsal. Such is life... but I like playing, and the violin's sounding really nice now that I finally got those new strings on it.

Well, this post could go on and on, because I'm worn-out and just saying whatever comes into my head.

Did I tell ya? I finally got those goldfish for my desk in the office. There are 7 fish, and they often make me happy I came to work. My dream house always has fish in it.

Good night.

And she's off...

again to the U.S. for the pleasure of my dear cousin's wedding. See ya in a few days, cats.

Superior Man's Club Okay With Me

I learned some interesting things from talking with Hiro tonight about the Imperial Family line. As it turns out, the family line was never meant to be a maternal line at all. In fact, if you go back to each time when there was a woman empress, regardless of whether she had children or not, the line was cut after she died. Officials, or some such people, would follow the family line back until they could find a living male heir, be it second-cousin or what have you, and that male would succeed the throne. Hiro reminded me that the 'original god' of Japan was a woman(, perhaps the 'goddess of creation?' I really don't know); yet the imperial line was only ever meant for males. An analogy that made sense to me would be that the line is like a lion's club for men, or a 'Way of the Superior Man's club,' if you will. It wasn't intended for women in the first place, and that, I can understand. And now that I understand, it's okay with me.

In that light, I see no problem with holding to the desire to keep the 'club' alive, and hoping that the princess would have a male child. I now believe there is a lot of misunderstanding about the situation, and I'm glad that it was cleared up for me, so that I could find peace with a very sensitive topic.

When I asked Hiro where we could find something similar which showed an appreciation of the women's historical lines, he reminded me again that women in history have mostly been thought of as inferior to men in some way, so those lines have probably not been thought to be important to keep. Only recently, have people been opening to the possibility that women are not inferior, but maybe just different.

So, he suggested I start a maternal line--I don't know if I'm the one to do it, but I do think there's no reason why a woman/women shouldn't start. Have they already started? Is there a maternal family line, with records kept from long ago, which is still alive today? I wonder, and I do remember hearing about lines of priestesses, but a strictly maternal blood line?? Hmm...

All in all, I'm glad women have opportunities to be appreciated for what they are more and more these days. And through all of it, I can say I'm glad I was born female. And as I learn to love being a woman more and more, I hope I am also becoming a part of what's to be appreciated about them.

Currently's news...

The heat finally broke this week, and the mosquitos are happy to see me outside again. I'm not as happy to see them, so I smell like poison from all the spray I have on...

I had a last-minute visit from the principal and vice-principal of the school today. There had been some problems with my living situation, which had been taken care of by the previous principal, and the current principal wanted to check out the place to get his own feeling for things.

Here in Japan, a lot of companies find housing and provide partial rent for employees. Following that scheme, my school found my place, paid the deposits, and I moved into the place they chose last year, when I started my job at the new school. So, technically, the school owns me. Well, my house. Well, part of it. So that means a lot of teachers know where I live, and the administration is free to come over whenever they want. Fortunately, they haven't seen much reason to come by, but it sure is odd to have the school principal(sort of my boss) come into my house, 'just to take a look around.' But I think it was just because he wanted to see the grounds, and had concern for the safety of the place, the condition, etc. We had a nice, stifled time talking about the weather, the street outside my house, etc. I really try hard to speak as much as I can at these times, but mostly I have nothing to talk about. He was really courteous though about the whole thing.

So I came home from school today, and planned to go to Aikido. But for the first time in a long time, I don't want to go. I want to be there, but I don't feel like driving the hour to get there. I think it's because I feel a little weak right now...

I haven't been eating much for the past couple of days. I read an article on the hordes of preservatives and additives in convenience store food over here(lemme see if I can post that article--it's at school now). It was something which I wasn't aware of, and it made me very sad, and so I decided to avoid conveniece store prepared foods(bento boxes, packaged breads, and salads, etc.) as much as possible.

Unfortunately, on days like yesterday and today, when there isn't much time to cook between work and practice, I have been going without much food, which, I think, might be poor alternative. I like cooking, and I've learned some interesting ways to cook Japanese foods, but of course, it takes time and effort.

I suppose by planning in advance, it's doable to cook for Tuesdays and Wednesdays and avoid the 'conbini'(i.e., 'Seben Ereben', a.k.a. '7-11', 'everyone', 'FamilyMart', 'Yamazaki Shop', etc. ;-) ). Hmm, that means shopping on a schedule, too. Hmm, that may just be possible.

Anyway, it's pretty late to go to practice now. That's a shame; never like to miss it. But oh, well. Maybe I'll head over to the conbini for a nice fried-shrimp bento... wait a second. Instead of that, I'm going to the market, and going buy me some shrimp, and make me a nice fresh shrimp-fried meal right here. That's the ticket...
later, all!

Chance lost for Empress

Well, most every one interested in Japan has probably heard the news by now. Yay! Congratulations, Princess and family!

(Well, that solves that, I guess. Whew, lucky no one had to change any rules over it--having an empress would have been terrible for so many people, for sure!! And to think, the pressure to have a male heir only caused the princess to have a nervous breakdown once! At least she could get pregnant again, right?

What's the big deal about all this anyway?

Really, there have been empresses in Japan before(eight of them, actually). I think a lot of people believe either males or females are innately good leaders. And I personally don't think the strengths of men are more powerful than the strengths women possess. I'm talking innate strengths, the stuff nature gives us. I wonder why having an empress would have been such a horror.

To tell you the truth, and my own gender aside, I hoped she would have a girl. Just to have something change around here, and to make people look at their own biases, which seem to be based in fear. I see this as a chance lost for many Japanese to go through some quite interesting and challenging introspection. And of course, for Princess Mako, a.k.a. the one who got pushed aside, as a chance lost to change the hearts of those people.)

That said, (yet, regardless of how I personally feel,) may the prince and Emperor-to-be, live long, and be healthy and happy. Bansai!!!

Croc Hunter Leaves, Doing What He Loved

Steve Irwin was killed by a string ray today.
This man was a hero to so many people, including me. I loved his approach to animals, to living life so freely and fearlessly, and his courage to show the whole world what he loved. I'm sure he wouldn't regret the way in which he died. It will probably be very, very hard on his family and the people who knew him, because people who didn't even know him, like me, were so touched by his life and work. A sad day, for animal lovers, and for the world.

Chance to be thrown

I had what some might call a lucky break today. Since I came back to Japan a week and a half ago, I've been back to Aikido practice 3 times. The first class back, I was asked to be an uke(the one who receives a technique) at an upcoming Aikido demonstration. I wanted to help out, and had nothing to lose, so I agreed.

During the second class, the person who would be throwing me decided on what techniques he would execute.

The third time, yesterday, we practiced it. And today was the demonstration. A lot of people I know are used to doing this sort of thing without practicing beforehand, but in the dojo here, demonstrations are highly choreographed, and doing one with little prep time is a little chancey. My partner even commented that 'he had the heart of a flea'(nomi no shin) as we were starting.

But we did great! Not only that, I couldn't believe how many people were complementing us afterwards. I felt a little embarrassed by all the praise I was getting. But the highlight of that was when my teacher in Japan, Honda Sensei, told me that the shihan(master instructor) who was watching, Suganuma Sensei, told him that my ukemi(falls, lit. 'receiving') were very well done. I almost didn't believe him, but when I got a chance to talk with Suganuma Sensei at the drinking party afterwards, he told it to me directly. I was so surprised!! I didn't even expect him to acknowledge me, really!

I didn't even notice my ukemi being different from before. I just remember thinking that I'm going to wait for my partner to throw me, and not throw myself. The only other thing I was thinking was that I wanted to regain my own balance each time between being thrown and attacking again.

They are going to give me a copy of the video that someone took, and if I can, I'll post it here. That is, unless they were just humoring me. But somehow, I suspect master instructors try not to humor their students. Well, regardless, I was very excited that people responded to some subtle changes I was attempting to make in my practice. Even if no one had said anything, I was so happy to have been there.

I got up at 5 this morning to make the train to the bus to the dojo. But I feel energized anyway!!


On a slightly different note, everyone at the dojo seems to be pushing for me to take my nidan(second degree black belt) test. Like everyone says I should do it, and that I'm nearly ready, and that it's time to 'level up.' The teachers in the dojo have been hinting about it for 4 or five months. But I've had an internal dilemma about it, so I find I can't give an energetic, 'all right, let's do it.' I feel some sort of loyalty to my teacher back at home(Ikeda Sensei). Also, he hasn't seen me practicing for past two years, so I don't know if he would think I should go ahead and do it. I wouldn't be able to take the test among my friends in Colorado, and, this is debatable, but, I think the test here is much easier to pass than the one I would take at home. Meaning, I think the test at home is more rigorous, and the chance of getting asked to test is much more unlikely. However, I have been training here for two years now, Honda Sensei is absolutely my teacher too. I want to ask Ikeda Sensei what he thinks.

Any Aikidoka or non-Aikido people have thoughts about this?