Recent activity (No fancy titles today)

So for last 4 weeks or so, I've been sent to work in Okayama prefecture. I won't name the specific city that I'm working at, but I will say that it is a rural port city. I have been filling in as a temporary teacher in this city, and it has been quite fun. For some background information, this city has not had the budget to have ALTs working in their schools for some years, and this year is the first time in a while that the city has the budget for ALTs. Before this, schools were apparently studying English through online teachers. As a result, I have found that the students I have been working with to be very keen and excited to interact with a foreigner, even if their English is far from perfect, but they are willing to try.

For me, it has been a good opportunity to get away from the office, as March and April were incredibly busy, and I had just been assigned to work at one of the company's Tokyo offices, which I did not (and still don't) enjoy. The quietness of this city compared to Tokyo is something I welcome. While I have no problem going to Tokyo for the occasional day trip or holiday, I cannot stand commuting to Tokyo on a daily basis. I find that compared to the rural areas, Tokyo folk are too busy to be polite. Most tourists won't notice, but if you spend enough time in a rural area, and then compare it to Tokyo, you'll pick up on the subtleties.

In terms of the work, it is also a chance for me to brush up on my ALT skills. Compared to the past where I was using Japanese quite a lot with students, I have deliberately minimized the amount of Japanese I use where possible with students. The students will in most cases speak to me in Japanese, or at least attempt to speak to me in English, but in almost every case, I will reply in English.

Since it is unreasonable for me to go back to Saitama every weekend (it costs me nearly 20,000 yen one way on the shinkansen), I have spent some time looking around the town, trying some of the local cafes and restaurants, and even finding time to go to a local gym. While they don't have the franchise gym I'm signed up with, the local community gym has been sufficient for my needs.

On a different topic, my mother came to visit me recently. While I was not able to get all the days off that I wanted from my employer, I was able to spend a full 7 days with my mother doing shopping and sightseeing, and even brought her out to where I was working. On the days that I was working, my mother would either stay at the hotel, or have a look around the surrounding area, before I came back in the afternoon, and we would go out for dinner. However, I noticed that the rural city I'm working in does not have much open in the way of dining outside of franchise/chain restaurants. I noticed that many of the local restaurants and cafes close pretty early. 

It was good to see my mum after nearly 4 years, and she made sure to make the visit count by bringing a lot of snacks and other gifts from Australia. The only regret is that my dad could not come and see Japan for himself before he died a few years back. I'm finally comfortable in saying that out loud after 2 years. Perhaps I will go in to more detail about it in a future post.

Coming of Age Day (成人の日)

I had no class on monday. The reason for this, is because it was a Japanese public holiday called Seijin no Hi (成人の日), or 'Coming of Age Day' which is held every year on the second monday of January. Pretty much it is a day for young people who have turned 20 in the past year to celebrate their new-found adulthood, as 20 years old is considered the age when one reaches adulthood (compared to Australia where it's 18 years old).

My girlfriend had explained to me previously that on the day, all the young people will dress up - girls dressing up in very beautiful kimonos (that are apparently so expensive, that many use rentals instead), whereas boys will normally wear business attires, though some supposedly wear traditional Japanese dress. I happened to go to Shijo that day, and it was easy to tell just who was celebrating their adulthood given the number of girls in kimonos and boys in business attire. Even at the Round 1 game center at Sanjo, all the girls were queuing up at the photo booths to do group shots with all their friends. Considering that there are already plenty of those booths available for use at Round 1 (with about another 4 placed outside, just in front of the entrance to the game center), it should give you an idea of how busy it was when I say everyone was queuing up.

Aside from young people being given the opportunity to dress in expensive and beautiful clothes, there is also a ceremony that is held every city ward across the country at 11:30 am. After the ceremony, there are usually parties among family and friends, and plenty of photos. Considering the cost of the kimonos worn for such a day (and you only turn 20 once) photos are apparently the main focus of the day.

From what I have read also, the rate of attendance of the Seijin no Hi ceremonies has been declining over the years. Aside from the cost of the Kimonos (which I guess is understandable), other reasons cited include that there are many who feel they aren't ready yet to take on the responsibilities that come with being an adult, and apparently young people in the past have been disrupting the ceremonies in protest, which I guess would turn people away from attending. However, the most likely cause would be simply the declining birthrate. It seems to be a combination of all these, which kind of sucks, especially for a once in a lifetime (literally) celebration.

Also, once Japanese people turn 20 years old, they can now (legally) do the following:
- Drink alcohol
- Smoke
- Vote

So yeah, another really intriguing national holiday here in Japan.

New Year (正月）

I know it's a little late, but Happy New Year everyone! ちょっと遅いけど、あけましておめでとうございます！

Celebrating New Year in Japan is a totally different thing compared to Australia. Whereas in Australia, people will typically party on the New Year's Eve, recover from the previous night's party on New Year's Day, and then back to work the next day, Japan is a totally different thing altogether, at least from what I experienced.
For starters, the holiday lasts from the 1st of January until 4th, so a majority of businesses are closed during this period. Also during this period, people will go to temples and shrines and pray for safety, good health, etc. During this time, everyone is going to the temples and shrines, so the more popular ones are incredibly busy. My girlfriend and I did exactly that, although we didn't go to any of the busier ones. We went to Goryou Shrine to pray, before we headed to Shimogamo Shrine, and we decided to check our fortune. My girlfriend had told me previously that whenever she had her fortune told, she would always end up with a bad one - so imagine her surprise when she received the best fortune possible. I ended up with the second best one, so I was happy too, and as per the instructions, I'm keeping that fortune in my wallet. We had a look some more around the shrine area, before we started going around the food stalls area, and ate just about everything possible - taiyaki, candied strawberries, chocolate bananas, takoyaki, red bean soup with mochi (sticky rice cake) in it - yeah, quite a bit. I also had a chance to sample some shouchu that I spotted at a stall. Having little experience in the way of drinking (especially drinks that she's never tried before), she drank in one go and was completely overwhelmed by the strength of the alcohol, while I slowly sipped mine so I can get an idea of the taste. The taste actually reminded me of the Vocaloid Shouchu Lily that I bought on my previous trip to Japan. However, compared to that, this sample was certainly a lot stronger, and the taste more distinct. I was considering buying it, but the price kind of chased me away. However, I will keep it in mind to possibly purchase before I return to Australia.

Also, I forgot to mention, it snowed on New Year's Day and the day after. Having never seen snow before (because I live in Western Australia, and it never snows there because of the climate), I was totally excited. On the second day, at night my girlfriend and I headed to Gosho and play in the snow, building snowmen and throwing snowballs at trees to knock off all the snow hanging on them. Also, because of the snow, it was fairly bright at night, making walking around Gosho really easy.

Anyway, that's it for now. I finish uni at the end of this month, and then I'll have two months of break before I return to Australia. I certainly do have plans for the break, so I'll be sure to post about it when it happens.